The whole story of these wars would be too long for us now. So I will only tell you that one of the bravest men that fought against the king was Simon de Montfort, who was a very wise man; and although he was killed in a great battle, he had forced the king and parliament, before he died, to observe a custom which is most useful even to us who live now. It is this: No king can make his subjects pay a tax without their own consent or that of the parliament. Now, though several kings tried, after this time, to get money by some other means than these, the people would never allow them to do so, and their only trying to do it always did themselves a great deal of mischief, as you will read by and by. And I want you to remember that Simon de Montfort was the first man in England that called the people in the towns to send members to parliament. This was in the year 1265. The common people loved him so much that, when he was dead, they called him Sir Simon the Righteous. I am afraid this is a very dull chapter, but you see it is very short. CHAPTER XXIII. EDWARD I.—1272 to 1307. How Edward the First learnt many good things abroad, and did many more to make the people happy; how he caused the burgesses to come to Parliament; how he made good laws; why he was called Longshanks. When the unhappy King Henry the Third died, his eldest son Edward was abroad, fighting in the same country where I told you William the Conqueror’s eldest son Robert went, and where Richard of the Lion’s heart spent the greatest part of his reign. When he heard his father was dead he came home, and brought with him his very good wife, Eleanor of Castile, who had saved his life in Syria, by taking great care of him when he was wounded. Edward was crowned king as soon as he came to England; he was as wise as Henry the Second, and as brave as King Richard of the Lion’s heart. His wisdom was shown in the manner in which he governed his people. His bravery everybody had seen before he was king, and he showed it afterwards in fighting against the Welsh and the Scotch, which I will tell you about by and by. While Edward was a young man, he travelled a great deal into different countries, and whenever he saw anything done that he thought good and right, he remembered it, that he might have the same thing done in England when he was king. When he was in Spain he married his good wife Eleanor; and as her father and brother were wise kings, he learned a great many useful things from them.