Under the first of these come Henry’s reluctance to observe the charters, heavy taxation for a long series of years, the revival of the hated system of foreign favoritism, the rash displacement and replacement of ministers, the attempts of the king to rule by means of mere clerks and servants without proper ministers, and the series of domestic troubles which arise from these causes. Under the second head come the heavy demands of the popes for pecuniary help, or for the preferment of Italians in English churches, and the successive attempts made by the several pontiffs to use Henry, his wealth, and influence in Europe, for the destruction of the house of Hohenstaufen, and thus for the promotion of designs which worked his final humiliation. Under the third come the several expeditions to France, the negotiations with Lewis IX., the administration of Gascony, and the part taken by Richard of Cornwall and Simon de Montfort in the administration of that province. These three lines of mischief combine to produce the great crisis of 1258, in which the leading spirit was Simon de Montfort, in which the critical and determining cause was the negotiation with the Pope for the kingdom of Sicily, and in which the form of the constitutional demands made by the opposition was determined by the character of the internal misgovernment which had been going on so long. Where the same points so frequently recur a chronological summary becomes monotonous, and a comprehensive sketch is sufficient to convey all the lessons that are of real value. [Sidenote: Henry of age. ] Henry’s first act was an ill-omened one. In January, 1227, in a council at Oxford, he declared himself of full age to govern, emancipated himself from the guardianship of Peter des Roches, but insisted that all charters and other grants sealed during his minority should be regarded as invalid until a confirmation of them had been purchased at a fixed rate. This declaration, founded, it would seem, on a resolution of the council agreed on in 1218, that no grants involving perpetuity should be sealed until he came of age, was heard with great alarm. The alarm spread further when it was known that the forest boundaries, which had been settled by perambulation in 1225, were to be re-arranged under royal direction. If the forest liberties were to be tampered with, the Great Charter itself would be in peril. But either the alarm was unfounded or the excitement that followed ensured its own remedy. Large sums were raised by confirming private charters; but, on a representation made by a body of the earls the forest administration was let alone and the Great Charter was not threatened. The whole project was seen to be a mere expedient for raising money. [Sidenote: Papal taxation.] [Sidenote: Fall of Hubert de Burgh. ]