There were now three parties in the kingdom. Lancaster had lost ground, but the king had gained none. The Earl of Pembroke had been gradually alienated, and now aimed at acquiring power for himself. The death of the Earl of Gloucester had left his earldom to be divided between the husbands of his three sisters, Hugh le Despenser, Roger d’Amory, and Hugh of Audley. The division of the great estates was in itself sufficient to create a new division of parties. D’Amory and Pembroke framed a league for gaining influence over the king in conjunction with Sir Bartholomew Badlesmere, a bitter enemy of Lancaster. Hugh le Despenser, the father of the one just mentioned, took on himself to reform the king’s personal party, and was aided by the few barons and bishops whom Edward had been strong enough to promote. The capture of Berwick had one salutary effect: it stopped the private war, and shamed the three parties into a compromise; but the compromise was itself a proof of common weakness. It was concluded in August, 1318, between Lancaster alone on his own part, and ten bishops and fourteen temporal lords as sureties for the king. It provided a new form of council--eight bishops, four earls, and four barons; one other member was to be nominated by Lancaster, who did not deign to accept a seat. But this constitution had no more permanence than the former. The official preponderance was maintained by Pembroke and Badlesmere, and they could do nothing whilst the Earl of Lancaster continued to stand aloof. Edward in 1319 made a vain attempt to recover Berwick, but only gave the Scots an opportunity of evading Yorkshire, and matters grew worse and worse. Men could not help seeing that even Edward himself could not mismanage matters more than they were being now mismanaged, and that, whether incapable or no, he had never yet had a chance of showing what capacity he had. [Sidenote: New favorites of the king. ] [Sidenote: The Despensers.]