Dictum of Kenilworth - Aftermath

Aftermath

Hostilities did not end with the publication of the Dictum. The garrison at Kenilworth refused to accept the terms given, and held out until 14 December, when deprivation forced them to surrender. In April 1267, the earl of Gloucester – who had been central both to the royal victory at Evesham and to the drafting of the Dictum – turned against the king. He occupied the city of London, and set himself up as the champion of the disinherited. After negotiations involving both Edward and Ottbuono Gloucester relented, and by June a settlement was reached. Gloucester had forced a change to the conditions of the Dictum, whereby the disinherited were allowed to recover their lands before they had paid their fines rather than after; an arrangement that made repayment much easier. In the summer of that year, Prince Edward moved at the Isle of Ely, where the last of the rebels still held out, and forced them into submission under terms favourable to the rebels.

In November 1267, parliament met at Marlborough. Here an important provision was issued that would become known to history as the Statute of Marlborough. This statute incorporated the clauses of the Dictum of Kenilworth that dealt with the restoration of royal power, and reconciliation between the loyalists and the rebels. The Statute of Marlborough became a basis for royal government, and the relationship between the king and his subjects, and as such the Dictum lived on in English constitutional history.

The spirit of peace and reconciliation established by the Dictum of Kenilworth lasted for the remainder of Henry III's reign and into the 1290s. In 1270, Prince Edward left the country to go on crusade in the Holy Land. When his father died in 1272, Edward felt in a safe enough position to wait until 1274 before returning home to claim the throne.