But the Twenty-four were resolute in their action; and an armed demonstration of the barons drove the foreigners in flight over sea.

The whole royal power was now in fact in the hands of the committees appointed by the Great Council.

But the measures of the barons showed little of the wisdom and energy which the country had hoped for.

In October 1259 the knighthood complained that the barons had done nothing but seek their own advantage in the recent changes.

This protest produced the Provisions of Westminster, which gave protection to tenants against their feudal lords, regulated legal procedure in the feudal courts, appointed four knights in each shire to watch the justice of the sheriffs, and made other temporary enactments for the furtherance of justice.