was ransomed by Edward II, his brother-in-law, on the pleading of Edward's wife Isabella. This was one of the most interesting ransoms in English history. The Earl was traded for Bruce's queen, Elizabeth de Burgh and daughter, Marjorie Bruce, two bishops among other important Scots captives in England. Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Buchan, who had crowned Robert Bruce in 1306 and for years had been locked in a cage outside Berwick, was not included; presumably, she had died in captivity. Ordainer Like his father, grandfather, and great-great-grandfather, this Humphrey de Bohun was careful to insist that the king obey Magna Carta and other baronially established safeguards against monarchic tyranny. He was a leader of the reform movements that promulgated the Ordinances of 1311 and fought to insure their execution. The subsequent revival of royal authority and the growing ascendancy of the Despensers (Hugh the elder and younger) led Bohun and other barons to rebel against the king again in 1322. Bohun had a special reason for opposing the Despensers, for he had lost some of his estates in the Welsh Marches to their rapacity and he felt they had besmirched his honour. In 1316 Bohun had been ordered to lead the suppression of the revolt of Llywelyn Bren in Glamorgan which he did successfully. When Llewelyn surrendered to him the Earl promised to intercede for him and fought to have him pardoned. Instead Hugh the younger Despenser had Llewelyn executed without a proper trial. Hereford and the other marcher lords used Llywelyn Bren's death as a symbol of Despenser tyranny. Death at Boroughbridge The rebel forces were halted by loyalist troops at the wooden bridge at Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, where Humphrey de Bohun, leading an attempt to storm the bridge, met his death on 16 March 1322. Although the details have been called into question by a few historians, his death may have been particularly gory. As recounted by Ian Mortimer: "[The 4th Earl of] Hereford led the fight on the bridge, but he and his men were caught in the arrow fire. Then one of de Harclay's pikemen, concealed beneath the bridge, thrust upwards between the planks and skewered the Earl of Hereford through the anus, twisting the head of the iron pike into his intestines. His dying screams turned the advance into a panic."' Humphrey de Bohun may have contributed to the failure of the reformers' aims. There is