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GRADED SUPPLEMENTARY READING SERIES 
 
 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 FOR THE FOURTH AND FIFTH GRADES 
 
 Alfred the Great Queen Elizabeth 
 
 William the Conqueror Oliver Cromwell 
 
 Queen Victoria 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES E. MERRILL CO. 
 
 1909 
 
LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 mar H iyoy 
 
 Copyrignt Entry 
 
 tylm, II, l^ 
 
 CLASS <X. KXC. No, 
 oopy a. 
 
 •2. 
 
 Copyright, 1909 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES E. MERRILL CO. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 These stories are first biographical, then his- 
 torical. They are about English men and women 
 whose lives were closely associated with, and 
 whose characters influenced or controlled great 
 events. Their lives mark turning-points in the 
 history of the nation. 
 
 Alfred the Great held his little kingdom against 
 the Danes; he saved the Saxon people, of which 
 he is the noble representative, from destruction by 
 heathen hosts. 
 
 William the Conqueror led a stirring life, bat- 
 tling against mutinous barons, jealous overlords, 
 sturdy Saxons, and rebellious sons; he brought 
 to Alfred's land the Norman race, which was to 
 fuse with the Saxon and form a people greater 
 than either, — the English. 
 
 Elizabeth met and overmatched the power of 
 king and emperor; her " golden reign" brings 
 us face to face with the beginning of modern Eng- 
 land. ] 
 
 Cromwell passed from the farm of St. Ives to 
 the battlefield, thence to the throne-chair before 
 which all Europe bowed ; he exemplified the spirit 
 
 3 
 
4 PREFACE 
 
 and power of the English people roused in defense 
 of liberty and right. 
 
 Victoria, the girl queen, advanced through se- 
 rene, well-ordered years, to gracious and vener- 
 able old age; during her rule the colonial power 
 of the great British empire was established on the 
 principle of self-government. 
 
 These lives, widely separated in time and char- 
 acter, show, without set intention, the develop- 
 ment of the English nation and the English sov- 
 ereignty. 
 
 The little kingdom of Alfred endured a thou- 
 sand years, and was, in the time of his descendant, 
 Victoria, three united kingdoms with vast and 
 scattered colonies. But his little kingdom Alfred 
 governed absolutely, for the Witan's word was 
 "yea, yea" to the able king. This Witan with 
 its "yea" and "nay" developed into Parliament, 
 which made itself the head of the nation and its 
 ministry the hands, so that Alfred's descendant, 
 Victoria, queen and empress though she was, had 
 little more real power than her crown — was, like 
 it, a symbol — a great and glorious symbol, it is 
 true, of the unity of the British Empire. 
 
This England never did, nor never shall, 
 
 Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, 
 
 But when it first did help to wound itself. 
 
 Now that her princes are come home again, 
 
 Come the three corners of the world in arms, 
 
 And we shall shock them ! Nought shall make us rue 
 
 If England to itself do rest but true. 
 
 — Shakespeare 
 
ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Alfred the Great 
 
 HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 More than a thousand years ago a prince was 
 born in England. Hundreds of princes have 
 been born there since. Some have been learned, 
 some holy ; some wise rulers, some brave warriors 
 and great conquerors. But this prince was to 
 have all these virtues. To him alone, of her long 
 line of kings, England was to give the title of 
 "the Great." 
 
 No thought of his glorious future came to those 
 who looked on the child, Prince Alfred. Prince it 
 seemed probable that he would live and die. He 
 was the youngest child of King Ethelwulf and 
 Queen Osburga. His grandfather, Egbert, King 
 of Wessex, had been acknowledged as over-king 
 by all the land, and was, therefore, the first king 
 of the English. 
 
 Alfred's father, Ethelwulf, was a good man and 
 a good king, though he did not love the cares of 
 his kingdom. He had planned to be a monk, and 
 spend his life in prayer and study and the service 
 
 7 
 
8 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 of the church. But his father's death called him 
 to the throne. So king he became in place, but 
 monk he remained at heart. 
 
 His wife, Queen Osburga, was a good and wise 
 woman. She was "deeply devout, and keen of 
 wit ; great of heart as high in place, ' ' says one of 
 the early chroniclers, or historians. 
 
 Ethelwulf and Osburga were at their palace of 
 Wantage in Berkshire in 849 when Prince Alfred 
 was born. Berkshire took its name from its great 
 forests of berroc, or boxwood. England, at that 
 time, was a land of woods and marshes and moors. 
 The Saxons had settled open places along the 
 coast or made clearings in the great forests. 
 They had few towns, for they did not love city life. 
 Instead, they lived in families and settlements 
 dotted about the country. 
 
 They lived in what would seem (to us to-day) a 
 very uncomfortable fashion. 
 
 Even the "palace" of the king was only a one- 
 storied house of wooden beams. It had a large 
 hall in the center, a chapel, a few rooms for the 
 king's family, and rough rooms, or stalls, for the 
 house servants. There were smaller houses to 
 shelter the king's other servants, his followers, 
 and his guests. The roof of the low hall was sup- 
 ported by great beams of oak. There was no 
 chimney. A fire was kindled in the middle of the 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 9 
 
 hall on the earthen floor. On the north and south 
 sides of the house there were holes near the eaves 
 to let out the smoke. But, as you may think, not 
 all escaped thus and in winter the house was dense 
 with smoke. The rain and snow blew in through 
 the windows, which were real wind doors, openings 
 for light, unprotected by glass. The art of mak- 
 ing glass was then almost unknown, and windows 
 were left open or were covered with skins or with 
 wooden shutters. 
 
 The floor, even in the king's palace, was of earth 
 trampled firm and hard. In winter it was strewn 
 with fresh straw and in summer with rushes and 
 sweet herbs. The furniture of the room consisted 
 of a rough table and some wooden benches and 
 stools. Such was a royal palace in England in 
 the ninth century. 
 
 When the king and his attendants were not 
 hunting or fighting or at service in the chapel, they 
 were generally to be found in the hall. The chief 
 business of times of peace was eating and drink- 
 ing. The English ate much flesh, — pork, and 
 other meats, boiled, broiled, and baked. They had 
 honey and milk, nuts, grapes, pears, and apples. 
 Only a few vegetables were known to them, beans 
 and onions among the number. There were no to- 
 matoes, and no potatoes, sweet or white, — these 
 were not used in England until hundreds of years 
 
10 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 after Alfred's day. Wheat bread was served on 
 the king's table, but poor people lived on barley 
 bread. 
 
 The people ate heartily of their simple food. 
 They drank freely, too, of ale and mead, pigment 
 and morat. Pigment was made of wine, honey 
 and spices, and morat was made of mulberry juice 
 and honey. 
 
 The feast was enlivened by music and song. 
 The guests took turns in singing, reciting fables, 
 tales, and legends, or asking riddles. There were 
 also professional musicians, or 
 gleemen, as they were called, 
 who sang to the music of their 
 harps; there were jesters, who 
 made jokes and merry speeches; 
 and jugglers, who performed 
 wonderful tricks with knives and 
 
 Gold Ring of JEthel- balls, 
 wulf 
 
 The Englishmen wore tunics, 
 or shirts, of wool or linen, with girdles around 
 their waists. They adorned themselves with 
 rings and bracelets and neckchains. The women 
 wore bright-colored, long, loose robes, and man- 
 tles of wool and linen. These robes and mantles 
 were beautifully embroidered with silk and gold 
 and silver, for the Saxon women were famous for 
 
ALFEED THE GEEAT 11 
 
 their skill in needlework. They were fond of 
 jewelry, too, and wore gold and silver ornaments 
 on hands, neck, arms, waist, and hair. 
 
 The king had many attendants in the palace 
 and many servants outside. It was their duty 
 to raise and to make whatever the king needed to 
 eat and drink and wear. People then did not have 
 great mills and factories to supply their needs. 
 The king's own servants tilled his fields of wheat 
 and barley, and ground the grain in handmills. 
 They brewed the mead and ale, and prepared the 
 morat and pigment. They tanned the hides of 
 his cattle and made shoes. They raised flax and 
 cared for flocks of sheep; the flax and the wool 
 were spun into thread and woven into cloth by 
 hand. 
 
 Perhaps the blacksmith was the busiest man in 
 all the kingdom. He had not, as now-a-days, to 
 spend most of his time making shoes for horses. 
 He made farm tools, and swords, axes and spears 
 for men to use in fighting and hunting. He also 
 made armor to protect the bodies of soldiers 
 against the spears, swords, and arrows of their 
 enemies. Whoever else was idle, the blacksmith 
 never lacked work. 
 
 King Ethelwulf did not stay at Wantage all 
 the time. He had palaces in several places and 
 
12 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 went from one to another. But he did not travel, 
 as people do now-a-days, for change of air and 
 recreation. 
 
 The king was the great law-maker and law-en- 
 forcer of the land. He went from place to place 
 to dispense justice, as some judges do now. This 
 was much more convenient than for the people of 
 each section to come to him with their affairs. 
 
 There was another reason for these journeys of 
 the king. He moved from one place to another 
 "to eat up his rents." Much of his income was 
 paid by the people in produce. To have seen 
 them coming in with bacon and honey and ale you 
 might have supposed they were on their way to 
 market. Over the bad roads, through that wild 
 country, it would not have been possible to carry 
 these supplies far, so the people of a section car- 
 ried them to the king at stated times when he was 
 in their neighborhood. 
 
 The child Alfred went with his father, mother, 
 brothers, and sister and their attendants from one 
 to another of these rude palaces. He learned to 
 know and love the fields and woods, the hills and 
 streams of "merrie England." 
 
 His only sister, Elswitha, was ten or eleven 
 years older than Alfred. When he was only four, 
 she became the bride of Burrhed, the king of Mer- 
 cia. There were at least three princes older than 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 13 
 
 Alfred, — Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Ethelred. 
 Some say that Athelstan, who shared the king- 
 dom with Ethelwulf, was Alfred's brother; others 
 say that he was a cousin ; others, still, that he was 
 an uncle. You see, they both lived so long ago 
 that it is hard for us to learn all the facts about 
 them, especially as men were too busy fighting to 
 pay much attention to writing histories. 
 
 When Alfred was only four or five years old 
 he went on a journey. It would be a long jour- 
 ney for a child to-day, but it was much longer 
 then, when steamcars and steamboats were un- 
 known> when the forests were infested with rob- 
 bers and outlaws, and the seas with pirates. This 
 journey was to the great city of Rome, more than 
 a thousand miles from England. 
 
 Why did Ethelwulf allow his baby son to take 
 such a long, dangerous journey? 
 
 As you have been told, Ethelwulf was educated 
 for a monk. He was a strong, wise man and he 
 ruled his people well and fought bravely against 
 his enemies, the Danes. But in the body of a king 
 he kept the heart of a monk. He seems to have 
 felt all through his life — busy and hard and trou- 
 bled it was — that it would be pleasanter to rule 
 a monastery than a kingdom. 
 
 One thing he especially regretted in his life. 
 As monk and as king, he had intended to make a 
 
14 ENGLISH HISTORY STOEIES 
 
 journey to Rome to see the pope. But year after 
 year passed, and there never came a time when 
 he could put aside the affairs of his kingdom and 
 go. Now he was growing old, and perhaps he 
 began to despair of ever being able to carry out 
 his plan. So he determined to send his beloved 
 little son Alfred. 
 
 The child set forth in the year 853, accompanied 
 by a princely train. He was in the especial 
 charge of a noble Saxon bishop and was escorted 
 by soldiers and priests. He went through Lon- 
 don and by boat across the Channel to France, 
 the land of the Franks. You can follow on your 
 map to-day the very route by which he journeyed. 
 The long train of priests and soldiers, on foot and 
 horseback, moved very slowly. There were no 
 inns along the road where they could be enter- 
 tained. They had with them pack horses carrying 
 wheat and barley, salt beef and pork, ale, mead, 
 wine, and pigment. 
 
 On and on they traveled through forests and 
 marshes, fording streams and climbing mountains. 
 For the most part, they kept to the old Roman 
 roads, — old even then, but so well built that they 
 have lasted to our own day. These roads had 
 been built straight across hill and valley for the 
 Roman soldiers. Now they led monks and pil- 
 grims to and from the Holy City. 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 15 
 
 The little Saxon prince and his train made a 
 brief stay in the city of Paris, then went on till 
 thej^ reached the Alps, rising like a great wall be- 
 fore them. They crossed the Mount Cenis Pass, 
 going through forests of pine and fir, over ridges 
 of rock, through gorges. Sometimes Prince Al- 
 fred was wrapped in an oxhide and drawn over 
 the snow. Sometimes the rocks were so steep 
 that the little prince was lowered by ropes over 
 the ledges. Sometimes the soldiers drew close to- 
 gether and looked well to their weapons, as they 
 approached places in which robbers were known 
 to stay. But the hundreds of miles were traveled 
 in safety, and at last they reached the great city 
 of Rome. There they were the guests of the pope, 
 Leo IV. 
 
 Rome was a great and beautiful city, greater 
 and more beautiful by far than the child could 
 comprehend. No doubt he realized that it was 
 very different from his home land, and was inter- 
 ested in the noble buildings, wonderful paintings 
 and statues, and gorgeous pageants of the city, 
 as a bright child is in beautiful pictures and 
 stories. But even in this glorious city all was 
 not peace and happiness. The Moorish pirates 
 plagued Italy as the Danes did England. Only 
 nine years before Alfred came to Rome these 
 heathens had robbed the pope 's own dwelling. 
 
16 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 We do not know bow long Alfred remained in 
 Rome. He was there several months certainly; 
 some say, three years. There are two reasons, 
 however, for believing that he returned home in 
 the fall or winter of the year 854. One is that 
 his name is affixed to a charter in the year 855, 
 with the signatures — or marks — of the king's 
 other sons. The other is that the old chronicles 
 tell of an event which must have happened in the 
 winter or early spring of 855. The story has been 
 doubted, but there is reason to think it true. 
 
 One day Queen Osburga called her sons to show 
 them a book of Saxon poetry. It was not, of 
 course, a printed book, for people then did not 
 know how to print, and they had not learned to 
 make paper. It was written by hand on a roll of 
 prepared skins. It was made beautiful by illumi- 
 nations, — pictures and letters gilded and painted 
 in bright colors. The young princes stood beside 
 their mother, admiring the illuminations while she 
 read aloud. Now, not even the oldest of the 
 princes could read. In those days it was thought 
 no disgrace for even a grown man to be unable to 
 read and write. But the queen wished her sons to 
 be scholars as well as soldiers. 
 
 ' 'Whichever of you shall the soonest learn this 
 volume shall have it for his own, ' ' she said to her 
 sons. 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 
 
 17 
 
 Little Alfred was standing at her knee, ad- 
 miring the pictures, and he spoke quickly. 
 
 ''Will you really give that book to one of us, to 
 the one that can first understand and repeat it to 
 you?" 
 
 His mother smiled down in his eaarer face. 
 
 Alfred and His Mother 
 
 "Yes, to him will I give it." 
 
 The other princes went out and found much to 
 claim their attention, — a party starting on a boar 
 hunt, a smith sharpening a sword, a gleeman sing- 
 ing, a ballad. But Alfred had a purpose from 
 which he was not to be diverted. He carried the 
 book to a monk and asked to be taught the poem. 
 
18 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 The scholar would have put him off, but the child 
 would take no denial. He listened to the words 
 carefully as they were read aloud, and followed 
 them on the book with his baby finger. In a lit- 
 tle while he had learned the poem, and he carried 
 the book to his mother and recited it word for 
 word. 
 
 "After this he learned psalms and prayers in 
 a certain book which he kept day and night in his 
 bosom and carried about with him amid all the 
 bustle and business of this present life." 
 
 In the spring of 855 a great grief came to the 
 royal family of Wessex. The gentle and pious 
 Queen Osburga died. After her death Ethelwulf 
 took the journey to Rome which he had been plan- 
 ning for sixteen years. His people were sorry to 
 see him go, for they felt he could ill be spared 
 from home. He left his kingdom in charge of 
 two of his sons ; Ethelbald, the eldest, was to rule 
 over Wessex, and Ethelbert, the second, was to 
 reign in Kent. Ethelwulf, with his son Alfred 
 and their attendants, made the long journey to 
 Rome. 
 
 The English king was graciously received by 
 the pope, to whom he presented rich gifts, — money, 
 a golden crown, a sword ornamented with gold, 
 and robes of the rich embroidery for which the 
 English women were famous. 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 19 
 
 Etlielwulf and Alfred remained in Rome several 
 months. They were happy months for the king. 
 Free from the cares of his kingdom, he could 
 almost fancy himself back in the old convent life 
 that he loved. He went daily to the churches to 
 join in the prayers and to hear the grand music. 
 
 In the summer of 855, Pope Leo IV. died, and 
 Benedict III. was made pope. Soon after Pope 
 Leo's death Ethelwulf left Rome, but he did not go 
 directly home. He stopped in France at the court 
 of Charles the Bald, and there he lingered month 
 after month. Some historians say that he was 
 planning an alliance with King Charles against 
 their common enemy, the Danes. Others say that 
 the sixty-year-old king had fallen in love with 
 King Charles's daughter, Judith, a gay little maid- 
 en of fourteen. At all events, he married the 
 French princess, and then, to the anger of his sub- 
 jects, he had her crowned queen. When a certain 
 queen had been found guilty of murder and other 
 evil deeds, a law had been made in Wessex that no 
 woman should be queen. 
 
 Ethelwulf returned to England with his bride, 
 but he never ruled again as king in Wessex. We 
 do not know just why this was. It may have been 
 because the people objected to Judith as queen. 
 It may have been because his son Ethelbald, whom 
 he had left in charge, was unwilling to give up 
 
20 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 power, and the king cared too little for it to con- 
 test the matter. At all events, he left his son in 
 charge of the chief kingdom of Wessex and went 
 to Kent where (as a youth) he had ruled under his 
 father. 
 
 A few months after his return from France, the 
 gentle king died. His will divided his estate 
 among his children and his money between his 
 family and the church. The very year that Ethel- 
 wulf died, Ethelbald, disregarding the laws of the 
 church and the opinions of men, married his 
 young stepmother, Judith. 
 
 During this time we know little of the life of 
 Prince Alfred. We only know that he returned 
 with his father from France, and after Ethel- 
 wulf 's death he remained in Kent under the care 
 of his brother Ethelbert. 
 
 Ethelbald survived his father only two years, 
 and then the question arose how his three brothers 
 should share the kingdom. It would not do to di- 
 vide it. It must be united against the terrible foe, 
 the Danes. Alfred, who was now twelve years 
 old, and his brother Ethelred, agreed to yield their 
 rights to Ethelbert and let him rule the whole 
 kingdom. When they came to sign this agree-, 
 ment the elder brothers made their marks and then 
 waited for the child-prince to do the same. But 
 Alfred took the goose quill from the monk's hand. 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 21 
 
 "I can write rny name," he said, and so lie did, 
 as well as a clerk could have done it. 
 
 Alfred's youth 
 
 For five years Ethelbert ruled the kingdom. 
 Brave and strong and faithful, he guided the af- 
 fairs of his land and defended it against the in- 
 roads of the Danes. During these years Alfred 
 passed from childhood to young manhood. The 
 old chroniclers tell us that even in youth he was 
 "the darling of the people." "Bright was his 
 face so that all men marked it, and bright his 
 talk." 
 
 In those rude days books were scarce and read- 
 ers few. But Prince Alfred was a student and a 
 lover of learning. He carried with him always a 
 favorite book, and poured over its pages in his 
 hours of leisure. He learned to play the harp 
 and to sing to its accompaniment psalms and old 
 Saxon songs, and to compose as he played. He 
 was, however, no ■ mere bookman and gleeman. 
 He learned to wrestle, run, and leap, to use sword, 
 shield, spear, bow, and battle-ax. From childhood 
 he took part in hunting, which was the favorite 
 pastime of the Saxon nobles. It was more than a 
 pastime. The forests were infested with boars, 
 wolves, and fierce wild cattle, which attacked 
 flocks and herds and even human beings. To kill 
 
22 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 these animals, hunting expeditions were organ- 
 ized. 
 
 Those were troubled days in which the spear 
 was always in rest, the sword loose in sheath. 
 
 Besides the wild beasts, there were the Danes 
 to fight. In order to understand the history of 
 Alfred's time we must know something about 
 these Danes, the disturbers of the English. They 
 belonged to the same fierce northern race from 
 which the English had come. Four hundred years 
 before Alfred's birth, the English — Jutes, Angles, 
 and Saxons, as their tribes were called — had 
 swarmed across the seas to the fair land of Brit- 
 ain and conquered the natives. These Saxons 
 were free, fierce, heathen people, lovers of music 
 and poetry, deep drinkers and good fighters. 
 
 In the new land they became, as it were, a new 
 people. They tilled the fertile fields, they kept 
 flocks in the grassy meadows and herds of swine 
 in the great woods. They worshipped the peace- 
 ful Christ instead of the northern war-gods, 
 Hengist and Horsa. They learned arts and 
 trades, and became lovers of peace rather than 
 followers of war. They did not lose the old cour- 
 age of their race; but from warlike tribes they 
 were changed to a pastoral and agricultural peo- 
 ple. They were scattered throughout a thinly 
 settled country and had no organized army or 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 23 
 
 navy, no strong central government. Thus they 
 were little prepared to withstand sudden organ- 
 ized attacks. 
 
 Such attacks came from the Danes. It was his- 
 tory repeating itself. As the fierce Saxons had 
 overcome the peaceful Britons four hundred years 
 before, now the Danes attacked the Saxons, grown 
 peaceful and unwarlike. The Danes had been 
 trained in battle till they had become mere fight- 
 ing machines. It was their boast that they ' ' slept 
 under no roof and sat by no hearth." In each 
 family, one son, who was looked upon almost with 
 pity, stayed at home to inherit his father's house 
 and goods ; the others took swords for their 
 wealth, ships for their homes, the sea for their 
 kingdom. 
 
 Singing wild songs full of battle-joy, they went 
 forth in small vessels and swooped down on a 
 neighboring coast, they ran their long, narrow 
 boats up creeks and rivers, and left a guard to 
 protect them. The remainder of the crew made 
 a sudden sally in the neighborhood to plunder, 
 to burn, to kill. Before resistance could be or- 
 ganized, they hastened back to their boats and 
 hurried off to fall on some other unprotected 
 coast. 
 
 To Denmark came tales of Saxon wealth — gold, 
 silver, and herds — to be had for the taking. 
 
24 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 25 
 
 Therefore, one summer a small band of Danes 
 made an attack on the English coast. Terrible 
 figures they were to the Saxon peasants, these 
 warriors with keen two-edged swords, axes, bows 
 and arrows, shields of leather or metal, coats of 
 mail, and sacred war bracelets smeared with 
 blood. They bore off booty unhindered, and sum- 
 mer after summer they came back to take toll of 
 the English wealth. Their attacks became more 
 and more frequent and formidable. 
 
 Ella, one of the Saxon kings, took prisoner Rag- 
 nar Lodbrok, one of the Danish invaders, and had 
 him thrown alive into a dungeon full of serpents. 
 There Ragnar expired in horrible agony, but 
 mocking his enemies with laughter and a song 
 which told how his sons would avenge his death. 
 
 When the messenger reached Ragnar 's home 
 with news of his fate, his sons were feasting in the 
 hall. Merrymaking was changed into mourning by 
 the terrible tidings. Not only Ragnar 's sons but 
 all Denmark rose to avenge the death of the war- 
 rior, not killed in battle but slain by foul torture. 
 Old feuds were laid aside, hostile tribes joined in 
 the expedition of revenge to rob and burn and tor- 
 ture, to kill and kill and kill. King Ella was put 
 to death with horrible tortures. 
 
 At first the Danish invasions were only swift 
 inroads for booty, repeated summer after sum- 
 
26 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 27 
 
 mer. At last came a memorable winter, — when 
 Alfred was only two years old, — when the Danes 
 for the first time wintered in England. From 
 that time on they were almost constantly in the 
 land. They left their wives and ships in camp 
 while they roamed abroad to plunder. The fear 
 and danger of the Danes must have been one of 
 the earliest memories of Prince Alfred. 
 
 An old chronicler gives a vivid picture of the 
 state of the country: "Wonder was it how when 
 the English kings were hastening to meet them in 
 the east, ere they could come up with their bands, 
 a breathless scout would run in saying: 'Sir 
 king, whither marchest thou? The heathen have 
 landed in the south, a countless fleet, towns and 
 hamlets are in flames, fire and slaughter on every 
 side.' Yea, and that very day another would 
 come running: 'Sir king, why withdrawest thou? 
 A fearsome host has come to shore in the west. 
 If ye face them not speedily, they will hold that 
 ye flee, and will be on your rear with fire and 
 sword.' Again on the morrow would dash up yet 
 another, saying : 'What place make ye for, noble 
 chieftains? In the north have the Danes made a 
 raid. Already have they burnt your dwellings. 
 Even now are they sweeping off your goods, toss- 
 ing your babes on their spear points, dishonoring 
 your wives and holding them in captivity.' Be- 
 
28 ENGLISH HISTORY STOBIES 
 
 wildered by such various tidings of bitter woe, 
 both kings and people lost heart, strength both 
 of mind and body, and were utterly cast down." 
 
 In 864 the Danes came to Kent, and as King 
 Ethelbert was not able to withstand them, he 
 made peace for the winter. In those troubled 
 times, "niade peace with the Danes" meant al- 
 ways "bought it for a goodly sum." 
 
 The invaders built shelters for their boats and 
 huts for themselves and went into camp for the 
 winter. Ethelbert, who did not lack courage, was 
 making ready a fighting force for the spring. 
 Perhaps the Danes were unwilling to let him com- 
 plete his preparations, perhaps they grew tired 
 gathering firewood and catching fish, — at all 
 events, they "like cunning foxes burst from their 
 camp by night ' ' and laid waste the shore of Kent. 
 Then they took sail and for some years they were 
 so busy fighting elsewhere that they did not re- 
 turn to the shores of England. 
 
 In this interval of peace, the mettle of young 
 Prince Alfred was being sorely tried. You will 
 remember that when Ethelbald died, the princes 
 Ethelred and Alfred agreed that Ethelbert should 
 be king. They gave him their treasure in trust 
 to return to them at his death. But when Ethel- 
 bert died in 866, Ethelred took possession of the 
 royal authority and the royal treasure and re- 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 29 
 
 fused flatly to grant Alfred a share of either. 
 Alfred was seventeen now, almost a man, able to 
 wield the power of wealth or of authority. Him- 
 self the soul of uprightness and honor, he must 
 have felt deeply his brother's injustice. Did he 
 resent it? Far otherwise. What would become 
 of the land in this time of need if the English did 
 not stand shoulder to shoulder? Prince Alfred 
 gave up his rights and became the loyal subject 
 of his brother Ethelred. 
 
 In 868, Alfred, then in his twentieth year, mar- 
 ried Elswitha of Mercia. According to the cus- 
 tom of the day, a great marriage feast was held. 
 There was "ox meat, sheep meat, the flesh of 
 swine, the meat of deer, and wild fowls." There 
 were great casks of mead and ale, pigment and 
 morat. There were gleemen and jesters and 
 jugglers. 
 
 But the feasting and merrymaking, we are told, 
 was all at once changed to woe. The young 
 bridegroom was stricken by a strange disease and 
 people thought his end was at hand. He lived, 
 but lived to be for twenty-four years the prey of 
 this dread disease. What it was we do not know. 
 It was a "sudden and overwhelming pain as yet 
 unknown to all the physicians." From youth to 
 middle age it hung over him; "if relieved from 
 the malady, the fear and dread of it never left 
 
30 ENGLISH HISTOEY STORIES 
 
 hiin." Yet all the pain and distress of it never 
 overcame Alfred's energy and strength of body 
 and of mind. In all his sufferings he could yet 
 fight, pray, invent, make laws, and rule so as to 
 win the title of "the Great." 
 
 The call to battle came soon after his marriage 
 and found him ready. In 870, he, for the first 
 time, fought against the Danes. A few months 
 later he had to take arms against them again. 
 The Danes and the English encamped opposite 
 each other at Ashdown. 
 
 What a contrast between the scenes in the two 
 camps ! In one the Danish chiefs were holding 
 brutal feasts and singing fierce battle-songs. 
 "We fought with swords. Man should meet man 
 and never give ground." In the other the young 
 prince, while his soldiers slept, drew from his 
 bosom the Psalms of David and by the flicker- 
 ing firelight read the holy words. 
 
 The next morning the Danes drew up their 
 great army in two divisions, one under two kings, 
 the other commanded by many earls. The Danes 
 had the advantage of the higher ground, and the 
 English position was rendered still more perilous 
 by Ethelred's delay in coming to the field of bat- 
 tle. Alfred, "sheathed in armor and in prayer," 
 made a desperate charge. He cut down two Dan- 
 ish leaders with his own sword, and broke the 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 31 
 
 force of their array. The fight raged long and 
 fiercely on the hillside, around "a single thorn of 
 stunted growth." At last the invaders were put 
 to flight. One king, five earls, and hundreds of 
 soldiers were left on the battlefield, a feast for 
 wolves and ravens. 
 
 In memory of this great victory, a white horse, 
 the standard of the English, was made on the 
 hillside at Ashdown, by cutting away the turf 
 from the white limestone. There it is to be seen 
 to-day. 
 
 Some say Ethelred was wounded in this battle. 
 We know that he died soon after, and that at his 
 death, in April, 871, Alfred became king of the 
 English. 
 
 DEFEAT 
 
 At twenty-three, then, Alfred was king. We 
 may well believe him when he says that he began 
 to reign reluctantly. "The possession of earthly 
 power I did not like well, nor strongly desired at 
 all this earthly kingdom, but felt it to be the work 
 I was commanded to do." 
 
 It was over a disturbed and desolate land that 
 he was called to rule. Indeed, though he had the 
 title of king, the Danes held most of the kingdom, 
 — Northumbria, East Anglia, the greater part of 
 Mercia and of Essex. There was no pomp, no 
 
32 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 merrymaking at his accession. The national as- 
 sembly, the Witan, did not even meet to make 
 him king. He was to be king, he or none. If he 
 could gather and hold the people together, a na- 
 tion, and free them from the Danes, well and 
 good. If not, the end was at hand. ''The fate 
 of England hung on the arm and heart and brain 
 of this youth." Would he be equal to his task? 
 For two years, it seemed not. 
 
 Alfred's reign began with defeat. The Danes 
 had the best in a battle fought a month after 
 Ethelred's death. Hard pressed, they pretended 
 to retreat, then turned on the pursuing and dis- 
 ordered English, and changed flight into victory. 
 The first year of Alfred's reign is sometimes called 
 his Year of Battles. Besides many skirmishes, he 
 fought nine great battles. Then he probably pur- 
 chased peace, and for four whole years the Danes 
 avoided Wessex. The king made use of the time 
 to collect and drill soldiers ; he also built ships 
 and trained sailors. He realized that the Danes 
 could never be kept at bay so long as the coast 
 was open to their inroads. When seven Danish 
 ships appeared off the coast in 875, they were met 
 on a new battle ground, the sea. This was Eng- 
 land 's first naval victory, the beginning of her ca- 
 reer as mistress of the sea. One of the Danish 
 ships was lost and the others were forced to re- 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 33 
 
 tire. But brief was the time for rejoicing over 
 this victory. In 876 came a great "summer 
 army" of Danes, resolved to conquer the young 
 king who had withstood them on land and on sea. 
 
 Alfred sent abroad his messengers over the 
 land, each bearing an arrow and a naked sword. 
 "What ho, Saxons," they cried to the dwellers 
 in country and village and town. "Listen to the 
 word of the king. Alfred would have aid against 
 the Dane. Let every man that is not a niddering 
 leave his house and land and come. This is the 
 word of the king." 
 
 But in vain Alfred and his men attempted to 
 withstand that swift, terrible foe. There was no 
 peace except what the king purchased. The 
 money once in hand, the Danes were as ready to 
 break a treaty as to make it. They no longer 
 came as a "summer army." They came in great 
 hosts and "covered the land like locusts." The 
 English were not used to winter fighting, and they 
 seemed helpless before this attack. The Danes 
 laid waste farms, burned villages, and destroyed 
 churches. They seized flocks and herds and treas- 
 ure, tortured women and children, and murdered 
 priests. No wonder, as the old chronicle tells us, 
 "many people fled across the sea," for at home 
 there was safety neither for property nor for life. 
 It seemed as if the English race was to be de- 
 
34 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 stroyed, the English land to pass into heathen 
 hands. 
 
 What of the young king whose reign from its 
 beginning had been a struggle to defend his peo- 
 ple against this enemy? For him the winter of 
 878 was a terrible one. "His cause seemed hope- 
 less, but Alfred's cause was not hopeless as long 
 as Alfred was alive." 
 
 For some months the king disappeared. He 
 hid with the wild beasts, in the forest. For 
 awhile he took refuge in a swineherd's cottage, 
 a rude hut of turf and sticks. Its inmates re- 
 ceived the wanderer, not knowing that he was 
 their king. 
 
 It is said that one day the swineherd's wife 
 put some cakes to bake in the ashes on the hearth. 
 As she was busy about her household duties, she 
 called on Alfred who was sitting beside the fire to 
 attend to them. Off she bustled. Alfred sat 
 there making an arrow and thinking of his people 
 and the Danes, not of the cakes. Back came the 
 housewife to find them burned to a crisp. 
 "Shame on you, man," she cried, "never to turn 
 the cakes when you see them burn. I warrant 
 you're ready enough to eat them when they are 
 done." 
 
 From this humble retreat, the king went at 
 Easter to Athelnav. This is an alder-covered 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 
 
 35 
 
 patch of island, only about two acres in extent, 
 surrounded by swamps, at the meeting of the 
 rivers Thone and Parret. Here Alfred collected 
 a few trusty followers and built a fort. 
 
 At Athelnay was found about two hundred 
 
 Gold Jewel of Alfred. Found at Athelnay 
 
 years ago the only existing personal relic of the 
 king. "Alfred's jewel," as it is called, is now in 
 the museum at Oxford. It is a piece of crystal 
 ornamented with a figure in enamel. The rim and 
 back are of gold, and around the edge is the in- 
 scription "Alfred had me made." 
 
 From Athelnay the king sent out his men by 
 
36 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Alfred in the Danish Camp 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 37 
 
 twos and threes to get food or to spy on the 
 enemy. It is said that Alfred himself with a sin- 
 gle attendant went disguised as a harper to the 
 camp of the Danes. He sang and played before 
 the Danish chief, and learned the numbers and 
 the plans of his enemy. This, like the story of 
 the burning cakes, may be fact or may be fiction. 
 
 According to a legend, when Alfred was in sore 
 straits at Athelnay, there one day appeared be- 
 fore him a beggar imploring food. There was 
 left for the king himself only one loaf and a 
 little wine. Of this he ordered his servant to 
 give half to the old man. Then the beggar passed 
 out of the hall. Soon after, the king's servants, 
 who had gone to seek food, returned with great 
 quantities of fish and game; Alfred's loaf was 
 found whole and his wine undiminished. 
 
 Then men began to wonder and question about 
 the beggar whom none had seen come and go. 
 That night, in the likeness of St. Cuthbert, he 
 appeared to the king. He blessed Alfred. "Be 
 strong and joyous," he said, "for God has given 
 this kingdom to you and to your sons and to your 
 sons' sons." 
 
 And now indeed the fortunes of war changed. 
 For nine years Alfred had struggled and fought 
 a losing fight. Now in less than two weeks he 
 broke the power of the Danes. 
 
38 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 VICTORY 
 
 Whether or not he went as a harper to the Dan- 
 ish camp, Alfred learned enough about their num- 
 bers and schemes to make definite plans of his 
 own. He sent forth the arrow and the sword 
 among his people, calling on all who were not 
 niddering to join him against the Danes. N id dry- 
 ing was the strongest term of reproach known to 
 the Saxons — it meant cowardly and utterly worth- 
 less. An English soldier considered death prefer- 
 able to this reproach. 
 
 The Englishmen heard the call of their king 
 and obeyed. Alfred, great as he was, could have 
 done nothing had not his people been great also. 
 No king can create an army that is stronger, a 
 kingdom that is better, than the people who make 
 it up, any more than a builder can make a tower 
 that is stronger than the stones and mortar he 
 puts in it. The great king, the great builder, 
 must have worthy materials to create forms of 
 strength and beauty. 
 
 Alfred left Athelnay, the island in the forest 
 swamp, early in May. He was joined by fighting 
 men who received him with "much joy and re- 
 joicing." After one night's rest, they marched 
 against the Danes, who were much surprised at 
 this uprising of an army from a people which 
 they thought crushed. There followed the fierce 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 39 
 
 battle of Etliandune. "All the long day did the 
 two peoples fight," says the old historian, "and 
 far off might you hear the shouting and the crash 
 of arms." All day long, despite the assaults of 
 the Danes, the ranks of the English were never 
 broken; with the day the battle ended, leaving 
 Alfred and his English victorious. The Danes, 
 "the enemies of peace, asked peace." 
 
 It was not enough for Alfred to overcome his 
 foes in battle, he overcame their wild ways and 
 wicked natures. This was the constant aim of 
 his life, — to make men wiser, happier, and better. 
 He prevailed on King Guthrum and the other 
 Danish leaders to give up their heathen faith and 
 be baptized as Christians. He granted them 
 much of the land already occupied by them — which 
 was, indeed, nearly half of England — and they 
 made a solemn treaty not to invade the king's 
 land. 
 
 The treaty was kept, and as long as Guthrum 
 lived, Alfred had no trouble with the Danes in 
 England. 
 
 ' ' BUILDER OF SHIPS AND OF LAWS ' ' 
 
 The king was now victor over the Dane and 
 master of his own land — but what a land ! Wher- 
 ever Alfred turned, he saw ruin and desolation. 
 Where once had been fields of flax and wheat, were 
 
40 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 weeds and thickets. Where flocks had fed, ravens 
 feasted. Where had been farm-houses, were 
 heaps of ashes. Where churches had stood, were 
 piles of stones. Whitening on the fields, were the 
 bones of men, women and children who had been 
 tortured to death and left unburied. 
 
 From the swamps and forests in which they 
 had taken refuge, the people returned to their 
 homes. Crops were planted, herds and flocks ac- 
 cumulated, and life went on as in old days. 
 
 But Alfred desired better things. He realized 
 that this peace was but a lull in the tempest. 
 There to the northwest, like a storm cloud, were 
 the sea kings waiting but time to burst again 
 upon the land. The first duty of peace was "to 
 prepare for war. ' ' 
 
 Alfred saw that the two great causes of Dan- 
 is^ success were, first, their quickness of move- 
 ment on land and sea, and, second, their strength 
 of defense when stationary. He realized that if 
 the English were to be conquerors, they must equal 
 their foes in these respects. There must be strong 
 forts where men could gather to defend the coasts, 
 there must be an army which could be quickly as- 
 sembled where it was needed, there must be ships 
 to meet the sea kings on their own battle ground. 
 The king urged these matters upon his people, 
 for his people's aid he had to have. 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 41 
 
 As Alfred himself said, "These are the mate- 
 rials of a king's work and his tools to govern 
 with; that he have his land fully peopled; that 
 he have his prayer men and army men and work 
 men. What! Thou knowest that without these 
 tools no king may show his skill." 
 
 His subjects, driven to extremity, had been 
 ready to join him in desperate battle against the 
 Danes ; later, when years had proved his strength 
 and wisdom as well as his valor, love and fear and 
 pride won their obedience. But now, a young 
 and untried king, he was urging them to ways they 
 knew not. Why should they disturb themselves 
 about the future? Let the future look to itself. 
 The Danes were gone. They wished to enjoy the 
 time of peace. The king could not even count on 
 his friends to aid him, for they, too, would "will- 
 ingly undergo little or no toil, though it were for 
 the common need of the kingdom." 
 
 In order to have the needed help, Alfred created 
 more thanes who were to rule under him and for 
 him in peace, and to follow him in war. They 
 formed a little force which might be called out 
 in time of need without delaying to consult the 
 Witan, or great council, and they were valuable 
 as the nucleus of a larger army. 
 
 Alfred established a line of forts around the 
 land, building new ones and replacing the old 
 
42 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 wooden ones with towers of stone. Here a watch 
 could be kept for the enemy, signals could be 
 made, and people could gather for refuge or for 
 defense. The towns were rebuilt and the citizens 
 were encouraged to fortify them. 
 
 The army was reorganized, for the purpose of 
 getting the greatest possible security for the land, 
 at the expense of the least burden to the people. 
 It was divided into three parts, one cf which was 
 on duty every month, except during the three 
 winter months when English and Danes rarely 
 fought. The whole army could, of course, be 
 called out in time of need, and the monthly train- 
 ing kept all in a state of readiness. 
 
 Alfred had to reorganize the army, but he had 
 to create a navy. For a thousand years he has 
 been honored as the father of the English navy. 
 
 Centuries before, the English — Angles, Saxons, 
 and Jutes, as they were then called — had been a 
 sea-faring people, defying wave and weather in 
 their boats of osier covered with skins. Now 
 they were again to become sailors and sea-sol- 
 diers. Alfred had built and manned a few ships 
 during the early years of his reign. Now he en- 
 larged his navy and increased its efficiency. He 
 built vessels larger and higher than those of the 
 Danes, thus gaining in swiftness and steadiness. 
 He collected sailors from all parts of the country, 
 
ALFRED THE GEEAT 43 
 
 and two years after the treaty of Wedmore an 
 English fleet of a hundred galleys kept the coast 
 clear of sea rovers. 
 
 The king was fortunate in having a space of 
 peace in which to upbuild forts and army and 
 navy. He made diligent use of it so that when 
 the enemy came — for sooner or later he knew that 
 they would come — they might find him prepared. 
 
 At this time the Danes were busy on the Con- 
 tinent. Except one unimportant engagement, 
 there was no fighting between Danes and English 
 for six years after Ethandune. 
 
 Then Alfred had to oppose the enemy on sea 
 and land. We have no account of the contest, but 
 it is evident from the treaty in Alfred's favor that 
 the advantage was his. This new treaty restored 
 London and the surrounding country to his king- 
 dom. Alfred rebuilt and fortified the city, and 
 from that day to this it has never been in the 
 hands of an invading foe. 
 
 Having made his land safe from attack, the 
 king set to work to build up order within. His 
 work as lawgiver began early and continued 
 late, but probably most of it was done in the ten 
 or fifteen years after Ethandune. He did not at 
 first make new laws. He revised and set in order 
 the old ones. Finding it necessary to make a 
 new code, he built it up on a threefold foundation. 
 
44 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 First, the law of God as laid down in the Bible. 
 
 Second, the old law of the land as laid down in 
 the old codes. 
 
 Third, the justice which is due each and every 
 man. 
 
 He prefixed to his code Christ's words, "As ye 
 would that men should do to you, do ye also to 
 them likewise." "By this one command," the 
 king added, "a man shall know whether he 
 does right, and he will require no other law 
 book." 
 
 He then gave selections from the Bible, — the 
 ten commandments, some chapters from Exodus, 
 and a passage from Acts. After these laws — 
 God's laws for all his people, English as well as 
 Hebrew — Alfred gave the laws of Ina amended 
 and approved by the Witan. To these he added 
 such new ones as seemed necessary. 
 
 Every crime was regarded as an offense against 
 man and against God. The civil penalty was 
 fixed and was enforced by the civil court, then the 
 culprit was turned over to the priest or bishop 
 for the spiritual penalty. Fines were the chief 
 method of punishment, according to the old Saxon 
 custom that crime must literally be paid for. 
 Laws against falsehood were made especially se- 
 vere by Alfred "The Truthteller. " The penalty 
 for public slander was the loss of the tongue. 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 45 
 
 Alfred improved the old system of judgment 
 by one's peers or equals into trial by jury and 
 extended the shire system throughout England, 
 but he did not, as has often been asserted, invent 
 trial by jury nor first divide England into shires. 
 His work in law was wisely and constantly that 
 of a reformer rather than that of an inventor. 
 
 When a wise, just code of laws had been formed 
 by King Alfred, his work was only half done. 
 The next, and not the least part of his task, was 
 to have these laws enforced. The Eldermen of 
 the shires were held responsible for carrying them 
 out. Here a difficulty confronted Alfred. Most 
 of these Eldermen held office on account of their 
 rank or their service in war. Few of them could 
 read. It was the earnest desire of Alfred that 
 they should learn, but the task was difficult. It 
 must have been a pathetic as well as an amusing 
 sight to behold those bearded warriors flounder- 
 ing over their tasks. Stout old soldiers who had 
 conquered the Danes could not master the A B 
 C's. So Alfred commanded that those who 
 through age or slowness could not learn, "should 
 have young men read Saxon books to them in 
 their leisure." 
 
 The king himself kept a sharp oversight on the 
 administration of justice. He sent envoys to the 
 different shires, and he himself heard appeals 
 
46 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 from the lower courts. Merciful and gentle as he 
 was, he could be stern when duty demanded it. It 
 is said that he had forty-four Eldermen hanged 
 "for scandalous conduct on the judgment seat." 
 
 This work of reforming the laws and the law 
 courts kept Alfred busy for many years. So well 
 did justice come to be administered throughout 
 his kingdom that it was said a man might hang a 
 pair of gold bracelets at the cross roads and no 
 one would lay hands on them, or might leave 
 money at night on a stone beside the highway 
 and find it there next day. 
 
 One day, it is said, when Alfred and his thanes 
 were assembled in his hall a messenger brought 
 tidings of the death of the thane of Holderness, 
 leaving one young son. One thane after another 
 urged the king to give him the estate, — one be- 
 cause he was a kinsman of the dead thane, an- 
 other because the land adjoined his, another as 
 reward for his service in war. The king listened 
 in silence. Then there entered the hall a woman 
 leading by the hand the young son of the dead 
 thane. 
 
 She urged his claim : "0 king, regard it ! " 
 
 The rights of heirship were not then firmly es- 
 tablished, and it was not unusual nor thought un- 
 just for a king to take estates from children and 
 grant them to men who could serve him in war or 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 47 
 
 council. So the thanes asked the child scornfully 
 what he could do for the king in return for a 
 thanedom. 
 
 "I could pray to God in heaven," answered the 
 child. 
 
 "Holderness is yours, my child," said the king. 
 " Yours by birthright and by the orphan's claim, 
 and yours it shall be." Then turning to his 
 thanes he told them that they should have due 
 praise and reward, but not at the expense of a 
 helpless child. 
 
 ' 7 
 
 AGAIN THE DANES 
 
 The time was at hand when Alfred and his king- 
 dom were to need all defenses, swords of men and 
 prayers of children. For nearly fifteen years the 
 English had had comparative peace, beating back 
 with ease the few skirmishing attacks of the 
 Danes. 
 
 But in 893 came a great invasion led by Has- 
 tings, a renowned and powerful chief. Well was 
 it for Alfred and for England and for Europe 
 that the king had used the years of peace to such 
 good purpose. Well was it that his forts were 
 strong and his ships swift and his army well 
 trained, that by wise laws and just rule he had 
 built up a firm kingdom. 
 
 The invasion of the Dane was quick and ter- 
 
48 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 rible like those of old, but not as of old did it find 
 an enemy unprepared. There came two fleets, 
 one of two hundred and fifty ships, the other of 
 eighty, filled with warriors and their wives and 
 children — for they came to conquer and to pos- 
 sess the land. They established two camps about 
 twenty-six miles apart, each having a way open to 
 the sea. Between these were thick woods to con- 
 ceal their marches and shelter their defeats. Al- 
 fred was too wise to attack at once these strong- 
 holds. An army under his warlike son, Edward, 
 was stationed between the two camps, and there 
 were occasional skirmishes but no general battle. 
 
 Alfred, meanwhile, strengthened the forts and 
 the towns and made every part of his army and 
 navy ready for service. He called on the Danes 
 living in the country to renew their oath of peace 
 and made them give hostages not to aid the in- 
 vaders. 
 
 For nearly a year the Danes remained en- 
 camped on English soil, closely watched and 
 hemmed in by the English armies. Then Has- 
 tings moved to a new camp which he fortified so 
 strongly that he dared leave it in search of plun- 
 der. During his absence Prince Edward took the 
 fort and captured the women and children, among 
 them Hastings' own sons. These Alfred restored 
 unharmed. 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 49 
 
 Hastings, joined by Danes from all parts of the 
 country, was forced northward. They were re- 
 duced to such extremity for food that they ate 
 their horses. After several unsuccessful attempts 
 to evade the English army, they made a dash 
 across England "without stopping day or night," 
 and fortified themselves behind the old Roman 
 wall at Chester. The English did not attempt to 
 attack that stronghold. They destroyed the pro- 
 visions in the neighborhood and left the Danes to 
 winter and starvation. Driven from the camp 
 by want of food, the Danish forces made a last 
 and desperate stand about twenty miles from 
 London. They fortified a camp and drew up 
 their ships so as to keep a way open to the sea. 
 
 Riding along the stream, Alfred saw a place 
 above the camp where the stream might be di- 
 verted from its course. Were this done, the 
 Danes would be cut off from retreat by sea, their 
 fleet rendered useless, and their army laid open 
 to attack. The Danes either failed to understand 
 Alfred's purpose or doubted his ability to accom- 
 plish it. They remained in position month after 
 month while his work went on. It was finished, 
 it was successful. The Danes, forced to abandon 
 their ships, broke up camp and left the neighbor- 
 hood. Repulsed at every point, at last they "got 
 them ships and fared south over sea" in 897. 
 
50 ENGLISH HISTORY STOI1IES 
 
 The king swept the coasts clear of the scum re- 
 maining and hanged the pirates who had risen in 
 this time of disorder. 
 
 Thus ended Alfred's wars. He had saved Eng- 
 land from one of the most desperate of the for- 
 eign invasions, the last serious attack of the Danes 
 for nearly a hundred years. "Thanks be to 
 God," says the devout old chronicler in record- 
 ing the departure of their forces, "the army had 
 not broken up the English race." 
 
 It was not only England which Alfred saved. 
 Had the Danes secured a foothold in England, 
 they would have held it as an armed camp from 
 which to direct their expeditions to the adjoining 
 coasts of Europe. In saving his own land, Al- 
 fred saved France and Europe from the scourge 
 of these heathen hosts. 
 
 Alfred was free from the Danes and free from 
 another enemy which had tormented him for many 
 years. We are told that in his forty-fifth year 
 the disease which had distressed him and baffled 
 all the skill of wise men departed and disturbed 
 him no more. 
 
 ALFRED THE SCHOLAR 
 
 A great king Alfred had already proved him- 
 self to be, — soldier, patriot, law-giver, law-en- 
 forcer and statesman. Had he been onlv this he 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 51 
 
 would have had a high place among great men. 
 But he was all this and more. He was scholar, 
 author, and saint. The English language owes as 
 much to him as the English nation, and the 
 world \s debt is great to him whose holy life shines 
 out as a light in darkness. 
 
 When Alfred came to the throne, he found 
 learning neglected, owing to the destruction by 
 the Danes of the monasteries and the schools at- 
 tached to them. Reading was a rare art among 
 the people. The king wished that ' ' all the youth 
 of free-born Englishmen" might at least be able 
 to read their own language. For this purpose he 
 established schools in various parts of the king- 
 dom where they could learn "lessons in books and 
 lessons in virtue. ' ' 
 
 Alfred put civil and spiritual law side by side. 
 So in education he put mental and moral training 
 side by side. It is not well to have a man made 
 wiser unless at the same time he is made better. 
 Knowledge in the hand of an evil man is like a 
 sword in the hand of a wicked one. To train men 
 in the law of God, Alfred rebuilt old monasteries 
 and established new ones. 
 
 Alfred established a court school where the chil- 
 dren of his thanes were trained and educated with 
 his own sons. They were taught to read and to 
 write Saxon and Latin, and to take part in hunt- 
 
52 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 ing and other arts "befitting well-born men." It 
 was not easy to find in England men able to take 
 charge of schools and convents, but Alfred grad- 
 ually drew to his land and court, learned and 
 pious men from France and other countries. 
 
 One of the king's intimate friends for many 
 years was a Welsh priest named Asser, who wrote 
 an account of Alfred's life and reign. The fame 
 of Asser 's learning and piety reached the king, 
 who invited the monk to leave his home in Wales 
 and devote himself to the royal service. But As- 
 ser, loving his own land and people, would not 
 promise to do this. At last he agreed to come to 
 the king for six months in the year. At the end 
 of the first six months he asked leave to return 
 to Wales. Instead of answering directly, the 
 king "gave him many rich gifts and made him a 
 Christmas present of two monasteries," in charge 
 of which Asser remained in England. 
 
 In order to divide his time fairly among his 
 various duties, Alfred had candles made of a 
 certain size so as to burn a certain length of time. 
 He found that the wind made them flicker and 
 vary as to time of burning. Therefore he in- 
 vented a kind of lantern made of "wood and white 
 ox horn skillfully planed till it is thin." To the 
 candles balls were attached by threads, When 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 53 
 
 these threads burned in two the balls fell and by 
 their noise marked the passage of time. 
 
 Busy as his life was, the king found time for 
 mirth and social pleasure. His thanes feasted 
 with him in his hall and he shared their jests and 
 laughter. Sometimes he took the harp from his 
 gleemen and sang to its accompaniment folk- 
 songs which thrilled hearts with patriotism or sa- 
 cred songs which lifted souls heavenward. With 
 him feasting did not pass into drunkenness and 
 waste of time, as was too often the case with the 
 English. Warned by his candle-clock that it was 
 time for study, he withdrew from the hall. Per- 
 haps he listened to Asser's reading of some Latin 
 text, perhaps he himself read the book and 
 changed it into English words. 
 
 All his life Alfred had loved study. " There- 
 fore he seems to me a very foolish man, ' ' he said, 
 "and very wretched who will not increase his un- 
 derstanding while he is in the world, and ever 
 wish and long to reach that endless life where all 
 shall be made clear." 
 
 In the leisure of the latter part of his reign he 
 became himself a maker of books. Before his day 
 there was no Anglo-Saxon prose. The "Anglo- 
 Saxon Chronicle," the oldest English history, re- 
 cords that "Alfred bade make me." It is an his- 
 
54 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 torical account of the English on the plan of the 
 Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible. Begun by Al- 
 fred's command, it was carried out under his di- 
 rection, probably under his dictation. 
 
 The first book which the king made was, we 
 are told, written for himself. In it were collected 
 good words and great thoughts that he read or 
 heard from the learned monks around him. 
 These were written down in a little book called a 
 manual or handbook, because he kept it at hand 
 night and day. 
 
 Asser quaintly says, "Like a most productive 
 bee he flew here and there, asking questions as he 
 went until he had eagerly and unceasingly col- 
 lected many various flowers of divine scriptures 
 with which he thickly stored all of his mind." 
 This handbook has long been lost. 
 
 It was not in the nature of Alfred to devote 
 himself even to study entirely for himself. He 
 was as eager to teach as to learn. There were 
 few books then in the Saxon language; its litera- 
 ture consisted of a few poems. The king deter- 
 mined to put other books in reach of his people. 
 In the leisure after the final repulse of the Danes 
 in 897, he turned several Latin books into Eng- 
 lish. These translations are not mere literal ver- 
 sions of the texts. Alfred selected books he wished 
 his people to read; he changed, omitted, and en- 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 
 
 55 
 
 larged at will. He was author and editor, as well 
 as translator. He was the father of English 
 prose, creating a prose style five centuries before 
 the time of Chaucer, the father of English poetry. 
 
 Besides his Laws, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 
 and the Handbook of selections and historical 
 notes, Alfred translated or compiled five books. 
 These five books were the Dialogues of Gregory, 
 
56 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 the Pastorals of Gregory, the histories of Bede 
 and Orosius, and the Consolations of Boethius. 
 
 The Dialogues is really a story-book of popular 
 tales with morals about answered prayers, pun- 
 ished wickedness, etc. 
 
 The Pastorals is a text-book of education for 
 the priesthood. Alfred had a copy of it sent to 
 every bishop; three of these copies have come 
 down to the present day. 
 
 To put in the hands of English youth a history 
 of their own country, the king translated Bede's 
 History of his own land and church. The His- 
 tory of Orosius had a wider scope. It purported 
 to be a geography of the world and gave an out- 
 line history of the world from Adam to the fall 
 of the Roman Empire. Alfred inserted an ac- 
 count of the geography of Germany, and the sto- 
 ries of two voyages told him by two sea cap- 
 tains. One of these is the account of Wulfstan's 
 voyage to the gulf of Finland, the other is nota- 
 ble as being the first recorded voyage of Arctic 
 adventure. Others who ''dwelt northmost of all 
 Northmen" told King Alfred of a whaling voyage 
 on which he went due north. Longfellow has 
 made a poem founded on King Alfred's account 
 of this voyage of the Northmen. 
 
 Of all the books which he translated, King Al- 
 fred probably took most loving, personal interest 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 57 
 
 in the ''Golden Book" of Boethius, a collection of 
 moral and religious thoughts. Boethius was a 
 noble Roman who was thrown into prison by the 
 king of the Goths. He consoled himself by writ- 
 ing this book, the main thought of which is that 
 everything that comes to a man is good for him if 
 only he seek after God and His will. 
 
 We are told that often in his early years of 
 trial Alfred quoted Boethius 's words : 
 
 "Though ruin on ruin 
 Be heaped through the world, 
 Though on by the wild wind 
 The billows be hurled, 
 Thou, stablished in quiet, 
 Thou, happy and strong, 
 Mayst smile at the tempest 
 Through all thy life long." 
 
 The book is partly prose, partly poetry. The 
 prose Alfred rendered in prose, the poetry he 
 turned into verse. Often half of a poem is Boe- 
 thius 's and half is King Alfred's. As the thought 
 of Boethius suggested thoughts to Alfred, he 
 spoke in his own words of the beauty of bird 
 songs, the worth of friends, the joy of a calm 
 haven after storm. 
 
 The literary work of Alfred, great as it is, 
 was all composed in the last few years of his 
 reign. He had no time for it before the defeat of 
 the Danes under Guthrum in 878, and it is proba^ 
 
58 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 ble that almost all of it was done during the last 
 four years of his reign, after the final defeat. of 
 the Danes under Hastings. 
 
 Alfred's. thoughts and interests were not eon- 
 fined to his own land. Time after time he sent 
 gifts and greetings to far-off rulers and even to 
 St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew in India. 
 
 Of Alfred's home life we know little. He seems 
 to have had joy and comfort in his wife and chil- 
 dren. We are told that his sons were brave and 
 worthy, his daughters famous for their skill in 
 spinning and weaving and needle-work. He had 
 six children, three sons and three daughters. The 
 eldest, Ethelfleda, called "the Lady of Mercia," 
 shared the government of Mercia with her hus- 
 band and ruled well and wisely after his death. 
 Edmund died in boyhood. Edward, who inherited 
 his father's courage and ability to govern, suc- 
 ceeded Alfred on the throne. Ethelgiva became 
 abbess of a religious house which her father 
 founded, and was famous for her learning and her 
 piety. Elfrida married Baldwin, Count of Flan- 
 ders, and through her Edward VII. is descended 
 from Alfred. The youngest son, Ethelward, in- 
 herited his father's taste for letters. 
 
 One pleasant glimpse we get of Alfred during 
 his last years. At his court was his beautiful 
 little grandson, Athelstan, We are told that on 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 59 
 
 a certain day Alfred delighted the child's heart 
 with the gift of a scarlet cloak, a jeweled belt, and 
 a sword with a golden scabbard. 
 
 Alfred had now reigned nearly thirty years. 
 "This will I now truly say," he said, "that while 
 I have lived I have striven to live worthily, and 
 after my life to leave to the men who were after 
 me my memory in good works. ' ' 
 
 An old chronicle gives an account of his fare- 
 well charge to his son and successor, Edward. 
 It is true to the spirit if not the words of the 
 king. 
 
 "Thus quoth Alfred: 'My dear son, sit thou 
 now beside me and I will deliver thee true instruc- 
 tion. My son, I feel that my hour is near, my face 
 is pale, my days are nearly run. We must soon 
 part, I shall go to another world and thou shalt 
 be left alone with all my wealth. I pray thee, 
 for thou art my dear child, strive to be a father 
 and a lord to thy people; be thou the children's 
 father and the widow's friend; comfort thou the 
 poor and shelter the weak and with all thy might 
 right that which is wrong. And, my son, govern 
 thyself by law, then shall the Lord love thee, and 
 God above all things shall be thy reward. Call 
 thou upon Him to advise thee in all thy need, and 
 so He shall help thee the better to compass that 
 which thou wouldst.' " 
 
60 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Alfred died in October, 901, and was buried at 
 Winchester. But his bones were not suffered to 
 remain undisturbed. They were removed to 
 Hyde Abbey; during the Reformation and after- 
 wards during the Civil War, the tombs were 
 opened and the remains scattered. It was claimed 
 that the bones of Alfred were taken to Oxford and 
 reburied. We do not know. 
 
 "A thousand years his bones are dust, 
 Yet men still name him as 'the Just.' 
 A hundred kings have ruled his state, 
 Yet him alone she names 'the Great.' " 
 
 A German historian says that Alfred is one of 
 the greatest figures in the history of the world. 
 He unites the excellences of Caesar, the soldier, 
 lawgiver, and historian, — Washington, the patriot 
 and statesman, — and David, the sweet singer and 
 saint. 
 
 It is amazing to see in how many lines Alfred 
 acted and excelled. He was an inventor. He 
 improved the shape and build of war vessels and 
 invented the lantern. 
 
 He was a soldier and a general. In those days 
 when a king led his army, personal strength and 
 courage counted for much. Alfred met his enemy 
 "face to face, hand to hand, and never gave way." 
 He built forts, reorganized the army, and created 
 a navy. In fifty-six battles he defeated his ene- 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 61 
 
 mies, and turned the hosts of invading heathen 
 from his shores. But he never drew his sword 
 except in defense of his land or in behalf of jus- 
 tice. 
 
 He was a lawmaker and a statesman. He set 
 in order the old code of the land, and added such 
 new laws as the times demanded. He made the 
 code as brief and as simple as possible, and he 
 saw that it was enforced in every part of the 
 land. He made new thanes, perfected the system 
 of trial by jury, divided the shires, and established 
 the land in peace and order. 
 
 He was an educator and a reformer. He es- 
 tablished schools and monasteries, drew to his 
 kingdom learned men from other lands, and gave 
 his personal attention to the training of youth. 
 By precept and example, he inspired love for 
 learning and virtue. 
 
 He was a scholar and a man of letters. He 
 committed to memory old Saxon poems and selec- 
 tions from the Scriptures, and read the works of 
 the Latin fathers. On the eve of battle, in the 
 breathing space between royal duties, he devoted 
 himself to study. He was himself the father of 
 English prose. The Chronicle which he had com- 
 piled, the books which he translated, edited, and 
 composed, fixed the Saxon language of the day. 
 
 He was a musician. He not only accompanied 
 
62 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 himself on the harp when he sang the old songs 
 and psalms of his people, he composed words and 
 music and "did harp most excellently." 
 
 He was a holy man, a man of blameless life, and 
 simple, straightforward piety. His whole soul 
 longed for God and he broke out often into ap- 
 peals like those of the Psalmist. "Hear me, Lord, 
 Thy servant. Thee alone I love over all other 
 things. Thee I seek. Thee I follow. Thee I am 
 ready to serve. Under Thy government I wish 
 to abide, for Thou alone reignest." 
 
 Yet this scholar, statesman, and saint was no 
 absorbed, unapproachable man. He was strong, 
 tender, human. He loved his family and his 
 thanes and was affectionate and genial. He loved 
 his subjects and was always ready to listen to 
 appeals for justice and mercy. 
 
 How his people heaped terms of praise and en- 
 dearment upon him! "Alfred the Truthteller," 
 "England's Herdsman," "England's Comfort," 
 "England's Darling." 
 
 "Alfred the great one, the wise one, 
 • ' Builder of ships and of laws." 
 
 "Alfred the Good," against whom no charge of 
 evil was ever brought. 
 
 We find most of the renowned men of history 
 great in one direction, or in a few. Their char- 
 
ALFRED THE GREAT 63 
 
 acters are often disfigured by faults and they usu- 
 ally repeat the vices and virtues of their day. 
 But Alfred stands apart and rises above his age, 
 the ideal man and king. For him we have to 
 make no allowance and no apology. No blot 
 darkens his character, no vice stains his virtues, 
 of which it is well said that ' ' the least was to have 
 been a king." From a dark and ignorant age, his 
 life rises like the pure, fragrant lily from the 
 slime and darkness of the pool. 
 
William the Conqueror 
 
 THE BOY DUKE 
 
 William I., whose reign made a turning point 
 in English history, was by birth a Norman, a de- 
 scendant of the fierce heathen Northmen, from 
 whose rule Alfred the Great saved England. It 
 was in the reign of Alfred that the sea-king, Rollo, 
 was driven from his native land. He came to the 
 islands off the coast of Scotland and vainly sought 
 a foothold in England. Then he sailed across 
 the Channel. 
 
 There he found a shore very different from the 
 open, level land of England. It was a wild, 
 rough coast with great granite cliffs, dangerous 
 shoals, and sandbanks, hardly to be penetrated 
 except by its rivers. Up one of these rivers Rollo 
 sailed with his fierce crew, and found back of the 
 frowning cliffs a rich and fertile land. This he 
 took possession of by the only law which he rec- 
 ognized — the right of the strongest. 
 
 Having made himself master of the north of 
 France, Rollo gave up his old roving life, mar- 
 
 64 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 65 
 
 ried the daughter of the French king, Charles, and 
 resigned his heathen religion for the Christian 
 faith. In the course of time Rollo's followers 
 adopted the speech and manners of the French 
 and became Normans instead of Northmen. But, 
 French as they seemed, we must bear in mind that 
 they were of the same race — strong, warlike, rov- 
 ing — as the English themselves. 
 
 The fifth in descent from Rollo the Northman 
 was Duke Robert the Norman. His liberality and 
 love of splendor won him the surname, ' ' the Mag- 
 nificent," and his recklessness and wickedness 
 won him the surname, "the Devil." 
 
 Before he became duke, while he was as yet 
 only count, Robert spent much of his time at the 
 castle of Falaise. This was a Norman strong- 
 hold with walls so thick that rooms were built in 
 them. The hill rose steep and inaccessible on 
 three sides, but on the fourth a winding roadway 
 gave access to the castle. At the foot of the hill 
 was the town of Falaise. 
 
 There is an old tale that as Count Robert came 
 home from hunting one day he saw some bare- 
 footed girls washing clothes in the stream beside 
 the road. One was so fair of face and form that 
 she won his notice and his love. She was Arlotta, 
 the daughter of a tanner, and she became the 
 
66 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 mother of Count Robert's two children, his daugh- 
 ter Adelaide, and his son William, who was born 
 in October, 1027 or 1028. 
 
 In 1028 Duke Richard died and Robert suc- 
 ceeded him as duke. After he had ruled six years, 
 he summoned his barons and said that "for the 
 good of his soul and the forgiveness of his sins" 
 he was going to visit Jerusalem and the tomb of 
 Christ. He called on them to swear loyalty to his 
 little son, who was to be duke in his place if he 
 never came back. 
 
 The barons were slow to promise. Some were 
 heard to mutter, "We want a man to rule us and 
 not a tanner's grandson." Some wisely advised 
 Robert to stay at home and take care of his own 
 son and duchy. 
 
 But Robert had no ear for advice. He laughed 
 and told them "his son was little but would grow." 
 At last he won the nobles to his will. Reluctantly 
 they agreed to accept William as Robert's suc- 
 cessor. With deep, sullen voices the stern men 
 acknowledged the child as their lord. He faced 
 them with fearless eyes. Tanner's grandson 
 though he was, swore Robert, he was duke's son 
 and worthy his father's race. 
 
 From his own court Robert went to the court 
 of France, accompanied by his pilgrim knights. 
 Dressed in the somber robes of a pilgrim, he ap- 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 67 
 
 proachecl the throne and for the last time did hom- 
 age to King Henry. Then he kissed his little son, 
 whom he held by the hand, and bade him, too, do 
 homage to the king. He asked the king to confirm 
 the right of William to succeed him, should he 
 never return from his journey. Henry could 
 hardly refuse Robert's request. Driven from his 
 own kingdom, he had once gone to Normandy with 
 but twelve knights and asked the duke's aid. Rob- 
 ert had raised an army and restored the king to 
 his throne. And now, in common gratitude, what 
 could Henry do but promise to regard the duke's 
 wishes for his son? 
 
 After a brief stay at the French court, Rob- 
 ert and his knights started to the Holy Land. 
 William was left at the Norman court with the 
 nobles appointed to guard him and the duchy. 
 
 Robert went through France, across the Alps, 
 on to Rome, on to Constantinople, where he had 
 his horse shod with gold, and on to Jerusalem, 
 where he lavished gold on needy pilgrims. But 
 over the road that Robert the Magnificent went 
 he was never to return. Never again did he see 
 the fields and cliffs of Normandy or the face of 
 his little son. His death in 1035 left William, at 
 the age of seven, in name at least, Duke of Nor- 
 mandy. 
 
 After Duke Robert's death, Arlotta married a 
 
68 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Norman knight and had two sons, Odo and Rob- 
 ert, of whom we shall hear later. 
 
 The guardians whom Robert had selected for 
 his son were men whose power and ambition he 
 had cause to fear. But they were true to the trust 
 confided to their honor — true even to death. One 
 by one they fell victims to their enemies, enemies 
 made probably by the discharge of their duty. 
 One was poisoned, one was slain while sleeping 
 in the chamber of the boy duke. 
 
 For William himself there was always the 
 chance of sword or poison. His mother's brother 
 watched over him day and night. More than 
 once the sleeping child was roused by rough but 
 tender hands and hurried from his chamber to be 
 hidden from traitors who sought his death. 
 When his guardians were murdered, the chief 
 men of the duchy assembled to choose another. 
 So, far from punishing the murderer, Ralph of 
 Wacey was made guardian in place of the man he 
 had killed. But murderer though he was, he an- 
 swered the appeal to his personal honor and dis- 
 charged his duty faithfully. 
 
 The education of the young duke was very dif- 
 ferent from that of a boy or girl to-day. Books 
 played no part in it. He listened sometimes to 
 priests as they read holy books, but we have no 
 reason to think he himself ever learned to write or 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 63 
 
 even to read. Instead, he learned to hunt, to ride, 
 and to use spear and sword. He learned to hold 
 his own in the rough sports of the day, as a pre- 
 lude to holding his own in the stern realities of 
 life. 
 
 At the age of twelve William was knighted by 
 his overlord Henry I. of France. The ceremony 
 of conferring knighthood was a striking one, full 
 iof symbols of the duties of a true knight. The 
 young duke was bathed and clad in a white tunic 
 to signify purity. Over the white tunic was put 
 a red robe to show that he was willing to shed 
 his blood in a just cause. Over the red robe was 
 a close black coat, as an emblem of the death 
 which must at last come to all. He fasted a day 
 and night, spending the night alone in prayer. A 
 priest blessed his sword, and ladies put on his 
 body armor, piece by piece. Then clothed in full 
 armor, perhaps for the first time, William knelt 
 before the king. Henry gave him three light 
 blows on the neck with his sword. 
 
 "In the name of God, St. Michael, and St. 
 George, I dub thee knight. Be valiant, bold, and 
 loyal." 
 
 His helmet was put on by a lady, and the young 
 knight mounted his horse- and rode to and fro, 
 proudly displaying his weapons. Then followed 
 a great feast. 
 
70 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Such a childhood as William's soon made a man 
 of him. At the age of twelve or thirteen he began 
 to take an active part in the rule of his duchy. 
 The first exercise of his authority was in a con- 
 test with his overlord, the king. 
 
 Stronger than gratitude to the man who had 
 helped him was Henry's jealousy of the race that 
 had robbed his. A little more than a century be- 
 fore, the French kings had been masters of the 
 fair land of Normandy. Henry longed to wrest 
 it from the people who had wrested it from his 
 ancestors. "Sire," his nobles would say, "why 
 do you not chase them out of the country! Their 
 forefathers were robbers who came by sea and 
 stole the land from our forefathers and us." 
 
 Henry required William to give up a Norman 
 castle on the border, saying it was dangerous to 
 have a Norman fortress command French fields. 
 He promised that if William gave up the castle it 
 should be destroyed. Destroyed it was, but the 
 king had it rebuilt and fortified so as to give him 
 a stronghold on the Norman borders. Henry 
 also gave aid to a Norman rebel who held the 
 castle of Falaise against the duke. William's 
 first fight and first victory was against this city, 
 his own birthplace. 
 
 When William was fourteen the Truce of God 
 was adopted in Normandy. This was a check on 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 71 
 
 disorder and lawlessness. Warfare and violence 
 of all kinds were strictly forbidden from Thurs- 
 day until Monday. Severe punishment was in- 
 flicted on all who broke this truce, and, for the 
 most part, it was religiously kept. It would have 
 been well if peace and law could have ruled 
 throughout the week, but that could hardly have 
 been enforced. Europe was better for having 
 this breathing-space in the life of warfare. We 
 are told that nowhere was the Truce more strictly 
 observed than in Normandy, and the condition 
 of the country was greatly improved by it. 
 
 When William was nineteen, a wide-spread re- 
 volt threatened his dukedom and his life. The 
 barons of western Normandy wished to make Guy 
 of Burgundy, duke. They planned to kill Wil- 
 liam while he was on a hunting trip to Valognes. 
 The secret was so well kept that it was not re- 
 vealed till the very night that the attack was to 
 be made. Then, by chance, the plot was discov- 
 ered by Gallet, the duke's jester. Clad in his 
 motley suit of red and yellow, with the bells upon 
 his pointed cap jingling, the jester rushed to Wil- 
 liam's room. 
 
 * ' Up ! up ! " he cried. ' ' If thou art found here 
 thou wilt die. Thine enemies are arming around 
 thee ! If they find thee here, thou wilt never leave 
 or live till morning." 
 
72 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 William bounded from his bed and as be dressed 
 in baste be listened to the jester's tale. The men 
 whom be had trusted and favored had plotted 
 against him. Whom could he trust! He dared 
 not even rouse a groom to saddle his horse. He 
 hurried to the stables, mounted his best steed, and 
 fled in the darkness. None too soon. Armed 
 men mounted the stairway and crowded into his 
 chamber, only to find him gone. No one was 
 there but the half-witted jester in his motley red 
 and yellow, with his foolish laughter and idle 
 speeches. 
 
 William, meanwhile, was riding for his life. 
 Not daring to travel the highways where he might 
 any moment meet armed enemies, he sought paths 
 and byways. The moon shone bright on the quiet 
 landscape. But the calm was broken by that hur- 
 rying horseman, his heart hot with thoughts of 
 anger and revenge. On, on he galloped. A 
 sudden fear came lest his path might be flooded 
 by the estuary of the rivers Ouse and Vire. But 
 fortune favored him. It was ebb tide as he passed 
 the ford known afterwards as the Duke's Way. 
 He paused a moment at a church on the road to 
 breathe his horse and pray God's help. Then on 
 again. 
 
 As the sun rose, its rays gilded the castle of 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 73 
 
 Rye. William, urging forward his panting horse, 
 came face to face with the lord of Rye. 
 
 "How is it that you travel so, fair sir?" cried 
 Hubert. 
 
 "Hubert, dare I tell you?" asked the duke. 
 
 "Of a truth, most surely," answered the faith- 
 ful vassal. 
 
 In few words William told his tale. 
 
 "Stay a moment, my lord," said Hubert, "for 
 a fresh horse in place of your spent beast and 
 for my three brave sons to ride at your side. 
 Fair sons," he cried, "behold your lord. Mount 
 now and conduct him till ye have lodged him in 
 Falaise. This way shall ye pass and that ; it will 
 be ill for you to touch upon any town." 
 
 Once in the stronghold of loyal Falaise, Wil- 
 liam's person was safe. But how could he defend 
 his land and overcome his enemies? He had but 
 a handful of loyal troops to oppose the rebel 
 hosts. He sought aid from the man who had 
 wronged him most, from his overlord, Henry of 
 France, who had seized his castle and aided his 
 rebels. 
 
 Whether moved by friendship or by interest, 
 Henry made with William the common cause of 
 princes against rebels. He himself brought an 
 armed force and fought bravely in the battle of 
 
74 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Val-es-dunes. William, loving battle like his 
 Norse forefathers, was wherever the fight was 
 thickest. 
 
 William's rule over normandy 
 
 The victory of Val-es-dunes was decisive. 
 Henry and his army went back to France, leaving 
 William to set in order the affairs of the duchy. 
 For twelve years William had been duke in name, 
 but he left the field of Val-es-dunes duke in fact. 
 Enemies, singly or by twos and threes, were to 
 rise against him in the future. Never again was 
 he to face such a revolt as this. Now his real rule 
 began. His people were his ' ' tool, " to be used at 
 home or abroad in such work as he chose. 
 
 "William, merciless in fight, seldom shed blood 
 except in battle. He put to death none of his re- 
 bellious barons. A few were imprisoned, some 
 were required to pay fines and give hostages for 
 their future obedience, many had their castles de- 
 stroyed. These castles were usually strong, 
 square towers of stone, defended by ditches and 
 later by walls. From these strongholds men went 
 forth to prey on their neighbors or to attack their 
 enemies. Within its walls they secured their 
 prey, defied their enemies, resisted the authority 
 of their duke. The castles of Normandy were cen- 
 ters of disorder, lawlessness, and oppression. 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 75 
 
 William took advantage of every opportunity to 
 destroy them and so secure peace and order for 
 the land. 
 
 The country across which William had fled from 
 Valognes to Falaise was low and marshy. He 
 had a public road laid out along the route, and 
 made the rebels build the Raised Road which be- 
 came a thoroughfare. 
 
 Of William's rule in Normandy, we hear noth- 
 ing but praise. Stern and severe he was, but 
 upright. He controlled the lawless barons, he pro- 
 tected the poor and the helpless, he made law gov- 
 ern the land. Under him there were peace and 
 prosperity in Normandy. 
 
 In 1048 William joined the king of France in 
 warfare against Anjou. In the skirmishes that 
 fall and winter the Norman duke distinguished 
 himself by deeds of valor. Tall, strong, and 
 powerful, he excelled in all martial exercises. No 
 other man could bend his great bow. No ordi- 
 nary hand could wield his battle-ax. 
 
 Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, was jealous of the 
 renown of the young duke, and challenged him to 
 a personal contest. The count sent word "he 
 would come at daybreak, and would be known by 
 the gold crown piece on his helmet, by his white 
 horse, and gilded shield." 
 
 William replied, "The count need not seek the 
 
76 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Norman quarters. I will meet him nearer home 
 on my good horse Bayard, bearing at the end of 
 my lance a broidered scarf to wipe away his 
 tears." 
 
 Early the next morning the Normans rode forth 
 eager for fight, but Geoffrey and his soldiers were 
 gone. They had slipped away in the night leav- 
 ing the road clear to Alencon. Thither the duke 
 marched. The citizens, confiding in their strong 
 walls, made mock of him. They hung skins over 
 the walls, shouting, in scorn of his base birth, 
 "Hides for the tanner!" 
 
 William, who could forgive revolt and real in- 
 jury, could never bear personal taunts. He swore 
 to be revenged on the men who mocked him. By 
 a fierce attack, he took the town. He seized thirty 
 well-born citizens, had their eyes torn out and 
 their hands and feet cut off and thrown over the 
 wall. 
 
 Stirring tales are told of his deeds of arms 
 during this war. Once while riding abroad with 
 four or five attendants he was surprised and at- 
 tacked by twelve picked knights. He sustained 
 the combat against these odds till rescue came. 
 Then he pursued his assailants and took seven 
 prisoners, whom he led in triumph to Henry's 
 camp. 
 
 In 1049, William wished to marry Matilda, 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 77 
 
 daughter of Baldwin, count of Flanders and de- 
 scendant of Alfred the Great. We are told that 
 she was beautiful and skilled in the feminine ac- 
 complishments of the day, music and embroidery. 
 The marriage was pronounced unlawful by the 
 church, on account of some degree of kinship of 
 which we are ignorant. For the present — but 
 only for the present — William put aside the mat- 
 ter. He could wait when it seemed wise, but he 
 never gave up what he wished and willed. 
 
 About this time William went for the first time 
 to England, making a peaceful visit to King Ed- 
 ward, whose mother was his great aunt. Ed- 
 ward was half a Norman by birth and wholly one 
 by feeling and thought. He loved the Norman 
 language and race better than the speech and peo- 
 ple of the land over which he ruled. He had lived 
 in Normandy till he was forty years old, and he 
 remembered William as a spirited lad of four- 
 teen. The gentle, priest-like king, who had no 
 children of his own, seems to have been very fond 
 of his young kinsman. He went so far as to say 
 that he wished William to have the crown at his 
 death; William said, indeed, that he promised it 
 to him. 
 
 This seems to us a strange thing, — for Edward 
 to promise the kingdom like a ring or a sword. 
 Yet it did not seem so strange to Edward and to 
 
78 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 William. The Normans and the French looked 
 on a crown as a possession, not an office. This 
 was not the English view of the matter. They re- 
 garded the kingship as an office ; the crown as the 
 gift of the Witan, or national assembly. By Eng- 
 lish custom the king was chosen from the royal 
 house. The son of the king was chosen if there 
 was one of age and ability to rule. But when 
 there was no direct heir, the Witan gave the king- 
 ship to whom it chose. 
 
 Edward learned more about English customs 
 and laws in later days. Fourteen years later, 
 when he was at the point of death, he named as 
 his successor, not his kinsman, William, but a man 
 whom he knew the Witan wished to make king. 
 
 To the English William was only one of the 
 many Norman followers and favorites of their 
 king. They were heartily tired of seeing them 
 come in crowds and go laden with gifts. Of 
 Williams' visit the English record only says: 
 " William Earl came from beyond sea with much 
 Frenchmen and the king received him and let him 
 go again." Other accounts add that Edward 
 gave William " many dogs and birds and what- 
 ever other good and fair gifts he could find that 
 became a man of high degree." The greatest of 
 these gifts, in the duke 's estimation, was probably 
 the promise of the kingdom. 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 79 
 
 The year after William's return from Eng- 
 land, a few Norman nobles rebelled. The king of 
 France sent them aid. But even with royal help 
 the rebels were not able to withstand the duke. 
 The revolt was put down, and with the banish- 
 ment of its leaders ended the last uprising against 
 William until that of his own sons. 
 
 The successful fighter of 1052 was the next year 
 a successful wooer. Four years before, William 
 had sought to marry Matilda of Flanders, and 
 the marriage had been forbidden by the church. 
 Now the opposition of the church was disre- 
 garded. In 1053 Matilda, the granddaughter of 
 the king of France, became the bride of William, 
 the grandson of the tanner of Falaise. The 
 churchmen of Normandy remonstrated with the 
 duke for contracting a marriage forbidden by the 
 church. The remonstrance which angered him 
 most was that of Lanfranc. Lanfranc, by birth an 
 Italian, was one of the ablest men of the age. 
 Monk, scholar, and statesman, he was as famous 
 and as powerful in the church as William was in 
 the state. He had come to Normandy on the in- 
 vitation of the duke, and had become William's 
 closest counsellor. Now and now only during 
 William's life was this friendship interrupted. 
 Lanfranc condemned the marriage and censured 
 the duke. William's anger was kindled; he ban- 
 
80 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 ished the archbishop and laid waste the abbey 
 lands. But the estrangement was of brief dura- 
 tion. He soon recalled Lanfranc and sent him to 
 Rome to try to secure the pope's consent to the 
 marriage. Six years later, the papal confirma- 
 tion of the marriage was obtained. 
 
 The duke's success and strength raised up the 
 opponent who next took the field against him. 
 This was the king of France. The French kings, 
 as we have seen, still resented the fact that the 
 Normans had taken from them that fair and fer- 
 tile coast land. Moreover the duke of the Nor- 
 mans was great and powerful, almost the equal 
 of the king of France. 
 
 What more natural than that King Henry 
 should look with jealousy on the growing power 
 of the Norman duke? Once in the critical hour 
 of need Henry had helped William. Then Wil- 
 liam's cause was Henry's — that of ruler against 
 subject, of prince against rebel. But a few years 
 later Henry was ready to give rebellious barons 
 aid against the duke. A little later he was even 
 ready to seek their aid. In 1054 Henry raised a 
 great army and invaded the duchy. His purpose 
 was to wrest the western half of Normandy from 
 the duke. Master of the eastern half only, Wil- 
 liam would be no more powerful, no more to be 
 dreaded than other French counts and dukes. 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 81 
 
 It was a trial of strength against strength, king 
 against duke, France against Normandy. For 
 the first time King Henry put forth all his power 
 and summoned all his other vassals to aid him 
 against this too powerful one. 
 
 On his side, William gathered around him all 
 his nobles. All Normandy was loyal now; the 
 land which Rollo and his Northmen had fought to 
 win, their descendants were ready to fight to keep. 
 They lacked, however, the numbers needed to 
 meet the king in pitched battle. Perhaps, also, 
 the duke was too cautious to stake all unnecessa- 
 rily on one chance. Later, when it was needful, 
 he could and did do this. But here caution was the 
 part of wisdom. Cattle were driven into the for- 
 ests, provisions were destroyed or moved out of 
 reach of the French army. 
 
 William withdrew his men, and for several 
 weeks fighting was confined to a few trifling 
 skirmishes. The French army advanced in two 
 great hosts, one led by the king himself, one by his 
 brother. They marched across the country and 
 laid it waste, burning houses, storming castles, 
 and plundering towns. 
 
 They believed that the Normans had all re- 
 treated for fear of their great army, and they 
 grew careless about defense. When they took 
 the town of Mortemar, they gave themselves up 
 
82 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 to mirth and feasting. Late that night, when 
 they were sleeping after their revelry, the Nor- 
 mans surrounded Mortemar and set fire to the 
 town. The French endeavored in vain to escape. 
 Behind them were flames, before them an armed 
 array. From daybreak till three o'clock the bat- 
 tle lasted and it ended in the total defeat of the 
 French. 
 
 The dead and wounded, says the old chronicle, 
 lay in the burning ruins, about the fields, and in 
 the bypaths; there were French prisoners to fill 
 all the dungeons in Normandy. All left of the 
 French host was a few stragglers, hiding in the 
 woods and bushes. 
 
 The news was carried quickly to William, who 
 with his troops was in the neighborhood of King 
 Henry's division of the army. The duke sent a 
 man to the French camp to announce the defeat 
 to the king. This messenger climbed a tree and 
 concealed himself in the branches. Then he 
 cried aloud: "Frenchmen, Frenchmen, arise, 
 arise! Make ready for your flight! You sleep 
 too long! Rise and go to bury your friends who 
 lie dead at Mortemar." 
 
 The cry roused the king and while he and his 
 nobles were enquiring its meaning, there came 
 French fugitives who told of the defeat at Morte- 
 mar. Panic seized the king and his army. They 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 83 
 
 set fire to their tents and retreated homeward 
 without striking a blow. Duke William did not 
 pursue the king. "He has had quite enough," 
 he said, "to trouble and cross him." 
 
 Perhaps he thought this defeat would end 
 French attacks on Normandy. Peace was in- 
 deed made for a time and the Frenchmen who 
 filled the Norman prisons were set free. But 
 the king's hate and anger burned all the more 
 against the duke. Three years later he again in- 
 vaded Normandy. 
 
 William conducted warfare as before. He 
 gathered his army and waited a convenient sea- 
 son for attack. He strengthened and held his 
 castles, saying if he could keep them he could 
 easily recover the open lands. The king's men 
 laid waste the country far and wide. Houses 
 and villages and towns were given to flames, 
 women and children were not spared. 
 
 Taught by the disaster of Mortemar, the king 
 kept his army in order, and William awaited long 
 a moment favorable for attack. At last, how- 
 ever, that moment came. On the homeward way, 
 the French army had to cross the ford of Vara- 
 ville, near the mouth of the river Dive. After 
 the king and a part of the army had crossed, Duke 
 William fell on the rear. Hemmed in by the 
 river, there was no chance of escape. The sol- 
 
84 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 diers were killed or drowned or taken prisoners; 
 the whole force was destroyed. 
 
 The king from the heights across the river 
 looked down on the scene. The old chronicle 
 says: "He beheld the marshes and the valley 
 which lay long and broad before him, the wide 
 stream, and the broken bridge. He gazed upon 
 his numerous troops, thus fallen into trouble; 
 some he saw seized and bound ; others struggling 
 in the deep waters; and he could help or save 
 none. He was speechless with sorrow and indig- 
 nation; his limbs trembled and his face burned 
 with rage." 
 
 His barons tried to comfort him, saying he 
 would yet return to destroy the land and carry 
 away Norman prisoners. But the wars of Henry 
 were at an end. He never again bore shield or 
 spear. Less than two years later, he died, leav- 
 ing his son Philip to succeed him on the throne 
 of France. 
 
 From the young king and the regents of 
 France, William had nothing to fear. He now 
 began the career which later and in a wider field 
 won him the title of Conqueror. Against the will 
 of its people, he made himself master of Maine. 
 He claimed that the land belonged to him, be- 
 cause Count Herbert of Maine had promised him 
 the succession. Having made himself its master, 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 85 
 
 he ruled wisely and justly so as to win over the 
 people he had conquered. 
 
 wiixiam's claim to England 
 
 It was probably after the conquest of Maine 
 that William, the great duke of Normandy, first 
 came face to face with Harold, the great earl of 
 England. The English writers say nothing at all 
 about the matter. The Normans tell so many 
 conflicting tales that it is hard to decide among 
 them. And yet there is probably this much truth 
 in the story: Harold made William some prom- 
 ise which he could not and did not keep, and later 
 on William used this to get men to take his part 
 against Harold. 
 
 In the first place, no one can gratify our curi- 
 osity by telling us how Harold happened to be in 
 Normandy. One account says that he was coming 
 to Normandy on affairs of state, another says 
 that he was on a hunting expedition, another that 
 he was taking his pleasure in the Channel. At 
 all events, his boat driven by contrary winds was 
 wrecked on the coast of Ponthieu. There he was 
 seized by a fisherman and delivered to Count Guy 
 of Ponthieu, who cast him into prison. News of 
 the matter came to William, and he gladly took 
 advantage of the opportunity to get the English- 
 man in his hands. For through all the years 
 
86 
 
 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 since his visit to England, deep down in Wil- 
 liam's heart had been the resolution to make him- 
 self some day master of that land. He paid 
 ransom and granted land to Count Guy to have 
 Earl Harold delivered into his hands. 
 
 He received Harold cordially, professing great 
 indignation at Count Guy's conduct. Harold 
 was persuaded to remain in Normandy on a visit. 
 The days were merry with tournaments and hunt- 
 ing. There was not lacking war, the favorite 
 
 VliI(bAROLD--SACR/VMeN I VM: FECIT:- hlC hARoUDiDV; 
 T VVlLL<cLMODVCl:- 
 
 From the Bayeux Tapestry 
 Harold Swearing Upon the Relics 
 
 game of all. Harold was a strong, brave man, 
 and he had done some famous fighting in Eng- 
 land. Now he joined William in expeditions 
 against the Bretons. All this, it seems evident, 
 was done as William's friend, in gratitude for 
 being freed from the prison of Count Guy. 
 
 And then Harold made a promise to the duke. 
 He agreed to marry William's daughter, and he 
 did homage to the duke as his lord. Some say 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 87 
 
 that Harold swore to secure the kingdom of Eng- 
 land for William at Edward's death. If Harold 
 swore this, he took an oath to do that which was 
 not within the power of him nor of any other 
 man. If the king of England could not give the 
 crown to whom he pleased, far less could Earl 
 Harold dispose of it. Probably Harold, in view 
 of William's services and friendliness, only did 
 him homage according to the custom of the day — 
 perhaps for a castle which he held from the Nor- 
 man duke. But whatever the promise of the 
 earl, it was soon to be turned against him with 
 fatal power. 
 
 King Edward of England died January 5, 1066. 
 On his death bed he recommended Earl Harold to 
 the great council as his successor. 
 
 We are told that Harold laid before the council 
 the matter of his oath to William, and it voted 
 that it was not binding. What Englishman could 
 bind the English crown, or bind himself to the 
 cause of one whom the council did not choose? 
 
 Harold was elected king before Edward was 
 buried, and in due course of time he was crowned. 
 He married Ealdgyth, the sister of the great 
 Earls Edwin and Morkere, hoping thus to se- 
 cure her brothers' support. From the daughter 
 of William, whom he had promised to marry, we 
 are told he had been released by her death. 
 
88 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Harold was not of the English royal house, but 
 there was no one of the royal race of age and 
 ability to reign. He had really ruled England, 
 and ruled it well, for thirteen years. It was 
 natural that he who had so long been king in fact 
 should now be made king in name. So it seemed 
 to the English. The belief that kingship was an 
 office conferred by the people was still alive in 
 England. On the Continent kingdoms and pow- 
 ers had come to be looked on as possessions in- 
 stead of offices. It did not sound strange to 
 French ears to say Edward had named William 
 his successor. If the kingdom was a possession 
 the crown might be given like a ring, the throne 
 willed like an estate. 
 
 Duke William was in his park at Rouen and 
 had just strung his great bow — the bow which no 
 other man could bend — when a messenger from 
 England came in hot haste. His news was soon 
 told. King Edward was dead, and Earl Harold 
 was crowned in his place. The duke unstrung 
 his bow and left the park. "To no man spake he 
 and no man dared speak to him." 
 
 Arrived at home, he sat down on a bench in 
 the hall, covering his face with his mantle. No 
 one dared question him. But aside they asked, 
 "What is the matter with the duke?" 
 
 When he rose from his silent wrath, he rose to 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 89 
 
 action. He sent messengers to Harold remind- 
 ing him of Edward's early promise and recalling 
 his oath of homage. He called on Harold to 
 yield him the crown and kingship. 
 
 All that William demanded Harold refused. 
 The crown of England, he said, was not his to 
 give. The king could do nothing without the 
 great council. The council gave him the king- 
 dom; without its consent he could not resign it. 
 He did not deny that Edward had at one time 
 promised the kingdom to William. But this 
 promise, so far as it was of any force, had been 
 set aside by his later recommendation of Harold 
 as his successor. This recommendation had been 
 confirmed by the earl's election by the great 
 council. 
 
 Right was on the side of Harold. But William 
 and his counsellor, Lanfranc, had the skill which 
 could "make the worse appear the better reason." 
 
 William first called together the barons of his 
 own duchy and presented his cause to them. He 
 told them that his kinsman Edward had be- 
 queathed him the crown of England and that a 
 stranger, no kinsman of the king, had seized this 
 crown. He said that Edward in dying had been 
 over-persuaded, almost forced, to choose Harold. 
 And William said the man who had taken his 
 promised crown was the man who of all others 
 
90 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 was most bound not to do it — the man who had 
 sworn to be his vassal. 
 
 William did not limit himself to this statement 
 of his cause, skillful as it was. He appealed to 
 the Norman national jealousy. These English 
 were the people who had so reluctantly received 
 Edward's Norman priests and courtiers and had 
 sought every pretext for driving them from Eng- 
 land. He appealed to their love of fighting — he 
 reminded them that on many fields they had fol- 
 lowed him to victory and boasted that they would 
 hew down the stubborn islanders. He appealed 
 to their love of plunder — the fair fields and rich 
 possessions of the wealthy and sluggish Saxons 
 were theirs for the taking. 
 
 The barons would not pledge themselves at 
 once to his cause. They answered in assembly 
 that they feared the sea and were not bound to 
 serve beyond it. But William sought them out 
 one -by one, and one by one they pledged them- 
 selves to him — to accompany him with so many 
 men and so many ships. 
 
 It was not enough in such an undertaking 
 to have the aid of his own people. It was as im- 
 portant not to leave enemies behind as to take 
 friends with him. He presented his cause to 
 barons and princes throughout Europe, to the 
 king of France, and to the emperor of Germany. 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 91 
 
 He presented his cause to them so cleverly that 
 not one openly opposed it. Some joined him, 
 some furnished him men, arms, and other sup- 
 plies ; all helped his undertaking so far as not to 
 hinder it. 
 
 But the greatest ally whom William gained 
 was the pope. He asked the pope to decide be- 
 tween his and Harold's claim to the kingdom of 
 England. We do not learn that Harold's side 
 was presented to the pope at all. The English 
 king did not acknowledge the right of the pope to 
 give or to withhold the crown. Pope Alexander 
 answered as might have been expected. He de- 
 clared that William was the rightful king of the 
 English, and Harold was a usurper ; William was 
 urged to claim his rights and to punish the 
 wrongdoer. 
 
 Thus the question of English law and English 
 right was decided in the continental courts of 
 kings and emperor and pope against Harold 
 without one word on his side. The question of 
 arms was to be decided by William, with the fa- 
 vor, or at least without the disfavor, of all 
 Europe. 
 
 THE FIGHT FOR THE CROWIST 
 
 All spring and summer Normandy rang with 
 the noise of preparation. Men were busy forg- 
 
92 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 ing armor, tempering swords and battle-axes, 
 training war horses, and building or repairing 
 boats. 
 
 In England men were not idle. Tidings came 
 in the spring to Harold, says the Chronicle, that 
 "William, King Edward's kinsman, would come 
 hither and win this land." Harold was a brave 
 general, tried on many a battlefield. England, 
 the stout-hearted England, which had chosen him 
 to be its king, rallied at his call. He collected a 
 great navy and a great army, turning fishing ves- 
 sels to war ships, plowmen and farmers to 
 soldiers. He had "such a force both by sea and 
 by land as no other king of England had ever got 
 together before. ' ' For four months he kept it on 
 the coast, ready to face the invader. Had Wil- 
 liam come then, his victory, if victory he had 
 gained, would have been hard won. But fate 
 favored the Norman duke and helped him to the 
 English crown. It helped him when it seemed 
 to oppose him. While Harold and his army 
 guarded one coast, William and his army on the 
 opposite shore, awaited a favorable wind. Harold 
 began to want provisions and found it necessary 
 to disband his army of workmen and farmers. 
 And just at this moment from another quarter 
 came an invasion of the land. 
 
 Harold Hardrada of Norway claimed the Eng- 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 93 
 
 lisli throne through an old compact with Hardi- 
 canute. During the early autumn of 1066, he 
 made a sudden attack on Yorkshire. Five hun- 
 dred vessels brought over the picked warriors of 
 Norway. They defeated completely the great 
 Earls Edwin and Morkere, and all the north lay 
 open before them. Harold, by a skillful forced 
 march with his household troops, reached York- 
 shire in four days, and faced the Norwegian king. 
 A desperate battle was fought at Stamford 
 Bridge. Time after time the English strove in 
 vain to break the Norwegian ranks. At last by 
 a pretended flight they led the enemy to quit their 
 array, and won the victory. Harold Hardrada 
 and the chief of the Norwegian nobility were left 
 dead upon the field. This battle was fought the 
 twenty-fifth of September, 1066. 
 
 Three days later, while Harold was still in the 
 North, the wind changed and the fleet of William 
 set sail. It crossed an undefended channel and 
 landed upon an undefended coast. A few days 
 earlier William would have met stout resistance. 
 A few days later he would have faced the hosts 
 fresh from victory in the North. Fate had 
 chosen the hour for him. 
 
 William's own ship, Mora, the gift of Matilda, 
 led the fleet. It was, indeed, so far ahead of the 
 others as to be out of sight of them. To the man 
 
94 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 William the Conqueror Departs for England 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 95 
 
 at the masthead, in the morning twilight not a 
 ship was visible. A sudden fear came to William 
 that his fleet had deserted him. He bade the man 
 look again. 
 
 "What do you see now?" he asked. 
 
 "I see four small specks on the horizon," 
 answered the sailor; "I see more — and more; 
 they are the ships; yes, the whole fleet is coming 
 into view." 
 
 As William landed, his foot slipped and he fell 
 face foremost on the ground. His followers 
 cried out in distress, "An evil sign, it is an evil 
 sign!" But William's ready wit turned the evil 
 omen to good. He rose with his hands filled with 
 earth. 
 
 "See, my lords. By the splendor of God," he 
 cried, "I have taken possession of England. I 
 hold its earth in my hands. It is now mine, and 
 what is mine is yours." 
 
 As the Norman soldiers landed, they formed in 
 ranks. The archers marched forward with their 
 bows strung, the knights mounted their war 
 horses and rode forth — but not an enemy was in 
 sight. Then the Normans brought out their 
 stores of food and wine, and ate and drank and 
 slept on English soil. 
 
 The next day they fortified a camp, from which 
 
96 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 they went forth to plunder and lay waste the 
 land. 
 
 Harold's brothers gave him wise counsel; "Do 
 as William had done in defending Normandy 
 against the French. Do not give battle. Watch 
 and follow the enemy, as a cat watches and fol- 
 lows a mouse, and spring at the favorable mo- 
 ment. If need be, even lay waste the land so as 
 to deprive the Normans of food and supplies." 
 
 Harold's answer may have been unwise, but it 
 was kingly. He said that he would never lay 
 waste a rood of English ground nor destroy the 
 goods of the men who had chosen him to be their 
 king. He would fight. It was useless to wait 
 for reinforcements. He had just saved the 
 lands of Earls Edwin and Morkere from the force 
 of Norway, but these jealous earls would not lift 
 a finger to help him against the Normans. 
 
 Harold availed himself of his privilege to 
 choose the place of battle. He drew up his army 
 along a ridge of rising ground, the hill of Senlac, 
 with a forest behind him. In front it was de- 
 fended by a stockade and a ditch. Marshy 
 ground was on the right; and on the exposed left 
 Harold placed his best troops. Here, he said, he 
 would defend himself and his land against who- 
 ever attacked them. 
 
 William sent a monk to Harold calling on him to 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 97 
 
 do one of three things: — to resign his kingdom, 
 to let the pope decide between hhn and the Nor- 
 man duke, or to let the decision rest on the result 
 of single combat between William and himself. 
 
 Harold only answered: "I will not give up 
 my title, I will not refer it to the pope, I will not 
 accept the single combat." 
 
 He could do none of these things. The ques- 
 tion was not personal but national. Harold had 
 no right to give up, or to leave to the pope or to 
 the issue of single combat a nation's welfare en- 
 trusted to his keeping. 
 
 English and Normans made ready for battle on 
 the morning of Saturday, the fourteenth of Oc- 
 tober, 1066. 
 
 As William was putting on his armor, by mis- 
 chance he put on his hauberk, or headpiece, 
 wrong, with the back to the front. His followers 
 were frightened by what they considered an omen 
 of evil. But William urged them to take heart. 
 "The hauberk which was turned wrong and then 
 set right by me, signifies that a change will come. 
 You shall see the duke changed to a king. Yea, a 
 king shall I be who hitherto have been but a 
 duke." 
 
 As he mounted his war horse and rode forth to 
 battle, men cried, ' ' There is no such knight under 
 heaven! fair count he is and fair king he will be!" 
 
98 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 The place chosen by the English was especially- 
 adapted to their method of warfare. They 
 fought in close array, forming with their shields 
 a wall of defense. First they hurled their jave- 
 lins, then they drew I heir battle-axes and broad- 
 swords. 
 
 The strength of the Normans, on the other 
 hand, lay in their archers and their cavalry, and 
 it was difficult for archers and cavalry to make 
 their way up the hill in the face of that hail of 
 javelins. It seemed impossible, too, to break the 
 close array defended by shield and battle-ax. 
 Again and again they were driven back, again 
 and again they rallied. 
 
 The duke led the attack. At one time there 
 arose an outcry thai he had been killed. He 
 spurred forward his horse and raised his helmet. 
 "I live," he cried, "and by God's grace 1 will 
 conquer. ' ' 
 
 A Norman chronicler gives a vivid account of 
 the battle. 
 
 "From nine o'clock in the morning, when the 
 combat began, till three o'clock came, the battle 
 was up and down, this way and that, and no one 
 knew who would conquer and win the land. Both 
 sides stood so firm and fought so well, that no one 
 could guess which would prevail. The Norman 
 archers with their bows shot thickly upon the 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 
 
 99 
 
100 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 English; but they covered themselves with their 
 shields, so that the arrows could not reach their 
 bodies, nor do any mischief, how true soever was 
 their aim, or however well they shot. Then the 
 Normans determined to shoot their arrows up- 
 ward into the air, so that they might fall on 
 their enemies' heads, and strike their faces. 
 The archers adopted this scheme, and shot into 
 the air toward the English; and the arrows, in 
 falling, struck their heads and faces, and put out 
 the eyes of many; and all feared to open their 
 eyes or leave their faces unguarded. 
 
 "The arrows now flew thicker than rain before 
 the wind ; fast sped the shafts. Then it was that 
 an arrow, that had thus been shot upward, struck 
 Harold above his right eye, and put it out. In 
 his agony he drew the arrow and threw it away, 
 breaking it with his hands; and the pain in his 
 head was so great that he leaned upon his shield. 
 
 "The Normans saw that the English defended 
 themselves well, and were so strong in their posi- 
 tion that they could do little . against them. So 
 they consulted together privily, and arranged to 
 draw off, and pretend to flee, till the English 
 should pursue and scatter themselves over the 
 field; for they saw that if they could once get 
 their enemies to break their ranks, they might be 
 attacked and discomfited much more easily. As 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 101 
 
 they had said, so they did. The Normans hy 
 little and little fled, the English following them. 
 As the one fell back, the other pressed after ; and 
 when the Frenchmen retreated, the English 
 thought and cried out that the men of France fled, 
 and would never return. 
 
 ''Thus they were deceived by the pretended 
 flight, and great mischief thereby befell them ; for 
 if they had not moved from their position, it is 
 not likely that they would have been conquered at 
 all ; but, like fools, they broke their lines and pur- 
 sued. 
 
 "The Normans were to be seen following up 
 their stratagem, retreating slowly so as to draw 
 the English farther on. As they still flee, the 
 English pursue; they push out their lances and 
 stretch forth their hatchets, following the Nor- 
 mans as they go, rejoicing in the success of their 
 scheme, and scattering themselves over the plain. 
 And the English meantime jeered and insulted 
 their foes with words. 'Cowards,' they cried, 
 'you came hither in an evil hour, wanting our 
 lands, and seeking to seize our property, fools 
 that ye were to come ! Normandy is too far off, 
 and you will not easily reach it. It is of little use 
 to run back; unless you can cross the sea at a 
 leap, or can drink it dry, your sons and daughters 
 are lost to vou.' 
 
102 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 "The Normans bore it all; but, in fact, they 
 knew not what the English said; their language 
 seemed like the baying of dogs, which they could 
 not understand. At length they stopped and 
 turned round, determined to recover their ranks. 
 Then the Normans resumed their former posi- 
 tion, turning their faces toward the enemy; and 
 their men were to be seen facing round and rush- 
 ing onward to a fresh melee, the one party 
 assaulting the other; this man striking, another 
 pressing onward. One hits, another misses; one 
 flies, another pursues; one is aiming a stroke, 
 while another discharges his blow. Norman 
 strives with Englishman again, and aims his 
 blows afresh. One flies, another pursues swiftly : 
 the combatants are many, the plain wide, the 
 battle fierce. On every hand they fight hard, the 
 blows are heavy, and the struggle becomes 
 fierce. . . . 
 
 ' ' Then those who kept close guard by the duke, 
 and rode where he rode, being about a thousand 
 armed men, came and rushed with closed ranks 
 upon the English; and with the weight of their 
 good horses, and the blows the knights gave, 
 broke the press of the enemy, and scattered the 
 crowd before them, the good duke leading them 
 on in front. . . . 
 
 "Loud was now the clamor, and great the 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 103 
 
 slaughter; many a soul then quitted the body it 
 inhabited. The living marched over the heaps of 
 dead, and each side was weary of striking. He 
 charged on who could, and he who could no longer 
 strike still pushed forward. The strong strug- 
 gled with the strong; some failed, others tri- 
 umphed; the cowards fell back, the brave pressed 
 on; and sad was his fate who fell in the midst, 
 
 NTERF6C 
 TV5-EST 
 
 From the Bayeux Tapestry 
 Death of Harold 
 
 for he had little chance of rising again ; and many 
 in truth fell who never rose at all, being crushed 
 under the throng. 
 
 "And now the Normans had pressed on so far, 
 that at last they had reached the standard. 
 There Harold had remained, defending himself 
 to the utmost ; but he was sorely wounded in his 
 eye by the arrow, and suffered grievous pain 
 from the blow. An armed man came in the 
 throng of the battle, and struck him on the ven- 
 
104 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 taille of his helmet, and beat hiro to the ground; 
 and as he sought to recover himself a knight beat 
 him down again, striking him on the thick of 
 his thigh, down to the bone. 
 
 "Gurth, Harold's brother, saw the English 
 falling around, and that there was no remedy. 
 He saw his race hastening to ruin, and despaired 
 of any aid ; he would have fled, but could not, for 
 the throng continually increased. And the duke 
 pushed on till he reached him, and struck him 
 with great force. Whether he died of that blow 
 I know not, but it was said that he fell under it 
 and rose no more. 
 
 ''The standard was beaten down, the golden 
 standard was taken, and Harold and the best of his 
 friends were slain; but there was so much eager- 
 ness, and throng of so many around, seeking to kill 
 him, that I know not who it was that slew him. 
 
 "The English were in great trouble at having 
 lost their king, and at the duke's having con- 
 quered and beat down the standard ; but they still 
 fought on, and defended themselves long, and in 
 fact till the day drew to a close. Then it clearly 
 appeared to all that the standard was lost, and 
 the news had spread throughout the army that 
 Harold, for certain, was dead; and all saw that 
 there was no longer any hope, so they left the 
 field, and those fled who could. 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 105 
 
 "William fought well; many an assault did he 
 lead, many a blow did he give, and many receive, 
 and many fell dead under his hand. Two horses 
 were killed under him, and he took a third when 
 necessary, so that he fell not to the ground, and 
 lost not a drop of blood. But whatever any one 
 did, and whoever lived or died, this is certain, 
 that William conquered, and that many of the 
 English fled from the field, and many died on the 
 spot. Then he returned thanks to God, and in 
 his pride ordered his standard to be brought and 
 set up on high, where the English standard had 
 stood; and that was the signal of his having con- 
 quered, and beaten down the standard. And he 
 ordered his tent to be raised on the spot among 
 the dead, and had his meat brought thither, and 
 his supper prepared there. . . . And he ate 
 and drank among the dead, and made his bed that 
 night upon the field. ' ' 
 
 We have no record of the Saxon loss, which 
 must have been great. It is said that of the sixty 
 thousand Normans one-fourth remained dead on 
 the field. Harold, his brothers Gurth and Leof- 
 win, and the bravest of the southern thanes were 
 killed. 
 
 The next day Harold's mother came to William 
 to beg her son's body for burial. William at 
 first refused and said the traitor should have no 
 
106 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 other grave than the sand on the shore. But his 
 mother 's entreaties and prayers prevailed. The 
 body of Harold was yielded up and received hon- 
 orable burial. 
 
 Not only the battle was lost at Hastings, the 
 war was lost. Harold, Gurth, and Leofwin were 
 killed ; the remnant of the army was without lead- 
 ers ; there was no one to raise new forces and de- 
 fend the land. 
 
 After the battle of Hastings, William waited 
 awhile in. his camp. He thought that the English 
 would come and submit to him. But to them 
 William was merely another invader like Harold 
 Hardrada, or Swegen. Defeated in one battle, 
 they were ready to fight again if only they had 
 some one to lead them. But who had the right 
 to be king, the power to lead England against the 
 invaders? The sons of Harold were young and 
 untried in battle. The great northern earls, 
 Edwin and Morkere, were disliked and distrusted 
 by the southern thanes, — especially since they 
 had withheld their forces, when their aid at Has- 
 tings might have given victory to Harold and to 
 England. 
 
 The choice of the Witan at last fell on young 
 Edgar, a prince of the old royal line but lacking 
 ability to fill the place he was called to occupy. 
 Edwin and Morkere withdrew to the north, will- 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 107 
 
 ing to let William make prey of the soutli if only 
 
 he would leave them masters of their earldoms. 
 
 After waiting awhile for submission which did 
 
 From a Drawing in the Possession of the Society of Antiquaries 
 Coronation of a King. Time of William the 
 Conqueror 
 
 not come, William set forth to enforce it. He 
 had received reinforcements from Normandy to 
 make up for the losses at Hastings. Now he 
 marched to London by a round-about way, laying 
 
108 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 William the Conqueror Grants Privileges 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 109 
 
 waste the country as he went. He carried out 
 the policy which he had declared from the first. 
 He had come to England as the lawful heir to its 
 throne. Those who received him as king were 
 granted favor and protection. Those who held 
 out against him were regarded as rebels and 
 treated with severity. Before William reached 
 London, Edgar, feeling that his cause was des- 
 perate, marched out with his chief men and 
 offered the crown to the duke. 
 
 William entered the city of London and on 
 Christmas Day, 1066, he was crowned king of 
 England in Edward's own church of Westmin- 
 ster. All was done in due form. He was 
 crowned by the archbishop and took the oath of 
 office amid the assenting shouts of the people. 
 An unhappy incident marred the ceremony. The 
 Norman soldiers, stationed as a guard without 
 the church, mistook the shouts for an uprising 
 against the new king. They turned on the 
 crowds in the street, set fire to the neighboring 
 houses, and gave the day to plunder and murder. 
 
 WILLIAM 's RULE OVER ENGLAND 
 
 The country lay quiet before William. This 
 was not because the English had accepted him in 
 their hearts. It was because they had no leader. 
 While some said it would be well to make one of 
 
110 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Harold's sons their king, others wished to invite 
 over Swegen of Denmark, and Edwin and Morkere 
 desired no one but themselves. So it was that 
 no resistance was organized against William. 
 
 Edwin and Morkere even submitted formally to 
 the king. They doubtless hoped in name to rule 
 under him, but in fact to be free. William, so 
 far from allowing this, did not even permit them 
 to return to their earldoms. Under pretense of 
 friendship and favor he kept them at court. 
 
 King William acquired estates and wealth such 
 as no king of England before him had had. As 
 king, he of course took possession of the royal 
 estates. He seized, too, the wealth of the house 
 tof Godwin, which he claimed was forfeited by the 
 disloyalty of Harold. The lands of all the 
 English who had withstood him, he claimed were 
 forfeited also; since, he asserted, they were 
 rebels against him, their lawful king. He was 
 too prudent to make wholesale confiscations and 
 thus unite all the people in revolt. Lands he 
 took from some. But most of the English were 
 allowed to redeem their estates by paying fines 
 for their rebellion, receiving their lands as grants 
 from William, and holding them as his "men." 
 By fines and forfeited estates, William and his 
 Normans were enriched. 
 
 Three months after William was crowned, he 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 111 
 
 returned to Normandy, taking with him Edwin, 
 Morkere, and other Englishmen of high rank, 
 nominally as guests, but really as prisoners. He 
 left his half-brother, Archbishop Odo, to rule 
 the south of England, and his friend William 
 Fitz-Osbern to rule the north. They were to 
 build castles throughout the country, where sol- 
 diers could be placed to hold it in check. 
 
 Two men more cruel, more reckless and 
 oppressive in their cruelty, the king could not 
 have found than the two whom he left in charge 
 of his late won kingdom. William was a good 
 judge of men and it is difficult to believe that kin- 
 ship and friendship blinded him to the characters 
 of Odo and Fitz-Osbern. Throughout his reign 
 he was stern but on the whole just to his English 
 subjects. Yet he allowed, if he did not encour- 
 age, oppression of the Norman nobles, which 
 goaded the English to revolt. It may have been 
 his policy to gain a pretext for fines and confis- 
 cation of estates. It may have been that he 
 thought the men who had helped him win his 
 kingship had won a right to be overbearing to 
 those whom they had conquered. At all events, 
 his policy had woeful consequences. No lasting 
 bitterness would have come of a fair fight. The 
 English would have accepted in good faith the 
 result of the battle of Hastings. But the op- 
 
112 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 pression and cruelty of the years after the bat- 
 tle, the peace which was no peace, embittered 
 their hearts and opened the gulf of distrust and 
 hatred which for nearly two centuries yawned be- 
 tween Saxons and Normans. 
 
 The cruel rule of Odo and Fitz-Osbern soon 
 bore fruit. There was tumult here, uprising 
 there, discontent and dissatisfaction everywhere. 
 News of the state of affairs brought William back 
 from Normandy, after a visit of six months. In 
 the winter of 1068 he took up arms against his 
 rebellious subjects. The next two years were 
 spent chiefly in fighting. Fortunately for Wil- 
 liam, it was with England part by part that he had 
 to deal. The west rose first and he marched 
 against it with an army of Normans and English- 
 men. After the conquest of the west, William re- 
 turned to London. There he was joined by Ma- 
 tilda, who had been acting as his regent in Nor- 
 mandy, and who was now crowned queen of Eng- 
 land. In England was born her son Henry, who 
 was later to become king, the first of the Norman 
 race whom the English regarded as their country- 
 man. 
 
 After her return to Normandy with her infant 
 son, Matilda never again visited England. She 
 spent the years in Normandy as regent of the 
 duchy. Tradition has it that she devoted herself 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 113 
 
 and her maidens to telling in needle-work the 
 story of her husband's conquest. The Bayeux 
 Tapestry, attributed to her, is a linen web about 
 two feet wide and four hundred feet long. On it 
 is worked with colored wools a series of pictures 
 with inscriptions which tell the story of the con- 
 quest. It begins with Harold's visit to Normandy 
 and ends with the battle of Hastings. 
 
 After the west was conquered, the north led by 
 Edwin and Morkere rose in revolt. William 
 quelled the rising, and immediately took steps to 
 enforce peace in future by building and garrison- 
 ing castles and by granting estates to Normans 
 whose duty and interest was to keep the English in 
 check. 
 
 In 1069 Harold's three sons, who had taken 
 refuge in Ireland, mustered a force and led a ris- 
 ing in the west, only to be put down by the Nor- 
 man power. In the summer of the same year, the 
 king of Denmark sent a force against William. 
 Three hundred vessels, commanded by the king's 
 brother, appeared off the coast and all the north 
 rose to join him. Had this invasion, the rising 
 of the west, and the attack of Harold's sons come 
 in concert, the Normans might yet have been over- 
 come. 
 
 Just before the Danish invasion, the English rose 
 in York and killed the Norman garrison of three 
 
114 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 thousand men. The news surprised "William as 
 he was hunting. In his wrath he swore a deadly 
 oath of revenge. But wrath with William never 
 overrode policy. First, he went with a body of 
 chosen men to the Danes, and bribed them to for- 
 sake the English cause. Then he turned his 
 forces against the north. Village after village, 
 town after town, was plundered and burned, the 
 inhabitants killed or driven from the country. 
 Houses, crops, cattle, farm tools were destroyed. 
 The country was so utter a waste that a famine 
 followed in which it was said that a hundred thou- 
 sand men, women, and children perished. For a 
 century afterwards the land was a wilderness, in- 
 habited only by wild beasts. 
 
 From the north William turned in that winter 
 of 1070 to the west, which was again in revolt. 
 The roads were choked with snow or swept by 
 swollen streams. With his own hands the king 
 helped clear the path and his voice cheered on the 
 soldiers. For days their only food was the flesh 
 of their horses that they killed. But the moors 
 were crossed and William laid waste the land 
 around Chester as he had laid waste Yorkshire. 
 
 One wrong led to another. Having gained a 
 kingdom by injustice and conquest, by injustice 
 and conquest he had to keep it. With years, his 
 evil traits — his ambition, his avarice, his revenge, 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 115 
 
 his fierce, stern temper — overshadowed his better 
 qualities. "So stern was he and hot that no man 
 durst gainsay his will. ' ' 
 
 Edwin and Morkere rose again in 1071, hoping 
 for aid from Scotland. Edwin was slain; Mor- 
 kere joined the patriot Hereward but was per- 
 suaded to surrender to the king. Hereward had 
 gathered a handful of sturdy English and taken 
 refuge in the isle of Ely. For months the little 
 band held it against the Norman hosts. At last 
 William surrounded the isle with boats, and built 
 a causeway two miles long across the marsh over 
 which to march his troops. Hereward, with a few 
 companions, forced his way out and continued the 
 fight by sea. William at last offered him honor- 
 able terms of peace, restored his estates, and re- 
 ceived him into favor. 
 
 In 1071, then, William was indeed the Con- 
 queror; he was master of England. Stormy 
 years lay before him, revolts and uprisings and 
 family feuds to embitter his days, but they never 
 shook the throne which he had established. 
 
 We must always bear in mind that though Wil- 
 liam was in deed and in truth the Conqueror, he 
 never laid claim to the title. He asserted that he 
 was the lawful king, the kinsman and chosen heir 
 of Edward, who had to make good his right 
 against the traitor Harold. When he took money 
 
116 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 or land from the English, he took it not as the 
 spoil of conquest, but as the forfeit of rebellion. 
 It is this which makes William's reign a great 
 turning-point in English history instead of the 
 institution of a new order for an old one, like the 
 Saxon conquest of the Britons. 
 
 William did not force Norman laws and Nor- 
 man customs on the people. Claiming to be an 
 English king, he ruled by English law, — the law 
 of Edward, "with the additions which I have de- 
 creed for the advantage of the people of the Eng- 
 lish." Few old laws were set aside, few new ones 
 were made. For the most part, the new laws were 
 just and wise. The curfew, to which the English 
 objected so strongly, was a useful police regula- 
 tion. The slave trade was abolished. 
 
 The king took of necessity steps for the safety 
 of the men who came with him. He "put them 
 within his own peace," — that is, wrong to them 
 was wrong to the king, and severe punishment was 
 sternly enforced. But they held their English es- 
 tates with the rights and burdens of the land. 
 William had a strong aversion to taking life ex- 
 cept on the field of battle. He put this in the form 
 of a law, forbidding capital punishment for any 
 crime. But the penalties which took its place 
 were not less, but rather more terrible than death, 
 — loss of eyesight and mutilation of the body. 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 117 
 
 Malcolm of Scotland had taken up the cause of 
 Edgar, the English prince, and in the summer of 
 1072 William marched against him. Malcolm 
 was forced to give hostages and become the 
 "man" of the king of the English. The next year 
 William went to Normandy to put down a revolt. 
 Maine had risen. In his army were many Eng- 
 lishmen. It is said that the brave Hereward was 
 one of his soldiers. It seems strange that the men 
 who had lately been fighting for the freedom of 
 their own land should now be willing to follow 
 their conqueror and fight against the freedom of 
 another land. 
 
 During the years that followed, disturbances on 
 the mainland called William often from England. 
 In his absence the spoiling and plunder of the 
 English by his deputies went on. 
 
 LAST YEARS 
 
 In 1074 two earls, Roger Fitz-Osbern, a Nor- 
 man, and Ralph of Wader, an English renegade, 
 who had fought with William at Hastings, em 
 tered into a conspiracy against the king. They 
 asked the English Earl Waltheof to join them, of- 
 fering him a third of the kingdom which they were 
 to divide among themselves. Waltheof, flushed 
 with wine, consented to their plan. The sober re- 
 flections of the next morning turned him from the 
 
118 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 plot, and he confessed it to Lanfranc. Then he 
 went to Normandy and told William about it. 
 William returned to England to find the two earls 
 with their immediate followers in rebellion. 
 There was no general uprising of the people and 
 the revolt was soon put down. Ralph fled the 
 country, Roger was imprisoned. 
 
 On Waltheof, the least guilty of the three, fell 
 the heaviest punishment, the punishment of death. 
 Waltheof had not lifted his hand against the king. 
 His crime consisted in having listened and con- 
 sented for one evening to the plans of traitors. 
 He had repented, and had done all in his power 
 to atone for it. William had forgiven many 
 worse deeds of worse men. Never before and 
 never after did he condemn any man to death on 
 a political charge. Yet on the thirty -first of May, 
 1076, Waltheof, the last English earl, was be- 
 headed as a traitor. Was it merely because he 
 was English and an earl? His countrymen 
 thought so. They saw in him a martyr to his 
 race and nation, and claimed that signs and won- 
 ders were wrought at his tomb. They claimed 
 more. They said that the judgment of God was 
 on William for Waltheof 's death. This, they 
 said, was why the charm of success failed him and 
 why insurrection, petty defeat, and family discord 
 plagued his declining days. 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 119 
 
 The year of Waltheof 's death was, indeed, the 
 year in which William for the first time met de- 
 feat. That same year his eldest son Robert re- 
 volted against him. While William was in 
 England his sons remained in Normandy. He 
 conferred wealth and estates on his brothers and 
 followers, but gave his sons no share in his posses- 
 sions. This was resented by his eldest son, Rob- 
 ert, a brave, reckless, and ambitious youth. He 
 asked his father to grant him at least the conti- 
 nental possessions of Normandy and Maine. Wil- 
 liam refused. He said, with homely wit, that "it 
 was not his manner to take off his clothes before 
 he went to bed." Thereupon Robert gathered a 
 band of discontented nobles and made war against 
 his father. Matilda's gifts of money to the rebel 
 caused the first quarrel she had had with her hus- 
 band. In answer to William's rebukes for aiding 
 His enemy, she replied "that enemy was her son, 
 her first born, for whom she would gladly give 
 her life." William and Matilda were reconciled, 
 but the war between father and son grew in bitter- 
 ness. 
 
 In 1079 the king, with his son William Rufus, 
 laid siege to Robert in a border castle. Here Wil- 
 liam received his first wound in battle from the 
 lance of his own son. At the same time his horse 
 was struck by an arrow and his life was saved by 
 
120 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 a brave Englishman who fell in his defense. The 
 wounded and defeated king had to withdraw from 
 the siege. The next year a peace was patched up 
 between William and his son, but a second quarrel 
 followed, and Robert spent the last seven years 
 of his father's reign in exile. 
 
 Vexed by petty defeats and family strife, Wil- 
 liam found almost his only pleasure in his favorite 
 sport of hunting. "He loved the wild deer as 
 though he had been their father, ' ' was said of him. 
 For his pleasure in hunting, he created the New 
 Forest. "Forest," as used here, does not mean a 
 place overgrown with trees. It was simply a tract 
 of land reserved, under a special law, as a hunt- 
 ing ground. To create this New Forest, hundreds 
 of families were driven from their homes, houses 
 and churches were destroyed, and the land for 
 thirty miles was laid waste. Strict laws were 
 made to protect game. Any one who killed a 
 deer, or a boar, or even a hare was punished by 
 having his eyes torn out and his right hand cut off. 
 ■ As of the death of Waltheof, men said that the 
 crimes committed in forming the New Forest 
 brought on William the judgment of God. Two 
 of his sons and his grandson met violent deaths in 
 tliis forest. Before the eyes of his father, Rich- 
 ard, William's second son, was gored to death by 
 a stag. 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 121 
 
 When William returned to England from a 
 visit to Normandy in 1082, he opened his eyes for 
 the first time to the crnel and oppressive rule of 
 his brother Odo. Odo had been left guardian of 
 the kingdom and had made himself its oppressor. 
 He had been trusted to collect an army to defend 
 England and had gathered troops to invade Italy, 
 hoping to gain by force the office of pope. 
 
 William called together the great men of the 
 kingdom, laid before them charges against Odo, 
 and asked how he was to deal with this man. But 
 the nobles dared not answer. The man against 
 whom these charges were brought was William's 
 brother, the favorite of years. Since no other 
 would speak, William himself answered. Odo 
 must be deprived of power, he must be put in 
 prison. No one else dared arrest him, and Wil- 
 liam seized him with his own hands. Odo ap- 
 pealed to his sacred office. William only an- 
 swered, " I do not seize a clerk or a bishop ; I seize 
 my earl whom I set over my kingdom. ' ' And the 
 Earl Odo was confined in a prison from which the 
 pope himself asked in vain to have Archbishop 
 Odo released. 
 
 "Naught have I to do with your bishop," an- 
 swered William, "but my earl remains in prison." 
 
 The next year died Matilda, who for thirty 
 years had been the faithful partner of William's 
 
122 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 joys and woes. Her last years were embittered 
 by the contests between her husband and her sons. 
 From her deathbed William hurried to meet his 
 enemies on the Norman border. A few months 
 later he had to make ready to defend England 
 against an attack planned by the king of Denmark. 
 To keep the Danes from getting a foothold, he did 
 what Harold had refused to do — laid waste the 
 English coast. His army of English, Normans, 
 and hired troops, was ready for the enemy, but no 
 enemy came. Disputes arose between Cnut of 
 Denmark and Olaf of Norway, and the enterprise 
 came to nothing. 
 
 The year 1086 was made memorable by an event 
 hardly second in importance to the battle of Has- 
 tings. We are told that the king held "deep 
 speech" with his great council, the Witan, or Par- 
 liament, as it began to be called. After this con- 
 ference the king sent men into every shire to make 
 a survey of the land, the boundaries and value and 
 ownership of each estate, all property and all dues 
 to the crown. It was called the "Doomsday 
 Book," or book of judgment, that spared no one. 
 In it were registered, said the English, "horses, 
 black cattle, swine, sheep, and the old dames' hives 
 of bees." 
 
 "There was not a hide or a yard of land, nor 
 further — it is shame to tell and it thought him no 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 123 
 
 shame to do — an ox nor a cow nor a swine was 
 left that was not set in his writ. " 
 
 Alfred had made a survey of counties on a 
 smaller scale. But there had never before been 
 in England anything like this accurate register of 
 every detail of the land. William wished, of 
 course, in the first place, to know the taxable 
 
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 value of the land, how much it might be made to 
 pay to the crown ; but he wished to know more — 
 its military strength and whether his own will as 
 to land grants had been carried out. This record 
 makes no mention of Harold as king. Every- 
 where it speaks of the "time of William" as fol- 
 lowing the "time of Edward." Harold is men- 
 tioned only as earl, and one could not tell from 
 
124 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Doomsday Book that war and conquest, not peace- 
 ful change, had given English estates to Normans. 
 But the Doomsday Book showed how thoroughly 
 William had done his work. There had been no 
 violent displacement of the English. Step by 
 step, he had carried out his policy of putting Eng- 
 
 Norman House at Lincoln, Called the Jews' 
 House. Built about 1140 
 
 land into Norman hands. By death, by fine, by 
 confiscation, their lands had fallen to his share. 
 They remained his or were regranted to Nor- 
 mans. At the close of William's reign, the land 
 belonged virtually to the Norman race. There 
 was left only one English bishop and not one Eng- 
 lish earl. William was the ruler of two peoples 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 125 
 
 in one land. The conquering race to which he 
 belonged was given all places of trust and honor, 
 and the old ruling class was reduced to poverty 
 and subjection. The English resented the new 
 rule, the afforesting and confiscation of their lands 
 and the placing of Normans in all offices of church 
 and state. Yet they praised William's just laws 
 enforced against robbers and murderers, and ' ' the 
 good peace he made in the land so that a man 
 might fare over his kingdom with a bosom full of 
 gold. ' ' 
 
 The great survey was completed in seven 
 months. The Doomsday Book, with its list of 
 every land-holder, Norman and Saxon, was sub- 
 mitted to the king. And now William willed to see 
 these land-holders face to face. It was his custom, 
 as it had been that of the English kings before him, 
 to hold royal state three times a year, — at Easter, 
 at Pentecost, at Christmas. — with the great men 
 of his kingdom. Now he called another great as- 
 sembly. All the land-holders of England were bid- 
 den gather at Salisbury on the first of August, 
 1086. And each man, of whatever race and 
 speech, was made to swear loyalty to the king. 
 
 By the feudal system, a nobleman swore loyalty 
 to the king, and the nobleman's dependents swore 
 loyalty to him. But William resolved to bind 
 every man in duty and loyalty directly to him. 
 
126 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 So there on the plain of Salisbury every man knelt 
 and swore faith to the king. 
 
 I The last year of William's life was spent in 
 Normandy in border warfare against the king of 
 France. At one time while William lay ill, King 
 Philip sent him a message, making a foolish jest 
 about his bodily condition. Now, as in earlier 
 days at Alencon, William was stung to madness 
 by a personal taunt. He swore that he would light 
 a hundred thousand candles at Philip's cost as 
 soon as he recovered. He wreaked his revenge 
 on Philip's helpless and innocent subjects, destroy- 
 ing crops, orchards, and vineyards. His "can- 
 dles ' ' were the burning houses of peasants and vil- 
 lagers. This cruelty which brought woe to others 
 brought death to him. As he rode along the 
 streets of Mantes, which he had given to the 
 flames, his horse flinched from the hot embers and 
 stumbled, giving the king a death-blow. He was 
 carried to Rouen, and there he lingered three 
 weeks. They were desolate weeks. His devoted 
 wife was dead and his eldest son, Robert, was a 
 rebel. His sons and nobles were more concerned 
 about their interests than about his fate. 
 
 The king, looking death in the face, set in or- 
 der his affairs. Unlovingly and grudgingly he 
 granted the duchy of Normandy to his eldest son, 
 Robert. Of England, which he had won with the 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 127 
 
 sword, lie did not positively dispose. He wished 
 to will it to William Rufus, but did not do so. 
 Henry, his youngest son, was left landless Jmt 
 master of a great treasure. 
 
 He set free his political prisoners — English, 
 Norman, and French. All but one he set free 
 willingly. For the good of others, he said, : it 
 were well for Odo to remain in prison. But he 
 yielded at last to the entreaties of his brother 
 Robert, and Odo went free. 
 
 William's sons and nobles hurried from his 
 deathbed to make sure of their possessions. For- 
 saken even by his attendants, the great conqueror 
 breathed his last. His dead body was robbed and 
 left almost naked on the floor. There was not one 
 kinsman nor friend to take charge of it. 
 
 At length a knight, "for the love of God and 
 honor of his country, ' ' had the body prepared for 
 burial and borne to the Abbey of St. Stephen 
 which William had founded. There a man 
 stepped forward and said the grave was in the 
 courtyard of his father's house which William 
 had seized. In God's name he forbade that the 
 body of the spoiler be covered with earth which 
 was his own rightful inheritance. The burial 
 rites had to wait till the claim was paid. Then 
 the grave was found to be too small for the huge 
 body, and it was thrust in with unseemly force. 
 
128 • ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Even after these maimed funeral rites, William's 
 body was not left in peace. In later days his 
 
 Burial of William the Conqueror 
 
 tomb was broken open, and his bones scattered. 
 
 Such was the end, such the fate of the Conqueror. 
 
 Side by side, the conquering Norman and the 
 
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 129 
 
 conquered Saxon endured for awhile, with their 
 different languages and customs. Little by little 
 they merged into one. The old Teutonic race, 
 subject for awhile, in the end was dominant, but 
 it was enriched by the infusion of Romance law, 
 custom, and speech. From the union of the two 
 arose a people greater than the Saxon, greater 
 than the Norman, — the English race which dom- 
 inates the world to-day. 
 
Queen Elizabeth 
 
 PRINCESS ELIZABETH 
 
 Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII. 
 and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. His first 
 wife was Katherine of Arragon, his brother's 
 widow. She bore him one daughter, Mary, 
 and remained for nearly twent}' years his 
 faithful wife. Then Henry saw and loved the 
 beautiful Anne Boleyn and desired to make her 
 his queen. He asked the pope to annul his mar- 
 riage with Katherine, on the ground that it was 
 not lawful for him to marry his brother's widow. 
 But the pope refused. He was not willing to 
 put aside the decree of a former pope in favor of 
 the marriage. For five years Henry urged and 
 entreated, for five years the pope answered with 
 many words which meant, after all, only "no." 
 
 At last the king took matters into his own hands. 
 He divorced Katherine of Arragon, and in Jan- 
 uary, 1533, made Anne Boleyn his wife. For 
 this, the pope turned him out of the church. 
 
 Henry set to work to form a national church 
 and refused to allow the pope to exercise any au- 
 
 130 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 131 
 
 tliority in Ills dominions. This was the beginning 
 of the Church of England, as a national organi- 
 zation. 
 
 On the sixth of September, 1533, was born 
 Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry and Anne 
 Boleyn. But the king's love for Anne, as brief as 
 it was violent, soon passed away. He listened 
 to evil charges against her. In vain she appealed 
 to him, bearing in her arms their little daughter to 
 soften his heart, and begged to be restored to his 
 favor. She was sent from the palace to prison 
 and put to death when Elizabeth was only two 
 and a half years old. 
 
 The baby princess, "motherless and worse than 
 fatherless," was sent with an attendant to Huns- 
 don, a country house thirty miles from London. 
 She was a precocious child. When she was little 
 more than three years old, Henry sent to inquire 
 about the health of his daughters. Little Eliza- 
 beth "gave thanks and asked after his majesty's 
 welfare with as great a gravity as if she had been 
 forty years old." The king seems to have given 
 little time and little thought to his daughter. 
 She remained at Hunsdon, neglected, even in need 
 of clothes. 
 
 He was busy with his marriages and his church 
 affairs. He had four wives after Anne Boleyn, 
 - — Jane Seymour, who died about a year after mar- 
 
132 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 riage, leaving a son, Edward, Anne of Cleves, 
 whom lie divorced, Katherine Howard, whom he 
 put to death, and Katherine Parr, who outlived 
 him. 
 
 Having broken with the Roman Catholic 
 Church and made himself head of the church in 
 England, Henry suppressed the English monas- 
 teries and took possession of their property. 
 The church possessions included about one-fifth 
 of the wealth of the whole country. Riches ex- 
 ceeding those of any king before him thus came 
 into the hands of Henry. Part of it he kept for 
 his personal use, part he spent in building roads 
 and ships. Much of the church lands was granted 
 away, or sold on easy terms. 
 
 In November, 1542, when Princess Elizabeth 
 was nine years old, there was born in Scotland, 
 a princess, her cousin. This was Mary, the only 
 daughter of James V., king of Scotland, who was 
 the nephew of Henry VIII. Henry planned to 
 unite the kingdoms of England and Scotland by 
 the marriage of his only son, Edward, with this 
 princess, whom her father's death left heir of 
 Scotland. But the Scotch were jealous lest their 
 country should be made subject to England and 
 the matter was put aside for a time. 
 
 The Princess Mary refused to give up the Cath- 
 olic faith of her mother. Prince Edward and 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 133 
 
 Princess Elizabeth were trained in the Protestant 
 belief and studied together at Hatfield, a country 
 place about nineteen miles from London. In the 
 winter of 1547 came to the children tidings that 
 their father was dead. By his death Edward be- 
 came king. 
 
 Elizabeth was put under the care of the widowed 
 queen, Katherine Parr. She urged Elizabeth to 
 study and improve herself, "For I believe that 
 you are destined by heaven to be the queen of 
 England. ' ' 
 
 Ascham, wit, scholar, and musician, became her 
 tutor in February, 1548, and for two years she 
 was under his care. She was an apt scholar. 
 "She showed," said Ascham, "a man's power 
 of application." She studied music, mathemat- 
 ics, theology, philosophy, and languages, — French, 
 Spanish, Italian, Latin, and Greek. 
 
 "It is your shame," wrote Ascham later, "I 
 speak to you, all you young gentlemen of Eng- 
 land, that one maid should go beyond you all in ex- 
 cellency of learning and knowledge of diverse 
 tongues. Point forth six of the best given gentle- 
 men of this court, and all they together show not 
 so much goodwill, spend not so much time, bestow 
 not so many hours daily, orderly, and constantly 
 for the increase of learning and knowledge as doth 
 the queen's majesty herself." 
 
134 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 After remaining almost in disgrace for some 
 time, Elizabeth was restored to her brother's 
 favor. He gave her Hatfield, which became her 
 
 The Tower of London 
 
 favorite residence. In the spring of 1551 she was 
 recalled to London. Edward was delighted with 
 the simple attire and quiet deportment of his 
 " sweet sister Temperance." For seven years 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 135 
 
 Elizabeth lived in retirement, seeming to scorn 
 dress, jewels, and worldly rank. 
 
 The plan for the union of Scotland and England 
 by Edward's marriage to Mary Stuart came to 
 nothing. She was sent in 1548 to France and 
 there became the wife of the French dauphin 
 (Francis II.). King Edward VI. died in 1553, 
 at the age of sixteen. Lady Jane Grey was pro- 
 claimed queen, but she passed from the throne to 
 the Tower, thence to the block, and Mary Tudor 
 became queen of England. 
 
 Mary was a devout Roman Catholic, and Eliza- 
 beth yielded to her arguments and entreaties and 
 became, outwardty at least, a Roman Catholic 
 also. From princess to peasant, people were re- 
 quired to return to the old faith. The English 
 book of common prayer was set aside and the 
 mass restored. 
 
 It was learned that Mary intended to marry 
 Philip of Spain. Opposition to the queen's mar- 
 riage with a Spaniard and a Roman Catholic led 
 to a revolt. 
 
 With or without her will, Elizabeth's name was 
 used by the rebels, and she was arrested and taken 
 prisoner to the Tower. When she was conducted 
 to "Traitor's Gate," she viewed the guard with 
 an outburst of Tudor wrath. 
 
 "Are all these armed men there for me?" sliQ 
 
136 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 cried. "It needed not for me, being but a weak 
 woman." Calling on the soldiers to "bear wit- 
 ness that I come as no traitor," she refused at 
 ,first to enter the prison. 
 
 No proof could be brought as to any share of 
 hers in the rebellion. From the Tower she was 
 sent to Woodstock and there kept under guard 
 for a year; then she was allowed to return to Hat- 
 field. During the whole of Mary's reign, she was 
 half free, half prisoner, always under guard and 
 suspicion. 
 
 Removed from any active share in affairs, Eliz- 
 abeth watched events with keen interest and in- 
 telligence. She had seen Edward raise discontent 
 by insisting on the new faith, she saw Mary cre- 
 ate discord by attempting to restore the old. 
 Under Edward she had seen Catholics suffer; 
 under Mary she saw Protestants given to torture 
 and death. She saw England, dragged by her 
 sister's husband into war with France, undergo 
 defeat and lose Calais, "the chief jewel of the 
 realm," for two hundred years the English foot- 
 hold in France. She saw her sister unloved by 
 her people, and in her last sickness forsaken by 
 her husband. It was probably those years and 
 those events which inspired Elizabeth with the 
 aims which became the chief policies of her reign 
 — to avoid religious partisanship, to keep free of 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 137 
 
 foreign entanglements, and to seek always and 
 ever what would upbuild England in peace and 
 power. 
 
 Parliament was in session when Mary died, in 
 November, 1558. When the event was announced, 
 there was hardly a pause of decent regret. The 
 two houses resounded with shouts of "God save 
 Queen Elizabeth! Long and happy may she 
 reign. ' ' 
 
 From the deathbed of Mary, courtiers hurried 
 to Hatfield to greet Elizabeth queen. They found 
 her sitting under a tree in the park, a book in 
 her hand. When they hailed her queen, she fell 
 on her knees and said, "It is the Lord's doing 
 and it is marvelous in our eyes." 
 
 Elizabeth's title to the throne was not undis- 
 puted. The pope had never recognized the di- 
 vorce of Katherine or the marriage of Anne 
 Boleyn as lawful. Therefore the Catholics 
 claimed at Mary's death that the crown should go 
 to Mary Stuart, the Queen of Scots, whose father's 
 mother was the sister of Henry VIII. In the 
 spring of 1558, Mary of Scots had married the 
 French prince, Francis II., and on the English 
 queen's death she and her husband styled them- 
 selves sovereigns of England, 
 
138 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 - » . * ' 
 
 '. 
 
 '^m 
 
 
 m i 
 
 
 : 
 
 
 /')■ 
 
 P * 
 
 JlSi 
 
 % ' jp* 1 
 
 [J 
 
 
 ^3 
 
 
 Queen Jinzaoeui 
 
 Elizabeth's suitors and enemies 
 
 At tlie time of her accession, Elizabeth was 
 
 twenty-five years old. Unlike her sister, she was 
 
 tall, with a good figure and queenly bearing. 
 
 Her face was long and pale, and she had quan- 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 
 
 139 
 
 tities of fair, reddish hair. She was graceful, 
 fond of dancing and hunting, and expert in the art 
 of archery. She was vain of her personal ap- 
 pearance and jealous of the praise of others. 
 Having heard much of the beauty of her cousin, 
 Mary Stuart, she once asked the Scotch ambassa- 
 
 Elizabeth Carried in a Palanquin 
 
 dor which was fairer, she or Mary. He answered 
 prudently, "Your majesty is the fairest person in 
 England, and my mistress is the fairest in Scot- 
 land." Elizabeth then asked which was taller, 
 and he replied that Mary was. "Then she is too 
 tall," said the English queen, "for I am myself 
 of a proper stature." 
 
140 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Elizabeth inherited her mother's vanity and 
 levity, and delight in pomp and pleasure. She 
 had her father's faults and virtues, his pride and 
 temper, his courage and resolution. She had, too, 
 a prudence and policy all her own, proved in the 
 trials which beset her from babyhood to woman- 
 hood. Her mind was trained in all the learning 
 of the day. Not one of the able ministers whom 
 she gathered round her council table equaled her 
 in policy and statecraft. 
 
 Never had England been in greater need of a 
 wise and able ruler. It had no ally except Spain, 
 and defeats and losses suffered in the unsuccess- 
 ful war with France, precipitated by Philip dur- 
 ing Mary's reign, had made the very name of 
 Spain hateful to the people. There was civil war 
 in Ireland. At home there was discontent and 
 jealousy between Roman Catholic and Protestant. 
 There was a small navy, a poor army, and so far 
 from having money in the treasury, the country 
 was burdened with debt. 
 
 The English rejoiced in the accession of Eliza- 
 beth as much as they could in that of any woman. 
 Their preference was for a king, and they re- 
 gretted that, for the second time, in lack of a male 
 heir, the crown had come to a woman. They felt 
 that a woman should rule alone only until she 
 could choose a husband. Mary had married as 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 141 
 
 soon as she became queen. It was taken for 
 granted that Elizabeth would have a husband to 
 rule with and for her. Her marriage was looked 
 upon as much a matter of course as her accession. 
 Less than a month after she came to the throne, 
 Parliament asked her to choose a husband with- 
 out delay. 
 
 She answered that she had no mind to change 
 her state, that she would devote her life to loving 
 and cherishing her people and she wished her 
 tomb to bear these words, "Here lies Elizabeth, 
 who lived and died a maiden queen." 
 
 Her refusal, however, did not seem final to 
 her people. Indeed, at that very time she was 
 receiving the proposals of the first of the many 
 suitors whom she used to serve her vanity and 
 her policy. 
 
 This was Philip of Spain, who made proposals 
 of marriage to her in January, 1559. Philip 
 seems to have hesitated about doing so. "It 
 would be inconvenient for him to come to Eng- 
 land. Elizabeth must not expect him to come 
 often nor to remain there long. ' ' He never for an 
 instant seemed to doubt that the queen would 
 gratefully accept his offer. But as a woman 
 Elizabeth did not desire to tie herself to her "ugly, 
 disagreeable" brother-in-law; as a queen she did 
 not wish to commit herself to the Spanish power. 
 
142 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 After characteristic delay, she replied that she did 
 not intend to marry. 
 
 In March, 1559, Elizabeth concluded peace with 
 France, a peace by which Calais was really given 
 np. To save appearances, however, it was said 
 that Calais should be restored to the English in 
 eight years under a forfeit of half a million 
 crowns. 
 
 A year had passed since the accession of Eliza- 
 beth and the year had wrought many changes. 
 She had put an end to persecution. "I will do 
 as my father did," she said about religious mat- 
 ters. She restored the forms established by 
 Henry VIII. Personally, she cared little for the 
 new faith or the old. Under Edward, she had 
 professed Protestantism, under Mary, Catholi- 
 cism. But she had political if not conscientious 
 reasons to uphold the Protestant church. In the 
 first place, the pope refused to acknowledge her 
 as the rightful heir to the English throne, and de- 
 nied the divorce of Katherine of Arragon and the 
 marriage of Anne Boleyn. In the second place, 
 Elizabeth sought now and ever what would give 
 most power to her, most strength to England, 
 She had no mind to bind the English church to 
 Rome if she could keep it free and national. 
 
 "The government, worship, and doctrine of the 
 Established Church are the most abiding marks 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 143 
 
 left by Elizabeth on the national life of England. ' ' 
 The government was settled in April, 1559. By 
 the Act of Supremacy the queen was styled the 
 ' ' supreme governor of the church, ' ' and all clergy- 
 men and government officers were compelled to 
 take an oath acknowledging the English sover- 
 eign, head of the church. The worship was set- 
 tled in April, 1559, by the Act of Uniformity, 
 which adopted the English prayer book of Ed- 
 ward VI. with a few alterations. The Act for- 
 bade all persons to attend any other places of 
 worship than those of the Established Church. 
 The doctrine was not finally settled until the 
 Thirty-nine Articles were adopted by Parliament 
 in 1571. 
 
 But one immediate good was gained. Eliza- 
 beth so reorganized the national church that she 
 could count on the support of all her subjects ex- 
 cept the extreme Protestants and the Roman 
 Catholics who, fortunately for her, were in the 
 minority. By economy and order, the treasury 
 was supplied and a fleet and an army were col- 
 lected and equipped. 
 
 From the first of her reign Elizabeth gathered 
 able statemen around her council table. She was 
 fortunate in having such men in her kingdom, for- 
 tunate in being able to recognize and use them. 
 She retained some of her sister Mary's council- 
 
144 ENGLISH HISTORY. STORIES 
 
 lors and added others of the Protestant faith. 
 She called them often to advise her, listened to 
 all their reasons, and then in the end, as one of 
 them said, "she wills what she wills." 
 
 The Scotch Protestants were now endeavoring 
 to overthrow Mary. They asked aid from Eliza- 
 beth and offered her a Scotch husband, the Earl 
 of Arran, after Mary next heir to the throne. 
 Elizabeth refused the husband, a poor, feeble- 
 minded creature who ended his days as a mad- 
 man, but sent money and men to help the Protes- 
 tant cause. A treaty was made with France, by 
 which it was agreed that no French troops should 
 be kept in Scotland and by which Elizabeth's title 
 to the kingdoms of England and Ireland was rec- 
 ognized. 
 
 Elizabeth gained much by this Scottish upris- 
 ing. She made a friend of her neighbor to the 
 north that had been a dangerous enemy for two 
 hundred years. She had put it out of the power 
 of France to attack her from that direction. She 
 did this without the aid of Spain, and thus freed 
 herself from dependence on her former ally, 
 Philip. 
 
 The success of the Scottish "Reformers" en- 
 abled England to take its place again as a power 
 to be reckoned with, "able to take care of itself, 
 aid its friends, and annoy its enemies." 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 145 
 
 In 1562, England sent aid to the Huguenots, the 
 French Protestants, who were fighting for re- 
 ligious liberty. The next year, the Huguenots and 
 the Roman Catholics patched up a peace. The 
 English refused to surrender Havre, which they 
 had occupied, and they held it till their troops were 
 overcome by sickness and siege. Peace was made 
 in April, 1564. 
 
 While the wars with France and Scotland went 
 on, Elizabeth's negotiations for a husband went 
 on also. Even while she was fighting for the 
 Protestants she was encouraging the Roman 
 Catholics by receiving the suit of a Catholic 
 prince, the Archduke Charles of Austria. But 
 when he came to England to be looked at he did 
 not please her. People began to whisper that it 
 was because the queen preferred a subject that 
 no prince could win her favor. This was Robert 
 Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leicester. There were 
 sad tales that he had neglected his wife; some 
 even said that she was murdered so that he might 
 aspire to the hand of the queen. He was a hand- 
 some, attractive-mannered man, able, selfish and 
 unscrupulous. He never hesitated at any false- 
 hood which would serve his purpose or advance 
 his selfish ambition. Elizabeth's cold and mas- 
 terful nature was incapable of true and unselfish 
 love. She liked Dudley's handsome face and gal- 
 
146 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 lant manners, his flattering words and graceful 
 presence. They made seem all the more distaste- 
 ful her other suitors, — ugly, arrogant Philip of 
 Spain, his stupid, big-headed cousin of Austria, 
 and the poor, feeble-witted Earl of Arran. But 
 she had no desire to share her power with any 
 man. 
 
 A RIVAL QUEEN 
 
 While Elizabeth was coquetting with her suitors 
 in Spain, Austria, Scotland, and England, her 
 cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, had become a wife 
 and a widow. After the death of her husband, 
 Francis II. of France, she decided to return to her 
 own kingdom of Scotland. She had left it when a 
 child of six. She had been reared in the gay Cath- 
 olic court of France, and was made still more a 
 stranger to her native land by its adoption of the 
 Protestant religion. Before Mary started, she 
 applied to Elizabeth for a safe-conduct in case she 
 should be obliged to pass through England. This 
 Elizabeth refused, because Mary disputed her 
 right to the English throne. Mary was not dis- 
 mayed. 
 
 "I came to France in spite of the opposition of 
 her brother, King Edward, ' ' she said, ' ' and I will 
 return in spite of her own. Perhaps she bears a 
 better inclination to my rebellious subjects than 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 147 
 
 to me, their queen, lier equal in royal dignity, her 
 near relative, and the undoubted heir of her king- 
 dom. She has combined with rebel subjects of 
 mine; but there are rebel subjects in England, 
 too, who would gladly listen to a call from me. 
 I am a queen as well as she and not altogether 
 friendless. And perhaps I have as great a soul." 
 In intellect, in information, and in political abil- 
 ity, this girl of nineteen was not inferior to her 
 brilliant cousin of England. 
 
 She was as versed in music, literature, and lan- 
 guages as in statecraft. Physically, she was as 
 active and courageous as Elizabeth. She would 
 dance all night or ride all day. She was often 
 heard to wish she were a man ' ' to know what life 
 it were to lie all night in the fields, or to walk on- 
 the cawsey with a buckler and a broadsword." 
 Personally, she had the beauty and charm which 
 Elizabeth lacked. With all her vigor of mind 
 and body, she was so womanly and so exquisite 
 that her rough Protestant nobles said she had 
 ' ' some enchantment whereby men are bewitched. ' ' 
 Such was Mary, Queen of Scots. 
 
 And now the question of Mary's second mar- 
 riage came up. Personally, she prefered to marry 
 a Catholic, but most of her subjects wished her 
 to marry a Protestant, and Elizabeth assured her 
 that she need not hope to succeed her in England 
 
148 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 unless she did so. Elizabeth recommended an 
 English nobleman, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leices- 
 ter. A suitor more attractive to the Scotch 
 queen, for political and religious reasons, was 
 Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, a Roman Catholic 
 
 'Mm^mAm- 
 
 Holyrood Castle, Where Mary Queen of Scots Lived 
 
 nobleman of England. He was the great-nephew 
 of Henry VIII., and after Mary, next in the line 
 of succession to the English throne. By marry- 
 ing him, Mary would strengthen her cause in Eng- 
 land and not weaken it in Scotland, for on his 
 father's side he was of the royal Stuart family 
 and was the head of the great house of Douglas. 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 149 
 
 Despite protests from her Protestant subjects and 
 from her sister-queen, Mary married Darnley. 
 With steel cap on her head and pistols at her 
 belt, she rode at the head of her soldiers and 
 drove her brother, the Earl of Murray, out of 
 Scotland. She coolly disregarded Elizabeth's 
 threats of war — threats which, as the event 
 proved, the queen had no mind to put into execu- 
 tion. 
 
 It was always and only stern necessity which 
 drove Elizabeth to fight. "No war, my lords, no 
 war!" she would say to her council. It was not 
 cowardice nor womanly weakness that animated 
 her. Better than victories won by the swords of 
 her generals, she loved the victories won by her 
 own policy and statecraft. She hated bloodshed, 
 and she hated still more the expense of war, which 
 made it necessary to turn to parliament for sup- 
 plies. 
 
 The two recognized duties of parliament were 
 to make laws and to vote supplies of money. 
 Queen Elizabeth would probably never have as- 
 sembled it, if she had not needed money for war 
 and needed laws against her political and religious 
 enemies. She would have governed the country 
 always, as she usually did, with only the advice of 
 her council. In the forty-five years of her reign, 
 there were only thirteen sessions of parliament. 
 
150 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 She was economical, and she managed to make her 
 ordinary income suffice for ordinary occasions. 
 But when war began, trouble began. Pounds, ac- 
 cumulated one by one, went by hundreds and thou- 
 sands in military expenses. She had to call par- 
 liament to ask for money. As soon as she made 
 demands of parliament it made demands of her. 
 For parliament was learning to use its power, 
 and the people were seeking through it a voice in 
 the government. 
 
 In 1566, the condition of affairs forced Eliza- 
 beth to assemble parliament after an interval of 
 four years. Instead of first voting the supplies 
 which she asked, it requested her to settle the 
 question of the succession. Elizabeth's Tudor 
 temper rose. "I cannot tell what these devils 
 mean," she burst forth. The Spanish ambassa- 
 dor answered shrewdly, "They want liberty, 
 madam, and if princes do not look to themselves 
 and work together to put such people down, they 
 will find before long what all this is coming to." 
 
 Elizabeth finally succeeded in getting supplies 
 without settling the question of the succession, 
 but the very fact that parliament had dared make 
 such a demand was a step forward and a victory 
 for the power of the people. 
 
 After the Council of Trent, in 1564, there was a 
 general revival of Roman Catholic activity in Eu- 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 151 
 
 rope. Pius. V., who was pope from 1566 to 1572, 
 was resolved to unite all the Catholic powers in 
 defence of the old faith. England was the strong- 
 hold of the new faith, which mustered its forces 
 under Elizabeth. 
 
 After Mary's marriage to Darnley in 1565, we 
 can hardly look on the contest between Mary and 
 Elizabeth as between two persons, two queens, 
 or even two kingdoms. It was between two 
 faiths, between the old religion and the new. 
 For Elizabeth to conquer meant the triumph of 
 Protestantism in England. For Mary to conquer 
 meant the restoration of the Roman Catholic 
 faith, perhaps the turning of the scales against the 
 Dutch Protestants and the French Huguenots. 
 
 Yet Mary was defeated not by Elizabeth but by 
 herself. For political and religious reasons she 
 had accepted Darnley as her husband; the bril- 
 liant, powerful woman of twenty-two was united 
 to a foolish, ignorant, vicious lad of nineteen. 
 She refused to share the royal power with him 
 or to give him any real part in the government. 
 This angered him, and with a party of armed 
 men he burst into her supper room and dragged 
 out and murdered her secretary, Rizzio. She 
 begged for the life of the helpless man, but when 
 she learned that he was dead, she dried her tears. 
 
 "I will weep no more," she said, "I will think 
 
152 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 now upon revenge." And from then on she hes- 
 itated at no step which would forward her on 
 the path she had chosen. 
 
 In June, 1566, the birth of Mary's son James 
 made the English look more than ever on Mary 
 as the heir of the English throne. Queen Eliza- 
 beth felt this keenly. "The Queen of Scots has a 
 fair son," she cried, "and I am but a barren 
 stock. ' ' 
 
 Mary's cause seemed won. It seemed that Eliz- 
 abeth, almost in spite of herself, would have to 
 recognize the succession of the Queen of Scots 
 and her son. But at that very moment Mary 
 the woman ruined Mary the queen. Rizzio's mur- 
 der gave the last touch to her hatred of Darnley. 
 
 "Unless I am free of him some way," she was 
 heard to murmur, "I have no pleasure to live." 
 
 His folly and insolence had set most of the 
 Scotch nobles against him, among others, Both- 
 well, the most daring and reckless of them all. 
 
 In the winter of 1567, Darnley was murdered by 
 Bothwell, — some said with Mary's knowledge and 
 consent. Three months after his death, Mary 
 married Bothwell. This act raised a revolt. 
 She assembled soldiers, but they would not fight 
 in her cause. She had to surrender to her own 
 nobles and was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle, 
 Bothwell left Scotland, and died in exile. 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 153 
 
 Elizabeth's first and natural feeling at Mary's 
 downfall was doubtless one of relief. For seven 
 years Mary and Mary's cause had been perplex- 
 ity and danger. But relief was soon lost in an- 
 other feeling. Elizabeth had a jealous regard for 
 the royal dignity. She realized that a tide was 
 rising, a popular desire for liberty, which it would 
 require the united efforts of princes to stem. She 
 was no democrat, no lover of popular power; she 
 was a queen and a Tudor. Stronger than her ha- 
 tred of Mary's person was her aversion to revolt 
 and rebellion, her wish that "by this example 
 none of her own be encouraged." Was she her- 
 self safe on her throne when rebels seized and im- 
 prisoned a sister-queen? She listened in horror 
 to the tidings which came from Scotland. The 
 extreme Protestant party wished 
 to execute Mary as a murderess; 
 the nobles desired to depose her 
 and keep her in prison. She was 
 forced — by threats of death, some 
 
 Tudor Rose (white 
 
 and red) say — to resign her crown to her 
 
 From the Gates of infant son and to appoint her 
 
 the Chapel of L L 
 
 Henry vn brother, Murray, regent. 
 
 Elizabeth protested against all this. She told 
 
 the Scotch lords that she could not and would not 
 
 permit them to use force against their queen. She 
 
 tried to get them to release Mary and make terms 
 
154 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 with her. Elizabeth was specially anxious at this 
 time to settle troubles in the north quickly and 
 peacefully. The armies of Philip, under the mer- 
 ciless Duke of Alva, were overrunning the Low 
 Countries. Elizabeth feared that they would 
 cross the sea to aid the Scottish queen. 
 
 But Elizabeth was powerless to direct the 
 course of events in Scotland. In the spring of 
 1568, Mary escaped from prison, and civil war be- 
 gan. In less than two weeks the queen's army 
 was defeated by the rebels and she was a fugitive. 
 Stopping only to change horses, she galloped 
 ninety miles, crossed the Solway in a light boat, 
 and for the first time put her foot on English soil. 
 A fatal day it was for her. Better would it have 
 been to risk the wrath of her nobles, the fury of 
 the Protestants, the uncertain seas, the chance of. 
 French aid, than thus to put herself in the power 
 of Elizabeth. 
 
 Taking refuge in the castle of Carlisle, she 
 called on the English queen to restore her to her 
 throne or to allow her passage to France. Eliza- 
 beth was in an awkward position. She had been 
 loud in her assertions of pity and goodwill when 
 Mary was a prisoner. Now she must either 
 square her actions with her words or undergo the 
 reproach of treachery. In any case, in one way 
 or another she must act, instead of playing her 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 155 
 
 favorite game of delay and double-dealing. But 
 what should she do ? She could not send an army 
 against her Protestant friends in Scotland to es- 
 tablish the power of a Catholic queen who 
 claimed her own throne. It were hardly better to 
 send Mary to France, where the Catholics were 
 again in power, to bring over the foreign forces 
 which it was Elizabeth's policy to keep out of 
 Scotland. Meanwhile, the Catholic nobles were 
 flocking to Carlisle to pay court to Mary. As 
 long as she remained in England she would be a 
 center for revolt. Elizabeth made effort after 
 effort to get the Scotch nobles to receive her back, 
 but they refused. 
 
 Elizabeth then suggested to Mary that she re- 
 sign, as if it were of her own will, the crown of 
 which she had been deprived. Her son and suc- 
 cessor, James, could be educated in England; in 
 England, Mary herself might remain "as long as 
 Elizabeth should find it convenient." Mary re- 
 fused, fully and flatly. Bather than of her own 
 will give up her throne, she would give up her 
 life. 
 
 There was nothing for Elizabeth to do for the 
 present, but to drop the matter. And so Mary Stu- 
 art remained in England, in .very much the posi- 
 tion of Elizabeth during the reign of Mary Tudor. 
 Nominally she was free, but her everv word and 
 
156 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 action was watched. She was a prisoner in fact, 
 a guest in name. 
 
 THE CONFLICT WITH THE POPE 
 
 All this time Elizabeth had managed to keep 
 alive the goodwill and the hopes of Protestants 
 and of Catholics. She did not intend to commit 
 herself to either ; she wished, not to be chief of a 
 party, but to be queen of all Englishmen. Her 
 policy at home was to keep a truce between the 
 two religions. Abroad her policy was peace, — 
 peace with France because war meant a French 
 
 A Milled Half-Sovereign of Elizabeth 
 
 army in Scotland, peace with Spain because it 
 was the great power of Europe with which she 
 had no wish to enter into conflict. She tried to 
 weaken the power of Spain in every possible un- 
 derhanded way. She winked at the lawlessness of 
 her bold sea-soldiers, such as Hawkins and Drake, 
 who plundered the Spanish treasure ships. In- 
 deed, she herself did not scorn to set the sea- 
 robbers an example. Some ships with large sums 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 157 
 
 of money on board put into English ports to avoid 
 pirates. Elizabeth took possession of the money, 
 saying coolly she herself would borrow it from 
 the Italian money-lenders. She reckoned, and 
 rightly, on the fact that Spain was just then too 
 busy in the Low Countries to resent the insult. 
 
 In 1569, the papal power came into open con- 
 flict with Queen Elizabeth. Her claims had, for 
 reasons already mentioned, never been sanctioned 
 by the pope. Paul IV., who was pope when she 
 began to reign, never went beyond verbal conflict. 
 Paul was succeeded by Pius IV., who regarded 
 her as a heretic and a usurper, but took no de- 
 cisive steps against her. His successor, Pius V., 
 believed that she must be destroyed, if heresy was 
 to be put down. He did all that he could to stir 
 up her subjects and foreign princes against her. 
 He issued a bull, or papal decree, pronouncing her 
 a heretic, deprived of her rights to the crown of 
 England, and absolved her Catholic subjects from 
 their allegiance. 
 
 For reasons of state, Philip of Spain and 
 Charles of France, — "kings first and Catholics 
 afterwards" — forbade the publication in their 
 lands of this papal bull against Elizabeth. It 
 served its purpose, however, of rousing and unit- 
 ing the Roman Catholics in England. 
 
 A plot was formed against Elizabeth at the 
 
158 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 head of which was the Duke of Norfolk. The plot 
 dragged on for months, and was discovered. Put- 
 ting aside her policy of delay and hesitation, 
 Elizabeth, in this time of need, acted promptly and 
 firmly. She summoned Norfolk to court and had 
 him put in the Tower. Two northern earls rose 
 in rebellion, but their forces fell away from the 
 enterprise, and they had to take refuge in Scot- 
 land. Thus ended the last rebellion in England 
 until the time of Cromwell. 
 
 Norfolk was released from the Tower at the 
 close of the revolt. He busied himself with new 
 plots to rescue and marry Mary of Scots and to 
 secure the English crown. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, 
 to keep the French from joining Mary's cause, 
 was holding out the hope that she would marry 
 the Duke of Anjou, a youth of twenty. When she 
 had kept the matter in suspense some time, she 
 broke it off by proposing as a condition the return 
 of Calais, to which she knew the French would 
 not agree. But she managed her refusal so skill- 
 fully that a little later the French offered her an- 
 other husband, Anjou's younger brother, aged 
 seventeen. 
 
 The Norfolk plot was going on during the dis- 
 cussions of the French marriage, but it was dis- 
 covered and traced out by Elizabeth's faithful 
 councillor, Cecil. Mary, who had hitherto lived as 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 159 
 
 the nominal guest of Lord Shrewsbury, was put 
 in close confinement, and Norfolk was sent to the 
 Tower. It was several months before Elizabeth 
 could make up her mind to have him executed. 
 For fourteen years she had reigned and had not 
 sentenced to death a single nobleman. 
 
 Her councillors pleaded with her that Norfolk 
 was the head and front of the revolt. He was 
 doubly a traitor, — he had planned her death and 
 he had planned to bring a foreign army to invade 
 his native land. Twice Elizabeth signed the death 
 warrant ; twice she called it back. At last she let 
 the fatal paper go, and in June, 1572, the great 
 Duke of Norfolk was beheaded as a traitor. 
 
 In the year 1572, three great events abroad at- 
 tracted much of Elizabeth's attention, — the ris- 
 ing of the Low Countries, the massacre of St. 
 Bartholomew, the accession and policy of Pope 
 Gregory XIII. 
 
 The Spanish war against its provinces had im- 
 portant results in England. The oppressions of 
 Spain were "scaring capital and industry from 
 their older seats" in the Low Countries. Thou- 
 sands of merchants and tradesmen took refuge in 
 England, especially in London. English manufac- 
 tures and commerce grew in importance, and the 
 merchant-navy of England extended its trade over 
 the world. 
 
160 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 In the spring of 1572, the Duke of Alva required 
 Elizabeth to order from her ports some Dutch pi- 
 rates, a little hand of two hundred and fifty 
 "water beggars," as they were called. The queen 
 
 S?DujUUilu.Cajt- 
 
 Old View of London Bridge. Time of Elizabeth 
 
 did so, for she could hardly refuse. The little 
 band, driven by weather into the Meuse, took the 
 city of Brill. The revolt of the city became a rev- 
 olution of the country. It lasted thirty-seven 
 years and ended in the establishment of the Dutch 
 Republic. 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 161 
 
 Spain was then the greatest power of Europe. 
 Its chief enemy and rival was France, against 
 which Philip sought the alliance of England. 
 The discontent and revolt of the Low Countries 
 gave him another reason for keeping peace with 
 England. It was bad enough for English pirates 
 and English soldiers to plague him in defiance of 
 law. It would be worse if England should go to 
 open war. It might turn the scales against him 
 in the Low Countries. Philip began to think it 
 might be advisable, even necessary, to fight Eng- 
 land some day. But he wished to postpone it till 
 he settled matters in his provinces across the 
 Channel. 
 
 Elizabeth understood Philip's position; she took 
 advantage of it, too. She secretly encouraged his 
 rebels and plagued his trade. She even dared, 
 as we have seen, openly to seize his treasure ship. 
 She encouraged Sir John Hawkins with twenty 
 ships to attack the treasure-fleet from Mexico. 
 Year after year Philip bore these attacks which it 
 was not his policy openly to resent. 
 
 The sympathies of the English people were 
 openly with the Dutch. The rising of 1572 caused 
 a wave of generous enthusiasm over England. 
 On every tongue was a tale of the persecutions 
 of Alva. In England were refugees from his 
 wrath. There across the sea was a little band of 
 
162 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 heroes, waging a desperate war. The London 
 merchants opened their purses and sent to aid the 
 cause of William of Orange two and a half mil- 
 lions of dollars. Elizabeth doled out "scanty 
 supplies and many promises." Brave English- 
 men slipped across the sea to fight for the cause. 
 Freebooters preyed on the Spanish fleets. Eliza- 
 beth favored all this because it was to her inter- 
 est. There never seems to have been in her heart 
 any enthusiasm for the people or the cause led 
 by William of Orange. To her the rising of the 
 Low Countries was at most "a bridle of Spain 
 which kept war out of our own gate. ' ' 
 
 So matters stood between Philip and Elizabeth 
 year after year. She robbed him and aided his 
 rebels, he incited rebels and assassins against her. 
 That was all in the way of business. Outwardly 
 they were on friendly, even affectionate terms. 
 
 These came near being broken off in 1576 by 
 Philip 's half-brother, Don John, the commander in 
 the Low Countries. He planned to invade Eng- 
 land, make himself master with the aid of English 
 and Scotch Catholics, marry Mary, Queen of Scots, 
 and reign as her husband over England and Scot- 
 land. The plan was foiled by the mutiny of the 
 Spanish troops, and by the union of the Belgian 
 states.with the states of Holland and Zealand. But 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 163 
 
 danger had been near enough and great enough to 
 rouse Elizabeth to action. The next year she 
 sent money and men to the revolting states. She 
 even brought up again the subject of marriage 
 with a Frenchman, Francis, Duke of Alencon. 
 She was now forty-five and the duke was twenty- 
 four. "He was an undersized man with an over- 
 sized head, villainously ugly, with a face deeply 
 seamed by smallpox, a nose ending in a knob that 
 made it look like two noses, and a croaking voice." 
 
 The English people bitterly opposed their 
 queen's proposed marriage with this French 
 Catholic. Stubbs, a Puritan who wrote a tract 
 against it, was sentenced to have his right hand 
 cut off. "I remember, being then present," says 
 Camden, "that Stubbs, after his right hand was 
 cut off, put off his hat with his left, and said with 
 a loud voice, 'God save the Queen.' " 
 
 But while the English feared, the French dared 
 hardly hope, that Elizabeth would make this mar- 
 riage. She had too often offered and then with- 
 drawn her hand, as a matter of policy. In this 
 case, she had to give many pledges of her inten- 
 tion. She signed a marriage treaty and presented 
 the duke a ring. She kissed and caressed him in 
 public. Meanwhile she urged the French king to 
 declare war against Spain, But the English queen 
 
164 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 had played the comedy of courtship too often for 
 Henry to be deceived. "No marriage, no war," 
 he said. He refused to stir against Spain until 
 the marriage was celebrated and Elizabeth openly 
 joined him in the war, lest she "draw her neck out 
 of the collar" and leave him to bear it alone. 
 This was, indeed, Elizabeth's plan. 
 
 Finding she could not move the king, Elizabeth 
 furnished money and troops for Alencon to go to 
 the Low Countries. When he returned expecting 
 to be made her husband, he was again put off. 
 Mortified, Alencon returned to the Continent, 
 where he died a few months later. 
 
 While the queen coolly sacrificed her dignity as 
 a woman to her policy as a queen, dangers were 
 thickening around her. The Prince of Parma, an 
 able statesman and a great general, had charge 
 of Spanish affairs in the Low Countries. He 
 broke the union of the states, and won back the 
 ten Belgian provinces for Spain. The king of 
 Spain felt less and less the necessity of keeping 
 terms with Elizabeth. His power was strength- 
 ened by the victories of Parma, and a little later 
 by Alva's conquest of Portugal. The results he 
 had hoped to gain bad not come from peace with 
 England. Though Queen Elizabeth did not 
 openly avow the cause of the Netherlands, her men 
 and her monev were aiding his enemies. 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 165 
 
 Englishmen were attacking him in a quarter 
 where he was even more jealous of interference, 
 — the New World. 
 
 Though an English discoverer had first touched 
 the mainland of America, England did little for 
 three-quarters of a century to enforce her claims 
 in the New World. About the middle of Eliza- 
 beth's reign, Sir Martin Frobisher, in search of 
 the north-west passage to Asia, entered Baffin's 
 Bay. Sir Francis Drake, on an expedition to the 
 coast of Panama, climbed a tall tree and caught 
 sight of the Pacific ocean. He vowed that he 
 would "sail an English ship on those broad seas." 
 He was as good as his word. He fitted out an 
 expedition and his little vessel sailed along the 
 Pacific coast as far as the southern part of Oregon 
 and then returned home by way of the Cape of 
 Good Hope. His was the second ship and he the 
 first captain to make the circuit of the globe, for 
 Magellan died on the voyage. 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh and his half brother, Sir 
 Humphrey Gilbert, made attempts to settle col- 
 onies in the New World. Gilbert's ship disap- 
 peared in a storm. Raleigh made several 
 unsuccessful attempts to colonize the coast which 
 he called Virginia, in honor of Elizabeth, the 
 Virgin Queen. These attempts were looked on 
 with jealousy by the Spanish, and their wrath was 
 
166 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 excited by the English plundering of their col- 
 onies and fleets. 
 
 They were especially incensed by Sir Francis 
 Drake's attack on the Spanish coasts of Peru and 
 Chili and his robbery of the Spanish treasure ship. 
 With booty of gold, silver, and jewels to the value 
 of about three million dollars, Drake returned to 
 England. 
 
 Philip's ambassador demanded his surrender as 
 a pirate. Elizabeth replied by knighting the dar- 
 ing freebooter and going as his guest to a banquet 
 on board the little vessel which had made the 
 circuit of the globe. The Spaniard protested that 
 Drake 's plunder should be restored to Philip ; the 
 queen accepted Drake's gift of jewels and wore 
 them in her crown. At last the Spanish am- 
 bassador lost patience and warned her that if she 
 persisted in this course ''matters would come to 
 the cannon. ' ' She answered, he said, ' ' quietly, in 
 her most natural voice, as if she were telling a 
 common story, that if I used threats of that kind 
 she would fling me into a dungeon. ' ' 
 
 WAR WITH SPAIN 
 
 Elizabeth had now ruled nearly thirty years, 
 and every year had seen an advance in power and 
 prosperity. She had paid the debts which she had 
 inherited ; by thrift and economy she had laid up 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 167 
 
 money in the treasury. Trade and commerce had 
 been built up and manufactures established. A 
 small but serviceable fleet had been created which 
 could be increased by the addition of merchant 
 vessels. Stores of arms had been collected, and 
 the militia had been formed and trained. Eng- 
 land at Elizabeth's accession was a second-rate 
 power. It had steadily grown in strength and 
 importance. Now it was to match itself against 
 Spain, the first power of Europe. 
 
 The discovery of a plot in which the Spanish 
 ambassador was concerned led Elizabeth to break 
 off peaceful relations with Spain. 
 
 War now darkened the face of Europe. France 
 was a battle ground on which was being fought, 
 between Catholic and Huguenot, the last of the 
 great European wars of religion. The Dutch 
 were still fighting against Spain. Elizabeth pro- 
 posed to the Dutch provinces to form a naval 
 alliance with them. While these negotiations 
 were going on, William of Orange was murdered. 
 The Dutch wished to become a dependency of Eng- 
 land with Elizabeth as their sovereign. But 
 Elizabeth refused to annex the provinces to the 
 English crown. She would send them a definite 
 amount of help in men, and lend them money, — 
 every farthing of which was to be repaid. 
 
 She sent troops with Leicester at their head. 
 
168 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Leicester was now "fifty-four, bald, white- 
 bearded, and red-faced, but still imposing in fig- 
 ure, carriage, and dress." None of her younger 
 favorites had taken the place with the queen of 
 this play-fellow and lover of her youth. 
 
 Little was accomplished by the English troops 
 in Holland. The campaign is memorable chiefly 
 for a skirmish at Zutphen in which Sir Philip 
 Sidney was killed. Sidney was a gallant English- 
 man, one of the noblest figures of all time. Poet 
 and scholar as he was, he was also soldier and 
 patriot. 
 
 As he lay mortally wounded on the battlefield, 
 his nobility was proved by a deed which shines 
 like a jewel through the ages. A cup of water was 
 brought to quench his dying thirst. But he saw 
 fixed on it the eager eyes of a common soldier 
 beside him. "Here," he said, passing the cup 
 from his own parched lips, "thy necessity is 
 greater than mine." 
 
 While the English met defeat on land, victory 
 was theirs at sea. Sir Francis Drake had been 
 sent with a fleet of twenty-five vessels to damage 
 the power of Spain. He burned several cities on 
 the coast of Spain, and then sailed across the 
 ocean to plunder the coasts of Cuba and Florida. 
 In the summer of 1856, he returned with large 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 169 
 
 booty. In November of the same year, Leicester 
 was recalled to England.. 
 
 Eighteen years had passed since the spring day 
 when Mary fled from Scotland to England. She 
 had sought a kingdom and found a prison. More 
 than once Elizabeth offered her freedom on terms 
 which she rejected with scorn. Give up her right 
 to Scotland? Never, except with life itself. She 
 had lost freedom, but she kept hope, — hope in the 
 Catholic nobles, hope in James's filial affection, 
 hope in the French princes bound to her by mar- 
 riage and faith. 
 
 But years passed. Mary grew old in captivity. 
 The princes of Europe became used to the fact 
 that, contrary to the laws of nature and of nations, 
 the queen of Scots was held in prison by her 
 cousin, the queen of England. New thoughts, new 
 interests, thrust the captive from the minds of 
 men. Sick and lonely, at last Mary was ready to 
 put aside her ambition. 
 
 "Let me go," she wrote to Elizabeth, "let me 
 retire from this island to some solitude where I 
 may prepare my soul to die. Grant this and I will 
 sign away every right which either I or mine can 
 claim." 
 
 But it was too late. Elizabeth dared much, but 
 she dared not set Mary free. She had wrongs too 
 
170 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 deep for forgiveness. To set her free in Catholic 
 Europe would be like throwing a fire-brand into 
 a powder magazine. 
 
 At this time another effort was made to release 
 Mary and assassinate Elizabeth. A plot was 
 formed by young Babington and others. Some 
 assert, others deny, that the scheme was known 
 and approved by Mary. At all events, the plot 
 was discovered; the conspirators were sent to the 
 block; and a commission met at Fotheringay 
 Castle to try Mary. But this noble woman before 
 her judges denied any complicity in the plot to kill 
 the queen. However, their verdict was "guilty." 
 Parliament sent an address to the queen praying 
 for Mary's execution, saying that "the queen's 
 safety could no way be secured as long as the 
 Queen of Scots lived." 
 
 Elizabeth hesitated — not for love of Mary, but 
 for hate of the blame which she foresaw would be 
 attached to her if she passed the death sentence 
 on her cousin-queen. November passed, and De- 
 cember, and January. At last, in the presence of 
 Davidson, her secretary, the queen signed the 
 death-warrant. She flung it on the floor before 
 Davidson and "forbade him to trouble her any 
 further or let her hear any more thereof till it was 
 done, seeing that for her part she had now per- 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 171 
 
 formed all that either in law or in reason could 
 be required of her." 
 
 She had signed the death-warrant. But she had 
 not delivered it in form, to any person with orders 
 to carry it out. Her secretaries, Davidson and 
 Walsingham, laid the matter before the council. 
 It thought Mary's death necessary for the safety 
 of the queen and the country. Therefore a letter 
 was written and signed by the ten councillors, 
 ordering Mary's execution. This was sent with 
 the death-warrant to her keepers. On the eighth 
 of February, 1587, Mary was beheaded. She met 
 death bravely, like a queen indeed. 
 
 " Cease, my good servant," she said to her 
 weeping steward, Melvil, "cease to lament. Now 
 shaft thou see the troubles of Mary Stuart come to 
 an end. ... I pray thee carry this message 
 from me, that I die a true woman to my religion 
 and unchanged in my affections to Scotland and 
 .to France. Heaven forgive them that have long 
 desired my end and have thirsted for my blood." 
 
 Elizabeth turned with fury on her ministers. 
 She could and would have punished the two sec- 
 retaries. But she could not punish ten coun- 
 cillors, the foremost men of her realm. She 
 stormed at them till she was hoarse. She said 
 that "they were guilty of the sin of putting to 
 
172 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 death her dear sister and kinswoman contrary to 
 her fixed purpose." Then she turned to David- 
 son, and reproached him with disobedience and 
 with misleading the others as to her wishes and in- 
 tentions. She charged him with having made 
 public a paper which she had not meant to put in 
 execution. She said she had only drawn it up to 
 keep by her in case of an attempt to rescue Mary. 
 Davidson was imprisoned in the Tower and a fine 
 was exacted which impoverished him for life. 
 
 With Mary's death the plots and power of her 
 adherents were broken just as the attack of Philip 
 might have made them most dangerous. 
 
 For three years Philip had been gathering men, 
 supplies, and ships for an attack which was to 
 crush the English. In the spring of 1587 his fleet 
 was almost ready to set sail. Then the queen sent 
 against the Spaniards the daring Drake with 
 thirty small vessels. Drake desired no better 
 sport than what he called "singeing the Spanish 
 king's beard." He sailed right into the harbor of 
 Cadiz, and sank or burned thirty-three vessels. 
 It took several months to repair the Spanish loss, 
 and summer passed and autumn came before the 
 fleet was ready to sail. 
 
 Meantime, the Prince of Parma had his army 
 of thirty thousand men ready to invade England. 
 Having only flat-bottomed boats, he could not 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 
 
 173 
 
174 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 cross the Channel till the Spanish ships came to 
 protect his forces against the English fleet. 
 
 At last, in May, 1588, set sail the great fleet 
 which the Spaniards proudly named the Invincible 
 Armada. It consisted of " above eight thousand 
 sailors, two thousand and eighty-eight slaves, 
 twenty thousand soldiers besides noblemen and 
 gentlemen voluntaries, and of great cast pieces 
 (cannon) two thousand, six hundred." "The gal- 
 leons were sixty-four in number, being of an huge 
 bigness, and very flatly built, being of marvellous 
 force also, and so high that they resembled great 
 castles." 
 
 The Armada had just put to sea when it was 
 severely damaged by a storm. A report spread 
 abroad that it was shattered, and that the invasion 
 would be delayed another year. At these tidings 
 the economical queen ordered part of the English 
 fleet to be dismantled. But the Admiral, Lord 
 Howard of Effingham, refused to obey. He chose 
 to risk the queen's anger and keep the ships afloat 
 at his own expense, rather than deprive England 
 of one ship in a time of need. Events proved the 
 wisdom of his course. 
 
 On the twelfth of July, the Armada again set 
 sail. Its orders were to enter the Channel, keep 
 near the French coast, and join the Prince of 
 Parma 's force. [This force of thirty thousand sol- 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 175 
 
 diers had been reduced by hardships and disease 
 to seventeen thousand. True, the soldiers which 
 the Armada brought would raise his army to forty 
 thousand, but these forty thousand Spaniards 
 would have to fight four million Englishmen 
 united in defense of their country. England had 
 no standing army, it is true, like the perfectly 
 trained fighting machine of the Spaniards. But 
 the queen had had the militia organized and 
 trained during her reign. It was claimed that one 
 hundred and seventeen thousand men were ready 
 to march as soon as the beacon fires should be 
 lighted. 
 
 The royal navy consisted of only thirty-four 
 ships. But there was little difference between the 
 war and the merchant vessels of the day, and in 
 this time of need cities and individuals vied with 
 one another in furnishing ships and men. When 
 Elizabeth asked London to furnish fifteen ships 
 and five thousand men, it offered thirty ships, ten 
 thousand sailors and ten thousand soldiers. 
 
 On Friday, the nineteenth of July, 1588, a little 
 vessel with all its sails set, ran into Plymouth 
 harbor to announce that it had sighted the great 
 Armada. Messengers were dispatched and signal 
 fires lighted to call every man to his post. 
 
 The officers of the fleet at Plymouth were play- 
 ing a game of bowls when the news came. All 
 
176 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 was haste and excitement. But Sir Francis 
 Drake calmly insisted that they should finish their 
 game. There was time enough, he said, to win the 
 game and to defeat the Spaniards, too. So with 
 steady hands and light hearts they aimed their 
 last bowls and then went on board, ready to meet 
 the enemy. 
 
 The English vessels were small, most of them 
 hardly larger than the yachts of to-day. They 
 looked like mere toys beside the huge galleons of 
 the Spanish. But they were manned by brave 
 seamen, expert as sailors and fighters. And 
 never gathered a group of greater sea captains 
 than those who commanded that little fleet. 
 There was Lord Howard, the High Admiral of 
 England, "of a wise and noble courage." There 
 was Sir Francis Drake, who had sailed around the 
 world and led many a desperate attack against the 
 treasure ships of Spain. There was Sir John 
 Hawkins, hero of many a voyage and many a 
 battle. There was Sir Martin Frobisher, one of 
 the earliest and most daring explorers of Arctic 
 seas. Sir Walter Raleigh, famous both on sea 
 and land, was absent in charge of land forces. 
 
 The great Spanish Armada sailed along the 
 Channel in the form of a crescent, measuring 
 seven miles from horn to horn. The English 
 ships left Plymouth and hung with the wind on its 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 177 
 
 rear, — now advancing to fire a broadside, now re- 
 tiring to avoid the enemy's fire. Several Spanish 
 ships were sunk and many men were killed. As 
 the sailors said, "The feathers of the Spaniard 
 were plucked one by one." This running fight, 
 which began on the twentieth of July, continued 
 eight days. Then Lord Howard determined to 
 risk a decisive battle. 
 
 In the night he sent eight fire-ships drifting 
 toward the Armada. To avoid these it stood out 
 to sea, and there, off Gravelines, the great battle 
 was fought on the twenty-ninth of July, 1588. It 
 began at dawn and lasted until dark. The Eng- 
 lish loss had been very small, only about sixty men. 
 The enemy had lost several ships and over four 
 thousand men. 
 
 The Spanish leader was in despair. 
 
 "We are lost," he said to one of his captains. 
 "What are we to do?" 
 
 "Let others talk of being lost," answered the 
 brave captain. "Your excellency has only to 
 order up fresh cartridge. ' ' 
 
 But the admiral had lost courage as well as 
 men and he fled northward. The English pursued 
 until their supplies gave out, and then they left 
 their enemy, as Drake said, "to those boisterous 
 and uncouth waves." Some of the galleons were 
 sunk, some were dashed to pieces on the rocky J 
 
178 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 179 
 
 shores of Scotland, some were destroyed on the 
 coast of Ireland. Thousands of the sailors and 
 soldiers died of disease or were drowned. Hardly 
 more than a third of the great force which had 
 set forth in May returned in October to the coast 
 of Spain. 
 
 ' "I sent my ships against men," said Philip, 
 "not against the seas." In a different spirit the 
 English acknowledged liow wind and wave had 
 fought for them. 
 
 On the medal struck in honor of the victory 
 were the words, "The Lord sent His wind and 
 scattered them." 
 
 The danger which had threatened England for 
 thirty years had been met and conquered. The 
 queen had delayed and evaded year by year a con- 
 flict which year by year became more certain. 
 Every year saw her better prepared for it. When 
 it came, she was ready and she met it as fearlessly 
 as Drake himself. 
 
 She rode before her troops at Tilbury and ad- 
 dressed them in words that echo through the ages : 
 "My loving people," she said, "we have been per- 
 suaded by some that are careful of our safety to 
 take heed how we commit ourselves to armed 
 multitudes, for fear of treachery ; but I assure you 
 I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and 
 loving people. Let tyrants fear! I have always 
 
180 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 so behaved myself, that, under God, I have placed 
 my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal 
 hearts and good will of my subjects; and, there- 
 fore, I am come among you, as you see, at this 
 time, not for my recreation and disport, but being 
 resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to 
 live or die among you all, to lay down for my 
 God, for my kingdom, and for my people, my 
 honor and my blood even in the dust. I know I 
 have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, 
 but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of 
 a king of England, too, and think it foul scorn that 
 Parma or Spain or any prince of Europe should 
 dare to invade the borders of my realm, to which 
 rather than any dishonor shall grow by me, I my- 
 self will take up arms, I myself will be your gen- 
 eral, judge, and rewarder of every one of your 
 virtues in the field. I know already, for your 
 forwardness, you have deserved rewards and 
 crowns; and we do assure you, on the word of a 
 prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the mean- 
 time, my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, 
 than whom never prince commanded a more noble 
 or worthy subject, not doubting but by your obedi- 
 ence to my general, by your concord in the camp, 
 and your valor in the field, we shall shortly have 
 a famous victory over those enemies of my God, 
 of my kingdom, and of my people." 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 181 
 
 It was more than a battle which England had 
 won. It was the supremacy of the sea. It was 
 the possibility of the greatness which is now hers. 
 
 The Spanish empire at the time of Elizabeth 
 was the greatest which has existed since the down- 
 fall of the Roman Empire. It had possessions, 
 provinces, and colonies in Europe, Asia, Africa, 
 North and South America. It had a great, well- 
 disciplined army and a large, well-appointed 
 fleet. These were necessary to hold together its 
 vast and scattered possessions. 
 
 The English rovers had for years been attack- 
 ing its power on the sea. Now they had over- 
 thrown it. Philip might use big words about 
 ''placing another fleet upon the seas, — " as indeed 
 he did. But the naval supremacy had passed 
 from Spain to England. Slowly but surely her 
 great possessions slipjoed from her grasp. Slow- 
 ly but surely England gained an extended empire, 
 an empire which she can and will hold only so long 
 as she is mistress of the seas. 
 
 After the defeat of the Armada, Elizabeth 
 accepted Drake's view that "attack is the surest 
 way of defense." Expeditions were fitted out 
 against the Spanish, usually by private individ- 
 uals who were repaid by the spoils of victory. 
 
 One of these expeditions sailed the spring after 
 the defeat of the Armada. It was commanded by 
 
182 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Sir Francis Drake, the greatest sailor, and Sir 
 John Norris, the greatest soldier, of the realm. 
 Its aim was to take Portugal from fhe Spaniards, 
 but the Portuguese did not rise as had been 
 expected. 
 
 English seamen went forth with the battle joy 
 of the old sea-kings. Tennyson's ballad of "The 
 Revenge" tells the true story of an English cap- 
 tain, Sir Richard Grenville. His little ship, the 
 Revenge, was surrounded by a Spanish fleet of 
 fifty ships, each larger than his own vessel. 
 Refusing to surrender, he fought — fought till half 
 his men were killed and the other half wounded, 
 fought till his powder was spent, fought through a 
 summer day and a summer night. At day break 
 his ship struck its flag and Sir Richard, mortally 
 wounded, died, still refusing to surrender. 
 "Here die I, Richard Grenville," were his last 
 words, "with a joyful and a quiet mind, for that 
 I have ended my life as a good soldier ought to 
 do, who has fought for his country and his queen, 
 for honor and religion. ' ' 
 
 While Elizabeth was rejoicing in the national 
 triumph, she was called on to weep a personal loss. 
 This was the death of Lord Leicester, the friend 
 of her lifetime. One by one the old friends and 
 ministers who had served the queen passed away 
 before her. 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 
 
 183 
 
184 ENGLISH HISTORY STOEIES 
 
 ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE 
 
 This was an age of greatness. We may look 
 upon England as a stage whereon gathered group 
 after group of great men. 
 
 First, there was around Elizabeth's council 
 table a group of statesmen — -Bacon, Burleigh, 
 Walsingham and others — than whom the country 
 has never known abler. Year after year with pa- 
 tient wisdom they helped Elizabeth form and pur- 
 sue the policy which raised England from a sec- 
 ond-rate kingdom to one of the first powers of the 
 world. 
 
 Next, the stage was filled by a group of famous 
 seamen — Drake, Raleigh, Howard, Frobisher and 
 Hawkins. Their names bring memories of stir- 
 ring deeds, voyages on unknown seas, fights 
 against fearful odds, captures of Spanish ships 
 laden with silver, gold, and jewels, the defeat of 
 the great Armada. 
 
 But on the stage during the last ten years of 
 Elizabeth's reign there came a group of men 
 whose glory eclipsed that of statesmen and sea- 
 men. The great glory of the age of Elizabeth is 
 and must always be its men of letters. What a 
 group of scholars and poets there were! Bacon, 
 a young lawyer, was writing his brilliant Essays, 
 and in his Novum Organum was planning a work 
 which should revolutionize philosophy. Hooker 
 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 185 
 
 was writing his great Polity, of which one hardly 
 knows which to admire more, its able argument or 
 its stately English. Spenser, sitting peaceful 
 "among the coolly shades of the green alders by 
 the Mulla's shore," was writing the greatest of 
 poetic allegories, The Faerie Queen. And Shakes- 
 peare, greatest of them all, "the glory of the 
 human intellect," was enriching the world with 
 his wonderful historical plays and comedies. 
 
 It was not until the reign of Elizabeth that Eng- 
 lish literature took its rank with the great litera- 
 tures of the world. At its beginning, learning 
 was confined to a little circle of scholars and 
 courtiers. To this the queen belonged. Her 
 early love of learning never failed her. In 
 spirited Latin she rebuked an ambassador's rude- 
 ness, and in her busy days she could make time to 
 read Latin and Greek with her old schoolmaster 
 Ascham. She wrote several books and translated 
 others. 
 
 The literature of the age began with the study 
 of the classics, with translations, with prose and 
 poetry in imitation of foreign models, especially 
 of the Italian. Arcadia, the famous pastoral ro- 
 mance of Sir Philip Sidney, was on the Italian 
 model. The style is artificial, but noble and 
 musical. 
 
 The two great prose writers of the time were 
 
186 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Richard Hooker and Francis Bacon. Hooker's 
 life almost coincided with the queen's reign. He 
 was five years old when it began and he died three 
 years before it ended. His great work is the 
 Ecclesiastical Polity, noted for its stately and 
 noble style. 
 
 Sir Francis Bacon was born three years after 
 Elizabeth's accession and the greater part of his 
 work was done in the reign of her successor, 
 James I. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, 
 the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. As a preco- 
 cious child, he attracted the notice of Elizabeth 
 and she playfully called him "the little Lord 
 Keeper." He was a scholar and a philosopher, 
 but his character was not equal to his intellect. 
 Pope calls him "the wisest, brightest, meanest of 
 mankind. ' ' 
 
 It was not in prose, however, that the Eliza- 
 bethan age was to stand above and apart from all 
 other periods of English literature. It was in 
 poetry, especially dramatic poetry. The first 
 great poet of the period was Edmund Spenser, 
 who died in 1599. We know little of his early life. 
 He was poor in purse but rich in genius and in the 
 friendship of such men as Sir Philip Sidney, Sir 
 Walter Raleigh, and Lord Leicester. In 1580 he 
 went as Lord Grey's secretary to Ireland and 
 there he spent the last eighteen years of his life. 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 
 
 187 
 
 The first part of his noble poem, The Faerie 
 Queen, appeared in 1590. It was an allegory with 
 historical and moral meaning. It pictured the 
 
188 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 contest between Mary and Elizabeth, between 
 Catholic and Protestant, between the soul and the 
 powers of evil. Elizabeth had always a smile and 
 a kind word for "Master Spenser," who so glori- 
 fied and idealized her and her reign. She even 
 spared him a small pension from her thrifty sav- 
 ings. Alas ! he was not to need it long. His 
 home was burned in the revolt of 1599, and he fled, 
 broken-hearted, to die in England. 
 
 The first regular licensed theater in England 
 was opened at Blackfriars, London, in 1576. The 
 stage was a rough platform. Instead of stage 
 scenery, a notice told where the scene was sup- 
 posed to be. Women's parts were acted by boys. 
 The audience sat on rude benches. There were 
 a few covered seats for the better classes. But 
 what plays were written for those rude theaters, 
 and acted on those rough boards! The earliest 
 Elizabethan dramatists were a group of brilliant 
 reckless men, — Lodge, Peale, Greene, Nash, and 
 Marlowe. Greene may be said to have created 
 modern comedy, and Marlowe modern tragedy. 
 "A few daring jests, a brawl, and a fatal stab 
 make up the life of Marlowe." But though he 
 died at thirty, he had already written plays which 
 rank second only to Shakespeare's in grandeur 
 and imaginative power. 
 
 The greatest name, not only in English litera- 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 189 
 
 ture, but in the world's literature, is that of Wil- 
 liam Shakespeare. We know almost nothing of 
 his life. He was the son of a tradesman and far- 
 mer of Stratford-on-Avon, where he spent his 
 youth and married at eighteen. Soon after his 
 marriage he left Stratford for London and the 
 stage. He became first an actor, then a remodeler 
 of old plays, then a writer of original ones. He 
 wrote historical plays, comedies, and tragedies, 
 made a little fortune, — then retired to his old 
 home in the country where he spent his declining 
 years. His first poem appeared in 1593. Drama 
 after drama came from his hand, — first, stirring 
 historical plays, then bright, merry comedies. 
 
 We are told that Elizabeth was so pleased with 
 the character of Falstaff in his Henry IV that she 
 called on him to write another play showing Fal- 
 staff in love. Hence came The Merry Wives of 
 Windsor. Elizabeth did not live to see the end of 
 his work. During the closing years of her reign, 
 he wrote historical plays and comedies which grew 
 serious, thoughtful, even bitter. From comedy he 
 turned to tragedy and wrote four great plays — 
 Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and Othello — in 
 which he laid bare the depths of the human heart. 
 But years brought calmness and peace. His last 
 plays, Cymbeline and Winter's Tale, are full of 
 serene beauty. They were probably written after 
 
190 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Elizabeth's death, in the retirement of his country 
 home. 
 
 We must now return to the historical events of 
 Elizabeth's reign. In 1596, Spain threatened to 
 send a second Armada against England, and Eng- 
 land met it by striking the first blow. A great 
 fleet of sailors and soldiers commanded by the 
 Earl of Essex and Lord Howard sailed to Cadiz. 
 They destroyed war-ships and merchant-vessels, 
 stormed the castle and the forts, inflicting a 
 damage estimated at not less than fifty million 
 dollars. The next year a Spanish fleet set sail to 
 avenge this blow, but it was wrecked and almost 
 destroyed by storms. 
 
 Hawkins and Drake undertook another expedi- 
 tion against the Spanish settlements in America. 
 It was less successful than their former attempts, 
 as the Spaniards now kept more careful guard. 
 This was the last expedition of the famous sea- 
 rovers, both of whom died soon after. In 1598 
 died Burleigh who had worked for Elizabeth and 
 England forty years. "She seemeth to take it 
 very grievously, shedding of tears and separating 
 herself from all company, ' ' said one who saw her. 
 Elizabeth, however, was not always a grateful or 
 a generous mistress. Her faithful servant, Wal- 
 singham, died in poverty, having spent his fortune 
 and his life in her service. Hunsdon, her faithful 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 191 
 
 kinsman, had small reward for his courage and 
 service. At last, when he was dying, Elizabeth 
 carried the patent and robes of an earl and laid 
 them on his bed. He refused them, saying, 
 ''Madam, seeing yon counted me not worthy of 
 this honor while I was living, I count myself un- 
 worthy of it now I am dying. ' ' 
 
 The wreck of the second Armada gave Elizabeth 
 peace abroad, but the calm was now broken at 
 home by Tyrone's rebellion in Ireland. She sent 
 the Earl of Essex with a large army to suppress 
 it. Essex was a favorite with the queen and with 
 the people, but his valor and vigor were lessened 
 by vanity and presumption. Once, in a heated 
 discussion with Elizabeth, he was so rude as to 
 turn his back on her. The angry queen gave him 
 a blow on the ear and a rebuke as stinging. In- 
 stead of apologizing he put his hand on his sword 
 and swore he would not have borne such treatment 
 from a man, were it Henry VIII. himself. He 
 withdrew from court and it was some time before 
 the quarrel was made up and the earl restored to 
 favor. 
 
 Though at the head of twenty-one thousand 
 men, the largest army that had ever been sent to 
 Ireland, Essex failed to suppress the rebellion. 
 Disregarding Elizabeth's commands to remain in 
 Ireland, he came to London. All muddy from his 
 
192 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 ride he rushed into the presence of the queen to 
 defend himself against charges which had been 
 brought against him. The more the queen consid- 
 ered his disobedience, the angrier she became. 
 "I am no queen," she said, "this man is above 
 me." He was banished from court, rushed into 
 headlong revolt, and paid the penalty of treason 
 with his life. 
 
 Mount joy was sent to Ireland and the revolt 
 was put down. Tyrone's surrender took place a 
 few days before the queen's death. 
 
 Of all her contemporary sovereigns, Elizabeth 
 now stood alone. Philip had died in 1598, de- 
 feated in Holland, in France, in England. She, 
 on the other hand, in every undertaking had been 
 crowned with honor and success. "Her very ene- 
 mies proclaimed her the most glorious and fortun- 
 ate of all women who ever wore a crown." At 
 the age of sixty-five, she took apparently as keen 
 delight in hunting and dancing as ever. She was 
 always ready for a progress or a play. Her mind 
 was as vigorous, her statesmanship as shrewd as 
 ever. But in the winter of 1602, her strength 
 began to fail. ' ' She held in her hand a golden cup 
 which she often put to her lips ; but in sooth her 
 heart seemeth too full to lack more filling. ' ' 
 
 As her strength failed, she became ill-tempered, 
 moody, morose. In the evening of life, the glory 
 
QUEEN ELIZABETH 193 
 
 of the queen could not delight the woman; the 
 applause of the world could not satisfy the soul. 
 Great and honored she was, but lonely and un- 
 loved. She had chosen to live alone, and the time 
 had come when she must die alone. For nearly 
 half a century she had been the foremost figure 
 in Europe. She had given statesmen lessons in 
 policy, she had outwitted kings, she had triumphed 
 at home and abroad. What comfort was in all 
 these things? 
 
 Sad and speechless she sat propped by cushions, 
 refusing to eat, refusing to lie down. 
 
 Eobert Cecil, the son of her early adviser, told 
 her that "to content the people she must go to 
 bed." The word "must" roused her. "Little 
 man, little man, if your father had lived he durst 
 not have said that word," she answered, "but thou, 
 knowest I must die and that maketh thee so pre- 
 sumptuous. ' ' 
 
 She died early in the morning of March twenty- 
 fourth, 1603, and messengers went post haste to* 
 acknowledge as king of England the son of the s 
 murdered Mary, Queen of Scots. 
 
 . 
 I 
 
Oliver Cromwell 
 
 EARLY DAYS AND INFLUENCES 
 
 In 1599 clouds of treason and rebellion were 
 darkening the closing years of Elizabeth's reign. 
 Tyrone was fighting against her in Ireland, Essex 
 was plotting against her in England. This was 
 the birth year of one whose genius was to crown 
 with success the struggle of a people against a 
 sovereign. On the twenty-fifth of April, 1599, was 
 born Oliver Cromwell. 
 
 He came of a race of gentlefolks that rose to 
 prominence under the Tudor kings. Sir Richard 
 Cromwell, Oliver's great grandfather, was a 
 cousin of Henry VIII. 's favorite, Thomas Crom- 
 well. "When Thomas Cromwell lost the king's 
 favor, Sir Richard retained it and was enriched 
 by large grants of church lands. These descended 
 to his son, Sir Henry, who lived in such pomp and 
 splendor that he was called "the Golden 
 Knight." More than once he entertained Queen 
 Elizabeth at his stately house of Hinchinbrook. 
 "The Golden Knight" died shortly before his 
 royal mistress and his eldest son, Sir Oliver, suc- 
 
 194 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 
 
 195 
 
 After the Painting by Fieter Van tfer Plaas (usually attributed to Sir 
 Peter Lely), Uffizi, Florence 
 
 Oliver Cromwell 
 
 ceeded to his estates and his splendor. Sir Oliver 
 was the uncle and the god-father of Oliver Crom- 
 well who became Lord Protector. Oliver's father, 
 being a younger son, had a modest estate about a 
 mile from Hinchinbrook. He had ten children; 
 
196 ENGLISH HISTORY STOEIES 
 
 'Arms Borne by the 
 Stuart Sovereigns 
 
 of his three sons, Oliver was the only one that 
 lived to manhood. 
 
 On the twenty-seventh of April, 1603, there was 
 great hubbub and commo- 
 tion in the stately house, of 
 Hinchinbrook. Oliver, who 
 had just celebrated his 
 fourth birthday, took a won- 
 dering interest, no doubt, in 
 the fact that the king was 
 coming to visit his uncle. 
 The new king was coming 
 for the first time to the country over which he was 
 to rule. With Elizabeth had ended the Tudor 
 race. She was succeeded by her nearest of kin, 
 James of Scotland, the first English king of the 
 Stuart family. All were eager to see what manner 
 of man this new king was. Perhaps little Oliver 
 watched the royal train wind through the pleasant 
 park that spring afternoon and even saw James 
 himself. What a disappointment his person was 
 to eyes familiar with the stately Tudors ! James 
 was ridiculous in his ugliness. He had a big head, 
 large eyes rolling with idle curiosity, a tongue too 
 large for his mouth, legs so weak that he could 
 hardly walk alone, and an awkward body bulky 
 with quilted clothes. His manners were as unat- 
 tractive as his person. He was talkative, undig- 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL' 197 
 
 nified, and fond of coarse jokes. Though he was 
 shrewd and learned, he made so little practical 
 use of these qualities that he was well called "the 
 wisest fool in Christendom." James spent two 
 days at Hinchinbrook, hunting and feasting and 
 making merry. 
 
 There is a tradition that with the king in 1604 
 came his little son Charles, a year younger than 
 Oliver. The two children were left to play to- 
 gether and they "had not been long together be- 
 fore Charles and Oliver disagreed; and as the 
 former was then as weakly as the latter was 
 strong, it was no wonder that the royal visitant 
 was worsted ; and Oliver, even at this age, so lit- 
 tle regarded dignity that he made the royal blood 
 flow in copious streams from the prince's nose." 
 
 Another playmate of Oliver's boyhood was his 
 cousin, John Hampden. He was a thoughtful, 
 gentle-mannered, noble-spirited lad, five years 
 older than Oliver. In manhood he and Oliver 
 were to be drawn close together in a common faith 
 and a common cause. But those troubled days 
 were yet far off. They played in the fair garden 
 back of Oliver's home, fished in the Hinchin brook, 
 roamed the fields beside the winding river Ouse, 
 or climbed the stunted willows along its banks. 
 
 Reluctantly Oliver turned from these sports to 
 his tasks in the free school at Huntingdon. The 
 
198 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 master was Dr. Thomas Beard, a learned man and 
 a zealous Puritan, as strict Protestants were be- 
 ginning to be called. A portrait represents him 
 as a stern, keen-eyed man, holding in his hand 
 a rod with which — it is said — Oliver's back was 
 well acquainted. Oliver took his punishments in 
 good part and always expressed great respect and 
 honor for his old teacher. 
 
 King James was already a middle-aged man 
 when he came to England. He was too set in his 
 ways and too conceited to adapt himself to the 
 temper of the English people, if indeed he had 
 understood it, which he did not. He had neither 
 the sympathy to enter into the people's views nor 
 the power to make them regard his. So we find 
 him from the first of his reign on bad terms with 
 most of his subjects. 
 
 The Catholics had hoped that Mary's son 
 would tolerate if he did not accept her religion. 
 Indeed, he had promised them liberties which he 
 did not grant. Some disappointed men formed 
 a plot called the Gunpowder Plot. They planned 
 to blow up the houses of parliament and to call 
 in a Spanish ruler. Suspicion was excited by a 
 warning given a nobleman whom it was desired 
 to spare. The cellar under the parliament houses 
 was examined. There was a heap of wood and 
 standing near it was a "very tall and desperate 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL "199 
 
 fellow" with a dark lantern. Under the wood 
 were hidden thirty-six barrels of gunpowder to 
 blow up king and parliament. 
 
 King James, who had set himself against the 
 Catholics, antagonized the Puritans also. He re- 
 fused the religious reforms which they desired, 
 made political friendship with Spain and broke 
 with the Dutch States. 
 
 While he estranged his people in religious mat- 
 ters, James angered them by denying their civil 
 rights. He claimed that a king was free from 
 all control of law, subject only to his own royal 
 will. Parliament asserted it had rights of its own 
 and it denied ' ' the right divine of kings to govern 
 wrong." James tried to get on without parlia- 
 ment. This was difficult, as parliament alone had 
 the right to raise money by taxation and James 
 was always wanting money for himself and his 
 favorites. As he could not raise funds in lawful 
 ways, he raised them in unlawful ones. 
 
 It is necessary to explain these matters, be- 
 cause they had very great influence on the life 
 and character of Oliver Cromwell. He might in 
 later years have shown more respect for the 
 office of king had his youth known a king whose 
 person he respected. The events of the times and 
 surroundings of his childhood tended to turn, 
 Oliver to Puritanism. 
 
200 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 While James's quarrels with his parliaments 
 were going on, young Cromwell was pursuing 
 his studies at the free school in Huntingdon. 
 At last Dr. Beard flogged him into readiness for 
 college. He entered college at Cambridge, on the 
 twenty-third of April, 1616, the very day that 
 Shakespeare died at Stratford-on-Avon. 
 
 How much or how little Oliver learned at col- 
 lege, we cannot say, — or even how long he re- 
 mained there. Men who knew him said he "was 
 very well read in Greek and Roman story," and 
 it is certain that he could write and speak Latin, 
 then the language of educated men. 
 
 He was called home in June, 1617, to his father's 
 death bed, and he probably did not return to col- 
 lege. Being the only son, he had to take his 
 father's place at home and manage his estate — 
 a farm, and, some say, a brewery. 
 
 It is probable that he went to London and read 
 law for awhile, to fit himself for the duties of 
 his station. If so, he was probably in London in 
 1618, when it was the scene of a strange, sad 
 event. On a "cold, hoarfrosty morning" in Octo- 
 ber was beheaded Sir Walter Raleigh, the last 
 of the great Elizabethan soldiers and statesmen. 
 For years he had been imprisoned in the Tower 
 on an unproved charge of treason. They were 
 not years of idle repining, for he spent them 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 201 
 
 writing his noble History of the World. At last 
 lie was released to go to the New World in search 
 of a fabled Land of Gold. He trespassed on the 
 Spanish territory, and on his return he was sen- 
 tenced to death — nominally on the old charge of 
 treason, really to please the Spaniards. Sir 
 Walter died like the brave English gentleman he 
 was. 
 
 "Let us be swift," he said to the executioner, 
 "in a few minutes my ague will return upon me, 
 and if I be not dead before that my enemies will 
 say I tremble for fear." 
 
 If Oliver Cromwell was in the "immense 
 crowd" that saw Sir Walter die, it gave him an- 
 other reason not to love the king who made this 
 great English soldier and scholar an offering to 
 Spain. 
 
 FARMER AND MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT 
 
 In August, 1620, Oliver Cromwell, then twenty- 
 one, married in London Elizabeth Bourcher, a 
 "quiet, affectionate, sensible woman." He took 
 his wife home to Huntingdon, where were his 
 mother and his sisters. For ten years he lived 
 there the quiet, industrious life of a well-to-do 
 Englishman. 
 
 Englishmen were growing more and more rest- 
 less, craving civil and religious rights. These 
 
202 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 rights, denied at home, some were seeking abroad. 
 The very year of Cromwell's marriage a little 
 band of Puritans made their home in New Eng- 
 land where they could enjoy the religious freedom 
 refused them in Old England. 
 
 King James clung to a Spanish alliance and de- 
 sired to make a marriage between his son Charles 
 and a Spanish princess. But the Spanish king 
 was unwilling to give his daughter in marriage to 
 the English prince. Prince Charles and his favor- 
 ite, Buckingham, were so angered by this that 
 they urged war with Spain. 
 
 With war at the door, James died in March, 
 1625. He left to his son, Charles L, an empty 
 treasury, discontent at home, and war abroad. 
 Worst of all he left him the Stuart obstinacy. 
 "Pray God," said those who knew him, "he might 
 be in the right way when he was set; for if he 
 were in the wrong he would prove the most wil- 
 ful of any king that ever reigned. ' ' 
 
 Charles's first act after he came to the throne 
 was to take as wife a princess disliked by his peo- 
 ple. Henrietta Maria was doubly disliked, — first 
 as a Frenchwoman, second as a Catholic. 
 
 With a quarrel between the king and his first 
 parliament began a breach which was to widen 
 into a great gulf. After this quarrel with parlia- 
 ment, Charles resolved to manage state affairs for 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 
 
 203 
 
 himself. But he failed in his war with Spain, 
 failed in his war with France, failed in his efforts 
 to raise money. There was nothing to do but to 
 assemble parliament and ask supplies. 
 
 In this parliament of 1628 young Oliver Crom- 
 
 John Pym 
 
 well sat as a member. We know nothing of his 
 life during these years after his marriage. But 
 the fact that his Puritan neighbors chose him as 
 their representative proves that he had gained 
 their esteem and respect. 
 
 He took little part in the debates. The Puritan 
 cause was argued by men older and more experi- 
 
204 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 enced than he. There was his cousin and friend, 
 John Hampden, a brave, brilliant,* and godly man. 
 There was Sir Thomas Wentworth then on the 
 people's side; later, as the Earl of Strafford, the 
 king's ablest minister. There was Pym, whom 
 his enemies called "King Pym," zealous in the 
 cause of freedom. There was Sir John Eliot, the 
 first to claim that parliament must have its rights 
 before there could be any real peace with the king. 
 Such were the men who led the parliament of 
 1628. 
 
 The king asked for money. Parliament decided 
 as it was "to furnish the king with money it 
 should also supply him advice." Respectfully, 
 but firmly, it urged its rights and brought to the 
 consideration of the king many wrongs that it 
 wished redressed. The king was so enraged that 
 despite his needs he dissolved parliament. Sir 
 John Eliot was sentenced to pay an unjust fine; 
 refusing this, he was sent to the Tower. In that 
 grim prison he died, ' ' the first martyr of English 
 liberty." His son asked permission to carry his 
 body home for burial, but this was refused and 
 the patriot's ashes still rest in the chapel of the 
 Tower. 
 
 From this parliament, abruptly dissolved by the 
 king, Oliver Cromwell went back to his farm in the 
 spring of 1629. As he plowed and planted his 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 205 
 
 fields, doubtless he thought much on the words he 
 had heard, the events he had shared. As the 
 fresh air fanned his brow, he must have thought 
 of brave John Eliot, sick and a prisoner in the 
 Tower. Perhaps, like many another Englishman, 
 he had thoughts of seeking abroad the liberty de- 
 nied at home. In the eleven years after this Par- 
 liament of 1628, twenty thousand Puritans came 
 to New England and founded colonies. They 
 brought their courage and narrowness, their piety 
 and intolerance. It is said that in the spring of 
 1638 a ship was stopped by order of the king — a 
 ship on board of which were Oliver Cromwell, 
 John Hampden, and John Pym. If this be true, 
 well had it been for Charles and ill for England, 
 had they sailed unhindered. 
 
 "What thoughts or plans Cromwell had, we do 
 not know. Certain it is that he did not leave Eng- 
 land. He stayed at home and in a straightfor- 
 ward, practical way attended to the duties at hand. 
 
 In 1631, he sold his land at Huntingdon and 
 moved to St. Ives, five miles farther down the 
 river Ouse. Here he stocked a grazing farm. In 
 the fen country, as this low land is called, Crom- 
 well lived five quiet years. Along the sluggish, 
 willow-margined river, up and down the grassy 
 meadows, he went, "diligent in business." He 
 tended well to the plowing and seeding and mow- 
 
206 ENGLISH HISTORY STOEIES 
 
 ing, to the feeding and buying and selling of cat- 
 tle. Twice every day, we are told, lie gathered his 
 family and his servants and read the < Bible and 
 prayed and sang psalms with them. Some money 
 that he had won in a game of chance at college he 
 repaid as being of right not his at all. So passed 
 the uneventful years at St. Ives. And yet, could 
 we see them truly, these years were eventful. In 
 them Cromwell was growing the strong, brave, 
 wise man who was to be "England's break-water 
 against tyranny." 
 
 While Cromwell was praying and farming at 
 St. Ives, the greatest Puritan poet was praying 
 and writing. This was John Milton, nine years 
 younger than Cromwell. He had already written 
 some exquisite poems. L' Allegro, II Penseroso, 
 and Comus. He was to aid the Puritan cause 
 with pen while Cromwell was serving it with the 
 sword. Next to John Milton, the most famous 
 Puritan writer was John Bunyan. He was born 
 in 1628, the year of the notable parliament. It 
 was not until fifty years later that he wrote his 
 immortal Pilgrim's Progress, an allegory describ- 
 ing the Christian's journey through the world. 
 
 In 1636 Cromwell removed to Ely, where an 
 uncle had left him some property. Here he re- 
 mained till called away by public affairs to Lon- 
 don. Here his family remained until 1646, when 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 207 
 
 it joined him in London. There was a houseful of 
 children now, five sons and four daughters, of 
 whom two sons died young. Cromwell was nota- 
 ble to his neighbors for his "family affection, his 
 tenderness to sufferers, and his devout piety." 
 
 Millions of acres of land in the fen country 
 where Cromwell lived were so swampy and boggy 
 that they could not be tilled unless drained. It 
 was agreed that the king should have the work of 
 drainage done for a fair share of the land. A 
 great embankment was built to carry the river 
 Ouse to the sea, twenty miles away, instead of 
 leaving it to stagnate. But the king, contrary to 
 his agreement, proceeded to claim the greater part 
 of the drained lands. Rather than have injustice 
 the people would have a watery waste. They pro- 
 tested against his claim, and the work of drainage 
 was stopped for the time. By his active share in 
 this protest, Cromwell got himself the nickname 
 of "the Lord of the Fens." 
 
 About this time the king levied on the people 
 the tax of ship money. France and Holland 
 united were claiming supremacy on the Channel 
 and in order to enforce England's power it was 
 necessary to raise and equip a navy. The treas- 
 ury of King Charles was, as usual, empty. The 
 lawful thing to do would have been to summon 
 parliament and ask supplies. But Charles "hated 
 
208 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 the very name of parliament," and he well knew 
 that it would wish him to grant ' ' rights ' ' before it 
 granted money. So he fell back on an old custom 
 used in emergencies and called first on towns, then 
 on individuals to pay the tax called ship money. 
 
 The people objected to ship money because it 
 was levied by the king instead of by parliament, 
 which alone had the right of taxation. John 
 Hampden, among others, refused to pay the 
 twenty shillings demanded of him. The case was 
 decided against him in the king's court, but he had 
 won his cause, — he had entered the patriot's pro- 
 test against an unjust tax. 
 
 Meanwhile, religious revolt had risen in the 
 north. Charles had tried to introduce Episco- 
 pacy there and Presbyterian Scotland would not 
 receive it. As the service was being read in an 
 Edinburgh church, a market woman hurled her 
 stool at the bishop's head. 
 
 "Wilt thou say mass at my ear!" she shrieked. 
 
 The congregation, the city, the country rose in 
 riot, in revolt, in war. 
 
 What was Charles to do against Scotland? He 
 was without an army, and without money to raise 
 one. To meet the situation he was at last forced 
 to assemble a parliament, the first for eleven 
 years. It met in the spring of 1640. Its leader 
 was Pym, the powerful, eloquent "King Pym." 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 209 
 
 John Hampden and Oliver Cromwell, notable 
 then and more notable later, were among its mem- 
 bers. 
 
 • Instead of voting men and money to aid the 
 king against the Scots, parliament at once at- 
 tacked the king's action in church and state af- 
 fairs. Seeing that he was getting none of the 
 money which he wanted and much of the advice 
 which he did not want, Charles angrily dismissed 
 this parliament. It passed into history as the 
 Short Parliament, so called because its session 
 lasted only twenty-three days. 
 
 Cromwell went back to Ely, to his well-tilled 
 fields, fair with the showers and sunshine of 
 spring. But he was not long to remain at home. 
 The king's affairs in Scotland went from bad to 
 worse. In the autumn of 1640, he found it neces- 
 sary to summon another parliament, his fifth and 
 last. This was the famous Long Parliament 
 which lasted thirteen years and was dismissed, 
 not by King Charles, but by Oliver Cromwell. 
 But that day and that power were yet far off. 
 
 In November, 1640, Cromwell went to London to 
 take his place in the House of Commons. He was 
 now forty-one. It is interesting to see, as we may 
 through portraits and pen-pictures, what manner 
 of man he was. He was of medium height and 
 heavy build. His light brown hair, worn in curls 
 
210 ENGLISH HISTOEY STORIES 
 
 according to the custom of gentlemen of his day, 
 was already turning ashen gray. His fair, ruddy 
 skin was weather-beaten by his outdoor life. His 
 blue-gray eyes were keen but thoughtful, almost 
 sad. His face was broad, his jaws square, his 
 nose large and red. Over his right brow was a 
 large wart. In later days a portrait painter, try- 
 ing to flatter the homely face, left out the wart. 
 Cromwell scowled at the untrue picture. ''Paint 
 me as I am, — wart and all," he commanded. 
 
 A gentleman who saw him in November, 1640, 
 thus described him: "I came one morning into 
 the House well clad, and perceived a gentleman 
 speaking, whom I knew not, very ordinarily ap- 
 parelled; for it was a plain cloth suit, which 
 seemed to have been made by an ill country tailor ; 
 his linen was plain, and not very clean ; and I re- 
 membered a speck or two of blood upon his little 
 band, which was not much larger than his collar; 
 his hat was without a hat-band; his stature was 
 of a good size, his sword stuck close to his side, his 
 countenance swollen and reddish, his voice sharp 
 and untunable, and his eloquence full of fervor." 
 
 There were those who could already see the 
 greatness under Cromwell's ill-made clothes, 
 slovenly person, and course, abrupt manners. 
 One of these was his cousin Hampden, an eloquent, 
 elegant gentleman as well as a zealous patriot and 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 211 
 
 Christian. A gentleman one day pointed out 
 Cromwell and asked Hampden "who was that 
 sloven." 
 
 "That sloven whom you see before you," an- 
 swered Hampden, ' ' that sloven I say, if we should 
 ever come to a breach with the king — which God 
 forbid! — in such a case, that sloven will be the 
 greatest man in England." 
 
 Cromwell took a more active part in this parlia- 
 ment than he had done in the preceding ones. But 
 he was not a polished speaker and he left speech- 
 making, for the most part, to abler orators. 
 
 In the state of his affairs and of the country, 
 the king was powerless to resent or resist this 
 parliament. He had to protect it against his own 
 wrath, — to agree that it should not be dissolved 
 without its own consent. He had to look on while 
 it condemned and put aside one after another of 
 his lawless acts, while it punished his ministers 
 and his favorites, while it made reforms in state 
 and church affairs. There were patriots, moder- 
 ate in their views, who wished to call a halt, but 
 there were fanatics hurrying on and on. The ex- 
 tremists carried their point. After sixteen hours' 
 bitter debate, a small majority passed the Grand 
 Remonstrance, which was really an appeal to the 
 nation from the king. 
 
 As Cromwell passed from the House after an 
 
212 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 all-night debate, lie said, "If the Remonstrance 
 had been rejected, I would have sold all I had next 
 morning and never have seen England any more." 
 
 Early in January, 1642, King Charles tried to 
 have five members of the House, Hampden and 
 Pym among them, seized as traitors. The House 
 protected them and they escaped to the city of 
 London. Charles sought them in the City, and the 
 City, too, protected them. A week later Charles 
 left Whitehall, to which he was never again to re- 
 turn as king. 
 
 Civil war was at the door. Cromwell had al- 
 ready suggested forming a parliamentary army. 
 
 The queen went to Holland to pawn the crown 
 jewels and get arms and ammunition. On their 
 side, the friends of parliament were not idle. 
 They raised a large fund to which men and women 
 contributed freely, — money, jewels, spoons, even 
 bodkins and thimbles. 
 
 CROMWELL. AS SOLDIER. PART ONE 
 
 1 In the storm and tempest of a midsummer day 
 in 1642, King Charles raised the royal banner. 
 Under it soon gathered an army of ten thousand 
 brave but undisciplined men. Roughly speaking, 
 they came chiefly from the north and west of Eng- 
 land, and were nobles, gentry, and peasants. 
 Many men who had joined parliament in a strug- 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 213 
 
 gle for civil rights followed the king who repre- 
 sented their beloved church against Puritanism. 
 The king's men came soon to be called "Cava- 
 liers." 
 
 Parliament, on its side, gathered an army of 
 about twenty thousand men under command of 
 Lord Essex. The lesser gentry, the tradesmen, 
 and the city people of the south and east of Eng- 
 land were, as a rule, on the side of parliament. 
 They were called "Roundheads" by their enemies, 
 because there were in their ranks many servants 
 and apprentices who wore their hair clipped close 
 instead of long like the gentlemen Cavaliers. 
 "Liberty" was the watchword of the Roundheads, 
 "Loyalty" that of the Cavaliers. 
 
 There was, however, no hard and fast line of 
 section or rank between Roundheads and Cava- 
 liers. Neighbor was against neighbor, kinsman 
 against kinsman. Many a man found in the 
 enemy he struck down on the battle-field his own 
 father or brother or familiar friend. Such are 
 the horrors of civil war. 
 
 The first battle of the war was Edgehill, fought 
 on the twenty-third of October, 1642. It was a 
 confused attack, a drawn battle, in which the ad- 
 vantage was with the royalists. Edgehill would 
 probably have been a victory for the king had it 
 not been for Captain Oliver Cromwell and a few 
 
214 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 other leaders who with their troops received the 
 onset stoutly and "fought bravely till the last 
 minute of the fight." 
 
 
 1- - 
 
 
 ••IP^ 
 
 
 
 "? 
 
 iWeJEOBi. 
 
 
 
 
 It If lira 
 
 
 HUM 
 
 .. ~ 
 
 ^^^Qz*iF**~~~ J **" ■ 
 
 A Gentlewoman 
 
 A Citizen A Citizen's Wife 
 
 Ordinary Civil Costumes. Time of Charles I 
 
 This first skirmish showed Cromwell that the 
 Roundheads — chiefly servants and tradesmen — 
 were as soldiers inferior to the Cavaliers — gen- 
 tlemen and "persons of quality." Could the de- 
 fect be remedied? "Could these base, mean fel- 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 215 
 
 lows," lie asked, "be made able to encounter gen- 
 tlemen that have honor and courage and resolu- 
 tion in them?" He thought they could. 
 
 "You must get men of a spirit," he said to John 
 Hampden, "and take it not ill what I say, — I 
 know you will not, — of a spirit that is likely to go 
 on as far as gentlemen will go ; or else you will be 
 beaten still." 
 
 The king's "men of honor" must be opposed by 
 "men of religion;" the nobles of King Charles by 
 the children of the Eternal King. Such men 
 Cromwell sought out. 
 
 "I raised such men as had the fear of God be- 
 fore them, as made some conscience of what they 
 did; and from that day forward I must say to 
 you they were never beaten. ' ' 
 
 It was an army the like of which the world had 
 never seen. They were drilled and disciplined 
 till they were a perfect fighting machine. Re- 
 ligious zeal put from them the fear of death. 
 They spent their leisure praying and preaching, 
 and went to battle repeating Scripture and singing 
 Psalms. Never did men handle muskets and Bi- 
 bles like these Roundheads. 
 
 There were godly men on the side of the king 
 also. One of these was brave Sir Jacob Astley, 
 who before the battle of Edgehill, prayed: "0 
 Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day ; 
 
216 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 if I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me." Then 
 he rose, crying, "March on, boys," and fought as 
 bravely as Cromwell himself. 
 
 By the spring of 1643, Captain Cromwell had 
 become Colonel. He was sent to take the plate 
 and arms of his royalist uncle and godfather, Sir 
 Oliver, for the good of the cause. We are told 
 that Oliver treated his uncle with all respect, 
 standing with bared head before him and asking 
 his blessing, — but sparing never a spoon nor a 
 musket. 
 
 On a summer Sunday morning in 1643, the gal- 
 lant Hampden fell mortally wounded in a skir- 
 mish. His last words were, "0 Lord, save my 
 bleeding country." 
 
 A few months later died Pym, the great states- 
 man of the people. He had just formed a covenant 
 with Scotland, adopting "unity of religion," — 
 accepting Scotch Presbyterianism for the sake of 
 a Scotch army. Pym was buried in Westminster 
 Abbey, "among the monuments of kings feebler 
 and less despotic than himself." 
 
 "My troops increase," wrote Cromwell in the 
 autumn of 1643. "I have a lovely company, — 
 they are sober, honest Christians." 
 
 On the field of Winceby, a month later, these 
 troopers came near losing their colonel. Crom- 
 well's horse was shot and fell on him; as he rose 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 
 
 217 
 
 Cromwell at Marston Moor 
 
218 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 lie was struck down by a royalist. He seized a 
 trooper's horse, mounted, led a second charge, 
 and scattered the Cavaliers "like chaff. " 
 
 Cromwell led other contests. Many a painted 
 church window was shattered, many a pious Epis- 
 copal minister was silenced, by the rude zeal of his 
 troopers. They dealt out to others the intoler- 
 ance against which they protested for themselves. 
 Cromwell himself stalked up the aisle of Mr. 
 Hitch's church, with his hat on his head and a rab- 
 ble at his heels. His "harsh, untunable voice" or- 
 dered the good man to dismiss his assembly. Mr. 
 Hitch would have continued his service, but 
 Cromwell broke in roughly, "Leave off your fool- 
 ing and come down, sir." 
 
 During the first two years of the civil war, the 
 cause of parliament steadily lost ground. Essex 
 and other moderate leaders did not conduct it vig- 
 orously. They wished to succeed only so far as 
 to bring the king to terms. They did not desire a 
 decisive victory, fearing its effects on the extreme 
 party which grew more and more revolutionary in 
 its demands. But they could not control the zeal 
 of such men as Cromwell and his troopers. 
 
 In the summer of 1644, was fought the first 
 great decisive battle of the war. The Scotch 
 forces under the Earl of Leven, had joined the par- 
 liamentary troops commanded by the Earl of 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 219 
 
 Manchester, forming an army of about twenty- 
 four thousand men. They were near York and 
 close to them was a royalist army of about equal 
 strength. On the afternoon of the second of July, 
 the two armies drew up facing each other on Mars- 
 ton Moor, eight miles from York. On one em- 
 inence were the king's soldiers. On a gentle hill 
 across a ditch lay the Roundhead army, — Crom- 
 well on the left with four thousand troopers, the 
 Scotch in the center, and on the right the Fair- 
 faxes. Hour after hour, that cloudy, showery 
 summer evening, the two armies faced each other. 
 About seven o'clock, Cromwell's troopers charged 
 the cavalry of Prince Rupert in front of them. 
 Cromwell was wounded on the neck by a ball. But 
 he rushed forward, urging on his men. "Charge 
 in the name of the Most High!" he cried. 
 
 "For God and the King!" shouted Rupert. 
 
 There was a brief deadly struggle. But the 
 terrible charge of Cromwell carried all before it. 
 The Cavaliers fled for life, for death. Crom- 
 well held back his troopers who would have pur- 
 sued to the gates of York. It was well for the 
 Roundhead cause that he did. While his troopers 
 had prevailed on the left, the battle had been 
 nearly lost on the center and the right. Cromwell 
 swooped down to aid the cavalry on the right and 
 dispersed the disordered royalists. Having de- 
 
220 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 feated the Cavalier cavalry on right and left, lie 
 went to the aid of the infantry in the center. 
 
 At ten o'clock the battle was over. On the field 
 lay dead four thousand Englishmen, killed by 
 their own countrymen. As the night closed in 
 storm and tempest, Cromwell and Cromwell's men 
 camped as victors on the field of Marston Moor. 
 In this battle, the great Roundhead troopers, first 
 met in combat the brilliant Cavalier leader, 
 Prince Rupert. Rupert here gave Cromwell the 
 nickname of "Ironside" which passed from him to 
 his troopers. 
 
 Not to himself did Cromwell take the glory of 
 Marston Moor. He wrote three days later to his 
 brother-in-law: "We never charged but we 
 routed the enemy. The left wing, which I com- 
 manded, being our own horse, saving a few Scots 
 in our rear, beat all the prince's horse. God made 
 them as stubble to our swords. . . . Give 
 glory, all the glory, to God." . . . Then he 
 went on abruptly, "Sir, God hath taken away 
 your eldest son by a cannon shot. It brake his 
 leg. We were necessitated to have it cut off, 
 whereof he died. 
 
 "Sir, you know my own trials this way: but the 
 Lord supported me with this, that the Lord took 
 him into the happiness we all pant and live for." 
 
 Cromwell's eldest son, Oliver, had fallen not 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 221 
 
 long before. Years later, on his death bed, Crom- 
 well spoke of this son's death: "It went to my 
 heart like a dagger, indeed it did." 
 
 Prince Rupert 
 
 The day after the battle of Marston Moor a 
 lady came to the battle-field seeking the body of 
 her husband who had fallen there. A Puritan 
 
222 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 officer approached her and listened with sad inter- 
 est to her story. Then he earnestly begged her to 
 leave the dreadful scene, where she herself might 
 meet insult from the rough camp-followers who 
 were stripping and burying the dead. He called 
 a trooper whom he ordered to conduct her in 
 safety to her home. When she asked the officer's 
 nanie, the trooper answered, "Colonel Crom- 
 well." 
 
 Marston Moor made Cromwell a military leader 
 in his party. He was soon to be a political leader 
 also. This was brought about by the events of 
 the second battle of Newbury fought in October, 
 1644. The battle was rather in favor of the 
 Roundheads. Nevertheless, the king was allowed 
 to march off that night with his men and guns. 
 Cromwell wished to attack with his troopers, but 
 the Earl of Manchester forbade his doing so. 
 Manchester was, as Cromwell said later, "afraid 
 to conquer. ' ' He belonged to the moderate party, 
 — the nobles and gentry, and Presbyterians, — 
 which desired peace and only wished to succeed 
 so far as to bring the king to terms. Cromwell 
 was leader of the Independents, — farmers and 
 small land owners, chiefly, — utterly intolerant of 
 Catholicism and Episcopacy, and coining gradu- 
 ally to desire a republic rather than a monarchy. 
 
 So with its generals, some whole-hearted like 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 223 
 
 Cromwell, others half-hearted like Essex and 
 Manchester, the war dragged on and on. 
 
 At last the difference between Cromwell and 
 Manchester came to an open breach. Cromwell 
 complained in parliament of the dilatory conduct 
 of the war. In December, 1644, he brought for- 
 ward his Self Denying Ordinance, which forbade 
 any member of parliament to hold civil or military 
 office. This Ordinance was really a plan to reor- 
 ganize the army by changing its officers. 
 
 The country was weary of the prolonged and 
 mismanaged war. Public opinion, rather than its 
 own choice, made parliament pass the Self Deny- 
 ing Ordinance. Officers were changed and the 
 army was reorganized in the spring of 1645 ac- 
 cording to a New Model. Of this New Model, the 
 pattern was Cromwell's own troop, a fighting ma- 
 chine never equalled in discipline, courage, zeal, 
 and success. " Godly and valiant men" were 
 sought out who would devote themselves to "the 
 speedy and vigorous conduct of the war." A 
 strong standing army of twenty-two thousand men 
 was organized, commanded by Sir Thomas Fair- 
 fax. 
 
 The Self Denying Ordinance was suspended in 
 the case of Cromwell. Thus the man who had 
 planned the measure was the one man who was 
 not bound bv it. He had no doubt foreseen that 
 
224 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 his military genius was too valuable to be set 
 aside. Only those who hindered the cause were 
 put aside. "Did he desire personal power?" 
 Perhaps so. Certainly "he desired the success of 
 his cause." 
 
 CJUim. 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax 
 
 While the army was being reorganized, negotia- 
 tions were carried on with the king. They came 
 to nothing, however, and both parties prepared to 
 put matters again to the test of arms. Fairfax 
 wrote to parliament asking to have Cromwell sent 
 to take command of the horse. He wrote that 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 225 
 
 this was desired on account of "his own personal 
 worth and ability for the employment, his great 
 care, diligence, courage, and faithfulness . . . 
 with the constant presence and blessing of God 
 that have accompanied him." 
 
 Cromwell, now Lieutenant General, joined 
 Fairfax on the thirteenth of June. The next day 
 the Royalists and Roundheads met in battle on 
 the field of Naseby. The two armies, each of 
 about ten thousand men, were placed on gentle 
 hills with a moor between. Here on the rolling 
 moors King Charles fought his last battle and 
 had his scepter dashed from his hand by Crom- 
 well. For Cromwell was the guiding spirit of 
 Naseby as of Marston Moor. 
 
 Fairfax commanded the infantry in the center. 
 The cavalry on the left was commanded by Ireton ; 
 Cromwell led the troopers on the right. The 
 events of Marston Moor were repeated, the center 
 and left were broken, Cromwell, victorious on 
 the right, brought aid and victory to them both. 
 Gallant Prince Rupert, his white plume waving 
 over his fair, young face, dashed forward up the 
 hill at. the head of his Cavaliers shouting, ' ' Queen 
 Mary! Queen Mary!" His reckless bravery 
 bore all before it and broke the line of iron-clad 
 troopers. Ireton was wounded — prisoner for 
 awhile — and his force was put to flight. Rupert 
 
226 ENGLISH HISTORY STOEIES 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 227 
 
 dashed off in headlong pursuit. How he was 
 needed on the field! Cromwell, having defeated 
 the cavalry before him, charged the king's center. 
 At last, but too late to save the infantry, Rupert 
 returned. Cromwell and Fairfax reformed their 
 line of battle, — foot, horse, and guns in order. 
 The disordered Cavaliers, without guns or foot- 
 soldiers, could not face them. 
 
 In vain Charles shouted ' ' One charge more, gen- 
 tlemen! One charge more, in the name of God! 
 and the day is ours." In vain, with desperate 
 valor, he placed himself at the head of a gallant 
 band. The day was lost and with it his kingdom. 
 A courtier seized the king's bridle rein and turned 
 him back. The cavalry broke and for fourteen 
 miles they were pursued and mowed down by the 
 triumphant Roundheads. Two thousand Cava- 
 liers were left dead on the field, five thousand were 
 taken prisoner. The king's army was destroyed 
 and he never again led another in the field. His 
 papers seized at Naseby showed that he had been 
 "playing fast and loose with his word" and had 
 been planning to bring an army from Ireland 
 against the English. Again Cromwell and his 
 Ironsides had won a decisive victory. They had, 
 in fact, put an end to the first civil war. 
 
 Cromwell, writing to parliament of this battle, 
 took no credit to himself — but let none earthly be 
 
228 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 taken from him. He urged the cause of his Inde- 
 pendents who refused to take the religious cove- 
 nant required by parliament. 
 
 "This is none other but the hand of God, and 
 to Him alone belongs the glory, wherein none 
 are to share with Him. . . . Honest men 
 served you faithfully in this action, Sir, they are 
 trusty; I beseech you, in the name of God, not to 
 discourage them. . . . He that ventures his 
 life for the liberty of his country, I wish he trust 
 God for the liberty of his conscience, and you for 
 the liberty he fights for." 
 
 During the months that followed, Cromwell and 
 Fairfax passed from one place to another crush- 
 ing the remnants of the Royalist armies, taking 
 castle after castle and town after town. In Oc- 
 tober, 1645, Cromwell stormed and took Basing 
 House, "called Loyalty," which for four years had 
 resisted siege after siege. By midsummer, 1646, 
 he had fought sixty skirmishes and battles and 
 stormed fifty strongholds. His men were kept 
 under the severest discipline. When some pris- 
 oners complained of being robbed, Cromwell had 
 the accused soldiers tried. Proved guilty, one 
 was hanged and five were delivered to a Royalist 
 governor to be dealt with as he saw fit. The gov- 
 ernor returned them unharmed "with an acknowl- 
 edgment of the Lieutenant-General's nobleness." 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 229 
 
 In 1646, Cromwell's favorite daughter, Eliza- 
 beth, was married to John Claypole. That same 
 year his daughter Bridget married Henry Ireton, 
 "a man able with his pen and his sword," Crom- 
 well 's ' ' other self. ' ' About the same time, Crom- 
 welPs family moved to London, which was hence- 
 forth to be his home. 
 
 After countless victories, Cormwell returned to 
 London and entered the House of Commons. The 
 members rose to receive him and the speaker ex- 
 pressed to him "the hearty thanks of the House 
 for his many services." 
 
 The first civil war was at an end. "You have 
 done your work now," said good Sir Jacob Ast- 
 ley, "and may go to play unless you fall out 
 among yourselves." 
 
 CROMWELL AS SOLDIER. PART TWO 
 
 It seemed that the victors were, indeed, to "fall 
 out among themselves." They had been held to- 
 gether in a common struggle for civil and religious 
 rights. Now that outside pressure was removed, 
 they were parted by their own differences. There 
 were two great parties among the Roundheads. 
 One was the Presbyterian, which wished to make 
 terms with the king and establish the Presbyte- 
 rian form of worship as the national one in Eng- 
 land. The other was the Independent, made up 
 
230 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 of many sects wliicli wished to tolerate all re- 
 ligions, except the Episcopalian and Catholic, and 
 which " hated the very name of king." The Pres- 
 byterian party was stronger in parliament, and 
 had charge of the person of the king. The In- 
 dependent controlled the army. 
 
 Parliament now wished to disband the New 
 Model army and raise troops officered by Presby- 
 terians. But the army refused to be disbanded. 
 Cromwell, we have seen, had been careful to col- 
 lect "men of religion." His soldiers were Chris- 
 tians, zealots, fanatics. They held prayer-meet- 
 ings and political meetings, and were an organ- 
 ized religious and political power as well as a mil- 
 itary one. Having fought for freedom they had 
 no more intention of giving up their rights to 
 parliament than to the king. 
 
 We cannot trace very clearly Cromwell's course 
 during these months which were a breathing-space 
 in the civil war. He made enemies, he deserted 
 old friends, he changed his plans as circumstances 
 changed. Yet steadfastly he sought civil and re- 
 ligious liberty, toleration but not anarchy. More 
 and more he identified himself with "the cause," 
 felt that he must triumph for it to triumph. How 
 far personal ambition mingled with his religious 
 zeal and patriotic impulse we cannot tell. Prob- 
 ably, Cromwell himself could not have told. He 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 231 
 
 had all the strength, all the weakness, of the Pur- 
 itan, — and with all its weakness, its strength 
 was the greatest in the kingdom and therefore it 
 triumphed. 
 
 The army took possession of the person of the 
 king and he was home a prisoner to that very 
 house of Hinchinbrook where he and his father 
 had been entertained with such royal state. For 
 six months the army pressed its claims, and at 
 last parliament submitted. In August, 1647, the 
 soldiers, wearing laurel in their hats as a sign of 
 victory, marched into London. Henceforth, the 
 army was in authority and parliament was its 
 mouthpiece. 
 
 Cromwell seems to have labored long to make 
 terms between king and people. ' ' No man in Eng- 
 land," he is reported to have said, "can be sure of 
 his rights, his estates, and life, if the king has not 
 his rights." Month after month he labored to get 
 Charles to grant the desired civil and religious 
 reforms. 
 
 The king negotiated with the army, he nego- 
 tiated with the parliament, but by these negotia- 
 tions he was only trying to gain time and to stir 
 up new war. His efforts seemed to be crowned 
 with success. Scotland rose, Wales rose, the 
 royal flag was again unfurled in England. 
 
 "The hour is come for the parliament to save 
 
232 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 the kingdom and govern alone," said Cromwell. 
 He felt that no confidence could be put in King 
 Charles. "The king is a man of great parts and 
 understanding," said Cromwell, "but so great a 
 dissembler and so false a man that he is not to be 
 trusted." Could any promises, could any oaths 
 bind Charles Stuart, were he in power, to spare 
 the subjects who had defeated his armies and 
 humbled his authority? Cromwell and many an- 
 other man thought "No." 
 
 With wrath in their hearts, the officers and sol- 
 diers held a great prayer-meeting which was a 
 political meeting also. Cromwell spoke and ex- 
 horted the soldiers to do their duty as men and 
 Christians. Then they ' ' resolved, that it was our 
 duty, if ever the Lord brought us back again in 
 peace, to call Charles Stuart, that man of blood, 
 to an account for that blood he had shed and mis- 
 chief he had done. ' ' Such was the resolution come 
 to by those stern men, weeping and praying at 
 "Windsor Castle in the year 1648. 
 
 They looked on the second outbreak of civil war 
 as God's judgment on their slackness in dealing 
 with the king, His enemy and theirs. Leaving 
 Charles a prisoner, they went to put down the 
 revolt raised in his name. Small mercy was there 
 in store for him when they should return! 
 
 The civil war was renewed in the spring of 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 233 
 
 1648. Cromwell was sent to put down the rising 
 in Wales. Then he marched north to suppress 
 revolt there and to attack the Scotch army march- 
 ing to uphold the king's cause. 
 
 On the seventeenth of August, he fought the 
 Scots at Preston, the first battle in which he held 
 supreme command. His army was "so extremely 
 harassed with hard service and long marches that 
 they seemed rather fit for a hospital than a bat- 
 tle." The royalist army was largely superior in 
 numbers, consisting of nearly twenty-five thou- 
 sand good men, Scotch and English. They were 
 marching, however, in a straggling, ill-ordered 
 line. Before they knew that Cromwell was near, 
 he attacked them, cut their line in two, and fought 
 and defeated the army, section by section. The 
 battle lasted three days and extended over a ter- 
 ritory of thirty miles, only ending then because 
 the victors were too exhausted to pursue and kill 
 any longer. Cromwell's loss was small, and his 
 prisoners were as numerous as his soldiers. 
 
 While he was winning these victories in the 
 north, parliament was discussing charges of 
 treason against him and treating with the king 
 for peace. These tidings inflamed him and his 
 Ironsides. They hurried back to London and de- 
 manded "justice on the king." 
 
 England had been a kingdom a thousand years. 
 
234 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Reverence for the person and rank of the king 
 were inborn, inbred in the hearts of Englishmen. 
 They were ready to protest against tyranny and 
 to urge their rights. But to proceed against a 
 king as a common criminal — it was not to be 
 thought of ! Even the power of the soldier-fanat- 
 ics could not make parliament do that. The army 
 then resorted to force. One morning in Decem- 
 ber soldiers drew up before the doors of the 
 House, and Colonel Pride arrested forty-one mem- 
 bers of the moderate party. One member asked, 
 "By what right do you act?" 
 
 "By the right of the sword," he was answered. 
 
 But parliament still would not proceed against 
 the king. The next day sixty more members were 
 arrested and confined, leaving the extreme party 
 in control. This was "Pride's Purge." It was 
 probably planned by Ireton, Cromwell's son-in- 
 law and "other self." 
 
 Cromwell was not in London when Pride's 
 Purge began. He came that night and said that 
 "he had not been acquainted with this design; 
 yet since it was done he was glad of it, and would 
 endeavor to maintain it." 
 
 The House being thus "purged," or freed of the 
 moderate party, the will of the army was carried 
 out. Charles Stuart was brought to trial as a ty- 
 rant and a traitor to his country. All England 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 235 
 
 looked on with horror. But the little band of 
 Puritans went forward, believing that this was 
 the only way to secure the rights dearer than life. 
 
 Cromwell, who had a year before striven to 
 make terms with the king, was now one of his most 
 relentless judges. 
 
 ''I tell you," he said, "we will cut off his head 
 with the crown upon it." 
 
 Cromwell's name stands third on the warrant 
 by which Charles was sentenced to death as a ty- 
 rant and a traitor to his people. 
 
 The king was beheaded on the thirtieth of Jan- 
 uary, 1649, at his palace of Whitehall. All his 
 follies were forgotten, all his crimes were for- 
 given by the rank and file of the people as they 
 saw him face death with the courage of a king, 
 the meekness of a Christian. A thrill of horror 
 went through England, through the world, as the 
 head of the anointed king rolled in the dust. 
 
 The House of Commons was now reduced to 
 about a hundred members, extremists in politics 
 and religion. Soon after the king's death, they 
 pronounced the House of Lords "useless and dan- 
 gerous" and abolished the office of king. Prom 
 the day of Charles's death till his own, Cromwell 
 was the uncrowned king of England. 
 
 The kingdom of England was now a Common- 
 wealth, but a Commonwealth which had not one 
 
236 ENGLISH HISTORY STOEIES 
 
 ally abroad and had many enemies at home. The 
 royalist cause in England was strengthened by 
 pity and horror for the king's fate. Ireland was 
 in rebellion, Scotland refused to abolish monarchy 
 and proclaimed Charles's son, king. 
 
 The first and most urgent need was to conquer 
 Ireland. Hither Cromwell went at the head of an 
 army of about ten thousand men. He went in 
 grim earnest and grim haste. 
 
 His campaign began with the storming of Dro- 
 gheda, on the third of September, 1648, the day 
 which he considered his "fortunate day." Dro- 
 gheda is a seaport town twenty-three miles north 
 of Dublin. The besieged fought long and bravely. 
 The Ironsides were forced back until Cromwell 
 put himself at their head and with the words ' ' the 
 Lord God" as his battle-cry, led them to victory. 
 No quarter was given. For two days the Iron- 
 sides fought and slew till they were weary of 
 massacre. 
 
 "I forbade theni to spare any that were in 
 arms in the town, ' ' said Cromwell. ' ' I believe we 
 put to the sword the whole number of defendants. 
 I do not think thirty of the whole number escaped 
 with their lives. ' ' And he calmly told how ' ' their 
 friars were knocked in the head." Thousands 
 of men shut in by the walls of Drogheda, at the 
 mercy of their victors, were put to death. We 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 237 
 
 shudder to-day at the cruelty wrought in the name 
 of "the Lord God." 
 
 Fort after fort, town after town, yielded or 
 was taken. Where Cromwell met resistance the 
 scenes of Drogheda were repeated. At Wexford, 
 there was another great massacre, and the city 
 was given over to pillage. Winter and illness 
 were the only enemies that delayed the course 
 of the invader. 
 
 In the summer of 1649, Cromwell returned to 
 England, leaving Ireton in command. In nine 
 months he had crushed resistance, and given Ire- 
 land grim reasons to hate England. Even yet 
 there linger memories of the great Puritan, and 
 the Irish peasant's bitterest curse is "the curse of 
 Cromwell." 
 
 Cromwell entered London amid the shouts of 
 the populace. 
 
 "See what a multitude of people come to at- 
 tend your triumph," some one said to him as he 
 passed along the crowded streets. 
 
 Cromwell smiled. "More would come to see 
 me hanged," he answered. 
 
 From war with Ireland, England now turned 
 to war' with Scotland which had proclaimed 
 Charles II. ruler of the three kingdoms. Fairfax 
 was opposed to this war and refused to lead the 
 army. In vain Cromwell and the other officers 
 
238 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 urged him not to forsake their cause. He re- 
 signed his commission. 
 
 The next day Cromwell was appointed Com- 
 mander-in-Chief. Three days later he set out to 
 Scotland, wishing to make it the battlefield rather 
 than to wait invasion and revolt in England. 
 
 The first contest was not of arms but of words. 
 There was a long, stout duel of texts and sermons 
 and arguments. Five years before the Presbyte- 
 rians and Independents had fought side by side 
 at Marston Moor in defence of their common 
 faith. Now they were animated by burning zeal 
 against each other. Each believed that God was 
 on his side, and that the other was a traitor to 
 the holy cause. Lesley, Cromwell's old comrade 
 at Marston Moor, was in command of the Scotch 
 army of twenty-three thousand men. 
 
 Cromwell advanced, keeping near the coast so 
 as to be in reach of his ships. Lesley refused 
 battle and endeavored to wear the invaders out by 
 cutting off their supplies. Twice Cromwell ad- 
 vanced, twice he had to retire. His men were 
 worn out with marching, want of food, and the in- 
 clemency of the weather. He had at last to fall 
 back to Dunbar with his ' ' poor, scattered, hungry, 
 discouraged army." Lesley, by a skilful move- 
 ment, drew his army, that "army of twenty-three 
 thousand good men," south of Dunbar, blocked 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 239 
 
 the road to England, and occupied the heights 
 above the town. Never had Cromwell been in 
 such a desperate strait. His army of eleven thou- 
 sand men was enclosed on a small promontory. 
 Behind and beside it was the sea, before it was 
 the little rivulet of Brock with "a deep grassy 
 glen." Lesley and his army were encamped on a 
 long hill, a spur of the Lammermoor Heights. 
 Beyond them lay the Lammermoor, boggy land 
 hardly to be crossed these wet September days by 
 a peddler, much less by an army. Such was the 
 state of affairs on September second, 1650. The 
 committee appointed to advise Lesley urged him 
 to attack the little English army. It feared 
 Cromwell would withdraw his men by means of 
 his ships. Surely with such superior forces Les- 
 ley could give up his advantage of position, and 
 yet destroy the English army. Reluctantly on 
 that windy, rainy Monday afternoon, Lesley 
 marched down the heights, and ranged his forces 
 at the foot of the Doon Hill. Only the stream 
 and glen of the Brock were between him and 
 Cromwell's men. 
 
 "The Lord hath delivered them into our hands," 
 Cromwell is said to have exclaimed, as he saw the 
 Scotch march down from the heights. 
 
 All through that night the soldiers stood to their 
 arms, or lay in reach of them. The English had 
 
240 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 some tents. The Scotch, who had none, crouched 
 on the open hillside. So passed the night, wet 
 and windy, with dashes of hail and sleet. On both 
 sides voices rose in prayer and psalms, appealing 
 to the God of Battle. "Whoever has a heart for 
 prayer let him pray now, for the wrestle of death 
 is at hand. Pray, — and withal keep his powder 
 dry, and be ready for extremities, and quit him- 
 self like a man." 
 
 In the dim dawn, Cromwell threw his whole 
 force against Lesley's cavalry. 
 
 "They run, I profess they run!" he cried in 
 triumph. The Scotch horsemen as they retreated 
 threw into confusion the foot soldiers behind. 
 The confusion became a rout. "After the first 
 repulse," says Cromwell, "they were made by the 
 Lord of Hosts as stubble to our swords." In 
 less than an hour the victory was won. The sun 
 rose through the morning mist on the great army, 
 fleeing before the terrible charge of the Ironsides. 
 
 Cromwell's voice rose above the roar of the 
 battle, "Let God arise, let His enemies be scat- 
 tered." While waiting for his troopers to gather 
 for the chase, ' ' the Lord General made a halt, and 
 sang the one hundred-and-seventeenth Psalm." 
 Then he turned to pursue his enemy. 
 
 The English took ten thousand prisoners and all 
 the Scotch guns and supplies. On the field lay 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 241 
 
 dead three thousand Scotchmen. The victors had 
 lost only twenty-two men. 
 
 Such was the battle of Dunbar on Cromwell's 
 fortunate day, the third of September. 
 
 After the victory of Dunbar, the continental 
 powers recognized the English Commonwealth. 
 
 During the winter and spring of 1651, Crom- 
 well remained in Scotland. For months he was 
 ill. "I thought I should have died of this fit of 
 sickness," he wrote; but in the intervals he 
 marched and preached, fought and argued with 
 the Scotch. 
 
 In June, young King Charles took a daring 
 step. He invaded England, hoping the royalists 
 there would join him. Close on his track followed 
 Cromwell. Charles, winning few soldiers where 
 he had hoped to win many, marched on through 
 England, and finally encamped at Worcester. 
 His men, twelve thousand in number, were worn 
 out and surrounded by enemies. Cromwell drew 
 near with a force of thirty thousand. 
 
 Charles made the best of his desperate position. 
 He placed his army in the triangle formed by the 
 city and the two rivers which unite near it. He 
 expected a siege, which would last long, probably 
 for months, and give the royalists in the three 
 kingdoms time to come to his aid. But instead of 
 laying siege, Cromwell at once attacked. 
 
242 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 At dawn, on the third of September, the anni- 
 versary of the victories of Drogheda and Dunbar, 
 he began the attack. Bridges of boats were 
 thrown across the two rivers, and the great army 
 advanced against the little royalist force. Crom- 
 well himself "did lead the van in person and was 
 the first to set foot on the enemy's ground." The 
 Scotch were driven back, fighting desperately, 
 and were forced to take refuge within the city 
 walls. 
 
 Afternoon passed and evening came. Still the 
 battle raged desperately. By eight o'clock the 
 gates of the city were forced and Cromwell and 
 his men entered. "It was as stiff a contest for 
 four or five hours as ever I have seen," wrote 
 Cromwell. From street to. street the fighting 
 went on, far into the night. The Scots lost thou- 
 sands of men, killed and wounded ; Cromwell only 
 about two hundred. 
 
 Charles made effort after effort to rally his 
 men, but all in vain. He fled at last, and after 
 wandering through England for months, finally, in 
 disguise, escaped to France. 
 
 With the battle of Worcester ended Cromwell's 
 career as a soldier. The farmer of St. Ives had 
 drawn his sword for the first time at forty-three 
 and he sheathed it at fifty-two. 
 
 He had risen from captain to colonel, from 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 243 
 
 colonel to general, from general to commander-in- 
 chief. The army which he commanded he had 
 created. It was one never excelled in discipline, 
 courage, and success. "Truly they were never 
 beaten at all," said Cromwell. He himself had 
 never lost a battle or failed in a military opera- 
 tion. 
 
 His troops on the field of Marston Moor turned 
 the tide of battle and changed defeat into victory. 
 The army on the model of these troops, won the 
 victory at Naseby and ended the first part of 
 Civil War. With a small army he conquered 
 Ireland in nine months; he invaded Scotland 
 and subdued it in a year. At Dunbar he 
 won one of the most complete and remarkable 
 victories ever gained by a small army over a large 
 one. At Worcester he stormed and took with 
 little loss a city desperately defended, and ended 
 the Civil War. 
 
 "He was a strong man in the dark perils of 
 war, in the high places of the field ; hope shone in 
 him like a pillar of fire when it had gone out in 
 all the others." 
 
 CROMWELL AS DICTATOR 
 
 Cromwell came back from his career of victory 
 and set to work again as a member of the Council 
 of State. 
 
244 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 "Now that the king is dead and his son de- 
 feated," he said to the parliament, "I think it 
 necessary to come to a settlement." 
 
 A great task lay before parliament. The coun- 
 try was disordered by ten years of civil strife. 
 The church and the state were torn from their 
 old moorings. The whole course of English law 
 and custom had been turned aside. Affairs at 
 home and abroad were in confusion. Everywhere 
 order and reorganization were needed. 
 
 The year after the Civil War ended, England 
 waged war against the Dutch, who were then 
 threatening their power on the sea. 
 
 The Commonwealth had men to uphold its honor 
 as nobly on the sea as the Ironsides did on the 
 land. Admiral Blake was as brave and as suc- 
 cessful as General Cromwell. Blake was a Puri- 
 tan country gentleman who served first as a sol- 
 dier. Though he did not begin his sea service 
 till he was fifty, he became one of the greatest of 
 English admirals. Even the dauntless Drake was 
 no more brilliant leader than this quiet Puritan, 
 who allowed no oaths, no drinking, and no games 
 of chance on his ships. 
 
 In November, 1652, Blake met in the Channel 
 a Dutch fleet, outnumbering him two to one. He 
 fought all day, but at night had to withdraw his 
 shattered ships. The Dutch commander sailed 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 245 
 
 up and down the Channel with a broom at his 
 masthead, as a sign that he had swept the waters 
 clean of Englishmen. A few months later, Blake 
 put to sea with a larger fleet, and in February, 
 1653, he again met the Dutch. There ensued a 
 four-days fight, which ended in an English vic- 
 tory. Thereupon Blake set a horse-whip at his 
 masthead and sailed up and down the Channel, 
 to signify that the Dutch were beaten. 
 
 Meanwhile, affairs in England were in an un- 
 settled state. The majority of the people pre- 
 ferred a monarchy. Parliament clung to its own 
 power. The army wished to have a republic gov- 
 erned according to its ideas. Sir Henry Vane, 
 a pure and able man, led the parliament; Crom- 
 well, the army. 
 
 At Cromwell's suggestion, the leaders in par- 
 liament, and the officers of the army met to dis- 
 cuss matters. These meetings only served to 
 show how far apart were their views. They only 
 made the army desire a new parliament, and the 
 parliament fear to lay down its power. 
 
 This parliament had now been in session thir- 
 teen years and it was high time for it to be dis- 
 missed and a new one called. Yielding to pub- 
 lic opinion, in April, 1653, parliament decided to 
 give way to a new one, — in which, however, the 
 old members should sit and decide on the admis- 
 
246 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 •sion of new members. Thereupon the army offi- 
 cers said that such an act should not pass ; such a 
 new parliament would be only a pretext to con- 
 tinue the old one in power. The next morning 
 news came to Cromwell that the House was pre- 
 paring to pass this act. "Clad in plain gray 
 clothes and gray worsted stockings," he hurried 
 to the House. With him went a company of his 
 own soldiers. He stationed these at the door, en- 
 tered the House, took his seat, and listened awhile. 
 Then he spoke to Harrison who sat near him. 
 
 "The time has come," he said. 
 
 "Sir, the work is very great and dangerous," 
 answered Harrison. 
 
 "You say well," Cromwell replied, and sat still 
 a few minutes longer, listening rather to his own 
 thoughts than to the speeches of the House. 
 
 As the speaker raised the question "that this 
 bill do pass," Cromwell said to Harrison, "This 
 is the time: I must do it." 
 
 He rose and began to speak, moderately and re- 
 spectfully at first, but his voice and temper rose. 
 He charged the parliament with injustice, self-in- 
 terest, and delay. As he went on he spoke "like 
 a mad man." "Your hour is come," he said, 
 ' ' the Lord hath done with you. ' ' 
 
 Several of the members started up to protest 
 against such language. Cromwell put on his hat 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 247 
 
 and stamped up and down the House, saying, 
 "You are no parliament, I say you are no parlia- 
 ment. You should give place to better men. 
 Come, come, we have had enough of this; I will 
 put an end to your prating." 
 
 At his sign thirty soldiers entered, while others 
 guarded the doors. 
 
 The fearless Vane reproved him : ' ' This is not 
 honest; it is against all right and all honor." 
 
 Cromwell turned angrily to him: "Ah, Sir 
 Harry Vane, Sir Harry Vane ! The Lord deliver 
 me from Sir Harry Vane ! ' ' 
 
 " It is you that have forced me to this, ' ' he said. 
 "I have sought the Lord night and day that He 
 would rather slay me than put upon me this 
 work. ' ' 
 
 He hurled hard names and abuse at the mem- 
 bers as they passed out of the House. Then the 
 doors were locked. Thus was the Long Parlia- 
 ment dissolved. 
 
 There is no stranger scene in all English his- 
 tory. This man of the people in his fury out- 
 raged and abused the parliament as no Stuart, 
 no Tudor had ever dared do. "We must remem- 
 ber, however, that by its long session and by 
 Pride's Purge, this parliament had ceased to 
 be representative of England. It was but a 
 dishonored remnant of a parliament. Cromwell 
 
248 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 249 
 
 said very truly, ' ' The nation loathed their sitting, 
 I knew it. And, so far as I could discern, when 
 they were dissolved, there was not so much as the 
 barking of a dog." 
 
 The army approved, the nation submitted, and 
 power passed into the hands of Cromwell. He 
 formed a Council of State to assist in the gov- 
 ernment of the country. This council ought, in 
 justice, to have resigned its power to a fairly- 
 elected parliament. Instead, it was succeeded by 
 a convention of one hundred and fifty-six " per- 
 sons fearing God and of approved fidelity and 
 honesty" selected from lists furnished by the 
 churches. These were the "saints" who were to 
 rule England and make it a kingdom of God. It 
 was called "Barebones Parliament" from one of 
 its members, Praise-God Barebones. 
 
 Cromwell opened the assembly with an elo- 
 quent speech in which he gave the history of the 
 Civil War, and ended with a sermon and a psalm. 
 
 The zealous Puritans set to work to reform all 
 church and state affairs. "Nothing was in the 
 hearts of these men but ' overturn, overturn,' " 
 said Cromwell, afterwards. The country viewed 
 their proceedings with alarm, and breathed a sigh 
 of relief when, all at once, they placed their resig- 
 nation in Cromwell's hands. 
 
 Cromwell then summoned the Council of State, 
 
250 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 It offered him and he accepted the position of 
 Protector of the Commonwealth. On December 
 sixteenth, 1653, he assumed this office. His 
 powers were limited by a written constitution, and 
 power was centered in the council and in parlia- 
 ment. He made treaties of peace, with Holland, 
 Sweden, Denmark, and Portugal. "There is not 
 a nation in Europe but is very willing to ask a 
 good understanding with you," he said proudly 
 but truly. 
 
 In the fall of 1654, assembled "the first parlia- 
 ment in English history whose members from 
 Scotland and Ireland sat side by side with thoze 
 from England as they sit in the parliament of 
 to-day." Cromwell addressed them, and urged 
 them to devote themselves to "the great end of 
 your meeting, healing and settling." 
 
 Instead of devoting themselves to the work of 
 "healing and settling," parliament began to dis- 
 cuss "whether the House should approve of gov- 
 ernment by a single person and a parliament." 
 
 Cromwell did not wish to hear again the ' ' over- 
 turn" of Barebones Parliament. He considered 
 the form of government settled. He told the 
 House that this was a free parliament, but must 
 recognize him, the power that called them to- 
 gether. "I called not myself to this'' place! God 
 and the people of these nations have borne testi- 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 251 
 
 mony to it. God and the people shall take it from 
 me, else I will not part with it." Then again he 
 trampled on the rights of parliament. He said 
 that no member should enter the House who dfd 
 not sign an agreement 'mot to alter the govern- 
 ment as it is settled in a single person and a par- 
 liament." 
 
 At the end of five months parliament had accom- 
 plished practically nothing, and Cromwell dis- 
 solved it with angry reproaches. 
 
 He, no doubt, justified to himself his actions by 
 his intentions. It seemed to him that the ship of 
 state was drifting toward rocks and breakers. 
 He seized the helm and turned it to a course of 
 safety and honor. He wished others to assist 
 in this great work of governing England. He 
 assembled councils and parliament, but if they 
 halted and questioned, he acted, — not for himself, 
 but for the nation. 
 
 By his practical ability, the union of the three 
 kingdoms planned by the Long Parliament was 
 accomplished. The sword was used in Scotland, 
 but its power was not abused. But the pitiless 
 severity of Cromwell's Irish campaign was re- 
 peated in the " settlement" of Ireland by his son- 
 in-law, Ireton, and after Ireton's death in 1651, by 
 his son, Henry Cromwell. 
 
 Of all bitter Irish memories, the bitterest are 
 
252 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 of these Puritan days, when thousands suffered 
 death, banishment, and confiscation, and when the 
 laws, customs, and religion of the nation were 
 disregarded. Cromwell "made a wilderness and 
 , called it peace." 
 
 - For "papists and prelatists," as he called Cath- 
 olics and Episcopalians, Cromwell had no tolera- 
 tion. But he was, unlike many other Puritans, 
 tolerant of different sects and of all that he con- 
 sidered "Bible religions." 
 
 In September, 1656, Cromwell summoned an- 
 other parliament to aid him in "healing and set- 
 tling" the country. This parliament wished Crom- 
 well to assume the title of king. It was no idle 
 scheme to flatter his personal ambition. The 
 whole form of the English government centered 
 around the idea of kingship. To restore a king 
 was to restore that government its power. "The 
 king's prerogative is under the court of justice, 
 and is bounded as well as any acre of land," they 
 urged. But the place and power of a "Pro- 
 tector" were unknown to English history, unde- 
 fined and unlimited by its law. Cromwell felt the 
 force and justice of these reasons. If the 
 "godly" men of the army had approved, he would, 
 no doubt, have accepted the offered crown. But 
 they did not approve. They strongly disap- 
 proved. They hated the very name of king. 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 253 
 
 The debate witli parliament went on for a 
 month. "I am ready to serve, not as a king, but 
 a constable, if you like," said Cromwell. "For 
 truly I have, as before God, often thought that 
 I could not tell what my business was, nor what 
 I was in the place where I stood in, save compar- 
 ing myself to a good constable set to keep the 
 peace of the parish." He reminded them that 
 "very generally good men do not swallow this 
 title," and for himself he said he would value it 
 no more than "a feather in his hat." 
 
 The army officers petitioned "in the name of 
 the old cause for which they had bled" that the 
 monarchy should not be restored. This, no doubt, 
 decided Cromwell. His power rested on the 
 sword. He could not turn against him the hand 
 which held it. He ended the debate with parlia- 
 ment. "I cannot undertake this government with 
 the title of king," he said, "and that is mine 
 answer to this great and weighty business." 
 
 CROMWELL. AS LORD PROTECTOR 
 
 Cromwell accepted the supreme place in the na- 
 tion under the title of Lord High Protector. His 
 position was practically that of the president of 
 the United States, his power greater than that of 
 the king of a limited monarchy. 
 
 He was installed June twenty-sixth, 1657, He 
 
254 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 was not crowned, but lie was enthroned and pre- 
 sented with a sword of state and a Bible. He was 
 given the power of appointing his successor and 
 of selecting the members of "the other house," 
 a term used to avoid the offensive title, "House 
 of Lords." 
 
 Cromwell's life in a palace was as simple as 
 
 it had been in his 
 Huntingdon h o m e. 
 As he had done 
 there, so here he 
 gathered round him 
 his family, wife and 
 children and his 
 pious old mother, to 
 join in daily psalms 
 and prayers. He 
 of loved music and so- 
 ciety, was genial 
 and affectionate with his family and friends. 
 The most pious and learned men of the day were 
 his friends, the godly Baxter and Owen, the 
 learned Marvel, — above all, the great poet Milton 
 who was his Latin secretary. 
 
 Never was such a court in Modern Europe. 
 Rank and title counted little. Men and women 
 must be pure and upright to enter it. 
 
 "When ambassadors would have kissed Crom- 
 
 Great Seal 
 
 of England. 
 Cromwell 
 
 Time 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 255 
 
 well's hand, according to royal custom, he drew 
 back and gravely bowed to them. But for the 
 honor of his country he would abate no tittle of 
 the respect due him as England's chief. Spain 
 was required to address him in the style de- 
 manded by her own proud nionarchs. He refused 
 to receive a letter from the king of France, which 
 was addressed to "His Most Serene Highness 
 Oliver, Lord Protector." He still refused to re- 
 ceive the letter when the address was changed to 
 "Our Dear Cousin." He would accept nothing 
 less than the style of address usual between sov- 
 ereigns, "Our Dear Brother Oliver." 
 
 "What!" said Louis, "shall I call this base 
 fellow my brother!" 
 
 "Yes," said his shrewd minister, "or your 
 father if it will gain your ends, or you will have 
 him at the gates of Paris." 
 
 All the kings and ministers in Europe bowed 
 to the demands and courted the favor of the 
 * ' farmer of St. Ives. ' ' At home, his rule dictator- 
 ial, often unlawful as it was, sought reform and 
 liberty, justice and honesty. These brought back 
 wealth and prosperity to the land. 
 
 He said "he hoped he should make the name of 
 an Englishman as great as ever that of a Roman 
 had been." The two great aims of his foreign 
 policy were to uphold the power of England and 
 
256 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 to unite all Protestant countries in a great Pro- 
 testant league with England at its head. ''All 
 the interests of the Protestants," he said to his 
 people, "are the same as yours." When he 
 heard of the sufferings of the Protestant sub- 
 jects of the Duke of Savoy, he shed tears and sent 
 them two thousand pounds from his own purse. 
 He gave the duke to understand that he must re- 
 store their property and privileges, or fight Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Cromwell and Blake ! They made the name of 
 England feared in every court. From the Baltic 
 to the Mediterranean, from Newfoundland to Ja- 
 maica, the English cannon roared, the English 
 flag was raised. In the spring of 1657 came 
 Blake's last victory. He attacked the Spanish 
 fleet in the harbor of Santa Cruz, took its treasure, 
 and burned or sank every ship. Crowds gath- 
 ered in the streets of London to see the thirty- 
 eight great wagon loads of silver dragged to the 
 Tower. A few months later Blake's own ship 
 sailed for England. In sight of the beloved 
 coast, the Admiral died on the twenty-seventh 
 of August, 1657. 
 
 In Flanders the English Ironsides fought 
 bravely and successfully. They took the city of 
 Dunkirk, and won the admiration of Europe by 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 257 
 
 their discipline and zeal, their perfection as a 
 fighting machine. 
 
 Yet Cromwell's parliament stood aloof — even 
 after these great victories. Instead of voting 
 supplies to pay the army and, navy, it spent its 
 time discussing legal questions. Its contentions 
 threw the Protector "into a rage and passion like 
 unto madness." He addressed them with angry 
 reproaches, ending with, "I do dissolve this par- 
 liament, and let God be Judge between you and 
 me." 
 
 "There is not a man living can say I sought 
 it (the place of Protector)," he said, "no, not a 
 man or woman treading upon English ground. 
 . . . I can say in the presence of God, in com- 
 parison with Whom we are but like poor creep- 
 ing ants upon the earth, — I would have been glad 
 to have lived under my woodside, to have kept a 
 flock of sheep, rather than undertaken such a 
 government as this." 
 
 The shadow of death fell on the palace of 
 Cromwell. His mother died at the age of ninety- 
 four. "A little before her death she gave my 
 lord her blessing in these words: 'The Lord 
 cause his face to shine upon you, and comfort you 
 in all your adversities, and enable you to do great 
 things for the glory of your most high God, and 
 
258 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 to be a relief unto His people. My dear son, I 
 leave my heart with thee. A good-night.' " 
 
 For weeks in the summer of 1658, Cromwell's 
 favorite daughter lay ill. Over her bed hung her 
 devoted, broken-hearted father. After her death 
 he endeavored for a few days to attend to state 
 affairs, but his strength was failing. His condi- 
 tion became serious, alarming, hopeless. He was 
 urged to name his successor as Protector. The 
 name had been written months before on a sealed 
 paper put away at Hampton Court. The paper 
 was searched for but not found. In answer to 
 repeated requests that he appoint a successor, 
 Cromwell muttered something indistinctly. The 
 anxious listeners thought that he named his son 
 Richard. We do not know. 
 
 "I would be willing to live," he murmured, 
 "to be further serviceable to God and His peo- 
 ple, but my work is done. Yet God will be with 
 His people." 
 
 The third of September came, the anniversary 
 of the massacre of Drogheda, of the victories of 
 Dunbar and Worcester. That day, his ' ' fortunate 
 day," Cromwell lay in a stupor, and in the after- 
 noon he quietly breathed his last. The rule of 
 Cromwell and of English Puritanism was over. 
 
 In less than two years Charles Stuart was wel- 
 comed to England to the throne of his fathers. 
 
OLIVER CROMWELL 259 
 
 The corpse of Cromwell was. taken out of its cof- 
 fin and hanged at Tyburn, the place of common 
 execution. The body was buried under the gal- 
 lows and the head set on a pole as that of a 
 traitor. 
 
 The restoration of Charles seemed to undo all 
 the work of Cromwell. There was a reaction in 
 religion and in politics. 
 
 The stern Puritanism which frowned on inno- 
 cent pleasures had represented the views of the 
 minority. The majority was glad to see "Merrie 
 England ' ' back again, to drink the cup of pleasure 
 even to the dregs of vice. Cromwell had failed in 
 his effort to build up the kingdom of England 
 into a kingdom of God. 
 
 In his political aims also he had failed. That, 
 too, represented the views of the minority. His 
 plan was a government like that of the United 
 States, with a legislative body and a personal ex- 
 ecutive. He held the place of our president; par- 
 liament, of our congress. But this was not and 
 is not the English idea of government. In the 
 British system the parliament is supreme, and the 
 ministry, the executive department, is " a part and 
 creature of it." The idea of government which 
 Cromwell favored and England rejected, a cen- 
 tury and a half later was approved by Washing- 
 ton and adopted in America, 
 
Queen Victoria 
 
 1819-1839 
 
 In 1819 the wonderful nineteenth century was 
 yet young. Few of its great discoveries were 
 made, few of its great inventions were perfected. 
 The manners of life, the habits of thought, of the 
 eighteenth century still prevailed. In England 
 the great poets of romance and of nature were 
 yet living, — Scott, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Col- 
 eridge, Wordsworth. On the throne still sat the 
 feeble King George III. under whose rule the 
 thirteen American colonies had been lost and the 
 power of Napoleon overthrown at Waterloo. 
 
 In the spring of that year of 1819 the first 
 steamship crossed the Atlantic, taking nearly a 
 month for the trip which our ' ' ocean gray-hounds ' ' 
 now make in less than a week. Few could then 
 foresee that the steamship was to make ' ' the once 
 dividing sea only a silver bridge." 
 
 That same spring there was born a princess 
 
 who was to rule a mighty empire, the parts of 
 
 which are separately united by this "silver 
 
 bridge." 
 
 260 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 261 
 
 Victoria, only daughter of the Duke of Kent, 
 was born at Kensington Palace, England, on the 
 twenty-fourth of May, 1819. She was descended 
 from Alfred the Great. The royal family to 
 which she belonged had ruled England since the 
 days of William Rufus, the son of William the 
 Conqueror. Sometimes one branch of the family 
 died out and another ascended the throne. Only 
 once had this royal line been out of power. That 
 was during the eleven years when Cromwell 
 ruled the Commonwealth of England. 
 
 The Duke of Kent, Princess Victoria's father, 
 was one of the fifteen children of King George 
 III. As he was the fourth son, he had slight 
 chance of succeeding to the royal dignity. No 
 one, except himself, regretted this as he was 
 deservedly unpopular. One of his bad habits was 
 that of incurring debts which he was unable to 
 pay, and his creditors made England so disagree- 
 able for him that he went to the Continent. There 
 he married when he was a middle-aged man. 
 His wife was a homely, good tempered, sensible 
 German princess who could not speak a word of 
 English. 
 
 In January, 1820, the Duke of Kent died. Six 
 days later died his father, George III., after a 
 reign of nearly sixty years, the longest then known 
 to English history. 
 
262 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 George III. was succeeded by his son George 
 IV., who was called "the first gentleman in 
 Europe," but better deserved the title of "the 
 first dandy and first scamp." 
 
 As neither he nor his brother, William, had a 
 lawful heir, it seemed probable that his niece, Vic- 
 toria, would succeed to the royal dignity. 
 
 The Duchess of Kent had her daughter edu- 
 cated with great care. The first eighteen years 
 of Victoria's life were spent quietly at Kensington 
 Palace. German, her mother's tongue, was the 
 first language she learned, but, as an English prin- 
 cess, she was required to speak English. She 
 learned French and Italian, music and drawing 
 and the usual English branches. Her education 
 was not carried on by books alone. She visited 
 cotton mills, iron works, dock yards, public works 
 and industrial centers, so as to learn about the 
 affairs and interests of the kingdom. Like many 
 another girl, not a princess, Victoria was fonder 
 of games, dancing, and riding than of books and 
 study. People who knew her as a child said that 
 she was merry, truthful, affectionate, and con- 
 siderate of others, but impatient and self-willed. 
 
 When Victoria was nine years old the great 
 author, Sir Walter Scott, came to dine with the 
 Duchess of Kent and saw the little princess. 
 
 "This little ladv is educated with much care," 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 263 
 
 lie wrote, "and watched so closely that no busy 
 maid has a moment to whisper, 'You are the heir 
 of England.' I suspect if we could dissect the 
 little heart, we should find that some pigeon or 
 other bird of the air, had carried the matter." 
 
 In 1830 George IV. died and was succeeded by! 
 his brother, William IV., the sailor king. The 
 Princess Victoria was now next heir to the throne. 
 
 It was proposed in parliament that she should 
 take, instead of the foreign name Victoria, the! 
 name of Elizabeth. The English people remem- 
 bered with pride the glorious reign of the Tudor 
 queen, and they liked the thought of having an 
 Elizabeth II. The suggestion was not carried 
 out. Victoria would have opposed it bitterly, we 
 may be sure, for she greatly disliked the char- 
 acter of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth of May, 1837, the prin- 
 cess celebrated her eighteenth birthday. At five 
 o'clock one morning a month later, the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain 
 rode to Kensington Palace and demanded to see 
 Victoria. Her uncle, King William, was dead; 
 she was princess no longer, but queen. Victoria 
 threw a shawl over her dressing gown, and went 
 to receive them. They dropped on their knees ! 
 and saluted her as queen. Later in the morning 
 her uncle, the Duke of Sussex, and the great Duke, 
 
264 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Archbishop of Canterbury Does Homage to Victoria 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 265 
 
 of Wellington came to congratulate lier. When 
 the Duke of Sussex knelt to kiss her hand, she 
 put her arms round his neck and kissed his cheek. 
 
 ''Do not kneel, dear uncle," she said with sweet 
 gravity, "if I am queen, I am also your niece." 
 
 The members of the Privy Council came to pay 
 their homage. With much interest they looked 
 upon the girl-queen who had been kept so se- 
 cluded that little was known about her person and 
 her character. Small as she was, less than five 
 feet in height, she was impressive in her self- 
 possession and modest dignity. 
 
 Amid the cares and excitement of the day, she 
 found time to write a gentle and tender letter of 
 sympathy to Queen Adelaide. This she ad- 
 dressed to "the Queen of England." One of the 
 ladies of the court reminded her that she herself 
 was now the queen of England. "Yes," she an- 
 swered, "but Aunt Adelaide must not be re- 
 minded of that by me." 
 
 Next day she drove to St. James's Palace and 
 was formally proclaimed queen. The heralds an- 
 nounced that she was the "only lawful and right- 
 ful liege lady, Victoria, by the grace of God, 
 Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, 
 and Ireland, Defender of the Faith," and they 
 besought "God, by Whom Kings and Queens do 
 reign, to bless the royal Princess Victoria with 
 
266 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 long and happy years to reign over us. God save 
 the Queen!" 
 
 Then the vast crowd cheered loud and long. 
 At the sound of the shouts her color faded and 
 her eyes filled with tender, grateful tears. After 
 the public ceremonies were over, she retired with 
 her mother. 
 
 "I can scarcely believe, mamma, that I am 
 really Queen of England," she said. "Can it in- 
 deed be so!" 
 
 "You are really queen, my child," replied the 
 Duchess of Kent. "Listen how your subjects still 
 cheer your name in the streets and cry to God 
 to bless you." 
 
 "In time," said her majesty, "I shall, perhaps, 
 become accustomed to this too great and splendid 
 state. But, since I am sovereign, let me, as your 
 queen, have to-day my first wish. Let me be quite 
 alone, dear mother — for a long time." 
 
 And the first hours of her reign she passed 
 upon her knees, asking God to bless her reign, to 
 guard and guide her and her people. Such was 
 the first day of the reign of Queen Victoria. 
 
 It will be of interest to consider the state of 
 England in 1837 when Victoria became queen. 
 The area of the British Empire outside the United 
 Kingdom was about eight million square miles, 
 with a population of ninety-six millions. 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 267 
 
 The royal power, which had been so great in 
 the time of Elizabeth, had been gradually limited 
 nntil the country was governed by the will of the 
 people instead of the will of the sovereign. Eng- 
 land is now a limited monarchy, a "crowned re- 
 public where the sovereign rules but does not 
 govern." The king is surrounded with pomp and 
 splendor, but has less power than the President of 
 
 Coat of Arms of England. Time of Victoria 
 
 the United States. He represents the kingdom 
 and the empire, just as the crown represents the 
 king, and is possessed of little more real power. 
 There was peace in Europe when the queen 
 came to the throne, but England was engaged in 
 a dispute with China. This was the Opium War. 
 The Chinese government had attempted to put 
 down the trade in opium, which was injurious to 
 
268 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 the health and the morals of the people. Strict 
 laws were made forbidding this trade, but British 
 merchants persisted in importing and selling the 
 drug. After much delay, the British government 
 proclaimed that "it would not interfere to enable 
 British subjects to violate laws of the country 
 with which they trade." This was a just and 
 reasonable position. But when the Chinese gov- 
 ernment confiscated opium and took measures to 
 stop the trade, English ships-of-war were sent 
 from India and war was waged. The result was 
 an easy victory for the British. The Chinese had 
 the hated opium trade forced on them and yet 
 more hated intercourse with the world of the 
 West. The British demanded an indemnity of 
 about thirty million dollars, possession of the 
 island of Hong Kong, and five Chinese ports open 
 to British trade. 
 
 The first act with which the young queen was 
 publicly associated, however, was the worthy be- 
 ginning of a reign to be marked by religious 
 liberty. A Jew (Montefiore) was chosen sheriff 
 of London and was knighted by Victoria a few 
 days after her accession. He was the first Jew 
 ever so favored by a sovereign of England, 
 which country now put aside its unworthy pre- 
 judice against the Hebrew race. 
 
 One of the first private acts of the queen was, 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 269 
 
 out of her liberal allowance, to pay all her father's 
 debts which amounted to nearly half a million 
 dollars. 
 
 In July, 1837, Queen Victoria left Kensington, 
 the home of her girlhood, to take up her residence 
 in Buckingham Palace. The routine of her life 
 there was simple. The morning was given to 
 state affairs. In the afternoon she rode in the park 
 or country, and then played games or practiced 
 music. For the first time in her life she tried 
 novel reading — Scott, Cooper, and Bulwer, but 
 they gave her little pleasure. History, especially 
 English history, she read with more interest. 
 
 From the first she devoted herself to the du- 
 ties and business of her station. Her first Prime 
 Minister was Lord Melbourne, then the leader of 
 the Whig party in England. He was light and 
 frivolous in manner. When great committees 
 came to confer with him, he would seem more in- 
 tent on blowing a feather in the air than on listen- 
 ing to their business. But he put aside this 
 frivolous manner with the queen. He was im- 
 pressed with her youth and innocence and her de- 
 sire to discharge worthily the duties of her po- 
 sition. For months he devoted himself to in- 
 structing her in public affairs, working with her in 
 the morning, riding with her in the afternoon, and 
 dining with her in the evening. He found her an 
 
270 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 apt pupil, though her self-will and impatience 
 sometimes got the upper hand, and her youth and 
 inexperience put her in unpleasant and embar- 
 rassing positions. With years she learned tact, 
 and accepted gracefully disagreeable situations 
 which she was powerless to alter. But though 
 she got them under better control, she never 
 overcame her impatient temper and imperious 
 will. 
 
 The Tories, or Conservatives, were naturally 
 displeased at seeing the queen so much under the 
 influence of the Whig, or Liberal party. Some 
 verses on the subject went the round of the Tory 
 papers : 
 
 " 'The Queen is with us,' Whigs insulting say ; 
 'For when she found us in she let us stay.' 
 It may be so; but give me leave to doubt 
 How long she'll keep you when she finds you out." 
 
 The first great political matter which came up 
 before the queen was the affairs of Canada. This 
 colony had been settled by France and had been 
 ceded to England by the treaty of 1763. There 
 were differences and dissensions between the 
 French and English Canadians, but they united in 
 desiring self-government and a parliament of 
 their own. England had learned wisdom since 
 the days when George III. denied the thirteen col- 
 onies the rights of freedom and so lost them for- 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 271 
 
 Queen Victoria. Time of Her Coronation 
 
272 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 ever. His granddaughter did not make this mis- 
 take with Canada. It was wisely decided to bind 
 the Dominion to the mother country by patriotism, 
 not by force. This colonial policy of self-govern- 
 ment was adopted at the beginning of the queen's 
 reign and is the foundation of the strength and 
 success of the empire. 
 
 The formal ceremony of the queen's coronation 
 took place June twenty-eighth, 1838. It was a 
 scene of the greatest splendor. As the queen in 
 her rich robes of state knelt to receive the crown, 
 a ray of sunlight rested on her fair hair, "like 
 the blessing of heaven." An incident of the oc- 
 casion gave evidence of her kindness of heart. 
 As an aged peer came to offer homage, he 
 stumbled on the steps of the throne. Victoria 
 rose and advanced down the steps to prevent his 
 making the effort to ascend. 
 
 A vast throng watched the new crowned queen 
 drive through the streets in her coach drawn by 
 eight cream-white horses. Carlyle, the famous 
 author, saw her and breathed a blessing on her. 
 
 "Poor little queen," he said, "she is at an age 
 when a girl can hardly be trusted to choose a bon- 
 net for herself; yet a task is laid upon her from 
 which an archangel might shrink." 
 
 The young queen, however, had a happy faculty 
 of putting aside royal cares with royal dignity. 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 273 
 
 On returning to the palace, she hastily removed 
 her robes of state to give her pet spaniel, Dash, 
 his bath. 
 
 It is interesting to know what was thought of 
 the queen by an American who saw her about 
 this time. Charles Sumner, the famous Ameri- 
 can orator, heard her read her speech on open- 
 ing parliament in the autumn of 1839. 
 
 ''I had no predisposition to admire the queen," 
 he said, "but her reading has conquered my judg- 
 ment. I was astonished and delighted. . . . 
 She pronounced every word slowly and distinctly 
 with a great regard to its meaning. I think I 
 have never heard anything better read in my life 
 than her speech. ' ' 
 
 The queen's voice was clear and sweet, her 
 intonation melodious, her enunciation perfect. 
 The "queen's English" was never more beautiful 
 than when spoken by the queen herself. 
 
 In 1838, Lord Macaulay returned from India, 
 where he had held a government office, and the 
 next year he became the Whig Secretary of War. 
 He was even more famous as a man of letters 
 than as a statesman, and wrote brilliant Essays 
 and a History of England which is as entertaining 
 as a story-book. He was a great reader and had 
 such a wonderful memory that he never forgot 
 anything he read or heard. His conversation was 
 
274 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 as brilliant as his writings, and the queen, who 
 saw much of him, admired him. She was not 
 fond of books, however, and the attention she paid 
 literature and literary men was oftener inspired 
 by a sense of duty than by a sense of pleasure. 
 In 1839, penny postage was adopted throughout 
 England, — doubtfully, for it was feared it would 
 be a failure. This seems a small matter and yet 
 probably no act of the queen's long reign did more 
 for the cause of social reform. The speedy and 
 safe carriage of letters helped trade and com- 
 merce, and enabled even the poor to hold frequent 
 intercourse with their absent loved ones. Before, 
 it had cost from eight to twenty-five cents, ac- 
 cording to distance, for each sheet of letter-paper 
 sent through the mails. It was feared that this 
 cheap rate would not pay post expenses, but 
 the volume of mail increased so largely that it 
 was found even more profitable than the old sys- 
 tem. Later, a parcel post was established by 
 which packages could be sent by mail at a reason- 
 able rate. 
 
 1839-1856 
 
 The queen's uncle Leopold, King of the Bel- 
 gians, from her babyhood had planned that she 
 should marry her German cousin, Prince Albert 
 of Saxe-Coburg. In the fall of 1839 Prince Al- 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 275 
 
 bert and his brother came to visit the English 
 court. The young queen welcomed her cousins 
 to her palace at Windsor. Prince Albert joined 
 her rides and drives, her banquets and dances; 
 he sketched and sang with her. 
 
 The prince was intelligent and well educated. 
 His interests were broad and various ; he was fond 
 of art, music, literature, and science. But he 
 cared little for the field sports and amusements 
 which most Englishmen enjoyed and he had a 
 reserved manner and a German lack of humor. 
 At first he was unpopular in England. But as 
 people learned how intelligent, unselfish, and con- 
 scientious he was, he won the esteem which he 
 merited. 
 
 The queen was prepossessed in his favor by 
 her Uncle Leopold's preference. As she learned 
 to know him, she learned to love him. He, the 
 younger son of a poor German duke, could not 
 have presumed to propose marriage to her, the 
 ruler of the great British Empire. So one day 
 she summoned him to her presence, and abruptly 
 offered him her hand in marriage. It was "a 
 nervous thing" to do, she afterwards told her 
 aunt. 
 
 In November she summoned her Privy Council 
 and announced to them her intention of marrying 
 Prince Albert. Little was known of the prince 
 
276 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 in England except that he was German and young; 
 neither fact recommended him. But no effort 
 was made to dissuade Victoria. Her ministers 
 had wisely resolved that this was a matter which 
 the woman must decide for the queen. 
 
 They opposed her, however, when she urged 
 that her husband should be made king consort. 
 One of her ministers reminded her that it ill 
 became a sovereign to say that parliament could 
 make a king, since to grant it the power to make 
 was to allow it the power to unmake. ''For God's 
 sake, madam, let's have no more of it," he en- 
 treated. The queen was dissatisfied that her hus- 
 band could not share her rank, but she had to 
 submit. 
 
 ' ' He ought to be and is above me in everything 
 really," the queen said. "And therefore I wish 
 that he should be equal in rank with me. ' ' 
 
 On the tenth of February, 1840, Queen Victoria 
 and Prince Albert were married in the chapel of 
 St. James's Palace. 
 
 The marriage brought Victoria great personal 
 happiness. The love and confidence between her 
 and her husband was deep and undisturbed. "I 
 was in a safe haven," she said, "and there I re- 
 mained for twenty years." 
 
 The Prince's public position was for years un- 
 pleasant and irritating. He was "the husband, 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 277 
 
 not the master of the house." The English 
 statesmen deliberately excluded him from all 
 share in public business. As they recognized his 
 prudence and ability, however, they admitted him 
 to public affairs, and he came at last to share, in 
 reality, though not in form, his wife's duties and 
 responsibilities. 
 
 In November 1840, the queen had a daughter, 
 to whom was given her mother's name, Victoria. 
 The next year was born a son who fifty-nine years 
 later succeeded his mother on the throne. 
 
 The Liberal party, which had been in control 
 from the queen's accession, was defeated in 1841 
 by the votes of the people. She disliked the Tory 
 party and the Tory principles, but she had to ac- 
 cept the men approved by the country, and to 
 agree to their measures for government. The 
 leader of the Conservatives was Sir Robert Peel, 
 and in his party there were two brilliant young 
 men who were later to be political opponents. 
 They were Disraeli and Gladstone. 
 
 Benjamin Disraeli, afterwards Lord Beacons- 
 field, was a Jew, and was already famous as a 
 novelist. Lothair and his other novels describ- 
 ing the world of politics, wealth, and rank, were 
 very popular, especially with the middle classes. 
 His first speech in parliament was so bombastic 
 that it was interrupted by laughter. He stopped 
 
278 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 abruptly, saying, "I will sit down now, but the 
 time shall come when you will hear me." The 
 time did come. He became even more famous as 
 a statesman than as an author, and was for years 
 the leader of the Conservative party. 
 
 Gladstone, less distinguished in youth than Dis- 
 raeli, was to become more eminent in later years, 
 both as statesman and man of letters. He was 
 the son of a Liverpool merchant, and the strength 
 of his principles and power of his oratory won 
 the admiration even of his opponents. When he 
 was thirty Lord Macaulay described him as the 
 "rising hope of the stern and unbending Tories." 
 Later, he identified himself with reform move- 
 ments and became the leader of the Liberal party. 
 
 In the summer of 1842, the queen took her first 
 journey by rail. She was much interested in the 
 new method of travel, and took every opportunity 
 to urge improvements for the safety and comfort 
 of the poorer passengers. The first railroad in 
 England had been built during the reign of George 
 IV. At first this method of travel was looked on 
 with distrust and disfavor. Wise statesmen de- 
 clared it was "absurd to think of seven hundred 
 persons being carried in coaches at a speed of 
 fifteen miles an hour." Great periodicals said 
 "one might as well ride on a rocket as try to 
 travel in coaches going twenty miles an hour. ' ' 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 279 
 
280 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 What changes have taken place since then! 
 England is covered with a network of rails, over 
 which speed the iron horses going fifty and sixty 
 miles an hour. Distance is annihilated; city is 
 bound to city, country to country. 
 
 In 1842 the queen went to Scotland for the first 
 time. She visited with great interest the scenes 
 connected with the life of her ''unfortunate ances- 
 tress," Mary Stuart. As she traveled through 
 the scenes described in Scott's Lady of the Lake 
 and Lay of the Last Minstrel she read these 
 poems with renewed pleasure. She admired the 
 picturesque scenery and the brave, pious people 
 of Scotland. A few years later she had Balmoral 
 House built in the Highlands, and spent a part of 
 every spring and every autumn in Scotland, which 
 she called "the proudest, finest country in the 
 world." 
 
 It was repeatedly suggested to the queen that 
 she ought to have a home in Ireland, as well as in 
 Scotland and England, and favor it with her royal 
 presence. She refused, however, to do so. Ire- 
 land, with its discontents and revolts, was a source 
 of trouble to the queen, and she avoided it as much 
 as she could. During her long reign she paid it 
 only four brief visits. 
 
 The year 1842 was disturbed by the Afghan 
 War and by two attempts to kill the queen, 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 281 
 
 These attempts were made by poor laborers who 
 were out of work. Two years before, a half- 
 witted lad had fired at her as she was driving 
 through the London streets. Several other at- 
 tacks were made later. The queen faced them all 
 with serene courage. They were not the result of 
 any personal feeling against her. They were di- 
 rected to her as the representative of royalty, a 
 social order to which many people attributed the 
 evils of the times. 
 
 Social and political discontent at this time was 
 wide-spread. In England thousands of people 
 united in what was called the Chartist Movement. 
 The name came from their charter urging re- 
 forms to improve their condition. These reforms 
 seemed very radical to statesmen of the time, but 
 many of them have since been granted and 
 have been found, in most cases, to be wise and 
 useful. 
 
 In 1843, the queen for the first time put her foot 
 on foreign soil. She visited Louis Philippe, the 
 citizen king of France. She was the first English 
 sovereign who had visited France since Henry 
 VIII. was entertained on the Field of the Cloth of 
 Gold. The next year the French king returned 
 her visit. He was the first French ruler who had 
 ever come to England of his own free will. A new 
 era of peace seemed to prevail in Europe when 
 
282 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 France and England, so long hostile, exchanged 
 such tokens of good will. 
 
 About the same time England had a visitor 
 whom we regard as greater than the king of 
 France. This was the famous German musician, 
 Mendelssohn. He wrote his mother a charming 
 description of a visit to Buckingham Palace. He 
 played and composed for the queen and her hus- 
 band, and the queen sang for him one of his own 
 songs. She told him she was so frightened that 
 she had not sung as well as usual. The musician, 
 however, was delighted with his song from the 
 royal lips and told his mother that "the queen 
 sang with charming feeling and expression." 
 
 The years 1845, 1846, and 1847 brought distress, 
 even famine, to Ireland. During these years the 
 potato crop, on which chiefly the people depended 
 for food, was an utter failure, and the unhappy 
 country was face to face with want and starva- 
 tion. The Conservatives were, as a party, op- 
 posed to free trade, but Sir Robert Peel, its leader, 
 made up his mind that in this time of famine no 
 restrictions ought to be placed on food, and that 
 the corn laws ought to be repealed. The queen 
 lent her personal influence to his efforts to abolish 
 the corn laws and to lessen as far as possible the 
 sufferings of her people. From this time Eng- 
 land adopted the policy of free trade. 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 283 
 
 The two motive powers of the queen's life were 
 love of her family and love of her people. She 
 devoted much time to the training and education 
 of her children. Their dress, food, and amuse- 
 ments were plain and simple, and they were re- 
 quired to give perfect respect and obedience to 
 their governesses and tutors. They had French, 
 German, and English attendants and were taught 
 to speak the three languages with fluency and cor- 
 rectness. Prince Albert directed the education of 
 the princes, and the queen overlooked that of the 
 princesses. She had them taught to cook and to 
 sew, she joined in their games and interested her- 
 self in their pets. Disraeli said, "she who reigns 
 over us has elected, amid all the splendor of em- 
 pire, to establish her life on the principle of do- 
 mestic love." 
 
 The royal family spent less and less time in 
 London. Several visits each year were made to 
 Osborne, the country home in the Isle of Wight, 
 and two annual visits to Balmoral in the High- 
 lands of Scotland. The queen enjoyed the quiet 
 country life in which she could put aside state 
 cares and take long walks, and visit her cottage 
 neighbors. 
 
 1848 is often called "the year of revolutions." 
 The cause of monarchy in Europe seemed top- 
 pling to its fall. Much of the political disturb- 
 
284 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 ance was inspired by the discontent and suffering 
 of the people from continued and wide-spread 
 crop failures. Trouble arose first in France. 
 King Louis Philippe was dethroned and a repub- 
 lic was formed. He and his family fled to Eng- 
 land and threw themselves on the queen's mercy. 
 She gave the poor exiles a home for the rest of 
 their lives. 
 
 "If it were not for the generosity of the queen 
 of England," said the exiled king one day at din- 
 ner, ' ' I should have neither this house to cover my 
 head nor anything which is on this table." 
 
 There were disturbances in Austria and in 
 many of the small German states. The Prussian 
 king had to grant demands for freedom of the 
 press and other privileges. The Hungarian pa- 
 triot, Kossuth, raised an army and tried, but in 
 vain, to free his country from Russia. In Italy, 
 Mazzini and Garibaldi led patriot forces in an at- 
 tempt to expel the Austrians and make Italy free 
 and united. The attempt did not succeed then. 
 Later it was accomplished, largely by the efforts 
 of Cavour who made the freedom and unity of 
 Italy the object of his life. 
 
 While revolts and revolutions were taking place 
 on the Continent, England was undisturbed ex- 
 cept for a few Chartist meetings. Many people 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 285 
 
 predicted serious trouble; the queen viewed af- 
 fairs with interest but without fear. 
 
 "My only thought and talk were politics," she 
 wrote her uncle, "and I never was calmer or 
 quieter or more earnest. Great events make me 
 calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves." 
 
 The queen was always eager to suppress po- 
 litical disorder and revolt. In religious matters 
 she always urged the duty of extending to others 
 the toleration we desire for ourselves. 
 
 In 1850 died the statesman Peel, the exiled 
 King Louis Philippe, and the poet Wordsworth. 
 
 Wordsworth was one of the greatest of English 
 poets. He was • ' the interpreter of nature and of 
 man," and some of his poems reach "the high 
 water mark of English poetry." His aim in 
 poetry, he said, was "to console the afflicted; to 
 add sunshine to daylight by making the happy 
 happier; to teach the young and the gracious of 
 every age to see, to think, and to feel. ' ' 
 
 He had written little for years. Most of his 
 work was done before Victoria 's birth, but in rec- 
 ognition of his rank as the greatest English poet 
 he was in 1843 made poet laureate. At his death 
 the queen gave the laureateship to Tennyson, who 
 had already published The Princess and many 
 beautiful shorter poems. Later, the queen be- 
 
286 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 came one of his personal friends, and did herself 
 the honor of conferring a title on him. 
 
 In 1852 died the Duke of Wellington, whom the 
 English in admiration of his military glory call 
 ''the great duke." His victories belong to the 
 first years of the nineteenth century when Napo- 
 leon, probably the world's greatest military 
 genius, was rapidly making himself master of 
 Europe. Wellington, then only Colonel Welles- 
 ley, was sent to the Peninsula to drive the French 
 troops out of Spain and Portugal. He succeeded 
 in the undertaking, leading his little army from 
 victory to victory. In 1815, he met Napoleon him- 
 self in battle, and won the great victory of Water- 
 loo. 
 
 In 1854 for the only time during the reign of 
 Victoria England engaged in war in Europe. It 
 was against Russia. Russia was extending its 
 power toward India, which, probably, it intended 
 in the end to attack. England was of course op- 
 posed to everything which would extend the Czar 's 
 power to the south. The beginning of the war 
 was a conflict between Russia and Turkey. Rus- 
 sia protested against the persecution of the Turk- 
 ish Christians, its allies by race and religion. The 
 demand for justice was met by a declaration of 
 war. 
 
 It was part of the policy of England that the 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 287 
 
 Turkish empire must be kept entire and independ- 
 ent. Least of all could she allow her great enemy, 
 Russia, to extend its powers in that direction. 
 England, therefore, declared war against Russia, 
 and in this it was joined by Sardinia and by 
 France. The French republic formed in 1848 had 
 been short-lived. Three years later its president, 
 a nephew of the great Napoleon, had made himself 
 master of the government. The republic again 
 became a monarchy, and Louis Napoleon was 
 reigning as Napoleon III. 
 
 The Russians promptly took measures to defend 
 the seaport city Sebastopol. They sent troops 
 there and sank ships so as to block the harbor 
 entrance against the fleet of the allies. They at- 
 tacked the allied forces at Balaclava, but were 
 repulsed. In this battle of Balaclava, occurred 
 the famous charge of the Light Brigade. By 
 some mistake or misunderstanding of orders, the 
 English Light Brigade of six hundred and seven 
 men was ordered to charge the Russian army. 
 
 "Theirs not to make reply, 
 Theirs not to reason why, 
 Theirs but to do and die." 
 
 Like true soldiers they obeyed the order. With 
 desperate valor they threw themselves on the vast 
 
288 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 M 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 289 
 
 force in front of them, and more than four hun- 
 dred fell in the charge. 
 
 "When can their glory fade? 
 Oh, the wild charge they made, 
 
 All the world wondered. 
 Honor the charge they made, 
 Honor the Light Brigade, 
 
 Noble six hundred !" 
 
 Tennyson's poem, The Charge of the Light Bri- 
 gade, describing this instance of soldierly obedi- 
 ence and valor, has carried the story all over the 
 world. 
 
 Suffering, cruelty, and hardship are unavoid- 
 able in war, but in two ways the horrors of con- 
 flict were greatly lessened in this Crimean War: 
 one was by good nursing, the other was by the use 
 of anaesthetics. Florence Nightingale was the 
 first of the great army of female nurses who have 
 saved many a wounded soldier, comforted many a 
 dying one. She led a little band of brave, pitying 
 women, who devoted themselves to the care of 
 the wounded in the Crimean hospitals. Here for 
 the first time chloroform was used to deaden the 
 sufferings of the soldiers undergoing operations. 
 Hitherto wounded soldiers had endured horrible 
 anguish. Only fifty years before, the wounded 
 soldiers of Nelson had their mangled limbs 
 plunged in hot pitch to stop the bleeding. In the 
 
290 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 middle of the nineteenth century, medicine was 
 revolutionized by the use of antiseptics, which de- 
 stroy germs, and anaesthetics, which deaden pain. 
 
 The great event of the Crimean War was the 
 siege of Sebastopol, which began in the autumn of 
 1854 and lasted nearly a year. In September, 
 1855, the city was bombarded and two important 
 batteries were taken. The Russian general saw 
 that it would be impossible to hold the city much 
 longer and to remain was useless waste of life. 
 Therefore, he set fire to Sebastopol and withdrew 
 his army by night across a bridge of boats. As he 
 said in his dispatch, "It was not Sebastopol which 
 we left to them but the burning ruins of the town. ' ' 
 
 It was hours before the allies could enter the 
 city where houses were blazing and arsenals and 
 powder magazines were exploding. 
 
 The fall of Sebastopol really ended the war, and 
 the next spring peace was declared. The great 
 powers of Europe agreed to respect the independ- 
 ence of Turkey. The sultan promised that his 
 Christian subjects should have their rights. The 
 Black Sea was thrown open to the trade of the 
 world, but war ships were forbidden to enter, — 
 except a few acting as sea police along the shore. 
 
 Queen Victoria was always opposed to war, but 
 as soon as it was declared she urged that it should 
 be pressed with energy and resolution. 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 291 
 
 "We are, and indeed the whole country is, en- 
 grossed with one idea, one anxious thought, — the 
 Crimea," wrote the queen. 
 
 With her own hands she made mittens and com- 
 forters for the soldiers, and she listened with eager 
 interest to all news from the field of conflict. 
 
 After the Crimean War, the queen instituted a 
 new decoration, the Victoria Cross. It was to be 
 conferred only for acts of distinguished valor on 
 the field of battle. With her own hand she con- 
 ferred these crosses on sixty-two of the Crimean 
 soldiers. Florence Nightingale was invited to 
 Balmoral, to tell the royal family with her own 
 lips the story of hospital life in the Crimea. 
 
 1857-1870 
 
 Hardly was the Crimean War over, when Eng- 
 lish soldiers were called to fight elsewhere. In 
 1857 the Indian Mutiny broke out. It began in 
 Hindoo regiments which were required to use 
 cartridges greased with lard. Buddhists and Mo- 
 hammedans were both forbidden to touch swine, 
 and these greased cartridges were an offence to 
 their religion and to their caste. This was the 
 direct occasion of the mutiny. The indirect cause 
 was the desire of the natives to cast off English 
 authority. 
 
 After smoldering for months, the Mutiny broke 
 
292 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 out in the summer of 1857 in massacre, siege 
 and battle. The queen in her anxiety and impa- 
 tience heaped suggestions and entreaties on Lord 
 Palmerston, the prime minister. He was dis- 
 posed to resent her counsel, and wrote her that 
 "measures are sometimes best calculated to suc- 
 ceed which follow each other step by step." No 
 one who knew Palmerston, however, could doubt 
 that he would strain every nerve to succor the 
 English troops exposed to the fury of the native 
 hordes. 
 
 All eyes were turned with deepest interest to 
 India. Now a thrill of triumph would be called 
 forth by stirring tales of deeds of heroism, brave 
 battles against desperate odds. Now hearts 
 would grow sick with anguish at news of the 
 native massacres which spared neither white- 
 haired women nor babes in their mothers' arms. 
 
 Sir Henry Havelock with two thousand soldiers 
 made a forced march to rescue Cawnpore, but he 
 arrived too late. The city had been taken by the 
 natives, and men, women, and children had been 
 put to death. Havelock then turned towards 
 Lucknow, which was besieged by native troops. 
 On he hurried through the terrible heat, while 
 every day disease and the enemy's guns thinned 
 his little ranks. At last he reached Lucknow, just 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 293 
 
 in time to save the city, which was at the last 
 extremity. 
 
 The relief of Lucknow and the capture of Delhi, 
 the stronghold of the Mutiny, turned the tide of 
 war in favor of the English. Their power was 
 soon re-established in India. 
 
 Congratulations on the victory were telegraphed 
 to the queen by King Napoleon III. This mode 
 of communication had been invented not long be- 
 fore and was just coining into general use. Up to 
 this time, news had been borne by messengers on 
 foot or horse, and had taken days and weeks to 
 pass from one country to another. Now it flashed 
 along the wires which bind together lands and 
 nations. 
 
 In 1858 another step forward was taken. A 
 submarine cable was laid between England and 
 America. Over it the queen and the president 
 of the United States exchanged greetings and 
 hopes that it would be "'a bond of perpetual peace 
 and friendship between the kindred nations." 
 This cable parted in a few weeks, but eight years 
 later another was laid. 
 
 After the Indian Mutiny was suppressed, many 
 changes were found necessary to ensure the future 
 peace of the country. It was resolved to abolish 
 the East India Company, which, ever since its 
 
294 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 formation in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, had 
 governed the greater part of India. The Com- 
 pany's powers and territories were transferred to 
 the Crown, and henceforth India was governed by 
 a Secretary of State and a Council. This added 
 nearly two hundred million subjects and eight hun- 
 dred thousand square miles to the queen's em- 
 pire. 
 
 The suggestions of the queen herself inspired 
 the proclamation of the East Indian sovereignty. 
 She desired her prime minister to mention native 
 customs and religions with sympathy. "Her deep 
 attachment to her own religion," she said, "im- 
 posed on her the obligation of protecting all her 
 subjects in their adherence to their own religious 
 faith." 
 
 "She reminded the Prime Minister 'that it is a 
 female sovereign who speaks to more than a hun- 
 dred millions of Eastern people on assuming the 
 direct government over them, and after a bloody 
 civil war, giving them pledges which her future 
 reign is to redeem, and explaining the principles 
 of her government. Such a document should 
 breathe feelings of generosity, benevolence, and 
 religious toleration, and point out the privilege 
 which the Indians will receive in being placed on 
 an equality with the subjects of the British Crown, 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 295 
 
 and the prosperity following in the train of civil- 
 ization.' " 
 
 A wise humanity distinguished the direct rule 
 of the Crown over India. Thus out of the horrors 
 of the great Mutiny came good for both India and 
 Great Britain. Some years later the title of Em- 
 press of India was bestowed on the queen. She 
 always took the warmest interest in these subjects 
 brought directly under her rule. When she was 
 nearly seventy she began the study of the Hindoo 
 language. 
 
 In 1858 the queen's eldest daughter, Victoria, 
 married the eldest son of the Prince of Prussia. 
 The next year was born her son William, and thus, 
 at the age of thirty-nine, Queen Victoria was a 
 grandmother. "Dear little William," as the 
 queen fondly called her first grandson, was a deli- 
 cate child whose life was more than once despaired 
 of. But he grew to strong and robust manhood 
 and became the present German Emperor Wil- 
 liam II. 
 
 In 1860 the Prince of Wales made a tour 
 through Canada and a visit to the United States. 
 That same year the queen and her husband visited 
 Germany. Prince Albert's health was failing, and 
 he sadly foretold that he would never again see 
 his native land. 
 
296 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 In February, 1861, the queen celebrated the 
 twenty-first anniversary of her marriage. "Very 
 few," she said, "can say with me that their hus- 
 band at the end of twenty-one years is not only 
 full of the friendship, kindness, and affection 
 which a truly happy marriage brings with it, but 
 of the same tender love as in the very first days of 
 our marriage. ' ' 
 
 During 1861 the eyes of all the world were 
 turned to the United States, torn by the fierce 
 War between the States. The sympathies of Pal- 
 merston and Gladstone were with the South. The 
 queen and her husband inclined to the side of the 
 North. The people were divided in sentiment. 
 
 England declared neutrality, but an event in 
 November came near drawing her into the war. 
 Two southern envoys, Mason and Slidell, had em- 
 barked on the Trent, an English steamer, to pre- 
 sent the cause of the Confederacy to England and 
 France. A federal ship of war fired on the Trent, 
 boarded it, and captured the two envoys. 
 
 "When the Trent brought to England the news of 
 the affair, a wave of indignation swept over the 
 land. It was a breach of the law of nations, an 
 insult to the English flag. Palmerston, the prime 
 minister, wrote a brief note sternly demanding of 
 the United States redress and reparation. 
 
 This note was shown Prince Albert, and he 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 297 
 
 urged Palmerston to write in gentler terms. The 
 prime minister, lie said, should write as if be- 
 lieving that the attack on the Trent was the act 
 of a hot-headed captain, not the deliberate act of 
 the government. He should demand ' ' the restora- 
 tion of the unfortunate passengers and a suitable 
 apology. ' ' 
 
 The note was rewritten according to this sug- 
 gestion. The prisoners were surrendered, the 
 apology made, war was averted. Had Palmers- 
 ton's note been sent as originally written, war be- 
 tween England and the United States would have 
 been almost unavoidable. The South, with such 
 an ally and the recognition of England and the 
 other European states which would have followed 
 as a matter of course, might have fought a win- 
 ning instead of a losing fight. 
 
 This was the last public act of Prince Albert. 
 The sick-bed from which he urged the policy of 
 peace was his death-bed. He grew weaker and 
 his mind wandered. As the queen bent over him, 
 however, he recognized her, and murmured, 
 ''Good little wife." He died on the fourteenth of 
 December, 1861. 
 
 By his death said the queen "day for her was 
 turned into night." Throughout her remaining 
 years she kept his memory sacred. His room, his 
 books, his desk, his music, remained as his hand 
 
298 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 had left them. She never ceased to wear mourn- 
 ing for him, and for many years she took no part 
 in public ceremonies. Hers was not a narrow, sel- 
 fish sorrow. Her heart went out in sympathy to 
 those in distress, especially for those whose sorrow 
 was like her own. A few weeks after her husband 
 died, she sent gifts and messages of sympathy to 
 the widows of some miners who were killed in an 
 explosion. 
 
 Soon after Prince Albert's death, a beautiful 
 tribute was paid his memory by the poet Tenny- 
 son. The exquisite Idylls of the King had been 
 published about two years before and had been 
 greatly admired by the prince. To a later edition 
 Tennyson prefixed a dedication in which he de- 
 scribed the prince's character in beautiful and 
 appropriate terms. 
 
 "We know him now : all narrow jealousies 
 Are silent ; and we see him as he moved, 
 How modest, kindly, all accomplished, wise, 
 "With what sublime repression of himself, 
 And in what limits, and how tenderly; 
 Not swaying to this faction or to that ; 
 Not making his high place the lawless perch 
 Of wing'd ambitions, nor a vantage ground 
 For pleasure ; but thro' all this tract of years 
 Wearing the white flower of a blameless life, 
 Before a thousand peering littlenesses." 
 
 The queen expressed to the poet her deep per- 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 299 
 
 sonal gratitude. Praise of her husband, she said, 
 "was the only salve that soothed her aching, 
 bleeding heart." 
 
 Her private grief, however, did not turn the 
 queen from her public duty. Through the years 
 of her affliction and retirement she never neg- 
 lected public affairs at home or abroad. 
 
 Year after year the great War between the 
 States went on in America. It ended at last in 
 the spring of 1865 in the victory of the North. 
 The assassination of Lincoln called forth the 
 queen's warm sympathy for his widow. With 
 her own hand she wrote Mrs. Lincoln a letter of 
 condolence. 
 
 The War between the States had settled for 
 America that the union of the states was perma- 
 nent, not a partnership from which dissatisfied 
 members might withdraw at will. This war had 
 important results for England. For several years 
 it withdrew the United States to a great extent 
 from commerce, and Great Britain gained more 
 and more of the Atlantic trade. The courage of 
 Drake and Blake and Nelson had made England 
 the mistress of the seas. Nature had given her 
 vast stores of coal and iron. Now the enterprise 
 of her shipbuilders, sailors, and merchants covered 
 the ocean with her steamships, and dominated the 
 commerce of the world. During the reign of Vic- 
 
300 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 toria the trade of England advanced four hun- 
 dred and fifty per cent. 
 
 The fight between the Monitor and the Merri- 
 mac in the War between the States changed naval 
 warfare. It showed the power of iron-armored 
 vessels, and the navies of the world were changed 
 from wood to iron. How different are the ships- 
 of-war which England has now from those with 
 which Howard went forth against the Armada! 
 One of these great ironclad steamships with its 
 heavy ordnance could sink the whole of his gal- 
 lant fleet of wooden ships with light guns and 
 spreading canvas sails. 
 
 In the fall of 1865 died Lord Palmerston, one 
 of the ablest and most popular ministers of the 
 queen's reign. He was a member of the Liberal 
 party to which the queen had been at first at- 
 tached, but she disliked him personally. He took 
 little trouble to win her good will. He exercised 
 fully his right to decide foreign affairs according 
 to his own judgment without regard to her wishes. 
 Palmerston and the queen viewed every matter 
 from entirely different standpoints. Lord Pal- 
 merston was zealous to uphold the dignity and 
 authority of England, even at risk of war; he 
 sympathized with all people struggling for free- 
 dom, all small nations oppressed by great ones. 
 
 The queen, without being mean-spirited, was al- 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 301 
 
 ways anxious for peace. Her views of public 
 matters were influenced and colored by her per- 
 sonal friendships and relations with foreign rul- 
 ers. 
 
 The year after the war in America ended, there 
 was a brief war in Europe. This is known in 
 history as the Seven Weeks' War, because it 
 lasted only that length of time. Prussia and Aus- 
 tria had long been rivals, each desiring to be 
 leader of the German States. The two countries 
 were about equal in numbers and strength, but 
 Prussia possessed a great military genius, von 
 Moltke, and a great statesman, Bismarck. It was 
 these two who really decided the war. Bismarck 
 is often called "the man of blood and iron," be- 
 cause of his famous statement that blood and iron 
 must settle the dispute between Austria and Prus- 
 sia. 
 
 The direct cause of the Seven Weeks ' War was 
 a dispute as to what was to be done with three 
 duchies which Denmark had surrendered to Aus- 
 tria and Prussia. Austria did not want them, but 
 was unwilling that Prussia should increase its 
 power by their annexation. The real issue of the 
 war was whether Austria or Prussia should be su- 
 preme in Germany. 
 
 The matter was soon decided. The Prussian 
 troops were commanded by von Moltke, and armed 
 
302 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 with the " needle gun" just invented, a breech- 
 loading rifle which fired several shots for one from 
 the Austrian muzzle-loaders. The Prussians won 
 the victory of Sadowa and threatened Vienna. 
 The Austrians were forced to ask terms of peace 
 and Bismarck took care to make those terms glo- 
 rious for Prussia. The. northern half of Ger- 
 many was united under Prussia, the southern half 
 was left a league of independent states. 
 
 Italy, as Prussia's ally, received Venetia of 
 which Austria was deprived. Thus by this war 
 was brought about the patriot's dream of a free, 
 united Italy. 
 
 The queen of England watched the war with 
 deep interest and distress. On both sides were 
 fighting her friends and relatives. Whatever the 
 result, some of her loved ones must suffer. She 
 rejoiced in the triumph of her daughter's husband, 
 the Crown Prince of Prussia. But she was' 
 grieved by the defeat of the small German states, 
 to whose rulers she was allied by blood and 
 friendship. 
 
 In 1869 the. great Suez canal was opened to the 
 commerce of the world. Thenceforth English 
 ships took this route instead of making the long 
 voyage around the Cape of Good Hope. This 
 canal connecting the Red and the Mediterranean 
 Seas was the work of a French engineer, de Les- 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 303 
 
 seps. He had asked the aid of England, but Lord 
 Palmerston refused, saying that the "project was 
 impossible." France had more faith in the 
 scheme and aided de Lesseps to execute it. The 
 great canal is a hundred miles long and twenty- 
 two feet deep. In the Panama Canal the United 
 States is now undertaking a work of similar char- 
 acter and even greater importance. 
 
 Four years after the Austro-Prussian war, the 
 peace of Europe was again broken. France de- 
 clared war against Prussia, expecting to form an 
 alliance with Austria and Italy. But with fatal 
 promptness Prussia turned against it the great 
 military machine which von Moltke and Bismarck 
 had created. The French were outgeneralled and 
 outfought. They were beaten in battle after bat- 
 tle. Napoleon was defeated at Sedan and com- 
 pelled to surrender. With this defeat fell his 
 throne. Two days after Sedan, a republic was 
 established in France. The exiled Empress Eu- 
 genie fled to England, and there Napoleon joined 
 her as soon as he was released from a German 
 prison. He died two } r ears later, and the widowed 
 exiled empress made her home in England. 
 
 After the victory of Sedan, the Prussian troops 
 marched to besiege Paris. The citizens rallied to 
 defend the city, which was a great fortress. It 
 was surrounded by walls, ditches, and outposts, 
 
304 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 forming a circuit of thirty-seven and a half miles. 
 These outposts were all connected by telegraph. 
 The German troops around the city formed an 
 iron band with a circuit of fifty miles. Week after 
 week, month after month, the deadly line drew 
 closer and closer. Within the city, famine and 
 disease fought for Prussia. At , last after a three 
 months' siege, Paris surrendered and peace was 
 made. By this war Prussia gained the border 
 territories of Alsace and Lorrain, and a vast in- 
 demnity of one billion dollars, to be paid within 
 four years. 
 
 It gained more. While von Moltke won a vic- 
 tory over France, Bismarck won a yet greater vic- 
 tory at home — that of German unity. The 
 southern German states joined the north German 
 union, and King William of Prussia became em- 
 peror of Germany. But greater than the king 
 who sat on the throne was ' ' the man of blood and 
 iron" who had raised and who upheld it. 
 
 1870-1901 
 
 England took no active part in these European 
 wars, but she had almost always on hand fighting 
 "to keep her soldiers' hands in." There was a 
 war in Afghanistan and wars against the Zulus 
 and the Boers in South Africa. On account of 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 305 
 
 later events, it is important to understand the re- 
 lations between the Boers and the British. 
 
 The Boers were the descendants of the Dutch- 
 men who for thirty-seven years had fought for 
 freedom against the power of Spain. They were 
 as brave and as liberty-loving as the English 
 themselves. The Boers who had settled in Cape 
 Colony became dissatisfied with the British gov- 
 ernment under which their slaves were freed 
 without due compensation and their language pro- 
 hibited in schools and law-courts. So the year 
 before Victoria's accession, they made what is 
 called the "great trek" from Cape Colony to the 
 Transvaal. This was a migration of thousands of 
 Dutch colonists. They gave up their homes, 
 loaded their household goods on great wagons, 
 drawn by oxen, collected their herd of cattle and 
 horses, and marched through the wild rough coun- 
 try. Hundreds died of disease, hundreds were 
 killed by the fierce and hostile natives. On and on 
 went the determined remnant till they passed the 
 line beyond which Great Britain had officially an- 
 nounced that it would not extend its possessions. 
 They formed, in course of time, two Dutch repub- 
 lics where their native laws and language pre- 
 vailed. One of these was the Orange Free State, 
 the other was the South African Republic, or 
 
306 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Transvaal, so called because it was beyond the 
 Vaal River. 
 
 England decided to leave the Boers and natives 
 to fight for the control of this wide pastoral waste. 
 At one time, indeed, the British annexed the coun- 
 try, but the Boers took up arms against them and 
 won a victory at Majuba Hill. General Roberts 
 was sent to South Africa to conquer them. Be- 
 fore he landed, however, peace was made on terms 
 which the queen thought too favorable to the 
 Boers. But the government thought that the an- 
 nexing of the little republics in the first place had 
 been a blunder. The pasture lands where the 
 tsetse fly killed off cattle and the natives killed off 
 herdsmen was hardly worth fighting for. The lit- 
 tle states were granted their independence in a 
 treaty, renewed and altered in 1884, in which Eng- 
 land reserved no control except over their treaties 
 with foreign countries. The matter, however, 
 was settled for the time by the withdrawal in 1881 
 of British troops and British claims. 
 
 Hardly was this question decided, when the 
 queen was called on to lament a personal loss — 
 the death of her "dear great friend," Lord Bea- 
 consfield. Among the testimonials of her grief 
 was a wreath of primroses inscribed "His favor- 
 ite flower. ... A tribute of affection from 
 Queen Victoria." The birthday of the great 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 307 
 
 statesman lias become a national holiday and is 
 called "Primrose Day." 
 
 During the first years of her reign, the queen, 
 disliking the Conservative party, regarded Bea- 
 consfield with doubt and distrust. She was sin- 
 cerely regretful when he came into power at the 
 head of his party, a position which he had won by 
 eloquence, ability, and hard work. His tact and 
 charm won her personal and, to a great extent, her 
 political friendship. He explained public matters 
 to her clearly but briefly. In trifles he regarded 
 her wishes. In important matters he never sub- 
 mitted his judgment and policy to her wishes, 
 but he was so tactful and considerate that he took 
 away the sting from his actions. He always 
 seemed interested in the subjects and matters 
 which interested her. Socially, he amused and 
 entertained her. 
 
 Very different was Gladstone, "the grand old 
 man," who died in 1894, after having served 
 twelve and a half years as prime minister. "Well 
 and wisely had he guided the ship of state, but he 
 never won either the personal liking or the politi- 
 cal sympathy of the queen. He had started in life 
 as a Tory, or Conservative, but his views had 
 broadened and he had gone over to the Liberal 
 party. He had decided ideas about domestic re- 
 forms and advocated Home Rule for Ireland. He 
 
308 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 thought these matters were more pressing than 
 England's foreign policy. Like Palmerston, 
 however, he always sympathized with oppressed 
 nations in their struggles for freedom. He tried 
 to explain public matters to the queen, but his in- 
 tellect and his eloquence were generally above her 
 head — and this irritated her. Lord Beaconsfield 
 said very truly: "Gladstone treats the queen 
 like a public department; I treat her like a wo- 
 man. ' ' 
 
 This lack of political harmony was not attoned 
 for by any personal sympathy. Gladstone neither 
 felt nor professed interest in the subjects which 
 appealed to the queen. The world of his interests 
 and scholarship was a region into which she never 
 entered. 
 
 The queen was not well read and she cared little 
 for books. The great authors — poets, novelists, 
 essayists, historians, scientists, — that are the 
 glory of her reign were little more than names to 
 her. Tennyson she liked, chiefly on account of 
 his tribute to her beloved husband. To Brown- 
 ing she could find nothing better to say than that 
 "she liked his wife's poems." She expressed a 
 desire to meet Carlyle, but found him "gruff and 
 ill mannered." Dickens was the only one of the 
 great novelists of her day for whose works she 
 cared. In 1870 she invited him to Buckingham 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 309 
 
 Palace and presented him with a copy of her book, 
 Leaves from a Journal of our Life in the High- 
 lands, in which she wrote, ' ' From the humblest of 
 writers to one of the greatest," 
 
 In 1882 there broke out a rebellion in Egypt, 
 over which country England had assumed a pro- 
 tectorate. It was necessary to send an army to 
 suppress the revolt. Sir Garnet Wolseley was 
 put in charge of the forces which were hurried to 
 the seat of war. He suppressed the revolt, win- 
 ning the decisive victory of Tel-el Kebir. The 
 Egyptian army was practically destroyed, and 
 when trouble arose in the Soudan Egypt had to 
 appeal to England to aid her. 
 
 The Soudan trouble was caused by a fanatic 
 leader, the Mahdi. He claimed to be the successor 
 of Mohammed, and said that he would restore 
 Moslem faith and power to its old height. A large, 
 savage army gathered around him in the desert, 
 warlike races joined him, and the hill-tribes owned 
 him lord. His purpose was to wrest the Soudan 
 from Egypt and to conquer and unite the African 
 Mohammedan states. He took one stronghold 
 after another and defeated an army which the 
 Egyptian Pasha led against him. 
 
 The khedive then appealed to England. Eng- 
 land did not wish to be drawn into war which 
 might be protracted and must be unprofitable. It 
 
310 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 refused to make any effort to conquer or annex 
 the Soudan and advised the khedive to withdraw 
 his garrisons. This he was unable to do and Eng- 
 land in virtue of her self-assumed protectorate 
 had to attempt their rescue. The most important 
 of these garrisons was Khartoum, in the interior 
 of the Soudan. General Charles Gordon, who 
 had been governor of the Soudan, was sent to 
 withdraw these troops and to make terms with 
 the rebels about the other garrisons. He was a 
 brave soldier and a devout Christian, famous for 
 his skill in dealing with savage races. By his 
 gallant service in China he had won the nickname 
 of "Chinese Gordon." 
 
 Full of ardor and daring, he started to Khar- 
 toum in the winter of 1884, with two or three 
 companions and an Arab escort. He reached 
 Khartoum in safety, but he could make no terms 
 with the rebels, could not withdraw the garrison, 
 could not escape. Shut in the city with the little 
 garrison besieged by the Mahdi's troops, he ap- 
 pealed to England for aid. The English ministry 
 did not wish to involve itself in further trouble in 
 Egypt. Week after week passed without any 
 steps being taken to relieve General Gordon. 
 The queen viewed this proceeding in a fever of 
 impatience, but she was powerless. At last public 
 opinion forced the ministry to act. After long 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 311 
 
 and fatal delay, troops under Lord Wolseley were 
 sent to Gordon's rescue. Two days before the 
 rescuing party reached Khartoum, the city fell 
 into the hands of the Mahdi. Gordon was killed, 
 the garrison massacred. The queen wrote Gor- 
 don's sister that "she keenly felt the stain left 
 upon England by his cruel but heroic fate." 
 
 In 1887 the "queen's jubilee" celebrated the 
 fiftieth year of her reign. It was a brilliant occa- 
 sion. The queen of late years had emerged from 
 the seclusion which followed her husband's death, 
 and had taken part again in public ceremonies. 
 A thanksgiving service for her long and happy 
 reign was held in Westminster Abbey, where she 
 had been crowned fifty years before. In the bril- 
 liant procession which escorted her were nobles, 
 princes, kings, representatives from India, Can- 
 ada, and all the British possessions. 
 
 In 1897 another brilliant celebration took place 
 in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of the queen 's 
 accession. Her reign had now exceeded in length 
 that of her grandfather, George III., which, before 
 hers, was the longest known to English history. 
 There were public ceremonies at this "diamond 
 jubilee," as it was called, in which representatives 
 from all British colonies and possessions took 
 part. The splendid state procession of royal per- 
 sonages, state officials, and envoys from many 
 
312 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 countries passed in a six miles' route through the 
 London streets. Millions of subjects and visitors 
 from all parts of the world cheered the queen as 
 she passed. Tears came to her eyes at the evi- 
 dences of her people's love and loyalty. On her 
 return to the palace, she sent greetings to all parts 
 of her empire : ' ' From my heart I thank my be- 
 loved people. May God bless them!" 
 
 During the early years of her reign, the queen's 
 youth, simplicity, and domestic virtues appealed 
 to the hearts of her people. They greeted with 
 enthusiasm every appearance of their gentle and 
 gracious sovereign lady. But time brought 
 changes. During the years of seclusion after 
 Prince Albert's death, there grew up a feeling of 
 coldness, almost disrespect. She was personally 
 and politically out of touch with her people. In 
 regard to Italy, Poland, and the Confederate 
 States, she was at variance with her popular prime 
 ministers, Palmerston and Gladstone. There was 
 in England during the middle of the nineteenth 
 century, a strong republican sentiment which led 
 to discontent and criticism of the queen. 
 
 But with years this feeling, to a great extent, 
 passed away. She took again a public part in 
 affairs, she was loved and revered as "the 
 Mother of her people," she was honored as the 
 living and noble representative of the empire. 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 313 
 
 The reign of Elizabeth set on a firm founda- 
 tion the naval power of England. Victoria's 
 reign established the colonial power of Great 
 Britain on the wise and righteous principle of 
 self-government. Friction was thus avoided be- 
 tween the colonies and the mother country. More 
 closely than subject ones, the "free" colonies were 
 bound to England by loyal love and pride. They 
 were bound together, too, in material ways. 
 Steamships and telegraphs, and submarine cables 
 united the parts of the great empire. The im- 
 perial feeling, which Rudyard Kipling expresses, 
 is largely the growth of the late years of Vic- 
 toria's reign. The queen was to all the world 
 ''the symbol of the unity of the British empire." 
 It was to her as representative of this great and 
 glorious empire that the jubilees of 1887 and 1897 
 were tributes. 
 
 This time of peace and rejoicing was followed 
 by a prolonged and harassing war of which the 
 queen did not live to see the end. Lord Kitch- 
 ener in the battle of Omdurman in 1898 had 
 crushed the long continued rebellion in the Sou- 
 dan. In the fall of the next year, began the great 
 Boer war. 
 
 You remember that affairs between Great 
 Britain and the Dutch Republics in South Africa 
 had been settled by treaty in 1884. This settle- 
 
314 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 ment would probably have been final had it not 
 been for the finding of gold in the Transvaal. In 
 1885 gold fields were discovered there, not only 
 the richest in the world, but, unlike others, giving 
 a fairly uniform yield of a certain amount of gold 
 for each ton of ore. These fields, from which 
 gold to the value of one hundred million dollars 
 can be taken every year, are practically inexhaus- 
 tible. At the news of this great find, immigrants 
 flocked to the Transvaal from every quarter of the 
 globe. Miners went from Europe, North and 
 South America, Australia, and Africa, but the 
 majority of the newcomers were of the English 
 race. 
 
 The Boers were willing to have their mines 
 worked by these foreigners, but did not wish them 
 to gain political power, which would result in the 
 annexation of the Transvaal to Great Britain. A 
 law was passed requiring fourteen years' resi- 
 dence as a requisite to citizenship. This was 
 afterwards reduced to ten years. President Kru- 
 ger, the head of the Republic, said the Boers were 
 willing to reduce the time limit to five years, but 
 each naturalized citizen must take the oath of loy- 
 alty to the Transvaal government. This was a 
 just and usual requirement, but it was distasteful 
 to the British. They wished to gain political con- 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 315 
 
 trol of the republic without losing their rights as 
 British citizens. 
 
 The friction and disputes led in 1899 to open 
 war. During the first months of the war, the 
 advantage was with the Boers. They were brave 
 and well armed and on their own ground. They 
 were excellent horsemen and marksmen, and they 
 were officered by men of unusual military ability. 
 News of British defeats came from the seat of 
 war with discouraging regularity. The British 
 government, roused to the fact that it would take 
 all the power of its mighty empire to conquer this 
 handful of Dutch farmer-soldiers, — men like 
 Cromwell's Ironsides, always ready with their 
 Bibles and their firearms. Overwhelming forces 
 were raised. Loyal troops from the north, south, 
 east, and west sprang to arms. Lord Roberts and 
 Lord Kitchener, the greatest living English gen- 
 erals, were sent to South Africa. 
 
 Despite her age and infirmities, the queen fol- 
 lowed closely the progress of the war. She was 
 greatly distressed by the early British reverses, 
 and especially by General Buller's terrible defeat 
 at Colenso. But never for one instant did she 
 despair or cease to urge that the war must be 
 carried on to a successful conclusion. She in- 
 sisted that regular troops and volunteers should 
 
316 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 be hurried to the scene of action under Lord Rob- 
 erts and Lord Kitchener, in whose military ability 
 she had the greatest confidence. Her interest, in 
 fact, was rather embarrassing to her ministers, 
 whom she overwhelmed with suggestions and in- 
 quiries, sometimes sending them ten or fifteen 
 notes a day. Her anxiety was relieved at last by 
 news of British successes. 
 
 The tide of battle turned. Cronje with his four 
 thousand farmers entrenched in the bed of the 
 Modder River was overcome by a British force of 
 forty thousand. The English relieved the towns 
 of Kimberley and Ladysmith and of Mafeking, 
 where for months a few hundreds of brave Brit- 
 ish soldiers had been living on horseflesh and en- 
 during the extremities of famine rather than sur- 
 render. The fate of the war was decided when in 
 June, 1900, Lord Roberts took Pretoria, the Boer 
 capitol. But the scattered, roving bands of pa- 
 triots refusing to surrender, fought on and on. 
 
 As a token of her appreciation of the gallantry 
 of the Irish troops in South Africa the queen in 
 1900 made a visit to Ireland, the first for nearly 
 forty years. She was received with enthusiasm 
 and warm expressions of loyalty. One of the 
 most interesting events 'of her visit was an as- 
 sembly of fifty-two thousand school children in 
 her honor. It was right the children should honor 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 317 
 
 the queen to whose interest in the cause of educa- 
 tion they owed much. During her reign the con- 
 dition of poor children in her kingdom was 
 greatly improved by wise laws about education 
 and factory work. The magnificent school sys- 
 tem of Great Britain grew up in Victoria's reign, 
 and was the object of her earnest, constant, and 
 intelligent interest. 
 
 She felt education necessary not only for the 
 sake of the children but of the kingdom. The right 
 of franchise was being extended, and the safety of 
 the realm lay in obeying the warning, "Educate 
 your masters." It is chiefly by this education of 
 the lower classes, says a great Englishman, that 
 the prisons and the poorhouses have been emptied 
 and the social and moral standard of the kingdom 
 raised. 
 
 In 1900 a union of the Australian colonies Was 
 formed on the plan of that of the Dominion of 
 Canada. At the queen's accession Australia was 
 a dumping ground for convicts. The discovery 
 of gold there about the middle of the century 
 brought to it energetic and enterprising settlers. 
 Towns were built up, trade "and commerce 
 flourished, and instead of the old convict settle- 
 ment, there grew up a rich and prosperous land. 
 There was formed a great self-governing Com- 
 monwealth. 
 
318 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 The state of affairs in South Africa continued 
 to be a source of anxiety and grief to the queen. 
 The little band of Boers held out stubbornly, and 
 death and disease thinned the British ranks. 
 This war was the chief thought of the queen dur- 
 ing 1900. Her health had been failing for months 
 and the close of the year found her very feeble. 
 But in January, 1901, she welcomed Lord Roberts 
 who had just returned from South Africa, leaving 
 Kitchener in charge. She congratulated him on 
 his successes and conferred on him an earldom 
 and the Order of the Garter. 
 
 On the twenty-second of January, 1901, death 
 ended her long and brilliant reign. She had lived 
 eighty-one years and reigned sixty-three. The 
 next day her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, was 
 proclaimed king under the title of Edward VII. 
 He had married in 1863 Alexandra, the daughter 
 of Christian, King of Denmark. The new king 
 was popular, and his wife's beauty, tact and 
 goodness endeared her to all hearts. 
 
 During Victoria's long and prosperous reign, 
 the colonial possessions of Great Britain increased 
 a third and the colonial population was nearly 
 trebled. It was a period of wonderful advance in 
 all ways, — liberty, education, commerce, art, liter- 
 ature, and science. 
 
 Books became cheap and popular, and there 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA 319 
 
 arose a host of authors, great and small. The two 
 greatest poets of the Victorian era were Tennyson 
 and Browning. Tennyson's clearness and melody 
 of expression gave him the popularity due his ar- 
 tistic power and nobility of thought. Browning, 
 whose rugged and often obscure style was less at- 
 tractive to the general public, was one of the most 
 powerful and dramatic of poets. 
 
 But the greatest and most notable work of the 
 period was in prose. Carlyle, in forcible and pic- 
 turesque language, urged the cause of reform, and 
 preached "the gospel of work." In works re- 
 markable for grace and beauty of style, Ruskin 
 presented his views about nature, art, and political 
 and social affairs. 
 
 There were great advances in the writing of 
 history. Brilliant writers like Macaulay and Car- 
 lyle made it entertaining and vivid; philosophical 
 ones like Green and Hallam, recorded the growth 
 of peoples and governments. 
 
 The novel was developed and became the great 
 literary source of amusement and recreation, the 
 mirror of the life and thought of the day, as the 
 drama had been of Elizabeth's time. Among the 
 novelists of the Victorian era, three rose pre- 
 eminent, — Dickens, Thackeray, and George Eliot. 
 
 But the distinctive characteristic of the age is 
 the development of science. Darwin, Spencer, 
 
320 ENGLISH HISTORY STORIES 
 
 Huxley, and Tyndall are but a few of the many 
 who devoted themselves to the study of nature and 
 its laws. Darwin's Origin of Species has been 
 called the "greatest event in the history of the 
 nineteenth century." His formulating of the law 
 of evolution is the greatest English contribution 
 to science since Newton's discovery of the law of 
 gravitation. 
 
 It was not only the laws and principles of na- 
 ture which were studied. A practical use was 
 made of them. The force of electricity was util- 
 ized to supply light, heat and motive power. The 
 whole system of manufacture, travel, and trans- 
 mission of news was changed. 
 
 And finally, along with this wonderful advance 
 in science, art, and literature, has come a corre- 
 sponding improvement in the manners and cus- 
 toms of daily life. The last hundred years have 
 seen more changes in this respect than the nine 
 hundred which preceded them. 
 
MAR 11 1909