This is a reproduction of a book from the McGill University Library collection. Title: History of England Author: Buckley, Arabella B. (Arabella Burton), 1840-1929 Publisher, year: Toronto : Copp, Clark, c1891 The pages were digitized as they were. The original book may have contained pages with poor print. Marks, notations, and other marginalia present in the original volume may also appear. For wider or heavier books, a slight curvature to the text on the inside of pages may be noticeable. ISBN of reproduction: 978-1-926846-75-0 This reproduction is intended for personal use only, and may not be reproduced, re-published, or re-distributed commercially. For further information on permission regarding the use of this reproduction contact McGill University Library. McGill University Library www.mcgill.ca/library -jAiLnnjj. . \<}*sSi)pMy "f sij i l V < ■_ oJp 0^ A/Vv A> O-^A V_ >- fejUQ HISTORY OF ENGLAND. HISTORY OF ENGLAND, BY ARABELLA B. BUCKLEY, AA’D W J. ROBERTSON, B.A., LL.B. AND HISTORY OF CANADA, BY W. J. ROBERTSON, B.A., LL.B. .Authorize*) hg the Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction for the Province of Quebec. TORONTO : THE COPP, CLARK COMPANY, Limited. Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in tire Tear one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, by Th« Oofp, Clark Compact (Ldothd), in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. PREFACE In the small space allowed me in this little hook, I have tried to set before young readers a connected history of the rise and development of England. While giving as far as possible the chief facts required by students, I have been especially anxious to present a vivid picture of the life, the difficulties, and the achieve- ments of our ancestors ; showing how our laws, our constitution, our trade, and our colonies have arisen. If this short sketch opens the way to the study of more comprehensive histories, leading those now growing up into citizens of a widespread empire to take a lively interest in the past, present, and future of our nation, it will have done its work. At the same time, as it is necessary in school teaching that dates and facts should be firmly rooted in the memory, I hwe endeavoured, with the help of Messrs. Acland and Ransome’s admirable Outlines, so to arrange the Table of Contents at the beginning of the volume that it may offer a clear abstract of the facts of each chapter, and also serve as a Chronological Table, giving the dates in their due succession. Among so many figures, both in the table and the text, there must inevitably be some errors in spite of every care. When any such are discovered, I shall be grateful to those who will point them out that they may be corrected. Upcott Avenel, Highampton. CANADIAN AUTHOR’S PREFACE. A brief explanation of the Canadian author’s share in this History is, perhaps, desirable. The revision and classification of the matter of Miss Buckley’s History of England has been carried out with a scrupulous regard to maintaining intact the essential features of the work. Par- ticular attention has been given to retaining the “woven whole” of the style and diction of the author, a style and diction at once simple, graphic, and interesting. Therefore, the changes made have been principally in the direction of the classification of the contents of the paragraphs, the excision of minor dates and names, and in the giving of fuller details of some important events and measures somewhat briefly treated by Miss Buckley. A s to the part of this work dealing with Canada, it is but fair to state that no attempt has been made to give a full and complete account of all the events that occur in our history. The “leading evei .ts” alone have been sketched; the task of giving important details being left to the intelligent teacher. No one feels more keei'ly than the author, the impossibility of giving in the space of eighty pages, an account of the growth and life of the Canadian peoplp. An effort, however, has been made to give a fair and im- partial outline, in language so simple as to be easily understood by the j unior pupils of our High Schools. W. J. ROBERTSON. St. Catharines, June 1st, 1891. SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND SINCE THE NORMAN CONQUEST. (For f utter details see Tables at beginning of each Part.) Margaret Beaufort, Richard, m. Edmund Tudor. Duke of York. Q2a “3g* aa ►iS'S 5» saWs a«r ! +3 g33 CO ! O — 2sO — ,3 G 5 Go o CO ^ r»5 ~ <4 Jg *$■* Co ^ S S © ■« s .2 '|4-«i a os S -S « 6s vs w Z.S " .euM ■S co e >1 w a J 2f .•§«jgS5 s* ° £3 T3 0) O t 1 5 > GENEALOGIES 1 PAGE Sovereigns op England — General Outline ... vi Races op Early Britain . . . xxxiv Sovereigns from the Conquest to Great Charter . 32 Sovereigns from Great Charter to House of Lancaster . 60 Sovereigns of Lancaster and York 91 Sovereigns of the House of Tudor . . H2 Sovereigns of the House of Stuart . . . 150 Sovereigns of the House of Hanover .... 232 MAPS Map I. English Kingdoms in 600 Facing page 8 II. England and the Danelagh 44 18 III. Dominion of the Angevins 44 48 IV. Map of Hundred Years’ War 44 78 Y. Battles and Sieges of the Civil War 44 172 VI. India in the time of Clive 44 244 VII. North American Colonies at De- claration of Independence 44 258 VIII. Australasia ... 44 288 _ 1 , 1 " the8e genealogies no attempt is made to give all the ohildren of each Only those are named who are concerned in the succession to the throne. king. CONTENTS ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER WITH DATES. (In referring from this table to the text, make use of the dates in the side notes.) PART I. EARLY BRITAIN AND OLD ENGLAND. CHAPTER I. EARLY BRITAIN. England defined — Britain before England — Palaeolithic men — Neolithic men — Cromlechs — Celts — Visits of Phoenicians, sixth century B. c. — Invasions of JuliUS Caesar, B. c. 55-54 — Homes of Britons — Druid religion — Roman Conquest, a. d. 43 — Caractacus, A. d. 50 — Boadicea, A. D. 61 — Three hundred years of Roman rule — Romans leave, A. d. 401-410 -Piets and Scots grow troublesome . . . Pages 1-7 CHAPTER II. HOW THE ENGLISH CAME. Saxon pirates in fourth century— Landing of Jutes in Britain, 449— Kingdom of Kent founded, 449— Arrival of Saxons, 477 — King Arthur defeats the Saxons, 520 — Saxon Settlements, Essex, Wessex, etc.— Settlements of Angles — Northumbria, 603 — East Anglia and Mercia— Terms Welsh and English— Early English villages— Eorls and ceorla— Laets X CONTENTS. 627 673 839 789 871 879 901 959 975 979 1002 and slaves — Compurgation and ordeal — Folkmoot and Witan- gemot — Kings elected, with thegns for bodyguard — Heathen gods— Conversion to Christianity of Ethelbert of Kent, 597 — Of Edwin of Northumbria, 627 — Irish Missions, 634-664 — English Church organised, 673 — Origin of towns— Rise of monasteries and towns — Bede the historian, 673-735 — Egbert of Wessex Lord of all the English, 802-839. Pages 7-14 CHAPTER III. STRUGGLE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND DANES. Invasion of Danes or Northmen, 789-879— Ethelwulf of Wessex fails to check them, 839-858 — Ethebald, Ethelbert, Ethelred I. struggle against them, 858-871. ALFRED THE GREAT, 871-901 — After seven years’ fighting is forced to hide in the marshes — Returns, defeats the Danes, and forces them to sign Treaty of Wedmore, 878 —Alfred’s government— He translates works— Encourages education — Forms a navy — Collects and improves the laws — Promotes foreign trade and travel — Peter’s Pence — Alfred dies, 901. Making of England under Alfred’s family— Edward the Elder, 901-925, and his sister Ethelfled conquer the Danelagh — Athelstan, 925 ; Edmund, 940 ; Edred, 946 ; Edwy, 955 ; gradually conquer the northern counties— Edgar the Peace- able, 959-975, has Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, as minister— Increased power of king— Shire-reeves his officers His thegns numerous — Ceorls sink into villeins — Frith-guilds — Yeomen — Great nobles and bishops — Danes and Eng l i sh settle down together— Firm government of Dunstan — Laws of Edgar — Lothian put under Kenneth, King of the Scots in- crease of trade— The land first called Engla-land— Edward the Martyr, 975-979— Fall of Dunstan, 978— He dies, 988. ETHELRED THE UNREADY, 979-1016 — Quarrels with his thegns— Second Danish invasion, 991— Danegeld first levied, 991— Massacre of Danes, 1002— Sweyn’s revenge— Ethelred flies to Normandy — Government divided between Cnut, Sweyn’s son, and Edmund Ironside, son of Ethelred— Edmund dies, 1016. CONTENTS. « XI CNUT THE DANE elected king, 1017 — Divides England into four earldoms— Eighteen years of peace, 1016-1035— Cnut’s sons, Harold, 1035, and Harthacnut. 1040, rule badly — On death of Harthacnut the English recall Ethelred’s son Edward, 1042 Pages 15-24 CHAPTER IV. NORMAN INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND. EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, son of Ethelred the Unready, and Emma of Normandy — Origin and character of Normans — Edward favours Norman nobles — Earl Godwin of WeSSeX outlawed, 1051 — William of Normandy visits Edward, 1051 -Godwin returns and Norman favourites flee to France, 1052— Harold, Godwin’s son, rules in Edward’s name, 1053 — Welsh king subdued — Northumbrian rebellion — Tostig, Harold’s brother, outlawed, 1065 — Harold’s oath in Normandy — Death of Edward, 1066. HAROLD is king for nine months — William of Nor- mandy claims the crown — Harold defeats King Hardrada of Norway and Tostig at Stamford Bridge, Sept. 25 — Battle of Hastings, Oct. 14 — Noblest of English nation killed — Harold slain— William crowned at Westminster Dec. 25- Pages 25-31 1 PART n. FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE GREAT CHARTER, CHAPTER V. ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, hard and stem, but a wise statesman — Confiscation of land — Folk-land becomes king’s land Feudal system — Building of castles — Norman nobles oppress the people— English revolt— Struggle with English patriots, 1067— William subdues Exeter, 1068— Retakes York, and wastes the north country, 1069— End of Patriot leaders, 2071 Laws of the English declared by twelve men from each g pi re William lays waste land in Hampshire for New Forest — Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, rules well, but appoints 1017 1042 1042 1051 1053 1066 Jan. 5 Dec. 25 1066 1067 CONTENTS. • t ill 1087 1087 1089 1093 1097 1100 1106 1120 1125 1135 1135 foreign bishops, 1070 — William’s eldest son Robert rebels, 1078 — General survey of England — Domesday Book, 1086 — Troubles and death of William at Rouen, Sept. 9, 1087— Robert has Normandy and Maine — William, the third son, is elected king in England. WILLIAM II., sumamed Rufus, crowned at Westminster by Lanfranc, Sept- 26 — He was brave but lawless and vicious —Barons rebel in Robert’s favour, 1088— English support the king— Defeat of Normans at Pevensey, 1088— Death of Lanfranc, 1089— Ralph Flambard, justiciar, oppresses the people — War against Robert in Normandy, 1090 — Con- quests in Wales — Annexation of Cumberland, 1092 — Malcolm of Scotland does homage — Anselm made archbishop, 1093, tries to check William’s oppressions — Robert goes to the crusades^ and pledges Normandy to William, 1096 — Anselm retires to Rome, 1097— William killed when hunting, Aug. 2, 1100 — Henry, fourth son of the Conqueror, seizes the throne. HENRY I. is chosen King and crowned at West- minster, Aug- 11, 1100 — A learned and cautious man — First Norman king born in England— Grants a charter of liberties — Marries a princess of English blood— Imprisons Flambard— Quiets Robert with a pension — Colony of Flemings planted in Pembroke, 1105— Norman barons rise for Robert — Battle of Tenchebrai, 1106 — Robert imprisoned in England — Bishop Roger, justiciar, 1107— Restores jiist laws— Court of the Ex- chequer — Blending of Normans and English — Henry’s SOU William drowned, 1120— Henry makes barons swear allegi- ance to Matilda— Pope’s legate received in England, 1125 —Cistercian monks settle in England, 1128— Heath of Robert’s only son, 1128— Death of Robert, 1134— Death of Henry, 1135 ...... Pages 33-45 CHAPTER VI. ANARCHY UNDER STEPHEN. STEPHEN, grandson of William the Conqueror, seizes the throne— Popular but unstable— Well received by the people of London— Some of the barons support Matilda, whose nrH e, David of Scotland, is defeated in the Battle of the Standard! CONTENTS. 1138 — Stephen arrests Roger the justiciar and others, 1139. Matilda lands in England, 1139 — Civil war — Stephen a prisoner, 1141 — Siege of Oxford, 1142 — Matilda leaves England, 1147 — Barons ravage the land — Religious revival — Theobald, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, mediates between Stephen and Prince Henry— Treaty of Wallingford, 1153 — Death of Stephen, Oct. 25, leaving the crown to Henry . . . Pages 45-48 CHAPTER VIL HENRY PLANTAGENET AND HIS SONS. HENRY II., grandson of Henry I., crowned at Westminster, Dec. 19— A strong, wise king — Issues a charter — Destroys barons’ castles — Restores eourts of justice — Establishes circuits and juries, and scutage in lieu of military service — Thomas Becket chancellor, 1154 — Made Archbishop of Canterbury, 1162 — Opposes trial of clergy in law-courts— Quarrel of Henry and Becket, 1163 — Becket flies to France, 1164 — Constitutions of Clarendon, 1164 — Assizes of Clarendon, 1166, and Northamp- ton, 1169 — Students at Oxford— Return and murder of Becket, 1170— General league against Henry, 1173— His penance, H74 — Subdues the King of Scotland, the rebel barons, and his own sons— Militia established, 1181— Death of Henry, 1189- Henry and Geoffrey having died, Richard, the third and eldest surviving son, succeeds. RICHARD I., Cceur de Lion, crowned Sept. 3 — Brave and popular, but a foreigner in heart and speech — Sold all offices he could, and left in December for the Crusades — His brother John tries to supplant him in England — Longchamp, justiciar, deposed, 1191— First Mayor of London, 1191— Richard taken prisoner by Austria, 1192 — Five kinds of taxes imposed for his ransom — He visits England for four months, 1194, and then never again— Hubert Walter and Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, justiciars— Bishops oppose unjust taxes— Death of Richard from an arrow-wound at Chaluz, April 6. JOHN, fourth son of Henry II., succeeds in England — Handsome, cruel, and treacherous — Makes war on Arthur of Brittany, Geoffrey’s son, who has succeeded to Anjou- -Arthur, aged fifteen, is taken prisoner, and disappears, 12Q3— John 1138 1139 1147 1153 1154 1154 1162 1163 1166 1170 1181 1189 1189 1191 1194 1199 1199 1203 CONTENTS. xiv 1206 1212 1215 1216 1216 1217 1228 1232 1258 1264 1265 1272 refuses to account to Philip of France for his death — Phili p takes Normandy and Anjou, 1204 — Archbishop Hubert dies, 1205— Stephen Langton elected archbishop, 1206— John refuses to admit him to England — Pope lays England under an interdict, 1208 — Excommunicates John, 1209 — Deposes him, 1212— John submits and becomes the Pope’s vassal, 1213 — Growing strength of the nation— Barons demand a charter —John forced to sign Magna Charta, 1215— War between king and barons— Louis of France comes with an army, 1216 — Loss of ci’own jewels in the Wash — Death of John, Oct. 19, 1216 . . ... Pages 48-59 PART III. RISE OP parliament: CHAPTER VIIL THE BARONS’ WAR. HENRY III., son of John, aged nine, crowned at Gloucester with gold circlet — Well-meaning, but weak and suspicious — William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, Regent — The French defeated at Lincoln and in the Channel, return home, 1217 Good government of Hubert de Burgh, justiciar— Privy Council— Prosperity of country— Fairs — Highwaymen — Death Of Archbishop Langton, 1228— Pope levies money in England —Henry dismisses Hubert, last great justiciar, 1232, and favours foreigners — To obtain money summons earls, barons, and bishops in a Parliament— Extravagance of Henry drives barons to resist — Mad Parliament, 1258 — Provisions of Oxford— Simon de Montfort, king’s brother-in-law, leader Of the barons— Mise of Amiens, 1264— Battle of Lewes, 1264— King made prisoner— Prince Edward surrenders at Mise of Lewes after the battle— Montfort’s Parliament, origin of Commons, 1265 — Escape of Prince Edward, May 28 — Battle of Evesham, Montfort killed, Aug. 4, 1265— Dictum of Kenilworth, king restored, 1266— Prince Edward goes to crusades— Death of Henry, 1272 . . . Pages 61-66 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER IX. STRUGGLE WITH WALES AND SCOTLAND. EDWARD I., a brave and wise king — two years’ regency — Edward returns and is crowned, Aug 12, 1274— Office of justiciar is dropped — Burnell Chancellor — Halfpennies and farthings first coined— Llewellyn of Wales refuses homage —Conquest of Wales, 1277-1282— First English Prince of Wales, 1301 — Organisation of law-courts- Statute of Mortmain, 1279— Keepers of the Peace established, 1285 —Expulsion of Jews, 1290— Struggle with Scotland— Scots have no king, 1290 —Edward, as umpire, chooses John Baliol. 1292— First complete English Parliament, 1295— Edward raises heavy taxes, and Parliament in return exacts new charters, 1297 — Edward requires Scotch law-appeals to be heard in England— War with Scotland, 1296— Insurrection under Wallace, 1297 — Battle of Falkirk, 1298 — Wallace hanged, 1305 — Rebellion under Robert Bruce, who is crowned king 1306— Edward, marching to Scotland, dies at Burgh- on-Sands, July 7, 1307. EDWARD II, son of Edward I., a weak, headstrong king, governed by favourites — Neglected the Scotch war — Rule of Piers Gaveston, 1308— Driven out by Lords Ordainers, 1310 — Returns and is beheaded, 1312 — Knights Templars abolished, 1309— Battle Of Bannockburn, English defeated, 1314- Famine and trouble, 1315— Rule of Hugh le Despenser, 1320 —Barons rebel— Lancaster beheaded, 1322— Commons gain a share in making laws, 1322— Edward’s queen Isabella brings troops from France, 1326— King deposed Jan. 7, and murdered Sept. 21, 1327. .... Pages 66*77 CHAPTER X. THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR. EDWARD III., son of Edward II., aged fifteen, crowned Jan 29, 1327 — Rule of Queen Isabella and Mortimer, 1327- 1330 -Independnce of Scotland recognised, 1328— Fall and death of Mortimer, 1330— King of France, coveting Guienne, 1272 1274 1277 1290 1295 1296 1297 1306 1307 1310 1314 1322 1327 1327 1330 xvi CONTENTS. interferes in Scotland — Edward claims French crown, 1337 1338 — Hundred Years’ War begins, 1338- Naval victory off Sluys, 1340— Battle of Crecy, 1346— Bravery of Black Prince- Surrender of Calais, 1346— Order of Garter instituted, 1348 — Home affairs — Freedom of serfs and leases granted — Growth 1344 of industries— Gold coins first used, 13- -4 — Parliament gains power by the king’s need of money for the war— Defeat of 1348 Scots at Neville Cross, 1346 — Black Death, 1348— Struggle between capital and labour — Statute of Labourers, 1349 — State of people seen in writings of Chauce • and Langland — Wiclif preaches equality — First statute of prcemunire, 1353 — Renewal 1355 of French war, 1355— Battle of Poitiers, 1356— Peace of 1360 Bretigny, 1360— Statutes of Kilkenny oppress the Irish, 1367 1367— Disastrous third campaign with France, loss of 1376 French territory, 1376— Decline of the king— Good Parlia- ment impeaches the ministers— Death of Black Prince, 1377 1376— First poll-tax, 1377— Death of Edward III., June 21, 1377. 1377 RICHARD II, son of Black Prince, aged eleven, crowned July 16— Brave and strong-willed, a good king till spoilt by absolute power — His uncle, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 1381 has great influence— Peasants revolt against poll-tax, 1381 —Wat Tyler and John Ball— Richard appoases the people— Villeinage dies out gradually— Struggle between Richard and 1386 Jus uncles — Council of Eleven appointed, Dec* 1, 1386 — Lords Appellant attack the king’s friends in the Merciless Parliament, 1388 1388— Richard takes the Government, 1 389— Second law of prcemunire, 1393 — A truce with France, 1396 — Richard’s re- 1397 venge, 1397 — An absolute — He banishes Norfolk and Henry of Hereford and Lancaster, surnamed Bolingbroke — Henry returns 1399 to claim his lands— Fall and imprisonment of Richard, 1399 —Bolingbroke declared king, Sept. 30, 1396. . Pages 77-90 CONTENTS. xvii PART IV. WARS OF THE ROSES. CHAPTER XI. THE HOUSE OP LANCASTER. HENRY IV., of Lancaster, grandson of Edward III. and son of John of Gaunt — An able king under many difficulties — Unsettled succession for eighty years — English nobles rebel, 1400 — Heath of Richard — Owen Glendower rebels in Wales, 1400 — Persecution of Lollards, 1401 — Battle of Homildon Hill against the Scots, 1402 — Revolt of Percies and Glendower, 1403 — Battle of Shrewsbury, 1403 — Rebellion of Mowbray and Scrope, 1405— Commons gain power by troubles of the king, 1407 — Beauforts, sons of John of Gaunt, were chancellors —Death of Henry, March 20, 1413. HENRY V., of Lancaster, son of Henry IV., a brilliant soldier and wise statesman— Granted to the Commons that their Bills should not be altered, 1414— Alien Priories granted to king, 1414 — People prosperous — Revolt of Lollards, 1414— Henry revives the war with France, 1415— Siege of Harfleur, 1415 — Battle of Agincourt, 1415— Siege of Rouen, 1418 — Henry Regent of France, 1420— Death of Henry 1422. HENRY VI. of Lancaster, son of Henry V. , aged ten months —Duke of Bedford, Protector of the Realm, goes to the French war— Duke of Gloucester and Cardinal Beaufort quarrel at home, 1425 — Decline of Parliament — Parliament of the “ Bats,” 1425— Siege of Orleans, 1428— Siege raised by Jeanne Dare— Charles, crowned at Rheims— Jeanne Dare burnt, 1431— The king good but weak— Ruled by his queen, Margaret— Glou- cester and Suffolk murdered, 1447, 1450— People rebel under Jack Cade against foreign favourites, 1450— End of Hundred Years’ War, 1453— Calais alone remains to the English— Madness of the king— Duke of York protector, 1454— He is displaced for Somerset— York takes up arms — Wars of the Roses begin, 1455— Battle of St. Albans, 1455- Bills of attainder introduced— Battle of Northampton, July, B 1399 1400 1402 1407 1413 1414 1415 1420 1422 1425 1431 1450 1453 1455 xvm CONTENTS. 1460 1460— Battle of Wakefield, Dec. 1460— Richard, Duke of York, killed- -His son Edward takes up the contest — Battle of Mortimer’s Cross, 1461 — Edward of York declared 1461 king, March 4, 1461— Battle of Towton, March 29, 1461 — Henry and Margaret fly to Scotland. . . Pages 92-103. CHAPTER XII. THE HOUSE OF YORK. 1461 EDWARD IV- of York, great-great-grandson of Edward III. — Brave and popular but dissolute — Battle of Hedgeley Moor and Hexham, 1464— Quarrel with Earl of Warwick, 1469 the king-maker — Battle of Edgecote, 1469 — Edward flies to Flanders— Henry VI. restored for six months, 1470— Ed- 1471 ward returns, 1471— Warwick killed at Barnet, April 14, 1471— Battle of Tewkesbury, May 4, 1471— Margaret defeated and her son killed — Death of Henry VI. — Margaret imprisoned — Rise of a middle class — Edward rules despotically —Collects benevolences— Introduction of printing by 1476 Caxton, 1476— Duke of Clarence put to death, 1478 — Death of Edward, April 9, 1483. 1483 EDWARD V., son of Edward IV., aged thirteen — Enters London, May 4, 1483 — Reigns three months, but is never crowned— Richard, Duke of Gloucester, protector— Lodges king and his brother in the Tower— Puts Lord Hastings to death, June 13 — Pronounces the princes illegitimate— Accepts the crown, June 25. RICHARD III., brother of Edward IV., crowned July 6 — Brave but cruel and treacherous — Murder of the young princes —Richard rules well— Introduces Consuls and a run ning post — Duke of Buckingham plots to bring in Henry Tudor of the house of Lancaster— Buckingham beheaded, Nov. 1, 1483— Henry Tudor arrives, 1485— Nobles rally round him— Battle of Bosworth Field, Aug. 22, 1485— Richard killed —End of Wars of Roses, 1485. Close of Middle ages — Destruction of old nobility in the wars — Use of gunpowder and rise of middle class mark modern era. Pages 103-111 CONTENTS. XXX PART Y. THE TUDORS. i CHAPTER XIII. HOUSE OP TUDOR. HENRY VII. , descended from Edward III. through John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Crowned Oct. 30— Married Eliza- beth of York, daughter of Edward IV — Union of Houses of York and Lancaster — A wise, unpopular, and avaricious, but strong king— Crown settled on his heirs— Futile rebellion of Lambert Simnel, 1487— Court of the Star Chamber estab- lished, 1487 — Rebellion of Perkin Warbeck, 1492-1497 — Poyn- ing’s Act applies English laws to Ireland, 1494— King heaps up wealth by benevolences, statute of liveries, and appropriating disputed estates— Empson and Dudley his tools — Rules without Parliament — Voyages of Christopher Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and Cabot, 1492-1498 — Warbeck and Earl of Warwick executed, 1499 — Royal marriages — Katharine of Aragon is married to Arthur, Prince of Wales, 1501 — He dies and Henry, now Prince of Wales, is betrothed to his brother’s widow — Princess Margaret mariies James IV. of Scotland, 1502 ; from her descends Mary Queen of Scots — Introduction of new learning in England— Death of Henry VII, April 21, 1509. HENRY VIII., son of Henry VII., united in himself houses of York and Lancaster — Affable, popular, aud with plenty of sense, but selfish and coarse — Puts Empson and Dud- ley to death — Builds ships and dockyards — Trinity House estab- lished, 1513 — War of the Holy League — Battle of the Spurs, 1513— Scots attack England— Battle of Flodden Field, 1513, James IV. killed — Margaret, Henry’s sister, becomes Regent of Scotland for James V —Administration of Wolsey, 1515- 1529 — Intrgiues with Francis I. of France and Charles V. of 1485 1487 1494 1498 1501 1502 1509 1510 1513 1515 XX CONTENTS. 1520 1529 1533 1535 1536 1537 1540 1542 1547 Spain— Field of the Cloth of Gold, 1520— War with France, 1522 — Alliance with France, 1525 — Henry seeks divorce from Katharine, 1527— Fall of Wolsey, 1529 — Seven Years’ Parlia- ment, 1529— Administration of Thomas Cromwell, 1530- 1540— Henry breaks with the Pope— Divorce Katharine and marries Anne Boleyn, 1533— Is declared Supreme Head of the Church, 1535 — Cromwell’s law of high treason — Execution of Sir Thomas More and Fisher, 1535 — Wales put under English law, 1536 — English people suffer from corn-lands being turned into pasture— Luther and Zwingli — Religious changes in England— Destruction of monasteries, 1536-1549— Execu- tion of Anne Boleyn and marriage of king with Jane Seymour, 1536 — Rebellion in north and west of England — Birth of Prince Edward, 1537 — Death of Jane Seymour — Six Articles passed against the Protestants, 1539 — King marries and puts away Anne of Cleves, 1540— Fall and execution Of Cromwell, 1540 — King marries Katharine Howard, 1540 — She is executed, 1542 — King assumes the title of King of Ire- land, 1541— James V. of Scotland attacks England— Dies after defeat at Solway Moss, 1542, leaving an infant, Mary Queen of Scots— Henry marries Katharine Parr, 1543 — English liturgy introduced — Debasement of coinage — Act of Succes- sion sets aside Mary Queen of Scots— Death of Henry, Jan. 28, 1547 Pages 113-127 CHAPTER XIY. STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE TWO RELIGIONS. 1547 1548 1549 1552 EDWARD VI., son of Jane Seymour, aged ten — Thought- ful and deeply religious— A strict Protestant— Duke of Som- erset protector— Battle of Pinkiecleugh, 1547— Protestant reforms— English Prayer-book and Act of Uniformity, 1548- Rebellion in Devon for the old religion, 1549 — Agricultural insurrection in Norfolk, 1549— Earl Warwick protector— Made Duke of Northumberland, 1551— Somerset executed, 1552 — Second Act of Uniformity, 1552 — Edward VI. ’s grammar schools founded — Young king names Lady Jane Grey his successor— Death of king, July 6, 1553. CONTENTS. XXI MARY, daughter of Katharine of Aragon — Conscientious but narrow-minded and bitter— Lady Jane Grey proclaimed, July 10— Mary proclaimed, July 19— Northumberland executed — Roman Catholic relgion restored — Wyat’s rebellion — Lady Jane Grey beheaded, 1554 — Mary marries Philip of Spain, July 1554 — Cardinal Po le, papal legate, made Archbishop of Canterbury — Nobles refuse to give up Church lands — Perse- cution of Protestants — Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer burnt at the stake, 1555-1556 — Philip draws England into a war with France — Lords of the Congregation in Scotland, 1557 (see p. 136)— Loss of Calais, 1558— Death of Mary, Nov. 7, 1558. Pages 127-134 CHAPTER XV. PEACE AND PROGRESS UNDER ELIZABETH. ELIZABETH, daughter of Anne Boleyn — Vain and ob- stinate, but a wise and great queen, devoted to her people — Weak state of England, and danger from struggle between Roman Catholics and Protestants on the continent — Cecil, Lord Bur- leigh, Secretary of State — Act of Supremacy — Queen leans towards liberty of conscience — Calvinists of Scotland quarrel with the regent Mary of Guise, 559 — Treaty of Edinburgh, July 1560— Mary Queen of Scot s arrives in Scotland, 1561 —First English poor-law estab) tshed, 1562-1601— Advance in agriculture, trade, and manufaci ares — Increase of comfort — Oath of allegiance established, 1563 —Elizabeth will not marry — Shan O’Neill’s Revolt in Irelai d, 1565— Mary Queen of Scots marries Damley, 1565— Murder of Rizzio, 1566- Murder of Damley, 1567— Mary escapes to England and is imprisoned by Elizabeth, 1568— Growing strength of Parliament— Revolt of the Netherlands, 1568 -Plot for Mary in north of England, 1569 — Elizabeth excommunicated — Ridolfi plot, 1571 — Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 1572— English help the Netherlands by land and se i— Voyages of discovery, 1576-1583 — Frobisher, Raleigh, 1 lawkins, Drake — Roman Catholic mission and plots against Elizabeth, 1576-1583— Association to protect her, 1584— Execution of Mary Queen 1553 1554 1556 1558 1558 1559 1560 1562 1563 1566 1568 1571 1576 1584 xxn CONTENTS. 1587 1598 1601 1603 of Scots, 1587— The Spanish Armada attacks England and is dispersed, 1588— England united and at peace— Fresh rebellion in Ireland, 1595 — Edict of Nantes in France, 1598 — Growth of knowledge : Copernicus, Galileo — Age of literature : — Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, Shakespeare —Death of Lord Burleigh, 1598— East India Company founded, 1599 — Insurrection and death of Earl of 'Essex, 1601 — Ireland brought under English rule, 1602 — Abolition of monopolies— Death of the great queen, March 23, 1603. Pages 134-149 PART VI. STRUGGLES AGAINST ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. CHAPTER XVI. PREROGATIVE AND PARLIAMENT. 1603 1604 1614 1620 1621 JAMES I., son of Mary Queen of Scots, came to England and was crowned on the sacred stone of Scone, July 25, 1603 — Shrewd and amiable, but undignified? and wise in his own conceit— Believed in his divine right to reign, and did not understand the English people — Three par ties —Puritan — EngKnL Church — Roman Catholics — Hampden Court conference, 1604— Proposed union with Scotland, 1604— Difficulties with the first Parliament, 1604-1610— Gunpowder Plot, 1605— James issues proclamations and levies impositions— Great Contract and dissolution of Parliament, 1610 — Addled Parliament, 1614— Rule of favourites, 1612-1621— Somerset —George Villiers— Disaster and execution of Sir Walter Raleigh, 16161618— Outbreak of Thirty Years’ War, 1619— Emigration of Puritans to America, 1620— Proposed Spanish marriage of Prince Charles broken off, 1623— King levies money illegally— Third Parliament, 1621-1622— Pym, Hamp- den, Eliot, and Coke — Impeachment of Bacon, 1621— Parlia* CONTENTS. XX1U ment dissolved, 1622— First weekly newspaper, 1622- Fourth Parliament, 1624 — Disastrous expedition to Holland, 1025 — Death of James 1 ., March 27, 1625 . Pages 151-159 CHAPTER XVII. KING AND PEOPLE. CHARLES I., son of James I. — Grave and dignified, but obstinate and insincere— Marries Henrietta of France — First Parliament, June 18 — “ Tonnage and Poundage ” — Parliament dissolved, Aug. 12 — Disastrous expedition to Cadiz, Oct. — Second Parliament, 1626 — Buckingham impeached — Parlia- ment dissolved — War with France, 1627 — King levies forced loans — Buckingham fails to relieve La Rochelle, 1627 — Oppo- sition to forced loans— Petition of right, 1628— Assassina- tion of Buckingham, 1628 — Laud made Bishop of London, 1628— Parliament defiant— Tumult and dissolution, 1629 —Rule Of Wentworth and Laud— Great emigration of Puritans, 1630-1634 — Eliot dies in the Tower, 1632 — Went- worth in Ireland, 1633-1639— Inland Post, 1635— Laud made archbishop, 1635 ; quarrels with Puritans— King levies ship-money, 1634-1638 — Hampden appeals against it — Sentences on Prynne and Bastwick, 1637 — Charles tries to force the Prayer-book on the Scots — Renewal of Covenanters, 1638— Wentworth, now Lord Strafford, recalled to Eng- land, proposes to bring Irish troops over— Short Parlia- ment, 1640 — Victory of Scots at Newburn— Long Parliament begins, 1640— Execution of Strafford, 1641— Triennial Act, 1641 — Star Chamber abolished — Massacre in Ireland, Oct. 1641 — Grand Remonstrance, Nov. 1641 — King at- tempts to seize five members, Jan. 4, 1642 — London train- bands defy the king— Outbreak of civil war, Aug. 22 — Cavaliers and Roundheads — Prince Rupert’s Horse — Powick Bridge and Edgehill battles, Sept. Oct. 1642 — Train-bands turn the king back from London — Royalist successes — Death of Hampden, June 1643 — Parliamentary successes — Falkland killed, Sept.1643— League with the Scots and death of Pym, Sept. 1643— Oliver Cromwell and his Ironsides — Battle Of Marston Moor, July 1644— Self-denying Ordinance, 1645 1622 1625 1625 1626 1627 1628 1629 1630 1634 1637 1638 1640 1641 1642 1643 1644 xxiv CONTENTS. 1649 1647 1649 —Parliamentary victory at Naseby, June 1645, ends the war — Charles takes refuge with the Scots — They give him up to Parliament, 1647 — He is seized by the army- -Plots with the Irish and Scots— Second civil war, 1648— Battle of Pres- ton— Pride’s Purge, Dec. 1649— Trial and execution of the king, Jan. 30, 1649 Pages 160-176 CHAPTER XVIII. THE COMMONWEALTH. 1649 1650 1651 1651 1653 1655 1658 1659 1660 Commonwealth or Free State proclaimed, May 19, 1649 — Leading men, Cromwell, Bradshaw, Fairfax, Vane — Europe stands aloof — Eikdn BasilikS published — Scotland and Ireland proclaim Charles II. their king, 1649 — Prince Rupert in the Channel — Cromwell in Ireland, 1649 — He sacks Drog- heda and Wexford — Charles II. in Scotland, June, 1650— Cromwell’s Campaign in Scotland, 1650— Battle of Dun- bar, Sept. 3, 1650 — Charles II. marches to England— Battle of Worcester, Sept. 3, 1651— Flight of Chai'les n. to France, Oct. 16, 1651— Commonwealth Recognized by Europe — Navigation Act, Oct. 1651 — Dutch War, 1651 — Blake defeated by Van Tromp, 1652 — Dutch completely defeated, Feb. 1653 — Abuses of the republican Government Members refuse to have a general election — Cromwell clears the House, April 20, 1653— Military rule — Barebone’s Par- liament, July 4 to Dec 16— Cromwell protector, Dec. 16, 1653— His ordinances— Peace with Holland, 1654- First Par- liament dissolved in five months — Taking of Jamaica, 1655 Government by major-generals, 1655— Second Parliament, 1656— Cromwell refuses title of king — Parliament dissolved, Feb. 1658— Battle of the Dunes, Dunkirk taken — Country at peace, but discontented — Death of Cromwell, Sept. 3, 1658 —Richard Cromwell protector for ten months — The Rump recalled— Anarchy— General Monk enters Lon- don, Jan. 1, 1660 — Long Parliament expires, March 16 1660— Charles lands at Dover, May 25, and is restored as king, May 29, 1660 Pages 176-184 CON TEN fS. XXV CHAPTER XIX. THE RESTORATION. CHARLES II., son of Charles I., witty, sagacions, easy- tempered, and wary, but selfish and indolent — Resolved never to be driven out — Clarendon, leading minister, 1660-1667 — Act of Indemnity, 1660 — Abolition of feudal tenures, 1660 — Charles keeps first nucleus of standing army — Cavalier Par- liament, 1661— A dissolute court — The people rejoice at release from Puritan rule — Sufferings in Scotland and Ireland — Cor- poration Act and Act of Uniformity, 1661-1662— Acts against Dissenters 1662-1665— Bunyan and Milton— Non- conformists emigrate — Foundation of Royal Society, 1662 — Charles’s marriage with a Roman Catholic unpopular — Execu- tion of Vane — Sale of Dunkirk, 1662— War with Holland, 1665 — Plague of London, 1665 Battle of the Downs, 1666— Fire of London, Sept. 2, 1666 — New River supply adopted — While Peace of Breda was in progress the Dutch fleet burnt ships in the Medway, 1667— Anger of people and banishment of Clarendon, 1667 — Cabal ministry, 1667-1673 — Triple Alliance with Holland and Sweden, 1668— Secret treaty of Dover between Charles and Louis, 1670— National bank- ruptcy, 1672 — Declaration of Indulgence, 1672 — Second war with Holland, 1672 — Duke of York declares himself a Roman Catholic— Test Act, 1673— End of Cabal ministry— Be- ginning of “ ministry” and “ opposition ”— Danby’s adminis- tration, 1673— Marriage of William and Mary, 1677— Charles receives French pension — Popish plot, 1678 — Treaty of Nime- guen, 1678— Fall of Danby, 1679— Struggle to exclude James, Duke of York, a Roman Catholic, from the throne, 1679-1681 — “ Habeas Corpus ” Act, 1679— Lord Shaftes- bury supports Duke of Monmouth for succession — Parliament dissolved, 1681— Names Whig and Tory arise— Oxford Parlia- ment threatened violence, 1681— Fall of Shaftesbury— Penn founds Pennsylvania, 1682— Rye House Plot, 1683— Execution of Russell and Sydney— Doctrine of passive obedience preached by clergy— Death of Charles II., Feb. 6, 1685 Pages 184-199 1 1660 1661 1662 1662 1665 1666 1667 1668 1670 1672 1673 1678 1679 1681 1683 1685 CONTENTS. xxvi 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1689 1689 1690 CHAPTER XX. THE REVOLUTION. JAMES II., brother of Charles IL, well-meaning bnt obstinate and unreasonable — Wanted to restore Roman Catholi- cism — Commits arbitrary acts — WlligS invite Monmouth as a Protestant to claim the crown, 1685 — Failure of Argyll’s rebellion in Scotland, May, 1685 — Monmonth lands and is proclaimed king at Taunton — Defeated at Battle of Sedgemoor, June, -1685 — Cruel revenge by Kirke. and by judge Jeffreys in Bloody Assizes, Sept. 1685 — James appoints Catholic officers — Parliament remonstrates against violation of Test Act, 1685 — Revocation of Edict of Nantes in Prance startles the English — Politics of the coffee-house — Blind fanaticism of James— Claims power of dispensation — Puts Catholics into office — Establishes an Ecclesiastical Court under Jeffreys, 1686 Overawes London with troops — Declaration of Indulgence, 1687 — Expels Fellows of Magdalen, 1687 — Nation tu rn a secretly to William of Orangeiand his wife Mary, James’s daughter— Birth of James’s son destroys hope of Protest- ant succession, 1688 — Trial of the seven bishops exasperates the people, June 1688— Landing of William, Nov. 5, 1688 — Flight of James— Interregnum, Dec- 1688 to Feb. 1689- Declaration of Bights drawn up, 1689— William and Mary declared king and queen, Feb. 13, 1689. WILLIAM and MABY crowned April 11, 1689 — William stern and unpopular, but a good king — James II. crosses from France to Ireland— Non-jurors and Jacobites stand aloof from William — William and Mary proclaimed in Scotland, April 11 — Dundee’s rebellion — Battle of Killiecrankie, July 27 —Civil war in Ireland— Siege and relief of Londonderry, April to Aug. 1689— James reigns in Dublin— Toleration Act passed in England — Annual voting of supplies — Mutiny Bill — William crosses to Ireland— Battle of the Boyne, July 1, 1690 Defeat of James and flight to France— Battle of Beachy Head, 1690— Ireland subdued— Treaty of Limerick, 1691— Mas- sacre of Glencoe, 1692 — William goes to Netherlands to fight against James’s ally, Louis of France, 1692 — Plots against 1692 CONTENTS. xxvii William— Battle of La Hogue cripples the French fleet, 1692— Greenwich Hospital founded by Mary — Origin of Na- tional Debt, 1692— Rise of Party Government, 1693- Bank of England established, 1694 — ,New Triennial Act, 1694— Death of Queen Mary, 1694— Freedon of Press, 1695 — Law of treason amended — New Coinage, 169ft — Window tax, 1696— Plot to murder William, ^.697 — Peace of Ryswick, 1697— Reduction of the army— Judges made independent, 1701— Spanish succession — Two Partitions treaties — Anjou becomes King of Spain — Louis takes Netherland fortresses— Act of settlement, 1701, settles the crown after Anne on Electress Sophia of Hanover, granddaughter of James I. — Death of James II. in France— The claims of his son the Pretender to the English crown supported by Louis, 1701 — England eager for war to keep out the Pretender — Death of William, Feb. 2, 1702. Pages 199-222 1694 1696 1697 1701 1702 CHAPTER XXI. THE LAST OF THE STUARTS. ANNE proclaimed queen — Slow-minded, affectionate, and good — Ministry of Marlborough and Godolphin, 1702- Grand Alliance against France— Marlborough hampered by the allies — Occasional Conformity Bill, 1702-1711 — Queen Anne’s Bounty, 1704— Battle of Blenheim, 1704— Taking of Gibraltar, 1704 — Battle of Ramillies, 1706— Whigs refuse peace with Louis, 1706 Pretender threatens Scotland — Fall of the funds, 1708 — Growth of large towns — Decrease of yeomen — Union of Scotland and England, 1707— Penal laws afflict Ireland — Battles of Oudenarde and Lille, 1708 — Malplaquet, j7Q9_The people weary of war — Marlborough and the Whigs dismissed, 1710 — Tory Government under Harley and St. John —Peace of Utrecht ends the war, 1713— England gains Gib- raltar and Nova Scotia — Tory plot for the Pretender— Death of A Tin a, July 30, 1714— Whig dukes proclaim George I. son of Electress Sophia— Struggle of seventeenth century andn in a powerful constitution— Literature of seventeenth century Pages 222*231 1702 1704 1706 1707 1708 1710 1713 1714 CONTENTS xxviii 1714 1715 1716 1721 Walpole, March 1721 1727 1737 Wilmington, 1742 Pelham, July 1743 1745 1746 1748 PART VII. THE EXPANSION OP ENGLAND. CHAPTER XXII. ENGLAND STRENGTHENED. GEORGE I. of Hanover, great grandson of James I., honest and well-meaning — Impeachment of Tory ministers — A Whig Parliament — People restless — Riot Act passed, 1715— Jacobite plots in the north, 1715— Death of Louis XIV. rendered France harmless, 1715 — Septennial Parlia- ment established, 1716 — Defeat of Spaniards at Cape Passaro, 1718 — Spread of English trade — South Sea Bub- ble bursts, 1721— Walpole, who had opposed the scheme, becomes Prime Minister, 1721-1742— Having influence with great Whig families, he gives rest to the country — Wood’s halfpence cause trouble in Ireland, 1723 — Death of George I ., 1727. GEORGE IL, son of George I., stubborn and passionate — His queen upheld Walpole — Walpole’s good finance measures — Failure of Excise Bill, 1733 — Walpole alienates his friends— Rise of Patriot Party, 1737— Death of Queen Caroline, 1737 — Preaching of Whitefield and Wesley, 1739 — Family Compact of France and Spain — War of Jen- kin’s ear, 1739 — Fall of Walpole, 1742 — War of the Aus- trian succession — England drawn in to defend Hanover, 1743 — Battle of Dettingen, 1743 — Anson returns from voyage round the world, 1744 — Battle of Fontenoy, 1745 — Jaco- bite Rebellion of 1745 — Battles of Falkirk and Culloden, 1746 — Prince Charlie escapes to France — Disarming of Highlanders, 1746 — Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748 — Death of Prince of Wales, 1751 — Reform of Calendar — History of East India Company— Struggle between English and French in India— Dupleix and Clive, 1749-1751 — CONTENTS. xxix Daring campaign of Clive, 1751— Peace in India, 1759- Skirmishes between English and French in Canada, 1754 — French build Fort Duquesne, 1754 — Defeat of English general Braddock, 1755 — War in Canada inevitable —Seven Years’ War in Europe, 1756— Panic in England — French seise Minorca, 1756 — News of disaster of Black Hole of Calcutta, 1756 — Admiral Byng executed, 1757 — English defeated on continent, 1757 — General despair — Rise of Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, 1757- Takes vigorous measures — Gives support to King Frederick of Prussia — "V ictories of Rossbach and Luethen, 1757 — Clive retakes Calcutta, 1757 — Battle of Plassy, 1757— English Power established in India— Pitt sends troops to Canada, 1757 — Fort Duquesne taken, 1758 — Wolfe takes Quebec, 1759 — Montreal surrenders, 1760 — Canada becomes Eng- lish — First canals made, 1758 — Constant victories in Europe — Death of Geo. II., Oct. 26, 1760. GEORGE III., son of Geo. II., wants peace — Pitt retires because war with Spain is not declared, 1761 — Earl of Bute minister— War with Spain is forced on England, 1672— Peace of Hubertsburg and Treaty of Paris end the Seven Years’ War, 1763. Pages 231-251 CHAPTER XXIII. INDEPENDENCE OE AMERICAN COLONIES. At Peace of Paris George III. had been king for three y eara Ministers were all powerful— Parliament did not represent the people— State of England— Machines and steam engines— Land enclosures— Increase of paupers — Growing importance of the middle class Geo. Il l ,, re- ligious simple-minded, and a good father, shrewd and persevering, but obstinate and arbitrary; he became insane-He retarded progress of England Tory party revived under Bute— Bribery and injustice— Bute resigns, 1763— Contest of Parliament with Wilkes, 1763- Quarrel with American colonists begins, 1764 Stamp Act, 1751 1754 Duke of Newcastle, 1764 1756 Duke of Devonshire Nov. 1756 Newcastle, June, 1767 1757 1758 1760 1761 Lord Buie, 1762 1763 1763 Lard Bute. Grenville, April 1768 XXX Contents. Rockingham, 1765 Grafton , July 1766 Lord North Jan. 1770 1773 1775 1777 1780 Rockingham, March 1782 Shelburne, July 1782 Portland, April 1783 William Pitt, Deo. 1783 William Pitt 1784 1785 1765 — First Regency Bill — Stamp Act repealed, 1766— Townshend’s Revenue Act causes irritation in America, 1767— Wilkes elected for Middlesex, 1769— Parliament refuses to admit him, and wrongfully gives the seat to Colonel Luttrell — Wilkes fights the battle of reporters in Commons, 1771 — Contest between Parliament and the city — Reporting continues — Modem newspapers. Restless feeling increases in America, 1770 — I>nty on tea — Tea thrown in Boston Harbour, 1773 — First Con- gress in America, 1774 — Skirmish at Concord, April 19, 1775— War begins between colonists and England — Battle of Bunker’s Hill, May 1775 — George Washington commander-in-chief— Declaration of American Inde- pendence, July 4, 1776 — Surrender of Burgoyne’s army, Oct- 1777— Last efforts of Chatham for peace— Hia death, 1778 — Siege of Gibraltar, 1779-1782 — All Europe against England — Grattan obtains free export for Ireland, 1780 ; and repeal of Poyning’s law, 1782 — Gordon riots, 1780 —Surrender of English Army at Yorktown, Oct. 1781— Lord North resigns, 1782 — Rodney’s naval vic- tories, 1782— England acknowledges independence of America, 1782 — Treaty of Versailles, Jan. 1783. Extension Of Eng li s h rule — Cook’s voyages, 1768- 1779 — Convict settlements in Australia, 1788 — The younger Pitt Prime Minister, Dec. 1783— Pitt and Fox — Warren Hastings Governor-General of India, 1773 — First Mahratta war, 1779-1782 — Defence of Madras — -East India Bill passed — Government Board of Control appointed, 1784— Trial of Warren Hastings, 1787-1795. Pages 251-265 CHAPTER XXIV. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION — NAPOLEON AND ENGLAND. Pitt remained minister from 1783 to 1800— Adam Smith’s Wealth of Waltons — Pitt reduces National Debt — Offers free trade to Ireland, 1785 — Tries without success to pass a Reform Bill — King has attack of insanity, 1788— CONTENTS. XXXJ Second Regency Bill — King recovers, 1788 — French Revo- lution breaks out, May 5, 1789— Bastille stormed, July 1789 14 — Trouble between Orange Lodges and United Irishmen, 1790-1791— Execution of Louis XVI., 1793— Burke 1790 rouses England to her danger — War between England and French republic, Feb. 1793— Naval victory of Lord 1793 Howe, 1794 — French take Amsterdam and Dutch fleet, 1795 1795 —England captures Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, and Malacca, 1795 — Distress in England caused by the war — Pitt grows alarmed — “ Habeas Corpus ” Act suspended — Trial of Horne Tooke and others— French invasion of Ireland fails, 1796 — French refuse terms of peace, 1796 — 1796 Naval Battle of St. Vincent, Feb. 1797— Mutiny at the Nore, May— Naval Victory of Camperdown, Oct. 1797 — Napoleon Bonaparte crosses to Egypt, 1798 — Nel- 1798 son’s victory Of the Nile, Aug. 1798— Irish rebellion of 1798— Union of Ireland and England, 1800— Pitt re- 1800 signs because the King will not recognise Catholic rights, j ddinffton Jan. 1801— King insane for a short time — Victories of May 1801 ’ Alexandria and Copenhagen, 1801 — Peace Of Ami ens ends war with French republic, 1802— Sir A. Welles- 1802 ley in Second Mahratta war, 1803 — War between England and Napoleon, who is now Emperor of M ™ e £ 04 France, 1803-1815 — Napoleon’s threatened invasion of England, 1805— Victory of Trafalgar, death of Nelson, Lora. Oct. 1805 — Defeat of Austerlitz, Dec. 1805 — Death of ^ n ^8t« Pitt, Jan. 1806— Death of Fox, Sept. 1806— Napoleon defeats Prussians at Jena and issues Berlin decree against French vessels, NOV. 1806— Abolition Of slave trade, March 1807 1807— Invades Portugal, 1808— Peninsular War begins, 1808 — Retreat of Corunna, 1809 — Death of Sir John Moore — King becomes hopelessly insane, 1810— Prince of Wales Perceval, Regent, 1811 — Wellington’s victories in Spain, Dea 1809 1809— 1813 — Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, Salamanca, 1812 — Vittoria, Battle of Pyrenees, St. Sebastian, 1813 — Perceval jJ^ rd ol shot, 1812— War with United States, 1812— Burning of j U iiel812 Moscow and French retreat, 1812— Allies victorious— Na- poleon sent to Elba, April 28, 1814— He escapes— Battle of Waterloo, 1815— Peace of Paris, 1815— Napoleon dies 1815 a prisoner in St. Helena, 1821— Distress from effects C6NtEfctS. • , . ** xkxii 1817 1319 1820 1820 1822 1824 1826 Canning, April 1827 Goderich, Sept. 1827 Wellington, Jan. 1828 1830 1830 Lord Grey, Nov. 1830 Melbourne, July 1834 Sir R. Peel, Dec. 1834 Melbourne, April 1835 Of the war — The Farmers’ Corn-law, 1815 — Gas introdu* ed, 1816— Riots, 1816— Death of Princess Charlotte and her baby, 1817 — Manchester massacre, 1819 — Six Acts passed, 1819 — Term “Radical” arose — Death Of George HI., Jan. 29, 1820. . . Pages 266-284 CHAPTER XXV. THE HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES. GEORGE IV., son of George HI.— Trial of Queen Caroline— Cato Street conspiracy, Feb. 23— Suicide of Lord Londonderry (Castlereagh), 1822 — Canning as For- eign Secretary keeps England at peace — Catholio Association, 1823— First Mechanics' Institute, 1823 — Peel reforms criminal laws, 1824 — Huskisson passes Reciprocity of Duties Bill and reforms trade laws, 1823- 1824 — Speculation, panic, and famine, 1824-1826— Emigra- tion, 1826— Foundation of Australian colonies, 1803- 1836— Canning Prime Minister, 1827 — Death of C anning , 1827— Sliding-scale duties on com, 1828— Wellington Prime Minister, 1828-1830— Election of O’Connell, 1828 —Catholic Emancipation Bill passed, 1829— New police introduced^g9— George IV. died, June 1830. WIL MPft lV.. second son of George III., genial, homely samP- Second French Revolution' made England restless, 1830 — Huskisson killed at opening of Manchester railway, 1830 — Resignation of Wellington, Nov. 1830— Reform Bills : 1st in March ; 2nd in Sept. 3rd, which was carried, Dec. 18, 1831 — Terms Conserva- tive and Liberal arose — Abolition of Slavery Act passed Aug. 30, 1833 — Factory and Education Acts, 1833 New poor-law, 1834 — Municipal reform, 1835 — Changes produced distress — Canada rebellion, 1837 — Death of Wil- liam IV., June 20, 1837. Pages 284-297 CHAPTER XX VL ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. Melbourne, 1837 VICTORIA, daughter of Duke of Kent, succeeded, June 20, 1837, crowned June 28, 1838 — Married to Prince CONTENTS. XXX1U Albert, Feb. 10, 1840 — Hanover passes to Duke of Cum- berland — Electric telegraph invented — Lord Durham sent as governor-general to Canada, 1838 — Rise of Chartists — Anti-corn-law League, 1838 — Pe nn y Post, 1839 — Opium war with China, 1839 — Constitution granted to Canada, 1840 — Massacre in Kabul Pass, Afghanistan, 1842— Peel establishes income-tax, 1842— Free Church of Scotland established, 1843 — Potato disease in Ire- land, 1845 — Peel supports free trade, 1845 — Repeal of COm-laws, 1846 — Protection Party throw Peel out of office, 1846— French Revolution of 1848 rouses the Chartists — Failure of Chartist Demonstration, April 10, 1848 — Annexation of the Punjab, 1849 — Free Libraries, 1850. Constitution given to Cape Colony, 1850— Aus- tralian Colonies Bill, 1850— Rise of New Zealand, 1839-1850— Discovery of gold in California and Aus- tralia, 1849-1851 — Constitution granted to New Zealand, 1852 — Maori wars, 1861-1868. Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, 1851 — Coup <$Etat of Louis Napoleon, Dec. 2, 1851— First English volunteers, 1852 — Eastern Question grows troublesome, 1853 — Crimean War, 1854 — Battle of Alma, Sept. 20— Balaclava, Oct. 25 — Inkermann, Nov. 5, 1854— Confusion and mismanagement — Help of Miss Florence Nightingale — S ebastop ol ‘taken, Sept. 8, 1855— Treaty of Paris ends the war, March 30, 1856. Grievances of Indian Sepoys— Indian Mutiny, 1857 — Massacre of Cawnpore, July 15— Justice of Canning, governor-general — Relief of Lucknow, Sept. 23 — Campaign of Sir Hugh Rose, 1858 — East India Company ceases, 1858 — Queen proclaimed sovereign of India, Nov. 1— Took title of Empress of India, 1877. Orsini quarrels with France — Volunteers are organ- ized and made part of the British army, 1858— United States Civil War breaks out, 1861— Causes cotton famine in Lancashire, 1861— The Alabama claims— Death of Prince Consort, Dec. 14, 1861— Marriage of Prince of Wales, 1863— Public Health Act, 1866— Wars in Afghanistan and Africa, 1867*1886 — Reform Bills, 1867* 1838 1839 1840 Sir R. Peel, Sept. 1841 1845 Lord John Russell, July 1846 1848 1850 1851 Lord Derby , Feb. 1852 Lord Aberdeen, Dec. 1852 Lord Palmerston, Feb. 1855 1856 1857 Lord Derby, Feb. 1858 Lord Palmerston, June 1859 Lord Russell, Nov. 1865 Lord Derby July 1866 Disraeli, Feb, 1868 xxxiv CONTENTS. Gladstone, Dec. 1868 Dsraeli, Feb. 1874 Gladstone, April 1880 Lord Salisbury, June 1885 Gladstone, Feb. 1886 Salisbury, Aug. 1886 1608 1635 1642 1885 — Fenian and Trades Union outrages, 1867 — Irish Church disestablished, 1869 — Franco-Prussian War, 1870 — Irish Land Act, 1870— Education Act, 1870— Religious Tests abolished at universities — Army Purchase abolished, 1871 — Disraeli becomes Lord Baconsfield, 1876 — Irish Ob' struction begins', 1877— Murder of Cavendish and Burke by Irish, 1882— Reform Bill, brings in 2,485,667 new voters, 1885 — “ Home Rule ” of Gladstone and Parnell defeated, 1886 — Depression of trade and agriculture, 1879- 1886 — Science, literature, and general advance of nine- teenth century— Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 representing the English Empire- Pages 286-322 CANADIAN HISTORY. CHAPTER I. EARLY SETTLEMENT OF CANADA. Dominion of Canada defined— Early inhabitants— North American Indians — Discovery of America — Jacques Cartier— Champlain— Founding of Quebec, 1608— Com- pany of One Hundred Associates — Quebec taken by Sir David Kirke, 1629 — Death of Champlain, 1635- Pages 323-327 CHAPTER IL CANADA UNDER FRENCH RULE. Indian missions— Indian wars— Destruction of Huron missions— Martyrdom of Br^bceuf and Lalement— Founding of Montreal, 1642— Story of Dulac des Ormeaux — Laval in Canada— Royal Government — Custom of Paris — Military or feudal tenure — Carignan regiment settles in Canada— Talon’s Administration— Patern al Govern- ment — Count de Frontenac — Marquette and Joliet Si$tiy CONTENTS. XXXV de la Salle— Discovery and exploration of the Mis- sissippi Frontenac’s first Administration — Massacre of Lachime, 1689 — Frontenac’s second Administration — Sir William Phips tries to take Quebec, and fails, 1690— Border warfare State Of the Colony — Condition of the people — Louisburg taken, 1745-Restored, 1748— Braddock’s expe- dition, 1755 — Baron Dieskau defeated, 1755 — Seven years’ war begins, 1756 — Massacre of Fort William Henry, 1757 — Louisburg captured, 1758— Ticonderoga, 1758— Fort Du Quesne taken, 1758- Niagara taken, 1759— Wolfe appears before Quebec— Battle of Plains of Abraham, Sept. 13, 1759 — Montcalm and Wolfe killed — Quebec surrendered, Sep. 18, 1759. . . Pages 328-346 1689 1690 1748 1755 1757 1758 1759 CHAPTER III. LATINO THE POUNDATIONS OP THE CANADIAN CONSTITUTION. The British spend the winter in Quebec — ; Second battle of Plains of Abraham, 1760— Peace of Paris, 1763— Conspiracy of Pontiac — Detroit besieged by the Indians — Militar y rule — State of the colony — Government of Canada, 1763-74— Quebec Act, 1774— Declaration of Independence, 1776 — Invasion of Montgomery and Arnold — Montgomery killed at Quebec — Boundaries of Canada fixed, 1783 — United Empire Loyalists settle in Canada, 1784— British settlers dissatisfied with Quebec Act — Constitutional Act Of 1791— Boundary between Upper and Lower Canada defined — Terms of Constitutional Act — Act goes into force, 1792. . . Pages 346-355 1763 1774 1776 1783 1784 1791 1792 CHAPTER IY. THE WAR OP 1812. The beginning of Parliamentary Government— First Parliament of Upper Canada meets at Newark (Niagara), Sep., 1792 — Legislation — Abolition of slavery in Upper Canada — First Parliament of Lower Canada meets, Dec., 1792 — Legis- lation— Chief Justice Osgoode’s decision regarding slavery- 1792 xxxvi CONTENTS. 1812 1813 1814 1822 1837 1838 Founding of Upper fi a.nfl.rla. — Life of settlers — Political dis- content — Cause of War Of 1812 — War declared, June — Plan of campaign of Americans — Tecumseh and Brock — Surrender of Detroit by Hull— Battle of Queenston Heights, Oct. 13, 1812— Death of Brock and Macdonnell — Dearborn defeated at Lacolle — American successes at sea — fi fl.m pa.i g n of 1813 — Army bills issued — York captured — Stony Creek — Beaver Dams — Mrs. Laura Secord — Captain Barclay defeated on Lake Erie by Commodore Perry — Battle of Moraviantown, Oct. 5, 1813 — Tecumseh killed — Battle of Chrysler’s Farm, Nov. H ( 1813 — Battle of Chateauguay, Sept. 26, 1813 — Niagara burned by Americans— Buffalo, Lewiston, and other American villages burned by the British — 1814 and the close of the wax — Lacolle Mill— Chippewa— Lundy’s Lane, July 25, 1814- Failure of attack on Plattsburg — Washington taken — Treaty of Ghent, Dec. 24, 1814 — Repulse of British at New Orleans. Pages 355-369 CHAPTER Y. THE STRUGGLE FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT, AND THE REBELLION 1837-38. Growth of the colony — Immigration — Inland navigation and canals — Banks founded — Canada Trade Act, 1822 — Educa- tional growth— Political abuses and troubles— Causes of discontent in Lower Canada — Discontent in Upper Canada — The Family Compact— Clergy Reserves question — William Lyon Mackenzie— Rebellion in Lower Canada, 1837-38— Papineau — St. Denis — St. Eustache — Lord Durham sent to Canada— Illegal Acts of Durham —Durham’s Report— Rebel- lion in Upper Canada, 1837— Sir Francis Bond Head— Mont- gomery’s Tavern— Mackenzie escapes to the United States— “Patriot War,” 1838— Burning of the “Caroline "—Battle of the Windmill, Nov. 16, 1838— Execution of Yon Schultz and his companions, , , , Pages 369-379 CONTENTS. xxxvii CHAPTER VI. THE GROWTH OP RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. Act Of Union, 1840 — Charles Poulett Thompson, Governor 1840 — Union takes place, 1841— Terms of Union— Municipal Act of 1841 — Other measures — Sir Charles Metcalfe — Disagrees 1841 with his Ministers — Governs without a Ministry — A ah burton Treaty, 1842 — Terms of Treaty — Educational progress in 1842 Upper Canada — Dr. Ryerson and Public School system — Colleges founded — Lord Elgin’s Administration — Rebellion 1846 Losses Bill — Parliament Buildings burned — Commercial pro- 1849 gress — Railway era — Municipal Loan Fund Act — Uniform 1852 Postage, 1851— Reciprocity Treaty, 1854— Clergy Reserves 1854 and Seignorial Tenure Acts, 1854 — Increase of members of 1853 Parliament — Legislative Council becomes elective, 1856 — Repre- 1856 sentation by population agitation— Political deadlock- steps towards Confederation — British North America Act 1864-6 passed, 1867 — Volunteer system, 1854— Decimal Currency, 1867 1858 — Reciprocity Treaty expires, 1866 — Fenian raids, 1866 — 1858 Ridgeway, 1866 — Effect of raids. Pages 379-391 1866 CHAPTER VII. NOVA SCOTIA AND NEW BRUNSWICK. Change of names of Upper and Lower Canada — Nova Scotia — First settlement at Port Royal, 1605 — Port Royal taken by 1605 English colonists — Old name of province, Acadia — Called Nova Scotia by Sir William Alexander — Given to England by Treaty 1713 of Utrecht, 1713 — Halifax founded, 1749 — Acadians expelled, 1749 1755— Constitution given, 1758— New Brunswick, Cape 1758 Breton, and Prince Edward Island secede, 1784— Cape Breton 1784 returns, 1819— Responsible Government granted, 1848— 1848 Joins Confederation, 1867. 1867 New Brunswick— First settlement near St. John River — U. E. Loyalists settle in province, 1783-84— Made separate 1784 Jtxxviii 1825 province, 1784— Great fire at Miramichi, 1825 — Responsible 1867 Government, 1848— Joins Confederation, 1867. Pages 391-396 CHAPTER VIII. CANADA SINCE CONFEDERATION. British North America Act— Terms— New provinces— 1869-70 Red River Rebellion— Manitoba Act passed — British Colombia 1873 joins Confederation, 1871 — Prince Edward Island joins, 1873 — 1871 Political changes— Washington Treaty, 1871 — Halifax Corn- 1873 mission, 1878 — Pacific Railway — “ Pacific Scandal,” 1873 — 1874 Mackenzie Government formed — “ National Policy” agitation, 1878 1878 — Mackenzie Government defeated, 1878 — Ballot Act 1882 passed, 1874— Redistribution Bill, 1882— Dominion Fran- 1885 chise Act, 1885 — Increase of Dominion Parliament members — Municipal Loan Fund indebtedness settled — Crooks’ Act — “Jesuits’ Estates” question settled — Manitoba secures right to construct railways— North-West Rebellion, 1885— Batoche — Riel executed — Material progress — Canadian Pacific Rail- 1886 way completed, 1886 — Literary and social progress. Pages 396-408 HISTORY OP ENGLAND CHAPTER I. EARLY BRITAIN 1. England defined. — Before beginning to study the history of England we must first inquire what we mean when we speak of England — a question not so easy to answer as many people would suppose. The sovereign of the British Isles, Queen Yietoria, is styled “Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,” showing that Ireland is a country distinct from Great Britain ; and this is not merely because it is an island, but because a large part of it is inhabited by a people of a different Ir |ootfand d race from the English, who have a language of their own called “Gaelic,” which they still often speak among them- selves. But how about Great Britain? is this all England? Certainly not; for the northern half is Scotland, which, until about three hundred years ago, was a separate kingdom; and although the Lowlanders of Scotland are of the same race as the English, the Highlanders, living in the north, speak Gaelic, and are a branch of the same race as the Irish. There remains, then, only the south of Great Britain — from Northumberland to the English Channel. Surely this at least is England? Yes, but only if we w ^ add, “the principality of Wales;” for here again we must take out a large slice of country, inhabited by a people who have a language of their own, called “Cymric,” sufficiently like that of Ireland and the Highlands to show that the Welsh, Irish, and Highlanders sprang from the same stock, which remains to this day to a great extent separate from the English. Strictly speaking, then, England is only the southern half of the island of Great Britain, covering an area of 50,922 square miles and divided into fifty -two English counties, with the twelve counties of HISTORY OB' ENGLAND. 2 Wales (covering an area of 7398 square miles) nestling into her western side. 'Eighteen hours in the railway will carry you from the extreme south of the country to the northern boundary at Berwick-on-Tweed, and on to Edinburgh, the chief city of the Lowland Scotch ; while in eight hours you can cross the widest part of England from east to west. Yet this small country is the fatherland of the millions of English- men now spread over the globe ; and a history of England is the. history of the rise of this great people, with its struggles and its mistakes, its sufferings through ignorance and crime, and its rewards for courage, perseverance, and endurance.. ft. Britain before England. — Now if the English had lived in this country from its very be ginning , we could start at once with their doings. But the races which we now call Welsh, Irish, Highlanders, and Cornish have been in these islands at least two thousand years, as we know from scattered notices of them in Greek and other writers, and some of them probably very much longer, before we have any written account of them j while it is not fifteen hundred years since the “ Angles ” or “ Engles ” came over the sea from Angeln, on the shores of the Baltic, and, with their companions, the Jutes and the Saxons, took possession of the southern half of Britain, giving it their name.' Therefore, before we can speak of England, we must sketch very briefly the history of Britain before the English came. • • • In ages long gone by — how long none can tell — the land we now inhabit was a wild country, in different parts of which lions and tigers, bears and hyaenas, elephants, hippopotami, elks, and reindeer roamed in the forests and over the plains, disputing the ground with savage men who killed them as best they could M ^ t hl ° with weapons made of rough flints rudely chipped to a point. We know this was so, because we find these weapons in ancient caves and river gravel-beds in many parts of England, together with’the broken bones of the wild animals which were killed ; while charcoal at the mouths of the caves tell us that. fires were kindled there. We call these savages the men of the “Palaeolithic” or “Ancient Stone” Period, and we know very little about them. EARLY BRITAIN. 3 They were followed, in after ages, by men who made better weapons, still of stone, but well shaped and highly polished. These are called the men of the “ Neolithic” or “New Stone” Neolithicmen Period. W e find the bones and skeletons of these later men buried in long chambers or barrows in many parts of England, Wales, and Ireland, together with polished arrow-heads, hatchets and axes of stone, and needles and pins of bone. The bones of dogs and pigs, sheep, oxen, and goats show that 'they kept domestic animals ; and pieces of rough pottery and woven flax and straw prove that they were learning the arts of pottery-making and weaving. The skull* of these men were long and narrow, like the skulls of a small, dark-skinned, curly-haircd people called th§ Basques or Iberians, who still live in some wild mountainous parts of Spain, and speak a different language from every other nation except the Fiilns in the far north of Europe. So we have reason to suppose that the “Neolithic” men belonged to a widely-spread race, from which these Iberians also sprang ; especially as the skeletons the ancestors of the Iberians are found with polished stone weapons in long barrows in Spain just like those in Britain. There is even a small dark type of men among a certain class of Irish and Welsh of to-day which is probably a remnant of this same ancient people. We can picture these Neolithic men, then, to ourselves, keeping their cattle, fashioning their weapons and rude pots, living in caves with their wives and children, and burying their dead in long chambers made of huge uncut stones covered with earth. When this earth is dug away the stones remain, forming those Cromlechs rude tables which have been called “cromlechs,” and were long mistaken for altars. It is also probable that the strange circles of gigantic stones at Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in Wilt- shire, and elsewhere, were raised by these men, though how and why is* a mystery. Time passed on, and another race with rounder skulls began to mingle with the long-headed men. We find their skeletons in round barrows formed entirely of earth, and with them both ^ stone and bronze weapons, showing that they were learning the use of metal, In some of the later barrows we even 4 HISTORY OP ENGLAND; find tools made of- iron, which is much more difficult to work than bronze. For by this time a new people had come over into Britain, bringing with them a higher civilisation. Strange as it may seem, we must go right away to the East, probably somewhere near Persia, to find those people called “Celts,” some of whom, after long migra- tions, came and settled in our island. Scholars tell us that an Aryan people — so called from the old name Arya (the noble people) ancient- ly applied to part of Persia — started in the East long before the 1 time of history, and spread out in two directions ; into Persia and India on one side, and across Europe on the other, where we can follow the traces of their language. First these people made their homes a little to the West ; then, as they became too numerous, the stream of migration flowed on, and parties of them settled farther and farther West, till some crossed over the sea into Britain, con- quered the inhabitants and settled down, a large-limbed, fair-haired race among the smaller and darker natives. Here history first tells us of them, when the Phoenicians, sailing through thfe Straits of Gibraltar (then called the Pillars of Hercules), about six hundred years before Christ was born, came Phoenicians, to trade for tin with the Scilly Isles near Cornwall, eto cent, called by Greek writers the “Cassiterides” or Tin Is- lands. About a hundred years later the Greeks came overland from Massilia or Marseilles, and from this time we find our island called “Albion” and Ireland “Ieme,” while the whole, group was named Britannia. Here then, at last, we arrive at Britain, which became gradually- known to other nations. About three hundred and fifty years, later the great Roman general, Julius Caesar, came in Julius Ca;sar the years 55 and 54 before Christ, and, defeating the B.C. 55. Britons under their great chief, Cassivelaunus, made them promise to pay tribute to Rome. He went away again that same year, and the Britons had their country to them- selves for another hundred years, and then never again. By this time the people of the south of Britain had become fairly civilised. They had war chariots, and fought with spears, pikes, EARLY BRITAIN. 5 «nd axes, defending themselves with a shield of skin and wickerwork. They wore mantles and tunics of Britons?* cloth, and arm-rings of gold and silver, and lived in scattered huts of wood and reeds on a stone foundation. Each tribe had a din or stronghold, surrounded by a wall or high bank for refuge in time of war, and one of these — the “Lynn-din” or lake-fort, pronounced Lundun — seems to have been the beginning of our great city. They grew corn and stored it in cavities of the rocks, and they made basket-work boats and canoes hollowed out of tree-trunks. The inland people were more ignorant ; they dressed in the skins of beasts, and lived on milk and meat ; while those still further to the north were mere naked savages — fearless, cruel, and revengeful. There was something grand and yet horrible in the religion of the Britons. They had priests called Druids, who had secret doctrines of their own, and who are said to have offered up men and women as sacrifices ; but the people seem chiefly to have worshipped nature. They adored the genii of the streams, woods, and J ° ... . . Druid rebgion. mountains. Thp oak, with the mistletoe growing on it, was their emblem of Divinity ; and they met for worship in c-v .3 and in the depths of the forest. 3. Roman Rule. — Such were the Britons when the Romans came a second time, under the Emperor Claudius, and took possession of the south of the island. The Britons struggled bravely for many years, and harassed the Ro “ a n conquest Romans in the woods and marshes. For seven years A.D. 43.’ it seemod doubtful which side would win, and then the great British chief, Caractacus, was defeated and sent a prisoner to Rome. When the Romans had once gained a footing they advanced, till in a few years more they reached the island of Anglesey, then called Mona , where they massacred the Druids in their stronghold. But they nearly lost the country, for Boadicea, the widow of a British chief, roused the people in the east of England ; and it was only after London, then an open British town, had been burnt, 'ajx < 6L* and the Romans were almost exhausted, that they won the day . Queen Boadicea is said to have poisoned herself to escape the shame of being taken. 6 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. After this the Romans ruled over the Britons for about three hundred years, much as the English govern India now . They made good laws, and laid down solid roads, which remain to Roman'nile! this da y- One of these, called Watling Street (see Map II.), stretched from Dover to Chester, passing through London. They built houses and villas, public baths and theatres ; and large towns such as York, Lincoln, and Chester sprang up in different parts of the country. To this day we can trace many of these towns — such as Doncaster, Leicester, Manchester — by the termination caster or cester, from the Latin castra, a camp or fortified place. They cleared the forests and encouraged the growth of corn, so that Britain was called “the granary of the North;” and they introduced many new fruits, worked the mines, and taught the Britons civilised habits. It was during this time that missionaries visited our island, and both Britons and Romans became Christians. But though Roman roads, the pavements of Roman villas, and Roman walls remain to this day, the influence of these people on the Britons did not last. Britain was, after all, only a conquered province of Rome. The natives lived happily under their conque- rors, imitating their customs, speaking Latin as a fashionable lan- guage, and relying upon the Romans to defend them. Yet they clung at heart to their own laws and their own chiefs ; and when in the year 401 the Romans, much troubled by enemies at home, gradually took away their troops from South Britain, Romans begin the people would have been glad to see them go, if they ^ could have defended themselves without their help 1 t. from their wild Celtic neighbours in Northern Britain, v j These neighbours, the “Piets ” or Caledonians, and the “ Scots ” ’ v — who came originally from Ireland, and afterwards gave Scotland - A' its name — were savage and warlike. Even the Romans A ' v Pl Scots? * i49 ‘ mined to set one enemy against the other ; and a Bri- tish chief named Tortigem is said, to have invited Hengest and Horsa, two chiefs of the sea-pirates from Jutland, to settle in the Isle of Thanet, in the north of Kent, and fight his battles against the Piets. This the Jutes did, but no sooner had they conquered the Piets than they turned their arms against the Britons themselves. Horsa was killed in the first battle, but Hengest led the Jutes on, and after thirty years of fighting, his son Eric founded the two small kingdoms of East and "West Kent (see Map I.), of which the chief city was Cant-wara-byrig or Kentmensborough, now our city of Canterbury. So the Jutes were the first of our ancestors to settle in this country. But meanwhile other pirate boats cruising in the Channel carried back, year after year, tidings of a land to be conquered ; and the Saxons, who also came from the opposite shores between Amvalof the rivers Elbe and Weser, landed with their chiefs on A D. 477. the south coast of Britain. Long before this the Britons had bitterly regretted calling in foreign allies, for these new invaders killed or drove back all before them, and when Cissa, their chief, took the town of Anderida, near where Pevensey now is, he left not a single Briton alive. The Saxons moved forward very slowly, for the land was covered with dense forests, S the^ritonl h marshes, and swamps, and the Britons fought despe- rately. In those days battles were hand to hand fights, and the ground which was won one day was often lost the next. In the year 520 the British King Arthur (about whom the legends of the knights of the round table are told) defeated the West Sax o ns go completely that he stopped them for many a year. THE ENGLISH KINGDOMS ABOUT A. 0.600 Scale of Miles Rntons Linttis/hme *&umt>onrjiie/h Unitt"" M? Nor flil r / Alltel J Drorhujll^^ Worthfolk l^as t/ An 4 les / foutn folKt yDttrchc&tr-r fulrrwsbury lulryfart-tisfr 2W. Gr. HOW THE ENGLISH CAME. 9 It was, however, only a question of time. The Britons were divided among themselves, and were helpless against the numbers which came over the sea, fresh every year, to strengthen the invad- ers, bringing with them their wives, children, and cattle, and settling down stubbornly to make new homes whenever they gained a fresh piece of country. It is true they took sixty l° n g years to win Southern Britain, but at the end of settlements, that time they had founded the kingdoms of the South Saxons or Sussex, West Saxons or Wessex, East Saxons or Essex, and Middle Saxons or Middlesex, and the Britons were driven westward into the part now called Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. Meanwhile, on the north-east of Britain, another tribe called the “Angles,” who came from the small country of Angeln in Schleswig, north of the Diver Eyder, were settling down in large numbers. This tribe is specially interesting to us; first, S the e Angles. 0f because almost the entire people came over with all they had and made our country their home, and secondly, because they gave their name of Angles or Engles to our nation. We do not know exactly when they first landed, but we know that some of them sailed up the Humber and founded a kingdom called Deira ; while in 547 another portion of the tribe came in fifty boats from Angeln, under a chief called Ida the flame-bearer, and going farther north founded the kingdom of Bem- icia ; and, after a struggle of fifty years or more, Bern- No ^^“o£ ia ’ icia and Deira were united into the kingdom of North- Humber-land, which stretched from the Diver Humber right up to the Eirth of Forth. This explains why the Lowland Scotch are Teutons, while the Highlanders are Celts. The Angles drove the Celts into the Highlands and took the Lowlands for themselves, and the city of Edinburgh itself took its name Eadwinesburh from one of the later Anglian kings, Eadwine or Edwin. Meanwhile other Angles were settling to the south of the Humber. Tho North-folk and South-folk settled in the counties still called by their names, and formed the kingdom of East Anglia (see Map I.) ; while others pushed into the middle of England, into East jferli ™ that part now called the Midland Counties. These middle -Angles were called Marchmen or Bordermen, as living on 10 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. the borders of the land still held by the Britons, while their land was called March-land or Mercia. And so it came to pass that about the end of the sixth century, two hundred years after the Bomans left, the Britons had been driven right over to the west of England, into Devonshire and Cornwall (or West Wales) on the south, into the mountains of North Wales on the west, and into Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, then called “Strathclyde,” farther to the north. They also began about this time to be called Welsh, which was the name the Angles used for strangers, or those whose language they did not understand. The rest of the country was in the hands d the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, who were called Saxons by the Welsh, but who, as they grew into one people, were sometimes called Anglo-Saxons, but among themselves more commonly English. They held all the east of the island, from the English Channel to the Firth of Forth, and it was roughly divided into seven chief kingdoms — Kent, belonging to the Jutes ; Sussex, Wessex, and Essex, belonging to the Saxons ; Northumbria, Anglia, and Mercia, belonging to the Angles — and these seven kingdoms Heptarchy have been called the “Heptarchy.” We must not, misleading. j lowevei . ) SU pp G se that these were fixed and settled divisions, as we should understand kingdoms now. The Anglo- Saxons were free men who had come over in separate bands, under favourite leaders, to take what they could, each for themselves. When they were not fighting against the Britons, they were struggling with each other, trying to get the upper hand, so that the different kingdoms were broken up and pieced together over and over again before the English became one nation. To understand the history of these times we must picture to our- selves a wild country, with dense forests, wide swamps and marshes, and waste land in the plains. The Roman roads still remained in Early English villages. the more civilised parts, but the only roads in the west were narrow rugged passes through the mountains, where the Britons had taken refuge. Here and there, over the plains and undulating ground in the east of the country, would be grouped the villages of one or other of the English tribes, HOW THE ENGLISH CAME. 11 with some cultivated land around them, while the towns which the Romans had built had very few people in them, and were falling into ruin. Village moot. 2. Social and Political Condition of tlte English. The people in the villages were rough, sturdy freemen, only just settling down from a sea-life. The largest house would belong to the Etheling or Eorl, a man of nobler family Ceorls d and wealthier than the rest. But even the Ceorls or churls, who were lowlier freemen, had each his own house, built on his own land which was portioned out to him to cultivate. Some late-comers, who had no land of their own, worked for the ceorls, and were called Laets; while there were La s ®ave” d a good many slaves , either conquered Britons or men who had sold or lost their freedom, and these men might be sold by their masters either in the country or into foreign lands. On the whole, however, the greater number were free men, having their own house and land, and a voice in the village Moot or meeting, which was held around the sacred tree, to settle disputed questions and to divide the land. A man who had committed a crime was judged by his fellows, and acquitted if he could get a number of honest men to swear that he was innocent. This was called “ compurgation .” If he could not clear himself in this way, he was allowed to appeal to the °a™d ordeai? n “ ordeal ” or “judgment of God,” by walking blindfold over red-hot ploughshares, or dipping his hand into boiling water. If he was unhurt, then he was declared not guilty. Each village or township was surrounded by a rough fence called a “ tun" and was separated from the next by a piece of waste ground called the “marfc” or march which no one might claim. If a stranger crossed this mark he blew a horn, otherwise any one had a right to kill him. The townships were grouped into H d “hundreds,” and when the people had to gather for war, or to settle any great question, some of the freemen from each of the villages meet together in the great “ Folkmoot” or meeting of the tribe, arid choose ealdormen or aldermen from among the eorls to lead them to battle, or to speak for a ndwitan them in the “ Witanqemot ” or meeting of wise men, 12 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Heathen gods. where laws were framed, and questions of peace or war decided. Before the English came to Britain each band was governed separ- ately by its own alderman. Now, however, that they were obliged to unite against another nation, they elected one alderman to be superior to the others, as “king” over a large number of bands. But though the king had his own “ Thegns” or chosen bands of warriors, he could do nothing without the consent of the Witan and all the people. He could not even say who K1 ec ted king3 should reign after him. The kings were elected, though they were generally chosen from the same family, because the people believed that certain families were descended from Woden, their great god of war. 3. Religions Condition of tlie English. — For these Angles were still heathen, and although the Britons whom they con- quered were Christians, yet they did not learn from them. Our days of the week still remind us of the gods of our ancestors — Wednesday is Woden's day ; Thursday, the day of Thor, the god of thunder ; Friday, the day of Freya, goddess of peace and fruitfulness ; while Eostre, goddess of the spring, gave her name to our Easter. Besides these chief gods, they believed in water-nixies and wood-demons, in spirits of earth and air, in hero- gods and in weird women. The real religion, however, of these ancient English was not in these superstitious beliefs, but in their deep sense of right, of justice, of freedom, and of the mystery of life and death ; and it was because they were so much in earnest that the Christian religion, when it came, took such a deep hold upon them. It came very slowly and with many a struggle. Pope Gregory the Great, when he was quite a young man, had once seen some young fair-haired boys who were being sold as slaves in the market-place of Rome. Touched by their beauty, he asked where they came from, and when he heard that they were Angles, “Not Angles, but angels,” said he, “with faces so angel- like.” When he became Pope he remembered those lovely heathen boys, and in the year 596 sent a Roman abbot named Augustine, with forty monks, to preach the gospel to the English people. Augustine landed in Kent, where a king named Ethelbert was then Christianity. how the English came. 13 feigning, who had married a Christian wife, Bertha, the daughter of a Frankish king. Ethelbert met Augustine on the Isle of Thanet, in the open air for fear he should cast a spell upon him, and listened to him patiently. In the end he was bap- k^Td^ tised with many of his people, outside the chief gate of Canterbury, where the little Church of St. Martin now stands. From that time the kingdom of Kent became Christian, and Augus* tine was the first Archbishop of Canterbury. From Kent the new religion spread to Northumbria. Edwin, king of that land, married Ethelbert’s daughter, and she took a monk named Paulinus with her to the north. Here Edwin called together his Witan, and they listened to this faith which told them of a life after death, and accepted Christianity. Edwin was a very powerful king, for all the other kings, except Northumbria* the King of Kent, acknowledged him “overlord” or, as they called it, “Bretwalda.” He ruled so well that in his days “a woman with her babe might walk scatheless (unhurt) from sea to sea,” which was saying a great deal in such a turbulent land. 4. Irish Missions, 634-664. — The Irish had been converted by St. Patrick a hundred years before, and an Irish monk, Columba, built a mission-station on a small rocky island called Iona on the west coast of Scotland, from which teachers went out to all the north of England. Cuthbert, monk of Montrose, who wandered on foot among the Northumbrians, and Caedmon, the cowherd of Whitby, our first English poet, were trained under these Irish monks, who did good work among the people. In the year 664, however, some questions arose about minor Church matters between these Irish monks and the Roman missionaries, and King Oswi of Northumbria decided in favour of the Roman teachers. Most of the Irish monks then went back to their home, and monks and bishops from Rome took up the work. The Pope sent Theodore of Tarsus as Arch- bishop of Canterbury, and he marked out the sees of the bishops and appointed priests to each village, or cluster of villages, which were then probably first called “parishes.” An archbishop was afterwards appointed to York for the north of England, and archbishops, bishops, and priests sat in the “moots” and took a part in govering the people. 14 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Monasteries now sprang up rapidly, and the monks settling among the rough freemen taught them to love quiet work and respect learning. Carpenters and other artisans and traders settled round the monasteries and abbeys ; markets were held before the abbey gates ; and in this way small towns began to grow up. It was in the „ . . monastery of Jarrow, on the coast of Durham, that Ongm of towns. „ ... Bede, the first writer of English history, spent his whole life, and trained six hundred scholars, beside strangers. Ho wrote forty-five works all in Latin, some text-books for his students, B d 673 "35 some treatises on the Bible, and one was his famous Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, which tells what happened for a hundred and fifty years after Augustine landed in Kent. Bede’s was a loving, patient nature, and it was such men as he who were gradually civilising the English people, while the various petty kings were struggling for power and conquering more and more land from the Welsh. 5. Supremacy of Wessex. — At first, as we have seen, Northumbria was the most powerful kingdom ; then Mercia got the upper hand under her great king, Offa the Mighty ; and lastly in 827 Egbert, King of Wessex, conquered both the Mercians and North- umbrians, and became king of all the English south of the Thames, and Bretwalda right up to the Firth of Forth. Kent, Sussex, and Essex had altogether ceased to be separate kingdoms, and thus for the first time all the English were overruled by one king. We shall see that the kings of Wessex had the chief power over the English people for the next two hundred years. struggle! Between English and Danes. 15 CHAPTER III. STRUGGLE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND DANES 1. Origin of Danes. — Hardly, however, were the English beginning to settle down from their own petty wars than a new danger threatened them, and threw them back for a long time, although in the end it helped to unite all the kingdoms into one. It will be remembered that when the Teutons spread over Europe many of them went northwards into the countries now called Den- mark, Sweden, and Norway. These people had remained barbarians and heathen, worshipping Woden, and having a hard struggle to live in the cold barren countries of the north. They too became sea-rovers, as their countrymen the Saxons had done before them, and they were known as the Northmen, Danes, or “ "Vikings,” which last means creek-dwellers. Already they had settled in the Orkneys and the Isle of Man, and after a long struggle had taken possession of the coast of Ireland, with Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford as their chief towns. 2. Danish Invasions. — Now they began to harass the Eng- lish, sometimes joining with the Welsh on the west, sometimes making raids on the east coast, sailing up the rivers, and throwing up earth works round their head-quarters. From these they sallied out over the country, burning towns and monasteries, killing men and children, and carrying off the women as slaves. At first they only came in the summer time, and went away with their spoils ; but after Egbert’s death they became more troublesome, and when his son Ethelwulf was king, they remained all the winter in the Isle of Sheppy, at the mouth of the Thames. In 866 a great Danish army attacked East Anglia, and, crossing the Humber, took York and overran all the south of Northumbria. Then they pushed their way south into Mercia as far as Nottingham, and, taking complete possession of the country, wintered at Thetford in Norfolk, where they murdered Edmund, King of East Anglia, tying him to a tree and shooting at him with arrows till he died, because he refused to give up the Christian faith. 16 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Having conquered a large part of Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia, bringing ruin and misery wherever they went, they next turned their arms against "Wessex. But here they met with, their match. Four brothers, sons of Ethelwulf, had reigned one after another in Wessex during the last thirteen years. The third of these brothers, Ethelred I., fought bravely, with the help of his younger brother Alfred, against the Danes, subdued the Welsh in Cornwall and Wales, and went even as far as the island of Mona, which had been named Anglesey ( Angles’ Ey or Island) by King Edwin of Northumbria. But in spite of all Ethelred’s efforts the Danes gained ground, and when he died in 871, and Alfred was chosen king, matters were growing desperate. 3. Alfred the Great. — The history of Alfred shows what a good and wise man can do under great difficulties. He was born at Wantage in Berkshire. As quite a little child he used to repeat old Saxon poems to his mother, Osburgha, who said one day, “ The one among you children who can first say this book by heart shall have it and the story goes that little Alfred carried the book to his teacher, and, when he had learnt it, repeated it to his chUdhoocL mother. If this be true, it must have happened before the boy was four years old, for at that age his father sent him to Borne, and he never saw his own mother again. It was probably in Borne, where Alfred afterwards went a second time with his father, that he learnt much which was of use to him afterwards. Before he was twenty he married happily, but he had to struggle against ill health and attacks of epilepsy, and was only twenty-two when he became king over a country laid waste by the ravages of the Danes. Within a month of his brother’s death he fought a battle against them, but was defeated, and from that time he struggled in vain to overcome them, sometimes fighting, sometimes buying them off. But in spite of bribes they came in endless numbers over the sea. The monks and clergy, turned out of their homes by the invaders, wandered about the country, or carried off their treasures to the continent ; the people were worn out and reduced to beggary, the land was laid waste, and the Welsh, of whom there were still a great many in Wessex, were half disposed to help the Danes, At STRUGGLE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND DANES. 17 last, in 878, after seven years’ almost ceaseless fighting, Alfred was so completely defeated at Chippenham, in Wiltshire, that he was forced to fiy in disguise into the woods and marshes of Somerset- shire. But he would not leave the country, as the King of Mercia had done, to die a pilgrim in Rome. His people were in distress, and he must help them. It is at this time that Alfred is said to have taken refuge in a swineherd’s cottage, where he let the good woman’s cakes burn on the hearth as he mused how to save his country. At any rate he mused to good purpose, and gradually collecting a band of faithful friends in Athelney, an island in the swamps of Somersetshire, he set forth in the spring to reconquer his kingdom. As he went, men flocked to his standard; and, after a desperate struggle, he completely defeated the Danes at Edington, near Chippenham, and made their leader, Guthrum, enter into a solemn treaty weSnore °878 at Wedmore, By this treaty the Danes bound them- selves not to pass south of a line drawn from the mouth of the Thames to Bedford, from there along the Ouse to the old Roman r6ad of Watling Street, and by Watling Street to Chester. Even this gave them all Northumbria and East Anglia, together with a part of Mercia called the Five Boroughs of the Danes, and this tract of country became known as the Danelaw or “Danelagh” (see Map II.); while Alfred kept only Wessex and part of Mercia. But he had gained peace for the sorely-troubled land, and as Guthruip was baptised a Christian, together with many of his nobles, the Danes and English settled down more happily together. Alfred now set himself to govern Wessex well and to strengthen his kingdom. He collected the old laws of the English, and adding to them the ten commandments and some of the laws of Moses, he persuaded the Witan to adopt them as the law of the land, and took great pains to see that justice was done to rich and poor alike. He restored the monasteries and schools and built new ones, inviting learned men from all parts to teach in government, them, among whom was the famous Welshman, Asser. He himself superintended the palace school for his nobles, and encouraged every freeborn youth who could afford it to “abide by his book till he can well understand English.” He translated Bede’s 2 18 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. History and other works into English, and prepared selections for the scholars, and under his direction the compilation of the Saxon Chronicle was begun in earnest. Thus he became the Father of English literature, for till then all books except the old Saxon poems and Caedmon’s song had been in Latin. Nor was his work merely among books. He divided his people into two parts, to take turns in going into battle and in guarding the homesteads, while he kept one troop always under arms to defend the fortresses. He built ships, by which he repulsed a severe attack by the Danes, and which formed the first beginning of our English navy. He rebuilt London, which had been nearly destroy- ed by fire and pillage. He encouraged travellers to go to Norway, Jerusalem, and even India. In his day the famous Pstsr's Pence Peter’s Pence, were collected annually and sent to the Pope as a tribute. Only a few years ago (1883) a hoard of silver Saxon coins was dug up in Rome bearing the stamp of Alfred’s grandsons, Athelstan and Edmund. Alfred set his people an ex- ample of industry, self-denial, and patient endurance, and won their affection as no king had done before him. His day was divided into regular duties ; candles, burning each two hours, marked the time devoted to prayer, to learning, or to active work. His was a deeply religious mind, and he educated his children to a high sense of duty. He had a large family, of whom two were important in history — Ethelfled, who married an ealdorman, and as a widow governed Mercia; and Edward, who succeeded his father when Alfred died in 901. 4. Alfred’s Successors. — And now for eighty years the Eng- lish were almost free from invasions of the Northmen. But the country could not be at peace while it was composed of so many different kingdoms, all jealous of each other; especially as they had the Welsh, the people they had conquered, as a thorn in their side on the west ; and the Danes, the people who had half conquered them, on the east. Ethelfled, the for w e read how Brithnoth the Old, alderman of the East Saxons, fought them, and died fighting in the famous Battle of Maldon in 991. Bat Ethelred only STRUGGLE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND DANES. 23 levied a land-tax called “Danegeld,” and bought them off, first with a sum equal to £16,000 and a few years later with £24,000. Then he married Emma, daughter of Richard, Duke of Nor- mandy, in hopes the Normans would help him; and vam^iool lastly, he persuaded the Witan, only too glad to fall upon the hated Danes, to give secret orders for a general massacre of large numbers of them on St. Brice’s Day, 13th November, 1002. Among those murdered was Sweyn’s sister Gunhild, with her husband and child, and he swore to be revenged. He came over with a large force, and Earl Thurkill followed soon after with a horde of Vikings. They ravaged the country, and Alphege, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, was savagely murdered by the Danes. Twice more Ethelred bought off his enemies, but the English were weary of his bad government. Northumbria and Mercia joined Sweyn, and even the thegns of Wessex submitted to him Ethelred fled to Normandy with his wife and family, th*e kfngdom and Sweyn became king of the country. It is true that when Sweyn died a month afterwards Ethelred came back, but only to be attacked by Cnut, Sweyn’s son. He struggled on for two years and died in 1016. Then the people of London chose Ethelred’s son, Edmund Ironside, for their king, but the rest of Edm(md Iron England choose Cnut. Edmund fought bravely, and side, 7 months’ after six pitched battles divided the kingdom with Cnut, reign ’ 1016 ' but he died after seven months’ reign, and Cnut was acknowledged king by Danes and English alike. Now, after a weary strife of thirty six-years, a strong hand was once more over the people, and the land had quiet for eighteen years. Cnut resolved to govern as an English king. Though he was cruel in the early part of his reign, before he was secure of the throne, he showed himself just and wise afterwards. He received his crown from the Witangemot, as all English kings had done ; he governed by “ Edgar’s laws,’ 5 and he bound himself still more to the people by marrying Emma, Ethelred’s i 0 i6-io35. widow. On the other hand, the Danes were satisfied, because he was a king of their own race. Cnut divided England into four earldoms — Earl or Jarl being the Danish title answering to the English alderman. These earldoms* Mercia, Northum- 24 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. berland, Wessex, and East Anglia, were governed by Englishmen, „ of whom the most powerful were Leofric.Earl of Mercia, * 5 ^ t peace! arS Godwin, Earl of Wessex r who was Cnut’s minister, and married his niece. Cnut dismissed his Danish army, and kept only a body of “ hus-carls ” or household troops, and he even took English soldiers with him to fight in Denmark. Meanwhile the people at home had peace, and time to reclaim marshes, clear forest-land, cultivate their homesteads, and increase their trade and manufactures. Cnut even tried, as Edgar had done before him, to stop the shameful sale of Welsh and English as slaves, but in vain. From Bristol whole shiploads of young men and women were still sold to the Danes in Ireland, in spite of the laws and of the preaching of the bishops. If Cnut’s sons, Harold and Harthacnut, had been as wise as he, Danish kings might have continued to reign in England. But they were brutal, and caused nothing but misery during their short reigns ; and when Harthacnut fell down and died at a wedding-feast in 1042, his half-brother Edward, the son of Ethelred and Emma, was welcomed by the English as belonging to the old stock. From this time the Danes who lived in England were gradually absorbed into the English nation, so that after a few generations it vjas diffi- cult to say which were Dan^s and which were English. Yet to this day we may see traces of Danish blood in the fair-haired sturdy yeomen of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire ; and the towns which they founded are marked by names ending in by, which has the same meaning as tun and ham in Saxon. Thus Derby, ^ Whitby, and Rugby are towns which once belonged to the Danes, while Nottingham, Durham, and Bridlington mark old English settlements. NORMAN INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND. 25 CHAPTER IV. HOW THE NORMANS BEGAN TO HAVE INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND. 1. Norman Incursions.— But though the people rejoiced at having once more one of Alfred’s descendants as their king, Edward was really more a foreigner than even Cnut had been. To under- stand this we must go back about a hundred and fifty years, and see what had been taking place on the north coast of France. About the time when Alfred the Great was so hard pressed by the Danes or Northmen in England, large boat-loads of these same sea- pirates were swooping down upon the country round the River Seine in France, plundering and ravaging T Fr a ^c™ 9 oo m just as their comrades did in England. One band of these marauders, under the command of a famous Viking, Rolf or Rollo, sailed up the Seine, and took possession of Rouen ; and there are many traditions of the havoc which Rolf wrought on all sides. But all that we know for certain is, that in 913, Charles the Simple, King of France, made a treaty with this adventurer Rolf, and gave him land on each side of the Seine, with Rouen for his capital. Rolf then married the king’s daughter and became a Christian ; the land over which he reigned, as count or duke, became known as Nor- mandy, or the Northman’s land, and descended to his heirs. The Normans, then, in France, were of the same race as the Danes in England, but the French people among whom they settled, and with whom they intermarried, were very different from the English. Though less sturdy and earnest, they were more civilised and polished, from having seen more of the world and of the cultivated people of Rome. They were clever in art and archi- Normang tecture, and were lively, quickwitted, bright, and gay ; become and in a very short time the Normans, except in one French - little spot round Bayeux, adopted the French language, habits, and customs, blending their own robust and resolute natures with those of the more refined Franks, 26 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. So after a hundred years had passed, when Ethelred the Unready married Emma (who was the daughter of Richard, Duke of Nor- mandy, and thus the great-grandchild of the Viking Rolf), the Nor- mans were already Frenchmen ; and Edward, the son of Emma and Ethelred, though born in England, was half a foreigner. Moreover, when he was only nine years old, he and his brother Alfred fled with their father and mother into Normandy. His mother ^Norman!* Emma went back to England and married Cnut when Ethelred died ; and his brother Alfred, who went over in Harold’s reign, had his eyes treacherously put out by Harold’s men, and died at Ely. But Edward remained at the Norman court. He was there when his cousin William, a boy only seven years old, became Duke of Normandy, and the two cousins were fast friends. Naturally, then, when Edward was invited to England by his half-brother Harthacnut six years afterwards, and soon after was elected King of England, many Normans, both priests and nobles, . followed him, and were given high offices in the land. Confessor, Edward was gentle, timid, and very devout, and soon 1042-1066. kg riiaL | e a Norman monk, Robert of Jumieges, Bishop of London ; then another, named Ulf , Bishop of Rochester. A few years later he even promoted Bishop Robert to be Archbishop of Canterbury, and this man became a veiy hurtful influence in the country. 2 Godwin, Earl of Wessex.— The only person who held these Norman favourites in check was Godwin, Earl of Wessex, whose daughter, Edith, Edward had married. Godwin really ruled the country, and ruled it well ; but unfortunately his eldest son Sweyn was a wild and lawless man, and committed crimes which offended both the king and the people, and Godwin’s enemies were only too glad to make this a pretext against him. It happened just then that Count Eustace of Boulogne, who had married Edward’s sister, had a dispute with the men of fawed^oai!^ Dover, and in a fight which followed many people were killed. Godwin refused to punish the men of Dover without a fair trial ; and though he was in the right, the Normans, and even the other English nobles, jealous of his power, sided with the king against him. He and his sons were declared outlaws, and NORMAN INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND. 27 sooner than provoke a civil war he withdrew to Flanders, and was away about a year. This was a memorable year in English history ; for while Godwin was away the Norman knights and priests had everything their own way, and William, Duke of Normandy, now a tall handsome young man, came over to England to visit Edward. It was during this visit that Edward, who had no child, is said to have promised that William should succeed him on the English throne. Being so friendly with his cousin, it seems very natural that he should do this, though rhe crown was really not his to give. The Witan only could give it, and as William had not a drop of English blood in his veins, he had absolutely no right to it. Meanwhile things went very badly in the country without Godwin, and when he came back next year with his younger sons, the people flocked to meet him. He refused to let them fight the king’s men, but claimed to be heard in his own defence, and though the king was very unwilling to receive him, the Witan gladly gave him back his estates and power. As soon as the Norman favourites heard that he was taken back into favour they fled to France, though a large number of less note remained. And now during fourteen years, from 1052 to 1066, England was once more really governed by her own people ; and as a flame often leaps up brilliantly before it dies out, so these years were bright ones for the nation. Godwin died very suddenly the next year at a feast, but his second son Harold, a brave soldier and an able ambitious statesman, took his place. Edward Government of spent all his time in hunting, and in watching the the Saxon building of the grand Church of St. Peter at Westmin- ster, on the spot where the Abbey now stands. Meanwhile Harold governed England with the help of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and Eldred, Archbishop of York. Leofric’s house was the rival of the house of Godwin, and his sons gave Harold much trouble, but the old man himself loved his country too well not to uphold such an able ruler as Harold. 3. Harold. — So contented were the people, on the whole, that there is little to tell, except of some disturbances in Wales and Northumberland. The Welsh King, Gruffyd, had been harassing 28 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. the west of England ever since Godwin’s banishment^ but now Wales snMnpd. Harold, with the help of his brother Tostig, conquered him and made him recognise Edward as overlord. In ' "0 Northumberland matters were less happy. The great Earl Siward, who had helped young King Malcolm of Scotland, to conquer the usurper Macbeth, died and Tostig was made earl in his place. But Tostig was a great favourite with King Edward, and was always at North b ‘an cour * ; i ns t ea d °f governing his earldom, and a great rebellion, rebellion arose. The people held an assembly of their Tostig outiawed.^^ choose Morkere, Leofric’s grandson, as their earl, and marching south in large number's, demanded the banishment of Tostig. Harold saw that he could not shield his brother, and Tostig was outlawed, and went with his family to Flanders. From that time he was his brother’s enemy, and was one of the chief causes of Harold’s downfall By this time Harold was really supreme governor of England ; the people were happy under his firm rule, and as Edward had no children they began to look to him as their future king. If Edward Claimants for had ever rea -hy promised William the crown, he evi- the crown, dently saw now that he could not keep his promise, for he invited over Edward, the son of Edmund Ironside, from Hungary to be his successor This man died, however, only a few days after his arrival before he had even seen the king,, and he left only a little boy, Edgar, of whom we shall hear again by and by. Meanwhile Duke William still counted upon Edward’s promise.; and when Harold was once shipwrecked on the coast of Normandy, Harold’s oath an< ^ Count of Ponthieu sent him a prisoner to Rouen, William is said to have made Harold swear to support his claim to the throne, and even to have tricked him, by hiding the relics of the saints under the altar on which he swore, so as to make the oath more sacred. Be this as it may, neither Edward Edward’s death. nor Harold had power to promise the English crown. Edward died in 1066, only a week after the consecra- tion of his beloved Minster, where his body was soon to be laid. He had been a poor, feeble king, but Harold had governed well in his name during the last fourteen years, and people reverenced him as a saint, and named him “the Confessor.” Before he died he NORMAN INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND. 29 recommended Harold as his successor ; and the Witan which was then assembled in London carried out the election the same day. Harold was crowned at Westminster by Archbishop Eldred. 4. Norwegian and Norman Invasions. — Harold, son of Godwin, was now by consent of the people King of England, although the only royal blood in his veins came from ° J Harold II., his mother, a Danish princess. But he had little time Jan. 5, Oct. u. to enjoy his new honours. Duke William no sooner heard what had happened than he swore he would force Harold to -keep his oath, and give up the throne to him. Without loss of time he began to build a fleet, and to collect a great army throughout France, and sent to Pope Alexander to crave a blessing on his expedition against the man who had broken a vow taken over the relics of the saints. Meanwhile a cruel fate brought Harold’s own brother to increase his difficulties. Tostig, who had gone to Nor- way, chose this time to come and try to recover his earldom. After plundering the south coast, he went north and sailing up the Hum- ber with the Norwegian king, Harold Hardrada, landed in Yorkshire. Threatened on all sides, Harold watched the south coast for some months, but as William did not arrive, he was obliged to allow the fishing vessels which formed his fleet to disperse, while he himself hastened north against Tostig. He defeated the Nor- battle of Stam- wegian army at Stamford Bridge, in Yorkshire, and ford Bridge. Tostig and King Hardrada were both killed. But the feast of victory was not over when a messenger arrived with the news that the Normans had landed at Pevensey, in Sussex. 5. Battle of Hastings. — South again hastened the king to London, where he called the people together to defend the country. Only the men of the south came, and with these he marched to Hastings where the Normans were encamped. His brother Gurth begged him not to run the risk of a battle without a stronger force, and urged him to lay waste the land and starve William out. But Harold would not desolate English ground, and on Oct. 14 on a. hill called Senlac, about seven miles distant from the town, was fought the memorable “Battle of Hastings.” It was a stubborn contest. The English soldiers fought stoutly on foot, clad in coats of mail, 30 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. and armed with javelins and two-handed axes. The country folk fought as they could with pikes and forks, while the Norman archers let fly their arrows, and the mailed and helmeted horsemen, headed by Taillefer, the Norman minstrel, who was the first to fall, pressed up the hill, trying to break through the English ranks. The sturdy Saxons stood like a wall, striking death-blows on all sides, and once the Normans began to yield, and a cry arose that the duke was slain. ‘ ‘ I live ” shouted William, tearing off his helmet, “ and by God’s help I will conquer yet;” and by making his men pretend to flee he drew the English down the hill in disorder. Then the Normans turned and cut them to pieces, driving back a small band of the noblest men in England to the top of the hill, where they gathered round the king and the , royal standard, on the spot where Battle Abbey was afterwards built. There William brought forward his archers and bade them shoot upwards, so that the arrows fell upon the English from above. One struck Harold’s right eye and he fell, and though his men defended him bravely, the last of the Saxon kings Death of Hi e< i under the blows of four Norman knights, leaving Harold. William conqueror. Gytha, the aged widow of God- win, craved her son’s body, and William allowed him to be buried in a purple robe beneath a heap of stones among the rocks of Sussex. William marched to-London, and there were few to oppose him, for the flower of the English nation lay dead on Senlac Hill. The people of London did indeed choose little Etheling Edgar for king • william but their hearts failed them as William approached with crowned, big army, burning Southwark on his way, and they “bowed to him for need.” At Christmas William was chosen by the Witan, and received the crown at Westminister from the same Arch bishop Eldred who had crowned Harold. 6. English and Normans. — England had lost her freedom Six hundred years before, the English had come in hordes from their homes on the shores of the North Sea, and had conquered the Britons at Anderida, near Pevensey. Now, on nearly the same spot, they had been conquered themselves, and had to bow their- heads to foreign rule. But it was a different kind of conquest. The Normans came indeed in great numbers, but not as a whole nation, nor did they drive out the English, who really belonged to NORMAN INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND. the same race as themselves. Moreover, William the Conqueror was a wise and great man, and we shall see that he protected the English, both because they were useful to him and because he really wished to rule them well. Lastly, the English were by this time a strong nation of sturdy determined men, too independent and earn- est to be crushed, even under the tyranny they suffered. And so in about a hundred years the Normans became Englishmen and were proud to call England their country. History or englahd. PARTIL FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE GREAT CHARTER Robert, Duke of Normandy, b. 1053, d. 1134. I William, Karl of Flanders, killed 1128. No heir. Henry, d. 1183. WILLIAM L h. 1027, d. 1087. r. 1066-1087, m. Matilda qf Flanders. W TT.T.tIm TT , HENR b. 1060, d. 1100, r. 1087-1100. Y L, b. 1068. d. 1135, r. 1100-1135, m. Matilda, descendant of Bdaund Ironsides. Matilda, m. Geoffrey, Count of A njon. HENRY EL b. 1133, d. 1189, r. 1154-1189, m. Kleanar o/Gnienns. RICHARD L, b. 1157, d. 1199, 1189-1199, m. Berengaria of Navarre. I Geoffrey, m. Constance qf Brittany. Arthur, Duke of Brittany (murdered 1203.) Adda, m. Stephen, GoontalBMa STEPHEN, h. 1094, on all men who sought forgiveness of their sins to sew a coloured cross on their left arm and go on a crusade (from crux, cross) to free the Holy Land. So Robert went, and many English and French people with him, and William became for the time governor of Normandy and of some of the best parts of France. Heavily the poor English people paid for it. The Chronicle re- lates how the year 1096 was dismal through manifold taxes and sad famine, and the same tale is told for the next three years. But the end was near. William went hunting in the New Forest, though he had been warned not to do so. There he became separated from his companions, and was found soon afterwards Death of by some peasants, dead with an arrow in his breast. William Some thought that a French knight, Walter Tyrell, had Rufus ’ U00 ' killed him by accident ; but Tyrell denied it on oath, and it is more likely that William was assassinated by one of those poor men to whom he was “ most hateful by the oppressions he wrought.” His body was carried in a peasant’s cart to Winchester and buried without any religious service, since he died “ unabsolved in the midst of his sins. ” His brother Henry, who was one of the hunting party, galloped off to Winchester to secure the throne before any one should propose Robert, who was still in the Holy Land. 8. Henry I., Surnamed Beauclere, 1100-1135. — After this for thirty-five years the land was well governed, although times were hard and taxes heavy. Henry , the youngest Character o{ son of the Conqueror — a quiet, cautious man, with Henry I. thoughtful intelligent eyes, fond of learning, and with a good head though not much heart,— saw that his seat on 42 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. the throne depended on his governing his subjects well. He seized the royal treasure at Winchester on the very day that William was killed, and then hastening to London was elected king after some discussion, and crowned at Westminster. The people were delighted for he was the only one of the Conqueror’s sons born and educated in England. Moreover, he hastened at once to arrest the infamous Ralph Flambard and send him to the Tower, and to recall good Bishop Anselm. Then he put forth a “ charter ,” or written promise, that he would restore the good laws, and relieve the people and the Church from . their unjust burdens ; not forcing widows and heiresses to marry against their will, and allowing people to leave their property as they liked. He also made the barons pro- mise to do as much for their feudal tenants as he did for them. He still further won the love of the English people by marrying Edith „ . — the daughter of Malcolm of Scotland and of his wife xi6 marnes ^ an English Margaret, grand-daughter of Edmund Ironsides— so princess. ^he queen was of English royal blood. Through her all our kings and queens to this day can trace their descent from Cerdic, the first West Saxon king. To please the Normans, however, Edith changed her name to Maud or Matilda. All this was done before Robert, who was always too late, came home. Then the barons as usual rebelled in his favour. This time, however, the insurrection was soon put down. Robert landed with troops at Portsmouth, but Anselm and Robert of Meulan made peace between the brothers, and Robert went back with a pension of 4,000 silver marks from Henry. Still for five years more the barons, both in England and Normandy, kept stirring Battle Of up the P eo P le - Duke Robert governed so badly that Tenchebrai, little by little Normandy was falling to pieces. Then in 1106 Henry went over with an English army, and at the famous Battle of Tenchebrai, thoroughly conquered the nobles and brought Robert to England, where he remained in prison the rest of his life. So ended poor Robert, so head- imprisoned. strong and reckless, yet so generous and warm- hearted ! The English were proud of the Battle of Tenchebrai, for they considered that by conquering the Normans in their own land they had wiped out the reproach of the Battle of Hastings. ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE. 43 Normandy and England were now once more under one ruler, and this struggle with the Norman barons was very important to our country, not only because Henry taught his English soldiers how to fight the French cavalry so that they lost their fear of them, but also because he took away the English estates of the rebellious barons, and divided them among less powerful men who would be loyal to him. These new nobles often utility became sheriffs of the counties, and although they English were Normans, yet not being of the old nobility, nor having land in Normandy, they looked upon England as their home, and married among the English. So the distinction between Norman and English began to fade away, especially as the English language became more used everywhere, except at court. To this day we may often trace how the French language was for some time the language of the nobles ; as, for instance, sheep , oxen, and calf, are old English names, because the villeins reared the animals ; but when they came to the Norman dinner-table, they were called mutton (mouton), beef (boeuf), and veal (veau). So also sovereign, homaget, palace, and castle are Norman words, while French hearth and home are old English. Thus our lan- words guage became richer and more graceful by the intro- language, duction of Romance or French words, in the same way that the English people became more lively, enterprising, and refined by the introduction of Norman blood into England. 9. Administration of Justice. — The two nations were also brought nearer together by the even-handed justice of Rq ej-Q{ Henry’s reign. In 1107 he made Bishop Roger of Salis- Salisbury bury his justiciar, and this famous man brought the* i ust,ciar - revenue and laws of the kingdom into excellent order. He gave the people back their shire-moots, and the sheriffs came up each year to pay the rents, taxes, and fines into the King’s Court or “ Curia Regis,” receiving in return tallies, or little strips of wood (so called from tailler, to cut), which were notched exactly alike on each side to mark the money paid, and split down the middle, so that the court kept one half and the sheriff the other. The table on which the money was counted had a chequered cloth like a chess-board, on which, when certain of the king’s accounts were 44 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. the sums were scored by counters. From this the counting-house became known as the “ Court of the Exchequer.” If any one was wronged by the sherifla Exchequer. ^ cou | ( j complain before the justices or officers of the King’s Court, who went round the country once every year to settle the taxes and inquire into disputes. The towns bought many new privileges from Henry. L, and Lon- don secured a special charter, with a sheriff and justiciar of its own. Its citizens could not be judged outside its walls ; they and had not to pay any Danegeld, and their trade was free country. f rom t 0 n . nor could they be made to undergo “ trial by battle ” or duelling, which the barons had introduced in some parts of the country instead of the trial by ordeal. Even the country people were much better off, though the forest laws were still very strict, on the other hand thieves and robbers were hanged, and evil practices severely punished. “ Good man was Henry” writes the Chronicle, u and great awe there was of him, no man durst do against another in his time.” In consequence of the good laws, peaceable arts began to flourish in England. Two curious settlements took place in this reign. In Flemings Henry planted a colony of Flemings — driven by and floods from their own country — in Pembrokeshire, where Cistercians, ^ey remain to this day; and in 1128 the Cistercian monks, a strict, hard-working order, founded first at Citeaux, near Rouen, began to settle in the wildest parts of England, at Waverley in Surrey, and afterwards in the north and west. The Cistercians bred sheep and redeemed waste lands, while the Flemings brought the art of weaving wool, and so these two settlements were useful to the country. 10. Henry and the Church. — Two other acts of Henry's reign we must mention, because they were important in later reigns. After much discussion with Archbishop Anselm ^bishops. 01 he consented to let the clergy of the cathedrals elect legate* their own bishops, so that the king could not keep bishoprics vacant, as William Rufus had done. But the election had to take place in the King’s Court, and the bishops did homage to the king for their lands. Henry also allowed the Pope to send a legate or ambassador to England. made up, Court of the nineteen years op anarchy. 45 11. Closing 1 Years of the Reign. — And now, when all was at peace at home, a great sorrow fell upon Henry. He had been fighting for three years in Normandy against the barons, and on his return his only son William was ^"''son drowned in the White Ship, which struck on a rock and drowned, “ 7 1120 . sank with all on board. It is said that the king never smiled again. If he had now been wise and generous he would have taken young William of Normandy, Duke Robert’s son, as his successor, for William was a good, honest young man, and the nearest heir to the throne. But Henry schemed to keep the crown in his own family. He married his daughter Matilda, widow of the German Emperor, to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, the only man whose enmity he feared ; and then he made the Eng- lish barons swear that she, and her baby-boy after her, MatUda°and 3 should succeed to the throne. This they did most her son °n unwillingly, even after young William of Normandy had been killed in battle, for these turbulent nobles did not want a woman over them. The prospect looked very gloomy, and it turned out even worse than it appeared. On Dec. 1, 1135, Henry died at his hunting-seat in Normandy, from a fever caused by eating lampreys. His body was brought to England and buried in Reading Minster, but even before it arrived, another king sat on the English throne. CHAPTER YI. NINETEEN YEARS OP ANARCHY UNDER STEPHEN, 1135-1154. 1. Civil War. — Truly England never saw before, and may she never see again, nineteen years of such misery, bloodshed, and cruelty as now followed. Stephen of Blois, who hastened to England as soon as his uncle died, was the son of William the Conqueror’s daughter Adela, who married a count of Blois. He and Matilda’s little son Henry were the only male heirs to the throne, S cu£^. s Stephen being a grandson, Henry a great-grandson of the Conqueror. Stephen was very popular, brave and generous, and had been a great favourite with Henry I. j but he was impetuous 46 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. and unstable, and quite unfit to reign. The people of London welcomed him, because they did not want a queen, and Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, and Henry, Bishop of Winchester, who was Stephen’s own brother, supported him. He was elected and crowned on midwinter day, promising to govern well and put down the quarrels among the barons. But he had promised what he could not perform. The barons, now Henry’s strong hand was removed, broke into open rebellion ; they fortified their castles and took sides, some for Matilda whom they had sworn to support, some for Stephen who was their crowned king, while they really cared only to be able to ravage llfthe the country for themselves. David, King of Scotland, Standard, w bo was Matilda’s unde, took up arms for her, but 11 ^ ' A * was defeated at Cowton Moor in Yorkshire, in the famous “ Battle of the Standard,” so-called because the English had as their standard sacred banners hung from a ship’s, mast. Then Stephen did a very foolish thing. As the barons became Stephen more and more riotous, the bishops were alarmed for arrest* the their property, and began to fortify their castles. 1 and” Stephen, seized with a panic lest they should betray chancellor, anc j j 0 in Matilda, arrested several of them, among others Rbger the justiciar, his best friend ; Roger’s son, who was chancellor ; and his nephew, the Bishop of Ely, who was treasurer. He put Roger in irons and threatened to hang his son unless their castles were given up. Bishop Roger retired broken-hearted, and Stephen lost his most useful allies. From that moment all law and order were at an end. Meanwhile Robert, Earl of Gloucester, Matilda’s half-brother, took up arms on her side, and so did the barons in the north and west, while the east and south fought for Stephen, llmdsin Matilda landed at Portsmouth, and civil war began in England, earnest. Battle followed battle. It is impossible to speak of them all, for during eight years there was not a week in which fighting was not going on in some part of the country. At one time Stephen was a prisoner in Linooln Castle, and Matilda entered London and was proclaimed queen in 1141, but she was so stem and haughty that the citizens rose against her, and she was never crowned. Then Stephen’s brave wife, Matilda of NINETEEN YEARS OE ANARCHY. 47 Boulogne, stirred up the people of London to send a thousand mail- clad men to the siege of Winchester. They sacked the town, took the Earl of Gloucester prisoner, and exchanged him for Stephen. Once more free, Stephen next besieged Matilda in Oxford Castle in 1142, and she was so sorely pressed leaves* that she had to escape by night in a white cloak across the deep snow. Wearied out at last, after many skir- mishes, she left England, and about the same time Earl Robert died. 2. Misery of the People. — Still there was no peace, for the barons were fighting one against another. Every castle was a kingdom of its own, whose lord coined his own money, made his own laws, and ravaged the country round. “They cruelly oppressed the wretched men of the land with castle-building,” says the Chronicle, “and when the castles were made they filled them with devils and evil men. Then they took those whom they sup- posed to have any goods, both by night and by day, labouring men and women, and threw them into prison for their gold and silver, and inflicted on them unutterable tortures. Many thousands they wore out with hunger. I neither can, nor may I, tell all the pains which they inflicted on the wretched men in this land. And this lasted the nineteen winters while Stephen was king, and it grew continually worse and worse. Then was corn dear, and flesh, and cheese, and butter, for none there was in the land. Alter a time they spared neither church nor churchyard, but took all the goods that were therein, and then burnt the church and all together. The earth bare no com, for the land was all laid waste by such deeds, and men said openly that Christ and his saints slept.” Trouble and death pressed hard upon the people, and awoke the old spirit of earnest devotion which had slumbered so long under foreign clergy. In town and country men banded them- selves together for prayer, hermits flocked to the woods, revival, and noble and churl alike welcomed the austere Cister- cians as they spread over the woods and forests. As the barons grew more wicked the people became more earnest, and relief came at last. In 1150, when a new Pope was elected in Rome, he appointed 48 BISTORT OF ENGLAND, Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, a man of strong moral sense, to be his legate. Theobald at once used his new influence to per- suade Stephen to acknowledge Matilda’s son Henry, now twenty years of age, as his successor. Just at this time Stephen’s own son Eustace died, and young Henry landed in England, where an army gathered round him at once, in hopes of gaining a settled peace. Treaty of Stephen saw he must yield, and by the Treaty of Wal- WaUingford, lingford, he acknowledged Henry as heir to the throne, iio*. Then justice was restored, for all who longed for peace joined to put down the rebels. Moreover, Stephen was sinking into the grave. On Oct. 25, 1154, he died, leaving the crown to Henry. It was in this year that the Old English Chronicle ceased, the last records being made in Peterborough Abbey. VCtS CHAPTER YII. HENRY PLANT AGENET AND HIS SONS (THE ANGEVIN KINGS). r> . . _ ^ 1. Henry II. — Young Henry was abroad when Stephen died, but Archbishop Theobald keipt good order till he arrived, and on Dec. 19, 1154, at the age of twenty-one, he was crowned with his queen at Westminster and issued a charter. Although his posses- sions in France were larger than all England, and out of thirty-five years of his reign he spent eighteen years or more than half his time abroad, yet he was one of the best English kings. He was the first of a new line of kings called by some the Plan- tagenets, because Geoffrey of Anjou, Henry’s father, wore a sprig of broom or planta genista as his device ; and by others the Angevin kings, or descendants of the counts of Anjou. The name Plan- tagenet seems to me the best, because it is only a symbol, whereas the other name sounds as if a new foreign race had come to rule over us. Now Henry, on the contrary, was the first king since the Conquest with West Saxon blood in his veins, for though he was the son of the Count of Anjou, yet his mother was both Norman and Saxon, being the granddaughter of William the Conqueror and great-great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironsides. Moreover, as we shall see, Henry’s descendants soon ceased to be counts of Anjoq. henry plantagent and his sons. 49 Henry himself, however, ruled over a vast territory, and had in him a good deal of the fiery French nature. He inherited Anjou and Touraine from his father, and Maine, Normandy. „ ' ' " i POSS6SSIOH8 and England from his mother and grandfather ; while and he ruled Brittany through his brother Geoffrey, hus- marnaRe ' band of Constance, heiress of Brittany ; and gained Poitou, Aqui- taine, and Ga^ny with his wife Eleanor, a woman older than himself, whom he married only a few weeks after she was divorced from Louis VII. of France. He was a stout, square-built man, with short red hair and prom- inent grey eyes, so active that he scarcely ever sat down except to meals, and his subjects never knew where he might . 1 •’ 0 Appearance next be found, so that he always kept a, ruling hand and ch&rfictsr over them He was well educated, a good man of business, and a clever statesman when his fiery temper did not override his prudence He was a good father to his children, who behaved ill to him ; but he was neither kind nor faithful to his wife, and from this sprang many troubles. The English people soon began to feel the benefit of a strong and just king. Under Theobald’s advice Henry forced the barons to destroy all the castles built without royal permission ; he took back the royal lands with which Stephen had bribed his followers, and sent away the foreign troops which he had brought into England. He restored the courts of justice and chose a good and loyal jus- ticiar, Richard de Lucy, who served him for twenty- rtumaa five vears. For his chancellor he took Thomas Becket, Becket; j chancellor Archdeacon of Canterbury— the son of a rich Norman merchant, Gilbert Becket, portreeve of London, and the pupil and friend of Archbishop Theobald. For the next ten years England was quiet, though Henry had several wars abroad and was away for five years, from 1158 to 1163. But even when away he was occupied with English matters, and during these ten years he made many good laws for the people. He wanted to check the power of the barons, and to get money to pay soldiers for his wars abroad, and this he did by allow- gcutage ing the smaller tenants to pay a fine called “scutage” or shield-m -*ey ( scutum , shield), instead of being obliged to follow their lord to the wars. This was a great boon to the farmers, who 4 50 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. could reckon safely on staying at home to sow and reap their crops, while the barons had fewer armed men at their beck and call. 2. Administration of Justice. — The visiting justices now began to make their rounds more regularly than before, for Henry divided the country into six districts or “circuits,” and and juries. arranged that four knights in each shire, and twelve men in each neighbourhood, should present all evil- doers and disputers about property before these judges, and swear to their guilt, or to the truth about the dispute. This was the Grand Jury, the men being called “ jurors” from the Latin juro, I swear. In cases of property, when they acted x» a “ civil jury,” their evidence decided the matter ; but people accused of crime were afterwards sent to the trial by “ordeal” as in old Saxon times. Forty years later, in John’s reign, ordeal was abolished, and then this “ Grand Jury” sent the prisoner on to the “ Petty Jury,” or another twelve men who were most likely to know all the facts of the case, and who declared of their own knowledge as to whether the accusation of the Grand Jury was true. This was called giving their “verdict,” which means truly said. Later still the Petty Jury found that they wanted to inquire more closely what others knew, and so the practice arose of hearing witnesses. The people had now every opportunity of complaining if they were ill-used, and the assizes or edicts of Clarendon in 1166 and Assizes of Northampton in 1176, in which all these changes Clarendon, were confirmed, must be remembered as important to the liberty of Englishmen even in our own day. The quiet state of the country under these good laws allowed many now to think of gaining knowledge as they could not in First troubled times, and we hear for the first time of Oxford students at Oxford hearing lectures from the Friars, students. w h 0 were the chief teachers. It was a small begin- ning, but it was the first step towards a great school of learning. 3. Thomas Becket. — In his zeal to improve the courts of jus- tice, however, Henry brought a great trouble on himself. Thomas Becket, his chancellor, had become a great man and his archbishop, dearest friend ; and when Theobald died, and Henry saw that he must reform the clergy as well as the nobles, he made Becket Archbishop of Canterbury, thinking he HENRY PLANTAGENET AND HIS SONS. 51 would assist him. But Becket was a man who put his whole heart into whatever he had to do. When he was chancellor he was the king’s servant, and served him well ; when he became archbishop he was the servant of the Church, and he put off his gay clothing, wore a hair-shirt, and determined to uphold the clergy. It will be remembered that William I. gave the clergy courts of their own. This had worked badly, for nearly all educated men in those days were clerks or clergy, though they held many lay offices ; and whatever crimes these men committed, even thefts and murders, they got off very easily, for these courts thecfero-y had no heavy punishment, and the ordinary judges had no power over them. Henry insisted that clerks should be tried for ordinary offences in the King’s Court, and punished like other men as in the days of Edward the Confessor. The bishops consented, but Becket would not , and though he was persuaded to put his seal to the “ Constitutions of Clarendon,” drawn up in 1164 for the government of the clergy, he repented next day, and applied to the Pope to free him from his promise. Henry was furious with his friend. He put all kinds of indig- nities upon him, and Becket was forced to fly to France, where he remained six years, while Henry in petty spite banished all his friends and relations Meanwhile, in 1170, the king ° Prince wished to have Prince Henry crowned, that he might Edward govern during the king’s absences abroad ; and Becket being in exile, Roger, Archbishop of York, performed the cere- mony. This was a deep insult to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Pope threatened to excommunicate Henry unless he recalled Becket. So Henry, who was then in France, was obliged to make up the quarrel, and allow Becket to return to England. But Becket, now furious in his turn, no sooner landed than he suspended ’ , „ , , . T , Murder of the Archbishop of York for crownmg the prince. It Becket, was a foolish quarrel, and still more foolish Henry s mad passion which made him exclaim, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” Four knights took him at his word, and crossing to England murdered Becket, calm and brave, on the floor of his own cathedral at Canterbury. Such were the effects of passion and revenge. Henry was right 52 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. in altering the law, and Becket did only what he thought his duty in opposing him. But it was revenge for his persecution which misled Beoket at last, and passion which made Henry the murderer of his friend. He was full of remorse when he heard what had been done, and sent off messengers at once to the Pope to declare that he had not intended the murder to be committed , then, wishing to keep out of the way till he was absolved, he crossed over to Eng- land and from there to Ireland. 4. Conquest of Ireland. — In Ireland great changes were taking place. Ever since the Danes in 795 invaded that country the people, oppressed and plundered, had drifted back into bar- barism. In 1014 the Irish hero, Brian Boru, had driven out the Danes, and died himself in the battle ; and since then the petty kings and chieftains had been always at war with each other. Quite early in his reign Henry had gained the Pope’s permission to go Conquest over an< ^ con( l uer Ireland , but he did nothing till, in of 1166, one of the Irish kings, Dermot of Leinster, asked Leinster. j or h e ip against his neighbours. Then Henry allowed Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, surnamed ‘ Strongbow,” to take over an army of adventurers, and he conquered nearly the whole of Leinster. It was to take possession of this new land that Henry now went over with an army. He lived for a year outside Dublin, gave away lands to his followers, ordered castles to be built, and received the homage of the chiefs as Lord of Ireland. Five years later he sent his favourite son John to rule, but John made so many enemies that he had to return to England. Though this was the beginning of the conquest of Ireland, it was more than three hun- dred years before the English really governed the country. 5. Domestic Troubles.— While Henry was thus adding to his kingdom, his sons and his enemies at home took advantage of the horror caused by the murder of Becket to rebel against him. Young 1 Prince Henry wanted to rule at once over England or of Henry's Normandy, Geoffrey and Richard wanted lands of their own in France, and Queen Eleanor hated her husband who neglected her, while the King of France was only too ready to help the rebels. Added to this William the Lion, King of Scotland, was eager to reconquer the northern counties of England, and the Henry II. Lord of Ireland, 1171 . HENRY PLANTAGENET AND HIS SONS. 53 English barons hoped in the turmoil to get back some of their power. But Henry was equal to them all. He went from Ireland to Normandy to meet the messenger! bringing the Pope’s pardon, then with his army he conquered his rebellious sons, and put Queen Eleanor into confinement, where she remained till after his death. He next won the hearts of his people by doing severe penance at Becket’s tomb ; and just as he left Canter- penance and bury he learned that William of Scotland was taken trmm P h - prisoner. William did not get his freedom again till he had done homage as a vassal of England. From Canterbury Henry hastened to Huntingdon, and meeting his rebellious barons, made them return to their allegiance. In less than a year he was again master of the situation. But he had learnt that he must have an English army on which he could rely, and in 1181 he reintroduced the old West Saxon law oifyrd or military service, by which all freemen had armour, and pledged themselves to protect king and established, country in times of danger. This was quite different ltSi ' from feudal service to a lord, and it wa3 the foundation of our “militia,” a body of national soldiers trained as a regular army, but only called out to defend the country. The remainder of Henry’s life was spent chiefly abroad. Henry’s sons still gave him Much trouble. At last the two eldest Henry and Geoffrey, died, Richard and John only remained, and Richard, with the help of Philip of France, drove his father, now breaking in health, out of Touraine. Henry, sick at heart and ill with fever, asked to see the list of the de “th, r ii89. conspirators against him, and when he saw at the head the name of his favourite son John, “Now,” said he, “let all things go as they will, I care no more for myself or the world,” and two days after he died. To England he had been a true king and law- giver. He gave the English peace and justice, and made good laws, which have lasted to our own times. 6. Richard Cceur de Ldon (. Lion-hearted ). — In everything except being a good soldier Richard, who succeeded to the throne, was the very opposite of his father. Though born in England, 54 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. yet, as ha had two elder brothers, he had been educated abroad Richard as ^ uture Duke of Aquitaine. It is doubtful if no king to he could even speak an English sentence, and during England, ^is ten years’ reign he was only twice in England, for a few months at a time. Brave and chivalrous, though mean and covetous, a bom soldier, a warm friend but a dangerous enemy, careless of his people while full of zeal for religion, Richard behaved nobly in the Crusades, and the English were proud of him ; but he played no part in English history ; that went on without him. 7. Richard’s Rule. — He was crowned on Sept. 3, 1189, and began at once to sell all the offices, honours, and church and crown lands on which he could lay his hands. He even sold the homage of the Scotch king, that he might get money for his crusade. “ I would sell London,” he said, “ if I could find a buyer.” Then he Richard Philip, King of France, on his way to the Holy sella pre- Land, and left his mother Eleanor and his justiciar, ferments. 'Williain of Longchamp, a man of low birth who bought the chancellorship, to rule in his absence. Fortunately the good laws of his father really governed the kingdom. Longchamp ruled only two years, for the barons hated him, and when Queen Eleanor went to Sicily in 1191 Prince John, with the help and deposed, goodwill of the London citizens, turned him out of * 19L office, and h6 fled to Normandy. It was most likely to this that we owe our Lord Mayor of iondon, for John, as a reward to the London citizens, took an oath to their “ communa” or gov- erning body, and gave them for the first time a of London^ “ Mayor,” with power in the city almost equal to that 119L of the king. Henry Fitz-Alwyn was the first mayor of London, and when he died twenty-three years afterwards, John, who was then king, sold to the London citizens the right to elect their own mayor. Meanwhile Richard, who had heard that Longghamp was un- popular, sent another justiciar ; Queen Eleanor returned, and John, who would have liked to seize the throne, was obliged to remain quiet. News came from time to time of the king’s brave doings in the Holy Land, till one day the English people heard that on his way home he had been seized by the Duke of Austria, who had HENRY OF PLANTAGENET AND HIS SONS. 55 sold him to the German Emperor, and they must provide money to ransom him. To raise the£l00,000 required, j * . , , , Richard 8 every man had to give a quarter of his yearly income ransom, and goods, besides paying four other kinds of taxes. ‘ i ' H " J ohn treacherously tried to persuade the emperor to keep Richard a> prisoner, but he did not succeed, and the ransom being paid, Richard landed at Sandwich. He spent the four g^ond^fsit months of this second visit in raising money for for- March-May, eign wars, received the archbishop’s blessing after his captivity, and then went to Normandy, never again to return. He took away John’s lands and castles, but otherwise forgave his base treaohery. For the next four years Hubert Walter and Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, faithful justiciars, governed the country; levying as justly as they could the enormous sums Richard required. One good came from this. The people, now they were at peace, began to consider whether it was wise to let a king tax them so heavily, and the justiciars had to call lawful meetings when fuse money they levied money. The two bishops of Lincoln and tor J°™ iga Salisbury actually once refused to pay money on church lands to be spent in foreign wars, and the idea grew up that the nation ought to have some voice in settling what taxes should be raised. At last, quite suddenly, cai^e the news of Richard’s death from an arrow-wound, while he was besieging the castle of Death o{ Chalus, near Limoges. He died bravely, as he had Richard, lived, pardoning the man who shot him ; but after his death the order was disobeyed, and the man cruelly killed. 8. John, surnamed Sansterre or Lackland.— We now come to the one English king about whom nothing good can be said ; though his reign was very important to England,- Character because he was so bad that the whole nation was of John, roused to insist on justice and right. John was abso- lutely mean and selfish. He was handsome, gay, well educated, and had ability; but he was cruel, licentious, avaricious, and treacherous, caring for none but himself. He had betrayed his father and his brother, and as a king be was false to bis nephew, bis people, and his own kingly word. 56 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 9. War with France. — He was with Richard when he died, and received the homage of the barons who were there ; and in England he was elected to the crown without any difficulty, for Arthur of Brittany, Geoffrey's son, was only twelve years old, and no one seriously upheld him. But in France it was different. John with some difficulty secured Normandy, Poitou, and Aquitaine; but Arthur was the true Count of Anjou, and Anjou, Maine, and Brittany stood by him. Old Queen Eleanor, now eighty years of age, sided with John, while Philip, King of France, fought for Arthur. The war lasted on and off for three years, till Prince Arthur, when besieging his grandmother Eleanor in the castle of Mirabel, in Poitou, was defeated by John and taken prisoner. Then followed a black deed at which we shudder even now. Arthur, then fifteen, was imprisoned in the new Tower at Rouen, Murder of ^ut stoutly refused to give up his claim to the Eng- Arthur, lish throne. From that time he was never seen again. 1203 ■ . Shakespeare has made us all thrill with anger and pity at the shameful murder of the brave young prince ; but all that we really know is, that throughout Europe the whisper grew louder and louder that John had murdered the boy, and there seems little doubt that the accusation was true. Philip of France, from whom John held his French lands as a vassal, summoned him to clear himself of the murder before the peers of the realm ; but John refused, and then Philip declared all ffiis lands in France forfeited. _ . Most of the barons turned against him, his mother Loss of ° _ ’ Normandy died, and in the end John lost all his possessions in and Anjou. north G f Prance except the Channel Islands (see Map HI.). There remained to him only his mother’s lands of Gascony and a small part of Aquitaine in the far south. He made, indeed, several attempts to regain Normandy and Anjou, but in vain ; and so by the base murder which he committed to secure the English crown, he lost in one great swoop all the inheritance of his ancestors. England gained by his loss. For the future her kings and her nobles belonged to her alone ; they could no longer live abroad fighting on English money ; they had to make their home and their friends among the English people. 10. Struggle with the Pope* — John, however, was soon involved in a new quarrel. For the last five years Archbishop HENRY PLANTAGENET AND HIS SONS. 57 HuDerfc, as chancellor, had done well for the nation ; but he died in 1205, and the monks of Canterbury, knowing that Election of John would try to choose some minion of his own, Stephen secretly elected an archbishop. John, when he heard Langton * it, forced some of their number to elect another, and both arch- bishops appealed to Pope Innocent III. But the Pope set them both aside, and made the six monks who came to consult him elect Stephen Langton, an English cardinal then in Rome, and a good and upright man. John refused to receive Langton in England, and as he remained obstinate, the Pope, in 1208 laid the whole kingdom under an “ interdict that is, he Maunder forbade the clergy to marry the people in church, or an interdict, bury them in the churchyard, or to read any church services except the baptismal services and prayers for the dying. For four long years no church bell was rung, no prayers were offered up in church, and the dead were buried without a service in ditches and meadows. But John did not care ; he only revenged himself by seizing the goods of the bishops and clergy, and spending the money on wars in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Then Innocent, exconi- T , 7 John excom- municated John, forbidding any one to serve him. municated. Still he paid no heed, but punished all who followed : :< '' 1 the Pope’s orders, crushing under a cope of lead an archdeacon of Norwich who refused to obey him. When his barons withdrew from his court, he seized their castles and their chil- ’ Pope de- dren, and shamefully treated their wives and daughters, poses John, At last, the Pope declared John to be deposed from i ‘" i his throne, and gave Philip of France orders to conquer England. Then at last John became uneasy, because he was going to lose Something himself. If his subjects had loved him he could have defied the Pope and Philip, but all men detested him for his crimes. In abject alarm at a prophecy that he would cease to reign before Ascension Day, which was the anniversary ^ t ” ^nd' of his coronation, he not only received Langton as t £f£“ e e s , s archbishop, but actually gave up the English crown to vassal, the Pope’s legate, Pandulph, and received it back as a vassal. In doing this he gave rise to a long struggle between the popes and the English kings, which lasted more than three hundred years. 58 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 11* National Progress. — But in accepting Langton he had brought more imm ediate trouble on himself. For many years, all through the quiet reigns of Henry IL and Richard, the nation had been growing stronger. In the towns the citizens discussed freely when the town-bell called them to meeting. The merchant-guilds settled the laws of trade, the craft-guilds protected the strength of workmen from oppression, and many new privileges the people. were bought when the kings wanted money At the universities, too, scholars, English and Norman, Irish and Welsh, noble and peasant, met as friends and equals. Even in the country the duties of a man to his lord were now fixed by law, so that each had his rights, while the farmer was often free and paid his master instead of working for him. The nation was now united enough for the people and the barons to make common cause against a tyrannical king. 1 2 . Magna Charta.— They only wanted a leader, and they found one in Langton. On Aug 4, 1213, a council of bishops, barons, and reeves of the towns, was called to settle what was due bo the bishops whom John had robbed, and then Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, the justiciar, told the barons it was their own fault if they demand a submitted to John’s tyranny, for they had a right to charter. bisist on his obeying the laws of Henry I. A few weeks later, at a meeting held at St. Paul’s, Stephen Langton pro- duced the charter of Henry I. , in which these laws were given, and Fitz-Peter laid the claims of the two councils before the king. Unfortunately just then Fitz-Peter died, and John took as justiciar a foreign friend of his own. But Archbishop Langton continued the fight, and the barons from both north and south took a secret oath at St. Edmundsbury to make John sign a charter of rights or to take up arms against him. In January 1215 they laid their demands before the king. Taken by surprise, John asked to have till Easter to consider, and spent the three months, not in learning what rights they had, but in secretly engaging hired troops and enrolling himself among the crusaders, so that it would be sacrilege to fight against him But the barons were too much in earnest to mind this. They flew to arms, the whole country joined them, and John saw his case was HENRY PLANTAGENET AND HIS SONS. 59 hopeless. Almost alone, having only seven knights true to him, he met the barons at Runnymede on the Thames, near Windsor, and on June 15, 1215, sorely against his will, theVrfaT signed the “Magna Chart a” or Great Charter, by Ch ^^ r> which the liberties of Englishmen have been defended from that day down to our own. Most of the laws in this Great Charter were not new, but had been in others before it. The two main clauses were, first, that the king could not imprison and punish his subjects as he pleased, but that each man must be judged by his equals ; and, secondly, that he might not levy taxes without the consent of the bishops, earls, and greater and lesser barons. The other clauses chiefly renewed old rights. But the great point gained was, that while the other charters had been mere declarations made by kings when they were crowned of the laws by which the people should be governed, this was a treaty forced on a bad king by his people. The nation was now strong enough to insist Benefitg o{ that the king, as well as his subjects, should obey the the Great laws and respect the rights of others. So determined a e ' were the barons to enforce their rights and those of the people, that twenty-five of their number were appointed to see that the promises were kept, and were authorised to seize the royal castles and lands if the king broke them Of course John did not mean to keep his word. He put off the barons with excuses while he collected his foreign troops, and appealed to the Pope to help him, and at last civil war Warbetween broke out. John gained several victories, and in the John and north of England burned and destroyed all before him. Then at last, exasperated at his treachery, the barons invited Louis, the eldest son of the King of France, to come over and be their king and he came with a large army. But a few Louis comea months later death freed England from the tyrant. with an Crossing the Wash, in the Fens of Lincolnshire, John ** tm * v ‘ lost all his baggage, his jewels, and his crown, far dearer to his heart than his people. The next day he was taken ill at Swines- head Abbey, but he pressed on, and died at Newark, ^ leaving two young sons, Henry and Richard, and a j 0 lm, 1216. country full of civil war and foreign troops. HISTORY OF ENGliAND, PART III. RISE OF THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT. KINGS FROM THE GREAT CHARTER TO THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER. John (see table, p. 32). HENRY HI. b. 1207, d. 1272. r. 1216-1272, m. Eleanor of Provence . EDWARD I., b. 1239, d. 1307, r. 1272-1307. Eleanor of Castille, Margaret of France. EDWARD II., b. 1284, murdered 1327. r. 1307-1327, m. Isabella of France . EDWARD m., b. 1312, d. 1377, r. 1327-1377, m. Philippa of Hainault. Edmund, Earl of Lancaster. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, beheaded 1322 for revolt against the Dispensers. Henry, Earl of Lancaster. Henry, Duke of Lancaster. Edward, the Black Prince, b. 1330, d. 1376. m John of Gaunt— married. . . and became I Duke of Lancaster. | Henry, | Earl of Derby RICHARD n., «P d b. 1366, deposed 1399, Lancaster, r. 1377, 1399, / Anne of Bohemia, HENRY IV. \ Isabella qf France. .Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster. THE BARONS* WAR. 61 CHAPTER VIII. THE BARONS’ WAR. 1. Henry III. — King John was dead. He could no longer either make promises or break them ; and the barons, who were already beginning to see that Prince Louis would give their lands to his French nobles, were willing enough to take little Prince Henry of England, only nine years old, for their king. The Bishop of Winchester crowned him at Gloucester ten days after his father’s death, with a plain gold circlet (for the crown was lost), and he did homage to the Pope’s legate, Gualo, for his kingdom. The Great Charter was republished, but the clause about asking the consent of the people to the taxes was left out. William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, a wise old man, who had been the friend of Henry’s father and grandfather, was elected “governor of the king and kingdom.” Little by little all the barons came back to their allegiance. Prince Louis still fought for the crown, but his army „ . . t Prince Louis was defeated in the streets of Lincoln by the Earl of returns to Pembroke, and his fleet in the Channel by Hubert de France ’ 12ir - Burgh, so he was glad to make a treaty at Lambeth and return to France with a sum of money. Two years later the old Earl of Pembroke died, and Peter dea Roches, Bishop of Winchester, became the young king’s guardian. Hubert de Burgh as justiciar, and good Stephen Langton as arch- ■bishop, governed the kingdom. Henry was crowned a second time by the archbishop in 1220 ; and in 1227, when he was twenty, he began to govern in his own ndme. At first this made no real difference, for his advisers continued as his “private Council” and this was the beginning of the “ privy Council” of our day. 2 . Stale of the People. — Both in town and country the people were prosperous. It is true the civil war had left the land very disturbed. Highwaymen and robbers, such as bold Robin 62 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Hood and hi* companions, Little John and Friar Tuck, infested the roads ; but these free-booters attacked chiefly wealthy travellers) and left the homesteads in peace. The harvests were on the whole good ; even the labourers had plenty of oaten and sometimes wheaten bread, and drank barley beer with their herrings and cheese. They wove their own clothing, tanned their own leather, and made their own wooden tools in the winter ; amusing them- selves with wrestling, throwing, and archery, which the law required them to learn ; while several times a year the hundred and manor- courts broke the monotony of their lives. From time to time some villager bought permission of his lord to go and trade in a town, or another served the king in foreign wars, or the village priest taught another and sent him to the university. In the towns, too, trade both with home and abroad was increasing, in spite of the heavy tolls often levied by the king. Such articles as the country people could not make for themselves were bought by the steward of the „ . manor at the annual fairs held in different parts of the fairs. kingdom by special permission of the king, who levied tolls on all the goods sold. These fairs were very useful to the people, although sometimes, when Henry wanted money, he ordered them to be held where they were not needed, as, for example, in London, to the hurt of the shop-keepers. It was in this reign, in 1257, that gold coins were first struck in England, though they did not come into general use till 1344. But while the people were quiet and prosperous, a storm was again brewing between the barons and the king. Archbishop Langton died in 1228, and after his death Pope Gregory IX. filled English bishoprics and livings with Italian priests, also sending over to England for money from both barons and clergy for his own wars. Two new orders of “Friars” The Friars. or “Brothers,” came to teach the people. These were- the Dominicans or Black Friars, the followers of Dominic, a Spaniard, and the Franciscans or White Friars, the disciples of Francis of Assisi, an Italian. They were men of all nations, who made a vow of poverty, and wandered over Europe and Asia barefoot, and with a hempen girdle round their serge frock. One of these Friars was the famous Roger Bacon, whos* great work, the Opus Majus, first drew men’s thoughts to science THE BARON’S WAR. 63 3. Henry governs alone. — In 1232 the king became jealous of Hubert de Burgh, and depriving him of his justiciar ship, took the government into his own hands, putting mere clerks in the place of the great ministers. From that time all went badly, for Henry was a capricious man, vain, extravagant, and easily led by favourites. He was amiable and fond of poetry and art. He caused Westminster Abbey to be rebuilt as it now stands, and improved English architecture. But he was no statesman. He would trust a man one day, and be suspicious of him the next; and though kindly and well-meaning, he was so miserably weak that he was never true to himself or others. In 1236, he married Eleanor of Provence, and her ^reigneM relations had their share of good things, while a swarm of foreigners crowded to his court, whom he married to English heiresses. The king himself was very extravagant at home, and was always trying to get back his father’s possessions in France. To obtain money for all these purposes he was obliged to call together the earls, barons, and bishops, in assemblies now first called “ Parliaments,” from the French Parlement (parler, to Par ^^“^L rat talk). The nobles gave him grants very unwillingly, urging him each time to allow them to appoint a proper justiciar, chancellor, and treasurer to look after the expenditure. The king made many promises, and six times confirmed the charters — but did not keep them. Year after year as he came for money the same difficulties arose, growing worse as he asked for more and more, till the barons began to see that a stop must be put to the constant drain and to the increase of foreign favourites. The chief leader of the barons was Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who was the king’s brother-in-law, having siraonde married his sister Eleanor. Earl Simon, curiously Montfort. enough, was the son of foreign parents, but his grandmother had been English, and he was a true friend to England. A man faith- ful in word and deed, and resolute to defend the right, he had learned from his friend Grosseteste and from Adam Marsh, an earnest Franciscan friar, to long for a better government of the people. During many years he ruled in Gascony for the king, 64 HISTORY OF KKGLANt). though Henry treated him shamefully, leaving him without men ox money. When he retamed to England he tried to Twenty -two , yean of bad check the king in his weakness mid folly, but m nun ! government. p or twenty-two years things went from bad to worse- In 1358 Grosseteste died, but not before be bad drawn up a list of grievances, and bad made Simon swear that he would stand op even to death for justice and right. And Earl Simon kept his wind. The storm burst a few years later. Pope Innocent IV wanted Pope offers < * r * Te ^° nra< f’ the German Emperor, out of Sicily ; Edmond the so he offered the crown of Sicily to Henry for his crown of Sicfly. Edmond, only nine years old. Henry was foolish enough to accept, mid though Innocent died just then, the next Pope, Alexander IV.. made war on Conrad in Henry’s name and at his expense. The king had to confess to his Parliament that he owed the pope 135,000 marks, or £90,000. 4- Provisions of Oxford. — The barons were very indignant, for they had not been consulted, and the country was drained of Mad Parliament mone y* They only granted 52,000 marks ; and they 1258. came to the Parliament at Oxford fully armed, «ml insisted that twenty-four barons — twelve chosen by the king and twelve by themselves, — should reform the Government; tha t there should he three Parliaments every year ; that the castles should be given hack to Englishmen ; that the king should have a standing Privy Council to advise him ; and that the justiciar, chancellor, and treasurer whom they appointed should give an account to this* Privy Council at the end of each year. Though the king’s party were very angry, and called this the “ Mad Parliament,” yet Henry was obliged to submit ; and he and his eldest son Edward, now nine- teen, swore to accept these “ Provisions of Oxford.” Earl Simnn, as a foreigner, was the first to offer to give up his castles, and most of the foreign favourites fled to France, their posts lining filled by Englishmen. The barons now governed ; but their power only four years, for most of them were satisfied with having turned out the foreigners, and took no trouble about the reforms, while Earl Rim^ really wished for good government. Prince Edward, who was naturally just and honourable, was inclined to support Rimnn The THE BARON*S WAR. 65 "king, on the contrary, had already sent to the Pope to absolve him from his promise of keeping the “ Provisions/’ and when the abso- lution came he seized the Tower, and ordered the counties not to obey the barons’ officers. Then the barons flew to arms ; the queen, alarmed, took refuge in the Tower, and civil war was imminent, though there was no great battle. At last it was agreed to refer the whole question to Louis IX. of France. Louis thought of Amiens that a king had the right to govern absolutely, and at 1264 - the Mise (or arbitration) of Amiens he decided altogether in favour of Henry. 5. The Barons’ War. — Then the famous “Barons’ War” broke out. Fifteen thousand Londoners joined Earl Simon. Some of the barons joined the king, and Prince Edward, now that it had come to open war, stood by his father with all the foreign troops. But Earl Simon had also a large following. After many smaller encounters, the armies met face to face near Lewes. At Battle of Lewes> first the royalists had the advantage ; but the young 1264 - prince who opened the battle having routed the Londoners, pursued them fiercely. When he came back the battle was lost, and the king a prisoner. Edward himself could do nothing but surrender. 6. Be Montfort’s Parliament. — For more than a year after this Earl Simon ruled England in the king’s name, keeping Henry with him. On Jan. 20th, 1265, he held a Parliament at Westminister, which, although it was composed of those only who upheld his power, was very important. For Simon summoned not only two knights from each shire, but two citizens, of burgesses, from every borough, to sit with the nobles in Parliament ; and so for the first time the city communities or commons had members of their own. The knights were chosen in the county court, as in the shire-moot of old, by the freeholders of the county, and they answered to our county members now, who are still called knights of the shvre. The borough members were elected by the citizens. 7. Death of Earl Simon. — But Simon could not keep his party together. The barons were jealous of his power, and Simon’s sons gave offence by their pride, while the people did not like the king being a prisoner. At last Prince Edward, who was 66 HISTdRY OP ENGLAND. kept under guard, set his keepers, to run races, and when their horses were tired he escaped from them. Once free, his old friends rallied round him, and the Earl of Gloucester having joined him with a large force, he drove Simon to take refuge with the Welsh prince Llewellyn. Then pushing on to Kenilworth, he defeated young Simon, who was coming to his father’s help ; and putting the banners taken from young Simon’s knights in front of his army, he came close upon the ^ of old Earl at Evesham, in Worcestershire, before he Evesham, Aug. knew that an enemy was approaching. Simon had but 4th ’ 1265 ’ a small force of undisciplined Welshmen with him, and he saw that all hope was over. “ Let us commend our souls to God,” said he to the few barons around him, “ for our. bodies are the foe’s,” and he died fighting bravely, with the cry, “ It is God’s grace,” upon his lips. With him died all hope of success. The civil war lingered on for a year, and then at the peace, or dictum of Kenilworth, most of the barons received back their lands from the king. In 1267, Henry renewed the Provisions , and the next six years were peaceful Prince Edward went to the Crusades, and while he was gone the Vina died after a troubled reign of more than half a century, dur- ing which he had never meant to do any harm, but had worked endless ills by being simply a “ worthless king.” CHAPTER IX. STKUGGLE WITH WALES AND SCOTLAND. 1. Edward I. — When Henry died the Royal Council pro- claimed Prince Edward king, and ruled the land peaceably for nearly two years till he returned to England, and was crowned. He was then thirty-five, a tall, strong man, with dark hair and gentle eyes, which, however, could flash angrily when he was roused. He was one of England’s best kings, , and made many useful reforms in the laws. A good son, husband and father, we have Appearance ' proof of his loyal heart in his indignation at the insult to his mother, and in the crosses remaining to this day, ward l which he erected wherever the body of his first wife Queen EWuq t struggle With wales and Scotland. 67 rested between Lincolnshire and Westminster. Charing Cross receives its name from one of these. Brave, truthful, and constant, his motto was “Keep Troth,” and having seen his father’s mistakes, he wished to win the love of his people and give them good laws. When he failed it was because the old idea still clung to him that a king might overrule the law. The office of justiciar was not revived after the Barons’ War. The chancellor was now next in authority to the Ring, and Robert Burnell was the first great Chancellor of England. , . ° First great Edward began at once to reform abuses ; he forbade chancellor, . . . 1274 the barons to drive cattle into their castles without pay- ing for them, or to levy money unjustly ; and made a law that the people should be left free in electing the sheriffs and others who dealt out justice. He also improved the money of the country, and caused silver halfpennies and farthings to be coined. Halfpennies Up to this time, ever since the days of Alfred, the and farthings silver penny had been marked with a deep cross, and people broke it in half or in quarters when they wanted small change. 2. Conquest of Wales. — Edward next turned his attention to Wales, which was a constant source of trouble. Little by little the Britons had lost nearly all the land which once was theirs. Strathclyde and Cumbria had long been swallowed up in England and Scotland. West Wales, or Devon and Cornwall, had become part of South England. ; and even the southern counties of Wales itself had been conquered by Norman barons, who, living on the borders of Wales were called “Lords of the Welsh Marches,” from mark or march, a boundary. In North Wales alone the Welsh were still governed by their native chiefs, while their bards sang of the hated Saxon and of the days of good King Arthur. The head of these chiefs,— Llewellyn, Lord of Snowdon Llewellyn and Prince of Wales, — had helped Earl Simon, and refuses , ■ -i • 1 r> , homage, governed as an independent prince, during the Barons War, and now he refused to come to England and do homage to Edward. After trying all peaceful means for more than two years, the king at last, in 1277, marched to Wales with an army, and drove Llewellyn into the mountain fastnesses. Then he was forced to 68 bistort of 1 England. submit, and Edward allowed him to keep his title and power under certain conditions, and to marry Simon de Montfort’s daughter. But four years later rebellion broke out again. Llewellyn was a brave and noble chief, but bis brother David was a restless adven- turer, who had once been false to Lllewelyn and sided with the English. Now, being dissatisfied, he turned traitor the other way, broke into Ha warden Castle in Flintshire, took the English chief- justice of Wales prisoner, and persuaded Llewellyn and the Welsh princes to revolt and plunder the Marches. There was a Welsh prophecy that when English money became round a Welsh prince would be crowned in London, and the coining of smaller round coins instead of broken pennies made the people think this would come true. Again the king took an army into Wales, and endured severe suffering during the cold Welsh winter, but would not quit his position. Chance favoured him, for in a small skirmish on the banks of the Wye, brave prince Llewellyn was killed, and with his death Wales was conquered. A few months later David was taken and justly suffered the death of a traitor. Edward remained in Wales a whole year introducing good laws, and while he was there his son Edward was born at Caernarvon in 1284. From this time Wales was joined to England, though it had its own laws. In 1301 Edward gave the people as their prince his Fi^t R ng . Welsh-born son Edward, the only one who survived of Eleanor’s Jour sons. This boy was the first English 1301.^ Prince of Wales. 3. Law Reforms. — The next twelve years, during three of. which Edward was away from England, were spent chiefly in law reforms, which have lasted to our day. The land laws were care- fully regulated, and the famous “Statute of Mortmain ” gtatute ^ was passed, forbidding land to be held by dead hand Mortmain, without license. The law prevented men from pre- tending to give their land to the Church and to religious societies, so as to avoid rendering feudal service for it. About this time the law courts, which used to be united under the justiciar, were divided into three— the King's Bench, where public questions were tried ; the Court of Common Pleas, la ““ where people brought their private suits ; and the Court of the Exchequer, for all questions of the king's revenue. The STRUGGLE WITH WALES AND SCOTLAND. 69 Chancellor also now examined all cases of law where people appealed for “grace and favour ” to the king, and so he gradually became, by the reign of Edward III,, the head of what was called the Court of Chancery. Lastly, such disputes as were not settled by any of these courts came to the king himself in his Privy Council, so that all injustice might be corrected. Edward’s next care was to put down robbery and assault. Large bands of lawless men at that time lived by plunder and black -mail. On one occasion a body of country gentlemen actually broke into Boston fair in Lincolnshire, robbed and murdered the merchants, and carried off the goods to ships they had brought up to the quay. To stop such outrages as these, a law was made binding every man to arm himself and join in the “hue and cry” to arrest Keepers of marauders ; and in 1285 a knight was elected in each the Peace, ° 1285 . shire to act as “Keeper of the Peace,” and to watch the sheriff to see that crime was punished. These keepers afterwards became our “Justices of the Peace,” or “County Magistrates,” who now judge and punish crime, each in his own neighbourhood. 4. Expulsion of the Jews. — Among these useful reforms one sad blot was the expulsion of the Jews. Through many reigns the Jews, specially protected by the kings, had become richer and richer by usury. They were often employed by the nobles to ruin small landowners by lending them money and seizing their land in payment, and this made them hated by the people. They were also Accused, perhaps justly, of clipping coin and of many dishonest practices. Already when Richard I. was crowned there had been a terrible massacre of Jews in London and York, and during the “Barons’ War” Jewry after Jewry was sacked. Simon de Mont- fort had wished to banish the Jews, and now Edward ordered all who would not become Christians to leave England. He allowed them to keep their wealth, and he himself lost one means of getting money by sending them away. But it was a cruel deed, and as they crossed to France many of them were robbed and wrecked, the better class suffering with the rogues. From that time till the days of Cromwell there were no Jews in England. 5. First ftall Parliament. — If this, however, was a tyrannical step, Edward made a much more important one towards freedom 70 history of England. when he adopted Simon de Montfort’s plan of calling knights and citizens to Parliament. He could only get grants of money in Parliament from the barons and bishops. The shires, citizens, and clergy had each to be asked separately out of Parliament, and this was often very troublesome. Now, by summoningtwo knights from each shire, two burgesses from each borough, and two clergymen from each bishop’s diocese, these members could make promises for the people> who elected them, and grant money. Besides, as Edward justly said, it was right that “what concerned all should be approved by all.” So in 1295 a full and perfect Parliament was first summoned by order of a king — the nobles each byname, the knights and burgesses by a sheriff’s writ. This Parliament was much like ours now, only the nobles and commoners sat together, and there were clergy present. Afterwards the clergy refused to come ; they preferred to vote money in their own assembly or Convocation, and this is why there are now no clergy in the House of Commons. In some other ways these early Parliaments were different from ours. There was a fresh election every time they met, and the people had to pay for the members’ expenses — two shillings a day to a burgess and four to a knight. This was equal to about five s hillin gs and ten shillings of our money, and neither the members nor the people much liked the trouble or expense. Besides they looked on each Parliament only as a fresh demand to supply the king with money, and little thought what power they were one day to gain by having members to speak for them. 6. War with Scotland. — A year after the meeting of the first full Parliament, Edward was drawn into a war with Scotland* after there had been peace between the two countries for nearly a hundred years. In 1286 Alexander HI. of Scotland _ . . „ * % m Scots left died, and the only direct heir to the throne was his without a little grandchild Margaret, daughter of Eric, King of 129a Norway. In the summer of 1290 this little “Maid of Norway” was coming over to be betrothed to Prince Edward of Caernarvon, when she died, and the Scots were left without a sovereign. The Scotch Council asked Edward to decide between the five nobles who now claimed the crown. Edward therefore met the Scotch Parlia. STRUGGLE WITH WALES AND SCOTLAND. 71 ment at Norham, near Berwick on the border, and after he had made them acknowledge him as feudal lord, he examined carefully the claims of the three chief rivals. These were John Baliol, Robert Bruce, and John Hastings — the descendants of three sisters who sprang from the line of King David I. of Scotland JohnBaliol Edward chose John Baliol, grandson of the eldest of elected the three sisters, who did homage to Edward under kmf? ’ 1292- the name of King John of Scotland, and for a short time all went well. But Edward wanted more power as feudal lord than was fair. He insisted that the Scotch nobles and citizens might appeal to him against decisions in the Scotch law courts ; and when he was drawn into a war with the King of France about Guienne, he summoned the Scotch nobles to follow him and fight. They refused indignantly, and being anxious to throw off the control of England, they made a secret treaty with the King of France, crossed the English border, and ravaged Cumberland. Edward was very angry. Sending his brother in his stead to Gascony, he marched north with a large army, First war in stormed the town of Berwick, and maddened by Scotland, 1297. the taunts of the inhabitants, cruelly massacred them all. Then, as Baliol still defied him, he seized Edinburgh, Stirling, and Perth, and at Montrose took Baliol prisoner and sent him to England. He then appointed an English council to govern the kingdom, and carried off to England the crown jewels and the “Sacred Stone” of Scone, on which the Scotch kings were crowned. This stone was made into the seat of the regal chair in Westminster Abbey, and our kings are crowned on it to this day. The Scots declared that wherever it went, there, sooner or later, Scottish kings would reign; and their prophecy came true when James I. was crowned. Edward thought that Scotland was now conquered, as Wales had been, but he did not know the people with Whom he had to deal. The high-spirited Scots chafed under their loss of freedom, and when WilUam Wallace, a brave outlawed knight, raised the wmiam standard of rebellion, the people flocked to him. Wallace, Wallace was bold and skilful. He cut to pieces the English garrison at Lanark, made a dash at Scone, and drove out the English justiciar. Then, with the help of Sir William Douglas, 72 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. another outlaw, he defeated the English army at "Stirling, and pro- claimed himself “ Guardian of the Realm ” in King John’s name. At this time Edward was in Flanders, where he had gone to uphold the Flemings against Philip IV. of France, who was seizing English wool in the Flemish ports. Edward’s troubles were heavy just then ; Ireland was restless, there was a rebellion in Wales, and Edward Philip was trying to cheat him out of Guierine. Ham- heavy pered for money, he applied to the clergy for half their taxes, 1297. yearly income, but they refused by the Pope’s orders until he made them submit by refusing them justice or protection in the law courts unless they paid. Then some of the English nobles refused to go and fight in Guienne. They did not care for these foreign possessions, and thought there were wars enough at home. Edward, anxious to hold his own against the French king burdened the people with taxes. He raised the duty on wool to six times what had been paid before, ordered the counties to send in large supplies of food, and called upon the country gentlemen to be knighted, for which they paid heavy fees ; he also summoned all landowners to bring soldiers for the war. At this Parliament re- belled ; and when they accused him of levying unjust taxes, Edward, with that generous feeling which made his people love him, owned he had been wrong, but pleaded he had done it for England’s honour, Parliament and appealed to their loyalty to help him. Then they e ^w t"ra W gave their consent to the war, but they sent a charter 1297. after him to Flanders which he signed, promising among other things that he would never more levy money without consent of Parliament, and that the grievances of the people should always be redressed before a fresh grcmt was made. And now, with all this on his hands, he heard how the Scots were wasting the north of England. He returned home at once, and Battle of marching to Scotland, met Wallace with his forces near F i298 k ’ Falkirk, where a famous battle took place. The Scots fought bravely, and Wallace with great skill drew them up in blocks, something like the square in which our soldiers still fight. But the English were three to one, and their archers, the finest in the world, cleared a gap, into which the English horsemen dashed in overwhelming numbers. The Scots were cut to pieces STRUGGLE WITH WALES AND SCOTLAND. 73 and their army destroyed. Edward forgave the rebel nobles, but Wallace escaped and refused the king’s mercy. Seven Wallace years later he was betrayed by his servant,, Jack Short, hanged, to Sir John Monteith, governor of Dunbarton Castle, Aug - 24 > 1305 - and hanged on Tower Hill. For eight years after the battle of Falkirk, Edward tried in vain to unite the Scots and English into one nation. The nobles, led by John Comyn, nephew of Baliol, reb^led constantly, but at last there seemed some chance of peace. Meanwhile, however, there had been growing up in Edward’s court a brave young Scotch nobleman, Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick and Lord of Annandale, who was the grandson of that Robert Bruce who had been a competitor for the crown in 1291. Edward, half afraid of him, kept him about his person, and was just planning a mixed Parliament of English and Scots at Carlisle, when one day rumours reached him through Comyn that Bruce was plotting with the Scots. The following morning young Bruce was missing, and the next that was heard of him was that he had quarrelled with Comyn in a church at Dumfries, that Comyn was killed, and the English judges driven out of the town. It was a bad beginning, for the slaying of Comyn in a church was both murder and sacrilege, but a band of nobles gathered round Bruce, and he was crowned at Scone six weeks later, Robert Bruce by the courageous Countess of Buchan, who was a Macduff; and tradition said that a Macduff must M Sc°«and,^ always place the crown on the head of the King of the Scots. King Edward heard the news at Winchester. He was ill, old and careworn, but he determined once more to invade Scotland. Before he went he knighted his son, the Prince of Wales, with great ceremony. At the banquet which followed, he swore to exact vengeance for Comyn’s murder, and bade his people, if he died, to carry his body before the army till Scotland was subdued. Travelling slowly to Carlisle, he sent the army forward under the Earl of Pembroke, who took many of the Scottish nobles prisoner, and drove Bruce a fugitive into the Grampian Edward>8 Hills. Once more Edward’s anger led him to bitter last journey, vengeance ; the nobles were hanged, and the Countess of Buchan was placed in a wooden cage on the walls of Berwick 74 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Castle. But the hand ‘of death was on the avenging king, and though he tried to push forward, he died at Burgh-on-the-Sands, within sight of Scotland, July 7, 1307. Besides his eldest son, Edward, Prince of Wales, he left two sons by his second wife, Margaret of France. ^ ^ S'. Edward II. (of Caernarvon).— The death of the old king altered the whole course of events. ' Edward II., the son of good and able parents, was a frivolous, indolent youth, who had been indulged in childhood, and had already given his father much trouble. Now at twenty-three, he was handsome, headstrong, and fond of low companions, revelry and folly. Even his sad end twenty years later, can scarcely make us feel an interest in so pitiful a king. His father, on his deathbed, left him three commands. First, to carry on the war till Scotland was subdued ; secondly, to send his heart to the Holy Land ; thirdly, never to recall from exile a profligate Gascon — Piers Gaveston, whom Edward I. had banished. He disobeyed all three. Returning south at once, he left Bruce for three years to gather strength for a struggle. He buried his father at Westminster, and within a month of his death had recalled Gaveston, loaded him with riches and honour, and left him as regent for two months, while he went to France to marry Isabella, daughter of Philip IV On his return he and his young queen were crowned, and Gaveston was put at the head of the Government. Gay, insolent and ambitious, the favourite held revels and tournaments with the king, and insulted the nobles. Twice he was banished, but Edward always recalled him. One year, Parliament actually took the The Government out of the king’s hands, and gave it to a Ordainers, committee of bishops and peers, called “the Lord’s Ordainers,” who drew up a set of ordinances limiting the king’s power. This Parliament is the first on record that was prorogued (prorogo , I prolong), that is, dismissed for a time and called together again without a fresh election. Gaveston remained Murder of Gaveston, 1312. in exile for a time, but at last he returned again, and was taken prisoner by the barons at Scarborough. Fall- ling into the hands of his mortal enemy, the Earl of Warwick, he was beheaded on Blacklow Hill, in presence of the king’s cousin, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. STRUGGLE WITH WALES AND SCOTLAND. 75 8. Battle of Bannockburn. June 24 , 1314.— During this time, while the king was fooling, Scotland was slipping from his grasp. Town after town had been taken by Bruce, and an expedition by Edward and Gaveston against him in 1310 had been an utter failure. At last, Bruce was master everywhere, except at Stirling and Berwick ; and the Governor of Stirling Castle was so hard pressed that he had promised to surrender on St. John’s Day, June 24, if he were not relieved. Then Edward, who had lost his favourite, and who, although so indolent, was brave enough when roused, marched north, and met Bruce within sight of Stirling Castle, by the little brook or burn called the Bannock. The moment had come when the freedom of Scotland was to be won or lost, and the Scots were in terrible earnest. The battle was fought on St. John’s Day. Burns’ famous song, “ Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled, Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,” written more than 400 years later, tells us how it is remembered in Scotland to this day. King Robert had dug pits in front of his army, and covered them with sticks and turf ; and, like Wallace, he drew up his spearmen in hollow squares or circles, with the front men kneeling. The arrows of the English bowmen punished them sadly, but they closed in bravely. When the English horsemen charged, their horses were met again and again by such a mass of bristling spears that at last they were thrown into hopeless disorder. At that moment the English mistook a body of Highland servants coming over the hill for a fresh enemy ; a panic arose, and the brilliant array of nobles and knights turned and fled. Edward him- self escaped to Berwick, but his army was scattered and his nobles prisoners, while rich spoils remained with Scotland the enemy. The Scots had thrown off the English yoke. 9. Deposition and Death of Edward II . — The humilia- tion to England was bitter, and six unhappy years followed. The country had been drained of men for soldiers ; bad seasons, cattle plague, and the greed of the king’s servants, brought scarcity of food. Parliament unwisely tried to keep Fa “oubie. nd down the price of food by law ; the consequence was, that food being cheap, was bought up too freely, and a famine 76 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. followed in which many died. The Scots, too, were ravaging the north of England; Edward Bruce, Robert’s brother, was invading The favour- Ireland ; and Edward took a new favourite — Hugh le Deventer, Despenser — who with his father supplanted the chief 1320-1327. minister, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and ruled the kingdom. The Despensers were superior men to the former favourite, but the barons soon quarrelled with them, and taking up arms under Roger Mortimer, and the Earls of Hereford and Lancaster, they conspired with the King of the Scots to seize the government. But this time Edward was on the alert ; he marched against the rebels before the Scots could join them. The Earl of Hereford Lanca8ter was killed, Mortimer sent to the Tower, and Thomas of beheaded, Lancaster, whom Edward had never forgiven for Gaveston’s death, was beheaded. Then the king held a Parliament at York, revoking the Ordinances ; and because he wished to curb the power of the barons, he persuaded Parliament to pass a very important law, that “all matters should be established Commons by the king, prelates, earls, barons, and ammanality of £ ^le^ia- e the realm.” This was the first time that the Commons tion, 1322 - were given a share in making the laws ; hitherto they had only been consulted about taxes. The Despensers now governed, but they were hated by both the queen and the people, and misrule and confusion reigned in the land. Queen Isabella went to France to settle a dispute about the duchy of Guienne with her brother Charles IV., and a few months later she sent for her son Prince Edward, thirteen years of age, to come and do homage for the duchy. But neither the queen nor the prince returned, for she was intrigu- ing with Lord Mortimer (who had escaped to France), to overthrow Edward and put his son in his place. In 1326, she landed in Suffolk with a small body of troops, and was joined at once by the archbishop and the barons. Deserted by all, the wretched king fled with the Despensers to Wales, and was taken prisoner at Glamorgan. Both the Despensers Edward ii. were hanged, and the king was declared unfit to reign by a Parliament held at Westminster. His staff of dered, 1327. office was broken, and young Edward was proclaimed king in his stead. The king’s words are sadly touching, “ft tHE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 11 grieved him much,” he said, “that he had deserved so little of his people, and he begged pardon to all who were present ; but since it could not be otherwise, he thanked them for electing his eldest son.” Then he was imprisoned in one castle after another, and on Sept. 21, 1327, he was cruelly murdered in Berkeley Castle by order of Mortimer. CHAPTER X. THE HUNDRED YEARS* WAR — THE PEASANT REVOLT. 1. Edward III. — On Jan. 29, 1327, the young prince was crowned ; guardians were appointed to govern for him, but during the first four years Queen Isabella and her favourite, Lord Mortimer, usurped the real power. After that Edward took his own place. In 1328 he had married Philippa, daughter of the Count R ^ of Hainault ; in 1330, his first son, afterwards so well minority, 1327 1336 known as the Black Prince, was bom ; and in Novem- ber, of the same year — his eyes being opened by the execution of his uncle, the Earl of Kent, through Mortimer’s influence — he entered Nottingham Castle at midnight with a band of friends and seized Mortimer, who was condemned by the peers for many crimes, and hanged at Tyburn (then called “The Elms”). Queen Isabella was sent to Castle Rising, in Norfolk, for the rest of her life. Thus Edward, before he was nineteen, was a husband, a father, and a responsible king. His reign has a double history — one of wars abroad, the other of great events at home — and we must take these separately. Although Scotland was now independent, yet skirmishes continued on both sides, and when King Robert died leaving only a little son seven years old, Edward III. invaded Scotland, and put Edward, eldest son of John Baliol, Causegof on the throne. Baliol was soon driven out again, but quarrel with as the French were allies of the Scots, King Philip VI. tr&nce ' of France, who wanted Guienne, made Edward’s invasion of Scotland an excuse for invading Gascony. About the same time 78 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. the people of Flanders, who had now a large wool-trade with Eng* Flemings land, wanted protection from the extortions of their Edward’s worthless ruler. Count Louis. Their leader, James help. van Artevelde, named “the Brewer of Ghent,” called on Edward to help them, and to take the title of “Bang of France,” so that they might transfer their allegiance to him. 2. War with France.— This Edward did. He put the French fleur-de-lis on his shield, with the motto “ Dieu et mon Droit,” and claimed the throne of France by right of his mother Isabella, who belonged to the elder branch of the French royal family, Philip YI. belonged to the younger. The claim was worthless, for by French law the succession could not pass through a woman. But, on the accession of Philip YI., Edward, whilst he admitted that a woman could not herself succeed tot he throne of France, contended that her male heir, if nearest of kin to the last sovereign, was entitled to the French crown. This gave rise to the famous “ Hundred Years’ War,” which lasted on and off through the reigns of five English kings. It soon ceased to have anything to do with the Flemings, and was a sad war, for it was a mere struggle for power, without any thought of doing good to either nation. These were the days of chivalry, when, even in touma- Chivalry. men ^ ) the nobles loved to risk their lives and perform feats of bravery and daring. There was a great deal that was good in this high-spirited courage and knightly honour, but the nobles only exercised it among themselves. When they went to war they cared but little for the burning villages and the ruined crops and vineyards, nor for the suffering people, who were called “rascals ” in those days, and counted for nothing. 3, First Campaign. — In Edward’s reign the war was divided into three campaigns. Tbe first began when the French attacked Portsmouth in 1338, and lasted till 1347, and the English were on the whole successful. In 1340 they gained a great naval victory off Sluys, on the. Flemish coast; and, on Aug. 26, 1346, another at Crecy, in Northern France, in which the English archers overpowered the knighthood of France. Gunpowder was first used in this battle, and Edward, Prince of Wales — called the Black Prince — won his knightly spurs there at sixteen years of age by his bravery. It is ^ FAMOUS BATTLES £ SIEGES OF HITMDRED YEARS WAR Quercy^ Mamtillt Porismoidh JS38 SluyslrfO owxJMF Ciilais£}£/ Jbtiuxr/JJ# Barfleur cKl MIS JrraiyefTrryyesJfZO Orlriuis 7+2$ Wtrmdra MSI Naval" THE HUNDRED TEARS* WAR. 79 said, but on doubtful authority, that it was after this battle that the Black Prince adopted the three plumes and the motto ti Ich Dien” which the Prince of Wales still uses. Then followed the Siege of Calais, which lasted eleven months — from Sept. 1346, to Aug. 4, 1347 — on which day, when the town could hold out no longer, six brave burgesses came out bare- footed and with halters on their necks to beg mercy for the inhabi- tants. Edward would have hanged them, but for the prayer of good Queen Philippa, who begged him on her knees to spare them. Edward peopled Calais with Englishmen, and for two hundred years it remained an English town, and was a great protection to ships in the Channel. It was about this time, and perhaps in 0rder of tho memory of the Siege of Calais, that Edward III. Garter, established the famous Order of the Garter, comprising twenty-five knights, the king himself being the twenty-sixth. 4. Second Campaign. — The second outbreak of war began in 1355, when John II. was King of France. The most memorable battle in it was the Battle of Poitiers, when, on Sept. 19, 1356, the Black Prince, with only 12,000 men, defeated the French with 60,000, by drawing up his army at the end of a narrow lane among vineyards, across which the archers let fly their arrows as the French approached. From that moment of confusion, though the French fought bravely, they had no chance. King John and his little son Philip were taken prisoners to England, where John died eight years later in the Savoy Palace in London. Two years after the Battle of Poitiers, the English pttshed on to Paris, across a wasted country which had been ravaged bylawless soldiers, called “Free Compan- ies ” ; and at Bretigny, south of Paris, a peace was signed on May 8, 1360. By this treaty Edward gave up his claim to the French crown, but ruled Aquitaine, Poitou, Gascony and Calais, as an independent sovereign. Thus, at the end of the second campaign, the English held a large part of France. 5. Third Campaign. — But they lost it in the third. The Black Prince, who had gone to rule at Bordeaux as Duke of Aquitaine, interfered in a quarrel in Spain, and Charles Y. of France began the war afresh. More wily than his father John, Charles avoided battles, while he harassed the English by long 80 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. marches across the wasted country. The Black Prince was ill and irritable ; he tarnished his fame by a massacre of the people of Limoges who had gone over to the enemy ; while Charles got the better of him at every turn. At last ill-health drove him back to England, and from that time the English were unsuccessful Their fleet was defeated by the Spaniards in 1371, and by 1374 the French had reconquered everything except Calais, Bordeaux, and Bayonne. So at the end of this part of the war the English held less of France than at the beginning, thirty-six years before. 6. Rise of the People. — We must now take up the history at home during the early part of Edward’s reign. It may seem strange that the French war was popular in England. But the nobles liked war in itself, and the people thought if the king had more subjects they would help to pay the taxes, while they were proud of the brave Black Prince. Moreover, the lower classes really gained at first by the war. The knights and barons wanted money for their costly armour and splendour abroad, and were Leases willing to let their manors for leases , or long terms, andTreedom rece i v ^ n g rent, called feorm, in return, and this was to serfs. the beginning of the farm and independent farmer. They were also willing to sell freedom to their serfs or villeins, and even the king sent commissioners to his enormous estates to raise money by allowing his serfs to buy their discharge. Edward had brought over a number of Flemish weavers, who settled in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, and taught the people to G wth f weave doth- This soon became an important industry, industries and, as any serf who could escape to a town and dwell and trade. ^ ere f or a y ear an( j a day was free, many began in this way to earn a free livelihood. Trade also began to flourish with foreign countries. The fish and timber trade with Normandy, the wool trade with Flanders, the wine and salt trade with Gascony, gave new openings for employment. The coinage was improved about this time, and in 1344 gold coins first began to be used as money. The nobles, busy with their wars, did not observe that, in consequence of all this advance, the freed serfs, and independent workmen and farmers were becoming a strong body of free men, with wants they had never felt, and rights they had never claimed before. THE HUNDRED YEARS* WAR 81 This went on for more than twenty years, and meanwhile the king was always appealing to Parliament for money for the war. In 1340 he came from Prance in a great rage, turned out the ministers and chief- justices, and accused his chancellor, Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, of having misused the money he had collected. He wanted Stratford to answer to him for the money, but Parliament replied that no minister could be Lords and judged except in full Parliament before his peers ; and ^teS°the in 1341 they insisted that they should help to choose minister, ministers, who should swear before them to keep the law. For the last nine years the knights and burgesses had sat in the Painted Chamber, separate from the lords and bishops, who sat in the White Chamber, so that there were now two Houses, the Lords and Commons ; and we find that the Lords consulted the Commons, who spoke their mind freely. Parliament was now really taking some control of government, and for the time all worked well. The people were pleased at the victory of Crecy, and at a defeat of the Scots at the Battle of Neville Cross, near Durham, where King David of Scotland was taken prisoner in 1346 ; and still more at the taking of Calais, which protected the Channel. 7. Statute of Labourers. — But great sorrow was at hand. In 1348 a terrible plague, called the “Black Death,” swept over the continent to England, and in the crowded streets of the towns and the hovels of the country the people died so fast that it was difficult to bury them, In the end more than one-third of the population of England was swept away, without reckoning the numbers killed in the wars. How now were the landowners to get their work done 1 In the panic, fields had been left uncultivated and farms abandoned, and the labourers, now there were so few, asked higher wages for their work. Then came the first struggle struggle between those who had money and lands, or caprtafTnd the owners of capital, and those who lived by labour. labour. During the plague a number of sturdy beggars had arisen who would not work, and Parliament justly passed a law that every man under sixty must do work of some kind. But the “ Statute of Labourers,” which they passed, went further, and said that the labourers should work for the same wages as before the Black Death . 6 82 HISTORY OF ENGLAND This they would not do ; and they managed to evade the law, and work for those who paid them best. The landowners were in a difficulty, for they had to pay more heavily for labour, tools, and everything made by labour, while they did not get any more money for the com and meat grown on their land, because there were fewer people in the country to feed. So Parliament, in which, of course, the landowners were powerful, brought back the old laws which bound each man to work on his lord’s estate. The labourer was forbidden to leave his parish, and any man who ran Laboureia away was to have an F {fugitive) stamped with hot iron on his forehead. Many escaped serfs were brought back from the towns, and some even who had bought their freedom were unjustly claimed. The labourers, who now knew that they could earn more money if left free, chafed under the tyranny, while they tried to evade it. 8. John Wiclif, 1324*84. — The works erf our great poet Chaucer, who about this time wrote the Canterbury Tales , and a Works of s t ran g e poem, Tht Vision of Piers Plowman , written Chaucer and by the people’s poet Langland, show how, while the LanglancL. . 7 knights, courtiers, wealthy abbots and monks were holding tournaments and revels, the lower classes were growing more and more restless. At this time, John Wiclif, Master of Baliol, Oxford, the first English religious reformer, began to w rite against the wickedness of the clergy, and especially of the friars, many of whom had grown hypocritical and greedy. A few years later he translated the Bible into English, and sent out “simple priests,” barefooted and in russet gowns, who taught that each man must answer by his own conscience to Ood, that men are equal in His sight, and that nobles and priests must rule justly for the good of all. We can easily understand how all these stirring thoughts of freedom worked in the minds of the discontented peasants, and bore bitter fruit in the next reign. 9. Important Statutes.— Still all remained outwardly quiet, and during the next twenty years Parliament made many good reforms. In 1351 it was enacted that the Pope (who was at this time a Frenchman, living at Avignon in France, among enemies of England) should no longer give English livings to foreigners, nor THE HUNDRED YEARS* WAR. 83 exact heavy tributes as he had done since the reign of John. In 1353, people were forbidden to carry English questions of law to foreign courts ; and this statute of Praemunire , a name Firgt statute given from the first word used in the writ, became very p of important in later times. In 1362 it was ordered that English should be used in the law-courts, and not' French, as formerly ; and that the king should no longer levy tolls on wool without consent of Parliament. The Government also tried to make laws for Ireland, but from the first these were mistaken and cruel. There were three classes of subjects at that time in Ireland — 1st, the original Irish; 2nd, the English who had gone there long ago, intermarried with the natives, and made Ireland their home ; and 3rd, the English who went over to rule. The Irish and Irish-English were no doubt a wild, half-barbarous people, but they were shamefully treated by their rulers. By the statute of Kilkenny the English were statute forbidden to marry with the Irish, all national Kilkenny, games were prohibited, and the Irish were ordered to speak English and adopt English customs. The King’s son Lionel, Duke of Clarence, who went to govern them, would not even allow any man bom in Ireland to come near his camp. Under such government it was impossible that the Irish should became a contented people. lO. The Good Parliament. — Ten or more years passed away The war-disasters of the third campaign happened in France ; the king was growing old ; good Queen Philippa was dead ; and a worthless woman, Alice Perrers, influenced Edward. The Black Prince, who was the king’s eldest son, was dying, and his little son and heir was only ten years old. The king’s third son, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, was really governing with ministers of his own choosing^ and people suspected that he wished to seize the throne. At last, in 1376, the “Good Parliament” ^ met, and the Commons made bold for the first time to impeaoh- impeach the ministers, or, in other words, to prosecute them before the House of Lords, who acted as judges. They accused them of misappropriating the public money, levying taxes without permission, and lending the poor old king money, for which they made him pay them a hundredfold. The Duke of 84 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Lancaster did all he could to stop these attacks, but the Black Prince, though dying, upheld the Commons. The ministers were „ removed and Alice Perrers sent away from the king, Black though she soon came back again ; and when the Prince, 1376. p r j nce two months later, little Prince Richard was brought by the archbishop before Parliament, and acknowledged as heir-apparent. Nevertheless John of Gaunt came back to power, and the Parliament of 1377 undid all that had been done, and laid First a new *' ax u P on the people, called the poll-tax, of so poll-tax, much a head for every person in the kingdom. It ' was in this Parliament that the foreman or chairman of the Commons was first called the “Speaker.” That san e year, Edward III. died, and young Prince Richard, only eleven years old, succeeded to an uneasy throne. \ II. Richard II. — Richard was crowned, July 16, 1377, and a council appointed to rule the kingdom. The king’s uncles were not on this council, but John of Gaunt had still much influence. The war with France was drifting on, very badly for England, and there were heavy taxes to pay for it. The poll-tax was again levied. The Duke of Lancaster paid £6:13: 4, the earls £4, and so on down to the poorest person over sixteen years of age, who paid a groat or four-pence. But this did not bring in enough, and next year a still larger poll-tax was collected. This pressed heavily upon the poor ; and ever since the “ Statute of Labourers,” thirty years before, discontent had been increasing among the villeins, the labourers, and even the smaller tenants, who had to pay heavy dues and tolls. Secret associations were being formed all over the country, and Wiclif’s priests, now called “Lollards,” travelled from place to place, and were messengers between the restless people. John Ball, one of these priests, had even been put in prison by the Bishop of London for seditious preaching. 12. Peasant Revolt, 1381.— Still all was quiet till John of Dartford, a tiler by trade, killed a poll-tax collector, who insulted his daughter. At once all England was in an uproar, and it was clear there was some secret understanding, for the people rose all at once in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Devon, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent. THE HUNDRED YEARS* WAR. 85 The men of Kent, under Wat Tyler (of the same trade as John of Dartford), rose in a mass, released John Ball from Maidstone gaol, and marched to Blackheath, where he preached to them that all men were equal, repeating the two lines, “ When Adam delved, and Eve span. Who was then the gentleman?” The men of Essex, under Jack Straw a thatcher, came armed with clubs, rusty swords, and bows, and joined the throng, and so did the men of Hertfordshire. A hundred thousand men moved on to London, and the mob within opened the gates to them. They ransacked the prisons, burnt the Savoy Palace (the home of John of Gaunt, whom they detested), and the new Inn at the Temple, and destroyed the houses of the Flemings. Yet they did not plunder or steal, but settled down quietly for the night — the Kentish men on Tower Hill, the Essex men at Mile End, the Hertfordshire men at Highbury. Taken by surprise, the nobles and council were paralysed with fear. Only the young king kept his presence of mind. Though not yet sixteen years of age, he showed wonderful courage. Early the next morning he rode out to Mile End to meet the rioters. “I am your king and lord, good people,” said he, “what will ye 1 ” They asked for freedom, for the abolition of the oppressive tolls and market dues, and to be allowed to pay rent instead of giving labour. He promised all they asked, and set thirty clerks to write letters of freedom for each parish ; with these papers in their hands the people dispersed. But while Richard was gone the Kentish men had broken into the Tower Palace and murdered the archbishop who was chancellor, and the treasurer whom they hated because of the poll-tax ; while thirty thousand men still remained in London under Wat Tyler. These Richard met the next day in Smith- Rivard field, and when Wat Tyler laid his band on the rein meets his of the king’s horse, the Mayor of London struck him people ' and he was killed. “Kill, kill,” shouted the crowd, “our captain is killed.” “I am your captain,” cried Richard, “follow me;” and they followed him quietly to Islington. Here he would not allow the troops, which had at last assembled, to interfere with them, but gave them written charters, and they returned home. So 86 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. the revolt ended in London, but many lives were lost and much damage done in the distant counties during the next fortnight. Then the king marched through Kent and Essex with a large army ; John Ball, Straw, and hundreds of others were arrested and put to death ; and when Parliament met all the king’s charters were declared to be valueless, because he could not give away what belonged to the nobles. So the people seemed to have gained nothing ; but, in truth, though at first the oppression was worse than ever, the nobles soon saw that villeinage ^ wou ^ be dangerous to force villeinage any longer dies out on the people. Gradually during the next hundred gradually. an( j y ears it died away entirely, and free labour took its place. 13. Power of Parliament. — Yet though young Richard began so bravely, the history of his reign was sad for him. To understand it we must notice that the Commons were now strong enough to force the king to listen to their advice before they granted him money but they did not yet know how to use their power ; -and were swayed this way and that by the great lords who were the real rulers in the land. Now Richard’s uncles loved power, and wanted to keep him under their control, while Richard, as we see, had a high spirit of his own. Edward had seven sons, but only five grew to manhood. The two first died before the king, and the Black Prince’s son, as we have seen, became Richard II. His ministers and his council were never first-rate men, probably because his mother and friends were afraid of choosing friends of his uncles. But the uncles ruled nevertheless. John of Gaunt had power at first, but after the people showed in the Peasant Revolt h^jv much they hated him, he withdrew to Spain for three years, leaving in England his son Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, who was beloved by the people. After John of Gaunt left, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, took the lead ; and while Richard was still under guardians, this duke and the Earl of Arundel stirred jaevenfi387. U P P ar h amen t i* 1 1387 to impeach Richard’s minister, the Duke of Suffolk, for wasting the public money . and to appoint a Council of Eleven to look after the king’s affairs’ THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR. 87 Richard was furious ; he set the Parliament at defiance, and tried to rouse the people to join him. This was foolish and headstrong, for he had as yet no power, and the next year, in a Parliament, called the “ Merciless Parliament,” five _ „ . lords — Gloucester, Arundel, Warwick, Nottingham, and less Pariia- Derby, who were called the “Lord’s Appellant” — m ent, 1388. appealed against the king’s friends, and accusing them of treason, hanged seven of them, among others a brave old knight, Sir Simon Burley, whom the king loved and honoured, and for whom the queen, and even Henry of Derby, begged in vain. Gloucester was merciless, and Richard saw that he must be wary. 14. Richard’s Rule. — The next year, 1389, he took them all by surprise, by announcing suddenly in the council, that as he was twenty-three, he would govern in future himself. He called upon the Earl of Arundel to give up the Great Seal ; and, staggered at his boldness and his just right, the lords yielded, and he took every- thing into his own hands. For eight years he ruled wisely and well, making good laws. It was during this time that the second law of Prcemunire was passed, enacting that all persons Second law introducing bulls or sentences of excommunication of Pr*mu- from the Pope into England, should be liable to be imprisoned and lose their property. This statute, as we shall see, had important effects in Henry YIII’s reign. Richard Richard also visited Ireland, where he behaved kindly to the makes a people. Meanwhile he did not show any ill-feeling F^anee.'m6. towards those who had killed his friends. But he had not forgotten. His wife, Anne of Bohemia, died, and he married the little daughter of the King of France, only eight years old, so as to arrange atruce for twenty-five years. Now his hands were free, and when the great lords were angry at the war being broken off, and began to intrigue against him, he took his revenge. Gloucester, Warwick, and Arundel, Richani , B were taken prisoners^in a few hours. Gloucester was revenge, sent off to Calais, and in a fortnight news arrived that "" " he died there. Arundel was tried before Parliament on the charge of treason and beheaded, while Warwick was imprisoned 88 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. for life. Then Parliament, left without its leaders, granted all the king asked, gave him a promise of an income for life, and allowed him to form a special committee of his own friends to over- rule the petitions sent to Parliament. In a word, Richard had Richard an ma( ^ e himself an absolute king. But this was the cause absolute of his downfall. Prom that moment there was no check on his extravagance or his strong will, and he began to oppress the people with taxes, and to interfere in the courts of justice. Even when he was right, as in protecting the labourers against the landowners, or in preventing the Lollards from being persecuted, the people grew to hate him, because he did it of his own will, and made them feel he would do as he chose. Meanwhile two of the “Lords Appellant” still remained in England — Nottingham, now Duke of Norfolk, and Henry Boling- broke, now Earl of Hereford, John of Gaunt’s son and Richard’s cousin. They were friendly to the king, but he did not feel safe, Banishment an< ^ took advantage of a quarrel between them to ° Earl ” 7 ’ Danish them both — Norfolk for life, and Henry for six Hereford, years. This was most unjust, and as the people loved Henry, it angered them. But Richard was blind to all but his own power ; and the next year, when John of Gaunt died, he seized all his estates which by right, belonged to Henry. Then, thinking that he had swept England clear of all his enemies, he went over again to Ireland, May 1399. 15. Richard’s Fall. — At the moment when he thought all was safe, his power crumbled to dust. Henry, now Duke of Lancaster, landed in Yorkshire to claim his estates. In a moment, at the news that he was in England, the Percies from Northumberland, Earl Neville from Westmoreland, and even the Duke of York, Richard’s uncle, whom he had left as regent, all gathered round him. Richard had shown himself a tyrant, and England rose against him. When he landed in Wales a fortnight later he found his kingdom was lost. The nation, tired of Richard, welcomed Henry to rule over them. Richard fell into Henry’s hands at Flint Castle in Wales, through the treachery of the Earl of Northumberland. He was sent to the Tower, and signed a deed of resignation on Sept. 29, 1399. The THE HUNDRED YEARS* WAR. 89 next day Parliament declared Henry king. A year later, when a rebellion arose to restore Richard, he was said to have Disa pp ear died, and his body was shown to the people ; but how ance of he really came to his end no one knows to this day, Rlohard - though it seems most probable he was secretly put to death. So the kingdom passed to the house of Lancaster ; but it must always be remembered that Henry and his descendants held the crown because Parliament elected him, and that the nearest heir belonged to the house of Clarence ; for this caused all the trouble which ended in the “ Wars of the Roses.” 16. Summary— 1216 1399 . — We have now passed over nearly two hundred years since the Great Charter laid the foundation of English liberty. During that time we have seen Parliament take its rise, admit members elected by the Commons of the land, take the control of the taxes, insist that the people’s grievances should be redressed before grants were made, and that the king’s ministers should answer to Parliament for their actions. We have seen the two Houses of Lords and Commons begin to sit separately, but act together by consultation ; and two kings set aside because they tried to act wilfully without the consent of their subjects. But in both these cases it was the great lords who led the way ; for still, as in the days of John, it was the nobles who ruled the land whenever the king was weak or wilful. During this period, too, we have seen Wales become joined to England, while Scotland gained her liberty and her own line of kings. We have seen England gradually freeing herself from the heavy money grants, which the Popes levied ever since John took his kingdom from Pope Innocent III. as his vassal ; while commerce was extending itself by the large woel-trade with Flanders, and profiting by the gradual rights which the towns acquired of trading, without the vexatious tolls levied by the earlier kings. We have also seen the first beginning of the rise of the masses of the people ; how the villeins were gradually obtaining their freedom, and the tenants paying rent instead of giving labour ; and how, by Wiclif’s teaching of the freedom of conscience, and his translation of the Bible, the first seeds of the Reformation were sown. Wiclif himself, after a long contest with the Bishop of London, withdrew to his own parish at Lutterworth, 9® HISTORY OF ENGLAND. and died in 1384 We shall still hear of his followers, the Lollards, in the next reign. Lastly, we leave England in the midst of a war with France (for the truce made by Richard ended with his death), and on the eve of a struggle at home, which grew out of Henry having taken the throne, although he was not the direct heir. We shall see that in the war abroad, and in this struggle at home so many of the great families suffered, that when it was ended there was no longer the same barrier of great lords between the king and his people. THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 91 PART IT. HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK, WARS OF THE ROSES KINGS OF LANCASTER AND YORK. EDWARD III. Edward, Black Prince. RICHARD II., T. 1377-1399. Lionel, Duke of Clarence. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, married. I Edmund, Duke of York. I 1. Blanche 2. Constance 3. Katharine of Lancaster, of Castille. Swynford. l’hiiippa, married Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March. Roger Mortimer, Earl of March. HENRY IV., Henry b. 1306, d. 1413, Cardinal r. 1399-1413 Beaufort. / Mary de Bohun, t Joan of Navarre. HENRY V., b. 1388, d. 1422, r 1413-1422, . Katharine of Prance. HENRY VI., b. 1422, d. 1461, r. 1422-1461,, m. Margaret of Anjou (deposed). 1 I John Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Earl of Exeter. Somerset, John Duke of Somerset. Margaret Beaufort, mother of HENRY VII., first sovereign of the House of Tudor. Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, d. 1424. Anne Mortimer married ( Richard, < Earl of l Cambridge I I Thomas, Duke of Gloucester. Anne. Humfrey, Duke of Bucking- ham. Humfrey, Earl of Stafford. Richard, Duke of York. EDWARD IV., b- 1461. d. 1483, r. 1461-1483, m. Elizabeth Woodville. George, Duke of Clarence. Edward, Earl of Warwick. RICHARD III., b. 1451), d. 1485, r. 1483-1485. m. Anne Neville. Henry, Duke of Buckingham, beheaded 148a Elizabeth, EDWARD V. TO. Henry VH. b. 1470. d. 1483 f r. April to June 1483.' Richard, Duke of York, * 92 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER XL THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 1. Henry IV . — The year 1400, which we have now reached, begins one of the most unsettled periods of our history. No king during the next eighty years held undisputed possession Unsettled of the throne. There was always some one else who forelghty had a claim to be king, and this caused endless years. struggles and civil wars, in which the greater number of the old families were destroyed. Henry TV. had already two rivals — Richard II., a prisoner in Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire, and the little Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, the king’s cousin, who, with his younger brother, was being brought up in Windsor Castle. . Before three months were over, the Earls of Kent, Huntingdon, and Salisbury, together with Lord Despenser, entered into a conspiracy to restore Richard, but the plot was betrayed, and they were all executed. We shall probably never know whether this conspiracy hastened Richard’s death or whether he died naturally. A few weeks later it was announced that he was dead, and his body was shown to the people, though many still doubted whether it were really he. Soon after - this the Welsh prince, Owen Glendower, who was a dower descendant of Llewellyn, and had been a faithful squire rebels, 1400. to jj i j c j iar( j jj , rebelled in Wales, and the Welsh from all parts of the country flocked to support him. King Henry made several expeditions against him, and sent his son, the young Prince of Wales, with a large army. But Glendower always retreated to the mountains, and left the inclement weather to fight for him, coming back as soon as the English were gone, and really ruling the country. Meanwhile the Percies — that is, the Earl of Northumberland and his warlike son, Harry Hotspur — who had helped to put Henry on the throne, had been defending the North against the Scots. At THE HOtJSE OF LANCASTER. 33 the Battle of Homildon Hill, on the Tyne, they defeated the Scotch army, and took many important prisoners, Battle of for whom they hoped to get large ransoms. But Henry hom ildon seems to have claimed these prisoners, and also to have offended the Percies by leaving Edmund Mortimer, who was Hotspur’s brother-in-law, a prisoner in Wales. Irritated at what they considered the king’s ingratitude, pfrciesfand the proud Percies turned against him and joined Gle "^ 0 o 3 wer ’ Glendower. The cry was raised that Richard was still alive in Scotland ; the French sent troops to Wales to help the insurgents, and again Henry had to defend his crown. In the famous Battle of Shrewsbury he, with his two young sons, Henry, Prince of Wales, and John, Duke of Battle of Bedford, defeated the rebels. Harry Hotspur was July 21,1403! killed and many noblemen were taken and executed. But the old Earl Percy of Northumberland still remained, and in the year 1405, when the unfortunate Henry had only just recaptured the little Earl of March, whom Lady Despenser had carried off from Windsor, he heard that a rebellion had broken out in the north. Again, how- ever, the king’s forces met the rebels and dispersed them, and this time Earl Mowbray and Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York, were beheaded for treason. After this Henry held his throne in peace. That same year. Prince James, heir to the Scotch throne, was taken prisoner by English ships on his way to France, and by bringing him up at the English Court, Henry kept a hold over the Scotch. Time0 | France, too, ceased to trouble him. Young Henry, peace. Prince of Wales, already a good general, gradually drove 1405 ‘ 1413 * Glendower out of South Wales, and he became a wanderer in the mountains. Lastly, Northumberland was killed in battle, and no one again attempted to overthrow Henry’s power. 2. Important Measures. — But these seven years of constant uncertainty had been very hard for the king. Not Commona daring to trust his nobles, he was obliged to keep good grain the friends with Parliament and the Church. The long ^njfmoney" French war had made the Commons very unwilling grants ’ 14 °7- to grant much money, and the king was often short of funds. Rebellion of lrebn Mowbray and Scrope, 1405. 94 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. So they could make their own terms, and they not only required the king to change his council and arrange his household as they dictated, but they succeeded at last in forcing the Lords to leave to them the sole right of making money grants after their grievances had been considered. This was a step towards freedom, but another measure, passed chiefly to please the Church, was a cruel tyranny which lasted for more than a hundred years. By the advice of Arch- heresy S i 40 i ^i s ^°P Arundel, the first Convocation (or assembly of clergy), after Henry was crowned, sent him a petition, -begging him to put down the Lollards ; and in the next Parliament a law was passed by which a heretic, if he continued in his opinions after the first warning, was to be given over to the officers of justice and burnt alive. There were probably three causes for this terrible law : first, the clergy believed that the Lollards would ruin men’s souls and take the property of the Church ; secondly, the Parliament dreaded them, because they wished to alter the land-laws and the taxes, and to free the remainder of the serfs ; thirdly, Henry was afraid of them because they had been favoured by Richard. And so in February 1401 the first fire was lighted to destroy a fellow-creature on account of his belief. William Sawtre, a rector of Norfolk, who had come to London to preach Lollard doctrines, was burnt at the stake. 3. Death of Henry IV . — Yet Archbishop Arundel, who persecuted the Lollards, was in other matters a wise and able chancellor, and so too were the Beauforts, Henry’s half-brothers, who were chancellors during his reign. Now, when Beaufort Henry’s health was failing and he was afflicted with changer, fits, they were good and faithful advisers to the young prince. It is said that they wished the king to resign the crown to his son, but this he would ncfcjdo. He rallied for a time, and the prince, who had taken a prominent part in the council, retired, Arundel again becoming chancellor. So things remained, till one day, while praying in Westtninster Abbey, the kins was seized with a fit and died, March 20, 1413. He left four sons — Henry, who succeeded him ; Thomas, Duke of Clarence ; John, Duke of Bedford, a wise and noble prince ; and Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester, the evil genius of his family. THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 95 X 4 . Henry V. — For nine years England was now once more to be dazzled by foreign victories. Henry V., a man of five and twenty when his father died, was already a brilliant soldier and an experienced statesman. It was said that he had been wild in his youth, and that Judge Gascoigne had once sent him to prison for defying the law. If this was so, he had done good „„ work besides, conquering Glendower, boldly opposing be altered the Commons when they wished to confiscate the '"statutes"^ property of the Church, and governing wisely in the 1414 • council. Now he succeeded to a throne which his father had made strong by his firm but moderate rule, and he had the wisdom to follow in his steps. In the first year of his reign he granted to the Commons a boon they had long wished for, namely, that their petitions, now called bills, should become statutes after A they had passed them, without garbling or alterations, Priories and that the king should refuse or accept them as they g ta”kTng° came before him. This Parliament also agreed that 1414- the king should take all the property of the “alien Priories,” that is, property in England which had till then been held by religious houses abroad. Thus his reign began happily. He had an able friend and helper in his brother the Duke of Bedford, and a faithful chancellor in Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester ; and being himself truthful, brave, and self-denying, he became during his short reign the idol of the English people. He even felt strong enough to Henry y give back the Mortimer estates to the young Earl of strong and March, and the earldom of Northumberland to ^farry bel °ved. Hotspur’s son, and he had King Richard’s body removed with royal honours from Abbots Langley to Westminister Abbey. A feeble conspiracy was indeed^formed by Richard, Earl of Cambridge, brother-in-law to Mortimer, but it was soon discovered, and he was beheaded, together with his fellow-conspirators, Lord Scrope and Sir Thomas Grey. 5. State of the People .- — In spite of famines and a visitation of the Black Death in 1407, the nation had now for many years been prosperous. Labour was becoming free, the yeoman and the farmer could rent their farms, and we can see by the statutes passed 96 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. to prevent extravagance in dress that money was not wanting. No labourer’s wife, for example, was to wear a girdle garnished with silver nor a dress of material costing more than two shillings (about twenty shillings of our money) a yard. The many new treaties made to promote trade with Holland, the Baltic towns, Flanders, Venice, and other countries, show that shipbuilding and commerce were flourishing. The coal-trade of Newcastle was becoming important, and although the English kings were foolishly beginning to debase the coin — that is, to use less silver and more alloy, — money was circulating freely. The merchants, among whom was the famous Dick Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London, were rich and powerful ; and the craft-guilds protected the workmen and encouraged good work. 6. Revolt of the Lollards. — The only restlessness among the people seems to have been caused by the Lollards, whose opinions had spread very widely. A sturdy knight, Sir John Oldcastle, who became Lord Cobham by marrying the heiress of Cobham, had now for many years upheld the Lollards. He was a brave soldier and a respected member of Parliament, and it was difficult to interfere with him, although his castle at Cowling in Kent had become the headquarters of the sect. At last, after Henry V. had tried in vain to convert him, he was arrested and condemned to death, but before the day arrived he escaped from the Tower. His escape was a signal for revolt. A large body of Lollards assembled at St. Giles’ in the fields outside London, but Henry was too quick for them. He closed the city gates, and the royal forces dispersed the meeting. Thirty-nine of the chief Lollards were executed, and Lord Cobham fled to Wales ; in 1417 he was taken, hanged in chains, and burnt. 7. Renewal of tlie French War. — After this Lollardism gradually disappeared. But the general restlessness of the countiy was one of the reasons why the French war began again. The bishops wished to divert the attention of th^n^wal the people from the Lollards, and of Parliament from „ of G>« r r ' French war. their idea of confiscating Church property ; the mer- chants wanted to open new channels for their goods, and the nobles were tired of peace. In these times war and conquest were considered honourable to a king and nation, and Henry was ambitious, and really believed that he was doing wisely in trying to THE HOUSE OP LANCASTER. 97 put an end to the wretched civil war then raging in France. So, although he had far less right than even Edward III., he made a formal claim to the throne of France, and war began once more. On Aug. 14, 1415, he landed near Harfleur in Normandy, and took it after a terrible siege, during which sickness broke out in his army, and he lost many thousand men. Then he giege of marched on towards Calais, and met on the plains of Harfleur, Agincourt, in Picardy, an army of 60,000 Frenchmen, Aug ‘ 1415 who had united for the time against the common enemy. Henry had, at the most, only 9,000 men, yet once more the English bow- men scattered the French cavalry, and 11,000 French- Battle men lay dead on the field, of whom more than a Agincourt, hundred were princes and nobles. Yet Henry was ° ct ‘ 1416 * obliged to return to England, for his army was exhausted ; and it was only two years after, that he returned with 32,000 men and conquered Normandy, with its strongholds, cities, and seaports. The siege of Rouen alone in 1418 lasted six months. The starving city held out, although the governor was R^n^uis. obliged to turn 12,000 men, women, and children out- side the gates, where they lay dying between the walls and the English army. At last the brave citizens threatened to fire the city, and Henry made terms with them, but he put to death their gallant captain, Alan Blanchard. The next year Henry took Pontoise and threatened Paris, and just at this time fortune favoured him. John, Duke of Burgundy, had gone to a conference with Charles, the dauphin or heir of France, and there was treacherously murdered by" the friends of Orleans in the dauphin’s presence. The Burgundians, furious at the treachery, joined Henry, Treaty and even Queen Isabel, wife of the mad French king, of Troyes, turned against her son, and gave her daughter Katharine to Henry as his wife. By the Treaty of Troyes, Henry was made Regent of France, and named as the successor to the throne. England was proud of her king when he returned, with his young French wife, as the Regent of France. Few or none of the people then thought how heavily they would nav in the next reign for all this conquest and glory. England and In 1421, a little prince was born and named Henry. The king was abroad fighting against the dauphin, his health was 7 98 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. failing fast, and he died at Vincennes, Aug. 31, 1422, at the early age of thirty -four. Two months later the unhappy Charles VI. of France also died, and the English baby-prince, only ten months old was King of England and France. 8. Minority of Henry VI. — England was at the height of her fame when Henry V. died. The parliament, clergy, and nation had made vigorous efforts te support the king in his glorious victories, and he had won for them a grand position in the eyes of Europe. But it was a false glory ; the crown was deeply in debt, and the country exhausted and drained both of men and money. By Henry’s last wishes the Duke of Bedford became Protector of the Realm and guardian of the young prince : but he was also to be Regent of France, and the Duke of Gloucester was to govern England in his absence, with the help of the council. Henry bade the two brothers never to make peace with the dauphin nor quarrel with the Duke of Burgundy, and he warned Gloucester to care for the country’s interest before his own. He judged him only too truly. Before a year was over Gloucester had quarrelled with the Duke of Burgundy, about his wife’s inheritance, and three years later Bedford was obliged to come back from France to make peace between him and his uncle the chancellor, Henry Beaufort. Bedford, on the contrary, did his work well abroad. He married Siege of Duke of Burgundy’s sister, and with much difficulty Orleans, steered clear of Gloucester’s quarrel. By victory after 1428, 1429. yjgtQjy k e conquered, in five years, the whole of France north of the Loire and was on the point of succeeding in the siege of Orleans, when that wonderful rescue took place, of which the story will be told as long as the world lasts. 9. The Story of Jeanne Dare.— A simple village girl of eighteen, Jeanne Dare (called in English by a curious mistake Joan of Arc), the child of a labourer of Domremi, on the borders of Champagne and Lorraine, was filled with pity for the misery and ruin of her country. Dwelling on an old prophecy which said that a maid from Lorraine should save the land, she believed Jeanne Dare, that she saw in visions the archangel Michael bidding ‘ her go to the dauphin and promise him that she would lead him to Rheims to be anointed and crowned king. In spite THE HOUSE OP LANCASTER. of the village priest and people, she persuaded the captain of Vaucouleurs to lead her to the camp, and there she told her mission; and the dauphin, catching at any hope in his despair, let her have her way. Then, without fear or shrinking, she put herself at the head of the rough soldiers, and clad in white armour, with a banner studded with fleur-de-lis waving over her head, she burst through the English army with 10,000 men-at-arms. Though she herself was wounded in the action, she raised the siege of Orleans. The English were panic-stricken ; the French believed her to be a messenger from God ; and, not heeding the French generals, who wished to remain fighting on the Loire, she led the victorious army to Rheims, conquering all before her. There, Charles VII. was crowned King of France. Then Jeanne begged to go home to her sheep and village. Her voices, she said, had left her, her mission was over. But Charles would not let her go, so she fought bravely on, though her confidence was gone. At the siege of Compiegne, in 1430, she was taken prisoner by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English, and Charles made no effort to save her. The end was a tale of shame — to the French whom she 0 /jeanne rescued, to the English who had seen her bravery Dare, — to all except to the simple maid herself. She was burnt as a witch at Rouen, and the noble spirit escaped, from false friends and cruel foes, to where “the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. ” IO. End of Hundred Years’ War. — The war was not yet at an end, for Charles had not reached Paris, and the very year of Jeanne Dare’s death Henry VI. was crowned in that city by Beaufort. But from that time the English lost ground. Bedford died two years later, and Richard, Duke of York, with John Talbot, carried on the war ; but there was little hope of success, for Burgundy after Bedford’s death went over to the French king. In 1445, when Henry VI. married Margaret of Anjou, the English promised to give up Anjou and Maine to her father Rene, and a truce was made with France. But it was constantly broken. In 1449 Charles VII. reconquered Normandy, and in four years more he was master of Guienne and Bordeaux. When Talbot was killed, and the Hundred Years’ War ended in 1453, Calais alone remained to England. 100 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. While disaster and loss were thus falling on the English abroad, the Duke of Gloucester and Chancellor Beaufort were quarrelling at home. Gloucester was popular, ambitious, and not Gloucester an a ^ e statesman, while Beaufort tried in vain to and keep matters straight. At one time he withdrew from England altogether, because it was impossible to work with the duke. Bedford even got out of patience with his brother, and the poor little king, when only eleven years old, had to beg his uncles to be reconciled. After Henry was crowned in 1429 Gloucester’s control came to an end, and Beaufort, who was now a cardinal, had great influence in the state till he died in 1447. II. Decline of Parliament. — During this time Parliament was becoming weaker, and the king’s Privy Council more powerful One reason of this was, that in the eighth year of Henry "VI. s reign the franchise or power of voting for knights of the shire was no longer given to all who attended the county court at which the election was held, but was restricted to freeholders of land or houses worth forty shillings (between twenty and thirty pounds of our money), while the borough elections were gradually getting into the hands of a “select body” of burgesses, and were very much governed by the sheriffs, so that the king and leading men could easily influence them. Thus the House of Commons became little more than an instrument of the ministers, and when these quarrelled among themselves the members even came armed to Parliament. Parliament of the “Bats.” One Parliament in 1425 was called the “Parliament of bats,” because the members, being forbidden to bring arms, brought cudgels or bats in their sleeves. Lastly, in 1437, the king for the first time chose his council himself, instead of allowing Parliament to do so, and this really gave the power into his hands. 12. Weak Rule of Henry. — Not, however, really into his own hands, for Henry, who came of age in 1442, had no will of his own. Pure-minded, patient, humble, merciful, and generous, < HeMyVL >f was nevertheless weak both in body and mind. On his mother’s side, he was the grandson of poor mad Charles VI. of France, and during the last part of his life had frequent attacks of insanity. He took great interest in Eton School, THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 101 and King’s College, Cambridge, both of which he founded, and he tried hard to fulfu'l his official duties, striving to keep the peace among his advisers ; but in all State matters he was driven hither and thither by people stronger than himself. After he married Margaret of Anjou she chiefly ruled him, and her favourite ministers were first the Duke of Suffolk and afterwards the Earl of Somerset. When the war began to go badly for England, Gloucester wished to try and recover what was lost, but Margaret, being French, naturally wished for peace. Gloucester was charged with high treason, and five days after was found dead in his bed, probably murdered. Suffolk Gloucester now had the chief power, and used it well, but secret a P? Suffolk, enemies raised the cry that he was making a disgraceful peace with France. He too was impeached and banished, but he did not live to reach the continent ; he was murdered while crossing the Channel. 13. Jack Cade’s Rebellion* 1450. — Then the people, weary of the heavy taxes, yet angry at the truce with France, and having no strong hand over them, rose in rebellion. A certain Irishman named Jack Cade, who called himself a Mortimer, led a body of 20,000 men out of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex on to Blackheath Common, and from there to London. We can see how much better off these people were than those had been who rose under Wat Tyler seventy years before, for they made no complaints of villeinage nor of their wages, but asked for the parliamentary elections to be free, the foreign favourites to be sent away, and for a change of ministry. They entered London and murdered Lord Saye, the treasurer, but were in the end defeated in a battle on London * f Bridge, and dispersed with pardons. Jack Cade was afterwards killed near Lewes. It was in November of this year that the first Lord Mayor’s Show was held at the election of the Lord Mayor. 14. Wars of the Roses. — Jack Cade’s rebellion made it clear that some strong hand must now take the Government ; and a few years later Richard, Duke of York, who had been away in France and Ireland, came to England, and “ e ar j taking the place of Somerset, whom the queen favoured, was made protector in 1454, to rule for the unhappy king, who was out of his mind. This Richard of York had been 102 HISTORY OF ENGLAND* heir to the throne since Gloucester’s death, for he was Henry’s nearest relation, until the king’s son Edward was bom. Even then, strictly speaking, Richard, had intone sense the best claim, for his mother belonged to that elder branch of Mortimer, descended from the Duke of Clarence which had always been set aside. But the Lancasters had reigned for three generations, and York at present Battle of came forward only to help the king. The next year, st. Albans, when Henry recovered, Margaret persuaded him to May 22 , 1454 . sen( j awa y York and recall Somerset. The loss both of the chance of succession and of influence in the Government was too bitter. York took' up arms, and being joined by the Earls of Salisbury, Neville, and Warwick, he defeated the queen’s parly at St. Albans, where Somerset was killed, i, ' The Wars of the Roses had begun. The Lancastrians, or the queen’s party, wore a red rose, which had always been their badge; the Yorkists chose a white rose ; and in the struggle that followed, now one, now the other, had the advantage. In 1455 Hie king was once more insane, and the Duke of York protector. Then when Henry recovered he tried to make peace between the duke and the queen. But Margaret was anxious for her son’s rights, and plotting against York, persuaded the Parliament to pass a “ bill of attainder , ” judging him and his friends to be guilly of death as traitors. An attainted person was condemned by Parliament without the usual forms of law, and their family was tainted and deprived of property for ever. Each party during these wars attainted the leaders of the other party when it held the power, and almost as many nobles were killed in this Northamp- wa y 85 hi battle. The bill of attainder did not injure *»“> York, for he was out of reach in Ireland ; and in 1460 he came back with an army, and was victorious in the Battle of Northampton, when Henry VI. was made prisoner and Margaret fled with her son to Scotland. Then the Duke of York laid claim to the throne, and a Parliament which met that autumn named him as Henry’s successor, setting ' , aside young Edward, Prince of Wales. A battle at Wakefield, Wakefield, however, five months later, reversed all this ; Deo. 24, 1460. Lancastrians were victorious, the Duke of York was killed, and his son, the Earl of Rutland, murdered after the battle. Bills of attainder. THE HOUSE OP YORK. 103 Then Edward, Richard’s eldest son, who became Duke of York, by his father’s death, took up the contest. He defeated the Earl of Pembroke at Mortimer’s Cross, in Herefordshire, ’ ’ Battle of and marched straight to London. Though the north Mortimer’s of England favoured the Lancastrians, the great mer- Cross ’ 1461, chant towns were steady supporters of the house of York. While the Earl of Warwick was attacking the queen, who defeated him and carried Henry VI. ( >ff safely to the north, Edward had entered London, and was greeted by the people with the cry, Edward “Long live King Edward.” The citizens were tired of declared Henry’s feeble government, and hoped to find rest king ’ 1461 ‘ under a strong king. Two days later the Earl of Warwick arrived in the city, the Yorkist lords assembled, and Edward was declared king. But he could not wait to enjoy his triumph, for the queen was raising a large army in the north, and thither Edward and Warwick hastened. The two armies met at Towton Field, in „ . Yorkshire, and the bloodiest battle of the whole war Towton, took place ; 20,000 Lancastrians lay dead on the field, Mar - 29 > 1461 - and the Yorkists lost nearly as many, but they gained the victory. Henry and Margaret took refuge in Scotland, many nobles were killed or executed, and Edward returned to London and was crowned at Westminster, June 28, 1461. CHAPTER XII. THE HOUSE OF YORK. 1. Wars of the Roses, Continued. — The next ten yeap are one long history of skirmishes and battles. Margaret struggled bravely to recover the throne for her husband and son. Henry yi In 1463, at the Battles of Hedgeley Moor and of in Hexham, she was defeated, though she had help from e ower ' the French and Scots. She fled with her son to Flanders, and King Henry, while hiding in Lancashire, was taken prisoner and sent to the Tower, then used as a palace as well as a fortress. There he was kindly but safely kept. 104 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Meanwhile, however, Edward had given great offence to the Earl of Warwick by marrying Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of Sir John Grey. Warwick had hoped to marry marriages. king some French princess, and so to strengthen his power ; or, if that failed to have given him a daughter of his own. Now Edward had not only married a lady of no great wealth or standing, but he soon began to give important posts to her father, Lord Rivers, and her other relations. Warwick, on his side, married his daughter, Isabella Neville, to the Duke of Clarence, Edward’s brother, who was the next heir to the throne, \ and this displeased the king. About this time a Lancastrian rising took place in the north of England, and spread very widely ; in a battle at Edgecote, in Ox- Battle of f° r< ishire, Edward’s party was defeated, and a large Edgecote, number of his nobles, among whom were several of the queen’s relations, were killed. He himself, left alone without a protecting army, was for a short time a prisoner in the hands of Archbishop Neville, Warwick’s brother. He was, however, allowed to return to London, and soon after he issued a proclamation against Warwick and his own brother Clarence, as traitors, which obliged them to escape to France. There Warwick w rwick me ^ d e P ose< i queen Margaret, and proposed to her joins that his daughter Anne should be betrothed to her son, Margaret. Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales, and that he would then help Margaret to recover the throne. By this means Warwick hoped to secure the succession for one of his daughters, either Isabella, married to Clarence, a Yorkist, or to Anne betrothed to the Prince of Wales, a Lancastrian. The Queen agreed. Warwick landed at Dartmouth, and Edward IY., finding himself betrayed, fled to Flanders. His queen, Elizabeth Woodville, took refuge in the sanc- tuary at Westminster, and there her eldest son, afterwards the unfortunate Edward V., was bom. Poor weak Henry was taken out of the Tower, and for six months, he reigned again, thus gaining for Warwick reignPagain ^he nickname of the “ King-maker.” But we are now at last nearing the end of the wearisome seesaw of victories and defeats. Edward obtained help from the Duke of Burgundy, who had married his sister, and landing in Flight of Edward. for six months. THE HOUSE OF YORK. 105 Yorkshire with a small body of foreign troops, on the same spot where Henry IV. had landed seventy-two years before, was joined by his brother Clarence. They marched to London, where Edward was again received with acclamation. He gave battle to Warwick at Barnet, and Warwick was killed in the fight. Then Margaret gathered all the soldiers she could, and met Edward at Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. There she too was Tewkesbury, completely defeated, and her young son, the Prince of Wales, was stabbed to death on the battle-field in the presence of King Edward. A fortnight later Henry VI. died in the Tower, probably murdered, and the long struggle was over. Margaret was imprisoned, but was ransomed by her father Rene in 1475, and returned to France. 2. Progress of the middle Class. — At last the country was quiet ; though, indeed, all this time, while the nobles and their retainers were destroying each other, the new middle class, the farmers, yeomen, small landowners, tradespeople, and merchants had been progressing. The battles going on did not concern them, but were mere party fights, and the mass of the people took no part in them, although they found it difficult to get redress when their houses were broken into and goods taken, as we learn from some interesting letters written at this time by Margaret Paston, a lady in Norfolk, but on the whole the wealth of the middle class was increasing, and when Edward had finished struggling for his throne, and thought of invading France (which, however, in the end, he did not do, but turned back on receiving an annual pension from the French king), he found plenty of rich merchants and others from whom he could obtain money under the name of a benevolence or present, showing that there was no want of money. These benevolences were given willingly at first, for B g”® e v s ° 1 ' the citizens welcomed a peaceful government, but after a time they became a grievance. On the whole, however, the country flourished in spite of a terrible plague called Sweating Sickness, of which a large number of people died in 1479. As Edward had secured an income for life early in his reign, he only summoned Parliament once during eight years, and the power of the king and the council was almost without any check. The king, who led an immoral and dissolute life, began, as Richard II. 106 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. had done, to be very exacting, and to govern with an iron rule. Still he was popular, and by sacrificing all those who opposed him he managed to keep peace. But he bought it dearly of Clarence, for his fear of treason led him to cause his own 1478 ‘ brother, the Duke of Clarence, to be impeached and put to death in the Tower ; drowned, it is said, in a butt of Malmsey wine. 3. Caxton. — Meanwhile in a small corner of the sanctuary at Westminster, where stood a chapel and some almshouses, a man was doing a greater work than the king and his nobles with their quarrels ; nay, even perhaps than the merchants and craftsmen in the city. This was William Caxton, who as a boy had gone from Kent to Flanders, where he spent thirty years, and brought back with him to England in 1476 the first printing press. The history of the rise of printing abroad, and how wood-blocks used for print- ing block-books were gradually replaced by moveable type, is a long one. But all this was done when Caxton began his printing in England. Before 1476 all new copies of books made in this country had to be written out by hand, and we can imagine how rare and costly they were. But now in his quiet corner Caxton, under the patronage of King Edward and Richard, Duke of Glou- cester, printed many books of poetry, while he earned his daily bread by printing “ service-books for the preachers, and histories of chivalry for the knights and barons.” The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers was the first book he printed in England in 1477, and Chaucer’s works and the romance of the Saxon hero Arthur, the Morte d’ Arthur, followed. Besides this he translated and printed many foreign works, such as the story of Reynard the Fox ^nd the History of Troy. But more important than the actual books he produced was the fact that when he died about 1491, the art of printing, which has worked such wonderful changes in the world, was established in England. Before that time, however, troubles had again broken out. In 1483, Edward IY died leaving two young sons, Edward, Prince of Wales, aged thirteen, and his brother Richard, Duke of York, aged ten, and over these two poor little boys another struggle began. 4« Edward V, — When the king died there were two parties THE HOUSE OF YORK. 107 ready at once to bid for power, the queen and her relations on the one hand, and the king’s brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, on the other. The Prince of Wales was at Ludlow under the guar- dianship of his mother’s brother, Lord Rivers, and his own half- brother, Sir Richard Grey. The Queen, who was at Westminster, claimed that the Council should make her guardian of her son and of the realm ; but they wished Richard to be protector, and sent for him from York, where he was governing as lord-lieutenant. Richard seems to have determined at once to crush the queen’s party. On his road he and the Duke of Buckingham met Rivers and Grey, who were coming to London with the young prince, arrested them, and sent them to Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire. Richard then told the young prince that his uncle and half-brother had conspired to betray him and seize the Government. The poor boy burst into tears and defended his friends, but it was of no avail ; he never saw them again. When the queen heard that her brother had been arrested she was alarmed, and fled with her younger boy and her daughters to the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey ; and when the young king and the dukes entered London, Richard was appointed pro- tector, chiefly through the influence of Lord Hastings, appointed one of the new nobility, who was opposed to the queen. P r ^ t ^ t ° r . Edward Y. was at first lodged in the Bishop of London’s palace at St. Paul’s, but was soon moved to the palace of the Tower, and unfortunately the queen was persuaded to allow the Duke of York to join him. So far all is clear. But now it becomes very difficult to say whether Richard intended from the first to seize the crown, or began by defending himself against the plots going on all around him, and then was led on by ambition. He was not by any means so repulsive-looking or unpleasing as his enemies have described him. Delicate and slightly deformed in one shoulder, he had a thoughtful but nervous expression, pleasing manners, and intellectual habits. No doubt he was crafty and C ^char([ 0f unscrupulous, but he had always been true to his brother Edward when he was alive, and we may hope that he did not in the beginning plan the crimes he afterwards committed. A month passed. The queen’s party were intriguing and watching 108 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. their opportunity, and Lord Hastings appears to have changed sides, thinking that Richard was taking too much upon himself. Suddenly, Richard, entering the Council Chamber, accused Hastings of conspiring against him , and without allowing him to defend himself, oalled in a body of armed men and caused him to be beheaded on a log of timber on Tower Green before noon. Nine days later a preacher , at St. Paul’s Cross, and the Duke of Buckingham in Guildhall, pretended to the people that Elizabeth Woodville was not Edward IY 's legal wife, because he had been betrothed to another lady before he married her, and that therefore the princes were illegitimate, and not true heirs to the crown. Even then, however, the young Earl of Warwick, son of Clarence, stood between Richard and the throne, but he was set aside because his _ father had been attainted. A body of Lords and The princes " ... declared Commons, with the mayor, aldermen, and citizens^ bastards. 0 ff ere( j Richard the crown, and he entered Westminster Hall and took his place in the marble chair as Richard HI. A few days later Earl Rivers and Sir Richard Grey were executed at Pontefract This closed the reign of Edward Y. wv"N- ^ 5. Richard III. — But the sad end had not yet come. Richard was crowned 1483, with all the pomp which had been prepared for his nephew. Then he set out with his queen for the north o£ England, where he had always been a great favourite. While he was gone the Duke of Buckingham seems to have repented having helped him to seize the throne, and the people began to murmur at the imprisonment of the young princes. Soon the Report of re p OT fc spread far and wide that they had been murdered in the Tower. Yet people refused to believe that such a horrible deed could have been committed, and expected Richard to produce them and clear his fame. He never did. Nearly two hundred years afterwards, in the reign of Charles H., the bodies of two boys of the ages of the young princes were found under the staircase of the White Tower, and were moved to Henry YH.’s chapel in Westminster Abbey, Though we know nothing certainly, there can be little doubt that Sir James Tyrrel told the truth when he confessed that the boys were smothered in their beds by Richard’s order, and buried under the stairs. the murder of the princes. THE HOUSE OP YORK. 109 From this time Richard’s peace of mind was gone. Not only did he suffer from remorse, so that his attendants said that he started and cried aloud in his dreams, but the horrid deed he had committed gave his enemies a hold over him. He governed well during the two years of his short reign. He passed good laws for the protection of commerce, and was the first to establish a protection for the English in foreign countries, by appointing a Florentine merchant to act as what we should call “ consul" for the English inhabitants of Pisa. He was also the first to employ regular couriers to run with letters from the North of ^ente'in England, a kind of primitive post ; and he passed a Richard’s law against the “benevolences” which Edward IV. had imposed. Added to this, he promoted printing and the sale of books. But he knew that he was hated, and that plots were afloat to destroy him. The Duke of Buckingham, who was now quite opposed to Richard, had at first thought of claiming the crown for himself, being of royal descent. But he soon saw it would be wiser to support the claims of Henry Tudor, Duke of Richmond, whom the Lancastrians invited over from abroad ; while the Yorkists, hating Richard, proposed that Tudor should Henry Tudor invited to England. marry Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV., and so unite the two parties. To understand who this Henry Tudor was, we must go back a century to the sons of Edward III., for his mother, Margaret Beaufort , was the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Catharine Swynford. It was a long way back to go for a title, and even then it was but a poor one, for the Beauforts had only been made legitimate by Richard II., while Henry Tudor’s father was merely a Welsh gentleman, the son of Owen Tudor who married Katharine of France, the widow of Henry V. It shows how eager the English were to be rid of Richard that they were willing to accept Henry of Richmond. The first attempt was a failure. Richard was on the watch, and Buckingham was arrested and beheaded. For two years longer Richard reigned, losing his son and heir in 1484. A year later, Henry of Richmond landed ^chmond^ at Milford Haven, in Pembrokeshire, with barely two thousand men, and marched forward, his forces increasing rap- 110 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. idly as he went. Richard scarcely believed in the danger, but he advanced to Leicester, and the two armies met at Market Bosworth, some distance outside the town. The battle had scarcely begun when Lord Stanley left Richard and joined the enemy Battle of Bos- with all his followers, and a second body went over W Aug.*22! d ’ w ^h Earl Percy of Northumberland. Richard saw all 1485 . hope was over. He was no coward, and dashing into the thick of the battle with a cry of “Treason, treason,” he died fighting. His crown was found under a hawthome bush, and was placed on Henry’s head. The Wars of the Roses with all their deeds of bloodshed, treachery, and murder were End of Wars of over. Henry of Richmond soon after married Eliza- the Roses, heth of York, Edward IY.’s daughter, and while thus he gained a firm title to the crown, he united the two rivial houses of Lancaster and York. 6. Summary. — The conclusion of the Wars of the Roses brings us to the end of Medieval History, or the History op the Middle Ages, in England. Throughout those ages the nobles had been very powerful, and the king had been, as it were, their chief, often controlled by the bishops or peers of the Church Close rela- tionsofEng- and the barons or peers of the realm. Moreover, eratinentfin England had been during this time scarcely more than the middle part of the continent. The nobles of England and France were often near relations, and whether at war or at peace, they belonged to one great family of knighthood under one bond of chivalry. The Church, too, was one from Rome to England ; our learned men and clergy were often foreigners or educated abroad ; our most powerful body of merchants in London Tvas the “ Hanseatic League,” of Germans from the shores of the Baltic ; and it had been a constant complaint of English people that foreigners held the highest posts in the courts of the English kings. But now already for some time the old ties were gradually loosening. For the last fifty years the old nobility were being Destruction of the old nobility. destroved, some in the Hundred Years’ War, but by far the larger number in the Wars of the Roses. In these civil wars no less than eighty princes of royal blood alone were killed ; and when, as so often happened, a noble THE HOUSE OF YORK. Ill was attainted his estates passed to the king. "When Henry VII. came to the throne there were only twenty-seven dukes, earls, viscounts, and barons in his first Parliament ; and though, no doubt, some were absent because they would not acknowledge him, yet even among these twenty-seven several were newly-created nobles. Some of these were, it is true, very powerful, owing to a custom called maintenance, by which a nobleman gave liveries and badges to the yeomen and gentlemen of the neighbourhood who fought for him while he protected them. But the m amtenance. day of these powerful nobles was nearly over. The use of gunpowder, which had now become common, put a new power into the king’s hands, for he and his ministers had the con- trol of the cannon, and the arsenal where ammunition was kept ; and a single train of artillery would soon disperse the archers and pike- men of the nobles and destroy their castles. Meanwhile the gentry and middle class of England were increas- ing in wealth and importance, and those who held good positions because they were rich, or of use in the Government, were more obedient to the king than the ancient haughty nobility, Transition and cared more for peace and commerce than for from middle foreign wars. So we find that one of the chief differ- modem ences between the middle ages and modern times is, times, that the old barons cared more for war and chivalry abroad, the new aristocracy for personal freedom, commerce, knowledge, art and science at home. We pass from one to the other as we enter on the reign of Henry VII., and he was in many ways the right man to pave the way for the beginning of a new state of things. 112 HISTORY Of EN6LAN&, PART V. STRONG GOVERNMENT OF THE TUDORS. SOVEREIGNS OF THE HOUSE OF TUDOR. York. Edward IV. Lancaster. John Beaufort, Bake of Somerset. IFafes. Owen Tudor, m. Katharine of Franoe, widow of Henry V. Margaret Beaufort, .married. . Edmond Tudor. Elizabeth of York. married HENRY VEL, h. 1456, d. 1509. r. 1485-1509. Arthur, Margaret, died aged m. James IV. HENRY Vm, b. 1491, d. 1547; r. 1509-1547. 16. r James Y. of Scotland. of Scotland, m.1. K. of Aragon. J 2. Anne Holeyn. 3. Jane Seymour. 4. AnneofCleves. 5. Kath. Howard. 6. Kath. Parr. Mary, m. Louxs XII., Francs m. Duke of Suffolk. Frances Brandon, m. Henry Grey. Last Jan* Grit. Mary MARY. ELIZABETH, Queen of Scots, b.1515, d. 1558, b.1533, d. 1603, m. Henry Stuart, m. PhU.lL.af Spain, r. 1558-1603, EDWARD, b. 1637, d. 1553, r. 1547-1553, son of Jane Seymour. Lord Damley. JAMES] JAMES L of England and VI. of Scotland. First of the Stuart line in England . r. 1553-1558, daughter of Kath. of Aragon. daughter of Anne Boleyn. THE HOUSE OP TUDOR* 113 CHAPTER Xm. BOUSE OF TUDOR — THE REFORMATION. 1. Henry VII. — The reign of Henry VII. begins a new epoch in our history. He was crowned at Westminster, Oct. 30, 1485, and the next year he married Elizabeth of York, thus uniting the two rival houses. He was a lean, spare man, with an intel- ^ - Appearance hgent countenance, grey eyes, and a bright, cheerful and expression. On his mother’s side he was descended character - from the Beauforts, a family of wise and famous statesmen, and he inherited their talent. From his French grandmother he inherited tact and diplomatic skill, and during his exile in France he had learned to understand foreign politics. Now his chief aim was to keep peace at home and abroad, that he might accumulate wealth and establish a strong monarchy. Parliament settled the crown upon him and his heirs, and even Wales was satisfied, since the king’s father was a Welshman. But the Yorkists were still very restless, because they were only repre- sented by the king’s wife ; and with the help of Margaret of Bur- gundy, Edward IY.’s sister, and James IY. of Scotland, they actually set up two impostors, one after the other, to claim the throne. There was a real heir of the house of York still alive — young Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of that Duke of Clarence who was drow*ned in the butt of Malmsey — r £mons. and Henry had taken the precaution to keep him in the Tower. But in 1487 a sham Earl of Warwick appeared in Ire- land, and being supported by the Earl of Kildare, was actually crowned in Dublin Cathedral. Henry soon put down the imposture by showing the real earl to the people of si ^! 1487 . London, and defeating the army of the pretended earl at Stoke, near Newark, June, 1487. He proved to be a lad named Lambert Simnel, the son of a joiner at Oxford, and became a scullion in the king’s kitchen, a 114 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 2. Poynings’ Act, 1497. — This rebellion turned Henry’s attention to Ireland, where for many years the English, who lived on a strip of land along the coast called the “ Pale,” Ireland! were constantly fighting among themselves and with the Irish chieftains in the interior of the island, and passed what laws they chose in their own Parliament. In 1494 Henry sent Sir Henry Poynings, an able soldier, to make another attempt to settle the country. Poynings established English judges and other officers, sent the rebel Kildare to England, and passed an Act that English laws should apply to Ireland, and that the Parliament of the Pale should not make any new law without the consent of the king’s council. Then Kildare, who promised to be loyal, was allowed to return as lord deputy, and govern the country. 3. Court of the Star Chamber. — Another effect of Sim- nel’s rebellion was that Henry made haste to have Elizabeth crowned Queen, hoping in this way to quiet the Yorkists. Then, with the consent of Parliament, he chose a committee out of the Privy Council, with authority to examine and punish the numerous powerful offenders whom the law-courts were afraid to touch. This committee was called the “ Court of the Star Chamber,” from the room in which it was held. In future reigns it became very hurt- ful, but at this time it was of great use in restoring order. Riotous assemblies and attempts at rebellion were put down much more quickly by a court which could punish without long trials, and by means of it Henry abolished the custom of “ maintenance,” which had enabled the lords to oppress the people, overawe the judges, and control the election of the sheriffs. He was determined to be master of the great lords', and now there were not so many, he was able to deal with them. 4. Perkin Warbeck. — Meanwhile another conspiracy was brewing. A young man, called Perkin Warbeck, who proved after- wards to be a native of Tournay, pretended that he was Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the two little princes in the Tower, and that he had escaped when his brother Edward Y. was murdered. He persuaded the King of Prance and Margaret of Burgundy to acknowledge him, and was not only received at the foreign cou**a. THE HOUSE OF TUDOR. 115 but, after failing in Ireland, he went to Scotland, where James IV. married him to his own cousin Catharine Gordon, and helped him to invade England in 1496. The invasion was defeated, however, by the Earl of Surrey, and then Perkin went back to Ireland, and crossed over to Cornwall, where the people had revolted against the heavy taxes. There he raised an army and marched to Exeter, but meeting the king’s troops at Taunton, he lost courage, and fled to the Abbey of Beaulieu, where he was taken prisoner and sent to the Tower in 1497. 5. Arbitrary Rule. — These conspiracies, though they gave the king some trouble, had very little effect upon the country, in which much more serious changes were going on. Henry, with the help of his able minister Archbishop Morton, was heaping up ^wealth in his treasury. Any lords who broke the law by keeping too many retainers were heavily fined, tortsmoney The Earl of Oxford is said to have been obliged to pay £15,000 for making too great a show of liveries when the king visited him. The “ benevolences,” which Richard had abolished, were again collected, and Henry took advantage of the confusion which had grown up in the civil wars to claim many money arrears due to the crown, and to take possession of estates of many land- owners who had not a good title to show for them. Thus he gained two things ; he weakened those who were too powerful, and filled his own treasury. He even made use of the old claim to the crown of France, and obtained a large sum of money from the French king for withdrawing his troops from Boulogne- In this and other ways he collected large sums of money, and as he spent little or nothing on foreign wars, he left nearly two millions when he died for his son to spend. Unfortunately much of his wealth was gained by unjust extortion, and two lawyers, named Empson and Dudley, who did the king’s dirty work, were much hated by the Governs people. But Henry gained another advantage. By without r ... . Parliament, getting his money m this way, he was not dependent on Parliament, which was called only once during the last thirteen years of his reign, so that he was almost an absolute king. 6. Foreign Alliances. — His next ambition was to secure peace with foreign countries, and in this he showed much clever- ness. The great rivals in Europe were Charles VIII. and his sue- 116 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. cessor Louis XU., Kings of France, and Ferdinand, King of Ara- gon. Now that France was so powerful, it was important for England to have an ally against her, especially as the French were always ready to help the Scots. Ferdinand was equally anxious to have the support of England, so in 1501 a marriage Artbur^with was arranged between Henry’s eldest son Arthur, Katharine Prince of Wales, and Katharine of Aragon, F erdinand’s of Aragon. daughter. Before this marriage took place the young Earl of Warwick and Perkin Warbeck were executed, on the ground that they had tried to escape from the Tower, but Carries probably because Ferdinand insisted that all rivals to James iv. of the throne should be removed. The next year Henry Scotland. also married his daughter Margaret to James IV. of Scotland, and thus secured the friendship of that country. Unfortunately Prince Arthur died three months after the Spanish marriage. What was to become of Katharine? Both Ferdinand and Henry were unwilling to break the alliance, so it was agreed that, as she had been only formally married to Arthur, she should stay in England to marry his brother, the king’s second son, afterwards Henry Vlll. A dispensation was obtained from the Pope, and Henry, still only a boy, was betrothed to his brother’s widow, a woman six years older than himself. We shall see by and by what unforeseen consequences grew out of this unnatural marriage. Henry, Prince of Wales, marries his brother’s widow. 7. Discoveries. — While the monarchs of Europe were trying in this way to strengthen their power by royal marriages, some adventurous men were making new discoveries, which were in the Discoveries en( ^ to vei 7 important to the whole world. In the of Columbus, year 1492 Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, tried to find his way to India across the Atlantic, and discovered those islands off the American coast which he called the West Indies. A few years later, a Portuguese, named Vasco de Gama, discovered the sea route to India dma°and roun< i the Cape of Good Hope ; and that same year, Cabot., Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian, sailed from Bristol with 1497-1498, leave from Henry VII. to explore the north-western seas, where he had been with his father the year before. Sailing THE HOUSE OF TUDOR. 117 up the coast of Labrador, and among the icebergs where the Polar bears were feeding, he opened up the cod-fisheries of Newfoundland. 8. The New Learning. — Side by side with these discoveries, new learning was coming to England from Italy. In 1453 Con- stantinople was taken by the Turks, and many learned Greeks fled into Italy, bringing Greek literature to the people of the west. This new knowledge, and the spread of printed books, led men to study the Greek philosophers and the Greek Testament, whereas before this even the priests had only read the Vulgate or Latin version of the Bible. In 1486 Colet, an English priest who had visited Italy, delivered a course of lectures in Oxford full of new thoughts. In 1497 Erasmus, the Dutchman, a famous Greek scholar and a great reformer, visited England for the first time ; while Sir Thomas More, the great English lawyer and friend of these men, wrote in 1504 his life of Edward V. , the first work published in modern English prose . The universities were full of new stirring life, and Lusher had just began to lecture in Germany ^ when Henry VII. died in the palace he had built at Henry vn., Richmond, and was buried in the beautiful chapel which Apnl 21 > 1509 ' bears his name in Westminster Abbey. He left three children — Margaret, wife of James IV. of Scotland ; Mary, who afterwards married Louis XII. of France ; and Henry, a handsome youth of eighteen, whose reign was to be an eventful one for our country. 9. Henry VIII. — All England was pleased when Henry VIII. became king. He had in his veins the blood of both York and Lancaster. He was hearty and affable, with a kind word and jest for every one, and a generous disposition which seemed to promise he would not be grasping like his father. He had been well edu- cated for, while his elder brother lived, it had been intended that Henry should become Archbishop of Canterbury. He was an excellent musician and an admirable horseman Henry 3 viii! and wrestler. Though he had a strong will, and was extremely vain, yet he had plenty of sense, and wished to be popular with his people, who never entirely ceased to love “ Bluff King Hal ” in spite of the many wrong things he did. His chief fault was a monstrous selfishness. To gain anything he wanted, or 118 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. to keep up his popularity, he relentlessly sacrificed those who had served him most faithfully ; and as the love of self, if indulged, increases with age, he became, in the latter part of his life, a coarse, brutal tyrant, only kept in check by his dread of unpopularity. He married his betrothed, Katharine of Aragon, soon after his father’s death, and was crowned with his queen on June 24, 1509. One of his first acts was to order the prosecution of Empson and Dudley, who were put to death. Then he turned his attention to the ships of England. As yet he possessed only one ship of war, The Great Harry , built in his father’s reign ; but in 1511 ^he 'creator a l ar g e ship, The Lion, was captured from the Scots* of °ur mo- and the next year another, The Regent, was built, carrying 1000 tons. This was destroyed by the French, but a larger one, Henry (Trace de Lieu, was built in its place, and many others followed. Besides this the king founded the first Navy Office, and the corporation of the Trinity House, which has done so much good work in erecting beacons and lighthouses, licensing pilots, framing laws for shipping, and placing buoys in dangerous spots. When it is added that he established dockyards at Deptford, Woolwich, and Portsmouth, we see that Henry has a claim to be called the founder of our modern navy. lO. Foreign Wars- — With less wisdom he plunged into foreign wars, joining in the Holy League formed by Spain and Battle of the Germany, to protect the Pope’s domains against France. Spurs, Au^. The war was very costly, and the English only gained the town of Tournay, in Flanders, which was won in the “ Battle of the Spurs,” so called because the French soldiers were seized with a panic. In 1514 peace was made with France, and Henry’s youngest sister Mary was married to Louis XH. Three month’s later Louis died, and his son, Francis I., became King of France. Meanwhile the Scots, who were always friendly with France, had attacked England in 1513, and Henry being away, the Earl of Battle of Surrey met and defeated them at the famous Battle of Flodden Flodden, where James IY. was killed. Margaret, Sept- 9, 1513. Henr y> s s j sterj was now ] e f t Regent 0 f Scotland, her little son, James V., being only two years old. For many years the THE HOUSE OF TUDOR. 119 Scotch nobles were too busy quarrelling among themselves to annoy England, but twenty-nine years later, towards the end Bat y e 0 f of Henry’s reign, this young James V again attacked Solway ^Moss England, and was defeated at the Battle of Solway Moss, and died of grief. He left a baby daughter, the unfortunate Mary, the Queen of the Scots. 11. Wolsey. — And now we must keep our attention alive to follow the changes which took place, for Henry YIII.’s reign is like a play acted in a theatre, as one man or woman after another influenced the king for a time, and then gave place to a rival. The first and most powerful of these was a young man named Wolsey, a son of a wealthy citizen of Ipswich. He had been chaplain to Henry VII., and was very useful to Henry VTII. in France. As soon as they returned to England the king made him Archbishop of York and chancellor, and the Pope after- tration of wards created him cardinal and papal legate. This gave him great power. As chancellor he was chief officer of the state ; as legate, he had the highest authority in the Church, even over the Archbishop of Canterbury. Wolsey was an able, enlightened man. He encouraged learning, and founded Christ Church College, Oxford, and he was very skilful in foreign politics. Unfortunately, though he devoted all his energy to the government of the country, he was not single-minded. He was too anxious to strengthen the power of the king and to gain honor and wealth for himself. He raised money by benevolences and forced loans, and used the law-courts to wring fines from the people ; and while he filled the king’s treasury, he grew rich himself on presents from Henry, so that he was able to build the magnificent palaces of Hampton Court and York House (afterwards Whitehall) for his own residences. He did not, however, get all this wealth from England. The greatest ruler in Europe was now the Emperor Charles V., who had succeeded his maternal grandfather Ferdinand as King of Spain, and had been elected Emperor of Germany after the death of hi 3 paternal grandfather Maximilian, while he inherited the Netherlands from his father’s mother, Mary of Europe. 0 * Burgundy. This powerful emperor was the nephew of Henry’s queen, Katharine, and both he and Francis I. of 120 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. France were very anxious to get the support of England. Wolsey took presents from both, and played them off one against the other. In 1520 Charles V. visited the king at Canterbury. A few months later Francis invited Henry to meet him in France, and the two kings entertained each other with tournaments and feasts at ,, . Guisnes, not far from Boulogne, on the “Field of the Cloth of Cloth of Gold,” so called from the splendour displayed Gold, 1520. ^.j iere> Nevertheless, on his way home, Henry met Charles V. again at Gravelines, and two years later helped him to fight against Francis. The secret of all this was that Henry wanted to balance the power of one monarch against the other, while Wolsey, who wished to be Pope, wanted to side with the one who would help him the best. Charles Y. had promised to use his influence, but when two chances had slipped by, Wolsey began to doubt him, and changed sides. In 1525 the emperor took Francis prisoner at the Battle of Pavia in Italy, and was becoming so powerful that Henry and Wolsey were alarmed, and after treating first with one side and then with the other, ended by making an alliance with France. This displeased the English people, for as Charles Y was ^thFrancse. ruler of the Netherlands, it checked their trade with Flanders. Henry let Wolsey bear all the blame, and as the taxes were heavy, the cardinal began to be unpopular. 12. Henry Seeks a Divorce from Katharine.— It was now proposed to marry Henry’s only child, the Princess Mary, to one of the sons of the French king. But the Bishop of Tarbes objected, saying that Mary was illegitimate because Henry had married his brother’s widow. This set Henry thinking. He was tired of Katharine ; they had been married eighteen years, and her only living child was Mary, while he wanted a son. Moreover he had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn, one of Katharine’s maids of honour. So in 1527 he told the Pope, Clement VII., that he felt Katharine was not really his wife, and he ought to be divorced from her. He thought the Pope would support him, for only five years before Henry had written a treatise against the reformer Luther, and Leo X. had given him the title of “Defender of the Faith.’ The Pope sent a special legate, Cardinal Campeggio, to England, THE HOUSE OP TUDOR. 121 who tried to persuade Katharine to go into a nunnery, but she stood up for her rights and those of her child, so the Pope summoned Henry to Rome to try the question. 13. Fall of Wolsey. — Now Wolsey, though he wished t® serve the king, did not think it wise for him to marry Anne Boleyn. She knew this, and, as her influence was by this time the strongest, she set Henry against his faithful minister. Wolsey saw that he was in danger. He hastened to give his handsome palaces to the king, and retired to his archbishopric of York. But there he was so popular that Henry grew still more jealous of him, and a year later he was arrested for high treason. Ill and worn out with work, though only fifty-nine, the cardinal was obliged to pause on his way to London at the Abbey of Leicester. “I come to lay my bones among you,” said he to the monks; “ had I but served God as diligently as I have served the king, He would not have given me over in my gray hairs,” and there he died, Nov. 28, 1530. His place as chancellor was already filled by Sir Thomas More, a just and good man, who, however, could do little against Henry’s will. For six years there had been no Parliament, because the last one had refused to grant as much money as the king „ ° J Seven years’ wanted. Now in 1529 a Parliament, was summoned, Parliament, which lasted for seven years, because it was composed 1529 ' 1536 - of men willing to do the king’s bidding. During this Parliament some very important changes were made in England. 14. Act of Supremacy. — Henry’s great wish was now to get free from the Pope, so that he might carry out his divorce, and he found a new and able minister who helped him out of his difficulty. Thomas Cromwell, a man who had formerly been in Wolsey ’s service, became the king’s secretary in 1530, and he reminded Henry of that law of “Praemunire” of Edward III. and Richard II. which' condemned all people to forfeiture and imprisonment who allowed the authority of the court of Rome to interfere with the king or his realm. Wolsey had broken this almost-forgotten law by acting as the Pope’s legate, and though the king had allowed it, yet now it was made an accusation against the cardinal and, after his death, Adminis- tration of Thomas Cromwell, 1530-1540. 122 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. against all the clergy for having followed him. The clergy, alarmed lest they should lose their incomes and be imprisoned, fell into the trap. They sent a petition to beg mercy of the king, and in this petition Cromwell made them call Henry ‘ ‘ Protector and only Supreme Head of the Church.” Then Parliament, declared passed two separate Acts in 1533-1534, in which they Head’ofthe en tirely abolished the Pope’s authority in England. They forbade the clergy to pay him any longer the “annates” or first fruits of their livings, and the clergy, on their side, gave up the right of making laws in Convocation. An Act was passed in 1534, called the “Act of Supremacy,” creating Henry Supreme Head of the Church ; and the sovereign, with Parliament, has ever since ruled all questions of the English Church. Meanwhile Henry was able to go on with his divorce. Cranmer, a Cambridge scholar who had already sided with the Divorce of kmg) had been made Archbishop of Canterbury, and Katharine -with the help of a council of bishops, he now declared and marriage . with Anne the marriage with Katharine void. In 1533 Henry Boleyn, 1533. marr j e( j ^nne Boleyn, and in September of that year Princess Elizabeth was born. From this time Henry, freed from Wolsey’s control, and complete master of Church and state, followed his own will and the guidance of Cromwell, who was a hard, stem man, anxious to increase the king’s power. Cromwell had spies all over the king- Waies under dom > and s P ared no one who stood in his way. Yet English law, it is but just to say that he devoted himself to govern- ing the country, and did not even enrich himself as Wolsey had done. It was under his rule that Wales was at last made entirely one with England, having English laws and liberty. But on the other hand, it was he who caused the La treason! Sh infamous law to be passed forbidding people accused of high treason to be heard in their own defence. Strange to say, when he fell he was the first to suffer under this law. 15. Sir Thomas More.- — As soon as Henry’s marriage was declared, two Acts were passed, one setting aside Princess Mary and settling the succession on Anne’s children ; the other making it treason to deny the Act of Supremacy. As a man might be called upon at any time to swear to these Acts, many suffered for THE HOUSE OF TUDOR. 123 conscience sake. One of the first was Henry’s best friend and councillor, Sir Thomas More, who was much respected for his uprightness and learning, and his simple, honest character. Yet the king pressed him so hard, he was obliged to acknowledge that he did not approve of the divorce, nor of the way it had been brought about ; both he and Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, were sent to the Tower and executed. More died cheerfully, as he had lived. “ See me safe up,” he said to the governor of the Tower, as the ladder trembled ; “ coming down I can take care of myself.” And he moved his beard aside on the block. “Pity that should be cut,” said he, “ that has not committed treason.” 16. State of the People. — This was a sad time for Eng- land, as everything was unsettled. For some time past the poor had been suffering. The new men who had taken the land of the old nobles were able to make more money by grazing sheep than by growing corn, so that less land was under cultivation and less labour was employed. Many tenants and labourers were turned out of their homes ; even much of the common land, over which their animals used to graze, was now enclosed for the benefit of the rich. Besides these, the retainers of the old nobility were thrown out of service, causing a great increase of paupers and vagabonds, so that many men gained their livelihood by robbery and murder. 17 . Religious Changes. — Added to this, men’s minds were much unsettled about religion. The old ties were broken, and new ones were not yet formed. People in England were much moved by the great events happening in Germany and Switzer- land, where Luther and his fellow-reformer, Zwingli, L z^ e n r g f“ d were protesting against many things done by the Pope and priests, and taking the Bible for their guide instead of the teaching of the Church. Those who followed this new teaching were first called Protestants in 1529, and among them were many German princes. Now Henry had no wish to bring the reformed religion into England, for he himself had answered Luther ; but having thrown off the power of the Pope, he had set a great move- ment going which he could not stop. Under Cromwell and Cranmer a series of articles of religion were drawn up, the worship of images and relics was forbidden, and Tyndale’s translation of the Bible, 124 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. corrected by Miles Coverdale, was published and put in all the churches. The friends of the new learning, and those who remem- bered the teaching of Wiclif and the Lollards, were pleased with these changes, and this made it more easy for Cromwell to carry out a plan he had in his mind to abolish the monasteries. We have seen how much good the monks did in olden times among the uncivilized English : but as the monasteries grew wealthy, and there was less real work to be done, indo- of the lence and self-indulgence had crept in among them. ™ 5364539 eS Many of the monks and nuns were very ignorant and immoral, and Wolsey had already with the Pope’s sanction, suppressed some monasteries and built colleges instead. Cromwell, who wanted money for the king, went farther, and, with the help of Cranmer, put down these retreats altogether, the smaller monasteries in 1536, the larger ones in 1539. The monks and nuns were dispersed, sometimes with small pensions, sometimes without. Part of the remaining money went to build ships and endow cathedral chapters and bishoprics, and to found Trinity College, Cambridge ; but most of it went to the king, while the land was either given to the nobles or bought by them for very little. All this was not done without tumults, although Cromwell ruled with an iron hand, and the monks made no resistance. Meanwhile Henry had taken a new wife. In 1536 (a few months after Queen Katharine had died in her solitary palace) Anne U Boieyn, he accused Anne Boleyn of being unfaithful to him, a v^t™ a jan? e an< ^ having several lovers. She was tried and Seymour, beheaded on May 19, 1536. The next day Henry mar- ried Jane Seymour, one of the ladies in waiting, and Princess Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, as her half-sister Mary had been before her.v c r'-' 1§. Rebellions in the North and West. — Such injustice and gross want of feeling could not fail to shock the nation. In the north of England the people were already restless from want of work and from the sudden destruction of the monasteries, besides hating the new religion; and now a serious rebellion broke out, in which both nobles and peasants joined. They demanded that Mary should be heir to the throne, that the old religion should be The house oe tudor. 125 restored, and that Cromwell should be dismissed. But the minister was too strong for them. Through his spies he knew all their plans, and after making many promises, he dispersed the rioters. A few months later he arrested the ringleaders of this “ Pilgrimage of Grace,” as it was called, and many of the northern nobles were executed. About the same time Cromwell repressed another rebel- lion in the west of England, where he arrested the Marquis of Exeter, a grandson of Edward IV., and the old Countess of Salisbury, Margaret Plantagenet, who were both afterwards beheaded. 19. Death of Cromwell. — Meanwhile, at last, a young prince was born. On October 12, 1537, Jane Seymour gave birth to a son, who was named Edward, and two hours after she died. There were now two parties in the state. One was the party of the Protestant or new religion, headed by the Earl of Hertford, Jane Seymour’s brother and Edward’s uncle, and to this party Cromwell inclined. The other party held to the Roman Catholic or the old religion, and was headed by the Duke of Norfolk and his son the Earl of Surrey, who belonged to the old nobility. Cromwell, anxious to make a league with the Protestant princes of Germany, chose a Protestant princess, Anne of Cleves, for Henry’s next wife. Unfortunately she was plain and awkward, and Henry liked her so little that he put her away after six months. Marriage « x .... and separa- This ruined Cromwell. Henry was so angry with him tion of A«ne for having placed him in a false position that he caused ° islo. 68 ’ him to be arrested in the Council Chamber, where all the lords hated him. Crom wall flung his cap to the ground. “This then,” he exclaimed, “ is the guerdon for the services I have done. On your consciences I ask you, am I a traitor ? ” Execution Then when he received no answer, “ Make quick of j Cr °g n work,” said he, “ and do not leave me to languish in prison.” He was attainted in parliament a few days later, without being allowed to speak in his own defence, and executed on Tower Hill. On the very day that his faithful minister suffered, Henry married his fifth wife, Katharine Howard, niece of the Duke of Norfolk. He had already begun to be afraid that he had gone too far towards the 126 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. Marriage with Katharine Howard, 1540. Reformation, and now leant towards the supporters of the old re ligion. He caused Parliament to pass a bill against the Protestants ; and two days after Cromwell’s death, the curious sight was seen of six men carried in a cart to execution — three Catholics for denying the Suprem- acy, and three Protestants as heretics. In the year 1541 Henry first took the title of King of Ireland instead of “ Lord,” which had been the title ever since the time of Henry H. His marriage with Katharine Howard did not last long, for Katharine it was discovered that she had had a sad early life, which, H i 542 rd ’ though she was much to be pitied, made her unfit to be the king’s wife. She was beheaded, and the next year Henry married Katharine Parr, who outlived him. 20. Death of Henry . — The king was now getting anxious about the future of his little son Edward. He had tried to betroth him to the baby Mary Queen of Scots, after the death of her father in 1542. But he did not succeed, and wars both with Scotland and France dragged on, by the last of which Henry gained the town of Boulogne. He now selected a council, composed of men of both opinions, to govern after his death till his son should be of age. Among those was the Earl of Hertford, Edward’s uncle, who about this time began to have great influence over the king, and with help English Cranmer the Protestant party succeeded in introduc- ing an English liturgy (or service), composed of the Litany, Creed, Commandments, and Lord’s Prayer, to be read every morning and evening instead of the Latin service. Hertford was much afraid of the influence of the Duke of Norfolk, and he persuaded the king that the duke meant to seize the regency, and this caused Henry to perform his last cruel act. He put the duke in the Tower, and executed his son, the Earl of Surrey. It is said that he had even fixed the day for Norfolk’s execu- tion, when his own death stayed the power of his hand. He had long been growing unwieldy and infirm, and he died on Jan. 28, 1547. By his will Edward was to succeed him, and if he had no children, then Mary, and after her Elizabeth. If they all three Succession. ^hout issue, then the crown was to pass to the children of his younger sister Mary, the widow of Louis XII., who had married the Duke of Suffolk. Thus we see liturgy in- troduced. STRUGGLES BETWEEN THE TWO RELIGIONS. 127 Henry set aside Mary Queen of Scots the grandchild of his eldest sister Margaret. This “ Act of Succession,” in which the Wing left his crown by will, shows what a change had now grown up since the early days when the people elected their own king. CHAPTER X1Y. STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE TWO RELIGIONS. Duke of Somerset protector. C I. Edward VI. — The next two reigns, which lasted only eleven years, were one continued struggle between the two religions. Edward YI. was only ten years old when he became Bdwawl yi king. He had been educated by men of strong Pro- a strict t6stant opinions, and as he was thoughtful and intelli- gent, he took an interest in these matters beyond his age. His uncle, the Earl of Hertford, who was created Duke of Somerset by Henry’s will, managed to become President of the Council of Regency, and soon persuaded the boy king to make him protector, so that he had almost supreme power. He was an earnest man who meant well, but he was a bigoted reformer, greedy of wealth and not a wise statesman. He began by making a treaty with the Protestants in Scotland, and gathered an army to try and force the Scots to give their queen in marriage to Prince Edward. He did indeed defeat • • . Useless them at the famous Battle of Pinkiecleugh near Edin- attack on burgh, Sept. 1547, but he was obliged to return to So ^g 1 4 “ d ’ England, and his campaign did no good. The Scots, enraged at the defeat, made haste to send little Queen Mary to France, where she married the Dauphin ten years afterwards. 2. Protestant Reforms. — In England Somerset and Arch- bishop Cranmer began at once to push on the Protestant reforms vigorously. An Act was passed repealing all the laws against the Lollards, and the six articles of Henry VIII. against the Protestants. Permission was given to the priests to marry ; the use of the Roman Catholic mass was forbidden in the churches, and all images were destroyed. In 1549 the first English book of Common Prayer was 128 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. brought into use, and by an “ Aet of Uniformity” the clergy were forbidden to use any other service-book in the churches, and people were required to follow the new religion. Moreover, Cranmer welcomed to England the foreign Protestants who were now escaping from Spain and the Netherlands, where all heretics were being tortured under Charles V. before the secret tribunal called the Inquisition. 3. Popular Discontent. — In the towns, where the people understood how much freedom the new religion gave them, these changes were welcome. But in the lonely country districts people cried out for the “mass ” to which they were accustomed ; and on Whitinonday 1549, an insurrection broke out which Insurrection spread all over Devonshire and Cornwall. The in- surgents besieged Exeter, and were with difficulty defeated by Lord Grey, with the help of German and Italian troopfe. At the same time another rising took place in Norfolk, among the Rebellion in agriculturists. There was everywhere great discontent Norfolk The enclosure of the commons and the want of 1549. work filled the country with vagrants, paupers, and thieves ; and the misery was increased by the small supply of corn and the debasing of the coinage. In the last part of Henry YIII.’s Debasement re ig n he had raised £50,000 by mixing a great deal of of the alloy with the silver of which coins were made, so that coinage. gg^jj co i n was really worth less than it pretended to be ; and now the mass of gold and silver coming in from America lowered the value still more. By degrees a shilling became only worth sixpence, while wages, or the number of coins each man received for work, remained the same. Yet Parliament passed a severe law against vagrancy in 1548, as if men could work and pay when neither work nor money was to be had. At last, in 1549 twenty thousand men collected near Norwich under Robert Ket, a tanner, and defeating the royal troops, demanded that the grievances of the poor should be redressed, enclosures forbidden, and the ministers dismissed. Lord Warwick put down the rebellion with German troops ; but so many disturbances made Somerset very unpopular. He had become rich and overbearing, and had built himself in the Strand a grand palace called Somerset House. Moreover, just at STRUGGLES BETWEEN THE TWO RELIGIONS. 129 this time, he arrested and executed his own brother, Admiral Seymour, who had married Katharine Parr, and after her death V»*d tried to marry Princess Elizabeth, and to supplajit his brother with the young king. This murder of a brother, even if necessary, shocked the nation, and the council forced Somerset to resign the protectorship. He remained on the council fxSd! three years longer, and then Earl Warwick, fearing 1552 - his influence, caused him to be attainted and executed. This Earl of Warwick, John Dudley, who now became protector, was the soil of the Dudley who extorted money for Henry YII. He was a selfish man ; but even if he Warwick had been a ruler, he could scarcely have prevented the becomes troubles caused by the low value of money and want of protector ‘ work. He too favoured the Protestants. Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and Bonner, Bishop of London, were imprisoned in the Tower for upholding the old beliefs, while Latimer and Ridley, two Protestant Bishops, took their places. A second „ .... Prayer-book and Act of Uniformity were issued in 1552, Uniformity, and the young prince in his zeal nearly caused a war with Spain by insisting that his sister Mary, who was a Roman Catholic, should give up hearing “mass” in her chapel. 4. Edward VI. ’s Grammar Schools. — Turning from these religious disputes, it is pleasant to see how learned men were trying to give education to poor children. Already, in Henry VIII. ’s reign, Dean Colet had founded St. Paul’s School, and now many private people began to establish foundation schools. Edward VI. endowed no less than eighteen grammar schools, with grants obtained from the suppression of various monasteries. The Blue Coat School, or Christ Church Hospital, was founded in 1553 for foundlings and orphans, in consequence of a sermon preached by Bishop Ridley before the king, pointing out the sad condition of the London poor. Already, however, the young king’s reign was drawing to a close. Consumption had seized upon him, and his councillors saw that he could not live long. Warwick, who had been made Duke of Northumberland (the Percies had lost the earldom by being 9 130 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. attainted), now saw that if Mary came to the throne she would bring Lady Jane back the Roman Catholic religion, and he would be Grey named ru ined. So he persuaded Edward to sign a paper, tio succeed ^ putting aside his sisters Mary and Elizabeth, and naming as his successor Lady Jane Grey, the granddaughter of Henry YIII.’s sister Mary (see table p. 112). Lady Jane Grey had married Lord Guildford Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland’s son, a few weeks before, and thus the duke hoped to keep his power. All the great men round Edward signed this paper, though it was really valueless without the consent of Parliament. On July 6, 1553, the young king died at the early age of sixteen, having reigned only six years. Lady Jane Grey pro- claimed in London, July 10, 1553. $^~5. Mary. — As soon as the king was dead Northumberland sent off a body of soldiers to Hundson, in Hertfordshire, to take Mary prisoner, and | prevent her coming to claim the throne. Then he hastened off with four other lords to Sion House, and kneeling before Lady Jane Grey hailed her as queen. The beautiful, accomplished girl of sixteen had never a thought or wish for the crown, and she was terrified at the greeting. It was only by working upon her feel- ings as a Protestant that she could be persuaded to oppose Mary. Northumberland proclaimed her queen in London, but the people listened sullenly, for they hated Northumberland, and looked upon Mary as their lawful sovereign. Meanwhile Mary had not been idle. Warned by secret friends, she had escaped before Northumberland’s soldiers arrived, and taken refuge with the Duke of Norfolk’s family, the Howards. There she soon gathered thousands around her, and marching into London, was received with shouts of joy. Even North- d^mecMn umberland, who had retreated to Cambridge, was London, obliged, when she was proclaimed there, to throw up July 18, 1553. , r his cap and shout with the rest. He was arrested and sent to the Tower, together with his son and Lady Jane Grey, and was executed a month later, regretted by none. 6. Tlie Roman Calliolic Religion Restored.— The Duke of Norfolk, and the Bishops Bonner and Gardiner, were now set free from the Tower, and the Protestant Bishops, Latimer and STRUGGLES BETWEEN THE TWO RELIGIONS. 131 Cranmer were sent there in their place. When Parliament met Mary was declared legitimate, and all the laws passed in Edward’s reign repealed. The married priests were driven from their churches, the Prayer-book was forbidden and the mass restored, though Parliament discussed this last change for many days. Bonner was made Bishop of London, and Gardiner was made chancellor, while the queen was much guided in all she did by Simon Renard, the Spanish ambassador. So far, except in London and some of the large towns, the country was well satisfied to have back the old religion. But Mary wished to go much further. To understand and pity her for the cruelties which took place in her reign we must put ourselves in her place. She was a conscientious but narrow-minded woman, character thirty-seven years of age, who had suffered from her childhood upwards. Half a Spaniard, and devoted to her mother and her mother’s people, she had seen that mother divorced and disgraced from no fault of her own, and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mother, made queen in her stead. Mary had been taught to connect this great sorrow of her life with the decrees against the Pope and the introduction of the new religion. Her father had always been harsh with her : and her half-sister Elizabeth, whom she always refused to speak of as princess, was named as the future queen. Then came her little brother Edward, who took precedence of both his sisters, and during his reign tried to force Mary to give up her religion. Can we wonder that she felt bitter against those who oppressed her 2 7. The Queen’s Marriage.— By her brother’s death every- thing was now altered. The people, disgusted at Northumberland s conduct, hailed Mary gladly as their queen, and for the first time she was free and had power. Her great wish was to restore the Pope’s rule in England, and as a step towards this, she listened to Renard when he proposed she should marry her cousin Philip of Spain, son of the Emperor Charles V. and the chief supporter of the Roman Catholics. This engagement displeased the people and the Parliament very much, for they wished her to marry Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, great-grandson of Edward IV. They were afraid of a Spanish king, who might claim too much power in England, and also introduce the cruel Inquisition. 132 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. Wyat’s rebellion, Feb. 1554. The people in all parts of England became very uneasy, and a conspiracy was formed in Devonshire, Wales, the Midland Counties, and Kent to marry Princess Elizabeth to the Earl of Devon, and place them on the throne instead of Mary. But through mismanage- ment only the people of Kent rose, under a brave Kentish gentleman, Sir Thomas Wyat. They seized the cannon and the ships in the Thames; and even the militia, whom the Duke of Norfolk led against them, deserted and joined the insurgents, crying, “A Wyat, a Wyat.” It was Mary herself who saved the day. She rode boldly to Guildhall and appealed to the loyalty of the citizens, promising not to marry without the consent of Parliament. When Wyat arrived in London his way was barred by 25,000 men. He was taken prisoner at Temple Bar and sent to the Tower. A terrible revenge followed. Mary, who had till now spared Lady Jane Grey, consented that she and her husband should be put to death. They were both executed on Feb. 12, E Sy Jane° £ 1554 - Lords Grey, Suffolk, Wyat, and other leaders Grey and were beheaded soon after, and more than a hundred others. commoners were hanged. Princess Elizabeth was sent to the Tower, and Renard wished her also to be put to death, but Chancellor Gardiner prevented it. She was placed under care at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, and afterwards at Hatfield in Hertfordshire. A few months later. July 1554, Mary was married to Philip. It was not a happy union. Parliament would not allow Philip to be crowned king, and he did not love his middle-aged wife, though he was always courteous to her. He remained in England a year, hoping she might have a son, but grew weary at last and went back to his kingdom. Meanwhile Mary pushed on her designs. She managed to get a tolerably obedient Parliament elected, which Arrival Of a consented to receive a legate from the Pope, and 'thfpope™ < - !ard * n£d P°l e > son of that Marchioness of Salisbuiy who was beheaded in Henry VIII. ’s reign, sailed up the Thames with a silver cross on the bow of his barge, and granted absolution in the Pope’s name to the Lords and Commons who knelt to receive it. Thus far there was no opposition. In 1554 Cardinal Pole became Archbishop of Canterbury, and took a chief STRUGGLES BETWEEN THE TWO RELIGIONS. 133 place in the Council. But when the Pope Paul IY. demanded that every acre of Church property in England should be given back, this was too much. Mary gave what she could, but the great nobles swore that they would keep their land as fuse b to S giv"e long as they had a sword by their side. So, by dividing U P c^ur-eh the estates of the monasteries among the nobles, Henry VIH. had put an effectual stop to the Pope regaining any real hold, on England. 8. Persecution of the Protestants.- A sad story of cruelty and suffering remains to be told. Mary thought it her duty to try and root out those heretics who stood in the way of the holy faith. The old statutes of Henry IY. and Y. against the Lollards were put in force again, and the first victims, Rogers, a canon of St. Paul’s, and Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, were burnt at the stake, Feb, 1555. Others followed rapidly, four in April and May, six in June, eleven in July, eighteen in August, — the roll of martyrs went on increasing. In October Latimer and Ridley were chained back to back at the same stake. “Play the man, Master Ridley,” said Latimer, “we shall this day light such a candle in England as by the grace of God shall never be put out. ” And so they did. It B L™m?r° f was not the question which religion was right, or ^^eyand which wrong, that mattered so much to England. It was whether a man has a right to believe according to his con- science, and has the strength to stand by that right. The burning of these men, and of Archbishop Cranmer in 1556, when he thrust his right hand first into the flame because he had once weakly signed a recantation, did light the candle of truth and courage amid the deep gloom of persecution. At least two hundred and eighty honest and God-fearing people perished for their religion in three years. But they did not die in vain, for the terror which over- shadowed the land, while it sent away good men as exiles to Frank- furt and Geneva, made Roman Catholics as well as Protestants in England reflect how dangerous it is to allow either Pope or Sover- eign to sacrifice men's lives for honest religious opinions. 9. IiOS§ of Calais. — People, now began to speak in whispers of the queen’s feeble health, and to long for a time when horrors 134 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. would cease. Nor did Philip’s second visit to England w 1557 tend to improve matters. He came to persuade Mary to join him in a war against France. It was undertaken sorely against the will of the Council, and Mary in the end regretted it bitterly ; for in 1558 Calais, which was not properly defended, was retaken by the French, after having been English for more than two hundred years. When the fortress of Guisnes within the pale of Calais was surrendered soon after, the English no longer possessed a foot of land on the continent. Mary is said to have exclaimed that when she died the name of Calais would be found engraven on her heart. Her death took place in the same year, on Nov. 17, 1558, and Cardinal Pole died twenty-two hours after. CHAPTER XV. PEACE AND PROGRESS UNDER ELIZABETH. 1. Elizabeth. — Princess Elizabeth was sitting under a tree in. Hatfield Park, Nov. 17, 1558, when she received the news that she was Queen of England. She fell on her knees and exclaimed, “ It is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes,” and these words were stamped on the gold coinage all through her reign. As a woman Elizabeth had many and great faults ; as a queen we can scarcely admire her too much. She could truly say at the end of her reign, “I have ever used to set the last judgment-day before mine eyes, and so to rule as I shall have to answer before a higher Judge, to whose judgment-seat I do appeal that never thought was cherished in my heart that tended not to my people’s good.’’ From her father she inherited a strong will, courage, self-confidence, and a love of popularity, together with great want of sincerity and of gratitude towards those who served her. Her fondness for gaiety, fine dress, and coquetry, she had from her mother ; and vanity from both parents. But Elizabeth was not a mere vain coquette. She had a deep sense of her duty as a queen, and the wisdom to choose good councillors ; while she often saw even more clearly what was for her people’s PEACE AND PROGRESS. 135 good than they did themselves. The work she had before her was to keep her place on the throne, to free the country from foreign enemies and heavy taxes, and to restore civil and religious order, so that England might be a strong and united nation. If in doing this she was often untruthful and capricious, it is some excuse that she was, as she herself said, “a weak woman,” who had to play her game against powerful enemies. 3. Weak State of England. — Nothing could be worse than the state of England when Elizabeth came to the throne. By giving up the Church lands, and by the ruinous war with France, Mary had drained the treasury. The terrible persecutions had driven the best men into exile and the country to the verge of rebellion, while the general discontent made life and property insecure. Added to these troubles within, there were serious dangers from with- out. Civil war was raging in Ireland, and Scotland’s queen, Mary Stuart, who was now married to the French dauphin, declared Eliza- beth to be illegitimate, and claimed the English throne for herself. On the continent a great struggle was going on between Roman Catholics and Protestants, which lasted all through Elizabeth’s reign. Henry II. of France was struggling to put down his Protestant subjects, the Huguenots ; and Philip was burning heretics in Spain. Though Philip was at first friendly to Elizabeth, because he was afraid of France, he never really wished her Struggle 8 well. Moreover, Philip’s father Charles V. had in- 01 ?. th ® herited the Low Countries or Netherlands from his grandmother, Mary of Burgundy, who married Maximilian of Austria. Now the Netherlanders had become staunch Protestants, and were already beginning to grow restless under the rule of Philip II. and the Inquisition. Thus Europe was divided into two hostile camps, Roman Catholic and Protestant, and the Pope, Paul IV., who had regained much power in England during Mary’s reign, was waiting to see which side Elizabeth would take. She wisely took neither at first. She kept many of the ministers who had been on Mary’s Council, adding to them an able statesman, Sir William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burleigh, who became Secretary of State, and served her faithfully all his life. She refused to alter the Church service until Sir William Cecil Secre- tary of State. Parliament had met, and meanwhile she declared she would not 136 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. meddle with the consciences of her subjects, but would leave each one free to hold his own opinions so long as he attended the public worship prescribed by the law. When Parliament met on Jan. 25, 1559, its first act was to declare Elizabeth legitimate and true Queen of England, and to pass “Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity.” The first required all the clergy to take the oath of the queen’s supremacy. The second restored the Prayer-book of Edward VI., with some changes agreeable to the Roman Catholics, and obliged all the peo- ple to attend service or pay a heavy fine. The Bishops were staunch Roman Catholics) and all but one' refused to take the oath of supremacy. As this was Oath of denying the queen as their Head, they were deprived supremacy. Q f se es, and Protestant bishops were put in their places. But Elizabeth was careful not to press the lower clergy too hard. No notice was taken of those who neglected to come and take the oath, and in many places the parish priest went on holding mass in his house for the Roman Catholics, while he used the English service in the Church. Matthew Parker, a learned and prudent man, was made Archbishop of Canterbury, and so for a time Elizabeth avoided religious clisputes such as were going on abroad. 3. State of Scotland. — The next difficulty was Scotland, where Mary of Guise was reigning as regent, because her daughter, Mary Stuart, was now Queen of France. For many years Scotland had been gradually adopting Protestantism. Many of the mon- asteries had become corrupt, and the nobles were jealous of the wealth and power of the Church. Many of them therefore encour- aged the new religion, and those English Protestants who had escaped over the border during the persecutions of the last reign were wel- comed. Stem and earnest by nature, the Scotch went farther than the English, and became followers of the great teacher, John Calvin, of Geneva. In 1557 a large body of nobles met at Ed- Lords of the inburgh, and pledged themselves to support each other tiOTnTsfcot- 411(1 s P read the new doctrine. The pledge they signed land, 1557. jg called the ‘ ‘ First Covenant,” and they took the namn of the ‘ ‘ Lords of the Congregation. ” Now Mary of Guise was a staunch Roman Catholic, and when she tried to put down the Freedom of opinion with outward conformity. PEACE AND PROGRESS. 137 new doctrines, the people, led by the famous Calvinist preacher, John Knox, destroyed the images in the churches and broke out into open rebellion. The regent tried to enforce her rule by the help of a French army, but the Lords of the Congregation occupied Edinburgh and held a Parliament. They were anxious to be free from their old allies, the French, and asked Elizabeth to help them. Elizabeth hesitated, for she did not like to support rebels against their sovereign. But a French army in Scotland was a serious danger to England, so at last she sent the English fleet to the Firth of Forth, and 8000 men under Lord Grey to help in the siege of Leith. Just then the queen regent died, and the Council of Lords who took the Government, signed a treaty at Edinburgh Treaty of by which the French promised to leave Scotland, and Edinburgh, the Lords promised that Mary Stuart should not claim July ’ 1560 ‘ the English crown. But Mary herself would never consent to sign this promise. The Scotch Parliament then formally adopted the Geneva Confession of Faith and Protestantism has been the religion of Scotland ever since. A few months later, Mary’s French husband, King Francis II., died, and the next M ary U Que°en year she returned, to take her place as Queen of Scotland, But for the moment Elizabeth had nothing to fear from Mary, having the Protestant lords on her side. 4. Prosperity of England. — Meanwhile peace at home was giving England time to grow prosperous. The treasury was refilled by claiming back the Church lands and by great economy ; while by calling in the base coin, and giving money once more its true value, Cecil removed a heavy burden from the people. In 1561 a commission was sent to inquire into the causes of the great distress, and in 1562 the mayor of each town and the church-wardens of each village were ordered to raise a fund among the in- Poorlaw habitants to provide for their own poor. This was the established, * 1 KfiO 1 661 beginning of the first “Poor-law” which Was confirmed by Act of Parliament in 1601, and lasted down to our century in 1834. Though it became at last a serious burden, it was then a wise measure, and helped to restore order. 138 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. But it was by making property secure that Elizabeth did most for her people. The landowners and gentry now began mental to work their farms better, to study the use of manures, agriculture. aTl f ] ^ow ^ plant different crops in succession ; and though it was no doubt a misfortune that the labourers no longer had land of their own, yet better farming gave better crops and employed more hands. Industries, manufactures, and trade began also to revive, giving work to many. The religious troubles in the Netherlands drove many Flemings over to England, and the English learnt from them how to weave cloth and silk better, to make soap and oil for dressing it, and to dye their cloth at home. The northern towns began to flourish, and Manchester friezes, Halifax cloth, and Sheffield cutlery became famous. Moreover, goods and money which manufac- used to go to Antwerp now came direct to England. tures ‘ .Raw gold and silver from America, gold dust and ivory from Africa, silks and cottons from the East, found their market in London, where Sir Thomas Gresham built the Royal Exchange in 1566, as a hall in which the merchants might meet. The encourage- ment, too, given by the queen to shipping adventure caused a regular merchant navy to spring up, led by daring commanders. England was in fact now beginning that conquest of the sea which has made her so great. In 1576 Frobisher, a west country seaman, sailed northwards to try and find a north-west passage to India, and discovered the straits in Hudson’s Bay, which still bear his name. VIn the same year the brave Sir Humphrey Gilbert dScOTery f ma d e a voyage of discovery to America, and another in 1583, when he took possession of Newfoundland, and was afterwards lost with his ship and all on board. ) Davis, Raleigh, Hawkins, and Drake — who was the first Englishman to sail round the world — are all names fatuous for discoveries on the sea, though Hawkins is unfortunately chiefly remembered as having been the first to' carry slaves from Africa to America in 1562. All these men led the way to new countries, and opened out new roads for commerce. The result of this increase of prosperity was that people lived more comfortably. Instead of fortified and battlemented castles, fine Elizabethan villas were built for the gentry, with carved stair- cases and rich carpets on the floors ; the yeoman and farmers had PEACE AND PROGRESS. 139 houses of stone and brick, with glass windows and chimneys, instead of mere holes in the roof. The dress of all classes, and especially of the gentry, was richer and more costly. Comfort 0 * The queen herself, thrifty as she was, loved splendour and show, and as she travelled from one courtier’s house to another, gay revels and pageants gave new brightness to the lives of her subjects. 5. Religions Discord. — But while the people were in peace and prosperity, Elizabeth herself had endless anxieties. The Pope, Pius IV., finding she would neither have a legate in England nor send ambassadors to his Council at Trent in 1561, began to treat her as a rebellious sovereign, and told the Roman Catholics that they must not go to the English churches. Parliament was jealous of this interference, and passed an Act requiring every member of the House of Commons, every public officer oath of and every parish priest, to take an oath of allegiance to e^abffshed, the queen, and aeny the Pope’s authority in England. 1563 - This, of course, kept all strict Roman Catholics out of the House of Commons. The Thirty-nine Articles of Faith, drawn up in Edward Vi’s reign, were now adopted, and all the clergy were required to sign them. Thus, sorely against Elizabeth’s will the seed of religious discord was sown among her people. 6. Mary Queen of Scots. — Mary Queen of Scots, too, now again began to give trouble. She was still the next heir to the throne, for though Elizabeth was often pressed by Par- liament to marry, and she coquetted with an offer from Elizabeth the Archduke of Austria, and with her favourite cour- would not m arry tier, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, yet it all came to nothing. In truth, she could not marry, for whether she choose a Protestant or a Roman Catholic, she must have offended half her subjects. So Mary Stuart was still a thorn in Elizabeth’s side. When she first returned to Scotland all the people adored their lovely young queen, and allowed her to follow her own Roman Catholic religion, especially as her half-brother, Earl Murray, who was a Protestant, helped her to govern. She soon began to think of marrying a second time, and chose her young cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord 140 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Damley, who was descended like herself from Margaret Tudor, Henry VIH.’s sister. Damley had been brought uj» Mary Queen in England and his family, the Lennoxes, were old msu-ri^Loid ®° man Catholics. The Homan Catholic lords now had Damley, 1565. the upper hand in Scotland, Murray was obliged to quit the country, and Elizabeth saw that at any time Mary and Damley might try to seize the English throne. But Mary ruined her own chances. Damley was a weak, vicious man, and she soon tired of him. She was eagar to bring back Homan Catholicism and to be Queen of England, and her clever Italian secretary, David Rizzio, helped her to carry on a secret correspondence with the Pope and Spain. Darnley was so angry because Mary would not allow him to be crowned king, and bo jealous of Rizzio, that he plotted with some of the Protestant lords, who^entered the queen’s chamber at Holyrood, dragged Rizzio, Rizzio from her presence, and murdered" him upon the Mar. 9, 1566. g^u^g^ Then they seized the palace gates, and Mary was in their power. She was wise enough to yield, and to make friends again with Damley, but she did not forget. Three months later, her son was born, and she had now an advantage over Elizabeth in having an heir to succeed her. All went on quietly for the next nine months, and then a terrible thing happened. Damley had an illness, and Mary, who appeared anxious about him, brought him for change of air to an old priory called Kirk-o’-Field, close to Holyrood Palace, outside Edinburgh. Murder of There one evening she left him with a young page, - w ^ e wen ^ a servant’s wedding-dance at Holy- rood. Soon after midnight an awful explosion shook the city. The Kirk-o’-Field had been blown up, and Damley and the page lay dead in a field hard by. How much the queen knew no one could tell. But there is no doubt that a bold and worthless young noble, James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, did the deed,- and Mary married him three months after. All Scotland shrank from her in horror, even though many believed her innocent of the murder. She spent a month, gathering an army to meet the lords, but when the time came none would fight for her. Bothwell fled to the Orkneys, and afterwards to Denmark where he died ; and Mary was made prisoner, and put in peace and progress. 141 grows stronger. a strong castle in the middle of Loch Leven, a lake in Kinross-shire. The lords forced her to abdicate, and her baby son was crowned as James VI., Earl Murray being made regent. esc ^p^ to A year later she escaped and gathered an army. But Eng^nd, she was defeated at Langside, near Glasgow, and galloping ninety miles, only stopping to change horses, she crossed the Solway Firth, and took refuge at Carlisle. To have her rival in England was the last thing Elizabeth wished. Only the year before this she had had another discussion with Parliament about her marriage and her successor. ^ e r ]fament As the nation prospered the House of Commons grew bolder. Country gentlemen now coveted seats, and members, instead of being paid, offered themselves freely to represent their neighbours. These men were independent and looked to their rights. Soon after Mary’s son was bom they began again to urge the queen to settle the succession ; and when Elizabeth sent them a sharp message to leave the matter to her, Wentworth, a member of the House of Commons, rose and asked if this was not “against their liberties.” At last the queen quieted them with promises, and they voted the supplies she wanted for sending an army to Ireland. That country had been o’nSh’s in open revolt ever since 1565, under a bold and able , r r ® v< ?! t x leader, Shan O’Neill. But with men and money in 1567 Sir Henry Sidney put down the rebellion, and there seemed some hope of peace. Just then Mary Stuart’s escape to England put Elizabeth into fresh difficulties. What was to be done with her ? Mary asked for an army to take her back to Scotland, or for a free passage to France. This last Elizabeth could not grant, for it would have given the French a fresh hold upon Scotland. She did try to get Murray to receive his queen back, but he p^soneAn refused, and produced letters between Mary and Both- England, 7 . 15o8-1587. well which, if genuine, proved that she had plotted her husband’s murder. So Elizabeth kept her in England, putting her under care, first in one country-house, then in another. Many have blamed Elizabeth for keeping Mary a prisoner, while others condemn Mary for the plots in which she took part against Elizabeth during the next eighteen years. To me it seems that neither queen could be expected to act otherwise than she did. 142 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. Mary, as a Roman Catholic and the friend of the Roman Catholics, believed she would do right to seize the throne if she could, while Elizabeth was bound to use every effort to keep her Mary and place over the subjects who loved her. The difference Elizabeth, between the two queens which gave Elizabeth the ad- vantage was that, though hard, she always looked to the good of her people, while Mary, attractive and lovable as she was, ruined her chance by her own uncontrolled passions. From the mo> ment when Mary married her husband’s murderer her cause was lost. 7 . Plots against Elizabeth. — All this time Elizabeth, by great diplomacy, had kept clear of foreign wars, but it was becoming more difficult every day. Just at the time when Mary Stuart escaped to England, the brave Netherlanders, the Revolt of the people of Holland, Zealand, and Flanders began a long 1568. ’ and bitter struggle under William of Orange against their Spanish tyrants. They fought, suffered and starved ; and at last breaking down their dykes, flooded their country and turned out the enemy. During this struggle it would have been useful to Philip II. to have a Roman Catholic queen on the English throne; while it was very difficult for Elizabeth not to take one side or the other in the contest. Her own Council were divided. Cecil and the Protestant lords wished to help the Netherlanders; the Duke of Norfolk and the Roman Catholic lords wanted peace with Spain, and wanted Mary to be named as Elizabeth’s successor. The queen tried to keep the balance between them, but the Roman Catholic lords grew impatient. A plot was formed to Revolt in marry Mary to Norfolk, and when this was discovered England, an d Norfolk was sent to the Tower, a rebellion broke Nov. 1569. ou t in the north of England, under the Earls of North- umberland and Westmoreland, with the design of set- ting Mary free. The earls were defeated and fled to Scotland, and more than six hundred people were put to death as rebels. But still the Roman Catholics were restless, and the next year, 157Q, E . Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth and absolved cation of her subj ects from their allegiance. Parliament in return “SfS? made more stringent laws against the Roman Catholics, ^ 570 ^ 571 *’ an< * the P°P e > an gry, that his “ Bull of excommunication” had so little effect, made use of a banker named Ridolfl to revive the plan of Mary’s marriage with Norfolk, and to plot PROGRESS ANT) PEACE. 143 with Spain to dethrone Elizabeth. A man waa found in Madrid who agreed to assassinate the queen : and the Spanish general, Alva, was to cross over from the Netherlands and seize the kingdom. But before they could do anything Lord Burleigh learnt their secret. Norfolk was executed, and the Spanish ambassador was ordered out of England. Still, though Parliament urged Elizabeth to try Queen Mary for treason, she would not. Though undermined in this way by Spain, Elizabeth still kept a hold on France by proposing to marry, first the Duke of Anjou and afterwards his younger brother. But meanwhile an awful thing happened. The French king’s mother, Catharine de Medici, and the Roman Catholic dukes, the Guises, fearing that the Huguenots were growing too strong, excited the mob in Paris against them. On Aug. 24, 1572, the massacre of St. Bartholomew took place, when all the Huguenot leaders were murdered Massacre of st. ° Bartholomew, in Paris, and the fury spread from town to town till Aug. 24, 1572. more than a hundred thousand Huguenots perished. This terrible triumph of the Roman Catholic party alarmed both Elizabeth and her people. Yet she would not even now openly side with the Protestants, but refused the Netherlanders when they in- vited her to be their queen in 1575, although she sent some money to help them. 8. Privateering. — But she did not forbid her subjects from giving them assistance. The London merchants sent half a million of money to William «of Orange, and more than five thousand young Englishmen crossed over to the Netherlands to stand by the brave patriots. Others put out to sea in their ^eipThe h own ships, and the c'hannel swarmed with “sea-dogs,” Anders" as they were called, who attacked the trading vessels of France and Spain. These privateers cared probably as much for the plunder as for the cause. The Spanish and Portuguese had possession of those parts of the New World where gold and treasure were to be found, and Francis Drake, the son of a Devonshire clergyman, sailed in 1572, and again in privateers 1577, to Spanish South America, and sacked the gold ro ^ e s Pg,g| sh ships. Philip vowed revenge, especially as England welcomed Drake as a hero, and Elizabeth made him a knight. But Philip had too much on his hands already, and eight years passed 144 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. by, till Elizabeth at last sent the Earl of Leicester to help the Netherlander, and allowed Drake to sail again in 1585 with twenty-five vessels to Spanish America, from which he returned laden with plunder. From this timo Philip began really to prepare v for war with England, but it was three years more before his famous “ Spanish Armada” or armed fleet was ready, and in those years much happened. 9. Seminary Priests. — For some time past a number of young English Ro man Catholics had been in training at Douai in France, on purpose to be sent as missionaries to England, mission to These men firmly believed that the salvation of the E ^^ d ’ country depended on bringing the people back under the Pope’s authority. In 1576 they began to travel secretly over the land, holding services and distributing tracts against the queen, inciting men to rebellion. The Government became seriously alarmed ; the priests were taken prisoners wherever they were found, and during the next twenty years a large number were put to death. But their work bore its fruit. In 1583 a plot was dis- covered, headed by a Roman Catholic, Francis Throgmorton, to mur- der Elizabeth and put Mary on the throne, and it was clear that the Spanish ambassador knew of it. Throgmorton was to protect executed, and the leading men of England now thojucen, thoroughly afraid of harm to their queen, formed an association in which they pledged themselves, with the consent of Parliament, “ to pursue to the death any one plotting against the queen, as well as any person in whose behalf they plotted.” 10. Execution of Mary Queen of Scots.— We see at once that this was a warning for Queen Mary, and she herself was made to sign the document. Three years later, however, Sir Francis Walsingham, the Secretary of State, discovered that, sick and weary with long imprisonment, Mary had given her consent to another plot, headed by a young man named Anthony Babington, and, as before, encouraged by Spain. This plot caused Mary’s death. The proofs were laid before a commission of peers at Fotheringay Northamptonshire, where Mary was imprisoned, condemned to death by Parliament, Nov. 1586. The people rejo iced PEACE AND PROGRESS. 145 chat now the continual conspiracies would be stopped, and the streets of London blazed with bon-fires. But it was a long time before Elizabeth would sign the warrant ; she was afraid all Europe would condemn her. At last she signed it, and on Feb. 8, 1587, the lovely and unfortunate Queen of Scots was beheaded. ‘‘Do not weep,” she said to her ladies, “I have given my word for you. Tell all my friends that I died a good Catholic.” 1 1 • Spanish Armada. — Elizabeth had now only one enemy left to deal with, and this was Philip of Spain, who was making serious preparations to attack England. The queen, afraid, as usual, of spending money, would scarcely give enough to make the English fleet effective. But Lord Howard of Effingham and his admirals spared no exertions. Sir Francis Drake in 1587 made a bold dash at Cadiz harbour, and burnt part of the Armada, and many private English gentlemen fitted out vessels at their own expense. At length the time came. Philip’s great general, the Duke of Parma, gathered 30,000 Spanish troops in the ^Armada h Netherlands, ready, to cross as soon as the Armada st f^ t3 1 ’ 5 ^ ly arrived, and Philip, confident that all the English Roman Catholics would join him, started his monster fleet of one hundred and twenty- nine ships, under command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, on July 12, 1588. He had reckoned wrongly. No sooner, on July 19, did the beacon fires along the coast spread the news that the Armada was coming, than all England, Roman Catholics as well as Protestants, rose to de - fend their country and their queen. Though Lord Howard had only eighty vessels and 9000 seamen, these were commanded by such daring spirits as Lord Henry Seymour, Frobisher, Drake, and Hawkins. The light English ships harassed the Spanish heavy galleons, and eight fire-ships, sent adrift at night the Armada, into Calais harbour, made the Spaniards slip their 1588, cables and stand out to sea. Then the English fleet, dashing among them, cut off their return, raking them with a terrible fire as long as ammunition lasted. The spirit of the Spaniards was broken, and a great wind obliged the duke to try and find his way round the north of Scotland back to Spain. Near the Orkneys the fury of . the storm burst upon them ; the ships were driven on the rocks, the 10 146 History op England. shores of the Scottish isles were strewn with bodies. 11,000 Spaniards perished off the coast of Ireland, and only a shattered fleet of fifty- three vessels found its way back to Corunna. The dreaded Armada was defeated, and the joy and gratitude of the English was expressed on the coin struck by Elizabeth, in the words “Afflavit Dens, et dissipati sunt,” “ God breathed and they were scattered.” Now at last Elizabeth was comparatively at rest. All nations recognised her power ; her fleet was “mistress of the seas” ; her people had withstood all temptations to treason : and even the Roman . Catholics, convinced at last that peace and toleration England united and under their own sovereign was better than plotting at peace. foreign powers, settled down quietly, contented to be Englishmen. The people most difficult to deal with were the extreme Protestants or “ Puritans,” who had brought Nantes, back from Geneva a dislike to even the simplest A i 59 & 3, ceremonies, but they were kept fairly quiet during Elizabeth’s reign. In France Henry IV., by the famous “Edict of Nantes,” gave his Protestant subjects freedom to worship as they wished, and thus helped to quiet Europe. J> -' 12. National Growth. — And now the growth of the nation, which had been going on unnoticed' for the last thirty years, began to bear fruit. On the sea English ships sailed far and wide. Sir Walter Raleigh sent seven expeditions to North and South which brought back new fruits, as well as tobacco and the potato ; and though the colony of Virginia, which he founded, did not East India ^ ourish ’ ** paved the way for others. Sir Francis Company, Drake opened up the way to the East Indies, and whip • after ship, both from Holland and England, began to trade with the East. Elizabeth granted a charter to a company of London East India merchants, who formed the beginning of our famous East India Company. And side by side with this outward growth, an inward growth of mind and thought was going on. During the hundred years which had passed since Henry Tudor came to the throne, great events had happened, and wonderful discoveries had been ttuuIa S dTSS which could not fail to excite men’s minds. Copernicus and Galileo had shown that our little world is not the centre of the universe, while at the same time voyages of discover' PEACE AND PROGRESS. 147 had proved how much grander and large!? eVeii this little world is than the ancients had believed. America, with all its riches of gold and silver, and its strange races of people, had been discovered ; while at home the new religion, the spread of printing, and the study of Greek and Latin, had stirred the minds of the English people to high thoughts, which expressed themselves in stirring works of prose and poetry. And so towards the end r ± J Writers of of Elizabeth’s reign we find the study of history Elizabeth’s reviving. Archbishop Parker tried to collect together reign- the old English chronicles, and Sir Walter Raleigh began his great History of the World, written during the next reign. Then again, besides pamphlets, novels, and short-lived works of all kinds, we have such great writers as Sir Francis Bacon, who gave new life to philosophy and science ; the poet Spenser, who wrote the ‘ ‘ Faerie Queen”; and Sir Philip Sidney, who died from a fatal wound received at the Battle of Zutphen in the Netherlands, wrote the “Arcadia.” To crown all, — among a host of play- writers and poets of the Elizabethan period of literature, whose plays were acted and poems recited in barns, booths, and courtyards, or in the theatres which now sprang up in London, — came our great Shakespeare, born in 1564, who gave us those Sha ^|®P eare » plays, so true to nature, so full of deep wisdom, so powerful in language, and so noble in thought, that not only England, but all the world has been the richer for them ever since. * 13 . Irish Revolts. — We are now nearing the end of Elizabeth’s reign. In 1598 Cecil, Lord Burleigh, died, and younger ^ men gathered round the queen. There was Sir Walter Burleigh, Raleigh, brave and able ; Robert Cecil, Burleigh's son, 1598, a wise statesman ; and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, a wild, head- strong young man, whom Elizabeth petted and scolded like a child. The old troubles were still going on in Ireland, and matters had been made worse by the unwise attempt to carry out the penal laws against Roman Catholics and to force the English Prayer- book and service on the people. Moreover, when the Pope excommunicated Elizabeth, the Irish scarcely knew which way to lean. The Spaniards were always exciting them against England, and in 1595 Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, a brave Irish chief, rose in rebellion, as- Rebellion of Hugh O’Neil, Earl of Tyrone, 1595-1602. 148 History op England. of Essex, 1601. sisted by Philip II. He defeated the English near Armagh, and thd queen sent Essex against him with an army of 30,000 men. But Essex, finding many difficulties, and won over by flattery, made a foolish peace with Tyrone, and then hastened back to England, hoping to persuade the queen he had done wisely. ^nddeath* 1 She, however, was very angry, and he was kept a prisoner in his own house. Sore at this treatment, the foolhardy young man gathered his friends together and marched to the city, hoping to raise a revolt. He failed utterly, and being found guilty of treason, was beheaded. Meanwhile Lord Mount joy was sent to Ireland, where Tyrone at last surrendered. From this date the whole of Ireland has been governed by England, and during the next reign large governed by numbers of English and Scotch settlers had lands from’ 1602 given them in Leinster and Ulster on condition that they preserved order. These are known as the Ulster and Leinster “plantations,” and by them two-thirds of the North of Ireland passed to strangers. But though this change brought outward prosperity, it was unjustly carried out, and raised a bitter spirit, which caused serious trouble some years after. 14. Death of the Queen. — And now the queen lay dying. Yain and fickle, vacillating and often untruthful, she had no doubt been, but she found England weak and divided — she left it strong and united. Even Parliament had regained much of the independence . had lost, under Henry YHI. In her last Parliament Abolition of . • , n , tt monopoiies, Elizabeth had to yield to the House of Commons when Oct. 1601. they insisted on abolishing the “ monopolies ” or right which were held by many nobles to be the only persons to sell certain articles, wine for example, and so wringing money from the people. But on one point Elizabeth was stubborn to the end. She would not name her successor. As her life was fading away in the evening Death of -^ arc ^ 23, 1603, it was only by a slight motion of Elizabeth, the head that her ministers could conclude she was Mar. 24,1603. w Qh n g to allow James VI. of Scotland to fill her place. In the early morning of March 24, the greac queen died. PEACE AND PROGRESS. 149 15. Summary of The House of Tudor.— The reign of the family of Tudors was now over, and the family of Stuarts was coming in their place. For more than a hundred years England had been rising to a leading position among nations. Henry YII. laid the foundation by keeping clear of foreign wars and holding a firm hand over the nobles at home. Henry YHI. followed in his footsteps by shutting out foreign influence. The troubled reigns of Edward and Mary did their work in leading men to long for freedom of thought and to abhor persecution, while Elizabeth, carefully shielding her people from the wars of religion raging all around, gave them time to grow strong and develop. Trade flourished, agriculture improved, comfort and well-being increased. Daring seamen explored distant oceans and scoured the seas, till England’s name stood high for courage and adventure, while the new thoughts and widening knowledge, filling the minds of men, broke out in a grand literature, which has never been surpassed even in our day. The Goverment, however, under which all this advance was made, had one weak side. It depended almost entirely on the character of the king or queen who happened to reign. So long as a wise and able sovereign was on the throne, things went well ; but the reigns of Edward and Mary had shown that the monarchy was so strong, that when its power was unwisely used, the nation was thrown into confusion. After Elizabeth’s death came monarchs who did not reign wisely, and so, as we shall see, a struggle arose with Parliament and the people, causing England to be once more torn by civil war and suffering, 150 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. PART VI. THE STRUGGLE AGAINST ABSOLUTE MONARCHY SOVEREIGNS OF THE HOUSE OF STUART JAMES I. of England (VI. of Scotland), b. 1566, d. 1625. r. 1603-1625, m. Anne of Denmark. I CHARLES I., b. 1600, beheaded 1649, r. 1625-1649, na. Henrietta Maria of France. From 1649 to 1660 England had no king. Elizabeth, m Frederick V., Elector Palatine. Prince Rupert. CHARLES n., b. 1630, d. 1685, r. 1660-1685, m. Katharine of Braganza. ( Died without an heir.) Prince Sophia, Maurice. m. Ernest, Elector of Hanover. I GEORGE I., I First King of the JAMES TL, House of Hanover. Mary, b. 1633, d. 1701, m. William r. 1685-1689 Of Orange. (deposed), m. 1. Anne Hyde — 2. Mary of Modena. WILLIAM m., and MARY ANNE. (b. 1650, d. 1702) (b. 1662, d. 1694), b. 1665. d. 1714, declared King and Queen 1689. r. 1702-1714, William reigned till 1702. m. George of Denmark. (Died childless.) ( Died childless.) James (The Pretender^ d. 1766. Charles Edward (The young Pretender! d. 178a {Childless.) PREROGATIVE AND PARLIAMENT. 151 CHAPTER XVI. PREROGATIVE AND PARLIAMENT. 1. James I. — As soon as Elizabeth died the Council sent ofl post-haste for James AH. of Scotland, son of Mary Stuart and Darnley, and great-grandson of Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII. Though Henry VUI. had passed over Margaret in his will yet James was not only the next heir, but the choice of the nation. So the Scotch prophecy was fulfilled at last, and a Scotch king once more sat on the sacred stone of Scone, on July 25, 1603, when James VI. of Scotland was crowned as James I. of England in Westminster Abbey. Though no very remarkable events happened in James’s reign, yet it is important, because hia constant disputes with Parliament prepared the way for the unhappy reign of his son Charles I. James was not a bad man, and he was a misguided rather than a bad king. In every-day matters he was shrewd enough. We owe to him the draining of the fen country, making useless land profitable, the first establishment of the post-office G ^am° s^. o£ (for foreign countries only), and the encouragement of many useful manufactures, such as silk-weaving and the cultivation of silk-worms. But he never understood the English people, and he had such an overwhelming idea of his own superior wisdom that, being already thirty-six when he came to England, he was not likely to learn to know them. He was amiable and kindly by nature, and we shall see that the persecutions in his reign were never brutal as they had been formerly. But he was ungainly and undignified, fond of coarse jokes and of showing his learning, which was great. He was very obstinate and impatient of advice, yet, as he loved flattery and hated exertion, he was easily governed by favourites. He looked upon the English crown as his by inheritance, and believed that he ruled by “ divine right” ; or, in other words, that he was not responsible to any earthly power, ^vfnepght. but had absolute authority over the nation and the laiys. The Tudors had been despotic, and the “ Star Chamber ’’ 152 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. of Henry YIL, and the “Court of High Commission” which Elizabeth founded to govern the Church, gave the sovereign great power. But Henry VIII. and Elizabeth had understood their people, and were popular ; James, on the contrary, vexed his subjects unnecessarily. He tried to overrule Parliament, and told the Commons that, as it is “atheism to dispute what God can do so it is presumption and high contempt in a subject to dispute what a king can do, or say that a king cannot do this or that.” We see at once that this would irritate the free English people who, although they revered and loved their kings, had been accustomed from Saxon times upwards to cry, Aye, aye, or Nay, nay, to any new measure, at first in the Witangemot, and afterwards through their representatives in Parliament. Moreover, at the time when James became king, the people, prosperous after the long peace, and accustomed to be governed by strong and popular princes, were not likely to yield to a weak and pompous sovereign. St n^tion the the country, gentlemen, farmers, and labourers were well oft In the towns trade was increasing. London had spread so fast that Elizabeth had tried to stop fresh building, and twice in his reign James ordered the country gentlemen and their families “ to go home and bide there, minding their duties. ” This gathering of the people in large towns, and the spread of printed books, especially of the English Bible, led people to think and talk freely of many things, which before had been left chiefly to statesmen and priests. 2. Religious Parties. — Roughly speaking, there were at this time three parties in England. First, the Puritans, earnest self- denying men, who led serious lives, and condemned the swearing, gambling, drinking, and other vices which, unfortunately, were common at court. These men disliked all church ceremonies, and thought it wrong to make the sign of the cross in baptism or to wear a surplice ; and, as the Act of Uniformity forbade any services to be used except those in the Prayer-book, the Puritans wanted some parts of the Church services to be altered. With regard to the state, these party. men upheld very strongly the liberty of Parliament. The second, and by far the largest party as yet, was the High Church PREROGATIVE AND PARLIAMENT. 153 party, as we should call it now. It consisted of those who wished matters in the Church to remain as Elizabeth had left them and as the bishops advised, and who upheld the Catholics” power of the king. Lastly, there was a third party — the Roman Catholics — who wanted to restore the Roman Catholic religion and the power of the Pope in England. Elizabeth had cleverly managed to keep these three parties quiet, but James was unable either to understand or deal with them. He did not like the Puritans, because they held much the same opinions as the Scotch Protestants or Presbyterians (so called because they had no bishops, but were governed by “presbyters” or elders). These Presbyterians had given James much trouble in Scotland, and when he invited four of the English Puritans to meet the bishops at a conference at Hampton Court, he found they were equally obstinate in their views. He grew H c™urt n angry that they would not yield to his arguments, and C j"* er ®^ e ’ declared he would “make them conform, or harry them out of the land.” The only good result of the conference was that James ordered a revised translation of the Bible to be made. This “authorised version,” published in 1611 , has been used down to our time, and the beautiful language contained in it together with the writings of Shakespeare, has done more to form our modern English speech, and keep it pure, than all other writings. The evil result of the conference was that James carried out Persecution his threat. Ten of the men who had petitioned for of the charges were imprisoned by order of the Star Chamber, Puntana - and three hundred Puritan clergymen were turned out of their livings. 3. Puritan Emigration. — The people, seeing that there was little chance of their being allowed to worship in their own way, began to think of leaving the country. A small congregation of Puritans escaped over the sea to Amsterdam and Ley- den, under the guidance of their minister, John Robin- ofPuritans son, and William Brewster, one of their chief men or to ^® rioa * elders. Twelve years later this little colony of one hundred and twenty souls, afterwards known as the “Pilgrim Fathers,” sailed across the Atlantic in a ship called the Mayflower, 154 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. and settled some way to the north of Virginia, which was already a flourishing colony. They took with them the Bible as their law, and brotherhood as their charter, and though they suffered terrible hardships on the barren coast of Massachusetts, they prepared the way for those who came after, and founded the free states of New England. 4. Gunpowder Plot. — Almost directly after the conference, James summoned his first Parliament, and unfortunately he began by trying to dictate to the people what members to elect. Then, during the next session, the Commons petitioned that vrith'tSefirat P ur i* an clergymen might be allowed to preach P i6w a ^S t ’ kut James refused to let them discuss the subject. They retorted by making stronger laws against the Roman Catholics, and James was obliged to banish some of the priests, and to begin again to levy £20 a month from all “ recusants, ” that is, Roman Catholics who refused to attend the English service. This so troubled the Roman Catholics that a small knot of men, not more than fifteen in all, led by an enthusiast, Robert Catesby, proposed to blow up Parliament while it was being opened in state by the king and his eldest son Henry, and to set one of the younger children on the throne and restore the Roman Catholic Gunpowder religion. The plot went on for several months, arms 1605 . ’ were brought from Flanders, and Roman Catholic gentlemen invited to come over and join in a rebel- lion. But just at the last moment one of the conspirators, Francis Tresham, wrote to warn his brother-in-law, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from Parliament. James saw this mysterious letter, and guessed that something was wrong. A search was made, and Guy (or Guido) Fawkes, a Yorkshireman, who had served in Flanders^ was discovered in a vault under the Houses of Parliament, with bar- rels of gunpowder stacked ready to be exploded. The result of thiq foolish plot was that the conspirators were killed, or taken prisoners and executed, and the Roman Catholics were in a much worse posi' tion for many generations. 5. Crown and Parliament.— But it was not only about Church questions that J ames and the Commons could not agree. Tl*s PREROGATIVE AND PARLIAMENT. 155 English were jealous of the Scots, who came flacking to court ; and when the king proposed to unite the two kingdoms, under the title of “Great Britain,” there was a violent U n^on°w1th opposition. All that Sir Francis Bacon, then a rising Sc °tiand, barrister in Parliament, could obtain from them was that Scotchmen born after James came to throne should be naturalised Englishmen. On this point James was more in the right than his people, but they opposed him partly because he was always trying to be independent of them. He insisted on making proclamations and imposing customs on merchandise without the consent of Parliament. Thinking to improve the dyeing of cloth, he issued a proclamation in 1608 forbidding undyed cloth to be sent abroad, and p at the same time he granted to Alderman Cockayne tionsand the sole right of dyeing and dressing cloth. The result ira P ositions - was he nearly ruined the trade, and had to take back the patent. Then, as he wanted money, he obtained an opinion from the judges that he had a right to levy “impositions” on goods, and in one year he raised in this way £70,000. The expenses of his court were very heavy, and he had to keep a large army in Ireland, where people were very restless at the “plantation” of Ulster. So he had at last to apply to the Commons, who refused to give him any money till he had promised to give up the proclamations and impositions. This James would not do, so Cecil, who was now Lord Salisbury and chief minister, tried to contract make a bargain with the Commons, called the “Great anddissoiu- ° . ... , tion, 1610 . Contract.” The king was to give up certain rights, and they were to give him £200,000 a year for life. But they would not consent, and at last James dissolved Parliament in Feb. 16H without getting any money. Two years later he called a second Parliament, and dissolved it again in a few 0 r Addled weeks, because the Commons again refused any grant Parliament, till the “impositions” were given np. This was called the “ Addled Parliament,” because it did not pass a single bill. For seven years after the “Addled Parliament” James tried to rule without one. In 1612, when Lord Salisbury died, he raised % young Scotchman, Robert Carr, to high offices in the state, and 156 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. made him Earl of. Somerset. But this did not last long. Somer- Rui of Se ^ marr * ed divorced wife of the Earl of Essex, favourites, and was accused of helping her to poison Sir Thomas 1612 - 1621 . Overbury, a man she hated. So he was disgraced, and was succeeded in the king’s favour by George Villiers, afterwards Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham was young, handsome, and brave, but very rash and headstrong. He had so much influence over James and bis second son Prince Charles, that all who wanted promotion at court bribed and flattered him, and in a few years he became the richest and most powerful peer in England. Things might have been different if the king’s eldest son, Henry, Prince of Wales, had lived, for he was a bright, adventurous, and able young prince, much beloved by the people. But he died in 1612, and Charles, a weakly and reserved lad, became the heir to the throne. 6. Proposed Spanish Marriage. — James, who sincerely loved peace, had long ago ended the war with Spain, and now wished to marry Prince Charles to the Infanta Maria, daughter of Philip HL This was very unwise, for the English hated the Spaniards, and did not want a Roman Catholic princess. Queen Elizabeth would have felt this at once and given way, but James went on for twelve years trying to arrange the match, and constantly irritating his people. After all it came to nothing, for though “Baby Charlie and Steenie,” as James called Charles and Buckingham, made a romantic journey to Spain, the Infanta did not like the prince, and the Spanish king wanted to make him a Roman Catholic, so the match was broken off in 1623. But for a great part of James’s reign it made his people uneasy, and this same foolish project led the king to commit the one really cruel act of his life. The brave Sir Walter Raleigh had been condemned to death in 1603 for being concerned in a conspiracy to put Arabella Stuart (a great-great-grandchild of Henry VII.) upon the throne, and he had remained in prison for thirteen years writing his History of the World. In 1616 he told the king that he believed execu^on'of be could find his way to a gold mine in Guiana ; and 1616 U 618 dames > always in want of money, set him free to make the voyage. But he told him he must not fight the Spaniards, or he would lose his head. The expedition was most Prerogative And parliament. 15 ? unfortunate. Raleigh stayed to guard the mouth of the River Orinoco, and sent the other ships up to search for the mine. They could not find it, but destroyed a Spanish village, and Raleigh’s son was killed. Sooner than come back empty-handed, Raleigh wished to seize some Spanish treasure-ships, but his crew mutinied, and he returned to England broken-hearted, and was beheaded under his sentence of thirteen years before. The people, who knew that this was done merely to please the King of Spain, were very indignant at the death of the great explorer and historian, who, whatever might have been his faults, was a brave and noble man. I T. Thirty Years’ War.— Three years after Raleigh’s death J ames found he should be obliged to call another Parliament. He had married his eldest daughter Elizabeth in 1613 to the Elector Palatine Frederick V., one of the chief Protestant princes of Germany, who ruled over the Rhine country near Heidelberg. A few years later the Bohemians revolted Outbreak * " of Thirty against x 1 erdinand, Emperor of Germany, and chose Years’ War Frederick as their king. But the King of Spain, with m G i 6 ™. any ’ other Roman Catholic princes, joined with the Emperor against the Protestants, and the terrible Thirty Years’ War began. Very early in this war Frederick lost not only Bohemia, but the Palatinate as well, and he and his wife were fugitives. They came to James for assistance, and he could not give it without Parliament. But now came a serious reckoning. During the last seven years the king had been levying money by heavy fines, benevolences, forced loans, and other illegal means, levying of He sold peerages for enormous sums, allowed the Dutch money ' towns to pay back their debts at half their value, and created the new order of “baronet,” which any man might buy for £100. Moreover, he had granted “monopolies” of all kinds to Buckingham and his friends, by which the people were greatly oppressed and the law-courts were shamelessly corrupt. The judges, appointed by the king, were underpaid, and took gifts from the suitors before cases were decided. 8. Third Parliament, 1621-1622. — Now among the men elected to the new Parliament were many who saw that it was time to stop this despotic government of the king. The chief of these 168 DlSTOfclT OS' ENGLAND. were John Pym, member for Caine and afterwards for Tavistock, and John Hampden, a Buckinghamshire squire. Both were upright^ resolute, and brave men, who from this time were to struggle till death for the liberty of England. With them were also Sir John Eliot, vice-admiral of the fleet, fiery and outspoken by nature ; Coke and Selden, the famous lawyers ; and Wentworth, who only sided with the patriot party for a time because he hated Buckingham. All these men were to play a great part in the struggle of the next forty years. They granted a small sum to prepare for war, and then -remonstrated against the illegal fines and monopolies, and the corruption of the judges. The monopolies James was forced to abolish, and the Commons impeached Sir Francis mentof Bacon, then Lord Yerulam, for bribery and corruption. Bacon, 1621. g acoilj w h Q had been Lord Chancellor for three years, had just published his famous work, the Novum Organum, and ranked first among the writers of the day. Unfortunately he was not as upright as he was able. When tried before the House of Lords he did not deny having taken bribes, but said he had only followed the custom. He was condemned, deprived of his offices, and heavily fined ; but the king pardoned him, and he retired on a pension of £ 1200 , and devoted himself to science. Meanwhile the king was preparing, in a half-hearted manner, for war. He still clung to the idea that he might fight the Emperor Ferdinand, and yet remain friends with Spain, Ferdinand’s ally. This was folly, for the King of Spain would never fight against the Emperor. Pym and Coke drew up a petition which the Commons sent to the king, telling him boldly that he ought to break with Spain, and marry Charles to a Protestant. Deeply offended, the king treated their advice as an impertinence. They Dl oTtWpd° n “*■ ^eir turn protested that they had a right to freedom PW i622. ent ’ s P eech > and James in a rage tore their protestation out of the Journal Book of the House, and dissolved Parliament, sending Pym, Coke, Selden, and other leading members to prison. So ended the third Parliament, in which the Commons had certainly gained some advantages. They had abolished Prerogative anU Parliament. 159 monopolies, reformed the law-courts, and revived their power of impeachment and their right to give an opinion on matters of state. But the breach between the crown newspaper, and Parliament was growing wider. It was about 1622- this time that sheets of news first began to be printed, and on May 23, 1622, the first weekly newspaper appeared. 9. Last Years of James. — The next year the Spanish mar- riage was broken off, and Charles and Buckingham came back eager for war with Spain. The king was very unwilling to fight, knowing how diffcult it was to get money ; but Buckingham urged Fourth him on, and he called his fourth and last Parliament Parliament, to vote supplies. Now that all danger of the Spanish marriage was over, the Commons did not want war, especially as James proposed to make an alliance with France to recover the Palatinate, and to marry Prince Charles to Henrietta of France, who was a Roman Catholic. They voted just enough money to help the Dutch against Spain and to defend the English ports, and then adjourned, promising to meet in the winter and vote more if it was wanted. Meanwhile the treaty of mar- ^edition riage between Charles and the Princess Henrietta was to Holland, O 1625 signed, and James was afraid to face Parliament now that his son was pledged to marry a Roman Catholic. With the little money he had, he sent in the spring 12,000 men to the Palatinate under Count Mansfeld, a German officer. The expedition was badly managed, supplies ran short, and disease broke out among the troops, destroying 9,000 of them. The attempt was a complete failure, and James, bitterly disap- James I* pointed, fell ill, and died of ague. He wrote many M “ 6 °g 2 '^ works, among others a treatise against tobacco, another on witches, and another on the “divine right of kings.” But as a kin g he prepared great trouble for his people. 160 history of England. CHAPTER XYIT. KING AND PEOPLE. Charles I- — All people, except a very few, were full of hope when Charles came to the throne. He was a very different man from his father. Though only five and twenty he was stately ^hSle^L 1 and dignified, with dark hair, high forehead, and a grave, melancholy countenance. He was reserved, but gra- cious in his manner, never giving way to those outbursts of passion and scolding by which James offended his counsellors. Moreover, since Charles had wished for a war with Spain, he had been popu- lar among the people. But those few men, who looked deeper, saw very serious difficulties in the character of tie new king. He had the same fixed idea as his father of his prerogative, while he had none of James’s frankness and good nature. On the contrary, in spite of his gracious manner, he was both obstinate and insincere. He was a religious man and a good father, but he did not think it wrong to deceive and break his promises to, gain his end. “ Pray God,” said a thoughtful courtier, “ that the king may be in the right way when he is set; for if he were in the wrong he would prove the most wilful of any king that ever reigned .” Sad and true words ; and when we remember how the Commons had already begun to set their will against the king’s will, we shall not wonder that Charles’s reign was one long quarrel, in which each side grew more and more angry and unjust till the terrible end came. 2. Early Troubles.— The struggle began very soon, for when Charles’s first ^ rst Parliament met, the people were distressed Parliament, by the disasters in Holland, and mistrusted Buckins- Junel8. 1625. , , , ' , , , . ’ ^ ham, who had unbounded influence over the king. More- over, they were irritated ihat the queen had her priests and Roman Catholic chapel in England. Therefore, though Charles asked for £300,000 to carry on the war, the Commons only granted birq KING AND PEOPLE. 161 £140,000 ; and although it was usual to give the king for life a steady tax called “ Tonnage and Poundage ” on every Tonnage tun of beer and wine, and every pound of certain and articles, they now only gave it for one year. Charles Pounda ^ e - was very angry. He prorogued Parliament (for the plague was raging in London), and bade them meet again in Oxford. Unfortunately before they met, seven ships which p arliament Charles had lent to the King of Prance, were used dissolved w ' 1625 against the Huguenots at the siege of La Rochelle on the French coast. The Commons reproached the king with giving help to the Roman Catholics, and declared they had no confidence in Buckingham ; but Charles would not allow them to discuss his favourite minister, and dissolved Parliament. Charles and Buckingham now hoped to gain popularity by carry- ing on the war with Spain, not considering that they had neither men nor money. A fleet was raised by pressing merchant-vessels into the service, and as there was no regular army in those days, men were called from their homes for soldiers. Sir Edward Cecil, who commanded the forces, had orders to attack some Spanish town, and to seize Spanish treasure-ships coming from America. He sailed into Cadiz Bay and took a fort, and then marched up the country without food. The men got ^pTdition hold of some wine, and became helplessly drunk, and o ° t c ^25 Cecil had to take them back to the ships. He then sailed homewards, and missed the treasure-ships by two days. This expedition gave rise to the well-known nursery rhyme — “ There was a fleet that went to Spain, When it got there, it came back again.’* The hoped-for victory had proved a miserable failure, leaving a serious debt, which obliged the king to summon another Parliament. But before the elections he tried a clever stratagem. He made sheriffs of some of the men who had been most trouble- some in the last Parliament, so that they should not Buckingham be eligible for members. It was all in vain ! If he the second silenced some voices, others would be heard. No sooner r i 626 . n ’ had the Houses assembled than Sir John Eliot rose and called for an inquiry into the mismanagement which led to so 11 162 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. many disasters, and the Commons impeached Buckingham. “ He has broken those nerves and sinews of our land, the stores and treasures of the king,” said Eliot, “his profuse expenses, his super- fluous feasts, his magnificent buildings, his riots, his excesses waste the revenues of the Crown. No right, no interest, can withstand him by him came all our evils on him must be the remedies.” Charles’s only answer Kino . was to send Eliot and his supporter, Digges, to the dissolves Tower, and when the Commons refused to sit without Parliament. * an< j asked f or Buckingham’s dismissal, he released Eliot and Digges, but instantly dissolved Parliament before any money had been voted. 3. Forced Loans. — Charles was now in difficulties. He had just quarrelled with Louis XIII. of France, partly because he had The king been obliged to dismiss Queen Henrietta’s Roman levies forced c a tholic attendants, and partly because he felt bound loans, 1627. A to take the part of the Huguenots of La Rochelle against their king. But to make war he must have money, and though he was levying tonnage and poundage illegally, and fining the Roman Catholic recusants, he was very short of funds. He appealed to the country for a “free” gift of money, but scarcely any one gave. Then some one suggested that though he could not compel people to give, he might compel them to lend, though it made very little difference, as he was never likely to repay it ; so he sent com- missioners to every county to require each person to advance money according to his means. It may be imagined what discontent this caused ! Under the Tudors the country had been kept at peace and the taxes lightened ; even James had only levied money from the customs and from rich men. But now, in order to pay for Buckingham’s < content, S " extravagance and for wars which only ended in disgrace, every man had his private affairs examined and a sum of money forced from him. Eighty gentlemen in different parts of the country would not pay and were imprisoned, and poor men who\ refused were pressed as soldiers, or had soldiers billeted in their houses. At last the preparations for war were complete, and Buckingham KING AND PEOPLE. 163 sailed to La Rochelle with a fleet of a hundred ships. He besieged the fortress of St. Martins, in the island of Rhe, opposite the town, and if he had succeeded, the war might have Buckingham been popular, as it was to help the Protestants. But, relieve La as usual, all went badly. The French broke through, and carried food to the fortress. Buckingham’s troops died of disease, and he was forced to come home for reinforcements. 4. Petition of Right. — A great sadness fell on the English people. They who had been so powerful were now constantly dishonoured before other nations. They who had boasted of law and freedom now saw men imprisoned who had committed no crime. Five country gentlemen who had been sent to prison had appealed to the judges for a writ o ^habeas corpus, 1 which obliged the gaoler to produce his prisoner in court, and show the warrant, stating the charge against him. Now, against these men appeal" men there was no charge, for it was no crime to refuse a K ainst im- ° ’ . pnsonment. to lend money, and the Magna Charta had said that “ no man shall be taken or imprisoned unless by lawful judgment of his peers or the law of the land.” Nevertheless, the judges had sent these men back to prison, fearing to displease the king. Parliament now demanded their release, and Sir J ohn Eliot and Sir Thomas Wentworth spoke bold words. “We must vindicate our ancient liberties,” said Wentworth; “we must reinforce the laws made* by our ancestors.” The Commons then drew up a “Petition of Right” against illegal taxation, benevolences, and imprisonment, asking _the king to promise, first, that no free man should be asked for a loan without consent of Parliament ; secondly, that no free man should be sent to prison without a cause being shown ; thirdly, that soldiers should not be billeted in private houses, and fourthly, that martial law should cease. The House of Lords agreed to the petition, and though the king struggled hard against it, he was so pressed for money that he was obliged to give way, and on June 7, 1628, it became law. Throughout the country bonfires and ringing of bells told how the people rejoiced at the vindication of their liberty, and the Commons granted the supplies >So called from the first words of the writ produce the body. 164 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. for which Charles had asked. But when they went on to ask for Buckingham’s dismissal, the king refused to listen, and prorogued Parliament for a time. - They had no occasion to impeach the favourite again. Just as Buckingham was starting from Portsmouth on a second expedition to. La Rochelle, a fanatic named John Felton, who had been refused promotion in the army, and looked upon Auff^23^i628 Buckingham a® a public enemy, stabbed him to the heart with a knife at' the door of the public hall, crying, “God have mercy on thy soul.” When the confusion was over the assassin was found walking up and down without his hat. He had not attempted to escape, and was afterwards hanged^? 5. Sir John Eliot. — The hated duke^ was dead and the people 'rejoiced. But Charles made Weston, Buckingham’s secretary, High Treasurer, and all went on as before. The fleet went to La Rochelle, but had no success, and in 1629 Charles made peace with France. Richelieu had conquered La Rochelle, and immeasurably lowered England’s position in the world. In fact, everywhere on the continent the Catholics were gaining ground ; and for bishop of 6 tliis reason, the people in England were very uneasy L l6^ n ’ w hen the king raised Laud, Bishop of Bath and WeHs, to be Bishop of London. Laud loved rich decorations, and services with great ceremonial like the Roman Catholics, and always upheld “divine right” and the absolute power of the king. This absolute power Charles was now using to levy tonnage and poundage whenever he chose, seizing the goods of any merchants who refused to pay. It happened that some of these'' goods belonged to a member of Parliament, and, when the House met again in January, 1629, Sir P ri'ament ^°h n ®liot advised that the custom-house officers who becomes had taken them should be sent for and punished. The' defiant, 1629. 0 fg cers p] eaded that they had acted by the king's order, and Charles bade the speaker adjourn the House. This was done, but when the members met again, and again an order came to adjourn, they would not listen. The speaker tried to rise, but two members held him down in his chair, and the doors were locked, while Eliot put the vote that “ they were traitors who should bring in changes in religion , or who should take or pay custom duties KING AND PEOPLE. 165 not granted by Parliament.” Just as the members were shouting “ Aye, aye,” the guards came by the king’s order to break open the doors. There was no need ; the dissolution 3 house adjourned immediately, and a few days later the king dissolved Parliament. He sent Eliot and several other members to prison, but soon released those who Death of gir made submission. Three only — Eliot. Yalentine, and John Eliot, Strode — refused to say anything against the rights of Parliament, and Eliot, after remaining three years and a half in the Tower, died, the first martyr to the cause of liberty. 6. Wentworth and Laud. — For the next eleven years Charles ruled without a Parliament, and his chief ministers were Weston, Laud and Wentworth. We have seen how such men as Eliot and Pym had risen up to defend the liberty of Parlia- ment ; two equally determined men, Wentworth (afterwards Lord Strafford) and Laud, now upheld the despotic power of the king. The question was which would conquer. Wentworth, who was very ambitious, had broken with his old friends directly after Buckingham’s death, and sided with the king. He became Presi- dent of the Council of the North, and ruled with a rod of iron. Laud, who was far more conscientious and single-minded, was unfortunately narrow and bigoted, and these two men first helped to ruin their master, and then died as martyrs to his cause. For the first five years all was outwardly quiet. Moderate men felt that the Commons had gone too far, and insulted the king ; and as Weston was a careful treasurer, and did not oppress the people with taxes, they were content. It was at this time that the inland post-office was first established, and letters were sent by weekly post. Hackney coaches too, which first Inla i6 25 Post ' began to run in 1625, became common, but they were not allowed in the crowded streets ; and sedan-chairs were intro- duced in 1634 for carrying people within the town. A great scien- tific discovery took place about this time. Harvey, the king’s physician, published in 1628 his work on the circulation of the blood. In the country we have a glimpse of peaceful life in the simple-hearted poet-clergyman, George Geor™Her- Herbert, who wrote his quaint religious poems in the MUtoaf Rectory of Bemerton in Wiltshire, and went to his rest in 1633, before the troubled times began ; while in 1634 th© 166 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. poet Milton wrote his “ Comus ” at Horton, in Buckinghamshire, having givep up the Church because he would not be allowed to speak his mind freely. At this time the Puritans were emigrating in large numbers to New England. A thousand were taken by John Am erica! Winthrop in 1630, and during the next eleven years no less than twenty thousand crossed over the sea. Lord Baltimore, who was a Roman Catholic, also founded a new colony, called Maryland, in 1634, to the north of Virginia. In this colony, although it was founded for Roman Catholic “recusants,” the first law was that every one should freely follow his own religion. Such asylums of freedom were now greatly needed, for at home matters grew worse and worse. Wentworth was sent in 1633 to govern Ireland, where the new “ plantations ” of English and Scotch made the natives very uneasy. In one sense he ruled well. He called an Irish Parliament, and obtained enough money to pay a well-disciplined army, with which he kept good order. We "ute°hi h 8 He encouraged trade, and the linen manufactures of the north' were started in his time. But he had no looo-iboy. . respect for promises nor for law. He was anxious to be “thorough,” as he wrote to Laud, and he paid no heed to the wishes of the people, but put down the Roman Catholic religion with great severity, and tried to colonise Connaught, though the king had given his word it should not be done. Thus hjs reign was one of terror. So long as his firm hand was over them, the Irish were quiet, but a terrible reaction came, as we shall see, when he left them. 7. Laud and the Puritans.— The same year that Went- worth went to Ireland, Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had always been a peacemaker, died. Then Laud became arch- bishop, and two years later, in 1635, when Weston died, he became really the chief minister in England. He began at once to make many changes towards the old religion, such as ^putting back the altar to the east end of the church, whereas for a long time it had stood in the middle, restoring painted windows, and replacing the crucifix in Lambeth Chapel. These things alarmed the Puritans. KING AND PEOPLE. 167 In our time any one who does not like a church service can go elsewhere, but then no one thought it possible to have different kinds of worship ; there was one church, and everyone was forced to attend. So when any one in authority like Laud made changes which most people disliked, trouble was sure to follow. The Puri- tans had now increased very largely, and Sunday was, by order of Parliament, kept as a much more serious day than formerly. In olden times sports and pastimes went on in most villages, but now the justices of the peace put these down because they led to drunkenness. Laud and the king, paying no attention to the law, determined to restore the games, and ordered the clergy to give this out from the pulpit. They refused, and hundreds of Puritan ministers were in consequence deprived of their livings. Nor was this all, for just at this time three men — Prynne, a barrister, Bastwick, a physician, and Burton, a clergy, on Prynne, man — were punished by the Star Chamber for writing Bastwick, Durtoiij lOo/f pamphlets against Laud’s government. They had their ears cut off in the pillory, and were imprisoned for life. These things made manv moderate men side with the Puritans. Thus we see that step by step the king and his ministers were losing the love of the people. 8. Ship-Money. — Charles had long ago broken his promises given in the “ Petition of Right,” and had been raising money in the old ways, punishing severely all who resisted. Now, as a fleet was wanted, he commanded all the coast towns to provide him with ships, as they had done for Elizabeth when the Ring . , evieg Armada threatened England, or to give him “ship- ship-money, money instead. This was directly against nis promise in the Petition of Right, and when he went farther, and levied the tax in the inland towns as well, a Buckinghamshire squire named John Hampden refused to pay, and appealed to the law. Although all the judges were at that time appointed by the king, five out of the twelve boldly declared that Hampden was right ; but as the majority were against him, the taxTvas continued, and all England was indignant. 9. Laud and Scotland. - Even this storm, however, might 168 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. have passed over, if the king and Laud had not just at this time quarrelled with the Scots by ordering them to use the attempts 8 to Prayer-book. Ever since the Reformation force a the Scots had used the extempore prayer, and now onteeSeote. they refused to have a prayer-book thrust upon them. When the clergy began to read from it in the principal church of Edinburgh, an old woman threw a stool at his head, and there was the same feeling of rebellion all over Scotland. The king sent a message requiring the congregation to submit, but the only The result was that they solemnly renewed the National Coven an ters, Covenant which had been made in 1557, and gentle- men, nobles and ministers, rode round the country with a declaration, which the people signed wherever they went. The king was very angry, and marched to the Border. But the Scotch Covenanters were prepared, while the English soldiers sympathized with the Scots, and Charles was warned that they would not fight. So he was obliged to give way, and returned to London, Lord strut secre tly determined to come back and conquer. He ford recalled sent for Wentworth, now Earl Strafford, to come home, to England. Stafford came , and advised him to call a Parliament, while he himself hurried back to Ireland to bring over his well- disciplined troops. 10. The Short Parliament. — Neither Strafford nor the king, however, knew how dissatisfied the people had been growing. Parliament met on April 13, 1640, but only sat for three weeks. They refused to vote any money till their grievances were redressed, and they would not hear of a war with Scotland. So Charles, obstinate as usual, dissolved Parliament, and marched north with such an army as he could muster. The Scots had been beforehand with him ; they had invaded Northumberland, and now drove back the English at Newburn, near Newcastle, and out of Durham. Charles found himself obliged to make peace by pro mising a large sum of money, and this he could not get without another Parliament. n^^UL The Long Parliament, 1640 1653 ; 1650-1660.— But now in his difficulties any Parliament was sure to be his master, and the “Long Parliament,” which met on Nov. 3, 1640, lasted longer than the king's life. The first thing the Commons did was KING AND PEOPLE. 169 to set at liberty the men whose ears had been cut off, and the nest was to impeach Laud and Strafford. They hated Strafford most, for he had deserted his party, had planned to bring an Irish army into England, and had encouraged the king to act in defiance of Parlia- ment. He was in Yorkshire, and wanted to return to Ireland, but Charles promised that if he would come to London not “a hair of his head should be touched.” So he returned, and as he entered the House of Lords he saw Pym, followed by three hundred members, standing at the bar of the House, ex ^cution d 0 f and bringing the message of his impeachment from the 3t ^° rd > Commons. He was sent to the Tower, and on Jan. 30, 1641, he was tried in Westminster Hall. During the trial young Sir Henry Yane, whose father was a courtier, while he himself was a great friend of Pym, was able, from some of his father’s papers, to show that Strafford had proposed to govern the kingdom with the help of an Irish army. Still it was so difficult to convict the minister legally, that the impeachment or prosecution according to usual law, was changed to a hill of attainder, or special condemnation by Parliament. The bill was sent to the king to sign. Charles refused at first, but an angry crowd gathered round Whitehall, and the queen grew alarmed, so at last, bursting into tears, he appointed a commission to sign the bill which sent his faithful servant to the scaffold. Strafford, far nobler, had written to his master, relieving him from his promise to protect him, yet he felt the desertion bitterly. “Put not your trust in princes,” said he, as he prepared for death. He was beheaded on May 12, 1641. Laud was not beheaded till 1645. 8. Important Reforms.— After Strafford’s death Parliament made great reforms. A “ Triennial Act ” was passed ordaining that there must be a Parliament at least every three years, and that no future Parliament could be dissolved ^ctand' without its own consent. The Council of the North, fo ‘^ g er 1 r ^ 1 the Star Chamber, and the Court of High Commission, were abolished, and statutes were passed against illegal taxation. There were now two parties in Parliament. One was the court party, formed of those who wished not to be too hard upon the king ; the leaders of this party were Lord Falkland — a brave, gentle, and 170 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. noble spirit— and Hyde, afterwards Lord Clarendon. The other was the Puritan party, with Pym as leader, and he proposed that councillors, judges, and ministers should in future be appointed by Parliament. While this was being discussed, and Charles was away in Scotland, terrible news came from Ireland. Massacre in Ireland. IS. Grand Remonstrance.— The Irish, no longer kept under control, had risen and massacred the Scotch and English, killing men women and children, and driving them out to die in the snow or drown in the river. All England shuddered with horror, and a panic set in when the Irish showed a commission bearing the king’s seal authorising them to take up arms. Charles had, pf course, not dreamed of a massacre, but there is no doubt he had hoped to rouse the Irish against the English Parliament. He succeeded, but not as he wished, for Pym and Hampden pointed out boldly to the House that they could no longer trust the king nor his ministers, and a “ Grand Remonstrance ” was drawn up, showing all the evils they had suffered for years past, and demanded ministers appointed by Parliament. A violent debate followed from early morning to mid- night, and at last the “ Grand Remonstrance ” was passed amidst an uproar which would have ended in bloodshed but for Hampden’s resolute firmness. 14. Attempt to Seize the Five Members. — Five days later the king returned from Scotland, and trusting that many members would still support him, he sent to impeach Lord Kimbolton, and five members in the Commons— Pym, Hampden, Holies, Haselrig, and Strode. He promised “ on the word of a king,” to do no violence, but the Houses would not trust him, and refused to give up the members. The next day he broke his word, and came down* to the House with guards and a long train of armed cavaliers to seize the members. As he entered he saw that their seats were empty ; they had been sent for safety to the city. “ Since I see my birds are flown,” said he, “ I do expect from you that you will send them unto me as soon as they return hither, otherwise I must take my own course to find them ; ” and he walked angrily away, the members shouting, “ Privilege, privilege,” as he went. He never found the five culprits. London, always powerful, was KING AND PEOPLE. 171 now entirely on the side of liberty. The city was not in those days a mere mass of warehouses and offices as now. Three hundred thousand people then had their homes between Temple Bar and the Exchange, the merchants in richly furnished houses, the shop- keepers above their stores, together with the ’prentice lads, who cried, “ What d’ye lack ” at the booths which served L 0n( j on as shop-fronts. Each trade had its “Company,” such defies the as the Merchant Tailors, the Fishmongers, or the ^ Goldsmiths ; and these companies had their trained bands, in which aldermen, shopkeepers, and apprentices were the officers and soldiers. It was under this powerful protection that the five mem- bers now met a committee of tbe House of Commons every day, and after a week were brought back in triumph along the river to Westminster. 15. Outbreak of Civil War. — By that time it was clear the king was no longer master in London, and he had left with his family for Hampton Court. The queen crossed over to the Nether- lands with the elder children, taking the crown jewels to raise money ; and on Aug. 22, 1642 the king raised his standard at Nottingham. Civil war had begun. For the next four years there was fighting all over England, l’oughly speaking, the west and north sided with the king, while the east and south held by the Parliament. Sixty-five King - 8 of the peers and nearly half the Commons rallied round their sovereign. The king’s nephew, Prince Rupert, son of the Elector Palatine, commanded the Royal Cavalry, which was composed of gentlemen and their sons, bold, dashing riders known as “ Prince Rupert’s Horse ” : while the „ 1 Parliamentary whole of the kings party went by the name of the party or ‘ ‘ Cavaliers. ” The rest of the Commons, together with Roundliead3 ' twenty peers, and many country squires, farmers, merchants, and tradesmen, took the side of the Parliament ; and because all servants and apprentices wore their hair cropped short, the cavaliers nicknamed them “ Roundheads.” At first the king had the advantage. The Earl of Essex, who led the Parliamentary army, wanted to make terms with Charles rather than to overthrow him, and Prince Rupert’s dashing horsemen struck party or ‘Cavaliers.” 172 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Edgehill, 1642. terror into the farmers and shopkeepers who had tamed soldiers. At Powick Bridge, and at Edgehill, in Warwickshire, Bridg^and though neither party conquered, the royal troops had ~~ on the whole the best of it, and Essex retreated. Charles followed, till he reached Brentford and threatened London. If he had taken it and all its wealth, the war might have ended ; but the trained bands marched boldly out to Turnham Green, and the king’s army retreated. 16. Royalist Successes and Reverses — Charles now.made his headquarters at Oxford, and little by little the south-west coun- ties were gamed by the royalists. The whole country was at war. In the north the Parliamentary leader, Fairfax, was sorely pressed. Tn the west the Cornishmen, who were fervent royalists, were defeating General Waller, while Prince Rupert was fighting Essex in Oxfordshire. The Parliamentary council was always hoping to make peace. Pym and Hampden alone saw that the struggle must be fought out, and these two brave men were soon to pass away. On June 18, 1643, Prince Rupert,' marching westward against Waller, Death of defeated Hampden with a small party of horse at Hampden, Chalgrove in Buckinghamshire, and Hampden rode off June 24, 1634. head hanging and his hands on his horse's neck, mortally wounded. After lying six days at Thame, striving to write down his plans for the Council, he died, crying, * ‘ Oh Lord, save my country.” During the next two months town after town fell to the royalists ; Bath, Exeter, Bristol, Dorchester, and many other towns were taken, and Gloucester was closely besieged. The Parliament was in great danger, for the people of London were growing dissatisfied. But a change was at^hand. By successS?Faik-§ rea ^ ; efforts a fresh army was collected under Essex, land killed, w ith which he raised the siege of Gloucester. Then Sept. 20, 1643. ° turning back, he met the royalists at Newbury in Berk- shire, Sept. 20, 1643, and there Lord Falkland fell, crying, “ Peace, peace,” and found rest in death. Meanwhile Pym had sent Sir Henry Yane to Scotland for help, League with an< * a ** Solemn League and Covenant ” was signed, the Snots, in which the Scots promised to fight for the Parliament Sept. 25 , 1643. on condition that the Presbyterian religion was pro- tected. This league was scarcely signed when Pym died, on Dec. 8, worn out with anxiety. yjgpV CHIEF BATTLES AND SIEGES, OF THE CIVIL WAR M '0 Royalist Successes v aujj . Fhriiamentnry D? Berwick*'. Indecisive A 0 / o '°wu* Durham 0 , ( IT-'—- Aldtrntyfr Guernsey Jersey ^ORM ANDY KING AND PEOPLE. 173 11, Oliver Cromwell- — But another leader was already pre- pared to take his place. Oliver Cromwell, a stern, zealous, resolute man, the son of a gentleman in Huntingdonshire, had long been watching the troubles of his country. He had sat in the Parliament of 1628, when the Petition of Right was passed ; he had spoken in 1641 against the cruelties of the Star Chamber ; and when war broke out he began at once to levy a troop to fight in the Parliamentary army. Very early in the war he saw that the rabble collected on their side could never stand against the high-spirited cavaliers ; and he formed his troop of gentlemen and freeholders, who fought not for plunder, but for liberty and religion. Among such men each had his own religious opinions, and Cromwell did not care whether a soldier was a Presbyterian, Baptist, or Independent, ironsides. 8 so long as he loved God and would fight for the Parlia- ment. The result was, that long before Pym died, “ Cromwell’s Ironsides,” as they were called, were as famous as “Rupert’s Horse,” and wherever they went victory followed. It was entirely owing to them that the first great Parlia- Marston mentary victory was gained, when seven months after j ul ^ I ° 0 ^ 44 Pym’s death, the Scots and Roundheads together, led by General Fairfax, met and defeated the royalists at Marston Moor. 18. Battle of Sfaseby, June 14, 1645.— Cromwell had now great influence, and saw clearly that the war would not end till the Parliamentary army had more resolute leaders. He told the Council that they must remodel their army, which was led by members of Parliament, and put military officers in their place. This was done ; and by what was called the “ Self- denying Ordinance,” members gave up their commands. S ordfnance ff The* army was reconstructed, and Sir Thomas Fairfax put at its head, and at his special request Cromwell was allowed to remain a short time longer as lieutenant-general. In that short time the work was done. The “New Model,” as the army was called, met the royalists at Naseby, in Northamptonshire, and defeated them utterly. Charles fled to Wales, and afterwards to the Scotch army at Newark ; and little by little the garrisons all fell into the hands of the Parliament. The Council offered to take back their king if he would give them complete power over the 174 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. army for twenty years, and grant freedom of worship to the Puritans. But Charles was still bent on setting one party against another, that he might come back as master. At last the Scots, tired of his intrigues, accepted £400,000 for their expenses in the war, and handed the king over to Parliament, Jan. 30, 1647. 19. The King a Prisoner. — He was lodged at Holmby House, .Northamptonshire, and treated with great respect, and he hoped soon to be king again, for the Parliament and the army had begun to quarrel. Now the war was over, Parliament wanted to disband the army, paying them only one-sixth of their due. But the army was composed of men who had made great sacrifices for their religion and liberty, and they refused to disband till they were promised freedom to worship as they chose, till their arrears were paid, and the widows and orphans provided for. In fact they knew that they were the strongest, and one day, while the quarrel was going on, a body of horse, commanded by Cornet Joyce, went to Holmby House, and carried the king off 1 to Hampton by\hea1-my. Court, so as to have the power in their own hands. Meanwhile Parliament was invaded by a city mob, and serious riots seemed likely to take place. In this dilemma part of the army marched to London under Cromwell and Fairfax, and determined to make their own terms with the king. The old story began again. Charles pretended to treat with them, while all the time he was secretly plotting with the Scots and Irish, promising each whatever they wanted if they would Scots and rise and support him. He escaped to the Isle of Wight Irish ‘ on Nov. 12, where, however, he was again confined in Carisbrooke Castle. But he had succeeded in persuading the Scotch to invade England, and in exciting a royalist insurrection in Wales, Kent, and Essex. This second civil war brought the king’s ruin. Fairfax put down the insurrection in Kent and Essex. Cromwell put it down in Wales, and then defeated the Scots at Preston. The soldiers came back, determined to put an end to the king who tricked S war n i 648 . 11 them with promises while he raised war in secret. There was no chance of peace, they said, so long as he lived. It did not matter now that the judges refused to try the ENGLAND A REPUBLIC. 175 king, or that Parliament would not form a court to impeach him. The army was master, and one morning Colonel Pride, with a regiment of soldiers, stood at the door of the House and turned away all who, like Sir Henry Yane, refused to sit in judgment on their king. This was called “Pride’s Purge.” After it ° Pride’s was over only fifty- three members remained, and these p U r