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 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND
 
 
 S 
 
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 CO 
 
 ■' This happy breed of men 
 
 " Let us now praise famous men and our fathers 
 ^ that begat us." — Ecclesiasticus, xliv. L 
 
 n 
 
 r58Hi77
 
 PREFACE 
 
 A PATHETIC interest attaches to this book owing to the 
 circumstances in which it was written ; to his friends 
 there is a melancholy satisfaction in feeling that the 
 author's heroic struggle to carry on his work, through 
 months of increasing illness, has been rewarded. He 
 did not succeed in completing the task he had set 
 himself ; but he has left behind him a summary of 
 English experience that ought to command the atten- 
 tion of all who are anxious for guidance in regard to 
 the poUtical issues of the present day. More than this, 
 he has set many of the episodes of Enghsh history in 
 a fresh light, so that no serious student of our political 
 hfe in the past can afford to neglect this masterly 
 sketch. 
 
 The essay has double importance because it is a 
 valuable contribution to the economic interpretation 
 of English political history. Other writers have been 
 contented to treat the development of Enghsh re- 
 sources and the changes in industrial and commercial 
 organisation, as if they were a separate growth and as 
 if political affairs could be left in the background ;
 
 viii THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 but Mr. Welsford had a more statesmanlike view. 
 He has recognised that political and economic changes 
 are constantly reacting upon each other, and has set 
 himself to show how deeply our political Hfe has been 
 influenced by economic forces and commercial con- 
 ditions. The late Professor Thorold Rogers had called 
 attention to the importance of this enquiry, but he 
 had much to do in laying the foundations for the 
 historical study of economics in this country by his 
 monumental work on ' Agriculture and Prices,' and 
 he could only make an occasional excursion into this 
 field. Since his time historical students have been 
 ready to recognise that economic forces were combined 
 with other influences in bringing about such events as 
 the Peasants' Revolt in 1381 or the Reform Bill of 
 1832. There must always be a danger, however, that 
 attention will only be drawn to economic causes in 
 a haphazard and occasional fashion, unless they are 
 studied systematically, and their bearing is noted, 
 not merely in violent upheavals, but in the ordinary 
 course of life as well. This is the step Mr. Welsford 
 has taken ; he has examined the commercial relations 
 of England — the dominant feature in the economic 
 life of an island realm — and has endeavoured to show 
 how changing commercial relationships affected the 
 owners of English resources and the industrial popula- 
 tion respectively. We are thus helped to understand 
 how the economic interests of different classes in the 
 community tended to bring about the formation of 
 parties, and to influence their attitude in political
 
 PREFACE ix 
 
 questions. The curious line of cleavage between the 
 Scotsmen who opposed the claims of Edward I. and 
 those who did not, and the persistence of the struggle 
 for independence, become much more intelligible when 
 the manner in which trading interests were affected 
 is carefully taken into account. 
 
 Success in prosecuting this line of enquiry demands 
 the highest qualities of the historian ; it depends not 
 merely on skill in testing and arranging the materials, 
 but also on insight to interpret them. The study of 
 history, as habitually prosecuted in this country, does 
 not tend to the cultivation of this particular form of 
 insight. The romantic and dramatic interest which 
 attaches to the story of the past is always strong ; but 
 apart from this, the main motive for the serious study 
 of English history has been that of discovering con- 
 stitutional and legal precedents. The criticism of 
 historical documents and the weighing of historical 
 evidence have been carried on in a lawyer-like spirit, 
 with the hope of obtaining the sort of proof that would 
 satisfy a special jury. When we go behind the 
 documents and ask why some commercial treaty was 
 made at all, and why it embodies the provisions it 
 contains, we enter on a field of enquiry where a com- 
 plete proof can hardly be obtained. Consciously or 
 unconsciously we argue from what we know of human 
 motives in the present to probable conduct in the 
 past. The actual motives at work have not been 
 constantly recorded ; we are forced to try to pene- 
 trate through the silence of chroniclers, by framing an
 
 X THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 hypothesis and looking for any scraps of confirmatory 
 evidence which help to verify it. Owing to the fact that 
 there is not a mere uniformity, but progress, in the 
 affairs of men, the conclusions of the historical investi- 
 gator can never have such a high degree of certainty 
 as those of the student of chemical science, who finds 
 that his hypothesis is proved or disproved by actual 
 experiment. Besides this, there is a serious danger 
 that the hypothesis of the historian, though plausible, 
 may be wholly inapplicable ; the spirit of a bygone 
 age was often so different from that of our own day 
 that we cannot habituate ourselves to it intelligently 
 or look at hfe from the point of view of contemporaries. 
 There has, indeed, been a great change in religious and 
 political sentiment since the Middle Ages, but the 
 difficulty is not so great in regard to commercial life. 
 We cannot doubt that the force of economic interest, 
 as we know it, has been a vera causa in the political 
 changes of bygone times ; material needs can never 
 have been wholly overlooked. In so far as buying and 
 seUing and opportunities for exchange had come into 
 vogue among any people, the interests at work were 
 doubtless similar to those which operate at the present 
 day, though the conditions may have been wholly 
 different. It can never be easy to take such account of 
 the conditions as to recognise in retrospect what were 
 the precise interests, immediate or ultimate, of any 
 class of the people in any particular part of the 
 country ; it may be still more difficult to see how far 
 they were conscious of these interests and had a
 
 PREFACE xi 
 
 definite policy. But as our knowledge of the past 
 accumulates, the possibility of giving a well-founded 
 answer to such questions will be increased. The 
 present essay does not pretend to say the last word 
 on any of the questions which the author has raised ; 
 the main importance of his achievement hes in the 
 skill with which he has pointed out a fruitful line of 
 investigation for other students to follow, so that our 
 knowledge of the economic factor in the political life 
 of bygone ages may become more and more complete. 
 Owing to the point of view which he has taken, the 
 author has avoided two dangers which beset the writer 
 of English history ; his treatment of the subject is 
 neither merely insular, nor unduly antiquarian. The 
 constitutional lawyer has but httle need to look beyond 
 the shores of England ; he may find an extraneous 
 interest in noting analogies with changes in other 
 lands, but they do not come directly within his pur- 
 view. On the other hand, the student of commercial 
 relationships is closely concerned with the intercourse 
 between England and other lands ; he is compelled to 
 look at this realm as a part of the great world, and as 
 affected by the conditions of life in other countries. 
 So far as the internal economic history is concerned, 
 the discussion of the organisation of the manor and 
 the powers of craft gilds appears to be mere 
 antiquarianism — an unearthing of curious relics from 
 the past. But so far as commerce is concerned, there 
 are close parallels between the story of England in the 
 Middle Ages and the accounts we get of the conditions
 
 xii THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 of rich but undeveloped lands at the present time. 
 It is a great thing to bring the past into relation with 
 our own actual experience ; nothing renders history 
 more vivid than an indication that the forces with 
 which we are familiar in the present were actively 
 operative in the past. 
 
 In so far as the gulf between the past and the 
 present is thus bridged, we can obtain valuable guid- 
 ance from experience in regard to many of the problems 
 which lie before us. Experience is so dearly pur- 
 chased that the lessons it teaches ought to be highly 
 prized. An inestimable service is rendered by anyone 
 who calls attention to the heritage of economic 
 experience which is stored up for us in the history of 
 our country, and enables us to see how we can draw 
 upon it — not to settle our difficulties for us, but to 
 help us to deal with them in the wisest way. 
 
 A conviction that an accurate knowledge of the 
 conditions of the past was necessary for a right under- 
 standing of the problems of the present was one of the 
 striking features of Arnold Toynbee's ' Lectures on 
 the Industrial Revolution.' Instructive as that book 
 has been, it was a bitter disappointment to those who 
 had known him well, to realise how Uttle of his accurate 
 learning had been put on record and saved from 
 oblivion. There must be the same pathetic sense of 
 regret in reading Mr. Welsford's book on ' The Strength 
 of England ' ; he had read so widely and so intelli- 
 gently. He had collected materials in regard to 
 struggles for the control of the great trade routes of
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Xlll 
 
 Europe ; but much of this was deUberately laid on 
 one side in order that the attention of readers might 
 be concentrated on points where English interests 
 were concerned. It is more unfortunate that we 
 should be deprived of his full treatment of the seven- 
 teenth century, when England had come to be fully 
 conscious of her strength, and the great era of expan- 
 sion began. He was not even able to revise his manu- 
 script for press, and to insert definite references to his 
 authorities. But we prize what is left us all the more 
 because we cannot forget that so much has been lost. 
 
 W. Cunningham. 
 Trinity College, Cambridge : 
 December 22, 1909.
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, 
 
 This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, 
 
 This other Eden, demi-paradise ; 
 
 This fortress built bv Nature for herself 
 
 Against infection and the hand of war ; 
 
 This happy breed of men, this little world ; 
 
 This precious stone set in the silver sea. 
 
 Which serves it in the office of a wall 
 
 Or as a moat defensive to a house. 
 
 Against the envy of less happier lands ; 
 
 This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, 
 
 This nurse, this teeming womb of royal Kings, 
 
 Fear'd by their breed, and famous by their birth, 
 
 Renowned for their deeds as far from home — 
 
 For Christian service and true chivalry — 
 
 As is the sepulchre, in stubborn Jewry, 
 
 Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's Son ; 
 
 This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land. 
 
 Dear for her reputation through the world. 
 
 Is now leas'd out — I die pronouncing it — 
 
 Like to a tenement, or pelting farm ;
 
 xvi THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 England, bound in with the triumphant sea, 
 Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege 
 Of watery Neptune, 's now bound in with shame, 
 With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds : 
 That England, that was wont to conquer others. 
 Hath made a shameful conquest of itself. 
 
 King Richard II., Actii. Scene i.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. THE ROMAN SETTLEMENT I 
 
 II. THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE 8 
 
 III. SAXON ENGLAND 32 
 
 IV. THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 34 
 
 V. NORMAN AND ENGLISH 55 
 
 VI. BECKET'S fight FOR ENGLISH FREEDOM . . . . 71 
 
 VII. ENGLAND ACQUIRES NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE . . 79 
 
 VIII. THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE ASSERTED BY A PRO- 
 TECTIONIST 91 
 
 IX. THE MAGNATES LOSE THEIR DEMOCRATIC SYMPATHIES. IO7 
 
 X. CARTA MERCATORIA AND ITS INFLUENCE. . . . 121 
 
 XI. ENGLAND LOSES SEA POWER 1 36 
 
 XII. STRIFE BETWEEN KING AND BARONS . . . 1 50 
 
 XIII. CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE WAR OF THE ROSES . . 165 
 
 XIV. THE WAR OF THE ROSES 179 
 
 XV. ENGLAND'S PROTECTIVE POLICY INITIATED . . -193 
 
 XVI. SPAIN ENTERS INTO TRADE COMPETITION . . . 20S 
 
 XVII. SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES .... 219 
 
 XVIII. ENGLAND FREES HERSELF FROM PAPAL SUPREMACY . 233 
 
 XIX. INCREASE OF ENGLAND'S NAVAL POWER . . . 246 
 
 XX. THE ARMADA. ENGLISH AND DUTCH OBTAIN CONTROL 
 
 OF THE SEA 2CO
 
 xviii THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 CHAP. PASE 
 
 XXI. TRADE RIVALRY BETWEEN ENGLISH AND DUTCH. 273 
 
 XXII. RELIGIOUS CONTENTIONS IN ENGLAND AND HER 
 
 COLONIES 287 
 
 XXIII. CAUSES WHICH LED TO CIVIL WAR .... 3OI 
 
 XXIV. CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE UNDER CHARLES I. . . 316 
 XXV. THE POLICY OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD .... 33O 
 
 XXVI. KING CHARLES I. AND HIS EARLS 344 
 
 ENVOI 351 
 
 LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED 353 
 
 INDEX 357
 
 THE 
 
 STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 I 
 
 HOW THE GOLDEN FLEECE CAME TO 
 ENGLAND 
 
 THE ROMAN SETTLEMENT 
 55 B.C.-449 A.D. 
 
 Students of Carlyle's writings are familiar with 
 Dr. Dryasdust, the historian who took infinite pains 
 to examine the records of the past. It is curiously 
 characteristic of the middle of last century that such 
 historians, whose work is of the utmost value, should 
 have been considered fit objects for scorn and derision. 
 It was, however, perhaps natural that England should 
 have adopted this attitude towards patient seekers 
 after truth when she was not ashamed to greet Darwin's 
 discoveries with a torrent of ridicule, inspired by 
 superstitious fear. 
 
 The earliest historians were men after Carlyle's 
 own heart. Unfettered by musty documents, they 
 recited or sang to royal hsteners the deeds of heroes 
 who founded the line of kings. The tale they told 
 had to be consistent with such facts as came within 
 
 B
 
 2 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 the knowledge of their hearers ; but this was the only 
 restriction imposed upon the bards. Thus, when they 
 told the Greeks the story of the voyage of the Argo- 
 nauts to Colchis on the shores of the Black Sea, the 
 listeners accepted the tale in spite of its miraculous 
 incidents. It was the same tale they had heard in 
 the nursery from their parents ; and it explained the 
 existence of the great trade route to the East by way 
 of the Black Sea. 
 
 So many thousand years have elapsed since the 
 legend of the Quest of the Golden Fleece was originally 
 told that it is impossible to say what the Golden Fleece 
 at first meant to the Greeks. Some have conjectured 
 that the Golden Fleece was actual gold found in the 
 streams of Colchis ; but since no Dryasdust is at hand 
 to guide the seeker after truth, the guess may be 
 hazarded that the Argonauts brought back an im- 
 proved breed of sheep to be fed on the fields of Thessaly, 
 or perhaps a wise Medea returned with the Argonauts 
 to teach a better way of weaving cloth. For wool was 
 golden before cotton became king. 
 
 Long after the immediate results which had come 
 from Jason's voyage were forgotten, the legend con- 
 tinued to fascinate the Greek mind, because it seemed 
 to account for the Black Sea trade with the East, 
 which for thousands of years enriched the whole 
 Balkan peninsula. For much the same reason the 
 Greeks were never tired of telling the story of the fall 
 of Troy, the city which commanded the entrance to 
 the Black Sea, as Byzantium, or Constantinople, for 
 thousands of years after the fall of Troy, stood sentinel 
 over the Bosphorus.
 
 THE ROMAN SETTLEMENT 3 
 
 The Arthurian legends, which tell the story of part 
 of England's infancy, were written thousands of years 
 later than the Greek legends. The voyage of the 
 Argonauts and the siege of Troy are descriptions of 
 the attacks made by a less civilised race upon richer 
 and more firmly established Powers ; the story of 
 Arthur is the record of a gallant struggle made by a 
 weak people to keep their treasure from strong invaders. 
 The treasure which^the Anglo-Saxon Argonauts sought 
 in England was a Golden Fleece. They saw that 
 England was a pleasant land with fields of com, flocks 
 of sheep, herds of cattle, rich mines, and well-built, 
 even luxurious, houses. They found that this wealth 
 was in the hands of men who were so barbarous that 
 they had not learned to write their history. The 
 explanation of this anomalous condition is the first 
 portion of the history of England. 
 
 About the middle of the century which preceded 
 the birth of Christ, Caesar, having apparently con- 
 quered Gaul, determined to compel the kinsfolk of the 
 Gauls who hved in Britain to submit to the rule of 
 Rome. In 55 B.C. and again in 54 b.c. Caesar invaded 
 Britain, only to find that there was no Golden Fleece 
 or anything else worth taking. " Of all the natives, 
 far the most civihsed are those who inhabit the district 
 of Kent, which is all situated on the coast ; nor do 
 these differ greatly in their manners from the in- 
 habitants of Gaul. Those who live farther inland 
 sow no com, but live on milk and flesh, and are clothed 
 in skins." This was Caesar's description, and Cicero 
 wrote : " We already know that there is not an ounce 
 of silver in that island nor any hope of booty except 
 
 )! 2
 
 4 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 slaves, among \vhom I do not think you will expect 
 to find any skilled in literature or music." 
 
 For seventy-nine years the poverty of the island 
 was its protection from Roman invaders. Thrice the 
 Emperor Augustus contemplated the conquest of 
 Britain ; but he decided that, by levying customs 
 duties on the trade between Britain and the Continent, 
 he could extract as much tribute from the island as 
 could be extorted after a successful invasion. It is a 
 curious coincidence that the foreigner to-day shares 
 the view of the Roman of two thousand years ago, that 
 when the British fail to reply to Continental tariffs, 
 these Continental customs duties are equivalent to a 
 tribute paid by Britain. The British meekly paid the 
 tribute until the time came when the Romans were 
 prepared to invade their island. 
 
 In 43 A.D., during the reign of the Emperor Claudius, 
 the Romans again invaded Britain ; and this time they 
 came to stay. Slowly but surely they overcame the 
 resistance of the British, and about 120 a.d., under the 
 Emperor Hadrian, they built their first wall from the 
 Tyne to the Firth of Solway. Forty years later the 
 lowlands of Scotland were a Roman province, and a 
 second wall was built between the Firths of Forth and 
 of Clyde. For nearly three centuries Rome ruled 
 Britain and many of Rome's greatest emperors learned 
 the art of war in this turbulent province. Thus 
 Constantine the Great left his father's death-bed at 
 York to assume the purple and move the centre of 
 Empire from Rome to Byzantium ; and Theodosius 
 the Great, who definitely established the supremacy 
 of Christianity and of Constantinople, owed his imperial
 
 THE ROMAN SETTLEMENT 5 
 
 title to the fame his father had gained in wars with 
 the Britisli. 
 
 During three centuries Rome did in Britain the 
 work which Britons are now doing in barbarous lands. 
 They found an undeveloped country, whose inhabi- 
 tants sacrificed human beings to their gods, and who, 
 according to Caesar's statement, practised a system 
 of polyandry similar to that which at present exists 
 in Tibet. In this barbarous island the Romans built 
 cities and made roads which have been preserved for 
 nearly two thousand years. They introduced domestic 
 animals and useful plants and trees. Instead of a 
 narrow fringe of cultivation round the coast, the whole 
 island was so thoroughl}' tilled that on one occasion 
 eight hundred vessels were sent to Britain to procure 
 corn for the Roman cities in Germany. From time 
 to time English ploughmen unearth the foundations 
 of the luxurious Roman villas which at one time must 
 have been so conspicuous a feature in Britain. Rome 
 brought the Golden Fleece to Britain. 
 
 The transformation of Britain is well illustrated in 
 the town of Bath, the old Roman Aquae Sulis. To 
 this town the wealthy went in search of health or 
 pleasure, and there the great bath was placed in a hall 
 III feet 4 inches long by 66 feet 6 inches wide. The 
 bath was 6 feet 8 inches deep, and its bottom measured 
 "jZ feet 2 inches by 29 feet 6 inches, " The still existing 
 masonry and lead work show how large and costly was 
 the actual bathing institution." So luxurious a health 
 resort is only possible in a wealthy country. But this 
 prosperity and luxurj' were exotic growths, and they 
 vanished when Rome's fiscal policy destroyed the
 
 6 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 metropolis of the Empire. Britain was merely a Roman 
 province, and her production was stimulated and 
 forced in order to feed the idle citizens in Rome. 
 
 The untamed Britons were driven into the moun- 
 tains of Wales or beyond the great wall. The tamed 
 Britons tilled the fields, worked in the mines, and built 
 the baths, towns and villas. The Roman saw that 
 the work was done : the Briton did the work. Some 
 Britons amalgamated with their conquerors and became 
 masters instead of serfs ; but the mass of the popula- 
 tion remained in a servile condition, mere hewers of 
 wood and drawers of water. The tamed Britons 
 were disarmed, and the island was kept in subjection 
 by legions drawn from other parts of the Empire. 
 Britons who became soldiers were sent to distant 
 provinces where patriotism would not tempt them to 
 be disloyal to Rome. 
 
 In 383 a general in Britain, Maximus, " was almost 
 against his will declared Emperor by the arm3^" He 
 united Britain, Gaul and ^ Spain in a great Western 
 Empire, and would have anticipated Charles the 
 Great by making Rome its metropolis, had he not 
 been defeated by Theodosius the Great. To carry out 
 this ambitious scheme Britain was denuded of its 
 Roman legions and these were never fully replaced. 
 In 407 the Roman army in Britain raised a private 
 soldier, Constantine, to the purple, and followed him 
 to Gaul. From this date the island appears to have 
 been undefended bj^ the legions of Rome. 
 
 Rome had now too many sorrows to be able to 
 attend to the affairs of a distant province. For 
 centuries the Empire had been maintaining the line of
 
 THE ROMAN SETTLEMENT 
 
 the Rhine and the Danube against the nomadic tribes 
 who pressed in from the East. Of these some, the 
 Angles, Jutes and Saxons, had drifted into Northern 
 Germany and Frisia, where they could find some pastur- 
 age for their flocks ; others had migrated northwards 
 to the Scandinavian lands, where they were forced to 
 find other means of subsistence than the keeping of 
 flocks and herds. From the sea, by fair means or 
 foul, by fishing and trading or by plundering others, 
 the Danes and Northmen drew their hvelihood. 
 
 As the pressure from the East increased and the 
 strength of Rome decayed, the Roman barrier was 
 broken, and Goths, Huns and Slavs poured into the 
 Empire. The civilisation of Rome w^as submerged 
 beneath this influx of barbarians. This is why, in the 
 fifth century, when the legions were drawn from 
 Britain, they went never to return. The Romanised 
 Britons who were left behind were a feeble folk. 
 Their wealth was great but their strength \vas little. 
 They were too weak to resist their neighbours in Wales 
 and beyond the wall. In'446 they are represented as 
 making a pitiful appeal to Rome. " The barbarians 
 drive us to the sea : the sea drives us back upon the 
 barbarians." This appeal may or may not have been 
 made, but in any case no answering legions came from 
 Rome. In 449 Vortigern invited the Angles to come 
 to Britain to preserve his feeble subjects from the 
 Picts.
 
 II 
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE 
 476-843 
 
 The Angles, who were invited by Vortigern, found 
 a rich island inhabited by a weak people. Their 
 kinsfolk across the sea learned the good news and con- 
 tinued their pilgrimage towards the West. The 
 invasion of Britain was merely an incident in that 
 movement of barbarian tribes which, during the fifth 
 century, broke through Rome's barriers and enabled 
 wandering herdsmen to pasture their flocks over the 
 Western Empire. The coming of the Anglo-Saxons 
 to Britain destroyed every link between the island and 
 Rome. The land which the Romans had transformed 
 into a granary was described by inland Europeans as 
 a dim mysterious island whose fishermen visited the 
 coasts of Gaul to carry back with them the souls of 
 the dead to their shadow isle. 
 
 In the fighting which accompanied the Anglo- 
 Saxon invasion the towns which the Romans had 
 built were utterly destroyed. The invaders were 
 herdsmen, not dwellers in towns, and they destroyed 
 all places which could serve as shelters for their 
 enemies. Nevertheless, contact with Roman civilisa- 
 tion affected the Anglo-Saxons. They ceased to
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE 9 
 
 wander and began to farm the land. Saxon vills 
 replaced the villae in which Roman rulers had lived 
 and from which they controlled the cultivators of their 
 estates. In time the Saxon vills became the old 
 English manors, and later on English villages. When 
 Anglo-Saxons abandoned their nomadic Hfe they had 
 a far larger supply of grain ; but, against this advan- 
 tage, there was the difficulty of keeping their flocks and 
 herds during the winter on their more limited pastures. 
 This difficulty was partly met by killing sheep and 
 cattle in the autumn and salting their flesh. 
 
 Owing to the absence of documentary evidence the 
 early constitution and development of the Anglo- 
 Saxon vills is a much debated question. It is, how- 
 ever, known that they became almost self-contained 
 communities, ruled by Lords of the Manor whose 
 private lands or demesnes were cultivated for them 
 by their dependents. Under these rulers there were 
 villeins, holding about thirty acres of land on an 
 average and owning oxen and ploughs, cotters with 
 smaller holdings, and slaves. There were few slaves, 
 except in the West ; and absolute slavery disappeared 
 in the eleventh century. Beyond the village fields 
 there were waste lands on which the cattle and sheep 
 grazed. These wastes have a romantic interest for 
 Englishmen, since on the wool of the sheep they fed 
 England's greatness was founded. The simple wants 
 of the dwellers in these vills were for the most part sup- 
 plied by their own labour. Two articles, however, had 
 to be imported — salt, which they consumed and used to 
 preserve meat for winter use, and iron for their weapons 
 and ploughs. To pay for these the}' had the hides of
 
 10 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 their slaughtered animals and wool. These articles 
 which each vill sold in early times were for centuries 
 also the chief export from England to the Continent. 
 
 For two hundred years England was isolated from 
 the civilisation of Europe. Nearly a century before 
 this isolation began the Emperor Constantine had 
 made Constantinople the metropolis of the Roman 
 Empire. Three years after the departure of the 
 Roman legions from Britain, Rome was sacked by the 
 Goths. The provinces of the Empire were overrun by 
 barbarian tribes, and it seemed as if Rome was destined 
 to share the fate of Babylon and other imperial centres, 
 which had for a while reigned supreme and then 
 perished utterly. Yet there were some whose faith in 
 Rome was not destroyed. One of her poets wrote that 
 " Rome would rise again as the lawgiver of the ages ; 
 she alone need not fear the web of the Fates ; to her 
 all countries would again pay tribute ; her harbours 
 would once more be filled with the spoils of the bar- 
 barian ; for her the Rhineland would ever be tilled, 
 and the Nile overflow ; Africa would provide her with 
 abundant harvests, and even the Tiber, crowned as a 
 conqueror with bulrushes, would bear Roman fleets 
 upon his waves." Had the Crusades succeeded this 
 prophecy would have been entirely fulfilled. It was 
 a true forecast of the future of Europe, though not of 
 Africa. 
 
 Nationality and patriotism were conceptions beyond 
 the intellects of Europeans at the time of Rome's fall. 
 Wandering herdsmen had doubtless tribal feeling, but 
 they could not have understood the meaning of love of 
 the land in which they settled. The conquered pro-
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE ii 
 
 vincials had been taught to look towards Rome. 
 Hence when victors and vanquished intermarried the 
 people had but a vague feeling of patriotism. Where 
 one great wave of conquest rolled over a province the 
 petty chieftains might acknowledge one overlord ; but 
 where the conquest was gradual, as in England, even 
 this sentimental bond of union was lacking. The 
 feudal system grew naturally from this beginning. 
 The need of union for offence or defence in case of an 
 attack was recognised from the first, but the higher 
 conception of economic union was too subtle for un- 
 developed minds. The bond of union was found in 
 religion. The invaders in the South embraced Arian 
 Christianity, a form which separated them from the 
 Trinitarians of Rome and Byzantium. In the North 
 and in England they adhered to their pagan creed. 
 The octroi paid at the gates of some continental cities 
 is a survival from the time when portions of a com- 
 munity could frame their own fiscal system, whilst 
 divergence from the national Church was treated as 
 treason. 
 
 Imperial Rome had grown by destro3''ing primitive 
 nationality, and absorbing in her cosmopolitan sj'stem 
 the peoples she conquered. Her provinces were forced 
 to produce in order that the dwellers in Rome might 
 live in idleness. The world learned that it was im- 
 possible to resist her all-conquering legions, and seemed 
 to acquiesce in her rule. But economic forces are 
 stronger than armies. From the time of Solomon the 
 Jews and Greeks had been the international traders of 
 the old world. These traders found a bond of union 
 in Christianity. " Tiie Greek Church had grown to be
 
 12 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 almost equal in power to the Roman State before 
 Constantine determined to unite the two in strict 
 alliance." When Byzantium became Constantinople, 
 military strength fled from Rome and the Western 
 Empire was lost to the barbarians, Rome had, how- 
 ever, one great advantage over her conquerors. In her 
 was stored the traditionary wisdom of the past ; and 
 in time her superior knowledge triumphed over all 
 obstacles. 
 
 The ancient boundaries of the Roman Empire 
 were the Rhine and the Danube. Britain was a later 
 acquisition. The barbarians who settled within the 
 ancient boundaries were largely affected by the civilisa- 
 tion of the peoples with whom they mingled. Chris- 
 tianity was spreading throughout the Empire just 
 before its fall. Many of the barbarian invaders on the 
 Continent accepted Christianity, whilst the Anglo- 
 Saxons remained pagan. The Christian Churches in 
 Wales and Ireland were as independent of Rome 
 as the Church of England is to-day ; and this inde- 
 pendence was shared by the Arian Churches in the 
 Gothic kingdoms formed from the Roman provinces. 
 In Rome itself the Bishop succeeded to the power 
 of the Senate, and became the largest landowner in 
 Italy. As Pope he distributed food to the idle citizens 
 as their emperors had done. But St. Peter's patri- 
 mony was none too large for the hungry mouths in 
 Rome ; hence the Popes were forced to aim at re- 
 gaining Rome's former power of levying tribute on 
 Europe. 
 
 The turning point in Rome's fortune came in 496 
 when Clovis, a pagan Prankish princelet who was
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE 13 
 
 forming a Frankish Empire, was converted to the 
 orthodox Roman form of Christianity. The Pope 
 regained the lost legions of the Empire, and the Frank 
 had at his service the wisdom of ancient Rome. Before 
 the death of Clovis in 511 the larger part of the lands 
 between the Atlantic and the Rhine acknowledged the 
 temporal sovereignty of the Frankish King and the 
 spiritual dominion of the Pope. During the sixth 
 century Rome achieved a still greater success. The 
 religious enthusiasm of isolated monks and hermits 
 was utilised. In accordance with the teaching of 
 St. Benedict monks were bidden to dwell together in 
 monasteries and devote their lives to useful work — 
 agriculture, industry, or study. The Benedictines so 
 increased the productiveness of the lands in which 
 they settled that they were welcomed by both Catholic 
 Frank and Arian Goth. Their influence changed the 
 Arians of Spain into fervent Catholics before the end 
 of the sixth century. As missionaries they penetrated 
 into pagan lands and paved a way for the Frankish 
 warriors. The Rhine was once more Rome's boundary, 
 and, eager for new lands to conquer, in 597 St. Augus- 
 tine, with a little band of monks, sailed across the 
 Channel to bring Saxon pagans and British Christians 
 into the Roman fold. 
 
 During the sixth century an Irish missionary, 
 St. Columba, had founded a mission station in lona, 
 and the dwellers in Scotland were learning the 
 Christian faith from teachers who were not connected 
 with Rome. Surrounded by Christian neighbours a 
 national church might have been created had the 
 Anglo-Saxons accepted Christianity from their fellow-
 
 14 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 countrymen. Instead of listening to their teaching, 
 Ethelfrid, King of Northiimbria, inflicted a crushing 
 defeat on Aidan, King of the Scots, in 603, and, at a 
 later date, attacked and routed the Christian Welsh 
 at Chester. Before their defeat at Chester St, Augus- 
 tine had met the Welsh bishops in conference. He 
 had urged them to abandon the British ritual and 
 accept the supremacy of Rome. When the bishops 
 refused St. Augustine warned them that " if Welshmen 
 would not be kith and kin (sibbe) with us, they should 
 by Saxon hands perish." This prophecy was supposed 
 to have been fulfilled when the Welsh were slaughtered 
 at Chester. 
 
 The rapid success of St. Augustine, after his 
 landing in Thanet, was probably due to the influence 
 of the wife of the King of Kent. She was a daughter 
 of the Frankish king, and must have been familiar 
 with the civilisation which Benedictines brought with 
 them. Adherence to paganism would have kept the 
 Anglo-Saxons in communion with their kinsfolk in 
 the north ; acceptance of British Christianity might 
 have led to msular union ; but close intercourse with 
 the civilisation of Rome was only to be gained by 
 accepting the teaching of St. Augustine. The defeat 
 of the pagan English at Winwaed in 654 secured the 
 triumph of Christianity. By this time the Northum- 
 brians had accepted that form of Christianity which 
 their Irish neighbours professed. Ten years after 
 the battle of Winwaed a conference was held at Whitby 
 at which the Northumbrians decided to accept the 
 ritual of Rome, For some time the old faith hngered 
 in Scotland, but ultimately Great Britain acknow-
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE 15 
 
 ledged Rome's supremacy in religion, whilst the Irish 
 retained the faith of their fathers. 
 
 St. Wilfrid was the champion of Rome at the 
 Whitby conference, and his life is instructive to those 
 who wish to understand the condition of England in 
 the seventh century. Educated by Irish monks, St. 
 Wilfrid, at the age of seventeen, went on pilgrimage 
 to Rome, At the age of twenty-six he was appointed 
 Abbot of Ripon, and at once expelled the monks as 
 Irish schismatics. This act led to the conference 
 which ended in a triumph for Rome, Wilfrid was 
 then appointed Bishop of York, and obtained per- 
 mission to go to the Continent where he could be 
 consecrated by bishops whose orthodoxy was un- 
 impeachable. During Wilfrid's absence his opponents 
 filled the see of York with a bishop who was consecrated 
 in England. At this time the see of Canterbury was 
 vacant, and the Pope consecrated a Greek, Theodore 
 of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury. Theodore in- 
 stalled Wilfrid at York and compensated the intruding 
 bishop by reconsecrating him and giving him the see 
 of Mercia. Half-pagan, ignorant kings were not able 
 to contend with Roman ecclesiastics, who were armed 
 with the strength which knowledge gives. 
 
 The rapidity with which wealth was created by the 
 Benedictines soon made the Bishop of York, with his 
 Abbeys in Ripon and Hexham, a power in the land. 
 Both Wilfrid's King and Archbishop Theodore began 
 to fear a rival whose authority threatened to over- 
 shadow their own, Wilfrid was deposed by the 
 Archbishop, and hurriedly left England to carry an 
 appeal to Rome, Landing on the coast of Holland,
 
 i6 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Wilfrid spent some time in preaching to the Saxons 
 of Frisia. He was the first of a hne of English mis- 
 sionaries who preached Christianity to the Saxons 
 across the sea, and thus paved the way for their 
 absorption in the Frankish Empire and subjection to 
 the power of Rome. Wilfrid returned to England 
 with papal letters annulling his deposition. These 
 letters were treated as invalid on the plea of their 
 having been obtained by bribery. After nine months' 
 imprisonment Wilfrid was forced to seek refuge in 
 Sussex amongst the only pagan Saxons who survived 
 in England. During his exile Wilfrid completed the 
 conversion of England by bringing his hosts into the 
 Christian fold. 
 
 The death of the King of Northumbria enabled 
 Wilfrid to spend the last years of his life in the home 
 of his boyhood. He died rich as befitted the Abbot 
 of Ripon and Hexham, and left a quarter of his 
 wealth to Rome. Had the money Rome drew from 
 England been confined to such voluntary gifts, little 
 objection could be made. H monks received large 
 gifts of land from English kings, they could make the 
 land more productive than their lay neighbours, and 
 the wisdom of the monks came from Rome. But when 
 ecclesiastics claimed exemption from national taxa- 
 tion and left the burden of defending England to the 
 laity whilst they took the tenth part of England's 
 production for the Church, and when, in the eighth 
 century, Rome succeeded in re-establishing the ancient 
 tribute under the new name of Peter's Pence, there 
 was little economic difference between the new papal 
 and old imperial rule. The emperors, like the popes,
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE 17 
 
 gave civilisation to England-; both imparted the 
 wisdom of Rome and increased English production ; 
 and both levied tribute. In time papal Rome drew 
 from England a larger revenue than the king could 
 collect. 
 
 During the seventh century the monasteries were 
 tightening their hold over the land and agricultural 
 production of Europe, which was becoming a land like 
 Tibet where the monks have annihilated the secular 
 power. England was divided into petty kingdoms, 
 whilst the Catholic kings of France and Spain were 
 mere puppets in the hands of ecclesiastics. The shock 
 of the Saracenic invasion saved Europe. A move- 
 ment of Arabian tribes developed into a force which 
 tore Asiatic and African provinces from the Eastern 
 Empire, overspread Spain, and threatened to absorb 
 Western Christendom. The revival of the military 
 power of the Franks was necessary for the defence of 
 Rome's ecclesiastical system. Under Charles Martel 
 a Christian army, in 732, defeated the Saracens near 
 the monastery of Tours and preserved both Europe 
 and Christianity from the invader. A few years before 
 the battle of Tours the j\Iahomedans were defeated 
 in their attempt to seize Constantinople. Christians 
 and Mahomedans learned that neither creed could 
 absorb the other, and sullenly acquiesced in a division 
 of the shores of the Mediterranean. The international 
 middlemen of the ancient world, the Jews, basked in 
 the sunshine of prosperity when they were able to 
 monopolise trade between the followers of Christ and 
 those of Mahomed. 
 
 After the victory of Tours the Pope had still need 
 
 c
 
 i8 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 of Prankish soldiers. The Saxons in Northern Europe 
 were pagans and therefore paid nothing to Rome, 
 One branch of the Saxons had migrated to the plains 
 of Lombardy. Like their brethren in England the 
 Lombards accepted the creed of Rome ; but the 
 Lombard king and the Pope put forward rival claims 
 to sovereignty over Italy. A forged document, the 
 Donation of Constantine, was used by the Popes as 
 the foundation for their claim to compel Italians to 
 feed the idle citizens of Rome as they had done when 
 Rome was the centre of a world empire. 
 
 English missionaries played almost as important 
 a part as Frankish soldiers in bringing Saxons into the 
 Roman fold. An Englishman, Willibrord, followed 
 Wilfrid as missionary to the Saxons in the Low 
 Countries, and became Bishop of Utrecht. Then the 
 army of Charles Martel added the Netherlands to the 
 Frankish Empire. Wynfrith of Crediton, better 
 known as St. Boniface, carried the Christian faith 
 into the heart of Germany. Supported by the soldiers 
 of Charles Martel, he desecrated the groves in which 
 Germans met for their religious rites and hewed down 
 their sacred oaks. St. Boniface survived Charles 
 Martel, and, in the reign of his son, Pipin, became 
 Patriarch of the Franks. Pipin' s reign was mainly 
 occupied in defeating the Lombards and founding 
 the temporal power of the Pope in Italy. The labours 
 of Charles Martel and Pipin were brought to a trium- 
 phant conclusion by Pipin's son, Charles the Great, 
 whose confidential friend and adviser was Alcuin, 
 an English monk. Thus the Enghsh devoted their 
 best and wisest to the service of foreigners, whilst
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE 19 
 
 England was distracted by incessant civil wars, caused 
 by the absence of a central government. 
 
 In 772 Charles the Great led a great army against 
 the Saxons of Northern Germany. He advanced 
 accompanied not only by " Prankish soldiers, but by 
 bishops, abbots and presbyters — a numerous train of 
 the tonsured ones." Thus commenced a war which 
 lasted thirty-two years and ended in the complete 
 defeat of the Saxons. The trees and groves which the 
 Saxons held sacred were destroyed, and those Saxons 
 who would not abandon their religion and race were 
 forced, with their chieftain, Widukind, to seek refuge 
 in Denmark. In 782 Charles thought that fire and 
 sword had done their work so thoroughly that it was 
 safe to promulgate a law punishing with death Saxons 
 who failed to obey the rules of the Catholic Church 
 or hid in order to escape baptism. \\'idukind then 
 returned and the Saxons rose in rebellion. In the 
 merciless campaign which followed, Charles massacred 
 4500 Saxon prisoners by the banks of the Aller. In 
 785 Widukind submitted and was baptised. 
 
 In 799 Charles transported Saxons to distant 
 parts of his empire, and repeopled Saxonia with 
 Franks. When the Saxons were completely subdued 
 Charles attacked the Danes, but after a short cam- 
 paign this new missionary enterprise was happily 
 ended by a peace in 810. 
 
 In the intervals between his Saxon campaigns 
 
 Charles completed the destruction of the Lombard 
 
 kingdom, and endowed the Pope with land. In return 
 
 he was, in 800, crowned Emperor by the Pope. It is 
 
 recorded that Charles did not seek this honour but 
 
 c 2
 
 20 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 was surprised into allowing the ceremony to be per- 
 formed. The coronation was an assertion of Rome's 
 right to grant what had been won by the sword. The 
 long struggle between ecclesiastic and temporal rule 
 over Europe dates from the coronation of Charles the 
 Great. This contest was reproduced in miniature in 
 every country in the West of Europe. Charles's son, 
 Louis the Pious, was crowned by his father without 
 any reference to Rome ; but, after the death of 
 Charles, Louis undid the work of his father by sub- 
 mitting to the Pope. The civil wars of Louis' reign 
 weakened the Prankish Empire. There was great 
 slaughter in the battle which preceded the Treaty of 
 Verdun in 843. The Prankish army was destroyed 
 and the empire permanently divided. 
 
 Like Napoleon, Charles the Great was more 
 successful in extending his empire than in carrying 
 out his commercial designs. When he tried to seize 
 Venice, the gate through which Eastern products 
 entered Europe from Constantinople, a Byzantine 
 fleet sailed up the Adriatic and Venice retained her 
 independence. The attempt to open up a trade route 
 to the East by way of the Danube also failed. The 
 commanding position of the Jews in the commercial 
 world is shown by Charles' choice of a Jew as his 
 ambassador to the court of Caliph Haroun al Raschid 
 at Bagdad. West of the Caspian there was a Jewish 
 colony in the eighth century. It is even supposed 
 that the Khazars, who lived in that region, embraced 
 Judaism. These Jews were able to facilitate com- 
 merce between the East and Wisby on the island of 
 Gothland, the commercial centre of the Scandinavians
 
 THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE 21 
 
 The extent and character of the trade which passed 
 up the long Russian rivers to the Baltic is proved 
 by the finding in Gothland of German, Hungarian, 
 and Anglo-Saxon coins, together with Arabian coins 
 issued by eleven different Caliphs. The Scandinavians 
 were beginning that career which made them masters 
 of Normandy, Sicily, and England, which led them to 
 discover America, and all but gave them Constanti- 
 nople, the commercial metropolis of the European 
 world. For two centuries England and Western 
 Europe paid dearly for Charles' attempt to add this 
 trade route to his possessions by conquering the 
 Danes.
 
 Ill 
 
 SAXON ENGLAND 
 
 779-1016 
 
 During the reign of Charles the Great, Off a, King of 
 Mercia, estabHshed a sort of supremacy over the other 
 EngHsh kings. Alcuin, the EngHsh monk who advised 
 Charles the Great, was probably the mediator who 
 smoothed over the one commercial quarrel which 
 disturbed the otherwise peaceful relations between 
 England and Frankland. Small duties on imports 
 and exports were levied in the Frankish Empire 
 as they had been in the days of imperial Rome. In 
 England, also, prises, or small portions of the cargoes 
 of incoming and outgoing ships, were taken at the 
 ports in return for the king's peace which traders 
 enjoyed. Like modern English customs they were 
 levied for revenue. The idea of protecting the work of 
 the poor was a much later conception. Pilgrimages 
 to Rome were popular in England, and traders " under 
 the guise of holiness transacted a profitable business 
 in the transport of specie and merchandise." These 
 English merchant-pilgrims evaded Charles' duties ; 
 he therefore forbade all intercourse with England, 
 and England replied to these old-world Berlin Decrees 
 by primitive Orders in Council. A compromise was
 
 SAXON ENGLAND 23 
 
 ultimately arranged by which bona-fide English pilgrims 
 were exempted from tolls, whilst Charles reserved the 
 right of levying duties on impostors. 
 
 Alcuin, to whose counsel the compromise is attri- 
 buted, gave Charles excellent advice during the Saxon 
 wars. The Emperor was urged to purify Rome and to 
 deal gently with the conquered Saxons ; in particular, 
 to abstain from exacting tithes from these recent 
 converts. This advice was not followed, and the 
 Danes made use of their sea power to deliver a counter- 
 attack when Charles threatened to destro}- their homes 
 and their faith. Whilst the Prankish Empire was 
 united, its fleet was able to preserve Frankland and 
 England from actual invasion ; but the Northmen 
 established themselves in neighbouring islands and 
 attacked the coasts. After the Treaty of Verdun in 
 843, which definitely divided the Prankish Empire, 
 the Normans began to invade Prankland and England. 
 
 In the " Anglo-Saxon Chronicle " it is written that, 
 probably about 790, ''' first came three ships of North- 
 men. And then the reeve rode thereto and would fain 
 drive them to the king's vill, for he knew not w'hat they 
 were, and there they slew him." The reeve wished 
 either to collect the customary prise or to learn the 
 king's wishes with regard to these strange visitors. 
 The Northmen found the Enghsh Saxons very unlike 
 their allies whom Charles the Great had been slaugh- 
 tering at the Aller. Monks, priests, and Christian 
 buildings proved that the English were in close touch 
 with the Pranks. When they returned to their homes 
 the Northmen told their neighbours tliat vengeance 
 could be wreaked on Christian foes, and a rich reward
 
 24 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 was awaiting those who would attack England. In 
 793 the Northmen destroyed the monastery of Lindis- 
 fame and sailed away with their booty. 
 
 The Frankish navy, built by Charles the Great, 
 appears for a time to have driven the Northmen 
 from the Channel, but they sailed into the Irish Sea 
 and plundered Irish monasteries. In Dublin and on 
 the islands off the west coast of Scotland the Northmen 
 established convenient bases for their invasion of 
 England and Frankland, when the Frankish fleet 
 perished during the civil wars which followed the death 
 of Charles. During this respite of forty-one years 
 England enjoyed something like national union under 
 Egbert, King of Wessex ; but the English failed to 
 recognise the importance of building an adequate 
 national fleet, although Egbert's son, King Ethelwulf, 
 was rich enough to earn distinction by his generosity 
 when he visited Rome in 855. When Alfred, Ethelwulf 's 
 youngest ■ son, ascended the throne in 871, England 
 was almost entirely conquered by the Danish invaders. 
 Under Alfred the English rallied and peace was made 
 by the surrender of half England to the Danes. The 
 London and North-Western Railway approximately 
 divides Danish England, or the Danelaw, from that 
 southern part of England which Alfred governed. 
 Reinforcements for the Danes came to England from 
 the North in long boats, called aescas, and, before 
 Alfred's death, the war began afresh. "Then King 
 Alfred commanded ships to be built against them, 
 which were full nigh twice as long as the others. Some 
 had sixty oars, some more. They were both swifter 
 and steadier and also higher than the others ; they
 
 SAXON ENGLAND 25 
 
 were shapen neither as the Frisian nor as the Danish, 
 but as it seemed to himself that they might be most 
 useful." As the Danes who had settled in England 
 were beginning to amalgamate with the English and 
 accept Christianity, Alfred's navy was able to do 
 such service that King Edward, Alfred's son, was ruler 
 of a united England, and, perhaps, though this is un- 
 certain, of a united Great Britain. A further happy 
 result was the establishment of friendly relations 
 with the Scandinavian kingdoms during the reign of 
 Athelstan, Edward's son. 
 
 During the latter half of the ninth century the 
 Saracens also took advantage of the decadence of the 
 Franks. They gained a footing in Southern Italy 
 and threatened Rome. To avert this danger the Pope 
 gave his blessing to a union of Western Europe under 
 Charles the Fat ; but it soon became evident that it 
 was impossible to recreate the military power of 
 Charles the Great. Rome ultimately obtained the 
 assistance she required from a temporarily united 
 Italy and the navy of Constantinople. The Northmen 
 advanced up the Seine as far as Paris in the reign of 
 Charles the Fat. The separate nationaUty of France 
 began with the heroic defence of Paris by its local 
 ruler Eudes. Charles the Fat contributed to this 
 defence by bribing the Northmen to abandon the 
 siege and gather plunder in other parts of his dominions. 
 For a century the descendants of Eudes, calhng them- 
 selves Dukes of the French, increased their hold over 
 the territory which surrounded Paris until they 
 finally absorbed the sovereign power of the descendants 
 of Charles the Fat.
 
 26 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Before their extinction the Carlovingian rulers gave 
 their sanction to the creation of two provincial govern- 
 ments which profoundly affected England. In 911 
 Charles the Simple gave Rolf, a chief of the Northmen, 
 the province of Normandy with the title of duke. In 
 their new territory pagan Northmen became in time 
 French-speaking Christians. King Ethelwulf, Alfred's 
 father, returned from his visit to Rome with Judith, 
 the child of another Carlovingian ruler, Charles the 
 Bald. This child-bride of an old man was for some 
 months the wife of Ethelwulf's son King Ethelbald, 
 who died in 860, soon after his accession to the throne 
 of England. Judith then returned to her father's 
 Court, from which she eloped with Baldwin, one of her 
 father's officials. Ultimately the young couple were 
 married, and Baldwin was created Count of Flanders, 
 not the small strip of Belgian coast which now bears 
 this name, but a province extending from the Scheldt 
 to Normandy, and thus including all the coast of 
 Europe which is nearest to England. The son of this 
 romantic marriage, Baldwin II., married King Alfred's 
 daughter. Thus close ties united the rulers of Flanders 
 and England, whilst the Flemish and EngHsh peoples 
 were united by ties no less close. Both were of Saxon 
 origin and spoke the same language. 
 
 The English and Flemish were not only bound by 
 race and language but there was a commercial bond 
 of union which was growing in importance and was 
 destined to mould the development of both peoples. 
 The weaving industry of Flanders began long before 
 the Norman Conquest of England. In the ninth 
 century the Flemish were learning to depend on
 
 SAXON ENGLAND 27 
 
 English shepherds to supply their looms with wool. 
 This economic interdependence closely resembles that 
 which exists between Lancashire and the United 
 States. This resemblance is increased by the kinship 
 of American cotton-growers and English cotton- 
 spinners and by their common tongue. The Anglo- 
 Flemish economic bond and the forces called into play 
 to prevent it from developing into poHtical union 
 affected England's policy for many centuries, until 
 the bond was broken by the development of English 
 weaving. 
 
 In the middle of the ninth century Pope Nicholas L 
 put forward a claim to absolute sovereignty over the 
 Papal States and suzerainty over the rest of Europe. 
 This claim was made before the Saracenic invasion of 
 Italy, and was based on the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, 
 a forgery Uke the pretended Donation of Constantine. 
 The claim was at first of little practical importance 
 on account of Rome's weakness, which continued 
 after the Saracens were expelled from Italy in 916. 
 Before that time storm clouds were threatening from 
 the North. Pagan Hungarians invaded Germany 
 and Italy, entering Italy in 899 and devastating the 
 country as their Hunnish ancestors had done. In 
 Germany the Hungarians were driven back by the 
 Saxons under their duke, Henry the Fowler. In 936 
 Henry was succeeded by his son, Otto the Great, who 
 completed the defeat, and then attempted to rescue 
 Italy from tlie chaotic condition to which it had been 
 reduced by the Saracens and Hungarians. In theory 
 the Pope claimed to be suzerain of Europe ; in prac- 
 tice his authority over Rome was re-established by a
 
 28 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Saxon who called himself over-lord of Germany and 
 Italy. Before the end of the tenth century the 
 papacy " seemed to have reached the utmost limit of 
 its degradation," 
 
 The power of papal Rome had been founded on the 
 production of the monasteries ; in the tenth century 
 the monastic system was dying and dragging the 
 papacy into its tomb. Popes, bishops, abbots and 
 monks were enjoying the wealth of Europe without 
 performing those duties which should fall to the lot 
 of the wealthy. Monasteries were losing their religious 
 character when men and women embraced the religious 
 life in order to find more worldly comfort in monas- 
 teries and convents than they could find in the world 
 outside. Pilgrimages to Rome degenerated into com- 
 mercial voyages. When the pilgrims were hindered 
 from approaching Rome by the Hungarians, and when 
 the Pope ceased to be able to command tribute from 
 Europe, he also ceased to have value in the eyes of his 
 Roman subjects. When the papacy was sick unto 
 death relief was at hand. In 910 Berno of Cluny 
 inaugurated a monastic reformation which spread 
 throughout Europe and raised the papacy to an even 
 greater height than it had reached before. 
 
 St. Dunstan was the apostle of the Cluniac reforma- 
 tion in England ; and the work he did in restoring 
 the English monastic system was part of a general 
 European movement which again drew Saxon, Frank 
 and Norman towards Rome. There is a curious 
 resemblance between the histories of the Carlovingian 
 and Saxon Empires. Both Charles the Great and 
 Otto the Great failed to realise that the economic
 
 SAXON ENGLAND 29 
 
 power, which Rome possessed in monastic production, 
 would ultimately prove stronger than force of arms. 
 Like his predecessor Charles, the Saxon Emperor freed 
 the papacy from its foes and enabled it to reassert its 
 control over its landed possessions in Europe. Otto 
 the Great also neglected to establish imperial autho- 
 rity in Rome and attacked the pagan North. King 
 Harold Bluetooth of Denmark met the attack of Otto 
 the Great and his son Otto II by the traditional 
 counter-attack on Normandy. The Cluniac reforma- 
 tion reunited the producing monasteries to Rome, 
 and thus closed markets which had been open to 
 Danish trade. Two parties sprang up in Normandy, 
 a monastic party, who desired to establish close rela- 
 tions with Rome, and an anti-monastic party, who 
 wished to retain their old connexion with Denmark. 
 Similar parties came into existence in England at a 
 later date. 
 
 In 945 Harold Bluetooth, with the aid of Norman 
 allies, won a victory on the banks of the Dive ; and 
 for a while Normandy was restored to the sphere 
 of Danish influence. A dual alliance of the Saxon 
 Emperors and the Carlovingian Kings of Laon was 
 met by a triple alliance of Flanders, Normandy, and 
 the Dukes of the French, who reigned at Paris. In the 
 North the Germans defeated the Danes and com- 
 pelled Harold Bluetooth to accept Christianity ; but 
 the conquest of Denmark was far from complete. 
 Their Carlovingian allies fared badly. In 987 the 
 dynasty of the descendants of Charles the Great was 
 extinguished, and the Dukes of the French inherited 
 an almost nominal sovereignty over powerful vassals,
 
 30 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 amongst whom were the Dukes of Normandy and the 
 Counts of Flanders. 
 
 In 940 Athelstan was succeeded by his brother 
 Edmund, and six years later another brother, Edred, 
 became King of England. It was during their reigns 
 that St. Dunstan acquired power. At first Edmund 
 appears to have feared the young monk ; but he finally 
 yielded and made him Abbot of Glastonbury. Edred, 
 a chronic invalid, allowed Dunstan to keep the royal 
 deeds and treasures at Glastonbury. On his death- 
 bed in 955 Edred called for the treasure ; but the king 
 died before Dunstan's arrival. Then Edred's nephew, 
 a boy of fifteen, became king. The chronicles are 
 silent as to the fate of the treasure, but they tell of a 
 violent quarrel between St. Dunstan and the King's 
 mother-in-law. Edwy's marriage was dissolved ; and, 
 after a very short reign, Edwy died. The scanty 
 records of this short reign suggest a furious contest 
 between the two parties. On the one hand Glaston- 
 bury Abbey was attacked, probably by searchers for 
 the royal treasure, and Dunstan was banished ; on the 
 other hand Edwy made lavish grants of land to other 
 monasteries. 
 
 When Edgar, Edwy's brother, became king, St. 
 Dunstan was recalled and the monks continued to 
 increase their hold over England's soil. Grants of 
 monastic lands were made by written books or con- 
 veyances which the kings signed by making their 
 mark in the form of a cross. The consideration or 
 price paid for the land was often the promised salvation 
 of the king's soul ; and the lands were called boclands 
 to distinguish them from the folclands held by the
 
 SAXON ENGLAND 31 
 
 people. Sometimes monastic lands were subject to the 
 threefold obhgation of repairing roads and bridges, 
 maintaining fortifications, and mihtary service ; but it 
 was the lay tenants not the monks who could be asked 
 to fight. Since even this threefold obligation was not 
 always imposed, the area on which secular taxation 
 could be levied was narrowed, and Alfred's navy was 
 neglected by his successors. 
 
 Edward, surnamed the Martyr, became king when 
 Edgar died in 975. His reign was short and troubled. 
 The chronicler's statement that, in 976, " Alphere 
 commanded the monasteries to be demolished, which 
 King Edgar had before commanded the holy bishop 
 Ethelwold to found," proves that there was active op- 
 position to Edward's ecclesiastical coimcillors. Two 
 years later the chronicle relates that "in this year 
 King Edward was slain (martyred), and Ethelred 
 Atheling, his brother, succeeded to the Kingdom." 
 This is the king who was called Redeless, i.e. without 
 counsel, a name naturally given to a king placed on 
 the throne to free England from monkish advisers. 
 This epithet has been distorted into Unready ; and all 
 the misfortunes which befel England during Ethelred 's 
 reign have been attributed to Ethelred's lack of 
 political foresight, although he was only ten years old 
 when he began to reign. Thus the lesson which 
 England's history in the tenth century teaches is 
 obscured. Then, as in subsequent centuries, the 
 diversion of money from England's army and navy 
 lias tempted the foreigner to attack her shores. 
 
 The Danes came in Ethelred's time ; in England 
 the invaders found many Christians who preferred
 
 32 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 alliance with the pagan to submission to monkish rule. 
 The chronicle records repeated acts of treachery for 
 which no other explanation seems possible. St. 
 Dunstan died in 988, nine years after the accession 
 of Ethelred. His last years were embittered by an 
 attempt, made by his opponents, to seize Church land 
 in the diocese of Rochester ; but the cause of St. 
 Dunstan was upheld by his successors. In 995 the 
 monastic party regained power, and the secular clergy 
 in Canterbury Cathedral were replaced by monks. 
 The struggle in England was political rather than 
 rehgious. The question at issue was not whether 
 Christianity was to flourish in England, but whether 
 cehbate monks, whose chief interest was their order, 
 and who looked to Rome as their centre, should be 
 allowed to transform their hold over English land into 
 complete control over the secular government of 
 England. The secular clergy, or married parish priests, 
 were on the other hand bound to England by family 
 ties. When monks replaced secular priests in the 
 cathedral chapters, they obtained a predominant voice 
 in the appointment of bishops ; and completely to 
 control the Church was a long step towards the absorp- 
 tion of all authority over England, 
 
 Civil war in Denmark followed the baptism of 
 Harold Bluetooth. The nationalist or pagan party 
 found a leader in Harold's son, Sweyn, who succeeded 
 to the Danish throne when his father was killed. In 
 concert with Olaf of Norway, Sweyn invaded England, 
 where he could count upon a certain amount of sym- 
 pathy from the anti-monastic party. In the absence 
 of an adequate navy Viking ships were able to select
 
 SAXON ENGLAND 33 
 
 undefended points on England's coast where they could 
 land unopposed. Again and again the invaders were 
 bribed to withdraw. During one of these attacks 
 Olaf accepted Christianity and abandoned his alliance 
 with Sweyn ; but the Danes continued to attack 
 England. Ship money was levied in England ; but, 
 owing to internal discord, the hurriedly collected fleet 
 proved unequal to the defence of England's coast. 
 
 After leaving England Olaf became King of Norway 
 only to lose his life and throne when attacked by 
 Sweyn and King Olaf of Sweden. Then, in 1013, 
 Sweyn began a serious invasion of England. By this 
 time a change had occurred in Normandy ; its con- 
 nexion with the North had almost disappeared. Up 
 to the commencement of the eleventh century the 
 Danes found shelter in Normandy after harrying 
 England. Two years later, in 1002, Ethelred married 
 the daughter of Duke Richard of Normandy. Hence 
 the English national party came to rely on the Danes 
 whilst the cosmopolitans turned towards Normandy. 
 Ethelred fled to Normandy when Sweyn invaded 
 England in force. In 1014 Sweyn died, and Ethelred, 
 recalled from Normandy, succeeded in expelling Canute, 
 the son of Sweyn. Two years later Canute was pre- 
 paring a fresh invasion when Ethelred died. After 
 some fighting an arrangement was made between 
 Canute and Edmund, Ethelred's successor, which, 
 before the end of 1016, gave Canute undisputed 
 possession of England on Edmund's death. When 
 England thus became part of a Great Scandinavia, 
 the Normans began to plan their scheme of conquest 
 which was carried into effect by William I. 
 
 D
 
 IV 
 
 THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 
 I 000- 1087 
 
 In the beginning of the eleventh century the Normans 
 were estabhshing themselves in Southern Italy, where 
 they were preparing for their daring attack upon the 
 Byzantine Empire, whose capital, Constantinople, was 
 the trading centre of the ancient world. To men with 
 such ambitions it must have been bitterness itself to 
 see the trade of England passing through Scandinavian 
 hands ; but at first the sea-power of Normandy was 
 not equal to the task of snatching England from the 
 Danes. Canute began his reign by trying to conciliate 
 his actual and potential enemies. In the first year of 
 his reign he married Emma, the widow of Ethelred 
 and daughter of Duke Richard of Normandy. The 
 presence of his stepsons Alfred and Edward at the 
 Norman Court was not resented. Like a later King 
 of France, Canute thought London worth a mass, 
 and became a Christian. The remarkable manner in 
 which Canute could adapt himself to circumstances is 
 illustrated by his atrocious murder of a brother-in- 
 law when the king was in his northern realm, and by 
 his pious pilgrimage to Rome in the following year, 
 1026. In Rome Canute witnessed the coronation of
 
 THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 35 
 
 the first Franconian emperor, the Saxon line having 
 ended with Henry the Saint, 
 
 Canute's brother-in-law Robert, who became Duke 
 of Normandy in 1026, cultivated the friendliest rela- 
 tions with his neighbour, the Count of Flanders, and 
 his overlord the King of France. In 1035 Canute 
 died, shortly after the death of Duke Robert. Both 
 were succeeded by sons born out of wedlock. William 
 the Conqueror became Duke of Normandy and Harold 
 Harefoot ascended the English throne. Harthacnut, 
 the son of Canute and Emma, obtained the kingdom 
 of Denmark. Thus the English again enjoyed an 
 independent ruler. 
 
 Canute's successful reign was largely due to his 
 minister, Earl Godwine, who by birth and marriage 
 seems to have been connected with both Danes and 
 Saxons. When Canute died, Godwine supported 
 Harthacnut's claim to the crown of England ; but he 
 accepted Harold Harefoot, when the English chose 
 him as king. The murder of Emma's son Alfred, 
 when that prince imprudently crossed from Normandy 
 to England, was supposed to have been contrived 
 by Godwine. This murder was followed, in 1037, by 
 Emma's expulsion from England. She sought the 
 usual refuge for English exiles, Flanders, or, as it was 
 then called, Baldwin's land. Two years later Hartha- 
 cnut answered his mother's appeal, and was on the 
 eve of invading England, when Harold Harefoot died. 
 Harthacnut invited his half-brother Edward to share 
 his throne. In 1042 " died Harthacnut as he stood 
 at his drink, he suddenly fell to the earth with a 
 terrible struggle. . . . And all the people then received 
 
 D2
 
 36 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Edward for king, as was his natural right." The 
 sudden deaths of two young kings, Harold and Har- 
 thacnut, fitted in with the Norman scheme. England 
 was thus brought under the rule of a king who was 
 half Norman by birth and wholly Norman by 
 education. 
 
 Before the Normans could supplant Scandinavian 
 influence in England it was necessary for them to 
 secure the neutrality of Flanders in the inevitable war. 
 With persistence, which overcame all obstacles, Duke 
 Wilham sought and finally obtained the hand of 
 Matilda, daughter of the Flemish Count. A religious 
 movement in Normandy, guided by Duke WiUiam, 
 formed part of the scheme of conquest. The Norman 
 bishops were chosen from the ducal family, and, like 
 William's half-brother, Odo, were more at home on 
 the field of battle than in their cathedrals. Monasteries 
 were founded throughout Normandy. " A Norman 
 noble of that age thought that his estate lacked its 
 chief ornament if he failed to plant a colony of monks 
 in some corner of his possessions." Freeman regarded 
 these founders as often actuated by motives other than 
 religious, since " many a man must have founded a 
 religious house, not from any special devotion or 
 any special liberality, but simply because it was the 
 regular thing for a man in his position to do." 
 Thus Norman dukes controlled their Church, while 
 they gained the goodwill of the monastic party in 
 England. 
 
 The condition of the papacy favoured the creation 
 of a Norman Church under ducal control. In 1033 the 
 Pope was a dissolute boy twelve years of age, and, at a
 
 THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 37 
 
 later date, there were three rival Popes. As the papacy 
 emerged from this degradation it became involved in a 
 desperate struggle with the Normans of Southern 
 Italy. In 1053 the papal army was utterly defeated 
 by the Normans at Civita Vecchia. Like his imperial 
 predecessor, the Pope spent two days bewailing his 
 lost legions, and then set to work to replace them by 
 enlisting his conquerors in the service of Rome. The 
 Italian Normans were confirmed in their possessions as 
 vassals under the suzerainty of the Pope ; and they 
 turned their attention to the boundless wealth which 
 awaited those who could conquer Constantinople and 
 the Eastern Empire. The Cluniac Reformation had 
 already produced the monk Hildebrand who was 
 destined to restore the glory of Rome. Before Hilde- 
 brand became Pope Gregory VII. in 1073, his policy 
 was being carried out by Pope Alexander II. The 
 banner of William the Conqueror was blessed by 
 Alexander, and the Conquest of England was the 
 real First Crusade. 
 
 To ensure a successful invasion the Normans 
 neglected no opportunity of creating disunion in 
 England during the reign of Edward the Confessor. 
 The central figure in this period of English history is 
 not the weak king but Earl Godwine and, after the 
 Earl's death in 1053, his eldest surviving son, Harold. 
 During the early years of Edward's reign Godwine was 
 in power ; and such attention was paid to the navy 
 '' that no man had seen any greater force in the land." 
 But Ntjrman ecclesiastics followed Edward to England ; 
 among these the most prominent was Robert, Abbot 
 of Jumieges, whom Edward appointed Bishop of
 
 38 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 London. Since the production of wool, the chief 
 export of England, was mainly in the hands of the 
 monks, it is probable that Scandinavian traders suffered 
 from this Norman ecclesiastical influence. About this 
 time the Chronicle records the coming of hostile sailors 
 from the north, who took " whatever they could find ; 
 and then went east to Baldwin's land and there sold 
 what they had plundered." 
 
 In 105 1 the Norman Bishop of London was made 
 Archbishop of Canterbury ; and foreigners began to 
 treat the English as an already conquered race. Count 
 Eustace of Boulogne quarrelled with the men of Kent 
 when he was returning from a visit to King Edward. 
 When Godwine refused to punish the Kentish men, 
 whom he regarded as peculiarly his own folk, he and 
 his sons were forced to take refuge in flight from 
 England. Godwine's daughter, whom Edward had 
 married, was sent to a nunnery ; and for a while 
 Norman influence reigned supreme. 
 
 Three interesting events occurred during this period 
 of England's peaceful penetration by the Normans. 
 In 1049 " King Edward discharged nine ships from pay, 
 and they went away ships and all ; and five ships 
 remained behind, and the King promised them twelve 
 months' pay." Next year all the ships were dis- 
 charged. This policy was so successful financially 
 that in 1052 " King Edward abolished the military 
 contribution which King Ethelred had before imposed ; 
 that was in the nine-and-thirtieth year after he had 
 begun it. That tax distressed all the English nation 
 during so long a space as is here above written." After 
 Godwine's flight, " soon came Count William from
 
 THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 39 
 
 beyond sea, \\ith a great body of Frenchmen, and the 
 King received him and as many of his companions as 
 it pleased him, and let him go again." 
 
 This meeting of King Edward and his great neigh- 
 bour William, while the navy was being weakened 
 that the burden of taxation might be lessened, did not 
 please the English. A popular movement restored 
 Godwine to his old position, and sent the Norman 
 Archbishop and his brethren in hurried flight across 
 the sea. Godwine died soon after his return ; 
 and his eldest surviving son, Harold, continued 
 Godwine's work. Stigand, an Enghshman, replaced 
 the Norman Archbishop of Canterbury ; and Harold 
 governed England with such ability that it seemed as 
 if the Norman scheme would come to nought when 
 party strife wrecked England's hopes. The latent 
 antagonism between the Danish North and the Saxon 
 South became acute in 1065, and Harold's brother, 
 Tostig, who had been Earl of Northumbria since 1055, 
 was compelled to betake himself to Baldwin's land. 
 There he entered into negotiations with William of 
 Noi-mandy and Harold, King of Norway. From his 
 brother-in-law. Count Baldwin, Tostig obtained men 
 and ships for an expedition to England. 
 
 In January 1066 King Edward died, and Harold 
 was elected and crowned King of England. " He then 
 gathered so great a naval force and also a land force 
 as no king here in the land had before gathered ; 
 because it had for truth been said to him that Count 
 William from Normandy, King Edward's kinsman, 
 would come hither and subdue this land." But Tostig 
 came first, and was driven out by the Northumbrians.
 
 40 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Tostig then joined Harold of Norway, entered the 
 Humber, and captured York. Harold of England 
 hurried north. The allies were defeated ; Tostig and 
 Harold of Norway were killed, while Olaf, the Nor- 
 wegian king's son, was allowed to return to Norway. 
 Immediate danger seemed to have passed away ; but 
 Edward's policy of reducing the navy accomplished 
 its perfect work. The enthusiasm which had extem- 
 porised a fleet evaporated when provisions ran short 
 through lack of funds. The Enghsh fleet disappeared ; 
 and in September WilHam came again to England. 
 This time he came not as an honoured guest but as a 
 conqueror. In October 1066 a great battle was fought 
 near Hastings. Harold of England with his brothers 
 and many another Englishman died for England with 
 the same burning patriotism as filled Nelson's soul at 
 Trafalgar. But Nelson had an adequate fleet, while 
 the English in Harold's time enjoyed remission of 
 taxation ; hence, although there were about two milUon 
 Englishmen, William and some fifty thousand con- 
 querors took possession of the land. The peasants, 
 deprived of their natural leaders, were forced to accept 
 their foreign masters. The English were compelled 
 to build castles which the Norman lords filled with 
 their own followers. When these strongholds were 
 built the power of the Norman was irresistible. Where 
 the people fought hard for freedom, as in Yorkshire, the 
 English were exterminated and their land was made 
 a desert waste. The bravest of the English were killed 
 or forced to leave their island. About this time the 
 Waring bodyguard of the Emperor at Constantinople 
 received a large number of recruits from England ;
 
 THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 41 
 
 these English soldiers were held in the highest esteem 
 for their loyalty and courage. 
 
 Before the Conquest a large part of the land of 
 England was owned by monks and the clergy. William 
 sailed with a banner which the Pope had blessed, 
 and the invasion received papal approval because the 
 English Church was becoming too independent of 
 Rome. After the Conquest England's Church was 
 pillaged, the Normans were astonished at the plunder 
 sent across the Channel. Norman abbeys and churches 
 were made splendid with spoil taken from the religious 
 foundations of England. English bishops and abbots 
 were replaced by ecclesiastics from Normandy, so 
 that foreigners ruled over the English Church as well 
 as over the English peasant. Stigand was deposed 
 from the Archbishopric of Canterbury, and the see was 
 filled by William's friend, Lanfranc. Other English 
 bishops and abbots shared Stigand's fate until there 
 was only one English bishop left, the saintly Wulfstan 
 of Worcester ; he it was who prevailed upon the 
 merchants of Bristol to abandon their trade in Irish 
 slaves. In the half-mythical story of Wulfstan's life 
 it is easy to see that his personal holiness conquered 
 England's conqueror : " William was mild to the good 
 men who loved God." 
 
 Yet England survived in her towns. Many of 
 these suffered during the invasion ; but some, and 
 among these London, the greatest of all, escaped 
 without injury. With London, William made a treaty 
 guaranteeing to her citizens the liberties which they 
 had enjoyed under their late King Edward. The 
 Londoners asked to be allowed to trade in their own
 
 42 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 way without interference, and when this was granted 
 to them, they appear to have been careless about the 
 fate of other Enghshmen. The success of the Normans 
 was largely due to this lack of unity in England. Men 
 cared for their shire or their town, the larger conception 
 of duty to England was very imperfectly recognised. 
 Yet while England was governed by foreign masters 
 speaking a different tongue from that of their English 
 serfs, and while peasants learned to acquiesce in the 
 rule of the stranger and kill one another at the bidding 
 of their alien rulers, patriotism developed in England, 
 and an English nation was born. 
 
 Just as the English of Chaucer differs from the 
 Anglo-Saxon of the Chronicle, so the new English 
 folk differed from the shepherds whom William had 
 enslaved. Both the English race and the English 
 language have a strong Anglo-Saxon element, and 
 both have been changed by influences from outside. 
 Chaucer wrote in the speech of London, and the town 
 was the birthplace of the new English. The reason for 
 this is not difficult to discover. The towns of England 
 protected their home trade ; and by their protective 
 system they gained such strength that in time they 
 conquered their conquerors. Though the land and 
 agricultural production of England was owned by the 
 Church and the Normans, English ultimately replaced 
 monkish Latin and Norman French. England owes 
 the commencement of her national life to the protective 
 policy of her towns. 
 
 The Benedictine monks who came to England with 
 St. Augustine in 597 believed that work was as sacred 
 as prayer. It was, doubtless, partly owing to the
 
 THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 43 
 
 excellent use they made of the land that Anglo-Saxon 
 kings granted them so much of the soil of England. 
 For centuries after the Norman Conquest monks 
 continued to flock to England, and wherever they 
 settled sheep-farming flourished. Some of the wool 
 was woven in England into coarse cloth for peasants, 
 but much of it was exported to Flanders, where it was 
 increased in value eightfold by being woven into 
 good cloth. It is known that during the twelfth 
 century lists were kept in Flanders giving the names 
 of 102 English abbeys with the minimum value of 
 the wool they produced. The English were not devoid 
 of skill. Anglo-Saxon gold embroidery had a great 
 reputation. But the English were not progressive ; 
 they were content to grow wool and leave the weaving 
 to the Flemish. 
 
 Flanders was once a land which extended from the 
 Scheldt to the frontier of Normandy, and included a 
 considerable portion of Northern France with all the 
 nearest coast to England. The Flemish were a branch 
 of the Saxons. In the twelfth century English and 
 Flemish peasants could talk to each other without the 
 aid of an interpreter. Flanders was the Lancashire 
 of the Middle Ages when wool held the place which 
 cotton now holds. The Anglo-Flemish wool trade was 
 of importance as far back as the tenth century ; for 
 five centuries it moulded the destinies of England and 
 Flanders. 
 
 When they settled in England the Anglo-Saxons 
 lost the love of the sea which had been their charac- 
 teristic. There was, however, a considerable amount of 
 trade between England and Frankland, and the coming
 
 44 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 of the Danes partly broke down the isolation of the 
 Anglo-Saxon villages. The Anglo-Saxons were con- 
 nected with the East by the great Baltic trade route, 
 whose centre was at Wisby on the island of Gothland, 
 and which ran down the long Russian rivers to the 
 Caspian and the Baltic. This connexion ceased when 
 the Normans subdued England. One body of middle- 
 men were more fortunate. Merchants from Cologne 
 obtained a footing in England in the reign of Ethelred 
 the Redeless. The reason for the welcome given them 
 is not hard to discover. The English left their foreign 
 trade to others ; but they bitterly resented any invasion 
 of their home trade. Hides and wool were sold in 
 market towns and carried down the rivers to ports, 
 such as London, where foreign shippers waited for 
 their cargoes. The manufactures of England were of a 
 primitive character, suited only to the wants of tillers 
 of the soil, and England's foreign trade was monopolised 
 by aliens, Easterlings and others ; but the English 
 protected the one thing left to them, the inland trade. 
 To this protection England owes the preservation of 
 her nationality in her towns and the freedom which 
 ultimately spread from the towns to the country. 
 Briefly stated, the ideal the English trader had always 
 in view was to keep the foreign merchant at the 
 wharf head. If the foreigner entered the town he 
 had to choose an English host, who was responsible 
 for his guest's behaviour. The foreigner was to deal 
 with none but citizens of the town, and retail trade 
 was forbidden him. The length of his stay was 
 limited to forty days, and he was required to buy 
 English produce equal in amount to the goods he sold.
 
 THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 45 
 
 This policy in its entirety was a counsel of perfection, 
 and was seldom completely attained. The wool- 
 growing magnates continually tried to get into direct 
 touch with the foreign buyer, and were steadily 
 resisted by the English trader. Much of England's 
 early history is made up of this struggle between 
 magnate and merchant. It culminated in the War of 
 the Roses, which led to the protection of industry as 
 well as of inland trade, and to the splendour of the. 
 Tudor period. 
 
 Under England's foreign kings, protective associa- 
 tions for inland trade, or merchant gilds, sprang into 
 existence in every considerable English town, except 
 London and the Cinque Ports. " Nevertheless London, 
 and probably some of the Cinque Ports, virtually 
 exercised all the rights attached to this franchise, 
 though the name and formal organisation were un- 
 known in these towns." The granting of "good laws 
 even as we ourselves " to German merchants by King 
 Ethelred implies that natives enjoyed advantages 
 denied to foreigners. In the Conqueror's charter to 
 London he declared that it was his " will that you be 
 all law-worthy, as you were in the days of King 
 Edward." When other towns obtained the right of 
 Gild Merchant they were given the privilege which 
 London already possessed. 
 
 Jews came to England with the Conqueror. They 
 were not fettered by ecclesiastical regulations which 
 forbade the lending of money on interest or the taking 
 more than a just price for goods. These restrictions, 
 like modern factory regulations, were imposed in the 
 interest of the community But, even under foreign
 
 46 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 kings, the English trader had a protection from his 
 unrestricted rival which is denied to English workers 
 to-day. The Jew was wise in trade matters with the 
 wisdom of ages ; but neither his wisdom nor his freedom 
 enabled him to penetrate the Merchant Gild. The 
 inland trade was kept in English hands, and the towns 
 grew strong. 
 
 Like all human institutions England's first pro- 
 tective system was far from perfect. It protected the 
 trader, not the worker. This was of little importance 
 in early times, since English industry was almost 
 non-existent, and her production of raw material did 
 not need protection. The worst fault of the Merchant 
 Gild was its parochial character. The citizen of one 
 town treated an Englishman from a neighbouring 
 town as a foreigner. In this respect there is a marked 
 resemblance to the treatment which Great Britain 
 now extends to her Colonies. But before long a 
 system of preferential treatment arose by means of 
 arrangements between the gilds. Then England was 
 covered with a linked network of protective associa- 
 tions which baffled Jew and foreigner, but gave 
 freedom to the English. Anglo-Saxon, Dane and 
 Norman became gild brethren, and thus learned to be 
 brother Englishmen. Sheltered within their protec- 
 tive associations the new English grew to be so strong 
 that in time they moulded the character of the dwellers 
 in England. The conquered island became an inde- 
 pendent nation. When protection of industry was 
 added to protection of trade the foundation of the 
 British Empire was well and truly laid. 
 
 The character of William the Conqueror is given
 
 THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 47 
 
 in the Chronicle. " If any one desires to know what 
 kind of man he was, or what worship he had, or of how 
 many lands he was lord, then we will write of him so 
 as we understood him who have looked on him, and, 
 at another time, sojourned in his court. The King 
 William, about whom we speak, was a very wise man, 
 and very powerful, more dignified and strong than any 
 of his predecessors were. He was mild to the good 
 men who loved God ; and over all measure severe to 
 the men who gainsayed his will. ... In his days was 
 the noble monastery at Canterbury built, and also very 
 many others over all England. This land was also 
 plentifully supplied with monks, and they lived their 
 lives after the rule of St. Benedict. . . . Amongst 
 other things is not to be forgotten the good peace that 
 he made in this land ; so that a man who in himself 
 was aught might go over his realm, with his bosom 
 filled with gold, unhurt. 
 
 " Wales was in his power, and he therein wrought 
 castles and completely ruled over that race of men. 
 In like manner he also subjected Scotland to him by 
 his great strength. The land of Normandy was natur- 
 ally his ; and over the country which is called Le 
 Maine he reigned, and if he might yet have lived two 
 years he would, by his valour, have won Ireland, 
 and without any weapons. ... He planted a great 
 preserve for deer, and he laid down laws therewith, 
 that whosoever should slay hart or hind should be 
 blinded. He forbade the harts and also the boars 
 to be killed. As greatly did he love the tall deer as 
 if he were their father. He also ordained concerning 
 the hares that they should go^free. His great men
 
 48 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 bewailed it, and the poor men murmured thereat ; 
 but he was so obdurate, that he recked not of the 
 hatred of them all ; but they must wholly follow the 
 King's will, if they would live, or have land, or property, 
 or even his peace." 
 
 This was the view of the Southern Englishman, 
 whose laws and customs the Conqueror respected, 
 when they did not clash with the rights he had acquired 
 by conquest. Nevertheless the English suffered the 
 woe of the vanquished. Some fled to the East, and 
 in the Varangian guard of the Byzantine Emperor had 
 the satisfaction of preventing the Normans of Sicily 
 from seizing the Eastern Empire. Others fled to the 
 fenlands, and continued an heroic resistance until 
 their leader, Hereward, was killed in 1072. But in 
 the end England was subdued. The motley host of 
 Normans, Flemings and Franks who followed William 
 were rewarded with grants of land on which the 
 English toiled as serfs. As the Conqueror was recog- 
 nised as the supreme landowner of all England these 
 grants were perpetual leases for which rent in the 
 form of military service was paid. In this way an 
 important step was taken towards the unitication of 
 England. 
 
 In the middle of the eleventh century war between 
 Norway and Denmark weakened both kingdoms. The 
 Danes in Denmark and England tried to remain 
 neutral during the Conquest. They were rescued by 
 Harold of England from Tostig and his Norwegian 
 ally, but they gave little or no aid to Harold of England 
 when William landed. 
 
 If they hoped that William would be satisfied with
 
 THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 49 
 
 the conquest of Saxon England they were soon un- 
 deceived. The Flemish also realised their mistake 
 when England became subject to the Normans. As 
 a reward for the services which he had rendered to 
 William, Baldwin V. obtained a grant of 300 marks 
 a year, and, after his death in 1067, the annuity was 
 paid to his younger son, Baldwin VI., during the three 
 years of his rule over Flanders. It is almost im- 
 possible to deny the existence of an economic cause 
 for the change in Danish and Flemish policy which 
 followed the Conquest of England. 
 
 In the reign of Ethelred the Redeless, merchants 
 from Flanders, Normandy, France and Germany were 
 allowed to trade at the port of London subject to the 
 payment of customs' duties of about 5 per cent. 
 Wool, hides and metals were exported from England. 
 William's grandfather, the tanner of Falaise, must 
 often have dressed English hides. Most of the ex- 
 ported wool went to feed the looms of Flanders, and 
 the Anglo-Flemish trade was principally carried on 
 by merchants from Cologne. In Ethelred's laws the 
 men of the Emperor are singled out " as worthy of good 
 laws, even as we ourselves." This privileged position 
 the Germans retained until the reign of Elizabeth. 
 Their concession, the Steelyard, once stood where 
 Cannon Street Station now stands, and for centuries 
 the Easterlings of the Steelyard almost monopolised 
 England's, trade with Flanders and Northern Europe. 
 In return for England's exports she received wine 
 from Normandy carried down the Seine, cloth from 
 Flanders, and such Eastern luxuries as found their 
 way along the great commercial route which, starting 
 
 E
 
 50 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 from Venice, crossed the Alps and passed down the 
 Rhine to Cologne. 
 
 Less is known of the Scandinavian trade with 
 England. Its centre was probably York, and the 
 " incredible number" of Anglo-Saxon coins found at 
 Wisby proves that it was of much importance. In 
 Canute's reign Scandinavian traders must have gained 
 at the expense of their Norman rivals ; but after the 
 accession of Edward the Confessor, the Normans 
 appear to have regained their position in Southern 
 England. The Scandinavian harryings in Edward's 
 reign took place in Essex and Kent : it seems probable 
 that these markets had been closed to Northern traders. 
 The Northern English, dreaming perhaps that the 
 Conqueror would not interfere with their local auto- 
 nomy, idly watched the conquest of the South and 
 West of England. But in 1068 York was captured 
 and garrisoned by Normans. 
 
 In io6g, when the Danes realised that their con- 
 nexion with England was being destroyed, a Danish 
 fleet sailed to England. The men of Yorkshire joined 
 the Danes, and William hurried north to crush the 
 movement. He was " over all measure severe to the 
 men who gainsaid his will." By fire and sword 
 Yorkshire was made a desert, to wait in its desolation 
 for the Cistercian monks who made wildernesses blossom 
 like the rose. The death of Baldwin VI. in 1070, 
 whilst WilHam was exterminating the shepherds of 
 Northern England, was followed by civil war in 
 Flanders. In spite of the intervention of WilUam 
 and Philip I. of France, the ruler and the policy of 
 Flanders were changed. Robert the Frisian became
 
 THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 51 
 
 Count and friendly relations with England ceased. On 
 the other hand, Philip of France recognised the new 
 Count and formed an alliance with him by marrying 
 Bertha of Frisia. 
 
 The Cluniac reformation was at this time extending 
 its influence over Northern Europe. The Olaf who 
 was allowed by Harold to return to Norway aided the 
 movement, and Saint Canute, who ruled over Denmark 
 until his martyrdom in 1086, was canonised for his 
 devotion to the cause of the Church. When Canute 
 became King of Denmark in 1080 he was the husband 
 of the daughter of Count Robert of Flanders, and 
 Arnold, a missionary monk, was bringing the Flemish 
 into close communion with Rome. Strained relations 
 between William and Gregory VH. enabled the 
 Northern kingdoms to serve Rome whilst they evolved 
 a scheme for the destruction of the Norman rule over 
 England. 
 
 The monk Hildebrand began his reign, as Pope 
 Gregory VH., in 1073, by enunciating the papal claims 
 in their most extreme form. He asserted that the 
 Pope w^as the supreme sovereign with the right of 
 deposing all secular rulers. From the weaker king- 
 doms, including England, he asked for an immediate 
 acknowledgment of his suzerainty. He sought to use 
 the strength which the Church possessed in her vast 
 estates by making the clergy free from all secular 
 control and entirely dependent on Rome. To separate 
 the clergy from the people amongst whom they dwelt 
 he commanded all priests to adopt the monkish 
 custom of cehbacy. His first and greatest antagonist 
 was the Emperor Henry IV., who claimed to be over- 
 
 E 2
 
 52 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 lord of Italy and Germany. The Emperor was 
 excommunicated, and the loose feudal organisation 
 over which he ruled declined to support a stricken 
 leader. In 1077 Gregory's victory seemed complete, 
 when Henry in the robes of a penitent begged for 
 pardon at Canossa. But there followed a swift re- 
 action, and with it a fierce struggle between Emperor 
 and Pope. 
 
 The Church and Christendom were both rent 
 asunder in this quarrel. An anti-Pope and a second 
 Emperor added to the confusion. The married clergy 
 ranged themselves against the monks ; and in 1084 
 Henry was master of all Rome except the stronghold 
 of St. Angelo, in which Gregory waited for Guiscard 
 and the Italian Normans, who had become his most 
 trusted alhes. Henry retired as the Normans ap- 
 proached the sacred city, and Gregory obtained his 
 freedom when Guiscard sacked Rome with more than 
 Vandal fury. Next year the great Pope died, leaving 
 behind him unsolved problems which even now have 
 scarcely ceased to trouble Europe. 
 
 The papacy had sanctioned William's invasion in 
 order that the English Church might be brought into 
 complete subjection to Rome ; and Gregory asked for 
 more than this. William refused to admit the Pope's 
 claim of suzerainty ; but he granted to the clergy the 
 right of being tried in their own courts, and thus 
 created an almost independent body within his 
 dominions. The ancient tribute of Peter's Pence was 
 again sent to Rome, and the question of the celibacy 
 of the clergy was compromised. The cathedral clergy, 
 who had a voice in the election of bishops, were for-
 
 THE COMING OF THE NORMAN 53 
 
 bidden to marry, and bishops were warned not to 
 ordain married men ; but the parochial clergy were 
 allowed to keep their wives. The question of the 
 King's right of appointment to bishoprics and abbacies 
 was not raised. The tact of Archbishop Lanfranc 
 made this compromise possible ; but it merely post- 
 poned the inevitable conflict between Church and King, 
 and William was almost drawn into this conflict 
 shortly before his death. 
 
 Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent, as well as 
 the Conqueror's half-brother, raised an army in 1082 
 which he intended to lead from the Isle of Wight to 
 Italy. He hoped to win the papal throne when he and 
 Guiscard had driven the Emperor from Italy ; but 
 William had no wish for a Pope who knew England 
 as Odo did. Odo was impeached, and, when the 
 barons hesitated to judge a bishop, William sent his 
 brother to a castle in Normandy, explaining his con- 
 duct by saying that he arrested the Earl of Kent, 
 not the Bishop of Bayeux. Gregory sent a gentle 
 remonstrance, of which no notice was taken. There 
 were others ready to defend the Church. An armada 
 of more than a thousand ships was prepared by the 
 devout rulers of Denmark, Norway and Flanders. 
 Had William been less resourceful there might have 
 been another conquest of England. Mercenary soldiers 
 were imported from Normandy ; the English coast 
 was devastated that the invader might not be able to 
 obtain supplies. That he should be unable to dis- 
 tinguish friend from foe, the English were forced to 
 shave and dress like Normans ; and WiHiam's agents 
 carried gold to Denmark to foster mutiny. St. Canute
 
 54 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 was killed in the mutiny, and the armada never 
 reached the shores of England. A year later, in 1087, 
 William died, whilst fighting Philip of France. On 
 his deathbed the Conqueror gave Normandy to his 
 eldest son Robert, England to William Rufus, and a 
 gift of money to his youngest son Henry. He thus 
 separated the lands which he had tried to unite. 
 William Rufus was accepted as king by the citizens of 
 London, but he trampled on the unprotected peasants 
 when he had estabhshed his power.
 
 • V 
 
 NORMAN AND ENGLISH 
 
 1087-1155 
 
 Seventeen days after the Conqueror's death in 
 Normandy WilHam Rufus was crowned in West- 
 minster, to the great joy of the EngHsh. The Norman 
 magnates appear to have been taken by surprise. As 
 soon as they could combine they rose in rebelUon, and 
 were reinforced by their brethren from Normandy. 
 The object of the rising was to prevent the separation 
 of England and Normandy by making Robert ruler 
 of both lands. Under one ruler wealth wrung from 
 English serfs could be used, as in the Conqueror's 
 reign, to pay a Norman army which could keep the 
 English in perpetual subjection. Few Norman barons 
 supported the King, but, by a promise of good laws, 
 WilUam won over the Enghsh. A fleet was collected 
 which severed communication with Normandy, and 
 Wulfstan, the last of the EngHsh bishops, led an army 
 which defeated the Norman barons and their followers. 
 When the insurrection was crushed WiUiam treated the 
 rebel barons with marked leniency, whilst he treated 
 the Enghsh with greater severity than his father. 
 
 This sudden uprising of an apparently conquered 
 race and its equally sudden relapse into a condition of
 
 56 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 servitude can be explained by the difference which 
 existed between the town and country districts of 
 England. In the English language there is a per- 
 manent record of the subjugation of the countryside 
 of England. The English country folk became servants 
 who tended cattle, sheep and pigs, which were served 
 to Norman masters as beef, veal, mutton, and pork. 
 The military leaders, who obtained estates, had to 
 supply the King with soldiers when need arose ; hence 
 English sub-tenants must have been largely replaced by 
 Normans. The Conqueror extended this feudal obliga- 
 tion to Church lands, and, when Normans governed 
 the Church, ecclesiastical farms must have been given, 
 to some extent, to Norman farmers. Deprived of 
 leaders the English peasantry became oppressed 
 tillers of the soil. 
 
 But, from the first, the Conqueror tried to conciliate 
 the towns. London surrendered without a struggle, 
 and obtained a charter promising its citizens the good 
 laws of King Edward. Though the Tower was built 
 to overawe the Londoners it was not used. There was 
 peace within London's walls while the English were 
 being subdued. After the Conquest, merchants came 
 to London from the towns of Normandy, and Jews 
 settled in EngHsh Jewries under the guardianship of 
 the foreign King. The Church afforded a certain 
 amount of shelter to the conquered English. It was 
 the one institution of which the feudal magnates stood 
 in awe. Although the English bishops and abbots 
 were replaced by Normans, the parochial clergy and 
 the monks were English. The past and the present 
 of Ireland illustrate the way in which a priesthood,
 
 NORMAN AND ENGLISH 57 
 
 anti-national in the sense that it regards an ItaHan 
 Pope as its head, can yet identify itself with the national 
 aspirations of a subject people. The Pope and his 
 claims were mere abstractions, while the tyranny of 
 the King and his Norman magnates was a very present 
 trouble. The gilds were partly shielded from attack 
 by their semi-religious character, as the son of an 
 Enghsh peasant gained comparative freedom by taking 
 holy orders. 
 
 Wilham II. realised that the power of the Church 
 threatened the arbitrary rule of the Normans. He 
 has been handed down in history as one who delighted 
 in oppressing both his Church and his Enghsh subjects. 
 When Lanfranc died in 1089 the vacant archbishopric 
 was not filled. Wilham declared that no one but he 
 should be Archbishop of Canterbury, and the revenue 
 of the see filled the royal purse. Conscience-smitten 
 during an illness in 1092, the King appointed Anselm, 
 abbot of a Norman monastery, to the vacant see ; but 
 even before his enthronement Anselm quarrelled with 
 his King about their respective rights over Church 
 lands. The Archbishop maintained Gregory's theory 
 of the absolute independence of the Church, and sought 
 to extend episcopal power over abbeys which the 
 Norman King looked upon as part of the royal posses- 
 sions. On the other hand, the King shocked his 
 contemporaries by his contempt for religion and his 
 determination to establish the royal supremacy. 
 After a long conflict the Archbishop left England in 
 1097 to carry an appeal to the Pope. A new king 
 was on the throne when Anselm returned. 
 
 Wilham II. might have succeeded in unifying
 
 58 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Great Britain if he had not devoted his energy to 
 re-uniting England and Normandy. Wales was made 
 somewhat more subject to Norman rule ; but Scotland 
 kept her autonomy under the vague suzerainty of the 
 Norman King. Many Norman barons obtained fiefs 
 in Scotland. In the lowlands of the northern kingdom 
 the people peacefully accepted these Normans as 
 leaders. In Scotland there was not that gulf between 
 conquerors and conquered, between landlords and 
 serfs, which was so keenly felt in England. 
 
 Though the English took only a small part in the 
 crusades, the indirect influence of these wars on EngHsh 
 history was great, and their commencement was 
 the most important event in the reign of William II. 
 The overthrow of the Cahphate of Egypt by the 
 Seljouks in 1077 made a profound impression on 
 Christendom. Religion, politics, and commerce were 
 inseparably connected in the Middle Ages, and all three 
 were affected. The Pope could bestow pardon for sin 
 to the religious. Eastern principaUties to feudal lords, 
 the restoration of the lucrative Eastern trade to 
 merchants if they would attempt to rescue the Holy 
 Land. The Flemish and Venetians, who owned the 
 gates of the trade route which passed by way of the 
 Rhine from the Adriatic to the North Sea, were the 
 most prominent members of the First Crusade. Robert 
 the Frisian had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and 
 had learned the views of the Byzantine Emperor when 
 he visited Constantinople. His son Robert II. was 
 therefore carrying out his dead father's policy when he 
 led the First Crusade. Robert II. refused the throne 
 of Jerusalem, but it was accepted by Godfrey de
 
 NORMAN AND ENGLISH 59 
 
 Bouillon, whose father the Count of Boulogne was a 
 vassal of Flanders. 
 
 Duke Robert of Normandy also joined the First 
 Crusade. He appears to have gained nothing in the 
 East, and his crusading zeal cost him the kingdom 
 of England. Money for his expedition was borrowed 
 frorn William Rufus, who became Regent of Normandy 
 in Robert's absence. In 1099, six weeks after the 
 capture of Jerusalem, WiUiam II. was killed in the 
 New Forest. In hot haste, Henry, the youngest of 
 the Conqueror's sons, rode to Winchester and seized 
 the royal treasure. Three days after William's death 
 Henry I. was crowned at Westminster. Thus London 
 and the Church of England again chose a ruler who, 
 though he was a Norman, relied upon English support. 
 Henry began his reign by granting freedom to the 
 Church and the laws of Edward to the people in a 
 formal charter. Although the rights of the Norman 
 barons were also safeguarded in the charter, they took 
 arms against Henry and Robert landed in England. 
 War was averted by Henry's diplomacy ; and Robert 
 waived his claim to the Enghsh crown. Before this 
 invasion Henry had endeared himself to the English 
 by marrying the daughter of the King of Scotland, 
 who through her mother was descended from the 
 Saxon kings. 
 
 Norman barons, who owned fiefs on both sides of 
 the Channel, were strongly in favour of one monarch 
 for both Norman lands. Discontent in Nonnandy 
 led to anarchy, and Henry intervened. In 1106 the 
 battle of Tinchebrai united England and Normandy 
 under Henry's rule. Duke Robert was placed in
 
 6o THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 honourable confinement in England ; but his son and 
 heir, William Clito, was entrusted to one of Henry's 
 Norman supporters, who, in mi, allowed the young 
 prince to escape to Paris. Though neither the French 
 King nor the Flemish Count viewed with pleasure the 
 union of England and Normandy, the Flemish forced 
 their Count to adopt a peaceful attitude towards 
 Henry when he became ruler of Normand3^ The 
 stint of Eastern fabrics, caused by the Seljouk in- 
 vasion, gave an impetus to the weaving industry of 
 Flanders and rendered the Flemish more dependent 
 on English wool. The sentimental bond of a common 
 ruler, which linked Normandy to England, proved too 
 weak to stand the wear and tear of time, while the 
 commercial union of England and Flanders increased 
 in strength until the English learned to weave. Then 
 Flemish weaving and the commercial tie were both 
 destroyed. 
 
 The annuity, which bound the Count of Flanders 
 to William the Conqueror, was suspended after the 
 revolution which made Robert the Frisian master of 
 Flanders. William II. renewed the payment to 
 Count Robert II., but it was discontinued while the 
 Count was in the Holy Land. On his return Robert 
 haughtily demanded the money and the arrears from 
 Henry I. In reply the Count was told that the pay- 
 ment was not tribute but a retaining fee for service 
 to be rendered in case of need. In iioi and again in 
 1 103 treaties were signed promising Flemish aid in 
 certain contingencies, and the annuity was increased. 
 These treaties did not, however, prevent Robert from 
 forming an alliance with the King of France after
 
 NORMAN AND ENGLISH 6i 
 
 Tinchebrai. About the j-ear iioo the sea broke 
 through the d\'kes of Flanders ; and, owing to the 
 inundations and the disease which followed, a number 
 of weavers emigrated to England and settled in 
 Pembrokeshire and elsewhere. This was the com- 
 mencement of cloth-making in England as a definite 
 industry. Its development was, however, very slow. 
 The magnates, who grew the wool, were concerned 
 mainly with obtaining a market for their produce 
 and cared little whether this market was at home 
 or abroad. When England's foreign rulers became 
 national kings they tried to foster home manufacture, 
 but their policy was often opposed by monk and lord. 
 After the introduction of weaving more than three 
 centuries had to elapse and two civil wars had to be 
 fought before the English were able to protect industry 
 as well as inland trade. Then England began the 
 series of industrial conquests which ultimately made 
 her supreme in production and commerce. 
 
 In 1 1 19 Charles, a Danish prince, became Count of 
 Flanders after the short reign of Baldwin VII. 
 Charles, for a time, abandoned the pro-French policy 
 of his predecessors, in order to conciliate his insurgent 
 subjects. Henry made use of this opportunity by 
 arranging to end the Anglo-French war which com- 
 menced after Tinchebrai with a favourable peace. 
 At the zenith of his success, Henry's plans were shat- 
 tered by the death of his only legitimate son in the 
 wreck of the White Ship. Henry's enemies were 
 encouraged by this accident. William Clito was 
 married to the daughter of the powerful Count of 
 Anjou that he might be a menace to Henry's dominion
 
 62 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 over Normandy ; and Charles of Flanders again 
 became the close ally of the French King. 
 
 The long wars between France and England prac- 
 tically began after Tinchebrai. No peace, however 
 carefully devised, could permanently end a struggle 
 which was caused by the economic development of 
 the people. Had the Normans become great weavers 
 a commercial bond might have united Nonnandy, 
 instead of Flanders, to England. But the chief factor 
 which made for union between England and Normandy 
 was the possession of estates in both lands by feudal 
 lords. In course of time English and Norman estates 
 passed into different hands, and the motive for union 
 tended to disappear. The actual domain of the King 
 of France was comparatively small and was shut off 
 from the sea by the provinces of his almost independent 
 vassals, of whom the King of England became the 
 greatest. The feudal Anglo-French wars were thus 
 inevitable ; and when the loss of Normandy made 
 peace appear possible, the fight for the market of 
 Flanders supplied a motive for the Hundred Years' 
 War. Even in the earlier feudal wars the market 
 which Flanders afforded to English wool played an 
 important part. 
 
 Henry was a widower when the White Ship sank. 
 Within two months of the disaster he married the 
 daughter of the Duke of Brabant, thus allying himself 
 with the ruler of a State which had aided the Flemish 
 who had rebelled against Charles of Flanders. William 
 Clito's marriage and the Franco-Flemish alliance fol- 
 lowed naturally. Henry's second marriage proved 
 unfruitful ; nevertheless he pressed on his imperial
 
 NORMAN AND ENGLISH 63 
 
 scheme. In 11 25 his daughter was left a widow by 
 the death of the German Emperor. She was then 
 recognised as Henry's heiress ; and the spiritual and 
 temporal lords of England swore allegiance to her in 
 1 127. In the same year Anjou was detached from 
 the French alliance, the Pope was induced to annul 
 William Clito's marriage, Matilda was betrothed to 
 Geoffrey, son and heir of the Count of Anjou, and 
 Charles of Flanders was killed by rebels in Flanders, 
 whose object was to make William of Ypres their 
 Count and thus renew friendly relations with England. 
 The French King suppressed this democratic in- 
 surrection and gave Flanders to William Clito ; but 
 in spite of the severity with which the leaders of the 
 revolt were punished, the Flemish refused to accept 
 the French King's nominee, protesting that, since 
 English merchants had ceased to visit Flanders, ruin 
 was close at hand. It can be claimed for Henry that 
 he was the originator of the policy of influencing the 
 Flemish by stinting their supply of wool, as well as 
 the founder of the English weaving industry. Henry 
 put forward candidates for the countship. His 
 nephew Stephen of Boulogne, a fief of Flanders, and 
 another candidate failed, but a third candidate, 
 Thierry of Alsace, ultimately succeeded. The burghers 
 of Flanders espoused Thierry's cause ; and William 
 CHto was killed in the fighting which ensued. Another 
 candidate then appeared ; and Henry was asked to 
 decide between the claimants. In order to retain even 
 his nominal suzerainty the French King was forced to 
 acquiesce in a decision which assigned the countship 
 to Henry himself as the lawful heir ; but in the same
 
 64 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 decision Henry ceded his rights to Thierry. In the 
 words of a Belgian historian, Flanders was treated 
 as "a. fief completely dependent on the crown of 
 England." 
 
 Stephen of Boulogne was compelled to do homage 
 to the new count ; but he showed his ill-will by har- 
 bouring William of Ypres, one of the rival claimants. 
 Under Thierry the burghers gained many political 
 rights. Their weaving cities were growing rapidly and 
 becoming more powerful. As their power increased 
 they became more independent of their lords. The 
 Flemish, whose industrial development preceded that 
 of the Normans, French, and English, were naturally 
 the first to acquire free institutions. Their example 
 inspired their neighbours with a longing for freedom ; 
 and feudalism began to decay. The last years of 
 Henry's life were years of peace. In 1133, two years 
 before the king's death, his daughter Matilda gave him 
 a grandson and future heir. 
 
 Much of Henry's success was due to his diplomacy 
 in dealing with Rome. After the death of William 
 Rufus, Anselm was recalled to England ; and, in his 
 charter, Henry promised that the Church should be free. 
 Anselm interpreted this promise literally, but Henry 
 found that this liberty was incompatible with his royal 
 power. In 1103 Anselm again left England. He 
 returned in 1106, when the dispute was settled by a 
 compromise which formed a precedent for the Concordat 
 of Worms, agreed to by Pope and Emperor in 1122. 
 This compromise allowed the Pope to instal bishops 
 in their spiritual offices, while the King granted them 
 their worldly possessions. Anselm died in 1109,
 
 NORMAN AND ENGLISH 65 
 
 fighting to the verj^ last for the rights of the Pope and 
 the Church of England. While supporting a body 
 which afforded some protection to the conquered 
 English, Anselm enforced celibacy on all clergy and 
 weakened the bond between the Church and the people 
 of England. During the rest of Henry's reign the see 
 of Canterbury was filled in succession by two foreigners 
 who succeeded in serving Pope and King. 
 
 While Henry appeared to be making the power of 
 Norman royalty irresistible, two other forces were 
 growing in England with even greater rapidity. The 
 Cluniac reformation had not spent its force. New 
 monasteries were being founded ; and, with each 
 foundation, the power of the Church and her hold over 
 the production of wool was strengthened. The towns, 
 too, were growing. London was becoming a residential 
 city for magnates as well as a great centre of commerce. 
 The charters, which gave towns and merchant gilds 
 the right of protecting their commerce, were producing 
 their natural effect. When Henry died in 1135 his 
 nephew, Stephen of Boulogne, put himself forward as 
 a candidate for the throne. Stephen went at once to 
 London and secured the support of the citizens. His 
 two uncles had made the securing of Winchester and 
 the royal treasury their first concern. Stephen's 
 brother, Henry, who had been a monk in the Abbey of 
 Cluny, was appointed to the see of Winchester in 1130. 
 Stephen may, therefore, have thought that his interests 
 were safe in his brother's hands. After some hesitation 
 the clerical magnates were induced to violate their 
 oath to Matilda ; and Stephen was crowned at West- 
 minster three weeks after Henry's death. 
 
 F
 
 66 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 At first both in England and in Normandy there 
 was less opposition to Stephen than there had been to 
 his uncles William Rufus and Henry I. After some 
 hesitation the barons of Normandy accepted Stephen 
 and repulsed Geoffrey and Matilda when they came 
 to claim the duchy. Baronial revolts in Devon and 
 Norfolk were easily suppressed, though the Welsh 
 threw off the Norman yoke and King David of Scot- 
 land declared for Matilda. One writer describes an 
 attempted insurrection of the English, but nothing 
 came of this. The subjugation of the peasants was so 
 complete that, in that part of Yorkshire which had been 
 ravaged by the Conqueror, Saxon archers helped 
 Normans and Flemings to defeat the Saxons of Scot- 
 land in 1 138 at the battle of the Standard. The civil 
 wars in England were not complicated by servile in- 
 surrections, and there were no more invasions from 
 the north. The civil wars were fought by mercenary 
 soldiers, such as the men from the Low Countries, who, 
 with their leader, William of Ypres, were imported by 
 Stephen. Parts of England, which were not the actual 
 scenes of battle, appear to have been little affected. 
 King Stephen tried to conciliate interests which 
 were incompatible with his sovereignty. In a second 
 charter he granted complete independence to the 
 Church. The see of Canterbury fell vacant in 1136. 
 Stephen opposed the election of his brother, Henry 
 of Winchester, and, in 1139, Theobald, a foreign 
 monk, was consecrated Archbishop, while Henry was 
 appointed papal legate. Then followed a quarrel be- 
 tween Church and King, general anarchy in England, 
 and the landing of Matilda. In 1141, Matilda won a
 
 NORMAN AND ENGLISH 67 
 
 decisive victory at Lincoln, and for a few days London 
 accepted her as sovereign ; but when she declined to 
 guarantee to the citizens the laws of Edward, and asked 
 for a subsid}', London drove her out, and again de- 
 clared for Stephen. It was not until 1154 that the 
 civil war was ended b}" a compromise which granted the 
 kingdom of England to Stephen for life with reversion 
 to Matilda's son Henr3^ In 1155 Stephen died and 
 Henry II. succeeded to the throne. 
 
 The reign of Stephen is generally regarded as 
 nineteen years of anarchy, vividly pictured by the 
 monkish historian, who has left a terrible record of 
 the condition of the country districts of England in 
 Stephen's reign. " When the traitors perceived that 
 he was a mild man, and soft, and good, and did no 
 justice, then did they all wonder. They had done 
 homage to him, and sworn oaths, but held no faith ; 
 they were all forsworn and forfeited their troth ; for 
 every powerful man made his castles and held them 
 against him ; and they filled the land full of castles. 
 They cruelly oppressed the wretched men of the land 
 with castle works. When the castles were made they 
 filled tliem with devils and evil men. Then took they 
 those men that they imagined had any property, 
 both by night and by day, peasant men and women, 
 and put them in prison for their gold and silver and 
 tortured them with unutterable tortures ; for never 
 were martyrs so tortured as they were . . . The 
 bishops and clergy constantly cursed them, but 
 nothing came of it ; for they were all accursed, and 
 forsworn, and lost. However a man tilled, the earth 
 bare no com, for the land was all fordone by such 
 
 F 2
 
 68 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 deeds ; and they said openly that Christ and His 
 saints slept. Such and more than we can say we 
 endured nineteen winters for our sins." 
 
 Here is a picture of what the magnates could do 
 when the royal power was weak and the Church unable 
 to protect the peasant from his lord. Froude has 
 described the imperfections of the ecclesiastical courts ; 
 he has laid stress on the mildness of their punishments, 
 which often allowed the guilty to escape, and has 
 shown that civil law was much more consonant with 
 modern ideas. But the Chronicler gives the other side 
 of the picture. The condition of England in the 
 twelfth century bears little or no resemblance to the 
 present condition of England. The parish priest 
 might be, and usually was, the son of a serf. Once in 
 holy orders he was free of his lord, and could excom- 
 municate the oppressor of his peasant kinsfolk. The 
 peasant had no defender but the Church. She was to 
 him his one sure refuge. Rome was far away and her 
 claim to overlordship was not felt. Peter's Pence 
 was a small price to pay for protection against a feudal 
 lord. The magnate was very near, and he had little 
 sympathy with the race his father had conquered. 
 
 In striking contrast to the picture drawn by the 
 Chronicler is one left by FitzStephen, a citizen of 
 London, of that great city in the reign of Henry IL 
 To the north were cornfields, pastures, and meadows 
 producing luxuriant crops, and beyond these was a 
 great forest filled with game, stags, bucks, boars and 
 wild bulls. The citizens were distinguished for their 
 manners, their dress, and their good fare. From the 
 most distant lands ships came bringing luxuries of
 
 NORMAN AND ENGLISH 69 
 
 all kinds to the port. FitzStephen wrote that London 
 was able to supply twenty thousand horse and sixty 
 thousand foot when King Stephen called for a muster 
 of the citizens. He described with pride the schools of 
 London and the amusements of the Londoners. The 
 wealthy indulged in hawking and hunting, pastimes 
 of kings and lords. He wrote that the dwellers in 
 London were called barons, not citizens. So great 
 prosperity had followed from the protection of inland 
 trade. 
 
 Both the Chronicler and FitzStephen appear to 
 have been guilty of some exaggeration. It is certain 
 that in many parts of England there was prosperity 
 during Stephen's reign. It is known that during these 
 nineteen years more abbeys were built than during the 
 preceding century, and that these buildings were 
 distinguished by the grace and exquisite beauty of 
 their architecture. This was the period when the 
 Cistercians came to England and covered Yorkshire 
 with sheep farms. These monks were the greatest of 
 sheep farmers, and the wool they produced became the 
 most important part of England's chief export. In 
 this reign also an Anglo-Flemish fleet sailed from 
 Dartmouth to co-operate with the forces which marched 
 overland on the Second Crusade in 1147. This fleet 
 failed to reach the Mediterranean, but its sailors did 
 some service by driving the Moors from Lisbon and 
 helping to found the kingdom of Portugal. But, when 
 the narratives are discounted, the strength of London 
 and the weakness of the country districts are yet most 
 marked features of Stephen's reign, and although 
 London suffered from a great fire in 1136, it enjoyed
 
 70 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 such prosperity that not long after Stephen's death 
 it was described by a contemporary writer as one of 
 the most flourishing towns in Christendom. The pride 
 of London's citizens contrasts strangely with the 
 meekness of the conquered peasantry of England. 
 She claimed and maintained the right of making and 
 unmaking kings. In London the fusion of Norman, 
 Dane, and Saxon into Enghshmen was being rapidly 
 accomplished. She was an oasis of freedom in a 
 conquered land, and the secret of her power, that 
 which made her even stronger than the Church, was 
 her wise protective policy which kept the home trade 
 for her citizens.
 
 VI 
 
 BECKET's fight for ENGLISH FREEDOM 
 1 154- 1 189 
 
 Henry II. devoted the first years of his reign to 
 re-establishing the royal power in England. The 
 royal lands, which Stephen had given to his Flemish 
 supporters, were resumed by the Crown, and the foreign 
 soldiers were expelled. The unlawful castles were 
 demohshed. Once more the King of Scotland and 
 Prince of Wales became close allies, if not the actual 
 vassals of England's King, and served in his army 
 when he tried to annex Toulouse. From his father 
 Henry inherited Anjou, and his marriage with Eleanor, 
 Duchess of Aquitaine, made him ruler of lands which 
 stretched to the Pyrenees, and were separated from the 
 Mediterranean by the country of Toulouse, which he 
 attacked in 1159. 
 
 Had he become master of Toulouse, Henry would 
 have owned a through way to the East by Bordeaux 
 and the Garonne. Louis VII. of France, however, 
 came to the aid of the threatened county, and Henry 
 abandoned his scheme. 
 
 This cautious policy was probably a wise one. 
 Count Thierry of Flanders was Henry's friend. He
 
 72 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 had recently entrusted the guardianship of Flanders 
 and of his young son to Henry when he paid a visit to 
 the Flemish settlements in the East. In 1157 Flanders 
 fought with Holland over a trade dispute ; and the 
 Flemish would have felt the opening of a new trade 
 route to the Mediterranean. An open breach with 
 Flanders and France was avoided for some years, 
 which gave Henry time to consolidate and increase his 
 possessions in Western France and in the British Isles. 
 Brittany was drawn into his sphere of influence, and 
 a papal bull was obtained which authorised the con- 
 quest of Ireland. In the full tide of his success the 
 King determined to Hmit the freedom of the Church of 
 England, and in 1162 he made Thomas Becket Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, believing that he could rely upon 
 one who had faithfully served him as Chancellor. But 
 the new Archbishop was the son of Gilbert Becket, 
 formerly portreeve of London, and in a Londoner born 
 and bred the greatest monarch of Western Europe 
 found the man who made him miss his destiny. 
 
 Henry summoned a Great Council, and the bishops 
 and barons accepted a code of laws called the Con- 
 stitutions of Clarendon, which, amongst other pro- 
 visions, would have enabled the King to shield the 
 greater barons and royal servants from excommunica- 
 tion, would have empowered the civil courts to punish 
 the clergy, and would have prevented the son of a serf 
 from becoming a priest without his lord's consent. 
 Becket was the first of the new English to rise to the 
 dignity of Archbishop of Canterbury. His colleagues 
 came from the class whose ancestors had subdued 
 England. They were ready to obey the King's will.
 
 BECKET'S FIGHT FOR ENGLISH FREEDOM 73 
 
 and the Englishman was deserted and alone. For a 
 moment Becket faltered. Then, supported only by the 
 love of the poor of England, he began the fight which 
 ended with his murder in 1170. Becket fled from 
 England in 1164, but lie maintained his cause in poverty 
 and exile. There was at the time a schism in the 
 papacy, and Pope Alexander, who was acknowledged 
 by the West, was also a fugitive in France. Becket's 
 quarrel embarrassed Alexander, and the Archbishop 
 obtained very lukewarm support from his Pope. But 
 Becket resolutely trod the path of duty to the English 
 serfs who had been entrusted to his care. The path 
 had a glorious ending when the four Norman knights 
 murdered the unarmed EngHsh Archbishop in the 
 Cathedral of Canterbury. Becket's ancestors were 
 possibly as foreign as those of his murderers, but 
 London had taught him to die for English rights and 
 liberty. The modern reader is tempted to misunder- 
 stand the great issue for which Becket lived and died. 
 The principles for which he fought — the freedom of the 
 clergy from the law of the State and the right of appeal 
 to Rome — continued to exist long after they ceased to 
 be of service to the English. In time both principles 
 became anachronisms and abuses. There is, therefore, 
 a temptation to regard Henry as the originator of 
 reform and Becket as its opponent. But this view 
 finds little support in the verdict pronounced by the 
 English in the twelfth century. They regarded Becket 
 as the champion of the rights of the poor against the 
 tyranny of the rich. In London, the centre of English 
 freedom, St. Thomas the Martyr was greatly honoured. 
 " For many years after his death it was the custom of
 
 74 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 the mayor of the City for the time being, upon entering 
 into office, to meet the aldermen at the Church of 
 St. Thomas of Aeon . . . and thence to proceed to the 
 tomb of Gilbert Becket, the father, in St. Paul's Church- 
 yard, there to say a De Profundis, after which both 
 mayor and aldermen returned to the Church of 
 St. Thomas, and, each having made an offering of 
 two pence, returned to his own home," Londoners 
 evidently believed that the portreeve had taught his 
 son to live and die for English freedom. 
 
 The miracles wrought by St. Thomas point in the 
 same direction. The saint was never weary of showing 
 kindness to peasant children. The eyes of the thief, 
 destroyed by the cruel law of the State, were restored 
 by the martyr. The marriage of parish priests had 
 been forbidden in the days of Anselm ; but St. Thomas, 
 though Rome had made him saint, took the illegal 
 home circle of the English parish priest under his 
 pecuhar care. The EngHsh, at least, did not associate 
 the memory of the man who had withstood both King 
 and Pope with undue subservience to Rome. That 
 Henry did good service to England by continuing the 
 policy of his grandfather none can doubt. He fur- 
 thered the unification of Great Britain and the estab- 
 lishment of the supremacy of the King's law. From 
 his reforms the EngHsh jury grew. But Becket's great 
 work was to force the King to ally himself with the 
 people instead of with his magnates. After Becket's 
 death Henry continued his reforms ; but he tried to 
 harmonise the increase of royal power with the interests 
 of the English. 
 
 Six months before Becket's death the King's
 
 BECKET'S FIGHT FOR ENGLISH FREEDOM 75 
 
 eldest son, Prince Henry, was crowned King of England. 
 In the same yeai " a clean sweep was made of the 
 corrupt local sheriffs, and royal officials substituted." 
 In 1 171 Henry took formal possession of Ireland, which 
 some of his magnates had already invaded. In May 
 1 172 he was solemnly forgiven for his share in Becket's 
 murder and reconciled to the Church. Prince Henry 
 was again crowned in 1172 ; and at the same time the 
 King tried to settle the affairs of his vast empire by 
 delegating authority over provinces to his other sons. 
 To Richard was given Aquitaine, to Geoffrey Brittany, 
 whilst a marriage was arranged for John which would 
 have made him lord of valuable fiefs in Provence. 
 The Count of Toulouse was then induced to accept 
 Henry as suzerain. It was a moment of triumph 
 which preceded a storm. 
 
 Count PhiUp, who had succeeded to Flanders in 
 1168, joined Louis VII. in opposing Henry. David of 
 Scotland and a number of discontented barons also 
 took arms with the object of making Prince Henry 
 King of England in fact as weU as in name. When the 
 wool trade was disturbed it was not difficult to enlist 
 an army of unemployed Flemish weavers. The men 
 poured into England saying, according to a contem- 
 porary historian, " We have not come into this country 
 to sojourn, but to destroy King Henry the old warrior, 
 and to have his wool, which we long for." The 
 historian adds : " Lords, that is the truth : the greater 
 part of them were weavers." Throughout the graphic 
 narrative of Jordan Fantosme these Flemings play an 
 important part. The war was one in which the English 
 fought an allied army of Scotchmen and Flemings.
 
 76 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 When the Bishop of Winchester carried grave news to 
 the King, who was holding his own with some difficulty 
 in Normandy, " ' Fair lord,' said the King, ' tell me 
 the truth, how are the brave men of my city of London 
 acting ? ' " The answer to this question was : " ' They 
 are the most loyal people of all your kingdom. There 
 is no one in the town who is of age to bear arms who 
 is not well armed. You would wrongly believe any 
 evil of them.' ' O God,' so said the King, ' now have 
 pity, preserve the brave men of my city of London. 
 Depart, lord bishop, to your country. If God give me 
 health, and I be alive, you will have me in London 
 before fifteen days are past, and I will take vengeance 
 on all my enemies.' " 
 
 To make assurance doubly sure the King, on his 
 way to London, walked barefoot to the shrine of 
 St. Thomas at Canterbury, and was scourged by the 
 monks. Reconciled thus to his English subj ects Henry 
 had a royal reception when he reached London. A few 
 days later he received news of the defeat and capture 
 of the King of Scotland. It was not long before the 
 Flemings were expelled from England ; and civil war 
 did not disturb England during the rest of Henry's 
 reign. But he had trouble enough in his continental 
 dominions. Men sought peace then as at all times 
 they have sought peace. War is always uncomfort- 
 able ; and to Flemish weavers who had been taught 
 tliat they could not obtain Henry's wool by force, 
 peace with England was absolutely necessary. But 
 the divergent economic interests of the provinces of 
 Henry's empire made a prolonged peace impossible. 
 In 1 174 all differences appeared to have been adjusted .
 
 BECKET'S FIGHT FOR ENGLISH FREEDOIil 77 
 
 The western peoples sheathed their swords, and the 
 King of Scotland was released when he had fuUy 
 acknowledged Henry as his suzerain. 
 
 In 1 179 Louis of France was stricken with paralysis, 
 and his son, Philip II., became the ruler of France. 
 He married the niece of the childless Count Philip of 
 Flanders, who was made regent of France during the 
 minority of Philip II. During this peace a curious 
 presentiment of fast approaching war prompted the 
 Flemish, French and English to make ready for battle. 
 In 1181, by the Assize of Arms, every English freeman 
 was bound to be prepared to defend his country in 
 case of need. Similar edicts were simultaneously 
 promulgated in France and Flanders. The hold which 
 Henry had acquired over his English subjects by his 
 reconciliation with St. Thomas was shown when he 
 bade his English furnish themselves with arms. The 
 later years of Henry's life were fuU of the trouble 
 inseparable from his vast possessions on the Continent. 
 Richard gave expression to the desire of those over 
 whom he ruled in Aquitaine for independence and 
 access to the Mediterranean through Toulouse. This 
 brought him into conflict with Prince Henry, who 
 wished to succeed to an undivided empire. For 
 reasons of his own the French King encouraged these 
 disputes amongst Henry's sons, which continued after 
 Prince Henry's death in 1183, and that of his brother 
 Geoffrey in 1186. Jerusalem was captured by the 
 Turks in 1187 ; and the Kings of the West agreed to 
 forget their differences and join in the Third Crusade. 
 But before arrangements could be made war began 
 again over the seizure of merchants from Richard's
 
 78 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 dominions by the Count of Toulouse, England and 
 France became involved in the quarrel. Henry was 
 unsuccessful in the fighting, and lost the to\vn of Le 
 Mans. He died soon after peace was signed in 1189, 
 cursing his children and his God because he had failed 
 to unite lands whose economic interests were opposed 
 to union.
 
 VII 
 
 ENGLAND ACQUIRES NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE 
 
 1190-1226 
 
 Three rulers led the Third Crusade ; of these the first 
 to take the cross and the most enthusiastic was 
 Richard I., King of England, who had but recently 
 been ruling over Aquitaine. Since England's foreign 
 trade was conducted by aliens, the expedition was not 
 conceived in the interest of England ; but the merchants 
 of Aquitaine might have gained had it been a success. 
 With Richard, the two Philips of Flanders and of 
 France went on crusade in 1190. An Anglo-Flemish 
 fleet sailed in advance of the main expedition, and 
 devoted some time to attacking the Moors and driving 
 them from Southern Portugal. The Christian kings 
 who ruled over the provinces into which the Spanish 
 peninsula was divided were gaining importance in the 
 eyes of the Western rulers ; since they commanded the 
 gateway to the golden East. Eleanor, daughter of 
 Henry II., married the King of Castile. A Portuguese 
 princess became the wife of Philip of Flanders ; and, 
 whilst the Crusaders rested in the island of Sicily, 
 Richard married Berengaria of Navarre. 
 
 The cordial relations which united France and 
 Flanders were of short duration. Territorial disputes
 
 8o THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 led to war by which Philip of France increased his 
 possessions at the expense of his namesake of Flanders. 
 The alliance of the Third Crusade was supposed to 
 have reconciled the three leaders. It needed, however, 
 no gift of prophecy to see that France was destined 
 to increase at the expense of England and Flanders, 
 unless the English and Flemish formed a close alliance. 
 But, although the industrial interests and racial 
 sympathies of the English and Flemish made for this 
 alliance, the commercial ambition of the Flemish 
 merchants and those of Aquitaine led their rulers to 
 waste strength in distant conquests and neglect the 
 treasure they possessed in the wool of England and 
 the looms of Flanders. 
 
 The crusading kings quarrelled over the conquests 
 that were made. When Cyprus was taken, Philip of 
 France asked for half of the island, and was told by 
 Richard that he could not have it unless he promised 
 to divide Flanders. It was thus clearly understood 
 that the Flemish were to be the real victims of the 
 Third Crusade. Shortly before the Crusaders captured 
 the seaport of Acre, Phihp of Flanders died, and, after 
 a brief interval, Philip of France left the East, bent 
 on increasing his possessions at the expense of the new 
 Count. But news of the death travelled faster than 
 the King ; and Count Baldwin VIII. was allowed to 
 succeed after surrendering Artois and paying a large 
 fine. Richard, dazzled by the prospect of capturing 
 Jerusalem, remained in the East. But in October 
 1192 the intrigues of his brother John with the French 
 King compelled Richard to abandon his design and 
 leave the East. On his journey home Richard was
 
 NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE ACQUIRED 8i 
 
 seized by the Germans and the English paid an enor- 
 mous ransom for their King. On his return Richard 
 pkmged into war with France. In 1195 Baldwin VIII. 
 was succeeded by his son Baldwin IX., a young man 
 twenty-three years of age. Philip took advantage of 
 the young Count's inexperience, obtaining from him 
 the fiefs of Boulogne and Guines ; in other words, access 
 to the coast nearest to England. Baldwin IX. also 
 signed papers requesting certain bishops to excommuni- 
 cate him if he failed in his duty towards his suzerain. 
 
 The indignation of the Flemish at this peaceful 
 annexation, which would have imperilled their com- 
 merce with England in the event of an Anglo-French 
 war, was so great that Baldwin was forced to alter his 
 policy. In 1197 the Flemish concluded an offensive 
 and defensive alliance with England and engaged in 
 war with France. The allies were meeting with 
 great success in the war when Richard died in 1199. 
 John became ruler of the Angevin Empire, although 
 many of his subjects supported the claim of Arthur, 
 son of Geoffrey of Brittany, to the Crown. The allied 
 powers, England and Flanders, were able to make 
 satisfactory treaties with France in 1200. John's 
 reign might have been a successful one but for the 
 Fourth Crusade. 
 
 There was a curious mixture of physical courage 
 and moral cowardice in the Flemish character. Whilst 
 they retained many of their pagan superstitions, they 
 were paralysed when Flanders was placed under inter- 
 dict and Christian services were forbidden. The Arch- 
 bishop of Rheims placed Flanders under interdict 
 during the war between Baldwin IX. and Philip II., 
 
 G
 
 82 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 but the Pope removed the interdict. Gratitude to 
 the Pope may have prompted Baldwin to march to the 
 East in 1202 on the Fourth Crusade ; but for this, as 
 for the other Crusades, there were other than rehgious 
 motives. Instead of fighting the infidel, the Venetians 
 and Flemish seized and sacked Constantinople, the 
 greatest commercial city in Europe and the bulwark of 
 Christianity in the East. When, in defiance of the 
 Pope's commands, this crime was committed in 1204 
 and the Count of Flanders became Emperor of Con- 
 stantinople, the merchants of Flanders had reason to 
 hope that the Flemish had secured a monopoly of 
 trade with the East. 
 
 The Flemish learned their mistake when within 
 a year their Count lost his life fighting Bulgarians. 
 The fortunes of Flanders then depended upon two 
 young girls, Jean and Marguerite, doubly orphaned 
 since their mother. Count Baldwin's wife, had died of 
 fever on board a Flemish fleet which was lying off the 
 coast of Syria. It was long before the Flemish could 
 believe that their great speculation had ended in 
 disaster. More than twenty years after Baldwin's 
 death an impostor was hanged for leading all Flanders 
 astray by pretending to be the Emperor miraculously 
 restored to a people who longed for his return. Philip II. 
 as suzerain of Flanders at once took possession of the 
 Flemish heiresses, and the people were unable to be of 
 assistance to the English whilst Jean and Marguerite 
 were in Paris under Philip's control. 
 
 When Flanders was drained of her fighting men, 
 John was summoned to Philip's court at Paris over a 
 feudal dispute, and his continental fiefs were forfeited
 
 NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE ACQUIRED 83 
 
 to Philip, ^^'hilst Baldwin was winning an empire in 
 the East, Philip took possession of Nonnandy almost 
 without resistance. The provinces of an empire 
 cannot continue to be patriotic when their interests 
 are systematically neglected. England's continental 
 possessions had caused heavy taxation, while Nor- 
 mandy had been often devastated by wars waged in 
 the interests of the merchants of Aquitaine. More 
 English wool was sold to Flanders than to Normandy, 
 and the Norman wine trade must have been affected 
 when Gascony was united to England, The wine 
 which the Normans sent to England came from central 
 France. Their trade as middlemen would suffer when 
 Paris and Rouen were separated by Chateau Gaillard, 
 which Richard I. built on the banks of the Seine. It 
 was but natural that the separation of England and 
 Normandy caused little emotion in either land. 
 
 John, however, did not view with unconcern the 
 loss of revenue and prestige which came from his 
 continental possessions. The basin of the Loire, as 
 well as the basin of the Seine, had seceded from John's 
 empire. The only continental possession which re- 
 mained to him was the favoured region of the Garonne. 
 John showed great ability in grappling with his diffi- 
 culties, although in the end force of circumstances 
 proved stronger than he. He established precedents 
 which were afterwards followed by his more fortunate 
 successors. The wool-growing Cistercians claimed ex- 
 emption from national taxation on the ground that 
 they were not English but foreigners settled in England. 
 John declared that if those who lived in England would 
 not contribute to the expense of government they 
 
 G 2
 
 84 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 should not have the protection of EngUsh law. This 
 quarrel led to a conflict between Church and State ; 
 during this conflict England was under interdict and 
 the usual religious services were suspended from 
 March 1208 until July 1214. The see of Canterbury 
 fell vacant in 1205. The Pope, asked to decide 
 between the candidates of the King and of the monks 
 of Canterbury, gave Canterbury to his own nominee, 
 Stephen Langton. John refused to allow Langton to 
 enter England, so that for some years the Church had 
 no leader. 
 
 In the midst of his many difficulties John proved 
 himself a great ruler of men. While England was 
 suffering under interdict, a sentence which had humbled 
 his great rival, Philip of France, in less than a year, 
 John was able to exercise greater authority over both 
 Great Britain and Ireland than any of his predecessors. 
 His private character is described as infamous, but he 
 was loyally obeyed. His throne was supported by a 
 foreign mercenary army recruited largely in Flanders. 
 But the burden of taxation fell lightly on the English, 
 since John confiscated the property of the Church 
 and thus obtained ample funds. During the minority 
 of Countess Jean, the King of England entered into 
 direct relations with the burghers of the Flemish 
 towns. Thus London's wool trade did not suffer. 
 This precedent was also followed by England's kings. 
 
 There was a strong Flemish party opposed to union 
 with France ; but, whilst the Countess of Flanders was 
 in Philip's keeping, a new crusade drained Flanders 
 of her fighting men. In the rich and prosperous 
 county of Toulouse there were many who held views
 
 NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE ACQUIRED 85 
 
 now generally accepted by Protestants. Against these 
 men, who denied the authority of the Pope, Rome 
 preached a new crusade. Before Flanders had time 
 to gather strength after the Fourth Crusade, in 1208 
 her feudal lords joined those of Northern France in an 
 attack on Toulouse. Urged on by the fiery St. Dominic 
 and led by Simon de Montfort, who by this act for- 
 feited his English earldom of Leicester, an army 
 devastated Toulouse, shouting, as they indiscriminately 
 slew orthodox and heretics, " Kill all ; the Lord will 
 know His own." This was the first of the invasions 
 which determined the fate of Toulouse. Henceforward 
 the land was open to the French invader. In 1229 
 it was finally annexed to the possessions of St. Louis, 
 King of France. 
 
 As soon as they had recovered from the madness of 
 the Crusade against Toulouse, the Flemish threatened 
 that they would seek a protector in King John if their 
 Countess was not restored to them. In 1212 she was 
 married to Ferdinand of Portugal, who bound himself 
 to act as the faithful servant of Philip II. But the 
 national feeling of the Flemish forced the Count to 
 form an alliance with John. War between France 
 and the allied powers of England and Flanders was 
 inevitable. The shipping of Normandy had become 
 French. If to this was added the fleet of Flanders 
 a successful invasion was more than probable. The 
 English who had refused to help John to retain his 
 continental possessions came forward with enthusiasm 
 when their island was threatened. But the Flemish 
 alliance was the weak point which John feared. 
 
 The English had shown that interdict could not
 
 86 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 conquer them, but its effect on the Flemish was well 
 known. In January 1213, John, who had already 
 been excommunicated, was formally deposed, and 
 Philip was authorised by the Pope to invade England. 
 It then became certain that Flanders would have to 
 abandon her English ally or brave the anger of Rome, 
 unless John made terms with the Pope. In May 1213, 
 when the French army was about to embark for 
 England, John yielded. With the consent of his 
 barons, he acknowledged the Pope as his suzerain, and 
 England became a vassal kingdom. Langton and the 
 exiled bishops came to England. Compensation was 
 promised to the Church, and Philip was forbidden to 
 attack Rome's vassal. Under these circumstances the 
 Flemish had to be crushed before it was safe for the 
 French to cross the Channel. 
 
 Philip's army at once invaded Flanders, and his 
 fleet sailed to Damme, where it blocked the entrance 
 to Bruges. John acted promptly. In less than three 
 weeks after his submission to the Pope, an English 
 fleet destroyed or captured four hundred French ships 
 in the harbour of Damme. This was the first of 
 England's victories on the sea. With the destruction 
 of the French fleet all danger of an invasion of Eng- 
 land passed away ; but Philip continued his attack 
 on Flanders. When John tried to aid his allies, his 
 magnates refused their help. It was not until Feb- 
 ruary 1 214 that John was able to sail for La Rochelle 
 with few followers but with money to pay foreign 
 recruits. Meanwhile the Flemish had been placed 
 under interdict by French bishops, and, in despair, 
 they joined a great confederation, which included the
 
 NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE ACQUIRED 87 
 
 excommunicated Emperor of Germany, Otto IV. 
 John's attack on Anjou was successful mainly because 
 Philip refused to be diverted from his campaign against 
 Flanders and her allies. In July 1214, at Bouvines, 
 the French King won a decisive victory. Count 
 Ferdinand was taken prisoner ; Flanders was crushed ; 
 and John was compelled to make peace with Philip 
 by abandoning his lost continental dominions. 
 
 On his return to England John was confronted by a 
 combination of bishops, lords, and merchants. They 
 demanded the Great Charter which John signed at 
 Runnymede in June 1215. This Charter left the 
 English serf in bondage, but John was forced to 
 promise to observe the feudal obligations which were 
 imphed in the Charter of Henry I. Thus, whilst the 
 Great Charter is mainly feudal, it safeguarded the 
 rights of all classes of free Englishmen. When the 
 feudal lords made common cause with ecclesiastics and 
 merchants, the new English nation was born. A halo 
 of romance grew round the Great Charter, so that in 
 time men came to believe that the principles of trial 
 by jury and of free trade were contained in it. But 
 this belief is not shared by modern students of history. 
 
 Henry II. estabhshed juries of accusation — parents 
 of the modern grand jury — which sent those they 
 deemed guilty to the ordeal. The accused was then 
 punished if he failed to hold hot iron unharmed or sink 
 when thrown into water. It was a form of appeal 
 to God after man had given his decision. In 1215 
 the Fourth Lateran Council condemned ordeals, and 
 forbade priests to countenance them. After this the 
 petty jury replaced the ordeal ; but the change was
 
 88 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 not connected with the Great Charter. Nor did the 
 Great Charter sanction free trade. London merchants 
 would never have assented to so revolutionary a 
 change. Chapter XHL promises " that the citizens of 
 London shall have all their ancient liberties and free 
 customs as well by land as by water ; furthermore, 
 we decree and grant that all other cities, boroughs, 
 towns, and ports shall have all their liberties and 
 free customs." 
 
 Chapter XLL decrees that " all merchants shall have 
 safe and secure exit from England, and entry to Eng- 
 land, with the right to tarry there and to move about 
 as well by land as by water, for buying and selling by 
 the ancient and right customs, except (in time of war) 
 such merchants as are of the land at war with us. 
 And if such are found in our land at the beginning of 
 the war, they shall be detained, without injury to their 
 bodies or goods, until information be received by us, or 
 by our chief justiciar, how the merchants of our land 
 found in the land at war with us are treated ; and if 
 our men are safe there, the others shall be safe in our 
 land." The inland trade was fully protected by the 
 " ancient and right customs," and it was endangered 
 when the King arbitrarily interfered, as John had often 
 done, with the coming and going of foreign merchants. 
 But even this chapter was found to be injurious to the 
 interests of the nation ; and, in subsequent confirma- 
 tions of the Charter, the Crown was allowed to suspend 
 its operation by proclamation. 
 
 In the Charter John promised to send away his 
 foreign mercenaries. At first he fulfilled his promise. 
 Then the Pope released him from his oath, and he not
 
 NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE ACQUIRED 89 
 
 only recalled those he had sent away but enlisted more 
 in Flanders. A multitude of Flemish, anxious to 
 escape from French rule, sailed for England. Many 
 were wrecked off the east coast, but a sufficient 
 number landed there and at Dover to spread panic 
 throughout England. The fleet and the Cinque Ports 
 remained faithful to John. Before long the barons had 
 practically lost all the land except London. In their 
 extremity they offered the kingdom to Louis, the son 
 and heir of Philip of France. John died in October 
 1216 during the civil war, six months after the death 
 of Innocent III., his papal suzerain. England's new 
 suzerain, Honorius III., reaped from England the 
 harvest which Innocent sowed. 
 
 John's son and heir, Henry III., was nine years old 
 in 1216. The papal legate at once received the boy's 
 homage and placed him under papal protection. Philip 
 could not officially recognise his son's claim to the 
 English throne, and in 12 17 Louis returned to France. 
 There was peace between England and France until 
 Philip died in 1223 and his son became Louis VIII. 
 During Philip's life Count Ferdinand remained in a 
 French prison. It was not until Henry III. had offi- 
 cially recognised the impostor who pretended that he 
 was Baldwin of Constantinople, when it also seemed 
 probable that the Pope would annul Jean's marriage 
 and thus allow her to choose another protector, that, 
 in 1226, Ferdinand was released. Whilst their French 
 suzerain was exercising an ever-increasing influence 
 over the rulers of Flanders the Kings of England began 
 to negotiate directly with the weaving cities of Flanders ; 
 and this pr)jicy was continued when, after Ferdinand's
 
 90 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 release, Henry HI. also paid the Count his traditional 
 English annuity by way of ensuring an Anglo-Flemish 
 cordial understanding. 
 
 The reign of Henry HI. marks the transition from 
 the purely feudal government by foreign kings to the 
 mixed feudal and commercial government by the first 
 national Kings of England since the Conquest. A new 
 era then began in which England gradually learned to 
 value and ultimately to protect the production of her 
 workers as well as the trade of her merchants. During 
 this era many mistakes were made, and there was 
 a great crisis — the War of the Roses — which ushered 
 in the protection of industry in much the same way 
 as the War of the Barons led to the entrance of the 
 mercantile class into the governing body of England. 
 But in spite of mistakes and wars it is easy to trace 
 a steady growth of freedom. Serfdom disappeared, 
 and, as the people became free, they obtained from 
 their rulers that protection for their labour without 
 which their freedom would have been worthless.
 
 VIII 
 
 THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE ASSERTED 
 
 BY A PROTECTIONIST 
 
 1218-1265 
 
 Originally royal revenue was derived from land. 
 Domesday Book was written by order of the Con- 
 queror in order to equalise and facilitate the collection 
 of this revenue. In ordinary times the King was 
 supposed to live of his own ; that is, from the rents of 
 the crown estates, supplemented by prises levied in 
 kind on exports and imports, payments made by the 
 Jews in return for royal protection, and certain feudal 
 dues. On extraordinary occasions the King's needs 
 were supplied by special taxes. When he went on 
 circuit the localities visited had to supply his wants. 
 This right of purveyance was often grossly abused. 
 During war the King's vassals were obliged to come to 
 his aid, and he could take shipping or goods at a fixed 
 price. It was also the duty of vassals to contribute 
 towards the cost of knighting the king's eldest son, 
 marrying his eldest daughter, and ransoming his person 
 from tlie enemy. The Danegeld, or general tax on 
 land, could be levied if there was need, and tlie coast 
 towns could be required to provide ships for England's 
 defence. After the reign of Henry II. the most usual
 
 92 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 form of special tax was a fraction of the agricultural 
 and other products which remained for sale after the 
 wants of the producer were satisfied. 
 
 In theory all the land of England belonged to 
 the King. In practice he only owned certain royal 
 estates, whilst he had valuable rights over large tracts 
 of country called forests. Dwellers within the forests 
 were subject to a special code of laws. The game 
 belonged to the King ; and owners of land within the 
 forests were not allowed to cut more timber than they 
 required for their own use. The King owned the right 
 of selling wood from the forest. Before coal was used 
 as fuel the royal forests served a useful purpose in 
 preserving the timber required for the navy. At first 
 the King's forest rights were maintained by cruel laws, 
 but these were abohshed before the reign of Henry III. 
 Fines or imprisonment for a year and a day were the 
 later penalties inflicted for breaches of the forest law. 
 Within the forests the poor enjoyed valuable rights of 
 free fuel and pasture ; but the richer landowners 
 objected to laws which prevented them from selling 
 timber or killing game. When lands were disafforested 
 property of great value passed from the King, who 
 represented the nation, into private hands. The 
 anarchy of Stephen's reign led to encroachments on 
 the royal forests. Much land was afforested by 
 Henry II. and his sons. The long quarrel between 
 King and magnates began as a dispute over the legality 
 of these afforestations. It was ended in the nineteenth 
 century, when the rights of the people in the royal 
 forests had almost disappeared. 
 
 In Henry's reign there were two parties in England,
 
 THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE 93 
 
 Nationalists and anti-Nationalists. The former in- 
 cluded the majority of the English people, who viewed 
 with pleasure the loss of Normandy and England's 
 continental possessions. The latter, though numeric- 
 ally weak, were constantly strengthened by immigrants 
 from the Continent. Their aim was the recovery of 
 the Angevin Empire, and, perhaps, the acquisition of 
 the through route to the East b}^ way of the Garonne. 
 From the first the anti-Nationalists had great influence 
 over Henry HI. The Nationalists were not united, 
 some wished to increase the power of the magnates 
 at the expense of the Crown ; whilst others sought 
 to unify the country by strengthening the King's 
 authority. William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, acted 
 as Regent for the boy-king. He conciliated the mag- 
 nates by advising Henry to sign the Great Charter 
 and the Charter of the Forests, which sanctioned 
 extensive disafforestations. Pembroke died in 1218. 
 He was succeeded by Hubert de Burgh, a Nationalist 
 who worked for the Crown. The Pope's attempt to 
 govern England as a subject province was foiled by 
 his efforts and those of Archbishop Langton ; but the 
 papacy was able to treat England as a well of wealth 
 from which Rome could draw an unlimited supply. 
 
 Under de Burgh order was re-established. In 
 1222 he incurred the hostility of the Londoners by his 
 severity in suppressing a local riot which, owing to the 
 cries raised, appeared like an attempt at again assert- 
 ing Louis' claim to the throne of England. In 1223 
 Philip of France died and his son became Louis VIII, 
 Henry was in this year declared of age, and the sur- 
 render of royal castles held during the King's minority
 
 94 THE STRENCxTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 was demanded. There was a short civil war, after 
 which de Burgh was able to strengthen the royal power. 
 War with France recommenced in 1224. The Enghsh 
 possessions in Gascony were retained, owing to the 
 fact that the French directed most of their attention 
 to the complete subjugation of Toulouse. In 1226, 
 whilst Toulouse was being crushed, Louis VIIL died. 
 His twelve-year-old son became Louis IX. with his 
 mother Blanche of Castile as Regent. 
 
 The accession of a child to the throne of France 
 gave the French feudal lords an opportunity for 
 checking the growth of their suzerain's authority, 
 which had been greatly increased by Philip II. and 
 Louis VIII. Henry tried to turn this disunion to good 
 account, but the tact of the Regent of France con- 
 ciliated the French barons for a time, and Henry was 
 forced to make a truce with France in 1228. The 
 French barons, however, insisted that Ferdinand of 
 Flanders should be released so that the Flemish had a 
 man to lead them. In 1229 the question of Toulouse 
 was finally settled by its definite union with the king- 
 dom of France. Next year the barons of France 
 were again in arms against the Regent ; and Henry 
 crossed the Channel. But, in spite of his annuity, the 
 Count of Flanders refused to join the insurgent French 
 barons. The Regent was able to make terms with the 
 barons ; and Henry signed a fresh truce with France. 
 
 The position of the Count of Flanders was a difficult 
 one. Over a part of his territory the French King was 
 over-lord ; part was held as a German fief ; and some 
 land was his own domain. In the time of William the 
 Conqueror, a fresh obligation was added : in return for
 
 THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE 95 
 
 an annual money payment, the Counts entered into 
 complicated feudal relations with the kings of England. 
 As Dukes of Normandy, the English kings were vassals 
 of France like the Flemish Counts ; and the Anglo- 
 Flemish treaties which for many years were enacted 
 and re-enacted bear witness to the Counts' keen desire 
 to live on the most friendly terms with England, and 
 yet avoid giving offence to their suzerain, or com- 
 promising themselves with Normandy. 
 
 The war of 1230 was accompanied by a stoppage 
 of commercial relations between England and Flanders. 
 The inconvenience was evidently felt in both countries, 
 since in 1237 an Anglo-Flemish arrangement was con- 
 cluded which guaranteed the neutrality of Flanders 
 in the event of an Anglo-French war. Nevertheless, 
 although the Countess of Flanders married, after the 
 death of Ferdinand in 1233, a husband who proved 
 loyal to England and his annuity, the poHtical con- 
 nexion between France and Flanders still deprived 
 Flemish looms of Enghsh wool when England and 
 France were at war. A regular supply of Enghsh wool 
 was so important to the weavers of Ghent that in the 
 middle of the thirteenth century they made a canal 
 connecting their city with Damme, a seaport at the 
 mouth of the Zwyn. 
 
 Among those who volunteered for the war of 1230 
 there was one who was destined to mould the infant 
 nation of England. A marriage contracted in the 
 twelfth century between the Anglo-Norman house 
 of de Beaumont and the Franco-Norman house of 
 de Montfort gave the earldom of Leicester to that 
 Simon de Montfort who led the Albigensian crusade.
 
 96 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 In this crusade he was fighting against John's brother- 
 in-law, the Count of Toulouse, and blocking the 
 English king's access to the Mediterranean. He 
 therefore forfeited his earldom ; but his younger son, 
 also called Simon, made amends when he offered his 
 sword to Henry in 1230. As a reward Simon de 
 Montfort received the forfeited earldom of Leicester 
 and the hand of the king's sister, Eleanor, thus be- 
 coming one of the most important of England's 
 magnates. 
 
 Henry HL, a devoted servant of the Church of 
 Rome, was unfortunate in the choice of two of his 
 sisters' husbands. De Montfort was excommunicated 
 by the Pope, and the same fate was shared by the 
 Emperor Frederic IL, who married Henry's sister 
 Isabel in 1235. The war between Emperor and Pope 
 culminated in Frederic's reign. The papacy needed 
 money for this war and made repeated demands on 
 its vassal kingdom, England. Papal financiers, called 
 Caorsines, from Cahors, came to aid in the collection 
 of this tribute. These Caorsines were soon hated as 
 heartily as the Jews were. The English clergy were 
 the chief victims. Not only were they heavily taxed, 
 but the well-paid livings were given to foreigners. 
 Papal taxation and that caused by the Anglo-French 
 wars caused such discontent that in 1232 a vast secret 
 society was formed in England to drive foreign eccle- 
 siastics out of the island. Acts of violence were com- 
 mitted, and no one was arrested. Already de Burgh 
 had lost Henry's favour owing to his having opposed 
 the Anglo-French war. After these disturbances de 
 Burgh was driven from office and persecuted by the
 
 THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE 97 
 
 King. The anti-Nationalist des Roches became Henty's 
 adviser, but his term of office was cut short by the 
 outbreak of civil war. In 1234 Henry was forced to 
 banish des Roches and govern England without an 
 adviser. 
 
 Having obtained the right bank of the Rhone the 
 French coveted the German fiefs which lined the left 
 bank. The Count of Provence had no sons, and 
 Louis IX. married the eldest of the Count's four 
 daughters. In 1236 Henry III. married Eleanor of 
 Provence, and the two remaining daughters found 
 husbands in Charles of Anjou, the brother of Louis IX., 
 and Richard of Cornwall, the brother of Henry III. 
 Provence, the prize in this matrimonial contest, was 
 ultimately obtained by Charles of Anjou. This was 
 the beginning of the expansion of France at the expense 
 of Germany. After Henry's wedding an attempt was 
 made to reconcile the claims of the King and his 
 magnates by an Act, called the Provisions of Merton, 
 which was " framed in the interest of the great land- 
 owners." The Great Charter and the Forest Charter 
 were confirmed ; but means were still found by which 
 the disafforesting clauses were evaded. On the other 
 hand, in the Provisions of Merton the lord of a manor 
 was allowed " to enclose waste lands, provided that he 
 left enough pasture to meet the wants of the free- 
 holders." This method of satisf3'ing the claims of the 
 rich by assigning to them the rights of the poor formed 
 a precedent often followed in later times. 
 
 With Henry's Queen there came a swarm of her 
 kinsfolk from Provence. These were given posts in 
 England ; one of Queen Eleanor's uncles, Boniface, 
 
 H
 
 98 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 obtained the Archbishopric of Canterbury in 1241. 
 War broke out between Louis IX. and the Count of 
 La Marche ; and Henry IIL invaded France in 1242, 
 only once more to suffer defeat. A truce was then 
 signed, and there were no more Anglo-French wars 
 during Henry's reign. When they had access to the 
 Mediterranean the French turned their attention to the 
 East. The emperors who succeeded Count Baldwin 
 at Constantinople were hard pressed. Baldwin IL 
 came in person to ask for French aid in 1236. He 
 received a large subsidy and gave in return a sacred 
 relic. The Pope had begged Frederic IL to attack the 
 Mahomedans, but the Emperor, who was also King 
 of Sicily, found that he could obtain all he wanted 
 by peaceful negotiation with the infidel. In 1248 
 Louis IX. sailed from Aigues Mortes, a Mediterranean 
 seaport specially constructed by him. His invasion 
 of Egypt ended in disaster. He was taken prisoner, 
 but was allowed to sail to Acre after paying a ransom 
 which emptied his military chest. 
 
 Henry IIL also took the cross, and the Pope 
 sanctioned a tax to be levied on the Enghsh clergy. 
 But the EngUsh King left the fighting to Louis IX. In 
 1250 the Emperor Frederic died. With him the power 
 of the empire passed away. The power of France 
 increased as that of Germany declined. Henry III. 
 also hoped to reap gain at the expense of Germany. 
 In 1254 he concluded an offensive and defensive 
 alliance with Alphonso, King of Castile — Edward, 
 Henry's eldest son, was married to Eleanor, Alphonso's 
 daughter. In the same year Henry accepted from the 
 Pope the kingdom of Sicily for his second son, Edmund.
 
 THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE 99 
 
 In 1256 Richard of Cornwall accepted an invitation to 
 become the Emperor of Germany. To Henry it may 
 have seemed that England would take that place in 
 Europe which Gemiany had held. The English were 
 indifferent to this dazzling future. They only saw 
 with alarm that vast sums of English money were 
 being sent to Rome and Germany. In 1258 the royal 
 treasury was empty. The magnates were summoned to 
 a Great Council at Westminster, and the crisis in the 
 contest between the Nationalists and anti-Nationalists 
 began. 
 
 At first the Nationalists were united in their action, 
 but they were composed of two sections whose aims 
 were antagonistic. A great movement had been started 
 in the Catholic Church by the friars who followed the 
 teaching of St. Dominic and St. Francis. Both taught 
 that Christians should love righteousness more than 
 worldly wealth, and both tried to reform the Church 
 from within. Whatever may be said of the failings 
 of the mendicant friars when they were overcome 
 by the gold they had denounced, or whatever fault 
 may be found with the acts of cruelty by which the 
 Dominicans proved their fanatical loyalty to Rome, 
 all must admire the Christlike self-surrender of the 
 first Dominicans and Franciscans when they came 
 penniless to England to minister to outcasts for whom 
 nobody cared. At once this saintlincss conquered 
 England, and in all probability postponed the severance 
 of the English Church from Rome for centuries. The 
 Franciscan friars had taught the English that poor and 
 rich were brethren in Christ, the friars practised the 
 religion they preached, and the English gladly accepted 
 
 n 2
 
 100 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 their Gospel ; from them the EngUsh learned their 
 first lessons in real freedom. Grossteste, one of the 
 holiest of England's bishops, afterguards Bishop of 
 Lincoln, welcomed the Franciscans to Oxford in 1224 ; 
 he retained a close connexion with the Franciscans 
 throughout his life. Grossteste and Adam Marsh, a 
 Franciscan friar, were intimate friends of de Montfort 
 and his wife. Some of the letters which passed between 
 these friends have been preserved, and these breathe a 
 spirit of devotion to Christ and His teaching. Under 
 such teachers de Montfort became the leader of that 
 section of the Nationalist party which aimed at securing 
 freedom for all Englishmen ; while Richard, Earl of 
 Gloucester, led those magnates whose ideal of freedom 
 meant the rule of the barons. The cleavage between 
 the sections did not occur until the united Nationalist 
 party had vanquished their opponents. 
 
 Behind the barons at the Great Council of West- 
 minster there was a united people. The Church and 
 London supported them, and the King had no option 
 but to agree to a project of reform whose execution 
 should be entrusted to twenty-four councillors to be 
 chosen by himself and his magnates. The Great 
 Council then adjourned to Oxford. There a Petition 
 of Grievances was presented to the King. The barons 
 complained of violation of the Charters, of defects in 
 English law, of corrupt administration of justice, of 
 the power which Henry had entrusted to foreigners, 
 and of the foreign merchants and money-lenders who 
 were allowed to reside and trade in London without 
 contributing to national taxation. A council of fifteen 
 members was then appointed, and the King swore that
 
 THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE loi 
 
 he would act as they advised. The royal proclamation 
 accepting the Provisions of Oxford was published in 
 English, as well as in French and Latin. In the 
 struggle for freedom the Londoners took a prominent 
 part. Freeman has written that, in 1247, " when the 
 nobles, clergy, and people of England put forth their 
 famous letter denouncing the wrongs which England 
 suffered at the hands of the Roman bishop, it was with 
 the seal of the cit}^ of London, as the centre of national 
 Hfe, that the national protest was made." But London, 
 like the barons, was destined, as the struggle deve- 
 loped, to be weakened by strife between the demo- 
 cratic and the anti-democratic Nationalists. 
 
 After the triumph of the Nationalists at Oxford 
 the foreign policy of England was reversed. The 
 crown of Sicily was declined and the Anglo-French 
 truce was converted into a formal peace. The prin- 
 ciples of the Provisions of Oxford were elaborated in 
 detail by the Provisions of Westminster passed by 
 the barons in 1259. The rights which the great land- 
 lords demanded from their chief landlord, the King, 
 were given to their tenants. A genuine attempt was 
 made at establishing a constitutional monarch}-. If 
 on the one hand the King was asked to govern by the 
 advice of his barons, on the other hand the power of 
 the King, acting under advice, was increased by the 
 baronial surrender of feudal privileges. Although de 
 Montfort's scheme of a constitutional monarchy failed, 
 the King when triumphant in 1267 rc-cnacted the 
 Provisions of Westminster in the Statute of Marl- 
 borough. The failure of de Montfort's scheme was 
 due, not to his Irgnl roforms, but to a vast economic
 
 102 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 change which he tried to carry out while he was 
 engaged in political reform. 
 
 Economic and political independence are closely 
 allied. It is not wise to depend solely on the sale of 
 raw material to the foreigner, since in times of shortage 
 the people have no manufactures to sell for food, and 
 the land may be afflicted with famine. It is equally 
 unwise to trust to an industry which depends on 
 foreign raw material, since ruin must come if the 
 foreign nation acquires the industry and thus uses 
 her raw material at home. These truths are clearly 
 expressed in the histories of England and Flanders. 
 
 In all countries peasants wove the rough cloth 
 which served their needs, but the finer cloths of 
 European manufacture were, at first, made almost 
 exclusively in Flanders. Weaving was introduced 
 into that country as a definite industry long before 
 the coming of WiUiam I. to England. At a later date 
 the Flemish had serious competitors in Southern 
 Germany and Florence ; but for a long while England 
 was the country where the wool was grown, Flanders 
 the land where it was made into line cloth, and German 
 merchants the middlemen who bought and sold the 
 wool and cloth. It was part of the policy of the 
 Norman and Angevin kings to encourage these foreign 
 middlemen, and for many centuries English commerce 
 was restricted to buying in the home market and 
 selling to the German for export abroad. Lead, tin, 
 hides, and wool were England's principal exports, 
 particularly wool, which was chiefly sold in Flanders. 
 
 In 1258 the barons at Oxford " decreed that the 
 wool of the country should be worked up in England,
 
 THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE 103 
 
 and should not be sold to foreigners, and that every 
 one should use woollen cloth made within the country 
 and not seek over-precious raiment." This attempt 
 at protecting the work of the poor English weaver 
 instead of the trade of the rich English merchant was 
 in keeping with the idealism of the Franciscan friars. 
 It was, at the time, Utopian and visionary. Though 
 woad was imported in considerable quantity, English 
 cloth was for the most part undyed and rough. The 
 weaving industry in England was too small to absorb 
 the immense supply of English wool. Had the decree 
 been carried out, the merchants and wool-growers 
 of England would have been faced with ruin. The 
 mayor and aldermen of London accepted the Provi- 
 sions of Oxford " saving the liberties and customs of 
 the City " ; but there were many who objected to this 
 saving clause. The Craft Gilds united, and in 1261 they 
 elected a democratic mayor, FitzThomas. Thus the 
 suggestion of protection for English industry led at 
 once to disunion in London. De Montfort appears to 
 have yielded to the wishes of the merchants ; since in 
 1259, when Henry was acting under baronial control, 
 he signed agreements which encouraged Anglo-Flemish 
 trade. 
 
 The barons were also disunited by de Montfort 's 
 democratic sympathies. Richard of Gloucester aban- 
 doned the baronial cause, and in 1261 Henry felt 
 strong enough to produce papal bulls absolving him 
 from his oath to observe the Provisions of Oxford. 
 But whilst merchants and lords deserted the cause of 
 democracy, the Church of England remained loyal to 
 the cause of progress in dcliance of the papal bulls.
 
 104 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 The repudiation of the Provisions for a time reunited 
 de Montfort and Gloucester. The Royahsts suggested 
 that the dispute between King and barons should be 
 submitted to the arbitration of Louis IX. This was 
 accepted by many of the barons, but de Montfort 
 refused to assent and retired to France. 
 
 The death of Richard of Gloucester in 1262 
 weakened the Royalists. The new Earl Gilbert joined 
 de Montfort, who returned from France in 1263. A 
 baronial army swept through England and eventually 
 received a warm welcome in London. Foreigners in 
 England, particularly foreign clergy, were attacked 
 and expelled from the island. Archbishop Boniface 
 sought safety in flight. But once more the triumph 
 of the Nationalists was followed by their disunion. 
 The Sicilian danger passed away in the summer of 
 1263, when the Pope revoked his grant to Prince 
 Edmund in order that he might give the throne to 
 Charles of Anjou. Before the end of the year Henry 
 and de Montfort agreed to accept the arbitration of 
 Louis IX. Six months later Louis decided in Henry's 
 favour on all the disputed points. This award was 
 immediately followed by civil war. At Lewes in 
 May 1264 the Royalists were defeated, and Henry 
 became de Montfort's prisoner. 
 
 Though by birth and marriage de Montfort might 
 have aspired to usurp the Crown, no such disloyal 
 attempt was made. Henry continued to reign, but 
 he had to accept again the Provisions. The Queen 
 escaped to France and raised an army for the invasion 
 of England. A papal legate waited at Boulogne for a 
 chance to enter England and pronounce the excom-
 
 THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE 105 
 
 munication of .the Nationalists. Entering into the 
 growing commercial spirit of the age, the Pope forbade 
 all commerce with England. De Montfort faced the 
 situation with courage. He raised an army to guard 
 the coast. He organised a fleet to sweep the narrow 
 seas. He levied a tax of ten per cent, on the goods 
 of laity and clergy. To those who prophesied 
 England's ruin de Montfort said " that the inhabitants 
 of England could live comfortably of their own with- 
 out foreign trade " ; and patriots wore rough English 
 undyed cloth to show their love for England. 
 
 These details are recorded by Thomas Wykes, one 
 of the two contemporary historians who opposed de 
 Montfort's policy. To prove that de Montfort oppressed 
 the people, Wykes says that prices rose, but he only 
 quotes the rise in price of wax, vdne, and pepper. 
 These were the luxuries of the rich. When de Montfort 
 and his Franciscan teachers thought of the people of 
 England, their minds instinctively turned to the poor 
 workers, not to the rich merchants and landlords. 
 That the poor could live of their own is proved by the 
 almost idolatrous veneration of de Montfort's memory, 
 which came spontaneously from the Enghsh poor 
 when the great earl was killed at Evesham during 
 the so-called period of distress. 
 
 The stoppage of trade alienated the merchants and 
 many of the lords ; but the Church and the people 
 remained true to England. In January 1265 the first 
 real Enghsh Parhament met at Westminster. In this 
 Parhament, practically summoned by an excom- 
 municated earl, there were one hundred and twenty 
 of the higher clergy and only tliirty-two barons ; but
 
 io6 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 with the Churchmen there sat two members from each 
 shire and town. Of the thirty- two barons nine were 
 Royahsts and these were soon increased by seceders 
 from the ranks of the NationaHsts. Gilbert of Glou- 
 cester abandoned de Montfort, and London gave but 
 a hesitating support in spite of the efforts of Fitz- 
 Thomas and his friends. Civil war ensued. In 
 August 1265 de Montfort and his followers were 
 welcomed by the monks of Evesham. Next day he 
 was surrounded by Prince Edward's army and realised 
 that all was lost. " By the arm of St. James ! they 
 attack wisely ; not of themselves but from me have 
 they learned that method ; let us commend our souls 
 to God since our bodies are theirs," said the Earl of 
 Leicester when he died for England. 
 
 The monks of Evesham buried in their abbey what 
 remained of de Montfort's body after the victors had 
 mutilated a corpse they no longer feared. To the 
 tomb of the excommunicated earl, as to Becket's shrine, 
 the English flocked to be healed of their ills. In spite 
 of Pope and King the English called de Montfort St. 
 Simon the Martyr. At Evesham the vanquished won 
 the victory ; since Edward learned more than the art 
 of war from the uncle he defeated. From de Montfort 
 King Edward I. learned to trust his people and rule 
 wisely ; and England learned from her great earl to 
 value economic independence and political freedom 
 so dearly that in time she was really able to live of 
 her own. But two centuries had to elapse before the 
 lesson was fully learned.
 
 IX 
 
 THE MAGNATES LOSE THEIR DEMOCRATIC SYMPATHIES 
 
 1270-1325 
 
 The death of de Montfort wrecked the democratic 
 cause. The property of the insurgent barons was 
 confiscated. London lost her civic rights ; and her 
 democratic mayor, FitzThomas, died in prison. The 
 disinherited continued a hopeless fight against Prince 
 Edward, who undertook the task of reducing England 
 to obedience. After a time more moderate counsels 
 prevailed. The barons were allowed to redeem their 
 estates by the payment of heavy fines. Henry left the 
 government in the hands of his son, who proved that 
 he had learned much from de Montfort. In 1270 the 
 work of pacification was so complete that Edward 
 thought it safe to accept the cross from his father and 
 leave England on crusade. Before he left, London 
 was given her old freedom. 
 
 England's interest in the crusade was but slight. 
 Charles of Anjou was King of Sicily ; to extend French 
 influence in the Mediterranean his brother, Louis IX., 
 sailed for Tunis on his last crusade. Before he joined 
 Louis, Prince Edward learned that the crusade had 
 failed, that Louis was dead, and that his son, Philip III., 
 had made peace with the infidel. Edward then sailed
 
 io8 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 to Acre, where Christians were fighting to keep their 
 only remaining colony in Syria. Recalled to England 
 in 1272 by alarming accounts of his father's health, 
 Edward, on his return journey, visited Charles of 
 Anjou in Sicily, where he could see for himself that 
 Germany had ceased to be the leading European State. 
 A French king ruled the island which had flourished 
 under Frederic's care ; and Frenchmen had taken 
 from Germans the task of alternately protecting and 
 attacking the papacy. Pope Gregory X., Edward's 
 host at Orvieto, could tell his guest that Rome was 
 sanctioning the termination of the imperial inter- 
 regnum in Germany, hoping that the reconciliation of 
 Pope and Emperor would stimulate the waning interest 
 of Europe in the East and lead to a new crusade. But 
 the contrast between the feeble remnant of Christians 
 at Acre and the prosperous burghers of the North 
 Italian cities, who gave the young king a royal recep- 
 tion, must have shown him that the growth of Euro- 
 pean industry had quenched all zeal for the crusades. 
 That Edward loved the old feudal world which was 
 so rapidly changing is shown by his halting, on the 
 way to Paris, to accept a challenge from the Count of 
 Chalons. The King won great renown by unhorsing 
 his opponent ; and then, after paying feudal homage 
 to his suzerain at Paris, he spent some time in settling 
 his complicated feudal relations with his turbulent 
 vassals of Aquitaine. But, even before the King 
 returned to England, he had to give his serious atten- 
 tion to prosaic mercantile disputes which liad been 
 affecting Anglo-Flemish trade. In April 1274 Edward 
 made the exportation of English wool a capital offence.
 
 MAGNATES LESS DEMOCRATIC 109 
 
 Stint of wool stopped the Flemish looms. On his 
 return from Aqiiitaine he had a consultation with the 
 Mayor of London in Paris ; and then met Count Guy 
 of Flanders, with whom he made a satisfactory com- 
 mercial treaty. In August 1274 Edward had a warm 
 welcome when he entered London. 
 
 Whether Edward did or did not fully reaMse that 
 the production of the East was being eclipsed by that 
 of the great manufacturing centres of Europe, there is 
 no doubt that the call of the East sounded more faintly 
 to him after his visit to Acre. The thirty-five years of 
 Edward's reign were devoted to the estabUshment of 
 an Enghsh parliament, in which the Commons were 
 represented, to the definition of the respective rights 
 of the King and the people, to securing access to the 
 Flemish wool market, and to the unification of Great 
 Britain. The last object was the one which was nearest 
 Edward's heart ; it was also the only one which he 
 failed to achieve. 
 
 In 1275 the Parhament of Westminster passed a 
 comprehensive statute codifying Enghsh law. At the 
 request of the merchants the King's ancient right of 
 prise was altered into a definite export duty on wool 
 and leather, England's chief exports. A definite money 
 payment was granted on each sack of wool and last of 
 leather. The export duties were called the Ancient 
 or Great Customs. When prices rose this fixed money 
 payment injuriously affected the royal revenue and 
 led to trouble ; but it was an attempt at removing a 
 cause of friction between the King and his subjects. 
 These export duties, which enhanced the price of 
 Enghsh wool in Flanders, gave a permanent, though
 
 no THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 slight, protection to English weavers. Flemish cloth, 
 when sold in the English market, was also burdened 
 with the cost of carrying the wool to Flanders and the 
 cloth to England. In 1278 a statute, Quo Warranto, 
 was passed to compel barons to declare the grounds on 
 which they claimed their feudal rights. The results 
 of the inquiry were recorded so that no new rights 
 could be acquired by custom. 
 
 In 1279 another statute, Mortmain, was passed to 
 prevent English land from passing into the hands of 
 the clergy without the King's consent. The change 
 effected by the growth of manufacture in Europe is 
 illustrated by this statute. Edward's father began 
 his reign as a vassal of the Pope, although the papacy 
 was engaged in its struggle with the imperial power ; 
 but Edward could pass laws, which at one time would 
 have called forth excommunication and interdict, 
 although Rome had vanquished her imperial rival. 
 The papacy was, however, as seriously weakened as its 
 former foe. The Church still retained her hold over 
 agriculture ; but, when fine cloth was worth eight times 
 the wool from which it was woven, mercliants became 
 richer and more powerful than abbots. When kings, 
 merchants, and artisans worked in concert, they could 
 curb priests and barons. This was, however, not fully 
 realised in England for two centuries after Edward's 
 reign. If England was born at Runnymede, she was 
 an infant until de Montfort and Edward taught her to 
 speak. For two hundred years she learned, as a child 
 learns, by painful experience. Then, under the Tudors, 
 she began her royal career. 
 
 The Chronicler who wrote that Wales was in the
 
 MAGNATES LESS DEMOCRATIC iii 
 
 power of William the ' Conqueror probably meant 
 little more than that Wales could not have offered 
 serious resistance to his attack. The union of Eng- 
 land and Wales was furthered by the settlement of 
 Flemings at Pembroke under Henry I. The general 
 disintegration of Stephen's reign weakened the con- 
 nexion, which was re-estabUshed by Henry H. and 
 John. The revolutions which produced the Great 
 Charter and the Provisions of Oxford left Wales in 
 a semi-independent position. By force of arms 
 Edward I. united Wales to England, and cemented 
 the union by giving his son the title of Prince of Wales. 
 The Scotch of the Lowlands were, like the Enghsh, 
 a blend of Saxons, Danes, and Normans. Whatever 
 meaning should be attached to the Chronicler's state- 
 ment that William the Conqueror " also subjected 
 Scotland to him by his great strength," it is certain 
 that in 1175 the King of Scotland admitted the over- 
 lordship of Henry II. Richard I. sold his suzerain 
 rights ; but there remained an indefinite acknowledg- 
 ment of the superiority of the Enghsh king. During 
 the reign of Henry III. the royal families of England 
 and Scotland became closely united. Alexander II. 
 married Henry's sister, and Alexander III. married 
 Henry's daughter. In 1286 Alexander III. died, 
 leaving no direct heirs except the child Margaret, the 
 Maid of Norway. Her premature death wrecked the 
 hopes of a peaceful union which had been founded 
 on her betrothal to Edward's heir. After Margaret's 
 death in 1290, two Scotch barons of Norman descent, 
 John Bcdhol and Robert Bruce, submitted their claims 
 to the throne of Scotland to Edward's arbitration.
 
 112 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 In 1292 Balliol became King John of Scotland, and 
 at the same time he accepted Edward's over-lordship. 
 
 The Scotch, like the English, were growers of wool ; 
 they sold their wool in Flanders as the English did. 
 When in the reign of Edward I., and again in the reign 
 of Edward HI., the union of Great Britain was ap- 
 parently accomplished, the Scotch wool-growers found 
 that union with England was immediately followed by 
 the closure of the Flemish market. To Scotch sheep- 
 farmers union with England came to mean financial 
 ruin, while alliance with France ensured an open 
 door in Flanders for their wool. This condition was 
 not altered until the Flemish weaving industry was 
 ruined by the development of English weaving. Then 
 union with England became a popular policy in Scot- 
 land, and the union of Great Britain was peacefully 
 accomplished. It is commonly asserted that the 
 Scotch rebelled against Edward I. because King John 
 of Scotland was summoned to answer charges brought 
 by merchants in Edward's court ; but this was an 
 ordinary incident of the feudal relation. Edward was 
 summoned to answer charges brought by French 
 sailors to Philip's court in Paris, and admitted the 
 validity of the summons by sending his brother to 
 appear as his deputy. Such a grievance would not 
 have destroyed the friendly relations between Scotland 
 and England ; whereas exclusion from the Flemish 
 market affected every home in Scotland. 
 
 In 1293 rivalry between the seamen of Normandy 
 and of the Cinque Ports led to a sea fight in which the 
 Norman fleet was destroyed. Edward tried to avert 
 war by sending his brother Edmund to Paris to
 
 MAGNATES LESS DEMOCRATIC 113 
 
 answer the charges brought against him in PhiUp's 
 court and by acquiescing in the sequestration of six 
 Gascon strongholds for a short period as atonement 
 for the destruction of the Norman fleet. These 
 castles were, however, retained b}^ the French King 
 and war became inevitable. There were Flemish ships 
 in the French fleet, but Edward and Count Guy took 
 immediate steps to secure the continuance of friendly 
 commercial relations. In particular the Count of 
 Flanders promised that trade between Scotland and 
 Flanders should not be interrupted. A project of 
 marrying Edward's heir to a daughter of Count Guy, 
 which had previously been mooted and abandoned, 
 was revived. In June 1294 the marriage treaty was 
 signed. Then the French King intervened. 
 
 Edward knew that delay was dangerous. The 
 magnates, including King John of Scotland, met in 
 June 1294. War was unanimously agreed on, and 
 money almost enthusiastically promised. The feudal 
 levies were summoned to meet at Portsmouth in 
 September. The national emergency forced the King 
 to resort to unconstitutional methods of taxation. 
 " Even before the June parliament he had seized all the 
 wool of the merchants, releasing it only on the payment 
 of from three to five marks on the sack ; an impost 
 which by some undescribcd process received the legal 
 consent of the owners of wool, and was prolonged to 
 the end of the war. On July 4 he had seized and 
 enrolled all the coined money and treasure in the 
 sacristies of the monasteries and cathedrals. The 
 assembled clergy were no doubt prepared for a heavy 
 demand, when the King appeared in person, and after 
 
 I
 
 114 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 apologising for his recent violence on the plea of 
 necessity, asked for an aid." After some resistance the 
 clergy submitted. The possessions of alien priories 
 were also seized and small incomes were allotted to the 
 clergy. This step checked the sending of money to the 
 French Chapters, to whom the monasteries owed 
 allegiance. Before the opposition of the clergy was 
 overcome, Edward threatened to deprive them of the 
 protection of the law. 
 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert of Winchel- 
 sey, was a Franciscan, and the earnestness with which 
 he defended the possessions of the Church marks a 
 change in the attitude of the friars towards worldly 
 wealth. The Sicilian vespers occurred in 1282. Then 
 the French in Sicily were exterminated b}^ the natives. 
 For a time the papacy was freed from French control, 
 and Pope Boniface VHI. used this freedom to assert 
 again an extreme view of papal rights. In spite of the 
 Act of Mortmain large sums were sent to Rome from 
 England and also from France. Boniface determined 
 that the Anglo-French war should not affect this 
 tribute ; and Winchelsey supported his Pope. The 
 spirit of de Montfort seemed to live only in King 
 Edward. The Church tried to evade taxation. The 
 barons used the King's difficulties as a means by which 
 they could force the surrender of the royal forest 
 rights. The merchants shared the general desire to 
 evade taxation. Even the King's patriotism was 
 tainted by his wish to retain Gascony. 
 
 Disunion in England delayed the attack on 
 Gascony. The Welsh seized what seemed a favour- 
 able opportunity for rebellion ; and Edward was
 
 MAGNATES LESS DEMOCRATIC 115 
 
 obliged to lead an army into Wales. It was not until 
 the summer of 1295 that the Welsh insurrection was 
 suppressed. Meanwhile Philip of France was able 
 not only to defeat the weak force which was sent to 
 Gascony, but to create trouble for Edward in Flanders 
 and Scotland. Count Guy was summoned to Paris, 
 and on his arrival was arrested and detained in prison 
 for some months. He was not released until he gave 
 his daughter, who was betrothed to Edward's son, as a 
 hostage to Philip. Commerce between Flanders and 
 Edward's dominions was forbidden. The closing of 
 the Flemish market led to a revolution in Scotland, 
 King John of Scotland was placed under the control 
 of twelve Scotch magnates ; an alliance with France 
 followed ; and then, in June 1295, Philip commanded 
 the Flemish to re-open their market to the Scotch. 
 Although the invasion of Gascony proved a failure, 
 the English navy, which Edward organised, was able 
 to check Philip's attempt to gain control of the 
 Channel. Nevertheless in 1295 the revolt of Scotland 
 added greatly to Edward's troubles. 
 
 Imitating his uncle de Montfort, Edward, in 
 November 1295, summoned a representative parlia- 
 ment, called the Model Parliament, in order " that what 
 touches all should be approved by all," and that 
 " common dangers should be met by remedies agreed 
 upon in common." Of the common danger the King 
 wrote that Philip " has beset my realm with a great 
 fleet and a great multitude of warriors, and purposes, 
 if his power equal his unrighteous design, to blot out 
 the English tongue from the face of the earth." The 
 
 laity responded to the appeal ; but the clergy declined 
 
 1 2
 
 ii6 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 to vote an adequate grant. Once more, an insufficient 
 force was sent to Gascony. In Scotland Edward had 
 more success. He was again master of Scotland bj^ 
 force of arms in the summer of 1296. 
 
 The tension between Church and King reached its 
 climax at the parliament of Bury in November 1296. 
 The clergj/ declined to submit to the taxation agreed to 
 by the laity. The}'- pleaded a bull of Boniface VHI., 
 in which, under pain of excommunication, lay rulers 
 were forbidden to tax their clergy and, under the same 
 penalty, the clergy were forbidden to pay such taxes. 
 Edward replied by depriving the clergy of all redress 
 or protection in English law courts. This drastic 
 measure caused many of the clergy to give way ; but 
 the quarrel was still smouldering when Edward sailed 
 for Flanders in 1297. In November 1296 Edward 
 made an alliance against France with the Emperor of 
 Germany, the Duke of Austria, the Counts of Holland, 
 Brabant, and Flanders, and other Teutonic princes. 
 The object of the alliance was the deliverance of 
 Flanders from French control. 
 
 Philip tried to bribe the Flemish to desert Edward 
 by offering commercial advantages. When this attempt 
 failed a French army moved towards Flanders, and 
 Flemish envoys were sent to beg Edward to come to 
 their Count's assistance. In May 1297 William 
 Wallace became the leader of a Scotch revolt, but 
 neither this nor the disaffection of his barons pre- 
 vented Edward from sailing to Flanders in August. 
 The magnates flatly refused to go to Gascony and 
 showed no great zeal for the expedition to Flanders. 
 Edward was therefore unable to raise the South of
 
 MAGNATES LESS DEMOCRATIC 117 
 
 France against Philip, whilst he tried to drive the 
 French from Flanders. The magnates were apparently 
 conciliated by Edward's promise to redress their 
 grievances on his return ; but instead of sending 
 Edward the supply they had promised, they took 
 advantage of his absence by obtaining a confirmation 
 of the Great Charter and the Forest Charter from the 
 boy. Prince Edward, who had been appointed Regent. 
 Want of mone}', disunion in Flanders, and the 
 defection of his allies wrecked Edward's scheme. He 
 was reduced to pawning the Crown jewels before he 
 signed a truce with Philip in October 1297, and re- 
 turned to England in March 1298. One reason for the 
 abandomnent of the Flemish campaign was a victory 
 won by Wallace at Stirhng Bridge in September 1297. 
 On his return Edward at once made preparations for 
 the conquest of Scotland. In July 1298 the defeat 
 of the Scotch at Falkirk might have led to the union of 
 Scotland and England ; but the disaffection of the 
 English lords prevented Edward from making use of 
 his victory. The magnates were dissatisfied because 
 the confirmation of the Forest Charter had not led to 
 the surrender of royal rights. The King was unwilling 
 to abandon his rights unless an arrangement was 
 made by which the royal revenue was not diminished. 
 The dispute ended in the surrender of the royal rights 
 in 1301 in return for a small grant of money. The 
 Statute of Mertcjn, which sanctioned enclosures, the 
 partially successful opposition of the magnates to the 
 Statute of Quo Warranto, which was intended to 
 compel them to disclose their titles to the lands the}^ 
 claimed, and their victory over the King in 1301, were
 
 ii8 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 the first of a long series of measures by which crown 
 lands passed into private hands. 
 
 The King obtained the funds he needed for the 
 conquest of Scotland in 1302 by an arrangement made 
 with foreign merchants in a treaty called Carta Mer- 
 catoria. Aliens were allowed to trade freely in 
 England with their fellow aliens or with Englishmen. 
 They were exempted from the pa^^ment of local 
 dues. They were allowed to sell certain articles retail. 
 In case of dispute they were granted the privilege of 
 being tried by a jury of which half the members should 
 be foreigners. The ancient exactions of the Crown 
 were abolished. In return for these privileges the 
 alien merchants agreed to a scale of export duties fifty 
 per cent, greater than those imposed on wool and 
 leather in the Ancient Customs and to certain mode- 
 rate duties on other articles imported and exported. 
 There is no record of the amount paid by the foreigners 
 for these privileges ; but these New Customs were 
 farmed to the Frescobaldi, Italian financiers, who had 
 obtained a monopoly of English finance after the 
 expulsion of the Jews in 1290. 
 
 After the signature of this, the Merchants' Charter, 
 the war with Scotland was vigorously resumed. The 
 magnates were not asked to contribute towards the 
 expenses of the war ; but in 1304 the King levied a 
 heavy tallage on the royal domains. This was objected 
 to in the parliament of 1305, but the opposition of the 
 magnates ceased when the King gave them leave to 
 tallage their tenants in like manner. In 1305 the 
 alien priories, for whom no one greatly cared, were for- 
 bidden to send money to their foreign parent houses.
 
 MAGNATES LESS DEMOCRATIC 119 
 
 This money was paid into the royal exchequer. In 
 the autumn of 1305 Scotland was again subdued 
 and Wallace was hanged at Tyburn. Meanwhile the 
 quarrel between Philip of France and the papacy had 
 been strengthening Edward's position. In 1302 the 
 Sicilian vespers were repeated in the matins of Bruges. 
 Philip invaded Flanders to avenge the massacre of 
 Frenchmen, and suffered a crushing defeat at Courtrai. 
 Although this defeat was partially redeemed at Mons 
 en Puelle in the following year, Philip was obliged to 
 acquiesce in the practical autonomy of Flanders whilst 
 he waged war with the Pope. To free his hands for 
 his great struggle Philip restored Gascony to Edward 
 in 1303,' and the Anglo-French peace became an 
 entente coydiale. In 1305 a Gascon became Pope 
 Clement V. For seventy years Popes ruled Chris- 
 tendom from Avignon, where they became the servants 
 of the King of France. At first the entente coydiale 
 gave Edward almost as much influence over Pope 
 Clement as King Philip possessed. 
 
 The relations between England and Scotland had 
 become so embittered that the union could only be 
 maintained by force of arms. In 1306, and again in 
 1307, the Scotch were in arms under Robert Bruce, 
 who was crowned King of Scotland. In the latter 
 year Edward I. died whilst fighting the Scotch. One of 
 his last instructions was to urge his son, soon to be 
 Edward II., to continue the war until Scotland was 
 subdued. In 1306 Edward had obtained a papal 
 bull absolving him from his oath confirming the Forest 
 Charter. About the same time Edward obtained from 
 the Pope letters suspending Archbishop Winchelsey
 
 120 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 and summoning him to the papal Court. In 1305 
 Edward had received petitions from the poorer folk 
 complaining that they had lost their ancient rights 
 when the forests passed into private hands. He then 
 issued an ordinance reforming the administration of the 
 forests and decreeing that " if any of them that be 
 disafforested by the purlieu would rather be within the 
 forest as they were before, than to be out of the forest, 
 as they be now, it pleaseth the King very well that they 
 shall be received thereunto, so that they may remain in 
 their ancient estate, and shall have common and other 
 easement, as well as they had before." This ordinance 
 might have been framed by de Montfort. 
 
 Edward would probably have regained his forest 
 rights after the Pope had absolved him from his oath 
 but for his death in 1307. Weakened by the loss of 
 their leader, Archbishop Winchelsey, the magnates 
 were unable for the moment to resist the King. 
 Edward II., however, inherited an unfinished war with 
 Scotland, a quarrel with English merchants over the 
 Carta Mercatoria, and one with his barons over the 
 revocation of the Forest Charter. There was peace 
 with France until 1323, when a dispute arose over the 
 question of homage for Aquitaine. But in the fighting 
 the English were little involved, and the dispute was 
 settled in 1325 when Edward's eldest son did homage. 
 Nevertheless, the twenty years of Edward's reign 
 were filled with strife. The King failed to recover his 
 forests and the merchants continued to protect their 
 trade, but the victory of the magnates and merchants 
 was won at a great cost. The loss of Scotland and the 
 murder of the King formed part of the price England 
 paid.
 
 CARTA MERCATORIA AND ITS INFLUENCE 
 1307-1340 
 
 One body of foreign merchants in London, the Germans, 
 had Uttle need of the treaty called Carta Mercatoria. 
 They had enjoyed special privileges from the time 
 of Ethelred. These privileges were confirmed by 
 Henry II. and his successors. Their concession in 
 London was the Steelyard. In 1254, when the imperial 
 power decayed after the death of Frederic II., an 
 ancient confederation of Rhine towns, under the head- 
 ship of Cologne, renewed their union. This con- 
 federation ultimately joined a northern federation and 
 became the Hanseatic League, an almost independent 
 State within the Empire of Germany. Liibeck became 
 the centre of the League, and it included the river 
 and coast towns, both German and Dutch, from the 
 Vistula to the Rhine. The Hanse merchants, or 
 Easterlings, as the English called them, missed no 
 opportunity of increasing their privileges, but they 
 were wise enough to remain on friendly terms with the 
 citizens of London. They were responsible for the repair 
 of Bishopsgate and for the payment of one-third of 
 the expense of maintaining its guard. The Easterlings 
 carried to England from the Baltic corn in time of
 
 122 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 dearth, and naval stores, such as masts, tar, and hemp. 
 England came to rely upon the Germans for her navy. 
 As late as Elizabeth's reign the Jesus of Lubeck was 
 one of England's fighting ships. 
 
 Edward II. commenced his reign by reversing his 
 father's poUcy and disobeying his father's last instruc- 
 tions. The Scotch war was abandoned before the 
 country was completely subdued. Gaveston, a Gascon, 
 who had been banished by Edward I., was recalled, 
 loaded with gifts, and made the King's chief adviser. 
 In one particular Edward II. obeyed his father. He 
 married the French King's daughter Isabella in 1308 
 at Boulogne. On his return the magnates insisted 
 on the exile of Gaveston. The King's favourite was 
 then sent to Ireland as Regent. Archbishop Win- 
 chelsey returned to England, once again to lead the 
 magnates in their contest with the King. Parliament 
 in 1309 gave the King a small grant of money and a 
 long list of grievances, which included Carta Merca- 
 toria. 
 
 Carta Mercatoria was disliked not because customs 
 were levied on foreigners, but because in return for 
 these payments to the King foreigners were excused 
 from the pajanent of local dues, murage, pontage, 
 and pavage, and the cities lost the power of preventing 
 them from competing in the internal trade of England 
 by harassing regulations. After the new customs were 
 suspended at the commencement of Edward's reign 
 the King sanctioned a decree which, among other 
 restrictions, forbade foreign merchants to engage in 
 retail trade or to remain more than forty days at a 
 time in England. One of the first acts of Edward III.
 
 CARTA MERCATORIA 123 
 
 after the abdication of his father was to grant a charter 
 to London which confirmed these privileges. For 
 centuries this drastic method of protection kept the 
 internal trade of England in English hands, thus 
 continuing the work once done by the merchant gilds. 
 External trade was beyond the slender means of the 
 English. They cheerful^ recognised the rights of the 
 powerful Hanseatic merchants, and in English com- 
 mercial legislation the privileges of the Easterlings, 
 which had been granted long before Magna Carta, 
 were always safeguarded. In return the Easterlings 
 did not interfere in the retail trade, nor did they leave 
 the seaports in order to deal directly with the monkish 
 wool growers or the inland wool merchants. 
 
 In defiance of the wish of the barons, Gaveston 
 returned to England in July 1309. But when 
 Gaveston's return was followed by the King's promise 
 to redress grievances many of the barons sullenly 
 acquiesced. About this time an attempt was made 
 to increase the King's revenue by letting the waste 
 lands in the royal forests. This promising scheme was 
 dropped when the quarrel between King and magnates 
 developed and the storm broke. The King had 
 farmed the Customs to Italians in order to raise money. 
 With the gates of the island in foreign control, the 
 danger which threatened England can only be com- 
 pared with that which menaced the country when John 
 acknowledged the suzerainty of the Pope. 
 
 In March 13 10 there was held a great council of 
 bishops and barons. In spite of the King's order the 
 barons presented themselves in full military array. 
 Edward II. was forced to submit to be controlled by
 
 124 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 twenty-one magnates, who were called Ordainers. 
 Forty-one rules by which England was to be governed 
 were drawn up by the Ordainers and submitted to a 
 Parliament. The ordinances decreed that the King 
 should live of his own but should not increase his 
 forests, that the Frescobaldi and other alien mer- 
 chants to whom the customs had been farmed should 
 be imprisoned until they had accounted for the money 
 they had received, that the Carta Mercatoria should be 
 rescinded and aliens subjected to the ancient oppressive 
 dues and regulations from which they had been freed, 
 also that Gaveston and other friends of the King 
 should be banished from England. In 131 1, and again 
 in 1317, Edward 11. confirmed the ancient charters 
 to the merchants of the Steelyard, so that, while the 
 Flemish Hanse in England decayed, the Easterlings 
 were able to acquire a practical monopoly of the 
 Anglo-Flemish trade. 
 
 There is a marked contrast between the policy of 
 the Ordainers and that for which de Montfort died. 
 Whilst the Kings of France were abolishing serfdom, 
 the magnates of England were annexing forest and 
 waste lands and sowing the seeds of civil war by doing 
 nothing for the agricultural serf or the artisan in the 
 towns. The King's party might have done something 
 for the poor, since, when they had power, only a few 
 months before they were overthrown and the King 
 murdered, a proclamation was issued prohibiting the 
 exportation of fuller's earth, teasles, and other sub- 
 stances used in clothmaking, in order to protect 
 English weavers. The Edwards who have worn the 
 crown of England since the Conquest have often
 
 CARTA MERCATORIA 125 
 
 suffered at the hands of the magnates and middlemen, 
 but of none can it be truly said that they forgot the 
 interests of the poor workers of England. 
 
 Gaveston fled to Flanders, but soon returned. 
 With his King he tried to rally the North to the roj^al 
 cause. This attempt failed; and Gaveston, on the 
 strength of an oath that he should suffer no bodily 
 harm, surrendered to the barons in 13 12. Among 
 the many dignities which Edward had bestowed on 
 Gaveston was that of Warden of the forests south of 
 the Trent. No oath could protect so dangerous an 
 enemy of the feudal lords. Soon after his surrender 
 Gaveston was murdered by the barons in sight of 
 their leader Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. This act 
 of treachery divided the baronial party, and after 
 protracted negotiations, during which Archbishop 
 Winchelsey died, peace was made between the King 
 and the barons. Gaveston's murderers were pardoned, 
 and the King tried to obtain the support of his barons 
 in settUng the question of Scotland, which had again 
 become acute. 
 
 The rich order of the Templars was abandoned by 
 the Pope, who, at Avignon, was in the power of the 
 French King. The dissolution of the order enabled 
 the French and English kings to fill their treasuries 
 with the wealth which the Templars had acquired. 
 The magnates obtained a share of the plunder, but 
 Edward II. obtained enough to enable him to lead an 
 army against the Scotch in 13 14. Baronial disloyalty 
 had allowed Robert Bruce to free Scotland from 
 English rule ; it also led to the victory of the Scotch 
 at Bannockburn, Edward II. returned to London
 
 126 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 discredited by his defeat. After 13 14 all power passed 
 into the hands of the barons and their leader, Thomas 
 of Lancaster. The King of Scotland continued to 
 harry the North of England, apparently in collusion 
 with Lancaster, whose estates were spared whilst 
 others were ravaged. Ireland was invaded by the 
 Scotch, and Edward Bruce, the brother of the King of 
 Scotland, assumed the title of King of Ireland. This 
 attempt failed with the death of Edward Bruce in 
 1318 ; but it weakened EngUsh authority in Ireland. 
 In England the rule of Thomas of Lancaster was 
 accompanied by incessant civil wars, caused by the 
 risings of the poorer folk to re-estabUsh the royal 
 power. The alliance of the prelates and magnates 
 had an injurious effect upon the hierarchy. In the 
 struggle for money and land the spirit of the friars, 
 which had animated Bishop Grossteste, was killed. 
 
 " They gave up their whole leisure time to carving 
 bits out of the forest and adding them to their own 
 gardens ; sticking up palings round these bits ; here 
 a cantle and there a snippet ; here a slab and there 
 a slice ; a round corner and a square corner ; a 
 bare piece of turf or a wooded clump ; and all so 
 neighbourly, encouraging each other the while with 
 a * Brother, will this be to your mind ? ' or ' Help 
 yourself, neighbour ' ; and ' Let me recommend, 
 sir, another sHce ' ; or ' A piece of the woody 
 part, dear friend.' " This description of the petty 
 forest thieves of modern times will serve for those of 
 olden days, except that then the amount stolen was 
 proportionate to the greatness of the robbers. They 
 had little mercy for those who opposed their designs
 
 CARTA MERCATORIA 127 
 
 on the common lands, whether in or out of the forest. 
 After Gaveston's death, Hugh Despenser, a son of the 
 justiciar who died with de Montfort at Evesham, was 
 made chief justice of the forests on this side of the 
 Trent. He had been a faithful servant of Edward I. 
 and had obtained the bull which enabled Edward to 
 cancel the forest charter. After the accession of 
 Edward II., Despenser continued to serve the Crown, 
 and he incurred the displeasure of the magnates 
 before Gaveston's murder. He was assisted b}' his 
 son, also named Hugh, and both the Despensers 
 remained in the service of Edward II. after Bannock- 
 burn, although the magnates insisted upon the removal 
 of Despenser from his council. When Thomas of 
 Lancaster failed to establish order in England, the 
 King's party, and in particular the Despensers, ob- 
 tained more control over the government of England. 
 When the citizens of London were united they had 
 still great weight in England ; but they, too, were 
 weakened by disunion. Just before the death of 
 Henry III, they recovered their privilege of electing a 
 Mayor, and the common folk chose Hervy, a demo- 
 crat like FitzThomas. The mercantile aldermen were 
 induced to acquiesce somewhat unwillingly. During 
 his year of office Hervy gave the craft gilds, or 
 medieeval trades unions, increased powers. Hervy's 
 successor annulled these grants, so that craftsmen 
 were unable to protect themselves from competition, 
 while the richer merchants retained their privileges. 
 Edward I. weakened the authority of the merchant 
 magnates when he took the city into his hand from 
 1285 until 1298, and again when he signed the Carta
 
 128 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Mercatoria. In 1319, when the influence of the 
 Despensers over Edward II. was becoming paramount, 
 the King signed ordinances which decreed that no 
 stranger could become free of the city unless he belonged 
 to a craft gild or was elected by the votes of the com- 
 monalty of the city. This measure gave London a 
 democratic constitution. 
 
 A full Parliament in 1320 attacked the Despensers 
 on the ground of their having encroached on the royal 
 power. The younger Hugh was accused of having 
 taught that allegiance was due to the Crown rather 
 than to the person of the King, and that if the King 
 inclined to do wrong it was the duty of a subject to 
 constrain him to do right : a strange charge to bring 
 against a royal favourite. The Despensers were 
 sentenced to lose their estates and to be exiled. Two 
 months later one of the magnates insulted the Queen, 
 and Edward was spurred into action. He defeated 
 the magnates at Boroughbridge with the aid of Lon- 
 doners. His great rival, Thomas of Lancaster, fell into 
 Edward's hands and was beheaded. Thus died one 
 who was in all but name a rival King of England ; 
 for the conquered magnate was Earl of Leicester, 
 Derby, Salisbury, and Lincoln, as well as of Lancaster. 
 Edward's victory was speedily followed by a com- 
 mission to inquire into the question of the forests 
 and by the revocation of the Ordinances. The Carta 
 Mercatoria was thus revived. The disaffection of the 
 magnates continued, and London ceased to support 
 the King. 
 
 In 1325 the Queen went to France to settle the 
 dispute over Edward's homage for Aquitaine. Next
 
 CARTA MERCATORIA 129 
 
 j'ear she returned to lead an insurrection against her 
 husband. The Londoners joined the party led by the 
 Queen and her paramour, Mortimer. Deserted by all, 
 Edward abdicated in favour of his son, and was then 
 murdered in Berkeley Castle. Before the murder of 
 the King, the Despensers were put to death. Under 
 the guidance of his mother and Mortimer, the boy- 
 King, Edward III., accepted the forest charter and 
 issued charters to the Londoners granting the city its 
 ancient privileges. Foreign merchants were then 
 compelled to conduct their trade in conformity to the 
 ancient rights of the English merchants by a statute 
 passed in 1328. Much of Gascony was lost during the 
 last years of Edward IL, and this loss was accepted by 
 a treaty with France after the deposition of Edward II. 
 The independence of Scotland was recognised by 
 another treaty. Though externally England was at 
 peace, she was still distracted by internal discord until 
 Edward III., in 1330, at the age of eighteen, took the 
 government into his own hands. Mortimer was then 
 executed, and the Queen-dowager retired into private 
 life. Taught by experience, the early Parliaments of 
 Edward III. gave their young King adequate grants. 
 In 1333 the Scotch were defeated at Hahdon Hill ; 
 the English monarch became again master of Scotland, 
 with Edward Baliol as vassal king. Then once more 
 the Flemish market interposed as an obstacle to the 
 union of Great Britain. 
 
 After the death of Philip IV. of France in 1314, his 
 three sons, Louis X., Philip V., and Charles IV., reigned 
 in quick succession. These kings left no sons, and, 
 when Charles died in 1328, a nephew of Philip IV. 
 
 K
 
 130 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 became Philip VI. of France. The Queen-dowager of 
 England claimed the throne for her son, Edward III., 
 but the claim was not seriously pressed, and Edward 
 paid homage to Philip in 1329. Count Louis of 
 Flanders had found refuge in Paris from his rebellious 
 subjects when PhiHp VI. became King. Without 
 delay a French army invaded Flanders, and, before 
 Edward did homage, a French victory at Cassel 
 reduced Flanders to subjection to Philip VI. and his 
 vassal, Count Louis. When Scotland was united to 
 England, both Scotch and English wool came from 
 Edward's dominions. The political connexion of 
 France and Flanders was dwarfed by the Anglo- 
 Flemish economic bond. The French wished to annex 
 the English possessions in Gascony, and in 1336 trouble 
 broke out. To please his suzerain, Count Louis 
 expelled Englishmen from Flanders. Edward replied 
 by depriving the French of wool from his dominions. 
 Again Scotland found that the immediate result of 
 union with England was loss of a market for her wool. 
 Before long the Scotch were in revolt. 
 
 The Anglo-French war, which began in 1336, 
 resembled that fought by Edward I. ; but, whereas 
 the earlier war ended with the failure of the Flemish 
 campaign, this war was fought to the bitter end and 
 won for itself the name of the Hundred Years' War. 
 For more than a century Flanders, France, and Eng- 
 land had been preparing for this great struggle. In 
 1181, and again in 1252, the Enghsh were ordered by 
 law to have weapons at hand in case of need. The 
 Flemish and the French had also become nations of 
 potential soldiers. In 1285 Edward I., by the Statute
 
 CARTA MERCATORIA 131 
 
 of Winchester, made every Englishman personally 
 liable for his fitness to defend England. Edward III. 
 reaped the benefit of his grandfather's legislation at 
 Cre9y, Poitiers, and Neville's Cross, In the Hundred 
 Years' War commerce was frequently used as a weapon. 
 In 1327 English exports to the Low Countries had to 
 be sent to Bruges ; but before they were shipped, 
 they had also to be collected at one of eight English 
 towns called staples. To please the Flemish, 
 Edward III., at the commencement of his reign, 
 allowed them to buy wool in any English town. After 
 the battle of Cassel, Edward issued a proclamation 
 inviting Flemish weavers to settle in England. If it 
 had been possible, in the fourteenth century, to trans- 
 fer an industry rapidly from one country to another, 
 the Scotch could have found a market for their wool in 
 England, and Great Britain might have been unified. 
 But this transference could only be accomplished by 
 inviting individual weavers to settle in a foreign land 
 and then employing them to teach native apprentices. 
 This slow movement was aided by the Count of Flanders, 
 who banished his weavers if they opposed his pro- 
 French policy. Doubtless the Count could not realise 
 that this emigration of weavers could affect so rich 
 and prosperous a land as Flanders. Yet Belgian 
 writers mark this date as the beginning of the ruin of 
 Flanders, 
 
 Edward III. tried to form an alliance with the 
 Germans and the Flemish against the French. He 
 began his reign by confirming the privileges of the 
 Steelyard, and in 1335 gave foreign merchants the 
 same freedom of trade as Englishmen, "notwithstanding 
 
 K 2
 
 132 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 charters, usages, and customs which they (the EngUsh) 
 can allege." The Flemish could enjoy these rights if 
 they would separate themselves from the French. 
 On the other hand, Philip VI. offered to forgive debts 
 owed by the Flemish and to give them the monopoly 
 of all wool exported from France if they would 
 remain faithful. The English bribe was the more 
 attractive. The Count of Flanders remained loyal to 
 France ; but the Flemish, led by John Van Artevelde, 
 turned towards England. To tempt Count Louis, 
 Edward made him the offer of the hand of one of his 
 daughters, but the offer was refused, and the Count's 
 army was sent to the island of Cadzand, where it 
 could stop communication between England and 
 Flanders, 
 
 In November 1337 Louis' army was destro3^ed by 
 an English force which sailed from Gravesend, and the 
 starving weavers of Ghent hailed with great demonstra- 
 tions of joy the arrival of suppHes of English wool. 
 Almost as soon as the wool, two French ecclesiastics 
 appeared in Ghent and pronounced the dreaded 
 sentences of excommunication and interdict. Arte- 
 velde at once appealed to the Pope and entered into 
 communication with the other Flemish cities. The 
 result of Artevelde's action was that at first both 
 England and France agreed to treat Flanders as neutral 
 territory, and the ecclesiastical sentences were repealed. 
 Edward sailed to Antwerp, the seaport of Brabant, 
 where, to his dismay, he found only one-tenth of the 
 twenty thousand sacks of wool which Parliament had 
 promised him. Nevertheless he met his imperial ally 
 at Cologne, and was appointed Vicar-General of the
 
 CARTA MERCATORIA 133 
 
 Empire. The imperial vassals were ready to obey 
 the Vicar-General on one condition only. They 
 expected paj-ment for their services. The English 
 Parliament sent insufficient supplies of wool and 
 mone}'-, and Edward was forced to borrow from 
 Flemish merchants and Italian financiers, pledging 
 as security the Crown jewels and the Crown itself. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Leliarts, the pro-French party in 
 Flanders, tried to assert the authority of Count Louis 
 and the French. The miUtia of the cities was then 
 called out, and it became evident that Flanders could 
 not remain neutral. The Pope, irritated by Edward's 
 alliance with a schismatic Emperor, openly espoused the 
 cause of France. An appeal to the Pope could no 
 longer avert interdict if the Flemish rebelled against 
 their lawful suzerain ; but Artevelde suggested a way 
 out of this difficulty. Acting on the advice of the 
 leader of the Flemish, Edward revived his claim to the 
 throne of France and therefore to suzerainty over 
 Flanders. He chose as his royal motto : ' Dieu et 
 mon droict.' 
 
 The first act of the new suzerain of Flanders was 
 to declare that he would protect Flemish ships, that 
 there should be no restrictions on the sale of Flemish 
 cloth in England, that commercial arrangements made 
 between him and the Flemish cities should hold good 
 against the merchants of England, and that he would 
 continue to be a loyal ally of the Flemish cities whether 
 their Count was friendly or hostile. Then he decreed 
 that the naval forces of England and Flanders should 
 be united, that two-thirds of his army should be 
 recruited in Flanders and Brabant ; that, as King of
 
 134 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 England, he would bear the whole cost of the army 
 and also pay a large sum to the cities ; that for fifteen 
 years Bruges should be the staple for English wool ; 
 that the clauses in former treaties with their French 
 suzerains which dealt with excommunication and 
 interdict should be null and void ; that the lands which 
 the French had taken from Flanders should be restored ; 
 and that there should be a good and common silver 
 and gold coinage in France, Flanders, Brabant, and 
 England. 
 
 On paper this scheme was excellent ; but funds 
 came with difficulty from England. In the land 
 campaign of 1339 neither Philip nor Edward ventured 
 to take the risk of attacking. To obtain money 
 Edward returned to England in 1340, after having 
 promised the Flemish that he would speedily return 
 with an adequate force. The French fleet was threaten- 
 ing England, and Edward had to collect and equip 
 shipping for England's defence. To obtain money 
 from Parliament the King broke his promise to the 
 Flemish and agreed to a statute which compelled 
 foreigners to submit to the restrictions on the trade of 
 aliens which London and other EngUsh towns had 
 the chartered or customary right of imposing. Money 
 was then voted ; and, in June 1340, Edward's English 
 fleet destroyed the Frenchmen who had anchored off 
 Sluys, the seaport of Bruges. When the danger of 
 invasion was removed, no more money was collected 
 in England. Hence Edward was unable to follow up 
 his naval victory by a vigorous campaign on land. 
 In September 1340 a truce was signed which gave 
 liberty to the Flemish but failed to restore Gascony
 
 CARTA MERCATORIA 135 
 
 to England. In this truce the King of France re- 
 nounced his right of excommunicating the Flemish. 
 Overwhelmed with debts Edward III. escaped by 
 stealth from his Flemish creditors and returned to 
 England in November, bent on dealing with those 
 who had wrecked his plans.
 
 XI 
 
 ENGLAND LOSES SEA POWER 
 1340-1377 
 
 Although the interdict of Flanders produced little 
 or no effect in 1340, in another way the pro-French 
 Pope was able to exert a great influence on the cam- 
 paign. Next to the King the most powerful officials 
 in England were John Stratford, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, and his brother Robert, Bishop of Chichester. 
 These brothers had been alternately Chancellors of 
 England since Edward began his personal reign. In 
 June 1340 John resigned the great seal to his brother. 
 Just before Edward sailed for Flanders the Archbishop 
 tried to stop the expedition by representing the danger 
 involved in the presence of the French fleet at Sluys. 
 Edward replied that he intended to sail, but that, if 
 the Archbishop was afraid he might remain in England. 
 When in Flanders Edward heard from Sir William 
 de la Pole, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, that the 
 supplies, which Parliament had voted, could not be 
 collected for fear of a revolt. This baron was a wealthy 
 merchant of Hull to whom Edward was greatly in- 
 debted and whom he greatly trusted. 
 
 On his return Edward imprisoned and fined de la 
 Pole and other lay officials who had neglected to collect
 
 ENGLAND LOSES SEA POWER 137 
 
 the taxes. He dismissed the two ecclesiastics from 
 their posts of Chancellor and Treasurer of England, 
 replacing them by lay knights. Then he tried to 
 estabhsh once and for all the doctrine of the supremacy 
 of the King by summoning the Archbishop to account 
 to him for the neglect which had ruined the cam- 
 paign in Flanders. The Archbishop took sanctuary 
 at Canterbury as Becket had done before him. He 
 quoted the Martyr in his sermons and launched general 
 excommunications against breakers of the Great 
 Charter. He further declined to be tried except by 
 his peers in Parliament, and, as these bishops, abbots, 
 and lay lords were the very men who had voted the 
 taxes and then failed to pay, Edward did not accept 
 the Archbishop's challenge. The doctrine that a peer 
 could only be tried by his peers united the baronage, 
 lay and clerical, against the King, and the dispute 
 ended in a compromise. 
 
 Stratford escaped trial and the King was forced by 
 Parliament in 1341 to assent to a statute which placed 
 him in a somewhat similar position to that of his father 
 under the Ordainers. On the other hand, the King 
 obtained adequate supply which was duly collected. 
 This year, 1341, was a turning-point in English history. 
 Had the magnates and rich merchants succeeded in 
 destroying the unifying influence of the royal power 
 before the weavers had become an influential body 
 and while agricultural workers were still serfs, that dis- 
 union, which destroyed Germany, Italy, and Flanders, 
 might have also claimed Great Britain as its victim. 
 With rare courage, within a few months of the royal 
 assent being given Edward formally revoked the
 
 138 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 statute, boldly asserting that his assent was not real, 
 " but as then it behoved us, we dissimuled in the 
 premisses." The King's courage was rewarded when 
 his next Parliament ratified the revocation. 
 
 Though Stratford had posed as a second St. Thomas 
 of Canterbury, the incident proves clearly that an 
 immense change had taken place since the reign of 
 Henry H. Becket took his stand on his privilege as 
 an ecclesiastic and boldly denied the right of any 
 English layman to sit in judgment on him. In 
 Becket's time the Archbishop could claim that he 
 was the head of a body whose power was co-ordinate 
 with that of the English nation. But Stratford 
 shielded himself behind his privilege as a peer of 
 England and appealed alike to lay and clerical peers 
 to assert the privilege which they enjoyed in common. 
 The utmost that Stratford dared demand was a trial 
 by his lay and spiritual peers in Parliament, which 
 Becket would have scornfully refused. This change is 
 strikingly illustrated by the subsequent ecclesiastical 
 legislation of Edward's reign. These statutes in theory 
 anticipated the emancipation of the EngUsh Church 
 from the control of Rome ; but theory and practice 
 in the Middle Ages often differed widely, and these 
 statutes were not obeyed. The land hunger of the 
 magnates was appeased for a time by the plunder 
 of the forests. In the reign of Edward II. the alien 
 priories were first attacked. The magnates obtained 
 a large part of the estates of the alien monks as these 
 were gradually confiscated. Although the confisca- 
 tion of all monastic lands was deferred until the six- 
 teenth century, this larger scheme was in the air ;
 
 ENGLAND LOSES SEA POWER 139 
 
 hence any union between the lay and clerical magnates 
 could only be short-lived. 
 
 After the truce of Esplechin, Count Louis seemed 
 to be wiUing to govern Flanders in accord with Arte- 
 velde, who maintained close and cordial relations with 
 England. It soon, however, became evident that the 
 Count was using his position to further the aims of the 
 French King. In 1342 civil war in Brittany diverted 
 Phihp's attention from Flanders, which was at this 
 time weakened by civil strife. In July 1345 the 
 outlook in Flanders seemed brighter ; at least, so 
 Edward was assured by Artevelde when they met at 
 Sluys. Froissart asserts that at this conference it 
 was arranged that the Prince of Wales should re- 
 place Count Louis as ruler of Flanders ; but modem 
 historians regard this as somewhat doubtful. At 
 any rate, Anglo-Flemish relations were intimate and 
 cordial. 
 
 After their meeting at Sluys Edward returned to 
 England, and Van Artevelde to Ghent, where he was 
 murdered. The Flemish cities hastened to express 
 their horror at a crime which had deprived Edward 
 of a friend and an ally. They also assured Edward 
 that he could still count upon their support. In 
 July 1346 Edward sailed to Normandy and simul- 
 taneously the Flemish marched south. Edward's 
 small army reached the outskirts of Paris, but the 
 Flemish were unable to join him. Forced to retreat 
 Edward won a brilliant victory at Crc9y and then 
 besieged Calais, at that time a town on the frontier 
 of Flanders. Calais surrendered to the EngUsh in 
 August 1347.
 
 140 THE STRENGTH OF lENGLAND 
 
 Count Louis was killed fighting for the French at 
 Cre9y. His son, Louis de Male, entered at once into 
 negotiations with his Flemish subjects. In 1347 
 Edward left his army, which was besieging Calais, 
 met the Count in Flanders, and arranged that the 
 young ruler should marry his daughter Isabella. 
 A fortnight before the date arranged for the wedding, 
 Count Louis fled from Flanders to the court of his 
 French suzerain. In May, Flanders was placed under 
 interdict, and Philip offered to secure the removal of 
 the interdict and to grant extraordinary commercial 
 advantages to the Flemish if they would abandon 
 their Enghsh alHance. But the Flemish remained 
 faithful to their English allies. Before the fall of 
 Calais Philip was approaching with a large army to 
 relieve the town, when the advent of a Flemish army 
 forced him to retire in great haste, and Calais became 
 the most prized possession of England. Not only was 
 Calais an open door through which English armies 
 could enter France, but it became the staple at which 
 the Flemish could buy English wool, until England 
 had developed manufactures so that she ceased to 
 sell raw materials. 
 
 After the capture of Calais a general truce was 
 signed. For eight years, until 1355, England and 
 France were nominally at peace ; in reality these years 
 were full of fighting in France and on the narrow seas. 
 Immediately after the truce was signed the Black 
 Death spread throughout France, and in August 1348 
 the disease appeared in England. The cessation of 
 war on a grand scale is probably due to the desolation 
 caused by this plague rather than to the formal truce.
 
 ENGLAND LOSES SEA POWER 141 
 
 In the interval between the signature of the truce 
 and the appearance of the Black Death Flanders was 
 treacherously attacked by the French. The Flemish 
 appealed to Edward for aid, and were told that English 
 help would be given if they would pay for the expedi- 
 tion. Though England was very prosperous Edward 
 could not rely upon parliamentary grants ; and an 
 English army in Flanders could not live by pillage 
 as it did in France. Before sailing for Normandy 
 Edward had been compelled to repudiate his debts 
 to the Florentine bankers. Florentine distress and 
 the plunder of France paid for the campaign which 
 gave Calais to England. To defend Flanders cost 
 much, to attack France brought wealth to England ; 
 hence the later wars of Edward's reign consisted 
 chiefly of marauding expeditions to France. 
 
 The invasion of Flanders was stopped by the Black 
 Death ; but a war of intrigue continued until the power 
 of the Flemish cities was fatally weakened at the 
 battle of Rosebeque in 1382. While the Flemish 
 accumulated wealth, their vicious economic system 
 gave them neither rest in the present nor security for 
 the future. Their wealth came from weaving. Their 
 looms were fed with English wool ; and when the 
 English made cloth, the Flemish were forced to rely 
 almost entirely upon the French market for the sale 
 of their finished product. They were also largely 
 dependent on France for their food. This economic 
 division was reflected in Flemish politics. The Leliarts 
 advocated union with France and submission to the 
 counts, while the Blauwaerts favoured a close alliance 
 with England, burgher rule, and a merely nominal
 
 142 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 connexion with count or French suzerain. The 
 absence of a strong unifying force, such as England 
 possessed in her kings, led to strife between towns and 
 between gilds in the same town. It was a simple 
 matter for the French to play one faction against the 
 other and to profit by the internal disunion. 
 
 A canal connected Ghent with the sea, but the 
 merchants of Bruges induced Louis' father to make 
 Bruges the staple for Enghsh wool so that they could 
 make their profit on it before the weavers of Ghent 
 were supplied. Flanders was fed with grain from 
 Artois ; in 1379 the merchants of Bruges obtained 
 from Count Louis permission to unite two rivers by a 
 canal so that the staple for grain might be at Bruges 
 instead of Ghent. Hence the rich burghers of Bruges, 
 who were international traders, were also Leliarts ; 
 and the burghers of Ghent, who depended mainly on 
 the weaving industry, were Blauwaerts. But both 
 factions were in favour of a close commercial con- 
 nexion with England. 
 
 The same selfishness was shown in the relation of 
 gilds to each other. Artevelde's death followed a 
 fierce fight between the weavers and the fullers of 
 Ghent. At times the counts opposed any increase of 
 French authority and promoted cordial relations with 
 England. Count Louis de Male all but married into 
 the English royal family, and his daughter and heiress 
 was betrothed to one of Edward's sons before her 
 marriage in 1369 to Philip, Duke of Burgundy and 
 brother of King Charles V. of France. Until 1360 
 France was weakened and impoverished by English 
 raids. She was engaged in expelling the invaders
 
 ENGLAND LOSES SEA POWER 143 
 
 during the next fifteen years. As soon as she felt 
 equal to the task she attacked the Flemish cities. 
 The battle of Rosebeque in 1382 placed Flanders at 
 the mercy of her Count and his Burgundian son-in- 
 law. But Ghent maintained a certain amount of in- 
 dependence ; and the Dukes of Burgundy soon became 
 rivals of the Kings of France. Thus the Flemish 
 market remained open to English wool as long as 
 England allowed it to be exported. 
 
 In 1346 the Scotch invaded England during 
 Edward's absence in France. At Neville's Cross King 
 David IL of Scotland was defeated and sent a prisoner 
 to the Tower of London. In 1357 David was released 
 on promise of a large ransom which was never fully 
 paid. Scotland was kept poor by internal strife, 
 whilst England grew in strength from the immigration 
 of the Flemish and the development of weaving. For 
 years there were fights on the borderland between 
 England and Scotland, but nothing worthy to be 
 called war. England, however, now began to face a 
 new rival, one with whom she was destined at a later 
 date to wage war for centuries. 
 
 The production of wool was being rapidly developed 
 in Spain, hence she was competing with England in 
 the Flemish market, as well as with Gascony in the 
 wine trade. Her ships, built to face the stormy Bay 
 of Biscay, were far larger than the English. The 
 disappearance of the naval power of France and the 
 hold England obtained over the Straits of Dover by 
 the capture of Calais gave England such supremacy 
 in the narrow seas as to endanger Spanish trade. 
 Philip VI. of France died in 1350 and was succeedeci
 
 144 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 by his son John IL, who at once allied himself with 
 Peter the Cruel of Castile. A Spanish fleet sailed to 
 Sluys, capturing twenty Anglo-Gascon ships on the 
 way. A defeat of this miniature Armada was enacted 
 when the fleet left Flanders to pillage the coasts of 
 England. Edward III. and his eldest son, the Black 
 Prince, waited for the towering Spaniards off Win- 
 chelsea. In spite of the difference in size the English 
 were victorious. Fourteen Spanish ships were cap- 
 tured and the rest driven off in disorder. Edward 
 boarded and captured one of the largest Spaniards, 
 while his own ship was so badly injured that it was 
 left to founder. 
 
 In 1355 the Black Prince raided Southern France. 
 Edward III. had intended at the same time to raid 
 Northern France, but he was recalled by a movement 
 of the Scotch, and spent the first few months of 1356 
 in devastating part of Scotland. In 1356 an English 
 raid reduced Normandy to a state of anarchy, whilst 
 the Black Prince moved towards the north and defeated 
 the French at Poitiers. King John was captured and 
 taken to London. A truce was then signed and 
 negotiations followed which led to the treaty of 
 Bretigny in 1360. By this treaty an enormous ransom 
 was promised for King John ; Aquitaine was given to 
 England, together with territory in the neighbourhood 
 of Calais. The King of Castile, Peter the Cruel, made 
 haste to come to terms with Edward. In 1362 a 
 treaty between England and Castile was signed in 
 London. 
 
 Peter's bastard half-brother, Henry, entered Castile 
 in 1366 with an army of English and French soldiers.
 
 ENGLAND LOSES SEA POWER 145 
 
 who, after the treaty of Bretigny, had been supporting 
 themselves by pillage on their own account. In 1364 
 King John died, and his son, Charles V., encouraged 
 this expedition and lent it his general, Du Guesclin. 
 In this way Charles freed France from the scourge of 
 bandits and at the same time tried to gain control 
 over the navy of Spain. Peter of Castile fled to 
 Bordeaux, where he sought help from the Black 
 Prince, who had been made Prince of Aquitaine. 
 An army led by the Black Prince won a brilliant 
 victory at Navarete, and placed Peter once more on 
 the throne of Castile. Then the double-dealing of the 
 Castilian King wrecked his own cause and England's 
 power in Aquitaine. Peter had promised to meet the 
 expenses of the army of occupation. This promise 
 was not kept, and the Black Prince led back to Aqui- 
 taine his army wasted by famine and disease. Two 
 years later Peter was killed by his half-brother Henry, 
 and Castile became the ally of France. 
 
 These facts help to explain the economic policy of 
 the latter half of Edward's reign. In 1351 alien 
 merchants were allowed to trade freely in England in 
 defiance of the charters and privileges of the English 
 merchant gilds. Two years later English merchants 
 were not allowed to export wool, and Gascons were 
 allowed to sell wines freely in England, whilst English- 
 men might only buy wines in Bordeaux and Bayonne. 
 Aliens were ready to pay for royal protection whilst 
 English merchants persisted in trying to avoid taxa- 
 tion. Money was needed by the King, hence there 
 was a strong motive for diverting trade into alien 
 hands. The advantages given to aliens also tended 
 
 L
 
 146 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 to bind the Flemish and the Gascons to the King of 
 England. 
 
 But however fascinating this policy may have 
 seemed, it had one grave defect. It was fatal to the 
 growth of an English mercantile marine, and at that 
 date merchant ships were largely used in the navy 
 when war broke out. Disaster has always followed 
 when England has neglected her navy. The failure 
 of Peter the Cruel to pay the money he had promised 
 forced the Black Prince to levy a hearth tax in Aqui- 
 taine. The towns, by reason of their liberties, were 
 exempt from this tax, and the country districts 
 naturally rebelled when called upon to pay for a war 
 waged in order that Gascon and English merchants 
 might not fear an attack by the Spanish. In 1372 
 an English fleet bearing reinforcements to Aquitaine 
 was destroyed by the navy of King Henry of Spain. 
 England then lost command of the sea, and her oversea 
 empire was doomed. In 1374 the English possessions 
 in Southern France were reduced to little more than 
 the cities of Bordeaux and Bayonne. These cities 
 and Calais were almost all that remained of England's 
 dominions in France when Edward III. died in 1377. 
 
 Although the outflow of money to Rome was 
 checked by the anti-papal legislation of Edward III., 
 and tribute to Rome was not paid after 1366, these 
 years foreshadowed a sorry future for England. The 
 scarcity of labour, after the Black Death, raised wages 
 and the price of necessaries of life, in spite of the 
 Statutes of Labourers, which were intended to keep 
 wages and prices at their old level. Whilst the Kings 
 of France were emancipating their serfs, English
 
 ENGLAND LOSES SEA POWER 147 
 
 Parliaments were doing less than nothing for the poor 
 of England, since forest charters and Statutes of 
 Labourers took from manual workers the little that 
 they had. If contemporary writers are believed, the 
 friars had so far forgotten their early ideals that they 
 took by guile from the weak, whilst others took by 
 force. In the teaching of John Wycliffe and his 
 followers, the Lollards, there was much of the former 
 doctrine of the friars ; and Lollardism spread rapidly 
 in England. 
 
 To harmonise the feudal system with the national 
 idea which was replacing feudalism in England and 
 France, Edward III. of England and John II. of 
 France, by marriage and royal grants, arranged that 
 the great fiefs should become the property of their 
 children. The Black Prince died before Edward III., 
 leaving a son who, at the age of eleven, became 
 Richard 11. in 1377. Three years later Charles VI., 
 also at the age of eleven, became King of France. 
 Both kings were surrounded by uncles possessing 
 almost independent power. In England, John of 
 Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and his brother, the Duke 
 of Gloucester, led the barons. In France the most 
 powerful of the King's uncles was the Duke of Bur- 
 gundy. From painful experience both nations had to 
 learn that disunion and decentralisation were followed 
 by civil war and misery. 
 
 The disunion in England, which ultimately led to 
 the War of the Roses, was partly concealed whilst the 
 EngHsh were engaged in plundering France. The 
 magnates were at times united in opposition to the 
 King, but they had no other bond of union. After 
 
 L 2
 
 148 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 the Black Death laymen used their lands for sheep- 
 farming, and thus became the competitors of the 
 wool-growing monks. When Wycliffe preached apo- 
 stolic poverty he had eager Hsteners in the feudal 
 lords who coveted the lands of their rival wool-growers. 
 Lay and clerical magnates were, however, at one in 
 wishing to come into direct touch with the foreigner 
 and dispense with the services of English merchants. 
 By thus eliminating a body of EngUsh workers they 
 hoped to buy cheap and sell dear. 
 
 In the Church there was a conservative party, 
 which was ready to acquiesce in the Roman connexion 
 in order to retain its temporal possessions, and Lollard 
 reformers, who were ready to abandon wealth and 
 make the Church entirely national. Every merchant 
 was anxious to protect his own trade but was reluctant 
 to extend the advantage of protection to his neighbour. 
 Thus when the London fishmongers tried to protect the 
 English fishing industry, other citizens were anxious 
 to buy direct from foreign fishermen. The develop- 
 ment of the English fishing industry was retarded 
 by the opposition of those who wished to buy fish 
 cheap. 
 
 Before the death of Edward HL the contest 
 between the sections into which the Enghsh were 
 divided began. His grandson Richard succeeded to 
 the rule of an already distracted country. The 
 sections were, roughly speaking, grouped in a baronial 
 and a mercantile party. Lancaster led the baronial 
 party. He had married the legitimate Queen of 
 Castile, and hoped that the reconquest of Aquitaine 
 might help him to expel the bastard Henry from
 
 ENGLAND LOSES SEA POWER 149 
 
 Spain. The mercantile party, on the other hand, 
 was content with command of the Straits of Dover, 
 and disHked the idea of fighting for Aquitaine. Both 
 parties were, however, fully ahve to the necessity of 
 restoring England's naval power. The nobles deri- 
 sively called Richard the Londoners' King ; and the 
 boy-king probably owed his undisputed succession to 
 the merchants of London.
 
 XII 
 
 STRIFE BETWEEN KING AND BARONS 
 1377-1413 
 
 During the later years of Edward's reign the illness of 
 the King and his eldest son threw the government into 
 Lancaster's hands. The statutes which gave foreigners 
 complete freedom of trade in England and forbade the 
 export of wool by English merchants caused much 
 discontent. By favouring Wycliffe, Lancaster tried 
 to find a vent for this discontent in an attack on 
 the Church ; but a year before Edward's death the 
 Good Parliament gave expression to English feeling. 
 Certain officials, acting for Lancaster, had abused their 
 right of selling royal licences to enable English mer- 
 chants to export wool contrary to the statutes. These 
 men were impeached, dismissed from office, and fined. 
 A long list of grievances was drawn up and a standing 
 council was appointed to advise the King. A charter 
 was issued to London restoring protection of inland 
 trade to English merchants. Lancaster was unable 
 to offer effective resistance ; but in the following year 
 he assembled a Parliament packed with his own 
 adherents and thus undid much of the work of the 
 Good Parliament. This ParUament levied a poll-tax
 
 STRIFE BETWEEN KING AND BARONS 151 
 
 graduated according to the wealth of the taxpayers. 
 The minimum tax was fourpence. 
 
 The result of the mercantile policy of Edward III. 
 was the abandonment by English merchants of their 
 claim to pay no more than the Ancient Custom on the 
 export of wool. The violent measure of 1333, which 
 gave ahens a monopoly of England's foreign trade and 
 made the export of English wool by native merchants 
 a crime, was evaded by royal licences ; but English 
 merchants found that it was better to pay heavier 
 duties than to buy licences. When the English 
 merchants agreed to pay subsidies in excess of the 
 Ancient Custom, they were again allowed to export 
 wool and leather. The subsidies varied, but on an 
 average they increased the Ancient Custom ten to 
 twentyfold for natives and the Hanse merchants of 
 the Steelyard, while other ahens were more heavily 
 taxed. A substantial protection was thus given to 
 Enghsh weaving, since the looms of Flanders had 
 come to depend on Enghsh wool for the making of 
 fine cloth. Spanish and Scotch wool could only be 
 used when mixed with the wool of England. In 
 dressing, dyeing, and finishing cloth England lagged 
 behind Flanders ; but early in the fifteenth century un- 
 finished Enghsh clotli could be placed on the Flemish 
 market at a price which meant ruin to Flemish 
 weavers. In 1434 the Flemish admitted defeat by 
 prohibiting the importation of Enghsh cloth. 
 
 When English merchants were debarred from 
 foreign trade English shipping declined, and as the 
 navy in those days depended on merchant ships, 
 England lost command of the sea. In the French
 
 152 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 war which began again in 1369 England was forced to 
 defend herself instead of attacking France. In 1372 
 command of the sea passed to the allied navies of 
 Castile and France, and money had to be raised for the 
 defence of the English coast. When the Isle of Wight 
 had to be ransomed from the French, and Hastings 
 was burned, England's danger forced Richard's early 
 Parliaments to undertake the creation of a navy. In 
 Richard's first Parliament, held at Westminster in 
 1377, the baronial and mercantile parties appear to 
 have made a temporary truce while measures were 
 taken for the defence of England. Money was voted 
 for the navy, and two merchants were appointed 
 treasurers of the grants. On the other hand, Lancaster 
 was given command of the fleet ; but the internal 
 peace of England had but a short life. 
 
 While Edward III. was dying, Wycliffe was sum- 
 moned to St. Paul's to answer a charge of heresy. 
 Lancaster intervened on behalf of Wycliffe, and 
 offered violence to the Bishop of London. Although 
 Lollardism was very prevalent in London, the citizens 
 could not miss an opportunity of showing their hatred 
 to Lancaster, who was only saved from a riotous mob 
 by the intervention of the bishop. The dying King 
 succeeded in making peace ; but after Richard's first 
 Parliament a reason for a new quarrel was found. 
 Lancaster's fleet failed to accomplish all that was 
 expected of it, while a private fleet, equipped at the 
 cost of Philipot,''one of the treasurers, captured fifteen 
 French and Spanish ships. In 1378 Parhament sat at 
 Gloucester that it might be free from London's influence. 
 Philipot was accused of using public money for his
 
 STRIFE BETWEEN KING AND BARONS 153 
 
 fleet ; but he had httle difficulty in proving that it had 
 been paid for out of his own resources. The restrictions 
 on foreign merchants were then partially removed by 
 statute, although the preamble describes the dislike 
 felt by English merchants to foreign competition. 
 
 A contemporary monk, Thomas of Walsingham, 
 who was in favour of foreign competition, has left a 
 record of one result of this statute. At that time, 
 he wrote, all Eastern goods carried by the Genoese 
 were brought to England and sold to English mer- 
 chants who resold them to the Flemish, Normans, 
 and Bretons. A rich Genoese merchant tried to take 
 advantage of the statute. He promised many gifts 
 to the King if Richard would allow him to settle at 
 Southampton, where a castle had recently been built. 
 He pledged himself to make Southampton the finest 
 port in the West, and would probably have succeeded 
 in annexing the profits hitherto made by English 
 merchants had he not been murdered before the door 
 of the house in London at which he was lodging. 
 John Kyrkeby, the instigator of the murder, for a 
 time escaped punishment ; and the chronicler expressed 
 his fear that other foreign merchants would be deterred 
 from imitating the Genoese. 
 
 In 1380 Parliament met at Northampton that 
 Kyrkeby might be tried away from London. He was 
 tried by Parliament, probably because it was thought 
 that no jury would convict. Kyrkeby was hanged, 
 and Parliament turned its attention to raising money. 
 The parliament of Gloucester had voted a poll-tax, 
 whose minimum was fourpence a head. This tax had 
 proved insufficient. The Parliament of Northampton
 
 154 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 voted a new poll-tax, whose minimum was a shilling 
 a head. The anger of the poor at once found voice. 
 Parliaments had sanctioned enclosures of common 
 lands. The peasants had watched their nobles force 
 the King to surrender his forest rights. They knew 
 that their kinsfolk in the towns had not altogether 
 unsuccessfully contended with merchant princes, who 
 were strong enough to oppose the will of the mag- 
 nates in Parliament. They had doubtless heard that 
 in France and Flanders serfs had acquired rights 
 which were denied to English agricultural labourers. 
 Recently French and Flemish peasants had resisted 
 excessive taxation by taking arms. They had little to 
 expect from submission when Statutes of Labourers 
 limited wages in the interests of the rich. 
 
 Lollards had been preaching Christian Socialism 
 and had found eager listeners among the oppressed. 
 Ignorant of the modern economic paradox that direct 
 taxation is less oppressive than indirect, the labourers 
 of England saw in the poll-tax a means by which the 
 burden of defending England would be shifted to their 
 shoulders from those of the magnates. The insurrec- 
 tion which followed would probably be repeated if the 
 modern income-tax were extended to those who earn a 
 weekly wage. With no clearly defined object, except 
 the abolition of the poll-tax and the redress of griev- 
 ances which varied according to the locality, the people 
 took arms, and a large body of insurgents were wel- 
 comed by the workers of London. Lancaster's palace 
 was destroyed ; the Archbishop of Canterbury was 
 murdered ; and, among other victims, merchants or 
 bankers who pronounced bread and cheese with a
 
 STRIFE BETWEEN KING AND BARONS 155 
 
 Flemish accent were put to death. This was London's 
 answer to the statute passed at Gloucester and the 
 execution of Kyrkeby. 
 
 The poll-tax was not levied after the insurrection ; 
 but little else was gained by the poor. To pacify the 
 insurgents the King promised to abolish serfdom, 
 but Parliament insisted upon the King's breaking his 
 promise to the English poor. Serfdom, however, gradu- 
 ally disappeared during the next century. When the 
 revolt of the peasants was suppressed England's atten- 
 tion was diverted to foreign affairs. The Duke of Bur- 
 gundy had married the heiress of Flanders before the 
 accession of his nephew, Charles VI., to the throne of 
 France. Burgundy induced the young King to attack 
 the Flemish cities which had become practically inde- 
 pendent of either count or suzerain. In 1382 Flanders 
 was again made subject to France after the battle of 
 Rosebeque. After Cre9y and Poitiers the popes were 
 able to return from Avignon to Rome. In 1377 the 
 French tried to regain their former control over the 
 papacy by recognising an anti-pope Clement VII. at 
 Avignon in opposition to Urban VI. The French and 
 the Leliarts in Flanders became Clementines, while 
 the English and the Blauwaerts accepted Pope Urban. 
 After Rosebeque, England, owing to the strife of 
 factions, was unable to help the Blauwaerts with a 
 regular army ; but Parliament gave a grant of money 
 to the Bishop of Norwich, who led an Urbanist crusade 
 to Flanders. This crusade did less than was expected ; 
 but it kept alive the resistance of Ghent and contribu- 
 ted largely to ruin an invasion of England which the 
 French had planned. Parliament in 1381 passed the
 
 156 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 first English Navigation Act, which compelled English 
 merchants, who had recovered the right of exporting 
 goods, to use English shipping in order that there 
 might be an adequate reserve of merchant-ships in 
 case of need. There was therefore an English fleet 
 prepared to defend England from invasion ; but the 
 policy of the Navigation Act was abandoned when 
 the magnates obtained power, and, before the end of 
 Richard's reign, England's naval power had again 
 become very weak. 
 
 Whilst the Flemish were sullenly acquiescing in 
 French rule, England's friends, the Portuguese, routed 
 the CastiUans. To follow up this success ParUament, 
 in 1385, voted money for an army which Lancaster 
 led to Portugal in the following year. In this Par- 
 liament the King refused his assent to a proposed 
 measure confiscating the temporalities of the Church. 
 The attack on the Church, however, was not renewed 
 until merchants and magnates had finished their 
 quarrel. Lancaster took advantage of the disunion in 
 the city between those who wished to buy fish caught 
 by foreigners and those who wished to protect London 
 fishermen. Northampton led those who wished to 
 buy fish from foreigners, and Brembre those who wished 
 to keep the London fish market for Londoners. After 
 the Peasants' Revolt Northampton became mayor. 
 Two years later Brembre was elected. This election 
 was followed by a riot in which Northampton was 
 impUcated, and he was sentenced to be hanged. 
 Owing to Lancaster's influence, this sentence was 
 commuted into imprisonment, from which he was 
 released in 1387.
 
 STRIFE BETWEEN KING AND BARONS 157 
 
 Richard's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, took 
 Lancaster's place when the latter sailed for Portugal, 
 while Lancaster's son, Henry of Derby, also led the 
 barons. The King made large grants to his uncles, 
 and a cry arose that, if the King would abstain from 
 giving and live of his own, taxation would be lighter. 
 These and other royal grants were bribes paid by the 
 King to secure the loyalty of the magnates. Dis- 
 content was increased when Richard's friend, the Earl 
 of Oxford, was made Marquis of Dublin and received 
 the promise of a grant from England in case the Irish 
 revenue proved insufficient. Little had been done in 
 Ireland since the reign of Henry II. Left to themselves, 
 the settlers in Ireland amalgamated with the Irish. 
 The De Burghs became Burkes ; and Ormonds, 
 Geraldines, and Desmonds were regarded by the Irish 
 as national leaders. In 1387 Irish industry had so 
 far developed that safe conducts were issued by the 
 Flemish to Irish merchants ; and, in 1399, Sluys was 
 made the staple for the sale of Irish cloaks. Richard's 
 chief adviser was the Earl of Suffolk, eldest son of 
 de la Pole, the merchant who played so conspicuous a 
 part in the reign of Edward III. Oxford's mission to 
 Ireland was the prelude to the union of the two islands 
 which Richard would probably have permanently 
 established had the English magnates allowed him to 
 reign in peace. 
 
 The mercantile party failed to conclude a satisfactory 
 peace with France ; and an unsuccessful campaign 
 against the Scotch, who were in alliance with France, 
 gave the magnates their opportunity. When Parlia- 
 ment met in 1786 Suffolk asked for large grants for
 
 158 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 England's defence. The magnates refused their aid 
 unless Suffolk was dismissed. When Richard refused, 
 the records of the deposition of Edward II. were read 
 to both houses, and, under this menace, the King 
 yielded. Suffolk was impeached and imprisoned. 
 Oxford was ordered to betake himself to Ireland, and 
 Richard was placed under the control of Gloucester 
 and ten other magnates. The King took the opinion 
 of the judges of England, who found that the barons 
 had acted unconstitutionally, and King and barons 
 prepared for civil war. In March 1387 the English 
 fleet engaged the French, who were escorting a wine- 
 fleet to Sluys. The French suffered a crushing defeat. 
 One hundred and twenty-six ships were captured by 
 the English, and all danger of invasion passed away. 
 The glamour of this victory and internal disunion 
 made London hesitate in declaring against the barons. 
 Richard again yielded. 
 
 In February 1388 the Merciless Parliament met. 
 Five Lords Appellant, led by Gloucester and Derby, 
 impeached Suffolk, Oxford, the Chief Justice, the 
 Archbishop of York, and Brembre. The Archbishop 
 was deprived of his see and his property ; the others 
 were sentenced to be drawn and hanged. This punish- 
 ment was inflicted on the Chief Justice and Brembre ; 
 but Suffolk and Oxford made their escape from Eng- 
 land and died in Ireland. Among other victims, the 
 judges who had given their opinion to the King were 
 sentenced to death ; but this sentence was commuted to 
 perpetual exile in Ireland. Having disposed of their 
 opponents, the magnates re-enacted two statutes of 
 Edward III. which gave foreign merchants complete
 
 STRIFE BETWEEN KING AND BARONS 159 
 
 free trade in England ; they also voted themselves 
 a large sum of money for their services. 
 
 When in power the magnates adopted the peace 
 policy of the men they had murdered ; and in 1389 
 a truce for three years with France was signed. 
 Lancaster's war with Castile had not been crowned 
 with success ; but in 1388 he married his daughter to 
 the Castilian King and received a large sum for relin- 
 quishing his claim to the Crown. Before the truce was 
 signed with France Richard declared that he was of 
 age and intended to rule without the aid of his uncle 
 Gloucester. The return of Lancaster to England a few 
 months later enabled Richard to effect this revolution 
 without bloodshed. He then, with great tact, gradu- 
 ally undid the work of the Lords Appellant. 
 
 In 139 1 a statute was passed restoring inland trade 
 to the English. The preamble of this statute states of 
 those granting free trade " that the statutes, if they be 
 fully holden and executed, shall extend to the great 
 hindrance and damage as well of the city of London 
 as of other cities, boroughs, and towns of this realm." 
 London, however, showed little gratitude for a gift 
 which was marred in the eyes of the faction in power 
 because it gave the same protection to those who sold 
 fish and victuals as to those who dealt in wool and 
 manufactured goods. The King tried to raise money 
 on a valuable jewel ; and the citizens not only refused 
 to lend but attacked and left for dead a Lombard who 
 was ready to help the King. Richard then took the 
 city into his hand, but not for long. In August 1392 
 I there was a formal reconciliation of the King and his 
 I city during a royal visit. Richard then entreated
 
 i6o THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 his Londoners to set an example to other towns by 
 respecting law and order. At the King's request a 
 neutral mayor, Richard Whittington, was appointed, 
 who held office until 1398. 
 
 Richard tried to make peace in the Church by 
 preventing the Lollards from attacking the bishops 
 and the bishops from violently persecuting their 
 opponents. In 1395 the King received the submission 
 of the Irish chieftains in Ireland. While he esta- 
 blished his authority in the island he endeavoured to 
 reform its government, so that union might be a bless- 
 ing to both England and Ireland. Next year the King 
 married the seven-year-old daughter of Charles VI. of 
 France, arranging at the same time a peace for thirty 
 years. After eight years of wise and just rule, Parlia- 
 ment expressed its thanks by formulating a list of 
 grievances which contained a complaint of the number 
 and expense of the King's household. The ladies who 
 formed the retinue of the child-queen were specially 
 mentioned. This remonstrance was sent by magnates 
 who held courts of their own and had large bodies of 
 armed retainers in readiness to attack the King. 
 
 It must have seemed as if the days of the Merciless 
 Parliament were going to be revived, and Richard 
 determined to strike first. Gloucester, Warwick, and 
 Arundel were arrested and accused before Parhament 
 in 1397. Gloucester died in prison before his trial. 
 Arundel was executed. Warwick threw himself on 
 the King's mercy and was banished. The estates of 
 the convicted magnates were divided among the 
 eight nobles who managed the coup d'etat. One of 
 these was Henry of Derby, a former Lord Appellant;
 
 STRIFE BETWEEN KING AND BARONS i6i 
 
 he became Duke of Hereford. In January 1398 
 Parliament made large grants to the King for the rest 
 of his Ufe, and then dissolved after giving a small 
 committee power to act for the whole body. During 
 this Parliament Hereford accused the Duke of Nor- 
 folk, a baron who had been rewarded for loyalty to 
 the King, of treasonable conversation. By what 
 appears to be a curiously inconsistent sentence, Norfolk 
 was banished for life and Hereford for six years. 
 Since Lancaster, Hereford's father, acquiesced and re- 
 mained on friendly terms with Richard, it is probable 
 that the sentence would seem more reasonable if all 
 the facts were known. 
 
 For a short while Richard enjoyed autocratic 
 power, supported by a large body of mercenary 
 soldiers from Wales. To pay the soldiers and bribe 
 the friendly magnates Richard spent money lavishly. 
 In 1398 Lancaster died. The King seized the Lan- 
 castrian estates and altered Hereford's sentence into 
 banishment for life. This bold act alarmed all holders 
 of property ; but the King underestimated the danger 
 which threatened his despotism. Roger, Earl of 
 March and heir apparent to the throne, had been 
 made ruler of Ireland. March was killed during a 
 revolt of the Irish in August 1398. His two infant 
 sons alone stood between the disinherited Duke of 
 Lancaster and succession to the Crown. Richard led 
 an expedition to Ireland to re-establish English rule, 
 and Lancaster landed in Yorkshire. The King's 
 followers abandoned his cause. On his return from 
 Ireland in 1399, Richard, with hardly a struggle, 
 surrendered himself to his victorious cousin. The 
 
 M
 
 i62 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 conquered king was deposed, and died soon after his 
 deposition in Pontefract Castle. It is more than prob- 
 able that he was murdered, Lancaster was elected 
 by Parliament and crowned King Henry IV. 
 
 To the victors the spoils. The legislation of 
 Henry IV. explains his success. In 1401 ecclesiastics 
 obtained a statute enabling them to burn heretical 
 Lollards who denounced the wealth of the Church. 
 Lancastrian barons were rewarded at the expense of 
 Richard's friends. The wool merchants obtained their 
 heart's desire when, in the first year of Henry's reign, 
 the fish trade was thrown open to foreign competition 
 in spite of the fishmongers' charters. Four years 
 later the Londoners appear to have agreed on a com- 
 promise. Then another statute was passed decreeing 
 " that all the merchant strangers of what estate or 
 condition that they be, coming, dwelling, or repairing 
 within the realm of England, shall be entreated or 
 demeaned in the manner, form, and condition as the 
 merchant denizens be, or shall be entreated or de- 
 meaned in the parts beyond the sea," and that 
 merchant strangers should suffer loss of goods and 
 imprisonment if they accepted greater privileges than 
 their fellow-countrymen accorded to English mer- 
 chants. Foreigners had to lodge with an English 
 host, who was responsible for their not remaining more 
 than a limited time in England and for their buying 
 English goods with the money they received for the 
 goods they sold in England, In this way it was 
 ordained by law that imports should be paid for by 
 real exports. 
 
 In 1406 the neutral mayor Whittington was again
 
 STRIFE BETWEEN KING AND BARONS i6^, 
 
 J 
 
 elected, and London showed little concern when Henry 
 raised loans, Lollards were burned, and friars were 
 hanged. Anglo-Flemish trade suffered little when, in 
 1403, France and England resumed their war, if the 
 ineffective fighting of this period deserves the name of 
 war. Neither England nor France was able to fight. 
 France was divided into parties, one led by Duke John 
 of Burgundy and the other by Louis, Duke of Orleans 
 and brother of the mad King Charles VI. The Anglo- 
 French war was resumed by the Orleanists. When 
 Duke John wished to join, he was stopped by the 
 Flemish towns on whose wealth he depended. During 
 the struggle between the Burgundians and Orleanists, 
 the Duke of Orleans was murdered in 1407. The 
 young Duke of Orleans and his father-in-law, the 
 Count of Armagnac, continued the contest with the 
 Burgundians. During this civil war the Flemish re- 
 gained their ancient semi-independence and traded 
 with the English as if there had been an Anglo-French 
 peace. 
 
 At home Henry IV. had many troubles. Wars 
 with the Scotch and the Welsh and English insur- 
 rections filled the first ten years of his reign, which 
 lasted only fourteen years. These wars exhausted 
 the royal treasury and made Henry almost as 
 dependent on Parliament as hehad made his cousin 
 Richard on the Lords Appellant in 1387. The post 
 of King of England was one which exhausted the 
 wealth of the richest, and the revenue of the Lan- 
 castrian estates was insufficient to enable the King 
 to balance expenditure and income. Two of his 
 predecessors had been deposed and murdered. 
 
 M i
 
 i64 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Edward III. might have shared then* fate had he not 
 satisfied the greed of England with the plunder of 
 France. Before Henry IV. died his crown was by 
 no means secure. Henry V., who became King on 
 the death of his father in 1413, appears to have laid 
 this lesson to heart, since it was not long before he 
 followed in the footsteps of his great-grandfather 
 Edward III.
 
 XIII 
 
 CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE WAR OF THE ROSES 
 
 1411-I450 
 
 During the contest in which magnates wrested the 
 royal forest rights from their King, Edward II. lost 
 his throne and Ufe. Richard II. shared his ancestor's 
 fate when merchants and magnates quarrelled over 
 the protection of England's inland trade. A com- 
 promise was effected when the first Lancastrian kings 
 ruled England. Edward III. impressed on English 
 merchants the wisdom of acquiescing in export duties 
 when he forbade them to engage in foreign trade. 
 After this heavy export duties were paid by the 
 English and the Hanse of the Steelyard, while still 
 larger duties were paid by other aliens. Under 
 Henry IV. the English paid the equivalent of twenty 
 pence of modern money, and ordinary aliens the 
 equivalent of twenty-four pence on each pound of 
 exported wool. Under Henry V. the English paid 
 about seventeen pence, while aliens still paid at their 
 former rate. The question of restrictions on foreign 
 merchants was temporarily settled by a statute which 
 gave foreigners rights similar to those which they 
 granted to Englishmen trading abroad. 
 
 Henry V., however, sat on an uncertain throne.
 
 i66 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Amidst their internal convulsions the French respected 
 the persons of their kings, whilst the English first 
 humbled and then murdered theirs. It is not sur- 
 prising that Henry V. spent his life trying to succeed 
 to the throne of France after the mad King Charles VI., 
 whose life was held sacred by Burgundian and 
 Orleanist. In 141 1 Henry IV. had sent an English 
 expedition to France, only to abandon his Burgundian 
 allies, when, in 1412, the Orleanists bribed the English 
 King with a promise of Aquitaine. England's double 
 dealing for a time ruined Duke John of Burgundy. 
 His influence in Paris waned ; and the States of 
 Flanders negotiated with England as though they had 
 no ruler. The Duke was forced to accept a treaty 
 signed at Senlis between the States of Flanders and 
 an invading Orleanist army. This treaty stipulated 
 that the Duke should hand Flanders over to his son 
 and retire to Burgundy, Although the rapidly 
 growing weaving industry of England and the Floren- 
 tine market made the Flemish wool market of less 
 importance, yet English merchants must have felt 
 concern when the Orleanists controlled Bruges, the 
 port to which rough English cloth was going in in- 
 creasing quantity to be finished by the expert d3'ers 
 and dressers of Flanders. Without difficulty Henry V. 
 obtained a grant from Parliament in 1414 for an 
 expedition to France. 
 
 In spite of the treaty of Senlis, Duke John allied 
 himself with the English ; but the Flemish nobles 
 joined the French army. In August 1415 the English 
 landed at the mouth of the Seine and captured Har- 
 fleur, which was rc-peopled with English settlers as
 
 CAUSES OF THE WAR OF THE ROSES 167 
 
 Calais had been. Henry was then able to block the 
 waterway along which the products of Rouen and 
 Paris found access to the sea, but his army was too 
 small for more ambitious schemes of conquest. In- 
 stead of re-embarking for England he marched b}'^ 
 land to Calais, probably in order to ascertain whether 
 the conquest of the Norman coast between Harfieur 
 and Calais would be a difficult operation. At Agin- 
 court the English were opposed by a French army of 
 about four times the English strength. Once again, 
 not far from Cregy, the English won a brilliant victor3\ 
 The Duke of Orleans was captured at Agincourt, and 
 the Count of Armagnac became the leader of the 
 Orleanists. In November Henry was warmly wel- 
 comed by his Londoners, who dreamed that the 
 plunder of France would again cross the Channel as in 
 the days of Edward III. Parliament cheerfully voted 
 funds for an expedition with which the king sailed to 
 Normandy in 1417. But Henry soon made it evident 
 that he intended to win a kingdom and not to pillage 
 France. 
 
 English greed and disunion were appropriately 
 rewarded by the campaign of Henry V. From the 
 first Henry made it clear that little plunder would be 
 sent to England. Stringent rules protected the 
 property and lives of non-combatant Frenchmen ; 
 and town after town in Normandy submitted to the 
 English King. But once embarked on this enterprise 
 the English ccjuld not turn back. Had they done so, 
 the Burgundians would have been crushed, and con- 
 trol of the Channel which was necessary for Eng- 
 land's export trade would have passed to France.
 
 i68 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 For the policy which gave France access to the Medi- 
 terranean through Toulouse was bearing fruit. The 
 time was at hand when men described a man of colos- 
 sal wealth by saying " He is as rich as Jacques Coeur," 
 the merchant prince who financed the Armagnac and 
 whose Mediterranean fleets rivalled those of Genoa 
 and Venice. The Emperor Sigismund visited England 
 in 1416 ; and his advice that the King should guard 
 Dover and Calais as his two eyes was an oft-told tale 
 in England. French ships could have been moved 
 from the Mediterranean to the Channel more easily 
 than the Genoese galleys which opposed Edward HL 
 Once these had passed the Straits of Dover they 
 could have isolated England. It was of the utmost 
 importance that France should be weakened. Never- 
 theless Englishmen realised that they were pa3dng a 
 heavy price. A contemporary wrote " Woe is me ! 
 Mighty men and the treasure of this realm will be 
 fordone about this business." 
 
 Fortune favoured Henry. Paris must have suffered 
 when the Seine, her great waterway, was closed. In 
 May 1418, just before Henry laid siege to Rouen, the 
 capital of Normandy, the Burgundian faction in Paris 
 rose against the Armagnacs. The Dauphin escaped, 
 but the Count of Armagnac was murdered, and Duke 
 John became the guardian of the mad King Charles. 
 Rouen, left without adequate support, succumbed ; 
 and Henry became the ruler of Normandy. Negotia- 
 tions were commenced both with the Dauphin and 
 with Duke John ; but Henry's terms were so 
 exorbitant that the war continued. In the summer 
 of 1419 the Dauphin and the Duke agreed to forget
 
 CAUSES OF THE WAR OF THE ROSES 169 
 
 their feud and join in resisting the English invader. 
 Duke John met the Dauphin at Montereau, and, as 
 the Duke knelt to pay homage, he was murdered 
 by the Dauphin's men. Once again French disunion 
 was England's best ally. John's son and heir, Duke 
 Philip of Burgundy, made peace with the English. 
 Henry married Katherine of France and was recog- 
 nised as the heir of his father-in-law, Charles VI. 
 
 For little more than two j-ears Henry governed 
 France as Regent for his insane father-in-law. These 
 years were spent in war with the Frenchmen of the 
 South, who supported the Dauphin. In 1422 Henry V. 
 died from dysentery brought on by exposure. His 
 infant son became Henry VI., and the Duke of Bedford, 
 the baby-king's uncle, inherited the impossible task 
 of ruling France and England. When, a few weeks 
 later, Charles VI. died, Bedford's task was not made 
 easier. Paris and the North accepted Henry VI. as 
 King of France, but in the South the Dauphin was 
 proclaimed as Charles VIII. Bedford's brother, the 
 Duke of Gloucester, acted as Bedford's deputy in 
 England, but his rule was nominal. The real power 
 was entrusted by Parliament to a council of magnates. 
 This subordination of the unifying and centralising 
 power of the Crown to the authority of a committee 
 of territorial lords was a marked feature of Lancastrian 
 times. The effect such a policy was likely to produce 
 can be traced in the history of Poland. In that land, 
 governed nominally by elected kings and in fact by 
 great landlords, agriculture was developed and manu- 
 facture stifled. The owners of land insisted on buying 
 cheap foreign goods, and home industries, other than
 
 170 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 agriculture, were not fostered. The people remained 
 in an unprogressive, servile state, until the nation, 
 weakened by internal disunion, ceased to exist. From 
 such a fate England was saved by the victory of the 
 Yorkists in the War of the Roses. 
 
 In 1423 the Council of Magnates ordered the sale 
 of the navy which Henry V. had created. In 1452 
 two ships, " rotten and useless, practically constituted 
 the royal navy of England." Statute laws and civic 
 charters protected English merchants if the executive 
 had enforced the law. But the English wool-growing 
 lords supported armies of retainers and defied the law. 
 The Flemish and Italian merchant bought and sold 
 freely to lay and clerical magnates. English merchant 
 shipping declined and England's naval power was 
 further weakened. This is stated in the Libel (or 
 little book) of English Policy, written in 1436 or 1437. 
 In this book the trade of Europe, as far as it affected 
 England, is concisely discussed. 
 
 The author begins with an earnest exhortation 
 to the English to " cherish Marchandise, keepe the 
 admyraltie, that we bee Masters of the narrowe see," 
 and gives the Emperor's advice to Henry to keep 
 Calais and Dover " as your tweyne eyne." Bruges is 
 described as the great market for European goods. 
 Thither went wool from Spain and Scotland, but this 
 could not be woven into fine cloth without the addition 
 of English wool ; hence the author argues that the 
 Flemish must starve if they quarrel with England. 
 Constant stress is laid on the importance of a strong 
 English navy. With this and her fortresses of Calais 
 and Dover, England could close the narrow seas and
 
 CAUSES OF THE WAR OF THE ROSES 171 
 
 exclude Scotch, Germans, Portuguese, Spaniards, and 
 Italians from their market in Flanders. Then, the 
 writer says, England could live in peace, since none 
 would dare to face the loss of their trade. 
 
 The Libel pleads for a united England, Wales, and 
 Ireland ; and, apart from the constant refrain, lord- 
 ship of the sea, attention is called to one " principal 
 matter," that England should abandon her system of 
 unfair trade. The Libel does not find fault with the 
 law of England ; but it states plainly that the law 
 was constantly evaded and broken, so that foreigners 
 had advantages over Englishmen in the English 
 markets, whilst in foreign markets Englishmen were 
 forced to submit to such restrictions as foreigners 
 chose to impose. In the Libel the policy of English 
 fifteenth-century fiscal reformers was thus briefly 
 stated. Henry VI., who became King at the age of 
 one, inherited from his grandfather, Charles VI., a feeble 
 brain. In his reign the royal power, already seriously 
 weakened, almost disappeared. The authority of 
 Parliament dwindled with that of the King. A body 
 passing statutes which were not obeyed could not 
 command respect. Two parties divided England — 
 Lancastrians, who favoured the existing state of 
 things, and Yorkists, who advocated fiscal refonn 
 and centralisation. An appeal was made to the sword. 
 The Yorkist victories paved the way for the protection 
 of industry which gave England the glories of Tudor 
 times. 
 
 Florence was a great buyer <jf the unfinished 
 English cloth, which members of the Arte di Calimala 
 dressed and dyed. For the Genoese who carried dyed
 
 172 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 cloth from England and brought " Woll, Oj4e, Woad- 
 ashen, by vessel in the see, Cotton, Rochalum, and good 
 gold of Genue," the writer of the Libel has no more 
 dislike than he has for the Germans, who also bought 
 dyed stuffs and sold us bacon, bowstaves, materials 
 for making beer, and naval stores. He speaks well, 
 too, of the trade with the Portuguese, and expresses 
 the hope that they will not imitate the Spanish and 
 deal directly with the Flemish. But he has few good 
 words to say of the Venetians and the Florentines. 
 
 "The great Galees of Venice and Florence 
 Be well laden with things of complacence, ' 
 
 All spicery and of grossers ware : 
 With sweet wines all manner of chaffare, 
 Apes and Japes, and marmusets tayled, 
 Nifies and trifles that httle have avayled ; 
 And things with which they fetely blere our eye : 
 With things not enduring that we bye. 
 For much of this chaffare that is wastable 
 Might be forborne for dere and deceivabie." 
 
 The economic policy of the Libel very closely 
 resembles the polic}' of modern protectionists. Com- 
 plementary imports — that is, those for which no sub- 
 stitute can be found at home. — should be encouraged, 
 especially if the materials can be used in English 
 industries. Rival products should be as far as possible 
 kept out of England, and no foreigner should have any 
 advantage over Englishmen in the English market, 
 but the treatment of foreigners should be similar to 
 that which they accord to the English who trade in 
 their lands. The Lombards, in particular, are accused 
 of evading the protective laws of England, and this
 
 CAUSES OF THE WAR OF THE ROSES 173 
 
 doubtless accounts for the dislike of these merchants 
 expressed in the Libel. 
 
 The Hanseatic League was an important factor in 
 the England of Henry VL At one time three groups of 
 cities were included in this confederation : the Dutch, 
 the North Germans, under the leadership of Llibeck, 
 and the West Germans, led b}^ Cologne. The merchants 
 from Cologne were the first to engage in the Anglo- 
 Flemish trade. The North Germans began life humbly 
 enough as fishermen who caught herrings off the south 
 coast of Sweden which was subject to the King of 
 Denmark. Their fishing fleet became a trading fleet, 
 and by force of arms they subjected Norway to their 
 economic control in 1285. Successors to the trade of 
 the Northmen, Wisby became their most important 
 trade centre in the Baltic. In the middle of the 
 fourteenth century the Danes fought to crush the 
 growing power of the German cities. Wisby was 
 destroyed, and a great Scandinavian Empire might 
 have been created had not the other groups united 
 with the North German in an offensive and defensive 
 alliance. 
 
 Under the headship of Cologne, sixty-seven cities 
 united in 1364. Denmark was reduced to subjection 
 in 1370. In 1397, Denmark, Norway and Sweden 
 were united ; but the economic power of the League 
 was then too firmly established, and the Baltic be- 
 came a tnare clanswn in which none but the Germans 
 might trade. 
 
 Fishing for herrings was a very ancient industry in 
 England. In 1238 mention is made of ships coming 
 from the Baltic to Yarmouth for cargoes of English
 
 174 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 fish. In 1394 measures had to be taken to prevent 
 foreigners from using the Yorkshire coast as the North 
 Germans used the coast of Sweden. The London fish- 
 mongers failed in their struggle to keep the EngUsh 
 market for Enghsh-caught fish. In 1435 a statute was 
 passed authorising the sale of foreign fish in spite of 
 the charters of the fishmongers. Fishing should have 
 been a natural industry to islanders like the English ; 
 but as late as the seventeenth century the Dutch 
 claimed the right to fish English waters as if they 
 belonged to Holland. Then at last protection gave 
 the Enghsh a fishing industry as it had given her 
 supremacy in the making of cloth. The barons of 
 the Cinque Ports were also governors or conservators 
 of the Yarmouth herring fair. Thus they were pecu- 
 liarly responsible for the English navy and the Enghsh 
 fishing industry. 
 
 Whilst Henry V. was fighting in France, war broke 
 out between the Scandinavian powers and the North 
 German cities. The Dutch left the League and fought 
 in alliance with the Scandinavians. Had the English 
 not been pre-occupied with the French war they might 
 have joined in the war and opened the Baltic. As 
 it was, the war ended in favour of the North Germans 
 in 1435, although both the Dutch and the Enghsh 
 refused to admit the Hanseatic claim to a monopoly 
 of the Baltic trade, and unofficial war on the sea con- 
 tinued. This purely commercial war was fought with 
 great ferocity, since each side considered their foes 
 to be pirates and gave no quarter. In the treaties 
 made with the North Germans by Richard II., English 
 merchants were promised freedom of trade in the
 
 CAUSES OF THE WAR OF THE ROSES 175 
 
 Baltic in return for the freedom granted to the Hanse 
 merchants in England, but the numerous acts of 
 violence recited in these treaties prove that the mer- 
 chants of the League had no intention of allowing 
 the English access to the Baltic. England had no 
 reason to complain of the merchants of Cologne ; but 
 the merchants, who are supposed to have called them- 
 selves at one time the brotherhood of St, Thomas 
 Becket, had become the Merchant Adventurers, and in 
 seeking to extend England's commerce they naturally 
 resented the closure of the Baltic by the North Germans. 
 During the early years of Henry VI, Bedford de- 
 voted his energies to establishing Henry's authority 
 in France, Recruits for the Anglo-Burgundian army 
 were readily obtained in England, whilst there was 
 a steady stream of Scotchmen into the ranks of 
 Charles VH, In 1406 James, the heir to the throne 
 of Scotland, was captured by the English whilst sailing 
 to France, He was restored to the Scotch in 1423, 
 after receiving an English education, and repaid his 
 English friends by stopping the exodus of soldiers 
 from Scotland, In wealth, the allies of England, 
 the Low Countries, and Northern France must have 
 been superior to the Frenchmen of the South, in spite 
 of the valuable Mediterranean trade. But, whilst 
 the Northerners, preoccupied by internal strife, gave 
 but grudgingly to the Anglo-Burgundian cause, the 
 Southerners spent their lives and money freely for 
 Charles VII, There was so little loyalty among the 
 allies that, in 1423, Gloucester married Jacqueline of 
 Hainault, hoping to gain her heritage of Holland, 
 which Duke Philip of Burginid}' had marked as his
 
 176 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 own. The Anglo-Burgundian alliance was nearly 
 wrecked when Gloucester, in 1425, crossed the Channel 
 to seize the land he coveted. The Londoners approved 
 of Gloucester's design, and showed their sympathy 
 by rising against those who had tried to supplant 
 Gloucester when he was making his unsuccessful 
 campaign in the Low Countries. Civil war was only 
 averted by Bedford's return. During Bedford's ab- 
 sence of sixteen months the French war was badly 
 managed, and the time then lost was never recovered. 
 
 Whilst the Anglo-Burgundians became lukewarm 
 and disunited, the French King's adherents gained 
 courage. For a little over a year French patriotism 
 was inspired by the sight of a girl-heroine, Joan of Arc, 
 who claimed that God had sent her to lead her country- 
 men to certain victory. Under her guidance the French 
 won some remarkable victories ; but, during the 
 eight months which preceded her capture in 1430, she 
 was used to inspire confidence, not to direct the cam- 
 paign. It is no disparagement to the services which 
 Joan of Arc rendered to France to suggest that the 
 vacillation of the Duke of Burgundy contributed 
 largely towards the success of the French. 
 
 The change in the economic relations between 
 England and Flanders is quite sufficient to account 
 for the dissolution of the Anglo-Burgundian alliance. 
 Heavy cloth, in which there was much wool, could be 
 more cheaply manufactured in England, since the 
 Flemish could only buy English wool burdened with 
 heavy export duties. Lighter fabrics could not as yet 
 be made in England, and in order to weave these 
 the Flemish had urgent need of English wool. The
 
 CAUSES OF THE WAR OF THE ROSES 177 
 
 Flemish had advantages over the English in the 
 dressing and dyeing of both heavy and light cloth. 
 Hence, whilst one branch of Flemish weaving was 
 being ruined by English competition and the industry 
 as a whole was threatened by the probable develop- 
 ment of English cloth-making, the Flemish found it 
 difficult to retaliate on a nation which had a monopoly 
 of the raw material on which all branches depended. 
 
 In 1429 the Enghsh Parliament passed a statute 
 to check the practice of evading the payment of 
 export duties on wool carried to Flanders. In 1434 
 the Flemish forbade the importation of Enghsh cloth, 
 and in the same year Philip of Burgundy made a 
 secret agreement with Charles VII. In 1435 negotia- 
 tions for an Anglo-French peace failed because Eng- 
 land refused to restore Normandy ; the secret agree- 
 ment became the formal treaty of Arras ; and in 1436 
 the Flemish besieged Calais. The weavers of Ghent 
 were foremost in responding to the Duke's request 
 that his subjects should attack their old aUies, the 
 Enghsh. But, although some Flemish weavers were 
 being ruined by English competition, there were many 
 weavers of lighter fabrics in Flanders who had need of 
 English wool, and Flemish cloth finishers were ready 
 to dress and dye English cloth. Scotch and Spanish 
 wool could be bought in Flanders, but these could not 
 be used until they were mixed with English wool. 
 When commerce with England was suspended the 
 zeal of the besiegers of Calais flagged. In spite of the 
 Duke's entreaties the Flemish returned to their homes, 
 and civil war, caused by divergent economic interests, 
 made Flanders a negligible quantity in the Anglo- 
 
 N
 
 178 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 French duel. In the treaty of Arras Charles waived 
 his claim to suzerainty over Flanders during Duke 
 Philip's life ; but, when their dukes tried to abohsli 
 the old privileges by \\'hich each Flemish city tried to 
 get the better of its neighbours, they met with a 
 resistance similar to that formerly offered to the 
 invading kings of France. 
 
 Just before the treaty of Arras was signed Bedford 
 died. Both Gloucester and the Duke of York were 
 left with claims to the throne of England if the boy- 
 king died without issue. But at first Gloucester and 
 York united in opposing the powerful Beauforts, 
 illegitimate descendants of John of Gaunt, who had 
 been legitimised by Parliament but declared incapable 
 of inheriting the Crown. Cardinal Henry Beaufort, 
 supported by his nephew the Earl of Somerset and by 
 the Earl of Suffolk, a descendant of the merchant 
 family of de la Pole, led a party which desired peace 
 with Flanders and France. Gloucester and York were 
 both naturally in favour of retaining the King's pos- 
 sessions in France. For fourteen years after the 
 treaty of Arras, the English grew more and more dis- 
 contented with the misgovernment of the magnates. 
 In 1450 popular discontent found expression in Cade's 
 rebellion ; and although this failed, it was soon fol- 
 lowed by the War of the Roses which put an end to 
 parliamentary misrule.
 
 XIV 
 
 THE WAR OF THE ROSES 
 1440-1471 
 
 A STATUTE restricting the franchise in the shires to 
 those who owned landed property of an annual value 
 of not less than twenty shillings was passed in 1430 
 while the King was a child. Thus when Henry VI. 
 became old enougli to govern he was surrounded by 
 barons who kept small armies of retainers and who 
 could fill Parliament with their partisans. Had the 
 magnates abstained from quarrelling with each other, 
 and had they allied themselves with the merchants, 
 the EngHsh monarchy and English freedom would 
 probably have been destroyed. The magnates appear 
 to have sought to conciliate the wealthy citizens when 
 the free sale of foreign fish was allowed in 1435, and 
 when in 1439 a statute was passed re-enacting the 
 restrictions on foreign merchants. In 1440 an Anglo- 
 Flemish commercial treaty was signed. This truce 
 lasted nine years. In 1449 the weavers of the Nether- 
 lands again insisted upon a prohibition of the importa- 
 tion of cheap English cloth, and the English retaliated 
 by forbidding all intercourse with the Low Countries. 
 The Hanse mercliants played an important part in 
 tlie commercial struggle between England and Flanders. 
 
 N 2
 
 i8o THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 As middlemen they insisted on being allowed to c^.rry 
 either wool or cloth. When the Flemish declined to 
 accept English cloth, the Hanseats refused to supply 
 Flanders with wool, and the Flemish were obliged to 
 yield. Although the League aided England in their 
 commercial war with Flanders, the North Germans, 
 in spite of their treaties, refused to allow EngHsh 
 Merchant Adventurers entrance into the Baltic. From 
 1438 to 1441 the Dutch fought their former comrades 
 of the League to gain admittance into the Baltic ; but, 
 in spite of the treaty of 1441, the North Germans 
 insisted on their claim to exclude foreigners. The 
 Scandinavian kingdoms also tried to throw off the 
 yoke of the League. Tkey were, however, so inferior 
 to the North Germans in sea power that they could 
 only secretly encourage the Victual Brothers, inde- 
 pendent sea rovers who were treated as pirates by the 
 League. 
 
 De Witt has left a picture of England as foreigners 
 saw her in the fifteenth century. " As for England, 
 we are to know that heretofore it wholly subsisted 
 by Husbandry, and was wont to be so naked of any 
 Naval Power that the Hans-Towns being at War with 
 England, they compelled King Edward in the Year 
 1470 to make peace upon Terms of Advantage to 
 them. And so long as the English used to transport 
 nothing but a few Minerals, and much \\"ool, whicli 
 they carried to Calais by a small number of their o^^Tl 
 Ships, and sold only to Netherlandish Clothiers, it 
 would have been so prejudicial for the King to forbear 
 his Customs of Wool (which at Calais alone amounted 
 to 50,000 Crowns per annum, and likewise to the Sub-
 
 THE WAR OF THE ROSES i8i 
 
 ject, in case he had made War upon the Netherlands) 
 that we read not that these trading Provinces ever 
 broke out into a perfect open War against England. 
 For the sometimes War hapned between the Princes 
 of the respective Countrys, nevertheless most of the 
 Citys concerned in Traffick and Drapery continued in 
 Amity." 
 
 In 1447 the naval weakness of England tempted 
 the League to enact that no EngHsh goods should be 
 carried except on Hanseatic ships. The French had 
 been steadily driving the English from the lands they 
 had conquered. In 1440 the captive Duke of Orleans 
 was released owing to the influence of the peace part}'. 
 It was intended that Orleans should act as peace- 
 maker between France and England, but the war 
 continued. In 1442 the idea of peace was revived ; 
 and it was suggested that Henry should marry a 
 daughter of the powerful Count of Armagnac. At 
 this time the French magnates, led by Armagnac, 
 were uniting against Charles VII., so that the pro- 
 posed marriage might have led to peace on favourable 
 terms for the Enghsh. In 1443, when Charles and his 
 magnates were reconciled, Suffolk crossed the Channel 
 and negotiated a truce for two years by surrendering 
 English claims. At the same time he arranged that 
 Henry should marry ■Margaret of Anjou, the daughter 
 of a landless French noble. It was becoming abun- 
 dantly clear that the English, with a weakened navy, 
 would have to face tlie hostility of the Germans in tlie 
 North Sea and of the French in the Channel when 
 France regained possession of the coast. 
 
 To keep power over Parhament the Government
 
 i82 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 accused the sheriffs of having " tampered with the 
 returns to ParHament, ignoring men duly elected, and 
 substituting nominees of their own." In 1445 legis- 
 lation was passed to secure that " Knyghtes of the 
 Shire . . . hereafter to be chosen be . . . gentilmen of 
 birth " ; not yeomen, nor " bynethe," Having thus 
 silenced the democracy, the peace party determined to 
 attack Gloucester and York. In 1447 Parliament met 
 at Bury St. Edmunds, where the influence of the 
 London mob would not be felt. Gloucester was 
 arrested and died before trial. His death was followed 
 by the appointment of York to the Lieutenancy of 
 Ireland for ten years, an honourable form of banish- 
 ment. Repeated surrenders to the French prolonged 
 the truce until 1449. Then ParHament met in West- 
 minster, and before it was dissolved the Anglo-French 
 war was resumed. It was soon manifest that Eng- 
 land's possessions in France were doomed, and there 
 was grave danger that England would be invaded. 
 Above all things it was important that Calais should 
 not be lost. As long as Dover and Calais were in 
 English hands, the armed merchantmen of England 
 could interpose between the French and North German 
 fleets. If France had had an adequate navy or the 
 North Germans an adequate army nothing could have 
 saved England, since her coasts were so defenceless 
 that in 1450 it was an everyday occurrence for a walk 
 along the coast to end on board an enemy's ship. 
 
 Though there was great distress in England and 
 the King was penniless, the peace party had been 
 prospering. Cardinal Beaufort died in 1447, leaving 
 great wealth behind him. His nephew and Suffolk
 
 THE WAR OF THE ROSES 183 
 
 were rewarded for their mismanagement by being cre- 
 ated Dukes of Somerset and of Suffolk. In addition 
 to England's other troubles, in 1449 the importation 
 of English cloth into Brabant, Holland, and Zeeland 
 was prohibited. A new Parliament was summoned to 
 meet at Westminster in November 1449. In spite of 
 the efforts of the peace party, this Parliament was 
 hostile to Suffolk. In order to protect his minister 
 from the anger of the people, Henry banished him for 
 five years ; but, on his way to the Continent, Suffolk 
 was intercepted and beheaded by English sailors who 
 were lying in wait for him. Parliament insisted that 
 all royal grants made during the King's reign should 
 be revoked. This order was, however, imperfectly 
 obeyed. Normandy was lost to the EngHsh in 1450. 
 The men of Kent rose under Jack Cade. The insur- 
 gents demanded a change of government and the 
 recall of the Duke of York from Ireland. Though 
 the rebellion was suppressed, York resigned the Lieu- 
 tenancy of Ireland and became the leader of the 
 opposition to the Government. In 145 1 the South of 
 France was lost to the English. York was apparently 
 about to succeed, when he listened to an invitation to 
 make peace with Somerset. York's demands were 
 nominally conceded ; he disbanded his forces and met 
 the King, only to find that he was a prisoner in the 
 hands of his enemies. Somerset, however, feared to 
 take extreme measures against a popular leader, and 
 York acquiesced in Somerset's rule. 
 
 In 1452 the English were cheered by some suc- 
 cesses. At a diet held at Utrecht a majority of the 
 Hansc cities made favourable terms with the English
 
 i84 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 commissioners. The citizens of Ghent, in arms 
 against their Duke on account of certain taxes, sought 
 and obtained aid from England. The merchants of 
 Bordeaux, anxious once more to exchange wine for 
 Enghsh cloth, also obtained help from England and 
 expelled the French. The Parliament, which met in 
 this year at Reading to be free from the influence of 
 the Yorkist Londoners, supported Somerset and the 
 King. But clouds soon gathered. Liibeck refused to 
 accept the arrangement made at Utrecht. The 
 merchants of Cologne were allowed to enjoy the 
 privileges of the London Steelyard, whilst those of 
 Liibeck continued the commercial war with England. 
 The League was temporarily divided ; but the English 
 were still excluded from the Baltic market for their 
 cloth. In July 1453 twenty thousand citizens of 
 Ghent perished at the battle of Gavre, and England's 
 hope of recovering the Flemish market vanished. In 
 Southern France Bordeaux only was holding its own 
 with difficulty, against the French. In October Bor- 
 deaux yielded, and another market was permanently 
 closed. The foreign possessions of England were re- 
 duced to the fortress of Calais. 
 
 To add to England's troubles the King's mind, 
 never very strong, gave way ; and he was unable even 
 to understand that an heir to his difficulties had been 
 born. Under these depressing conditions the Queen's 
 desire to be made Regent was refused ; and Parliament 
 in 1454 entrusted York with the office of Protector. 
 Somerset was at the same time lodged in the Tower, 
 lest a worse fate should befall him. Next year the 
 King recovered from his insanity. Somerset was
 
 THE WAR OF THE ROSES 185 
 
 reinstated, and both parties drew the sword. The first 
 battle of St. Albans ended in a victory for the Yorkists. 
 Somerset was killed in battle ; York became Constable 
 of England, whilst his supporter, the Earl of Warwick, 
 was made Captain of Calais. In 1456 the Queen 
 removed her husband and son to the ]\Iidlands. The 
 Yorkists were then deprived of power ; but for three 
 3'ears there was no fresh outbreak of civil war. In 
 1457, owing to reverses at sea, the Queen was forced 
 to give Warwick a commission to keep the sea for 
 three years, and Warwick succeeded where his pre- 
 decessor had failed. 
 
 In 1459 the Queen thought that she was strong 
 enough to crush the Yorkists. Both sides armed, 
 and the battles of Blore Heath and Ludlow proved 
 that the Queen's calculations were well founded. The 
 Yorkists made the mistake of trusting to their retainers 
 and fighting at a distance from London and Kent, 
 the centres of their strength. Before the end of the 
 year the leading Yorkists were in exile. York was 
 again sent to Ireland and Warwick withdrew to 
 Calais, which he held in opposition to the Government. 
 Though defeated on land, the Yorkists had the support 
 <jf England's sailors and of the men of Kent. In 
 London many of the rich merchants were Lancastrian, 
 but the great majority of the common folk were on 
 the side of York. 
 
 Warwick landed in Kent in 1460. He was wel- 
 comed by the citizens of London. Money was raised 
 in the city ; at Northampton the Lancastrians were 
 crushed ; and York returned to London with a captive 
 King, who was allowed to reign under York's tutelage,
 
 i86 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 whilst York was recognised as the heir to the throne. 
 The Queen speedily raised a new army in the North. 
 At Wakefield, in 1460, York was defeated and killed 
 in the battle, A Lancastrian victory at St. Albans 
 in February 1461 ought to have opened the road to 
 London ; but the Queen hesitated before attacking 
 a Yorkist stronghold. Meanwhile York's son and 
 heir, soon to be Edward IV., had defeated the Lan- 
 castrians of the West at Mortimer's Cross. His 
 victorious army joined Warwick's force which had 
 been defeated at St. Albans, and London accepted 
 Edward as King. Henry VL had escaped from the 
 custody of the Yorkists when they were defeated at 
 St. Albans. The new king pursued the Lancastrians 
 as they retired towards the North and defeated them 
 at Towton. Henry VL and his Queen fled to Scot- 
 land, and, in 1461, Parliament recognised that 
 Edward IV. was King by right of birth and not by 
 parliamentary title. 
 
 The Yorkist cause had been supported by the 
 common folk, weavers and ironworkers. They were 
 rewarded in 1463 when Parliament decreed that the 
 importation of a long list of cutlery and ironware was 
 forbidden during the King's pleasure and that no 
 wrought silk should be imported for five years. At 
 the same time the export of wool was confined to 
 Englishmen, and to encourage agriculture the importa- 
 tion of grain was forbidden until the price was high 
 enough to allow English farmers to grow grain at a 
 profit. This, the first English corn law, if statutes 
 permitting or forbidding the exportation of grain are 
 neglected, presei'ved England from having her corn-
 
 THE WAR OF THE ROSES 187 
 
 growing ruined by the importation of cheap grain 
 from the Baltic. Next year the importation of woollen 
 cloth was forbidden. The preambles to these statutes 
 make it quite clear that they were intended to protect 
 English industr}'. During the civil war, as a rule, the 
 common folk were spared, while noble prisoners were 
 executed without merc3^ The slaughter of so many 
 magnates made it easier to carry into effect the idealism 
 of de Mont fort who, two centuries before England was 
 ripe for the change, had urged Englishmen to protect 
 the English weaver instead of seeking over-precious 
 raiment from abroad. 
 
 In the year 1453, when the War of the Roses was 
 brewing, the Turks captured Constantinople. Materials 
 from the East, such as alum, without which cloth 
 could not then be finished, were only to be had at 
 whatever price the Turks chose to ask. John di 
 Castro, a refugee from Constantinople, obtained the 
 Pope's permission to open mines in papal territory. 
 An abundance of excellent alum was produced at 
 some date between 1460 and 1465. Shortly after this 
 alum was found at Volterra, not far from Florence. 
 The Medici of Florence were papal bankers and 
 financed the alum mines and works. After a war 
 between Florence and Volterra, the Medici were able 
 to control the supply of alum from Volterra as well as 
 that from papal territory. The cloth of Florence was 
 no longer sent to be dyed at Constantinople, and 
 the Popes and Medici won colossal wealth from the 
 discovery. The splendour and the wickedness ol 
 Rome and Florence under the Borgias and the Medici 
 came from this easily earned wealth. Before the end
 
 i88 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 of the fifteenth century Florence, thinking herself 
 secure in her monopoly of alum, adopted the policy 
 of free importation. Cheap rough cloth was carried 
 from England to be finished in Florence. The rich 
 Medici grew richer, whilst the weavers starved and 
 fought desperately for the right to exist. Meanwhile 
 England increased her hold over the primary industry 
 of weaving, and waited in patience for the secondary 
 industries which were bound to come to her. 
 
 Portugal had been England's faithful political and 
 commercial ally. The treaty of Windsor, in 1386, 
 established this alliance, which was cemented by the 
 marriage of Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of 
 Gaunt, to King John of Portugal. Her son, Henry, 
 was the Portuguese prince who led his countrymen 
 on those voyages of discovery by which ultimately a 
 sea route to the East round the Cape of Good Hope 
 was found in i486. Thus European progress was 
 stimulated and not retarded when importation from 
 the East was temporarily checked by the capture of 
 Constantinople. Duke Philip of Flanders was evi- 
 dently alive to the importance of Portugal when he 
 married Philippa's daughter, Isabel, with great pomp 
 in 1427 ; but the Portuguese remained faithful to their 
 English friends, and the treaty of Windsor was con- 
 stantly renewed. Charles the Bold, son of Philip and 
 Isabel, was the real ruler of Flanders for some years 
 before 1467, when he succeeded to the Duchy of 
 Burgundy on his father's death. 
 
 In 1461, the year in which Edward IV. was crowned, 
 Charles VII. of France died, and his son, Louis XL, 
 became King. From Louis, Queen Margaret obtained
 
 THE \^^^R OF THE ROSES 189 
 
 shipping and men. But the rivahy which existed 
 between the Duke of Burgundy and Louis XI. made 
 the French King cautious. English shipping was able 
 to cope with the insuflicient force obtained from 
 France, and Queen IMargaret again found shelter in 
 Scotland. A Lancastrian rising in the North of 
 England, supported by the Scotch, was crushed in 
 1464 at the battles of Hedgely Moor and Hexham. 
 Scotland then made peace with Edward ; Queen 
 Margaret fled to France ; and Henry VL found hiding- 
 places in the houses of his English adherents. Fear 
 of the power of the King of France prevented an open 
 rupture between England and the Netherlands when 
 commercial intercourse was suspended. 
 
 After 1458 short commercial truces between 
 England and Flanders enabled English merchants to 
 conduct a somewhat precarious trade. In the second 
 year of his reign Edward tried to establish an English 
 Hanse in the Netherlands by the grant of a " large 
 charter" to English merchants trading in those parts. 
 Commercial treaties were also made with Denmark, 
 Brittanj^, Scotland, Naples, and Spain. To facilitate 
 the conclusion of the treaty with Spain a present of 
 English sheep was sent to the Spanish King, and it is 
 supposed that the growing of fine wool in Spain began 
 after this gift. In 1463 a Navigation Act was passed 
 to compel English exporters to use English ships ; 
 but this Act lapsed in three years and was probably 
 never seriously enforced. To raise funds for an 
 adequate navy was too dangerous a policy before the 
 central government was strong enough to crush 
 opposition to national taxation ; but Edward doubt-
 
 igo THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 less hoped to restore England's sea power by building 
 up a mercantile marine. He became a trader on his 
 own account, and his marriage to an Englishwoman, 
 Elizabeth Woodville, who was only the daughter of 
 a knight, endeared the King to the middle classes, 
 although it tended to estrange the great nobles. 
 
 Edward's attempt to establish direct commerce 
 with the Netherlands alarmed the weavers of Flanders. 
 It was immediately followed by a Burgundian edict 
 prohibiting the importation of English cloth. This 
 was answered bj^ an English Act forbidding importa- 
 tion from Burgundian lands ; but the Act specified 
 that the rights of the Steelyard were not to be affected, 
 hence Anglo-Flemish trade passed into the hands of 
 the merchants of Cologne. The commerce of Calais 
 was affected by Edward's " large charter," which was 
 intended to create direct intercourse between Flanders 
 and England, and by the Act which confined Anglo- 
 Flemish trade to the merchants of the Steelyard who 
 dealt between London and Bruges. When Charles 
 the Bold became Duke of Burgundy in 1467, negotia- 
 tions for an alliance between Charles and Edward 
 were set on foot. The alliance involved joint action 
 against France and direct commercial intercourse 
 between the Burgundian lands and England, It was 
 to be cemented by the marriage of Edward's sister, 
 Margaret, to Duke Charles. 
 
 Warwick, whose interests were bound up with 
 Calais and English shipping, opposed the alliance and 
 the treaties ; but a treaty which restored commerce 
 with the Netherlands was evidentl}^ better than the 
 absolute cessation of trade. Hence the merchants of
 
 THE WAR OF THE ROSES 191 
 
 Calais supported Edward in his new polic}', although 
 this policy involved their obtaining a smaller share of 
 Anglo-Flemish trade. The treaties were signed and 
 the marriage solemnised after Parliament had signified 
 its approval in 1468. Then followed a rising of nobles 
 who were jealous of the favours bestowed on the 
 Queen's relatives, Warwick and Edward's brother, 
 the Duke of Clarence, supported this rebellion. After 
 a small battle at Edgecote, Edward fell into the hands 
 of the rebels. This sudden revolt was succeeded by 
 an equally'' sudden reaction, Edward was set free, 
 and Warwick in 1470 fled to Calais. Refused admit- 
 tance at Calais, Warwi^-k obtained ships and men from 
 Louis XI. and sheltered himself in the mouth of the 
 Seine, where he was blockaded by the Duke of Bur- 
 gundy. Before long Duke Charles was forced to raise 
 the blockade. There were naval battles between the 
 Hanseatics and Flemings on one side and Warwick 
 on the other, although England and Burgundy were 
 allied. Finally, in 1470, after making peace with 
 Queen Margaret, Warwick landed at Dartmouth. 
 Edward fled to Flanders, and Henry VI. was released 
 from the Tower to serve as puppet King for Warwick. 
 It was not long before England again learned 
 that internal peace was impossible as long as her navy 
 was weak. After some hesitation, Duke Charles lent 
 his brother-in-law some ships, and money with whirh 
 he could hire others from the Hansc merchants. In 
 147T Edward landed in England. Clarence deserted 
 Warwick's cause, and London again welcomed a 
 Yorkist King. \\'arwick was routed and slain at the 
 battle of Barnet in 1471. On the day of the battle
 
 192 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Queen Margaret landed at Weymouth. Three weeks 
 later the Lancastrians who had joined her were 
 defeated at Tewkesbury. Edward, the only son of 
 Henry VL, was put to death after the battle, and 
 Queen Margaret surrendered to Edward. Warwick's 
 Vice-Admiral, Fauconbridge, led his sailors to 
 London, He was defeated by the resistance of the 
 Londoners, and resumed his old career of pirate, until 
 he was captured and beheaded. Edward entered 
 London as unquestioned King. On the day of his 
 entry Henry VL died a probably unnatural death in 
 the Tower, and for a time England had rest from 
 civil war. 
 
 •1 
 
 I
 
 XV 
 
 England's protective policy initiated 
 1473-1490 
 
 Edward IV. was restored to his throne by Duke Charles 
 the Bold ; but there was little to unite the two rulers 
 except their common hostihty to Louis XI. Charles 
 wished to create an independent Greater Burgundy 
 which should stretch from the Low Countries to the 
 Mediterranean. Within his kingdom there would 
 have been ample pasture for flocks whose wool might 
 have fed Flemish looms. Charles even dreamed of 
 adding England to his dominions. After the death of 
 Henry VI. he placed on record a secret document in 
 which he claimed the throne of England as a descendant 
 of John of Gaunt through his mother. But the first 
 task to which Charles devoted his energy was the 
 conquest of the lands which separated Flemish looms 
 from the Burgundian pastures. To aid him in his 
 enterprise, Charles negotiated with the Dukes of 
 Guienne and Brittany and with Edward IV., who was 
 invited to enter France by way of Brittany. 
 
 Co-operation with the English was impossible until 
 the English could cross the Channel in safety. Ac- 
 cordingly Charles arranged a meeting of the Hanse 
 merchants and the English at Utrecht in 1473, wiien 
 
 o
 
 194 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 peace was made between the North Germans and the 
 EngHsh. The feud between Cologne and the Baltic 
 towns was then healed, and Liibeck again became 
 the chief Hanse city. The North Germans regained 
 the privileges of the Steelyard, promising to give 
 English merchants equal freedom in the Baltic. This 
 promise was, however, speedily broken. Charles pro- 
 mised Edward the support of the Flemish in the 
 campaign against Louis ; but the merchants declined 
 to listen to the Duke's prayers and threats. In 1475 
 Edward wisely sailed to Calais instead of Brittany. 
 When it was clear that Charles would have no help 
 from Flanders, Edward made terms with Louis XL 
 The campaign was abandoned after Edward had 
 received a large sum of money from the French King 
 and a promise of an annual subsidy. It was also 
 agreed that the Dauphin should marry Edward's 
 daughter Elizabeth. The marriage project failed ; 
 but the subsidy was regularly paid during Edward's 
 life, and he was thus relieved from the necessity of 
 summoning Parliament. 
 
 In 1476 French gold was used to bribe the Swiss to 
 attack Charles and to spread treachery in the Bur- 
 gundian army. Charles fell at the battle of Nancy, 
 leaving an only child, Mary, as heiress. The Flemish 
 burghers at first saw in the disaster an opportunity for 
 wringing from the duchess and her mother a renewal 
 of the privileges which had divided the Netherlands. 
 When Louis realised profit from his judicious invest- 
 ments by annexing large portions of the Burgundian 
 lands, and when he threatened to absorb the Nether- 
 lands by marrying the Dauphin to their young Duchess,
 
 PROTECTIVE POLICY INITIATED 195 
 
 the burghers awoke to their danger. An army, tenfold 
 as large as that which Duke Charles had asked for, 
 was hastily levied, and Mary was married to Maxi- 
 milian, son of the German Emperor. Thus for a time 
 absolute ruin was averted ; but, in the end, the men 
 who preferred to depend on the foreigner for their raw 
 material, wool, and who thought as traders not as 
 imperialists, lost both trade and freedom. 
 
 Edward's interference in foreign politics almost 
 ceased after 1475. The money he received from 
 France, supplemented by benevolences or compul- 
 sory gifts from wealthy merchants, enabled him to 
 rule without Parliament. One Parhament, indeed, 
 met in 1478 ; but the only business it transacted was 
 the condemnation of Edward's brother, the Duke 
 of Clarence, for high treason. Clarence died in the 
 Tower before the sentence of Parhament was carried 
 out. Parliament did not again meet until 1483, just 
 before Edward's death. In 1478 a commercial treaty 
 was made between England and Flanders. Next year 
 Philip, the baby son of Maximilian and Mary, was 
 betrothed to one of Edward's daughters. Flanders 
 and France were at war and this was probably a hint 
 to the French King that there might be an Anglo- 
 Burgundian alliance if his payments were not punc- 
 tually made. 
 
 The last years of Edward's hfc were devoted 
 mainly to Scotland. Advantage was taken of the 
 Franco-Burgundian war and of disunion in the Scotch 
 royal family. The Duke of Albany, brother of the 
 reigning King James III., Inid claim to the throne, and 
 Edward supported Albany's claim. In return Albany 
 
 o 2
 
 196 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 promised to acknowledge Edward's overlordship if 
 he won the throne of Scotland. But in March 1482 
 Mary of Burgundy died, leaving two infant children, 
 Philip and Margaret. Whilst Edward and Albany 
 were making terms, Louis XL was negotiating with the 
 Flemish, and it was agreed that the Dauphin should 
 marry Margaret, who would have as dowry the Bur- 
 gundian lands for which France was fighting. France 
 was thus able to interest herself in the affairs of 
 Scotland, and in the midst of a successful campaign 
 which Edward's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, 
 was conducting against James of Scotland, Albany 
 resigned his claim and made terms with his brother. 
 As the result of the war England gained only the 
 frontier town of Berwick, but Gloucester acquired the 
 reputation of a great mihtary leader. 
 
 The negotiations between France and the Low 
 Countries, which were finally concluded by the Peace 
 of Arras in March 1483, were at once felt in England. 
 The motive, prompting Louis to pay the annual 
 bribe, which had lessened taxation in England, was 
 removed when Edward's neutrality was no longer 
 of value to the French King. France could then 
 interfere to check the movement towards the unifica- 
 tion of Great Britain, and the trade between England 
 and the Low Countries was endangered. When 
 England wished to sell cloth instead of wool Bruges 
 closed her market in 1434, only to create a dangerous 
 rival in Antwerp, the sea pert of Brabant, There 
 English Merchant Adventurers settled in 1446, and 
 Antwerp, accepting the principle of free trade, offered 
 a hearty welcome to all merchants of every nation.
 
 PROTECTIVE POLICY INITIATED 197 
 
 The Hanse League had much capital invested in 
 Bruges, and were therefore loth to leave. But as the 
 trade of Bruges decayed, the Zwyn silted up. Charles 
 the Bold urged his semi-independent Flemish towns to 
 aid Bruges in clearing the waterway, but they turned 
 a deaf ear. Antwerp grew as Bruges declined, and 
 the Hanse merchants followed the English. Then 
 followed the dramatic commercial war of the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries. Cheap English 
 goods flooded the Low Countries and Germany. 
 At first there was plenty for the poor and luxury for 
 the rich, soon followed by loss of production, ruin, 
 and desolation. It was this market of Antwerp which 
 might have been closed to the English by the Peace 
 of Arras. 
 
 Parliament met in January 1483, and supply for 
 the Anglo-French war which seemed inevitable was 
 at once voted. Shortly after Parliament was pro- 
 rogued Edward died in April 1483, and his son, a boy 
 of twelve, became Edward V. By illegal and violent 
 measures the young King's uncle, Gloucester, was 
 made Protector, and the sons of Edward IV. were 
 lodged in the Tower. In June the Protector obtained 
 the consent of the nobles to his usurpation of the 
 throne as Richard III. A few days after this the boy- 
 king and his brother were murdered in the Tower. 
 The conscience of the nation was again shocked when 
 Richard's wife, whose health precluded the possibility 
 of her bearing more children, died suddenly, after 
 Richard was left childless by the death of his only 
 son. The shock was increased when Richard pro- 
 posed to marry his niece Elizabeth, the sister of the
 
 igS THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 murdered children. Englishmen believed not without 
 some reason that Richard had murdered Henry VI., 
 his brother Clarence, his two nephews, and his wife. 
 Though Richard's Parliament passed statutes making 
 benevolences illegal and protecting English trade 
 against foreign competition, his reign was destined 
 to be a short one. 
 
 Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, a descendant of 
 the Beauforts, had fled to the Continent. Arrange- 
 ments were made by which he was to land in England, 
 seize the Crown, marry Edward's daughter Elizabeth, 
 and thus put an end to the strife between the Houses 
 of York and Lancaster. In 1483 Richard succeeded in 
 suppressing a rebellion to carry out this scheme ; but 
 in 1485 Henry landed at Milford Haven with a small 
 body of soldiers lent by the French. Richard was 
 defeated and killed near Bosworth ; and Henry was 
 informally crowned on the field of battle. His formal 
 coronation took place in October 1485 ; and almost 
 immediately Parliament met and gave its sanction. 
 In January i486 Henry married Elizabeth, and the 
 long feud between York and Lancaster was healed. 
 
 In 162 1, when the advantage which England had 
 gained from protection was patent to all. Lord 
 Bacon wrote of Henry VII. that " the King also (having 
 care to make his realm potent as weU by sea as 
 by land), for the better maintenance of the navy, 
 ordained that wines and woads from the ports of Gas- 
 coign and Languedoc should not be brought but in 
 English bottoms ; bowing the ancient policy of this 
 estate from consideration of plenty to consideration of 
 power : for that almost all the ancient statutes invite
 
 PROTECTIVE POLICY INITIATED 199 
 
 (by all means) merchant strangers to bring in all sorts 
 of commodities, having for end cheapness, and not 
 looking to the point of state concerning the naval 
 power," If it is possibly too much to claim for Henry 
 the inauguration of the protective policy, he and his 
 descendants made England great by loyally adhering 
 to it. 
 
 In a speech which Bacon puts in the mouth of 
 Henry's Chancellor at the opening of Parliament, the 
 Chancellor states that the King " prays you to take 
 into consideration matters of trade, as also the manu- 
 factures of the kingdom, and to repress the bastard 
 and barren employment of moneys to usury and 
 unlawful exchanges, that they may be (as their 
 natural use is) turned upon commerce and lawful and 
 royal trading ; and likewise that our people may be 
 set awork in arts and handicrafts, that the realm may 
 subsist more of itself, that idleness be avoided, and 
 the draining out of our treasure for foreign manu- 
 facture stopped. But you are not to rest here only, 
 but to provide further that whatsoever merchandise 
 shall be brought in from beyond the seas may be 
 employed upon the commodities of this land, whereby 
 the kingdom's stock of treasure may be sure to be kept 
 from being diminished by any overtrading of the 
 foreigner." 
 
 When mentioning a law which forbade the im- 
 portation of certain silk goods, Bacon says that 
 " this law pointed at a true principle ; tliat where 
 foreign materials are but superlluities, foreign manu- 
 factures should be prohibited. For that will either 
 banish the superfluity or gain the manufacture."
 
 200 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Laws were passed compelling importers of foreign 
 " merchandise brought in from beyond the seas " to 
 buy an equivalent amount of English goods, so that 
 imports were paid for by exports and checking the 
 " barren employment of moneys " so that rich English- 
 men could not, like the Fuggers and Medici, send 
 capital abroad to earn interest by giving employment 
 to foreigners. In a popular poem written after the 
 protective statutes of Edward IV. the following quaint 
 advice was given : 
 
 "Therefore let not our wool be sold for nought, 
 Neither our cloth, for they must be sought. 
 And in especial restrain straightly the wool, 
 That the commons of this land may work at the full. 
 And if any wool be sold of this land. 
 Let it be of the worst both to free and bond, 
 And none other in (no) manner wise, 
 For many causes, as I can devise. 
 If the wool be coarse, the cloth is much the worse. 
 Yet into little they put out of purse. 
 As much for carding, spinning, and weaving, 
 Fulling, rowing, dyeing, and shearing. 
 And yet when such cloth is all wrought, 
 To the maker it availeth little or nought. 
 The price is simple, the cost is never the less. 
 They that worked such wool in wit be like an ass. 
 The cost within little truly at the full 
 Is as much as it were made of the fine wool. 
 Yet a yard of that one is worth five of the other ; 
 Better can not I say, though it were to my brother." 
 
 This somewhat unscrupulous policy was carried 
 out by enacting that the foreigner should not be 
 allowed to buy English wool until the English weaver 
 had enjoyed an option for six months after shearing
 
 PROTECTIVE POLICY INITIATED 201 
 
 time. No cloth might leave England until it had 
 been " barbed, rowed, and shorn." For centuries the 
 importation of foreign cloth was forbidden, except 
 during a few years when Oliver Cromwell's army- 
 governed England. The keystone of England's fiscal 
 policy was this forcing the rich to support the poor 
 weaver and not " to seek over-precious raiment." 
 Iron-ware was prohibited during the King's pleasure 
 in the reign of Edward IV. It is evident the English 
 production was then insufficient, and the King was 
 therefore invited to regulate the importation. In the 
 short reign of Richard III. the importation was given 
 as a monopoly to English merchants ; but as these 
 goods came from the Low Countries, with whom 
 commerce was frequently interrupted, a great stimulus 
 was given to home production. The prohibition was 
 not made absolute until the reign of Elizabeth ; but 
 from 1354 the exportation of iron was prohibited, thus 
 a supply of raw material was ensured. 
 
 The Wars of the Roses were fought by armies of 
 retainers, who wore the livery of great nobles in token 
 of their readiness to support the cause of their leaders, 
 whilst these leaders maintained or protected their 
 followers in the King's courts. Juries were afraid to 
 convict ; and the laws against livery and maintenance, 
 which were continually enacted from 1327 onwards, 
 were inoperative, since the offence of maintenance 
 was repeated when offences against these statutes 
 came into court. A new court, which obtained the 
 name of Star Chamber, was established at the com- 
 mencement of Henry's reign. It was composed of the 
 Chancellor, Treasurer, Privy Seal, a bishop, a lay lord
 
 202 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 of the Privy Council, and two judges. Offences 
 against the statutes of livery and maintenance were 
 removed to this court, which could not be terrorised. 
 The King's treasury was filled by heavy fines levied 
 on disobedient nobles, and the King's peace replaced 
 feudal disorder. 
 
 The magnates were, however, unwilling to beat 
 their swords into ploughshares. The growth of 
 weaving had made sheep farming more profitable 
 than, agriculture, and landlords were taking advantage 
 of Enclosure Acts such as the Statute of Merton. 
 " Inclosures at that time began to be more frequent, 
 whereby arable land (which could not be cultivated 
 without people and families) was turned into pasture, 
 which was easily rid by a few herdsmen ; and tenances 
 for years, lives, and at will (whereupon much of the 
 yeomanry lived) were turned into demesnes. This 
 bred a decay of people. ... In remedying of this 
 inconvenience the King's wisdom was admirable ; and 
 the Parliament's at that time. Inclosures they would 
 not forbid, for that had been to forbid the improve- 
 ment of the patrimony of the kingdom ; nor tillage 
 they would not compel, for that was to strive with 
 Nature and utility : but they took a course to take 
 away depopulating inclosures and depopulating pastur- 
 age, and yet not by that name, or by any imperious 
 express prohibition, but by consequence. 
 
 " The ordinance was, ' That all houses of husbandry, 
 that were used with twenty acres of ground and up- 
 wards, should be maintained and kept up for ever ; 
 together with a competent proportion of land to be 
 used and occupied with them ' (as by another statute,
 
 PROTECTIVE POLICY INITIATED 203 
 
 made afterwards in his successor's time was more fully 
 declared) ; this upon forfeiture to be taken, not by way 
 of popular action, but by seizure of the land itself by 
 the King and lords of the fee, as to half the profits, till 
 the houses and lands were restored. By this means 
 the houses being kept up did of necessity enforce a 
 dweller ; and the proportion of land being kept up, 
 did of necessity enforce that dweller not to be a beggar 
 or cottager, but a man of some substance, that might 
 keep hinds and servants, and set the plough on going." 
 After describing the service which this yeoman class 
 could render to the military strength of England, Lord 
 Bacon adds : " Thus did the King secretly sow Hydra's 
 teeth ; whereupon (according to the poet's fiction) 
 should rise up armed men for the service of the king- 
 dom." Bacon had personal experience of the effect 
 of this policy. 
 
 Much was done by Henry VII. to found English 
 commerce upon England's production of cheap cloth. 
 When the Venetians, alarmed at the appearance of 
 English shipping in the Eastern Mediterranean, im- 
 posed an export duty on Cretan wines loaded on 
 foreign ships and gave bounties to their own wine- 
 exporters, Parliament retaliated by placing a heavy 
 import duty on wine carried by the Venetians. As a 
 producer of cloth England had an overwhelming 
 advantage in this commercial war. The trade of the 
 Venetian middlemen in English cloth was swept away, 
 when England in 1490 made a commercial treaty with 
 Florence, the great centre of cloth-making in Italy. 
 Florence, like Antwerp, accepted the principle of free 
 trade. Cheap English cloth was imported in the hope
 
 204 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 of retaini.ng the secondary industry of dyeing and 
 dressing when the primary industry of weaving was 
 surrendered to England. In Florence, as in Flanders, 
 this policy was followed by ephemeral prosperity, 
 marred by civil wars which were the death throes of 
 the weaving industry. Then followed in Florence, as 
 in Flanders, loss of freedom and ruin. But protected 
 England grew ever richer and her cloth was carried 
 throughout the Mediterranean by English merchants 
 on English ships. 
 
 It was much more difficult to deal with the 
 Hanseatic League than with the Venetians. The 
 treaty of Utrecht gave English merchants the same 
 rights in the Baltic as Hanse merchants enjoyed in 
 England, but these rights in the Baltic were withheld. 
 Until England had built an adequate navy nothing 
 could, however, be done ; and English merchants were 
 forced, from fear of the sea power of the League, to 
 acquiesce in a policy of masterly inactivity. Indeed 
 an Act was passed in the reign of Henry VII. expressly 
 exempting Hanse merchants from any restrictive 
 commercial legislation which Parliament might pass. 
 But even the commerce and sea power of the Hanse 
 League, lacking the only sure foundation of national 
 production, contained within itself the seeds of decay. 
 At least the foundation of England's Tudor navy was 
 laid in the reign of Henry VII. and the first dry dock 
 was constructed, although it was left for other Tudors 
 to build on this foundation. A way into the Baltic was 
 also opened by the treaty with Denmark in 1490 ; and 
 through this entrance English ships sailed ultimately 
 to wrest from Germans the commerce of the League.
 
 XVI 
 
 SPAIN ENTERS INTO TRADE COMPETITION 
 1490-1509 
 
 The greatest problem which confronted Henry was 
 the phenomenal growth of Spain. Until 1479 Spain 
 was divided into two large Christian States, Castile 
 and Aragon, the small Mahomedan kingdom of Gra- 
 nada, and the still smaller Christian State of Navarre. 
 Though Castile was three times the size of its eastern 
 neighbour Aragon, this difference was partly com- 
 pensated by the Aragonese possessions in the Mediter- 
 ranean, Corsica and Sardinia, and by the control 
 Aragon exercised over Sicily. The union of Castile 
 and Aragon under Ferdinand and Isabella, which 
 foreshadowed the absorption of Granada and Navarro, 
 created a Spanish nation which occupied four-fifths 
 of the Iberian peninsula. It seemed only too likely 
 that Portugal, the remaining fifth, would also be per- 
 manently absorbed, as, somewhat later, it actually 
 was united to Spain for sixty years. 
 
 Before the Catholic kings, Ferdinand, Isabella, and 
 their successors, created national unity by asserting 
 their royal power, Spanish nobles and Spanish Par- 
 liaments possessed even greater rights and freedom 
 than the English had before the Tudors centralised
 
 2o6 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 the government of England. There was more reUgious 
 toleration in Spain than there was in England. Jews 
 and Mahomedans worked side by side with Christians. 
 The Spaniard excelled the English in manufactures, 
 and, after Edward IV. sent the King of Aragon a 
 present of English sheep, the wool of Spain became 
 even finer than that of England. Live sheep had 
 been sent to Spain in the reign of Edward HL, but 
 probably through carelessness in breeding Spanish 
 wool was of inferior quality until after the reign of 
 Edward IV. The success of the Portuguese in dis- 
 covering the gold of Guinea and the sea route to the 
 East was dwarfed when, in 1493, Ferdinand was told 
 by Columbus of the discovery of America. A Pope 
 had given the sanction of religion to the Portuguese 
 monopoly of the sea route to the East and to the 
 lands they had found in Africa. Another Pope, Alex- 
 ander VI., a Spaniard by birth, gave Ferdinand and 
 Isabella similar rights in the West. In the subsequent 
 histories of Spain and England the effect of economic 
 policy on national growth and national freedom can 
 be clearly traced. Spain neglected her workers, and 
 lost her freedom and colossal strength ; whilst by 
 pursuing an opposite policy England became both 
 strong and free. 
 
 England could stop Spanish ships from passing 
 Dover and Calais ; Spain could exclude the English 
 from the Mediterranean ; hence a good understanding 
 was important to both nations. After thirteen years 
 of tedious negotiations Ferdinand's youngest daughter, 
 Catherine, was married to Arthur, the eldest son of 
 Henry VII. and heir to the throne of England. A few
 
 SPANISH COMPETITION 207 
 
 months later Arthur died, and Henry, who was at the 
 time a widower, sought to marry his daughter-in-law. 
 When her mother Isabella vetoed this curious pro- 
 posal, Catherine was married to her brother-in-law, 
 afterwards Henry VIII. 
 
 An unhappy fate attended most of the carefully 
 planned marriages of Ferdinand's five children. His 
 eldest daughter, Isabella, married the Crown Prince of 
 Portugal in 1490, only to become a widow in a few 
 months' time. In 1497 she married her husband's 
 cousin and successor, Emanuel, and died giving birth 
 to a son, who also died in infancy. Ferdinand's third 
 daughter, Maria, then became Emanuel's wife. Had 
 Isabella's son lived he would have united Spain and 
 Portugal, since Ferdinand's only son, Juan, died 
 without issue in 1497. Between Maria and the Crown 
 of Spain there were Ferdinand's second daughter, 
 Juanna, and her two sons, Charles and Ferdinand. 
 Just as Isabella and Maria were used to bring Portugal 
 under Spanish control, so Juan and Juanna were used 
 to detach Flanders from France. The story of this 
 change in Flanders is closely intertwined with English 
 history. 
 
 Mary of Burgundy died in 1482 leaving Maximilian 
 a widower with two children, Philip and Margaret. 
 Just before his death, in 1483, Louis XI. signed the 
 Peace of Arras and betrothed the Dauphin, soon 
 to be Charles VIII., to the baby princess, Margaret, 
 of Flanders, who was kept at Paris until she should 
 arrive at a marriageable age. Confusion reigned in 
 the Low Countries after Mary's death. The chief 
 interest of the French fief, Flanders, was weaving, and
 
 2o8 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 English cloth was prohibited in Flanders. The mer- 
 chants of Bruges watched with anger the passing of 
 their prosperity to Antwerp, which imported English 
 cloth for Brabant and the other provinces. There was 
 economic division in Brabant, as well as in Flanders, 
 since Brabantine weavers were also being ruined by 
 English cloth ; but, on the whole, Flanders was in 
 favour of protection and the German fiefs of free trade. 
 The Flemish obtained possession of the child duke, 
 Philip, and refused to allow his German father, Maxi- 
 milian, any voice in their government. With Margaret 
 at Paris and Philip in Flanders, with England weakened 
 by a King, Richard HI., whose vices had disgusted his 
 people, and with the economic interests of the Flemish 
 forcing them towards France, the political union of 
 Flanders and France would probably have been 
 accomplished but for two reasons. The annexation of 
 Flanders would almost certainly have caused war 
 between France and Maximilian's father, the Em- 
 peror of Germany, and the prospect of annexing 
 Brittany to France diverted the interest of the French 
 from Flanders. Hence when Henry VH, became 
 King of England, Maximilian had, after a civil war, 
 established his authority over the Low Countries, 
 France was moving towards the final conquest of 
 Brittany, and fate was preparing, for what is now 
 called Belgium economic and poHtical ruin. The 
 short-lived prosperity of Brabant, which came from 
 the free trade of Antwerp, was about to place the 
 southern provinces of the Netherlands under Spanish 
 rule and to make them for centuries a battlefield where 
 European nations fought for any issue except the
 
 SPANISH COMPETITION 209 
 
 freedom and independence of the unhappy land which 
 was devastated in the wars. 
 
 During the early years of Henry's reign the ancient 
 questions of Flanders and France dominated England's 
 foreign policy. Spain was then preoccupied with 
 the tasks of absorbing the Mahomedan kingdom of 
 Granada and transforming herself into a great military 
 and naval power. When Maximilian tried to prevent 
 the absorption of Brittany by France, and to regain 
 the Burgundian provinces which Louis XI. had 
 annexed, he was constantly thwarted by his Flemish 
 subjects. Maximilian's policy involved alliance with 
 England and war with France ; and, whilst this suited 
 the interests of the merchants of Antwerp, it was 
 fatal to the weaving industry of Flanders. Flanders 
 was the scene of incessant civil wars, and the hatred 
 of England which permeated the land found expression 
 in the schemes of the Dowager Duchess Margaret, 
 widow of Charles the Bold and sister of Edward IV. 
 
 Soon after Henry's accession an impostor, Lambert 
 Simnel, personated the Earl of Warwick, a nephew of 
 Edward IV., who was at the time closely imprisoned 
 in the Tower. In Ireland Simnel was accepted as 
 King, and Margaret of Burgundy sent Flemish soldiers 
 to assist the rebels. But the movement failed in 
 England, and without great difficulty Henry defeated 
 the invading army of Irish and Flemings at Stoke-on- 
 Trent in 1487. French designs against the autonomy 
 of Brittany drew Maximilian and Henry together, and 
 Ferdinand also nominally joined the alliance. The 
 Spanish were anxious to recover two frontier pro- 
 vinces, Rousillon and Cerdagne, which Louis XI. had 
 
 P
 
 210 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 managed to obtain ; but they were preoccupied by the 
 war in Granada. 
 
 In 1489 Parhament made a grant for the war with 
 France. This was followed by an insurrection in the 
 North of England, a not uncommon sequel to an 
 attempt at levying taxes in those days. When this 
 revolt was suppressed, Henry had to help Maximilian 
 in suppressing the Flemish, who had taken arms 
 against the English alliance and the proposed war 
 with France. Still pressed by the Flemish, Maxi- 
 mihan made peace with France in 1489, a few months 
 after an English army had landed in Brittany. The 
 chief result of England's invasion of Brittany was the 
 marriage of the young Duchess of Brittany by proxy 
 to Maximilian in 1490. The French at once invaded 
 Brittany, and Maximihan's bride was then actually 
 married to Charles VHI. in 1491. In this way Brittany 
 was permanently joined to France, whose sea power 
 was thus greatly increased. 
 
 Ferdinand, Henry, and Maximilian prepared for 
 war with France, The usual rebellion in Flanders was 
 suppressed by Maximilian's army, aided by an EngHsh 
 fleet, and in 1492 Henry crossed to Calais and laid 
 siege to Boulogne. Disunion in the Netherlands, 
 however, wrecked the alliance. The Dowager Duchess 
 had been secretly preparing a fresh impostor, Perkin 
 Warbeck, who was supposed in Flanders to be an 
 illegitimate son of Edward IV. by the wife of a Flemish 
 boatman. In 1491 Warbeck assumed in Ireland the 
 role of the younger of the princes who were murdered 
 in the Tower. 
 
 Instead of vigorously attacking France, Spain
 
 SPANISH COMPETITION 211 
 
 entered into negotiations for the restoration of the 
 provinces she coveted, and Henry, threatened with 
 revolt at home, wisely accepted a large indemnity from 
 Charles and signed the peace of Etaples. A few 
 months later Spain gained her provinces and also 
 made peace, and soon after, in 1493, Maximilian, too, 
 signed the treaty of Senlis. By this treaty Maxi- 
 milian's daughter, Margaret, was returned to her 
 father, and with her many of the Burgundian land 
 annexed by Louis after the death of Charles the Bold 
 were restored. Charles VIII. made these sacrifices 
 in order to free himself for the conquest of Italy. 
 This invasion seemed at first to be a triumphal progress 
 rather than war. A rich prize was being fought for — 
 the Italian monopoly of alum. Had France succeeded 
 by stopping the supply of alum, she could, without war, 
 have forced Flemish dressers and dyers to join the 
 weavers in demanding the union of Flanders and 
 France. Spanish influence over Southern Italy was 
 disappearing when Louis' son, then Charles VIII. of 
 France, was confronted by a Holy League — that is, 
 one which included the Pope. The League was 
 created by Ferdinand ; Maximilian, Emperor of 
 Germany since 1493, and Henry VII. joined it, and the 
 French conquest of Italy was checked. 
 
 Warbeck, deprived of French aid by the peace of 
 Etaples, went to Flanders, where the Dowager Duchess 
 unofficially supplied him with men and sliips. With 
 these he tried and failed to land at Deal in 1495. 
 Thence he again sailed to Ireland ; but Henry had, 
 during the previous year, sent Sir Edward Poynings 
 to Ireland to prepare for Warbeck's return. It was 
 
 p 2
 
 212 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 then that the Poynings Acts were passed by the Irish 
 Pariiament. These made existing Enghsh law vahd 
 in Ireland and decreed that in future all Irish legisla- 
 tion should be invalid unless approved by the English 
 Council. After failing in Ireland, Warbeck found 
 shelter in Scotland, where he was at first cordially 
 received by James IV. After the formation of the 
 Holy League, Warbeck was repudiated by his Flemish 
 friends. 
 
 In 1496 Parliament made a large grant for war with 
 James IV. of Scotland. Opposition to taxation led 
 to an insurrection of the Cornish. This revolt, follow- 
 ing the previous rising in Northumberland, appears to 
 have been the reason why Henry summoned only one 
 other Parliament during the remaining thirteen years 
 of his reign, and from the Parliament of 1504 he only 
 asked the customary feudal dues on knighting his eldest 
 son and marrying his eldest daughter ; but even these 
 customary payments were strongly opposed. The 
 Cornish rebels advanced unopposed through Southern 
 England to suffer a crushing defeat at Blackheath. 
 Warbeck had left Scotland in order to raise the Irish, 
 but was forced to land in the West without followers. 
 In spite of the battle of Blackheath, an insurgent army 
 soon assembled. Without much difficulty, however, 
 Warbeck was captured, and after escaping from the 
 Tower he was executed in 1499. In the same month 
 the Earl of Warwick suffered the same punishment. 
 
 The war with Scotland was not vigorously pro- 
 secuted, and a truce was signed in 1497. This truce 
 became a defensive alliance in 1502, and the alliance 
 was sealed by the marriage of James IV. to Henry's
 
 SPANISH COMPETITION 213 
 
 elder daughter, Margaret. From this marriage came 
 the union of Great Britain under James I. The 
 alliance of Maximilian and Ferdinand was in like 
 manner confirmed in 1496, when Ferdinand's daughter, 
 Juanna, married Maximilian's son, Philip, and the 
 Spanish fleet which carried Juanna to the Netherlands 
 returned with Philip's sister, Margaret, who was 
 married to Juan, the heir of Spain, 
 
 Whilst Flanders was supporting Warbeck, Anglo- 
 Flemish trade, other than that carried on by the 
 merchants of the Steelyard, was stopped. The anger 
 of the Merchant Adventurers was expressed by an 
 attack on the Steelyard. But, until England pos- 
 sessed a strong navy, the Hanse League was a dangerous 
 foe, and the rioting was suppressed. To induce Eng- 
 land to join the Holy League the Magnus Intercursus, 
 an Anglo-Burgundian commercial treaty, was signed 
 in 1496, and EngHsh merchants returned to Antwerp. 
 Ten years later, when Philip and Juanna were sailing 
 south to take possession of Castile, which they inherited 
 on the death of Isabella, they were forced to seek 
 refuge in England. From his guests Henry obtained 
 two very advantageous treaties, one of which, the 
 Malus Intercursus, deprived Flemish weavers of the 
 limited protection afforded them by the Magnus 
 Intercursus. A storm of protest in Flanders sealed 
 the fate of the new commercial treaty, and trade was 
 conducted on the lines laid down in Magnus Inter- 
 cursus. 
 
 " Tlicir first contact with the West Indies revealed 
 to the Spaniards the possibility of opening up fresh 
 sources of supply, and tlic amount of the precious
 
 214 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 metals they acquired was quite unprecedented. The 
 islands supplied annually increasing quantities till 
 1516 ; in 1522 the exploitation of Mexico began." 
 Dr. Cunningham adds that, measured by the value of 
 grain, the rise in prices was as i to 2*40 from 1540 to 
 1582, and as i to 2*22 from 1583 to 1642. In one 
 century, therefore, the cost of grain food increased more 
 than fivefold. As this wealth belonged to Spain, her 
 sudden appearance as the greatest Power in Europe 
 is easily accounted for. She had the means of increas- 
 ing her navy to an almost unlimited extent. The 
 people of Spain were trained to arms owing to their 
 frequent contests with the Mahomedans ; her rulers 
 had the wealth to support armies on foreign service. 
 From the beginning of the sixteenth century until 
 1648, Spanish infantry enjoyed the reputation of being 
 invincible ; but ultimately Spain's fiscal system ruined 
 her army. The Spanish soldier was conquered by the 
 rise in prices. 
 
 Spain's fatal mistake was the undervaluing of 
 Spanish production. Before the days of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, manufactures were largely in the hands 
 of Moors, who were also better agriculturists than their 
 Christian neighbours. Commerce was conducted by 
 Jews, who for centuries enjoyed more toleration in 
 Spain than in other parts of Europe. Suddenly 
 toleration was replaced by persecution. The Jews 
 were banished in 1492, and the Moors shared their 
 fate when gold from America promised to give Spain 
 wealth which was not earned by work done in the 
 home country. A century later, when Spain was 
 intoxicated by unearned gold, the Christianised Moors,
 
 SPANISH COMPETITION 215 
 
 or Moriscos, were also expelled. In defiance of the 
 laws of Spain the precious metals were exported to 
 buy foreign products, and this exportation increased 
 as prices rose. When Spain's ability to pay for an 
 army and navy dechned, her miHtary and naval 
 strength naturally decayed. 
 
 The rise in prices was of benefit to England. Her 
 products increased in value as Spanish gold and silver 
 lost their purchasing power. But England's Kings 
 suffered. The rooted objection of the Enghsh to all 
 taxation increased when ever-increasing sums of 
 money had to be raised for national purposes. The 
 dissolution of the monasteries and the execution of 
 Charles I. were both largely due to the need of additional 
 supply for national purposes when the value of the 
 precious metals declined. It was a mere chance that 
 Columbus did not discover America for England 
 instead of for Spain. Cabot, almost immediately 
 after the voyage of Columbus, sailed from Bristol to 
 Newfoundland. But until 1525 England feared to 
 challenge Spain's monopoly of the New World. Then 
 the economic strength wliich came from English 
 production enabled England to begin a contest that 
 lasted until Spain was ruined. Spain bought goods 
 from all nations, England sold goods to all ; hence 
 Spain became a sieve through which the precious 
 metals flowed to England. 
 
 Henry VII. appears to have foreseen the impending 
 change. He could not increase taxation without the 
 danger of rebclhons ; but from the rich, by fines and 
 benevolences, he obtained such wealth that his son, 
 Henry VIII., is reported to have inherited 1,800,000/.
 
 2i6 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 with the Crown of England. Of England at this time 
 Bacon wrote : " The Crown extremely rich and full of 
 treasure, and the kingdom like to be so in a short time. 
 For there was no war, no dearth, no stop of trade or 
 commerce ; it was only the Crown which sucked too 
 hard ; but now being full, and upon the head of a 
 young King, it was like to draw the less." The seven- 
 teen-year-old King at once ceased to suck money. 
 Victims were invited to lay their grievances before 
 the King ; and the agents of Henry VH., Dudley and 
 Empson, were executed. 
 
 The Anglo-Spanish entente cordiale brought pros- 
 perity. France paid large annual sums to safeguard 
 her coasts from English invaders. Without aid from 
 France the Scotch did not dare to attack England. 
 The middlemen of Spain were ready to buy English 
 cloth, at Antwerp or Cadiz, which they could sell in 
 their home and colonial markets. Portugal, with 
 her markets in the East, the Netherlands, lidly, and 
 Germany, was being rapidly brought under Spanish 
 influence. Access to Italian alum, a vital necessity 
 for the development of dressing and dyeing in England, 
 was open as long as England and Spain were at peace. 
 Protection of industry was welding England into a 
 united nation. The centralising power of the Crown 
 was destroying the decentralisation which prevailed 
 when feudal magnates were semi-independent kinglets. 
 On the Continent a movement was in progress towards 
 the creation of an Empire out of the States of Europe. 
 Charles of Burgundy was about to become Duke of 
 Austria, King of Spain, and the great Emperor 
 Charles V. of Germany. Whilst England was laying
 
 SPANISH COMPETITION 217 
 
 the foundations of what has become a world-wide 
 Empire on the sure rock of the protection of national 
 production, Charles V. was destined to prove the 
 impossibility of building on the sandy foundation of 
 international trade and the exploitation of recently 
 discovered lands. Before Charles abdicated in 1555, 
 crushed by the task he had undertaken, it had 
 been clearly demonstrated that a nation united 
 by protecting its workers was stronger than the most 
 powerful and wealthy monarch of an empire of 
 traders. 
 
 The policy of France resembled that of England, 
 and she, like England, resisted absorption into the 
 European federation. Her Kings, in alliance with the 
 artisans of her towns, had created out of semi-inde- 
 pendent provinces a nation whose area was nearly as 
 great as that of modern France. Mediaeval commerce 
 could not exist \vithout commercial treaties, and the 
 long Anglo-French wars made such treaties impossible 
 except for brief periods. In the " Libel of English 
 Policie " England's trade with Flanders and Brittany 
 is mentioned ; but this existed because these pro- 
 vinces were semi-independent. Nothing is said of 
 direct Anglo-French commerce, because it was prac- 
 tically non-existent. It is easy to understand why 
 England often fought to maintain the autonomy of 
 the French provinces and why she allied herself with 
 Spain when the French tried to absorb Italy and the 
 Italian alum mines. Had the French become masters 
 of Italy, the dressers and dyers of Flanders, to whom 
 alum was indispensable, must have starved like their 
 brother weavers or become a part of France. The
 
 2i8 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 French, doubtless, realised that they could conquer 
 Flanders in Italy. 
 
 Charles VIII. of France was followed by Louis XII. 
 in 1498. The new King of France continued the policy 
 of bribing the English to abstain from attacking 
 France, in order that the French might concentrate 
 their energies on the invasion of Italy ; but the Italians, 
 aided by the Spaniards, were able to keep the French 
 at bay. A year before Henry VII. died, the Pope, 
 Spain, and France forgot for a time that they were 
 foes and joined in the League of Cambrai. The object 
 of this League was to plunder Venice, and it was 
 speedily gained. When the Pope and the Spaniards 
 had obtained their desires, and the French were 
 making use of the alliance to estabhsh themselves in 
 Northern Italy, a new Holy League was formed 
 between the Pope, Spain, and Venice in order to resist 
 Louis XII. Thus Henry VIII., at his accession, was 
 confronted, as his father had been, with the danger 
 to the rapidly growing woollen industry of England 
 which was involved in the establishment of French 
 control over the alum mines of Italy. 
 
 I
 
 XVII 
 
 SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES 
 1509-1539 
 
 Henry VIII. began his reign by an act which endeared 
 him to his magnates. Dudley and Empson, the agents 
 who had been emploj^ed by his fatlier to fleece the rich, 
 were executed. The extortion of money ceased, and 
 Parhaments were summoned. The King married his 
 sister-in-law, Catherine of Aragon ; and joined the 
 Holy League in 1511. An English fleet sailed to 
 Guienne, but Ferdinand once again used the Anglo- 
 Spanish alliance to further the interests of Spain, 
 whilst England gained nothing. As Rousillon and 
 Cerdagne had been added to Ferdinand's dominions 
 when Henry VII. was Spain's ally, so now the Spanish 
 won Navarre, but the English failed to establish 
 themselves in Guienne. The French invasion of Italy 
 was, however, wrecked l^y this counter-attack. 
 
 English politicians were looking forward to the 
 future when Ferdinand's death would place his grand- 
 son Charles on the Spanish throne. In 1508 Mary, 
 the sister of Henry VIII., had been married by proxy 
 to Charles, and the scene of the Anglo-French war was 
 shifted to the North of France. Here the English met 
 with more success. In alliance with Charles' German
 
 220 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 grandfather, Maximilian, Henry VHI. was able to 
 make himself master of the rich and populous city 
 of Tournay after winning the Battle of the Spurs 
 in August 15 13. Meanwhile, the Scotch had followed 
 their ancient custom of allying themselves with France 
 against England, but Scotland's army was destroyed, 
 and her king, James IV., killed at Flodden Field in 
 September 15 13. 
 
 After the Battle of the Spurs, Louis XH. of France 
 abandoned the fight for Italy. Ferdinand was ex- 
 pressing his anxiety to marry his grandson, Charles, 
 to one of Louis' daughters when Henry made peace 
 with France. Tournay was left in England's keeping 
 and a large French annuity was promised to the King 
 of England. Mary, in spite of her marriage by proxy 
 to Charles, was actually married to Louis XII., only 
 to become a widow within a few months, when in 1515 
 Louis died and his cousin became Francis I. of France, 
 Mary then married the Duke of Suffolk without her 
 brother's consent. The unfortunate Lady Jane Grey 
 was Mary's grandchild. 
 
 After Flodden, Scotland was governed by Henry's 
 sister, Margaret, as Regent for her infant son, James V. 
 He, as the only living grandchild of Henry VII., might 
 at any moment have become King of England as well 
 as King of Scotland. This is enough to account for 
 the fact that Flodden Field was not followed by an 
 invasion of Scotland. The Saxons of Great Britain 
 were drawing closer to each other. The nobles of 
 Scotland, who had still the semi-independent power 
 which their English brethren had lost during the Wars 
 of the Roses, were naturally averse to the union ; but
 
 SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES 221 
 
 a strong body of opinion in England and in Scotland 
 was in its favour, and time was on the side of the 
 unionists. When English magnates told Henry VII. 
 that the marriage of his daughter, Margaret, might place 
 England under a Scotch King, he laughed at their 
 fears, telling them that " the greater would draw the 
 less." This was, however, but a half-truth ; in a 
 perfect union there is neither greater nor less. If the 
 union of England and Scotland proves that this is 
 true, the union of Great Britain and Ireland also 
 proves that a union is not perfect if the economic bond 
 is absent. 
 
 The Anglo-French peace enabled the French to 
 win the victory of Marignano in 15 15 and become 
 masters of Northern Italy. The army of a Holy 
 League, which did not include England, was defeated, 
 and the Medicean Pope, Leo X., allied himself with 
 Francis I. In 1516 Ferdinand died, and Charles of 
 Burgundy, at the age of sixteen, became Charles I. of 
 Spain. When Charles took possession of his kingdom 
 he was followed by Flemings and other foreigners who 
 were anxious to do the work which had formerly been 
 done by the Moors and Jews. But hatred of the 
 foreigner and contempt for home production were 
 deeply engrained in the Spaniards. Their communes 
 rose in revolt, and, though the insurgents were defeated, 
 their policy was adopted. The development of Spain's 
 industry was checked. She became a military para- 
 sitic power. With her industry her ancient liberty 
 also passed away. Her ruler is known as the Emperor 
 Charles V., not as King Charles I. of Spain. Three 
 years after Ferdinand's death Charles inherited the
 
 223 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 German and Austrian lands of his other grandfather, 
 the Emperor MaximiHan, thus becoming the greatest 
 European monarch since the days of Charles the Great. 
 
 Meanwhile Cardinal Wolsey, who was directing the 
 poHcy of England, found in the alUance of Francis I. 
 and the Pope, which followed Marignano, a problem 
 hard for an English Cardinal to solve. He maintained 
 nominal peace with France, whilst he sent subsidies 
 to enable Maximilian to resist Francis I. and tried to 
 form a new Holy League by detaching Leo X. from the 
 French alliance. Wolsey' s plans were shattered when 
 Ferdinand died. Charles was by birth and education 
 a Fleming, and the policy of Flanders at this time 
 has been described by Machiavelli. " The people of 
 Flanders live generally of their own manufactures, 
 which they vend at the fairs in France — that is, at 
 Paris and Lyons — for towards the seaside they have 
 no utterance, and towards Germany it is the same, for 
 there are more of their commodities made than in 
 Flanders, so that whenever their commerce with the 
 French is cut off they will have nowhere to put off their 
 commodities, nor nowhere to supply themselves with 
 victuals. So that, without irresistible necessity, the 
 Flemings will never have any controversy with France." 
 
 Antwerp was enjoying the short-lived prosperity 
 of a trading town whose commerce is not founded on 
 home production ; whilst the producers of Flanders 
 were clinging desperately to France, the one market 
 in which they were to some extent secure. From 
 their native land, which Antwerp's free importation 
 was ruining, the Flemish fled to protected England in 
 such numbers that, in 15 17, on Evil May Day there
 
 SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES 223 
 
 were riots in London in which alien workmen were 
 killed. These riots were suppressed, and when order 
 was enforced Parliament passed measures to redress 
 the grievance. Wiser than the Spanish, the English 
 continued to welcome aliens who could teach new 
 crafts, but the number of foreign journeymen who 
 could be emplo3^ed was limited that Englishmen might 
 have work. The foreign craftsmen had to take 
 English apprentices that Englishmen might become 
 independent of foreign instructors. This carefully 
 planned State aid enabled England to improve her 
 woollen industry. 
 
 Six months after his accession to the throne of Spain 
 Charles signed the peace of Noyou with Francis I., 
 confirming the peace by a promise to marry the French 
 King's daughter. After his grandson's defection 
 Maximilian still took English gold, but as he failed to 
 do the promised fighting, in 15 18 an Anglo-French 
 treaty was signed. England again received large sums 
 of money from France ; Henry's infant daughter 
 Mary was betrothed to the Dauphin, and Tournay was 
 restored to France. Northern Italy was left under 
 French control, whilst the Spanish were masters in 
 the south. Between these rival powers the Pope and 
 his allies, the Medici of Florence, ruled over buffer 
 States, which contained the highly prized mines of 
 alum. England now sought to solve the Italian 
 problem by placing an Englishman, Cardinal Wolsey, 
 on the papal throne. Had she been able to control 
 the supply of alum the development of her woollen 
 industry would have secured her from any injury 
 from the rise in prices. Whilst European affairs were
 
 224 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 in this state of suspense, Maximilian's death in 15 19 
 necessitated the election of another emperor. The 
 chief candidates were Francis and Charles, though 
 Henry VHL and Charles' only brother, Ferdinand, 
 were also mentioned. 
 
 The weavers and peasants of Germany were 
 beginning to suffer from the importation of cheap corn 
 and cheap cloth ; whilst German middlemen, Fuggers 
 and Welsers, were growing enormously rich. Germans, 
 like other North Europeans, were cut off from direct 
 communication with the outside world by the Spanish 
 and Portuguese monopolies, which had papal sanction. 
 German exports and imports had to pay toll in Spain 
 on their journeys to and from America, and sea 
 power was clearly destined to pass from the Hanseatic 
 League to those great ships which Spain could build 
 for her lucrative American trade. Capitalist Fuggers 
 were not so adversely affected by Spain's monopoly of 
 American trade. Their capital was free from restric- 
 tions, and it was invested in mining ventures in the New 
 World as well as in Antwerp. It was the gold of the 
 Fuggers which secured the election of the Emperor 
 Charles V. 
 
 Charles' election was aided by the prevalent idea 
 that he would foster German industry and create, from 
 the disunited German States, a nation like that which 
 had recently been formed from the semi-independent 
 provinces of France. For as yet Charles had shown 
 sympathy for Flanders rather than Spain, and he had 
 tried to protect Flemish industry. The NationaHsts 
 of Germany saw, from the first, that Germany could 
 not be unified without a religious change. From all
 
 SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES 225 
 
 Christendom Rome drew tribute. When the Pope 
 allied himself with the French, he became a possible 
 enemy of Germany and England ; yet the tribute had 
 still to be paid. Moreover in Germany the power 
 of prince-bishops had to be curbed ; but this was 
 impossible until Rome's central authority was under- 
 mined. The Bishop of Durham was the only prelate 
 who had semi-independent jurisdiction in England ; 
 but English bishops had their own courts and special 
 privileges which at times conflicted with the authority 
 of the English King. The English navy was being 
 created by Henry VIII. It was easy to see that if 
 England became a sea power, she too would come 
 into conflict with Spain. 
 
 One important source of papal revenue was the sale 
 of indulgences, documents which professed to give the 
 purchaser pardon for sin. The Fuggers had gained 
 much wealth from their commission on the sale of 
 indulgences. In 15 13 a Dominican monk, Tetzel, was 
 selling an indulgence granting absolution for all sins 
 except offences against ecclesiastics, selling arms or 
 forbidden goods to the infidel, and importing alum from 
 the Turk instead of from the papal mines, contrary 
 to the apostolic prohibition. Tetzel was forbidden to 
 enter Saxony, but he came close to the frontier, and the 
 good folk of Wittenberg went out to buy. A recently 
 appointed theological professor, Dr. Martin Luther, 
 challenged a discussion on the sale of indulgences, and 
 in accordance with custom nailed the theses, or points 
 to be discussed, on the door of the Castle Church. All 
 was ready for the explosion when this match was 
 applied. The university press could not cope with the 
 
 Q
 
 226 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 demand for the German translation of the theses. 
 It was the beginning of the Reformation. 
 
 Other reformers had died in the fire, but Luther 
 found himself the spokesman of the German Nationalist 
 party, which was looking forward to a certain and 
 rapid victory when Charles was elected. The policy of 
 this party is clearly stated in Luther's writings. 
 Separation from Rome was advocated, not only 
 because the Popes taught false doctrines, but because 
 a free and united Germany was impossible as long as 
 the country was impoverished by tribute paid to 
 Rome. It was also clearly recognised that another 
 cause of Germany's weakness was the free importation 
 of the Fuggers and their fellows, which was making the 
 German worker poorer whilst it enriched the middle- 
 man. As a concession to the Nationalists a Reichs- 
 regiment, or national council, was established, but in this 
 body neither the cities nor the small landowners were 
 represented, and its power was strictly circumscribed. 
 
 Nevertheless, at the first meeting of the council, a 
 scheme was passed which would have given the Nether- 
 lands and Germany fiscal unity by encircling them 
 with custom houses. This measure was vetoed by 
 Charles at the request of the Fuggers and other German 
 merchants. Whilst this measure of fiscal reform was 
 being vetoed, the small landowners had risen in revolt. 
 When this rising was suppressed, a wave of Socialism 
 spread over Germany, and the Peasants' War began. 
 Until Charles abdicated in 1555, Germany was the 
 scene of incessant disorder. Then there was a pause 
 whilst both sides marshalled their forces. In 1619 the 
 last act in the long struggle commenced. During the
 
 SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES 227 
 
 Thirty Years' War Germany suffered indescribable 
 horrors, and when peace was signed at Westphalia, two- 
 thirds of her population had disappeared. What was 
 once the greatest empire in Europe became a collection 
 of disunited States, doomed to be weak until the nine- 
 teenth century, when a Zollverein recreated the German 
 Empire. 
 
 After the election of Charles V., England for a time 
 pursued an undecided policy. Henry and Francis 
 swore eternal friendship at the Field of the Cloth of 
 Gold in 1520. This was immediately followed by a 
 secret agreement between Henry and Charles. The 
 project of marrying Henry's daughter to Charles was 
 discussed, and Charles promised Wolsey the tiara at 
 the first vacancy. Although this promise was broken 
 and Charles' former tutor, a Fleming, became Pope 
 Adrian VI. in 1522, England declared war against 
 France, when the French made a new move in their 
 plans for the conquest of Italy. Mary was then 
 formally betrothed to Charles, and Charles again 
 promised to secure Wolsey 's election as Pope when a 
 vacancy occurred. The English raids in France were 
 of little importance, but France was crushed at the 
 battle of Pavia in 1525, and Francis became Charles' 
 prisoner. Meanwhile Pope Adrian died in 1523, but 
 instead of Wolsey, one of the Medici became Pope 
 Clement VII. 
 
 Want of money prevented Charles from following 
 up the victory of Pavia. England made peace with 
 France, after receiving a large indemnity, and in 1526 
 Francis bought his freedom by surrendering lands in 
 Burgundy to his captor and agreeing to abandon all 
 
 Q2
 
 228 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 designs on Italy. Spain loomed so large that it seemed 
 as if the Empire she was creating would enfold the 
 young nations of Europe in a deadly embrace. Her 
 economic weakness was concealed by her military and 
 naval strength. The Spanish had been forced into 
 rebellion before Charles decreed that foreign cloth 
 should be subject to the same tests as Spanish cloth. 
 In 1526 the Emperor signed a treaty with France 
 which sanctioned the importation of French cloth, 
 whilst Spanish cloth was prohibited in France. From 
 so invertebrate a power England had in reality little 
 to fear. Time would ruin her more effectually than 
 war. On the other hand, France was a dangerous 
 economic rival. This appears to have been the view 
 taken by Wolsey, who leaned towards war with France. 
 Others, however, were of opinion that war with France 
 would weaken England and render her an easy prey 
 for the Spaniard. This opinion was shared by Wolsey's 
 dependent, Thomas Cromwell, who before long sup- 
 planted his master. 
 
 After Pavia there was an Anglo-French alliance, 
 and men waited to see whether Pope Clement could 
 resist the Emperor Charles. To encourage the Pope, 
 30,000 ducats were sent from England to Rome in 
 return for rights over the alum mines, from which 
 Henry said that he expected " high pleasure and 
 profit." All these fond anticipations vanished when 
 Charles* army stormed and sacked Rome in 1527. 
 This punishment was inflicted because Pope Clement 
 had failed in subservience to his patron Charles. After 
 so severe a lesson there was little chance that the 
 Pope would repeat his mistake. Rome and the Church
 
 SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES 229 
 
 had apparently been absorbed in Charles' Empire, 
 and Henry's hfe seemed aU that protected England 
 from Rome's fate. If the young princess Mary had 
 become Queen, her Spanish mother would have been 
 England's ruler ; under their guidance England might 
 have become a province of Charles' Empire. 
 
 The right of a woman to succeed to the throne of 
 England was by no means certain. Mary's cousin, 
 James V. of Scotland, would probably have contested 
 her claim. James could have counted on help from 
 France, whilst Mary would have been supported by 
 Spain. Unless Henry left a male heir civil war in 
 England seemed inevitable after his death, and it 
 was well known that Queen Catherine could no longer 
 bear children. It was therefore decided that the 
 King should obtain a divorce from Catherine on the 
 ground of her having been his brother's wife ; and 
 Henry chose Anne Boleyn as his future wife. The 
 need of an English heir to the throne of England was 
 so urged that, in normal times, Henry's request would 
 probably have been granted ; but Spain's influence 
 at Rome was too powerful, and the divorce of Queen 
 Catherine developed into a struggle during which the 
 Enghsh learned that their nationahty was in danger 
 unless they severed themselves from Rome. 
 
 For six years Henry's divorce suit was argued at 
 Rome, where men who had lived under the Borgias 
 must have wondered why Catherine and her daughter 
 were not quietly poisoned. It is absurd to suppose 
 that sensual passion prompted Henry to persevere 
 with his suit. After 1527 he lived openly with Anne 
 Boleyn, and he could only have sought to give England
 
 230 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 a lawful king if his union with Anne proved fruitful. 
 England and France formed a close alliance and 
 declared war against the Emperor in 1528 ; but in the 
 following year Francis abandoned the contest as hope- 
 less. All hope of freeing the papacy from Charles' 
 control passed away, and Wolsey, who had staked his 
 future on obtaining the divorce without breaking with 
 Rome, died a ruined man in 1530. His dependent, 
 Thomas Cromwell, became at first the secret and then 
 the open adviser of the King. Cranmer, a priest who 
 had embraced Luther's doctrines and was secretly 
 married, aided Cromwell in arranging Henry's divorce 
 and England's breach with Rome. Cranmer was made 
 Archbishop of Canterbury in 1532. Cromwell and 
 Cranmer had little difficulty in obtaining the consent 
 of Parliament to the breach with Rome, which put an 
 end to the payments made by England to the papacy. 
 In January 1533 Henry, hoping that Anne was about to 
 present him with the longed-for heir, privately married 
 her. Archbishop Cranmer lost no time in proclaim- 
 ing Henry's divorce from Catherine and the validity 
 of his marriage to Anne, whose daughter Elizabeth was 
 bom in September 1533. There was great fear in 
 England of a Spanish invasion, and severe measures 
 were taken against those who denied the King's 
 supremacy over the English Church. The two most 
 conspicuous martyrs were Cardinal Fisher and Sir 
 Thomas More. In January 1536 Catherine of Aragon 
 died and fear of invasion passed away. 
 
 Within a few months of Catherine's death, Anne 
 Boleyn was accused of having committed adultery with 
 four men, one of whom was her own brother. More
 
 SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES 231 
 
 than seventy English noblemen and gentlemen, includ- 
 ing Anne's father, uncle, and her former lover, were 
 unanimous in returning verdicts of guilty after they had 
 heard the evidence against the Queen and those who 
 were accused with her. All the accused were executed, 
 and Henry at once married another English wife, Jane 
 Seymour, who died in October 1537 after giving birth to 
 a son, the future Edward VI. Whilst Henry's bureau- 
 cratic government did not hesitate to strike at men 
 as eminent and virtuous as Sir Thomas More, it was 
 keenly aUve to the danger of offending the mass of the 
 people of England. Increased taxation, which other- 
 wise would have followed the rise in prices, was avoided 
 by granting to the King the dues which had been paid 
 to the Pope. The monasteries, deprived of all support 
 from Rome, were suppressed and plundered. Some 
 of the plunder found its way into the pockets of the 
 magnates, but the bulk of it was placed in the royal 
 treasury. 
 
 The English Reformation was at first economic 
 rather than religious. The English people had little 
 sympathy with Luther's doctrines and Henry shared 
 their views. In 1523 the Pope bestowed on him the 
 title Defender of the Faith as a reward for his having 
 written against Luther, in which he eloquently 
 described a husband's duty to his wife. England's 
 needs made him a reformer whose conduct as a husband 
 has been sharply criticised. The EngHsh, alarmed 
 perhaps by the sociahst excesses which accompanied 
 the Reformation in Germany, wished to retain the 
 ancient creed, and Henry gave them what they wished. 
 The suppression of the monasteries led to insurrec-
 
 232 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 tions, such as the Pilgrimage of Grace in Yorkshire ; but 
 these had little chance of success without foreign aid. 
 During one of the most critical periods in England's 
 history Spain was the foe England chiefly dreaded, and 
 troubles in Germany, fear of a Turkish invasion, and 
 the hostiUty of France kept Charles too fully occupied 
 to interfere in English affairs. In 1539, however, it 
 seemed as if Charles and Francis had forgotten their 
 differences and could unite to restore Rome's authority 
 in England. The danger was so great that it affords 
 at least some excuse for the measures that were taken 
 to avert it.
 
 XVIII 
 
 ENGLAND FREES HERSELF FROM PAPAL SUPREMACY 
 
 1539-1559 
 
 England was fortifying her coasts in 1539 to be ready 
 for the threatened invasion. Charles and Francis had 
 signed a truce for ten years in June 1538, and as a 
 preliminary to a direct attack arrangements were 
 being made to close the markets of the Continent to 
 Enghsh goods. The French were willing to break off 
 all commercial intercourse with England if Charles 
 would close the ports of his Empire. A great stimulus 
 would have been given to the production of France 
 by the destruction of English industry. But Charles' 
 Empire depended on international trade. In 1528 
 the merchants of the Empire had taught their Em- 
 peror that he must not interfere with their trade. It 
 was their opposition which forced Charles to acquiesce 
 sullenly in the divorce of Catherine of Aragon. The 
 Emperor was unable to agree to commercial war, and 
 before plans for a direct attack on England were made, 
 in 1539 Charles was compelled to devote his energies 
 to crushing a rebellion of the burghers of Ghent. 
 England's danger passed away when, in 1540, it became 
 evident that the war between Francis and Charles 
 would soon begin afresh.
 
 234 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Dreading the coming of an invader the EngHsh 
 took steps to secure unity within the island. Any 
 change in reUgious thought and practice could not fail 
 to divide the English, Parliament, therefore, in 1539 
 passed the Act of the Six Articles, which punished with 
 the stake or the gallows those who denied the ancient 
 Cathohc faith. Thus it happened that in England 
 a man risked his life if he acknowledged the Pope's 
 authority, or if he denied the creed of Rome. Though 
 Luther's doctrines were banned in England, Henry 
 in January 1540 married Anne of Cleves to make sure 
 of the support of the Protestants of Germany in the 
 event of war with Francis and Charles. Six months 
 later, when fear of invasion was passing away, this 
 marriage was dissolved with the consent of both 
 husband and wife. It was probably only a nominal 
 marriage, as Henry conceived an aversion to his bride 
 at their first meeting. Cromwell's policy of friendship 
 with France and hostility to the Emperor had obviously 
 failed when Charles, Francis, and the Pope were 
 forming schemes for the destruction of England. He 
 paid for his mistake with his head in 1540 ; and Henry 
 personally ruled over England until his death in 1547. 
 
 In 1528, when war with Spain was only averted by 
 the pressure which merchants in England and the 
 Netherlands brought to bear upon their rulers, the 
 Spanish began their policy of exciting rebellion in 
 Ireland, using that island as the French had used 
 Scotland. Henry met this attack by winning over 
 the Irish chieftains with grants of monastic lands, so 
 that Enghsh rule seemed to be more firmly estabHshed 
 than it had been. But, whereas in England some-
 
 SEVERANCE FROM ROME 235 
 
 thing was ultimately done to compensate the poor for 
 the loss of the alms they had received from the 
 monks, in Ireland nothing was done. No schools were 
 founded, and there was no Irish poor law until the 
 nineteenth century, when it was introduced in spite 
 of the opposition of Cobden and the free-trade econo- 
 mists. In 1504 the fatal policy of treating Ireland 
 economically as a foreign country was inaugurated, 
 when the exportation of English money to Ireland 
 and the importation of Irish money were prohibited. 
 Great Britain, as well as Ireland, has paid for these 
 mistakes. On the other hand, Wales was made one 
 with England in 1536, when it was arranged that 
 Welsh members should be summoned to Parliament, 
 and Henry devoted the last years of his life to the 
 promotion of the union of England and Scotland, 
 
 Although in 1525 Queen Margaret could describe 
 the people of Scotland as " more inclined to England 
 than to France," the opposition of Scotch magnates 
 wrecked Henry's plan of uniting Great Britain by 
 marrying his daughter and heiress, Mary, to her cousin 
 James V. The movement in favour of union, how- 
 ever, gained ground in Scotland amongst the laity. 
 Henry's agent in Edinburgh reported, in 1543, that 
 the " nobles and the whole temporality " favoured the 
 proposed marriage of Henry's heir, Edward, to Mary, 
 the infant heiress of Scotland, but that " undoubtedlie 
 the kyrkemen labor, by all the meanes they can, to 
 empeche the unitie and establishment of these twoo 
 realmes." It was these churchmen who, under Car- 
 dinal Beaton, kept Scotland loyal to Rome when 
 England broke with the papacy. They feared the
 
 236 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 loss of their possessions if the union of Great Britain 
 was accomphshed, and they influenced James V. in 
 his choice of a wife. In 1537 the Scotch King married 
 the daughter of Francis L, and when she died his 
 second wife was Mary of Guise. 
 
 When Francis and Charles were planning the 
 destruction of England in 1539 they could confidently 
 count upon Scotland's aid. Whilst Henry bribed the 
 merchants of the Netherlands to oppose war with 
 England by proclaiming that for seven years they 
 could import English cloth on paying the same duties 
 as English merchants paid, he used every effort to 
 detach James V. from France. In vain Henry asked 
 James to meet him in 1536 and in 1542. The short- 
 lived friendship between France and Spain came to 
 an end in 1541 ; hence, when James refused the second 
 invitation to a friendly alliance, Henry resorted to 
 force. James V. died in 1542 after the defeat of his 
 army at Solway Moss, learning on his deathbed that 
 Mary of Guise had given birth to an heiress to the 
 throne of Scotland, the unfortunate Mary Stewart. 
 The splendid opportunity of uniting Great Britain 
 by the marriage of Prince Edward and Queen Mary 
 was lost through the opposition of Cardinal Beaton. 
 In 1546 the Cardinal paid with his life for his devotion 
 to his Church, when he was murdered by the unionists 
 of Scotland who were already looking upon the heretic 
 preacher, John Knox, as their leader. 
 
 One of Henry's greatest achievements was the 
 creation of a strong navy. When in 1544 France 
 and Scotland were at war with England and Charles' 
 Empire, the Scotch fleet was utterly destroyed,
 
 SEVERANCE FROM ROME 237 
 
 Boulogne was captured by the English, and a French 
 attack in the Solent ended in failure. In 1546, a week 
 after Cardinal Beaton's death, peace was signed. The 
 French paid a large indemnity and promised a still 
 larger sum in eight years' time, when Boulogne was to 
 be restored to France. Scotland was ^\^sely left to 
 learn, under the regency of Mary of Guise, that her 
 true policy was union with her kinsfolk in England. 
 Mary taught the Scotch that she and her supporters 
 were preparing the way for French rule whilst they 
 posed as champions of the independence of Scotland. 
 
 Henry's health had been failing for many years. 
 It is more than probable that his marriage with 
 Catherine Howard in 1540 and with Catherine Parr in 
 1543 were as nominal as his union with Anne of Cleves. 
 He had no children by these wives. Catherine Howard 
 was Anne Boleyn's cousin ; and she, too, was convicted 
 of adultery and executed in 1542. No doubt has been 
 cast upon the justice of this conviction. Fronde's 
 conjectural explanation of Henry's matrimonial mis- 
 fortunes is much more than plausible, though it 
 throws doubt on the paternity certainly of Edward VI. 
 and probably of Elizabeth. A confidential despatch 
 of the Spanish Ambassador to England supports this 
 doubt in the case of Edward VI. In spite of the 
 wealth which Henry had acquired from the monasteries 
 and the Church, he was compelled to debase the 
 coinage in 1544, and when he died in 1547 ^^^^ nine- 
 year-old son succeeded to financial difficulties which 
 tended to increase with the rise in prices. 
 
 On Edward's accession to the throne, one of his 
 maternal uncles, Edward Seymour, became Regent.
 
 238 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 He was given the title of Lord Protector, and was 
 advanced to the dukedom of Somerset. The virtue 
 and the vice of his rule was pithily expressed in a 
 letter written by a friend to the Protector: "What 
 seeth your Grace ? Marry, the King's subjects all 
 out of discipline, out of obedience, carrying neither 
 for Protector nor King. What is the matter ? 
 Marry, sir, that which I said to your Grace in the 
 gallery. Liberty ! Liberty ! and your Grace's too 
 much gentleness, your softness, your opinion to be 
 good to the poor — the opinion of such as saith to your 
 Grace, ' Oh, sir, there .was never man that had the 
 hearts of the poor as you have.' " This reaction 
 against Henry's iron rule lasted less than three years. 
 These years were filled with risings in England and 
 wars with France and Scotland. In them the cur- 
 rency was still further debased, foreigners poured into 
 the country with their fatal poison, the strife of creeds, 
 and Somerset was forced to acquiesce in the execution 
 of his brother for treason. Like Stephen, the Pro- 
 tector " was a mild man, and soft, and good, and did 
 no justice." He paid with his head for the anarchy. 
 Theoretically the Protector's schemes were ad- 
 mirable. He wished for a Great Britain united under 
 Edward and Mary of Scotland ; but, when he began to 
 do the wooing for his nephew, it had to be done with 
 that English army which won the battle of Pinkie in 
 1547. A French army came to Scotland's aid and 
 carried off the young Queen to France. The war with 
 France was not a success. By the peace of 1550 
 Boulogne was surrendered four years before the ap- 
 pointed time, for half the promised payment. The
 
 SEVERANCE FROM ROME 239 
 
 laws which defined treason were rescinded and the 
 power of the Crown reduced, whilst the Protector's 
 brother, Admiral Lord Seymour, was preparing to 
 play the part of Richard III. Three months after her 
 husband's death Catherine Parr, the Queen Dowager, 
 married Lord Seymour. EHzabeth was at the time 
 living with Catherine Parr ; and the Burleigh papers 
 record a series of incidents, discreditable to both 
 Catherine Parr and her husband, by which a girl of 
 fourteen was brought under the control of Lord 
 Seymour. The Queen Dowager died in child-bed little 
 more than a year after her marriage, and Lord 
 Seymour renewed his disgraceful intrigues with Eliza- 
 beth. The Admiral also organised a pirate fleet in 
 the Channel and acquired strongholds which he filled 
 with ammunition. The Protector signed his brother's 
 death-warrant in 1549. 
 
 Henry's Act of the Six Articles, which punished 
 those who abandoned the old faith, was repealed and 
 foreigners were welcomed in England. These brought 
 with them their industrial skill and the woollen 
 manufacture was stimulated. With them also came 
 religious discord and the Scotch firebrand, John Knox, 
 embittered by nine months' toil at the oar of a French 
 galley. Knox was welcomed in England, and might 
 have been Bishop of Rochester but for his conscientious 
 scruples. To obtain money the EngHsh government 
 confiscated parochial endowments and the coinage 
 was further debased. Common lands were enclosed 
 with scant regard for the rights of the peasants. The 
 rise in the price of wool, owing to the increase in 
 England's cloth-making industry, tempted those who
 
 240 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 obtained the common lands to turn them into sheep 
 farms on which httle labour was employed. Ruined 
 monks and peasants took arms, hoping to check 
 enclosures and restore the old faith. Ten thousand 
 peasants were killed before these revolts were sup- 
 pressed. Over large areas in England the country 
 folk became landless men. Ultimately the poor found 
 employment in the new English industries, but it was 
 a different sowing of dragon's teeth to that sowed by 
 Henry VH. In the weaving towns of the Eastern 
 Counties Englishmen readily accepted from their 
 Flemish teachers the doctrine that centralised govern- 
 ment was bad and, a century after the enclosures, the 
 Independents and Levellers wreaked their vengeance 
 on an innocent King. They failed, however, to regain 
 their land. Shortly before the French Reign of 
 Terror, Arthur Young noticed with surprise that the 
 number of peasant proprietors was far greater in 
 France than in England. 
 
 The rebels complained that pasturage was replacing 
 tillage, thus lessening the demand for labour. The 
 enclosed wastes were converted into sheep farms and 
 the land used for sheep increased ; but there is little 
 evidence that there was less land under corn. The 
 statute of 1463 and the subsequent quarrel with the 
 Baltic towns of the Hanse League so stimulated corn- 
 growing in England that, as a rule, English corn was 
 too cheap for the importation of foreign grain to be 
 profitable. During the sixteenth century the price 
 of corn did not advance as rapidly as the price of other 
 commodities. Corn is not mentioned in a long list 
 of necessary and unnecessary imports from the Low
 
 SEVERANCE FROM ROME 241 
 
 Countries and France, drawn up about the year 1563. 
 But perhaps the most striking proof of England's 
 self-sufficiency in corn production is the blow struck 
 at the Easterlings by Edward's government. As 
 England's trade with the Baltic was in its infancy and 
 the Hanse League were the chief carriers of cheap 
 Polish corn, an attack on their privileges would have 
 been impossible if England had been dependent on 
 the foreigner for her food-supply. In 1552 the mer- 
 chants of the Steelyard lost their privileges because 
 the League had not fulfilled its promise to grant 
 English merchants the same privileges in German 
 towns as Germans enjoyed in England. 
 
 Somerset's sympathies were with the peasants in 
 their opposition to the enclosures. At their own 
 expense the magnates hired foreign troops to crush 
 the revolt. Hence, when the peasants were defeated, 
 Somerset fell as well as Ket and other peasant leaders. 
 In 1549 the magnates under Warwick, soon to be 
 Duke of Northumberland, drove Somerset from his 
 Protectorship and paid themselves out of the public 
 purse for the expenses they had incurred in defeating 
 the peasants. In 1552 Somerset was executed and 
 Northumberland governed England whilst Edward 
 was dying of consumption. Before Edward's death 
 in 1553 a royal will was signed bequeathing the 
 ; Crown to Northumberland's daughter-in-law. Lady 
 Jane Grey. 
 
 The doctrinal reformers included eminent eccle- 
 siastics, such as Archbishop Cranmer ; magnates who 
 had grown rich from confiscated Church lands ; and 
 foreign artisans who had been pouring into England. 
 
 R
 
 242 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 The majority of the English were still attached to the 
 faith of their fathers. The death of Edward gave 
 them their opportunity of avenging themselves on 
 the lords who had hired foreigners to defeat English 
 peasants. Northumberland won no support when he 
 proclaimed his daughter-in-law Queen of England. 
 The people were weary of a Reformation which they 
 associated with bad money and enclosures. Mary 
 became Queen and Northumberland followed Somerset 
 to the block. The alien preachers were driven from 
 England. Knox fled with them, returning to Scotland 
 in 1555 to organise her breach with Rome in 1560. 
 
 During Mary's reign the other Mary of Scotland 
 lived in France, waiting for her marriage in 1558 and 
 for her few months' reign with her husband, Francis II., 
 over both France and Scotland. When the Marys 
 were Queens, in Great Britain the unionist cause 
 appeared to be losing ground ; but, beneath the 
 surface, Scotch and English were both learning the , 
 lesson, which they have never forgotten, that disunion 
 in Great Britain means foreign rule in the island. In 
 1554 Mary of England married Philip, the heir to the 
 dominions of Charles V. The Spaniards were as little 
 liked in England as the French were in Scotland. 
 Though elaborate precautions were taken in the 
 marriage treaty to safeguard the independence of 
 England, a revolt, headed by Wyatt, had to be sup- 
 pressed in 1554, and a less serious rising in 1557. 
 With the Spaniards came religious persecution. Had 
 the fires of Smithfield been lighted only for the rich 
 the reaction against the corruption of the magnates 
 during Edward's minority might have outlasted Mary's
 
 SEVERANCE FROM ROME 243 
 
 reign. But those who died were mostly poor folk who 
 had nothing to do with the enclosures. 
 
 After his marriage Philip waited in England for a 
 son who failed to appear. Elizabeth's fate trembled 
 in the balance. Had there been an heir she would 
 have been the one thing not wanted ; but, if there were 
 no children from the Spanish marriage, either Elizabeth 
 or the Frenchwoman, Mary of Scotland, would rule 
 over England. To the Spaniard, Elizabeth was better 
 than the Frenchwoman. Heir or no heir, it is probable 
 that England would have emancipated herself from 
 the grip of the cosmopolitan Emperor, Charles V. ; 
 but it would have been at a terrible cost had Mary 
 given birth to a son. Worn out by the impossible task 
 of ruling over a cosmopolitan empire, Charles abdicated 
 in 1555, and Philip went to Flanders to be invested 
 with the government of the Netherlands. Ferdinand, 
 the brother of Charles V., became Emperor of Germany 
 and Duke of Austria, whilst Philip H. succeeded to the 
 Low Countries, Spain, and Spanish Italy. 
 
 When Elizabeth was released and recognised as 
 heiress apparent, the more far-seeing may have 
 associated with Elizabeth, in their forecast of a happy 
 England under another Queen, a certain William Cecil, 
 who was Elizabeth's friend and adviser. To Cecil was 
 due the credit of depriving the Germans of their 
 privileges in the reign of Edward VI. Under Mary, 
 Cecil was neglected, and the Hanseatic merchants 
 recovered their old privileges when she came to the 
 throne ; but they enjoyed their liberty for less than 
 two years. The Queen, who dared to re-establish the 
 Pope's supremacy and to burn Archbishop Cranmcr 
 
 R 2
 
 244 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 and other English bishops, was forced in 1555 'to yield 
 to the demands of the merchants of London. Even 
 the prayer of a husband whom the Queen passionately 
 loved was without effect. The Germans were deprived 
 of their right to monopohse the commerce of England. 
 In their anger they placed England under a commercial 
 interdict, which lasted until Mary's death in 1558. 
 
 In 1557 the Spanish alliance involved England 
 in war with France. Before Mary's death, Calais, 
 England's last Continental possession, was lost, and 
 England was smarting under this loss when Elizabeth 
 succeeded to the throne and to the debts and debased 
 coinage of her predecessors. Elizabeth at once made 
 Cecil her secretary, and he remained her devoted 
 servant and adviser until his death in 1598, when his 
 son took his place. Favourites — such as Leicester, 
 Essex, and Raleigh — give a handle to those who care 
 to discuss the private character of England's rulers. 
 The exact truth can never be known, and this perhaps 
 makes the subject fascinating ; but those who judge 
 monarchs by the work they do for the lands they 
 govern will find little to blame in the policy which 
 Cecil pursued under the orders of his Queen. The 
 supremacy of the Pope was once more abolished, and 
 a form of service was introduced which was intended 
 to please all schools of religious thought, and, to a 
 large extent, answered the wishes of its designers. 
 
 The difficult question of Scotland was solved with 
 equal wisdom. In 1560 an English army helped 
 Knox and the Scotch unionists to expel the French. 
 When their task was done the English withdrew, and 
 the Scotch were left to sever themselves from France 
 and Rome in their own way. At the end of this year
 
 SEVERANCE FROM ROME 245 
 
 Francis II. died and the French power over Scotland 
 ceased. England was recompensed for the loss of 
 Calais by the love of Scotland. Scotch reformers 
 would have married Elizabeth to the Earl of Arran 
 and thus united Great Britain ; but Elizabeth was 
 wiser. War would have interfered with the work 
 Cecil had to do for England, and Mary's followers would 
 have fought for their Queen ; hence in 1560 the fate 
 of Scotland was left to a Scotch Parliament, which 
 broke with Rome and removed the great obstacle to 
 the union of Great Britain. 
 
 Good fortune favoured Elizabeth from first to last. 
 The wars of religion distracted France during the 
 greater part of her reign. In 1562 an English force 
 occupied Havre in order to aid the Huguenots in 
 the first religious war. When French Catholics and 
 Protestants forgot their differences and joined in expel- 
 ling the English, Elizabeth laid the lesson to heart. 
 Henceforward the French were allowed to fight their 
 civil wars without the interference of an English army. 
 In 1559 Philip II. of Spain left the Netherlands, 
 enraged with subjects who demanded redress of 
 grievances before they would vote supply. For 
 eleven years there was trouble brewing in the Low 
 Countries. Then followed the eighty years' war of 
 Dutch independence. Again Elizabeth interfered only 
 when England's interests were vitally affected. Thus 
 the Queen was able to restore England's finance and 
 coinage, and, whilst France and Spain were weakened 
 by discord, England, guided by Elizabeth and Cecil, 
 increased her productive power, added foreign com- 
 merce to home production, and began to build the 
 greatest Empire which has ever existed.
 
 XIX 
 
 INCREASE OF ENGLAND'S NAVAL POWER 
 1560-1585 
 
 A DEPUTATION of Hanse merchants approached Queen 
 EUzabeth in 1560. They were received with the 
 greatest courtesy, but were told that they must no 
 longer expect more favourable treatment than their 
 English competitors, and that German trade with 
 England would in future be regulated in the interests 
 of the English. They were also told that they would 
 have to give English merchants in their German ports 
 the same rights as they were allowed in England. 
 When foreign commerce was thus brought under 
 national control, Parliament prohibited the importation 
 of many articles which were being imported from 
 Antwerp although they could be made in England. 
 This prohibition was at once felt in the Netherlands^ 
 since the Hanse merchants could no longer carry the 
 forbidden goods. Commercial relations between Eng- 
 land and the dominions of Philip II. of Spain were 
 broken off ; but the English found a market for their 
 cloth at Emden, from which port it could be sold 
 to the inhabitants of the Low Countries or Germany. 
 Although Spanish ships were pillaged in the Narrow 
 Seas, Spain had to submit to the insult in order to
 
 INCREASE OF NAVAL POWER 247 
 
 save Antwerp's trade from ruin. In 1564 Anglo- 
 Spanish trade was resumed on terms dictated by 
 England. The empire of traders was too weak to wage 
 a commercial war with a nation of producers. 
 
 Mining was encouraged and the smelting of iron. 
 Alum works were started in the Isle of Wight. Cecil 
 was personally interested in this venture, which for a 
 time succeeded and then failed. Alum was the one 
 thing needed to give England absolute supremacy in 
 cloth-making. From the surface rock which had been 
 weathered alum could be easily prepared, but the 
 working of deeper deposits was a secret jealously 
 guarded by the Pope. Just before Elizabeth's death 
 this difficulty was overcome. Italian alum-workers 
 were smuggled out of papal territory. Alum works 
 were started in Yorkshire, and England had an ample 
 supply of cheap alum with which she could finish her 
 rough cloth. 
 
 From the time of Edward III. the exportation of 
 iron was forbidden, that English iron-workers might 
 have a cheap and abundant supply of raw material. 
 When this measure was supplemented by the protec- 
 tion given to finished iron goods, the industry made 
 rapid progress. The Elizabethan English were, how- 
 ever, too wise to sacrifice strength for wealth. It was 
 not until much later that the method of using coal 
 in iron-smelting was invented. The use of charcoal 
 necessitated a great consumption of wood, and this 
 endangered the growth of English shipping ; hence the 
 use of wood, growing near the coast and rivers, in 
 iron-smelting was forbidden by repeated Acts of 
 Parliament. Cecil prepared the way for Howard,
 
 248 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Drake, Hawkins, and the defeat of the Armada, just as 
 at a later date Pitt and Barham made it possible for 
 Nelson to do his duty at Trafalgar. One article, in 
 particular, had the honour of a special statute, fre- 
 quently re-enacted, prohibiting its importation. Free- 
 trade economists argue that to produce cheaply raw 
 materials and instruments used in manufacture should 
 be imported duty free. The Elizabethan English 
 thought otherwise, for wool-cards were the subject 
 of the statute. According to the free-trade theory 
 English cloth-making ought to have been injured by 
 the statute prohibiting the importation of foreign wool- 
 cards, but, in fact, England before long made not only 
 the best cloth but the best wool-cards. This ounce of 
 fact is worth tons of theory. Elizabeth inherited a 
 debased coinage and debts contracted by her brother 
 and her sister. Though prices continued to rise in 
 her reign, the efficiency of her protective system 
 enabled her to restore the coinage, discharge the 
 debts, and maintain the navy without resorting to 
 excessive taxation. Whilst England's production was 
 protected, Cecil enforced rigid economy in govern- 
 mental departments. Thus England could afford to 
 subsidise the struggling Protestants in France and the 
 Netherlands. In defiance of the laws of free trade 
 England became wealthy, and, better still, she became 
 strong. 
 
 The Merchant Adventurers, who carried English 
 cloth to Antwerp in competition with the Hanse 
 merchants, were encouraged by goverimient. In 1581 
 a Levant company was incorporated in order to trade 
 with the Turk, and these merchants in 1584 sent
 
 INCREASE OF NAVAL POWER 249 
 
 English cloth to the Persian Gulf and Goa. The 
 Muscovy merchants, incorporated in Mary's reign, also 
 opened up trade with Persia by the old Scandinavian 
 route of the Russian rivers. The Germans had built 
 ships for England, and carried naval stores, tar, and 
 hemp from the Baltic. This was probably the reason 
 why they retained their privileges for so long a time. 
 Timid hearts could urge that they were indispensable, 
 if England was to have a strong navy; but timidity 
 was not a characteristic of the England of Elizabeth, 
 and an English Eastland Company replaced the 
 Easterlings. 
 
 At first Elizabeth was too poor to do much for the 
 navy, but money was found to buy ships from the 
 Germans and powder and cannon in Antwerp. But 
 soon after Elizabeth's accession shipbuilding and the 
 manufacture of cannon and gunpowder were developed 
 in England. The Jesus of Lubeck was the last ship 
 bought from the Germans. Merchant shipping grew 
 apace, and every merchant ship was a potential 
 man-of-war. To encourage English shipping the 
 coasting trade of England was reserved for English 
 ships. In this way a navy was created which delivered 
 England when the Spanish Arniada came, saw, and 
 was conquered. 
 
 The English were not a seafaring race when 
 Elizabeth began her reign. Yet, before it was over, 
 they had commenced to regard the sea as their own. 
 Cabot's voyages were soon forgotten. Whilst England 
 was in alliance with Spain and still acknowledged the 
 supremacy of the Pope, the French were pushing their 
 way into Canada and giving the name of New France
 
 250 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 to North America. When the Reformation spread to 
 France, Huguenots, aided by Admiral CoUgny, settled 
 at first in Brazil, and, when this experiment failed, 
 in Florida, whence as pirates they attacked the com- 
 merce and colonies of Spain. Before the English broke 
 through the monopolies of Portugal and Spain by 
 collecting slaves on the Guinea Coast and selling them 
 in the West Indies, Frenchmen had engaged in this 1 
 lucrative trade. Preying upon the Spaniard and 
 Protestantism were closely connected in the sixteenth 
 century, but, as France and Spain were almost always 
 at war, the Catholic Kings of France winked at the 
 religious errors of subjects who robbed Spanish ships 
 of American gold. 
 
 After the death of Henry H. of France in 1559 his 
 widow, Catherine de Medici, directed the official policy 
 of France for thirty years, during the reigns of her 
 three sons. This policy aimed at restoring peace to 
 Europe by re-establishing a purified papal power. It 
 also involved the suppression of the Huguenots. 
 During the French civil wars their infant colonial 
 empire perished, and the English took over the task 
 of fighting the Spanish monopoly. The collapse of 
 Spain in 1564, after her short-lived commercial war 
 with England, was followed by English attacks on her 
 jealously guarded American empire. In Mary's reign 
 English ships first visited the Guinea Coast in defiance 
 of the Portuguese monopoly. John Hawkins went 
 there in 1562 and carried slaves to Hayti, where he 
 sold them, " trusting the Spaniards no further than by 
 his own strength he was able still to master them." 
 
 This private venture was so successful that in 1564
 
 INCREASE OF NAVAL POWER 251 
 
 Hawkins sailed in command of some of the Queen's 
 ships, including the Jesus of Lubeck, to Guinea and 
 thence with slaves to the West Indies, where, after 
 much trouble owing to the absence of a licence from 
 the King of Spain, the slaves were sold. On his way 
 to England Hawkins succoured the pirate colony of 
 the French in Florida, and he met other Frenchmen, 
 engaged in the unlicensed slave-trade, in Africa and in 
 the West Indies. The sailor, who wrote of this second 
 venture in unlicensed slave-trading, was able to end his 
 tale with thanksgiving to God, since there was " great 
 profit to the venturers of the said voyage, as also to 
 the whole realm, in bringing home both gold, silver, 
 pearls, and other jewels great store. His name, there- 
 fore, be praised for evermore. Amen." Hawkins' 
 third voyage ended in failure. Trapped by the 
 Spanish fleet, treacherously according to Hawkins, 
 the Jesus was lost, and, after much suffering, Hawkins 
 returned in one small ship, and his cousin, Francis 
 Drake, in another. The experiences of the English 
 prisoners in the prisons of the Inquisition filled England 
 with hatred of Rome and Spain. 
 
 In 1567 Philip sent the Duke of Alva overland to the 
 Netherlands with an army which was strong enough to 
 crush all opposition to Spanish rule. Ships containing 
 pay for Alva's troops were driven to take refuge at 
 Plymouth and Elizabeth confiscated the treasure. 
 Alva was then forced to tax the Netherlands. This 
 taxation, coupled with the stoppage of commerce 
 between England and Antwerp, drove the Low 
 Countries into open rebellion, and the war of Dutch 
 Independence began. Already, it is true, William of
 
 252 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Orange had been outlawed and was trying to invade 
 the Netherlands with foreign mercenaries ; but, after 
 the taxation, the Netherlands united in defence of 
 their autonomy. 
 
 At first, however, WiUiam of Orange lacked the 
 money required before the Spanish could be effectively 
 attacked. The poor folk in the Netherlands subscribed 
 towards William's war fund, but the rich held aloof. 
 Enough was, nevertheless, collected to equip eighteen 
 vessels at the Huguenot port of La Rochelle. These 
 ships carried WiUiam's letters of marque and crews 
 of lawless seamen, who called themselves Sea-Beggars. 
 They seized three hundred Spanish vessels within a 
 few months, and disposed of their booty in England. 
 Representations from the Spanish Ambassador forced 
 Elizabeth to forbid this use of English harbours. Then 
 in 1572 the Sea-Beggars seized the Dutch port of 
 Brill, and Holland rose in revolt. 
 
 Meanwhile negotiations were proceeding between 
 England and France which had in view the expulsion 
 of the Spanish from the Netherlands and the division of 
 the country between England, France, and Germany. 
 A religious peace was to be proclaimed in France, and 
 the Protestant heir-expectant, Henry of Navarre, was 
 married to the daughter of Catherine de Medici. 
 Six days after the marriage the Huguenot magnates 
 who had come to Paris were massacred on the Feast 
 of St. Bartholomew 1572. Henry of Navarre was 
 spared, but Admiral Coligny was killed. Civil war 
 recommenced, and the expansion of France oversea 
 was checked for years. Elizabeth, however, remained 
 faithful to the defensive alliance she had made with
 
 INCREASE OF NAVAL POWER 253 
 
 France. She had no intention of throwing France 
 into the arms of Spain, and at the same time she would 
 not waste England's strength in a European war. A 
 more effective way of fighting Spain was being thought 
 out in England. 
 
 In 1570 and 157 1 Drake made voyages to the West 
 Indies of which no particulars are recorded. He had 
 not forgotten the Spanish attack on Hawkins and the 
 misery of his own home-coming. In 1572 he sailed 
 to the Isthmus of Panama, attacked Nombre de Dios, 
 and returned with a rich store of Spanish gold. Then, 
 whilst England and Spain were still officially at peace, 
 another and greater exploit was prepared. In 1577 
 Drake sailed from Plymouth with a company of 164 
 men in five ships. He did not return until 1580, and 
 in the interval he sailed through the Straits of Magellan, 
 plundered the unprotected Spanish towns on the east 
 coast of America, fed and clothed his crew from 
 Spanish ships, crossed the Pacific, rounded the Cape of 
 Good Hope, and on his voyage collected from the 
 Spanish seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds. 
 
 In 1578 England signed a treaty of aUiance with 
 the Netherlands directed against Spain. Philip tried 
 to reply to this unofficial war by creating difficulties 
 for Elizabeth in the British Isles. Mary of Scotland 
 married Lord Darnley in 1565. Her illegitimate half- 
 brother, Lord Moray, joined the party of Knox and 
 the ultra-Protestants and was preparing a rebellion 
 against his sister on account of her sympathy with 
 Rome, when Mary attacked the insurgents with such 
 swiftness that they fled to England. Mary's secretary, 
 Riccio, was suspected of being in the pay of Philip and
 
 254 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 the Pope. With the approval of John Knox, Riccio 
 was murdered by Lord Darnley in the presence of his 
 wife and Queen. Lord Moray then returned, and the 
 Queen's councillors were Protestant and pro-English. 
 Mary's son, James, was born in 1566, and Elizabeth 
 was invited to be his godmother. Early in the follow- 
 ing year Lord Darnley's body was found under cir- 
 cumstances which pointed to the anti-English Lord 
 Bothwell as the murderer. Scotland rose against her 
 Queen when Mary married Bothwell a few months after 
 Darnley's death. In 1568 Mary fled for shelter to 
 England, and under Moray, as Regent for James, 
 Scotland remained loyal to England. 
 
 Philip then devoted his attention to fomenting 
 disaffection amongst the English Catholics in favour 
 of the captive Queen Mary. The great obstacle was 
 Cecil. The Duke of Norfolk led the discontented 
 magnates and Cecil was in danger of sharing Riccio's 
 fate. Elizabeth, however, acted promptly, although 
 her favourite Leicester was one of Cecil's enemies. 
 Norfolk was arrested, and a rising in the North of 
 England was sternly suppressed in 1569. Next year 
 the Pope issued a bull excommunicating Elizabeth 
 and releasing her subjects from their duty of obedience 
 to their Queen. Alva had apparently crushed the 
 Protestants of the Low Countries ; but before the bull 
 was issued Alva's power was weakened by the seizure 
 of Spanish gold at Plymouth. In 1571 the Ridolfi 
 conspiracy was planned by Spain. Elizabeth was to be 
 murdered, Norfolk to be married to Mary of Scotland, 
 and part of Alva's army was to make them Catholic 
 rulers of Great Britain. Cecil, who had been made 
 
 I
 
 INCREASE OF NAVAL POWER 255 
 
 Lord Burghley, discovered the plot. Norfolk was 
 executed in 1572, but Mary's life was spared. The 
 defensive alliance with France and the secret aid given 
 to William of Orange were Burghley's answers to the 
 danger which threatened England. 
 
 The massacre of St. Bartholomew was a heavy blow 
 to English hopes, but this was more than compensated 
 by the success of the Sea-Beggars and Drake's exploit 
 at Nombre de Dios. In 1572 it was evident that the 
 sea power of Spain was not invincible, and the revolt 
 of the Dutch taxed the resources of Spain so severely 
 that England had rest for seven years. Want of money 
 ruined Spain, although she had sole possession of the 
 gold and silver of Mexico and Peru. In spite of the 
 laws of Spain the precious metals flowed from her to the 
 middlemen of Antwerp and Amsterdam, and through 
 them to England. Until Spain had proved herself 
 incapable of protecting property from her mutinous 
 troops, Antwerp and Amsterdam remained Catholic 
 and loyal to Spain. Their merchants looked upon 
 the revolt as a needless quarrel with their wealthy 
 Spanish clients. The severity of Alva's rule failed 
 to conquer the Dutch, and in 1573 he was replaced 
 by Requesens, who was instructed to try the effect of 
 gentler methods. Holland and Zeeland refused to 
 submit, but the southern provinces acquiesced in the 
 new policy. 
 
 The great difficulty which confronted Requesens 
 was his Spanish army, whose pay was always in arrears. 
 Under Alva the plunder of Malines, Zutphcn, Naarden, 
 and Haarlem had satisfied the soldiers, but after 
 Requesens had failed to capture Leyden, even the
 
 256 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 merchants wavered in their loyalty when they saw 
 the land overrun with hungry and mutinous bandits. 
 Requesens died in 1576, and before his successor, Don 
 John of Austria, an illegitimate son of Charles V., 
 arrived, the mutineers had sacked Antwerp, the richest 
 city in the Low Countries, perhaps in Europe. The 
 horror caused by this outrage against civiHsation for 
 a time united the Low Countries. In the Pacification 
 of Ghent the provinces agreed to forget their past 
 divisions and to unite in securing the expulsion of 
 the Spanish soldiers. William of Orange was to be 
 lieutenant, admiral, and general for Philip in Holland 
 and Zeeland until the Spaniards were expelled. 
 
 In Spain the necessity of removing the Spanish 
 troops from the Netherlands was by this time clearly 
 recognised, and it was proposed that they should be let 
 loose on England. This proposal was vetoed by the 
 Netherlanders who were loyal to Spain. They saw 
 that Antwerp would be still further injured if the 
 production of England, in which their merchants dealt, 
 was checked. Money was raised on bills drawn in 
 Philip's name and discounted by the Fuggers of 
 Antwerp. The Spanish troops were then sent away by 
 land. There remained a force of German mercenaries, 
 but Don John was pledged to send them also away as 
 soon as the States-General raised funds for their arrears 
 of pay. These mercenaries, however, did not leave, 
 and though open war ceased there was such unrest that 
 Philip sent Alexander of Parma, with 20,000 Spanish 
 troops, to Don John's aid. The insurgents were 
 crushingly defeated at Gemblours in 1578, but on the 
 other hand Amsterdam threw in its lot with Holland
 
 INCREASE OF NAVAL POWER 257 
 
 and Zeeland. In the same j-ear Don John died and 
 Parma became Viceroy for Philip. 
 
 During the Anglo-French negotiations before the 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew the marriage of Elizabeth 
 with the French King's brother, Henry of Anjou, was 
 suggested and discussed. When it became evident that 
 Elizabeth's suitor would become Henry III. of France, 
 his brother, Francis d'Alengon, afterwards Duke of 
 Anjou, was proposed as a possible husband for Eliza- 
 beth. From England, where he had been vainly 
 wooing Elizabeth, a lady of nearly fifty and more than 
 twenty years his senior, Francis of Anjou sailed to 
 Antwerp in 1582 with Elizabeth's old friend, Leicester, 
 and other English nobles. Beneath the grotesque 
 courtship important issues were at stake. In 1581 
 Francis had been accepted as sovereign of Flanders, 
 Brabant, and the northern provinces, which had re- 
 pudiated Philip. Antwerp, the great market for 
 English cloth, was owning a new lord, and Elizabeth's 
 ambiguous answer left her free to act in England's 
 interests, if the experiment was successful. 
 
 Before long it was evident that the experiment 
 would not succeed. In 1584 Anjou died, and his death 
 was almost immediately followed by the murder of 
 WiUiam of Orange. Next year Parma gained posses- 
 sion of Antwerp and all the southern provinces for 
 Philip of Spain. In spite of all the advantages of her 
 protective system the outlook seemed dark for England. 
 In 158 1 Philip had seized Portugal, and every non- 
 European market was closed to English goods. When 
 Antwerp was being besieged by the Spaniards in 1585, 
 Elizabeth made a fruitless attempt to induce Henry III. 
 
 S
 
 258 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 of France to assume the sovereignty of the Nether- 
 lands. The Garter was sent to the French King 
 simultaneously with an embassy from the Netherlands, 
 but the religious divisions of the French forced the 
 King to decline the offer. England had to face Spain 
 aided only by the insurgent Dutch. 
 
 It is not easy to trace any fear in England's actions, 
 though there were attempts at maintaining the nominal 
 peace with Spain. The ancient policy of England had 
 been to rely on the Hanse League, but Cecil's pohcy 
 of giving to the Germans as much and no more than 
 they gave to the English was resolutely adhered to. 
 The Hanse town of Hamburg saw that prosperity 
 followed the settlement of the English Merchant 
 Adventurers in Emden, and in 1567 Hamburg signed a 
 treaty allowing the English to trade within her walls. 
 When the treaty expired in 1577 the other Hanse 
 towns compelled Hamburg to expel the English, and 
 after one year's grace the Merchant Adventurers left. 
 The Germans in London were then placed on the same 
 footing as other foreigners, and a commercial war 
 ensued in which England was able to prove the 
 superiority of a nation which protected her production 
 over rivals who traded in foreign-made goods. Driven 
 from Hamburg the Merchant Adventurers were again 
 welcomed at Emden. When Emden was closed to the 
 English at the Emperor's command, Elbing received 
 them. They were soon after again received openly at 
 Emden and more or less secretly in other Hanse towns. 
 For a short while Hamburg gave them another wel- 
 come, and when she once more drove them out in 1587 
 they moved a few miles down the Elbe and settled
 
 INCREASE OF NAVAL POWER 259 
 
 in Stade, which defied the Emperor as Elbing did the 
 King of Poland. 
 
 Ceaseless efforts were made to find outlets for 
 English cloth. Mention has already been made of the 
 access to the East opened through Russia and the 
 lands of the Turk, but English ships also sailed to 
 Archangel in 1553, only to find that there was no 
 passage to the East through the icy seas. No better 
 fortune attended the daring seamen who sought a 
 North-West passage round the American coast. 
 
 At the same time attempts were made to found 
 colonies in North America. Though these failed, from 
 the lessons the failures taught, the English learned the 
 method of creating dominions oversea. Good fortune, 
 on the other hand, attended Drake when, in September 
 1585, he sailed with about thirty ships from Plymouth 
 to avenge the fall of Antwerp. Touching first at 
 Spain, where he boldly took in fresh water and pro- 
 visions, Drake sailed to the West Indies by way of the 
 Cape Verde Islands. His progress was marked by 
 sacked and burned Spanish towns and ships, and he 
 returned with sixty thousand pounds taken from the 
 Spaniards. It was evident that nothing but a direct 
 attack could subdue England, and preparations for it 
 were now made. 
 
 s 2
 
 XX 
 
 THE ARMADA. ENGLISH AND DUTCH OBTAIN 
 CONTROL OF THE SEA 
 
 1585-1601 
 
 Before his abdication in 1555 Charles V. had learned 
 that it was beyond the power of one man simul- 
 taneously to unite the German Empire and Western 
 Europe in a cosmopolitan brotherhood. But it was 
 not clear that the cosmopolitan scheme would not 
 succeed if one member of his family attacked the 
 problem in Germany and another in Western Europe. 
 If Gennany and Western Europe were welded into two 
 federations, both in subjection to Rome, intermarriage 
 between the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs would 
 sooner or later blend the two federations into one 
 cosmopolitan Empire. Hence Charles' brother became 
 the Emperor Ferdinand, and Charles' son became 
 Philip 11. of Spain and of Spain's dominions in Europe 
 and beyond the sea. 
 
 This great scheme failed not because the Habsburgs 
 wavered in their loyalty to cosmopolitanism but 
 because the peoples over whom they ruled took arms 
 to support their nationality. Ferdinand's son and 
 heir, afterwards Maximilian II., was married in 1548 to 
 his cousin, Maria, daughter of Charles V. In spite of 
 his Spanish wife and the Spanish influences which
 
 THE ARMADA 261 
 
 surrounded him, Maximilian, before his accession in 
 1564 to the Empire of Germany, showed strong lean- 
 ings towards Protestantism and German nationalism. 
 He received, however, a plain intimation that, if he 
 declined to fall in with the cosmopolitan scheme he 
 would have to abandon all hope of becoming Emperor, 
 and he 5delded to the pressure. Maximilian and his 
 son, Rudolf II., Emperor from 1576 to 1612, main- 
 tained intimate relations with Spain, whilst they 
 avoided making a direct attack on Protestantism. 
 The absence of protection for German workers, 
 peasants, and artisans weakened Protestantism and 
 German nationality. The wealth of Germany passed 
 into the hands of her international merchants, who 
 could invest their capital in foreign lands and favoured 
 a close connection with Spain. The Jesuits, who were 
 labouring to bring Europe back to Catholicism, met 
 with great success in Germany. Time appeared to be 
 on the side of cosmopolitanism in the German Empire. 
 But in Western Europe Philip II. had a more 
 difficult task. The people of the Netherlands had 
 partially succeeded in throwing off the yoke of Spain. 
 Amsterdam and the North had won freedom, whilst 
 Antwerp and the South had bought peace by rejoining 
 the Spanish Empire, when the murder of William of 
 Orange in 1584 left the Dutch without a leader. 
 Spain's agents were at work in every land. The 
 Catholics of England and Ireland were being taught 
 that their religion demanded rebellion against Eliza- 
 beth, and there were grave fears that the Queen would 
 share the fate of William of Orange. The British 
 Isles were to become dependencies of Spain under
 
 262 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Mary Stewart. Even James of Scotland, alarmed by 
 the strength and zeal of the Scotch Cathohcs, pursued 
 a hesitating and doubtful policy. 
 
 Nor could Elizabeth turn to France for aid. Since 
 the peace of Cateau-Cambresis in 1660 there had been 
 no open war between France and Spain, but the 
 religious wars in France had ended in the formation 
 of a Catholic League led by Henry, Duke of Guise, and 
 a Huguenot opposition whose chief was Henry of 
 Navarre. The French King, Henry HL, had failed to 
 reconcile his subjects in 1576 owing to the opposition 
 of the League. In 1585 a definite alliance was formed 
 between the League and Philip of Spain, and Henry HL 
 was forced to submit to the authority of Henry of 
 Guise and his brother the Cardinal. 
 
 Threatened on all sides, Elizabeth was forced to 
 abandon her policy of masterly inactivity, and in 1585 
 the Queen's favourite, Leicester, landed in Flushing 
 with 5000 foot and 1000 horse to fill the place which 
 the murder of William of Orange had left vacant. 
 This post was one which an Englishman was ill-qualified 
 to fill. Englishmen still talk of the Dutch Republic, 
 although not long after the final severance from Spain 
 de Witt pointed out that the English should talk of 
 what is now the kingdom of Holland as the Federated 
 Repubhcs. Leicester, accustomed to the ways of a 
 united kingdom, was called upon to guide the fortunes 
 of seven provinces which had never been really united 
 and had now joined in a federation so loose that 
 each province, and almost each town, was practically 
 an independent State. The name republic serves only 
 to conceal the fact that the Dutch had no political
 
 THE ARMADA 263 
 
 freedom. Towns were governed by councils of 
 burghers which co-opted fresh members when vacancies 
 occurred and elected deputies to the States-General. 
 The Dutch were governed by merchants whose right 
 to rule was based on their wealth, and chief amongst 
 these were the merchants of Amsterdam. 
 
 The people of Holland closely resembled the 
 English. In Holland, as in England, the people were 
 fighting to preserve their nationality ; in both lands 
 there were more Catholics than Protestants, but 
 difference of religion did not affect their zeal for the 
 national cause. Here, however, the likeness ceased. 
 In England the Queen was as ardent a nationalist as 
 her subjects. In Holland the mercantile governing 
 body fought Spain in order to carry to and from the 
 East and West. They were, many of them, Jews who 
 had been driven from Spain and Portugal, or foreigners 
 who had migrated from Antwerp. Such men could 
 have little sympathy with the patriotic hopes and 
 fears of the Dutch. Leicester began his rule by for- 
 bidding all commercial intercourse between the Dutch 
 and Philip's dominions. He had no wish to supply the 
 enemies of England with food and clothing when they 
 could be starved into submission. But the merchants 
 claimed the right of trading freely, and gladly supplied 
 the Spaniards with all they were ready to pay for, 
 even with powder and shot to be used against the 
 Dutch and their English allies. After wasting his 
 fortune in a hopeless struggle with the merchants, 
 Leicester returned to England in August 1587 a poor 
 but wiser man. Then Maurice, a younger son of 
 William of Orange, at the age of twenty commanded
 
 264 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 the Dutch military and naval forces against Parma, the 
 best general in Europe. 
 
 In the ports of Spain and Portugal the Invincible 
 Armada was being built, and in the Southern Nether- 
 lands Parma was collecting men and transports, buying 
 what he needed from the merchants of Amsterdam, 
 that he might be ready to sail for England when the 
 Armada had brushed aside the Dutch and English 
 fleets. But in 1587 Drake sailed from England 
 before the Armada was fully equipped. He looked 
 in at Cadiz and destroyed all the shipping which failed 
 to escape up the creeks. He found Lisbon too strong ; 
 but he waited outside and destroyed coasting vessels 
 as they arrived with stores. The Armada could not 
 sail that year, and, had Drake been able to keep the 
 sea, it might never have sailed. But his ships needed 
 refitting, so Drake returned to England after cap- 
 turing an East Indiaman, which paid for the expedi- 
 tion. In 1588 Drake was kept in England, because 
 it was hoped that Philip would not send the Armada 
 after his fleet had been crippled. Nevertheless the 
 Armada sailed. 
 
 In spite of the gold of America, Spain was poor, 
 owing to a fiscal system which threw the whole burden 
 of taxation on the home producer. Neglect of the 
 navy had given Drake the opportunity he had used 
 so well. But in 1588 nothing was spared. It was, 
 however, too late. An English navy was in existence 
 capable of guarding England's coasts. The Dutch 
 ships held Parma in check, whilst the English harried 
 the Invincible Armada. Northwards it fled in con- 
 fusion. One-third of the ships, battered and tempest-
 
 THE ARMADA 265 
 
 tossed, found their way to Spain round the north of 
 Scotland ; the shallows and the storm had the rest. 
 England and Protestantism were saved. 
 
 The destruction of the Armada freed Western 
 Europe. French Nationalists, Catholics and Pro- 
 testants, united against the League. During the last 
 few days of 1588 the Guises were murdered, and in 
 April 1589 the aUiance of Henry HI. and Henry of 
 Navarre was publicly announced. The League held 
 Paris, and Mayenne, brother of the murdered Henry 
 of Guise, took over the command of the pro-Spanish 
 party. Philip made a desperate attempt to conquer 
 France. Walloons and Flemings were sent to re- 
 inforce the army of the League. In August 1589 the 
 murder of the Guises was avenged by a friar who 
 stabbed Henry IH. Before his death the French 
 King acknowledged Henry of Navarre as his suc- 
 cessor. In March 1590 Henrj^ IV. routed the army 
 of the League at Ivry. Philip then sent Parma, his 
 best general, to the aid of his aUies, whilst England 
 sent reinforcements for the Nationahsts. In 1592 
 Parma's health failed, and he returned to Flanders, 
 where he died before the end of the year. Then the 
 Leaguers lost heart. Henry IV. was reconciled to the 
 Church of Rome, French Catholics and Protestants 
 accepted him as King, and the French wars of religion 
 dwindled into ineffective attempts to impede the 
 establishment of a strong national government in 
 France. 
 
 In 1587, when England was threatened by the 
 Invincible Armada, Mary of Scotland was beheaded 
 in Fotheringay Castle, in which she was living as a
 
 266 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 State prisoner. It was nominally on her behalf that the 
 Armada was about to sail, and the Catholic plots against 
 EHzabeth's life had as their object the placing of 
 Mary on the thrones of England and Scotland. After 
 Mary's death, English Catholics realised that to 
 oppose Elizabeth was to aid PhiHp in his attack on 
 English nationality, and, in spite of persecution, the 
 Catholics in England were loyal to their native land. 
 James' hesitation disappeared when the Armada was 
 defeated. In 1589 he married the Protestant princess, 
 Anne of Denmark, and the movement towards the 
 union of England and Scotland continued to make 
 headway. 
 
 In 1580, papal soldiers, subjects of Philip of Spain, 
 landed in Ireland, entrenched themselves at Smer- 
 wick, and encouraged the Earl of Desmond to rebel. 
 When this rebellion was suppressed half a million acres 
 in Munster were forfeited to the Crown, and an attempt 
 was made to plant English settlers on the confiscated 
 lands. Ten years earlier the Irish Parliament had 
 passed protective measures to encourage the weaving 
 of linen yarn in Ireland. This yarn was used by 
 weavers in Lancashire and Cheshire, and royal letters 
 patent annulled these protective statutes. Thus, 
 although Ireland was treated as a conquered country, 
 in which English settlers were to act as a permanent 
 self-supporting garrison, these unpaid soldiers of 
 England were denied that protection which their 
 English brethren enjoyed. This economic policy 
 transformed English Protestants into Irish Catholics, 
 and created the need for fresh harryings of Ireland 
 and more plantations, which, in their turn, failed.
 
 THE ARMADA 267 
 
 The settlers retained their language, and in EngHsh 
 expressed their hatred of the land which treated them 
 as foreigners. Disaffection in Ireland, fostered by 
 Spain, troubled and impoverished England during 
 Elizabeth's reign. 
 
 The decay of Spain was evident to all except the 
 Spanish after the destruction of the Armada. In 
 spite of the gold of America, the Spanish policy of 
 neglecting home production had forced Charles V. to 
 regard the Low Countries as the financial centre of 
 his empire. But the commerce of the Spanish Nether- 
 lands was ruined in the war. The great seaport, 
 Antwerp, was blocked by forts built by the Dutch to 
 command the waterway to the sea, and England was 
 helping to strangle Antwerp, since she held Flushing, 
 at the mouth of the waterway, as one of the cautionary 
 towns given as pledges for the expenses incurred when 
 Leicester was sent to the Netherlands. Ostend was 
 held by the Dutch. When the Armada sailed, Dun- 
 kirk, Nieuwport, and Sluys were the only ports from 
 which Parma's army could have sailed to England, 
 and these ports were of little or no value when the 
 English and Dutch held command of the sea. Yet 
 blind to their weakness, the Spanish continued to 
 believe that they could conquer England. 
 
 In 1589 Drake sailed south to detach Portugal 
 from Spain. Don Antonio was to have been made 
 King of Portugal, and, in return, he promised that 
 the English should have the same commercial rights 
 as the Portuguese in Portugal, Brazil, and the Indies. 
 This expedition failed, and more than a century elapsed 
 before the Methuen treaty, in 1703, gave English
 
 268 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 products the longed-for preference in Portugal and her 
 colonies. Drake and Hawkins died in 1596 whilst 
 they were engaged in their favourite work of pillaging 
 the Spanish West Indies ; but in the same year 
 Cadiz was also pillaged by a mixed English and Dutch 
 expedition. With this destruction of Spanish shipping 
 Spain's last hope of invading England died. Tv/o 
 years later Philip H. was succeeded by his son, 
 Philip HI. 
 
 Off Lisbon, in 1589, Drake captured a large fleet 
 of Hanseatic corn-ships which had sailed round Scot- 
 land to avoid English ships in the Channel. The com 
 was confiscated as contraband of war, and Elizabeth 
 refused to listen to the remonstrances of the mer- 
 chants. The Emperor of Germany then expelled 
 English merchants from his dominions ; but the 
 English carried on a contraband trade through the 
 Dutch town Middelburgh. When the Hanseatic mer- 
 chants forbade the sale of corn to the Dutch, Elizabeth 
 turned the Germans out of the Steelyard. In 1599 
 Emden and Stade again admitted English merchants, 
 and the Hanseatic League was hoping to settle the 
 dispute by negotiation when Elizabeth died in 1603. 
 Ultimately the Germans returned to their Steelyard, 
 but as unprivileged foreigners they were hencefor- 
 ward of little account in England's commerce. 
 
 Although the Dutch were as seriously threatened 
 as the Enghsh by the Armada, in 1589 the English 
 captured Dutch as well as Hanseatic ships carrying 
 corn to Spain, and the States-General asked Elizabeth 
 to release the ships and corn. They urged that they 
 depended wholly on commerce, and that the merchants
 
 THE ARMADA 269 
 
 would forsake Amsterdam if their trade was disturbed. 
 The Dutch people were brave, self-sacrificing, and 
 patriotic. Their sailors were in no way inferior to 
 the English. But the Republics were ruled by mer- 
 chants who thought only of buying cheap and selling 
 dear. The Dutch employed their sailors in opening 
 up trading stations in the East and West, whilst 
 England used her sea power to found colonies and 
 create markets for her products. 
 
 When the Spanish Netherlands was denied access 
 to the sea, there was a great exodus of artisans to 
 England and to Holland. A most interesting account 
 of the effect of the fiscal systems of England and the 
 Dutch on this emigration is given in de Witt's " Interest 
 of Holland." When Antwerp was taken, " that City 
 being thus wholly shut up from the Sea, and the King 
 of Spain very imprudently neglecting to open the 
 Scheld, being desirous, according to the Maxims of 
 Monarchs, to weaken that strong City, which he 
 thought too powerful for him, and to disperse the 
 Trafhck over his many other Cities ; he bent all his 
 Strength against the Frontiers of Gelderland, England, 
 and France, whereby the Merchants of Antwerp were 
 necessitated to forsake their City, and consequently 
 to chuse Amsterdam to settle in, which before the 
 Troubles was, next to Antwerp, the greatest Mer- 
 cantile City of the Netherlands, For when we rightly 
 consider the innumerable Inconveniences found in 
 all Islands, and especially Northward, by reason of 
 Storms, and long Winters, in the Consumption of 
 Goods bought, and the necessary Communication 
 with many inland Neighbours ; every one may easily
 
 270 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 imagine why the Antwerpers sat not down in the 
 adjacent Islands of Zeland ; and besides, neither in 
 France nor England was there any Hberty of Religion, 
 but a Monarchical Government in both with high 
 Duties on Goods imported and exported." 
 
 " And tho the Protestant Merchants, by reason of 
 the great Peace, and good situation of England, would 
 have most inclined to settle there ; yet were they 
 discouraged from coming into a Country where there 
 were no City Excises or Imposts on Lands, or any other 
 Taxes equally charging all, whether Inhabitants or 
 Strangers ; but heavy Taxes and Customs laid on all 
 Goods imported and exported, by which Foreigners 
 and their Children and Grandchildren, according to 
 the Laws of the Land, must pay double as much as 
 the natural English ; yea in the Subsidies of Parlia- 
 ment, which extend to perpetuity on Foreigners and 
 their Children, they must pay double Assessment : 
 Besides which all Strangers are excluded from their 
 Guilds and Halls of Trade and Manufactures ; so that 
 none have the Freedom there to work, either as 
 Journey-man, or Master-workman, save in that 
 whereof the Inhabitants are ignorant." 
 
 " And all these Discouragements were also for the 
 most part in the Eastern Cities " (Hanse towns) ; " yea 
 in England as well as in the Eastern Cities, a Foreigner, 
 tho an Inhabitant, was not suffered to sell to any 
 other but Citizens ; nor to sell Wares by Retail, or for 
 Consumption, or to buy any sort of Goods of Strangers 
 or of Inhabitants that are Strangers, neither by 
 Wholesale nor Retail : All which made them think 
 England no fit place to settle in. . . . The Flemish
 
 THE ARMADA 271 
 
 Fishing also fell into Holland : But the Manufactures 
 were thus divided ; one third of the Dealers and 
 Weavers of Says, Damask, and Stockings, &c., went 
 casually into England, &c., because that Trade was 
 then new to the English, and therefore under no Halls 
 or Guilds. Another great part of them went to 
 Leyden ; and the Traders in Linen settled mostly at 
 Haerlem. But there was still a great number of 
 Traders in Manufactures that remained in Flanders 
 and Brabant : For seeing those Goods were continually 
 sent to France and Germany by Land-carriage, it was 
 impossible for us to prevent it by our Ships of War, 
 or any other Means imaginable." 
 An old rh}Tne declares that 
 
 Hops, Reformation, Bays, and Beer 
 Came into England all in a year. 
 
 These immigrant weavers of says and bays were 
 Protestants of a pronounced type. They settled in the 
 Eastern Counties, where they preached their gospel 
 of disunion in religion and politics to the children of 
 those who had been dispossessed by enclosures and 
 massacred in Ket's rebellion. De Witts and le Bruns 
 became Whites and Browns and with the descendants 
 of the old Levellers formed the English Independents, 
 who half a century after Elizabeth's death temporarily 
 abolished royalty in England. In 1593 the danger 
 to English nationality was recognised, and an Act 
 was passed imposing exile or conformity to the Church 
 of England on all who lived in England ; but, driven 
 below the surface, sectarianism continued to increase. 
 
 Lord Burghley continued to advise Elizabeth until
 
 272 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 his death in 1598, when his place was filled by his 
 son, Sir Robert Cecil. Burghley was opposed by the 
 Queen's favourite, Leicester, but never with success. 
 When Leicester died in 1588, the Earl of Essex and 
 Sir Walter Raleigh became the favourites of Elizabeth. 
 Essex succeeded to Leicester's feud with the Cecils. 
 Just before his death Burghley wished England to 
 make peace with Spain as France was doing. The 
 English merchants feared that their trade would suffer 
 if they made peace with Spain whilst the Dutch 
 were forcibly entering Spain's empire oversea. Essex 
 espoused the cause of the merchants, and attacked 
 Burghley with such violence that he lost Elizabeth's 
 favour. The peace party was defeated, but Essex 
 accepted the Vice-royalty of Ireland, hoping to re- 
 instate himself with his Queen, He, however, failed 
 in Ireland, and after a prolonged trial was deprived 
 of all his offices. In his anger Essex asked James of 
 Scotland to send an army to remove Cecil from the 
 Queen's Council. Detected in treason, Essex appealed 
 in vain to the merchants of London to take arms 
 against Cecil. He was beheaded in 1601. Raleigh 
 and Cecil, however, remained on friendly terms until 
 just before Elizabeth's death.
 
 XXI 
 
 TRADE RIVALRY BETWEEN ENGLISH AND DUTCH 
 
 1601-1623 
 
 A SERIOUS constitutional difficulty was created when 
 England's foreign trade passed into English hands. 
 The Crown had authority over foreign merchants 
 trading in England, and could either prohibit or im- 
 pose duties on their trade. In virtue of her royal 
 prerogative Queen Elizabeth deprived the merchants 
 of the Steelyard of their privileges. The rights of the 
 Crown over foreign trade conducted by Englishmen 
 were not clearly defined. At first there was no 
 practical difficulty in this uncertainty. If English 
 merchants evaded an imposition or restriction they 
 gained an advantage over their foreign competitors, 
 and when the English Merchant Adventurers were a 
 feeble folk the Crown revenue was not seriously 
 affected. But when foreign trade was largely con- 
 ducted by English merchants, the Crown had to choose 
 between surrendering a large part of its revenue or 
 asserting its right to impose duties on foreign trade 
 whether it was conducted by natives or aliens. 
 
 This difficulty was increased by the rise in prices. 
 The ancient customs, from which the Crown had 
 drawn much of its revenue, were satisfied by the 
 
 T
 
 274 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 payment of fixed sums of money for fixed amounts of 
 goods. When goods rose in value and money fell 
 the Crown suffered. In Elizabeth's time trouble was 
 staved off by the treasure stolen from Spain and by 
 the sale of monopolies. Nevertheless, Elizabeth was 
 forced to alienate a large part of her Crown lands in 
 order to obtain funds for the defence of England, and 
 her successors were thus driven to depend upon the 
 customs for their revenue. Monopolies, in themselves, 
 were no more immoral than modern patents. To 
 encourage the expenditure of capital in starting new 
 industries or in diverting old industries into new 
 channels, exclusive rights of manufacture were granted 
 to individuals by the Crown. In the same way mono- 
 pohes of trade in different parts of the world were 
 given to chartered associations of merchants in order 
 that they might arm their ships and defend themselves 
 without leaning upon the royal navy. The expense 
 of policing the seas could not have been borne by some 
 merchants if others might trade without sharing this 
 expense. Elizabeth's last Parliament, in 1601, was 
 about to pass an Act abolishing monopolies when 
 the Queen announced her intention of canceUing all 
 monopolies which were injurious to her people. 
 
 The greatest difficulty which the Stuarts had to 
 face was, however, the rapid progress made by Dutch 
 merchants in the race for wealth. The Dutch mer- 
 chants grew rich by slipping through the breach in 
 Spain's monopoly which English guns had made. 
 They founded their Eastern empire when England 
 was fighting Spain in order that no new Armada 
 should threaten either her coasts or those of her ally.
 
 DUTCH TRADE RIVALRY 275 
 
 Pamphlet literature in England teemed with envy of 
 the Dutch and suggestions as to how England too 
 could become wealth3^ In observations supposed to 
 have been presented to King James by Raleigh, stress 
 is laid upon the small customs paid by Dutch mer- 
 chants. The writer argued that, although English 
 merchants paid eighteen times as much duty as Dutch 
 merchants, England obtained only half the amount of 
 revenue that Holland received. He urged the King to 
 make full use of the alum which had been found in 
 England, " considering that God hath enabled, and 
 given Your Majesty, power to advance Dressing and 
 Dyeing and Transporting of all your Cloths within a 
 Year or two ; I speak it knowingly." 
 
 James acted upon the suggestion of securing the 
 cloth-finishing industry for England. In 1609 the 
 alum industry of England was protected against 
 foreign competition and grew rapidly. The sale of 
 alum was also made a royal monopoly. In 1614 the 
 exportation of undressed and undyed cloth was for- 
 bidden, and the licence of the Merchant Adventurers 
 to export such cloth was revoked. A very large 
 number of Dutch workers were employed in finishing 
 English cloth, and the Dutch retaliated by prohibiting 
 the importation of finished cloth from England and 
 enlarging their weaving industry. This commercial 
 war was short-lived. It ended in a compromise, but 
 victory rested with the English. Their cheap alum 
 and cheap cloth gave them supremacy in every process 
 in the cloth-making industry. 
 
 The paternal government of the first Stuarts pro- 
 voked much opposition from those outside the circle 
 
 xa
 
 276 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 of beneficiaries. In James' first Parliament a measure 
 granting freedom of trade was carried in the Commons 
 but thrown out by the Lords. The term free trade 
 has, however, had many meanings. To-day it means 
 the right to import goods, whether they are raw 
 materials or finished manufactures, without payment 
 of duty. In the reign of James I. it could also mean 
 either the abohtion of the exclusive rights of the com- 
 panies, chartered by the Tudors, to England's foreign 
 trade, or the abolition of those monopolies which 
 restricted the manufacture and sale of certain articles 
 to privileged individuals. The free-trade measure 
 which was defeated in James' first Parliament was 
 an attack on the chartered trading companies. Better 
 success attended the attack on monopolies in 1624. 
 Then monopolies were made illegal with certain excep- 
 tions, such as saltpetre, gunpowder, cannon, alum, &c., 
 which were regarded as beneficial to the State. New 
 inventions could also be made monopolies for fourteen 
 years by royal letters patent, and the trading mono- 
 polies of the chartered companies were not interfered 
 with. 
 
 The abolition of monopolies, except new patents, 
 was undoubtedly a wise measure ; but it does not 
 follow that monopohes were harmful when they were 
 introduced. In a backward country, which sought to 
 introduce manufactures from abroad, they stimulated 
 new industries just as the granting of patents stimu- 
 lates new inventions. It was after the industries 
 were estabhshed in England that monopolies became 
 injurious by limiting home competition and produc- 
 tion. Similarly, when policing the seas was beyond
 
 DUTCH TRADE RIVALRY 277 
 
 the power of England's nav}^ it was wise to restrict 
 foreign trade to large corporations who could afford to 
 send fleets of armed merchant ships to foreign lands. 
 The Dutch were building up a great foreign trade by- 
 means of companies possessing exclusive rights, and 
 the massacre of English merchants at Amboina by 
 their Dutch rivals in 1624 proved that the time had 
 not yet arrived when treaties or agreements could 
 protect the weak in the fierce struggle for commerce. 
 
 After the defeat of the Armada, English and Dutch 
 merchants invaded the Eastern monopoly of the 
 united nations of Spain and Portugal. The early 
 failures of individual Enghsh merchants led to the 
 formation in 1600 of the English East India Company. 
 The first fleet of the new company sailed to the East 
 in 1601. It traded in Sumatra, established a factory 
 in Java, captured a Portuguese ship in the Straits of 
 Malacca, and returned with a valuable cargo of pepper. 
 In 1602 the Dutch founded their East India Company 
 with a capital nineteen times that of the English 
 company. James, in 1604, made peace with Spain, 
 one condition being that the English might trade 
 where they had traded before the war. This was, 
 however, interpreted as meaning that the English 
 might trade in all places not actually occupied by the 
 Spanish or Portuguese. The Dutch continued their 
 war with Spain, and in 1615, after destroying the 
 Spanish fleet, began to create a colonial empire in the 
 Spice Islands. The Dutch were unwiUing to allow 
 the English to trade in colonies whose garrisons 
 and upkeep were paid for by the merchants of the 
 Republic. To avert a threatened Anglo-Dutch war in
 
 278 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 the East an agreement was arrived at between the 
 Dutch and EngHsh companies in 1519. But arrange- 
 ments made in Europe were disregarded in the East. 
 After the massacre at Amboina England failed to ob- 
 tain reparation from Holland and the English ceased 
 to trade in the Spice Islands, whilst the Dutch colonial 
 empire and trade continued to increase. 
 
 The Dutch visited Japan in 1609 and estabhshed 
 a trading settlement, although the Japanese forbade 
 them to profess Christianity publicly. Nearly a 
 century earlier the Portuguese had visited China in 
 1511, and in 1557 they were allowed to lease Macao. 
 In 1622 the Dutch attacked Macao, but failed to 
 capture it. Then they established themselves in 
 Formosa and used every means to obtain a footing for 
 trade in China. That two Dutch embassies were the 
 only European envoys who kow-towed to the Emperor 
 of China is characteristic of this merchant State, 
 which had fought for freedom from Spanish rule only 
 to be governed by cosmopolitan merchants. But the 
 vast wealth which these merchants brought to Holland 
 blinded the Dutch to every other consideration. 
 
 After the massacre at Amboina English traders 
 went no further east than India until wars with 
 England had taught the Dutch to respect Englishmen. 
 Not content with driving English traders from the 
 Far East, the Dutch threatened the English in India 
 and the Persian Gulf, where Englishmen had acquired 
 a somewhat precarious footing. On his accession 
 James I. began to develop his policy of peace with 
 foreign powers and consolidation at home. Parlia- 
 ment defeated his project of uniting Great Britain,
 
 DUTCH TRADE RIVALRY 279 
 
 but Ulster was planted with settlers in his reign. 
 Peace was made with Spain in 1604, and, except for 
 the unfortunate expedition to Germany just before 
 James' death, England remained at peace with all 
 men. This Anglo-Spanish peace gave the Dutch an 
 opportunity which they seized. As enemies of Spain 
 and Portugal, they forcibly penetrated Portuguese 
 possessions in the East, whilst the English advanced 
 cautiously and diplomatically. The Dutch admiral, 
 Heemskerk, had once laboured in vain to find a North- 
 East passage to the East which could not be blocked 
 by Spain. In 1607 the Spanish navy was anchored 
 under the guns of Gibraltar ready to intercept Dutch 
 traders. A Dutch fleet under Heemskerk attacked 
 and annihilated the Spaniards. Like Nelson, Heems- 
 kerk died in the hour of victor}^ but his Ufe's work 
 was accompHshed. The way to the East was wide 
 open for the Dutch, and in 1609 they signed a twelve 
 years' truce with Spain. 
 
 There is much to be said for James' peace policy. 
 England's two chief competitors, Spain and Holland, 
 contained within themselves germs of decay, and their 
 doom was certain without England's interference. 
 Spain's neglect of her producers and her reliance on 
 American gold were busily undermining her strength. 
 Moriscos, that is Moors, who had embraced Christianity 
 and remained in Spain, were keeping scientific agri- 
 culture and industry alive in the Peninsula. Part of 
 the American gold and silver remained in the hands 
 of the Moriscos and formed a store of capital which 
 Philip 11. had tapped when he needed money for his 
 navies and his cosmopolitan schemes. Oppressed by
 
 28o THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 this heavy taxation and by their Spanish neighbours, 
 who envied them their wealth, the Moriscos had 
 engaged in treasonable correspondence with Elizabeth. 
 James forwarded this correspondence to Philip HI. 
 as a peace offering, and Spanish consumers in 1609 
 drove out the last of Spain's producers. Lord 
 Burghley's son, Robert Cecil, was the King's adviser. 
 The elder Cecil organised the defeat of the Armada ; 
 the younger secured that Spain should never again 
 threaten the shores of England. Robert Cecil had 
 earned the dignity of Earl of Salisbury, which James 
 conferred upon him after the peace with Spain. 
 
 During the twelve years' truce with Spain the 
 loose federation, called the Dutch Republic, disclosed 
 its weakness. In times of war the need of a military 
 leader and of some sort of national union was felt, 
 but during peace there was nothing to curb the 
 despotic power of the wealthy merchants. Hence the 
 merchants advocated peace at any price, provided their 
 trade was not affected, whilst a large section of the 
 Dutch reahsed that without foreign war they could 
 never gain freedom and national unity. In 1609 the 
 great bank of Amsterdam was founded, and proved 
 from the first a wonderful success. Their skill in 
 finance and their political power in Holland enabled 
 the merchants to bury in the vaults of the bank the 
 gold and silver of the Dutch as well as the specie of 
 foreigners. An old writer says : "By means of this 
 bank the magistrates of Amsterdam are possessed of 
 the bulk of the property of their inhabitants, and 
 thereby have the strongest security for their fidelity." 
 Holders of bank paper dared not oppose those who
 
 DUTCH TRADE RIVALRY 281 
 
 held the bullion which gave value to the paper. Though 
 the Dutch army was largely composed of foreign 
 mercenaries, the Dutch navy was manned by Dutch 
 sailors whose courage and devotion to their country 
 prove that the Netherlands might have become a 
 united nation but for the merchant rulers. 
 
 The twelve years' truce all but destroyed the Dutch 
 federation. Prince Maurice, son of WilHam of Orange, 
 was Stadtholder and Captain-General of the Republic. 
 He was naturally also the leader of the unionist party, 
 and as long as war with Spain was necessary to the 
 merchants Maurice and Oldenbarneveldt, the spokes- 
 man for local privileges, worked harmoniously to- 
 gether. When Heemskerk destroyed the navy of 
 Spain and made the way to the East safe for the 
 merchants Oldenbarneveldt advocated peace with 
 Spain. Maurice knew the danger of peace and opposed 
 it. In the end a truce was signed, and at once civil 
 strife began. The one bond of union which the Dutch 
 possessed was their orthodox Calvinist creed. Though 
 the Netherlands contained a large number of Catholics 
 and Jews, the fact that Calvinism was the State religion 
 in all the provinces tended to draw these provinces 
 together. In the seventeenth century pohtical differ- 
 ences still almost invariably disguised themselves as 
 religious quarrels. Two rival sects divided Holland — 
 Gomarists and Arminians. The former advocated the 
 maintenance of the Calvinist creed and the State 
 Church, the latter preached a more liberal faith and 
 religious toleration. 
 
 Oldenbarneveldt led the Arminians and Maurice 
 the Gomarists, though they took little or no interest
 
 282 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 in the theological dispute. The Stadtholder had the 
 support of the army and thus was master of the 
 situation. Oldenbarneveldt induced the province of 
 Holland to raise a separate army, and but for Maurice's 
 prompt action civil war would have ensued between 
 the States of Holland and the States-General of 
 all the provinces. The incipient rebellion was not 
 allowed to make headway, and Oldenbarneveldt was 
 executed as a traitor to the Republic in 1619. But 
 the power of the merchants was strong enough to 
 prevent national union. War with Spain was resumed 
 in 1521, and the Stadtholder's attention was occupied 
 with the defence of the country. Maurice died un- 
 married in 1625, and his brother Henry became Stadt- 
 holder. Until his death in 1647 Henry was, like his 
 brother, constantly engaged in war with Spain. 
 
 The Dutch exercised a far greater influence over 
 England's home and foreign policy than any other 
 foreigners during the reigns of the early Stuarts. 
 Spain lost strength with great rapidity after the 
 death of Philip H. France increased in strength, but 
 it was long before she recovered from her disastrous 
 wars of religion. Germany was torn asunder by the 
 Thirty Years' War, which destroyed nearly two-thirds 
 of her population and left her a mere collection of 
 petty disunited States. The Dutch alone seemed to be 
 gaining from the misfortunes of their neighbours, and 
 by imitating Dutch methods the English hoped to 
 obtain a share of Dutch success. Until Charles I. 
 created a strong navy a direct attack on the Dutch 
 was certain to end in failure. Pending the creation of 
 a navy the English tried to copy Dutch ways. The
 
 DUTCH TRADE RIVALRY 283 
 
 English merchants became Calvinistic Puritans and 
 tried to destroy the royal prerogative, their aim being 
 that a King of England should have no more power 
 than a Dutch Stadtholder. In the end the merchants 
 failed, but their folly murdered their King and gave 
 England the terrible Commonwealth. 
 
 It was not until the end of Ehzabeth's reign that 
 the friendship which united Cecil and Raleigh ceased. 
 Both men corresponded secretly with James before his 
 accession, and Cecil was preferred to Raleigh. Whilst 
 Raleigh urged the King to imitate the Dutch by 
 continuing the war with Spain and transforming 
 England into a " State-merchant," Cecil advised peace 
 with Spain and the continuance of the policy of 
 developing English production. Raleigh also wished 
 to foster English industry, but he appears to have 
 failed to realise that a Dutch State-merchant would 
 prove fatal to England's protective system. Defeated 
 in his contest with Cecil, Raleigh engaged in intrigues 
 which were pronounced treasonable. He was, however, 
 reprieved on the scaffold, and sent to honourable 
 confinement in the Tower. During his trial the 
 attorney for the Crown, Sir Edward Coke, earned 
 an unpleasant reputation by his bitter attack upon 
 a prisoner who was fighting for life. In time the 
 unscrupulous Crown advocate became an equally 
 unscrupulous opponent of the Crown. In 1604 peace 
 was made with Spain, and Cecil became Lord Salisbury. 
 
 James began his reign by trying to cstabhsh not 
 only peace but religious toleration. He proposed a 
 concordat with the Pope by which Catholics should 
 enjoy toleration on condition of their being excom-
 
 284 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 municated if they acted so as to endanger the State. 
 When his proposal was rejected, to conciHate Enghsh 
 Protestants James banished Catholic priests. Then 
 followed Gunpowder Plot ; and, instead of Parliament, 
 toleration for Catholics was blown to the winds. 
 James' first Parhament, which met in 1604, contained 
 a majority of Puritans who still conformed to the 
 Church of England, hoping to change it from within. 
 James probably saw that Dutch political disunion lay 
 behind English puritanism, since he continued Eliza- 
 beth's policy of insisting upon conformity and epito- 
 mised his views in the statement : " Nobishop, no King." 
 It is almost certain that the great majority of Enghsh- 
 men would have supported the King, although the 
 majority in Parliament opposed him. The forty- 
 shilling franchise and the enclosures had limited the 
 number of electors in the counties, and in the towns 
 close corporations had so restricted the franchise that 
 borough members represented the merchants in much 
 the same way as delegates to the States represented 
 the merchants of Holland. When they shelved James' 
 scheme for the union of England and Scotland, members 
 of the Enghsh Parhament proved that they were 
 not out of sympathy with the Dutch particularist 
 and mercantile pohcy. They had no \nsh to share 
 England's trade with the Scotch. 
 
 When Church lands were confiscated and common 
 lands enclosed, something was done to protect the 
 poor, who had been fed by the monks. The lands 
 were sold at low rates, subject to heavy fines if the 
 poor were neglected by the new owners. This condi- 
 tion of sale was, however, systematically disregarded.
 
 DUTCH TRADE RIVALRY 285 
 
 In the first year of Edward VI. Parliament passed a 
 savage Act, punishing those who did no work for three 
 consecutive days with branding and slavery for two 
 years. The Act ends with a pious hope that the 
 unemployed, who were too infirm for work, would be 
 cared for by the localities in which they were bom or 
 were residing. Another ineffectual Act for relieving 
 the poor was passed in 1555. In 1572 a poor-rate was 
 first sanctioned by Parliament, and in 1597 ^^^ 1601 
 the system of official poor relief was definitely organised. 
 
 In 1589 an Act was passed forbidding the build- 
 ing of cottages without the provision of at least four 
 acres of land to each cottage. Nevertheless, the 
 vicious system of enclosing common lands, which had 
 made these laws necessary, was continued. In 1607 
 the peasants rose in the Midland Counties ; Levellers 
 were soon busy destroying the fences which excluded 
 the poor from the common lands ; and it seemed as 
 if Ket's rebellion would be repeated. But Govern- 
 ment acted promptly. The revolt was suppressed, 
 not without bloodshed and executions. Once more 
 dragon's teeth were sown from which should spring 
 those armed men who surrounded the scaffold at 
 Whitehall when James' innocent son was publicly 
 murdered. 
 
 Some attempt was apparently made in the reign 
 of James I. to enforce the obligation which the buyers 
 of Church lands had accepted in the reign of Henry VIII. 
 As the holders of Church lands had incurred a penalty 
 of 61. 13s, 4d. for each month of their neglect, their 
 lands might have been forfeited to the Crown. But 
 this was too bold a step for James to take in the
 
 286 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 teeth of a Parliament which had made him feel its 
 power. He therefore acceded to the request of his 
 ParUament and remitted the penalty in 1623. This 
 incident illustrates the difficulties which the early 
 Stuarts had to face. They repeatedly tried to act in 
 the interests of the people ; they were thwarted at 
 every turn by Pariiaments elected by the wealthy. On 
 the scaffold Charles L proclaimed that he died a 
 " martyr for the people," and he was justified in making 
 this claim. The sufferings endured by all under the 
 Commonwealth were required to teach the rich in 
 England that they, too, would suffer if they neglected 
 the English poor.
 
 XXII 
 
 RELIGIOUS CONTENTIONS IN ENGLAND AND HER 
 
 COLONIES 
 
 1604-1623 
 
 In 1606 a merchant, John Bates, refused to pay a duty 
 on currants which had been imposed by the Crown 
 before the accession of James I. Bates pleaded that 
 the imposition was illegal because it had not been 
 sanctioned by Parliament. The case was exhaustively 
 argued in the Exchequer Chamber, and the judges, 
 after the most careful consideration, found for the 
 Crown. Recent research has proved that in this 
 judgment there was no straining of the constitution or 
 law of England. The scale of tariffs was then revised 
 by Lord Salisbury with that moderation which was 
 a characteristic of the Cecils. The royal revenue 
 derived only a small benefit, but the decision was a 
 severe blow to the Puritan merchants who wished to 
 imitate the Dutch free-traders. The judicial decision 
 was attacked in Parliament. That the House of 
 Commons is not a good court of appeal was then 
 illustrated. In order to support their case free- 
 traders treated " Detallagio non concedendo," a para- 
 graph written by a monkish historian, as a statute of 
 the realm. For centuries this fiction was believed by
 
 288 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Englishmen. Thus Carlyle could write : " Custom- 
 house Duties, a constant subject of quarrel between 
 Charles and his Parliaments hitherto, had again been 
 levied without parliamentary consent ; in the teeth of 
 old ' Tallagio non concedendo ' ..." Ignorance of this 
 kind has led the English to label the early Stuarts as 
 tyrants and their judges as venal sycophants. 
 
 Judges, in the seventeenth century, still regarded 
 fees paid them by suitors as perquisites which they 
 could accept without shame, though they could not 
 openly defend their practice. The difficulty of setthng 
 the quarrel between King and Parliament which 
 had begun was complicated by the absence of an 
 impartial judicial body to whom disputes could be 
 referred. But the royalist lawyers were no more 
 corrupt than those who opposed the Crown. Coke 
 was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1606. 
 Unscrupulous and ambitious, he tried to make the 
 court over which he presided the supreme tribunal in 
 England. The administration of the navy had be- 
 come hopelessly corrupt. A commission appointed by 
 the Crown to reform the administration and punish 
 offenders was obstructed in 1613 by lawyers who 
 supported the pretensions of the Court of Common 
 Pleas. Coke, himself, interfered in 1615 on behalf of 
 swindlers whose victims had obtained from Chancery 
 the justice denied them by Common Law. Coke was 
 dismissed in 1616, and after vainly trjdng to regain 
 royal favour by marr3dng his daughter to the brother 
 of the King's favourite, Buckingham, the ex-judge 
 obtained a seat in Parliament where he led the oppo- 
 sition to the Crown. In 162 1 Coke avenged himself
 
 RELIGIOUS CONTENTIONS 289 
 
 on his old adversary, then Lord Chancellor Bacon, 
 when Parliament insisted on Bacon's dismissal for 
 having accepted money from suitors. 
 
 Sahsbury, in 1610, tried to reconcile King and 
 ParHament by making the Great Contract. This 
 provided that the King should abandon his feudal 
 rights in return for a permanent grant of 200,000/. a 
 year, and that Parliament should assent to certain 
 fixed tariffs whilst the Crown agreed to levy no new 
 customs without consent of ParUament. This settle- 
 ment was all but effected when, after consulting 
 their constituents, the Commons refused to grant the 
 20o,oooZ. In 161 1 James dissolved his first Parhament, 
 which had prevented the union of England and Scot- 
 land and the peaceful estabhshment of constitutional 
 monarchy. 
 
 To Parliaments, in which the Commons claimed 
 the right of overruling judicial decisions and exercising 
 the functions of a court of law, Churchmen replied by 
 asserting that kings governed by divine right and that 
 all resistance to their authority was sinful. The King's 
 earnest desire for peace made him advocate a com- 
 promise between these extreme theories. It also led 
 him to believe that he could mediate between the 
 Catholics and Protestants of the Continent who were 
 drifting towards the terrible Thirty Years' War. To 
 obtain influence over both sides James married his 
 daughter, in 1613, to the Elector Palatine, leader of 
 the German Protestants, and at the same time, in 
 opposition to Salisbury's advice, the King commenced 
 negotiations for the betrothal of Henry, Prince of 
 Wales, to a daughter of the King of Spain. Both 
 
 u
 
 2go THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Salisbury and the Prince of Wales died in 15 12, but, 
 regardless of Puritan feeling, James continued the 
 negotiations with his remaining son, Charles, as the 
 prospective bridegroom. 
 
 The large dowry promised with the Spanish bride 
 also attracted James, since the royal income was 
 insufficient even in times of peace. The maintenance 
 of an efficient navy was a heavy burden, and the early 
 Stuarts tried to do their duty in this matter in spite 
 of their financial difficulties. For a short while Salis- 
 bury's place was filled by Robert Carr, a Scotchman, 
 who was made Earl of Somerset. Somerset married 
 Lady Essex, the divorced wife of the son of the Lord 
 Essex who was executed in Elizabeth's reign. Lord 
 and Lady Somerset were in 1616 found guilty of a 
 murder, which was connected with the divorce pro- 
 ceedings. They were pardoned by the King, but were 
 compelled to retire from court fife. Somerset's place 
 as royal favourite was filled by George Villiers, who 
 soon afterwards was rapidly advanced to the dukedom 
 of Buckingham. During Somerset's short ascendancy 
 Parliament was summoned, but it refused to come to 
 any agreement with the King, and insisted upon dis- 
 cussing religious questions and custom-house duties. 
 This Parliament, called the Addled Parliament, was 
 dissolved without transacting any business or granting 
 supply. 
 
 In 1616 the royal finance was in such a condition 
 that the Dutch towns which England had held since 
 1585 were restored for a fraction of the sum for which 
 the Republic had pledged them. In this year also 
 need of money led to one of the greatest tragedies of
 
 RELIGIOUS CONTENTIONS 291 
 
 this reign. It was almost universally believed that in 
 Guiana, the no-man's-land between Spanish and Portu- 
 guese America, there were gold mines richer than those 
 of Peru. In Elizabeth's reign Raleigh had attempted 
 the colonisation of Virginia, and, after early failures, 
 the colony of Virginia was proving itself a success. 
 At a later period Raleigh had sought for gold in 
 Guiana. From his prison in the Tower Raleigh asked 
 the King's leave to be allowed once again to seek for 
 the fabled gold mines. James consulted the ambas- 
 sador of Spain and the desired permission was granted 
 on condition that the search for the gold mines should 
 not become a raid on Spanish settlements. The con- 
 dition was broken, and whether the breach was or 
 was not Raleigh's fault is a much debated question. 
 In any case on Raleigh's return to England his old 
 sentence was revived, and he was beheaded in 1618. 
 
 In 1641 Lewes Roberts was able to write of Man- 
 chester as the seat of a somewhat important cotton 
 industry. It therefore probably began in the early 
 years of James' reign. Spinners had not sufficient 
 skill to spin a cotton yarn strong enough to serve as 
 warp, but cotton brought from Smyrna to London by 
 the Levant Company formed the woof of the fustian. 
 It was to protect the trade of the Levant Company 
 from their Venetian competitors that the duty on 
 currants, to which Bates objected, was originally im- 
 posed. The warp of the fustian was of linen yarn 
 grown and spun by the settlers who were planted in 
 Ulster, when, after an unsuccessful rebellion, Tyrone 
 and other Irish chiefs were driven out of Ireland in 
 1607. Before the end of the century Acts of Parlia- 
 
 U2
 
 292 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 ment were passed to stop the importation of foreign 
 linen, whilst Irish Unen was admitted duty free. This 
 economic bond has knit Ulster to England, though, 
 in the past the Presbyterians of the North of Ireland 
 suffered as much from religious intolerance as CathoHcs 
 in the South. 
 
 The commencement of the Thirty Years' War in 
 Germany made the English and the Dutch anxious to 
 end their disputes over the East Indian trade. An 
 Anglo-Dutch commercial treaty of 1619 seemed to 
 settle all outstanding differences, and to enable two 
 Protestant powers to unite against the danger which 
 threatened them. But the question at issue was too 
 important to be peacefully settled. The massacre of 
 Amboina followed in 1624, and in the end the sword 
 decided whether England or Holland should be 
 supreme in the Asiatic trade. The Dutch renewed 
 their war with Spain in 162 1, and an English Parlia- 
 ment was assembled, which was eager to join their old 
 aUies, and voted subsidies for the war. The King, too, 
 was anxious to help his son-in-law, the Elector Palatine, 
 whose lands had been conquered, but James believed 
 that he could effect his purpose by diplomatic negotia- 
 tion with Spain. In return for the subsidies voted by 
 Parliament the King did not interfere to save Bacon 
 when he was dismissed, but Parliament was forbidden 
 to interfere in foreign affairs and was dissolved in 1522. 
 In this year 120 religious enthusiasts, who had been 
 forced to find refuge in Holland during Ehzabeth's 
 reign, returned to Plymouth, whence they sailed in the 
 Mayflower and the Speedwell for New England. They 
 had previously obtained the King's promise that they
 
 RELIGIOUS CONTENTIONS 293 
 
 might worship as they pleased in their new home. 
 The foundation of this colony ultimately proved far 
 more important than the commercial successes of the 
 Dutch which caused such heartburnings in Jacobean 
 England. For the war, which recommenced in 1621, 
 like all Dutch wars, was waged in the interests 
 of trade. About this time the Dutch West India 
 Company was formed. To it Dutch settlements in 
 North America were transferred and a claim was 
 made to the coast from the Chesapeake to Newfound- 
 land. The Mayflower pilgrims were thus intruders in 
 lands which both Spain and the Republic claimed. 
 In a few years the Dutch became masters of Brazil. 
 Admiral Hein and his sailors fought as bravely as 
 Dutchmen did in the days of Heemskerk. But the 
 war was costly, and the captured Spanish ships barely 
 sufficed to pay expenses. Hein's exploits met with no 
 recognition until in 1628 he captured a Spanish treasure 
 fleet and the Dutch West India Company paid a 50-per- 
 cent, dividend. Hein's astonishment at the honours 
 which were then showered upon him shows how 
 unable Dutch seamen were to understand the minds 
 of their mercantile rulers. 
 
 To the Dutch colonies traders went to buy cheap 
 and sell dear ; to the English colonies settlers emigrated 
 who intended to build homes. Joint -stock companies 
 organised English emigration, but from the first the 
 settlers managed their own affairs, and before long the 
 Crown acquired the shareholders' rights. In this way 
 New Englands grew oversea where Englishmen were 
 able to worship as they pleased under the segis of a 
 Motherland which was ready to fight for them, but
 
 294 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 left them free to govern themselves. England was 
 amply repaid by the economic union which came 
 from the political connexion. The colonies sent home 
 raw materials and bought Enghsh manufactures. 
 Experience has proved the wisdom of England's pohcy, 
 but it was not evident to Englishmen in the reign of 
 the first Stuarts. They envied the Dutch who bought 
 cheap, sold dear, and founded no colonies in the 
 English sense. They wondered why England should 
 found colonies in order " to plant tobacco and puri- 
 tanism only." 
 
 James' Spanish policy proved a failure. In 1623 
 Charles and Buckingham went in disguise to the court 
 of Spain to woo the Spanish princess ; but Philip 
 would not agree to be neutral in the war between 
 Protestantism and Catholicism, and there was great 
 rejoicing in London when Charles returned empty- 
 handed. Parliament was again summoned in 1624. 
 Charles and Buckingham supported the popular cry 
 for war with Spain ; but the King was unwilling to 
 abandon his Spanish policy. An inadequate supply 
 was granted, which was more than swallowed up by 
 the dispatch of an English force to aid the Elector 
 Palatine. This army died miserably of parliamentary 
 niggardliness and disease before it reached Germany. 
 The Spanish match was broken off and Charles was 
 betrothed to Henrietta, a Catholic, but the daughter 
 of the ex-Huguenot tolerant Henry of Navarre. War 
 with Spain was, however, not declared when James 
 died in 1625 and Charles succeeded to his father's 
 kingdom and his father's debts and difficulties. 
 
 It is universally admitted that Charles in his private
 
 RELIGIOUS CONTENTIONS 295 
 
 life set an excellent example to his subjects and to 
 the other sovereigns of his time, that he was sincerely 
 religious, and that he spared no pains in the per- 
 formance of his work as King of England. It has also 
 become customary to write that, owing to a mysterious 
 weakness of character, Charles was the cause of the 
 Civil War. This latter fact, although often stated 
 as an axiomatic truth, is in reality a very debatable 
 question. It can be urged that a stronger or more 
 obstinate King would have been faced by rebellious 
 subjects before Charles was, and that his character 
 had as little to do with the Civil War as the character 
 of the baby Prince of Orange, who was deposed by 
 the merchant rulers of Holland two years after the 
 execution of King Charles. 
 
 The King of England was also King of Scotland 
 and of Ireland. In England and Scotland a large 
 number of people had not accepted Elizabeth's com- 
 promise between Catholicism and Calvinism, and still 
 clung to their ancient creed. These were especially 
 numerous in the country districts. But the majority, 
 in both kingdoms, had accepted the separation from 
 Rome, though they were not in agreement as to what 
 was the best national creed. Had toleration of 
 religion been allowed it is probable that in Great 
 Britain the mass of the population would have quietly 
 accepted tlie Elizabethan compromise or have moved 
 towards a new union with Rome. The latter alter- 
 native was greatly dreaded by the Calvinists or 
 Puritans. These Puritans were still members of the 
 Churches of England and Scotland. They regarded 
 Rome and Spain as their natural enemies, and detested
 
 296 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 everything that remained to remind them of their 
 former connexion with the Cathohc Church. They 
 were ready to tolerate bishops and liturgies if the 
 bishops were deprived of their lands and their power 
 and the use of the liturgy was made optional. 
 
 In Scotland the Reformation had been closely 
 associated with the unionist cause. In 1572 the 
 Scotch nobles, who were as independent as the English 
 nobles had been before the War of the Roses, insisted 
 upon the establishment of Episcopacy in Scotland 
 in order that the bishops might have some legal title 
 to hand over the greater part of their revenues to the 
 nobles to whom they owed their sees. In spite of the 
 selfishness of the merchants in the English ParHament, 
 who refused commercial and political union with 
 Scotland from unwillingness to share their foreign 
 trade with the Scotch, James induced the Scotch Par- 
 liament in 1521 to sanction the Articles of Perth, which 
 lessened the difference between the English and Scotch 
 Churches ; but in England bishops retained their 
 authority, whilst in Scotland their authority was 
 overshadowed by that of the General Assembly. 
 The EngHsh Puritans had their thoughts fixed on the 
 Dutch Republic rather than on Scotland. They be- 
 longed for the most part to the rich English middle 
 class, merchants and country squires. They saw, 
 within a few miles of the English coast, the Dutch 
 rapidly making fortunes out of trade, and doing this 
 under an intolerant Calvinistic creed and an oligarchic 
 government in which the power of the merchants was 
 greater than that of the Stadtholder. Enghsh mer- 
 chants wished to imitate the Dutch, and many other
 
 RELIGIOUS CONTENTIONS 297 
 
 Englishmen sympathised with their wish. Whatever 
 may have been true of the bulk of the English, those 
 who had the franchise were largely Puritan. 
 
 There was in Ireland an overwhelming majority 
 of Catholics. The penal laws nominally existed in 
 Ireland as well as Great Britain, but they could not be 
 enforced, and the Irish Parliament contained as many 
 or even more Catholics than Protestants. In France 
 the toleration of religion granted by the Edict of 
 Nantes had put an end to civil strife. Even when 
 the King of France broke the agreement in certain 
 respects there was no general rising, but isolated 
 revolts, as at La Rochelle. It was, therefore, only 
 natural that the Stuarts wished to unite their king- 
 doms by religious toleration, and that the Puritans of 
 Parliament opposed a policy which they thought would 
 be fatal to their party and their power. 
 
 In their oversea dominions the early Stuarts had 
 an opportunity of showing England the benefits of 
 their policy. To them North America owes the founda- 
 tion of its free institutions and religious toleration. 
 Virginia and other colonies were created by chartered 
 companies whose shares were largely held by members 
 of the two Houses of Parliament. The Crown retained 
 the right of rescinding these charters if the companies 
 failed to govern wisely. The Virginia Company soon 
 discovered that their early hope of large dividends 
 from Virginian gold mines was a dream which could 
 never be realised. To obtain dividends for their 
 shareholders the merchants oppressed the settlers, 
 whose complaints were carried to England. Fearing 
 that James would rescind their charter if there was no
 
 298 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 reform, the merchants in 1619 granted a charter to 
 the settlers by which they were allowed self-govern- 
 ment under governors appointed by the company. 
 Under this government the settlers devoted themselves 
 to the cultivation of tobacco with great success. 
 Suddenly, in 1622, the colonists were attacked by 
 Indians and all but exterminated. Then the settlers 
 appealed to their King for protection. In the last 
 year of James' reign the Virginia Company was 
 dissolved and Virginia became the first self-governing 
 colony under the Crown. Her staple product, 
 tobacco, was then also protected. No tobacco, other 
 than Virginian, was allowed to enter England or 
 Ireland, and the growing of tobacco in England or 
 Ireland was forbidden. 
 
 In 1620, just before the Mayflower carried the 
 pilgrims to New England, James incorporated the New 
 England Company. The headquarters of this com- 
 pany was Plymouth, and it replaced an older West of 
 England Company which had unsuccessfully competed 
 with the London Company in the colonisation of 
 Virginia. Although Massachusetts was peopled by 
 Puritans, who in England were undermining the royal 
 power, Charles I. gave self-government to the colony 
 in 1629. In their new home the Puritans w^ere able 
 to establish a theocracy in defiance of their charter, 
 which plainly gave legislative power to the whole 
 body of the freemen. When a body of settlers uncon- 
 nected with the Church of England left Massachusetts 
 to found a colony in Rhode Island, where they could 
 have democratic government and freedom of con- 
 science, they received from Charles a patent protecting
 
 RELIGIOUS CONTENTIONS 299 
 
 them from Puritan oppression. In New England 
 those who stood for freedom and toleration invariably 
 looked to the King of England. 
 
 The creation of the self-governing colony of Mary- 
 land is perhaps the most striking instance of Charles' 
 desire for religious toleration. This was severed from 
 the loyal colony of Virginia to form a place of refuge 
 for EngUsh Catholics when Parliament insisted on 
 their persecution. Not even in Rhode Island was 
 there such perfect freedom from religious bigotry as 
 in Maryland until England had lost her King. Then 
 for a short while Puritans who had been invited to 
 Maryland by their Catholic fellow-subjects extinguished 
 religious freedom by force of arms. Maryland regained 
 her freedom when royalty was restored in England. 
 
 During the last few years of Elizabeth's reign, 
 although the Catholics were not actively persecuted 
 in Ireland, a subtle attempt was made to impoverish 
 the native Irish by the issue of base coin. This policy 
 was, however, abandoned immediately after the 
 accession of James I. Sir Arthur Chichester was 
 appointed Lord Deputy in 1604. At first he attempted 
 to force the Irish Catholics to obey the law and attend 
 services in the Protestant churches ; but, when he 
 found that persecution was Hkely to end in civil war, 
 Chichester reverted to the old system of practical 
 toleration. The old Irish land system was socialistic. 
 Land was held by an individual for life only. When 
 the holder of land died the chief of his clan had power 
 to divide it between the members of the clan. Chichester 
 attempted, at first with apparent success, to substi- 
 tute the English freehold system for the Irish tenure.
 
 300 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 This success was probably due to the decision of the 
 English Privy Council that the new system should not 
 be made an excuse for alienating land from the Irish 
 to English settlers, but that the freeholders should be 
 Irish. 
 
 The introduction of the English land system struck 
 a fatal blow at the independence of the chiefs of the 
 Irish clans, A quarrel ensued between an Ulster 
 chieftain and his vassal. They were finally summoned 
 to argue their case in London. This invitation was 
 interpreted by the chieftain as an English attempt 
 to secure his person, and he and a fellow chief of the 
 North fled from Ireland never to return. Nevertheless 
 their departure was followed by an insurrection in 
 Ulster which was suppressed without much difficulty. 
 This revolt was followed by wholesale confiscation of 
 land and the planting in Ulster of settlers from England 
 and Scotland. 
 
 The English thought that the annexation of Ulster 
 had broken the power of the Irish CathoHcs ; but they 
 found that it had driven the loyal Catholics of Anglo- 
 Norman descent into alliance with the native Irish. 
 The penal laws against Catholics could not be enforced, 
 although attempts were made not only to enforce 
 them but to increase their severity. The recall of 
 Chichester in 1615 was followed by plantations in 
 various parts of Ireland. Under the new English 
 land laws it was easy to find pretexts for dispossessing 
 Irish landowners. Thus, during the reign of James I., 
 discontent in Ireland increased.
 
 XXIII 
 
 CAUSES WHICH LED TO CIVIL WAR 
 1623-1629 
 
 Before his father's death Charles had gained great 
 popularity with Parliament by opposing the Spanish 
 alliance. Buckingham shared this popularity and 
 Charles made him his chief adviser, but their short-lived 
 popularity vanished when Charles became King. This 
 was inevitable. Parliament wished to gain for itself 
 the same control over home and foreign affairs as the 
 Dutch States-General possessed. On the other hand 
 the King, from motives which were not altogether 
 selfish, objected to becoming a mere Stadtholder. For 
 whilst Parliament was formulating its extensive claim 
 it was proclaiming its incompetence to direct foreign 
 affairs or adequately consider the interest of English 
 workers. 
 
 The factor which dominated the whole political 
 situation was the overwhelming sea power of the 
 Dutch. They claimed and exercised the right of fish- 
 ing off the coasts of England as if they belonged to the 
 Republic. When James prohibited foreigners from 
 fishing in English waters, hoping to develop an English 
 industry, the Dutch sent their fishing fleet with an 
 armed escort, and the English had to submit. There
 
 302 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 was only one remedy for this trouble, the creation of 
 a strong navy. Both James and Charles did all they 
 could to create this navy, but their efforts were largely 
 neutralised by Parliament's refusal to grant the neces- 
 sary funds. An alliance with the Dutch and a mari- 
 time struggle with Spain would have led to the same 
 result as in Elizabeth's reign. England would have 
 shared in the fighting, and the Dutch would have 
 monopolised the rewards of a successful war. Yet 
 this was the course advocated by Parliament. 
 
 The royal policy was a close alliance with France 
 and friendship with the Dutch until the English navy 
 was built. As a condition of the alliance the French 
 demanded that English Catholics should enjoy the 
 same freedom from persecution as French Protestants 
 enjoyed in France. Just before his death James 
 signed the required agreement with Louis XHL, and 
 the penal laws were suspended. In 1625 Charles was 
 married by proxy to the French King's sister Hen- 
 rietta, who landed in England a week before Charles' 
 first Parliament met. Nine months earlier Charles and 
 Buckingham had prevailed upon James to yield to the 
 wishes of Parliament and break with Spain. In return 
 Parliament presented the King with a colossal pro- 
 gramme for the war and an inadequate sum of money. 
 Six months had nearly elapsed since an English force 
 was despatched under Mansfield to make its way to 
 Germany through the Netherlands. 0^\ing to the 
 poverty of the Crown this force was dying miserably 
 of starvation and disease when Charles' first Parlia- 
 ment met. 
 
 Charles naturally asked Parliament for money that
 
 CAUSES WHICH LED TO CIVIL WAR 303 
 
 he might carry out the Parliamentary programme. 
 In reply a ridiculously insufficient supply was voted, 
 and heedless of the sufferings of the English soldiers in 
 the Netherlands, Parliament began to discuss griev- 
 ances. One grievance was the suspension of the 
 penal laws ; another was that a clergyman named 
 Montague had ventured to publish a book advocating 
 doctrines held to-day by moderate high Churchmen, 
 and pleading that Catholics as well as Protestants 
 were members of the Church of Christ. Montague 
 urged that Catholics were " corrupt and unsound in 
 the highest degree, but not utterly apostate." Charles 
 protected Montague from an impeachment threatened 
 by the Commons ; but the King had to promise to 
 persecute Cathohcs. Even this concession failed to 
 induce the Commons to grant supply, and in 1625 
 Parliament was dissolved. 
 
 Tunnage and poundage, in other words customs 
 duties, included the export duties on English products 
 (once chiefly raw wool, by this time manufactured 
 cloth) and the impositions on imported goods which the 
 Crown levied in virtue of its right to regulate foreign 
 trade. At the commencement of a reign, tunnage and 
 poundage were usually granted to the King for life. 
 The grant was a renewal of the agreement made with 
 Edward I. when that king surrendered his right of 
 taking an arbitrary prise from England's exports. 
 It was practically a charter for English producers, and 
 no English king had ever refused to ratify this ancient 
 compact. But Charles' first Parliament shelved a Bill 
 which would have sanctioned tunnage and poundage 
 for one year only.
 
 304 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 The shelving of this Bill was a declaration of war. 
 From the reign of William L until James' reign the 
 Crown lands had been steadily alienated, and Charles 
 could only count on a slender income from this source, 
 James had levied certain feudal aids, but he was 
 obliged to make a moderate use of this ancient pre- 
 rogative. After his reign no king ventured to claim 
 these aids. The sale of baronetcies, which replaced 
 these aids, was little liked, and monopolies had been 
 strictly limited in 1624. If Charles had abandoned 
 his right to levy customs duties he would have become 
 not a constitutional monarch relying on his people 
 for support, but a puppet in the hands of his merchants. 
 The merchants had good reasons for wishing to reduce 
 the royal power to complete insignificance. Heavy 
 fines levied on wealthy merchants did not increase their 
 affection for the King. 
 
 The great trading companies existed in virtue of 
 charters granted by the King. What the King gave, 
 the King could take away. Thus at the beginning of 
 James' reign, when there was an outcry against trading 
 monopolies, the Levant Company had to surrender its 
 charter, and a company formed to trade with Spain and 
 Portugal died after one year's existence. When the 
 attack on monopolist companies failed in the Parlia- 
 ment of 1604 the Levant Company regained its charter, 
 and many new companies were founded. The com- 
 panies during James' reign strengthened their influence 
 over Parliament by converting associations of mer- 
 chants into joint stock companies. A very large 
 number of the wealthy, who alone had votes, were 
 interested on the side of the merchants. Before its
 
 CAUSES WHICH LED TO CIVIL WAR 305 
 
 suppression in 1624 the stock of the Virginia Com- 
 pany was held by a thousand adventurers, whilst the 
 number of electors in England was only about 160,000, 
 In 1604, when trading monopolies only were attacked, 
 scarce forty votes in the Commons were in favour of 
 the companies. In 1624, when other monopolies were 
 aboHshed, trading companies were excepted. This 
 illustrates the change in parliamentary feeling which 
 had taken place during the reign of James I. 
 
 The suppression of the Virginia Company at the 
 request of the settlers was not the only grievance of 
 which stockholders had to complain. When Parlia- 
 ment tried to interfere on behalf of the Virginia Com- 
 pany, and James took the matter into his own hands, 
 there were those who muttered " that any other business 
 might in the same way be taken out of the hands of 
 Parhament." The Dutch seemed to be about to found 
 a great empire in Brazil. Their West India Company 
 was bidding fair to be as great a success as the Dutch 
 East India Company. English merchants could con- 
 trast this with the strong action taken by James in 
 1620 to prevent an English company from provoking 
 a war with Spain by founding colonies on the Amazon. 
 In the East, as in the West, the hopes built on the 
 agreement with the Dutch in 1619 were shattered by 
 the massacre at Amboina in 1622, and England dared 
 not provoke the Dutch navy. It appeared to be 
 England's fate to feed on crumbs which fell from the 
 Dutchman's table, and even these crumbs might be 
 swept away if a firm Anglo-Dutch alliance was not 
 promptly formed. Hence Parliament was indifferent 
 when its action against Catholics undermined the Anglo- 
 
 X
 
 3o6 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 French alliance, and Charles, too, found in fines im- 
 posed on Catholics some slight relief from his financial 
 troubles. 
 
 Just before James' death arrangements were made 
 for the despatch of a great fleet to Spain. The Dutch 
 were to lend England twent}- ships, and in order to 
 encourage the French to make the attack, Buckingham 
 promised to lend these and twenty other English ships 
 to the King of France. Before the fleet was ready the 
 Huguenots of La Rochelle were in revolt because 
 Louis had failed to destroy a fort which commanded 
 the harbour. In 1625 Richelieu, the great French 
 minister, persuaded Buckingham that peace was about 
 to be made with the Huguenots, and one English 
 naval ship with -six merchantmen were lent to France. 
 They were then manned by Frenchmen and used 
 against the Huguenots. This happened a few weeks 
 after the dissolution of Parliament, and was used to 
 inflame public opinion in England against the King's 
 adviser, Buckingham. A little more than six weeks 
 later an expedition to Spain proved a failure owing 
 to the treasonable conduct of the merchantmen 
 attached to the fleet. This also became a grievance. 
 
 Urgent need of money forced Charles to summon 
 his second Parliament in 1626. He was at this time 
 trying to pledge the crown jewels with the merchants 
 of Amsterdam. Four sub-committees were soon hard 
 at work discussing grievances. The failure of the 
 Spanish expedition, due to inadequate parliamentary 
 supply and the disaffection of the merchants, was 
 one grievance, the friction with France caused primarily 
 by Parhament's insistence on the persecution of
 
 CAUSES WHICH LED TO CIVIL WAR 307 
 
 Catholics was another. Montague's pamphlet and 
 the fact that Buckingham controlled the Admiralty 
 and was also Master of the Horse and Warden of the 
 Cinque Ports engaged the attention of the Commons. 
 Last, but probably not least, Buckingham had dared 
 to demand and obtain from the East India Company 
 certain royal dues on ships which had been captured in 
 the East. An attack on Buckingham's administration 
 was being prepared when Charles appealed to Parlia- 
 ment to give him supply so that the grievances might 
 be prevented and redressed. Supply was, however, 
 not granted, and the Commons threatened to call the 
 Custom House officers to account unless the King 
 surrendered his prerogative by asking Parliament for 
 tunnage and poundage. The discord between Charles 
 and his Parliament increased. The Commons im- 
 peached Buckingham, and members used language 
 which threatened the King's authority and the life 
 of his minister. Two of the more violent members 
 were imprisoned and then released. To end an im- 
 possible situation Parliament was dissolved in June 
 1626, 
 
 The action of Parliament against toleration of 
 Catholics had undermined the Anglo-French aUiance, 
 and whilst Parliament was sitting England and France 
 were on the verge of war. These strained relations were 
 somewhat inconsistently made one of Parliament's 
 many grievances. French ships were arrested for 
 carrying contraband of war to the Spanish. This 
 difficulty might have been overcome, but in the hope 
 of concihating his Puritan subjects, Charles prevented 
 English Catholics from attending Mass at the French 
 
 X 2
 
 3o8 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 embassy. At every turn Charles was confronted by 
 the insuperable difficulty of pleasing both his Puritan 
 subjects and his Catholic French allies. To maintain 
 England's position a strong navy was needed, but 
 Parliament would not grant supply. At war with 
 Spain and drifting into war with France, Charles 
 demanded free gifts and forced loans, thus appealing 
 " from a faction to the body of the nation." In this 
 matter the King was acting illegally, and the judges 
 refused to support him. When the Chief Justice was 
 replaced by one whom the King believed to be more 
 pliable, Charles refrained from asking his judges to 
 reverse their decision. Those who refused to contri- 
 bute to the loan were imprisoned. An application 
 was made for a writ of habeas corpus, which the Crown 
 answered by pleading that there were reasons of State 
 preventing the immediate disclosure of the cause for 
 which the arrests had been made. The judges found 
 that this answer was a good one in the particular case 
 which had been submitted to them* There were 
 obviously many precedents in support of this judicial 
 decision. Ship money was levied in the maritime 
 counties, and precedents for this tax were so clear that 
 it could not be resisted. The building of a royal navy 
 began, and England was soon independent of the 
 merchant ships which had failed her in time of need. 
 
 To satisfy the Puritans Charles sent his wife's 
 French attendants back to France. English merchant- 
 men were seized by the French, and the merchants 
 clamoured for redress. A fleet was prepared which 
 swept the French from the sea and sailed to relieve 
 La Rochelle. Again an English expedition intended
 
 CAUSES WHICH LED TO CIVIL WAR 309 
 
 to help foreign Protestants was wrecked by the Puritans 
 of England. On their way to the coast the soldiers, 
 lacking pay or provisions, were forced to live on the 
 farmers with whom they were billeted. This became 
 a grievance. Buckingham led the expedition, which 
 all but proved a great success. Its ultimate failure 
 and the loss of many English lives were undoubtedly 
 due to lack of support from England. No one has 
 ventured to suggest that Charles failed to aid Bucking- 
 ham for any other reason than poverty. To obtain 
 money Parliament was summoned in 1628. 
 
 The leader of Charles' second Parliament was 
 Eliot, but in the third Parliament Wentworth took the 
 lead. Under their new leader the Commons adopted 
 a more concihatory attitude. The Petition of Right 
 obtained the royal assent amidst universal rejoicing. 
 The King agreed that " no man hereafter be compelled 
 to make or yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax or 
 such like charge without common consent by Act of 
 Parliament," that arbitrary imprisonment should 
 cease, and that there should be no more billeting of 
 soldiers or proclamations of martial law. Three 
 hundred and fifty thousand pounds were then granted 
 to the King, and constitutional monarchy might have 
 begun in England but for Eliot and the Puritans. 
 This was not the ending they had in view. 
 
 Two days after the King had assented to the 
 Petition of Right a clergyman named Manwaring was 
 impeached by Pym on behalf of the Commons. Man- 
 waring's offence was that he had preached in favour 
 of the King and had published his sermon after ob- 
 taining the royal licence. The Lords inflicted a severe
 
 310 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 sentence and Charles pardoned the criminal. Parlia- 
 ment as well as the King denied the right of free speech 
 to opponents. The attack on Buckingham was re- 
 newed ; this time by way of a remonstrance to the 
 King. Ballads were circulated denouncing the King's 
 minister as luxurious, incompetent, and immoral. 
 The effect was soon seen in the murder of a Dr. Lambe, 
 a quack doctor, who had been consulted by Bucking- 
 ham. The London mob, as they battered their victim 
 to death, said that, if Buckingham had been present, 
 " they would have minced his flesh, and have had 
 every one a bit of him." Then the Commons turned 
 their attention to tunnage and poundage and were 
 promptly prorogued. 
 
 Eighteen years earlier when the Great Contract 
 was discussed 200,000/. a year was considered a fair 
 equivalent for the King's prerogative of taxation. 
 All feudal dues and other taxes were abolished by the 
 Petition of Right in return for one payment of 
 350,000/. " It is as certain as anything can well be 
 that, either because they did not wish to enhance the 
 difficulty of obtaining a satisfactory answer from the 
 King, or because they expected to gain their object 
 in another way, the Commons never had any intention 
 to include the question of tunnage and poundage in 
 the Petition of Right." The Customs duties amounted 
 each year to about half the 350,000/. voted by the 
 Commons. It is, therefore, absurd to suppose that the 
 King would have surrendered this annual income and 
 limited his prerogative for so paltry a sum. Yet the 
 Commons, within a few days of the royal assent to the 
 Petition of Right, claimed that the word tax in the
 
 CAUSES WHICH LED TO CIVIL WAR 311 
 
 petition meant tariff. When the Commons adopted 
 this attitude Wentworth accepted a peerage and left 
 the House which he had ceased to direct. 
 
 Whilst Parliament was discussing grievances the 
 citizens of La Rochelle were dying of starvation. With 
 the money voted by Parliament an English fleet was 
 hastily prepared, and Buckingham was on the eve of 
 sailing in command of the expedition when he was 
 murdered at Portsmouth. The murderer was treated 
 as a hero, and the fleet sailed under a new commander. 
 Off La Rochelle the royal ships were unable to come to 
 close quarters owing to their draught, and the pressed 
 merchantmen refused to obey orders. In October 1628 
 La Rochelle surrendered. Six months later peace was 
 made with France and in 1630 with Spain. 
 
 The second session of Parliament in 1629 ^^'^s made 
 duller by the murder of Buckingham, but there were 
 still many grievances, religion and the Customs were 
 the chief. In this Parliament Cromwell delivered his 
 first speech. He mentioned briefly that some twelve 
 years before 1629 a clergyman preached a sermon 
 which a Puritan preacher thought was in favour of 
 papacy. Cromwell's Puritan friend preached the next 
 sermon, and, in spite of a warning from the bishop, 
 denounced his brother in Christ. Thereupon the 
 bishop reprimanded the Puritan. Here was clearly a 
 member who had a genius for discovering grievances 
 and who might rise. The debates on religion turned 
 on details which to-day seem too trivial to engage the 
 attention of sensible men, but they must have em- 
 bittered the life of the King. On tunnage and poundage 
 the views of the members were quite clear. Just
 
 312 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 before Parliament was dissolved its deliberations were 
 summed up in the following resolutions : " Whosoever 
 shall bring in innovation in religion, or by favour seek 
 to extend or introduce Popery or Arminianism, or 
 other opinions disagreeing from the true and orthodox 
 Church, shall be reputed a capital enemy to this 
 kingdom and commonwealth. Whosoever shall counsel 
 or advise the taking and levying of tunnage and 
 poundage, not being granted by Parliament, or shall 
 be an actor or an instrument therein, shall be likewise 
 reputed an innovator in the government, and a capital 
 enemy to this kingdom and commonwealth. If any 
 merchant or other person whatsoever shall volun- 
 tarily yield or pay the said subsidies of tunnage and 
 poundage not being granted by Parliament, he shall 
 likewise be reputed a betrayer of the liberty of Eng- 
 land, and an enemy to the same," This was Charles' 
 reward for assenting to the Petition of Right. It was 
 eleven years before Parliament again assembled. 
 
 The history of France in the seventeenth century 
 forms a sharp contrast with that of England and 
 Holland. The members of the Commons in the 
 French States-General were largely elected by the 
 people, or Third Estate, and not by a privileged class. 
 In many communes there was manhood suffrage. 
 The French people had, therefore, an articulate voice, 
 which the English and the Dutch did not « possess. 
 They recognised in the royal power the factor which 
 not only made for national unity but stood between 
 the poor, not long emancipated from serfdom, and 
 rich magnates, who were ready to take advantage of 
 the ignorance and weakness of the mass of the people.
 
 CAUSES WHICH LED TO CIVIL WAR 313 
 
 The Third Estate was the chief support of the King 
 in the long struggle which reduced the feudal princes 
 to subordination to the central power of the Crown. 
 In France doctrines of the Reformation were at first 
 embraced by the artisans and the Third Estate advo- 
 cated religious toleration. The attitude of the Third 
 Estate changed when aristocrats accepted Protes- 
 tantism and tried to use it as a means of undermining 
 the royal power. But, whilst the majority of the 
 French people opposed Protestantism, they had no 
 sjTiipathy with the anti-nationalism of the Guises. 
 They welcomed the extension of the King's authority 
 in the reign of Henry IV. Under this King France 
 accepted the principle of religious toleration ; the 
 movement in favour of union with Spain was crushed ; 
 and, taught by their sufferings in the civil wars, the 
 French learned to value their King as the factor which 
 made for national union and national strength. 
 
 Henry IV. repaid his subjects by fostering home 
 industry and colonial enterprise. The policy he com- 
 menced was carried on by his successors under the 
 guidance of Richelieu, Mazarin, and Colbert. England, 
 the most dangerous rival of the French, was handi- 
 capped by the fight between King and Parliament. 
 When the stmggle was over in England, she was faced 
 by a vigorous producing nation with whom she had 
 to fight for more than a century for sea power and 
 world empire. It is impossible to say what the issue 
 of this struggle would have been had Louis XIV, con- 
 tinued Henry's policy of religious toleration and 
 Louis' descendants been faithful to the protective 
 system perfected by Colbert. .In 1614 the Third
 
 314 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Estate of France, the one articulate voice of the 
 democracy in Western Europe, begged the King to 
 proclaim as the fundamental law of France that he 
 was an absolute monarch and that there was no 
 reason, spiritual or temporal, which could justify re- 
 sistance to his will. After this act of abdication the 
 States-General were not again summoned until 1789. 
 In 1616 Richelieu began his political career as adviser 
 to the Queen Dowager, who was acting as Regent for 
 Louis XHL 
 
 One of Richelieu's services to France was the 
 creation of a central admiralty to replace the inde- 
 pendent provincial admiralties. Whilst England en- 
 gaged in a suicidal civil war France was engaged 
 in the problem of developing production, founding 
 colonies, and creating the marine which should bind 
 the colonist to the home producer. The conquest of 
 the Huguenot seaport of La Rochelle made it cer- 
 tain that the New France which was being founded 
 in Canada should be Catholic and loyal. The con- 
 duct of the Jesuit missionaries aided Richeheu in 
 this matter. The Enghsh settlers exterminated the 
 natives and Dutchmen sold firearms to the Mohawks 
 to be used against Catholic Christian tribes. Both 
 the Enghsh and the Dutch bought and sold African 
 slaves. But the Canadians kept themselves free from 
 the taint of slavery, and, in advance of the French 
 settler, missionaries taught the Indians the Christian 
 faith and built chapels, hospitals, and schools in which 
 Indians and Frenchmen were treated as brothers in 
 Christ. Loyalty, freedom, and piety were the charac- 
 teristics of Canada from the very first.
 
 CAUSES WHICH LED TO CIVIL WAR 315 
 
 The growth of French influence in North America 
 became in time a serious danger to England's colonies. 
 North America might have been French-speaking 
 to-day had the French been true to the principles 
 which guided them in the seventeenth century. The 
 inevitable struggle between two strong nations for 
 supremacy in North America was, after many years 
 of fighting, decided in favour of the English more by 
 the inability of the French to understand the value 
 of Canada than by the power of the sword. But for 
 Charles' early Parhaments this struggle need never 
 have occurred. When Buckingham was failing to 
 relieve La Rochelle the English in America were 
 capturing French settlements, and before the end of 
 the war the French flag almost ceased to wave in 
 Canada. As one of the conditions of the peace which 
 the opposition of Parliament forced Charles to make 
 with France, Quebec and other Canadian settlements 
 were restored to the French. Not until 1760, when 
 the French were accepting the doctrines of laisser- 
 faire, was Canada again part of the British Empire. 
 It is difficult to over-estimate the gain to France 
 and the loss to England of the decades of English 
 disloyalty, of civil war, and of Cromwell's military 
 usurpation.
 
 XXIV 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE UNDER CHARLES I. 
 
 1625-1636 
 
 During the Reformation in Scotland the nobles had 
 seized the revenues of the Church. Scotch bishops 
 and clergy depended on aristocratic paymasters for 
 their stipends. James I. did something to remedy 
 this grievance by securing a permanent income for the 
 clergy. The noble owner of tithe was still, however, 
 able to oppress the tiller of the soil by compelling him 
 " to keep his harvest ungarnered till it pleased the tithe 
 owner to take possession of his share." To remedy 
 this and other evils, in 1625 Charles issued an Act of 
 Revocation by which the mass of Church property 
 in the hands of laymen was re-annexed to the Crown, 
 on the ground of technical flaws in the original con- 
 cessions. At the same time the King issued a pro- 
 clamation explaining that he did not intend to take 
 full advantage of the Act. This was followed by an 
 arrangement which allowed farmers to exchange tithe 
 for a rent-charge or extinguish tithe by paying nine 
 years' purchase. Church lands were left in the hands 
 of the nobles in return for certain payments to the 
 King. This ' ' wise and beneficent reform gave the nobles 
 a legal title to their lands in return for their payments
 
 THE PEOPLE UNDER CHARLES L 317 
 
 to the Crown ; the poorer clergy received increased 
 stipends ; the King was enabled to re-endow bishops ; 
 and the farmers could reap their harvests in peace. 
 But the nobles objected to a measure which deprived 
 them of some of the wealth which came from the 
 stolen lands, and they feared that more drastic measures 
 would be taken against them at some future time." 
 
 A conciliatory policy was adopted in Ireland. 
 Between 1626 and 1629, after much discussion, an 
 arrangement was made by which a standing army 
 was raised and paid for by the Irish in return for 
 concessions or Graces granted by the Crown. These 
 Graces abolished many, but not all, the Catholic 
 grievances, gave landowners a title to lands which 
 had been in private hands for sixty years, and promised 
 the native chiefs of Connaught, where the English 
 land system had not been established, a confirmation 
 of their estates in the following year. In Monaghan, 
 Catholic priests tried to take possession of their con- 
 fiscated churches ; but there is no reason to assume 
 that the policy of conciliation would not have proved 
 a success had it been adhered to. A loyal Irish army 
 might well have answered the hopes of its creators by 
 defending Ireland from Spanish intrigues and attacks. 
 Land-grabbing wrecked this hopeful scheme. 
 
 The sept of the Byrnes held land in Wicklow which 
 officials in Dublin, including Lord Deputy Falkland, 
 coveted. The Byrnes had been guilty of turbulence 
 and outrages in the reign of Elizabeth ; but, after the 
 accession of James, the chief of the Byrnes had induced 
 his sept to settle down to a regular life. Nevertheless, 
 in 1623 Falkland proposed to plant Wicklow. This
 
 3i8 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 proposal was vetoed by the English Government. 
 In 1625 Falkland reported that he had discovered a 
 conspiracy in which the Byrnes were involved. Again 
 the English Government forbade the plantation. 
 Three years later the chief of the Byrnes and his two 
 sons were arrested. Before their trial Charles inter- 
 vened. A Commission was appointed to sift the 
 evidence against the Byrnes, which reported that the 
 Byrnes, instead of being conspirators, were themselves 
 the victims of an infamous conspiracy. Falkland 
 resigned, and Viscount Wentworth, who had led the 
 opposition to the King in Charles' third ParHament, 
 became Lord Deputy of Ireland. 
 
 The action of Parliament, after Charles' acceptance 
 of the Petition of Right, caused many moderate 
 parliamentarians to modify their views. Those who 
 sought to establish constitutional monarchy left a 
 party which aimed at making Parliament supreme 
 and reducing the power of the King to that of a 
 Stadtholder. Prominent amongst these new royaHsts 
 was Wentworth, a commoner of ample fortune, like 
 his colleague, Hampden, who with Wentworth and 
 others had been imprisoned for resisting the illegal 
 forced loan. Wentworth's action was not inconsistent. 
 He had objected to an illegality which would have 
 increased the prerogative of the Crown. When the 
 King admitted his error by accepting the Petition of 
 Right, Wentworth, not inconsistently, objected to the 
 attempt to coerce the King into abandoning his legal 
 right to tunnage and poundage, without which the 
 Crown could neither defend England from a foreign 
 foe nor maintain law and order in the British Isles.
 
 THE PEOPLE UNDER CHARLES L 319 
 
 Wentworth became Viscount Wentworth and Lord 
 President of the North. In counties where the 
 tradition of feudal independence still lingered, Lord 
 Wentworth tried to establish the central authority of 
 the Crown, not without making enemies, but without 
 exciting serious opposition. Having proved his capa- 
 city in the Northern Counties, Wentworth was sent to 
 Ireland in 1633 to solve the problem which had baffled 
 his predecessors in the office of Lord Deputy. 
 
 Another parliamentarian, Noy, was made Attorney- 
 General in 163 1. He devoted himself to discovering 
 in old records precedents by means of which the Crown 
 could obtain the national revenue which Parliament 
 declined to grant. It was not necessary to invent 
 statutes, such as " De Tallagio nonconcedendo," to prove 
 that the rich had stolen from the King and nation vast 
 areas of forest lands. Thus, in 1634, the descendants 
 of those who had stolen forest lands were forced to pay 
 for titles to their estates. Then land-owning magnates 
 united with mercantile magnates, and, like his ancestor, 
 Edward II., Charles paid with his life for his attack 
 on those who held the stolen lands. 
 
 In 1633 Charles was crowned at Holyrood after 
 entering Edinburgh " amidst a storm of loyal welcome." 
 But the Scotch nobles had not been idle. Whilst the 
 King of Scotland held his court near London, then far 
 distant from Scotland, his Scotch nobles, with little 
 fear of royal interference, could influence public 
 opinion in Scotland and thus secure their hold over 
 the old Church lands. To have servants in whom he 
 could trust, Charles had given to the Scotch bishops 
 high positions in the government of Scotland. Not
 
 320 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 unnaturally the nobles feared that the bishops would 
 use their power to upset the compromise which 
 sanctioned the alienation of Church lands. The 
 revival of the royal claim to the forests must have 
 filled the Scotch nobles with forebodings. If ancient 
 titles to land could be disregarded where the land had 
 been stolen, there was little reason to hope that their 
 titles would be respected if an inquiry was called for. 
 Thus discontent soon developed into a storm which 
 shattered the power of the Crown. 
 
 In England, Scotland, and Ireland political and 
 economic quarrels were disguised. Naked and un- 
 ashamed they would have been unable to involve three 
 kingdoms in civil war ; but when those who were about 
 to draw the sword for their private interests repre- 
 sented themselves as religious enthusiasts they were 
 able to enlist in their ranks some of the noblest minds. 
 Milton, after much hesitation, definitely adopted the 
 cause of Parliament ; but against lofty thinkers such 
 as Milton can be set men like George Herbert and 
 Nicholas Ferrar, who worshipped God in the beauty of 
 holiness and followed their King with unswerving 
 loyalty. Modern Englishmen, nauseated by the invec- 
 tive which Whig historians have poured upon Charles' 
 faithful servants, can turn for relief to the " Memorials " 
 of the parliamentarian lawyer, Whitelock, who served 
 Cromwell during his usurpation and was largely 
 responsible for the judicial murder of Strafford, once 
 the Wentworth who helped to frame the Petition of 
 Right. In the interests of his cause Whitelock had 
 slain his enemy, but he was too generous to revile a 
 fallen foe. After describing the scene on the scaffold,
 
 THE PEOPLE UNDER CHARLES L 321 
 
 Whitelock wrote : " Thus fell this Noble Earl, who for 
 his natural Parts and Abilities, and for improvement 
 of knowledge by experience, in the greatest Affairs, 
 for wisdom, faithfulness, and gallantry of mind, hath 
 left few behind him, that may be ranked with him." 
 
 Chief amongst those who have suffered at the hands 
 of Whig historians stands Laud, Bishop of London 
 in 1628, and Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, who 
 was Charles' spiritual and political guide during 
 the King's personal reign. Laud and Wentworth 
 were responsible for the royal policy to which they 
 gave the name " Thorough." They shared the honour 
 of martyrdom by Act of Parliament, after their 
 enemies had vainly tried to find a legal pretext for 
 killing them. Briefly, " Thorough " consisted in ad- 
 ministering the law with absolute fairness, allowing 
 the rich no privileges denied to the poor, in substituting 
 for the Stuart policy of rehgious toleration the repres- 
 sion of sedition which was thinly veiled under puri- 
 tanism, and in rigid economy at home so that England 
 might make her power felt abroad whilst the King 
 lived of his own until such time as Parliament should 
 agree with the King as to their respective rights. In 
 1629 peace was signed with France and Spain, and 
 under Charles' personal rule England enjoyed such 
 prosperity that, but for the Irish and the Scotch, 
 " Thorough " might well have been a success. 
 
 In Ireland " Thorough " partially failed because 
 Wentworth could not divest himself of English pre- 
 judices. He was unable to regard the native Catholics 
 other than as a conquered people who were not entitled 
 to the even-handed justice wliich was necessary for the 
 
 Y
 
 322 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 success of the new policy. When the money required 
 for the Irish army was granted, no more Irish Parlia- 
 ments were summoned, and the promise to the natives 
 in Connaught was not fulfilled. The grants had been 
 made for three years, and this period was about to 
 expire when Went worth landed in Ireland. From 
 the Irish Council and the Catholic landowners he 
 obtained a prolongation of the Irish contribution for 
 a year. Advantage was then taken of the strife 
 between Catholic and Protestant in the Irish Parlia- 
 ment of 1634, and Wentworth obtained the money 
 he required, whilst he omitted from the Graces the 
 confirmation of estates with sixty years' title and 
 refused to fulfil the compact with the landowners of 
 Connaught. " Thorough " in Ireland meant the estab- 
 lishment of the King's authority and of English rule 
 in every province ; hence Wentworth claimed Con- 
 naught for the Crown and proceeded to plant it 
 with settlers. This alone would not have stirred 
 England. All English parties regarded the native 
 Irish as a conquered race, and cared little when 
 promises to the Irish were broken and Irish lands 
 were given to English settlers. 
 
 But the establishment of royal authority in Ireland 
 involved disputes with the English lords, and this 
 was remembered against Wentworth. WTien Ulster 
 was planted, the London companies had obtained the 
 county of Londonderry on certain conditions which 
 they had not fulfilled. The Star Chamber forfeited 
 these lands and imposed a heav}/ fine in 1635. Hence- 
 forward W^entworth could count upon the hostility 
 of the merchants of London. A small, but well paid
 
 THE PEOPLE UNDER CHARLES L 323 
 
 and efficient, army was raised in Ireland. Supported 
 by this disciplined force Wentworth was able to carry 
 out his policy in the teeth of the opposition of the 
 magnates. The established Church in Ireland had 
 become a scandal. Education and spiritual work 
 were neglected. As in Scotland, the property of the 
 Church was passing into the hands of wealthy laymen, 
 who allowed church buildings to decay, and paid 
 small stipends to ministers. When Wentworth 
 " arrived in Ireland he found that one of the Dubhn 
 churches had served his predecessor for a stable, that 
 a second had been converted into a dwelling-house, 
 and that the choir of a third was used as a tennis- 
 court. The vaults underneath Christ Church were 
 let out as alehouses and tobacco shops. In the choir 
 above, the communion table, standing in the midst 
 of the congregation, had become an ordinary seat for 
 maids and apprentices." Since this was the condition 
 of the Church in Dubhn it is not surprising that 
 Catholicism and Presbyterianism were the principal 
 spiritual forces in Ireland. Wentworth did excellent 
 service to religion by reforming the Church : he 
 marred his good work by insisting upon conformity 
 to the estabhshed faith. 
 
 In Wentworth's economic policy there was the 
 same success and failure. The Irish Sea was infested 
 by privateers flying the Spanish flag and " pirates in 
 all but name." Wentworth fitted out ships and cleared 
 the sea. He imported flax seed, and not only started 
 the linen industry of Ulster, but was one of the founders 
 of the Lancashire cotton industry. At first, Englisli 
 cotton spinners were unable to spin a cotton thread 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 strong enough to serve as warp. In 1641 Lewes 
 Roberts wrote, " the town of Manchester buys the 
 linen yam of the Irish in great quantity, and, weaving 
 it, returns the same again in linen into Ireland to sell. 
 Neither does her industry rest here, for they buy 
 cotton-wool in London that comes first from Cyprus 
 and Smyrna, and work the same into fustians, ver- 
 milions, dimities, &c., which they return to London, 
 where they are sold, and from thence, not seldom, are 
 sent into such foreign parts where the first materials 
 may be more easily had for that manufacture." 
 
 Wentworth wished to establish in Ireland not only 
 the growing of flax and the spinning of yarn but the 
 final weaving of linen cloth. When he went to London 
 in 1636 to answer accusations brought against him by 
 discontented Irish magnates, he told the Council that 
 he had imported Dutch weavers as well as Dutch flax 
 seed, and that there were six or seven looms at work in 
 Ulster. But, too mindful of English interests, Went- 
 worth discouraged the Irish woollen industry. Thus 
 Ulster was endowed with agriculture and manufactures, 
 whilst the other provinces were forced to subsist on 
 agriculture alone. After the Commonwealth this 
 became the settled pohcy of England. State aid was 
 given to the Hnen industry of Ulster. The Lancashire 
 fustian industry developed into the Lancashire cotton 
 industry, and the making of linen was left to the 
 Irish of Ulster. In other parts of Ireland manufactures 
 were strangled in the interests of English manufacturers. 
 Both Catholics and Presbyterians were persecuted, but 
 the economic bond kept Ulster loyal to England 
 whilst the Catholics of the other province became
 
 THE PEOPLE UNDER CHARLES L 325 
 
 England's foes. But all this was not foreseen in 
 Wentworth's time. He had done one great service in 
 lessening the power of the magnates, and the poor were 
 glad because the power of the Cro\\Ti stood between 
 them and oppression. In the summer of 1637 VVent- 
 worth was greeted with every mark of affection when 
 he paid a visit to the South of Ireland. 
 
 In England Archbishop Laud was doing much the 
 same work as Wentworth in Ireland. Abbot, his 
 predecessor in the see of Canterbury, had been a 
 Puritan Calvinist, who "considered Christian religion 
 no otherwise than as it abhorred and reviled Popery, and 
 valued those men most who did that most furiousl}^" 
 " The remissness of Abbot, and of other bishops by his 
 example, had introduced, or at least connived at a 
 negligence, that gave great scandal to the Church, and 
 no doubt offended very many pious men. The people 
 took so httle care of the churches, and the parsons as 
 little of the chancels, that instead of beautifying them 
 or adorning them in any degree, they rarely provided 
 against the falling of many of their churches, and 
 suffered them at least to be kept so indecently and 
 slovenly that they would not have endured it in the 
 ordinary offices of their own houses ; the rain and 
 the wind to infest them, and the Sacraments them- 
 selves to be administered where the people had most 
 mind to receive them." The central aisle of St. Paul's 
 Cathedral was used as a common thoroughfare and 
 called Paul's Walk, Business men used the cathedral 
 as a clubroom and children as a playground. The 
 clergy complained that their services in the choir could 
 not be heard owing to the noise in the nave. In the
 
 326 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 adjacent church of St. Gregory the Communion table 
 had been moved from the east end to the nave and 
 merchants sat on it and used it as a writing-table. 
 
 Strange as it seems to modern EngUshmen, accus- 
 tomed to see churches and chapels treated with rever- 
 ence, there were earnest and godly men who believed 
 that spiritual religion was increased by the desecration 
 of houses of prayer. Hatred of Rome drove them to 
 extremes which very few would now defend. Laud 
 fully shared the Puritan dislike of the papacy ; he had 
 no love for Calvin's harsh creed, but he was as zealous 
 for spiritual religion as the holiest Puritan. Left to 
 themselves there is no reason why the two parties in 
 the Church of England should not have agreed to differ 
 as high and low Churchmen do to-day. Both Laud's 
 followers and the Puritans were in favour of a united 
 Church of England. Separatists, few in number and 
 disliked by both parties, consisted largely of foreign 
 immigrants who were allowed to worship in England 
 as they had been accustomed to worship in their 
 foreign homes. But there were those who had un- 
 worthy reasons for objecting to unity and discipline 
 in the Church. Religious anarchy allowed them to 
 steal funds held in trust for religious or educational 
 purposes. The Church still owned much land which 
 could be plundered if anarchy increased. When, as 
 Bishop of London, Laud removed the Communion 
 tables to the east end of churches and surrounded them 
 with rails to protect them from profanation by men 
 and stray dogs he had to face strenuous opposition. 
 
 The merchants of London made use of Puritan 
 preachers to further their political aims. Tithes,
 
 THE PEOPLE UNDER CHARLES L 327 
 
 which supported the London clergy, were reduced to 
 a mere pittance by fraudulent undervaluation ; on the 
 other hand, funds were collected to endow lectureships 
 in London and provincial churches. These lecturers 
 held offices at the pleasure of their pajmasters. They 
 could sit in the vestry during the service until the 
 time came for them to enter the pulpit and denounce 
 the Church which they were nominally serving. Land- 
 lords in the country obtained the same power over the 
 clergy as money lords in the towns. The parish priests, 
 who had once been able to champion the cause of the 
 poor against oppressors and enclosers, now spoke at 
 the risk of losing their incomes. Laud did much to 
 re-establish the independence of the clergy. The poor 
 again had those who could plead their cause, and 
 stealers of national or ecclesiastical property were 
 called to account. 
 
 In an island like England fishing ought to have 
 flourished ; but, deprived of protection in 1435, it 
 remained in a sickly condition in spite of spasmodic 
 efforts to revive it. In 1601 Sir John Kej^-mer wrote : 
 " There is more wealth raised out of herrings and other 
 fish in his Majesty's seas by the neighbouring nations 
 in one year than the King of Spain hath from the 
 Indies in four. There are 20,000 ships and other 
 vessels, and about 400,000 people thus set on work by 
 sea and land, and maintained only by fishing upon the 
 coast of England, Scoth\nd, and Ireland." He said 
 that before arriving at this conclusion " he traced 
 the countries twice over from town to town, and from 
 thence along his Majesty's sea coasts of England, 
 Scotland, 'and Ireland." The Dutch did most of this
 
 328 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 fishing, and their sea-power was so great that England 
 had to submit to the Dutch as Denmark had formerly 
 submitted to the Hanse League. James 1. tried to 
 compel Dutch fishermen to pay for the privilege of 
 using English waters ; but he abandoned the attempt 
 when the Dutch fishing fleet was escorted by Dutch 
 warships. No reparation could be obtained for the 
 massacre of English traders by the Dutch at Amboina, 
 although the claim was pressed at intervals after 1624. 
 Both the Dutch and their enemies, the sailors of 
 Dunkirk, who owned allegiance to Spain, treated 
 English harbours as if they were no-man's-land. 
 Whitelock gave the following description of the causes 
 which led to the levying of Ship-money in England. 
 " Our coasts were much infested by Pyrats, even by 
 Turks and Algiers men, to the great prejudice of trade. 
 The Dutchmen became almost Masters of the Sea in 
 the Northern fishing ; Overtures were made concerning 
 Herring fishing, and Busses, for our own Coasts : and 
 to prevent Strangers. . . . The King finding the 
 Controversie begun, and that it must be maintained 
 by force, which his want of money could not doe. . . . 
 And by advice of his Privy Council, and Council 
 Learned the King requires Shipmoney." For assertion 
 of the King's forest rights, the use of patents to bring 
 in a revenue to the Crown, and the levying of Ship- 
 money Laud was not primarily responsible. The 
 forest claims and the writs for Ship-money began when 
 Laud was Bishop of London, and the Earl of Portland 
 Lord Treasurer. Portland was at heart a CathoUc, 
 and he and his Catholic friends enriched themselves as 
 well as the Crown.
 
 THE PEOPLE UNDER CHARLES L 329 
 
 Laud vigorously attacked Portland's corrupt 
 administration. When Portland died in 1434, soon 
 after Laud became Archbishop of Canterbur}', the 
 treasury was put into commission. The new Arch- 
 bishop was made a commissioner of the treasury, and 
 also head of the Committee for Foreign Affairs. He 
 was thus able to exert a great influence over the policy 
 of England. At first he was hampered by colleagues 
 in the treasury who wished to tread in Portland's 
 steps ; but, in 1636, Juxon, who to Laud's joy had 
 succeeded him in the see of London, was appointed 
 Lord Treasurer because " his honesty was beyond 
 dispute." Laud in England and Went worth in Ireland 
 were making " Thorough " a complete success when 
 storm clouds gathered in Scotland, where the King's 
 servants were feebler and less efficient men.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE POLICY OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD 
 1633-1639 
 
 Laud's policy aimed at increasing the power of the 
 Crown and giving it the whole-hearted support of a 
 national Church to which all Englishmen were to 
 conform. He tried to make the law supreme over the 
 rich as well as over the poor, and naturally invoked 
 the aid of the Court of Star-Chamber, which had been 
 created in the reign of Henry VH. to curb the lawless 
 nobility, and of the Court of High Commission, which 
 Parliament established in Elizabeth's reign to enforce 
 religious unity and morality by punishing offenders 
 who had ceased to fear the discipline of a Church 
 weakened by the Reformation. Such a policy was 
 certain to excite violent opposition. In many respects 
 it resembled that of the great French minister. Cardinal 
 Richelieu. But whilst Richelieu struck fiercely and 
 effectively at the French nobles who opposed the 
 King, the executioner's axe was not used by Laud. In 
 England there was no royal army to establish tyranny 
 had Laud wished to make his King despotic. 
 
 Until Strafford was murdered by the Long Parlia- 
 ment, only one man was executed for politics or religion 
 during Charles' reign. This victim, a Catholic priest,
 
 THE POLICY OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD 331 
 
 was sent to the gallows by the over-zeal of a Puritan 
 judge. Several old women, however, were put to 
 death owing to the belief in witchcraft which was 
 a feature of puritanism in England, Scotland, and the 
 Puritan Colonies. Laud and his bishops discouraged 
 this superstition and were instrumental in saving the 
 lives of some so-called witches. After Laud's fall, 
 from 1640 until the Restoration in 1660, thousands 
 of old people were executed for the crime of witchcraft. 
 Four members of the Puritan party, which persistently 
 demanded the execution of Catholics, figure as the chief 
 of Laud's victims. They were punished for publishing 
 seditious pamphlets of the most extravagant character, 
 and for obstinately glorying in their offences. Three 
 lost their ears in the pillory, one was flogged, and all 
 were imprisoned. 
 
 Clarendon states that there would have been little 
 or no sympathy with Bastwick, Burton, and Prynne 
 but for their position in society. One was a doctor, 
 another a divine, and the third a lawyer. When 
 professional men were punished " (as the poorest and 
 most mechanic malefactors used to be, when they 
 were not able to redeem themselves by any fine for 
 their trespasses, or to satisfy any damages for the 
 scandals they had raised against the good name and 
 reputation of others) men began no more to consider 
 their manners but the men, and each profession, with 
 anger and indignation enough, thought their education 
 and degrees and (luiliLy would have secured them 
 from such infamous judgments, and treasured up 
 wratii for the time to come." Two of these sufferers 
 pluycd a prominent part in the Civil War, and learned
 
 332 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 some wisdom. In 1649, when resisting the establish- 
 ment of Cromwell's tyranny, Lilburne, who had been 
 flogged and imprisoned under Charles, said " that if 
 it were possible for me now to choose, I had rather 
 choose to live seven years under old King Charles' 
 government (notwithstanding their beheading him as 
 a tyrant for it) when it was at its worst before this 
 Parliament, than live one year under their government 
 that now rule." Ten years later Prynne was taking 
 an active part in the restoration of monarchy in 
 England. 
 
 In 1630 a Scotch minister, who had taken a medical 
 degree in Leyden, but had failed to satisfy the examiners 
 of the English College of Physicians, was practising 
 clandestinely and at the same time writing seditious 
 books. His book, called " An Appeal to Parliament ; 
 or Sion's Plea against Prelacy," is an excellent illustra- 
 tion of the manner in which religion was used to cloak 
 incitement to rebellion and murder. In " Sion's 
 Plea " the assassination of Buckingham, which was 
 still fresh in men's minds, was represented as the 
 work of " the Lord of Hosts." The Queen was de- 
 scribed as a "daughter of Heth" whom the King had 
 married when " he missed an Egyptian." Every evil 
 was attributed to the bishops, and the people were 
 urged to rise in armed rebellion against the government 
 of the King. For less violent language men had been 
 hanged in Elizabeth's reign. To follow up the murder 
 of a Prime Minister by the publication of such a book 
 would be regarded as a serious crime in modern 
 England. That Leighton only suffered the loss of 
 an ear, flogging, and imprisonment illustrates the
 
 THE POLICY OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD 333 
 
 clemency, not the severity, of Charles' government. 
 \Mien the King's government was overthrown all 
 these seditious writers were compensated by the Long 
 Parliament, whilst Charles' servants were treated 
 with an illegal severity which reminds the reader of 
 the Merciless Parliament. 
 
 To put the royal finances in order was Laud's 
 constant aim. Under Portland the King's debts 
 were continually increasing. Large sums might have 
 been obtained from the forest claims ; but as there 
 was no royal army, it was thought wise to abstain 
 from extreme measures against the nobles, and the 
 royal claims were abandoned in return for a small 
 sum. The laws which forbade depopulation by the 
 conversion of arable land into pasture were being 
 broken. A commission was appointed to consider 
 this abuse, and offenders were fined. Clarendon wrote 
 of this part of Laud's policy : " The revenue ol too 
 many of the Court consisted principally in inclosures 
 and improvements of that nature which he " (Laud) 
 " still opposed passionately except they were founded 
 upon law ; and, then, if it would bring profit to the 
 King, how old and obsolete soever the law was, he 
 thought he might justly advise the prosecution. And 
 so he did a little too much countenance the commission 
 concerning depopulation, which brought much charge 
 and trouble upon the people, and was likewise cast 
 upon his account." Here those who were depopulating 
 the land are called " the people." Clarendon had 
 little sympathy with the poor who were being driven 
 from their homes. 
 
 Laud's agrarian policy made enemies amongst the
 
 334 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Royalist courtiers as well as amongst the parlia- 
 mentarians. The same result followed from his 
 commercial policy. Portland had pleased his Catholic 
 friends by giving them the patent for manufacturing 
 soap from home-grown materials. Laud approved 
 of encouraging home production, whilst he wished to 
 see the patent worked by London manufacturers 
 instead of by Catholic courtiers. After a long contest, 
 Laud achieved his aim, but gained little goodwill, 
 since the patent was assigned to the new company 
 subject to a large annual payment to the Crown. 
 Even the King's wishes were opposed by Laud when 
 they conflicted with the welfare of the nation. Charles 
 loved innocent pleasures, which were nevertheless 
 expensive. In his palaces he collected art treasures, 
 and he inclosed Richmond Park at a great cost, in 
 spite of Laud's loudly expressed fear that his master 
 would lose the hearts of his people by inclosing land. 
 The word " people " is here used in the modern sense. 
 Notwithstanding the King's extravagance. Laud's 
 financial administration was most successful. The 
 royal debts were diminished, and "Thorough" bid 
 fair to have as great a triumph in England as in 
 Ireland. Clarendon ends his account of Laud's work 
 by telling of how, from the time of his succeeding to 
 the Treasury, Laud " exceedingly provoked or under- 
 went the envy and reproach and malice of men of 
 all qualities, who agreed in nothing else ; all which 
 though well enough known to him, were not enough 
 considered by him, who believed, as most men did, 
 the government to be so firmly settled that it could 
 neither be shaken from mthin nor without, and that
 
 THE POLICY OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD 335 
 
 less than a general confusion of Law and Gospel could 
 not hurt him, which was true too ; but he did not 
 foresee how easily that confusion might be brought 
 to pass, as it proved shortly to be. And with this 
 general observation of the outward visible prosperity, 
 and the inward reserved disposition of the people to 
 murmur and unquietness, we conclude this first 
 book." 
 
 Nothing contributed more towards Laud's ultimate 
 failure than his determination to punish the "most 
 splendid transgressors . . . who were not careful to 
 cover their own iniquities, thinking they were above 
 the reach of other men or their power or will to chastise. 
 Persons of honour and great quaHty, of the Court and 
 of the country, were every day cited into the High 
 Commission Court upon the fame of their incontinence 
 or other scandal in their lives, and were there prose- 
 cuted to their shame and punishment, and as the 
 shame (which they called an insolent triumpli upon 
 their degree and quality and levelling them with the 
 common people) was never forgotten, but watched for 
 revenge, so the fines imposed there were the more 
 questioned and repined against, because they were 
 assigned to the rebuilding and repairing St. Paul's 
 Church, and thought therefore to be the more severely 
 imposed and the less compassionately reduced and 
 excused, which likewise made the jurisdiction and 
 rigour of the Star Chamber more felt, and murmured 
 against, and sharpened many men's liumours against 
 the Bisliops before they had any ill intention towards 
 the Church." 
 
 The story of the drainage of the Cambridgeshire
 
 336 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 fens throws much Hght upon some of the causes of 
 the Civil War. In 1629 a Dutchman, called Ver- 
 muyden, obtained the contract for a great drainage 
 scheme. He was to receive as payment 95,000 acres 
 of the reclaimed land. An outcry against this grant 
 to a foreigner led to the transfer of the contract in 
 1635 to the Earl of Bedford, who agreed that the 
 Crown should have 12,000 of the 95,000 acres. Ver- 
 muyden was employed to drain the lands as the servant 
 of the company which Bedford formed. In 1638 
 commissioners at St. Ives incorrectly found that the 
 lands had been drained, and gave the 95,000 acres to 
 Bedford without reserving the 12,000 acres for the 
 Crown. A new commission sat at Huntingdon in 
 1639. It was then admitted that the land was not 
 drained, and that the money of the company was 
 exhausted. The company was called upon either to 
 raise fresh capital and finish the drainage or to sur- 
 render the contract to the King in return for 40,000 
 acres. 
 
 Many poor folk lived by catching wild-fowl in the 
 fens or making baskets from the osiers and reeds. 
 These men looked upon the fens as common lands and 
 the drainage as a great inclosure. There was much 
 opposition in Cambridge, and Cromwell became 
 popular by advocating the claims of the fen-men. 
 His friends have maintained that he also opposed the 
 commissioners who sat at Huntingdon, but this is 
 uncertain. In any case he sat for Cambridge in the 
 Short and in the Long Parliaments, winning for 
 himself the nickname " Lord of the Fens." The Civil 
 War for a time put an end to the drainage ; the
 
 THE POLICY OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD 337 
 
 scheme was, however, revived during the Common- 
 wealth, and Cromwell's supporters had their reward. 
 But it will be seen that those who gained were not 
 the poor fen-men. 
 
 After the suppression of the English religious orders, 
 who for centuries had superintended the production 
 of fine wool, the quahty of Enghsh wool deteriorated. 
 In 1560 English wool was still the finest, but Spanish 
 wool had become worthy of being called fine. In 1604 
 James I. prohibited the exportation of English wool 
 to ensure an ample supply for English weavers. It 
 is interesting to notice that about the same time the 
 importation of foreign hops was forbidden, so that 
 Enghsh hop-growing, which began in Ehzabetli's 
 reign, might be protected from cheap and inferior 
 foreign hops which were flooding the English market. 
 
 The immigration of weavers from Flanders and 
 Brabant established a vigorous cloth-making industry 
 in the Dutch Repubhc, and the manufacture of cloth 
 was being rapidly developed in France under Richelieu's 
 fostering care. There is much to be said in favour of 
 the policy of peace with Spain which was a feature of 
 the reigns of James I. and Charles I. The market of 
 Spain was opened to the English, and through Spain 
 an indirect entrance into her colonial markets was 
 gained. The fine wool of Spain could also be obtained 
 for English looms; and when the Enghsh procured 
 a supply of native alum they were able to declare 
 commercial war against the Dutch cloth finishers, not- 
 withstanding the handicap which the Dutch enjoyed 
 in their shipping and control over markets in Brazil 
 and tlie East. 
 
 z
 
 338 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 In 1622 James I, appointed a commission to 
 inquire into the causes of the depreciation of English 
 wool and to suggest methods by which Scotch and 
 Irish wool might be attracted to England. In 1634 
 Spanish cloth is mentioned as an established industry 
 in England. In 161 1 Spanish folly reached its climax 
 when the Moriscos, an industrious people of mixed 
 Spanish and Moorish descent, were expelled from 
 Spain. After their expulsion Spain practically ceased 
 to weave, and Spanish wool was forced to find a market 
 in England, France, or Holland. The long Anglo- 
 Spanish peace facilitated trade between England and 
 Spain. Even war could not wholly prevent the 
 exportation of Spanish wool to France and Holland. 
 
 The Thirty Years' War had a disastrous effect upon 
 German production, and Germans bought instead of 
 selling cloth. Dunkirk was the only seaport in the 
 Spanish Netherlands which remained open in spite 
 of the efforts of the Dutch. Through Dunkirk English 
 cloth could find its way into Belgium and Germany. 
 Just before Portland's death the character of the 
 Thirty Years' War changed. France became the open, 
 instead of the secret, enemy of Spain. Arrangements 
 were being made to divide the Spanish Netherlands 
 between France and Holland, thus closing Dunkirk 
 and inflicting a serious blow to the export trade of 
 England. This danger, as well as the desire of freeing 
 the English coasts from Dutch fishermen, influenced 
 Charles' advisers when they recommended the levying 
 of ship money. There was no doubt that the King 
 had the right to demand ship money from the coast 
 towns. The judges held that inland towns, whose
 
 THE POLICY OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD 339 
 
 industry and trade were threatened, were also liable ; 
 but this judgment was passively resisted by the oppo- 
 nents of the King. 
 
 A proposed aUiance with Spain for the defence of 
 Dunkirk was defeated by the arguments of Laud and 
 Wentworth. They held that, if England built an 
 adequate navy, she could without war preserve Dun- 
 kirk from the Dutch and French. The wisdom of 
 this poUcy was proved when France in 1635 declared 
 war against Spain and directed her attack against 
 Alsace instead of Belgium. Ship money was honestly 
 devoted to the purpose for which it was levied. A 
 strong fleet soon gave England command of the narrow 
 seas. The claim of the Dutch to fish in Enghsh 
 waters was successfully contested, although an English 
 fishing company started by Charles failed owing to 
 the ignorance of the Enghsh. Of this De Witt wrote : 
 " In the meantime the English challenged the 
 Sovereignty of the narrow Seas, alledging, That the 
 fishery belong'd solely to them. But their intestine 
 Divisions, and not our Sea Forces, put a stop to that 
 work, and their Herring-fishing, then newly begun, 
 ceased. It is observable that when they had taken 
 their Herring at one and the same time and place with 
 the Hollanders, and sent them to Dantzick in the years 
 1637 and 1638, and found that the Herring taken and 
 cured by the Hollanders was approved and good, and 
 that the English Herring to the very last Barrel were 
 esteemed naught ; they then chang'd their Claim 
 upon the whole Fishery, into that of having the 
 Tenth Herring, which the diligent and frugal Inhabi- 
 tants of Holland reputed no less than to fish for, and 
 
 z 2
 
 340 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 pay Tribute to a slothful and prodigal People, for a 
 Passage by the Coast of England, which yet must have 
 been paid had not the free Government of the States 
 of Holland, in the year 1667, brought those Maritime 
 Affairs into another State and Condition." 
 
 The pirates from the Mediterranean were driven 
 from the English seas, and an Enghsh fleet appeared 
 before Sallee, their seaport, and obtained the surrender 
 of Christian slaves. Whilst all seemed well with 
 England and England's King, storm clouds gathered 
 in Scotland. This kingdom was regarded as so unim- 
 portant that Clarendon could write that " the truth is, 
 there was so Uttle curiosity either in the Court or the 
 country to know anything of Scotland, or what was 
 done there, that when the whole nation was solicitous 
 to know what passed weekly in Germany and Poland, 
 and all other parts of Europe, no man ever enquired 
 what was doing in Scotland, nor had that kingdom 
 place or mention in one page of any gazette ; and even 
 after the advertisement of the preamble to rebeUion, 
 no mention was made of it at the Council Board, 
 but such a dispatch made into Scotland upon it, 
 as expressed the King's dislike and displeasure, and 
 obliged the Lords of the Council there to appear more 
 vigorously in the vindication of his authority and 
 suppression of those tumults." 
 
 The mistake made by the English Parliament when 
 it rejected the scheme proposed by James L for the 
 political and economic union of Great Britain was 
 about to plunge the British Isles in the horrors of 
 civil war. Whilst English industry and commerce 
 made rapid strides, Scotland remained in a com-
 
 THE POLICY OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD 341 
 
 paratively unprogressive condition. The English 
 traveller was struck by the filth and squalor of Edin- 
 burgh, whilst even the English inns were palaces to 
 the Scotch when they first saw them. Prisoners were 
 still tortured in Scotkmd, and the burning of witches 
 was almost a national pastime. This cruel form of 
 superstition was closely associated with presbyterian- 
 ism. It flourished in the New England Colonies 
 when the preachers had realised their ideal and 
 established a theocratic government. During the 
 second half of the sixteenth century thousands of men 
 and women were put to death in Scotland, where the 
 preachers were able to spread terror amongst the 
 people much as witch doctors still do in Africa. The 
 comparatively weak hold which this superstition had 
 over the English was much increased by James I., 
 who carried with him from Scotland a firm belief in 
 the devil's power. Laud tried with some success to 
 mitigate the horrors of witch-hunting. When he fell 
 the witch doctors of England had their way, and under 
 the presbyterian Long Parliament the number of 
 victims in England became a national disgrace. It 
 is to Cromwell's credit that he discouraged this super- 
 stition, which gradually died away after the restoration 
 of monarchy. 
 
 As a substitute for the political and economic 
 union of England and Scotland which the English 
 Parliament had shelved Laud tried to unite Great 
 Britain by a common ritual. In 1638 an attempt to 
 replace the political prayers of the Scotch preachers 
 by a liturgy kindled a revolt. The liturg}' was 
 accompanied by canons which would have com-
 
 342 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 pelled the childless Scotch clergy to leave a portion 
 of their estates to educational purposes. At once 
 Scotch nobles who trembled for their church land and 
 Scotch preachers united with the people of Scotland 
 in opposing what seemed to be English dictation. 
 The sentimental tie of the Crown proved ineffective. 
 A Covenant was extensively signed which bound the 
 Covenanters to resist the ecclesiastical innovations 
 and to abolish episcopacy. A General Assembly of 
 the preachers and their lay supporters met at Glasgow 
 in 1638. The Scotch bishops were excom^municated, 
 and under this rebellious theocratic government taxes 
 were levied and the Covenanters took arms. The 
 Scotch universities were placed under control as 
 centres which might be dangerous to the Covenant. 
 Thus Charles was forced either to take action or to 
 lose all authority over his northern kingdom. 
 
 Without an army Charles could only oppose the 
 Scotch by calling upon his English magnates to join 
 him with their feudal levies. The fleet was sent 
 north to separate the Scotch from the Dutch and the 
 French from whom they were obtaining military 
 supplies and with \\hom they were entering into 
 treasonable relations. Had the magnates been loyal 
 the rebels would have been crushed, but there were 
 some who, smarting under the rule of Laud, saw in 
 the Scotch rebellion only an opportunity of weakening 
 the power of the Crown and regaining their old privi- 
 leges. Although the English magnates were not as 
 yet ready to openly oppose their King, their disaffection 
 caused delay. The funds which had been collected 
 under the care of Laud were exhausted, and poverty
 
 THE POLICY OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD 343 
 
 compelled Charles to make terms with the Scotch. 
 The treaty of Berwick was regarded by the Scotch 
 Parliament, which soon met, as a sign of weakness, 
 and they proceeded to pass measures which trans- 
 ferred the royal authority in Scotland from the King 
 to the Scotch Parliament. Charles lost much by this 
 campaign and the treaty of Berwick. His English 
 magnates who were disaffected established secret 
 friendly relations with the Scotch, who, instead of 
 disbanding their forces, took advantage of the peace, 
 imported cannon and military stores from abroad, 
 and attempted to revive the old Franco-Scottish 
 alliance. Impoverished and weakened, Charles was 
 doomed to learn, as his predecessors had done, that 
 there was little pity for a vanquished king.
 
 XXVI 
 
 KING CHARLES I. AND HIS EARLS 
 1640-1641 
 
 When Parliament ruled England in the reign of the 
 Lancastrian Henry VI. the suffrage in the counties 
 was restricted to a limited number of freeholders, and 
 the qualification of a member of Parliament was made 
 prohibitive for all except the moderately wealthy 
 landowner. Before this restriction the packing of 
 Parliaments had been effected by the magnates by 
 means of their retainers ; after the War of the Roses 
 the power of the barons was at first so shattered that 
 the danger to the Crown from the existence of two 
 ohgarchic houses was not felt. A new body of mag- 
 nates was, however, created under the Tudors and 
 Stuarts who inherited not only the ancient titles but 
 the old tendency to resent royal interference. These 
 were at first fed sumptuously in the reigns of Henry 
 VIII. and Edward VI. from the plunder of the Church, 
 and being well fed, for the most part remained quiet, 
 and co-operated with the Crown in sending to the 
 block those who wished to resist the will of the 
 monarch. The confiscation of abbey lands placed 
 large areas under the control of laj^men, who thus were
 
 CHARLES I. AND HIS EARLS 345 
 
 able to influence the limited number of electors even 
 more effectually than the old feudal barons. 
 
 In the reign of Henry VIII. one of the Russells 
 obtained the forest of Exmoor and the town of Tavis- 
 tock with thirty manors in Devonshire, Cornwall, and 
 Somerset which had belonged to the Abbey of Tavis- 
 tock. Ten years later, under Edward VI., to these 
 lands were added Thorney, with several thousand 
 acres in Cambridgeshire, the abbey of Woburn in 
 Bedfordshire, and the title Earl of Bedford. The 
 Bedfords were staunch Protestants, and the fourth 
 Earl, he who obtained the contract for draining the 
 fens near his Cambridgeshire lands, was regarded as 
 the leader of the Puritan party. One piece of pro- 
 perty which the Bedfords acquired, that near Co vent 
 Garden, once Convent Garden, became very valuable 
 during the decade of Charles' personal reign owing to 
 the growth of London ; and, although Laud's rule pro- 
 tected the ecclesiastical property and royal rights 
 from spohation, Bedford and his associates were not 
 treated badly even in the matter of the fens. By the 
 Huntingdon decision they were entitled to receive 
 lands of the annual value of 60,000/. in return for a 
 capital outlay of 100,000/., but they had hoped for 
 more. 
 
 When Lord Bedford died in 1641 the leadership of 
 the Puritan party devolved upon the Earl of Essex. 
 The first Earl of Essex was created by Queen Elizabeth 
 too late for the plunder of the monasteries. He 
 undertook the planting of Ulster, selling his English 
 estates and receiving grants of Irish lands. He con- 
 ducted an unsuccessful campaign in Ireland, nnd
 
 346 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 became notorious for his cruelty to the native Irish. 
 After his death in 1576 his son was one of EUzabeth's 
 favourites. The second Earl also failed in Ireland, 
 and this failure and the execution of the Earl for 
 treason have been already described. In 1604 the 
 attainder was removed by Act of Parliament and the 
 traitor's son succeeded to the title. This was the 
 Earl who led the Puritan nobles after Bedford's death. 
 Clarendon describes him as a man who nursed the 
 grievance that his talents were not adequately recog- 
 nised by the King. His pride was wounded in early 
 life when his wife divorced him and married Somerset, 
 the favourite of James I. The failure of the attack on 
 La Rochelle when Essex was in command seems to 
 have increased the Earl's bitterness. When a favour- 
 able moment arrived Essex amply avenged himself on 
 Strafford and the King's advisers who had neglected 
 him. 
 
 To Algernon Percy, tenth Earl of Northumberland, 
 more than to any other magnate, Charles owed his 
 ruin. Of Northumberland Clarendon wrote : " If he 
 had thought the King as much above him, as he thought 
 himself above other considerable men, he would have 
 been a good subject ; but the extreme undervaluing 
 those, and not enough valuing the King, made him 
 liable to those impressions, which they who approached 
 him by those addresses of reverence and esteem, that 
 usually insinuate into such natures, made in him." 
 He came of a family of Border lords, who looked upon 
 their rank as almost royal and to whom treason 
 appeared to be merely the assertion of their ancient 
 privileges. The first earl was created by Richard II.,
 
 CHARLES I. AND HIS EARLS 347 
 
 and repaid his benefactor by taking a leading part 
 in the King's deposition and the election of the par- 
 liamentary king Henry IV. Before long, however, 
 he was again a rebel, and died fighting against the 
 sovereign he had helped to place on the throne, 
 
 Henry V. restored the earldom and estates to the 
 grandson of the first earl, and the second earl and his 
 son who succeeded him fell fighting for the parlia- 
 mentary kings during the War of the Roses. The 
 son of the third earl swore fealt}^ to the victorious 
 Edward IV. and thus regained the earldom. He fell 
 fighting for Richard III. at Bosworth ; but his loyalty 
 was so doubtful that Richard was obliged to place a 
 close watch over him during the battle. His son, the 
 fifth earl, was suspected of using a royal badge when 
 harrying the Scotch, and just before the death of 
 Henry VII. he was fined 10,000^. for an encroachment 
 on the King's rights. This earl was, however, never 
 actually guilty of open treason ; and his son, the sixth 
 earl, was loyal to Henr}^ VIII., though his brothers 
 and his mother joined in the rebellion called the 
 Pilgrimage of Grace. The sixth earl left no issue, and 
 by the execution of his brother the earldom lapsed. 
 It was, however, revived by Queen Mary in favour of 
 the sons of the Percy who had taken part in the 
 rebellion. These sons engaged in conspiracies against 
 Elizabeth. One was executed as a traitor, and the 
 other committed suicide in the Tower before his trial. 
 The ninth earl, son of the suicide, was found guilty of 
 complicity in Gunpowder Plot, in which one of his 
 kinsmen played a prominent part, and spent nearly 
 sixteen years in the Tower. He died in 1619, and was
 
 348 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 succeeded by his son Algernon, who avenged the 
 deaths of his ancestors by largely contributing to the 
 ruin and murder of Charles I. 
 
 The difficulty of governing the North of England 
 without the aid of the Percies doubtless prompted 
 England's rulers to forgive their many acts of treason, 
 and the same motive probably had weight with 
 Charles when he showered favours on the tenth earl. 
 Charles made him a Knight of the Garter and Lord 
 High Admiral. Northumberland was thus one of the 
 council who were responsible for the government of 
 England during what is called Charles' personal reign. 
 The campaign against the Scotch which ended with 
 the disastrous treaty of Berwick exhausted the royal 
 treasury, and when the Scotch made use of this treaty 
 to attack the royal authority in Scotland, Charles' 
 fate depended on his being able to raise funds for a 
 new army. Negotiations were pending for a loan 
 from Spain, when a Spanish fleet took refuge in Eng- 
 lish waters from a superior Dutch force. By what 
 some contemporaries regarded as Northumberland's 
 treachery the Dutch were allowed to attack the 
 Spanish, and Charles was unable to obtain financial 
 relief from Spain. Although Northumberland's sub- 
 sequent conduct encourages belief in his treachery, 
 neither Charles nor Wentworth, who was recalled to 
 England to advise the King in September 1639, a few 
 weeks before the destruction of the Spanish fleet in 
 the Downs, seems to have doubted Northumberland's 
 loyalty. 
 
 To raise funds Wentworth advised the King to 
 summon an English Parliament whilst he returned
 
 CHARLES I. AND HIS EARLS 349 
 
 to Ireland to obtain a vote of supply from the Irish 
 ParHament. In March 1640 the Irish Parhament 
 granted 180,000/. with enthusiasm, and promised to 
 give more if needed. The native Irish were if an3'thing 
 more demonstrative of their loyalty than their English 
 fellow-members. In April the English Parliament, 
 called the Short Parliament, met. Although Charles 
 was able to give proof that the Scotch rebels were 
 negotiating with the French, and although the majority 
 of the peers were anxious to grant supply for the 
 defence of England, the Lower House, led by Pym, 
 began the discussion of grievances. Encouraged by 
 the example of Scotland, the Commons sought prac- 
 tically to abolish the royal power in England as it had 
 been practically aboUshed in the northern kingdom. 
 After three weeks Charles and his councillors despaired 
 of obtaining supply and the Parhament was dissolved. 
 In the King's Council Northumberland and Holland 
 were alone in wishing to avert a dissolution. As both 
 these Lords ultimately joined the Enghsh rebels, it 
 seems probable that this dissolution did not create, 
 though it may have precipitated, the outbreak of 
 civil war. 
 
 P^OTE. — At this point the work was interrupted by 
 the death of the author. The two following extracts 
 from his notebook are thought to be of sufficient 
 interest to be added here. It is believed they have not 
 been published among his other writings, and that he 
 intended to use them in this book.] 
 
 Historians admit that the wars of the eighteenth 
 century were due to commercial causes, but speak of
 
 350 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 earlier wars as wars of religion. The distinction is 
 somewhat misleading. When religion was closely 
 associated with politics and economy, it was natural 
 that it should have occasioned contests between 
 nations. The time has passed when Popes could claim 
 a temporal suzerainty over nations and their rulers. 
 No Pope would now dream of granting lands to a king 
 as Pope Alexander VI. gave the Americas and the East 
 to the kings of Castile and Portugal ; nor would any 
 Pope think of issuing an indulgence which, whilst 
 absolving men from mortal sins, failed to absolve from 
 the sin of buying alum from any other source than 
 the mines in papal territory. Religion confines itself 
 within its proper province. Its teachers recognise that 
 its kingdom is not of this world, and thus the economic 
 motive for which men fought, or changed their religion, 
 no longer exists. An attempt has been made in the 
 following pages to trace the economic motive which 
 prompted the wars of religion and the great changes of 
 faith. 
 
 Underlying motive for war, the same at all times. 
 To assert this is not to express any opinion on the 
 character of reUgion ; e.g. to say Mahomedanism spread 
 because it relieved Christian provinces from tribute to 
 Byzantium merely gives a reason for the spread of a 
 creed which Protestant Christians believe to be false ; 
 whereas showing that the Reformation derived much of 
 its strength from economic causes gives a reason for 
 the spread of a faith which they beheve to be superior 
 to the one it superseded.
 
 ENVOI 
 
 To British Free Traders 
 
 Brothers, I come, a spirit from the dead, 
 To tell the tale of England that I knew ; 
 
 If you are doubters, pray forgive what's said 
 In praise of England. You are English, too. 
 
 J. W. W.
 
 LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Rolls Series, 1861. Translation). 
 
 Annales Monastici (Rolls Series, 1864, &c.). 
 
 Ashley's Economic History, vol. i. part I, 1888 ; part II, 1893. 
 
 Bacon {Francis, Works of). Edited by Spedding, Ellis, and Heath. 
 
 Bagwell's Ireland under the Tudors. 
 
 Bancroft's History of the United States of America. 
 
 Barker's (Ellis) Rise and Decline of the Netherlands. 
 
 Baronius, Annales Ecclesiastici. 
 
 Biographic Universelle. 
 
 Birch's Cartularium Saxonicum, a.d. 948-975. 
 
 Brewer's Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. (Rolls Series). 
 
 Bridges' France under Richelieu and Colbert. 
 
 Bryce's Holy Roman Empire. 
 
 Burke's History of Spain. 
 
 Caillet's Ministi-re du Cardinal Richelieu. 
 
 Cambridge Modern History. 
 
 Carlyle's Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches. 
 
 Charlton's History of Whitby. 
 
 Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond (King's Classics). 
 
 Chronicles of Stephen, Henry II. and Richard I. (vol. iii. Rolls Series). 
 
 Clowes 's Royal Navy. 
 
 ColHngs's Land Reform. 
 
 Cunningham's (T.) History of Taxes. (1773.) 
 
 Cunningham's (W.) Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Early 
 
 and Middle Ages. (1905.) 
 Cunningham's (W.) Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Modern 
 
 Times. 
 
 De Witt's True Interest and Political Maxims of the Republic of 
 Holland and West Friesland. (Translation, 1702.) 
 
 A A
 
 354 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 English Church (History of). Edited by Stephens and Hunt. 
 
 Facsimile of Indulgences issued by Pope Leo X. 
 Finlay's History of Greece. 
 Fisher's Forest of Essex. 
 Fox Bourne's English Merchants. 
 Freeman's History of the Norman Conquest. 
 Freeman's General Sketch of European History. 
 Fronde's English in Ireland. 
 Fronde's History of England. 
 
 Gardiner's History of England from Accession of James I. In 
 lo volumes. 
 
 Gardiner's History of Great Civil War. In four volumes. 
 
 Gardiner's Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution. 
 
 Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. (Edited by Pro- 
 fessor Bury.) 
 
 Gniest's History of English Constitution. Ashworth's translation. 
 
 Gregorovius' Rome in the Middle Ages. (Hamilton's Translation.) 
 
 Gross' Gild Merchant. Vol. i. 
 
 Grote's History of Greece. 
 
 Hakluyt's Voyages. 
 
 Hakluyt's Voyages of Elizabethan Seamen. Edited by Payne. 
 
 Hall's History of Custom Revenue of English. 
 
 Hodgkin's Italy and her Invaders. 
 
 Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews. 
 
 Kervyn de Letterhove's Histoire de Flandre. 
 
 Lang's History of Scotland. 
 
 List's National System of Political Economy. (Lloyd's Translation.) 
 
 Machiavelli's Prince and other Pieces. (Morley's.) 
 Macpherson's Annals of Commerce. 
 Maitland's Domesday Book and Beyond. 
 Milman's History of the Jews. 
 Milman's History of Latin Christianity. 
 
 Moeller's History of the Christian Church : Reformation and Counter- 
 Reformation. (Translated by Freese.) 
 Morse's Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire. 
 Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic.
 
 LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED 355 
 
 Nares's Life of Lord, Burleigh. 
 
 Pauli's Simon de Montfort. (Goodwin's Translation.) 
 Political History of England. 
 
 Raleigh's Select Observations ; presented to King James. 
 
 Rambaud's Histoire de la Civilisation Franfaise. 
 
 Rishanger's Chronicle and Miracles of Simon de Montfort. (Camden 
 
 Society.) 
 Rogers's (Thorold) Economic Interpretation of History. 
 Rogers's (Thorold) History of Agriculture and Prices in England. 
 
 Sharpe's London and the Kingdom. 
 
 Sinclair's History of the Revenue. Third edition. 
 
 Social England. 
 
 Stebbing's Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Stephens' Portugal (Story of the Nations). 
 
 Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England. 
 
 Stubbs's Memorials of St. Dunstan. 
 
 Stubbs's Constitutional History of England. 
 
 Stubbs's Select Charters. 
 
 TroUope's History of the Commonwealth of Florence. 
 
 Varenbergh's Histoire des Relations Diplomatiques entre la Flandre 
 
 et I'Angleterre. 
 Varenbergh's La Flandre et I' Empire d'Allemagne. 
 
 Walsingham's Historia Anglicana. (Rolls Series.) 
 Walter of Hemingburgh. (English Historical Society.) 
 Welsford's Strength of Nations. 
 
 Worm's Histoire Commerciale de la Ligue HansSatique. 
 Wright's Political Poems and Songs. (Rolls Series.) 
 
 Young's Travels during 1787, 1788, and 1789. 
 
 A A 2
 
 INDEX 
 
 Addled Parliament, 290 
 
 Agincourt, 167 
 
 Alcuin, 18, 22-3 
 
 Alfred the Great, 24 
 
 Aliens, treatment of, 134, 162, 
 
 165, 171,223, 271 
 AUer, massacre of Saxons at the, 
 
 19, 23 
 Alum, its importance in cloth 
 
 industry, 187, 211, 216, 217, 
 
 223,247,275 
 Alva, Duke of, 251, 254-5 
 Amboina, massacre at, 277, 292 
 Amsterdam, 255, 256, 263, 269, 
 
 280 
 Ancient (or Great) Customs, 109, 
 
 118, 151 
 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 23, 31 
 Anglo-Saxon invasion, 8 
 Anne of Cleves, 234, 237 
 Anselm, 57, 64-5 
 Antwerp, 132, 196-7, 203, 222, 
 
 224, 246, 248, 249, 255, 256, 
 
 257, 267, 269 
 Arian Christianity, 11, 12, 13 
 Armada, the, 264 
 Arras, Peace of, 196, 207 
 Arthurian legends, 3 
 Assize of Arms, 77 
 Avignon, iiy, 155 
 
 Bacon, Francis, Lord Chancel- 
 lor, 198-9, 202-3, 21O, 289, 292 
 Baldwin, count of Flanders, 26 
 Baltic trade, 173-5, 180, 194, 
 204, 240-1 
 
 Barbarian invasions of Roman 
 
 territory, 7, 8, 10, 27 
 Bates, John, 287 
 Bath in Roman times, 5 
 Beaton, Cardinal, 235-6 
 Beaufort, Cardinal, 178, 182 
 Beaufort, Edmund, Duke of 
 
 Somerset, 178, 182-5 
 Becket, Thomas, Archbp., 72-4 
 Bedford, John, Duke of, 169, 
 
 175, 178 
 Bedfords enriched by church 
 
 plunder, 345 
 Benedictine monasteries, 13, 14, 
 
 15, 17, 28, 42-3, 47 
 Berwick, treaty of, 343 
 Black Death, 140 
 Black Sea in Greek legends, 2 
 Boclands, 30 
 Boleyn, Anne, 229-31 
 Bouvines, battle of, 87 
 Bretigny, treaty of, 144 
 Brittany, 209-10 
 Bruce, Robert, 119, 125 
 Bruges, 131, 134, 166, 170, 190, 
 
 196-7 
 Buckingham, George ViUiers, 
 
 Duke of, 290, 294, 301, 306- 
 
 3" 
 
 Cade's rebellion, 178, 183 
 Cadiz, 264, 268 
 Cajsar's invasion of Britain, 3 
 Calais, 139-40, 168, 170, 177, 
 
 180, 184, 190, 194, 244 
 Cambrai, League of, 218
 
 358 
 
 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Cambridgeshire Fens, draining 
 
 of, 335-7 
 Canada (French), 249, 314-5 
 Canute, 33-5 
 Caorsines, 96 
 Garlyle, Thomas, i, 288 
 Carta Mercatoria, see Merchants' 
 
 Charter 
 Catherine of Aragon, 206-7, 
 
 229-30, 232 
 Cecil, Robert, Earl of Salisbury, 
 
 272, 280, 283, 287, 289-90 
 Cecil, William, Lord Burghley, 
 
 243-72 
 Charles I., 294-349 
 Charles V., Emperor, 216-7, 
 
 219-43 
 
 Charles Martel, 1 7-8 
 
 Charles the Bald, 26 
 
 Charles the Bold, Duke of Bur- 
 gundy, 190-4 
 
 Charles the Fat, 25 
 
 Charles the Great, 18-21, 22-3 
 
 Charles the Simple, 26 
 
 Chester, battle of, 14 
 
 Chichester, Sir Arthur, 299-300 
 
 China, 278 
 
 Cinque Ports, 45, 112, 174 
 
 Cistercians, 50, 69, 83 
 
 Civil War, causes of the, 301-15 
 
 Clarendon's ' Rebellion ' quoted, 
 
 331, 333, 334-5, 340, 346 
 Cloth trade, 151, 171, 1 76-7, 1 79, 
 
 187-8, i90,"200-i, 203-4, 239, 
 
 247-8, 259, 275 
 Clovis, conversion of, 12-13 
 Coeur, Jacques, 168 
 Coinage, 237, 238, 248 
 Coke, C.J., 288 
 Cologne, 173, 184, 190, 194 
 Colonies, foundation of, 291, 
 
 293, 297 
 Columbus, 206, 215 
 Constantine, Roman Emperor, 
 
 4, 6, 10, 12 ; the forged 
 
 Donation of, 18, 27 
 Constantinople, owed its 
 
 supremacy to Theodosius the 
 
 Great, 4, and to Constantine, 
 
 10, 12 ; Mahomedan attack 
 
 upon, repulsed, 17 ; a com- 
 
 mercial metropolis, 20, 21, 
 34, 82 ; Emperor's English 
 bodyguard, 40, 48 ; sacked by 
 Crusaders, 82 ; captured by 
 Turks, 187 
 
 Constitutions of Clarendon, 72 
 
 Corn, early legislation about, 
 186, 240-1 
 
 Cotton, 291, 323-4 
 
 Court of High Commission, 330, 
 
 335 
 Covenant, Scotch, 342 
 Cranmer, Archbp., 230, 241, 243 
 Cre9y, 139, 167 
 
 Cromwell, OUver, 311, 336-7, 34^ 
 Cromwell, Thomas, 228-34 
 Customs, Ancient (or Great), 
 
 109, 118, 151 ; New, 118 
 
 Damme, 86, 95 
 
 Danegeld, 91 
 
 Danelaw, 24 
 
 De Burgh, Hubert, 93, 96 
 
 De la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, 157-8 
 
 De Montfort, Simon, ist earl, 85, 
 95 ; 2nd earl, 96, 100-6, 187 
 
 De Witt's ' Interest of Holland,' 
 180, 262, 269, 339 
 
 ' Defender of the Faith,' 231 
 
 Despensers, the, 127-9 
 
 Dominicans, 99 
 
 Don John of Austria, 256-7 
 
 Donation of Constantine, a for- 
 gery, 18, 27 
 
 Drake, Sir Francis, 251, 253, 259, 
 264, 267-8 
 
 Dudley and Empson, 216, 219 
 
 Dunkirk, 338-9 
 
 Dutch East India Company, 277, 
 292 
 
 Dutch Independence, war of, 
 
 251-79 
 Dutch sea-power, growth of, 
 
 260-72 
 Dutch trade rivalry, 273-86 
 Dutch West India Company, 293 
 
 East India Company, 277 
 Easterlings, 44, 121, 123, 124, 
 
 241. See Hanseatic League 
 Eastland Company, 249
 
 INDEX 
 
 359 
 
 Edward the Black Prince, 144-7 
 
 Edward the Confessor, 35-9 
 
 Edward the Martyr, 3 1 
 
 Edward I., 106-20 
 
 Edward II., 120-9 
 
 Edward III., 129-49 
 
 Edward IV., 186-97 
 
 Edward V., 197 
 
 Edward VI., 237-41 
 
 Elbing, 258-9 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 230, 239, 243- 
 
 272 
 Emden, 246, 258, 268 
 Enclosures, 97, 117, 126, 154, 
 
 202, 239, 371, 284-s, 333 
 Essex, Earl of, 272, 346 
 Ethelred the Redeless, 3 1 
 Eudes, Count of Paris, 25 
 Evesham, battle of, 106 
 Evil May Day, 222 
 
 Ferdinand and Isabella of 
 
 Spain, 205-22 
 Fish trade, 159, 162, 173-4, 327- 
 
 328, 339 
 
 Florence, 166, 171, 187-8, 203-4 
 
 Florida, Huguenot colony in, 
 250-1 
 
 Folclands, 30 
 
 Forest laws and rights, 92, 120 
 
 Francis I., 220-36 
 
 Franciscans, 90, 105 
 
 Free trade under James I., 276 
 
 Frescobaldi, 118, 124 
 
 Friars, Dominican and Francis- 
 can, 99, 147 
 
 Fuggers, German capitalists, 
 200, 224-6, 256 
 
 Gaveston, Piers, 122-5 
 
 Gavre, battle of, 184 
 
 Genoa, 153, 171-2 
 
 Ghent, 95. 177, 184 
 
 Glastonbury, 30 
 
 Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, 
 160, 175-6, 178, 182 ; Richard, 
 Duke of, see Richard III. ; 
 Thomas, Duke of, 157-60 
 
 Godwine, Earl, 37-9 
 
 Good Parliament, 150 
 Great Charter, 87 
 Great Contract, 289, 310 
 Gregory VII. (Hildebrand), 37, 
 
 52 
 Grey, Lady Jane, 241-2 
 Grossteste, Bishop, 100 
 
 H.\MBURG, 258 
 
 Hanseatic League, 121, 123, 124, 
 151, 165, 173-5, 179, 180, 181, 
 183, 193-4, 204, 213, 240-1, 
 243-4, 246, 248, 258, 268, 270. 
 See Steelyard 
 
 Harold, 37-40 
 
 Harold Bluetooth, 29 
 
 Hawkins, Sir John, 250, 268 
 
 Heemskerk, Admiral, 279 
 
 Hein, Admiral, 293 
 
 Henrietta Maria, Queen, 294, 
 302 
 
 Henry I., 59 
 
 Henry II., 71-8 
 
 Henry III., 89-106 
 
 Henry IV., 160-4 
 
 Henry V., 164-9 
 
 Henry VI., 169-92 
 
 Henry VIL, 198-218 
 
 Henry VIII., 219-37 
 
 Henry (IV.) of Navarre, 252, 
 262, 265, 294, 313 
 
 Hildebrand (Pope Gregory VII.), 
 
 37, 52 
 
 Hops introduced, 271 ; pro- 
 tected, 337 
 
 Howard, Catherine, 237 
 
 Huguenots, 245, 250, 262. And 
 see La Rochelle 
 
 Hundred Years' War, 1 30 
 
 Hungarian invasion of Italy, 27 
 
 Indulgences, sale of, 225 
 
 lona, 13 
 
 Ireland, references to, 72, 75, 
 126, 157, 160, 161, 211-2, 
 234-S, 266-7, 279, 291-2, 297, 
 299-300, 317-8, 321-S, 349 
 
 Iron trade, 186, 2or, 247 
 
 Italy, French invasion of, 211, 
 ai8, 319, 221, 333
 
 36o THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 James I,, 254, 262, 266, 272, 
 
 273-94 
 
 Japan, 278 
 
 Jews as international traders, 
 II, 17, 20, 206, 214, 263 ; in 
 England, 45, 56, 91 
 
 Joan of Arc, 176 
 
 John, 75, 80, 81-9 ^ 
 
 John of Gaunt, Duke of Lan- 
 caster, 147, 148, 150, 152, 154, 
 156-7, 159, 161 
 
 Ket's rebellion, 241, 271, 285 
 Knox, John, 239, 242, 244, 253-4 
 Kyrkeby, John, 153 
 
 La Rochelle, 252, 297, 306, 
 308, 311, 314- And see 
 
 Huguenots 
 
 Labourers, Statutes of, 146-7 
 
 Lambe, Dr., 310 
 
 Lanfranc, 41, 53, 57 
 
 Langton, Stephen, 84, 86, 93 
 
 Laud, Archbishop, 321, 325-9, 
 his policy, 330-43 
 
 Leicester, Earl of, 262-3, 272 
 
 Leighton's ' Sion's Plea,' 332 
 
 Levant Company, 248, 291, 304 
 
 Lewes, battle of, 104 
 
 ' Libel of EngUsh Policy ' {1436- 
 
 1437), 170-3 
 
 Lilburne, 332 
 
 Linen, Irish, 291-2, 323-4 
 
 Livery and maintenance, 201-2 
 
 Lollards, 147, 148, 152, I54, 160, 
 162 
 
 London, references to, 41-2, 45, 
 56, 69-70, 88, 127-8, 149, 159, 
 162-3, 182, 184, 185, 191-2, 
 223, 258, 310, 326-7, 345 
 
 Louis IX., 98 
 
 Luther, 225 
 
 Magnus Intercursus, 213 
 Mahomedans, their invasion of 
 
 Europe checked at Tours, 1 7 ; 
 
 invade Southern Italy, 25, 27 ; 
 
 capture Constantinople, 187 
 Malus Intercursus, 213 
 Manchester, 291, 324 
 
 Manwaring's sermon, 309 
 Marignano, battle of, 221 
 Marshal, William, Earl of Pem- 
 broke, 93 
 Mary of Burgundy, 194-0, 207 
 Mary Tudor, Queen, 242-4 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, 236, 238, 
 
 242, 243, 253-5, 262, 265 
 Maryland, 299 
 Massachusetts, 298 
 Maurice of Orange, 263, 281-2 
 Mayflower, 292-3, 298 
 Medici, the, 187, 200, 223; 
 
 Catherine de, 250 
 Merchant Adventurers, 175, 248, 
 
 258, 273, 275 
 Merchants' Charter, 118, 120, 
 
 122, 124, 128 
 Merciless ParUament, 158 
 Merton, provisions of, 97, 117 5 
 
 statute of, 202 
 Model Parliament, 115 
 Monasteries, foundation of, see 
 Benedictines, Cistercians ; sup- 
 pression of, 219-32 
 Monopolies, 274, 276, 304 
 Montague's pamphlet, 303, 307 
 Moors (Moriscos), 206, 214, 279- 
 
 280, 338 
 More, Sir Thomas, 230-1 
 Mortmain, statute of, no 
 Munster, Plantation of, 266 
 Muscovy merchants, 249 
 
 Naval matters referred to, 24-5, 
 31,32-3,37,38-9,40,86,134, 
 146, 1 5 1-2, 156, 170, 180, 181, 
 182, 189, 191, 198, 204, 225, 
 236, 249, 282, 290, 302, 308, 339 
 Naval power, increase of, 246-59 
 Navigation Act, 156, 189 
 Neville's Cross, 143 
 Nicholas I., Pope, 27 
 Nombre de Dios, 253, 255 
 Norman Conquest, 34-7° 
 Northampton, 153 
 Northmen, ravages of, 23 
 Northumberland, Algernon 
 
 Percy, loth earl of, 346-9 '> 
 John Dudley, Duke of, 241-2 
 Noy, Attorney-General, 319
 
 INDEX 
 
 361 
 
 Octroi, origin of, 1 1 
 Odo of Bayeux, 53 
 Off a. King of Mercia, 22 
 Ordainers, 124 
 Otto the Great, 27-9 
 
 Papal supremacy repudiated, 
 
 2 33-45 
 Parliament, first meeting at 
 
 Westminster, 105 
 Parma, Alexander of, 256, 264, 
 
 265 
 Parr, Catherine, 237, 239 
 Pavia, battle of, 227 
 Peasant proprietors, 240 
 Peasants' Revolt, 155 
 Peasants' War (Germany), 226 
 Peter's Pence, 16, 52 
 Petition of Right, 309 
 Philip II., 242-3, 245-68 
 Philipot, naval treasurer, 152 
 Pilgrimage of Grace, 232 
 Poll-tax, 150, 153 
 Poor rate, 285 
 Portugal, 69, 79, 156, 188, 205, 
 
 206, 207, 216, 224, 250, 257, 
 
 267-8,277,278,279 
 Poynings Acts, 211-12 
 Prise, levying of, 22 
 Protection for English trade, 
 
 early instances of, 42, 44-6, 
 
 69, 70- 90, 151, 171, 186-7, 198, 
 
 204, 216-7, 258, 337 
 Protective policy initiated, 193- 
 
 204 
 Provisions of Merton, 97, 117 ; of 
 
 Oxford, loi ; of Westminster, 
 
 lOI 
 
 Prynne, 332 
 
 Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, 27 
 Puritanism, rise of, 295 
 
 Quo Warranto, statute of, 117 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, 272, 275, 
 
 283, 291 
 Reformation in England at first 
 
 economic rather than re- 
 
 liKious, 231, 242 
 Religious contentions, 286-300 
 Rhode Island, 298 
 
 Richard I., 75, 77, 79-81 
 
 Richard II., 147-62 
 
 Richard III., 196-8 
 
 Richard, Earl of Gloucester, 
 
 100-4 
 Richelieu, Cardinal, 313, 314, 
 
 330, 337 
 Richmond Park enclosed, 334 
 Roberts, Lewes, on Manchester, 
 
 291, 323-4 
 Rolf, Duke of Normandy, 26 
 Roman Settlement of Britain, 
 
 1-7 
 Rome, sack of, 228 
 
 St. Albans, 185, 186 
 
 St. Augustine, 13-4 
 
 St. Bartholomew Massacre, 252 
 
 St. Benedict, 13 
 
 St. Berno of Cluny, 28 
 
 St. Boniface, 18 
 
 St. Columba, 13 
 
 St. Dominic, 85, 99 
 
 St. Dunstan, 28, 30-2 
 
 St. Francis, 99 
 
 St. Wilfrid, 15-6 
 
 St. Willibrord, 18 
 
 Saracenic invasion of Europe, 
 17, 25, 27 
 
 Saxon England, 22-33 
 
 Scotland referred to, 75, 11 1-2, 
 115-20, 125, 129-30, 143, 
 144, 175, 189, 195-6, 212-3, 
 220-1, 235-7, 244-5, 253-4, 
 265-6, 284, 295-6, 316, 319- 
 320, 340-3 
 
 Sea-Beggars, 252, 255 
 
 Sea-power, increase of, 246-59 
 
 Serfdom, disappearance of, 155 
 
 Settlement of Europe, 8-21 
 
 Seymour, Jane, 231 
 
 Ship-money, 308, 328, 338 
 
 Sliips and naval stores bought 
 from Germany, 121-2, 172, 249 
 
 Short Parliament, 349 
 
 Silk, 186, 199 
 
 Simnol, Lambert, 209 
 
 Six Articles, 234, 239 
 
 Slave-trade, 250, 251 
 
 Sluys, battles at, (1340) 134, 
 (1387) I5«
 
 362 
 
 THE STRENGTH OF ENGLAND 
 
 Somerset, Duke of, Protector, 
 
 237-41 
 Southampton, 153 
 Spain, 189, 205-18, 219, 224, 
 
 228, 234, 242-4, 246-83, 289- 
 
 294, 306, 337-9, 348 
 Stade, 259, 268 
 Star Chamber, 201, 322, 330 
 States-General of France, 312-4 
 Statute of Marlborough, loi 
 Steelyard, 49, 121, 124, 131, 151, 
 
 165, 184, 190, 191, 213, 241, 
 
 268, 273. See Hanseatic 
 
 League 
 Stephen of Boulogne, 63, 64, 
 
 65-70 
 Stigand, 39, 41 
 Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, 
 
 Lord, 309, 311, 318, 319, 320, 
 
 321-5, 348-9 
 Stratford, John, Archbp., 137-8 
 Suffolk, William de la Pole, 
 
 Duke of, 178, 182-3 
 Sw«yn, King of Denmark, 32-3 
 
 Templars, 125 
 
 Tetzel, 225 
 
 Theodore of Tarsus, 15 
 
 Theodosius the Great, 4 
 
 Thirty Years' War, 227, 282, 
 
 289, 292, 338 
 Thomas of Lancaster, 125-28 
 ' Thorough,' policy of, 321 
 Tobacco, 298 
 Toulouse, 85, 94 
 Tournay, 220, 223 
 Tours, battle of, 17 
 Tunnage and poundage, 303, 
 
 307, 312 
 
 Ulster, Plantation of, 279, 
 
 291-2, 300 
 Utrecht, diet at, 183-4, I93> 
 
 204 
 
 Venice, 20, 50, 172, 203, 218 
 Verdun, treaty of, 20, 23 
 Vills and villeins, Saxon, 9 
 Virginia Company, 291, 297, 305 
 Volterra, 187 
 
 Wales, iio-i, 114-5, 235 
 Wallace, William, 11 6-9 
 War of the Roses, 179-92 
 Warbeck, Perkin, 210-2 
 Warwick, Earl of, 185, 190-1 
 Weavers, immigrant, 271 
 Westminster, Council of, 99, 100 
 Whitby Conference, 14-5 
 Whitelock's ' Memorials,' 320, 
 
 328 
 Whittington, Rich., Lord Mayor, 
 
 160, 162 
 Widukind, 19 
 WilUam I., 35-54 
 William IL, 55-9 
 William of Orange, 251-2, 255-7, 
 
 261-2 
 Winchelsey, Robert of, 114, 119- 
 
 120, 122, 125 
 Winchester, statute of, 131 
 Winwaed, battle of, 14 
 Wisby, 44, 50, 173 
 Witchcraft, belief in, 331, 341 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, 222-30 
 Wool and cloth trade, 26-7, 43, 
 60, 63, 75-6, 84, 95, 102-3, 
 108-10, 112, 130-4, 141, 142, 
 143, 166, 176, 177, 186-8, 190, 
 200-1, 203-4, 206, 223, 239, 
 
 337 
 Wulfstan, 41 
 Wychffe, John, 147, 148, 150, 
 
 152 
 
 Yeoman class, 203 
 
 York, Richard, Duke of, 178, 
 182, 183, 185-6 ; Edward, 
 Duke of, see Edward IV. 
 
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