CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM Mrs. Wm.F-E. Gurley Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027973266 HISTOKY ENGLAND, POLITICAL, MILITARY, AND SOCIAL, EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT. BENSON J. LOSSING, ADTHOR OP "PICTOniAL FXEXD-BOOK OF THE EEVOLUTION AND WAB OF 1812/' "hjstoby op the gbeat civni wab," "histoby of the united STATES," "UDFE OF WASHINGTON," ETC., ETC., ETC. NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, ABSOCIATIOK BXJILDINQ. 1871. m Entered according to Act of CongreSB, in ttie year 1&71, By G. p. PUTNAM & SONS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. TUB NEW TORE PltlNTINQ COMTAHY, 305, 207, 209, 211, aud 213 East Twoiaii Street PEEFAOE. In the work of preparing this volume, I claim no larger share of merit than that which justly belongs to a careful compiler of facta from the best and most recent sources of ioformation. I have given, within as small a space as a clear presentation would allow, a narrative of the most Important events in the history of the civil and militaiy transactions of Englajid, from the time of its occu- pation by the ancient Britons and Gauls until now ; also, an account of the progress of the people in the organization of government, the establishment of laws, the practical assertion of popular liberty, the practice of useful occupations, which give strength and beauty to so- ciety and the State ; the modes of dress, Uving, and recreations ; and the cultivation of science, literature, and the fine arts ; by aU of which the reader may comprehend the growth and philosophy of that civilization and power which distinguish the British Empire to-day. Thip volume is specially intended for the use of students of the Hisbory of England in families and schools. It is divided into eras, which mark important changes in the civil, political, and social con- dition of the country; and is subdivided into convenient chapters and sections, in a manner, to combine the advantages of a text-book with those of an attractive story of the life of a great nation. For the purpose of assisting the reader and the student in obtain- ing a clear understanding of the unity of events, remote and near, which make up the History of .England, a running concordance is in- troduced in the form of marginal references, by which the relations of a fact noticed in any portion of the work to another fact already iv PKEPACB. mentioned is indicated, and the nature of that relation may be in stantly observed. This will be found eminently useful, not only as forming a continuous chain of connection, but as a means for saving a great amount of time that might be spent in searching for such connection. B. J. L. The BmGE, Doveb Plains, N. y., August, 1871. ..■" O O NTEl^T S. BOOK I. INTKODUCTION. PAOH Chapter L The British Islands and their Inhabitants 1 BOOK n. The Roman Invasion and Rule. [From B.C. 55 to a.d. 410.] I. Civil and Military Transactions 7 II. Geographical and Political Divisions 20 TIT. Society before the Saxon Invasion 34 BOOK m. The Saxon Bka. [From the 5th to the 11th Century. I. The Early Invaders from the North 27 II. The Rise and History of the Heptarchy. [From the 5th to the 9th Century.] in. Reign of Egbert [a.d. 800 to 837] 40 IV. Reign of Ethelwulf [a.d. 837 to 858] 43 V. Reign of Ethelbald and Ethelbert [A.D. 858 to 866].. . . « VI. Reign of Ethelred [A. D. 866 to 871] 45 VII. Reign of Alfred [A. D. 871 to 901] 46 VUl Reign of Edward the Elder [A.D. 901 to 925] 50 IX. Reign of Athelstan [A.D. 925 to 940] 52 X. Reign of Edmund the First [A.D. 940 to 940] 54 XL Beign of Edred [A.D. 946 to 955] 55 Xn. Reign of Bdwy [a.d. 955 to 9.58] 57 Xni. Reign of Edgar [a.d. 958 to 975] 58 XIV. Reign of Edward the Second [A.D. 975 to 979] 60 XV. Reign of Ethelred the Second [a.d. 979 to 1016] 63 ■ri CONTENTS. PAGE Chai'TEB XVI. Beign of Edmund Ironsides [a.d. 1016] 67 XVII. Beign of Canute [A.D. 1016 to 1035] 68 XVni. Reign of Harold the First [A.D. 1035 to 1040] 71 XIX. Beign of Harthacanute [A.D. 1040 to 1042] 73 XX. Beign of Edward the Confessor [A.I). 1043 to 1066]. . . 73 XXI. Reign of Harold the Second [A.D. 1066] 78 XXII. Society during the Saxon Era 85 BOOK IV. The Nobman Bule. [From A.D. 1066 to 1154.] I. Beign of William the First [A.D. 1066 to 1087] 95 n. Beign of William the Second [A.D. 1087 to 1100] 105 III Beign of Henry the First [A.D. 1100 to 1135] 116 IV. Reign of Stephen [a.d. 1135 to 1154] 125 BOOK V. The Flantaqenets. [From a.d. 1154 to 1485.] I. Beign of Henry the Second [A.D. 1154 to 1189] 130 IL Beign of Bichard the First [a.d. 1189 to 1199] 144 III. Beign of John [A.D. 1199 to 1216] 154 IV. Society during the Norman and Early Plantagenet Period 102 V. Reign of Henry the Third [A.D. 1216 to 1373] 171 VI. Reign of Edward the First [A.D. 1272 to 1307] 183 VII. Beign of Edward the Second [A.D. 1307 to 1337] 196 Vin. Beign of Edward the Third [A.D. 1337 to 1377] 205 IX. Beign of Bichard the Second [A.D. 1377 to 1399] 317 X. Society from the year 1201 to the year 1400 228 XL Beign of Henry the Fourth [A.D. 1399 to 1413] 237 Xn. Beign of Henry the Fifth [A.D. 1413 to 1433] 245 XIII. Reign of Henry the Sijcth [A.D. 1423 to 1461] 353 XIV. Beign of Edward the Fourth [a.d. 1464 to 1483] 2fA XV. Beign of Edward the Fifth [A.D.1483] 274 XVI. Beign of Bichard the Third [A.D. 1483 to 1485]. .- 377 XVII. The Plantagenets. Scotland [A.D. 11.54 to 148,5] 383 XVIII. Society during the rule of the later Plantagenets 288 BOOK VI. The Todoks. [From 1485 to 1603.] I. Reign of Henry the Seventh [A.D. 1485 to 1509] 295 II. Beign of Henry the Eighth [A.D. 1509 to 1.547] 308 in. Beign of Edward the Sixth [A.D. 1547 to 1553] 329 IV. Reign of Maty [a.d. 1553 to 1558] 338 CONTENTS. vii PAGE Chaptee v. Reign of Elizabeth [A.D. 1558 to 160S] 353 VI. Society in the time of the Tutors 377 BOOK VIL TuE Stuakts. [Prom 1603 to 1649.] I. Reign of James the Eirst [A.D. 1603 to 1635] 388 11. Reign of Charles the First [a.d. 1635 to 1649] 400 BOOK vin. The Commonwealth. [From 1649 to 1660.] I. The Republic [A.D. 1649 to 1653] 438 II. The Protectorate [A-d. 1653 to 1660] 437 nX Society during the first half of the Seventeenth Cen- tury 444 BOOK IX. The Eestobbd Stuabts. [Prom 1660 to 1714.] I. Reign of Charles the Second [a.d. 1660 to 1685] 456 II. Reign of James the Second [a.d. 1685 to 1689] 469 in. Reign of WiUiam and Mary [A.D. 1689 to 1694] 480 IV. Reign of WUUam the Third [a.p. 1694 to 1703] 487 V. Reign of Anne [a.d. 1703 to 1714] 490 VI. Society during the later rule of the Stuarts. 498 BOOK X. The House op Bedmswick. [Prom a.d. 1714 to the present time.] I. Reign of George the First [A.D. 1714 to 1727] 510 IL Reign of George the Second [a.d. 1727 to 1760] 516 m. Reign of George the Third [a.d. 1760 to 1830] 533 IV. Reign of George the Fourth [a.d. 1820 to 1830] 560 V. Society during the reigns of the Pour Georges 565 VT. Reign of William the Fourth [A.n. 1830 to 1837] 583 Vn. Reign of Victoria [A. D. 1837] 590 VUl The Present Condition of Great Britain 611 IX. Natural Features and Remarkable Events , 618 APPENDIX. I. Royal Families and Principal Cotemporary Eujropean Sovereigns. . 629 II. Chronology of Events in the History of England 634 .'^Tr' 1 'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. BO"OK I. INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I. THE BRITISH ISLANDS AND THE INHABITANTS. § 1. The mists of fable puzzle inquirers after the original popu- lation of the British Islands. History and tradition tell us that they were inhabited a thousand years before the Christian era, or almost thirty centuries ago. § 3. Scholars now generally agree in opinion that the earlier settlers of the islands were Celts, a part of the great Indo-Euro- pean family who migrated from Central Asia in pre-historic times, and whose language was close akin to the Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, and German. § 3. The British Islands are two in number, and are called re- spectively Gkeat Bbitain and Ireland. They lie in the North Atlantic Ocean, between the 49th and the 61st degrees of north latitude, and the 3d of east and the 11th of west longitude from Greenwich, England. On the west is the open ocean between them and North America ; on the east is the German Ocean or North Sea ; and to the south and south-east lies France, which in some places is but twenty miles distant. It is belieyed that the two countries were once connected. 2 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book I. Geographical Dmsiona, Great Britain and Ireland. § 4. Gbbat Britain, the larger of the two islands, contains in its SQuthern part, England; in its western, Wale$ ; and in its northern, Scotland. The English Channel on the south, and the German Ocean on the east, divide it from France and Germany ; and the Irish Sea, of which a narrow part is called St. George's Channel, separates it on the west frSm the smaller island, Ireland. § 5. England and Wales form together a tract of country of triangular shape, which is separated from Scotland on the north by the rivers Tweed and Solway, and the Cheviot hills, and on the south, east, and west sides it is washed by the sea. Its extent, from Berwick on the Tweed in the north, to the North Foreland in Kent on the south, is 355 miles ; from Spurn Point in Yorkshire on the east, to Holyhead in Wales on the west, is 310 miles; and from the North Foreland in the east, to the Land's End in Corn- wall on the west, is 320 mUes. It contains 58,330 square miles. § 6. Scotland, like England and Wales, is washed on three sides by the sea. On the fourth or southern side it joins England. Its extent, from Cape Wrath in Sutherland in the north, to the Mull of Galloway opposite Ireland in the south, is 380 miles ; from east to west, between Aberdeen-shire and Eoss-shire, its width is 150 miles, but in Sutherland, which reaches from coast to coast, it is only 40. It contains 31,334 square miles. § 7. luBLAJTD lies to the westward of Great Britain, from which in one place it is but 15 mUes distant ; in other parts the two countries are from 60 to 180 miles apart. Its extent, from Pair Head in the north-east, to Mizen Head in the south-west, is 300 miles ; from Camsore Point in the east, to Smerwick Head in the west, is 170 miles; whilst from Dublin in the east, to Galway in the west, the distance is only 130 miles. The island contains 82,513 square miles. § 8. These countries are now all divided into districts called counties, or shires, of which England has 40, Wales 13, Scotland 33, and Ireland 32. But formerly they were arranged in a very different way ; there were Roman provinces, British, Saxon, and Irish kingdoms, and British-Norseman principalities. § 9. In the waters around the British Islands are several smaller ones, single or in groups, which were known to the Romans and Saxons. The cliief of these are, Sheppey, at the mouth of the Thames ; the Me of Wight, off Hampshire ; the Scilly Tsles, off Cornwall ; Anglesey, off the coast of AVales ; Man, in the Irish Chaptek I.] rNTKODUCTIOIT. 3 Britisli Is'.ands. Great Britain visiteo Dy Foreign Nayigatiirs. Sea ; and the Hebrides and OrJcneys, off the west and north coast of Scotland. These are their modem names, and differ but little fi'om the Saxon ones. But the Romans called Sheppey, Toliatis; Wight, Vectis ; Scilly, Cassiteridm ; Anglesey and Man, both Mona ; and the Hebrides and Orkneys, Mudes and Orcades. § 10. The British Islands, as we have observed, were known at a very early period. History tells us that at least five hundred years before Christ, Phoenician navigators, in the service of the merchants of the old Syrian seaports of Tyre and Sidon, visited what is now the coast of Cornwall, in the south-west part of England, and the adjacent Scilly Islands. There they procured tin for the manufacture of bronze, a metal used by the ancients for many purposes for which we employ iron and steel. § 11. The Britons, as the older inhabitants were called, dug the tin fi'om mines, or washed it from the sands of streams, and cast it into ingots for the traders. These traders called the region the tin-land, or tin-islands ; and it is supposed that the name of Bri- tannia, by which the Greeks and Romans knew the country, is de- rived from the compound Celtic word. Bruit-tan — bruit, tin, and tan, land, as in the same language Hindos-tan is Hindoo-land. § 12. Ireland appears to have been known to the same naviga- tors and others from the ancient Greek colony on the site of Mar- seilles, in France; and there are in history glimpses of an older and higher civilization there than in the island of Great Britain. § 13. The Syrian merchants, and those of Carthage who were their successors in making distant trading voyages, tried to conceal from others all knowledge of the mineral wealth of Britannia. They failed ; and in time, not only tA,ders but settlers came from the neighboring coasts of Gaul (now France), and the Netherlands, to possess themselves of other riches in various parts of Great Britain, such as fertile soU, abundance of cattle, spacious and shel- tered harbors, and pearls in the rivers. § 14. Upon the coasts and along the banks of rivers these later Celtic emigrants soon established themselves, either with or with- out the consent of the earlier inhabitants. In time they became so numerous and powerful that they pushed the ancient Britons back into the interior, when the social degeneration which they had experienced since their emigration from Asia, went on with accelerated pace, in isolation, until they ceased lo be agriculturists and workers in metala. 6 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. l^oo«. ^. Government of tlie Britons. Pursuits of the People. § 31. The government of the early Britons, especially after their admixture with the Gauls on the coast, aj^pears to have been monarcliical in form. The executive power, under the Druid priesjs, was lodged in the chief of a tribe. Among the more northerly tribes, inhabiting Caledonia (Scotland) and adjacent islands, the king possessed no property, but had the free use of that of all his subjects. This regulation was to prevent his doing acts of injustice for the sake of possessions. He was not allowed to have a wife of his own, but the wives of all his subjects were at his disposal. So, not knowing Ms own children, he could not be tempted to encroach upon the rights of his subjects in the aggrandizement of his own family. Such was the plan of Plato, in his " Republic," for guarding against the same evils. § 23. A^culture and the arts were almost wholly unknovra. The inhabitants lived upon the milk and flesh of their flocks and herds, and the winnings of the chase. They did not sow the land nor eat of the abundance of fishes in the waters ; neither of the flesh of the hare, the goose, or the domestic fowl, which they raised for amusement. Even the Qaulic inhabitants of the coast, when the Roman legions came, were ignorant of the use of the flail and fan in the proper preparation of their grain for the flour- ing-mortar. But, in time, the intercourse between the dwellers by the sea and those inland caused a modification of barbarism all over the island. The more ancient inhabitants began to cultivate the soil ; to make coarse cloth from wool ; and they became expert in the manufacture of war-chariots, and in their use with swift horses, as in the days of the Hebrew kings. § 33. Such were the inhabitants of Great Britain when the Romans landed on its shores, in the pleasant summer-time, fifty- five yeara before the birth of Christ. They found the island thickly populated. BOOK li. THE EOMAJSr INVASION ANB RULE. [From b.c. 55 to a.d. 410.] CHAPTER I. » CITIL AND MILITAET TRANSACTIONS. § 1. At midnight, between the 24th and 35th of August, in the year 55 before Christ, Julius C § 19, p. 5- pedition a general rising took place, which threat- ened to root out the Roman power altogether. § 33. This was caused by Catus Decianus, who, as procurator, or ti'easurer, had the chief government in civil affairs, and in league with Seneca, a money-lender, practised the most cruel oppression on the subjugated Britons. One of their kings named Prasutagus, who niled in Norfolk, in the hope of securing good treatment to his family, bequeathed one-half of his dominions to the Romans, but Decianus at once seized on the whole [a.d. 61], and when his widow, Boadicea, sister of Caractacus, remonstrated, she was scourged like a slave, and her daughters were infamously used. § 34. Being a woman of sense and spirit, the queen (who could trace her descent from the monarchs of Egypt) roused her country- men, and was^soon at the head of a vast, though disorderly aimy. She is described as one of the tallest of women, with a fierce coun- tenance and a harsh voice. She had yellow hair, which hung be- low her waist. She wore a collar of gold, and a party-colored flowing vest, and over this a thick mantle secured by a clasp. Standing in her war-chariot, she brandished a spear, and pointing to her dishonored daughters, who crouched in grief and shame on the ground, she exhorted her troops to " play the man," and avenge them. § 35. The call was terribly answered. One Roman town after another was captured, and all within, whether foreigner or native, mercilessly slaughtered. Ebndon, which had already become a place of abundant commerce, was thus destroyed, Petilius Cerialis and a legion were routed, and Catus Decianus, the chief cause of the war, with diflSculty escaped to Gaul. § 36. On hearing the news of this outbreak, Suetonius marched with haste toward the ruins of London with 10,000 veterans, and' defeated Boadicea with terrible slaughter. It is said that 80,000 16 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book II. The Britons under Boadicea alanghtered. Agrioola's Campaigns and Conquests. Britons perished on that occasion. The queen died soon afterward, and though her countrymen held together until they had honored her with a magnificent funeral, they were obliged at last to submit to Suetonius, who behaved so rigorously that he was recalled, lest his cruelty should provoke another revolt. § 37. For eight years the natives bore the yoke in sullen sub- mission ; but when in the year 69 quarrels broke out among the Romans themselves, as to the choice of an emperor, Venu- sius » again took up arms. Trebellius Maximus, the ' ^ ^^' ''■ ^^' general, fled from him, and Petilius Cerialis was ap- pointed in his place. Agricola, who had served under Suetonius, now took the command in the field, and he had such success that he and the legion especially under his orders (the Fom-teenth) re- ceived the appellation of " Conquerors of Britain." § 38. Thus the time passed on until the year 78, when Agricola received the sole command, and he then began a series of seven campaigns, which ended in firmly establishing the Roman power. As he was a wise and humane man, he reconciled the people to their bondage, and induced their chiefs to adopt much of the man- ners and customs of their masters, to study their language, and to imitate their buildings. § 39. In the first campaign [a.d. 78] Agricola conquered Mona (Anglesey), which had become independent again when Suetonius withdrew. In the second [a.d. 79] and third [a.d. 80] he overran the whole country as far as the Frith of Tay, and exacted as hostages the sons of the chiefs, whom he caused to be educated in the Roman manner. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth [a.d. 81, 83, 83] he steadily advanced through Scotland, and built a chain of forts between the Clyde and the Forth. He also sought and obtained a knowledge of Ireland, with a view to attempting its conquest and subjugating the people. § 40. In his last campaign [a.d. 84] Agricola overthrew Gal- gacus, the last champion of the North Britons. Then taking to his ships, he sailed as far as the Orkneys, and discovered, what was "not before known, that Britain was an island. His great ■services, however, had provoked the jealousy of the Emperor Domitian, and he was recalled in the same year. § 41. Though the Roman rule endured in Britain for no less than 326 years after the recall of Agricola, very few of the im- portant incidents that must havJ occurred are recorded. The Chapter I.] ROMANS IN ENGLAND. 17 The Eoman Policy and Government In Britain. InsuiTeotions and Invasions. country was governed at first by an officer styled a Legate, and afteiTvards by a Vicar, under whom were Presidents for each of the provinces, and a Procurator, who attended to the finances. But the chief support of the Roman power was in their settlements of veteran soldiers, who received lands and privileges, instead of the pensions of modem times. They dwelt together in fortified towns called colonies, and in an army usually of three legions, to which was attached about an equal number of auxiliaiies from Gaul or Germany, making together full 30,000 foot and 6,000 horse. Rebellions were guarded against, as far as possible, by at least as large a body of the native youth being sent to serve in other countries along with the legions — a policy that the Romans always pursued. The troops were stationed in strong forts and camps at very moderate distances from each other, of which about 150 are known ; and they also garrisoned two formidable ram- pai-ts, known as the Wall of Agricola and the "Wall of Hadrian, which stretched across the island, and separated the subdued fi-om the unsubdued Britons. § 43. Many of the British chiefs were allowed to retain the title of King, and some part of their territories ; but the policy of Agricola, which was followed by bis successors, had the effect of rendering them utterly powerless, and they seem seldom to have headed their countrymen in the struggles that were stUL occasion- ally made for freedom. § 43. One of these risings occurred in the year 117, and it ap- peared so formidable, that in 120 the Emperor Hadrian visited the island and ordered the wall that bears his name to be built. In 138 the Brigantes, being despoiled of their lands, took up arms, and this occasioned the strengthening of the Wall of Agricola. About forty years later the northern tribes burst thi-ough this barrier, and the repulsing them was thought so important that the reigning Emperor, Commodus, took the title of Britannicus, as for a new conquest of the island. This commotion was scarcely quieted when Clodius Albinus, the Roman commander, assumed the title of Emperor. He held possession of the island for a whila, but at length, in 197, passing over into Gaul, he was there defeated and killed, and the first British army that had fought on the continent was cut to pieces. § 44. The Roman power in Britain was of course greatly weak- ened by this misfortune, and in the year 301 Viiius Lupus, the 18 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book II. Campaign o£ Severus. Decline of the Eoman Empire. An independent British Emperor. governor, was obb'ged to purchase a peace of one of the northern tribes. Soon aftei-ward the Emperor Severus visited Britain, had the "Wall of Hadrian rebuilt, and made a campaign against the Caledonians. He also took the surname of Britannicus, as if suc- cessful; but full 50,000 of his men perished in the war, and he himself died at York soon after his return, in the year 211 of the Christian era. § 45. From this time forward the power of the Roman empire declined daily. Generals rose up in almost every quarter, and proclaimed themselves emperors, and all things fell into confusion. The governors of Britain took advantage of this to render them- selves almost independent, and for nearly eighty years they re- mained so, until a Romanized Britain found means to reduce the island to his obedience. § 46. This was Carausius, who was the commander of a fleet that was employed to guard the coast of Britain and Gaul from the ravages of the unsubdued nations of the north of Europe, after- wards so well known as the Saxons. These people, before the year 286, had visited Britain, and small bodies had even estab- lished themselves there, with the connivance of Carausius, as was supposed. Finding himself suspected, and in danger, he acted promptly. He set sail fi-om Gessoriacum " (Boulogne), where he left a strong garrison, landed in Britain, repulsed several formidable attacks by the Emperors Maximian and Diocletian, and at length obliged them to acknowledge him as a sharer of their empu-e. § 47. Carausius now struck coins with the proud inscription, " Romano renova," and others with a ship, showing his know- ledge of the true arm of strength for Britain. Although Ges- soriacum was taken from him in 292, and he himself was killed two years afterwards by his minister Allectus, who succeeded to his power, it was not until 296 that the island was subdued, and then mainly through the circumstance of Constantius Chlonis, the Roman general, passing the British fleet in a mist. That victori- ous general, who had foi-merly married a British princess, the re- nowned St. Helena in the annals of the Chiistian Church, remained in the island until his death. His power descended to his son by Helena, afterwards knovra as Constantino the Great, who was the first Cluistian emperor. § 48. In the year 867 a revolt broke out in the army and navy Chapter I.] ROMANS IN ENGLAND. 19 Bavaees of the Picta and Soots. End ot Boman Role in Britain. m Britain, when FuUofaudes md Nectaridus, the commanders, were slain. Theodosius, a general, being sent over, restored order, drove back the northern tribes, named the country that they had occupied Valentia, in honor of the Emperor Valentinian, and re- paired or rebuilt many of the towns. These northern tribes were known as Picts (because they painted themselves) and Scots, who inhabited the present territory of Scotland. They were first mentioned at about this time. In 383 there was an- other revolt, when the army made their general, Maximua, emperor, and passing over to Gaul, may be said to have aban- doned Britain. § 49. The semblance of the Eoman rule was, however, kept up for nearly thirty years longer, and hence the Britons, when har- assed by the northern tribes and the sea-robbers, stUl applied to the Emperors for assistance. Thus in the year 396 a legion was sent to Britain, which drove back the Picts and Scots, and re- paired the Wall of Severus ; but it was soon recalled, and a British aiiny was then raised to defend the country. This army soon imitated the Romans, by choosing an emperor for itself, — first Marcus, then G-ratian, — ^btit both were killed within a short time. Then the title was by them bestowed on a private soldier named Constantine, who, not content with ruling in Britain, carried an aimy over to France and Spain, and held possession of them until he was defeated and killed, four years after. § 50. As soon as Constantine and the army had departed, the northern tribes again burst in and ravaged the country. The people in a body then took up arms, but instead of driving back the invaders they expelled all the Eoman magistrates, and utter anarchy in consequence soon prevailed. The Emperor Honorius then wrote letters to the British cities releasing them from alle- giance to the empire, and thus their long connection with it came to a close. § 51. This was in the year 410, the same year that Rome itself was taken by the Goths ; but many of the Romans remained in the island until the year 418, when, an old English writer says, " they collected all the treasures that were in Britain, and some they hid in the earth, so that no one has since been able to find them, and some they canied with them into Gaul. And so de- parted fi-om this island the Roman people and the Roman rule." 20 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book II. Effects of Boman Bule in Britain. Chrifitians and Christianity in Britain. CHAPTER n. GEOGBAPHICAL AND POLITICAl DIVISIONS. § 1. The Boman conquests of Great Britain introduced a civiliz- ing agent there in Christianity. The seeds of the new religion were planted here and there, one by one, and germinated and spread without any of the miracles mentioned in legends. It was first gradually diffused over the South of England, where the in- fluence of the Romans was chiefly felt, and seems to have made considerable progress as an organized institution when Diocletian persecuted the Church of Christ everywhere. Then it was, late in the third century, that a pagan convert, who was canonized " St. Albans," perished for the faith, and is held to be the first British Christian martyr. § 2. At the evacuation of the country by the Romans, Chiistians were numerous in Great Britain and Ii'eland. Churches, prelates, priests, and monks abounded ; and the country was represented in ecclesiastical councils as a province of the Church of Rome. Dru- idism had corrupted the purity of Christianity ; and the ecclesias- tics were not much more saint-like in life than the laity. They were politicians, and when occasion required they fought with carnal weapons while shouting Allelujahs. But with zeal they planted the principles of Christianity in the hearts and minds of the people, which 'bore glorious fruit. § 3. We have already observed that the form of government in ancient Britain was monarchical, and largely influenced by, if not wholly under the control of, a theocracy composed of the Druid priesthood. Before noticing the government introduced by the Romans, and for the purpose of obtaining a clearer understanding of the history, early and later, of Great Britain, it seems proper here, at the close of the brief record of Roman rule, and the begin- ning of the British independence that was followed by Saxon in- vasions and conquests, to give an account of the political divisions of the people and country into tribes or nations, and j>rovinces at the period which we have been considering. § 4. We have noticed the origin of the word Britain or Britan- .§11, p .3. ™'^''' "^^'^ island was also called Albion, or White Land, a name suggested by the white chalk cliffs of Dover, nearest Gaul. It was also called lerne, or the Sacred Chaptek n.] ROMANS IN ENGLAND. 21 Political DivisionB oi Great Britohi. Isle, the fabled resting-place of the sun in the far west to Orientals. § 5. The Romans did not visit Ireland , but held a portion of Great Britain for almost 400 years. The territory which they actually occupied they called Hither Britain {Britannia Citerior), and that which they failed to subdue, Farther Britain (Britannia Ulterior). § 6. They divided Hither Britain into five great provinces, whose names show the gradual progress of the Roman arms. Tliese were. First Britain (Britannia Prima) ; Second Britain (Britannia Se- cunda) ; Flavia Caasarean province (Flo/via Ocesariensis) ; Great Csesarean province (Maximus Gcesariensis), and the province of Valens (Vafentia). § 7. Fii'st Britain was the South of England, and was first con- quered by the Romans. , Second Britain was Wales, which resisted the invaders several years longer. The Flavian Caesarean province was the central part of England, or the midland and eastern coun- ties of the present day. This, as we have seen, was subdued about the same time as Second Britain," and was secured by a line of forts extending from the Nen to tae Avon. § 8. The last conquest by the Romans was the Great Oassarean province, which occupied the rest of the country, and which was divided from the north countiy by two great walls,' to keep out the Plots and Scots. Tliese broke over the walls ' and reconquered what is now Northumberland and the South of Scotland. They were driven out, and the country between the walls was then named Valentia, in honor of the reigning emperor. See the map forming the frontispiece of this work. § 9. We will now consider more particularly those Roman divisions, with the British tribes, the Saxon kingdoms, and the modern counties contained in each. Mrst Britain (Britannia Prima). § 10. This comprised all that part of the South of England which lies between the sea and the rivers Tliames and Severn, and which is now divided into the counties of Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Southampton, Berks, Wilts, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and Corn- wall. The British tribes in this province, who are known to xis only by their Romanized names, were the- Gantii, who occupied Kent ; th3 Regnii, who inhabited Surrey ; the Atrebatii and Belgte, 22 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. - [Book II. Second and Central Britain and the Inhabitants. who dwelt in Hants, Berks, Wilts, and Somerset ; the Durotriges, who occupied Dorset ; and the Dumnonii, who held Devon and Corn- wall. The Saxons divided the jarovince into the kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, and Wessex. Kent had about the extent of the county at the present day. Sussex included Surrey, and Wessex occupied the rest of the district. The capitals of these kingdoms, in the order named, were respectively Canterbury, Chichester, and Winchester. Second Britain (Britannia Secunda). § 11. This province comprised the district beyond the Severn, now called Wales, which is divided into two districts, known as North and South Wales. In North Wales are the six counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, Flint, Denbigh, Montgomery, and Merion- eth. In South Wales are six more, called Radnor, Brecon, Gla- morgan, Pembroke, Caermarthen, and Cardigan. The Roman province also comprised Monmouthshire and Herefordshire, coun- ties on each side of the Severn, which have long been parts of England. § 12. The British tribes in this province were the Ordmiees, in the northern part : the Silures,'^ in the south ; and the " § 32, p. 14. '- ^ ' DetneUE, on the western sea-coast. The Saxons did not subdue Wales. The country was generally divided during the Saxon era into the three kingdoms of G-wynneth, or North Wales ; Dynevor, or South Wales ; and Powys, on' both sides of the Severn. The rulers respectively bore the titles of kings of Aberfraw, of Cardigan, and .of Mathraval, the names of the chief towns in their several states. Plavia Ocesariensis. § 13. This was the central part of England, which lies north of the Thames and south of the Humber, with the German Oeean on the east and the Severn on the west. Passing westward along the covirse of the Thames we have the counties of Essex, Middlesex, Buckingham, Oxford, and Gloucester. Along the Severn, or near it, going northward, are Hereford, Worcester, Salop, and Chester. On the coast are Lincoln, Norfolk, and Suffolk; and in the centre are Hertford, Bedford, Huntington, Cambridge, North- ampton, Rutland, Leicester, Warwick, Stafford, Derby, and Not- tingham. On AFTER II.] ^ ROMANS IN ENGLAND. 23 Central and Northern Britain aad the Inhabitants. § 14. The British tribes in this province were the Trinolantes, the Catyeucldani, and the Dobrinii, near the course of the Thames ■ the Ooiiiarii, along the east side of the Severn ; the Ooritanii, in Lincolnshire and the interior ; and the Icmii, in Norfolk and Suf- folk. § 15. Tlie Saxons established in this province the four king- doms of Essex, Middlesex, East Anglia, and Merda. Essex and Middlesex wore nearly the same as the modern counties of the same name. East Anglia comprehended Korfolk and Sufeolk, and Mercia occupied the rest of the province. MaaAma Ocesariensis. § 16. Tliia province was the region north of the Humber, ex- tending to the Tyne. It now includes the counties of York and Durham, on the German Ocean ; and Lancaster, "Westmoreland, and Cumberland, on the Irish Sea. § 17. The powerful British tribe known as the Brigantes,'' oc- cupied the greater part of this province. There was a tiibe known as the Paruii, who were seated on the ' ''' Yorkshire coast, near the mouth of the Humber. § 18. The Saxons divided the province into the two kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia. The former lay to the north, and extended into the present Scotland ; but the two states were often governed by the same rulers, and formed the kingdom of Northumber- land. Valentia. § 19. This province lay between the Tyne and the Frith of Forth, a territory conquered by Agricola,* afterward recov- ered by the Britons, and again reconquered » and ^ ' '' '' named Valentia. ' S ^8, p. is. § 20. The tribes that inhabited that region were the Novantm and the Selgovm, in the west ; the Gadenii, in .the centre, and the Ottadinii, in the east. They occupied the present counties of Galloway, Ayrshire, Selkirk, and Northumberland. The Dmnnii dwelt in the country extending from the Clyde to the Tweed. § 31. Besides the Saxon kingdom of Deira, which projected into tliis province, there were, for a while, some small British states on the western s!de, in what is now Strathclyde ; and at a later 24 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. ^ [Book H. Korth Britain. Tribes of the Highlands of Scoflana. date tlie Northmen and the Scots had principalities in Cum- berland. § 33. Within the boundaries of Valbntia were the famous Roman Walls. The Northern, known as Agricola's, and now as Graham's dyke, extends from the Forth to the Clyde, and was the northern boundary of the Koman dominions in Britain. The South- ern, known as the Wall of Hadrian, and also as the Picts' Wall, stretched from the Tyne to the Solway. This was ''■ ' rebuilt by Severus," and much of it is well preserved. On the north side, exposed to the barbarians, it presented a face of stone, with a ditch ; and on the south side was an earth embank- ment and ditch. It was 68 miles in length, and had numerous watch-towers. See the frontispiece inap. § 23. The tribes beyond the Northern WaU inhabited the moun- tainous region now known as the Highlands of Scotland. They bore the general name of Caledonii or Caledonians, and for that reason the whole country was called Caledonia. The Orkney and Shetland Islands, beyond the mainland on the north, and the He- brides on the west, were almost unknown to the Romans, and were never occupied by the Saxons. In later times Northmen from Ice- land or Norway established principalities on them. CHAPTER m. SOCIETY BEFORE THE SAXON nSVASION. § 1. With the Roman conquest, Roman laws were imposed upon the Britons. They were administered by a series of depend- ent officers, each subordinate to the one above him, up to the em- peror, and were mere executoi-s of his wiU. There were no co- ordinate powers to sgrve as mutual checks. It was a simple administrative despotism, whose highest officer was at first a single president of the Romanized portion of Great Britain. In ' § 6, p. 21. *^™® ^^^^^ '^^^'^ ^^'^' '"'^^° governed the Ave provinces ab'cady mentioned.' § 2. These presidents also exercised judicial functions. Having thus despotic power placed in their hands, they often used it without HAPTBR ni.] ROMANS IN ENGLAND. 25 The Eoman G-ovemment in Britain. Industrial Operations. iut in tlie levying and collecting of extortionate taxes, supplying )ldiers for the Roman anny, and in vaiious other ways serving the tate. Some Britons, residing in towns or municipalities, were in- ested with the privileges of Roman citizens while the great mass of re people were slaves to cruel oppressors, without any political ghts. They were in bonds as inexorable as those with which their ncestors had been bound by the Druid theocracy. And yet Roman iws, literature, manners, and industries were levers which lifted 16 people up from the dark regions bordering on barbarism to le illuminated heights of an advancing civilization. § 3. Very soon after the conquest, new industrial operations ppeared in Britain. When the Romans came they had no traffic ut in tin and lead. They had no ships for trade or war, and were ut infants in the business of the world. Under the stimulus of loman influence, Great Britain became, before the departure of he conquerors, a great mine of agricultural wealth, from which lie continent drew large supplies. Gold, silver, iron, tin, lead, kins, fleeces, horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, human slaves, cheese, halk, lime, marl, pearls, iish, and other products, were exported 1 British vessels, whose managers were such expert . T s 4b, p. 10. samen that the navy of Carausius " was manned hiefly by them. § 4. Literature and the fine arts of poetry and music were culti- ated exclusively in the Druidic order. The common people had .0 part in it. That priesthood possessed remnants of the old civil- sation of the Bast, and some were quite proficient in song, elo- quence, music, astronomy, medicine, botany, and chemistry. But rith the advent of the Roman rule, the whole people became astructed by the sight of elegant and even magnificent specimens if architecture ; works of the chisel exquisitely wrought, and in ime a great variety of skilful handicraft; and in the Roman ities in Britain, schools were established for the education of the liiefs and princes of the tribes. § 5. We have already" considered some of the habits and cus- oms of the ancient Britons. Little more may be said. ^ ^ ^^^ ^ ^ n marriage there seems to have been a sort of permit- ed polygamy. Several men and women clubbed as residents mder one thatch, and these husbands and wives were in common elations. Tet there is evidence that woman was held in so high steem that tliis practice must havebeen exceptional. 2 26 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book II. Literature and the Fine Arts. Customs and Costume. § 6. At death the old Britons, like tlie barbarians of our -wil- dernesses, generally buried the body with weapons, implements, and ornaments. Frequently all were placed in a strong coffin of wood, and a tumulus raised over the dead. Some of these tumuli or barrows, as they are called, resembled in foi-m and size the sepulchral mounds found in this countjy, that were reared by a people of whom we have no other knowledge. The British bar- rows were evidently the sepulchres of chiefs, for no other persons could have commanded the labor necessary to erect them. In some instances the earth was brought from long distances. In the more ancient barrows the bodies were placed in a sitting pos- ture, the loaees drawn up to the chin. Sometimes the remains were burnt, and the ashes, placed in vessels, were deposited in such sepulchi-es. This practice they probably learned from Ce- sar's men. § 7. After the invasion, the manners and customs of the people rapidly changed. They abandoned their wicker-work and mud huts for stone and brick houses. So early as the time of Agricola, the sons of British chiefs wore the Roman costume, and men and women cut and dressed their hair after the Roman fashion. Even the common people ceased tattooing and painting themselves. The whole aspect of society and the country changed ; and the eulogies of Roman writers lead us to believe that at the time of the evacuation, and perhaps long before, Britain was regarded as one of the most advanced, best, and happiest of the Roman pro- vinces. A Roman writer, expatiating upon the excellences of the island, spoke of it as " a land so stored with com, so flourishing in pasture, so rich in variety of mines, so profitable in its tributes ; on all its coasts so furnished with convenient harbors, and so im- mense in its extent and circuit." Another speaks of it as a land whose " woods have no savage beasts ; no serpents harbor thereto hurt the traveller! The days ai-e long, and no night passes without some glimpse of light." BOOK III. THE SAXOK ERA. ' [Fkom tbe Fifth to the Eleventh Centuky.] CHAPTER I. THE EABLY rNVABBBS FROM THE KORTH. § 1. Before the Romans evacuated Great Britain, the inhabitants of Northern Europe, near the borders of the German Ocean and the Baltic Sea, who had not been brought under Roman rule, madd*predatory excursions, in stout little vessels, to the coasts of Germany and Gaul, and occasionally to Albion. Tliese are known in history and romance as Scandinavian sea-kings. They came from the now separate countries along the Elbe ?,nd Rhine ; from Jutland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. They were all of the Teutonic or Gothic race. The Roman writers speak of them all as Saxons, so named, probably, fi-om the short-sword, called seccsc, which they all wore. § 2. So early as the second century these marauders were known and felt by the Romans, and before the end of the third century they had established themselves in various parts of Britain. When the Romans finally withdrew, there were in Great Britain more than thu-ty cities which had been allowed to govern themselves in many matters. Among these were London, Tork, Chester, Canterbury, Winchester, and Exeter. Instead of joining for common safety, they became so many petty and hostile States ; and the ravages of the Scots and Picts, and the sea-rovers, grew more dreadful than ever. The covmtry was reduced almost to a desert, and Roman civilization was nearly obliterated. § 3. From the time of the Roman evacuation until the Northern pagans became absolute masters of Britain, a period of about one hundred and fifty years, the truth of history is so covered in fiction that it is diflficult to find it. The tales about Vortigern and 28 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. Influence ol Christian Bishops. Stories of Vortigem and Kowena, and of King Arthur. Rowena, Hengist and Horsa, and of King Arthm-, are evidently " founded on facts," but they cannot be called history. § 4. There are, doubtless, grains of truth in the story that the Bishop of London united the Britons by inducing them to accept a king in the pei-son of a British-born prince named Constantine, who, during a reign of ten years, pushed back the Rets and Scots; that Vortigem, a powerful noble, crowned one of dead Constantiiie's sons with his own hands, when all bishops refused to do so ; that Vortigem caused the new king to be murdered, and then seized the crown for himself; that his cruelty made his subjects refuse to fight the Picts; and that he invited two brothers, Hengist and Horsa, Saxon chiefs, vyith their followers, to help him, and gave them, for their services in dispersing the Picts, the Isle of Thanet. § 5. There are, doubtless, grains of truth in the story that Vortigem loved and married Rowena, the beautiful daughter of Hengist ; that the Britons deposed Voi-tigera, and made his son, Vortimer, king; that he fought the Saxons well, but was driven by them out of Kent, when Hengist took the title of king, and began the Saxon dominion in Great Britain; that Vortimer was poisoned by his, step-mother, Rowena; that Hengist, under pre- tence of friendship, invited Vortigem and other chiefs to a coun- cil, and treacherously murdered all but Vortigem ; and that the Ituge stones at Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, mark the place of the massacre. § 6. Then we have stories of the struggles between Vortigem and the brothers Ambrosius and Pendragon, who drove the former into Wales, where he was burnt to death in a castle ; how they fought their way to London, where Ambrosius was crowned king ; then fought and killed Hengist ; restored the churches which the pagans had destroyed ; was poisoned by a son of Vortigern and Rowena, and was succeeded by his brotlier Pendragon, father of the celebrated Arthur. § 7. Then we have the marvellous stories of the deeds of Pen- dragon, and Arthur, whose chief adviser was Merlin, the Welsh ma- gician, by whose direction the commemorative stones on Salisbury Plain were brought from Ireland ; how Pendragon was poisoned, and Arthur, who became king, defeated the Saxons in twelve des- perate battles, and expelled or made tributary all of the pagans; how he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem ; held a splendid court at Chapter I.] THE SAXON ERA. - 29 Traa Story oi the Saxon Invasion, and of Arthur. Character of the Invaders. Carlisle ; established the order of the Round Table, composed of valorous knights, both Christian and pagan ; wielded his enchanted sword, and after reigning thirty years, was mortally wounded by his nephew, and was buried in the Isle of Avalon by the side of his faithless wife, Guenever. § 8. The plain story of Arthur's military life appears to be, that he kept the Saxons in check, so that until after his death they had no footing in Britain, excepting in the eastern part, and that the hope of eventually driving them from the island died with him. § 9. The Saxons, as has ah-eady been told, had established them- selves in various parts of Britain before the end of the third cen- tury, and as the Roman empire grew weaker, their settlements no doubt increased. It seems most probable that they seized on the Isle of Thanet," and then, being in no danger of expul- sion from their strong position, mixed in the quarrel ' between Vortigem and liis great rival Ambrosius, whose father was a Roman general, and his mother a British princess. Their fellow- rovers joined them in numbers, when, after two battles, the Brit- ons abandoned Kent to them, and fled in great terror to London. Horsa, one of the- Saxon leaders, had been killed at Aylesf ord two years before this, and now his brother Ilengist became the first Saxon king of- Kent; § 10. The people who had now established themselves in Britain were idolaters, and took especial delight in destroying churches and murdering priests. They believed that all who fell in battle would be at once received into Valhalla, or the Hall of Woden, one of the gods of the Scandinavian theology fi-om whom most of their chiefs professed to be descended. For this reason they exhibited a fearlessness as to their own lives, and a joy in combat, that appeared more than human. They seemed to delight in storms and tempests, braving the roughest seas in their small boats ; and when they chose to land in any country, they ravaged aU around with fire and sword. They often ascended the rivers as far as their vessels could go, and then, abandoning them, seized on all the horses that they could find, and, as a mixed body of horse and foot, forced their way to some other stream. Then they built fresh barks, and descending to the sea, carried off their spoil and captives. A large portion of ^ach was given to the temples of their gods, and the victims to be sacrificed were determined by lot. All these ravages they practised in Great Britain, but they 30 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book IIL The People who invaded Britain, and their Settlements. The Heptaichy. met a resistance there which they never encountered elsewhere. According to the best calculation of dates, nearly a Imndred and fifty years elapsed between the foundation of their first sovereignty in Kent, and their complete establishment in the central parts of the country, to which they gave the name of the king- dom of Mercia." § 11. The Eomans confounded the sea-rovers together under one general name of Saxons, but we are able to distinguish at least three different tribes among the conquerors of Britain — the Saxons, the Angelns or Angles, and the Jutes. § 13. The Jutes, the least numerous of the three, were the first to establish themselves, and they soon became more civilized than the rest, as is testified by the discoveries that have been made of rich ornaments in their graves. They came from Jutland, now a pro- vince of Denmark, at the mouth of the Baltic Sea, and conquered Kent and the Isle of Wight. § 13. Tlie Saxons, who came from the country between the mouths of the Elbe and the Rhine, now Hanover and Holland, conquered all the south and west of Britain except what the Jutes held, and the country on the north of the Thames from London to the sea, and the river Stour, in Suffolk. § 14. The Angles, who dwelt on the Elbe, between the Saxons and the Jutes, were the last to arrive. They occupied the land from the Stour to the Forth, and from the German Ocean to the Severn and the Irish Sea. Holding then so large a portion of the country, they have given its present name of England (Angeln- land), or the land of the Angelns, or Angles, to South Britain. (See the fi'ontispiece map.) CHAPTER n. EISE AND HISTOKT OP THE HePTAECHT. [pbOM THE FIFTH TO THE NINTH CENTUKY.] § 1. According to the dates usually followed, Hengist founded the kingdom of Kent in the year 457, and after a reign of thirty- one years, he was succeeded by his son Esc. In the mean time EUa, the Teutonic chief, with his three sons, Cymen, Cissa, and CnAPTBR 11.] , THE SAXON ERA. ~ 31 I'Dunaations of Kingdoms. The Britons aroused. Bavages of tlie Invaders. Wlencing, accompanied by a large body of men, had landed on the south coast in 477, and established the kingdom of Sussex. Cerdic followed in 495, and laid the foundation of a third king- dom, but he was unable to eifect much until assisted by Poi-t, and his sons Bieda and Magla, and Stuf and "Withgar, the latter of whom gave his name to the Isle of Wight,' as Port did to the towns of Portsmouth and Porchester. Cerdic suffered a great defeat near Bath from Arthur, but he suc- ceeded in establishing the kingdom of Wbssbx in 519. § 3. The coming of so many bodies of invaders had effectually roused the spirit of the Britons, and they evidently made a most gallant defence. Anderida, a Roman town, on the site of which stands Pevensey, was captured after a long siege by EUa, and utterly destroyed, when he assumed the title of King, and was besides chosen as the commander-in-chief of his countrymen, under the name of Britwalda, a Saxon term meaning " a widely-ruling chief," or emperor of Brit (Britain). Six other monarchs bore the title after him, but in their case it was assumed by themselves, and had a different meaning : it implied with them an imperial supremacy over the other Saxon kings in peace as well as in war. § 3. The ravages of the invaders had hitherto been confined to the south and west of Britain, but the east and the north were at length assailed. Erkenwin established the kmgdorps of the East and Middle Saxons (Essbx and Middlesex) about the year 536 ; TJffa landed in Norfolk or Suffolk about the same time ; and in 547 Ida began the conquest of the country between the Humber and the Frith of Forth. He landed at Flamborough Head, and passing northward, built a castle at Bamborough. But this must not be confounded with such structures as the Romans erected, for we are told that it was only a hedge enclosing the top of a cliff on the sea-shore. To replace the hedge by a wall of wood, and that by a wall of stone, was the work of later rulers than Ida, and the stately fortress that at last arose there, and still stands, was built in the time of William the Norman. § 4. The conquest of Ida formed the kingdom of Northumbria, which is considered, as founded by him in 547 ; but Uffa and his successors met so much resistance that it was not until 571 that they took the title of Kings of East Ahglia or Angle. The interior of the country was reduced by Crida about 586, and he is reckoned the first King of Mbbcia. 32 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book in. Britons driven into Wales. Explanation ol names. The Britwaldas. § 5. At about this time, or a little later, Cavetius, the leader of the unoonquered Britons, was driven with his followers across the Severn into Wales, Cornwall, and Cumberland, where they gave up the contest in despair, and left the rest of the country to the pagan Saxons. These had already divided the conquered territory into a number of States caUed the Heptarchy, or Seven Kingdoms, though they really amounted to nine, and sometimes ten. § 6. It may be well to explain here the names that these differ- ent States received. Kmt is a corruption of a British word mean- ing " a corner," a term descriptive of its position. Sussex, Wessex, Msex, and Middlesex mean the kingdoms of the South, West, East, and Middle Seax or Saxons. Slast Anglia is the State of the Angles, which was on the east coast ; N'ortTmmbria is the kingdom north of the river Humber or Umber ; and Merda, derived from a word now corrupted into " march," is the Frontier State. Mercia had the unconquered Britons on its western side, and was thus the " march land " of the Heptarchy. § 7. The title of Britwalda was first bestowed on EUa of Sussex, and for more than fifty years after his death no other king asjjired to it. At length it was assumed at about the same time by Ethel- bert of Kent and by CeawUn of Wessex ; and as it was then meant to imply a superiority over their fellow-kings, this led to a war, in which Ethelbert was defeated, and the title was secured by Ceaw- lin. On the death of CeawUn, however, it passed to Ethelbert, and in succession was held by Redwald of East Anglia, and by Edwin, Oswald, and Oswy of Northumbria ; but, for some reason which is not now known, it was not assumed by the kings of Mer- cia or of Wessex, though these gradually incorporated the other States with their own. § 8. A history of the successive transfers of this supremacy will give the chief points in the affairs of each State, and show how the number of kingdoms became gradually less and less, until all were annexed to Wessex, and the kingdom of England, properly so called, was founded. § 9. Kent, as the earliest founded and more powerful kingdom, had a supremacy over the neighboring States of Essex and Middle- sex, so that they have little history of their own. Keither has Kent after the first contest with the Britons, until the war with Wessex [a.d. 568], in which Ethelbert was defeated at Wimbledon, in Surrey. Chapter II.] THE SAXON ERA. 33 strife between the States. lEmgdom of Merdia. Introduction of Ohiistianity. § 10. Ceawlin, the victor, who was the grandson of Cerdic, turned his anns next against the Britons, and for thirty years he was their most formidable foe. His brother Cuthwolf drove them from Buckingham and Oxford shii-es, whilst Oeawlin and another brother, Cutha, pushed westward, and captured Gloucester, Ciren- cester, and Bath. The Britons, however, still opposed him, and though defeated near Stroud, kiUed Cutha. Ceawlin then re- turned to Wessex, when his pride on account of the towns and spoil that he had taken provoked a confederacy against him, in which his. brother Oeol joined, and he was driven from his king- dom. Attempting to recover it, he was defeated at Wembury, in Devonshire [a.d. 593], and he died a fugitive two years afterward. § 11. The envied title of Britwalda was now assumed by Ethel- bert, but the real supremacy passed to Northumbria, where there reigned a cruel and warlike usurper, Bthelfrid, who made war on the Scots in Cumberland, and on the Britons in North Wales. For many years he sought the life of Edwin, the rightful heir, but was at last defeated and killed by one of Edwin's protectors, [a.d. 61 7], Redwald of Bast AngUa. Redwald bore the title of Brit- walda, but little except this defeat of Bthelfiid is recorded of Mm. S 13. In the mean time a new State had arisen, » § 10, p. 29. that of Mercia ; • but Crida, its founder, was killed in 593, and his son Wibba became a dependent on Ethelbert of Kent. Pour years later [a.d. 597] an event occurred in Kent, the mostjm- portant of any since the landing of the Saxons. § 13. King Etlielbert had married, twenty years before, Bertha, the young and beautiful daughter of Charibert, king of Paris, in Gaul or Prance. She was a Christian princess, and brought with her a French bishop, Luidhard, as her chaplain. A small British church, that stood on a hill outside the walls of Canterbury, and had escaped the destruction that had overtaken so many nobler edifices, was granted to her as a place of worship. St. Martin's, Canterbury, now occupies its site. This, of course, was a means for making the truths of the Gospel in some measure known among the idolatrous Saxons ; and when Ethelbert himself ap- peared favorably disposed. Pope Gregory the Great sent a mis- sion to endeavor to effect his conversion and that of his. subjects. § 14. This was a matter that Gregory had long meditated. Several years before, while yet but a priest, he had conceived the idea of attempting the conversion of the Saxons, from seeing in 2* 34 HISTORY OF EjSTGLAND. [Book III. Efforts ot Pope Gregory. The Angles in Borne. Augustin in Britain. the slave-market at Rome three boys, who were distinguished from the rest of the captives by their fair and ruddy complexions and their long flowing hail-, which last, in those days, was a mark of noble, if not royal birth. He inquired of the slave-dealer about their country and theii- religion. He learnt that they came from the distant Isle of Britain, and that they were pagans. Asking their nation and the name of its king, he was told that they were Angles from the province of Deira, and that its ruler was named Ella. He replied they should rather be called angels ; that they were truly Deiraus (which means, plucked from the wrath of God), and that not Ella, but Allelujah, should one day be named iu their country. § 15. Anxious to accomplish his saying, Gregory left Rome for the purpose of journeying to Britain ; but he was followed and carried back by the people, to whom he was much endeared, and he was soon after chosen Pope. He intrusted the British mission to Augustin, a Benedictine monk, who, with about forty others of his class, landed in Thanet in the spring of 597, and there held a con- ference under an oak with Ethelbert. Augustin spoke through au interpreter. The king listened attentively, and invited them to Can- terbury. Bertha received them with joy; and in June Ethelbert and his court were baptized. He was the first Christian king of the Saxon race. His subjects followed his example, and thou- sands of them were baptized in an arm of the Medway, wliich separates Sheppey from Kent. Christian churches again appeared in the land. Pagan temples resounded with Christian hymns, and pagan religious ceremonials and feasts were converted into Chids- tian rituals and festivals. § 16. Augustin was appointed Archbishop or Primate of the Church in Great Britain. The royal palace at Canterbury was given to him for a residence ; and he proceeded to organize his See, and bring the independent British bishops beyond the Severn into unity with the Church of Rome, and make them his auxiliaries in the work of converting the Saxons. Because they refused to acknow- ledge the supremacy of the Pope, several of those bishops were put to death with the sanction of Augustin. He died at Canter- bury in the year 605, leaving Laurence, a fellow-missionary from Italy, as his successor. § 17. Christianity was thus established among the Saxons. But tho seed had taken feeble root. On the death of Ethelbert [a.d. 616] Chapter II.] THE SAXON EEA. 35 Lapse into Paganism. Story o( Edwin of Deira. Ha becomes King of Northumbriiv. the sin of the beautiful Bertha caused the people of Kent to re- lapse into paganism. Ethelbert's son and successor, Eadbald, be- came enamored of his step-mother, and they were married. His Cliristian subjects reproved him for the incestuous act, when, in anger, he turned to his old Teutonic idols. Very soon the whole people of Kent also forsook Christianity. At length Laurence, the Archbishop, persuaded Eadbald to return to the fold, when his Kentish subjects followed like a flock of sheep. His sister, Ethel- burga, who was baptized by Laurence, was the means of afterwards introducing Christianity among the Northumbrians. §18. This was brought about in a remarkable manner. Edwin, the son of that Ella of Deira already mentioned, had, on his fa- ther's death, been deprived of his kingdom by his kinsman and brother-in-law Ethelfrid, and had lived nearly thirty years an exile, when the usurper discovered that Edwin was protected by Eedwald of East Anglia. Then he threatened that king with war unless he either gave him up or put him to death. Eedwald, in great alarm, deliberated on what to do, when his queen, fearing that the dread of the power of Ethelfrid might induce her husband to betray his guest, warned Edwin of his danger, and he left the palace at night to seek shelter in the woods. Here he fell asleep, and in a dream was assured by a majestic person that his kingdom should be restored to him. Next he inquired if, when that had been accom- plished, some more excellent way of life than any that his ances- tors had followed should be proposed to him, he would adopt it. Edwin eagerly promised that he would. The figure laid his right hand solemnly on his head, and saying, " When this sign is re- peated, remember your pledge," vanished. § 19. While Edwin mused on this wondrous vision, the queen sent to tell him that her husband had resolved to defend him ; and he did so. Eedwald defeated and killed Ethelfrid, and Edwin became king of Northumbria. He soon grew so pow- erful that He became Britwalda,' and was esteemed the sovereign of , all Britain, the kingdom of Kent only excepted. § 30. With this kingdom Edwin now formed an alliance by marrying Ethelburga, sister of Eadbald of Kent, who, like her mother Bertha, was accompanied by a bishop, Paulinus, to her new home. Paulinus labored to convert the king, but his labor seemed vain, until Edwin's heart had been softened by his provi- dential escape from an assassin sent by Cwichelm of Wessex, and 36 HISTCiRT OF ENGLAND. [Book HI. Edwin becomes a ChriBtian. Spread of Christianity cheoked in Northumbria. by joy for the recovery of his young queen, whose death at child- birth had appeared imminent. He then listened more favorably, and allowed his infant daughter, Eanfleda, and twelve of his nobles, to be baptized. § 31. Paulinus awaited Edwin's return from an expedition against Wessex, and then coming into the King's presence he laid his right band on his head, as the figure in the dream had done, and cried, " Eedeem your pledge." AE Edwin's scruples gave way before the remembrance of the vision, and he prevailed on his chief men to become Christians. They were baptized together in a wooden church, hastily bmlt for the occasion, on Easter-day, in the year 637. The cathedral of York occupies its site. § 33. Edwin's subjects followed his example, and the heathen temples throughout his dominions were destroyed ; Coifi, the chief priest, who is believed to have been a Druid, leading the way in the attack on them. § 23. The reign of Edwin had hitherto been prosperous, and his just and wise government endeared him to his subjects. But now the Mercian kingdom was become powerful. Penda, the son of that Wibba who had been the tributary of Ethel- bert," ascended the throne, and leaguing himself with Cadwallader, a British or Welsh, chief, he attacked Edwin, who was defeated and killed at Hatfield Chase, in Yorkshire, in 633. § 24. This event put a stop to tbe exertions of Paulinus to con- vert the Northumbrians. He retired to Kent, taking Edwin's widow and child with him, and the people relapsed into idolatry. But his place was supplied by Aidan, a Scottish bishop, who labored successfully among them, and became the first bishop of Lindisfame. He and his successor Colman belonged to the ancient British Church, which differed from that of Rome in many matters, as in the time of celebrating Easter ; and when Roman missionaries again appeared, great dissensions broke out, which ended in the British bishops being obliged to retire. § 25. By the death of Edwin, the supremacy ijassed to Mercia. That kingdom, as has been mentioned, had become dependent on Kent ; but in 637 Penda, the grandson of the founder, succeeded. He was fifty years old when he became king, and he ruled for thiity years, the terror of the sun-ounding States. In the early part of his reign he allied himself with the Britons, and in concert with Chaptkk II.] THE SAXON ERA. 37 Career o( Pcnda. Nortliuinbria suprome. Chrisaanity restorea there. them ravaged Northumbria as far as Bamborough, bui-nmg every house or hut that he found in his vsray. He killed Edwin and Oswald, the kings of Northumbria ; drove Kenwalch of Wessex from his kingdom; and slew in succession three kings of East Anglia. These were Sebert, the first Christian king of that coun- try (who had become a monk, but was dragged from his cloister when the land was invaded, and was killed along with his brother Ecgric), and Anna, whose brother Ethelhere joined Penda against him. At last Penda was himself slain at the age of eighty, and the treacherous Ethelhere fell with him. § 26. The supremacy now reverted to Northumbria. Its former ruler, Ethelfrid," left several sons, who on his death retired to Scotland, where they became Christians, ' and remained until the fall of Edwin. One of them, named Oswald, then came forward, secured the throne, and assumed the title of Britwalda. Aidan, the Scottish bishop ^ah-eady men- tioned," acted as liis interpreter to the people. After a reign of nine years, he too fell before the arms of Penda, at Oswestry, in Shropshire, in the year 643, and the bar- barous victor fixed his head and hands on stakes, where they re- mained many years until they were recovered and honorably buried by his brother Osway, son-in-law of the good Edwin, whose daughter, Eanfleda," he had married. § 37. Osway at first succeeded to but a part of the dominions of Oswald, but at length he obtained the whole. He de- feated and killed the ferocious Penda, at Winwidfield, near Leeds, in 655, and reduced Mercia to submission. He suffered Peada, the son of Penda, who had become a Christian and married Ostryth, Osway's daughter, to reign as his vassal. In concert with him Osway founded the celebrated abbey of Medeshamstede, which was afterward called Peterborough. In his time was held a council at Whitby, where the mode of celebrating Easter and other matters were decided according to the views of the Roman party, upon Tf'hich the Scottish teachers withdrew to their own country. Osway died in 670, after a prosperous reign of twenty-eight years. § 38. Christianity had by this time been firmly planted in all the kingdoms excepting Sussex, chiefly through the influence of women. " Thus," says Hume, " the fair sex have the merit of in- troducing the Christian doctrine into all the most considerable kingdoms of the Heptarchy." The East Anglians were convcrt3cl 38 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. General spread o£ Christianity. Introduced into the Isle ot Wight. The Career of Ina in 631, through the exertions of Sebert, who was afterwards killed by Penda. Felix, a Bui-gundian, was their first bishop, and he . was placed at Dunwich. Wessex received the faith in 635, and Birinus, a Boman monk, became their first bishop at Dorchester, in Oxfordshire. Kent, Essex, and Northumbria had been converted long before, and now that Northumbria was again triumphant,- Mercia was converted, and Diuma, a British bishop, was placed at Lichfield by Osway. § 39. Peada, the son of Penda, as we have seen," was tribu- tary to Osway, his father-in-law, but his brother Wulf- here regained his independence, and made war success- fully on Wessex. Having conquered the Isle of Wight, he sent priests to convert the jjeople, and bestowed the land on Ethwalch of Sussex, who had been baptized at his court, but the people of Sussex did not receive the Gospel until the year 680. § 30. Wulfhere died in 675, and both Bthelred his brother and Coenred his son became monks. Thus the superiority passed to Wessex, wliich had been depressed by the power of Mercia. Ken- walch, Escwin, and Kenwin were successful against the Britons, and Oeadwalla, who was still a heathen, made war on Kent and subdued Sussex, but after a three years' reign he went to Home, and was there baptized, under the name of Peter. He died seven days after- ward, when Ina, who was a distant kinsman, succeeded, and ruled with vigor and success for forty years. § 31. Ina made war on Mercia, and lolled Ceolred, its king ; reduced Kent to dependence, and again subdued Sussex, where Aldbright, a member of the old royal family, had taken arms against him. He also defeated the Britons ; but he is most remark- able for a collection of laws which bears his name, and which served as the base of those of the great Alfred long after. Ina built a monastery at Wells, in Somersetshire, and rebuilt Glaston- bury, endowing both with rich gifts. At length he resigned his crown to his kinsman Etlielhard, and retired to Eonie, where he died. He gave one penny yearly from each house in liis kingdom to support an English school and house of pilgrims at Rome, and this payment was the origin of the Peter-pence so often mentioned in history, as the edifices built were the precursors of the English College at Eome of the present day. § 33. Under the successors of Ina, Wessex maintained its pre- emin-nce, and was sometimes allied with Mercia against tlie Bi-it- CnAPTEK II.] THE SAXON ERA. 39 The last gi-eat Prince of the Heptarchy. The Career of Offa. ons, sometimes at war with it. . At last, in 755, Ofea, the nephew of Ethelbald of Mercia, who had been defeated by Cuthred of Wessex, l)ecame king, and he was the last great prince of the Heptarchy. He subdued Essex and Kent, defeated Cynewiilf of "Wessex, and also the Britons ; but he showed his weakness rather than his strength against the latter, by constructing a vast wall and ditch to protect his States from their ravages. It extended from Flint to Bristol, and is still to be traced in many places. It bears the name of Offa's Dyke. § 33. Whilst Offa thus ruled, Mercia was the jDaramount State. Northumbria had fallen into a condition of anarchy; East Anglia was seized, after Ethelbert, its king, had been treacherously mur- dered; Essex and Kent were tributaries; and Wessex fell under the influence of Mercia, when its throne was usm-ped by Brithric, who married Edburga, a daughter of Offa. In his latter years Offa professed penitence for the murder of Ethelbert. He built the famous monasteries of St. Alban's and Bath, made Lichfield the see of an archbishop, and greatly added to the donation of Ina,' so that Peter-pence became payable from the whole of England, and not, as before, from Wessex only. The tribute was exacted until the reign of Henry the Eighth, almost eight hundi-ed years afterward. § 34. Offa, though warlike and cruel, was an enlightened prince. He enacted laws which Alfred embodied in his own, patronized learned men, and cultivated the fiiendship of Charlemagne, the ruler of France and Germany, to whom he sent several Saxon scholars, by whose labors the famous University of Paris was founded ; — so greatly had England advanced in learning, even in times that are usually represented as ages of blood and con- fusion. § 35. OfEa died in 794, and the power of Mercia died with him. The tributary States endeavored to shake off the yoke, and though they did not at once succeed, their discontent had great influence in again bringing Wessex forward as the ruling State, and event- ually breaking up the iMercSan kingdom. Britluic, " of the blood of Cerdic," as he is termed, the son-in-law of Offa, drove Egbert, another of the royal family, into exile, and reigned tyrannically in Wessex for sixteen years ; but at last he was poisoned by his wife, when Egbert, who had long resided in the court of Charlemagne, T,-as bv the unanimous voice of the people called to the throne. 40 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book III. Strile for Independence. The first Monarch o£ England. His wars. Egbert, by mingled war and polifty, rendered all the other States tributary to Wessex ; and thus becoming the first monarch of the whole of England, brought the Heptarchy to a close in the early part of the ninth century. CHAPTER m. RBiGN OF Egbert, [a.d. 800 to 837.] § 1. When Egbert was chosen king he was at Rome along with his protector, Charlemagne. He speedily returned to Wessex, which had abeady been attacked by the Mercians under Kenwulf , the nephew of Offa, a warlike prince. The Mercians however, were defeated, and had too many troubles with their tributary States to be able to carry on the war ; therefore a peace was con- cluded. § 3. Egbert ruled "Wessex for several years in peace, but in the year 813 he conducted a large army against the Britons in West Wales," and ravaged their countiy. This greatly added to his renown, and he was henceforward con- sidered the chief prince of the Heptarchy. Still he made no attempt on the .other kingdoms until the death of Eenwulf, in 819. The murder of his son Kenulf, by his sister Quendreda, threw Mercia into anarchy, and its tributary States renounced their obedience. § 3. Egbert at length, in 823, sent his son Ethelwulf into Kent, where Baldred, the last king, was defeated and driven out ; Sussex, Essex, and East Anglia submitted to him ; two usurpers of the Mercian throne were slain, and that kingdom was entirely conquered in 827. The Noi-thumbrians wore invaded in the same year, and, daunted by the power of Egbert, they submitted without a battle. § 4. The Heptarchy was now brou^it to, a forlnal close ; but as the conquered States were still ruled by tributary kings, as many of them had been long before, the change was not so great as is usually represented. The country now consisted of four States, Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria, which differed in laws, in manners, and even in language. Wessex was at most but the first among ttiem. This supremacy was often endangered, and Chapteb III.] ' THE SAXON ERA. 41 The Heptarchy ended. The British States. Invasion by Northmen. more than once lost ; but it was always recovered, and it endured until the close of the Saxon power. § 5. In token of his success, Egbert now took occasionally the title of King of the English, instead of that of King of Wessex ; and the appellation of Britwalda, unused for nearly 200 years, was revived by him. § 6. He next turned his arms against North Wales, and ravaged the counti-y ; but this was almost his last success, for a new enemy now appeared, who inflicted on the Saxons as many calamities as they in former ages had brought upon the Britons. These were fierce adventurers, or pii'ates, from Denmark, Norway, and the neighborhood, who are properly to be termed Norsemen, or Northmen, but who, as coming at first principally from Denmark, are usually styled Danes. § 7. These people had commenced their ravages in England in the time of Brithric, Edgar's predecessor. They destroyed the church of Lindisfame (Holy Island), and another at the mouth of the Weil in 794 ; but some of their ships being wrecked, and the men who reached the shore murdered, they, withdrew to Ireland, where they ruined a very celebrated monastery and seat of learning at Rachline Island. Then, partly as traders and partly by force, they established themselves in strong positions along the east coast. § 8. In the mean time, others attacked the Scottish coast ; but meeting a foi-midable resistance, they also gradually settled in Ireland, where, as has been mentioned, the natives had hitherto lived securely, cultivating learning and sending forth missionaries, who diffused the light of the Gospel to very distant regions, and were consequently little able to oppose these armed hordes. § 9. These settlers were knovm in Ireland as the Ostmen (or Eastmen), because they came not direct from the north, but from the eastern countries, England and Scotland. Irish writers distin- guished the Danes from the Norwegians, calling the first the Dark strangers, and the latter the Fair strangers ; but whether this refers to the difference of their complexions, or of their arms and equip- ments, is not known. § 10. The chief commercial cities of Ireland, as Dublin, Water- ford, Cork, and Limerick, were all possessed by the Ostmen, and ruled by chiefs, who struck coins on which they are styled kings. They soon became Christians, and had bishops who owned obedi- ence to the Archbishop of Canterbury ; and thus an intercourse was 43 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book HI. Ireland invaded. Chrisfianity in Ireland. Political Divisions. maintained with England which eventually led to the conquest of the island by Henry the Second. § 11. Ireland was never occupied by the Romans or Saxons. When, in later times, we find it connected with English history, it was divided into five kingdoms, known respectively as Munster, Leinster, Meath, Ulster, and Connaught. There were some little independent domains, composed of a seaport and adjoining lands that had no political significance. The English invaders broke up the Irish kingdoms ; but four of them retain theii- ancient names as modern provinces, namely, Munster, Leinster, Ulster, and Connaught. § 13. Munster is in the south and south-west of the island, be- tween Waterf ord and Galway, in which are the cities of Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Cashel, and Clonmel. § 13. Leinster (wliich includes ancient Meath) is on the east coast, from Carlingford to Waterford and Wexford, and comprises the cities of Dublin, Trim, Kildare, and Kilkenny. § 14. Ulster extends across the north of Ireland, from Carling- ford to Donegal Bay. In it is Aimagh, the ecclesiastical capital of the island ; also Belfast, Londonderry, and EnniskiUen. § 15. Connaught, in the west, lies between the bays of Donegal and Galway, and the river Shannon, and contains the cities of ancient and modem Galway, Tuam, Elphin, and Kilala, all cathe- dral cities ; also Athenry, Athlone, Aughrim, and Ballinamuck. § 16. It was in the year 833 that the Norsemen reappeared in Eng- land, and ravaged the Isle of Sheppey." They next ° ' landed in Dorsetshire, and defeated Egbert at Char- mouth, and then they formed an alliance with the Britons in Cornwall. Egbert marched against them, and defeated them at Hengistdown, near Callington ; but his victory did not put a stop to their invasions, and in the midst of the anxieties caused by these new foes he died, leaving the crown to his son Ethelwulf, who was ill-fitted to supply his place. § 17. Egbert died in the year 837, and was buried at Winches- ter. His wife was named Redburga, but her parentage is un- known. Besides Ethelbald, who died before him, he had two sous ■ — Ethelwulf, who succeede'd him, and Athelstan, who is known as king of Kent. The genealogy of the present royal family of Eng- land is satisfactorily established from his time. Queen Victoria is the tliirty-sixth in lineal descent from Egbert. Chaptbb rv.] THE SAXON ERA. 43 Norsemen invaders again. Pilgrimage to Borne. CHAPTER IV. REiGK OF Ethel-wtjlf. [a.d. 837 TO 858.] § 1. EthbIiWUIf had been educated for the Church, but the death of his elder brother obliged him to ascend the throne. He seems to have been a pious and liberal man, but ho had not the warlike spirit that was necessary to cope with the invading North- men or Norsemen, who were led by Ragnar Lodbrok, a fierce chief. Before he was king he commanded the army that conquered Kent from the Mercians ; but this and a victory over the Norsemen at Ockley, in Surrey [a.d. 851], where his son Ethelbald was present, were his only successes. § 2. Ethelwulf gave up the government of the southern and eastern parts, as the most exposed, to his brother Athelstan, and there the Norsemen received checks both by sea and land ; but they defeated Ethelwulf at Charmouth [a.d. 840,] ravaged Lon- don, Rochester, and Canterbury, and in 851 remained encamped for the winter in Thanet for the first time. In the same year Athelstan died, and an attempt to drive them from THanet signally failed. The pirates discovered that there was no longer an Egbert in the land, and they ravaged the country almost without check. In the year 855 they wintered in Sheppey, which was ever after one of their strongholds. § 3. No longer supported by his warlike brother Athelstan, Ethelwulf seems to have given up the contest in despair, and leav- ing the kingdom to the government of his two great advisers, ■ — Swithin, bishop of Winchester, and Alstan, bishop of Sher- borne, — he went on a pilgrimage to Roihe, taking his youngest and favorite son, Alfred, v?ith him. These pilgrimages were then very common among princes and ecclesiastics of the Christian Saxons who could afEord the expense. They crossed the Alps and Apen- nines in considerable numbers ; and the Popes already began to receive a coiisiderable annual revenue from England in the shape of tribute and costly presents. Ethelwulf remained in Rome with Alfred almost a year. § 4. On his way home Ethelwulf married a young French princess (Judith, the daughter of Charles the Bald), and, by insist- ing on having her crowned, an honor that was refused to Saxon 44 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. Ethelwnlf a offence. His benevolence. His kingdom divided. queens on account of the criniRS of Edburga, the wife of ^ Brithric,» he so offended his subjects that they for- ' ''" ' sook him, and he was obliged to retire into the east- ern provinces, leaving the rest of his dominions to his sons. § 5. Ethelwulf died shortly after, and was buried at "Winches- ter. By his fii-st wife, Osburga, who was of the race of Cerdic, he left four sons, Ethelbald, Ethelbert, Ethelred, and Alfred, who all became kings ; also two daughters, one of whom was married to Burgred, the tributary king of Mercia. § 6. Besides many rich presents which he made at Rome for pious and charitable purposes, Ethelwulf ordered that at least one poor person in ten, whether foreigner or native, should be fed and clothed at his expense on each of his estates ; and he solemnly charged his successors on the throne to imitate him. He also gave one-tenth of all his lands to the Church, probably for the founda- tion of monasteries. This grant is often incorrectly spoken of as if it were the origin of tithes in England. These, on the contrary, had been claimed by Augustin and conceded by Ethelbert and his chiefs on the conversion of the Saxons, nearly three centuries before. §. 7. A gold enamelled ring, which bears the name of Ethelwulf, and which gives a good idea of the state of the arts in the ninth century, is preserved in the British museum. CHAPTER V.' REIGN OF EtHELBAID AND Ethblbbbt. [a.d. 858 TO 866.] § 1. Ethblbald and Ethelbert, the two elder sons of Ethelwulf, shared his dominions between them, the former possessing Wessex, and the latter the other territories. The whole of their reion was passed in contending against the Norsemen. The invaders stormed "Winchester, the capital, ravaged Kent, and wintered yearly in Sheppey and Thanet ; and though on one occasion they were fol- lowed to the sea-shore, and deprived of the spoil of Winchester, that city had been evidently ruined and rendered an unsafe abode by them ; for both the kings, when they died, instead of being buried there with their ancestors, were interred at the remote mon- astery of Sherborne. Chaptbb V1.J THE SAXON ERA. 45 Bthelbald's diBgrace. Eavagea o( the Norsemen again. § 3. Ethelbald, who, like Eadbald," disgraced himself by mar- rying Judith, his father's widow, died in 860, and Ethelbert in 866. Ecclesiastical and popular dis- ° ^ "' "' ^' pleasure compelled Ethelbald to separate from his step-mother, who returned to France, eloped from a convent with Baldwin, Count of Flanders, and by him became the mother of Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror. The first left no family ; his brother left a young son, Ethelwald ; but he, according to the Saxon practice, was set aside in favor of his uncle Ethelred, the third son of Ethelwulf . CHAPTER VI. KEiGN OF Ethblebd. [a.d. 866 TO 871.] § 1. The reign of Ethelred was even more disastrous than the preceding ones. The Norsemen, led by Inguar and Hubba, the sons of Ragnar,' whom the Northumbrians had put to death, landed in large numbers in East Anglia, where the people were probably little attached to their nilers from Wes- sex ; and being by them supplied with horses, they commenced a course of horrible devastation. They captured York, and having defeated and killed EUa, whom the people had chosen as their leader, established themselves firmly in the city, and thence sent a force into Mercia. This force was besieged in vain in Nottingham, by the king and his young brother Alfred ; but at length a truce was agreed on, and the Norsemen withdrew to Yoi-k, which they regarded as their capital. § 3. In the fifth year after their landing [a.d. 870] the Norsemen, under Inguar and Hubba, returned to East Anglia, where they de- feated and put to death the tributary king Edmund, and left his headless body in the woods. Both head and body were recovered by his friends, and were interred in the place in Suffolk since well known as Bury St. Edmund's. The invaders utterly destroyed the noble monasteries of Peterborough, Croyland, Ely, Bardney, and many others ; while at about the same time Anlaf , the chief of an- other body from Ireland, devastated the north. The invaders lost a great number of men, but they were continually receiving re-en- 46 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. Alfred the Great. His Escape, Tlight, and Seclusion, f orcements from the continent. Scandinavia seems to have been then, as in later times, a swarming hive. § 3. In the following spring the Norsemen invaded Wessex ; and though defeated at Englefield, in Berkshire, they gained victories soon after at Beading, and Basing, and Merton, in the last of which Ethelred received a wound of which he died soon after Easter, 871, and was buried in Wimbome Minster. As he had met Ms death in battle with idolaters he was esteemed a martyr and a saint, as was, for the like reason, Edmund of East Anglia. The name of the last is still retained in the Calendar, but the.other is not. CHAPTER Vn. REIGN OP Alpbed. [a.d. 871 TO 901.] § 1. This great prince, the fourth son of Ethelwulf and Osburga, was bom at Wantage, in Berkshire, in 849. In his fifth year he was sent to Bome, where the Pope is said to have consecrated him as king, and two years later his father Ethelwulf took him with him on his own journey thither. He assisted his brother Ethelred in his wars with the Norsemen, and when he came to the crown he fought no less than ten battles with them in one year. But he was unsuc- cessful, and the difEerent kingdoms that had been united by Egbert acted each for itself, and made peace or truce with the invaders. Alfred, however, stubbornly maintained the contest in Wessex, and was at one time successful against the Norsemen at sea. At another time he retook the city of Exeter from them. § 2. The army of the invaders usually remained quiet during the winter in some town that they had seized ; but in the first days of the year 878, Guthrum, their leader, made a sudden march to Chippen- ham, where Alfred was keeping Christmas, when the king was surprised and nearly captured by them. Finding himself utterly deserted by his people, he fled for safety to a small island in Som- ersetshire, since called Athelney, which means the Isle of Nobles. There, Ijy degrees, some of his bold warriors gathered around him. § 3. Ilcre Alfred remained until the following May, employed Chapter VII.] THE SAXON ERA. 47 Alfred in Disguise. The Danes conquered. Kingdom dismembered. in constructing a fortress from which he and a small band o*f fol- lowers made frequent assaults on the enemy ; and here, according to old chi-oniclers, he displayed his humility in quietly bearing the rebuke of a shepherd's wife for neglecting her cakes, which she told him to watch ; also Ms charity, by dividing his only loaf with a beggar; § 4. Meanwhile the Norsemen, under Hubba, had landed in Devonshire, but had been defeated and their leader killed, and a standard, to which they attributed magical powers, was taken.' Tliis encouraged the people to seek for their king, who was soon at the head of an army. Disguised as a minstrel, he visited the enemy's camp and learned all their plans. Finding them dwelling carelessly, he attacked and defeated them at Ethandune, in Wilt- shire ; and following them to their stronghold, he soon compelled their whole army to surrender. § 5. Hoping to find an aid in these Norsemen, or Danes, as they were generally called, against other enemies, Alfred granted to them the old East Anglian kingdom," where they settled as his tributaries, and generally professed them- selves Christians. Guthrum, their chief, was baptized at once, and received the name of Athelstan. § 6. Halfdane, another Norseman, and brother of Hubba, had already possessed himself of Northumbria, and other chiefs had apportioned Mercia, so that Alfred had little more than Wessex left to him. Thus the conquests of Egbert were all lost; and England was divided into Wessex, with Mercia as a doubtful dependency, and the Danelagh, or the country to the east and north, where the new settlers lived as a iieroe military aristocracy, governed by their own laws. The native inhabitants, as a writer of the time tells us, " long dwelt in captive chains to heathen men." § 7. Even before Guthrum and his men had retired to East Anglia, a fresh body of spoilers arrived in the Thames, and for a long time they remained in a strong camp at Pulham, plundering the adjoining country. At last they withdrew to Prance. Alfred took the best measure in his power to hinder their return by build- 1 This was a small trianpilar flag, of blood-red color, on whicli a black raven had been worked by the three daughters of Eagnar Lodbrok, one o( the earliest of the rovers who visited Britain. The bird was believed to flutter its wings or to hang them down on the eve of a battle, and thus to indicate victory or defeat. 48 HISTORY OF ENGLAJSfD. [Book III. Alfred's wise measures. His Learning, Patriotism, and Fiety. ing a fleet, with which he cruised about in the English Channel and captured many of their ships. § 8. The Norsemen, having ravaged France, returned to England in 885, and being joined by their countrymen from East Anglia, Tv'ho could be bound by no oaths or promises, and were called by the old wiiters " truce-breakers," they besieged Rochester. Alfred drove them beyond sea again, and captm-ed sixteen of their ships. Although his fleet was soon afterwards defeated by the East Anglians, he strengthened it, and thus was able to hinder any other invasion or war for nearly eight years. § 9. This interval of peace was most judiciously employed by Alfred. His first care was to repair the ruined cities and churches ; bis next to draw up a code of laws, and to improve the administration of justice. Then, to provide for the better defence of the country, he organized something like the present militia, by which every freeman was obliged to appear in arms when called on, and a select body of guards was kept constantly on foot. This was the first standing army maintained in England. § 10. But these were not the only matters that engaged the attention of Alfred. Unlike his elder brothers, he had been in- duced to learn to read, in order to acquire a beautiful book which his mother showed to him ; and his tliirst for knowledge being thus awakened, he neglected no opportunity of improvement. Asser, a Briton and monk, and constant companion of the king ; John, from Ireland ; Qi-imbald, from France, and other learned men, were bountifully maintained at Ms court; and when near his fortieth year he acquired the Latin language, from which he translated several works on religion or philosophy. § 11. By his example Alfred revived the taste for learning among his subjects, which had greatly decayed in consequence of the wai-s ; and he established schools in many places, though he did not found the University of Oxford, which he is sometimes said to have done. He evinced, too, his gratitude for his deliver- ance from his enemies by founding the monasteries of Athelney and Shaftesbury; also his charity by sending relief to needy scholars in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and France, as weU as to the Christians in the East Indies. § 12. But the calamities of Alfred's reign were not yet over. In the year 893 the Norsemen, who had experienced some severe defeats in France, again visited England in great force under Chapter VII.] THE SAXON ERA. 49 Alfred's suooess against In-vaders. Peace and its Ilesults. Hasting, a skilful leader, a sort of Scandinavian Hannibal. One body landed in Komney Marsli, and built a fort at Appledore, wliile another fixed its quarters at Milton, near the Isle of Sheppey. This new war lasted four years, and extended to every part of England. § 13. The settlers joined the invaders, and whilst those from Northumbria attacked Bevonshire, those from Kent passed through Essex across the country as far as Shropshire. Alfred, however, dealt vigorously and successfully with them. Those in Shrop- shire were besieged in their camp, and obliged to surrender after starvation had compelled them to eat theii- horses. Those who had ascended the Lea had their ships left dry by the river being cut into the several channels that are now to be seen about Ware and Hertford ; and the wife and sons of Hasting were made prisoners, but were set at liberty by Alfred. At last, in 897, after the greater part of their shipping had been destroyed, the main body laid down their arms and retired to East Anglia or Northumbria. § 14. Some, however, went to their countiymen in Prance, and, procuring fresh ships and arms, returned in small bodies and Ijlimdered the southern coasts. Alfred built swift vessels and went in pursuit of them ; and regarding them no longer as public enemies but as pirates, he hanged all the prisoners that he made, - which soon brought the war to a close. § 15. For the brief remainder of his reign Alfred lived undis- turbed, and carried on his valuable labors for the improvement of his people. Nothing was too great or too small to engage his attention if benefit could be derived from it. He invented horn lanterns to shield the tapers, which served for clocks, from the wind ; he taught his subjects improved modes of building both houses and ships, and procured the most skilful mariners and hunters and workers in metals to settle among them. An interest- ing specimen of the personal decorations of his time, known a.s Alfred's jewel, was found near his retreat of Athelney, and is now preserved at Oxford.' § 16. At length Alfred's health, which through his whole life 1 It ia an ornament of gold of oval foi-m, evidently intended aa a penilant. It wa3 well wrought and skilfnlly ornamented. In the centre is a rudely engraved outline of a human figure (feminine) holding flowers, and around it is the ineoription, AJBLIHED MI iiAET GBWICRKAN— 'Alfi'ed had me wrought. 3 50 . HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. Alfred's Family. His Laws. Troubles of his Successor. had been very delicate, gave way entirely under his toils. He died on the 3Gth of October, 901, and was buried at Winchester, in the new minster, which he had founded. § 17. Alfred married, in 868, Elswitha, the daughter of Ethel- red, an East Anglian noble. Among their children were Edward, who succeeded his father on the throne ; Ethelfleda, who married Ethelred, the tributary king of Mercia, who after her husband's death greatly assisted her brother's operations against the Norse- men ; Elfrida, the wife of Baldwin, Count of Flanders; and Ethelgina, who was abbess of the nunnery at Shaftesbury, founded by her father. § 18. Writers are unanimous in the praise of Alfred, but in their admii-ation many ascribe to him matters that really belong to his predecessors. His laws, he himself says, are only a selection of what was current before his time, and they make no mention of trial by jury, which is usually attributed to him. On the other hand he may justly be considered the founder of the militia system of Great Britain, and also of that invaluable safeguard to its shores, the royal navy. CHAPTER Vm. REIGN or Edward the elder. [a.d. 901 to 925.] § 1. Edward was thirty years of age when he became king, and had had experience in war during his father's lifetime. His suc- cession was opposed by his cousin Ethelwald, a son of Ethelbald, Alfred's elder brother," who, as already mentioned, *> tt § 5, p. 44. "^ ' had been set aside on the death of his father, on ac- ' § 2, p. 45. count of his youth, and who had been educated by Alfred. The people of Wessex refused to allow his claim, on which he retired among the Norsemen in Northumbria. § 3. These gladly took advantage of the death of the great king to renew their ravages. In this they were assisted by Ethel- wald. A body of them penetrated into Kent, but were there de- feated by Edward. Ethelwald then passed into Essex, and with his allies ravaged Mercia ; but while they were thus employed Ed- CUAPTER Vin.] THE SAXON ERA. 51 Ba-vagos of Norsemen. Ethelfred's Conquests. ward burst into tho fen country between the Ouse and the sea, and desolated it. A great battle ensued, in which Ethelwald was killed [905], as well as Eric, the chief of the Norsemen ; but the horde of plunderers was still so powerful that Edward, from ne- cessity, made a truce with them [a.d. 906], which left them in un- disturbed possession of all their spoil and all their conquests. Edward was a politic prince, and he took steps which in the end reduced the greater part of the invaders to obedience. His plan was, as soon as he had recovered strength, to move slowly but steadily against them, and to erect fortresses at each favorable spot to secure his conquests. Ethelfleda, his sister, and widow of the Earl of Mercia, in whom Alfred's spirit seemed to survive, ably seconded him by rebuilding Chester, and establishing forts at Stafford, Tamworth, and Warwick, and other places in Mercia. § 3. In the fourth year of the truce [a.d. 910] Edward sent a force which remained for five weeks in the Danelagh, ravaging everything, and which totally defeated the Norsemen at Tetten- hall, in Staffordshire. In the next year he obtained possession of London, and thence he marched into the comities of Essex and Hertford, where he built castles at Witham, Maldon, Ware, and Hertford, which commanded the course of the rivers, and prevents ed the ravages of pirates from the sea. § 4. The Britons of Powys (Central Wales) had allied them- selves'with the Norsemen, but they were defeated by Ethelfleda in a battle at Brecknock. Leicester and York were soon afterward surrendered to her by treaty. Edward captured in succession all the Danish strongholds called the Five Burghs, and then turning southward, took Bedford and Towcester, and strengthened them with stone walls, as was the habit of his father. The Norsemen now began to treat with him ; and while the great body swore to be his subjects, the chief, Thurkytel, and the more warlike, with- drew to France. § 5. In 933 Ethelfleda died, arid Mercia was incorporated with Edward's dominions. He then advanced into Northumbria, building by the way forts at Thelwall and Manchester, as well as at Nottingham and in the Peak of Derby. To retard his march, Regnold, a Norseman, seized York, but he was soon obliged to surrender, and Edward was [a.d. 924] acknowledged as "father and lord," not only by the Norsemen, but by the Britons in North 53 HISTORY OF EJTGIiAND. [Book IIL Edward acknowledged King of tbe whole Country. Wales and in Cumberland, and by the Scots south of the Clyde. This fact gave rise to the claim of superiority over Scotland which ■was put forward by Henry the Second, Edward the First, and other kings in later days. The primitive foundation of the British monarchy was now laid. Hitherto the imperial title . § 2, p. 31. ^^ Britwalda" earned with it very little of imperial power, for tributary rulers were not dutiful subjects. And Edward was by no means an imperial ruler, for the king formed only a co-ordinate branch of the government in which the people took part, in a representative assembly composed of bishops and nobles. § 6. Thus triumphant, and ruling a far larger extent of country than the great Alfred, Edward died in 925, and was buried at Winchester by the side of his father. His son Athelstan succeed- ed. Edward left two other sons, who also became kings, and several daughters, most of whom were married to foreign princes. Among thom may be mentioned Egina, the wife of Charles the Fourth of Prance ; Etiiilda, the wife of Hugh, Count of Paris, from whom sprang the Capetian line, which ruled France, under various aijpellations, until the flight of Louis Philippe in 1848 ; Edith, the wife of the emperor Otho the Great ; and Thyra, the wife of Gormo, king of Denmark, and grandmother of Sweyn, the father of Canute. CHAPTER IX. RBiGN OF Athblstan. [a.d. 925 TO 940.] § 1. Athblstan, the eldest sou of Edward, steadily pursued his father's policy. He gave his sister Edith to Sihtric, the Norseman or Danish prince who ruled Northumbria, on condition of his becoming a Christian ; but as he neglected to do so, and treated his young wife harahly, her brother attacked and killed him, and reduced his dominions. Then Eadulf of Bamborough, a Norse- man, as well as Constautine, king of the Scots, and the kings of Cornwall and Gwent (Monmouthshii-e), made a formal submission to Athelstan at a place called Eamot. Edith retired to a nunnery at Tamworth, where she lived many years, and was esteemed a Chaptek IX.] THE SAXON BRA. 53 The Career of Athelstun. A Terrible Battle. saint ; but the sons of Silitric, who were her step-children, retired to Ireland. § 3. The marriages of his sisters with so many foreign princes naturally connected Athelstan with the affairs of the continent, and he gave a refuge to his nephew, Louis the Fourth of France, who from his long stay in England acquired in France the surname of the Foreigner. Athelstan was liberal in endowing monasteries, and made laws which favored commerce. He was strict in his administration of justice against thieves, but caused the death of his brother Edwin, it is believed, who, on a false charge of con- spiracy against him, was sent to sea, it is said, in a crazy boat and left to perish. The charge is made upon slight evidence. § 3. The States above mentioned which had been subdued did not adhere to their agreement, and in 933 Athelstan ravaged the south of Scotland with a fleet and army. He also imposed a tribute of threescore and three pounds in money, besides, a number of horses, hawks, and dogs, on the kings of North Wales. But this did not prevent a formidable rising against him, wliich he had great difliculty in crushing. § 4. Anlaf, the son of Sihtric, a Norwegian prince, who had become the head of the Ostmen in Ireland, ' leagued » S 9 p. 41. himself with Constantuie, the king of the Scots, and prepared to recover Northumbria. He collected a large ai-my in Ireland [a.d. 937], and being joined by the Scots, landed on the Humber. Athelstan marched against them, accompanied by his brother Edmund, but no battle was fought until they had reached the extremity of Northumbria. § 5. There, at a place called Brunanburg, the Norsemen and the Scots had fortified themselves, after the Scandinavian fashion, with a strong stockade of timber within a deep trench, and when attacked by the Saxons a most desperate contest ensued. The trench was passed, the "board-waU" was cleft, and after a day's fighting the allies were put to flight. Five kings and seven earls lay dead on the field, besides an innumerable host of their men. Anlaf escaped ; but the chronicler who celebrates this great victory in verse, says the carnage was as great as had ever been on the island since the coming of the Angles and Saxons. The victors pursued the " loathed nations " throughout the night, and the Mercians, who were supposed to be in their favor, showed them- selves as fierce as the "West Saxons. The fugitives fled north of 5i HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book HI. Athclstan Supreme Buler. Brimmid's Career. His Cnielby. the friths, and Anlaf escaped with a few followers to Ireland, greatly dispirited. § 6. Athelstan next turned his aiTQS against the "West Welsh. He captured Exeter, which he fortified, and passing entirely through Cornwall, stibdued the ScUly Isles." In token ' of his victory, and in accordance with a vow in the event of his success, he rebuilt the church of St. Burian near the Land's End, and bestowed certain privileges on it which it retains to the present day. After this no one seems to have dared to raise arms against him in any part of the island. Athelstan died in 940, at Gloucester, and was buried at "Wimbome Minster. He was never married, and he was succeeded by his half-brother Edmund, his fellow-soldier at Brunanburg. CHAPTER X. KBIGN OF EdMTIND THE ElKST. [A.D. 940 TO 946.] § 1. The reign of Edmund was occupied much as that of his brother had been. Anlaf, recalled by the Danes from Ireland, was chosen by the Northumbrians as their king, and he was at first so successful in his war with Edmund as to capture Tamworth, then the chief towm of Mercia. The king, however, retook it, and besieged Anlaf in Leicester, when the latter, consenting to be bap- tized, had his kingdom confirmed to him. Regnold of York also submitted, when Edmund, free fi-om his hostility, again turned his arms against Anlaf, put him to flight, and appointed another ruler. § 2. Edmund next expelled the inhabitants of the Five Burghs,'" and having peopled these towns with Sax- ons, marched against the Norsemen in Cumberland. He conquered them, expelled their King, Dunmail, and granted the province to Malcolm, King of Scotland, who promised to be his ally both by sea and by land. He barbarously deprived the two sons of Dunmail of their eyes, and then returned homeward. The king did not long survive this atrocious act. He was killed soon afterward in his own hall, at Pucklechurch, in Gloucestershire, by an outlaw named Leofa. Chapter XI.] THE SAXON ERA. 55 Edwin's violent Death. Treachery at Northumbrians, and Intrigae. § 3. He waa holding a banquet in lionor of St. Augustin, the converter of the nation, and seeing Leofa among the guests, ordered him to be expelled. The outlaw persisted in remaining, when Edmund seized him by the hair and threw him on the ground, but was himself stabbed by Leofa, and expired on the spot. He died on the 36th of May, 946, and was buried at Glas- tonbury, where a monastery had been established by Dunstan, his chaplain. Edmund showed such a determined and practical taste for elegance and improvement, that he has been called " the mag- nificent." His brother Edred succeeded him, as his two sons, Edwy and Edgar, were children. Their mother's name was Elgiva, and she became a nun on her husband's death. CHAPTER XI. BEi&N OF Edked. [a.d. 946 TO 955.] § 1. The Northumbrians rose in insurrection on the death of Edmund ; but Edred marched against them, and extorted a fresh submission. This took place at TopclifEe, in Yorkshire, to which place Wulstan, the Archbishop of York, and all the chief men repaired, and pledged themselves by oaths to be Edred's faithful subjects. But he had Scarcely left their country when they chose Eric, the brother of the King of Denmark, for their ruler, and a new war ensued, in which the great church of Ripon was burnt. § 2. Edred soon reduced them to another temporary submission, and Eric was abandoned. They were not, however, to be recon- ciled to the sway of the southern king, and they speedily again chose Anlaf, the Norwegian," for their ruler; and though they expelled him in a short time, it was only to re- call the greater Eric. Much of this confusion was caused by the intrigues of Wulstan, and in consequence Edred seized and im- prisoned him ; after which the Northumbrians again expelled Eiic, and submitted. The archbishop was restored to them after a two years' confinement ; but, to mark their reduction to the condition of subjects, their rulers for the future, though almost independent, had no longer the title of kings ; they were called only dukes, or counts, or earls. 50 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book HI. Ttio famous Dtmstan Prime Minister. Edred's character. § 3. Whilst EcLred pursued these wars, which endured for nearly the whole of his reign, he left the government of the State mainly in the hands of the abbot Dunstan, who labored earnestly to bring about a change in the religious affairs of the land. Tliis was to substitute monks for the married or secular clergy, who, like the canons and prebendaries of the AngUcan Church of the present day, were attached to the different catheclrals. He also labored ean^estly for the firm estabHshment of the Pope's supremacy in Great Britain. The Roman pontifE at that time assumed the right to exercise spiritual dominion over all the earth as the infallible vicegerent of God. § 4. Dunstan was the nephew of Athelm, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, and had been educated for the Church ; but visiting the court of Athelstan, he there became a royal favorite, and re- linquished his intention. He was skilled in music and painting, and many other arts ; but he met with rivals, who accused him of magic, and he was driven from the court. He now passed over to Fleury, where there was a famous Benedictine monastery,, and joined the order. After a time he returned to England, became chaplain to Edmund, • the brother of Athelstan, and in- ' ^"^ ■ duced that prince to found a monastery at Glaston- bury on the model of that at Fleury, on the Continent, and to jjlace him at its head. § 5. Here Dunstan remained a while, training up future abbots and bishops, and gaining applause for his austere religious life ; but Edred, who was the brother of Edmund, cb-ew him from his re- treat, and made him in effect his chief minister. He soon procured the foundation of a second monastery at Abingdon, over which he placed Ethelwold, one of the monks from Glastonbury, who labored incessantly to render his community a model in music and singing, the performance of public worship, and rigid sanctity of life. § 6. Whilst Dunstan was thus high in power, his plan for spread- ing Benedictine monasteries far and wide received a sudden check by the death of his royal patron. Edred, who from boyhood had suffered from disease and was puny in body, died at Frome on the 23d of November, 955, and was buried at Winchester. He was called by the surname of Edred the Weak-footed. He had no child to inherit his title, and hia eldest nephew, Edwy, succeeded him. CnAfTEB XII.] THE SAXON ERA. 57 Bdwy ttie Fair outraged \)y Prelates. CHAPTER Xn. REIGN OF Edwt. [a.d. 955 TO 958.] § 1. Edwy, when he became king, was a gay, thoiightlees, hand- some youth of only fifteen, and was called "Edwy the Fan-." He at once married a princess named Elgiva, although she was very nearly related to him, in spite of the remonstrances of Odo, a Dane, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan, and other coun- sellors. He was crowned at Kingston by the archbishop, but gave great offence to his nobles by withdrawing from the banquet that followed, disgusted with the coarse carousals. They despatched Dunstan and Cynesius, Bishop of Lichfield, to request his return ; and the messengers, finding him unwilling to comply, dragged him from the side of his young wife and brought him back almost by force. And while in her chamber, the insolent monk, flushed with wine, assailed the queen and her mother with brutal language. § 2. Edwy was stung by the outrage. A quarrel was thus com- menced which only ended with the king's life. Dunstan with- drew to Glastonbury ; but being then called on to account for the treasure that had passed through his hands in the reign of Edred, for the establishment of the monasteries, and unable to produce vouchers, he found his solemn declaration that all had been duly expended disregarded. • He felt that his ruin was impending ; and escaping from a party sent to seize him and put out his eyes, he retired to Flanders, where he was protected by the Count, who was a grandson of King Alfred. The king now seized on the pro- perty of the new monasteries, and placed them in charge of clergy who claimed the riglit to have wives, like other men. The nobles, whose messenger Dunstan had been, espoused his cause. Finding that Edwy would not listen to them, they took up arms, and de- clared his young brother, Edgar, their king. After a brief strug- gle Edwy was deprived of Mercia and Northumbria ; but by the mediation of Odo, who stii-red up the revolt, he was allowed to retain Wessex. § 3. The archbishop now fonnally declared the mai-riage of Edwy with Elgiva unlawful and invalid ; and as Edwy refused to separate from her, Odo had her seized, branded in the face with red-hot ii-on to spoil her beauty, and carried over to Ireland as a 58 HISTOBY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. Death ol Blgiva and Bdwy. Edgar's Arrogance. Dunstan. slave. Ths king, in revenge, plundered tlie churches ; but the people of Wcssex took up arms against Mm, and he soon became a fugitive. Elgiva, who had escaped from Ii-eland, returning to join him, feU into the hands of some of the partisans of Dunstan and Odo, who put her to death by cruel tortures. § 4. The tinhappy young king did not long survive the loss of Elgiva. He died on the first of October, 958, after a merely nominal reign of less than three years; but whether his death was occasioned by violence or not is uncertain. His brother Edgar succeeded him. CHAPTER Xin. BBiGN OF Edgar. [a.d. 958 to 975.] § 1. The accession of Edgar, a boy only fifteen years of age [a.d. 957], was immediately followed by the return of the abbot Dunstan, who became his minister, and he and the monks managed the kingdom. His reign was distinguished by its peaceable, orderly character, and the king received the name of the Pacific. He engaged in no wars ; but he kept up a strong fleet, with which he every year made the circuit of his dominions, and thus prevented the invasions of the Norsemen. Eight petty kings paid homage to him, and on one occasion even rowed his barge that bore him on tlie Dee to the monastery of St. John at Chester, he himself acting as steersman. He styled himself monarch of Albion. § 2. On the first occasion that ofEered, Dunstan made himself a bishop. He took the see of Worcester in 957, and that of London in 958 ; and in 960 he was translated to Canterbury as Archbishop or Primate of the Church. In this high station he was enabled to carry forward the work that the death of King Edred had inter- rupted. The monasteries that had been plundered were restored. Ely and Peterborough, wliich had been destroyed by the Norse- men, were rebuilt, and forty-eight more were founded by the king, besides otliera by his subjects. Ethelwold, the abbot of Abingdon, became Bishop of Winchester ; and £)swald, the nei^hew of Arch- bishop Odo, was made Bishop of Worcester and afterwards Arch- bishop of York. UHAPTEB xni.] THE SAXON ERA. 59 The marriea Clergy persecuted. Trickery of Monks. § 3. Occupied as Dun.stan was with the civil affairs of the State, his work of displacing the married clergy was mainly carried on by these two bishops ; and so earnestly and successfully did they do the will of the fiery primate, that Ethelwold is known as "the father of monks," and " Oswald's law " became a term for the con- version of a chapter into a monastery. One instance will show how this unrighteousness was accomplished. § 4. Oswald, as soon as he was appointed Bishop of Worcester, assembled the canons, or resident married clergy, and urged on them the duty of becoming monks of the order of St. Benedict, which would involve the surrender of all their property, and sepa- ration from their families. This they resolutely refused ; and when he threatened to expel them they sought the protection of powerful friends, and he was obliged to give way. But the bishop was far from abandoning his design. He procured funds from the pliant and profligate king, and erected a monastry adjoining the cathe- dral, in which he planted a number of monks, some Saxon, but mostly French, who sang, and preached, and prayed, and made gorgeous processions, and gave alms, and led an austere life. The consequence was, that the church of the monastery was continually crowded with the dazzled, while the cathedral was half deserted. And as every worshipper was compelled to bring an offering, how- ever small, to the altar, the chapter suffered greatly in purse as well as in public estimation. § 5. In the course of a year a few of the secular clergy began to yield to the pressure of necessity, and wives and children were abandoned at the bidding of arrogant ecclesiastics, who wielded the temporal power of the State. At this crisis [a.d. 961] a pesti- lence swept over the land. The prelates and monks declared it to be a warning of greater evils unless the married clergy should yield. The king called councils of nobles to urge the measure. At one of these, held at Winchester, the friends of the clergy were so numerous that the king wavered, and was about to dissolve the meeting, when Dunstan resorted to a clever trick. A peculiar sound was heard. The Primate declared that a crucifix on the wall spoke to him, " God forbid it to be done ! " The awe-struck nobles for- sook the married clergy, and those who refused to become monks were driven from their places. § 6. The reign of Edgar, which lasted sixteen years, presents few Incidents in common with those of his predecessors. He made 60 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IH. Edgar's Cuieer and Character. His Death. His Family. stately ioumeys yearly through every part of his dominions, in ■which he looked strictly to the administration of justice. His great assemblies made many la-n-s for the protection of the property of the Church ; and he encouraged commerce by affording substan- tial protection to traders. Of tliis he gave a memorable instance in the year 968, when he ravaged the Isle of Thanet, because some Norseman merchants from York had been ill-treated there. § 7. The personal conduct of Edgar was very bad. Although he was liberal to the Church, and in public matters suffered him- self to be guided by Dunstan, in his private life he neglected all his admonitions, and was licentious and cruel. He carried away nuns by force from the convents, and murdered one of his nobles in order to marry his wife. For these crimes Dunstan forbade him to wear liis bawble, the crown, on his head for the space of seven years, and to fast ; but not a word was said about restitution and repentance. His treatment of his vassal kings also was overbear- ing and haughty, as. already mentioned." "When he ' " ' imposed a tribute of wolves' heads on the Welsh princes instead of money, it was probably more to show that he did not need their property, than with the enlightened view that has been ascribed to him, of extu-pating the wolves, which was not accomplished for ages after his time. § 8.. Edgar, when very young, married Ethelfleda, who died soon after, leaving him two sons, the eldest named Edward ; and he afterwards married Elfrida, the vridow of his murdered noble, Ethelwold, just mentioned, who became the mother of Etheli-ed. Edgar died in the thirty-second year of his age [July 8, 975], and was buried, not with former kings at Winchester, but at Glaston- bury, the favorite retreat of his adviser, Dunstan. His son Edward succeeded him. CHAPTEE XIV. EEiGN OF Edward the Second, the Mabttr. [a.d. 975 to 979.] § 1. The orderly government that Dunstan had established seems to have fallen to pieces on the death of Edgar. Both his sons by Ethelfleda were young ; and Elfrida, his widow, endeavored to Chaptek XrV.] THE SAXON ERA. 61 Dunstan'a Monks Expelled. Public Diecoutent. Edward murdered. secure the throne for her cwn child in preference to Edward, tlie elder bora. Dunstan succeeded in placing Edward on the throne, but, as he had no longer the active support of a king, much that he had done to establish monasteries was promptly undone. The monks were driven out, and the canons or secular clergy were restored ; but each body had its partisans, and their fierce disputes reduced the country to a state of anarchy, which prepared the way for the miseries of the next reign. These religious contests, always selfish because they were for personal power, and not for an idea, were very bitter. § 2. The Norsemen settlers were greatly irritated by seeing one of their number, Oslac, the earl of Northumbria, driven into exile, and they seem to have encouraged the sea-rovers to renew their depredations. A famine occurred, which the monks represented as a judgment on their oppressors. A council was held at Calne in consequence, where the secular clergy, by the aid of Beornhelm, a Scottish bishop, pressed hard upon Dunstan, and he was only saved from a formal defeat by an accident. . The floor of the chamber on which his adversaries stood gave way, and many were killed and wounded, whilst he escaped unhurt by clinging to a beam. This was looked on as an interposition of Providence in his favor, and secured him from further opposition. But the disorders of the State soon called ofE attention from the affairs of the Church, and the plans of Dunstan were never fully carried out. They were partially executed afterward. § 3. In the fourth year of his reign, the young king, being out hunting in the neighborhood of Corfe Castle, where his step-moth- er Elfrida resided, paid her a visit unattended. She received him with apparent joy, but by her direction one of her attendants stabbed him in the back as he sat on horseback drinking the part- ing cup at her gate. The youth attempted to rejoin his compan- ions, but falling from his horse he was dragged along the ground until he died. That event occurred on the 18th of March, 979, when Ms half-brother Ethelred succeeded him. Edward's body was at first buried secretly at Wareham, but was afterwards re- moved to Shaftesbury, where it was interred with royal pomp. The sufferer was esteemed a mai'tyr, and the superstitious people, made to believe that miracles were wrought by his remaius, visited his tomb in great numbers, and made offerings to the monks in attendance. 62 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. Dunstan'B Prophecy. jltnelred's Tyraimy. CHAPTEE XV. REIGN OP EtHBLRBD THE Skcond. [a.d. 979 TO 1016.] § 1. The reign of Ethelred was longer and more calamitous than that of any of his predecessors. He was but in his eleventh year when he became king, and Dunstan, who crowned him, predicted, it is said, the evils that afterwards befell the land. " Thus saith the Lord," he cried, " The sword shall never depart from your house, but shall rage against you all the days of your life, slaying your offspring ; until your kingdom is transferred to another family." § 2. The prophecy, as it was esteemed, of Dunstan soon began to receive its fulfilment. The gi-eat fleet that his vigilance had maintained under Edgar, had apparently been dispersed by the advisere of Edward, and the Norsemen at once recommenced their ravages. SouthamptOB and the Isle of Thanet first felt the scourge ; then Cheshire was devastated ; next the Cornish and Welsh coasts were visited, and a celebrated monastery at Padstow was destroyed ; and so low had the naval power of the State fallen from the 3,600 ships that Edgar is said to have maintained, that " three ships of pirates " were strong enough to desolate the whole Isle of Portland. § 3. In the midst of these calamities the young king showed his tyrannical nature by laying waste the lauds of Elfstan, the Bishop of Rochester, against whom he had conceived offence. Dunstan adjured him to desist, but he would not listen to the Primate un- til he had received a bribe of a hundred pounds of silver. Dun- stan sent the money, but accompanied it by a repetition of his declaration that evil days were coming, though he should not live to see many of them. § 4. This was, indeed, Dunstan's last public act, as he died very soon afterwards at the age of seventy, leaving a name that has suf- fered as much from the indiscriminate praise of his friends as from the attacks of his enemies. Judging him by the age in which he lived, he was undoubtedly a great and wise man. Miracles were ascribed to him, and the Pope canonized liim as a saint. § 5. The ravages of the Norsemen were so furiously carried on, th it th- king and his councillois lost all heart ; and in the year 991 CuAPTEii XV.] THE SAXON ERA. 63 Ethelred's Cruelty. Invasion of Norsemen. Tribute. atribute of £10,000 ($50,000) was paid to them by the advice of Siricius, a successor of Dunstan in the see of Canterbm-y, but no inheritor of his spiiit. In the following year a fleet was fitted out. The command of it was given to Elfric, the son of a duke of Morcia who had been banished, and who now took vengeance by deserting to the enemy. The weak and cruel Ethebed ordered the eyes of the deserter's son to be put out ; but in after years he again in- trusted Elfric with an army, when he again became a traitor. But unfortunately he was far from being the only one ; indeed, the incapable monarch seems hardly to have had one really trust- worthy adherent. § 6. Fresh bodies of the Norsemen assailed Northumbria and East Anglia, and as the troops raised against them were mainly of the same race, no effectual resistance was offered. Bamborough, the great stronghold of Northumbria, was stonned, and the coun- try permanently occupied. Then followed a still more formidable attack by Sweyn and Olave, or Anlaf, two Norwegia,n kings, who ravaged Kent and the southern coast, and took up their winter quarters at Southampton, in 994. The foi-mer expedient of paying a tribute was resorted to, and the invaders at last withdrew on receiving the sum of £16,000, or $80,000. Olave, who had be- come a Christian, took an oath never more to come in hostile man- ner against England, and he kept his word ; but Sweyn returned in after years. § 7. There would seem to have been a period of tranquillity from this time up to the year 997; but after that the Norsemen renewed their ravages, and never desisted from them until they had seated Canute, the son of Sweyn, on the throne. They burnt the mon- astei-y of Tavistock ; settled themselves in the Isle of Wight ; gained victories wherever they fought, and at last neither fleet nor army durst meet them. A fresh tribute of £24,000 ($120,000) was paid to them in 1002, and a peace concluded; but this was soon broken by Ethelred, who vrith equal cruelty and folly ordered a treacherous massacre of a body-guard of Norsemen which he had taken into his pay, and who, he was informed, had a design on his life. The butchery was fixed for St. Brice's day (Nov. 13) in that year, as the Norsemen, even if not Chris- tians, usually laid aside their arms and visited the churches on festival days. § 8. The people had suffered much from the ir.solence and 64 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. ■Butchery of Norsemen, Coalition. Bavages by Sweyn. rapacity of these mercenaries, and they even exceeded the orders of Ethelred. They dragged many of them from a refuge that they had sought in a church outside the wall of London, which is still known as St. Clement Danes, and put them to death, and even more barbarously murdered women and children. Among ths sufferers was Gunhilda, the sister of Sweyn, who had married a Saxon noble, and was in general highly esteemed as a, media- trix between her countrymen and the people. Her sons were put to death before her face, and she was then beheaded, declaring with her last breath, that G-od would not sutfer her blood to flow unavenged. § 0. Such was soon seen to be the case. Ethelred had just be- fore endeavored to strengthen himself by marrying Emma, the sis- ter of Richard, Duke of Normandy, with whom he had lately been hostile, probably hoping for that prince's assistance in case of an invasion ; but the event was precisely the reverse. The Normans were of the same blood as the Noi-semen ; and although settled for a century in France, looked on them as their countrymen, whose cause they were bound to favor. Hence many of them who came over with the new queen, and were put in places of trust, regarded Sweyn, and not Ethelred, as their king. § 10. Early the following year [a.d. 1003] Sweyn appeared on the west coast of England with a powerful fleet and army, breath- ing vengeance and ravaging with fire and sword. The flag-ship of the Norwegian was in the form of an enormous serpent, and was called "The Great Dragon." Exeter, a strong city that had in former years successfully resisted him, was betrayed to him by Hugo, a Norman, who governed it for Queen Emma, and it was entirely ruined ; Salisbury and Wilton were sacked ; Norwich and Thetford were burnt, and Ulfkytel and all the chief men of East Anglia were cut off in a terrible battle. At last, in the year 1004, "the great famine," the natural consequence of their ravages, obliged the invaders to withdraw for a time. § 11. In lOOC Sweyn again landed at Sandwich, and ravaged ' § 9 p 2 ■'^™*' '^'^™ making the Isle of Wight » his winter quarters, his plundering parties spread far and wide, in a manner that showed their contempt for any force that might be brought against them. Ethelred fled to the remote district of Shropshire, and there summoned his council to devise "some means by which the land might be saved before it was utterly de- Chapter XV.] THE SAXON BRA. C5 Treachery and Piracy. Ravages by Pii-ates. Swcyn King. stroyed." Their deliberations had the usual result, and peace was again purchased by a tribute of £36,000, or $180,000. § 13. This was in 1007, about which time the government of Mercia was committed to Edric Streona, great-uncle of Earl God- win, the father of King Harold, and a descendant of the old royal family of the South Saxons, who had married Ethelred's daughter, but is accused of most treacherous conduct towards him. That and the following year were passed in fitting out a great fleet, which at last rendezvoused at Sandwich, in 1009 ; but scarcely was it collected when Wulfnoth of Sussex (the nephew of Edric, who had married Ethelred's daughter), and one of its chiefs, was ac- cused of treason, on which he fled with twenty ships and turned pirate. Eighty ships were sent against him, but a storm damaged many of them, and he burnt the rest ; so that when Thurkill, a Norseman, appeared at Sandwich, there was no one to resist him. Having laid Kent under tribute, he proceeded to besiege London with part of his forces, and remained before it dming the win- ter, while others bui'nt Oxford. But London successfully resisted them ; and in the spring they marched from East Anglia into Wes- sex, the Saxons being now so disheartened that " each one fled as he best might. " The invaders now scornf ulfy refused a fresh offer of tribute, and continued theii- ravages until ip the year 1010 tliey captured Canterbury, through the treachery of Aelmar, the abbot of St. Augustin's, and made the Ai'chbishop Alphege, who had de- fended it, their prisoner. § 13. The next year [a.d. 1011] a tribute of £48,000 ($240,000) was offered to the invaders and accepted, when they withdrew, but not before they had barbarously murdered the Archbishop, who had been for several months a prisoner in their hands, and who refused to pay an enormous ransom for his life, saying that he had no wealth but what belonged to the Chm-ch and the poor, and he would not rob them to save himself. § 14. The following summer saw another invasion by Sweyn, but it was his last. He was accompanied by his son Canute, and made a kind of triumphal progress tlirough the country, no one di-eaming of opposing him except the Londoners. Leaving them, he marched to Oxford, and Winchester, and Bath, and theu re- turning to Northumbria, he was formally accepted as king. Eth- elred now sent his queen, Emma, and her sons Edward and Alfi'ed, to Duke Richard in Normandy, and followed them himself. The 66 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. Death of Sweyn. Canute King. Bthelred's career. Londoners at last submitted, when Sweyn levied " a full tribute " on them, and his general, Thurkill, encamped with a strong force at Greenwich. § 15. It was towards the close of the year 1012 that the Danish king seemed thus firmly established in Great Britain ; and at the middle of January, 1013, he was acknowledged as " Full King of England." On the 3d of February he died ; and though his army chose his son Canute as their king, the council of the English re- called Ethebed. He returned ; promised amendment of his con- duct, and for once displayed unexpected spirit, by attacking Canute and driving him to his ships. Canute showed his barbarity by cutting ofE the hands, ears, and noses of numerous hostages, and then setting them on shore at Sandwich. § 16. Instigated by Edric, who was yet his favorite, Ethelred, soon after Canute's departure, put to death Siferth and Morcar, two powerful chiefs of the Anglo-Danes, and thus again disgusted his subjects. Encouraged by this discontent, Canute again landed in Wessex, when he was joined by the treacherous Edric, and passed through Mercia to Northumberland, while Ethelred, though he had collected an army, feared to engage him, and once more shut himself up in Loudon. Meanwhile the Danish army had pro- claimed Canute king of the whole country. He prepared to at- tack Ethelred in London ; but before he could reach the city the Saxon king died [April 23, a.d. 1017], leaving to his son Edmund a kingdom which was comprised within the walls of London. § 17. Ethelred was twice married, and left a numerous family. His first wife, Elgiva, the daughter of Thorold, an East Anglian earl, was the mother of his successor, and ten more children ; his second wife, Emma, bore him Edward, and Alfred, and Goda, who married Eustace of Boulogne. Emma was so beautiful that she was called the " Pearl of Normandy," but the Saxons disliked her name, and styled her Elgiva. § 18. The title of the " Unready," given to Ethelred by Dun- stan, is sufficiently descriptive of his character if taken in its modern English meaning ; but in the Saxon it is a scornful jest on Ms ncT,me. Ethelred means " noble counsel ; " but ".se Unrede " added to it gives the meaning of " The noble counsellor who cannot advise." His whole reign is one picture of crime and sufEei'ing, cruelty and weakness, and no redeeming features of piety, or gen- erosity, or courage are recorded of him by any historian. Ohaptek XVI.] THE SAXON ERA. 6Y Edmund and Canute. A Compromise. Peace. CHAPTEE XVI. KEiGN OF Edmund Ironsides, [a.d. 1016.] § 1. The Saxons chose for their king, Edmund, a natural son of their monarch, who had given proof of his wisdom and valor. He was surnamed Ironsides. He was in London at the death of his father ; and being chosen king, he at once left the city to the guard of its burgesses, and hurrying into "Wessex, raised an army with which he defeated the Norsemen or Danes at Pen, in Dorsetshire, and a few days after at Burford, in Oxfordshire. Meanwhile Canute had besieged London, and dug a trench on the south side by which the assailants brought their ships above the bridge ; but they were suddenly attacked and defeated by Edmund, and obliged to retire. § 2. The young king now returned to Wessex to raise fresh forces, and London was again besieged, bixt its people gallantly defended themselves. At length, on the approach of Edmund, many of the Norsemen retired to their ships, and sailing up the Orwell penetrated into Mercia, whilst others passed into Kent. Here they were followed by Edmund, who defeated them at Otf ord, when they fled into Sheppey, where they were too strong to be attacked. § 3. Edmund then marched into Essex, where he encountered the enemy at Ashdown, near Saffron Walden ; but being forsaken by Edric," who had again attached himself to the Sax- ons, he suffered a terrible defeat. He retired into Glou- cestershire, pursued by Canute, and there an agreement was made bj' which the country was partitioned between them. Edmund retained Wessex, and Canute was acknowledged as sovereign of all the rest. The fleet and army again appeared before London, when, as further resistance was hopeless, a peace was bought of them, and the Norsemen's winter quarters were established there. § 4. Edmund died very shortly after this, on St. Andrew's day [Nov. 30, 1016]. He is supposed to have been murdered by Edric. He was buried at Glastonbury, with his grandfather Edgar. He had married Algitha, the widow of ^ _„ Siferth,* and he left two young children, Edward and Edmund, but neither succeeded to his throne. Edmund was a 68 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IU. Canute's Cruelty. Marries Emma ol Normandy, man of powerful frame and great courage. He proposed to Canute to decide their claims by a duel, saying it was a pity so many lives should be lost or imperilled for their ambition. Ca- nute declined to fight because Edmund was very stout and he was slender, but thought it wiser to divide England between them. CHAPTER XVn. KEiGK OF Canute, [a.d. 1016 to 1035.] § 1. Canute was in possession of London when Edmvmd died ; and powerful persons being brought forward to swear that Edmund had appointed him guardian of his children, he was at once chosen king of the whole of England, wMch he divided into four States, resemng the government of Wessex for him- self, and committing East Anglia to his general, Thurkill, Mercia to Ediic the traitoi-, and Northumbria to Eric, a Dane, as his viceroys. § 2. The guardianship of the children of Edmund that Canute had undertaken was but badly performed. He sent them to Sweden, expecting them, as it would seem, to be put to death, but the Swedish king, instead, sent them to the king of Hungary, who kindly protected them. Canute next seized and executed Edwy, a, brother of Edward, and many of the English nobles. Having thus secured his throne, he abstained from further severities, and did all that lay in Ms power to induce the English and the Danes to dwell amicably together. A great assembly was accordingly held at Oxford in 1018, when a solemn reconciliation was effected. ^^ § 3. As Edric," fi-om his treachery to aU parties, had rendered himself hateful alike to English and Danes, Canute seized an opportunity of putting him to death. He also relieved himself fi-om the fear of any attempt against his 66 P°'^'^^ ^y *^ ^°^ '■'^ Ethelred, by marrying their mother Emma,*" the " Pearl of ISTormandy," and promising that his issue by her should succeed to the throne. This marriage, though entered into merely from motives of policy, had a very liappy effect on the character of Canute. He was not ignorant of Christianity before, but Emma succeeded in inducing CiiAPTER XVIL] THE SAXON ERA. 69 Emma^s Influence. Canute^s Dominions. His character. him to lead a life more suitable to its profession than his career had hitherto been. § 4. At her persuasion he took what seemed a vei7 hazardous step, but the result justified her wisdom. He levied the heavy tribute of £83,500 ($412,500) on the land; but as it was known that it was to pay and dismiss his army, it was willingly given. Accordingly all the fierce mercenaries were sent home, excepting the crews of forty ships, who, with their vessels, he wisely kept for the protection of his coasts. Thus England was once more free from the ravages of the Norsemen. § 5. Canute claimed for himself the crown of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and held them by force of amis. He passed over to Denmark [a-D. 1019], taking with him Godwin and other nobles, and a large body of English, probably to prevent insurrection at home ; but they served him gallantly in war, and Godwin became such a favorite that the rise of his power may be dated from this time. § 6. Canute was descended from Alfred the Great," and he evinced something of his ancestor's wisdom in his * § 1, p '46.' endeavors to repair the ravages of war. He en- acted just laws, rebuilt ruined churches, and showed much regard for the clergy. He also took great pleasure in their solemn church music. His example was followed by his fierce Danish nobles ; and Thurkill, the general whose troops had murdered Archbishop Alphege,* joined with his master in building a jtately stone church at Ashdown, on the site of his great victoiy over Edmund. Stigand, who was afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, was placed in it at the head of a )5ody of monks who were provided to pray for the souls of the slain. § 7. Soon after the retuiu of Canute from Denmark, his viceroys Thurkill and Eric fell into disgrace and were banished. They had many fiiends, however, and he apprehended an invasion frona them ; therefore he put himself at the head of his fleet, and nar- rowly watched the seas. At length Thurkill regained his favor, and was made governor of Denmark. About this time Canute brought into submission Duncan, under-king of Cambria, and Malcolm, king of Scotland, who refused allegiance to the Dane. § 8. Up to this time the body of Archbishop Alphege had lain in St. Paul's Church, in London ; but Canute now determined to remove it to the prelate's own cathedral. This was accordingly 70 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book III. Canute's endowment of Monasteries. He goes to Rome. His Family. done with solemn pomp, the king accompanying the body to Canterbury, and Queen Emma, with her young son Harthacanute, taking part in the procession. § 9. The affairs of Denmark more than once called Canute away to Sweden or Norway, and he took with him large bodies of English, who served him so gallantly that he eventually became the most powerful monarch of the North. Each successful return to England was marked by some fresh act of bounty to the Church. Almost every year witnessed the foundation or endow- ment of a new monastery, the most remarkable being one in honor of Edmund of East Anglia," whose tomb had a g 1 p 54 o ' ' ' ' been profaned by Canute's father, Sweyn. § 10. In 1027 Canute undertook a pilgrimage to Kome, where he was most honorably received. By rich gifts he secured English pilgrims from many vexatious exactions which they had been subject to on their journey, and he procured important pri- vileges for the English school at Rome. Shortly after his return he made an expedition against Scotland, and received the sub- mission of Kenneth, the king, as well as of inferior chiefs, among whom is mentioned the familiar name of Macbeth, who had caused the murder of Duncan. § 11. Canute's English subjects seem to have been thoroughly reconciled to his sway, and we read of no disturbances among them. With his own Danes, however, it was otherwise; and in 1029 one of their most powerful earls, Hacon, the husband of Canute's niece, Gunhilda, was banished. He became a pirate, but died the following year before he could effect much mischief. § 12. After the death of this man the days of Canute passed on quietly in acts of piety and charity until his own decease, which occurred at Shaftesbury, on the 12th of November, 1035. He was buried at Winchester. He left three sons, Sweyn, Harold, and Harthacanute, of whom the first two were his illegitimate children by his concubine Algiva, the daughter of a Northumbrian earl, and the last was the offspring of Emma, the widow of Ethelred. Sweyn received his portion in Norway, but England was divided between Harold and Harthacanute. Canute had also a daughter by Emma, who was named Gunhilda, and was married to the young emperor Henry the Third of Germany, who was called " the pious," because he gave three Popes to the see of Rome. § 13. The story of Gunhilda is an interesting one, as shomnc Chapter XVIII.] THE SAXON BRA. 71 Story oi GunhUda. lU-treatment oi Canute's "Widow. the sj^irit of the age. She was a princess of extreme beauty, but was still more famed for her virtue and her charity. She had not long been married when she was accused of infidelity to her hus- band, and was condemned to death, unless she could find a cham- pion to vindicate her honor. All her attendants believed her innocent, but none dared to encounter the champion that the emperor had chosen, who was a soldier of almost gigantic size. She would have suffered but for the love and courage of an English boy, who from his small size was called Mimecan. Find- ing his mistress forsaken by all, he undertook her cause, and, by what was esteemed a miracle, overcame the giant. The Emperor wished his injured wife to return to him, but she refused, and retired to Bruges, the court of her cousin Eleanor of Normandy, where she died soon afterward, greatly lamented. The Emperor was sorely grieved at her death, and felt remorse. CHAPTER XVin. REIGN OF HaKOLD THE FiRST. [A.D. 1035 TO 1040.] § 1. It had been agreed that the crown. of England should de- scend to Harthacanute, Emma's son ; but as he was absent when Canute died, Harold succeeded in obtaining it. At first the rivals agreed to a partition ; but as Harthacanute lingered abroad in Denmark, he soon lost the favor of his partisans, and Harold was acknowledged king of the whole by the Witenagemot, or council of the wise men — the germ of the British parliament. § 3. Harold's first act was to despoil his step-mother Emma of her property, and to confine her at Winchester under the care of his body-guard. Next he invited her sons Edward and Alfi-ed from Normandy, under pretence of friendship, when Alfred was murdered by his order, and Edward, who soon after Canute's death had made an unsuccessful invasion of England, only es- caped the same fate by flight. Then he drove out Emma in the middle of winter, and she found a refuge at the court of the Count of Flanders, who had married her niece, Eleanor of Noi-mandy. Here she was joined by Harthacanute, who was pjepariug for an 72 HISTOHY OF ENGLAND. [Book HL The last Danisll King of England. His Violence. invasion of England, when Harold died at Oxford, March 17, 1040, and thus the coming contest was prevented. § 3. Harold was termed Haref oot, from Ms lightness and activity in the chase, to which great part of his time was given. His reign is a record of violence and cruelty. It is believed that he was never cro-mied. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who was a Saxon, refused to perform the ceremony himself, or allow any bishop to do so. Because of this affront Harold showed an open contempt for Christians. He did not marry. Aiter a reign of about five years he was biuled at Winchester. CHAPTER XIX. BBiGN 01" Haethacatitjtb. [a.d. 1040 TO 1042.] § 1. Invited by a deputation of English and Danish thanes, Harthacanute came over to England, accompanied by a large fleet, and landed at Sandwich. His first act was the disgraceful one of disinterring his half-brother's body, and casting it into the river. It was recovered by a fisherman, and again buried in the church of St. Clement, in which the Norsemen had taken refuge at the time of the massacre by order of Ethelred," outside of London. He liised the Danes, among whom he had long lived, better than the English, and brought with him many Teu- tonic courtiers and chiefs, and a large army and navy. Then he levied a heavy tax to pay his fleet, and, as a chronicler remarks, " all were then averse to him who before had desired him." The payment of the tax was resisted in many places, particularly at Worcester, where two of the royal guard, who were assisting in the collection, were killed. Harthacanute ordered the whole slm-e to be ravaged, and thus increased the hatred of the people. § 3. Though thus violent, he would seem to have possessed some good qualities, as he showed much affection for his mother, and his half-brothers Alfred and Edward. It was with difficulty that he was brought to forgive the actors in the murder of Alfi-ed, and only on their solemn oaths that Harold had commanded it. He invited Edward to England, received him cordially, and treated him most Idndly. CUAPTBB XX] THE SAXON ERA. _ 73 Death of Harthaoannte. Normans favored by Edward. § 3. Harthacanute's reign was very short. His high steward, Osgod Olapa, gave a banquet at Lambeth, on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter, at which the young king was present. He stood up to drink the health of the bride, when he was seized -witk a sudden fit, and fell to the ground speechless. He died on the 8th of June, 1043, and was buried at Winchester. And so the last Danish monarch of England died drunk. He was a sot and a glutton. An old chronicler, of a little later period, lamented that Englishmen had learned from the example of Harthacanute "their excessive gormandizing and unmeasurable flUing of their bellies with meats and di-inks." CHAPTER XX. BBIGN OF EdWAKD THE COUFESSOK. [A.D. 1043 TO 1066.] § 1. When Harthacanute died, there was no legitimate Danish successor to the English throne. He was the last of Canute's ac- knowledged sons. He had treated kindly his half-brother Edward, who, being in England at the time of the king's death, was at once called to the throne. His inclinations would have carried liim back to Normandy, to whose more cultivated people he had become attached ; but he yielded to the Saxons, and ascended the throne in the year 1043. § 3. The Danes in England were dissatisfied with tlie accession of Edward, but were obliged to submit. His preference for the Normans dissatisfied his whole people. He invited Normans of every condition to England, and endeavored to flU every post of trust with them. Robert, a Norman monk, was appointed Bishop of London, and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury ; other Nor- mans were placed in other sees ; Hugolin, a Noi-man, was his treasurer and especial favorite ; Otho and Ralph, with bands of Norman followers, garrisoned the castles and formed the royal body-guard; and the Norman dialect was the language of his court. § 3. But there was one exception to this favor, and in making it the king dishonored his own character as a son and sovereign. 4 74 HISTOEY OF ENaLAND. [Book. III. Edward's cruel treatment of his Mother. It was his treatment of his mother Emma, the "Pearl of Nor- mandy,'' as she was called.' Edward accused ' ^' 'her of having wished to hinder his accession to the throne, though she had no other son to take it. On this charge ho confiscated her lands and imprisoned her, and deprived Stigand,' her spiritual adviser, of his bishopric. He ' ' even compelled her to submit to the ordeal of fire. By this she was acquitted, when Edward, having no pretext for further persecution, gave an island and manors to the church at "Winchester in token of his penitence. § 4. It was chiefly through the influence of Godwin, the power- ful and unscrupulous Earl of Wessex, that Edward's peaceable acces- sion to the throne had been secured. He knew that Edward shared in the comnion belief that the earl was guilty of the murder of the king's brother, Alfred," and he took early measures to « § 2, p. 71. secure himself and family from harm. He obtained extensions of territories; honors and commands for himself and sons ; a solemn assurance that the past should be forgiven, and a pledge for the future. He compelled Edward to marry his fair da-ughter, Editha, who was worthy of a better husband. Edward detested the man to whom, in a degree, he was indebted for the tlu'one, and refused to be a husband to his daughter. She was queen of the realm, but not of her husband's affections. And on occasion of a quarrel with her relations, Edward imprisoned her in a nunnery. But Edward was a mere tool in the hands of God- win and his six sons. § 5. Soon after Edward's marriage, Magnus, the king of Nor- way, threatened to renew the horrors of former years by a fresh invasion [a.d. 1043] ; but Godwin promptly collected a large fleet at Sandwich, and also procured the banishment of the wid- ' § 11, p. 70. °'^ of Hacon and her sons," and of Osgod Clapa, • S 3 p 73 *^® favorite of Harthacanute,' and other influential Danes, who were suspected of having invited him. Magnus himself being attacked by Swoj'n of Denmark, the nephew of Canute, the invasion was never attempted. The first attack on England proceeded from one of Godwin's own family. § 6. This was Sweyn, his secoiid son, a man of cruel and lawless habits, who was outlawed for carrying off the abbess of Leominster from her convent. He retired to Flanders, and joined vrith Lothen and Yrling, two Daiiish chiefs, in a piratical cruiss along the Chapter XX.] THE SAXON BRA. 75 Earl Godwin's Career. William of Normandy. English coast. After a time he wished to make his peace, and offered to join the royal fleet with seven ships ; but his terms being refused, he treacherously murdered his kinsman Beom, who had opposed his pardon, and again fled to Flanders. Gsgod Clapa also ravaged Essex, and some others of the banished Danes pro- cured a fleet from Ireland, which joined with the Welsh to devastate tlie west of England. § 7. Godwin, being at the head of affairs, had no wish to see these depredations continue, and therefore after a time Sweyn was reinstated in his lands ; but this was scarcely accomplished when a quarrel broke out'between the king and Godwin, which resulted in the temporary banishment of the whole family, in the year 1051. The cause was as follows : — Eustace, the Count of Boulogne, who had married King Edward's sister Goda, paid a visit to England, bringing with him a numerous armed retinue. The people were irritated by then- insolent behavior, and when they reached Dover, on their, way back, a quarrel broke out between them and the townsmen, in which several lives were lost. Eustace hurried back to the king and demanded redress, and Godvrin, in whose earldom! the affa,u- had happened, was strictly charged to punish the townsmen. He found, however, that they were the injured party, and in his turn demanded redress for them. Edward showed unwonted spirit, and calling Siward and Leofric, the Earls of Northumberland and Mercia, to his aid, the result was a meeting of the chief men, by which Godwin and all his family were banished. § 8. The Norman party was now strengthened by the arrival, as a visitor, of Duke WUliam, the grandson of Edward's protector in Normandy, who was an able and crafty prince, and already meditated the seiziire of the realm of England. Robert, the Norman monk already mentioned,* was now made 1 " § 3, p. 73. archbishop, and Spearhafoc, a Saxon abbot, was appointed to succeed him ; but Robert refused to consecrate him, and got William, another Norman, made Bishop of London instead. The discontent that this occasioned was not lost on Godwin and his family, who were men not likely to bear quietly the loss of lands and honors. ^ § 9. Godwin and Sweyn had retired to Flanders, and Harold and his brother Leof wine to Ireland. They soon collected fleets ; but when about to sail Sweyn went on a pilg-rimage to Jenisalem, 76 HISTOKT OF ENGLAND. [Book in. Death of Godwin. Expedition against Scotland. Contests between the Nobles. from which he never returned. Godwin, however, joined his other sons, and appearing in the Thames with a powerful force, another assembly was held, which reinstated him and his family, and drove out the Normans. Robert, and Ulf the Bishop of Dorchester, fled in a crazy boat across the sea, and their military comrades sought refuge in Scotland, where many of them perished in supporting the cause of the usurper Macbeth, in the year 1054. § 10. Godwin did not long survive the triumph of his house and re-establishment of the Saxon supremacy. He was seized with Ulness at Easter, 1053, while sitting at the royal table, and died three days after. His son Harold succeeded to his possessions, but resigned his own earldom of East AngUa to Elfgar, the son of Leofiic of Mercia. § 11. In the following year occurred the only foreign expedition of Edward's reign. This was against Scotland, and was con- ducted by Siward, the powerful Earl of Northumberland, who died shortly after his return, when his earldom was bestowed on Tostig, a brother of Harold, and the power of the family became greater than ever. § 13. Elfgar was now outlawed, for what cause is unknovfn, but he leagued himself with Griffin, the King of South Wales, and by his aid and that of a ileet from Ireland he regained his lands in the year 1055. Three years later the same scene was renewed. Elfgar was once more outlawed by Edward ; but though the help of Griffin (who had married Elfgar's daughter Edith) re- established him, that help brought on the Welsh prince the arms of Harold and Tostig, who attacked him both by sea and land, and at last reduced his people to such distress that they cut oif the head of Griffin, and sent it to the king in token of submission [a.d. 1063], and his two brothers, Bletliin and Rywallon, acknow- ledged themselves the vassals of England. § 13. While these contests between his great nobles were going on, Edward summoned to England his nephew Edward the Ath- eling, who had for many years resided abroad, with the intention that he should succeed him, but the prince died shortly after his arrival, and the king's hopes were transferred to his son, Edgar the Atheling. § 14. Tostig, who was even more violent and cruel than his brother Sweyn, treated the people of his earldom so tyrannically, that at last, in the autumn of 1065, they expelled him, and chose Chapter XX.] THE SAXON ERA. 77 William of Normandy. His Courtship and Marriage. Edward's Piety. Morcar, the son of Elfgar, for their governor. Harold endeavored to reconcile the contending parties, but in vain, and at last Tostig was obliged to retire to Flanders, where he leagued himself with his brothers-in-law, Baldwin and William of Normandy, " a 8 R n 9R and thus succeeded in causing the conquest of his ' native country by foreigners. § 15. William, afterwards known as the Conqueror, was the natural son of Eobert, Duke of Normandy, the descendant of EoUo, a Norseman, who wrested the province called Neuetria from Charles the Simple, King of France, about the beginning of the tenth century. William succeeded to the dukedom when a child; but as he grew up he showed so much vigor and address, that he at length became one of the most considerable princes of his day. He was a man of great size and strength, a famous horseman and archer, and of harsh and stern aspect. His character was alike treacherous, resolute, and cruel ; but it suited the people he had to deal with, as may be seen by the manner in which he obtained a wife, whose connections greatly added to his strength. § 16. He demanded of Baldwin, Count of Flanders, his daugh- ter Matilda, and the Count was willing to grant his suit ; but the princess scornfully declared she would never take a bastard for her husband. The refusal was of course conveyed in more courteous terms ; but William afterward learnt what had been said, and in a rage he repaired to Baldwin's court almost alone. He left his attendants in the hall, and going to the cliamber of Matilda, he seized her by the hair, dragged her about the ground and kicked her ; then he mounted his horse and rode ofE unmo- lested. Instead of war following from this piece of brutality, Matilda now readily agreed to marry him, saying that a man who would dare to act thus would be her sure protector against any one else. § 17. King Edward had, while in exile, made a vow to under- take a pilgrimage to Rome, if he should ever return to England. Not seeing any pros{)ect of fulfilling it, he prevailed on Pope Leo IX. to allow him to build a monastery instead. He chbse to re- build, on a large scale, an abbey dedicated to St. Peter, that stood on a wild swampy piece of ground on the bank of the Thames, called Thorny Island ; Westminster Abbey now occupies its site. The work went on year by year, and Edward sent ambassadors to 78 HISTOET OF ENGLAND, [Book III. Edward's Death. He is Canonized. The "King's Evil." Rome to procure extraordinary privileges for the monks that he intended to place there. At last it was finished, and he came to the consecration, which took place on the third day after Christ- mas, 1065. He fell ill during the ceremony, and after lingering a few days he died on the 5th of January, 1066. He was speechless during the greater part of the time, but when his end drew near he uttered some words which his attendants interpreted as a bequest of the crown to Harold. On the day following he was buried in his new church, and his shrine (for he was afterwards sainted) still remains in "Westminster Abbey, the only one of such relics of superstition there that has escaped destruction. § 18. Edward is known as "The Confessor," ' but in earlier ages he was called " the good King Edward." He was long re- garded as the patron saint of England, and his generosity and kindness were themes of many a story. Laws made long before Ms time were ascribed to him. It was believed by the simple that his relics and his tomb wrought miracles ; and it was widely de- clared that his touch had cured scrofula. Even imtil the time of Queen Anne, seven hundred years afterward, the superstitious be- lieved that the gift was hereditary in the monarchs of England, and the " touch " for " king's evil," or scrofula, was sought. At Christmas, 1683, the Bishop of Durham wrote: — "The number of Persons that have been Touched for the [King's] Evil, and so many medals delivered for that Use, from July 24, to December 33, 1683, was 3535." CHAPTER XXI. EEIGN OF HAKOI.D THE SbCOND. [A.D. 1066.] § 1. ISTow, again, there was strife for the crown of England. „ ,• _, The powerful Godwin" and his friends declared that » § 4, p. 74. . Edward, just before he expired, recovered, his speech sufficient to bequeath his crown and kingdom to Godwin's eldest 1 This name was given in tlie eavly days of Christianity to persons who incurred BufiEering for adhering to their religion among heathen nations, hnt were not, like the martyrs, put to death. In the case of Edward, however, it only meant that he was a man of exemplary piety, and of monastic strictness of life. Chaptbb XXI.] THE SAXON BEA. T9 Harold the Second. Claims o£ WilUam ot Normandy. Harold's War with his Brother. son, Hai-old. The " Great Earl " was descended from the kings of the South Saxons, and was son of Wulinoth, abeady mentioned," and Harold, it is recorded, had few of the vices of his family. ■§is,p.65. § 3. Edward left no children. As we have seen,' he intended his grandnephew, Edgar the Atheling, to be his heu-. The false Earl's assertion concerning Edward's dying ^ ' *"• bequest set aside Edgar's claim, and not waiting for the consent of the great council of wise men," as usual, Godwin procured the coronation of Harold on the day of the ^ . p- • dead king's funeral. The new king made a peace-ofEering to Edgar by bestowing upon him the Earldom of Oxford. After that the monarch made a journey to the north, where he was well re- ceived, and at Easter he was recognized by the great council as king. § 3. Harold's reign was very brief. WiHiam, the Duke of Nor- mandy,'' also professed to be the heir of King Edward, who, he declared, had promised it to him when he ■ • • was in England. . Harold had once been thrown into his power by shipwreck, and he obliged him to take an oath to support his claim to the crown as the price of his release. On hearing of the accession of Harold, the Duke claimed his promise, and for- mally demanded the throne, but Harold declined to comply, say- ing that his oath was invalid, as it had been extorted by force and fraud. He at once raised an army and fleet to watch the coast, and William on his side prepared for an invasion. § 4. The first blow, however, came from Harold's brother, Tostig, who ^arrived in the Isle of "Wight and plundered it, in the month of April, 1066. He next attacked Thanet, but was re- pulsed, and on the approach of Harold he fled to the Humber. 'Thence he was driven by Morcar, his successor in the earldom of Northumberland, and obliged to flee to Scotland. § 5. Harold's fleet kept the sea during the summer ; but early in September he was obliged to dismiss it from want of pro- visions, and this gave his enemies a fatal advantage over him. A renowned, sea-rover, known as Harold Hardrada (Harold the Stern), who had lately made himself master of Norway, came into the Tyne, when Tostig repaired to him, and, by a promise of dividing the spoil, engaged him to make an attack on England. § 6. Their flrst act Was to bum the town of Scarborough, after 80 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book III. Battle with the Korweglans. William's Preparation for Invasion. The Pope's Help. wliich they landed near Selby, and advancing to Fulford, near York, they there defeated Morcar and Edwin his brother [Sept. 20, A.D. 1066], when the whole province submitted to them. The news was carried quickly to Harold, and he marched with such despatch that he reached York four days afterward, just as the castle there had surrendered. § 7. The Norwegians thought that their work was done, and retii-ed quietly to their ships, which lay in the river Ouse, near Stanford bridge. They landed the next morning, expecting to receive some promised hostages, but instead, they beheld Harold in full march towards them. Tostig advised an instant retreat to their ships, but this Hardrada refused to do. Before their forces met, Harold advanced, and offered one-third of the kingdom to Tostig rather than fight with a brother. " And what is to be the poi-tion of my ally?" inquired Tostig. "Seven feet of English earth, or more if his height requtres it," answered the king,'for Hardrada was almost a giant. § 8. A fierce battle at once ensued, which ended in the total de- feat of the Norwegians, and the death of both of their leadera. But Harold also lost heavily. The remainder of the Norwegians, in- cluding a son of Hardrada, the Earl of Orkney, and a bishop, sub- mitted themselves to the mercy of Harold, and were allowed twenty-four ships to take them to their own covmtry. § 9. Meanwhile, Duke William of Normandy » had pushed on his preparations wdth vigor. He built ships, and offered liberal pay to soldiers of all countries. They flocked to his standard — ^the three lions of Normandy — in large numbers. He enlisted Pope Alexander the Second in his cause. That pontiff sent him a diploma of good- will, signed wdth the cross, and bearing a round seal of lead.' He also sent him a consecrated banner, and a valuable ring, containing, it was pretended, a hau- from the head of St. Peter ; also a declaration that Harold was a perjured man. § 10. With these certificates that his cause was just, William found no difiiculty in getting supplies of money, even from bish- ops and abbots, promising to repay them from the spoils of Eng- land. His fleet, composed of about 3,000 vessels, was soon ready ^ CallccI, in Latin, "Bulla;" hence the common name of "Bull" for the PopQ'3 diplomas, proclamations, letters, etc. Chaptek XXL] THE SAXON BRA. 81 William's Invasion ot England. Battle of Hastings. The Parties in the Contest. for sea; and wheu he ascertained that Harold's ships had been ■withdrawn," he sailed from St. Vatery, in Normandy, his splendid flag-ship presented to him by his wife, ' ^ ^' ''■ ™' Matilda, leading the van. On the second day (September 28, a.d. 1066) they entered Pevensy Bay, on the coast of Sussex, and landed without opposition. The invaders then marched eastward a few miles along the shore, and at a suitable spot not far from Hastings they established a fortified camp,' from which they sent out plun- dering parties into the neighboring country. § 11. Harold was soon told of the landing of Duke William while sitting at table, in York. Weakened as he was by the bat- tle near the Ouse, only three days before, he lost no time in march- ing against the invader. His friends, who began everywhere to raise an army, tried to persuade him to wait until his troops could be strengthened by re-enforcements, but Harold would not listen to them. He pressed forward vnth energy, and came in sight of the NoiTQan camp on the 13th of October, 1066. § 13. The fight that ensued next day (October 14, a.d. 1066) is usually known as the battle of Hastings, though in reality it was fought where now stand the remains of Battle Abbey, some ten miles from the sea. The Saxon account of it is very brief ; but Norman writers give a variety of details disparaging to their ene- mies and laudatory to the invaders, many of which are manifestly untrue. According to them, the Saxons passed the preceding night in riot and jollity, which is hardly likely to have occurred on the bleak hills of Sussex, after a fortnight's forced march ; while the Normans were intent on nothing but their devotions, which is equally unlikely, after their fortnight's plunder and ravage. § 13. The Saxons, or English, were encamped on a hill, in one solid mass, enclosed by a rough intrenchment of wattles, and with a piece of marshy ground between them and their enemies. The Kentish men were in front, and the Londoners guarded the stand- ard. By the side of the latter stood Harold himself, and his brothers Gyrth and Leofwin. The force of the English appears to have been entirely foot-soldiers. They were armed with heavy swords and battle-axes, and long spears for close combat, and javelins for casting at the foe as they approached. The Normans, on the con- 1 Near the railway station of St. Leonard's is a large stone, which tor centuries has been pointed ont as "the Conqueror's dining-table," and is supposed to be on the .fits of the Korman camp. 82 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. [Book in. How tie Battle raged. The BngUsh ShieldB. A Stratagem and an Ambush. travy, had horse aucl foot heavily armed, besides archers and slingers. § 14 The Norman cavah-y picked their way through the marsh, and then galloped up the hill, led by a giant champion, juggler and bard, on horseback, singing an old war-ballad called the Song of Roland. They were repulsed in an attempt to force their way into the Saxon camp, and they soon retu-ed, leaving Taillefer, the bard, dead on the ground. A second and a thud charge was made with the same want of success ; for the Saxons, shoulder to shoulder, formed a wall with their shields which Norman arrows could not penetrate. William rode about encouraging his men, and had three horses killed under him. His warlike half-brother Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux, who wore a hauberk over his robes, and carried a mace in his hand, brought up re-enforcements, crying to the dispirited horsemen, " Stand fast, stand fast ! If God please, we shall conquer yet." This for a time seemed very unlikely, and Eustace of Boulogne » even proposed to di'aw off ; * ■ but William saw that this would be destruction, and instead changed his mode of attack. § 15. Finding the English closed shields almost invulnerable, and that their bearers fought with heads uncovered, he again brought his archers foi-ward and directed them to shoot their arrows upward, so that their heavy shai-p points should fall like hail within the stockade. Many of the English were now slain. But they stood firm. The battle raged fiercely, and to the Norman war-cry, "Dieu aide! "the English shouted "Holy Cross, God Almighty ! " § 16. For six hours the fight had gone on most furiously, when William, convinced that he could not drive the English from their stronghold, employed a stratagem to draw them out from it. He placed a strong force in ambush, and ordered a thousand cavalry to make a feigned charge, and to retire in disorder. The English fell into the snare. They rushed out upon the broken line, and were assailed on both flanks by the concealed foe. Many fell, but a greater portion fought their way back. They were made vic- tims a second time by the same stratagem, but they did not lose their foi-tifled camp. § 17. A tliird time the English fell into the same snare with disastrous results. The Normans, horse and foot, burst into the bravely defended stockade, and broke the English line at several Chaptbr XXI.] THE SAXON BRA. 83 Death o{ Harold. The English Standard. Normans Tiotorious. points. Harold's soldiers gathered thickly around him. Through- out the day he had fought with distinguished gallantry, and they were determined to defend him and their national standard until the last hope should fade. § 18. At length an arrow came down from its flight high in air, struck the king in the eye, and, penetrating his brain, killed him instantly. Then the English gare way for a moment, but with Harold's brothers, Gurth and Leofwin, they rallied around the standard and fought desperately with their battle-axes and spears for its possession. In that struggle the king's brothers were killed. At last, when the English, after a continuous flght for nine hours, were nearly exhausted, twenty iron-clad Norman knights undertook to capture the standard. They did so, but with the loss of half their number. Then the ensign of England, glittering with gold and precious stones, was lowered and the consecrated banner sent by the Pope to Wil- ' ''' liam" was raised upon the same spot, over the stockade, amid shouts of victory. § 19. After a desperate attempt to rally again, in which both sides lost many men, the English at every point gave way and fled to the woods in broken columns, pursued by the light of the moon. They turned frequently and disastrously upon their pur- suers, who soon gave up the chase. § 20. So ended in victory the invasion of "William of Normandy. " So," as an old English writer said, " the Frenchman had pos- session of the field of carnage, all as God granted them for the people's sins." "Thus," said another old writer, "was tried by the great assize of God's judgment in battle the right of power between the English and Norman nations ; a battle the most memorable of all others ; and howsoever miserably lost, yet most nobly fought on the part of England. " § 21. The victors passed the night on the battle-field, where WUliam had been once prostrated by a blow on his helmet by a battle-axe, and had three horses killed under him. Of the splen- did army led by proud lords and knights, one-fourth of those who sailed from Vatery had perished. He was yet far from being the conqueror of England, for he had not gained one-fourth of the kingdom. It took him seven long years to complete what he had so auspiciously begun. § 32. In the morning after the battle the victors began to buiy 84: HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. Harold's Family and Destiny. Battle Abbey. Euglanfl Pkmdcrea, not Congnered. the dead. According to the best accounts, the body of Harold was recognized by his wife, and delivered by Duke WiUiam to his mother, Githa, Earl Godwin's wife, who was the sister of Ulf , Canute's brother-in-law. By her it was buried in Waltham Abbey, a church which Harold had founded in Essex. Harold's queen was " Edith the Fair," daughter of his rival, Elfgar ' ! 12 ^ rr' "* Mercia", and widow of Griffin, king of South ' ' Wales." He had several sons and daughters, who finally returned to Norway. One became a monk. One daughter was mai-ried to Waldemar, a Swedish prince. Another (Gunhilda), with her mother and Harold's sister, retired to Flanders and became a nun. At her death she was buried in the same church as Gunhilda, the persecuted empress," where the monu- ' ' mental inscriptions of both yet exist. § 23. William cleared the space around the spot where Harold's standard was humbled and the Pope's consecrated banner was set up, and then he and his nobles feasted. Then he made a vow that on that spot he would build a splendid Abbey. The vow was fulfilled, and over the ground once wet with the mingled blood of Englishmen and Frenchmen — where their ensigns of war were planted — the high altar of "Battle Abbey" stood for centm-ies. Such was the name given by William to the structure reared and endowed chiefly by the use of property plundered from the English. § 24. We have remarked that the victoiy of Hastings was not the conquest of England. It was only the beginning of the series of death-blows which the Normans gave to Saxon rule there, and the first important work in the establishment of Norman rule in Great Britain. § 25." Duke William was too much crippled m the field of Hastings to be able to move forward at once. So he returned to his camp and awaited for re-enforcements, with a full expectation that the English would offer then- submission. But no English- man came near him ; and with some fi-esh troops from Normandy he moved eastward along the coast, burning and plundering Romney and massacring its inhabitants, and laying waste Dover and other places. Then he pushed into the interior and penetrated Kent, where the overawed people did not ofEer opposition. § 26. Meanwhile the Saxon or English Witan, or Witenage- . » ..„ ™, niote "* — the great civil council — had met in London to ^ § 10, p. 87. deliberate on public affairs. Unwilling to submit to Chapter XXII.] THE SAXON ERA. 85 struggle for the Crown. The English Snbduecl. The Conqueror Crowned King. the invader, they bestowed the crown of England on Edgar Atheling, the imbecile son of Edmund Ironsides," and descendant of the great Alfred. London was veiy ' ' J"' strongly fortified, and William passed by it after marching through Kent, and spread his troops oyer Hertfordshire. Tliere he plun- dered and laid waste in every direction, and met with little resistance excepting by the resolute Frederic, then Abbot of St. Alban's_ (who was a member of the Danish royal family), who vainly endeavored to check the march of the invaders by blocking the roads with felled trees. § 27. William took a position at Birkhampstead, where he might intercept all communication with London from the north, and the city was soon threatened with famine. He sent a party of horse, which defeated the Londoners under their own walls. Sore pressed, the passive king and leading men of the realm repaired to William's camp, and humbly submitted to Ms authority. To him the king formally surrendered the crown, and William agreed to be a " loving lord " to the people. § 38. WUliam now moved toward London, and upon the ruins of a Koman castle he built a fort which, in time, grew into the pfesent Tower of London. He remained with Ms troops until his fortifications were completed, and on Christmas day [a.d. 1066] he was crowned king of England in the new Westminster Abbey, the last pious work of Edward_ the Confessor.'' The ^ crown was set upon his head by Aldi'ed, Archbishop of York, who did the same for Harold less than a year before. From this event may be dated the Norman rule in England. CHAPTER XXn. SOCrETT DURING THE SaxON ERA. § 1. In our brief view of the civil and military transactions of the Saxon era, we have seen little else than evidences of a half -bar- barous state of society during about 600 years. Might made light, and vices of every kind stained the characters of men and women highest in social influence, to which the chroniclers have called our attention. That noble vii-tues abounded, in humble and 86 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. Religion of tho Invaders from the North. Their Mythology. private life we may not doubt; but they have not been, unfor- tunately, the subject of the historian's pen. To the pij-atical forays of the wild sea-rovers, and the internecine wars in Britain, the continuance of that half-barbarous state so long may be mainly . attributed. § 2. During most of that time Christianity had a footing in Great Britain, but in corrupted form. At one time it was almoist obliterated by the paganism of barbarian invaders, in whose religious system we find traces of Oriental mythology, which they brought with them from tlieir Scythian home in northern Persia. It was a crude polytheism. Noden or Odin, who seems to have been a mortal leader in the great emigration from the Euxine to the Baltic, was the Supreme deity. Frigga, or Fria, his wife, was the goddess of love and sensuality. Theii' sons and daughters were gods and goddesses, and were their chief dep- uties in the management of the universe — .Thor controlling tem- pests. Balder managing light, Kiord superintending the watere. These were inferior- deities ; and Genii and Spirits formed a universal Providence, meddling in all human affaira for good and for evil. § 3. Valhalla — Hall of the Gods — was the heaven of this fierce race. There, all day long, immortals were in furious combat with deadly weapons, but at night their wounds were all healed, and they indulged in drunkenness and gluttony to their hearts' content. The cowardly and slothful — the only sinners — ^went to another place, where a feminine fiend presided, whose palace was Anguish ; her table, Famine ; her waiters, Expectation and Delay ; the thresh- old of her door. Precipice ; her bed, Leanness ; and her aspect. Terror. §4. Heaven was the inheritance of all warriors; and those who had slain the most enemies would be there the highest in privileges. Hell — the abode of the feminine fiend — was the fate of those who never engaged in battle, or who died a natural death. § 5. Their temples had huge images of Woden brandisMug a sword. Upon their altars human blood flowed freely. There crowds of captives were saciificed, and even princes slew their sons in the sacred fanes to avert dreaded calamities. The penalty of dying a natural death could be commuted by a human sacrifice, and for this purpose many a slave was purchased and was offered Chapter XXII.] THE SAXON ERA. 87 Christianity in England. The Clergy. The Saxon Government. in the horrid rite. Superstition reigned supreme, and human life and human afEairs were subjected to its awful control. § 6. "We can easily understand how a people governed by such a religious system could be human fiends, and how, for centuries, they postponed the triumph of Christian civilization in Great Britain. The Saxons appear to have been less sanguinary than the Danes. The latter were the darker worshippers of "Woden and his retinue. § 7. "We have had sufficient glimpses of Christianity in Britain during the Saxon era to form an opinion of its general character. Its essence was everywhere meliorating and humanizing, but the practice of its higher ministers seems to have not always been in accordance with its pure spirit. The characters of many of the ecclesiastics were consonant with the age in which they lived ; and the marvellous conversions of whole tribes, and universal back- slidings, show us that, to a large extent, Christianity was a fashion rather than a sentiment: § 8. Its ministers everywhere asserted power, and ruled more by law than gospel. They were eminently worldly. Their greed was rapacious ; and their extortions, through fear or force, were cruel. As a class they became enonnously wealthy, and at times were the depositaries of the dominant power of the State. Pride, proffigacy, and superatition were rife in the Church. Monastic establishments, which dotted the land, were, according to the Venerable Bede, "sinks of pollution," wherein luxury, idleness, and licentiousness revelled unrestrained. Priestcraft became an enor- mous burden upon the people, and a hiudrance to the spread of the gospel. § 9. The government during the Saxon era was partly despotic, partly popular. Roman law, as we have seen," was but the will of the Emperor in practice. "When Roman civilization, such as it was, left Britain, a long period of disorder followed. But out of that chaos has grown the boasted English liberty, which has its most perfect development in our Republic. Its germ was seen in the independence of individuals, and assemblages of freemen to consider the afEairs of State. § 10. For a long time after the Romans left, government was exercised by the heads of families or tribes. After- ^ ward, when tribal alliances were formed for common defence, and there was a superior chief or Britwalda,'' and there 88 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. Iho (Jerra of Parliament. The Law. Commerce. Slave-trade. were conflicting local interests, disputes naturally arose, and wise men were appointed to meet and adjudicate. Althovigh these assemblages were at first more courts of law than legislatures, they assumed the latter form in time. Such was the Saxon Grand Council, or "Witenagemote— the prototype of the modem Parlia- ment and Congress— in which bishops held the first rank, earls or aldermen next, and thanes, or lower class of nobles, next. The feudal system was not fully developed in Britain until after the Norman conquest. § 11. Out of the aristocratic system of popular representation in the government grew the custom of trial by jury; and Christianity, recognizing an overruling Providence in the afEairs of men, sug- gested the ordeal, or imaginary appeal to heaven, in the law of chance, which, in a degree, took the place of the law of force. But the efforts of good and wise men, during aU of the Saxon era, to establish justice and promote mercy, could not prevent the practical operation of the doctrine of the mailed hand, that might makes right. § 13. Commerce was a. prominent, but by no means eminent feature of the natural industry of Great Britain during the Saxon period. It was fostered by insulation, and stimulated by inter- course with the East through the Christian pilgrimages to Jerusalem. In fact, a pilgrimage was often a cloak for smuggling, when customs were levied at seapoi-ts. The harbors of Britain were continually visited by foreign ships engaged in traffic; and British merchantmen were seen in all parts of the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Baltic Seas and along the whole western coast of Europe, before the Conquest. The merchant who made three sea-voyages with his own ship and cargo was entitled to the rank of thane or noble. § 13. Traffic was active toward the close of the Saxon period, and the subjects of it were numerous. They comprised domestic animals, skins, agricultural products of every kind, the treasures of the mines and of the sea, many kinds of manufactures, and men and women. Slave-dealers were seen in all parts of the country buying men and women, and exporting them from the port of Biistol to Ireland for gain. An old chronicler says : " You might have seen, with sorrow, large ranks of young persons of both sexes, and of the greatest beauty, tied together with ropes, and daily exposed to sale." There was also an active internal Chapter XXII.] THE SAXON ERA. 89 National Industries. Olerioal Mechsmios. SWp-bniiaing. Artisans honored. traffic by which commodities were exchanged, or bartered for money, the prices being fixed by law.' § 14. The various useful arts and manufactures were carried on quite extensively. Iron-works were established, and skilled ai'tiflcers in all metals were numerous. The jewelry of the Anglo-Saxons was sought after by dwellers on the continent. Smiths, wagon-makers, wheelwrights, carpenters, masons, mill- wrights, tanners, shoemakers, weavers, and tailors abounded. There were also skilful annorers. Toward the close of the Saxon era glass-making, learned from the French, was carried on in several places. § IS. Some of the most skilful mechanics were found in the monasteries. King Edgar" commanded that "every priest, to increase knowledge, should diligently leam ' ' some handicraft." St. Dunstan ^ was one of the most famous workers in metals for the sacred services. He made bells, candlesticks, crucifixes, imagesj and chalices of silver and gold, and ornamented with precious stones. § 16. Ship-building was an important branch of industry ; and at that early age the ships of Britain, made of the oak, were noted for their strength and speed. The head of a royal ship was wrought with gold ; the deck was gilded, and the sails were made of purple stufEs. Mechanics were held in high social esteem. In the court of the King of Wales, the seat of the monarch's chief smith, at table, was next to the royal chaplain. Then several distinct trades were practised by one man. The carpenter built houses and made wagons, carts, ploughs, and other agricultural implements, mUls, and all kinds of household fumitiu'e. The smith made armor and weapons, iron implements of husbandry, and such as were required for domestic use. Women of the higher i At about the end of the tenth century, the prices of certain articles were as •~ £ s. d. Of a Man or slave, 1 pound, equivalent to 2 16 3 Horse, 80 shillings, " 1 15 2 Mare or colt. 20 " it 13 5 Ass or mule, la " 14 1 Ox, 6 " " T OX Cow, 5 u 5 6 Swine, 1 shining and 3 pence, u 1 lOX Sheep, 1 shilling. '* 1 2 Goat, 2 pennies, it 6X 90 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book III. Woman^s Work. Agriculture, Live Stock and Grain. as ■well as lower ranks were employed in the labors of the distafE, loom, and needle. King Edward the Elder ' caused ' ''' ■ his daughters to be taught and employed in the use of such implements ; and in the great Alfred's will the feminine portion of his family is spoken of as the spindle-side. From the common use of the distafE in the Anglo-Saxon period came the modem name of " spinster," as applied to unmarried women. § 17. Agriculture was the chief industrial pursuit. A greater portion of the population were employed in the production of food, and it was abundant and cheap. Meat was as common as bread on the tables of every class. Lands were cheap. The price of f oiu- sheep would buy an acre. Marl was used as a fertilizer so early as the Roman occupation of the island. Farms were of various sizes. The boundaries were defined by brooks, hedges, and ditches. Forests were protected by law. The value of a tree was estimated by the number of swine that might be gathered under it. Such animals, and sheep and goats, were abundant, and owing to the general absence of enclosures where they fed, had tenders. No employments are more frequently mentioned by the old writers than those of the swineherd, shepherd, and goatherd. §18. The chief animal production was homed cattle. One-third of the land of the kingdom was devoted to their pasturage. Gar- dens, especially those attached to monasteries, were filled with figs, grapes, nuts, almonds, pears, and apples. Beans, peas, and a few other vegetables were cultivated. Flowers and flowering plants were also abundant, for the use of bees for honey was an important article before sugar was known. § 19. The products of the soil give us an idea of the diet of the people. It was abundant and nutritious. Barley was chiefly used in making bread. Meats were salted for preservation. Milk, cheese, and eggs were in common use. Poultry was extensively eaten, and so were fishes. The common drink of the people was ale, made from malted barley ; and in towns ale-houses were found so early as Alfred's time. There were other more costly drinks, and wine. Fuel was abundant. The cabins of the poor were lighted by tallow candles ; and the palace of the king and dwell- ings of the nobles were illuminated by waxen candles. § 30. The houses of the better class were comfortable, and some- times elegant structures; those of the poor were turf-covered Chapter XXII.] THE SAXON ERA. 91 How the people lived. Feasts. Personal Cleanliness. Condition of Women. hovels, little better than caves. The furniture of the rich was often elegant and costly. Chairs were in the form of camp-stools, and of our common seats, with backs ; they were often cushioned and covered with richly einbroidered stuff. Their bedsteads, beds, and bedding were much the same as those we now use, often hung with costly curtains. Their walls were covered with rich silk, embroidered with gold by the hands of the young women ; their tables were carved, and ornamented with gold and silver ; and on them were sometimes seen urns, dishes, knives, and spoons of the same metals. The dwellings of the poor, on the other hand, were little better furnished than those of half-savage tribes. Their beds were of straw and rushes ; their drinking-vessels and spoons were made of the horns of cattle, and the seats were rude benches. § 31. The sexes of both classes sat at table together, and they were participants in common at the feasts and convivial entertain- ments of the rich. At those feasts all ate to fulness and drank to exhilaration. The guests were expected to vie with each other in trying who should drain the drinking-cup to the lowest depth ; in fact, excessive drinking, as among the Scandinavian ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons, was a common vice of all ranks of people, in which they spent nights and days without intermission. At these feasts songs and dances, and the music of the harp, were unfailing ac- companiments. The ecclesiastics were not behind laymen in carousing; and the monasteries often presented scenes of gam- bling, singing, dancing, and drunkeimess. § 33. Personal cleanliness was a virtue. The warm bath was daily used. "When a stranger entered a house, cold water was brought to him to wash his hands and face, and warm water for his feet. Children were cleansed once a day, and were tenderly nurtured by women untU after the period of childhood; then a father had a right, if poor, to give up his son to slavery for seven years, if the boy consented. UntU a daughter was fifteen years of age, a father could marry her to whom he pleased ; after that she was free to choose a husband. Women, as a rule, were treated with great respect and consideration, and enjoyed many rights and privileges as an equal of man. By law and custom they had a fair share of influence in society. The preliminaries of mairiage were (1), the consent of the young woman and her friends; and (3), security given by the intended husband that he would support her and her children in a manner suitable to her social position. The 92 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book in. Learning. Costumes of both Sexes. Laborevs of the Country. nuptial ceremony was performed by a priest, and feasting fol- lowed. § 33. There was very little school learning among eyen the wealthy and noble. The brothers of Alfred the Great did not leam to read. Some youths were instructed in monasteries, where all learning was centred. But at a very early age they were prac- tised in manly sports, and the chase was the chief pastime ; hawk- ing was ranked next to it. § 34. There is no pictorial authority for Anglo-Saxon costume earlier than the eighth century. The masculine attire was composed of a linen shirt, over which was a tunic of linen or woollen that descended to the knee, and was plain or ornamented round the collar and borders, according to the rank of the wearer. The tunic was open at the neck, and sometimes at the sides, and had long sleeves reaching to the wrists. It was generally confined at the waist by a girdle. Over the tunic a short cloak was worn, fastened on the breast or shoulder with a brooch. The legs were covered with linen or woollen drawers and stockings, and the feet were protected by leather shoes or buskins. The beard and hair were worn long, excepting on the upper Up, which was close shaven. § 25. The feminine attire was composed of a long and ample gown of any stuff chosen, worn over a closer fitting one, in form like a tunic or kirtle. The former had loose sleeves, and the latter tight ones reacliing to the wrist. The shoes and stockings were similar to those worn by the other sex. Over the tunic was worn a mantle by the higher classes, in form resembling the ecclesias- tical vestment known as a chasuble. A head-dress was made of a veil, or long piece of linen or silk, wrapped round the head and neck. The Anglo-Saxon ladies paid great attention to the arrange- ment of their hair, which they curled with heated irons. They wore cufis and ribbons, brooches, ear-rings, and necklaces; to the latter a golden cross was sometimes suspended. In very rare instances gloves were worn. § 36. The labor of the country during the Anglo-Saxon era appears to have been performed almost wholly, excepting in the arts and manufactures, by a kind of half -independent serfs called villani, and absolute slaves, the latter numbering about one-tenth of the population. The mllani were the chief cultivators of the soil. No master had a right to use them as his absolute property ; Chapter XXII.] THE SAXON ERA. 93 Serfdom. InteUectnal Culture. The prevailing Language. yet they had not the power of removing from the estate on which they were bom ; and when it was sold, they were transferred with it as really as were the trees that grew upon it. On the other hand, the mllani could not be driven from the estate, — they had a right to stay and profit by the land they cultivated. This was simply the Teutonic system, of great antiquity, upon which the feudal system was constructed. The mllani differed in one es- sential particular from the nobility, viz., that they were wholly destitute of political power, though constituting by far the largest portion of the population. § 37. Literature, Science, and Art were in a formative state dming the Anglo-Saxon era, when the germs of what we now behold in the realm of British culture took powerful root. Ireland had more and better scholars, then, than Great Britain. By invitation of Charlemagne, teachers from that island established schools in the Western Empire. The Irish monks were the most skilful illumi- nators of manuscript books. Among the early men of letters was the great Irish apostle, St. Patrick. § 38. The British had native historians and clironiolers, such as Gildas and Nennius, as early as the seventh century, who wrote in Greek and Latin. So too did the more eminent Bede — the " vene- rable Bede " — who flourished at the beginning of the eighth cen- tury. And so it was that the great mass of the people of that era, who could neither read Latin nor purchase costly manuscript books, were ignorant of their own literature. The great Alfred 'did bet- ter service for his people by translating books fi-om the . , a § 1, p. 46. Latin into their native tongue. Dining his reign lit- erature and the fine arts received great encouragement. Schools were established; and in the reign of Canute,'' and the closing years of the Anglo-Saxon period, higher seminaries of learning were founded. Among these was the University of Oxford. The studies in these schools were few, embracing grammar, arithmetic, the Greek and Latin languages, astronomy,^ and theology. § 39. The language of the Anglo-Saxons was one of the dialects of the ancient Gothic, which so extensively prevailed in Northern Europe. They found that of the ancient inhabitants of Britain mixed with the provincial Latin introduced by the Romans. The Saxons almost destroyed that medley, as well as the earlier British tongue, and their ovvti became the language of the country. It 94 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book III. Science and Art. ChurcheB. Music and Musical Instruments. remained so until after the Nonnan invasion, when an effort was made to root it out by compelling the conquered to have only the French language used and taught in the schools. § 30. Science was very little known and cultivated during the Anglo-Saxon era; and then music and painting could hardly claim the dignity of arts. But architecture attained to considera- ble eminence. The introduction of Christianity caused the build- ins of many churches," and on these the best skill was « 8 2, p 20 employed. Most of these sacred structures were built of wood and thatched; but the York Cathedral, founded by Edwin, '' was built of stone, and had its windows ' ' ■ glazedbyBishop Wilfred, the great promoter of archi- tecture, in the year 669. He called French glass-makers from France, and so introduced that art into Britain."^ = § 11, II. 3. Numerous abbeys were buUt, some of them with considerable skill, like that of Westminster.'' Late in the Anglo- Saxon period, the Romanesque style appeared, and is known in England as the Norman. Of the sacred buildings of that era not one stone now remains upon another. § 31. The Anglo-Saxons had musical instruments, of which the chroniclers mention the horn, trumpet, drum, flute, cymbal, rota or viol, lyre, and harp. They also had rude organs, an invention of the Bast, in their churches, whose pipes and bellows were of brass. The hai-p was in common use on all festive occasions. It was un- doubtedly borrowed from the Irish, among whom music was culti- vated from the remotest antiquity. So famous was the church music of the Irish at an early period, that the daughter of Pepin, King of France, sent to Ireland for persons to instruct the nuns of Nevelle in psalmody. § 32. As we glance back over the Anglo-Saxon era, we see in the half-barbarous state of the people the germs of what we most prize in modem society, which is the product of growth and culture. Out of the chaos of that period, as Guizot has said, sprang aU of order, and light, and life which oui' present civilization boasts of. BOOK rv. THE NOEMAN ETTLE. [Prom a.d. 1066 to a.d. IIM.] CHAPTER I. KBIGN OF WllLtAM THE FiBST. [A.D. 1066 TO 1087.] § 1. Bbfokb the ceremony of crowning William the Conqueror had ended, at which the new king swore that if his people would be faithfiil he would govern as well as any ruler before him had done, a tumult broke out between the Normans and the English, when several houses were burnt by the former, and many men were slain. § 2. This promised badly for the tranquillity of William's reign, and therefore, with the view of depriving the English of their natural leaders, as well as of proving to his ancient subjects the importance of his conquest, William, early in the spring of 1067, passed over into Normandy, taking with him Edgar, who bore the honorary title of AtheUng, or the Illustrious, Stigand the arch- bishop, the Abbot Frederic, the Earls Waltheof, Edwin, and Morcar," and many other nobles. A Norman chro- * § 4, p. 79- nicler tells us that aU. men beheld with curiosity these natives of Britain. " They admired their flowing hair, and their garments of gold tissue enriched with studs, their gold and silver plate of admirable workmanship, and their hunting and drinking horns tipped with gold." § 3. William had left in England as governors, Odo the bishop, his half-brother, who was much more of a warrior than a priest, and William Fitzosborne, who had been created Earl of Hereford. These meii acted so tyrannically that the English soon began to take up arms, and the Normans might have been speedily expelled but for the precaution that they had taken of building strong castles in or near every considerable town. These were garrisoned 96 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IV. Tho Norman Oppressors. The Conqueror's Claims. His Friends rewarded. by large bodies of well-armed soldiers, and as their walls were too thick to be broken down, and too high to be scaled, they were in little danger of being captured. One chief, however, called Edric the Forester, who was the grand-nephew of Edric Streona and the kinsman of Harold," gained so many successes over " the " castle-men " of Hereford, who attempted to drive him from his lands in Hereford and Shropshire, that a general rising was on the point of breaking out, when William hurried back from Normandy, and declaiiug that the discontent of the English absolved him from his promise to be ".a ' ** ' loving lord " ' to them, he seized on the lands of most of the nobles, partitioned them among his followers, and laid heavy taxes on the whole of the people. With part of this plunder he founded and endowed an abbey, still known as Battle Abbey, in Sussex, which, under the pretext of praying for the souls of the slain, might serye as a monument of his triumph at Hastings. § 4. At the beginning of William's reign all the land of the country was assumed to belong to him by right of conquest. He, however, then seized only the property of Harold and his chief supporters, and allowed the rest of the nation to retain theii' pos- sessions on paying a heavy ransom. He also re-established the tax called Danegelt, wliich King Edward had remitted. Now he pro- ceeded to carry out what, in spite of his promises, no doubt was his original intention, and he divided the whole country into 60,000 portions, which were termed knights' fees, the greater part of which he granted to his chief officers, but he also kept vast estates in his own hands. § 5. The persons who received these grants were tei-med tenants in chief, and instead of rent they were bound to find one fully equipped horseman and about six light-armed attendants, who vrere to serve the king for forty days in each year, without pay, for each fee. The whole were granted to about 1,400 persons, who, in their turn, granted portions to others, called under-tenants, for like services as they themselves had to render to the king. § 6. This great change in the country is known as the establish- ment of the Feudal System — the principles and constitution of feuds, or lands held by military service. Something like it, on » s 2fi 12 ^ limited scale, had been in use among the Saxons," but William extended it over the whole country, and on so firm a basis that many parts of it exist to this day, though Chapter I.] THE NORMAN RULE. 97 The Feudal System. How it worked. Its Effects. its most oppressive features, whioh. lie had introduced, have for- tunately long disappeared. It supplied him, without expense, with a large army, and also produced a revenue that his prede- cessors had never enjoyed. Some account of what is termed " the feudal incidents " is necessary for the proper understanding of the history of this period, which is known as the Middle Ages. § 7. So long as the feudal system existed in full force, each person, beside doing homage and taking an oath to maintain the king's quarrel against aU men, had, on obtaining possession of his land, even though his father had held it before him, to pay a sum of money, called a relief ; for on the death of each tenant the land was taken into the king's hands, and it was not restored to the heir until an inquiry had been made (termed Inquisitio post mortem) as to what it consisted of, what payments were due, whether any part had been unlawfully parted with, and who was the heir, and what was his age. If the heir was a minor, the property was kept in charge, and what remained of its produce after his maintenance was paid for was at the royal disposal. Hence it became a very common mode of enriching favorites to grant them the custody of a wealthy ward. § 8. When the heir at length obtained possession, he was, if in the first rank of chief tenants, bound to attend the king to give him his counsel. This was the origin of the British House of Peers. The heii' had to accompany the king to the wars, and ordinarily had some special duties to perform — to be his constable (or general of his army), his marshal (or leader of cavalry), his standard-bearer, his chamberlain, or his steward. All the tenants had to pay occa- sional sums of money, called aids, on the knighting of the king's eldest son, the marriage of his eldest daughter, or his own captivity, when a heavy ransom would be due to his enemies. These dues, which the chief tenants paid to the king, were in turn rendered to them by their under-tenants, who also did homage to them, and swore to maintain their quarrel against all men, excepting the king ; but they frequently disregarded this clause, so that the great barons had little difficulty in making war on the sovereign, who was rather the first among them than a king, as generally understood. § 9. But the feudal system bore the hardest where a benevolent ruler would wish to make it light. On the death of a tenant the horse and arms of the deceased became the property of the superior lord, and had to be redeemed by. the payment of a sum of moaey called a heriot. If he died without an heir, the fee (as it was 5 98 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IV. Burdens of the Feudal Sysbcm. The Knight and his Vocation. termed) was forfeited to the lord, as it could neither be sold nor bequeathed by wiU ; and, hardest of all, his widow could be given in marriage, without her own consent, to whomsoever the king pleased ; hence money was often paid for permission to remain in widowhood. His sons, if under age, and his daughters, even if of age, were also at the king's disposal, and could be given in mar- riage in like manner agamst their will. It was considered an act of grace to accept a sum of money from them for leave to follow their own inclinations. § 10. These were aU acknowledged and weU-understood burdens, but they were made heavier by many of the kings, who exacted " um-easonable aids," which gave rise to the discontents that Magna Charta was intended to appease; and the claim of homage and investiture occasioned a long series of disputes and jealousies between the State and the Church, the beginning of which we shall have to notice in the next reign. § 11, Such is a brief view of the system that the Normans intro- duced. Under their kings it remained unchanged, but the first of the restored Saxon line (Henry the Second) effected a change that gradually brought about its fall. He allowed his knights and nobles the option of paying a sum termed scutage (or shield money) instead of personal service, and with these funds he and his successors were enabled to hire trooj)S who owed no fealty to any other lord, and, unlike the military tenants, were bound to serve all the year round. Such were the mercenaries of King John, who supported his cause against the barons. § 12. Though the word is a Saxon one, it is under William that we first hear of knights, and it may be necessary to say that the knight was a soldier, who had already served in the capacity of squire or attendant on some other knight, and had been by some king, or bishop, or knight, admitted to the higher degree. He took an oath to be courteous and faithful, the pi'otector of the innocent and the oppressBd, and was girded with a sword, wliich he vowed never to draw except in the cause of right. The knight fought on horseback, and he was accompanied to the field by five or six spearmen or archers, who were ready either to secure or kill any opponent that he might conquer, or to come to the rescue if he was in danger. The oath of the knight was no doubt kept by thousands of individuals, but it certainly did not influence WilUam or his great men in their conduct to the vanquished English. Chapter I.] ' THE NOEMAN ETJLB. 99 Hatred between theEnglisli and Normans. Civil War and Foreign Invasion. § 18. Soon after "William's return, Edgar Atlieling," with his mother and sisters, fled to Scotland, and many of the despoiled nobles and others joined them. The liatred " ^ ^ ''• ' of the people to the Normans grew greater every day, and Wil- liam, confident in his strength, took no means to conciliate them. The mother of Harold'' had found refuge in Exeter, which the inhabitants had fortified, and where they cut off a party of Normans that were driven by bad weather into their port. The city was captured after an eighteen days' siege, but this did not prevent a much more formidable outbreak in the north. § 14. William had allowed Cospatric, a grand-nephew of Ed- ward the Confessor," to hold the earldom of Nor- thumberland, but he now displaced him, and ap- ' ^' pointed instead another Saxon named Copsi. This man, by tak- ing the office, became so hateful that he was murdered in a church in a month after. Cospatric, who had fied to Scotland, now returned and took up arms. Edgar AtheUng joined him, and William was forced to march against them. On his way he built forts at Nottingham and Lincoln, and when he reached York the Saxons retired to Scotland. William built two castles at York, placed 3,000 soldiers in them, and bestowed the earldom of Northumberland on Kobert de Comine, a Norman, who took his post at Durham with a strong garrison. § 15. During William's absence the sons of Harold had landed in Somersetshire, but they were opposed by Ednoth, who had been their father's standard-bearer. Ednoth was killed, but they were unsuccessful in their attempt and withdrew to Ireland. § 16. The year 1069 was one of desperate fighting. De Comine and his garrison of 900 -men were all put to death in January, and Edgar Atheling prepared for another invasion. In the autumn, a Danish fleet of 240 ships arrived in the Humber, when Edgar, and Cospatric, and Merleswain, and other nobles joined them. York was captured, the castles were demolished, and the 3,000 Normans, with mercenaries, were put to the sword almost to a man, probably in revenge for their having plundered and burnt the city and the cathedral. William was hunting in the forest of Dean when he heard of the disaster, and he swore " by the splen- dors of the Almighty" that he would utterly exterminate the Northumbrian people. He marched against the invaders, whei^ 100 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IV. Terrible Devastations. The War Continued. William^s Exactions, they retired to their ships, and remained in the Humber during the winter. He also remained in the north, and he employed the time in devastating the country around him. So effectually was this done, that in a tract of full sixty miles in extent, between the Humber and the Tees, not a house was left standing, the crops and the cattle were destroyed, and the people perished by thou- sands from famine. A writer who lived sixty years later assures us that it was a desert in his time. Coniisoation of lands became general, and "William's vengeance was almost satiated. § 17. This barbarity, however, did not break the spirit of the English. In the following spring a Danish fleet, commanded by King Sweyn himself, joined that abeady in the Humber. The peo- ple of East Anglia readily submitted to him, and Chiistiem, a Danish bishop, established himself at Ely. The fleet now came into the Thames, when William, acting like Ethelred the Unready," bribed them to withdraw. § 18. William's conquest of England was by no means yet complete. Hereward, the younger brother of Edwin and Morcar, had plundered and burnt the abbey of Peterborough, where Tho- rold, a stern Norman, had replaced a beloved Saxon abbot, and then throwing himself into the .isle of Ely, he was there joined by thousands of resolute men, and for a long time defied all William's efforts to reduce him. § 19. Meantime nothing was neglected by the Normans that could provoke fresh risings, and serve a i the plea for fresh con- fiscations. William at his coming had professed great regard for the Church, and had granted charters of privilege to many ab- beys. These were now resumed, and the treasures that had been laid up there, as in a place of security that no Christian ruler „, would touch, were seized : Stiarand,'" the archbishop, >» § 3, p. 95. ) o J jTJ was deposed and imprisoned, but escaped to Scot- land, while Agelrio, formerly bishop of Durham, died in confine- ment. Wulstan, the bishop of Worcester, who was esteemed a saint, and a worker of mii-acles, was threatened with deprivation because he did not understand the Nonnan tongue ; but he was so highly esteemed by the people that it was not deemed prudent to remove him. The sees as they became vacant were fiUed with Norman monks, one of whom, Laufranc, who became Archbishop of Canterbury, was an exemplary man ; but others, as Thomas, appointed to York, and Walchor to Durham, and Gundulf to Chapter I.] THE NOUkAN RULE. 101 Tyranny of the Normans. Civil War. 'WiMam's Family Troubles. Rochester, and Robert to Hereford, were turbulent and tyrannical. Walcher, -who was particularly odious, was put to death in his own chui'ch. § 20. To these acts, which deeply afflicted the English, so much were they in general attached to the clergy, was added the lawless tyi-anny of the hordes of " castle-men " who were scattered over every part of the country, and made the people feel their heavy hands as masters. Among other indignities they ordered fires and lights to be extinguished at a certain hour, which was announced by a bell (since known as the couvre feu or " curfew bell") ; and though this was an old Norman, Scotch, Italian, and Spanish regulation for the prevention of fires, it was regarded by the Saxons as a badge of slavery. § 21. William advanced against the isle of Ely in 1071, with a fleet as well as an army, and though it was desperately defended it was at last taken, through the treachery of some monks. Edwin had been already killed, but his brother Morcar was now captured, and their sister Lucy was obliged to marry Ivo de Tailbois, a Nor- man, to whom their inheritance was granted. Many other prison- ers were made, but Hereward, the last hero of Anglo-Saxon inde- pendence, cut his way through, and with a small band of fol- lowers, the chronicler tells us, " went out triumphantly." He was soon afterward treacherously killed by some Bretons, and Edric the Forester having been about the same time captured, the conquest of England was at last achieved, in the fifth year after William's landing. § 33. The remainder of the Conqueror's reign was, however, by no means peaceable. In 1075 some of his Norman nobles con- spired against him, and invited aid from Denmark. The plot was disclosed, and it is chiefly remarkable as it was made the pretext for putting to death Waltheof, the son of Siward, the great Earl of Northumberland, who was regarded as the sole remaining champion of the peoijle. Afterwards William's son Robert rebelled against him, for the purpose of gaining for himself the rule of the duchy of Nonnandy, which his father had promised him. In a skirmish at Gerberoi, William was wounded and thrown from his horse by his son, who, recognizing his father's voice as he called for assistance, raised him and implored his forgiveness, which the angry king would not readily -grant. § 33. William made several foreign expeditions, in which he 102 HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. [Book rV. ■William's Operations on the Oontinent. Wales Subdued. Royal Hunting- Grounds. readily availed himself of the services of the English, though in England every office of honor or trust was closed against them. In 1073 he invaded Scotland, and in the following year he sub- dued Maine, but in 1076 he failed in an attack on Brittany. In 1079 the Scots bui-st into England, but they were driven back by Robert of Normandy, who had received his father's pardon and accompanied him to England. To restrain the Scots he built a strong castle on the river, and around this the important town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne gradually grew up. § 24. In 1081 William marched into "Wales, and received the hom- age of many of its chiefs. The country was nominally subject to England when the Normans came, and as early as 1067 a fortress called Baldwin's Castle was built by an adventurer of that name where the castle of Montgomery now stands ; but it was not until thirty years later that they gained a firm footing in the country. § 25. On one of the occasions of William's passing over to Nor- mandy, Edgar Atheling repaired to him, and was well received. He soon became a fiiend of Eobert, and accompained him in many of his expeditions. His sister Margaret had married Mal- colm the Third, king of Scotland, and through her daughter the Saxon line was eventually restored to the throne. § 26. In 1082 Odo » the bishop, William's half-brother, who aspired to be Pope, fell into disgrace, and was im- prisoned for the remainder of the king's life. He was Earl of Kent as well as bishop, and when some of his friends ventured to remonstrate on his captivity, William replied that he would never think of impiisoning a bishop, but he would deal with the Earl of Kent as he chose. § 27. About this period two events occurred which are very re- markable in the reign of William. In 1 079 he greatly enlarged the hunting grounds which adjoined the old palace of Winchester, and formed what has ever since been known as the New Forest. To do this he seized on the neighboring estates ; but the country seems always to have been very thinly inhabited, the soil in general being too poor to repay cultivation, which renders unlikely the common tale that many churches and villages were destroyed to make room for the game. Other forests were made or enlarged, and Wil- liam, who " loved the tall deer as if he was theii- father," enacted laws that whoever killed a hart, a hind, or a boar, should be blinded. This forest code, as it was termed, also imposed penal- Ce,u"TER I.] THE NORMAN RULE. 103 Domesday Book and its Eevelations. Preparations for an Invasion. ties on trespassers, and directed that all dogs in the neighborhood of the forests should be muzzled and have then- claws pared. Neglect of these and a thousand more minute matters was made the pretext for ruinous fines and confiscations. § 28. The other event was the formation of the famous record called Domesday Book, which is still preserved in the Public Record Office. This was compiled by a body of commissioners in the year 1085, in which is recorded the value of all the property for the greater part of the Idngdom, who were its then present hold- ers, and who had held it in the time of Kine Edward." It shows that the leaders at the battle of Hastings ' ' had been well provided for, and that much the greater part of the property of the Saxons had been confiscated. William's half- brothers, Robert Earl of Mortaigne, and Odo the bishop, had 1833 manors. The fli-st had 793 and the second 439, and William him- self had nearly 1300, though Bang Edward had possessed but 165, and Harold only 118. These eminent men, however, were not the only ones who profited by the confiscations. The Ab- bey of Battle' had manors in seven counties, and ' even menial servants (if foreigners) were rewarded in the same way. The names of the cook, the falconer, the steward, the carpenter, the farrier, and the porter appear along with those of the proudest nobles. The survey was intended to serve as a guide for appor- tioning taxation, and it bears indisputable evidence of William's bad government. Although the sums to be paid by the towns for his protection were greatly increased in amount, property in general was returned as of less value than in the time of Bang Edward. § 29. William's reign was now drawing to a close. In 1085 a league was formed against him by the kings of Denmark and Norway and the Count of Flanders, and a fleet collected by them for an invasion. William levied taxes three times heavier than before, hired soldiers from abroad, and with his traly bar- barous policy laid waste the sea-coast. The confederates, how- ever, quarrelled, the King of Denmark was killed by his own men, and the enterprise was abandoned. § 30. As soon as this danger was over, William collected a vast sum of money and passed over to the continent, to make war on the French king. His troops burnt the town of Mantes, including all the churches, and two hermits who dwelt in them ; but there the Conqueror also met with his death. His horse stepped on 104 HISTORY OF ENGLAiro. [Book IV. "William's Ravages on the Continent. His signs of Penitence and his Death. some hot ashes, and plunging violently, braised his rider so that he was obliged to return to Eouen. There he lay sick at the priory of St. Gervaise a few weeks, and then died on the 9th of September, 1087. He showed some softening of heart before he departed, and ordered the release of Earl Morcar,* the " ^ ^'■^' ^°^' brother, and Alfgar andWulfnoth, the sons of Harold, as well as some Norman prisoners ; but it was with difficulty that he could be brought to pardon his ambitious and warlike brother, Odo the bishop. His son Robert was then at the court of the King of France ; but he left him the duchy of Normandy as liis birth- right. To William, whom he praised as a dutiful son, he gave his splendid conquest of England, and advised him to hasten over and secure it ; while to his youngest son, Henry, he gave £5,000 in silver instead of domains, and the young prince is recorded to have been very careful in seeing it weighed, lest there should be any deficiency. This point ascertained, he departed, as his brother William had already done, and very soon afterward the great Duke of Normandy and King of England expired. § 31. A woeful scene followed the death of the Conqueror. The nobles, anticipating war between Robert and William, re- tired in haste to their own castles. The physicians and chief attendants departed, and the menial servants, left without con- trol, seized whatever precious effects they could find, and fled from the priory, leaving the corpse on the floor. At length a knight named Herluin, from Christian charity, conveyed It to Caen, where it was to be buiied in the church of St. Stephen, which William had founded. § 32. When the body arrived the clergy went out in solemn procession to meet it ; but just as they reached the church a fire broke out in the town, and in the confusion the corpse was left in the street. At length the monks got into the church and per- formed the usual service ; and when the body was to be lowered into the grave, the Bishop of Evreux preached a sermon, which he concluded by requesting any one who had been ofEended or injured by the late king to forgive him. Then a man named Ascelin, the son of Arthur, rose up and vehemently complained that the ground on which the church stood had been unjustly seized from his father, and added, "In the name of God, I forbid you to bury the spoiler in my inheritance ! " A great tumult fol- lowed, but the man's tale was found to be true, and he received a Chapter n.] THE NOEMAN RULE. 105 The Conqueror's Buocesaor. His first Acts. Prisoners lleleasea. svim of money in hand and a promise of full compensation before the ceremony -was allowed to proceed. § 33. A Saxon chronicler, who says that he had oft looked on William in his court, has drawn his character. "He was," he tells us, " wise and rich, mild to good men, but beyond all mea- sure severe to those who withstood his will. In his time men had many sorrows. Rich men moaned, and poor men trembled ; but he was so stem, he recked not the hatred of them all, for they must follow his will, if they would have lands or even life." CHAPTER H. KBIGN OP WiMjIAM THE SECOND. [a.D. 1087-1100.] § 1. William, the second surviving son of the Conqueror, who was surnamed " Rufus," or the red, because of his extremely florid complexion, seems to have more closely resembled his father than either of his brothers. He was the Conqueror's third son, and was born at about the year 1060. Like him he was an able soldier, active, fierce, and resolute ; and also like him he was most extor- tionate and oppressive to his people, and ever bent on extending his dominion. § 2. While the Conqueror lay on his death-bed, William Rufus, as he had been directed, hurried over to England. He had a firm friend in Lanfranc the archbishop,' and being there- ° « § 19, p. 100. fore well received by the Normans (for the Saxons were allowed no voice in the matter), he was crowned by him [Sept. 26, A.D. 1087] very soon after his arrival." He then repaired to Winchester, where the royal treasure was kept ; and he showed his obedience to his father's injunctions not only by making a profuse distribution of money, giving sums to every chm'ch in the land for prayers for William's soul, but also by setting free a large number of prisoners. Some of these were Saxons, and the act was very acceptable to their counti-ymen ; but others were Normans, 1 Prom William the First to Henry the Third, inclusive, the reign o£ each king was considered to commence only at his coronation, the doctrine of hereditary right to the crown not being fully accepted, and requiring to be strengthened by the open declai-a- tion of the people that they were willing to receive the new ruler. 106 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book IV. Hobert of Normandy. Oonspiratora afc work. Fate of a bad Bisliop. and many of these showed their ingratitude by conspiring against him. § 3. Eobert, his elder brother, had taken possession of Nor- mandy and seemed willing to remain there, but Odo the bishop, who became his chief counsellor, wishing to revenge his former imprisonment, which he attributed to Lanfranc, resolved if pos- sible to drive William from the throne. He engaged Eobert to send troops in the spring of 1088, and passing over at once to England himself, he induced many . of the Norman lords to take up arms and ravage the royal lands, while others, who professed to adhere to William, only waited for an opportunity to betray him. Finding liis troops were not to be depended on, he, by the advice of Lanfranc, called on the Saxons for aid, promising them good government. Partly from gratitude for the release of the kin- dred of Harold, but far more from hatred of the Normans, they readily flocked to his standard, Wulstan, the Saxon bishop already mentioned," encouraging them to do so. William ' ' ' had accompanied his father in his campaigns, and was skilful in war ; therefore he very soon overcame his adver- saries, driving them out of the strong castles of Tunbridge and Pevensey. § 4. As the succors that he expected from Normandy never came, Odo the bishop was obliged to shut himself up in the castle of Eochester. There he was besieged ; and though the Norman lords held back as far as they dared, many of them having rela- tives in the castle, the Saxons pressed on the siege so vigorously that the garrison was soon obliged to surrender. William at first threatened to put them all to death, but at last he granted them theii- lives on condition of forfeiting their estates and quitting the kingdom. The Saxons of Kent, who had been terribly op- pressed by Odo when he was earl of that county, crowded around him and his men as they marched out, and cried, "Bring halters, biing halters for the traitor bishop ! " His f eUow-countrymen, how- ever, saved him from then- hands, but he never returned to England. § 5. When this danger was past, William took no care to re- deem his promise of good government, although Lanfranc, as long as he lived, had influence enough to keep him from any very gross acts of tyi-anny. But when the good archbishop died [a.d. 1089], the king took for his chief adviser a low-born Norman named Ealph, who, though called his chaplain, acted as his judge, but Chapter II.] THE NORMAN RULE. 107 A viciqus Counsellor. The People Oppressed. Normandy wretched. travelled about tlie counti-y more intent on extorting bribes than on administering justice. This man was styled Le Flanibard, ths name by which he is still known in history, and he is thus likened to a fii-ebrand by which' the whole country is set in a blaze. Mainly through his pernicious counsels, the remainder of "William's reign was one continued scene of misrule and oppression. The bishops' sees as they fell vacant were kept so, and their revenues spent by. the Mng ; the possessions of the monasteries were seized, and the monks almost starved on a scanty pittance. The lands were sur- veyed and taxed anew, offices and honors were sold, and the forest laws," one of the great grievances of the Saxons, „ „. "^ S 2T D 102 were made even more rigorous than before, while the extent of the forests was added to. The court swarmed with worthless and cruel men, who were William's chief favorites, and they and their attendants practised every oppression and outrage. They accompanied him in his journeys, and wherever they came the poor people fled from them aa from a f oreigji enemy. And no wonder, as we read that, not content with "living at free quarter," as it was termed, on their departure they often trampled under foot the bread that they did not choose to eat, washed their horses' feet in the ale, and burnt the building that they had lodged in. § 6. Meanwhile Normandy was in as wretched a condition under the careless misgovemment of Robert. The great lords made war on each other, and one especially, Bobert de Belesme, who had been besieged in Rochester Castle along with Odo,' ^ became the terror of the whole country. He seized the castles of many of Ids neighbors, and preferred torturing the inhabitants to death to enriching himself by their ransoms. As if bent on making as many enemies as possible, he supplied him- self with money by plundering the churches. William gave bribes to him and to many other Norman barons, and they in return admitted his troops into their castles, so that Robert soon had little more than the title of duke. He was always poor, and thus had been induced to sell a large district, called the Ootentin, with several strong forts, to his brother Henry ; but he was also jealous and passionate, and when Henry and Robert de Belesme returned from- a visit to England, thinldng that they had been plotting against him, he seized them as they set foot on shore and imprisoned them, but, ever iaconstant in his purposes, he soon set them at liberty. 108 IIISTOET OP ENGLAND. [Book IV. Pratricirlnl Wni-. War against the Scotch and Welsh. Treachery. § 7. The partisans of William Rulua now took up arms, and had nearly succeeded in gaining possession of Rouen, the capital of Robert, when the town was preserved by the bravery of Henry, who had good reason to fear that his own district of the Cotentin would be seized, as well as the rest of the duchy, in the event of their success. Robert, though usually courageous, was now seized with sudden fear, and fled to a neighboring monastery. Soon afterwards "William arrived in Normandy, and resided there in royal state for several months. The king and the duke now joined in making war on their brother Henry, who was driven into exile. Next an agreement was made, whereby Robert ceded many castles to "William, and "William agreed to restore their for- feited English lands to Robert's fiiends. At last the brothers retm-ned to England together, when Robert took the field against the invading Scots," and drove them from Nor- ■ thumberland ; but finding that "William was slow to perform his part of the agreement, he returned in anger to Nor- mandy in the year 1091. § 8. The affairs of "Wales next engaged the attention of William. In the preceding reign many Noraians had settled on the border, and had begun to mix themselves up in its affairs. In 1089 Jestyn, a subordinate Welsh chief, rebelled against Rhys ap Tudor, the prince of South Wales, but was defeated. Einion, a Welshman who had seiwed in the Norman armies, procured him the help of Robert Fitzhamon and twelve other knights, who, with 3,000 m';'.i, invaded Wales and defeated and killed Rhys ap Tudor. But Jestyn soon found that his treacherous allies had fought not for him, but for themselves. Tbey speedily quan-elled with him and drove him out, and while they established Einion as their vassal in the interior, seized upon the sea-coast, which they erected into a kind of independent state called the Honor of Glamorgan. They secured themselves by building in it eighteen strong castles, the ruins of which are now among the most picturesque objects in South Wales. § 9. The Success of these adventm-ers encouraged others to Apply to William for leave to make what acquisitions they could, and, as he claimed to be the superior lord of Wales, their prayer was readily granted. " The Norman spoilers had tasted the sweet- ness of the land," says an old Welsh chronicler, and they poured into it in every quarter. The district bordering on the Severn Chapter II.] THE NORMAN RTTLE. 109 The StruiTgle in WaJes. The "Welsh Subdued. The King Pious when Sick. (termed Powys) was soon occupied, and all along the coasts of South, and West "Wales castles and colonies of Normans and Flemings were planted. The "Welsh, though badly armed, sti-ove fiercely against the intruders, and long kept all their posts in a state of siege. They usually carried only short swords and spears, and it was a point of honor among them not to wear armor, which they considered only fit for a coward. Yet they hesitated not to throw themselves on the heavy-armed Kormans, and they were often successful against them. If defeated, their great fleetness of foot (for they had no cavalry) made pursuit useless, and they were ready to return to the attack at the first favorable opportunity. According to their own historians, they more than once cleared the land of the spoilers, and it is certain that they destroyed Baldwin's Castle, ° near Montgomery, surprised and slaughtered many of the scattered garrisons, retook Anglesey and Brecknock, and often made plundering incursions into England as far as Chester and Worcester. § 10. But the Normans persevered, and using their usual policy of se llin g their aid first to one, then to another of the numerous claimants of the sovereignty who arose after the death of Rhys ap Tudor, they so weakened the country that they eventually estab- lished themselves in all but the mountainous region of Grwynneth, or North Wales, which maintained a semblance of independence for 200 years longer. Under the pretext of guarding against the Welsh, the Norman settlers along the course of the Severn and the Wye formed a league, of which the Mortimers, lords of Wigmore, were the head. These Lords Marchers, or Borderers, considered themselves almost independent, and they took a conspicuous part in the civil wars of the time of Henry the Third. § 11. In the year 1093 William fell ill, and whilst in fear of death he was induced to appoint Ansehn, an Italian monk, arch- bishop of Canterbury, the see having been vacant four years. He also made restitution of part of the church property, but on his recovery it was again seized, and the other bishops' sees and mon- asteries were still kept in his hands, and supplied the chief funds for his foreign wars. These and other causes of dispute at length drove the good and learned Anselm into exile, and he remained abroad as long as the king lived. § 12. Soon after William's recovery he was visited at Gloucester by Malcolm, king of Scotland, to treat for peace, but nothing was llO HISTOEY OB" ENGLAND. [Book IV. Invasion by Sovte. War in Nortli of England. Eoyal Troops Conqtierors. agreed on, and Malcolm in the following November invaded Northumberland, when he fell unarmed into an ambuscade near Alnwick and was killed, along with his eldest son. His queen, Margaret (the sister of Edgar Atheling),' after com- ' ''■ ' mending her remaining cluldren to the care of the Scottish nobles, distributed her goods to the poor, and entering a church to pray for her husband's soul, she died before the service was ended. William attempted to gain possession of Scotland by supporting Duncan, a pretender to the throne, and supplying him ■with money and men ; but after a short usurpation he was killed [a.d. 1094]. The throne was then seized by Donald Bane, the brother of Malcolm, who in his turn was defeated by Edgar, his nephew, and died in prison. § 13. Donald Bane had driven out a great number of Norman and Saxon exiles who had been sheltered by his brother, and these desperate men, having then no refuge from the tyranny of William, engaged in an attempt to make at least the north of England in- dependent of him, if they could not succeed in driving him from the throne. Kobert Mowbray, the Earl of Northumberland, having been ordered to restore some Norwegian ships that he had seized, refused to do so, and gathering the outlaws about him he put him- self at their head. William marched promptly against the insur- gents, escaped an attempt to assassinate him, and captured New- castle and other towns. At last he blocked up Mowbray in Bamborough Oastle, and to prevent his escape built a tower, which, with a glim kind of wit, he styled Mai Voisin (or Bad Neighbor), near to his stronghold. He then departed on an expedition into Wales, and when he retm-ned he found that Mowbray had been made a prisoner whilst foraging, though Bamborough still held out. Mowbray was now compelled, by the threat of having his eyes put out, to order his wife to surrender the castle, when he was sent to Windsor and kept for awhile in a dungeon, but was at last allowed to become a monk at St. Alban's. Many of his partisans were put to death, and several others were cruelly mutilated. § 14. This terrible example seems to have prevented any similar attempts during the rest of William's reign, and he was thus able to turn his whole attention to enlarging his dominions in Normandy. In this project he was very successful, though not entirely by war. He induced his brother Henry to join him against Robert, and Chaptee il] the nokman etjlb. Ill Eoberb of Normandy joins the Crusaders. Aim and Cliaraci:er of the Crusades, between their attacks and the treachery of Robert de Belesmc, the whole country was soon brought under William's obedience. Robert, therefore, altogether wearied with and unfit for the cares of government, readily agreed to pledge his states for five years to "WiUiam on the payment of 10,000 marks of silver, and with the money he equipped himself for the expedition which about this time was set on foot, and is known as the First Crusade. William raised the money by a general plunder of the monasteries, and not content with having thus acquii'ed Normandy free of cost, he also set about adding to it the neighboring territory of Maine, which had been conquered and kept in subjection (though with difBculty) by liis father, but had made itself independent of the careless and slothful Robert. § 15. The crusades were expeditions by the CMstian nations of Western Em-ope for the recovery of the Holy Land from the Turks, who obstructed Christian pilgrimages to Jervisalem. yhis was the pretext of popes and princes. The fact was, that the throne and the dominions of the Christian emperor at Constan- tinople were threatened with seizure by the Turks, and he wished to weaken their power. The Pope, who claimed to be universal bishop, wished to bring the Greek, or Eastern Christian Church under his dominion. So pope and emperor declared that if the Christians did not go to the East the Mussulmen would come to the West ; and measures were taken to fire the hearts of all Europe with a zeal for rescuing the holy sepulchre from the hands of the infidel — a motive more powerful than any political consider- ations. § 16. A native of Picardy, knovra as Peter the Hermit, who had been a witness of the sufferings of the Christian pilgrims, went from city to city, and from kingdom to kingdom, under the sanction of the Pope, telling the people in glowing language of the atrocities of the Turks. The sentiment was wide-spread — the holy sepulchre must be taken from the hands of the infidel. The Pope called a general council of princes and nobles, prelates, priests, and knights. War upon the Turks was declared to have been ordered by God. Everyone who should engage in it was directed to wear upon his breast or shoulder a red cross, and he was called a croise or Crusader. § 17. Among those who earliest bore the symbol of the atone- ment and joined in the armed pilgrimage toward Jerusalem, which 112 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IV. Fate of the first Crusaders. What the Crusaders accomplished. A bad Man in OflBoo. was led by Peter, was Robert of Normandy, his uncle Odo the . „ ,o„ bishop," and Edsar Atheling.' That first crusading ■ § 3, p. 106. ' ' = ° m T 1 J „ „ „_ army perished without seeing Jerusalem. Uclo aiea ' ' ' on the journey, and Robert returned. The next cra- sade was more successful; and finally Jerusalem was taken by the Christian warriors [July 15, 1099], when Godfrey of Bouillon was proclaimed king of the conquered domain. § 18. During a period of almost two hundred years these wars were carried on with the greatest atrocity. The Mussulmen soon drove the Christians fi-om Jerusalem, and efforts for its recovery prolonged the struggle. They were cruel and vmholy wars, promoted and fostered for the gratification of princes and nobles, pontiffs and prelates. When the Christian warriors found out by experience that Mussulmen were as true men as themselves, and not monsters, they would not consent to desolate their land, and murder the people without a cause ; and the crusades ceased be- cause men would no longer be duped with the dishonest cry. The holy sepulchre must be taken from the hands of the infidel ! § 19. The crusades failed to accomplish the object for which they were ostensibly begun ; but their effects were beneficent. They extended the area of commerce, and brought nations into closer and more friendly communion. They opened the way for the light of science and the arts to spread over and benefit Europe. From the more enlightened people of the East, the ignorant and bigoted warriors of the "West learned the sciences of medicine, astronomy, and algebra, and the use of our Arabic numerals, so much more convenient than those of the Romans ; also of sugar, linen, paper, chimneys, windmills, and many other things so common in our day. And so it was that the crusadera contribu- ted important elements of our present civilization. They also foiled the intentions of the Mohammedans to seize Europe as a possession and force the religion of the Arabian Prophet upon the people. § 20. In the year 1096 William, bishop of Durham, died, and after an interval of three yeai-s the see was bestowed on Le Flarribard, who had long been the justiciary and treasurer, and indeed, chief minister of William. This man, who was of a handsome pre- sence and a lively wit, was as rapacious and profuse as his master, and as he kept a noble household, he was always surrounded by dependents who vi^ere ready to execute any of his commands. Chapter U.J THE NORMAN RULE. 113 Grievous Oppressions. Operations of a bold Leader. Condition of Normandy. whether lawful or unlawful. He was indefatigable in devising, schemes to flU the royal treasury, and his exactions supplied the funds which William employed in corrupting the vassals of his brother Robert. "When they were no longer wanted for this pur- pose, they were employed in building a new wall round the Tower of London, a bridge over the river Thames, and a great hall in the palace at "We^minster ; " and men were grievously oppressed," says a chronicler, " and many perished thereby." § 21. When Duke Robert had gone to the crusade, Robert de Belesme, as William's general in Normandy, labored incessantly to conquer the adjoining districts. He seized the Vexin, a small dis- trict on the Seine, from the king of Prance, and built in it the strong fortress of Gisors, which was afterwards a place of much importance. The Normans about this time recon- . ' § 9i p- 2- quered Anglesey » from the Welsh, but in 1098 it was attacked by Magnus, king of Norway, when Hugh, Earl of Shrewsbury, the brother of Belesme, was killed in opposing him. Robert bought the earldom for £3,000, and coming again to Eng- land, built himself a strong castle on the Severn, at Bridgnorth, and fi'om it carried on plundering expedirions against all his neighbors, whether Normans, Saxons, or Welsh, robbing the churches, murdering the people, and building fbi'ts on other men's lands, in each of which he placed bands of freebooters. No re- dress could be obtained for his depredations, as he was .a favor- ite with the king, and was besides one of the best castle-builders and fiercest soldiers of his time. § 22. The people of Maine, when they threw off the yoke of the Normans, '' sent into Italy and offered the sover- „^, ^^' . i» § 14, p. 110. eignty to Hugh of Tuscany, the grandson of their last count. He accepted the offer, but finding that he must main- tain possession by the sword, he soon sold it to his cousin Elias, a brave knight, who successfully resisted all the force that Robert (or rather his general, de Belesme) could bring against him. But when the government came into the hands of William, the count repaired to him at Rouen, and very humbly asked for peace, as he wished to go on the crusade. "Go where you like," replied the king, " so long as you suri-ender my inheritance." — " It is my in- heritance," said Ehas, " and if you dispute it, I vrill plead my cause before the bishops and lords of the land." — " My pleadings shall be spears and arrows," cried the king ; " return to your city, 114 HISTOET OF BNGLAHD. [Book IV. Affairs in Normandy. summon your friends, and repair your broken-down walls, for I will never leave you in quiet }Dossession." § 23. EUas retired to his states, and William, occupied with other affaii-s, left him for a while undisturbed ; but at last the count fell into an ambuscade laid for him by de Belesme, and was carried oif a prisoner to Rouen. Soon afterward Mans, his capital, was obliged to surrender, one condition being that he should be set at liberty. As Elias had now lost his dominions, and had nothing left but five castles of his patrimonial inheritance, he wished to enter William's service as a simple knight. The king, who ad- mired his courage, would have granted the request, but some of his courtiers dissuaded him, and it was refused, when EUas exclaimed, " Bad luck has put me in your power. Sir King ; but if I were free I know what I would do ! " — " Do ! you do I " cried William in a rage ; " do what you can ! begone, fly, and do your worst ! " and then gave him a safe-conduct through his states. § 34. Elias passed some months in strengthening his castles and collecting his friends, while William returned to England. He « S 27 102 ^^ engaged in his favorite pastime of hunting in the New Forest," when a messenger met him, and in- formed him that Elias had surprised the city of Mans, and was then in possession of it, though the Norman garrison in the castle still held out. The king at once turned his horse about, cry- ing out, " Let us support our fiiends ! " and rode down to the coast. There he threw himself into the first vessel that he saw, which was little better than a fishing-boat, and put to sea, although a storm was raging, answering his courtiers, who wished to wait for better accommodation and fair weather, that he had never heard of a king who was drowned. His boldness was successful. As soon as Elias heard that William had landed in Normandy, he fled from Mans, which had in the mean time been burnt by the gar- rison of the castle, and shut himself up in one of his forts. Thither the king followed him, but the place being strong, he soon aban- doned the siege, and, imitating his father's policy, reveno-ed Mm- self by ravaging the open country with fire and sword ; the fruit- trees were cut down, the vines were rooted up, the houses were burnt, and the people were slaughtered. That was in the year 1099. § 25. This was the last visit that WilHam paid to the continent, as bis sudden death put an end to a project that he had fonned of Chaptek II.] THE NOEMAN RULE. 115 WUliam's Ambition frustrated. His death. Henry secures the Crown and Treasure. adding all the southern jsart of France to his dominions. 'Williaia Count of Aquitaine, wishing to go to the crnsade, entered into a bargain with the English king, and for a sum of money agreed to put his territories in William's hands. So nearly was the matter concluded that William announced his intention of spending his Chiistmas at Poitiers, and was near the sea-coast to superintend the fitting out of a fleet and army to take possession. As usual, all his spare time was devoted to hunting ; but strange rumors of some evil to happen to him were spread far and wide, and at length reached his ears. He laughingly said they were the fancies of monks who dreamed for money, and ordered 100 pence as a re- ward to one of them ; but they evidently made an impression on him, and on the day of his death [August 3, 1100] he did not go out to hunt until he had dined and drunk freely. § 26. William's brother Henry, one Walter Tyrrel, a favorite at- tendant, William de Breteuil, and many others accompanied the Idng, but the party was soon scattered in pursuit of the game. Sud- denly a cry was raised that the king was killed, and his body was seen on the ground pierced by an arrow. The deed was said to have been done by accident by Walter Tyrrel, but he always denied it, and it is not improbable that William was assassinated by some one else, at the instigation of his ambitious brother. Prince Henry rode up, and after a glance at the body galloped off to Wiuchester, where he demanded the keys of the royal treasure. William de Breteuil, who had followed him, claimed the crown on behalf of Robert > (William having never married left no legiti- mate child) ; but Henry, drawing his sword, declared that no foreign-bom prince should possess the crown of England, for that he, who was of English birth, was the true heir. This declaration was well pleasing to the English. Breteuil's protest was unnoticed, and, as soon as the treasure had been surrendered, Henry hastened to London to secure the crown, without troubling himself even to give orders for his brother's burial. § 37. The body of William had been picked up by some of his servants, and being wrapped in a coarse cloth, it was brought on a charcoal-burner's cart to Winchester, " like a wild boar pierced by the hunters." It was buried on the day after his death, in the cathe- dral ; but though many of his nobles attended, we are told by a writer of the time there were few mourners. All classes were thankful because the country had been relieved of a cruel tyrant. 116 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IV, Character at WiUiam Eufaa. His Successor's Coronation and Maniage. § 28. Thus perished, in the fortieth year of his age, the second Norman king. He is described as having been short and stout, with yellow hair and red face. He was very strong and active, and though easily excited to terrible fits of passion, he was frank and familiar with his chosen associates, profuse ia his gifts, and occa- sionally showed both forbearance and generosity, particularly to a resolute opponent like the Count of Maine." He, how- ' ever, led a most profligate life, was an open scoffer and contemner of religion, and suffered justice (or rather injustice) to be bought and sold. Thus he has gained a worse character than either his father or his brother Henry, who, though quite as bad men, were more orderly in their conduct, and allowed no ether tyranny than their own. CHAPTER HI. KKiGN OF Hbnby THB FrRST. [a. D. 1100 TO 1135.] § 1. Hbitrt was the only son of WiUiam the Conqueror who was born in England, and, as we have seen,'' he had ' § 26, p. 105. . ! . the address to turn this accidentar circumstance to his advantage. He, however, differed in many other and more important respects from his brothers. They were mere illiterate hunters and soldiers, without anything pleasing in their appearance or concilia- tory in their manners, whilst he was tall and handsome, with dark hair and bright blue eyes. He was studiously courteous to all, and though really even more avaricious, cruel, and treacherous tfian they, he early gained wisdom by advereity, and acted so prudently whilst in an inferior condition that he was a general favorite, while Robert and William were detested. He had, too, under the care of his tutor, Aj-chbishop Lanfranc," acquired a taste for learning, so that he was known as Beau Clerc, or the Fine Scholar, and his natural talents enabled him to fulfil the saying of his father, who, when giving him money instead of land, declared that he would one day excel his brothers both in wealth and dominion. Henry was crowned in Westminster Abbey, on Sunday, the 5th of August, in the year 1100, by Maurice the bishop Chapter UI.l THE NOKMAN RULE. 117 King Henry's antecedent History. of London, whenhe was thu-ty-two years of age. The same year he maiTied Maud, a Scottish princess, and descendant of the great Alfi'ed." "Si.p.^e. § 2. Before considering the history of Henry's reign, let us look at antecedent events connected with his public career. § 3. Henry well knew the value of the gift of his father, and when the careless spendthrift, Robert, desired to borrow of him, refused to part with a single coin. Robert then offered to sell him part of his inheritance, on which Henry listened to him at once, and for £8,000 purchased one-third of Normandy. This was an important district, called the Cotentin,' which in- cluded many cities, and strong castles, and sea-ports, ' as Avanches, Barfleur, Cherbom-g, and Mont St. Michel. Henry at once established an orderly government, and showed so much activ- ity in protecting his people from the ravages of de Belesme and other freebooters, that he became very popular all over the duchy, and the weak and jealous Robert feared to be deposed by him. Quarrels and reconciliations followed ; but at last Robert and "Wil- liam joined their forces against Henry, stripped him of all his possessions, and in the year 1091 drove him into exile. § 4. The young prince found a refuge in the Vexin, a province adjoining Normandy, where he lived for some time with the hum- ble suite of only one knight, one priest, and three squires, " and though a king's son," says a writer who knew him, " had to endure poverty, that when he became king himself he might have com- passion for the poor and lowly." He had, however, still friends, for he was known to be brave and active, and at last the people of Domfront, a strong town in Normandy, invited him to rescue them from the tyranny of de Belesme." He accepted c § 21, p. 11.3. their offer, drove the freebooters from the castle, and fixing his own residence there, commenced an active war for the recovery of the Cotentin. § 5. William, who cared not what instruments he employed to work his own ends, now saw that Henry might be useful to him in his designs against Normandy ; he therefore supplied him with men and money, and employed him [a.d. 1095] as his general. Robert was soon obliged to surrender his duchy, and the war be- ing thus ended, William and Henry, now as firm friends as two bad men could be, returned to England together. Henry continued to reside in his brother's comt, and this threw in his way the oppor- 318 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book rV. Henry's Promises to the Saxons. Affairs in Normandy. The Normans in England. timity, -which he did not neglect, of securing the throne of England the instant that it became vacant, while Robert," who „ ' ' ' had refused the crown of Jerusalem in favor of b S x7 p 111 Godfrey of Bouillon,'' was lingering among the Nor- man settlere in Italy, on his way back from the crusade. § 6. Henry, hastening to London, as we have seen, was crowned on the third day after his brother's death. He well knew that his hope of success in his usurpation must depend on his securing the support of the Saxons, and he was lavish in his promises to them of good government. He granted a charter re-establishing the laws of Edward the Confessor," directed the hateful ask' IP curfew to be abolished, promised to soften the rigor of the forest laws, and knowing that Le Marribard ^ was regarded as the chief instrument of the extortions of the late reign, he ordered him to be seized and confined in fetters in the Tower of London. The bishop, however, did not long remain a prisoner. As he was rich, he made dainty feasts for his keepers, and whilst they were carousing, he lowered himself from the iJnn- dow by means of a rope that his friends had sent him in a cask of vpine, and escaped. § 7. Very soon after Henry's accession Robert returned to Nor- mandy, bilnging with him a wife, Sibylla of Conversana, from Italy, and money (her marriage portion) to redeem his duchy ; but he found Henry's soldiers in his castles, fully prepared to hold them against him. Instead of attempting to recover them, he wasted his wife's fortune on base favorites, abandoned himself to indo- lence, and, as he had done before, suffered his barons to make war on each other, and rob and murder with impunity. The «§23 p 114 "^sinherited Count of Maine" took advantage. of the confusion to recover his territories. He gave his daughter''k marriage to Fulk, Count of Anjou, and he took a ' § 9, p. 119. c°°spi'=ttous part in the subsequent war between Robert and Henry.' § 8. The Normans in England soon showed that they were dis- satisfied with Hem-y's government, which was strict and orderly, and they began confederating together to place Robert on the thi-one, feeling secure of doing as they pleased under his indolent 8 § 14, p. no. ^"^®' ■^^'^''3'' *° defeat their schemes,? took the de- cided step of joining himself openly with the Saxons. He therefore drew fi-om a convent, and, as we have noticed, Chapter III.] THE NORMAN RULE. 119 Effect of Henry's Marriage. Engliuid again Invaded. The Invaders withdraw. married a princess of Saxon descent, the daughter of Malcolm of S( ;otland, and niece of Edgar Atheling. Her name was Edith, but as Saxon appellations ■were discountenanced, she was commonly- called MatUda or Maud. She had been educated by her aunt, the Abbess Christina, and was a woman of exemplary piety and charity. This marriage, while it delighted the Saxons, gave mortal offence to the proud Norman lords, who insultingly styled the king and queen Godric and Godiva. Henry, however, cared nothing for their taunts, though, as they afterwards found, he did not forget them. To meet the invasion with which he was threatened, he raised an army of Saxons, which he trained in warlike exercises himself, for his Normans absolutely refused to teach them, saying that it was not fit that the arms of nobles and knights should be placed in such hands. § 9. Whilst the king was thus employed, Le Mamiba/rd, on his escape fi'om the Tower, had repaired to Normandy, and become Ro- bert's chief counsellor. By his activity troops were got ready and a fleet prepared, to which several of Henry's ships deserted. In July, 1101, Robert landed at Portsmouth, and was soon joined by the great body of the Normans. Henry faced them with his Saxons, but he was too prudent to expose his untried troops ; he took the wiser course, and would not allow Robert to bring him to a battle. Robert then proposed to decide the quarrel by a siagle combat, but Henry declined this, as unsuitable to the dignity of a king ; and at last a peace was concluded, by which Robert resigned his claim to the crown for a pension of 3,000 marks, and Henry, on his part, promised to pardon his brother's adJierents. § 10. This was a promise that Henry had no intention of keep- ing. One of his courtiers had advised him to promise anything that might have the effect of getting Robert out of England, and when that was accomplished to keep as much or%s little as he pleased. On this dishonest counsel he acted. Though Le Mamhard, was no longer justiciary, other clerks or lawyers were found who easily discovered that every powerful Norman had broken many of the laws. One by one they were summoned before the king's coiu^;, and those who were the most favorably treated were heavily fined, while many were stripped of all their lands and banished. The chief among these was the famous Robert de Belesme." He had taken up arms for Robert, and therefore by the treaty was entitled to 120 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IV. Belesme in England and Normandy. His adherentn suffer. The King in Normandy. pardon, but means were nevertheless found to ruin him. He had now, as Earl of Shi-ewsbm-y, dwelt in England for some years, acting almost like a sovereign prince, and Henry saw that he could never be safe with such a subject. § 11. By the king's order, all his actions after Robert's depar- ture were narrowly watched, and written evidence was soon col- lected of forty-five different offences against the laws. Robert was then summoned before the justiciaries, and ordered to give a distinct answer to each charge. Instead of attempting this, he fled from the court, strengthened his castles of Arundel, and Blythe, and Bridgnorth, and Shrewsbury, hired Welsh and other mercenaries, and stood on his defence. But he found that he had not a slothful prince like Robert to deal with. Arundel and Blythe were soon reduced, and Henry marched in person against Bridgnorth. This was taken after an obstinate siege, and Belesme was at last obliged to submit. He was banished, after being stripped of all his lands, part of which were given to' Jorworth, a Welsh prince who had fought against him. § 12. But de Belesme's remarkable career was by no means over. He went to Normandy, and induced Robert to put him in possession of his estates there, whereon were thirty-four castles, and when once established in them'he made war on his neighbors as before. Indeed he appeared to contemplate conquering the duchy, and Robert was obliged to pacify him by making him his general. § 13. Among other nobles who suffered as partisans of Robert was William Warren, Earl of Surrey, who, going over to Nor- mandy, made such loud complaints of his losses that Robert came to England to remonstrate -mth his brother on this breach of their agreement. Henry, however, charged him with violating the treaty by receiving de Belesme, and kept him in a kind of cus- tody until he consented to give up his pension, when he was allowed to return to Normandy, apparently only that he might fall into utter contempt. § 14. At length Henry passed over into Normandy, and, as had been before arranged, received from Serlo, the bishop of Seez, a formal complaint of Robert's misgovernmeut, and a request that he would redress the ills of the country. The intei-view took place at Carentan, in the church, which was found half flUed with household goods and implements of husbandry. The bishop Chapter HI.] THE NORMAN RULE. 121 An outspokon Bishop. War in Normandy. Henry Victorious. pointed to this "vile lumber" stored there as a proof of the insecurity of the people, and said: "Your brother does not really govern this country ; he abandons it to his favorites, and whilst he wastes its wealth in idle follies, he is often without bread. He passes the greatest part of his time in bed, and cannot go to church for want of clothes, as his idle associates often carry them off whUe he is asleep, and then make an open boast that they have robbed their duke. In the relief of your own. land, Sir King, you may be angry and sin not." Then turning to another matter, the bishop inveighed against the fashion of wearing long hair, which the clergy regarded as a sin. Henry professed his grief, when Serlo, producing a pan- of scissors, cropped the king's locks, and those of his courtiers. § 15. Many of the Norman nobles were present at this scene, and when it was over they agreed to assist to drive out Eobert; but as he had still numerous supporters, particularly Le Mambard (who held the strong city of. Lisieux), and the formidable Robert de Belesme, Henry judged it necessary to call the Count of Maine to his assistance. Bayeux was taken and burnt, and Caen was surrendered by four of the inhabi- tants, who received the town of Darlington, in England, as a reward ; but Henry was repulsed at Palaise, and then returned to his own dominions. § 16. In the following year he resumed his operations. The Count of Maine, and also the Earl of Surrey, for whom Eobert had lost his pension,, were with him, and he laid siege to Tinche- brai, a town belonging to his cousin William, Earl of Mortein and Cornwall, who had forfeited his lands in Robert's cause. The earl made a vigorous defence. Robert and Edgar Atheling, and de Belesme came to his aid, and at last, on the 38th of September, 1106, a decisive battle was fought near the town. Robert and Edgar, who had with them many knights from the crusade, fought desperately, but were at last overpowered and made prisoners; the same fate befell the Earl of Mortein and many other nobles, but de Belesme contrived to escape. Falaise was soon after surren- dered, in which was William, Robert's son, a chUd of five years old. Le Mamba/rd made his peace by betraying Lisieux ; and Henry, after a six years' struggle, then came into full possession of Nor- mandy. Belesme endeavored to detach the Count of Maine from his alliance, and having still numerous castles in his hands, was 6 122 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IV. Fate of Belesme and his Associates. New Nobility created. eager to renew the war, hoping to gain the duchy for himself, but Elias » would not listen to him. On laying down his ° ^ ^^' ^' ^^^' arms Belesme was pardoned, and had a few of his estates granted to him, but the strong castles that he had built were destroyed. He soon retired into France, but afterwards falling into Hem-y's hands, he ended his life in prison. § 17. Such also was the fate of most of the prisoners of Tinche- brai. Robert was at first placed in easy custody, but attempting to escape, he was imprisoned for the long remainder of his life (twenty-eight years), and many writers say that he was even blinded by his unnatural brother. The Earl of Mortein, after a long confinement, was obliged to become a monk at Bermond- sey; and imprisonment for life, often accompanied by blind- ing or maiming, was the fate of almost every considerable person who had espoused the cause of Robert. Henry, now that all serious opposition was crushed, indulged the savage cruelty of his nature, and only spared men like Le Mairiba/rd, who could purchase pardon by some act of treachery. § 18. The void made among the Norman nobles by so many confiscations was soon filled up by lands and titles being granted to a, nvimber of new men, many of them servants of the court. Ralph the butler, Geoffrey the chamberlain, Robert and Walter the stewards, were all made peers, as were Ralph Basset and Richard Lucy, the king's judges, and Ralph of Bayeux, Hamon of "Wolverton, and Thomas St. John, who were men of the sword. Henry, however, by no means granted away -all that fell into his hands, and he was especially careful that his new nobility should not be powerful enough to be beyond his control; whilst those who remained of the old found themselves entirely at his mercy. For the slightest offence their estates were seized and their castles pulled down, and the people thus enjoyed more protection from the violence of the " Castle men " than had been the ' § 12, p. 81. case ever since the battle of Hastings.' § 19. The king, however, was himself quite as tyrannical as his predecessors. He enlarged the forests, reserving all the game for himself, and only very sparingly granted permission to a few of his great men to hunt on their own lands, while he ordered all the dogs in the neighborhood of the woods to be maimed, so as to prevent their following the chase. Breaches of the forest laws were, of course, of daily occurrence, for which the offenders were Chapteb in.] THE NOEMAN RULE. 123 Chief BTOnbB ot Henry's Heign. Operations of a Welsh Prince. heavily fined ; and as lie made a market of honors and prefer- ments, and laid enormous taxes on the people, he grew more wealthy and more odious every day. ■ § 20. The conquest of Normandy, and the crushing of the power of his nobility, were the chief events of Henry's reign, though he labored to extend his dominion over Wales also. He made several inroads into the country, and received the submission of many of the^ohiefs, but others strove fiercely against him. Little progress was made, though many strong castles were built upon the bor- ders, the owners of which, under the name of Lords Marchers, exercised unbearable oppression. The hatred of the Welsh to the Normans thus grew stronger daily, so that Jorworth, who had helped the king against de Belesme," and received part of his lands, was in consequence murdered by his own son and nephew. But they soon found a champion to afEord them help. This was GriiBn, the son of Rhys ap Tudor, the Prince of South Wales, who had been killed by Jestyn and his auxiliaries. § 21. The young prince, who had been long an exile in Ireland, returned to Wales in 1111, captured Carmarthen, defeated those who by Norman help had seized parts of his father's dominions, and re-established the principality, which he held until his death, more than twenty years after. He is praised by his countrymen as generous and brave, and is said to have captured almost all the posts on the coast of Pembrokeshire which were held by the Flemish settlers " who had been driven into England by the misfortunes of their country. These men were as cruel as the Nomfans, but they had not their courage, and hence GrilBn often ventured to attack them, though twenty to one, tell- ing liis men that, though thus numerous, they were only cow- ardly Flemings, and would not fight. § 22. Whilst these events were passing, Henry spent much of his time in Normandy, the people of which, though they had been dissatisfied with Robert, were by no means reconciled to his gov- ernment. Fulk, the Count of Anion, had succeeded to the earldom of Maine, and his intrigues with the Normans seriotisly alarmed Henry. He therefore made the Nor- man nobles swear to receive William, his only legitimate son, as their duke ; and he remained three years in Normandy, until he had, as he supposed, secured his succession, by marrying that son 124 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IV. Henry's troubles about a Successor. His Daughter Heir Apparent. to Matilda, the daughter of the Count of Anjou. But his hopes were frustrated by his son being shipwrecked, with his half-sister, in the following year. So deeply did he feel this misfortune that it is. said he was never seen to smile afterwards. This fatal event occurred on the 25th of November, 1120, on the coast of Nor- mandy, and many young nobles perished with the prince. § 23. But Henry had fresh troubles, which arose from his own avarice and bad faith. He detained the property of the widow of his son, and this so offended her father that he gave her younger sister in marriage to William, the son of Robert, and powerfully supported him in his attempts to regain the duchy of Normandy. The war between the uncle and nephew lasted for iive years, until the young prince was killed [a.d. 1128] in battle. The King of France had been his supporter, and thus a war was carried on for years between France and England, but with no important result. § 24. Henry had, several years before, married his daughter, Maud or Matilda, to Henry the Fifth, Emperor of Germany ; but she became a widow in 1125, and returned to England. Tlie king compelled his nobles to swear to receive her as their future queen. This was done at a general assembly of the notables of the kingdom, in Windsor Castle, on Christmas-day, 1126. He then induced the Count of Anjou to forsake the cause of William of Normandy by giving Maud as a wife to his son Geoffrey, who was much younger than Maud. The imperial widow laughed outright when the mamage was proposed. " He is so like a girl," said the masculine woman. She interposed many obstacles to the completion of the nuptial ceremonies ; but they were finally so- lemnized at Rouen on the 26th of August* 1127.' From this marriage sprang Henry Plantagenet, afterwards King of England, and the first of the royal house of that name. § 25. The union was a very unhappy one. Geoffrey and Maud quarrelled and separated repeatedly, for the ex-empress was a, virago. On the Idng taking part with his daughter, the irritatea count seized on several of Henry's castles in Normandy, and made war on him. This obliged Henry to pass over again and again into Normandy, and at last he died there, after nearly two years 1 On that occasion GeofErey was created an English knigbt. In honor of the double dignity of husband and knight, he took a bath and put on a clean linen shirt. Henry, in commemoration of the cleanliness of his son-in-law (Europeans had been unwashed for centuries), then called him Knighb of the Bath, and created the renowned Order of the Bath, the oldest order in England, and next in honor to that of the Blue G-artor. Chaptbb IV.] THE NOBMAN RULE. 125 Death of Henry. His Character. Usurper Enthroned. absence from England, on the night of Sunday, the 1st of Decem- ber, 1135. § 36. Henry, as has been said, married a Saxon princess, who is known as the good Queen Maud. After a time she withdrew from the court, and retired to the monastery of Westminster, whei-e she passed her time in works of charity and devotion until her death, in 1118. Soon after Henry married a second wife, Adelais or Alice of Louvain, who became a firm friend to his daughter Maud. § 37. The character of Henry is in many respects very odious. He was most profligate in his life, tyrannical, rapacious, and bar- barously cruel, so that he even suffered the eyes of his own grand- children to be destroyed ' to gratify the hatred of one of his nobles. He quarrelled with Archbishop Anselm" and drove him into exile, as William Rufus had done before, and, as has been said, he carried the oppression of the forest laws to an almost unbearable extreme. Tet his death was a subject of regret, for, with aU his tyranny, he kept the Norman chiefs within bounds, and the Saxon writer teUs us that when the king's strong hand was removed, " there was tribulation in the land, for every man that could then robbed another." CHAPTER rV. BEiGN 01' Stephen. [a.d. 1135 to 1154.] § 1. As Henry had supplanted his brother Robert, so his ovm daughter met with similar treatment from her cousin, Stephen of Blois, who was the first to take the required oath to receive her as Queen of England,' and was the first to violate it. ^ ^^^ ^ ^^ This prince, who was a son of Adela, one of the daughters of WiUiam I., and about forty years of age, had been brought up in the court of his uncle. As soon as he heard of Henry's death he hastened over to England, and being assisted by his brother Henry, who was Bishop of Winchester, he prevailed on the Archbishop of Canterbury to crown him, on the pretence that the king had on his death-bed disinherited his daughter on 1 This cruelty, borrowed from the Italians, was perf ornied by holding the face of the Victim over a red-hot basin until the eyes were seared and the sight destroyed. 126 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IV. King Stephen. His troubles. accovmt of her undutiful conduct. Stephen had married, the year before, Maud or MatUda, daughter and heir of Eustace, Count of Boulogne, who owned immense estates in England. § 2. To gain the good-will of the people the new king granted a charter, by which he promised to respect the privileges of the church, to give up the forests that had been newly made, and to observe all good and ancient laws and just customs. Many of the nobles, however, refused to do homage to him ; the bishops would promise to obey him only so long as he maintained the liberty of the chmch; and David, King of Scotland, took up arms to support Maud, who was his niece. Stephen was at first successful. David, who had invaded England, agreed to a truce, and Exeter, which Baldwin de Kivers had fortified for Maud, was taken. But a more formidable attack was soon made on the usurper. Robert, Earl of Gloucester, a natural son of the late king, a man of great ability and courage, sent a formal defiance to him, and prepared to invade England. Stephen seized on the earl's lands, but his castle of Bi-istol was held against him, and a war that lasted eight years commenced. § 3. The King of Scotland now again entered England, but after advancing as far as Northallerton, in Yorkshire, he was there de- feated, and he and his son narrowly escaped with their lives. The English carried many banners, which were mounted on a wagon, and the fight is from this known as the Battle of the Standard. It was fought on the 22d of August, 1138. § 4. Though the Scots had been defeated, Stephen's affairs seem- ed desperate. Many of the nobles were in arms against him, and those who jjrof essed to be his friends extorted lands and honors as the price of their support, and built castles at their pleasure. The king hired soldiers from Flanders, who came under a renowned leader, named William of Ypres, and then he attempted to strengthen himself by seizing several castles that were in the hands of Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, and his nephews the Bishops of Ely and Lincoln, who were known partisans of Maud. This step, however, had very different consequences. His brother Henry, Bishop of Winchester, strongly condemned his proceedings, and while he was thus embarrassed, Maud and her half-brother and general, the Earl of Gloucester, landed at Portsmouth in Sep- tember, 1139. The earl went to the west of England to raise forces, leaving his sister in Arundel Castle under the care of her Chaptbr rv.] THE NORMAN RULE. 127 Mand fights for the Crown. Her Troubles and Perils. step-mothier, Adelais of Louvain." Stephen soon besieged her there, but at length allowed her to retire to Glouces- ter, where she dwelt iu royal state, whilst the earl took ^ ' ^' the field. Upwards of a year passed in fierce war, in spite of the efforts of the bishops to bring about some agreement. At last Stephen, having placed the castle of Lincoln in the care of Ralph, Earl of Chester, was informed that he meant to give it up to the Earl of Gloucester, whose son-in-law he was. To prevent this he marched against him and besieged him, but was himself attacked [Feb. 2, 1141] by the Earl of Gloucester with ten thousand men, defeated, and carried ofE a prisoner to Bristol, where he was con- fined in chains by order of his cousin. § 5. Maud now moved forward toward London, but she took Winchester in her way, where the bishop, altogether abandoning the cause of his brother, received her, and by his influence she was formally acknowledged as Lady, or Queen, of the English. Many of Stephen's friends were excommunicated, and his cause seemed so hopeless that his wife petitioned for his release from prison on condition of his resigning the crown and retiring into a convent. Maud, who was of a haughty, imperious nature, refused to listen to her, and the war broke out afresh. But Maud caused her own ruin, for when she soon after held her court in London, she so of- fended the citizens by her harsh conduct that they rose tumultu- ously against her and drove her away. § 6. Maud now retired to Oxford, but soon after quarrelled with the Bishop of Winchester, who at once resolved to attempt to restore his brother to liberty. He retired to his castle at Winchester, where Maud followed him and besieged him. She was herself besieged in the palace there, and the city was burnt in the course of the struggle. At last a truce was agreed on for the purpose of observing Holy Cross day [Sept. 14], when Maud succeeded in escaping to Gloucester, but her brother was made prisoner in protecting her flight. § 7. After a short time the king and the earl were both set at liberty by being exchanged, and the war was then carried on more furiously than ever. Maud resided for a while in the castle of Oxford, where she was besieged by Stephen ; but she made her escape on foot over the frozen river, reached Wallingford, and thence she again retired to Gloucester [a.d. 1143], when England became in reality divided into three states, Maud being acknow- 128 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IV. Suff6ring8 of the People. Maud flees. Her Son in England. ledged in the west, Stephen in the east, and the King of Scotland in the north. § 8. The people, as might be expected, now suffered the most terrible calamities. The nobles of all parties sent forth bands of plmiderers from their castles, who robbed and murdered at their will. A chronicler who Uved at the time says : "Never yet was there such misery in the land ; never did heathen men worse than they. They said openly that Chiist slept, and all his saints ; and though the bishops excommunicated them, they heeded it not ; they spared neither church nor churchyard, but took all the goods that had been placed for safety there, and then burnt the church itself." At last, in the eighth year of the war, the Earl of Glou- cester died, and Maud, knowing that she could accomplish nothing without him, very soon after abandoned the struggle and retu-ed to Kormandy. That was in the year 1145. She was in great peril on her voyage, and made a vow to found a chm'ch if she got safely to land. The abbey that she built in consequence existed imtU recent times, at Cherbourg. § 9. Stephen was thus at last left in undisturbed possession of the kingdom, but this quiet did not last long. His brother, the Bishop of Winchester, and the Pope's legate, acted unjustly by Theobald, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and caused him to be driven into exile. Theobald appealed to the Pope, by the means of one of his chaplains named Thomas S, Becket, and got the extra- ordinary powers of the Bishop of Winchester taken from him. Stephen, however, refused to let the archbishop return, and the discontent that this occasioned induced Maud to send her young son Henry, then sixteen years of age, into Scotland, where he was knighted by the king. He then invaded the north of England, but the people were little inclined to see the war renewed, and late in 1149 he was obliged to retire. § 10. The king at last became reconciled to the archbishop, whom he recalled, and then endeavored to induce him to crown his son Eustace, a youth of bad character. Becket was again sent to the Pope, and he soon returned with the positive command that it should not be done. This induced young Hem-y to come again into England, where he was joined by many friends. The war commenced afresh ; but Stephen was an able soldier, and Henry made small progress against him, when Eustace suddenly died, and then the nobles on both sides agreed to a peace. Stephen was Chaptek IV.] THE NORMAN RULE. 129 Death o( Step\.;en. The Welsh strike for Independence. allowed to retain the crown as long as he lived ; but Hem-y, at a gi-eat couucU of the notables of the kingdom, held at Winchester on ' the 7th November, 1153, was adopted by him as his son, and oaths were taken to him as his successor. In less than a year after this Stephen died at Dover, and Henry, being at once summoned from Noi-mandy, became the first of the famous Plantagenet kings. § 11. Whilst England was distracted by civil war, the Welsh were able to free themselves in many places from the yoke of the Normans. Their chief leader was Owen Gwynneth, who captured the strong fortresses of Aberteivi, Carmarthen, Mold, and Tenby, and gave a signal defeat to the Earl of Chester, at Consilt, in the year 1149. § 13. King Stephen was a man of handsome presence, of cheer- ful mind and courteous manners, trained in war from his youth, an able general, and lavish of gifts to his supporters. Though he was ungrateful to his uucle, and broke his oath to his a § 1, p. 125. cousin," and afforded but little protection to his peo- ple against the tyranny of the nobles and his foreign soldiers, he yet seems to have been a better man than any of the preceding Norman kings. He never showed wanton cruelty ; and he readily forgave those who deserted him. He acted very leniently to any of his opponents when they fell into his power — a virtue which cannot be claimed by any of the Norman line. § 13. Eachof the Norman kings whose history we have just related had some personal appellation, as William the Bastard, or Henry the Fine Scholar, which served instead of a surname. But Geoffrey, the husband of Maud"" and father of Hem-y, the „„, b § 24, p. 124. founder of a new line of kings, had the honor of transmitting his personal appellation of " Plantagenet " to his descendants. The word is a corruption of planta genista, or the " broom plant," a sprig of which Geoffrey is said to have usu- ally worn in his cap. The reason for the habit was differently given by writers of his time. Some regarded it as only indica- tive of his love for nature and field-sports. Others said it was a token of humility, he being but the son of an earl, whilst his wife was the daughter of a king and widow of an emperor. If such was really its meaning, Geoffrey did not act according ^ -to the token, for he quawelled with his spouse, as we have seen, and made war upon her father," without any regard to their superior rank. 6* BOOK V. THE PLANTAGBNETS. [From i. d. 1154 to 1485.] CHAPTEE I. REIGN OF HbNRT THE SECOND. [A.D. 1154 TO J189.] § 1. Henry, sumamed Plantagenet, who was the eldest son of the Empress Maud and Geoffrey of Anion," was in a 6 24, p. 124. ^ ^ J ' ' his twenty-second year when he succeeded to the throne of England. He was crowned in Westminster Abbey on the 19th of December, 1154, about six weeks after the death of Stephen. He had inherited Normandy, Anjou, and Maine, and though so young he had, for the sake of her large possessions, married Eleanor of Guienne, a princess who had been divorced by her husband, the King of France. By this marriage he had ac- quired a large territory in the south of France, called Aquitaine or Guienne, and now that he had obtained possession of England, he became the most powerful king of his time. But this extent of dominion did not satisfy him ; he passed a great part of his reign in wars undertaken for the purpose of bringing other coun- tries under his rule, and he even deprived his brother Geoffrey of a few cities that theii- father had left to him, and- drove him into exUe. § 2. When Henry came to England he was welcomed with much joy by the people, on account of his descent from their old Saxon kings ; but he knew that he was not so favorably looked >■ § a 118 °^ ^^ ^^^ Norman nobles, and, imitating the policy of his grandfather, Henry the Fu'st,' he at once took vigorous steps for lessening the dangerous power that they had acquired through the feebleness of Stephen. He pulled down more than a thousand castles that had been erected without the royal license, and were little better than strongholds of robbers. The Normans rest.ramed. Thomas h Becket. His Pride and Power. He disbanded most of the foreign troops that Stephen had em- ployed, and dismissed William of Ypres, his general; and as a check upon the Welsh, he sent a large number of Flemings to settle on the coast of Pembrokeshire (with their country- men already there"), where then- descendants stiU remain. -§31, p.m. § 3. To gratify the people the new king granted afresh the charters of his predecessors, and as a proof of his desire to estab- lish an orderly gOYei-mnent, he appointed justices to traverse the coimtry and redress wrongs. In all these proceedings he had an able assistant in Thomas i Becket, a native of London, and the Archdeacon of Canterbury, who had already rendered him a great service by hindering the coronation of Eustace, and who soon after the accession of Henry was made chancellor. This was an office of much greater power than it is now, for its holder had, under the king, the control of the whole kingdom — was indeed the one minister who directed everything in the state, and he had, very great influence over the church also. Becket applied himself without scruple to forward all his master's views, and thus he became so great a favorite that the king treated him almost as his equal, and he and Henry are described as playing together like two boys. § 4. Becket was then a man about thirty-six years of age, tall and handsome, skilful alike in letters, in war and hunting, and in all courtly arts ; witty and eloquent, magnificent in his style of living, and profuse in his gifts. He received the profits of many church preferments, but he performed the duties of none, for he was not yet, strictly speaking, a priest, and he passed his time instead as a judge, a soldier, or an ambassador. He was on one occasion sent to France to demand the daughter of the Idng in marriage for the son of Henry, when he journeyed with at least as much state as his master ; and soon afterward he took the field, and served at the head of 700 knights in the south of France, where he unhorsed in single combat a renowned French knight. Such a kind of life was a strange preparation for the dignity of arch- bishop ; but this the king resolved to confer on him, expecting to find him ready to sacrifice the rights and possessions of the oflico out of gratitude for his promotion. § 5. Accordingly, when Theobald the Archbishop of Canterbury died [A.D. 1163], Becket was, by the royal command, and in an 132 HISTOET OF ENGLAND. [liooK v. Becket's Quarrel with the King and the Aristocracy. irregular maimer, advanced to the see, Apparently muoli against Ms own -will, for he knew that he could not gratify the king's ex- pectations and be a faithful governor of the church at the same time. He was of an ardent, impetuous temper, and now that he had become a priest he was resolved to discharge his duties with zeal. For this purpose he at once resigned the office of chan- cellor, at which the king was greatly displeased, and Becket- was a favorite no longer. Many estates had been vsrested from his see during the confusions of the last reign, and these he now endeavored to regain. The king encouraged the nobles who held them to resist. At last Becket excommunicated some of them, and though he afterwards relieved them fi-om the penalty, he had made enemies who were determined to ruin him. § 6. This was soon brought about under pretence of the king's love for justice. He summoned Becket and the other bishops to an assembly at Westminster, where he complained of the proceed- ings of their courts, which he said allowed priests who were guilty of great crimes to go unpunished, and for remedy of this he required that the clergy should, both in person and property, be subject, not to the rule of the bishops, but to the ordinary laws. The right of judging ofEenders among the clergy had, however, been expressly allowed to belong solely to the church by Hemy the First, on his reconciliation vnth Anselm," and as each succeeding o g 27 p. 125. " ' king had sworn to preserve all their privileges, the bishops would only consent to what was proposed, "saving the rights of theii' order.'' As this was in reality not agreeing at all, they were next summoned to another assembly at Clarendon, a royal palace near Salisbury, where the king's demands were again laid before them, and were untruly described as established cus- toms of the realm to which they were required to consent. Becket and the bishops denied this character to the Constitutions of Claren- don, as they were termed, and at firet absolutely refused compli- ance ; but being threatened with imprisonment or death, they at length gave way, and promised to observe them. § 7. Becket, however, soon bitterly repented of what he had done; he looked upon himself as the cause of the weakness of his brethren, and as a betrayer of the church, and he formally retracted his consent. In consequence, a third assembly was held at Northampton, to which he was summoned as a criminal, and where he was treated with extreme injustice. He had, some months Chapter I.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 133 Becket called to Accounfc._ He flees to France. Favored by the Pope. before, sent four knights to the king's court to answer in his name to a complaint from John the Marshal, one of the royal officers, about a suit that was pending in his own court, instead of attend- ing himself, and this was now termed treason. He had, when he became archbishop, been formally released from all claims as to money that had passed through his hands, yet he was now oaUcd on to give an account for the whole term of his chancellorship ; sums that the king had given to him, and others that he had received for, and laid out on, the royal castles of Eye and Berk- hamstead, of which he had been keeper, were demanded from him. For his non-appearance at the court a fine of £500 was imposed, though the law allowed no more than forty shillings ; all his goods were afterwards declared forfeited ; and he was threatened by some of the nobles with death, while others informed him that the king intended to tear out Ms eyes and tongue and imprison him for the rest of his Uf e. § 8. Becket formally appealed to the Pope from the judgment of the assembly, and retired to the monastery in the town in which he had lodged whilst the trial proceeded. He left at midnight, with only three companions, and travelling chiefly in darkness, and under the name of Brother Christian, he at length reached Bastry, in Kent, near the port of Sandwich, where he remained hid in the church for a week until an opportunity offered of crossing the sea to Flanders, which he did in an open boat in the summer of 1164. He found shelter for a while in the Abbey of St. Bertin, near St. Omer, where the Archbishops Anselm and Theodore had been sheltered before him, and was then formally taken under the protection of the King of France. He had several interviews with the king, and with the Pope, Alexander the Third, who was then dwelling in France, but who stood too much in need of the help of King Henry against a rival Pope' to venture to give him any real assistance, though he praised his constancy and courage. After resigning his bishopric into the hands of the Pope, and receiving it again from him, by which his scruples as to his former promo- tion were set aside, Becket, by order of the pontiff, retired to a 1 At that time, as at several other periods in the Middle Ages, there were rival Popes, who denounced each other as " anti-Pope " and " anti-Chrifit." Victor the Fourth, supported by Frederic Barbarossa, Emperor of Germany, was now established at Home, and Alexander the Third was in exile north of the Alps, to whose spiritual authority the kings of England and France then bowed. 134 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. L^iooK ,. Beoket's Family banished. Tlie King's Quarrels, Outrages, and Perfidy. Cistercian monastery in Burgundy, called Pontigny, where for two years he led a life more austere than any of the monks. § 9. Henry in the mean time sent ambassadors both to the Pope and to the King of France, to demand either that the archbishop should be given up to him or that he should be deprived of his see. Both demands were refused, when the king, who had already seized on Becket's property, revenged himself by banisWng all his kindred and his friends, to the number of 400. Even women and children were thus driven from England in the depth of winter, and to increase the grief of the archbishop, they were obliged to take an oath to present themselves before him that he might see their misery. The exiles, however, were kindly received in France, and their cruel treatment excited so much indignation there, that when, soon afterward, a war broke out, many of the nobles of Brittany, Poitou, Guienne, and other provinces subject to Henry, joined the King of Prance against him. § 10. Whilst these affairs were proceeding, the king was involved in a variety of other quarrels, all arising from his unjust desire to increase his territories. Indeed he entered on this course even be- fore he became king. His brother Geoffrey had had the county of Anjou bestowed on him by his father [A.D. 1151], and Henry had taken an oath to allow him to possess it undisturbed ; but this did not secure him, for Henry was an habitual breaker of his word. He accordingly, in the third year of his reign, seized on Anjou and drove Geoffrey into exile, and when Geoffrey died, a few years later, he contrived also to obtain possession of the strong city of Nantes, in Brittany, where the young prince had been sheltered. He thus gained such ascendency in the country that Conan, the duke, was obliged to purchase his forbearance by giving his daughter Constance in marriage to Henry's son Geoffrey. § 11. Henry next turned liis attention to acquiring a very im- portant part of the south of France, called the county of Tou- louse, to which he pretended a claim in right of his wife. In the war that ensued [A.r>. 1160] he was unsuccessful, although, as has been said, he was aided by the military talents of Becket ; but at its close he, by a shameful strategem, gained a district adjoining liformandy called the Vexin, by proposing a marriage between his eldest son, Henry, and Margaret, the daughter of the King of France. The Vexin was the princess's dower, and as the parties were mere children, it was to remain in the guardianship of the Chapter I.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 135 Attempt to Conquer Wales. A Bard's Satire royally Avenged. Templars until they were of age. Henry, however, caused them to be married at once, and thus obtained the territory, and the King of France was unable to drive him from it. It was to bring about this marriage that Becket, when chancellor, undertook his magni- ficent embassy, which has been already mentioned. § 13. During the troubled times of Stephen the Welsh had re- gained much of their coimtry fi-om the Normans," and as the Flemings and other foreign soldiers recently ' ^ ' P' settled by Henry among them were cowardly as well as cruel, they seemed likely to be driven out. To prevent this Henry mixed in the quarrels of the Welsh princes Owen Gwyuneth and Cadwala- der Ms brother, and by supporting the latter, who was the younger, who swore fealty to him, tried to reduce the whole country to his subjection. He did not succeed, for although he led a large army of veteran soldiers against the mountaineers, his expedition ended disastrously. On one occasion [a.d. 1157] he was beset in a nar- row pass called Consilt, when Henry of Essex, a gi-eat noble, who bore his banner, threw it down and fled ; the Normans were com- pletely routed, and the king only saved his life by flight. One of the Welsh bards celebrated the triumph of his people by compos- ing an ode in which he recommended Henry to knight his horse, whose speed had preseiwed him. Henry, on hearing of this, gave way to a terrible fit of passion, and again invaded the country, but be- fore he entered it he took many children as hostages from the families of Cadwalader and his friends. He was again foiled, and in his rage he had the barbarity to revenge himself by hanging the children. Cadwalader was for a time supported at his court ; but he was treated with the scorn that his treachery merited, and was at last assassinated by some of the Marchers. § 13. Henry was more successful against the Scots and against the partisans of the late King Stephen. Mixing policy with force, he induced the King of Scotland to accept the earldom of Hunt- ingdon instead of the country in the north of England which he had so long held. To break the power of the nobles he adopted the policy of his grandfather. He had them narrowly watched, and when William the son of Stephen, the Earl of Norfolk, Hugh Mortimer the Lord Marcher, or any other great lord was detected in any breach of the feudal laws, his castles were at once thrown down or taken into the king's hands, and often his estates were seized and the owner driven into exUe. Even the Cardinal Henry 136 HISTORY OF BNGLA]S"D. [Book V. A long Quarrel. Papal Interference, and a Reconciliation. of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester and brother of King Stephen," was stripped of his possessions for venturing to ' ' ■ quit the kingdom without the royal permission ; he was, however, after a time reinstated, and he was almost the only bishop who adhered to Becket in his long controversy with the king. § 14. That controversy continued for more than six years. At first Becket remained quietly in the monastery of Pontigny ; but after a time he obtained permission from the Pope to excommuni- cate some of his chief opponents. Henry, who could not reach him personally, persecuted the Cistercian monks in his own domi- nions for the offence of their French brethren in affording him a refuge. Becket then went to the King of France, who received him with great honor. Henry on this made war on France, when he was so successful that Louis soon agreed to a peace, and seemed inclined to abandon the cause of the archbishop ; but Henry having treated with great barbarity some of his revolted subjects of Poitou, whose pardon he had promised in the treaty of peace, the French king gave his support to Becket more warmly than before, and prepared to take up arms in his cause. § 15. The Pope now tried to reconcile the king to the arch- bishop, and after long negotiations this was effected in outward appearance. The two parties met near Tours. The restoration of the archbishop's possessions was promised, and at last, after an absence of upwards of six years, he came back to Canterbury. He was received by the people and Ms clergy with transports of joy, but he had only returned to meet his death. § 16. Just before his reconciliation with the king, a new cause of quarrel had arisen, and this had been passed over without any formal agreement, so that the archbishop conceived himself en- titled to take what steps he thought proper regarding it. It had always 'been regarded as the privilege of the Archbishop of Can- terbury to crown the long, as it is now ; but Henry, under the idea of securing his succession to the throne, had chosen to have his eldest son, a youth of iifteen, crowned during Becket's exile, and by his command the Aixhbishop of York, the bishops of London, Salisbury, Worcester, and otlfcr prelates performed the ceremony. Becket excommunicated them ; and he laid a Uke penalty on two brothers, Ranulf and Robert de Broc, who had had charge of the estates of his see during his absence, and had grievously v/astsd Chapter I.] THE PLANTAGENETS. ' 137 The King's Wrath against Becket. Mui'der of the latter. them. The Brocs were prompt to revenge themselves. They stopped his provisions, beat his servants, maimed his cattle, killed his deer, and even threatened his life, but he remained immova- ble, and wovild not take any measures of defence. The bishops in the mean time passed over to Normandy to the king,^and pite- ously entreated his protection. Henry fell into a violent rage, and demanded what was to be done. The Archbishop of York, who had all through his life been a rival of Becket (they had been in the household of Archbishop Theobald together), replied, " As long as Thomas lives, my lord king, you will have no peace in your kingdom." The king then exclaimed, "How long am I to be insulted by an upstart priest, who owes all to me ? — a fellow who came to court on a lame horse without a saddle now holds the throne, and the knights who eat my bread look on ! " § 17. It was soon resolved that the justiciary of Normandy and two other nobles should be sent into England to seize the arch- bishop ; but four of Henry's knights had secretly left the court while the debate was going on, without any direct authority from him, but thinking themselves well acquainted with his real wishes. They met at Saltwood Castle, in Kent, where Eanulf de Broc resided, and held a consultation with him, the result of which was, that on the next morning, which was the 39th of December, 1170, the whole party set forward for Canterbury. Their inten- tion apparently was not to kill the archbishop, but to make him a prisoner. After an angiy interview with him in his palace they followed bim into the adjoining cathedral. They found him in a small chapel in the north transept, and fiercely required him to recall his sentences. Ha refused, and they then attempted to carry him out of the church. Becket applied violent language to them, shook himself free from one and threw another on the floor. They now attacked him with their swords, and laid him dead before the altar, after breaking the arm of a monk named Grim, who attempted to defend him. The murderers then plundered the palace of plate and money, seized on the best horses in the stable, and fled. The monks watched the body all night, and on the next day, as the Brocs threatened to drag it about the city and hang it on a gibbet, they hastily buried it in the crypt. There it remained for fifty years, until the grandson of Henry re- moved it to a splendid shrine behind the high altar of the cathedral. 138 * HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. The King suspected of Murder. His Fears. Conditiou of Ireland. § 18. The news of the archbishop's murder caused great alarm, if not grief, to King Henry. He knew that he was universally considered as having caused it, and he feared that the Pope would excommunicate him, and absolve his subjects from their alle- giance. He therefore sent ambassadors to the Pope to protest his innocence, and whilst commissioners were inquiring into aU the circumstances of tlie case, Henry, to turn away the attention of . his people, engaged in an enterprise that had been meditated by the early Norman kings, and for which he had himself taken some steps several years before. § 19. That enterprise was the conquest of Ireland, which a former Pope (Adrian the Fom-th, the only Englishman who ever attained to that dignity) had granted to him, on the shameless pretence that the people were ignorant of the Christian faith. The fact was altogether otherwise ; for the country had received Christianity while the Saxons and Norsemen were still heathens, but it had always managed its own religious affairs without the interference of the popes of Rome, and was therefore regarded by them vidth jealous dislike. It had been a peaceful shelter for learned and pious men while Britain was overrun by the Saxons and the Norsemen, and abounded in chm-ches and monasteries; but the Norsemen » at length invaded it also, and in conse- 1 § 6, p. 41. ° quence of their ravages it lost much of its former civilization, and was in a manner cut off from intercourse with the rest of the world. The Norsemen (or Ostmen, as they were afterwards called), on the other hand, who settled principally upon the coast, and founded petty kingdoms in Dublin, Wexford, Cork, and other seaports, traded with England, and when they became Christians their bishops received consecration from the archbishops of Canterbury. § 20. Thus the English kings had always partisans in the country, and very soon after the Normans came to England some adventurers of that nation began to take part in the quarrels of its numerous princes. Beside minor chiefs, there were five who styled themselves kings, and one of them, termed the Ardriach, was recognized as the superior of the whole, and to Hm they looked for redress of grievances. It happened that whilst the quarrel !> s 14 136 '^^*'''^^'^° *^^ ^™g ^^^ Becket was going on," Dermot, King of Leinster, was driven from his dominions by the Ardriach, for his misconduct in carrying off the wife of Chapteb I.] THE PLANTAUBNETS. 139 Troubles In Ireland. Henry seizes it. Acquitted o£ Beoket's Murder. ■Ruarc, King of Meath." Dermot repaired to Henry in Normandy, and offered to become his vassal if he would reinstate him. Henry declined to interfere, but allowed » ■ p- • Mm to address himself to his knights, and among them Dermot found one who listened to his promises of making him the heir of his kingdom, and agreed to undertake his cause. § 31. This was Kichard of Chepstow (also caUed Strongbow), the son of a noble who had conquered a great part of West Wales (now Pembrokeshire), but himself a man of small property. He was famed alike for courtly manners and military skill, and he had great influence among the Norman knights and their followers who dwelt on the borders of Wales. Hence he had little difficulty in inducing a number of them to assist him. He first sent forward two brothers named Fitzgerald and Fitzstephen, who landed near Wexford with a few soldiers, and he soon followed them with a larger body of well-armed Norman horse and Welsh foot. The native Irish, who were badly provided with weapons and had no armor, could not stand against them. Dermot was replaced, when, according to his agreement, he gave his daughter Eva in marriage to Richard, and declared him his heir ; and dying in the course of a year, Strongbow became king. The news of this was displeasing to Henry, who hastily collected a large force, passed over to Ireland [a.d. 1171] and seized on Dermot's kingdom, which, however, he soon regranted to Richard, only keeping the seaports in his own hands, and appointing Hugh Lacy governor of Leinster. Henry now produced the grant from the Pope, and having many friends among the Irish bishops, his cause was espoused by them ; in consequence he was received as king of all Ireland, even the Ardriach acknowledging himself as his vassal. After a stay of seven months in the island, Henry went back to Normandy, where the Pope's commissioners'" soon after declared that he was innocent of the blood of the archbishop. § 33. This trouble was scarcely appeased when a new one broke out in the king's family, which was the direct result of that shameful marriage that he had made with the divorced Queen of France. He wished to divide his dominions among his sons, and forgetting how he had himself disregarded the will of his own father, he had his eldest son, Henry, crowned as his successor in England and Normandy, thinking thus to secure it to him. He 140 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Koyal Family Quarrel. Civil War. King of Scofland a Prisoner. assigned Aquitaine to Richard, and Brittany to Geoffrey. He, however, had no intention of parting with the government of tlie provinces to them, but their mother persuaded them to demand it, and when this was refused, the three youths fled to the court of the King of France. The queen attempted to follow them, dis- guised as a page, but was taken, and was kept a prisoner for the rest of her husband's life. § 23. Both the King of France and the King of Scotland had many causes of quarrel against Henry, aud they eagerly supported his rebellious children. In consequence civil war broke out in England as well as in Normandy. Carlisle was taken by the Scots, and Norwich by the Earl of Leicester, a friend of Prince Henry. But the king, though a bad man, was a skilful soldier. He defeated his sons' troops, and at last put an end to the rebel- lion. His sons, however, had learnt their strength, and during the whole remainder of his life they made war sometimes on one another, and sometimes on him, till at last he died defeated and broken-hearted. § 24. Whilst the war with his sons still continued, the king quietly abandoned the claims that he had made at Clarendon, and which had caused the death of Becket. He suffered a new archbishop (Richard of Dover) to be elected, and was satisfied with his oath, "saving his order;" he also made a pilgrimage to Canterbury, and did penance at the tomb of Becket [a.d. 1174], who was already esteemed a martyr and a saint, and to whom his former adversary, Richard de Lucy, the justiciary, soon after erected a church, the first of more than sixty dedicated to him, which still exist. § 25. On the same day that Henry did penance at Canterbury the King of Scotland was made prisoner at Alnwick, in Northum- berland. He was carried over to Normandy, and was not re- leased until he had promised to surrender several strong castles on the borders, and had done homage to Hem-y and his son for his kingdom. § 26. Henry had now a brief interval of peace, and he employed it in improving the administration of the laws in his states. Up to this time all persons who had causes in dispute were obliged to attend wherever the king happened to be, and by following him from England to Normandy, and from Normandy to Poitou, and from Poitou back to England, they were usually ruined, however Chapter I.] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 141 Courts of Justice established. War in Ireland. Henry's Power diminislied. their case might at last be decided. To remedy this, Henry, in the year 1176, divided England into six districts, and appointed judges to visit each, who had power to settle most causes. He, however, charged his new judges to lay heavy penalties on offend- ers, and thus he was at least as great a gainer by the change as any of his subjects. § 37. The Irish, who had been overawed by the large army that Henry brought with him, disowned their submission as soon as he was gone, and united with their foimer enemies, the Ostmen, in a desperate attempt to drive out the invaders. The king's scattered parties were cut ofE all over the country, and the rest were obliged to shelter themselves in the seaports ; but here they were attacked by the Ostmen ships, and they would soon have been destroyed had not Henry induced large numbers of the fierce Normans and Welsh to proceed to their aid by offering grants of land to all ad- ventm'ers who would undertake to complete the conquest. These well-armed new-comers drove back the natives, and firmly estab- lished themselves in every part. They, however, conquered the country for themselves, and not for the king ; and in after-times these Anglo-Irish, as they were termed, were more hostile to the English government than the natives were. They intermarried with the Irish, adopted their manners and customs and language, and took new names. Their eminent men considered themselves as independent princes ; and it was only in the seaports that Henry had taken into his own hands, and which were always garrisoned by the royal troops, that the English kings, for full 400 years, had any real authority in Ireland. Henry created his youngest son, John, Lord of Ireland, and the young piince paid a visit to the island in the year 1185; but he and his gay courtiers disgusted the Irish chiefs who came to them, by their insolent behavior. He was soon recalled, leaving the government to his deputy, Hugh Lacy, who had for his share of the spoil the former kingdom of Meath. § 28. The latter years of Henry's reign were not more peaceable or happy than the early ones had been. It is true that he was reconciled to Louis the King of France. He even agreed to un- dertake a crusade for the relief of the Holy Land in his company ; and the French king visited England as a pilgrim to the tomb of Becket. But the proposed crusade was not carried out by Henry, and his refusal to embark in it was afterwards the cause of a 142 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. The King's Sons at War. , The Kingdom of Jerusalem. quarrel between liim and his son Bicliard. In the mean time the King of France died, and his son and successor, the eminent. Philijj Augustus, was too jealous of Henry's vast possessions in France to be friendly with him. Wars, too, broke out between his sons. Henry and Geoffrey nnited in making war on then- brother Eichard, who ruled in Aquitaine Uke a sovereign piince. The king commanded them to desist, but to no purpose. At last the young Henry died suddenly [June 11, a.d. 1183], and peace was restored for a while. Then the ambitious Q-eoffrey again made war on Bichard ; and though they were at last formally reconciled in a great council held at London in the presence of their father, it was only the death of Geoffrey, soon aftei-ward, that prevented another war. § 29. The kingdom that had been founded by the Ci-usaders in Palestine, in the time of William Rufus, was now [a.d. 1186] in a state of extreme danger. Eang Baldwin the Fourth was a leper, and being thus incapable of reigning, the power of govern- ing the state was contested for by his sister Sibylla and a powerful noble, Baymond of Toulouse. Eaymond leagued himself with the Saracens, who were now led by a renowned military commander named Saladin, a man who had risen to power by the sword, and who was resolutely bent on the reconquest of Jerusalem. § 30. Baldwin the Fourth was succeeded by his nephew, Bald- win the Fifth, a child, and on his death, soon afterward, Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, was sent to England to offer the crown "§7 118 *° ^'^S Henry, whose grandfather, Fulk of Anjou," was also grandfather of Baldwin the Fourth. Henry declined the crovra, which was at last bestowed on Guy of Lusig- nan, the husband of Sibylla. Soon after this, Saladin defeated the Christians at Tiberias through the treachery of Baymond of Tou- louse, made Guy a prisoner, and at last captured Jerusalem. The b § 16 p 111 "^^^^ °^ *^^ calamity hiduced Henry to assume the cross,'' and to promise to proceed to the relief of the Holy Land, where one brave prince, Conrad of Montferrat, the brother-in-law of Sibylla, held possession of Tyre, the last frag- ment of the Clu-istian kingdom. § 31. But before King Henry could proceed on the crusade, if he ever intended it, which is very doubtful, he was involved in a quarrel with the young King of France and his own son Richard, which ended in his death. This quarrel arose, however, quite as Chapter I.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 143 England and France at War. ^, Henry's Troubles and Death. inuct in consequence of his own bad conduct as anything else. He had, twenty years before, contracted a marriage for Ms son Eichard with Adelais, the sister of the King of Prance, then a mere child, and had got possession of a large district as her dower. The princess conducted herself in such a manner that Richard, when she grew up, refused to take her for his wife, but Henry, in spite of this, kept possession of her lands. Her brother claimed them from him ; Eichard joiiied in the demand, and as he was a vassal of the King of France, was called on to take up anns in his cause. Henry was at length attacked by the King of France and his own son, was driven from Touraine by them, and was soon after obliged to sue for peace, which he only obtained upon paying a large sum of money and giving up the princess's lands. § 32. Thus foiled in his projects, Henry retired to the castle of Chinon, where a new grief awaited him. He had agreed to pardon all who had combined against him, and he was stiuck to the heart to find the name of liis youngest and favorite child, John, among them. His vrife was in prison, and his eldest son had just made war on him, but this discovery seemed worse than all, and he fell iU and died very soon afterward [July 6, 1189], his only attend- ant, out of his numerous family, being one of his natural children, named Geoffrey, who afterwards became Archbishop of York. The king's body was carried to Fontevraud, in Anjou. Richard, his eldest surviving son, and now heir to the throne, who heard of his father's illness too late to see him alive, followed the corpse in much real sorrow. § 33. Such was the melancholy end of the first king of the House of Plantagenet. His life afEoi-ds a very striking lesson. His whole object appears to have been to enlarge his dominions, and though at first he had great apparent success, the end was that he died almost a fugitive. He led a very immoral life, and he married a princess of similar character, who taught his own children to rebel against him. He acted on many occasions with great treachery, and at other times he showed extreme cruelty ; and he was notori- ous for his bad faith, which he attempted to justify by saying that it was better to have to repent of words than of deeds. 144 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Coronatdon of Ricliaid the First. The Jews. CHAPTER n. KBIGK OF RiCHAED THB FiRST. [A. D. 1189 TO 1199.] § 1. RiCHABD, -who was sumamed Coeur de Lion, was crowned in Westminster Abbey, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, on the 3d of September, 1189. The ceremony on that occasion was unusu- ally magniflcent. Tlie crown was borne before Richard, in the procession to tlie abbey, by the Earl of Albemarle. The royal candidate walked under a rich canopy of sUk borne on four lances, each of which was held by a great baron. On each side of him walked a prelate — the Bishops of Durham and Bath — and his path up to the high altar of the abbey was spread with cloth of the Tyrian dye. On the steps of the altar he was received by Baldwin, the archbishop, who administered to him the usual oath that he would (1) through life bear peace, honor, and reverence to God, the church and its ordinances ; (3) that he would exercise right, justice, and law toward his subjects ; and (3) that he would abrogate unrighteous laws and customs, enact good ones, and keep the same in good faith, without any mental reservation. § 2. The king then cast ofE his upper garment, put sandals or buskins of gold on his feet, and was anointed from the ampulla of holy oil on the head, breast, and shoulders. He then received the cap, tunic, dalmatica, sword, spurs, and mantle, each being presented by the proper officer in due order of succes- sion. The unction over, and the king thus royally arrayed, he was led. up to the altar, where the archbishop adjured him in the name of Almighty God not to assume the royal dignity unless he fully proposed to keep the oaths he had swom. Richard repeated his solemn promises, and with his own hands took the ponderous crown from off the altar, " in signification that he held it only from God." He then delivered it to the archbishop, who in- stantly put it on his head, and so completed all the ceremonies of coronation. § 3. A massacre and plunder of the Jews in London, as well as elsewhere, immediately followed. These people were then numer- ous in England. Many of them were learned men, while all were reputed to be wealthy. The superstitious English fancied that they practised magic, and they were forbidden to appear at the Chaptek n.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 145 Massacre and Plunder of the Jews. Richard' b Pretensions. coronation. A few ventured to come, believing that the costly presents whicli they laid at the king's feet would insure their safety. Richard spurned them from his presence. His attendants chased them from the royal hall, and the people fell upon and butchered them. All the other Jews in the city were attacked. Their houses were fired, and men, women, and children were burned to death in them, while the king could not be induced to leave the banquet hall to stop the flow of blood. He permitted the butchery to go on for twenty-four hours, until the malice of the Christians was satiated. Like cruelty was practised upon the Jews elsewhere. Ifi York the work of blood was fearful. Seve- ral hundreds of the Jews, vrith their families, fled to the castle, and attempted to defend themselves in one of the towers. It was impossible; so the men destroyed their treasures, killed their wives and children, and then themselves, rather than fall into the hands of the barbarians. § 4. So the reign of the royal assassin and robber began. He was an ambitious crusader. He was more of a knight-errant than a king, and gratified his vanity and love of plunder by engaging most heartily in the unholy wars already mentioned." TT- * A «. 1 V, ■ « §18, p. 113. History, romance, and song, uttered by pnnces, priests, and bards, have lauded him as a model of a Christian gentleman and worthy defender of the religion of Christ, be- cause he fought so gallantly in the wars upon the Turks. He had entered upon his crusading career even before he came to the throne. He had been the first prince in France to assume the red cross ;' and he tried to palliate his late revolt ° by 1 1 jg^ p m pretending that it had been caused, in part at least, by his indignation at seeing his father so much less ° ' '' earnest than himself. His first step had been to release his mother from prison ; and in the hope of attaching his brother John to his interests, he acted most generously toward him, be- stovping upon him large estates. § 5. Bichard, 'Whilst he governed Aquitaine, had for his chan- cellor a Korman priest of low birth, named WUliam de Long- champ. This man he now made Chancellor of England, and soon afterwards Bishop of Ely. Longchamp was skilful in all means, whether good or bad, of raising money, and by his advice the king sold honors and offices, and granted charters of privilege, as lav- ishly, says a writer who lived in his time, as if he never intended 7 146 HISTORY OF ENGLAOT>. [Book V. Extortion ot the Chief Minister. Departure for a. Cmsade. to retuvn to Ms kingdom. The fortresses on the border, which King Henry had extorted from the king of Scotland as the price of his freedom," were surrendered for a sum of money, ' ■ and he was released from the oath of fealty that he had taken. The Bishop of Durham bought the earldom of Nor- thumberland ; charters and gi-ants were ordered to be brought in, and their holders had to pay heavily for having them sealed afresh. Geof&-ey, the king's natural brother,' had ' ■ been named Archbishop of York by the Pope, and even he was heavily fined for having accepted the title before he had obtained the king's permission. Longchamp was sent to York, and lie raised a great sum of money from some of the rioters there (for many of them were rich men), who had " ' ■ ■ incited the attack on the Jews ' because they were their creditors. The chancellor, however, found out what they owed the Jews, and made them pay it to the king. § 6. By these and other means, which were readily submitted to, as it was for an object that all men then approved, a vast treasure was soon got together, and in April, 1190, only nine months after Richard's accession to the throne, a very large fleet was ready, and sailed from Dartmouth. In this crusade Philip Augustus, the' ablest king of France since Charlemagne, was his colleague. The English fleet consisted of more than 100 large vessels fit to carry a great host, but having then few soldiers on board. Many others were laden with horses and anns. The nominal comman- ders were Gerard, Archbishop of Aix, and Bernard, Bishop of Bayonne, but the real rulers were Richard de Camville and Robert de Sabloil, who were styled sea-justices, and were assisted by a skilful mai-iner named "William de Fortz, of Oleron. The fleet was dispersed by a storm soon after leaving England, but it was gathered together again at Lisbon, where it assisted the people against the Mohammedans, who were ravaging that region. Then it sailed to Marseilles, where the troops that had marched through France were taken on board, and were safely carried to Messina, in the island of Sicily, where they waited for the arrival of Richard. § 7. The king solemnly assumed the scrip and stafE of a pilgrim, in the cathedral of Canterbury, even before the fleet sailed, and then he hastened to France, having first appointed Longchamp guardian of the realm. That act greatly ofEended his brothers John and Geoffrey, but particularly GeofErey, in whose service Chapter II.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 147 Bichard Tarries on the Way. His abuses oE "Wealth and Power. Longchamp had once been. Richard compelled his brothers to take an oath that they would not come into England for three years without the chancellor's permission ; and he gave Long- champ for his colleagues the Bishop of Durham and two nobles, who were to be a check on him in his management of the royal treasure. § 8. The English and French armies assembled at Vezelai in July, and marched together to the sea-coast, where they embarked on board the English fleet and some Genoese vessels for Sicily. TheELngof Prance, fearing the sea, travelled by land; but Richard sailed in a light galley with a few attendants, touched at the most remarkable places in Italy on his way, and so did not reach Mes- sina until near the end of September. § 9. Here the king found his troops engaged in constant con- tests with the inhabitants, who were as treacherous and cruel as their visitors, many of them descended from the Saracens, and willing to do all that they dared to insult- and injure the crusa- ders. Richard acted summarily with them. He erected gibbets and hung many of the offenders, for, as a, chronicler who was in his army assures us, he considered all who were within his power as his subjects, and he held it to be his duty as a king not to let any transgression go unpunished. His conduct everywhere was gov- erned by the spirit of the sentiment that " might makes right." He had, beside, a family quarrel to settle, as he found on his ar- rival that his sister Joanna, who was the widow of "William the Good of Sicily, had been despoiled of her dower and impri- soned by Tancred, a usurper. He at once released his sister, and seized on a castle which he gave her as a residence. He next oc- cupied a monastery as a stronghold for himself, and fed his men with provisions from his ships, as the people refused them all sup- plies. The King of France arrived during these quarrels, and sided -with the Messinese ; and thus disputes broke out between him and Richard, which eventually ruined their enterprise. § 10. At last, angry because of the just hostility of the people, Richard attacked and easily captured Messina, when Tancred was obliged to agree to pay a large compensation to Joanna. Richard, in return, promised to support Tancred on the throne. By this he made an enemy of Henry, King of the Romans, a German prince who claimed it in right of his wife. § 11. Wliilst the nations of Europe were gathering then- forces 148 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Perjury of the King ot Jerusalem. Siege of Acre. Eiohard goes there. for the relief of the Holy Land, Guy, the nominal king of Jerusa- lem, had been released by Saladin on taking an oath to leave the country. He, however, was released from his oath by the clergy, and showing more courage and conduct than he had heretofore done, he assembled some troops, and being refused admission to Tyre, where Conrad of Montferrat ruled, he laid siege to Acre, a strong town on the sea-coast that had been not long before captured by the Mohammedans. Saladin marched against him, but was not able to drive him off, neither was Guy able to take the city, for the force of the Christians was divided between him and Conrad, and there were two kings but no kingdom. The Emperor of Ger- many, Frederic Barbarossa, was the first prince to march to his assistance ; but he was drowned in crossing a stream, and his troops nearly all perished from sickness. § 12. The King of Sicily sent Guy some aid, and numerous knights joined him from different countries, which enabled him to hold his ground. His spirits were kept up by the expectation of the arrival of the English and French kings, and thus he continued the siege, though sickness and famine made great havoc among his men, and as he had no fleet he could not prevent the people in the town from receiving abundant succors from Egypt. At last, before the second winter set in, Henry, Count of Champagne, who was Richard's nephew, was sent to his aid with a body of soldiei-s, but the kings and their armies remained in Sicily. Richard kept his Christmas there in magnificent style, indulging in idleness and debauchery. He gave bountifully from his treasures for the relief of a great number of French knights and nobles who had spent all their substance in the expedition, which greatly offended their king ; and he bestowed liberal sums on many ladies and other ex- iles who had lost their inheritances in Palestine. § 13. Before the time for the sailing of the fleet arrived. Queen Eleanor reached Sicily, bringing with her as a wife for Richard, Berengaria of Navarre, a princess with whom he had become acquainted while he ruled in Aquitaine. It being the season of Lent, they could not then be married, and Queen Eleanor returned to England, leaving Berengaria in the care of Joanna, the sister of Richard. The French fleet saUed first, and reached Acre without difficulty ; but the English, which left Sicily some days later, was scattered by a storm. After tossing about for many days, a part of the fleet reached Cyprus, where some of the vessels were seized Chapteb II.] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 149 Uiohavd seizes Cyprus. Loss of Life at Acre. The French King. and plundered by Isaac Comnenus, a Greek, who reigned there and styled himself emperor ; and Richard's sister and his intended queen dhly escaped capture by refusing a treacherous invitation to land. The king had almost reached Palestine when he heard of this ; ho repaired to Cyprus, defeated Isaac, dethroned him, and sent him a prisoner to Margath, a fortress in Syria that belonged to the Knights of St. John. He then appointed one of his sea-justices to rule the island, restored to the people their ancient laws, which Isaac had abolished, and married Berengaria. That was in the autumn of 1191, when Richard was thirty-four years of age. He sailed very shortly afterward, and reached Acre, having captured a large Saracen vessel on his way. § 14. Richard was received there with great joy, as Ms military skill and courage, and his liberality to all who served him, were so well knovm ; and the speedy capture of the city that had now resisted the whole Christian host for nearly two years was consi- dered certain. The loss of life among the crusaders had been fearful. The sword and the plague had swept away six archbishops, twelve bishops, forty earls, five hundred barons, and one hundred and fifty men of " the meaner sort." § 15. Richard found the King of Prance ° in ill-health, and me- ditating a return home. He fell ill himself also from " § 6, p. 146. the heat of the climate, but in spite of that he pushed forward the siege with vigor. His fleet blocked up the harbor, and thus prevented further succor to the garrison. He had power- ful machines built, called petraria, for battering down the walls, and others called mangonels, for casting stones, and he employed his men incessantly in undermining the towers. The French king endeavored to imitate him, but he had neither his skill nor his wealth. He was more of a statesman than a soldier. The French engines were soon burnt by the enemy, for they were not protected with hides as those of Richard were, and the French knights showed so great a desire to enter Richard's service that constant quarrels ensued between the two kings. Philip Augustus was looked upon contemptuously, and Richard was hailed as the head of the whole army. § 16. Though he was so weak that he was obliged to be carried about on a litter, he directed all the operations, and exposed himself to every danger ; and he sometimes showed his skill as an ai'cher by discharging his cross-bow as he lay on his couch, parti- 150 HISTORY OK ENGLAND. [Book V. Surrender of Acre. The French King returns home. Cruelty to Prisoners. cularly on one otcasion when he saw a Saracen parading on the ramparts in the armor of a knight who had been slain. At last, when the walls began to give way before his tenible engines, ]»e offered four pieces of gold for every stone torn from them, and such havoc was soon made that the Saracens were obliged to sur- render before Eichard had been a month in Palestine. He, how- ever, acted unjustly in claiming all the glory, and in ordering the ■ banner of the Duke of Austria, who had very bravely captured one of the towera, to be thrown into the ditch. He had to pay afterwards for this insolent act by a long captivity. § 17. The two kings took possession of Acre, which they divided between them. Richard set diligently to work to restore the fortifications, after which he wished to march at once to Jerusalem, but the king of France, pleading ill-health, suddenly abandoned the crusade and returned home. To make the passage he begged two of his best galleys from Eichard, and then he departed, after taking an oath not to do anything to injm'e him in Europe. But he did not keep his word. § 18. Eichard had now the whole burden of the war cast upon him, and he prosecuted it vigorously, though he had much trouble from the hostility of Conrad of Montferrat, who claimed the king- dom, and was supported by the Duke of Burgundy, under whose command were the French forces. Richard favored Guy; in consequence the French refused to serve, and many of them remained idly at Acre, while the English king fought in the field against Saladin. § 19. When Acre was surrendered, the garrison, to save their lives, promised that Saladin should pay a large sum of money and should also release many Christian prisoners ; but he refused to abide by this agreement, on which Richard put to death the Saracen hostages, and Saladin in return murdered his prisoners. After these acts of mutual barbarity, Eichard marched out of Acre and encamped in the fields, though many of his men followed him unwillingly. The Saracens attacked him, but were always beaten off, and when all was ready he marched along the sea-coast towards Ascalon, his ships keeping near and supplying his men with pro- visions. The march of twenty days was one continued battle ; but at Arsoof the Saracens were so completely overthrown that they destroyed Ascalon and other fortresses and . retired to Jerusalem. Richard wished to restore Ascalon, but the French opposed it- CnAPTEB n.] THE PLANTAGENETS. lol Hlchard and Saladin. Affairs in Ireland. Riohord prepares to return. many of them retired to Acre, and he wag obliged to halt for nearly two months at Joppa before he could collect his aiTay again. He had employed the time also in restoring some of the abandoned fortresses, and at last, in the month of November, 1191, he encamped at Ramla, the Arimathea of Scriptm'e, ■within twenty miles of the Holy City. § 30. Saladin now made some proposals for peace, and presents and courtesies were exchanged between him and Richard. The negotiations were carried on by the brother of Saladin, who was named Saphadin, and who professed to be desirous of marrying Richard's sister, Joanna ; the princess, however, refused to listen to the project, and the plan was abandoned. The enemy continued to harass the Christians, cutting off their convoys of provisions and murdering the stragglers ; the weather was very severe, and at last, after a two months' stay, Richard was obliged to retii'e to Ascalon, which he now fortified, and there he remained until the spring, when he received such an account of the proceedings of his enemies in Europe that he resolved to return to his dominions as soon as he honorably could. § 21. Richard had hardly left England before Long- champ » began to conduct himself tyrannically, and he soon drove away the Bishop of Durham and his other col- leagues. Prince John, on this, broke the oath that he had taken,' came to England, and seized on several castles beside those that Richard had intrusted to him. The s . p- Archbishop Geoffrey " also came, but was seized at „ c g „ 145 Dover and thrown into prison. Prince John espoused his cause, and marched to London, when Longchamp fled in the disguise of a woman to Flanders, and his post of governor of the kingdom was given to the Archbishop of Rouen. Soon after this the King of France returned, and John, by promising to give up Nonnandy, secured his concurrence in an attempt to seize on the kingdom. Longchamp sent intelligence of these events to Richard, who at once saw the necessity of returning to Europe if he would preserve his kingdom. By way of a final effort, he, in June, 1192, marched to Betenoble, within four miles of Jerusalem, and remain- ed there for a month, when, finding the city too strong to be taken, and his men and horses dying from thirst among the mountains, he quitted the spot and marched back to Acre, after strengthening Ascalon and Joppa in his way. 152 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Richard leaves Palestine. Is a Prisoner in Germany. Tried as a Murderer. § 23. Scarcely had be reached Acre when he learned that Joppa was besieged by Saladin, and could scarcely hold out a day. He at once hastened to its relief, and performed acts of almost incredi- ble bravery in driving off the enemy ; but his exertions brought on an illness, so that his life was despaired of, when Saladin again made proposals for jieace, and by the mediation of Saphadin a truce for three years was agi-eed on, Richard expressly stating that he desired it only that he might preserve his kingdom, and that he would again visit Palestine and renew the war. § 23. The terms agreed to were that the sea-coast should remain in the hands of the Christians, and Jerusalem in the hands of Saladin, but that Christian pilgrims should be allowed freely to visit it. Many of the army did so, and they were protected by Saladin as far as he could from the fmy of his followers ; but Richard himself declined to go, for he said he would not owe to the favor of an infidel what he had not been able to obtain from the gift of God. § 24. Richard now sent his queen and his sister and the main body of his fleet away, and they all reached England in safety. He remained behind a few days longer, and when he sailed [Octo- ber 9, 1195] his ship was driven by a storm into the Adriatic. Being desirous of reaching Normandy as early as possible, he endeavored to travel through Germany, vrith few attendants, in disguise, and calling himself Hugh the Merchant. His liberal presents, however, aroused suspicion, and though two or three knights who had served under him in Palestine, from admiration for his character, suffered him to pass, he was at last [Dec. 20] seized at Erperg, near Vienna, by order of that Duke of Austria .,„ whose banner he had cast down." He had a still " § 16, p. 149. more powerful enemy m the emperor (Henry the Sixth), as he was that king of the Romans whom he had offended t S 10 147 ™ Sicily.' The emperor, hearing of Richard's cap- ture, demanded him from the Duke of Austria, and shut him up in a castle in the Tyrol. Longchamp discovered the place of his confinement, and on the application of Queen Eleanor, the Pope (who was esteemed the general protector of all crusaders) ordered him to be set at liberty, and excommunicated the Duke of ■ Austiia for seizing him. The emperor paid no regard to the order of the Pope, and instead of releasing him, he produced Richard before a meeting of the German princes, where he Chapter IL] THE PLANTAGBNBTS. 153 Richard's Eansom and Kelease. Returns to England. War with France. His Death. charged him with the murder of Com'ad of Montferrat, and many- other crimes. § 35. These charges were entirely untrue, and Richard, in an eloquent speech, cleared himself of them aU, to the satisfaction of the princes ; but he could not obtam his liberty without promising to pay a heavy ransom, in return for which the emperor bestowed on him the empty title of King of Provence. The money was raised in England, even the church plate being sold for the pur- pose ; but the emperor, after he had received a large part of it, was bribed by the King of France and Prince John ' ■ § 7, p. 148. still to keep Ricliard in prison. The German prmces, however, compelled him to release him, and Richard was then set at liberty, after a confinement of more than a year, on giving hos- tages for the payment of the remainder of his ransom. § 36. Thus at last, after an absence of nearly four years, the lion-hearted king again landed in England [March 13, 1194]. He disembarked at Sandwich, and walked thence barefoot to Canterbury to return thanks to God, in the cathedral there, for his deliverance. This duty accomplished, he speedily captured the castles that his brother John had seized; was crowned a second time at Winchester, and then hastening into Normandy, he, at the intercession of their mother, freely forgave his brother John, although, owing to his treachery, the King of France was then in possession of nearly the whole of the province, as well as of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine. § 37. From this time until his death, though with some short intervals of truce, Richard carried on a fierce war with the treach- erous King of France. Philip Augustus was twice defeated, at Fretteval and at Gisors. In the first battle he lost all the records of his kingdom (which kings then usually carried about with them), and in the second he fell into the river Eure in his flight, and nearly lost his life. At last, early in the year 1199, some dis- turbances broke out in P.oitou which Richard marched to suppress. He led the attack on a castle called Chains Chabrol, and had forced his way to the inne« court, when he received his death- wound from an arrow discharged from the only tower that was still defended by Bertrand de Gurdun, whose father and two brothers Richard had slain with his own hand. Richard lay twelve days in pain, and then, on the 6th of April, 1199, he died, at the age of forty-two yeara. He had been persuaded by his 154 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. IBooK V. King Eiohard's Burial. His Cliaracter. His Successor. mother to pass over Arthur, the son of his brother Geoffrey, and name John as his successor. By his own desire his body was buried at the foot of his father's tomb at Fontevraud, and his heart was sent to Rouen, a town for which he had always professed a great affection. § 28. "King Richard," says one of his fellow-crusaders, "was tall of stature, and graceful in figure ; Ms hair between red and auburn ; his limbs were straight and flexible ; his appearance was commanding, and his manners and habit suitable. He was liberal, eloquent, prudent ; and though impatient of an injury, and im- pelled irresistibly to vindicate his rights, all that he did was characterized by innate nobleness of mind." It was in this sense that the well-known appellation of Coeur de Lion was bestowed on him ; not merely to style him an undaunted soldier, but to ascribe to him the perfection of all kingly qualities as then under- stood, as the lion was then esteemed the most noble of beasts. § 39. But the claim for the courageous knight of "innate nobleness of mind " was indefensible, for he did not possess it. If valor was synonymous with virtue, then he was possessed of great moral qualities. But, as in his case, valor may be linked with absolute baseness. Richard was, indeed, valorous in war, but he knew little and cared less for the great qualities of the true ideal of chivalry. He was faithless in love ; false with his pro- mises; cruel, extravagant, and dishonest. He was not always even brave when away from the excitements of war. He was a bad son; a bad husband; a bad father; anything but a Christian gentleman. He had more of intellectual culture than was then usual. He was a persuasive orator and a fair poet ; and sometimes assumed the functions of the troubadour. As a military leader and castle-builder, he was among the foremost men of his time. CHAPTER Ip. EEiaN OF John. [a.d. 1199 to 1216.] § 1. Richard left no legitimate children, and his brother John, the youngest son of Henry the Second, became his successor. Wlisn John v/aa only eleven years old his father proclaimed him Chapter in.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 155 Coronation of King John. His Troables in Normandy. His Cruelties. Lord of Ireland ; and it was when lie was at the eighteenth year of his age that he was sent to that island, as we have seen," to take upon himself the duties of his oiSce. ' '^' His conduct there showed his unfitness for administrative duties, and no great province was bestowed on him, as had been done by his elder brothers, and he was hence contemptuously styled John Lackland. He bore this position uneasily, and was constantly plotting against his father or his brothers ; but, though often de- tected, he always managed to regain their favor. Hence Eichard named him as his successor, as being his nearest of kin, and by a lavish use of the royal treasure he secured the support of his brother's large bands of mercenary troops. Accordingly he was at once received as Duke of Normandy, whilst his nephew Arthur, a boy of thirteen, was acknowledged in Anjou, and was taken under the protection of Richard's old rival, the King of France. § 2. Earl John was in Normandy when the king died. He sent Hubert Walter, the Archbishop of Canterbury, into England, who, by threats and bribery, procured his reception as king by a coun- cil held at Northampton, and soon afterward crowned him [May 39, 1199] at Westminster Abbey, on Ascension-day, scarcely two , months after Richard's death. John was at that time thirty-four years of age. At twenty-four he married Isabel of Gloucester. He divorced her, and at about the time of liis accession to the throne he married Isabel of Augoul^me. After his coronation John pass- ed frequently backwards and forwards between England and Nor- mandy, and put his fortresses in the latter country into so good a state of defence that Philip of Prance soon agreed to acknowledge him as king, and seemed more inclined to strip Arthur of his pos- sessions than to assist him in his claims. § 3. That young prince met with an unerpected ally in Hugh le BiTMi, the Count of La Marche, whose intended wife, Isabel of Angouleme, John had carried off and married himself. Hugh, burning for revenge, found means to interest Philip in the matter, and the war broke out afresh. Arthur, with Hugh for his general, besieged his grandmother. Queen Eleanor, in the castle of Mira- beau ; but John hastened to her assistance, defeated the assailants, and captured Arthur, his sister Eleanor, and Hugh. Their fate was a melancholy one. Hugh was kept a prisoner in chains for many years at Caen ; Eleanor was confined for the rest of her life, a 156 HISTOEY OP ENGLAOT). [Book V. Death of Priuce Arthur. Pranco Now, and Then. English Dominions there. period of more than forty years ; and Arthur, after being for some time shut up in the dungeon of a castle, where the king ordered him to be murdered, was saved by the pity of the keeper. He was then sent to Rouen, and was no more heard of. It being presumed that he had been put to death, John was summoned by the King of France to answer to the charge. As he did not reply, he was formally adjudged to have forfeited his French lands as a felon and a traitor. Normandy was overrun by the French king, the Bretons (the native subjects of Arthur) took up arms, and John, abandoning both provinces without a blow, fled to England, § 4. At this point it seems proper to say that the France under the dominion of the French king, at the time we are considering, was a small territory as compared with France now, which has the English Channel and Belgium on the north ; the Bay of Biscay on the west ; the Pyrenees and Mediterranean Sea on the south ; and Switzerland and Germany on the east. § 5. For a long time, as we have seen, the influence of theAnglo- Konnans in France was powerful. Many of the provinces were almost . continually under the control of the King of England. Henry the Second, at one time, possessed a much larger part of JFrance than the French' king himself. All the west of France was lield by the English, excepting Brittany ; and even there their in- fluence was very great. The Duke of Brittany in the west, the Earl of Flanders in the north, the Duke of Burgundy and the Count of Dauphiny in the east, and the. Count of Toulouse in the south, were all independent princes, and the kings of England frequently took part in their wars against the prince who, as pos- sessing the capital city, Paris, was styled King of France. But he did not rule over one-sixth of the country now known by that name. We shall notice, as we proceed in our narrative, how the English tried to hold dominion over Fi-ance, and the wars that were the consequence. § 6. The breaking up of the English dominion in France, just mentioned, occurred in the year 1 204. It was two years before Jolm could muster an army to attempt its recovery, and when he did so he was, after a short campaign in Poitou, glad to obtain peace by surrendering all the coimtry north of the Loire, which compiised Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, and Maine, the provinces that had so long been the scene of fierce strife, and in which his warlike father and brother were buried. Chapteb III.] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 157 John's Tyranny. Contentions with his People. The Pope Interferes. § 7, But a greater trouble than the loss of these provinces soon after came upon John. The Archbishop of Canterbury died, and the king and the monks each chose a successor, whom, as was then the practice, they offered to the Pope for liis confirmation. Neither of these men appeared suited to the post, and at last, after a two years' delay, the Pope gave the office to Stephen Lang- ton, a learned Englishman, who was then in Prance. John de- clared that he would never allow him to land in England, and as the monks were willing to accept him, he not only drove them out and seized their possessions, but laid a very heavy tax on aU the rest of the clergy as their abettors. His brother, GfeofErey," was one of the first to remonstrate on this injustice, and not being heeded, he excommvmicated the king's advisers, when he was driven from his see and died in exile. § 8. The Pope now took part in the quarrel, and laid the king- dom under an interdict, in consequence «f which no public service was held in the churches, absolution for sins was granted only td persons at the point of death, and their bodies were laid in ditches and waste places without any funeral ceremony. Many bishops left the country, but the king only proceeded more tyrannically than before. He knew that he had entirely lost the good- will of his subjects ; but he endeavored to secure himself by ordeiing them to take a fresh oath of allegiance. He also demanded bonds and hostages from his barons, which many were obliged to give him ; but some began^trengthening their castles, to prepare for war, and others fled ift'fecotland or Ireland. § 9. Among these last was WiUiam de Braose, a nobleman of Sussex, whose wife, when ordered to give up her youngest boy to the king, replied that she would not trust her child to a man who was the murderer of his nephew. The taunt was terribly avenged. The plunder of the church had given the king vast sums of money, which he chiefly employed in hiring bands of fierce for- eign soldiers, and with them ie made pitiless inroads in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, for three years in succession. Wherever he went he devastated the country, and he returned many times to England, bringing vrith liim troops of miserable captives, many of whom were impiisoned at Windsor, or Corfe Castle, or other royal seats, and starved to death in dungeons whilst John and his associates rioted in the banquet-hall above. § 10. Lady Braose and her family were among the number who 158 ', HISTORY OF ENGLAJSTD. [Book V, John exoommunioatGd by the Pope. His Tyranny. Operations in Wales. suffered, but her husband escaped to France, where he died of grief soon afterward. Some of the fugitives took to piracy, but they were hunted down by a fleet of galleys furnished by the Cinque Ports,' with whose inhabitants John wa,s a, favorite, as he scrupu- lously regarded theu- privileges, and passed a portion of every year among them, vrtien he associated freely with their mariners. In return, they, under their warden, William of Wrotham, flrmly sui> ported him under all circumstances. § 11. After the interdict had been in force for nearly two years, the Pope, finding John still unmoved, excommunicated him ; but this produced no effect beyond rendering the royal exactions from the clergy more heavy than before. As soon as it became difficult to gain enough fi'om the church, another supply was foimd in plundering the Jews, who were imprisoned and most mercilessly tortured until they gave up their wealth." They had hitherto beeri less oppressed in England than on the Continent ; but now that the case was so entirely altered they began to leave the country. § 13. There was still another measure that the Pope could take, which was absolving John's subjects from their oaths of allegiance ; but before resoiidng to this extreme measure he sent Cardinal Pan- dulph as his legate, to endeavor to bring about a peace between the king and his various opponents. This also failed, and the people were accordingly absolved in 1212, which was the fifth year of the quarrel. John disregarded this also, and set about a fresh expedition against Wales, when he suddenl^Bund out the real danger of his position. His troops, as usual, were mainly merce- naries ; but with them were Robert Pitz- Walter and some other barons, who resolved to avail themselves of the papal absolution and to betray him into the hands of the enemy. He had already hung some thirty young Welsh hostages, boys and girls, and was arranging the plan of his campaign, when a messenger from his daughter Joan (who was the wife of the Welsh Prince) informed him of the plot. Pitz- Walter and the rest at once fled to France, when John seized their estates and hired more mercenaries with the money. 1 These five ports, nearest to Trance, were Dover, Hastings, Hjthe, Bonmey, and Sandwich. Their jurisdiction was vested in barons, called wardens, for the better security of the English coast from invaders from France. They were established by William the Conqueror, and were considered the keys of the kingdom of England. They are yet under a Lord Warden. OnAPTER III.] THE PLANTAGENETS. , 159 Invasion of England prevented. The King's Submission to tlie Pope. § 13. Philip, the French king, now prepared to inTade England in the interest of his son Louis, who had married John's niece, Blanche of Castile, and who had been invited by some of the barons to come over and be their sovereign. But John and his men of the Cinque Ports were quite ready to meet him. His brother, the Earl of Salisbury, put himself at the head of their fleet, ravaged the Norman coast, and brought home many prizes. The King of France then invaded Flanders, which was in alliance with John, and captured Bruges ; but Salisbury sailed again in quest of the French fleet, which he found in the harbor of Damme [a.d. 1213], captured 300 sail, and burnt 100 more. Thus the threatened invasion of England was postponed for three years, and time was gained for John to make his peace with the Pope, which he at last thought it vrise to do. I 14. In about a month after the great victory at Damme, Car- dinal Pandulph again went to England, when John was formally reconciled, and did homage for his dominions [May 15, a.d. 1213], for which he also engaged to pay an annual tribute to the See of Eome. In this transaction the power of the Pope was manifested. At an early hour the superstitious monarch repaired to the church of the Templars, at Dover, and there, surrounded by the dignita- ries of Church and State, he fell upon his knees before Pan- dulph, the pontiff's representative, took an oath of fealty to the Pope, placed in the legate's hands a writing, in which he surren- dered to Innocent, the reigning Bishop of Rome, for himself and successors, for ever, the kingdom of England and the lordship of Ireland;" and agreed to pay an annual tribute of seven huhdred marks of silver for the former, and three hundred marks for the latter. He then offered Pandulph some money in token of his sincerity, when the haughty cardinal trampled it under his feet, to signify that the Holy Father had no desire for filthy lucre. And so it was that England and Ireland became a part of that immense " patrimony of St. Peter," which in our time had shrunk to the insignificant propoi-tions of the Papal States in Italy, and in September, 1870, disappeared in the close of the Pope's temporal power, after a possession of it of full eleven hundred years. § 15. After his degradation, John recalled the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other banished clergy, and determined on an invasion of France, whose monarch the Pope had ordered not to 160 , HISTOKY OF BNGLAM). [Book V. Eights demanded. The King and Barons. Magna Charta and its Powers. interfere -with " the pious i>enitent of England and beloved son of the church." But Jolm found his barons, in general, in league ivith Philip, and therefore he had to trust to his mercenaries alone. With these he landed in Poitou, and gained some successes ; but about the same time his brother, the Earl of Salisbury, was cap- tured in Flanders, and John returned to England. § 16. The Archbishop of Canterbury was that Stephen Langtou who had been appointed by the Pope in 1207,» and ° 'his seven years' banishment induced him to join with the barons in demanding a redress of the many grievances they all had sustained at the king's hands. These demands were presented to John in the beginning of the year 1315, but it was not until the middle of June that he could be induced to concede them. The king tried to divide the confederates by granting the demands of the churchmen, and assuming the cross, as if he intended to go to the Holy Land, and the Pope, now become his protector, ordered the barons to desist from their demands. Instead of this, they took possession of London. At length the king met them at Runnymead, near "Windsor, when he unreservedly agreed to all that they asked, intending all along to keep faith vrith them no longer than he was obliged to do so. That agreement formed the basis of the cele- brated Magna Charta, or fundamental constitution of England, which guarantees rights and privileges. § 1 7. The barons perfectly weU knew that the base monarch in- tended to violate his word, so, beside imposing an oath on him not to appeal to the Pope to set the charter aside, they appointed twenty-four of their number to enforce its observance, and took and held possession of the Tower and the city of London. This charter promised peace and freedom of electien to the church ; a legal course of government, in which right and justice should not be sold, denied, or delayed ; the trial of every man openly by his peers; moderation in punishments; just weights and measures, and protection to merchants. These things are of interest for all time, and that charter, so extorted from a vile king, is the solid base of all the liberties of Great Britain and our Republic at the present day. It also provided for the redress of more temporary grievances, as the restoration of the barons' bonds and hostages, and the dismissal of the foreign mercenaries ; but with this last stipulation the king did not even pretend to comply. On the contrary, he sent abroad to hire more, and when charged Vidth tlie Chapter III.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 161 Perfidy of John upheld by the Pope. Civil War. French Invasion. fact by the keepers of the charter, he cried, " Why do you not ask for my kingdom ? " § 18. In about two months after the grant of the charter, John ■withdrew himself into Kent, where his new troops were beginning to arrive on board the Cinque Ports' » ships, with Fulk ^ de Breaute, a man of particularly desperate character, for their leader. The king now formally applied to the Pope to be absolved from his oath, began ravaging the barons' estates, and after a two months' siege, in the autumn of 1315, he took the strong castle of Rochester. § 19. Just as this fortress fell, a communication came from the Pope, which annulled the charter, suspended the archbishop, and excommunicated the barons. Rendered desperate by this, some of the barons surrendered Northumberland to the King of Scots. John marched towards them in the depth of winter, and ravaged the country, and in his absence the barons near London plundered the surrounding districts. The king now marched southward. De BreautS sacked the churches, and the barons, when he had reached Enfield, shut themselves up in London and despatched messengers and hostages to ofEer the crown to the King of France, who, exasperated by the perfidy and avarice of the Pope, did not heed the thunder of the curses of " his holiness," which rolled over Philip's head. When John drew near, the Londoners threw their gates open, challenging him to ventui-e in ; but he turned aside into Kent, where he remained until he learned that Louis, the French King's son, was about to embark for England. Then, as many of his mercenaries were Frenchmen, he became distrustful of them, and marched first along the coast to Corfe Castle, then into Shropshire, and afterwards across the country to Lincoln. § 30. TTie Pope's legate '■had forbidden Pliilip to accept the crown of Ensrland offered by the barons, but the prohibition ?• J 1 1 ti, • -c ^ . " § 12, p. 158. was disregarded, and as the pnnce was fortunate enough to escape the Cinque Ports fleet, he landed at Sandwich, cap- tured Rochester, was received into London, and began the siege of Dover Castle, all in the course of a month, in the early summer of 1316. But he soon found that "the lock and key of England," as Dover Castle was then commonly termed, was too strong for him ; he therefore left it behind him, and marched to Winchester, which was surrendered to him, but in an attack on Windsor Castle he was repulsed. This iU success, added to liis policy of giving 162 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. The Frenct defeated. ' Death of John. His Person and Character. every castle that was taken into the hands of his Frenchmen, dis- gusted many of the English barons, and they went over to the side of John, who was then at Lincoln. Thus strengthened, the king marched to Lynn, where he was most cordially received by the seafaring people, and gave to the town its name of King's Lynn, wliich it still bears. After resting here a few days he crossed an inlet of the sea, called Cross Key Wash, on his return to Lincoln, but the rising tide carried away much of his baggage and his treasure. Vexation at this loss, some say, brought on a fever; whUe others declare that he. was made ill by eating gluttonously of fruit. Others say he was poisoned by one of his attendants. His illness obliged him to halt at Swineshead Abbey. "When some- what recovered he started on horseback for Sleaf ord, but speedily growing worse, his attendants put him in a litter and carried him to the Castle of Newark, on the Trent, where he died on the 19th of October, 1316, three days after his arrival. By his own desire, his body was buried in Worcester Cathedral, although he had several years before founded the Abbey of BeauUeu, in the New Forest, avowedly for his last resting-place. § 31. John was a man of small stature and severe aspect. His licentious life, and his treachery and craelty, made him very odious to the great body of his subjects ; but many notable men adhered to him in spite of aU the censures of the church. Among them were the Earls of Salisbury and Pembroke, the Bishop of Winchester, and Hubert de Burgh, the justiciary. These men, then the most powerful in the realm, also became the great sup- porters of John's young successor. CHAPTER rv. SOCIETY DUROra THB NoRMAN AND BABLY PlANTAGKNET PERIOD. § 1. From the time of the conquest of England by William of Normandy, in the year 1066, to the close of the reign of King John, in 1316, a period of one hundred and fifty years, the social and political structure of modern England was in a crude formative state. It was a period when the power of the Roman hierarchy was at its height, both temporal and spuitual, and the Bishop of Chapter IV.] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 163 Christianity in England. Its Ministers. Government and Laws. Rome was the grand arbiter in thp affairs of men and nations, and irresponsible to any human authority. How that mighty autocracy, which was felt in every fibre of social life in Europe, was exercised, our brief narrative of events in England and elsewhere reveals. § 3. Christianity, as then recognized in the public worship of God, was a system of ceremonies; and superstition niled men through their fears, rather than religion through their love. G-reed was everywhere visible among the ecclesiastics, and they were the most potent instruments of oppression. The strife for earthly pos- sessions in connection with monasteries, churches, and cathedrals, appears to have been far more zealous than struggles for the trea- sures which "neither moth nor rust doth corrupt." The quarrels, and often bloody contentions, among the higher clergy aspiring for honors and emoluments, and their utter worldliness of thought and action evinced in their lives as couiiiers, politicians, and war- riors, make unseemly pictures in the records of religion iu those times. Indeed, to the apprehension of impartial minds in our day, of whatever creed, the professed ministers of the Gospel in Eng- land then, as a body, were hinderers rather than helpers of the people struggling up from the darkness and slavery of paganism into the light and freedom of the pure religion of Jesus of Naza- reth. § 3. It was so also with government and laws. The feudal system," introduced by the Normans, was an ■ • • awful oppressor of the people, crushing them to earth under the weight of serfdom and absolute slavei-y, wliich forbade improve- ment and elevation. It seemed as if government and law had combined to eniioh and aggrandize the few at the expense of the many. Class was absolute in segregations and antagonisms. The feudal lords themselves suffered by a system created for their special benefit, for they were isolated, demoralized, and made cruel. Each castle and its landed appendage was an empire liable to be seized by whomsoever might covet it. The sword was continually out of the scabbard, and no man's life and property, from the king to the mllani,^ was free from jeopardy one hour. Desolations were common; and thousands perished annually by want or violence. On so feeble a tenure was all property held, that society, above the laborers, presented a band of marauders, suspicious of each other and of the monarch, and each watching for an opportunity for despoiling his neighbor. 164 HISTOET OF BNGLAOT). [Book V. Guarantees of Magna Charta. Hoyal Possessions and Kevenue. § 4. It was this state of things which caused some of the better sort of barons to wring from King John, at Runny- ■ ■ mead,' the Magna Charta which deiined (1) the rights of the clergy ; (3) the rights of the barons or fief-holders ; and (3) the rights of the people at large. It guaranteed to the latter (1) that the court of common pleas, or common resort for justice, should not follow the king's court, but should be held in a cer- tain fixed place in each county. Before that time suitors for jus- tice, through law, were compelled to follow the king from Eng- land to Prance, and from France to England, often to their utter impoverishment, as we have already remarked. § 5. It guaranteed (2) that justice should not be sold, refused, or delayed ; (3) that two judges should be sent four times a year into each county, wiio, with four knights chosen by each comity, should hold an assize at an appointed place ; (4) that no freeman should be arrested or anywise be maltreated in person or property unless by the legal judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land; (5) that no freeman, or merchant, or mlM.n ' § 26, p. 92. 1 v / J ' ' (villani)'" should be imreasonably fined for a small offence ; nor the first be deprived of his tenement, the second of his goods, nor the third of his husbandry. This last was the only clause which related to the mllani, who were then the most nume- rous class of the people. The king was made to promise several other benefits for the people ; and so it was that the movement to- ward a better state of government was commenced, with a result which proves the truth of the couplet, that "Freedom's battle, once begun, Thougti bafaed oft, is exer won." § 6. The legitimate income of the monarch was derived from what were called " crown lands," and various taxations. It appears from the record of a general survey of all the lands of the ' S 28 103 ^'*^g'i°™' tuade by direction of the Conqueror, in two ' volumes known as the "Domesday Book," ' that the crown acquired the entire property of more than fourteen hundred manors, the rents of which must have been large. In addition to these, the king possessed sixty-eight royal forests, thirteen chases, and seven hundred and eighty-one parks or hunting grounds, in different parts of his dominions. He also had annual dues from his knigbted vassals ; and he often doubled the amount of his lawful income by exactions and violent seizures of property. Chaptek IV.] THE PLAKTAGBNETS. 165 Sources of the Eoyal Income. National Industry. Extension of Commerce. Besides, every tenant of the crown was obliged to furnish the king one armed soldier, when called for, and to maintain him in the field. The crown also drew large profits from wardship and mar- riage, it having the disposition of all heiresses, and also of all widows of its tenants, in marriage; and the transaction was always accompanied by a fee to the sovereign. It also received the profits of the estates of all idiots ; also personal effects unclaimed, stolen goods cast away by tliieves, estrays, treasure found buried, wrecked goods long unclaimed, sturgeon and whales cast on the shore, and scores of other kinds of property. The crown was made a reser- voir into which every conceivable stream of wealth gathered for the gratification of the lust of the wearer. § 7. The condition of society in England after the conquest was unfavorable to individual enterprise ; and the growth of national industry, so promising toward the close of the Saxon era, was checked, with the exception of commerce which the foreign con- nections of the monarch fostered. The Conqueror's seven hundred ships-of-war, and numerous smaller vessels, with which he ap- proached the English coast," made a respectable 1 * +1, Af „■ § 10, p. 80. navy ; and many of these were used for purposes of trafiic. The maritime power of England was extended, while its productive industries were diminished. § 8. Some new branches of industry were introduced from the East by the returning crusaders and by the Flemish refugees ; ' but little advancement was made in the useful arts until the reign of Henry the Second [1154 to 1189], when manufactures and commerce attained a prosperity unknown since the Conquest. § 9. The subjection of Ireland to English rule greatly extended trade ; and Dublin, in a degree, rivalled London as a mart of traific. The latter, with a population of about fifty thousand in the reign of John, was the principal seat of trade within the British realm. In return for the products of England which it exported, such as wool, flesh, cattle and horses, hides and skins, oysters, herring, ii'on, lead, tin and copper, it received silver coin from G-ermany ; gold, spices, and frankincense from Arabia ; pre- cious stones from Egypt ; purple cloth from India ; palm-oil fi'om Bagdad ; furs and ermine from Norway and Eussia ; arms from Scythia ; silks from Sicily ; and wines from France. Down to the close of the period we have been considering, the Flemings were , 166 HISTORY OF BNGLAKD. [Book V. Agriculture and Arts. Ignorance ot the Clergy. th,e cHef foreign traders who resorted to England, where they obtained a large portion of the wool for maldng cloth. The only coinage in England during that period was a silver penny, then, as now, the twelfth part of a shilling, which is the twentieth part of a pound, the latter being an actual pound, or 5,400 grains, of silver. § 10. Agriculture felt the depressing influence of the tm-bulence of the times ; yet it was, as in the Saxon era, the chief productive industry of the nation. The population to be fed did not exceed two millions, and yet so imperfect and limited was the tillage that an unfavorable season caused much distress. The agiiculture of the same England 'now sustains, on an average, sixteen millions. There were some improvements over the Saxons in implements of husbandry. The plough was more efficient, and the sickle and flail were of precisely the same form and construction as those now in use. Hand-mills were used in almost every family, and water-mills, belonging to the owners of manors, everywhere abounded. § 11. The architecture of this period, especially in the art of sacred and palatial structures, made rapid progress toward a higher and purer style ; but the chief business of the builder was the reai-ing of heavy- walled castles. The textile ai-ts were somewhat improved under the culture of the Flemish weavers. § 13. Toward the close of this period guilds were formed. In 11 80, the saddlers were an incorporated body, whUe goldsmiths and other artisans had formed independent associations. Embroidery was the chief occupation of the women of rank and wealth, who were much employed in so ornamenting the vestments of the higher orders of the clergy. The Abbess of Markgate embroidered three mitres and a pair of sandals, which she sent to Pope Adrian. Gold and silver workers were eminently expert. A pair of candlesticks, sent to the same Pope by the Abbot of St. Alban's, wrought of gold and silver, were admired as superior to anything the Roman Pontiff had ever seen. ' § 13. The common clergy of England were notoriously illiterate at the time of the Conquest. A great number of them could hardly read the church service. The barons, and aU below them, even of the Norman stamp, were profoundly so. In this fact may be found the secret of the power of superstition, which the more .enlightened priesthood used for securing and perpetuating the Chapter IV.] THE PLANTA6BNETS. 167 libraries, Schools, and TJniversities. Historians. Churches. absolute dominion of the church. The Conquest making Eng- land a pai-t of Continental Europe, where the rerival of learning begun by Charlemagne -was progressing, gave a new imputee to knowledge in the island. The Crusades and the Irish con- nection furnished additional intellectual wealth. Arabic litera- ture found its way into monasteries ; and the sciences of the East had many devotees therein. § 14. The Conqueror loved and patronized learning and the fine arts ; and with him dawned a new intellectual era in England. Libraries were formed ; schools were established ; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge flourished, and learning began to be diffused among the minor clergy, who, according to the notion of the, age were the only legitimate possessors of it. Schools were connected with all religious houses, of which more than five hundred were established between the Conquest and the death of King John. But these cathedral and conventual schools were for the instruction of those only who were preparing for the priesthood, and many youths went to the colleges of the continent for their education. There were, however, a few schools in cities and villages open to the children of all freemen. In the higher schools, such as at Oxford, and in seminaries in London and one or two other places, law, medicine, divinity, metaphysics, Greek, Latin, and mathematics were taught. § 15. Historians were numerous during the age we are consider- ing, and its most precious literary remains are the many historical works which it has bequeathed to us. No other nation, probably, possesses so large a body of early cotemporary history as that formed by the writings of the English chroniclers of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Among the more prominent names of historians are : William of Poiofiers, the chaplain of the Conqueror ; Eadmer, the monk of Canterbury ; "William of Malmsbury ; Simeon of Durham; and William of Newbridge. The annals of Roger de Hoveden, from 737, where Bede's" Ecclesiastical History ends, is a most valuable production of that ^ period. § 1 6. The Normans, moi'e than any other modem people, had a taste for magnificent buildings, and during this period England was beautified with them. " You might see," wrote an old chro- nicler, " churches rise in every village, and monasteries in the towns and cities, built in a style unknown before." Castle-building was 168 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Castle and House buUding. Sculpture. Furniture. a necessity and a passion. Every one built a castle who was able ; and eighty yeara after the conquest, they numbered more than eleven hundred. The cathedrals, churches, abbeys, monasteries, palaces, and castles, were all marked with much taste in theii' style and finish. Some of the ecclesiastical buildings were rich and magnificent. The remains of many that have survived the ravages of men and time, now, in their desolation, excite our wonder and admiration. The style of architecture in all was generally the Komanesque — a combination of the Greek column with the EtiTiscan arch. The florid and airy Gothic was not yet developed. § 17. Domestic architecture in that age was very simple. Country dwellings of the best sort, such as manor-houses, were built of timber and inlaying plaster, and were usually in the form of a parallelogram, with a gable at each end. The lower story was vaulted, and not connected with the apartments above, which contained two rooms, in only one of which was a chimney. These upper chambers were reached by a movable stair outside of the building. In the roof was a loft that was reached by a ladder. As in the Saxon era, the dwellings of the laborers were thatched hovels, little better than the comfortable pigsty of our day. § 18. Sculpture was but little practised in this period, and chiefly for monumental purposes. Its efforts seldom extended beyond relief figures and ornaments on stone coffins. Painting was in an equally low state, and seems to have been confined to an alli- ance with gilding in the decoration of the ceilings of ecclesiastical buildings. The illumination of manuscripts was skilfully done, but with a profusion of ornament indicative of uncultivated taste. Music was mostly cultivated for use in public worship. The inven- tion of an improved scale of musical notation by Guido de Arezzo, and the introduction of a correct method of marking time, had not yet invested the music of England with the dignity of a science, and the organ yet pealed out its monotones in the cathedi'als and churches. Secular music among the English was very grave ; among the Scotch, Welsh, and Irish it was more lively and varied, accompanied by the harp, pibcom, and bagpipe. § 19. In household furniture and table customs the' Normans seemed to have varied very little from their Saxon predecessors, excepting in delicacy of choice and better cookery, the latter havincf, before the Conquest, learned much of Norman customs and cos- Chaptbk IV.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 169 Costume. Mode of Liviiig. Contents of tne Table. tume. In the latter the Normans introduced a richer and more extravagant style, and the fop, unknown in the earlier period, appeared. Some of the fashions became very ridiculous : for ex- ample, the sharp-pointed boot or shoe, which sometimes terminated like the tail of a scorpion and at others was curled up like a ram's horn. The sleeves of the tunic, of both sexes, were sometimes made so long that they were knotted up to prevent their trailing on the ground. The stuSs were more costly than formerly ; and the mantles of the rich were often lined with expensive furs. The men wore both hair and beard long ; and fops, whose ringlets were not sufficiently profuse, added purchased iiair, and appeared very efEeminate. These follies were condemned from the pulpit, and sometimes razors and scissors were produced at the end^ of a sermon against the sinfulness of long locks and cm'ling mustaches. § 20. The dress of the women was often preposterous, until Henry the Second's time, when it assumed a severe simplicity that gave a conventual appearance to the ladies. Li a satirical picture of an earlier date, both sleeves and skirts are knotted up. Their garments were embroidered with indented edges ; and they wore their hair in long braided pendents, sometimes encased in a sort of silken tube, and at others tied with ribbons like a Chinaman's pigtail. In Henry the Second's time the dresses, though plain, were more costly. He introduced the short cloak of Anjou for men, and was in consequence sumamed Court-Manteau. The hair of both sexes was curled with crisping-irons, and the beaux went bareheaded so as to show the beauty of their hair. § 31. At that period the magnificent palaces were carpeted with nothing better than straw and rushes; and the best beds were merely rugs laid upon the floor or broad benches. Forks were unknown, the fingers perfonning theii- service. Several Eng- lish estates were held upon the condition of supplying fresh straw for the royal beds, and litter of rushes for the apartments of the palace. The splendid hospitality of Earl Fitz-Stephen was marked by the fact that his dining-room was supplied with fresh straw every morning, so that his guests who might not be furnished with a bench, might sit upon the floor without soiling their fine clothes. The office of " rush-strewer " was continued until the close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, at which time Turkey car- pets were used more for covering tables than fldors. 8 170 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Tims of Meals. Sports. Condition of the People. § 22. The Normans were more delicate in their habits than the Anglo-Saxons, at table and elsewhere, but their entertainments were far more costly. Rich spices were plentifully used. The most esteemed dainties were the peacock and crane. A boar's head was a royal dish. But these viands were only for stated occasions. In general the Normans were abstemious. They were contented with brown bread made of rye, oats, or barley flour. The diinks of the opulent were spiced wines and several kinds of fermented liquors. The poor were satisfied with cider, ale, and peiTy, or the juice of the pear. Their habits were generally regular. A proverb in verse gives us the number of their meals in a day, and the time of partaking of them, thus : — " To rise at five, to dine at nine ; To snp at five, and bed at nine, Makes a man live to ninety-nine." § 23. Hunting, hawking, gambling, and horse-racing were the common spoiis of the king, nobles, and ecclesiastics. But the tournament or sham fight of full-armed knights was the great pastime at courts and castles in the Middle Ages. It was imi- tated, in England, with modifications, by the common people and childi'en, who, in winter, would skate upon ice on sheep- shanks tied to their feet, and tilt against each other with long staves. They also amused themselves with archery, throwing large stones, darting spears, wj'estUng, running, leaping, and sometimes boar-hunting, and buU and horse baiting. Cock-fighting was con- fined to children. On Tuesday of Shrovetide, each school-boy was allowed to bring a fighting-cock to the school. § 24. Jugglers entertained all classes. The buffoon, with his coarse jests, and the mime, with his antics at rude feats, were favorites. Coarse dramatic entertainments, gross like the morals of the age, drew crowds of delighted spectators ; and various games of chance or expertness made up the sum of the diversions of the people. § 25. They had a hard life at the best. Injustice and cruelty bore awful sway in England at that time. An old chronicler sums up their condition in the few words : — " God knows how unjustly this miserable people is dealt with. First they are deprived of their property, and then they are put to death. If a man possesses anything, it is taken from him ; if he has nothing, he is left to perish by famine." chaptek t.] the plantagknets. 171 Accessioii of Henry the TMrd. The Crovemment. ExpulBion of Prince Louis. CHAPTER V. KBiGN or Heket the Third, [a.d. 1316 to 1272.] § 1. Whilst King Jotm lay on his death-bed, messengers ar- rived offering the submission of many of Ms barons, who were growing every day more distrustful of young Louis of France. The king was too near liis end to give audience to them, but his faithful adherents were greatly encouraged by theii- arrival, and all took an oath to receive his eldest son, Henry, as theu' king. The youth, known as Henry of Winchester, fr6m the place of his birth, on the 1st of October, 1207, was then only in his tenth year ; but he had able guardians in Gualo, the papal legate, and William, Earl of Pembroke, then Marshal of England. The latter marched witli the royal army and Prince Henry to the city of Gloucester, where, a few days after his father's death, the youth was crowned [October 28th, 1216] as Henry the Third. A great council was held at Bristol on the 11th of November following, where the Earl of Pembroke was chosen Protector, with the title of Sector Regis et Begni. At that council Magna Charta" was revised and published in a form which made it more , ,- ., . -§16, p.160. dear to the people. § 2. The effect of these measures was soon seen in the crowds that flocked to the royal standard. Prince Louis' party was de- feated at Lincoln, where Robert Fitz- Walter and many of his chief English adherents were taken. His fleet, bringing succors from France, was destroyed in the straits of Dover by Hubert de Burgh, the warden of the castle, and the prince himself was at last besieged in London. The legate had ah'eady excommuni- cated him, and he was soon obliged to agree to leave the country [1321], when the London citizens lent him a sum of money for the expenses of his journey. Though Louis had stipulated that his adherents should go unpunished, the leaders did not think it wise to trust to this; therefore Fitz- Walter and many of the other barons went to Egypt on a crusade, to avoid punishment, where most of them died not long afterwards. But a French party re- mained, particularly in London, who, on every occasion of a tumult, raised Louis' war-cry of " Montjoie," and thus kept alive a feeling of distmst between the citizens and the king. 172 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. The Government. Civil War. Insolence of Foreigners. § 3. Before peace could be properly re-established, the papal legate " was -withdrawn, and the Earl of Pembroke • § 1, p. 171. ^^^^^ ^^^ government of the kingdom rested for the next dozen years in the hands of Hubert de Burgh and the Bishop of Winchester." These men, though rivals ' *"' "in everything else, concun-ed in restraining the vio- ° ^ ^^' ^' ^^^' lence of Fulk de Breautg ' and other mercenary leaders, who were with difficulty made to give up the castles and lands that they had seized, and who tried to create a new war for the sake of plunder. At length the bishop, Peter des Roches, who had been a soldier before he became a priest, was driven into exile, and De Burgh ruled alone. After a lapse of five years Des Roches came back, regained the king's favor, and induced him to commit the keeping of the royal castles to his countrymen, the Poitevins. De Burgh resisted this, and was imprisoned. He escaped, joined Walter the Earl Marshal, the marchers, and other nobles, and, after a two years' wai', drove out the bishop and his adherents in the year 1234. The king professed to pardon De Burgh, but soon after stripped liim of many of his possessions, on the charge of attempting to marry his daughter Margaret to the Earl of Gloucester without obtaining the royal consent. § 4. Shortly after the quarrel about the Poitevins, just men- tioned, the king married Eleanor, the daughter of the Count of Provence, and, unwarned by what had occurred, he at once sent for several of his wife's relatives, on whom he bestowed titles and offices and rich possessions, to the disgust of his people, which was increased by the haughty conduct of these foreigners. Not content with the lavish gifts of theii- patron, they obtained the rich goods of the London merchants, and when asked for payment in the name of the law, scornfully cried, " What are the laws of these English boors to us ? " § 5. One of these men was Boniface of Savoy. He was the young queen's uncle, and was made Archbishop of Canterbury, though, as a vmter of the time says, " he was destitute of learning, and altogether ignorant of the language and customs of his flock." He was really little else than a fierce soldier, who passed the greater part of his time in foreign wars. The Pope, knowing his unfitness, long deferred his consecration, but at length yielded to the entreaties of the king, who, from his profuse liberality, was a favorite at Rome. When the soldier-prelate obtained possession Chapter v.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 173 A ferocious Archbishop. Influence of Court iFavorites. of the see he gave great offence by his disorderly life, and by treat- ing every one with most overbearing roughness. Though the mon- asteries of London were not subject to him, he forced liis way, at- tended by a guard, into St. Bartholomew's, and when the prior mildly declined his jurisdiction, the fiery archbishop struck him in the face, tore his cope, threw him on the ground, and trampled on him. The monks tried to rescue their prior, and in the struggle the archbishop, also, was thrown down, when it was seen that he wore armor under his robes. His guards then fell on the monks, and nearly killed several of them. Others then rang the alarm bell, when the citizens rushed in, and the aggressors had some dif- ficulty in escaping with their lives. Some of the monks went all braised and bleeding to the palace to complain to the king, but he would not oven see them, and so the outrage remained without re- dress, though by no means forgotten by the Londoners. § 6. In a few years a fresh band of favorites appeared at court [a.d. 1 247], who did the king even more mischief than the f onner, as, beside obtaining vast gifts from him, they engaged him in a number of idle efforts to recover his French provinces, on which he laid out more money than would have bought them all, had they been for sale. These were the children of his mother by her second husband, Hugh le Brun," to whom she had been en- „ „ a § 3, p. 155. gaged before her marriage to King John. Hugh was of a treacherous, designing character, and he entertained a deadly hatred to the King of France, whose subject he was. He found in Hem-y an insti-ument ready to his hand. As to his children, notli- ing that their half-brother could do for them seemed enough. He created one of them (William de Valence) Earl of Pembroke, besides giving him a rich wife. He made another (Aymer de Lusignan) Bishop of Winchester, going himself to the monks and compelling them to elect him ; and their sister he provided for by obliging the young Earl of Suri-ey to marry her against his will. 1, 7. Hugh le Brun was continually inciting the king to invade Prance, and received from him vast sums of money under the pre- tence of keeping the partisans of England together. Every now and then persons sent by him arrived at the court, and made the simple king believe that they represented the "Normans, the Bretons, or the Poitevins, who were anxious to be delivered from the French. But when the trial was made, no one joined the English forces, and they had difficulty enough in getting back to Gascony, a pro- IH HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Bxpoditions against the French. Extortions. A brutal CardinaL vince that was preserved only by the courage and conduct of Eichard, Barl of Cornwall, Hemy's younger brother, who was a, skilful soldier.' Tet the king was foolish enough to embark again and again in the enterprise, and even to pass some years in the country himself, where he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. The king's mother, Isabel," had a great share in in- ' ''■ '' ' ducing him to undertake these fruitless expeditions, and so much mischief did she do by her intrigues that the French people, by common accord, changed her name to Jezebel. At last her husband was conquered by the King, of France, and obliged to accompany him to the Crusade, where, being purposely exposed to imminent danger, he was soon killed. Isabel then retired to a nun- nery, and Henry reluctantly gave up any further attempts to recover Normandy, Brittany, or Poitou. § 8. But beside the enormous expenses of the king's foreign favorites and foreign wars, there was another cause that served greatly to alienate his people from him. King John had agreed to pay a yearly tribute of 3,000 marks to the Pope; but the veiy idea of tribute was so repugnant to the feeling of the nation, that neither Pembroke nor De Burgh attempted to levy it. After the king had taken the government into his own hands, he determined to fulfil the obligation, though under another name, and at his re- quest the Pope sent a legate. Cardinal Otho, professedly to " re- form the state of the church.'' But it was seen, fi-om the vast sums of money that he exacted under various pretences, that he was really engaged in levying the tribute with heavy interest. He paid a visit to the University of Oxford in the year 1238, but was obliged to flee for his life, as a quarrel arose between his servants and the scholars, in consequence of the brutality of his master cook, who threw boiling water in the face of a poor priest when asking for foo I " in the name of God," a request that it was then considered no Christian would refuse. The cook was killed in the tumult, and the legate laid an interdict on the University, but its only effect was to make the foreigners more hated than ever. § 9. Thougli the proceedings of the legate were loudly com- plained of by both the clergy and the people, the king supported 1 Richard aftei-wards became the most wealthy prince of his time, and thus induced some of the German princes to elect him King of the Bomans. He was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, but never gained any real power, and when his funds were exhausted his supporters forsook him. Ch.u>tbr v.] the plantagenets. 175 A Royal Perjurer. The Pope's avaricious Demands. him in everything, and unwisely showed his fears by strengthen- ing the fortiiications of the Tower of London. These new walls soon after were thrown down by an earthquake, and when the citizens rejoiced at it the king laid a heavy fine on them, which " they treasured up in their memories," says their historian, " aa contrary to their known customs and liberties.'' But customs and libei-ties were things that the king cared nothing about when he had the strength to break through them, though always ready to take the most solemn oaths to observe them, if he could thereby gain a present supply of money. Thus he confirmed Magna Charta » no less than ten times, saying, with his hand ^ § 16, p. l60. on his breast, " So help me God, these things will I faithfully observe, as I am a man, a Christian, a knight, and a crowned and anointed king." At length the legate departed, laden with gold, but made additionally odious by the folly of the king, who placed him in his own royal seat at the Christmas feast in the year 1240. § 10. The Popes, having found how easy it was to draw large sums from the credulous king, never after ceased importuning him, and, to meet their wishes, his exactions became greater than ever. Sometimes he applied to his parliament in person: at one time told them a moving tale of his having vowed a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and at another, of Pope Alexander having offered him the kingdom of Sicily for his younger son. For each purpose a large gi-ant of money was necessary. But the parliament could not trust to his word, and told him plainly to his face that these were mere pretences. Henry, however, was not ashamed to hear this, and continued to importune them, alleging that the Pope had threatened to excommunicate him if he did not attempt the conquest of the Sicilian kingdom. At last, when they were induced to grant a sum for the pilgrimage, they ordered that it should not be paid to the king himself, but be expended for -him by some trusty nobles. However, by smooth speeches, he eventually got it into his hands, and wasted it all in Q-ascony. As a means of conciliating the parliament, he afterwards intro- duced the young prince, his son, dressed in the Sicilian costume, and thus, in the year 1257, he procured 52,000 marks. Tliis not being sufficient, he sent one of his clerks, Simon Passelew, — " a lying and crafty man," says one of the chroniclers, — to extort money from the various religious houses ; but very little could he 176 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Impending KebeUion. Cruel treatment of the Jews and the Londoners, obtam, ana the Sicilian expedition was never attempted, the money being paid over to the Pope instead. § 11. The king had now pursued his course of misgovemment for many years, and it was abundantly evident that it could no longer be borne. Though he had frequently put himself at the head of an army, he had never shown even personal courage, which was quite unbearable in so warlike an age, and he had never gained a single battle, even against the half -armed Welsh. On the contrary, they, on more than one occasion, had put him disgi-acefully to flight. On the other hand, he had pushed his exactions upon his subjects to such an extreme that they only required a leader to rise in open rebellion against him. This leader now appeared in the person of Simon de Montfort, the king's brother-in-law. § 12. Here, though a subject of small political importance, Henry's treatment of the Jews must be mentioned, for in his time they were more mercilessly plundered than even in the days of King John." They were charged with every im- ' ' ' aginable crime, from clipj)ing the coin to crucify- ing Chiistian children, and were hanged by a hundred at a time. At last, wearied out, they humbly petitioned, in the year 1255, to be allowed to quit England, promising never to return ; but even this was considered too great a favor. Instead, they were handed over to Richard, Earl of Cornwall, " to torture and extract money from them," which he felt so sure of doing, that he at once ad- vanced a large sum of gold to the king, and no doubt repaid himself with interest. The citizens of London had been treated almost as badly, excepting only as to their lives. Their mayor and aldermen had many times been sent for to the court, and thrown into dungeons, where they remained until they paid heavily for their release, and this whether they were accused of having cried 171 " ^Io°tJ°ie," >> or let a prisoner escape, or connived at bakers sellmg bread of short weight. The clergy, too, were as dissatisfied as aU the other classes, for the Bishop of Lincoln, the famous Robert Grosteste, showed to them that the Pope had intruded foreigners into their benefices, who drew from England a yearly revenue three times as great as that of the king. § 13. In the year 1238, Simon de Montfort, youngest son of the cruel Count de Montfort, in France, came over to England and married Eleanor, the Countess Dowager of Pembroke, and sister of Chapter V.] THE PLANTAGENETS. ITY Simon de Montfort. His Popularity. A EeTOlution. King Henry. He had sncceeded to the earldom of Leicester in right of liis mother, Amicia. He was very popular with all classes in England, and incurred the jealousy of the weak kiiig, who banished him from the court. He afterwards made him governor of Gascony. He gallantly defended that province from botlj the French and the people of the country, who desj)ised Henry. § 14. The king having been reconciled to Montfort, the gallant knight returned to England. Seeing the evil consequences of the king's extravagant favor for his half-brothers," he quarrelled with the new Earl of Pembroke in the royal presence, and hastily quitting the court, sought at once for means to drive them from the country. That was in the year 1257. He had been greatly valued by the Bishop of Lincoln, then lately dead, who was said to have prophesied on his death-bed that De Montfort and his sons should be the champions and mai'tyrs of the church and nation. He was therefore joined by multitudes, both peasant and peer ; and among the last was that Earl of Gloucester whose marriage with Margaret de Burgh had been hindered by the king,' and who, though this had happened many years before, was still anxious to revenge himself. The Welsh prince, Llewelyn, also joined De Montfort, whilst Mor- timer and his fellow-marchers took up arms for the king. § 15. Early in the next year [a.d. 1258] a parliament met at London, which positively refused to grant anything further for the Sicilian expedition. The king thought that this refusal was occa- sioned by the advice of the citizens, and therefore, after a while, removed the assembly to Oxford, where was then a royal palace ; but there De Montfort and his friends came fully armed, and what was in reality a revolution was effected without bloodshed Kules were drawn up, called the Provisions of Oxford, which in fact, though not in name, deposed the king, and placed all power in the hands of De Montfort and a few associates. The king, and also Prince Edward, the heir to the thi-one, and now in the nine- teenth year of his age, swore to observe this new constitution ; but Pembroke and his Poitevin friends refused, and iied to France. § 16. As had often occurred before, the king at once, by con- sent of a papal dispensation, disregarded his oath, and got money from the King of Prance to hire mercenary troops by formally resigning his claim to Noi-mandy. Prince Edward did the same by borrowing from his rich uncle the Earl of Cornwall. Mean- 8* 178 HISTORY OF ENGLAI^D. [Book V Conbest between the King and People. '^'■'^'■^ ^^■ while De Montfort offended his friends by a too open assumption of superiority, and in the course of a few months the king for- mally refused to abide by the Provisions, attempted to resume his authority, and got possession of the Tower. So great was his need of support, that he even called on the hated Londoners to serve him for pay, but not one would join him. The unpopular queen was pelted with mud and stones by the populace as she passed under London bridge in a boat, amid the cries of " Down with the witch ! drown her ! '" § 1 7. The king was in great peril, for the barons had pronounced him a tyrant, and so pleased the people. And on the approach of the barons, whom the king had denounced as rebels, the monarch was forced to flee to Dover. Unlike his father, however, he was not a favorite in the Cinque Ports," and he had to «§10, p. 157. ^^^^ refuge in France. He soon returned, but though he had introduced French mercenaries into Windsor, Gloucester, Bridgnorth, and other strong fortresses, he could not prevent the expulsion of the Bishop of Hereford, who was one of the hated foreign favorites. All the royal castles were taken, and Henry was again obliged to swear to observe the Provisions of Oxford. That was in the year 1262. § 18. After a time it was agreed at a great council held in Lon- don that all the questions between the king and his people should be referred to the decision of Louis, King of France. That wise and good monarch declared that the Provisions ought to be set aside as limiting too much the royal authority ; but that their up- holders should be pardoned, and the people should presei-ve all their ancient liberties. This reasonable award pleased neither party, and the war broke out afresh, and was carried on for some time with varying fortune. § 19. Prince Edward, who acted as his father's general, seized Oxford and Northampton, devastated the counti-y as far as Kent, and ravaged the Cinque Ports, whose inhabitants had been changed by neglect and extortion into warm partisans of De Montfort. Many of them took to their ships, and passiag over to the Flemish coast, they prevented any assistance reaching the prince from abroad. On the other hand, the Londoners plundered the king's palace, imprisoned his judges, and sent a strong body of their best men to assist De Montfort, who coming up with the king at Lewes, in Sussex [May 13, 1264], totally defeated him, taking him, Chapteb v.] the plantagbnets. 179 An important Battle. Invasion threatened, his brother the Earl of Cornwall, and his son Prince Edward, prisoners. This was the first impoitant battle ever fought in England between purely English parties. The battle would pro- bably have ended differently but for the conduct of Prince Ed- ward, for the king had many foreign cross-bow men and other vete- ran soldiers, wliile the barons' army was mainly composed of men who then first took the field. Irritated by some affronts that his mother had lately received from the Londoners, the prince fell on those in the army with such fury that he totally routed them. He then pursued them so far that the rest of the royal army was defeated in his absence. The unfortunate citizens in their flight passed near the castle of Tunbridge, when the royal garrison sallied out, despoiled them, and slew so many that but a remnant reached London. § 20. The immediate result of the battle was a treaty, by which the king was set at liberty as being incapable of doing anything without his son and brother Richard," who were closely imprisoned in the Tower and at Dover. The queen then raised forces in Flanders for an invasion, and Simon de Montfort encamped on Barham Downs, in Kent, to resist it; but as the Cinque Ports fleet kept the sea, the mercenary army dared not leave the opposite shore, and soon melted away for want of pay. § 21. After Prince Edward had been a prisoner nearly a year, he was released on taking an oath to observe the „ „ provisions of Oxford,' and was sent to reside at Here- ford in "free custody," as it was termed, or on parole. Shortly before this a very remarkable event occurred, which was the meet- ing of an assembly, the very counterpart of the present British Houses of Parliament. Though what were called „ „ » § 10, p. 87. parliaments existed in earlier days," they at first con- sisted only of nobles and bishops, who, as holding lands direct from the king, were summoned by him to give both money and counsel. But it was De Montfort's evident interest to obtain these things from all classes of the community, and accordingly there met at his summons, on the 28th of January, 1265, beside twenty- three peers and eleven bishops, one hundred of the inferior clergy, two knights from each county, and two representatives from each city, cinque-port, and large town. The whole met together in one chamber, but it was long before what we now style the Commons 180 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book V. civil War renewed. Death of Montfort. Fresh Extortions. were treated as the equals of the rest of the assembly. This was a great innovation in the direction of popular freedom ; but when the king was restored to power he found it quite impossible to set it aside. From that day, therefore, dates the present constitution of the British government, of Monarch, Lords, and Commons. § 22. Though the Earl of Gloucester had been one of the earliest adherents of De Montfort, quarrels frequently arose between them, and shortly after Piince Edward had been removed to Hereford, the Earl suddenly went over to the royal party. He joined Mor- timer and the other Marchers who had escaped from Lewes. Pem- broke opportunely landed in South Wales with a body of foreign cross-bowmen, and the war was rekindled. Edward escaped by stratagem from his guards, and put himself at the head of the new aiTay. De Montfort, canning the helpless king with him, marched against him, but, strangely for so experienced a general, was sur- prised and utterly defeated at Evesham, on the 4th of August, 1265. Montfort and one of his sons were killed, and their bodies were barbarously mutilated and denied Christian burial ; but they v/ere long regarded as martyrs, and miracles, it was asserted, were wi'ought by their remains. § 23. In less than a mouth after this battle a parliament was assembled at Winchester, which decreed that the defeated barons and the Londoners should lie at the king's mercy. This was car- ried out as to the citizens, but the barons held out, some in the island of Axholme, and some in Kenilworth, which had been De Montfort's seat, until they obtained better terms. The king seized the mayor and aldermen, and gave them, as captives taken in war, to Prince Edward, who made them pay very heavy ransoms. All the best houses in the city were seized and given to soldiers of the royal army. Part of the city walls were thrown dovra, and the materials used to strengthen the Tower ; and before the city was admitted to the king's peace — that is, considered as entitled to the benefit of the law— it had to pay 20,000 mai'ks (£36,000, or about $180,000). To avoid contributing to this fund, many of the inhabitants fled to other places and disclaimed their citizenship. The city charters were not restored until five years afterward. § 24. The rigor with which the Londoners were treated only made the barons in Kenilworth more desperate, and after besieg- ing them in vain for six months, it was agreed that all except the De Montforts should be pardoned on the payment of ransoms of Chapter V.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 181 Montfort's Party. Death of Henry. His Character. from, six months' to seven years' rent of their estates. All the surviving De Montf orts weve to be banished, although their mother was the king's sister. "■ These terms were accepted by most of the barons, but some refused them. These malcontents retired to the Isle of Ely, and were not subdued until two years after the battle of Evesham. Another parliament was held at Marlborough, in November, 1267, which granted better terms to the vanquished party, Llewelyn included, and the civil war was brought to an end, after a continuance of nine years, with some few intervals of an ill-observed truce. § 25. In the year 1270, Prince Edward, with his cousin Henry, son of the King of Rome,'' went to the Holy Land, ° * § T^, p. 1^3. taking with him his wife, and also the Earl of Glou- cester and several other lords and brave knights, fi'om whom a renewal of the war was feared, as he was the deadly enemy of the Mortimers. From this time forward the reign of Henry was peaceful. Its most memorable event was the solemn removal, in the year 1269, of the bones of Edward the Confessor" to a lich golden shrine that the king had prepared for them ia w * ■ * AKt, "S17, p. 78. Westminster Abbey. § 26. At last the feeble king died, on the 16th of November, 1272, in the fifty-seventh year of his reign, and the sixty-fifth of his age, and was buried in the abbey, which, as it now stands, is mainly of his building. This fact should be borne in mind, as accounting for some part of the money for which he was so cease- lessly craving that one of the monkish writers of his time describes Mm as " the beggar king." He seems, indeed, to have deserved the appellation from his abject spirit. It is related of him, that when he extorted money from the Jews, though he left the silver to be gathered by his oiflcers, he received the gold in. his own hand ; and when his eldest son was born, he wrung such heavy sums from those to whom he sent the news, that one of them remarked, " God gave this child, but the king sells him." The whole course of his reign exhibits him as weak, cowardly, and in- sincere ; and not one kind or generous act is ascribed to him by any historian. § 37. Henry's brother, Richard, the King of the Romans,'' who for fifteen years had deluded himself with dreams of ^ ^^^ possessing the imperial crown of Germany, had died th3 year before the demise of Henry, while rejoicing in the pos- 182 HISTOET OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Accession of Edward the First. He goes on a Crusade. session of a young German bride ; and there was no one to dispute the accession of Edward, the king's son. CHAPTEE VI. EEiGN OF Edwakd thb Fibst. [a.d. 1272 TO 1307.] § 1. From Westminster Abbey the barons who had attended the funeral of Henry the Third went to the New Temple and proclaimed the absent Edward by the style of " King of England, Lord of Ii'cland, and Duke of Aquitaine." This was on Sunday, the 20th of November, 1272.' He was then thirty-three years of age. Tliougli he was far away, his accession to the throne was more tranquil than that of any monarch since the Conquest. The government was arranged for him before his arrival, and he had only to enter peacefully upon its duties. He was tall and slender, and had acquired the surname of Longshanks. § 2. Few sons have differed more from their fathers than the stem and able Edward Longshanlcs did from the feeble Henry of Winchester. When his skill and courage had brought the civil war to a close, he avoided the risk of its renewal, as we have ob- served, by half inducing, half compelling several of the disaffected . nobles to go with him on a crusade." Louis, the King 'of France (Icnovm as Saint Louis), who was at its head, died at Tunis, on the coast of Africa, and the enterprise was then abandoned by the French ; but Edward declared that he would visit the Holy Land, though only his horse-boy should go with him. He accordingly sailed for Acre, where he was joyfully re- ceived by the Christians, whose territory was reduced to a mere strip of laud along the coast. Though his force was small, he captured Nazareth, and defeated the Saracens in several battles, when they endeavored to assassinate him, and his life was only saved, according to the statement of some of the old writers, by the devotion of his wife, a Spanish princess (Eleanor of Castile), 1 His reign was reckoned to commence on this day, lour days after Mb father's death, although he was not crowned until a year and nine months afterward, on his return from the crusade. Henceforth the practice of dating a king's reign from the day of his coronation fell into disuse. Chaptee VI.] TH^PLANTAGBNBTS. 183 Edward's Coronation. His energy. The "Welsh Princes. ■who sucked the poison from the •woiiiid. This is a fable. A sur- geon of Acre scarified the wound, and the Grand-Master of the Teftiplars sent a drug that was an antidote to the poison. § 3. Soon after this Edward left Palestine, but he journeyed slowly through Italy and France, and visited Gascony, where he suppressed a rebellion. He arrived in England on the 12th of August, 1374. On his landing at Dover he was received by his council, which had governed the realm since the death of his father, and he was shortly afterward crowned [Aug. 19, 1374], with his queen, at Westminster Abbey. The rejoicings were great. He had sent orders for preparing 380 head of cattle ; 430 sheep ; 450 pigs; 18 wild boars; 378 flitches of bacon; and 19,660 capons and fowls for the occasion ; and, as one mpde of amusing the populace, we are told that 50?T great horses, fit for war, were turned loose, to be the prize of all who could catch them. § 4. The king at once set himself to work to make his autho- rity felt by all his subjects, as some slight attempts at insurrection had occurred in his absence. His next care was to reijlenish his treasury; but instead of acting, as his predecessors had done, on his ovpn will, he thought it necessary to have also the sanction of Parliament, so popular had that institution already become. Accordingly, from this time forward we have a constant succession of demands for money made by kings, and of privileges asked in return by their subjects, which in the end effected a total change in the system of government introduced by the Normans, and brought it nearer to what it had been in Saxon times." ^ § 10, p. 8T, The English statute-book in reality commences with the reign of Edward the First, and so much was done in giving an orderly form to the administration of the law, that the king is sometimes styled the English Justinian. §5. Ever since the time of Edward the Confessor !> the Welsh princes had been considered as the vassals of the ^ King of England; but they had rendered neither obedience nor tribute except to kings of firm and warlike charac- ter. Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, who was betrothed to the beautiful EUnordeMontfort, daughter of the Earl of Leicester," had taken part with De Montfort in the late war, and at its close he had been obliged to make a formal submission by charter. This satisfied the feeble Henry, but the new king was resolved to have his authority as the feudal Lord of Wales 184 HISTORY OF ENGLAKD. [Book V. Invasion of Wales. The Country Conquered. Measures to Secure it. more publicly acknowledged. He therefore summoned Llewelyn to do him homage at his iirst parliament at "Westminster [a.d. 1275] ; but this Llewelyn declined to do, unless he had hostages forliis safety, saying that he remembered the fate of his father Griffith, who had been unjustly imprisoned in the Tower of London, and was killed in trying to make his escape. § 6. The king dissembled his anger until he had collected a large army, when he marched into Wales, took Llewelyn prisoner, and brought him to London. After having been stripped of all his land except the isle of Anglesey ' and the moun- a § 9, p. 3. o J tainous region of Snowdon, he was released [1377] upon promising to pay a heavy tribute. His affianced was captured in the English Channel, while on her way, with her brother, to join the Welsh king, and a ransom for her was refused. Many of Llewelyn's castles were given to the Marchers, and these new masters so harassed the Welsh that they soon began to take up arms to recover their freedom. § 7. In the fifth year of their subjection, by sudden attacks, the Welsh captured Hawarden Castle, and destroyed those of Flint and Rhuddlan. Roger de ClifEord, one of the Lords Marchers, fell into their hands and was put to death, and the English gar- risons generally fell back across the Severn and the Dee. The king at once repaired to Shrewsbury, and whilst a body of hired soldiers was collected from Gascony, he sent the Cinque Ports fleet to ravage the Welsh coasts, as the rising against his rale extended from one end of the country to the other. At length, in the winter of 1383, all was ready, and though the English troops lost many men in crossing the river Conway, the country was speedily subdued. Llewelyn was surprised and killed by the Marchers, and his brother David, who continued the war for a short time after, being taken prisoner, was condemned by the Parliament and executed as a traitor. § 8. To render any fresh rising hopeless, many new castles were erected under the king's own dh-ection, which differ so much from any former ones that they are stiU known as Edwardian. Sheriffs and other royal officers were appointed in a few districts, and some towns had English settlers placed in them, on whom " § 10, p. 109. S''^^* privileges were conferred ; but the rest of the country was given up to the Marchers," who abused their authority iu a most tyrannical manner. The king had promised Chapter VI.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 185 Englisli Oppressors, The Qavestong. Extortions. that tile people should retain theii- old laws in civil matters, but tl)^ Marchers disregarded this, and acted as oppressively as the Normans had done in England two hundi'ed years before. They filled their castles with the foreign soldiers brought in by the king, whom the people regarded with even greater hatred than the rest of their conquerors ; a feeling that was fostered by the songs of the bards. Hence the castle-men hunted down the minstrels with such eager cruelty as to give rise to the popular story of a gen- eral massacre of the whole body by the order of the king. § 9. Having ofEered some rich spoils fi-om Wales to the church of Westminster, Edward next repaired to Gascony, where a rebel- lion had again broken out, and he found it necessary to remain in that country for more than three years [a.d. 1386-1289]. One very important consequence of this long residence abroad was the introduction of Piers Gaveston to the English court. His father was Sir Arnold Gaveston, a Gascon knight who was very active against the rebels, but, as he had once seiTed the King of Prance, he was, when taken prisoner, executed as a traitor, whilst his wife was burnt as a witch. They left, beside other children, a boy, who, in compassion for his parents' fate, was chosen by the queen as an attendant on her only son, Edward. The handsome person and engaging manners of the youth made him a general favorite in the royal household, whilst over the young prince himself he gained an extraordinary influence, which had most unhappy con- sequences, as we shall observe. § 10. Whilst the king thus remained abroad, affairs fell into confusion in England, and on his retxim he levied enormous fines on many of his judges and other officers. As a warning to their successors, he built a clock-tower opposite his palace at Westmin- ster, where the courts were held, with a part of the money ; the rest, which was reckoned at more than 100,000 marks, went into the royal treasuiy, as no compensation was given to those who had suffered from the unjust judges. At a later period of his reign [a. d. 1305] the king sent a body of judges and armed men all over the country, with the avowed intent of summarily redressing numerous evils that had arisen during his wars in the ° § 6, p. 184. north." These were called the "trail-baton justices," and then- establishment was something more akin to setting up martial law than to the issuing of special commissions for the trial of rioters in modem times, only that theii' proceedings were 186 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Cruelty toward the Jews. The Scotch claimed as Vassals. directed rather to levying heavy fines for the king's benefit than to theii- professed object. § 11. Edward next employed himself in banishing the Jews, a race for whom he seems to have had such a personal hatred, that his usage of them was even more severe than that of his father had been. At the very first parliament that he summoned, he had caused their usury to be restrained. Next he obliged them to wear a mark on their garments, which distinguished them from Christians, and exposed them to every kind of insult and danger ; and when they were accused of clipping the coin, he hanged them by the hundred, though he let the Christians who were charged with the same offence, and were, the chroniclers tell us, "mainly the rich citizens of London,'' redeem their lives by a heavy fine. His mother obtained from him a charter forbidding any Jews to live on her estates, and the Bishop of London pulled down their synagogue. Now [a.d. 1290] the king determined to drive them from the land, and they had but two months allowed them to seek other homes, after which they were forbidden to remain under pain of death. Their houses were seized by the king, which, says the chronicler, " yielded him an incredible store of riches ; " but, with a forbearance that was then not often shown to the objects of royal displeasure, they were allowed to keep their movable property, and passes were granted to them for their per- sonal safety. In defiance of this, a number of them were drowned at the mouth of the Thames for the sake of their riches, but the king executed their murderers. § 12. The Scottish kings, like the "Welsh piinces, had been oc- casionally forced to acknowledge themselves the vassals of the King of England ; but the acknowledgment was very differently understood in the two countries. In England it was taken to mean that the kingdom of Scotland was only an English depen- dency, and that the homage done was for its crown ; on the other hand, the Scots maintained that it was only for Cumberland, or Huntingdon, the earldoms of which the Scottish kings held under the kings of England, as these held Normandy, or Brittany, or Gascony, under the kings of France. This, indeed, seems to "have been the true state of the case, but it did not satisfy Edward, and circumstances put it in his power to decide the question in his own favor, although that decision was afterwards overauled by the sword. This struggle occupied the last seventeen years of Chapter VI.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 187 Plan of Union with Scotland. Decision of Commissioners. Homage to Edward. Edward's, reign, and it -was not finally decided until long after his death. § 13. Alexander the Third of Scotland had married Edward's sister, Margaret, by whom he had a daughter of the same name, who married Eric the Second of Korway, and died before her father, leaving, as the heiress of the Scottish ci-own, another Mar- garet, of the age of two yeai-s. On the death of Alexander, a year after, this child, who was styled the " Maid of Norway," was acknowledged as queen, and Edward endeayored to provide for the future union of England and Scotland by proposing a mar- riage between her and his son Edward, who was a year younger than she was. But this plan failed, as Margaret died while on her way to Scotland [a.d. 1390], before she had attained her seventh year. There was thus no direct heir to the crown left, but no less than thirteen claimants appeared, and though these were soon reduced to two (John Baliol, lord of Galloway, and Robert Bruce, Earl of Annandale), their claims appeared so equally bal- anced that the Scottish estates would not venture to decide be- tween them ; and as a civil war seemed approaching, they referred the case to the decision of Edward, a step which they soon had reason to regret. § 14. The king speedily repaired with a large army to Norham, a castle on the English bank of the Tweed, and though, when ar- ranging the marriage treaty, he had solemnly aclcnowledged that Scotland was an independent kingdom, he now insisted that he should be accepted as its " sovereign lord," and that the royal castles should be put into his keeping, to enable him to carry out any award that he should make. The two competitors then sub- mitted their claims to a body of English and Scottish commission- ers, and at last, after a delay of a year and a half, their decision was given in favor of Baliol, on the ground that he was descended from Margaret, the eldest daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, the brother of two former kings of Scotland, whilst Bruce was the son of Isabel, the second daughter. § 15. The king accepted the judgment of the commissioners as liis own, and, to avoid future disputes, as he thought, compelled Baliol to do homage twice ; once before the commissioners at Berwick, and then before himself at Newcastle. The new king had to style himself the liegeman of Edward, the sovereign lord of Scotland, and to state in express words that he did this homage, 188 HISTORY OF ENaLAND. [Book V. The King of Scotland's Troubles. England's Allegiance to France. on behalf of himself and his heirs, " for the whole kingdom o€ Scotland." Ordei-s were given to deliver up the royal castles to him, and then [a.d. 1293] he was suffered to depart. His subjects received him with loud reproaches, as having betrayed the liberties of their country. Nor was this his only mortification. According to the feudal law, any one who professed that he had been denied justice, either in the Scottish courts or by the Scottish king, could now appeal to the King of England for redress. The consequence was, that Baliol was repeatedly summoned to attend at Westmin- ster to meet complaints, some of which would seem to have been old debts revived for the very purpose of provoking a quarrel. He was not allowed to make answer by a deputy, though meaner men were permitted to do so, and when he appeared in person he was treated only as a private individual. John le Mason, a Gas- con, claimed a debt for wine which he asserted he had supplied many years before to King Alexander ; but that prince's executors alleged that it had been discharged. Baliol, however, was ordered to pay it forthwith, on pain of having a part of his private estate seized. He returned to Scotland full of indignation, and was at once reconciled to his subjects by their common deshe to shake oS the English yoke. That was in the year 1293. § 16. Soon after Edward had forced his feudal supremacy on the Scots, he found a demand on his own allegiance made by the King of Prance, in the year 1294. He had, in his return fi-om Palestine, done homage at Paris, saying to King Philip, " My lord and king, I do you homage for all the territories which I ought to hold of you," a cautious form of words, by which he was under- stood to keep alive his claim to Normandy and Poitou, which had been lost to England in the time of John. But it also included Gascony, which he held, and thus he was unquestionably bound, according to the feudal law, to answer in the French courts for any injuiies sustained by Frenchmen from his subjects. A case of this kind occurred, when Edward at once refused to abide by the rules that he had forced at the point of the sword on the Welsh and the Scots. § 17. Some English sailors were murdered on the coast of France, in a casual quarrel, and some Frenchmen were hanged in return by the Cinque Ports men. This was a matter that had hap- pened many times before, and had it gone no further neither Philip nor Edward would probably have noticed it. But the Chaptek VI.] THE PLANT AGENETS. 189 A fierce Naval Warfare. Money for Crusading. Extortions. Frencli sailors, instead of bearing patiently the retaliation, put to sea, and when they had succeeded in taking an English vessel, hanged all the men at the yard-arm, and ventured to come in sight of the English coast with the bodies thus displayed. A fierce war followed, without the consent of their sovereigns being asked, between the lawless sailors of both nations. The Cinque Ports men had for allies some ships fiom Ireland, and others from Denmark and Norway, whilst the Scots and the Spaniards helped the French. Much damage was done, and at last, by mutual con- sent, a pitched battle was fought off St. Mahe, in Brittany [Api-il 14, 1393], when the French were defeated with great slaugh- ter. King Philip then took up the cause of his people, and sum- moned Edward to appear at Paris. As Edward took no no- tice of this, after a lapse of three months his fief of Gascony was declared forfeited, and French troops marched in to take possession. § 18. Edward now publicly renounced his fealty to the King of France, and set to work to raise an army to reconquer Gascony. He also made an alliance vnth the Count of Flanders, who, like himself, had broken his feudal allegiance. In violation of the Great Charter,' he resorted to the most violent means for raising money. Shortly before this, the Moham- medans had driven the Christians from Acre, their last fortress in the Holy Land, but large sums were still collected yearly for its recovery, and these were laid up in the monasteries. The king now took possession of all this treasure, declaiing that he was far more in want of money than Ms dear brothers the Hospitallers and the Templars. He also seized on the goods of merchants, and sold them in Flanders for half their value, and he forced the clergy to give him one-haK of their revenues. As he found them at first unwilling to do so, he sent John Havering, one of his knights, to their assembly at Westminster, who called on any one who objected to come forward, " so that he might be taken notice of, as unworthy of the king's peace," which meant that he would be an outlaw, and neither his goods nor Ms life be safe. The demand, of course, was then granted, and an aiTuy collected; but this was detained so long at Portsmouth, by bad weather, that the French had completely conquered Gascony. § 19. The enterprise was now abandoned, for news came that the Welsh had taken up arms, under Madoc and Morgan, the kins- 190 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. BebellioiiB Wales Subdiied. Troubles in Scotland and Gasoony. men of their late prince, Llewelyn." The royal army was now- recruited by pardoned malefactors, and a part of it . § T, p. isl ^^^^^ ^_^^^^^ ^^^^ ^j^g,g brother, the Earl of Lancaster, against them; but the Welsh defeated the earl, and burnt several of the new castles. The king followed in haste, and passed the winter in "Wales. He rebuilt the castles and founded another at Beaumaris, and having at length captured Madoc, brought him to Londoii, where he died a prisoner in the Tower. § 30. Soon after Edward's return fi-om Wales, the Scots, in a parliament at Scone [a.d. 1395], deposed Baliol, and appointed a council of regency of twelve peers, which sought aid from France. Edward learnt this, and at once marched into Scotland, gained a victoi-y at Dunbar, and captured the Maidens' Castle, near Edinburgh, where the chief ladies of the kingdom had taken refuge. Baliol "soon after surrendered himself, and formally re- signed the royal dignity, when he was sent a prisoner to the Tower. Edward then appointed Warren, Earl of Surrey, guardian of the kingdom, and Hugh Cressingham, treasurer, and marched back to England, carrying with him the Stone of Destiny, as it was called, on which the Scottish kings were crowned,' and the regalia, as also many Scottish nobles as hostages, on several of whom he bestowed lands in the south of England in forced exchange for their own. § 21. Whilst Edward was engaged in this campaign in Scotland, his affairs had gone badly in Gasoony. His brother, the Earl of Lancaster, had ravaged the French coast, and taken Bordeaux, but died soon afterward, and his successor, Lord St. John, was defeated and taken prisoner. To remedy this, the king tried to raise a new army ; but the Earls of Norfolk and Essex positively refused to go with him, though they held the high offices of earl marshal and high constable. They also forbade the sheriffs to levy any taxes „ until Magna Charta ° was again confirmed. The king 6 § 16, p. 160. , . " ° was then carrying on the war with but small success in Flanders, for his seamen fought among themselves. ^ His soldiers 1 This stone, which was, according to the legend, Jacob's pillow at Bethel (Genesis xxviii. ), is imbedded in the seat of the coronation chair now in Westminster Abbey ; but the regalia were restored to the Scots by Edward the Third. 2 The Cinque Poi-ta men, as being especially "king's men," and bearing the cross of Bl. George, assumed a superiority over the rest of the mariners, from such towns as Yar- mouth, Southampton, and Fowey, who were by them regarded as mere merchant sea- men. This aiTogant feeling, which often led to furious combats, continued as long as the Ptorts had a fleet of their own. Chapter VI.] ' THE PLANTAGENBTS. 191 The Career of "Wallace. Wars against Scotland. Strange Claim to Sovereignty. were also unmanageable, for they were mutinous for want of pay. He was therefore obliged to give way, and soon afterwards he made a trace with the King of France [a.d. 1297], as fresh troubles had broken out in Scotland. § 23. Warren had induced most of the Scottish nobles to swear allegiance to Edward ; but William Wallace, a knight of the west country, refused to do so, and gathered a band of courageous men, with whom he captured the royal treasure at Scone, and thus pro- cured many more adherents. Warren advanced against him, but received a complete overthrow at Cambuskenneth, near Stirling, and was diiven out of the kingdom. Cressingham, the treasurer, who had beep guilty of much wanton oppression, was among the slain, and the victors, it is said, flayed his body and made bridles of his skin. Not content with this triumph, Wallace marched into England as far as the Tyne, and ravaged the country in the English manner. § 23. Edward now again oven-an Scotland, defeating the Scots at Falkirk, and again returning triumphant to England. He indeed seems to have thought the war was ended, as he set at lib- erty John Baliol in exchange for Lord St. John ; but the Scots at once elected a regency, at the head of which they placed Eobert Brace (the son of the one who had competed for the crown"), and JohnComyn, Earl of Badenoch, who was ' ' also of royal descent. By surprise they captured the strong castle of Stirling. This brought Edward and his army among them for the third time, and the usual ravage followed ; but the spirited resistance of the Scots procured them the intercession of the Pope, who, claiming a kind of guardianship over all kingdoms, addressed a letter to the king, enumerating many instances in which both he and his father had acknowledged that Scotland was not subject to England, and entreated him to set at liberty his prisoners and withdraw his troops. In a letter that is stiU extant, Edward and his barons indignantly denied that any person had a right to inter- fere between him and his "rebel subjects the Scots," who, they asserted, had been dependent on England since the days of Brutus, who had subdued the giants of Albion, and given his own name to Britain. This legend, among others concerning the origin of the ancient Britons' was long received as ' ' ' truth. It relates that in the time of the Hebrew judges, Albion, as the island was called, was inhabited by giants. These. 192 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. other InTasions of Scottand. Siege of Sterling, were subdued by Brutus, a descendant of ^neas the Trojan, renowned as the founder of Kome. Brutus, who gave the island his name, since changed into Britain, is said to have founded a great city on the River Thames, and called it Troynovant, or New Troy, but it was afterwards embellished by King Lud, the brother of Cassivellaunus," who styled it after himself, Caer • § 16, p. . j^^^^ ^^ Lud's town, and which is now London. Brutus was said to have had three sons, Locrin, Albanact, and . Camber, to whom he gave England, Scotland, and Wales. Lociln was the eldest born and the superior of the three, and from this it followed that Scotland and Wales were of right subject to England. § 24. As soon as this answer had been despatched from the Parliament at Lincoln, Edward again marched into Scotland, and wintered there ; but the resistance of the Scots was beginning to tell on his resources, He could not venture again to seize on his people's goods as he had done before, and early in the next year he agreed to a ten months' truce. This interval was employed in treating for a peace with the French king ; but as that monarch re- fused to abandon his Scottish allies, it came to nothing. When the war again broke out, they retook Stilling,'' and also gained a victory at Roslin. Enraged at this, Edward offered such tempting terms to the French that they made a peace, which left the Scots exposed to his fm-y, § 25. Edward now lost no time in making his fifth inroad, which was more merciless than any of the former ones. It was in the year 1303. He burnt the churches and monasteries, which had hitherto been sjjared. The royal abbey of Dunfermline was demolished, and he penetrated as far as the Moray Frith. He passed the winter in the countiy, during which both Bmce and Comyn submitted to him, and at a parliament held at St. Andrew's, the garrison of Stii'ling, the last remaining Scottish stronghold, were declared outlaws. As their submission seemed all that was wanting to the complete subjugation of the land, Edward marched against them in person. § 26. The siege lasted for foiu- months, and during its progress the king, to encourage his men, rode round the walls daily on his war-horse, but without armor, as if defying all the efforts of the garrison ; but this show of contempt had nearly cost liim dear. At one time an aiTow passed between his horse's reins ; at another Chatter VL] THE PLANTAGENETS. 193 Humble Submission of the Scotch, Edward's Tyranny. Life and Fate of Wallace. a bolt from a cross-bow pierced his robe ; and at another, a huge stone from the walls brought his steed to the ground. Still the siege went on, until William Oliphant, the governor, found that he had but three days' provision left. He then offered to sur- render, if he and his garrison might obtain mercy. So much were the English nobles impressed with their gallant defence, that they promised to intercede for them ; but it was necessary for them to humble themselves greatly before the king, in order to soothe his pride and anger. Accordingly, by the advice of their new friends, the Scots came out of the castle barefoot, and vsdth ashes on their heads, and with ropes round their necks, which, according to the custom of the time, was the same as owning themselves traitors and thieves, and bending before the king, asked his grace. He answered, "I will not receive you to my grace, for you deserve it not, but only to my will." They replied, as they had been directed, that they submitted to his will. Edward answered, " My will is to tear you limb from limb, and hang you ; but if you have hope to defend yourselves, I will allow you to go back to the castle." § 27. Knowing that this would only be to defer certain death for a few days, the Scots now threw themselves on the ground, saying, " Take us, O lord king ! subject to thy will ! " After contemplating them at liis feet for awhile, Edward suffered him- self to be persuaded to spare their lives, and sent them to various prisons in England. He then appointed John de Segrave, a famous warrior, governor of Scotland, and taking the chief nobles with him, he returned to Englalnd. That year [1304] he kept his Christmas at Lincoln, " with such state as became the monarch and lord of two kingdoms," says the chronicler, the Soots being obliged to be present, and to witness the rewards bestowed on the conquerors of their country. A solemn thanksgiving at West- minster followed. Wallace was soon afterwards captured near Glasgow, brought to London, and on the 23d of August, 1305, he was executed at Smithfleld. § 28. Sir William Wallace was about thirty-five years of age at the time of his death. He was of Anglo-Norman descent, of fiery blood, and while yet a pupil in school, killed an insolent young son of an Englishman. He fled, and for five years he was an outlaw among the border Highlands. He was accomplished and brave, and the idol of his followers. He was a bold and skilful soldier ; 9 194: HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Affairs fa Scotland. Robert Bruce King, and for years he was the most formidable opponent the English had in Scotland, as a regular leader or guerilla warrior. His capture and death was a heavy Mow to the Scotch, and a great relief to Kiag Edward, who, with his counsellors, completed, at Ms leisure, a code of laws for his new subjects. They were regarded as a completely subdued people. We shall see, presently, how mis- taken were the English in their estimate of Scottish character. § 39. Robert Bruce, the regent, died shortly after his submission to Edward, and was succeeded in his earldom of Annandale by his son of the same name. The young noble had adhered to the English party, and had served on their side at Falkirk. He had long resided in Edward's court ; but the death of Wallace, who had appealed to him in vain to join his countrymen, made a deep impression on him. Some remarks that he uttered on the subject were earned to the Idng, and it was determined to imprison him. But he had a friend in the Earl of Gloucester, who was Edward's son-in-law, and from him he received a puree of gold and a pair of spurs. Such symbolic messages were then not uncommon, and Bruce readily understood that he was advised to flee for his life. He did so ; and baffling pursuit by having his horse's shoes re- versed, he got safe into Scotland about four months after Wal- lace's death. An assembly of nobles was soon afterward held in the abbey of Dumfries, when Bruce was received as their leader, Comyn, who had been regent, alone objecting, on the ground that lie had become the liegeman of the king of England. Most of the others had also done this, but he, only, considered his oath bind- ing. A fierce quaixel ensued at the high altar in the convent of the Minorites at Dumfries, when Bruce stabbed Comyn. His brother also was murdered by one Of Bruce's attendants. This tragedy rendered any agreement with Edward impossible. The people of the whole counti-y at once flew to arms, chased the English justiciaries and garrisons to Berwick, and crowned their leader at Scone, by the name of Robert the First, on the 37th of March, 1306. § 30. When the news of this coronation was brought to Edward ho saw that his work was to be begun again, and though now old and feeble, he resolved to die in the field rather than abandon his desig-n of making Scotland a part of his realm. He bestowed knighthood upon his son and three hundred other young nobles. Piers Gaveston and Ilngh De Spenser, afterwards so unhappily Chapter VI.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. ] 95 Edward's Vow of Vengeance. InTasions o£ Scotland. Edward's Death. known, were among them ; and at the feast that concluded the ceremony, the king took a solemn oath that he would avenge the death of Comyn and reconquer the Scots. He also exacted an oath from his son and the nobles, that if he should die before this was accomplished, they should carry his corpse with them, and not give it Christian burial until they had fulfilled his design. On the following day [May 22, 1306J, the young knights and their followers commenced their march for Scotland, under Aymer de Valence, son of William de Valence, who was made Earl of Pembroke by Henry the Third,' and who was a oousin of the king. After a short time they gave battle to Bruce, at Methven, in Perthshire, where he received so great an overthrow that for months he had to lead the life of a fugitive in the remote isles of Scotland. § 31. Edward soon left England for the last time, and took with him a strong reuiforcement for Ms anny. Wherever he ap- peared the Scots again submitted, and almost all of Bruce's family fell into his hands. The men were executed, and the women were closely imprisoned. But these misfortunes did not break the spirit of the new Scottish king. Every now and then he issued suddenly from his hiding-places, and so kept the English garrisons in a state of alarm, obliging Edward himself to march to their relief, though in the depth of winter. § 33. When the next summer came a fresh English army was assembled at Carlisle, and the king put himself at its head, though scarcely able to sit on his horse, with the avowed intention of ravaging the whole of Scotland with fire and sword. But his power was unequal to his will. On the second day of his march he became unable to journey any farther, and two days afterward he died, at Burgh-on-the-Sands, only five miles from Carlisle, but in sight of Scotland. This was on the 7th of July, 1307. His son had been hastily summoned to him, and Froissart, the chroni- cler, says that his last charge to the prince, delivered with his dying breath and under pain of his curse, was, neither to be crowned himself, nor to bury his father's bones, until Scotland had been utterly subdued. But this cannot be true, for the crown prince was not present when his father died. Such directions, if given, were disregarded. § 33. Edward, whose wel](known name of Longshanks brings him at once before the eye, was a tall, stately, austere personage. 196 HISTORY OP ENGLAJSTD. [Book V. Edward and his Reign. Accession of Edward the Second. He was well versed in war and government, and these accomplish- ments made him really a great king, though verj' far indeed from a just and good man. He showed no more regard for his word or oath, or repeated confirmations of Magna Charta, than his ^,, father had done;' but he was merciless in punish- es 9, p. 1*4. ing any breach of engagements to himself which by his sword he had obliged others to contract. Llewelyn of Wales K . „ ,,. f^U ™ battle,' but the deaths of his brother David ° § 7, p. lo4. and of Wallace were nothing else than murders committed in the name of laws to which they were not properly amenable." The improvements of the laws, by which his reign is usually said to be distinguished, were reaUy only commenced in his day, and, as has been seen, did not protect his subjects from his own exactions. These showed him to be utterly unscrupulous ; but as he was wise enough to see how far he could safely go, and when it was necessary to give way, he, on the whole, retained the good-will of his own people, though distrusted or feared by his neighbors. CHAPTER Vn. REIGN OV EdwAKD THE SECOND. [a.D. 1307 TO 1327.] § 1. The death of Edward the First was concealed from the people in the English capital until the 25th of July, or for the space of eighteen days, during which time the Bishop of London and Chancellor of the kingdom continued to affix the great seal of the realm to official documents. But the new king, then only in the twenty-third year of his age, was received as monarch by the peers at Carlisle on Saturday, the 8th, or the day after his father died. From that time his reign is dated. In the autumn 1 § 32, p. 195. ^° ^"™"^ '^^^ father's remains i in Westminster Abbey, and the following year [1308] he married IsabeUa of France, and so formed a powerful political connection. § 2. The young king had already served in two campaigns agamst the Scots, and had acquitted himself creditably. Walter of Exeter, a poet of his father's time.^when describing the siege of Caerlaverock, in the year 1300, says of him, that "he was then Chaptek VII.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 197 Person and Character of the new King. He and his Favorite disgraced. bearing arms for the first time. He was of a well-proportioned and handsome person, of a courteous disposition, and intelligent, and desirous of iinding an occasion to display his prowess; he managed his steed wonderfully well." He seems indeed to have behaved himself so as to give satisfaction to his stern father, who, in conseqxience, bestowed the principality of Wales upon him at the close of the campaign. He had now a household of his own, in which both Gaveston and De Spenser," afterwards so well known, held office ; the former, however, being the chief favorite, as nearer to the prince's age, and like him ia his light, gay disposition. § 3. After a while both the prince and Gaveston fell into disgrace with the king, who at first punished them too severely, and after- wards went to the contrary extreme. Walter Langton, the Bishop of Lichfield, complained that they had broken into his park and killed his deer, when the king, without listening to anything that the prince could say, broke up his household, seized his revenues, and refused to see him, though the youth followed the court for many days from place to place, offering the most humble apologies. In this strait he found friends, not only in his sisters, who sent him money, and placed their property at his disposal^but in the queen, who, though only his stepmother, so warmly interceded for him that the king relented, restored his lands, and, as the mark of his perfect forgiveness, included Gaveston and De Spenser among the youths who were made knights along with the prince.' But Gaveston soon gave some fresh offence, was again banished, and the king made it one of Ms last requests that he should never be allowed to return. § 4. Unfortunately, the new king acted in opposition to this as well as the rest of his father's directions, and as this was offensive to many of his nobles, they also having sworn to see these direc- tions observed, his reign, from its very commencement, was a scene of trouble and confusion. Though personally courageous, he was indolent, and but too well inclined to cast the cares of goverhment on whoever would undertake them. His favorites were in reality what would now be styled his pi-ime ministers ; but the nobility had been used to the personal rule of their king, and would not have obeyed any deputy, even had he been far more able than the gay young Gascon whom they had known as a page. § 5. One of Edward's first steps was to recall Gaveston, whom. 108 HISTOET OF ENGLAND. [Book T. The Insolence of Gaveston. The Parliament and Gaveston, even before his arrival, he created Earl of Cornwall. His next was to leave Scotland to the care of Aymer de Valence " a s 30 p 194 ' ' ' and to hasten back to England to meet him. The favorite at once showed that he had not forgotten any injuries that he thought he had received. The Bishoji of Lichiield, who was also lord treasurer, was imprisoned, and the chancellor and several of the judges were deprived of office. The nobles remon- strated, but met only with light jests from the king, whilst Gaves- ton had the imprudence to give them nicknames, styling the Earl of Lancaster "the Old Hog" and "the Stage-player;" Aymer de Valence "Joseph the Jew," from his taL. gaunt figure and sallow visage, and the swarthy Earl of Warwick "the Black Dog," — insults which were never forgiven. The king, however, seemed to delight in provoking them by bestowing estates and honors on Gaveston. He gave him his own niece in marriage, with vast riches ; granted him lands in every part of England, as well as in Gascony ; styled him brother ; and at last made him regent of the kingdom, when he went to France, in the year 1308, to marry Isabella, the daughter of Philip the Fourth. So extravagant, in- deed, did the king's fondness for him appear, that it was ascribed to sorcery; and the favorite, whilst no one would accept his enter- tainments, or style him Earl of Cornwall, received instead the nick- name of "the "Witch's Son." § 6. The parliament assembled soon after the king's return from France, in March, 1310, when the banishment of Gaveston was insisted on. This the king agreed to, but immediately after ap- pointed him the governor of Ireland. Here Gaveston showed both skill and courage, especially in dealing with the great Anglo-Irish lords, who were far more hostile to the royal authority than the native Irish. The independence that they had long enjoyed had made them the envy of the English nobles, and their chastisement caused Gaveston's offences to be for the time forgotten, so that he was allowed to return to England in abovit a year, on his offer- ing to meet any accuser, either in the parliament or on the lists, as he was skilled in the use of ai-ms. Neither trial was demanded, when the king, to testify his joy, granted the whole comity of ComwaU to him in absolute property, and even bestowed on him a " § 18, p. 189. '^^^* treasure that King Edward had bequeathed for ■ the service of the Holy Land,' in repayment of the sums that he had seized for Ms French wars. Chapter VII.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 199 strife between the King and Barons. Gaveston's Fate. § 7. This extraordinary favoritism revived all the old dislike. The barons refused to attend the king at York for a camijaign against the Scots, and Gaveston had to flee for his life [August, 1310]. The parliament soon afterward met at Westminster, and, under the direction of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, the king's cousin, drew up "ordinances" for the royal household, which were especially directed against Gaveston, he having been the lord chamberlain. These the king ref-used to assent to. He then marched into Scotland, and wintered at Berwick, where Gaveston joined him, bringing with him some foreign mercenary troops. In the spring Gaveston penetrated beyond the Forth. § 8. When the king returned to London, in the summer of 1311, he left Gaveston, for safety, in Bamborough Castle. The monarch was soon forced to accept the " ordinances" of the parliament, which not only again decreed the banishment of Gaveston, but placed all the power of the State in the hands of Lancas- ter " and his associates. The king endured this for „ „ * 3 5, p. 19o. only a few months ; and early in the next year he recalled Gaveston, who again brought some foreign soldiers with him. The hiring of these men, indeed, seems to have been his purpose on each occasion when he withdrew from England, and in it he expended much of the treasure that had been bestowed on him. It must also be remembered that he was in each case condemned without a hearing, and that he always professed his readiness to stand a legal trial. § 9. Both the king and the barons now took up arms, but the royal troops showed no inclination to fight for the monarch. Gaveston therefore fled, with a few of his mercenaries, to Scarborough Cas- tle, where he was besieged, and was soon obliged to surrender. His life was promised to him, but this promise his captors did not mean to keep. They were Aymer de Valence " and ' § 30 p 194. Lord Percy; and though, "for their oath's sake," they would not kill him themselves, they guarded him so neg- ligently that the Earl of Warwick was allowed to caiTy him off. The latter had made no promise, and saying that " The vpitch's son shovild feel the black dog's ° teeth," he beheaded « § B, p. 198. him in their presence, without even the form of a trial; The king, deserted by his troops, was obliged to grant a pardon to all concerned. The parliament declared that what had been done, had been done "for the king's honor,'' and he and his 200 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. The Scots and Welsh in Arms. Affairs in Ireland. cousins, Lancaster and De Valence, his brother-in-law Hereford, Percy, "Warwick, and the rest, were formally reconciled [a.d. 1313], though all alike were insincere. § 10. "Whilst the strength of the nation was wasted in these quarrels, the Scots had driven out almost every English garrison, and Stirling, the last remnant of Edward's conquests, was now besieged by them. To relieve it, all the royal tenants were sum- moned ; but Lancaster, "WaiTen, "Warwick, and others refused to attend. Nevertheless a large army was gathered, which the king led in person to Bannockbum ; but Aymer de Valence and other nobles, fearing that the king, if victorious, would prove strong enough to revenge himself on them, treacherously fled at the flret onset, and in consequence the English army received a tenible defeat [June 23, 1314] from a, body of Scots of not half their number. § 11. This ill success made Edward more unpopular than ever, though he had behaved gallantly in the battle, and Lancaster now openly took the direction of the government. In this distress the king chose another favorite, as he was termed, but more properly a minister, on whose attachment he could rely. This was Hugh de Spenser, who had been in his household along with Gaveston, and was a man well versed in war. He was also of noble family, and had many friends and relatives among the barons. He thus formed a strong party that was ready to oppose the designs of Lancaster and his associates, who manifestly aimed at reducing the king to a mere state of tutelage, if not deposing him. § 12. Encouraged by the success of the Scots at Bannockbum, the "Welsh again took up arms and formed an alliance with them, whilst Edward Bruce (the brother of King Robert) passed into Ireland [a.d. 1315], where he was received with joy by the natives, who knew that any change of masters could not be for the worse, so tyrannically did the Anglo-Irish lords behave. The "Welsh were soon put down, but Lancaster and his friends absolutely refused to march agaiast the Scots, and it appeared afterwards that they had entered into a traitorous agreement with them. The Scots, thus unopposed, next took Bervrick, and then marcliing into Yorkshire, they ravaged the countiy, when the Idng narrowly escaped capture. § 13. The next year [a.d. 1319], through the activity of De Spenser, he gathered an army, at the head of which ho marched Chapter VII.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 201 A General Keconciliation. The De Spensers. Civil 'War, into Scotland and besieged Berwick, but was unable to retake it. In the mean time the Scots had been defeated in Ireland, and their leader killed [a.d. 1318]; and a parliament had been held in Eng- land, when the different parties were formally reconciled, neither being strong enough to put down the other. So a compromise was agreed to. De Spenser retained his office as lord chamber- lain, but Lancaster was placed at the head of a council of sixteen appointed to " assist the king." This was followed by a two years' truce with the Scots, and before that had expired a total change had taken place, which gave, for a while, the government into the hands of De Spenser. § 14. The Lord Chamberlain had received in marriage Eleanor de Clare, a niece of the king, between whom and her sister (the widow of Gaveston) the great estates of the Earl of Gloucester, who was killed at Bannockbum," had been divided. De Spenser's share included a large part of South Wales, and a quarrel arose about their boundaries between him and the Earl of Hereford. Though the earl was the king's brother-in-law, he was an adherent of the Earl of Lancaster, and without ever attempting to settle the matter peaceably, the two earls ravaged De Spenser's lands, and then, marching to London, held a parliament on their own authority. Then the favorite and his father were banished [a.d. 1321], the king having no power to assist them, though the bishops solemnly protested against their being condemned unheard, and in their absence ; for the elder lord was then at his post as Governor of Bristol, and his son was at sea,, guarding the, coasts. Their banishment was attended by the seizure of their property, but young De Spenser repaid himself for his forfeited lands by making many rich captures. He soon returned, bringing with him foreign cross-bowmen, to whom the king joined himself [a.d. 1323], when the estates of the barons were ravaged in turn. § 15. The two earls now applied to the Scots for assistance, and marched to the north to meet their allies. They were followed by the king, after pardon had been offered, and being overtaken at Boroughbridge, were there totally defeated. The Earl of Here- ford was killed in the battle, and Lancaster, being taken prisoner, was tried by a court-martial and beheaded at Pontefract. Several other noble prisoners were also executed ; but Roger Mortimer, one of the most considerable of them, had his sentence commuted to 0* 202 HISTORT OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Fate of the King's steward. A Traitor. The Queen's Perfldy. perpetual imprisonment. Many of the forfeited estates were given to the De Spensers, the elder being also created Earl of Winchester. §16. Among those executed was "the rich Lord Badlesmere," a Kentish noble, who was treated with peculiar ignominy. He had been the king's steward, and greatly trusted, but had betrayed his counsels to the earls; and his wife had. refused to admit the queen, when on a journey, into Leeds Oastle, near Maidstone, of which her husband was the keeper. He was taken whilst endea- voring to escape, and, instead of beheading him at once, like a noble, the sentence, as it still stands recorded, was, that "the said Bartholomew should be drawn on a sledge to the gallows for his treasons, be hanged for his robberies and murders, and have his head cut ofE with a knife for his flight from the field." He was accordingly taken into Kent and hanged on his own land, and his head was set over the gate of Canterbuiy, " as a warning to others." His vsdfe and family were also imprisoned in the Tower. This extreme severity was probably due to the angry queen, as Edward himself never showed such revengeful feelings. § 17. The Lancastrian party being thus crushed, the king led an army into Scotland, but he could effect nothing of moment, one of his trusted servants, Andrew Harcla, the warden of the west marches, being in league with the Scots, for which he was shortly after executed. His treachery showed that it was not advisable to attempt to carry on the war, and a truce followed in 1323. This had hardly been concluded when Roger Mortimer escaped from the Tower, after a year's imprisonment, and fled to France, and others of the party began again to ravage the De Spensers' lands. Soon after this the King of France died, and Edward was summoned to do homage to his successor. Fearing the overthrow of his authority if he left England, he delayed compliance, on which the French at once invaded Gascony. At length he was so ill-advised as to send liis queen (a French princess") as a mediator, a, step which speedily brought about his ruin. She soon came to an understanding with her brother, Charles IV., in virtue of which slie sent for her eldest son, Ed- ward, to do the required homage. Then she refused to return until the De Spensers were banished. Roger Mortimer became her avowed counsellor and favorite ; the chiefs of the Lancastrian party flocked to her, and even the Earl of Kent, the king's half- brother, joined the train, in the year 1335. Chapter VH.] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 203 The Queen a Rebel and Traitor in arms, A Revolution. § 18. Acting quite like an independent queen, Isabella contracted her son in marriage (though only in his fourteenth year) to Phl- Hppa, the daughter of the Count of Holland, and obtained from him a body of Flemish troops, commanded by liis brother, for the invasion of England. On landing in Suffolk [a.d. 1336] she was joined by the great body of the people, and the king found him- self obliged to ilee without striking a blow. Tlie Bishop of Exeter, his treasurer, was seized in London, and beheaded without form of trial, and Robert Baldock, the chancellor, was thrown into Newgate, where he died soon after. § 19. The queen and her partisans had pursued the king towards Wales, but halted at Bristol, where the elder De Spenser was de- livered up by his garrison, and was hanged. The younger De Spenser escaped with the king, intending to take refuge in Lundy Island, which was his property, and which he, in anticipation of trouble, had strongly fortified, and provided with all necessary stores to stand a siege. But the weather was tempestuous (it was in November), the fugitives were unable to land on the rocky islet, and, after beating about for some days, were driven on the coast of Glamorgan. They took refuge in Neath Abbey, but though the town was De Spenser's own, and had, at his instance, received many privileges from the king, not an arm was raised in their defence, and they were in a few days obliged to surrender at discretion. The king was hurried ofE to Kenilworth, where he was placed in the custody of Henry Earl of Lancaster, the brother of him who was beheaded at Pontefract ; De Spenser was taken to the queen at Hereford, and by her order at once hanged, his head being sent to London, as his father's had been to Winchester. The Earl of Arundel, who almost alone of the nobles had adhered to the king, was also seized and executed. As a matter of course the vast properties of the sufferers were seized, but much of it was restored in the next reign. § 20. With these executions the revolution was in reality com- pleted, but as the actors chose to have legal sanction for what they had done, a parliament was assembled on the 7th of January, 1327, which declared the king deposed, and ordered his eldest son to Ije proclaimed in his stead. Young Edward, however, refused to accept the royal dignity without his father's consent, and accord- ingly two bishops and several barons were sent to Kbuilworth to require the royal prisoner to resign his throne. He simply replied 204 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Accession of Edward the Third. Murder of Edward the Second. that he was in their power, and must submit to whatever they chose. This answer was taken as sufficient to remove the new king's scruples, and Edward the Second was nominally succeeded by his son, though for some years the real power remained in the hands of the shameless quetm— the " She-WoLf of France"— and her paramour Mortimer," who forsook his wife and » § IB, p. 301. . ., , . , .,, ' family to reside with her. § 31. So after a troubled reign of somewhat less than twenty years, Edward of Carnarvon, as he was sumamed, was deprived of his throne. After a short time he was removed from KenUworth, where the Earl of Lancaster treated him with kindness, and was taken to Corfe Castle. Thence he was removed to Bristol, and finally to Berkeley by ruffians, who appear to have desii'ed to kill him with hardships and ill-usage, without actually dipping their hands in his blood. But he showed a strength both of body and mind that made this seem too slow a process, and therefore, on the 21st of September, 1337, whilst the young king was engaged in an inglorious campaign against the Sco.ts, they put his father to death by horrible means that left no outward marks of violence. The murdered king was buried at Gloucester, where his very beau- tiful tomb still remains. § 23. Both the reign and the character of Edward are com- monly misunderstood. Unlike his father, he readily pardoned offenders, such as Edward the First would not have suffered to live ; and he seems never to have been guilty of the extortions and oppressions that marked the preceding reign. All the charges that his disaffected nobles brought against him only amount to this — that he did not keep over them the stem control to which they had been accustomed, and that he was profuse in rewarding the few whom he felt he could trust. The idea that Lancaster and his associates had any other view than personal aggran- dizement and revenge, is contradicted by all their acts, which were as clearly unlawful when they banished his ministers with- in-, out a hearing,'' as when they murdered them without '■ § 14, p. 201. , . 1 a trial. § 33. A remarkable event in the reign of Edward was the sup- pression of the Order of Knights Templars, a piece of cruel in- justice in which the Pope and most of the sovereigns of Europe joined. These knights had a very humble beginning, in the year 1118, when nine poor crusaders took upon themselves the obliga- Chapter VIIL] THE PLANTAGENETS. 205 The Order of the Knights Templars Suppressed. tion of protecting the faithful at Jerusalem. They had now obtained immense wealth and power. Their association included men of the noblest birth — natives of every Christian country. Theh' valor in battle, their wisdom in council, had long been the admiration of the world. § 24. After the loss of the Holy Land the Templars forfeited much of their consideration, for they did not, like the Hospital- lers or Knights of St. John, secure an establishment in the East — ■ a real or fanciful bulwark to Christendom against the Moham- medans. The most odious charges were brought against them ; but the real cause of their persecution was the covetousness of the monarchs who wanted their great wealth, and seized it: In France many of these knights were burnt alive. In England, where Almeffe, the master of the English Templars, stood side by side with the barons at Eunnymead," an advocate of ■ * § 16, p. 160. the nation's liberties, they were only imprisoned, and after a time they were placed in difierent monasteries. The Pope, in the year 1313, ordered their suppression, saying that he did not do this as pronouncing a judgment on their guilt, but merely as a matter of expediency. Their property he directed to be given over to the rival order of the Hospitallers, but this was only partially done, much of it being retained by the kings or their courtiers, who had enjoyed it for several years whilst the matter was being investigated, and would not part with it when it was decided. CHAPTER Vm. BBIGN OF Edwakd thb Thibd. [a.d. 1327 TO 1377.] § 1. Edwaed the Third, sumamed " of Windsor," as we have observed, was only a little more than fourteen years of age when, on the 7th of January, 1327, he was proclaimed ' § 20, p. 203. king on the deposition of his father.'' Parliament appointed a regency composed of noblemen, lay and ecclesiasti- cal ; and the Earl of Lancaster was chosen to be the guardian and protector of the king's person. A year later Edward was 206 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book V. Conduct o£ the Queen Mother and her Paramour. Their Fall. married [January 24, 1338] to Philippa of Hamault, who proved to be an excellent and loving wife. § 3. The first three years of the reign of Edward of Windsor were crowded with cruel and disgraceful events, for which he was not responsible. Although a regency was formed, it was merely a pretence, as Queen Isabella and Mortimer " guided • § 2 , p. 2 4 g.y.gj.y^jj^g ^^ ^.jjgj^ .^YiU. First, the deposed kiag was put to death ; next a peace was made with the Scots, when the English claims were abandoned for a sum of money, and a maiTiage was contracted between King Robert's son, David, and Joan of the Tower, Isabella's youngest daughter, both chiLdren of tender years ; and lastly the Earl of Kent was induced to believe that his brother was stiU. alive. He had before this shown his dis- content with the revolution that he had helped to bring about, and be was now condemned arid executed. § 3. Meanwhile Mortimer was growing daily more and more unpopular. He had divided with the queen the forfeited estates of his opponents and the money he obtained from the Scots. He also received the title of Earl of March, and he appeared in pub- lic with kingly state. He even treated the young king with haughtiness, and became unbearably insolent to the nobles. In consequence a confederacy was at last formed against him. He was seized in Nottingham Castle and hurried to London, where he was imprisoned in the Tower. Soon afterward he was brought before the parliament, condemned unheard, as the De SiJensers had been four years before, on the plea that his offences were too notorious to need proof, and was hanged at " The Elms," on the 29th of November, 1330. The queen mother was at least equally guilty, but her life was spared. She was sent to reside at Castle Rising, in Norfolk, as a prisoner ; but as years wore on (she sur- A-ived until 1357), the restrictions were relaxed, and she was only kept in what was termed " free custody," which allowed her to move about from one royal manor to another. The king, her son, paid her a visit of ceremony every year. § 4. Whilst Edward was still under tutelage, his uncle, Charles the Fourth of France, died, and, vmfortunately for both England and France, a claim on the crown was made for him in right of his mother, although, according to French law, no such claim could exist, the succession, by the Salic law, being limited to males. The States of the Idngdom therefore passed it over, and CHArTBR Vni.] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 20Y War against France. War in Scotland, A weak King. bestowed the crown on Philip of Valois, the cousin of their late king. Edward gave way for the time, but aftenvards urged his claim by force of arms, and thus gave rise to a period of misery and bloodshed which the French historians justly speak of as the Hundred Years' War. There were several instances of truce, but these were ill observed, and the contest was not really closed until the time of Henry the Sixth. § 5. King Eobert of Scotland died soon after the treaty already mentioned," and the crown devolved on his son David, a child of only seven years of age. The Earl ' of Douglas acted as regent. One condition of the treaty was, that knights and nobles whose Scottish lands had been forfeited in consequence of their adherence to the English cause should have them restored. This, however, the regent neglected to do, and in consequence Edward Baliol, the son of King John, applied to King Edward for redress. Several English nobles who were simi- larly placed joined with him; and when the king declined to engage in a new war for their sakes, they took the matter into their own hands. Collecting a body of about 3,000 men, the " querellours," as they were termed, sailed from the Humber, in the summer of 13S2, and a few days afterward landed at King- hom, in Fifeshire. They marched at once to Perth, surprising and defeating a much larger body of Scots, whilst their ships gave an equally decisive overthrow to the Scottish fleet. In another month Baliol was crowned king at Scone, when he exe- cuted a charter declaring his feudal dependence on England. But before the year closed, he, in turn, was sui-prised and defeated, and had to flee for his life. He had won and lost a kingdom in the course of flve months. § 6. The Scots followed up their triumph by an inroad upon England, and the king was thus forced into war. He marched into Scotland [a.d. 1333], besieged Berwick, and defeated and killed Douglas, the regent, who attempted to relieve it, at Hali- don Hill. The town then surrendered, when Baliol was again acknowledged as king, and Edward retired. But BaUol's royalty was as fleeting as before. To repay Edward's services, h'e granted to him all Scotland south of the Forth. This step united the whole nation against him, and he was speedily obliged to flee for safety to Berwick. Here he was soon joined by Edward, and for the three following years [a.d. 1335-1337] they overran the country, 208 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book V. Contemplated War with France. German and Flemish Allies. penetrating even as far. as Inverness; but they could never again procure even a nominal submission to the vassal king, who had tried to dismember his country. § 7. Edward at last got tired of this ijrofitless war, and deter- mined to carry his arms against the King of France, who had not only assisted the Scots with men and money, but maintained their young king and queen at his court. In furtherance of this object, his first step was to gain the support of the Flemings, who were then bitter enemies of France, their count, whom they had ex- pelled, having been lately restored by his sovereign lord, the French king. He bought the aid of Jacob van Arteveldt, a brewer of Ghent, one of the popular leaders, and who exercised almost unbounded sway over his countrymen. He was in posses- sion of more than sovereign authority, which he exercised with great wisdom. Edwai-d hoped by his means to obtain Flanders for his eldest son, if he could not gain the crown of France for himself. To meet some pretended scruples of the Flemings, he took the title of King of France in 1337, but he did not assume the arms of that kingdom until three years after, when, also, he took the motto, " Dieu et mon Droit " — God and my Right — which the British sovereigns retain at the present day, though the claim to which it refers has long been abandoned. Being plentifully furnished with money he made an alliance with Louis, Emperor of Germany, who in return named him Vicar of the Empire. He also took into his pay some of the minor Geiman princes, but none of them were of any real service to him. On the other hand, the KiQg of France called on his vassals, the dukes of Brittany and Burgundy, and hired Scottish spearmen and Genoese cross- bowmen and Spanish mariners. The latter were the people of Biscay and Catalonia, hardy seamen, who hired out themselves and their ships, and were formidable opponents to the English navy. He also obtained the services of John of Luxembourg, who was also King of Bohemia, and a renowned military commander. § 8. When all was ready, Edward passed over to Flanders [a.d. 1338], taking his queen and her court with him. The French opened the war by attacking Southampton, and Edward retaliated by ravaging the north of France ; but his Flemish allies refused to leave then- own cities, and the Germans quitted his army as soon as Ms treasure was exhausted. He went back to England to collect a fresh army, and in the mean time a powerful French fleet Chapter VIII.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 209 Great Naval Battle. "France ravaged. Truce and- War. put to sea, captured several large English ships, and then stationed themselves in the harbor of Sluys. Edward, when about to re- turn to Flanders, heard of the loss of his ships, among which was one called the ChrisixpTwr, in which he had before crossed the sea, and he considered it a point of honor to retake it. Accord- ingly, though his fleet was much the smallest, he sailed from Ipswich, and on the 24th of June, 1340, he came up with the enemy. In the very front of their line he found the Ghristopher, filled with Genoese cross-bowmen, as were several other English prizes, the sight of which excited him, his nobles, and his men almost to madness, and all vowed to recapture them or perish. § 9. The French ships were chained together, but, by standing a short distance out to sea, the English induced them to separate, and then tm-ning on them, a desperate hand-to-hand fight ensued, which lasted aU through the night, and ended in the total defeat of the French, with terrible slaughter. This was the greatest over- thi-ow that the French navy had received since the time of King John," and so decisive was it, that it took no further " § 1, p. 154. part in the war for full. thirty years, and then only because the French had succeeded in obtaining aid from Spain. After this victory Edward again ravaged the French border, and also defied the king to single combat, styling liim only Philip of Valois ; but Philip declined to notice the challenge, and a truce for a year followed, which was afterwards prolonged for another year. § 10. But before this second period had expired, the Duke of Brittany died [a.d. 1341], and two claimants for the duchy ap- peared. One was Charles of Blois, the nephew of the King of France, and the other was John de Montfort, the late duke's half- brother. The King of Prance supported Charles, and Edward took part with John. At first Charles was successful, and Jane, the wife of his rival, was besieged by him in the castle of Henne- bon. She was almost reduced to despair, when she was relieved by a body of English troops led by Sir Walter Manny. Edward followed soon after, but another truce was agreed on. This was badly kept by the French, and the war soon broke out again. That was in the year 1344. § 11. The Earl of Derby (afterwards Duke of Lancaster, whose daughter the king's son, John of Ghent, or Gaunt, married, and received the duke's title) marched into France fi-om Guienne, and. 210 HISTORY OF KNGLAND. [Book V. Battle ol Creoy. The Scotch and their King. Surrender of Calais. some time after, Edward landed in Normandy, and ravaged the country almost to the gates of Paris. As the natural result, pro- visions failed him, and he found himself obliged to retreat. He ■wished to reach the north of Prance, but he was on the south side of the Seine, and wherever he marched he found the bridges broken down. At length he succeeded in repairing the bridge at Poissy, and passed over, but a greatly superior French army fol- lowed his steps, when he halted at Crecy, near Abbeville, and determined to risk a battle. One soon followed [August 26, 1346], when the French again received as great a defeat as at Sluvs." Edward, however, was too weak to foUow tt S ft Ti 9(19 ' ■ up his advantage. Instead, he continued his retreat ; but on arriving on the sea-coast he laid siege to Calais, which he determined, if possible, to capture, as affording, from its position opposite to Dover, a convenient post for the invasion of France at any future time. § 12. Whilst Edward was engaged at this siege, the Scots had invaded England ; but an anny got together by Queen Philippa totally defeated them at Neville's Cross, near Durham, when David the Second (who was Edward's brother-in-law) was taken prisoner. He had not long before returned fi-om a ten years' exile ^in France, and he now endured even a longer imprisonment in England. His captivity, however, was light, and having no childi-en of his own, he endeavored to secure the crown of Scot- land for his nephew, Lionel of Antwerp, but the Scots absolutely refused to listen to the proposal. Lionel and John of Gaunt, or Ghent, were sons of Edward and Philippa, and were bom in the respective cities which formed their surnames. § 13. After a siege of eleven months Calais suiTendered, when the inhabitants were removed, and the place was peopled by English. Froissart's story that Eustace de St. Pierre and six other burgesses offered their lives for the pardon of the rest, but were set free on the intercession of Queen Philippa, seems to be a fable ; but it is valuable as a proof of the kindness of heart that she possessed. The French attempted to regain Calais by ti'eachery in 1349, but being foiled by the sudden arrival of the king, they gave up the contest as hopeless, and, though sometimes threatened, it was never seriously assailed by them until the Duke de Guise captm-ed it in the reign of Queen Mary, more than 200 yeara afterwards. It was, indeed, regarded as " the key of France," and was quite as Chapter VIH.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 211 Naval Battle. War in Prance. A bad Son-in-law. jealously guarded as "the Lock and Key of England," Do- ver." Not even the confusions of the War of the Roses could occasion any neglect of Calais ; and the heavy charge that it brought on the royal treasury was always cheerfully borne. § 14. For several years after the capture of Calais the war was mainly coniined to Brittany ; but in 1350 a great naval battle was fought with the Spaniards off Winchelsea, where the king com- manded in person, and gained a complete victory. The Spanish fleet, which consisted of forty large vessels, had entered the Straits of Dover, and the king lay at Winchelsea, with his wife and his court, to await their return. Becoming impatient, he hurried on board, taking with him his sons Edward and John (the latter a lad of only ten years), and 400 of his bravest knights ; and to amuse the sailors, he made his minstrels and his nobles sing and dance with them. At last, after three days' watching, the Spaniards appeared. The king at once assailed them ; and though his ship received so much damage that it soon sunk, he boarded his opponent and captured it. Prince Edward's ship also was sunk, but he and his men were saved by his cousin, the Earl of Derby. '' The fight lasted until night, when twenty- six of the Spanish ships being captured, and most of the rest destroyed, the English returned to land, and Edward, justly proud of his navy, took the title of " King of the Sea." § 15. The war continued in Brittany, but with such rapid changes of fortune that at length, in 1353, Edward offered to resign all claim to the French crown on having Guierme and Calais secured to him ; but to this the King of France would not consent. Charles, King of Navarre, who is justly known as " Charles the Bad," now mixed in the quarrel, and the war broke out more fiercely than before. Charles was son-in-law of Kin^ John the Good, of Prance ; but this did not hinder his aiming, at least, at partitioning his father-in-law's kingdom. Among his subjects were the renowned Biseayans, and by means of their ships he gained possession of several of the French seaports. One of these, Cherbom-g, he strongly fortified, and then sold it to the Eng- lish, as he also did his support to the rival claimants, betraying them all in turn. The kiiig made an inroad in the north of Franco at the same time that his s(in, Edward the Black Prince, marched unopposed across the south, from Bordeaux to Narbonne. 213 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Battle o( Poitiers. English Victories. Havages by Peasants. § 16. The following year [1356] saw a worse calamity befall the French. Entertaining apparently too great contempt for his enemies, the Black Prince (as Edward's son, Edward, was called from the color of his armor) marched northward, with the intent of joining his cousin Derby, now Dnke of Lancaster," ' ' ' who was to advance from Normandy. But the countiy was so desolated already, that Lancaster was obliged to give up his part of the scheme. At last the Black Prince found himself at Poitiers, a full hundred miles from his own States, ab- solutely without provisions, and hemmed in by an army of five times his own number. In these circumstances he offered to give up an immense booty that he had gained, and to engage not to serve against the French for seven years. But they, reckoning the English at their mercy, insisted that the prince himself and one hundred of his knights should become their prisoners, intend- ing to propose to exchange them for Calais. The prince and his men preferred to try the chance of a battle, and the event justified them. They placed themselves behind intrenchments which they had hastily thrown up in the night, and the French, attacking them with headlong valor, but with no regard to the rules of war, were in a short time utterly defeated [Sept. 19th, 1356], and that „„„ too with even greater loss than at Crecy.'' KinsrJohn 1 § 11, p. 209. . ^ ° J & 01 France and his young son Philip were taken prisoners after nearly losing theii' lives in the fight. They met with the most courteous treatment both from the Black Piince and King Edward, but very hard tei-ms were demanded for their release ; and King John, not being able to fulfil them, died a cap- tive in London. § 17. Though the battle of Poitiers was followed by a truce, this brought no relief to France. Almost every noble was now dead or a captive, and thfe peasantry took the opportunity to revenge many wrongs that had been inflicted by their lords. Leaguing together in bands under leaders who aU bore the assumed name of "Goodman James" {Jacques Bonliomme), they committed the most hideous atrocities, burning castles and towns, and murdering women, childi-en, and priests. Nor was the com- motion suppressed until the English took arms against them. Then Charles the Bad claimed the crown of France, and Edward, after besieging Bheims in vain, made use of liim to impose most humiliating terms of peace. By this, which is known as the Chapter VIII.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 213 Edward the Black Prince. Du Guesclin. War renewed, peace of Bretigny [a.d. 1360], Edward, after all his -victories, abandoned his claim to the crown of France, but, for a time, effected a partition of the kingdom ; Guiemie, Poitou, Ponthieu, and a district around Calais being ceded to him, free from all feudal subjection. A vast sum — 8,000,000 of golden crowns — was also to be paid for the ransom of the French king ; but the impoverished land could not supply it, and, as before stated, he died a prisoner. Guienne and Poitou were erected into a State, called the Duchy of Aquitaine, which was bestowed on the Black Prince. He kept his court as a sovereign at Bordeaux, and there his son Richard was bom. , § 18. Thus the war with France, which, including some inter- vals of truce that were but badly observed, had now lasted more than twenty years, was brought to a close. But France itself was not to know peace, neither were the English conquests secure. Thousands of soldiers, who now found their old occupation gone, and cared not to turn to any other, formed themselves into what they teimed " free companies," and filled France with robbery and murder from one end to the other. At last a famous Breton knight, named Bertrand du GuescUn (who became Constable of France), led them away into Spain, where they drove Peter the Cruel from his throne in 1365. Peter found a champion in Edward the Black Prince, who restored him, and also captured Du Guesclin ; but his expedition brought about the loss of the greater part of the English conquests. Peter refused to pay the expenses of his restorer, and the prince, who had incurred heavy debts on his account, called upon his subjects for their aid. This they absolutely refused, saying that the war had not been under- taken either for their benefit or with their consent ; and when the prince threatened them with his anger, they appealed to their former lord, the king of France. He (Charles the Fifth), though all feudal supremacy had been formally renounced, summoned the prince to Paris to answer for his conduct. The prince replied that he would come, but it should be at the head of an army ; and accordingly the war once more broke out, in the year 1369. § 19. By the advice of his parliament, Edward now resumed the title of King of France, which he had laid aside since the peace of Bretigny." But he was no longer fit to take the field, and everything was in favor of the French. The latter entered the English provinces, where the inhabitants re- 214 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book T. Craelty c( the EngliBh. Affairs in France. King Edward's Death. ceived them joyfully; and the Black Prince, who had lost his health in his Spanish expedition, was no more able successfully to oppose them. Unfortunately for his fame, he recaptured Limoges, which had welcomed a French garrison, and barbarously put aU the inhabitants to the sword. But this did not avaiL The English lost ground day by day. De Montfort was driven out of Brittany, and the Earl of Pembroke, the king's son-in-law, was defeated and made prisoner at sea. § 20. The aged king attempted a new invasion of France, but was forced back by bad weather, and Edward his son, the victor of Poitiers," came to England to die. He lingered ' ' ' for nearly four years, and during that time almost every place that he had conquered was retaken, Du Guesclin being a chief actor therein. The good Queen Philippa died some yeare before her son, and his father survived him only a single year. But the interval between his queen's death and his own saw the king fall into the hands of unworthy favorites, who oppressed his people. His sons quarrelled with each other as to who should condvict the government, and almost his last hours were embit- tered by a fierce dispute in his presence between John Duke of Lancaster » and some London citizens, which promised ' ' ' ill for the reisn of his grandson, Richard of Bor- « I 17 p. 212. . deaux,' a child of eleven years of age. At last, Alice Perrers, a worthless woman who had brought discredit on the king's latter years, seeing the hand of death upon him, plucked the rings from his fingers, and left him to die without a single attendant. A priest, unsent for, found him, prayed with him, and closed his eyes. His death occurred at Shene (now called Rich- mond), on the 21st of June, 1377. § 21. King Edward is described as having enjoyed the regard of his people all through his long reign. He was remarkable for his skill in all knightly exercises, and delighted in tournaments, in wliich he often bore a part, though usually in disguise ; and, unlike his predecessors, he took great pains to gain and keep the good- will of the Londoners. On one occasion he invited them to a tour- nament, when he aj^peared as Lord Mayor, his sons Edward and Lionel as the sheriffs, and Joliu and Thomas and several young nobles as aldermen. To a prince who thus flattered them, they never refused a loan or a subsidy. Although so much of his time was passed in war, he was a comparatively learned man, who Chapter Vin.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 215 Edward's Character and Power. A Revolution. Ravages of Flakes. spoke and -wrote Latin and Grerman, -whicli proved very serviceable to him in his foreign wars and negotiations. Like his ancestors, he had often to confirm Magna Charta " as the price of a grant ; but the law in his time began to be adminis- tered in English, the disuse of the Anglo-Noitnan French enabling the people to understand the language of the courts of law. That in itself was a considerable guarantee against oppression. § 32. The war with France, which occupied so large a part of Edward's reign, left him little beyond the empty title of king; but the result to his subjects was very different. In return for the money that they granted, he was obliged to concede so many valuable privileges that a revolution in government was effected, which was not the less real for being conducted without violence. In earlier times the burgesses had only to make grants, and humbly to petition for the redress of some very flagrant grievance ; but before the close of Edward's reign their position as one of the constituent parts of the State as represented by parliament, whose consent was necessary to every enactment, was almost as fully recognized as at present. His connection with the Flemings, then the gi'eat commercial and manufacturing people of Europe, led him to bring the clothing trade to England, and from this, and the commerce to which it gave rise, soon sprang an opulent middle class that eventually became powerful enough to modify the purely warlike policy of former ages, and to cause peaceful pursuits to be preferred to mere aggressive wars like his, which sought to bring under one rule two Ations that had really little in common, and whose union could not be other than disastrous to both. § 33. The calamities of war were terribly aggravated, on three several occasions during Edward's reign, by plagues which rav- aged most parts of Europe, but were especially fatal in England in the years 1349, 1361, 1363, and 1369. The first took its rise in the heart of China, swept across the great desert of Gobi and the wilds of Tartary, and made its way to Bvirope through the Levant, Egypt, and Greece. It appeared in London in November, 1348. These plagues are recorded by chroniclers as the Firet, the Second, and the Third Great Pestilences ; and such a deep impression did they leave on the minds of the people that charters and other documents were long after dated from them. So great was the number of dead that the churchyards could not contain them. 216 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Disliko of the Papal Power. Wickliffe. Lollards. Edward's Sons. and fresli burial-grounds had to be provided. To these a monas- tery was often added, and two of the most famous religious houses in London thus originated. These were the Charter-House, founded just beyond the city walls by Sii- Walter Manny," a renowned soldier, and the Abbey of St. Mary Grace, near the Tower, which the king built in a cemetery provided by John Corey, a London citizen. It is said that one-half of the population of London was swept away. On the Continent, cities and villages were depopulated. § 24. One remarkable feature of Edward's reign was the grow- ing dislike to the abuses of the papal power, and several statutes were passed to repress them. This was incident to the great intel- lectual awakening then in progress. The power that had been long exercised of placing foreigners in English benefices had been loudly complained of before, but it was now considered danger- ous, as the Popes no longer resided in independence at Eome, but held then- court at Avignon, under the control of the Kings of France. Therefore in 1351 and 1353 these "provisions" (as they were tei-med) were forbidden, and any one who appealed to the Pope's courts was subjected to heavy punishment. § 35. At about the same time John Wickliffe, a preacher at Ox- ford, published a book called " The Last Age of the Church," in which he inveighed loudly against the avarice of the papal court, denounced the clergy as too often scandalous in their lives, and asserted that the civil magistrate, and not the Pope, ought to be the supreme ruler in all matters. He was denounced as a heretic, but he gained many followers, who, under the name of Lollards, caused much confusion in after days. They went beyond their master, for they disclaimed the power of the magistrate alto- gether, and held other doctrines which were regarded as incom- patible with the safety of the State. They were often severely punished, but they continued to exist until the Reformation, when their name was lost. Wickliffe has been called the " Moming- star of the Reformation." He translated the Bible into the Eng- lish tongue, and in various ways administered to the spiritual wants of the people. § 26. Of the king's sons all (except Edmund of Langley) who „.» lived to manhood were marked by energy and talent. b § 16, p. 312. ° Edward, the eldest, better known as the Black Prince,'' has beOn handed down by the clu'Oniclcrs as the " mir- Chapter IX] THE PLANTAGBNBTS. 217 Chivalry, Prominent Characters. King Richard and John of Gaunt. ror of chivalry," and no doubt he was so, when kings, or nobles, or ladies were concerned; but his "gentle pity," which they praise, went no lower, as his unwilling subjects of Guienne ex- perienced. In fact chivahy never stooped to do good to the "common people" — the "low-bom." It was thoroughly aristo- cratic in practice, and looked with contempt upon all below the nobility. Lionel of Antwerp," the ancestor of the House of Tork, was twice lieutenant of Ireland, and the Statutes of Kilkenny, which were intended to reduce the Anglo-English lords to obedience, were enacted in his time. John, whose son Henry became king, succeeded his brother Edward in the government of Aquitaine,"" marching unopposed through France to reach it. Through his marriage with the daughter of Peter the Cruel of Spain, he laid claim to the crown of Castile, but was defeated in his efforts to obtain it. Thomas, as Earl of Buckingham ■ and Duke of G-loucester, was a very prominent character in the reign of his nephew, Richard II. Edmund of Langley, who was created Duke of York, was only remarkable for having been left regent of the kingdom on Richard's last visit to Ireland,- and the readiness with which he abandoned his trust to join the party of Heilry of Lancaster. CHAPTER IX. RBiaN OF Richard the Second, [a.d. 1377 to 1399.] § 1. The reign of Richard of Bordeaux " was begun on the 23d of June, 1877, the day after his grandfather's death; and on the 16th of July he was crowned at ' Westminster Abbey. He was then a little more than eleven years of age. The coronation ceremony was unusually splendid, and the poor boy was so exhausted by it that he had to be carried on a litter to his apartment. The most abject adulation followed, from bishops and barons. § 3. During the latter years of the reign of Edward IH. the government was in the hands of John of Gaunt, •* Q 11 p. 209 Duke of Lancaster, * a man of great talent, but very ' unpopulai'. In right of his wife, Constance, the daughter of 10 218 HISTORY OF BNGLAOT). [Book V. Lancaster's Assumptions. Quarrels. The English Navy. Peter the Cniel, he styled himself " John King of Castile and Leon," and he was, beside, suspected of aiming at the English crown, to the prejudice of his young nephew, Eichard of Bor- deaux. His proceedings were strongly opposed by the chanceUor, "William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, and by Sir Peter de la Mare, a Herefordshire knight, who possessed so much influence in the parliament that he is usually regarded as the first Speaker of the House of Commons. The duke, however, proved too strong for them, deprived the bishop of both office and goods, and im- prisoned the knight in one of the royal castles. But these steps were deeply resented by many, and by none more than by the citizens of London, who had now grovsTi so wealthy by their com- merce that they formed, in reality, an independent power, whose support was eagerly sought by all parties. Hence, when they waited on the young prince to acknowledge him as king, the haughty Lancaster consented to seek a reconciliation with them, hoping through this to be appointed regent. § 3. But the distrust of the wily duke by the people was uni- versal and deep, and in this feeling the parliament fully shared ; therefore the government was committed to a council of nine pereons, at the head of which was Courtenay, Bishop of London, who had been personally insulted by the duke in his own cathe- dral when examining Wickliffe on a charge of heresy. Lancaster loudly complained of the slight, and challenged an inquiry into his past conduct ; but as this was disregarded, he professed to withdraw from all concern in public affahs. He, however, gained over some members of the counoU to liis views, and their conten- tions with their colleagues led to a shameful neglect of the de- fence of the kingdom. In tliis extremity one of the citizens of London took the bold step of fitting out a fleet of his own to cruise against pirates, a certain proof of the weakness of the gov- ernment. § 4. As the conquests of Edward the Third and his son were almost all lost before their deaths, so the naval power of England now gave way to that of Prance. In 1372 an English fleet, whilst attempting to relieve Rocholle, was totally defeated, and its com- „ ,., „-,<, mander, the Earl of Pembroke,* taken prisoner. Though he was the king's son-in-law, he was allowed to die a captive in the hands of the French. At length, just after the accession of Richard, England in tnmwas exposed to invasion. Ohapteb IX.] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 219 A Patriotic Citizen. The Fronoh Aimy. The English in Franco. § 5. The French had now fully recovered their power at sea, and having the Spaniards and Scots in league with them, they not only captured many English ships, but ravaged the Isle of Wight and burnt almost every seaport tovm between Plymouth and Bye. Then it was that John Philpot, an alderman of Lon- .go.. Ql ft don," fitted out several ships at his own cost, and cap- tured Mercer, a Scottish pirate; but he was called before the council, and severely censured for having acted thus before he had obtained lawful authority. He replied, with spirit, that he had not sent his ships and men to the danger of the seas to win for himself the praise of chivalry, but to do what he might to save his country from the ruin which their neglect of the navy threat- ened to bring about. "To this reproach," says the chronicler, " they had nothing to answer, for they knew that they were more intent on quarrelling among themselves than on the public good; " and so much were they distrusted by the parliament that the funds granted to fit out a fieet were placed, not in their hands, but under the management of Philpot and another citizen, "Wil- Uam Walworth. § 6. The fleet thus equipped captured Brest; and Cherbourg was delivered to them by Charles the Bad. The French navy, however, was still far the most powerful, and in revenge they ravaged the southern coast of England, and, sailing up the Thames, " burnt G-ravesend. On the other hand, the Earl of Buckingham (the king's uncle) marched through France from Calais to Brit- tany, but he was very coldly received by the Duke, who soon afterward made his submission to the King of France. On this the English troops returned greatly dissatisfied, and clamorous for their pay. To raise the necessary sum a most unjust scheme was resorted to, and the consequence was the formidable rising of the common people which bears the name of Wat Tyler's re- bellion. § 7. This scheme was the imposition of a poll-tax of three groats (equal to at least fifteen shillings at the present day) on rich and poor alike, if above the age of fifteen. Quite as heavy taxes had been paid in the preceding reign without a murmur, as they were only imposed on the comparatively wealthy landlords and mer- chants. The latter usually gained some valuable privilege in ex- change, and the former class could and did, under the feudal systeni, rejjay themselves by exactions from their tenants. These, 220 HISTORT OF ENGLAjSTD. [Book V. A PoU-tax resistea. An Outrage. Wat Tylert Efibellion. the "poor commons," as they styled themselves— the villeins or YUlani "—unless they fled from their holdings and • ^ ^^' "■ ^' gained the shelter of some borough town, were little better than slaves.' § 8. Long before the breaking out of the insurrection here al- luded to, these "poor commons" had begun to form associations for making a united stand against too grievous oppression. Though these associations were prohibited by the parliament they were not suppressed, and many of the landowners found it to their advan- tage to sell certain privileges to their villeins, in the same way as the kings sold privileges to the towns. And so it came about that there were now found men, banded together aU over the country, who at once resolved to oppose so iniquitous a scheme as this poll-tax, which they regarded as expressly devised to spare the wealthy. § 9. The effect was soon seen. Though the rich paid the small sum asked of them, the poor refused ; and as the money was ur- gently wanted for the soldiers, the council unwisely took a loan from some foreign merchants, and intrusted them with the col- lection. These men and their agents behaved with great brutality and insolence, and even tried to extort the tax for girls under the prescribed age. One fellow acting thus, in the most insulting manner, vtdth the daughter of Walter, a tiler at Dartford, was killed on the spot by her father. His neighbors flew to arms to protect him, and all over the country bands were formed, the leaders of which, as an earnest of their intentions, took the name of Walter the Tiler, or Wat Tyler. Walter himself became a principal leader in the movement. § 10. Even before this rising the collectors had been opposed in Essex ; and when Sir Robert Belknap, a judge, was sent as a com- missioner of trailhatov ,'' to enforce obedience, he was obliged to flee for his life, whilst some of his "jurors"' were seized and beheaded. The commons now demanded the abandonment of 1 A villein who had dwelt for a year and a day in a town, unclaimed by his lord, be- came free so far ; but he was not admitted to the privileges of the town, and could not rise above the grade of a mere laborer, or can-y on a ti-ade on his own accouuL 2 The issuing of such a commission was, in reality, much the same as the proclama- tion of martial law, the parties intrusted with it being empowered to try and punish offenders at discretion ; and the power was usually exercised with great rigor. 3 These jurors must not be regarded as the same as the jurors of the present day. They were witnesses for the crown, or Informers, and hence their unpopularity. Chaptbk IX.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 221 A. Poptilar Insurrection, Bad Advice followed. The King in danger. tlie tax, and the grant of charters from the king freeing them from the absolute dependence on their lords, to which they had been reduced. If their demands had been granted, they still would not have been half so free as Englishmen at the present day ; but all concession was haughtily refused, and a terrible scene followed. § 11. Just at this time Sir Simon Burley, one of the royal household, heard that one of the villeins of his estate was dwelling in the town of Gtravesend, and he was unwise enough to go there himself, seize him as his bondsman, and imprison him in Roches- ter Castle. The commons at once rose, taking a "Wat Tyler" as their chief, and being joined by a party from Essex, whose leader was called Jack Straw, they stormed the castle and set the man at liberty. Many other jails were emptied of their prisoners. Among the actors in these scenes was a friar named John Ball, who is accused of inciting them to murder the nobles and gentry, by preaching sermons which began and ended with a rude couplet — " When Adam delved and Ev6 span. Who was then the gentleman ? " The poor people unhappily acted up to the advice, and so they converted what was at first a righteous protest' against flagrant injustice into a scene of plunder and murder, which compelled all above their own degree to take arms against them in self-defence. Thus Bishop Spenser, of Norwich, who was a far better soldier than bishop, put down and severely punished a rising in his own diocese, at the head of which was an artisan called John the Litster (or Byer), who murdered many knights and gentlemen, and com- pelled others to wait on him with kingly state as the price of their lives. § 13. The commotions began in April, 1381, and by the middle of June vast bodies of rustics from Kent and Surrey forced their way over the bridge into London, where great numbers of the poorer citizens joined them. Others, from Essex, encamped at Mile-end, The young king and his gi-eat officers had, in the mean time, taken refuge in the Tower, which was soon beset by the multitude, who clamored alike for charters of freedom and for the heads of the Duke of Lancaster, the chancellor, the treasurer, and many others. "Whilst some watched the Tower, so that none could escape, the rest divided into parties, who murdered tax-collectors and foreigners, and burnt the duke's stately palace of the Savoy, the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem, and the Temple, as well as 222 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book V. The Insurgents in london. Death of Wat Tyler. Concessions, all the bonds and records that they could lay hold of, considering tliern as the instruments of their servitude. But whilst they acted thus barbarously they forbore to plunder. Instead, they beat to dust Lancaster's costly gold and silver plate ; and one man, who v,'as seen to hide a silver vessel in his bosom, was hurled into the fire with Ms prize, his fellows crying, " We be zealous for truth and justice, and are not thieves or robbers." § 13. On the second day of their tumultuous possession of Lon- don, the young king went out to Mile-end, and granted all the demands (including pardon) of the Essex insurgents, who there- upon began their return to the country. But in the mean time f he Kentish men had entered the Tower, where they seized the chan- cellor and treasurer, and beheaded them on Tower-HiU. The suf- f erera were Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Sii- Robert Hales, the Lord Prior of the Knights of St. John. On the following day the insurgents assembled in Smithfield, and the king went thither to meet them, being prepared to grant the same franchises and pardons to them as he had done to the Essex men. But their leader, who was styled "Wat Tyler of Maid- stone " (the original Walter whose daughter was in- suited"), rose in his demands, and behaved in so threatening a manner that the king's attendants were alarmed for the sovereign's life. A quarrel at once ensued, when Wat was brought to the ground by a fatal blow from William Walworth, the Mayor of London. The young king was in imminent danger of death from the insurgents, but he had the address to ride in among them, and persuade them to follow him into the fields at Islington, where he granted theii' charters ; and on the appearance of a large body of well-armed men from the city they dispersed without further mischief. § 14. But though the charters had been gi-anted, it was by no means the intention of the king's councUlors to adhere to them. On the contrary, aU the military tenants of the crown were ordered to assemble, as if against a foreign enemy, when the charters were i-evoked as extorted by force, and special commissioners visited every county from Somersetshire to Yorkshire, who, under the pro- tection of strong bodies of troops, tried and executed above 1,500 persons. § 15. The skill and courage shown by the young king in dealing with the insurgents led to the expectation that he would prove a Chapter IX.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 223 Bicliard and his Ministers. He deolares his Successor. Claims to the Grown. y/ise and vigorous ruler, but such did not prove to be the case. In the following year [a.d. 1383] he married a German princess, who, from her constant striving to reconcile the jealous nobles who formed he:P husband's court, received, deservedly, the. name of "the Good Queen Anne." Eichard resembled his predecessor Edward'the Second in his light, careless disposition, and, like him, he left the affairs of the kingdom to his ministers, of whom two especially enioved his confidence, and were as fatal to him as Gaveston and De Spenser" had been to his ancestor. These were Michael de la Pole, the son of a wealthy merchant of Hull, who became chancellor, and was created Earl of Suffolk ; and Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who received the dukedom of Ire- land. The king's uncles were strongly opposed to the proceedings of these men, who wasted on court pageants the sums that they wished to see devoted to the war, and thus John of Gaunt ^ gained a strong party in London, where John ' of Northampton, the mayor, was his friend. When his year of office was out, however, John was seized and imprisoned, and various charges were brought against the duke ; but he retired to Ms castle of Pontef raet, and a civil war was only averted by the intercession of the queen mother, in the year 1384. § 16. The king next declared Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, heir presumptive to the throne. Then Lancaster made a claim to it in favor of his own son, who afterwards became king as Henry the Fourth. This was disregarded, and the duke then undertook an expedition to Spain to assert his right to the crown. He was unsuccessful, losing the greater part of his army from sickness. The matter was eventually settled by his giving his daughter Catherine in mamage to Henry the son of his rival. During his absence the Earl of Buckingham had driven out the Earl of Suffolk and the Duk^ of Ireland, who both died in exile, and he himself, receiving the title of Duke of Gloucester, became the head of a new council of regency [a.d. 1886], which exercised all the powers of government, although the king was no longer a minor, being then twenty years of age. § 17. Richard bore this tutelage for a while, but having privately obtained the opinion of some of the judges that the commission of regency was illegal, he prepared to shake it off. He was, how- ever, anticipated by Gloucester, who seized the Tower, and then, in what was called "the Wonder-working Parliament" [a.d. 1388], 224 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Glonoeater'B Tyranny. End of his Power. War with Soofland. he procured the condemnation of many of his opponents as traitors, when several of them were executed, and others banished. Among those executed was that Sir Simon Burley abeady « § 11, p. 221. j^gj^^p^g^^a for whom " the Good Queen Anne" made supplication on her knees to Gloucester, but in vain. The regent behaved so insolently that he alienated many of his supporters, of which the king took advantage, and, by what -would now be termed a coup Wetat, drove him from power. § 18. This was the end of Gloucester's power. Richard entered the council on the 3d of May, 1389, and smilingly inquired if any record existed to show the time of his birth. This was soon produced, and when read aloud gave the date as April 3, 1366. " Then am I twenty-three years of age," cried Biohard ; and tm-n- ing to Gloucester, he added, "and surely I am old enough, fair uncle, to govern without your help." Gloucester was too much surprised to make any reply, and he and all his friends were at once driven from the court, when William of Wykeham again became chancellor. The Duke of Lancaster returned to England soon afterward, and by Ms means the king and his uncle Glouces- ter were formally reconciled, though, as was afterwards seen, each hated and distrusted the other. § 19. Whilst these contentions were carried on but too actively in England, the war was allowed to languish both in Scotland and in France, consisting of little more than desultory inroads that did gi'ijat damage to each country, and brought on fierce reprisals, but had -no effect in achieving a conquest or producing an honorable peace. Almost at the beginning of Richard's reig-n the Scots bmut Roxburgh (then an English fortress) and captured Berwick ; but tliis was soon retaken by Percy, then newly created Earl of Northumberland. In 1381 Lancaster invaded Scotland, and thereby probably saved his li4e, as it was during this al)- » s 11 209 ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^ palace of the Savoy was bm-nt by the rioters ; '' and in 1385 the king himself led an army thither, and burnt Edinburgh. With these exceptions the war seems to have been mainly conducted by the northern nobles, foremost among whom were the Earl of Northumberland and his son, whose activity has gained him the well-known name of Harry Hotspur. The most memorable of the various battles fought in that war was that of Otterbum, in Northumberland [a.d. 1388], where Douglas, the Scottish leader, was kUled, and Hotspur taken Chapter IX.J THE PLANTAGENETS. 225 Affairs in France A Treasonable Insurrection defeated, prisoner. The ancient ballad of Chevy Chase is founded on this remarkable encounter, wliich is made to appear as a foray of hunt- ers on Douglas's domain, and opposed by him and his retainers. § 20. The -war with France, after the Duke of Brittany had aban- doned the cause, was far less eyentful. The French, in 1385, and again in 1386, thi-eatened an invasion ; but in each instance bad weather prevented their leaving their ports. In 1387 the Earl of Arundel gave them a great defeat near Sluys, which almost rained their navy, and thenceforward they only showed their hostility by sending succors to the Scots. At length truces were made fi'om year to year, which, in 1396, were followed by the king (whose queen had died two years before) marrying Isabella, the daughter of the French king, though she was only in her ninth year. As the price of this alliance Brest and Cherbourg were given up, and a report was spread that the Channel Islands and Calais would also be surrendered. This rendered the king very unpopular, and the Duke of Gloucester resumed his treasonable designs, which speedily resulted in his own death. § 31. When the Duke of Lancaster came home, he found his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, had in reality possessed himself of the government. Jealousy arose between them, and in conse- quence Lancaster now gave his support to the king. As a rewarcj the duchy of Aquitaine " was bestowed on him, and his natural children were legitimated. One of them, ' ''' called John Beaufort, was the ancestor of the dukes of Somerset, who fought so strenuously on the Lancastrian side in the War of the Roses. This favor to one who was now his avowed oppoflent induced Gloucester to plan a rising against the king, in which the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick pledged themselves to take part. < But their scheme became known, and the king, acting with unwonted vigor, at the instigation of his half-brother, the Earl of Huntingdon, went himself by night to Pleshey, near Chelmsford, which was the duke's seat, and there seized Gloucester, who was hurried off to Calais and thrown into prison. The others were also seized, and a parliament assembled for their trial. When it met, it was announced that Gloucester had died in prison after making a full confession of his offences, and urgently praying for the mercy that he had never shown him- self. The matter was then no further inquired into. Arundel and Warwick were condemned to death [a.d. 1397] ; but Aiundel 10* 226 HISTORY OP BNGLAKD. [Book V. Hoyal Favors. Dangers removed. Unfortuiiate Visit to Ireland. only was executed. The archbishop (who was brother to Arundel) was banished, and taking up his residence in France, he became the mainspring of the revolution that soon after deprived Eichard of his thi-one. § 23. At first everything proceeded aa the king wished. He gave higher titles to several nobles who had assisted him against Gloucester. The Earl of Derby (John of Gaunt's eldest son) was made Duke of Hereford ; and the Earl of Huntingdon, Duke of Exeter. The Earl of Nottingham, who was also earl marshal, and h;id been Gloucester's keeper, received the title of Duke of Nor- folk. Then removing the parliament to Shrewsbury, the king procured from it a reversal of the acts of the " Wonder-working Parliament." " Many of the actors in that assembly ' ' ' were condemned to heavy fines and forfeitures, and the royal treasury was thus greatly enriched. But scarcely had the parliament separated when a quarrel broke out between the Diikes of Hereford and Norfolk, and, according to the custom of the time, a combat was ordered between them, as each charged the other with falsehood and treason.' The combat was stopped at the moment that the dukes were mounted, lance in hand, and both were banished in the year 1398. Norfolk died about a year after- ward, but Hereford lived to become king. § 23. His enemies thus dispersed, Richard went to Ireland with a large army, his cousin, the Earl of March, who was the next heir to the throne,'!' having been killed there in the pre- ceding year. He had visited Ireland five years before, and had found the people in general very willing to submit to his authority. Such vras also the case now, but his going lost him his crown. When the Duke of Hereford was banished, the king promised him that he should succeed to the duchy of Lancaster in case of liis father's death ; but hearing that the duke consorted in France with the banished archbishop, the sons of the late Duke of Gloucester and Earl of Arundel, and other malcontents, he re- called his promise. Hereford on this repaired to Brittany, and equipping a small fleet sailed for England, the archbishop and the young Earl of Arundel accompanying him. He landed at 1 Norfolk was believed to have put Gloucester to death on his own authority as earl marshal ; hut Hereford charged him with saying that he had acted by the order of the kmg, who designed thus to get rid of others of the nobility. Norfolk denied the speech, and challenged his accuser to iustify himself in knightly fashion. Chapter IX.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 227 A Bevolution iiv England. The Mng dethroned. His mysterious Disappearance. Ravenspur, in Yoi'ksbire, in July, 1399, professing that ho came merely to claim his^nheritance. But this pretext was soon dropped. The great Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland joined him, as did his uncle the Duke of York soon after, though he was regent of the kingdom. Then he marched to Bristol, where he seized and executed the Earl of Wiltshire, who had been an actor in the condemnation of Gloucester and his friends, and soon afterward he openly claimed the throne. § 24. Bad weather for a while prevented Richard's return fi'om Ii-eland, and almost immediately on his landing he was deserted by the greater part of his troops, his steward, the Earl of Worces- ter (Northumberland's brother), setting the example by breaking his wand of office and declaring the royal household dismissed. Soon afterward he was betrayed into the hands of the new Duke of Lancaster, who brought him to London, where, in a parliament that was immediately assembled, a renunciation of the throne by him was. read, and he was deposed, one man alone, Bishop Merks of Carlisle, having the courage to protest against his being con- demned unheard. But this protest was disregarded, and Henry of Lancaster, the Dulse of Hereford," was placed on the throne by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and declared king. § 35. And so Richard was dethroned. Of his after life veiy lit- tle is known. The parliament shortly afterward ordei-ed him to be " kept secretly in safe ward," and he was removed from the Tower to Leeds Castle, in Kent. Thence he was taken to Pontefract Cas- tle, and there he is usually said to have died, either murdered by his keeper, Sir Piers Exton, or starved to death. A body that was said to be his was shown at St. Paul's shortly after his deposition, and wa^ afterwards buried at Langley, but no account of how he came by his death was given. There is reason for believing that he escaped from Pontefract, and lived nearly twenty years after- wards in Scotland, in a state of mental imbecility. § 26. But whatever was the date or the mode of Richard's death, his fate was a most unhappy one. All through his reign his am- bitious uncles struggled for power, and, though affecting a kind of guardianship, not one of them endeavored to iit him for the high position to which he came so young. Though he occasion- ally showed gleams of spirit and corn-age worthy of his father and grandfather, he was evidently luxurious and indolent, and but too 228 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Character of Richard the Second. The Papal Power ui England. wiUing to leave the cares of government to any who would under- take them. <• § 27. In Ms personal character Richard the Second was mild and gracious, and though, at the instigation of others, he proceeded with severity against his tmcle the Duke of Gloucester, he was placable to the other conspii-ators, and showed himself far more merciful than they were when their circumstances were reversed. By his immediate attendants he was evidently much beloved, but by his want of warlike activity he offended alike his martial nobles, who longed for fresh conquests in France and Scotland, and the rich merchants, who looked for fresh concessions from the crown in return for their loans. But Richard's advisers saw how much the royal power had been limited through his grandfather's cease- less wai's and consequent want of money, and therefore they strove for peace, a course that suited his own inclination, but which cost him both his throne and his life. CHAPTER X. SOOnfiTT FROM THE YBAB 1200 TO THE TEAR 1400. § 1. There was very little change in the aspects of Christianity in England during the reigns of the kings from John to Hem-y of Lancaster, a period of about two hundred years. We have seen how strong was the papal authority during all that time. The Roman pontiffs asserted their supremacy over aU potentates and powers with imperious will and imperial strength. In no countiy were their exactions and encroachments in the thirteenth century more frequent than in England. The natural good-nature and superstition of the people made them quietly submit, while their insular separation from the rest of Europe, and their wealth, con- curred with political circumstances in making England the great field of Papal imposition and plunder. It was not untO. the reion of Edward the Third that the people of England openly expressed •§24 p 216 ^^'^^ dislike of the growing abuses of that power." ■ From the time of Boniface VIH. [1294], who pro- claimed that " God had set him over kings and kingdoms," and laid France and Denmark under interdict, a general feeling of Chapteb X.] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 229 The Papal Ilev^nue from England. Tlie Cliurcli there. 'Wlckliffe. resentment existed; and, as has been said, "slowly, like the retreat of waters, or the stealtl^ pace of old age, that extraordinary power OTer human opinion has been subsiding for flye centuries." § 3. In the year 1376 the Commons," in a remonstrance to the king against the extortions of the court of Eome, „ ^ ° ° "^ § 21, p. 179. affirmed that the taxes yearly paid to the Pope by the people of England amounted to fire times as much as all the taxes paid to the crown. Gregory the Ninth alone, in the course pf a few years, drew from England, in various ways, a sum equal to £15,000,000, or $75,000,000. The ecclesiastics were the crea- tures of the pontifEs, and the church in England was the conduit through which these treasures flowed into the cofEers of the Pope. Nearly one-half of the soil of England was in the possession of the church ; and all of the richest benefices were in the hands of Italian and other foreign priests. The Pope also claimed and ex- ercised the power of making and abrogating laws, and releasing men from their most solemn oaths. The priest was everywhere omnipotent, and all England swarmed with monks of various orders. All the high civil offices were filled with ecclesiastics, and military leaders were frequently bishops. Public worship was cere- monial, and religion as a sentiment of the heart was little known. § 3. It was during this period that the English reformer, John Wickliffe,'' appeared. His name was derived from the ' § 35, p. 316. Yorkshire parish in which he was bom, about the year 1324. He was an eminent student at Oxford; and at the age of thirty-one he issued a treatise entitled, " Of the Last Age of the Church," in which he trenchantly assailed the prevailing notions concerning the authority of the Pope. He then attacked some of the monastic orders, and even the doctrines of the church. He denounced twelve classes of religious orders, beginning with the Pope and ending with the mendicant friars, as antichrists and "proctors of Satan; " he traced the corruptions of the church to the profusion of wealth with which it had been endowed ; and he di'ew a parallel between the poverty and humility of the apostles and the wealth and arrogance of their pretended successors in his day. Though he received the countenance and support of the most powerful of the nobility, he suffered persecution. His stormy life ended on the 31st of October, 1384. § 4. "WicklifEe's fundamental position was, like that of Luther a long time afterward, that the knowledge of the revealed will of 230 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. fBooK V. WickliEEe's Doctrine. Representative Govemment established. The Statutes. God -was to be found in the Holy Scriptures only, not by the church alone, or its authorized heads, but by every earnest-seeking indi- vidual. Before his time portions of the Scriptures had been translated into the English tongue, but they were almost wholly unknown to the people. WicklifEe translated the whole of the Old and New Testaments, and so made his name dear and im- mortal as a real benefactor of his countrymen. § 5. During the period we are considering great changes were made in the constitution of government, Magna Char- ° § i**' »• i^"- ^g^a (-nriiich was frequently confirmed) being the basis. During the first century or more after the Conquest, the great council of the realm '' was composed only of the ten- ' ''■ ■ ants-in-chief, or vassals of the king. Of these, one portion consisted of the bishops and abbots, or heads of religious houses holding immediately of the crown. The lay portion con- sisted of the earls and barons, meaning by the latter those holding of the king. These, in turn, were entitled to a summons which gave them a right to sit in the council. § 6. The earliest indication that we have of popular representa- tion is found in a summons, in the year 1255, for "two good and discreet knights from each ooimty, whom the men of the county should have chosen for the purpose, instead of all and each of them, to consider, along with the knights of other counties, what aid they would grant the king in such an emergency." That emergency was the sending of an expedition into Gascony. Ten years later, two citizens or burgesses of every city and borough in the kingdom, chosen by the people, were summoned to sit in a representative council with the knights. § 7. Such was the origin of the House of Commons. At first they held a very humble position, scarcely daring to lift their eyes in the presence of the great lords and bishops ; and their chief business was to prefer petitions and grant subsidies to the monarch. The two houses met together in Westminster Hall, the Commons occupying the lower end ; and it was not until in the reign of Edward the Tliird that they met in diiferent chambers. § 8. For two centuries after the Conquest the statutes were written in Latin, when the relations of England with France be- came so intimate that they were vsritten in French. In the pro- mulgation of the statutes they were always translated from both the Latin and French. Chaptek X] the PLANTAGBNETS. 231 Courts of Justice. First Lawyers. Commercial Eegulations, § 9. In the earlier stages of the history of the courts of justice, the parliaments appear to have partaken considerably more of the character of a, supreme court of iudicaturo than it afterward did. And for the trial of great offences, like treason, parliament con- tinued to be a high court until toward the close of the reign of Edward the Third, when the Commons first appeared as prose- cutors, and the king and lords were considered the judges. So in our goTemment, the House of Kepi'esentatives, in the case of the impeachment of the president, appears as the accuser and prose- cutor, and the Senate becomes a high court for trial. § 10. The tribunal next in authority to the parliament was the council, consisting of the king and all the lords and peers of the realm. It corresponded somewhat to the present British Privy Council. Below these were the inferior county courts, aheady mentioned." And it was at about this time, when the law became complicated and voluminous, that pro- fessional lawyers appeared, and had special residences provided, like that by the Earl of Lincoln, known as Lincoln's Inn, in London. § 11. It seems as if, during much of the period under considera- tion, the rulers of England, by unwise regulations of commerce, tried to suppress it altogether by attempting to annul the laws of nature. The articles of English produce upon which customs were paid were called " staples of the kingdom,'' and these all had to be carried to stipulated ports to be weighed or measured, and the customs collected before they could be sold. All mer- cantile dealings were also, for a time, restricted to certain places. Then the great increase in the foreign commerce of the country perplexed legislators; and the most ruinous efforts were made to secure the entire benefits of that trade to England. Had these been successful — for example, an order issued by Edward the First, directing all foreign merchants to sell their goqds within forty days after their arrival; also, not allowing foreign merchants to reside in England, excepting by special license and subjection to heavy burdens — commerce would have been ex- tinguished. But necessity made men vrise, and many absurd regu- lations were abandoned, and the law of trade involved in demand and supply was allowed freer action. § 13. The vessels, both for war and commerce, in those days were very small, and most uncouth in appearance. The vessel 232 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Ships of tlie Thirtoonth Contury. Coinage. Husbandry of England. lent by the republic of Venice, in 1370, to Louis of France, when he set out on his second crusade, was one hundred and twenty-five feet in length, and earned one hundred and ten men. Tliat was considered a ship of extraordinary size. The English ships were much smaller. In 1360, Edward the Third, in an order for the arrest of aU the vessels in the kingdom for an expedition against France, directed that the largest ships should carry forty maiiners, forty armed men, and sixty archers. The merchant vessels were generally much smaller, but they often carried valuable cargoes, some estimated as high as live and six thousand pounds sterling. § 13. The earliest record of the exports and imports of England is an account of the foreign trade given in the year 1354. The total value of exports that year was £213,338, paying customs to the amount of £81,846. Wool then constituted thirteen-four- teenths of the entire exports of England, on which was paid an export duty of forty per cent, of its value. The imports that year [1354] amounted in value to £38,383. It is proper to say that there were some exports and imports of commodities on which no customs were paid. § 14. The coinage of England, in denominational value, was the same during this as in the preceding period." It, however, became corrupted by clipping (a crime charged upon the Jews at the time of the massacre when Richard the First was crowned''), and by the issue of counter- feits. Scotch coins were greatly deteriorated at this period ; so also were those of Ireland. Silver was the only metal used until Robert the Second, of Scotland (nephew ■ of Robert the Fu-st") [1371-1390], coined some gold money. The coins were generally rude in workmanship, and not always of uniform weight. By a statute passed in the thirteenth centuiy, it was declared that the sterling English penny should " weigh thirty-two grains of wheat, dry, in the midst of the ear." This was the origin of the weight stiU called " pennyweight," though it now contains only twenty-four grains. The stamping of the coins was done by a hammer, and this method continued until 1663, when the milled money was made. § 15. The husbandry of England was much the same as in the preceding period. Each manor-house had three gardens, a iish- pond, and a rabbit-warren. The flesh of the rabbits was used for food, and their fur for articles of dress ; and the fish-ponds were Chapter X.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 233 Manorial Estates. Diet. Wages. Internal Commerce. Trades. a convenience on fast-days. Around these manor-houses were the mean cottages of the laborers or tenants, each of whom occupied only three acres. Some of the manorial estates were wealthy in domestic animals. There were carried away from that of the elder De Spenser, when it was ravaged," 38,000 sheep, 1,000 oxen and heifers, 1,200 cows, with their calves, 500 cart-horses, " § 14 D SOI and 3,000 hogs. * ' ^ § 16. The diet of the laborere usually consisted, in harvest, of herrings, a loaf of bread, and beer. They ate but two meals- dinner at nine and supper at five.'' The most liberal b §33^ p, 169, allowance was two herrings a day, milk from the manor dairy to make cheese, and a loaf of bread, of which fifteen were made from a bushel of wheat. § 17. The head harvestman of the manor was chosen by the ten- ants each year. During his term of service he enjoyed certaiu privileges. He slept at the manor-house, and had a horse kept for him in the lord's stable. Women performed field labor of the lighter kind. Their wages were lower than those of men, which were usually twopence a day ; and in harvest time young and old, of both sexes, were afield. When the crops were gathered each tenant received his share of the product, and this was expected to last him until the next harvest ; but improvident consumptiou im- mediately after harvest often produced famines. § 18. A large portion of the internal trade of the country was carried on at faii-s and appointed markets, at which London trades- men appeared with toys, drugs, spices, and small wares. The trades were more numerous than in the preceding period, a num- ber, under different names, being only portions of what were car- ried on by single persons. In London there were no less than forty-eight in the year 1376. Among them were skinners, girdlers, tapestry- weavers, spurriers, ^cloth-measurers, salters, pouch-makers, and homers — -occupations now unknown as distinct pursuits. Some of these trades were carried on by women as well as men. § 19. Literature, science, and art in England felt the impulse of the great intellectual awakening on the Continent in the thir- teenth century, where there was a universal revolt from the study of words and of sesthetics incident to a revival of classical learn- ing, to that of thoughts and of things. The enthusiasm of the cru- sades seems to have been succeeded by the enthusiasm of study in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In the beginaing of the 234 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Literature and Science. History and Poetry. Architecture. latter there were thirty thousand students in the University of Oxford, and as many in the University of Paiis. The study of elegant literature was now nearly abandoned, and everywhere was seen a passion for metaphysical disputation which gratified men's vanity. Tlie study of the logic of Aristotle, which former Popes had forbidden, was now pursued with a zeal that amounted to enthusiasm. Mathematical studies and iovestigations were exten- sively engaged in, as well as astrology and alchemy — parents, respectively, of modem astronomy and chemistry. § 20. In the mathematical and physical sciences Roger Bacon is the great name in the thirteenth century. The range of his inves- tigations included theology, grammar, the ancient languages, geometry, astronomy, chronology, geography, music, optics, me- chanics, chemistry, and other branches of experimental philosophy, in which he created a new era. § 21. There were several prominent historical writers during this period, the most eminent of whom was Mathew Paris, a monlc of the monastery of St. Albans. But theii- works are defiled vpith leg- ends and romances which stain their character as histories. In- deed, Dr. Lingard has pronounced the History of England from the Conquest, written by Paris, as "a romance rather than a history.'' § 22. Of poets, the most renowned of this period were Chaucer and Gower. That wonderful minstrel of the fourteenth century, Chaucer, has never been surpassed in the entire assemblage of his various poetic qualities, excepting by Shakespeare. That, too, was the period of the birth of Scottish poetry, of which Barbour and Wynton are the early representatives. Then, too, while the lan- guage of the learned was Latin, and of the nobility French, the first important steps were taken in the passage of the speech of the common people from the Anglo-Saxon into modem English. § 23. In sacred architecture, the Oothic had now become the prevailing tyjie, but was somewhat modified in England from its French original. The finest remaining specimen of the early Eng- lish Gothic style is Salisbuiy Cathedi'al, founded in the year 1220. In the reign of Edward the Second [1284-1327], the decorated English style was introduced, more florid and meretricious than the earlier. Castle-building had received a check in the reign of Hemy the Second [1154-1189]. In that of Edward the First [1272-1807], the castles assumed the character of a fortress and palace combined, and they presented an elegance before unknown. Chapteb X,] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 235 DwelJings. Sculpture. Living. Furniture and Costume. § 34. The mere domestic style of building of that period was very simple, and ia fonn the dwelliugs, with plain gabled out- lines, pres»nted the appearance of the common farm-house of our day — a gi'eat, improvement upon the houses of the preceding period. § 25. Sculpture was chiefly employed in monumental architec- ture, of which many rich specimens are preserved. Painting was so inferior that it hardly claimed the character of a fine art at that period, and music had not yet attained to the dignity of a science. The musical instruments then in use were the oboe, trumpet, cla- rion, dulcimer, tabret, violia, flute, and harp. § 26. During this period the style of living had become more comfortable and elegant. Even among the laborers a display of taste was often seen. In the houses of the rich the furniture was costly. The wood-work was elegantly carved, and the coverings ■ of chairs and hangings of bedsteads were oiten of silk and other rich stuffs. The bedsteads, in form, resembled the child's crib of our day. On the bed-clothes the nobility had theii- anns em- broidered; and in the will of the Earl of March" [1380] beds of black satin, of blue, red, and white silk, and of black velvet, more or less embroidered vidth gold, sil- ver, and colors, are mentioned. § 27. Cupboards were well filled with plate, and a fork of crystal, brought from Italy, is mentioned in Edward the First's wardrobe account. But forks were not introduced into England, at table, until the seventeenth century. § 28. The civil costume in England did not differ very essen- tially at this period from that of the preceding era, which we have described.' The men wore a greater variety of head- ' § 19, p. 168. coverings, and the mantles of the rich were distin- guished for their costliness. The principal change in feminine attire was in the fashion of wearing the hair, and in the extrava- gant length of the trails of their dresses, for which they were attacked by the satirists of their day. The hah-, instead" of being plaited in long tails as formerly," was turned up be- hind, and entirely enclosed in a network composed of gold, silver, or silk thread, over which was worn a veil, and some- times, in addition, a round cap. Garlands and chaplets of gold- smiths' work were also worn by the nobility; and in summer 7/reaths of flowers were worn by all classes. 236 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Pashions, Chivalry. Cookery. Sports. § 39. Toward the close of tlie reign of Hemy the Third, a most unbecoming neckcloth, caUed a gorget, was introduced. In the reign of the first Edward it was wrapped two or three timas around the neck, and then fastened with a great number of pins. "Par Dieu ! " exclaims Jean de Meun, when describing this portion of feminine attire, " I have often thought in my heart, when I have seen a lady so closely tied up, that her neckcloth was nailed to her chin, or that she had the pins hooked in her flesh." Tight lacing was now in vogue, and also tight buttoning of the sleeves from the wrists to the elbows. Tlie ku-tles of the ladies were of light blue silk ; their mantles of green velvet, embroidered with gold and richly fiu-red. The wits, because of the length of their skirts, spoke of them as peacocks and pies, "having long taOs that trail in the dirt." The whimsical fashion of indenting, escollop- ing, and otherwise cutting the edges of garments, against which there had been legislative enactments, was now carried out with the greatest extravagance." Sometimes the richer la- « § 20, p. 169. ° '' dies wore girdles of beaten gold set with precious stones, and coronets with costly gems. The mfn in Edward the Third's reign adopted close-fitting garments, and from the elbows depended long white tippets or streamers. And now began the habit of changing fashions often, in imitation of the custom on the Continent ; and Paris became, what it ever since has been, the foun- tain of fashions and the arbiter of taste in dress. Foppery became common in England ; and in the reign of Richard the Second the masculine attire assumed the most whimsical foiins, while the feminine attire was graceful and elegant. § 30. Chivalry at this period was in its noontide splendor, and gave tone to society. There was a recklessness and brilliance in entertainments before unknown, while the common people adhered to their old simple modes of living. Cookery had become a sort of science — a most vicious science — and was most complicated and artificial. But for the continual out-of-door exercises of all classes of the aristocracy, the cooks with then- spices and pastry would have made England a land of dyspeptics. § 31. Hunting and horse-racing were favorite sports in the field, and chess was the popular game of the nobles within doors. The ladies hunted with the gentlemen, and engaged with them in many other amusements. It was a mark of great gallantry and friend- sliip for a knight to ask a lady to eat ofE the same plate vrith him. Chapter XI. J THE PLAJSTTAGENiETS. 237 Jesters. Feast of Fools and Boy Bishop. Kew King. We have an account of a feast in Perce Forest where eight hundi'ed knights sat table, each with a lady sharing his plate, while not a husband of one of them dared show his face there. § 33. At the feasts the jester was now a regular appendage. Mummers, masqueraders, rope-dancers, and jugglers were favorites with the common people, and late in this period the Feast of Fools was kept by the populace. It was celebrated at Christmas time, and resembled the old Roman Saturnalia. It was a season of uni- versal license among the commonalty, in which all orders and authorities were reversed. The most ignorant boor became a pope ; the buffoon, a cardinal ; and the lowest of the mob be- came priests and abbots. Tlie mob took possession of the churches and parodied every part of the sacred service, singing masses com- posed of obscene songs, and preaching sermons filled with aU manner of lewdness and buffoonery. This riotous feast was not so extravagantly commemorated in England as on the Continent, and the good sense of the people soon caused it to fall into disuse. But for a long time, even until the middle of the sixteenth century, another parody was kept up, known as the institution of the Boy Bishop. This was a practice of the boys of the church choirs, at a certain festival, dressing up in full canonicals, and making one of their number bishop, investing him with mitre and crosier, and then taking possession of the church, mimicking the whole of the devotional exercises. CHAPTER XI. REIGN OF Henry the Fourth. [a.d. 1399 to 1413.] § 1. It was on the last day of September, 1399, when Henry, surnamed Bolingbroke, son of the Duke of Lancaster, was crowned in Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury, with the title of Henry the Fourth. He was the first of the royal House of Lancaster, and was thirty-three years of age when he ascended the throne. § 2. The new king was totally unlike his yet living ^ ^^ predecessor.' Whilst still a youth, and known only as Sir Henry of Lancastej', he acquired great skill in aU martial 238 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. ITenry's Career and Accession. His First Parliament. False Nobles. exercises, and accompanied liis father, John of Gatint," in Ms Spanish wars. Then he assumed the cross, fought in ' '' " ' Barbary against the Moors, next in the east of Europe ■ndth the Teutonic knights against the pagans of Lithuania, and wound up his career by a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. § 3. On the return of Henry to England he became at once a popular favorite, whilst his fame rendered him an object of jealous dislike to the king. ' The plots of the Duke of Gloucester, how- ever, caused a reconciliation between the royal cousins, as Glouces- ter liad evidently designs on the crown, and the Earl "of Derby,' as he was now called, had, thi-ough his mother, what he was pleased to consider a " claim by right line of the blood " to it also, which Richard, who had no family, was more ILliely to recognize than Gloucester would be, should he " win his way through slaughter to tlie throne." Hence Derby joined in the condemnation of his uncle, and was rewarded with the title of Duke of Hereford." His quarrel vdth Norfolk, his banishment, his return, his being made king, followed in a brief space of time, as already re- 1 § 33, p. 226. , , , ^ ^ ■' lated. '' § 4. Tlie parliament that had deposed Richard proceeded much „»., in the style of the "Wonder-working Parliament" " of • § 17, p. 23.3. ^ 1386. Almost every act of the late king or his min- ister since that time was set aside, and pardons, of course, granted to their opponents. The murder of the Duke of Gloucester was inquired into, and the titles given in consequence disallowed. The ex-king was doomed to perpetual imprisoimient, and special thanks were voted to the people of London for the great share that they had taken in the late revolution. But the assembly was a most tumultuous one, charges of treachery and falsehood being freely (and truly) made on aU sides, and not less than forty gauntlets thrown upon the iloor as gages of combat between nobles and knights. The qew king, however, who was of a stem temper, and fitted to hold rule among such men, peremp- toi-ily forbade this, and the deadly quarrel was delayed until after the coronation. § 5. Among the nobles who swore allegiance to Henry on this , . no ««a occasion were several who had no intention of ad- ' § 33, p. 33o. . henng to him. Such were the Earls of Huntingdon ' and Kent (who were Richard's half-brother and nephew, and had Chapter XI.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 239 Plots frustrated. England's Troubles. Discontents. been deprived of their liigher titles of Dukes of Exeter and Sur- rey), the Earl of Salisbury, and Lord De Spenser (the great-grand- son of the lord of Edward the Second's time, who had lost his title of Earl of Gloucester). " They plotted the murder of the king at a tournament, but being foiled in this they took up arms. " § 13, p 200 That was in the year 1400. Hem-y pursued them with an army of Londoners, but ere he could reach them they had been defeated at Cirencester, and many of them put to death by the people of that town. Lord De Spenser was captured while trying to escape to Wales, and was executed at Biistol, ajid the Earl of Huntingdon, falling into the power of the CountesS of Hereford (the mother-in-law of Henry and sister of the late Earl of Arundel), was beheaded by her on her own authority, and in her presence. Numerous executions followed, particularly of Richard's personal attendants, and their heads, being sent to London, were received with barbarous rejoicings, the Ajchbishop of Canterbury going out to meet them chanting a Te Deum. § 6. But though this attempt had failed, and had consequently rendered the throne of Henry more secure, he and the people who had chosen him were only at the beginning of their troubles. The kings both of France and of Scotland declared the truces at an end, as having been concluded with Richard, and to the end of Henry's reign they refused the royal title to him. Waleran, Count of St. Pol, who had married Richard's half-sister, fitted out a fleet in his name, and, in company with the Spanish galleys, ravaged the coast from Cornwall to Suffolk. The French threatened invasion ; the Scots burst into the north of England; and the Welsh, headed by Owen Glyndwr, the great-grandson of their last native prince,' made a desperate attempt to regain their in- dependence. In addition to these troubles, some at least of those who had placed Henry on the throne had now become anxious to drive him from it. Vast estates had been seized from Richard's friends, but instead of bestowing them freely among his supporters, Henry unwisely granted the greater part to his own sons, which, as the eldest of them was only twelve years of age, was considered much the same as keeping them in his own hands. This unfair division of the spoil reminded some of the nobles that, however unworthy to reign Richard might have been, Henry was not his heir, and they accordingly prepared to take arms against him. § 7. According to the ordinary rules of succession, the crown of 210 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Aspirations for the Ciovm. War against tlie Soots. Enemies coalesce. England should have passed to Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, then a boy of seven years of age, and the son of that Boger Morti- mer who had been declared heir to the throne in 1385.° • "• ^ ■ xjjg parliament, it is true, had set this aside ; but the youth's relatives were not inclined to recognize tliis if they could avoid it, and accordingly his uncle. Sir Edmund Mortimer, re- Ijau-ed to the border of Wales, when Henry, suspecting that war was intended, seized the young earl and his sisters and imprisoned them in Windsor Castle. Shortly after this. Sir Edmund was taken prisoner by Glyndwr, who regarded all the Marchers as his enemies, when Hemy refused to suffer his friends to ransom him. § 8. Among these friends were the potent Earl of Northumber- land and his son Hotspur,' who were already dis- ' contented on their own account with the king that they had so gi-eatly helped to make. To them had chiefly been left the defence of the border against the Scots, and they complained that large sums of money which had been voted for that purpose had been kept back and wasted on court favorites. They, how- ever, carried on the war, and liotspur gave a great defeat to the Scots at Homildon Hill [September 14, 1402], where a large num- ber of knights and nobles were made piisoners. The ransom of prisoners was then a most important matter, the sums to be paid being well regulated according to rank, and forming a fund which captors looked to to repay a part, at least, of their expenses ; but for some reason Henry now chose to forbid them to ransom any of their captives without his special permission. The result was soon seen. The Percys formed an alliance vsdth the Earl of Douglas, their chief prisoner ; then communicated with Sii- Ed- mund Mortimer, and through him made a formal treaty with Glyndwr, theii- professed object being to restore Richard, if alive (which the Scots asserted him to be), or if not, to place the Earl of March on the throne. There were other plots for displacing Henry, such as that of the vridow of Earl de •^ 8 o, p. Sijo. Spencer," who had powerful partisans. ■ § 9. Whilst the Earl of Northumberland stayed behind in the north, strengthening his castles and gathering further forces, his gallant son. Hotspur, and his brother, the Earl of Worcester, hur- ried forward with 14,000 men to the borders of Wales, expect- ing to be met there by Glyndwr. But the latter was engaged in besieging the strong town of Caermarthen, and before he could Chapter XL] THE PLANTAGENETS. 241 Death of Northumberland. The Lollards and the Church. Confiscjations. get near tliem they had been attacked and totally defeated, near Slirewsbury, by Henry, on the 21st of July, 1403. Hotspui- fell in the battle, and the Earl of Worcester was captured and executed. Henry then marched to York, where the Earl of Northumberland came and made his submission. His life was spared, but many of his possessions were taken from him, an'd he sought refuge in Scotland. A few years later, fearing to be delivered up by the Scots, he repaired to Glyndwi-, in Wales, after which he again appeared in arms in Yorkshh-e, when he was killed in a conflict with the sheriff [a.d. 1408], and the Percys remained under attainder until the next reign. § 10. But they were not the only parties who, having served Hem-y's tm-n, were cast off by him. His father had declared Mmself a patron of John Wickliffe, and the Lollards, as Wick- lifEe's disciples were commonly called," had strenu- R O^^ n 91 ft ously supported Hem-y's claim to the crown. They professed to look on the possession of property by the church as an abuse, and very early in his reign they proposed its confiscation for the benefit of the State. Henry was ready to listen to them ; but his friend Archbishop Arundel convinced him that more was to be got by protecting the church than by plundering it. The king at once abandoned liis allies, and allowed a statute to be passed which condemned them to be burnt asTieretics. William Sawtre, a London priest, was the first sufferer under it, in the year 1401. Notwithstanding the change in Henry's policy, the scheme was brought forward at what was called " the Unlearned Parlia- ment," held in 1404, and so named because " men learned in the law " (then usually clergymen) had no place in it. It is probable that this was the work of Henry's dishonest ministers, as a means of obtaining a large grant from the fears of the clergy, and this end was answered. It was again brought forward in 1411, with the like result. § 11. When Henry took possession of the throne, he loudly pro- mised to head an army against France, and to lead it f m-ther than even his grandfather, Edward the Third, had done ; but he never took any steps to carry eut this boast. Unlike what was exj^ected from his early career, he had little success in war. Three times he marched into Wales, but he was never able to bring Glyndwr to action, and his troops suffered so much from bad weather that the chroniclers gravely attributed their disasters to the magic arts of 11 24.2 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book V. Glyndwr Sovereign of Wales. He liberates his country. their skilful opponent. The bards declared that he made battle from the clouds, and used the elements as his allies and vassals. § 13. Glyndwr, or Glendower, had been brought up in the Eng- lish court, and was knighted by Richard the Second, on whom he attended until his deposition. He then repau-ed to his estates in Wales, when he found that a part of his lands had been seized by Lord Grey of Ruthyn, one of the Marchers, and a supporter of Henry. Despauing of redress from the law, which the other March- ers were not likely to administer impartially, he at once took up arms, captured Lord Grey, and threw him into prison. It was the first time for a century that a native Welshman had dared to withstand the tyranny of the Marchers, and the news produced a wonderful effect. Large numbers of the Welsh had settled in England, some as priests or monks, some as students at Oxford, but many more as minstrels, or huntsmen, or " valets," ' in the establishments of the nobles, but they now quitted their posts in thousands and flocked to join Glyndwr. He was learned, valiant, skilled in arms, and quite able to avail himself of the opportunity given of endeavoring to free his country. He at once assumed the title of " Owen, Prince of Wales,'' was crowned at the old seat of Welsh royalty, Machynlleth, and was fonnaUy acknowledged as a sovereign by the King of France, who also sent him aid in men, money, and ships. § 13. Thus strengthened he gained and held possession of by far the greater part of Wales, ravaged the border, and vrith his French allies marched into England as far as Worcester, but found that city too strong to be attacked. But in Wales scarcely a single place held out successfully against him. He captured all the strong castles that Edward the First had erected, and most of the " English towns," " as they were called, submitted to him. He drove out the Bishop of Bangor, and appointed another in his ^ This was the name then given to the confidential attendants and hiimble friends of kings and great men, to whom important private affairs, that it might not be safe to write abjut, were ofetn intrusted by %™rd of mouth. The Welsh were much valued for their faithfulness in such matters. * Among these were Brecknock, Caermarthen, Montgomery, and Radnor. Edward the First peopled .these entirely with English, on whAu he conferred very important privileges. No Welshman was to reside in them above the rank of a servant, and any burgess who married a Welshwoman thereby forfeited his freedom, and .was to be ex- pelleii, Glj-ndwr's capture of these towns broko up the system. A feeble attempt was made to restore it in the reign of Henry ttie Seventh, and the Marchers retained something of their old oppressive power for a century longer. Ohapteb XI.] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 243 Scotland and Prance. The latter distracted by Quan'els. stead, and Tie remained unconquered during the whole of Heniy's reign. At last he died, at the age of fifty [a.d. 1415], at th? time that Henry the Mfth had begun a treaty with him, not deeming it advisable to leave so formidable an adversary behind him when he entered on his French wars. The Welsh then laid down their arms, but the Marchers" never afterward fully re- covered the power that they had so abused. ' *"' § 14. Glyndwr abandoned the cause of the Earl of March after the death of Hotspur, '' but it was then taken up bv the Archbishop of York. The only result, however, was the execution of the archbishop and several of his associates [a.d. 1405], and the young earl remained a prisoner, in spite of several effoi-ts to release him, during the whole of Henry's reign. § 15. At this time Scotland and France were alike disturbed by civil commotions, their kings being both weak men who were tyrannized over by their ambitious relatives. Robert, Duke of Al- bany, the brother of the King of Scotland, plotted against and destroyed one of his nephews, and when the father endeavored to secure his only remaining son by sending him to France, the youth was captured on his passage by an English ship, and brought to Henry, who, though a truce existed, kept him a prisoner. When urged to let him depart, so that his education might be carried on, he replied : " My fair cousin need travel no further for that ; for I can speak French." Charles the Sixth of France was even more helpless than Robert of Scotland," and the contention of his kinsmen, the Dukes of Orleans and Burgundy, paved the way for the partial conquest of France, which was achieved by Henry's successor. In his day matters were not suf- ficiently advanced for the invasion that he had threatened ; but he interfered in the quarrel, and gave his support first to one side and then to the other, according to his views of temporai-y advantage. But towards the close of his reign the rival dukes for a while for- got their differences and united against their dangerous allies, who, in revenge, ravaged Normandy before they vyithdrew, in the year 1413. § 16. During the latter years of his life Henry suffered much from illness, and he had the mortification to learn that his eldest son seemed little inclined to wait for his death ere he should pos- sess himself of the crown that he had so unjustly acquired. At leng-th he fell into a fit whilst at his devotions before the shrine of 24:4 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. DKith ot the King. His Family and Character. rower of the People. St. Edward," in Westminster Abbey, and died a few days after- ward. That event occurred onthe 20th of March, 1413, ° § !'''• 1^- ""■ .^^jjgj^ ^Yie king was in the f orty-seyenth year of his age and the fourteenth of his reign. His body was taken to Can- terbury Cathedral, where it was laid by the side of .his best beloved wife and the mother of his four sons and two daughters. § 17. Henry in his youth acquired vast estates by his marriage with Mary de Bohun, the heiress of the Earl of Hereford, but was left a widower at an early age. After he became king lie married Joanna of Navarre [a.d. 1403], the widow of John, Duke of Brit- tany. She had no chUdi'en by the king. She was an object of dislike to her stepson, Henry the Fifth, and was imprisoned by him. Henry had trained his sons to take an active part in public aff aii-s, and the younger ones became valuable assistants to his suc- cessor in his wars. Tliomas, Buke of Clarence, was the lieutenant in Ireland ; John, Duke of Bedford, upheld the English rule in France ; and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, fought at Agincourt. § 18. Unquiet as it was, Henry's reign is remarkable for the rapid growth of popular privileges and the consequent decline of the royal prerogative. His parliament showed little confidence in him. They rcmoustratod freely on any subject that displeased them, forced him to dismiss favorite officers of his household who happened to be obnoxious to them, and obliged him to allow that to ttie Commons belonged exclusively the right of imposing taxes and controlling the public expenditure, and setting aside illegal grants. This was an important step toward the attainment of tsin 9ti popular freedom. As before noticed,'' the Commons sometimes showed an extravagant jealousy of the church, and a desire to confiscate its possessions, but Archbishop Arundel defeated the project. § 1 9. The character of Henry may be clearly traced in Ms ac- tions. EnterprisLug, and a, seeker of popularity in his youth, he let no scruples of honor or conscience stand in his way when he had an end to attain, and he was equally unscrupulous and cruel in getting rid of even his most devoted adherents when once they had ceassd to be useful to him. No ties of kindred could miti- gate his cruelty. Several of the nobles put to death by him were very near connections. Not to mention King Richard, who was his first cousin, the Percys were his kinsmen, and the Earl of Huntingdon was his sister's husband. His usurpation was the Chaptbh Xn.] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 245 Accession of Henry the Fifth. Hia Antecedents. Public expectations. direct cause of the disastrous struggle known as the War of the Eoses, by which the ancient English nobility were almost anni- hilated. CHAPTER xn. EEiGN OF Hbnky tbcb FiF;rH. [A.D. 1413 TO 1423.] § 1. The death of Henry of Bolnigbroke was not regretted ; but the accession of his son, Henry of Monmouth, was hailed with joy. No word was whispered concerning the claim of the young Earl of March," now grown to manhood ; and Henry was crowned in "Westminster Abbey, on the 9th of April, ' 1413, with great pomp, and the noise of popular rejoicings, as Hemy the Fifth. He was then only in the twenty-fifth year of his age, but showed great vigor of mind and body. He had said at the death-bed of his father, when that monarch expressed some remorse for his usurpation,'' "By your sword you ' § 34, p. 227.' won your crown, and by my sword will I keep it." But he magnanimously ordered the body of the dead Richard the Sec- ond to be brought from its obscure tomb at Langley," with ftmeral pomp, and buried in Westminster Abbey with those of the other monarchs of England. They were laid by the side of those of his "Good Queen Anne."^ , .^_ ■' ^ ii § 15, p. 222. He also released his rival, the Earl of March, from his captivity." § 2. Henry had been employed in public life before he ascended the throne. He fought against Glyndwr, and was wounded in the battle of Shrewsbury.' He was lieutenant of Wales, andalsowardenoftheCinquePorts,s and though much ' of his work was no doubt done by his deputies, he ° ^ ' ^' must have been too fully employed to have much time to give to the riotous and dissipated conduct in which he is said to have indulged. He and his brother the Duke of Clarence were not friends, and the king their father is said to have considered this as a fortunate circumstance, as it prevented their uniting against him. § 3. During the first year of Henry's reign there was a significant 246 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book V. Persecution of the Lollards. The King Conciliatory. His claim to France, popular oommotiou in London, in the interest of religious reform. While his first parliament was in session, placards appeared in London stating that there were one hundred thousand men ready to assert theii- freedom by force of arms if needful. The covert threat was attributed to the Lollards ; ' and the Arch- ' § l"' P- ^''i- bjg^iop of Canterbury accused Sir John Oldcastle (Lord Cobham), theii- leader, to the king. Oldcastle and Henry had been associates when the monarch was Prince of Wales, and instead of punishing his old friend he sent for Mm that he might try to bring him to different theological conclusions. But Oldcastle was as stout a theologian as he was a knight and soldier, and Henry failed. The king threatened. The knight retired to Ms estate. The Archbishop was allowed to issue a severe proclamation against the whole body of so-called heretics. Sir John laid a plan for securing the safety of his co-religionists by force of arms, but failed. Many arrests were made, and heads cut off, and bodies burned ; and the prisons were filled vrith the poor Lollards, who were falsely accused of attempting to overthrow the Christian religion. Oldcastle escaped the terrible persecutions inflicted upon his friends thr-ough the power of the Archbishops of Canterbury, Arundel and Chicheley. § 4. When once in possession of the throne, Henry acted in a conciliatory manner to many whom Ms father's conduct had alienated. The son of Harry Hotspur •> was recalled ' from Scotland and again made Earl of Northumber- land, and the Earl of March was treated with such cordiality that he gave up all idea of the crown, and humbly served the Lancas- trian princes in their French wars and as their lieutenant in Ire- land. But though March was williag to forego his right, his friends were not, and Henry hastened to find full occupation for them by plunging into a war with France. This is said to have been the advice of Henry Chicheley, the famous Archbishop of Canterbury, and it was acted up to with success. § 5. At this time [a.d. 1414] the factions that had so long af- flicted France were more infuriated against each other than they had been in his father's time, and their country was proportiona- bly weakened. Henry resolved to claim Ms " inheritance," as he called the crown of France, and first sent an embassy demanding the restoration of the foi-mer English provinces, and asking a French princess in marriage. As he did not expect compliance CUAPTEB XII.] THE PLANTA6ENETS. 247 Invasion of France. English Fleet dispersed. March toward Calais. he set at once about collecting a large army, and he formed many alliances on the Continent. He also began a treaty with Glyndwr, l)ut this was broken off in consequence of that chieftain's death." At lensrth there came a positive refusal fi'om ^ a § 13, p. 343. France, and Henry repaired to Southampton, where his fleet and army were assembled. Here occurred a tragedy which has never b*n fully explained. Richai-d, Earl of Cam- bridge, who had married the Earl of March's sister,' was accused of conspiring with Lord Scrope of Masham and Sir Thomas Grey against Henry's life, and, after a biief trial, they were all beheaded. § 6. The fleet, numbering from 1,200 to 1,400 sailing vessels, hired from Holland and other seaboard countiies, set sail a few days aftei-ward, passed over to Harfleur, at the mouth of the Seine, and landed the Iroops [Aug. 13, 1414], who numbered about 30,000. The place was obstinately defended for more than a month, but was then obliged to surrender, as Henry had with Mm several cannons of vei-y large size, called bombards, which, says his historian, " vomited from their fiery mouths vast quantities of stones, with a vehement explosion and a terrific and intolerable noise." Such large pieces, which the king had procured from Germany, with Gei-man gunners to work them, seem to have been novelties to the French, and almost every town that was attacked by them was taken. But though the siege lasted so short a time, sickness made great havoc in the English army, and reduced it to one-third of its original number. § 7. Henry very soon saw his fleet driven from before Harfleur by bad weather, and he therefore offered to resign his conquest if allowed to retu-e unmolested to Calais. '' The French, however, had by this time assembled a force at least six times as large as his, and they would hear of nothing but un- conditional surrender. Henry determined to die flrst ; and leaving his cousin, the Earl of Dorset, to garrison Hai-fleur, he set off on his march for Calais. This was a desperate attempt, but the French at first contented themselves with harassing his march and guarding the fords of the rivers, and breaking down the bridges. So passed twelve days, when by a skilful night march he evaded their vigilance and crossed the river Somme, which was his greatest difficulty. The French then cut up the ordinary road 1 Their only son way Richard, Duke of York, the father of Edward YI. 248 HISTOEY or ENGLAND. [Book V. The Englisli at Aginoourt. Battle exijeoted. The English conSdent. to Calais, and took up a position at Aginoourt, where the two armies came in sight of eaoh other on the night of the 24th of October, 1415. This was not very far from the famous field of Crecy," and the battle that followed greatly resembled " ■ that, except in being still more destructive to the French, who were so superior in number that they thought they could afford to neglect all the ordinary rufts of warfare. But they were terribly undeceived. § 8. Hem-y sent out David Gam, a Welshman, who was Owen Glyndwr's ' brother-in-law, and belonged to the Bng- ' ' lish pai-ty in Wales, to espy the force of the enemy, and he returned with the report that there were " enough to be killed, enough to be taken, and enough to ran away." The king took this confident view, and to keep up the spirits of his follow- ers he ordered his trumpets and drums to sound throughout the night. Then- harmony was hardly intemipted by an attack, dur- ing a storm of wind and rain, from a body of French, led by Arthur of Brittany, the son of Joanna of NavaiTe, Henry's step- mother," who were speedily beaten off. Before the « § 17, p. 244. ^ ■> . morning dawned a strong painty of archers was placed in ambush in advance of the English, who occupied a well-chosen position, and the king rode through their ranks, exhorting all to fight courageously, and telling them that England should never have to pay a ransom for him — ^he would conquer or die. § 9. The French, who had passed the night in idle mirth and boasting, and settling what ransoms they should exact from their expected prisoners, appear to have waited awhile in the morning, thinking that the English would send to treat for a surrender ; but as this was not the case, their advanced guard set out about noon, on the 25th of October [a.d. 1415], and moved in a careless manner towards the king's camp. Here they found a strong cJievaux-de- frise, and whilst prepaiing to remove it, they were assailed by tre- mendous flights of arrows not only from the archers in their front, but fi-om those in ambush, who were now first perceived. A panic soon took the place of theii- former rash confidence, and they has- tened back, throwing the rest of their army into dii-e confusion. § 10. It was now the turn of the English to become the assail- ants. Whilst the archers steadily pressed on in the centre of the line, the king with his knights and men-at-arms dashed at the squadrons where the banners of the French piinces were displayed Chapter XIL] THE PLANTAGENETS. 249 The Battle of Aginconrt. The Bnglish vdctorions. and a furious hand-to-hand contest ensued. Henry was conspicu- ous from the crown on his helmet, and wherever he moved the flght was the fiercest. His young brother, the Duke of Glouces- ter, was wounded ; and Henry, whilst standing over him to pro- tect him, was brought on his knees by a sword-cut that split one of the jewels in his crown. His cousin, the Duke of York, was killed nea,r him, his annor was battered and hacked, and at last twenty French knights, led by the Lord of Croy, charged iu a compact body, having sworn on their swords' to captm'e or kill him. They were all killed instead. Whilst this was going on the Duke of Alengon, one of the French princes, joined in the fray ; but |he, after exchanging a blow or two with the king, was hurled from his horse and killed, though Hemy cried out to spare his life. § 11. The battle had now lasted thi-ee hom's. Seven French princes and 100 great nobles lay dead on the iield, as well as 8,000 knights and gentlemen, but the loss among the common men was comparatively small, as the knights and nobles hurried forward, and thus sheltered them by becoming themselves mere targets for the English archers. The fall of the Duke of Alengon disheartened his knights, and they now fled from the field, followed by the rear guard, although it had not been engaged, and was, alone, more numerous than the English army. The prisoners taken were the Dukes of Bourbon and Orleans, Arthur of Brittany," and more than 1,500 knights and nobles. Many of ■ • ■ these were put to death after the battle had ceased, in consequence of an attack made on the baggage guard of the English by a party of French fugitives, led by Robinet de Borneville. This was at first thought to be a renewal of the action, and every man was ordered to kill his prisoners ; but the order was reluctantly obeyed, and when Henry learnt the truth he commanded the slaughter to cease. He then rode' along the field, thanking his men, and' per- ceiving David Gam"" lying dead, he dubbed him knight. The loss of the English, unlike that of the French, fell principally on the common men, 1,600 of whom were slain ; but Only a very few knights and nobles fell, among whom were the Duke of York and the Earl of Suffolk. § 12. Though Henry had inflicted this terrible blow on France, 1 The hilt and guard formed a cross, which commonly served the purpose of a cru- cilLx; when such was not at hand. 11* 250 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book V. BejoioiDgs in London. Desires of the Emperor of Germany. he was not able to follow it up ; on the contrary, on the very next day he resumed his march to Calais, where he arrived in three days. After a brief halt there he passed over to Dover, carrying the chief captives in his own vessel. Tlie day was stormy, and, says the chronicler, seemed to them not less terrible than the day of the battle ; nor could they marvel enough at seeing that the king was as much at his ease in the tossiag ship as if he had been on land. A triumphal entry into London followed, but Henry forbade any praises of his victory to be sung, neither would he allow, as his council wished, his helmet and annor, which bore many marks of battle on them, to be shown to the people. He acted ungener- ously, however, in compelling his stepmother to be present at the rejoicings, although her son was a prisoner. She complaiaed of this, and the result was that she was soon after accused of witch- craft, deprived of her dower lands, and imprisoned, and Hemy only released her when on his own death-bed. § 13. The Emperor of Germany at this time [a.d. 1400-1419] was Sigismond, a bold and warlike prince, who had fought against the Turks, but had been defeated by them. His great desire was to unite the Chidstian princes against the common enemy, and he therefore visited England soon after Hemy's return, hoping to bring about a peace between England and France, but he did not suc- ceed. Henry accompanied him on his return as far as Calais, where he entered into an understanding vdth the Duke of Bur- gundy which greatly assisted his further operations. This French pi-iuce, who was known as John the Fearless, had murdered his rival, the Duke of Orleans, and now that the inheritor of that title was a prisoner, and the heir to the French throne was a youth of only twelve years of age, he had the hope of sharing the kingdom with his English ally. He, however, delayed openly declaring him- self until Henry was again at the head of a fresh invading ai-my. § 14. Whilst the new army was in preparation, the garrison of Harflem- made a destructive march into Normandy, but had some difficulty in regaining the town, where they were speedily besieged. They were relieved by the Duke of Bedford, and the Earl of Hunt- ingdon also captured several large French and Genoese vessels ; but this did not prevent the French landing in Portland, which was laid waste by fire.^ At length, ia July, 1417, Henry passed over with a large force, and landing on the opposite bank to Harfleur, iu the course of a few months he overran the greater part of Kor- CiiAPTEE XII.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 251 Henry's Kindrieas Eewarded. France Submissive. " Heir of France." mandy, so that at the beginning of 1418 he held his royal court at Caen, and, as Duke of Normandy, confiscated the estates of all who refused to acknowledge him. Many of these he granted to his brothers and other leaders in his army, and by the close of the year his authority was fuUy established by the capture of Rouen, after a desperate siege of six months. To make their provisions hold out the longer, the French had, when winter came on, ex- pelled the old men, the women, and children, and they would have perished of hunger had not Henry charitably fed them, par- ticularly on Christmas-day, when he declared no Christian should starve, if he had the power to prevent it. This politic kindness being reported in the city, the populace rose upon the govei'nor and compelled him to surrender, saying that the English king was the more merciful lord. § 15. Henry was now in the full tide of success. The Duke of Burgundy had got possession of Paris, as well as of many other places, and the Queen of France, Isabella of Bavaria, was base enough to support his projects against her own son Charles, who was styled the dauphin. But the youth, or his advisers, sought a conference with the duke at Montereau, and there • § 13, p. 250. John the Fearless » was in his turn treacherously mur- dered. His son, the young Duke of Burgundy, known as Philip the Good (less for his own virtues than as being less bad than his father), at once joined the English, and Paris and many other towns put themselves under the government of Henry, who soon after attained his end by means of a treaty with the queen and the duke ; and on the 31st of May, 1420, the French parliament, bishops, barons, and people seemed to vie with each other in eagerness to acknowledge Henry as regent of France. Then he married [June 3, 1420] the French Princess Catherine, and was declared heir to the crown of France, the king's son, Charles, it was declared, having forfeited his right by his treachery to John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. § 16. In the beginning of the year 1421 Hem-y held his parlia- ment at Rouen, when he ordered coins to be struck bearing his title as " Heir of France," and received the homage of his English ■ lords for the Norman lands that he had bestowed on them. He then passed over to England, and had his queen crowned ; but ere the rejoicings for this event were over he received news that showed that his conquest was not complete. The dauphin or crown prince 252 HISTORY OF ENGLAOT). [Book V. Kevolt in Franco. Wiiv renewed. Death of the King. of France, not caiing to be disinherited through the intrigues of his mother, not only kept in arms, but procured the assistance of a body of knights and speannen from Scotland. Their number, how- ever, was small, and no danger was apprehended from " ^^' "' ^^' them. The Duke of Clarence » had been left in com- mand of the English forces during the king's absence, and he fell into the error of too much undervaluing his opponents. The con- sequence was, that hearing that they were in some force in Anjou, he hastened after them with his knights and horsemen only, at- tacked them vrithout waiting for his archers, and was defeated and kiUed [March 22, 1421], with 2,000 of his foUowers, at Beaug6, by the united forces of the natives under the patriotic Lafayette. § 17. Henry, on hearing of this, again passed over to France, taldng with him the young King of Scotland and several Scottish nobles. He hoped that their countrymen would forsake the cause of the dauphin when they saw their own king in the English camp. But they justly regarded him as a prisoner, and fought as stoutly as before, and Henry was guilty of the inexcusable cruelty of treating any who fell into his hands as traitors. Henry captured Dreux, but failed to take Orleans. He passed his Christmas in royal state at Paris ; and early in the spring he besieged Meaux, which he captured after a desperate siege of three months. This was his last triumph. He vras taken ill shortly afterward with some mysterious malady, and after languishing for a month at the royal palace of Vincennes, he died there on the last day of August, 1422, having possessed his title of "Heir of France" little more than two years. His body was brought to England with extraordinary pomp. The jom'ney through France occupied many days, his funeral car being guarded by 500 knights in black armor, and 300 lighted torches being borne before it, with banners and pennons innumerable. The churchmen chanted the funeral service as the body was borne over London bridge; and his burial in ■Westminster Abbey was solemnized with a magniticence scarcely " 5 17 78 *° '^^ credited. His remains were interred near the shrine of Edward the Confessor,'' and for years rev- erence and honor wdi-e paid at Ms tomb, " as if it were certain that he was a saint in heaven." § 18. Though boundless ambition was the great feature of Henry's character, and he rfas gifted with such skill and courao-e. as made his roign one series of triumphs, he was something more Chapter XIII.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 253 The dying King's Injunctiona. Diike of Bedford Regent of France. than a mere conqueror. His character is stained by his execution of his Scottish prisoners;" but at other times he showed ^ ^^ ^^ both clemency and liberality, and was thus able to conciliate many of his father's opponents. A proof of his wisdom remains in the instructions that he issued to his army invading France, for the prevention of all wanton havoc ; and in the direc- tions that he gave for the protection of the unarmed population he showed as much humanity as would be expected in modem times. CHAPTEK Xm. REIGN OF Henry the Sixth, [a.d. 1433 to 1461.] § 1. The death-bed of Henry the Fifth was attended by his brothei-s the Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester, as well as by two of his most famous captains, the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick. He directed that the Duke of Bedford should be regent of France, and the Duke of Gloucester protector of England, and that his infant son, Henry of Windsor, should be placed in the personal charge of his great-uncle, Thomas, Duke of Exeter. He also ex- horted them to study above all things to keep the friendship of the Duke of Burgundy, never to make peace with the dauphin, and not to set at liberty any of the noble French prisoners taken at Agincourt >> until his son had reached man's estate. . . " § 7, p. 247. Only the first of his injunctions was carried into ef- fect. Bedford, as long as he lived, kept a firm hold on his brother's conquests in France, though he was not able to extend them ; but the Duke of Gloucester ran counter to all the instructions that he had received, and occupied himself far more in struggles to make himself independent of his council than in furnishing the needful supplies for the war in which Bedford, SalisbvuTr, and Warwick were engaged with the adherents of the daupliin. This neglect of liis duties was strongly opposed by Cardinal Beaufort, Glouces- ter's uncle, and a hostile feeling sprang up between them which lasted as long as they both lived. § 3. King Charles of France died in a couple of months after his royal son-in-law, when the dauphin at once took the title of Charles tho Ssvsnth, and was crownsd at Poitiers ; but the territory thsn 254 HISTORY OP ENGLAJJD. ■ [Book V. Kew King of France. Infamous Conduct of a Duke. in his possession was so small that the English party styled him, in scorn, not king of France, but king of Boui-ges, which was his chief town. The French were so divided in opinion that his main strength consisted in his Scottish auxiliaries, but these were almost entirely destroyed when his armies were defeated by the Duke of Bedford, with much loss, at Crevant and at Vemeuil, in the summer of 1424. His little court being also disturbed by factions, his cause was by the year 1425 reduced to its lowest condition. But then the imprudence of the Duke of Gloucester gave quite another turn to affairs, by causing a quaiTel with the powerful Duke of Burgundy, though it was not until several years afterward that that prince formally renounced his alliance with the English. § 3. Humphrey, who strangely has received the title of "the good Duke of Grloucester,"' seems as little entitled to such a name as can well be imagined, for his actions all show an utter want of principle. Jaqueline, Countess of Holland, a girl of sixteen, married her cousin the Duke of Brabant, but soon afterward, on the persuasion of Gloucester, she left him and came to England. Here Gloucester, who coveted her estates, persuaded her that her marriage was unlawful, and could be set aside on account of rela- tionship. He soon married her himself, in spite of the urgent remonstrances of his uncle the Cardinal and the rest of the clergy; and then, instead of sending some troops that had been raised to assist his brother Bedford « to France, he led them „ into Holland, with the view of conquering the coun- try. The Duke of Burgundy,'' who was the cousin of Jaqueline, in vain exhorted her to return to her husband; and when Gloucester appeared he sent troops against him, and forced him to retreat with disgrace. He left his pretended wife behind him, who was imprisoned by Burgundy, her feudal superior. Her second marriage was pronounced illegal, her estates were forfeited, and she at length died in poverty, the victim of " the good duke." He afterwards married Eleanor Cobham, a woman of bad charac- ter, who also died in prison, being charged with endeavoring to kill the king by magic ; a thing that no one thought impossible to be accomplished in those days, and therefore as wicked in intent as any ordinary murder. § 4. By the interposition of the Duke of Bedford, the Duke of Burgundy was induced to overlook the shameful conduct of Gloucester ; but it was seen that he was no longer a cordial ally of Chaptek XIII.] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 255 Siege of Orleans. Jeanne Dare or "Maid of Orleans." Her Conquests. England, and the hopes of the French rose in proportion. They also occasionally gained a slight success over small parties of the English, and they held such towns as remained to them very reso. lutely. One of these was Orleans, which Hem^ him- self had failed to take." The city was besieged in the autumn of the year 1428, by the Earl of Salisbuiy, but he was killed by a cannon-ball. The siege was continued by the Earl of Suffolk. Tire French, meanwhile, in endeavoring to cut ofE a, convoy of provisions for the besiegers, were totally defeated at Koveroy. As it was in the time of Lent, these provisions were principally fish, whence the fight is known as the Battle of the Herrings. At last, at the end of Apiil, 1429, the city was on the point of surrendering through famine, when a deliverer little ex- pected by either party appeared, and the English cause became hopeless, though the war lingered on for twenty years more. § 5. That deliverer was a young peasant girl of eighteen, named Jeanne Dare (not D'Arc, as it is commonly written), a native of the eastern part of Prance called Borraine. She had always de- lighted in listening to legends of the Virgin, in one of which was a prophecy that a maiden would be the savior of her country from great perils. Jeanne now believed herself to be that des- tined deliverer. Voices from invisible beings commanded her to enter at once upon the work. Making her way to the young king's court at Chinon, she entreated him to place her in command of an army. She was first treated as a lunatic, and was then tried as a sorceress. She was acquitted, and was clad in armor. "With a consecrated banner in one hand, and a consecrated sword in the other, she rode at the head of ten thousand men, under Dunois, and dispersed the English besieging Orleans [May 8, 1439], whose leader, Suffolk, on retiring, said : " It is useless to fight against a witch ; " for the English verily believed her to be a sorceress. § 6. The French followed up their advantage. They soon de- feated and made prisoners of the Earls of Suffolk and Talbot, two of their most formidable adversaries, and carried their king in triumph to Rheims, which at once surrendered to them, though strongly garrisoned by Burgundians. Here Charles was again crowned, Jeanne, now known as the Maid of Orleans, assisting at the ceremony. Considering her task accomplished, she now wished to return to her home, but she was too useful to be spared. Many of the strong towns now drove out their English or Burgun- 256 HISTORY 03? ENGLAND. [Book V. Fate of Jeanne Dare. Englisli Bitterness. France Eavaged. dian garrisons, but they were soon besieged by either Bedford or Burgundy. Among these was Compiegne, and Jeanne repaired to it to assist in its defence. § 7. The Maid's good fortune, however, now forsook her. She was captured wliilst heading a sortie, and the Duke of Burgundy sold her to the English for a stipulated sum of money. They cru- elly resolved on revenge, and handed the poor trembling girl to a court of ignorant and superstitious French ecclesiastics, with a bishop at their head, who condemned her to be bmTit alive as a witch and a woman who had worn men's clothes — meaning armor. Sm-rounded by human wolves, in the form of English knights and French priests, that spotless giii was consumed in the market- place at Rouen on the 30th of May, 1431. Her ashes were cast into the Seine and borne to the sea. No voice, not even that of her king, whose crown she had won for him, was lifted in her favor vmtil ten years afterward, when Charles ventured to call her a mart^'.' Long years afterwards a statue was erected to her me- mory on the spot where she perished ; and only a few years ago Pope Pius the Ninth canonized her as a saint. • § 8. To try to stem the rising feeling in favor of Charles, Bed- ford carried his young nephew over to Paris, and had him crowned king of that realm in November, 1481, though he was only in the eleventh year of his age. But the solemn farce was ineffectual. It was soon seen that to hope to really subdue and hold the whole of Prance was a mere delusion. Conferences therefore were held, but they did not procure peace, as neither party would make any considerable concession to the other. Bedford's death, which occui-red in 1435, soon after a quarrel with the Duke of Burgundy, was followed by the capture of Paris by the French, and the siege of Calais by Philip the Good, and a rising in Normandy. The Duke of York, who had succeeded Bedford as governor, and de- sii-ed the English crown for liis own family, ravaged the country up to the gates of Paris, and Gloucester drove his former rival from Calais. The Duke of Burgundy's territories were, in turn, invaded, and hs was soon obliged to agree to a trace, when con- ferences for a peace with the French were again opened, but again without success. 1 So bitter was the feeling of the English against Jeanne Dare that they caused a poor woman to be burnt to death in Paris for merely saying tliac the heroine acted under the inspiration oJ! God. Chapter Xllt] THE PLANTACtENBTS. 257 France freed from Invaders. The English lose Normandy. § 9. For the next ten years [1439-1449] affairs took a course that steadily tended to free IVance from its invaders. The gov- ernors of the English possessions were repeatedly changed ; but in spite of the valor of the Duke of York, the Earl of Warwick, and Lord Talbot, those possessions grew less and less every year. At last a truce was concluded with Pi'ance [April, 1444], which was renewed from time to time, being meant to be used as a means for securing Normandy, if nothing more, when war should again break out. The truce was negotiated by the Earl of Suffolk, and so dis- tasteful had war now become that it would seem he was eapowered to take any step that he thought necessary to preserve peace. Accordingly, during its continuance he aiTanged a marriage for the king with a French princess, and to obtain the consent of King Charles he promised to give up the provinces of Anjou and Maine, which he thought of much less consequence than Normandy. The lady was Margaret of Anjou, the daughter of EenS, who was nominally king of Naples, Sicily, and Jerusalem, but possessed none of them, and was in reality a mere dependent on his kinsman the King of France, to whom he made over all that Suffolk aban- doned. The garrisons of these provinces, being dismissed with- out pay, ravaged the adjoining country, on which the French king, declaring the truce broken, invaded Normandy, and very sjieedily completed its conquest, in the year 1449. § 10. Henry the Fifth had captured almost every town that he attacked with his great bombards, which threw heavy stones ; but since his time Master Jean, a, countryman of Jeanne Dare, had discovered that guns of far less size would do much more mis- chief if loaded with iron balls ; and his discovery did quite as much to liberate France as all her courage and patriotism. The French had with them many of these cannons, which were so small that they could easily be removed from place to place, and the shot from them forced towns to siurender in a few days that had formerly held out for months against the victor of Agincourt. The Duke of Somerset was the governor when Normandy was lost, and he was accused of defending Caen too feebly, being alarmed for the safety of his wife and children, who were within its walls. § 11. With the king's marriage with Margaret of Anjou, in the year 1445, an entire change in his reign took place. He had never as yet interfered in any way in public affairs (for which his 258 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book V. Queen Margaxet and hei Influence. Government in England and Ireland. youth was a sufficient reason), and nothing had occurred beyond the ceaseless qnaiTels of his uncles, and the gradual loss of his father's conquests. Indeed he did not, even at the age of twenty- four years, possess the spirit of a man, or show sufficient ability to take care of his own affairs. It was hoped that his spirited queen might in some degree supply his deficiencies. And so she did, but not hapjDily for the realm. § 12. Margaret was a woman of beauty and spirit, and she at once took the part in politics that her husband should have as- sumed. She chose for her adviser the Earl of Suifolk (to whom her marriage was owing), and being received with great favor by the Cardinal," she was of course hated by the Duke of Gloucester, who set himself to work to render her and her minister (who was .in^■idiously styled her favorite) un- popular. This he failed to do. Suffolk was publicly thanked in parliament for bringing about the truce with France ; and soon afterward Gloucester was seized at a parliameiit at Bury St. Ed- mund's on a charge of treason. Whether he was guilty or not was never proved, as he was found dead in his bed before he could be brought to trial. Cardinal Beaufort died in less than two months afterward. Suffolk was then made a duke ; but all his popularity came to a sudden close when the loss of Noimandy was Icnown. He was impeached by the House of Commons, and sentenced to banishment, but was seized at sea [a.d. 1450] and beheaded, without any foim of trial, by order of the constable of the Tower. That constable was John Holland, Duke of Exeter, a man of violent character, who is said to have devised the rack to torture his prisoners ; whence that fearful instrument was popu- larly known as " The Duke of Exeter's daughter." § 13. The Duke of York, who had been one of the most suc- cessful of the English governors of Noi-mandy, expressed gi-eat anger at the loss of the province, and he was therefore sent, in a kind of honorable banishment, to Ireland, as lord lieutenant [a.d. 1449], where he gained the favor of all parties by his wise and fii-m government. He was the grandson of that Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, who had been declared heir to the cro-wn in the >. § 16, p. aas. ^^^ °^ Richard the Second,* but up to this time he had sei-ved the Lancastrian king, and seemed to have forgotten his own unquestionable right to the throne. He had friends, however, who were not likely to undervalue the advan- Chapter XIII.] THE PLANTAGBNBTS. 259 An Aspirant tot the BritiBli Grown. The Nevilles. Jack Cade's Insurrection, tage of having a king of their owia clioosing on the throne, and they took their measures accordingly, though at first they felt obliged to loroceed very cautiously. They knew that it would be useless to bring his claims directly forward, as King Henry was a great favorite with the people, fi-om his merciful character and his pious, blameless life. They therefore, instead, confined them- selves to loud complaints of the " evil government " of the queen and her ministers (first Suffolk, then Somerset), and eveiywhere pointed to the duke's rule in Ireland as showing that he alone was the suitable man to assist their dear lord the king, and pre- serve his realm from the traitors who had caused • § 10, p. 2o7. the loss of Prance." § 14. Foremost among these friends were Eichard Neville the father, and Richard Neville the son, both men of great ability. The father was a grandson of John of Gaunt, and had become Earl of Salisbury by marrying the daughter of the earl who was killed at Orleans. ^ The Duke of York was his . , 1 § 4, p. 254. brother-in-law. The son had married the heiress of the Earl of Warwick, and received that title about the same time when his uncle York was sent to Ireland. Warwick, afterwards so well known as " the Kingmaker," though quite a young man, was even more active and energetic than his father. His wife's great riches enabled him to keep a larger train of dependants than most other nobles of his time, whilst his courtesy and cheerful manner to the poor, aided by lavish hospitality, made him a kind of King of the Commons. ,. § 15. York remained in Ireland whilst his friends labored in Ms cause and their own, and SufEolk became more and more unpopular. He was banished and put to death ; but even this did not allay the discontent, for in less than a month afterward there occurred a formidable rising of the people in Kent, who assembled on Blackheath, under the command of one Jack Cade, an Irishman "of goodly stature and pregnant wit," who pre- tended to be a kinsman of the Duke of York, and demanded the redress of many grievances. They met vnth a haughty re- fusal, and an order to disperse. They retired to Seven Oaks, where they defeated and killed Sir Humphrey Stafford, who was sent against them. They next repaired to London, where they beheaded Lord Say and Sele, the treasurer, who had been a devoted adherent of the Duke of SufEolk. Then their leader 260 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Preparations lor Civil War. The last English possession in I^anoe. repaired to the London stone, and striking it with his sword, exclaimed, " Wow is Mortimer lord of this city 1 " This name, Mortimer, alluded to the Duke of York, and the insurrection had the desired effect of preparing the way for his claiming the crown at the &st favorable opportunity. The rebels were at length got out of London, after a fierce fight on the bridge, and they then dispersed on promise of pardon ; but their leader was killed a few dajs afterward in Sussex. § 16. Scarcely had this commotion subsided when the Duke of Somerset succeeded to Suffolk's place in the direction of affairs, and soon became quite as unpopular. He already bore the blame of the loss of Normandy, and now, whilst he ruled at home. Gas- cony, the sole remaining province, which had been held by Eng- land for more than 400 years, was overrun by the French. En- raged at this, the Duke of York left his government in Ireland, summoned his friends, and took up arms, insisting that Somerset should be brought to trial. This was promised ; but when, in con- sequence, York had dismissed his forces, he was treacherously thi'own into prison. A public clamor caused his speedy release. He then retired to his strong castle of Wigmore, in the "Welsh marches, where he remained quietly collecting his strength for another struggle. § 17. In the mean time the famous Lord Talbot was sent to re- conquer Gascony ; but after capturing Bordeaux he was aban- doned by the Gascons, who had asked for his help, and was defeated and kUled by the Pi-ench. Of all the English con- quests, Calais » only remained in the year 1453. Scarcely had this evil news arrived when the king fell ill, and it was found absolutely necessary to appoint a " Pro- tector." This post, by common accord, was given to the Duke of York. Somerset was at once deprived of his various offices, and sent to the Tower on a charge of treason ; but the king soon recovered, when he revoked York's commission and recalled Somerset. An attempt was made to reconcile the two potent nobles, but it was in vain, and the first battle of the War of the Koses, as it is known in liistory, speedily followed. § 18. The captainship of Calais, which was a very important post, was one of the offices that had been taken from Somerset and bestowed on York, who, according to his patent, was to hold it for seven yeai-s ; but on the king's recovei-y he was deprived of Chaptbk XIII.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 261 Civil War in England. it. York now took up arms and marched towards London ; Somerset set forward to meet him, taking the king with him. The armies, which were of nearly equal strength, met at St. Al- ban's [May 33, 1455], when, after a desperate fight in the streets, the Yorliists prevailed. The Duke of Somerset, the Earl of Nor- thumberland, Lord Stafford, JLord Clifford, and about 5,000 more were killed, including several of the king's household, and he himself was wounded iu the throat by an an-ow. The loss of the Yorkists was very much less. A parliament soon followed, when a general pardon was granted. The captainship of Calais was given to Warwick, and on the king again falling iU, the Duke of York was a second time named Protector. This, however, en- dured a shorter time than before. The king on his recovery again revoked the duke's commission, and the Yorkist party repaired to their estates, where they remained for a whUe, taking no part in public affairs. The young Duke of Somerset succeeded to liis father's place in the confidence of the queen, and she had an able general in the Duke of Buckingham (grandson of the Duke of G-loucester in the time of Eichard the Second," and the cousin of Sir Humphi'ey Stafford, who was killed at Seven Oaks), who had long served in the French wars. § 19. Whilst the countiy was thus distracted by civil dissension the French availed themselves of its weakness. They landed on several parts of the English coast [a.d. 1457], and plundered and burnt Sandwich, then one of the principal ports of the realm. The murmurs at this public disgrace at last compelled the hostile paiHes to profess a reconciliation, and accordingly on Lady-day (March 35), in the year 1458, the chiefs repaired to St. Paul's, and were there publicly "made friends." The Duke of York led the queen by the hand, and the rest followed in order, a Yorkist and a Lancastrian walking together ; " but though their bodies were joined hand in hand,." says the old chronicler, "their hearts were far asunder.'' The citizens of London kept an armed watch to prevent the retainers of the different nobles from falling to blows ; but this could not extend to the court, where the life of the Earl of Warwick was endangered in a sudden quarrel which the queen was thought to have provoked. § 20. Whilst Warwick was one day at the palace, a servant of his was attacked and wounded by one of the royal cooks, and called loudly for help. Warwick, who always declared that his 262 H3ST0RT OF BNGIiAND. rBooic V, "War oi the White aniJ Red Roses. The Yorkists Dispersed. meanest retainer was as dear to him as a brother, hastened to the rescue, when he was assailed by the whole body of cooks and scullions, and had some difBculty in cutting his way through them, carrying his wounded comrade with him. An attempt was made to represent the affray as a mere accident, common enough in those times, but the Yorkists believed that it was pai-t of a plot against their Uves, and left the court in haste. § 31. A renewal of the war was now seen to be inevitable, and the whole country became divided into the two factions of the Wliite and the Red Rose. The first was the badge of the Yorkists, who were most powerful in the North (though the Percys were there their opponents), in the "Welsh marches, in Kent, and in Lon- don ; they also had possession of Calais, with a navy in its port. The Lancastrian badge was the Red Rose, and they were the strongest party in the centre and west of England.- These badges gave the name of "War of the Roses" " to the con- ' flicts in England at that period. § 22. A year passed in these preparations, by which time the Duke of York had gathered a large army around him at Ludlow, many of them being veteran soldiers brought from Calais by Warwick. The Earl of Salisbury, on his way to join them, defeated and killed [Sept. 1459] the Lancastrian leader, Lord Audley, at Blore-heath, in Staffordshire ; but the queen raised a new army, under the Dukes of Somerset and Buckingham, and marched vidth them herself to Ludlow. Sir Andrew TroUope, one of the knights from Calais, went over to the royal army, when the duke's forces were seized with a panic, and dispersed upon a promise of pardon. The leaders fled, some to Ireland, some to Calais, and in a parliament that was held shortly after, at Coven- try [Nov. 20, 1459], they were all attainted. § 23. But, though thus suddenly dispersed, the Yorkists had no intention of giving up the contest. Those in Calais not only repulsed an attack by the Duke of Somerset, but, having ships at their command, came over to Sandwich and seized Lord Rivers, who was there fitting out a fleet against them. They in fact became pirates, captured any ships that they met with, and extorted ransoms from Lancastrians who dwelt near the coast ; and in the summer of 1460 they landed at Sandwich by the invitation of the people, who joined them in crowds. They entered London in triumph, the queen and her friends fleeing before them. At CinAPTBH XIII] THE PLANTAGENBTS. 263 Duke of York claims the Crown. His Fall. Perils of the Queen, Northampton the fugitives were overtaken and totally defeated. The Duke of Buckingham, the queen's general, was kOled, the king was taken prisoner, and the queen fled with her young son, a child of Srve years old, to Scotland. § 34. The Duke of York now returned fi-om Ireland and for- mally laid claim to the crown. His right could not be denied ; but no one wished to deal harshly with the meek king, who, in his simplicity, pleaded that as his father and grandfather had been kings, it would be unreasonable to take the royal title from him. The parliament acted in this spirit, agreeing that he should retain the crown for his Ufe, but that the Duke of York should succeed him, and should' administer the government in the mean time. Henry, whose soul shrank from war and bloodshed, willingly ac- cepted this arrangement, but his queen would not hear of the disher- ison of her son. She raised a fresh army in the north by the heljj of the Percys, and when the Duke of York marched to oppose her, he was defeated and killed at Wakefield. The spiteful queen caused his head to be raised over a gate at York, with a paper crown upon it ; and -with real blood-thirstiness she pursued his family. His youngest son, the Earl of Rutland, a youth of seventeen, was murdered in cold blood by Lord CUfEord, whose father had been killed at St. Alban's ; and the Earl of Salisbury and several other noble prisoners were beheaded- the next day at Pontefract. § 35. The queen now marched towards London, with an army of fierce northern men ; but ere she reached it another battle had taken place at Mortimer's Cross [Feb. 1, 1461], near the Yorkist castle of Wigmore, where Edward, Earl of March, and the young Duke of York defeated the Earl of Pembroke (who was the half- brother of King Henry), and revenged the death of his father and uncle by beheading many of his prisoners on the field. The queen, undaunted by this mishap, pushed on, defeated the Earl of War- wick at St. Alban's, and rescued King Henry from his custody, The citizens of London, however, partly from favor to the House of York and partly from fear of plunder, refused to admit her within their walls, and she was obliged to retire to Yorkshire, tak- ing her husband with her. § 36. The young Duke of York, who had marched for London immediately after his yictory, was joyfully received. His title was explained to the citizens assembled in St. John's Fields by Lord Falconbridge [March 1, 1461], a Neville and one of his 264 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. The young Duke of York made ICing. Henry's Restoration and Death. uncles, and accepted by them. On the following day he went to Westminster, where he was acknowledged as king by such peers, prelates, and chief citizens as could be hastily assembled, and who, of course, belonged to the Yorkist pai-ty. His solemn instal- lation, on the 4th of March, in Westminster Abbey, when he took the title of Edward the Fourth, brought the reign of the feeble Hem-y to a close, though he lived many years afterward ; and the new king had several fierce battles to fight before he could feel himself safely established on the throne. § 27. Heni-y was restored by the Earl of Warwick in 1470, but Ms seven months' reign was merely nominal. He died in the Tower, about the end of May, 1471, very shortly after the death of his son at Tewkesbury. His piety and charity endeared him to his subjects, and liis sufferings caused him to be popularly re- garded as a saint; but he was quite unfit for the position of a ruler, and his long reign was one continued scene of factious quarrels at home, and loss and humiliation abroad. Unlike his father and grandfather, he was of a weak and feeble body and a timorous nature, which exposed him to the iU-coUcealed contempt of his warlike nobles, who requii-ed a strong hand to keep them in oi-der. CHAPTER XIV. EEIGN OF EdwAED THE FoTJBTH. [a.D. 1461 TO 1483.] § 1. The n \v king, the eldest surviving son of Richard Duke • § 24, p. 268. °^ ^'oi'k,° was only in his twentieth year when he ' came to the throne, on the 4th of March, 1461 ; but in decision of character and celerity of action he was equal to any veteran soldier. He was not allowed to stay in his capital to enjoy the pageant and festivity of a coronation ; but in a week after he had been received into London he was on his march against the Lancastrians, and before the end of a month he gave them a terrible overthrow at Towton, in Yorkshire, when many of his chief opponents Vfcre left dead on the field, others were taken and executed, and Henry and his queen, with their son, were com- pelled to seek refuge in Scotland, surrendering the town of Ber- Chaptek XrV.] THE PLANT AGENETS. 265 Civil War. Warwick and his Kinsmen. Lord of tlio Isles. wick as the price of their entertainment. Edward followed them as far as Newcastle, and then returning to London he was crowned, on the 28th June, 1461, less than a year having elapsed since he had landed at Sandwich. But in the interval, short as it was, no less than five desperate battles had been fought, at such widely- different places as Northampton, Wakefield, Moitimer's Cross, St. Alban's, and Towton. * § 3. The Lancastrians were now crushed in the field, and attain- der and confiscation followed. The parliament declared the Lan- castrian piiuces to have beeh usurpers, and that the late Duke of York had been "in Ms life very king in right of the realm of England." And they also declared that aU whom the new Hng "held or reputed for his rebels or enemies" should lie at his mercy. He took fuU advantage of this, and transfeiTed lands and privileges and offices to such an extent to his active supporters, that hundreds of rich men who were only suspected of favoring the Lancastrian cause were reduced to poverty, whilst the knights and nobles that fell into his hands were executed without mercy. The Earl of Warwick ° and his kin reaped the full benefit of all these changes. Warwick himself had succeeded to his father's earldom of Salisbury, and desired no higher title; he was therefore rewarded with numerous estates taken from the Percys and others, the grants to him amounting to as much as £300,000, or $1,000,000 a year of our present money, iu gold. Of Warwick's brothers, one was made Earl of Kent ; another, Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor ; and a third, Lord Montagu, whose success in the field soon won for him the earldom of Northumberland. ji 3. At this time the King of Scotland (James the Third) was a child, and the regents professed themselves unable to give any effectual support to King Henry, although they were quite able to keep Berwick. Edward, in return, intrigued with the Lord of the Isles (the Hebrides '■) and other Scottish nobles, with the view of partitioning the country between himself and them. Queen Margaret" passed over to France, and by the promise of delivering up Calais if it should ' ever be in her power, procured a small body of French troops. They Were, however, shipwrecked on the coast of Northumberland. She with difficulty escaped into Scotland, and the Lancastrian cause tli3n appeared so utterly hopeless that even the Duke of 12 266 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Queen Margaret invades England. End of the War of the Bosea. Somerset abandoned it, and earned his pardon by surrendering the strong castle of Bamborough in 1463. § 4. Margaret, however, was not daunted. In the course of a year she had gained fresh troops from France, and when, in the spring of 1464, she again appeared in England, Bamborough, Aln- wick, and other castles were sun-endered to her, and Somerset, the' Percys, and most of her northern adherents again joined her. The Scots and French who accompanied her plundered the country most mercilessly, and the rising appeared so serious that Edward sent . , "Warwick " and his brother Montagu against them by B § 14, p. 259, o o J ' land, whilst he prepared a fleet at Lynn which was meant to retaliate on Scotland. But before he could sail he received the news that Montagu had defeated the Lancastrians, first at Hedgley Moor and then at Hexham, killing or capturing the prin- cipal leaders. The queen fled with her son to Flanders, and King Henry repaired to Lancasliire, where he lived for more than two years hidden among his friends, but was then betrayed, and brought to London a prisoner. Somereet and Sir Ealph Grey, who had surrendered Bamborough, were executed. Warwick recovered Berwick, and ravaged the Scottish border as far as Galloway ; whilst the terror of Edward's fleet obliged the Scots to bind them- selves to give no further countenance to the Lancastrians. § S. The king was now apparently fli-mly settled on the throne ; but a marriage that he entered into gave deep ofEeuce not only to his brothers Clarence and Gloucester, who were youtKs of a spirit as aspiring as his own, but to his especial champion, Warvnck. The earl had been sent abroad to treat for marriage with Bona of Savoy, the sister of the French queen, and the proffer had been accepted, when he learnt that the king had, in his absence, secretly married Elizabeth Grey (whose maiden name was Woodville), the widow of a knight who had been kUled at St. Alban's fighting on the Lancastrian side, to which party all her family belonged. Her b § 1, p. 2B3. ™"*^'^i' "^'"^s Jaqueline of Flanders, the vndow of tte Duke of Bedford," and her father was that Richard Woodville, Lord Rivers, who had been captured at Sandwich by ■ § 2% p. 263. '^^"^ Yorkists frotn Calais when fitting out a fleet against them." § 6. The new queen had five brothers and five sisters, all of whom i^he brought to court vnth her, as well as her father, her mother, and her two sons; and the king was so lavish of his favors Chatteb XIV.] THE PLANTAGENETS. 267 The New Queen's Family. Warwick's Generosity. His defence of the King. to them that those who had placed him on the throne regarded themselTes both injured and insulted. Lord Rivers was made an earl, and his eldest grandson a marquis ; but still more ofEence was given by the means taken to enrich the new-comers, by forcing wealthy heirs and heiresses into marriage with them. Thomas, the queen's son, though only thirteen, was married to the infant daughter of the Duke of Exeter, who was the king's niece ; John, one of her brothers, a youth of eighteen, was forced as a husband on the rich dowager duchess of Norfolk, who had been a widow for thii-ty years. Wealthy marriages were made for all her sisters (one became Duchess .of Buckingham) ; but, worst of all, the daughter of Lord Scales, who was esteemed the richest heii-ess in the kingdom, was given to Anthony, another brother, though she was attached to the young Duke of Clarence, and was his promised bride. Gloucester, who was of a far more vehement and decided character than Clarence, warmly supported his brother's cause. "Warwick and his kinsmen joined the youths, and in a short time the court was rent by the factions of the Nevilles " and the "Woodvilles. ' § 7. Warwick was an especial object of dislike to the queen and her kinsmen, who were all poor, and bent only on making money, whilst he was the richest subject in the kingdom, and of a liberal disposition, so that wherever he had an estate there he fed the poor. And when he came to London, the chronicler says that any one who chose might repair daily to his kitchen, and not only refresh himself, but caiTy away as much boiled or roast meat for his family as he could bear ofE upon his long dagger. No wonder, then, that we hear of six oxen being consumed at a meal. § 8. Edward endeavored to destroy this influence by attempt- ing to depress the Nevilles. He threatened to resume the vast grants that he had made to them,' took the chancel- lor's seal from the archbishop, and began to give * ' ' hopes to the Percys that Lord Montagu should be made to sm- render their earldom. But he did not know the energetic men that he had to deal with, until those who had made him king had unmade him. § 9. Warwick's first step was to take his eldest daughter, Isabel, over to Calais, where they were joined by Clarence, when the young people were married [a.d. 1460] by the displaced archbishop. They then returned to England, assembled an army in the north. 268 „ HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. ■Warwick and Queen Margaret. Eestoratioa of King Henry. and having defeated the royal troops at Edgecote, captured and beheaded the queen's father and his son John, as well as William Herbert, who had been recently made Earl of Pembroke by the influence of the Woodvilles. Another rising, however, having been suppressed by the king, Warwick and Clarence went to Prance, and were reconciled to Margaret of Anjou » by promising to restore King Henry to his throne. As a proof of his good faith, Warwick married his daughter Anne to the young PiiQce Edward, in the year 1470. § 10. But now Clarence became dissatisfied, as he wished to become king himself, and therefore he secretly sent to his brother Edward, assuring him of his intention to rejoin him at the firet opportunity. This was unknown to Warwick, and they landed together at Dartmouth in the autumn of 1470. Margaret and her son Edward were to follow with more troops, but bad weather detained them untU the next spring, and they arrived too late to be of any sei-vice. The Duke of Exeter, who was Edward's brother-in-law, Edmund Duke of Somerset, and John Earl of Oxford, who had each lost a father and a brother in the war, joined them, with the people of the west country, who were gene- rally favorers of the Lancastrian cause. § 11. Edward prepared to march against them, but found him- b 8 4 2CB ^'^^^ suddenly deserted by Lord Montagu,' and was obliged to seek refuge in Flanders, with the Dulce of Burgundy, who was his brother-in-law. His brother the Duke of Gloucester, his brother-in-law Lord Scales, and his favorite, Lord Hastings, accompanied him, but he had very few others with him, and they narrowly escaped capture by pirates on their gassage. His queen took sanctuary at Westminster, and there, veiy soon afterward, her eldest son was bom, who became the unhappy Ed- ward the Fifth. Warwick and Clarence inarched to Loudon •=8 27 264 ■"'i*'^"^'' ^'i hour's delay, released Bing Henry from the Tower," and conducted him in solemn procession to St. Paul's, where he returned thanks for his restoration; but Warwick took care to keep all real power in his own hands. § 13. A parliament was held early in the year 1471, when of com-se the Yorkists were attainted and the Lancastrians restored. The crown was settled anew on King Henry and his son, with only a distant chance of succession to Clarence, who grew more and more dissatisfied daily, and ceased not to urge his brother to re- Chapter XTV.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 269 Edward of York's triumphant Entrance into London. turn. This Edward, soon did, the Duke of Burgundy having sup- plied him with money and ships, and 2,000 soldiers, among whom were some who were armed with hand-guns (then a new invention), which proved as serviceable against the archers as rifles when opposed to flint-lock muskets at the present day. He landed at Ravenspur, at the mouth of the Humber, the same spot as Henry of BoUngbroke had arrived at;" and, like him, he scrupled not to take an oath that he had no design to claim the crown, but only sought the restoration of his family estates. He marched forward, his force increasing daily, and when he reached Nottingham he thought himself strong enough to drop the mask; but, from pretended regard for his oath, he descended to a paltry stratagem. Sir John Stanley and a strong body of Lancashire men came to meet him, and inquired his pur- pose. He replied, only to obtain grace of his good lord King Hemy and his fair son, whose ostrich plume he wore in his cap. Stanley answered, " We serve none less than a king ; therefore we bid you adieu, unless you pluck out that feather and claim your own." — "I may not say you nay, fair friends," was the reply, and the Yorkist badge of the "sun in splendor" was quickly substi- tuted. Clarence joined him a few days after, decamping in the night from Warwick's army, and thus defeating the "King- maker's" plan of fighting his opponent before he could reach the capital. London opened its gates to Edward in spite of the efforts of Archbishop Neville, who had been left in charge of the king, and vainly paraded him through the streets, seeking for supporters. The Londoners had always been favorers of the House of York. Not a sword was lifted in favor of " the lord Henry of Lancaster; " and he was again sent to the Tower. § 13. Warwick had still with him his brother Montagu, who had been deprived of the earldom of Northumberland and con- sidered his higher title of marquis no compensation. He said that Edward had given him a grand name, with only a pie's nest to keep it, and, though he had been wavering before, he would now fight stoutly to mend his fortune with Ms sword. Warwick scarcely believed him, but could not ventm'e to part with him, as his forces were mainly Lancastrians, and not so strong as the army that Edward had. Still he was resolved to put everything on the issue of a battle, and he moved on to the neighborhood of Lon- don. Edward, only tliree days after he had sent Henry to the 270 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Battle of Baniet. Death of Warwick. Heniy again deposed. Tower, marched out to meet him, taking " the gray, discrowned king" with him. § 14. The hosts met at Bamet, about twelve miles from London, on the eve of Easter Sunday [a.d. 1471]. Edward drew a trench round -his camp, and annoyed his enemies during the night by keeping up a fire from his hand-guns, which they could not retm-n. Bodies of Londoners also kept joining liim, whilst no one came to Warwick, whose troops grew dispirited, and having long been opponents, had little confidence in each other. The battle began at dawn of day, and, owing to Wai-wick's example, was fiercely maintained for many hours. Edward also exposed his 'life as fi'eely, his brother Gloucester leading the van, but Clarence, for very shame, doing little. At last what appeared a mere acci- dent gave the victory to Edward. The day was dark and stormy, and the badge of the Earl of Oxford's men was mistaken for that of the king, which it greatly resembled. They were in consequence attacked by Warwick's men, and fearing some treacheiy, they fled from the field. Edward saw Ms advantage, and by a desperate charge gained the day. Warwick, contrary to his usual plan, fought on foot, to encourage his troops, saying, " I wUl stand with him that will stand with me." It was his last battle, for he •was left dead on the field. His brother Montagu died also, though not so honorably, as he was killed by one of Warwick's men, who saw him throw away the badge of their party and put on that of the king, whom he was about to join. § 15. Full 10,000 men fell in this battle, but most of the Lan- castrian leaders escaped with their lives. The Duke of Exeter was left wounded on the field, but was conveyed to the sanctuary at Westminster, where his wounds were healed. His wife bar- barously oi^posed the pardon that Edward was ready to grant,' and having left his asylum he was found dead soon aftei-wards. Tlie bodies of Wai-wick and his brother were exposed to public view at St. Paul's, to convince every one that the famous " Bang- maker" was indeed dead; but there was still another battle to be fought before peace could be restored. King Hem-y was again 1 Ho had been attamted in 1461, and had long wandered on the Continent in a state of extreme poverty. His wife wished to proem e a divorce, but this her uncle, the Archbishop of Canterbury, would not grant, saying that it was no reason because a man had lost his estates that his wife should forsake him. She married immediately after his death, but did not long survive him. CnAPTBR XIV.] . THE PLANTAGENETS. 271 Queen Margaret and her Adherents. They make War. The liauoastrians Destroyed. sent to the Tower, and never quitted it alive, for he died, probably of grief, a few months afterwards. § 16. Queen Margaret landed at Weymouth on the very day that the battle of Barnet was fought, and on hearing of its result her fortitude gave way. She took refuge with her son in the sanctuary of Ceme Abbey, and was apparently resolved to give up the unequal contest. Unhappily, the Duke of Somerset and some of the other nobles who had escaped when Warwick fell found out her retreat, and persuaded her that if they could once reach South Wales they might renew the contest, as her husband's half^rothers, the Tudors, had powerful friends there. The .Barl of Pembroke (Jasper Tudor) accordingly began raising forces in Wales, and Margaret and her army set out to join him. They endeavored in vain to cross the Severn at Gloucester, for the citi- zens guarded the bridge ; on which they ascended the river to Tewkesbury, where Edward overtook them. Somerset, contrary to the advice of the rest, determined to make a stand here, and drew a trench round his camp. This was vigorously assaulted by the Yorkists [May, 1471], led by Gloucester, who, finding it des- perately defended, purposely withdrew his men in apparent con- fusion. Somerset followed him, but not being properly supported, was driven back, the foe entering with him, and soon gaining a complete victory. Somerset, believing that he had been treacher- ously deserted by Lord Wenlock, a man who had changed sides more than once, and was now in command of troops that he had kept idle in camp, flew on him and dashed out his brains with his battle-axe. But though he thus avenged himself, he could not restore the battle, which gave the final blow to the Lancastrian cause. Queen Margaret • was taken prisoner and sent to the Tower, where she remained for four years, untU ransomed by her father, who obtained the money from the King of Prance (Louis the Eleventh) by surrendeiing to him his county of Anjou. Her husband and son being then both dead, she had no motive for attempting to renew the contest. Margaret lived in extreme pov- erty for the rest of her days, and died in 1481. § 17. Edward showed his usual mercilessness after victory. Young Prince Edward met his death, but whether he was murdered in the royal tent, as most authors say, or was killed in attempting to escape from the field, is uncertain. But there is no such doubt as to the fate of the Duke of Somerset, the Prior of St. John's, Sir 273 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Edward's Cruelty and Avarice. Confiscations and Extortions. Humpbrey Audley, and about a dozen more knights, who, having taken refuge in a church, were dragged from it two days after- ward and beheaded, although the king had promised to spare their lives, and had thus prevented theii- taking sanctuary.' Pembroke fled to Brittany, taking his young nephew, the Earl of Richmond, with him. The death of Lord Falcon- bridge," who was Warwick's admiral, and the sm-ren- - § 26, p. 25.3. ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ Oxford," which f oUowed soon after, relieved Edward from any further apprehension of war, and left him free to indulge his thirst for gold, which was almost as strong as his love of bloodshed and his taste for vicious pleasures. § 18. An almost absolute confiscation of all that remained of wealth to the Lancastrians was decreed by the parliament, and Edward of his own accord plundered and imprisoned Archbishop Neville, breaking up his rich mitre to place the jewels in his own crown. But he wasted his riches quite as fast as he acquired them, and when, in the tliird year after the close of the civil war [a.d. 1473], he announced his design of attempting the conquest of France, he raised funds in a novel manner. He called all the wealthy people before him, told them of his project, and, with the gracious manner that he could assume when he pleased, though a mere savage at heart, he begged them to give him some sum that he named, as a j)roof of their " benevolence" or good-will towards him. Few were found hardy enough to refuse, particularly if they had ever been Lancastrians, and thus a large sum was raised, which was tenned a Benevolence ; but those who dared to speak their minds called it a Malevolence, as being a mere extortion, sub- mitted to umvillingly for fear of worse consequences.' 1 In earlier times every churcTi, or even ctiurohyard, was regarded as a sanctuary or sacred asylum, but Che privilege was now limited to a comparatively few great abbeys. 2 After the brittle of Bamet * he obtained some ships, with which he seized on St. Michael's Mount, in Cornwall, where he defended himself for four months. a a 14, p. 270. He at last surrendered on promise of life, ajid was sent to the castle of Hammes, in Picardy, where he remained for twelve years. His wife, who was Warwick^s sister, it is said siipported herself by her needle, until at last the king granted her a pension of £100 (equal to £1,000 now), and this Bichard the Third continned to her. 3 The pretence for the " benevolence " was, that it fell only on rich people, and thus spared the poor ; but Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth, who also frequently levied it, used it as a test of men's liking for or fear of them ; hence, if any one refused he was accounted disaifected, and his ruin was certain. At length the very name became odious, and "a loving contribution made by the subject's free-wiU" took its place. chaptek xtv.] the plantagbnets. 273 Edward's failure in France. An inglorious Reign. Plots and Murders. § 19. At last, in July, 1475, Edward left England, landed at Calais with a large army, and formally demanded the crown of Prance. The expedition, however, came to nothing. The French king, by bribes to many of the English councillors, induced them to advocate a truce. A treaty followed, by which a large pension was promised to Edward, and he returned to England, having gained a sum of money for his extravagant expenses. But his brothers and his warlike nobles were deeply dissatisfied at being de- nied the opportunity of wimiing French lordships with their swords. § 20. The remainder of Edward's reign was alike inglorious and unhappy. The potent Nevilles" were destroyed, ^ ^^^ but their property remained, and the dispute for it was fierce between the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester. War- wick left two daughters, one of whom was married to Clarence, and the other to the Lancastrian prince, Edward.' .^ „ „ ^ 1^ § 9, p. 267. Clarence desired to acquii'e the whole of the pro- perty, and therefore wished to keep his sister-in-law from marry- ing again. By pretended sympathy he got her into his power, and then forced her to disguise herself as a kitchen-maid; but Gloucester, who was resolved to share the rich inheritance, found out the cheat, and persuaded her to marry him. Henceforth the brothers were enemies for life. § 31. But this was not the extent of Clarence's misfortune; he had a deadly enemy in Earl Rivers, the queen's brother," and being a man equally weak and passionate, he put himself completely in his power. Two of his dependants, named Burdett and Btacy, were condemned and executed on a charge of inquiring, by magic arts, how long the king and his eldest son would live. Clarence, who had some time before retired from the court, now returned, and in commenting on their fate used words that were construed as tretisonable. He was committed to the Tower, when Edward appeared personally as his accuser [a.d. 1478], and he was condemned to death. A few days later he was found dead, but how that came about is unknown. It was asserted that he was drowned in a butt of Malmesbury wine. A strong light is thrown on his condemnation by the fact that many of his estates were granted to Anthony ■WoodvUle." Edward, ^ it is said, was privy to the murder, and afterward felt the pangs of re&orse. Clarence left a son and a daughter, who both perished on the scaffold under the Tudors. 13* 27i HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. War with Sootlanfl. France thrnatened. Old BngUsli Nobility Destroyed. § 23. The King of France, after a few payments, refused, to con- tinue the pension that Edward had bargained for as the price of his withdrawal." Although Edward was terribly en- ■ § 19, p. 278. ,,,-,., X \i i i i 1 raged at this, he was not able at once to tate any re- venge, as he was then engaged in a war with Scotland, having chosen to support the claim of the Dvike of Albany, a pretender to the throne, who promised in return to cede a large part of the south of the kingdoan, and to hold the rest as the vassal of Eng- land. The English army, under the Duke of Gloucester, captured Edinbui'gh, and Berwick was taken after a long siege, when the war was allowed to drop, and Edward bestowed many privileges on his new subjects. That was in the year 1483. Being thus free, hs ijrepared for war with France ; but in the midst of his pro- jects he died [Aj)ril 9, 1483], after a brief iUness, at the age of forty-one yeare. His habitual excesses and dissolute life for twenty years destroyed his vitality and made old age impossible. Edward left the crown to his son Edward, a youth of thirteen, who was proclaimed king, as Edward the Fifth, on the day of his father's death. Edward the Fomth was remarkable alike for his military skill and courage, and his corrupt luxurious life. He was exceedingly handsome, and, when he had a purpose to gain, fascinating in manner. He was, however, both rapacious and ex- ti-avagant ; licentious and unscrapulous ; and he was so innately cruel that he seemed to enjoy personally witnessing the execution of his prisoners ; whilst in battle his cry was, " Kill the nobles and spare the commons." So thoroughly was this acted on that the ancient English nobility was almost annihilated in his reign, and the few new peers that he made did not long sm-vive him. CHAPTER XV. EEIGN OF EdWAKD THE FlPTH. [a.D. 1483.] § 1. YouNO Edward, son of Elizabeth Woodville," and a bsau- 206 ^^^^^ ^°^ °^ thii-taen years, was residing at Ludlow « S 10 109 ^^^*^^' ^ ^^'^ marches of Wales, " at the time of his o J years of age. They were aU executed in front of Stirling Castle, in the month of May, 1438. llie great estates of the Albany family were forfeited*to the crown, and its power was utterly destroyed. After that tragedy, for several years James continued, with his annual parliament, to promote the political, social, and industrial interests of his kingdom. He extended its trade by wise laws, and by making treaties of alliance and com- merce with France, Flanders, and other foreign countries. § 11. In the spring of 1437, James had taken measures to bring the Highland clans, who defied his authority, into subjection. He imprisoned and executed the heads of several of them. Among those imprisoned was Alexander, the Lord of the Isles,' who had again risen in open revolt. Another Highland rebellion broke out in 1431, led by Donald Balloch, a near relation of the Lord of the Isles. That, too, was promptly suppressed. The "pacification of the Highlands" was accomplished after the execution of about thi-ee hundred persons; but the blood then shed nourished dangerous seeds'of hatred. § 13. James formed an alliance with France, and in 1435 sent his infant daughter, Margaret, to be betrothed to the daupliin, or heir apparent to the throne of tliat kingdom. By these measures he became involved in a serious dispute with the English govern- ment, which led him to break the truce in 1436, and invade Eng- land. His queen persuaded him to desist, when he withdrew, disbanded his army, and kept Christmas festivities in the monas- tary of the Blackfiiars, at Perth, unconscious tliat a, conspiracy against his life was then ripe. The leaders in it were Sir Robert fl-raham, Walter Stuart Earl of Athole, and his grandson, Robert Stewart, adherents of the Duke of Albany, vdio had some private injmies to avenge. On the night of the 20th of February (to ■which time the festivities had liecn prolonged), Graham and armed accomplices made their way to the royal bedchamber, where they tuund the king in liis night-robes, eoiiverning with the queen and Chapter XVII,] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 287 Anarchy in Scotland. The Douglas Family. Infcri^es for the Throne. her lady attendants. James attempted to escape first by the win- dows, and then into a vault beneath the floor. There he was murdered, Graham giving him his death-blow. James was then in the forty-fourth year of his age. § 13. James's only son, a child six years of age, was immediately crowned James the Second. A dark career for Scotland then opened, for rapine and violence, released from truly royal rule, everywhere prevailed. As years rolled on, the Douglas family gained such power that it menaced the monarchy. In "William, the eighth Earl of Douglas, v^|p the representative of the most f oi-midable faction against the crown at the time when the young king assumed the management of the affairs of the reahn. Douglas, vrith a large body of retainers, defied the king, and committed acts of the greatest atrocity. James determined to destroy the ruffian. Under pretence of fiiendship he invited him to Stirling Castle in February, 1453, when he quarrelled with and murdered the great Scottish chief. § 14. An open rebellion of the adherents of Douglas ensued, but was speedily crushed ; but the brother of the mm'dered chief never ceased from his work of revenge. He was driven from Scotland, and by intrigues with the Yorkists in England" he » § 21, p. 363. fomented a quarrel which led James to invade that country. He laid siege to Roxburgh Castle ; and at the end of July, 1460, the king was killed by the bm'sting of a cannon, by the side of which he stood. § 15. The crown of Scotland now passed to the head of James's eldest son by Mary of Guelders, whom he had married in 1449. James the Tliu'd was only eight years of age when he was crowned. Again intrigue and turbulence prevailed, in which the Boyds and Hamiltons appear conspicuous. The new king was a weak prince ; and in due time his younger brothers, who respectively bore the titles of Duke of Albany and Eaii of Mar, contemplated the seizure of the crown. Mar was arrested in 1480, and died soon afterward. Albany fled to France, and on returning, in 1483, he entered into a treaty with Edward the Pourih, in which he assumed the title of Alexander, King of Scotland, consenting to receive the crown as a gift from Edward as his lord superior. S If). It was on account of this agreement that the „ „ •^ b § 32^ p. 374. Duke of Gloucester (afterward Richard the Third) marched into Scotland in the summer of 1483,'' when James 288 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Chnrcli and State in England. Heresy. The liOllards. also raised an ai-my. But James had greater trouble at liome ; and for a, while the Duke of Albany was the actual administrator of the government. By a turn in affairs he was precipitated from power, and compelled to flee to England, while James once more assumed supreme rule. Albany was kindly received by Duke Eichard at Berwick, which he had captured." The » § 32, p. 274. . . war was soon closed, at a treaty at Nottingham in 1484, and with it ended the principal events in the history of the Plantagenet dynasty, begun in 1154. CHAPTER XVm. SOCIETY DtTRrNG THE KtTLB OV THE lATBR PLAHTAGENETS. § 1. We have obsei-ved how strong was the papal power in England at the close of the fourteenth century, and how restive the people were becoming under its exactions.'' From l* 6 1 n 298 1. i- cj ' ' ' that time it began to decline, not only in England, but elsewhere. The general councils began to resist its preten- sions; and the great schism which broke out on the death of Gregory the Eleventh, in 1378, and divided the Western Empire for half a century, diminished its strength, and left the elements of decay in its foundation. In England the crown, as state. policy, continued to make common cause with the clergy ; and the only instance recorded in English history in which, as a body, they ever appeared disloyal, was in that of the deposition of Eichard the Second.'' Even then they were only partisans of one ' ' of the two competitors for the crown. § 2. Until the period we are now consideiing, heresy had not much troubled the church in England, and it had never been capi- tally punished. Tlie first prelate who became an actual peraecu- tor was Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbiu-y, who was a promi- „„= "6nt actor in the deposition of Eichard the Second ^ a § 21. p. 235. . oo o,« m 1399. As we have seen,' he took violent measures against the reformers known as Lollards, the fol- lowers of Walter Lolhard, who was burnt as a heretic at Co- logne, in 1323. In the new " heretics " the church saw a hostile force, f ormklablc in numbers and zeal ; and from Ai'undel's time CfiAPTKR XVIII.] THE PLANTAGBNETS. 289 Statute against Heretics. Fiery Persecutions. Evil InQuence of th^ Clergy. they Were dreadfully persecuted. One of their chief oiJences was the " damnable teaching " that in the making of pilgrimages to Canterbury, Beverly, and other places, the people were duped and made to spend time and money foolishly. The archbishop's craft was put in danger, and the revenues of the church might be de- creased by such teaching. § 3. At the beginning of the second year of the reign of Henry the Fourth [a.d. 1401], the famous statute against heretics, which came to the aid of the church in suppressing innovations and punishing innovators, was proclaimed. It forbade all preaching, teaching, or circulating of books, in public or private, without the consent of a bishop, under penalty of fine and imprisonment ; and upon those who were convicted of teaching anything " contrary to the Catholic faith or declaration of the holy church," and who re- fused to abjure, it imposed the dreadful punishment of a public burning at the stake. The primate (Arundel) was made a sort of inquisitor-general, and he had the pleasure of presiding at the trial of such a contumacious heretic a few weeks after the cruel statute was published. The victim was William Sawtree, a clergy- man, who was burnt at Smithfield early in March, 1401. He was the first person around whom the fires of religious persecution were lighted in England. They burnt on fiercely, at times, after that, the chief offence of the victims being, a denial of the real presence of Christ's flesh and blood in the consecrated bread and wine taken at the sacrament of the Lord's Sujiper. § 4. At this period the great body of the clergy stood obsti- nately in the way of all reforms in chm'ch and State, and were hinderers of the progress of Christianity and civilization. To keep the people in ignorance and awe, and to promote the power of the priesthood, they fostered the worst superstitions of the Dark Ages, and continually urged the importance of penances, confessions, in- dulgences, processions, pUgrimages, veneration for wells and adora- tion of images and the relics of saints. At this time [a.d, 1410] the wine in the Lord's Supper was vpithheld from the laity and used only by the clergy ; and every species of dissent from the teach- ings of the ecclesiastics was denounced and punished as heresy. Accordiag to a document i^ublished by the University of Oxford, in 1415, these " lords spiritual," who held such an ii'on grasp upon the people, crushing in them every noble aspiration for self-assertion, were, as a body, ignorant, rapacious, and profligate, enemies to IP. 290 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Laws and Government, Commerce and Manufactures. trae religion and social order, who were sej^dom punished for the grossest offences against morality. But in spite of the church a purer religion and morality spread among the people, especially of the middle class represented by the House of Com- " ' ' mons,» as a consequence of greater independence of thought and action. The seeds of that Reformation whose fruit we are enjoying then germinated. § 5. We have little to note concerning jurisprudence and law during this period. It was a season of civil war and great com- motions, a condition unfavorable to social advancement. It may be sufficient to say that the power of the Commons and'their con- stituency was gradually increased. The monarchy became less and less an autocracy, and lost much of its despotic power. Con- cession after concession was made to the people, and the crown became, in a large degree, a dependant of the parliament. Many feudal laws, through necessity, fell into desuetude. Courts of law became more distinctively comts of justice, and the rights of the people were more clearly recognized and positively protected. Changes had been made in the matter of crown lands,' ' ' ' and the revenues of the monarch were much less and more honestly obtained. In this statement we must except the profli- gate and extravagant Edward the Fourth, and his predecessor Henry. § 6. Notwithstanding the unfavorable condition of society, dur- ing this period of turbulence, for the advancement of national industry, the commerce and manufactures of England gi'eatly increased. Efforts were made for the increase of the foreign trade. They were successful. Treaties for commercial inter- course vrith the sixty or seventy cities and towns in Germany be- longing to the Hanseatic League were made ; and British ships were seen in every mart of traffic. The wool and the woollen fabrics of England were superior to those of any other country ; and so extended was the exportation of these that, in the fifteenth century, Venice, Florence, and Genoa foimd, in then- commercial intercourse with England, the balance of trade against them. Of course this did not imply the real prosperity of England, for her wool and cloth and other useful things were largely exchanged for luxuries. London was, at that time, the English emporium of trade and manufactures. A Greek writer said, in the year 1400, that it was "preferred to any city in the West for population, opulence, andluxurj-." Cjiaptbb XVIII.] THE PLANTAGENBTS." 291 The Mechanic Arts. Post-Offlces. Agriculture. Purniture. § 7. In mechanic arts new industries were developed. The in- vention of gunpowder and firearms at this period had created new wants and diminished old ones. The business of the a!rmorer was almost wholly changed. And so with other trades. But all were hampered by unwise restrictions, yet all flourished ; for not- withstanding the civil wars of the Lancaster period " England continually grew richer and richer, and the wants of the inhabitants were greater and were gratified. Not- withstanding the foolish restrictions put upon commerce, mer- chants, both native and foreign, amassed enormous wealth, and during the seasons of quiet the lands produced much more than the wants of the people required. It was during this period that public posts for the conveyance of intelligence — in fact a post-ofiice system ^was established in England, and greatly promoted facilities for trade and commerce. It was wholly iri the hands of the goveiH- ment. The national 'coins remained the same as at the former period'' in name, but their value was somewhat changed — generally depreciated. § 8. During this period the people, on the whole, were better fed, clothed, and housed than at any previous time. The villein class ' were gradually merged into free laborers, and many of them betook themselves to handicrafts. In- creased production followed this emancipation, and allowed the exportation of agricultural products. The exportation of com was permitted by statute in 1435, and from that time England was a grain-exporting counti-y. Yet the product per acre, as compared with the present yield, was very small — less than six bushels of wheat, twelve of barley, twelve of peas, and five of oats. § 9. Intercourse vrith foreign nations, and an increase of wealth, caused modifications in the an-angement of households and the general mode of living in England. The walls of houses of the better sort were hung with tapesti-y instead of being painted as in the preceding age. The furniture was more elegant and costly in material and fashion ; and rich tapestry was used in the curtains of beds and windows. Tables, buffets, chairs, desks, cradles, and stools were often elegantly carved, and inlaid, with various woods and metals, and were often covered vsdth rich stuffs beautifully embroidered. Feather beds were introduced at this period ; and Icojjaid skins were sometimes used as bed-coverings. Early in 292 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book V. Dress and Fashions. Effects of Grxmpowder. Anitisementa. the fifteenth century, clocks with weights and strings, hanging against the wall, were first seen in illustrated manuscripts. § 10. In dress, the extravagant fashions •introduced in the reign of Richard the Second " appear to have undergone ■ ' ' very little change during the remainder of the Plan- tagenet dynasty. The fashions were ridiculed by the satirists, and against some, legislative enactments were hurled, but with little effect. The hair of the men was cut short, and the head-dresses of the women became more elaborate and fantastic during a por- tion of the period. Among other absurdities was the horrid head- dress in the reign of Henry the Kfth, an illustration of which is given in the monumental effigy of Beatrice, Countess of Arundel, in Ai'undel chm'ch. § 11. It was in this period that chivalry attained its highest eminence, and defensive ajTaor was made in the greatest perfec- tion before the invention of gunpowder and fire-arms. Men were covered with garments made sometimes of a net work of small chains, but more generally of plates of steel and iron, so adjusted by hinges as to fit and work with the body. So they were cov- ered from head to foot, with openings only for the ears, eyes, and nostrils. Metal shields, made very strong, were also used. Then the helmets, and indeed the whole armor, were made proof against sword, battle-axe, and spear. The horse of the warrior was also clad in mail. But so heavy was the armor of a knight, that if thrown to the ground he could not rise without assistance. Gun- " powder and cannon-balls made such armor useless, and it soon went out of use. § 12. Gunpowder exploded chivaby with all its mummeries and shams, and the tournament, the great military pastime of the middle ages, disappeared. Other amusements for the court, knights, and people were much the same as durimg the preceding be SI 2SS P''™'^-'' Public exhibitions more nearly resembling „ . ' ' g' ' the modern theatre took the place, to a great extent, of the grosser mummeries." Pantomimes and dia- logues, called "Mysteries," were in great repute, "in which sacred subjects and characters were mingled with much profanity. Bowl- ing, ball-playing, and archery continued to be the favorite amuse- m3nts of the common people ; and chess and card-playing whiled away the hours in halls and castles. The latter had been intro- ducjd from the East ))y the crusaders or pilgrims. Blindman's Chapter Xyill.] THE PLANTAGBNBTS. 293 Xiterature, Science, and Art First Printing in England. buff, or " Hoodman blind," as it was called, jumping through hoops, shuttlecock, tumbling, leaping, and running, were also common sports ; and licensed or professional fools, answering to the " clown " of the circus in our day, were to be seen every- where. The "fool," or " jester" — generally a witty fellow — was an established officer in the royal households of England and among the nobility, from the time of the Conquest to that of Charles the Second, a period of six hundred years. His business was to make fun at table and elsewhere. § 13. Of the literature, science, and fine arts of England at this period, little may be said. The enthusiasm for study which sent thirty thousand students to Oxford at one time ' was only a spasm. So early as 1357, the thirty thousand had dwindled to less than six thousand. The popular veneration for learning had declined ; and men of learning and science were seen begging bread. The actual contributions to the national literatm-e in the fifteenth century were less than those of any pre- ceding age since the Conquest. There were historians, romancers, and poets of excellence, but not of great pre-eminence, since Chaucer died ; and philosophers were few. Yet the love of learn- ing was alive. It was only slumberous. In the course of that century several new colleges were added to Oxford and Cam- bridge. The Scottish universities of St. Andi-ew and Glasgow were established ; and schools for the common people were more numerous than before. Indeed, there was no decline of zeal for study among the middle class, while it grew cold with the nobility, among whom learned men became of little repute. § 14. England was then watching the dawn of that glorious day vrhen the art of printing burst upon the world like another sun, giving new light and heat to the souls of nieh. That art was practised in Germany thirty years before it was introduced into Eucland or France. It was not until 1474, when William Caxton, a native of Kent, who had been for some time in the household of Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy," on returning to ^ ^^ England brought the art with him, and set up a piint- ing-oflic3 near "Westminster Abbey. Then he printed a book which Earl Rivers ° had translated from the French, and who, ^ ^^ ^^ in 1477, introduced Caxton to Edward the Fourth. § 15. The fine arts, particularly architecture, flourished during this period. A style of Gothic peculiarly English, known as tho BOOK YI. THE TTJDOES. [FROM A.D. 1485 TO 1603.] CBLAPTEB L EEIGN OF HbNKT THE SEVENTH. [A.D. 1485 TO 1509.] § 1. The fortunate adventurer who had won a crown by a single battle " was the grandson of Catherine of France, the ° S 1] 13 281 widow of Henry the Fifth,' through her second mar- ^ ' ' ' riage with one of her attendants, a handsome young "Welshman, named Oviren Tudor. Their two sons, Edmund and Jasper, " were created Earls of Richmond and of fern- „ broke by their half-brother, Henry the Sixth. Ed- mund married Margaret Beaufort, a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt,'' but died in the following year, leaving his ^ young widow and their infant son to the care of his brother Jasper. When the child was but five years old his grand- father was taken at Mortimer's Cross and beheaded,' « § 35, p. 2G3. and his uncle became a fugitive. Pembroke's title and his strong castle of Pembroke were both given to WiUiam Herbert, a new-made noble, who was happily a generous man, and, though obliged to act as their keeper, he treated both mother and son with kindness. The temporary restoration of Henry the Sixth ' set the young earl at liberty for the first time in his life ; but on the return of Edward the Fourth his uncle Jasper took him abroad, his mother being then mai-ried to Sir Henry StafEord, a Yorkist; e § 3. The two fugitives passed many anxious years, sometimes in Brittany, sometimes in Prance, treated now as guests, now as prisoners, according to the changing policy of the rulers of those countries. The danger became the gi'eater as young Richmond, when he grew up, evinced such talent and courage that he rather 296 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Aj)cession of the House oJ Tudor. Beginning of the now King's Eeign. than his uncle began to be considered formidable by the Torkist princes, who endeavored to procure his surrender. Tliis unwise proceeding caused him to be looked upon as the head of the Lan- castrian exU.es,» and, by the intrigues of his mother, SIS Ti 973 ' •/ cj " many of the "WoodviUe party " also were induced to ' ■ ■ join him after the accession of Kichard the Third, a common hatred of the new ]jing being theii- only bond of union. But when Eichmond had gained the battle of Bos- ' ' worth," he showed at once that he had won the crown for himself alone ; and though, according to the agreement made, he eventually married the Princess Elizabeth * " ' ' ^' ' [A.r>. 1486], it was not until he had procured from the parliament a declaration that the regal dignity belonged to him- self and his heirs, " and none other," which was as clearly contra- dictoi-y to all idea of hereditary succession as the setting aside of the Earl of March to make way for Henry of BoUng- broke, nearly a oentm-y before." § 3. Eichmond, upon whose head Stanley placed the crown,^ was saluted as king on the field of battle by his followers, '§11, p. 2?]. • » - V J > and he at once began to play the tyrant by seizing young Edward Plantagcnet, then fifteen years of age, whose only offence was that he was the son and heir of the late E § 21 p 273 Duke of Clarence, e His uncles had merely kept him in seclusion since the death of Ms father, but the new ruler sent him to the Tower, where, though styled Earl of Warwick after the death of his grandmother [a.d. 1490], the rest of his unhappy life was passed in such ignorance that an old writer says he hardly knew one beast or bird from another. § 4. By slow marches the new king reached London [Aug. 37, 1485], where he was reoeived with eu&usiasm ; but he was not crown- ed until the 30th of October following, on account of a fatal epi- demic that prevailed in the capital, The ceremony was performed by the Cardinal Ai'chbishop of Canterbury. Then a parliament was assembled [Nov. V, 1485], which pureued the usual course of the last thii'ty years. The Lancastrian attainders, 107 in number, were reversed, and about thirty of the prominent Yorkists were con- demned without form of trial. A little later [Jan. 18, 1486] Hem-y 1 o o oon married the Princess Elizabeth, who, as we have seen,'' " § 8, p. SoOi had been eager to become the wife of Eichard. § 5. Henry added many new features to the revolution on Chapter I.] THE TUDORS. 297 Assumptions of Boyally. The Court ol Stftr-ohamber. Insurreclion. his own authority. Fii-st he established a permanent body- guard for himself, under the name of yeomen of the croTvn, a step that former kings had not thought necessary. Then he revoked all the crown grants from the time that Eichard, Duke of York, liad been first appointed Protector," which reduced most persons of any consequence ° ' ''' to a complete dependence on him ; and, to get rid of any trou- ble that the ordinary courts might occasion in judging any of these mattere, he next induced his parliament to agree to the foundation of the Court of Star-chamber. This tribunal was com- posed of seven members of the council. Its powers were as exten- sive as he or his successors chose to make them, so that its very name became odious, and not without substantial reason. These proceedings plainly showed the Yorkists what they had to expect from the new .ruler, and accordingly Lord Lovel (who had just been attainted), the Staffords (cousins of the late Duke of Bucking- ham), and others, rose in arms early in the year 1486. But then- measm-es being badly taken, the rising was soon suppressed. Some sought refuge in sanctuaries, but the chief men escaped to Flanders, where, imder the protection of Margaret of Burgun- dy,' the sister of Richard the Third, they busied them- ' selves in preparing for a more formidable attempt in the following year. § 6. This was made in Ireland, where the house of York was in great favor, for there Duke Richard had been lord lieuten- ant, and there his son Clarence was born. John, Earl of Lincoln, " who had been declared heir to the throne by Richard the Third, was now in Flanders, when a beauti- ful youth, called Lambert Simnel, appeared in Ireland, attended by Richard Simon, a young priest from Oxford, who declared that his chai'ge was the Earl of Warwick (Edward Plantageuet), escaped from the Tower, and claimed support for him as the son of their countrymen, which was accorded without any appearance of dis- trust in the tale. At the same time rumors were spread that one at least of the sons of Edward the Fourth who were said to have been murdered by their uncle Richard ^ was still alive : and Henry gave some appearance of truth to the idea by seizing their mother, the dowager queen, just at this very time, and imprisoning her for the rest of her life in the nunnery at Eermondsey. Her son by her first marriage, the Marquis of 13* 298 HISTORY OF ENGLAND., pBooK VI. A Pretender in Ireland, » . Lincoln's Invasion of Ireland. Dorset, was also imprisoned, but lie was released after a few months. § 7. The government of Ii-eland had been given by Henry to his uncle, Jasper Tudor, who was also created Duke of Bedford ; but an Anglo-Irish noble, Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, was the deputy, who had had that office bestowed on him by statute for life, in the preceding reign. He was a warm partisan of the House of York, but he was too powerful to be removed. Probably he was privy to the scheme ; but at aU events he received the youth joyfully, and, utterly abjuring Henry, caused him to be solemnly crowned at Dublin by the archbishop, with the title of Edward the Sixth. Henry, to discredit the youth's claim, brought the young earl out of the Tower and showed him in public, but to little purpose. The poor boy had been kept in seclusion so long that no one of any credit knew him ; and the Yorkists plausibly maintained that Henry was attempting to impose on the world, and that theirs was the real earl. § 8. Either believing this, or merely from enmity to Henry, the Duchess of Burgundy supplied her nephew, Lincoln," a § 6, p. 27-3. CD ^ L r 1,7 J With a force of 3,000 veteran German soldiers under the command of a renowned leader named Martin Schwartz. Lin- coln, Lovel, and the rest passed over to Ireland, and being there joined by the kinsmen of the Lord Deputy Fitzgerald, and some thousands of their followers, the whole body soon after landed in Lancashire, where Su- Thomas Broughton and all his tenantry took arms in their cause. On their way thi'ough Yorkshire but few of the friends that they had reckoned on came to them, not liking the appearance of the wild, ill-anned Irish, though they sent money and food, and promised to join them after a single battle had been gained. § 9. This selfish policy was fatal to the adventurers, as when they reached Nottinghamshire they were met by Henry at Stoke upon Trent, and utterly defeated after a well-fought battle. Lin- coln, Lovel, the two Lords Fitzgerald, Schwartz, Broughton, and tho other leaders fell on the field, and their men were mercilessly butchered, both Iiish and Germans being alike regarded as f oreig-n- ers. Simnel and his tutor Simon were made .prisoners, and their lives were spared — Simnol, that the Yorkists might be moi-tified at seeing him employed as a turnspit, for many of them stiU believed in him; and Simon, from a superstitious fear of shedding tho Chapter I.] THE TUDORS. 299 Execution of Yorldsts. Extortions. Tlie Nobility robbed by the King. blood of a priest. Simon was doomed tS imprisonment for life ; and so was Bishop Stillington, who was charged with having favored Simnel, but whose real offence was that he had once been em- ployed in endeavoring to persuade the treacherous minister of the Duke of Brittany to surrender the Earl of Richmond," , , , , , , ' a § 9, p. 280. and had nearly succeeded. § 10. Henry ^first held a three days' rejoicing at Lincoln for his victory ; and then he proceeded to execute all who were accused of having favored the Yorkist cause and were not rich enough to ransom their lives at a heavy price. He next visited Yorkshire, where he, acted in the same manner. The sums extorted he re- tained for himself ; and he then asked for, and obtained from the parliament, a subsidy for his expenses. But this the Yorkshire people resisted, and they killed the Earl of Noi-thumberland, who endeavored to enforce it. This nobleman had betrayed their fa- vorite, Richard, at Bosworth,' and was therefore odi- ' § 11, p. 281 ous to them. Henry, however, released the attainted Earl of SuiTey from the Tower, and sent him into the north, when the money was paid. As a reward, the earl had his title restored, and even some part of his lands, and he was ever alter a trusted adherent of the new line of kings, the second of whom created him Duke of Norf qlk. § 11. One settled purpose with Henry was to depress and hu- miliate the house of York and all the old nobility, which he very fully effected ; but even a more important object with him was the acquisition of treasure, and he scrupled at no baseness to gain his end. This is well shown in his conduct to the orphan daugh- ter of the Duke of Brittany, in whose territories he had so long been sheltered. § 13. That prince, soon after Richmond's establishment on the throne, was threatened with invasion by the King of France, and in his distress he naturally looked for aid from his former guest,- who owed Jiis life to him. Henry, however, had no sense of honor or gratitude, and whilst pretending great concern, was really only seeking to benefit himself by the distress of his former host. He easily got a subsidy from his parliament for a war with France in support of the duke ; but at the same time he came to a secret un- derstanding with the French king, and, in lieu of equipping an army, he contented himself with allowing a few hundreds of Eng- lish adventurers to go to Brittany at their own expense, just as in 300 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. The King's Ingratitude and Avarice. His Suspicions. Fate of the old Nobility. later days a British le^on serred in Spain. This enterprise was unsuccessful. The volunteers were aU killed at the battle of St. Aubin, ia July, 1488 ; and though Henry congratulated himself on having thus got rid of many troublesome subjects, the clamor was so great that he was at last obliged to send a small force of his own. But he was a gainer even by this. The French paid him for the troops being kept idle in garrisons that were not meant to be attacked, instead of taking the field, and the young Duchess of Brittany (who had become an orphan just after the fa- tal battle of St. Aubin) was obliged to bear all their expenses as if they were sei-ving her. The consequence was, that the duchy was soon overrun, and the unfortunate princess was taken prisonei', when she was absolutely forced to marry the King of France, although she was already wedded by proxy to Maximilian of Geiinany. § 13. Henry had found his kingdom at war with Scotland, and he tnade proposals for peace ; but as he declined to surrender Ber- wick," which the Scots demanded, the negotiation • e 16, p. 287. ' & -* failed, though, after a time, a truce was agreed to. Before this was done, aU Scots were ordered to quit the realm, and some slight preparation for war had been made ; so, to repay him- self, Henry levied a " benevolence," >■ which he also ' § 18, p. 272. employed as a test of men's apparent liking for him, saying openly that he should value their love by the amount that each gave in proportion to his estate. This threat, for it was noth- ing else, brought him large sums from his bitter enemies, lest they should be ruined. But Hem'y, like a tyrant of earlier date, was quite content to be hated so long as he was also feared, and he held it as a maxim of State policy that wealthy subjects were more difficult to rule than poor ones. His suspicious temper made hiin act as his own minister, and he gave his confidence to no one, ex- cept in some slight degree to Cardinal Morton, who had lured Buckingham to destruction. He was now chancellor, and he beare the odium of having pointed out to Henry the readiest ways of car- rying his tyi'annical intentions into effect. § 14. The old nobility had been reduced to half its number by the eivil war, and most of the sm-vivors being Yorkists, they now were poor also. Henry raised some of his adherents to the peer- age, but he took care that they should never become too great or too rich through his lavish grants ; and when occasionally a York- ist obtained the reversal of his own or his ancestor's attainder, it Ceaptbk I.] THE TUDORS. 301 Origin oE the English Yeomanry. Perkin "Warbock, or Bicharcl, in Ireland. ■was always at the price of a large part of his estates, and he usu- ally received only a lower title. Under the pretext of i-elieving the distresses of the nobles he allowed them to ■ dispose of a large part of their lands, and these being bought by merchants, traders, and farmers, a middle class grew up between the peerage and the poor, which in the next reign purchased the church lands also, and thus, holding the greater part of the soil of the country, soon became the chief power in the State. This was the oidgin of the powerful " yeomanry " of England. § 15. Henry never ceased to show his distrust of the Yorkists instead of attempting to conciliate thespi, and, as a natural conse- quence, their machinations against him were endless. Seven years of his reign were disturbed by the proceedings of a young man, known in history as Perkin Warbeck, but who asserted himself to be Bichard Duke of York, the son of Edward the Fourth, and who was received as such by many of that king's old friends. These were men who had lived in Edward's court, and who either told the truth or were guilty or wilful falsehood, for they could not be themselves deceived. The matter has never yet been fully proved, either way ; but the account that the young man always gave of himself has a far greater ah- of probability than either of those which Henry published, for he put forth several, which contradict each other. The very different treatment, too, that the young man received when he was made prisoner, to that afforded to Lambert Simnel," is hard to be accounted for except by sup- posing that he was really a prince. It seems thus reasonable to style him Bichard, instead of Perkin Warbeck, a name that at once brands him as an impostor. § 16. In the summer of 1492 this young man landed at Cork, and at once assumed the style of a prince. He was tall, of fair complexion, of comply manners, and handsomely dressed ; and his strong resemblance to King Edward was undeniable. John Water, a wealthy merchant, who had not long before been mayor of the city, at once espoused his cause, as did many of the citizens. The Archbishop of Dublin, the Lord Prior of KUmainham, who was at the head of the Knights of St. John in Ireland, the Earl of Des- mond, and Lord Barry also joined him ; but Kildare,!- ^ the deputy, put ofiE the time with courteous excuses. Othei-s held back, waiting for him to declare himself, as he was a well-known Yorkist; and bsfore much had been don? in the way of 302 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VI. Invasion of Prance. Warbeok acknowledged in Flanders. Treachery, raising troops, Charles, the French king, invited Richard to his court. Here he was treated as a prince, and the TorMst exiles (who were now as numerous in France as the Lancastrians had once been) were allowed to assemble around him, with the view of theii- being employed against Henry, who was at last about to carry out his threatened invasion. § 17. But Henry, though he landed at Calais in October with a formidable army, had no real intention of making war. He be- sieged Boulogne for a few days without effect, and then withdrew, to the great disgust of his followers. They had been obliged to incur vast expenses in equipping themselves, and now that they had to return without having either gained a battle or put hundreds of wealthy prisoners to ransom, they looked on the enterprise as a, mere scheme of the king to impoverish them, for he let his distrust of rich subjects be everywhere known. A treaty was soon after- ward concluded, by which Henry agreed to prevent any further aid being given to the Bretons, who were in arms against their French masters ; and Chtirles was no longer to shelter Richard, though he absolutely refused to give him up. § 18. The young man on this repaired to Flanders, where Mar- garet, the Duchess of Burgundy, received him with joy as her nephew. She styled him " the White Rose of England," and gave him a guard of honor di-essed in the well-known Torkist livery colors of murrey and blue. At her court he remained for nearly three yeara, the cause of great anxiety and alai-m to Henry. Many of the Yorkists went over to Richard ; others sent an agent to make inquiries, but were betrayed by him. Tliis agent was Sii- Robert Clifford, a son of " the butcher CHfEord " who killed the young Earl of Rutland at Wakefield," but who himself passed for a Yorkist. He acted with detestable treachery ; for whilst he assured his employers that Richard was indeed the long-lost duke, he betrayed the names of all his correspondents to Henry. Among them were Lord Fitzwalter, Sir William Daube- ney, and Sir Robert RatcUfEe, all well-known Yorkists ; but Hemy was more concerned to find that his own chamberlain. Su' William Stanley, had declared that if he were once convinced of the truth of Richard's tale, he would never bear arms against him. § 19. Clifford was recalled, and had a secret inteiTiew in the Tower with Henry, who soon made up liis mind how to act. Tlie persons named were summoned to attend him as if for some ordi- Chapter I] THE TUDORS. 303 Murder of Stanley. Warbeck styled King in Scotland. Insnrrection in Cornwall. nary purpose, when they were seized, attamted without trial, and beheaded. So important did Clifford's services appear that Henry paid him £500 out of his own purse. Sir William Stanley had greatly contributed to gain the battle of Bosworth, where he set Eichard's crown upon Henry's " head ; he was also the brother of Lord Stanley, who was Henry's step-father ; and the expression into which he had been betrayed by Clifford, though displeasing to the king, had nothing treasonable in it. But he was veiy wealthy, and soon disappeared. The common im- pression was that he was "murdered for his money," which was a severe condemnation of Henry's government. § 30. In a few months after the execution of Stanley, Richard sailed [a.d. 1495] with a force to invade England. It had more men of note in it, and was at least as strong as that which landed with Richmond at MUf ord-haven ; but a party that was treacher- ously invited on shore at Deal was cut off, when the rest returned, dispirited, to Flanders. Because they failed, they have been dcr scribed only as " a rabblement of knaves." Henry, by granting great commercial privileges to the subjects of the Duke of Burgun- dy, and by bribing his ministers, soon after procured Richard's ex- pulsion from Flanders, when he repaired, for the second time, to Ireland. But his partisans remembered how the ill-anned Irish had fared at Stoke, and by their advice he went to Scotland, where the king (James the Fomth), received him most cordially, styling him King Richard the Fourth, and gave liim in marriage a,kinswoman of his own, the beautiful Lady Catherine Gordon, a daughter of the Earl of Huntly. § 31. In October, 1496, James and Richard advanced into Eng- land with a large array, but the dislike to the Scots was so great that very iew of the Yorkists would join them. The Scots, in spite of Richard's interference, plundered the country, and then retired. War with Scotland was now determined on, and a subsidy granted for the purpose ; but the people of Cornwall refused to pay their share, asserting that they had nothing to do with the north coun- try. Headed by Lord Audley, a man of ruined fortune. Flam- mock, a lawyer, and Joseph, a blacksmith, they took up arms, and actually marched to London ; but they were defeated at Black- heath [June 22, 1497], and their leaders executed. The common people found their way back to the west, checked rather than sub- dued, and ready to rise again when the occasion might offer. 304 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. James and Warbeck invade England. The latter a prisoner. His treatment. § 32. They had not long to wait. James and Richard had again entered England, but with the same result as before. Richard then withdrew to Ireland, when he was at once invited to England by the Cornishmen. He landed in Whitsand bay, near Penzance, and being joined by large numbers of the people, he seized the strong post of St. Michael's Mount. Here he left his wife, and marched to Exeter. The walls, however, were strong, and the townsmen, who hated the Cornishmen as foreigners,' made so stout a defence that he soon abandoned the siege and pushed forward into Somersetshire. Here, at Taunton, he met the vanguard of the royal army, and healing that the main body, led by Henry himself, was approaching, his courage failed him, and lie fled, Sept. 31, 1497, with a few horsemen to BeauUeu, in the New Forest, where he took sanctuary. But this shameful desertion of his followers availed him little. The monastery was surrounded, and he was soon in- duced to surrender on a promise that his life should be spared, as it was, though only for a time. § 33. Henry at firet treated his prisoner with such consideration as is usually only bestowed on persons of real rank, and not on detected impostors. He placed his wife in the court of his queen, and allowed Richard a horse, beside paying various sums of money for him, even down to his tailor's bill, as remains to this day duly entered in Henry's privy purse accounts. But he reimbursed him- self for these and all his other expenses by levying enormous fines on all who'Bould be in any way represented as Richard's adherents ; and the list of these, which is still preserved among the public records, shows how numerous they were. Richard's imprisonment evidently was but light (probably treacherously so), but an attempt to escape led to his being sent to the Tower, which he only left for the scaffold. ' § 34. It has been mentioned that the unhappy Earl of Warwick was shut up in the Tower by Henry in the very beginning of his reign." Fourteen years had now passed, and Henry was already looking about for a wife for his eldest son, Arthur, a boy of twelve years of age. He applied to Ferdinand of Castile, a man as hsartless as himself, who replied that he could not think of giving his daughter in marriage whilst so near a rela- tive of the former kings existsd. Henry had no scruple about re- " They were really bo, if manners, customs, and language afford any test, long after this; and the difference has not entirely disappeared even at the present day. Chaptek I.] THE TTTDOUS. 305 Warbeck and Earl o£ Warwick beheaded. The King's Avarice exhibited. moving such an obstacle, and he also managed to rid himself of Richard at the same time. The two prisoners were allowed to as- sociate. Spies Hsteued to their conversation, charged them, whether truly or untruly, with planning to escape, and they were both exe- cuted as traitors in the summer of 1499. "Warwick, in consideration of his royal blood, was beheaded within the Tower ; whilst Richard was hanged and quartered at Tybmn, his faithful associate John Water, once the mayor of Cork,* suf- fering with him. § 25. From this time forward Henry lived undisturbed by any real attempt to dispossess him, although to the end of his life he continued to enrich himself at the expense of all who were in any way connected with the fallen house of Tork, under the pretence that they were conspiring against him. This was the case witlithe De la Poles, the brothers of John, Earl of Lincoln,'' who *" (» 6 p 297 fell in the battle of Stoke. On the death of their father the dukedom of Suffolk was suppressed, on Henry's own authority, and Edmund, the eldest son, only received the lower title of earl two years afterward on paying a large sum of money. On the death of Richard the hopes of the Yorkists were believed to rest on Edmund, and finding himself in danger from Henry's suspicions, he and his brother Richard withdi'ew to Flanders. They were at once attainted, and several gentlemen were executed as their confederates. Among them was Sir James Tyrell, who is usually regarded as the murderer of the young princes in the Tower," but the charge was not made against him until long after his death, and is therefore probably untrue, at least so far as he is concerned. § 26. As the Yorkists seemed now to be finally crushed, the Spanish king had given his daughter Catherine to the young Prince Arthur with a splendid fortune. But the death of the youth in a few months threatened to vmdo all that had been accomplished, and the loss of his son was a light matter to Hemy compared with repaying the money. He therefore compelled his remaining son, a boy of only eleven years of age, to enter into a contract of marriage with his sister-in-law, who was a handsome young woman of eighteen. The marriage, which was sanctioned by the Pope, though repugnant to evei-y proper feeling, was not celebrated until after Hem-y's death ; but it eventually exercised a most important in- fluence on the affairs of the world. Henry also married his 306 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. The King's " Ravening Wolv-es." His Baseness toward Mb Benefactor. daughter Margaret to the Ejng of Scotland, and though he did not follow the example of the Spanish monarch in giving her a splendid dower, the result was more satisfactory, as her descendants wore the crown of both kingdoms, and thus put an end to the wars that had so often desolated North Britain. § 27. Henry's wife, Elizabeth of York," died in 1503, shortly be- fore the maniage of her daughter, and he at once ' ' ' sent ambassadors to various courts to treat for another partner, but they could find no princess sufficiently wealthy, and the expense of their journeys was incurred in vain. He was better served, however, by "two ravening wolves," as a writer of the time calls them, who filled his coffers by the most scandalous means, reviving obsolete laws and perverting existing ones, so that every rich man stood in danger of being ruined by them, though guiltless of any real offence. These " wolves " were two lawyers, named Richard Bmpson and Edmund Dudley, of whom the first was the son of a poor sieve-maker, but the other was by birth a " gentleman." They took into a kind of partnership with them a band of men of infamous characters, who, under the name of " promoteiB," carried out their designs by perjury, though in the name of the law. Some of them were appointed under-sheriffs, and in that capacity they named others who sat as jurors, and before these othere bore false witness, whilst those who knew the tiTith dared not contradict them from fear of being proceeded against themselves. § 28. Thus evei-y one who was accused was sure to be convicted ; and it was soon seen that the only way to escape utter ruin was by coming to some agreement with the " wolves," who thus extorted enormous sums of money, often in the shape of a yearly pension. The greater part went into the king's treasury, where it was kept under his own lock and key ; but the agents enriched themselves also, and though "noble men grudged, mean men kicked, poor men lamented, and preachers openly, at Paul's Cross and other places, exclaimed, rebuked, and detested," the oppression endured until Hemy became the richest and most odious king in Chiisten- dom. One peculiarly base transaction marked his latter years. Philip, Duke of Burgundy, on his way to Spain was driven on the English coast by a tempest, and was welcomed by Henry with great show of regard. But before he could obtain leave to depart he was obliged to agree to a commercial treaty, which gave uj all Chapter 1.] THE TTJDOKS. 307 The King shows Bemorse, His Character. Mean Treatment of his Family. the advantages that he had foraierly gained as the price of the ex- pulsion of- liichard," and also to surrendei' Edmund de la Pole, who had long been sheltered in his dominions. < ■ " ■ Philip had the grace to stipulate that Henry would spare his cap- tive's life, and he did so ; but he let his successor know that he was not bound by his father's promise, and Suffolk was beheaded after a seven years' imprisonmcftit. § 39. Hqnry's later years were marked by much sickness, in the form of gout and consumption, and, in fear of death, he occasion-, ally released poor debtors, and bestowed some small gifts on mon- asteries and hospitals ; but the exactions of Empson and Dudley were never checked by him, and when he died [Apiil 31, 1509], at his new palace of Richmond, he left an enormous ti-easure behind him, which his prodigal successor very soon dissipated. § 30. Hem-y was a tall, thin man, of a severe yet anxious aspect, who never moved abroad without his guards, and made no attempt to gain the favor of the peojjle by mixing freely with them, as the Yorkist princes had done. His character hardly needs delineation. His courage and address gained him a throne, but he had none of the other high qualities that ought to accompany such a position. He had known actual poverty in his youth, and his every action afterwards seemed devoted to guarding against such a calamity for the futm-e. Hence he cared not how he gained money, though no doubt he was best pleased when he conld extract it from the York- ists. Their depression, indeed, seemed the great purpose of his life after the acquisition of treasure, and he often managed to com- bine the two. § 31. Richard the Third had provided for the widow of Edward the Fourth, but Henry, her son-in-law, resumed the estates as the gift of an usurper, and, besides imprisoning her, married her daughters, against their will, to noblemen who would take them with- out portions, though one of them escaped this humiliation by becom- ing a nun at Dartf ord. His treatment of his wife was no better ; for he kept her in complete dependence, and took her plate in pledge when he lent her money to pay her debts. The whole character of his reign was in accordance with his private life — ^harsh, cold, and suspicious ; but it forms a memorable era, as being the turning- point when the old forms of govermnant and living began to pass away, and the foundations were laid of something like the present state of society, whun laws and commerce have raised 308 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Accession of Henry the Eighth, The Promise of his Beginning. up powers in the State that were all but unknown under the Plantagenets. CHAPTER 11 KEIGN OF HbNBT THE EIGHTH. [a.D. 1509 TO 1547.] § 1. The eldest surviving son of Henry the Seventh, who now came to the thi-one, a tall, handsome youth of eighteen, was in all out- ward respects as complete a contrast to his father as could well be imagined. He succeeded to unbounded wealth, and set himself to enjoy it, giving pompous entertainments, and taking an active part in every diversion, so that he at once gained a personal popularity which he never entirely lost. He was proclaimed king on the 32d of April, 1509, and was crowned with his queen (Catherine of Arragon, whom he had just married) on the 24th of June fol- lowing. § 2. His first step was to send Empson and Budley ■■ to the Tower, and then he appointed commissioners to re- ceive the complaints of all who had been injm-ed by them, promising full compensation, lest, as he said, his father's soul should suffer for their iniquity. But this good intention was never carried out. The claims rose to so vast an amount that the treasurer despaired of paying them, and, instead, the " wolves " were put to death [Aug. 17, 1510] on an absurd charge of treason. The money thus saved paid the expenses of the king's marriage with Catherine, which was solemnized in spite of the advice of Ar-chbishop "Wareham. The vii-tues of this unhappy princess had the effect, for many years, of imposing a wholesome restraint on the conduct of her husband, so that his government, though with many blots, was to be preferred to that of his father. But when she lost her influence the whole current of affairs was changed, and hencefoi-ward he may justly be considered the worst of Eng- lish kings. § 3. One of the earliest results of the king's marriage was that he was involved in a war with France, which was the beginning of a series of interferences in the affaii-s of the Continent that lasted during his whole reign. The treasm-e that he had inlierited ena- Chaptbk n.] THE TUDORS. 309 War with Franco. Henry*s Schemes of Conquest. Death of his Admiral bled him to equip fleets and armies, and even to take an emperor into his daily pay ; but he had to do with men of much greater abilities than himself in Francis the First and Charles the Fifth, and his schemes of conquest ' came to nothing. Each alternately sought his alliance or threatened him with invasion, as they saw their own interest at the moment, so that he was hardly ever at peace ; and though the plunder of the Church gave him an amount of treasure such as no English ruler had ever before possessed, he spent it all, and died hopelessly in debt. § 4. The war with France commenced in 1513, with a defeat in- flicted on the French fleet near Brest, when the largest ship on each side (the English "Segent" and the French "Cordelier") was burnt, and some 1,600 men perished in them. Sir Edward How- ard, the English admiral, soon after blocked up the French fleet in Brest, and regarding victory as certain, he wrote to invite the king to come over and have the glory of capturing it. Henry was willing to make the attempt, but his council eagerly protested against it, and wi'ote a letter to the admiral blaming him for his proposal. Sir Edward, who felt aggrieved at their tone, made a desperate assault on some French galleys, and perished. ° Henry, when he heai-d of this mishap, gave the command of the fleet to Sii' Edward's brother, and soon afterward passed over to Prance, where the towns of Terouenne and Toumay were captured under his eyes, the Emperor Maximilian of Germany commanding his cavalry, wearing the Tudor colors of green and white, and receiv- ing for his pay one hundred golden crowns daily. The cavalry bore but a small part in the operations in the field ; but on one oc- casion they had a skirmish with a body of French nobles and knights who took so precipitately to their heels, leaving many pris- oners behind them, that the affair was contemptuously styled the Battle of the Spurs. That was late in August, 1513. Among the 1 How extravagant these were in popnlar opinion, if not in his own, appears from a manuscript still preserved among the State Papers of the early part of his reign, which indulges in the prophecy that *' he shall subdue the realm of France, recover Constan- tinople and the Holy Land from the Turks, die Emperor of Rome, and eternal bliss shall be his end." 3 He boarded the French admiral at the head of a party of seventeen men, but be- ing unsupported owing to his galley drifting away, all except one man were driven into the sea at the point of the pike. Seeing capture or death inevitable. Sir Edward threw his gold chain and whistle into the sea, saying that the I'rench should never have the BpoUs of an English admiral to make a show of. 310 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VI. A Soottisli Invasion of England. Battle of Flodden. French knights at that time was the famous Bayard, a " Chevalier without fear and without reproach," and who was one of the last of the true representatives of the ideal of chivalry. § 5. In little more than a fortnight afterward, however, a battle of a very different description wasfought at Flodden, among the Cheviot hills, on the borders of Scotland. James the Fourth was the brother-in-law of Henry, but he was in close alliance with France, and in the interest of the French king he invaded Eng- land, when Queen Catherine greatly exerted herself to equip an army, for she was regent of the kingdom during her husband's Sibsence. The command was given to the Earl of Surrey (the father of the admiral who had perished at Brest)," who had ' ' ' with liim his son Thomas Howard, and many of the north counti-y gentry. Thomas Howard was particularly obnox- ious to the Soots, as he had, a short time before, defeated and killed Andrew Barton, a noted sea-rover, who was regarded as the best mariner in Scotland,' and they, in consequence, threatened loudly to take vengeance on him. He therefore obtained leave to quit the fleet, and led 5,000 of his men to serve on land, where they formed the vanguard of his father's anny. § 6. The Scots had been very successful in theii- inroad, having beaten down several castles and gained much plunder. A large part of their army had gone home vrith their spoils, and when the English appeared in superior force the more prudent wished to follow them. James, however, seized the hill of Flodden, and say- ing scornfully that " all who were afraid had liberty to retire," prepared for battle, placing his guns so as to command the river. After a couple of days passed in messages between the earl and Ms son and the Scots, urging the latter to descend into the plain, ac- cording to a promise that James had formerly given, Thomas Howard and his shipmen forced their way up the liill, and almost destroyed a large body of Scottish spearmen. The main army of the Scots stood firm for a while on the top of the hill, and beat off the Cheshire men ; but, being greatly galled by the archers, they at last descended, the king and his nobles marching on foot like the rest.^ This was the opportunity that Surrey had looked for. The Scots soon found themselves hemmed in on all sides, and though 1 A naval war existed between the Scots and the Tortnguese, and Barton had plun- dered several Bn^^lish ships on the pretence that they had Portuguese goods on botwd. 3 Tills was a measure seldom resorted to unless in desperate circnmstances, and Chapter II.l THE TTJDORS. 311 The English Victorious. Marriage of the Piincess Mary. they sold their Uves very dearly, they were ahnost annihilated. Nearly 9,000 of them lay dead on the field that night [Sept. 9, 1513], and the body of the king was found the next day almost cut to pieces. The loss of the English was hardly one-fifth as great. The Scottish cannon were all taken, and were much valued as trophies ; * l)ut the victors lost all their baggage, thi'ough an attack made by night by the men of Tynedale, a band of borderers who lived by the plunder of BngUsh and Scots alike. § 7. This victory was very welcome to Henry, who returned to England shortly afterwards, and rewarded the Earl of Smiey with the title of Duke of Norfolk, which Ms father had lost, with his life, at Bosworth." A peace with France followed, one of the conditions of which was, that the French ' ' ' king (a feeble old man) should marry the Pidncess Mary, who was Henry's sister, and was then [a. d. 1514] only in her seventeenth year. The princess was sent to France accordingly, and the wed- ding took place, but in three months' time she was left a widow. The Duke of Suffolk (Charles Brandon)" was sent to bring her back to England, but she left behind her one of her attendants, Anne Boleyn, who also was destined for a short time to. wear a crown. § 8. This newly created Duke of Suffolk was the one person for whom King Henry seems to liave entertained a 'regard that lasted all liislife through. He professed much esteem for several others, but the slightest thwarting of his mclination was suflioient to bring them all to destruction. Charles Brandon alone was more fortu- nate. His uncle had been killed at Bosworth,"" bearing n § 11, p. 281. Richmond's standard, and he was brought up at court as the playfellow of the young Tudors. He became very profi- cient in all martial exercises, and he bore a conspicuous part in the tourneys, and masquings, and revels of the new reign. He was knighted, then made a peer, as Lord Lisle [a.d. 1513], and soon was meant as an assurance to the foot that their leaders would stand by them even to the death. The contrary course of riding off and leaving them to their fate in any emergency, was but too common with the knights and nobles of the middle ages. ^ Among them were several very handsome brass culverins {about the same as the modern eighteen-pounder), which were styled the Seven Sisters. G-uhs in those days usually had names, like ships at present, 2 Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, after a long imprisonment, was beheaded in 1513, and Ms fatUer^s title of duke was bestowed, soon afterward, on Charles Brandon, a court favorite. 312 HISTORY OF ENGLAKD. [Hook VL Brandon In France. He marries the widowed Mary. His " Proud Humility.'* afterward, as we have seen," Duke of Suffolk. He repaired to France to take part in the joustings at the young ' ' ■" queen's wedding, and displayed so much address as to rouse the jealousy of the French nobles, who meanly employed a gigantic German to oppose him. This was in vain. The queen was present, and, forgetful of her dignity, when she saw the giant approach, cried out, " Hanu not my gentle Charles ! " But there was no cause for her fear. The duke overthrew the giant, and knowing him to be a mere hii-ed man-at-arms, and not a knight, instead of taking his life contented himself with cudgelling him with the broken staff of his own lance until he cried for mercy. § 9. Tliough stUl a young man, Suffolk had already been mar- ried twice, and he had since sought the hand of Margaret, the daughter of the Emperor Maximilian. But he next tried for a. higher \mz; and gained it, for he secretly wedded the widowed French queen, Henry's sister,' and, to the astonish- >> § 7, p. 311. -1 > J ^ I I ment of most men, retained the favor of his king, who insisted on their being married afresh, with all the pomp of royalty. In one of the pageants that followed, Suffolk appeared with the trappings of his horse on one side of cloth of gold, and on the other of frieze, with a motto on each alluding to his queenly partner and himself. On one was to be read, " Cloth of gold, do not despise, Though thou art matched with cloth of frieze." And on the other, " Cloth of frieze, be not too bold. Though thou art matched with cloth of gold." § 10. This example of " proud humility " was very pleasing to the king, but it was lost on one of those who witnessed it and might have profited by it. This was Thomas Wolsey, the son of an Ipswich butcher, who, though a priest, in less than twenty yeai-s, by unwearied diligence in everything but church affaii-s, raised himself from the humble position of tutor in the Marquis of Dorset's famUy to be lord chancellor, archbishop, cardinal, and papal legate, and aspii-ed to become Pope. All the affaii-s of the kingdom passed through his hands, and he tried to grasp at those of all Christendom also. His household was as sumptuous as that of the Icing. Rival monavchs heaped favors and pensions on liiiii. He seemed to make peace and war at his pleasm-e, and he liad the absurd arn>g;\nro, in writing to foreign powers, to use Chapter II.] THE TUDORS. Sl3 Arrogance of Cardinal Wolsey. The English ravage France. Wolsey's Exactions. the expression, " JSrjo et R"X meus " (I and my King), " as if," as it was afterwards remarked in the parliament, " the king was his ser- vant." Well might Archbishop Wareham (who had been stripped of the chancellorship that Wolsey might hold it) exclaim, " This man is drunk with too much prosperity." At present, however, and for some years afterward, all wont smoothly with him. The Duke of Buckingham incurred his displeasure, and lost his head in conse- quence' The proudest noble no longer dared withstand him in his " full-blown dignity ; " whilst every quarrel between the King of France and the Emperor Maximilian only added to his wealth, as he sold the aid of " his king " fiist to one party and then to the other. § 11. By Wolsey's advice Henry went to France in the year 1530, and held interviews with the king, on what was called the Field of Cloth of G-old (near Calais), so lavish were the adorn- ments of the two courts ; and soon afterward Wolsey paid a visit with almost equal pomp to the German efnperor. A war with France followed [a.d. 1522], when the French king attempted the conquest of Ireland, promising to put Richard de la Pole, who now bore the title of " the White Rose of England," " in posses- sion of it. In return, France was ravaged on the coast by the Earl of Surrey (the Lord Thomas Howard of Flod- den),» and up to the gates of Paris by the Duke of Suffolk.' These operations, of course, demanded " § 18, p. S72. large supplies of money, and a " benevolence " " sup- plied it for the year 1533 ; but the next year another large sum was wanted, and to gain it " my Lord Legate's Grace " (such was Wolsey's title) condescended to visit the House of Parliament. He did at last obtain a grant, but with so much difficulty that he resolved to pursue another course for the future. § 13. From this time forward we trace only the defeats and humiliations of the proud cardinal. The Pope died in 1534, and Wolsey, it may be said, nominated himself for the office. But this did not suit the views of Maximilian, and with the certainty of offending the haughty favorite, he declined his assist- 1 The charge against the dnke was, that he had consulted astrologers about his chance of succession to the throne ; but his real offences were, his refusing on some public occasion to give w.iy to the proud cardinal, and also his great wealth. 2 He had long been in the service of the King of France,^aving joined it when the w.ir of 1512 broke out. In revenge. Henry beheaded his brother, the imprisoned Earl of Suffolk fsee note 2, page 311), the lirst of many judicial murders, from similar motive?, that diegrsiced his reign. 14 314 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Battle of Pavia. 'Wolsey, alavmed, courts Poimlarity. His Hypocrisy plain. aiice. Wolsey at once went over to the French party, taking '' his king " with him, though the emperor was Henry's nephew, and the consequence was a coldness between them which led to war in the year 1528. § 13. Before things had reached this pass several matters had occurred that had more important consequences than the war itself. In the first place, the French king was defeated and made prisoner at Pavia, on the 34th of February, 1525, so that the alliance with him was an unprofitable affair, for wanting all his treasure for his ransom he had none to spare for the cardinal. The battle of Pavia, however, had one consolation for Henry, as his hated enemy, Richard de la Pole," was there slain. The king ' ''' ' ' showed his joy on the occasion by making several new peers. Then Wolsey tried to extort money by means of a commis- sion, instead of applying to the parliament, but this was resisted on all hands, and the scheme had to be abandoned. § 14. Thus at one stroke Wolsey lost the favor of his master, and though he tried to regain it by presenting the magnificent palace of Hampton Court, which he had just built, to the king, it had but a temporary effect. It was seen that he could no longer be relied on to meet evei-y demand that his prodigal master might choose to make, and therefore he was no longer valued. Sensible of this, he now, for the first time in his life, appeared willing to court popular favor. The people of Norfolk and Suffolk had been particularly violent in resisting the commission, and though the scheme was abandoned it was thought necessary, for the support of authority, to biing some of them before the Star-chamber court.'" Here they were roundly rated for their conduct, and ordered to find surety for their good behavior in future. They replied that they had done nothing wrong in resisting an unlawful demand, and no surety would they give. The council threatened to commit them all to prison, when the cardinal came forward and said " He would be surety for his own countrymen,'' and so they were dismissed. But this did not make them forget that "their countryman" it was who had caused all their trouble by his illegal conduct. § 15. Scarcely had this discontent been appeased when another broke out, in consequence of the cardinal's liigh-handed proceed- ings. He professed to be a patron of learning, and he obtained the royal license 1o found two great establishments, to be called Chapter II.] THE TUDORS. 315 Suppression of Monasteries, Validity of Queen Catherine's Marriage questioned. Cardinal's College, at Oxford and at Ipswich. His mode of rais- ing funds for this purpose furnished the precedent for the suppres- sion of the monasteries, which took place after his death. By his influence with the Pope he was allowed to seize on the property of several small monasteries on his own allegation that they were ill- conducted, and this plunder he devoted to his own foundations. But in one instance at least, at Bayham in Sussex, the people of the neighborhood drove out his officers and replaced the monks. " AU men 'cursed and grudged at the cardinal," says a writer of the time, and " the butcher's dog " was the name that no punish- ments could hinder them applying to him in common discourse. He knew also that both Queen Catherine" and her ' § 1 p 308 nephew, the emperor, disliked and distrusted him, and in revenge he took a step that brought great trouble upon them and ended in his own ruin. § 16. It has been mentioned that Archbishop "Wareham objected to the marriage of Henry with his brother's widow,'' but he was overruled, and the royal couple had now lived for sixteen years in harmony ; but, to Henry's great disappoint- ment, they had no son, two having died in infancy. Their only living child was the Princess Mary, and when a marriage between her and the son of the King of France was proposed, though they were both children, the French ambassador expressed a doubt whether her parents' marriage was a valid one. Wolsey communi- cated this doubt to the king, and to magnify his own importance and to ruin the queen at the same time, he suggested that he could prevail on the Pope to dissolve the marriage, and thus allow Henry to wed some other woman who might give him his much-desired male heir. It was really a matter of public concern, lest a war for the succession should break out on his death. The Pope was at once applied to, and seemed disposed to comj)ly, only he dared not offend the emperor. He therefore took the middle course of ap- pointing two cardinals (Wolsey was one of them, and the other, Campeius, who held an English bishopric) to inquire into the matter. The Pope (Clement the Eighth) had been not long before a prisoner in the hands of the imperialists, by whom he had been so harshly treated that, though now at liberty, he was in mortal fear of them. Hence he acted the feeble part of ilrst intrustiag a bull, granting the divorce, to Campeius, and then ordering him to destroy it and remit the rause to Rome. 316 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. tBooK VL Henry seeks a Divorce. The Queen Protests. Henry's Love for Anne Boleyn. § 17. Accordingly, near the end of the year 1528, Cardinal Cam- peius arrived in England, when the king made a speech to his parliament, declaring that he was troubled in mind at the thought that he had probably been living in sin for so many years, and that it was this, and not any dislike to the queen, that had caused Mm to act as he had done. Next the cardinals waited on the queen, and endeavored to persuade her to consent to a divorce, but she steadily refused, saying that " she was the Idng's true wife, and would never disgrace her child by allowing that her marriage was unlaw- ful." § 18. In the summer of the following year [a. d. 1529], the car- dinals held a court, at which both the king and the queen appeared. Hem-y jjrof essed his readiness to stand by their award, but Cathe- rine jirotested against them as partial judges,' and throwing herself at her husband's feet made a pathetic appeal to him. It failed to move him, when she declared that she appealed to Eome, and left the court, never more to appear in it. For form's sake, the cardi- nals passed some time in taking evidence about Catherine's former marriage, and then adjourned their court, which never met again. § 19. The king at once showed the real cause of his proceedings by going on a progress, and taking with him, in royal state, one of liis queen's miyds of honor, the beautiful Anne Boleyn, who had re- mained at the French court when his sister Mary had quitted it," but had recently returned, and had been placed by her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, in the royal household. Here she was courted by Lord Henry Percy, and would have mar- ried him, but unhappily she attracted the notice of the king, and by his order "Wolsey (in whose household Lord Henry was) broke off the match. Hemy now shamelessly declared himself her lover, and with as little principle she listened to him, to her own des- truction. No doubt her gay, frivolous manners suited him far better than the quiet demeanor of his v/iie, who, besides being older than himself, suffered from ill-health, and could no longer take a part in the riotous pageants and long jomneys in which he delighted. § 20. At this ciisie, when it was seen that the Pope dared not grant a divorce, Thomas Cranmer, a member of Jesus College, Cambridge, suggested that the univeraities should be applied to 1 She had sufficient ground for doing so. Wolsey was well Imown as unfriendly, and had prociured the commission under which they acted ; and Campeius was Bishop of Salis bui-y. He was deprived of the see when Henry finally quaiTclled with the Pope. Chapter II.] THE TUDORS. 317 Wolsey'a Humiliation, Treatment, and Death. His Possessions Seized. to answer the question, " Do the laws of God allow a man to marry his brother's widow 2 " This entirely suited Henry's humor. Cran- mer was summoned to court, and employed with others, both lawyers and divines, to write in favor of the divorce ; and a secret agent was sent out to the different foreign imiversities. Henry anticipated their decision in liis favor ; Wolsey was therefore no longer wanted to conduct " the king's matter," as it was called, and his fall was even more sudden than his rise. § 21. Wolsey opened the Court of Chancery with even more than his usual pomp at the beginning of Michaelmas term, 1529. On the same day the king's attorney preferred an indictment against him, charging him with receiving bulls from Eome, an offence against a statute of the time of Richard the Second, for which he was liable to forfeiture of goods and imprisonment. Though it was notorious that what he had done was by the king's dii'ect com- mand, judgment was given against him, the great seal was taken from him, and he was sent to reside in comparative poverty at Esher. His pride at once sank to the most abject humiliation, and he seem- ed likely to die of grief, when Henry condescended to send his own physician to him, and held out a hope of restoring him to favor. This was a cruel deception. He v/as soon ordered to repair to his see, for, among other dignitaries, he held the archbishopric of York ; but it was not long after he had reached it when he was arrested, vvrhilst at dinner, on a chai-ge of high treason. Lord Henry Percy (now become Earl of Northumberland), whom he had „ _„ * § 19, p. 316. SO craelly injured," being directed to seize him. § 22. Wolsey was soon put into the hands of the lieutenant of the Tower, who brought him towards London; but he died at Leicester Abbey, on the way, of grief and fear, exclaiming with his last breath, " Had I served God as faithfully as I have served the king. He wovild not in mine old age have abandoned me to my enemies." All his possessions, including his projected colleges, fell into the king's hands, who also extorted £130,000 from the clergy for submitting to his legatine power, though they would have been treated as traitors had they attempted to resist it. Wol- sey was the last great churchman of the Roman school, and veiy soon after his death the papal power in England was swept away. , § 23. Several years beforp this event a movement had arisen in Germany which rejected not merely the supremacy, but many of the doctiines of the Roman church. Its cluof origmator was Mai- 318 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VL Lnther and Ms Doctrines. Henry Repudiates the Pope. tin Luther, a Saxon monk and an eloquent preacher, whose opinions were widely received and embraced in his own country. Like ■Wicklifee, he taught that the Bible was the only true rule of faith, doctrine, and practice. " And it was he who first pro- ? 4 D 239 ■ jected into society with power the idea that every man has the right to exercise his private judgment in religious matters, independent of princes, pontiffs, or hierarchies. But Henry, assisted by Sir Thomas More, wrote a book against the German Reformers, which was so welcome to the Pope (Leo the Tenth) that he bestowed on the king the title of Defender of the Faitli, which is still borne by the British sovereigns, but not in the sense in which it was originally conferred. The difficulties that he experienced with regard to his divorce, however, brought him round to one of Luther's prominent tenets, and he resolved to cast ofE all subjection to Rome. He also overthrew the monas- teries, and reduced the church, as an establishment, to an absolute dependence on the State; but he did not, like Luther, quarrel with the doctrine of Rome. The changes in that direction were introduced from abroad, in the days of his successor. Henry's only quarrel was with the supremacy of the Pope and the wealth of the church, and he dealt blows to each from which neither has ever recovered. § 24. "Wolsey was succeeded as chancellor by Sir Thomas More, an eminent lawyer, for whom Henry professed great regard, but he did not long retain the office, for he was too honest to lend himself to every changing fancy of his master. In the mean time Anne Boleyn's father had been created a peer, and Cranmer, the king's supple tool, resided in his house, diligently employed in advocat- iag the divorce which was to make Anne a queen and himself Archbishop of Canterbury. Opinions in its favor were obtained fi-om the two Englisli universities (Oxford and Cambridge) and from several foreign ones, by threats in the one case and by bribes in the other. C]-anmer was then sent to Rome, and offered to maintain an argument on them with, all comers; but this was civilly declined. He then went to Geimany, where he remained awhile in company with the adherents of Luther, and received from them doctrines which he dared not impart to Henry, but which he successfully introduced in the time of his successor. § 35. Henry had by this time learnt that the Pope would not grant the divorce, and he resolved to settle the ihatter without. Chapter II. J THE TTJDORS. 319 The King marries Anne Boleyn. Cranmor's infamous Declaration. He therefore laid ths opinions of the universities before the pailia- ment [a.d. 1531], encouraged the writing of books in -which the papal power was questioned, and tlu-eatened the withdrawal of certain customary payments to Home. Next he created his favor- ite a marchioness, and took her with him to visit the French king, wlio received her as a queen. Soon afterward he married her; but this important step was taken so secretly, as something to be ashamed of, that its date is not accurately known. The priest who performed the teremouy (Rowland Lee) was made an arch- bishop and was otherwis3 rewarded. § 26. Anne Boleyn had now attained the high position for which she had so long striven ; but there was one more humiliation to be inflicted on her royal mistress, and it was not long delayed. The see of Canterbury was vacant. It was given to Anne's zealous champion, Cranmer, whose first public act was to pronounce Catherine's mai-riage invalid and Anne's marriage good. Cathe- rine was removed, almost by force, from Ampthill, and sent to reside at a secluded seat in Huntingdonshire, called Kimbolton, with only a few attendants, who were forbidden to style her queen — only Princess Dowager of "Wales, as widow to Prince Arthur," her first and lawful husband. There she died in less than tliree years, and Anne sm-vived her but a few months. § 37. Henry's conduct in this matter of his divorce was vehe- mently condemned by many, but especially by John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and by the various orders of friars, who had a liberal patron in Queen Catherine. One of them, named Peto, preach- ino- before the king at Greenwich, after the second marriage was known, boldly likened Henry to Ahab, and prophesied a like fate for him : and a nun at Canterbury, Elizabeth Barton, who was known as the Holy Maid of Kent, professed to have visions which threatened him with dethronement and death unless he took back his lawful wife. Henry met this opposition by procuring an act of parliament which made it treason to refuse to swear that his second marriage was good ; and then he put to death the maid and several monks who were said to be associated with her. Peto was fortunate enough to escape to the Continent. § 38. Four days after Cranmsr's declaration of the queen's degra- dation, Anne was crowned with great porap [June 1, 1533], and three montlis afterward she gave birth, not to the greatly desired 320 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Anne Boleyn Behendert. Jane Seymour Queen. The King Head o( the Church, son, biic to a daughter, who was afterwards Queen Elizabeth. From this time her favor with the fickle king began to decline, and very soon a fair maid of honor, named Jane Seymour, sup- planted her in his afCections, as she had done Catherine. But Anne's fate was much more promptly decided. Something in her manner at a pageant at Greenwich roused the jealousy of flemy, and she was hurried to the Tower, tried, witli her brother and four other courtiers, on charges almost too horrible to be true, and be- headed on the 19th of May, 1536. The king was out hunting on the day of the beheading, and was infoj-med of the act by a pre- concerted signal — the firing of the Tower gun. It gave him joy ; and the next day he rode into Wiltshire and married Jane Sey- mour, Anne's maid of honor, who a little more than a month later appeared as queen. By this union Henry's wishes were gratified, as Jane brought him a son, and though she died in a week after, her brothers rose to power from her brief queenship, and one of them, Edward, who was created Earl of Hertford, be- came the Protector of the kingdom. § 29. Whilst these domestic affairs were freely canvassed by people of every station, steps were taken by the king to make the breach with Rome irreparable. Every kind of dependence on the Pope was formally renounced by act of parliament, and the king was declared to be the Head of the Church. In that capacity he ajDpointed a layman, Thomas Cromwell, " Lord Vicegerent in mat- ters ecclesiastical," or Vicar-General, who superseded the bishops in many of their functions, and controlled the exercise of the rest. This, however, was but the beginning of the change that was contemplated, and was earned out. § 30. All over the country monastic establishments — some large, some small, but possessing among them a vast amount of property — were then scattered. Many of them were anything else than religious establishments in the best sense of the word, and did not deserve existence. The wealth of some was used for vicious and unholy puqjoses, while that of others was properly managed. The king determined to seize all this property, confounding bad and good together, and he had an instrument ready to his hand in his new lord \'icegerent. Cromwell was the son of a blacksmith at Putney, and as a trader and a soldier had visited France, Ger- many, and Italy, and had shared in th? plunder of Rome when sacked by the Gsrman imperialists long before. Afterwards he Chapter II.] THE TXJDORS. 321 Vicar-General worthy of the Kirg. Eeligions Houses Snppressod. was in Wolsey's household, and had the rare merit of not desei-ting him in his adversity. Next he entered the royal service, and soon showed himself so bold and unscrupulous that he was judged to be a fit agent to carry out any scheme which the rapacity or the anger of the king might suggest. Accordingly he was directed to undertake a visitation of the monasteries, which he carried out, either in person or by Ins deputies, in the year 1535. § 31. Cromwell and his deputies, knowing well what was re- quired, soon presented a series of reports to the king, accusing the monastics in general of every imaginable crime, and the result was that, without any further' inquiry, or hearing any of them in then- own defence, the parliament passed an act suppressing all the monasteries that had an income of less than £200 per year, and giving all their property to the king. The heads of the houses received small pensions, but the rest had only a trifle for their pre- sent wants, and were told that they were no longer bound by their vows, and must work for their living. " Go spin, jades; go spin," was the recorded exhortation to some aged nuns. § 32. Nearly four hundred religious houses were thus swept away, but the sum brought into the royal treasury was not so large as had been expected, and it was then resolved to suppress all the rest. The monks, however, whatever their shortcomings may have been, seem to have been highly regarded by the people, who mur- mured loudly at what had been already done; it was therefore determined to proceed differently with the " noble great monaste- ries," such as Canterbury, Westminster, St. Alban's, and Malmes- bury. The heads of these houses were assailed with both promises and threats, and many were thus induced to surrender their abbeys and priories. Existing vacancies were filled up with men who had already promised to obey the king's directions ; and the most odious charges were brought forward against those who stood fii'm. § 33. These found hosts of partisans, and insurrections broke out, especially in Lincolnshire and Yorkshii-e, having for object the restitution of the monasteries, the suppression of " heresy," and the removal of "base-bom councillors," by which Cromwell and Cranmer * were specially aimed at. But, with worldly . „„ ^ ■' • § 26, p. 819. wisdom, these notable men had advised a liberal dis- tribution of the abbey lands among the nobility and gentry, and. the Duke of Norfolk, uncle of Jane Seymour,'' who •' n § 28, p. 319. had his full share, though as iierce an opponent of 14* 322 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VI. Suppression of Monasteries. Tne Spoils. Cmelty and Plunder, "heresy" as any of them, marched against the Yorkshiremen, who called their insmTectionary journey the Pilgrimage of Grace, and earned Henry's approbation by his merciless severity in putting down the popular movement. § 34. This abortive insurrection was speedily followed, in 1539, by the suppression of the whole of the monasteries yet remain- ing;' and the king avoided the necessity of pensioning many of their members by executing them as traitors. Their treason consisted in denying that a layman could be the Head of the Church," a treason for which Bishop Fisher and Sir ' ^ ^^' ^' ^^' Thomas More, as well as several priors and monks of Carthusian houses,'' had already [1535], been judicially murdered. Among the sufferers were the abbots of the great houses of Bar- lings, Colchester, Fountains, Glastonbury, Jervaux, Reading, Savi^. ley, Whalley, and Wobura, and the prior of Bridlington ; whilst others who had compliantly rendered up their charges were made bishops of the six new sees, to the foundation of which a smaU part of the plunder was devoted. Another part went to build fortresses along the coast, for which the ruined churches furnished some of the materials f and a trifle was bestowed on the univerei- ties, consisting mainly of what had been seized some years before by Wolsey. § 35. These public works, however, did not represent a tithe of the spoil. The king justly bears all the odium, but he did not get so large a share of the proiit as might be expected. Indis- putable evidence remains that, by bribes to Cromwell and his asso- ciates, much of the land was sold at merely nominal prices, and Hemy's prodigal generosity induced him to grant whatever. was 1 The whole number, exclusive of the small houses dissolved in 1536, is reckoned at 645 ; hut many of these had already come into the king's hands by soKjalled voluntary surrender. Twenty-nine of these were styled mitred abbeys or priories, and their heads had seats in parliament equally with the bishops. 2 Their chief house was in London, and the greater part of its members were df one mind in upholding the cause of the queen, and refusing to acknowledge the royal supremacy. The prior, John Houghton, was first executed, but this did not shake the firmness of the rest. Three of the monks w,ere then hanged, and soon afterward nine more in a body. A few still remained, who were suffered to die of sickness in Newgale. A fresh prior was appointed, who surrendered the house, which was given to the Duke of Noi-folk, who was the uncle of the new queen. 3 As one instance, large quantities of the stones from St. Augustine's Abbey, Canter- ""bxiry, were sent over to repair the fortifications of Calais ; and in pulling down Hurst Castle, recently, it was found that many parts were almost entii-ely composed of carved stones from Beaulicu Abbey, in its neighborhood. Chapter II.] THE TUDORS. 323 Destruction of Sacrecl Property. Jewelry seized. A Solemn Farce. asked for by his hungry courtiers. Thus a very large part of the property of the country at once changed hands, and its new hold- ers, " making haste to grow rich," committed the most pitiable havoc, many traces of which are to be seen even at the present day. " These men ruthlessly destroyed many of the noblest edi- fices of the country merely to sell tlieir materials, desecrated clmrches or bartered them like merchandise, wantonly or igno- rantly ruined valuable libraries, threw down tombs and obliterated monumental inscriptions, and cast out the bones of the great and good that they might gain a little further profit from their leaden coffins and their sepulchral brasses." By such means many of them acquired vast estates, and others were ennobled. But in very few instances indeed had their prosperity any long continuance, and several of them perished on the scaffold. j 36. But beside tlie landed pi'operty of the monasteries, which Henry was obliged to share with his assistants, there was a rich store of jewels and gold that, petty plunder by his agents ex- cepted, came exclusively into his own hands. These were the accumulated ofEerings of pilgrims for ages past to the many shrines of saints that the country then contained, and which the most lawless robber had never ventured to touch. Foremost among these was the shrine of St. Thomas (Thomas ° ^ « § 17, p. 137. & Becket") of Canterbury, which yielded a vast sum to the royal treasury, gathered from superstitious devotees who worshipped at it. Not content witji appropriating this, Henry went through the solemn farce of having a man who had been dead nearly four hundred yeare condemned as a traitor. He ordered the shrine to be demolished, directed that the saint should only be styled Bishop Becket for the future, and that his image, wherever met with, should be defaced. Other shrines were equally plundered, but in their case it was not thought necessary to attaint any of their tenants. In the exercise of what was pro- fessed to be pious zeal against idolatry, innumerable relics and images were destroyed. ButHem-y was a believer in the efficacy of such things himself, and would probably not have quarrelled with them had they not been cased in gold and glittering with gems. S 37. The king, as has been mentioned,*' had no " ° I" § 23, p. 317. sympathy with the opinions of Luther and his friends ; and knowing that he had deeply offended the great body of his people by his plunder of the monasteries, he endeavored to regain 324 BISTORT OP ENGLAND. [Book VI.. The King not a Protestant. He persecutes. Marries a Protestant Pi-incess. their good opinion by mercilessly persecuting the "sacramentarian heretics," as the disbelievers in transubstantiation were called. At the same timfe he was equally severe on all who refused his title of Head of the Church,» and he burnt the one "§29, p. .320. ,, -,,,,, and hanged the others m company. § 38. The king seemed more anxious, after his quan-el with the Pope, than before, to show that he held firmly the leading doc- trines of the Church of Eome; and so it was that in 1539 he pro- cured the passing of an act by parliament, since known as the Statute of the Six Articles, which was especially directed against the hold -■; of the "new opinions," such as Luther and others taught. Cranmer was known to be one o£ these, but as his timid natuve prevented his biinging his views prominently forward, and as he had secured a peculiar degree t»f favor with Henry by his services in the divorce of Catherine of Arragon,' they were passed over in him, whilst bolder men who avowed them were burnt. But the reproach of moral cowardice does not attach to Cranmer alone, for the imperious Henry bore down the very idea of opposition in all immediately about him. In the time of his successor, Bishops Bonner, Q-ardiner, and Tun- stall (to mpntion only a few noted names) showed a firmness but little to li!j expected by any one who had seen how readily they bent under Hem-y's iron hand, and joined with alacrity in his attack on Rome, the plunder of the monasteries, the substitution of Cromwell for the whole bench of bishops," and the murder of duke and countess, bishop and baron. In fact, under Henry few public men had the honesty and courage to act up to their opinions ; and the few who did paid for it with their lives. § 39. In spite of his dislike of all opposers of the doctrines of the Italian church, political considerations induced Henry to think of allying himself with the Protestant princes in Germany who held the so-caUed heretical opinions, and, unfortunately for him- self, Cromwell (now created Earl of Essex) induced him to marry Anne of Cleves, whose brother, the Duke of Cleves, was a person of some consideration among those princes. Wlien she came to England, at the close of 1539, she did not suit Henry's taste. The vulgar brute coarsely styled her " a Flanders mare,'' and though he married her [January 5, 1540], it was with an ill-will which he afterwards pleaded as a reason for setting the marriage aside. At OilAPTEB II.] THE TXJDOES. 325 Fall of the VIcar-general. The Pope threatens Excommunication. fii-st he only lamented his " evil fortune," but it was soon seen that he blamed Cromwell for it, and the fate of the great " Hammer of the Monks," as he was fitly called, was decided, as he had nothing but the royal favor to rely on. (j 40. Ifo man of his time was so unpopular as Thomas Crom- well. He was regarded as a heretic in religion ; and even those who had profited by him in the partition of the abbey *S33t) 321 lands " hated him as " base born." Of this mind was the Duke of Norfolk, who suddenly accused him of treason whilst sitting at the council table [June 10, 1540], and he was hurried to the Tower. Under his direction several peraons had been condemned unheard, by being attainted without trial,' and now he experienced the same measure of injustice himself. He was declared guilty of treason and heresy, and condemned to die. But he was suffered to live a month longer, not in consequence of his lu-gent entreaties for life ("Most gracious Prince, I cry for mercy, mercy, mercy ! " he wrote in vain), but in order that he might draw up a statement containing such an account of the marriage as would enable Henry to divorce his fourth wife. Tliis iniquity was soon effected [July 36, 1540] by the compliant Cran- mer,'' and the king married the beautiful Catherine >> § 30, p. 316. Howard, niece of the Duke of Norfolk, and a thorough papist, two days afterward (the very day that his "miserable prisoner and poor slave," Cromwell, was beheaded), only to execute her also in turn. § 41. Even before the total suppression of the monasteries the Pope (Paul the Third) had threatened Henry with excommunica- tion, and in 1538 he issued the bull, and endeavored to induce the emperor and the King of France to unite in an invasion of Eng- land. The alarm that this excited gave occasion to some of the most cruel murders that disgrace Henry's reign. He had a kins- man named Reginald Pole, who became a priest, and who offended him by writing a reply to one of the publications in favor of the divorce. He was abroad at the time, and, neglecting to return when summoned, was attainted. This was only the usual course of government under Henry ; but when the papal bull was issued, as Reginald was beyond his reach, he seized on Ms brothers, and 1 Cromwell is often said to have devised this perversion of jnatice, but such is not the fcict. He only revived what Henry the Seventh had often practised. 326 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. The Order of St. John suppressed. Preparations for Invasion. even his aged mother, and had them all executed on the charge of corresponding with him. The motlier, who was Countess of Salisbury, had been the governess of Henry's daughter Mary," and was the sister of the Earl of Warwick, who had ' ■ l^een murdered to allay the scruples of Ferdinand," b § 24 p 304 '' the father of Catherine of Arragon. § 42. After the suppression of the monasteries there still re- mained the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jeru- ' ' ' salem,' and as its members were trained soldiers, it was seen that they might be dangerous enemies in case that any attempt was made to put the bull in execution. The order was therefore dissolved by act of parliament [a.d. 1540] and its pos- sessions seized, on the plea that some of its members upheld the Pope's power and slandered the king and his councillors. Some of them were seized and executed as traitors, and their gi-and prior. Sir William Weston, fell down dead in the gateway when leaving their stately house of Clerkenwell. § 43. The great body of the people were deeply dissatified with Henry's proceedings, but the threat of invasion caused them to rally to his standard, nor was he wanting in activity on the occa- sion. He visited the sea-coasts, superintending the erection of castles, some of which still stand ; ' and he turned such of the monastic churches as yet remained in his hands into storehouses, laying up gunpowder in one, wine in another, and salt fish in a „„ third. Then, imitating the policy of his father,'' he ■> § 10, p. 299. . . . ' B f J ) journeyed into the north [Aug., 1541] taking his new queen with him, where all who had favored the Pilgrimage of Grace = or other risings met him with rich peace- offcnngs. But his contentment was of short dura- tion. His queen, whom he declared he loved most dearly, was accused by the obsequious Archbishop Cranmer of unchastity, and was hurried to the block [Feb. 13, 1542], and the royal savage was for the fifth time a widower. The unhappy young creature be- ing the niece of the Duke of Norfolk, her marriage was looked upon as a sign that the breach with Rome might after all be healed. § 44. Submission to the Pope was not Henry's intention. Tlie idea of being his own pope was too much to his taste to be aban- 1 Among them may be mentioned Wahner Castle, near Deal ; Southsea Castle, in Hampshire ; and St. Mawes, in ComwaU. Chaptee II.] THE TTJDORS. 327 Henry assumes the Pontificate. Another Protei^tant Qneen. Persecntions. doned, and regarding himself as charged -with the spiiitual instruction of his people, he set about supplying it. He had re- ceived as learned an education as most of his bishojos, and he conceived himself quite able to superintend their labors. He therefore directed them to draw up for his consideration a series - of articles " to establish Christian quietness and unity," and when he had corrected them with his own hand they were published. Next he allowed Cranmer to translate the Bible, but aftei-wards, seeming to repent what he had done, he prohibited the reading of it in public. With the strange idea of supplying its place he directed the bishops to draw up a book which should give to the "imleamed sort" just as much religious knowledge as he con- sidered proper for them. The book was published in 1536, and was styled " The Institution of a Christian Man," or more shortly, The Bishops' Book. This, however, did not suit him long, and in 1543 it was superseded by "The Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man," shortly called The King's Book, which inculcated many Roman dogmas that had been left open questions by the " Institution." § 45. This seemed an unfavorable cii'cumstance for those who had imbibed the " new opinions ; " but, fortunately for them, Henry's sixth choice of a wife [1543] was from among their num- ber. This was the widow of Lord Latimer, but who is better known by her maiden name of Catherine Pan-. She was more successful than any of his other wives in retaining his favor, for he now suffered much from illness, and she sedulously attended to him. Hence, though all who dared to question his headship of the church died the death of traitors, her watchful care pre- vented any harm befalling the "heretics," if they did not declare their opinions too loudly. If they did, Gardiner, or Rich, or Wriothesley — supple tools of Heniy- — brought the matter before the king, and then no hope of mercy remained for them. One of these imprudent people was Anne Askew, a lady connected with the court, who, previous to Tier martyrdom, was racked in the Tower, in the hope of making her disclose something unfavor- able to the queen ; but her constancy was proof against the torture. § 46. The end of Henry's eventful reign was now approaching. The threatened invasion " never took place, though a » § 41, p. 325. French fleet hovered on the English coast, and the Scots were induced to ravage the northern countries. On the con- 328 . HISTOEY OF ENGliAND. [Book VL A Marriage Treaty. A Subservient Parliament. The King's Ingratitude. trary, Hemy, though now growing old and unwieldy, again crossed the seas, and captured Boulogne in the year 1544, wlien a great number of Scottish nobles fell into his hands, who were set free on condition of advocating a marriage between his son and Mary Stuart, the infant daughter of his nephew, " ■ James the Fifth." The treaty was agreed to, though never carried out ; and Scotland was invaded, but mtliout produ- cing the desu-ed effect. Henry, however, continued his interference with the afEairs of the country, and paid a band of assassins, who murdered Cardinal Beaton [1546], a man of bad character, but an able statesman, who refused to fall in with liis views. § 47. Henry's parliaments had ever been most discreditably subservient to him ; the fact being, that a la-rge number of the Com- mons were his seiwants, or named by him. Tln-ee times did they relieve liim from his debts. Three separate times did they alter the succession to the throne, and make it treason to cast a doubt on any of his marriages beyond the first. They allowed his pro- clamations to have the force of law ; and finally they sun'endered the last shadow of independence by permitting him actually to dispose of his dominions by will, as freely as any gentleman might dispose of a private estate. He acted upon this, and named his son as his successor, but also enalded his two daughters, Mary ^ and Elizabeth," to inherit the crown ; though, by his own wish, they had both been declared illegitimate, and the motJrer of one had died of a broken heart, and the other had perished on the scaffold. § 48. But the latest act of his life was one of the worst. No one had rendered him greater services than the Duke of Norfolk, yet he too was marked out for destruction. Henry lay on liis death-bed when it was suggested to him that Norfolk (or at all events his son, the Earl of Surrey) had a design on the crown. The only evidence for this improbable fancy was, that Norfolk had used a coat of arms, as his ancestors had done (for he was of royal descent), which the king thought should only be used by himself ; and Sun-ey was assei-ted to have said that he or his father ought to have the guardianship of the prince if he should come to the throne whilst still a minor. This post of guardian was coveted by the Earl of Hertford (the prince's uncle), and it is believed that he roused lienry's jealous fury against the Howards. The young earl was tried for treason. Of course he was convicted and be- Chaptek II.] THE TUDORS. 329 Character of Henry the Eighth. His wicked Eeign. headed. His father was attainted without trial, and the order was given for his execution. But on the following night [January 26, 1547] Henry himself sunk into a state of stupor, and early in the morning he diuu, at the age of exactly fifty-six years, and in the thirty-eighth year of his reign. The warrant for the execution was thus rendered invalid, and the life of the duke was saved, but he remained a prisoner in the Tower during the whole of the next reign. § 49. Henry, like his father, when his end drew near, relin- quished a small part of his spoil and devoted it to purposes of charity. Thus he bestowed on the citizens of London the original endowment of St. Bartholomew's, St. Thomas', and Bethlehem Hospitals, — all monastic property, that had cost Mm nothing. In- deed, through life his liberality was of this cheap description. He is often said to have paid for the education of Ms kinsman Regi- nald Pole ; but the fact is, that he compelled the convent of St. Frideswide, at Oxford, to support him whilst a student. He por- tioned liis niece, Margaret Douglas, from the spoils of the Pilgrimage of Grace," and he endowed the di- ' ''P" vorced Anne of Cleves •' with a part of the ill-gotten ' " gains of Cromwell. No considerations of justice, honor, or charity seem ever to have had power to turn Mm away from any course that he proposed to Mmself ; and the utter subsei-viency of Ms parliaments and Ms judges enabled Mm to become as absolute and as cruel a tp-ant as ever afllicted a nation. He was a human mon- ster of vulgar type, and a disgrace to his species. From M« acces- sion to his death, many thousands of men and women were destroyed in England to appease Ms unholy wiath or vile lusts. CHAPTER m. EBIGN OF EdWAKD THE SiXTH. [A.D. 1547 TO 1553.] § 1. WHBiir King Henry the Eighth's will was opened it was found that he had appointed sixteen persons as his executors, who were to have the government of the young prince Edward, Ms only surviving son, and then in the tenth year of Ms age, until he at- tained his eighteenth year, and were to be assisted by twelve others — S30 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. The Regency. Strife lor Supremacy. How settled. the whole body forming the privy council. Men of very opposite opinions were named among the executors ; and as no direction was given that any one should have precedence of the others, their vei-y first meeting, which was -svithin a few hours of Henry's death, wit- nessed a contest for superiority among them. It ended in the choice of the Earl of Hei-tford, who was the young king's undo," and professed himself a favorer of the " nev/ opinions." That choice at once determined the course of events, and determined them, no doubt, veiy differently from what King Hem-y intended. It was on this occasion that the accession of the new king was regarded as having taken place at the moment of the old monarch's death, and gave rise to the legal maxim which yet pre- vails, that "the King never dies." Edward was not crowned un- til the 30th of February, 1547 — f om' days after the funeral ceremo- nies of the dead king had ended. § 3. That part of the English Eeformation which consisted in throwing off all dependence on Rome and the suppression of the monasteries had been ab-eady accomplished by Henry'', but now most important changes in doctrine and ritual were to follow. As to religious profession, the executors were about equally divided ; Cranmer and Hertford being what may now properly be tenned Protestants. The Loi'd Chancellor Wriothesley and Bishop Tunstall were Komanists ; and, now that they feared Hem-y no more, prepared to act up to their opinions. Hence it was easy to see that the strange committee of goveiiunent that Henry had devised would not long endure. A clause in his will had directed that any promises he might have made of confeiiing dignities should be held good, and this provision at least was fully cariied out. § 3. According to their own representation of what had been intended for them, the Chancellor was made Earl of Southampton ; Lord Lisle, Earl of Warwick ; Sir Thomas Seymour, Lord Sudeley ; the Earl of Essex became Marquis of Northampton ; but, as a mat- ter of course, the most distinguished honors were claimed by the •=5 28 319 ^'''''1 o^ Hertford.' He was created Duke of Somerset, received the oiBces of Lord Treasurer and Earl Marshal, of which the Duke of Norfolk, who lay in the Tower under sentence H ^ .o ooo °* death," had been deprived, and at once began his ambitious career by dnving the Lord Chancellor from the council, and imprisoning him. This point accomplished, Chapter III.] THE TUDORS. 331 The Reformation in England. Change in Public Wor.ship. New Service-Book. Somerset procured from his boy-nephew letters patent, constituting Mm Protector, and allowing him to act independently of his fellow- executors. § 4. Thus, in less than two months after Henry's death, all his ai'rangements were overthrown, and a career of reformation entered on that he would have repressed with the axe and the fagot. Somerset's resolution supplied the want of that quality in Cranmer ; and, though Tunstall, Gardiner, Bonner, and others protested, the work of defacing the churches under the plea of removing images and crucifixes was vigorously carried on. The answer to remon- strances was to send those who made them to prison. Bonner and Gardiner were deprived of their sees, when Ridley and Poynet, two of the Reformers, were appointed at stipends of £1,000 a year each; a very profitable arrangement for the government, but showing tliat no ecclesiastical person was safe if he presumed to have an opinion of his own. Tunstall's see of Durham was afterwards suppressed entirely, and all its property bestowed on Dudley, Duke of North- umberland. § 5. Somerset, in the mean time, had invaded Scotland, gained the battle of Pinkie, and burnt Edinburgh [September, 1547], his obiect being to compel the Soots to carry out the mar- riage treaty." The old idea of alliance with France, ' however, prevailed ; and even the few among the Scots who favor- ed the scheme, declared that though they liked the match, they hated the manner of wooing. To prevent its renewal, the child- queen was sent into France, and educated there. § 6. When Somerset returned to England the parliament met, and it was seen that they were favorable to extensive changes in religious matters. Accordingly a new communion oiBce was pre- pared, and several of the foreign reformers were invited to Eng- land, to give their assistance in further alterations. These men were more spiritual-minded than most of their brother Protestants in England, and held views of religion as a bond between man and his Maker more exalted and scriptural than those of a majority of the British reformers. The new Service-book, published in 1548, was therefore very tiusatisf actory to them, for in preparing it an attempt was made to please both Romanists and Protestants. The consequence was that it offended both. It was therefore with- drawn, and what is known as the Second Book of Edward the Sixth was put forth. That, though purged of many things ob- 33^ HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VL Foreign Eefoi-mers in England. Families o( Henry's Wives. noxious to the radical reformers, allowed, and even prescribed, so mucli of the Romish ritual in vestments and ceremomals having doctrinal significance, that it too was offensive to the most ad- vanced reformers. But they were not strong enough to cause another change, and the book, not unlike in general arrangement the Book of Common Prayer now used iu the Anglican Chm-ch, remained as a manual for public worship a long time. § 7. The favor of the government, however, for the foreign reformers continued unabated, and they were encouraged to settle in congregations in England, several of the disused churches being allotted to them. One party was placed with their looms amid the ruins of the famous abbey of Glastonbury. » Among * ' ' these foreignei-s there was a great variety of doctrine, but they agreed in the essential proposition of WicklifEe and Luther, that the Bible was the primary authority for faith and practice.'' There was one limit that they might not b § 4 p 229 -JO pass. If they held the Anabaptist tenets,' which were supposed to be of dangerous political consequence, they had only the same choice — abjuration or burning — that Henry himself would have given them. Archbishop Cranmer and others, who themselves afterwards suffered, burnt both men and women on this account, and conceived that they did God good service. § 8. Four out of Henry's numerous marriages had been with his subjects, and thus certain families from which his wives had been taken had been led to consider themselves something different from the rest of his people. This was especially the case with the Sey- moure, a Wiltshire family ; and Edward and Thomas, two active men, had fully profited by the fortunate chance of then- sister Jane having been a queen for a year.= They enjoyed high distinction in the court of their brother-in-law, and when he died Edward, as we have seen,'' became Duke of Somer- set and Lord Protector ; " whilst Thomas, who was ' ' made Lord Admiral, married Henry's vyidow, Cathe- e § 3, p. OoO. nne Parr.f She died within a year afterward; but even before her death her husband had commenced a correspondence with the young Princess Elizabeth,? and his brother was informed that ho harbored designs against the State. J Tbe Anabaptists held that the baptism of adults only was efficacious, and denied the validity of infimt baptism. Chapter III] THE TUDORS. 333 Fate of Admiral Seymoiur. The People and the Monies. Somerset's Hj^pocrisy. § 9. What the designs of Admiral Seymour were is not yery clearly known,' as, in the usual Tudor fashion, he was attainted Tidthout trial, and executed [a.d. 1549], the warrant being, perhaps unavoidably, signed by Somerset; but the fact gi-eatly added to the unpopularity that he was daily incurring among all classes. He ofEended his colleagues by his conduct in seeking extravagant grants from the crown, and he enraged the great bulk of the people, who in general had still a deep reverence for holy tilings, by pulling down even churches to furnish materials for a stately palace that he was building in London. He had a rival in the Barl of Warwick, who carefully watched aU his imprudences and speedily brought him to destruction. § 10. The sale or gift of the abbey lands," however much it might enrich the receivers, and however much it might ap- pear to forward the Keformation, — for, as Bishop Latimer said in one of his sermons, " thousands became Gospellers for them,'' — ^was the cause of deep distress to the people at large, particularly iu the country districts. The monks had been liberal landlords and charitable neighbora, and never suffered the poor around them to want for food. But with new lords of the soil it was altogether different. Many of them had been once poor them- selves, and when the estates came into their hands they thought of nothing else than how they might obtain from them the uttermost farthiug. 'No more entertainment for all comers; no more daily meals at the gate ; no more free gifts of a horse, or a cow, or a sheep to the poor man who had lost his own by accident or dis- ease. These things had all passed away with the monks ; and even the open commons now began to be enclosed by the new men, on the false pretence that they had once been church property. § 11. At last, just when Somerset's mipopularity was at its height, the people began to throw down the enclosures, and he, thinking to gain their support- as a balance to the ill-will of his associates, took their part, and thus bitterly offended the members of his council. The insurgents took heart, and appeared in arms 1 He was charged in the bill of attainder not only with intending to marry the prin- cess, but with coining: bad money, and planning to seize and fortify the Scilly Islands as a pirate State. But these Tudor bills of attainder cannot be relied on as containing one particle of truth. Writers who are worthy of belief say that the quarrel of the brothers really arose out of a contest for precedence between their wives. The duchess loo'icd upon the dowager queen only as the wife of a baron, and so her inferior ; whilst the other still claimed royal state. 334' HISTOBT OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Violent Insurrections, Humiliation of Somerset. Earl of Warwick's Power. jn various parts of the country, some only aiming at tlu-owing open the commons, but others also crying out, " Kill the gentlemen ! " and others again demanding the restoration of the old service. In Devon and Somereet, in Berks, Hants, and Oxford ; in Kent, SuiTey, and Sussex ; and from the very gates of London to Norfolk, the whole country was in a blaze. Somerset, repenting of the encoui'- agement that he had given, with Russell, Warwick," and other holders of abbey lands, set forth to put doivn the commotions, but detennined to avenge them on the Protector.'' By dint of merciless severity they suc- ' ' ' ceeded in dispersing the assemblages, hung priests and monks from the church steeples, and brought a few of -the prominent men to London for trial. Among them were Humphrey Arundell, a veteran soldier from the West, and Robert Ket, a wealthy tanner from !Noi"wich, who were speedily executed. § 1 2. Warwick and his partisans now indulged in loud threats against Somerset, who at once fled to Hampton Court, taking the young king with him. In a few days Warwick got the king into his own hands [Oct. 14, 1549], and sent Somerset to the Tower. After a two months' imprisonment he made his submission, ac- knowledging everything that his opponents chose to charge him with. Then he was released, and readmitted to the council at the beginning of 1550. He bore his humiliation with impatience ; an4 so suspicious was his conduct, that a charge of endeavwing to murder Warwick was got up against him, and he was beheaded on the 23d of December, 1552, liis royal nephew consigning him to „„„ death as quietly as Somerset himself had sacrificed his brother Thomas " awliile before.' § 13. The Earl of Warwick who had thus thrust himself into power was John, the son of that Arthur Dudley who had been one of the " ravening wolves " of the time of Henry the „„„ Seventh." He was an able man, and had much distin- d § 27, p. 306. . , T . guished himself m the wars of the late khig's reign. Whilst only one of the council, he avowed himself a Romanist ; but now finding the king firmly attached to Craumer and the Prot- estants, he professed to become one himself. He deposed and im- prisoned the Bishops of Durham, Chichester, and Worcester, and 1 Tlie young king kept n, journal, which still exist.'!, and m it ho has noted clown the deaths of both his uncle.s just as matters of ordinary news, and without a single ex- pression of natural feeling. Chaptek III.] THE TUDOES. 335 Princess Mary at Court. Her Firmness. Poverty of the Govemraenb. set to work so vehemently to forward the Reformation that the Princess Mary " took the alarm, and endeavored to escape from the country ; but steps were taken to pre- vent her. She was sent for to the court, and the king undertook personally to convince her of her error. It was, however, not likely that the reasonings of a boy of fourteen should have much influ- ence with a woman of more than twice his age, and whose faith was endeared to her by her mother's sufferings '• and her own. She told him, as he relates in his journal, that " her soul was God's, and her faith she would not change ; " ~ adding (which must have been a severe reproach to the majority of his councillors), that " she would not dissemble her opinion with .contrary doings." Conformably with this she refused to re- ceive the new SeiTicerbook," or to liearKidley, one of the most eloquent Protestants, lately made a bishop ; and though her brother's coxmoil imprisoned her chaplains and her attendants, she stood finn, and they were obliged to leave her un- molested, lest they should find themselves involved in a war with her kinsman, the Emperor of Germany. § 14. They had, in fact, reason to dread this, as they had been signally unsuccessful in their wars with France and with Scotland. The Scots had recovered Haddington and other places, and the French kept up such a ceaseless attack on Boulogne,'' '' § 46 p 327 that it was soon discovered to be "too chargeable," and was surrendered for a small sum of money and a disgraceful j)eace. The pai'liament had placed at their disposal all that yet remained of the movable property of the Church, even to the very bells,' and they had also seized on the lands of hospitals and alms- houses ; yet they were hopelessly in debt, and though they issued base money and pawned the crown jewels, they could hardly pay the garrison of Calais. Never before had .England sunk quite so low. Warwick, however, having first placed Tunstall " in the Tower, enriched himself by prociiring a grant ' of the bishopric of Durham, and next he induced the king to make him Duke of Northumberland, and to bestow new honors on seve- ral of the men who had been most active in hunting his uncle Somerset to death. 1 In 1551 commissioners were appointed in every county to cany out this scheme. Their instructions direct thera to leave but one small boll to summon the people to ohui-ch. 336 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. reebleBGSS of the Boy King. Northumberland's Schemes. Death of the King. § 15. Edward had been somettiiig like an invalid from his birth, but his father would not recognize this. He wished all his chil- dren to be learned like himself, and the plan answered well with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth ; but the close application that was insisted on by Edward's tutors (Sii' Jolm Cheke and Dr. Cox) was too much for the feeble fi-ame of the boy, and his head was crammed with crude learning to the ruin of his bodily health. He was sincerely anxious that Cranmer's reforms should be carried out, and he was iilled with boyish indignation against his sister Mary for declining to adopt them, though he, her sovereign, had condescended to argue the matter with her. On this foundation Northumberland formed the daring scheme of bringing the crown into his own family. § 16. In the spring of 1553 Edward was much worse than usual, and it was evident that he would not live long. Northumberland, in the May of that year, married Guilford Dudley, one of his sons, to Jane Grey, the daughter of the Duchess of Suffolk, who was the daughter of King Henry's friend Charles Brandon by Mary, ' «sci Qio the Dowager-queen of France." The Duchess herself had been a holder of the " new opinions " in the late reign, and she had brought up her daughter in them. Being the king's cousin, veiy beautiful and accomplished, and like-minded in religion, Jane was, both before and after her maniage, much in favor with Edward, and Noi-thumberland had little difficulty in persuading him that there was but one way of avoiding the sub- version on his death of aU that had been done, and that was by bestowing his crovra on the Duchess of Suffolk, who would decline it in favor of Jane. The poor youth was dying at the time, and no doubt believed that the counsel was honestly given for the best. His other councillors, however, did not think so, and it was only at his positive command that they agreed to draw up the letters 0.10 patent which, for the second time in less than seven b 5 4i, p. 0.^0. years, disposed of the crown as if it had been a private estate.' § 17. Even then Edward's councillors gave only a reluctant assent ; but the vehemence of ]Srorthuml)erland prevailed, and in an unhappy hour for himself as well as the unfortunate Lady Jane, the patent was duly autlienticated. Edward died at Greenwich a fortnight afterward [July 6, 1553]. The event was kept secret for four days, until Lady Jane was installed in the Tower as queen OnAPTER in.] THE TUDORS. 337 Lady Jane Grey proclaimed Queen. Energy and Success of the Princess Mary. [July 10, 1553], and steps had been taken to seize both Mary and Elizabeth, by sending them a summons to attend the sick-bed of their brother, although he was already dead. They were, how- ever, warned in time, and avoided the snare. Mary was then at Kenninghall, in Norfolk. She at once made her claim to the crown, and was proclaimed queen in the important city of Nor- wich, on the 1 2th of July. Both high and low joined her standard, some of the earliest being the crews of two ships that had been stationed on the coast to prevent her escape. § 18. When this was known in London, Northumberland set for- ward with a small force, thinking to capture her ; but he went with melancholy forebodings, saying to his companion, an uncle of Lady Jane, " The people press to see us, but not one sayeth God speed you." Whilst he held on his way, the council that he had left in London, fi-eed from his menaces, began to consider how they could withdraw from their illegal entei-prise. Whilst they hesitated, Ridley, the Bishop of London, preached a violent sermon at Paul's Cross, denovmcing Mary as an idolater, and therefore unworthy to reign over a Christian people. This appeal was not favorably r^ ' ceived, and, three days afterward [July 19, 1553], the council pro- claimed Mary queen, and sent orders to Northumberland at once to disarm. He received the order at Cambridge, and at once pro- claimed Maiy, though not dii-ected to do so, throwing up his cap, and professing extravagant joy that his own devise had miscarried. His vile hypocrisy was too transparent. He was seized the next day, together with his sons, and Dr. Sands, who under his direc- tion had preached in the same style as Ridley, and they were all lodged in the Tower. Mary, meanwhile, journeyed by slow stages to London, where she was joined by her sister Elizabeth and the Lady Anne of Cleves." Her first act as queen was one of mercy, for she proceeded to the Tower, and set' free many prisoners. Most of them, it is true, were sufferers in what might be considered her cause ; but such was not b 8 '^ n ^^Wl the case of the vridow of the Protector Somerset,* who certainly had no claim on her regard beyond compassion ; yet she was released with the rest. § 19. Edward, as the king under whom the English Reformation may be said to have begun, has been celebrated as a model ruler, by writers who forget how very little a sickly youth, who died be- fore he was sixteen , could possibly have had to do with it. His chari- 15 338 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. The Beneficiaries of the King. Qneen Mary's Life and Character. ty is loudly praised in bestowing his palace of Bridewell on the citi- zens of London ; but the fact is that he left the gift legally imperfect, and that it was his much-abused sister Mary who completed it. The grammar schools, too, that go by his name were mostly founded by private individuals, though the forms of the law ascribed them to the king ; and the few institutions (as the well-known Christ's Hos- pital or Bluecoat School) that he did endow cost him nothing, as the funds came fi-om the suppressed chantres and ' ' ' hospitals." The proficiency that he evinced in lit- erature and the dogmatic tone of his writings show a general re- semblance to his father, which very probably might have become more complete had his life been longer. CHAPTER IV. RBiGN OF Maky. [a.d. 1553 TO 1558.] § 1 . Few sovereigns have a worse name among general readers of English liistory than Queen Mary, daughter of Henry the Eighth and his first wife, Catharine of AiTagon.*" This is owins » 1 16, p. 316. . . *= ^ to the fact that her political and religious enemies have written her history and impressed it indelibly. It is certain that she suffered far more, and was much more influenced by conscience in what she did, than any other of the House of Tudor. She had hardly emerged from childhood when the trouble about her pa- rents' marriage began ; and from that time forward until her acces- sion to the throne she lived in constant dread as to her liberty, if not her life, being obliged to make the most humiliating submissions to her bi-utalf ather, and sheltered from the violence of her brother's advisers only by their fear of the power of Ohdrles the Fifth. § 2. In all these anxious years Mary's only consolations were her religious exercises, her books, and such acts of charity as her limited . „„ „,„ income allowed. She had seen her mother die broken- c § 36, p. 319. hearted," and her tutor lose ms life rather than slander his royal mistress, by order of her inquisitore. She had seen the Countess of Salisbury, her governess, and many more 'of her intimate friends put to death.'' Others had pined for years in the Tower, and when she became queen she had Chapter IV.] THE TITDORS. 339 Fate of Northumberland. Mary and her Enemies. Firmness of Bonner. just escaped a cunningly devised scheme for her destruction.' It is not then to be wondered at that she found it liard to pardon all the prominent actors in so much evil, though ' she did pardon many. She was then thirty-seven years old — an age ■when it is difficult to erase impressions burnt, as it were, into her very soul. Any blame that is to be given must in part, at least, be borne by her advisers, and part also must be attributed to the then system of government, which looked on pardon too freely gi'anted as a sign of weakness, and an abandonment of the duty of the ruler. § 3. Maiy was crowned on the first day of October, 1553, in St. Peter's Church, in London, by Bishop Gardiner, who omitted none of the ceremonials of the Roman Catholic Church. She had already taken vigorous measures to restrain her most dangerous enemies. § 4. In a month after the failure of his mad attempt, Northum- berland '' died on the scaffold with two of his associates, Sir John Gate and Sir Thomas Palmer. His brother. Sir Andrew Dudley, was condemned with him, but was pardoned. Northumberland avowed himself a Komanist, and warned his hear- era against turning religion into sedition, as he had done. " His body, with the head," says a writer of the time, " was buried in the Tower, by the body of Edward, late Duke of Somerset," so that there lieth before the high altar in St. Peter's church two dukes between two queens, to wit, the Duke of Somer- set and the Duke of Northumberland between Queen ^ Ann ^ and Queen Katherine,' all four beheaded "—a ter- ^ . gg ' g^g' rible picture of the Tudor times. But the government of which Gardiner, Bishop of "Winchester, was now the head shed no more blood until a formidable insurrection in the follow- ing year warned fhem that they had enemies whom no leniency would conciliate. § 5. One of the persons who had. been most harshly treated by King Edward's advisers was Bonner, Bishop of London. He had been deprived of his see, and had been imprisoned for years in the Marshalsea, tliis place being chosen as a studied insult, as none but the vilest malefactors, pirates, and murderers, were usually sent there. He had a spirit, however, that such usage could not break, and on one of the many occasions that he was brought before the council he replied to their threats : " Three things I have, to wit, a small portion of goods, a poor carcass, and mine own soul. The two fiist ye may take, though unjustly, to you ; but- as for my soul, ye 340 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Bomisli Prelates restored. Protestants persecnted. The Queen's Good-Will, get it not." Of course he was set free on the accession of Mary, but his first appearance in public was marked by a disgraceful tu- mult. Bourne, his chaplain, inveighed at Paul's Cross against the treatment that his lord had received, when a dagger was thrown at Mm, and he only escaped with life through the exertions of Rogers and Bradford, two of the Beformcd preachers. Bonner had the pulpit guarded by soldiers on the next Sunday, and on the following one, nothing daunted by the threats of some of the Londoners, he restored the Latin service in his cathedral on his own authority, trusting that the parliament when it met would hold him blameless. § 6. The other bishops had now been restored to their sees, and the queen had assured the citizens of London that she "meant not to strain men's consciences in matters of religion." Whether she meant to keep her word cannot now be known ; but if she did not, she soon had an excuse that was called reasonable for breaking it. In consequence of the tumult at Paul's Cross, an order had been given that no one should preach without a license. Those licenses being granted only to the Romish party, the Protestants boldly preached vfithout them, and were at once sent to Newgate and Fleet prisons, or the Tower, for their "seditious demeanor." Among them were the prebendaries Rogere and Bradford, already mentioned, Latimer, who had been Bishop of Exeter in the time of Henry the Eighth, and Hooper, now expelled from Wor- cester to give his former place to Bishop Heath, who had attended Northumberland on the scaffold. Cranmer " was still untouched, and a report was spread abroad that he had offered to re-establish the mass in his cathedral. Peter Martyr, one of the foreign divines who were now ordered to leave England, and a, man of hot temper, very unlike Cranmer's, per- suaded him to deny tliis in a document of needlessly offensive tone. The archbishop was then summoned before the council and was committed to the Tower , where Holgate, Archbishop of York, was sent shortly after. § 7. The queen had been crowned with all the ancient pomp (the ceremony on the last occasion had been greatly simplified on account of Edward's youth), and as a proof of her good-will to her subjects, she declined to receive the taxes that had been voted in her brother's last parliament. Her own parliament soon assem- bled, and at once swept away many of tlie statutes of Edward, CriAPTEU IV.] THE TTJDORS. 341 Change In Public Worship. The Queen's proposed Marriage. Insurrections. abolishing a host of his new-made treasons, and re-establishing the Latin service. The second book of Edward " — Book of Common Prayer — was declared to be an abomi- nation. They also reversed the attainder of the Duke of Norfolk, and affirmed the marriage of the queen's parents to be " most just and lawful." ^ Next Cranmer, Lady Jane and her husband," and his brothers Ambrose, Henry, and „ , ' ' „„.' " § 16, p. 336. Robert Dudley were brought to trial, and pleaded guilty to the charge of treason. They were all sent back to the Tower, where their confinement was by no means rigorous. They were allowed to walk into the queen's garden, and to receive visitors. Lady Jane, who had played queen most innocently for only a few days, was treated with especial consideration ; and it seems not unlikely that none of their lives would have been taken, but for the mad enterprise of Su- Thomas "Wyatt, a Kentish gentle- man of indifferent character and mean capacity. § 8. A project was now on foot for the marriage of the queen to Pliilip, Prince of Spain, the son of her old protector, the Emperor Charles the Fifth. Both father and son were vehement opponents of the Reformed doctiines, and many of their followers in Eng- land thought no measure too violent to prevent the match. Wyatt, though a Romanist, took up arms, declaring that he wished to " save his country from Spanish slavery," and posted himself at Rochester Bridge. The long-imprisoned Duke of Norfolk, who had beaten the Scots at Hodden forty years bef ore,'* and was now more than eighty years of age, was sent against him with a force among which were some of the i-oyal guard, and a body of 500 Londoners, commanded by one Alexan- der Brett. Wyatt contemptuously refused an offer of pardon, when the Londoners cried " We are all Englishmen ! " and went over to him, and the aged duke was obliged to ilee for his life, leaving his guns and baggage behind him. Wyatt now marched slowly on, and from Deptford sent a message to the queen requir- ing her to change her coimcillors, sun'ender the Tower to him, and go to reside there in his custody. Instead of this Mary repaired to the Guildhall at London, and having obtained a promise of sup- port from the citizens, who entirely disclaimed the doings of Brett and his men, returned to her palace, where she quietly awaited the event. § 9. Two days after this [Feb. 5, 1554], Wyatt quartered his men 342 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Insurgents in London. The Queen in Peril. lusurrootions Crushed. in Southwark ; but, being fired on from the Tower, he was obliged to move off, though not before he had plundered Winchester House, the palace of Bishop Gardiner. The bishop had a very fine library, and of this the insurgents made such havoc, that we are told " men might have gone up to their Imees in leaves of books cut out and thrown under foot." After this barbarous ravage they marched to Kingston, repaired the bridge, which had been broken down, and held on their way towards London all through the night, hoping to surprise the queen in her palace. Wyatt, however, was not equal to the task that he had undertaken. Though every minute was iDrecious, he wasted hours in endeavor- ing to bring on a gun that had broken down, but which he ob- stinately would not leave behind. His followers now began to de- sert him, one of the first to go being John Poynet, formerly Bishop of Winchester, but now displaced by Gardiner's return to his see. At last, at ten in the morning, the rebels approached St. James's palace, and skirmislied with the royal guard and other troops, who, however, were not strong enough to do more than defend their posts. § 1 0. Whilst the battle thus raged around her, Mary remained at her devotions -with her ladies and her priests, and refused to take refuge in the Tower, thougli her life was manifestly in danger? Failing to force an entrance, Wyatt at length moved on, hoping to gain an entrance to the city ; but he found the gates closed against him, and held by a son of the Duke of Norfolk." « § 8, p. 341. His followers now began to disperse, when a herald approached and exhorted Wyatt to merit the queen's mercy by suiTendering at once, and thus saving useless .bloodshed. He took the advice, and was soon lodged in the Tower. About four hun- di'ed of his followers also surrendered or were taken, and were placed in Newgate and other jails. Forty or fifty were executed by martial law ; but the rest, being a few days afterward led into the court of the palace barefooted, and with ropes round their necks, the queen came out on a balcony, pardoned, and dismissed them. § 11. Whilst Wyatt had been in arms, risings had been attempt- ed in Devonshire, Leicestershire, and Wales. They aU signally failed, but the last was unfortunately headed by the father and 1.6 17 336 *^^8 "'^cl^ °f I'ii'ly Jaiie Grey." Its immediate result was the execution of the unhappy lady and her hus- band, wWch took place five days after Wyatt had been brought to CnAPTEK rv.] THE TUDORS. 343 Execution of Lady Jane Grey. Protestant Bishops removed. Charges of Heresy. the Tower [Feb. 13, 1554], and would have been even earlier, only Dr. Feckenham, the queen's chaplain, begged a delay of three days, hopuig to convert Lady Jane. He tortured her with questions and disputations, but did not succeed in changing her religious opinions; but he attended her to the scaffold. Wyatt, Suffolk (the father of Lady Jane), and his brother were executed ; but several other persons of note, as Sir Peter Carew, Sir James Crofts, and Sir Nicholas Throckmorton either escaped or were pardoned. The Dudleys were also sot at liberty, along with many other prisoners, but Cranmer was not released. § 13. It was now seen that Cranmer and his fellow-bishops were not meant to be treated with the leniency that had been shown to the insurgents, for the archbishop himself had been a merciless persecutor. Eight of them were removed from their sees ; ' and though Scory of Chiclrester preserved his a little longer by re- nouncing his wife and doing penance, he too was soon after driven out. The inferior clergy also were pronounced incapable of holding benefices if married ; and those who, after deprivation, would not part with their wives, were obliged to perform public penance as bigamists. ° At length Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer were taken to Oxford, and compelled to state their opinions on tlie chief points in dispute between the Eefonners and the Romish Church. Instead of being answered, they were borne down by clamor, and the ominous sentence was pronounced that they were "obstinate heretics." Cranmer had himself pronounced such a sentence on Joan Booher, but he had a far longer time than she was allowed to prepare for what, in that age, was the inevitable result of such a, declaration, whether pronounced in Rome, or Oxford, or Geneva. § 13. The insurrections did not shake Mary's purpose as to her marriage," for she was anxious to have .a legitimate successor to her throne, who would, like his parents, be true to the Romish Church. Ifeither did their failure put an end ^ The Archbishop of York, and the Bishops of Bristol, Chester, and St. David's were depri'ved because they were married, the celibacy of the clergy being rigorously en- forced in the Romish Church ; and the Bishops of Grloucesfcer, Hereford, and Lincoln on the plea that they held their sees only by letters patent during pleasure, such being the mode that King Edward's advisers had introduced — a mode never heard of before or since. The Bishop of Bath and Wells made his escape to the Continent without waiting to be condemned. 2 The priest was considered as already married to his "cure of souls;" hence bla tsiking a wife was regarded as a second marriage. 344 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VL Impostors and their Fate. Marriage of Queen Mary. to the plottingg of her opponents. The Protestant worship was prohibited, but it was carried on, and some at least of the fiercer spirits prayed for the queen's death. Others encouraged an impo- sition in London, called the Spirit in the Wall, in which a young girl, Elizabeth Croft, liid in a cupboard, made use of a whistle, and some of her confederates pretended to explain the sounds as denouncing the queen's marriage, the mass, confession, and other matters; and one William Thomas, who had been clerk of the council in King Edward's time, endeavored to induce a man named Arnold to undertake the murder of the queen. Thomas was con- demned and executed, after attempting to commit suicide ; and, contrary to the custom of the day, he behaved with violence on the scaffold, fighting and struggling, and exclaiming that he died for his country. The girl v/as dismissed on making an open confes- sion of her imposture at Paul's Cross. But as, if the queen were murdered, it would be necessary to have a successor, some had fixed on the Princess Elizabeth, giving her for a husband Edward Courtenay, the young Earl of Devon, who had been released from a long capti\dty by Mary,' but seemed not unwillmg to plot against her. The consequence was that both he and the princess were im- prisoned, though not, as has been said, for their adhesion to Pro- testantism. Courtenay was a Romanist, and Elizabeth at least professed to be one as long as Mary lived. § 14. The marriage of the queen took place in July, 1554, and Philip, her husband, attempted to gain popularity by procuruig the release of Courtenay and Elizabeth. Courtenay was allowed to go abroad, and died in Italy soon after; but Elizabeth fell under suspicion again, and lived in seclusion in the country, more like a prisoner than a princess, until she in tmii became queen. § 15. Shortly after PMlip's arrival a visitation was carried out by the bishops, having for its object the complete re-establishment of Romanism. The Protestants showed their dislike by composing ballads in ridicule of the restored ceremonial, and hung cats and dogs, shaven like priests, with a piece of paper between the paws, meant to i-epresent the consecrated wafer. One such was shown to the people at Paul's Cross by one of Bonner's chaplains. Dr. Pendle- ton, when the feeling of one at least of his auditors was shown by his being fired at. Most probably on the advice of Philip, rigorous ■ He was the son of Honry, Marquis of Exeter, who was exeonted in 1539, as a favorer D ^ 10, p. 8'ie. of Cardinal Pule,'» and had been imprisoned ever since. CnAPTEE rv.] THE TUDORS. 345 Cardinal Pole. Attempts to reconcile England and the Homan See. measures were now determined on, though they were not carried out immediately. An object more dear to the queen's heart was to be accomplished first. This was the formal reconciliation of her kingdom with the Holy See. § 16. As the first step, when the parliament met in Kovember, 1554, the attainder of the honest and faithful Cardinal Pole was reversed. He had suffered many years of exile for his advocacy of her mother's cause,' and it was by Mary's express desire that he was charged with the important mission to Eome as a pacificator. He was received with joy by her, and a day was appointed for the parliament to attend at the palace, to hear from himself what was to be done. After thanking them for the re- versal of his attainder, which allowed him once again to visit his native countiy, he truthfully said : " If we inquire into the English scliism we shall find avarice and sensuality the principal motives, and that it was caused by the unbridled appetite and licentiousness of a single person. Though it was given out that there would be a vast accession of wealth to the public, yet this expectation vanished. The Grown was left in debt, and the subjects, generally speaking, more impoverished' than ever ; and as to religion, the people were rigorously tied to forms, and fettered by penalties ; and to speak plainly, tliere was more liberty of conscience in Turkey than hi England." § 17. After claiming credit for the Holy See for refraining from piitting the bull of excommunication ^ in force by the help that foreign princes had offered. Cardinal Pole ' concluded by saying : "I have no prejudicial instructions against any person. My commission is not to pull down, but to build ; to reconcile, not to censure ; to invite, without compulsion. My busi- ness is not to proceed by way of retrospection, or to question things already settled. As for past eiTors, they shall be overlooked and forgotten ; but, to qualify yourselves for the pardon now offered, it is necessary to repeal those laws which have broken the Cathobc unity, and divided you from the society of the Church." This speech produced the desired effect. An earnest supplication was m.ade by the jDarliament, through the king and queen, for reconcilia- tion ; the cardinal pronounced a solemn absolution, and the whole of the statutes (nineteen in number) that had been passed since the year 1538, to the prejudice of the Holy See, were swept away by a single net. n>* 346 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VI. Queen Mary's Restorations. The " Marian Persecution," § 18. Ttds would seem to imply that the abbey lands » were to be restored, but the cardinal declared himself em- powered to abandon this claim ; he would only lay it on every man's conscience to make such restitution as he was able. The queen was the fu-st, and almost the only person to act up to this ; and as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made, she gave up the tenths and first-fruits, and restored all the church property that was still in her hands. She went further soon after- ward, for she re-established the Order of St. John,"" ' ' ' and endowed Westminster and as many other religious houses as her scanty means could aiford. These means were really small, for she had taken upon herself the payment of her father's and her brother's debts, and she discharged a great part of them. § 19. Cardinal Pole no doubt spoke in all sincerity when he said that he came " to reconcile, not to censure ; to invite, without compulsion," for he was one of the most amiable of men. But he had to deal with some wlio took a very diiferentview of things, and their violent counsels unhappily prevailed. The lamentable events known as the Marian Persecution followed [a.d. 1555] ; but the odium of this cannot with justice be laid on the queen, as is , usually done. It is rather the harsh spirit of the privileged class of that age, than any one or two or three individuals (say Mary, Gardiner, and Bonner), that should bear the blame. The victims themselves had already shown that they were quite willing to act in a similar way. § 20. Early in the preceding year the various foreign congrega- tions " had been ordered to leave the country, and many Protestants had since joined them abroad. Now, when the old statutes against heresy were threatened to be re-enacted, so many more took the same step, that, except the' preachers who were already in prison (as Bradford, Rogers, Phil- ' « 12 343 P"*-*' ^""^ ^^'^ deprived bishops," scarce any person of note remained. But those who had escaped abroad, by theh- violence made it all the worse for their poorer brethren who had not the means of flight. Afterwards the exiles disputed much among themselves on points of doctrine and discipline, and they wrote so sharply and most provokingly concerning the Eng- lish government, that they injured their friends who were left be- hind. They issued what they termed a plea for liberty of con- science, in vi-hich they tried to alarm the holders of the abbey CH-JirTEK rv.] THE TTJDORS. 347 The Quuen Insulted. Protestants punished. Character of the Sufferers. lands with the idea tliat they would be taken from them ; but that was a point on which full satisfaction had been given, or else the reconciliation with Rome would never have been carried, so little were the penitents impressed with the idea of sacrilege. § 21. The queen's sex exposed her to insult, and John Knox, a Scottish exUe, published a book most offensive to her, styled " The Monstrous Regiment (Gtovemment) of Women." Philip, too, was accused (and justly) of persecution in his own dominions ; and Archbishop Gardiner was provoked by the republication of a book on True Obedience, that he had written many years before, in which he defended both the divorce of Henry the Eighth and his breach with Rome." In truth, he had been an active a § 25, p. 318, agent in both ; though now he would willingly have had it forgotten. It was in those days considered quite justifia- ble to burn a man's body in the hope of saving his soul. This idea was held by Protestants as well as by Romanists, and was only exclaimed against by the former when they, and not merely Anabaptists, suffered by its application. The angry Gardiner ap- parently thought that a few terrible examples would be sufficient to bring the mass of Protestants to conformity, seeing that most of their acknowledged leaders were either in his hands, or had fled away. He found himself mistaken, but the mischief was done. He could not stop the com-se of persecution if he would ; and he died himself before the end of the year 1555 — the mem- orable year of persecutions. § 32. The number of sufEerers during that year is variously stated, but the least estimate makes it about 300 who perished at the stake, and many more died in prison. The five prelates, Oran- mer, Ridley, Latimer, Hooper, and Ferrar, with Philpot, Rogers, and Bradford, and about a dozen others, were the only individuals of position or learning among them ; the rest consisted mainly of poor working-people, many of whom had been employed by the foreigners now banished, and had taken their religious opinions from them. Not but that the Reformers' doctrines had made some progress among the better classes ; but these either iied, or a mere nominal conformity was accepted from them. Certain it is that they had more freedom for worsMp, if they only conducted themselves quietly and did not force the authorities to take notice of them, than the Romanists enjoyed under Elizabeth, or the Church in the time of the Commonwealth. 348 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Fate of Cranmer and his Protestant Associates. His final Heroism. § 23. But the poor and humble, who blindly followed more competent leaders, showed no such discretion, and some seem to have actually courted persecution. One of that class, William riower, who had once been a monk, but was now a preacher among them, stabbed a priest at the altar in St. Margaret's, West- minster, on Easter-day, 1555 ; and others, when brought before the magistrates, but particularly before the bishops, set them at defiance with most offensive words. Of course many such, who really deserved pity, suffered ; but a still greater number were found in the next reign, who, whether truly or untruly, made a boast of how they had bearded the terrible Bonner ^ . § 5, p. 839. ^^ ^^^ all-powerful aardiner," had reviled them in ■ 'the grossest manner, styling them " limbs of Anti- christ," and had denounced the mass as the invention of the devU, and yet lived to tell the tale. § 24. It would be both painful and useless to dv/ell on this subject, but some remark must be made on the fate of Cranmer and his immediate associates. Hooper, the deprived Bishop of Gloucester, who, in Edward's reign, had inveighed against the vestments of the clergy and other Romish features of the ritualism of the professed Protestant Church, was one of the very earliest victims, being burnt in February, 1555 ; but Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer were carried to Oxford, and subjected, as we ' have observed," to a lengthened trial before they met a like fate. Ridley and Latimer suffered in October, Latimer in his last moments encouraging his more timid fellow with words that have ever since sounded like prophecy : " Be of good cheer, brother Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light a candle that all the poT/er of Rome may not put out." Cranmer still remained . — doomed to death, no doubt, but tempted with offers of life until he had solemnly recanted and disavowed, as abominable, all that he had said and done in the matter of the divorce ■* ' S 26, p. 319. . and against Rome. § 25. The barbarous deception of the doomed archbishop was long kept up, and it was not until he was brought into St. Mary's Church at Oxford that he became fully aware of what was in- tended. Then, exhibiting a courage that he had never shown before, he disowned all liis six successive recantations, each more fall than the last, and declared that the " unworthy right hand " that had signed them sliould suffer first of all when he came to the Chaptek IV.] THE TXJDORS. 349 Revolting Acts. Plots. Civil War, French Influence. stake. He kept bis ■word ; and such fortitude in a man constitu- tionally timid was looked upon as something miraculous, and made a great impression.' The death of Cranmer is, in truth, the darkest feature of the Marian persecution. For so utterly to de- grade before destroying him -was intolerable cruelty towards a feeble old man (he was almost seventy), whose greatest offence was that he had proved timid and time-serving, and had, like too many others, implicitly followed the bidding of the imperious Henry and the aspiring Northumberland § 26. From this time forward the reign of Mary presents nothing but painful features. Cardinal Pole" had become " § 16 p. 345. Ai-chbishop of Canterbury on the day after Cran- mer's death, as well as papal legate, and held a visitation of the Universities, when not only English Bibles and "heretical books" were burat, but the bodies of some of the foreign teachers of King Edward's time " were removed from their graves and burnt also. This revolting act, however, was none of Pole's, but his authority was abused by Scott, Bishop of Cliester, and other personal enemies of the deceased. Meantime, plots were discovered to rob the Exchequer, and to betray the Isle of Wight to some of the English exiles who had planned an expedition from France for the purpose, the leader being Henry Dudley, who, though convicted of treason, had been released after a brief im- prisonment." Another exile, Thomas Stafford, with " § 11 p 343 French help seized Scarborough Castle, and this led to a war. The queen had been long urged to join her husband (who, in 1556, had become King of Spain, as Philip the Second) in his war with France, but her ministers opposed it. Now that England was seen to be in danger from the intrigues of that power, they declined no longer. English troops were sent to Flanders, and had a great share in gaining for Philip the victory of St. Quentin, on the 10th of August, 1557. In return, the French in- cited the Scots to invade England, and a fleet seirt against them, under Sir John Clere, was defeated with loss, and the admiral was killed. § 37. But this was as nothing to the loss that was impending, and which forms as memorable a feature of Mary's reign as the Perse- cution itself. The town of Calais had now been in the hands of 1 One of the spectators, Julins [Jocelyn] Palmer, a Romish schoolmaster, was so impressed by it that he became a con vert, and he was burnt not long after at Reading. 350 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book Vi. Loss of Caliils. Its possession OoTeted. The Queen's Distress. tho English for more than 300 years," and through all the changes of government that it had seen, never had its defence ''' ■ been neglected until the time of Edward's unpiin- cipled ministers. They had weakened its garrison and neg- lected its defences, and Mary, burdened with their debts, had not the means to repair the mischief. The Duke of Guise, a French general, marked the neglect. In the first days of January, 1558, he suddenly appeared before the town, and, after a slight skirmish (in which one man only was killed) and a cannonade, without loss on either side, he captured the castle. On the following day the town was surrendered to him, the governor and fifty others remain- ing as prisoners, but the rest of the garrison and the inhabitants being allowed to withdraw. They were, however, plundered of all their goods and money, and would hardly have escaped with their lives but for the Scottish horsemen in the duke's army, who guarded them through his camp. The town of Guines was cap- tured on the 21st of January, and the strong fort of Hamme being abandoned the same night, the English rule ceased. The French of course rejoiced greatly, and to the present day the dis- trict around Calais bears the name of the Reconquered Country. § 28. The news of the danger of Calais caused large bodies of troops to be assembled at Dover ; but the weather was too tempestu- ous for them to cross over at once, and the town was lost before it moderated. Philip offered to assist in its recapture, and the queen vehemently urged it on her council, addressing them hereelf, and styling Calais " the chief jewel of our realm ; " but they de- clared that they should certainly recover it by treaty whenever peace should be made, and that the best way to bi-ing that about was to carry on the war on other parts of the French coast. Ac- cordingly the English fleet assisted the Spaniards at the battle of Gravelines, and burnt some towns in Brittany ; but they were not able to captm-e Brest, which they hoped to exchange for their lost "jewel." § 39. The queen, who had long been ill with a prevailing fever and ague, and was prematurely old, took the failure very grievously, and at last she died, declaring that " Calais " would be found writ- ten on her heart. This, however, was far from her only anxiety in hor last moments. Cardinal Pole, her chief earthly hope for the peipetuation of Romanism in England, lay on his death-bed at the same time ; her husband had long been absent from her, and she Chapter rv.] THE TUDORS. 351 Deatll of Qneen Mary. Her Character and Deeds. knew that all she had so striven to achieve would be undone by her successor, her half-sister Elizabeth. To that successor her will, executed very shoi'tly before her death, is addi'cssed, especially beg- ging her to pay her and then- father's and brother's debts ; to allow of her bequests to the religious houses that she had founded ; but, more than all, to confirm her gift of four hundred marks a year for a hospital for old and maimed soldiers, "the which," she says, " we think that honor, conscience, and charity willeth should be provided for." Elizabeth, however, was of a different opinion, and kept the gift herself. § 30. Mary died in the palace of "Westminster, on the 17th day of November, 1558, at the age of forty-two years. She was not buried until nearly a month after her death, and enough had been done in the mean time to show that still greater changes were im- pending. Bishop White, of Winchester, who preached her funeral seiinon, took for his text the passage, " I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive," and in praising her he was considered to reflect on her successor. He was therefore confined to his house, and was soon afterward de- prived of his see. From this time forward no one ventured to defend her, and the returned exiles " found a pleasure in blackening her memory. Hence the belief that she was a monster of cruelty has come down to the present day, although in truth she was by far the most clement of the Tudors, as may be seen from the fact that many of Elizabeth's piincipal ministers and favorites were men whose lives she had spared in spite of then- re- peated treasons. Cecil, the Dudleys, Throckmorton, Crofts, and Peter Carew may be mentioned among them. And when Lady Carew petitioned for leave to succor her husband who was in exile, Mary not only granted the request, but commended her for making it, declaring that she had only acted as a good wife should do. Very different this from Henry's murder of the Countess of Salisbury for writing to her own son ; '' from Edward's indifference to the deaths of his uncles ; ' or Elizabeth's ' § ^^' "■ ^^• cruel jealousy, which led her to persecute to the death ' the sisters of Lady Jane Grey, merely because they were so unhappy as to be her kinswomen. § 31. Mary possessed many good qualities. She was generally sincere and high-minded, and shrank from that trickery and treaoh- erv in State matters to which her successor and half-sister was 352 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VI. Aooossion of Queen BUzabeth. Her Favorite. His Pretensions and Elevation. addicted as a general rule of conduct. She was a bigot in an age when bigoti7 was the rule and toleration the exception. Judged by tlie standard of royal vii-tues in those days, it is unfair- and un- just to call her, as historians and ecclesiastical writers have done, " The bloody Mary." CHAPTER V. RBIGN OF EUZAJBBTH. [a.D. 1558 TO 1603.] § 1. The Princess Elizabeth, Henry the Eighth's second daughter by Anne Boleyn, was twenty-five years of age when Queen Mary died and she became Queen of England. She was at Hatfield on the day of Mary's death ; and a few hours after that sovereign's departure, she was proclaimed queen in front of Westminster Hall. Then the bells were set a-ringing, and tables were spread in the streets for "plentiful eating and drinking," and at night bonfires blazed. That was on tlie 17th of November, 1558. On the 15th of January following she was cro^vned at Westminster Abbey, by Dr. Oglethorpe, the Bishop of Carlisle. § 3. Like her sister Mary, Elizabeth received small kindness from her father ; but, unlike her, she was in f a-?or with their brother Ed- ward. She professed a complete accordance with all his half- f onned views, and thus passed for a firm adherent of the Eniglish Clinrch ; but when Mary came to the throne she showed herself equally ready to go to mass, and she did go to it. Her sincerity, however, was doubted, and she was looked np to by all who v^ere dissatisfied with the check that the Reformation had received. Wlien called to the throne, Elizabeth put herself at once into the hands of Sir William Cecil, a man who had been a good Pi'otestant under Edward and an equally good Catholic under Maiy, and was quite ready to make any further change that might advance his fortunes. When he had become a great man, he professed to dis- cover that he was descended from Sitsylt, a Welsh prince of older „_ date than William the Nonnan ;° but the people of his Q § 28, p. 85. own day only knew that his grandfather had been a poor artisan, and his father a menial servant in the royal house- hold, who had the Vv'isdom to send his son to college. The youth CnAPTER v.] THE TXTDORS. 353 Adroitness of Minister CedL Cliange in Religious Services. was a diligent student, and thus attracted the notice of Henry the Eighth. Afterwards ho became secretary to Protector Somerset," and having the worldly msdom to desert him at II S ^ Tl S.'^O the right time, he thus gained the favor of his rival, ° '^ 1 § 14, p. 335. Northumberland. '' § 3. Cecil had shown equal address in regard to the bequest of the crown to Lady Jane &rey ; for though his name appeared to it, he declared that it was only as a witness to the signatures of the rest — ^a plausible excuse from a secretary. Thus his offence was passed over. He was continued in office, and professing unbound- ed loyalty and devotion, he was next employed as one of the envoys to fetch over Cardinal Pole." He, however, all along kept up a secret understanding with the Princess Elizabeth, and now, at the age of less than forty, he became her prime minister, a post that he held for the remainder of his long life, moulding her to his own purposes while affecting to consult her wishes, and under aU circumstances taking particular care to improve his private fortune. He always possessed her confidence, but her affections appeared to be given to Lord Robert Dudley (a son of the Duke of Northumberland), a mamed man of bad char- acter, but very handsome and of engaging address. His wife was murdered in his country-seat whilst he was at court, and he was al- ways treated with such marked favor that the queen was generally supposed to design to marry him. But this she did not do. § 4. Under Cecil's guidance Elizabeth entered London, receiving aU who came to her graciously, with the exception of Bonner, to whom she showed such marked aversion as seemed intended to point him out for popular vengeance. Cecil had already prepared what he called " a device for alteration of religion," and forth- with the Service of King Edward's time '' was re-estab- lished in many places without waiting for parlia- mentary authority ; priests were hindered in their ministrations and assaulted in the streets ; and the refugees flocking back from abroad occupied the pulpits, and preached angry controversial sermons. This soon rose to such a height that unlicensed preach- ing was forbidden by proclamation ; but as the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Litany were ordered to be said in English instead of Latin, as before, the Romanists saw that their overthrow was intended. § 5. Thougli Mary's councillors were all Romanists, they showed 354 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book YI. Adventurers in Power. Everything reversed. Court of High Coramiseion. evei'y wilUngness to receive Elizabeth as queen ; but it did not suit the policy of Cecil that they should long remain in oiRce. On his advice they were displaced, and a body of mere adventurers like himself — " men younger in years and meaner in substance," he truly calls them — soon supplanted them, who were bent on making for- tunes for themselves oat of the bishops' lands, as the men of Henry's time had done with the monasteries." The bishops, alanned at this, refused to crown the queen ; but one of their number, Oglethorpe of Carlisle, was biibed to perform the ceremony.'' The parliament met almost immediately after, and, in spite of the opposition of the bishops and many of the peers, repealed all the statutes of Mary's reign concerning religion. The first-fruits and tenths that she had restored to the Church " were again bestowed on the crown, and the queen was authorized to seize all the bishops' lands, giving them mere stipends instead. Tlie money was to be furnished by the tithes that had belonged to the abbeys. The scheme was not carried out, but scarcely a single bishop was appointed during Elizabeth's reign who had not to surrender a portion of the lands of the see as the jirice of his pre- ferment. Mary's religious houses were now closed, and their revenues seized. The monks mostly took to some occupation for their support, but the nuns in general retired to foreign convents. Some found shelter with pious friends. § 6. One act of this parliament declared that its members " did assuredly believe the Lady Elizabeth, by the laws of God and the realm, to be their lawful queen," and with this general and vague declaration she remained content, never taking any step afterwards to have her mother's marriage or her own legitimacy distinctly aifirmed." It was, however, made treason to deny her title, and it involved the forfeiture of office to decline to swear that she was "the only supreme governor of the realm in things ecclesiastical as well as temporal." By virtue of this act a Co^u^; of High Commission was set up to regulate ecclesiastical „„,. affaii-s. It was the counterpart of the Star Chamber " e § 5, p. 2%. . . '■ m havmg only the will of the sovereign for the limit of its powers ; but, unlike that, it was not feared by the ordinary courts of law, and its proceedings were frequently interfered with and often controlled by them. § 7. Before it closed, the parliament waited upon the queeu and CnAPTEB v.] THE TUDORS. 355 Elizabeth^s Coquetry and Vanity. The Revised Service-book disliked, presented an address, urging her to many. She gave a vague reply, but at tlie same time slie listened with appai-eut favor to the King of Sweden (as she did afterwards to other royal personages), and she even allowed some of her subjects to indulge vain hopes, as the handsome Sir William Pickering and the Earl of Arundel. Beasons of State forbade her marrying any one of them, or even the favorite Dudley," who was created Lord of Denbigh one day and Earl of Leicester the next ; but to the ' . end of her long life she encouraged the extravagant homage of her young courtiers, who approached her with hands shading their eyes, as if unable to look steadily on what they, to her face, termed her " divine beauty." She was tall, of a fair complexion, and usually with a cheerful expression of countenance; but one of her admirers tells us that this speedily changed to a "princely tartness " when anything displeased her, and oaths and blows very often followed. She always dressed in the most sumptuous attire, loaded with jewels ; and as she never allowed her raiment to pass to her attendants, she is recorded to have left not less than three thousand rich dresses in her wardrobe at the time of her death. § 8. The Service-book of King Edward^ had been re-established by the parliament, but it had previously undergone a revision, which made it distasteful to many of the clergy who had been in exile. The queen had a liking for the old pompous ceremonial, and the committee of revision, at the head of which was Matthew Parker, had reintroduced a part of this, so that those who had been used to the simple worship of the foreign reformers declared it to be only " the mass in disguise." On the other hand, it was refused by the bishops of Queen Mary's time, and advantage was taken of this to dispossess them of their sees. They had before this been summoned to hold a disputation on articles of faith with some of the Protestants, and they were now treated as unfairly as they themselves had behaved to Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer. After a single angry meet- ing they were charged with " disorders, stubbornness, and self- will," and sent to the Tower. ' The supremacy oath was then offered to them, which they refused, with only two exceptions, on which their sees were declared vacant. That was in the year 1559. § 9. Tlu'ee or four of the bishox)s, as a matter of favor, were 356 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VI. Death of Bonner. Hundoring. Eaflioal and Independent Eeformers. allowed to go abroad, and some died whilst the process was going on ; but the rest were imprisoned for the remainder of their Uves. Bonner of London » died in the Marshalsea, his old .§5, p. 339. prigon ^^„3er Edward the Sixth, in 1569. Thirlby of Durham expired at Lambeth in 1570, and Watson of Lijjcoln in "Wisbeach Castle in 1584. The filling up of their sees presented serious difficulties. Cecil and his associates, the "men meaner in substance," sought not for the most suitable men, but for those who would surrender the largest number of episcopal manors to them in exchange for tithes or abbey lands of not a tenth of their value. In this they were abetted by the queen, who thus lessened the cost of her government ; and several of the new prelates imitated the courtiers by plundering their churches on their own account.' This system endured throughout the whole of Elizabeth's reign, and Bishop Cox of Ely, who remonstrated against it, was threaten- ed with deprivation of his see. Matthew Paricer, ' ' who had been chaplain to Anne Boleyn,'' was ap- pointed Ai-chbishop of Canterbury by the end of the year, and the sees of London, Ely, Bangor, and Worcester were filled a few days afterward. But more than three years elapsed before the whole were supplied. § 10. The task of the newly-appointed archbishop was an ardu- ous one. He had remained in England during the late reign, and he had none of the prejudices against ceremonials that many of the exiles had imbibed abroad. Anything that had been connected with Rome was hateful in their eyes. Hence bishops and vest- ments, common prayer and organs, the use of the cross in baptism and of the ring in marriage, were alike odious ; and they showed very plainly that they considered no allegiance due to any sovereign less opposed to the old ritualism than themselves. Many also, from their residence in tlie republican communities of Switzerland and Germany, had imbibe-i an independence of thought that gave tone to their actions which was very distasteful to Elizabeth and her obsequious advisers. By the queen's injunctions, "seemly habits, garments, and square caps" were required to be worn, and 1 Perhaps the worst of these men was Edmund Scambler, afterwai-ds known as " scan- dalous Scamblcr," a chaplain of Archbishop Parker. When made Bishop of Peter- borough, he, as the price of his promotion, conveyed much of the lands of his see to Cecil, who thus gained the chief part of his lordly estate of Burghley or Burleigh. Scambler was made Bishop of Norwich several years afterward, and he mercilessly plundered that sec to enrich his family. Chapter V.] THE TTJDORS. 357 Imiovators pTuiished. Bise of the Puritans- Policy of the Gtovemment, to these many of the more prominent of the radical Protestants had invincible objections. Considerable latitude in these matters was for a time allowed them, and they were suffered to hold pre- ferments without confonnity being insisted on. § 11. Of course the original objectors to the Romish ceremoni- als soon found imitators ; and at last, when the innovations be- came too great to be any longer borne, Parker was ordered to deal peremptorily with them. This was done by the High Commission Court ; " but as he was its president, it exposed him to * § D, p. 354. furious reproaches from the more violent of the party. One of them, remarking that he was the seventieth archbishop, said that seventy was so complete a number that it would be a pity that he should not be the last ; and his difficulties were increased by the support which some members of the Government gave to them. He complained of tliis double dealing, as pm-posely in- tended to throw the odium of persecution on the bishops, which it very probably was. He acted up to his instructions, however, and Sampson and Humphrey, who were masters of colleges at Oxford, and were looked up to as leaders, were deprived of office, by which it was wrongly supposed that their followers would be intimidated. The contrary effect followed, and from this time [a.d. 1565] may be dated the formation of an organized party of nonconformists, who, because of the austerity of their morals and purity of their lives, were called, in derision, Puritans. They held secret religious meetings, fi-om which the Prayer-boolj was excluded. Then they rejected some of the doctrines, as they had already cast off the discipline of the Church. "With tliis " disobe- dience," as it was termed, to the hierarchy, they combined what was called disloyalty to the State, for their habit of thinking and independence in action made them bold in asserting the rights of the subject. Such was the rise of the Puritans, who appeared at the middle of the sixteenth century as pioneer claampions of civil and religious liberty. § 13. Though Elizabeth and her ministers had thus a great cause of uneasiness, which sprang directly from the connection of her subjects with the foreign reformers, political considerations led them to put her at the head of the religious malcontents in France, in Holland, but especially in Scotland, in ' tr J ' 1 § 31, p. 347. spite of lier dislike of the earnest John Knox, who had declared government by a woman to be " monstrous." •> In all 358 HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. [Book VI. Elizciheth and the Huguenots. Mary Queen of Scots. " Congregation of the Lord." these countries the Befoiiners had taken up arms, and it ap- peared a matter of good policy to afford them aid, thereby dis- tressing their Catholic sovereigns, who, as OecU well knew, looked on Elizabeth as an illegitimate usurper. The conduct of the French Reformera, who are known as Huguenots, wag strongly condemned by her, because, after receiving from her assistance in both men and money, they suddenly made their peace with the king, and joined his German mercenary forces in chiving out their allies. But stress of circumstances, it is well known, com- pelled them to take the course which offended her. The English were besieged by them in Havre-de-Graoe, but made a gallant resistance, and at length only surrendered when worn out vidth ■ famine and the plague. The sui-vivors brought the pestilence with them to England, and many thousands perished in the year 1563. The Dutch also received aid from her; but their story belongs to a later period. § 13. Elizabeth's attention was most engaged by the Scots. So great was her, or rather Cecil's influence \^'ith them, that she was far more their sovereign than either of their nominal rulers. At the time of her accession, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, whom Henry had desired should become the wife of his son," was » § 46, p. 827. in France, tlie wife of the heir to the French throne ; and by the command of her father-in-law she and he]- young hus- band soon afterward assumed the title of King and Queen of England. Her mother, Mary of Guise, was her regent in Scot- land, and was supported by French troops. Elizabeth had, in the mean time, concluded a peace with France, though without recovering Calais, as had been expected,'' and she b § S8, p. 360. , , i , , , was not able to renew the war ; but she sent a fleet to assist the Scots of all classes, who had formed a Protestant league, and styled themselves the " Congregation of the Lord." They formed a large army, each member of which marched with a small Bible in one hand and a sword in the other. They cap- tured Leith, where a thousand French soldiers had been quartered in the interest of Mary. Then a treaty was entered into by which Mary resigned the title of Queen of England ; but she in- sisted on still bearing the English royal arms, as an evidence of her claim to the eventual succession to the throne. § 14. The Scottish Reformers were now triumphant, and, under the guidance mainly of John Knox, whose spiritual trumpet could Chaptek t.] the TUDORS. 359 Deatructioii of Churches and Abbeys, Mary ill Scotlanii. Nonconformity. quickly summon a large army to the field, they made such havoc i)f churches and abbeys as far exceeded all that had been done in England. "Throw down their nests and the crows will take flight," was his exhortation, and in consequence the noblest structures of the land went to the ground. The church lands were seized by the nobles ; the bishops were replaced by superin- tendents on the foreign model ; all former ecclesiastical establish- ments were swept away, and libraries were wantonly destroyed. In the course of a few days Scotland was covered with the ruins of the stateliest temples dedicated to the worship of God, and the most venerated shrines. § 15. "Whilst this anti-Romish feeling was at its height, Maiy, having become a widow, and finding the French queen a most unfriendly mother-in-law, returned to her native land, which she had left when a child,' and from that moment she fell into the power of a number of rapacious and cruel men, who were the paid agents of the English ministers. They frequently quarrelled and fought among themselves, but the result was always to her injury ; and her long imprisonment and death were due far more to their violence and treachery than to anything that has ever been proved against her, though accusa- tions, to screen the accusers, are plentiful. § 16. The act that re-established King Edward's Service-Book,'' commonly known as the Act of Uniformity, contained a clause directing all persons to repair to their parish churches on Sundays and certain holy days. Although this was not agreeable to the Roman Catholics, they, for several years of the queen's reign, gave such a compliance as screened them from the penalties of the statute. But at length this occasional attendance was declared to be sinful,' and they went no longer. Many of the old monastics still remained, and at once congregations were formed in which they ministered, while priests who had left the country on the death of Mary, returned. It soon became evident that the conformity that had appeared to be brought about was in many cases a mere delusion. That age knew no other mode of swaying its subjects than compulsion, and accordingly the penal- ties for absence from church were now enforced with ruinous I The Council of Trent, which had been called in 1.545 to oppose the Beformation, and had held occasional sittings up to 1563, denounced the practice at almost its lasl; mectiutj, and it was afc once abandoned. 360 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Mary's Scotch Husband. Plots and Murders. Mary abdicates. effect, bat in vain. The number of " recusants," as tliey were termed, steadily increased, and persons of wealtli among them began to send their sons abroad for education, from -which very important consequences arose in after years. § 17. Maiy of Scotland," though all but a prisoner in her own country, and exposed to personal insults from Knox ' ' ' and the other preachers, who commonly styled her Jezebel, was an object of jealous dislike to Elizabeth and hei ministers. She had the advantage of the English queen both in youth and beauty, and her religion made her an object of regard to the Anglo-Roman Catholics. Unhappily for herself, she mar- ried her cousin, Henry Damley, a weak and profligate young man whose family claimed royal rights. He often treated her vyith brutal insolence, so as to bring tears into her eyes in public. He joined himself mth Murray, her natural brother, and other Pro- testants, whose avowed aim was to detlirone her as an idolater. After a time these confederates quarrelled, and the house in which Barnley lay ill was blown up [a.d. 1567] by their contrivance, though they had the baseness to ascribe it to Mary. § 18. Associated vfith MuiTay and the rest, though with different motives, was James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, a man of daring character, who was resolved to turn their common crime to his own special advantage. He hardly pretended to conceal his share in the murder, but when accused of it he appeared in court vrith a body of fully-aimed friends. The Earl of Lennox, Damley's father, did not dare to come forward, and of course he was de- clared innocent. The " Congregation of the Lord '' '' had entered in a bond for the destnaction of Damley, and Bothwell imitated them by getting his friends to enter into a similar engagement to assist him in seizing the crown. To be ready for this he had already divorced his vpif o, by mutual con- sent, on some idle pretence of relationship, and he now seized the unhappy queen and forced her to maiTy him. The other mur- derers, however, rose ag.ainst him, when he fled from Scotland, and lived for a time by piracy ; but, being captured by the Danes, ended his days a prisoner and a madman ten yeara aftei-ward. The queen was compelled to resign her crown in favor of her sou, a child by Damley only a year old, and she was then confined in an island in Lochleven. That son was afterward James the Sixth of Scotland and James the First of England. Chapter V.] THE TUDOES. S61 Mary tries to regain her Throne, Doings of her Enemies. § 19. Mary's half-brother MuiTay now became regent, but the qiieen escaped in the following spring, and endeavored to recover the throne. Her small force was defeated at Langside, when she crossed the Sol way Fidth iato England in an open boat, almost un- attended. She wished to repair to Elizabeth's court, to justify herself ; and when this was refused, she desired to withdraw to her relatives in France. But she found hei'self a prisoner [a.d. 1568], and that, too, in the hands of men who hated her because they had injured her. § 30. Mary was now only twenty-six years of age, and her beauty and fascinating manners made friends for her wherever she came. This was soon painfully evident to Elizabeth's ministei-s, and Leicester " himself is the witness, that within a year of her arrival a warrant was made out for her execn- ' tion. In the mean time, Mui'ray '' and others came i • ^^ • into England, and, with a deference to Elizabeths! supremacy such as the Scots had once paid to Edward the First," laid theii' accusations against Mary before a board of English commissioners at York. But even this prejudiced body declined to convict her ; and the Duke of Norfolk, who was at their head, testified his belief in her innocence in. the strongest manner by wishing to marry her. StiU she was kept a prisoner, and plots began to be formed for her release. Norfolk was induced to take some part in the matter, when he was betrayed and beheaded in the year 1573. He was one of the ancient nobility, and therefore odious to such new men as Leicester and Cecil (now Lord Burleigh), who both sat on his trial. § 21. Even before Elizabeth came to the throne, the Nether- landers had taken up anns to I'esist the introduction of the Inqui- sition, and had for a while been successful ; but in 1567 Philip of Spain,'' their sovereign, sent the Duke of Alva with an ai-my to reduce them to obedience. Many of the ' 'ar Netherlanders fled to England, and as they brought with them some useful manufactures, they were warmly welcomed. Philip complained of the slight, but could obtain no redress. On the contrary, as the Netherlandera had now a fleet, many of the Eng- lisli joined them, whilst otliers, though war had not been de- clared, assailed the Spanish treasure-ships. Hawkins, Drake, and other well-known seamen commenced their career in this piratical manner ; and to Hawkins belongs the additional disgrace of 16 362 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Insurrections. Complaints against Elizabeth. Bull of Excommunication. having begun the slave trade between Africa and, America. Alva in return seized on the English merchants' goods, and the Spanish ambassador in England supplied the funds for an insurrection, ■which was meant to set free Mary, and also, if possible, to over- throw Elizabeth and restore Romanism. Tlie Earls of "Westmore- land and Northumberland made the attempt [a.d. 1569], but an experienced Spanish oiHcer sent to direct their movements was intercepted on his way. As they had themselves no skill in arms, many who were ready to join them held back. Their plan entirely miscarried, though they got possession of Durham Minster, and re-established the mass there for a short time. § 32. This abortive attempt, which is known as the Rising of the North, was an infinitely less serious affair than "Wyatt's rebel- lion, and never for an instant put Elizabeth in personal danger ; but it was far more rigorously punished. "Westmoreland escaped; but Northumberland was, after a three years' imprisonment, given up by the new Scottish ruler, Morton, for a bribe of £3,000 (for Murray " had already been assassinated), and exe- ' ' ' cuted; whilst in every market-town in the North mar- tial law was carried out with terrible severity, nearly seventy per- sons being hanged in the city of Durham alone. Besides those actually concerned, many wealthy Catholic- families were ruined by forfeiture on the mere suspicion of disaffection. Some of these found employment in the Spanish armies, others were pensioned by Philip, but more wandered over the continent, filling every Catholic country with compilaints of the cruelty and injustice x>i Elizabeth's government. The effect was soon seen. A bull, called a " sentence declaratory " of excommvinication and deposition, had been prepared long before. It wdsnow issued [a.d. 1570] by Pope Sixtus the Fifth, and fixed upon the house of the English ambas- sador at Paris. In very coarse language it stigmatized the queen as an illegitimate usurper and a heretic, who had endeavored to destroy the Catholic faith and practice, and it declared her de- prived of the throne, and her subjects absolved from all allegiance to her. An enthusiast named John Felton, who afRxed a printed copy of this bull on the gate of the Bishop of London's palace, was seized and executed as a traitor. § 23. From this time to the end of Elizabeth's i-eign a life and death struggle was maintained with France and Spain and the Pope. All the malcontents in the dominions of the one received support Chaptek v.] THE TUDORS. 303 Help for the Netherlands and the Hti^enots. Jesuit Propagandists. from the other. ElizSibeth now openly avowed the proceedings oi her sailors, which she had before styled piratical, and supplied men, money, and arms to the Netherlanders and the Huguenots. Philip sent soldiers and the Pope sent priests to Ii-eland, where a civil war was thus maintained for years. Spanish agents got up plots against her Ufe, which were foiled by the sagacity of Sir Francis Walsingham, himself a man of dark and designing char- acter, who labors under the imputation of being as unscrupulous as any of his opponents. § 24. The evil effect of forcing the Romanists to send their children abroad for education " was now seen, as per- sons had been found who turned this to a political purpose. For these youtlis a college had been established at Douay, in Flanders, by Dr. Williams, afterwards Cardinal Allen, a learned man who had been the Principal of St. Mary's Hall at Oxford in the preceding reign.' Some of his pupils no doubt took to other courses, but many of them entered the priesthood. The effect that sending these young men back to England might be expected to produce was at once perceived. Institutions called seminaries were soon established in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, with the avowed object of training up English youths as priests, who should be ready at the command of their superiors, and at whatever risk, to return to England in order to attempt to " convert the souls of their countrymen and Idnsmen." § 25. At about the year 1574, the " Seminarists " from Douay began to arrive in England in considerable numbers, and in every imaginable disguise. They moved about from place to place, and, hidden in secret chambers in old manor-houses (the recesses since well known as " priest's holes)," often escaped detection for years. But when captured (and they were eagerly hunted down as the worst of criminals), though they earnestly disclaimed all political motives, they suffered as traitors. One Cuthbert Mayne, who was hanged in 1578, is spoken of by Romish writers as the "proto- martyr of Douay." In the course of the queen's reign more than 300 of these Seminarists were executed, but the enterprise was not abandoned. One of the most eminent of their number, Edmund 1 At that college a translation of the Bible into English was made by Dr. Gregory Martin, assisted by Drs. Allen, Hichards, and Briston. The " Douay Bible," as this trnnsltttion is called, is the English version accepted by the Eoman Catholics ever sinco.-. 364 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. A Jesuit's Declaration. Conaition ol Bomanists. Persecutions. Campion, a Jesuit, made a declaration to the gueen's council, wliicli he and others fully acted up to so far as suffering was concerned. " Be it known unto you," he says, " that we have made a league, all the Jesuits in the world, whose succession and multitude must overreach all the practices of England, cheerfully to carry the cross that you shall lay upon us, and never to despair your re- covery, while we have a man left to enjoy your Tyburn, or to be racked with your torments, or to be consumed with your poisons. Expenses are reckoned, the enteqjrise is begun ; it is of God, it cannot be withstood. So the faith was planted, so it must be restored." Many of the sufEerers are known to have been learned and amiable men. But there were among them others of widely diiferent character, and the government, seeing them backed by the Pope and the King of Spain, naturally became too much alarmed to discriminate between them. § 36. Though the Romanists still formed the majority of the population, the condition of most of them was pitiable in the ex- treme. Students holding their opinions were driven from the Universities ; but many of these became lawyer's, and by their skill the severity of the laws was in a measure averted, until at last a kind of sufferance was allowed, provided no open display was made. But to be a priest was to incur daily the actual risk of death. All who succored them were in equal danger ; and it was only the personal favor of the queen to some few nobles, and the cormption of the courtiers, who for money shielded the rich, wliilst the poor fiUed the prisons, that allowed even a shadow of the old form of religion to exist. Year after year, however, saw fresh " Siminarists " arrive, and though the laws were made more and more severe, the government at length got in some measure tired of its useless rigor, and long before Elizabeth's reign came to a close it had become the custom to imprison or banish rather than to hang the greater part of these " disobedient persons." § 27. But even in thus dealing with these propagandists, almost incredible hardships were inflicted, as is confessed in publications issued by the government in its own justiiicatiou. From these it ap- pears that the pmoners in the Tower were carried by main force to the chapel to hear themselves and their faith reviled ; that they were put on the rack to make them confess who had given them shelter, and that one priest at least (Alexander Briant) was remorselessly starved to death. He licked the moisture from his prison walls, so Chapter V.] THE TUDORS. 3(15 "Massacre of St. Bartliolotnew.'" Its effect. Conduct of Radical Puritans. urgent was his thirst, and he was refused all food unless he would apply for it in writing, the object being to make him show himself the author of some seditious papers. § 28. Soon after the execution of the Duke of Norfolk," an event occurred in Prance which sent a thrill of horror throughout Christendom. Catherine de Medici, the ' ''' ' § 16 p 3.59 dowager Queen of France,' acting as the willing in- strument of the family of Guise (of which the mother of Mary of Scotland was a member)," consummated a plan for the destruction of the French Protestants known as ' *"' '' § 12, p. 357. Huguenots ^ throughout the kingdom. At her insti- gation her weak son, Charles the Ninth, issued a secret order for their massacre at a chosen time. The di-eadf ul work began in Paris on the eve of the festival of St. Bartholomew [Aug. 24, 1572], and seventy thousand Protestants perished within the borders of Prance. Among the more conspicuous victims was the eminent Admiral Coligny, who had been treacherously invited to court under a guise of friendship. The queen dowager sent his head to Pope Gregory the Thirteenth, then just elevated to the pontificate, who, in testimony of his satisfaction because of the destruction of so many heretics, caused a memorial medal to be issued. § 29. This event caused so much fear of the power and inten- tions of the Roman Catholic rulers, that the various Protestant States were drawn together more closely. And it seriously affected Mary of Scotland (a relation'and presumed partisan of the Guises and Catheiine of Pi-ance), who, though a prisoner, was feared as well as hated ; and thoughts of putting her to death were again entertained. But these gave way to more urgent matters, and she was left to endure many years of prison-life. § 30. The danger in which all Protestants were supposed to stand fi-om the union of Spain and Prance and the Pope, had no effect in causing the Puritans to cease from their attacks on the AngUoan Church, which they considered quite as corrupt and dangerous to religious liberty as the church of Rome. On the contrary, the more urgent the apparent danger seemed, the more clamorous did they become, and their zeal partook largely of fanaticism. Some of them were disposed to establish such a democracy in religions matters that all ecclesiastical order would be obliterated. They de- sired to sweep away episcopacy, set forms of prayer, vestments and ceremonies, music and the observance of festivals ; every " godly 306 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Separation of Church and State propoBed, Power ol the Puritans. man" to be allowed to pray and pi-each after his own fashion. But the more thoughtful, who perceived the necessity of a bond of union in governmental form, insisted only upon the more ancient and primitive presbyterian order in the organization of the chui'ch of the realm. At the same time they, with their more zealous brethren, denied the right of civil magistrates to interfere in eccle- siastical matters. They boldly declared the necessity of a total separation of Church and State for the good of true religion — a feeling now powerfully working throughout Christendom. • § 31. Such views could not, of course, be tolerated by so impe- rious a governor as Elizabeth ; but they had supporters among her ministere, and especially in the parliament." Then- great champion was Thomas Cartwright, a member of tlie University of Cambridge, and an eloquent preacher, who was never tu-ed of pointing to bishops aud all belonging to them as " limbs of Antichrist." He was expelled, but not silenced ; for he had the courage to addi'ess an " Admonition to the Parliament " [a.d. 1573], in which the most bitter and contemptuous language was employed towards the church. This was in consequence of the parliament having abandoned their intention of abolishing many rites and ceremonies on hearing that the queen was displeased. The Admonition was followed by the establishment of a presbytery at Wandsworth, and the example was followed in other places. The government now interfered, silencing some of the most vehe- ment Puritan preachers, when Cartwright went abroad. § 33. Archbishop Parker' had pointed out to the queen the .. „ „ „-K revolutionary spirit by wlrich the Puritans were actu- b § 9, p. 3do. ^ ated, and as long as he lived they were Kept in a measure in check. But on his death, in 1575, his see was given to Grindal, Archbishop of York, who had been one of the ex- ...„ lies," and whom the Puritans claimed as '-their own." c § 20, p. 346. He was a man of most amiable character, but quite unfit to control or to contend with such spirits as the stern Puri- tans possessed. Under his nominal rule they were allowed to hold what they called " prophesyings," where ministers who had been silenced for non-conformity were at liberty to preach and pray, and doclahn against Ijoth Church and State, until the government peremptorUj stopped them and suspended the archbishop. He died soon afterward [a.d. 1583], and was succeeded by Whitgift, Bishop of Worcester, a man of a firm spirit, who had ah-cady wiit- Chapter V.] THE TUDORS. 3G7 The Puritans Checked. Discovery of Aruerica. Walter Raleigh. ten against the Puritans, and who showed that the law would be too strong for them so long as ho lived. § 33. Wliitgift's firmness was potential. No more presbyteries were formed, and though the Puritans printed at a secret press some most oifensive tracts, as the production of " Martin Mar-Prelate," they could not again induce the parliament to take up their cause. Their champion, Cartwright, found himself overmatched, and rething to a preferment that his patron Leicester had given him, he abandoned the cause for which he had so long contended, and, his enemies said, grew rich by usury. But his followers, though nominally conforming, to avoid penalties, retained their peculiar opinions ; and as many of them lived as chaplains in noblemen's houses, or took to school-teaching, they had the opportunity, which they did not neglect, of spreading them widely, as was seen in the next reign. § 34. At about this time some of the most notable events of Elizabeth's reign occurred — events which cast into insignificance and contempt the disputes of bigots, the jealousies of monarchs, and the quarrels of couiiiers, with the attendant ill consequences to the people, the narration of which forms the bulk of the recorded history of that time. They were the eSoi-ts of a few of her subjects to make discoveries and plant colonies beyond the Atlantic Ocean. § 35. Late in the preceding century, Columbus, of Genoa, had asked the rich King of England, Henry the Seventh," to assist him in testing his theory that a continent might be found by sailing westward over the Atlantic Sea. Henry refused ; but that bold navigator, aided by Isabella of Spain, dis- covered sbme of the "West India Islands near the American conti- nent. A little later an English navigator (Cabot) discovered the continent itself ; but during the lapse of full three-fourths of a century after the Genoese sailed from Palos, no real progress was made toward a permanent European settlement in the new-found world. Some English navigators had explored the northeastern coast of America in search of precious metals ; but it was not until the middle of Elizabeth's reign that efforts were made to plant settlements in the milder regions of the northern portion of the vast continent. § 36. There was a young English courtier named "Walter Ka- leigh, who, while learning the art of war with Co- ^ g^. ligny, the eminent French Huguenot,' had heard of 368 HISTORY OF ENGIAjSTD. [Book VI. Attempted Settlements in America. England Helps the Netherlands. the middle regions of North America. His step-brother. Sir Humphry Gilbert, obtained a patent from the queen for making set- tlements in the New World. Ealeigh joined him in the enterprise. After several unsuccessful efforts to reach that middle coast, Gil- bert was lost at sea ; but Kaleigh, undismayed, sent other ships, and succeeded in making a settlement on Koanoke Island, on the coast of the present North Carolina. That was in the year 1585. The navigators of his vessels had given a glowing account of the country. The queen declared that its discovery was one of the most glorious events of her reign; and in memorial of her unmarried state it was called Virginia. But this first set- tlement, and another made two years later, were broken up and destroyed by the Indians, or aborigines, who were badly treated by the English people. § 37. Whilst the Church was disturbed by zealous reformers, the State was made equally unquiet from apprehension of the invasion which Philip of Spain," Queen Mary's husband, was • §26, p. 349. ^ -A J, ^ « known to be preparing. As one means of averting the danger, it was thought advisable to give efficient assistance to tlie Netherlanders, and accordingly the Earl of Leicester •• t § 7, 1.. 364. ^^ .-, -.u A 1 • 1 r> 1 was sent to them with an army. Admiral Drake was at the same time despatched to the West Indies, in the hope of capturing the Spanish treasure-ships, and thus bringing the pro- jected Armada, or great fleet, to a stand for want of money. Neither expedition was very successful. The treasure-ships eluded Drake, and Leicester showed conspicuous incapacity as a leader, besides offending the queen by accepting the supreme government of the Netherlands without her permission. He was soon recalled. The most remarkable event of his campaign was the death of his nephew, Sir Philip Sidney, commander of his cavalry [Oct., 1586], who was eminent alike as a scholar, a courtier, and a soldier. So high was Sidney's character that, in the year before his death, he was named as a candidate for the crown of Poland. § 38. Philip continued his preparations, and, whether with or without his knowledge is not certainly known, some zealous Eomanists began to plot for the assassination of the queen. Wal- singham," however, prevented any of their schemes taking effect, and Anthony Babington, a gentleman of fortune ; Savage, a soldier in Philip's pay ; Ballard, a priest, and eleven other persons suffered as traitors. But Walsingham's mqui- Chapter V.] THE TUDORS. 369 Mary Queen of Soots aocused, tried, find beheaded. A Royal Hypocrite. sitorial diligence was pushed further than the defeating of this plot. One of his spies had mixed in it, and from his statement and Babington's confession it appeared that Queen Mary had some knowledge of the matter. Her friends say that only a righteous attempt was to be made to set her at liberty ; her enemies, that' she was consenting to Elizabeth's death. Walsingham undertook to prove this last assertion, which brought her within the terms of an act passed some time before, at the suggestion of Leicester, de- nouncing death against any one who should either make or sanc- tion any attempt on the queen's life. Mary's papers were seized, her secretaries were questioned, and she was soon removed from Tutbm-y to Fotheringhay Castle, where her so-called trial took place. As her death was already determined on, the commission- ers, though they heard her charge Walsingham with forging some of the letters that he produced, and falsifying others, soon closed their investigation. They returned to London, and • § 6, p. 396. there, in the Star-chamber," pronounced her guilty of having '' compassed and imagined the death of the queen.'' That was on the 25th of October, 1S86. § 39. The parliament met soon afterward, and made it their urgent request that the unhappy prisoner might be executed. Elizabeth affected great reluctance, but she confirmed the sentence ; and when it was published in London every house was illumi- nated, all the bells were rung, and the populace showed a barba- rous joy, " making bonfires and singing psalms in every street and lane in the city." This was in December, 1586; but Elizabeth appeared in no hurry to carry out the sentence. She listened to the representations of the French and the Scottish ambassadors, and gave them ambiguous answers ; and it was not until the first of Pebraary, 1587, that she would sign the death-warrant. This she gave into the'care of William Davidson, her secretary. Her council knew that they only carried out her real wishes when they sent it to Fotherin- ghay, where, in accordance with it, Mary was judicially murdered on the 8th of February, 1587. When that deed was done, the royal hypocrite on the throne professed the most extreme sur- prise, anger, and sorrow ; but she easily suffered herself to be paci- fied when her councillors told her that " the life of one Scottish and titular queen ought' not to Vifeigh down the safety of all Eng- land." But, as a sacrifice to appearances, the unfortunate secre- tary, Da'vidson, was prosecuted in the Star-chamber and ruined, J 6* 370 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VI. Patriotism of the English People. Preparations to meet Invasion. his " good masters of the council " having the baseness to swear that he had acted without orders. § 40. Soon after the death of Mary, Drake was again despatched against the Spaniards, and he brought back the news that the in- vasion would certainly be attempted in the following year. Tlie most vigorous preparations were made to meet the danger, the Romanists joining heartily in them, whilst the Puritans showed lukewarmnoss. This was at the very period when they were as- sailing the church more harshly than ever in the Mar-Prelate tracts," a fact that was long remembered to their dis- ''' ' ' advantage. But a, thoroughly patriotic spiiit pre- vailed throughout the kingdom. A fleet of about one hundred and forty vessels was got together, and the Nether- ' ' ' landei-s '' supplied sixty more. Three armies, of 70,000 men altogether, were collected, and a camp was foi-med at Tilbury, where Leicester commanded, and which the queen visited, declaring that she had come to die there if necessary. " I know," she said, " I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a king, and a king of England, too." The fleet was under the command of Lord Howard of Efiingham, a Roman Catholic, the son of Lord William Howard, Queen Mai-y's admiral, and he was assisted by Admii-als Hawkins, Drake, Fro- bisher, and many other bold seamen vfhose names are most con- spicuous in English history. § 41. The Si^anish fleet was of vastly superior force, number- ing not less than one hundi'ed and thirty ships of war, most of them of much larger size than any of the English vessels. It carried, beside the ships' crews, an anny of 23,000 men, a large number of volunteer's from the first families in Spain, and 180 priests and monks, for it was hoped to convert as well as to con- quer England. To assist in the work there was a large store of whips, chains, thumbscrews, and other instniments of tortm-e on board. The Duke of Medina Sidonia, a man unused to the sea, was in command; but he was assisted by Martinez de Ricaldi, a hardy Biscayan mariner," and when the fleet rendez- voused at Lisbon, which it did in the month of May, 1588, it made so gallant a show that Philip seemed justified in styling it "the Invincible Armada" — a name which it yet bears in history. The Pope had sent his blessing, and a conse- Ci-atod banner, and the fleet set sail on the 1st of June, 1588. A OnAPTEK v.] THE TUDOES. 371 Appearance ol the Armada. Its destruction. Humiliation of the Spaniards. stoiiii, however, arose, and the Ai-mada was obliged to take refuge at the Groyne, having ah-eady suffered so much that a report was spread of the expedition being abandoned until the following year. Lord Howard, however, visited the Spanish coast with a few vessels, found that the damage suffered had been purposely exaggerated to throw him off his guard, and, returning to port, revictualled his fleet. § 42. Only a week after Howard's return the Aimada came in sight. It was far too strong for him to venture to oppose its jjas- sage, and it sailed proudly up the Channel, making for the coast of Flanders, where 30,000 veteran troops and a body of English deserters ' were to be taken on board. But this was never accom- plislied. The Spaniards were very poor seamen, and managed their huge ships so badly that three of them were captured by the active English who followed them in their small vessels. At length they arrived in Calais roads, where they anchored. Here, at night, Howard sent eight fire-ships among them, which created such a panic that they cut their cables and thought only of escape. Many of them, instead, got on shore, others sun'endered without resistance, and the plight of the rest was so pitiable that the Spanish general, the renowned Duke of Paiina, refused to suffer his troops to embark. And so the intended invasion was perforce abandoned. § 43. But the miseries of the Spaniards were only now begin- ning. Even if they would face the English fleet, it seemed impos- sible to pass through the Straits of Dover, owing to heavy westerly gales, which, being unusual at that time of the year, inspired them with superstitious dread. They therefore resolved to attempt to I'etum to Spain by passing to the north of Scotland. They threw their mules and horses overboard, in order to save water, and then took to flight, followed as far as the Orkneys by the English ships, which made fresh captures every day without a blow, so entirely was the haughty Spanish spirit humbled. Then the English ammunition failed. The pursuit was discontinued, and the fugitives had only the dangers of almost unknown and stormy seas to contend with. Some who were wi'ecked on the coast of Scotland were humanely succored ; but those who were 1 These had garrisoned Deventer, under the command of Sir William Stanley. He was accused, unjustly, of being concerned in Babington's conspiracy, on which he sur- rendered the town to the Spaniards, and joined their army with his whole force. 372 HISTORY OP ENGLAIO). [Book VI. Eejoioings in England. Contributions lor War. Operations in Portugal. lost among th6 Hebrides " and on the Iiisli coast were mostly put to death. At last, in the month of September, 1588, the remains of the Armada reached Spain, where their wretched condition excited great giief. But Philip pro- fessed to be little disturbed by it, saying that he had still fleets and ai-mies to send against heretics ; and he at once set about pre- paring for another expedition. § 44. The destruction of the Spanish fleet, though far more the work of the weather than of anything else, very naturally gave occasion for extravagant rejoicings in England. The captured flags were carried in solemn procession to St. Paul's, the queen herself accompanying them, and many of the finest weapons were placed in the Tower, where some few of them may yet be seen. The prisoners taken were very numerous, and some of the more considerable were ransomed by the Duke of Alva; but the rest pined out their days miserably on board of prison-ships moored at the mouth of the Thames, as the people were so embittered against them that they could not safely be brought on shore. But a more dignified revenge was taken in the summer of the next year. § 45. By contributions from all classes in England, and even by collections in churches, the sum of £50,000 was i-aised for the pur- pose of fitting out a new land and naval expedition. When preparations were completed, Drake and Norris led the fleet and army to Portugal, which on their way stormed the town of Co- runna, defeated a strong Spanish force, and destroyed a vast num- ber of ships, with their stores, which Philip had ah'eady collected for a new attempt. Their great object, however, was to place a Portuguese prince, Don Antonio, on the throne of Portugal, as Philip had treacherously seized on the country a few years before, on the occasion of its king (Sebastian) being killed in battle -with. the Moors. They did not succeed, as the Portuguese showed no inclination to take up arms. Norris landed, and marched unop- posed to Lisbon ; but as Drake remained to plunder Cascaes, and so gave him no help, he was obliged to retire: The two com- manders naturally quarrelled, and after burning Vigo they returned to England, where they met a very imgracions reception from the queen. She had borne a part of the expense of the expedition, and looked for an ample return of treasure. But this was not the case. What prizes were made were bought for a tenth of their value by the merchants at Plymouth, and the sum received was so Chapteb v.] the TUDORS. 373 Ruliious warlike Enterprises. The Huguenots disliked. Civil War in France. small that the soldiers and sailors received only five shillings each for their five months' labor. Many in consequence took to plunder, and they even concerted a plan for robbing the merchants at St. Bartholomew's Fair; but the vigilance of the London citizens defeated this, and a great number of executions followed. § 46. The queen's early favorite, Leicester, had been chosen by her to command the army at Tilbury." Pie died very soon after the dispersion of the Armada, and he was succeeded in her affections by his stepson, Robert Dovereux, Earl of Essex, a handsome youth just come of age. He had already shown great gallantry under Leicester in the Nether- ° ° n § 3Y, p. 368. lands,* and he wished to sail with Drake, but the queen forbade him. He, however, secretly joined the expedition, led the party that first landed in Portugal, though the water rose to his shoulders, and dispersed the enemy at the point of the pike. Afterwards, when the garrison of Lisbon retired within their walls without fighting, he sent a challenge by a trumpeter offering single combat to any man of his own quality. He was peremptorily re- called before the close of the expedition, and his rashness was for- given, though the queen had at first threatened to hang Sir Roger "Williams, a veteran soldier, for favoring his escape from the court. § 47. This expedition to Portugal was the first of many retalia- tory enteiprises in which the naval and military men, the nobles and courtiers, joined with an eagerness proportioned to the wealth that they hoped to acquire. But these hopes were fallacious; and not only Hawkins and Drake, but the Earls of Essex and Cum- berland, Sir Greorge Carey, Sir Walter Raleigh, and many more, after incurring almost incredible hardships and dangers in their adventurous cruises, all died ruined men. § 48. The conduct of the Huguenot leaders in the early part of Elizabeth's reign ' had prevented any effectual assis- tance being given to them by her, even when the massacre of St. Bartholomew [a.d. 1572] made them an object of pitv in all Protestant States. "^ With brief intermis- ■ .Li, • 1 I, i iT, . " § 28, p. 365. sions the war was carried on between the successive kings, Charles the Ninth and Henry the Third (with the Guises and other heads of the Catholic League), and the Huguenots headed by a prince of the blood, Henry of Bourbon. In 1589 Henry the Tliird was assassinated, and Bourbon became king as Henry the Fourth. To Mm succor was freely sent, and English troops, com- 374 HISTORY OP BNGLAjSTD. [Book VI. The Edict of Nantes. Spaniards assail England. Tlieir Influence in Ii-eLmd. manded by the Earl of Essex, Lord Willougliby, and Sir John Norris, took a very active part in the war. But Henry the Fourth found his Protestantism an insuperable objection with the great bulk of his subjects, and he therefore became a Komanist, by which he at last secured his throne. He, however, granted free- dom of worship to his old associates, and also put into theii- hands several strong towns, thus making in reality another king- dom within his realm. This arrangement is known in history as the Edict of Nantes, issued on the 13th of April, 1598. He also made peace with the Spaniards, by whom the Leaguers had been sujjportcd, and thus England was again in danger of invasion. § 49. The Spaniards had borne the destruction of their Armada very uneasily, and it needed all the vigilance and skill of the Eng- lish commanders to foil their projects. They managed to send men and money into Ireland, where the Roman Catholics were fiercely persecuted, and English authority was for a while reduced to a very low ebb. They landed in Cornwall and burnt the town of Penzance in the year 1595, and in 1603 a fleet of Spanish galleys ranged the English Channel for a while, until encountered and de- stroyed by Sir Robert Mansel. They also captured Calais in 1596 ; but in the same year their own city of Cadiz was taken by the English and Dutch, and an attempt was soon afterward made by tlie former on the islands known as the Azores, in the North Atlantic Ocean. This last attack failed; the Spanish treasure-fleet » 8 47, p. 87,3. escaped, and Essex and Raleigh," the commanders, b s "6 849 quarrelled so fiercely over the miscarriage that they were enemies ever after. Philip of Spain'' died m 1598 ; but his son, Philip the Third, inherited his projects and much of his disposition, and caused great alarm by announcing an invasion of England as the first step that he would take. The Earl of Nottingham (the Lord Howard of Efiingham who had foiled the Armada) " was made " lieutenant-general of the kingdom by sea and by land," and he took his measures so well that the scheme was abandoned. § 50. It was seen that the Spaniards still possessed a very dan- gerous influence in Ireland, where, through their sujiport, one cliief especially, known as the O'Neil,' had headed an insurrection and 1 This was Hugh, son of the Baron of Duncannon, whom the queen had made Earl of Tyrone, and who hud exalted himself to be the O'Neil and rightful Irish sovereign of Ulster. Chapter V.] THE TUDORS. 375 ■EsseX' sent to Ireland. He fails. He is ovorfchrown by CeciL foiled several English commanders. He assumed the state of an independent prince, though he bore the title of Earl of Tyrone, •which had been conferred on a former O'lSTeil when Hemy the Eighth assumed the style of king, instead of Lord of a S 2 p 154 Ireland." Essex,'' who was always covetous of aij- 1 1 -u- . ^. ■ t. " § 47, p. 3T,3. plause, was, at his own request, sent against O'Neil, but only achieved his own ruin. The great minister, Bur- leigh, was now dead, and his place in the queen's councils was aspired to by his younger son, Robert Cecil, much to the indigna- tion of Essex, who claimed to bear rule wherever he appeared, whether in the court or the camp. § 51. The queen was now growing old, and the question as to who was to succeed her employed the active wits of all her cour- tiers. Both Essex and Cecil, therefore, entered separately into secret communications with James Stuart of Scotland, the son .of the beheaded Maiy." But the hasty, impetuous Essex was no match for the crafty Cecil, now the queen's favorite. He apparently discovered this, for after wasting his time in fruitless marclies after the O'lSTeil, and then holding a suspicious secret inteiTiew with him [Sept. 5, 1599], he threw up his command and hurried back to England without permission, and forced himself into the queen's presence, saying that he de- sired to justify himself from the calumnies of his enemies, Cecil and Raleigh. But he had reckoned wrongly on the queen's affec- tion. He was committed to custody for a while, and was after- wards, when released [Aug., 1600], foi-bidden to approacjx the court. He had always been a popular favorite, but he now applied himself .more than ever to gain the good- will of all. The discon- tented of all classes flocked to him, and at last, some eighteen months after his return from Ireland, he attempted to raise an in- surrection. What was his object in tliis, beyond driving his oppo- nents from the court, is uncertain ; but the attempt utterly failed, and he was now helpless in the hands of his enemies. He was tried and found guilty of high treason, and was executed on the 25th of February, 1601. This act was greatly resented by the populace in London, who attempted to mm'der the executioner on his way home. § 53. The queen lived but two years after the tragical end of the ambitious Essex. She had long carried on a friendly coitc- spondence with James of Scotland; had often supplied him with 370 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. The Qooen and her Successor. Her Death. James of Scotland proclaimed King. money, and at last she settled a yearly pension on him ; but she would never make any formal declaration of accepting him as her successor. Her courtiers, however, eagerly contended for his favor as theii- future king. She gained a knowledge of this, and it disquieted her extremely. She said that talking of her successor was pinning her shroud round her face. At last, early in the year 1C03 she became seriously ill, and as she obstinately refused the aid of medicine, she grew rapidly worse, and her death was hourly expected. Even then she hesitated, and to the direct question that her councillors were obliged to put, would only reply, ""Who should succeed me but a king ? " Wliile the queen was dying, a mounted horseman. Sir Robert Carey, loitered in the courtyard of the palace at Richmond ; and when, at two in the morning of the 24th of March, 1603, a light placed by agreement in a certain win- dow was extinguished, he knew that the queen was dead. It was even so. She expired in a stupor, without any apparent pain, after having intimated, in a negative expression, her desire that James the Sixth of Scotland should be her successor. She was then in the seventieth year of her age, and the fifty-fifth of her reign. § 53. Immediately on the death of the queen Sir Robert Cai'cy galloped off, and though he met with an accident by the way, he reached Edinburgh late at night on the 37th March [1608], and saluted James as ^ang of England. A messenger sent by Arch- bishop Whitgift, the Primate," speedily followed, « § 32, p. 366. ° 1 r J ' and the prelate was gratified by the assurance that the church might rely on the protection of the new king. James in the mean time had been proclaimed in every town in England, his correspondent Cecil reading the proclamation in London, and every one aijpearing to acquiesce and rejoice in the peace- able settlement of the succession. § 54. As the ruler in whoso time the Refomiatiou was consid- ered as accomplished in England, Elizabeth has received more praise from some, and more blame from others, than she really de- served. As in the case of her sister Mary, she probably had little to do with the harsh mode in which her government was generally ad- ministered ; but some cases in wliioh she was pei-sonally concerned show that she was innately as proud and cruel as Henry himself. „^„ No ruler of ordinary humanity could have acted as b § 11, p. 342. ,,.,,, she did to her cousins, the sisters of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey.'' Mary Qugen of Scots was, no doubt, the vie- CllAPTETl VI.] THE TUDORS. 377 Elizabeth's Chamcter and Reign. The Reformation isartiaUy carried out. tim of political views as -well as of personal jealousy and offended, vanity ; but no such excuse can be offered in the cases of Catherine and Mary Grey, who both died in misery after years of imjjrison- ment, merely because they had ventured to marry without first ob- taining her permission. § 55. Two large classes of Elizabeth's subjects also were made to feel that she could bear heavily on all who presumed to think for themselves. These were the non-conformists or Puritans," and the Roman Catholics. She seems to have entertained an absolute peraonal dislike of the foi'mer. She took care to have them excluded from several general pardons which she issued ; and one most severe act, passed in the year 1593, " to restrain the queen's subjects in obedience," was especially directed against them. Under its provisions the Puritans Barrow, Green- wood, Pejiry, and others were executed. The quarrel with the Ro- manists was more that of her ministers, and was originally politi- cal rather than religious ; for though she was easily persuaded to sanction whatever severe measui'cs the elder Cecil and others proposed, she always had Romanists in high office at court. And in her own chapel she retained many of the ceremonies of the old religion, to the deep offence of the Puritans. They regarded the Reformation as but half earned out in her reign, and they looked for its completion to her successor, but they were disappointed. CHAPTER VI. SOCnSTV lit THE TIME OF THE TtJDORS. § 1. So much has been necessarily mentioned in our record of the civil and military transactions of the period of the Tudor dy- nasty, from the accession of Henry the Seventh ^ to the •^ i>§l, p. 295. death of Elizabeth (a space of one hundred and eighteen years), concerning the changes in England in religious opinions, and of persecutions because of difference in such opi- nions, that very little remains to be noted relative to the religious aspect of the realm during that eventful age. It was a period of wonderful events in the world's history — a period of the great 378 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VL An Eventful Period. Protestants. Eeligious Controversies. Intolerance. Schism, as the Roman Catholics call it — of the great Reformation, as the Protestants call it, in Germany, which spread to other countries within the bounds of Christendom. It was the period, too, when the printmg-press appeared as a new and marvellous power among men, and with wonderful might grappled in tre- mendous conflict with kingcraft and priestcraft, while it also at tunes became their powerful auxiliary. § 3. At the Diet of Spii-es, called by Charles the Fifth, Emperor of G-emiany, in 1529, a decree was passed to support the doc- trines of the Church of Rome against schismatics like • I 33 p. 317 Luther." Six German piinces protested against the decree, and tliey, and all who left the Church of Rome were from that time called Protestants. They declared in that protest the inalienable right of every man to the exercise of private judg- ment in religious matters, and the freedom of conscience from priestly and magisterial interference. That was the fruitful seed which took root in England, as well as on the Continent, centuries after WicklifEe ^ had prepared the soil. And when the vile Henry the Eighth, for lustful purposes, ended the supremacy of the Church of Rome in his dominions, and vir- tually declared himself to be pontiff as well as king,= the rapid growth of that seed was a logical result of the action at Spires. § 3. Controversies everywhere watered the Protestant seed, and persecution gave strength to the vigorous roots, from which sprang Puritanism,'' and its stm'dy antagonist, the Angli- can Chm'ch. Both struggled for supremacy through the whole of Elizabeth's reign, and fiercer still in that of her suc- cessora. The actors in those great struggles, in which the Romon Catholics also bore a conspicuous part, were generally cruel Christians, and the one who held the power for the moment was - the persecutor. Bigotry, superstition, and passion, instead of enlightenment, reason, and calm judgment, were generally their guides. Toleration was almost unknown. Brate force, stronger than argument, was generally employed by all parties. Eines, imprisonment, the gibbet and the axe were the penalties inflicted, by whichever party was in power, for non-conformity to religious ritual and boUef. § 4. During the dynasty of the Tudors there were important changes in the government and laws of the realm. At the acces- CrcAPTEK VI.] THE TTJDOES. 379 Constitutional Monarchy foreshadowed. Wickedness of the Eing. aion of Henry the Seventh," the once formidable power of the feudal aristocracy "" had disappeared. Statutes were enacted " § 1 p 395 which limited the power and rosti-ained the rapa- , b § 4, p. 96. city of the nobles. At the same time the royal pre- rogative was somewhat abridged, and a shadowy precursor of constitutional monarchy appeared in fact as well as in name. Yet the kingly functions might be and were used for the exercise of the most tyrannical and oppressive measures under the solemn forms of law. And the king and his council, chosen by himself, sitting as a high criminal court, as in the Star-chamber," con- -, " § 5, p. 296. stituted, when occasion called, the' most terrible des- potism. It was systematic, and was more to be dreaded than the mde despotism of the less enlightened ages in English history. English liberty, as it is now defined, was largely theoretical until the death of Elizabeth, and some time afterward. The people had not yet appeared as a power in the State. § 5. In the reign of Henry the Eighth the royal prerogative reached its height. That bad man, with a parliariient always obsequious and cowardly and base, established a reign of terror more dreadful than that of the French Revolution. He caused to be created so great a number of treasons that no man could feel that his life and property were safe for an hour ; in fact, the lives of the people were entirely in the hands of the crown. Every action and word of a subject that might be construed to affect the royal dignity was deiined as treason. New oaths were introduced, and the most ingenious methods for creating guilt were devised. The king became as absolute in authority as any of the Caesars, and he wielded an atrocious tyranny that has no parallel in history, excepting in the wild and inhuman caprices of a crazy Caligula.* " One wonders," says a late English writer, " in reading of these things, » . p- • that human beings, with the most moderate portion of sagacity and courage, could have endured such a state of existence, and should not have preferred to it the chances and dangers of insur- rection. For insurrection, however, it seems this was not the time. The spirit and power of the higher nobility were broken ; those of the people, or rather of the lower nobility or gentry, and of the middle class or yeomen, the really solid men of England (for the people were not destined to come upon the scene till long after this date), had not yet arisen." 380 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Divine right of Kings, Legislation in three Eeigns, § 6. And now the preposterous claim of the divine right of kings to rule, so paraded by the Stuarts afterward, was fore- shadowed in a statute giving to the king and his councD. power to act independently of all laws, in emergencies, by vii-tue of the monarch's "royal power given by God," as the act expressed it. With that assumption of divme appointment and inspiration, Henry practically said to his people, as Louis the Fourteenth did to the Parliament of Paris, "L'etat! c'est moi!" — The State ! I am the State. It gave him a warrant for denying and defying the papal power, and expelling it from liis dominions, under the dictates of his passions," whereby his wickedness wrought incalculable blessings for his people. Thus was opened a way for the exercise of the right of free thought in religious and political matters, which the German Reformers declared to be every man's birth-right, which led the English people surely though slowly out of the terrible bondage of king- craft and priestcraft to civil and religious Uberty. § 7. The principal legislative acts of the short reign of the boy-king, Edward the Sixth, ■■ were those relatiusr b g 1 p_ 32i)_ .1 o' ' a to the state religion, for it was a time of violent controversy on that subject — a time of preparation for a transi- tion from the rule of Romanism to that of Pro- « § 1, F- 338. d 81 qt; testantism. Those of Mary," the first queen regnant of the line of the Conqueror,'' looked to the resto- ration of the power of the Romish Church in her realm. Acts were passed annulling all additions to the law of treason wliich Henry had made," and for enacting some new ones. ,„/ „ „ The first work done on the accession of Elizabeth f ' § 1, p. 352, was the establishment of the Reformation upon the same footing where the death of her brother Edward left it. By statute, the supremacy over the church was as fully given to the new queen as to her father,^ by which she might exercise absolute spiritual control as a pontiff in her realm, through persons appointed for that purpose. This 'SO 364 '^^^ *^^ origin of the Court of High Commission,'' one of the most dangerous weapons ever placed in the hands of a monarch. It was intended to be an instru- ment for crushing the power of the Romish hierarchy, but it became, in the hands of such men as Laud, in Charles the First's time, a sharp and powerful iusti-ument of religious and Chapter VI.] THE TUDORS. 381 The Thirty-nine Arttdes. National Industry. Foreign Trade. political tyranny. This court and the Star-chamber » constituted two engines of arbitrary power, wielding the rack, the torture, and the prison, wliich, perhaps, were never ' ' ' surpassed by any contrivance of government to keep the people in continued awe of the sovereign authority lodged in the King and the Primate of the church. § 8. It was this court which set forth [1571] in present fonn the TJiirty-nine Articles of Meligion (compiled from a body of divinity arranged in Edward the Sixth's time), which have ever since formed the creed of the Anglican and American Protestant Episcopal Churches, and their rule of faith and jKactice. The Church of England has ever maintained, as sti'enuously as the Bomish chm-ch, that the Holy Scriptures shall be received, not as any individual may interpret it for iimself , but as it is expounded in the Articles and other prescribed formularies. Until a very late period, pains and penalties have impended over those who refused to subscribe to those Articles. § 9. The national industry of England, during the rule of the Tudors, experienced great revolutions and remarkable increase and expansion, in spite of the unwise legislative restrictions imposed upon commerce and manufactures. Political and personal con- siderations also seriously interfered with trade at times, such as the expulsion of all the Flemings'' from Eng- land in 1493, because the Duchess dowager of Bm-- ' gundy encouraged Perkin Warbeck." At that time ' the mei-chants of London wielded vast power and wealth by associated efforts. They formed a league for mutual benefit, which was incorporated in 1505 under the title of " The Merchant Adventurers of England," whose operations were as extensive as the area of British commerce. The spiiit of adventure was then rife in England and on the Continent, and Western Europe was contending with Italy for the coveted commerce of the East. It was in the reign of Henry the Seventh that the Cape of G-ood Hope was passed, and America was discovered '' in the search for an ocean passage to India. ' § 10. The increase of the foreign trade of the country from that time, and the wealth of the people, which commanded every luxury, was marvellous. It was not unusual, in the early part of Henry the Eighth's reign," for a single ' ship to enter an English port with three to foui; thousand pieces of 383 HISTOET OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Commovoe. Ship-buiWing. JSTatioual Industry. cloth of gold, and silver, velvets, satins, silks, and other rich stnfps, At about the same time tlie Merchant Adventurers » ' ■ of England shipped for Flanders no less than forty thousand pieces of the plain substantial cloths of English manufac- ture. The commerce of the kingdom was carried on almost ex- clusively by foreigners settled there. But English na-sagatore were usually the carriers of the merchandise, and then- ships were seen moored upon the coasts of the four quarter's of the globe. So early as 1530, Captain "William Hawkins, father of the ' admiral,' traded on the coasts of Brazil and Guinea. § 11. Ship-buildmg was carried on extensively, and so skiKuUy, too, that English sliipwiights were sought after in other countries. Early m his reign, Henry the Eighth caused a very large war-ship, the Gfeat Harry, to be built, which, with another, the Regent, of a, thousand tons burden, constructed at Woolwich, in 1513, may be considered as tlie beginning of the royal navy of England. Henry also encouraged the merchant marine, by which his indi- vidual wealth was increased. § 1 3. Early in Elizabeth's reign, enlightened legislation gave a new impulse to the national industry. Most of the iniwise restric- tions upon commerce and manufactm'es were removed, and a sys- tem of comparative free-trade was introduced, which caused an immense and immediate increase in the wealth and power of the kingdom. In one year after these restrictions were removed, the English exported, to the Netherlands alone, wool and cloth to the value of £2,400,000, or |13,000,000, to the great benefit of both countries. Antwerp received the most of these goods, and distributed them over Europe. In that queen's reign, the New- foundland fisheries on the American coast became an important part of the national industry ; and direct trade was opened with the East Indies. The London merchants became very wealthy and powerful; and one of them (Sir Thomas Gresham) buUt [1566] the magnificent Royal Exchange for the use of the merchants' guild. Navigators were much of the time abroad on voyages of discovery, and for the extension of the area of English commerce ; and toward the close of Elizabeth's reign the beginning of Eng- land's colonial system was seen in eiforts such as those of o^^ Raleigh " to plant settlements in distant parts of the § 6% p. db7. earth. § 13. The manufactures of the Tudor ago did not vary much Chapter VI.] THE TUDORS. 3S3 Manufactures. Agriculture. Farmers and their Wives. m kind from those of the preceding period, but in all departments there was gx-eater skill observed. The workers in iron and other metals had become numerous, and many improvements had been made in the method of tanning leather. The manufacture of cloth had spread from London, and was carried on extensively in other cities. Silk was also manufactured, the workmen being chiefly French Huguenots who were driven out of Prance by persecution." The manufacture of pins was introduced from France in the reign of Henry the Eighth. The iirst worn in England was by his queen, Catherine Howard.'' S i p- § 14. Agriculture in England was vastly improved, during this period, in the extent and production of tillage. It was done by free labor. The villein class = had disappeared. The yeomanry ''lived in better houses than foiTaerly. They ' . were usually of the kind known to the American pio- ' ' ' neer as log houses, with walls of wattle and plaster, but not always ha\'ing chimneys. The farmer slept on a straw pallet, or a flock mattress, with a bolster filled with chaff. His servants slept on straw. All dined off wooden trenchers, and ate their pottage with wooden spoons. The most substantial yeoman seldom had more than five or six shillings in his pocket. § 15. Farm-servants and the poorer classes ate bread made of barley and rye, and sometimes of beans, peas, and oats, often mixed together. Only the gentry could afford wheaten bread the year round. § 16. The housewife was a pattern of industry, or rather a pat- tei'n slave. She spun and wove, of wool and flax, the clothing worn upon the- farm ; and it was her duty, according to a writer of the time, to " winnow all manner of corn, to make malt, to wash, and to make hay, shear corn, and in time of need help her husband fill the miiok-wain or dung-cart, diive the plough, to load hay, corn, and such other, and to go to market and sell butter and pigs, fowls, or com." And yet, with all the industry of men, women, and children, and the exercise of the greatest frugality, it was found difficult, in the early part of the Tudor period, for the farmer to pay the rent,for his land and tenement without selling a cow, for ha and his servants who sat at his table consumed nearly all that the land produced. §17. But there was a gradual improvement in the condition of the iixral population, notmthstanding rents in the time of Ilcni'y 384- HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Condition of the People. Horticulture. Luxurious Furniture. the Eighth and his cliildren's reign had doubled. Implements ■were better, and tillage was far more productive.. The farmer had an abundance of food generally, and he -vvas fond of entertaining. The materials for good cheer may be found in the following lines by Tusser : — " Good bread and good drink, a good fire in the hall ; Brawn, pudding, and sauce, and good mustard withal ; Beef, mutton, and pork, shred pies of the best; Pig, Teal, goose, and capon, and turkey well drest ; Cheese, apples, and nuts, jolly carols to bear. As these in the countiy is counted good cheer." § 18. The farmers had better houses. The wooden dishes were superseded by pewter ones, and feather-beds made repose easier. Eotation of crops made tillage more productive. In the reign of Elizabeth, clover was introduced from the Netherlands, and in- creased the capacity of the land to feed cattle and sheep. Ewes were milked, and five of them were considered equal to a cow in value. Gardens began to be cultivated in this period, and the hop was introduced from the Netherlands in 1524. From thence, also, came salads, cabbages, gooseberries, apricots, and the muskmelon, all of which increased the comfoits of the people. Pijjpins were introduced from the same country in 1525; cherries, from France, in 1540 ; and currants, from Zante, in 1555. Almost a g go y, 820. fifty years earlier, Thomas Cromwell" introduced ' § 31, p. 123. plums from Italy. The Flemings ' brought the rose and other fragrant plants. § 1 9. Wealth fostered and gratified a growing taste for luxury at court and among the nobility and gentry. Dwellings, furni- ture, and dress felt the influence. The furniture was carved and inlaid with greater extravagance and elegance in Queen Eliza- beth's time than ever before. Chairs were cushioned with velvet coverings, and beds and bedsteads were made of the costliest stuffs and elegant workmanship. Glass muTors, imported from France, were introduced early in Elizabeth's reign. Ornamental clocks were found in many houses. One may yet be seen in Hampton Court bearing the date of 1540. Cai-pets for floors were introduced from the East at the same period, and were soon made by English weavers. Turkey carpets are mentioned in the time of Edward the Sixth," but they were then used for table coverings. Until some time in Elizabeth's reign the floors of palaces -were covered with rushes and matting. CnAPTBU VI.] THE TUDORS. 385 Dress and Fashions of the Wealthy. Knives were first made in England in 1563, and forks at the dinner-table were yet unknown at the time of the death of Elizabeth. § 20. The costume of both sexes, during the Tudor age, did not vary much in general form, only in minor details. The mascu- line costume was most effeminate in the time of Henry the Seventh." It consisted of a fine shirt of long lawn, with silk-embroidered collar and wristbands ; a ° doublet, the sleeves of which were sometimes composed of two pieces each, fastened at the shoulder and the elbow with laces or ■ points, thi-ough which the shirt protruded ; and sometimes only slashed at the elbows. To this were added a stomacher, over which the doublet was laced, and petticoat ; a long coat or gown, with hanging sleeves, and broad turn-over collars of velvet or fur; long stockings with two or more colors, and broad-toed shoes or slippers. Velvet or felt caps, with feathers, were wora. The feminine costume was generally graceful. Slashings were fashion- able. The laced stomacher was a prominent feature. The hair full negligently down the back; and high head-dresses were seldom seen. § 21. In the time of Henry the Eighth the fashions were more extravagant, and they were extremely so in the reign of Elizabeth. In Mary's reign ° they were less so. But the mate- b 8 1 T> 338 rials used in the dress of both sexes were of the rich- est kind ; and as the " common people " imitated the nobility as far as possible, sumptuary laws were promulgated in 1543. Crim- son or blue velvet, embroidered with sUk and gold, and the richest damask silks, were worn. § 23. The hair of men was cut short in Henry the Eighth's time, by his orders, while beards and moustaches were allowed to grow long. The hats and caps of the men and the women were parti- cularly extravagant, yet often elegant and picturesque. The hair of the women was " curled, frizzled, and crisped." False hair was much worn. Queen Elizabeth wore such in the sixty-seventh year of her age, sometimes red, as her own was originally, and sometimes of other hues. Stockings of knit silk and worsted were first made in England in her reign. Jeweliy of every description was worn to excess ; and perfumed gloves, bordered with silver and gold, were fashionable. § 23. Court pastimes now assumed a character between the 17 386 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VI. Pastimes of the CoHrt and People. Festivals. Keflnement of tlie Table. masque and the pantomime, and were often conducted with mag- nificence in dresses and accessories. Music and dancing formed a large share of the sport. The English drama had its rise at this period, the mummeries of the Mysteries " having been ' ' ' succeeded by a better style of perfonnance known as the Moralities, in which the dialogues were carried on chiefly by allegorical personages. And plays, down to the time of Shake- speare, at the close of the sixteenth century, continued to blend the shadows of allegory with real life. Shakespeare and his co- temporaries introduced the drama much as we have it in oiir day, but without the effective accessories of the present time. § 24. The great mass of the people were still content with their simple pastimes, already described,' to which may be added bull and bear baiting and cock-fighting — cruel and ferocious sports — ^in Elizabeth's reign, and horse-racing as a regular systematic amusement. Even the Puritans indulged in the latter sport. Backgammon was now introduced as an in- door sport, and chess and cards held their places as favorites. § 25. Christmas and other festivals were indulged in by all classes of the people. The processions, when bringing in the Christmas-log or May-pole, were jolly affaii-s for both sexes ; and around the plough on Plough-Monday (early in January) the country people had many dances. So, too, had the milkmaids on May-day ; and the festival of Si. Valentine, in February, was a fi'uitful season of love-making leading to marriage. § 26. The huge joints of salted beef, platters of wood and pew- ter, and the swarms of jesters, tumblers, and haipers, seen around the tables of the rich in earlier times, disappeared after the Tudora came into power, and the more delicate entertainments of the French, similar to the customs of our day, prevailed. Wines, fruits, and confectioneries abounded. Guests washed before din- ing, and used perfumes furnished by the host. The hat was gen- erally worn at the table. What the guests left was given to the waitera and servants, and what was then left was distributed to the poor who waited withouf the gate. J 37. During the greater portion of the Tudor rule, learning was depressed rather than encoui-aged in England. Nobles and clergy were ignorant; and it was not until late in Elizabeth's reign that the schools and the literature of England assumed a commanding attitude. These brilliant exceptions, such as Spen- Chaptbk'ti.] the tudors. 387 Literature, Science, and Art, ser, and Shakespeare and his literary cotemporaries, hare caused her reign to be called the literary age of England ; but it is cer- tain that learning was not generally diffused, even among the higher classes, and among the poor scarcely at all. Not one in ten of the gentry could write his or her own name. The father of Shakespeare, an aldennan of Stratford, could only make his mark indifferently. There were poets of eminence late in the sixteenth centuiy ; but the chief glory of what is commonly called the "Elizabethan age of English poetry" properly belongs to the commencement of the reign of her successor, when the produc- tions of the great dramatist and others bloomed out in greatest beauty and splendor. § 28. The fine arts made but little progress in England duiing the time^of the Tudors. The Gothic style in ecclesiastical arcM- tectm-e, which excessive ornamentation had demoralized on the Continent, showed signs of decay in'England at the close of the fifteenth century, and after the Eeformation unmixed Gothic fell into disuse. Palatial architecture, known as the Tudor style — a combination of the house and castle ' — ^prevailed ; the beat expression of which was given in the Richmond palace, built by Henry the Seventh at the close of the fifteenth century.' Henry the Eighth had a real taste for art, ■' ° b § 29, p. 307. and encouraged it by the erection of fine buildings himself, and in inducing his nobles to do likewise. Really splen- did edifices arose in various parts of the kingdom, which command admiration. He also tried to induce eminent artists to come to England from the Continent; but only the names of Holbein, the Swiss painter, and Torregiano, the Florentine sculptor, appear eminent in England during his reign. Henry formed a collection of paintings, the first attempt of the kind made in England. But his children did not inherit his taste. § 39;rThe only native painter of eminence of the Tudor times was Nicolas HUliard, an excellent miniature painter, to whom Queen Elizabeth sat several times. She encouraged ait only as it subserved her vanity. BOOK YIL THE STUAHTS. [FnoM 1603 TO A.D. 1649.] CHAPTER L EEiGN OF Jambs the Fibst. [a.d. 1603 to 1625.] § 1. Jambs the Sixth of Scotlancl, the only son of Mary Queen of Scots," had been nominally a kinar ever since he was ' ' a year old, and at the time of his mounting the ttoone of England he was thirty-seven years of age. His uncle, Mur- ray,'' his grandfather, Lennox,'! and a more distant kins- >» § 17, p. -S60. J ' ta ' ' „.„ man, Morton, in turn, held the dangerous post of <= § 18, p. odO. ^ regent, and all came to violent ends. Mm-ray and Lennox were assassinated, and Morton was executed for the murder of Damley.'' That was in 1.581, when the young king had reached his fifteenth year, and had* chosen Esme and James Stuart, to whom he gave the titles of Duke of Lennox and Earl of Arran, for his favorites ; but the next year saw him for a while a captive in the hands of the Eaii of Gowiie, and his favorites in exile. He was soon set at liberty, and Gowrie pardoned ; but only to be executed as soon as James was sufficiently strong to venture on tlie step, in the year 1584. § 2. The rest of James's reign in Scotland was passed in a kind of tutelage, sometimes to one party, sometimes to another ; for all the chief men of the kingdom appear to have been tlie "feed men," as it was termed, of either Elizabetli » or of ' ' ' .„' Philip of Spain,' and many clearly received bribes from both. Such being the case, James eitlier took little heed of the execution of his mother,? or he was betrayed by his ambassadors. He certainly did not suffer it to break off his intercourse with Elizabeth, who, as her letters remain to show, sometimes advised, sometimes scolded him, as if he was Chapter I.] . THE STUARTS. 3S9 King James opposed to War. Aa*abeUa Stuart. Plots against the Government. het subject ; but through all kept him in dependence on her for a yearly pension, which she made less or greater, according as he took or neglected her advice. § 3. But James was too politic to depend upon her good- will only. Though strongly urged by her, he never would openly quar- rel with the Spanish king, or the Pope, or even his own Catholic subjects, though, to please her, he sometimes spoke of them as his " Spaniolized rebels." In spite of her remonstrances, he listened favorably to the complaints of her Roman Catholic and Puritan subjects," and therefore, when he came to the English throne, on the death of Elizabeth [March 24, 1603], ' ^ ' "' each party considered him pledged to them to. mitigate the rigor of the laws under which they had so long suffered. § 4. These expectations were entirely disappointed ; and James had hardly reached London [May 1], where he and his queen, Anne of Denmark, were crovnied on the 35th of July, he as James the First, before a plot was formed to place his cousin, Arabella Stuart, on the throne. She was daughter of a younger brother of Darnley, James's father.'' Tlie deviser of this was Sir . i> § 18, p. 300. "Walter Raleigh, who, as we have seen, was a man of much consequence in the time of Elizabeth, but was burdened vnth debts, and ready for any desperate measure to retrieve his . fortunes. He and Cecil had equally striven to gain the favor of James, whilst in Scotland. Cecil succeeded, but Raleigh failed, and lost his important post of captain of the royal guard. In revenge he leagued himself with Lord Cobham, the warden of the Cinque Ports ; " Lord Grey, a Puritan ; and some Romish priests and gentry, and Was promised help both in men and money by the Spanish governor of the Netherlands. The plot was discovered, and the parties were tried and sentenced to death, but only the priests and one gentleman were executed. Cob- ham, Grey, and Raleigh were sent to the Tower, where Grey died in 1614. Soon after this, Rajeigh was released, and Cobham was liberated in 1619, but died in extreme poverty shortly afterward. § 5. Another plot against James was that so familiarly known as the Gunpowder Treason. It was the work of a few fanatical Romanists, who, having been deluded by the false and specious promises of the king, determined to revenge themselves by de- stroying not only the monarch and his parliament, but even the very building in which the laws against the open profession of 390 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VII. The Gun-powder Plot. their reli^on had been passed. The project appears to have ori- ginated with Eobert Catesby, a Northamptonshii-e gentleman, and a descendant of the Catesby of the time of Richard «| 8, p. 280. ^^^ xjjjj,^-^_a He had been a Protestant, bnt had be- come a Romanist, and had suffered severely, as a recusant, in the last reign. He had taken part in Essex's insurrec- ' " tion,'' and on its failure he opened a negotiation with the Spaniards, promising to join them with a body of Ro- manists if they landed at Milford-haven. The plan had been favorably received, when the death of Elizabeth altered the poli- tics of the King of Spain, who had every desire to ally himseli with her successor. § 6. Undaunted by this failure, Catesby now resolved on the horrible Gunpowder Plot. He gained the assistance of Thomas Percy, a relative of the Earl of Northumberland, and of iive other gentlemen ; took Bates, a trusted servant, into his confi- dence, and obtained the paid service of Guy Pawkes, a needy Yorkshire gentleman in the Spanish army. By the personal labor of these confederates a mine under the Parliament-house was attempted, but before it was completed they were able to hire an adjoining cellar, and in tliis they stored twenty barrels of gun- powder. Catesby had liitherto borne most of the expense of the enterprise, and his funds were now exhausted. He therefore com- municated his scheme to Sir Everard Digby and three other gentlemen of fortune, the whole party taking an oath of secrecy at the hands of Henry Garnet, a Jesuit, and promising never to desist from their barbarous enterprise. § 7. The meeting of the parliament had been fixed for Feb- ruary, 1605 ; but, owing to some cause not now known, it was deferred until the following November. At iirst the plotters were greatly disturbed at this, and they had reason-, for their scheme was known to Sir Robert Cecil," now created Earl of Salisbury, and holding the office of prime minister to James, as his father had to Elizabeth." He, how- ever, left them in false security, and forbore to interfere with them until the end of October, 1605, when a letter was delivered to Lord Monteagle, a Romish nobleman, and brother-in-law to Francis Tresham, one of the conspirators, warning him not to attend the parliament on the 5th of the following month. A gimJlar notice was probably given to the Earl of Northumberland, Chapter I.l ' THE STUARTS. 391 Fate of the Conspirators. and the Lords Montague, Mordaunt, and Stourton, all Romanists, as they did not quit their country houses to attend the parliament. On this suspicion they were all heavily fined, and Northumber- land was imprisoned for many years. § 8. The letter was submitted to the king, who professed at once to discover from its wording that an explosion of gun- powder was meant. Search was accordingly made, and Fawkes, who passed as John Johnson, a servant, was seized in the vault, prepared to fire the train at the proper moment, for which pur- pose his employers had left him behind, whilst they rode into Warwickshire to raise an insurrectioh there. They intended to seize the Piinoess Elizabeth, daughter of the king, a girl of ten years old, who resided with Lord Harrington in that county, make her their nominal queen, appoint a regent, and, as they hoped, re-establish Romanism by the help of Spain. § 9. On the seizure of Fawkes the conspirators were quickly followed (only three more Romanists joining them), and were hunted to Holbeach House, in Worcestershire, where, after a fierce resistance, they were all either killed or captured. Fawkes was tortured on the rack ; but, though he avovjed and gloried in his O'wn share in the plot, nothing could make him accuse others. Their guilt, however, seemed too manifest to admit of doubt, and, except Francis Tresham, who died in prison before he could be tried, and two Jesuits who escaped, all the rest sufEered as traitors. This homble project occasioned the passing of several new statutes, which made the condition of the Bomauists much worse than before ; but, as in the time of Elizabeth, the laws were seldom enforced against those who could afford to bribe the courtiers. Even James's queen did not disdain to sell her pro- tection, which exposed both herself and her husband to the sus- picion of not beinsr so entirely Protestant as the i, ., -, . ■■ iSll, p. 357. Puritans ' desired. § 10. This suspicion had much influence on the rest of James's reign, though it appears not to have had any real foundation. But the Puritans had now the ascendency in the parliament, and they showed that they would not submit to the treatment that they had endured in the last reign. They at first regarded .James as a friend, and some of them met him on his way to London, with what they styled their Millenary Petition, — a petition signed by a thousand ministers, "all groaning imder a common burden of 392 HIST.OEY OF ENGLAND. [Book VII. The Puritans complain. Settlements in America. Religious matters. tuman rites and ceremonies." It was filled with complaints against the church, and in consequence, a conference was soon after held at Hampton Court, before the king, when the bishops replied so much to his satisfaction that he at once declared the Puritan grievances to be imaginary. Acting on his own experience of the independence of the presbyteries in Scotland, he declared Tery truly that "no bishop" meant also "no king." He had sagacity to perceive that ideas of civil liberty were intimately coimected with those of religious liberty. "A Scotch presbytery," he said, " agreeth with the monarchy as God with the devU." Henceforth he entirely relied upon the loyalty of the English church, and so much did it commend itself to him, that he some years afterward [1617] succeeded m re-establishing episcopal gov- ernment in his native country. § 11. At about this time a successful attempt was made to plant an English colony in America. The English then claimed, by right of discovery, a belt across the continent, extending in width from the Cape Fear, in North Carolina, to Nova Scotia. This was Elizabeth's Vikginia."- It was divided into ' ' ' North and South Virginia. The northern portion was granted to an association of "West England men, called the Plymouth Company, and the southern portion was gi'anted to resi- dents chiefly of London, and was called the London Company. The latter sent out a company of emigrants near the close of 1606. They sailed up the Powhatan River in April, 1607, and on its banks began the construction of a village. This was called Jamestown, in honor of the king, and the noble stream was called the James River. There, after great trials, a permanent settlement was made and the Virginia colony was established. § 12. Archbishop Whitgift died very shortly after the Hampton Court conference, and was succeeded by Bancroft, Bishop of Lon- don, who followed his predecessor's policy of restraining the Puri- tans. Bancroft was succeeded in 1610 by Abbot, a man who favored them, and at the same time rendered the church unpopu- lar by his harsh dealing with causes in the High Commission „_, Court.'' In 1621, Abbot had the misfortune to kill a ' § 6, p. 364. man. by accident whilst hunting, and though the king readily pardoned him, declaring that " an angel might have mis- carried in such sort," he was in reality suspended fi-om office, as William Laud and other clergymen (of whom we shall hear .more Chapter I.] THE STXJARTS. 393 The Dutch exasperated. The British Flag dishonored. in the next reign), who hated him because he was tolerant to the Pmitans, absolutely refused to receive consecration from " hands soiled with blood.',' § 13. James had always, whilst King only of Scotland, refused to quarrel with Spain, and one of liis earliest cares was to establish a peace between that country and England. He had no liking for the Dutch, considering successful republicans " an ill example for a monarch to cherish," and when they declined to lay down their arms at his desire he made peace without them. They complained loudly and justly of being deserted, and were henceforward his bitter enemies. The English sailors who served with them were recalled. Finding little employment at home, many of them be- came pirates, and joining with Moors and Algerines, they did great damage along the English and Irish coasts. § 14. The Dutch made a peace with the Spaniards in 1609, and then at once commenced a privateering warfare with England. They endeavored to deprive the English alike of the East India trade and of the northern whale fishery, never scrupling to use force whenever they found themselves the strongest. At the same time they themselves fished on the English coasts without license, and terribly offended the old sea-captains of Elizabeth's reign by refusing to salute the king's ships when met with in the narrow seas. This "honor of the flag," as it was termed, had been the constant usage of all foreign nations for at least 300 years, and James became unpopular for not at once making it a cause of war. He, however, bore for his motto "Beati pacifici" (Blessed are the peacemakers), and until near the close of his reign his only wars were with the House of Commons, which were angi-y enough in words, but of which the full significance only appeared in the time of his successor. § 15. The first of these quarrels occurred in the year 1610, and it arose on a question of money. The king made his eldest son, Henry, a knight,' and, in accordance with the old feudal custom, he claimed a sum of money, termed an aid," from his subjects to pay the expense of the ceremony. The sum was only a little over £30,000 ; but feudal ideas had now lost 1 The king, from the moment when Y e received the news of Lis accession to the Eng- lish crown, seemed to have an almost insane passion for creating knights. He made large numbers of them while on his way to London to receive the crown, without much regard to their previous condition. 17* 394 HISTOBT OF ENGLAND. [Book VIL Coesarism advocated. The King Defied. His Divine Bight to rule. their force, and it was very unwillingly paid. To make matters worse, one Dr. Oowell just about tliis time published a book called "The Interpreter," in which he claimed absolute power for the king, and whej).the Commons complained of this, James told them that it was seditious to inquire what a king might do by virtue of his prerogative, though in law' his actions were limited. The Commons were not satisfied with this, and James could only pre- vent their prosecuting the doctor by dissolving them. Three years elapsed before they again met ; and then they soon incurred the royal displeasure by refusing to grant the king supplies of money to support his extravagance, and were dismissed [July 16, 1614] without having passed a single act, from which circumstance they were termed the Addled Parliament. But they had set the good example of refusing to grant supislies before a long list of grievances was considered. They had openly questioned many branches of the royal prerogative that had never been assailed before, and they had threatened to impeach Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, who charged them with disloyalty. § 16. The king, thus left without money, resorted to a "benevo- lence," " but this was only a temporary relief. Oliver ' ' 'St. John, a Wiltshire gentleman, not merely refused to contribute, but addressed a letter to the Mayor of Marlborough, in which he maintained that such a mode of raising money was contrary alike to law, reason, and religion. He was sent to the Tower, fined £5,000 by the Star-chamber' for " re- flecting on the king's proceedings," and ordered to be imprisoned for life, but was soon set at liberty. The Puritans, however, were not daunted by this severity. They very generally declined to pay, and taking their tone from Peachum, one of their ministers, they declared, " Silver and gold have we none, but we will pray for the king." § 17. But though the topic of the divine right of kings to rule" was so distasteful to the parliament, where the repub- lican ideas of the early Puritans had an influence as yet unavowed, both writers and preachers maintained it, and James was not backward in supporting his champions. One of these was Dr. Montagu, afterwards Bishop of Chichester (a supple in- sti-ument of the king on all, occasions), who, when charged by the Commons, in 1624, with publishing false doctrine, appealed for protection to the king, in a work whose very title "Appello Chapter I] THE STUARTS. 395 James and his Scotch Friends. Fate of Arabella Stuart. CaBsarem," bitterly ofllended the Puritans, as reviving the doctrine ■which Dr. Cowell had published many years before. " James took the same course now as then, of stopping ' all proceedings by dismissing the parliament. § 18. James, when in Scotland, was always suiTounded by crafty favorites, who easily prevailed over his naturally indolent temper, which made him but too ready to be relieved of all the cares and labors of government, though no one had higher ideas of the power and dignity of a king than he had.' These people followed him into England in such crowds, and were so lavishly rewarded with offices and honors as to give deep offence -to his English sub- jects, one of whom announced his discovery of a new "Art of Memory," as necessary for the remembering of the titles of the Scotchmen suddenly grown rich and great. Among these was Robert Carr, the younger son of a Scottish border family that had •suifered in the cause of Queen Mary, and on him James heaped every office and honor, eventually creating him Earl of Somerset; but in a few years he was con- victed of murder, and died in poverty. Carr was succeeded in the king's regard by an English favorite, George Villiers, for whom James displayed as much fondness as for his own son. Strangely enough, Villiers, who was soon created Duke of Buckingham, was equally a favorite with Prince Charles, and, by his bad example and advice, greatly conduced to his ruin. § 19. Raleigh's crajspiracy," as we have seen, had been intended to place on the throne Arabella Stuart ; but as she was believed not to have been cognizant of the plot, she retained the king's favor, though, as a Jneasure of precaution, it was resolved to prevent her marriage, lest her husband should urge her claims to the crown, which some lawyers considered better than James's. Several foreign suitors were thus dismissed; but in 1611 1 In a discourse before both Houses of Parliament, in 1610, James blasphemously compared kingship with Deityship. He told tbem that kings were justly called gods, for they exercise a resemblance of Divine power on earth. He said God could make or unmake at his pleasure, and like power was given to kings, whose subjects had no higher duty to perform than absolute obedience to the sovereign's will ; and that to the king, as to God, were due the affections of the soul and services of the body, and subjects had no right to question the judgment or the will of the monarch. These pretensions were made more ridiculous by the personal deformity and fllthiness oE James, and the meanness and unmanliness of his character as a shameless liar, a false friend, and addicted to contemptible habits and associations. 396 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VII. The Elector Palatine. . War with Spain. Baleigh beheaded. Parliament. the unhappy woman clandestinely united herself to William Sey- mour, Lord Bcauohamp, and endeavored to escape with him to the Continent. She was captured and confined in the Tower, where she died a lunatic, in September, 1615, a victim to the jealous fears of the infamous king. § 20. In November, 1612, Henry, the king's eldest son, died, and soon afterward [a.d. 1613] his daughter Elizabeth was married to Frederick the Fifth, the Elector Palatine, a German prince of small influence or capa,city, but whose proceedings had important results for England. In 1618 the Protestants of Bohemia offered the Elector their crown, which he accepted. The result was that he soon lost it, and even his paternal States ; and James found him- self, sorely against his will, forced to declare war with Spain [a.d. 1624], a power whose friendship he valued above all things, and to preserve which he had, some years before, committed a cruel act that must always bear heavily on his memory. § 21. This was the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh," who, after more than twelve years' imprisonment in the Tower, " § 30, p. 367. '^ had been set at liberty, and proceeded to Guiana, in South America, where he professed he had discovered a gold mine many years before. He did not reach the mine, but he came into conflict with the Spaniards, lost his son and many of his associates, and on his return to England was executed on his sentence passed . , „ in the year 1603.'' Raleigh was a proud, bad man, " 1 4, p. 389. "^ o 1 . I but he was universally considered as sacrificed to the king's wish to procure a Spanish piincess as the wife of his son Charles, now Prince of Wales ; and as the people in general would have preferred any other alliance to this, he was regarded as almost a martyr, § 22. The king's evident leaning to the kings of France and Spain, and his coolness to the foreign Protestants, gave great offence to the parliament, and they showed their displeasure by refusing supplies, at the same time [a.d. 1621] that they urged him to . .„ ,„„ plunge into war in support of the Elector Palatine." •5 g liUf p. qUd. James censured their proceedings as the work of "fiery, popular, and turbulent spirits," to which they replied by inserting in their journals a declaration that they had the right of discussing all subjects, in such order as they might think proper, and asserting that they were pot resjjonsible to him for their con- duct. The king sent for the book, tore out the obnoxious entry Chapter I.] THE STUARTS. 397 Legislators banished. Affairs in Ireland. New Order of Knightliood. •with his own hand, and suspended their sittings. The parliament was dissolved soon afterward, when Sir Edward Coke (an eminent lawyer and violent and unprincipled man) and Pym, a distinguished orator, were imprisoned. Several other obnoxious members were in reality banished, being obliged to repair to Ii-eland against their will, under pretence of the king's service, which demanded an inquiry on the spot as to a plan for the pacification of that country that had lately been introduced. § 33. The number of English settlers in Ireland had never been large enough to complete the conquest of the island, and plans had often been devised to remedy the defect. One, of the time of Hem'y the Eighth, was, to settle one family from every parish in England in the land, but this was never attempted. Henry had contented himself with taking the style of king instead of lord," and he prevailed on several of the Irish chieftains to « § 27, p. 141. assume English titles ; but this had no effect, and the land continued "so Irish, and so poor," all through the time of the Tudors. At length, when James came to the throne, the Lord Dep- uty Mountjoy, one of Elizabeth's officials, had broken the power of the natives. Soon afterward the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel (descendants of Henry's peers) abandoned the hopeless struggle and fled to Spain. The greater part of the north of Ireland, called Ulster, thus became forfeited to the crown, and it was resolved to colonize it with English or Scotch Protestants in a regular manner. § 24. To raise funds for this political and religious propagand- ism, a new order of hereditary knighthood, called Baronets, was created, the 300 gentlemen who received the title paying the sum of £1,100 each for the support of thirty foot-soldiers for two years to protect the colonists. The lands were to be divided into estates of from 1,000 to 3,000 acres, suitable buildings were to be erected, and certain towns were to be built. A large tract of country was also granted to the citizens of London, which they still possess. But the conditions of the " plantation '' were not honestly carried out. Some jjarties by fraud obtained ten times their allotted share of land. Most of them neglected the building and planting, and many of them allowed the natives to remain, taking a small rent from them, and saving the expense of the settlers that they were bound to furnish. Into these abuses the unwilling commissioners nad to inquire ; but they did their work so carelessly that no good came of it. 398 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VH. War between the King and Parliament. Person and Character of the King. § 25. From this time forward the war between James and his parliaments raged without intermission. They resented his treat- ment of their membci-s, and in return attacked all his favorites. The people now began to appear as a power in the State, and the king dared not attempt the ferocious measures of the fagot and the block, employed by his predecessors in carrying out the royal will. It had long been the custom to grant the monopoly of deal- ing in various articles to certain persons, who, of course, paid a, sum to the crown for the privilege ; this was now declared illegal, and some of the chief offenders were punished. The treasurer. Lord Middlesex, was impeached, as the chancellor. Sir Francis Bacon,' had been before him. A marriage treaty with Spain was broken off, and war was declared instead ; and at last a German leader. Count Mansfeldt, was allowed to raise a body of 12,000 men for the service of the Elector Palatine. They were hastily embarked in crowded ships, and lost fuU half their number by sickness, whilst the rest were so enfeebled that they never could take the field. This misfortune had a great effect on the indolent, peace-loving king, whose health had been lost by indulgence in in- temperate eating and drinking, and who died very shortly afterward [March 27, 1625], bitterly lamenting that he had yielded to the persuasions of evil councillors, and had gone to war in his old age. § 26. James, though the child of parents remarkable for personal beauty, was singularly deficient in comeliness and dignity. He turned away his eyes half in fear from a naked sword; and though u, constant hunter, was so bad a rider as to provoke the ill-con- cealed contempt of his court.. His love for idle show consumed his revenues and involved him in debt. The necessary expenses of the government were neglected altogether, soldiers and sailors remaining unpaid, and ships made useless for want of stores, whilst vast sums were wasted on shows and pageants. He was the em- bodiment of an egotist, and claimed to be wise and learned be- yond all of his cotemporaries in church and State. He was, both in public and private, an ill-mannered, vulgar, and contemptible character. His learning is unquestionable. The present transla- tion of the Bible owes much to his encouragement. He appeal's to have been sincerely desirous of promoting the union and conse- 1 Bacon (Lord Verulam) was a courtier all his life. Pope long afterward described him as — "The greatest, wisest, meanest of mankind." .Chaptee L] the stuaets. ' . 399 England debased by King James. The people despise him. quent welfare of all Ms kingdoms. But it was his misfortune that he was no wiser than other i-ulers of his time, and that he failed to see that the time had passed away for irresponsible government in England. The tyranny of the Tudors had made every one impa- tient of authority, and he had not their force of character to com- pel obedience. On the contrary, he one day irritated his parlia- ment by his extravagant pretensions of setting his prerogative above the law, and on the next gave way to some equally extrava- gant claim on their part. He thus prepared a state of things that inevitably led to the ruin of his successor. § 37. The influence of England sank greatly in the time of James. He professed a profound knowledge of what he styled "kingcraft," but he left the actual management of affau's to his ministers and his favorites, being so devoted to cockfighting, bear- baiting, and other coarse amusements, as well as the ordinary field spoi-ts, as to say that rather than sit a day at the council-table he would go back to Scotland. All his reading and writing was devoted to establishing the fact that he ruled by divine right and was above all law ; but he had not the men of Elizabeth's or Henry's time to deal with, and his learned Latin speeches had no more effect than his rude English ones in persuading the House of Commons that he was in the right. They, on the contrary, were bent on showing that they were independent, and had the resolu- tion to act up to their profession. Hence it is no wonder that, after the first civil greeting to ^eir new sovereign, their maimer changed, and mutual distrust and aversion grew up instead. § 38. The persecutors of the Puritans in England caused a movement in James's reign which had a most important influence upon the future condition of the realm. Several of the Pmitan ministers and their congregations fled to Holland, where there was absolute freedom of conscience. They regarded themselves as • pilgrims, and in the year 1630, a company of them left Delftshaven for America, there to make a settlement in North Virginia, by per- mission of the Plymouth Company.' After touch- -j^ ^ g^ ing England and encountering perils at sea, a hun- dred men, women, and children crossed the Atlantic, landed on the coast of what is now Massachusetts, fi-om a small vessel called the May-flower, and there, in the midst of December snows, planted a settlement and called it New Plymouth. This was the pioneer of those marvellous emigration movements during the next reign. 400 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VIL Aooession of Charles the I'irat. His Qaeen. His Embarrassments. CHAPTER n. EEIGN OF OhAKLBS THE FiRST. [A.D. 1635 TO 1649.] § 1. Fifteen mintites after James the First expired, Prince Charles, his eldest surviving son, was proclaimed King Charles the First. On the iii'st of May [1625], when in the twenty-fifth year of his age, he was married by proxy, at Paris, to Henrietta Maria, the sister of Louis the Thirteenth of France. George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, the bold and unscrupulous courtiei ' ' 'of King James," acted in the young king's stead. He took the royal bride to England, where Charles met her, at Dover Castle, on the 28th of June. Pie had, two years before, made a journey into Spain, accompanied by his favorite Bucking- ham, with the view of espousing a Spanish princess, and to gain the consent of her father and the Pope he had agreed to many provisions in favor of the Romanists in England. Tlie match was broken off, but the French king, of course, would not hear of worse terms; and accordingly the beautiful little black-eyed Henrietta ' brought with her a train of priests and foreign atten- dants, who conducted themselves so unwisely and offensively that Charles was soon obliged to send them back, but not before they had done much mischief, and laid the foundation of more in pro- ducing public discontent. tf § 2. Few monarchs have found themselves in so emban-assing a position as Charles did on his accession. The preceding parlia- ment had granted £300,000 for the war against Spain, a sum notoriously insufficient ; but their successors absolutely refused to grant any more until they had a full account of how this sum had ' been spent, and had obtained the redress of many grievances. The chief of these was Dr. Montagu's " Appello Ca3- sarem," ' which they were resolved should not go un- punished, so hostile was it to the supreme authority of the jjarlia- mcnt, which it was their aim to establish. They censured its author, and held him to bail , and not content with this, they opened so long a list of businesses to precede supply, that it was 1 She was very small in stature, with a light and flexible figrure. Her eyes were pierc- ing black. Her face was sweet in expression, except when she frowned, "I suppose nobody but a queen could put on such a scowl," said one of her attendants. Chapter II.] THE STUNTS. 401 The Parliament refuses Supplies. The King makes Loans. War with Spain. evident they meant not to grant anything. The king in vain offered to call them together again in the winter to discuss their griefs, if they would only furnish money for the fleet and army that was in preparation against Spain, and which would be de- layed to a dangerous time of the year if it waited until their com- plaints were all discussed. Nothing would move them, and at last [Aug. 12, 1625] the king dismissed them in anger, by which he gave them a fatal advantage, as they had not even voted the " tonnage and poundage " duties, which had been, as a matter of course, granted to each king in his very first parliament, and for the term of his life, ever since the time of Edward ,, , ' • § 1, p. 205. the Third.' § 3. The king, however, felt himself committed to the war with Spaia, and he resolved to proceed. Loans of money were pro- cured from all classes, and at last, in October, 1625, the expedition was sent out, hoping to intercept the Spanish treasure-ships and to capture Cadiz. It had been delayed to this late season of the year by the refusal of the supplies, and the Spaniards had so improved the time by fortifying Cadiz that it could effect nothing. The leader was a new-made peer, Edward Cecil, a grandson of Lord Burleigh,'' who, though he had been long employed in the Dutch wars, now proved so incompetent that he received the nickname of " General Sitstill." The troops re- turned in miserable condition about Christmas, and were kept in the western counties, partly because an attack was feared from the Spaniards, but more because there was no money to pay and discharge them. The poor creatures became disorderly, the Londoners and Essex men being noted as the most violent, and to curb them, martial law was proclaimed, and some of them were executed. Others formed a large part of companies of emigrants then going to Virginia. The martial law was pro- fessedly intended to protect the country people, but when the new parliament met [Feb. 6, 1626] it was vehemently exclaimed against as only the first step to placing all men's goods and lives at the king's disposal. § 4. The Commons at once began to complain of the conduct of the late expedition, and summoned its leaders to appear before them. The king forbade them to attend. Next they proceeded to impeach Buckingham, ■= charging him with great abuses in Ms office of Lord High Admiral to which 402 HISTORY J3F ENGLAND. [Book VII. Buckingham Impeached. The King's TTsurpationa. War with France and Spain. James had elevated this special favorite, and even insinuating that he had poisoned King James. Tlie king, taught by his father most thoroughly those dootiinal lessons about the divine right of kings, sent Sir Dudley, Digges and Sir John Eliot, the managers of the impeachment, to the Tower, and said to the Commons : "I will not allow any of my servants to be questioned among you, much less such as are of eminent place, and near unto me." The House then refused to proceed with any business until their mem- bers were released, and the king gave way. Bucldngham made a kind of answer to the various charges, but this did not satisfy the Commons. They petitioned the king to remove him from his councils, and on his refusal they remonstrated so loudly that they were suddenly dismissed [June 15, 1625], leaving all business in confusion, and without having granted the needful supplies for the ordinary government. § 5. Charles's advisers unfortunately maintained that this was a case of necessity, and that as the Commons had neglected their duty of providing for it, he was justified in raising money inde- pendently of them. He accordingly ordered tlie tonnage and poundage duties » to be levied as if they had been 1 § 2 p. 400. ^ ^ •> b 8 fi' 271 f°'''™^l^y granted, compounded with recusants for sums of money, required loans and " benevolences," * and seized the goods of those who refused, besides imprisoning the more refractory, or sending them to serve at sea. By these means a new fleet was got together, for there was now war with France as well as with Spain, in consequence of the dismissal of „„ the queen's attendants." But the Earl of Denbieh, ^ § 1, p. 400. ° ' the admii'al, proved either incompetent or dishonest, and suffered many English vessels to be captured. As some of these vessels belonged to members of the late parliament, the suf- ferers scrupled not to say that this was intentionally done. § 6. At this time [a.d. 1637], Cardinal Eichelieu, who really governed France, laid siege to La Eochelle, the stronghold of the French Protestants. Their case greatly interested the Puritan party, and at theii- desii-e a fleet was ■ despatched to their relief. The inhabitants of La Rochelle, however, distrusted its com- mander, Buckingham, and refused to admit him into the town. He therefore landed on the adjacent Isle of Rhg, and besieged the citadel, but was soon obliged to retire with great loss. Eochelle held out for a while, but was at last taken, when the power- of the Chapter II.] THE STUARTS. 403 The Autocrncy of the King proclaimed. Contention^dtli Parliament. Huguenots was totally broken, an event very disisleasing to the Puritans, one of whom published an offensive book called " Zion's Plea against the Prelates," which he described on the title-page as "printed in the year and month wherein i^ochelle was lost." § 7. The failm-e of 'Buckingham's expedition, into the caiise of which no inquiry was permitted by the favorite, caused a great clamor ; but this was as nothing to what followed shortly after, when five of the gentlemen who had been imprisoned for refusing loans" applied to the courts for release. The judges deliberately afSrmed that a special mandate from the king was a sufficient reason for their detention. This was an open denial of one of the most important provisions of Magna Charta, that " no penalty shall be laid on any man, but by the judgment of his peers and according to law," ' and was resented & 1 b S 17, p. 160. as a declaration that the liberty and the property of the subject were absolutely dependent on the royal will. Such a doctrine had been held by some of the court preachers, and had been censured in parliament ; and it caused very great alarm and indignation to find it upheld by the judges of the land. § 8. These feelings were at their height when the thii'd parlia- ment of a reign of only thi-ee years assembled [a.d. 1638]. Among its members were several gentlemen who had suffered for refusing the forced loan, and no time was lost in passing votes afflnning the illegality of imprisonment without cause fully shown, and of taxes levied without the authority of parliament. To prevent such proceedings in future, they drew up a Petition of Rights, affirming their illegality, which the king long declined to agree to, desiring them instead to trust to 'his royal word that he would in future observe the laws, and confessing that Magna Oharta and the sta- tutes confirming it were still in force. After causing reasonable doubts of his sincerity by his objections and delays, Charles gave way, and the petition became law. § 9. The Commons followed up their victory by praying for the re- moval of Buckingham, and accusing the bishops of popery. The king now openly defied them, by ordering all proceedings against Buck- ingham to cease, "being," he said, "persuaded of his innocenoy." He also gi-anted special marks of favor to some of his chaplains who had preached loudly in favor of his prerogative. Among these was Montagu, who was made Bishop of Chichester, and .Mainwaring, Dean of "Worcester, and afterwards Bishop of St 404 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VII. Mvirdef of Buckingham. Oliver Cromwell. Violence in Parliament. David's. The king declared lie could not and would not go with- out tonnage and poundage, though they still neglected to grant it to him ; and to silence their remonstrances he adjourned them very soon afterward. In the course of the same summer [1638] Buckingham was murdered by John Felton^ a gentleman of birth and education, who, though he had some private grievance, stated that he would never have killed the duke but for the complaints of the Commons against him ; and henceforth the king looked on them with increased suspicion and aversion, for he felt that in losing Buckingham he had parted with the right arm of his power. § 10. In the following year [a.d. 1629] the parliament again met, but they were allowed to sit only a short time, as they pursued the same course as before. They absolutely refused to grant supplies until they had discussed their grievances in religion, which ranged from favor shown to Romish recusants to the late promotions of court chaplains ; and one member, Oliver Cromwell, then obscm-e, though afterwards well known, declaimed loudly against NeUe, Bishop of Winchester, as an encourager of popery. Cromwell was the son of Robert Cromwell, of Huntingdon, and was born there, April 25, 1599. At the age of seventeen he was sent to the Uni- versity of Cambridge, but did not long remain there. He married early, and settled at Huntingdon, where, for a while, he car- ried on the business of a brewer; but on receiving a handsome legacy from an uncle, he quitted his trade, and became the lessee of some church lands. He was of the straitest sect of the Puri- tans, and would have gone to New England," as the country east of the Hudson River was called, with his kinsman Hampden, and their families, had they not been pre- vented. On this, his first appearance in parliament, he provoked remark by the plaimiess of his dress, and the inelegance of his manners. From the time that the civil war broke out, his history is part of the history of the country, as will be seen hereafter. § 11. At last the difficulties between the king and parlia- ment were brought to a crisis. Sir John Finch, the speaker, refused to put the question, that the seizing of goods for tonnage and poundage was a breach of privilege ; and he was, in efEect, deposed frOm his office. When the question was again raised he stated that he had orders to adjourn the house ; upon which the door was locked, the keys were brought up and laid before him on Chaptek n.] THE STTJAETS. 405 rarliament diBpeneed with. The King's mistakes. the table, and he was forcibly held in the chair by Sir John Eliot » and others, whilst a resohition was read declaring all innovators in religion, and all who either levied or • • • paid tonnage and poundage not granted by parliament, to be ene- mies to the kingdom. § 12. In a week after this violent scene the king dissolved the parliament ; and in his speech in the House of Lords he said that this was owing to ''the seditious carnage of some vipers, members of the lower house." He followed tliis up by a declaration justifying his proceedings, and a proclamation which was understood to im- ply that he would govern without parliaments for the future. This, according to the principles of divine right that Charles had im- bibed from his father,' was natural enough. He considered himself as the source of power, and re- sponsible to God only for his actions, and he regarded parliaments as they had been regarded three hundred years before, merely as means to raise money. Hence, if they failed in this function, and still more if they aspired to a voice in the direction of affairs, they were to be laid aside, and " other councils'' substituted. He saw nothing of the momentous change that the past three hundred years had produced, whereby wealthy burgesses and country gen- tlemen, representing the people, had now become that great council fit the nation which the peers had once been, and that they were far more than a match for the new nobles who had sprung up under the Tudore, and had no other property than the spoils of the church." In a fatal hour he tried to carry out his principles, and for a while he succeeded. But in the end it appealed that he and his "other councillors" had made a fatal mistake, and that the parliament were more able to govern without him than he witliout a parliament. For a while, however, the new policy seemed to succeed, and England remained at peace while the rest of Europe was convulsed by war between the Ro- man Catholic and Protestant States. § 13. On the dissolution of the last parliament, several of its more prominent members were imprisoned on a charge of con- spiring to sow discord between the king and his people, and others were gained over by titles and offices. The most eminent of the latter was a Yorkshire gentleman, Sii- Thomas Wentworth, a man of great resolution and enterprise, who was soon made a peer, then President of the Council of the North, and aftenvards 406 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VII. "Wentworth and Laud. OppreSBion by the Cliiiroli and State. Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. In both posts he carried out what he termed a " thorough " policy — that is to say, made law and justice give place to whatever might forward the king's' service for the time being. He thus became very unpopular, •§22, p. 396. ,„ , . J! „■ J. j^ ■ T and Pym," once his feUow-representative m parlia- ment, said to him, " Tou have left us, but we wiU not leave you whilst you have a head on yovu- shoulders.'' Although many years elapsed first, Pym kept his word. § 14. Quite as active a spirit as Wentworth's was found in Wil- liam Laud, now bishop of London, who set himself to work with more zeal than discretion to find a remedy-for the hostility of the Puritans to the hierarchy. He so misunderstood the spirit of the time that he thought to serve the church and the king alike by taking an active part in the business of the State, and indu- cing other bishops to do the same. He was one who had declined to receive consecration fi'om Abbot.' That austere prelate being now again in disgrace at com-t, through refusing to license a " high-prerogative sermon," ' Laud was in reality at the head of the church, and he took such a prominent part at the council-table also, that all the oppressive measures passed there were popularly ascribed to him, though unjustly in some instances, as records remain to show. Wlien he became Archbishop of Canterbury, and so the Primate of England [a.d^ 1633], he dealt with a high hand with the nonconformists of all classes, and thus earned such extreme hatred from them that he was accused of every imaginable delinquency, and was styled " the Pope of Canterbury " or " the servant of the devil " when he escaped worse appellations. § 15. Laud's hatred of the Puritans was intense and sincere, and he employed all his power in Chm-ch and State in the hope- less task of reducing them to conformity. He introduced many peculiarities of the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church, espe- cially in the communion service, into his own cathedral, and tried - to force this ritualism upon others. He was an execrable in- quisitor, and was ready to punish anything repugnant to his ideas of order in public worsliip ; and men like Bishop Williams, 1 Sncli waR the name f?iven to the discourses of Dr. Sibthorp, Dr. Mainwaring, and others, who maintained that the authority of the parliament was not necessary for the raising of taxes, and that the Blow deliberations of Buch assomblieB were a liindrance to the designs of princes. Chapter II.] THE STUAKTS. 407 Lnud and the Puritans. Struggles for Power. Dutcti Privateerfu of Lincoln, -ware sent to the Tower because they opposed him. He tried to reduce the descendants of the foreiam u fi A T\ ^Q1 settlers " to conformity, with the plea that by non- ' conformity they dishonored the church, and by their proximity to the sea-coast held dangerous communications with foreigners. He declared that no State could with safety allow such a con- dition of things. As far as he dared he persecuted • the non- coBformists, apd earned for himself and a few prelates like Mon- tague ^ an imenviable fame as an enemy to civil T T ■ T\-U _L '§17, p. 394. and reugio/s liberty. § 16. For several years from, the accession of Laud to the pri- macy, the most prominent feature in English history presents tlie struggle for power between the crown and the people. Charles vehemently asserted, the royal prerogative, based upon divine right, and claimed absolute sovereignty, while parliament as vehemently asserted the supremacy of the people. The consequence was that' the king endeavored for a long time to act without a parliament ; and for the purpose of raising mo^ey he made a forced loan of what was called " ship-money," atid revived a custom of Henry the Eighth, which allows a subject to pay for the privilege of declining the honor of knighthood. This scheme for extortion was cunningly devised. All persons with an income of £40 a year fi-om land were bound to present themselves for knighthood, and when so honored they had to pay a tax of thuty shillings for every tvrenty shillings paid l)y the untitled gentry. The subject was allowed to pay a certain sum to avoid the honor and the bm- densome tax. In 1631, Oliver Cromwell = paid £10 as such commutation-fee ; and that year the king so • • • raised £130,000, by which the public revenue was diminished. § 17. It has been mentioned already how the Dutch privateers conducted themselves. They and the Puritan party had much in common as lovers of liberty ; and as the design of the ship-money was to raise a fleet that should be chiefly, employed to curb the Hollanders, the Puritans threw every possible obstacle in the way. The government, however, assuming that both the honor and the safety of England were concerned, made this, " the king's great business,'' theii' chief concern. § 18. ISToy, the attorney-general, once a vehement parUament- nian, but now a courtier, drew up the writ according to ancient precedents, which required the various ports of the kingdom to 408 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VIT. Ship-monej- fleet. Taxation resisted. Doings of the British fleet. raise about £100,000 for the fitting out of a fleet; but lest this should prove too burdensome, the maritime counties -were soon after directed to assist them. This sum was levied in the year 1634 without any particular opposition, and the building of several noble ships was commenced with it. One of them, arro- gantly called " the Sovereign of the Seas," was long after known as the finest "ship-royal" in the world. § 19. The sum that the ship-money would yield, if confined to the coasts, was soon seen to be insufficient, and accordingly in Au- gust, 1635, a new wiit was issued, extending the tax to tlie whole country, on the ground that it was for a matter of national concern. This it was thought would produce about £220,000, with which forty-five ships, fully manned, equipped, and stored for six months, could be provided ; and they were directed to be ready for sea in Portsmouth Harbor on the 1st of May, 1636. The Dutch, who had of late been especially active on the English coasts, capturing Spanish vessels in English harbors, and even landing and march- ing inland in pursuit of their crews, now bestirred themselves to some purpose, and found instruments ready to their hands in the disaffected Puiitans all over the country. The levying of the tax in the inland shires was violently opposed where attempted ; but in many cases, from the connivance of the sheriffs, it was not at- tempted at all. If goods or cattle were seized for payment they found no purchasers, and sometimes they were recovered by their owners by actual violence. Sir John Stanhope, a gentleman of Elvaston, in Derbyshire, acted thus, and his example soon found imitators. Yet in spite of these difficulties, and though it cost far more than the tax produced, the fleet was got together, and in the summer of 1636 it cruised about under the command of the Earl of Northumberland, and re-established the kiuo-'s supremacy in the narrow seas. The great ships overawed the Dutch, whilst ten nimble pinnaces, called " Lions' Whelps," hunted down the priva- teers. At the same time a fleet of seven vessels was sent to Bar- bary, and released many English captives who were in slavery there.' § 20. These results were most satisfactory ; but still it seemed advisable to support the acts of the government by a legal deci- I Some idea may be formed of how numerous these captives were from the fact that there exists in the Public Record Office a petition to King Charles, early in his reiim. from 2,000 women, who describe themselves as the wives of English captives at SaUee Chaptek II.] THE STTJAKTS 409 The King's Prerogative apheld. The Courts instramenta of oppression. sion, and acoorclingly in February, 1637, the judges were called on lor their opinion on the questions : (1), " When the kingdom is in danger may not the king call on his subjects for ships, or money to supply them ? " and (3), " Is not the king the sole judge of the necessity ! " The judges, who were dependants of the king, of course answered in the affirmative ; but this did not settle the mat- ter. On the contrary, it was more vehemently opposed than ever. § 21. One eminent member of the Puritan party was John Hampden, a Buckinghamshire squire, and the cousin of Oliver Cromwell. He had, some time before this, been cited in the eccle- siastical court for holding a train-band muster in Beaconsfield churchyard on a Sunday, and also for absenting himself from his own parish church, which stood within a few yards of his house. He thought it advisable to make the required submission, and on promising "willing obedience for the future "he was dismissed. He, however, considered himself aggrieved in being thus obliged to obey such tyrannical laws, and when the sum of thirty shillings was demanded from him as ship-money, he refused to pay it. The cause was argued before the whole twelve judges, and judg- ment was of course given for the crown. From this time forward no considerable opposition was made to the levy of the tax ; but it was afterwards voted Ulegal by the Long Parliament, and the judges and others who had sanctioned it were most rigorously dealt with. -§ 22. Less defensible than the fining for knighthood" or the ship-money were the revival, for money, of monopolies that had been abolished as oppressive, and the proceed- ings of the Star-chamber,' the High Commission," the Forest courts, and the Court of the Earl Marshal. Not one of these courts had any settled rules of procedure ; hence, even where their conduct was equitable it could often be repre- sented as not legal, and the jealousy of the judges of the law courts inclined them to listen favorably to every complainant, and to interfere in his favor on the merest pretext. The Earl Marshal's court took cognizance of any slighting speech against the nobility, and, to give one instance alone, punished a London citizen for calling a peer's servant's badge a goose instead of a swan. The Forest courts made inquiry as to encroachments on the royal forests, and extorted large sums as a composition for offences that had ■ been committed, if committed at all, hundreds of years before. 18 4:10 HISTOKY OF ENGLAND. [Book vn. Proceedings of some Courts. The King and Archbishop in Scotland. The jurors were the king's servants, and as men were threatened with the rigor of the Star-chamber if they " oast a slight upon royalty" by disputing any of its obsolete claims, no one had con- fidence in them. § 33. The courts of Star-chamber and High Commission, and the king's council, were mainly composed of the same persons, though assembling under different names and in different numbers, as suited their convenience from time to time, and hence any ap- peal from the sentence of one to the other was a mere delusion. The proceedings of these tribunals, though to us, in a better state of society, they appear terribly harsh, were yet in reality much less unmerciful than they had been in the time of the Tudors. To offences which Henry or Elizabeth had punished with death, they awarded the pillory, branding, and imprisonment ; and this com- parative leniency was cei tainly not earned by any want of offence given. For example, Prynne, a lawyer, published a boqk in which he appUcd the most scandalous epithets possible to the queen; Leighton, a Scotchman, described her as "a Canaanite and an idolatress," and plainly recommended the assassination of the bishops; ^vhilst Burton, once a royal chaplain, and Bastwick, a physician, assailed them in terms that it might be thought no edu- cated men would use under any circumstances. The records of the court remain to show that Archbishop Laud frequently voted for more moderate sentences than were passed, and in Burton's caso, in particular, he declined to vote at all, saying that the matter touched him too closely for him to be an impartial judge. But he was already so hated by the Puritans that they chose to ascribe every seventy to liim, and said that "the arch-wolf of Canterbury ever had his hand in persecuting the saints and shed- ding the blood of the martyi-s." § 24. King James had jjaid a visit to Scotland in 1617, and had replaced the bishops. Laud, then one of his chaplains, accompa- nied him, and took an active part in the business. Now that he was at the head of the English Church he wished to complete the v.-ork, and what seemed a suitable opportunity soon offered. The Scots had begun to murmur that King Charles had never visited them, saying that they saw how he despised their poor country • » § B3 p 424. """^ ^" ^"""^ Srew their complamts, that they were suspected to be fomented by the Marquis (afterward Duke) of Hamilton," who was of the blood royal, and was Chapter H.] THE STUAETS. 411 Attempt to restore Episcopacy in Scotland opposed. Strafford and Laud. thought to aspire to the crown. To check this design, Charles re- paired to Scotland in 1633, and was so cordially received that nothing he could desire seemed likely to be rejected. Laud there- fore proposed that the Scottish episcopate and liturgy should be restored and the English liturgy introduced, and Charles consented. § 25. But the national as well as the religious feeling of the Scots rose against this, for Laud proceeded with a high hand. Tumults ensued. The crafty Richelieu, of the French court," revenged himself for the aid given years before to the Huguenots by supplying money and arms, and in a short time all Scotland appeared banded against the enemies of freedom in ■ Clmrch and State in a covenant, which bound all subscribers to "resist all persons whatsoever" who should attempt to introduce any of these English innovations. The king tried to pacify them by abandoning both bishops and liturgy ; but his concessions came, as they always did, too late. The Scots elected a General Assem- bly on their own authority, deposed the bishops in a body, and prepared for war by seizing the royal fortresses and stores ; at the same time they entered into open negotiations with the King of France, invited Scottish officers and soldiers to repair to them from the German wars, and secured the favor of the Puritan party by declaring that they had no ill-will to the English people, and had only taken up arms to resist the introduction of popery. § 26. Puritanism, from the very first, had its political as well as its religious aspect, and Laud was the determined foe of both. Strict in enforcing obedience, he was quite as ready to render it where he acknowledged it to be due. He openly avowed himself a believer in the divine right of kings, and quite willing to accept all its consequences of absolute lordship over the person and property of the. subject. Such a belief was more odious to the Puritans, who were republicans at heart, than even his adherence to the rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. He and Strafford, the king's chief adviser, were such intimate friends, that what- ever one did the other was equally responsible for, and are equally blamed. Hitherto they had carried all before them, and they were now apparently firmly established in power, though in reality a terrible reverse was close at hand. - § 27. Early in the year 1689 a fleet and aimy was despatched against the Scots, and the king proceeded as far as York, as if to take command. Instead of fighting, an agreement was come to 412 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VII. The King ancl tlie Scotch. A new Parliament caUei Its Character and Doings, by which the Scots promised to lay down their arms. But this they did not do. On their own authority a new Scottish parlia- ment and assembly met, which proceeded rigorously against all who declined to join them, and refused to disperse when dis- solved by the royal commissioner. To bring them to submission the king raised a new army ; but his funds were exhausted before it was properly equipped, and he found himself obliged at last, after eleven years of despotic rule, to call a parliament. This met on the 13th of April, 1640; but, following the example of their predecessors, they insisted on discussing their grievances before granting supplies, and after a sitting of only three weeks they were dissolved. The nobility, however, lent the king the sum of £300,000, when the army was equipped and set out. By this time, however, it had become disaffected, and it suffered itself to be shamefully defeated by the Scots at Newbum, when, in spite of the efforts of Strafford, who had taken the command, it retired to the borders of Yorkshire, leaving all the north of England open to the invaders. The Scots, who professed unbounded devotion to the king, as well as sincere love for the English nation, readily agreed to a cessation of arms on condition of being amply pro- vided for, and were allowed to send commissioners to London to discuss all their grievances. The king now summoned the peers to meet Mm at York, and acquainted them with his intention to call another parliament; and accordingly the mem- orable Long Parliament met at Westminster on the 3d of Novem- ber, 1640. § 38. In this assembly everything was directed by a small knot of active, daring men, such as Pym, Hampden, Cromwell, and Vane, who soon came to be known- as "Root and Branch," and whose settled design it evidently was to overthrow both Church and State. One of their earliest steps was to pass reso- lutions censuring the levying of ship-money, tonnage and poundage, monopolies, innovations in religion, indeed every act of the government for the last dozen years, so that every person of property found himself liable to be called before the House for something that he had done or had not done. Awed by tliis too many of the rest sought safety by applauding every step that' was taken, whether right or wrong. And the same course was fol- lowed by the peers, who, with the exception of some faint resist- ance to a few particular measures, where they always gave way at CnAPTEK n.] THE STTJAETS. 413 Tyranny oi Parliament. StrafEord impeached. last, seemed to be quite content to act as "their masters of the House of Commops" would have them. § 29. The first care of the House was to appoint a number of committees to receive complaints of all " giievauces and exor- bitances in Church or State." These complaints poured in from all quartere, and in dealing with them the Commons at once as- sumed sovereign power, setting aside sentences of courts, releasing prisoners, and ordering their judges to make them compensation ; whilst every one who was complained of to them found that he had to appear before a tribunal as thoroughly inquisitorial as the Star-chamber or High Commission. Pryiuie, Burton, and Bastwick were set at liberty, and brought in triumph to London ; Puritan ministers who had been deprived for contumacious conduct were sought for where they did not come forward voluntarily ; and, to provide them again with pulpits, clergymen whose chief offence was that they had obeyed the laws revived by the king for raising money or enforcing conformity in matters of religion, were de- nounced as "scandalous," and driven from house and home, and often imprisoned also, on the vague charge of "malignancy," or dislike of the proceedings of their new masters. This, however, was but the beginning of the troubles that they were to endure. § 30. WhUst John White, a lawyer, and Sir Edward Deering, a Kentish baronet, and the nephew of a famous Puritan preacher of Queen Elizabeth's time, as chairmen of committees, eagerly listened to every charge against the clergy, the real leadeis of the repub- licans, Pym and Hampden, were engaged in measures for the deposition of a more formidable opponent, namely, the Earl of Strafford. § 31. KJnowing how odious he was to them, and also thinking that his remaining with the army in the north would keep the Scots in check, the Earl did not attend the parliament at its open- ing ; but in a few days after the king commanded him to repair to London and take his seat among the peers. No sooner was tills known than Pym, who had threatened him so many years before, made a most bitter speech, describing him as "the greatest promoter of tyranny that any age had produced," when it was resolved to impeach him of treason, and to require the Lords to commit him to custody until the Commons had time to frame their charges against him. Pym carried up the request. It was at once granted, and Strafford's fate was sealed. 4:14: HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VII. Land and Strafford in Prison. Action of the Commons. Strafford bctieadcd. § 33. Shortly after this, Archbishop Laud, Strafford's zealous coadjutor, was complained of as " the great incendiary,'' and in like manner was sent to the Tower. Alarmed at these steps, Sir John Finch, the lord keeper, once the Speaker of the ■ ■ House of Commons," and "Windebank, the secretary^ fled for theii' lives. Next the charges against Strafford, twenty- eight in number, were presented to the Lords, and he was brought to trial. The investigation lasted many days, for the Earl de- fended himself with spirit, and the peers hesitated to convict him, as they could not agree to Pym's argument, that any number of misdemeanors could mount up to treason. The Commons solved the difiiculty by passing a bill of attainder, just as a Tudor parliament might have done,' and the Lords gave way. About sixty of the Commons voted against this tyrannical measure, when thtir names were posted up in the streets as " Straffordians, who to save a traitor would betray their country," by which their lives were endangered. § 33. The only hope remaining for the Earl was that the king would refuse his assent to the bill ; but this he had not the courage to do. "Williams, the Bishop of Lincoln, who had been in dis- grace in the time of Laud,' and was a Puritan in ' § 14, p. 406. ° heart, as he afterwards showed by joining the Par- liament, was now applied to for his advice, and he suggested to the king that though " as a man Charles Stuart could not desert his faithful servant with a clear conscience, he might do so as a king." The monarch acted accordingly, and signed the bill, as he did another at the same time, that afterwards proved as fatal to himself. This was a bill that rendered the Parliament incapable of dissolution except by its own consent. Strafford, when told of his fate, might well have exclaimed, mth the experience of all past English history before, " Put not your trust in princes, for in them is no salvation." This desertion of his friend and faithful servant was so mean and ungenerous that Charles had but few real friends among honorable men thereafter. His minister was beheaded on Tower Hill on the 13th of May, 1641; and from this time f or- 1 Like Henry's parliaments, they made a law for the purpose, as is shown by the following entry on their Journals: "April 19, 1641. Resolved upon question That the endeavor of Thomas Earl of Stratford to subvert the ancient fundamental laws ol the realms of England and Ireland, and to introduce an arbitrary tyrannical govern- ment asainsb law, is high treason." Chapter II.] THE STTJAETS. 415 AfEairs in Ireland. Long Paiifament and the King at War. ward the reign of Charles the First was merely nominal. He had conclusively shown that he had not the i^ower to save those who served him, and his course was one downward path till his head also rolled on the scaffold. § 34. The attempted colonization of the north of L-eland in the time of King James has been ah-eady alluded to,» and it has been mentioned how imperfectly it was carried out. Its result was shown, in less than thirty years after it had been commenced, by a formidable rising of the natives, headed by Roger O'More and Sir Phelim O'Neil, men of old Irish families though educated in England, and men who saw with hot indigna- tion the insolent oppression practised on their countrymen by the adventurers who alone occupied the grants that had been made. They expected that the old English settlers would make common cause with them, all being Romanists, and they had planned the surprise of BubUn and the expulsion of the new-comers for the same time, namely, October, 1641. They were exposed by Owen O'Conolly, an Wsh Protestant, who learned the secret from one of the conspii-ators who was intoxicated, and Dublin was secured by the lords justices, who had succeeded Strafford in the government. But the insurrection broke out in the north, and was accompanied by terrible havoc, though not to the extent that the Parliamenta- rians afterwards represented. § 35. The news reached the king (who was in Scotland) and the Parliament much about the same time, and measures for the safety of the Irish Protestarits were at once ordered ; but little was done. The king had no means of helping them, and the parliament de- layed action so long that the matter stood over until civil war broke out in England. Then they talked loudly of vengeance, which, fi'om mere alarm, induced many Romanists who had hitherto stood aloof to join the insurgents. Others declared for the king, when their opponents asserted, with good warrant, that the rebellion had been originally planned by the royalists, in Church and State, from their hatred to the true Protestant faith. § 36. The " Root and Branch" men' and their adherents ia both Houses formed a compact body, to which the king could only oppose divided councils, and therefore they j)resssd forward in their struggle for emancipation with only such occasional checks and fruitless resistance as made their ulti- mate triumph the more complete. They imprisoned judges and 416 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VIL Despotic measures of tl>e King. His Flight from London. Prepares for War. bistopg, and compelled the king to agree to sweeping away the Star-chamber, High Commission, Stannary and Forest Courts, gTanting tonnage and poundage for a month at a time as the price of each concession. Thus more than a year of the Long Parliament passed away, when at last the king, finding his power rapidly waning, resolved to try vigorous measures. He made an attempt to seize Lord Kimbolton and five of the members of the Commons (Hampden, Haseli-igge, Holies, Pym, and Strode), intend- ing to have them tried for treason. In this he failed [Jan. 4, 1642], and becoming alarmed at the threatening aspect of the Lon- doners, among whom the members had found refuge, he, on the 10th of the same month, quitted his capital, never more to return to it till brought in a prisoner doomed to death. § 37. But though the king had thus withdi'awn, some inter- course was kept up between him and the parliament. Each party saw that the sword alone could settle their differences, but each wished to make the other appear as the aggressor. Accordingly, whilst the parliament seized on the Tower, and Portsmouth, and Hull, and the queen proceeded abroad to buy arms and military stores by pledging or selling the crown jewels, the king desired the parliament to draw up one complete statement of then- de- mands and grievances, which he promised to consider favorably ; and they, with a profusion of thanks, agreed to do so, only re- quiring him, as a proof of his confidence, to put the militia into their hands. Charles had already granted- as important a matter as this, but he now positively refused compliance, and prepared to take up arms. His iirst step was singularly unfortunate. He went in person to Hull, in March, 1643, but Sir John Hotham, the parliamentary governor, refused to admit him. The parliament then called out the London trained bands [May, 1643], under Major-General Skippon, who was originally a private soldier in Flanders ; and the king summoned the gentry of York, where he then was, to form a guard for his person. § 38. Bach party now denounced the other as traitors, and sev- eral members of the Commons, who were unwilling to foUow the leaders of the House to the extremity to which matters were tend- ing, left them and joined the royalists. The Commons then sent propositions for peace to the king; but as they demanded such concessions fi-om him as his views of the royal prerogative would not allow him to grant, he refused to listen to them. Then the Chaptee II.] THE STUARTS. 417 Begioning of Civil War. Comparative strength of ICing and Parliament. Houses voted, that an army should be raised "for the defence of the king and parliament," of which they appointed the Earl of Es- sex (the son of Elizabeth's favorite) » captain-general. a 6 fiO Ti R74 The king, on this, declai-ed Essex a traitor, and set > ■ ■ up his royal standard at Nottingham, on the 32d of August, 1 642. In three days afterward he sent propositions for peace to the parliament ; but they refused to entertain them whilst his standard continued spread, when they, too, were denounced as traitors. In a few days more he offered to withdraw his pro- clamation if they would do the same ; but they knew their superior strength and growing power, as well as the untrustworthiness of the king, and promptly replied that their aims should never be laid down until all delinquents were left to justice. Hencefoi-th war was inevitable. § 39. In entering upon war, the parliament were well aware of the advantages on their side. The more intelligent people under- stood and applauded the principles for which they were contendr ing. London, and almost all the wealthy towns, adhered to them, and they had thus abundant means not only to equip an army, but to secure the services of veteran officers, long experienced in the wars of the Continent, who speedily imparted the necessary discipline 'to their men. The king, on the other hand, had only such service as the nobility and gentry were willing to give at their own cost, and there was this heavy drawback to it, that there was great variety of motives among them ; for whilst some were enthusiastic, others were only lukewarm, and had no wish to give him too decided a victory, lest he should recall his late conces- sions. Hence, having no great principle of action as a bond of union, they quaiTelled among themselves instead of uniting, and only agreed in the fatal mistake of despising the military order and precision of their adversaries. § 40. Though the parliament had the towns, the spiiit of loyalty was strong in some of the rural districts, particularly in Yorkr shire, Wales, and Cornwall, and abundance of fighting men pre- sented themselves, but these the king could never properly equip. His magazines had been seized even before the war broke out, and of the supplies that his queen sent from abroad ^ much the greater part fell into the hands of the ' enemy, who had also possessed themselves of his shijaping, the sailors in general being partisans of the parliament. 18* 418 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VH. Battle ol UagehiU. Negotiations fail. The Court at Orforcl. § 41. The king, soon after setting up his standard, marched to Shrewsbury, where, by coining his plate into money, he collected his first army. Prince Rupert of Bavaria, and nephew of Charles, had come to England with some followers to assist his uncle, and was placed at the head of a regiment of horse. He overthrew a body of the insurgent cavalry near "Worcester, but was obliged to withdraw on the approach of Essex." The royal a § 38, p. 416. ^^^^ ^^^^ marched towards London, and on the 33d of October [1643] encountered its adversaries at EdgehiU, in "Warwickshire. The battle was fierce, full 5,000 men being slain, of whom 3,000 were parliamentarians, but the night closed in be- fore either party could be said to be the victor. They remained watching each other for the greater part of the next day, when the king marched ofE to Oxford, which was his chief post during the war, and Essex retired to Coventry ' and its neighborhood, where he remained until his troops were recruited. Desiring peace, the parliament now proposed a negotiation to that end. Commissioners met, but as those of the parliament still made the same lofty demands as before, negotiations were speedily broken off, and the country was finally divided into two hostile camps. Of the lamentable war that followed, a very brief notice is all that need be attempted. The very different position of the parties to it must first be noticed. § 42. During the years from 1643 to 1646, the king, though he made occasional visits to Wales, the west of England, and the midland counties, had his seat of government at Oxford, which was strongly foiUfied, and where he held a parliament of liis own in 1644. Though a very much larger number of peers attended, and the Commons were at least as numerous as those of the Long Parliament,'' who sat at "Westminster, they could do ' him little service except as individuals. Here he had the whole resources of the University " at his disposal, the colleges giving him their plate to be coiued, and the students and many of the older members serving as soldiers in his forces. The University of Cambridge,'' though equally well inclined to his cause, was kept in subjection by the forces 1 This wag then a strong walled town, whose inhabitants in general were zealous partisans of the parliament. They had been fined in the Star-chamber for theii- be- ■ .{ 23, p. 410. lia^ior when Prynne passed through on his way to prison ; « and, in common with several other to^vns that had taken a conspicaous part In opposing the royal forces, their walls were demolished at the Restoration. Chapter II.] THE STTTAHTS. 419 The Long Parliament. Enthusiasm of tlae People. Ordinances, of the Earl of Manchester (the Lord Kimbolton of former days)," consisting of many strong regiments of horse and foot raised in the associated (or eastern) counties, which ° ^ ' ^' had long been the very hot-bed of Puritanism. The Eail himself ■was little inclined to push matters to extremities ; but he had under his nominal command Oliver Cromwell, of Hunting- don,' and by him the University was speedily " regu- ' ' ' ^" lated," as it was called, its property being seized, its loyal members - expelled or imprisoned, and its buildings turned into garrisons and jails ; a fate that befell Oxford a few years later. § 43. The Long Parliament sat at Westminster, and nearly aU London ranked as their partisans. The Presbyterian ministers then held marvellous control over the great mass of the people. They occupied the pulpits of churchmen, and, like their predeces- sors, used texts of Scripture in discourses intended to fire the hearts of the people and induce them to " go to the help of the Lord against the mighty." In this they were successful. The women were as enthusiastic as the men. They threw their rings and other ornaments into the fund for the anny, and carried earth in their aprons to the workmen on the fortifications. Hamp- den," Cromwell,'' and many other members raised troops and put themselves at their head, and those ' . . . '' § 10, p. 404 who remained in London were indefatigable in form- ing and carrying on an orderly but vigorous government. The Houses usually sat three days in the week, and the other three days were occupied with committees, which met at the Goldsmiths', Haberdashers', and other companies' halls in the city. So soon as the king quitted London they dispensed with the custom of ask- ing his consent to anything that they had a mind to do ; and for the future, instead of Acts of Parliament, in the legal sense, they passed Ordinances in their own names only, many of which were deemed by the royalists as infinitely more* illegal and oppressive than anything that the king had ever attempted. ' 1 A late English writer, whose sympathies for the royal and church party of the time are very apparent, sums up as follows their principal measures, which the exi- gency of the case clearly called for, in an abridgment of a portion of the " Annals of Eng- land," prepared by himself, in which may be found the dates of the various ordinances : " By such instruments they levied heavy weekly assessments for the support of their army and the relief of the wounded, the widows and orphans, and rates for fortifying the city of London and many other places ; imposed an excise, and established courts- martial. They confiscated the estates of ' all persons, ecclesiastical or temporal,' who appeared in anna against them, or volimtarily contributed to the king's service, 420 HISTORY OF ENaiiAJNU. is^^juj^ y^^ Archbishop Laud beheaded. Professions of the Eepublicana. § 44. One of the most notable of the ordinances was that by which they put to death Archbishop Laud, * on the n e 14 Tl 40(i . . J. J! ^ ' * 10th of January, 1645. After an imprisonment of more than three years he had been brought to trial ; but in spite of all the inquisitorial diligence of the lawyer, Pryune,^ no ' real ground for condemning him could be found. He replied to every charge with a clearness and spirit wonderful in so old a man (he was seventy-two years of age), and fairly baffled his prose- cutors, when they solved the difficulty, as they had before done witli Strafford, •= by passing a vote [November 11, .1644] de- » § o2, p. 414. ^j^j.-j^g j^-j^ ^ traitor ; and it was with difficulty that they could be prevailed on to allow of his being beheaded, instead of being hanged like any common felon. § 45. Through the whole course of these proceedings the chief actors in them always professed to believe that the king was in the hands of a faction — usually, to make it the more odious, styled *'the popish faction," or the "queen's faction " — and that they took arms as much for his preservation as their own. Hence they always declared that their armies were raised for the service of the treated those who attempted to stand neuter as enemies, forbade quarter being given to Irishmen taken in England, and when the war was closed, ordered all 'papists, ofli- cers, and soldiers of fortune, and other delinquenis,' to remove from London, under the pains of treason. In direct violation of the Bill of Right, they made numberle^ forced levies of horses and arms ; gave powers to their generals to press men into their service; passed a most tyrannical ordinance to 'repress disorders in printing ;' and after imprisoning by mere arbitrary votes any who ventured to present addresses that were distasteful, they passed a rigid law against ' tumultuous petitioning,' the very means by which their own power had been firsL established. To keep alive the inter- est in their cause, they imposed a contribution of a meal a week towards the support of their troops, and ordained a monthly fast, besides numerous occasional ones; they also prohibited public amusements, but were obliged by the clamor of the London ap- prentices to allow the second Tuesday in each month as a day of recreation, instead of the customary festivals and holidays, which had been suppressed as superstitious and vain. To show their irreconcilable hostility to the church and its ministers, and to banish all decency and orfler from the public service of God, they ordered a sys- tematic defacement of churches, under tlie pretext of 'removing monuments of super- stition or idolati-y,' and removed ' scandalous ministers.' In forgettulness of their pro- fessed regard for 'tender consciences,'' they imposed the Covenant on all classes, be- ginning with the judges and lawyers, and disablmg all refusers to practise any liberal profession, or hold any public employment. They substituted the Directory for the Prayer-book; forbade preaching, except by persons allowed by both Houses; set up the Presbyterian form of church . government ; formally abolished episcopacy ; 'rcgii- lated* both the universitie'!, and sold the bishops'' lands, paying theirmost active in- struments ■with the proceeds, and thus making the plunder of the church directly contributory to the ruin of the State — a lesson which should not be forgotten." Ghapteb II.] THE STTTAETS. 421 Flight of the Queen. BatUes of Marston-moor and Newbury. " king and parliament," pi-ofessed unbounded deference and re- spect for Mm personally, and frequently invited him to leave his evil advisers, whom they were determined to bring to condign punishment, — his queen, who, in spite of many risks, had rejoined her husband " after the war broke out, being named as one of the chief. She, feeling her life in danger, ' left England soon after the battle of Marston-moor [July, 1644]; but even before tins their threats had detached many men from the king's party. One of these set the example of compounding for his " delinquency'' — that is, to pay whatever fine they chose to impose. It was that Sir Edward Deering, the Puritan, who had once so distinguished himself by persecuting the clergy and pro- posing to do away with episcopacy.'' He had become alarmed at the furious proceedings of the " Root and Branch," " and fled from them to Oxford. His estates were then seized, and, as he was a man of little courage or prin- ciple, he soon came back again, hoping to recover them. But in this he was disappointed, and he died shortly a,fterward, im- pitied by either party, though his young heir was favorably dealt with, to induce others to follow his example. § 46. In the first year of the war [a.d. 1643], success inclined to the king, and the parliament called in 30,000 Scots, under General Leslie, to their assistance, not only paying the soldiers for their services, but gratifying the rest of the nation by renouncing epis- copacy and taking the covenant. '' These allies, how- ever, did not suffice to turn the scale, as the king also found new adherents, and consequently the year 1644 was one of varied fortune to each party. Prince Rupert was defeated at Marston-moor [July 3, 1 644]. On the other hand, the Earl of Mon- trose raised the royal standard in Scotland, and inflicted many heavy blows on the covenanters ; and Essex, by some mismanage- ment, suffered himself to be surrounded in Cornwall, and his troops were oTDliged to surrender. A fresh army was now raised, under the Earl of Manchester and Sir William Waller, which fought an indecisive battle at Newbury [October 37], and then went into winter quarters. § 47. Great discontent and alarm now prevailed in the parliament, which Oliver Cromwell, bold and ambitious, aggravated by his Course. He had always been impatient of control, and had quar- relled with his general, Manchester, whom he regarded as too slow 422 HISTORY OP BKGLAJSTD. [Book VII. Cromwell's Course. Ironside Eeglment. Action on Cromwell's Advice, and cautious. Cromwell had shown much courage and conduct in the field, though he had not been bred to arms, and a regiment of horse that he had raised, mainly from among the small freehold- ers, his neighbors, was, on account of its prowess and endurance, popularly called the Ii-onsides, and regarded as the choicest of the parliamentary soldiery. Ci-omwell conceived the idea that the war was purposely prolonged by Essex, Waller, Leslie, and other soldiers by profession, for the sake of their own gain ; ' and he maintained that " men earnest in the cause" could and would finish it at once. He obtained a favorable hearing, and it v^as determined that the army should be placed on a " new model," his Ironsides being chosen to furnish it. At the same time a number of preachers, on a monthly fast-day, soon after the battle of Newbmy," ' ' ' declaimed simultaneously against the war, saying that their ill-success was a token from God that too many of the parlia- ment sought their own private ends, and held profitable oifices instead of attending to the aifairs of their country. Sir Henry Vane, a son of Charles's secretary of state, who was an acute poli- tician, expert statesman, and a religious enthusiast, was greatly moved by these charges, and at once offered to surrender an otHce that he held. Cromwell appeared even more eager, and not only proposed to give up his command, but exhorted all true lovers of their country to do the same, assuring the House that there were officers in the army not of their number who were fit for any com- mand in the world, naming as one. Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had long served the parliament in Yorkshire, and who had greatly con- , ^ tributed to the victory at Marston-moor.'' Thus they " § 40, p. 431. •" would have proper onicers for their new army, and they, the representatives of the people, could give all their atten- tion to redressing the evils of the State. § 48. In spite of the murmurs of the Lords (only twenty-two in number), a self-denying ordinance was passed, prohibiting any member of either house from holding any oifice of profit ; and in consequence Essex, Waller, and others resigned their commissions. Cromwell was absent on the day that this was done, and Fairfax, when put in Essex's post of lord general, applied for leave to keep Cromwell with him for a few days, for the purpose of assisting I Essex had an allowance from delinquents' estates of £10,000 per annum, and the pay of all ranks in their army was high. Hence many men were noted as haying grown rich by the war. Chapteb II.] THE STUARTS. 423 CromweU Acting Military Cliiet The King sold by the Scotch. him to get Ms troops in proper order. The permission -vvas granted, and when the Houses afterwards wished to recall it, they found the matter beyond their power. Fairfax proved to be a mere cipher, and Cromwell was his master and theirs. For it was he who had mainly gained the victory of Naseby [June 14, 1645], which in reality put an end to the war, though Montrose con- tinued in arms, and Oxford and some other of the royal garrisons held out for more than a year longer. § 49. The new model of the army had had the designed effect of filling its ranks with men of the sternest Puritanism, calling them- selves Independents, and to whom the Scots and the Presbyterians were almost as odious as the king and the church. Cromwell, especially, spoke slightingly of the Scotch troops, and his soldiers sometimes dragged the Presbyterian preachers out of their pulpits. Tliis might have been borne, but by his management the monthly pay of their "brethren of Scotland" was, under various pretences, purposely let fall into arrear. Alarmed at this, the Scots entered into negotiations with the king, who was still at Oxford, and he had the simplicity to repair to their quarters near Newark [May, 1646], thinking that this appeal to their honor and good feeling would procure him, as "their native prince," better terms than the English parliament would oifer. § 50. But the king was deceived. The parliament (or rather CromWeU and his Independents) threatened to take him from them by force, on which the Scots carried him with them to Newcastle, but announced that they would be ready to deliver him up "on a consideration being paid for their losses, hazards, charges, and damage," which "consideration" they fixed at £1,000,000. The sum of £400,000, which was raised by. the sale of the bishops' lands, was offered to them. This they accepted, and then marched off to their own country, leaving the unhappy king in the hands of the parliamentary commissioners. Their conduct was approved in Scotland, only fourteen members in the parliament there voting against it ; ' but after a time the people became sensible of the disgrace, and to wipe it off they went to war with the English in 1648. § 51. When the king was thus secured, the parliament made a momentary show of independence, not only by entering into nego- 1 The first man to object was Alexander Strang, a shoemaker, the provost of Porfar, ■Who, when asked for his vote, replied, *'I disapprove, as an honest man should do." 424 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VII. Cromwell and the ParUamnnt at War. Levellers. Flight oi the King, tiation with him, but by proi^osing to disband the greater portion, of the army and send the rest to Ii-eland, where civil war still raged. Relying on the support of their fortifications, which were manned by the London militia under General Skippon, they assumed a lofty tone, and threatened the soldiera as ■' disturbers of the public peace." But CromweU, who was named for dismissal, thwarted all their measures. He was the real commander of the army, though, for appearance' sake, Fahf ax " was re- • § 48, p. 432. ^g^j^p^ g^^. j^g j^gg^^_ Cromwell's steps were prompt and decided. By his direction the king was seized at Holdenby House and brought to the army, which the very next day [June 5, 1647] refused to be disbanded. Then he marched upon London, where the militia abandoned the forts at his approach, and com- pelled the parliament to expel several obnoxious members and to recall all theh offensive declarations which seemed meant to unite the royalists and the Presbyterians against the araiy. Finally, he installed the king at Hampton Court, offering to replace him on the throne. But the conditions that he proposed were so burden- some that Charles, instead, listened to the Scots, most erroneously thinking that whatever party he joined with must prevail. Then Cromwell boldly proclaimed his republicanism, by saying openly, " How happy the condition of this people would be if our gov- ernment were on the model of that so firmly established in Hol- land! " § 53. A faction called Levellers had now arisen in the anny, who, even more republican and unrelenting than the men who had begun the war, clamored for the abolition of all distinctions in the State, and openly demanded the death of the king as the cause of all the bloodshed. Alarmed at theu' menaces, the monarch fled from Hampton Court to Carisbrook Castle, in the Isle of b e 9, p. 2. ^ ' Wight,'' but only to find himself still a prisoner. The governor was Colonel Hammond, the son-in-law of Hampden," and he was so unlikely to be favorable to the king ■ that it is supposed Charles was betrayed into his hands when he really meant to escape to the Continent in a, ship that had been promised him. He renewed his efforts to negotiate with the par- liament, but the army interfered, and, coerced by them, the Houses declared they would no more hold treaty with Mm, and would treat as traitors all who should attempt to do so. § 58. This declaration, as showing their submission to the sol- Chapter II.] THE STUARTS. 425 Invasion by the Scots, and Insurrections. CromwolVs Measures. diery, was odious even to many of their own party, and the king procured an appeal to the people to be circulated, which had such an eifect that risings in his favor took place in many parts of the country. But Cromwell was able to put them all down, as well as to defeat the Scots, who, according to their engagement with the king," had entered the north of England. Their a ft ^0 r» ^OQ leader was that Duke of Hamilton who had been sup- ' § 24, p. 410. posed to asph-e to the throne of Scotland, >" and who had tlii-oughout the war acted a very ambiguous part. Some of the king's ships, which had long served the parliament, went over to the royal side, and blockaded the river Thames ; but from an idea that there was a party favorable to the king in London, they did no damage. In the mean time a formidable rising had oc«- curred in Kent and Essex ; but this also was suppressed ; and to show that a government was now established against which it should be treason to take up arms. Sir Qeorge Lisle and Sir Charles Lucus, who had defended Colchester, were shot, and Lord Capel, Lord Holland, and the Duke of Hamilton were beheaded. § 54. Still the work of Cromwell and his associates was not complete. Soon after the suppression of these lisings the parlia- ment, contrary to the vote they had passed, resumed negotiation with the king, and sent a committee to treat with him at Newport, in the Isle of Wight. The negotiations lasted for two months (Cromwell being absent in Scotland), and the king agreed to most of their proposals, when the council of officers accused the parlia- ment of perfidy, and marched several regiments into London. In spite of this the parliament, after a three days' debate, voted that the king's concessions were a sufficient ground for a settlement. On the following day [December 6, 1648] the house was beset l:)y a guard, commanded by Colonel Thomas Pride. As the members approached they were identified by Lord Gray of Groby, when forty-seven who had spoken most freely in favor of the treaty were sent to various prisons, and ninety-six more who could not be depended on were expelled. This act, reheving parliament of ob- noxious members, is known in histoi'y as "Pride's Purge." The privileged members who remained were called the "rump of the parliament," and the assembly which they formed is known in history as the "Rump Parliament." § 55. The parliament, now reduced to about fifty persons, voted as the army would have them, that the kiug should be 4:26 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VH. Trial of the King. Efforts to save his Life. His Execution. brougtt to trial as guilty of treason against his people. He had akeady been seized in the Isle of Wight, and carried to Hurst Castle, on the opposite coast, and after a short detention there was placed at Windsor, -where he was treated with extreme rigor and indignity. On the 1 sf of January, 1 649, the Commons resolved that a "high court of justice" should be erected to try him. The peers refused to concur, and adjourned their House, when the Commons declared that the supreme authority resided in them- selves, and passed the f oi-mal ordinance for the trial. § 56. Before this court, held at the upper end of Westminster Hall, and which was presided over by John Bradshaw, a lawyer, and was nominally composed of 150 members, the king was brought on four separate days. Like his grandmother, Mary Queen of Scots," before a similar tribunal, he refused 'to acknowledge its jurisdiction, and next demanded a conference with the parliament. Tliis was refused. His trial was begun on the 18th of January, 1649, and ended on the 37th of the same month, when sentence of death was pronounced. Butch ambassadors, who had been sent over to watch the momentous proceeduigs, generously interceded for the king's life, and pre- sented a paper from Charles, the Prince of Wales, signed and sealed, for the heads of the army to insert their own terms for sparing his father's life. It was of no avail, and the tragedy went on. Fairfax and the Presbyterians generally had refused to join in the proceedings against the king, and the commissioners of the Scots'* protested against the English alone disposing of their prince. But Cromwell and his associates were not men to be turned from their purpose by anything but force, and having the army entirely at their command, no one could use this power against them. § 57. Three days were allowed to the unhappy king to prepare for death, which he passed mainly in company with Juxon, Bishop of London He also took leave of his children, then in England; ' „„„ but he declined to see his nephew, the Elector Pala- e § 20, p. S96. . , , T . ^ ' tme," who had jomed the parliament against him, and also some of his most faithful adherents, his time, as he said, being too short. On the 30th of January his head was cut off 1 Elizabeth and Henry, who had long been prisoners in the hands of the parliament. The princess died in confinement in 1650 ; bnt Henry was released in 1652, and joined his brothers on the Oontinent, Chapteb n.] THE STUARTS. 427 A Substitute for tlie Chnrcli Liturgy. The reign of Charles the First. before his own palace of Whitehall ; and on the 8th of the fol- lowing month he was buried at Windsor, the parliamentary gov- ernor being present, and denying his afflicted servants the melan- choly privilege 'of reading the burial service of the Anglican Chm-ch over his remains. The parliament, which had quarrelled with the church on the ground that no allowance was made for "tender consciences," had, by means of their Assembly of Divines, compiled a sort of liturgy called the Directory for Public Wor- ship, which, to the extent of their power, they imposed on every one in place of the Prayer-book ; and the services of the church were forbidden to be used, even in private, under heavy penalties. But they were used, with more or less of secrecy, during all the gloomy period of the civil war; and several of the bishops braved all consequences by ordaining priests and deacons. § 58. Charles, thoroughly imbued with the high ideas of his father about the divine right of kings,' asserted it even on the scaffold, when addressing those present he assured them that the people ought never to have a share in the government, that being " a thing nothing pertaining to them,'' and that he "died a martyr to the people." He expired after a turbulent and most unhappy reign of twenty-four years, in the forty-ninth year of his age. His unfaithful queen, who had brought much evil upon him and his people,' was 1 r J ' § 1. p. 400. then enjoying the smiles of a lover (Jermyn) in Flan- ders, whom she married soon after the death of her unhappy hus- band. BOOK VIII. THE COMMONWEALTH. [FHOM A.D. 1649 TO 1660.] CHAPTER I. THE Ebptjblic. [a.d. 1649 TO 1653.] § 1. On the day of tte death of Cliarles the First [January 30, 1649] the House of Commons passed an act prohibiting, under penalty of prosecution for treason, the proclamation of the Prince of Wales, or any other, to be king or chief magistrate of England or Ireland, without consent of parliament. They voted to abolish the office of a king, and the House of Lords, as "unnecessary, bm- densome, and dangerous to the liberty, safety, and public interests of the people." Also, to throw down the royal arms in everyplace where found, and for putting in their places an inscription in Latin, declaring the abolition of royalty, and the establishment of freedom at the date of the late king's death. A great seal of the Commonwealth was made, bearing a map of England and Ireland on one side, and a representation of an assembled parlia- ment on the other, around which were the words, " The fikst YBAE OF FKBBDOM BY THE God's BLESSING UESTORED, 1648." ' § 3. Having thus made an entire change in the outward form of the government, the law courts were opened, and an Executive Council of State was appointed, composed of forty-one § 56, p. 436. , ^ . ' "^ „ ' ' members. Its president was Bradshaw," with a salary of £3,000 a. year, and several other lawyers and civilians had 1 It was etlll customary to reckon tlie beginning of a year, according to the old Jew- Isli habit, on the 26ih of March. James the Sixth of Scotland (James the First of England) had, in imitation of Numa Pompilins, the Roman ruler, more than six hundred years before Christ, decreed the beginning of the year to be on the flrsit of January, but that custom was not established in England until the year 1752, Hence In the record under consideration, January, 1649, was reckoned in the year 1648. Chapter I.] THE COMMONWEALTH. 429 Cromwell Dictator. Prince of Wales proclaimed King. Civil War in Ireland. seats; but the real head of the government was Cromwell, the great military leader, who soon came to be called "King Crom- well," so absolute appeared his power. It was he, and not his nominal masters, the parliament, who conquered Scotland and Ireland, forced the proud French and Spanish courts to receive ambassadors from the new government, and humbled the power- ful Dutch Republic, which had once been so favorable to them. Desborough, his brother-in-law ; Ireton, his son-in-law ; and Lam- bert, a trusted confederate, though not of the council, assisted him in all his projects whilst there were armed enemies to subdue, but no longer. § 3. The Scotch commissioners " quitted London very soon after the formation of the new government, their intention « § 27, p. 411. being to proceed to Holland and offer their crown to Charles, the Prince of Wales, who, with his brother, the Duke of York, resided there, and had some ships at his disposal. They were seized at Q-ravesend, and sent under an escort to Scotland ; but the prince was proclaimed by the Scottish parliament as Cliarles the Second. War was naturally expected, "^ § 48, p. 422. when Fairfax ^ declared that in such a case he would not take arms against his fellow Presbyterians. This declaration exactly suited Cromwell ; but the state of affairs did not allow of an immediate war with Scotland. It was Ireland, where the Mar- quis of Ormond had proclaimed Charles, that was to be first reduced, and Fairfax was named lord-lieutenant for ' the pur- pose. § 4. Civil war had long been carried on in Ireland in the most barbarous manner, the parliamentarians being forbidden to give quarter to Irishmen, even if found in England in the king's ser- vice, and the natives retaliating to the extent of their power. Cromwell, with Ireton, his son-in-law, passed over in August, 1649, with 6,000 foot and 3,000 horse, stormed Drogheda and Wexford, and put every defender to the sword. He thus struck such terror everywhere that little resistance .was afterwards at- tempted so long as he remained in the island, which was about ten months. He supposed that " this bitterness would save much effusion of blood ; " but before he could complete the conquest of the country, he was called away by the news that Prince Charles had landed in Scotland, where the gallant Montrose had preceded him, only to fall a sacrifice to the. hatred of the 430 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book VIII. Cromwell at the Head oJ the Army. His successful Invasion ol Scotland, very men who now professed such love for royalty. Among these the Marquis of Argyle was very conspicuous. § 5. Fairfax was now urged to take the command of the anny against the Scots, no one seeming so earnest in the matter as CromweU. He again declined, and "my lord general," as Crom- well was called, set forward with his army to anticipate an ex- pected invasion. He crossed the Tweed, and keeping near to the coast, for the purpose of receiving supplies from his ships, he reached the neighborhood of Edinburgh without opposition. Here he found the city strongly fortified and a considerable army gathered, but it was weak from internal dissensions. Many of the English royalists liad joined the young King Charles, and as they were mostly veteran soldiers they would have been of great service had not the zealous preachers who ruled the ' ' ' army insisted on their departure, as they had not taken the covenant." § 6. Cromwell was now in a difficult position. Bad weather prevented his ships keeping up their communication with him, sickness attacked his army, which suffered from want of provi- sions, and he occupied a confined spot on the sea-shore near Dunbar, whence he could neither advance nor retreat. He was saved, it would appear, only by the mad conduct of the Scottish preachers. They came into the army in crowds, and by their furious harangues, all having the same purport, " Surely the Lord hath delivered them into our hands," they excited such a spirit in their disorderly levies, that their general, Leslie,' a b § 46^ p. 421. . J 1 t) 1 > soldier of the German wars, was obliged, against his better judgment, to leave his strong post on the hills and march down to attack the English. Cromwell hastened to meet him, and after a sharp battle killed or captured the greater part of his army on the 3d of September, 1050. Edinburgh at once surrendered, but the castle held out till near the end of the year. § 7. Piince Charles was crowned King of Scotland at Scone, on the 1st of January, 1651 ; but he found himself exposed to so many humiliations — being obliged daily to attend long sermons, where the " sins of his father and his mother," and fierce revilings of himself and his English adherents formed the only theme — that he determined to "put all upon a cast," and invade England whilst his formidable opponent, Cromwell, was employed in re- Chapter I.] THE COMMONWEALTH. 431 Prince Charles seeking a Throne. His Defeat and Escape. -ducing the east of Scotland. His plans were 'well laid, and start- ing from Stii-ling with about 20,000 men, on the 31st of July, he hastily traversed Cumberland, Lancashire, and Shropshire, where it was hoped that Shrewsbury would be surrendered to them, and many English adherents would join ; but this did not occur. The governor refused to admit them, and it was then proposed to march direct on London ; but the army was now found so ex- hausted by its rapid movement that it was thought better to make for Worcester, a town that had always been loyal, and where they were received with great joy on the 22d of August, 1651. § 8. Cromwell marched with equal expedition as soon as he heard of the departure of the young king from Stirling. He compelled the country people to carry their arms for his troops, and sent for forces from every part of England, which were pushed forward under Lambert and Fleetwood. He reached Worcester on the 28th of August, and, his army being much stronger than that of his opponent, he hemmed in the royalists on every side. They had fortified the town and broken down the bridges over the Severn and the Teme, which occasioned some delay; but on the 3d of September, after some hours' hard fight- ing, the parliamentarians gained what Cromwell called a " crown- ing mercy," and the hopes of the royalists were crushed for a while. The Duke of Hamilton (the brother of the nobleman be- headed in 1649)" was mortally wounded in the bat- tle. About 2,000 men fell in the field, whilst some ' 10,000 were made prisoners, the country people in many cases rising on them in their flight as " foreigners," for so the Scots were still considered. The English royalists were either killed or had separated from them. Of these the Earl of Derby, long a formidable opponent of the parliament, was taken and executed. § 9. Cromwell soon returned to London. As he approached the city he was met by the entire parliament, the municipal authori- ties, and a vast concourse of people, and he was conducted with almost royal honors to Hampton Couit Palace. The young king escaped to Prance after a series of almost miraculous preserva- tions, in which poor men like the Pendrells and the priest John Huddlestone showed that they were neither allured by the re- ward of £1,000 that was offered for his betrayal, nor frightened by the penalties of treason that were denounced against all who 432 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book Vni. Scotland and Irelana subjugated. General Monk. should shelter Mm, and which there could be no doubt would be' inflicted should they be discovered. The prince, who had shown much courage in battle, was cool and skilful in effecting his escape. He wandered about from place to place, sometimes hid- ing and sometimes disguised in the dress of a fanner or a servant. At length he reached Shoreham, on the coast of Sussex, and at about the middle of October [a.d. 1651] he crossed the Channel to France, in a coal vessel. He abandoned all thoughts of an- other invasion, and did not see England again until he was brought from the Continent to the throne of his father by Gen- eral Monk. § 10. The loss of their army quite broke the spirit of the Scots, and after the storming of Dundee by Monk [Sept. 1651], who imi- tated Cromwell at Drogheda, the whole country quietly subsided into an English dependency, governed by commissioners from the j)arliament. The people were disarmed ; their laws were changed ; estates were coniiscated ; preachers were silenced ; and military men, of Cromwell's own cast, garrisoned evei-y place, living at free quarter, gathering taxes at the point of the sword, and ever ready to crush the iirst symptom of opposition. In this they were greatly aided by the Marquis of Argyle, the only man of any consideration who openly joined them, though many more sub- mitted to their fate as an unavoidable evil ; but still bands of royalists constantly appeared, paiUcularly in the Highlands, and taxed all the energy of Monk, who was the chief commander, to deal with them. He was originally a royalist, but being taken pi-isoner whilst serving with some Irish troops in England, he only saved his life by joining the parliamentarians. He was a man of dark, impenetrable character. Cromwell suspected him of keep- ing up a correspondence with the exiled king, yet he did not ven- ture to displace him, as he wasvery popular with the soldiers under his command. § 11. Ireland was reduced to subjection about the same time as Scotland, but had a much harder fate. The parliamentary com- missioners sent to govern it seem to have aimed at peopling the coun- try anew with English or Scottish settlers, and therefore they ti-ied every means in their power to get rid of the native population. Thousands of the men who had been in ai-ms were willing to serve foreign States, and they were allowed to save their lives by doing so, and to take as many more with them. The fertile Chapteb I.] THE COMMONWEALTH. 433 Avoirs in Ireland. Oromwell and tlie Parliament. lands that they had been driven from were divided among the " undertakers," as they were called, that is, the persons who had lent money to the parliament to carry on the war, and the soldiers who had fought in it. Cromwell's son Henry was appointed to the government in 1654, and his rule was lenient when compared with that of the commissioners. In 1659 he was recalled, when the government fell into the hands of Lord Broghill and Colonel Coote, and they, seeing that the restoration of the king was pro- bable, at once offered him the services of the Protestants in Ire- land on condition of being secured in then- possessions. This offer was accepted, notwithstanding its injustice to thousands who had adhered to the royal cause, but some slight compensation was eventually given to a few among them. § 12. At the desire of Cromwell, an amnesty was granted early in the year 1653, by which he gained favor even in the eyes of the royalists ; , and as he took no active part in a naval war that soon after broke out with the Dutch, he and his council of officers employed themselves in augmenting the discontent with which the parliament was now everywhere regarded, not only for their tyranny, but for their clinging to power and place in spite of every remonstrance. They had, at the instance of Cromwell, in November, 1651, decided that the present parliament should cease in ISTovember, 1654; but they continued to act as if they contem- plated no dissolution, and considered their power to be per- petual. To explain this, a brief glance at their four years' admin- istration is necessary. § 13. The soldiers throughout the war had prided themselves on an honorable observance of the terms that they granted to their opponents, and now that the war was over, the parliament loudly professed their intention of upholding a legal government, under which every man should have a fair and open trial before the ordinary tribunals, let the cause be what it might, either for life or property. But scarcely were they in power before they contra- dicted all their professions by erecting what they were pleased to call " high courts of justice," which dealt even more hardly than courts-martial with all brought before them.' As one instance, 1 The president of tliese tribunals was nsually John Lisle, a judge at the trial of the late king, and a conuniasioncr of the great seal. His harsh bearing to the prisoners rendered him very odious, and he was assassinated soon after the restoration of royalty. 19 434 HISTORY OF ENGLAIO). [Book VIII. Tyranny oJ the ParUament. Unpopularity of the Parliament. AccoBations. , twenty-four persons were tried by one of these new tribunals for a mere riot at Norwich, and twenty of them were executed. And they went beyond the precedent of all former tyranny by passing an act which made words alone treason. Even the Tudors had thought it needful to affiim that something had been done as well as said before they declared a man a traitor. Under that act they put on trial for his life John Lilburn," a Leveller," ■ ' who had dared to write of their proceedings as they desei-ved, in a pamphlet called "England's New Chains Discovered." They made the mistake of bringing him before a jury instead of a "high court of justice," '' and, after a most spirited ■ ■ defence, he was acquitted. He was, however, marked for ruin ; and soon afterward, having a quan-el with Sir Arthm- Haselrigge, one of the council, he was accused of libelling him, and was, by a special act, banished for life without even a hearing. ° § 14. There was another matter that exposed the parliament to much odium, and that was their excessive egotism and pride, and the public plunder that they shared. One of their earliest acts had been to lodge the Council of State » in the palace of <: 5 3 p 428 Whitehall, and devote £10,000 worth of the late king's rich goods to fm'nishing the rooms of " my Lords," as their councillors were called, as they held the political relations to parliament that the House of Lords did formerly. Tliis was resented as an extravagance by their own party, for all that pro- perty had been ordered to be sold towards paying the public debts, which were of vast amount, and it was regarded by the royalists as little less than sacrilege. Also, like other men placed in tem- porary power, many of them " hasted to grow rich " at the public expense. Lands to the value of £2,000 a year were settled on Bradshaw, the jiresident of the Council. The same amount was ..„ settled on Skippon,"! and the same on the family of 1 § 37, p. 41S. ^^ ' •' Ireton." Hasemgge received so much of the church ' ' ' lands in the north that he was commonjly known as 1 He had been a London apprentice, and bore a whipping for circulating some books offensive to the Star-chamber with such stoicism that he received from Ms party the name of " Sturdy John." He served in the parliamentary army, but was so insubor- dinate that he was always in difficulties, and it was said of him that if he were alone in the world, " Jtohn would fight Lilbum, and Lilbiu-n, Jolin." 2 He returned when Cromwell expelled the parliament, and addressed to him his " Banished Man's Plea," which was imfavorably received. He was again tried, and though acquitted, was kept in prison in Jersey for some years. At length he wa.s liberated, and received a small pension for his subaiBtence, but died soon afteruard. Chaptkr 1.] THE COMMONWEALTH. 435 Heavy Taxation. The Long Parliument dispersed. the Bishop of Dm-ham; aud Richmond Park was given to the citizens of London. Cromwell, also, was well Rewarded by his friends, and before he openly seized on the supreme power, Hampton Court and £7,000 a year had been granted to him, beside his army pay of £10 a day, and his salary as lord-lieutenant of Ii-eland. But as many looked up to him for preferment, and all saw in him a probable future ruler, his aggrandizement was less ofEonsive than that of any of his colleagues. § 15.. Whilst the parliament men thus grew rich, and manifestly remained in power for that very purpose, the people groaned under a weight of taxation such as they had never felt before, and the merchants suffered vast losses from their ships being captured by privateers fitted out from the Scilly Isles," Man,' or Jersey, where the royalists still maintained them- ' '"' selves. They were not reduced until the close of the year 1651. Very shortly afterward a more formidable war broke out with the Dutch, commencing ostensibly fi-om a quaiTel about the honor of the flag, but really in resentment of the shelter afforded to the royalists. Several desperate actions were fought, in which Ad- miral Blake and General Monk greatly distinguished bSlfiT) 407 themselves; and the vessels of the "ship-money fleet,'"' ' though chiefly manned by the Anabaptists," fulfilled theii' original purpose of chastising the Hollanders, who were , at last obliged to sue for peace. § 16. From the first day that the parliament met after the exe- cution of the king, they had been told from all quarters that they had already been in being too long, and had been urged to make preparations for theii- own dissolution. But this they had no inclination to do ; and until their masters, the array, remonstrated with them, they hardly vouchsafed a reply. Then they named the period of three years, as we have seen, at the end of which they wpuld certainly separate. Tliis was looked upon as a studied defiance ; but still Cromwell pretended to hesitate. At last, taking a body of musketeers with him, he entered the House on the 20th of April, 1653, and violently expelled the members while over- whelming them with reproaches. Then, -svith the key of the par- liament chamber in his pocket, he walked back to Whitehall, the absolute master of the three kingdoms. Then he proceeded to 1 This belonged to the Earl of Derby,^ and his countess defended it after Ms death, till treacherj' in her garri!;on obliged her to surrender. " ft *> i"- ^i'* 430 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VIII. Cromwell seizes Supreme Power. The '* Bareboiies Parliament." disperse the Council by a peremptoiy order, wlien he was com- pelled to listen to some pl^in talk from Bradshaw and others. He next published a justification of his proceedings, which was well received, in which he declared, with well-feigned sincerity, that he had done it all unwillingly, and declared that "he had prayed the Lord to slay him rather than put him on that work." § 17. The Dictator (for such, in fact, Cromwell now was) re- placed the Council of State by one of only twelve members, of his own selection, and then, in his own name, summoned abopt 140 persons, described as " men faithful, fearing God, and hating covetousuess," to meet as a parliament, which they accordingly did, on the 4th of July, 1653. This assembly became commonly known as the " Little Parliament " and as the " Barebones Parlia- ment," after one of its noisiest talkers. Praise God Barbone, a leather-seller of London. The very name of this assembly has ever since been a term of reproach, and yet several useful measures were proposed in it, only they were lost sight of among the ab- surdities of some of the members. Francis Rous, the Speaker, tlioutrh he extolled Cromwell as greater than Moses and Joshua combined, wished to- see a government " under God alone," as with the Jews of old ; whilst others would have burnt the records in the Tower as l.iadges of slavery; and the "men of high flight" desired to abolish "magistracy, ministry, and law," as not needed among the Saints, as they ridiculously styled the republican party. They passed about five months in this idle talk, when Cromwell, seeing that they were not likely to forward his ambitious views, or to serve the State properly, induced a few of their number to resign their powers into his hands, when, on the 13th of Decem- ber, he expelled the rest by a company of soldiers, as he had done their predecessors. And so it was that Oliver Cromwell's am- bition to serve himself or his country as supreme ruler culminated in absolute usurpation. § 18. What was Cromwell's motive at that time in assuming su- preme power is yet an unsettled question. Some regard Cromwell as a seMsh usurper. The larger portion of intelligent students look upon him as a vnse patriot, who, perceiving that the people were not sufllciently educated for self-government, took advantage of his own popularity to establish, in his own person, a govern- ment that should save them from anarchy, and secure to them order, peace, and prosperity. Chapter II.] THE COMMOKWEALTH. 437 Cromwell made Lord Protector of England. CHAPTER II. THE Pbotectorate. [a.d. 1653 TO 1660.] § 1. When Cromwell had received the resignation of power from the parliament, he called a council of officers and other per- sons, when it was resolved to " have a Commonwealth in a single person, which person should be the Lord-General Oliver Crom- well, under the title and dignity of Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the dominions and territories thereunto belonging," who was to be assisted in the government by a council of " godly, able, and discreet persons," not more than twenty-one in number. It was decreed that the supreme legislative authority should " be and reside in the Lord Protector and the people as- sembled in pailiament," which should be imperial in its character, and not to exceed four hundred members for England (including Wales), thirty for Scotland, and thii-ty for Ireland. With these royal functions Cromwell was invested [December 16, 1653] by the notables of the realm, while he stood in a suit of black velvet, by a chair of state, set in the midst of the Court of Chancery. There he took an oath to rule according to the terms of a constitution, written on parchment, called the Instrument of Government. He was now, in fact, monarch of England, and he asph-ed to the crown of a constitutional sovereign, with many of the prerogatives for which Charles the First contended, and was beheaded by Cromwell. § 3. It was agreed that a parliament should not meet uutU nine months after Cromwell's accession to power, and that during that time he and the Council should rule aibsolutely. Long before that time CromweU found that he had disgusted many of his old associates, who now justly reproached him to his face with aiming at arbitrary power. He committed some of them to the Tower, but this did not hinder their opinions from spreading ; and when the parliament assembled [Sept. 8, 1654], they at once began to ques- tion his authority. He sent for them to Whitehall, and reproached them for their conduct, telling them that the Insti-ument that made them a Parliament made him also Protector. He declared that he had rights and powers independent of them, and he therefora would not allow any to sit among them who refused to sign a declaration that they would not attempt any alteration in the 438 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VIII. Cromwell playB the Autocrat. England's Power respected. Method of Rule. government. Thus he got rid of a great number, but those who remained were found little more compliant. They persisted in debating the provisions of the Instrument, questioned much that had been done in the nine months' interval before- their assembly, and rejected, by a very large majority, a motion to make the pro- tectorship hereditary in his family. At length [January 31, 1655] he summoned them before him, made a long speech, in wlrich he bitterly reproached them, among many other things, with not pro- viding pay for the army, with the intent that the soldiers should thus be rendered mutinous and dangerous, and concluded : . " It is not for the profit of these nations, nor for the common and public good, for you to continue here any longer, and therefore I do declare unto you that I do dissolve this parliament." § 3. Tlie Protector was not blind to the growing discontents, and he felt that something must be done to give prestige to his rule. So he sent out two strong fleets, one of wliich, under Admiral Blake, rendered good seiTice by chastising the Bar- bary pirates ; " the other, under Admirals Penn and « § 19, p. 408. J r 1 ' Venables, captured the Island of Jamaica from the Spaniards. The war was entii-ely unprovoked by the latter— in fact, they had ever kept on good terms with the parliament, and had even condescended to purchase the king's pictures from them. But it answered Cromwell's avowed purpose of "making the name of Englishmen terrible abroad," and the French king en- tered into an alliance with him, an example that other sovereigns followed. English troops were in consequence sent over to Flan- ders, where they captured Dunku-k, and held it till alter the res- toration of monarchy. Feeling his power, Cromwell was accus- tomed to speak haughtily of it, saying that a ship of war was the best ambassador, and that he could make the thunders of his can- non heard at Rome, and even on the Neva. He really made the power of England felt and feared more extensively than ever before. § 4. But if the foreign career of Cromwell was thus successful, it was not so at home, except when he di-opped all pretence of legal government, and ruled avowedly by the sword, with a standing army of 30,000 men at his command. The dismissal of his par- liament occasioned such general discontent among the republicans, that the hopes of the royalists revived, and preparations were made for a rising in many pai-ts of the country on the eaisuing Chapter II,] THE COMIKOIWEALTH. 439 Cromwell's dealings with Insurgents and Conspirators. A new Parliament. 18th of April, 1655. The impatience of Sir Joseph Wagstafle, an officer of the old royal army, anticipated this. Without waiting for his confederates from Hampshire, he marched into Salisbmy on the moming of the 11th of March, seized the judges, who were there on circuit, and the sheriff, and proposed to hang them, by way of committing his followers (about 200 horsemen) beyond hope of pardon. His counsel horrified his associates, Penrud- dock. Groves, and other Wiltshire gentlemen, who were quite un- used to war, and they absolutely refused to follow it. Instead, they retreated into Devonshire, where they found no one prepared to join them. They were soon obliged to surrender, and were executed ; but WagstafEe made his escape. A rising in the north was equally abortive ; but Cromwell made these attempts the pre- text for acting with extreme rigor against all who had ever been of th|^ royal party. Without any inquiry as to whether they had given any countenance to these risings, he seized on one-tenth of all their property ; and he forbade the expelled clergy to act as schoolmasters, though the majority of them had no other means of living, for the fifth of the value of their benefices, which the parliament professed to grant them, was paid but in very few instances by their successors. The Levellers "■ and republicans, who were also conspiring against him, ' he treated with less severity ; but to guard against the machi- nations of the various parties he now divided the country into fourteen districts, which his majors-general ruled with absolute power. § 5. This state of things continued until the middle of the fol- lowing year [a.d. 1656], when, from the increasing dissatisfaction, he was obliged to summon a new parliament [Sept. 17], and this he endeavored to make compliant by adopting the extraordinary course of allowing none to sit, though duly elected, without being first formally approved by himself. Of course many were thus excluded, and a body of ninety-eight of them published a stinging- Remonstrance, in which they denounced those who had been ap- proved, as " betrayers of the liberties of England, and adherents to the capital enemies of the commonwealth." It declared them to be in no proper sense a parliament, seeing that they sat in daily terror of the Protector's ai-med men, and dared not debate freely or oppose his usurpation and oppression. The assembled body fully justified this description. They drew up a fresh constitution 440 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VIII. Cromwell's Boyal State. Popnlar Discontent. He fears AsBassiaation. of government, called the Humble Petition and Advice, which confirmed Cromwell in power, allowed him to name his successor, and to create a House of Peers. They also proposed to give him the title of kins;; but Lambert' and other officers of * 8 9. T) 428 'the army so vehemently opposed this that he was obliged to decline it. - But he was again inaugurated with regal pomp in Westminster Hall, the coronation- chair being brought from the Abbey for the purpose [June 36, 1657]. § 6. This was the final quarrel between Cromwell and many of the men who had helped him to his exalted position. Lambert re- fused to take the oaths to him, and Harrison, one of the most active officers, was sent to the Tower on the charge of at- b S T Ti ^9 ' ' tempting an Anabaptist * insurrection. Many of this party, which abounded in the navy as well as in the army, had already opened a communication with the exiled king ; otheg were taken into the pay of Spain, in revenge for Cromwell's ' " ' aggression ; ■= and Sexby, one of these, distributed a pamphlet called " Killing no Murder," in which the assassination of the Protector was recommended as a duty. Sexby was seized and condemned to death. He poisoned himself in the Tower, but this was turned into a reproach to Cromwell, as if he had thus got rid of a man whom he dared not execute. From this time forward all accounts agree that the Protector showed great dread of assassination. He doubled his guards ; wore armor under his ordinary clothing ; never went anywhere and retm-ned by the same route, and seldom occupied the same room- two nights in succession. § 7. To add to Cromwell's mortification, when his parliament met again [January 20, 1658] they refused to recognize the new peers,* and were dismissed in a fortnight. The ex- iled King of Scotland ' was prompt to take advan- ' ' ' tage of the discontent that this measure occasioned. He collected a body of troops in Flanders, and made ready to embark for England ; but the Protector's ships watched the ports, and the only result was that Sir HemT- Slingsby, an old royalist officer, and Dr. Hewitt, a clergyman, were seized whilst arranging a rising, and beheaded. But the great change was now at hand. Cromwell had suffered much from fever and ague, and was too ill to address his parliament when they met. He grew gradually worse, and at last he died at Whitehall, on the 3d of Sei^tember, Chaptee II.] THE COMMOITO'EALTH. 441 Death oi Cromwell. His Character. His Successor. 1658, the anmversary of his great victories at Worcester and Dunbar. § 8. Oliver Cromwell left a name that will not be forgotten, though not deserving all the praise or aU the blame that has been heaped upon it. That he had great skill in war, and equally great skill in penetrating other men's thoughts whilst he con- cealed his own, is undeniable. It is also probable that he was not naturally bloodthirsty, though he had no scruple at shedding blood when he thought his own or the State's purposes required it ; but there seems no reason for styling him an able governor, for he appears to have thought that he could rule a nation by just the same violent means as he employed to reduce a mutinous regi- ment. His iron hand repeatedly crushed resistance at heme ; but it was as constantly renewed, wliilst his popularity, with even his awn sect in religion and politics, declined. It might very prob- ably have driven him from his seat, had his life been much longer. § 9. Cromwell was in the sixtieth year of his age when he died. Just before he expired he expressed a desire that his son Eichard should be his successor. This desire was made a binding obli- gation, according to the terms of the new constitution,"- and Bichard was received as such with all the usual signs of acquiescence. He was solemnly proclaimed to be Lord Protector, first in London and Westminster, and then in all the cities and towns in the realm, including Dunkirk and the Ameri- can plantations.' The young Protector was in a short time so suddenly displaced, that the royalists gave him the name of " Tumble-down Dick." § 10. The overthrow of Richard was, in fact, a military revo- lution, which ended in restoring the king, though not so intended. Lambert ^ and the other chief officers ' ' had borne the elder Cromwell's supremacy merely because they 1 sir WiUiam Berkeley, the Grovemor of Virginia, was a zealous royalist, and that proTince remained loyal. When republican government was proclaimed in England, the colonists boldly recognized Charles, who was crowned at Scone, "^ a % 8, p. 430. as their sovereign. They even sent a message to him in Flanders, inviting him to come over and be their king. lie contemplated doing so when he was recalled to England. Tn gratitude to those loyal colonists, he caused the iirras of Virginia to be quartered with those of England, Scotland, and Ireland, as an inde- pendent member of the empire. From this circumstance Virginia received the name of The Old Dominion. 19* 44:2 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book Till. The end of the Protxsotorate. A Itoyalist lusun-eotion. could not shake it off; but they had no fear of Richard, and soon showed that they meant to displace him. To conciliate them, Lambert was recaUed and placed at the head of the army; but at the same time it was resolved to call a parliament, as a curb on the soldiery. When the houses met [January 29, 1659] it was found that many royalists had been elected, and not one-half of the new-made peers attended. The army clamored for their pay, which had fallen into arrear. Instead of voting it, the Houses occupied themselves with debates whether they should recognize Richard as Protector. Finally, a council of army officers com- pelled him to dismiss the parliament [April 23], and then they dismissed the Protector, and took the management of afEairs into their own hands. They recalled the members of the parliameni expelled by Cromwell in 1653," appointed a new . § 17, p. 435. qq^^j,jj q^ g^,j^(.g_ ^^g^ placed Fleetwood (Richard'.s brother-in-law) at the head of the army. He was a dull, heavj man, the mere tool of Lambert, as Fairfax had been to Cromwell.' § 11. A royalist rising in Cheshire followed this action. It was led by Sir George Booth, a Presbyterian, but was soon crushed by Lambert. The parliament, thinking all danger over, and forget- ting to whom they owed their power, then proposed to reduce a large number of the troops. Lambert, Desborough, and others opposed this, and were voted out of their commands ; and Fleet- wood, instead of being retained as commander-in-chief, had General Monk and five others associated with him [October 131 as commissioners to govern all the forces. But the soldiers in London refused to obey their new officers. Headed by Lambert, they drove out the parliament the very next day, when he ap- pointed a Committee of Safety to carry on the government. § 13. Early in the next year [a.d. 1660 J, Monk, who had through all these changes retained his command in Scotland, by hypo- critical pretensions of attachment to republicanism, crossed the border in compliance with an invitation from parliament to come to London, when Lambert attempted to make terms with him. Monk, liowever, who was com-ted and feared by both parties, kept his own counsel, and marched steadily forward, professing that his only object was to restore the parliament, which he accom- plished without difficulty or bloodshed. But he made a most mat:'rial change in it, by intimating his wish that the member? Chaptfk II.] TIIB COMMOlSrWEALTH. 443 Doings of General Monk. The Royalists in Power. A King proclaimocl. who had been excluded in 1648, for being favorable to the king," should be restored also. His will was law, and thev " § 54, p. 4215. accordingly took their seats. A new Council of State was formed ; many royalist prisoners were released ; Monk and Montague were appointed commanders-in-chief of all the forces by sea and land, and the restored parliament dissolved itself, after having appointed a new assembly to meet on the 35th of April. The government was now in the hands of the royalists, ready to do the bidding of Monk, who had been one of that party before his interest led him to be a parliamentarian. He was ready to become a king's man, or a devil's man, or anything that best promised to promote his interest. § 13. All parties now saw that theii' sole chance of escape from a mere military tyranny, under an infamous chief, was to recall the king, and the only man from whom any formidable opposi- tion was to be expected was the bold and active Lambert. Re- fusing to pled'ge himself to j)eaceable behavior, he was sent to the Tower. He escaped, and appointed a gathering of his friends at Edgehill, where the civil war had commenced ; ^ but ' § 41, p. 418. before he could reach it with some troops of horse, he was overtaken near Daventry [April 21, 1660]. His men refused to fight against their old associates, and he was made prisoner. Four days after this the new parliament assembled. Sir Har- bottle Grimstone, one of those who had protested against the mock parliament of 1656,° was chosen speaker, and the peers met in their House as before the war, the ^ d § 7, p. 440. lords appointed by Cromwell * not venturing to ap- pear. § 14. On the 1st of May, Sir John Granville, who had been for some time negotiating between Monk and Charles for the i-estora- tion of monarchy in England, presented letters from the fugitive King of Scotland, then at Breda, in Holland, which Monk, yet ctotiously wearing the mask, caused to be laid before parliament, with an intimation of his ignorance of the contents. One was a letter from Charles offering a fi-ee general pardon, with only such exceptions as the parliament itself should choose to make, and invit- ing all to return to their allegiance. This Declaration of Breda, as it was called, was accepted with joy by the parliament. The king was proclaimed [May 8, 1660] at Westminster gate, as Charles the Second, and a body of six lords and twelve commoners was de- 4A4: HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VIIl Bestoration of the Stuarts. Charles the Second's Keoeption in England. spatched to him at the Hague to invite his immediate return. They were most graciously received, though several of the Presby- terian ministers, whose furious sermons had done so much to bring about the war, accompanied them. They had, however, been anticipated by Montague, who, on his own authority, proclaimed the king in the fleet before it was done in London, himself firing the first gun, and crying, " God bless the king ! " to which his sailors heaitUy responded, although they had throughout the war been reckoned more thorough republicans even than the soldiers. They then set sail for Holland, where the Duke of York, Charles's brother, was invited on board as their admiral, and, at their own desire, he changed the names of several of the ships, substituting "Prince" for "Protector," etc. § 15. The Dutch, who of late, from fear of Cromwell, had shown little kindness for the exiled king, were now so profuse in their civilities that he was in a manner constrained to remain with them a few days ; but at last he put to sea in the " Prince," and landed at Dover on the following day. The infamous Monk ob- sequiously advanced even into the sea to meet him ; and the king's three days' journey to London was one triumphal progress. He reached his capital on his birthday [May 29, 1660], and was so rapturously received that he smilingly remarked, that it must surely be his own fault that he had stayed away so long, for he saw no one who did not protest that he had ever wished for his return. And so it was that poor England had the curse of a Stuart monarch again thrust upon her. CHAPTER m. SOCIBTT DUKING THB FIEST HALF 01' THB SbVENTEENTH CbNTUBT. § 1. As at the close of our record of the Tudor dynasty, so now, at the close of the interregnum of the Stuart dynasty, so much has been necessarily said, in the account of the civil and military transactions of the period, concerning religious matters, that little need-be noted upon that topic separately. § 3. We have seen that Protestantism, after severe struggles, overthrew the more ancient State religion in Great Britain, when Chattkr hi.] the COMMOmVEALTH. 445 Heligions Matters. The Growth ol Popular Liberty. the independence of thought and action -which that struggle de- veloped created a variety of theological opinions among the Pro- testants themselves, which crystallized into separate and often con- tending sects. § 3. The gloomy and implacable theological system framed by John Calvin, of Geneva, known as "Calvinism," was the doctrinal foundation of Puritanism" in England and Scot- land. John Knox, a disciple of Calvin, was its chief disseminator in the latter country, while propagandists from the Continenf" gave its color to the belief of the great b § 6, p. 331. body of the Protestants in the British islands. Its eminent dogma concerning predestination permeated the Anglican Church, and finds obscure expression in the Thirty- o § 8, p. 381. nine Articles." § 4. All through the period of the Commonwealth, when "Popery and prelacy" were suppressed, the Calvinists, under different names, such as Presbyterians, CongregationaUsts, and Independents, each struggled for the mastery in Church and State. The history of those struggles, and of the whole body of Puritans against the Anglican and Romish Churches, during the time of the Stuarts, including the interregnum, is a most interesting chap- ter in the chronicles of the religious experience of the world — ii chapter too large to be even epitomized here. In fact, it is a study more interesting than proJUaMe, for it is only a record of bigotry, superstition, fanaticism, intolerance, craft, and crime, doing violence to liberty in the name of the sweet religion of Jesus of Nazareth. . § 5. The period we are considering is a most interesting one to the patriot and statesman, as a remarkable epoch in the great struggle between the king and the nobility — -between monarchy and aristocracy — between autocracy and democracy — which had been going on in England for more than four hundred years ; for a notion of political freedom had survived from the time of the Saxons as a popular instinct. The earlier Normans and all the Tudors were almost absolute monarchs, yet compelled to feel a, little of the restraints of the popular wiU. This feeling had been notably manifested by the fact that between the thirteenth and the seventeenth centuries the monarchs had con- ^„,„ •'■ § 16. p. 160. firmed Magna Oha/rta^ thirty-two times, together with new statutes to support and develop it. Step by step the people, 44:6 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book YIU. Csesarism warned. Effects of the Eeformatlon. English Liberties. more and more potentially felt in the House of Commons, had assumed their rightful soverei^ty. And at the very time when the royal bigot, Charles the First, was asserting on the scaffold that the people had nothing to do with govern- " rnent" — in other words, had no political right — the gleaming axe of his executioner was both a sharp argu- ment against his proposition, and a proclamation that a mon- arch, to be tolerated, must henceforth be contented with the subordinate office of executor of the popular will. It was a notice to Csesarism to cease its pretensions, under the penalty of final destruction. § 6. Henry the Eighth was an absolute monarch, yet in his time came that grand insurrection of the human intellect against spi- ritual domination known as the Reformation, which assumed a religious form, while the scope of its intentions and operations was as wide as the word "liberty" could define it. It struck a fatal blow at absolutism. It assailed slavery in every form, de- manding freedom for every human soul from the thraldom of Church and State. It emboldened patriots and made monarchs more discreet. It developed a John Pym ' in the ' ' " LongParliament in 1640,= as the first of the outspoken » § 37, p. 411. " ^ champions of the sovereignty of the people in their struggle against the arrogant assumptions of the royal prerogative. Then mighty abuses were abated or abolished, among them the Court of High Commission,'' established by Elizabeth, by which all spiritual jurisdiction was vested in the crown. § 7. When the commonwealth was succeeded by restored mon- archy, the British constitution (which is only the codified acts of parliament, and therefore flexible) and the government and statute laws had all assumed the modem f onus, which guarantee to the subject or citizen whatever is included under the genei'al title of English liberties. Justice for the subject was as well assured, in theory at least, as privilege for the monarch. The crown and sceptre had become subordinated to the parliament. Personal rule was ended, and the people of Great Britain had arisen to their rightful position of a controlling and permanent power in the State. The age of the civil war and the commonwealth was that of the birth of genuine democracy in England. Humanity and mercy took the place of cruelty and implacability in the Chapter III.] THE COMMONWEALTH. 447 The National Industry. Evil effects of Monopolies. Commevoe. punishment of offences, and a clearer image of true Christianity was stamped upon society ui all its featm-es. § 8. During the period we are considering, the national indus- try had gradually increased in productiveness, in spite of the stu- pidity of the monarchs and co-legislators. The Dutch had be- come successful and damaging rivals of the English in commerce and navigation. The narrovf, dog-in-the-manger policy of the British government, and its absurd nursing of monopolies of its own creation, had given to the Dutch free system of trade and navigation a great advantage. At the beginniag of the reign of James the First [1603] the Dutch, ia the ordinary trade between them and the English, employed between 500 and 600 of their own vessels, while not a tenth of that number of English bottoms were so employed. And it was not until near the close of the sixteenth centm-y, that an English vessel made a commercial voy- age [1591] to the East Indies. Its success caused the formation of the famous English East India Company in the year 1600, which, in the course of a generation afterwards, vastly extended the area of the commerce of Great Britain. That company for a long time exercised political functions with imperial sway, and gave, in the course of time, vast territories in Central India to the control of the British government. Its political power ceased only in 1858 ; and in 1861 the India House — its palace in London — built in 1726, was pulled down. § 9. Other mercantile monopolies were created and fostered, but the East India Company overshadowed them all. There were also manufacturing monopolies which enriched a few at the ex- pense of the many. Fisheries in the noi'thern seas for whales, walruses, and seals were established, and were fostered by the government . during James's reign [a.d. 1603 to 1625]. In 1615, these fisheries employed 134 vessels ; and full 200 more, mth an average I;urden of 15,000 tons, were engaged in the cod-fishery on the banks of Newfoundland. Trade in wool and woollen cloths continued to be the staple" of the kingdom ; but the conceited king, by an illegal proclamation in 1608, deranged the whole business, and greatly injured the pros- perity of his realm. During nine years [a.d. 1613 to 1622] the exports and imports of Great Britain, taken together, had increased in value only £811,265. Tlie exports and imports amounted in 1613 to £4,638,586, and in 1622 to £4,939,751. The latter sum, 448 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VIII. The Royal Navy. The LaboriuK Class. Ai-ts and HanuiactureB. or $24,698,855, was about the twentieth part of the value of the imports and exports of Great Britain in 1869. § 10. And -while the commercial marine of Great Britain was comparatively small, the royal navy was also weak. At the accession of James it numbered only thii-teen ships ; at his death, about twenty years later, it consisted of twenty-four. During Cromwell's administration the navy was somewhat increased, and its power was felt more than at any other period." " ' The war-vessels were often engaged in the suppres- sion of piracies which interfered with the colonization of America, that went on vigorously from the early part of the seventeenth century. That colonization was especially active dming the reign of Charles the First, when Church and State in England at- tempted to bind soul and body in intolerable fetters. The com- merce of Great Britain was benefited by colonization, and a new article of trade — tobacco — was introduced fi'om Barbadoes and Vii'ginia. Sugar was also cultivated in Barbadoes. § 11. From the reign of Elizabeth until the accession of Cliarles the Second, few improvements of much account took place in the common arts of life. Several other countries then surpassed Eng- land in agriculture, gardening, and manufactures, particularly Holland and the Netherlands, the most industrious countries in Europe. English writers of the day spoke of the working popu- lation of England as "idle, stubborn, and surly." The manufac- ture of "new sorts of stuffs" was introduced at the middle of the century, during the Commonwealth. Great efforts were made to firmly establish silk-weaving in England so early as the beginning of James the First's reign, who recommended the planting of mul- berry-trees and the growing of silk-worms. Linens were chiefly manufactured in families. The coal of England first began to be used in the arts and for domestic purposes in the reign of Charles the First ; and in James's time hackney coaches were introduced, which the absurd king proclaimed against as annoyances to him- self, the queen, and the nobility, by obstructing the streets. § 13. At this period England became noted for its manufacture of cannon. Charles the First had over 600 pieces cast in the forest of Dean for the States-General of Holland. Glass was also exten- sively manufactured under the privileges of a monopoly. Pocket- watches were fii-st made in England in 1658; and the East India Company caused large improvements in the art of ship -building. Chapter HI.] THE COMMONWEALTH. 449 Coinage and Banking. Dwellings and Furniture. Before its time few mercliaiit ships exceeded 150 tons burden. In 1610 that company built a ship of 1,000 tons; and a ■war-ship of 1,400 tons was launched at about the same time. § 13. There were some changes in the values of coin during this period ; and the legal rate of interest fixed in 1571 was continued until 1624, when it was reduced to eight per cent. This .rate con- tinued until the Commonwealth, when it was further reduced. A system of banking was introduced after Charles the First robbed the London merchants of cash to the amount of $1,000,000, which they had in gold, in the usual place of deposit in the Royal Mint, in the Tower. After that the goldsmiths became bankers, and made the business profitable. They kept the gold of their cus- tomers in strong iron chests prepared for the purpose. That sys- tem of banking was begun in 1645. Others afterward went into the business ; and these private banks were the only depositories of gold until the Bank of England was established, in 1 694. § 14. The houses of royalty and the nobility, during the first half of the seventeenth century, were furnished in a style of splen- dor and comfort not since surpassed, and never before equalled. Crimson velvet and cloth of gold were common coverings for fur- nitm'e, and entered largely into the composition of curtains of every kind. Satin was also extensively used for the same purposes, and carpets were sometimes made of crimson velvet. Paper and leather hangings were invented early in the seventeenth century ; and the walls of the wealthy were now enriched with the paint- ings of the most eminent artists on the Continent, such as Rubens, Vandyke, Teniers, Rembrandt, and Holbein. China-ware, as Bast India dishes and ornaments that were brought from the Orient were called, became quite common in the dwellings of the rich. Carpets were not yet generally seen as coverings for floors," for down to the period of the Commonwealth mat- • „ _„ * § 19, p. 384. tings and rushes'" were used for that purpose, even ■ fx, J IT * 1* f f ' b§ 19, p. 384. m the dwellings of royalty. § 15. The costume of both sexes of Elizabeth's later years con- tinued in vogue far into the reign of James. The portrait of his queen " resembles that of Elizabeth in attire, having • the same high ruff and long bodice waist. There was greater extravagance displayed iu materials. John Taylor, the " "Water Poet," thus aUudes to the fact in censuring the waste- fulness of those who 450 HISTORY OF ENGLANB. [Book VIII. Fashionable Costume. EfEcminate Habits. A Royal Ooxcomb. " 'Wear a farm in shoe-stanngs edged with gold, Ajid spangled garters worth a copy-hold ; A hose and doublet which a lordship cost ; A gaudy cloak three manors' price, almost ; A beaver band and feather for the head, Prized at the church's tithes— the poor man's bread." § 16. King James and Ms coui-tiera had their clothing made large. For fear of assassination the monarch had his doublet, or short jacket, thoroughly quilted. The breeches were made in great plaits, and fuU stuifed. The legs were encased in tight- fitting silk hose. The shoes were ornamented with rosettes, and the head was covered with a high-peaked hat bearing a feather. Pearls and precious stones enriched the velvet and satin garments of the more wealthy subjects." Foppery assumed the most vulgar forms. The " fine gentleman " was the personification of odious effeminacy. Somerset" and Buckingham'' had set ' the example of endeavoring to look as much like ' ' ' women as possible ; and a beau was made up of rib- bons, jewelry, and perfume. He carried sugar-plums in his pocket, to accompany, as a gift, his sweet lisping, sUly words, addressed to his mistress. He painted his face, and dotted it with black patches, after the fashion of his feminine complement, whose " make-uio " was a profound study ; and the process of dressing her was as complex and tedious as the fitting out of a ship of war. Her raiment was kept in coffers scented with musk or other rich odors. Her own hair was braided, curled, scented, and ornamented with artificial ringlets. Her face was painted and dotted with black patches cut in the form of crescents, stars, and other ob- jects. Unguents and lotions, with rouge, made fresh complexions. Her costume retained the patterns of Elizabeth's time" until late in the reign of James; and both men and women at court and among the aristocracy were generally 1 James was always poverty-stricken in Scotland, and dressed plainly. When be entered upon the rich living of monarchs of England he blazed out into a gilded, vulgar coxcomb. He almost daily figured in a new dress. His favorites imitated his extravagance, and continued it into the reign of Charles. When Buckingham went to the French court to receive Charles's bride, he provided himself with a suit of white uncut velvet, and a cloak, both set all over with diamonds valued at £80,000 ($400,000), besides a feather made of great diamonds, and his sword, girdle, hat-band, and spurs, also thick set- with diamonds. He had another suit of purple satin, em- broidered all over with pearls valued at £20,000 ($100,000). Besides these, he had twenty-five other rich Sluts. Chapter III.] THE COMMONTVEAITH. 451 Cavaliers and Eoundheade. Pastimes, Low Amusements. models of folly, extravagance, and vulgarity. There were many exceptions to the rule, however. § 17. Early in Charles's reign the com-t and society assumed a more sober hue ; but when that society became divided into royal- ists and republicans, the latter became excessively plain, and so caused the former, in order to show their hostility, to run into extravagances and license as great as in James's reign. The men of Charles's party wore their hair in long ringlets falling upon their shoulders, and they were known by the name of " Cavaliers," while the republicans had theirs cut short, which obtained for them the title of "Roundheads." The moustache and peaked beard were common to both. The feminine royalists wore ringlets and feathers, and the republican ladies wore close hoods, caps, or high-crovraed hats. Women of fashion, of both parties, used muffs of fur, and carried elegant fans of large dimensions. § 18. With the accession of James, the tom-nament — the ridicu- lous shadow of chivalry — ceased as a pastime ; and with Cliarles the First, armor of every kind passed away. James made masques and emblematical pageants (composed principally by Ben Jonson) the chief amusements of his court, in which himself, the queen, and attendants of both sexes were actors. On these occasions liquors were so freely used that generally every one of both sexes was taken to bed by a servant as " drunk as a lord." The popu- lace, at the same time, were treated to similar amusements of a still more vulgar type, in which the actors indulged in obscenity. These so pleased the low taste of the king, that he often invited them to perfonn in the palace for his amusement. § 19. The gluttony of the monarch was imitated by his courtiers and the more obsequious nobility ; and feasts were often ex- hibitions of the greatest extravagance in cost and prodigality in use. In these both sexes engaged, and low buffoonery was the staple delight of all. Foreigners who visited England were amazed at the gross and frivolous manners of the Stuart courts, and of both sexes in the so-called higher classes. The English taverns were then dens of filth, and filled with tobacco-smoke, indecent songs, and the noise of roysterers ; and yet, according to the writers of the day, women of rank allowed themselves to be entertained in such places, and were flattered by the coarse fami- liarity offered by their rollicking admirers. The simplicity, court- liness, and refinement which more generally prevailed in Elizar 4:52 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book VIII. Effects ol Extravagance and Gambling. The Middle and Poorer Classes. beth's reign were exchanged for the most vulgar, sensuous excite- ments. The young of both sexes rushed to London to join in the common revelry ; and vast sums were spent by rich men in fitting daughters to appear " decently " at coui-t. Wastefulness led in the grand march of what is known as society, and want closely followed. Swiftly did ancient manors, and the fortunes accii- mulated for generations, vanish ; and wealthy and time-honored families sunk into poverty and obscurity, and disappeared from the scroll of English heraldry. That " four-squared sin," as dice was generally called, played a conspicuous part in the work of ruin, for gambling was a prevailing vice, in which cheating was regarded as the equivalent of smartness. § 20. While the court and aristocracy, possessing the means for every indulgence, presented so sad a picture of human nature during the rule of the earlier Stuarts, the great middle classes — ■ merchants, shopkeepers, artisans, and yeomen — did not form a con- spicuous part of that picture. There was among them a sturdy morality and vital Christianity that shamed those who looked down upon them, and awed those who looked up to them. They were a salutary influence in the ranks of the upper and lower classes. Without the means for milimited indulgence, they were saved from temptations. The country esquires exhibited great hospitality, but it was subordinate to proper economy and deco- rous manner. The women of such households attended faithfully to domestic duties, and enjoyed the indoor pastimes of rural life, in which their poorer neighbors often shared. These were masquerades, cards, dice, billiards, balls, and musical entertain- ments. The men engaged in hunting, hawking, wi'estling, foot- ball, nine-pins, pitching the bar, quoits, bull and bear baiting, and other active amusements. § 21. The poorer classes were comparatively comfortable, as the simple test of population proves. When Elizabeth died, the, population of England was about 5,000,000 souls. At the close of the Commonwealth, or a little more than half a century, it was about 6,500,000. And yet the poorer class were coarsely and sometimes sparsely fed, for land and its productions were higher than they had ever been before, and wages were low.' The bread 1 RateFS ol wages were fixed by law. In 1610, ttie justices of the peace in Rutland county established the following ; — A. managing farmer, who would also kill a hog, Uieep, or calf, BO shillings a year, A common fann-seryant, 40 shillings, A middling Chaptek III.] THE COMMONWEALTH. 453 Condition of the People. Wages. The Pine Arts. com used by the fai-m-laborers was chiefly barley, and large quanti- ties of oatmeal were used. Onions, leeks, carrots, and radishes were used extensively in making pottage. Potatoes had just been intro- duced from America, and were scarce and dear, selling as high as two shillings a pound. The servants in rich families were furnished with rye-bread. Coffee was introduced during the Common- wealth ; tea was unknown ; and only a small quantity of sugar had been imported. Clothing was dear, for wool and flax, on account of a lai-ge foreign demand, brought high prices. Wages were so inadequate that from the ranks of the poorer classes, chiefly, England was filled with thieves and beggars. § 23. The fine arts received special encouragement from Charles the First, who was a scholar and man of taste. So early as 1615 the Bad of Ai'undel — the " father of mrtu in England" — ^began to collect a gallery of statues and pictures, and was the first to reveal to Great Britain the beauties of ancient art. Other collec- tions followed, among which that of the Duke of Buckingham was the most valuable and costly. It escaped destruction or dis- persion by the republicans only by being sent to France. In a short time the royal houses were filled with choice paintings, and those of the nobility were rich in works of genius. § 33. When an intimate relation between England and Holland existed,- painters of the Dutch and Flemish schools, then compet- ing with those of Italy, furnished many fine paintings for the royal gallery at Whitehall, where Van Dyke became a favoiite living artist, chiefly as a portrait painter. Charles invited other continental artists to his court, but few came. Bubens was there as special ambassador for the King of Spain, in 1630, and was persuaded to paint an apotheosis of James the First, on the ceiling of the Whitehall banqueting-house, for £3,000. Through him Charles procured the celebrated cartoons of Raphael, fi'om Flanders ; servant, 29 shillings ; and a boy under sixteen year.s, 20 shillings. A chief woman gen'ant, capable of doing all household work, and overseeing others, 26*. 8d. A second one, 2.3*. 4cl. A drudge, 16s. A girl under sixteen, 14s. A chief miller, 46s. A chief shepherd, 30s. A mower, 5cZ. a day, and his meat. A man reaper or hay-maker, 4d. A woman reaper, 3d. ; and a woman hay-maker, 2d. If no meat was given, these sums were to be exactly doubled. In the winter, wages for farm work were still lower. A master cai-penter received 8a. a day, with meat, or Is. 2d. without. For a manag_ ing mason, having charge over others, 8d., with meat, br Is. without. A master joiner or sawyer, 6c;., with meat. A horse collar-maker, the same ; and other mechanics an average of 5d. a day, with meat, or 9d. without. In forming these rates of wages the justices calculated that half the day's wages was equivalent to diet for one day. 4:54 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. [Book VIII. The Cartoons of Raphael. Arohitecturo. Music. and he purchased the Duke of Milan's collection for £18,000, or $90,000. § 24. A taste for the fine arts was thus planted in England, and took permanent root ; but the republicans made war' upon it as a royal extravagance. So early as 1645, when they had possession of Whitehall," they began to sell the pictures in its ■ gallery ; and the parliament ordered all paintings in which the figure of the Virgin appeared to be burned. Had this ordur been executed, some of the finest treasures of art would have -perished. But the taste and good sense of the republi- can leaders prevented the outrage. Cromwell purchased the car- toons of Raphael for the nation. Lambert '' was an ' artist of some distinction, and Faii-fax was an admh-er of art and an enthusiastic antiquary. But while valuable Works of art, and some good artists, came to England from the Continent in the earlier half of the seventeenth century, and Charles plaimed an academy of art on a grand scale, no conspicuous native ailist appeared, either in painting or sculpture. § 25. The classic style of architecture introduced by Inigo Jones, a native of London, in James's time, produced a radical change ia the art, not only in England but elsewhere. It outshone all that had been done on the Continent. He stripped it of the Italian corrap- tions. His first great work in his native country was the palace of AVhitehall, built for James the Eh'st. It gave tone to all that followed it. It formed the point of division between ancient and modern architecture in Great Britain. Engraving also received much encouragement before the Commonwealth ; but no native artist of much eminence appeared, if we except Thomas Simon, the exquisite seal-engraver, by whose work the finest coinage ever done in England was that of the Commonwealth. § 26. Music had assumed the character of a science in Eliza- beth's reign, when Dr. Tye, of Oxford, produced some remarkable anthems for cathedi-al service. Compositions of that kind and madrigals occupied the attention of the best minds ; and music was brought to great perfection before the accession of James. The madrigal, in verse and melody, was very popular, for it was a har- monious expression of love and admiration. The " music for the million" — simple kind for simple folk — was inferior in melody to that of Ireland, but equal to any on the Continent. During the Commonwealth, music, like the other fine arts, felt the deadweight Chaptbk III.] THE COMMONWEALTH. 455 Literature. The Translation of the Bible. of that fanatical austerity which was a logical reaction after the licentiousness of the times of the Stuart dynasty". § 27. The literature of this period is most conspicuous in dra- matic and poetic forms. The age of Elizabeth had given Spenser and Shakespeare to the world ; but some of the best productions of the latter appeared early in the reign of her successor. In so wondeirful a manner did he put into shape and harmony, by mar- vellous use of ideas and language, the crude productions of his predecessors, that hie genius made those predecessors obsolete, for it wrought a revolution in the national di'ama. He substituted refined wit and humor for boisterous vulgarity ; and by the most perfect limning of every feature of human nature, he placed the signet of immortality upon his productions. Those who hold nearest rank to Shakespeare, as di'amatic writers of his time, are Beaumont and Fletcher, who wrote in. partnership. Ben Jonson and Philip Massinger were in the charmed cii-cle. § 38. There were many poets of excellence, and essayists and historians not a few, in this period, whose names will never be forgotten. Among the poets. Sir John Davis, Drummond, Donne, Herrick, Cowley, and, late in the time, the great Milton, appear the most eminent. ChiUingworth, Fuller, and Jeremy Taylor were the greater lights ,ataong theological writers ; and the essay- ists were led by Francis Bacon, who wrongfully bears the honors due to Galileo as the father of modem philosophy. He was closely followed by Sir Thomas Browne and Bobert Burton. Sir Walter Kaleigh and Richard KnoUes were the greater historians of the age ; and Butler was the eminent satu'ist. § 39. We must remember as one of the greater glories of the period, that our English version of the Bible was, by the authority of James the First, translated from the original Greek and Hebrew. That translation, however, was made upon the basis of that of the "Bishops' Bible," prepared nearly forty years earlier. And that translation was partly the work of Oranmer, in the reign of the boy-king, Edwai'd the Sixth. BOOK IX. THE EBSTOBBD STUARTS. [FROM A.D. 1660 TO 1714.] CHAPTER I. REIGN OP Charles the Second, [a. d. 1660 to 1685.] § 1. There was, doubtless, much sincerity in the joy manifested on the arrival of King Charles the Second, though it sometimes took an extravagant form, such as when a "Master Dobson, a great sufferer for royalty, burnt his wipdmill as a bonfire." Much of it was doubtless feigned, especially by the Presbyterians, who now coalesced with the royalists for the purpose of turning away kingly wrath from themselves (who had been the original offend- cr.s) to. fall upon their later adversaries, the Independents and Anabaptists." Nor were the royalists all iubilant. ' ' ' The better men among them had gloomy forebodings concerning the future of England, for the king, then thirty years of age, was a shameless, heartless, and open profligate, and known to be utterly untruthful. And when, two years after his acces- sion, he married the young Catherine of Braganza, a princess of Portugal, and from the day of her arrival at the palace openly dishonored her by his brutal vileness, it was plainly to be seen that public virtue was in imminent danger from the corruptions of the court, and the State threatened with ruin. § 2. The king, as we have seen,' had promised a general pardon, subject to such exceptions as the parliament might make. That body, in the excess of their loyalty, were disposed to be less merciful than the monarch, and a large number of the best men in the kingdom were excepted in the Act of Oblivion, which was speedUy passed. These were ordered to surrender themselves in humble submission at the feet of his majesty. Some did so, and their lives were spared ; but they were stripped of all political rights and possessions, and theii' families Chapter I.] THE RBSTOEBD STUAETS. 457 Bepublioajis punished. The Dead dishonored. A corrupt Alarmist. wei-e beggared. Others escaped ; but ten who attempted to do so, and were caught, were quickly tried and executed, while assassins were employed to destroy others. Among the sufferers was Sir Henry Vane ; " and even John Milton was impri- soned and threatened with destruction because he had ' *"" written his "Defence of the English People.'' Only his fiiend, Andrew Marvell, and two other admirers of his genius, then in parliament, raised their voices in his favor. , They were told that he had been Cromwell's Secretary, and desei-ved to be hanged. He was finally released after being plundered by the sergeant-at- arms, who called his robberies "fees." Milton was disqualified for public sei-vice, and his "Defence of the People of England" was publicly burnt. That House of Commons, swayed by a Presbyterian majority, went further, and disgraced themselves and the nation by ordering the corpses of Cromwell, Bradshaw,'' and Ireton," with whom ' ' *'■ these Presbyterians had originally acted, to be dragged fi-om their graves in Westminster Abbey, exposed on gibbets, and then beheaded. § 3. In order to gloss this infamy and make republicanism more odious, that base courtier, Lord Clarendon, the eminent chancellor, pretended to have discovered a " horrible plot " for the overthrow of the monarchy. He took the occasion of a little riot in London, led by a half -insane enthusiast named Venner, a wine-cooper and Independent preacher, who declared that there should be no ruler but " King Jesus," to alarm the country. Ru- mors were put afioat that thousands more of the Independents and Anabaptists were storing arms in every part of the country, and the government made a great display of precautionary measures against insurrection. There really was some reason for suspecting outbreaks, for there was general discontent because of increased taxation and the violation of royal promises. The parliamentary armv had been disbanded, and Monk," now rewarded „ ,„ d 6 12 p. 442, for his treachery to the people by the ofiice of " Lord General," or commander-in-chief, and a coronet as Duke of Albe- marle, had retained only such regiments as would do his bidding. The soldiers who were dismissed were naturally discontented, and there were injudicious threats of expelling the king before Christ- mas. § 4. Meanwhile, royalty had been restored in Scotland and Ire- 20 458 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. [Book IS. Affairs in Sootlana and Ireland. Perfidy oJ King and ParUament. land. Tlie compliant Scottish assembly, in which the Presbyte- rians ruled, repudiated the covenant ". and repealed . § 25, p. 411. ^j^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ seemed to trench on the royal authority. Republicans were laid under a ban, but only two— the Marquis of Argyle and a pr&cher named Guthrie— suffered death. Argyle, it was charged, had suggested to CromweU the necessity of beheading the late king. The Irish parliament occu- pied themselves mainly in securing the lands that had been wrested from the natives during the Commonwealth, and were less obse- quious than either the English or Scotch. § 5. Before Charles's first parliament adjourned, they began the business of re-establishing the Church and State upon its old founda- tions of unity and arbitrary power. In his letter from b § 14, p. 443. -g^g^g^^i ^]^g -ly^jg ^^^ declared full "libei-ty to tender consciences," and that no man should be disquieted or called in question for differences of opinion in matters of religion which do not disturb the peace of the kingdom. Both king and parlia- ment seemed anxious to ignore this promise, and when a new parliament met, early in May, 1661, the members, composed chiefly of thorough royalists and chm-chmen, proceeded with a high hand to strengthen the monarchy. They passed acts condemniug the covenant ' and disposing of the statutes under which \,' "' ' the Long Parliament =■ had made war upon the king. They ordered the liturgy to be used in all places of public worship, and new collects were added to the Book of Com- mon Prayer, in one of which the profane and profligate Charles was styled " our most religious king." They restored the bishops to seats in the House of Lords, and materially abridged one of the most sacred privileges of the people, the right of petition. A most intolerant conformity bill, known as the Act of Uniformity, drawn up at the instance of Clarendon," was passed, requiring every minister of the gospel to publicly declare his assent to everything contained and prescribed in the Prayer-book, and that every preacher who had not received ordi- nation from the hands of a bishop must submit to that rite before the next feast of St. Bartholomew, the 34th of August. By this act " two thousand godly ministers," as a chronicler asserts, " were driven out of the church on Black Bartholomew's day," because they would not make theii- consciences subservient to their tem- poral interests, as many did. An attempt at reconciliation had Chaptbk 1.1 THE RESTORED STUARTS. 459 Dangerous Coalitions. Royalist Sufferers discontented. been made by a conference of nonconformist ministers and bish- ops of the established church, but it failed because neither party would yield. § 6. Up to this time the Presbyterians had regarded the other nonconformists with dislike quite equal to what each felt for the Episcopal Church. Now this persecution reconciled them to the othei's, who had only carried out the republican principles which the Presbyterians had inculcated. But the latter, rich London merchants and such, kept safe in the background, and supplied ample funds, whilst the bolder Independents and Anabaptists were willing to take the risk of open conflict, should it arise. The parliament tried to meet the danger by passing acts which prohibited meetings under pretence of religious worship, and for- bade nonconformists to be members of corporations, or expelled ministers to reside in such towns unless they would take an oath as to their peaceable intentions. This very few of them would do, and the whole body thus very natui'ally fell imder the sus- picion of only " biding their time " to renew the calamities of the preceding reign. § 7. But the nonconformists were now not the only discontented parties. After so many years of confusion, it was, no doubt, quite impossible to satisfy the claims of all who had suffered in the royal cause, and yet not do injustice to the present holders of offices and lands, as they probably were not the original despoilers. But the difficulty was made the greater by the avarice ^ of Monk," who sold to the highest bidder offices that the king meant to bestow on men who had lost all but life for their loyalty. Their letters and petitions, preserved in the Public Kecord Office, beside telling tales of almost unexampled suffering and poverty, show how bitterly they felt this. One document, called " the Complaint of the Koyal and Loyal Party to the ICing," speaks out boldly ; but it may well be doubted if Charles ever saw it. It says that those who have ruined their fortunes in his cause cannot even get their petitions read by the secretaries at the council table without a bribe, and that they daily see the gi-eatest opposers of the king put in offices of trust for money. The com- plainants have no large sums to offer, and though they have lost blood and estate in the cause, they must return to their poor homes a joy and a scorn to their adversaries. § 8. Of no class was this more true than of the Irish, who, without 4:60 HISTORY OF BNGLAOT). [Book IX. Bribery and Favoritism. The King's Marriage. Vices and Extravagance. having been concerned in the insurrection of 1641,'' had, in later years, eitnbraced the royal cause under the Marquis of Ormond.'' The Protestants, as has been said, had been the yery first to offer their services to the king wlien his restoration seemed likely, and when this was effected they had such an ascendency in the Irish parliament that the king's declaration of his intention to do justice between all parities became a dead letter, much to his own discredit. He took a bribe of £100,000, and secured htmdreds of thousands of acres of for- feited lands, which he bestowed on his brother James, the Duke of York, the Dukes of Albemarle'' and Ormond,'' and on favorites who had no connection whatever a § 4, p. 429. with Ireland. This done, he left the whole of the land that was worth having to the Cromwellians on the payment of a small fine, which it was pretended was to furnish .a money compensation to those of the loyal Irish wlio did not receive a few barren acres here and there, but which was, instead, wasted on his profligate pleasures. § 9. In the third year of his reign tlie king married Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess already mentioned,'' who brouglit him for her dower, beside a large sum of money, the island of Bombay in the East Indies, and the town of Tangier on the African coast. At about the same time Dun- kirk' was sold to the King of Prance, and the pro- ceeds added to the king's private treasure. This act disgusted the entire nation. No sums, however, could be enough for a king so extravagant that he bestowed nearly £140,000 ($700,000) upon one of his favorites in the course of a single year. To procure means for selfish indulgence he sacrificed alike his own character and the honor of the nation ; and he thus at last alienated the affections of even the most loyal, though they felt bound to maintain his throne from a sentiment of duty as weU as of interest. § 10. Not only to save expense, but because it could not be thoroughly relied upon, the regular army had been disbanded as soon as possible, and some few new ti-oops were raised, of which the Eoyal Guard was the chief. It was mainly composed of old royalist officers, whose ruined fortunes made them gladly take sei-vice in it as " private gentlemen," and it was more a band of attached personal followers of the monarch than an ordinary body Chapteb I.] THE RESTORED STUARTS. 461 Eoyal Guards. Warfare vAth the Dutch. of troops. The Guards were thus quite prepared to undertake any service that might be required, and they dispersed the religious meetings of the nonconformists known as " Conventicles," hunted after fugitive "regicides" and traitors, and brought in their captives with a zeal inspired by recollections ' ' ''' ^^' of Naseby * and Worcester,'' which mduced many who " ^ ' ^' feared the like fate to seek refuge abroad, but particularly in Holland. § 11. The royalists in general regarded the Dutch with dislike, not only from old grievances, when they had been obliged to seek shelter among them, and had been denied it, but because that shelter was now freely given to the republicans and nonconform- ists. That dislike was manifested by the Duke of York, who, as high admiral and governor of the African Company on the coast of Guinea, ordered the seizure of the Dutch possessions there. The Dutch retaliated in kind, and these troubles led to a war in the year 1665, which was all the more fiercely waged because it was known that the nonconformists naturally prayed for the suc- cess of the enemy, and were ready to join them if opportunity offered. The Dutch fleet, however, was signally defeated in Sole- bay [June 3, 1665] by the Duke of York and Piince Eupert," and thus a meditated invasion of England came to nothing. On suspicion of being concerned in the pro- ject of a Dutch invasion, eight of the old republican party were executed. In the next year the Dutch were again defeated by Prince Rupert and Albemarle,"' and ' though the French had by this time joined with them, they were soon obliged to sue for peace. § 12. In the year before the war [a.d. 1664] the Dutch had suf- fered aggression at the hands of the same Duke of York. Charles had, without any fair pretence to right, given to his brother the teiTitory in America known as New Netherlands, when the Duke sent a squadron to seize his new possessions. This was done early in September, when the name of the province was changed from New Netherlands to New York. § 13. Whilst the negotiations with the Dutch were going on, it was considered so certain that peace would follow, that no naval preparations were made for the ensuing summer, but evei^ything was wasted on the court. De Witt, who was at the head of affairs iu Holland, marked this, and was eacouraged by the refugees to 462 HISTORY OF ENGLAOT). [Book IX Invasion by the Dutch. The Plague in London. Fall of Clarendon. strike an unexpected blow. Accordingly, a strong Dutch fleet sud- denly appeared at the mouth of the Thames in June, 1667, bat- tered down an unfinished fort at Sheemess, which was meant to re- place the strong castle of Queensborough, destroyed by Cromwell, and. in full hope of being joined by the adherents of the " old cause," who were still numerous in the navy-yards, sailed up to Chatham, where several large ships lay, protected, as it was thought, by a heavy chain. But treachery had been at work. Some of the dockyard people had cut the chain, and fastened it again with cords. The Dutch, therefore, easily broke thi-ough it, burnt all the vessels but the "Eoyal Charles," and sent that as a trophy to Holland. Albemarle," on the first alarm, ' ' ' hastened to the spot, and by great exertion prevented a landing being made. The Dutch lingered in the Thames a few days longer, causing such alarm that ships were sunk as high as Blackwall to bar their passage ; but they were beaten near Graves- end by Sir Edward Sprague, and retired after tlireatening Har- wich. A peace, which turned out to be little more than a pre- tence, followed. § 14. Whilst this, the first Dutch war, endured, London was most tenibly afflicted by the plague, 10,000 people dying in one week [September, 1665], and in a year after the whole city was destroyed by what has ever since been known as the Fire of Lon- don. During the same time, too, an insurrection, forced on by the detestable tools of Charles in Church and State, broke out in the west of Scotland, the stronghold of the covenan- ters.' But it was soon suppressed. § 15. The close of the Dutch war was speedily followed by the ^^„ faU of the Earl of Clarendon," once fas Mr Hyde) a c § .^, p. 457. ^ J J i % 41 418 ™®™'^™ °jf t'l® Long Parliament, but who joined Charles I. at Oxford ^ and had accompanied his son in all his perilous wandeiings. He returned with him at the restoration, and for more than seven years, though holding only the legal office of chancellor, was what would now be called the premier. He was avaricious and corrupt to the last degree, and accumulated a vast fortune. The Duke of York had married his daughter under cu-cumstances discreditable to all parties, and he seemed likely, after his adventurous life, to end his days in honor and affluence. But he gave ofEence to some of the unworthy favorites about the court, and they thi-eatened to impeach him, Chapter I.] THE RESTOEED STUARTS. 463 The Cabal. Doings of the Prencli Kong. Earl of Shaftesbury. charging him with corruption in his office, recommending the dissolution of the parliament, and endearoring to bring in arbitrary power. Charles, though he professed to maintain his old regard for him, had no wish to have a quarrel with liis parliament, and therefore aU but commanded him to withdraw. He did so, and died in exile ; but his two sons became persons of importance in after years, and his two granddaughters sat on the throne. § 16. The king now chose a council, something like the modem cabinet, which was called his Cabal, a word foi'med by a com- bination of the initials of the names of the five men who com- posed it. These were Sir WUJiam ClifEord, Lord Arlington, Duke of Buckingham, Lord Ashley, and Lord Lauderdale. The latter, once a covenanter himself, ruled Scotland in a most tyrannical manner. These persons were regarded as five of the most unprinci- pled men in the country. § 17. At this time Louis the Fourteenth of France was as great an object of alarm to the Protestant States as Philip of Spain had been in the days of Elizabeth," and, at the desire of his parliament, Charles joined the Dutch and the ' ' • ' Swedes in an aUiance against him in 1668. But this he did only to get money from them as if for war (for he was quite as much a Eoman Catholic as a Protestant), as he had already a secret under- standing with Louis, by which each was pledged to assist the other's projects. Louis wished to conquer Holland and enlarge his dominions at the expense of Sixain ; and Charles desired to be free from all control by his parliament, and, beside, to gain more than they would willingly allow for his idle pleasures. His Cabal readily seconded him ; and the alliance against France was allowed to become a dead letter. But the pretence was still kept up, and the parliament, deceived by the false king, readily granted a subsidy for a war against the great enemy of Protestantism. This Charles shamelessly expended for his own purposes; and then, to carry out his agreement with Louis, he prepared for war with the Dutch, by seizing on a very large sum of money belonging to the bank- ers, as his father had done,* which again, as form- '' § 13, p. 449. eiiy, had been lodged in the Tower as a place of security. This was done on the advice of Ashley, who was, as a i-eward, created Earl of Shaftesbury. Some infringements of the late peace, and, still more, the shelter given to the refugees, afforded a ready pretext for the war, in which the Dutch suffered severely. 464 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book DC War with the Dutch. Opposition to EomauistB. Shaftesbury's Movements. having to contend with the French on land and the Duke of Tork and Prince Kupert' at sea at the same time, i^er a two years' war, in which their navy was greatly injured, they sued for peace, which they only obtained on hard terms in 1674. § 18. Whilst the war was raging, the king gave great alarm to his parliament by dispensing with the laws against the noncon- formists. His brother, the Duke of York, had some time before avowed himself a Romanist, and the king was believed to be one also ; hence his " indulgence,'' as it was called, was looked on with great suspicion, as if designed for the advancement of Ro- manism. From this time what was called the Country Party arose, consisting at first mainly of royalists, whose devotion to the church converted them into opponents of the king's measm-es whilst retaining theii' love for his person ; but they were joined afteiTvards by men of very different principles.' Shaftesbury, who was the very soul of intrigue and mischief, and had adhered to every party in succession for the last thirty years, until they ap- peared on the point of falling, now thought it time to join the pop'ular side, and mainly by his means what was known as the Test Act was passed [a.d. 1673], which rendered Romanists incapable of holding office, and obliged the Duke of Tork to resign his post of Lord High Admiral. ° This was greatly resented by the ' " ' duke, and Shaftesbury, in return, commenced an agita- tion to exclude him from the thi-one on account of his religion. The attempt failed, though Shaftesbury and his associates resorted to the most unscrupulous means to effect their object. § 19. The Cabal was driven from office by the parliament shortly before the close of the Dutch war ; but Shaftesbury had already separated from them, and become a vehement patriot. He was now the leader of the opposition, never scrupling to attack either his old colleagues or his successor Danby, against whom he brought charges of corruption, but was unable to procure his impeachment. The king tried to stop this by interposing long intervals between 1 When this occurred the court party styled them Whigs, and they retorted by call- ing their opponents Tories. These were opprobrious names for disorderly bands in Scotland and Ireland, but they were accepted by each party, and soon replaced the terms Ca-valier and Roundhead » of the preceding reiffn. These a 4 17, p, 461. .,,..,..„ = a names, with similar signiflcance, yet distmguish the court party in England and their opponents. They were in use during the war for the indepen- dence of the Auglo-Amerioau colonies [1775 to 1783] to distinguish the loyalists from the republicans. Chapter I.] THE BBSTORED STUAETS. 465 Titus Oates and Mb Colleagues. Bxoitemcnt against the Bomanists. the successive meetings of parliament ; but here again Shaftesbuiy came forward and declared that a prorogation of fifteen months, which occurred, was in reality a dissolution. The House of Peers sent him to the Tower, and there he remained for a twelvemonth, when he was released on making submission on his knees. That was in February, 1678. He at once began to intrigue for office ; and very soon aftei'ward a matter occurred so exactly suited to his purpose that he was suspected of contriving it. § 20. In August, 1678, a man named Titus Oates appeared before the council, at the instance of Dr. Tonge, a, leading divine, and informed them that the Jesuits had devised a plot to murder the king and all the chief Protestants, and conquer the country by means of help from France — Coleman, the Duke of York's secre- tary, if not the duke himself, being concerned in it. The council refused to listen to the tale, but Shaftesbury eagerly adopted it. Oates swore_ to his story before a magistrate, with some startling additions, and when, a few days afterwards, that magistrate (Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey) was found dead in the fields, this was taken as a certain token of its tnith, and that the Protestant mas- s'lCre had already begun. The parliament at once assembled, and under this excitement passed an act which excluded Roman Catho- lics from a seat in then- assembly. Then five Komish peers were sent to the Tower, and Coleman, the duke's secretary, and three priests, were executed. So fierce did the frenzy of alarm become, that any one who appeared to cast a doubt on the reality of the plot ran imminent risk of being hanged as concerned in it, § 31. The rewards that were showei-ed on Oates brought forward a band of systematic perjurers, who went even beyond his story, by accusing the queen of a design to poison the king, and on their testimony three of her servants were executed as the murder- ers of the magistrate, though there was every reason to suppose that he had committed suicide. § 22. Shaftesbury was now forced on the king by the parlia- ment and became president of the council. Under his auspices Oates or Tonge, Dangerfield, Dugdale, or Bedloe — all, even before this, men of infamous character — swore away the lives of thu-teen more priests, and were handsomely paid for their services. Oates and Tonge, who were clergymen of the established church, were lodged in the palace at Whitehall, and attended by a guard ; but whilst Oates received £13 a week, Tonge, his subordinate, only 20* 466 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IX Bad Men rewarded. Anti-Popish Tumult. A Strange Parliament. had an occasional £50, as "of the king's bounty," the last sum of the kind being paid early in the year 1680 for his burial. Bedloe, as the great accuser of the queen, was valued almost as highly as Gates, and long continued in the receipt of £10 a week; but tiae minor villains, Dangerfield and Dugdale, had only £3 or £3 weekly, which, however, they added to by sending in heavy bills, every now and then, for their " expenses about the plot,'' or for such " further discoveries " as their patrons called for. § 33. At last, after two years' endurance, the frenzy began to abate ; and Sir George Wakeman, the queen's physician, and three monks, though accused by the whole tribe of perjurers, were ac- quitted. Shaftesbury was soon afterward dismissed by the king, when he revenged himself by procuring a great anti-popery tumult in London. As that did not effect his restoration, he next at- tempted to indict the Dtike of York as a Romish recusant, which would have entailed the forfeiture of his estate. In this, too, he failed ; but there was still belief enough in the plot to procure the condemnation and execution of Lord Stafford, an aged Eo- manist, in 1680. The king avowed his belief in his innocence, but could not venture to spare his life. Indeed, so vehement was the feeling, that when Charles, as was customary in the case of noblemen, mitigated the horrible sentence for treason to behead- ing, Lord William Russell, and Cornish, the city sheriff, had the barbarity to question his right to do so. § 24. A new parliament met early in the following year [a.d. 1681] and from a well-founded idea of some violent measure by Shaftesbury and his associates, it was ordered to assemble, not as. usual at "Westminster, where they would have the turbulent Lon- doners at theii' call, but at Oxford, where loyalty was in the as- cendant. They came with large bodies of anned followers, and one vehement orator, Stephen College, who was known as th6 "Protestant joiner" and the inventor of a "pocket flail for good Protestants to defend themselves v^i-th against the Jesuits," made himself conspicuous. Ribald rhymes, of which he was believed to be the author, were sung in the hearing of the king, which so em-aged the royal guard » that during the time the parliament lasted it was with difficulty they could be withheld from cutting him down ; and he was said to have re- commended an attack on the Guards, which he did not venture to carry out. CHAPTEn I.] THE RBSTOEED STtTAETS. 467 Shaftesbury's SohDmes defeated. Eebellion in Bcotlana. Eevolutionary Party. § 25. The parliament was entirely under Shaftesbury's control, and fuUy bent on can-ying a bill to exclude the Duke of York from the tin-one. The king, seeing theii- power, offered to make any concession they might ask instead of this ; but his brother, who had shared his cxUe, he would not forsake. Finding them resolved on their own course, he dismissed them in a week, and, returning to London, published an address to his people, showing them the real designs of these men, which, if cai-ried out, could only lead to a more desperate war than that which the Long Par- liament had waged. The result answered his expectations. No reasonable man wished to see the government pass into the hands of Shaftesbury and his associates, and these self-elected leaders of the nation found themselves at once abandoned. Legal proceed- ings were taken. The Protestant joiner was executed as a traitor ; and Shaftesbury, after offering the most humiliating submissions, only escaped the same fate by fleeing to Holland, where he died, 1683, despised as a baffled incendiary. § 36. Shortly before this a rebellion had been attempted in Scotland, the chief event that marked it being the assassination of Archbishop Sharp, who, assisted by the infamous Lauderdale," kad terribly persecuted the nonoon- ' formists. After this the Duke of York was sent to govern the country, where he remained a considerable time, and re-establiehed the royal authority, in spite of the opposition of the Earl of Ai- gyle (the son of the marquis executed twenty years before),* who was tried and convicted, but escaped to PloUand in 1681. :^ '•"•'"• § 27. The so-called popular party had always been strong in the city of London, and they were now made to feel that they had the worst of the conflict. The city charters were declared forfeited on the ground of imposing an illegal toll, and when they were regranted it was with such alterations as made the magistracy dependent on the king, instead of being, as had long been the case, usually the bitter opponent of the government. The same course was taken with several other corporations, for similar rea- sons. § 38. The revolutionary party now resolved on a desperate stroke for powei-. The king had a natural son, whom he had created Duke of Monmouth, and the idea of a general insuriBCtion was entertained to compel him to declare this young man his successor 468 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. [Book IX A Revolution attempted. The Leadei-a executed. Death of King Charles. instead of the Duke of York. In this scheme the Lord William Russell already mentioned,' the Earl of Essex, Alger- ' ' ' non Sydney, who was an exiled republican, and a temporary pensioner of France, and John Hampden, the grandson b s 21 no °-^ *^® Hampden of the Long Parliament,'' fully con- cm'red. But others of their party, as Rumbold, Ayliffe, Armstrong, and Ferguson, planned another way of securing the succession by assassinating the king and the duke on their journey between Newmarket and London. The scheme (which is known as the Rye-house Plot, from Rumbold's house, tile inttnded scene of murder) miscarried, and Russell, Sidney, and several others suffered as traitors. Monmouth was pardoned, but for very shame soon fled to Holland. § 29. The tiiumph of the king was now [a.d. 1664] complete, but he did not live long after. The Romish lords, who had been long imprisoned, were set free. Titus Gates was convicted of libel- ling the Duke of York, and sentenced to such damages as must render him a piisoner for life ; and a similar fate befell Samuel Johnson, who had published a book called " Julian the Apostate," also meant to reflect on the duke. The king, now feeling that he, and not his parliament, was the master, dispensed c § 18, p. 464. '^ -. ' f with the Test Act,° and restored the duke to all his offices. Many of the rich London citizens were heavily fined, and poorer men set in the pillory, for seditious speeches; and the Rye-house plotters'* were sought for even in the West Indies, brought home, and executed. § 30. Charles did not enjoy the pleasui'es of absolute rule. He died somewhat suddenly at the palace of St. James, on the 6th of February, 1685, having been formally reconciled to the Church of Rome by the priest John Huddlestone, who had pre- served his life after the battle of Worcester, so many years before." § 31. The character of Charles furnishes ample scope for both blame and pity. It is evident that he was originally of a kind and dooUe nature; but the inheritance of a taste for vicious com- pany and self-indulgence, combined with the temptations incident to his wanderings in early life, made him a profligate of the worst type, to the gratification of whose desires everything else was made to give way. Occasionally he would rouse himself, and show courage, energy, and generosity, which made his ordinary sloth Chapter II.] THE RESTORED STUARTS. 469 Character of Oharlea the Second. Accession of James the Second. aud neglect of the duties of his position all the more lamentable. He had, too, such grace of manner, and such readiness in acknow- ledging the services of his old adherents, that they considered him less to blame than his ministers for the neglect that they experi- enced. This was undoubtedly true. Their distress was often relieved when the old cavalier or his widow or orphans could get their petitions into the king's own hand without the intervention of ministers or secretaries. His Secret Service accounts remain, and the sums therein entered as "the king's free gift and royal bounty" to loyal sufferers are very considerable. The deepest stain on his character is his cowardice and insincerity in the mat- ter of his f ellow-Eomanists. Though he stated his belief in their innocence, he sacrificed their lives to his own safety; and he never hesitated to declare himself a member of the Church of England whilst he had any purpose to serve by the deceit. It was only in the last moments of his life that he was prevailed on to drop the mask and avow that he was a Boman Catholic. CHAPTER n. KBiGN OF Jambs the Sbooitd. [a.d. 1685 to 1689.] § 1. So soon as Charles the Second was dead, his brother and successor, James Duke of Tork, hastened to the council and declared that he would ever maintain the established government both in Church and State. On the same afternoon [Feb. 6, 1685] he was publicly proclaimed Idng, and as it was known that he was somewhat less vicious than his brother, or at least more quiet and secret in his profligacy, the people answered with acclama- tions, and not a shadow of opposition appeared. " In the even- ing," says a cotemporary, " there was great kissing jof hands at Whitehall," in which the queen (Anne Hyde, daughter of the Earl of Clarendon) " had a fair share. With many § 3, P- 457. gracious words James bade the ministers and great ofl[icers of his brother to retain their places. § 2. James had less winning manners than his brother, but he had the character of a man whose word was sacred ; and every one, including even the old exclusionists, seemed vpilling to put 470 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IX. James's fair Beginning, King of France and Prince of Orange, the most favorable construction on his conduct. He tried the fidelity of churchmen by going in state to mass, and by releasing a large number of Roman Catholics and Quakers, who were both imprisoned for refusiug, though fi-oni very dilferent motives, to take the oaths imposed by parliament.' But he made amends for this by being crowned, with his queen, according to the Protestant ceremonial, by Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury. Both the English and the Scottish parliaments met soon after his accession, and they seemed to vie with each other as to which should show the most confidence in him. But this fair prospect was soon ovei-cast. § 3. Louis the Fourteenth of France was now at the height of his power, and the other States saw little hope of checking him unless the new king of England could be induced to join with them. This he was not likely to do, for he had already become a pen- sioner of Prance, as his brother had been. The real leader of the league of Protestant States against Louis was William, Prince of Orange, James's nephew, and also his son-in-law. He had mar- ried James's daughter, 'Mary, in 1677 ; and as his wife was the pre- sumptive heii- to the throne — the king having then no son — he had a plausible reason for taking a deep interest in English affairs. He was also Stadtholder of Holland, and the flocking thithei- of the disaffected from England and Scotland was supposed to be by no means displeasing to him. The Dutch ambassadors at James's com-t served as a safe means of communication between the refugees in Holland and the revived exclusionist party at home. Though WUliam professed unbomided respect for his father-in-law, he took such good care never to attempt to check any enterprises against him until it was too late, that he labore under the imputation of being quite ready to profit by them if successful, even if they did not originate with him. § 4. No sooner was James's accession known in Holland than the various bands of refugees there began to prepare for an attack on him. Far more from their rank than theii- talents, the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Argyle were regarded as their chiefs, but neither could make up his mind to serve under the other, and therefore two separate expeditions were resolved on. Strangely enough, Fletcher of Saltoun, a zealous republican and a Scotchman, chose to go with Monmouth, who 1 The Ronifin Catholics would not take the oath of the king's siipre- mary ; a the Quakers would not take any oath at all. a % 29, p. sso. Chaptbk II.] THE EESTORED STTJABTS. 471 Expeditions against King James defeated. The Leaders. prided himself on his royal blood ; whilst Rumbold, an old par- liamentai-y soldier, and Ayloffe, an infidel lawyer, two of the Rye- house plotters," cast in their lot with Arevle,'' who, -lu. 1,'i t,- ^ X 1 „ ■ i, ,. "§28, p. 467. after what his sect esteemed many " smful compli- •• § 26, p. 467 auces" with prelacy, was now a Presbyterian and a covenanter of the class that had fled at Marston-mcor" „.-„ ,„. o % 4d, p. 4»1. from the cavaliers, and at Dunbar " from the round- a s 7 p 450 heads. § 5. In spite of the remonstrances of James's agent, the expedi- tions were prepared without any hindrance from the Dutch. Ar- gyle was first ready ; but the project was hopeless fi'om the first, not oidy because he was betrayed by a spy, but from the jealousy of his followers, who allowed Mm merely the name and not the authority of a leader; for whilst they wished to dethrone the king, they thought he would be well content if he coiild recover his forfeited estates.' He sailed from Holland early in May, 1G85, vrith a small fleet, and repaired to the " ' • ■ west of Scotland, where he was joined by many of the common men of his clan, the Campbells ; but the gentry had been seized by the government, and other clans and some militia opposed him. After a few slight skiiinishes his force melted away, and he was taken prisoner, as were Rumbold and AylofEe. They all suffered shortly afterward. § 6. Wbilst this rising was being crushed the parliament had met, and had settled a revenue for life on the king. They had also granted a liberal sum for the navy, when their deliberations were suddenly interrupted by the news that the Duke of Monmouth had landed with a small force at Lyme, in Dorsetshire, on the 11th of June. Following the precedent of Tudor times, he was at once attainted by act of parliament, on the strength of a letter from the Mayor of Lyme, and the sworn testimony of the messen- gers who had brought it that they had seen him in arms. § 7. Monmouth's insurrection was suppressed almost as easily as Argyle's, but it was far more severely punished. He had only eighty men with him, but he brought arms for many more, and on his landing he was soon joined by about 6,000 of the noncon- formists, who abounded in the west of England. They were mostly cloth- workers and other poor workingmen ; though many wealthy traders were heavily fined as his partisans, after the rebel- lion was suppressed. After a few days spent in trying to disci- 4:72 HISTORY or ENGLAND. [Book IX. Duke oil Monmouth's Invasion. His fate. Judge JeSfreys. pline his disorderly host, he moved to Taunton, where, having assumed the title of king, he published a declaration charging "James, Duke of York," vdth every imaginable atrocity, and offering a price for his head.- Then he attempted to surprise Bristol, but the Duke of Beaufort held it against him with a body of militia. After a, few days more of purposeless wandering about he repaired to Bridgewater, a town marked as particularly Puritanical during the civil war. § 8. By this time the royal troops had reached the open plain of Sedgmoor, a few miles off, and Monmouth had the folly to make a night attack on them [July 6, 1685] in their quarters. This, as might have been expected, miserably failed, and he was the first to flee. His men held their ground till full 1,000 of them fell, when they also fled, and the royal general, who was a Frenchman,' ac- customed- to the barbarous warfare of the Continent, summarily executed many of his prisoners on the field. Meanwhile Mon- mouth, -with only two companions, tried to make his way to the coast. He was seized on the borders of the New Forest, and car- ried to London. At his o-wn urgent request he was brought before the king, and pleaded piteously for life on any teims, even offering to become a Romanist, so that he might live a little longer. But he had accused the king of causing the Fire of London," of mur- dering Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey,'' and of poisoning , „ „„' ' ' his own brother, and it can hardly be wondered at !■ § 20, p. 465. ■' that he was left to the fate that he had so rashly and wantonly provoked. Some few of his followers who could give useful information against others were allowed thus to earn their lives, but the great body were most severely dealt -svith, though James did not act so mercilessly as Henry the Eighth and „™ Elizabeth had done under less provocation ; for the c 5 do, p. 321. ' o„-, leaders of the Pilgnmage of Grace" and the North- d g d«, p. O0l«. em Rebellion '' had not charged them personally -with murder. § 9. Sir George Jeffreys, a judge who had long been accus- tomed to try criminals at the Old Bailey, made the cu-cuit of the West, holding what, even to this day, boars the name of the "Bloody Assize." He was a man of coaree and brutal nature, 1 Louis de Dmas, a nephew o( the celebrated Marshal Turenne. He bore the title of Earl of Faversham, which he had acquired through marrying the heiress of the Sondes family. Chaptek n.] THE EESTOEBD STTJAETS. 473 Englishmen made Slaves. The Test Act. Edict of Nantes revoked. and seems to have found a pleasm'e in his repulsive task, in the course of vrhich he hanged 330 persons. Following the cruel example of the parliament in 1651, he ordered above 800 others to be sent as slaves to the West Indies ; and what ren- dered this the more odious was, that the unhappy creatm-es were granted to court favorites, who made a shameful gain by selling them to the planters, or extorting ruinous sums for pardons from the few that had anything to give. Some of Monmouth's London partisans were also executed, Cornish the sheriff, formerly men- tioned,' being one of them. Two women also were executed for sheltering fugitives, and their fate ex- ^ ' ^' cited much compassion. One of them, indeed, was supposed to sufEer rather for her husband's ofEences than her own, she being the widow of the famous "regicide" John Lisle]' and the other was betrayed into the hands of * ''' the law by the vile wretch that she had succored. For his ser- vices in this melancholy business Jeffreys was made lord chancellor. § 10. James had adjourned his parliament when the rebellion broke out, in order that the members might be at liberty to take up arms in his cause if needful, which they were quite ready to do. When they assembled again, he told them that he had been obliged to employ several Romanist officers against the rebels, and having had good service from them, he could not in honor dismiss them ; therefore he had dispensed with the Test Act " in their favor. He also said that the militia had proved that ' > • • it could not be trusted, and so he desired a large grant of money to keep a body of regular troops in pay. Both these statements were very displeasing to the parliament. They murmured, and at last granted only one-half of the required sum. The king, after trying in vain to bring their leading men over to his views by per- sonally conferring with them, dismissed them in anger, and they met no more in his reign. § 11. Just at this time Louis the Fourteenth revoked the Edict of Nantes,'' and in consequence many thousands of French Protestants repaired to England, bnngmg some useful arts -with them, and also iilling the country with com- plaints of the cruelty and bad faith of their Romish sovereign. James acted with kindness to them ; but this could not remove the impression that even truly loyal men had already begun to enter- tain, that both their liberties and their religion were exposed to •tl* HISTORY OF ENGLAND. laooK lA. The King induoed to re-establisli Romanism. danger at his hands ; and some of the clergy, as a mode of show- ing their distrust, kept their churches closed on the anniversary of his accession. § 13. Governments are usually strengthened by unsuccessful re- bellions ; but it was not so with James, owing to his being in the hands of a treacherous adviser, who afterwards boasted of having IJurposely iaduced him to take the steps that led to his ruin. This was his secretary, Kobert Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, a man as base as Shaftesbury himself,* who, with the help of ' ' ' Edward Petre, a Jesuit, pushed him on to attack the Church of England, which had suffered so much for his family, and to make eif orts for the re-establishment of Eomanism. This all moderate Koman Catholics, the papal nuncio, and even the Pope himself, tried in vain to dissuade him from. Sunderland and Petre knew that the king distrusted parliaments, saying that his father had made concessions to them and had lost his head, and they persuaded him not to summon one. They knew also that his heart was bent on raising up his own church, and they easily per- suaded him that the Church of England would feel bound by its doctrine of non-resistance, and would never oppose him, let Mm act as he might. § 13. Fortified by this dishonest advice, James now ofjenly dis- pensed not only vrith the Test Act,"" but with the Act of Uniformity," by granting dispensations to a few clergymen, who had become Koman Catholics, still to hold theii' benefices in spite of its enactments. He bestowed a pension of £1,000 on Bishop Leyboume, a Romish ecclesiastic, and gave large sums for the support of chapels, where priests and monks, not content with proclaiming their own doctrines, attacked those of the church, whilst its preachers were commanded not to reply, on pain of the royal displeasure. Dr. John Sharp, a Lon- don clergyman, disobeyed this most unwise order, on which the bishop was commanded to suspend him from his benefice. The bishop, Dr. Oompton, alleged that he had no legal power to do so, on which, in defiance of an express statute, a Court of Ecclesiasti- cal Commission was created, by which the bishop himself was suspended from office, though the property of his see was not in- terfered with. § 14. Next, James's ovm coachman was employed to bring an action for penalties against Sir Edward Hales, a Koman Catholic Ohaptek II.] THE KESTORBD STUARTS. 475 Offices filled by Boman Catholics. Bomam Catholics in the Privy Council. gentleman of Kent, for accepting a military commission, when the judges decided that the king had the power to dispense with the ordinary oaths. In consequence of this decision a large number of Eomanists received commissions ; and when, in the summer of 1636, a camp was formed onHounslow-heath, almost all the oiEcers were of that persuasion, many of them being recent converts to what was called, not Catholicism, which was thought too civil, nor popery, which was thought too rude, but "the king's reli- gion." Here mass was publicly said, at first in the tents of the chief officers, Lord Faversham and Lord Dunbarton, but soon a lafge chapel was built, to which the king and most of his courtiers ordinarily repaired. § 15. One man was found to speak out what so many others felt, and he suffered accordingly. This was SamuelJohnson, who was already in prison for libelling the king when Duke of York." He now wrote "A Humble and Hearty " ' ^' Address to all English Protestants in the Army," which was widely distributed in the camp. Some expressions were thought to re- commend regicide, and it plainly justified taking up arms in defence of " the Bible, the Great Clfarter, and the Bill of Rights." Johnson was degraded from the priesthood and whipped through the streets, and many who entirely disapproved of the king's pro- ceedings, had yet little sympathy with such an assailant. § 16. Strong in his conviction of the fidelity of his army, the king now openly restored the profession of Bomanism. Convents were founded in different parts of London, and the Jesuits opened two great schools, to which their known skill in teaching attracted even Protestant scholars. Several Romish peers were sworn of the privy council, and Sunderland avowed his conversion. At Oxford, John Massey, a Romanist, was, by virtue of the dispensing power, admitted as dean of one of the colleges (Christ Church), and Oba- diah Walker, the master of another university, opened a chapel where mass was publicly celebrated. Thus stood affairs at the end of the second year of the king's reign. § 17. When James came to the throne, the Duke of Ormond' was recalled from Leland, which he had ruled for more than twenty years, and was succeeded as lord- lieutenant by the Earl of Clarendon, who was the king's brother- in-law ; but the real power was in the hands of Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnel, the general. Talbot was a vehement Romanist, 476 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book IX. Affairs in Ireland. Breaoi with tte BstabUshed Church. whose object was to raise a Romish army to assist James in his projects on England, and to make Ireland a secure retreat for him should these fail. Clarendon was therefore displaced [a.d. 1687J, and Talbot was made lord deputy, which put both the civil and the military power in his hands. He had long avowed his desii'e to overturn the iniquitous settlement of the land that Charles had, for a bribe, consented to," and the Protestants now ' ■ flocked over to England, exclaiming that another '■§34, p. 415. ^ . , „ • J- J ■ • ii, Irish massacre ° was impending, and increasing the distrust of the king and his Romish counsellors that was now everywhere entertained. § 18. Unwarned by these signs, and pushed on by Sunderland and Petre, the king now took the steps that soon brought about an open breach with the Anglican Church, and his own ruin. In these proceedings he had the support of four bishops — Cartwright of Chester, Crewe of Durham, Parker of Oxford, and Sprat of Rochester — all weak, unprincipled men who had once been Puri- tans, but had joined the Episcopal Church when it was in the ascendant, and were willing to assist in even the worst measures rather than hazard their preferments. His first step was to issue a declaration of liberty of conscience for Romanists and noncon- formists, which, however, was but coldly received, the real inten- tion, as in the case of Charles's " indulgence," being but too evi- dent. Then the University of Cambridge was ordered to confer a degree on Alban Francis, a monk, and on its refusal. Dr. Peachell, the vice-chancellor, was deprived of office. Next, Anthony Far- mer, a man of bad character, who had been first a churchman, then a dissenter, and now professed to be a Romanist, was recom- mended to the fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford, for theif president. They declined to comply, and chose John Hough, who had been the oliaplain of the Duke of Ormond in Ireland. They were summoned before the Ecclesiastical Com- 11 8 q' '41' ^^^i""'" ^'^d threatened by Jeffreys,* who was at its head, but declined to give way. At last a board of visitors was sent to Oxford, who broke open their doors, di'ove Hough and the fellows out by force, and placed Parker, the bishop, in possession. Farmer being allowed even by them to bo unworthy of the office. This violent interference with property was taken as an indication that the subject was considered to have no absolute right in anything if the king chose to take it Chaptbk II.] THE RESTORED STUARTS. 477 Pope's Nuncio officially leceived. Army disaffected. Eevolntion. from him, and it raised a storm that could never afterwards be allayed. § 19. The king, however, was easily persuaded that he had triumphed. He re-established the camp at Hounslow, filled every corporation with Eoman Catholics or Dissenters, as all noncon- formists were now called, gave orders to summon a parliament, and received the papal nuncio in state. Nobles and gentlemen who had hitherto supported him, now resigned office ; but he filled up their places with Romanists, and made a progress through the country, where, strangely enough, he was generally well re- ceived. So well, indeed, that early in the following year [a.d. 1688] he not only again issued his declaration for liberty of con- science, but ordered that every clergyman should read it in his church on two following Sundays. Sancroft., Archbishop of Can- terbury, and six other bishops,' presented a petition to the king in his closet, representing that they could not in conscience dh-ect their clergy to obey this order. Instead of listening to them he sent them to the Tower, and soon afterward had them tried for a libel. They were acquitted, and James's fate was sealed. § 30. The soldiers in his camp rejoiced in his hearing at the result. Churchmen and Dissenters, Whigs and Tories, were for a time united ; and a body of seven " Liberals," as they would now be called," who had long secretly communicated with the Prince of Orange,* and shaped their conduct to ad- ^^^ vanoe his views, now openly invited him to come with an army to deliver the country from " popery and slavery." The Prince had long expected this, and therefore was prepared for it. He soon after published a declaration, saying that he would come to procure the holding of a free parliament, which should secure the rights and liberties of Englishmen, and should also investigate the birth of a son that had just been bom to the ]iuig a matter in which the princess his wife was deeply inter- ested- This declaration, backed as it was by the assembling of a 1 William Lloyd, of St. Asaph ; Thomas Ken; of Bath and Wells ; Sir Jonathan Tre- lawney, of Bristol ; John Lake, of Chichester ; Francis Turner, of Ely ; and Thomas White, of Peterborough. 2 They were the Barta of Danby. Devonshire, and Shrewsbury ; Lord Lumley Comp- ton, Biihap of Lcndon; Henry Sydney, and. Edward BnsseU. All had reoeived some personal affront or Injury from the king, and Sidney had seen his ^ ^ brother, and Eussell his cousin, lose their heads on the soaffold.> 478 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IX. The King alarmeci. Arrival of the Prinoe of Orange. King deserted. fleet and army in Holland, and by riots in London, where the new Eoman Catholic chapels were destroyed, caiised the king to re- trace his late steps. He restored their charters to London and other towns, dissolved the Ecclesiastical Commis- ' ''■ ^ ' sion," replaced the president and fellows of Mag- ' ^' ' ' dalen,'' and parted with his treacherous advisers Sun- derland and Petre. ° But it was now too late. § 21. WiUiam sailed from Holland, and, driven by a strong east wind, that kept James's fleet in the Thames, and also hindered Tyr- connel sending troops from Ireland, passed down the Channel, and landed his whole force without opposition at Torbay, in Devon- shire, on the 5th of November, 1688. No one joined him at first, as he had been expected to land in Yorkshire. But the signers of the invitation were busy in various parts of the country raising forces, and, worse still for the king, the officers of the royal army were not to be relied on. Lord Cornbury, the king's nephew, set the example of desertion, and was soon followed by Prince George of Denmark, liis son-in-law (husband of his daughter Anne), by Lord Churchill, and others. The king, who had joined his troops at Salisbury, now returned in alarm to London, only to learn that his daughter Anne had fled to the insurgents, escorted by Bishoj) Compton, lier tutor, who in this extremity resumed the bufE coat and jack-boots of a trooper.' "God help me," he cried; "even my own children have forsaken me ! " And from this time forward he thought only of securing the safety of his wife and infant child by sending them out of the country. § 23. To gain time for tliis he allowed commissioners to proceed to the piTnce at Hungeif ord, when an agreement was made that the invaders should remain at the distance of forty miles from London on one side, and the king's troops as far off in the oppo- site direction, so that " a free parliament" might meet. But James did not intend to wait for that. He sent his queen and son away by nig'Ht to France, and followed them in disguise a day later [December 11], but he was stopped near Faversham, being taken for a Romish priest. After a few days' detention there, he was brought back to London, much to the discontent of the Prince and his adherents. § 23. As soon as James's ilight was known, a number of the peers 1 He was a son of the Earl of Northampton, and had served in the royal gnard in his youth. Chaptbu II.] THE RESTORED STUARTS. 4T9 King flees to France. PrOTisiouai Government. William and Mary proclaimed. assembled, and, in concert with the citizens of London, invited William to provide for the public security. Jeffreys ' was seized whilst endeavoring to escape disguised as > ■ ' • a sailor, and placed in the Tower, where he died soon afterward. Sunderland and Petre, the papal nuncio, and Bishop Cartwright, had ah-eady escaped. On James's return the Dutch troops marched into London, and he was peremptoiily ordered to take up his resi- dence at Ham, near Richmond. He obtained permission to go to Rochester instead. Here, if not before, he learned that a plan of imprisoning him abroad had been proposed, and, against the ad- vice of some of his firmest adherents, he at once abandoned the contest and iied to France, where he and his family were most cordially received by Louis the Fourteenth. § 24. On the flight of the king government authority vv^as assumed by the House of Lords as soon as they could assemble. About ninety bishops and peers met on the 35th of December, as an Hereditary .Senatorial Council. After having declared the throne to be vacant, and asserted that the rule of a Romish piince was not consistent with the welfare of a Protestant State, they requested William of Orange, who was a good soldier, an able statesman, and a firm Protestant, to take the control of public affairs. About one hundred and fifty persons, who had sat in Parliament during the reign of Charles the Second, met the next day as a House of Commons ; and so a provisional government was formed. At the request of this government William issued writs for a Convention on the 2ad of January following. It met. Long discussions fol- lowed. Some did not think it proper to alter the line of succes- sion. They would have a regency to carry on the government until James's son, then seven months old, should be of 0,ge. So thought Sancroft, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Others wished to make James's daughter, the Pi-incess Mary,' queen. ^^^ But her husband soon let it be plainly seen that nothing short of the crown for himself would satisfy him. § 35. It was at length agi-eed that, for form's sake, the jirincess should be associated with him. She had no reluctance thus to supplant her father ; and accordingly they were proclaimed King and Queen of England, France, and Ireland on the 13th of Feb- ruary, 1689. The Scottish crown was tendered to and accepted by them a short time afterward. In each case a Declaration of Right, enumerating what were claimed as the ancient liberties of the 4^80 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book IX. Monarchy on a new basis. Malcontents and Jacobites. people, was presented, and its observance sworn to by the new rulers. This was far more fuU and explicit than the promises of good government that former sovereigns had given at their corona- tion. From this time forward the monarchy was established upon the basis, not of divine right or hereditary succession, but of defined rights and deities ; and what the Long Parliament had in vain attempted was at length brought to pass. The new sovereigns were crowned in April [1689], when the ceremony was attended vidth great public rejoicings. CHAPTEB III. REIGN OF William and Mast. [a.d. 1689 to 1694.] § 1. The apparent unity of parties after the flight of James and the coming of 'William of Orange was deceptive. The ultra- royalists, Romanists, and High Chm'chmen hoped that William would, after "securing the liberties of the English people," as ho proposed to do, in some way reinstate his father-in-law as the legitimate sovereign of the realm, but so hedged by constitutional restraints as to guarantee those liberties. They were sorely disap- pointed ; and when WiUiam and Mary were enthroned, the mal- contents asserted that the prince, from the beginning, had in- tended to secure the crown for himself. Very soon the partisans of James, who were called " Jacobites " (Jacobus being the Latin of James), began to plot for the overthrow of the new monarchs, and they were beset with difficulties from the outset. § 3. James had many adherents, especially in Scotland and Ire- land ; and a large number of subjects refused to renounce their allegiance to him. There was disaffection in the army also. It appeared when two Scotch regiments refused to obey orders, on the ground that they were amenable only to the Estates of Scotland, and broke out into open mutiny. They were speedily arrested and conducted to London, when the king pardoned them, but put them out of the way of temptation by sending them to serve in Holland. It was a salutary and needful lesson to prevent insub- ordination in the army at a critical time, for there was actual insurrection in Ireland, tln-eatencd iosurrection in Scotland, and Chapter III.] THE RESTORED STUARTS. 481 ■WUliam's Policy. War witli France. Tiotory at la Hogao. impending -war with France. AH these William was called upon to deal promptly with. Fortunately the parliament was true to his cause, and seconded his measures. It was a ' '^' whig ' assembly, and made the Long Parliament 'its ^ ' P' guide. § 3. Personally William was unpopular. He was cold, austere, and sometimes sullen in his manner. He did not speak the Eng- lish language well. He was surrounded by foreigners to the ex- clusion of native-bom Englishmen. And the wise measure of placing his own tried and experienced officers in command of English troops, created a national jealousy which was detrimental to the public welfare. And so it was that, from the beginning of his reign, WiUiam was compelled to meet discontent, opposition, and treachery. He was soon made aware of the fact that he was dislited, and took no pains to appease the uneasiness. He re- solved to teach his new subjects that in him they had a stem mas- ter. It was a resolution that brought him much trouble. § 4. War with Prance followed immediately on WOliam's acces- sion, but the first battles fought were discovu-aging. Admiral Herbert had an indecisive action with the French in Bantry Bay, in May, 1689, but it was so nearly a victory that he was created Earl of Torrington. In the following year, however, he sustained a severe defeat near Beachy Head, and the French remained for some time masters of the English Channel; The Dutch sufEered greatly in the action ; and WiUiam, believing that they had been sacrificed to national jealousy, dismissed Torrington. The chief command in the navy was then given to Admiral Russell, one of the many men employed by William, who, it was said, had no faith in the stability of his govermnent, and who therefore seiwed Mm only by halves, and kept up a correspondence with James, their old master. He, however, gained a victory at La Hogue [May 19, 1692], which hindered an intended invasion of England by the French ; but an unsuccessful attack on St. Malo afterward caused Russell to faU into disgrace, and he was removed. § 5. The first positive opposition to William's rule came from men who had sufEered from James, but who professed not to be- lieve that* any earthly power could relieve them from the oaths that they had sworn to him. The chief of these ^.^ ^ ^^^ were Sancroft" and seven other bishops, who de- clined to take the oaths to the new government, though the 21 482 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IX. DisafEeotion ot Ohurolnnen. Favorifes rewarded. Civil War in Soofland. penalty was the forfeiture of their sees. About 400 other High Chureh clergymen followed their example, at the like sacrifice, and a much larger number of laymen also refused the oaths. Thus was formed a body of men in the State that existed for nearly a century, and was known as the Nonjurors. These men declined to acknowledge William for conscience' sake, but they were not the most formidable opponents of his government. These were found among the men who had invited ' ' ■ him," and had taken office under him, but who were now engaged in ceaseless intrigues against him. William, how- ever, was a keen observer. He knew their baseness, and though he found it convenient to employ them, he gave his confidence only to a few old friends who had accompanied him from Holland, and on whom he lavished wealth and honors without limit. § 6. In the first three years of William's reign, forfeited lands in Ireland, to the annual value of £200,000, came into his hands, and were meant to be sold to meet the expenses of the war ; but he lavished much the greater part on the foreigners in his employ, to support the new titles he had conferred upon them, beside giving them every considerable post in liis court. One especial favorite, Bentinck, whom he had created Earl of Portland, received also the greater part of a Welsh county ; and King James's private estate (worth £26,000 a year) was bestowed on Elizabeth Villiers, another favorite, who was created Countess of Orkney. This system was carried to such an extravagant extent that at last [a.d. 1699] the parliament interfered, and insisted on the grants being revoked ; but as those who had received them were allowed to keep all that they had drawn from them for years, any services that they had rendered were amply repaid. § 7. Though there was deep discontent through the whole of William's reign, accompanied by several plots against his life, there was yet no open resistance to his authority in England. But in Scotland, within a very few months after his accession, a civil war broke out, headed by General Graham of Claverhouse, a devoted partisan of King James, who had created him Viscount Dun- dee. Dundee had served abroad with renown, and was afterward employed in repressing the proceedings of the freedom-loving Covenanters, though his wife belonged to a noted Puritan family, the Cochranes. As Graham of Claverhouse, or more commonly " Bloody Clavers," he and his dragoons were objects of mingled Chapter III.] THE RESTORED STUARTS. 483 A Violent Persecutor. Civil War in Ireland. fear and hatred, and he was more detested by the persecuted non- conformists of Scotland than any other man of his day. He dis- persed their conventicles, and shot as rebels the fiiends who kept up communication between them and the Dutch and the old re- publican party in England. He was summoned to court by James shortly before the Eevolution, when he ofEered to raise his Scottish troops to 10,000 men and attack the invaders. James would not consent to this, but charged him, instead, to return to Scotland and support his cause there. Dundee accordingly attended the Convention at Edinburgh, as the local government was called, but Ijeing threatened with assassination he withdrew, with only sixty of his dragoons, and erected the royal standard in the High- lands. Tlie clans flocked to him, and he soon afterward at- tacked and totally defeated a much larger body of regular troops at Killiecrankie [July 27, 1689], but fell himself in the action, when his followers dispersed, though they did not formally submit to the new government until long afterward. § 8. The war in Ireland was of much longer duration, and had, in fact, commenced before James left England. Alarmed at Tyr- cormel's proceedings," the Protestants di-ew together in the north, and fixing on Londonderry as their headquarters, they shut the gates and refused to admit the royal troops. Emiiskillen, another stronghold of the Oromwellian set- tlers,*" followed their example. The fugitive King James, who, helped by Louis of France, was seeking every opportunity to regain his lost throne, landed in Ii'eland in March, 1689, with a small French force, and soon had an aiiny around him. He marched against Londonderry, expecting that it would at once surrender, but being disappointed in this, he returned to Dublin, and held a parliament, which repealed the preliminary Act of Settlement," attainted a large number of Wil- eg 34 p_ 479. liam and Mary's adherents, and declared that Ireland was no longer a dependency of England. Londonderry was closely invested, and reduced to great distress ; but the inhabit- ants, headed by Greorge "Walker, an aged clergyman, held out for 105 days, when they were relieved by succors sent from England. § 9. A large body of troops was sent to Ireland under Schom- berg, one of William's most trusted officers, in August, 1689 ; but they remained encamped in a most unhealthy situation for months, and suffered so much from sickness that, in the ensuing year, they 4:84 HISTOBY OP ENGLAND. [Book IX. Protestants viotorious in Ireland. League against France. National Debt. •were not fit to take the field. William himself passed over in June, 1690, and James advanced from Dublin to meet him. The battle of the Boyne followed [July 1], when the Roman Catholic Irish were defeated with loss, and James very soon afterward re- turned to France.' William besieged Limerick in vain, and then left Ii-eland. The Earl of Marlborough took Cork and Kinsale, but was soon afterward succeeded by GinkeU, who, in the following year [a.d. 1691], brought the war to a close by gaining the battle of Aghrim, and procuring the surrender of Limerick. For this ■ service GinkeU was thanked by the parliament, and was created Earl of Athlone by the king. Thenceforward L-eland was ruled by the triumphant party with a rigor which so utterly crushed tlie spirit of the native population who had adhered to James, that they quitted the country by thousands. § 10. Soon after his return from Ireland, William went over to the Continent, where by his exertions a fresh league was formed against France ; and the Huguenots were induced to join him in regiments by his promise that no peace should be made vmtil the Edict of Nantes » was re-established. It was agreed that an army of 320,000 men should be maintained, and England had to pay for far the greater part. It was at first attempted to raise the vast sums required by a poll-tax, which ranged fi-om £10 for a peer to 4s. for a workingman, but this being found insufficient, money was borrowed at high interest, and thus was begun the present National Debt of Great Britain. The debt in 1697, when the war ended, was about £5,000,000 ($25,000,000). It is- now (1871) almost $4,000,000,000, or nearly 11,800,000,000 more than the debt of the United States at the close of the late civil war, and which is now about $2,200,000". § 11. A horrible affair occurred in Scotland at the beginning of the year 1692. The secretary for Scotland, Sii- John Dali-ymple (but better known as the Master of Stair), and the Earl of Breadal- bane had money intrusted to them to bribe the Highlanders into submission, but neither of them was willing so to employ it. Breadalbane desired to keep it himself, and Stair openly said that lead and steel would answer better. Threatening proclamations were therefore issued, and aU the clans but that of Macdonald of Glencoe came in by the appointed time. Owing to a mistake as 1 Fi-om that time until now the Irish Protestants have been called "Orangemen," and the sectarian animosity then engendered still prevails. Chapter III.] THE EBSTORED STUAHTS. 485 The Massacre of Glencoa. Snocess of. the French. English reverses. to fhe officer that they were to apply to, they -were a few days late, but they were accepted, and formally taken into protection. Stair, however, who had a strange hatred against them, concealed this fact, and had no difficulty in getting a written order from the deceived king for "the extirpation of that set of thieves." He at once sent a body of troops among them, raised from the Camp- bells, who, after residing apparently as friends in their dwellings for a fortnight, suddenly fell on the unsuspecting people, and murdered the old chief and about sixty others, a child eight years old included, in cold blood. At least as many more perished- from cold.and hunger (it was mid-winter) among the mountains, and a remnant escaped, only because some other troops sent against them happily missed their way. This sad afEair is known as the Massacre of Grlencoe. § 12. Several of TVilliam's allies in the Protestant league " were but lukewarm in the cause, and for a while the French carried all before them. Their navy had recovered ' ^' all its losses at La Hogue,' and in 1693 they captured ' ' ' the English and Dutch Smyrna fleet, causing a loss to the mer- chants of upwards of £1,000,000. Their privateers swarmed in the Channel, and the attacks made on several of the French ports failed to do as much damage as had been expected. New ex- plosive machines had been invented for the attack by a Dutch engineer bamed Meesters, and were employed by the English witli excellent efEect, but their heavy expense was so loudly complained of by the opposition that the unpopularity of WUliam and his countrymen increased. § 13. For a time things went on no better on land, under "Wil- liam's own eye. In 1692 he attacked the French at Steenkirke, and received a terrible defeat, which was made harder to bear by the reported insolence and brutality of Count Solmes, one of his foreign generals, who, it was said, pushed forward some newly- raised English regiments against the French Guards, then esteemed the bast troops in the world, and instead of supporting them when hardly pressed, stood aloof vnth his Germans, and remarked, "Let us see how the bull-dogs will flght." In the next year William was driven out of his entrenched camp at Landen, where the Eng- lish snfiered again severely ; but he had the satisfaction of seeing Solmes among the slain. § 14. The campaign of the following year raised the hopes of 486 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IX. Peace of Ryswick. Change in Parliament. Death of Queen Mary. William, because he sustained no defeat; and in 1695, mainly owing to the desperate courage of the British troops, he captured the strong town of Namur, and made a prisoner of Boufflers, one of the most renowned French marshals. All the parties to the war had now nearly exhausted their resources; therefore, in 1696 little was undertaken in the field, and negotiations for peace were entered into. After long discussion, a peace was signed at Rys- wick, a house between the Hague and Delft that belonged to WilUam, on the 30th of September, 1697. Its terms were highly satisfactory to the English people ; for Louis the Fourteenth was thereby compelled to withhold all further support to James, and acknowledge William to be monarch of England. And when the king returned from the Continent he was received with great en- thusiasm as a conqueror and deliverer, and peace for England seemed to be assured. § 15. Whilst the war went on several changes occuiTed among the parties at home. The Convention Parliament " ■ § 24 p 479 ^ had been mainly composed of Whigs,' but the suc- ' ' ' ceeding parliament [a.d. 1690-1695] was a Tory as- sembly. By it the undue zeal of the Whigs was controlled, who, like the Tories, wished to proscribe every one not exactly of their own opinions. The two parties, by mutual restraint, secured wiser legislation. The Tories exjjressed great dissatisfaction at seeing Sunderland" again in oflnce [a.d. 1693], and making a boast of having betrayed King James ; but William found him useful, and so retained him. In return, an attempt was made to prevent government oificers sitting in the House, and an act was passed [November 22, 1694] providing for the calling of a new parliament every three years. To this act the royal assent was given on the 22d of December. § 16. Within a week after that royal assent was given, which gratified the English people as a popular triumph. Queen Mary died [December 28, 1694]of malignant small-pox, in the thirty-third year of her age. She was childless. She had been a most exem- plary wife and woman. Whilst she admired, the commanding intellect of her husband, and loved him tenderly, she was made one of the most unhappy of women by his open unfaithfulness To her. He grieved for her with a passion that seemed foreign to his natui'c. Thenceforward, by the authority of the Convention Par- 1 s 24 47D li'^™'^'!*''' ^^ ^'ilsd as sole sovereign, with the title of ^'^^' • William the Thh-d. Chaptek IV.] THE EESTOEBD STUAETS. 487 A Family Feud healed. Plots. Execution of a Conspirator* CHAPTER rv. EBiGN OF William the Third. [a.d. 1694 to 1702.] § 1. William's first act after the death of his -wife was the consenting to a reconciliation with the Princess Anne, Mary's sister, and wife of Prince George of Denmark. That Princess had shown fiolent opposition to William and Mary ; and the harsh words which she had applied to the king so embittered Mary, that in her dying moments she refused to be reconciled to Anne. The king presented Anne a greater part of Mary's jewels, and appropriated the palace of St. James for her future residence. § 2. Rumors of plots for the assassination of William, after the death of the queen, were rife : some were true and some were false. It was difficult to distinguish them. Spies and perjurers were, as usual, plentiful about the court, who were ever ready to swear away the life of any one for the sake of personal gain or the gratification of malice. But some actual plots were exposed. Among these was one to assassinate the king at Tumham Green, in 1696, devised by Sir John Frund and others, who were made to suffer for their crime. § 3. From 1696 to 1698 the Whigs were again the ruling party in parliament. Completing what the Tories had begun, they had lately passed a law regulating the mode of proceeding in trials for treason, the, chief provision being that there should be two witnesses to the offence. Sir John Fenwiok, a Northumbrian gen- tleman, who had been an active confederate in the "§!,?. 486. Jacobite" plot for the invasion of England, '' lay in . § O) P- 483. prison charged with treason, but one of the two wit- nesses against him, men of infamous character, suddenly disap- peared. He therefore, according to law, must have been acquitted if tried by any ordinary court. But he had, unfortunately, in an interview with WUliam, ventured to charge several of his minis- ters, and also Admiral Russell," with corresponding „ ^ ^^ c S 4, p. 481. with King James — a charge now known to be true, and currently believed even then. The guilty men would not allow so dangerous an accuser to Uve, and Russell brought in a bill of attainder against him. It was passed, and Sir John was. executed on the 28th of January, 1697. He was the last man who was thus dealt with in England. 488 HISTORY OF BNGLAND. [Book IX. K^uotion of the Army. Designs apjainst Spain. King and Parliament disagree. § 4. The war being now over, the parliament in which the Tories had recovered their influence set themselves to reduce the army, which they accomplished in spite of William's opposition. They also obliged him to send back his "Dutch guards, telling him truly that his real safety was in the affections of his subjects. They made strict inquiries into some alleged enormous bribes that the India Company had given to secure a renewal of their charter ; and at last they insisted that the forfeited lands that had been grante(t to Portland" and others should be sold for the public a 6 fi Ti 482 ' benefit. William was much ofEended, and at first threatened to resign the crown, but he soon changed his plan, and corresponded with Louis of France for the partition of the vast Spanish monarchy, on the death of the then sick king. His policy in this matter seems to have been founded on the idea that a war would spring out of it, and put an end to inquiries and interfe- rences at home. § 5. In this he judged rightly, though he did not live to take a part in the contest. Charles the Second Of Spain was in a dying state, and no less than three princes had claims to his dominions, through marriage. William, above all things, dreaded that they should fall to the King of France, and Louis, to prevent a new coalition, pretended to be willing to claim only a small share for his son, and leave the rest to be divided between the Emperor and the Elector of Bavaria. Though he, as weU as the other princes, was pledged to secrecy, he took care that the chief points of the treaty should become knovm to the King of Spain, whilst he kept back his own share in it. Charles, naturally indignant at the proceed- ing, determined to thwart the scheme, and therefore made a will leaving all his dominions to a grandson of Louis. On Charles's death, shortly after, the will was published by Louis, and loud were the complaints of his treachery. But he was too strong to be attacked, unless England headed the confederacy. The parlia- ment was unvpilling to engage in another war solely to gratify what seemed to be William's ambition, and the Commons im- peached Lord Somers the chancellor, Portland, and other minis- ters who had been engaged in making the pai-tition treaty. A quarrel on a point of form between the Lords and Commons prevented the trial taking place, but both Portland and Somers lost their offices. § 6. William, deeply ofiended, now went over to Holland, sur- Chaptek IV.] THE RESTORED STUARTS. 489 DeatU of Kings James and 'Williani. Character oi ■William. veyed the frontier, sent a fleet to lie off Dunkirk, and did other acts calculated to bring on a war, when Louis saved him further trou- ble. James the Second died in 1701, and Louis at once recog- nized his son (James Francis Edward) as king.' This was an undeniable breach of the treaty of Ryswick." The unfortunate youth was attainted merely on account ' "' of his bii-th, and war with Prance was determined on. But be- •fore anything could be done the crown of England was placed upon the head of another. William, while riding out to Hamp- ton Court [February 31, 1702], was thrown from his horse. His collar-bone was fractured. A fever ensued, and on Sunday morn- ing, the 8th of March, 1703, he died in Kensington Palace. During William's latter days an act for securing the Protestant succession, known as the Act of Settlement, was hastily passed by parliament, in virtue of which the House of Brunswick was, a few years later, called to the throne. § 7. William's personal appearance was not striking. He was of middle stature, thin, and of delicate constitution. He had been afflicted with asthma from his infancy. His countenance was quite remarkable. He had an aquiline nose, sparkling eyes, and large forehead. His character seems full of contradictions, but the good evidently preponderated over the evil. Smollett says that " in courage, fortitude, and equanimity, he rivalled the most eminent warriors of antiquity." Like other men in jjower, and with a long line of predecessors on the thi-one of England as his precedents, William often gratified his personal desires and ambi- tion without regard to the public good. But whatever may have been his secret motives in the part he took in the revolution of 1688,'' and his subsequent contests with Louis the ^ „ „, '^ § 21, p. 478. Fourteenth, ostensibly in defence of Protestantism, it cannot be denied that the revolution was productive of much good. His reign hegan a new era in constitutional government, and opened the way toward the attainment of religious and poli- tical freedom for the people of the British realm. 1 He was bom June 10, 1688, not long before his father's abdication. "^ During the life of Louis he resided in France, but aftera-ards he removed to Avi- ^.^ j,j gnon, which belonged to the Pope, and eventually to Eome, where he died December 80, 1765. He mai-ried the Princess Clementina of Poland, had two sons, Charles Edward, called the Young Chevalier, or Young Pretender, and Henry, the Cardinal o£ York. 31* 490 HISTORY OF ENWLAJND. \_aoos. i^. Accession of Queen Anne. Her Character and Favorites. CHAPTER V. EEIGN OF AinsTB. [a.d. 1702 TO 1714.] § 1. On the death of William, James's youngest daughter, Anne, became [March 8, 1703] monarch of England. She was then in the thirty-eighth year of her age, but was possessed of little more self-reliance than a girl of fifteen. The Jacobites " "§!,?. 480. had entertained strong hopes that she would reject the crown in favor of her half-brother, James Francis Edward,'' who, in order to avoid questions of ceremony in ' § 6, p. 488. social intercourse, was known as the Chevalier St. George. But they were disappointed. Anne was a weak woman, who loved to be ruled rather than to rule, and her heart inclmed to her brother, but she could never summon the resolution to take any decided step in his favor, at any time. She was an English- woman possessed of great virtues, and was a warm adherent of the Churcli of England. Her ministers, and not she, ruled England. § 3. The whole course of Anne's reign was determined by a romantic friendship which she had formed in early youth for an attendant, Sarah Jennings, a handsome, intelligent gul, a few years older than herself. Sarah married Colonel John Churchill, the son of a Dorsetshire cavalier, who was high in favor with Anne's father when Duke of York, and was a most accomplished courtier as well as a gallant soldier. Soon after his marriage Cliurchill was made a peer, and when his patron (the duke) came to the throne honors and rewards were lavishly bestowed on him. Tliese, however, could not secure his fidelity, and when the Prince of Orange landed he not only went over to him, but induced the ,_„ Princess Anne and her husband to do the same." c § 21. p. 478. . William gave liim a higher title (Eaj-1 of Marlborough), but acted by him as he did by so many others — employed, yet distrusted him — and in 1693 he suddenly deprived him of his vari- ous appointments and threw him into the Tower. The princess warmly espoused the cause of the husband of her friend, and Marl- borough, when at last set at liberty, busily employed himself in J 487 fo"^™g ^ "Princess's party," which seriously em- barrassed William's government. This was the occa- sion of the auarrel between the two sisters.* CnAPTEE v.] THE RESTORED STUARTS. 491 Influence of Marlborough and his Wife. Successful "Wars. § 3. Kow that Anne had become queen, Marlborough and his ■wife disposed of everything at their pleasure. Three days after the queen's accession, he was decorated with the Order of the Garter. The next day he was made commander-in-chief of all the forces of the realm ; and in December [1703] he was created Mar- quis of Blandf ord and Dulce of Marlborough. It was Marlborough's pleasure to make war, and accordingly war occupied the far greater part of Anne's reign, bringing him, beside military glory and titles, enormous wealth. The queen's affection for his duchess took an extravagant form. She regarded her as her superior, and was never tu-ed of writing letters to show how honored Mrs. Mor- ley (the queen) felt by the kind notice of Mrs. Freeman (the duchess) ; such being the names that, at Anne's pressing desire, they employed in their correspondence. § 4. In the very first month of Anne's reign, Marlborough was sent to Holland to concert measures " for reducing the power of France within due bounds." The arrangement was made, that England, Holland, Portugal, and some of the Italian princes, should join their forces to those of the Emperor of Germany for the purpose of placing his son Charles on the throne of Spain. Louis, however, had possession of the country, and he had a pow- erful ally in Germany in the Elector of Bavaria. Marlborough was declared captain-general of the English and Dutch forces, and taking the field at once, he drove the French from the Dutch frontier, and ended his first campaign with the capture of the strong city of Liege. He returned to England for the winter, received the thanks of parliament, and was created a duke, as we have seen. § 5. It has been said of Marlborough, that he never fought a battle that he did not win, or besiege a town that he did not take. His second campaign [a.d. 1703] was in accordance with this, and though no great battle was fought, Bonn, Huy, Limburg, and other places were reduced. Under other generals, however, the allies were by no means so successful ; and the French gained so many advantages in Germany that the emperor was in danger. Marl- borough, therefore, in the next year crossed the Ehine, was joined by the imperialists under Prince Eugene, and soon changed the face of affairs. The allies drove the Bavarians from their in- trenched camp at Schellenberg, and, following them up to Blen- heim, inflicted a terrible defeat on them and the French, on the 492 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IX. Blenheim Falace, Marlborough's 'WarB on the Contment, 13th of August, 1704. The loss was very heavy on both sides. Marshal Tallard, Marlborough's opponent, was made a prisoner, and the Elector became a fugitive. The triumph of Marlborough was complete, and the reward proportionate. He had already received a grant of the royal manor of "Woodstock, and it was now voted in parliament that a palace bearing the name of Blen- heim should be erected upon it for him. This was begun, but in after years, when he had fallen into disgrace, he had to complete it himself, and he expended more than £70,000 for the purpose. § 6. The next year [a. r>. 1705] saw Marlborough preparing to in- vade France from the side of Germany, but the emperor's troops supported him badly, and the progi'ess that the French had made in his absence recalled him to the Netherlands, where he retook Huy, one of their conquests. Henceforth his campaigns were confined to that country, and may be briefly noticed before speak- ing of the war elsewhere. § 7. In 1706 he gained the battle of Ramillies, and the sub- mission of all Brabant was the result, with the recognition of the Austrian Charles as their king. All the foUovring campaign [a.d. 1707] was a trial of skill between Marlborough and one of the most famous of the French marshals, Vendome. Each was a master in his profession, and neither could force the other to a battle. In 1708 the French advanced, and Ghent and Bruges were surrendered to them by the people, as they had found the allies hard masters. But Marlborough was soon on the spot, gained the battle of Oudenarde, retook Ghent, and created a terrible alarm in France by passing the frontier, and laying the country under contribution. He next captured Lille, the strongest fortress on the frontier, and then the proud Louis thought it time to open nego- tiations, with the view of preventing his further progress. § 8. But these negotiations did not prevent another campaign [a.d. 1709], when the most desperate battle of the whole wai' was fought at Malplaquet, the victors losing more men than the van- quished in storming the French camp. Again Louis sought peace, but Ms offers were rejected ; and the enormous gains that Marl- borough drew fi'om the war were commonly, though it is to be hoped unjustly, assi^edas the cause. In the campaign of 1710 he reduced several strong towns, and in 1711 he defeated Marshal Vil- lars at Arleux, and captured Bouchain ; but this was his last triumph, for a change had taken place at com-t, and he and his wife, aib'-r UHAPTKR V.J TJtiJJi KJiiSTOlUSD STUARTS. 493 The Protestant AUies generally Successful. War in Spain, thirty years of unexampled favor and confidence, had been sup- planted in the queen's regard. The cause mil be noticed pres- ently. § 9. During all these years there had been many battles by sea and by land, but with very various fortune. In 1703 Admiral Benbow was mortally wounded in the West Indies, ia an attack on the French fleet, which failed because some of his captains de- serted him ; and Cadiz was unsuccessfully assailed, though several treasure-ships were destroyed at Vigo. In 1704 an invasion of Spain from Portugal was baffled by the Duke of Berwick, who was a natural son of King James and the nephew of Marlborough. Gibraltar was taken by surprise by Sir George Rooke, but as, from the bad condition of his ships, he could not prevent the escape of a French fleet sent to its relief, he was dismissed the service. The year 1705 was one of triumph for the allies in Spain. Sir John Leake destroyed a French fleet near Gibraltar, and thenceforth what remained of their navy in the Mediterranean never ventured out again, but took shelter in the harbor of Toulon. The Earl of Peterborough, in conjunction with Sir Cloudesley .Shovel, reduced Barcelona, and hastily traversing a large part of Spain, had the Austrian king everywhere proclaimed. He had nearly accom- plished the capture of Madrid, when a quarrel broke out between him and Charles, and the enterprise was abandoned. Peterbor- ough, who was a vain and boastful though brave man, is consid- ered to blame for this ; and all his conquests were lost in the following year, when the allies were defeated by Berwick at Almanza. The English fleet, however, himg on the Spanish coast, and conquered Minorca in 1708. § 10. Two remarkable reverses of fortune occurred in 1710. In the suiflmer the imperialists were successful, and after some hard fighting they placed Charles in Madrid; but in less than three months he was driven out by Vendome," Marlbor- ough's old opponent. The English under Stanhope, and the imperiaUsts under Stahi'emberg, were defeated within ten days of each other at Brihuega and VUla Viciosa, and the war in Spain may be said to have closed, though the people of Catalonia, who had warmly espoused the Austrian cause, maintained an ob- stinate struggle for four years longer. § 11. Many actions were fought during the war between small squadrons or single ships, in which a French admiral, Du Guai 494 HISTOUT OF ENGLAND. [Book IX. Privateering. tTnion of England and Scotland. Conameroial Project. Trouin, originally a common sailor, was often successful ; and the English and Butch commerce suffered very much from the attacks of privateers, fitted out chiefly at Dunkirk or St. Malo. These sometimes sailed six or eight together, and on one occasion they captured the Adiiice, a man-of-v^ar, in Yarmouth roads [a.d. 1711], though not tiU after two-thirds of her crew had been killed or wounded. Lord DufEus, her commander, was desperately wounded, and remained a prisoner till the end of the war. § 1 3. The queen had, in her very first parliament, recommended the union of England and Scotland, but nothing was done in the matter for some years. At last it was accomplished on the 4th of March, 1707, mainly, it was said, by bribes to some of the leading men in the Scottish parliament. The people of Scotland, in gene- ral, were deeply offended, saying that the Duke of Queensberry, the High Commissioner of Scotland, and Earl Stair," ° ' ' had sold the independence of their country. In the hope of reconciling them, a sum of £400,000 was sent, under the pretext of making compensation for various injuries that the Scots had received since the Revolution, but which had never been thought worthy of attention before. Chief among these was the check given to a Scottish enterprise in foreign parts, projected by William Patterson, a Scot, who had founded the Bank of Eng- land. '' Encouraged by his glowing promises, his coun- ' ' ' trymen attemjited to establish a great trading colony on the Isthmus of Darien, in 1698, which they called New Cale- donia. Its capital was called Edinburgh, and its defensive work was called Fort St. Andrew. § 1 3. This project excited strenuous opposition at all points of the commercial world. The Dutch and English merchants forgot their jealousies to imite against the Darien adventurers, and the project was a ruinous failure. The money lost was estimated at full the half the wealth of the country to be colonized; and of the 3,000 adventurers (beside women and children) who went out in three separate expeditions, only thirty, it is said, suivived to return to Scotland. Famine and fever had brought this about, as the gov- ernors of the English colonies in the West Indies and other places had orders not to suifer them even to purchase food among them. Tiie recollection of these things sunk too deep into the hearts of Scotchmen to be removed with money, and so high did the dis- content at the Union run, that in the next year [a.d. 1708] James Chapter V.] THE EESTORED BTUABTS. 495 Court Clianges. A new Favorite. Cabinet Intri^es. Francis Edward," the "Pretender," as lie was called, thinking an opportunity for obtaining the crown of England might now be oifered, landed in Scotland. But he found ^ ' ''■ his friends unprepared for rising, and he soon returned to France. § 14. The Duchess of Marlborough was at the height of her power when, unfortunately for herself, she brought Abigail Hill, a poor relative, to couW She was the daughter of a bankrupt merchant, who was also the kinsman of Robert Harley, one of the secretaries of state. Harley belonged to a Puritan family, and had been one of the first to join the Prince of Orange on his landing ; but, Uke most other public men of his day, he had changed his views, and was now a Tory and High Churchman. The queen herself was a zealous friend of the Church, as was shown by her restoring the first fruits and tenths appropriated by Elizabeth,' and thus forming a fund that is still known as Queen ^ 5 p 353 Anne's Bounty ; and nothing but the overpowering influence of the duchess prevailed on her to tolerate a set of Whig ministers, who were popularly regarded as its enemies. Harley, the secretary of state, and St. John, the secretary of war, had other views, and in the new waiting-woman they found the means to effect a palace revolution. § 15. Abigail became a favorite with the queen, for her humble manner was a great contrast to the haughty demeanor of the duchess ; and she was soon married to Mi'. Masham, an oiBcer of the household. By her Harley, who was an enemy of Marlbo- rough, was introduced to private audiences, when he easily per- suaded Anne that the Church was in danger from the schemes of his Whig colleagues. Soon after this, a clerk in Haiiey's ofBce was detected in cariying on a correspondence with the French, and Harley, though not guilty, was removed ; for Marlborough and Godolphin, the treasm-er, who had heard of his secret audiences, refused to act with him. St. John, also of a Puritan family, — in fact a freethinker, — prof essing to be more "High Church" than even Harley, resigned with his friend, and the ex-ministers set zealously to work to make those who remained in ofBce.as unpop- ular vpith the country as they already were with the queen. The ministers themselves assisted in this by prosecuting Dr. Henry Sacheverell, an obscure clergyman of little moral character and less ability, for a sermon reflecting on the Revolution ; and though they procured his condemnation, they ventured to inflict so light 496 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book IX Marlborough shorn of Power. His Exile and Honors. Treaty of TJtrechfc. a punishmeat that it was evident their power was gone. Accord- ingly, in the summer of 1710 they were dismissed by the queen. ■ Harley and St. John became her ministers, and a new par- liament was chosen, in which the Whigs were in a, decided minority. § 16. Marlborough was still too great from the fame of his vic- tories to be deprived of his command, bW the new ministers took the ungenerous mode of disgusting him by refusing the vote of thanks, which he had now for several years received. They also sent out an expedition to the French colony of Canada, under the brother of Mrs. Masham, in the hope of gaining a success that would make his triumphs of less account, and when this failed from the incapacity of their untried general, they brought un- founded charges of corruption against the duke. This last scheme answered their purpose. Marlborough defended himself before his peers with sense and spirit, but finding that he spoke to preju- diced ears, he resigned all his employments in 1711, and with his duchess went abroad, where he reipained as long as the queen lived. He was treated almost as a sovereign by the allies with whom he had acted," who soon found that without « § 4, p. 491. him they had no hope of contending successfully with France. § 17. This was also the view that the ministers took, and there- _ fore the Duke of Ormond,' the new commander, was b 1 17^ p, 475, ' ' ordered to avoid fighting, whilst Prince Eugene, left to his own resources, was defeated at Denain, and town after towm acquired by Marlborough fell again into the hands of the French. Whilst this was going on, conferences for peace were opened in spite of the remonstrances of the allies, who considered themselves betrayed, and early in July, 1713, the treaty of Utrecht was con- cluded. By it Louis gained all he had contended for, on a mere promise not to interfere v?ith the Protestant succession in England, and the cession of Nova Scotia to England. His grandson Philip was acknowledged king of Spain, but was obliged to allow Gib- raltar and Minorca to remain with their captors." § 9, p. 493. ^ These acquisitions, and a shameful contract to supply some of the Spanish colonies with negro slaves, were the reward of almost twelve years' war, which had added £38,000,000 ($190,000,000) to the national debt, and had called many new taxes (as the stamp duty on newspapers) into existence. Chapter V.] THE RESTORED STUARTS. 497 Restoration ■of Territories. Court Quarrels. Death of Queen Anne. § 18. From the peace of Utrecht dates the political importance of the colonies of European States. Up to this time, the Spaniards, English, French, and Dutch, had taken little account of them except for mere purposes of trade, but now they had become suffl- ■ ciently numerous to be valued for the sake of dominion. Accord- ingly, Hudson's Bay an4 Newfoundland, which the French had taken, were restored, and Nova Scotia, which the English had con- quered, was retained, and a town named Annapolis Koyal, in hon- or of the queen, was founded in commemoration of the cession. § 19. But long before the peace was concluded Harley and St. John (now become respectively Earl of Oxford and Viscount Bolingbroke) were at variance. Oxford (Harley) treated the f avor- ite ' as if she was still his poor relation, whilst Boling- broke showed her unbounded deference. The latter, ' therefore, was taken into the queen's confidence, Oxford was displaced, and an attempt to set aside the Act of Settlement ' would probably have been made had not ' the queen fell ill just at that time. She had been very much agitated by stormy scenes at court, and on the 30th of July, 1714, she was prostrated by apoplexy. Whilst hardly conscious of what she did, she was prevailed on to commit the care of the govern- ment to the Duke of Shrewsbury, a Whig, and died the very next day, the 1st of August, 1714. § 20. So passed away Anne Stuart, the last member of her vm- fortunate family who sat on the British throne, though her succes- sor possessed, in a remote degree, a little of the Stuart blood. She was a woman of middle height, plump, and well-proportioned. Her hair was dark brown ; her complexion ruddy ; her voice clear and melodious ; and her presence engaging. She possessed good mental abilities, but they were not much cultivated by study. She was a pattern of conjugal affection and fidelity. Her tastes were refined, and her court was virtuous. No subject sufEered for trea- son during her reign, and no one was ever suspected of conspiring against her life or even her rule. She died childless at the age of forty-nine years, and in the twelfth of her reign. She bore six children, but they all died young. Even to this day she justly bears the title of " Good Queen Anne." § 31. An act had been passed in the year 1705 which provided that certain great ofBcers should administer the government in case the next Protestant successor should not be in the realm at the 498 HISTOEY OF ENaLAJi^D. [Book IX. Another Foreigner on the Throne. Beligious Aspect of England. time of the queen's death. Shrewsbury and. his party now held these posts, and accordingly they at once proclaimed that the crown had devolved on George, Elector of Hanover, and great grandson of James the First. Bolingbroke did not offer any op- position, but quietly remained in office, though he could hardlj' ' hope to be acceptable to the new king. • CHAPTER YL SOCIBTY DURING THE LATEE ETELE OP THE STUAETS [A.D. 1680 TO 1714]. § 1. Little need be said here concerning the religious aspect of society in England from the Restoration to the close of Queen Anne's reign. Theology gave tone and edge to politics, arid all the civil and military transactions of that period partook largely of religious sectarian hues. Theological questions were forced upon the attention at every turn. We have seen Protestantism, untrammelled by hierarchies, assuming many shapes, under the in- fluence of fi'ee thought and expression ; and all through the seven- teenth century it was, in various forms, hotly contesting for supre- macy ynth the Romish and Anglican churches. We have seen it completely victorious in the Church and State when the Protestant succession to the throne of England was secured by constitutional law." There was persecution when there was power • § 6, p. 488. "^ '^ to persecute, but it was without that sanguinary sava- gism which prevailed during the sixteenth century. There was bitterness and ostracism, but no one suffered death judicially during the seventeenth century as a heretic in religious belief. It was offences against the State, and not the Church, that called into use the axe and the gibbet. Duiing that century there were immense strides toward religious freedom, and the attainment of a purer Christianity. WhUe the State enforced a law, made in 1673, and known as the Test Act, which required aU officers under government, civil and military, to receive the sacrament according to the forms of the Church of England, and to take the oaths against the doctrine of transubstantiation held by the Roman Catholics — a law repealed so late as 1838 — a Toleration Act to Chaptee VI.] THE RESTORED STUARTS. 499 Toleration in Beligion. _ Improvement in Government and Laws, relieve Protestant Dissenters or Nonconformists » from the Church of England was passed in 1689. It was very limited, it is true. It only exempted persons who took the >?•■'• new oath of allegiance and supremacy, and made a declaration agaiast Popery, from the penalties incurred by absenting them- selves from church and holding unlawful conventicles; and it allowed the Quakers to substitute an affirmation for an oath. But it did not relax the rigor of the Test Act. § 2. In govermnent and laws there was also great advancement during the seventeenth century in the direction of popular liberty and popular sovereignty. We have seen the government recede from the exalted position of a republic and become the instrument of misrule for weak and proffigate princes of the Stuart line in the form of a corrupt and corrupting monarchy, which finally became unbearable and ended in revolution.' Then came a b § 20 p 477 purer monarchy, m constitutional form, with the " ' ' rights of the people defined and guaranteed by charter instead of the brittle promises of monarchs. This was a great and important change. It was a monarchy actually limited by law, and the right of hereditai7 succession was not only unrecognized, but on the death of Queen Anne the line was absolutely broken, though a member of the Stuart family, in a remote degree, as- cended tha throne.' This new state of things swept ° ^ ' ''■ away the whole brood of mischiefs having their source in " The Tigrhfc divine of kings to govern wrong." § 3. The Declaration made to the Prince of Orange, on his ac- cession to the throne,'' by the parliament, defining the ^ • • time were increasing in wealth and domestic comforts, the condi- tion of the poor was wretched. § 13. Literatm-e and the fine arts fluctuated during the period we are considering. No great literary woi-k appeared.in England during twenty years preceding the Restoration. That event gave birth to a brood of obsequious writers, who, influenced by the tone of the court, put forth a flood of vicious literature. Adulation of royalty was the staple sentiment of ballad, madrigal, and drama. Only the great Milton, the young republican poet, stood conspicu- ously aloof from the vile contagion, and was scowled upon by the court. Others were then working upon the foundations of their future eminence, like John Dryden and Gilbert Burnet; and there were some whose lustre had been acknowledged during the Commonwealth, like Richard Baxter and Di-. Leighton. The names of John Bunyan, Izaao "Walton, and Sir "William Temple rise before us. After the Revolution came a galaxy of luminaries in literature which shed amazing lustre upon the tunes of "William, and Anne, and George. Among those of greater magnitude were Dryden, Burnet, Locke, De Foe, Prior, Addison, Swift, and Pope. These men and their less conspicuous cotemporaries constructed, upon the earlier foundations laid by Shakespeare and his literary friends, the noble superstructure of English literature which has never been surpassed in solidity and beauty. § 14. The fine arts felt the influence of the vicious taste of Louis the Fourteenth after the accession of Charles, his weak imitator. In painting, when it was made "the handmaid of architectm-e," there was a jumble of liistory, mythology, and allegory. Foreign artists were chiefly employed in these works. In portraiture. Sir Peter Lely was the gi-eat light ; but he strained the truth in the introduction of the voluptuous style of the French in pose and costume. Sculpture was almost wholly conflned to decoration, though Gibbons, an English artist, produced a fine statue of Charles the Second. In architecture Sir Christopher "Wren was most con- spicuous, and his grand works are numerous in England. In painting, after the Revolution, Sir Godfrey Kneller disputed ■jsdth Lely the throne of supreme excellence until the reign of George the First. It was Kneller's misf ortime to have his avarice obscure 22 506 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. [Book IX. Taste for Music. The Sciences Neglected. Books on Science, his talents, and lie made his great gift wholly subservient to his greed for money. In sculpture there was nothing worth mention- ing, and it is difficult to find the name of a sculptor of note during the reign of William and Mary. Music too was much neglected for a while after the Revolution ; but on the introduction of the Italian opera in London, in 1701, a taste for such music was ra- pidly diffused. Under the management of the eminent Handel it attained great popularity ; and the grandeur of music was first dis- played by that eminent artist in the form of the Oratorio of Esflier, in 1720. Music in public worship had been constantly improving, and in the time of Queen Anne had reached great perfection. § 15. The sciences were but little known in England, while their devotees on the Continent, by investigation, experiment, and. discovery were arriving at wonderful and beneficent results. Trigonometry had been introduced from Ai-abia by the cru- saders." Decimal fractions and algebra had increased ' ' the facilities for computation so early as the begin- ning of the thirteenth century. Early in the sixteenth ccmtury, Co- pernicus had revealed the now accepted theory of thu universe. Columbus hud noticed the variations of the magnetic needle; the theory of the inclined plane and pulley in mechanics had been ex- plained, and tlie study of optics had given to the eye the marvel- lous aid of 1 1)0 lens. So early as 1315 dissection had been per- formed, and anatomy made a profound study as a science. Medi- cine, also, had assumed the form of a science. Natural philoso- phy had engaged the attention of thousands of delighted students, and chemistry had emerged fi'om the shadows of alchemy. All this had occurred while England was almost ignorant of, or at least indifferent to, the great intellectual movements on the Conti- nent. § 16. Tlie physical sciences fii'st found devotees in England at the close of the fifteenth century. Linacre founded medical lectureships at Oxford and Cambridge in the early part of the sixteenth century, and was the first president of the Royal College of Physicians, established by Henry the Eighth in 1518. In the latter half of that century some works on zoology and botany were published, among which was Turner's English Hertal. At the head of modem sciences and navigation, at that time, stood Dr. Williiim Gilbert, who published a treatise entitled De Mag- nete, in the year 1600. Some arithmetics and astronomical trea- Chapter VI. J THE RESTORED STUARTS. 507 Taste for Science Introduced. The Pbysical Sciences. tises were also issued late in the reign of Elizabeth ; 'and the first English translation of Euclid was put forth in 1573. The bold speculations of Bacon," and the brilliant invention a § 28 p 455 of logarithms by Napier, ushered into England a knowledge of and taste for the studies of the continental philoso- phers of the time, who had revolutionized the entii-e structure of the mathematical and physical sciences. § 17. Astronomy now began to receive much attention in Eng- land. The most remarkable of its masters was Samuel Horrocks, who anticipated Newton in several things, and who died at the • age of only twenty-two years, in 1641. In the physical sciences we find Harvey credited for the discovery of the circulation of the blood, in 1G19, though Sir John Davies, in a poem published in Queen Elizabeth's time, evidently alluded to it as a known fact. But while real truths were found, there were many crude notions and mischievous errors afloat under the name of science, even when the Royal Society was established, ia 1662. At about that time the Marquis of Worcester invented and set in motion a steam-engine for raising water, in which an old cannon was the boiler. § 18. In the latter part of the seventeenth century Robert Boyle stood at the head of the cultivators of experimental science, with Robert Hooke as a worthy cotemporary. But the greatest dis- coverer and most brilliant investigator of that age was Sir Isaac Newton, who detected the laws of gravitation and other occult mysteries of nature, and dispelled so much of the darkness that suiTOunded the truth in science, that the poet seems justified in saying : — " God said. Let Newton live, and there was light." His gi'eat treatise on Optics first appeared in 1704, and aston- ished and delighted the groping philosophers with new beams of knowledge ; and liis Prindpia gave new direction to scientific speculation. Henceforth the Royal Observatory, which Charles the Second established at Greenwich, was a scene of great triumphs in astronomical observation. Newton adorned the reigns of Wil- liam, Anne, and George the First, and had for his cotemporaries in the exi^loration of the heavens Gregory, Elamstead, and Hal- ley, and Hadley the inventor of the quadrant. There were lesser lights that increased in magnitude afterward. And so it was that at the close of Queen Anne's reign and late into that of her 508 HISTORY OV ENGLAND. [Book IX Eeigns of the Tudors and Stuarts. Character o( the Bulers. successor, England could boast of a galaxy of men of science equal to any that ever shone upon the earth. § 19. The reigns of the Tudors and the Stuarts, from 1485 to 1714, form, in reality, but one subject for history, as the tyranny of the first was the great and main cause of the errors and calami- ties of the second. Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth were both able men, though cruel and unscrupulous ; and Edward the Sixth, Mary, and Elizabeth had ministers who gave a distinct character to each reign. But in all, and through all, an utter intolerance of the least fi-eedom of opinion, and extreme harsh- ness in dealing with offenders of every grade, are ever to be per- ' ceived. A portion of the nation, however, always existed that bore this despotism with impatience. This party grew stronger and stronger as the Tudor rule approached its close ; and there came but a weak monarch to cope with it. § 20. James, son of Mary Queen of Scots," and the first Stuart kins of England, had led a life of privation and dan- ' ' ' ger in Scotland, and, when freed from this by Ms accession to the English tlu'one, he construed the deference that for the first time in his life he met with into a tacit acknowledgment that he was really above all laws and might do just what he pleased. Tlie parliament, however, had no longer the dread of the Tudors before their eyes, and they repaid themselves for their former forced sultservienoy by exhibiting a marked independence, which was par- ticularly offensive to a feeble but boastful ruler, who sincerely be- lieved that he reigned by divine right, and that kings could do no wrong. He bequeathed the quarrel to his successor, who had too much of his father's " high prerogative " ideas to give way wisely ; and the temporary overtlli'ow of both Church and State was the consequence. An interregnum followed, and a Commonwealth appeared as a triumph of popular liberty ; but its rule, in some re- spects, was in reality greater tyranny than that it had suppressed. It had its main strength in the courage and abilities of Oliver Cromwell, and when he died it fell as a matter of course. § 81. Restored rulers have seldom shown themselves equal to their diflicult position, with old friends to reward and old oppo- nents to conciliate ; and Charles the Second and James the Second were no exceptions to the mle. The Revolution of b § 31, p, 478. 1688 ' established a new line of succession to the throne, and as the precaution was then taken, which had been Chapter VI.] THE RESTORED STUARTS. 509 Important events in English History. neglected at the Restoration, of making a formal enumeration and demand of the ancient rights and liberties of the people, to which "William and Mary solemnly as- ' ■ • sented," the present limited constitutional monarchy of England was at last firmly established. § 22. To the time of the Tudors belongs the rapid growth of England's world-wide commerce and powerful navy, though, each had been greater in earlier times than is commonly supposed. America was discovered in the reign of Henrv the Seventh,' and both he and his. son were patrons of ' maritime adventure. Under Edward" and Marv,'' „ ,' „„„ d § 1, p. 33S, Russia was first approached by sea ; and Elizabeth's reign saw the beginning of English trading with the East, the germ of the present empire of India,= and of coloni- Ziition in America, which gave bu-th to the Great " ^ ''^ Republic of the "West. The first district settled still bears the name of Virginia, in honor of the Virgin Queen, and its first capital, Jamestown, was a memorial of her successor. King James. The hardy enterprise that led to th^se undertakings also showed itself in frequent attacks on the Spanish possessions in the "West Indies, which would now be called pu-atical, as they were commenced whilst the two countries were professedly at jaeace ; but the people of -theii' own time thought Hawkins, Drake, Frobisher, Raleigh, Cavendish, and other bold adventurers fully justified in anything that they might do, so long as the hated and di'eaded Philip of Spain ' was weakened thereby. ' § 23. The dissensions and civil war under the early Stuarts caused England to become weak abroad as well- as miserable at home. Her influence was revived by Cromwell, s but Charles the Second was the mere tool of Prance. ' William the Thii-d may be regarded as the deviser of standing armies and the national debt, ■■ both of them beinar t § 10 p. 4^4 devoted to the great object of his life, the curbing > ■ - • of the power of Louis the Pourteenth, who not only desired to subjugate Holland, but made strenuous attempts to restore James the Second. Under Anne, James's daughter, the same idea of es- tablishing what was called " the balance of power " led to many years of warfare, in which, as we have seen, the Duke of Marl- borough gained many great victories, but with no very satisfac- toiT results. BOOK X. THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK. FROM A.D. 1714 TO THE PRESENT TIME. CHAPTEE I. BBIGK OF GbORGB THE FiBST. [A.D. 1714 TO 1737.] § 1. George, Elector of Planover, -was fifty-four years of age ■when he was called to the British throne. His father was Ernest- Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lunenburg, and Elector of Hano- ver. His mother was Sophia, youngest child of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia and daughter of James the First. He had once been a suitor for the hand of the Princess Anne, but being refused he mar- ried his cousin Sophia, a Gemian princess, whom he caused to be imprisoned in a, fortress for more than thirty years upon an un- doubtedly false charge of criminal conduct. He was chosen by the English because they had great reverence for what axe called hereditary rights ; and to perpetuate these, and at the saine time secm'e a Protestant succession, according to law, it was necessary to select a monarch from that branch of the family of James. § 2. George was the first sovereign of the Guelpli family, or, as it is usually called, the House of Brunswick. He came to Eng- land, called in by the Whigs, and, as he was of a harsh nature, he never tried to conciliate the other party. Bolinff- a § 19, p. 497. I J & broke » and Ormond,'' being repulsed fi'om his pre- b e 17j p, 496. 'OX r ,~, sence, withdrew to France and joined the Chevalier,= = § 1, p. 4yo- when an insurrection was determined on, to which Louis the Fourteenth promised ample support. Oxford was im- peached and thrown into the Tower for his share in concluding the treaty of Utrecht ;'' but as all that he had done ' ' ' had been formally ratified by parliament, it was found impossible to convict him, and he was at last set at liberty [A.D. 1717], after a mere formal trial. Chapter I.] THE HOUSE OF BRIWSWICK. 511 Reign of George the First. Corrupt Public Men. Jacobite Insurrectiou. I 3. For the first seven years of the king's reign, Viscount Townshend, Lord Stanhope, and Su- Robert Walpole were his chief ministers, sometimes acting in concert, and sometimes op- posed to each other ; for the parliamentaiy system was not yet fully established. In 1721 "Walpole obtained exclusive power, and maintained it for twenty yeare. He had been secretary for war in Queen Anne's time, and had been expelled the House of Commons and committed to the Tower on well-grounded charges of corruption. He avowed it as his belief that every man has his price, and his long continuance in ofiice was clearly the result of his acting on this maxim. So corrupt did public men become in - his time that even the judges were suspected, and Lord Chancel- lor Macclesfield was convicted of embezzlement, fined £30,000, and expelled from office. Tet Walpole maintained the country in peace for a longer time than had ever elapsed before, and he was at last driven into retirement by men who certainly were not more honest than himself. § 4. The king's evident intention to treat all but Whigs as his enemies hastened the insuri'ection alluded to. It broke out in Scotland in September, 1715, when the Earl of Mar (who had been dismissed from his post of secretary, though willing to act under the new sovereign) set up the standard of James the Eighth of Scotland (the Chevalier op Pretender), and was joined by several other nobles. The English Jacobites took up arms imme- diately afterward, the principal persons among them being the Earl of Derwentwater, who was a grandson of James the Second, and Mr. Foster, a Northumbrian gentleman of large property and a member of parliament. Each pai'ty collected considerable forces, but there seemed to be no military talent among the leaders, and they never could agree on any combined movement. Mar and his forces had an indecisive action at Sheriffinuir, near Dunblane, %\'ith the royal troops under the Duke of Argyle, and the Chevalier joined them soon after. He brought them no help, for his great patron, Louis the Fourteenth, died just a week before Mar appeared in arms, and the regent Duke of Orleans was his enemy. He announced his intention of being crowned at Scone, the ancient seat of Scottish royalty ; " but the ceremony never^ ' § 8, p. 4oU- took place, and in little more than a month he was back again in France, Mar accompanying him, and passing the remainder of his life in exile. 612 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. The Insurgents Defeated. Political Management. Foreign Invasion Threatened. § 5. Some of the Scots had joined the English insurgents, and they were less fortunate. After wandering awhile among the Cheviot Hills, Foster, who, without any military knowledge, had assumed the post of general, prevailed on the whole body to march southward. They soon reached Lancashire, and came to a halt at Preston, where they were assailed by troops under Willes and Carpenter, two of Marlborough's old officers, and obliged to surrender at discretion on the same day that the battle of SherifiE- mnir was fought. The common men were tried in the country. Many of them were hanged, and the rest shipped off to the colo- jiies, as Monmouth's followers had been thirty years before ; but the leaders were brought to London, and several of them executed. Foster escaped from Newgate by bribing the keeper, and Mackin- tosh, a sturdy Highlander, broke out by force ; but the Earls of Derwentwater and Nithsdale, Viscount Kenmuir, Lords Balmerino, Naime, and Widdrington, were tried and condemned to death. Lord Cowper, an eminent Whig, treating them with a harshness that recalled Judge Jeffreys to the minds of some of the audience. Derwentwater and Kenmuir were executed ; but Nithsdale, also sentenced to death, made his escape from the Tower in his wife's clothes ; and Balmerino, Naime, and Widdrington were released after a long imprisonment, their titles and their property being forfeited. § 8. The Chevalier had many well-wishers beside those that had appeared in arms, and it was feared that, if an election took place, they would obtain a majority in the next parliament, which accord- ing to law should be chosen in 1717. But the Whigs made use of their present power and passed the Septennial Act, which not only provided for making the term of each parliament seven years, but deferred the election for six years. That act was passed on the 26th of Apiil, 1716. § 7. The rebellion was scarcely suppressed, when two foreign powers concerted a scheme for a much more f oi-midable invasion. These were Sweden and Spain, and the matter was only one of many wars into which England was drawn through her kin^ being also electors of Hanover, and thinking far more of the inter- ests of the small country than of the great one. The King of Sweden (Charles the Twelfth) was a warlike pi-ince, who was styled the "Alexander," and also the "Madman" of the North, and who in the earlier years of his reign had made great conquests Chapi'bk I.] THE HOUSE OE BETHSTSWICK. 513 Jacobite Soheme against England, in Spain, Defeated. from the Danes and the Russians, but was at last defeated bj Peter the Great, and passed some years in exile in Turkey. When he returned, he found that some of his acquisitions had been re- taken by the Danes, and sold by them to the new king of England. He threatened war, when an English fleet appeared in the Baltic, with which he was quite unable to cope; but his hatred remained undiminished, and he readily entered into a scheme devised by Cardinal Alberoni, the prime minister of Spain, for the restoration of the Stuarts. § 8. On Alberoni's invitation the Chevalier " repaired to Madrid, and was publicly received as King James the Third. The Spaniards had borne the loss of Gibraltar * very '^ '^' uneasily, and the Duke of Ormond " assured them * ' P' that the first act of his master, when placed on the ' throne, would be to restore it. According to the scheme of Albe- roni, 13,000 Swedish troops were to land in Scotland, whilst the Spaniards undertook to send a fleet against England. To man it, the services of the desperate pirates called buccaneers were sought. These men were the terror of the Spanish colonies, and by employ- ing them against the English the crafty -cardinal hoped to get rid of two enemies at once. ' But the scheme entirely miscarried. The King of Sweden was killed before a fortress in Norway, Sir George Byng defeated a Spanish fleet in the Mediterranean, and other oflicers hunted down the buccaneers in the West Indies. In spite of these circumstances a Spanish fleet was got together in 1719, and sailed, under the command of Ormond, to invade Scotland. But it was dispersed by a storm, and only the vessel in which Oi-mond was, with 300 followers, reached its destination. On seeing that he had brought so few troops with him, the clans declined to join him, and he returned to the Continent, where he died in exile many years afterward. § 9-. The apprehensions caused by the designs of Alberoni had scarcely subsided when the nation was disquieted [a.d. 1720] by a far more discreditable cause. This was the well-known South Sea scheme, partly based on the Asiento, or slave contract, abeady mentioned,'' and which was to be caiTied out with re- newed vigor now that peace vpith Spain was restored. A company had been formed some years before for trading to the South Seas, from which the Spaniards tried to exclude all other nations, and to this company many privileges were conceded by the 514 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X The South Sea Scheme. Insane Stock-jobbing. Swindlers Pimished. treaty of Utrecht. » Not content with these, however, Sir John Blvmt and the other directors made a bargain with the ■ govemment, by which they engaged to relieve the nation from the burden of annuities to the amount of £800,000, which had been contracted in the last reign to carry on the war, by inducing people to take their security instead of that of the State. Of course great privileges were granted to them for this ; but the directors dishonestly exaggerated them, as by pretending that the Spaniards had agreed to give the silver mines of Peru in exchange for Gibraltar, and that they were to have the working of them. § 10. An insane haste to grow rich now seemed to seize on the whole nation, and every description of property was parted with to invest its price in the shares of the wonderful company, com- pared with which the company that had for more than a century traded to the East,*" and had already laid the founda- tions of the Empire of India, seemed poor and incon- siderable. In a short time the shares were sold for ten times their nominal value, the directors promising that in six months they would pay a dividend of fifty per cent, on their cost. But long ere this time arrived, it began to be noticed that some men who had been most active in pushing forward the scheme were parting \rith their shares, and the people at once saw that they had been deliberately cheated. Their confidence sank as quickly as it had risen, a terrible clamor arose, and a parliamentary investigation fol- lowed. Tlie directors were imprisoned, and their estates, valued at £3,000,000, were divided among the sufferers. Several members were expelled from the House of Commons as having been con- cerned in the fraud, and the popular belief was that every one of the ministei-s and court favorites, and even the king liimself, had received bribes for conniving at it. Lord Stanhope, vehemently defending himself from this charge in the House of Lords [Decem- ber, 1721], broke a blood-vessel from excitement, and died the following day. § 11. The discontent excited by these shameful disclosures caused the renewal of attempts in favor of the Chevalier, but they were frustrated. Mr. Layer ,^ a lawyer, was executed, and Atter- bury. Bishop of Bochester, was banished by a Bill of Pains and 510 ^'^'^^^'''^^^- •'^'^ proceeded to France, where he met ' ' Bolingbroke,= ready, to return to England. He had good reason to believe that Bolingbroke had earned his pardon Chapter I.] THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK. 615 Hischief-maMng Bolingbroke. Two Court Parties. Death of the King. by betraying bjs associates, and remarked, " We are exclianged." If such was really the case, the Mng had made a very imwise bar- gain, as Bolingbroke was a most unprincipled man; and no sooner joined any party than he began plotting against it. The chief use that he made of his return was to widen the breach that already existed between King George and his only son, the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne. The prince was devotedly attached to his persecuted mother, and had risked his life to visit her in her prison." He was naturally indignant at seeing her place taken by infamous women, and at the king's infatuation in bestowing titles on them. His father revenged him- self by excluding him from the court, and thus a king's and a prince's party was established. § 13. G-eorge the First imitated William bypassing almost every summer on the Continent, though not like him engaged in war. He never took the trouble to acquire the English language, and he found no pleasure but in the company of his German subjects. With them he was popular, for they knew that he had been a bravo soldier in his youth, and they were fully sensible of the advantages that they derived from his having gained the British crown. Early in the summer of 1 727 he set out on his last visit to them. He was journeying in his coach with his favorite, the Duchess of Kendal, when a letter was thrown in at the window, and on read- ing it he fell into a fit of apoplexy, of which he died before he could reach the residence of his brother, the Prince Bishop of Osnabi-uck. This occurred on the 11th of June, when he was in the sixty-eighth year of his age. The contents of this letter are not certainly known ; but the popular idea W9,s that it was from his wife, who had died in prison eight months before, and that she summoned him to meet her within a year before the eternal tribu- nal, to answer for his treatment of her, an innocent woman. § 13. Coming, as he did, in contact with men trained in the elegant and literary society of the preceding reign, George I. ap- peared to great disadvantage. He was naturally sullen and reserved, and he never sheared the least inclination to court th^ favor of his new subjects. They repaid his indifference with dis- like, and neither he nor his favorites could appear in public with- out being received with yells and execrations. This could not be expected to soften his temper, which was harsh and imperious enough already ; and he took his revenge in refusing pardon to 516 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Aoeesajon of George the Second, Ww with Spain. Walpole's Peace Policy. rioters and rebels when they were so unfortunate as to fall into his hands ; hence he was more unpopvilar at the day of his death than when he first landed in England, CHAPTER n. BEiGN OF Gboegb the Sbcoito. [a.d. 1737 TO 1760.] § 1, The Prince of Wales, then forty-four years of age, was proclaimed King of England on the 15th of June, 1727, as George the Second. The announcement created no special enthusiasm, for he was not very popular. He was meanly avaiicious ; and in person he was diminutive, pinched, and hard. But he could speak Eng- lish fluently (which his father would not learn) ; and he was brave as a soldier, just, and somewhat more temperate than he. His wife, Caroline Wilhelmina, of Anspach, was an able and excellent woman ; and, fortunately for the realm, she was allowed to rule lier husband. He had married her in 1705, and they had lived in harmony for more than twenty years. At his succession he had put Sir Spencer Compton in the place of the able Sir Robert Walpole, his father's chief minister, but the latter was speedily reinstated. § 3. Not long before the death of George the Fiist a new war liad broken out with Spain, and Gibraltar was besieged. It was not considered to be in any danger, and the fleet that would otherwise have been sent to its relief was despatched to the "West Indies under Admii'al Hosier, His orders were to watch the Spanish treasure-ships in Porto Bello, but not to attack them un- less they attempted to put to sea. He waited in vain for months in that fatal climate, and then died of grief and vexation,. Three thousand of his seamen perished also. But the stoppage of the ships brought great distress on the Spaniards for want of money, and they were soon obliged to make offers of peace, which were accepted in i 728. § 3. From this time for nearly twelve years Walpole kept the country from any foreign war, though he could not preserve in- ternal tranquillity. Ever since the coming of the continental kino-s and then' foreign favorites, the cost of the couit, the army, and the Chaptee II.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 517 Taxation Blots. Lynch Law. Protestant AUe^ance. Maria Theresa. navy were all far greater than they had been. New taxes there- fore became necessary, and one of these, the malt-tax, caused serious riots in Scotland in 1735, where it was represented as a breach of the conditions of the union ; " whilst the introduction of the English revenue laws into that country caused almost daily conflicts between the " gaugers," as they were called, and the people, in which lives were often lost. At the execution of a smuggler in Edinburgh, in the year 1736, a tumult ensued, when John Porteoua, the captain of the town- guard, ordered his men to Are on the people, and six of them were killed. He was convicted of murder, and ordered for execution, but received a respite from the authorities in England. The Edinburgh populace, however, was determined that he should not thus escape, and they took their measures with wonderful secrecy and success. On the evening of the 7th of September they sud- denly gathered in crowds, secm'ed the city gates with guards, broke open the prison, and carrying Porteous to the usual place of execution, hanged him on a dyer's pole. The government brought in a bill to punish the. city magistrates for neglect of duty, but this was strongly opposed by the Scottish members of parliament, and was abandoned. § 4. In 1731, the jealousy that was entertained of the designs of France and Spain led to an alliance between England, the Em- peror Charles the Sixth, and the Dutch, each party having its own ends to serve. The Dutch still feared French encroachments; England saw both Prance and Spain, in spite of treaties, give shelter to the Stuarts, and furnish them with money and arms for use on the first favorable opportunity ; and the Emperor, though threatened by no one, had a favorite project to cany out. He was that Austrian archduke who had contended for the crown of Spain.' Having no son, he wished to secure the suc- cession to his hereditary States, Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, the Netherlands, and other provinces, to his daughter Maria Theresa, and he tried to get France and Spain to guarantee the arrangement, which was embodied in a formal document called the Pragmatic Sanction. He could not efEect this alone, but Eng- land and Holland gave their guarantee on his suppressing a ti-ad- ing company at Ostend, which they considered injurious to their commerce vrith the East Indies. Thus the seeds of i long contest were sown ; but by the management of "Walpole, who wish d for 518 HISTORT OF ENGLAND. [Book X Peace Policy Abandoned. Vernon's Success against the Spaniards. IJeace above all things, open war was postponed for a while. Strangely enough, the English merchants did all they could to thwart. Walpole's policy, and at last they succeeded. § 5. Passing over, as not connected with English history, the war between Prance and the emperor, though the Duke of Ber- wick, the son of King James, was killed in it in 1734, we come to the year 1 739, when Walpole was compelled to abandon his peace policy. It was not then the custom for any country to allow foreigners to trade with its colonies ; but in spite of this rule hundreds of English ships, from London and Bristol especially, carried on a contraband intercourse with the Spanish possessions. Many of them were seized by the Spaniards, when the owners made such loud com2Jlaints, and so exaggerated the treatment that their men met with, that the nation was roused into fury, and Walpole at last found that he must either make war or retire from office. In the House of Commons he tried to calm this warlike frenzy ; but he was opposed by Admiral Vernon, a rough seaman, who exclaimed, " Give me only six men of war and I will take that Porto Bello where Hosier and his men perished without being allowed to strike a blow. " War was inevitable from that moment. § 6. Vernon was taken at his word by Walpole, in the hope, the enemies of the minister said, that he might fail, for he was a troublesome man in parliament. He was appointed to the com- mand in the West Indies, and sailed, with just the six ships that he had asked for, in the summer of 1739. By Christmas came the news that he had made good his boast, and had taken Porto Bello with the loss of only eight killed and twelve wounded. The place was far too unhealthy to be retained, and Vernon left it after destroying the forts and carrying ofE their fine brass guns as trophies. § 7. The Spaniards now roused themselves, and sent so strong a fleet to the West Indies that Vernon was obliged to remain inac- tive at Jamaica for the whole of the year 1740. Early in 1741 he was joined by several ships, with a large body of troops on board, under the command of General Wentworth. An attack was made on Carthagena, and Vemon, who was of a boastful disposition though a brave man, at once sent a despatch to England giving such assurance of immediate success that public illuminations and i-ejoicings followed as if the place had been taken. This proved to be a mistake. The garrison made a brave defence, the admiral Chaptek II.] THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK. 519 Quarrels briog BeverBes. Voyage around the World. and the general quarrelled, and each made attacks without the support of the other. The rains set in, and after a two montlis' siege the force withdrew, having lost more than 3,000 men. Ver- non was not yet daunted. After refitting at Jamaica, he sailed first to St. Jago in Cuba, and then again to Porto Bello, with the intent of marching across the isthmus and stonning the rich town of Panama ; but in each case Wentwortli, who was described by the admiral as " changeable a:s the moon,'' declined at the last minute to co-operate, and nothing was done. Soon afterward both were recalled to England, where Vernon was well received, all the failures being attributed to Wentworth. § 8. In 1740 another expedition was despatched against the Spanish colonies, under Commodore Anson ; but it suffered more damage than it inflicted. Several ships were lost, and the crews were either drowned or made prisoners ; but the Oenturion, Anson's own ship, returned in 1744, having sailed round the world, plun- dered the town of Payta in Peru, and captured a Spanish treasm-e- ship with a cargo valued at £300,000, or $1,500,000. § 9. In the year that this expedition sailed the Emperor of Ger- many died, and the "War of the Austrian Succession " " § 4, p. B17. commenced. Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, dis- puted the legality of the Pragmatic Sanction, and, with the sup- port of France and Spain, attempted to seize the Austrian States. He was the son of the elector who had fought against Marlbo- rough,'' and therefore was looked upon in England as „. , '^ § D, p. 491. an hereditary enemy; beside which his success would add to the strength'of Prance and disturb that "balance of power" which English statesmen thought essential to their safety. The young and beautiful Maria Theresa appeared in the Hungarian Assembly with her infant in her arms, and all swore to live and die in her cause. The feeling was greatly in her favor in England also. § 10. Soon after this "Walpole was driven from ofiice by Pul- teney, Pelham, and others,' who had always declaimed against the entanglement in foreign politics that the treaty of 1781 had pro- 1 Pulteney had been the leader of the opposition to Walpole, but he now decliued office, and was created Earl of Bath. He, however, continued to direct the proceedings of Pelham, who took the post of premier. Men of different .views joined him, whence his administration was called the "Broad Bottom," or Coalition Ministry. Pelham remained in office until his death in 1754, when he was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of Newcastle. 520 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book X. German Mercenaries. Hanover. The King and Prince oi Wales. duced; " but when they had thu.s. become ministers they tried to recommend, themselves to the king by forwarding all • § 4, p. 517. ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^j^^^ Walpole had ever done. Indeed, "Walpole had offended his master by his peace policy, though he was so valued on other accounts that he was parted with reluctantly, and even when in retirement his advice was sought by the king. Instead of declaring war, the new ministers took the middle course of paying large bodies of Gei-man merce- naries for the service of the queen, and sending English troops to act with them in support of the Elector of Hanover. The king, on his part, took especial care of his native country, and prevented it becoming the theatre of war by promising to vote for the election of Charles Albert as Emperor of Germany, a dignity to which Maria Theresa's husband, Francis, Grand Duke of Tuscany, also aspired, and which he eventually obtained. This was but one of many difl&culties that arose from the double character and con- flicting interests of the sovereign as an English king and a Ger- man prince — a difficulty not entirely removed until the accession of Queen Victoria, in 1837. § 11. The king, like his father, was in the habit of passing almost every summer iu Germany, and he was also like him in having an opponent in his son Frederick, Prince of Wales, who, under the evil counsel of Bolingbroke, tried to thwart all his mea- sures. Hence his usual companion on liis joumeys was his second son, William, Duke of Cumberland. The king had served under Marlborough, and though war had not formally been declared with France, he did not hesitate to take command Of the allied army [1743], assisted by that son, then only twenty-two yeara of age. The king's conduct, however, was unskilful, and he suffered him- self to be hemmed in by the French in a very dangerous position. „«„ The rashness of the French proved their ruin, iust as b g 11, p. 209. '■ ' ■* it had done ages before at Crecy,' at Poitiers, " and ' ''■ 'at Agincourt.'' Confident in their superior numbers ' they made a careless attack upon the allies in the open plain at Dettingeu, near the Main, and were totally defeated on the 16th of June, 1743. This is the last time that a king of England has actually commanded an army in the field. § 13. In the preceding year Admiral Matthews had been sent to the Mediterranean, and without actually proceeding to hostilities, had hindered the Italian maritime states from giving assistance to Chapter II.] THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK 521 Events of the War. England Threatened. The Young Pretender. the Spaniards. The French, however, gave shelter to a Spanish fleet in Toulon, when Matthews blockaded the harbor. At length, in. February, 1744, the French and Spanish fleets came out together, and Matthews attacked them both. He was, however, but badly supported by some of his captains, and the action was indecisive. He and his next in command, Lestock, complaiaed of each other. Courts-martial followed, and Matthews was dismissed the service, though he had fought bravely, and the insubordinate Lestock had not; but he belonged to the ruling party. § 13. Declarations of war followed, in Paris and iff London, the arrival of the news of the battle of£ Toulon, and a campaign in Flanders ensued in 1745, when the allies, under the Duke of Cum- berland, George's second son, were defeated by the French, under Marshal Saxe, at Fontenoy, on the 30th of April, 1745. The action was desperately contested by the English, but they were not sufli- ciently supported by their Dutch allies, and at last had to retreat with great loss. The whole of Flanders was speedily overrun by the French, for the English troops were soon called away to meet a rebellion at home. § 14. As soon as war had been declared in 1744, the French col- lected a fleet for the purpose of invading England in the cause of the Chevalier St. George ; « but it was dispersed by a stonn, and the attempt, which was to have been made ' with 15,000 troops, under the renowned Marshal Saxe, was aban- doned. In 1745 the French had changed their policy, and pre- ferred to keep their troops for service in Germany. James Edward, who had landed in Scotland thirty years before,'' was • •> § 4, p. 511 inclined to remain quiet, but his son, Charles Edward, ' a handsome, enterprising young man, stole away fi-om him at Eome, repaired ta France, and determined to strike a bold stroke for the throne. He sold some jewels, and thus bought a cargo of arms, which he was allowed to put on board a' French man-of-war, and under its convoy he embarked in a small vessel with only seven companions. But on the voyage the Lion, an English ship, com- manded by one of Anson's captains, fell in with the French man- of-war, and after an action of some hours damaged her so severely that she was obliged to return to France. The young piince, how- ever, undauntedly pursued his voyage, though he had now neither arms, ammunition, nor money. § 15. Arriving on the west coast of Scotland, Prince Charles 522 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X LochiDl ana his Piper. Bebellion in Scotland. Young Pretender in Bdinburgli. Edward sent for Cameron of Lochiel, -whose family had fought and suffered in the cause of the Stuarts ever since the time of Dundee.' Lochiel told him that, coming as he did, ' ' ' success was hopeless, and he would do wisely to re- turn to Prance. The chief's piper had accompanied him on board, and though he could not understand their language, he saw that his master declined to do something that the prince besought him to do. To the bom loyalty of the Highlander this was terrible ; his color changed, and he paced to and fro fingering his dirk in great agitation. This caught the eye of the prince, and, as he knew a few words of Gaelic, he cried, " Piper, you wiU draw a sword for me ! " — " I will, I will ! " was the enthusiastic reply ; " if no other man in the land draws a sword, I will fight for you, and die for you ! " Lochiel could hold back no longer. " Come weal, come woe," he exclaimed, "I follow my prince." The little party landed, and the disastrous rising of 1 745 commenced. The vale of Glenfinnan, about twenty miles from Fort William, was selected as the rendezvous, and a pillar now stands there which tells that there the standard of the Stuarts was set up on the 17th of August, 1745. § 16. Lochiel and his Camerons were the last to arrive at the appointed spot ; but they brought with them two companies of soldiei'S captured on their march, which was received as an omen of success. As soon as they began to move. Sir John Cope, the commander in Scotland, set out to intercept them ; but the insurgents skilfully evaded him, and whilst he was seeking for them among the Grampians, they took possession of Edinburgh without oppo- sition, proclaimed James the Eighth ' in solemn form, and estab lished Charles Edward in the Palace of Holyi-ood, where he held a court attended by no inconsiderable number of the Scottish nobility and gentry. One of his first acts was to issue a procla- mation, in his father's name, declaring his intention of dissolving the Union, which was stiU looked on as a national injviry. § 17. Sir John Cope, on learning that the Highlandera had passed him, instead of attempting to pursue them, embarked his troops at Aberdeen and landed at Dunbar. He marched forward towards Edinburgh, and the Highlanders advanced to meet him. On the 20th of September only a piece of marshy ground called 1 It must be remembered that James the Fiiat of Englund, the Chevalier's grand- father, was James the Sixth of Scotland. Chapter II.] THE HOUSE OF BETJNSWICK. 523 Battle of Prestonpana. Victorious Highlanders at Edinburgh. Prestonpans, or Gladsmuir, lay between them, and the passage across seemed so diiRcult that neither was inclined to attempt it in the face of the other. Each army was of about the same strength (2,500 men) ; but the royal troops had the advantage of two regi- ments of dragoons and six pieces of artUlery, whilst the High- landers had only about fifty horsemen, and one small gun, which was carried in a cart, far less for any use to be made of it, but be- cause the men liked to hear it fired when their prince appeared among them. § 18. Both armies lay down at night to rest in the field, the reg- ulars, in contempt of their enemy, keeping no other watch than a few dragoons on the edge of the marsh. The Highlanders did not imitate them. No sooner was it quite dark than they sent out numerous scouts, who at length discovered several safe paths through the marsh. These were cautiously traversed in dead silence by the Highlanders ; and just as the day broke, they fell with loud shouts upon the di'agoons, who, without attempting a stand, fled into the camp, when the guns were captured on the instant, the horse put to flight, and the infantry either killed or captured, with scarcely any loss to the victors. Never before had a disciplined army been routed so quickly or so disgracefully. The cavalry threw away their arms and scattered in all directions, and Sir John fled to Berwick, where Lord Mark Kerr, a veteran of Marlborough's wars, received him with the sarcastic compli- ment, that he believed him to be the first general that had ever brought the news of his own defeat. § 19. The Highlanders returned in triumph to Edinburgh, plen- tifully supplied with arms and ammunition ; and as they had now artillery, though they knew little of its vse, they determined to besiege the castle. General Guest, who commanded there, knew that he should serve the government best by inducing them to re- main before its walls, rather than proceed at once into England, which the few experienced ofiicers among them strongly advised. He therefore replied very feebly to their fire,' as if he was obliged to be sparing of his ammunition ; and he wrote several letters to the government which he took good care should fall into the besieg- ers' hands, saying that he must surrender in a few days if not re- lieved ; at the same time he sent, by other channels, inf oi-mation to London, saying that he was well supplied with everything, and could hold the castle against all Scotland. 524 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. The Scotttsli Court. Progress o£ the Eebellion. Honor of the Scotch. § 30. Deluded in this way, the young ChevaUer tept his court gayly. He new received arms, men, and money from France, when they seemed not to be wanted. He was joined daily by fresh adherents ; and having, after a six weeks' trial, found that the capture of the castle was not to be hoped for, he crossed the border early in November, marching on foot with his men, now 6,000 strong, in the Highland garb, sometimes with one clan, sometimes with another, for he had given up his carriage for the use of Lord Pitsligo, an aged nobleman. Carlisle was surren- dered to him, and before the end of the month he reached Man- chester, where some 200 Englishmen joined him, being the only body that did so. Here dissensions appeared among his followers, who were disappointed at seeing no symptoms of a rising in their favor, and many of them wished at once to return to Scotland. Tliey were induced, however, to advance as far as Derby, and were then a day's march nearer London than either of the armies, each 10,000 strong, that had been sent to intercept them, under the Duke of Cumberland and Marshal "Wade, but which they had eluded as they had done that of Sii- John Cope. Terrible alarm now prevailed in London, whei-e the king formed a camp on Finchley Common, and put himself at the head of the troops to fight for Ms capital, but at the same time prepared for defeat by sending his treas- ure on board the royal yacht in the Thames. § 21. These precautions all proved unnecessary. At Derby the Highlanders absolutely insisted on retreating, and they did so on the 6th' of December, carrying the prince with them. He, however, now resumed his ordinary dress, and rode in his coach, sun-ounded by his life-guard, a troop of Lowland gentlemen, who kept as far dis- tant as possible from the Highlanders, the prince no longer mixing with them. Yet, in spite of their dissensions, they made their retreat with wonderful sldU and ijxpedition, and at Clifton Moor, where they were overtaken by the English dragoons of the Duke's army [Dec. 10], they beat them off with such severe loss that they were no longer followed up closely. On the 23d of December they again crossed the border, having marched nearly 600 miles without disor- der or plunder. Indeed, so scrupulous were they on tliis point, that when, in their first march on Edinburgh, they came near Oxenford J 4S4 ^^*1"^' *^'i"^P''°P6i'tyo^ the hated Earl of Stair, "the Glen- coe men claimed as their right to mount guard there and save it from injury, which they did. At theii- own request the Chaptbk II. J THE HOirSE OF BRUNSWICK. 525 Harsh Measures. Movements ot Troops. Battle of Cnlloden. English were left as a garrison at Carlisle, they seeming to fear the vengeance of the royal troop's less than the hardships of a High- land campaign. They had to surrender to the Duke of Cumberland very soon afterward. The ofBcers were executed, and the common men sent to the American plantatioais. § 22. Again established in Scotland, and not as yet molested by pursuers, the young Chevalier, leaving Edinburgh as confessedly beyond his strength, laid siege to Stirling Castle. General Hawley attempted to relieve it, but was defeated at Falkirk on the 17th of January, 1746, and put to flight. From the incompetence or treach- ery of a French engineer, however, the siege made no progress, and the Highlanders, with one accord,'Tetired to their mountains, promising to return 10,000 sti'ong in the spring. § 23. As soon as the roads and the weather allowed, the Duke of Cumberland moved into the Highlands from Aberdeen, his winter quarters, to attack Inverness. He' had with him about 1,000 horse and 8,000 foot, many of them veterans f rom Fbntenoy ; and others, men who had so disgracefully fled at Prestonpans and at Falkii'k, were eager to re-establish their character with thcii' comrades. The Highlanders could not muster above 5,000, but they hoped to repeat the success of Prestonpans by a night attack on the troops in their quarters. The Duke's birthday occurred at this time [April 13], and he halted at Nairn to celebrate it, and to receive supplies from the fleet that accompanied him. These were lavishly distributed among all classes, and the camp was for days one scene of drunken riot and confusion. § 24. The Highlanders not um-easonably hoped to find the ca- rousing English unprepared. But the difliculties of the twelve miles' march proved greater than had been expected, and daylight came when they were still far from the camp. They then fell back, exhausted and starving, to Cnlloden Moor, near Inverness, where they were followed by the royal troops, and at about noon [April 16] a desperate fight began. The Highlanders suffered much from the royal guns, whilst their own were almost useless from want of skill, and when they tried a furious charge, led on by Lord George Murray, though they broke the English first Une, the second and third kept up a heavy fire which they were not able to withstand. The English then drove them before them at the point of the bay- onet, and Hawley's dragoons, breaking in on their flank through a gap made in a park wall, took teriible revenge for their fonner 526 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Cruelty ol the Englisli Commander. Escape of the I^etender. disgrace. This feeling unhappily actuated not only the men but their officers, and not only the Duke but the government. All alike seem to have been governed by a spirit of vengeance not unlike that which treated the Irish so cruelly a century before. § 25. The Duke allowed wounded men to be mvu-dered, and 'women and children to be driven out to perish. He made an ab- solute desert for many miles around his quarters, earning thereby the name, not yet forgotten in Scotland, of the Butcher; and General Hawley imitated him but too well. The government had been equally frightened, and proved equally merciless. A shame- ful price of £30,000 had been put upon the head of the young Chevalier ; but neither this sum, on the one hand, nor the frightful severity exercised on the other, could tempt even the poorest to betray him. After a series of hardships only paralleled by the fidelity of his adherents, he escaped to France, where he landed at the end of September, -1746. Probably irritated by his escape, the victors seemed bent on exterminating his partisans, and, except to the Earl of Cromartie, scarcely a single pardon seems to have been granted. Lords Kilmarnock and Balmerino were beheaded, and all the officers and men were treated as the Carlisle garrison had already been. " A thorough disarming of the clans followed, then a breaking up of the old hereditary authority of their chiefs — a government within a government — ■ and, which gaUed more bitterly perhaps than all the rest, the pic- turesque Highland dress was proscribed, under heavy penalties. § 36. Extraordinary diligence, too, was shown in tracking offenders. The brother of the Earl of Derwentwater'' ' ' ' was seized and executed in 1746 on an attainder of 1716; and Dr. Cameron, who had been a surgeon in the rebel army, and was recognized by some royal soldiers -whom he had attended, was executed as a traitor in 1750. One culprit, how- ever, suffered in 1747, whose fate no one could regret. This was Simon Frazer, Lord Lovat, who for fifty years had been in the habit of takiag bribes from and betraying all parties, but had hitherto escaped the punishment that he so well deserved, for beside his political offences he was one of the most atrocious characters of the age. He had refused to join the Chevalier, and when his son did so with 800 of his clan, he professed to disavow him. But a patent for a. dukedom from James the Eighth was discovered when his liouse was searched, and he was soon after- Chaptek II.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 527 Capture of Loiiisbwrg. End of the War of the Austrian Succession. •ward found wrapped up in a blanket, and hid iii a hollow tree. He was brought to London, tried, and condemned. He suffered with stoical composiu-e, repeating a Latin verse implying that he rejoiced to die for his country. § 37. Whilst the government was thus wreaking its vengeance at home, the war abroad was continued with much variety of for- tune. The strong fortress of Louisburg, on Cape Breton, together with the island, was captured from the French on the 38th of June, 1745, by the Anglo-American colonists of Massachusetts Bay, and a British iieet under Admiral Warren. From that time may be dated the rise of the idea of their own strength that led those colonists to shake of£ then- allegiance to the mother couutiy thirty years later. In 1746 a formidable armament, sent to reduce Port I'Orient, in Brittany, under the Admiral Lestock already mentioned," failed disgracefully ; but in the. follow- „„ *' -^ ' « § 12, p. 520. ing year Admu-als Anson, Hawke, and Warren were successful against French squadrons in the same quarter. These victories were balanced by a defeat sustained at Laffelt by the Duke of Cumberland [June 30, 1747], and all parties being now weary of the war, a peace was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle in October, 1748. § 38. The only gainera by this war for the Austrian succession, and which is known in American history as King George's War, were two German powers. Maria Theresa and her husband had all then- claims acknowledged, and Frederick of Prussia, the nephew of King George, and afterward known as Frederick the Great, retained the province of Silesia, which he had, without the shadow of a pretext, seized when their fortunes were at a low ebb. All conquests were to be given up, but to insure the restoration of Cape Breton, two noblemen, the Earl of Sussex and Lord Cathoart, were sent to Paris as hostages. This humiliation was greatly murmured at even by those who wished for peace, and the young Chevalier, then living in France, exclaimed: " Poor England ! has she sunk so low that her word cannot be taken?" -§ 39. Eight years elapsed before war was formally declared again ; but the whole period was one of armed truce, with cease- less complaints and recrimination between England and Prance, for their interests were diametrically opposed both in the East and in the West, and the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle made no adequate provision for settling anything. Both had gi-owing colonies in 528 HISTORY OF ENGLAKD. [Book X. The American Colonies. Impending War in America. War in Germany. America. The English, a million strong, occupied the seaboard along a line a thousand miles in extent. The French, one hundred thousand strong, were seated chiefly on the St. Lawrence and in Eastern America. They were determined to check the expansion of the English possessions, and to do so they formed alliances with the savage tribes of the forest. § 30. Commissioners were appointed by the two goTemments to consider matters ; but their decisicms were utterly disregarded by the rival trading companies in India, which sought empire, and were equally unacceptable to the colonists in America, who were constantly coming into collision. These, at length, got tired of their fniitless task, and made preparations for a stmggle for colonial supremacy. At last an English fleet was sent to India in 1754, and in the next year an army was despatched to Virginia, whilst at the same time two French ships, which were carrying re- inforcements to Canada, were attacked and captured without any declaration of war. § 31. "War, of coui'se, immediately followed, but was not con- fined to either India or the colonies. Justly jirovoked at the rapacity of Frederick of Prussia, Austria and France agreed to attemjjt the partition of his dominions. Frederick, by means of bribes to a clerk, learned the secret, and struck the first blow by invading Saxony. A war in Germany alarmed the British mon- arch, for he perceived that his kingdom of Hanover was in jeopardy." To secure its safety he first entered into a treaty with Russia, and next took an army of Hessian mer- cenaries into pay ; but knowing the unscrupulous character of his nephew Frederick, who would be quite as ready to seize on Han- over as he had seized on Silesia, he soon thought it best to espouse his cause, and sent the Duke of Cumberland to his assistance. This brought about the veiy ill it was meant to prevent. Freder- ick was defeated at Kolin, and the French then turned their arms against the Duke of Cumberland. He was no match for the French general, Richelieu, and he was soon obliged to enter into a convention at Kloster Seven, by which he withdrew from the con- test, and lost Hanover. That was in the year 1757. The king was terribly enraged at this, when the duke (his son) resigned all h employments and retii-ed into private life. § 32. In other quarters the war was conducted little to the advantage of England. Gcmrn) Braddock and an army were Chaptbk II.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 529 Braddock'B Defeat. Loss of Minorca. Admiral Byng. William Pitt, cut ofE in the wilds of America, by the French and then- Indian allies, on the 9th of July, 1755, and the survivors owed their escape mainly to the skill and courage of George Washington, then a major in a colonial militia. In 1756 a French fleet captured Minorca, after a slight action with the English fleet under Admiral Byng. The loss of the island was really owing to the incom- petent ministry. When the war broke out, they had not a single foreign possession in a proper state of defence. They left Minorca feebly garrisoned until the enemy were close at liand, and then hurried off Byng, with a fleet not half manned or provided with stores. He was to take two regiments for its relief from Gibraltar ; but the governor expected to be attacked himself, and would not spare them, when Byng wrote home, holding him responsible for the consequences. This the ministry took as a reflection on them- selves, and when the loss of the island occurred they had the base- ness to turn the popular fury against the admiral. He was im- prisoned for a time at Greenwich Hospital, and being then put on his trial, he was shot, by sentence of a court-martial, at Ports- mouth on the 14th of March, 1757. § 33. In spite of the sacrifice of Byng, the Duke of Newcastle, who had become premier" in 1754, found himself ^ ' § 4, p. 500. obliged to quit office, and after a few months' attempt at government by the Duke of Devonshire, the headship of the cabinet passed to William Pitt, a man of a very different stamp from either of them. He had been a comet of horse, but when he became a member of parliament he inveighed so fiercely against Walpole that his commission was taken from him. He was natu- rally proud and passionate, and this treatment did not soften his temper. He continued his attack on the minister, and gave offence to the king personally by attaching himself to the house- hold of the Prince of Wales." When Walpole was ^^ ^^^ driven from office, Pulteney," who was the real head ' ' ' ^^^ of the new ministry, would have included Pitt, but the king would not hear of it. Pitt, however, gave the ministry his support, and received the highly profitable office of paymaster- general. In 1746 he resigned his post, and he remained in opposi- tion as lon^ as Pelham and the Duke of Newcastle continued in office. After some difficulty, caused by the king's still remaining dislike of him, his turn at last came to govern the country, and he did it with a steady hand. 28 530 HISTORY OP ENGLASTD. [Book X. England's Power manifested. Operations in India. § 34. In the year 1758 tlie French gave out that they were pre- paring for an invasion of England, and Pitt determined to antici- pate them. An expedition was sent against the French arsenal of Cherbourg, which it stormed and took, destroying an immense quantity of stores, and 200 iron guns. Twenty handsome brass pieces were brought off as trophies, and paraded through London in triumph. Attacks on other places on the French coast followed, but were not successful. Pitt therefore took the bold step of sending 30,000 English soldiers to Germany, where they mainly gained the battle of Minden [August 1, 1751)], though serving with the Prussians. The English navy also obtained many victories, capturing the French West India Islands, and defeating several squadi-ons in different places, as at Lagos, the Isle of Aix, and off Brest, where a iieet that had long been blockaded in the harbor was, on coming out, destroyed by Hawke. But these blows, though heavy, were little in comparison with what befell the enemy both in the East Indies and in America, where each party had importaiit temtorial possessions. § 35. In the former country the rival comi)anies had long, under the pretence of assisting various princes, been really contending for empire. M. Dupleix and Robert Clive are the prominent names m their struggles. Dupleix had made the French influence para- mount in India ; but acquired such vast riches and power for him- self that he became an oliject of jealousy to the Frencli ministry, and was recalled, prosecuted, and died a ruined man. His suc- cessors ^vere incompetent men, utterly unfit to contend with he genius of Clive. He captm'ed their forts, detached the native princes from their alliance, and retook Calcutta, whicli had fallen into the hands of Sm-ajah-Dowlah,' one of the most powerful of them. He soon after overthrew Surajah at Plassey, and bestowed his government on Meer JaiBer, who in return made such vast con- cessions to the English company, that their dominion there was firmly established [a.d. 1757]. In two years more the French fleet was driven from the Indian seas, and their land forces were shut lip inPondicherry,theirsoleremainingpossession. These successes were the result of Clive's energy and decision, and with but little help from the government at home. « ■ On this occasion 140 Europeans being crowded into a small room, ever since known as " the Black Hole of Calcutta,'' 123 ot them perished by sufEocatiou before tliii inni'Uilig. Chapter II.] TIIE HOUSE OP BETJNSWICK. 531 The French and Indian "War in Amorica. Campaigns. Attack on Canada. § 36. There was equal success in America. Cape Breton," as we have seen, was restored to the French, by treaty, in 1747. When, eight years afterward, war between ' England and France again broke out, it was retaken on the 26th of July, 1758, where General Wolfe greatly distinguished himself. The conflict known in America as the French and Indian War had then been going on for three years. While the army of Braddock was suffering disaster in Western Pennsylyania,'' other British forces, chiefly American, were contending suc- cessfully for the mastery on the Upper Hudson and Lakes George and Champlain, under Sir William Johnson and General Lyman. § 37. In the following year four little armies prepared to assail the French and their dusky allies at four different points, namely, Crown Point, on Lake Champlain ; Niagara, at the mouth of the Niagara Riyer ; Fort du Quesne, where Pittsburg, in Pennsyl- vania, now stands, and the French settlement on the Chaudiere River, in Canada. But very little was effected during the cam- paigns of that and the following year [1757], owing to the extreme tardiness of Lord Loudon, the commander-in-cHef in America. The result of the war, so far, was humiliating to British pride, and productive of much irritation of feeling among the Anglo-Ameri- can colonists. § 38. The energy, forecast, and good judgment of Pitt in making plans and choosing men to execute them now changed the aspect of affah's in America, and won the confidence of the Anglo-Ame- ricans. He consulted with young Wolfe, who had distinguished himself in the capture of Cape Breton the second time ; and the plan of an attack on the important colony of Canada, or New France, as it had been called, was settled between them. The central and western parts were to be assailed by the Anglo-American colo- nists and British regulars, imder Lord Amherst, and they were then to descend the St. Lawrence and join Wolfe in an attack on Que- bec, the capital, and the most strongly fortified city in America. But these forces, though successful, did not make as quick pro- gress as had been expected, and when Wolfe arrived before Que- bec he found he was left to his own resources. § 39. The defenders of Quebec were more than twice as nume- rous as Wolfe's troojjs, and were commanded by the Jlarqnis de Montcalm, an oflicer of great reputation. They occupied a strong position oulsLde the city, and Wolfe was repulsed in an attaek un 532 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Conquest of Canada. Death ol George the Second. HIb Character and Eeigii. it. He persevered until the beginning of autumn, and then car- ried his whole force farther up the river, above Quebec. On the morning of the 13th Ssptember, 1759, he placed his land forces in boats, and, accompanying them hunself, passed down the stream to a place since known as Wolfe's Cove. Here he landed, climbed the rocks at a place that had been left unguarded, as being con- sidered inaccessible, and appeared upon a high plateau in the rear of the city, known as the Plains of Abraham. This compelled Montcalm to leave his strong post. In the battle that at once fol- lowed on the Plains, the French were totally defeated. Wolfe was killed in the moment of victory, and Montcalm died of his wounds a few days afterward. Quebec was then surrendered, and the whole of Canada was conquered in the course of the following year. Montreal, the last stronghold, was suiTounded by 17,000 troops and a thousand Indian warriors, and was compelled to surrender to A.mherst on the 8th of September, 1760. § 40. These successes wore dear to the warlike mind of the king, and they ahnost reconciled him to the able minister that had been forced on him. The reconciliation might have been com- pleted but for the sudden death of the monarch, which occurred in a montli after the fall of Montreal and the consequent extinc- tion of the French power in Canada. On the morning of the 25th of October he drank his chocolate as usual, and soon aftei-ward the ventricle of his heart burst, and he fell dead at the age of sev- enty-seven years. § 41. King George remained aU his life thoroughly German, but he was not unpopulai- Avith his English subjects, as his father had been, for they saw that he was brave, active, and good-natured, and that he was in the right and his son in the wrong in their d -en quarrels." Hence all but the partisans of the Stuarts =* § 11, p. o20. ^, . ,. T were well inclined towards him; and his foreign wars, though not undertaken in the interest of England, but in that of his Electorate of Hanover (for the defence of which he spent his private fortune and his savings), were borne with far less impatience than might have been expectiid. His son Frederick having died in 1754, he was succeeded by his grandson George, the first of the Brunswick kings that was born in England. Chapter III.] THE HOUSE OF ERTINSWICK. 533 Accession of Gteorge the Third. Bute the Favorite. CHAPTER m. KBiGN OF Gbokgb tkb Thuid [a.d. 1760 TO 1820.] § 1. PHnsfCB Geoegb was riding out on horseback near Kew Palace when the news of his grandfather's death was brought to him. John Stuart, Earl of Bute, a gay and foimerly a needy Scotch nobleman, who had been the prince's tutor, and was a great favorite with his mother, was then, as usual, his companion on the road. They repaired to Kew, and were soon joined by Pitt, the real head of the government, who presented the new king with a "sketch of an address to be pronounced at a meeting of the Privy Council, the chosen advisers of the monarch, when he was told that a speech had already been prepared for that occasion. This satisfied the Great Commoner, as Pitt was called, that his power would be transferred to another. . § 3. When, on the 18th of November, the king met parliament for the first time, the clause in his speech, " Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Briton," excited much enthu- siasm ; yet there was an uneasy feeling abroad lest his mother's favorite, Bute, might have undue infiuence over the monarch and make him too partial to that favorite's countrymen. This feeling was manifested on the morning after the prince was proclaimed George the Third, by a paper that was found fixed upon the Royal Exchange, bearing the words, "No petticoat government — no Scotch minister ! " Two days after the accession of George, Bute was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council. § 3. Pitt saw that Bute, though a subordinate, had the king's confidence, and his haughty spiiit chafed at this ; but he continued the war with vigor, and captured Belleisle, on the coast of France, not for any use that it could be, but as an exchange, at a future day, for Minorca. * The French, being now seriously distressed by the war, induced the kings of Spain and of the Two Sicilies to enter into a family compact (they were all relatives) for mutual defence. Pitt learned this, and proposed to make war on Spain at once. Had it been done, some treasure- ships that were on then- way to Europe would probably have been captured.' He was overruled in the council, and tendered his resignation. To his great surprise it was accepted, and Bute 1)6' 534: HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. War witb Spain. The NaHonal Debt. WiUses anfl the Government, came premier on the 6th of October, 1761, whilst Pitt lost Ms popularity by accepting the title of Baroness of Chatham for his ivife, and a pension of £3,000 a year for himself. § 4. A very short time proved the soundness of Pitt's advice. The treasure-ships were no sooner safe than the Spaniards formally gave notice of the family compact to the ministers. After this defiance they could not avoid declaring vi^ar. Two fleets were sent out, which in the course of 1762 carried out a part of Pitt's plan, and captured two most important Spanish possessions. These were, the Havamiah in Cuba, and Manilla in the Philippines ; but before the news of the last exploit could arrive from the East, Bute was negotiating a peace, wliich was concluded in 1763. As Pitt had expected, Minorca was given back in exchange for Belle- isle ; and Canada, Nova Scotia, and some small West India islands were ceded to England ; but the debt incurred by the war was so great (the national debt had now risen to £138,000,000, or $690,- 000,000), and the advantages gained seemed so small, that much dis- content ensued, and Bute was driven fi'om office [April, 1763]. Pitt had denounced the treaty ; but Bute was attaclced personally and most veliemently in a newspaper called the "North Briton," conducted by John Wilkes, a member of parliament. Its object was to hold up Bute and his fellow-countrymen to odium; but other persons also were attacked, and even the king's ' ' ' mother' was not spared. In its last number (No. 45) the king's speech, which described the peace as honorable and beneficial, was commented on vrith such license that the ministry whicli had succeeded Bute determiaed en a prosecution. § 5. This was the commencement of a contest that lasted, with slight intermission, for eleven years, and out of which Wilkes, though a man of infamous character in some respects, came vic- torious. His paper was voted by the House of Commons "a false, scandalous, and malicious libel." It was bm-nt by the hang- man amid a scene of riot, and he was expelled the House. Rather than stand his trial he escaped to France, and was outlawed ; but before he went he had obtained £1,000 damages against the Secretary of State for the illegal seizure of his papers at tlio time of his arrest iu May, 1763. In 1768 he returned, his outlawry was reversed on some point of form, and he was elected a member for Middlesex. He was now tried and imprisoned for the libel, which he had again published ; and several people were kiUed in a riot CnAPTBK III.] THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK. 535 Contest witla Wilkes. The American Colonics discover their Sfci-eng^th. wlieii he was taken to jail. On this he wrote an inflammatoiy letter, which the parliament voted a libel, and he was again ex- pelled. The freeholders returned him a second time. The House then declared him incapable of sitting; and though he was a third time returned — for the electors insisted on their right of choice — they adhered to their determination. § 6. The city of London next took up Wilkes's cause, and ad- dressed the king in tones of indignant remonstrance at what they termed the tyranny of the parliament. They were unheeded ; but when his imprisonment expired they chose him, first, alderman, then sheriff, and his debts and expenses were paid by a body which called itself the Society of the Bill of Eights. "When a new parliament assembled [a.d. 1774], he was, for the fourth time, returhed^for Middlesex, and was now allowed to take his seat. He afterwards became lord mayor, and as such carried up an address to the king, in 1775, praying for the removal of his minis- ters. In 1783 he procured the erasure from the iournals of the resolutions that had been passed against him ; and he retained his seat until his voluntary retirement from parliament in 1790. § 7. But this discreditable contest was very far from the most important one that sprang from the terms of the peace of 1763. That peace had relieved the English colonists in America from any fear of disturbance frorh the French, as Canada was made over to England, and their other great settlement, Louisiana, was transferred to the indolent Spaniards. There now remained no enemies on their borders but the Indian tribes; and some suc- cesses which they had gained over these, and the part that then- troops had taken in the last two wars, had given them a just idea of their strength. This, from their habit of self-government, their 'skill in the use of the lifle, acquu-ed in the border wars, and the hardihood of their seafaring- population, was, on the other hand, fatally undervalued in England. They now numbered about 2,500,000 souls, and were divided into thirteen different colonies, most of them larger in area than European kingdoms. The colo- nies in the north, or New England States, as they called themselves, had been founded by the Puritans ; Maryland,' Virginia, and the Carolinas, in the south, were settled mainly by the exiled Cavaliers and Romanists; and the great central States of New York and Pennsylvania by the Dutch and Quakers. § 8. Each of these Anglo-American colonies had a governor 536 HISTOET OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Spirit of the Colonists. Their PoUtical Platform. Stamp-Act. appoiated by the crown, but in other respects there were great differences in their charters. The English ministry, accustomed to regard them as vassals of the crown, considered that they had no political rights but what these charters conferred, and that even these were subject to be varied or set aside if the interests of the mother country should seem to require it. The colonists naturally took a different view, and their Houses of Assembly were fre- quently at variance with their governors, especially in the Puritan States, where the free spirit that made their ancestors flee from England more than a century before was as strong as ever. This spirit came gradually to actuate the rest, and notwithstanding their differences of origin, they were at this time all united on the point of yielding just as much obedience to the mother country as they were legally compelled to, and no more, for they had scarcely received any government protection in their infancy, and they were now strong enough to help themselves. § 9. The war that had just closed had arisen partly out of the contests of the American colonies with the French settlements on their borders, and had somewhat increased the taxes which were then greatly complained of in England. The Grenville ministry, to lighten the burden, resolved [April, 1764] to tax the English colonies generally, by extending to them some of the stamp duties and imports that England had borne ever since the time of Charles the Second. The West India colonies paid them readily, but the American ones absolutely refused, on the just plea that they were not allowed a representation in parliament when such burdens were imposed. They took the broad ground, and ever maintained it, that taxation without representation is tyranny. The ministry used force to compel the colonies to submit to the impost ; but, after a severe struggle with the friends of justice in parliament, the min- isters were obUgcd to give way before a threat that all trade between the oppressed colonists and the mother country should be broken off. The act imposing stamp duties was repealed in March, 1766, but, to save appearances, an act was passed at the same time declaring the power of the parliament to be supreme in all mat- ters of taxation.' 1 When intelligence of the passage of the stamp-act reached the colonists, it was everywhere denounced. When the stamps arrived, men appointed to distribute them were assaulted. Colonial assemblies, public orators, and the pulpit inveighed against the tyrannical measures. In several cities mobs occurred on the day when the law was Chaptek in.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 537 Ministerial Changes. Taxation resisted. Bloodshed in Boston. § 10. Ever since the retirement of Lord Bute there had been fre- quent ministerial changes. Grenville succeeded Bute, the Duke of Bedford succeeded Grenville, and the Marquis of Kockingham succeeded Bedford, all in the course of little more than two years. Pitt, -who had been created Earl of Chatliam on the occasion, suc- ceeded Rockingham in 1766, but he was no longer the all-pow- erful minister that he had been. He was in bad health, his subor- dinates supported him but feebly, and the opposition were success- ful in reducing some of the taxes. To make up for this, a new scheme for taxing the colonies was put in operation, but Chatham had finally quitted office before it was attempted. § 11. After the brief administration of the Duke of Grafton, in which a new attempt at colonial taxation was begun. Lord North came into power [a.d. 1770], and remained in office for twelve years. He had what several of the preceding ministers had not, the entire confidence of the king, and during much the greater part of the time he had also the support of the vast majority of the parliament and the nation, which certainly did not look on the colonists as anything else than rebels until their success became very decided. Fi-om *the first this new taxation scheme, like all others, was resisted by the colonists, because it was regarded as a violation of their sacred rights. No matter how insignificant was the impost, it was the same in principle, and. for principle they stemly contended. Their resistance for a long time consisted only in verbal arguments ; but when troops were sent to awe and subjugate the people, the irritation became so intense that it was difficult to keep down insurrection. In March, 1770, a collision between the citizens of Boston and the troops there occurred, which resulted in the killing of several of the former. The course of the colonists in regard to the matter was so wise and modei'ate that it deserved the most tender consideration of a just king and sagacious ministry. But these did not understand the Americans, and the oppressions were continued. to go into operation, and many packages of stamps were seized and bnmed. In the midst of the excitement a congi-ess of delegates from the several colonies met [Oct. 7, 1765] in the city of New York, and published some able papers setting forth the {a'iev- ances complained of and petitioning the king for redress. Merchants entered into agreements not to import goods from Great Britain, and the people of all classes pre- pared to sustain them by using only their own manufactures. This touched the Lon- don merchants most keenly, and they joined the Americans in petitioning for a repeal of the stamp act. The ministry were compelled to listen. ;:3* 538 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Bebellious Movements. Boston Punished. Continental Congress and its Acts. § 13. At length the insolence of the commander of a revenue ci-uiaer, named Gaspe, in Narraganset Bay, Rhode Island, so pro- voked the inhabitants, and particularly the navigators of the Bay; that a party of them went down fi-om Providence one night [June 9, 1772] and attacked and burned the obnoxious vessel, which lay aground. This overt act of rebellion was succeeded at near the close of the following year by the destruction of cargoes of tea in Boston harbor [Dec. 15, 1773], which had been brought to the country in the East India Company's " ships, in " ' spite of the protests of the colonists on account of the imposition of a duty on the article. This roused the English ministers. By act of parliament the port of Boston was closed and the business was transferred to the neighboring town of Salem ; the House of Assembly was dissolved, and several changes were made in the charter of the colony whicli deprived the people of some of the dearest privileges guaranteed by that instrument. At the same time troops were sent to support the royal authority under General Gage, the commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, who was appointed governor of Massachusetts. § 13. The other colonies made common cause with Massachu- setts, and, on tlieir own authority, and in spite of their governors, held a general congress of fifty-one delegates at Philadeljjhia [Sept. 5, 1774], which issued a Declaration of Rights, claiming all the privileges of British subjects and stating instances in which these had been violated. They declared that "to these grievous acts and measures the Americans cannot submit," and they resolved to have no commerce vidth England until they obtained redress. For this purpose a non-importation league, known as the American Association, was signed by the delegates of all the colonies repre- sented. An address to the king embodying the sentiments of the Declaration of Bights was voted, as also addresses to the Anglo- American colonists, the people of England, and the French Cana- dians at Quebec. These papers produced a feeling of profound respect and sympathy for the colonists everywhere, excepting in the minds of -the blind ministry and the not very wise king ; and ^^r, ^-'°''<1 Chatham ° and other leading members of par- •> § 10, p. 537. ,. ^ ., '^ ^ liament espoused then- cause and ofEered much op- position to tlie ministerial scheme. § 14. In expectation of a necessity for armed resistance to tlieir oppressors, the Americans, dmingl774, formed military organiza- pCiiArTER III.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 539 Minute-men. Skirmislles at Lexington and Concorcl. devolution. tions, wliose members were bound to take tbe field at a moment's warning. These were called Mnute-men, and were drilled for Kervice. Gage, who was a iudicious commander, knew this, and although he had 5,000 regular troops at different points under him, he did not think it prudent to interfere with the political movements of the people of Massachusetts, who, in the autumn of 1774, chose delegates to' form a Provincial Congress at Cambridge, in sight of the British flag in Boston. That Congress made pro- visions for an army, appoiuted a commanding general for it, and, in fact, set up an independent goveiimient. Gage felt almost powerless; for he had seen, on one occasion, the mere rumor of British troops having assailed the 4-Di6i"icans call together nearly 30,000 of the Minute-men of New England. But finally, in the spring of 1775, having 3,000 troops in Boston, he resolved to take measm-es to crush the rising rebellion by seizing arms and ammunition which he was informed the Americans had collected at Concord, a few miles fTom the city. Troops were sent for the pur- pose. These were met on the way at Lexington, where a skirmish occurred [April 19, 1775], when the first blood was shed in the American Revolution. The Minute-men gathered. The troops were attacked at Concord, and were driven back to Boston with heavy loss. Within ten days after these events an anny of 30,000 Americans were environing Boston, and forming camps and casting up fortifications to keep Gage and his troops from leaving that peninsula. The other colonists were aroused, and flew to arms. The strongholds of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, on Lake Cham- plain, were seized by the patriots on the 10th of May [1775]; and at the middle of June, during a single night, a redoubt was thrown up on an eminence near Charlestown, whose cannon commanded Boston. Seeing his danger, and being reinforced, Gage sent out troops to expel the patriots from that vantage-ground [June 17], when the severe battle, resulting in victory for the colonists, known as that of Bunker's Hill, was fought. § 15. Meanwhile the Continental Congress of 1774 "had reassert - bled [May 10, 1775] at Philadelphia. Already prepa- rations had been made for anned resistance. A navy had been authorized, and Ezekiel Hopkins, of Rhode Island, was appointed commander. "We have counted the cost of this con- test," said the Congress, "and find nothing so dreadful as volun- tary slavery." They voted to raise an anny of 20,000 men; and 540 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. ^ Washington in Command. Declaration of Inflependenoe. Alliance with France. two days before the battle of Bunker Hill tliey appointed George WasMngton' commander-in- chief of all the forces • § 82, p. 538. ^^.^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^.^^^^ ^j^^y adopted the troops be- fore Boston as a national force, and there (at Cambridge) Wash- ington took command of them on the 3d of July. The Congress agreed to an act of perpetual union of the colonies, and issued paper money. The colonies all regarded -the assembly at Phila- delphia as a general government, and in the space of a few weeks after the skirmish at Lexington royal power was •virtually at an end in all the Anglo-American provinces. Then was begun the American War, which lasted seven years. § 16. For nearly a year after the beginning of hostilities the American Congress earnestly sought redress of grievances. War, and threatened extermination of the liberties of the colonies by British and German troops combined, were offered instead. Hope- less of justice, the colonies, by their representatives, declared [July 4, 1776] the several provinces free and independent States, with the national title of The TJnitbd States op Ambeioa. Assuming national functions, the Congress sought the aid and alliance of European governments, and readily found sympathy. Every one of them had felt the haughty power of England in some offensive way, and would gladly see that power weakened. France, smart- ing under the loss of Canada and the humiliation to which she had been subjected, and Spain, hoping to recover Gibraltar and Minor- ca, readily listened to American commissioners, and indirectly gave the insurgents secret aid. When its practical sympathy could no longer be concealed, France entered into an open alliance [February 6, 1778] with the struggling colonists, and sent troops and ships to help them ; but Spain reserved her army and navy for the defence of her own colonies. Finally, the northern powers of Europe confederated [a.d. 1780] in an attempt to force England to respect the rights of neutrals. It was a, league calle.d an Armed Neutrality, which finally led England into a war with a greater part of the civilized world ; and her commerce was terribly in- jured by American privateers, which became numerous and active. Among the privateersmen, John Paul Jones was the most active, and for awhile he kept the seaports of the whole island of Great Britain in a state of alarm, as he circumnavigated it and darted into harbors here and there, in the year 1779. He once attempted to l)urn the shipping 'n Whitehaven ; and for a while, in 1779, British ^HAPTER III.] THE HOUSE OF BETJNSWICK. 541 Invasion of Canada. British driven from Boston. Battles North and Sonth. commerce was suspended, for a united French and Spanish fleet had the command of the British channel. § 17. WhUst "Washington kept the British troops shut up in Boston during the autumn and winter of 1775-76, a northern army, under General Schuyler, invaded Canada. The chief force was led by General Montgomei^, foiinerly an oiRcer in the British army, who, after capturing Montreal," proceeded to a § 39, p. 631 , besiege Quebec at the close of the year. There he was killed [December 31, 1775], and his little army was much dispersed. Soon afterward [March, 1776] the British ti-oops under General Howe were driven out of Boston. They retired to Halifax, and then proceeded to get another foothold on the coast. A part of them unsuccessfully attempted to take Charleston, in South Caro- lina, in June; and finally, after a severe battle between the Ameri- cans and the allied British and German troops, on Long Island [August 37, 1776], Howe took possession of the city of New Yoi'k, and the greaterpart of the island on whi ch it stands. The Americans made resistance at the northern end of the island, where they had a strong work called Fort Washington. This they maintained until late in the year, when it was captured, chiefly by German troops, after Howe's army had fought "Washington's at "White Plains, and compelled him to retire to a range of hills northward. § IS Soon after this, "Washington and his little army crossed the Hudson, and fled towards the Delaware Eiver, closely pursued by Lord Comwallis. The Americans crossed the Delaware, and then recruited; and recrossing on the night of Christmas [1776], fell upon and vanquished a. body of Germans at Trenton, in New Jersey. After a severe battle with Comwallis, at Princeton, a few days afterward [January 3, 1777], "Washington retired to the hill country of Eastern New Jersey for the vwinter. § 19. The British ministry planned a campaign for 1777 for the seizure of th e Hudson River and Lake Champlain. By so doing, and holding a line from New York to Montreal, it was expected to sever New England from the rest of the "Union, and so produce a fatal weakness. Sir Henry CUnton, commanding at New York, was to penetrate the country northward, and Sir John Burgoyne was to penetrate it southward, from the St. Lawrence, and meet his coadjutor. This was attempted. The British had learned I^y sad experience the folly of the boast of one of their ofiicers, that with a company of grenadiers he could put a whole army of 542 • HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X* Northern New York invaded. Battles of Brandywine and Saratoga. Americans to flight, and acted more discreetly. BurgoyBC, with a motley army of 7,000 British regulars and Germans, 3,000 Cana- dians, and a body of Indians, moved cautiously for-ward. He captured Ticonderoga,' on Lake Champlain, in July ; ° ^ ^ ' ''■ ■ but in two severe battles, one at Stillwater, and the other at Saratoga, on the Upper Hudson, in the autumn, he was defeated, and he and his whole army were made [Oct. 17,1777] prisonei's of war. General Gates, who had been an officer in the British army, commanded the Americans on this occasion. § 20. In the mean time Washington had been contesting with the British under General Howe, in Pennsylvania. A severe Ijattle was fought on the Brandywine Creek [Sept. 11, 1777], in which Lafayette, a young French officer, bore a conspicuous part, and was womided. Washington fell back toward Philadelphia, and again fought Howe at Germantown. . There the Americans were defeated. Howe took possession of Pliiladelphia, and Washington went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, a dreary region in the interior, where his army suffered dreadfully. § 31. Thesurrender of Burgoyne produced a profound sensation in Europe. The Americans were applauded for their prowess. The French government hastened to acknowledge the indepen- dence of the United States, and form an alliance with them, with the hope of gaining an advantage over England. England pon- dered upon the necessity of making peace with her revolted colonies, so as to save her own strength. Many of her statesmen and soldiers began to think the contest hopeless ; and the Duke of Richmond, in the House of Lords, moved an address to the king recommending peace, even at the price of conceding the indepen- dence of the colonies. The Earl of Chatham arose from his sick- lied to oppose this motion. He wished the Americans to have justice, but he would not consent to a dismemberment of the em- pire. Wliile speaking vehemently against the motion, as extorted by an unworthy fear of Prance, he fell down in a fit and died four days afterward. Chatham's views were in accordance with a number of public bodies, and they raised several regiments for the B34 ^'^''^°® ' ^"* ^^° '^^*y °* London, under the influence of Wilkes, i" refused to do aught against the Americans. Commissioners were appointed to treat for peace ; but as the Ame- ricans refused to negotiate except on the basis of their indepen-. donee, the war went on. A French fleet came to help them. The Chapter III.] THE HOUSE OF BETINSWICK. &4l3 Operations Nortt and Sonth. Surrender of Comwallis. End of the War. British ai-my left Philadelphia in haste, and fled across New Jersey. Washington pursued, and at Monmouth, well on toward Earitan Bay, the two forces had a severe battle on the 28th of June. That night the weary troops lay upon their arms. The British stole away in the darkness and escaped. § 22. The Americans were inspirited by the French alUance, and after the battle of Monmouth, the war was carried on upon a more extended scale. There was a large party in the country who adhered to the crown, and were ever ready to assist the British against the patriots. Availing themselves of these mal- contents, the British officers made strong efforts in 1779 and 1780 to bring the Carolinas and Georgia under royal rule. These efforts were continued in 1781, when some of the severer battles of the war were fought in that region. But they failed, and ComwalUs, with the British troops, went into Virginia, and established a foi-tified camp on the York Kiver, at Yorktown. There he was attacked by allied American and French forces — the former under Wafhington, and the latter under Eoohambeau — and also a French fleet under De Grasse. He was compelled to surrender on the 19th of October, 1781, when the British ministers and people were satisfied that a further continuance of the war would be useless. Hostilities soon after- ward ceased. Lord North retired from the premiership early in 1 783, and his successor, Lord Shelboume, caused a successful nego- tiation for peace. A preliminary treaty was signed in November, 1782, and the definitive treaty was signed on the 3d of September, the next year. In November following the last of the British army left the United States. § 33. It was only in the contests in America that England had such ill sticcess ; and to this the vast extent of the country contri- buted as much or more than the skiU or want of skill of the generals on either side. Though the contest with other powers • was severe, and opened with an unsatisfactory action with the French off Brest just after the declaration of war, in the spring of 1778, the British fleet had its triumphs to show, and all the hostile navies suffered more than it did.' The Dutch were defeated on the Doggerbank by Parker, and had their ports blockaded, to the destruction of their commerce. The Spaniards almost ruined their army and navy in a fruitless siege of Gibraltar, which was gal- 1 They had ITl ships of war captured or destroyed ; the British lost but 88. 544 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X Terms of Peacu. American Loyalists. Government in India, lantly lielci against them and the French for more than three years by General Eliott. The French fleet, which had captured some of the British West India islands, andTvhich had caused the surrender of Cornwallis by its effective co-operation with Washington and Rochambeau," was totally defeated by Admiral Rod- = §.32, p. 643. ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^gg^ whilst treaties of peace were under negotiation. This victory made the terms of the treaty less burdensome to the English than they would other- wise have been. § 24. Peace, as we have seen, was at length concluded at Paris, in September, 1783. The independence of the American colonies was acknowledged, and many of the gains of the war that was ended in 1763'' were lost. But Gibraltar was re- ' ' ' tained, even at the risk of prolonging the war. The popular feeling in the United States against the Tories, as the loyalists were called, was very bitter for a while, and families, to the number of 100,000 souls, fled from the country. After a temporary shelter in Nova Scotia, many of these received free grants of fertile lands in Canada, between Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron, mth arms, stores, and provisions, until the time that they could bring the wilderaess into cultivation. As they had fought to prevent the dismemberment of the State, they were com- monly known as the " U. E. (Unity of the Empire) Loyalists." Several Indian tribes, compromised in the same way, were simi- larly treated, and the descendants of both races still hold the lands assigned. § 25. During the whole of the American war the English pos- ■ sessions in India were ably and rigorously governed by Warren Hastings, a man not very scrupulous as to the means employed in securing wealth and power. Hyder Ali, the most active of the native princes, who tried to preserve liis country from the grasp of British avarice, was repulsed in several attacks ; and Sir Ed- ward Hughes inflicted several severe defeats on the French and Dutch in the Indian seas. After his return to Europe, Hastings was imprached on charges of misgovernment and cruelty, which were well sustained ; but, after a trial that lasted seven years, he was, as a necessity of State policy, not only acquitted [a.d. 1795] but allowed a pension. § 26. While tlie war was raging, England had serious domestic troubles, which at one time bore an alarming aspect. Parliament Chaptek III.] THE HOUSE OP ERTOTSWIOK. 545 Hiots in Loudon. Invasion tlireatened. Ireland. The Younger Pitt. repealed some of the harsh laws against the Roman CathoUcs, when a flame of intense bigotry burst out all over the realm, and the cry of "Ko Popery!" was heard on every hand. Riots oc- curred in many places. There was a fearful one in London in June, 1780, during which a vast amount of property and many lives were destroyed. At about the same time the fear of a French invasion of Ireland induced the ministry to call for volun- teers in that country, and full 80,000 were soon enrolled. The officers were mostly Protestants and men of property, and the rank and file were nearly all Roman Catholics. Having arms iu their hands, they demanded the concession of rights and privileges which had long been denied them, with a haughtiness that pro- voked fierce indignation. The government was now compelled to listen and to yield, and the harshness of the penal laws for Ireland was much softened. There was a triumph gained, at the same time, for the Irish parliament, which had hitherto been allowed to discuss such matters only as the English government had already sanctioned. This was a most galling vassalage, and the right to exercise it was now formally renounced. But Protes- tant intolerance confined the conceded privileges to the Protestant gentry, for they alone were permitted to sit in parliament, and they never showed any desire to use their new powers for the benefit of the great body of the people by whose help they had gained them. § 27. The peace concluded in 1763, though necessaiy, was not popular, and Lord Shelbume was obliged to resign. By a shame- ful coalition with his old opponent Fox, Lord North again came into power in Apiil, 1783 ; but before the end of the year they were both dismissed by the king, and the premiership was given to "WiUiam Pitt, the second son of Lord Chatham,* who governed the country for eighteen years — a much longer period than any minister since Walpole. § 28. Though only twenty-four years of age when he took oflice, Pitt displayed consummate ability in dealing with a discontented people and an exhausted treasury. He at once set about reducing expenditures, abolishing needless pensions, and making treaties of commerce with the United States and other countries. He also attempted to effect a reform in parliament, but it was not then felt to be necessary, and his scheme was rejected, as was also a project for fortifications along the coast, to which he had been 546 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Pitt'B Administration. Democraoy in Prance. led by recoUections of the humiliation of 1779. »■ But though thus defeated, his influence was not shaken; and . § 16, p. 540. ^^^^^ .^ ^^gg^ .^ became necessary to prepare a Re- gency BiU, in consequence of the mental malady of the king, his propositions were prefeixed to those of the opposition. Tlie king's opportune recovery, however, put a stop to the matter. § 29. Under Pitt's care the army and navy attained to something of their former strength, and by shovsdng himself prepared for war he compelled the Spaniards to withdraw some groundless claims on a part of the west coast of America (California), which had been taken possession of by the celebrated navigator Captain Cook. As yeai-s passed on the steady increase of trade rendered taxation less burdensome, and a scheme was begun in 1786, under the name of. the Sinking Fund, which it was hoped would in time extinguish the national debt. This had ah-eady decreased £10,000,000 ($50,000,000) under his management; but an event soon occuiTed that baffled the calculations of all the statesmen of Europe— the breaking out of the French Revolution. § 30. The moral and material aid which France gave to the Americans for the purpose of injuring England, produced fruit quite the reverse of what the French court had anticipated. There was at that time an absolute despotism in France. The distress caused by the wars and extravagance of Louis the Fourteenth and Fifteenth was very great ; but no one ventured to complain of the taxes or the extraordinary privileges granted to the nobility and clergy. But when the French officers and soldiers returned from America, filled with republican ideas and aspirations for inde- pendence of thought and action which they had imbibed there, they began to question the right of a few to oppress the many. New ideas quickly pervaded the pulslic mind and stii-red the pub- „ „ Uc heart. In this movement Lafayette '' was con- ■ " § 20, p. 642. . TV 4=..,, 1 spicuous. Very soon the rumblings oi the volcanc of passion in the bosom of society were heard on every hand. Legi,slators assumed to be responsible to the people, and the Par- liament of Paris, which for hundi'eds of years had been a mere court for registering royal edicts, now [a.d. 1787] refused to do so, and in consequence the new and grievous taxes which the war had rendered necessary could not be levied. § 31. To remedy this the States-General, a body that had not met for nearly two hundred years, was called together ; and it, like the CnAPTEE m.] TEE HOTJSB OF BRUNSWICK. 547 Tlie French Eevohition. Prencli Egotism. English Revolutionists. Long Parliament," soon took all power into its own liands. In a short time the king (Louis the Sixteenth) was in reality a prisoner in his palace, and the representa- tives of the people proceeded to make society as level as possible. The state prison of the Bastille, which carried in its history the i(3eal of a tyrannical despotism, was assailed and finally pulled down. The privileges of the nobility and clergy were abolished, and the church property was seized. Instead of assisting to meet the storm, the king's brothers and many of his nobles had fled across the frontier, and were trying to induce foreign sovereigns to take up their cause and restore the former order of things. Under Pitt's guidance England kept aloof ; but the Emperor of Austria (who was the brother of Marie Ajitoinette, the queen of France) and the King of Prussia entered into a treaty for the pur- pose at Pilnitz, in 1791. The treaty became known, and brought matters to a crisis in France. In the war that at once followed the French forces were at first unsuccessful. This, by Robespierre and other self-chosen leaders of the Paris mob, was declared to be owing to treachery, and the most frightful massacres of imprisoned nobles and priests followed. The unfortunate king, who had in vain accepted constitution after constitution as it was offered to him, was now deposed, and a republic established. He was soon afterward tried on charges of inviting foreigners to invade Prance, and beheaded. That was in 1793. His queen soon met the same fate. The English ambassador had been already with- drawn, and the Convention (such was the name taken by the new rulers of France) now proclaimed war with England. § 33. Even before this the Convention had in reality declared war with all existip.g governments, by voting that they would give assistance to every nation that wished to "recover its liberty." This invitation to rebellion was not much regarded on the Conti- nent, but there was a democratic party in Eijgland who had sym- pathized with the French from the very first, and who now showed such unmistakable disaffection that severe measures wei-e resort- ed to by the government to restrain them. They were restrained, but not without danger to the peace of the country, for at one time revolution seemed imminent, and England, instead of beiug the prey of the revoltitionary party in France, proved their firm- est opponent. § 33. On the breaking out of the war, English troops were sent 548 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. England and France at War. Bonaparte's Scheme of Conquest. to Flanders, where for two campaigns they contended stubbornly but unsuccessfully against the overwhelming numbers of the French, and were then withdrawn, to be employed against the colonies of the enemy. Pondicherry, the Cape of Good Hope, Trinidad, and many places of minor importance fell into their liands. In Europe the war on land was little else than a series of tiiumphs for the French, who, in the course of the nine years that it lasted [a.d. 1793-1802], overran Holland, Germany, and Italy, overthrew the King of Naples and the Pope, made war on the Turks, and forced the Northern powers and Spain into hostilities with England, from which they suffered severely. § 34. Several private men cai'ved their way to fame and fortune in these campaigns, but no one was so successful in this as Napo- leon Bonaparte, a young Corsican adventurer, who was ever as ready to fight against the people as for them, if his interest could be thereby served. His pre-eminent ability as a soldier roused the jealousy of the Dhectory, the foim the government had then as- sumed ; but they dared not attempt to suppress him. Therefore, in pui-suance of a scheme for Eastern conquest, which, in his ambi- tion to become a second Alexander, he had conceived, he was sent to Egypt, where he made great slaughter of the undisciplined Turks and Mamelukes, and thence marched into Syria, where he sustained his first reverse [a.d. 1799] before the walls of St. Jean d'Acre (famous in the days of the Crusades)" " § 13, p. 149. ^ •' ' from Sir Sidney Smith, an English naval offlcor, at the head of a few British seamen and marines. Though the French, from the destruction of their navy, could not reach India, they induced Tippoo Saib, the son of Hyder Ali,'' to take up arms, by the promise of aid that was never sent ; but that prince was defeated and killed at Seringapatam, and his dominions were divided among other native princes who had refused to listeq^to the French emissaries. § 35. The successes of the French republicans were balanced by several terrible defeats received from England, at sea, by them and their allies. Lord Howe gained a famous victory over the French fleet on the 1st of June, 1794; Sir- Jolm Jei-vis defeated the Spaniards ofe Cape St. Vincent, and Admii-al Duncan the Dutch at Camperdown, both in the year 1797— a year also mem- orable for a mutiny in the English fleet at the Nore, which sub- sided on the redress of some real grievances of which the sailors Chapter in.] THE HOUSE OP BRXINSWICK. 549 The Eepublic ovei*tlirown. Insurrection in Ireland. Pitt resigns. had to complain. In 1798, Sir Horatio Nelson, by the destruc- tion of a powerful navy near the Nile, reduced the French ^rmy that had invaded Egypt virtually to the condition of prisoners, though their general, Bonaparte, contrived to escape some time after, and, returning to France, overthrew the Direc- tory," and placed himself at the head of affairs, with ' ' ■ • the title of First Consul. Though still engaged in war, he put an end to the anarchy that had so long prevailed in France ; and when he had apparently established a settled government, Eng- land made peace with him, recognizing the French republic [a.d. 1802], but still liberally supporting the thousands of emigrants who had fled to her shores on its establishment. § 36. Duiing several years of the war the French had threatened the invasion of England, but they never attempted it, and if they had, there is no reason for supposing that they would have met with many partisans in that ■ country. But the case was different in Ireland, where their coming was eagerly looked for by many who had imbibed republican principles. There was a stronger bond of unity between the French and the Irish, in theii' religious agreement, both being Roman Catholic, which had been intensi- fied by Protestant intolerance and oppression. But the English navy either captured or dispersed more than one expedition sent with men and money to Ireland. In spite of this, a revolutionary body, styling themselves "United Irishmen," began an insurrection in that country in the spring of the year 1798, which soon spread over the whole island, and was not suppressed without a lament- able amount of bloodshed. This, after a time, led to the union of Great Britain and Ireland, in 1801, which was the last conspi- cuous event of Pitt's administration. He had been obliged to promise the Protestant Dublin parliament great concessions, or the measure would never have been accomplished. He also wished to conciliate the Romanists, and, hoping for liberality among his peers equal to his own, he had led them to believe that the Impe- rial Parliament would treat them more favorably than the Irish one had done. He found himself deceived in this, and with a sense of honor not always shown by statesmen, he resigned office, much against the vvill of the king. He was succeeded by Mr. Ad- dington, who had long been Speaker of the House of Commons, and who concluded the famous peace of Amiens, on the 27th of March, 1802, which seemed to promise a peimanent peace in Bu- 550 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. A Delusive Peace. Napoleon threatens England. Pitt recalled to office, rope. Then Englishmen, who had been so long excluded from the Continent, flocked across the Channel. At the beginning of June full 6,000 British subjects were in Paris. Fox and. other English statesmen attended Bonaparte's levees, and the excess of friendship exhibited became ridiculous.' But this was only a truce, and the war broke out again in 1803. § 37. The British national debt had now risen to alarming di- mensions ; and to lessen the burden of taxation the new minister greatly reduced the army and navy. The First Consul, eagerly watching for an opportunity to break the truce, was now styled the Emperor Napoleon. He seemed in earnest in his threats of invasion of England. A large army was encamped ° ' ' at Boulogne," and apparently only waited for the French and Spanish fleets to unite in the British Channel for the attempt to be made. Again the navy frustrated the plan. The combined fleets were defeate'd at Trafalgar by Lord Nelson, who fell in the action [a.d. 1805] ; and to the end of the war the French ports were so closely blockaded that all thoughts of invasion be- came idle, particularly as 400,000 volunteei's had appeared in an- swer to the threat, and some part of Pitt's plan of fortification had been carried out.'' This volunteer force allowed British troops tp be sent on the Continent in much larger numbers than had ever been done before. § 38. jMr. Pitt, when he came again into power, had induced Austria and Russia to take up arms against France, but they were defeated at Austerlitz [Dec. 3, 1805], and his own death fol- lowed quickly on the receipt of the news. A coalition ministry succeeded him, to which its opponents gave, in derision, the name of "All the Talents." Several expeditions that he had sent out were unsuccessful, though the Cape of Good Hope was again captured, and General Stuart, with a force from Sicily, gained a 1 Gllray, the eminent caricaturist, ridiculed this in a print representing a lean man (France) embracing and kissing a very fat woman (England). It was entitled "The First Kiss this Ten Years." The Frenchman says ; "Madame, pcrmittez me to pay my profound esteem to your engaging person, and to seal on your divine lips my everlast- ing attachment." The fat Englishwoman replies: "Iilonsieur, you are truly a well- bred gentleman ; and though you make me blush, yet yon kiss so delicately that I cannot refuse you, though I was sure you would deceive me again." On the wall just behind there were framed profiles of King George and Bonaparbe scowling at each other. 2 The Iloya.l Military Canal, and the Martello Towers on the Kent and Sussex con.st'^ were consLrncLed at Lliis time. Chaptek ni.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 551 Abolition of tte Slave-Trade. Seiziire of the Danisli Fleet. decided victory over the French at Maida in 1806. Fox, Pitt's old opponent, though not nominally the premier, was the leading man. He had ever expressed great regard for the French nation, and for Bonaparte in particular ; and he now opened negotiations for peace, but they were broken off by his death. The formal abolition of the slave-trade was the act of the ministry of the " Talents," tliough slavery itself endured nearly thirty years longer in the British possessions. The Duke of Portland next became premier [a.d. 1 807], and a vigorous prosecution of the war- was resolved on. § 39. The first blow was struck in an unexpected quarter. Na- poleon had defeated both the Prussians and the Russians, but he felt the want of a fleet, as his own was shut up in lus harbors, and was hardly safe there. A secret treaty was therefore made, by which the rulers of Russia and Prussia agreed to compel the Danes to place then- really powerful fleet at his disposal. The English ministry, on learning this, sent an expedition to Copenhagen, which offered to take charge of the Danish ships, so as to preserve them from the hands of the French, with the promise of restoring them at the end of the war. The Danes, who had had their fleet destroyed by Nelson a few years before [a.d. 1801], would not trust the English, believing they would suffer the fate of the lamb that put itself under the protection of tlie wolf. The consequence was, their capital was besieged [a.d. 1807] and taken, and their navy seized and taken to England to keep it out of the hands of Napoleon. This outrage was strongly condemned by every right- minded pei-son. § 40. The Danish, Dutch, and French colonies were next assailed by the English, and soon subdued, the most important conquest being the island of Java, which was accomplished by an expedi- tion from India, where the British power was now firmly estab- lished. This had been in a great part the work of Sir Arthur "WeUesley (afterward the great Duke of Wellington), a young general who had gained the battles of Assaye and Argaum in 1803, and who was now about to undertake a still more arduous task in Em-ope. § 41. Napoleon was now wielding jjower with a high hand. He had by this time not only made himself Emperor of the French and King of Italy and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, but had given thrones to three o£ his Iwothers, and dukedoms and 5ti2 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book X. Kapoleon's Power in Spain. The English in Spain. Wellington Victorious, principalities in conquered countries to his generals and marshals. He now turned his eyes on Spain and Portugal, and resolved to add those countries also to his empire. He had taken advantage of dissensions in the Spanish com-t to get the royal family into his IDOwer, when he at once sent a large army into Spain, and bestowed the crown on his brother Joseph. At the same time his troops marched into Portugal, and the royal family there also forsook the country and took refuge in Brazil, one of its colonial posses- sions. But, though thus abandoned by their rulers, neither the Spaniards nor the Portuguese were inclined to submit to the French. They made application to England, where popular feel- ing ran strongly in their favor, and it was determined to send them help. Thus the famous Peninsular war began, in 1808. § 42. The first effioi-ts made were but partially successful. In August, 1808, Sir Arthur Wellesley landed in Portugal, and de- feated the Frencli at Vimeira ; and soon afterward Sir John Moore advanced into Sj^ain, but not being joined by the Spaniards, as had been expected, he was obliged to retreat, and though he gained a victory at Corunna, he was killed in the action, and his troops returned to England. In 1809, Sir Arthur advanced into Spain, and gained the battle of Talavera ; but the French had three armies in the country, each more numerous than his own, and he was obliged to remain on the defensive whilst they scattered the many ill-disciplined bodies of Spaniards. § 43. In 1810, the French, led by one of their most renowned captains, Massena, advanced in overwhelming force against Sir Arthur (now Lord Wellington since the battle of Talavera), when he retired slowly before them into the strong lines of Torres Vedras, near Lisbon, which they dared not attack. In 1811 he issued forth, defeating the French at Fuentes-d'Onore, and thence- forth he never returned to Portugal, nor ceased his victorious march towards France. This occupied a period of three years, in which he gained the great battles of Salamanca, Yittoria, Orthez, and Toulouse, besides victoriously sustaining a desperate six days' combat among the Pyrenees, and capturing Ciudad Rodiigo, Pampeluna, St. Sebastian, and numerous other strong places. Under Lord Wellington's command the Spaniards and Portuguese fought bravely beside the British, and the whole formed an army with which, as he himself said, " he could go anywhere, and do anything." Nothing could r iiSst their steady Chapteu in.] THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK. 553 Progress of the War. King Insane. Begent. Impressments. marcli, and before the close of the year 1813 they stood triumphant on the "sacred soil of France.'' § 44. During the progress of the Peninsular war many events of importance had occurred that demand notice. In 1809 a pow- erful expedition was sent against Walcheren, in the expectation that the Dutch would rise against their French masters ; but it faUed to effect anything of consequence, and the loss of life from sickness was very great. Soon after this the Duke of Portland died, and was succeeded as premier by Spencer Perceval, who fol- lowed his warlike policy, iu spite of much murmuring from the opposition. In 1810 the king became hopelessly in- sane," and henceforth passed his life in retu'ement. His eldest son, George, a profligate and an unprincipled man, nearly fifty years bf age, now administered the government as Regent, to which office he was appointed on the 5th day of Feb- ruary, 1811. He had long lived on bad terms with his father, and it was expected that he would choose his ministers from the Whig party ; but owing to dissensions among them he did not do so. Mr. Perceval was assassinated in 1812 by a man named Belling- liam, who conceived that he had a grievance against the govern- ment, when an attempt was again made to form a Whig minis- try. It did not succeed, and Lord Liverpool, a well-known diplomatist, became premier, and held the post for many years. S 45. From the veiT beginning of the French Rev- J & & 1) § .31, p. 546. olution' there had been disputes between England and the few powers that remained neutral, because of the haughty pretensions and practices of the former as the alleged " Mistress of the Seas.'' Under government sanction the commanders of her ships of war claimed and exercised the right of searching the ships of neutrals, not only for enemies' goods, but for English sailors, who, when found, were carried off to serve in the royal navy. The theory of the British government was that no subject could ex- patriate himself, and could be claimed as a subject wherever found. Upon this plea they seized and impressed English seamen in other service into that of the royal navy, and often took many who were not English. § 46. As the war went on the only neutrals left were the Ameri- cans, whose carrying trade became large and profitable. It was continually interfered with by British cruisers, who took scores of men from American merchant ships under pretence that they were 24 554: HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. English Aggressions. Americans retaliate. Indians incited to War. English deserters. The ijractice caused great irritation in the United States, and the government sent out men-of-war to protect the merchantmen. A crisis soon came. A British ship of war fired upon and forcibly searched [June 32, 1807] the American frigate GJiesapeale.e, off the coast of Virginia, and canied away four seamen claimed to be English subjects and deserters. It was afterwards proven that three of the four were Americans. The outrage aroused the nation, and the President issued a proclama- tion [July, 1807] ordering all British anned vessels to leave the waters of the United States immediately, and forbidding any to enter them until full satisfaction for the insult should be made. This was tardily givfen by a declaration, more than four years afterwai'd, that the act was unauthorized by the British government. § 47. Meanwhile the British and French governments, like des- pe]-ate gamesters, played with the world's commerce, peace, and prosperity, in efforts to injure each other. By British " Orders in Council," and Napoleon's "Decrees," ports were declared block- aded, commerce was broken up, and the shipping business of the Americans was reduced to a coast trade. The government adopted » -.o eoo the retaliatory measure of non-intercourse " as a means for obtaming just action on the part of the belliger- ents, and at times it seemed to be effectual. But both legislation and diplomacy failed, and the British continued to search Ameri- can vessels, and impress seamen found on board of them into the royal service. Intense irritation was the consequence, and a hot war spirit spread over the land. It .was kept in abeyance, how- ever, to the dictates of prudence, until, in the year 1811, it was found that British emissaries, under tlie sanction of British colo- nial officers in Canada, and the interest of British fur-traders, were exciting the Indians of the Northwest against the American settle- ments beyond the Ohio river. A confederation of Indian tribes, for the purpose of extgrmiuating these frontier settlers, was !i-fo7'ming when it was effectually broken up by the prompt action of the Governor of the Indian Territory, General Harrison. He v,as informed of a gathering of hostile Indians near the Tippe- canoe creek, and marched a small force to the neighborhood. The Indians attacked him [Nov. 6, 1811], when he defeated, dispersed, and punished them. This state of things caused an immense pres- sure upon the government in favor of war, from the West and Chapter in.] THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK. 555 War against England declared. Invasion of Canada. War on Land and Water. Soutli, but the people of Now England opposed tlie fiery zeal that sought to plunge the nation into war. The goTernmcnt yielded, however, and fornnally declared war against Great Britain on the 19th of June, 1813. § 48. The first step taken by the Americans was as unwise as it was disastrous. They invaded Canada on its western border, led by General B[ull, where they were met, diiven back, and the whole army was captured by British regulars and descendants of the " TJ. E. Loyalists," " under General Brock, on the 16th « § 24, p. 544. of August, 1813. Another attemijt to invade Canada on the Niagara frontier, in October following, was unsuccessful and almost as disastrous. The little American navy, meanwhile, had been winning honors and respect by several important victo- ries on the ocean. § 49. In the year 1813, nearly the whole northern fi-outier along the lakes, from Detroit to Ogdensburg, on. the St. Lawrence, became a theatre of hostilities, with varying fortunes for each party. Tlie young men in the great vaUeys beyond the Alleghany mountains flocked to the standards of local leaders in great numbers, resolved to win back what Hull had lost. There were stirring movements in the Northwest all summer, and early in the autumn the whole country was thrilled with joy because of a victory won [Sept. 10, 1813] on Lake Erie, by a squadron under Commodore Perry, over a squadi'on under Commodore Barclay. Tliis se"emed to atone for the disasters experienced by the Americans at Frenchtown, a few months before. The victory was followed by another on the river Thames, in Canada, won by Hamson " over British „ ,_ ) .; i> § 47, p. 554. and Indians under Proctor and Tecumtha, when all „ ,„ " 5 4e, p. 555. that Hull had lost « was recovered. Late in the year a force under General Wilkinson went down the St. Lawrence in boats, intending -to attack Montreal.'' The expedi- tion was unsuccessful, and, after an indecisive battle on the Canada side of the St. Lawrence [Nov. 11, 1813], the American army went into winter quarters in Noi-thern New York. Meanwhile General Jackson was carrying on a successful war against the Creek Indians in Alabama, who were allies of the British, which resulted in their utter prostration in the spring of 1814. § 50. During 1813, the American navy and privateers were very active. The British gained an important victory on the Ist of 556 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book X. WellingLon'B Veterans in America. Battle of New Orleans. Peace. Jime, by the capture of the Ghisapeahe; they also destroyed Amer- ican shipping in the Delaware, and ravaged the coasts of Chesa- peake Bay and Virginia, from Havre de Grace, at the mouth of the Susquehanna Kiver, to Hampton Roads, at the mouth of the James. They wore repulsed in an attempt to seize Norfolk. § 51. The career of Napoleon having been checked by the Ailied Powers in Europe, at the beginning of 1814, the British were enabled to send many of Wellington's » veterans 'to America in the spring of that year. Severe bat- tles were fought on the Niagara frontier in the summer, with not verji decisive results ; and early in the autumn Sir G-eorge Prevost advanced from Canada to attack the land and naval forces of the Americans on and in the vicinity of Lake Champlain. A very severe battle was fought at Plattsburgh, by both arms of the ser- vice, on the 11th of September, 1813, where the British were re- pulsed and driven back to Canada. In the mean time a British force under General Ross invaded Maryland, burnt the city of Washington [Aug. 24], the capital of the United States, after a battle four miles from the city, and in September attempted to capture Baltimore. Then the British were repulsed [Sept. 14], and Ross was killed. Their shipping had, during the whole season, greatly harassed the seaports of New England, and in August bombarded Stonington, on Long Island Sound. They were repuls- ed [Aug. 12, 1814], and left the waters. § 52. In the autumn of 1814, General Jackson'' was busy in the „ „ _ defence of the region of the Gulf of Mexico ; and in ^ % 49, p. 555. November he was called to New Orleans, then threat- ened by a force of British veterans; He collected troops there as rapidly as possible, and with about three thousand men he fought and defeated a much larger number under General Pakenham (who was kUlcd), a short distance below New Oilcans, on the 8th of January, 1815. Before this battle, commissioners to treat for peace had finished a successful negotiation at Ghent [Dec. 34, cr, „„Q 1814], in Belgium," the news of which reached Amer- ica early m February, when hostilities ceased. This contest with Great Britain has ever been regarded liy the Americans as their second war for independence, inasmuch as it established the character of the government and people for power in diplo- macy and war, developed its multifarious resom-ces, and gave the republic a high rank in the family of nations. Chaptek III.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 557 War for the Bourbons. Napoleon's Successes, Reverses, and Fall. • § 53. The war .of the Allies "with France had been originally undertaken for the restoration of the Bourbons, and the members of that family had found shelter first ' with one continental State and then with another, but they had now for many years been collected in England. In the course of the war opinion changed greatly as to the propriety of foreigners forcing rulers on an unwilling people, and had Napoleon put any limit to his ambition, and liis hatred to England as the chief obsta- cle in his way to universal empire, the Bourbons would probably have been abandoned for the sake of peace. Most of the con- tinental powers were certainly willing to do so, and England, which erroneously attributed the loss of her American colonies mainly to help given by France, had no reason to continue the war merely for the sake of the Bom'bons, though her hospitality to them was afforded as freely as ever. But Napoleon's career of wonderful success seems to have disordered his understanding, and he obstinately courted his own ruin. His success against the Austrians in 1809 had enabled him to send those vast annies into Spain that reduced Wellington to the defensive ; *■ but ° i" § 42, p. 562. they were almost destroyed in the course of the two following years ; and when he should have replaced them [a.d. 1813] he failed to do so, and thus really abandoned the contest. This was because he now chose to engage in a war with Russia, hitherto his ally, which demanded all his strength. It failed miserably, with greater loss of life than any expedition of modem times. § 54. This disaster raised all Germany against Napoleon, and though he fought desperately he was driven out of the country in 1813. Early in the following year, with Wellington in the south of France, and Russians, Prussians, and Austrians in possession of Paris, he was obliged to abdicate, and then, as the French people seemed to desire it, the Bourbons were restored by the victors. At the instance of Alexander of Russia, the dethroned ruler was allowed to retain the imperial title, and was sent to reside at Elba, a. smaR island on the Italian coast, with liberty -to keep a miniature army and navy. The English Mnisters reluctantly consented to this arrangement to please their powerful ally, and its folly was soon apparent. § 55. Napoleon was very restless in his little dominion, and in the ijpring of 1815 he landed in Prance, and was rapturously re- 568 HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. [Book X. Battle ol "Waterloo. A long Peace. National Debt and Disoontente. ceived by his old anny, "wMcli took upon itself to decide the fate of the country. The Bourbons withdrew without a struggle, and he marched into Flanders, saying: "I go to measure myself against Wellington." The battle of Waterloo soon took place [June 18, 1815], when he was totally defeated. He then at- tempted to escape to America ; but, failing in this, he surrendered to England, and was sent to St. Helena, an island of the South Atlantic Ocean, where he died in the year 1821. On the 20th of November, 1815, a definite treaty of peace between France and the AUied Powers was signed. The world was then at peace, and England enjoyed that luxury for thii-ty years aftei-ward. § 56. Much as peace was desired, and gi-eat as had been the re- joicings when the allied sovereigns and their most distinguished generals visited England in 1814, after the fall of Paris, its return was attended with deep discontent among the people ; for almost all the conquests of the war were restored, and the nation found itself burdened with a debt that was enormous. It was then the frightful sum of £865,000,000, or $4,325,000,000, or over 1,000,000 more than it is now." Want of labor ' ' ' during the long war had caused machinery of evei-y kind to be invented ; and when thousands of soldiers and sailors were discharged there was no employment for them. There was also great distress from the high price of food, caused, in a great degi-ee, by the oppressive corn-laws, which resti-icted the impor- tation of grain so as to protect the interests of the few gi'eat land- holders and the master agriculturists. When, in 1815, an act - was passed which prohibited foreign wheat from being brought into England until the famine price of eighty shillings a quarter should be reached, the people could endure the jji-essure no longer, and serious riots ensued, in which lives were lost. Want of em- ployment often disposed the laboring classes to listen eagerly to evil advisers ; but there were patriotic and benevolent men who saw and felt the folly and injustice of legislation for the benefit of the few to the injury of the many, who stirred the hearts of the people with righteous indignation. The government and the aristocracy became* alanned, and some extremely severe laws against public meetings and so-called seditious publications were passed.' 1 One of the moat noted agitators of that period was William Cobbett, who published a vigorous opposition periodical called '' The Political Register." He had been a Chapter III.] THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK. 559 Reforms demanded. Bevolutionary movement^. Death of tlie King. § 57. But the distress continued, especially in the manufactur- ing districts of Lancashire and Yorkslui-e, and riots for the pur- pose of destroying machinery became frequent. London, too, had its Spaflelds riot in 1816,' and the unpopularity of the gov- ernment was shown by the joy evinced at the acquittal of several persons tried for treason or sedition. The question of reform in parliament, which had lain dormant so many years after its abandonment by Pitt," was now revived by ° ' *" ' § 18 p 464 the Whigs ; " but there were others whom this would not satisfy. They became known as Eadicals, as they demanded a " radical reform " in everything. They held public meetings, which were attended by immense numbers of persons, where some of the more zealous ones displayed the red cap of the French re- publicans. Many practised drill and military manoeuvres, as if for an appeal to arms, the discharged soldiers proving willing in- structors. Royal proclamations were disregarded, and at last a very large meeting at Manchester, in 1819, was dispersed by force, and Hem-y Hunt, a popular orator, was arrested and imprisoned. But these harsh measures did not quiet the agitation. They deepened the discontent. Disaffection remained, and the whole country was at one time about ready to blaze out into insurrec- tion. Some Scotch weavers appeared in arms near Glasgow, and a few desjjerate men headed by Arthur TMstlewood, once a militia officer, planned a massacre of the whole of the cabinet ministers at a dinner in February, 1830. This, which is known as the Cato- street conspiracy, was disclosed just in time, by one of the mem- bers, to prevent the crime, and five of the plotters were executed. Several more, on pleading guilty, were transported. § 58. A little while before the discovery of this plot, George the Thii-d died. That event occurred at "Windsor, on the evening of Saturday, the 29th of January, 1820, when he was in the eiglity- second year of his age, and the sixtieth of his reign. He married, in 1761, the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, by whom resident in the United States many years before, where he was a most abusive political writer. He had suffered severe punishments for libel after his return to EngLind, and now, alarmed at the new acts, he fled to America, leaving some of his disciples to suiler. 1 More than 30,000 persons assembled in Spaficlds to vote an address to the Prince Ke£rent " from the distressed manufacturers, on the 15th of November, ^ 1816. Another meeting was held on the 2d of December following, and terminated in a serious riot. 560 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Character of George the Third. AcoesBion ot George the Poiirth. His Queen. he had nine sons and six daughters. She was a very exemplary woman, and died only a few weeks sooner than her husband [November 17, 1819], in the seventy-fifth year of her age. The kiag had been in seclusion about ten years, on account of his in- sanity. He had, while in possession of his faculties, been always sincerely desirous of the welfare of his subjects, but was too often surrounded by unwise or incompetent counsellors. Himself incapable of perceiving the vast changes that were going on, his mind continued fixed in the principles in which he had been edu- cated, and his people, who were borne forward on the current of events, regarded him as narrow-minded, while satisfied that he meant to do right. In private ILEe he was most exemplary, and his homely familiarity and accessibility endeared him to the peo- ple, who regarded him with sincere affection, and called him " the good king." CHAPTER IV. Reign of Gbokge the Fotirth. [a.d. 1820 to 1830.] § 1. A BAB man ascended the throne of England on the death of George the Third. It was his son -George, then fifty-eight years of age, who was proclaimed king on the 31st of January, 1820, as George the Fourth. He had from his early years led a reckless and discreditable life ; had had large debts paid for Mm by the nation ; and had forsaken his vpif e (his cousin Caroline of Bruns- wick, whom he married in 1795) after living with her only a single year. He found his chief associates among the Whig party ; but when he became Regent [a.d. 1811] he did not change the ministry, and the " Prince's friends," as they styled themselves, remained in opposition. When he became king they made their opposition bitterly felt by taking up the cause of his discarded wife, frota whom he sought to be divorced. § 2. That princess had been abroad ever since the peace, and the king could not reconcile himself to her returning as queen. He . § 16 p 81.5 ^^^ '^° ^°'^' *°*^ ^ ^^^ "^^^ *° imitate Henry the Eighth under similar cu'cumstances," and marry afain. But parliaments in modern days are not as compliant as under Chapteb IV.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 561 Trial of the Queen, The King and Parliament'. Ministerial changes. the Tudors, and Lord Liverpool incurred the king's displeasure by maintaining that the measui'e would never be agreed to. Large offers were made to the queen to induce her at least to remain on the Continent ; but this she refused to do, and came to England. To then- discredit, the ministry, rather than resign office, now attempted to caiTy out the king's views, and she was in reality put upon her trial before the House of Peers, a Bill of Pains and Penal- ties intended to dissolve her marriage being introduced against her in August, 1830. § 3. During that trial the excitement throughout the country was intense. The popular sympathy was all with the queen. The divorce was so vehemently opposed that the ministry were obliged to abandon the scheme, and the king became so much more un- popular than before that he seldom aftei-ward appeared in public in England. He keenly felt the public rejoicing on account of the queen's triumph. His coronation, though splendid beyond example, "nws but slightly attended from fear of popular tumult, and a very serious riot did occur at the funeral of the queen, who died very soon. after her claim to be crowned with him had been disallowed, and admission to Westminster Abbey on that occasion [July 19, 1831] refused to her. She expired on the 7th of August following, a 'heart-broken woman. The king, who was universally detested by all good and thoughtful persons, afterwards visited Ireland, Hanover, and lastly Scotland [a..d. 1833], and met in each with a kind reception. § 4. The king had only started a single day on this last journey when a matter occurred that eventually led to a complete change in the policy of the empire. This was the suicide of the Marquis of Londonderry, the Foreign Secretary, a man who was considered by far the most energetic of the ministers, and the filling up of his office with George Canning, once the friend of the younger Pitt," but now the champion of what had come to be „ „„ known as Liberalism. § 5. The government in Spain, Portugal, and Italy had long been purely despotic ; but the intercourse with England that sprang up during the late war had caused its form of government to be approved by many of the leading men in those countries, though the body of the people took no concern" in the matter. Thus the Spanish Cortes framed a constitution during Ferdinand's absence in France, but on Ms return he set it aside as destructive of Ha 24* 562 HISTORY OF ENaLAND. [Book X. Eevohitionary Movements. Political Equality of Boman Catholics. just authorits. Early in 1820 a part of the army revolted, estab- lished the constitution, and reduced the Idng to a cipher. The example was speedily followed in Naples, in Portugal, and in Piedmont ; and at about the same time the Greeks took up arms against the Turks. To prevent the revolutionary example spread- ing still farther, the emperors of Austi-ia and Russia, and the kings of France and Prussia, came to an understanding, in donsequence of which the Austrians crushed the Italians, and the French re-es- tablished Ferdinand on the throne of Naples, and the Portuguese king abolished the new constitution. Russia had long been the foe of Turkey, and, in spite of Alexander's scruples about counte- nancing rebellion, it suited his policy to keep the Greek revolt alive. Many English, French, and Germans went to the assistance of the insurgents, though their governments did not as yet interfere, and food and clothing were sent to them from the United States of America. § 6. Whilst the Liberal cause was thus depressed on the Conjj- nent, Mr. Canning strove to promote it by acknowledging the independence of the revolted Sj)anish American colonies — Mexico, Peru, St cetera. He also, in conjunction with Mr. Iluskisson, began that change in the narrow commercial policy which has since repealed the corn-laws " and estaljlished free-trade. These matters he carried in spite of the reluctance of several of his colleagues, who loojced on him as encroaching upon the authority of the premier ;* but they were especially offended at his advocacy of the Roman Catholic claims to political equality in the State. This had for some years been an open question — that is, one that the Cabinet was not bound to be unanimous upon — and the difference of his views would have been passed over, but for the encouragement that his eloquent speeches gave to the " Catholic Association in Ireland," a body prasided over by Daniel 0' Council, an able and eloquent Irish lawyer, which from humbly petitioning, had now begim to hold menacing language. By Mr. Canning's influence a bill giving relief to Romanists was passed by the House of Commons but it was rejected by the Lords [a.d. 1825] ; and it was understood that not only the king, but his brother the Duke of York, who was the next heir to the throne, was firmly opposed to the principle. The duke, however, died soon afterward, and when the question was revived it was under widely different circumstances. Chapter IV.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 563 "War with the Biu-mese. Injurious Speculation. Change of Ministers. § 7. A new enemy to England had of late years appeared on the borders of its East Indian possessions." This was the Burmese, a warlike people beyond the Ganges, with ' whom some dispute about frontiers ripened into a war in 1824. After a two years' contest they were obliged to sue for peace ; and at just about the same time the reduction of Bhurtpoor, an Indian stronghold supposed to be invincible from having resisted several former attempts by the British, made a deep impression on many of the native princes.' The colonies that had been ^ " § 35, p. 530. taken from the French and Dutch had (with the ex- ception of the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, and the Mauritius) been restored, and the advocates of the new policy maintained that England gained more by trading with them than by possessing them. Their opponents denied this, but it was allowed that from the time that Mr. Huskisson came into office [a.d. 1823], the re- vival of trade and commerce had been very great, and in propor- tion as the workmen obtained employment so did their manifested discontents decrease. But this did not last long. In 1 825 a mania for speculation arose, and the consequences were ahnost as dis- astrous as those of the South-Sea scheme a century before." Banks failed, establishments were closed, and the starving workmen were ready for any desperate course. § 8. In 1826, a constitution being again established in Portugal,'' British troops were sent to protect that country from a threatened attack by Spain, a step which Mr. Can- ning's colleagues resented, as if he had acted too much on his own authority. Before they could come to a, good understanding the Earl of Liverpool, the premier, was struck down by paralysis [a.d. 1827], when, to the surprise of every one, the king bestowed the post on Mr. Canning, who had long been personally obnoxious to him as a partisan of his queen." The Duke of Wel- lington,' Lord Eldon, Mr. Peel, and four other cabi- ' net ministers, however, absolutely refused to serve with him, and he could only fill their posts with members of the Wliig party, though on the question of parliamentary reform he differed enth'ely from them. He had long been in feeble health, and he died in less than four months after taking office, and with- out having carried a single measure. A kind, of provisional ad- ministration followed for a few months, of which Lord Goderich was premier [Aug. 1827 to Jan. 1828]. 564 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X; Greek Insurrection. Agitations in Ireland. Eesignation ol the Ministry. § 9. The Greek insuiTection had now continued for some years, and was attended by great cruelties on both sides. Tlie Turks at length summoned Mehemet AM, the Pasha of Egypt, to their aid, and he sent a fleet and army to the Morea, with the thi'eat that he would carry off the inhabitants as slaves, and colonize the country afresh with his negro soldiery. So hideous a proposal roused the indignation of Europe, and England, France, and Russia sent their ships to prevent its realization. The I'urkish and Egyptian fleet lay in the harbor of ISTavarino, where it was attacked and de- stroyed on the 20th of October, 1837. The news of the victory was at first very welcome in England, but it soon began to be seen that it was unwise to weaken the Turks too much, and thus ad- vance the designs of Russia, and the ministry became so unpopular that they were obliged to retii-e. The Duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel became the heads of the govei-nment [Jan. 1828], and im- portant events speedily followed. § 10. The agitation in Ireland for the political eniancipation of the Roman Catholics had never ceased, and O'Oomiell, its leader, had now entered upon a new mode of action. He took ad- vantage of an election in the west of Ireland, and though legally ineligible, easily procured himself to be chosen a member of the House of Commons. As he knew would be the case, he was re- fused a seat. This was represented as a fresh outrage on Ireland, and the agitation grew fiercer than ever. The " Catholic Associa- tion" continued to meet, in open defiance of the law, and on the other hand the Protestants foraied Brunswick Clubs, and made a parade of their hostility. The Duke of Wellington now saw that there was no choice but concession of the Roman Catholic claims or civil war — and " knowing," as he said, " what war really was," he preferred the foi-mer. Lord John Russell, at the head of the Whig party, had recently procured the repeal of some acts of the time of Charles the Second, dii'ected against Protestant dissent- V 1 n .,»., SI'S ° ■which had survived the Revolution, and the Duke = ^ 19, p. 477. , . ^ ^ ' justly considered the great majority of the Irish peo- ple (his counti-ymen) at least as much entitled to consideration. § 11. The king in general took no concern in politics, but, like his father, he thought that his coronation oath forbade the con- cession asked for by the Roman Catholics, and his ministora had great difficulty to gain his consent to what was known as " Catholic Emancipation." The measure was brought forward in 1829 and .Chaptbr v.] the house OF BRUNSWICK 565 Death and Character of George the Fourth. Religious Freedom. passed mainly by the votes of tlie Whigs ; but both the Duke and Mr. Peel forfeited, for a time, the confidence of the party with ■which they had hitherto acted. Mr. Peel was deprived of the honor of representing the University of Oxford, and the Duke had to fight a duel with the Earl of Winchelsea, foi-merly one of his firmest supporters. In the midst of the confusion that ensued, the king, who had long been an invalid, as a consequence of his self- indulgence, became suddenly worse, and died on the morning of the 36th of June, 1830, from the immediate effects of the rupture of a blood-vessel of the stomach. He was then in the 68th yeai- of his age. He left the throne to his brother William, the Duke of Clarence, his only child, the Princess Charlotte, having died in 1817. § 13. Gteorge the Fourth was a man of good natural abilities, but he too seldom exerted them for the benefit of his peojale. He possessed literary and musical tastes ; was of a handsome and dig- nified presence ; and was by his admirers styled " the fii-st gentle- man in Europe," from the courtesy of his manner. But he alway.'i seemed reluctant to appear in public, and he resembled Charles the Second only in the worst parts of that monarch's character. He gave himself up to the guidance of worthless favorites ; and he usually let his ministers manage affairs as they chose, so long as they supplied him with ample means for self-indulgenfce and idle pageantry, and forbore to trouble him to do more than agree to their proposals. CHAPTER V. Society dubing the Bbigns of the Four Georges. § 1. Rbligiotjs freedom among Protestants steadily gained victo- ries, small but important. The Toleration Act," about * § 1, p. 408. to be repealed when Queen Anne died, was soon after- ward somewhat extended. But the Roman Catholics, exempted from its privileges, felt no diminution of the effects of the ban under which they were laid. The first par- ' liament of George the First, after the Jacobite '' rebellion in 1715, 566 HISTORY OF ENGLAOT). [Book X. Bigotiy suppresscfl by fi-ee Discussion. Schism in the Church, passed an act containing many hard words and a loud boast of gov- eniment clemency, requiring every " papist of tlie age of twenty-ono years to register his name and estates, with the yearly rent thereof," the object being, apparently, to subject them to separate taxation. But the indignation caused by that rebellion, as well as the Jaco- bite insurrection in 1745 " soon cooled, and no extra- " ^ ^^' ^' ^^' ordinary burdens were laid upon the Bomanists. At- tempts were made to moderate the harsh laws against them, and also to allow Jews to become natm-aUzed without taking the sa- crament ; but bigotry prevailed over Christian forbearance, and the High Church " mfluence which caused Def be, the author of iJo%- inson Crusoe, to be fined and imprisoned in 1706 for publishing his able poem. Jure Dwino, would allow no toleration which might interfere with theu- power. It was the usual exercise of the ty- ranny of Slight over Right. § 2. But reason left free, discussion soon wrought great changes in opinion, and there were two remarkable secessions fi'om the es- tablished church. The fii-st occm-red in Scotland, where an inde- pendent organization, known as the Associate Presbytery, was formed, and which, in 1743, renewed the Scottish ' National Covenant, and also the Solemn League and Covenant.'' § 3. Almost simultaneously with this Scotch schism the Metho- dists appeared. John Wesley, a young graduate of Oxford, and just ordained a minister in the Church of England, was the founder of a sect so called. They held meetings in the open air and ether " unconsecratcd places," and were persecuted by the church. George Wliitefield, another young preacher, joined them. A separate organization was formed, distinct, but not opposed to the established church. The P-Jiciety rapidly spread, especially in America, where it is now the most numerous of the Christian sects. There were other and less prominent secessions. In the church the leaven of Christian liberality was at work, which vastly modified its character. The High Churchman of the middle of the eigh- teenth century was but a lunar reflection of the churcliman uf the 1 The distinction of High and Low Church began, in name, in the reign of Queen Anne. The friends of Dr. SaclievereU " (among whom was the Queen), •^- °- who was prosecuted for preaching two sermons calculated to excite hosti- lily iigainst the Dissenters, were called High Churchmen, and his opponontB Low f'huroh, or moderate men. Chapter V.] THE HOUSE OE BRUNSWICK. 567 DisBenters aud Clmrchmen. Legislation. Financial Transaclnons. time of Land " and Sancroft.* Dissenters were gradually relieved of burdens ; but the last — the necessity of receiving the sacrament in the Church of England as a qualification for holding certain offices, and the denial of their ' right to the solemnization of their marriages in their own • chapels or in a registry office— was not taken oif until the year 1836. In .the mean time some of the fiery enactments against the Eoman Catholics had been repealed, and at length they were emancipated, as we have obsei-ved." In the Anglo-American co- lonies the dissenters were an overwhelming majori- ty, especially'in New England, and efforts to establish episcopacy in America — a joint domination of Church and State, as in Eng- land — were vigorously resisted and defeated. Controversy ran high for many years before the kindling of the American Kevolu- tion [a.d. 1775] ; and after the Declaration of Independence, in the summer of 1776, the churchmen in America, especially the clergy, generally adhered to the crown, though there were numer- ous exceptions. § 4. The amount of legislation during the period we are con- sidering was veiy great. That of the closing years of the eigh- teenth century and the earlier years of the nineteenth century al- most equalled that in the whole preceding period of the British monarchy. It may be classed under the four heads (1), Constitutional legislation ; (3), Legislation relating to real and personal property ; (3), Criminal or penal legislation ; and (4), Financial legislation. Our limits will not allow us to specify the important acts to which these titles obviously refer, and we will only note that which con- summated the political union of Ireland with Ena- li § 36, p. 649. land, on the first of January, 1801," and the fact that, during the excitements in England caused by the French Revolution,' a vast number and variety of penal acts were passed. § 5. The financial transactions of England during the first fifteen years of this century far transcended everything else of the kind known in the history of the world. Never before, in any country were such stupendous pecuniary means wielded by a government as did that of England wield fi'om 1803 to 1815, the period of the great war with Napoleon.' The loans were enor- mous. The amount raised by loans and exchequer- bills, or treasury notes, never amounted to less than $50,000,000 a 568 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book X. Taxation and Troperty. Eminent Men. American Colonies, year, and on one occasion [a.d. 1814], rose to $230,000,000. Taxation was increasbd every year. The totiil amount paid in taxes in 1801 was $170,000,000, and in 1815 it liad reached $360,000,000. And yet, during all that time, the wealth of Eng- land grew more abundant, and the value of taxable property was largely increased. It was at the middle of the period we are con- sidering that Sir William Blackstone flourished, and by his writ- ings made clear the obscurities of the laws and jurisprudence of Great Britain. His Commentaries on the Lams of England, first made in a series of brilliant lectures at O.xford, begun iu 1753, were published between the years 1764 and 1770, and made his name immoi-tal. And it is in the records of this period that the great names ia Government and Law of Walpole, the Pitts (father and son), Bm'ke, Fox, Thurlow, jMansfield, Elgin, Bentham, Ers- kine. Canning, and Brougham, and a host of lesser but brilliant oues appeared. § 6. Truly marvellous was the advancement of the national in- dustry dui'ing the reigns of the Georges. There was wiser, but yet not very wise, legislation in regard to trade and commerce in the earlier part of the period, for the English mind could not yet comprehend how free-trade, that gave foreigners a chance for profit in traffic with Englishmen, could add to the wealth of English- men. The old systems of exclusiveness — of monopolies and tariffs for the protection of domestic industry — were rigidly adhered to, but with some sensible modifications. The value of the American Plantations, as the colonies were called, was, for a long time, en- tirely underrated. Even so late as 1715, William Penn offered to sell to the crown his lordship of Pennsylvania for £12,000, or $60,000 ! And it was not until intercolonial ware rc\'ealed the marvellous resources of the American settlers that English states- men regarded them with much concern in connection with the na- tional industry, and then only with a view to making them tribu- tary to the national treasury. § 7. It was at the begiiming of this period that the great South- Bca scheme, which had an important effect upon the nation, be<^an its work. The public floating debt in 1710 was about £10,000,000, or $50,000,000, and it was proposed to the holders of the securi- ties to form a joint-stock company to engage in a monopoly of the trade to the South Seas. The promises of enormous profits were numerous, and the company was eagerly formed. It was manao-cd Chapteb v.] the house OF BRTINSWICK. 569 The South-Sea Scheme. Shipping. Sugar iBlands. Emigration. unwisely at first, and afterward dishonestly. Shares were eagerly sought, and gambling in them was carried on most insanely for a time by nearly all of the wealthy persons of the kingdom, of both sexes. The cunning directors, by false lures, raised the price of shares from £100 to £1,000. The bubble burst in 1720, leaving the fortunes of many families in utter ruin. Wide-spread demor- alization and vast injury to the national industry was the result. Speculation had not only seized upon the shares of other corpora- tions, but caused a large number of new ones to be formed, which, from the beginning, were nothing but the implements of swindlers for acquiring wealth. The stock of the East India • § 8 p 447 Company," originally £100 a share, rose to £445, and the Bank of England shares, originally £96, rose to £360. The reaction was most disastrous. §8. In the year after the explosion of the South-Sea scheme [A.D. 1721] parliament passed laws for the encouragement of com- merce, trade, and manufactures ; and in 1725 the South-Sea Com- pany endeavored to retrieve some of its losses by whale-iisliing in the Northern Seas. It lost in the efEortnearly a million dollars, and in 1732 it disappeared from public view. § 9. At the opening of the reign of George the Second"" the coun- try was beguming to recover from the blow inflicted ° ° ' § 1, p. 516. by unhealthy speculation, and general prospenty was felt for many years afterward. The tonnage of its shipping was largely multiplied; the price of land greatly * increased; money- became abundant at lower rates of interest ; and all classes indulged in better and more expensive styles of living. One great source of this prosperity was in the outlying possessions of Great Britain — its sugar islands in the "West Indies and its North American colo- nies. In one year [a.d., 1734] the sugar islands produced 85,000 hogsheads of the sweet product, and Great Britain consumed 70,- 000 hogsheads of it. In 1860 Great Britain consumed 400,000 hogsheads of sugar. At the same time the American colonies were rapidly increasing in population and products of industry. Over 6,000 emigrants went to Pennsylvania alone (mostly from Ireland) in the year 1739 ; ' and the other colonies all felt the stimulus of > Of the 6,208 persons who emigrated to Pennsylvania in that year, 243 were Ger- mans from the Palatinate ; 267 BngUsh and Welsh ; 43 Scotch ; and the remalrang 5,655 all, or nearly all, Irish. The Germans were all passengers, the Scotch all ser- vants, and the English, Welsh, and Irish, partly passengers and partly servants. 570 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. American Inaustries. Navigation Laws. Manufactures. Iron and Coal, emigration. Industries of every kind flourislied in these colonies —agriculture, fisheries, ship-building, and manufactures of every sort— and these miglit have become soiu'ces of immense wealth to the mother country had not a most unwise selfishness been prac- tically manifested. It was the policy of the government to en- courage the colonists in agricultural pursuits, but to make them entirely dependent upon Great Britain for every fabric. For this purpose laws were made for restricting trades and manufactures in the colonies ; and these oppressive measures, under ''■'"■ the general name of navigation laws, were among the most powerful causes that led to the Revolution of 1775.» § 10. The manufacture of woollen, silk, and linen fabrics found great encouragement during the first half of this period. Cotton from the East Indies was found upon looms here and there in the reign of George the First. So early as 1733, Wyatt made a ma- chine by which the first thread of cotton was spun " without the intervention of the human fingers." At the same time workers iu metals were abundantly and profitably employed ; and the ii-on trade, employing 200,000 persons, was deemed the tliu'd of the na- tional manufactures. New processes for making iron for use were discovered. In districts where iron manufactures had been carried on for centuries, wood had become scarce. A supply was sought in Ireland, and the immense forests of America were regarded as the gi'eat resource thereafter. Tlie wealth in coal, lying in the bo- som of the earth under English soil, was linown, and a reward was offered to the man who should make bar iron with coal. It was successfully done in 1 740, and then the vast coal-fields found new consumers. The copper manufacture was also extensive, and in 1742 Shefiield plate was first manufactured in the town of that name. The earthenware made in England previous to 1760 was comparatively crude, but at about that time Wedgwood began operations which carried it to great perfection within ten years. For a long time English watches had been in great repute on the continent. Printing type was first made in England in 1720 ; and the first stereotype plate ever made came from the hand of Wil- liam Ged, iu Edinbm-gh, in 1 725. § 11. Inventions just hinted at produced a complete revolution in the cloth manufactures of England during the latter half of the Eighteenth century, and brought cotton fabrics into universal uso. The great demand of weavers for cotton yam stimulated invention CilAPTBR v.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 571 Spinning and Weaving Machines. Wliitnoy's Octton-Gin. Cotton ManufaQtivre. and the hint given by Wyatt caused John Hargreaves, a weaver, to invent a spinning-machine in 1764, which iirst had eight spin- dles, but the number was soon increased to eighty, each spinning a thread at the same time, llargreaves was so persecuted by the hand- spinners that he left his native place and set up a mill in Nottingham. Soon afterward, Richard Arkwright, a barber, came to the same place with a spinning-machine of his own invention, which was a great improvement on Hargreaves'. This, vrith a cardlng-macliine that Aikwright invented, made vast improve- ments in the cotton manufacture. Its increase was wonderful, and in 1783 Aj-kwright's mUls employed about 5,000 persons. § 12. In 1779 Samuel Crompton invented a machine which vastly increased the manufacturing power, for in a short time after ite invention each macliine carried 3,300 spindles, all of which were kept in operation by one attendant. So rapidly did these machines produce cotton yam that the supply of raw cotton, everywhere cleaned of seed by the slow process of hand labor, was not suffi- cient, for the power-looms invented by Edward Cartwright, in 1785, were working rapidly with the spinners. ■ A want was soon supplied by Eli Whitney, an American, who, in the last decade of the century, invented the cotton-gin for cleaning the wool, which performed the work of a thousand hands in a given time. Tliis stimulated the production of cotton and the cotton manufacture ; and it is estimated that at the present time there are 40,000,000 spindles at work, of which 33,000,000 are in Great Britain. Al- most simultaneous mth the inventisns of Hargreaves and Ark- wright was that of the steam-engine, by James Watt, which was soon extensively employed where water-power could not be better used. § 13. British commerce and trade were seriously affected by the re- volt of the American colonies ; but immediately after the war that had ensued, the exports of Great Britain increased nearly fifty per cent., and the tonnage of its ships almost ninety per cent. A com- mercial treaty was formed with France [a.d. 1787] ; but a propo- sition for a similar one with the United States was rejected by the British ministry almost with scorn. The idea prevailed in Eng- land that the mere league of States which composed the national government of tlie United States, under the articles of Confedera- tion, could not long endure, and that they would soon become British colonies again. But when a ti-uly national government was 572 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Commerce and Commercial EelaHons with the United States. Agriculture. foi-med, by the Constitution of 1787, England eagerly sought to negotiate a commercial treaty, and it was done. § 14 At that time the British fisheries were an important part of the national industry. In 1789 about 3,500 vessels of every kind were employed in the various operations of the cod-fishery off the coasts of Newfoundland alone. At the same time the amount of tea brought annually.into England averaged 19,000,000 pounds, and other traffic with the East was enormous. The slave-trade on the coast of Africa was also profitable. The slave-ships carried their human cargoes to the West Indies, and then went to England laden with the products of those islands. In the year 1787 the market value of slaves carried from Africa in British ships was ^ £900,000, or $4,500,000. The French Revolution" ' finally involved Great Britain in a long war, and for many years her commerce was in a wretchedly unsettled state. Her finances were deranged; and in 1797 the Bank of England sus- pended specie payment. A paper cun'sncy then became a. legal tender, when there was in the country gold to the value of £22,000,000, or $120,000,000, a little more than was in the United States Treasury at one time in 1869. § 15. During the long reign of George the Third ^ the useful arts made wonderful advancement in England. "We have already considered some of the inventions connected with them. There seemed to be an energy in the nation that overcame every obstacle, and whatever was needed was produced. The dis- coveries of chemists and physicists were wedded to the ingenuity of mechanics, and invention produced grand results in the de- velopment of new implements of labor. Agricultm'e partook of the general impulse toward improvement, and new methods of culture brought larger returns to the husbandman. The breeding of live stock was an important branch of the business, and new and valuable varieties were fi'equently introduced by im'portations and crossing. Corn-laws were enacted for the protection and benefit of producers, but they were immediately more hurtful than useful to the peojjle. And yet the high price of grain — caused partly by these laws, and partly by an increased demand, because of labor drawn from the farm to the factory and workshop, and the rapid increase in population — was of permanent 'benefit to the nation. It caused vast domains that were lying idle to bp brought under cultivation. From 1770 to 1779 no less than 1,200,000 acres Chapteb v.] the house OF BRUNSWICK. 573 Improvements in Agriculture. Wages and Expenses. Transportation. ill England were enclosed and cultivated for the first time ; and from 1780 to 1800, other tracts to the amount of 1,300,000 acres were so treated, and thus augmented the national wealth. § 16. High prices stimulated production. New kinds of farm- ing implements -were made and profitably used ; and such was the product of the land, and the high prices therefor, that in the year 1T95 £30,000,000, or $100,000,000, it was estimated, went iato the pockets of the British farmers. Yet all England — even a majority of the population of England — were not prosperous, in the best sense of that term. The great masses — ^the laborers for wages out of clerical channels— were not adequately paid. Their remunera- tion for a day's work in 1800 was but a trifle more than it was seventy years before, when the necessaries of life were much cheaper. The wages of mechanics and unskilled laborers in 1800 could not purchase a third part of the quantity of such necessa- ries they would buy three-quarters of a century before. The con- sequence was a great increase of pauperism and suffering. The rich had become richer, and the poor poorer. Such was the case until the close of the reign of the last George. Statistics show the melancholy fact that the social condition of the laboring classes in England had very little improved since the time of the Plan-, tagenets, several centuries before. § 17. During this period there were great improvements in road- making and other means for transportation. During the earlier years of George the Third's reign, the roads in Great Britain were in a wretched state ; and even at the beginning of the present cen- tury there had been very little improvement. But the needs of transportation for farm produce, and facilities for carrying the mails and travellers, called for good roads, and first turnpiking and then the stone roads made by MacAdam soon came into general use. Bridge-making, ujion new methods, advanced at the same time toward perfection, and in this connection Telford and Rennie were conspicuous. Statistics show that in 1815 there were 108,000 miles of highways for commercial travel in England and Wales. The first suspension-bridge was built by Rennie early in this cen- tury. Canals had then been in operation in Scotland and England for about forty years. Then came, in the course of time, railways to comjiete with these artificial rivers. So early as 1805 an iron railway was opened to connect Croydon with the Thames ; and in July, 1814, the first locomotive, constructed by Stevenson, that 574 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book X. Coal Mining. Manufactures. Literatnire and Scholars. ever took the place of a draught-horse, pulled eight carriages, or cars, at the rate of four miles an hour. Steam navigation was also introduced into England soon after Fulton had achieved his tri- umphs in America. The first steamboat bmlt ia G-reat Britain was constructed in Scotland, in the year 1812. § 18. It was duiing this period that coal-mining, in connection with the manufacture of iron on a large scale, became a most im- portant branch of the national industry, while the manufacture of iron assumed the position of a staple industry. Before the close of the last century there were larger iron-works in England than anywhere else in the world. One establishment in Shropshire con- sumed 500 tons of coal a day in the business. Guns and swords became a staple of Birmingham manufacture. So early as 1787 there were 4,000 persons employed there in making guns for the African market alone. Birmingham has ever since continued to lead all other places in the world in the extent and variety of its metal manufactures. Calico-printing had become an extensive business in England before the close of the last century ; coppei' cylindei-s, with engraved devices, having been introduced so early as 1785. The woollen manufacture kept pace with other indus- tries, and maintained the. relatively exalted position which it had held for centuries. Before the close of this period England had become the greatest workshop in the world for the manufacture of everything useful and ornamental known among civilized men. § 19. In Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts, the achievements of this period were maiTellous. Our limited space wiU aUow us to do little more than notice the names of the greater men whose works of intellect made that period one of the most remarkable in the history of civilization. § 30. At the funeral of Queen Anne, Defoe, Addison, Steele, Burnet, Pope, Swift, and Bolingbroke fonned a brilliant assem- blage whose names have become immortaL Wlien Addison died, a few years afterward, Smft stood at the head of prose-writere, and Pope led the poets. Pryor, Congreve, Gibber, Farquhar, and Vanbrugh were the most cousijicuous dramatists. Following on came Young, Blaii-, Thomson, CoUins, Akenside, Shenstone, Par- nell. Savage, and Gray, in poetry ; Mandeville, Hutcheson, Berke- ley, and Hartley, in philosophy; Warburton, Hoadley, Atterbury Butler, Middleton, Seeker, and Watts, in theology ; and Kichard- Bon, Fielding, Stemu, and Smollett, in fiction, llichardson has CHAPTEB v.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 675 Literature and Literary Men in the Eigliteentli Century. been styled the inventor of the modern English novel. Cotempo- raneous with these was Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whose bril- liant Letters wes'e published in 1763, about a year after her death. § 31. G-oldsmith holds the first rank among the poets in the first quarter of the reign of Qeorge the Tliird. 2'Ae Traveller and The Deserted Village form the solid foundations of his fame as a poet. Hi^ chief poetic cotemporaries were Churchill, Falconer, the brothel's Wharton, Chatterton, and MoPherson, the author of the poems of Ossian. The dramatic literature of that time was very voluminous, in which the leading names are Q-oldsmith, GaiTick, and Foote. Horace Walpole's tragedy of TTis Mysterious Mother was never acted. Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer was a favor- ite for a long time. Garrick was also an inimitable actor. So also was Foote, who wrote and played no less than twenty-two comic pieces. Following these writers were Macklin, Murphy, Cum- berland, Colman, Mrs. Cowley, and Sheridan, the father of the brilliant Richard Brinsley Sheridan, aU of vv^hom but one lived until the close of the last century. § 33. A host of excellent feminine writers appeared during the fii-st half of the reign of the third George. The most conspicu- ous of these were Mistresses Sheridan, Cowley, Brooks, Lennox (a native of New Tork), Montagu, Chapone, Macaulay (who came to America on purpose to visit Washington), Hannah More, Bar- bauld, Charlotte Smith, Inchbold, and Misses Sophia Lee, Fran- ces Bumey, Anna and Helen Maria Williams, and Catherine Talbot. § 33. The Periodical Essay, begun in Queen Anne's time, was revived late in the reign of George the Second, chiefly by the emi- nent Dr. Samuel Johnson. Earlier in that reign the Gentleman! s Magamne (yet published) was begun, and just before its close Ed- mund Burke commenced [a.d. 1759] the Annual Register, which he chiefly conducted for many years. Of the more solid writers of that time stand pre-eminent Johnson and Burke, and the author of the Letters of Junius, as essayists and political writers ; Hume, Reid, Kames, and Priestley as metaphysicians ; Hume, Robertson, and Gibbon as historians ; Adam Smith as a political economist ; in the mathematical and physical sciences, Black, Cavendish, Her- schel. Button, the Hunters, and Sir Joseph Banks ; in theology, Clarke, Warburton, South, Horsley, and Priestley ; in belles-lettres, Chesterfield, Hawkesworth, Melmoth, Jenyns, Bryant, and Pot- 570 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Later Literary Celebrities. Fine Arts. Eoyal Academy. rauiting. ter ; and in voyages of discovery, Commodore Byron, and Captain Cook the discoverer of the Sandwich Islands. § 24. With these were cotemporaries whose fame was established a Uttle later, such as Cowper, Darwin, Sir William Jones, Dr. Wol- cott (Peter Pindar), from whom Byron caught the inspiration of his Don Juan; Burns, and Pye, the poet-laureate, who, like poet- laureates generally, was a very inferior bard. Godvrin, Mary Wolstoncroft, Pinkerton, Roscoe, Gillies, and Paley were conspicu- ous in the world of literature at the close of the last and the be- ginning of this century. Then appeared, in daily increasing lustre, those lights whose radiance mingles with that of the intel- lectual luminaries of om- day. Among the most conspicuous of these were the poets Byron, Moore, Scott, Wordsworth, Campbell, ShfUey, and Keats; among essayists. Lamb, Southey, and Coleridge ; Playfau-, Davy, the younger Herschel, and Brewster in mathe- matical science ; in history. Mackintosh and Lingard ; in theology, metaphysics, and political and miscellaneous literature. Professor Wilson, Dugald Stewart, Thomas Browne, Robert HaU, Dr. Chal- mers, Hazlitt, Cobbett, and Lord Brougham. § 25. The fine arts had a sickly existence in England from the time of Queen Anne to the accession of George the Thii-d. The only artist whose works promise to be immortal was William Ho- garth, son-in-law, without leave, of Sir James ThornhiU, an eminent decorative painter. His series of moral dramas, engraved by him- self, are yet regarded as wonderful triumphs in art. He achieved great fame in his lifetime, and was the pet of friends and dread of enemies, for the satii-e of his pencil was most keen. It even si- lenced the abuse of John Wilkes." Cotemporaries rose ■^ § B, p. 5.34, . mto eminence, and in 1759 a society of aitists made a public exhibition of the works of British painters for the first time. This led to the founding of the Royal Academy of Fine Axis. § 26. Portrait-painting was then the most remunerative branch of art in England, and in it Sir Joshua Reynolds, who had stud- ied in Italy, had achieved great fame at the beginning of the reign of George the Third. He was compelled to contend with a most pernicious public taste, but persevered, and effected a complete revo- lution is art. He established truth in drawing, exquisite beauty in coloring, and grace and ease in composition. He had a most earnest and able co-worker in Benjamin West, a native of Penn- sylvania, and a Quaker. These and a few other artists, British and Cfapter v.] the house OF BRUNSWICK. 577 Artists. Sculpture and Engraving. Music foreign, founded the Royal Academy of Pine A.rts in 1768. West (jstablished a taste for Mstorical paiating ; and Wilson and Barry, cotemporary artists, founded the English school of landscape, ■which had no successful dval until a few years ago, when Ameri- can artists bore away the palm. Wilson was to landscape what Reynolds was to portraiture, while Gainsborough was also an excel- lent portrait-painter. Allan Ramsay, son of the Scotch poet, and John Singleton Copley, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, were worthy assistants of Reynolds and his friends in the work of art reform. From that time the English school of painting has ever held a high rank for truthfulness to nature. § 27. Sculpture was in a worse state in England than painting, before the accession of George the Thu-d. Roubilliac, a French artist who had settled in England, first gave the art eminence there. He was chiefly employed in monumental sculpture. The first pub- lic monument erected by him was that to the memoiy of Wolfe, in Westminster Abbey. His statue of Handel, the finest work of the kind that had ever been executed in England, gave him great fame. Other good artists followed ; and sculpture has held a high rank in England for half a century or more. § 28. Engraving made considerable progress early in this period. Bartolozzi, an Italian, who was a cotemporary of Reynolds, intro- duced the stipple style of engraving, which took the place of mez- zotint. He engraved a vast number of the sketches of his friend CiiJriani. In line engraving little of merit was done until Wool- lett and Strange appeared, with theu' exquisite landscapes, early in the reign of George the Tliird. A little later Sharp, the most eminent line engraver that has yet appeared, astonished men of taste with his marvellous engravings of single figures and groups, entirely in line, and which no ai-tist excepting the now venerable Asher B. Durand, of New York, ever equalled. Durand's engrav- ing of Vanderlyn's Ariadne is equal to anything ever done by Sharp. At about the time when the three British artists named flourished, Thomas Bewick revived the art of wood-engraving, which had become, by neglect, an absm-dity in art. He carried it to great perfection, and by showing its marvellous capacities became a, public benefactor. § 29. Between the death of Queen Anue and the accession of George the Third, sacred music in the oratorio and the cathe- dral service had attained almost its present perfection. But tb'' 25 578 HISTORY OF ENGLASD. LBoo^ ^■ Music and Musical Entertainments. Costames. Italian opera languished, and secular music .was in a low stats. Musical clubs were formed at about the beginning of George tin Third's reign, and there was seen some improvement in the public taste, when, in May and June, 1784, the famous Handel Oommemora- tion took place in Westminster Abbey.' Its fame spread over Europe and received royal commendations. Its home effect was to define throughout the British islands a taste for sacred music of the highest order. Secular music felt the new awakening, and the spin- net and harpsichord, and finally the piano-forte, became the rivals of the violin and flute, as instrumental accompaniments of the voice. § 30. In the closing decade of the last century, Salomon gave the concert a great popularity in England. The delightful social musical performance known as the glee became very popular at about the same time, and miisical comjposition was pm-sued with energy. It may be truthfully asserted that no people on the globe are at this day so thoroughly educated in the best music as those of England. § 31. There was not much change in the general features of the costume of the fashionable people of England from the time of Queen Anne until the close of the American wai- for independence. Wigs of great size were worn by both sexes until in the reign of George the Second [a.d. 1729 to 1760], and powder was generally used. The ladies wore hooped petticoats during all that period ; but the era of their greatest extravagance was about 1745, when they wore immense ellipses, extending far on each side of the wear- er. The coats and breeches of gentlemen consisted of dark-col- ored velvets and cloths, and light silk or satin vests, all trimmed, sometimes with gold and silver lace. They also wore smaU straight swords. The ladies wore flowered silks. The gown had wide short sleeves. It was looped 'ip at the sides or front, so as to show rich petticoats. At the time when the enormous elliptical hoop was in vogue they wore little gypsy hats that supei-seded the high- crowned hat of an earlier date. § 32. At the accession of George the Third, and some time before, the gentlemen wore tie-wigs, with large curls on each side of the head, and the hair was bagged or queued behind. The ladies had 1 The music was HandePs exclusively. The band consisted ol B13 performers, led by Joab Bates, an amateur. The royal family and all the eminent and titled persons of the fcingdom attended these performances, Ave in number. The profits were a lit- tle more than £7,000, of whic]} sura £6,000, or about $30,000, were allotted to the Royal Society of Mnrioians, and £1,000 (lt5,0B0)to the Westminster Hospital. These pertorm- aiicca were repeated annually until 1791, when the members of the band exceeded 1,000. Chapter V.j THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK. 579 Change in Fashions. Style o! Living. Politics and PoUticians. their hair curled clown the sides, with flowers, and powdered. Lace tippets, with clasps of gold and precious stones, were much used. Diamond necklaces and ear-rings were very fashionable- and both sexes wore shoe-buckles that sparkled with diamonds. The gentlemen wore cocked hats, sometimes richly laced. The opening of the vest was filled with fine raffles, and the wi-ists were encircled by them. The ladies wore elegant bracelets over long gloves. § 33. After the close of our Revolution, in 1783, and with the opening of the French revolution in 1789, the stately old fashions began to change, and some of the most ridiculous costumes for both sexes disappeared. Thanks to Reynolds ' and his co- temporaiy artists, the wigs were discarded, and the ' ^ ^' ^' ^^^' curling or flowing natural hair, powdered and floured, came into vogue ; and untU late in the first quarter of this centmy almost every year saw a change in the fashions of the ladies. Early in the closing decade of the last centm'y powder began to be dis- carded, and long plumes formed a part of the head-di-esses. Bon- nets began to take the place of hats. Waists of dresses grew sh»rter. Hoops were discarded before the year 1800, for the French Republicans had assumed the simplicity of Greek and Ro man costume. The dress of gentlemen took the general form of that of the present day. The pantaloon succeeded the short breeches, while the scantiness of pattern in the dresses of the ladies was conspicuous, and evoked the special attention of satirists and caricaturists. One of the most remarkable of the caricaturists of Great Britain, Gih-ay, floiuished at this peiiod. § 34. The style of living among persons of rank and wealth in England was not less elegant, but more refined and less extrava- gant in ornamental display than in the previous period. The furniture displayed much better taste. Mahogany was first intro- duced in the manufacture of cabinet-ware early in tliis period, and in 1745 Brussels carpets were first made in England. After that cai-peted floors were as* common among the wealthy as now. New phases of domestic life appeared. The freedom of political discussion introduced new modes. Club-houses became very nu- merous, and there men were found more frequently than in theii own dwellings. The theatre, and even Punch in the streets, became political satu'ists. So bold were their displays of free speech that Robert Walpole caused an act to bo passed for its restraint. In 580 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. A Fashionable Beau. Immorality and Folly in Social Life. the reign of the two Georges feminine politicians were numerous, and in public places the political party to wliich a lady belonged was indicated by the arrangement of the patches on her face— a fashion that yet held sway." The Spectator tells us " ^ ^''' "• ^■'°' of a Whig lady who had a natural mole on the Tory side of her brow, by which she was sometimes mistaken for an ally by her political opponents. , ^ § 35. During a greater portion of the reign of the first two Georges the morals of society in England were in a low state. Tlie taint which Charles the Second and his licentious court inflicted upon the nation still festered, for the practice of the court yet sanc- tioned m-egularities among the people. Tiie revelations of social depravity made by cotemporary essayists stagger credulity. The whole aspect of society among the aristocracy was artiflcial, hol- low, and demoralizing. Shallow coxcombs seemed to give tone to manners.' Gallantry was the chief form of personal intercourse between the sexes, sometimes innocent, but most generally other- ■ndse. Language was continually ui^on stilts. Every word and act, and even di'ess, were made to conform to the taste and humor of the gentler sex. Metaphor took the place of common sense. Classic literature furnished expressions of real or pretended emo- ' According to cotemporary writers, the fashionable beau received visits in bed from ten till twelve o'clocK, when he lay in state, his powdered periwig lying beside hiTn on the sheets. His dressing-table was sprinkled with love poetry, a canister or two of Lisbon snuff, which was allowed to besmeai- the upper lip, with the idea that it im- parted an air of peculiar sagacity to the whole countenance. A smeUing-bottle and trinkets completed the group. He arose at twelve, and completed his toilet by three o'clock, during: which time he well perfumed his clothes ; soaked his hands in washes to make them white and delicate ; tinged his cheeks with car-mine so as to give thgm a gentle blush ; arranged a few patches n on his face to give the effect of u % 16, p. 400. moles and dimples ; dipped his handkerchief in rose-water and powdered his hnen. The tying of his cravat aud the adjustment of his wig and hat were mat- ters of gi-ave importance. Then he practised attitudes and smiles before his looking- glass, dressed, and was carried to a coffee or chocolate house, where he displayed his wit and gallantry, kissing a tailor's bill that he pulled from his pocket, saying it was a sweet billet-doux from his mistress. He insulted with impunity, by impertinent con- versation, the usually pretty barmaid of the coffee-house, and after spending an hour there repaired to the theatre, where he shifted himself from boxes to pit, in order to display himself and the glittering ring upon his finger, as ho conspicuously took pinches of snuff. He considered it shockingly vulgar to attend to the play, so he tin-ned his back upon the stage. After having e.xhibited himself to his satisfaolion at the theatre he would go to the park, and there, fluttering from lady to lady in never- ceasing ■ shallow chattering, would be rewarded with many a tap of a fan on his shoulder, and the endearing epithets, " Mad fellow I " "Horn', tormenting devil I " Chapter V.J THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK. 581 Shallow Education. Oomparative purity of the Bural Popu'Jition. tions in the business of courtship. Set phrases were always used. Angels, seraphs,. goddesses, furies, sweet Paphian delights, Venus, Cupid, Hymen, rack, tortures, and demons, were words ever on the lips of lovers. § 36. So shallow was the education of women, and so vicious their moral and intellectual training, that they received all this- hollow flattery and apparent devotion as truth. A fashionable woman was considered suificiently educated when she could barely read and write, and had learned enough of the conventional etiquette of society to enable her to not ofEend its rules. She went into society at the age of fourteen or fifteen years. Her reading (if she read at all) was limited and demoralizing, consisting chiefly of the worthless and often licentious productions of cm-rent literature, and the equally corrupting plays of the period. A" young gentle- man was considered fitted for any business of life when he had mastered a certain amount of Greek and Latin, and could wi'ite a few shallow verses. Then he travelled ; came home with foreign airs, vices, and follies; and plunged into all the excesses of social dissipation. Gambling, and often excessive drinking, were com- mon to both sexes, and all other vices were in their train. The ignorance, frivolity, and vicionsness of the aristocracy of that pe- riod was amazing. Superstition flourished. Credulity made rich harvest-fields for charlatans of every kind, especially in the medical profession ; and fortune-tellers were the most revered pro- phets of that " higher class" of men and women who seldom fre- quented places of worship, and who knew little of the moral pre- cepts contained in the Scriptures. § 37. The vices and frivolities of the court and metropolis de- scended, in some degree, to the " common people " and the rural districts, and yet so strong was the barrier of. class, that the coun- try remained comparatively pure. While vicious plays, bull-baits, and prize-fights were delighting the Londoners, fox-hunting, shooting-matches, foot-ball, cricket, and many rude but healthful rural sports were delighting the country squires and theii' tenantry and neighbors. The country ladies were a quiet, home-loving race, taking great pleasure in being Lady Boimtifuls to the poor. Christmas was the great 'feast-time, when sober beverages and wholesome food abounded. The manners of the peasantry were as simple as in the days of Elizabeth." Education was as limited as then, and superstition was as prev- 582 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Amusements. Dnmkenncss and Paupprism. Fortune-tellmg. aleiit and powerful.' In out-of-door sports— sucli as foot-ball, cudgel-playing, and racing— the girls participated with the young men. Grinning and whistUng matches" were favorite amusements at country fairs. Excessive beer-drinldng became a prevailing vice, and in towns gin-drinking became so terrible in its effects that parliament passed acts for restraining intemperance. Paupii-- ism fearfully increased toward the close of the reign of George the Second, and the workhouses established by his immediate predecessor were filled with the indigent. The condition of the " common people " at that period — morally, inteUectuaUy, and cor- poreally — was a disgrace to the wealthy and enlightened Cliristian nation whose aristocracy was pampered by a wasteful prodigality of luxurious and sensual indulgences. § 38. George the Third, his Queen, and court, almost instantly made a salutary impression. The sovereigns were moral and reli- gious. The purification of the nation began with their accession, and it has woi'ked surely and potentially ever since, in spite of the vicious influence of the regency and reign of George the Fourth. No aristocracy on the earth is so pure and truly noble as that of England. CHAPTER VI. Reign of William the Fottbth [a.d. 1830 to 1837]. § 1. A good man took the seat of the last George, as sovereign of England. Dming his earlier manhood he was in active seiTice 1 A damsel anxious to Iniow Bomething of her destined husband was directed to nm until she was out of breath so soon as she heard the first notes of the cuckoo, after which, on pulling off her shoe, she expected to find in it a hair of the same color as that of her future mate. If she wished to see his fuU person, she was to sow hemp-seed on Midsummer Eve. and command her lover, in a rhyming couplet, to follow and mow; when, behold, on looking over her shoulder she would see him at her heels. The first bachelor a girl met on St. Valentine's morning was supposed to be her destined hus- band. If on May-day a girV brought home a snail and put it upon the ashes of the heai-th, the little reptile in crawling about would mark the initials of her true lover's name ; or if she pared a pippin and threw the rind' over her head, it would, on falling, form such initial. If a girl suspected her lover o£ inconstancy, she had only to purloin his garter and tie it with her own, in a true-love knot, to bind his heart to her beyond the power of escaping. - The candidates for the prize grinned hideously through horse-collars: and in Chapter VI.] THE HOUSE OF BKTJNSWICK. 583 Acoesfcion of William the Tourth. Condition of Europe. in the royal navy ; and all through life he had the easy, aSable manners of a seaman, without the least sign of pretence because of his rank and station. He was the third son of G-eorge the Third, and was in the sixty-fifth year of his age when he ascended the thi-one, in the summer of 1830, with the title of "William the Fourth. He had married, in 1818, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, by whom he had two daughters, who died very young. His ac- cession was hailed vsdth delight by the people. Unlike his brother, the Duke of York, he had never taken any part in politics, but he was believed to incline to the Whigs. He, however, retained his brother's ministers in office until their late allies voted them out on a money question, a few months after his accession. § 3. At the time of William's accession Europe was violently agitated by a revolutionary spirit which was evidently widespread and powerful. It broke out into open manifestation in France. Louis the Eighteenth, though placed upon the throne by the aid of foreign powers, had maintained his position in peace ; but his brother, who succeeded Mm in 1834, as Charles the Tenth, was so utterly regardless of the chartered rights of the people that he was driven from his seat [July, 1830], and was succeeded by his cousin, the Duke of Orleans, who was called to the throne by Lafayette" and others [Aug. 7, 1830], as a constitutional monarch, with the title of Louis Philippe, King of the French. § 3. The revolutionai-y spirit now spread rapidly. In Belgium, in Brunswick, in Poland, the people rose in arms, and even far- distant Brazil, in South America, expelled its emperor, a Portu- guese prince, — an event that led to a sanguinary war in Europe shortly afterward. The Duke of Wellington saw in these commo- tions a warning that alarmed him, and he declared that he would not begin a reform demanded by popular clamor that might end in a reyolution. This unpopular declaration, followed by the Duke advising the king not to attend the Lord Mayor's dinner [Novem- ber 9, 1830] for fear of a popular tumult, caused a great panic, as there seemed to be indications of a revolution, and the funds fell three per cent. A few days later, in a debate on the Civil List, the ministry were defeated [JSTgvember 15, 1830], and _^^ » S 4, p. oUU. they resigned.^ The Whigs then came into office, whistling, the person who could whistle through a whole tune without being put out by the clrollerictfi of meiTy-makers was the victor. 584 HISTOET OF ENGLAND. [Book X. KefcTm Measures. Change in Bepresentation. Affairs in Ireland, after an absence of more than twenty years, and declared their intention to press reform measures in parliament. § 4. Earl Grey was the premier, and he had the strength of Lords Brougham, Lansdowne, Palmerston, and Melbourne as his associates. Lord John Russell was the leader of the House of Commons. By the latter a reform biU was introduced in March, 1831, but it appeared far too sweeping a change to many, and the ministers, after carrying the second reading by a majority of one only, suffered defeat in committee, and dissolved the parliament. A new House of Commons, elected under great excitement, passed the biU [June 24, 1831]; but the Peers rejected it on the second reading, on the 7th of October following. Desperate riots and bloodshed followed in many places, but particularly at Notting- ham, where the castle was destroyed, and at Bristol, where several public buildings were I3umt and one hundred persons were killed or wounded. Early ia the following year the bill was again passed by the Commons [March, 1832], when the Duke of Wellington, and about one hundred peers who had hitherto opposed it, alarmed by the rumblings of the revolutionary volcano, withdrew from their House, by agreement, so as to leave a majority for the bill. It finally became law in June following. § 5. The Reform BUI provided for depriving of representation in parliament boroughs having a population of less than 2,000, and allowing only one representative for boroughs having less than 4,000. The effect of the act was to take 148 members from decayed boroughs, and to bestow them partly on counties, but chiefly on manufactming tovms of importance, where, generally speaking. Liberal ideas jarevailed. Between forty and fifty new boroughs were created. The larger counties were divided into dis- tricts, and the elective fi-anchise, regulated by property qualifioa- >§23 p 478 *^°°^' ^^ greatly extended. The carrying of this bill was undoubtedly as great a revolution in gov- ernment as any that had taken place since that of 1888." § 6. At this time the state of L'cland was frightful. It was on the verge of revolution and civil war. The Roman Catholics had been favored by political emancipation ; but there were other bur- dens of which the members of that church complained. Among ' § 19, p. m. ^^'^^^ ^^^ *^® levying of tithes for the support of the established church, which was equally distasteful ^o Romanists and Protestant dissenters, i" The resistance to the col- Chapter VI.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 585 Irisli Coercion Bill.- Revolntion threatened. Agitators in and out of Parliament. lection of tithes was so violent that it was abandoned. Collectors were murdered or maimed, and there were frequent hostile engage- ments between the police and the peasantry. To remedy the growing evil of insuBordination, the government introduced a Coercion Bill, which, wHle it offered a remedy for many things complained of, empowered the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland to pre- vent all public meetings supposed to be of a dangerous character, and to place distm-bed districts under martial law. § 7. The Reformed Parliament met on the 5th of February, 1833, v/hen the king found that partisan politicians had arranged mat- ters in connection with the franchise to subserve their, own party interests. Population was professedly the guide, but the disfran- chising process had been so managed that many inconsiderable places, where Whig leadera had influence, had been spared the pruning-knife. The honest king was offended, and ever after- wards he distrusted the Whig pa,rty. But they were too powerful then to heed his displeasure. There was an overwhelming ma- jority of Reformers in the House of Commons, and at one time fears were entertained that the church, the aristocracy, and aU of the privileged institutions would be swept away. Nothing but the natural conservatism of Englishmen preserved them. Sir Robert Peel, who had offended the Tory party by his liber- » § 11, p. 564. ality, " had again become their trusted leader, and stood at the head of a Consei-vative party in the kingdom, com- posed of men of all shades in politics. The Tories now dropped their old name and called themselves Consei-vatives. Peel's or- ganization of the party was admirable, and they had a promise of a return to official power. § 8. The noted William Cobbett * had a seat in the new parlia- ment as a representative of a Lancashire borough, - and Daniel O'Connell ° was also there. They were the agitators of reforms which alarmed all property-hold- ers. Cobbett proposed such changes in relation to the currency as amounted almost to the repudiation of the national debt; while O'Connell, with tlireats and arguments, T T . , ^ S 'J»i p. 549. demanded a repeal of the union of Ireland with Great Britain." The latter had many and powerful partisans. And while these leaders of factions were pressmg their measures a numerous body called Chartists ' had appeared. Their friends ^ Composed chiefly of the worldng people of England, who demanded what they y5* 586 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book X. Abolition of Slavery. Further Beforms demanded. Change of Minifitry. in parliament declared that the Reform Bill had only transferred power from the Tones to the Wliigs, and feU far short of wliat the people rightfully demanded. They were, in fact, the revived Radicals of 1816," and, like^them, held many and ° ■ ■ often tumultuous popular meetings. Soon after this Trades Unions rose into notice, and caused riots in many places. § 9. Two important questions occupied much of the attention of parliament in 1833. These were, the abolition of slavery and amendment of the poor-laws. The popular agitatiftn in England of the subject of slavery had made its imj)ression on the colonies where it existed, and where there were many very intelligent men of color, chiefly mulattoes. These impressions finally excited ac- tion, and caused servile insmxections in Jamaica and the Mauritius. Wilberforce, Fowell Buxton, and others had for years urged the abolition of slavery, and they now had the satisfaction of seeing the ripe fruit of their benevolent efforts in the passage of an act [August 28,1833] for its total extinction thi-oughout the British do- minions, for the promotion of industry among their slaves, and for compensation to the slave-holders for their losses. For the latter purpose the sum of £20,000,000, or |100,000,000, was appropri- ated. Slavery terminated on the first of August, 1 834. §10. Before the poor-law question could be reached there was a change in the administration. Earl Grey had not met the expec- tations of the people. He had commenced his administration with promises of reform and retrenchment of expenses, but had made little progress in either. The Reform Act was already declared to stand in need of reform ; the retrenchment consisted chiefly in re- ducing the army and navy to a dangerous weakness ; and the pro- fessed desire for peace had for its commentary the guaranteeing by England of the thrones of the young queens of Spain and Portu- gal, which thi-eateucd to involve the country in war with half the nations of Europe. At length a proposed extension of the Irish - § 6 p 584 ^°''^'^^°'i ^^1 *■ brought a crisis in the administration. ' ' ■ Grey was so stung by some remarks made by O'Con- nell that he suddenly resigned his office, in July, 1834. Lord Melbourne now became prime minister, and a new poor-law was speedily passed, which was generally considered so harsh in its called the People'! Charter, the six points of which were : Universal Svfra^e, Vote by Ballot, Annual ParHamenU, Payment of the Members, the Abolition of the Property linjlifiadiim (which was enacted in June, 1S58), and Equal Electoral Distrlctn Chapter VI.] THE HOUSE OF BRUIsrSWICK. 587 Eeform Meaeures. _ Interference in Foreign Affairs. provisions that it was actually oppressive. It was modified, and lias worked beneficently. Melbourne was not mucli liked by the king, and the monarch observed with satisfaction the steady Con- servative reaction which justified him at length in summarily dis- missing Melbourne [Nov., 1834] and calling Peel" to the premiership. The Duke of Wellington was called ' '' to the Foreign Secretaryship. The new ministers dissolved the par- liament, hoping by a new election to have a supporting legislature. They were d^appointed, for on the assembling of parliament tliey found themselves in a minority, and in April, 1835, were compelled to resign,* when the Melbourne minis- ' try, with the exception of Lord Brougham, returned to office. §11. The Melbourne ministry was now in alliance with O'Connell and the Irish members, and proceeded to carry out other reforms. The most prominent of these were the Municipal Reform BUI, and a bill to allow dissenters, or non-conformists," to • _L, • , -, ™, , . , ° § 19, p. 4W. maiTy m then- own cliapeJs. They also carried measures for tithe commutation i [Aug. 13, 1836], and a general Registration Act. These measures, all tendmg to greater 'freedom and power on the part of the people, Were met by opposition at every step, even by the Consei-vatives, whose very name implies a willingness to allow things to remain as they were in England, in defiance of the disturbing pressure of the manifested progressive spirit of th« age. They received important modifications at the hands of Sir Robert Peel. § 12. Allusion has been made to the proposition of the Grey ministry to guarantee the thrones of Spain and Portugal to young queens. During several years of William's reign there were fierce strifes in both countries, in which Englishmen took a prominent part, though war was never declared. Don Pedro, the expelled Emperor of Brazil, ■■ went to Europe, and sought to '' § 3, p, 583 place his daughter, Donna Maria, on her rightful throne of Portugal, 'which his younger brother, who had been re- gent, had usurped. Pedro sought aid from England, and was allowed to raise quite a powerful force there ; and Admiral Napier, of the British navy, was appointed to command Pedro's fleet. Napier soon decided the contest in favor of the young queen by 1 Tithes, or tenths, were first claimed in England by Augustin, and were allowed by Ethelbert, about the year 600. By a constitutional decree made in an English synod in 786 they were enjoined, and in a general assembly held by Ethelwold, in 844, tithes were first gi-anted to the English clergy. 588 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book X. Civil War in Spain meddled with. War with the Chinese. capturing the whole of Miguel's fleet off Cape St. Vincent on the 3d of July, 1833. For this exploit his own sovereign created him Count Cape St. Vincent, and Donna Maria made him a first-class grandee of Portugal. § 13. This war for the succession in Portugal had scarcely con- cluded when another broke out in Spain. King Ferdinand had been persuaded to set aside th^ SaUc Law. of the Bourbons, that allowed no woman to reign, and his young daughter Isabella, now [1871] in exUe, was made his successor in 1833, when«she was less than three years of age, to the prejudice of her uncle, Don Carlos. She was placed under the guai'dianship of her mother, Queen Christina. Don Carlos resolved to vindicate his asserted right un- der the Salic Law. A fierce civil war ensued, in which the parties took respectively the names of Carlists and Christines. As queen Christina promised a liberal government, England became a pai-ty to the Quadruple AUiance,^ which guaranteed the succession to the Spanish and Portuguese thrones. A legion (10,000 men) was allowed to be raised in England for the service of little Isabella ; but the Spaniards looked upon these foreign troops with jealousy. The legion suffered severe losses by sickness and otherwise, without the opportunity of acquiring much military glory. The sm'vivors returned to England iu 1837; but the war continued three years longer, and was then decided in favor of Isabella by Merato, a Carlist general, who joined her troops. § 14. William's reign was marked by the beginning of an imho- ly war against the Chinese by British forces, vrith the avowed ob- ject of compelling the Chinese government to allow trade in opium, which had been the means of injming the health and corrupting the morals of millions of its people. For a long time the trade in opium, raised in the British possessions in India, with the Chinese had been enormously profitable, for the inhabitants of China ea- gerly sought the happy delirium of the drug. Their government, seeing its pernicious effects, endeavored to suppress the trafiac, but the British continued it in spite of laws. So persistent were thej in this that the emperor became exasperated, and when an Eng- lish embassy under Lord Amherst reached Pekin, in 1816, he re- ' There was a Quadruple Alliance formed between Great Britain, France, and the Emperor ol Germany, in 1718 and 1719, for the purpose of guaranteeing the succession of the reigning families of Great Britain and Prance "S". p«8, and settling the partition of the Spanish monarchy." It led to war. Chapteu VI.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 589 The Opium Trade. Death o( King WiUiara. Treaty with China. fused to see them. Then followed such rigid prohibitory laws that, in course of time, the traffic was almost destroyed, to the relief of the Chinese from the gi-eat curse. The British government in India " resolved to protect its subjects ' * ' ^' in the nefarious trade, and the home government sent armed ves- sels to Canton in 1831 and 1834 to intimidate the Chinese govern- ment. They failed to do so. But at the same time English smug- glers of the drug were f ui'nished with armed ships to caiTy on the injurious trade. The energetic Governor Lin, of Canton, was aroused. He concentrated there a large force and compelled Brit- ish merchants to deliver up all their stock of opium, worth $20,- 000,000, which was destroyed in March, 1839. Then the use of opium was made a capital crime. An army was sent fi-om India to co-operate with the English warships against the Chinese towns and fortifications, when the English naval forces took the island of Hong Kong, and the India army put Canton to ransom and occupied several ports. By treaty in 1842, Hting Kong was ceded to the English, and an indemnity of $31,000,000 was paid to them ; and in 1843 the ti'ade with China was opened to all na- tions. This was a gain for the interests of commerce and civiliza- tion. The terms of the treaty were not observed by the opium- traders, and after disputes and sldrmishes another war broke out. § 15. WWIe the troubles in the East and the reform measures in parliament were going on, the aged king's strength began to fail, and in May, 1837, whenhe was in the seventy-second year of his age, he was seized with a dangerous illness. But ever kindly in feeling, he gave a ball in honor of the birthday [May 24] and the majority of his niece Victoria, the heu- to the throne he was about to leave. He sent her an elegant piano as his present on the occasion ; and he afterward, when in an almost dying condition, sent a request to the Duke of Wellington not to omit the usual dinner on the anni- versarv of the victory at Waterloo. '' He failed rapidly, » "^ § 55, p. 557. and at two o'clock in the morning of the 20th of June, he died. The Archbishop of Canterbury was with him. A short time after the king's departure, three carriages drove up and speedily bore away the Primate, the Earl of Albemarle, and Sir Hem-y Half ord the royal physician, to Kensington Palace, where, on their arrival at five o'clock, the Duchess of Kent, and her daughter Victoria, then become queen, stood in the morning simlight expecting the news. The messengers of the solemn tidings then rode away, and veiy 690 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. l^POK X Accession ol Victoria. Her Popularity. Insurrectionary Spirit prevailing, soon the proclamatiou went forth that the king was dead and Vic- toria was monarch of Grreat Britain. CHAPTER Vn. Reign of Victoria, [fkom a.d. 1837.] § 1. ViCTOEiA, the only child of Edward Duke of Kent,' who died long before, had just passed her eighteenth birth- ' ' ' day when she was called to occupy the British throne. The immediate political effect of that accession was the dissolu- tion of the connection between the crowns of England and Han- over.'' The succession of the latter had been settled ' § 10, p B19. > only in the male line, and it now became the inherit- ance of Ernest Duke of Cumberland, the eldest surviving son of George the Third. The young Queen was received by the people with great joy, and entered upon her duties while millions of loyal subjects were invoking the choicest blessings of Heaven upon her- self and her reign. Lord Melbourne was retained as premier, with his associates in the Cabinet, the most active of whom was Lord „„ „„ John Russell, whose zeal in favor of the Dissenters" •^ g 11, p. 587. 1 , . was shown by his pressing several measures for their benefit, such as the abolition of church rates ; but he could not succeed in can-ying them. § 2. An insurrectionary spirit was now abroad in England and «^c toe i"^ ^°^'^ "f ^^'■' colonies. The Chartist leaders " were *^ S o, p. 000. . very active m fanning the discontents of the working- classes, which were intensified by a dearth of food, caused by the unfavorable harvests of 1838, and consequent distress among the poor. In the autumn of 1838, many large Chartist meetings were held ia the northern counties, and when the shorter days came they were held by torch-light. At one of them, near Manchester, 200,000 persons were present. In the following year a National Convention was gathered in London, composed of delegates from the working-classes, and a petition was presented by it so numer- ously signed that it was necessary to roll it into the House of Commons in half a cask. That body refused to receive it, when CllAPTEE Vn.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 591 Insmrection in Coniida. Domeetic Agitationn. Affairs in the Ease Indies. riots occurred in many places. At Newport the disturbance was suppressed at the cost of about twenty-five lives. § 3. Meanwhile an insun'ection had broken out in Canada, where discontents from causes inseparable from colonial relations had prevailed for a long time. This ocoun'ed at about the time of the queen's accession. We have observed that the American Loyal- ists,' who settled in Western or Upper Canada, had » § 24 p. 544 remained firm in their allegiance down to the close of the war in 1815. After that many thousands of pereons from the United States, atti-acted by the fertility of the soil, settled among them, and there widely diffused their Republican spirit, not only among the descendants of those Loyalists, but also among the French settlers in Lower Canada and later colonists from England. The insmxection had for its object the establishment of an inde- pendent government. Large numbers of persons in the United States, chiefly young men living along the borders, sympathized with the struggling colonists and went over to their aid. The rising was put down. Some persons taken in arms were hanged, others were transported, while others suffered confiscation of prop- erty. § 4. While the Chartist agitation was at its height, a more order- ly and dignified movement for the benefit of the people was going on. This was the work of the Anti-Com-Law League, which was formed at Manchester, in September, 1838, having for its object the abolition of the restrictions upon the importation of gi-ain and the promotion of free-trade principles. The most influential member of that League was the late Richard Cobden, in whom the people had unbounded confidence. § 5. Jealousy of the power of Russia in interfeilng with British Lidia, by promoting discontent among the native princes and peo- ple, caused a large army to be sent out to counteract the machina- tions of the great Northern power. The army entered Cabul, and placed on the throne [a.D; 1839] Shah Soojah, the son of a prince driven out thirty years before, instead of Dost Mahommed, sup- posed to be a pensioner of Russia. In 1841 the country rose in re- Ijellion. The British army was compelled to retreat, and perished almost utterly among the mountain passes. The Shah was put to death soon afterward. § 6. In 1842 an " avenging expedition "' was sent into that coun- try, which committed great havoc and then withdrew ; but the fate 593 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X War with Egypt. Marriage of Queen Victoria, of the former had made a deep impression, and several of the native States ventured again to take arms. The Malii-attas were routed at Maharajpoor [a.d. 1843], and the Sikhs atMoodkee, Ferozeshah, and Sobraon [a.d. 1845, 1846], and the large province of Scinde were added to the British Indian Empu-e." But the ■ ■ impression remained that it would not be impossible to overthrow that empire, and it gave rise to a still more formida- ble outbreak a few years later. § 7. There was another war in the year 1839, having the preser- vation of the Turkish empire for its i^rofessed object, but was prompted quite as much by jealousy of the designs of Russia as the Cabul war had been. Mehemet Ali, the pasha of Egypt, whose fleet was destroyed at Navarino,' had since made war b g 9 p 5{J4 *^ ' ' ' successfully against his master the Sultan. In 1839 he was in possession of Syria, and was known to be abetted by both France and Russia. As he refused to withdraw on the joint demand of Turkey, England, and Austria, a fleet was sent to coerce him. The Syrians, who had been much oppressed by the pasha, were sup- plied witli arms and money, and rose against him. A camp of English marines was formed at the foot of Lebanon ; the famous cities of Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, and Acre were taken, and the Egyp- tian troops, after a defeat among the mountains, left the country. Soon afterward the pasha's own chief poii, Alexandria, was in danger, for the French ministry, which had promised him its sup- joort, was overawed by the English fleet, and abandoned lum. At this crisis Commodore Kajjier, to whom most of the successes in Syria were owing, adroitly took advantage of the pasha's alarm, and, on* his own resiJonsibiUty, concluded a treaty with him [a.d. 1841], which closed the war. After some little delay the treaty was ratified by the government ; and it is in virtue of this that Egypt is now an hereditary monarchy in all but in name. § 8. "Wliilst these wars were going on, the queen married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Cobvn-g, of whom she was deeply enamored. He was a man of refined taste and most benevolent and enlightened views, and he was the means of conferring many essential benefits on his adopted cotmtry. Breaking throuo-h the routine of former reigns, the queen and her consort visited the continent, and yearly took up their summer residence in Soot- land. Ireland Vi'as less visited, as its climate was foukd not to agree with the health of her Majesty. Besides, that island, for Chapter VII.] THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK. 593 Affairs in Ireland. Com Law, and Anti-Oom-Law League. several years, was not a country that could be visited with pleasure by a British sovereign, for , O'Connell, having achieved Catholic Emancipation, had turned his attention to obtaining a repeal of the Union. » Weeldy meetings were held " ^ ^' "' ^^' in Conciliation Hall, in Dublin, and " monster meetings " were held in various parts of the coimtry. § 9. Tara Hill was a, favorite place of assemblage. It was an an- cient seat of Irish monarchy, and O'Coimell was popularly regard- ed as the " uncrowned king " of the country. Large sums were collected for the Agitator, and the country seemed to be on the verge of revolution at one time. But the great Irish leader was too useful to the Whig ministry in other matters for them to venture to interfere with him. § 10. The Melbourne ministry, never veiy strong, were made un- popular among the Protestant inhabitants of the realm because of their close alliance with O'Connell ; and when, in the spring of 1841, Sir Robert Peel carried a resolution of want of confidence in them, by a single vote, they resigned. Peel then became pre- inier the second term, with a strong cabinet, in which the Duke of Wellington took a seat without any oiHce. He found the finances of the country in a bad state, owing to the false economy of Ms predecessor, and to put the exchequer in a more satisfactory con- dition, he introduced and carried [a.d. 1842] a new and more satisfactory corn-law ; an act imposing an income-tax of seven- pence sterling in the pound — a measure formerly employed only in time of war — and a customs act repealing several oppressive duties. These measures were opposed by the Conservatives,' the great body of whom refused to follow Peel, and . ' p- • because of their adhesion to the principle of levying heavy duties they were henceforth called Protectionists, with Lord Stanley as their leader. § 11. The Anti-Com-law League ° continued to keep up an agita- tion which greatly embarrassed the premier. It had a powerful coadjutor in Providence. The summer of 1 845 was wet and cold, and the harvest was deficient not only in Great Britain but throughout Europe. In Ireland, almost the entire potato crop — the food staple of the peasantry — was diseased, and this calamity, repeated the next year, produced a famine in whole districts. To relieve the distress, parliament voted £10,000,- 000, or $50,000,000. This state of things gave the League power- 594 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Ireland agitated. O'ConneU and O'Brien. Bevolntions. ful arguments; and wlien, in the spring of 1846, storms and showers were frequent, the popular cry was, " It rains repeal. " The premier could stand the pressure no longer, and he procured a re- peal of the obnoxious- bill [June, 1846], to take eifect gradually. • This offended the great body of his supportei-s a second » §10, p. B93. . , , ,. 1 i • i Tx time," and he retu-ed to private lite. § 13. Ireland was still agitated and distressed. O'Connell was no more her champion. In the height of his power, and while in at- tendance upon a " monster meeting," he was arrested [October 14, 1843], by order of the premier (Peel), and tried and condemned, with some coadjutors, for conspiracy and sedition, by the Court of Queen's Bench, in Dublin. The judgment was afterward revereed by the House of Lords, as a matter of State policy and necessity ; but it was a severe blow to the great Agitator. His health was then failing. He went to the continent with a hope of regaining it, but died at Genoa, in May, 1847. His mantle of influence in Ireland fell upon weaker shoulders, and when, in 1 848, there was made a feeble attempt at insurrection, William Smith O'Brien as- sumed to take the great Agitator's place as leader. He failed. The rising was put down, and O'Brien and several of his associates were found guilty of high treason. The death penalty was com- muted to banishment to the penal colony of Botany Bay. § 13. Lord John Eussell'' became premier on the retirement of K „ . „c, P^el, and held the post, though amid much discontent •" § 4, p. 684. ., at home and numerous revolutions abroad, until 1852. Louis Pliilippe ° was expelled fTom France and a re- public established ; the whole of Italy was convulsed and the Pope driven fi'om Rome ; the Hungarians rose in arms, and the Poles made some feeble efforts to imitate them ; whilst Smith O'Brien made his abortive insurrection in Ireland, and 20,000 Chai-tists as- sembled in liOndon [Apiil 10, 1848] for the purpose of presenting a petition to parliament. Smith O'Brien's party were disperaed by the police, and the Duke of Wellington took such effective mili- tary precautions in London, in connection with 150,000 citizens, who were enrolled as special constables, as prevented any mis- chief being done on that occasion. § 14. Scarcely had the excitement on these matters subsided when the Pope (now returned to Rome, and protected by a French army) named Dr. Wiseman a cardinal, and twelve other clergymen bishops of sees created for them by his authority in England. This CnAPTER VII.J THE HOUSE OP BEUN.SWICK. 595 The First Oiystal Palace. Death of Wellington. Alliance with France. invasion of the queen's prerogative was greatly resented. Ai\ act called the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill was passed [August, 1851], forbidding the use of these titles under a penalty of £100, and the alarm soon subsided. § 15. The following year saw the first of those exhibitions of the products -of all nations that have since become so common and which was considered as symboHoal of free-trade piinciples. Prince Albert " was its great promoter, and it was held in an enormous building in Hyde Park, where ' his Memorial now stands, known as the Crystal Palace, it being composed of iron and glass. The second exhibition was held on the same spot, in 1862 ; but it had not the advantage of the Prince's guidance, for he had died, after a brief illness, not long before. The Exhibition building was styled by hopeful men the Temple of Peace, and the advocates of free-trade declared that nations were now so united by their commercial interests that war was no longer possible. Happily in one sense, but unfortunately in another, statesmen, who hold in their hands the issues of peace and war, did not share the pleasant delusion, and the army and navy were not dismissed as useless, for one of England's greatest wars was at hand. § 16. Lord John KusseU' was compelled to resign early in 1852, and was succeeded by Lord Stanley, who had then became Earl of Derby. But the life of that cabinet was short. Derby failed to carry some favorite measures, even after he had resorted to the measure of dissolving the parlia- ment, and in December following he also was compelled to re- tire. He was succeeded by Lord Aberdeen, who formed a sort of coalition cabinet. Meanwhile the great captain and statesman, the Duke of Wellington, had expired, and been honored by a magnificent public funeral. § 17. The Aberdeen Cabinet now entered into an alliance with the Emperor of the French for the purpose of preventing Eussia from oven-unning and crushing Turkey, which seemed to be its de- sign. That emperor was an unscrupulous adventurer, who, by the prestige of the name and deeds of his uncle, the Emperor Napo- leon, was elected President of the French Kepublic established in 1848, after the flight of Louis Philippe.' By fraud ^^^ and force he seized the government [December 3, 1851], dissolved the existing Constitution, made himself supreme 696 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. English Troops on the Danube. Demands ol Bussia. Preparations for War. ruler of France, and, in 1853, re-established the empire of his uncle. With this perfidious man England became a partner in a ■war against Russia, declared in 1854, after a year of fruitless nego- tiation. English troops (the Guards) were sent to the East so early as February, 1854, and while they were inactive for months among the marshes of the Danube, fever and cholera decimated them. § 18. That Russia, under the plea of protection of all the mem- bers of the Greek Church residing in the Turkish dominions, on account of some violence some of them had suffered in 'Pales- tine at the hand of Latin monks, designed to seize and hold Constantinople and the Turkish empire preparatory to pushing conquests eastward, admits of little dispute. The Czar Nicholas made the demand for such protection on the Sultan of Turkey. It was refused, when Russian troops crossed the frontier into "Wal- lachia and Moldavia, where they were defeated by Turkisli troops under Omar Pacha, at Oltenitza, on the 4th of November, 1853. And so war was begun several months before it was actually de- clared. § 19. Nicholas calculated for success on the weakness of Turkey — "the sick man,'' as he metaphorically called the empire — the subservience of Germany, the unsettled state of Prance, and the con- nivance of England, which he hoped to bribe by offering Egypt as its share of the effects of the " sick man.'' Turkey claimed the assistance of England on the faith of treaties : tlie usurper in France, under the title of. Napoleon the Third, now bore absolute sway over that people, and Austria and Prussia stood aloof. A com- bined English and French fleet went to the Black Sea, and shut up the Russians at Sebastopol, and in 1854 these two governments declared war against Russia. The English troops sent to the Crimea, on which stands Sebastopol, were commanded by Lord Raglan, and the French by Marshal St. Amaud. At the same time Sir Charles Napier was despatched to the Baltic with a Brit- ish fleet. It was not until September that the first troops sent out to the Danube were put in motion, and, landing on the Crimea, gained the battle of Alma on the 20th of September, 1854. § 30. While English statesmen linow the power of Russia to be very great, an English parliamentary orator .declared it was a mis- take, and boasted that tlie empire of the Czar could be " crumpled up like this sheet of paper," wliich he threw on the floor. This Chapter VII.] THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWICK. 597 War with Russia. Operations in the Baltic. Siege oi: Sebastopol. boast went abroad and its effect was dreaded. The Russians then had two strong fleets in the Baltic, lying in the fortified harbors of Cronstadt and Sweaborg. Wlien war was declared they were frozen in ; but it was feared they would unite in the spiing, sail out of the Baltic, and retort the boastful language by attempting to land on the east coast of England, where so many Norsemen in- vaders fi'om the same direction " had begun their rav- ° « § 1, p. 27. ages in the olden time. To prevent tliis, Napier was sent to the entrance of the Baltic with fifteen steam-ships before the navigation Was open. § 21. Napier's fleet was, when it sailed, fit only for display and not for use. The vessels were far too large to get near the Rus- sian fortifications, and they were hurried ofE with weak, untrained crews, and had not pilots, or even a proper supply of ammunition. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the admiral made his pas- sage through fogs, and storms, training his men on the way ; but as the Russians would not come out to fight, he could only keep them blocked up in their harbors, which he had no means of at- tacking, for the gunboats needed for the purpose were never sent to him. After a time he was joined by a French squadron, with some troops, when the strong fortress of Bomarsund was besieged and taken [August 16, 1854], which was the only trophy of the war in the Baltic. The French soon after retired ; but the English admiral remained until the Russians were again rendered safe by being frozen in, and did not reach England till near Christmas. § 23. Wtilst Napier had been in the Baltic, the allies had fared badly in the Crimea. Sebastopol was found to be a far more for- midable place than had been supposed, and it had a yevy strong garrison — about 00,000 men in the fortress and on the heights — amply supplied, and resolved to hold it to the last extremity. It could only be reduced by a regular siege, and the English army had arrived without any preparation for passing the winter in so rigorous a climate. Beside this, the enemy were numerous and active, and the besiegers, consisting of English, French, and Turks, wore likely to become besieged in their camps. On the 25th of October, an order improperly delivered led Lord Cardigan and some 600 light horeemen to attack a complete army of Russians at Balaklava, to the south of Sebastopol, in which they lost nearly one-half of their number ; and on the 5th of November the Rus- sians became the assailants, in the gi-ay of the morning, at Inker- 598 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Beliel for Soldiers. The Baltic Fleet Death ol the Czar, man, an exposed part of the English position. The division at- tacked suffered most severely, and veas only saved from destruc- tion, so overvrhelmiiig was the number of the assailants, by the o^jportune succor of a French corps. § 23. The news of these events caused great exertions to be made by the pubUc to relieve the wants of the troops, and Florence Nightingale and many other ladies went out to the East to nurse the sick and wounded. But almost as great as these exertions was the indignation against the ministers, whose cruel carelessness had allowed them to embark in so vast an undertaking vrith so little provision for its success. Just at this time the Baltic fleet returned, having accomplished all that it was originally sent to do, namely, to prevent the escape of the Eussians, and taken Bomarsund into the bargain. But the ministers had sent fui-ther orders, just as the winter was setting in, for Sir Charles to attack Cronstadt, and as he had refused to exjjose his fleet to certain destruction by attempt- ing to carry out the impossible order, ho was deprived of his com- mand. But he was a man of sense and spirit, and showed so con- clusively that it was the ministry who were to blame, that they were driven from office within a month afterwards [February, 1855]. § 34. Lord Palmerston, a statesman who had been in office un- der many previous administrations, and had long been Foreign Secretary, now became premier, with several members of the late cabinet under him ; but the unpopularity of some of them was so great, particularly of Sir James Graham, the First Lord of the Ad- miralty, on whom was laid most of the blame in the Napier mat- ter, that they were obliged to retire, and the war was thencefor- ward conducted without any complaints of ministerial neglect, though the progress made with the siege of Sebastopol was very slow. The Baltic fleet sent out in 1855, under a new commander, and supplied with gunboats, trained seamen, pilots, and abundance of stores— in short, with all that the former commander asked for in vain— never ventured near the formidable Cronstadt, and con- tented itself with firing on Sweaborg from the safe distance of three or four miles. § 25. The Russian emperor died early in the second year of the war [March 2, 1S55], but this did not bring peace. The army be- fore Sebastopol was not large enough to invest it completely, and supplies wcie constantly poured in, so that the allies were, in reality. Chaptbk VII.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 599 Fallot Seb.asi»poL Peace. Political Kesnlts. China. contending against the wliole force of the empire. Lord Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud, the English and French com- manders," died during the siege ; but it was carried on by their su'ccessors, and at last, in September, 1855, after a siege for about a year, Sebastopol fell, and the allies stood triumphant amid the blood-stained ruins. The blow struck fell veiy heavy on the Russians, andviitually ended the war, as their forts, and docks, and a fine fleet, all were destroyed ; but the cost to the victors in blood and treasure was so great that they were quite ready to lis- ten to proposals of peace. A ccordingly a peace was concluded at Paris on the 30th of March, 1856, which gave the Tm-kish empire a little longer breathing-time, and raised the Sardinians to an equality with the great jjowers, they having sent a contingent to the Ciimea, though with no cause of complaint against Russia, at a time when any help was but too welcome. Meanwhile Austria and Prussia, whose interest seemed to be in checking the power of Russia, held aloof. The political results of the war were the abo- lition of the Russian protectorate in the Danubian principalities ; the establishment of the fi-eedom of the Danube and its mouth ; the banishment of both Russian and Turkish ships of war fi-om the Black Sea, excepting a few small vessels as a maritime police, and the placing of the protectorate of the Christian subjects of the Sultan in the joint hands of the contracting powers. It was on this basis that the definitive treaty of peace was signed at Paris. § 36. Though the income-tax had been doubled to carry on the war, it was found at its close to have added £33,000,000 to the national debt; and the rejoicings for the peace had scarcely con- cluded when news came of fresh difficulties with the „ ^ § 14, p. 588. Chinese.' They had seized a smuggling vessel, which they were entitled to do under the regulations ; but Sir John Bow- ring, the English governor of Hong Kong," -nath a seeming readiness to protect the lawbreakers in their nefarious trade, took this as a national affront, and bombarded Canton. That was in the summer of 1857. This proceeding was much discussed in England, and was generally regai-ded as far too high-handed ; but the mischief was done, and another Chinese war commenced. This, however, attracted comparatively little atten- tion at first, from the fact that a war springing out of Russian in- trigue existed with Persia, and that the British power in India 600 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. British Empire in India. Discontents of the Sepoys, seemed threatened with ruin from a mutiny in the Sepoy or native army at about the same time. § 37. The history of the British empire in India is a history of a great wrong, however much the establishment of that empire may have conduced to the advancement of civilization and Chris- tianity. It was begun, as we have seen, by the English East India Company." That company became rich and power- • § 8, p. 44. ^^^ ^^^ .^ ^ggg obtained a grant of Calcutta and two adjoining villages, with a right of jurisdiction over the inhabi- tants, and leave to erect fortifications. Then the seed of empire was planted, but the political power of the company did not begia until 1748, when they began making conquests 9f territory by ex- pelling native princes from then- provinces. So early as 1715 they purchased thirty-seven villages contiguous to Calcutta. The French traders in the East became jealous of the increasing power of the English and interfered, but were defeated in 1751, after which the company were unrestricted in the pm-suit of schemes of aggran- dizement. § 28. The government of "Warren Hastings was cmel and a^gres- siyo, and greatly extended the dominions of the British ; and in 1 792, his successor. Lord ComwaUis, compelled Tippoo Sahib, the Sultan of Mysore, to give up one-half of his dominions and over $10,000,000 in bullion. Seven years later Seringapatam was con- quered, and after a long series of bloody wars, and the exercise on the jjart of the English of measures justitied only by the ethics of the highwayman, that Might m^es Right, the British, in 1849, be- came masters of almost the entire peninsula of Hindostan, from Cape Comorin to the Himalaya Mountains and the Indus. Op- pression felt, and a perpetual sense of injury, caused revolts, which were occasions for terrible deeds on the part of the conquerors as well as the conquered. The most conspicuous of these was the mutiny of the Sepoys above mentioned. § 29. Tliis powerful body had been raised by the India Com- pany, and it had acquired a liigh degree of military efficiency un- der its EugUsh officers. Great regard was always paid to its wishes and prejudices, and it remained firmly attached to its white employ- ers so long as the company was allowed to manage its affairs in its own way. Indeed the feeling between each regiment and its C(5lonel was something like the tie of clanship among the High- landers. He was, in Indian phrase, their " father and mother ■ " his Chaptek VII.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 601 TJnwise Kule in India. Mutiny. Causes of Bxasperation. power they regarded as absolute, and he could do no wrong in their eyes. But Lord William Bentinck, who was appointed Gov- ernor-General of India in 1838, put an end to this state of things. He was an enthusiastic Liberal, who had tried to govern Sicily in a parliamentary way when the British troops held that island [a.d. 1813], and he wished to bring all Indian institutions to the English model. In the words of the Duke of Wellington, who knew him well, "He changed everything and settled nothing.'' §30. Eef using to see hnw different the circumstances of Eng- land and India were, and how impossible it was to rule Asiatics without an approach to the despotism to which they were accus- tomed. Lord Bentinck not only reduced the pay of the European oiBcers, but stripped them of authority, obliging them to send the most trivial complaint to the government, instead of deciding it on the spot. The consequence was, that the Sepoys soon lost their former feeling of mingled respect and awe, and became turbulent and mutinous. Alarmed at this, another Governor-General (Lord Dalhousie) retraced some of his predecessor's stops ; but not con- tent with that, he needlessly irritated the Sepoys by depriving them of many long-established piivileges, which were not only of mon- ey value to them-r-for instance, any cause of theirs in the courts was disposed of out of turn ; they paid no toUs or customs, and their letters were carried free — but a source of pride. Several regiments of the Bengal army resented this by absolutely refusing to embark for service against the Burmese in 1853, and they were allowed to prevail, other forces being substituted. § 31. The army was thus made discontented and aware of its power at the same time ; and, to increase the danger, the purely European ideas of the governors, fresh from England, led them to give mortal offence to the native princes. The company had been careful to preserve to these the shadow of power, and they cared for nothing more. But when Lord Dalhousie seized on the domin- ions of the King of Oude, on the plea of misgovemment [a.d. 1856], however true that might be, he alarmed (3very native chief, from the highest to the lowest, and it only wanted a single spark to light up the deep discontent into a flame. This was soon supplied by the neglect of the prejudices and feelings of the natives, which, since a change had been effected in the position of the company^ had taken the place of the deference formerly paid. § 33. Just about the time of the annexation of Oude, a new 36 602 - HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book DC Porce of Superstition. Insurrection and Masfacrc. InsurgenfB craslied. kind of cartridge for the use of the Enfield rifle was issued to tho native army. In their use these cartridges were greased with mutton-fat and wax. The Sepoys were told that it was the fat of swine and cows, both abominations to the Hindoos and Mahom- medans, the use of which would affect their social position. The deposed king and his crafty minister spread abroad the idea that there was some pollution about it, so that aU who used it would , lose caste and at length be forced to become Christians. The government unwisely took no steps to explain the matter, and when a regiment of cavalry at Meerut refused the cartridges, almost 100 men were imprisoned. Their comrades at once broke open the jail, released them, and also some 1,500 desperate prisoners, and at once began murdering every European that they could meet. That was on the 10th of May, 1857. They then seized on Delhi, where one of the deposed princes resided, made him their king, and invited Hindoos and Mahommedans alike to join them in driving the English from India. The city contained a vast store of arms, it being a great arsenal, yet without a, European garrison, and they were well prepared to stand a siege whilst awaiting succor. A force was marched against them, but it was not till the month of September that the city was taken, with great loss of life. § 33. In the mean time other regiments had lisen in every quarter, and whilst some marched to join their coim'ades in Delhi, others spread over the country, committing the most horrible atro- cities. In most cases they commenced with the murder of their officers ; but in some others these owed their lives to the good-will of their men, being warned to make their escape. In July the great station of Cawnpore was obliged to smTender to Nana Sahib, a native, who had a personal grievance, when the whole of the Europeans — men, women, and children — were pitilessly massacred. Lucknow, the capital of Gude, however, held out untU relieved by Sii- Colin Campbell, a Peninsular veteran, who had been de- spatched from England as soon as the news of the mutiny arrived, in November. Under his able management the mutineers and their sympathizers among the native princes were put dovm ; but this was not efEected without a two yeare' struggle. The immi- nence of the danger had shown that the India Company, as re- strained by its charter of 1833, was imequal to the task of governing mo large a country ; accordingly all its possessions were Chapter VII.] THE HOUSE OF BEUlsrsWICK:: 603 "War with China. Threats of the French. Jew.s admitted to Parliament. transfen-ed to the crown, and the queen was formally proclaimed sovereign of India on the 3d of August, 1858, the Governor-Gen- enal (Lord Canning) taking henceforth the title of Viceroy. Then Queen Victoria became Empress of India — the supreme raler over 300,000,000 subjects there. § 34. During all this period the war with China had gone on, the French also beaiing a part in it. Canton was taken, the foi-ts at the mouth of the Peiho stormed, and in October, 1860, Pekin, the capital, was reached, and the emperor's summer palace plun- dered. The Chinese government then agreed to a peace, which conceded many commercial advantages to the English. By the enterprise of Lord Elgin, who, as plenipotentiary to China, exer- cised a general supervision of the British trade to the remote East, communications were, shortly before this, opened with Japan, and an important commerce has been the result ; but the attempt to establish fi-iendly relations with Abyssinia, by means of some Geiman missionaries, was not so successful. § 35. Early in the year 1858 an Italian named Orsini, and other conspirators, attempted to assassinate the Emperor Napoleon the Third, and as the plot was believed to have been devised by Ita- lian refugees in England, some Fi'ench military men, supposed to be instigated by the emperor, uttered loud threats of invasion. These were answered by the immediate formation of volunteer coi-ps, which in 1859 numbered 150,000 men, and at the beginning of 1870 reached 190,000. Lord Palmerston tried to procure an alteration in the law regarding such conspiracies, but this could not be listened to in the face of threats, and he was obliged to re- • tire from office. Lord Derby then became premier, and held the post from February, 1858, to June, 1859; but nothing of impor tance occurred, excepting the passage of a law for the admission of Jews to seats in parliament. A new parliament, in 1859, re- stored Lord Palmerston to power, and he continued premier until Ills death, in October, 1865. § 36. During this, Palmerston's last administration, society was in a most uneasy state in England and on the Continent, and many political and social changes occurred. But England interfered less in the affairs of other nations than ever before. Palmerston's policy was one of non-interference — a policy conspicuously in con- trast with that of his administration as Foreign Secretary from 1830 to 1841, and fiom 1840 to 1851, when he was praised by 604 , HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. [Book X Preparations for War. Civil War in America. TriparUte AJliance. some and Uamccl by others because, in effect, lie undertook the government of the world. The continental commotions and the events of the civil war in America caused him to make all neces- sary preparations against attack. The army was increased, and the sum of £11,000,000, or $55,000,000, was voted for fortifications, and an almost equally large sum was expended in building enor- mous iron-clad ships and constructing equally enormous guns. § 37. The unfriendly attitude assumed by Lord Palmerston and his cabinet toward the government of the United States, when the great civil war broke out in the spring of 1801 , was a grave mis- take. The impression had gone abroad the previous winter that the Union would certainly be destroyed by the secession of States, and the Republic be broken into fragments. Lured by the ofEer of free-trade, by the Southern Confederacy that was formed in February, the British Cabinet not only persuaded the Queen to acknowledge those Confederates, by proclamation [May 13, 1861], to be legally belligerents and possessed of belligerent rights, but entered into a secret agreement with the Emperor of the French," to act in concert in giving encourage- ment to the msurgents in arms. That cabinet went so far as to give official notice to other governments of that evident understanding between those two leading powers, thereby endeavoring to array all EurojDO against our Republic. Evidently believing that the United States were then almost helpless through the distractions of civil war, England and Spain, deceived by the false pretences of the Emperor of the French, entered into an alliance with France against the comparatively feeble Republic of Mexico, on our south- ern border, for the purpose, it was believed, to give moral and ma- terial aid to the insurgents when it should seem to be expedient. England and Spain soon discovered the perfidy of Napoleon and the iniquity of his schemes, and withdi-ew ; but the Emperor of the French proceeded to overtlirow the Mexican Republic, and to es- tablish a monarchy there. It was short-lived. § 88. For a long time the British Government, British orators, statesmen, and publicists, and the British press in the interest of the government, indulged in the most unfriendly language and acts toward the government of the United States and its adherents. British ships continually ran the blockade of Southern ports with supplies for the insurgents. A member of the British Pariiament built war-ships for the Confederates, with which to assail Ameri- Chapter VII.] THE HOUSE OF BEUNSWICK-. fi05 Belligerent England. American Help for Bnglish Sufferers. can commerce, and they were equijiped and manned by British subjects, and welcomed, with their plunder, in British colonial poi-ts. And when the commander of a United States ship-of-war boarded a British packet-ship [November 8, 1861], and took thsro- from two ambassadors of the Confederates, the British Govei-n- mcnt, without making a demand for redress, or waiting to hear wlietlier the Government of the United States approved the act, made extensive preparations for war, and ordered troops to Canada for the purpose.' Meanwhile the Government of the United States had disavowed the act [November 30], and ordered the restoration of the prisoners to a British vessel. § 39. The friendly attitude of the British ruling class toward the Confederates deluded the latter with the belief that the British government would acknowledge their independence and national- ity and give them material aid. This delusion caused the pro- longation of the war at least two years. Immense sums of mon 'y had been lent to the Confederates by individuals of an association composed of members of the British aristocracy and merchants, for the avowed purpose of aiding the Confederates to overthrow the Republic. These naturally desired their success, while the ship- builders and blockade-runners, and the ship-owners, profiting by the destruction of American commerce by the sea-rovers that the British government allowed to go out of port in spite of the re- monstances of the American ambassador, were quite willing that the war should go on. § 40. While the ruling and mercantile classes of England were friendly to the Confederates, the great mass of the people prayed for peace and the triumpli of our Government. The cotton famine caused by the war produced wide-spread distress in the manu- facturing districts of England, where the mill-wheels ceased revolv- ing. And here it seems proper to mention the fact, that when the war was at its height, and British vessels sailing under Confeder- ate flags were destroying American shipping and ruining Ameri- can commerce, the merchants and others of the city of New York sent a large ship [a.d. 1863] laden with- provisions for the starving working-people of Lancashire and other districts in England, of the value of $100,000. And our government was compelled, by I The St. Lawrence river was frozen at the time, and the troops conld not reacll Canada by water. Our Secretary of State, with grim humor, offered to grant them permission to cross our territory by railway from Portland, in the State of Maine. 60fi HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. An expensiTe Blunder. Eoform Act. The Fenians. considerations of liumanity, to send a war-ship to protect that vessel of mercy from the touch of Anglo-Confederate cruisers then rov- ing the sea and making the Atlantic luminous with burning Ame- rican ships. § 41. The unfriendly conduct of the British governing class was a woful blunder. It alienated the hearts of friends. The im- mense sums loaned to the Confederates were lost. The captures of blockade-runners were so numerous that the losses of the busi- ness far exceeded the profits, and the government was held respon- sible for the losses sustained by Americans from the depredations of the Anglo-Confederate cniisers. That blunder cost the British nation at least $100,000,000. § 43. . Earl Russell (the Lord John Russell of former times) " now became premier, and followed the non- intervention policy, so that a brief but fierce war between Prus- sia and Austria [a.d. 1866] passed away without England being mixed up in it, even although the kingdom of Han- over,' which had formerly been the cause of so many contests, was seized by the victorious Prussians, who became the leading people in Gennany. Earl Russell, instead of mixing in ^„. the quarrel, turned his attention to the Reform Act •^ S 4, p. 584. of 1832. « It had for many years, and by very differ- ent parties, been denounced as unfaii- and insufiicient. Lord Pal- merston had tried to stifle action on the subject, and Russell had incurred much unpopularity by declaring that he considered it a final measure. In 1854 he brought in a bill for its amendment, but this was dropped in consequence of the war in south-eastern Europe. The subject was revived by the Derby administration in 1 859, and in 1860 by Earl Russell, but nothing was done. It was now again brought forward, but its provisions were not acceptable to the new parliament, and the ministry had to resign [June, 1866], when the Earl of Derby came into office for the third time, with Benjamin Disraeli as the leader of the House of Commons. § 43. An organization composed of natives of Ii-eland, and known as the Fenian Brotherhood, now began to give the British government much trouble. The avowed object of the leaders was, and is, to effect the independence of Ireland. The Brotherhood began to assume shape in Ireland, the United States, and Canada, in 1 859 and 1 860. Being unrestrained by law in tlie United States' and that counti-y having a very large native Irish population the Chai>tbr VII.] THE HOUSE OP BRUNSWIOK. 607 Tlie Fenians. association soon grew to ponderous proportions in that country. The first congress of the order was held in Chicago [November, 1863], and the second in Cincinnati, in 1865, wheq the Brother- hood was reorganized. Its system for concert of action over large spaces was perfect, and in the year last named the membership of the Brotherhood was stated to be about 80,000. In Ireland the society is known as the " Irish Eevolutionaiy Brotherhood." So bold were some of the newspapers there in its interest, and so threaten- ing was its power in 1865, that troops were sent from England to Ireland, martial law was established in some counties, and the conductors of some newspapers were tried and sentenced to penal sendtude. The chief, or " Head-Centre," James Stephens, escaped from a Dublin prison and fled to America. § 44. In the year 1866 the Fenians in the United States made hostile demonstrations toward Canada, and so committed acts of hostility to the governments of the United States and Great Britain. The Canadians were quickly aroused to meet the danger, and the United States government promptly took measures to suppress the movement, which became general along om- northern frontier. Arms which the belligerents had gathered were seized. But a large number of the Brotherhood, armed, invaded Canada from Buffalo on the 1st of June, 1866. They were speedily re- pulsed, and the United States took ample measures to prevent any further violation of its laws. A Fenian congress was held at Troy in September ; but there were no more hostile movements of im- portance in the United States during that and the following two years. But these formidable preparations here, and an attempt at revolution in Ireland, in March, 1867, kept the British government painfully alert. The attempt near Dublin and in the south was promptly put down, without much bloodshed ; but many arrests were made. In December an attempt was made to liberate some of the prisoners in the Clerkenwell jail, in London, by blowing in the wall vrith gunpowder. It did not succeed ; but a whole street of houses were shattered and many persons were kUled. Another attempt to invade Canada, from Vermont, was made in the sum- mer of 1870 ; but it was such a signal failure that it brought the whole movement into disrepute. § 45. Soon after the close of the civil war in Ameiica [a.d. 1865], the United States government claimed fi-om the British govern- ment indemnity for the citizens of this country for losses sustaiued 608 HISTORY or ENGLAND. [Book X. Claims on England. War in Abyssinia. Reform Bills passed. by the depredations of the Anglo-Confederate cruisers already mentioned." An American ambassador was sent al- . § 40,p. 606. ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ special pm-pose of urging and settHng those claims, but nothing was effected. Some questions arose touchiug the correctness of the doctiine of the queen's proclama- tion acknowledging the Confederates as belligerents, " ' ^ ^'^' "■ ™''' wliich complicated the matter, and the subject re- mained an open and irritating question. Early in 1871 a joint commission was appointed by the two governments, to negotiate for a settlement of those claims. The Commissioners met at Wash- ington, and a treaty was made which promised justice and peace. It was speedily ratified by both parties. § 46. It has been mentioned that the attempts to open trade be- tween England and Abyssinia had not been satisfactory. An ac- tive and ambitious emperor of that coimtry, named Theodore, claiming to be a descendant of King Solomon by the Queen of Sheba, became very angry in 1863, because an autograph letter which he sent to Queen Victoria, asking permission to place an ambassador at her court, was unanswered. Late in that year he imprisoned the British consul and some missionaries, chaining each to an Abyssinian soldier. Efforts were made from time to time to obtain their release, but failed. At the same time a civil war was raging in Abyssinia ; yet this did not deter the emperor from defying the English when they threatened him with war. A mili- tary expedition was finally sent, under Sir Robert Napier. After a march of 400 miles from the sea to Magdala — the emperor's strong- hold^ — that place was stormed and taken [April, 1868], the captives, several of them women and children, were liberated, and Theo- dore died by his own hand when he saw that all was lost. § 47. In March, 1867, Mr. Disraeli, Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons, introduced a very moderate Reform Bill for England and Wales, which, after several amend- ments, became a law by receiving the royal signature on the 15th of August. It was not to go into effect until 1869. It very widely extended the elective franchise, and so increased the power of the people,' Similar bills for Scotland and Ireland were after- wards passed [a.d. 1868], by which the former gained fifteen members of Parliament and the latter five. This measure was hailed with great joy throughout the United Kingdom, as a triumph for I The registration tor the election of Novomber, 1868, furnishes the data for the fol- ChaptekVII.] the house OF BRUNSWICK. 609 DiRestablishment of fixe Iiish Church. The apprehended Effects. • § 4, p. 584. the champions of universal sufErage, toward Tvhich the liberal statesmanship of Great Britain is tending. § 48. At the close of March, 1868, Mr. Gladstone, the eminent liberal leader in the House of Commons, introduced a resolution for the disendo-wment and disestablishment of the Iiish Church. This just measure, relieving the great body of the Irish people, who have no religious sympathy with that church, from the burden of its support, brought upon its author a storm of abuse from the champions of Church and State. The popular feeling was with Mr. Gladstone, and just a month after he introduced the resolu- tion, the House of Commons adopted it by a majority of 65. In July f oUo'wing parliament was prorogued, and in the autumn a new election took place, the great question in the canvass being that concerning the Irish Church. It was the most exciting can vass since the passage of the Reform Bill of 1833." There was a majority of 112 out of a membership of 658 against the ministry. The latter resigned early in December [a.d. 18C8], when the queen called Mr. Gladstone to the premier- ship, which position he still [a.d. 1871] holds. § 49. The Irish Church question was the most important subject presented to the consideration of the new cabinet. That church had an endowment whose revenues amounted to about $3,000,000 annually. Its membership numbered about 700,000. It had two archbishops, ten bishops, and about 1,700 clergy. The opposition to the measure was very strong, especially among churchmen, who regarded it as an initial step toward the disendowment and dis establishment of the English Church — the complete severance of the legal union of Church and State. But the measure, after a severe struggle, was carried in the House of Lords, and it became a law [August, 1869], to go into efEect on the first of January, 1871. lowing table of elections in England and Wales, which shows the extension of the fran- chise there by the Eeform Act of 1868 : — Electors in 1866. Electors in 1868. Increase. 514,026 B42,6;J3 1,220,715 791,916 706,689 249,283 1,056,659 2,012,631 955,972 The registered voters were not quite one-tenth of the population, whUe in the United States they range from one-fifth to two-ninths of the population. 26* 610 HISTORY OP ENaLAND. [Book X. War between France and Germany. Temporal Power o£ the Pope endea. War Cloude § 50. During the last half of the year 1870 aU Europe was vio- lently agitated by a terrible war that raged in France, between that country and United Germany; but England, with unaccustomed wisdom, refrained from interference, excepting in the way of fee- ble moral influence. Thereby lives and treasure were spared to Great Britain. The war was one of the greatest crimes on ° ' record. The usurper on the French thi-one » had been for years keeping that country in an attitude so threatening as an increasing military power, that other coimtries (especially Prussia, of which he was intensely jealous) were compelled to keep up large standing armies at an enormous expense, as a householder would furnish bolts against a burglar. At length, in fear of his own dis- contented people and the army he had been strengthening, he made war upon Prussia before declaring it, by pushing an armed force across the frontier. It was an act of aggression without the shadow of an excuse. The Emperor of the French supposed the other Ger- man powers, jealous of Prussia, would be his allies, and he regard- ed the capture of the Prussian capital, in the course of a very short campaign, as a certainty. His mistake was soon apparent. All Germany united against him. The French armies were driven back, defeated, and captm'cd ; the emperor made a prisoner ; and the empress (who had been appointed Regent of France) and her son, the heii- apparent, became exiles. The Germans overran France, and on the first of March, 1871, the German army, with the Prus- sian king, who had been proclaimed Emperor of united Germany, entered Paris in triumph, after allowing the French people to form a government, which they did, with the venerable M. Thiers as President of a provisional refiublic. Soon afterward there was an insurrection in Paris, which cost 00,000 lives and a vast amount of property destroyed by fire. §51. During the same period the temporal power of the Pope of Rome, after an existence of 1,100 years, was, by the overwhekn- ing voice of the people of the " States of the Chiu'ch," in Italy, ended. It was a bloodless revolution. Italy (like Gennany) be- came again united, under King Victor Emmanuel, and Rome was made its capital. In this movement, also, England refrained from meddling. Her political sky was serene during 1870, excepting some threatening clouds in the form of a sharp and almost hostile diplomatic correspondence between the cabinets of London and St. Petersburg. It was in relation to a treaty made after the Cri- Chapter VIII.] THE HOUSE OF BETHSTSWICK. 611 Characteristics of England. Area of Great Britain and Ireland. moan war,° intended to restrain Russia fi-om aggressive move- ments toward the British dominions in India. Rus- sia claimed that the treaty was made by her under compulsion, and that she had a right to withdraw from it. And so the matter rested when this paragraph was written, ia July, 1871. CHAPTER Vm. THB PEBSBNT CONDITION OF GrKBAT BRITAIN. § 1. In all that constitutes a truly great people, England, in the broader meaning of that word, appears in the front rank of nations. In jurisprudence ; in the exploits of war and the arts and pursuits of peace ; in the diffusion of the effulgence of Christianity and com- merce, and consequently of civilization over vast regions of mental and spiiitual twilight; in geographic and scientific discovery; in labors of philanthropy at home and abroad ; in aesthetic culture ; in the restraints of law, the perfection of the family, and the sal- utary influences of home life, England is unrivalled in its satisfac- tory ministrations to the loving student of mankind. § 2. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland has an area of 120,870 English square miles, and a population of fl,bout 31,000,000. Its colonial possessions stretch over nearly one-half of the North American continent, nearly the whole of India, large portions of the continent of Africa, the whole of the great insular continent of Australia, islands of Oceanica, and the East and West Indian and Mediterranean Seas, and the port of Aden, near the Red Sea, by which the time of passage to India has been shortened from six months to one. The assertion first made by the Span- iards concerning the empire of G-reat Britain, that upon it " the sun never sets," is true to-day. § 3. The commerce of Great Britain, considering the area and population of the United Kingdom alone, is enormous, according to the average given in the latest official reports since 1868. The statistics of commerce, as well as of other things, in that period, are given here in round numbers : — 612 HISTORY OF ENaLAND. [Book a. Commerce, arid the Army and Navy. The value of the yearly imports into the United Kingdom was £295,000,000, or $1,475,000,000. That of the exports was £228,- 000,000, or $1,140,000,000. Of the imports, |216,000,000 were from the United States, wliile from all her colonies the total amount was only $335,000. The exports to the United States were $130,- 000,000, and to the British colonies $269,000. Three-sevenths of the imports consisted of raw cotton, grain, wool, tea, and raw silk. Tlie customs revenue was collected almost entirely from duties on chickory, cocoa, chocolate, coffee, grain, dried fruits, spiiitubus liquors, svigar, molasses, tea, tobacco, snuff, and wine. And nine- tenths of the whole revenue was collected from the five articles, sjDirituous liquors, wine, tobacco, sugar, and molasses. § 4. The number, tonnage, and manning of British vessels were: 20,500 sailing vessels of an aggregate tonnage of 4,746,000, and 155,000 men; and of steam vessels, 1,728, with an aggregate tonnage of 826,500, and 44,000 men. The total commercial marine consisted of 22,228 vessels, of an aggregate of 5,572,000 tons bur- den, and 199,400 men. § 5, The British navy consists of about 650 vessels of all kinds, of which nearly one-half are in reserve, and many of them entu-ely worthless. This fleet is manned by 34,000 sailors, vrith officers ; 6,500 boys, and 7,000 marines, making a total of 47,500. The o o„ on, iron-clad fleet consists of between 40 and 50 vessels, o § do, p. tJUo. whose aggregate cost is about £11,000,000, or $55,- 000,000.' The annual expense of the navy is about $50,000,000 a year. § 6. The total army force proper of Great Britain, in the regular service, is 128,000 men. Besides these there are about 64,000 soldiers in service in India, making a total of 192,000. Besides these two standing ai-mies, provision is made for four classes of reserves, namely, the disembodied mdlitia, 129,000; the yeomamy cavalry, 15,000; volunteers, 200,000 (of whom 175,000 are con- sidered effective), and the army reserve, of unknown numbere, com- posed of enrolled pensioners and others. The total number of men enrolled for armsbearing, and fit for effective duty, is about 320,000. Both arms of the united service have a great burden of superannuated and retired officers on their pay-rolls, which adds nothing to the efficiency of the service, but largely to the cost. Tlie pay pf oflicers is generaUy very large. The commander-in- chief of the army receives a salary of $30,000 a year, and, beinc Chaptek Vin.] THE HOUSE OP BKUNSWICK. 613 Manufacturea, Minerals, and Revenue. a duke (Duke of Cambridge), receives, besides, an annuity of $60,000. § 7. The textile industry of Great Britain is of marvellous extent, and employs about 160,000 persons. These are engaged in the manufacture of wool, cotton, flax, and silk fabrics. The average annual import of raw cotton is about 1,000,000,000 pounds, of which one-third is exported in the form of cotton cloth. The average import of wool is over 250,000,000 pounds, of which more than 100,000,000 are exported in the form of woollen cloth. The average import of flax is valued at about $30,000,000, and the amount of raw sUk, brought chiefly from Japan, China, and India, is about 7,000,000 pounds. There are in the United Kingdom, en- gaged in textile industries, 6,420 factories, with about 42,000,000 spindles and 50,000 power-looms. § 8. The total production of minerals from the earth, in a year, is valued at nearly $218,000,000, of which coal is the most im- portant in quantity and value. In one year 104,000,000 tons were raised, valued at $130,000,000. Next was pig-iron, of which 5,000,000 tons were smelted, valued at $63,000,000. Nearly 10,000 tons of copper were produced, valued at almost $4,000,000 ; and about 158,000 tons of copper ore were raised, valued at over $3,- 000,000. Of lead, 72,000 tons were produced, valued at nearly $7,000,000 ; and 95,000 tons of lead ore were raised, valued at nearly $6,000,000. Of tin ore, 14,000 tons were raised, valued at about $4,000,000, and more than 10,000 tons of metallic tin were produced, valued at $4,500,000. The silver mines yielded over 800,000 ounces, valued at more than $1,000,000. A little more than 1,500,000 tons of salt were produced, valued at almost $6,000,- 000 ; and of clay, fine and fire, over 1,000,000 tons were brought into use, and valued at full $1,500,000. § 9. The annual revenue of Great Britain is about $360,000,000, and expenditures, $340,000,000; of which $100,000,000 come from excise duties ; $47,000,000, from stamps ; from assessed taxes, $18,000,000 ; from income tax, $45,000,000, and the remainder from duties on imports. The amount annually paid to the royal family, for the queen's personal income, expenses of her royal household, and annuities and pensions for her children, is $3,500,- 000. The queen also receives from her private revenue as Duchess of Lancaster, about $145,000 a year; and the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall, receives about $276,000 a year. Tlie 614 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Travel. Income. Pauperism. interest and the cost of the management of the national debt consumes about two-fifths of the gross income of ■§11, p. 461. ^^^ kingdom. The average share in that debt' of each individual of the population is about $138, and in the annual interest about $4.40. § 10. The facilities for travel in Great Britain have been vastly increased within the period of thirty years. Fine roads have been made in every direction, and stage-coaches and private car- riages, comfortable and elegant, abound. The first railway in England for carrying passengers was opened in 1825. It was worked with horse power. The first railway upon which locomo- tives were used was in France, the next year ; and in 1828, car- riages ran swiftly upon the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, by the same power. There are now [a.d. 1871] seventy railways in the United Kingdom, having an aggregate length of 14,000 miles. Upon the construction and finishing of these about $1,400,000,000 have been spent. § 11. It is estimated that three per cent., or about 1,000,000, of the population of the United Kingdom belong to the landholder or aristocratic class, including the families of 350,000 landhold- ers ; about 20 per cent., or 6,000,000, to the middle class, traders, and brain-workers, and 77 per cent., or 23,000,000, to the "lower class," or manual laborers. The total annual income of the popu- lation is estimated at $3,000,000,000. Of this amount the mid- dle and " upper classes " — 7,000,000 of the population — receive $1,750,000,000, and the 33,000,000 of the laboring class receive $l,?5n,000,000. The former class receive a sum equal to $350 a liead, and the latter class $54.35 a head. The incomes of the manual labor class; with very few exceptions, are exempted from taxation, as no income less than $500 is taxed. § 13. Pauperism is fiightfuUy prevalent in Great Britain, and has largely increased within the last five years. The fluctuations in the prices of raw manufacturing materials have made mill- OTSTiers cautious, and the number of skilled laborers out of employ- nipnt at the beginning of the year 1870 was very large. At that time one-tenth of the entire population of the kingdom were in the receipt of temporary or permanent relief. In England and Wales alone the number of persons who received relief was over 2,000,- 000. In Scotland the number was 332,000, or one in every fom- teen of the population. In Ireland the ratio was one in eight. Chapter VIII.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 615 Crime. Ignorance. Popular Education. Tliis depressed state of labor caused a great increase of emigration. Many iied from almost actual starvation. The number of persons who left the. United Kingdom for other comitiies, in 1809, was about 330,000. At a meeting held in London, at near the close of that year, to consider the subject of emigration, the Lord Mayor stated that there were between 70,000 and 80,000 skilled artisans then in Great Britain who could not find employment, and that they either must be removed from the country or starve ! There must be a pressing need for radical social reforms in a country where so vast a number of the most productive citizens are com- pelled to emigrate or famish — a number representing nearly half a million dependent souls. Li Scotland, at the same time, the number of vagrants had increased 18,000 in the course of two years. § 13. Crime, often the child of cruel poverty, seems to be on the increase in England. The number of persons arrested and tried for various offences in England and Wales alone, in 1869, was more than 500,000, of whom about 350,000 were convicted and pmiished. In Scotland and Ireland the number was equally large in proportion to the population. The police force of the kingdom numbered about41,000, and were maintained at an annual expense of $14,000,000. There were between SO and 70 reformatory scliools for iuvenile criminals, in winch there were nearly 7,000 of both sexes, kept at an annual expense of over $600,000. § 14. Wliile the statistics of popular education in Great Britain do not make a very pleasant impression, there are signs and evidences of speedy and rapid improvement. Thii-ty years ago 33 per cent, of the men and 48 per cent, of the women who were married could not write their names. Now the percentage of each sex who cannot write their names is only a little over 30. § 15. The entire ap]*opriation for the promotion of popular education, made in 1869 by parliament for the United Kingdom, was a little more than $6,000,000, or about 30 cents for each per- son in the kingdom. There were then about 16,000 elementary schools subject to public aid ; but in all of these the standard of at- tainment was quite low. Teachers' wages had been much ad- vanced, and a much better class of instructors were promised. The average price for a masouUne teacher of highest grade was , $457 a year, and for a feminine teacher of the same gi'ade, $381 a year. The cost of maintaining these 16,000 elementary schools 616 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book X PuWic and Private Schools, The AuelJcan Church, was nearly $8,000,000, which sum was provided partly by the gov- ernment, the income from endowments, scholars' fees, and the funds of the national school societies. The government appro- priated about $2,400,000 of the amount, a sum but a little more than one-half the amount spent by the State of New York (with less than one-seventh of the population of the United Kingdom) for the same purpose at the same time. § 16. Besides these annual-grant schools, there were many of a lower grade, taught by inferior teachers, which received no gov- ernment aid, and in which were about 1,000,000 pupils. At the same time, about 300,000 scholars were under tuition in private schools of a much higher grade. There were, also, between 40 and 50 colleges, or normal schools, for the professional instruction of teachers, in which there were accommodations for 21,000 pu- pils, and the attendance was about 16,000. There are also nu- merous parochial schools, sustained by the Established Church and the different Dissenting denominations; endowed schools, great and small; ragged and evening schools, and the special schools of institutions or guilds. For higher education, in England, are the three great universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, and smaller colleges established by religious denominations ; the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and St. Andrew's, in Scotland ; and Trinity College and the University of Dublin, Queen's College, at Belfast, and several smaller colleges belonging to religious societies, in Ireland. § 17. But all of these facilities for education (happily increasing) are totally inadequate to supply the needs of the people. Ig- norance is frightfully prevalent. The poorer classes, exposed to the temptations to which education is often a foil, have not the means for general enlightenment, and the siguiiicant fact remains that Great Britain pays annually more thfta twice as much money for the maintenance of a police force as for popular education. § 18. The Anglican Church, established by Henry the Eiglith," is » § 44, p. 326. ^^* ^^® ^^^^^ church in England and Wales, to which ■ all the others are tributary. The sovereign is the titular head. It is managed by two archbishops (of Canterbury and York) and twenty-eight bishops. There are about 12,000 parishes and 200 extra-parochial places, each of which has its iiav- son, or parish " priest," a rector, or vicar. These are supported by tithes, rates, or parish dues, and in part by endowmeuts. The Chapter VIII.] THE HOUSE OP BEUIirSWICK. 617 Churches of Scotland and Ireland. Energy of the Nation. ■whole annual income of the Established Church is about $25,000,- 000. The church population is estimated at 13,500,000, for whom there are 5,500,000 sittings provided. There are, besides the houses of worship belonging to the Established Chm-ch, nearly 5,000 other buUdings used for the same pmpose, by Roman Catholics and the various Dissenting denominations.' The incomes of the two archbishops are large — that of Canterbury $75,000, and of York 150,000, a year. Some of the bishops have large salaries, but the great body of the inferior clergy are not well paid. Twenty-four of the bishops have seats in the House of Lords. § 19. The Established Church in Scotland is Presbyterian iu its form of government. There are no bishops or clergy of supreme authority over other clergy. The ruling body is a General Assembly of 386 members. It is a high ecclesiastical court. The clergy are supported by tithes and State stipends. But the ■ dis- senters from this church comprise about two-thirds of the popula- tion. Of these the most important belong to the Free Church of Scotland, which seceded from the Established Church in 1843, and the United Presbyterian Church, formed by a coalition of fragments, some of which broke ofE so early as 1741. There are nearly 35,000 Episcopalians in Scotland, and some of the differ- ent Dissenting denominations. The Established Church has about 1,250 places for public worship, 1,800 ministers, and 1,800 Sunday- schools, with 140,000 scholars. The Eree Church is supported by voluntary contributions. § 30. There is now, as we have seen, no Established Church in Ireland.' The great majority of the population are Roman Catholics. They claim 4,500,000 of the " § ^''' p- ^°^- 6,000,000 inhabitants. The remaining million and a half are di- vided among churchmen (700,000) and the various dissenters. § 31. Tlie history of England, whose outlines we have traced in this volume, is a marvellous revelation of what human energy may accomplish. The people of that little country, occupying part of an island, have been for almost a thousand years eminently con- spicuous for their force. During all that time no successful foreign invader has trodden the soil, while aggressive expedition after ex- pedition have sailed from its coasts and made important con- ^ Of these almost one-third belonged to the Independents, or Congregationalista, who arose in England, with Thonias Erowa aa a leader, in the siicteenth century, and were Bometlmes called "Brownists." 618 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. strength of the Nation. Natural Features and Bemarkable Evente. quests. From its inherent energies there has been a most vigorous outgrowth of civilization, almost without interruption, slower at times than in other lands, but of greater vitality, and which is still developing new strength for the nation. It has been growing stronger, richer, and wiser every day. He who argues from the fact that England is less aggressive and warlike than formerly, and that pauperism and crime are increasing within the borders of the United Kingdom, that it has passed the meridian of its glory, has, undoubtedly, erroneous conceptions of its vigor. It is a giant in his prime, somewhat diseased ; but it has a constitution strong enough to endure the application of any remedies that shall promise restoration of health. The medicine most needed is the elevation of the people — morally, socially, and politically — through the healthful ministrations of education, and the practical diffusion throughout the whole social system of the principles of Liberty, Equality, and Eratemity. § 22. These words have often been misused ; nevertheless they are tlie expression of that which, combined vfith industry, econo- my, and intelligence, form the Solid foundations of a flourishing State. CHAPTER IX. Kattjeai, Fbattiebs and Remaekablb Events.' § 1. The following geographical, topographical, and historical notes may be useful to the reader after a perusal of the preceding nan'ative of the most important events in British history : § 2. The extreme north of Scotland ° is marked by two rocky promonotories, called Cape Wrath, to the west, and Dunoansbay Head, to the east. Both of them are famous in the « § 6, p. 41. long contest of the Norsemen " (or Danes, as they are less correctly termed) with the Scots. On the eastern shore we 1 A consultation of the maps in this volume, while reading this chapter, will make it more instructive to the student. li Known by the Bomans as Caledonia. It was invaded by the Scots, a Celtic race, from Ireland [a.i^ 603]. They established aldngdom there, and in the reign of Ken- neth McAlpin, in the ninth century, they became the dominant race, and called tho country Scotland. Chapter IX.] THE HOITS'E OF BRUNSWICK. 619 Natural Features and Bemarkable Events, pass the Ord of Caitlmess, and the Dornoch and Moray Friths, the latter of which is the outlet of the chain of lakes that stretch from the German to the Atlantic Ocean, and are made navigable by the Caledonian Canal. On their banks are Fort George, Fort Augus- tus, and Fort William, built to restrain the High- 1 1 „ ^ » § 23, p. 24. landers." ' § 8. _ At the east end of the lakes is Inverness, which is considered a provincial capital, and the moor of CuUoden, on which the par- tisans of the Stuarts were defeated by the Duke of Cumberland hi 1746.' Beyond Fort George is Nairn; then the bluff rock caUed Burgh-Head, near which is the decayed '*'''■ city of Elgin ; then the river Spey ; next BanfE Bay, beyond which is Kinnaird's Head, the north-eastern point of Scotland. § 4. Turning southward, we have in succession Aberdeen, famous for its colleges, as also for its trade ; Montrose, Dundee, and the Frith of Tay; the city of St. Andrews, and the Frith of Forth, on the shores of which are found, beside the capital city of Edin- burgh (founded by the Saxon King, Edwin " — Edwinsburgh), many places renowned in Scottish history. Crossing the Forth we have North Berwick, Dunbar, St. Abb's Head, Eyemouth, and thus reach the Tweed, the boundary of Scotland on that side. § 5. The western coast, though picturesque in the extreme, has few objects, of general historic interest, probably from the affairs of the country having been but imperfectly recorded. Off its shores lie the isles called the Hebrides, '^ which were long in the possession of the Norsemen. The most interesting are lona and Staffa — the one famous for its early religious founda- tions, and as the burial-place of forty-eight, kings, and the other for its romantic caves, which preserve the names of traditionary early heroes. These islands were once ruled by chiefs called the Lords of the Isles, ° who were often danger- - ous rivals to the kings of Scotland ; many of them allied them- selves with the English kings, and the title is now borne by the Prince of Wales. § 6. Beyond the Hebrides stretches the peninsula of Cantyre, which almost approaches Ireland, and beyond this the once vnld district of Galloway extends to the Sol way Frith, on the opposite shore of which is seen the English county of Cumberland. In the interior of Scotland are found the loftiest mountains of Great 620 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X. Natural Features and Bemarkable Events. Britain. There are the Grampians, -where the Caledonians sheltered themselves from the power of Borne." From these b'5^23^ ^ IM ™o™tains flow, on the east side, the Dee, the Tay, and ' ^' ■ the Forth, on which are found Aberdeen, Perth, and Stirling ;>> Edinburgh, the capital, is built near the mouth of the latter river. § 7. The Cheviot or Teviot hills divide England and Scotland. They have been the scene of innumerable contests between the two nations, and one of them in particular is the subject of the ancient „ „ ballad of Chevv Chase." Among them rise the Clyde, on which stand Glasgow, Dunbarton, and Greenock ; the Tweed, on which, or its tributaries, are Jedburgh, Meh-ose, Kelso, Berwick, '* and other places famed in border history; also the Liddel, Esk, Annan, and Nith, which unite to form the Frith of Solway, near which is Carlisle." § 8. Entering England, it wiU be seen that the whole western side of the country, including Wales, is mountainous, or at least hiUy, and that the eastern portion is a plain, with only occasional high ground. The southern part, however, between the English Channel and the Thames and Severn, has ranges of hills, which at length rise almost to mountains; in Wiltshire a branch shoots off, traverees Berkshire and Buckinghamsliire, under the name of the ChUtem hills, and, getting gradually lower, extends into Suffolk. § 9. The east coast of England, from Berwick as far as the Humber, is generally lofty, and it has many places of historical „ interest. The field of Flodden ' (and probably that r § 6, p. 310. \ X- J of Brunanburg)s lies not far distant from Berwick. „ .' g, Bamborough Castle owes its origin to Ida, the f ouu- '«7 B 41 ^^^ °^ ^^^ kingdom of Northumbria.'' Near it is Holy Island, which was one of the earliest places rav- aged by the Norsemen,' while Scarborough was burnt by them in almost their last attack on England. Whitby had a famous mon- astery; and Flamborough Head and Spurn Point have witnessed many hostile landings. § 10. On the western side of the same district are Cumberland, a mountainous region, where many of the Britons found shelter from the Saxons, with the Isle of Man,J Ions a Norse j § 9, p, g. ' & kingdom, off its coasts. Then succeeds the low sandy shore of Lancashire, beyond which lies a small part of Cheshire, Chaptbb IX.] THE HOUSE OP BRUKSWICK. 621 Natural Features and Remarkable Events. between the rivers Mersey and Dee. The western bank of the Bee is North Wales. § 11. Of the rivers that rise on the west side of the mountains in the north of England, we may notice the Eden, on which stands Carlisle; the Lune, on which is Lancaster; and the Mersey, on which (and its tributary, the Irwell) the great modem towns of Manchester and Liverpool are placed. § 12. On the cast side of the same chain are the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees, on which stand Hexham (once a bishop's see, and also the scene of a great battle)," Newcastle, Durham, a S ^ P S66 Barnard Castle, and Stockton; and as we get farther ' south, in Yorkshire, the Swale and the Ure, with Richmond and Ripon on their banks ; the Ouse, the Wharf e, the Aire, and the Calder, on which stands York, famous even in the " § 44, p. 17. time of the Romans; ^ Tadcaster, near which the Lancastrians were defeated at Towton ; " Leeds, a ' ■ ■ place of vast trade, and Pontefract and Wakefield,"! " § 34, p- 263. celebrated for battles and sieges. § 13. Wales, which forms the western coast between the Dee and the Bristol Channel, abounds in historical monuments. The Isle of Anglesey was the last retreat of the Druids. ' Bard- sey Island was formerly esteemed holy, so that many Welsh princes and bishops desired to be buried there, as St. David and Merlin are said to have been. St. David is the representative of the early British church. § 14. Pembroke Castle and its district were once a county pala- tine, endowed with almost kingly privileges, and received so many English and Flemish settlers ' that it is still known as Little England beyond Wales. Pembroke and the neighboring county of Glamorgan abound in castles buUt by the JSTonnan invaders of Wales -J and on the eastern side , E y 24, p. lOS. of the county can be traced, for more than 120 miles, ^ the remains of a vast fortification, called Offa's Dyke,'' by which an Anglo-Saxon monarch endeavored to pro- tect his dominions against the ravages of the Welsh. § 15. The Welsh streams mostly flow into the sea, on its west or south coasts, after a short course. Such, however, is not the case with the Dee or the Severn. The Dee rises near the coast in the northern part of the country, but turns to the east and then to the north, and passes by Wrexham, Chester, and Flint, into the Irish 622 HISTORY OP BNOLAND. [Book X Natural Features and Remarkable Events. Sea. The Severn rises in the central part of "Wales, runs north- eastward to Shrewsbury, and then turning south flows past Bridg- north, Worcester, Tewkesbury, Grloucester, and Berkeley (aU noted towns in English history), into the Bristol Channel. Many streams run into it, of which may be mentioned the Teme, the Wye, and the Monnow. On .their banks are Ludlow, Hereford, Ross, Monmouth, and numerous other places cele- brated in the history of the Welsh Marches,' or the border country, as the district of the Severn river was formerly called. § 16. To the mountains of the north of England succeed the Peak of Derbyshu'e and the Moorlands of StafEordshii'e. Among these last rises the Trent, which passes by or near Stafford, Lich- field, Derby, Newark, and Gainsborough, and being joined by the Don and other streams fonns the Humber, near the mouth of which is Hull, in Yorkshire, on the north, and Giimsby, in Lincolnshire, on the south. § 17. From the Humber the east coast is generally low and fringed by sandbanks, as in Yarmouth Roads, presenting many difficulties to the navigator, but thus oif ering an invaluable school for the instruction of a maritime nation. St. Botolph's-town (now Boston), once a place of very great trade, may be noticed ; the great estuary of the Wash ; Yarmouth and Lowestoft, Southwold bay, the scene of a sea-fight with the Dutch ; ^ Dun- wich, once a great city, now half ingulfed by the sea ; the rivers Orwell, Stour, Colne, Blackwater, and Crouch, and the mouth of the Thames, here twenty miles wide. The Norsemen settled in great numbers in this district. " § 18. Li the great central and eastern plain of England we find many rivers, on wliich important towns and cities are placed. The largest and every way the most important is the Thames, which rises in Glouccstershke, and flows into the sea between Essex and Kent, after a course of more than 200 miles. On or near its banks ,r, ^'■<^' among other places of historical interest, Ciren- u & Q p 4Tt cester,'' Oxford, Windsor, and London. Of celebrated places on or near otlier streams may be named Lincoln and Boston on the Witham ; Leicester on the Soar ; Coventry, Kenil- worth, Warwick, and Evesham, on the Avon ; Northampton and Peterborough, on the Neu ; Bedford, Ely, and Lynn, on the Ouse • Cambridge, ou UioCnui ; Norwich, on the Wensum ; T])Hwich, on the Chaptek IX.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 623 Natural Features and Remarkable Events. Orwell ; Colchester, on the Colne ; and Maldon, on the Blaokwater, once the capital of a British kins, and, when a Komau colony, burnt by the troops of Boadicea." s , p- • § 19. This plain and the Staffordshire moorlands have been the scene of many fierce battles. The Saxons and the Norsemen had contests in almost every part; but the latter were generally success- ful, and had in central England five strong fortresses, known as the Five Burghs (Leicester, Stamford, Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln).!' ' § 20. Richard the Third was killed at Bosworth" in Leicester- shire. Li the wara of the Roses " there were battles at Bloreheath, Northampton, St. Albans, and Bamet. ° ^ ■'•'' ^' ^^' Lambert Simnel ' was defeated at Stoke on Trent, in " ^ ^^' "' ^^' Nottinghamshire, and Charles I. at Naseby,' in North- ' ' • amptonshire. And during the great Civil "War, bat- ' B § 41, p. 418. ties and sieges occurred at Edgehill,8 at Grains- ^ „ .. borough, Newark, "i and many other places. Crossing , » g^ la the Thames from Essex, we reach Kent, where Ca;sar,' j c 4, p 28 and Hengist, and Horsa,J and St. Augustine landed i'' k s 15, p. 34. which contains the North and South Forelands, Dover , j 20, p. I6I. Castle,' Sandwich, and Hythe, and Romney, all Cinque m § 10, p. 157. Ports," and the modern camp at ShomclifE. § 21. The south and west parts of England abound with cele- brated ranges of hills, which rise in the west into mountains, and give ofE very many streams, on which famous towns are placed. The North and South Downs traverse Kent, SmTey, and Sussex, having a hollow tract between them called the Weald, which was once the bed of an inlet of the sea. § 32. To the Downs succeeds the forest district of Hampshire, on the coast, with high ground to the north and west, in Wiltshire " and Dorsetshire. As we get farther westward the land rises more and more, and in Somersetshire, Devon- shire, and Cornwall, it attains in some places to nearly an equal height with the mountains of Cumberland and Wales, and at last ends in a mass of rocks well known as the Land's End. § 33. Commencing with Kent, among the streams of the district we have the Medway, on which stand Tunbridge, Maidstone, Rochester, Chatham, *and, at its junction with the " § 18. p. ll> Thames, Sheerness. On the Stour stands Canterbury." The river once flowed into the sea by two mouths, the waters of 624 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book X Natural Features and Efimarkable Events. which separated the Isle of Thanet" from the mainland, and were guarded by the Koman forts of Regulbium and ' "■ ■ RitupiE. Their- ruins are now called Reculver and Richborough. § 24. Osesar landed on Deal beach,' and the Saxons' first posses- sion was the Isle of Thanet. The Norsemen quar- ' '"■ ■ tered themselves in Shepey.' William the Norman ,. «e' o/ marched through Kent, and burnt Dover ; ^ and u § 25, p. 84. ° ' ?20 161 Louis, the son of a French king, besieged it m vain." § 25. Passing on to Sussex, we see Pevensey bay, where the Nonnans landed ; ' Battle, where they began the con- ' § 10, p. 80. quest of England ; s Pevensey, on the site of a famous e § 12, p. 81. British town ; Anderida, destroyed by the Saxons ; b § 10, p. 157. Kye and Winchelsea, members of the Cinque Ports,'' I „ . .gj Beachy head, where the English and Dutch fleets were defeated by the French. ' Lewes, on the Ouse, was the scene of a battle where Heniy the Third was made prisoner; > Arundel Castle, on the Arun, has stood many sieges ; and Chichester, on the Lavant, has its ' ' ' namefromCissa, the second of the South Saxon kings.'' § 26. In Hampshire, Porchester Castle was a Roman station ; and Portsmouth, the great modem arsenal, is named from Porta, one of the early Saxon invaders.' The New Forest" is ' § 1, p. .31. still a remarkable monument of the Norman rule. ' ■ • Winchester," on the Itchin, was once the capital of ' ' England ; and Southampton, at the mouth of the same river, a celebrated seaport ages ago, was occasionally the resi- dence of Canute.' Off the coast lies the Isle of Wight.? ' ' It contains Newport and Carisbrooki Castle, which ' ''■ ■ are connected with the history of Charles the First, as is Hurst Castle, on the opposite Hampshire shore. § 27. The bold cliff called Hengistbury Head, on the border of Dorsetshire, connects that county with early Saxon history. It has also many Roman camps ; the ruins of Corf e' and Wareham Castles, where many captives of high rank have Ijeen starved to death ; Sherbonie, which was once a bishop's see ; Portland, the scene of a seVfight with the Dutch; and Lyme, a seaport, where tlie Duke of Monmouth landed to raise a rebellion against James the Second.' Chapter IX.] THE HOUSE OF BRUNS^TICK. 626 Natural Peatures and Remarkable Events. § 38. Inlancl from Doraetshire and Hampshire lies WUtshii-e, and beyond that Somersetshire, wMch reaches to the arm of the sea called the Bristol Channel. In Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, with its wonderful cii-cles of stone (Stonehenge), and barrows, or burial mounds of the early inhabitants. On the Avon is Salisbury, and on the Kennet, Marlborough, both famous in history. In Somersetshire are Bath and Bristol, both on the Avon, the former a Roman city; WeUs, renowned :^or its beautiful cathedral; Bridgewater and Taunton, on the Tone and the Parrett, celebrated for the sieges that they have sustained ; Glastonbury, one of the earliest seats of Christianity in Britain, » and the sepulchre of King Arthur ; ^ and Athelney, „ s 2' n 45 the retreat of Alfred. = § 39. Beyond Somerset and Dorset is the county of Devon. It is washed by the sea, both north and south, and possesses the noble harbor of Plymouth^ Sound, beside the anchorage of Torbay, where WiUiam the Prince of Orange landed.* On „„ d § 21^ p. 478. the nerth shore is Hartland Point, with Lundy Island (once belonging to the Knights Templars)' in the ' distance. On the south shore is Dartmouth, an ancient seaport, with Totness, ten miles from the mouth of the Dart river, the scene of a very early battle with the Saxons. Exeter, on the Exe, is a Ro- man city, which stood a siege from the Normans in the year after the battle of Hastings.' The southern part of Devonshire is fertile, but in the north are the wild and rugged tracts called Exmoor and Dartmoor, which abound in minerals, and also in cromlechs, barrows, and logan stones, the traces of the earliest inhabitants. § 30. The river Tamar divides Devonshire from the stiU more rugged Cornwall. This district was long the stronghold of a number of the Britons, who maintained their independence amid its rocks and moors ; £hey were called by the Saxons, the West Welsh, and tiU comparatively modem times they used a language that much resembled that of the Welsh. In Cornwall are found St. Michael's Mount, one of the places where the ancient Britons traded with the Phrenicians ; s Tintagell Castle, the ^ ^ reputed bii-thplace of King Arthur;'' St. German's, ' '^ now a village, but once a bishop's see; way-side crosses, and oven a church, which are thought to have been erected 1,400 years ago-, and stiU earlier monuments resembling those of 27 626 HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [Book X. Natural Peatares and BemarkaWe Events. Dartmoor. On the coast is the Lizard Point, which is the most southern land of Great Britain, and along the shores are Fowey, Falmouth, Penzance, St. Ives, and Padstow, all frequently men- tioned in English history. § 31. The Irish and the French coasts must be briefly noticed. On the east coast of Ireland are Carrickfergus, where Edward „ s 12, aoo I^™°6 landed to attempt the conquest of the coun- try;" Drogheda, near which the battle of the Boyne b § 9, p. 488. ^^ fought ; " Bublin, the capital ; Wicklow, a port = § a, p. 41. ^j ^jjg Norsemen ; « and Wexford, where the English " § ^1' P- ^^^- conquest of Ii'eland was begun." On the south coast are the famous harbors of Waterford, Cork, Kinsale, and Bantry Bay, near which last an indecisive battle took place with the French fleet in 1689.' On the west coast, up the river " ' *"' ' Shannon, is the city of Limerick, once possessed by the Norsemen ; Galway, which was the last place in Ireland that held out against the Commonwealth : ' and Killala, f § 1 p 438 ' ' ^ where a French force landed in 1798.^ On the north coast is Lough Poyle, a large inlet of the sea, at the head of which stands Londonderry, famous for its successful defence against James the Second.'' § 32. The coasts of France are connected with English history from many naval battles having been fought on them, and many of their towns having once been in English hands. On the Medi- terranean, or southern coast, we have the city of Toulon, captured by the English in 1793 ; Marseilles, whence Richard the 1 § 6, p. 146. First sailed for the Holy Land ; ' and Cannes, where i § 55, p. 657. Napoleon landed from Elba,J and re-established the k § 11, p. 109. Empire, which gave occasion for the battle of Water- „ J „ loo. On the north coast are Calais'" and Boulogne,' both formerly English possessions, and which have in more modem times been repeatedly attacked by English fleets ; the river Somme, up which is Abbeville, near which the battles of Crecy ""and Agincourt " were fought ; the Seine, which traverses Normandy, on which stand Havre de Grace, a e 7^ p 247 *^ ' Harfleur, Honfleur, Rouen, Mantes, Paris, and Meaux, beside many other places mentioned in the wars between England o g 6, p. 219. and France. Westward of the Seine we find Bayeux, p § 4, p. 481. Barfleur, Cherbourg," and Cape La Hogue,' with the Channel Islands, the only remnants of the duchy of Normandy Chapter IX.] THE HOUSE OP BEUNSWICK. 627 Natural Features and Hcmarkable Events, now possessed by ttie British monarch. Brittany stretches still fai-ther west, having at its extremity Brest and the Isle of Ushant, and then, proceeding eastward, Qniberon, Belleisle, and Nantes." Farther south are La Rochelle, the ''^' Isle of Oleron, and the river Grii'onde, up which is Bordeaux, one of the last of the English possessions in France.* It was the capital of the great duchy of -Guienne," ' ' ' which when held by Prince Richard (afterwards Rich- ard Coeur de Lion)" extended to the Pyi'enees. APPENDIX I. EOYAL FAMILIES AND PRINCIPAIi COTEMPORAHY EUEOPEAN SOTE- EEIGNS FROM A.I). 1066. William I.— The Conqueror. Katural eon of Robert, Dukeof Normandy. Bom 1027. Married Matilda of Flanders, 1054. Began to reign in England, 1066, Died September 9, 1087. Issue : four sons and five daughters. CoTEMPOBABY SovEEEiGNs.— ;S'co;?a7wJ— Malcolm III. i^VoTwe— Philip I. Germany — HeniylV. -Popes— Alexander 11., Gregory VIL, Yictor III. WniiAM II.— Third son of William I. Bom about 1060. Crowned September 26, 1087. Killed Augnst 2, 1100. Never married. CoTEMPOKAEY SOVEREIGNS.— S^o^Za? id— Malcolm III., Donald VII., Duncan II., Edgar. France — Philip I. Germany — Henry IV. Popes— Yiotox III., Ur- ban II., Pascal II. Henet I.— Youngest son of William I, Bom 1068, Crowned August 5, 1100. Married Maud of Scotland, 1100, and Adelais of Louvain, 1121. Died December 1, 1135. Issue : one eon and one daughter. CoTEMPOEAEY SOVEREIGNS. — Scotland — Edgar, Alexander I., David I. France — Philip I., Louie VT. ffermawy—Henry IV. Popes— Pascal II., Gelasius II,, Calixtus VI., Honorius II., Innocent II. Stephen.— Grandson of William I. Bom about 1096. Married Matilda of Boulogne about 1134. Crowned December 26, 1135. Died October 25, 1154. Issue : three sons and two daughters. Cotemporaet Sovereigns. — Scotland — David I., Malcolm 17. France — ^Louis VI., Louis VII. Germany — ^Henry V., Lothaire II., Conrad III, Fqpes — Oelestine n., Lucius II,, Eugeniusin., Anasta&iua IV. Henry n. — Grandson of Henry I. Bom March 25, 1133. Married Eleanor of Gui- enne, 1150. Crowned December 19, 1154. Died July 6, 1189. Issue : five sons and three daughters. Cotempobaky Sovereigns, — Scotland — Malcolm IV., William I. France — Louis VII., Philip II. GerTnanp^FTcievick Barbarossa. Popes- Adrian IV., Alexander III., Lucius III.,. "Urban III., Gregory VIII., Clement III. BiCHABD I.— Eldest surviving son of Hemy II. Born September 13, 1157. Crowned September 3, 1189. Married Berengaria of Navarre, 1191. Died April 8, 1199. No legitimate issue. 630 APPENDIX. CoTEMPOHAEY SovEKEiGNS.— ;S'co«awd— WiUiam I., the Lion. France— Philip IL Germany — Frederick BarbaroBsa, Henry VI., Philip. I'opes — Clement III., Celestine III., Innocent III. John. — Youngest son of Henry II. Bom December 24, 1165. Married Isabel of Gloucester, 1189. Divorced, and married Isabel of Angouleme, 1199. Crowned May 27, 1199. Died October 19, 1216. Issue : two sons and three daughters. CoTEMPORABT SOVEREIGNS.— ^co( iaTwJ—WilHam I., Alexander II. France— Philip II. Cermani'— Philip, Otto IV. J^ope— Innocent III. IlENET III.— Eldest son of John. Bom October 1, 1207. Crowned October 98, 1216. Married Eleanor of Provence, 1236. Died November 16, 1272. Issue; two sons and two daughters, besides five children who died yoimg. CoTEMPORAEY Sovereigns. — Scotland — Alexander II., Alexander III. Finance — Philip II., Louis VIII., Louis IX., Philip III. Germany — Frederick II., Conrad rv., William. Fopes — Honorius III,, Gregory IX., Celestine IV., Innocent IV., Alexander IV., Clement IV,, Gregory X. Edwabd I.— Eldest son of Henry III. Bom June 18, 1239. Married Eleanor of Cas- tile, 1254; Margaret of Prance, 1299. Proclaimed king Kovember 20, 1272. Died July 7, 1307. Issue : six sons and ten daughters. CoTEMPOBAEY SovEiiEiGNS. — Scotland — John Baliol, Koberfc (Bruce) I. France — Philip III., Philip IV. Germany — Kudolph, Adolphus, Albert. Fopea— Gregory X., Innocent V., Adrian V., Vicedominus, John XX., Nicholas III., Martin IV., Honorius IV., Nicholas IV., Celestme V., Boniface VIII., Bene- dict XI. Edwakd II.— Eldest siuviving son of Edward I. Bom April 25, 1284. Received as king July 8, 1307. Married Isabella of Prance, 1308. Deposed January 7, 1337. Murdered September 21, 1327. Issue : two eons and two daughters. COTEMPORABY SovEHEiGNS. — Scotlojul — Bobert(Bruce) I. France — Philip IV., Louis X., John I., Philip V., Charles IV, (?ennanz/— Henry VII., Louis IV. Popes— Clement V., John XXI. Edwaud III,— Eldest son of Edward II. Bom November 13, 1312. Proclaimed king January 7, 1327. Married Philippa of Hainault, 1328. Died Jmie 21, 1377. Issue : seven sons and five daughters. CoTEMPORABY SOVEREIGNS. — Scotland — Robert I., David XL, Edward Baliol, Robert fStuart) II. Fraiice—Charles IV., Philip VI., John II., Charles V. Ger- many — Louis IV. and Frederick, Louis IV., Charles IV, Popes— Peter de Cobario, Benedict XIL, Clement VI., Innocent VI., Urban V., Gr^ory XI. Richard II.— Grandson of Edward III. Bom April 3, 1366. Succeeded to the throne Jime 22, 1377, Married Anne of Bohemia, 1382, and Isabella of France, 1396. Deposed September 30, 1399. Date of death unknown. No issue. CoTisMPORABY SOVEREIGNS.— ^co WoTid-Robert II., Robert III. France— Charles Y., Charles VI. Germany— WenceslanB. Fopea— Gregory XI., Urban VI. Cle- ment VTL, Boniface IX., Benedict XIII. Henry IV.— Grandson of Edward III. Bom 1360. Married Mary de Bohun, 1387 and Joan of Navarre,- 1403. Called to the throne by Parliament September 30, 1399. Died March 20, 1413. Issue : fomrs sons and two daughters. APPENDIX. #81 OoTKMPORAitY SovEBEiGNS.— fifcoitoiid— Kobcrt III., James I. Jfyawce— Charles VI., Henry VI. of England till 1436. Gej^mamj—'Fxeclen.ck Rupert, Jossus, Sigis- inund. Popes — Benedict lU., Innocent VII., Grregory XII., Alexander Y.^ John XXII. Henry V.— Eldest son of Henry IV. Bom August 9, 1388. Succeeded to the thi-one March 21, 1413. Married Catherine of Fi-ance, 1420. Issue: one son. CoTEMPORAET SovjEREiGMB. — Scotland— J nmen I. France— Memy VI. of England till 1436, Charles VII. Gcjv/iany— Bigismund. -Popes— John XXII., Martin V, Henby VI. — Only sou of Henry V. Bom December 6, 1421. Proclaimed king Sep- tember 1, 1422. Married Margaret of Anjou, 1445. Deposed March 3, 1461; restored October 9, 1470 ; again displaced April, 1471. Date of death unknown. Issue : one son. COTEMPOiiARY SovEBEiGNS. — Scotland — James I., James II,, James III. France — Charles VII., Louis XI. ffermany— Albert II., Frederick III. Popes — Martin V., Clement VII., Eugenius IV., Amadeus VIII., Felix V., Nicholas V., Calixtus III., Pius II. Edwabd rv. — ^Eldest surviving son of Richard, Duke of Tork. Bom April 29, 1442. Called to the throne by Parliament, March 4, 1461. Married Elizabeth (Wood- ville) Grey, 1463. Died April 9, 1483. Issue : three sons and seven daughters. COTEMPOiUBY SoYEKEiGSS.— Scotland—James III. France — Louis XI. G&rmany — Maximilian I. Spain — Ferdinand and Isabella, in whom the crowns of Castile and Axragon were united. Popes — Pius II., Paul III., Sixtus IV. Edwaud V. AND Richard III. — Edward, eldest son of Edward IV. Bom November 4, 1470. Proclaimed king April 9, 1483. Nominal reign ended June 22, 1483. Date of death unknown. Richard, youngest son of Duke of York. Bom Octo- ber 21, 1450. Calledjto the throne by Parliament, Jime 26, 1483. Married Anne of Warwick, 1472. Killed August 22, 1485. Issue : one son, who died young. CoTEMPORABY SovEBEiGNS. — Scotlatid — James III. France — Charles VIII. Ger- many — Maximilian I. Spain — Ferdinand and Isabella. Popes — Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII. Heney VII. — Only son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond. Bom 1456. Became king August 22, 1485. Married Elizabeth of York, 1486. Died April 21, 1509. Issue : three sons and four daughters. COTEMPORABY SOVEREIGNS. — Scotlamt—J&meE III., James TV. France— Chaxlcs VII., Louis XII. Germany. — Maximilian, i^ain — FerdJHand II. Popes — Innocent VIII., Alexander VI., Pius III., JuHus II. Henby VIII.— Eldest surviving son of Henry VII. Bom June 28, 1491. Came to the throne, April 22, 1509. Married Catherine of Arragon, 1509 ; Anno Boleyn, 1539; Jane Seymour, 1536 ; Anne of Oleves, 1540; Catherine How- ard, 1540; and Catherine Parr, 1543. Died January 28, 1547. Legitimate is- sue: one son and two daughters. COTiraiPORABY Sovereigns.— /Sooi?a?irf— James TV., James V., Mary. France— Ijovds XII., Francis I. G^e?*mrt)i;/— Maximilian, Charles V. i^awi— Ferdinand V., Charles V, of Gf rraany. Popes.— Julius II., Leo X., Adrian yi., Clement VII., Paul IIL 6#2 APPENDIX. Edwabd VI. AMD Mary. — Edward, only siirvivliig son of Henry VHI. Bom Ootp- ber 12, 1537. Crowned January 28, 1547. Died Jidy 6, 1B53. Mary, daughter of Henry YIII. by Catherine of Arragon. Bom Febroary 18, 1516. Ascended the throne July 6, 1553. Married Philip of Spain, 1554. Died without issue, November 17, 1558. CoTEMPORAEY Sovereigns. — Scotland— Mary. I^ance—Remjll. Germany — Charles v., and King of Spain. Popes— Paul III., Julius III., Marcellus II., Paul IV. Elizabeth.— Daughter of Henry VIII. by Anne Boleyn. Bom September 7, 1533. Cilowned November 17, 1558. Died March 24, 1603. Never married. COTEMPORABi SOVEREIGNS. — Scotland — Mary, James VI. France — Francisl., Charles TX., Henry III,, Henry IV. Spain — Philip II., Philip III. Germany— Ferdinand I., Maximilian II., Rudolph II. Popes — Paul IV., Pius IV., Pius v., Gregory XIII., Sixtus V., Urban VII., Gregory XTV., Innocent IX., Cle- ment VIIL James I. — Only son of Mary Queen of Scots, Bom June 19, 1566. Married Anne of Denmark, 1690. Was James VI. of Scotland when he came to the throne of England, March 24, 1603. Died March 27, 1625. Issue: two sons and one daughter, besides several children who died young. COTEMPOiiAEY SovEEEiGNS. — France — Henry IV., Louis XIII. Germany — Rudolph II., Matthias, Ferdinand II. /Si^aiiw— Philip III., Philip IV. Popes— Cle- ment VIII., Leo XI., Paul V., Gregory SV., TTrban VIII. CnASiXJSS I. — ^Eldest surviving son of James I. Bom November 16, 1600, Succeeded to the throne March 27, 1625. Married Henrietta Maria of Prance, 1625. Beheaded January 30, 1649. Issue: three sons and two daughters, besides children who died young. COTEMPOBABT SOVEREIGNS.— PrttKce — Louia XIII., Louis XIV. GerTraany- Ferdi- nand II., Ferdinand III. ^iJaiii^-Philxp IV. -Pcipes— Urban VIII,, Inno- cent X. CiTAiiLES II. — Eldest surviving son of Charles I. Bom May 29, 1630. Came to the throne May, 1660. Married Catherine of Braganza, 1662. Died February 6, 1685. No legitimate issue. CoTEMPORABT SOVEREIGNS. — France — Louis XIV. Germany — ^Leopold I. ^ain — Philip IV., Charles II. Popes— Alexander VII., Clement IX., Clement X., Innocent XI. James II. —Second surviving son of Charles I. Bom October 15, 1633. Married Anne Hyde, 1660, and Mary of Modena, 1673, Succeeded to the throne February 6, 1685. Driven from it December 11, 1688. Died in exile September 6, 1701. Issue : one son and two daughters. CoTEMPOBART SovEREiGNS.^i^Vaw-ce— Louifl XIV. ©eT-TTM^ty— Leopold I. Spain — Charles II. Fope — Innocent XI. William III, akd MlART.^William, Prince of Orange, and grandson of Charles I. Bom November 4, 1650. Married Mary, daughter of James II., November 4, 1677. Called to the throne jointly by a convention, Febmary IS, 1689. Mary died December 28, 1694. William died March 8, 1702. No issue. APPENDIX. ^33 COTEMPOBABY SovmsmTSB.—France-IrovLis XIV. eenrearay-leopold I. i^aln^ Charles II., Philip V. liussta—Feber the Great. Popes— Aleiander VIII.. Innocent XII,, Clement XI. Anhe — Youngest daughter of James II. Bom February 6, 166B. Married (Jeorge of Denmark, 1683. Ascended the throne March 8, 1702. Died August 1, l'?14. Issue: two sons and four daughters, who all died young. COTEMPOBABT SOTOKEiSNS.— «-n«ce— Louis XIV. eOTma?iy— Leopold I., Joseph I., Charles VI. ^oin— Philip V. JjM«a— Peter the Great. Prussia— Siei- eciofel., Frederick WUUam. Pope— Clement XI. Geoboe I.— Grejit-grandBon of Jarnes I. Bom May 21, 1660. Married Sophia.Doro- thea of Zell, 1682. Succeeded to the throne August 1, 1T14. Died Juno 11, 1727. Issue : one son -and one daughter, CoiEMPOBABT SOTEKEIGNS.— i^VOTce— Loiiis XIV., Louis XV. ee)-»K?M8?— Charles VI. Spoiji^Philip v. PfMsm-o-i-Frederiok William I. i!«S8«a-^Peter the Great; Catherine I. ■ Popes-^CIement XI., Innocent XHI., Benedict XIII. Geoege II.— Son of George I. Born November. 10, 1683. Married Caroline of An- spach, 1705. Ascended the throne June 11, 1727. Died October 25, 1760. Issue : three sons and five daughters. COTEMPOEAKY SovEBElQNS.— J^Viijice— Louis XV. Spain — Philip v., Ferdinand VI. Charles III. Germany— Charles VI., Charles Albert VII., Francia I. Frus- sixx — Frederick William I., Frederick the Great. Geoege III.— Grandson of George II. Boim June 4, 1738. Succeeded to the throne October 25, 1760. Married Charlotte of Meoklenburg-Strelitz, 1761. Died January 9, 1820. Issufe ; nine sons and six daughters. COTEMEOEABT SovEEElGHS.-PmJlce— Louis XV., Louis XVI., Napoleon I., Louis XVni. SiJafct— Charles III., Charles IV., Ferdinand VII., Joseph Bonaparte, eenreanz^— Francis I., Joseph II., Leopold II., Frauds II. PrwsriO— Fred- erick II., Frederick William II., Frederick William III. iJwssia— Elizabeth, Peter III., Catherine III., Paul I., Alexander. Po^jes— Clement XIIL, Cle- ment XIV., PiuB VI., Pius VII. Geobge IV.— Eldest son of George III. Bom August 12, 1762. Married Caroline of Brunswick, 1795. Made Regent February 5, 1811, and became king January 29, 1820. Died June 26, 1830. Issue : one daughter. Cotempobaet Sovebeigns. — France — Louis XVIII., Charles X. Austria — Francia I. (Francis II. of Germany). Fnissia — Frederick William III. Spain — Ferdi- nand VII. Russia — Alexander, Nicholas. Popes — Pius VII., Leo XII., Pius VIII. William IV. — Third son of George III. Bom August 31, 1765. Married Adelaide of Saxe-Meinlngen, 1818. Became king Jime 26, 1830. Died June 20, 1837. Issue: two daughters, who iiied young. CoTEMPOBABY SovEEElGNSl — France — Louis Philippe. A-ustria — Francis I., Ferdi- nand I. Prussia — Frederic^ William III. Spain — Ferdinand VII., Maria Isabella. Hussia — ^Nicholas. Popes — Pius VIII., Gregory XVI. ViCTOEIA.— Grand-daughter of George III. Bom May 24, 1819. Became queen reg- nant June 20, 1837. Married Albert of Saxe-Coburg, 1840. Issue : four sons and five daughters. 27* 634 APPENDIX. Cotempohahy Sovereigns. — France — Louis Philippe, Napoleon III. Attstria — Ferdi- nand, Francis Joseph. Pj-Mssio— Frederick "William III., Frederick William IV., William I., the latter made Emperor o£ Germany 1871. /Sj^aira— Mai-ia Isabella II., Amadens I. iJjMsio— Nicholas, Alexander II. /Miy— Victor Emmanuel, King of United Italy, 1870. i'opes— Gregory XVI., Pius IX. The temporal power at the Popes ended in 1870, when Victor Emmanuel be- came King of United Italy. Just before the Reformation, early in the 16th century, the Pope of Rome, claiming to be king of kings, established the following royal.tahle of precedence ; — 1. King of Rome, heir to German 8. Kin g of Scotland. 2. " France. [Empire. 9. *■ Hungary. 3. " Castile and Spain. 10. * Navarre. 4. " Arragon. 11. ' Cyprus. 6. " Portugal. 12. * Bohemia. e. " England. 13. Poland. 1. " Sicily. 14. * Scandinavia. II. CHRONOLOGY OP EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND. B.O. 65. Romans first invade Britain. 54. Second Roman invasion. S3. First coin made in Britain. A.D.' 43. Third Roman invasion. GO. Caractacus sent prisoner to Rome. 59. Suetonius commands in Britain. tiO. Christianity first preached in Bri- tain. 61. Boadicea makes war on the Ro- mans. 78-84. Agricola subdues Britain. 117. Insurrection against the Romans. 120. Emperor Hadrian in Britain. 197. An Emperor proclaimed in Britain. 210. Emperor Severus in Britain. 286. Rebellion and UHurpation of Carau- sius. 294. Carausius murdered. 864-418. IncuriiionB of northern barba- rians. 367-383. Revolts in the army in Britain. 410. Roman rule in Britain ends . 457. Hengtet founds the Kingdom of Kent. 477. Kingdom of Sussex founded. 519. ICingdom of Wessex founded. 547. Kingdom of Northurabria founded. 587. Kingdom of Mercia founded. 597. Arrival of St. Augustin. 709. Saxon laws promulgated by Ina. 787. First arrival of the Danes in Eng- land. 800. Egbert chief ruler. 810-''12. Egbert subdues the Welsh. 824. End of the Saxon Heptarchy. 827. First sole monarch of England. 853. Tithings granted to the Church. 871. Alfred the Great enthroned. 897. Alfred subdues the northern in- vaders. 905-924. Struggles with the Norsemen. 924. Foundations of the BritishL monarchy laid. 927-93a ContestB with the Danes, Scotch,' and Welsh. 945. Athelstan grants Cumberland to Malcolm King of Scotland. 955. Title "King of Great Britain" first used. 961. Married clergy supplanted by un- married clergy. 991. First land-tax levied in England. Arithmetic fii:st introduced. 993-1008. The Norsemen ravage England. 1006-1013. Sweyn of Denmark ravages England and becomes its mon- arch. APPENDIX 635 A. D. 1013. Canute proclMmed King. 1042. Acce^ion of Edward the Confe&- 8or. 1051, William, Buko of Normandy, visits England. 1066, William tlie Norman conCLuers Eng- land. 1068. Tax of Danegelt and rin^g of the cmrfew bell re-eBtablistted. 1069. ThjB land of England distributed among the Normans. 1070. Feudal system introduced. 1079, Courts of Chancery and Exchequer established. The New Forest created. 1035. Domesday Book completed. • 1087. Accession of William Rufus. 1088. Rebellion of Bishop Odo. 1089-'9S. War against the Scotch and Welsh. 1098. Westminster Hall biiilt. 1100. Accession of Henry I. 1105. Henry takes Normandy from his brother. 1137. House of Plantagenet founded. 1135. Stephen usurps the throne. 1138. War against the Scots. 1140. Maud makes war on Stephen. 1141. Maud proclaimed Queen, 1145. Maud flies to Normandy. 1148. Stephen crowned at Lincoln. 1153. Compromise efEected. 1154. Henry Plantagenet crowned Hen- ry H. 1157. Henry subdues the Welsh. 1159. War against France. 1173. Ireland conquered. 1185-87. Henry's sons rebel. 1189. Accession of Richard I. 1190, Richard engages in the Crusades. 1193, Richard, returning home, is im- prisoned. 1194-'98. War between England and France. 1204. English dominion in Prance broken up. 1307. Monks driven out of England. 1208. The Pope places England, under an interdict. 1209. The Pope excommunicates King John. 1210. The Irish brought under English laws. A.D. 1211. The English absolved from alle- giance. Their King deposed by the Pope. 1213. Degradation of King John. 1215. Magna Charta wrung from the King. 1315. Civil War. Accession of Henry II. 1231. French invaders expelled. 1333. French declaration of war against England: 1237. Magna Charta cancelled, 1253, Magna Charta solemnly reaffirmed. 1258. Parliajnent a^embles at Oxford. 1362. War betwepn the ICing and barons. 1364. The King mgde prisoner at Lewes. 1365. Foundation of the British constitu- tion of government laid. 1972. Accession of Edward I. 1283. The Welsh conquered. 1390. The Jews persecuted and exiled. 1291-'93. Fiery disputes in Scotland re- ferred to the King. 1395. War against France and Scotland. 1396. The King of Scotland made prisone?-. 1399. .Wallace leads an insurr^tzlon. 1305. Wallace executed, 1306. Robert Bruce made King of Scot- land, 1307. Accession of Edward II. 1308. Knights Templars abolished.' 1313. War against Scotland renewed. 1314. Battle of Bannockbum. 1318, The Scots defeated in Ireland. 1323. The Earl of Lancaster defeated. 1336. England invaded by the English Queen-Consort. 1327. The King imprisoned and murdered. Accession of Edward III. 1333. Baliol crowned King of Scotland. 1340. King of England assumes the title of " King of France." 1346. Battle of Crecy. Battle of Neville's Cro^. 1347. Calais surrenders to the English, 1348. First Great Plague in London. 1356. English victory at Poitiers. 1369. WicklifEe's tenets first promulgated. 1,376. Death of the Black Prince. 1377. Accession of Richard II. 1381. Wat Tyler's Rebellion. 1384-'85. War with Prance and Scot- land. 1399. Rebellion-of theDukeof Lancaster. Accession of Henry IV. 636 APPENDIX. A.D. 14i)l. Fii-ee of persecution lii'st lighted in England. 1403. Battle of Shrewsbury. 1405. Insurrection in the North. 1409. British troops sent to France. 1413. Accession of Henry V. 1414. Slaughter of the Lollards. 1415. Battle of Agincourt. 1417. Second capture of Calais. 1430. King o* England heir to the crown of Prance. 1423. Accession of Henry VI. Proclaimed King of France . 1429. Siege of Orleans. 1430. Murder of the " Maid of Orleans." 1450. Jack Cade's Rebellion. English driven from France. 1456. Beginning of the " War of the Roses." 1459. Earl of Warwick first styled "The King-maker." 1460. Battle of Wakefield. 1461. Duke of York crowned as Edward IV. 1464. King Henry imprisoned. 1470. King Henry released by Warwick. 1474. Printing introduced into England. 1483. Accessiou of Richard III. 1485. Invasion of England and accession of Henry VII. 1486. LambertSimmell, an impostor, claims the crown. 1487. Court of Star Chamber instituted. 1493. Perkin Warbeck, an impostor, claims the crown. 1495-'07, Warbeck invades England. 1499. Warbeck is executed. 1504. Origin of the royal family of Stu- art. 1507. Extortions of the " Ravening Wolves." 1509. Accession of Henry VIII. 1612. Invasion of France. 1519, Exaltation of Cardinal Wolsey. 1529. Henry sues for a divorce from Cathe- rine of Arragon. 1534. Henry declared to be the supreme head of the Chxxrch. 1532-M3. Henry marries five wives and murders two of them. 1546. Unbelievers in the doctrine of tran- substantiation burned at tho stake. 1647. Accession of Edward VI, ■ A.r>. 1549. Reform of the Church liturgy. 1552. Stemhold and Hopkins translate the Psalms. 1553. Accession of Mary, 1554. Church of Rome restored in Eng- land. Wyatt'B Rebellion. Mary marries Philip of Spain. Execu- tion of Lady Jane Grey. 1558. Calais surrendered to the French. Accisssion of Elizabeth. . 1559. Protestant Church restored. 1570. Elizabeth excommunicated by the Pope. 1580.. Spaniards Ifmd in Ireland. 1584. The Jesuits opposed,. Virginia dis- covered. 1587. Execution of Mary Queen of Scota 1588. Spanish Armada destroyed. 1598- Rebellion in Ireland. 1601. Trade monopolies and patents abol ished. 1603. Accession of James I. 1604. James styled "King of Great Brit- ain," by union with Scotland. 1605-'06. The Gunpowder Plot. 1611. Translation of the Bible published. 1618. Execution of Sir Walter Raleigh. 1625. Accession of Charles I. 1626. The King defies Parliament. 1637. War against France declared. 1629. Tonnage and ship-money levied by the King. 1635-38. Resistance to ship-money levy. 1639. War against Scotland. 1640. Invasion of England by the Scots. Meeting of the Long Parliament. 1641. Execution ,of Strafford. Courts of Star Chamber and High Commis- sion abolished, 1642. Civil War commences. 1644. Battle of Mai-ston Moor. 1645. Battle of Naseby and defeat of the royal forces. 1647. The King surrendered to the Eng- lish. 1649. Execution of the King. Ei^land declared to be a Republic. 1650. Prince Charles contends for the throne. 1651. Prince Charles invades England. 1663. Dissolution of the Long Parliament. Cromwell made Protector. 1665. War against Spain. APPENDIX. 637 A.B. 1658. 1659. 1660. 1662. 1665. 1666. 1667. 166S. 1673. 168a 1685. 1688. 1692. 1694. 1697. 1702. 1703. 1704. 1706. 1707. 1708. 1709. 1711. 1712. 1713. 1714. 1715. 1718. 1721. 1722. 1725. 1727. 1732. 1733. 1739. 1740. 1741. 1744. 1745. 1746. Cromwell dies alid his son becomes Protector. Officers of the army seize the Gov- ernment. Accession of Charles II. Religious Uniformity Act passed. War against the Dutch. Great naval battle with the Dutch. England invaded by the Dutch. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. War against Holland. Rye-HoiiHe Plot. Accession of James II. William, Prince of Orange, invades England. James abdicates. Accession of William and Mary. Triumph of Protestants in Ireland . in the battle of the Boyne. Massacre of Glencoe. Battle off La Hogue. Death of Queen Mary. Treaty of Ryswick. Accession of Queen Anne. War of the Spanish Succession. Naval victories over the Prench. Battle of Blenheim. Capture of' Gibraltar. Battle of Ramillies. TTnion with Scotland accomplished. Battle of Oudenarde. Battle of Malplaquet. Dnke of Marlborough deprived of offices. Battle of Denain. Treaty of Utrecht. Accession of George I. Rebellion in Scotland. Quadruple Alliance formed. Explosion of the South-Sea Bub- ble. Suspension of the Habeas Corpiis Act. Treaty of Vienna. Accession of George II. Siik manufacture in England. First cotton-spinning machine in England. War against Spain declared. Anson circumnavTgates the globe. Carthagena captured. War declared against Prance. Rebellion in Scotland. Battle of Culloden. A.D. 1747. French fleet defeated. 1748. Peace of Ais-la^Chapelle. 1752. ' 'New Style" in the calendar adopted. 1753, British Museum founded. 1755j^ Defeat of Braddock in America. 1756. War declared against France. 1757. Beginning of "The Seven Years'" War." 1758. Threatened invasion of England. 1759. Battle of Minden. Capture of Que- bec by the English. ' 1760. Conquest of Canada. Accession of George III. 1761. Surrender of Pondicherry to the English. 1762. War against Spain. 1763. Treaty of Paris. 1764. An Englishman discovers the true longitude. 1765. Amencan Stamp Act passed. 1766. Stamp Act repealed, 1768. Royal Academy of Fine Arts founded. 1769. Captain Cook circumnavigates the globe. 1770. The "Boston Massacre" occiira. 1773. Tea destroyed in Boston harbor. 1774. Troops ordered to Boston. 1775-'83. The American Revolution. 1780. Defeat of the Spanish fleet. 1781. Surrender of Comwallis. 1782. Irish Parliament declared indepen- dent. 1783. Peace with the United States of America. 1785. First power-loom in England. 1789. Commencement of the French Revo- lution. 1793. War begun against France. 1797. Defeat of Dutch and Spanish fleets. 1798. Rebellion in Ireland. Naval vic- tories over the French. 1799. Important conquests in India. 1801. Union of Ireland with EnglMid. 1802. Peace with France. 1803. Renewal of war against France. Brit- ish conquests in India. 1805. War against Spain. 1807, Danish fleet seized by the British. 1803-15. Wars against Napoleon. 1811. Prince of Wales appointed Regenii. 1812-'15. War against the United Statas. 1815. Battle of Waterloo. 1818. Death of Queen Charlotte. 638 APPENDIX A.D. 1830. 1821. 1824. 1825. 1827. 1828. 1829. 1830. 1832. 1834. 1835. 1837. 1838. 1S.S9. 1840. 1841. 1843. Accession of George IV, Cato Street Conspiracy. Death of Queen Caroline. Free-trade measures in Parliament. A ruinous commercial panic. Battle of Navarino. Test and Corporation Acts repealed. Roman Catholic Relief BiU passed. Accession of William IV. Parliamentary Reform Bill passed. Assembling of the first Reform Par- liament. West Indies Emancipation Bill Municipal Corporation BiU passed. Accession of Victoria. Abolition of slavery in all British Colonies. Insurrection in Canada. Capture of Aden. Marriage of the Queen. War agMUSt China. Cnion of the Canadas. Disruption of the Church of Scot- land. Victories in India. Destruction of the Sikh army. Re- peal of the Com Laws. A.D. 1848. 1849. 1851. 1852. 1853- 1856. 1857. 1858. 1859. 1865. 1867. 1868. 1871. Revolutions in Europe. Subjugation of the Sikhs. Repeal of the Navigation Laws, Royal Industrial Exhibition. Louis Napoleon declared to be Em peror of France. '65. War in the Crimea. Peace with Russia. Mutiny of native troops in India. East India Company abolished, and Fenian League b^un. The Queen declared Sovereign of India. '65. Civil War in America. English Ministers sympathize mth the in- sui^ents. Claims for spoliation by Americans. Dominion of Canada created. War against Abyssinia. Disendowment and disestablish- ment of the Irish Church. Joint Commission of England and the United States make a treaty for the settlement of clain^ for spoli- ation. INDEX. Abysainia, war ag^nst, 608. Acre, capture of, 148, 150. Acts, KegistratLOn, 587 ; Septennial, 512 ; Test, 468; Conformity, 359 ; TTnifoimity, 458. Aginconrt, battle of, 348, 249. Agricola, career of, in Britain, 16. Alfred the Gr^t, accession of, 46 ; reign of, 46 to 50. Alexander, Pope, aids William of Nor- mandy, 80. Alliance, tripartite, concerning Austria, 517. America, discovery of, 367 ; military ope- rations in, 531, 532 ; Civil War in, 604, C05; loss of the English by the Civil War in, 606. American War for Independence, 539 to 543 ; Civil War, 604. Americans make war against Great Britain, 554, 555. Ajiabaptists, views and fears of, S3Si. Angles, whence came the, 30. Anglo-American colonies, power and num- ber, of, 537, 528; condition of, 535; struggle for the rights of, 535 to 543. Anglo-Irish, origin of, 141. Anlaf, a Norwegian leader, in England and Ireland, 53 to 55. Anne, Queen, accession of, 490 ; reign of, 490 to 497. Anti-Corn-Law League, 591, 593. Ashdown, battle of, 67. Axgyle, Earl of, expedition and fate of, 470 to 472. Armada, the Invmcible, 371, 372. Armed neutrality, 540. Armies, English and French, - ^raemblage of, for the crusades, 147. Army, character of the Parliamentary, 423. Arteveldt, Jacob yan, 208. Athelney, isle of, retreat of Alfred at, 46. Arthur, Kong, stories of, 28. Ascalon, destruction of,bythe English, 150. Assembly at Oxford, 68 ; Scottish, 458. Assemblies to consider the affair of k Becket, 132. Austria, Duke of, imprisons Bichard I. — excommunicated, 152. Austrian succession, war about the, 519. B. Baliol, Edward, Kmg of Scotland, 207. John, King of Scotland, 187, 190. Baltic, English fleet in, 596, 598. Bannockbum, battle of, 200. Banner of William of Nor-mandy, 80. Bamet, battle of, 270. Baronets, how and for what purpose crea- ted, 397. Battle Abbey, 84. Bedford, Duke of, Eegent of France, 253. Belesme in Normandy wid England, 107, 113, 122. Belknap, Sir Robert, enforces the first poU-tax, 220. "Benevolence "levied, 272, 394. Bertha, Queen, and Christianity, 34. Berwick, 200, 207, 260. Becket, Thomas h, career of, 128 to 137; shrine of, plundered, 323. Biscayans, 211. Bishop, the Boy, 237. Bishops, British and Roman, at variance, 36 ; deprived of their sees, 343, 355, Boadicea, Queen, her wrongs and revenges, 15. 640 INDEX. Bonaparte, Kapoleon, campaigns of, 548; First Coneul, 549; deceiveB English statesmen, 550. Bonner, Bishop, restores the Latin ser- vice in the English church, 339. Bosworth, battle of, 281. Bothwell forces Mary of Scotland to many him, 360. Bordea^, taken hy the English, 190. Boyne, battle of, effect of the, 484. Blaclcheath, batUe of, 303. Blenheim, battle of, 492. Bloreheath, batUe of, 262. Braddocfc, defeat of, 599. Bradshaw, John, leader in Parliament, 436. Breda, declaration of, 443. Brest, capture of, by English, 319. Bretigny, treaty of, 213. Britain, divisions of, 21, 23 ; origin of name of, 192. British islands, 1, 2 ; chiefs, position of, 17; emperor, 19; monarchy, founda- tion of, 52. Britons, defence of, against Saxon in- vaders, 31. Britwalda, a title of honor, 31. Bruce, Robert, King oi Scotland, career of, 191 to 194; Edward, iu Ireland, Robert III., 194, 195. Brunswick, house of, 510. Brutus, story of, 191. Buckingham, Duke of, chief regent, 223 ; General, 263; Chief- Justice of Wales, 278 ; Duke of, 400, 403, 404. Burgundy, Duchess of, sends troops to Ireland, 298. Bnrley, Sir Simon, insurrection of, 921. Burgoyno, effects of surrraider of, 543. Burmese, war against the, 563. C. Cabal, origin of, 463. Cade, Jack, insurrection of, 259. Calais, 210, 247, 250, 956, 260, 961, 350. Caledonians, campaign against, 18. Caligula, Emperor, conduct of, 13, 14. Canada, conquest of, by English, 532; insurrection in, 691. Canterbury, made the seat of the primate of England, 34 ; persecution by arch- bishops of, 246. Canute, proclaimed King of England, 66 after career of, 67 to 70. Cape Breton, capture of, 527. Caractacus sent in chains to Rome, 14. Carausius, Emptor in Britain, 18. Carlisle, events at, 524, 525. Caroline, Queen, trial, sufferings, an death of, 561. Cartismandna, Queen, 13. Castles on the borders of Wales, 133. Castle-bnilding, 934 ; castle-men, 96. Catholics, Roman, emancipation of, 56S 564; encroach upon the Queen's pre rogativc, 594. Catus, Dccianus, oppresses the Britons, 1{ Cavalry, Korman, at Hastings, 82. Csesar, Claudius, invades Britain, 14. Caesar, Julius, Invades Britain, 7, 11, 12, Cecil, Sir William, coimsellor of Qneei Ehzabeth, 359 to 356. Celts, iu the British islands, 3, 4. Cerdic, foimds Wessex, 31. Charioteers, skill of British, 10. Charles I., accession of, 40i ; reign of 400 to 427. Charles, Prince, proclaimed King, 443 in Scotland and England, 430, 431 ; ea capes to France, 431; prepares for i new invasion, 441 ; becomes King, 456 Charles II., accession o^ 456; reign of 456 to 468. Chartists, origin of, 585. Charters for freedom, 991, 292. Chepstow, Richard, in Ii-eland, 139. ChevaUer, the ("Pretender"), 490 to 513. Chevy Chase, ballad of, 225. Chivalry, 217, 236. Christianity in Great Bribrtn, 20, 33 to 36, China, war against, 588, 599, 603. Chmrch, the, quarrels with the State, 98 : treasure of, se^ed, 100 ; hbei*ty of, de manded, 196 ; headship of, claimed bj Henry VIII., 324. Cinque Ports, 158; inhabitants of joir De Montfort, 178; fleet and men of, 179, 190. Civil War, thi-entened, 157 ; kindled, 161, 178, 180. Claims for spoliation by Anglo-confeder- ate cruisers, 607, 608. Coinage, first, ih England, 13. Colonies, European, 497. Commission, Comrt of High, 354 ; abolish- ed, 416. ESTDEX. 641 CommiBsions, Scotch, action o^ in the case of Charles L, 429. Commons, origin of House of, 230 ; their exclusive conti'ol of taxation, 244 ; meiji- bers of, imprisoned, 416. Commonwealth, establishment of the, 428. Confessor, Edward the, patron saint of England, 78. Confiscation of lands, general, 100. Conformity, Act of, 859. " Congregation of the Lord," 358, 360. Constitutional government, efforts for, in Europe, 561. 562. Continental Congress, American, 638. Covenant, the Scotch, 411. Cramuer, Thomas, courtier, prelate, and martyr, 316 to 349. Crecy, battle of, 210. Cressingham, Hugh, treasurer of Scot- land, 190. Crimea, war in the, 596 to 599. Cromwell, Oliver, career of, 404 to 440 ; Bichard, 441, 442 ; Thomas, implement of Henry VIII., 320 to 325. Crusades, origin and character of, 111,112. Cumberland, Dufce of, in Germany, 520 ; career of against the Scotch insurgents, 524, 526 ; helps Frederick the Great and loses Hanover, 528. Culloden, battle of, 525. Curfew bell, origin of the, 101. Cymbeline, image of, on coins, 13. D. Danegelt, tax called, 96- Danelagh, ravages in, 51. . Danes, name for Norsemen, 47, Danish fieet seized by the English, 551. ships appear in the Humber, 99, Dare, Jeanne, "Maid of Orleans," career and sufferings of, 255, 256. Darien, trading colony in, 494. -Damley, Henry, husband of Maxy Queen of Scots, 360. Debt, national, of Great Britain, 484, 496, 546,558. De Breaute, leader of King John's merce- naries, 161. De Burgh, Hubert, regent of England, 172. Declaration of Rights, 479, 498. Decrees of Napoleon and British Council, 554. Deira, Saxon kingdom of, 23. Denmark, in league against the "Con- queror," 103. Distress in England, 658, 659, 605 ; riots because of, 559. Divine right of kings to rule, 394, 395, 399. Divorce of Henry VIII., 316, 317. Domesday Book, 103. Dominion, the Old (Virginia), 441. Douay, Bible translated in the college at, 363. Douglas, Earl of, regent of Scotland, 307. Druids, religion and influence of, 5. Dunkirk, capture of, 438. Dunstan, Archbishop, career of, 55 to 62. Dutch, the, invade England, 462 ; war with, renewed, 463 ; troops of, in England, 479. Dyke, Offa's, 39. E. East India Company, formation of, 447. East Indies, affairs in, 530. Edgecote, battle of, 268. EdgehiU, battle of, 418. Edinburgh, burnt by the English, 224 ; captured by the English, 274; burnt, 331 ; riot in, 617 ; castle besieged, 523. Edmund, Ironsides, chosen King of the Seucous or Ehghsh, 67 ; The Elder, founds the British monarchy, 62. Edward, The Confessor, accession of, 73 ; reign of, 73 to 78 ; renmtns of, enshrined, 181 ; The First, accession of, 182 ; reign of, 182 to 195 ; The Second, accession of, 196 ; reign of, 196 to 204 ; The Third, ac- cession of, 205 ; reign of, 205 to 214 ; The Fourth, accession of, 265 ; reign of, 265 to 274; The Fifth, accession of, 275; miu-dcr of, 276 ; The Sixth, accession of, 329 ; reign of, 329 to 336 ; The Black Prince, 211 to 213 ; Plantagenet, fate of, 304. Edwin of Deira, conversion of to Christi- anity, 35, 36. Elector Palatine, son-in-law of James I., 396, 398. Ella, founder of Sussex, 31. Elizabeth, Queen, accession of, 352 ; reign of, 352 to 357. Emperor, in Britain, 16, 17. England, origin of name of, 30. 6^2 INDEX. English liberty, origin of, 87. Erkenwin founds Essex and Middlesex, 31. Etbelbert, first Christian King of Saxon blood, 34. Ethelbui-ga introduces Christianity among the Northumbrians, 35. Eustace, of Boulogne, visits England, with armed retainers, the result, 75. Evesham, battle of, 180. Exeter, Duke of, invents the rack for tor- ture, 258. F. Factions, Neville and Woodville, 267, Fairfax, Sic Thomas, lord general, 422, 499, 430. Fawkes, G-uy, engaged in the gunpowder treason, 390. Fenians, 606, 607. Feudal system, 96, 97, 98. Five Burghs, the, 51. Fleet, Alfred's, 48 ; British, sent against the Norsemen, betrayed, 65 ; of "WiUiam of Normandy, 80 ; English, employed by crusaders, 146 to 151) ; number and character of the English — the French, defeated near Brest, 309 ; the English, against the Spanish navy, 370, 371 ; the Spanish, for invading England, 370, 371, 372. Flemings, settle on the borders of Wales, 109 ; in Pembrokeshire, 123, 131 ; trade with, 215. Flodden, battle of, 310. Fools, feast of, 237. Forts, Agricola's chain of, 16 ; established by Ethelflcda, 51 ; built by William the Conqueror, 99. France, in connection with English his- tory, 156, 188, 189, 192, 213, 215, 225, 243, 246, 247, 250, 302, 309, 311, 349, 481, 484, 485, 537, 528, 543, 544 ; brilliant mili- tary career of, 548 \ at war with Grer- many, 610. Frederick the Gre^t assisted by the Eng- Ush, 528. French, the, on the English coast, 250 ; acknowledge Henry of England as' their King, 251 ; invade England^ 261 ; suc- cesses against the English, 485 ; revolu- tion, 546. a. Galgacus, last champion of the North Britons, 16. Gauls in Britain, 4. George I., accession of, 510 ; reign of, 510, 515 ; The Second, accession of, 516 ; reign of. 516 to 532 ; The Third, accession of, 533 ; reign of, 533 to 560 ; The Fourth, accession of, 560 ; reign of, 560 to 565. ^ G^ofErey, of Anjou^ founds the house of Plantagenet, 124. Germany, Emperor of, imprisons Richard I. and defies the Pope, 152 ; Emperor of, helps Henry VIII., 309. Glencoe, massacre of, 485. Gloucester, Duke of, protector of England, ^3 ; Richard, Earl of, becomes King, 276. Godwin, Earl, procures the crown for his son Harold, 78. Gravelines, battle of, 350. Great Britain, present condition of, 611 ; natural features and remarkable events of, 618. Grey, Lady Jane, becomes Queen of Eng- land, 336 ; death of, 342. Gimhilda, story of, 71. Gunpowder treason, or plot, 389, 390. Halidon Hill, battle of, 207. Harfleur, capture of, by the English, 217. Hastings, battle of, 81. Hawkins, Admiral, author of the slave- trade between Africa and America, 361. "Heir of France," a title of Henry T. of England, 251. Huguenots, the, 358, 37p, 374. Himdred Years' War, origin of, 207. Heptarchy, the Saxon, rise of, 30 ; end of, 40. Hermit, Peter the, preaches a crusade, 111. Hexham, battle of, 266. High Commission, Court of, established, 354; abolished, 416. Highlanders, Scotch, invasion of England by, 624 ; defeated at Culloden moor, 525. Horaildon HUl, battle of, 240. Howard, Admiral, commander of the fleet against the Spanish Armada, 370. INDEX. 643 Ida, founder of Norbhiimbrift, 31. Impressment of seamen, 553, 554. Income of the king, how derived, 164. Independents, 433, 459. India, English possessions in, 544; the British empire in, 600 ; Sepoys of, and their revolt, 600, 602; Victoria Empress of, 603. Indies, East, affairs in, 591. Insurgents, doings of, 221, 233. Iiismrection, against the Kormans, 96 ; in time of Richard III., 278 ; in Cornwall, 303; in favor of monasteries, 321, 332, 333, 334; Wyatt^s, 341; in Wales, 342; known as '•rising of the North," 362; in Ireland, 374, 375; against Cromwell, 438; Booth's, 443; in Scotland, 462, 467; Monmouth's and Argyle's, 471 ; in Scot- land, 483 ; Jacobite, 511 ; in Canada, 591. Interference, English, in the affairs of other nations, 563, 587, 588, 592. Invasion of Britain by the Romans, 7 ; by the Spaniards, expected, 370 ; expected, 513, 513, 530. Ireland, geography of, 3, 43 ; scholars and monks in, 93 ; civil war in, 138, 141, 363 ; colonized by Protestants, 397 ; civil war in, 429; Protestant royalists in, 433; affairs in, 460 ; war in, 483 ; Protestant intolerance in, 545 ; union of with Eng- land, 549 ; disturbances in, 584 ; agitation in, 593; distress la, 594. Irish Church, disestablishment of, 609; Irish Coercion, Bill, 585, 586. Isabella, Queen, rebels against her husband and invades England with foreign troops ; savage career and character of, 203, 204. Isles, Lord of the, 265. J. Jacobites, 480. Jamaica, capture of, 438. James I. (Sixth of Scotland), accession of, 389 ; reign of, 389, 399 ; The Second, ac- cession of, 469 ; reign of, 469 to 479. Java, :bland of, conquered by the English, 551. Jesuits, alleged plot of, 465, 466. Jews, massacre, of, 144. John, accession of, 164; reign of, 154 to 162. Judges of Charles I., how treated, 456, 457. Jury, trial by, 50. K. Kent, kingdom of, founded, 30 ; invaded by "The Conqueror," 84. King's evil, supposed cures of, 78, Knights first heard of, 98. Knights Templars, Order of, suppressed, 204; of St John, 326. La Hogue, victory at, 481. Lancastrians, 261, 262, 365, 272. Laud, William, Archbishop, persecutions by, 406 ; in Scotland, 410 ; execution of, 420. Laws, Alfred's, 48, 49 ; Roman, ia Britain, 24. Lawyers, first appearance of, in England, 231. Levellers, 424; treatment of, 439. Lewes, battle of, 179. Lochiel joins the Young Pretender, 522. Lollards, persecutions of, 241, 246. London, resists the Norsemen, 65 ; besieged by Canute, 67, 85; walls of, cast down, . 175, 180 ; citizens of, oppressed, 176 ; king and queen insulted in, 178 ; insur- gents in, 221 ; plagues in, 215, 462. Londonderry, siege of, 483. Long Parliament, 412. Lords, House of, assiune government au- thority, 478 ; provide for a monarch, 479. Louis, of France, invited to rule England, 161 ; Prince, driven from England, 171. Louis XrV., of Prance, revokes the Edict of Nantes, 474. Louis Napoleon in league with Great Bri- tain against Russia, 596. Loyalists, American, 544. M. Magna Charta wrung from King John, 160 ; character of, 164 ; revised and pub- lished, 171 ; repeatedly confirmed, 175 ; confirmation of demand,ed, 190. 644 INDEX. Malcolm, King of Scotland, in England, 109, 110. M;aidnbratius wins Britain to the Romans, 11. ]vrarchers or borderers, 109 ; oppressions of, 185. Margaret of Anjou, Queen, career of in England, 263 to SfiS. Marlborough, Duke of, career of, 490 to 498. Married clergy, succeeded by the unmar- ried, 59; restored, 61. Marston Moor, battle of, 431. Mary, Queen, accession of, 839 ; reign of, 339, 852. Mary, Queen of William III., death of, 486. Mary Queen of Scots, career of, 358 to 361. Massachusetts Bay, colony of, 399. Massacre of Norsemen, 64. Maud, son of, the first of the Plantagenet monarche, 124 ; career of, 124 to 129. Mechanics at the "Welsh court, 89. Mothven, battle of, 196. Militia, origin of, 48. Monarchy, establishment of on a new ba- sts, 480. Monasteries founded by Alfred, 48 ; by Athelstan, 53 ; by Dunstan, 58 ; sinks of pollution, 87 ; suppressed, 318. 321 ; de- stiruction and plunder of, 322, 333 ; cher- ished by the people, 3.33. Monmouth, Duke of, plota in favor of, 467 ; his career, 470, 473. Montfort. Simon de, bold operations of, 176 to 180. Montrose, Earl of, raises the royal standard in Scotland, 431. ]\[ortimer'B Cross, battle of, 363. Murray, Eegent of Scotland, 360, 361. N". Nantes, edict of, 874; edict of, revoked, 473. Napoleon, the Emperor, threatens Eng- land, 550. Naseby, battle of, 423. National debt, 496, 546, B58. Navy, the British, 62, 165 ; the French, 218, 219. Navarino, battle of, 564. Netherlandera, the, 361, S63. NevUle's Cross, battle of, 310. Newbum, battle of, 412. Newbury, battle of, 431. New Forest, how formed, 103. Nobles, acts and fate of treacherous, 338. Nonjurors, origin of, 482. "No Popery" riots, 545. Norman nobles, property of confiscated, 132 ; kings, personal appellations of, 129. Normans, fill oiHoes, 73; overrun Wales, 188; build casfles there, 109; in Ireland, 141. Normandy, affairs in, 107, 121, 156, 250, 257. Northampton, battle of, 863. Norsemen, invade and ravage Britain, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 50, 62, 63 ; settle in Ire- land, 41. Norway, "Maid of," Queen of Scotland, 187. Norwegians, defeated by Harold, 80. O. Gates, Titus, 465, 468. O'Connell, Daniel, agitations of, 562, 593, 594. Offa, last great prince of the heptarchy, 39. Oi-ange, William, Prince of, leader of the Protestant league, 470 ; invited to Eng- land, 477 ; goes, and is a successful in- vader, 478. Orleans, siege of, 255; "Maid of," 355, 366. Otterbum, batUo of, 234. Oxford, University of, founded, 93 ; tumult at, 174 ; provisions of, 177. P. Pagan temples destroyed, 36. Papal power, dislike and restriction of, 216, 328 ; claims and operations of, 229 ; court, taxes paid to by England, 339. Patterson, William, founder of the Bank of England, 494. Parliament, British, prototype of, 179 ; at .Winchester and Marlborough, 180. 181 ; royal demands on, 188 ; action of, against Gaveston— appoints a regency, 205 ; trios State prisoners, 2.35 ; the "Wonder-work- ing," 223, 226 ; judicial character of, 331 ; IND33X. 645 character and acta of, 238; the "Un- leamed," 241; action concerning the Yorkists and Laucastrig,iK," 268 ; acts against a queen, 278, 280 ; subserviency of, 328; confiscates church property, 335 ; legitimates the title of Queen Eliza- beth, 354 ; requests the execution of Mai-y of Scotland, 369; the "Addled," 394; quarrels with King James, 394, 390, 398 ; declares the right of freed^ousaion, S96 ; acts of the King against, 397 ; abolished for a Beason, 407; prepares for war — ordinances oiE, 419; the "Rump," 425; abolishes monarchy and House of Lords, 428 ; impopularitjr of, and acts, 433, 434, 435; dissolved by Cromwell, 435; the '•Barebones," 436; Cromwell's, 439; a royalist, 443: savages in, 457, 458; at Oxford, 466 ; of William and Mary, 481 ; of Scotland proclaims Charles II. as King, 429 ; the "Keforraed," 585. Parliaments, triennial, authorized, 486. Peace between England and tho ITnited States, 543. Peers, servants of the court made, 122; House of, created, 440. Peninsular war begun, 552. Persecution, the Marian, 346, 347, 348. Petition of Rights, 403. PhiKp of Spain, husband of Queen Mary, 344, 368, 374. Phcenicians visit Great Britain, 3. Plague in London, 215, 462, Plantagenet, first monarch of the house of, 124 ; origin of name of, 129 ; Edward, bad treatment of, 296. Plot, Gunpowder, 390, 391; Rye House, 468. Plots by English exiles, 349, Poitiers, battle of, 212. Poll-tax, how first imposed, 219. Pope of Rome, claims supremacy and infal- libility, 56 ; interference of with Magna Charta, 161 ; power of, felt in England, 163 ; revenue of, from England, 176 ; supremacy of, denied by Henry VIII., 318; excommunicates Queen Elizabeth, 362 ; temporal power of, ehds, 610. Prerogative, the royal, high claims for, 394, 395, Presbyterians, action of, 456, 459. Prestonpans, battle of, 523. Pretender (James Francis Edward), to the throne, 489 ; lands in Scotland, 495. The Young, in Scotland, 531 to 526 ; aided by France, 524; escapes to France, 626. Pride's Purge, 425. Protectorate, the, 437. Protestant worship prohibited, 344; States, leagues of, 470; refugees in England, 473. Puritans, or^iu of the name of, 357 ; war of, in the Anghcan Church, 365 ; advo- cate separation of Church and State, 366 ; proceedings against, 366, 367 ; lack of patriotism, 370 ; ascendency of, in Par- liament, 391; persecuted, flee to Hol- land—found a colony in America, 391 ; republicans, 411. Q. Quadruple alliance, 588. R* Radicals, rise of, 559. Raleigh, Sir Walter, schemes of, 367, 368, 389, 395. " Ravening Wolves" of Henry TIL, 306. Reform BiU, incidents connected with the, 584. Reformation, English, 330. Regency, Council of, in Scotland, depose Baliol, 190. Regent, Prince George appointed, 553. Revolutionary spirit prevails, 561, 562, 583, 590, 594. Revolts of the Roman army and navy, IS, 19. Richard I., accession of, 144; reign and career of. 144 to 154. Richard II., accession of, 217; reign of, 217 to 228. Richard III., accession of, 277; reign of, 277 to 282. Richmond, Earl of, aspires to the throne, 280 ; invades England, 281. Romans invade Britain, 7 to. 16; rule of, 17 ; abandon Britain, 19 ; allegiance to ended, 19. "Root and Branch" faction, 412, 415. Roses, War of the, 245, 260, 262. Rowena, story of, 28. Royal families of England and cotemporary sovereigns, 639. M6 INDEX. Royalists, sufferings of, 459. Russia,' war with, 596. Rye House plot, 468. Ryawick, treaty of, 486. Safety, Committee of, 443. St. Bartholomew's eve, 365. St. John, Order of the Knights of, dissolved, 326. St. Quentin, battle of, 349. Saladln, leader of ttie Saracens, 142, 150, 151, 152. Saxon era, the, 27. Saxons, the, in Britain, 29, 30 ; at Hast- ings, 81, 82, 83 ; join William Rufus, 106. Scandinavian sea-kings, 37. SciUy Isles, conquest of the, 54. Scotland, tribes in Highlands of, 24 ; expe- ditions apainst, 53, 76, 102, 202, 328 ; a dependency of England, 186 ; claimants for the crown of, 187 ; afEairs in, 207, 243, 265, 274, 284 to 288, S2S, 359. Scots, 19 ; invade England, 102, 200, 207, 210, 22-1, 310, 327 ; betray and sell King Charles, 423. Scots, Mary, Queen of, pretensions of, to the crown of England, 358; career of, 358 to 361. Scriptures, the, translated by WicMifEe, 230. Seminaries established by Engl^h Boman- iBte,363. Seminarists in England, 863, 364. Severus, waU o£, IS, 19. " Ship-money," 407, 408. Shrewsbury, battle of, 241 ; royal army col- lected at, 418. Simmcl, Lambert, pretender to the English throne, 297, 298. Slaves, traffic in, 88, 92. Slavery, abolition of, 586. Sluys, naval battle at, 209 ; naval battle near, 225. Society, before the Saxon invasion, 24 ; during the Saxon era, 85 ; during the Norman and early Plantagenet period, 162; from the year 1900 to 1400, 228; during the nUe of the later Plantagenets, 288 ; ill the time of the Tudors, 377 ; during the first half of the 17th century, 444 ; during the later rule of the Stuarts, 498 ; during the reigns of the f uro Georges, 565. South-Sea scheme, 613, 514. Spain, war against, 396 ; marriage treaty with, 398; partition of monarchy of pro- posed, 488 ; war against, 493, 510; 518, 519, 534. Sjjanish intrigues in Ireland and opera- tions on the coast, 374. Stamp Act, American, 536. Star Chamber, Court of, 297, 314, 416. Statutes, how recorded, 230 ; against the Church of Rome swept away, 345 ; of Mary, repealed, 354. Stephen, usurps the throne, 125 ; reign of, 125 to 129. Stirling Castle, operations at, 191, 192, 193, 200, 525. Stoke-upon-Trent, battle of, 298. Stuart, Arabella, 389, 395, 396. Stuarts, the, 388. Suetonius overruns a- part of Anglesey, 15. Sweyn, a Norwegian King, in England, 63 to 75. T. Taxation, opposed, 536, 537. Taxes, 103, 123 ; riots caused by, 517. Tea, destruction of at Boston, 538. Test Act, repealed, 468. Torbay, William of Orange lands at, 47S. Toulon, battle at, 521. Towton, battle at, 264. Trafalgar, naval battle of, 550. Tribute, imposed on the Britons, 12, 13 ; on Kings of North Wales, 53 ; to the Norsemen, 63, 65 ; levied on the lands, 69 ; to the Pope, 174. Tudors and Stuarts, time of the, 508. Tyler, Watt, insurrection of, 220, 222. TJniformity, Act of, 458. Union of England and Scotland, 494, 495 ; of Ireland with England, 549. " United Irishmen," insun-ection of, 549. Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris, 234. Utrecht, treaty of, 496. INDEX 647 Valhalla, the ScandinaTian, 86. Venion, Admiral, 517, 518. Victoria, Queen, accession of, 590 ; mdi"- riiige of, 593 ; reign of, 590 to G18. Virginia, colony of, 392. Volusenus explores the British coast, 8. Vortigern, story of, 28. W. Wakefield, battle of, 963. Wales, subdued by William the Conqueror, 103. Walla of Agricola and Hadrian, 17 ; Ro- man, 34. Wallace, William, invades England, 191 ; career and character of, 193. War, between England and the United States, ^4 to 556 ; of England against the Chinese, 588, 589 ; in the Crimea, 596 to 599 ; against Abyssina, 608. Warbeck. Perkins, pretender to the throne, 301 to 304. Warwick, Earl of, the "King-Maker," 259. Waterloo, battle of, 558. Welsh, the, resist the Norman invaders and plunder England, 109 ; hated by Normans, 123 ; starved in dungeons, 157; repel their English oppressorn--- ai-e subdued, 184 ; in arms, 189, 200 ; form an alliance with the Scotch, 200 ; struggle for independence, 239 ; final submission, 243. Westminster Abbey, original building of, 77. WlcMifle, John, 216, 229, 230. William I., of Normandy, invades Eng- land, 80 ; becomes king, S5 ; reign of, 85 to 105 ; The Second (Bufue), acces- sion of, 105 ; reign of, 105 to 115 ; The Third, accession of, 480 ; reign of, 480 to 489; William and Mary, acoessiou of, 480; reign of, 480 to 487; The Fourth, accession of, 682 ; reign of, 582 to 689. Witenagemote, the Saxon parliament, 84, 85,88. WorcestCT, battle of, 431. Wyatt, Sir Thomas, insurrection of, 341, 342. Yeomanry, English, origin of, 301. York, town of, seized by Norsemen, 51 ; Normans massacred at, 99. York, Duke of, succeeds Bedford iii Prance, 256 ; made Protector, 260, 261. Yorkists, adherents of the family of the Duke of York, straggling for the crown, 261, 262, 263, 279, 296, 297, 299.