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LUh.of T. Sincla.ir, FTiilad*. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 KING RICHARD THE SECOND 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 1/ 
 
 BY JACOB ABBOTT 
 
 ftt) SBiiflrabtnfls. 
 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 18 5 8. 
 
v : 
 
 
 ir L 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty-eight, by 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS. 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of 
 New York. 
 
r 7 y 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 King Richard the Second lived in the 
 days when the chivalry of feudal times was in 
 all its glory. His father, the Black Prince ; his 
 uncles, the sons of Edward the Third, and his 
 ancestors in a long line, extending back to the 
 days of Kichard the First, were among the most 
 illustrious knights of Europe in those days, and 
 their history abounds in the wonderful exploits, 
 the narrow escapes, and the romantic adven- 
 tures, for which the knights errant of the Mid- 
 dle Ages were so renowned. This volume takes 
 up the story of English history at the death of 
 Richard the First, and continues it to the time 
 of the deposition and death of Richard the Sec- 
 ond, with a view of presenting as complete a 
 picture as is possible, within such limits, of the 
 ideas and principles, the manners and customs, 
 and the extraordinary military undertakings 
 and exploits of that wonderful age. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 i. Richard's predecessors 13 
 
 ii. quarrels 37 
 
 iii. the black prince 81 
 
 iv. the battle of poictiers 103 
 
 v. childhood of richard 146 
 
 vi. accession to the throne 166 
 
 vii. the coronation 185 
 
 viii. chivalry 197 
 
 ix. wat tyler's insurrection 1 225 
 
 X. THE END OF THE INSURRECTION 255 
 
 XI. GOOD QUEEN ANNE 273 
 
 XII. INCIDENTS OF THE REIGN 290 
 
 XIII. THE LITTLE QUEEN . 310 
 
 xiv. Richard's deposition and death 324 
 
ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 Page 
 PARLEY WITH THE INSURGENTS Frontispiece. 
 
 ruins of an ancient castle 15 
 
 map situation of normandy 23 
 
 king john - 29 
 
 caernarvon castle 51 
 
 portrait of edward the second - 55 
 
 warwick castle 61 
 
 kenilworth castle 66 
 
 a monk of those days 69 
 
 berkeley castle 71 
 
 caves in the hill-side at nottingham castle. 75 
 
 Mortimer's hole 79 
 
 map campaign of crecy . . 85 
 
 view of rouen - . 87 
 
 genoese archer 94 
 
 old english ships 105 
 
 map campaign of poictiers 110 
 
 storming of the castle of romorantin 116 
 
 richard receiving the visit of his uncle john. 152 
 
 portrait of richard's grandfather 165 
 
 edward, the black prince 169 
 
\ii Engravings, 
 
 THE BULL 177 
 
 STORMING OF A TOWN 806 
 
 KNIGHTS CHARGING UPON EACH OTHER 390 
 
 VIEW OF THE TOWER OF LONDON 835 
 
 THE SAVOY 848 
 
 RUINS OP THE SAVOY 868 
 
 COSTUMES 889 
 
 FASHIONABLE HEAD-DRESSES - 283 
 
 3SAL OF RICHARD II 300 
 
 HENRY OP BOLINGBROKE KING HENRY IV 340 
 
 PONTEFRACT CASTLE 342 
 
KING RICHARD II. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 Richard's Predecessors. 
 
 Three Richards. Kichard the Crusader. 
 
 THERE have been three monarchs of the 
 name of Richard upon the English throne. 
 
 Richard I. is known and celebrated in his- 
 tory as Richard the Crusader. lie was the sov- 
 ereign ruler not only of England, but of all the 
 Norman part of France, and from both of his 
 dominions he raised a vast army, and went with 
 it to the Holy Land, where he fought many 
 years against the Saracens with a view of rescu- 
 ing Jerusalem and the other holy places there 
 from the dominion of unbelievers. He met with 
 a great many remarkable adventures in going 
 to the Holy Land, and with still more remarka- 
 ble ones on his return home, all of which are 
 fully related in the volume of this series entitled 
 King Richard I. 
 
 Richard II. did not succeed Richard I. imme- 
 diately. Several reigns intervened. The mon- 
 arch who immediately succeeded Richard 1. was 
 
u K 1 n r, Richard 11. 
 
 King John, Ohatmotw of the kings una doUm of those daya, 
 
 John. John was Richard's brother, ami had 
 boon left in command, in England, as recent 
 
 during the king's absence in the Holy Land. 
 
 After John came Henry 111. and the three 
 Edwards; and when the third Edward died, his 
 son Richard II. was heir to the throne. lie 
 was, however, too young at that time to reign, 
 tor ho was only ton years old. 
 
 The kings in those days were wild and turbu- 
 lent men, always engaged in wars with each 
 other and with their nobles, while all the indus- 
 trial elassos were greatly depressed. The no- 
 bles lived in strong eastles in various places 
 about the country, and owned, or claimed to 
 own, very large estates, which the laboring men 
 were compelled to cultivate for them. Some 
 of these eastles still remain in a habitable state, 
 bin most of them are now in ruins — and very 
 curious objects the ruins are to see. 
 
 The kings held their kingdoms very much 
 as the nobles did their estates — they consider- 
 ed them theirs by right And the people gen- 
 erally thought so too. The king had a right, 
 as they imagined, to live in luxury and splen- 
 dor, and to lord it over the country, and com- 
 pel the mass of the people to pay him nearly 
 all their earnings in rent and taxes, and to raise 
 armies, whenever he commanded them, to go 
 
B KJHARU'8 P R E D E C E 8 8 K S. 17 
 
 Origin and nature of H><-ir power. 
 
 and fight for him in his quarrels with his neigh- 
 bors, because his father had done these things 
 befi >re him. And what right had his father to 
 do these things? Why, because Aw lather had 
 done them before hhn. Vary well ; but to go 
 back to the beginning. What right had the 
 first man to assume this power, and how did he 
 get | ion of it? This was a question that 
 
 nobody could answer, for nobody knew then, 
 and nobody knows now, who were the original 
 founders of these noble families, or by what 
 means they first came into power. People did 
 not know how to read and write in the days 
 when kings first began to reign, and so no rec- 
 ords were made, and no accounts kept of public 
 transactions; and when at length the coun- 
 tries of Europe in the Middle Ages began to 
 emerge somewhat into the light of civilization, 
 these royal and noble families were found every 
 where established. The whole territory of Eu- 
 rope was divided into a great number of king- 
 doms, principalities, dukedoms, and other such 
 sovereignties, over each of which some ancient 
 family was established in supreme and almost 
 despotic power. Nobody knew how they orig- 
 inally came by their power. 
 
 The people generally submitted to this power 
 very willingly. In the first place, they had a 
 
 B 
 
LS King Eichabd II. 
 
 Natural rights of man in respect to the fruits of the earth. 
 
 sort of blind veneration for it on account of its 
 ancient and established character. Then they 
 were always taught from infancy that kings bad 
 
 a right to reign, and nobles a right to their es- 
 tates, and that to toil all their lives, and allow 
 their kings and nobles to take, in rent and tax- 
 es, and in other snob ways, every thing that 
 they, the people, earned, except what was barely 
 sufficient tor their subsistence, was an obligation 
 which the God of nature had imposed upon 
 them, and that it would be a sin in them not to 
 submit to it; whereas nothing can be more 
 plain than that the God of nature intends the 
 earth for man, and that consequently society 
 ought to be so organized that in each genera- 
 tion every man can enjoy something at least 
 like his fair share of the products of it, in pro- 
 portion to the degree of industry or skill which 
 he brings to bear upon the work of developing 
 these products. 
 
 There was another consideration which made 
 the common people more inclined to submit to 
 these hereditary kings and nobles than we should 
 have supposed they would have been, and that 
 is, the government which they exercised was 
 really, in many respects, of great benefit to the 
 community. They preserved order as far as 
 they could, and punished crimes. If bands of 
 
Kichard's Predecessors. 19 
 
 Beneficial reHults of royal rule. 
 
 robbers were formed, the nobles or the king sent 
 out a troop to put them down. If a thief broke 
 into a house and stole what he found there, 
 the government sent officers to pursue and ar- 
 rest him, and then shut him up in jail. If a 
 murder was committed, they would seize the 
 murderer and hang him. It was their interest 
 to do this, for if they allowed the people to be 
 robbed and plundered, or to live all the time in 
 fear of violence, then it is plain that the culti- 
 vation of the earth could not go on, and the 
 rents and the taxes could not be paid. So these 
 governments established courts, and made laws, 
 and appointed officers to execute them, in order 
 to protect the lives and property of their sub- 
 jects from all common thieves and murderers, 
 and the people were taught to believe that there 
 was no other way by which their protection 
 could be secured except by the power of the 
 kings. We must be contented as we are, they 
 said to themselves, and be willing to go and 
 fight the king's battles, and to pay to him and 
 to the nobles nearly every thing that we can 
 earn, or else society will be thrown into confu- 
 sion, and the whole land will be full of thieves 
 and murderers. 
 
 In the present age of the world, means have 
 been devised by which, in any country sum- 
 
20 King Eichaed II. 
 
 The power of kings and nobles was restricted. 
 
 ciently enlightened for this purpose, the people 
 themselves can organize a government to re- 
 strain and pnnish robbers and murderers, and 
 to make and execute all other necessary laws 
 for the promotion of the general welfare ; but 
 in those ancient times this was seldom or never 
 done. The art of government was not then un- 
 derstood. It is very imperfectly understood at 
 the present day, but in those days it was not 
 understood at all ; and, accordingly, there was 
 nothing better for the people to do than to sub- 
 mit to, and not only to submit to, but to main- 
 tain with all their power the government of 
 these hereditary kings and nobles. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that the 
 power of these hereditary nobles was absolute. 
 It was very far from being absolute. It was re- 
 stricted and curtailed by the ancient customs 
 and laws of the realm, which customs and laws 
 the kings and nobles could not transgress with- 
 out producing insurrections and rebellions. 
 Their own right to the power which they wield- 
 ed rested solely on ancient customs, and, of 
 course, the restrictions on these rights, which 
 had come down by custom from ancient times, 
 were as valid as the rights themselves. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, the kings were contin- 
 ually overstepping the limits of their power. 
 
Richard's Predecessors. 21 
 
 Disputes about the right of succession. 
 
 and insurrections and civil wars were all the 
 time breaking out, in consequence of which the 
 realms over which they reigned were kept in a 
 perpetual state of turmoil. These wars arose 
 sometimes from the contests of different claim- 
 ants to the crown. If a king died, leaving only 
 a son too young to rule, one of his brothers, 
 perhaps — an uncle of the young prince — would 
 attempt to seize the throne, under one pretext 
 or another, and then the nobles and the cour- 
 tiers would take sides, some in favor of the 
 nephew and some in favor of the uncle, and a 
 long civil war would perhaps ensue. This was 
 the case immediately after the death of Rich- 
 ard I. When he died he designated as his suc- 
 cessor a nephew of his, who was at that time 
 only twelve years old. The name of this young 
 prince was Arthur. He was the son of Geof- 
 frey, a brother of Richard's, older than John, 
 and he was accordingly the rightful heir ; but 
 John, having been once installed in power by 
 his brother — for his brother had made him re- 
 gent when he went away on his crusade to the 
 Holy Land — determined that he would seize 
 the crown himself, and exclude his nephew 
 from the succession. 
 
 So he caused himself to be proclaimed king. 
 He was in Normandy at the time ; but he im- 
 
22 King Eichard II. 
 
 Case of young Arthur. The King of France becomes his ally. 
 
 mediately put himself at the head of an armed 
 force and went to England. 
 
 The barons of the kingdom immediately re- 
 solved to resist him, and to maintain the cause 
 of the young Arthur. They said that Arthur 
 was the rightful king, and that John was only 
 a usurper ; so they withdrew, every man to his 
 castle,. and fortified themselves there. 
 
 In cases like this, where in any kingdom 
 there were two contested claims for the throne, 
 the kings of the neighboring countries usually 
 came in and took part in the quarrel. They 
 thought that by taking sides with one of the 
 claimants, and aiding him to get possession of 
 the throne, they should gain an influence in the 
 kingdom which they might afterward turn to 
 account for themselves. The King of France 
 at this time was named Philip. He determined 
 to espouse the cause of young Arthur in this 
 quarrel. His motive for doing this was to have 
 a pretext for making war upon John, and, in 
 the war, of conquering some portion of Nor- 
 mandy and annexing it to his own dominions. 
 
 So he invited Arthur to come to his court, 
 and when he arrived there he asked him if he 
 would not like to be King of England. Arthur 
 said that he should like to be a king very much 
 indeed. "Well," said Philip, "I will furnish 
 
Richard's Predecessors. 23 
 
 Map showing the situation of Normandy. 
 
 you with an army, and you shall go and make 
 war upon John. I will go too, with another 
 army ; then, whatever I shall take away from 
 John in Normandy shall be mine, but all of 
 England shall be yours." 
 
 The situation of the country of Normandy, 
 in relation to France and to England, may be 
 seen by the accompanying map. 
 
 SITUATION OF NORMANlJV. 
 
24 King Eichard II. 
 
 Arthur is defeated and made prisoner. 
 
 Philip thought that he could easily seize a 
 large part of Normandy and annex it to his do- 
 minions while John was engaged in defending 
 himself against Arthur in England. 
 
 Arthur, who was at this time only about 
 fourteen years old, was, of course, too young to 
 exercise any judgment in respect to such ques- 
 tions as these, so he readily agreed to what 
 Philip proposed, and very soon afterward Philip 
 assembled an army, and, placing Arthur nom- 
 inally at the head of it, he sent him forth into 
 Normandy to commence the war upon John. 
 Of course, Arthur was only nominally at the 
 head of the army. There were old and expe- 
 rienced generals who really had the command, 
 though they did every thing in Arthur's name. 
 
 A long war ensued, but in the end Arthur's 
 army was defeated, and Arthur himself was 
 made prisoner. John and his savage soldiery 
 got possession of the town where -Arthur was 
 in the night, and they seized the poor boy in 
 his bed. The soldiers took him away with a 
 troop of horse, and shut him up in a dungeon 
 in a famous castle called the castle of Falaise. 
 You will see the position of Falaise on the map. 
 
 After a while John determined to visit Ar- 
 thur in his prison, in order to see if he could 
 not make some terms with him. To accom- 
 
Kichard's Predecessors. 25 
 
 John attempts to induce Arthur to abdicate. 
 
 plish his purpose more effectually, he waited 
 some time, till he thought the poor boy's spirit 
 must be broken down by his confinement and 
 his sufferings. His design was probably to 
 make terms with him by offering him his lib- 
 erty, and perhaps some rich estate, if he would 
 only give up his claims to the crown and ac- 
 knowledge John as king; but he found that 
 Arthur, young as he was, and helpless as was 
 his condition in his lonely dungeon, remained 
 in heart entirely unsubdued. All that he would 
 say in answer to John's proposal was, " Give 
 me back my kingdom." At length, John, find- 
 ing that he could not induce the prince to give 
 up his claims, went away in a rage, and determ- 
 ined to kill him. If Arthur were dead, there 
 would then, he thought, be no farther difficulty, 
 for all acknowledged that after Arthur he him- 
 self was the next heir. 
 
 There was another way, too, by which John 
 might become the rightful heir to the crown. 
 It was a prevalent idea in those days that no 
 person who was blind, or deaf, or dumb could 
 inherit a crown. To blind young Arthur, then, 
 would be as effectual a means of extinguishing 
 his claims as to kill him, and John accordingly 
 determined to destroy the young prince's right 
 to the succession by putting out his eyes ; so 
 
26 King Eichaed II. 
 
 Account of the assassination of Arthur. 
 
 he sent two executioners to perform this cruel 
 deed upon the captive in his dungeon. 
 
 The name of the governor of the castle was 
 Hubert. He was a kind and humane man, 
 and he pitied his unhappy prisoner; and so, 
 when the executioners came, and Hubert went 
 to the cell to tell Arthur that they had come, 
 and what they had come for, Arthur fell on his 
 knees before him and began to beg for mercy, 
 crying out, Save me ! oh, save me ! with such 
 piteous cries that Hubert's heart was moved 
 with compassion, and he concluded that he 
 would put off the execution of the dreadful 
 deed till he could see the king again. 
 
 John was very angry when he found that his 
 orders had not been obeyed, and he immediately 
 determined to send Arthur to another prison, 
 which was in the town of Eouen, the keeper 
 of which he knew to be an unscrupulous and 
 merciless man. This was done, and soon after- 
 ward it was given out through all the kingdom 
 that Arthur was dead. Every body was con- 
 vinced that John had caused him to be murder- 
 ed. There were several different rumors in re- 
 spect to the way in which the deed was done. 
 One story was that John, being at Kouen, where 
 Arthur was imprisoned, after having become 
 excited with the wine which he had drunk at a 
 
Richard's Predecessors. 27 
 
 Various accounts of the mode of Arthur's death. 
 
 carousal, went and killed Arthur himself with 
 his own hand, and that he then ordered his body 
 to be thrown into the Seine, with heavy stones 
 tied to the feet to make it sink. The body, 
 however, afterward, they said, rose to the sur- 
 face and floated to the shore, where some monks 
 found it, and buried it secretly in their abbey. 
 
 Another story was that John pretended to be 
 reconciled to Arthur, and took him out one day 
 to ride with him, with other horsemen. Pres- 
 ently John rode on with Arthur in advance of 
 the party, until late in the evening they came 
 to a solitary place where there was a high cliff 
 overhanging the sea. Here John drew his 
 sword, and, riding up to Arthur, suddenly ran 
 him through the body. Arthur cried aloud, 
 and begged for mercy as he fell from his horse 
 to the ground; but John dragged him to the 
 edge of the precipice, and threw him over into 
 the sea while he was yet alive and breathing. 
 
 A third story was that John had determined 
 that Arthur must die, and that he came himself 
 one night to the castle where Arthur was con- 
 fined in Rouen on the Seine. A man went up 
 to Arthur's room, and, waking him from his 
 sleep, directed him to rise. 
 
 "Rise," said he, "and come with me." 
 
 Arthur rose, and followed his guard with fear 
 
28 King Richard II. 
 
 Uncertainty in respect to these stories. 
 
 and trembling. They descended the staircase 
 to the foot of the tower, where there was a por- 
 tal that opened close upon the river. On going 
 out, Arthur found that there was a boat there 
 at the stairs, with his uncle and some other men 
 in it. Arthur at once understood what these 
 things meant, and was greatly terrified. He 
 fell on his knees, and begged his uncle to spare 
 his life ; but John gave a sign, and Arthur was 
 stabbed, and then taken out a little way and 
 thrown into the river. Some say that John 
 killed him and threw him into the river with 
 his own hand. 
 
 Which of these tales is true, if either of them 
 is so, can now probably never be known. All 
 that is certain is that John in some way or other 
 caused Arthur to be murdered in order to re- 
 move him out of the way. He j ustified his claim 
 to the crown by pretending that King Rich- 
 ard, his brother, on his death-bed, bequeath- 
 ed the kingdom to him, but this nobody be- 
 lieves. 
 
 At any rate, John obtained possession of the 
 crown, and he reigned many years. His reign, 
 however, was a very troubled one. His title, 
 indeed, after Arthur's death, was no longer dis- 
 puted, but he was greatly abhorred and hated 
 for his cruelties and crhnes, and at length near- 
 
Richard's Predecessors. 
 
 29 
 
 Portrait of King John. 
 
 League formed against him by his barons. 
 
 KING JOHN*. 
 
 ly all the barons of his realm banded them- 
 selves together against him, with the view of re- 
 ducing his power as king within more reasona- 
 ble bounds. 
 
 The king fought these rebels, as he called them, 
 for some time, but he was continually beaten, 
 and finally compelled to yield to them. They 
 wrote out their demands in a full and formal 
 manner upon parchment, and compelled the 
 king to sign it. This document was called the 
 
30 King Eichabd II. 
 
 Magna Charta. Runny Mead. The agreement afterward repudiated. 
 
 Magna Chakta, which means the great char- 
 ter. The signing and delivering this deed is 
 considered one of the most important events in 
 English history. It was the first great covenant 
 that was made between the kings and the peo- 
 ple of England, and the stipulations of it have 
 been considered binding to this day, so that it 
 is, in some sense, the original basis and founda- 
 tion of the civil rights which the British people 
 now enjoy. 
 
 The place of assembly where King John came 
 out to sign this covenant was a broad and beau- 
 tiful meadow on the banks of the Thames, not 
 far from Windsor Castle. The name of the field 
 is Bunny Mead. The word mead is a contrac- 
 tion for meadow. 
 
 The act of once signing such a compact as 
 this was, however, not sufficient, it seems, to bind 
 the English kings. There were a great many 
 disputes and contests about it afterward between 
 the kings and the barons, as the kings, one aft- 
 er another, refused to adhere to the agreement 
 made by John in their name, on the ground, 
 perhaps, of the deed not being a voluntary one 
 on his part. He was forced to sign it, they said, 
 because the barons were stronger than he was. 
 Of course, when the kings thought that they, in 
 their turn, were stronger than the barons, they 
 
Richard's Predecessors. 31 
 
 New wars. New ratifications of Magna Charta. 
 
 were very apt to violate the agreement. One 
 of the kings on one occasion obtained a dispen- 
 sation from the Pope, absolving him from all 
 obligation to fulfill this compact. 
 
 In consequence of this want of good faith on 
 the part of the kings, there arose continually 
 new quarrels, and sometimes new civil wars, 
 between the kings and the barons. In these 
 contests the barons were usually successful in 
 the end, and then they always insisted on the 
 vanquished monarch's ratifying or signing the 
 Magna Charta anew. It is said that in this 
 way it was confirmed and re-established not less 
 than thirty times in the course of four or five 
 reigns, and thus it became at last the settled 
 and unquestioned law of the land. The power 
 of the kings of England has been restricted 
 and controlled by its provisions ever since. 
 
 All this took place in the reigns preceding 
 the accession of Richard II. 
 
 Besides these contests with the barons, the 
 kings of those times were often engaged in con- 
 tentions with the people ; but the people, hav- 
 ing no means of combining together or other- 
 wise organizing their resistance, were almost 
 always compelled to submit. They were often 
 oppressed and maltreated in the most cruel 
 manner. The great object of the government 
 
32 King Richard II. 
 
 Cruelties and oppressions practiced upon the Jews. 
 
 seems to have been to extort money from them 
 in every possible way, and to this end taxes 
 and imposts were levied upon them to such an 
 extent as to leave them enough only for bare 
 subsistence. The most cruel means were often 
 resorted to to compel the payment of these 
 taxes. The unhappy Jews were the special 
 subjects of these extortions. The Jews in Eu- 
 rope were at this time generally excluded from 
 almost every kind of business except buying 
 and selling movable property, and lending 
 money ; but by these means many of them be- 
 came very rich, and their property was of such 
 a nature that it could be easily concealed. This 
 led to a great many cases of cruelty in the treat- 
 ment of them by the government. The gov- 
 ernment pretended often that they were richer 
 than they really were, while they themselves 
 pretended that they were poorer than they 
 were, and the government resorted to the most 
 lawless and atrocious measures sometimes to 
 compel them to pay. The following extract 
 from one of the historians of the time gives an 
 example of this cruelty, and, at the same time, 
 furnishes the reader with a specimen of the 
 quaint and curious style of composition and or- 
 thography in which the chronicles of those 
 days are written. 
 
Eichard's Predecessors. 33 
 
 Extract from the old chronicles. Absurd accusations. 
 
 ifurtfjermore, about tfje same time, tfje fefrtjj taret* ti)e 
 $etoes, antr greeuouslfe tormentelr aufc emnrfsonefc t&em 
 hi cause trfbers of tfjem tooultt not tofllfnfllfe nag tije 
 summes ti)at tfteg mere tareti at. ^monast otfjer, tfjere 
 teas one of tfjem at 3Mstoto mjjo toouttj not consent to 
 gtbe ang fine for |)fs tielfberauce ; totjeref ore fcg tfje fcfug/s 
 commantrment fje teas nut bnto tins nenance, namelg, 
 tijat eurte Trafe, till fje tooutti ajjree to jjfbe to tije fetus 
 t|jose ten ti)ousanti marfcs tj)at |)e teas sfejetr at, ije tooultt 
 $aue one of ins teetf) nlucfceti out of ins fjeatr. 3Sg tje 
 space of seaun tiafes tojjftfjer t)e stooti stetrfast, losmjj 
 euerte of tftose trags a tooti). iSut on tfje efgtjtf) tiag, tofcen 
 fje sfmtti come to ijaue t|je etst)t|) tooti), anti tije last (for 
 ffz Jjati but efst)t in all), tiraun out, &e naftr t&e monfe to 
 saue tijat, toijo toftj) more tofsetrome anXi less name mfjftt 
 fjaue Trone so before, ana so |jaue sabeti ins seuen teetf) 
 tojfcf) t)e lost tottf) suci) torments; for tfjose fjomelfe 
 tootfrtirauers bsetr no great cunninfl (n nibcfcfno, tfjem 
 fort|), as mag ue conjectured. 
 
 The poor Jews were entirely at the mercy 
 of the king in these cases, for they were so 
 much hated and despised by the Christian peo- 
 ple of the land that nobody was disposed to de- 
 fend them, either by word or deed, whatever 
 injustice or cruelty they might surfer. The 
 most absurd and injurious charges were made 
 against them by common rumor, and were gen- 
 erally believed, for there was nobody to defend 
 them. There was a story, for example, that 
 they were accustomed every year to crucify a 
 Christian child. One year a mother, having 
 
 C 
 
34 King Kichard II. 
 
 The story of the crucified child. John Lexinton. 
 
 missed her child, searched every where for him, 
 and at length found him dead in the bottom of 
 a well. It was recollected that a short time be- 
 fore the child disappeared he had been seen 
 playing with some Jewish children before the 
 door of a house where a certain Jew lived, call- 
 ed John Lexinton. The story was immediate- 
 ly circulated that this child had been taken by 
 the Jews and crucified. It was supposed, of 
 course, that John Lexinton was intimately con- 
 nected with the crime. He was immediately 
 seized by the officers, and he was so terrified by 
 their threats and denunciations that he prom- 
 ised to confess every thing if they would spare 
 his life. This they engaged to do, and he ac- 
 cordingly made what he called his confession. 
 In consequence of this confession a hundred 
 and two Jews were apprehended, and carried to 
 London and shut up in the Tower. 
 
 But, notwithstanding the confession that John 
 Lexinton had made and the promise that was 
 given him, it was determined that he should not 
 be spared, but should die. Upon hearing this 
 he was greatly distressed, and he offered to 
 make more confessions ; so he revealed several 
 additional particulars in regard to the crime, 
 and implicated numerous other persons in the 
 commission of it. All was, however, of no 
 
Kichard's Predecessors. 35 
 
 Confessions extorted by torture. Injustice and cruelty of the practice. 
 
 avail. He was executed, and eighteen other 
 Jews with him. 
 
 Judging from the evidence which we have 
 in this case, it is highly probable that the al- 
 leged crime was wholly imaginary. Confes- 
 sions that are extorted by pain or fear are never 
 to be believed. They may be true, but they 
 are far more likely to be false. It was the cus- 
 tom in ancient times, and it still remains the 
 custom among many ignorant and barbarous 
 nations, to put persons to torture in order to 
 compel them to confess crimes of which they 
 are suspected, or to reveal the names of their 
 accomplices, but nothing can be more cruel or 
 unjust than such a practice as this. Most men, 
 in such cases, are so maddened*with their agony 
 and terror that they will say any thing what- 
 ever that they think will induce their torment- 
 ors to put an end to their sufferings. 
 
 The common people could not often resist 
 the acts of oppression which they suffered from 
 their rulers, for they had no power, and they 
 could not combine together extensively enough 
 to create a power, and so they were easily kept 
 in subjection. 
 
 The nobles, however, were much less afraid 
 of the monarchs, and often resisted them and 
 bid them defiance. It was the law in those 
 
36 King Eichakd II. 
 
 Anecdotes of the nobles and the king. 
 
 days that all estates to wliicli no other person 
 had a legal claim escheated, as they called it, to 
 the king. Of course, if the king could find an 
 estate in which there was any flaw in the title 
 of the man who held it, he would claim it for 
 his own. At one time a king asked a certain 
 baron to show him the title to his estate. He 
 was intending to examine it, to see if there was 
 any flaw in it. The baron, instead of producing 
 his parchment, drew his sword and held it out 
 before the king. 
 
 "This is my title to my estate," said he. 
 "Your majesty will remember that William 
 of Normandy did not conquer this realm for 
 himself alone." 
 
 At another time a king wished to send two 
 of his earls out of the country on some military 
 expedition where they did not wish to go. 
 They accordingly declined the undertaking. 
 
 "By the Almighty," said the king, "you 
 shall either go or hang." 
 
 " By the Almighty," replied one of the earls, 
 " we will neither go nor hang." 
 
 The nobles also often formed extensive and 
 powerful combinations among each other against 
 the king, and in such cases they were almost 
 always successful in bringing him to submit 
 to their demands. 
 
QUAREELS. 37 
 
 Classes of quarrels in -which the kings and the people were engaged. 
 
 I 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 Quarrels. 
 
 N" the days of the predecessors of King Eich- 
 ard the Second, notwithstanding the claim 
 made by the kings of a right on their part to 
 reign on account of the influence exercised by 
 their government in promoting law and order 
 throughout the community, the country was re- 
 ally kept in a continual state of turmoil by the 
 quarrels which the different parties concerned 
 in this government were engaged in with each 
 other and with surrounding nations. These 
 quarrels were of various kinds. 
 
 1. The kings, as we have already seen, were 
 perpetually quarreling with the nobles. 
 
 2. The different branches of the royal family 
 were often engaged in bitter and cruel wars 
 with each other, arising from their conflicting 
 claims to the crown. 
 
 3. The kings of different countries were con- 
 tinually making forays into each other's terri- 
 tories, or waging war against each other with 
 fire and sword. These wars arose sometimes 
 from a lawless spirit of depredation, and some- 
 
38 King Eichard II. 
 
 The Pope. His claim of jurisdiction in England. 
 
 times were waged to resent personal insults or 
 injuries, real or imaginary. 
 
 4. The Pope of Eome, who claimed jurisdic- 
 tion over the Church in England as well as else- 
 where, was constantly coming into collision with 
 the civil power. 
 
 From some one or other of these several 
 causes, the kingdom of England, in the time of 
 Eichard's predecessors, was seldom at peace. 
 Some great quarrel or other was continually 
 going on. There was a great deal of difficulty 
 during the reigns that immediately preceded 
 that of Eichard the Second between the kings 
 and the Pope. The Pope, as has already been 
 remarked, was considered the head of the whole 
 Christian Church, and he claimed rights in re- 
 spect to the appointment of the archbishops, and 
 bishops, and other ecclesiastics in England, and 
 in respect to the government and control of the 
 monasteries, and the abbeys, and to the appro- 
 priation and expenditure of the revenues of the 
 Church, which sometimes interfered very seri- 
 ously with the views and designs of the king. 
 Hence there arose continual disputes and quar- 
 rels. The Pope never came himself to England, 
 but he often sent a grand embassador, called a 
 legate, who traveled with great pomp and pa- 
 rade, and with many attendants, and assumed 
 
Quarrels. 39 
 
 The Pope's legate and the students at Oxford. 
 
 in all his doings a most lofty and superior air. 
 In the contests in which these legates were en- 
 gaged with the kings, the legates almost always 
 came off conquerors through the immense influ- 
 ence which the Pope exercised over the con- 
 sciences and religious fears of the mass of the 
 people. 
 
 Sometimes the visits of the legates and their 
 proceedings among the people led to open broils. 
 At one time, for instance, the legate was at Ox- 
 ford, where the great University, now so renown- 
 ed throughout the world, already existed. He 
 was lodged at an abbey there, and some of the 
 scholars of the University wishing to pay their 
 respects to him, as they said, went in a body to 
 the gates of the abbey and demanded admission ; 
 but the porter kept them back and refused to 
 let them in. Upon this a great noise and tu- 
 mult arose, the students pressing against the 
 gates to get in, and the porter, assisted by the 
 legate's men, whom he called to his assistance, 
 resisting them. 
 
 In the course of the fray one or two of the 
 students succeeded in forcing their way in as 
 far as to the kitchen of the abbey, and there one 
 of them called upon a cook to help them. But 
 the cook, instead of helping them, dipped out a 
 ladle full of hot broth from a kettle and threw 
 
40 King Eichard II. 
 
 Great riot made by the students. 
 
 it into the student's face. Whereupon the other 
 students cried out, as the ancient chronicler re- 
 lates it, " "What meane we to suffer this villanie," 
 and, taking an arrow, he set it in his bow, hav- 
 ing caught up these weapons in the beginning 
 of the fray, and let it fly at the cook, and killed 
 him on the spot. 
 
 This, of course, greatly increased the excite- 
 ment. More students came in, and so great was 
 the tumult and confusion that the legate was in 
 terror for his life, and he fled and concealed him- 
 self in the belfry of the abbey. After lying in 
 this place of concealment for some time, until 
 the tumult was in some measure appeased, he 
 crept out secretly, fled across the Thames, and 
 then, mounting a horse, made the best of his 
 way to London. 
 
 He made complaint to the king of the indig- 
 nity which he had endured, and the king imme- 
 diately sent a troop of armed men, with an earl 
 at the head of them, to rescue the remainder of 
 the legate's men that were still imprisoned in the 
 abbey, and also to seize all the students that had 
 been concerned in the riot and bring them to 
 London. The earl proceeded to execute his 
 commission. He apprehended thirty of the stu- 
 dents, and, taking them to a neighboring castle, 
 he shut them up there as prisoners. 
 
Quarrels. 41 
 
 The end of the affair. Plan to assassinate the king. 
 
 In the end, besides punishing the individual 
 students who had made this disturbance, the re- 
 gents and masters of the University were com- 
 pelled to come to London, and there to go bare- 
 footed through the principal street to a church 
 where the legate was, and humbly to supplicate 
 his forgiveness for the indignity which he had 
 suffered. And so, with great difficulty, they ob- 
 tained their pardon. 
 
 The students in those days, as students are 
 apt to be in all countries and in all ages, were 
 a very impulsive, and, in some respects, a law- 
 less set. Whenever they deemed themselves 
 injured, they pursued the object of their hostil- 
 ity in the most reckless and relentless manner. 
 At one time a member of the University became 
 so excited against the king on account of some 
 injury, real or imaginary, which he had suffer- 
 ed, that he resolved to kill him. So he feigned 
 himself mad, and in this guise he loitered many 
 days about the palace of "Woodstock, where the 
 king was then residing, until at length he be- 
 came well acquainted with all the localities. 
 Then, watching his opportunity, he climbed by 
 night through a window into a bedchamber 
 where he thought the king was lying. He crept 
 up to the bedside, and, throwing back the clothes, 
 he stabbed several times into the bed with a 
 
42 King Eichard II. 
 
 Margaret, the servant-girl. Execution of Marish. 
 
 dagger. He, however, stabbed nothing but the 
 bed itself, and the pillow, for the king that night, 
 as it happened, lay in another chamber. 
 
 As the student was making his escape, he was 
 spied by one of the chambermaids named Mar- 
 garet Biset. Margaret immediately made a 
 great outcry, and the other servants, coming up, 
 seized the student and carried him off to prison. 
 He was afterward tried, and was convicted of 
 treason in having made an attempt upon the 
 king's life, and was hanged. Before his death 
 he said that he had been employed to kill the 
 king by another man, a certain William de Mar- 
 ish, who was a noted and prominent man of 
 those days. This William de Marish was aft- 
 erward taken and brought to trial, but he sol- 
 emnly denied that he had ever instigated the 
 student to commit the crime. He was, how- 
 ever, condemned and executed, and, according 
 to the custom in those days in the case of per- 
 sons convicted of treason, his body was subject- 
 ed after his death to extreme indignities, and 
 then was divided into four quarters, one of 
 which was sent to each of the four principal cit- 
 ies of the kingdom, and publicly exhibited in 
 them as a warning to all men of the dreadful 
 consequences of attempting such a crime. 
 
 Great pains were taken in those days to in- 
 
QUARRELS. 43 
 
 Ideas of the sacredness of the person of a king. 
 
 still into the minds of all men the idea that to 
 kill a king was the worst crime that a human 
 being could commit. One of the writers of the 
 time said that in wounding and killing a prince 
 a man was guilty of homicide, parricide, Christ- 
 icide, and even of deicide, all in one ; that is, 
 that in the person of a king slain by the hand 
 of the murderer the criminal strikes not only 
 at a man, but at his own father, and at Christ 
 his Savior, and (rod. 
 
 A great many strange and superstitious no- 
 tions were entertained by the people in respect 
 to kings. These superstitions were encouraged, 
 even by the scholars and historians of those 
 times, who might be supposed to know better. 
 But it was so much for their interest to write 
 what should be agreeable to the king and to 
 his court, that they were by no means scrupu- 
 lous in respect to the tales which they told, pro- 
 vided they were likely to be pleasing to those 
 in authority, and to strengthen the powers and 
 prestige of the reigning families. 
 
 The neighboring countries with which the 
 kings of England were most frequently at war 
 in those days were Scotland, Wales, and France. 
 These wars arose, not from any causes connect- 
 ed with the substantial interests of the people of 
 
44 King Eichakd II. 
 
 Origin of the wars with Leolin, Prince of Wales. 
 
 England, but from the grasping ambition of the 
 kings, who wished to increase the extent of their 
 territories, and thus add to their revenues and 
 to their power. Sometimes their wars arose 
 from private and personal quarrels, and in these 
 cases thousands of lives were often sacrificed, 
 and great sums of money expended to revenge 
 slights or personal injuries of comparatively lit- 
 tle consequence. 
 
 For instance, one of the wars with Wales 
 broke out in this . manner. Leolin, who was 
 then the reigning Prince of Wales, sent to 
 France, and requested the King of France that 
 he might have in marriage a certain lady named 
 Lady Eleanor, who was then residing in the 
 French king's court. The motive of Leolin in 
 making this proposal was not that he bore any 
 love for the Lady Eleanor, for very likely he 
 had never seen her ; but she was the daughter 
 of an English earl named Montfort, Earl of Lei- 
 cester, who was an enemy of the King of En- 
 gland, and, having been banished from the coun- 
 try, had taken refuge in France. Leolin thought 
 that by proposing and carrying into effect this 
 marriage, he would at once gratify the King of 
 France and spite the King of England. 
 
 The King of France at once assented to the 
 proposed marriage, but the King of England 
 
QlJAKKELS. 45 
 
 Leolin's bride intercepted at sea. 
 
 was extremely angry, and he determined to pre- 
 vent the marriage if he could. He accordingly 
 gave the necessary orders, and the little fleet 
 which was sent from France to convey Eleanor 
 to Wales was intercepted off the Scilly Islands 
 on the way, and the whole bridal party were 
 taken prisoners and sent to London. 
 
 As soon as Leolin heard this, he, of course, 
 was greatly enraged, and he immediately set off 
 with an armed troop, and made a foray upon 
 the English frontiers, killing all the people that 
 lived near the border, plundering their proper- 
 ty, and burning up all the towns and villages 
 that came in his way. There followed a long 
 war. The English were, on the whole, the vic- 
 tors in the war, and at the end of it a treaty was 
 made by which Leolin's wife, it is true, was re- 
 stored to him, but his kingdom was brought al- 
 most completely under the power of the En- 
 glish kings. 
 
 Of course, Leolin was extremely dissatisfied 
 with this result, and he became more and more 
 uneasy in the enthralled position to which the 
 English king had reduced him, and finally a 
 new war broke out. Leolin was beaten in this 
 war too, and in the end, in a desperate battle 
 that was fought among the mountains, he was 
 slain. He was slain near the beginning of the 
 
46 King Eichard II. 
 
 The unhappy fate of Leolin. Fate of Prince David, his brother, 
 
 battle. The man who killed him did not know 
 at the time who it was that he had killed, though 
 he knew from his armor that he was some dis- 
 tinguished personage or other. When the bat- 
 tle was ended this man went back to the place 
 to see> and, rinding that it was the Prince Leolin 
 whom he had slain, he was greatly pleased. He 
 cut off the head from the body, and sent it as a 
 present to the king. The king sent the head to 
 London, there to be paraded through the streets 
 on the end of a long pole as a token of victory. 
 After being carried in this manner through 
 Cheapside — then the principal street of London 
 — in order that it might be gazed upon by all 
 the people, it was set up on a high pole near the 
 Tower, and there remained a long time, a trophy, 
 as the king regarded it, of the glory and renown 
 of a victory, but really an emblem of cruel in- 
 justice and wrong perpetrated by a strong 
 against a weaker neighbor. 
 
 Not long after this the King of England suc- 
 ceeded in taking Prince David, the brother of 
 Leolin, and, under the pretense that he had been 
 guilty of treason, he cut off his head too, and set 
 it up on another pole at the Tower of London, 
 by the side of his brother's. 
 
 It must be admitted, however, that, although 
 these ancient warriors were generally extremely 
 
Quarrels. 47 
 
 Occasional acts of generosity. 
 
 unjust in their dealings with each other, and 
 often barbarously cruel, they were still some- 
 times actuated by high and noble sentiments of 
 honor and generosity. On one occasion, for in- 
 stance, when this same Edward the First, who 
 was so cruel in his treatment of Leolin, was at 
 war in Scotland, and was besieging a castle 
 there, he wrote one day certain dispatches to 
 send to his council in London, and, having in- 
 quired for a speedy and trusty messenger to send 
 them by, a certain Welshman named Lewin was 
 sent to him. The king delivered the package 
 to Lewin inclosed in a box, and also gave him 
 money to bear his expenses on the way, and 
 then sent him. forth. 
 
 Lewin, however, instead of setting out on his 
 journey, went to a tavern, and there, with a 
 party of his companions, he spent the money 
 which he had received in drink, and passed the 
 night carousing. In the morning he said that 
 he must set out on his journey, but before he 
 went he must go back to the castle and have 
 one parting shot at the garrison. Under this 
 pretext, he took his cross-bow and proceeded 
 toward the castle wall ; but when he got there, 
 instead of shooting his arrows, he called out to 
 the wardens whom he saw on guard over the 
 gate, and asked them to let down a rope and 
 
48 King Eichakd II. 
 
 Story of Lewin and the box of dispatches. 
 
 draw liim up into the castle, as lie had some- 
 thing of great importance to communicate to the 
 governor of it. 
 
 So the wardens let down a rope and drew 
 Lewin up, and then took him to the governor, 
 who was then at breakfast. Lewin held out the 
 box to the governor, saying, 
 
 "Here, sir, look hi this box, and you may 
 read all the secrets of the Khig of England." 
 
 He said, moreover, that he would like to have 
 the governor give him a place on the wall, and 
 see whether he could handle a cross-bow or not 
 against the English army. 
 
 Grunpowder and guns had not been intro- 
 duced as means of warfare at this time; the 
 most formidable weapon that was then employ- 
 ed was the cross-bow. With the cross-bow a 
 sort of square-headed arrow was used called a 
 quarrel. 
 
 The governor, instead of accepting these of- 
 fers on the part of Lewin, immediately went 
 out to one of the turrets on the wall, and, call- 
 ing to the English soldiers whom he saw below, 
 he directed them to tell the King of England 
 that one of his servants had turned traitor, and 
 had come into the castle with a box of dis- 
 patches. 
 
 "And tell him," said the governor, "that if 
 
Quarrels. 49 
 
 The fate of Lewin. Origin of the modern title of Prince of Wales. 
 
 he will send some persons here to receive him, 
 I will let the man down to them over the wall, 
 and also restore the box of dispatches, which I 
 have not opened at all." 
 
 Immediately Lord Spencer, one of the king's 
 chief officers, came to the wall, and the governor 
 of the castle let Lewin down to him by a rope, 
 and also passed the box of letters down. The 
 King of England was so much pleased with 
 this generosity on the part of the governor that 
 he immediately ceased his operations against 
 the castle, though he caused Lewin to be hang- 
 ed on a gallows of the highest kind. 
 
 But to return to Wales. After the death of 
 Leolin and his brother the kingdom of Wales 
 was annexed to England, and has ever since re- 
 mained a possession of the British crown. The 
 King of England partly induced the people of 
 Wales to consent to this annexation by prom- 
 ising that he would still give them a native of 
 Wales for prince. They thought he meant by 
 this that they should continue to be governed 
 by one of their own royal family ; but what he 
 really meant was that he would make his own 
 son Prince of Wales. This son of his was then 
 an infant. He was born in Wales. This hap- 
 pened from the fact that the king, in the course 
 
 D 
 
50 King Eichard II. 
 
 The first English Prince of Wales. Tiers Gaveston. 
 
 of Ms conquests in that country, had seized 
 upon a place called Caernarvon, and had built 
 a castle there, in a beautiful situation on the 
 Straits of Menai, which separate the main land 
 from the isle of Anglesea. 
 
 "When his castle was finished the king brought 
 the queen to Caernarvon to see it, and while 
 she was there, her child, Prince Edward, who 
 afterward became Edward the Second, was born. 
 
 This was the origin of the title of Prince of 
 Wales, which has been held ever since by the 
 oldest sons of the English sovereigns. 
 
 This first English Prince of Wales led a most 
 unhappy life, and his history illustrates in a 
 most striking manner one of the classes of quar- 
 rels enumerated at the head of this chapter, 
 namely, the disputes and contentions that often 
 prevailed between the sovereign of the country 
 and his principal nobles. While he was a young 
 man he formed a very intimate friendship with 
 another young man named Piers Gaveston. 
 This Graveston was a remarkably handsome 
 youth, and very prepossessing and agreeable in 
 his manners, and he soon gained a complete as- 
 cendency over the mind of young Edward. He 
 was, however, very wild and dissolute in his 
 habits, and the influence which he exerted upon 
 Edward was extremely bad. As long as the 
 
Quarrels. 53 
 
 Edward II. and his favorite. Their wild and reckless behavior. 
 
 common people only were injured by the law- 
 less behavior of these young men, the king 
 seems to have borne with them ; but at last, in 
 a riot in which they were concerned, they broke 
 into the park of a bishop, and committed dam- 
 age there which the king could not overlook. 
 He caused his sonj the young prince, to be seized 
 and put into prison, and he banished Gaveston 
 from the country, and forbade his son to have 
 any thing more to do with him. This was in 
 1305, when the prince was twenty-one years 
 of age. 
 
 In 1307, two years later, the king died, and 
 the prince succeeded him, under the title of 
 King Edward the Second. He immediately 
 sent for Gaveston to return to England, where 
 he received him with the greatest joy. He 
 made him a duke, under the title of Duke of 
 Cornwall ; and as for the bishop whose park he 
 and Gaveston had broken into, and on whose 
 complaint Gaveston had been banished, in or- 
 der to punish him for these offenses, the young 
 king seized him and delivered him into Gav- 
 eston's hands as a prisoner, and at the same 
 time confiscated his estates and gave them to 
 Gaveston. Gaveston sent the bishop about 
 from castle to castle as a prisoner, according as 
 his caprice or fancy dictated. 
 
54 King Eichard II. 
 
 The king goes away to be married. 
 
 These things made the barons and nobles of 
 England extremely indignant, for Gaveston, 
 besides being a corrupt and dissipated charac- 
 ter, was, in fact, a foreigner by birth, being a 
 native of Grascony, in France. His character 
 seemed to grow worse with his exaltation, and 
 he and Edward spent all their time in rioting 
 and excess, and in perpetrating every species 
 of iniquity. 
 
 Edward had been for some time engaged to 
 be married to the Princess Isabel, the daughter 
 of the King of France. About six months 
 after his accession to the throne he set off for 
 France to be married. It was his duty, accord- 
 ing to the ancient usages of the realm, to ap* 
 point some member of the royal family, or some 
 prominent person from the ancient nobility of 
 the country, to govern the kingdom as regent 
 during his absence ; but instead of this he put 
 Graveston in this place, and clothed him with 
 all the powers of a viceroy. 
 
 Edward was married to Isabel in Paris with 
 great pomp and parade. Isabel was very beau- 
 tiful, and was a general favorite. It is said that 
 there were four kings and three queens present 
 at the marriage ceremony. Edward, however, 
 seemed to feel very little interest either in his 
 bride or in the occasion of his marriage, but 
 
QUARBELS. 
 
 Edward's indifference on the occasion of his marriage. 
 
 55 
 
 POBTEAIT OP EDWARD THE SECOND. 
 
 manifested a great impatience to get through 
 with the ceremonies, so as to return to England 
 and to daveston. As soon as it was possible, 
 he set out on his return. The bridal party 
 were met at their landing by Gaveston, accom- 
 panied by all the principal nobility, who came 
 
56 King Richard II. 
 
 His infatuation in respect to Gaveston. The coronation. 
 
 to receive and welcome tliem at the frontier. 
 The king was overjoyed to see Gaveston again. 
 He fell into his arms, hugged and kissed him, 
 and called him his dear brother, while, on the 
 other hand, he took very little notice of the no- 
 bles and high officers of state. Every body 
 was surprised and displeased at this behavior, 
 but as Edward was king there was nothing to 
 be said or done. 
 
 Soon afterward the coronation took place, 
 and on this occasion all the honors were allot- 
 ted to Gaveston, to the utter neglect of the an- 
 cient and hereditary dignitaries of the realm. 
 Gaveston carried the crown, and walked before 
 the king and queen, and acted in all respects 
 as if he were the principal personage in the 
 country. The old nobles were, of course, ex- 
 tremely indignant at this. Hitherto they had 
 expressed their displeasure at the king's favor- 
 itism by private murmurings and complaints, 
 but now, they thought, it was time to take some 
 concerted public action to remedy the evil ; so 
 they met together, and framed a petition to be 
 sent to the king, in which, though under the 
 form of a request, they, in fact, demanded that 
 Gaveston should be dismissed from his offices, 
 and required to leave the country. 
 
 The king was alarmed. He, however, could 
 
Quarrels. 57 
 
 Bold and presumptuous demeanor of Gaveston. His unpopularity. 
 
 not think of giving his favorite up. So he said 
 that he would return them an answer to the pe- 
 tition by-and-by, and he immediately began to 
 pursue a more conciliatory course toward the 
 nobles. But the effect of his attempts at con- 
 ciliation was spoiled by Gaveston's behavior. 
 He became more and more proud and ostenta- 
 tious every day. He appeared in all public 
 places, and every where he took precedence of 
 the highest nobles of the land, and prided him- 
 self on outshining them in the pomp and parade 
 which he displayed. He attended all the jousts 
 and tournaments, and, as he was really a very 
 handsome and well-formed man, and well skill- 
 ed in the warlike sports in fashion in those 
 days, he bore away most of the great prizes. 
 He thus successfully rivaled the other nobles 
 in gaining the admiration of the ladies of the 
 court and the applause of the multitude, and 
 made the nobles hate him more than ever. 
 
 Things went on in this way worse and worse, 
 until at last the general sentiment became so 
 strong against Gaveston that the Parliament, 
 when it met, took a decided stand in opposition 
 to him, and insisted that he should be expelled 
 from the country. A struggle followed, but the 
 king was obliged to yield. Gaveston was re- 
 quired to leave the country, and to take an oath 
 
58 King Eichard II. 
 
 He is banished. His parting. Gaveston's return. 
 
 never to return. It was only on these condi- 
 tions that the Parliament wonld uphold the 
 government, and thus the king saw that he 
 must lose either his friend or his crown. 
 
 Gaveston went away. The king accompa- 
 nied him to the sea-shore, and took leave of him 
 there in the most affectionate manner, promis- 
 ing to bring him back again as soon as he could 
 possibly do it. He immediately began to ma- 
 noeuvre for the accomplishment of this purpose. 
 In the mean time, as Gaveston had only sworn 
 to leave England, the king sent him to Ireland, 
 and made him governor general of that coun- 
 try, and there Gaveston lived in greater power 
 and splendor than ever. 
 
 At length, in little more than a year, Gav- 
 eston came back. His oath not to return was 
 disposed of by means of a dispensation which 
 King Edward obtained for him from the Pope, 
 absolving him from the obligation of it. "When 
 he was reinstated in the king's court he be- 
 haved more scandalously than ever. He re- 
 venged himself upon the nobles who had been 
 the means of sending him away by ridiculing 
 them and giving them nicknames. One of 
 them he called Joseph the Jew, because his face 
 was pale and thin, and bore, in some respects, a 
 Jewish expression. Another, the Earl of War- 
 
QUAKRELS. 59 
 
 The Black Dog of Ardenne. Gaveston made prisoner. 
 
 wick, he called the Black Dog of Ardenne. 
 When the earl heard of this, he said, clenching 
 his fist, "Very well; I'll make him feel the 
 Black Dog's teeth yet." 
 
 In a word, the nobles were excited to the 
 greatest pitch of rage and indignation against 
 the favorite, and, after various struggles and 
 contentions between them and the king, they at 
 length broke out into an open revolt. The 
 king at this time, with Gaveston and his wife, 
 were at Newcastle, which is in the north of 
 England. The barons fell upon him here with 
 the intention of seizing Graveston. Both the 
 king and Gaveston, however, succeeded in mak- 
 ing their escape. Gaveston fled to a castle, and 
 shut himself up there. The king escaped by 
 sea, leaving his wife behind, at the mercy of the 
 conspirators. The barons treated the queen 
 with respect, but they pressed on at once in pur- 
 suit of Gaveston. They laid siege to the castle 
 where he sought refuge. Finding that the cas- 
 tle could not hold out long, Gaveston thought 
 it best to surrender while it yet remained in his 
 power to make terms with his enemies ; so he 
 agreed to give himself up, they stipulating that 
 they would do him no bodily harm, but only 
 confine him, and that the place of his confine- 
 ment should be one of his own castles. 
 
60 King Eichard II. 
 
 Consultation respecting him. His fate. 
 
 When he came down into the court-yard of 
 the castle, after signing this stipulation, he found 
 there ready to receive him the Earl of Wax- 
 wick, the man to whom he had given the nick- 
 name of the Black Dog of Ardenne. The carl 
 was at the head of a large force. He immedi- 
 ately took Gaveston into custody, and galloped 
 off with him at the head of his troop to his own 
 castle. The engraving represents a view of 
 this fortress as it appeared in those days. 
 
 When they had got Gaveston safe into this 
 castle, the chiefs held a sort of council of war 
 to determine what should be done with their 
 prisoner. While they were consulting on the 
 subject, intending apparently to spare his life 
 as they had agreed, some one called out, 
 
 " It has cost you a great deal of trouble to 
 catch the fox, and now, if you let him go, you 
 will have a great deal more trouble in hunting 
 him again." 
 
 This consideration decided them; so they 
 took the terrified prisoner, and, in spite of his 
 piteous cries for mercy, they hurried him away 
 to a solitary place a mile or two from the cas- 
 tle, and there, on a little knoll by the side of 
 the road, they cut off his head. 
 
 One would have supposed that by this time 
 the king would have been cured of the folly of 
 
Quarrels. 63 
 
 The Spencers. The queen and Mortimer. 
 
 devoting himself to favorites, but he was not. 
 He mourned over the death of Gaveston at first 
 with bitter grief, and when this first paroxysm 
 of his sorrow was passed, it was succeeded with. 
 a still more bitter spirit of revenge. He im- 
 mediately took the field against his rebellious 
 barons, and a furious civil war ensued. He 
 soon, too, found a new favorite, or, rather, two 
 favorites. They were brothers, and their names 
 were Spencer. They are called in history the 
 Spencers, or the Despensers. The quarrels and 
 wars which took place between the king and 
 these favorites on one hand, and the barons and 
 nobles on the other, were continued for many 
 years. The queen took sides with the nobles 
 against her husband and the Spencers. She 
 fled to France, and there formed an intimacy 
 with a young nobleman named Mortimer, who 
 joined himself to her, and thenceforth accom- 
 panied her and made common cause with her 
 against her husband. With this Mortimer she 
 raised an army, and, sailing from Flanders, she 
 landed in England. On landing, she summon- 
 ed the barons to join her, and took the field 
 against her husband. The king was beaten in 
 this war, and fled again on board a vessel, in- 
 tending to make his escape by sea. The two 
 Spencers, one after the other, were taken pris- 
 
64 King Eichaed II. 
 
 Edward III. proclaimed king. Edward II. made prisoner. 
 
 oners, and both were hung on gibbets fifty feet 
 high. They were hung in their armor, and 
 after they were dead their bodies were taken 
 down and treated as it was customary to treat 
 the bodies of traitors.* 
 
 In the midst of these proceedings the barons 
 held a sort of Parliament, and made a solemn 
 declaration that the king, by his flight, had ab- 
 dicated the throne, and they proclaimed his son, 
 the young Prince of Wales, then about four- 
 teen years old, king, under the title of Edward 
 the Third. In the mean time, the king himself, 
 who had attempted to make his escape by sea, 
 was tossed about in a storm for some days, until 
 at last he was driven on the coast in South 
 Wales. He concealed himself for some days 
 in the mountains. Here he was hunted about 
 for a time, until he was reduced to despair by 
 his destitution and his sufferings, when at length 
 he came forth and delivered himself up to his 
 enemies. 
 
 He was made prisoner and immediately sent 
 to Kenilworth Castle, and there secured. Af- 
 
 * In cases of treason the condemned man was first dis- 
 emboweled; then his head was taken off; then the body 
 was cut into quarters. The head and the four quarters of 
 the body were then sent to various parts of the kingdom, 
 and set up in conspicuous places in large cities and towns. 
 
A.D. 1327.] Quarrels. 67 
 
 Edward II. formally deposed at Kenilworth. 
 
 terward he was brought to trial. He was ac- 
 cused of shameful indolence and incapacity, and 
 also of cowardice, cruelty, and oppression, and 
 of having brought the country, by his vices and 
 maladministration, to the verge of ruin. He 
 was convicted on these charges, and the queen, 
 his wife, confirmed the verdict. 
 
 Not being quite sure, after all, that by these 
 means the dethronement of the king was legal- 
 ly complete, the Parliament sent a solemn dep- 
 utation to Kenilworth Castle to depose the mon- 
 arch in form. The king was brought out to 
 meet this deputation in a great hall of the cas- 
 tle. He came just as he was, dressed in a sim- 
 ple black gown. The deputation told him that 
 he was no longer king, that all allegiance had 
 been withdrawn from him on the part of the 
 people, and that henceforth he must consider 
 himself as a private man. As they said this, 
 the steward of the household came forward and 
 broke his white wand, the badge of his office, 
 in token that the household was dissolved, and 
 he declared that by that act all the king's serv- 
 ants were discharged and freed. This was a 
 ceremony that was usually performed at the 
 death of a king, and it was considered in this 
 case as completely and finally terminating the 
 reign of Edward. 
 
68 King Richard II. 
 
 The delegation require the king to abdicate the crown. 
 
 The delegation also exacted from him some- 
 thing which they considered as a resignation 
 of the crown. His son, the young prince, it 
 was said, was unwilling to ascend the throne 
 unless the barons could induce his father volun- 
 tarily to abdicate his own rights to it. They 
 were the more desirous in this case of complete- 
 ly and forever extinguishing all of King Ed- 
 ward's claims, because they were afraid that 
 there might be a secret party in his favor, and 
 that that party might gain strength, and finally 
 come out openly against them in civil war, in 
 which ease, if they were worsted, they knew that 
 they would all be hung as traitors. 
 
 Indeed, soon after this time it began to ap- 
 pear that there were, in fact, some persons who 
 were disposed to sympathize with the king. 
 His queen, Isabel, who had been acting against 
 him during the Avar, was now joined with Mor- 
 timer, her favorite, and they two held pretty 
 much the whole control of the government, for 
 the new kino- y^as yet too young to reign. 
 Many of the monks and other ecclesiastics of 
 the time openly declared that Isabel was guilty 
 of great sin in thus abandoning her husband 
 for the sake of another man. They said that 
 she ought to leave Mortimer, and go and join 
 her husband in his prison. And it was not long 
 
QUARKELS. 
 
 69 
 
 Opinion of the monks. 
 
 Alarm of the nobles. 
 
 A MONK OP THOSE DAYS. 
 
 before it began to be rumored that secret plots 
 were forming to attempt the king's deliverance 
 from his enemies. This alarmed the nobles 
 more than ever. The queen and some others 
 wrote sharp letters to the keepers of the castle 
 for dealing so gently with their prisoner, and 
 gave them hints that they ought to kill him. In 
 the end, the fallen monarch was transported from 
 one fortress to another, until at length he came 
 
70 King Eichard II. 
 
 Berkeley Castle. Plot for assassinating the king. 
 
 to Berkeley Castle. The inducement which led 
 Mortimer and the queen to send the king to 
 these different places was the hope that some 
 one or other of the keepers of the castles would 
 divine their wishes in regard to him, and put 
 him to death. But no one did so. The keeper 
 of Berkeley Castle, indeed, instead of putting his 
 prisoner to death, seemed inclined to take com- 
 passion on him, and to treat him more kindly 
 even than the others had done. Accordingly, 
 after waiting some time, Mortimer seized an 
 opportunity when Lord Berkeley, having gone 
 away from home, was detained away some days 
 by sickness, to send two fierce and abandoned 
 men, named Gourney and Ogle, to the castle, 
 with instructions to kill the king in some way 
 or other, but, if possible, in such a manner as to 
 make it appear that he died a natural death. 
 These men tried various plans without success. 
 They administered poisons, and resorted to va- 
 rious other diabolical contrivances. At last, one 
 night, dreadful outcries and groans were heard 
 coming from the king's apartment. They were 
 accompanied from time to time with shrieks of 
 terrible agony. These sounds were continued 
 for some time, and they were heard in all parts 
 of the castle, and in many of the houses of the 
 town. The truth was, the executioners whom 
 
QUABBELS. 73 
 
 Dreadful death. Great batted of Mortimer. 
 
 Mortimer had sent were murdering the king in 
 a manner almost too horrible to be described.* 
 The people ra the castle and in the town knew 
 very well what these dreadful outcries meant. 
 They were filled with consternation and horror 
 at the deed, and they spent the time in praying 
 to God that he would receive the soul of the 
 unhappy victim. 
 
 After this, Mortimer and the queen for two 
 or three; years held pretty nearly supreme pow- 
 er in the realm, though, of course, they govern- 
 ed in the name of the young king, who was yet 
 only fourteen or fifteen years of age. There 
 was, however, a great secret hatred of Mortimer 
 among all the old nobility of the realm. This 
 ill-will ripened at last into open hostility. A 
 conspiracy was formed to destroy Mortimer, and 
 to depose the queen-mother from her power, 
 and to place young Edward in possession of the 
 
 * They came to him while he was asleep, and pressed 
 him down with heavy feather heds, which they cast upon 
 him to stifle his cries, and then thrust a red-hot spit up into 
 his bowels through a horn, as some said, or a part of the 
 tube of a trumpet, according to others, so as to kill him by 
 the internal burning without making any outward mark of 
 the fire on his person. Notwithstanding their efforts to stifle 
 his cries, he struggled so desperately in his agony as partly 
 to break loose from them, and thus made his shrieks and 
 outcries heard. 
 
74 King Eichaed II. 
 
 Situation of the castle of Nottingham. The caves. 
 
 kingdom. Mortimer discovered what was going 
 on, and lie went for safety, with Edward and the 
 queen, to the castle of Nottingham, where he 
 shut himself np, and placed a strong guard at 
 the gates and on the walls. . 
 
 This castle of Nottingham was situated upon 
 a hill, on the side of which was a range of ex- 
 cavations which had been made in a chalky 
 stone by some sort of quarrying. There was a 
 subterranean passage from the interior of one 
 of these caves which led to the castle. The cas- 
 tle itself was strongly guarded, and every night 
 Isabel required the warden, on locking the gates, 
 to bring the keys to her, and she kept them by 
 her bedside. The governor of the castle, how- 
 ever, made an agreement with Lord Montacute, 
 who was the leader in the conspiracy against 
 Mortimer, to admit him to the castle at night 
 through the subterranean passage. It seems 
 that Mortimer and the queen did not know of 
 the existence of this communication. They did 
 not even know about the caves, for the mouths 
 of them were at that time concealed by rubbish 
 and brambles. 
 
 It was near midnight when Montacute and the 
 party who went with him entered the passage. 
 They crowded their way through the bushes 
 and brambles till they found the entrance of 
 
Quarrels. 77 
 
 Entrance of the conspirators into the castle. 
 
 the cave, and then went in. They were all 
 completely armed, and they carried torches to 
 light their way. They crept along the gloomy 
 passage-way until at last they reached the door 
 which led up into the interior of the castle. Here 
 the governor was ready to let them in. As soon 
 as they entered, they were joined by young Ed- 
 ward at the foot of the main tower. They left 
 their torches here, and Edward led them up a 
 secret staircase to a dark chamber. They crept 
 softly into this room and listened. They could 
 hear in an adjoining hall the voices of Morti- 
 mer and several of his adherents, who were 
 holding a consultation. They waited a few 
 minutes, and then, making a rush into the pas- 
 sage-way which led to the hall, they killed two 
 knights who were on sentry there to guard the 
 door, and, immediately bursting into the apart- 
 ment, made Mortimer and all his friends pris- 
 oners. 
 
 The queen, who was in her bed in an adjoin- 
 ing room at this time, rushed frantically out 
 when she heard the noise of the affray, and, 
 with piteous entreaties and many tears, she beg- 
 ged and prayed Edward, her "sweet son," as 
 she called him, to spare the gentle Mortimer, 
 "her dearest friend, her well-beloved cousin." 
 The conspirators did spare him at that time; 
 
78 King Richard II. 
 
 Isabella's unhappy fate. Mortimer's Hole. 
 
 they took him prisoner, and bore him away to a 
 place of safety. He was soon afterward brought 
 to trial on a charge of treason, and hanged. Isa- 
 bel was deprived of all her property, and shut 
 up in a castle as a prisoner of state. In this 
 castle she afterward lived nearly thirty years, in 
 lonely misery, and then died. 
 
 The adjoining engraving represents a near 
 view of the subterranean passage by which Lord 
 Montacute and his party gained admission to 
 the castle of Nottingham. It is known in mod- 
 ern times as Mortimer's Hole. 
 
The Black Prince. 81 
 
 Parentage of the Black Prince, Richard's father. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 The Black Prince. 
 
 THE father of King Richard the Second was 
 a celebrated Prince of Wales, known in 
 history as the Black Prince. The Black Prince, 
 as his title Prince of Wales implies, was the old- 
 est son of the King of England. His father was 
 Edward the Third. The Black Prince was, of 
 cours3, heir to the crown, and he would have 
 been king had it not happened that he died be- 
 fore his father. Consequently, when at last his 
 father, King Edward, died, Richard, who was 
 the oldest son of the prince, and, of course, the 
 grandson of the king, succeeded to the throne, 
 although he was at that time only ten years 
 old. 
 
 The Christian name of the Black Prince was 
 Edward. He was called the Black Prince on 
 account of the color of his armor. The knights 
 and warriors of those days were often named in 
 this way from some peculiarity in their armor. 
 
 Edward, being the oldest son of the king his 
 father, was Prince of Wales. He was often call- 
 ed the Prince of Wales, and often simply Prince 
 
 F 
 
82 King Kichard II. 
 
 Reason for the name. Situation of Creoy. 
 
 Edward; but, inasmuch as there were several 
 successive Edwards, each of whom was in his 
 youth the Prince of Wales, neither of those ti- 
 tles alone would be a sufficiently distinctive ap- 
 pellation for the purposes of history. This Ed- 
 ward accordingly, as he became very celebrated 
 in his day, and inasmuch as, on account of his 
 dying before his father, he never became any 
 thing more than Prince of Wales, is known in 
 history almost exclusively by the title of the 
 Black Prince. 
 
 But, although he never attained to a higher 
 title than that of prince, he still lived to a very 
 mature age. He was more than forty years old 
 when he died. He, however, began to acquire 
 his great celebrity when he was very young; 
 he fought at the great battle of Crecy, in France, 
 as one of the principal commanders on the En- 
 glish side, when he was only about seventeen 
 years old. 
 
 Crecy, or Cressy, as it is sometimes called, is 
 situated on the banks of the Eiver Somme, in the 
 northeast part of France. The circumstances 
 under v^hieh the battle in this place was fought 
 are as follows. The King of England, Edward 
 the Third, the father of the Black Prince, laid 
 claim to the throne of France. The ground of 
 his claim was that, through his grandmother 
 
A.D.1336.] The Black Prince. 83 
 
 Nature of Edward's claim to the crown of France. 
 
 Isabel, who was a daughter of the French king, 
 he was the nearest blood-relation to the royal 
 line, all the other branches of the family nearer 
 than his own being extinct. Now the people 
 of France were, of course, very unwilling that 
 the King of England should become entitled to 
 the French crown, and they accordingly made 
 a certain Prince Philip the king, who reigned 
 under the title of Philip the Sixth. Philip was 
 the nearest relative after Edward, and he de- 
 rived his descent through males alone, while 
 Edward, claiming, as he did, through his grand- 
 mother Isabel, came through a female line. 
 
 Now there was an ancient law prevailing in 
 certain portions of France, called the Salic law,* 
 by which female children were excluded from 
 inheriting the possessions of their fathers. This 
 principle was at first applied to the inheriting 
 of private property, but it was afterward extend- 
 ed to rights and titles of all sorts, and finally to 
 the descent of the crown of France. Indeed, the 
 right to rule over a province or a kingdom was 
 considered in those days as a species of proper- 
 ty, which descended from father to child by ab- 
 
 * The Salic law is very celebrated in history, and ques- 
 tions growing out of it gave rise, in ancient times, to innu- 
 merable wars. It derived its name from a tribe of people 
 called Saliens, by whom it was first introduced. 
 
84: King Eichard II. [A.D.1338. 
 
 The Salic law. Reason for it. Edward's case. 
 
 solute right, over which the people governed 
 had no control whatever. 
 
 The chief reason why the Salic law was ap- 
 plied to the case of the crown of France was 
 not, as it might at first be supposed, because it 
 was thought in those days that women were 
 not qualified to reign, but because, by allowing 
 the crown to descend to the daughters of the 
 king as well as to the sons, there was danger of 
 its passing out of the country. The princes of 
 the royal family usually remained in their own 
 land, and, if they married at all, they married 
 usually foreign princesses, whom they brought 
 home to live with them in their native land. 
 The princesses, on the other hand, when they 
 grew up, were very apt to marry princes of oth- 
 er countries, who took them away to the places 
 where they, the princes, respectively lived. If, 
 now, these princesses were allowed to inherit 
 the crown, and, especially, if the inheritance 
 were allowed to pass through them to their 
 children, cases might occur in which the king- 
 dom of France might descend to some foreign- 
 born prince, the heir, or the actual ruler, per- 
 haps, of some foreign kingdom. 
 
 This was precisely what happened in Ed- 
 ward's case. The Salic law had not then been 
 fully established. Edward maintained that it 
 
A.D.1346.] The Black Prince. 85 
 
 Edward raises an army and sets out for France. 
 
 was not law. He claimed that the crown de- 
 scended through Isabel to him. The French, 
 on the other hand, insisted on passing him by, 
 and decided that Philip, who, next to him, was 
 the most direct descendant, and whose title 
 came through a line of males, should be king. 
 
 In this state of things Edward raised a great 
 army, and set out for France in order to possess 
 himself of the French crown. The war con- 
 tinued many years, in the course of which Ed- 
 ward fitted out several different expeditions into 
 France. 
 
 It was in one of these expeditions that he 
 took his son, the Black Prince, then only seven- 
 teen years of age, as one of his generals. The 
 prince was a remarkably fine young man, tall 
 and manly in form, and possessed of a degree 
 of maturity of mind above his years. He was 
 affable and unassuming, too, in his manners, 
 and was a great favorite among all the ranks of 
 the army. 
 
 The map on the following page shows the 
 course of the expedition, and the situation of 
 Crecy. The fleet which brought the troops over 
 landed there on a cape a little to the westward 
 of the region shown upon the map. From the 
 place where they landed they marched across 
 the country, as seen by the track upon the map, 
 
86 
 
 King Eichaed II. 
 
 Map. 
 
 The army reaches Rouen. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OP CEECY. 
 
 toward the Seine. They took possession of the 
 towns on the way, and plundered and wasted 
 the country. 
 
 They advanced in this manner until at length 
 they reached the river opposite Rouen, which 
 was then, as now, a very large and important 
 town. It stands on the eastern bank of the riv- 
 er. On reaching Rouen, Edward found the 
 French army ready to meet him. There was a 
 bridge of boats there, and Edward had intended 
 to cross the river by it, and get into the town 
 of Rouen. He found, however, on his arrival 
 opposite the town, that the bridge was gone. 
 The French king had destroyed it. He then 
 
I 
 
 - 
 
The Black Prince. 89 
 
 I'rogrcsa of the array. Arrival at Amiens. 
 
 turned his course up the river, keeping, of 
 course, on the western and southern side of the 
 stream, and looking out for an opportunity to 
 cross. But as fast as he ascended on one side 
 of the river, Philip ascended on the other, and 
 destroyed all the bridges before Edward's ar- 
 mies could get to them. In this way the two 
 armies advanced, each on its own side of the 
 river, until they reached the environs of Paris, 
 the English burning and destroying every thing 
 that came in their way. There was a good deal 
 of manoeuvring between the two armies near 
 Paris, in the course of which Edward contrived 
 to get across the river. He crossed at Poissy 
 by means of a bridge which Philip had only 
 partially destroyed. While Philip was away, 
 looking out for his capital, Paris, which Edward 
 was threatening, Edward hastened back to get 
 possession of the bridge, repaired it, and march- 
 ed his army over before Philip could return. 
 
 Both armies then struck across the country 
 toward the Eiver Somme. Philip reached the 
 river first. He crossed at Amiens, and then 
 went down on the right or eastern bank of the 
 river, destroying all the bridges on the way. 
 Edward, when he reached the river, found no 
 place to cross. He tried at Pont St. Eemi, at 
 Long, and at other places, but failed every 
 
90 King Richard II. 
 
 J*rogresa of tho two armies down the Soxnxno. 
 
 where. In the mean time, while his own forces 
 had gradually been diminishing, Philip's had 
 been rapidly increasing. Philip now divided 
 his force. He sent down one portion on the 
 eastern side of the river to prevent the English 
 trom crossing. With the other portion he came 
 back to the left bank, and began to follow Ed- 
 ward's army down toward the mouth of the 
 river. Edward went on in this way as tar as 
 Oisemont, and here he began to find himself in 
 great danger of being hemmed in by Philip's 
 army in a corner between the river and the sea. 
 lie sent scouts up and down to try to rind 
 some place where he could cross by a ford, as 
 the bridges were all down ; but no fording-place 
 could be found, lie then ordered the prisoners 
 that he had taken to be all brought together, 
 and he offered liberty and a large reward in 
 money to any one of them that would show him 
 where there was a ford by whieh he could get 
 his army across the river, lie thought that 
 they, being natives of the country, would be 
 sure to know about the fording-plaees, if any 
 there were. One of the prisoners, a country- 
 man named Gobin, told him that there was a 
 plaee a little lower down the river, called White 
 Spot, where people could wade across the river 
 when the tide was low. The tide ebbed and 
 
The Black Prince. 91 
 
 Edward' 8 anxiety about crossing the river. 
 
 flowed in the river here, on account of its being 
 so near the sea. 
 
 This was in the evening. King Edward was 
 awake all night with anxiety, expecting every 
 moment that Philip would come suddenly upon 
 him. He rose at midnight, and ordered the 
 trumpets to sound in order to arouse the men. 
 The officers were all on the alert, the young 
 prince among them. All was movement and 
 bustle in the camp. As soon as the day dawn- 
 ed they commenced their march, Gobin leading 
 the way. He was well guarded. They were 
 all ready to cut him to pieces if he should fail 
 to lead them to the ford which he had prom- 
 ised. But he found the ford, though at the time 
 that the army reached the spot the tide was 
 high, so that they could not cross. Besides this, 
 the king saw that on the opposite bank there 
 was a large body of French troops posted to 
 guard the passage. Edward was obliged to 
 wait some hours for the tide to go down, being 
 in a terrible state of suspense all the time for 
 fear that Philip should come down upon him 
 in the rear, in which case his situation would 
 have been perilous in the extreme. 
 
 At last the tide was low enough to make the 
 river fordable, and Edward ordered his troops 
 to dash forward into the river. The men ad- 
 
^J. King Richard II. 
 
 Danger from the tide. Ettw&rd posts himself at ( 
 
 vaneed, but they were met in the middle of the 
 stream by the troops that had been posted on 
 the bank to oppose them. There was a short 
 and desperate conflict in the water, but Edward 
 at last forced his way through, and drove the 
 French away. 
 
 It then required some hours for all his army 
 to Cross. They had barely time to accomplish 
 the work before the tide came up again. Just 
 at this time, too, Philip's army appeared, but it 
 was too late for them to cross the ford, and so 
 Edward eseaped with the main body of his 
 army, though a portion of those in the rear, 
 who were not able to get across in time, fell into 
 Philip's hands, and were either killed or taken 
 prisoners on the margin of the water. 
 
 The young prince was, of course, as mueh re- 
 joiced as his father at this fortunate escape. 
 The .army were all greatly encouraged, too, by 
 the result of the battle whieh they had fought 
 on the bank of the river in landing ; and, final- 
 ly, Edward resolved that he would not retreat 
 any farther. He determined to choose a good 
 position, and draw up his army in array, and so 
 give Philip battle if he chose to come on. The 
 plaee whieh he selected was a hill at Grecy, 
 Philip soon after came up, and the battle was 
 fought ; and thus it was that Grecy became the 
 
The Black Prince. 93 
 
 Plan of the battle. The Black Prince in command. 
 
 scene of the great and celebrated conflict which 
 bears its name. 
 
 King Edward arrayed his troops in success- 
 ive lines on the declivity of the hill, while he 
 him self took his station, with a large reserve, 
 on the summit of it. lie committed the general 
 charge of the battle to his generals and knights, 
 and one of the chief in command was the young 
 prince, who was placed at the head of one of 
 the most important lines, although he was at 
 this time, as has already been said, only seven- 
 teen years old. 
 
 The King of France, with an immense host, 
 came on toward the place where Edward was 
 encamped, confident that, as soon as he could 
 come up with him, he should at once over- 
 whelm and destroy him. His army was very 
 large, while Edward's was comparatively small. 
 Philip's army, however, was not under good 
 control. The vast columns filled the roads for 
 miles, and when the front arrived at the place 
 where Edward's army was posted, the officers 
 attempted to halt them all, but those behind 
 crowded on toward those in front, and made 
 great confusion. Then there was disagreement 
 and uncertainty among Philip's counselors in 
 respect to the time of making the attack. Some 
 were in favor of advancing at once, but others 
 
n 
 
 King Richard IT. 
 
 Ploture of the lionooso archor. 
 
 were for wailing till the next day, as the sol- 
 diers were worn out and exhausted bv their 
 lone march. 
 
 There was a largo body of Genoese archers 
 who fought with cross-bows, a von- heavy but a 
 
 iSB A.RCHKR. 
 
 very efficient weapon. The officers who com- 
 manded these archers wore in favor of waiting 
 
The Black Prince. 95 
 
 Philip geta out, of patience The rain. 
 
 for the attack till the next day, as their men 
 were very weary from the fatigue of carrying 
 their cross-bows so far. They had marched 
 eighteen miles that day, very heavily laden. 
 I')] ili j) was angry with them for their unwilling- 
 ness to go at once into battle. 
 
 " See," he cried out, " see what we get by 
 employing such scoundrels, who fail us at the 
 very moment when we want them." 
 
 This made the archers very angry, but nev- 
 ertheless they formed in order of battle at the 
 command of their officers, and went forward to 
 the van. There went with them a large troop 
 of horsemen under the French general. The 
 horses of this troop were splendidly equipped, 
 and were fierce for the fight. 
 
 While these preparations were making, a 
 very black cloud was seen rising in the sky, 
 until the whole heavens were darkened by it. 
 The wind blew, and immense flocks of crows 
 flew screaming through the air, over the heads 
 of the army. Presently it began to rain. The 
 rain increased rapidly, until it fell in torrents, 
 and every body was drenched. There was, how- 
 ever, no possibility of shelter or escape from it, 
 and the preparations for the fight accordingly 
 still went on. 
 
 At length, about five o'clock, it cleared up, 
 
96 K 1 NO RlOHABD J [. 
 
 The battle. More difficult; with the treben. 
 
 just as the battle was about to begin. The Gen- 
 oese archers were in front with the horsemen, 
 
 but the English, who had all this time remain- 
 ed calm and quiet at their posts, poured such 
 
 a volley of arrows itito their ranks that thev 
 wore soon broken and began to be thrown into 
 confusion. Other English soldiers ran out from 
 
 their ranks armed with knives set into the ends 
 of long poles, and thev thrust these knives into 
 the horses o( the troop. The horses, terrified 
 and maddened with the pain, turned round and 
 ran in among the Genoese arehers, and trampled 
 many of them under foot. This made the whole 
 body oi' arehers waver and begin to fall back. 
 Then Philip, who was coming on behind at the 
 head of other bodies of troops, fell into a great 
 rage, and shouted out in a thundering voice, 
 
 "Kill me those scoundrels, for thev only stop 
 our way without doing any good." 
 
 Of course, this made the confusion worse than 
 ever. In the mean time, the English soldiers, 
 under the command of Prince Edward and the 
 other leaders, pressed slowly and steadily for- 
 ward, and poured in such an incessant and dead- 
 ly lire of darts and arrows upon the confused 
 and entangled masses of their enemies, that they 
 could not rally or get into order again. Some 
 o[" the French generals made desperate efforts 
 
The Black Prince. 97 
 
 They send for help for the Prince of Wales. 
 
 in other parts of the field to turn the tide, but 
 in vain. 
 
 At one time, when the battle was very hot 
 in the part of the field where the young English 
 prince was fighting, messengers went up the hill 
 to the place where the king was stationed, near 
 a wind-mill, whence he was watching the prog- 
 ress of the fight, to ask him to send some suc- 
 cor to the troops that were fighting with the 
 prince. 
 
 "Is my son killed?" asked the king. 
 
 " No, sire," said the messenger. - . 
 
 "Is he unhorsed or wounded ?" asked the 
 king. 
 
 "No, sire," replied the messenger. "He is 
 safe thus far, and is fighting with his troop, but 
 he is very hard beset." 
 
 "No matter for that," said the king. "Go 
 and tell him he can not have any help from me. 
 I intend that the glory of this victory shall be 
 for him alone, and for those to whom I have 
 intrusted him." 
 
 Things went on in this way for some time, 
 until at length the whole French army was 
 thrown into utter confusion, and the men were 
 flying in all directions. Night was coming on, 
 and it was beginning to be impossible to distin- 
 guish friend from foe. A French knight rode 
 
 G 
 
os k IN*; Rich ard it 
 
 V'ln-.ht ftf tlu< Kin:: of l'r:uuv from the Hold of bnttlo. 
 
 up to the King of France, and, sailing his horse 
 by the bridle, turned him away, Baying bo the 
 
 king, 
 
 11 Sire, it is tame to withdraw. By remaining 
 
 hero any longer von will only sacrifice Yourself 
 fa HO purpose. Reserve Yourself to win the 
 vietory some other day." 
 
 So the king turned and tied, a small party of 
 his officers accompanying him. 1K X fled to a 
 eastle in the neighborhood, called the Castle ot" 
 La Broye,and sought refuge there. When the 
 party arrived the gates were shut, tor it was late 
 and dark. They summoned the eastellan, or 
 keeper ol' the eastle. lie came out upon the 
 battlements and demanded who was there. 
 
 The king called out. 
 
 " Open, eastellan, open. It is the fortune of 
 France." 
 
 The eastellan knew the king's Yoiee, and or- 
 dered the gate to be opened, and the drawbridge 
 to be let down. The king and his party, which 
 Consisted of only five persons, went in. They 
 remained at the eastle only a short time to take 
 some wine and other refreshment, and then set 
 out again, at midnight, with guides furnished 
 them by the eastellan, and rode to Amiens. 
 Which, being a large and well-fortitied town, was 
 at least a temporary plaee of safety. 
 
The Black Phjsck. 99 
 
 Aeeottti of Mm oM Kfeg of Bu h wa te , 
 
 But, though the icing himself thus made his 
 escape, a great many of the knights and gener- 
 als in his army would not fly, but remained 
 fighting on the field until they were killed. 
 There was one of the long's allies, the Bong of 
 Bohemia, whose death, if the legends whieh 
 have eome down to us respecting tin:-: battle are 
 true, occurred under very extraordinary eireum- 
 stanees. lie was present with the army, not as 
 a combatant, for he was old and blind, and thus 
 completely helpless. lie came, it would seem, 
 to accompany his .son, who was an active oom- 
 mander in Philip's army. His son was danger- 
 ously wounded, and forced to abandon the field, 
 and the old king was so overwhelmed with 
 chagrin at the result of the battle, and so en- 
 raged at the fate of his son, that he determined 
 to charge upon the enemy himself. So he 
 placed himself between two knights, who inter- 
 laced the bridle of his horse with the bridles of 
 theirs, for the king himself could not see to 
 guide the reins, and in this manner they rode 
 into the thickest of the fight, where the Black 
 Prince was contending. They were all almost 
 immediately killed. 
 
 Prince Edward was so much struck with this 
 spectacle, that he adopted the motto on the old 
 king's shield for his. This motto was the Ger- 
 
100 King Eichard II. 
 
 Origin of the motto and device of the Prince of Wales. 
 
 man phrase Ich dien, under three plumes. The 
 words mean / serve. This motto and device 
 have been borne in the coat of arms of the 
 Prince of Wales from that day to this. 
 
 At the close of the battle the soldiers kindled 
 up great fires on account of the darkness of the 
 night, and in the light of them King Edward 
 came down from his post on the hill, his heart 
 full of exultation and joy at the greatness of 
 the victory which his army had achieved, and 
 at the glory of his son. In front of the whole 
 army, he took his son in his arms and kissed 
 him, and said, 
 
 "My dear son, God give you grace to per- 
 severe as you have begun. You are my true 
 son, for loyally you have acquitted yourself this 
 day, and well do you deserve a crown." 
 
 Edward received these honors in a very mod- 
 est and unassuming manner. He bowed rever- 
 entially before his father, and attributed to oth- 
 ers rather than to himself the success of the day. 
 His modesty and generosity of demeanor, con- 
 nected with the undaunted bravery which he 
 had really evinced in the fight, caused the whole 
 army to feel an enthusiastic admiration for him, 
 and, as fast as tidings of these events extended, 
 all Europe was filled with his fame. 
 
 After gaining this great battle Edward march- 
 
The Black Prince. 101 
 
 Fate of Calais. The six citizens. 
 
 ed to Calais, a very important sea-port on the 
 coast, to the northward of the month of the 
 Somme, and laid siege to that town ; and, al- 
 though it was so strongly fortified that he conld 
 not force his way into it, he succeeded at length 
 in starving the inhabitants into a surrender. 
 He was so exasperated at the obstinate resist- 
 ance of the people, that at last, when they were 
 ready to surrender, he declared that he would 
 only spare their lives on condition that six of 
 the principal inhabitants should come out to his 
 camp barefooted, bareheaded, and with halters 
 about their necks, in order that they might be 
 hung immediately. These cruel terms were 
 complied with. Six of the principal inhabit- 
 ants of the town volunteered to give themselves 
 up as victims. They proceeded to Edward's 
 camp, but their lives were saved by the inter- 
 position of Philippa, the queen, Prince Edward's 
 mother. The king was exceedingly unwilling 
 to spare them, but he could not resist the en- 
 treaties of Philippa, though he said he wished 
 she had been somewhere else, so as not to have 
 interfered with his revenge. 
 
 Edward and all his army, with the queen and 
 Prince Edward, marched into Calais with great 
 pomp and parade. Soon after their entrance 
 into the town a daughter was born to Philippa, 
 
102 King Richard II. 
 
 Margaret of Calais. John of Gaunt. 
 
 who was called, from the place of her nativity, 
 Margaret of Calais. 
 
 Besides this sister Margaret, Prince Edward 
 had a brother born on the Continent of Europe. 
 His name was John, and he was born in Ghent. 
 He was called John of Grhent, or, as the English 
 historians generally wrote it, John of Graunt. 
 
 After the taking of Calais there were other 
 campaigns and battles, and more victories, some 
 upon one side and some upon the other; and 
 then, when both parties were so exhausted that 
 their strength was gone, while yet their hostil- 
 ity and hate continued unappeased, a truce was 
 made. Then after the truce came new wars, 
 and thus years rolled on. During all this time 
 the Black Prince distinguished himself greatly 
 as one of the chief of his father's generals. He 
 grew up to fall manhood ; and while, like the 
 other warlike chieftains of those days, his life 
 was devoted to deeds of rapine and murder, 
 there was in his demeanor toward those with 
 whom he was at peace, and toward enemies who 
 were entirely subdued, a certain high-toned no- 
 bleness and generosity of character, which, com- 
 bined with his undaunted courage, and his ex- 
 traordinary strength and prowess on the field 
 of battle, made him one of the greatest lights of 
 chivalry of his age. 
 
A.D. 1356.] Battle of Poictiers. 103 
 
 The Black Prince sets out for France. 
 
 Chapter IY. 
 The Battle of Poictiers. 
 
 IK process of time, Philip, the King of France, 
 against whom these wars had been waged, 
 died, and John succeeded him. In the course 
 of the reign of John, the Black Prince, when he 
 was about twenty-five years of age, set out from 
 England, at the head of a large body of men, to 
 invade France on the southern and western 
 side. His first destination was Glascony, a coun- 
 try in the southern part of France, between the 
 Graronne, the Pyrenees, and the sea.* 
 
 From London he went to Plymouth, where 
 the fleet had been assembled in which he was 
 to sail. He was accompanied on his march by 
 an immense number of nobles and barons, all 
 splendidly equipped and armed, and full of en- 
 thusiastic expectations of the glory which they 
 were to acquire in serving in such a campaign, 
 under so famed and brilliant a commander. 
 
 The fleet which awaited the army at Plym- 
 outh consisted of three hundred vessels. The 
 expedition was detained for a long time in the 
 
 * See map on page 110. 
 
104 King Eichakd II. 
 
 The ships of those days. Plymouth. 
 
 port, waiting for a fair wind and good weather. 
 At length the favorable time arrived. The 
 army embarked, and the ships set sail in sight 
 of a vast assemblage, formed by people of the 
 surrounding country, who crowded the shores 
 to witness the spectacle. 
 
 The ships of those times were not large, and, 
 judging from some of the pictures that have 
 come down to us, they were of very odd con- 
 struction. On the adjoining page is a copy of 
 one of these pictures, from an ancient manu- 
 script of about this time. 
 
 These pictures, however, are evidently in- 
 tended rather as symbols of ships, as it were, 
 than literally correct representations of them. 
 Still, we can deduce from them some general 
 idea of the form and structure actually employ- 
 ed in the naval architecture of those times. 
 
 Prince Edward's fleet had a prosperous voy- 
 age, and his army landed safely in Grascony. 
 Soon after landing he commenced his march 
 through the country to the eastward, pillaging, 
 burning, and destroying wherever he went. 
 The inhabitants of the country, whom the prog- 
 ress of his march thus overwhelmed with ruin, 
 had nothing whatever to do with the quarrel 
 between his father and the King of France. It 
 made very little difference to them under whose 
 
Battle of Poictieks. 107 
 
 The prince ravages the country. 
 
 reign they lived. It is not at all unlikely that 
 far the greater portion of them had never even 
 heard of the quarrel. They were quietly en- 
 gaged in their various industrial pursuits, dream- 
 ing probably of no danger, until the advance of 
 this army, coming upon them mysteriously, no 
 one knew whither, like a plague, or a tornado, 
 or a great conflagration, drove them from their 
 homes, and sent them flying about the country 
 in all directions in terror and despair. The 
 prince enjoyed the credit and the fame of being 
 a generous and magnanimous prince. But his 
 generosity and magnanimity were only shown 
 toward knights, and nobles, and princes like 
 himself, for it was only when such as these were 
 the objects of these virtues that he could gain 
 credit and fame by the display of them. 
 
 In this march of devastation and destruction 
 the prince overran all the southern part of 
 France. One of his attendants in this campaign, 
 a knight who served in the prince's household, 
 in a letter which he wrote back to England from 
 Bordeaux, gave the following summary of the 
 results of the expedition : 
 
 M J&2 lot* rotre tjjus aoroalr in t£e countrfe of J>f» 
 entmfes efgfjt tofjole toeefces, atrtr rested not past eleben 
 Xiaies fn all tfjose places tofjere Jje came, gtirtr fcnoto tt 
 for certefne tijat since tfjfs toarre Began against tjre 
 
108 King Kichard II. [A.D.1356. 
 
 Progress of the Black Prince. The country laid waste. 
 
 iFvenci) ftfnjj, fje ijatj ncuer sue!) losse or Tiestructfon as 
 lie fjatjj fjati fn tins fournfe ; for tlje countrfes ano jjootr 
 totones totifcf) toere toastetr fn tfjfs fournte fount! to tfjc 
 3S fitfl of prance euerfe gcare more to tfje maf ntafnanre 
 of |jfs toarre tfjan jjalf J)fs realm? fjati) tioon besftre, er= 
 cejrt, fcc. 
 
 After having thus laid waste the southern 
 coast, the prince turned his course northward, 
 toward the heart of the country, carrying de- 
 vastation and destruction with him wherever he 
 came. He advanced through Auvergne and 
 Berri, two provinces in the central part of 
 France. His army was not very large, for it 
 consisted of only about eight thousand men. 
 It was, however, very compact and efficient, and 
 the prince advanced at the head of it in a very 
 slow and cautious manner. He depended for 
 the sustenance of his soldiers on the supplies 
 which he could obtain from the country itself. 
 Accordingly, he moved slowly from town to 
 town, so as not to fatigue his soldiers by too 
 long marches, nor exhaust them by too frequent 
 battles. u When he was entered anie towne, r 
 says the old chronicler, "that was sufhcientlie 
 stored of things necessarie, he would tarrie there 
 two or three daies to refresh his soldiers and 
 men of warre, and when they dislodged they 
 would strike out the heads of the wine vessels, 
 
.4 
 
Battle of Poictiebs. Ill 
 
 The King of France comes to meet the Black Prince. 
 
 and burne the wheat, oats, and barlie, and all 
 other things which they could not take with 
 them, to the intent that their enimies should not 
 therewith be sustained and nourished." 
 
 At length, while the prince was advancing 
 through the province of Berri, and approaching 
 the Eiver Loire, he learned that the King of 
 France, John, had assembled a great army at 
 Paris, and was coming down to meet him. 
 Large detachments from this army had already 
 advanced as far as the banks of the Loire, and 
 all the important points on that river had been 
 taken possession of, and were strongly guarded 
 by them. The king himself, at the head of the 
 main force, had reached Chartres, and was rap- 
 idly advancing. The prince heard this news at 
 a certain castle which he had taken, and where 
 he had stopped some days to refresh his men. 
 
 A council of war was held to determine what 
 should be done. The prevailing voice at this 
 council was in favor of not attempting to cross 
 the Loire in the face of such an enemy, but of 
 turning to the westward toward the province 
 of Poitou, through which a way of retreat to 
 the southward would be open in case a retreat 
 should be necessary. The prince determined 
 to accept this advice, and so he put his army in 
 motion toward the town of Eomorantin. 
 
112 King Richard II. 
 
 Ambuscade near Komorantin. Reconnoitring party. 
 
 Now the King of France had sent a detach- 
 ment of his troops, under the command of three 
 famous knights, across the Loire. This detach- 
 ment consisted of about three hundred horse- 
 men, all armed from head to foot, and mounted 
 on swift chargers. This squadron had been 
 hovering in the neighborhood of the English 
 army for some days, watching for an opportu- 
 nity to attack them, but without success. Now, 
 foreseeing that Edward would attempt to enter 
 Romorantin, they pushed forward in a stealthy 
 manner to the neighborhood of that town, and 
 placed themselves in ambush at the sides of a 
 narrow and solitary gorge in the mountains, 
 through which they knew the English, must 
 necessarily pass. 
 
 On the same day that the French knights 
 formed this ambush, several of the commanders 
 in Edward's army asked leave to take a troop 
 of two hundred men from the English army, 
 and ride forward to the gates of the town, in 
 order to reconnoitre the place, and ascertain 
 whether the way was clear for the main body 
 of the army to approach. Edward gave them 
 permission, and they set forward. As might 
 have been expected, they fell into the snare 
 which the French knights had laid for them. 
 The Frenchmen remained quiet and still in their 
 
Battle of Poictiers. 113 
 
 The English troop surprised. The French surprised in their turn. 
 
 hiding-places, and allowed the English to pass 
 on through the defile. Then, as soon as they 
 had passed, the French rushed out and galloped 
 after them, with their spears in their rests, all 
 ready for a charge. 
 
 The English troop, hearing the sound of the 
 galloping of horses in the road behind them, 
 turned round to see what was coming. To their 
 dismay, they found that a troop of their enemies 
 was close upon them, and that they were hem- 
 med in between them and the town. A furious 
 battle ensued. The English, though they were 
 somewhat fewer in number than the French, 
 seem to have been made desperate by their dan- 
 ger, and they fought like tigers. For a time it 
 was uncertain which way the contest would 
 turn, but at length, while the victory was still 
 undecided, the van of the main body of the En- 
 glish army began to arrive upon the ground. 
 The French now saw that they were in danger 
 of being overpowered with numbers, and they 
 immediately began to retreat. They fled in the 
 direction of the town. The English followed 
 them in a headlong pursuit, filling the air with 
 their shouts, and with the clanking of their iron 
 armor as the horses galloped furiously along. 
 
 At length they reached the gates of the town, 
 and the whole throng of horsemen, pursuers 
 
 H 
 
114 King Kichard II. 
 
 The French ret rout to tho castle. 
 
 and pursued, pressed in together. The French 
 
 succeeded in reaching the castle, and, as soon as 
 they got in, they shut the gates and secured 
 themselves there, but the English got possession 
 of the town. As soon as Edward came in, he 
 sent a summons to the people in the castle to 
 surrender. They refused. Edward then or- 
 dered his men to prepare for an assault on the 
 following day. 
 
 Accordingly, on the following day the assault 
 was made. The battle was continued all day, 
 but without success on the part of the assailants, 
 and when the evening came on Edward was 
 obliged to call off his men. 
 
 The next morning, at a very early hour, the 
 men were called to arms again. A new assault- 
 ing force was organized, and at sunrise the trum- 
 pet sounded the order for them to advance to 
 the attack. Prince Edward himself took the 
 command at this trial, and by his presence and 
 his example incited the men to make the great- 
 est possible efforts to batter down the gates and 
 to scale the walls. Edward was excited to a 
 high degree of resentment and rage against the 
 garrison of the castle, not only on account of the 
 general obstinacy of their resistance, but be- 
 cause, on the preceding day, a squire, who was 
 attendant upon him, and to whom he was strong- 
 

 
 
Battle of Poictiers. 117 
 
 '\ )><: <::i.M'i betfegttL CrOKrjin^ t.h<; »Jjt/:h. Engine*. 
 
 \y attached, was killed at his side by a stone 
 
 hurled from the eastle wall. When he saw this 
 man fall, lie took a solemn oath that he would 
 never leave the place until he bad the castle and 
 all that were in it in bis power. 
 
 But, notwithstanding all the efforts of bis sol- 
 diers, the castle still held out. Edward's troops 
 thronged the margin of the ditch, and shot ar- 
 rows so incessantly at the battlements that the 
 garrison could scarcely show themselves for an 
 instant on the walls. Finally, they made hur- 
 dles and floats' of various kinds, by means of 
 which large numbers succeeded, half by swim- 
 ming and half by floating, to get across the 
 ditch, and then began to dig in under tbe wall, 
 while the garrison attempted to stop their work 
 by throwing down big stones upon their heads, 
 and pots of hot lime to eat out their eyes. 
 
 At another part the besiegers constructed 
 great engines, such as were used in those days, 
 in the absence of cannon, for throwing rocks 
 and heavy beams of wood, to batter the walls. 
 These machines also threw a certain extraordi- 
 nary combustible - substance called Greek fire. 
 It was tbis Greek fire that, in the end, turned 
 the scale of victory, for it caught in the lower 
 court of the castle, where it burned so furiously 
 that it baffled all the efforts of the besieged to 
 
L18 Kino KiniAun IT. [ATUSoo. 
 
 rtn- Math t:\kon. Ktttg John :ui»i his tour sons. 
 
 extinguish it. and at Length they were compel- 
 led to surrender. Edward made the principal 
 commanders prisoners, but ho lot the others go 
 free, The castle itself he utterly destroyed. 
 
 1 hiving thus finished this work, Edward re- 
 sumed his march, passing on to the westward 
 
 through Touraine. to avoid the French king, 
 who he know was coming down upon him from 
 
 the direction of Chartres at the head of an over- 
 whelming army. King John advanced to the 
 Loire, and sending different detachments of his 
 army to different points, with orders to cross at 
 any bridges that they eould find, he himself 
 came to Blois, where he crossed the river to 
 Amhoise, and thonoe proceeded to Loehes. 
 Here he learned that the English wore moving 
 off to the westward, through Touraine, in hopes 
 to make their esoape. He set oft after them at 
 full speed. 
 
 lie had tour sons with him in his army, all 
 young men. Their names were Charles, Louis, 
 John, and Philip. 
 
 At length the two armies began to approach 
 each other near the town of Poietiers. 
 
 In the mean time, while the crisis had thus 
 been gradually approaching, the Pope, who was 
 at this time residing at Avignon in F ranee, sent 
 one of his cardinals to act as intercessor between 
 
Battle 01 PotCTiERs. L19 
 
 Attempt of the Pop^i kpte to mak<-. pesoo< 
 
 the belligerents, m hopes of bringing them to a 
 peace. At the tame when the two armies had 
 
 drawn near to each other and the battle seem- 
 ed imminent, the cardinal was at Poictiers, and 
 just an the King of France was marshaling Lis 
 troops in the order of battle, and preparing for 
 
 the onset, the cardinal, at the head of his suite 
 of attendants, galloped out to the king's camp, 
 and, riding op to him at full speed, he begged 
 him to pause a moment that he might speak to 
 him. 
 
 The king gave him leave to speak, and he 
 thus began : 
 
 , "Most dear sire," said he, "you have here 
 with you a great and powerful army, command- 
 ed by the flower of the knighthood of your 
 whole kingdom. The English, compared with 
 you, are but a handful. They are wholly un- 
 able to resist you. You can make whatever 
 terms with them you please, and it will be far- 
 more honorable and praiseworthy in you to 
 spare their lives, and the lives of your gallant 
 followers, by making peace with them on such 
 terms as you may think right, without a battle, 
 than to fight with them and destroy them. I 
 entreat you, therefore, sire-, that before you pro- 
 ceed any farther, you will allow me to go to the 
 English camp to represent to the prince the 
 
120 King Eichard II. 
 
 Negotiations of the Pope's legate. The English camp. 
 
 great danger lie is in, and to see what terms you 
 can make with him." 
 
 " Yery well," replied the king. " We have 
 4 no objection. Go, but 'make haste back again." 
 ?'•* The cardinal immediately set off, and rode 
 with all speed into the English camp. The En- 
 glish troops had posted themselves at a spot 
 where they were in a great measure concealed 
 and protected among hedges, vineyards, and 
 groves. The cardinal advanced through a na^ 
 row lane, and came up to the English prince at 
 last, whom he found in a vineyard. The prince 
 was on foot, and was surrounded by knights 
 and armed men, with whom he was arranging 
 the plan of the battle. 
 
 The prince received the cardinal very gra- 
 ciously, and heard what he had to say. The 
 cardinal represented to him how overwhelming 
 was the force which the King of France had 
 brought against him, and how imminent the 
 danger was that he and all his forces would be 
 totally destroyed in case of a conflict, and urged 
 him, for the sake of humanity as well as from a 
 proper regard for his own interest, to enter into 
 negotiations for peace. 
 
 Prince Edward replied that he had no objec- 
 tion to enter into such negotiations, and that he 
 was willing to accept of terms of peace, pro- 
 
Battle of Poictiees. 121 
 
 The cardinal obtainn a truce. The king's pavilion. 
 
 vidcd his own honor and that of his army were 
 saved. 
 
 The cardinal then returned to the King of 
 France, and reported to him what the prince 
 had said, and he entreated the king to gra r t a 
 trace until the next morning, in order to afford 
 time for the negotiations. 
 
 The knights and barons that were around the 
 jking were very unwilling that he should listen 
 to this proposal. They were fierce for the bat- 
 tle, and could not brook the idea of delay. But 
 the cardinal was so urgent, and he pleaded so 
 strongly and so eloquently for peace, that, final- 
 ly, the king yielded. , .. 
 
 "But we will not leave our posts," said he. 
 "We will remain on the ground ready for the 
 onset to-morrow morning, unless our terms are 
 accepted before that time." 
 
 So they brought the royal tent, which was a 
 magnificent pavilion of red silk, and pitched it 
 on the field for the king. The army were dis- 
 missed to their quarters until the following day. 
 
 The time when this took place was early in 
 the morning. The day was Sunday. During 
 all the rest of the day the cardinal was employ- 
 ed in riding back and forth between the two 
 armies, conveying proposals and counter-propo- 
 sals, and doing all in his power to effect an ar- 
 
L2S King RlCHABD II. 
 
 Kln£ John's douuuuls. M&M l\l\\:u\l « ill not violil to thorn. 
 
 rangement But all his efforts wore unsuccess- 
 ful King John demanded that four of the prin- 
 cipal persons in Edward's army should be giv- 
 en up unconditionally to his will, and that the 
 whole army should surrender themselves as 
 
 prisoners of war. This Priiuv Edward would 
 
 not consent to. lie was willing, ho said, to give 
 
 up all the French prisoners that he had in cus- 
 tody, and also to restore all the eastles and towns 
 which he had taken from the French, lie was 
 also willing to bind himself tor seven Tears not 
 to take up anus against the King of France. 
 But all this did not satisfy John, lie finally 
 offered that, if the priiuv would surrender him- 
 self and one hundred knights as prisoners of 
 war, he would let the rest of the army go tree, 
 and declared that that was his ultimatum. 
 Prince Edward positively refused to accept any 
 such conditions, and so the cardinal, great Iv dis- 
 appointed at the failure of his efforts, gave up 
 the case as hopeless, and returned with a sad 
 and sorrowful heart to Poietiers. 
 
 An anecdote is related in this connection by 
 one of the ancient chroniclers, which illustrates 
 curiously some of the ideas and maimers of those 
 times. During the course of the day, while the 
 truce was in force, and the cardinal was going- 
 hack and forth between the two armies, parties 
 
Battle of Poictjers. 123 
 
 HU>ry of ttw fcWO kniKlitn. COfttl of armu. 
 
 of knight* belonging to the two encampments 
 rode out from time to time from their own quar- 
 ters along the lines of the enemy, to see what 
 was to be seen. In these eases they sometimes 
 met each Other, and held conversation together, 
 both parties being hound in honor by the truce 
 not to commit any aet of hostility. There was 
 acertam English knight, named Sir John Chan- 
 dos, who in this way met a French knight 
 named Clermont. Both these knights were 
 mounted and fully armed. It was the custom 
 in those days for each knight to have something 
 peculiar in the style of his armor to distinguish 
 him from the rest, and it was particularly the 
 usage for each one to have a certain device and 
 motto on his shield, or on some other conspic- 
 uous position of his clothing. These devices 
 and mottoes are the origin of the coals of arms 
 in use at the present day. 
 
 It happened that the device of these two 
 knights was nearly the same. It consisted of a 
 representation of the Virgin Mary embroidered 
 i n blue, and surrounded by a radiance of sun- 
 beams. Clermont, on perceiving that the de- 
 vice of Chandos was so similar to his own, call- 
 ed out to him when he came near, demanding, 
 
 " How long is it, sir, since you have taken 
 the liberty to wear my arms?" 
 
Hi King Riohakp 1 1. 
 
 QpMTti tvtwtvn tho two knights. lYoparntions fcf tho hattlo. 
 
 M It is you yourself who arc Wearing mine," 
 said Ohaudos. 
 
 U H is false," replied Clermont ; "and it' it 
 were not tor the truee, I would soon show you 
 to whom that deviee right fully belongs. " 
 
 4 * Very well," replied Ohandos. ll To-mor- 
 row, when the truee is over, you will tind me 
 on the field ready to settle the question with 
 you by foree Of anus." 
 
 With that the angry noblemen parted, and 
 eaeh rode baek to his own lines. 
 
 Early on Monday morning both armies pro- 
 pared tor battle. The eardmal, however, being 
 extremely unwilling to give up all hope of pre- 
 venting the eontliet, eame out again, at a very 
 early hour, to the Freneh eamp, and made an 
 effort to renew the negotiations. Rut the king- 
 peremptorily refused to listen to him, and or- 
 dered him to be gone. lie would not listen, he 
 said, to any more pretended treaties or paeitiea- 
 tious. So the eardinal pereeived that he must 
 go away, and leave the armies to their fate, lie 
 ealled at Prinee Edward's eamp and bade him 
 farewell, saying that he had done all in his pow- 
 er to save him, but it was of no avail, lie then 
 returned to Poie tiers. 
 
 The two armies now prepared for battle. The 
 Kxnst of France clothed himself in his royal ar- 
 
JJattle of Poictiers. 125 
 
 Kngliah portion. Tbe bOMM and the taftot arrowa. 
 
 mor, and nineteen of his knights won; aimed in 
 the same manner, in order to prevent the enemy 
 from being able to single out the king on the 
 field. This was a common stratagem employed 
 on such occasions. The English were strongly 
 posted on a hill side, among vineyards and 
 groves. The approach to their position was 
 th rough a sort of lane bordered by fa edges. The 
 English archers were posted along these hedges, 
 and when the French troops attempted to ad- 
 vance, the archers poured such a shower of 
 barbed arrows into the horses' sides, that they 
 soon threw them into confusion. The barbed 
 arrows could not be withdrawn, and the horses, 
 terrified with the stinging pain, would rear, and 
 plunge, and turn round upon those behind them, 
 until at length the lane was filled with horses 
 and horsemen piled together in confusion. Now, 
 when once a scene of confusion like this oc- 
 curred upon a field of battle, it was almost im- 
 possible to recover from it, for the iron armor 
 which these knights wore was so heavy and so 
 cumbersome, that when once they were un- 
 horsed they could not mount again, and some- 
 times could not even rise, but writhed and strug- 
 gled helplessly on the ground until their squires 
 came to relieve them. 
 
 The battle raged for many hours, but, con- 
 
126 Kitfa Kichard II. [A.D.1356. 
 
 The English victorious. Fate of the king's sons. 
 
 trary to the universal expectation, the English 
 were every where victorious. Whether this 
 was owing to the superior discipline of the En- 
 glish troops, or to the reckless desperation with 
 which their situation inspired them, or to the 
 compact disposition that the prince had made 
 of his forces, or to the shelter and protection af- 
 forded by the trees, and hedges, and vines, 
 among which they were posted, or to the supe- 
 rior talents of the Black Prince as a command- 
 ing officer, or to all these causes combined, it is 
 impossible to say. The result was, however, 
 that the French were every where overcome, 
 thrown into confusion, and put to flight. Three 
 of the French king's sons were led off early 
 from the field, their attendants excusing their 
 flight by their anxiety to save the princes from 
 being taken prisoners or put to death. A large 
 squadron were driven off on the road to Poic- 
 tiers. The hihabitants of Poictiers, seeing them 
 coming, shut the gates to keep them out, and 
 the horsemen, pursuers and pursued, became 
 jammed together in a confused mass at the gates, 
 and on the causeway leading to them, where 
 they trampled upon and killed each other by 
 hundreds. In every other direction, too, detach- 
 ed portions of the two armies were engaged in 
 desperate conflicts, and the air was filled with 
 
Battle of Poictiers. 127 
 
 The victory announced to the prince. The men called in. 
 
 the clangor of arms, the notes of the trumpets, 
 the shouts of the victors, and the shrieks and 
 groans of the wounded and dying. 
 
 At length Sir John Chandos, who had fought 
 in company with Prince Edward all the day, 
 advanced to the prince, and announced to him 
 that he thought the battle was over. 
 
 "Victory!" said he, "victory! The enemy 
 is beaten and driven wholly off the ground. It 
 is time to halt and to call in our men. They 
 are getting greatly scattered. I have taken a 
 survey of the ground, and I do not see any 
 where any French banners flying, or any con- 
 siderable bodies of French troops remaining. 
 The whole army is dispersed." 
 
 So the king gave orders to halt, and the trum- 
 pets blew the signal for the men to cease from 
 the pursuit of their enemies, and to gather again 
 around the prince's banner. They set up the 
 banner upon a high bush, near where the prince 
 was standing, and the minstrels, gathering 
 around it, began to play in honor of the vic- 
 tory, while the trumpets in the distance were 
 sounding to recall the men. 
 
 The officers of the prince's household brought 
 the royal tent, a beautiful pavilion of crimson 
 silk, and pitched it on the spot. They brought 
 wine, too, and other refreshments ; and as the 
 
128 King Kichaed II. 
 
 Gathering at the prince's tent. Two barons sent to look for the king. 
 
 knights, and barons, and other noble warriors 
 arrived at the tent, the prince offered them re- 
 freshments, and received their congratulations 
 on the great deliverance which they had 
 achieved. A great many prisoners were brought 
 in by the returning knights to be held for ran- 
 som. 
 
 While the knights and nobles were thus re- 
 joicing together around the prince's tent, the 
 prince asked if any one knew what had become 
 of the King of France. No one could answer. 
 So the prince dispatched two trusty barons to 
 ride over the field and see if they could learn 
 any tidings of him. The barons mounted their 
 horses at the door of the pavilion and rode 
 away. They proceeded first to a small hillock 
 which promised to afford a good view. When 
 they reached the top of this hillock, they saw 
 at some distance a crowd of men-at-arms com- 
 ing along together at a certain part of the field. 
 They were on foot, and were advancing very 
 slowly, and there seemed to be some peculiar 
 excitement among them, for they were crowd- 
 ing and pushing each other in a remarkable 
 manner. The truth was, that the men had got 
 the King of France and his youngest son Philip 
 in their possession, and were attempting to bring 
 them in to the prince's tent, but were quarrel- 
 
Battle of Poictiers. 129 
 
 The King of France and his son taken prisoners. Quarrel about them. 
 
 ing among themselves as they came along, be- 
 ing unable to decide which of them was entitled 
 to the custody of the prisoners. The barons im- 
 mediately put spurs to their horses, and galloped 
 down the hill to the spot, and demanded what 
 was the matter. The people said that it was 
 the King of France and his son who had been 
 made prisoners, and that there were no less than 
 ten knights and squires that claimed them. 
 These men were wrangling and contending to- 
 gether with so much violence and noise that 
 there was danger that the king and the young 
 prince would be pulled to pieces by them. The 
 king, in the mean time, was entreating them to 
 be quiet, and begging them to deal gently with 
 them, and take them at once to Prince Ed- 
 ward's tent. 
 
 " Gentlemen, gentlemen," said he, •' I pray 
 you to desist, and conduct me and my son in a 
 courteous manner to my cousin the prince, and 
 do not make such a riot about us. There will 
 be ransom enough for you all." 
 
 The contending knights and barons, howev- 
 er, paid little heed to these words, but went on 
 vociferating, "It is /that took him." 
 
 "I tell you he is my prisoner." 
 
 " No, no, we took him. Let him alone. He 
 belongs to us." 
 
 T 
 
130 K i mi K [OH Alio II. 
 
 Tho two barons tsiko possession of tho prisoners. 
 
 The two barons pressed their horses forward 
 
 into the midst oi' the crowd, and drove tho 
 
 knights back. They ordered them all, in the 
 name of the prince, to let gO the prisoners ami 
 
 retire, and they threatened to cut down on the 
 spot any man who refused to obey. The bar- 
 ons then dismounted, and, making a profound 
 reverence before the king, they took him and 
 his son under their protection, and conducted 
 them to the prince's tent. 
 
 The prince received the royal prisoners in 
 the kindest and most respectful manner. lie 
 made a very low obeisance to the king, and 
 treated him in every respect with the utmost 
 consideration. He provided him with every 
 thing necessary for his comfort, and ordered re- 
 freshments to be brought, which refreshments 
 he presented to the king himself, as if he were 
 an honored and distinguished guest instead of 
 a helpless prisoner. 
 
 Although there were so many English knights 
 and barons who claimed the honor o\^ having 
 made the King of France prisoner, the person 
 to whom he really had surrendered was a French 
 knight named Denys. Denys had formerly 
 lived in France, but he had killed a man in a 
 quarrel there, and for this crime his property 
 had been confiscated, and he had been banished 
 
Battle of Poictieks. 131 
 
 Denya. Uta previoua adventures. The king'g Kurrender to him. 
 
 from the realm. He had then gone to England, 
 where he had entered into the .service of the 
 king, and, finally, had joined the expedition of 
 the Prince of Wales. This Denys happened to 
 be in the part of the field where the King of 
 Prance and his son Philip were engaged. The 
 1: ing was desperately beset by his foes, who were 
 calling upon him all around in English to sur- 
 render. They did not wish to kill him, pre- 
 ferring to take him prisoner for the sake of the 
 ransom. The king was not willing to surren- 
 der to any person of inferior rank, so he con- 
 tinued the struggle, though almost overpower- 
 ed. Just then Denys came up, and, calling out 
 to him in French, advised him to surrender. 
 The king was much pleased to hear the sound 
 of his own language, and he called out, 
 
 " To whom shall I surrender ? Who are 
 you ?" 
 
 " I am a French knight," said Denys ; "I was 
 banished from France, and I now serve the En- 
 glish prince. Surrender to me." 
 
 "Where is the prince?" said the king. "If 
 I could see him I would speak to him." 
 
 " He is not here," said Denys ; " but you had 
 better surrender to me, and I will take you im- 
 mediately to the part of the field where he is." 
 
 So the king drew off his gauntlet, and gave 
 
182 King Richard II. [A.D.1356. 
 
 l'rincv Edward makes a supper tor his prisoners, 
 
 it to Denys as a token tliat he surrendered to 
 
 him ; but all the Knglish knights who were pres- 
 ent crowded around, and claimed the prisoner 
 as theirs. Denys attempted to conduct the king 
 to Prince Edward, all the knights accompany- 
 ing him, and struggling to get possession of the 
 prisoner by the way. It was while the conten- 
 tion between Denys and these his competitors 
 was going on, that the two barons rode up, and 
 rescued the king and his son from the danger 
 they were in. 
 
 That night Prinee Edward made a sumptu- 
 ous supper for the king and his son. The ta- 
 bles were spread in the prince's pavilion. The 
 greater part of the French knights and barons 
 who had been taken prisoners were invited to 
 this banquet. The king and his son, with a 
 tew French nobles of high rank, were placed at 
 an elevated table superbly appointed and ar- 
 ranged. There were side tables set for the 
 squires and knights of lower degree. Prince 
 Edward, instead of seating himself at the table 
 with the Icing, took his place as an attendant, 
 and served the king while he ate, notwithstand- 
 ing all the entreaties of the king that he would 
 not do so. He said that he was not worthy to 
 sit at the table of so great a king and of so val- 
 
Battle of PoiOTlBRS. 133 
 
 Generoua demeanor of the prince. 
 
 iant a man as the king had shown himself to be 
 that day. 
 
 In a word, in all his demeanor toward the 
 king, instead of triumphing over him, and boast- 
 ing of the vietory which he had achieved, he 
 did every thing in his power to soothe and as- 
 suage the fallen monarch's sorrow, and to di- 
 minish his chagrin. 
 
 u You must not allow yourself to be dejected, 
 sire," said he, "because the fortune of war has 
 turned against you this day. By the manner 
 in which you acquitted yourself on the field, 
 you have gained imperishable renown; and 
 though, in the decision of divine Providence, the 
 battle has gone against you for the moment, you 
 have nothing personally to fear either for your- 
 self or for your son. You may rely with per- 
 fect confidence upon receiving the most honor- 
 able treatment from my father. I am sure that 
 he will show you every attention in his power, 
 and that he will arrange for your ransom in so 
 liberal and generous a spirit that you and he 
 will henceforth become warm and constant 
 friends." 
 
 This kind and respectful treatment of his 
 prisoners made a very strong impression upon 
 the minds of all the French knights and nobles, 
 and they were warm in their praises of the mag- 
 
i;; i King Richard [I, 
 
 Disposition of tiic prtioawh BngUsb priaonoxsi Doui 
 
 nanimity of their victorious eaem y. Ee treated 
 these knights themselves, too, in the same gen- 
 erous manner. Ee liberated a. Large number of 
 them on their simple promise that they would 
 send him the sums which ho named respective- 
 
 iv lor their ransoms. 
 
 Although Edward was thus, on the whole, 
 victorious in this battle, still many of the En- 
 glish knights were killed, and quite a number 
 were taken prisoners mul carried off by the 
 French to be held tor ransom One o\' these 
 
 prisoners, a SoOtoh knight named Douglas, made 
 his eseape after his eapture in a very singular 
 manner, lie was standing in his armor among 
 his captors late in the evening, at a, plaee at 
 some distance from the field, where the French 
 had taken him and some Other prisoners for 
 Safety, and the French were about to take oil' 
 his armor, whieh, from its uiagnitieeuee, ted them 
 to suppose that he was a person oi' high rank 
 and Importance, as he really was, and that, a 
 grand ransom could be obtained tor him, when 
 another Seoteh knight, named Kamsay, sudden- 
 ly [bring his eyes upon him, pretended to be in 
 
 a. great rage, and, advancing toward him, ex- 
 claimed, 
 
 11 Von miserable wretch! How comes it that 
 von dare to deck yourself out in this way in 
 
Battle of Poiotj bus. L86 
 
 Douglai'i extraordinary eioape from bin eaptonh 
 
 your master's armor? You bare murdered and 
 robbed ham, I suppose. Come here and pull off 
 my hoots." 
 
 I )ouglas understood at once, Ramsay's design, 
 and so, with pretended tremblings^and looks of 
 guilt and fear, be came to Ramsay and pulled 
 off one of liis boots. Iiamnay look up the boot 
 and struck Douglas upon the bead with It. The 
 other English prisoners, wondering, asked Ram- 
 say what be meant. 
 
 "That is Lord Douglas," said they. 
 
 "Lord Douglas?" repeated Ramsay, in a tone 
 of contempt. "No such thing. [t is his sertr- 
 ant. He bas killed bis master,] suppose, and 
 
 stolen liis armor." Then, turning to Douglas 
 and brandishing the hoot over him again, he 
 cried out, 
 
 "Off witli you, you villain ! Go and look 
 
 over the field, and find your master's body, and 
 
 wlien you hare found it eome back and fell 
 
 me, that I may at least give him a decent bur* 
 
 ial." 
 
 So Si ly bag; he took out forty sh i 1 ] i n gs, ; in d gi tYe 
 
 the money to the Frenchmen as the ransom of 
 the pretended servant, and then drove Douglas 
 off, beating him with the boot and saying, 
 
 "Away witli you! Begone I" 
 
 Douglas bore this all very patiently, and went 
 
136 Kino Richard II. [AJX1856. 
 
 Trituv Kihvsml convoys tho Kiiu: of franco to London. 
 
 away with the air of a detected impostor, and 
 soon got back safely to the English eamp. 
 
 After the battle of Loietiers Prince Edward 
 moved OB toward the westward with his army, 
 taking- with him his royal prisoners, and stop- 
 ping at all the large towns on his way to eele- 
 brate his vietorv with feastings and rejoieings. 
 At last he reaehed Bordeaux on the eoast, and 
 from Bordeaux, in due time, he set sad with his 
 prisoners tor London. In the mean time, news 
 of the vietorv, and of the coming of the Ring 
 of France as prisoner to England, had reaehed 
 London, and great preparations were made there 
 tor the reception of the prince. The prince took 
 a tleet of ships and a large force of armed men 
 with him on the voyage, being afraid that the 
 French would attempt to intercept him and res- 
 one the prisoners. The King o( France and his 
 suite had a ship to themselves. The tleet land- 
 ed at a plaee called Sandwich, on the southern 
 eoast of England, and then the cortege oi' the 
 prince proceeded by slow journeys to London. 
 
 The party was received at the capital with 
 great pomp and parade. Resides the eaval- 
 eades of nobles, knights, and barons which came 
 out to meet them, all the different trades and 
 companies of London appeared in their respect- 
 
Battle of Poictiebs. 137 
 
 Entrance Into Loudon. Magnanimous treatment of the priMner, 
 
 ive uniforms, with flags and banners, and with 
 the various emblems and insignia of their sev- 
 eral crafts. All London flocked into the streets 
 to see the show. 
 
 One would have supposed, however, from the 
 arrangements which Prince Edward made in 
 entering the city, that the person whom all this 
 pomp and parade was intended to honor was 
 not himself, hut the king his captive; for, instead 
 of riding at the head of the procession in tri- 
 umph, with the King of France and his son fol- 
 lowing as captives in his train, he gave the king 
 the place of honor, while he himself took the 
 station of one of his attendants. The king was 
 mounted on a white charger vary splendidly 
 caparisoned, while Prince Edward rode a small 
 black horse by his side. The procession moved 
 in this way through the principal streets of the 
 city to a palace on the banks of the river at the 
 West End, which had been fitted up in the most 
 complete and sumptuous manner for the king's 
 reception . Soon after this, the King of England, 
 Prince Edward's father, came to pay his captive 
 cousin a visit, and, though he retained him as a 
 captive, he treated him in other respects with 
 every mark of consideration and honor. 
 
 The King of France and his son remained 
 captives in England for some time. The king 
 
138 King Richard II. [A.D.1360. 
 
 The war ended. The king ransomed. Prince Edward's renown. 
 
 and the queen treated them with great consid- 
 eration. They often visited King John at his 
 palace, and they invited him to the most sump- 
 tuous entertainments and celebrations made ex- 
 pressly to do him honor. 
 
 In the mean time, the war between England 
 and France still went on. Many battles were 
 fought, and many towns and castles were be- 
 sieged and taken. But, after all, no great prog- 
 ress was made on either side, and at length, 
 when both parties had become wearied and ex- 
 hausted in the struggle, a peace was concluded, 
 and King John, having paid a suitable ransom 
 for himself and for those who were with him, 
 was allowed to return home. He had been in 
 captivity for about five years. 
 
 The conduct of Prince Edward at the battles 
 of Crecy and of Poictiers, in both which con- 
 tests the English fought against an immense su- 
 periority of numbers, and the great eclat of such 
 an achievement as capturing the French king, 
 and conducting him a prisoner to London, join- 
 ed to the noble generosity which he displayed 
 in his treatment of his prisoners, made his name 
 celebrated throughout the world. Every body 
 was sounding the praises of the Black Prince, 
 the heir apparent to the English throne, and 
 
Battle of Poictiers. 139 
 
 Edward the heir apparent to the crown. 
 
 anticipating the greatness and glory to which 
 England would attain when he should become 
 king. 
 
 This was an event which might occur at any 
 time, for King Edward his father was drawing 
 gradually into the later years of life, and he 
 himself was now nearly forty years of age. 
 
140 Kino Richard II. 
 
 Trineo Kdward teOQBMB Prince of Aquitaitio. 
 
 Chapter Y. 
 Childhood of Richard. 
 
 THE child of Edward the Black Prince, who 
 afterward became Richard the Second, king 
 
 of England, was born at Bordeaux, in the south- 
 western part of France, in the year 1367, in the 
 midst of a scene of great military bustle and ex- 
 citement. The circumstances were these. 
 
 "When peace was finally made between En- 
 gland and France, after the wars described in 
 the last chapter were over, one of the results of 
 the treaty which was made was that certain 
 provinces in the southwestern part of France 
 were ceded to England, and formed into a prin- 
 cipality called Aquitaine, and this principality 
 was placed under the dominion of the Black 
 Prince. The title of the prince was thenceforth 
 not only Prince of Wales, but also Prince of 
 Aquitaine. The city of Bordeaux, near the 
 mouth of the Garonne, as shown by the map,* 
 was the chief city of Aquitaine. There the 
 prince established his court, and reigned, as it 
 were, for several years in great splendor. The 
 * See map on page 110. 
 
Richard's Childhood. 141 
 
 Various calln made, upon him. Don Pedro. 
 
 fame which he had acquired attracted to his 
 court a great number of knights and nobles 
 from all lands, and whenever a great personage 
 had any wrongs, real or imaginary, to be re- 
 dressed, or any political end to gain which re- 
 quired the force of arms, he was very likely to 
 come to the Prince of Aquitaine, in order, if pos- 
 sible, to secure his aid. Prince Edward was 
 rather pleased than otherwise with these appli- 
 cations, for he loved war much better than peace, 
 and, though he evinced a great deal of modera- 
 tion and generosity in his conduct in the treat- 
 ment of his vanquished enemies, he was none 
 the less really excited and pleased with the glory 
 and renown which his victories gained him. 
 
 About six months before Richard was born, 
 while Edward was living with, the princess, his 
 wife, in Bordeaux, he received an application 
 for aid from a certain Don Pedro, who claimed 
 to be King of Navarre in Spain, but who had 
 been expelled from his kingdom by his brother. 
 There was also a certain James who claimed to 
 be the King of Majorca, a large island in the 
 Mediterranean Sea, who was in much the same 
 situation in respect to his kingdom. Prince Ed- 
 ward promised to aid Don Pedro in recovering 
 his throne, and he forthwith began to make 
 preparations to this end. He also promised 
 
142 King Richard II. 
 
 l'dwnrd's plans and MtaAfMM&te. 1 Wd P'AUuvt. 
 
 James that, as soon as he had accomplished the 
 work which ho had undertaken for Don Pedro, 
 
 he would tit out an expedition to Majorca, and 
 so restore him too to his kingdom. 
 
 The preparations which he made for the ex- 
 pedition into Spain were prosecuted in a verv 
 vigorous manner. Don Pedro was destitute 
 of means as well as of men, and Edward was 
 obliged to raise a large sum of money lor the 
 provisioning and paying of his troops. His 
 vassals, the nobles and barons of his principal** 
 r\\ were obliged to furnish the men, it being 
 the custom in those times that each vassal should 
 bring to his lord, in case of war, as many sol- 
 diers as could be spared from among his own 
 tenants and retainers — some fifty, some one 
 hundred, and some two hundred, or even more, 
 according to the extent and j \»usness of 
 their estates. One of the nobles in Prince Ed- 
 Ward's service, named Lord lTAlbret, had offer- 
 ed to bring a thousand men. The prince had 
 asked him on some public occasion, in presence 
 oi^ other knights and noblemen, how man}' men 
 he could furnish for the expedition. 
 
 "My lord," replied Lord D'Albret, "if you 
 really wish for all the strength that I can fur- 
 nish, I can bring you a thousand lances, and still 
 have enough at home to guard the country." 
 
A..D. 13WJ.J Rf on ahd'h Childhood. 143 
 
 Lord D*AlbWt offers a ffcotSMOd un-.n. 
 
 The prince was surprised at this answer. Hie 
 
 did not know, it seems, bow powerful the barons 
 of his principality were. 
 
 "By my head I" said he, addressing Lord 
 D'Albret and speaking in French, which was, 
 of course; the language of Aquitaine, "that will 
 be very handsome." 
 
 lie then turned to some English nobles who 
 were near, and speaking in English, said it was 
 worth, while to rule in a country where one bar- 
 on eould attend his lord with, a thousand lances, 
 lie was ashamed not to accept this offer, for, 
 according to the ideas of these times, it would 
 not be at all consistent with, what was expected 
 of a prince that he should not be able to main- 
 tain and pay as many troops as his barons could 
 bring him. So he said hastily, turning to D'Al- 
 bret, that I raged them all. 
 
 Although, in the end, Don Pedro, if lie suc- 
 ceeded in regaining his kingdom, was to refund 
 the expenses of the war, yet, in the first in- 
 stance, it was necessary for the prince to raise 
 the money, an d he soon found that it would be 
 very difficult for him to raise enough. He was 
 unwilling to tax too heavily the subjects of his 
 principality, and so, after collecting as much as 
 he thought prudent in that way, he sent to En- 
 gland to his father, explaining the nature and 
 
144 King Eiohard II. [A.D.1366. 
 
 King Edward offers his aid. John of Gaunt. 
 
 design of the proposed expedition, and soliciting 
 his fathers approval of it, and, at the same time, 
 asking for aid in the way of funds. King Ed- 
 ward replied, cordially approving of the enter- 
 prise. He also promised to send on the prince's 
 brother John, with a body of troops to accom- 
 pany the expedition. This John was the one 
 who has already been mentioned as born in 
 Ghent, and who was called, on that account, 
 John of Gaunt. He was also Duke of Lancas- 
 ter, and is often designated by that name. Ed- 
 ward was very much, attached to his brother 
 John, and was very much pleased to hear that 
 he was coming to join him. 
 
 The King of England also, Edward's father, 
 made arrangements for sending to his son a 
 large sum of money. This was of great assist- 
 ance to him, but still he had not money enough. 
 So he broke up his plate, both gold and silver, 
 and caused it to be coined, in order to assist in 
 lilling his treasury. Still, notwithstanding all 
 that he could do, he found it difficult to provide 
 sufficient funds for the purchase of the provis- 
 ions that he required, and for the pay of the men. 
 
 It was rather late in the season when the 
 prince first formed the plan of this expedition. 
 He was very anxious to set out as soon as pos- 
 sible, lor he had the Pyrenees to cross, in order 
 
Richard's Childhood. 145 
 
 Why the princess wishes to have Edward's departure postponed. 
 
 to pass from France into Spain, and it would he 
 impossible, lie knew, to conduct an army over 
 the mountains after the winter should set in; 
 so he hastened his preparations as much as pos- 
 sible. He was kept in a continued fever by his 
 impatience, and by the various delays and dis- 
 appointments which were constantly occurring. 
 In the mean while, time moved on, and it began 
 at length to be doubtful whether he should be 
 ready to march before the winter should set in. 
 
 To add to his perplexity, his wife begged him 
 to postpone his departure till the spring, in or- 
 der that he might remain at home with her un- 
 til after their child should be born. She was 
 dejected in spirits, and seemed particularly sad 
 and sorrowful at the thought of her husband's 
 going away to leave her at such a time. She 
 knew, too, the undaunted recklessness with 
 which he was accustomed to expose himself to 
 danger in his campaigns, and if he went away 
 she could not but think that it was uncertain 
 whether he would ever return. 
 
 Finally, the prince concluded to put off his 
 departure until spring. This determination, 
 however, in some sense increased his perplexi- 
 ties, for now he had a large proportion of his 
 force to maintain and pay through the winter. 
 This made it necessary that he should curtail 
 
 K 
 
l-k> King Richard II, 
 
 PrtttQQ Kilwiml's lottev to Lotd U' \ll>ivt. 
 
 his plans in some degree, and, among- other 
 things, ho resolved to notify the Baron D'Albrel 
 not to bring his whole complement of one thou- 
 sand men. It was a great humiliation to him 
 to do this after having formally agreed to en- 
 gage the men, but he felt compelled, by the ne- 
 cessity oi^ the ease, to do so, and he accordingly 
 wrote to the baron the following letter: 
 
 "My Lord D'Albret, 
 
 " Whereas, out of our liberal bounty, we have 
 retained yon, with a thousand lanees, to serve 
 under us in the expedition which, through the 
 grace of God, we intend speedily to undertake 
 and briefly to finish, having duly considered 
 the business, and the eosts and expenses we are 
 at, we have resolved that several of our vassals 
 should remain at home in order to guard the 
 territories. For these eauses, it has been de- 
 termined in our council that you shall serve in 
 this expedition with two hundred lanees only. 
 You will choose the two hundred out from the 
 rest, and the remainder you will leave at home 
 to follow their usual occupations. 
 
 "May God have you under his holy protec- 
 tion. 
 
 "Given at Bordeaux, the eighth day of December. 
 
 11 Howard." 
 
A. 1). 1366.] Rich abb's Childhood. 147 
 
 Lord D'Albret U very angry. Ifis determination. 
 
 This letter was scaled with the great seal of 
 the prince, and sent to D'Albret, who was in his 
 own country, busily engaged in assembling and 
 equipping his men, and making the other nec- 
 essary preparations. The baron was exceed- 
 ingly indignant when he received the letter. 
 In those day*?, every man that was capable of 
 bearing arms liked much better to be taken into 
 the service of some prince or potentate going to 
 war than to remain at home to cultivate the 
 ground in quiet industry. D'Albret knew, there- 
 fore, very well, that his vassals and retainers 
 would be all greatly disappointed to learn that 
 (oil r fifths of their whole number were, after all, 
 to remain at home, and then, besides this, his 
 own importance in the campaign would be great- 
 ly diminished by reducing the force under his 
 command from one thousand to two hundred 
 men. He was extremely angry when he read 
 the letter. 
 
 "How is this?" he exclaimed. "My lord 
 the Prince of Wales trifles with me when he 
 orders me to disband eight hundred knights 
 and squires whom, by his command, I have re- 
 tained, and have diverted from other means of 
 obtaining profit and honor." Then he called 
 for a secretary, and said to him in a rage, 
 
 n Write what I shall dictate to you." 
 
148 King Richard II. [A.D.1366. 
 
 Lord D'Albret's letter to the prince. 
 
 The secretary wrote as follows from his mas- 
 ter's dictation: 
 
 "My dear Lord, 
 " I am marvelously surprised at the contents 
 of the letter which you have sent me. I do not 
 know and can not imagine what, answer I can 
 make. Your present orders will do me a great 
 injury, and subject me to much blame. For 
 all the men-at-arms whom I have retained by 
 your command have already made their prep- 
 arations for entering your service, and were 
 only waiting your orders to march. By retain- 
 ing them for your service I have prevented them 
 from seeking honor and profit elsewhere. Some 
 of the knights had actually made engagements 
 to go beyond sea, to Jerusalem, to Constantino- 
 ple, or to Russia, in order to advance themselves, 
 and now, having relinquished these advanta- 
 geous prospects in order to join your enterprise, 
 they will be extremely displeased if they are 
 left behind. I am myself equally displeased, 
 and I can not conceive what I have done to de- 
 serve such treatment. And I beg you to un- 
 derstand, my lord, that I can not be separated 
 from my men; nor will they consent to be 
 separated from each other. I am convinced 
 that, if I dismiss any of them, they will all go." 
 
A.D. 1366.] Richard's Childhood. 149 
 
 Edward in want of money. Don Pedro pledges his three daughters. 
 
 The baron added other words of the same 
 tenor, and then, signing and sealing the letter, 
 sent it to the prince. The prince was angry in 
 his turn when he received this letter. 
 
 "By my faith," said he, "this man D'Albret 
 is altogether too great a man for my country, 
 when he seeks thus to disobey an order from 
 my council. But let him go where he pleases. 
 We will perform this expedition, if it please 
 God, without any of his thousand lances." 
 
 This case presents a specimen of the perplex- 
 ities and troubles in which the prince was in- 
 volved during the winter, while organizing his 
 expedition and preparing to set out in the 
 spring. The want of money was the great dif- 
 ficulty, for there was no lack of men. Don Pe- 
 dro agreed, it is true, that when he recovered 
 his kingdom he would pay back the advances 
 which Edward had to make, but he was so un- 
 principled a man that Edward knew very well 
 that he could not trust to his promises unless 
 he gave some security. So Don Pedro agreed 
 to leave his three daughters in Edward's hands 
 as hostages to secure the payment of the money. 
 
 The names of the three princesses thus 
 pledged as collateral security for money bor- 
 rowed were Beatrice, Constance, and Isabel. 
 
 At length, on the third day of April, the child 
 
L50 King Richard tl \\.\\ L867, 
 
 TIm baptism ot'iho young Prfooa Rtehtrd. 
 
 was born. The princess was in a monastery at 
 tho time, called the monastery of St. Aiuhvw, 
 
 whither she had retired tor privacy and quiet 
 
 Immediately after the event. Prince Edward, 
 
 having made every thing ready before, gave or- 
 ders that the expedition should set forward on 
 the road to Spain, lie himself was to follow 
 
 as soon as the baptism of the child should be 
 performed. The day on whieh the child was 
 born was Wednesday, and Friday was fixed tor 
 the baptism. The baptism took plaee at noon, 
 at a stone font in the chnreh of the monastery. 
 The King oi' Majorca, whom the prinee had 
 promised to restore to his kingdom, was one o\' 
 the godfathers. The child was named Richard, 
 
 On the Sunday following the prince bade his 
 Wife and the little infant farewell, and set out 
 from Bordeaux with great pomp, at the head 
 oi' an immense eacaleade, and went on to join 
 the expedition which was already on its way to 
 Spain, 
 
 The birth of Richard was an event of great 
 importance, for he was not only the son of the 
 Prince of Aqnitaine, but he was the grandson 
 of the Ring of England, and, of course, every 
 one knew that he might one day be the Ring oi' 
 England himself. Still, the probability was not 
 very great that this would happen, at least for 
 
A.D.1367.] Eichard's Childhood. 153 
 
 Richard receives a visit from his uncle John. 
 
 a long period to come ; for, though his father, 
 Prince Edward, was the oldest son of the King 
 of England, he himself was not the oldest son 
 of his father. He had a brother who was some 
 years older than himself, and, of course, there 
 were three lives that must be terminated before 
 his turn should come to reign in England — his 
 grandfather's, his father's, and his brother's. 
 
 It happened that all these three lives were 
 terminated in a comparatively brief period, so 
 that Eichard really became King of England 
 before he grew up to be a man. 
 
 The first important occurrence which took 
 place at the monastery at Bordeaux, where lit- 
 tle Eichard remained with his mother after his 
 father had gone, was the arrival of his uncle 
 John, that is, John of Graunt, the Duke of Lan- 
 caster, who was on his way from England at 
 the head of an army to accompany his brother 
 into Spain. John stopped at Bordeaux to see 
 the princess and the infant child. He was very 
 joyfully received by the princess, and by all 
 the ladies in attendance upon her. The prin- 
 cess was very fond of her brother, and she was 
 much pleased that he was going to join her 
 husband in the war in Spain ; besides, he brought 
 her late and full news from England. The duke, 
 however, did not remain long at Bordeaux, but, 
 
154 King Eichard II. 
 
 Richard at Hordo:uix. Don Pedro's troubles nud perplexities. 
 
 after a brief visit to Iris sister, he put himself 
 again at the head of his troops, and hurried for- 
 ward to overtake the prince, who was already 
 far on his way toward the Pyrenees and Spain. 
 Little Richard remained in Bordeaux for 
 three or four years. During this time he had 
 his brother for a playmate, but he saw little of 
 his father. It was some time before his father 
 returned from Spain, and when he did return 
 he came home much depressed in spirits, and 
 harassed and vexed with many cares. He had 
 succeeded, it is true, in conquering Don Pedro's 
 enemies, and in placing Don Pedro himself 
 again upon the throne ; but he had failed in 
 getting back the money that he had expended. 
 Don Pedro could not or would not repay him. 
 What Prince Edward did with the three daugh- 
 ters of the king that had been left with him as 
 hostages I do not know. At any rate, he could 
 not pay his debts with them, or raise money by 
 means of them to silence his clamorous troops. 
 He attempted to lay fresh taxes upon the peo- 
 ple of Aquitaine. This awakened a great deal 
 of discontent. The barons who had had disa- 
 greements of any sort with Edward before, took 
 advantage of this discontent to form plots against 
 him, and at last several of them, D'Albret among 
 the rest, whom he had mortally offended by 
 
Kichakd's Childhood. 155 
 
 King Charlei determines to call Prince Edward to account. 
 
 countermanding his orders for the thousand 
 men, combined together and sent to the King 
 of France, complaining of the oppressions which 
 they suffered under Edward's rule, and inviting 
 him to come and help them free themselves. 
 The king at once determined that he would do 
 this. 
 
 This King of France was, however, not King 
 John, whom Edward had made prisoner and 
 sent to London. King John had died, and the 
 crown had descended to his successor, Charles 
 the Fifth. 
 
 King Charles determined first to send two 
 commissioners to summon the Prince of Aqui- 
 taine into his presence to give an account of 
 himself. He did this under the pretext that 
 Aquitaine was part of France, and that, conse- 
 quently, Prince Edward was in some sense un- 
 der his jurisdiction. 
 
 The two commissioners, with their attendants, 
 left Paris, and set out on their journey to Bor- 
 deaux. People traveled very slowly in those 
 days, and the commissioners were a long time 
 on the way. At length, however, they reached 
 Bordeaux. They arrived late in the evening, 
 and took up their quarters at an inn. The next 
 day they repaired to the monastery where the 
 prince was residing. 
 
156 King Kichard II. 
 
 The commissioners arrive, and are received by the prince. 
 
 They informed the attendants who received 
 them at the monastery that they had been sent 
 by the King of France with a message to the 
 prince. The attendants, who were officers of 
 the prince's court, informed the prince of the 
 arrival of the strangers, and he ordered them to 
 be brought into his presence. 
 
 The commissioners, on being brought before 
 the prince, bowed very low in token of rever- 
 ence, and presented their credentials. The 
 prince, after reading the credentials, and exam- 
 ining the seals of the King of France by which 
 they were authenticated, said to the commis- 
 sioners, 
 
 " It is very well. These papers show that 
 you are duly commissioned embassadors from 
 the King of France. You are welcome to our 
 court. And you can now proceed to commu- 
 nicate the message with which you have been 
 charged." 
 
 Of the two commissioners, one was a lawyer, 
 and the other a knight. The knight bore the 
 singular name of Caponnel de Caponnal. The 
 lawyer, of course, was the principal speaker at 
 the interview with the prince, and when the 
 prince called for the communication which had 
 been sent from the King of France, he drew 
 forth a paper which he said contained what the 
 
Kichard's Childhood. 157 
 
 The lawyer reads the letter. 
 
 King of France had to say, and which, he added, 
 they, the commissioners, had promised faithful- 
 ly to read in the prince's presence. 
 
 The prince, wondering greatly what the pa- 
 per could contain, ordered the lawyer to pro- 
 ceed with the reading of it. 
 
 The lawyer read as follows : 
 
 "Charles, by the grace of God, King of 
 France, to our nephew the Prince of Wales and 
 Aquitaine, health. 
 
 "Whereas several prelates, barons, knights, 
 universities, fraternities, and colleges of the coun- 
 try and district of Grascony, residing and inhab- 
 iting upon the borders of our realm, together 
 with many others from the country and duchy 
 of Aquitaine, have come before us in our court 
 to claim justice for certain grievances and un- 
 just oppressions which you, through weak coun- 
 sel and foolish advice, have been induced to do 
 them, and at which we are much astonished ; 
 
 " Therefore, in order to obviate and remedy 
 such things, we do take cognizance of their 
 cause, insomuch that we, of our royal majesty 
 and sovereignty, order and command you to ap- 
 pear in our city of Paris in person, and that you 
 show and present yourself before us in our 
 chamber of Paris, to hear judgment pronounced 
 
158 King Kichard II. [A.D.1369. 
 
 The prince is very much displeased. 
 
 upon the aforesaid complaints and grievances 
 done by you to our subjects, who claim to be 
 beard, and to have the jurisdiction of our court. 
 
 "Let there be no delay in obeying this sum- 
 mons, but set out as speedily as possible after 
 having heard this order read. 
 
 " In witness whereof we have affixed our seal 
 to these presents. 
 
 "Given at Paris the twenty-fifth day of January, 1369. 
 
 "Charles K." 
 
 On hearing this letter read, the prince was 
 filled with astonishment and indignation. He 
 paused a moment, with his eyes fixed upon the 
 commissioners, as if not knowing what to reply. 
 At length, with an expression of bitter irony 
 upon his countenance, he said, 
 
 " We shall willingly appear at the appointed 
 day at Paris, since the King of France sends for 
 us, but it will be with our helmet on our head, 
 and accompanied by sixty thousand men." 
 
 The commissioners, seeing how much the 
 prince was displeased, began immediately to en- 
 treat him not to bo !3<*ry with them as the 
 bearers of the message. 
 
 " Oh no," said the prince, "I am not in the 
 least angry with you, but only with those that 
 sent you hither. Your master, the King of 
 
A.D.1369.] Kichard's Childhood. 159 
 
 He digmiHBCS the commitwioners. 
 
 France, has been exceedingly ill advised in thus 
 pretending to claim jurisdiction over our do- 
 minion of Aquitaine, and in taking the part of 
 our discontented subjects against us, their right- 
 ful sovereign. When he surrendered the prov- 
 inces to the King of England, my father, as he 
 did by solemn treaty, he relinquished forever 
 all jurisdiction over them, and in the exercise 
 of my government I acknowledge no superior 
 except my father. Tell the King of France 
 that is what I claim and will maintain. It shall 
 cost a hundred thousand lives before it shall 
 be otherwise." 
 
 Plaving spoken these words in a calm and 
 quiet, but very resolute and determined tone, 
 the prince walked off out of the apartment, leav- 
 ing the commissioners in a great state of aston- 
 ishment and alarm. They seemed to know not 
 what to do. 
 
 Some of the courtiers came to them and ad- 
 vised them to withdraw. "It is useless," said 
 they, ' ' for you to attempt any thing more. You 
 have delivered your mess° ^e faithfully, and the 
 prince has given his ' wer. It is the only 
 answer that he will give, you may depend, and 
 you may as well return with it to the king." 
 
 So the messengers went back to the inn, and 
 on the evening of the same day they set out on 
 
160 King Eichard II. 
 
 Indignation of the prince. He wishes to arrest the commissioners. 
 
 their return to Paris. In the mean time, Prince 
 Edward continued to feel extremely indignant 
 at the message which he had received. The 
 more he reflected upon it, indeed, the more an- 
 gry he became. He felt as if he had been in- 
 sulted in having had such a summons from a 
 foreign potentate served upon him by a lawyer 
 in his own house. The knights and barons 
 around him, sharing his anger, proposed that 
 they should pursue and seize the commission- 
 ers, with a view of punishing them for their au- 
 dacity in bringing such a message. At first the 
 prince was unwilling to consent to this, as the 
 persons of embassadors and messengers of all 
 sorts sent from one sovereign to another were, 
 in those days as now, considered sacred. At 
 last, however, he said that he thought the men 
 were hardly to be considered as the messengers 
 of the King of France. 
 
 " They are virtually," said he, " the messen- 
 gers of D' Albret and the other factious and re- 
 bellious barons among our own subjects, who 
 complained to the King of France and incited 
 him to interfere in our affairs, and, as such, I 
 should not be sorry to have them taken and 
 punished." 
 
 This was sufficient. The knights who heard 
 it immediately sent off a small troop of horse- 
 
Richard's Childhood. 161 
 
 The commissioners seized and imprisoned. 
 
 men, who overtook the commissioners before 
 they reached the frontier. In order not to com- 
 promise the prince, they said nothing about hav- 
 ing been sent by him, but arrested the men on 
 a charge of having taken a horse which did not 
 belong to them from the inn. Under pretense 
 of investigating this charge, they took the men 
 to a neighboring town and shut them up in a 
 castle there. 
 
 Some of the attendants of the commissioners, 
 who had come with them from France, made 
 their escape, and, returning to Paris, they re- 
 ported to the King of France all that had oc- 
 curred. It now came his turn to be angry, and 
 both parties began to prepare for war. 
 
 The King of England took sides with his son, 
 and so was drawn at once into the quarrel. Va- 
 rious military expeditions were fitted out on 
 both sides. Provinces were ravaged, and towns 
 and castles were stormed. The Prince of "Wales 
 was overwhelmed with the troubles and per- 
 plexities which surrounded him. His people 
 were discontented, his finances were low, and 
 the fortune of war often turned against him. 
 His health, too, began to fail him, and he sank 
 into a state of great dejection and despondency. 
 To complete the sum of his misfortunes, his 
 oldest son, Richard's brother, fell sick and died. 
 
 L 
 
lo'J Kim; RlOHARD 11. 
 
 Dattt of KU-lwrd's luvthor. Tho pitttM dttwmiina to M t>> Ini-.l.-unl. 
 
 This was a fortunate event for Riohard, for it 
 advanced him to the position of the oldest sur- 
 viving son, and made him thus his father's heir. 
 It brought him, too, one stop nearer to the En- 
 glish throne, Richard was, however, at this 
 time only four years old, and thus was too young 
 to understand these things, and probably, sym- 
 pathising with his father and mother, he mourn- 
 ed his brother's death. The parents, at any 
 rate, were exceedingly grieved at the loss of 
 their first-born child, and the despondency of 
 the prince was greatly increased by the event. 
 
 At last the physicians and counselors of Ed- 
 ward advised that he should leave his princi- 
 pality tor a time and repair to England* They 
 hoped that by the change of scene and air he 
 might recover his spirits, and perhaps regain 
 his health. The prinee resolved on following 
 this advice, So he made arrangements for leav- 
 ing his principality under the government and 
 care of his brother, John o( Gaunt, and then or- 
 dered a vessel to be made ready at Bordeaux 
 to convey himself, the princess, and Richard to 
 England. 
 
 When every thing was ready for his depart- 
 ure, he convened an assembly of all the barons 
 and knights of his dominions in a hall of audi- 
 ence at Bordeaux, and there solemnly commit- 
 
A.D.1870.] BlOHABD'g CHILDHOOD. 168 
 
 I'rinr,; Bdirard'l fan-,w ; ]| speech. JI*; Mifaf for Kngland. 
 
 ted the charge of the principality to his brother 
 John in the presence of them all. 
 
 J Ce Haid in the speech that he made to them 
 on that occasion, that during all the time that 
 fie had been their prince, he had always main" 
 
 tamed them m peace, prosperity, and power, so 
 
 far as depended on him, against all their ene- 
 mies, and that now, in the hope of recovering 
 his health, which was greatly impaired, he in- 
 tended to return to England. He therefore 
 
 earnestly besought them to place confidence in, 
 
 and faithfully serve and obey, his brother, the 
 Duke of Lancaster, as they had hitherto served 
 and obeyed him. 
 
 The barons all solemnly promised to obey 
 these injunctions, and they took the oath of 
 fealty and homage to the duke. They then bid 
 the prince farewell, and he soon afterward em- 
 barked on board the ship with his wife and son, 
 and set sail for England. 
 
 The fleet which accompanied the prince on 
 the voyage, as convoy to the prince's ship, con- 
 tained five hundred men-at-arms, and a large 
 body of archers besides. This force was intend- 
 ed to guard against the danger of being inter- 
 cepted by the French on the way. The prince 
 and the princess must, of course, have felt some 
 solicitude on this account, but Richard, being 
 
164 King Kichard II. [A.D.1370. 
 
 Pleasant and prosperous voyage. Little Richard at sea. 
 
 yet only four years old, was too young to con- 
 cern himself with any such fears. So he play- 
 ed about the ship during the voyage, untroubled 
 by the anxieties and cares which weighed upon 
 the spirits of his father and mother. 
 
 The voyage was a very prosperous one. The 
 weather was pleasant and the wind was fair, and 
 after a few days' sail the fleet arrived safely at 
 Southampton. The king, with his family and 
 suite, disembarked. They remained two days 
 at Southampton to refresh themselves after the 
 voyage, and to allow the prince, who seemed to 
 be growing worse rather than better, a little 
 time to gather strength for the journey to Lon- 
 don. When the time arrived for setting out, 
 he was found too ill to travel by any of the or- 
 dinary modes, and so they placed him upon a 
 litter, and in this way the party set out for 
 Windsor Castle. 
 
 The party traveled by easy stages, and at 
 leno-th arrived at the castle. Here Richard for 
 
 o 
 
 the first time saw his grandfather, Edward the 
 Third, King of England. They were all very 
 kindly received by him. After remaining a 
 short time at Windsor Castle, the prince, with 
 his wife and Richard, and the knights, and bar- 
 ons, and other attendants who had come with 
 him from Aquitaine, proceeded to a place call- 
 
A.D.1370.] Richard's Childhood. 165 
 
 Portrait of Edward III. 
 
 Richard's first entrance into Englanrl. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF EDWARD THE THIRD, RICHARD'S GRANDFATHER. 
 
 ed Birkhamstead, about twenty miles from Lon- 
 don, and there took up his abode. 
 
 And thus it was that Richard for the first 
 time entered the country which had been the 
 land of his ancestors for so long a time, and 
 over which he was himself so soon to reign. 
 
166 King Kichakd II. [A.D.1376. 
 
 John of Gaunt. His thoughts in respect to the kingdom. 
 
 Chaptee VI. 
 Accession to the Throne. 
 
 YOUNG- Kichard lived in comparative re- 
 tirement with his mother for about six 
 years after his return to England. His father's 
 sickness continued. Indeed, the prince was so 
 feeble in body, and so dejected and desponding 
 in mind, that he was well-nigh incapable of 
 taking any part in public affairs. His brother, 
 John of Graunt, Duke of Lancaster, remained for 
 some time in Aquitaine, and was engaged in 
 continual wars with France, but at length he 
 too returned to England. He was a man of 
 great energy of character and of great ambition, 
 and he began to revolve the question in his 
 mind whether, in case his brother, the Prince 
 of Wales, should die, the inheritance of the 
 kingdom of England should fall to him, or to 
 Kichard, the son of his brother. 
 
 "My brother Edward is older than I," he 
 said to himself, " and if he should live till after 
 our father the king dies, then I grant that he 
 should succeed to the throne. But if he dies 
 before the king, then it is better that I should 
 
Accession to the Throne. 167 
 
 Laws of succession. Prince Edward grows worse. He dies. 
 
 succeed to the throne, for his son Richard is but 
 a child, and is wholly unfit to reign. Besides, 
 if the oldest son of a king is dead, it is more 
 reasonable that the next oldest should succeed 
 him, rather than that the crown should go down 
 to the children of the one who has died." 
 
 The laws of succession were not absolutely 
 settled in those days, so that, in doubtful cases, 
 it was not uncommon for the king himself, or 
 the Parliament, or the king and Parliament to- 
 gether, to select from among different claim- 
 ants, during the life-time of the king, the one 
 whom they wished to succeed to the crown. 
 
 All were agreed, however, in this case — the 
 king, the Parliament, and the people of the 
 country — that if Edward should survive his fa- 
 ther, he was the rightful heir. He was a uni- 
 versal favorite, and people had been long antic- 
 ipating a period of great prosperity and glory 
 for the kingdom of England when he should be 
 king. 
 
 In the mean time, however, his health grew 
 worse and worse, and at length, in 1376, he died. 
 His death produced a great sensation. Provis- 
 ion was made for a very magnificent funeral. 
 The prince died at Westminster, which was then 
 a mile or two west from London, though now 
 London has become so extended that Westmin- 
 
L68 K ini; R iohakd 1 I. 
 
 Grand burial of the prlnoe :»t Canterbury. 
 
 ster forms the west end of the town. It was 
 determined to bury the prinoe in the Cathedral 
 at Canterbury, Canterbury is in the south- 
 eastern part of Kngland, ami was then, as now. 
 the residence of the archbishop, and the relig- 
 ious metropolis, SO to speak, of the kingdom. 
 When the day oi' the funeral arrived, an im- 
 mense cavalcade and procession was formed 
 at Westminster. All the nobles oi' the court 
 and the members ol' Parliament joined in the 
 train as mourners, and followed the body 
 through the city. The body was placed on a 
 magnificent hearse, which was drawn by twelve 
 horses. Immense throngs oi % people erowded 
 the streets and the windows to see the proces- 
 sion go by. After passing through the city, 
 the hearse, attended by the proper escort, took 
 the road to Canterbury, and there the body of 
 the prince was interred. A monument was 
 erected over the tomb, upon which was placed 
 an effigy of the prince, dressed in the armor in 
 which the illustrious, wearer had gained so many 
 victories and acquired such lasting renown. 
 
 The King o( France, although the prince had 
 been one of his most implacable enemies all his 
 life, and had been engaged in incessant wars 
 against him, caused funeral solemnities to be 
 celebrated in Paris on the occasion of his death. 
 
Accession to the Thbonb. 169 
 
 u 
 
 ^ a 
 
 H 
 
 P 
 
 I* 
 
 W 
 
 •-> 
 
 CD 
 
 s 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 K 
 
 en 
 
 3 
 
 c 
 
 ST* 
 
170 King Richard ll. [A.D.1S76, 
 
 Rioh&rd is deolared lu-ir to tho crown. 
 
 The ceremonies were performed with great 
 magnificence in the chapel of the royal palace, 
 and all tho barons, knights, and nobles of tho 
 court attended in grand costume, and joined in 
 rendering honor to tho memory of their depart- 
 ed too. 
 
 It was about midsummer when Richard's fa- 
 ther died. Richard's uncle, John of Gaunt, 
 
 Duke o\' Lancaster, was in London, and ho had 
 
 a Large party in his favor, though generally he 
 was very unpopular in England, Be had not 
 yet openly claimed tho right to Inherit tho 
 
 crown, nor did any one know positively that he 
 
 intended to do so. In order to prevent, if pos- 
 sible, any dispute on this question, and to an- 
 ticipate any movements which John might oth- 
 erwise make to secure the erown to himself, the 
 Parliament petitioned the king to bring the 
 young Prince Richard before them, that they 
 might publicly receive him, and recognize him 
 formally as heir to tho crown. This the king- 
 did. Richard was dressed in royal robes, and 
 conveyed in great state to the hall where Par- 
 liament was convened. Of course, the spectacle 
 of a boy of ten years old brought in this man- 
 ner before so august an assembly excited uni- 
 versal attention. The young prince was re- 
 ceived with great honor. A solemn oath oi' 
 
1876.] Accession to the Throne. 171 
 
 Grari'l cnVrbihmMjit, at ChrtotmaH. 
 
 allegiance was taken by all present, including 
 the members of the Parliament, the great of- 
 ficers of state, and a number of nobles of high 
 
 rank, including the buke of Lancaster himself. 
 In this oath, the claims of Richard to succeed 
 his grandfather as King of England were rec- 
 ognized, and those taking the oath bound them- 
 selves forever to maintain his rights against all 
 who should ever call them in question. 
 
 At Christmas of that year the king gave a 
 great entertainment to all the lords and nobles 
 of his court. At this entertainment he gave 
 Prince Richard the highest place, next to him- 
 self, putting his uncle John, and all his other 
 uncles, below him. This was to signify that he 
 was now the second person in the kingdom, and 
 that his uncles must always henceforth yield 
 precedence to him. 
 
 The king was now sixty-five years of age. 
 His health was very infirm. It was made so, in 
 great measure, by his mode of life, which was 
 scandalous. lie associated with corrupt men 
 and women, who led him into great excesses. 
 As the spring of the year came on he grew 
 worse, but he would not abandon his evil hab- 
 its. He lived at one of his palaces on the 
 Thames, a short distance above London, near 
 Richmond. His government fell into great dis- 
 
L72 King RICHARD 1 I. 
 
 Bad character of the kin;:. Aluv Fenran. 
 
 order, but he did nothing bo restrain or oorreot 
 
 the evils that occurred. La a word, he was fast 
 relapsing into utter imbecility'. 
 
 There was a young woman, named Aliee Fer- 
 rers, who had tor some time been the favorite 
 of the king, and had openly lived with him, 
 greatly to the displeasure oi' manv oi' his peo- 
 ple. She was now with him at his palace. The 
 nobles and eourtiers who had been in attend- 
 ance upon the king, seeing that he was sexm U> 
 die, began to withdraw from him, and leave 
 him to his fate. They saw that there was noth- 
 ing more to be obtained from him, and that, for 
 their future prospects, thev must depend on the 
 favor of Prince Richard or oi' his ancle John. 
 It is true that Richard's right to the succession 
 had been acknowledged, but then he was vet a 
 child, and it was supposed that his uncle John, 
 being the next oldest son of the king, would 
 probable be appointed regent until he should 
 come of age. So the courtiers left the dying 
 monarch to his fate, and went to court the favor 
 of those who were soon to succeed to his power. 
 Some went to the palace of the Duke of ban- 
 caster; others proceeded to Kennington, where 
 the prince and his mother were residing. The 
 poor king found himself forsaken of all the 
 world, and left to die neglected and alone. It 
 
1876.] Accession to the Throne. 173 
 
 Jx-.utf. >,{ the kiiitj. A council of government appointed. 
 
 is said that Alio Perrers was the last to leave 
 him, and that she only remained after the rest 
 for the sake of a valuable ring which he wore 
 upon his finger, and which she wished to get 
 away from him as soon as the dying monarch 
 was too far gene to be conscious of the robbery. 
 
 The counselors and nobles, though they thus 
 forsook the king, were not wholly unmindful 
 of the interests of the kingdom. They assem- 
 bled immediately after his death, and determ- 
 ined that during Riehard's minority the govern- 
 ment should be administered by a council, and 
 they selected for this council twelve men from 
 among the highest nobles of the land. They 
 determined upon this plan rather than upon a 
 regency because they knew that if a regent 
 were appointed it would be necessary that the 
 Duke of Lancaster should be the man, and they 
 were unwilling to put the power into his hands, 
 for fear that he would not surrender it when 
 liichard should come of age. 
 
 Besides, it would be in his power, in case he 
 had been appointed regent, to have caused Rich- 
 ard to be put to death in some secret way, if he 
 chose to do so, and then, of course;, the crown 
 would, without dispute, pass next to him. It 
 was not wholly unreasonable to fear this, for 
 such crimes had often been committed bv rival 
 
174 King Kir hard 11. 
 
 chivalry. Fearofthfi French. Embargo, 
 
 against rival in the English royal line. A man 
 might be in those days a very bravo and gal- 
 lant knight, a model in the eyes of all for the 
 unsullied purity of his chivalrio honor, and yet 
 
 be ready to poison or starve an nnele, or a broth* 
 er, or a. nephew, without compunction or re- 
 morse, if their rights or interests conflicted with 
 his own. The honor of chivalry was not moral 
 principle or love of justice and right; it was 
 mere punctiliousness in respect to certain con- 
 ventional forms. 
 
 Immediately on the death of the king, orders 
 were sent to all the ports in the southern part 
 of England forbidding any ship or boat of any 
 kind from going to sea. The object of this was 
 to keep the death of the king a secret from the 
 King of France, for fear that he might seize the 
 opportunity for an invasion of England. In- 
 deed, it was known that he was preparing an 
 expedition for this purpose before the king died, 
 and it was considered very important that he 
 should not hear of the event until the govern- 
 ment should be settled, lest he should take ad- 
 vantage of it to hasten his invasion. 
 
 The making of these arrangements, and the 
 funeral ceremonies connected with the inter- 
 ment of the king, occupied some days. There 
 was also a difficulty between the Puke of Lan- 
 
Accession to the Throne. 175 
 
 ,Som<! account of Wickliffe the reformer. 
 
 caster and the citizens of London to be settled, 
 which for a time threatened to be quite embar- 
 rassing. The ease was this. 
 
 In all accounts of the Reformation in England, 
 among the earliest of those who first called in 
 question the supremacy of the Rope, the name 
 of Wickliffe is always mentioned. Indeed, he 
 has been called the morning; star of the English 
 Reformation, as he appeared before it, and, by 
 the light which beamed from his writings and 
 his deeds, announced and ushered its approach. 
 He was a collegian of the great University of 
 Oxford, a very learned man, and a great stu- 
 dent of ecclesiastical and civil law. During the 
 reign of Edward, Richard's grandfather, who had 
 now just died, there had been some disputes be- 
 tween him and the Pope in relation to their re- 
 spective rights and powers within the realm of 
 England. This is not the place to explain the 
 particulars of the dispute. It is enough here to 
 say that there were two parties formed in En- 
 gland, some taking sides with the Church, and 
 others with the king. The bishops and clergy, 
 of course, belonged to the former class, and 
 many of the high nobility to the latter. At 
 length, after various angry discussions, the Pope 
 issued a bull, addressed to the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury and to the Bishop of London, two 
 
176 King Eichard II. 
 
 The Pope' s bulls. Meaning of the term. The golden bull. 
 
 of the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries of the 
 realm, commanding them to cause Wickliffe to 
 be apprehended and brought before them for 
 trial on the charge of heresy. 
 
 The decrees of popes were in those days, as 
 now, generally called bulls. The reason why 
 they were called by this name was on account 
 of their being authenticated by the Pope's seal, 
 which was impressed upon a sort of button or 
 boss of metal attached to the parchment by a 
 cord or ribbon. The Latin name for this boss 
 was bulla. Such bosses were sometimes made 
 of lead, so as to be easily stamped by the seal. 
 Sometimes they were made of other metals. 
 There was one famous decree of the Pope in 
 which the boss was of gold. This was called 
 the golden bull. 
 
 On the adjoining page we have an engraving, 
 copied from a very ancient book, representing 
 an archbishop reading a bull to the people in a 
 church. You can see the boss of metal, with 
 the seal stamped upon it, hanging down from 
 the parchment. 
 
 As soon as the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 and the Bishop of London received the bull 
 commanding them to bring Wickliffe to trial, 
 they caused him to be seized and brought to 
 
M 
 
Accession to THE Tint one. 179 
 
 Trial of Wiekliffe In London. The aMembly. Violent dfeputef. 
 
 London. On bearing ofhia arrest, a number 
 
 of his friends among the nobles came at once 
 to London too, in order that they might sup- 
 port him by their countenance and encourage- 
 ment, and restrain the prelates from carrying 
 their hostility against him too far. Among 
 these were the Duke of Lancaster and a certain 
 Lord Percy, a nobleman of v<'ry high rank and 
 station. The trial took plaee in the Church of 
 St. Paul's. Wiekliffe was called upon to answer 
 to the charges made against him before a \(-ry 
 imposing court of ecclesiastics, all dressed mag- 
 nificently in their sacerdotal robes. The knights 
 and barons who took WieklinVs side were pres- 
 ent too in their military eostume, and a great 
 assembly besides, consisting chiefly of the citi- 
 zens of London. 
 
 The common people of London, being great- 
 ly under the influence of the; priests, were, of 
 course, against Wiekliffe, and they looked with 
 evil eyes upon the Duke of Lancaster and the 
 other nobles who had come there to befriend 
 him. In the course of the trial, which it seerns 
 was not conducted in a v^ry regular manner, 
 the prelates and the nobles got into a dispute. 
 The dispute at last became so violent that the 
 Duke of Lancaster had the rudeness to threaten 
 the Bishop of London that if he did not behave 
 
180 King Eichakd II. 
 
 Rudeness of the Duke of Lancaster. Indignation of the people. 
 
 better he would drag him out of the church by 
 the hair of his head. This was certainly very 
 rough language to address to a bishop, especial- 
 ly at a time when he was sitting, under author- 
 ity from the Pope, as a judge in a high spiritual 
 court, and clothed in all the paraphernalia of 
 his sacred office. The Londoners were excess- 
 ively angry. They went out and called their 
 fellow-citizens to arms. The excitement spread 
 and increased during the night, and the next 
 morning a mob collected in the streets, threat- 
 ening vengeance against the duke and Lord 
 Percy, and declaring that they would kill them. 
 The duke's arms, which were displayed in a 
 public place in the city, they reversed, as was 
 customary in the case of traitors, and then grow- 
 ing more and more excited as they went on, 
 they directed their steps toward the palace of 
 the Savoy, where they expected to find the duke 
 himself. The duke was not there, but the men 
 would have set fire to the palace had it not been 
 for the interposition of the Bishop of London. 
 He, hearing what was going on, repaired to the 
 spot, and with great difficulty succeeded in re- 
 straining the mob and saving the palace. They, 
 however, proceeded forthwith to the house of 
 Lord Percy, where they burst through the doors, 
 and, ransacking all the rooms, tore and broke 
 
Accession to the Throne. 181 
 
 Priest murdered. Alarm of the mayor and aldermen. 
 
 every thing to pieces, and threw the fragments 
 out at the windows. They found a man dress- 
 ed as a priest, whom they took to be Lord Per- 
 cy in disguise, and they killed him on the spot. 
 
 The murdered man was not Lord Percy, how- 
 ever, but a priest in his own proper dress. Lord 
 Percy and the duke were just preparing to sit 
 down to dinner quietly together in another 
 place, when a messenger came breathless and 
 informed them what was going on. They im- 
 mediately fled. They ran to the water-side, got 
 into a boat, and rowed themselves over to Ken- 
 nington, a place on the southern side of the riv- 
 er, nearly opposite to Westminster, where the 
 voung Prince Kichard and his mother were 
 then residing ; for all this took place just before 
 King Kichard's grandfather died. 
 
 The lord-mayor and aldermen of London 
 were greatly alarmed when they heard of this 
 riot, and of the excesses which the citizens of 
 London had committed. They were afraid that 
 the Duke of Lancaster, whose influence and 
 power they knew was already very great, and 
 which would probably become vastly greater 
 on the death of the king, would hold them re- 
 sponsible for it. So they went in a body to 
 Eichmond, where the king was lying sick, and 
 made very humble apologies for the indignities 
 
182 King Eichakd II. 
 
 Deputation sent to the young king. 
 
 which had been offered to the duke, and they 
 promised to do all in their power to punish the 
 transgressors. The king was, however, too far 
 gone to pay much attention to this embassy. 
 The mayor and aldermen then sent a deputa- 
 tion to Prince Eichard at Kennington, to de- 
 clare their good- will to him, and their readiness 
 to accept him as their sovereign upon the death 
 of his father, and to promise faithful allegiance 
 to him on their own part individually, and on 
 the part of the city of London. They hoped 
 by this means to conciliate the good opinion of 
 Eichard and of his mother, as well as of the 
 other friends around him, and prepare them to 
 judge leniently of their case when it should 
 come before them. 
 
 All this, as has already been remarked, took 
 place just before King Edward's death. Im- 
 mediately after his death Eichard and his moth- 
 er went to Richmond, and took up their resi- 
 dence in the palace where Edward died. On 
 the next day a deputation was sent to the may- 
 or and aldermen of London in Richard's name, 
 calling upon them to appear at Richmond be- 
 fore the king, together with the Duke of Lan- 
 caster and his friends, in order that both sides 
 might be heard in respect to the subject-matter 
 of the dispute, and that the question might be 
 
1376.] Accession to the Throne. 183 
 
 The Londoner summoned. Richard holdn a court. 
 
 properly decided. The Duke of Lancaster, they 
 were informed, had agreed to this course, and 
 was ready to appear. They were accordingly 
 summoned to appear also. 
 
 The Londoners were at first rather afraid to 
 obey this injunction. They did not think that 
 a boy of eleven years of age was really compe- 
 tent to hear and decide such a case. Then they 
 were afraid, too, that the Duke of Lancaster, 
 being his uncle, would have such an influence 
 over him as to lead him to decide just as he, 
 the duke, should desire, and that thus, if they 
 submitted to such a hearing of the case, they 
 would place themselves wholly in the duke's 
 power. After some hesitation, however, they 
 finally concluded to go, stipulating only that, 
 whatever disposal might be made of the case, 
 there should, in no event, any personal harm 
 befall the mayor or the aldermen. 
 
 This condition was agreed to, and the parties 
 appeared on the appointed day before the little 
 king to have the case tried. Richard was, of 
 course, surrounded by his officers and counsel- 
 ors, and the business was really transacted by 
 them, though it was done in the young king's 
 name. There was no difficulty in settling the 
 dispute amicably, for all parties were disposed 
 to have it settled, and in such cases it is always 
 
184 King Eichard II. [A.D.1376. 
 
 The whole difficulty amicably settled. 
 
 easy to find a way. In this instance, the ad- 
 visers of Eichard managed so well that the dnke 
 and his friends were quite reconciled to the 
 Londoners, and they all went out from the pres- 
 ence of the king at last, when the case was con- 
 cluded, as good friends apparently as they had 
 ever been. 
 
 The settling of this dispute was the first act 
 of King Eichard's reign. Considering how vio- 
 lent the dispute had been, and how powerful 
 the parties to it were, and also considering that 
 Eichard was yet nothing but a small though 
 very pretty boy, we must admit that it was a 
 very good beginning. 
 
A.D.1377.] The Coronation. 185 
 
 Nature and design of a coronation. 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 The Coronation. 
 
 THE coronation of a monarch is often post- 
 poned for a considerable time after his ac- 
 cession to the throne. There is no practical 
 inconvenience in such a postponement, for the 
 crowning, though usually a very august and 
 imposing ceremony, is of no particular force or 
 effect in respect to the powers or prerogatives 
 of the king. He enters upon the full enjoy- 
 ment of all these prerogatives and powers at 
 once on the death of his predecessor, and can 
 exercise them all without restraint, as the pub- 
 lic good may require. The coronation is mere- 
 ly a pageant, which, as such, may be postponed 
 for a longer or shorter period, as occasion may 
 require. 
 
 Eichard was crowned, however, a very short 
 time after his father's death. It was thought 
 best, undoubtedly, to take prompt measures for 
 sealing and securing his right to the succession, 
 lest the Duke of Lancaster or some other per- 
 son might be secretly forming plans to supplant 
 him. King Edward, Richard's grandfather, died 
 
186 King Kichard II. [A.D.13?7. 
 
 Amagoments nuulo for Kichanl's coronation. 
 
 on the 22d of June. The funeral occupied sev- 
 eral davs, and immediately afterward arrange- 
 ments began to be made for the coronation. 
 The day was appointed for the 16th of July. 
 On the loth the king was to proceed in state 
 from the palace in the environs of London 
 where he had been residing, through the city 
 of London, to Westminster, where the corona- 
 tion was to take place ; and as the people of 
 London desired to make a grand parade in hon- 
 or of the passage of the king through the city, 
 the arrangements of the occasion comprised two 
 celebrations on two successive days — the pro- 
 cession through London on the 15th, and the 
 coronation at Westminster on the 16th. 
 
 On the morning of the 15th, an imposing 
 train of the nobility, led by all the great officers 
 of state, assembled at the residence of the king 
 to receive him and to escort him through the 
 city. Eichard was dressed in magnificent robes, 
 and mounted upon a handsome charger. A no- 
 bleman led his horse by the bridle. Another 
 nobleman of high rank went before him, bear- 
 ing the sword of state, the emblem of the regal 
 power. Other nobles and prelates in great num- 
 bers, mounted many of them on splendidly-ca- 
 parisoned horses, and in full armor, joined in 
 the train. Bands of musicians, with trumpets 
 
A.D.1377.] The Coronation. 187 
 
 Conduits of wine. Q olden «no\v. The young girlB. 
 
 and other martial instruments in great numbers, 
 filled the air with joyful sounds, and in this 
 manner the procession commenced its march. 
 
 In the mean time, the Londoners had made 
 great preparations for the reception of the cor- 
 tege. Conduits were opened in various parts 
 of the city, to run with wine instead of water, 
 in token of the general joy. In the heart of 
 the city an edifice in the form of a castle was 
 erected in honor of the occasion. This castle 
 had four towers. In each of the towers were 
 four beautiful young girls, all about Richard's 
 age. They were dressed in white, and their 
 duty was, as the king went by, to throw out a 
 quantity of little leaves of gold, which, falling 
 upon and all around the king, produced the ef- 
 fect of a shower of golden flakes of snow. 
 
 The procession stopped before the castle. 
 There were conduits flowing with wine upon 
 two sides of it. The young girls descended 
 from the towers, bringing golden cups in their 
 hands. These cups they filled with wine at the 
 fountains, and offered them to the king and to 
 the nobles who accompanied him. On the top 
 of the castle, between the four towers, there 
 stood a golden angel with a crown in his hand. 
 By some ingenious mechanism, this angel was 
 made to extend his arm to the king, as if in the 
 
188 King Richard II. 
 
 Procession. Crowds of people in the streets. 
 
 act of offering him the crown. This was a sym- 
 bol representing the idea often inculcated in 
 those days, that the right of the king to reign 
 was a divine right, as if the crown were placed 
 upon his head by an angel from heaven. 
 
 After pausing thus a short time at the castle, 
 the procession moved on. The streets were fill- 
 ed with vast crowds of people, who drowned 
 the music of the trumpets and drums by their 
 continual acclamations. 
 
 In this way the royal procession passed on 
 through London, and at length arrived at the 
 gate of the palace in Westminster. Here Rich- 
 ard was assisted to dismount from his horse, 
 and was conducted into the palace between two 
 long lines of knights and soldiers that were sta- 
 tioned at the entrance and upon the staircase 
 to honor his arrival. He was glad that the 
 ceremony was over, for he was beginning to be 
 very tired of riding on horseback so many 
 hours, and of being so long in the midst of 
 scenes of so much noise, excitement, and con- 
 fusion. 
 
 The next day was the day appointed for the 
 coronation itself. Richard was dressed in his 
 royal robes, and shortly before noon he was 
 conducted in great state from the palace to the 
 church. He was received by a procession of 
 
The Coronation. 189 
 
 (Weinonlefl of the coronation. JJewildering scene. 
 
 bishops and monks, and conducted by them to 
 the grand altar. The pavement before the al- 
 tar was covered with rich tapestry. Here Rich- 
 ard kneeled while prayers were said and the 
 Litany was sung by the priests. His barons and 
 nobles, and the great officers of state, kneeled 
 around him. After the prayers were over, he 
 was conducted to an elevated seat, which was 
 richly decorated with carvings and gold. 
 
 A bishop then ascended to a pulpit built 
 against one of the vast Gothic columns of the 
 church, and preached a sermon. The sermon 
 was on the subject of the duty of a king ; ex- 
 plaining how a king ought to conduct himself 
 in the government of his people, and enjoining 
 upon the people, too, the duty of being faithful 
 and obedient to their king. 
 
 Richard paid little attention to this sermon, 
 being already tired of the scene. He was, more- 
 over, bewildered by the multitude of people 
 crowded into the church, and all gazing intent- 
 ly and continually upon him. There were bish- 
 ops and priests in their sacerdotal robes of crim- 
 son and gold, and knights and nobles brilliant 
 with nodding plumes and glittering armor of 
 steel. When the sermon was finished, the oath 
 was administered to Richard. It was read by 
 the archbishop, Richard assenting to it when it 
 
190 K i\-r, RlORAKD 1 1. 
 
 .•.,lmii»is?oivd to ttM |*Opl%, CWftOK) | ktiBf« 
 
 read. As SOOn as the oath had thus boon 
 administered, tho archbishop, turning in succes- 
 sion to each quarter of tho ohuivh, repeated tho 
 oath in a loud voice to tho people, tour tinu 
 all, and called upon thoso whom ho suo< 
 ly addressed to ask whether they would sub- 
 mit to Richard as their king-. The people on 
 each side, as he thus addressed thom in turn, 
 answered, with a loud voice, that they would 
 obey him, This ceremony being ended, tho 
 
 aivhbishop turned again toward Kichard, pro- 
 nounood certain additional prayers, and thou 
 gave him his benediction, 
 
 Tho ceremony of anointing came next The 
 aivhbishop advanced to Richard and began to 
 take off the robes in which he was attired* At 
 the same time, four earls hold over and around 
 him, as a sort of screen, a coverture, as it was 
 called, of cloth of gold. Richard remained un- 
 der this eoverture while he was anointed. The 
 aivhbishop took off nearly all his clothes, and 
 then anointed him with the holy oil. He ap- 
 plied the oil to his head, his breast, his shoul- 
 ders, and the joints of his arms, repeating, as he 
 did SO, certain prayers. The ehoir, in the mean 
 time, chanted a portion of the Scriptures rela- 
 ting to the anointing of King Solomon. When 
 the oil had been applied, the archbishop put 
 
Tin-; OOftOJTJLTIO 101 
 
 fj/ihurd clothe In hi* royal rrfta. 
 
 upon the king a long robe, and directed him to 
 kneel. Richard accordingly kneeled again upon 
 the tapestry which covered tbc floor, the arch- 
 ' Whop and the bishops kneeling around him. 
 rVhile in this position the archbishop offered 
 more pes and more hym ing, and 
 
 then he d Richard to rise from bin kneel' 
 
 ing posture, and proceeded to dress and equip 
 
 him with the various garments, and arm.-;, and 
 
 emblems appr o pr iate to the kingly power. In 
 potting on each separate article the archbishop 
 made a speech in Latin, according to a form 
 provided for such occasions, beginning with, 
 Receive this cloak, receive tins stole, receive 
 this sword, and the lit 
 
 In this manner arid with these ceremonies 
 Richard was invested with a splendidly-em- 
 broidered coat and cloak, a stole, a sword, a pair 
 of spurs, a pair of bracelets, and, finally, with a 
 garment over all called the pallium. All these 
 things, of* course, had been made expressly for 
 the occasion, and were adapted to the size and 
 shape of a boy like Richard. The archbishop 
 isted in putting these things on by cer- 
 tain nobles of the court, who had been desig- 
 
 * The Stole was a long narrow Hcarf, fringed at the end*. 
 It was wound about the neck and erOMed over the breast, 
 and was worn an a badge. 
 
192 King Richard II. 
 
 The crown. The globe. The sceptre. 
 
 nated for this purpose, and who considered 
 themselves highly honored by the part that 
 was assigned them in the ceremony. 
 
 When the dressing had been completed, the 
 archbishop took the crown, and after having in- 
 voked a blessing upon it by his prayers and 
 benedictions, all in the Latin tongue, he placed 
 it upon Richard's head, repeating, at the same 
 time, a Latin form, the meaning of which was 
 that he received the crown from God Almighty, 
 and that to God alone be was responsible for 
 the exercise of his royal power. 
 
 Then came a certain grand officer of the court 
 with a red globe, an emblem of royalty which 
 has long been used in England. This globe 
 the archbishop blessed, and then the officer put 
 it into Richard's hands. In the same manner 
 the sceptre was brought, and, after being blessed 
 by means of the same ceremonies and prayers, 
 was also put into Richard's hands. 
 
 Richard was now completely invested with 
 the badges and insignia of his office. The arch- 
 bishop then, raising his hands, pronounced upon 
 him his apostolic benediction, and the ceremony, 
 so far, was ended. The bishops and nobles then 
 came up to congratulate and salute Richard on 
 having thus received his crown, after which they 
 conducted him to his seat again. 
 
The Coronation. 193 
 
 liichard makea his offering* at the altar. 
 
 Richard now began to be very tired and to 
 wish to go home, but there was a great deal 
 more yet to come before he could be set at lib- 
 erty. There was an anthem to be sung by the 
 choir, and more prayers to be said, after which 
 there came what was called the offertory. This 
 was a ceremony in which a person was led to 
 the altar, to lay down upon it whatever offering 
 he chose to make for the service of the Church. 
 The king rose from his seat and was led for- 
 ward to the altar, having, of course, been pre- 
 viously told what he was to do. He had in his 
 hand a sum of money which had been provided 
 for the occasion. He laid down this money 
 first upon the altar, and then his sword. It 
 was the custom in these coronations for the 
 king thus to offer his sword, in token of the 
 subordination of his royal power to the law and 
 will of God, and then the sword was afterward 
 to be redeemed with money by the sword-bear- 
 er, the officer whose duty it was, on leaving the 
 church, to bear the sword in procession before 
 the king. 
 
 Accordingly, after Eichard had returned from 
 the altar, the earl whose office it was to bear the 
 sword went to the altar and redeemed it with a 
 sum of money, and carried it back to the place 
 where Richard was sitting. 
 
 N 
 
{M KiNd KmiAKi) II. | A. P. L877. 
 
 Ku'hanl Is out'uvlv ovhuustoil with (Wtigttfe 
 
 Then oame the service of the mass, which 
 oooupied a Long time, so that Richard became 
 very tired indeed before it was ended, After 
 
 the mass came the communion, which it was 
 necessary for Richard to partake. The com- 
 munion was, of course, accompanied with more 
 
 prayers and more chantings, until the poor boy 
 
 thought that the ceremonies would never be 
 ended. When at last, however, all was over, 
 and the procession was ready to form again to 
 leave the church, Richard was so worn out and 
 exhausted with the fatigue that he had endured 
 that he could not ride home; so they brought 
 a sort of litter and placed him upon it, and four 
 o[' the knights bore him home on their shoul- 
 ders. His uncle the Duke of Lancaster and 
 
 the Karl Percy went before him, and a long- 
 train of bishops, nobles, and grand officers of 
 state followed behind. In this way he was 
 brought back to the palace. As soon as the 
 party reached the palace, they carried Richard 
 directly up to a chamber, took oil' all his grand 
 paraphernalia, and put him to bed. 
 
 lie rested a little while, and then they brought 
 him something to eat. His troubles were, how- 
 ever, not vet over, for there was to be a great 
 banquet that afternoon and evening in the hall 
 of the palace, and it was necessary that he should 
 
AA). 18T7J The Ooboitatio l$& 
 
 Creation ofearlf. EtadeaanuBineiitf. Win*;. 
 
 Ik; there. Accordingly, after a short time, he 
 was arrayed again in bis royal robes and ii 
 nia, and conducted down to the balL Here 
 he bad a ceremony to perform of creating cer- 
 tain persons carls. Of Course it was his coun- 
 selor;-; that decided who the persons were that 
 wen: to be thus raised to the peerage, and they 
 told him also exactly what he was to do and 
 Say in the programme of* the ceremony. lie 
 sat upon his throne, surrounded by his nobles 
 and officers of state, and did what they told him 
 to do. When this ceremony had been perform* 
 ed, the whole company sat down to the tables 
 which had been prepared for a banquet. 
 
 They continued their feasting and carousing 
 
 to a late hour, and then amused themselves 
 with various boisterous games common in those 
 
 days. In the court-yard of the palace a pillar 
 
 was set up, with pipes at the sides of it, from 
 
 which there were flowing continually streams 
 of wine of different kinds, and everybody who 
 pleased was permitted to come and drink. A 
 
 part of the amusement consisted in the push- 
 and stragglings of the people to get to the 
 "faucets, and U e spilling of tin; wine all over 
 their feces and clothes. The top of the pillar 
 was adorned with a huge gilt image of an eagle. 
 The next day there were more processions 
 
1!K> King Richard II. 
 
 i roiuli invasions. Kiehard's uncle:?. His bright prospects. 
 
 and more celebrations, but Richard himself was, 
 fortunately for him, excused from taking any 
 part in them. In the mean time, the people who 
 managed the government in Richard's name 
 heard the news that the French had learned, in 
 some way, the tidings of King Edward's death, 
 and had landed in the southern part of England, 
 and were burning and destroying- all before 
 them. So they made all haste to raise an army 
 to go and repel the invaders. 
 
 It was finally concluded, also, to appoint Rich- 
 ard's two uncles, namely, John, Duke of Lan- 
 caster, and Edmund, Earl of Cambridge, as his 
 guardians until he should become of age. Some 
 persons thought it was not safe to trust Richard 
 to the Duke of Lancaster at all, but others 
 thought it would be better to conciliate him by 
 treating him with respect, than to make him an 
 open enemy by passing over him entirely. 
 
 Richard was considered, at this time, a very 
 amiable and good boy, and it was generally be- 
 lieved by the people of England that, with a 
 right and proper training, he would grow up to 
 be a virtuous and honest man, and they antici- 
 pated for him a long and happy reign. And 
 yet, in a little more than ten years after he be- 
 came of age, he was disgraced and dethroned 
 on account of his vices and crimes. 
 
Chivalry. 197 
 
 Jodmund, Karl of Cambridge. Thomas of Woodstock. 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 Chivalry. 
 
 BESIDES his uncle John, Duke of Lancas- 
 ter, Richard had two other uncles, who 
 each acted an important part in public affairs 
 at the commencement of his reign. They 
 were, 
 
 1. His uncle Edmund, who was the Earl of 
 Cambridge, and afterward Duke of York. Of 
 course he is sometimes called, in the histories 
 of those times, by one of these names, and some- 
 times by the other. 
 
 2. His uncle Thomas. Thomas was born in 
 the palace of Woodstock, and so was often call- 
 ed Thomas of Woodstock. He was the Earl 
 of Buckingham, and afterward the Duke of 
 Gloucester. 
 
 Besides these uncles, Richard had a cousin 
 just about his own age, who afterward, as we 
 shall see, played a very important part indeed 
 in Richard's history. This cousin was named 
 Henry Bolingbroke. He was the son of Rich- 
 ard's uncle John, the Duke of Lancaster. He 
 and Richard were now both about eleven years 
 
198 En*CJ Rich \kp 1 1. 
 
 IHotart'a vonn>: cousin, llonr\ oJ Botfcgbl 
 
 of age ; or rather, Richard was eleven, and his 
 
 cousin Henry was about ton. 
 
 Of course, Richard was altogether too young 
 to exercise any tval control in respect to the 
 government of the country, boon thing was, 
 consequently, iefi to the Parliament and the 
 nobles. Uis uncles endeavored to assume the 
 general direction of affairs, but there was never- 
 theless a strong party against them. There 
 
 Were no means of deciding these disputes ex- 
 cept bv the votes in Parliament, and these votes 
 went one way and the other, as one part\ or 
 the other, tor the time being-, gained the ascend* 
 enoy. Every one watched very closely the 
 conduct of Richard's ancle John, lie was the 
 next oldest son of Kdward the Third, after Ed- 
 Ward, the Prince of Wales, Richard's father. Of 
 course, if Richard were to die, he would become 
 king; and if he himself were to die before 
 Richard did, and then Richard were to die be- 
 fore he grew up and had children of his own, 
 then his son, Richard's cousin, llenrv Boling- 
 broke, would be entitled to claim the kingdom. 
 Thus, while Richard remained unmarried and 
 without heirs, this llenrv Holingbroke was in 
 the direct line of succession, and, ot'eonrse, next 
 to Richard himself, he was, perhaps, the most 
 important personage in the kingdom, There 
 
Chivalry. 199 
 
 A boy king in France. Richard and Henry Bolingbroke. 
 
 was, it is true, another child, the grandchild of 
 an older uncle of Richard's, named Lionel ; but 
 he was very young at this time, and he died not 
 long afterward, leaving Henry Bolingbroke the 
 only heir. 
 
 It is curious enough that, a year or two after 
 this, the French king died, and was succeeded 
 by his son, a boy of about twelve years of age. 
 This boy was Charles the Sixth. He was 
 crowned in France with ceremonies still more 
 splendid and imposing in some respects than 
 those which had been observed in London on 
 the occasion of Richard's coronation. Thus 
 the hopes and fears of all the millions of people 
 inhabiting France and England respectively, in 
 regard to the succession of the crown and the 
 government of the country, were concentrated 
 in three boys not yet in their teens. 
 
 Of course, Richard and his cousin Henry 
 Bolingbroke were rivals from the beginning. 
 Richard and his friends were jealous and sus- 
 picious of Henry and of his father, and were al- 
 ways imagining that they were wishing that 
 Richard might die, in order that they might 
 come into his place. Thus there was no cor- 
 dial friendship in the family, nor could there be 
 any. Of the other nobles and barons, some 
 took sides in one way and some in the other. 
 
% ioo \\ ino, Richard 1 l. 
 
 The boys themselves, both Richard and Benry, 
 were too younar to know muoh about these 
 things; but the leading barons and courtiers 
 formed themselves into panics, ranging them- 
 selves some on one side and some on the other, 
 - to keep op a continual tooling of jealousy 
 and ill-will. 
 
 In the moan time, the French began to re- 
 taliate tor the invasions of their country which 
 the English had made, by planning invasions 
 of England in return. One expedition landed 
 on the Islo of Wight, and at'tor burning and de- 
 stroying the villages and small towns, thov laid 
 some of tho large towns under a heavy contri- 
 bntion; that is, they made thorn pay a largo 
 sum of monev under a threat that, if tho monov 
 was not paid, they would burn down their town 
 too. So tho citizens collected tho monov and 
 paid it, and tho French expedition sot sail and 
 wont away before the government had time to 
 send troops from London to intercept them. 
 
 The French, too, besides invading England 
 themselves on the south, incited tho Scotch to 
 make incursions into the northern provinces, 
 for Scotland was then entirely independent of 
 England, A curious Story is related illustrat- 
 ing the religious ignorance which prevailed 
 among tho common people of Scotland in those 
 
A.I). L.W.J CuiVAi.it/. 201 
 
 Ctt! '.h \/>T<\«T< : 
 
 seins that some remarkable epidemic 
 ailed i/i L879 in the northern pari of En- 
 gland, whic] xtremely fatal. Great num- 
 of people died. The >h sent rrj<;.s«en- 
 acro i the border to ascertain what the 
 cause of the sickness was. The English people 
 told them that they did not ki rhat the 
 cause was. [t judgment from God, the 
 nature arid operation of which was hidden from 
 them. They added, fcu r, this pious senti- 
 ment, that they submitted themselves patiently 
 to the dispensation, for they knew "that e- 
 calamity that could befall men in this world 
 came from the grace of God, to the end that, 
 being punished for their sins, they might be led 
 to repent and reform their wicked live 
 
 The messeng< rit home, and reported to 
 
 the Scottish borderers that the English people 
 said that the plague came from the grace of 
 God, not being able, it would seem, to remem- 
 ber the rest of the message. So the priest:-: ar- 
 ranged a form of prayer, addressed to certain 
 saints, which was to be said by the people ev- 
 ery morning. This prayer implored the saints 
 to deliver the people from the grace of God. and 
 the dreadful plagues which were sent by it upon 
 men. The form was thi 
 * The form wot \n Latin. We gfrre here the Englurf] t fir. 
 
202 King Eichaed II. [A.D.1379. 
 
 Their strange ideas of the grace of God. 
 
 The head of the family would first say, 
 " Blessed be," and the others would respond, 
 "The Lord." 
 Then the head of the family would say, 
 " God and Saint Mango, 
 " Saint Komane and Saint Andro, 
 " Shield us this day from God's grace, and 
 the foul death that Englishmen die of." 
 And all the others would say " Amen." 
 Thus they considered the grace of God as an 
 evil which they were to pray to be delivered 
 from. 
 
 Indeed, the common people at this time, not 
 only in Scotland, but throughout England, were 
 in a state of great ignorance and degradation. 
 The barons, and knights, and soldiers general- 
 ly looked down with great contempt upon all 
 who were engaged in any industrial pursuits. 
 In the country, the great mass of those who 
 were employed in tilling the ground were serfs 
 or slaves, bought and sold with the land, and 
 at the disposal, in almost all respects, of their 
 haughty masters. The inhabitants of the towns, 
 who lived by the manufacturing arts or by 
 commerce, were more independent, but the no- 
 bles, and knights, and all who considered them- 
 selves gentlemen looked down with something 
 like contempt upon these too, as, in fact, their 
 
A.D.1379.] Chivalry. 203 
 
 _ai , — , . — 
 
 Nature of the royal government. The House of Commons. 
 
 successors, the present aristocracy of England, 
 do at the present day, regarding them as per- 
 sons in a very mean condition, and engaged in 
 low and ignoble pursuits. Still, the industrial 
 classes had increased greatly in wealth and num- 
 bers, and they began to have and to express 
 some opinion in respect to public affairs. They 
 had considerable influence in the House of 
 Commons ; and the government was, in a great 
 measure, dependent upon the House of Com- 
 mons, and was becoming more and more so ev- 
 ery year. It is true, the king, or rather the 
 great lords who managed the government in his 
 name, could make war where they pleased, and 
 appoint whom they pleased to carry it on. Still, 
 they could not assess any tax except by the con- 
 sent of the Commons, and thus, in carrying on 
 any great operations, they were becoming every 
 year more and more dependent on the public 
 sentiment of the country. 
 
 The country began to be very much dissatis- 
 fied with the management of public affairs with- 
 in two or three years after the commencement 
 of Eichard's reign. Large sums of money were 
 raised, and put into the hands of Eichard's un- 
 cles ; who spent it in organizing great expedi- 
 tions by land and sea to fight the French ; but 
 almost all of these expeditions were unsuccess- 
 
204: King Eichard II. 
 
 Luxury and extravagance of the nobility. \\ r ara, 
 
 ful. The people thought that they were mis- 
 managed, and that the money was squandered. 
 Some of the nobles expended immense sums 
 upon themselves. In the ease of one expedi- 
 tion that put to sea from the southern coast of 
 England, the nobleman who commanded it had 
 twenty-five vessels loaded with his own per- 
 sonal property and baggage, and that of his ser- 
 vants and attendants. This man had fifty-two 
 new suits of apparel, made of cloth of gold, im- 
 mensely expensive. The fleet was wrecked, 
 and all this property was lost in the sea. 
 
 A great many of the expeditions that were 
 fitted out in England were for the purpose of 
 carrying on wars in Brittany and Aquitaine, in 
 France, for the benefit exclusively of the nobles 
 and knights who claimed possessions in those 
 countries ; the mass of the people of England, 
 at whose expense the operations were carried 
 on, having no interest whatever in the result. 
 The worst of it was, that in these wars no real 
 progress was made. Towns were taken and 
 castles were stormed, first by one party and then 
 by the other. The engraving represents the 
 storming of one of these towns, and, being cop- 
 ied from an ancient picture, it shows truthfully 
 the kind of armor and the mode of fighting 
 employed in those days. 
 
2s#a rm 
 
CHIVALBY. 207 
 
 Mo-).,. „f warfare-.. Mining I',ryi.^iM^ «:ii K lii«s«. 
 
 Almost, the only way of forcing a passage 
 Into a castle or fortified town was by climbing 
 over the walls by means of ladders, and over- 
 powering the garrison upon the topofthem by 
 main force, as represented in the engraving. 
 Sometimes, it is true, the besiegers of a eastle 
 undermined the walls, so as to make them fall 
 
 in and thus open a breach. At the present 
 
 day, mines dug in this way are blown up Ly 
 
 gunpowder. But people were little acquainted 
 
 with the use of* gunpowder then, and so they 
 were obliged to shore up the walls while they 
 were digging them by means of posts and 
 
 beams, and these, after the miners bad with- 
 drawn, were pulled out by ropes, and thus the 
 
 walls were made to fall down. 
 
 Great engines were sometimes used, too, to 
 batter down the walls of castles and towns. 
 There was one kind of engine, used by the Duke 
 of Lancaster in one of his campaigns in France 
 in the early part of Richard's reign, which was 
 
 called a saw. The sow was made in many parts, 
 at a distance from the place besieged, wherever 
 a suitable supply of beams and timber could be 
 obtained, and then was brought on carts to the 
 Spot. When it was framed together and put 
 in operation, it would hurl immense stones, 
 which, striking the walls, made breaches in 
 
208 King Richard 1 1. 
 
 -r's .nv«\ .lor. 
 
 thorn, or, going ovor thorn, came down into tho 
 interior of the place, crushing through tho roots 
 
 the houses, and killing sometimes multitudes 
 
 men, Tho sow was made, boo, so as to afford 
 shelter and protection to a groat number of per- 
 sons, who could ride upon it while it was drawn 
 or pushed up near tho walls, and thus reach a 
 point where they could begin to undermine tho 
 walls, or plant their ladders tor scaling thorn. 
 Tho Duke of Lancaster caused one bow to be 
 made which would cany, in this way, one hund- 
 red men. 
 
 Gunpowder, however, began to be used about 
 this time, though in a vorv imperfect and inot- 
 ficient manner. At one siege, namely, that of 
 St. Malo, a town on tho northwestern coast of 
 Prance, it is said that tho Duke of Lancaster 
 had four hundred cannon, Thev wero all. 
 however, of very little avail in taking tho town. 
 
 Tho wars waged between tho English and 
 tho French in these chivalrous times were much 
 more personal in their character than wars are 
 at tho present day. In that period of tho world. 
 every great duke, or baron, or knight was in 
 some sense an independent personage, having 
 his own separate interests to look out tor, and 
 his own individual rights and honor to main- 
 tain, to a degree far greater than now. The 
 
A. D. 1878,] Chivalry. 209 
 
 Ht//ry of th<-, W«..J*J, k/ji;<M., Kvan. 'tf W*U.\n. 
 
 equence of thi that the narral 
 
 . of those times contain accounts of 
 many pergonal incidents and adventures which 
 make the history of them much more entertain- 
 ing than the histories of moderi] campaigns, J 
 will give one or two examples of these personal 
 incidents. 
 
 At one time, while the Dnke of Lancaster 
 was besieging St. Mai o with bis four hundred 
 cannon, there was a famous Welsh knight, 
 named Bran, known in history an Kvan of 
 Wales, who ws ging a castle belonging to 
 
 the English. The name of the < Mor- 
 
 tal n. It was on the Bi rer Garonne, in the coun- 
 of Aqnitaine. The castle i strong that 
 
 j had no hope of taking it by for/;, and ho 
 
 ho invested it closely on all sides, and sat down 
 
 quietly waiting for the garrison to bo starved 
 into a surrender. 
 
 Tho castle was near the rivor. Kvan built 
 three blook-housoH on tho three sides of it. One 
 of these block-houses was orj the edge of a rook 
 before the castle, on the rivor :-:ido. Tho second 
 was opposite a postern gate, and was intended 
 particularly to watch tho gate, in order to pre- 
 vont any ono from coming out or going in. 
 Tho third block-house was bolow tho castle, be- 
 tween tho lower part of it and tho wator. To 
 
 
 
210 King Kichard II. [A.D.1378. 
 
 Situation of the castle. Evan's hostility to the English. 
 
 guard the fourth side of the castle, Evan had 
 taken possession of a church which stood at some 
 little distance from it, and had converted the 
 church into a fort. Thus the castle was com- 
 pletely invested, being watched and guarded on 
 every side. The garrison, however, would not 
 surrender, hoping that they might receive suc- 
 cor before their provisions were entirely ex- 
 hausted. They remained in this condition for 
 a year and a half, and were at length reduced 
 to great distress and suffering. Still, the gov- 
 ernor of the castle would not surrender. 
 
 It may seem strange that Evan, a knight from 
 Wales, should be fighting against the English, 
 since "Wales had some years before been annex- 
 ed to the realm of England. The reason was, 
 that Evan's family had been driven out of Wales 
 by the cruelties and oppressions of the English. 
 His father, who had formerly been Prince of 
 Wales, had been beheaded, and Evan, in his in- 
 fancy, had been saved by his attendants, who 
 fled with him to France. There he had been 
 received into the family of the French king, 
 John, and, after he had grown up, he had fought 
 under John many years. The older he grew, 
 the more his heart was filled with resentment 
 against the English, and now he was engaged, 
 heart and hand, in the attempt to drive them 
 
Chivalry. 211 
 
 Hatred of the English against Evan. John Lamb. 
 
 out of France. Of course, the English consid- 
 ered him a traitor, and they hated him much 
 more than they did any of the French com- 
 manders, of whom nothing else was to be ex- 
 pected than that they should be enemies to 
 the English, and fight them always and every 
 where. Evan they considered as in some sense 
 one of their own countrymen who had turned 
 against them. 
 
 There was another circumstance which in- 
 creased the hatred of the English against Evan, 
 and that was, that he had taken one of their 
 knights prisoner, and then refused to ransom 
 him on any terms. The English offered any 
 sum of money that Evan would demand, or they 
 offered to exchange for him a French knight of 
 the same rank ; but Evan was inexorable. He 
 would not give up his prisoner on any terms, 
 but sent him to Paris, and shut him up in a 
 dungeon, where he pined away, and at length 
 died of misery and despair. 
 
 In consequence of these things, a plot was 
 formed in England for assassinating Evan. A 
 Welshman, by the name of John Lamb, was 
 appointed to execute it. 
 
 John Lamb set out from England, and cross- 
 ed the Channel to France. He was a well-edu- 
 cated man, speaking French fluently, and he 
 
212 King Kichakd II. 
 
 John Lamb arrives at Mortain. His reception by Evan. 
 
 was well received every where by the French, 
 for he told them that he was a countryman of 
 Evan's, and that he was going to Mortain to 
 join him. The French, accordingly, treated him 
 well, and helped him forward on his journey. 
 
 When he reached Mortain, he came into the 
 presence of Evan, and, falling on his knees be- 
 fore him, he said that he was his countryman, 
 and that he had come all the way from Wales 
 to enter into his service. Evan did not suspect 
 any treachery. He received the man kindly, 
 and made many inquiries of him in respect to 
 the news which he brought from Wales. 
 
 John gave him very favorable accounts of 
 the country, and spoke particularly of the in- 
 terest and affection which was every where felt 
 for him. 
 
 "The whole country," said he, "ace think- 
 ing and talking continually about you, and are 
 anxiously desiring your return. They wish to 
 have you for their lord." 
 
 These and other flatteries quite won the heart 
 of Evan, and he took Lamb into his service, and 
 appointed him to a confidential post about his 
 person. 
 
 For a time after this there were occasional 
 skirmishes between the garrison of Mortain and 
 the besiegers, but, as the strength of the garri- 
 
Chivalry. 213 
 
 State of the siege. Curious manners and customs. 
 
 son gradually failed, these contests became less 
 and less frequent, until at last they ceased en- 
 tirely. The soldiers of Evan then had nothing 
 to do but to watch and wait until the progress 
 of starvation and misery should compel the gar- 
 rison to surrender. There was no longer any 
 danger of sorties from the walls, and the be- 
 siegers ceased to be at all on their guard, but 
 went and came at their ease about the castle, 
 just as if there were no enemy near. 
 
 Evan himself used to go out in the morning, 
 when the weather was fine, into the fields in 
 front of the castle before he was dressed, and 
 there have his hair combed and plaited a long 
 time ; for, like most of the knights and gentle- 
 men soldiers of those days, he was very partic- 
 ular about his dress and his personal appear- 
 ance. On these occasions he often had nobody 
 to attend him but John Lamb. There was a 
 place where there was a fallen tree, which form- 
 ed a good seat, at a spot which afforded a com- 
 manding view of the castle and of the surround- 
 ing country. He used often to go and sit upon 
 this tree while his hair was combed, amusing 
 himself the while in watching to see what was 
 going on in the castle, and to observe if there 
 were any signs that the garrison were going to 
 surrender. 
 
214 King Richard II. 
 
 John Lamb accomplishes his purpose. 1 'oath of Evan. 
 
 One morning, after a very warm night, during 
 which Evan had not been able to sleep, he went 
 out to this plaee very early. He was not dress- 
 ed, but wore only a jacket and shirt, with a cloak 
 thrown over his shoulders. The soldiers gen- 
 erally were asleep, and there was nobody with 
 Evan but John Lamb. Evan sat down upon 
 the log, and presently sent John Lamb to the 
 block-house for his comb. 
 
 "Go and get my comb, ,, said he, "and comb 
 my hair. That will refresh me a little." 
 
 So John went for the comb. As he went, 
 however, it seemed to him that the time for the 
 execution of his plan had come. So he brought 
 with him from the block-house a Spanish dag- 
 ger, which he found there in Evan's apartment. 
 As soon as he reached Evan, who had thrown 
 on his cloak, and was thus almost naked and 
 entirely off his guard, he plunged the dagger 
 into him up to the hilt at a single blow. Evan 
 sank down upon the ground a lifeless corpse. 
 Lamb left the dagger in the wound, and walked 
 directly to the gate of the castle. 
 
 The guards at the gate hailed him and de- 
 manded what he wanted. He said he wished 
 to see the governor of the castle. So the guards 
 took him in, and conducted him into the pres- 
 ence of the governor. 
 
Chivalry. 215 
 
 Interview between John Lamb and the governor of the canOe. 
 
 "My lord," said Lamb, "I have delivered 
 you from one of the greatest enemies you ever 
 had." 
 
 "From whom?" asked the governor. 
 
 " From Evan of "Wales," said Lamb. 
 
 The governor was very much astonished at 
 hearing tin's, and demanded of Lamb by what 
 means he had delivered them from Evan. Lamb 
 then related to the governor what he had done. 
 
 The first impression produced upon the gov- 
 ernor's mind by the statement which Lamb 
 made was a feeling of displeasure. He looked 
 at the assassin with a scowl of anger upon his 
 face, and said sternly, 
 
 " Wretch ! you have murdered your master. 
 You deserve to have your head cut off for such 
 a deed ; and, were it not that we are in such 
 great straits, and that we gain such very great 
 advantage by his death, I would have your head 
 cut off on the spot. However, what is done 
 can not be undone. Let it pass." 
 
 The garrison did not derive any immediate 
 advantage, after all, from the death of Evan, for 
 the French were so incensed by the deed which 
 John Lamb had perpetrated that they sent more 
 troops to the spot, and pressed the siege more 
 closely than ever. The garrison was, however, 
 not long afterward relieved by an English fleet, 
 
216 King Richard II. [A.D. 1378. 
 
 The knights loved fighting for its own sake. 
 
 which came up the river and drove the French 
 away. 
 
 The knights and barons of those days were 
 not accustomed to consider it any hardship to go 
 to war against each other, but rather a pleasure. 
 They enjoyed fighting each other just as men 
 at the present day enjoy hunting wild beasts in 
 the forest; and that chieftain was regarded as 
 the greatest and most glorious who could pro- 
 cure for his retainers the greatest amount of this 
 sort of pleasure, provided always that his abili- 
 ties as a leader were such that they could have 
 their full share of victory in the contests that 
 ensued. It was only the quiet and industrial 
 population at home, the merchants of London, 
 the manufacturers of the country towns, and the 
 tillers of the land, who were impoverished and 
 oppressed by the taxes necessary for raising the 
 money which was required, that were disposed 
 to complain. The knights and soldiers who 
 went forth on these campaigns liked to go. 
 They not only liked the excitements and the 
 freedom of the wild life they led in camp, and 
 of the marches which they made across the 
 country, but they liked the fighting itself. 
 Their hearts were filled with animosity and 
 hatred against their foes, and they were at any 
 time perfectly willing to risk their lives for the 
 
/ 
 
 A.D.1380.] Chivalry. 217 
 
 Their love of glory. Story of De Langurant. His men. 
 
 opportunity of gratifying these passions. They 
 were also greatly influenced by a love for the 
 praise and glory which they acquired by the per- 
 formance of any great or brilliant feat of arms. 
 
 This led them often to engage in single per- 
 sonal combats, such, for example, as this. There 
 was a certain French knight, named De Lan- 
 gurant: he was making an incursion into the 
 English territories in the neighborhood of Bor- 
 deaux. One day he was scouring the country 
 at the head of about forty troopers, armed with 
 lances. At the head of this troop he came into 
 the neighborhood of a village which was in the 
 hands of the English, and was defended by an 
 English garrison. When he approached the 
 village he halted his men, and posted them in 
 ambush in a wood. 
 
 " You are to remain here a while," said he. 
 " I am going on alone before the town, to see if 
 I can not find some body to come out to fight 
 me in single combat." 
 
 The object of De Langurant in this plan was 
 to show his daring, and to perform a brave ex- 
 ploit which he might have to boast of, and glo- 
 ry over afterward among his brother soldiers. 
 
 The men did as he had commanded them, 
 and concealed themselves in the wood. De 
 Langurant then rode on alone, his lance fixed 
 
B18 King Riohars I L | a.iu;;so. 
 
 Ill' vh;ilUii:-.cs the j-.v'M-nioV of llw OUstlfl to itngtft OOBbftl) 
 
 in LtS rest, and his helmet glittering in the sun, 
 
 until he readied the gate of the town, Then 
 be baited and challenged the sentinel. 
 The sentinel demanded what be wanted. 
 
 " Where is the oaptain of this garrison?" said 
 
 the trooper, " 1 wish von to go and find aim, 
 and bell trim that Lord IV Langurant is at the 
 
 gates ofthe town, and wishes tb have a tilt witli 
 
 him. 1 dare him to oome and fight with me, 
 
 since be pretends that he is sueh a valiant man. 
 
 Toll him that if he does not oome, I will pro- 
 claim him every where as a eoward that did 
 not dare to OOme 0U1 and meet me." 
 
 The name of the captain whom lv Langurant 
 thus challenged was Bernard Oourant, It hap- 
 pened that one of Bernard's servants was upon 
 the gate, near the sentinel, at the time this chal- 
 lenge was given, lie immediately called out 
 to He Langurant, saving, 
 
 "1 have heard what von have said. Sir Knight, 
 
 and I will go immediately and inform my mas- 
 ter. Von mav relv upon seeing him in a few 
 minutes, if von will wait, for he is no eoward." 
 Bernard was greatly incensed when he heard 
 the impertinent ami boasting message which IV 
 
 Langurant had sent him. lie started nj> im- 
 mediately and called for his arms, command- 
 ing: at the same time, that his horse should he 
 
OSl VAl.l'.Y. W.) 
 
 Eneonoh < oi to ■ 
 
 saddled. Ee was rery soon equipped and 
 
 ready. The gate wan opened, the drawbridge 
 let down, and lie sallied forth. De Langurant 
 v/;i i waiting for bin] on the plain* 
 The knighta were both mounted on furious 
 
 chargers; and, after a moment':- pause, during 
 
 which they eyed each other with looks of fierce 
 
 defiance, they put Spurs to their horses, and the 
 horses began to gallop toward each other at the 
 
 top of their speed. Each of the knights, as be 
 advanced, had one end of his lance supported 
 in its rest, while be pointed the other directly 
 toward bis antagonist, with a view of striking 
 
 him with it as lie rode by, watching, at the name 
 
 time, the terrible point which was coming to- 
 ward bim, in hopes to avoid it if possible; and, 
 if not, to hear up against the blow so firmly as 
 not to be unhorsed. The lances wen-, v<-j-y long; 
 
 and were made of very solid wood, but the chief 
 momentum of the blow which they were in- 
 tended to give- came from the end of them be- 
 ing supported in a rest, which was connected 
 
 with the saddle in such a manner that the 
 whole impetus of the horse, as it were, wan com- 
 municated to the lance, and this impetui 
 
 great, that if a lance ..truck in sueb a manner 
 
 that it could not glance off, and did not over- 
 throw the man, hut met with a solid resistance, 
 
'2'20 
 
 K 1 n g Rich aki> II. 
 
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Chivalry. 221 
 
 KchuH, of the combat between Do langurant and Bernard. 
 
 it was often shivered to atoms by the shock. 
 This happened in the present ease. The lances 
 of both combatants were shivered at the first 
 encounter. The riders were, however, unin- 
 jured. The horses wheeled, made a short cir- 
 cuit, and rushed toward each other again. At 
 the second encounter, Bernard brought down so 
 heavy a blow with a battle-axe upon the iron 
 armor that covered De Langurant's shoulder, 
 that the unfortunate trooper was hurled out of 
 his saddle and thrown to the ground. 
 
 As soon as Bernard could rein in his horse 
 again and bring him round, he galloped up to 
 the spot where De Langurant had fallen, and 
 found him attempting to raise himself up from 
 the ground. At the same time, the horsemen 
 whom De Langurant had left in the wood, and 
 who had been watching the combat from their 
 place of ambush, seeing their master unhorsed, 
 began to put themselves in motion to come to 
 his rescue. Bernard, who was a man of pro- 
 digious strength, reached down from his horse 
 as he rode over his fallen enemy, and seized 
 hold of his helmet. His horse, in the mean 
 time, going on, and Bernard holding to the hel- 
 met with all his force, it was torn off from its 
 fastenings, and De Langurant's head was left 
 unprotected and bare. 
 
222 King Eichard II. 
 
 Do Langurant refuses to surrender. His fate. 
 
 Bernard threw the helmet down upon the 
 ground under his horse's feet. Then drawing- 
 Iris dagger, he raised it over De Langurant's 
 head, and called upon him to surrender. 
 
 " Surrender l" said he. " Surrender this in- 
 stant, or you are a dead man." 
 
 The men in ambush were coming on, and De 
 Langurant hoped they would be able to rescue 
 him, so he did not reply. Bernard, knowing 
 that he had not a moment to spare, drove the 
 dagger into De Langurant's head, and then gal- 
 loped away baek through the gates into the 
 town, just in time to avoid the troop of horse- 
 men from the ambush, who were bearing down 
 at full speed toward the spot, and were now 
 just at hand. 
 
 The gates of the town were closed, and the 
 drawbridge was taken up the moment that Ber- 
 nard had entered, so that he could not be pur- 
 sued. The horsemen, therefore, had nothing to 
 do but to bear away their wounded commander 
 to the nearest castle which was in their pos- 
 session. The next day he died. 
 
 While the barons and knights were thus 
 amusing themselves at the beginning of Eich- 
 ard's reign with fighting for castles and prov- 
 inces, either for the pleasure of fighting, or for 
 
Chivalry. 228 
 
 Intolerable tyranny of the nobles in thone days. 
 
 the sake of the renown or the plunder which 
 they acquired when they were fortunate enough 
 to gain the victory, the great mass of the people 
 of England were taxed and oppressed by their 
 haughty masters to an extent almost incredible. 
 The higher nobles were absolutely above all 
 law. One of them, who was going to set off on 
 a naval expedition into France, seized, in the 
 English sea-port which he was leaving, a num- 
 ber of women, the wives and daughters of the 
 citizens, and took them on board his ship, to be 
 at the disposal there of himself and his fellow 
 grandees. For this intolerable injury the hus- 
 bands and fathers had absolutely no remedy. 
 To crown the wickedness of this deed, when, 
 soon after the fleet had left the port, a storm 
 arose, and the women were terrified at the dan- 
 ger they were in, and their fright, added to the 
 distress they felt at being thus torn away from 
 their families and homes, made them complete- 
 ly and uncontrollably wretched, the merciless 
 nobles threw them overboard to stop their cries. 
 Taxes were assessed, too, at this time, upon 
 all the people o£ the kingdom, that were of an 
 extremely onerous character. These taxes were 
 farmed, as the phrase is ; that is, the right to 
 collect them was sold to contractors, called farm- 
 ers of the revenue, who paid a certain sum out- 
 
224 King Richard II. [A.D.1380. 
 
 Oppression of the tax-gatherers. Richard' s helplessness. 
 
 right to the government, and then were entitled 
 to all that they could collect of the tax. Thus 
 there was no supervision over them in their ex- 
 actions, for the government, being already paid, 
 cared for nothing more. The consequence was, 
 that the tax-gatherers, who were employed by 
 the contractors, treated the people in the most 
 oppressive and extortionate manner. If the 
 people made complaints, the government would 
 not listen to them, for fear that if they inter- 
 fered with the tax-gatherers in collecting the 
 taxes, the farmers would not pay so much the 
 next time. 
 
 Richard himself, of course, knew nothing 
 about all these things, or, if he did know of 
 them, he was wholly unable to do any thing to 
 prevent them. He was completely in the pow- 
 er of his uncles, and of the other great nobles 
 of the time. The public discontent, however, 
 grew at last so great that there was nothing- 
 wanted but a spark to cause it to break out into 
 a flame. There was such a spark furnished at 
 length by an atrocious insult and injury offered 
 to a young girl, the daughter of a tiler, by one 
 of the tax-gatherers. This led to a formidable 
 insurrection, known in history as Wat Tyler's 
 insurrection. I shall relate the story of this 
 insurrection in the next chapter. 
 
A.D.1381.] The Insurrection. 225 
 
 Real name of Wat Tyler. State of the country. 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 Wat Tyler's Insurrection. 
 
 THE insurrection to which a large portion 
 of the people of England were driven by 
 the cruel tyranny and oppression which they 
 suffered in the early part of King Bichard's 
 reign is commonly called Wat Tyler's insurrec- 
 tion, as if the affair with Wat Tyler were the 
 cause and moving spring of it, whereas it was, 
 in fact, only an incident of it. 
 
 The real name of this unhappy man was John 
 Walter. He was a tiler by trade — that is, his 
 business was to lay tiles for the roofs of houses, 
 according to the custom of roofing prevailing 
 in those days. So he was called John Walter, 
 the Tiler, or simply Walter the Tiler; and 
 from this his name was abridged to Wat Tyler. 
 
 The whole country was in a state of great 
 discontent and excitement on account of the 
 oppressions which the people suffered before 
 Walter appeared upon the stage at all. When 
 at length the outbreak occurred, he came for- 
 ward as one of the chief leaders of it ; there 
 were however, several other leaders. The 
 
 P 
 
226 King Richard II. [A.D.1381. 
 
 Names of Walter' s confederates. Character of these men. 
 
 names by which, the principal of them were 
 known were Jack Straw, William Wraw, Jack 
 Shepherd, John Milner, Hob Carter, and John 
 Ball. It is supposed that many of these names 
 were fictitious, and that the men adopted them 
 j^artly to conceal their real names, and partly 
 because they supposed that they should ingra- 
 tiate themselves more fully with the lower class- 
 es of the people by assuming these familiar and 
 humble appellations. 
 
 The historians of the times say that these 
 leaders were all very bad men. They may have 
 been so, though the testimony of the historians 
 is not conclusive on this point, for they belong- 
 ed to, and wrote in the interest of the upper 
 classes, their enemies. The poor insurgents 
 themselves never had the opportunity to tell 
 their own story, either in respect to themselves 
 or their commanders. 
 
 Still, it is highly probable that they were bad 
 men. It is not generally the amiable, the gen- 
 tle, and the good that are first to rise, and fore- 
 most to take the lead in revolts against tyrants 
 and oppressors. It is, on the other hand, far 
 more commonly the violent, the desperate, and 
 the bad that are first goaded on to assume this 
 terrible responsibility. It is, indeed, one of the 
 darkest features of tyranny that it tends, bv the 
 
The Insurrection. 227 
 
 Condition of the lower classes at this time. 
 
 reaction which follows it, to invest this class of 
 men with great power, and to commit the best 
 interests of society, and the lives of great num- 
 bers of men, for a time at least, entirely to the 
 disposal of the most reckless and desperate char- 
 acters. 
 
 The lower classes of the people of England 
 had been held substantially as slaves by the 
 nobles and gentry for many generations. They 
 had long submitted to this, hopeless of any 
 change. But they had gradually become en- 
 lightened in respect to their natural rights ; and 
 now, when the class immediately above them 
 were so grievously oppressed and harassed by 
 the taxes which were assessed upon them, and 
 still more by the vexatious and extortionate 
 mode in which the money was collected, they 
 all began to make common cause, and, when 
 the rebellion broke out, they rose in one mass, 
 freemen and bondmen together. 
 
 There was a certain priest named John Ball, 
 who, before the rebellion broke out, had done 
 muc 1 " to enlighten the people as to their rights, 
 and had attempted to induce them to seek re- 
 dress at first in a peaceable manner. He used 
 to make speeches to the people in the market- 
 place, representing to them the hardships which 
 they endured by the oppressions of the nobility, 
 
228 King Eichard II. 
 
 Ball's proposal. Other orators. Their discourses. 
 
 and urging them to combine together to petition 
 the king for a redress of their grievances. u The 
 Mng will listen to us, I am sure," said he, "if 
 we go to him together in a body and make our 
 request ; but if he wall not hear us, then we 
 must redress our grievances ourselves the best 
 way we can." 
 
 The example of Ball was followed by many 
 other persons; and, as always happens in such 
 cases, the excitement among the people, and 
 their eagerness to hear, brought out a great 
 many spectators, whose only object was to see 
 who could awaken the resentment and anger 
 of their audiences in the highest degree, and 
 produce the greatest possible excitement. These 
 orators, having begun with condemning the ex- 
 travagant wealth, the haughty pretensions, and 
 the cruel oppressions of the nobles, and con- 
 trasting them with the extreme misery and 
 want of the common people, whom they held 
 as slaves, proceeded at length to denounce all 
 inequalities in human condition, and to demand 
 that all things should be held in common. 
 
 " Things will never go on well in England," 
 said they, " until all these distinctions shall be 
 leveled, and the time shall come when there 
 shall be neither vassal nor lord, and these proud 
 nobles shall be no more masters than ourselves. 
 
The Insurrection. 229 
 
 Mixture of truth and error in their complaints. 
 
 How ill have they used us ! And what right 
 have they to hold us in this miserable bondage? 
 Are we not all descended from the same parents, 
 Adam and Eve ? What right have one set of 
 men to make another set their slaves ? What 
 right have they to compel us to toil all our lives 
 to earn money, that they may live at ease and 
 spend it ? They are clothed in velvets and rich 
 stuffs, ornamented with ermine and furs, while 
 we are half naked, or clothed only in rags. 
 They have wines, and spices, and fine bread, 
 while we have nothing but rye, and the refuse 
 of the straw. They have manors and hand- 
 some seats, while we live in miserable cabins, 
 and have to brave the wind and rain at our la- 
 bor in the fields, in order that, with the pro- 
 ceeds of our toil, they may support their pomp 
 and luxury. And if we do not perform our 
 services, or if they unjustly think that we do 
 not, we are beaten, and there is no one to whom 
 we can complain or look for justice." 
 
 There is obviously some truth and some ex- 
 travagance in these complaints. Men deprived 
 of their rights, as these poor English serfs were, 
 and goaded by the oppressions which they suf- 
 fered almost to despair, will, of course, be ex- 
 travagant in their complaints. None but those 
 totally ignorant of human nature would expect 
 
280 Ring Rich akp i i. 
 
 V. nn. 
 
 men to be moderate and reasonable when In 
 such a condition, and in such a state of mind, 
 
 The truth is, that there always has been, and 
 there always will necessarily be, a £reat ine- 
 quality in the conditions, and a greal differ- 
 enoe In the employments of men; but this faet 
 awakens no dissatisfaction or discontent when 
 those who haye the lower stations of life to till 
 are treated as they ought to bo treated. If they 
 enjoy personal liberty, and are paid the tail- 
 's which they earn by their labor, ami are 
 treated with kindness ami consideration by 
 
 those whose duties are of a higher and more 
 intellectual character, and whose position in lite 
 is superior to theirs, they are, almost without 
 exception, Satisfied and happy. It is only when 
 they are urged and driven hard and long- by 
 Unfeeling Oppression that they are oyer aroused 
 to rebellion against the order of the soeial state; 
 and then, as might be expeeted, they go to ex- 
 tremes, and, it' they get the power into their 
 hands, they sweep every thing; away, and over- 
 whelm themselves and their superiors in one 
 
 common destruction. 
 
 Young persons sometimes imagine that the 
 American doctrine Of the equality of man re- 
 fers to equality o[' condition; and even grown 
 persons, who ought tO think more elearlv and 
 
Ji h I CIO 
 
 be more reasonable, sometimes refei 
 tinctions of ricli and poor in this country 
 falsifying our political theories But the truth 
 
 iat, in our political theory of equality, it is 
 not at all equality of condition, but equality of 
 ,-/y/,/. ; that . claimed for man AH men 
 doctrine ply bare an equal right to life, 
 
 liberty, and the pur-auk of hjippin<:>::-:. I'- 
 
 when all are in the full enjoyment o£ their 
 rights, different men v/jjl, of course, attain to 
 different ( aent in Ihe 
 
 objects of their desire- Some will be rich 
 BOme v/jil he poor; some v/iJI h< and 
 
 some mi >me will be the em] and 
 
 some the employed ; hut, rpiaJ 
 
 ra respect to (heir rights, none v/iJI <-;>u>\>\. 
 at least, /jo 6fa*«& will complain. There will, 
 of course, be here and there disappointed and 
 discontented individuals, but their discontent 
 will not spread. It is only by the long-contin- 
 ued and oppressive infringement of the natural 
 rights of* large masses of men that the w*a 
 prepared Tor revolts and insurreetio] 
 
 It was by this proces 1 that the way was pre- 
 pared for the insurrection which f am now to 
 aibe. The whole country for fifty miles 
 about London ires in a very sullen and an 
 mood, ready for an outbreak the moment thai 
 
282 King Richard II. [A.P.1881. 
 
 The tax-gatherer in Walter's family. 
 
 any incident should occur to put the excitement 
 in motion. This inoideiit was furnished by an 
 occurrence which took place in the family of 
 Walter the Tiler. 
 
 It seems that a personal tax had been levied 
 by the government, the amount of which varied 
 with the age of the individual assessed. Chil- 
 dren paid so much. Young men and young 
 women paid more. The line between these 
 classes was not clearly de lined, or, rather, the 
 tax-gatherers had no means of determining the 
 ages of the young people in a family, if they 
 suspected the parents reported them wrong. In 
 such cases they were often very insolent and 
 rude, and a great many quarrels took place, by 
 which the people were often very much in- 
 censed. The tax-gatherer came one day into 
 Walter's house to collect the tax. Walter him- 
 self was away, engaged at work tiling a house 
 near by. The only persons that were at home 
 were his wife and a young daughter just grow- 
 ing to womanhood. The tax-gatherer said that 
 the girl was full-grown, and that they must pay 
 the higher tax for her. Her mother said, " ISTo, 
 she is not full-grown yet ; she is only a child." 
 The tax-gatherer then said he would soon find 
 out whether she was a woman or not, and went 
 to her to take hold of her, offering her rudeness 
 
A.D.1381.] The Insurrection. 238 
 
 Intolerable outrage. The tax-gatherer killed. 
 
 and violence of the worst possible character. 
 The poor girl screamed and struggled to get 
 away from him. Her mother ran to the door, 
 and made a great outcry, calling for help. Wal- 
 ter, hearing the cries, seized for a club a heavy 
 implement which he used in tiling, and ran 
 home. As soon as he entered the house, he 
 demanded of the officer, who had now left his 
 daughter and came forward to meet him, what 
 he meant by conducting in so outrageous a man- 
 ner in his house. The officer replied defiantly, 
 and advanced toward Walter to strike him. 
 Walter parried the stroke, and then, being 
 roused to perfect phrensy by the insult which 
 his daughter had received and the insolence of 
 the tax-gatherer, he brought his club down upon 
 the tax-gatherer's head with such a blow as to 
 break his skull and kill him on the spot. The 
 blow was so violent that the man's brains were 
 scattered all about the floor. 
 
 The news of this occurrence spread like wild- 
 fire through the town. The people all took 
 Walter's part, and they began to assemble. It 
 seems that a great many of them had had their 
 daughters maltreated in the same way by the 
 tax-gatherers, but had not dared to resist or to 
 complain. They now, however, flocked around 
 the house of Walter, and promised to stand by 
 
284 King Eichard II. 
 
 Plan of the insurgents to march to London. 
 
 him to the end. The plan was proposed that 
 they should march to London, and in a body 
 appeal to the king, and call upon him to re- 
 dress their wrongs. 
 
 " He is young," said they, " and he will have 
 pity upon us, and be just to us. Let us go in 
 a body and petition him." 
 
 The news of the movement spread to all the 
 neighboring towns, and very soon afterward a 
 vast concourse collected, and commenced their 
 march toward London. They were joined on 
 the road by large companies that came from 
 the villages and towns on the way, until at 
 length Walter and his fellow-leaders found 
 themselves at the head of from sixty to one 
 hundred thousand men. 
 
 The whole country was, of course, thrown 
 into a state of great alarm. The Duke of Lan- 
 caster, who was particularly obnoxious to the 
 people, was absent at this time. He was on the 
 frontiers of Scotland. The king was in his pal- 
 ace ; but, on hearing tidings of the insurrection, 
 he went to the Tower, which is a strong cas- 
 tle built on the banks of the river, in the low- 
 er part of London. A number of the nobles 
 who had most cause to fear the mob went with 
 him, and shut themselves up there. The Prin- 
 cess of Wales, Eichard's mother, happened to 
 
VIEW OF THE TOWER OF LONDON, AS SEEN FROM THE RIVES 
 
The Insurrection. 287 
 
 Tie-enforcements by the way. Oaths administered 
 
 be at Canterbury at the time, having gone there 
 on a pilgrimage. She immediately set out on 
 her return to London, but she was intercepted 
 on the way by Tyler and his crowd of follow- 
 ers. The crowd gathered around the carriage, 
 and frightened the princess very much indeed, 
 but they did her no harm. After detaining 
 her for some time, they let her pass on. She 
 immediately made the best of her way to the 
 Tower, where she joined her son. 
 
 As fast as companies of men came from the 
 villages and towns along the road to join the 
 insurgents, the leaders administered to them an 
 oath. The oath bound them, 
 
 1. Always to be faithful and true to King 
 Kichard. 
 
 2. Never to submit to the reign of any king 
 named John. This was aimed at the Duke of 
 Lancaster, whose name was John, and whom 
 they all specially hated. 
 
 3. Always to follow and defend their lead- 
 ers whenever called upon to do so, and always 
 to be ready to march themselves, and to bring 
 their neighbors with them, at a moment's warn- 
 ing. 
 
 4. To demand the abrogation of all the ob- 
 noxious taxes, and never to submit again to the 
 collection of them. 
 
288 King Richard 11. 
 
 l'ho Archbishop of Canterbury. QtM v ^f Sir John Newton. 
 
 In this manner the throngs moved on along 
 the roads loading to London. They became 
 gradually nioro and more excited and violent 
 as they proceeded. Soon they began to attack 
 the houses of knights, and nobles, and officers 
 of the government which they passed on the 
 way ; and many persons, whom thev supposed 
 to be their enemies, thev killed. At Canter- 
 bury thev pillaged the palace of the archbishop. 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury, then as now, 
 drew an immense revenue from the state, and 
 lived in great splendor, and thev justly eon- 
 eeived that the Luxury and ostentation in which 
 he indulged was in some degree the cause of 
 the oppressive taxation that thev endured. 
 
 Thev assaulted a castle on the way, and made 
 prisoner of a certain knight named Sir John 
 Newton, whom thev found in it, and compelled 
 liim to go with them to London, The knight 
 was very unwilling to go with them, ami at first 
 seemed determined not to do so; but thev dis- 
 posed of his objections in a very summary 
 manner. 
 
 "Sir John," said they, " unless yon go with 
 us at once, and in every thing do exactly as we 
 order you, you are a dead man." 
 
 So Sir John was compelled to go. They took 
 two of his children with them also, to hold as 
 
A.I;. 1881.1 TilK INSURRECTION. 239 
 
 Hlr John Newton b lent a?, an mtMMOdOK t0 Uw kin;;. 
 
 sec urity, they said, for their father's good be- 
 havior. 
 
 There were other parties of the insurgents 
 who made prisoners in this way of men of rank 
 and family, and compelled them to ride at the 
 bead of their respective columns, as if they wore 
 leaders in the insurrection. 
 
 In this manner the throngs moved on, until 
 at length, approaching the Thames, they arrived 
 at Blackheatb and Greenwich, two villages bo- 
 low London, farther down than the Tower, and 
 near the bank of the river. Here they halted, 
 and determined to send an embassage to the 
 king to demand an audience. The embassador 
 that they were to send was the knight, Sir John 
 Newton. 
 
 Sir John did not dare to do otherwise than 
 as the insurgents directed. He went to the riv- 
 er, and, taking a boat, he erossed over to the 
 Tower. The guards received him at the gate, 
 and he was conducted into the presence of the 
 king. 
 
 lie found the king in an apartment with the 
 princess his mother, and with a number of the 
 nobles and officers of his court. They were all 
 in a state of great suspense and anxiety, await- 
 ing tidings. They knew that the whole coun- 
 try was in commotion, but in respect to w r hat 
 
240 King Richard II. [AJX1881, 
 
 Interview between sir John :\ml the king sit the Tower. 
 
 they were themselves to do in the emergency 
 they seem to have had no idea, 
 
 Sir John was himself one of the officers of 
 the government, and so he was well known to 
 all the courtiers, He fell on his knees as soon 
 as he entered the kings presence, and bogged 
 
 his majesty not to be displeased with him tor 
 
 the message that he was about to deliver. 
 
 "1 assure your majesty," said he, "that 1 
 come not voluntarily, but on compulsion." 
 
 The king said to him that he had nothing to 
 Pear, and directed him to proceed at. Onoe and 
 deliver his message. 
 
 The knight then said that the people who 
 had assembled wished to see the king, and he 
 urgently requested that his majesty would come 
 and moot thom at Blaokheath. 
 
 "They wish yon to come by yourself alone," 
 said he. " And your majesty need have no real- 
 tor your person, tor they will not do yon the 
 least harm. They have always respected yon, 
 
 and they will continue to respect and honor 
 
 yon as their king. They only wish to toll you 
 some things which they say it is very necessary 
 that your majesty should hear. They have not 
 informed mo what it is that they wish to say. 
 since they desire to communicate it themselves 
 directlv to your maiestv." 
 
The Insurrection. 241 
 
 .Sir John returns to the insurgents. 
 
 The knight concluded by imploring the king 
 to grant his subjects a favorable answer if he 
 could, or at least to allow him to return to them 
 with such a reply as would convince them that 
 he, their messenger, had fairly delivered his 
 message. 
 
 " Because," said he, " they hold my children 
 as hostages, and unless I return they will surely 
 put them to death." 
 
 The king replied that the knight should have 
 an answer very soon, and he immediately called 
 a council of his courtiers to consider what should 
 be done. There was much difference of opin- 
 ion, but it was finally concluded to send word 
 to the men that the king would come down the 
 river on the following day to speak with them, 
 and that, if the leaders would co^ne to the bank 
 of the river opposite Blackheath, he would meet 
 them there. 
 
 So Sir John Newton left the Tower, and, re- 
 crossing the river in his boat, went back to 
 the camp of the insurgents, and reported to the 
 leaders the answer of the king. 
 
 They were very much pleased to hear that 
 the king was coming to meet them. The news 
 was soon communicated to all the host, and it 
 gave universal satisfaction. There were sixty 
 thousand men on the ground, it is said, and, of 
 
 Q 
 
242 King Richard II. 
 
 The king goes down to meet the insurgents. 
 
 course, they were very insufficiently provided 
 with food, and not at all with shelter. They, 
 however, began to make arrangements to spend 
 the night as well as they could where they were, 
 in anticipation of the interview with the king 
 on the following day. 
 
 On the following morning the king attended 
 mass in solemn state in the chapel of the Tow- 
 er, and then immediately afterward entered his 
 barge, accompanied by a grand train of officers, 
 knights, and barons. The barge, leaving the 
 Tower stairs, was rowed down the river to the 
 place appointed for the interview. About ten 
 thousand of the insurgents had come to the spot, 
 and when they saw the barge coming in sight 
 with the royal party on board, they burst out 
 into such a terrific uproar, with yells, screams, 
 shouts, outcries, and frantic gesticulations, that 
 they seemed to the king and his party like a 
 company of demons. They had Sir John New- 
 ton with them. They had brought him down 
 to the bank of the river, because, as they said, 
 if the king were not to come, they should be- 
 lieve that he had imposed upon them in the 
 message which he had brought, and in that 
 case they were going to cut him to pieces on 
 the spot. 
 
 The assembly seemed so noisy and furious 
 
The Insurrection. 243 
 
 Scene on the bank of the river. 
 
 that the nobles in attendance on the king were 
 afraid to allow him to land. They advised him 
 to remain in the barge, at a little distance from 
 the shore, and to address the people from the 
 deck. The king resolved to do so. So the 
 barge lay floating on the river, the oarsmen 
 taking a few strokes from time to time to re- 
 cover the ground lost by the drift of the cur- 
 rent. The king stood upon the deck of the 
 barge, with his officers around him, and asked 
 the men on the shore what they wished for. 
 
 "I have come at your request," said he, "to 
 hear what you have to say."* 
 
 Such an arrangement as this for communi- 
 cating with a mass of desperate and furious 
 men would not have been safe under circum- 
 stances similar to those of the present day. A 
 man standing in this way on the deck of a boat, 
 within speaking distance of the shore, might, 
 with a rifle, or even with a musket, have been 
 killed in a moment by any one of the thou- 
 sands on the shore. In those days, however, 
 when the only missiles were spears, javelins, 
 and arrows, a man might stand at his ease with- 
 in speaking distance of his enemies, entirely out 
 of reach of their weapons. 
 
 When the crowd upon the shore saw that 
 
 * See Frontispiece. 
 
244 King Eichaed II. [A.D.1381. 
 
 Parley with the insurgents. The king retires. 
 
 the king was waving his hand to them in or- 
 der to silence them, and that he was trying to 
 speak, they became in some measure calm; 
 and when he asked again what they wished 
 for, the leaders replied by saying that they 
 wished him to come on shore. They desired 
 him to land, they said, so that he could better 
 hear what they had to say. 
 
 One of the officers about the king replied 
 that that could not be. 
 
 " The king can not land among you," he 
 said. " You are not properly dressed, nor in a 
 fit condition, in any respect, to come into his 
 majesty's presence." 
 
 Hereupon the noise and clamor was renew- 
 ed, and became more violent than ever, the men 
 insisting that the king should land, and filling 
 the air with screams, yells, and vociferations of 
 all sorts, which made the scene truly terrific. 
 The counselors of the king insisted that it was 
 not safe for the king to remain any longer on 
 the river, so the oarsmen were ordered to pull 
 their oars, and the barge immediately began to 
 recede from the shore, and to move back up 
 the river. It happened that the tide was now 
 coming in, and this assisted them very much in 
 their progress, and the barge was swept back 
 rapidly toward the Tower. 
 
A.D. 1381.] The Insurrection. 245 
 
 The insurgents resolve to go into London. 
 
 The insurgents were now in a great rage. 
 Those who had come down to the bank of the 
 river to meet the king went back in a throng 
 to the place where the great body of the rebels 
 were encamped on the plain. The news that 
 the king had refused to come and hear their 
 complaints was soon spread among the whole 
 multitude, and the cr y was raised, To London ! 
 To London! So the whole mighty mass be- 
 gan to put itself in motion, and in a few hours 
 all the roads that led toward the metropolis 
 were thronged with vast crowds of ragged and 
 wretched-looking men, barefooted, bareheaded ; 
 some bearing rudely-made flags and banners, 
 some armed with clubs and poles, and such oth- 
 er substitutes for weapons as they had been able 
 to seize for the occasion, and all in a state of 
 wild and phrensied excitement. 
 
 The people of London were greatly alarmed 
 when they heard that they were coming. There 
 was then but one bridge leading into London 
 from the southern side of the river. This bridge 
 was on the site of the present London Bridge, 
 about half a mile above the Tower. There was 
 a gate at the end of the bridge next the town, 
 and a drawbridge outside of it. The London- 
 ers shut the gate and took up the drawbridge, 
 to prevent the insurgents from coming in. 
 
246 King Eichard II. 
 
 The bridge. Excitement in the city. The gates opened. 
 
 When the rioters reached the bridge, and 
 found that they were shut out, they, of course, 
 became more violent than before, and they be- 
 gan to burn and destroy the houses outside. 
 Now it happened that many of these houses 
 were handsome villas which belonged to the 
 rich citizens of the town. These citizens be- 
 came alarmed for their property, and they be- 
 gan to say that it would be better, after all, to 
 open the gates and let the people come in. 
 
 "If we let them come in," said they, "they 
 will wander about the streets a while, but they 
 will soon get tired and go away ; whereas, by 
 opposing and thwarting them, we only make 
 them the more violent and mischievous." 
 
 Then, besides, there were a great many of the 
 common people of London that sympathized 
 with the rioters, and wished to join them. 
 
 "They are our friends," said they. "They 
 are striving to obtain redress for grievances 
 which we suffer as well as they. Their cause 
 is our cause. So let us open the gates and let 
 them come in." 
 
 In the mean time, the whole population of 
 the city were becoming more and more alarm- 
 ed every hour, for the rioters were burning and 
 destroying the siiburbs, and they declared that 
 if the Londoners did not open the gates, they 
 

The Insurrection. 249 
 
 The innurgf>ntn occupy the Htreet* of Loudon. 
 
 would, after ravaging every thing without the 
 walls, take the city by storm, and barn and de- 
 stroy ^vary thing in it. So it was finally con- 
 eluded to open the gates and let the insurgents in . 
 They came in in an immense throng, which 
 continued for many hours to pour over the 
 bridge into the city, like a river of men above, 
 flowing athwart the river of water below. As 
 they entered the city, they divided and spread 
 into all the diverging streets. A portion of 
 them stormed a jail, and set all the prisoners 
 free. Others marched through the streets, fill- 
 ing the air with dreadful shouts and outcries, 
 and brandishing their pikes with great fury. 
 The citizens, in hopes to conciliate them, brought 
 out food for them, and some gave them wine. 
 On receiving these provisions, the insurgents 
 built fires in the streets, and encamped around 
 them, to partake of the food and refreshments 
 which the citizens had bestowed. They were 
 rendered more good-natured, perhaps, by this 
 kind treatment received from the citizens, but 
 they soon became excited by the wine which 
 they drank, and grew more wild and noisy than 
 ever. At length a large party of them began to 
 move toward the palace of the Duke of Lan- 
 caster. This palace was called the Savoy. It 
 stood on the bank of the river, between Lon- 
 
250 King Richard II. 
 
 Destruction of the Duke of Lancaster's palace. 
 
 don and Westminster, and was a grand and im- 
 posing mansion. 
 
 The Duke of Lancaster was an especial ob- 
 ject of their hatred. He was absent at this 
 time, as has been said, being engaged in milita- 
 ry operations on the frontiers of Scotland. The 
 mob, however, were determined to destroy his 
 palace, and every thing that belonged to it. 
 
 So they broke into the house, murdering all 
 who made any resistance, and then proceeded 
 to break and destroy every thing the palace 
 contained. They built fires in the court-yard 
 and in the street, and piled upon them every 
 thing movable that would burn. The plate, 
 and other such valuables as would not burn, 
 they broke up and threw into the Thames. 
 They strictly forbade that any of the property 
 should be taken away. One man hid a silver 
 cup in his bosom, intending to purloin it; but he 
 was detected in the act, and his comrades threw 
 him, cup and all, as some say, upon the fire ; 
 others say they threw him into the Thames ; 
 at any rate, they destroyed him and his booty 
 together. 
 
 " We are here," said they, " in the cause of 
 truth and righteousness, to execute judgment 
 upon a criminal, and not to become thieves and 
 robbers ourselves." 
 
AD. 1881.] The Insurrection. 258 
 
 JJCHtruction of the Teillple. AMMtinatioil of Richard Lyon. 
 
 When they had destroyed every thing that 
 the palace contained, they set fire to the build- 
 ing, and burned it to the ground. A portion 
 of the walls remained standing afterward'for a 
 Jong time, a desolate and melancholy ruin. 
 
 The insurgents f'eJt a special animosity against 
 lawyers, whom they considered mercenary in- 
 struments in the hands of the nobles for op- 
 ] > n ;ssi n g them. They hung all the lawyers that 
 they could get into their hands, and after burn- 
 ing the Savoy they went to the Temple, which 
 was a spacious edifice containing the courts, 
 the chambers of the barristers, and a vast store 
 of ancient legal records. They burned and de- 
 stroyed the whole. 
 
 It is said, too, that there was a certain man 
 in London, a rich citizen, named Richard Lyon, 
 who had formerly been Walter the Tiler's mas- 
 ter, and had beaten him and otherwise treated 
 him in a cruel and oppressive manner. At the 
 time that he received these injuries Walter had 
 no redress, but now the opportunity had come, 
 he thought, for revenge. So he led a gang of 
 the most desperate and reckless of the insur- 
 gents to Lyon's house, and, seizing their terri- 
 fied victim, they dragged him out without mer- 
 cy, and cut off his head. The head they stuck 
 upon the top of a pike, and paraded it through 
 
264 King Richard EI. 
 
 Exoesses of tu t > mob. Ttay bivouac mm tha rowtr. 
 
 tho streets, a wanting, as they said, to all cruel 
 and oppressive masters, 
 
 A greal many other heads, principally those 
 of men who had made themselves particularly 
 obnoxious to tho insurgents, were paraded 
 
 through the streets in the same manner. 
 
 After spending the day in these excesses, 
 
 keeping all London in a state of dreadful eon- 
 l'usion and alarm, the various hands began to 
 move toward night in the direction of the Tow- 
 er, where the king and his court had shut them- 
 selves up in great terror, not knowing what to 
 do to escape from the dreadful inundation oi' 
 poverty and misery whieh had so suddenly 
 poured in upon them. The rioters, when they 
 reached the Tower, took possession of a large 
 open square before it, and, kindling up great 
 bonfires, they began to make arrangements for 
 bivouacking there for the night. 
 
A.D.1881.] 1 nsij kk motion Ended. 255 
 
 Anxiety and embftrrMtment of toe king. 
 
 Cll A PTEE X. 
 
 T H E E N I) F T 1 1 K F N S 1 1 It It E C T I O N. 
 
 IN the mean time, within the Tower, where 
 the king and his courtiers now found them- 
 selves almost in a state of siege, there were con- 
 tinual consultations held, and much perplexity 
 and alarm prevailed. Some of* Richard's ad- 
 risers recommended that the most decisive 
 
 measures should be adopted at once. The king 
 had in the Tower with him a considerable body 
 of armed men. There were also in other parts 
 of London and vicinity many more, amounting 
 in all to about four thousand. It was recom- 
 mended by some of the king's counselors that 
 these men should all be ordered to attack the 
 insurgents the next morning, and kill them 
 without mercy. It is true that there were be- 
 tween fifty and one hundred thousand of the 
 insurgents; but they had no arms, and no or- 
 ganization, and it was not to be expected, there- 
 fore, that they could stand a moment, numerous 
 as they were, against the king's regular troop,-:. 
 They would be slaughtered, it was said, like 
 sheep, and the insurrection would be at once 
 put down. 
 
256 King Eichard II. 
 
 Consultations in the Tower. Various counsel*. Mile-F.nd. 
 
 Others thought that this would be a very 
 hazardous mode of proceeding, and very uncer- 
 tain as to its results. 
 
 "It is much better," said they, " that your 
 majesty should appease them, if possible, by fair 
 words, and by a show of granting what they 
 ask; for if we once attempt to put them down 
 by force, and should not be able to go through 
 with it, we shall only make matters a great deal 
 worse. The commonalty of London and of all 
 England would then join them, and the nobles 
 and the government will be swept away entire- 
 ly from the land." ■ 
 
 These counsels prevailed. It was decided 
 not to attack the rioters immediately, but to 
 wait a little, and see what turn things would 
 take. 
 
 The next morning, as soon as the insurgents 
 were in motion in the great square, they began 
 to be very turbulent and noisy, and to threaten 
 that they would attack the Tower itself if the 
 king did not grpen the gates to them. It was 
 finally determined to yield in part to their re- 
 quests. 
 
 There was a certain place in the suburbs of 
 London known by the name of Mile-End — so 
 called, perhaps, because it was at the end of a 
 mile from some place or other. At this place 
 
Insurrection Ended. 257 
 
 A meeting appointed v/itli the rioteH at Uile-Esd. 
 
 was an extended meadow, to which the people 
 
 of London were accustomed to resort on gala 
 days for parades and public amusements. The 
 
 king sent out a messenger from the Tower to 
 the leaders of the insurgents with directions to 
 say to tli em that if they would all go to Mile- 
 End, he would come out and meet them there. 
 
 They took him at his word, and the whole 
 immense mass began to set itself in motion to- 
 ward Mile-End. 
 
 They did not all go there, however. Those 
 who really desired to have an interview with 
 the king, with a view to a redress of their griev- 
 ances, repaired to the appointed place of ren- 
 dezvous. But of the rest, a large party turned 
 toward London, in hopes of pillage and plun- 
 der. Others remained near the Tower. This 
 last party, as soon as the king and his attend- 
 ants had gone to Mile-End, succeeded in forcing 
 their way in through the gates, which, it seems, 
 had not been left properly guarded, and thus 
 gained possession of the Tower. They ransack- 
 ed the various apartments, and destroyed every 
 thing which came in their way that was at all 
 obnoxious to them. They broke into the cham- 
 ber of the Princess of Wales, Richard's mother, 
 and, though they did not do the princess any 
 personal injury, they terrified her so much by 
 
 ft 
 
258 King Eichard II. 
 
 The king meets the insurgents at Mile-End. 
 
 their violence and noise that she fainted, and 
 was borne away apparently lifeless. Her at- 
 tendants carried her down the landing-stairs on 
 the river side, and there put her into a covered 
 boat, and rowed her away to a place of safety. 
 
 The people in the Tower did not all get off 
 so easily. The Archbishop of Canterbury was 
 there, and three other prelates of high rank. 
 These men were particularly obnoxious to the 
 rioters, so they seized them, and without any 
 mercy dragged them into the court and cut off 
 their heads. The heads they put upon the ends 
 of poles, and paraded them in this way through 
 the streets of London. 
 
 In the mean time, the king, followed by a 
 numerous train of attendants, had proceeded to 
 Mile-End, and there met the insurgents, who had 
 assembled in a vast concourse to receive him. 
 Several of the attendants of the king were afraid 
 to follow him into the danger to which they 
 thought he was exposing himself by going 
 among such an immense number of lawless and 
 desperate men. Some of them deserted him on 
 the way to the place of meeting, and rode off 
 in different directions to places of safety. The 
 king himself, however, though so young — for 
 he was now only about sixteen years of age — 
 had no fear. As soon as he came to the mead- 
 
Insurrection Ended. 259 
 
 Parley with them. The king accedes to their demands. 
 
 ow at Mile-End, where the insurgents had now 
 assembled to the number of sixteen thousand, 
 he rode forward boldly into the midst of them, 
 and opened the conference at once by asking 
 them what they desired. 
 
 The spokesman whom they had appointed 
 for the occasion stated their demands, which 
 were that they should be made free. They had 
 hitherto been held as serfs, in a bondage which 
 exposed them to all sorts of cruelties and op- 
 pressions, since they were amenable, not to law, 
 but wholly to the caprice and arbitrary will of 
 individual masters. They demanded, therefore, 
 that Richard should emancipate them from this 
 bondage, and make them free. 
 
 It was determined by Richard and his coun- 
 selors that this demand should be complied 
 with, or, at least, that they should pretend to 
 comply with it, and that decrees of emancipation 
 for the different counties and districts which 
 the various parties of insurgents had come from 
 should be immediately issued. This decision 
 seemed to satisfy them. The leaders, or at least 
 a large portion of them, said that it was all they 
 wanted, and several parties immediately began 
 to set out on their return to their several homes. 
 
 But there were a great many who were not 
 satisfied. An insurrection like this, whatever 
 
260 King Richard II 
 
 TrtVct of tho MMWaiQBB. lYoyarMlou of tho & 
 
 may be tho object and design ot* tho original 
 movers in it, always brings out into promi 
 nonoo, and invests with temporary power, 
 numbers of desperate and violent men, whoso 
 passions become inflamed by the excitement oi' 
 movement and action, and by sympathy with 
 each other, and who are never satisfied to stop 
 with the attainment of the objects originally de- 
 sired. Thus, in the present instance, although 
 a groat number of the rebels were satisfied with 
 tho promises made by the king at Mile-End, and 
 so went homo, multitudes still remained. Large 
 parties wont to London to join those who had 
 already gone there in hopes of opportunities for 
 pillage. Others remained at their encamp- 
 ments, doubting whether the king would real- 
 ly keep the promises which he had made them, 
 and send the decrees. Then, besides, fresh par- 
 ties of insurgents were continually arriving at 
 London and its neighborhood, so that tho dan- 
 ger seemed by no means to have passed away. 
 The km£ immediately caused the decree to 
 be prepared. Thirty secretaries were employ- 
 ed at once to write the several copies required. 
 They were all of the same form. They were 
 written, as was customary with royal decrees 
 in those times, in the Latin language, were en- 
 grossed carefully upon parchment, signed by the 
 
1 1 rscTios E si) i:i). 261 
 
 . arj'l around Lou 
 
 and sealed by hie seal The annot 
 ment that the secretaries were preparm 
 
 ten the work had been commenced, 
 tended greatly to the insurgents, and 
 
 many mere of thi ait horn*-;. Still, vast 
 
 numbers remained, and the excitement among 
 thorn, and their disposition for mischief was 
 idently on the increase. 
 
 Such was the state of things during the night 
 of Friday. The various parties of the insur- 
 gents were en earn pod in and around London, 
 the glare of their fires flashing on the build- 
 and lighting up the sky, and their shouts, 
 sometimes of merriment and sometimes of an- 
 ger, filling the air. The peaceable inhabitants 
 ed the night in groat alarm. Some of thorn 
 endeavored to conciliate the good-will of the in- 
 surgents by offering thorn food and wine. The 
 wine, of course, excited thorn, and made thorn 
 more noisy than ever. Their numbers, too, 
 v.'oro all the time increasing, and no one could 
 foresee how or when the trouble would end. 
 
 The next morning, a grand consultation 
 among the rebels was determined upon. It 
 was to bo hold in a groat open space called 
 Smith fiold — a space set apart as a cattle-rnar- 
 ket, at the outskirts of London, toward the 
 north. All the leaders who had not returned 
 
262 King Eichaed II. [A.D.1881. 
 
 The next morning. The king meets the insurgents at Smithfield. 
 
 to their homes were present at the consulta- 
 tion. Among them, and at the head of them, 
 indeed, was Wat Tyler. 
 
 The king that morning, it happened, having 
 spent the night at the private house down the 
 river where his mother had sought refuge aft- 
 er making her escape from the Tower, conclud- 
 ed to go to Westminster to attend mass. His 
 real motive for making this excursion was prob- 
 ably to show the insurgents that he did not fear 
 them, and also, perhaps, to make observations 
 in respect to their condition and movements, 
 without appearing to watch them. 
 
 He accordingly went to Westminster, accom- 
 panied and escorted by a suitable cortege and 
 guard. The mayor of the city of London was 
 with the party. After hearing mass at West- 
 minster, the king set out on his return home ; 
 but, instead of going back through the heart of 
 London, as he had come, he took a circuit to 
 the northward by a road which, as it happen- 
 ed, led through Smithfield, where a great body 
 of the insurgents had assembled, as has already 
 been said. Thus the king came upon them 
 quite unexpectedly both to himself and to them. 
 When he saw them, he halted, and the horse- 
 men who were with him halted too. There 
 were about sixty horsemen in his train. 
 
Insurrection Ended. - 263 
 
 Another parley. Walter advances. His orders to his men. 
 
 Some of his officers thought it would be bet- 
 ter to avoid a rencounter with so large a body 
 of the insurgents — for there were about twenty 
 thousand on the field — and recommended that 
 the king's party should turn aside, and go home 
 another way ; but the king said " No ; he pre- 
 ferred to speak to them." 
 
 He would go, he said, and ascertain what it 
 was that they wanted more. He thought that 
 by a friendly colloquy with them he could ap- 
 pease them. 
 
 While the king and his party thus halted to 
 consider what to do, the attention of the lead- 
 ers of the insurgents had been directed toward 
 them. They knew at once that it was the king. 
 
 " It is the king," said Walter. " I am going 
 to meet him and speak with him. All the rest 
 of you are to remain here. You must not move 
 from this spot until I come back, unless you see 
 me make this signal." 
 
 So saying, Walter made a certain gesture 
 with his hand, which was to be the signal for 
 his men. 
 
 "When you see me make this signal," said 
 he, " do you all rush forward and kill every 
 man in the troop except the king. You must 
 not hurt the king. We will take him and keep 
 him. He is young, and we can make him do 
 
264 King Richard II. 
 
 Doubt about the fairness of tbe accounts. 
 
 whatever we say. "We will put him at the head 
 of oiir company, as if he were our commander, 
 and we were obeying his orders, and we will do 
 every thing in his name. In this way we can 
 go wherever we please, all over England, and 
 do what we think best, and there will be no op- 
 position to us." 
 
 When I say that "Walter gave these orders 
 to his men, I mean that these words were at- 
 tributed to him by one of the historians of the 
 time. As, however, all the accounts which we 
 have of these transactions were written by per- 
 sons who hated the insurgents, and wished to 
 present their case in the most unfavorable light 
 possible, we can not depend absolutely on the 
 truth of their accounts, especially in cases like 
 this, when they could not have been present to 
 hear or see. 
 
 At any rate, Walter rode up alone to meet 
 the king. He advanced so near to him that his 
 horse's head touched the king's horse. While 
 in this position, a conversation ensued between 
 him and the king. Walter pointed to the vast 
 concourse of men who were assembled in the 
 neld, and told the king that they were all un- 
 der his orders, and that what he commanded 
 them to do they would do. The king told him 
 that if that were the case, he would do well to 
 
Insurrection Ended. 265 
 
 Conversation between Walter and the king. 
 
 recommend them all to go to their respective 
 homes. He had granted the petition, he said, 
 which they had offered the day before, and had 
 ordered decrees to be prepared emancipating 
 them from their bondage. He asked Walter 
 what more they required. 
 
 Walter replied that they wanted the decrees 
 to be delivered to them. 
 
 " We are not willing to depart till we get all 
 the decrees," said he. " There are all these 
 men, and as many more besides in the city, and 
 we wish you to give us all the decrees, that we 
 may take them home ourselves to our several 
 villages and towns." 
 
 The king said that the secretaries were pre- 
 paring the decrees as fast as they could, and the 
 men might depend that those which had not 
 yet been delivered would be sent as soon as 
 they were ready to the villages and towns. 
 
 " Go back to your men," he added, " and tell 
 them that they had better return peaceably to 
 their homes. The decrees will all arrive there 
 in due time." 
 
 But Walter did not seem at all inclined to go. 
 He looked around upon the king's attendants, 
 and seeing one that he had known before, a 
 squire, who was in immediate attendance on 
 the king's person, he said to him, 
 
266 King Eichaed II. 
 
 Walter gets into a quarrel with the king's squire. 
 
 "What! You here?" 
 
 This squire was the king's sword-bearer. In 
 addition to the king's sword, which it was his 
 duty to carry, he was armed with a dagger of 
 his own. 
 
 Walter turned his horse toward the squire 
 and said, 
 
 " Let me see that dagger that you have got." 
 
 "No," said the squire, drawing back. 
 
 " Yes," said the king, " let him take the dag- 
 ger." 
 
 The king was not at all afraid of the rebel, 
 and wished to let him see that he was not afraid 
 of him. 
 
 So the squire gave Walter the dagger. Wal- 
 ter took it and examined it in all its parts very 
 carefully, turning it over and over in his hands 
 as he sat upon his horse. It was very richly 
 ornamented, and Walter had probably never 
 had the opportunity to examine closely any 
 thing so beautifully finished before. 
 
 After having satisfied himself with examin- 
 ing the dagger, he turned again to the squire : 
 
 "And now," said he, "let me see your sword." 
 
 " No," said the squire, " this is the king's 
 sword, and it is not going into the hands of such 
 a lowborn fellow as you. And, moreover," he 
 added, after pausing a moment and looking at 
 
Insurrection Ended. 267 
 
 Walter is at last assaulted and killed. 
 
 Walter with, an expression of defiance, " if you 
 and I had met somewhere alone, you would not 
 have dared to talk as you have done, not for a 
 heap of gold as high as this church." 
 
 There was a famous church, called the Church 
 of St. Bartholomew, near the place where the 
 king and his party had halted. 
 
 " By the powers," said Walter, " I will not 
 eat this day before I have your head." 
 
 Seeing that a quarrel was impending, the 
 mayor of London and a dozen horsemen rode 
 up and surrounded Walter and the squire. 
 
 " Scoundrel 1" said the mayor, " how dare you 
 utter such threats as those ?" 
 
 " What business is that of yours ?" said Wal- 
 ter, turning fiercely toward the mayor. " What 
 have you to do with it?" 
 
 "Seize him !"" said the king; for the king 
 himself was now beginning to lose his patience. 
 
 The mayor, encouraged by these words, and 
 being already in a state of boiling indignation 
 and rage, immediately struck a tremendous blow 
 upon Walter's head with a cimeter which he 
 had in his hand. The blow stunned him, and 
 he fell heavily from his horse to the ground. 
 One of the horsemen who had come up with 
 the mayor — a man named John Standwich — im- 
 mediately dismounted, and thrust the body of 
 
268 I\ l NQ \\ tCH A B D 1 1. 
 
 F.\i-itomont among hla men, Courage and coolness of the king. 
 
 Walter through with His sword, killing him on 
 the spot. 
 
 In the moan time, the crowd of the insur- 
 gents had remained where Walter had Left them, 
 watching the proceedings. They had received 
 orders not to move from their position until 
 Walter should make the signal; bnt when they 
 saw Walter strnek down from his horse, and 
 stabbed as he lav on the ground, they cried 
 out, "They have killed our captain. Form the 
 lines! form the lines! We will go and kill 
 every one of them." 
 
 So they hastily formed in array, ami got their 
 Weapons ready, prepared to charge upon the 
 king's party ; but Richard, who in all these 
 transactions evinced a degree o( bravery and 
 coolness very remarkable for a young man o[' 
 sixteen, rode forward alone, and boldly, to meet 
 them. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said he, "yon have no leader 
 bnt me. T am your king. Remain quiet and 
 peaceable." 
 
 The insurgents seemed not to know what to 
 do on hearing these words. Some began to 
 move away, bnt the more violent and determ- 
 ined kept their ground, and seemed still bent 
 on mischief. The king went back to his party, 
 and asked them what they should do next, 
 
I N H 1 1 B li E C T I N E N D B D. 269 
 
 Alarm conveyed to London. Troopa brought to toe ground 
 
 Some advised that they should make for the 
 open fields, and try to escape; but the mayor 
 of London advised that they should remain 
 quietly where they wen;. 
 
 " It will be of* no use," said he, " for us to try 
 
 to make our escape, but if we remain here wo 
 shall soon have help." 
 
 The mayor had already sent horsemen into 
 London to summon help. These messengers 
 spread the cry in the oily, "To Smithfield! 
 To Smithfield 1 They ark killjno the 
 Kino!" This cry produced universal excite- 
 ment and alarm. The hands of armed men 
 quartered in London were immediately turned 
 but, and great numbers of volunteers too, seiz- 
 ing such weapons as they could find, made 
 haste to mareh to Smithfield; and thus, in a 
 short time, the king (bund himself supported 
 by a body of* seven or eight thousand men. 
 
 Some of his advisers then urged that the 
 whole of this f'oree should fall at once upon the 
 insurgents, and. slaughter them without mercy. 
 This it was thought that they could easily do, 
 although the insurgents were far more numer- 
 ous than they ; for the king's party consisted, 
 in great measure, of well-armed and well-dis- 
 ciplined soldiers, while the insurgents were com- 
 paratively a helpless and defenseless rabble. 
 
K l N G B tCH v kp M 
 
 .-.^w er er, would not consent to tins. 
 Perhaps somebody advised bin what to do, or 
 
 [\ was bis own prudence and modern 
 which 5 tted his course, Ho sent mes- 
 sengers forward to remonstrate calmly with tho 
 men, and demand of them that thov should 
 up their banners. It* thov would do so. the mos- 
 
 ers said that tho kino; would pardon thoiu. 
 
 \o up their banners. This seemed 
 
 to Bb tho signal of disbanding, and largo parties 
 
 of tho men began to separate tVoui tho mass, and 
 
 move awav toward thoir homes. 
 
 Next, tho king sent to demand that those who 
 had received decrees of emancipation should re- 
 
 turn them, Thov did so; and in this \\v.\ .. 
 OOnsiderable number of tho deerees weiv given 
 up. Tho king tore thorn to pieces on tho hold, 
 upon the ploa that thov wore forfeited bv the 
 moil's having continued in rebellion after tho 
 decrees were granted, 
 
 Tho whole mass of the insurgents begun now 
 rapidly to got into disorder. Thov had no head, 
 no banners, and the army which was gathering 
 against them was increasing in strength and res- 
 olution every moment. The dispersal wont on 
 taster and taster, until at last those that remain- 
 ed threw down thoir weapons and tied to Lon- 
 don. 
 
A. I). 1881,] I :• ■•; [) BBE01 [0 
 
 The king then irent home to hi Iher, 
 
 Sho 'J t/> Mi hi/.' 
 
 " My deai o 
 e what pain and ai I hare guttered for 
 
 you 
 
 M 5fe*, moth* d Richard, I hare no 
 
 doubt you : iffered ; it i ; -, 
 
 all orer no* id thank 
 
 God, for I bare regained my inhei , the 
 kj/., Land, which I had \o 
 
 Aftor thin 1.}.' . no farther mno 
 
 ble. The and 
 
 mast ^f them were glad to mal t of 
 
 then borne. After the dai 
 
 Richard revoked aJJ the d<-/ jpa- 
 
 tion which be bad d, on tl nd thai 
 
 they had been extorted from him b 
 and intimidation, and ako that the condition 
 rhieh thej had been granted, du that 
 
 the men should retire at once quietly to their 
 homes, bad not been complied with on their 
 
 He found tt •omewhat difficult to r< 
 ex them all, but he finally edecL He ako 
 
 tent commi all the b and viJ. 
 
 which bad been implicated in the rebellion, 
 t numbers of p to be tried 
 
 condemned to death. Many thou 
 
272 King Richard II. 
 
 Final results of the rebellion. 
 
 thus executed. Indeed, the rebellion had ex- 
 tended far and wide; for, besides the disturb- 
 ances in and near London, there had been ris- 
 ings in all parts of the kingdom, and great ex- 
 cesses committed every where. 
 
 When the rebellion was thus quelled, things 
 returned for a time into substantially the same 
 condition as before, and yet the bondage of the 
 people was never afterward so abject and hope- 
 less as it had been. A considerable general im- 
 provement was the result. Indeed, such out- 
 breaks as this against oppression are like the 
 earthquakes of South America, which, though 
 they cause for the time great terror, and often 
 much destruction, still have the effect to raise 
 the general level of the land, and leave it for- 
 ever afterward in a better condition than before. 
 
 The cause of these rebels, moreover, badly as 
 they managed it, was in the main a just cause ; 
 and it is to precisely such convulsive struggles 
 as these, that have been made from time to time 
 by the common people of England in the course 
 of their history, that their descendants, the pres- 
 ent commons of England and the people of 
 America, are indebted for the personal rights 
 and liberties which they now enjoy. 
 
A.D.1382.] Good Queen Anne. 273 
 
 The planning of Bichard's first marriage. 
 
 Chapter XI 
 G-ooD Queen Anne. 
 
 KING- BICHAED was married twice. His 
 first queen was named Anne. She was 
 a Bohemian princess, and so is sometimes call- 
 ed in history Anne of Bohemia. She was, how- 
 ever, more commonly called Grood Queen Anne. 
 
 The marriage was planned by Kichard's cour- 
 tiers and counselors when Eichard himself was 
 about fifteen years old. The negotiations were 
 interrupted by the troubles connected with the 
 insurrection described in the two last chapters ; 
 but immediately after the insurrection was 
 quelled they were renewed. The proposals 
 were sent to Bohemia by Eichard's government. 
 After suitable inquiries had been made by 
 Anne's parents and friends, the proposals were 
 accepted, and preparations were made for send- 
 ing Anne to England to be married. Eichard 
 was now about sixteen years of age. Anne 
 was fifteen. Neither of them had ever seen the 
 other. 
 
 In due time, when every thing had been made 
 ready, the princess set out on her journey, ac- 
 
 S 
 
274 King Richard II. [A.D.1382. 
 
 Journey of the bridal party toward England. 
 
 companied by a large train of attendants. She 
 was under the charge of a nobleman named the 
 Duke of Saxony, and of his wife the duchess. 
 The duchess was Anne's aunt. Besides the 
 duke, there were in the party a number of 
 knights, and other persons of distinction, and 
 also several young ladies of the court, who 
 went to accompany and wait upon the princess. 
 There were also many other attendants of low- 
 er degree. 
 
 The party traveled slowly, as was the custom 
 in those days, until at length they reached Flan- 
 ders. Here, at Brussels, the capital, the princess 
 was received by the Duke and Duchess of Bra- 
 bant, who were her relatives, and was entertain- 
 ed by them in a very sumptuous manner. She, 
 however, heard alarming news at Brussels. The 
 intention of the party had been to take ship on 
 the coast of Flanders, and proceed to Calais by 
 water. Calais was then in the hands of the En- 
 glish, and an embassador with a grand suite had 
 been sent from Richard's court to receive the 
 princess on her arrival there, and conduct her 
 across the Channel to Dover, and thence to Lon- 
 don. 
 
 The reason why the princess and her party 
 did not propose to go by land all the way to 
 Calais was that, by so doing, they would neces- 
 
G-ood Queen Anne. 275 
 
 Their way is cut off by sea. 
 
 sarily pass through the territories of the King 
 of France, and they were afraid that the French 
 government would intercept them. It was 
 known that the government of France had been 
 opposed to the match, as tending to give Kich- 
 ard too much influence on the Continent. 
 
 But now, on their arrival at Brussels, the bri- 
 dal party learned that there was a fleet of Nor- 
 man vessels, ten or twelve in number, that were 
 cruising to and fro on the coast, between Brus- 
 sels and Calais, with a view of blocking up the 
 princess's way by sea as well as by land. Both 
 she herself and the Duke of Saxony were much 
 chagrined at receiving this information, and for 
 a time they did not know what to do. At length 
 they sent an embassage to Paris, and after some 
 difficulties and delay they succeeded in obtain- 
 ing the consent of the French government that 
 the princess should pass through the French 
 territories by land. The embassadors brought 
 back a passport for her and for her party. 
 
 Although the King of France thus granted 
 the desired permission, he did it in a very un- 
 gracious manner, for he took care to say that 
 he yielded to the Duke of Saxony's request 
 solely out of kindness to his good cousin Anne, 
 and a desire to do her a favor, and not at all 
 out of regard to the King of England. 
 
276 K i Mi Rich aki> [I, 
 
 Tho bri-io outers Glklfti liront «Usj>l:iy. 
 
 The princess was detained a month in Brus- 
 sels while they were arranging this affair, and 
 when at last it was settled Bhe resumed her 
 journey, taking the road from Brussels to Ca- 
 lais. Tho Duke of Brabant accompanied her, 
 with an escort of one hundred spearmen. This, 
 however, was an escort of honor rather than of 
 protection, as tho duke relied mainly upon tho 
 French passport tor tho safety of the party. 
 
 As tho partv were approaching Calais, thoy 
 were received at tho town of Gbravelines l\y tho 
 English embassador and his suite, who had 
 come out from Calais to moot thorn. This om- 
 bassador was the Karl o( Salisbury, llo was 
 
 attended by a force of one thousand men, name* 
 ly, five hundred spearmen and five hundred 
 archers. Conducted by this grand escort, and 
 accompanied by a largo cavalcade oi' knights 
 and nobles, all olad in full armor, and splendid" 
 ly mounted, tho princess and tho ladies in hor 
 train made a magnificent entry into Calais, 
 through tho midst of a vast oonoourso of spec- 
 tators, with trumpets sounding and banners 
 waving, and thoir hearts boating high with ec- 
 stasy and delight In passing over tho draw- 
 bridge and through tho gatos of Calais, Anno 
 folt an emotion of exultation and pride in think- 
 ing that she was here entering tho dominions 
 oi' hor future husband. 
 
Good Quebh a nn b. 277 
 
 Tha i>ri'i<; arrirei i« England. Or«At excitement J/j London. 
 
 Tlie princess did not remain long in Calais. 
 She Bet out on the following day for Dover. 
 The distance aero about twenty mile-;. 
 
 They were dependent wholly on the wind in 
 those days Tor crossing the Channel ; but the 
 princess had a prosperous passage, and arrived 
 safely at Dover that night. News then spread 
 rapidly all over the country, and ran up to Lon- 
 don, that the queen bad come. 
 
 The news, of course, produced universal 
 citement. Nocertain tidings of the movements 
 
 Of the bride had beeil hoard \'<>v some week;-: 
 
 before, and no one could tell when to expect 
 her. Eer arrival awakened universal joy. Par- 
 liament was in session at the time. They roted 
 a large sum of money to be expended in ar- 
 rangements Tor receiving the young queen in a 
 proper manner, and. in public rejoicings on the 
 occasion. They then immediately adjourned, 
 and all the world began to prepare for the ar- 
 rival of the royal eorte^e in London. 
 
 The princess, after resting a day in Dover, 
 
 moved on to Canterbury, admiring, as she jour- 
 neyed, the beautiful xeenery of the country 
 which she was henceforth to be queen. Rich- 
 ard's ancle Thomas, the Duke of Gloucester, 
 with a large retinue, was ready there to receive 
 her. He conducted her to London. Ah they 
 
278 King Eichakd II. 
 
 A contrast. The bride enters London. 
 
 approached the city, the lord-mayor of London 
 and all the great civic functionaries, with a long 
 train of attendants, came out in great state to 
 receive her and escort her into town. The 
 place of their meeting with her was Blackheath, 
 the same place which a year before had been 
 the bivouac of the immense horde of ragged 
 and miserable men that Wat Tyler and his fel- 
 low-insurgents had brought to London. But 
 how changed now was the scene! Then the 
 country was excited by the deepest anxiety and 
 alarm, and the spectacle on the field was that 
 of one immense mass of squalid poverty and 
 wretchedness, of misery reduced by hopeless 
 suffering to recklessness and despair. Now all 
 was gayety and splendor in the spectacle, and 
 the whole country was excited to the highest 
 pitch of exultation and joy. 
 
 At Blackheath the grand cavalcade was form- 
 ed for passing through London. Splendid prep- 
 arations had been made in London to receive 
 the bride, and to do honor to her passage 
 through the city. Many of these preparations 
 were similar to those which had been made on 
 the occasion of the king's coronation. There 
 was a castle and tower, with young girls at the 
 top throwing down a shower of golden snow, 
 and fountains at the sides flowing with wine, 
 
A.D.1882.] Good Queen Anne. 279 
 
 Parades and rejoicings. Character of the queen. 
 
 with fancifully-dressed pages attending to offer 
 the princess drink from golden cups. In a 
 word, the young and beautiful bride was re- 
 ceived by the civic authorities of London with 
 the same tokens of honor and the same public 
 rejoicings that had been accorded to the king. 
 
 In a few days the marriage took place. The 
 ceremony was performed in the chapel royal of 
 the king's palace at Westminster. The king 
 appeared to be very much pleased with his 
 bride, and paid her great attention. After a 
 week spent with her and the court in festivities 
 and rejoicings in Westminster, he took her up 
 the river to the royal castle at Windsor. His 
 mother, the Princess of Wales, and other ladies 
 of rank, went with them, and formed part of 
 their household. They lived here very happily 
 together for some time. 
 
 The young queen soon began to evince those 
 land and gracious qualities of heart which aft- 
 erward made her so beloved among the people 
 of England. Instead of occupying herself sole- 
 ly with her own greatness and grandeur, and 
 with the uninterrupted round of pleasures to 
 which her husband invited her, she began very 
 soon to think of the sufferings which she found 
 that a great many of the common people of En- 
 gland were enduring, and to consider what she 
 
280 King Richard II. 
 
 Why she was called Good Queen Anne. 
 
 could do to relieve them. The condition of the 
 people was particularly unhappy at this time, 
 for the king and the nobles were greatly exas- 
 perated against them on account of the rebel- 
 lion, and were hunting out all who could be 
 proved, or were even suspected to have been 
 engaged in it, and persecuting them in the most 
 severe and oppressive manner, and they were 
 bloody and barbarous beyond precedent. The 
 young queen, hearing of these things, was great- 
 ly distressed, and she begged the king, for her 
 sake, to grant a general pardon to all his sub- 
 jects, on the occasion of her coronation, which 
 ceremony was now soon to be performed. The 
 king granted this request, and thus peace and 
 tranquillity were once more fully restored to 
 the land. 
 
 After this, during all her life, Anne watched 
 for every opportunity to do good, and she was 
 continually engaged in gentle but effective ef- 
 forts to heal dissensions, to assuage angry feeh 
 ings, and to alleviate suffering. She was a gen- 
 eral peace-maker ; and her lofty position, and 
 the great influence which she exercised over 
 the king, gave her great power to accomplish 
 the benevolent purposes which the kindness of 
 her heart led her to form. 
 
 The arrival of the young queen produced a 
 
Good Queen Anne. 281 
 
 Ancient drawings. Curious fashions of those times. 
 
 great sensation among the ladies of Eichard's 
 court, in consequence of the new fashions which 
 she introduced into England. The fashions of 
 dress in those days were very peculiar. We 
 learn what they were from the pictures, drawn 
 with the pen or painted in water-colors, in the 
 manuscripts of those days that still remain in 
 the old English libraries. There are a great 
 many of these drawings, and, as they agree to- 
 gether in the style and fashion of the costumes 
 represented, there is no doubt that they give 
 us correct ideas of the dresses really worn. Be- 
 sides, there are many allusions in the chronicles 
 of those times, and in poems and books of ac- 
 counts, which correspond precisely with the 
 drawings, and thus confirm their correctness 
 and accuracy. 
 
 The engravings on the following page are 
 copied from one of these ancient manuscripts. 
 
 Observe the singular forms of the caps, both 
 those of the men and of the women. The men 
 wore sometimes jackets, and sometimes long 
 gowns which came down to the ground. The 
 most singular feature of the dresses of the men, 
 however, is the long-pointed shoes. Were it not 
 that fashions are often equally absurd at the 
 present day, we should think it impossible that 
 such shoes as these could ever have been made. 
 
282 
 
 1\ in G K [CH aki> 1 1 
 
 Costumea of Rfohard'a time. 
 
 v. m B COSTUME in THE llMF OF uiou VK1> U. 
 
 FEMALE OOSTUMK IN THK TIME OF RIOHAKV l\. 
 
Good Qv rub a A nk e. 
 
 283 
 
 Tin- Cracows. 
 
 Origin of tfce name. 
 
 The borned <:hi>h. 
 
 shoes were called Cracows. Cracow 
 was a town in Poland which was at Una time 
 within the dominions of Anne's father, and it 
 is supposed that the fetshion of wearing these 
 shoes may have been brought into England by 
 some of the gentlemen in Anne's train, when 
 she came to England to be married, tt is known 
 that the queen did introduce a great many for- 
 eign fashions to the court, and, amongthe rest, 
 
 FAHIIIONAJH.K liJ'.Al>-nKICBHKH. 
 
 a fashion of head-dress for ladies, which was 
 quite as strange as peaked si iocs for the gentle- 
 
2M King Richard II. 
 
 Description of the horns. Pins. Side-saddles. 
 
 men. It consisted of what was called the horn- 
 ed cap. 
 
 These horns were often two feet high, and 
 sometimes two feet wide from one side to the 
 other. The frame of this head-dress was made 
 of wire and pasteboard, and the covering was 
 of some glittering tissue or gauze. There were 
 other head-dresses scarcely less monstrous than 
 these. Some of them are represented in the 
 engraving. These fashions, when introduced 
 by the queen, spread with great rapidity among 
 all the court ladies, and thence to all fashion- 
 able circles in England. 
 
 It is said, too, that it was this young queen 
 who first introduced pins into England. Dress- 
 es had been fastened before by little slteivers 
 made of wood or ivory. Queen Anne brought 
 pins, which had been made for some time in 
 Germany, and the use of them soon extended 
 all over England. 
 
 Side-saddles for ladies on horseback were a 
 third fashion which Queen Anne is said to have 
 introduced. The side-saddle which she brought 
 was, however, of a very simple construction. It 
 consisted of a seat placed upon the horse's back, 
 with a sort of step depending from it on one 
 side for the feet to rest upon. Both feet were 
 placed upon this step together. 
 
A.D.1382.] Good Queen Anne. 285 
 
 Queen Anne's useful and busy life;. Shene. 
 
 Queen Anne, after her marriage, lived very 
 happily with her husband for twelve years. 
 She was devotedly attached to him, and he 
 seems sincerely to have loved her. He was 
 naturally kind and affectionate in his disposi- 
 tion, and, while Anne lived, he yielded himself 
 to the good influences which she exerted over 
 him. She journeyed with him wherever he 
 went, and aided him in the accomplishment of 
 all his plans. Whenever he became involved 
 in any difficulty, either with his nobles or with 
 his subjects, she acted the part of mediator, and 
 almost always succeeded in allaying the ani- 
 mosity and healing the feud before it proceed- 
 ed to extremes. She resided with her husband 
 sometimes at one palace and sometimes at an- 
 other, but her favorite residence was at the 
 palace of Shene, near the present town ofEich- 
 mond. 
 
 Although the king was crowned at the time 
 of his accession to the throne, he did not fully 
 assume the government at that time on account 
 of his youth, for you will remember that he was 
 then only about eleven years old ; nor did he, 
 in fact, come fully into possession of power at 
 the time of his marriage, for he was then under 
 sixteen. At that time, and for several years 
 afterward, his uncles and the other influential 
 
286 King Richard II 
 
 Grand celebration. Tin* tournament. Knighte. 
 
 nobles managed the government in bis name. 
 At length, however, when he was about twenty- 
 one years old, he thought it was time for him 
 
 to assume the direction of affairs himself, and 
 he accordingly did so. At this time there was 
 another grand celebration, one scarcely interior 
 in pomp and splendor to the coronation itself. 
 
 Among other performances on this occasion 
 there was a tournament, in which knights 
 mounted on horseback, and armed from head to 
 foot with iron armor, fought in the lists, endeav- 
 oring to unhorse each other by means oi^ their 
 Spears, The tournament was held at Smith- 
 held. Raised platforms wore set up by the side 
 of the lists for the lords and ladies of the court, 
 and a beautiful canopy for the queen, who was 
 to act as judge of the combat, and was to award 
 the prizes. The prizes consisted of a rich jew- 
 eled clasp and a splendid crown of gold. 
 
 The queen went first to the ground, and took 
 her place with her attendants under her canopy. 
 The knights who were to enter the lists then 
 came in a grand cavalcade through the streets 
 of London to the palace. There were sixty 
 ladies mounted on beautiful palfreys, accoutred 
 with the new-fashioned side-saddles. Each of 
 these ladies conducted a knight, whom she led 
 by a silver chain. They were preceded by 
 
Good Queen Anne. 287 
 
 Magnificence of the king* 2 mode of \\f<:. 
 
 minstrels arid hands of instrumental music, and 
 the streets were thronged with spectators. 
 
 After the tournament there was a grand ban- 
 quet at the palace of the Bishop of London, with 
 music and dancing, and other such amusements* 
 
 which continued to a late hour of the night. 
 
 For some years after this the king and queen 
 lived together in great prosperity. Outwardly 
 things went pretty well with the king's affairs, 
 and, as he was fond of pomp and display, he 
 gradually acquired habits of very profuse and 
 lavish expenditure. Indeed, he is said to have 
 made it an object of his ambition to surpass, 
 in the magnificence of his style of living, all 
 the sovereigns of Europe. lie kept many sep- 
 arate establishments in his different palaces, and 
 at all of them gave entertainments and ban- 
 quets of immense magnificence and of the most 
 luxurious character. It is said that three hund- 
 red persons were employed in his kitchens. 
 
 At length, in the year 1394, when Richard 
 was preparing for an expedition into Ireland 
 to quell a rebellion which had broken out there, 
 the queen was seized with a fatal epidemic which 
 was then prevailing in England, and after a 
 short illness she died. She was at her palace 
 of Shene at this time. The king hastened to 
 
288 King Richard II. [A.D.1394. 
 
 Death of Queen Anne. The king inconsolable. The funeral. 
 
 attend her the moment that he heard the tid- 
 ings of her illness, and was with her when she 
 died. He was inconsolable at the loss of his 
 wife, for he had loved her sincerely, and she had 
 been a singularly faithful and devoted wife to 
 him. He was made almost crazy by her death. 
 He imprecated bitter curses on the palace where 
 she died, and he ordered it to be destroyed. It 
 was, in fact, partially dismantled, in obedience 
 to these orders, and Richard himself never oc- 
 cupied it again. It was, however, repaired un- 
 der a subsequent reign. 
 
 Richard gave up, for the time being, his ex- 
 pedition into Ireland, being wholly ahsorbed in 
 his sorrow for the irreparable loss he had suf- 
 fered. He wrote letters to all the great nobles 
 and barons of England to come to the funeral, 
 and the obsequies were celebrated with the great- 
 est possible pomp and parade. Two months 
 were expended in making preparations for the 
 funeral. When the day arrived, a very long 
 procession was formed to escort the body from 
 Shene to Westminster. This procession was 
 accompanied by an immense number of torch- 
 bearers, all carrying lighted torches in their 
 hands. So great was the number of these 
 torches, that a large quantity of wax was im- 
 ported from Flanders expressly for the purpose. 
 
A.D.1394.] Good Queen Anne. 289 
 
 Inscription on Queen Anne's tomb. 
 
 The tomb of Anne was not made until a year 
 after her death. Eichard himself attended to 
 all the details connected with the construction 
 of it. The inscription was in Latin. The fol- 
 lowing is an exact translation of it : 
 
 " Under this stone lies Anne, here entombed, 
 Wedded in this world's life to the second Richard. 
 To Christ were her meek virtues devoted : 
 His poor she freely fed from her treasures ; 
 Strife she assuaged, and swelling feuds appeased ; 
 Beauteous her form, her face surpassing fair. 
 On July's seventh day, thirteen hundred ninety-four, 
 All comfort was bereft, for through irremediable sickness 
 She passed away into interminable joys." 
 
 By the death of his wife, Eichard was left, as 
 it were, almost alone in the world. His moth- 
 er, the Princess of Wales, had died some time 
 before, and Anne had had no children. There 
 were his uncles and his cousins, it is true, but 
 they were his rivals and competitors rather than 
 his friends. Indeed, they were destined soon 
 to become his open enemies. 
 
 Eichard was afterward married again, to his 
 " little wife," as we shall see in a future chap- 
 ter. 
 
 T 
 
290 King Richard II. [A.D.1382. 
 
 Jealousy of Richard and his mother against the uncles. 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 Incidents of the Reign. 
 
 IN giving some general account of the char- 
 acter of Richard's reign, and of the incidents 
 that occurred during the course of it, we now 
 go back a little again, so as to begin at the be- 
 ginning of it. 
 
 When Richard was married, he was, as has 
 already been said, only about fifteen or sixteen 
 years of age. As he grew older, after this time, 
 and began to feel that sense of strength and in- 
 dependence which pertains to manhood, he be- 
 came more and more jealous of the power and 
 influence of his uncles in the government of the 
 country. His mother, too, who was still living, 
 and who adhered closely to him, was very sus- 
 picious of the uncles. She was comm^a]^ 'm- 
 agining that they were forming plots and con- 
 spiracies against her son in favor of ther^ielves 
 or of their own children. She was particularly 
 suspicious of the Duke of Lancaster, au,, ; . ^.his 
 son Henry Bolingbroke. It proved in tir md 
 that there was some reason for this suspicion, 
 for this Henry Bolingbroke was the mean, 't 
 
The Eeign. 291 
 
 Plots and manoeuvres. Thomas, Duke of Gloucester. 
 
 last of deposing Kichard from his throne in or- 
 der to take possession of it himself, as we shall 
 see in the sequel. 
 
 In order to prevent, as far as possible, these 
 uncles from finding opportunity to accomplish 
 any of their supposed designs, Eichard and his 
 mother excluded them, as much as they could, 
 from power, and appointed other persons, who 
 had no such claims to the crown, to all the im- 
 portant places about the court. This, of course, 
 made the uncles very angry. They called the 
 men whom Eichard thus brought forward his 
 favorites, and they hated them exceedingly. 
 This state of things led to a great many in- 
 trigues, and manoeuvres, and plots, and counter- 
 plots, the favorites against the uncles, and the 
 uncles against the favorites. These difficulties 
 were continued for many years. Parties were 
 formed in Parliament, of which sometimes one 
 was in the ascendency and sometimes the other, 
 am ill t as r turmoil and confusion. 
 
 ' V hen Eichard was about twenty years old, 
 one of ^iis uncles — his uncle Thomas, at that time 
 Duke r Gloucester — gained such an influence 
 in F anient that some of Eichard's favorites 
 wei .eposed from office and imprisoned. The 
 du 1 u was imboldened by this success to take a 
 f ner step. He told the Parliament that the 
 
292 King Richard II. 
 
 Province of Parliament. Prerogative of the king. 
 
 government would never be on a good footing 
 until they themselves appointed a council to 
 manage in the king's name. 
 
 When Richard heard of this plan, he declared 
 that he would never submit to it. 
 
 " I am the King of England," said he, " and 
 I will govern my realm by means of such of- 
 ficers as I choose to appoint myself. I will not 
 have others to appoint them for me." 
 
 The ideas which the kings of those days en- 
 tertained in respect to the province of Parlia- 
 ment was that it was to vote the necessary 
 taxes to supply the king's necessities, and also 
 to mature the details of all laws for the regula- 
 tion of the ordinary business and the social re- 
 lations of life, but that the government, strict- 
 ly so called — that is, all that relates to the ap- 
 pointment and payment of executive officers, 
 the making of peace or war, the building and 
 equipment of fleets, and the command of armies, 
 was exclusively the king's prerogative, and that 
 for the exercise of his prerogative in these par- 
 ticulars the sovereign was responsible, not- to 
 his subjects, but to Grod alone, from whom he 
 claimed to have received his crown. 
 
 The people of England, as represented by 
 Parliament, have never consented to this view 
 of the subject. They have always maintained 
 
The Reign. 298 
 
 The Commons threaten the king. He is compelled to yield. 
 
 that their kings are, in some sense, responsible 
 to the people of the realm, and they have oft- 
 en deposed kings, and punished them in other 
 ways. 
 
 Accordingly, when Kichard declared that he 
 would not submit to the appointment of a coun- 
 cil by Parliament, the Commons reminded him 
 of the fact that his great-grandfather, Edward 
 the Second, had been deposed in consequence 
 of having unreasonably and obstinately resisted 
 the will of his people, and they hinted to him 
 that it would be well for him to beware lest he 
 should incur the same fate. Some of the lords, 
 too, told him that the excitement was so great 
 in the country on account of the mismanage- 
 ment of public affairs, and the corruptions and 
 malpractice of the favorites, that if he refused 
 to allow the council to be appointed, there was 
 danger that he would lose his head. 
 
 So Richard was obliged to submit, and the 
 council was appointed. Richard was in a great 
 rage, and he secretly determined to lay his plans 
 for recovering the power into his own hands as 
 soon as possible, and punishing the council, and 
 all who were concerned in appointing them, for 
 their audacity in presuming to encroach in such 
 a manner upon his sovereign rights as king. 
 
 The council that was appointed consisted of 
 
294 King Richard l L 
 
 (.oiuu-il iUHHuntoii. Rfohard'a disooateatt. Tkn court at Nottingham. 
 
 eleven bishops and nobles. Richard's ancle 
 
 Thomas, the Duke of Gloucester, was at the 
 
 head of it. This council governed the country 
 for more than a year. Every thing was done 
 in Richard's name, it is true, but the real power 
 was in the hands of the Dnke of Gloucester. 
 Richard was very an^rv and indignant hut he 
 did not see what he could do. 
 
 lie was. however, all the time forming plans 
 and schemes to recover his power. At last. 
 after about a year had passed away, he called 
 together a number of judges secretly at Not- 
 tingham, toward the northern part of the king- 
 dom, and submitted to them the question wheth- 
 er such a council as the Parliament had appoint- 
 ed was legal. It was, of course, understood be- 
 forehand how the judges would decide. They 
 decreed that the council was illegal ; that tor 
 Parliament to give a council such powers was 
 a violation of the king's prerogative, and was 
 consequently treason, and that, of course, all 
 who had been concerned in the transaction had 
 made themselves liable to the penalty of death. 
 
 It w r as Richard's plan, after having obtained 
 this decree, to cause the prominent members of 
 the council to be arrested, and he came to Lon- 
 don and began to make his preparations for ac- 
 complishing this purpose. But as soon as his 
 
A.D. 1389-1396.] The Reigx. 295 
 
 Preparations for war. Richard and hiH party overcome. 
 
 uncle Thomas, the Duke of Gloucester, heard 
 of these plans, he, and some great nobles who 
 were ready to join with him against the king, 
 collected all their forces, and began to march to 
 London at the head of forty thousand men. 
 Eichard's cousin Henry, the Duke of Lancas- 
 ter's son, joined them on the way. Eichard's 
 friends and favorites, on hearing of this, imme- 
 diately took arms, and preparations began to 
 be made for civil war. In a word, after having 
 successfully met and quelled the great insur- 
 rection of the serfs and laborers under Wat Ty- 
 ler, Eichard was now to encounter a still more 
 formidable resistance of his authority on the 
 part of his uncles and the great barons of the 
 realm. These last, indeed, were far more to be 
 feared than the others, for they had arms and 
 organization, and they enjoyed every possible 
 facility for carrying on a vigorous and determ- 
 ined war. Eichard and his party soon found 
 that it was useless to attempt to resist them. 
 Accordingly, after a very brief struggle, the 
 royal party was entirely put down. Eichard's 
 favorites were arrested. Some of them were 
 beheaded, others were banished from the realm, 
 and the government of the country fell again 
 into the hands of the uncles. 
 
 One of Eichard's favorites who was executed 
 
296 King Richard II. [A.D. 1389-1396. 
 
 Execution of Burley. Queen Anne' s fruitless intercession. 
 
 on this occasion was a man whose nntimely 
 death grieved and afflicted both Richard and 
 the queen very much indeed. His name was 
 Sir Simon Burley. He had been Richard's 
 friend and companion all his life. Richard's 
 father, Edward, the Black Prince, had appoint- 
 ed Sir Simon Richard's tutor while Richard 
 himself was a mere child, and he had been with 
 him ever since that time. Queen Anne was 
 much attached to him, and she was particularly 
 grateful to him on account of his having been 
 the commissioner who negotiated and arranged 
 her marriage with Richard. Richard made 
 every possible exertion to save his tutor's life, 
 but his uncle Gloucester was inexorable. He 
 told Richard that his keeping the crown de- 
 pended on the immediate execution of the trai- 
 tor. Queen Anne fell on her knees before him, 
 and begged and entreated that Sir Simon might 
 be spared, but all was of no avail. 
 
 So Richard was compelled to submit ; but he 
 did not do so without secret muttering, and res- 
 olutions of revenge. He allowed the govern- 
 ment to remain in his uncle's hands for some 
 time, but at length, about a year afterward, he 
 found himself strong enough to seize it again. 
 The plea which his uncles had hitherto made 
 for managing the government themselves was, 
 
The Keign. 297 
 
 The king determines to resume his power. 
 
 that Kichard was not yet of age. But now he 
 became of age, and he resolved on what might 
 be called a coup d'etat, to get possession of the 
 government. He planned this measure in con- 
 cert -with a number of his own friends and fa- 
 vorites, who hoped, by this means, that they 
 themselves should rise to power. 
 
 He called a grand council of all the nobles 
 and great officers of state. The assembly con- 
 vened in the great council-chamber, and waited 
 there for the king to come in. 
 
 At length the king arrived, and, walking into 
 the chamber, he took his seat upon the throne. 
 A moment afterward he turned to one of the 
 chief officers present and addressed him, saying, 
 
 "My lord, what is my age at the present 
 time?" 
 
 The nobleman answered that his majesty was 
 now over twenty years of age. 
 
 " Then," said the king, speaking in a very 
 firm and determined manner, "I am of years 
 sufficient to govern mine own house and family, 
 and also my kingdom ; for it seemeth against 
 reason that the state of the meanest person in 
 my kingdom should be better than mine. Ev- 
 ery heir throughout the land that has once come 
 to the age of twenty years is permitted, if his 
 father be not living, to order his business him- 
 
298 King Richaed II. 
 
 His interview with his council. Surprise of the harons. 
 
 self. And that which, is permitted by law to 
 every other person, of however mean degree, 
 why is it denied to me?" 
 
 The king spoke these words with an air of 
 such courage and determination that the barons 
 were astonished. The foremost of them, after 
 a brief pause, seemed ready to accede to his 
 proposals. They said that there should hence- 
 forth be no right abridged from him, but that 
 he might take upon himself the government 
 if he chose, as it was now manifestly his duty 
 to do. 
 
 "Very well," said the king. "You know 
 that I have been a long time ruled by tutors 
 and governors, so that it has not been lawful 
 for me to do any thing, no matter of how small 
 importance, without their consent. Now, there- 
 fore, I desire that henceforth they meddle no 
 more with matters pertaining to my govern- 
 ment, for I will attend to them myself, and aft- 
 er the manner of an heir arrived at full age. I 
 will call whom I please to be my counsel, and 
 thus manage my own affairs according to my 
 own will and pleasure." 
 
 The barons were extremely surprised to hear 
 these determinations thus resolutely announced 
 by the king, but had nothing to say in reply. 
 
 "And in the first place," continued Richard, 
 
The Reign. 299 
 
 The great seal. Kichard appoints a new chancellor. 
 
 " I wish the chancellor to give me up the great 
 seal." 
 
 The great seal was a very important badge 
 and emblem of the royal prerogative. No de- 
 cree was of legal authority until an impress 
 from this seal was attached to it. The officer 
 who had charge of it was called the chancellor. 
 A new seal was prepared for each sovereign on 
 his accession to the throne. The devices were 
 much the same in all. They consisted of a rep- 
 resentation of the king seated on his throne upon 
 one side of the seal, and on the other mount- 
 ed on horseback and going into battle, armed 
 from head to foot. The legends or inscriptions 
 around the border were changed, of course, for 
 each reign. 
 
 The engraving on the following page repre- 
 sents one side of king Richard's seal. The oth- 
 er side contained an image of the king seated 
 on his throne, and surrounded by various insig- 
 nia of royalty. 
 
 "I wish the chancellor," said the king, "to 
 deliver me up the great seal." 
 
 So the nobleman who had been chancellor up 
 to that time delivered the seal into the hands 
 of the king. The seal was kept in a beautiful 
 box, richly ornamented. It was always brought 
 to the council by the lord chancellor, who had 
 
800 
 
 K INT, RlOH A. ED I 1. 
 
 Richard appoints n«n officers of goi ftnumeat 
 
 BEAT or Kii'iiMin u. 
 
 it in charge, The king proceeded immediately 
 
 afterward to appoint a now ehaneollor, and to 
 place the box in his hands. In the Same sum- 
 mary manner the king displaced almost all the 
 other high officers of state, and appointed now 
 ones of his own instead oi' them. The former 
 officers wore obliged to submit, though sorely 
 against their will Thov were powerless, tor the 
 king had now attained sneh an age that there 
 was no longer anv exeuso for withholding from 
 
 him the complete possession of his kingdom. 
 
The Reign. 801 
 
 'i h<: ran in which Webaxi 
 
 From thin time, accordingly, Richard was - ac- 
 tually as well a>: nominally king of England; 
 but still he was often engaged In contentions 
 and quarrels wiiJi bis uncles, and with the oth- 
 er great nobles who took his ancle's part. 
 
 The queen -*ffor gpod Queen Anne was at 
 this time still living — wan so gentle and kind, 
 and she acted her part as peacemaker so well, 
 that she greatly softened and soothed these as- 
 perities; but Richard, led, nevertheless, a wild 
 and turbulent life, and was continually getting 
 
 involved in the most serious difficulties. Then 
 there were wars to be carried on, sometimes with 
 France, sometimes witli Scotland, and sometimes 
 with Ireland. Richard's uncles, the i Jukes of 
 Lancaster and Gloucester, generally went away 
 in command of the armies to carry on these 
 wars. Sometimes Richard himself accompanied 
 the expeditions; but even on these occasions, 
 
 when he and his knights and nobles were en- 
 gaged together in. a common cause, and ap- 
 parently at peace with each other, there w<-ra 
 so many jealousies and angry heartburnings 
 among them, that deadly quarrels and feuds 
 were continually breaking out. 
 
 As an example of these quarrels, 1 will give 
 an account of one which took place not very 
 long after Richard was married. He was en- 
 
302 King Richard II. [A.D. 1389-1396. 
 
 Story of Sir Miles, the Bohemian knight. 
 
 gaged with his uncles in an expedition to Scot- 
 land. There was a knight in attendance upon 
 him named Sir Miles. This knight was a friend 
 of the queen. He was a Bohemian, and had 
 come from Bohemia to pay Anne a visit, and 
 to bring the news to her from her native land. 
 The king, out of affection to Anne, paid him 
 great attention. This made the English knights 
 and nobles jealous, and they amused themselves 
 with mimicking and laughing at Sir Miles's for- 
 eign peculiarities. The particular friends of 
 the queen, however, took his part, one especial- 
 ly, named the Earl of Stafford, and his son, the 
 young Lord Ralph Stafford. Lord Ralph Staf- 
 ford was one of the most courteous and popular 
 knights in England. 
 
 In the course of the expedition to Scotland 
 the party came to a town called Beverley, which 
 is situated in the northern part of England, near 
 the frontier. One day, two archers belonging 
 to the service of Lord Ralph Stafford, in rid- 
 ing across the fields near Beverley, found two 
 squires engaged in a sort of quarrel with Sir 
 Miles. The cause of the quarrel was something 
 about his lodgings in the town. The squires, 
 it seems, knowing that the knights and nobles 
 generally disliked Sir Miles, were encouraged 
 to be very bold and insolent to him in express- 
 
The Keign. 303 
 
 The archers and the squires. A squire killed. 
 
 ing their ill-will, and when the archers came 
 up they were following him with taunts, and 
 ridicule, and abuse, while Sir Miles was making 
 the best of his way .toward the town. 
 
 The archers took the Bohemian's part. They 
 remonstrated with the squires for thus abusing 
 and teasing a stranger and a foreigner, a per- 
 sonal friend, too, and guest of the queen. 
 
 " What business is it of yours, villainous 
 knave, whether we laugh at him or not?" said 
 the squires. " What right have you to inter- 
 meddle ? What is it to you ?" 
 
 " What is it to us ?" repeated one of the arch- 
 ers. "It is a great deal to us. This man is 
 the friend of our master, and we will not stand 
 by and see him abused." 
 
 Upon hearing this, one of the squires uttered 
 some words of defiance, and advanced as if to 
 strike the archer ; but the archer, having his 
 bow and arrow all ready, suddenly let the ar- 
 row fly, and the squire was killed on the spot. 
 
 Sir Miles had already gone on toward the 
 town. The other squire, seeing his companion 
 dead, immediately made his escape. The two 
 archers, leaving the man whom they had killed 
 on the ground where he had fallen, made the 
 best of their way home, and told their master, 
 Sir Ealph Stafford, what they had done. 
 
804 King Eichaed II. 
 
 Sir Ralph Stafford is displeased and alarmed. 
 
 Sir Ealpli was extremely concerned to hear 
 of the occurrence, and he told the archer who 
 killed the squire that he had done very wrong. 
 
 " But, my lord," said the archer, " I could not 
 have done otherwise ; for the man was coming 
 up to us with his sword drawn in his hand, and 
 we were obliged either to kill him or to be kill- 
 ed ourselves." 
 
 The archers, moreover, told Sir Ealph that 
 the squires were in the service of Sir John Hol- 
 land. Now Sir John Holland was a half broth- 
 er of the king, being the child of his mother, 
 the Princess of Wales, by a former husband. 
 When Sir Ralph heard this, he was still more 
 alarmed than before. He told the archers who 
 killed the squire that they must go and hide 
 themselves somewhere until the affair could be 
 arranged. 
 
 u I will negotiate with Lord Holland for your 
 pardon," said he, " either through my father or 
 in some other way. But, in the mean time, 
 you must keep yourselves closely concealed." 
 
 The Earl of Stafford, Lord Ralph Stafford's 
 father, was a nobleman of the very highest rank, 
 and of great influence. 
 
 It is a curious indication of the ideas that pre- 
 vailed in those days, and of the relations that 
 subsisted between the nobles and their depend- 
 
The Reign. 305 
 
 Lord Holland is enraged. He meets Lord Stafford in a narrow lane. 
 
 ants, that the slaughter of a man in an affray 
 of this kind was a matter to be arranged be- 
 tween the masters respectively of the men en- 
 gaged in it. 
 
 The archers went away to hide themselves 
 until Lord Ralph could arrange the matter. 
 
 In the mean time, the squire who had escaped 
 in the fray hurried home and related the mat- 
 ter to Lord Holland. Lord Holland was great- 
 ly enraged. He uttered dreadful imprecations 
 against Lord Ralph Stafford and against Sir 
 Miles, whom he seemed to consider responsible 
 for the death of his squire, and declared that he 
 would not sleep until he had had his revenge. 
 So he mounted his horse, and, taking some 
 trusty attendants with him, rode into Bever- 
 ley, and asked where Sir Miles's lodgings were. 
 While he was going toward the place, breath- 
 ing fury and death, suddenly, in a narrow lane, 
 he came upon Lord Ralph, who was then going 
 to find him, in order to arrange about the mur- 
 der. It was now, however, late in the evening, 
 and so dark that the parties did not at first 
 know each other. 
 
 "Who comes here ?" said Lord Holland, when 
 he saw Sir Ralph approaching. 
 
 "I am Stafford," replied Sir Ralph. 
 
 " You are the very man I want to see," said 
 
806 King Kichaed II. 
 
 Stafford is killed. Lord Holland's unconcern. 
 
 Lord Holland. " One of your servants has kill- 
 ed my squire — the one that I loved so much." 
 
 As he said this, he brought down so heavy a 
 blow upon Sir Kalph's head as to fell him from 
 his horse to the ground. He then rode on. 
 The attendants hurried to the spot and raised 
 Sir Kalph up. They found him faint and bleed- 
 ing, and in a few moments he died. 
 
 As soon as this fact was ascertained, one of 
 the men rode on after Lord Holland, and, com- 
 ing up to him, said, 
 
 " My lord, you have killed Lord Stafford." 
 
 "Very well," said Lord Holland; "I am 
 glad of it. I would rather it would be a man 
 of his rank than any body else, for so I am the 
 more completely revenged for the death of my 
 squire." 
 
 As fast as the tidings of these events spread, 
 they produced universal excitement. The Earl 
 of Stafford, the father of Sir Ealph, was plunged 
 into the most inconsolable grief at the death of 
 his son. The earl was one of the most power- 
 ful nobles in the army, and, if he had under- 
 taken to avenge himself on Lord Holland, the 
 whole expedition would perhaps have been 
 broken up into confusion. On the king's sol- 
 emn assurance that Holland would be punish- 
 ed, he was appeased for the time ; but then the 
 
The Reign. 307 
 
 ltichard's perplexity and distress. His mother's anguish. 
 
 Princess of Wales, Kichard's mother, who was 
 Lord Holland's mother too, was thrown into the 
 greatest state of anxiety and distress. She im- 
 plored Eichard to save his brother's life. All 
 the other nobles and knights took sides too in 
 the quarrel, and for a time it seemed that the 
 dissension would never be healed. Lord Hol- 
 land, in the mean while, fled to the church at 
 Beverley, and took sanctuary there. By the 
 laws and customs of the time, they could not 
 touch him until he came voluntarily out. 
 
 Richard resisted all the entreaties of his moth- 
 er to spare the murderer's life until he found 
 that her anxiety and distress were preying upon 
 her health so much that he feared that she 
 would die. At last, to save his mother's life, 
 he promised that Holland should be spared. 
 But it was too late. His mother fell into a de- 
 cline, and at length died, as it was said, of a 
 broken heart. What a dreadful death ! that 
 of a mother worn out by the agony of long-con- 
 tinued and apparently fruitless efforts to pre- 
 vent one of her children from being the execu- 
 tioner of another for the crime of murder. 
 
 Besides these fierce, deadly contests among 
 the knights and nobles, the ladies of the court 
 had their feuds and quarrels too. They were 
 often divided into cliques and parties, and were 
 
308 King Kichard II. 
 
 Extraordinary marriage of the Duke of Lancaster. 
 
 full of envyings, jealousies, and resentments 
 against each other. One of the most serious of 
 these difficulties was occasioned by a marriage 
 of the Duke of Lancaster, which took place to- 
 ward the close of his life. This was his third 
 marriage, he having been successively married 
 to two ladies of high rank before. The lady 
 whom he now married was of a comparatively 
 humble station in life. She was the daughter 
 of a foreign knight. Her name, originally, was 
 Catharine de Eouet. She had been, in her ear- 
 ly life, a maiden in attendance on the Duchess 
 of Lancaster, the duke's second wife. "While 
 she was in his family the duke formed a guilty 
 intimacy with her, which was continued for a 
 long time. They had three children. The 
 duke provided well for these children, and gave 
 them a good education. After a time, the duke, 
 becoming tired of her, arranged for her to be 
 married to a certain knight named Swinton, 
 and she lived with this knight for some time, 
 until at length he died, and Catharine became a 
 widow. 
 
 The Duchess of Lancaster died also, and then 
 the duke became for the second time a widow- 
 er, and he now conceived the idea of making 
 Catharine Swinton his wife. His motive for 
 this was not his love for her, for that, it is said, 
 
The Keign. 309 
 
 Indignation and rage of the ladies of the court. 
 
 had passed away, but his regard for the chil- 
 dren, who, on the marriage of their mother to 
 the father of the children, would be legitima- 
 tized, and would thus become entitled to many 
 legal rights and privileges from which they 
 would otherwise be debarred. The other la- 
 dies of the court, however, particularly the 
 wives of the other dukes — the Duke of Lan- 
 caster's brothers — were greatly incensed when 
 they heard of this proposed marriage, and they 
 did all they possibly could do to prevent it. 
 All was, however, of no avail, for the Duke of 
 Lancaster was not a man to be easily thwarted 
 in any determination that he might take into 
 his head. So he was married, and the poor de- 
 spised Catharine was made the first duchess in 
 the realm, and became entitled to take prece- 
 dence of all the other duchesses. 
 
 This the other duchesses could not endure. 
 They could not bear it, they said, and they 
 would not bear it. They declared that they 
 would not go into any place where this woman, 
 as they called her, was to be. As might have 
 been expected, an interminable amount of quar- 
 reling and ill-will grew out of this affair. 
 
 About the time of this marriage of the duke, 
 the king himself was married a second time, as 
 will be related in the next chapter. 
 
310 King Eichard II. [AD. 1395. 
 
 Sonic account of Isabella of Franco, the little queen. 
 
 Chapter XIII. 
 The Little Queen. 
 
 KING EICHAED'S second wife was called 
 the little queen, because she was so young 
 and small when she was married. She was 
 only about nine years old at that time. The 
 story of this case will show a little how .the 
 marriages of kings and princesses in those days 
 were managed. 
 
 It was not long after the death of good Queen 
 Anne before some of Kichard's courtiers and 
 counselors began to advise him to be married 
 again. He replied, as men always do in such 
 cases, that he did not know where to find a 
 wife. The choice was indeed not very large, 
 being restricted by etiquette to the royal fami- 
 lies of England and of the neighboring coun- 
 tries. Several princesses were proposed one 
 after another, but Eichard did not seem to like 
 any of them. Among other ladies, one of his 
 cousins was proposed to him, a daughter of the 
 Duke of Gloucester. But Eichard said no; 
 she was too nearly related to him. 
 
 At last he took it into his head that he should 
 
A.D.1395.] The Little Queen. 311 
 
 Richard opens negotiations with the King of Trance. 
 
 like to marry little Isabella, the Princess of 
 France, then about nine years old. The idea 
 of his being married to Isabella was calculated 
 to surprise people for two reasons : first, be- 
 cause Isabella was so small, and, secondly, be- 
 cause the King of France, her father, was Kich- 
 ard's greatest and most implacable enemy. 
 France and England had been on bad terms 
 with each other not only during the whole of 
 Kichard's reign, but through a great number of 
 reigns preceding ; and now, just before the 
 period when this marriage was proposed, the 
 two nations had been engaged in a long and 
 sanguinary war. But Kichard said that he was 
 going to make peace, and that this marriage was 
 to be the means of confirming it. 
 
 "But she is altogether too young for your 
 majesty," said Richard's counselors. " She is 
 a mere child." 
 
 "True," said the king; "but that is an ob- 
 jection which will grow less and less every 
 year. Besides, I am in no haste. I am young 
 enough myself to wait till she grows up, and, in 
 the mean time, I can have her trained and edu- 
 cated to suit me exactly." 
 
 So, after a great deal of debate among the 
 king's counselors and in Parliament, it was 
 finally decided to send a grand embassage to 
 
312 King Eichakd II. [A.D.1395. 
 
 A grand embassage sent to France. Their reception. 
 
 Paris to propose to the King of France that he 
 should give his little daughter Isabella in mar- 
 riage to Eichard, King of England. 
 
 This embassage consisted of an archbishop, 
 two earls, and twenty knights, attended each by 
 two squires, making forty squires in all, and 
 five hundred horsemen. The party proceeded 
 from London to Dover, then crossed to Calais, 
 which was at this time an English possession, 
 and thence proceeded to Paris. 
 
 When they arrived at Paris they entered the 
 city with great pomp and parade, being received 
 with great honor by the French king, and they 
 were lodged sumptuously in quarters provided 
 for them. 
 
 The embassadors were also very honorably 
 received at court. The king invited them to 
 dine with him, and entertained them handsome- 
 ly, but many objections were made to the pro- 
 posed marriage. 
 
 " How can we," said the French counselors, 
 "give a Princess of France in marriage to our 
 worst and bitterest enemy ?" 
 
 To this the embassadors replied that the mar- 
 riage would establish and confirm a permanent 
 peace between the two countries. 
 
 Then there was another objection. Isabella 
 was already engaged. She had been betrothed 
 
The Little Queen. 313 
 
 Interview of the embassadors with little Isabella. 
 
 some time before to the son of a duke of one of 
 the neighboring countries. But the embassa- 
 dors said that they thought this could be ar- 
 ranged. 
 
 While these negotiations were going on, the 
 embassadors asked permission to see the prin- 
 cess. This at first the king and queen, Isabel- 
 la's father and mother, declined. They said 
 that she was only eight or nine years old, and 
 that such a child would not know at all how to 
 conduct at such an interview. 
 
 However, the interview was granted at last. 
 The embassadors were conducted to an apart- 
 ment in the palace of the Louvre, where the 
 princess and her parents were ready tc receive 
 them. On coming into the presence of the 
 child, the chief embassador advanced to her, 
 and, kneeling down before her, he said, 
 
 " Madam, if it please God, you shall be our 
 lady and queen." 
 
 The princess looked at him attentively while 
 he said this. She was a very beautiful child, 
 with a gentle and thoughtful expression of coun- 
 tenance, and large dark eyes, full of meaning. 
 
 She replied to the embassador of her own ac- 
 cord in a clear, childish voice, 
 
 "Sir, if it please God and my lord and fa- 
 ther that I be Queen of England, I should be 
 
314 King Eichakd II. 
 
 The negotiations go on satisfactorily. 
 
 well pleased, for I have been told that there I 
 shall be a great lady." 
 
 Isabella then took the kneeling embassador 
 by the hand and lifted him up. She then led 
 him to her mother. 
 
 The embassadors were extremely pleased 
 with the appearance and behavior of the prin- 
 cess, and were more than ever desirous of suc- 
 ceeding in their mission. But, after some far- 
 ther negotiations, they received for their answer 
 that the French court were disposed to enter- 
 tain favorably the proposal which Kichard made, 
 but that nothing could be determined upon the 
 subject at that time. 
 
 "We must wait," said the king, "until we 
 can see what arrangement can be made in re- 
 gard to the princess's present engagement, and 
 then, if King Eichard will send to us again, 
 next spring we will give a final answer." 
 
 So slow are the movements and operations 
 in such a case as this among the great, that the 
 embassadors were occupied three weeks in Paris 
 in advancing the business to this point. They 
 were, however, well satisfied with what they 
 had done, and at length took their leave, and 
 returned to London in high spirits with their 
 success, and reported the result to King Eich- 
 ard. He himself was well satisfied too. 
 
A.D.1396.] The Little Queen. 315 
 
 The marriage ceremony is performed by proxy. 
 
 The negotiations went on prosperously dur- 
 ing the winter, and in the spring another em- 
 bassage was sent, larger than the preceding. 
 The attendants of this embassage were several 
 thousand in number, and they occupied a whole 
 street in Paris when they arrived there. By 
 this embassage the arrangement of the marriage 
 was finally concluded. The ceremony was in 
 fact performed, for Isabella was actually mar- 
 ried to Kichard, by proxy as it is called, a cus- 
 tomary mode of conducting marriages between 
 a princess and a king. One of the embassadors, 
 a grand officer of state, personated King Eich- 
 ard on this occasion, and the marriage was cel- 
 ebrated with the greatest possible pomp and 
 splendor. 
 
 Besides the marriage contracts, there were va- 
 rious other treaties and covenants to be drawn 
 up, and signed and sealed. All this business 
 required so much time, that this embassage, like 
 the other, remained three weeks in Paris, and 
 then they returned home to London, and re- 
 ported to Eichard what they had done. 
 
 Still the affair was not yet fully settled. A 
 great many of the nobles and the people of En- 
 gland very strenuously opposed the match, for 
 they wished the war with France to be contin- 
 ued. This was particularly the case with Eich- 
 
816 King Richard II. 
 
 K'u-hui-ii DMbkM arrangements to go ami receive his bride. 
 
 aid's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, lie had 
 greatly distinguished himself in the war thus 
 far, and ho wished it to be continued; so he 
 did all ho could to oppose the consummation of 
 the marriage, and the negotiations and delays 
 were long protracted, Richard, however, per- 
 severed, and at Length tho obstacles were so far 
 removed, that in tho tall of 1896 he began to 
 organize a grand expedition to go with him to 
 tho frontiers of France to receive his bride. 
 
 Immense preparations wore made on both 
 sides tor the ceremonial of this visit. Tho moot- 
 ing was to take place on the frontier, since 
 neither sovereign da rod to trust himself within 
 the dominions of the other, for fear of treach- 
 ery. For tho same reason, each one deemed it 
 necessary to take with him a very largo armed 
 force. Great stores of provisions for the ex- 
 pedition were accordingly prepared, and sent 
 on beforehand; portions being sent down the 
 Thames from London, and the rest being pur- 
 chased in Flanders and other countries on the 
 Continent, and forwarded to Calais by water. 
 The King of France also, for the use of his 
 party, sent stores from Paris to all the towns in 
 the neighborhood of the frontier. 
 
 Among the ladies of the court on both sides 
 there was universal emulation and excitement 
 
A.D.1890J The Little Queen. 817 
 
 Grand preparations for the expedition. 
 
 in respect to plans and preparations which they 
 had to make for the wedding. Great numbers 
 of them were to accompany the expedition, and 
 nothing was talked of but the dresses and dec- 
 orations which they should wear, and the parts 
 that they should respectively perform in the 
 grand parade. Hundreds of armorers, and 
 smiths, and other artisans were employed in 
 repairing and embellishing the armor of the 
 knights and barons, and in designing and exe- 
 cuting new banners, and new caparisons for the 
 horses, richer and more splendid than were ever 
 known before. 
 
 There was a great deal of heartburning and 
 ill-will in respect to the Duke of Lancaster's 
 new wife, with whom the other ladies of the 
 court had declared they would not associate on 
 any terms. The king was determined that she 
 should go on the expedition, and the other la- 
 dies consequently found themselves obliged 
 either to submit to her presence, or forego the 
 grandest display which they would ever have 
 the opportunity to witness as long as they 
 should live. They concluded to submit, though 
 they did it with great reluctance and with a 
 very ill grace. 
 
 At length every thing was ready, and the ex- 
 pedition, leaving London, journeyed to Dover, 
 
318 King Richard II. [A.D.1896. 
 
 The meeting on the French frontier. The pavilions. 
 
 and then crossed the Straits to Calais. A long 
 time was then consumed in negotiations in re- 
 spect to the peace ; for, although Richard him- 
 self was willing to make peace on almost any 
 terms, so that he might obtain his little bride, 
 his uncles and the other leading nobles made 
 great difficulties, and it was a long time before 
 the treaties could be arranged. At length, how- 
 ever, every thing was settled, and the prepara- 
 tions were made for delivering to Richard his 
 bride. 
 
 Two magnificent pavilions were erected near 
 the frontier, one on the French and the other 
 on the English side. These pavilions were for 
 the use of the two monarchs respectively, and 
 of their lords and nobles. Then, in the centre, 
 between these, and, of course, exactly upon the 
 frontier, a third and more open pavilion was set 
 up. In this central pavilion the two kings 
 were to have their first meeting. For either of 
 the kings to have entered first into the domin- 
 ions of the other would have been, in some 
 sense, an acknowledgment of inferiority on his 
 part. So it was contrived that neither should 
 first visit the other, but that they should ad- 
 vance together, each from his own pavilion, 
 and meet in the central one, after which they 
 could visit each other as it might be convenient. 
 
The Little Queen. 319 
 
 Precautions to guard against violence or treachery. 
 
 The first interview therefore took place in the 
 centre pavilion. It was necessary, however, to 
 take some strong precautions against treachery. 
 Accordingly, before the meeting, an oath was 
 administered to both monarchs, by which each 
 one solemnly asseverated that he was acting in 
 good faith in this transaction, and that he had 
 no secret reservation or treachery in his heart, 
 and pledged his sacred honor that the other 
 should suffer no violence, damage, molestation, 
 arrest, constraint, or any other inconvenience 
 whatever during the interview. 
 
 As an additional precaution, a strong force, 
 consisting of four hundred knights on each side, 
 all fully armed, were drawn up on opposite sides 
 of the central pavilion, the English troops on 
 the English side, and the French on the French 
 side.* These troops were arranged in such a 
 manner that the King of England should pass 
 between the ranks of the English knights in 
 going to the pavilion, and the French king be- 
 tween the French knights. 
 
 Things being thus arranged, at the appointed 
 hour the two kings set out together from their 
 own pavilions, and walked, accompanied each 
 
 * Besides these knights, each of the kings had a strong 
 force stationed in reserve, at a little distance from their re- 
 spective pavilions, to be ready in case of any difficulty. 
 
320 King Eichard II. 
 
 Ceremonious interviews. G rand entertainment. 
 
 by a number of dukes and nobles of high rank, 
 to the central pavilion. Here the kings, both 
 being uncovered, approached each other. They 
 saluted each other in a very friendly manner, 
 and held a brief conversation together. Some 
 of the accounts say that the French king, then 
 taking the English king by the hand, led him 
 to the French tent, the French dukes who had 
 accompanied him following with the English 
 dukes who had accompanied Eichard, and that 
 there the whole party partook of refreshment. 
 
 However this may be, the first interview 
 was one mainly of ceremony. Afterward there 
 were other interviews in the different pavilions. 
 These alternating visits were continued for sev- 
 eral days, until at length the time was appoint- 
 ed for a final meeting, at which the little queen 
 was to be delivered into her husband's hands. 
 
 This final grand ceremony took place in the 
 French pavilion. The order of proceeding was 
 as follows. First there was a grand entertain- 
 ment. The table was splendidly laid out, and 
 there was a sideboard loaded with costly plate. 
 At the table the kings were waited upon by 
 dukes. During the dinner, Eichard talked with 
 the King of France about his wife, and about 
 the peace which was now so happily confirmed 
 and established between the two countries. 
 
The Little Queen. 321 
 
 Richard receives his bride. The palanquin. 
 
 After dinner the cloth was removed and the 
 tables were taken away. When the pavilion 
 was cleared a door was opened, and a party of 
 ladies of the French court, headed by the queen, 
 came in, conducting the little princess. As soon 
 as she had entered, the King of France took her 
 by the hand and led her to Richard. Richard 
 received her with a warm welcome, and, lifting 
 her up in his arms, kissed her. He told the 
 King of France that he was fully sensible of the 
 value of such a gift, and that he received it as 
 a pledge of perpetual amity and peace between 
 the two countries. He also, as had been pre- 
 viously agreed upon, solemnly renounced all 
 claim to the throne of France on account of 
 Isabella or her descendants, forever. 
 
 He then immediately committed the princess 
 to the hands of the Duchess of Lancaster and 
 the other ladies, and they at once conveyed her 
 to the door of the tent. Here there was a sort 
 of palanquin, magnificently made and adorned, 
 waiting to receive her. The princess was put 
 into this palanquin, and immediately set out 
 for Calais. Richard and the immense train of 
 knights and nobles followed, and thus, at a very 
 rapid pace, the whole party returned to Calais. 
 
 A few days after this the marriage ceremony 
 was performed anew between Richard and Isa- 
 
 X 
 
322 King Eichaed II. [A.D.1396. 
 
 Excitement in London. Reception of the little queen. 
 
 bella, Richard himself being personally present 
 this time. Great was the parade and great the 
 rejoicing on this occasion. After the marriage, 
 the little queen was again put under the charge 
 of the Duchess of Lancaster and the other En- 
 glish ladies who had been appointed to receive 
 her. 
 
 In the mean time, all London was becoming 
 every day more and more excited in expecta- 
 tion of the arrival of the bridal party there. 
 Great preparations were made for receiving 
 them. At length, about a fortnight after tak- 
 ing leave of her father, Isabella arrived in Lon- 
 don. She spent the first night at the Tower, 
 and on the following day passed through Lon- 
 don to Westminster in a grand procession. An 
 immense concourse of people assembled on the 
 occasion. Indeed, such was the eagerness of 
 the people to see the queen on her arrival in 
 London, that there were nine persons crushed 
 to death by the crowd on London Bridge when 
 she was passing over it. * 
 
 The queen took up her residence at Windsor 
 Cas le, where she was under the charge of the 
 Du hess of Lancaster and other ladies, who were 
 to uperintend her education. King Richard 
 used to come and visit her very often, and on 
 such occasions she was excused from her stud- 
 
A.D.1396.] The Little Queen. 328 
 
 The little queen's mode of life in England. 
 
 ies, and so she was always glad to see him; 
 besides, he used to talk with her and play with 
 her in a very friendly and affectionate manner. 
 He was now about thirty years old, and she 
 was ten. He, however, liked her very much, 
 for she was very beautiful, and very amiable 
 and affectionate in her manners. She liked to 
 have Eichard come and see her too, for his vis- 
 its not only released her for the time from her 
 studies, but he was very gentle and kind to her, 
 and he used to play to her on musical instru- 
 ments, and sing to her, and amuse her in vari- 
 ous other ways. She admired, moreover, the 
 splendor of his dress, for he always came in 
 very magnificent apparel. 
 
 In a word, Bichard and his little queen, not- 
 withstanding the disparity of their years, were 
 both very well pleased with the match which 
 they had made. Eichard was proud of the 
 youth and beauty of his wife, and Isabella was 
 proud of the greatness, power, and glory of her 
 husband. 
 
324 King Eichard II. [A.D.1397. 
 
 Difficulties of Richard' s position. His rivals. 
 
 Chapter XIY. 
 Eichard's Deposition and Death. 
 
 IT was not long after Eichard's marriage to 
 the little queen before the troubles and dif- 
 ficulties in which his government was involved 
 increased in a very alarming degree. The feuds 
 among his uncles, and between his uncles and 
 himself, increased in frequency and bitterness, 
 and many plots and counterplots were formed 
 in respect to the succession ; for Isabella being 
 so young, it was very doubtful whether she 
 would grow up and have children, and, unless 
 she did so, some one or other of Eichard's cous- 
 ins would be heir to the crown. I have spoken 
 of his cousin Henry of Bolingbroke as the prin- 
 cipal of these claimants. There was, however, 
 another one, Eoger, the Earl of March. Eoger 
 was the grandson of Eichard's uncle Lionel, who 
 had died long before. The Duke of Glouces- 
 ter, who had been so bitterly opposed to Eich- 
 ard's marriage with Isabella, and had, as it seem- 
 ed, now become his implacable enemy, conceiv- 
 ed the plan of deposing Eichard and making 
 Eoger king. Isabella, if this plan had been car- 
 
A.D.1397.] The Deposition. 325 
 
 Plot discovered. Eichard arrests his uncle Gloucester. 
 
 ried into effect, was to have been shut up in a 
 prison for all the rest of her days. There were 
 several great nobles joined with the Duke of 
 Gioucester in this conspiracy. 
 
 The plot was betrayed to Eichard by some 
 of the confederates. Richard immediately de- 
 termined to arrest his uncle and bring him to 
 trial. It was necessary, however, to do this se- 
 cretly, before any of the conspirators should be 
 put upon their guard. So he set off one night 
 from his palace in Westminster, with a consid- 
 erable company of armed men, to go to the 
 duke's palace, which was at some distance from 
 London, planning his journey so as to arrive 
 there very early in the morning. The people 
 of London, when they saw the king passing at 
 that late hour, wondered where he was going. 
 
 He arrived very early the next morning at 
 the duke's castle. He sent some of his men for- 
 ward into the court of the castle to ask if the 
 duke were at home. The servants said that 
 he was at home, but he was not yet up. So 
 the messengers sent up to him in his bed-cham- 
 ber to inform him that the king was below, and 
 to ask him to come down and receive him. 
 Gloucester accordingly came down. He was 
 much surprised, but he knew that it would be 
 very unwise for him to show any suspicion, and 
 
■ 
 
 326 King Eichard II. [A.D.1397. 
 
 Extraordinary circumstances of the arrest. 
 
 so, after welcoming the king, he asked what 
 was the object of so early a visit. The king 
 assumed a gay and unconcerned air, as if he 
 were out upon some party of pleasure, and said 
 he wished the duke to go away with him a 
 short distance. So the duke dressed himself 
 and mounted his horse, the king, in the mean 
 time, talking in a merry way with the ladies of 
 the castle who had come down into the court 
 to receive him. When they were ready the 
 whole party rode out of the court, and then the 
 king, suddenly changing his tone, ordered his 
 men to arrest the duke and take him away. 
 
 The duke was never again seen or heard of 
 in England, and for a long time it was not 
 known what had become of him. It was, how- 
 ever, at last said, and generally believed, that 
 he was put on board a ship, and sent secretly 
 to Calais, and shut up in a castle there, and was, 
 after a time, strangled by means of feather beds, 
 or, as others say, by wet towels put over his 
 face, in obedience to orders sent to the castle 
 by Eichard. Several other great noblemen, 
 whom Eichard supposed to be confederates with 
 Gloucester, were arrested by similar stratagems. 
 Two or three of the most powerful of them were 
 brought to a trial before judges in Eichard's in- 
 terest, and, being condemned, were beheaded. 
 
The Deposition. 327 
 
 Richard becomes extremely unpopular. His excesses. 
 
 It is supposed that Eichard did not dare to 
 bring Gloucester himself to trial, on account of 
 the great popularity and vast influence which 
 he enjoyed among the people of England. 
 
 Eichard was very much pleased with the sue-, 
 cess of his measures for thus putting the most 
 formidable of his enemies out of the way, and 
 not long after this his cousin Eoger died, so 
 that Eichard was henceforth relieved of all spe- 
 cial apprehension on his account. But the 
 country was extremely dissatisfied. The Duke J 
 of Gloucester had been very much respected 
 and beloved by the nation. Eichard was hated. 
 His government was tyrannical. His style of 
 living was so extravagant that his expenses 
 were enormous, and the people were taxed be- 
 yond endurance to raise the money required. 
 While, however, he thus spared no expense to 
 secure his own personal aggrandizement and 
 glory, it was generally believed that he cared 
 little for the substantial interests of the coun- 
 try, but was ready to sacrifice them at any time 
 to promote his own selfish ends. 
 
 In the mean time, having killed the princi- 
 pal leaders opposed to him, for a time he had 
 every thing his own way. He obtained the 
 control of Parliament, and caused the most un- 
 just and iniquitous laws to be passed, the ob- 
 
328 King Eichard II. 
 
 Remorse. His fear of Henry Bolingbroke. 
 
 ject of which was to supply him more and more 
 fully with money, and to increase still more his 
 own personal power. He went on in this way 
 until the country was almost ripe for rebellion. 
 
 Still, with all his wealth and splendor, Eich- 
 ard was not happy. He was harassed by per- 
 petual suspicions and anxieties, and his con- 
 science tortured him with reproaches for the 
 executions which he had procured of his uncle 
 Gloucester and the other noblemen, particular- 
 ly the Earl of Arundel, one of the most power- 
 ful and wealthy nobles of England. He used 
 to awake from his sleep at night in horror, cry- 
 ing out that the blood of the earl was all over 
 his bed. 
 
 He was afraid continually of his cousin Hen- 
 ry, who was now in the direct line of succession 
 to the crown, and whom he imagined to be con- 
 spiring against him. He wished very much to 
 find some means of removing him out of the 
 way. An opportunity at length presented it- 
 self. There was a quarrel between Henry and 
 a certain nobleman named Norfolk. Each ac- 
 cused the other of treasonable designs. There 
 was a long difficulty about it, and several plans 
 were formed for a trial of the case. At last it 
 was determined that there should be a trial by 
 single combat between the parties, to determ- 
 
The Deposition. 829 
 
 Coventry. Preparation for the combat. The combat arrested. 
 
 ine the question which of them was the true 
 man. 
 
 The town of Coventry, which is in the cen- 
 tral part of England, was appointed for this 
 combat. The lists were prepared, a pavilion 
 for the use of the king and those who were to 
 act as judges was erected, and an immense con- 
 course of spectators assembled to witness the 
 contest. All the preliminary ceremonies were 
 performed, as usual in those days in personal 
 combats of this character, except that in this 
 case the combatants were to fight on horseback. 
 They came into the lists with horses magnifi- 
 cently caparisoned. Norfolk's horse was cov- 
 ered with crimson velvet, and the trappings of 
 Henry's were equally splendid. When all was 
 ready, the signal was given, and the battle com- 
 menced. After the combatants had made a few 
 passes at each other without effect, the king 
 made a signal, and the heralds cried out, Ho ! 
 Ho ! which was an order for them to stop. The 
 king then directed that their arms should be 
 taken from them, and that they should dis- 
 mount, and take their places in certain chairs 
 which had been provided for them within the 
 lists. These chairs were very gorgeous in style 
 and workmanship, being covered with velvet, 
 and elegantly embroidered. 
 
330 King Eichard II. [A.D.1398. 
 
 Henry is banished from England. 
 
 The assembly waited a long time while the 
 king and those with him held a consultation. 
 At length the king announced that the combat 
 was to proceed no farther, but that both parties 
 were deemed guilty, and that they were both to 
 be banished from the realm. The term of Hen- 
 ry's banishment was ten years ; Norfolk's was 
 for life. 
 
 The country was greatly incensed at this de- 
 cision. There was no proof whatever that Hen- 
 ry had done any thing wrong. Henry, howev- 
 er, submitted to the king's decree, apparently 
 without murmuring, and took his departure. 
 As he journeyed toward Dover, where he was 
 to embark, the people nocked around him at all 
 the towns and villages that he passed through, 
 and mourned his departure ; and when finally 
 he embarked at Dover and went away, they 
 said that the only shield, defense, and comfort 
 of the commonwealth was gone. 
 
 Henry went to Paris, and there told his story 
 to the King of France. The king took his part 
 very decidedly. He received him in a very 
 cordial and friendly manner, and condemned 
 the course which Eichard had pursued. 
 
 Another circumstance occurred to alienate 
 the King of France still more from Eichard. 
 There was a certain French lady, named De 
 
A.D.1398.] The Deposition. 331 
 
 Case of Lady De Courcy. Her dismissal from office. 
 
 Courcy, who had come from France with the 
 little queen, and had since occupied a high po- 
 sition in the queen's household. She was Isa- 
 bella's governess and principal lady of honor. 
 This lady, it seemed, lived in quite an expens- 
 ive style, and by her influence and manage- 
 ment greatly increased the expense of the 
 queen's establishment, which was, of course, en- 
 tirely independent of that of the king. This 
 Lady De Courcy kept eighteen horses for her 
 own personal use, and maintained a large train 
 of attendants to accompany her in state when- 
 ever she appeared in public. She had two or 
 three goldsmiths and jewelers, and two or three 
 furriers, and a proportionate number of other 
 artisans all the time at work, making her dress- 
 es and decorations. Eichard, under pretense 
 that he could not afford all this, dismissed the 
 Lady De Courcy from her office, and sent her 
 home to France. Of course she was very in- 
 dignant at this treatment, and she set out on 
 her return home, prepared to give the King of 
 France a very unfavorable account of his son- 
 in-law. It was some time after this, however, 
 before she arrived at Paris. 
 
 About three months after Henry of Boling- 
 broke was banished from the realm, his father, 
 the Duke of Lancaster, died. He left immense 
 
332 King Richard II. 
 
 Richard seizes his cousin Henry's estates. 
 
 estates, which of right should have descended 
 to his son. Richard had given Henry leave to 
 appoint an attorney to act as his agent during 
 his banishment, and take care of his property ; 
 but, instead of allowing this attorney to take 
 possession of these estates, and hold them for 
 Henry until he should return, the king confis- 
 cated them, and seized them himself. He also, 
 at the same time, revoked the powers which he 
 had granted to the attorney. This transaction 
 awakened one general burst of indignation from 
 one end of England to the other, and greatly 
 increased the hatred which the people bore to 
 the king, and the favor with which they were 
 disposed to regard Henry. 
 
 It must be admitted, in justice to Richard, 
 that his mind was greatly harassed at this time 
 with the troubles and difficulties that surround- 
 ed him, and with his want of money. To com- 
 plete his misfortunes, a rebellion broke out in 
 Ireland. He felt compelled to go himself and 
 quell it. So he collected all the money that he 
 could obtain, and raised an army and equipped 
 a fleet to go across the Irish Sea. He left his 
 uncle, the Duke of York, regent during his ab- 
 sence. 
 
 Before setting out for Ireland, the king went 
 to Windsor to bid the little queen good-bv. He 
 
The Deposition. 333 
 
 Ireland. Richard's farewell to the little queen. 
 
 took his leave of her in a church at "Windsor, 
 where she accompanied him to mass. On leav- 
 ing the church after service, he partook of wine 
 and refreshments with her at the door, and then 
 lifting her up in his arms, he kissed her many 
 times, saying, 
 
 "Adieu, madame. Adieu till we meet again." 
 As soon as Eichard was gone, a great number 
 of the leading and influential people began to 
 form plans to keep him from coming back again, 
 or at least to prevent his ever again ruling over 
 the realm. Henry, who was now in Paris, and 
 who, since his father was dead, was now him- 
 self the Duke of Lancaster, began to receive let- 
 ters from many persons urging him to come to 
 England, and promising him their support in 
 dispossessing Richard of the throne. 
 
 Henry determined at length to comply with 
 these proposals. He found many persons in 
 France to encourage him, and some to join him. 
 With these persons, not more, it is said, than 
 sixty in all, he set sail from the coast of France, 
 and, passing across the Channel, approached the 
 coast of England. He touched at several places, 
 to ascertain what was the feeling of the country 
 toward him. At length he was encouraged to 
 land. The people received him joyfully, and 
 everv bodv flocked to his standard. 
 
334 King Eichard II. [AJD.1399. 
 
 A rebellion. Misfortunes of the king. 
 
 The Duke of York, whom Eichard had left 
 as regent, immediately called a council of Eich- 
 ard's friends to consider what it was best to do. 
 On consultation and inquiry, they found that 
 the country would not support them in any plan 
 for resisting Henry. So they abandoned Eich- 
 ard's cause at once in despair, and fled in vari- 
 ous directions, intent only on saving their own 
 lives. 
 
 The Duke of York went to Windsor Castle, 
 took the queen and her attendants, and convey- 
 ed them up the river to the Castle of Walling- 
 ford, where he thought they would be more safe. 
 
 In the mean time, the king's expedition to 
 Ireland resulted disastrously, and he returned 
 to England. To his utter dismay, he learned, 
 on his arrival, that Henry had landed in En- 
 gland, and was advancing toward London in a 
 triumphant manner. He had no sufficient force 
 under his command to enable him to go and 
 meet his cousin with any hope of success. The 
 only question was how he could save himself 
 from Henry's vengeance. He dismissed the 
 troops that remained with him, and then, with 
 a very few attendants to accompany him, he 
 sought refuge for a while among the castles in 
 Wales, where he was reduced to great destitu- 
 tion and distress, being forced sometimes to sleep 
 
The Deposition. 335 
 
 Conway Castle. The king is made prisoner. 
 
 on straw. At length he went to Conway, which 
 is a town near the northern confines of Wales, 
 and shut himself rip in the castle there — that 
 famous Conway Castle, the ruins of which are 
 so much visited and admired by the tourists of 
 the present day. 
 
 In the mean time, Henry, although he had 
 marched triumphantly through England at the 
 head of a large, though irregular force, had not 
 proclaimed himself king, or taken any other 
 open step inconsistent with his allegiance to 
 Eichard. But now, when he heard that Eich- 
 ard was in Wales, he went thither himself at 
 the head of quite a large army which he had 
 raised in London. He stopped at a town in 
 North Wales called Flint, and, taking his lodg- 
 ings there, he sent forward an earl as his mes- 
 senger to Conway Castle to treat with Eichard. 
 The earl, on being introduced into Eichard's 
 presence, said that his cousin was at Flint Cas- 
 tle, and wished that he would come there to 
 confer with him on matters of great moment. 
 Eichard did not know what to do. He soon 
 reflected, however, that he was completely in 
 Henry's power, and that he might as well make 
 a virtue of necessity, and submit with a good 
 grace ; so he said he would accompany the earl 
 to Flint Castle. 
 
336 King Eichakd II. 
 
 Hi8 interview with Henry at the castle in Wales. 
 
 They had not gone far on the road before a 
 large number of armed men appeared at the 
 road side, in a narrow place between the mount- 
 ains and the sea, where they had been lying in 
 ambush. These men were under the earl's com- 
 mand. Little was said, but Eichard saw that 
 he was a prisoner. 
 
 On his arrival at Flint Castle,* Eichard had 
 an interview with Henry. Henry, when he 
 came into the king's presence, treated him with 
 all due reverence, as if he still acknowledged 
 him as his sovereign. He kneeled repeatedly 
 as he advanced, until at length the king took 
 him by the hand and raised him up, saying, at 
 the same time, 
 
 " Dear cousin, you are welcome." 
 
 Henry replied, 
 
 " My sovereign lord and king, the cause of my 
 coming at this time is to have again the restitu- 
 tion of my person, my lands, and my heritage, 
 through your majesty's gracious permission." 
 
 The king replied, 
 
 " Dear cousin, I am ready to accomplish your 
 will, so that you may enjoy all that is yours 
 without exception." 
 
 * There is some discrepancy in the accounts in respect 
 to the castle where this interview was had, but this is not 
 material. 
 
The Deposition. 337 
 
 The king is conveyed a prisoner to London. 
 
 After some farther insincere and hypocritical 
 conversation of this sort, breakfast was served. 
 After breakfast, Henry conducted the king to 
 a window on the wall, from which, on looking 
 over the plain, a vast number of armed men, 
 who had come from London with Henry, were 
 to be seen. Eichard asked who those men 
 were. Henry replied that they were people of 
 London. 
 
 "And what do they want?" asked Eichard. 
 
 " They want me to take you" said Henry, 
 "and carry you prisoner to the Tower; and 
 there will be no pacifying them unless you go 
 with me." 
 
 Eichard saw at once that it was useless to 
 make any resistance, so he submitted himself 
 entirely to such arrangements as Henry might 
 make. Henry accordingly set out with him on 
 the journey to London, ostensibly escorting him 
 as a king, but really conveying him as a pris- 
 oner. On the journey, the fallen monarch suf- 
 fered many marks of neglect and indignity, but 
 he knew that he was wholly in the power of 
 his enemies, and that it was useless to complain ; 
 indeed, his spirit was completely broken, and 
 he had no heart to make even a struggle. On 
 reaching London, he was conducted to the Tow- 
 er. He was lodged there as he had often been 
 
 Y 
 
338 King Eichakd II. 
 
 Parliament convened. Charges preferred against the king. 
 
 lodged before, only now the guards which sur- 
 rounded him were under the command of his 
 enemies, and were placed there to prevent his 
 escape, instead of to protect him from danger. 
 
 Henry immediately convened a Parliament, 
 issuing the writs, however, in the king's name. 
 This was necessary, to make the Parliament 
 technically legal. When the Parliament met, 
 articles of accusation were formally brought 
 against Eichard. These articles were thirty- 
 three in number. They recapitulated all the 
 political crimes and offenses which Eichard had 
 committed during his life, his cruelties and op- 
 pressions, his wastefulness, his maladministra- 
 tion of public affairs, the illegal and unjust sen- 
 tences of banishment or of death which he had 
 pronounced upon peers of the realm, and vari- 
 ous other high crimes and misdemeanors. 
 
 While these measures were pending, Eich- 
 ard's mind was in a state of dreadful suspense 
 and agitation. Sometimes he sank into the 
 greatest depths of despondency and gloom, and 
 sometimes he raved like a madman, walking to 
 and fro in his apartment in his phrensy, vowing 
 vengeance on his enemies. 
 
 He had interviews from time to time with 
 Henry and the other nobles. At one time Hen- 
 ry went with the Duke of York and others to 
 
A.D.1399.] The Deposition. 339 
 
 Interview between Richard and Henry in the Tower. 
 
 the Tower, and sent a messenger to the king, 
 requesting him to come to the apartment where 
 they were, as they wished to see him. 
 
 " Tell Henry of Lancaster," said the king, 
 " that I shall do no such thing. If he wishes 
 to see me, let him come to me." 
 
 So they came to the king's apartment. Hen- 
 ry took off his cap as he came in, and saluted 
 the king respectfully. The Duke of York was 
 with Henry at this time. Eichard was very 
 angry with the Duke of York, whom he had 
 left regent of England when he went away, but 
 who had made no resistance to Henry's inva- 
 sion. So, as soon as he saw him, he broke forth 
 in a perfect phrensy of vituperation and rage 
 against him, and against his son, who was also 
 present. This produced a violent altercation 
 between them and the king, in which one of 
 them told the king that he lied, and threw down 
 his bonnet before him in token of defiance. 
 Eichard then turned to Henry, and demanded, 
 in a voice of fury, why he was placed thus in 
 confinement, under a guard of armed men. 
 
 "Am I your servant," he demanded, " or 
 am I your king ? And what do you intend to 
 do with me ?" 
 
 " You are my king and lord," replied Henry, 
 calmly, "but the Parliament have determined 
 
340 
 
 King Eichaed II. 
 
 Rage of Richard. 
 
 Portrait of Henry. 
 
 that you are to be kept in confinement for the 
 present, until they can decide in respect to the 
 charges laid against you." 
 
 Here the king uttered a dreadful imprecation, 
 expressive of rage and despair. 
 
 He then demanded that they should let him 
 have his wife. But Henry replied that the 
 council had forbidden that he should see the 
 
 HENRY OP UOLINUUROKB — KING HENRY IV. 
 
- 
 
The Deposition. 343 
 
 The king is compelled to abdicate the crown. 
 
 queen. This exasperated the king more than 
 ever. He walked to and fro across the apart- 
 ment, wringing his hands, and uttering wild and 
 incoherent expressions of helpless rage. 
 
 The end of it was that Eichard was forced to 
 abdicate the crown. He soon saw that it was 
 only by so doing that he could hope to save his 
 life. An assembly was convened, and he for- 
 mally delivered up his crown, and renounced 
 all claim to it forever. He also gave up the 
 globe and sceptre, the emblems of sovereignty, 
 with which he had been invested at his corona- 
 tion. In addition to this ceremony, a written 
 deed of abdication had been drawn up, and 
 this deed was now signed by the king with all 
 the necessary formalities. Proclamation having 
 been made of Kichard's abdication, Henry came 
 forward and claimed the crown as Kichard's 
 rightful successor, and he was at once proclaim- 
 ed king, and conducted to the throne. Eich- 
 ard was conducted back to the Tower, and soon 
 afterward was conveyed, by Henry's order, to 
 a more sure place of confinement — Pontefract 
 Castle, and here was shut up a close prisoner. 
 
 Things remained in this state a short time, 
 and then a rumor arose that a conspiracy was 
 formed by Eichard's friends to murder Henry, 
 and restore Eichard to the throne. A spiked 
 
344 King Eichard II. [A.D.1399. 
 
 Henry desires that Richard should be killed. 
 
 instrument was said to have been found in Hen- 
 ry's bed, put there by some of the conspirators, 
 with a view of destroying him when he lay 
 down. Whether this story of the conspiracy 
 was false or true, one thing is certain, that the 
 existence of Eichard endangered greatly the 
 continuance and security of Henry's power. 
 Henry and his counselors were well aware of 
 this ; and one day, when they had been con- 
 versing on the subject of this danger, Henry 
 said, 
 
 " Have I no faithful friend who will deliver 
 me from this man, whose life is death to me, 
 and whose death would be my life ?" 
 
 Yery soon after this, it was known that Eich- 
 ard was dead. The universal belief was that 
 he was murdered. There were various rumors 
 in respect to the manner in which the deed was 
 perpetrated. The account most precise and 
 positive states that a man named Exton, who 
 had heard the remark of the king, repaired at 
 once to the castle of Pontefract, accompanied by 
 eight desperate men, all well armed, and gained 
 admission to Eichard's room while he was at 
 table. Eichard, seeing his danger, sprang up, 
 and attempted to defend himself. He wrench- 
 ed a weapon out of the hands of one of his as- 
 sailants, and fought with it so furiously that 
 
A.D.1399.] Richard's Death. 345 
 
 Assassination of Richard. Disposal of the body. 
 
 he cut down four of the ruffians before he was 
 overpowered. He was felled to the floor at 
 last by a blow which Exton struck him upon 
 his head, Exton having sprung up upon the 
 chair which Kichard had sat in, and thus ob- 
 tained an advantage by his high position. 
 
 It was necessary to make the fact of Rich- 
 ard's death very certain, and so, soon afterward, 
 the body was placed upon a hearse, and drawn 
 by four black horses to London. Here it was 
 left in a public place for some time, to be view- 
 ed by all who desired to view it. There were 
 no less than twenty thousand persons that avail- 
 ed themselves of the opportunity of satisfying 
 themselves, by the evidence of their senses, that 
 the hated Richard was no more. 
 
 The little queen all this time had been con- 
 fined in another castle. She was now about 
 twelve years old. Her father, when he heard 
 of the misfortunes which had befallen her hus- 
 band, and of the forlorn and helpless condition 
 in which she was placed, was so distressed that 
 he became insane. The other members of the 
 family sent to England to demand that she 
 should be restored to them, but Henry refused 
 this request. He wished to make her the wife 
 of his son, who was now the Prince of Wales, 
 
346 King Kichard II. [A.D.1399. 
 
 The little queen. Her return to France. 
 
 but Isabella would not listen to any such pro- 
 posals. Then Henry wished that she should 
 remain in England as the queen-dowager, and 
 he promised that she should be treated with the 
 greatest respect and consideration as long as she 
 lived ; but neither she herself nor her friends in 
 France would consent to this. At length, after 
 long delay, and many protracted negotiations, 
 it was decided that she should return home. 
 
 The little queen, on her return to France, 
 embarked from Dover. There were five ves- 
 sels appointed to receive her and her suite. 
 There were in attendance upon her two ladies 
 of the royal family, who had the charge of her 
 person, her governess, several maids of honor, 
 and two French chambermaids, whose names 
 were Semonette and Marianne. There were 
 many other persons besides. 
 
 Isabella reached the French frontier at a town 
 between Calais and Boulogne, and there was 
 delivered, with much form and ceremony, to a 
 deputation of French authorities sent forward 
 to receive her. 
 
 She lived in France after this for several 
 years, mourning her husband all the time with 
 faithful and unchanging affection. At length 
 a marriage was arranged for her with her cous- 
 in, a French prince. She was married when 
 
A.D.1399.] Eichard's Death. 347 
 
 Sequel of the story of the little queen. 
 
 she was nineteen years old. She was very- 
 averse to this marriage when it was first pro- 
 posed to her, and could only speak of it with 
 tears ; but, under all the circumstances of the 
 case, she thought that she was not at liberty to 
 decline it, and after she was married she loved 
 her husband very sincerely, and made a very 
 devoted and faithful wife. Three years after 
 her marriage she had a son, and a few hours 
 after the birth of the child she suddenly died. 
 Her husband was almost distracted when he 
 heard that his beloved wife was dead. His 
 grief seemed, for a time, perfectly uncontrol- 
 lable ; but when they brought to him his in- 
 fant child, it seemed in some measure to com- 
 fort him. 
 
 The End. 
 
INSTRUCTION AND ENTERTAINMENT 
 FOR THE YOUNG. 
 
 Books Adapted to Family, School*, Town, Dis- 
 trict, and Sunday-School Libraries, 
 
 By Jacob and John S. C. Abbott. 
 
 Abbotts' Illustrated Histories. 
 
 A Series of Volumes by Jacob and John S. C. Abbott, con- 
 taining severally full accounts of the lives, characters, 
 and exploits of the most distinguished Sovereigns, Poten- 
 tates, and Rulers that have been chiefly renowned among 
 mankind, in the various ages of the world, from the ear- 
 liest periods to the present day. 
 
 The Volumes of this Series are printed and bound uni- 
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 per Volume; Muslin, gilt edges, 15 cents per Volume; 
 Library Sheep, 75 cents per Volume. The Volumes may 
 be obtained separately. 
 
 Cyrus the Great. Alfred the Great. 
 
 Darius the Great. ^-William the Conqueror. 
 
 Xerxes. x Mary Queen of Scots. 
 
 Alexander the Great. ^ Queen Elizabeth. 
 Romulus. 'Charles I. 
 
 Hannibal. Charles II. 
 
 Pyrrhus. Josephine. 
 
 Julius Csesar. Maria Antoinette. 
 
 Cleopatra. Madame Roland. 
 
 Nero. Hernando Cortez. 
 
 The narratives are succint and comprehensive, and are strictly faith- 
 ful to the truth, so far as it can now he ascertained. They are written 
 in a very plain and simple style, hut are not juvenile in their character, 
 nor intended exclusively for the young. The volumes are sufficiently 
 large to allow each history to comprise all the leading facts in the life of 
 the personage who is the suhject of it, and thus to communicate all the 
 information in respect to him which is necessary for the purposes of the 
 general reader. 
 
 The several volumes of the series follow each other, in the main, in 
 regular historical order, and each one continues the general narrative 
 of history down to the period at which the next volume takes up the 
 story; so that the whole series will, when completed, present to the 
 reader a connected line of general history from the present age back to 
 the remotest times. Thus the whole series constitutes a very complete 
 and valuable treasury of historical knowledge, while yet each volume, 
 consisting as it does of a single distinct and entertaining narrative, has 
 all the interest, for the reader, of a tale. 
 
2 INSTRUCTION AND ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE YOUNG. 
 
 Such being the design and character of the works, they would seem 
 to be specially adapted, not only for family reading, but also for district, 
 town, school, and Sunday-school Libraries, as well as for text-books in 
 literary seminaries. 
 
 The volumes already issued have had a wide circulation in all parts 
 of the country — more than two hundred thousand volumes having been 
 already sold. The plan of the series, and the manner in which the de- 
 sign has been carried out by the authors in the execution of it, have 
 been highly commended by the press in all parts of the country, and many 
 individual parents have spoken of the books as exerting a very power- 
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 The whole series has been introduced into the school libraries of sev- 
 eral of the largest and most influential states. 
 
 They have, moreover, been republished in England in many different 
 forms, and have had a wide circulation in that country. 
 
 The Little Learner, by Jacob Abbott, 
 
 The " Little Learner" is a series of juvenile books adapted to the ear- 
 liest age, and designed to assist in the very first development of the mind 
 of a child while under its mother's special care. The series is comprised 
 in Five Volumes, and is intended to constitute a complete manual of in- 
 struction for the child during the five or six first years of life. 
 
 LEARNING TO TALK ; or, Entertaining and Instructive Lessons in 
 the use of Language. Illustrated with 170 Engravings. Small 4to, 
 Muslin, 50 cents. 
 
 This volume is designed to assist the child in its first attempt to ac- 
 quire the use of language. It consists of a great number of beautiful 
 engravings, with simple explanations to be read to the child by a parent, 
 or older brother or sister, with many explanations of words and lessons 
 in pronunciation interposed. 
 
 LEARNING TO THINK. Consisting of Easy and Entertaining Les- 
 sons, designed to assist in the first unfolding of the Reflective and 
 Reasoning Powers of Children. Illustrated with 120 Engravings. 
 Small 4to, Muslin, 50 cents. 
 
 Designed to call out and cultivate the reflective and reasoning powers 
 of the child, and to exercise and develop the imagination. It contains a 
 great number of beautiful engravings, accompanied by explanations and 
 remarks, and with a great number and variety of questions to be read 
 by the parent or teacher, and answered by the child. 
 LEARNING TO READ. Consisting of Easy and Entertaining Les- 
 sons, designed to assist young children in studying the forms of the 
 Letters, and in beginning to Read. Illustrated with 160 Engravings. 
 Small 4to, Muslin, 50 cents. 
 
 This volume is intended to amuse and interest the child in the work 
 of learning the forms of the letters, and in beginning to read. Like all 
 the other volumes of the series, it is profusely illustrated with beautiful 
 engravings. 
 
 LEARNING ABOUT COMMON THINGS ; or, Familiar Instructions 
 for Children in respect to the Objects around them, that attract their 
 Attention, and awaken their Curiosity, in the earliest Years of Life. 
 Illustrated with 120 Engravings. Small 4to, Muslin, 50 cents. 
 The object of this volume is to communicate useful elementary instruc- 
 tion to the child, in respect to the various objects that come within his 
 observation, and attract his attention in the earliest years of his life. 
 It aims to give a right direction to his thoughts on these subjects, and to 
 accustom him to correct and careful habits, both of observation and re- 
 
INSTRUCTION AND ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE YOUNG. 3 
 
 flection in respect to them, and to a correct and discriminating use of 
 language in describing what he sees. 
 
 LEARNING ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG. (Nearly ready.) 
 
 This volume explains those simple and universally admitted principles 
 of moral and religious duty which are applicable to the conduct and char- 
 acter in the earliest years of life. Its aim is to assist in the develop- 
 ment of the dawning conscience of the little learner, and cultivate and 
 enlighten his moral sense. The principles are all presented in a very 
 practical form, and are illustrated w.th a great variety of examples made 
 real and vivid to the child by means of the engravings. 
 
 Harper's Story Books, 
 
 A Monthly Series of Narratives, Biographies, and Tales 
 for the Instruction and Entertainment of the Young. By 
 Jacob Abbott. Embellished with numerous and beautiful 
 Engravings. 
 
 These books are published in monthly Numbers of 160 
 pages, small quarto. They are very beautifully illustra- 
 ted, and are printed on fine calendered paper. 
 
 The Series may be obtained of Booksellers, Periodical 
 Agents, and Postmasters, or from the Publishers, at Three 
 Dollars a Year, or Twenty-five Cents a Number. Sub- 
 scriptions may commence with any Number. The Post- 
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 Quarterly, in advance, is Two Cents. 
 
 The several Numbers are also bound separately in Mus- 
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 at Forty Cents per Volume. 
 
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 Subscribers at Five Dollars a Year, and will be published 
 on the first day of each Month. 
 
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 interest and please the youthful mind, and, at the same time, to impart 
 information that will be useful in subsequent life. Thus they combine 
 the presentation of important and interesting facts with the inculcation 
 of sound principles in taste, morals, and religion, and thus form a wel- 
 come and efficient aid in the work of home education. Though "ot in- 
 tended to be of exclusively religious character, they are so far designed 
 to exert a moral and religious influence on the minds of the readers as 
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 braries. 
 
 The illustrations of the successive numbers are very numerous, and 
 are executed in the highest style of modern xylography. 
 
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