MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 92-80624 MICROFILMED 1992 COL UMBIA Ij N I V E R S I T Y L, I B R A R [F S/NE W Y OR K V as part of the Foundations ol Western Civilization Preservation Project t^f Funded b\^ the MATIONAL ENDOW MENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission fr Columbia Uiiiversitv Librarv 0111 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17. United States Code -- concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materiaL.. Columbia University Library resen^es the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, m its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copvrisht law. AUTHOR: STUBBS, WILLIAM TITLE: EARLY PLANTAGENETS PL A CE : BOSTON DA TE : 1876 COLUMBIA U; 1\ ERSITY LIBRARiiiS PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT Masler Negative # BIBLIOGRAl iiiC MICRO 1 ( ) 1 ( \ l(.j ET Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record Restrictions on Use: r~ -rr 942.03 St9 Stubbs, William, dp, of Oxford, 1825-1901, ... The early Plantagenets, by William Stubbs ... Boston. Estes and Lauriat; Chicago, Jansen, McClurg: ' & CO.; jctc, etc.j 1876. erntLory^^ ^' ^ ""*P« (^"^L front.) 16J-. (^a{/--=^ IMAGE i'LACEMENT: lA f^ TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: /^ j > \ ! f = [IB yJjS/tkl INITIALS J^_^-_ ^V: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOODDRIDGE. CT c MM Association for Information and Image Management 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter LL llllllllllllllllllllllll I I 4 5 niiliiiiliiiiliiii 6 7 iliiiiliiiilii TTTTT 8 9 mill T 10 11 12 iiiliiiiliiiilii"!" TTT 13 L T 14 15 mm Llil Inches 1.0 I.I 1.25 1^ I 'I m 3.2 3.6 1^ 1.4 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 MfiNUFflCTURED TO flllM STfiNDflRDS BY fiPPLIED IMAGE, INC. '^^mi^m^ 94-2.05 St 9 ©olttinltfa |(nittcx*0itu ill Uxc mtix of llctu iJovU 111 ■ •« » I ' 'ill. i» i'M ^1 ;; . \ Epochs of Modern History THE EARLY PLANTAGENETS BY WILLIAM STUBBS, M.A. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD WITH TWO MAPS LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1876 All rights reserved /: 9ff CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Importance of the Epoch— Its character in French and German History— In English History— Geographical Summary— Italy — Germany — France — Spain Page i ^ CHAPTER II. STEPHEN AND MATILDA. Accession of Stephen — Arrest of the Bishops — Election of Matilda —The Anarchy — The Pacification lo CHAPTER III. THE EARLY YEARS OF HENRY II. Terms of Henry's accession — His character — His early reforms — His relations with France — War of Toulouse — Summary of nine years' work 3a 24389 ^^ Confatts. CHAPTER IV. HENRY n. AND THOMAS BECKET. . Page 55 CHAPTER V. THE LATTER YEARS OF HENRY 11. Continued reforms-Revolt of 1173-1174-Renewed mdustiy of Henry-H. later years-Quarrel with Richard-Fall^and 80 CHAPTER VI. RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. Character of the reign-Richard's first visit to England-His cha ^Lrnl : ^T'": p1" ^^ Wcham^Rlhatds second visit-His struggle with Philip-His death . , " • • • 101^ CHAPTER VII. JOHN. '""uUhTh" r'r^.'^'c"" Claims-Loss of Nonnandy-Quarre U™lloh„ .S ^""""^^ ^""^ ■■'= consequences-A^va, of iCHAPTER VIII. HENRY riL ""'rturfh^'H^Ii^f t"""'"'°" °' '^'"•^" Marshall-Hubert LeiS^i" ' ^'' °'"" minister- Foreign favourites - General misgovemment-Papal intrigue and taxation 153 Contents. VII l>l VI \ CHAPTER IX SIMON DE MONTFORT. ""iLi-ot^rc^:;^^^^^^^^^ of ..58- Battle of Lewes-Raront .i °"'^''~^^^"^^^f St. Le4- Closing years . ' go^ern^,ent-Battle of Evesham- Page 179 CHAPTER X. EDWARD L Position and character of Edward-The Crusade-Th The conquest of Wales fhv. ^ , ^^^ ^^^^ssion— system-Growth of Parifa~em." '^''' ^^'^-"— financial • 202 CHAPTER XI. THE CONFIRMATION OF THE CHARTERS. Punishment of the Judges-Banishment of the lew. ^ • u cess,on-The French quarrel-The Ecdes^^LV^^^ '"" Constitutional crisis— The r'r^nfi ecclesiastical quarrel— The liamentof Lincolnlltlsecme? r"T.'' ^'^ Charters-Par- -Edwards death ^^^1"^'-^^ ^^ of Scottish Independence . 227 CHAPTER XII. EDWARD ri. Character of Edward II — p,>r<; r., ♦ Thomas of Unc,xs,er-The D Ll^m rfhll-- °f*"-«- death . '^^^I^nsers— The King's ruin and Index Ml 2=;i V7 MAPS. THE EARLY PLANTAGENETS. Medieval Europe England and France (1152-1327) To face Title M /. 32 \ \ \ CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Importance of the Epoch— Its character in French and German History— In Knglish History— Geographical Summary— Italy- • Germany— France— Spain. ^ y The geographical area of that history which alone de- serves the name has more than once changed. The early home of human society was in Asia. Greece y • and Italy successively became the theatres arSs°and of the world's drama, and in modern times hum2.°^ the real progress of society has moved within ^^^^^T- the limits of Western Christendom. So, too, with the material history. At one period the growth of the life of the world is in its literature, at another in its wars, at another in its institutions. Sometimes everything circles round one great man ; at other times the key to the interest is found in some complex political idea, such as the balance of power, or the realisation of na- tional identity. The successive stages of growth in the Af. H. B The Early Plantage7iets. CH. I. CH. I. more advanced nations are not contemporaneous and may not follow in the same order. The quickened energy of one race finds its expression in commerce and coloni- sation, that of another in internal organisation and elabo- rate training, that of a third in arms, that of a fourth in art and literature. In some the literary growth precedes the political growth, in others it follows it ; in some it is forced into premature luxuriance by national struggles, in others the national struggles themselves engross the strength that would ordinarily find expression in litera- ture. Art has flourished greatly both where political freedom has encouraged the exercise of every natural gift and where political oppression has forced the genius of the people into a channel which seemed least dangerous to the oppressor. Still, on the whole, the European na- tions in modern history emerge from somewhat similar circumstances. Under somewhat similar discipline, and by somewhat similar expedients they feel their way to that national consciousness in which they ultimately di- verge so widely. We may hope, then, to find, in the illus- tration of a definite section or well ascertained epoch of that histor>', sufficient unity of plot and interest, a sufficient number of contrasts and analogies, to save it from being a dry analysis of facts or a mere statement of general laws. Such a period is thnt upon which we now enter ; an epoch which in the history of England extends from the accession of Stephen to the death of Edward II.; that is, from the beginning of the constitutional growth of a consoHdated English people to the opening of the long struggle with France under Edward III. It is scarcely less France. '^'^^^ defined in French and German histor}-. In France it witnesses the process through which the modern kingdom of France was constituted ; Introduction, The epoch to be now treated. A the aggregation of the several provinces which had hitherto recognised only a nominal feudal supremacy, under the direct personal rule of the king, and their in- corporation into a national system of administration. In Germany it comprises a more varied series of great incidents. The process of disruption ^"'"'"^"y- in the German kingdom, never well consolidated, had begun with the great schism between North and South under Henry IV., and furnished one chief element in the quarrel between pope and emperor. During the first half of the twelfth century it worked more deepi)-, if not more widely, in the rivalry between Saxon and Swabian. Under Frederick I. it necessitated the remodelling of the internal arrangements of Germany, the breaking up of the national or dynastic dukedoms. Under Frederick II. it broke up the empire itself, to be reconstituted in a widely different form and with altered aims and preten- sions under Rudolf of Hapsburg. This is bv itself a most eventful history, in which the varieties of' combinations and alternations of public feeling abound with new results and illustrations of the permanence of ancient causes. In the relations of the Empire and the Papacy the same epoch contains one cycle of the great rivalry, the series of struggles which take a new form under Frederick I. and Alexander III., and '^^^^'"P'^'^- come to an end in the contest between Lewis of Bavaria and John XXII. It comprises the whole drama of the Hohenstaufen, and the failure of the great hopes of the world under Henry VII., which resulted in the constitu- tmg of a new theory of relations under the Luxemburg and Hapsburg emperors. Whilst these greater actors are thus preparing for the sti-uggle which forms the later history of European poli- tics, Spain and Italy are passing through a difi'erent discipline. In the midst of all runs the history of the B 3 The Early Plantagcncts. CH. I. Church and the Crusades, which supplies one continuous clue to the r^;adincr of the period, a common ground on which all the actors for a time and from time to time meet. But the interest of the time is not confined to political history. It abounds with character. It is an age in An epoch of ^^'hich there are very many great men, and great men. in ^yhich the great men not only occupy but deserve the first place in the historian's eve. It is their history rather than the history of their peoples that fur- nishes the contribution of the period to the world's progress. This is the heroic period of the middle ages,— the only period during which, on a great scale and" on a great stage, were exemplified the true virtues which were later idealised and debased in the name of chivalrv-,— the age of John of Brienne and Simon de Montfort, of the two great Fredericks, of St. Bernard and Innocent III., and of St. Lewis and Edward I. It is free for the most part from the repulsive features of the ages that precede, and from the vindictive cruelty and political immorality of the age that follows. Manners are more refined than in the Manners earlier age and yet simpler and sincerer than and reii- those of the next ; religion is more distinctly operative for good and less marked by the evils which seem inseparable from its participation in the political action of the world. Yet not even the thir- teenth centur>' was an age of gold, much less those por- tions of the twelfth and fourteenth which come within our present view. It was not an age of prosperity althou-h It was an age of growth ; its gains were gained in great measure by suffering. If Lewis IX. and Edward I. Moral taught the world that kings might be both lesions. good men and strong sovereigns, Henr>' III and Lewis VII. taught it that religious habits and even tirm convictions are too often insufficient to keep the cn. I. hitrodticiion. ^is ^ I weak from falsehood and wrong. The history of Frede- rick II. showed that the race is not always to the swift or the battle to the strong, that of Conrad and Conradin that the right is not always to triumph, and that the vengeance which evil deeds must bring in the end comes in some cases very slowly and with no remedy to those who have suffered. It is but a small section of this great period that we propose to sketch in the present volume;- the history of our own country during this epoch of great men and great causes ; but it comprises the orETg!'''' history of what is one at least of England's inlhi's'^'"''' greatest contributions to the world's progress, ^p*^'^^- The history of England under the early kings of the house of Plantagenet unfolds and traces the growth of that constitution which, far more than any other that the world has ever seen, has kept alive the forms and spirit of free government ; which has been the discipline that formed the great free republic of the present day; which was for ages the beacon of true social freedom that terri- fied the despots abroad and served as a model for the aspirations of hopeful patriots. It is scarcely too much to say that English history, during these ages, is the history of the birth of true political liberty. For, not to forget the services of the Italian republics, or of the German confederations of the middle ages, we cannot fail to see that in their actual results they fell as dead before the great monarchies of the sixteenth century, as the ancient liberties of Athens had fallen ; or where the spirit survived, as in Switzerland, it took a form in which no great nationality could work. It was in England alone that the problem of national self-governmenr was practically solved ; and although under the Tudor and Stewart sovereigns Englishmen themselves ran the risk of forgetting the lesson they had learned and being The Early Planiagenets. CH. I. robbed of the fruits for which their fathers had laboured the men who restored poHtical consciousness, and who recovered the endangered rights, won their victory by argumentative weapons drawn from the storehouse of medieval English history, and by the maintenance and realisation of the spirit of liberty in forms which had survived from earlier days. It is as an introduction to Chamcter the study of English history during the period of th.sbook. of constitutional growth, that we shall attempt to sketch the epoch, not as a Constitutional Historv- but as an outline of the period and of the combinations through which the constitutional growth was workin- the place of England in European history and the cha- racter of the men who helped to make her what she ultimately became. Before we begin, however, we mav take a glance at the map of Europe at the point of time irom which we start. Eastern Europe, from the coasts of the Adriatic to the limits of Mahometan conquest eastward, was sub- Geographi- J^ct to the empeior who reigned at Constanti- caUum- nople, and may, except for its incidental connexion with the Crusades, be left out of the present view. The northern portions were in the hands of half-civilised, half-Christianised races, which formed a barrier dangerous but efficacious between the Byzantine emperor and Western Christendom. Th^ ItZl ^r-^'''^ °^ Hungary, and the acquisitions of Zl , ^^""'^^ ^"^ "^^ ^^^' of the Adriatic fenced medieval Europe from the same enemies. Italy was div-ided between the Normans, who governed Apuha Lothar II the Emperor who was on the throne when our period begins-had become little more than nominal outh of the Alps; the independence of t^e imper" cities and small principalities reaching from the Alps to ♦ I CH. I. Introduction. 4;> -Ajl 4 Rome itself was maintained chiefly by the inability ol the Germans to keep either by administrative organisa- tion or by dynastic alliances a permanent hold upon it. With both the Republican north ^'^'^" and the Normanised south, the political history of the Plantagenet kings came in constant connexion; and even more close and continuous was the relation through the agency of the Church with Rome itself. At the opening of the period. Englishmen were not only studying in the universities of Italy, at Salerno, at Bologna, and at Pavia, but were repaying to Italy, in the services of prelates and statesmen, the debt which England had incurred through Lanfranc and Anselm. An Englishman was soon to be pope. The Norman kings chose ministers and prelates of English birth; and the same Norman power of or- ganisation which worked in England under Henry I. and Roger of Salisbury, worked in similar hnes in Sicily under King Roger and his posterity. Looking northwards, we see Germany, in the middle of the twelfth century, still administered, although un- easily, under the ancient system of the four nations. Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, and Ba- ^"'"'"^"y- varia; four distinct nationalities which refused permanent combination. This system was, however, in its last decay. Its completeness was everywhere broken in upon by the great ecclesiastical principalities which the piety and policy of the emperors had interposed among the great secular states, to break the impulse of aggressive warfare, to serve as models of good order, and to maintain a direct hold in the imperial hands on territories which could not become hereditary in a succession of priests. Not only so; the debateable lands which lay between the great nations were breaking up into minor states: landgraves, margraves, and counts palatine were assuming the func- tions of dukes; the dukes, where they could not maintain >] The Early Plantagenets. CH. I. to be dismembered .olt f dth^o^ ts^ '^ -ILZ" was fa,„„g .0 pieces between .he archbishops of' Co Wne theEl""°"'Tf ^^^'"'^"''-S^ Franconia beVwLn portio'of hi ' "" ■^''"'" ^^■^'""^^ Swabia was the portion of the reigning imperial house, the treasnrv thJZ WestwnrH v.,00 V "^^^ ^"^o absolute division, westward was France under I ewiQ vtt j- -j , from German, b. the .ongnarro^rariLf^lie St provinces. ^^^ recognised as nominal only The<;p nr^ vinces formed a debatenhl^ L , "^^^ P™" which had for one of its rh,>f 7 boundary Ime, of peace between ^L H "'""^ f""«'°"s 'he maintenance *e''rep"est"res' tt 7^^ of c"ht 'T' """^ and Which served its tur^r^'L^L'Sra'd^'I^ r_ Within his fe:dr^rr.:iirr':s- the south, ttrdi"':f -r ' "^^ ^^-'^^ °^ ^''"-'- 1 Maine and Brittle eft hl^T ^fhe ta^'r/ °^" the httle strip of coast between FHnH j '., ^''^" was h.,d by the count of B u^og^rwr: ^.^^he ™'"'^ was likewise king of England Yet fh > i """"^"f was by no means at its d epest dl! H '"^''°'" "^^""'^'^ had kept alive the idea of ! ''"gradation. Lewis VI. V me Idea of a central power, and had ob- CH. r. Introduction. tamed for his son the hand of the heiress of Aquitaine • the schemes were already in operation by which T k m'' were to offer to the provinces a better' and firmer rule than they enjoyed under their petty lords, by which frlud and policy were to split up the principalities and attract them fragment by fragment to the central power, and by which even Normandy itself was in little more than fifty years to be recovered; by which a real central gove™- ment was to be instituted, and the semblance of national .Ton'aVcrataaer '<=" ''' '" '"^'^ "' ^ '"-^- - North of France the imperial provinces of Lower Lorraine, and the debateable lands between Lorraine and Saxony, had much the same indefinite ^ , character as belonged to the southern parts cI™^S. of the intermediate kingdom. They seldom took part oart ofT H /, ' '^'"^'"'' •'""'°"3'^ "^^^ ^^^^ ""finally part of It, and the stronger emperors enforced their right But as a rule they were too distant from the centrS of government to fear much interference, and, enjoying such freedom as they could, they gladly recognised the em perors sway when they required his help. We shall see the princes of Lorraine taking no small part in the ne- gotia ions between England and Germany under Richard and John, but they generally played a game with Flan- b^rrin."""'^'' ' ^-""^''^ '''^'"'^' ^"'^ ^"' ^" indirect bearing on European politics; and we chiefly hear of ^ese lands as furnishing the hordes of mercenary sol- diers for the crusades and internal wars of Europe until almost suddenly the Flemish cities break upon our eye as centres of commerce and political life sevfr°,lf'''ni-'''/P''" '""^ ^^""S'-''' d'"ded into several small kingdoms between closely allied >= . and kindred kings, all employed in the long ^Sugl" crusade of seven centuries against the Moor: a crusade which IS now beginning to have hopes of successful issue 10 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. 1135. Central Spain, on the line of the Tagus, is still in dispute, although Toledo had been taken in 1085, and Saragossa in 1 1 18. Lisbon was taken with the help of the Cru- saders in 1 147. In each of the Christian states of Spain, free institutions of government, national assemblies and local self-government, preserved distinct traces of the Teutonic or Gothic origin of the ruling races ; and even before the English parliament grew to completeness, the Cortes of Castille and Aragon were theoretically complete assemblies of the three estates. The growth of Spain is one of the distinct features of our epoch; but it is a growth apart. There are as yet scarcely more than one or two points at which it comes in contact with the general action of Europe. CHAPTER II. STEPHEN AND MATILDA. Accession of Stephen— Arrest of the Bishops— Election of Matilda— The Anarchy— The Pacification. The English had had hard times under the Conqueror and his sons, but they had learned a great lesson : they Results of ^^^ learned that they were one people. The the^Norman Normans too, the great nobles who had di- vided the land and hoped to create little monarchies of their own in every county and manor, had had hard times. Confiscation, mutilation, exile, death had come heavily upon them. They also had had a lesson to learn, to rid themselves of personal and selfish aims, to consolidate a powerful state under a king of their own race, and to content themselves as servants of the law with the substantial enjoyment of powers which they found themselves too weak to wrest out of the hands of A.D. 1 135. Stephen and Matilda. II the king, the supreme law-giver and administrator of the law. This lesson they had not learned. They had sub- mitted with an ill grace to the strong rule of the king's ministers, the men whom they had taught to guard against their attempts at usurpation. Hence throughout these reigns the Norman king and the English people had been thrown together. They soon learned that they had common aims, finding themselves constantly in array against a common enemy. Hence, too, the English had already an earnest of the final victory. They grew whilst their adversaries wasted. The successive genera- tions of the Normans found their wiser sons learning to call themselves English, while those who would not learn English ways declined in number and strength from year to year. The Conqueror in a measure, and Henry I. with more clearness, perceived this, and foresaw the result. They were careful not only to call themselves ^,^ English kings, but nominally at least to main- of king\nd tain English customs and to rule by English p^°p'^ laws. One by one the great houses which furnished rivals to their power dropped before them, and Henry I. at the close of his reign was so strong that, had it not been for the fact that he had by habit and routine made himself a law to himself, he might easily have played the part of a tyrant. But the forces which he and his father had so sturdily repressed were not extinguished ; nor was the administrative system, by which they at once maintained the rights of the English and kept their own grasp of power, sufficiently consolidated to stand .steadily when the hands that had reared it were taken away. This also, it may seem probable, Henry I. distinctly saw. It was to hii . apprehensions on this r^ * ' l^uestion of account that for years before his death he succession. was busily employed in securing the succession by ever>' 12 The Early Pla7itage4i€ts, a.d. 1135. possible means to his own children. The feeling which led him to do so is not quite capable of simple analysis. He had no great love for his daughter, the empress Matilda; what paternal affection he had to lavish had been spent on his son William, whose death was no doubt the trouble that went nearest to his heart. We cannot suppose that he cared much for the people whom, although they had delivered him more than once in the most trying times, he never scrupled, when it suited his purpose, to treat as slaves. It would almost seem as if he felt that, unless he could anticipate the continuance of power in the hands of his daughter and her offspring, his own tenure of it for the present would be incomplete, and the great glory of the sons of Rollo would suffer diminu- tion in his hands. Three times, therefore, by the most solemn oaths, he had tried to secure the adherence of the nation to her Precautions ^"^ ^^ ^^^ ^on. Vast assemblies had been HenlV^f held, attended by Norman and English alike. Earl Stephen and earl Robert had vied with one another as to who should take the tirst oath of homage ; the concurrence of the Church had been pro- mised and, so far as gratitude and a sense of interest as well as duty could go, had been secured. But all this had been insufficient to stay Henry's misgivings. At the time of his death he had been already four years in Normandy striving to keep peace between Matilda and her husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, between the Nor- mans and the Angevins, and to consolidate his hold on the duchy, which had at last, since the death of his nephew and brother, become indisputably his own. His sudden death occurred in the midst of these designs. It was said and sworn to by his steward Hugh Bigot, a man whose later career adds little to his authority as a witness, that just before his death, provoked by her per- A.D. 1 135. Stephen and Matilda. 13 verseness, he had disinherited his daughter. It may have been so ; the threat of disinheritance may have been a menace which his unexpected death gave him no time to recall. But the very report was enough. He died on December i, 1135; and from that moment the succes- sion was treated as an open question, to be discussed by Normans and Englishmen, together or apart, as they pleased. We may if we choose speculate on the motives that swayed the great men. No doubt the pure Norman nobles would gladly have set aside altogether „,, , J 1 /- T T , Who were the descendants of Harlotta ; all the Normans the compe- together would have refused the rule of Geof- "'°*^ ' frey of Anjou. A new duke, if they must have a duke, might be chosen from the house of Champagne, from among the sons of Adela. the Conqueror's greatest and most famous daughter ; Count Theobald was the reign- ing count, but he was not the eldest son, and as his elder brother had been set aside so might he. Stephen, the next brother, the Count of Mortain and Bou- c» u c ' otepnen of logne, and first baron of Normandy, had R>o>s. already his footing in the land. His wife too was 01 English descent. Her mother was sister to the good queen of Henry I., and whatever the old king had hoped to gain by this blood connexion with his subjects, Stephen might gain by his wife. Stephen was a brave man too, and he had as yet made no enemies. But his success, such as it was, was due to his own promptness. He had, as count of Boulogne, the com- mand of the shortest passage to England. Whilst the Normans were discussing the merits of his brother Theobald, he took on himself to be his own messenger. He remembered how his uncle had won the crown and treasure of William Rufus ; he left the Norman lords to look after the funeral of their dead lord and sailed for 14 The Early PI antage nets. a.d. 1135. Kent ; at Dover and at Canterbury he was received with sullen silence. The men of Kent had no love for the Stephen's Stranger who came, as his predecessor Eustace arrival in had done, to trouble the land ; on he went England. _ , to London, and there he learned that the same prejudice which existed in Normandy against the Angevins was in full force. ' We will not have,' the Lon- doners said, *a stranger to rule over us;' though how Stephen of Champagne was more a stranger than Geoffrey of Anjou it is not easy to see. Anyhow, as nothing suc- ceeds like success, nothing is so potent to secure the name of king as the wearing of the crown. So Stephen went on to Winchester and there secured the crown and treasure. In little more than three weeks he had come again to London and claimed the crown as the elect of the nation. The assembly which saw the coronation and did homage on St. Stephen's day was but a poor substitute Election of for the great councils which had attended the fidJoro'na- summons of William and Henry, and in which tion. Stephen, as a subject, had played a leading part. There was his brother Henry of Winchester, the skilled and politic churchman, who was willing enough to be a king's brother if he might build up ecclesiastical supremacy through him ; there was Archbishop William of Corbeuil, who had undertaken by the most solemn obligations to support Matilda, and who knew that his prerogative vote might decide the contest against Ste- phen, although it could not restore the chances of peace; there was Roger of Salisbury-, the late kings prime minister, the master builder of the constitutional fabric, undecided between duty and the desire of retaining power. Very few of the barons were there ; Hugh Bigot, indeed, with his convenient oath, and a few more whose complicity with Stephen had already thrown them on i A.D. 1 135. Siephcn and Matilda, 15 I ; s him as a sole chance of safety. The rest of the great men present were the citizens of London, Norman barons of a sort, foreign merchants, some few rich Englishmen : all of them men who were used to public business, who knew how Henry L, had held his courts, who believed confidently in force and money. They had first encou- raged Stephen from fear of Geoffrey ; and more or less they held to Stephen as long as he lived. These men constituted the witenagemot that chose him king, and overruled the scruples of the inconstant archbishop. They took upon them to represent the nation that should ratify the election of a new king with their applause. Henry I. was not yet in his grave; but all promises made to him were forgotten. With what seems ^j^^^ ^j^^^. a sort of irony, Stephen issued as his corona- ^^^^\^^^ tion charter a simple promise to observe and compel the observance of all the good laws and good customs of his uncle. The news of the great event travelled rapidly. Count Theobald, vexed and disappointed as he was, refused to contest the crown which his brother already wore ; Geof- frey and Matilda were quarrelling with their own subjects in Anjou ; and Robert of Gloucester, who hated Stephen more than he loved Matilda, saw that he must bide his time. Some crisis must soon occur; he knew that Stephen would soon spend his treasure and break his promises. Meanwhile the old king must be buried like a king ; and the great lords came over with the corpse to Reading where he had built his last resting-place. There Stephen met them, within the twelve days of Christmas; and after the funeral, at Oxford or some- where in the neighbourhood, he arranged terms with them; terms by which he endeavoured, amplifying the words of his charter, to catch the goodwill of each class of his subjects. To the clergy he promised relief from i6 The Early Plantagencts. A.D. 11-36. the exactions of the late reign and freedom of election ; to the barons he promised a relaxation of the forest law the execution of which had been hardened and sharp- ened by Henry I. ; and to the people he promised the abohtion of danegeld. ' These things chiefly and other thmgs besides he vowed to God/ says Henry of Hunt- mgdon, ' but he kept none of them/ The promises were perhaps not insincere at the time ; anyhow they had the desired effect, and united the nation for the moment. The king by this means got time to hasten into the North, where King David of Scots, the uncle of the em- First inva- press, had invaded the country in her name Scots'" '"' '^^^ ^^'^ ki"Ss met at Durham. David had taken Newcastle and Carlisle; Newcastle he surrendered, Carlisle Stephen left in his hands as a bribe for neutrality. It was too much for David, who, although a good king, was a Scot. He agreed to make peace • but he had sworn fealty to his niece : he could not be- come Stephen s man. His son Henry-, however, might bear the burden ; so Henry swore and Stephen sealed the bargain with the gift of Huntingdon, part of the inheri- tance of Henry's mother, the daughter of Waltheof, the last of the English earls. Then Stephen went back to London and so to Oxford. There he published a new charter, intended to comprise the new promises of good government. ** eJT, "? f-^f "'°" '''^'" ^■■'''"'■' ''"''' ■->= *e "^-me of earl Robert of G ouces.er is found among the witnesses, Second 't 's Clear that he had submitted ; but the oath cha^r,er^of which he took to Stephen was a conditional one more like that of a rival potentate than of a dependent; he would be faithful to the king so long as the k,ng should preserve to him his rights and dignifies This was no shght concession, made by Robert doubtless because he saw that his sister's cause was hopeless; but { ^- A.D. 1 136. Stephcji and Matilda, 17 It was no slight obligation for Stephen to undertake Robert had great feudal domains in England, and all the personal friends of his father and sister were at his beck. Stephen might have been safer with him as a de- clared enemy. But for the moment there was peace The charter, published at Oxford, promised good government very circumstantially; the abuses of the Church, of the forests, and of the sheriffs, were all to be remedied. But the enactments made were not nearly so clear or circumstantial as the promises made at the late king's funeral. The first cloud, and it was a very little one, arose soon after. Before Whitsuntide Stephen was taken ill and a rumour went forth that he was dead, p , „. ' The Norman rage for treason began to fer- of x?""" ment. Hugh Bigot, the lord of Norwich, was the first to take up arms ; Baldwin of Redvers, the greatest lord in Devonshire, followed. But the king recovered as quickly as he had sickened. He took Norwich and Exeter, but —deserting thus the uniform policy of his predecessors^ spared the traitors. Cheered by this measure of success he immediately broke the second of his constitutional promises, holding a great court of inquiry into the forests and impleading and punishing at his pleasure. The year 1136 affords little more of interest ; the year 1137 was spent in securing Normandy, which Geoffrey and Matilda were unable to hold against him p • . and in forming a close alliance with France! oF?3f.. When he returned, just before Christmas, he had spent nearly all his money, and the evil day was not far off. Rebellion was again threatening, and a mighty dark cloud nad tor the second time arisen in the North. W^e are noc told by the historians exactly whether the king's misrule made the opening for the revolt, or the revolt forced him mto misrule. Possibly the two evils waxed worse and M. H, ^ i8 The Early Plantagencts. a.d. 1138. worse together : for neither party trusted the other, and under the circumstances every precaution wore the look Second of aggression. Stephen was to the last degree invasion by impolitic ; and to say that is to allow that he iViisS.'"' was more than half dishonest. Still he had the great majority of the people on his side. A premature but general rebellion in the early months of 11 38 was crushed in detail. Castle after castle was taken ; but Robert of Gloucester had now declared himself, and King David, seeing Stephen busily employed in the South, in- vaded Yorkshire. It was a great struggle, but the York- shiremen were equal to the trial. Whether or no they loved Stephen they hated the Scots. The great barons who were on the kings side did their part ; the ancient standards of the northern churches, of St. Peter of York, St. Wilfrid of Ripon, and St. John of Beverley, were hoisted, and all men flew to them. The old archbishop Thurstan, who had struggled victoriously twenty years before against King Henry and the archbishop of Can- „ , e terbury to boot, sent his suffragan to preach Battle of \ ' , , , • 1 • . the Stan- the national cause. Not only the knights with ^^^^' their men-at-arms, but the husbandmen, with their sons and servants, the old Anglo-Saxon militia, the parish priests at the head of their parishioners, streamed forth over hill and plain, and in the Battle of the Stan- dard, as it was called, they beat the Scots at Cowton Moor with such completeness that the rebellion came to nothing in consequence. Stephen felt no small addition of strength from this victory, but he was nearer the end of his treasure and the days of peace were over. Without money it is hard to act like a statesman: the difficulties were too strong for Stephen's gratitude and good faith. Yet he began his misrule not without some method. The power of Robert of Gloucester lay chiefly A. D. 1 1 38. Stephen a?id Matilda. Stephen's imprudent policy. \ % 19 in his influence with the great earls who represented the families of the Conquest. Stephen also would have a court of great earls, but in trying to make himself friends he raised up persistent enemies. He raised „• new men to new earldoms, but as he had no e^all"'" spare domains to bestow, he endowed them with pen> sions charged on the Exchequer : thus impairing the crown revenue at the moment that his personal authority was becoming endangered. To refill the treasury he next debased the coinage. To recruit his mili- ^. tary power, diminished by the rebellion, and dSd. by the fact that the weakness of his administration was letting the county organisation fall into decay, he called m Fleming mercenaries. The very means that ,, he took to strengthen his position ruined him hiponSr' The mercenaries alienated the people: the debased coin- age destroyed the confidence of the merchants and the towns: the hew and unsubstantial earldoms provoked the real earls to further hostility ; and the newly created lords demanded of the king new privileges as the reward and security for their continued services. Still the clergy were faithful ; and the clergy were very powerful : they conducted the mechanism of govern- ment,they filled the national councils; thev , w-ere rich too, and earnest in the preservation fh: ctgf of peace With Henry of Winchester his brother, Ro^er of Salisbury his chief minister, Theobald of Canterbury his nominee, he might still flourish: The Church at all events was sure to outlive the barons. With almost in- credible imprudence Stephen contrived to throw the c ergy mto opposition, and by one fell stroke to break up all the administrative machinery of the realm. It may be that he was growing suspicious, or jealous : it is more probable that he acted under foolish aivice. Anyhow he c a 20 TJie Early Plantagencts. a.d. 1139. Roger of Salisbury, the great justiciar of Henry I., was now an old man. He had contributed more perhaps than Ro^er of ^^Y Other to set Stephen on the throne, and Salisbury. had Hot Only first placed in his hands the sinews of war, but had maintained the revenue of the crown by maintaining the administration of justice and finance. He had not served for naught. He had got his son made chancellor ; two of his nephews were bishops, one of them treasurer of the king as well. He had no humble idea of his own position : he had built castles the like of which for strength and beauty were not found north of the Alps. He had perhaps some intention of holding back when the struggle came and of turning the scale at the last moment as seemed him best, an inten- tion which he shared with the chief of his brethren ; for Henry of Winchester, although the kings brother, was before all things a churchman ; and Theobald of Can- terbury, although he owed his place either to the good will or to the connivance of Stephen, was consistently and more or less actively a faithful adherent to Matilda and her son. How much Stephen knew of the designs of the bishops we know not, what he suspected we can only Arrest of suspect : but the result was unmistakeable. ihe bishops. He tried a surprise that turned to his own discomfiture. He arrested bishop Roger and his nephew, Alexander bishop of Lincoln, and compelled them to resign the castles which he pretended to think they were fortifying against him. At once the church was in arms : sacrilege and impiety determined even Henry of Winchester, who in 11 39 became legate of the see of Rome, against his brother. This would have been hard enough to bear, as many far stronger kings than Stephen had learnt and were to learn to their cost. But the ver>' men on whom his vio- } A.D. 1 141. Stephen and Matilda. 21 ^SSt t V i ♦ 'f!^ i"^ y lence had fallen were his own ministers, justiciar, chan- cellor, and treasurer. The Church was in danger, the ministers were in prison ; justice, taxation, j.^^ ^^_ police, everything else was in abeyance ; and press Matil- just at the right time the empress landed. ''^"''^''• At Christmas 1139 the whole game was up: the land was divided, the empress had the west, Stephen the east ; the Church was in secession from the State. Roger died broken-hearted. Henry was negotiating with the em- press. The administration had come to naught, there were no courts of law, no revenue, no councils of the realm. There was not even strength for an honest open civil war. The year 1 140 is filled with a mere record of anarchy. At the court at Whitsuntide only one bishop attended and he was a foreigner. Stephen we see now obdurate, now penitent ; now energetic, now despondent ; the barons selling their services for new promises from each side. It is now that the period begins which William of Newburgh likens to the days when there was no king in Israel, but every man did what was right Bednniner in his own eyes, nay, not what was right, but of anarchy. what was wrong also, for every lord was king and tyrant in his own house. Castles innumerable sprang up, and as fast as they were built they were filled with devils ; each lord judged and taxed and coined. The feudal spirit of disintegration had for once its full play. Even party union was at an end, and every baron fought on his own behalf. Feudalism had its day, and the com- pleteness of its triumph ensured its fall. All this was not realised at once. The new year 1 141 found Stephen besieging Lincoln, which Stephen was defended by Ranulf, earl of Chester, and '4^" --, , ' ' prisoner, Kobert of Gloucester. Stephen had not yet 1141. been defeated in the field, and he had still by his side a considerable body of barons, though none so great as 22 The Early Plantagcncis. A.D. II41. the almost independent earl whom he was attacking. Now, however, he was outmatched or out-generaled. After a struggle marked chiefly by his own valiant ex- ploits he was taken prisoner, and sent to the empress by her brother as a great prize. The battle of Lincoln was fought on February 2, and a week after Easter, in a great council of bishops, barons, and abbots, Matilda, the Election of cmpress of the Romans, was elected Lady of Matilda. England at Winchester. This assembly was, it must be allowed, mainly clerical: but there is no doubt that it represented the wishes of a great part of the barons, who, so far as they were willing to have a king or queen at all, preferred Matilda to Stephen. Henry of Winchester, however, took advantage of the opportunity to make somewhat extravagant claims on behalf of his order, declaring that the clergy had the right to elect the sovereign, and actually carrying out the cere- mony of election. The citizens of London pleaded hard for the release of Stephen, whom they, six years before, had elected with scarcely less audacious assumption, but in vain. Henr\- was now at the crest of the wave, and he saw the triumph of the Church in the humiliation of his brother. War was the great trial by combat ordained between kings. Stephen had failed in that ordeal; judg- ment of God was declared against him ; like Saul he was found wanting. So Matilda became the Lady of the English ; she was not crowned, because perhaps the solemn consecration which she had received as empress sufficed, or perhaps Stephen's royalty was so far forth indefeasible ; but she acted as full sovereign nevertheless, executed charters, bestowed lands and titles, and exerted power sufticient to show that she had all the pride and tyrannical intolerance of her father, without his prudence or self-control. She, too, was on the crest of her wave and had her litde day. \ s ♦ , ^M ■ 4 ( .\.D. 1 141. Stephen and Matilda. 23 But the barons looked coolly on the triumph ; it w-as their policy that neither competitor should de- Purpose of stroy the other, but that both should grow the barons. weaker and weaker, and so leave room for each several feudatory to grow stronger and stronger. Neither king nor empress had anything like command of his or her friends, or anything like general acceptance. Stephen's fortunes reached their lowest depth when the Londoners a few days before Midsummer received the empress as their sovereign. She had no jvi^tiid: las r4 sooner achieved success than she began to imprudent alienate the friends who had won it for her. The bishop of Winchester, although he Imd not scrupled to sacrifice his brother's title to the exigencies of his policy, bore no grudge against the queen and her chil- dren, and endeavoured to prevail on the empress to guarantee to the latter at least their mother's inheritance. Matilda would be satisfied with nothing less than the utter ruin of the rival house, and although the queen was raising a great army in Kent for Stephen's liberation she refused even to temporise. Henry in disgust retired from court and took up his residence at Winchester ; thither the empress, having in vain attempted to recall him to her side, and having made London too hot to hold her, followed him, and established herself in the royal castle as he had done in the episcopal palace. Winchester thu» witnessed the gathering of the two hosts for a new struggle. The queen brought up her army from Kent, the king of Scots and the earl of Gloucester brought up their forces from the north and west. But the queen showed the most promptitude. The baronage who were not bound to the legate's policy refused to complete the king's ruin, and stood aloof, intending to profit by the common weakness of the competitors. In attempting to- 24 The Early Plaiitagcncts. A.D. 1141. secure the empress's retreat to Devizes, on September The earl of 14, the earl of Gloucester was taken prisoner, Gloucester j ^i ^ • ^ , . ' taken and the two parties from this time for^vard prisoner. played with more equal chances. An ex- change of the two great captives was at once proposed, but mutual distrust, and the desire on both sides to take the utmost advantage of their situation, delayed the ne- gotiation for six weeks. Stephen at Bristol, Robert at Rochester, must have watched the debate with longing eyes. The countess Mabilia of Gloucester was prepared to ship Stephen otf to Ireland if a hair of Robert's head were injured ; the queen demanded no less security for Exchanse her husband's safety. At last, on All Saints' of prisoners. Day, both were released, each leaving security in the hands of the other that the terms should be fairly observed. As soon as they were free they both prepared for a continuance of the struggle. The empress fixed her court again at Oxford ; Stephen, who seems at once to have resumed his royal position, the claims founded by the election of the empress suffering a practical refutation by his release, re-entered London. The legate, still desiring to direct the storm, called a council at Westminster in December, where he apologised for his conduct rather than defended it, and where the king laid a formal com- plaint against the treason of the men who had taken and imprisoned him. But the time for open hostilities was deferred, the certain exhaustion which after a few months more renders the history an absolute blank, was beginning to tell. Six months passed without a sign. By Easter the empress had determined to send for her husband Geoffrey would not obey his wife's summons until he had earl Robert's personal assurance that he should not be made a fool of Earl Robert went to persuade his brother-in-law to throw his sword into the scale. Geof- -<» ^ A.D. 1 142-1 146. Stephen and Matilda. Fi 25 frey determined first to secure Normandy, and kept the earl at work there until the news from England peremp- torily recalled him. Stephen had waited until Robert had left England and then, emerging from his sick room, had pounced down upon Wareham, the strong castle which the earl had entrusted to his son, had taken i^Xn in It, and then hastening northwards, had burnt "'*^* the town of Oxford and shut up the empress in the castle. There she remained until her brother could suc- cour her. He returned at once, recovered Wareham and some castles in Dorset, and called together the forces of his party at Cirencester. But the winter was now ad- vancing ; the empress contrived a romantic escape in the snow from Oxford, and before active war could be re- sumed she directed that the castle should be surrendered So the year 1142 comes to an end, and we see the two parties resting in their exhaustion. The western shires acknowledged Matilda, who reigned at Glou- cester ; the eastern acknowledged Stephen, kingdom who made Kent his head-quarters. The mid- '^''''^'''^• land counties were the seat of languid warfare, partly carried on about Oxford, which was a central debating ground between the two competitors, partly in Lincoln^ shire and Essex, where Stephen had to keep in order those great nobles who aimed at independence. Geoffrey de Mandeville, the earl of Essex, who accepted his earl- dom from both the courts, employed him chiefly in 1143 and 1 144. The earl of Chester, who was uniformly op- posed to Stephen, but who no doubt fought for himself far more than for the empress, held Lincoln as a constant thorn in the royal side. In 1 145 Oxfordshire and Berk- shire were the seat of war ; in 1 146 Stephen surprised the earl of Chester at Northampton and compelled him to give up Lincoln, and now for the first time seems to 26 The Early Plantagcncts. a.d. 1146. have thought himself a king. In despite of all prece- dent and all prejudice, defying a superstition to which even Henr>' II. thought it wise to bow, that no king should wear his crown within the walls of Lincoln, he wore his crown there on Christmas Day. In passing thus rapidly over these years we are but following the example of our historians, who share in the Period of "^ exhaustion of the combatants, recording little anlrchy. but an occasional affray and a complaint of general misery. Neither side had strength to keep down ?ts friends, much less to encounter its enemiesl The price of the support given to both was the same— abso- lute licence to build castles, to practise private war, to hang their private enemies, to plunder their neighbours, to coin their money, to exercise their petty tyrannies as they pleased. England was dismembered. North of the Tees ruled the king of Scots, David the lawgiver and the church builder, under whose rule Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Northumberland were safe; the bishopric of Durham, too, under his wing, had peace. The West of England, as we have seen, was under the earl of Gloucester, who in his sister's name founded earl- doms, and endeavoured to concentrate in the hands of his supporters such vestiges of the administrative organi- sation as still subsisted. But the great earls of the house of Beaumont, Roger of Leicester and Waleran of Meulan, who dominated the midland shires, chose to act as inde- pendent sovereigns and made terms both in England and Normandy as if they had been kings. In all the misery, and exhaustion, and balance of evils, however, time was working. The first generation of actors was leaving the stage, and a new one— if not better, still freed from the burden of odium, duplicity, and dishonesty which had marked the first— came into play. And the balance of change veered now to Stephen's side. A.D, 1 147. Stephen and Matilda. 27 The year 1145 cut off Geoffrey de Mandeville in the midst of his sins, the year 11 43 had seen the death of Miles of Hereford, the empress's most faithful servant. In 1147 the great earl Robert of Gloucester passed away, and it is no small sign of the absolute deadness of r. .. • , . ueparture the country at the time, that both his death of Matilda. and the departure of the empress, which must have almost coincided with it, are not even noticed in the best of the contemporary historians. This year 1 147 sees Stephen again ostensibly the sole ruler ; really, however, devoid of power, as he had al- ways been of counsel, his only strength beinjj t, ., , . , •' * o 1 he second the weakness of everyone else. This year is Crusade, marked by the great crusade of the emperor Conrad of Hohenstaufen, and of Lewis \TI., and Eleanor of Aqui- taine, an expedition in which England nationally had no share, and in which few of the barons took part, but which was recruited to a considerable extent by volun- teers from the English ports. The capture of Lisbon from, the Moors, and the placing of the kingdom of Portugal upon a sound footing thereby, was the work mainly of the English pilgrims, but it was not a national work, and it touches our history merely as suggesting a probability that some of our most turbulent spirits may have joined the crusade, and thereby increased the chances of peace at home. With 1147, then, begins a new series of movements and a new set of actors, the details of whose doings are involved and obscure. The death of earl Robert and the departure of the empress left their party without an ostensible head ; for Geoffrey of Anjou was far more intent on securing Normandy than England, and his son Henry was only just springing into manhood, David of Scotland being looked upon apparently as the guardian of his interests. Henry of Winchester had lost the legation, which had 28 The Early Plantagcnets. a.d. 1148. given him such great strength in the earher part of the struo-de : the popes who had conferred it and Procccdinss ^^^ too ' i: v at Rome. promised to renew it, had rapidly given way to successors who were less favourable, and the chair of St. Peter was now filled by Eugenius III., the friend of St. Bernard, who was at this time the great spiritual power in European politics. The scantiness of our authorities does not allow us to speak with certainty, or to decide whether St. Bernard in the English quarrel was moved by a conviction of Stephen's wrong-doing, or by the in- fluence of the Cistercian order ; it is, however, certain that the king and his brother by attempting to force their nephew, afterwards canonised as St. William, into the see of York, in opposition to the Cistercian abbot of Foun- tains, had thrown that strong order, of which Bernard was the ornament, into opposition ; and it is also cer- tain that the strings of political intrigue were held by Eugenius III., and that every possible advantage was given by him to Henry of Anjou. The Englishman, Nicolas of St. Alban's, afterwards pope Adrian IV., was a close confidant of the pope, and John of Salisbury, the friend of Becket, was a close confidant of Nicolas; Becket was the clerk and secretary of Archbishop Theo- bald of Canterbury. These may have been the three strands of a strong diplomatic cord. The first impulse, however, which was to bring about Stephen's final hu- miliation was, as before, given by himself. In 1148, Eugenius III. called a council at Rheims. Archbishop Theobald asked leave to go. Stephen suspected that a plot would be concocted on behalf of the empress and Quarrel her SOU ; Henry of Winchester suspected that %viih the the archbishop wanted to apply for the lega- archbishop. ^.^^ ^^^^^^ ^^,^g therefore refused, and Theo- bald went without leave; Stephen took the measures usual in such cases, confiscation and threats, and sent A.D. 1 149. Stephen and Matilda. 29 his chief r linisters, Richard de Lucy and William Martel, to counteract the archbishop's influence in the council. This had the efifect of throwing Theobald, who had hitherto only been restrained by his oath of allegiance from taking the side of the empress, openly into the arms of her party ; so much so that he preferred exile to sub- mission, and even went so far as to consecrate the cele- brated Gilbert Foliot, the abbot of Gloucester, and nominee of Henry of Anjou, to the see of Hereford, in opposition to both king and bishops. Neither Stephen nor Theobald was, however, as yet in a position to act freely. Stephen confiscated and Theobald excommuni- cated, but a hollow peace was patched up between them in the autumn by Hugh Bigot and the bishops. In 1 149, Henry of Anjou, now sixteen years old, was knighted by his great uncle David, at Carlisle. Stephen, accounting this the beginning of war, hastened Question of to York ; but went no farther, and that cloud succession. seemed to have passed away. The king was growing old, and it was necessary for him to secure the succes- sion to his son Eustace ; the military interest of the time, always very languid, now flags altogether, and the real business is conducted at the papal court. There, as usual, fortune seems to halt according to the depth of the purses of the rivals, the balance, however, in the main inclining as the pope would have it. Sometimes there is talk of peace ; now the bishop of Winchester is to be made archbishop of Wessex, now Theobald is to have the legation ; now the bishops are persuaded to re- cognise Eustace, now they are forbidden peremptorily to do any such thing. And this goes on for five years, Ste- phen relieving the monotony of the time by an occa- sional expedition into the West of England. Henry, however, was making good use of his time on the Continent. Eustace, whose marriage with Constantia 30 The Early Planiagenets. a.d. 1152. of France, a marriage purchased by the t:easiires of bishop Roger in 1 139, made him a dangerous Henry'oV competitor, laid claim to Normandy. Geof- ^"j*""* frey, after defending it on his son's behalf during two years, finally made it over to him in 1 151 and then "died. Henry the next year married Eleanor of Aquitaine, the divorced wife of Lewis VII., and so se- cured nearly the whole of Western France. By the Christmas of 1152 he was ready to make a bold stroke for England also. And England was ready for him. The bishops were watching for their time. The young Eustace was offend- ing and oppressing. The king had now thrown the great ho'use of Leicester as well as the prelates into determined opposition. The cessation of justice and the prevalence of private war made everyone long for any change that would bring rest. In 11 52 the bishops, acting under instructions from Rome, finally refused to sanction the coronation of Eustace, and Stephen, having again tried force, was compelled to acquiesce. But he Heiry,° saw the end approaching. In January 11 53 "53- Henry of Anjou landed. His friends gathered round him, Stephen and Eustace collected their mer- cenaries. At Malmesbury, and again at Wallingford, the two armies stood face to face, but the great barons re- fused to abide by the decision of arms ; on both occasions they mediated, and the armies separated without a blow. Just after the second meeting Eustace died, and Stephen whose health was failing, who had lost his noble-hearted wife in 11 52, and whose surviving children were too young to be exposed to the chances or risks of a dis- . puted succession, could only give way. The tion^°fo?' negotiations, begun at Wallingford, were car- P*^"" ried on and completed by a treaty at West- minster, concluded in November, in which Stephen A.D. 1 154. Stephai and Matilda. 31 recognised Henry as his heir, and Henry guaranteed the rights of Stephen's children to the inheritance of their parents. At the same time a scheme of reform, which was to replace the administrative system of Henry I. on its basis, was determined on, the details of which form a clue to the early policy of the reign of Henry II. Henry left England some three months after the conclu- sion of the peace. His life, it was said, was not safe, and the pressure which he had to put upon Stephen to induce him to carry out the reforms was only too likely to result in the renewal of war. He went away about Easter 11 54. Stephen blundered on for six Stephen's months and then died ; not of a broken heart, dei?hrii'54. perhaps, as the kings of history generally die, but cer- tainly a disappointed man. The reign of Stephen was, it may be fairly said, the period at which all the evils of feudalism came in Eng- land into full bearing, previous to being cut off and abolished for ever under his great successor. The reign exemplifies to us what the whole century that followed the Conquest must have been if there had not been strong kings like William I. and Henry I. sturdily to repress all the disintegrating designs of their barons and to protect the people. The personal cha- ^ . . r o 1 , tstimate of racter ot Stephen needs no comment. He was Stephen's brave. He was at least so far gentle that none ^^'''■^'^'"• of the atrocious cruelties alleged against his predecessors are attributed to him. He was false, partly no doubt under the pressure of circumstances, which he could not control, but in which he had involved himself by his first betrayal of faith. What may be the legal force of his election by the nation we need not ask : it was the breach of his oath that condemned him. No man trusted him ; and as he trusted no one, knowing that he did not deserve trust, and that those who had betrayed their 32 The Early Planiagaicts. a.d. 1154. oath to his uncle would not hesitate to betray their oaths to him, he expected no one to trust him. He was not great, either for good or for evil, in himself. If he had had more wisdom he might have shown more honesty; certainly if he had been more honest he 'would have gained more credit for wisdom. Had he been either a more unscrupulous knave or a more honest man he would certainly have been far more successful. CHAPTER III. Importance attached by contempo- raries to Henry's accession. THE EARLY YEARS OF HENRY II. Terms of Henry's accession — His character — His early reforms — His relations with France — War of Toulouse — Summary of nine years' work. Very few epochs of history are more clearly marked than the accession of Henry II. Most great eras are determined, and their real importance ascer- tained, long after the event ; the famous Par- liament of Simon de Montfort, in 1265, for instance, is scarcely named by the contempo- rary historians, and only rises into importance as later history unfolds its real bearings. But the succes- sion of Henry is hailed by the writers of his time as a dawn of hope, a certain omen of restoration and refreshing. Often and often, it is true, such omens are discerned on the accession of a new king ; men hasten to salute the rising sun ; good wishes to the new sovereign take the form of prophecy, and, where they are fulfilled, partly help on their own fulfilment. Here, however, we have omens that were amply fulfilled, and an epoch which those who lived in it were the first to recognise. The fact proves how weary England was of Stephen's incompetency, how thoroughly she had learned the miserable consequences . 1 cH. III. Early Years of Henry IL 33 of a feudal system of society unchecked by strong go- vernment, how readily she welcomed the young and inexperienced but strong and, in the main, honest rule of Henry. Henry II. was born in 1133 ; and if we may believe the testimony of Roger Hoveden, who was one of his chaplains, and a very conscientious compiler you h of histories, he was recognised by Henry I. as education of his successor directly after his birth. When ^^™'^- his grandfather died he was two years old. His father and mother made, as we have seen, a very ill-concerted effort to secure the succession, and it was not until the boy was eight years old that the struggle for the crown really began. In 1141 he was brought to England; then no doubt he learned a dutiful hatred of Stephen, and was trained in the use of arms ; but whether he re- ceived his training under his father in France or under his uncle, Robert of Gloucester, in England, or under his great uncle, David of Scotland, we are not told. Only we know that, when he was sixteen, he was knighted at Carlisle by King David ; that, like a wise boy, he determined to secure his French dominions before he attempted the recovery of England; that he succeeded to Normandy and Anjou in 1 1 5 1, when he was eighteen ; married his wife, the Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine who had been divorced from Lewis VII., and secured her in- heritance, when he was nineteen; that he came again to England and forced Stephen to submit to terms when he was twenty; and that at the age of twenty-one he succeeded him on the throne in pursuance of those terms. These dates are sufficient to prove that, although Henr>' might have got considerable experience in arms as a boy and young man, he could scarcely have had yet the educa- tion of a lawgiver. Somewhat of politics he might have learnt, but he had not had time or opportunity to learn M. H, D The Early Plantagenets, ^4 ■•■ "-^ j^iA.rvj J. iLiniu^t litis, CH. nr a regular theory of policy, or to create a method of government which, when the time for action came, he might put into execution. The extraordinary power which he showed when the time for action really arrived was m part a gift of genius ; partly too it arose from his wisdom in choosing experienced advisers, and partly it was an effect of his following the broad lines of his grand- father's administrative reforms. Henry II. was a very great sovereign in manv ways- he was an admirable soldier, most careful in fomiing Character of plans, Wonderfully rapid in the execution of Henry II. ^j^gj-j^ . j^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ cautious and adventu- rous, sparing of human life and moderate in the use ot victory. Yet he was far from being a mild or gentle enemy; and he was economical of human life rather because of its cost in money than from any pitifulness. If he spared an enemy it was only when he had entirely disabled him from doing hann, or when he was fully as- sured of his power to turn him into a friend. His foes accused him of being treacherous, but his treachery mainly consisted in letting them deceive themselves. Thus he was no hero of probity, and his craft may have gone farther in the direction of cunning than was ap- proved by the rough diplomacy of his time. He is said to have had a maxim, that it is easier to repent of words than of deeds, and therefore wiser to break your word than to fulfil an inconvenient obligation ; but it cannot His family ^c Said that the facts of history show him to P«'i<^y- have acted upon this shameless avowal, cap- tious and unscrupulous as his policy more than once appears. He had no doubt a difficult part to play. His dominions brought him into close contact with all the great sovereigns of Europe. He i:ad considerable ambi- tions—for himself, to held fast all that he had acquired by mheritance and marriage; for his sons, to obtain by mar- CH. III. Early Years of Hen.y IL 35 riage or other settlement provinces which, united to their hereditary provision, might make them either a family of allied sovereigns or an imperial federation under himself, and in each form the mightiest house in Christendom! Such a network of design was spread before him from the first. As the head of the house of Anjou the kings and princes of Palestine regarded him as their His great family representative, the grandson of King Ppsifio" in Fulk, and the man created for the re-conquest dom'."'^"' of the East. To him in their utmost need thev sent the offer of their crown, the keys of the Holy Sepulchre and of the Tower of David. As the head of the Normans he was looked up to by the Sicilian king as the presump- tive successor, and had the strange fortune and self- restraint to decline the offer of a second crown. The Italians thought him a likely competitor for the empire when they saw him negotiating for his son John a mar- riage with the heiress of Savoy, which would give him the command of the passes of the Alps ; Spain saw in him the leader of a new crusade against the Moors when he sought for his son Richard a bride in the Princess of Aragon, whose portion would give him the passes of the Pyrenees. Frederick Barbarossa might well feel sus- picious when he heard that English gold was given to build the walls of Milan, and when he remembered that Henry the Lion, the great Duke of Saxony and Bavaria the head of the Welfic house, his cousin and friend whom with heavy heart he had sacrificed to the neces- sities of state, was also son-in-law of the king of the Eng- lish. So wide a system of foreign alliances and designs helped to make Henry both cautious and crafty. Nearer home his ability was tasked by Lewis VIJ., whose whole policy consisted in a habit of pious falsehood, who really acted upon the LewisVii. principle which Henry ironically formulated, and who by D 2 v./ -.6 Thd" Early Plantagcnets, CH. iir. either cowardice or faithlessness made himself far more dangerous than by his strength. Henry was a kind and loving father, but his political game led him to sacrifice the real interest of his children Henry's to the design for their advancement. They mem ofS" soon found out that he used them like chess- chiidren. men, and could not see the love which prompted his design. To his people he was a politic ruler, a great reformer and discipliner ; not a hero or patriot, but a far-seeing king who recognised that the wellbeing of the nation was the surest foundation of his own power. As a lawgiver or financier, or supreme judge, he made his hand felt everywhere; and at the beginning of his reign, when the need of the reforms was forcibly impressed on the minds of his subjects by their recent misery, his reforms were welcomed; he was popular and beloved. By and by, when he had educated a new generation, and when the dark cloud of sin and sorrow and ingratitude settled down upon him, they forgot what he had done in his early days ; but they never forgot how great a king he was. \\'e may not say that he was a good man ; but his temptations were very great, and he was sinned against very much by his wife and children. It is only in a secondary sense that he was a good king, for he loved his power first and his people only second ; but he was good so far as selfish wisdom and deep insight into what is good for them could make him. In his early years he gave promise of something more than this, and some share of the blame that attends his later shortcomings must rest with those who scrupled at nothing that might humiliate and disappoint him. In appearance, we are told, Henry was a tall, stout man, with a short neck, and projecting but very ex- pressive eyes ; he was a careless dresser, a great hunter, a man of business rather than a model of chivalry-; capable T t j^ i r^ A.D. 1 153. Early Years of Henry II. 37 of great exertion, moderate in mea.t and drink, and any- thing but extravagant in personal as opposed to official expenditure. He was a builder of halls and castles, not very much of churches; but that may easily be accounted for. We are glad to have him pictured for us even with this scanty amount of detail, for he is well worth the trouble of an attempt at least to realise his outward presentment. Everyone knows Henry VIII. by sight ; it might be as well if we had as definite an impression of Henry II. We have observed, in sketching the close of the last reign, the existence of certain terms by which Henry and Stephen, after or in preparation for the peace p, <■ ot November 11 53, agreed that the country reform, should be governed. Those terms are not preserved in any formal document, but they occur in two or three of the historians of the time, in a somewhat poetical garb, disguised in language adapted partly from the prophecies of Merlin, king Arthur's seer, which were in vogue at the time, and partly from the words of Holy Scripture; and yet, from the clue they furnish to the reforms actually carried out by Henry, they seem to be based upon certain real articles of agreement. By these terms the administration of justice was to be restored, sheriffs to be appointed to the counties, and a careful examination into their honesty and Terms of justice to be instituted : the castles which pacifica°ion. had been built since the death of Henry I. were to be destroyed; the coinage was to be renewed, a uniform silver currency of lawful weight; the mercenaries who had flooded the kingdom under Stephen were to be sent back to their own countries ; the estates which had been usurped were to go to their lawful owners ; all property alienated from the crown was to be resumed, especially the pensions on the Exchequer with which Stephen en> dowed his newly-created earls ; the royal demesnes were 8 The Early Plantagaicts. A.D. 1153. to be re-stocked, the flocks to return to the hills, the husbandman to the plough, the merchant to his wares ; the swords were to be turned into ploughshares and the spears into pruning-hooks. These sentences give us a clue to Henr)'s reforms ; that is, they show us clearly the evils that first called for Meaning of his attention. The kingdom, divided in two the.e terms. ^,nder Stephen, had been in constant war; the barons on one side had entered on the lands of the' barons on the other ; Stephen had confiscated the estates of Matilda's friends in the East of England, Matilda had retaliated or authonsed reprisals in the West. All this must be set right. The crown had been the greatest loser, and the impoverishment of the crown involved the oppression of the people. Henry gained the crown by a national act ; he must then resume not only the wasteful grants of Stephen but those of his mother also, and, in his character of king, know neither friends nor foes amongst his own people. So the Exchequer, the board which managed the royal revenue, must be placed on its old footing, and under its old managers. With the Exchequer would revive the ancient office of the sheriffs, to whom both the collection of revenue, the administra- tion of justice in the shires, and the maintenance of the military force was entrusted. Thus local security would restore and revive trade and commerce. And when the local administration of the sheriff was revived, no doubt the feudal usurpations of the lords of castles and manors must end. The fortified houses must be pulled down ; no more should the petty tyrants tax and judge their men, fight their battles like independent princes, and coin their money as so many kings. The great Peace should be restored, of which the king was guardian and keeper. In fact, the golden age was to return. Nor was it to be delayed until Henry came to the crown; it \ A.D. 1 1 54. Early Years of He7iry II. 39 ^^ W i Arrival of Henry as successor to Stephen, II54- was to be Stephen's last and expiatory task to bring about these happy results. Stephen, as we saw, wanted either the will or the power to accomplish it. Stephen died on October 25, 1154. Henry was in France at the time, and was not able, owing to the weather, to reach England before December 8. During this time the management of affairs rested with Archbishop Theobald of Canter- bury, and in some measure perhaps with his secretary, Thomas Becket, who had been so busy in negotiating the succession of Henry. Although it was the theory that during the vacancy of the throne all law and police were suspended, and no one could be punished for offences committed in a general abeyance of justice, the country remained quiet during these six weeks. Perhaps the rogues w^ere cowed by the apprehension of a strong king coming, perhaps the religious obedience inculcated by the archbishop was really maintained ; perhaps the same bad weather that kept Henry in Nor- mandy kept thieves and robbers within doors. Nor was there any political rising during the interregnum. Stephen's children were not thought of, at least on this side of the Channel, as rivals to Henry. The Bishop of Winchester had learnt moderation, that might in him well pass for wisdom; he might well feel that Henry's his position was a hazardous one, to be main- advisers. tained only by caution ; and he had no reason, nor excuse for seeking a reason, for evading the compact which he had had a chief hand in making. It shows, however, his importance that as soon as Henry landed, which he did near Southampton, he hastened to Winchester, j^j^^hop of and there visited his powerful kinsman, who, Winchester. as we learn, was now busily employed in collecting statues and sculpture from southern Europe, and with whom he made a friendship which, although once or 40 The Early Plantagcnets. A.D. 1 1 54. twice seriously endangered, was never actually broken. Amongst the other leaders who likewise had learned The wisdom we must count the Empress Matilda, Empress. ^vho, Strange to say, appears to us no more as the arrogant, self-willed virago, but as a sage politician and a wise, modest, pious old lady, living at Rouen, and ruling Normandy in the name of her son with prudent counsel. Not a word is said now of her succeeding to the throne or even resigning her rights to Henry; ail that was regarded as arranged by the settlement made with Stephen. Henry succeeded without a competitor. Stephen's minister, Richard de Lucy, became his minister. Theobald Theobald continued to be, as his office made and Becket. him, the great constitutional adviser; and, to reconcile personal convenience with constitutional prece- dent, he presented his secretary to the king as his future Chancellor. Thomas Becket thus entered on his high and fatal office. All this done, Henr>' appeared at Westminster on the 19th of December, and was there crowned with the Coronation, ^^^^"^onies observed at his grandfather's coro- nation, now more than half a century past, and bound himself by the same ancient and solemn pro- mises which Ethelred had made to Dunstan, and which the Conqueror, Henry I., and Stephen had renewed. Nor, when crowned, did he lose a moment : he issued a charter, as Stephen had done, at his coronation, confirm- ing his grandfather's laws. The same w^eek he held a great court and council at Bermondsey. At once he re- established the Exchequer, recalling to the head of it Bishop Nigel of Ely, whom Stephen had displaced in Banishment ^ ^^o, and Setting at work at once with the Oj^^^'^^cena- busincss of the revenue. From this court at Bermondsey went forth the decree that the Flemish and other foreign mercenaries should leave the t '^fm^ •^ A.D. 1 154. Early Years of He7iry II. 41 kingdom at once, and that the castles built under Stephen should be thrown down. The mercenaries fled forthwith. Their presence was perhaps the most offensive of all insults to the national pride, and the late reign had taught Normans and Englishmen that they had now a common nationality in suffering, if not in conquest. By this article of the agreement Henry faithfully stood. Although he fought all his foreign wars Avith mercenaries, he never but once — and that in the greatest emergency, and to repel foreign mercenaries brought against him by the rebellious earls in 11 74— introduced any such force into England. Even Richard employed in the kingdom no more foreigners than formed his ordinary surround- ings, and it is not until John's reign that we find the country again oppressed and insulted by hired foreign soldiery. The demolition of the castles, which one contempo- rary writer reckons at three hundred and seventy-five, another a little later at eleven hundred and t^ CC4. -11 , , Destruction htteen, was a stilJ greater boon ; for these, had of castles, they been suffered to stand, would not only have fitted England to be a constant scene of civil war, but have continued to afford to their owners a shadow of claim for the e.xercise of those feudal jurisdictions which on the Continent made every baron a petty despot. Castles were unfortunately not entirely destroyed at this time; the older strongholds, which had been built under Henry I., were untouched, and gave trouble enough in the one civil war that marks the reign ; but the legal misuse of them was abolished, and they ceased to be centres of feudal lawlessness. Another measure which must have been taken at the coronation, when all the recognised earls did p^^^ ^^ ^^^ their homage and paid their ceremonial ser- new earls. vices, seems to have been the degrading or cashiering 42 The Early Plantagcncts. A.D. 1 154. of the supposititious earls created by Stephen and Ma- tilda. Some of these may have obtained recognition by getting new grants ; but those who lost endowment and dignity at once, like William of Ypres, the leader of the Flemish mercenaries, could make no terms. They sank to the rank from which they had been so incautiously raised. The resumption of royal estates, and the restoration of the dispossessed on each side, was probably a much Resumption rno^e difficult business than the humiliation of of lands. the earls. Doubtless the enemies of Henry's mother would bear their reverses silently, to avoid entire ruin ; or only those would think of continuing in opposi- tion who had no hope but in terms which might be granted to pertinacious resistance ; but Matilda's sup- porters might well think it hard that they should be called upon to resign their hardwon gains. Still, Henry was a national king ; the resumption of domain was not an Angevin conquest ; it was a national restoration of the state of affairs as it stood before the beginning of the national quarrel. As a matter of fact only two or Resistance three of the nobles made any resistance. Wil- of William Ham of Aumale, the Lord of Holderness, who had commanded at the Battle of the Standard, and who played the part of a petty king in Yorkshire, objected to surrender his great castle at Scarborough. He, of course, had been on Stephen's side, and was, in- deed, a member of the House of Champagne — the son of that Count Stephen who had been brought forward by the Norman earls as competitor with William Rufus. Of Matilda's old friends, Hugh Mortimer, the lord of Wigmore, and Roger of Hereford, the son of Miles the Constable, declined to submit. The King of Scots too, Malcolm IV., grandson of King David and half-cousin of Henry, although the Northern counties had been held 1' )• T •. !■ A.D. 1 155. Early Years of Henry II. 43 in trust for Henry, wished to retain them for himself. In January 1155, however, Henry marched northwards and brought the Count of Aumale to his feet. In March he was at London holding council for the resto- ration of peace and the confirmation of the tli^'maW^ ancient laws. He declared that neither ^^"^'• friend nor foe should be spared. Roger of Hereford immediately surrendered. Hugh of Mortimer still held out, and did not submit until Henry had called out the national force for the capture of Rridgenorth. On exactly the same ground it was that Henry I. had won his victory over Robert of Belesme, when in 1102 he laid the axe to the tree of feudal misrule, and his sub- jects, rejoicing at the overthrow of the oppressor, hailed him as now for the first time a king. This was accom- plished in July. And this was a permanent pacification ; it was nearly twenty years before anything like rebellion reared its head. The history of the first year of Henry's reign is not, however, filled up thus. He restored the administration of justice, and sent itinerant members of his t, . J . . , . Restoration judicial court to enforce the law which had of judica- been so long in abeyance. He himself learned ^"''^" the law as an apt scholar. Even at Bridgenorth he found time to hear suits brought before him as supreme judge ; at Nottingham, whilst he was on his way from Scar- borough, he threatened William Peverell with a charge of having poisoned the Earl of Chester. The very threat caused Peverell to take refuge in a monastery, r TJ 1 u -1 /- rrequent iie held council after council, taking advice councils. from his elders, and making friends everywhere. In one assembly held at Walhngford after Easter he obtained the recognition of his little son William, who afterwards died, as his successor. In another, held at Winchester, at Michaelmas, he proposed that the conquest of Ireland 44 The Early Plantagenets. A.D. 1 157. should be attempted and a kingdom founded there for Proposal to ^^^ brothcr William. The empress objected conquer to this, and it was given up, at least during her life, although the English Pope, Adrian IV., by his famous Bull Laudabilitcr, issued about this time, was already anxious to give the papal authorisation to a scheme that would complete the symmetrical confor- mation of Western Christendom. A national expedition, Henry may have thought, would do more than anything else to consolidate the national unity which was growing rapidly into more than a name. But clearly the time was not come for England, shorn of her Northern provinces, and with the Welsh unsubdued, to attempt foreign conquest; and Henry had other states besides England to take thought for. The whole of the next year he had to spend in Nomiandy and Anjou, and, when he returned in 1157, he found abundant work ready for his hands in his still undetermined relations with Wales and Scotland. His first visit was to the Eastern counties, and there he combined business with pleasure. William of War- enne, Count of Boulogne and Earl of Surrey, the son of Stephen, had received a considerable estate in Norfolk, including the castle of Norwich; and Hugh Hugh Bigot ^^S^^j ^^^ ^^''1 o^ ^^^ county of Norfolk, the humbled, same Hugh who had sworn that Henry I. "^^' disinherited the empress, was very reluctant to accept the strong rule of the new king. Whether Hugh was now acting on behalf of Stephen's family or in opposition to them is not clear. It was his attitude that drew the king into that country. He was made to surrender his castles; and William of Warenne likewise surrendered his special provision, on the understanding that he was to receive his hereditary estates. Henry added solemnity to this visit by holding a solemn court * 1 A.D. 1 157. Early Years of Henry IT, 45 wtftKr^'^ and wearing his crown in state on Whit- Sunday, at St. Edmund's, the second recorded coronation-day second of the reign. This ceremony was a revival of coronation. the great courts held by the Conqueror and his sons on the great festivals, Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, at Gloucester, Westminster, and Winchester, the three chief cities of the South. At such gatherings all the great men attended, both witan and warriors, clerk and lay. The king heard the complaints of his subjects, and de- cided their suits with the advice of his wise men ; the feudal services, by which the great estates were held, were solemnly rendered ; a special peace was set, the breakers of which within the purlieus of the court were liable to special penalties ; and during the gathering, whilst the people were amused and humoured by the show, the king and his really trusted advisers contrived the de- spatch of business. The ceremony of coronation, which gave the name to these courts, was not, as is sometimes supposed, a repetition of the formal rite of initiation by which the king at his accession received the authorisa- tion of God through the hands of the bishops ; the cha- racter so impressed was regarded as indelible, and hence the only way of disposing of a bad king was to kill him. That rite, the solemn consecration and unction, was in- capable of being repeated. The crown was, however, on these occasions placed on the king's head in his chamber by the archbishop of Canterbury, with special prayers, and the court went in procession to mass, where the king made his offering, and afterwards the barons diU their services, as at the real coronation. These courts had been given up by Stephen, as the historian Henry of Huntingdon notes with an expressive lamentation, in the year 1 140, when the clergy ceased to attend them; and he had made only one unlucky attempt, the Lin- coln coronation, in 1 147, to revive them. Henry, however, 46 The Early Plantagcncts. a.d. 1158. renewed the custom on this occasion, and twice after this we find it observed. At the Christmas of this year he was crowned at Lincohi, but not, Hke Stephen, in the cathedral, for he feared the omen ; and at Easter 1 158 he was crowned at Worcester. After that he never actually wore the crown again, although he did occa- sionally hold these formal courts, in order to receive the honorary services by which his courtiers held their estates. This coronation, then, at St. Edmund's was, as usual, turned to purposes of business. The king was ready for a Welsh war; measures were taken for pro- viding men and money. At another council, held in July, at Northampton, the expedition started. This was Henry's first Welsh war, First Welsh ^nd it was no great success. Thd army ad- ^^'•- vanced into North Wales; at Consilt, near Flint, an awkward pass, they were resisted by the Welsh. There Henry of Essex, the Constable, let fall the royal standard, as he declared, by accident. The army, think- ing that the king was killed or the battle lost, fell into confusion, and the day was claimed by the Welsh as a victory. That it was merely a misfortune of little im- portance is proved by the fact that Henry continued his march to Rhuddlan. The ostensible pretext of the expe- pedition being to arrange a quarrel between Owen Gwyn- neth and his brother Cadwalader, there was no overt attempt at conquest. The king returned from Wales into Nottinghamshire to meet the young Malcolm IV., who seems at this time to have finally surrendered his hold on the Northern counties. At Christmas Henry was at Lincoln. In 1 158 he wore his crown, as we have seen, at Easter, at Worcester ; in the summer he went into Cumberland, no doubt to set the machinery of government at work there in due order after the change of rulers ; and at I «^ A.D. 1 158. Early Years of Henry II. ^y Carlisle on Midsummer-day he conferred knighthood on William of Warenne. In August he went to j^^^ ... France, whence he did not return until January toTfance! 1 163. This brings us to the point of time at "58-1163. which the struggle with Eecket begins, to which, with its attendant circumstances, we may devote another chapter. ^ We may, therefore, now take up the thread of the foreign transactions at the beginning of the reign and bring it down to the same point. The geo- graphical extent of Henry's dominions fur- po'l^eSons nishes the leading clue to this part of his ""^ "'^"'^• history. They embraced, speaking roughly and roundly, Normandy, Maine, Touraine, Anjou, Guienne, Poictou, and Gascony. But this statement has to be accepted with some very important limitations. In the first place, each of these states, and each bundle of them, had come to him in a different way— some from his father, some from his mother, some by his wife— and each bundle had been got together by those from whom he received it in similar ways. The result of that was that in each state or bundle of states there was a distinct relation between the lord and his vassals— a constitution, we might call it, by which various rights and privileges and a varying legal system or customs subsisted. What was His law in Normandy was not customary in '"'^.'aj'ops Anjou; and the barons of Poictou had, or vassals'.^ claimed, customs which must, if they could have en- forced them, have produced utter anarchy. Here was a constant and abundant source of administrative diffi- culties, the adjustment of which was one of the causes of Henry's long absence from England. But a second incidental result was, that, as many of these estates came into the common inheritance on very deficient title, conquest in one case, chicanery in another, there were a number of claimants in each, claimants who by 48 The Early Plantagcncts, a.d. 1158. prescriptive right might have lost all chance of recover- ing their lands, but whose very existence gave trouble. In Anjou, for instance, Henry had to contend against his own brother Geoffrey, to whom their father had left certain cities, and who might have a claim to the whole county. In Normandy the heirs of Stephen claimed the county of Mortain ; in Maine, Saintonge, and other Southern provinces, there were the remnants of older dynasties, always ready to give trouble. But further than this, the feudal law, as it was then recognised in France, gave the king, in his manifold His relation Capacities as king, duke, and count, certain to the King rights and certain obligations that are puzzling: of France. , , f ,, , now, and must have been actually bewilder- ing then. Henry as Duke of Normandy inherited the relation, entered into by his ancestor Duke Richard the Fearless, of vassal to the Duke of the Franks; but the Duke of the Franks had now become King of France. It was a serious question how the duties of vassalage were to be defmed. As Duke of Normandy also he had a right to the feudal superiority of Brit- tany. Yet it was no easy thing to say how Brittany could be made to act in case of a quarrel between king and duke. The tie which bound him as Count of Anjou was different from that which bound him as Duke of Normandy to the same King of France. As Count of Poictiers he was feudally bound to the Duke of Aqui- taine, but he was himself duke of Aquitaine, unless he chose to regard his wife as duchess and himself as count, in which case he would be liable to do feudal service to his wife only, and she would be responsible for the service to the King of France ; a very curious relation for a lady who had been married to both. We do not, however, find that this contrivance was employed by Henry himself, although it was used by John. And T A.D. 1 1 58. Early Years of Henry 11. 49 this same point of difficulty arose everywhere. The feudal rights of Aquitaine— the right, that is, to demand homage and service— extended far beyond the limits of the sovereign authority of the dukes, and it was always an object to turn a claim of overlordship into an actual exercise of sovereign authority. The tie between the great county of Toulouse and ihe duchy of Aquitaine was complicated both by legal difficulty and by ques- tions of descent. The rights over Auvergne, claimed by both the king and the duke, were so complex as to be the matter of continual arbitration, and at last were left to settle themselves. And to these must be added, in the third place, local and personal questions; local, such as arose Questions of from uncertain boundaries, the line which se- boundary. parated Normandy from France, the Norman from the French Vexin, being perhaps the chief ; personal, arising from the enmity between Eleanor and her first Personal husband, from the attitude of the house of questions. Champagne, from which Lewis VII. had selected his third wife, and which had the wrongs of Stephen to avenge. The Count of Flanders also was a pertinacious enemy of Henry. Under these circumstances it is not difficult to see that Henry's policy, however ambitious he might be, was peace ; at all events, peace long enough to ^i&^r -'s consolidate his dominions and crush antago- true policy, nism in detail. And this must account for the fact that, with the exception of the war of Toulouse, in which Lewis VII. took part, not as a principal but as an ally of the count, there was no overt wai- between Eleanor's two husbands until it was produced by an entirely new quarrel. It could not be expected that there should be any love or friendship, but there was peace. Henry's policy w^is peace; Lewis was averse to war, having M. II. E 50 The Early Plantagnicts. p^,Yi. 1159. neither skill nor resources. All Henry's French cam- paigns, then, during this period were occasioned by the His French circumstances which have been thus stated, wars. The object of the war of 1 1 56 was, sad to say, the subjugation of Geoffrey of Nantes, the king's own brother, who submitted to him, after he had taken his castles one by one, in the July of that year, and who died two years after. The business of 1 158 was to secure the territories that Geoffrey had left without heirs, and, that done, to prepare for the enforcement of Eleanors claims on Toulouse. The war of Toulouse, with its preparations and re- sults, occupied the greater part of 1 1 59, although the Wirof campaign itself was short. Henry had assem- Toulouse, bled his full court of vassals. William of "59- Warenne, the son of Stephen, and Malcolm, King of Scots, followed him as his liegemen rather than as allies. Becket, as his Chancellor, came with an equip- ment not inferior to that of any of his earls and counts. Altogether it was a very splendid and expensive affair. The king marched to Toulouse; but at Toulouse was his enemy, his friend, his lord, his wife's first husband. Henry could not proceed to extremes against the man whom in his youthful sincerity he still recognised as his feudal lord, and whose personal humiliation would have degraded the idea of royalty, of which he was himself so proud. So he left Becket to continue the siege and returned westward. The French were at- tempting a diversion on the Norman frontier. Tou- louse, therefore, was not taken. Towards the end of the year a truce was made with Lev.is, and early in 1 160 the truce was turned into an alliance. But the alliance brought with it the seeds of new and more fatal divisions. We have noted the way in which Henry used his A.D. 1 160. Early Years of Henry II. 51 children as his tools or as the counters of his game. He began with them very young. His eldest u Herir^' s child, William, to whom we have seen homage sons and done immediately after the coronation, died "^"^"^hters. very soon after, and Henry, who was born in February 1 1 55, and had received conditional homage when he was two months old, now became the heir-apparent. The next child was a daughter, Matilda, born in 1156; in 1 157 Richard was born, at either Oxford or Woodstock; Geoffrey, the next brother, came in 1158; then Eleanor, in 1 162 ; Johanna, in 1 165 ; and last of all John, in 1 167. On Henry's attempts to provide for these children hangs nearly all the interest of his foreign wars ; and the mar- riages of the daughters form a key to the history of the foreign policy of England and her alliances for many ages. The game may be considered to begin with Richard, who at the age of a year was betrothed to the daughter of Raymond of Barcelona and Queen Pctro- u- .,, - . ^ His projects nilla of Aragon. This was done, it appears, of marriage to bind the count and queen either to help or ^"^ ^^'"' to stand neutral in the war of Toulouse. The betrothal came to nothing. Henry, the elder brother, was the next victim. The peace of 1160 assigned him, at the age of five, as husband to the little lady Margaret of France, Lewis's daughter by his second wife, Constance of Castille. This marriage was not only to seal the peace but to secure to Henry a good frontier between Normandy and France. The castles of Gisors and Neafle, and the county of the \^exin, which lay between Normandy and Paris, were to be Margaret's portion, not to be surrendered until the marriage could be for- mally celebrated, and until then to remain in the custody of the Templars. Henry, however, did not stick at trifles. The little Margaret had been put into his hands to learn English or Norman ways. He had the marriage E 2 52 The Early Plaiitagcjicts. a.d. ii6i. celebrated between the two children, and then prevailed Marriage of ^" ^^^ Templars to surrender the castles. Henry and Lewls never for!]^ave that, and the Vexin quar- rel remained an open sore dunng the rest of the reign ; for after the death of the younger Hen'-y his rights were transferred to Richard by another unhappy marriage contract with another of Lewis's daughters. Practically the question was settled by the betrayal of Gisors to Philip, by Gilbert of Vacoeuil, whilst Richard was in Palestine; but the struggle continued until John finally lost not only the Vexin but Normandy itself and all else that he had to lose. For the present, however, the outbreak of war, to which Henry's sharp practice led. was only a brief one. Henry was successful, and peace was concluded in August 1161. The year 1162 he spent in Normandy, holding councils and organising the ad- ministration of the duchy, as he had done that of the kingdom in his first year. During the whole of this long absence from England the country was governed by Richard de Lucy and Earl Encland Robert of Leicester, as the king's chief jus- Sig"^ '^^^ tices or justiciars ; the little Henr>' taking his absence. father's placc on occasions of ceremony, when he happened to be in England. The historians of these years tell us little or nothing of what was going on. There were no wars or revolts ; abbots and bishops died and their successors were appointed ; notably the good Archbishop Theobald, to whom Henry owed so much, died in 1161, and Becket succeeded him. From other sources we learn that Henrv's legal re- forms were in full operation. He had restored the ma- Procjressof chincry of the FLxchequer, and with it the reforms. method of raising revenue which had been arranged in his grandfathers time. That revenue arose, firstly, from the ferm or rent of the counties ; that is, A.D. 1 162. Early Years of Henry II. 53 the sum paid by the sheriffs as royal stewards, by way of composition for the rents of royal lands in N^jjureof the shire, and the ordinary proceeds of the the revenue, tines and other payments made in the ancient shire- moot or county court ; secondly, from the Danegeld, a tax of two shillings on the hide of land, originally levied as tribute to the Danes under Ethelred, but continued, like the Income Tax, as a convenient or- dinary resource; thirdly, from the feudal revenue, arising from the profits of marriages, wardships, transfers of land, successions, and the like, and from the aids de- manded by the king from the several barons or com- munities that owed him feudal support. To these we may add a fourth source, the proceeds of courts of jus- tice, held by the king's officers to determine causes for which the ancient popular courts were not thought com- petent ; such as began with suits between the king's immediate dependents, and by degrees extended to all the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the country. Judi- cature and finance were thus bound very closely to- gether ; the sheriffs were not only tax-gatherers but executors of the law, and every improvement in the law was made to increase the income of the Ex- Administra- chequer. To this we must attribute the means tion of taken by Henry to administer justice in the counties, sending some of the chief members of his judi- cial staff, year after year, through the country, forcing their way into the estates and castles of the most despotic nobles, and spreading the feeling of security together with the sense of loyalty, and the conviction that ready justice was well worth the money that it seemed to cost. Besides the revival of the provincial judicature in this shape Henry, from the beginning of the reign, added form and organisation to the proceedings of his supreme court of justice, which comes into prominence later on. 54 The Early Plantagcncts. CH. III. CII. III. Early Years of Henry II. 55 Next to these his most important measure was the institution or expansion of what is called Scutage. Ac- Scutage cording to the ancient English law every freeman was bound to serve in arms for the defence of his country. That principle Henry only meddled with so far as to direct and improve it. But, according to the feudal custom, quite irrespective of this, every man who held land to the amount of twenty pounds' worth of annual value was obliged to perform or furnish the military service of a knight to his immediate lord. This kept the barons always at the head of bodies of trained knights, who might be regarded as ultimately a part of the king's army, but in case of a rebellion would probably fight for their immediate lord. Henry, by al- lowing his vassals to commute their military service for a money payment, w^ent a long way to disarm this very untrustworthy body; and with the money so raised he hired stipendiaries, with whom he fought his Continental wars. He began to act on this principle in the first year of his reign, when he made the bishops, notwithstanding strong objections from Archbishop Theobald, pay scu- tage for their lands held by knight-service. But in ii 59 he extended the plan very widely, and took money in- stead of service from the whole of his dominions, com- pelling his chief lords to serve in person, but hiring, with the scutages of the inferior tenants, a splendid army of mercenaries, with which he fought the war of Toulouse. By thus disarming the feudal potentates, and forcing his judges into their courts, he completed the process by which he intended to humiliate them. Feudalism in Eng- land, after the reign of Henry II., never reared its head so high as to be again formidable. Other results incidentally followed from the special measures by which this great end was secured ; the more thorough amalgamation of the still unfused nationalities S. i of Norman and Englishman followed from a state of things in which both were equal before the increase of law, and the distinctions or privileges of national ' . 1 r unity. blood were no longer recognised among tree men. The diminution of military power in the hands of the territorial lords left the maintenance of peace and the defence of the country to be undertaken, as it had been of old, by the community of free English- men, locally trained, and armed according to their sub- stance. This created or revived a strong warlike spirit for all national objects, without inspiring the passion for military exploit or glory, which is the bane of what is called a military nation. On the national character, thus in a state of formation, the idea that law is and ought to be supreme was now firmly impressed; and although the further development of the governmental system furnished employment for Henry's later years, and was never neglected, even in the busiest and un- happiest period of his reign, it may be fairly snid that the foundation was laid in the comparative peace and industry of these early years. At the age of thirty Henry had been nearly nine years a king, and had already done a work for which England can never cease to be grateful. CHAPTER IV. HENRY II. AND THOMAS BECKET. The English C:hurch— Schools of Clergy— Rise of Becket— Quarrel with the King — Exile — Death. The history of the Church of England is during many ages the chief part of the history of the nation ; through- out it is a very large part of the history of The English the people. Their ways of thinking, their Church, system of morals, their intellectual growth, their inter- 56 The Early Plajitagmcts. CH. IV. CH. i\-. Hairy IL and Tho7nas Bccket. 57 course with the world outside, cannot be understood but by an examination of the vicissitudes of their rehgious history; and it plays a scarcely less important part in the development of their political institutions. Christianity in England, looked at by the eye of history, means not only the knowledge of God and His salvation by Christ Jesus ; it carries with it, besides, all that is implied in civilisation, national growth and national unity. When the English, under the seven or eight strug- ghng and quarrelling dynasties whose battles form for Under the ccuturics all the recorded life of the island, Heptarchy. ^verc scven or eight distinct nationalities,— some of them tribally connected, some of them using allied systems of law, but otherwise having scarcely anything in common beyond dialects of a common growing fan- guage,— altogether without any common organisation or the desire of forming one,— the conversion in the seventh century taught them to regard themselves as one people. They were formed by St. Gregory and Archbishop Theo- dore into an organised Christian Church, the several dioceses of which represented the several kingdoms or provinces of their divided state. Thus arranged in one or, later on, in two ecclesias- tical provinces, the wise men of the several tribes learned to act in concert; the tribes them- selves, casting aside their tribal superstitions for a common worship, found how few real obstacles there were to prevent them from acting as one people; and from the date of the conversion the ten- dency of the kingdoms was to unite rather than to break up. Although this process was slow— for it went on for four centuries, and was scarcely completed when the Norman Conquest forced the mass of varied national elements into cohesion— it was a unifonn tendency, con- trasted with and counteracting numerous and varying National iKiity first realised. T 1 1 tendencies towards separation. The Church built up the unity of the State, and in so doing it built up the unity of the nation. And one result of this was to make the Church ex- tremely powerful in the state. There was but one arch- bishop of Canterbury when there were seven ^ , . y Great power kmgs ; that archbishop's word was listened of the to with respect and obeyed in all the seven "^""'^'-^■■ kingdoms, in any one of which the command of a strange king would have been received with contempt. The archbishop was exceedingly powerful, both in Kent, his peculiar diocese, and by his alliances with the states and churches of the Continent ; and the diocesan bishops were each, in his own district, a match for their kings, because they knew that in any struggle they could de- pend on the friendship of all their fellows outside their special kingdom, much more than the peccant king could depend on the assistance of his fellow-kings. They could meet in one council, whilst the several kings could only collect their own Witenagemots ; they were, in fact, the rulers of the Church of England, whilst the kings were only kings of Kent, Mcrcia, and Wessex. And when the kingdoms became one under the descendants of Egbert the prelates retained the same power. Never, perhaps, in any country were Church and State more closely united than they were in Anglo-Saxon times in England; for they were united, with careful ,„• ...... ^ ' Alliance of recognition of their distinct functions, not, as church and in Spain and some other lands, confounding '^^'^^'^' what should have been kept distinct, or making the pre- lates great temporal lords, or the national deliberations mere ecclesiastical councils. The prelates, the bishops and abbots, formed, as wise men, qualified by their spiritual office to be counsellors, a very large proportion of the Witenagemot, the ruling council of the kingdom; in 53 The Early Plantagencts. CH. IV. en. IV. Henry II. and Thomas Becket. 59 every county the bishop sat in the courts with the sheriflf, to declare the Divine law, as the sheriff did the secular law. The clergy were, for all moral offences, under the same rules as the laity, save that it was the bishop who in the common court attended to their case and saw- substantial justice enforced. So matters went on until the Conquest, the changes which took place in the mean- time affecting the spiritual discipline and character rather than the constitutional position of the clergy; making them, that is, more or less secular in their views and aims, but not lessening their power. Nay, evcf^- change strengthened rather than weakened their position. Dun- stan was the prime minister of the last mighty king ; but under Canute the prelates were even more powerful than under Edgar; and we can understand from the history of the Conquest that it was not the fault of the English- born bishops that William the Norman obtained the vic- tory in the council as well as in the held. The Conquest had some very marked effects in this region of life. In the first place, it was absolutely neces- Effects of sary for William to have the clergy on his theConquest gj^^ . -f j^^ j^^^ ^^^ j^^ ^^.^^^j^ ^^^^^ nothing Church. to form a counterpoise for the power of the barons, which was already threatening, nor would he have been able to get hold of the people. He wanted to be a national king— the protector of the national Church, the king of the English people. In the hope of securing the support of the bishops he waited for three years before he took summary measures against those who were still secretly or overtly hostile. When patience was seen to be unavailing he deposed Archbishop Sti- gand, no doubt at the instigation of the Pope, but in his place he set, not a Norman, who would have alienated the people, but a wise Italian, under whose counsels the Norman king and the English people were drawn together 1 almost as closely as the king and people had been before the Normans came. Two eflfects resulted directly from this. The Conquest of England coincides in point of time with the great period of the Hildebran- ^>, „-, , ,. .- , *^ ihe Hilde- dme ideas ; — the reign of Gregory VII. and of brandine the popes appointed by his influence, in which '"^"^■'''• a new interpretation was put on the relations of Church and State, and a jealous equilibrium established or at- tempted, the result of which in France and Germany seemed to be the tying of the State to the chariot-wheels of the Church. Of such a consummation there was in England no chance under William and Lanfranc, but nevertheless the coincidence in time was not without its consequences. England and her Church were drawn into the vortex of the Church politics of Europe, and the relations between Church and State in England were re- modelled upon the new type. The courts of the bishops for the trial of clerks were separated from the courts of the sheriffs ; the election of prelates was arranged by a sort of compromise between royal pov.er and canonical form; the bishops became barons and held their lands, or a portion of them, by the new baronial tenure; and their councils were marked off by a much broader line than they had been from the councils of the Witan, or the courts of the king. Then, too, a new concordat was arranged to regulate the exercise of the papal power, for which, before the Conquest, the English had had a respectful but ver)- distant regard. The king insisted that when there were rival popes he should ,., , , . r X- Church be the judge to determine which should be ac- policy o*^ the cepted in England ; no suit or appeal should ^^"^"'^'■'^'■• be carried to Rome without his leave ; none of his servarts should be excommunicated against his sovereign will ; no legate should land without his permission ; no ecclesias- tical legislation should be enforced without his approval. 6o TJic Early Plantagcncts. CH. IV. Norman bi.>hups. Within these limits the bishops had a great deal of new power; and, as they succeeded in a great measure .|.j^g to the implicit faith and obedience which the nation had given to their own English bishops, they were able to exert a very strong influence towards keeping the nation together. They were kept by the king upon his side, as opposed to the barons, and securmg them he secured the nation. This is clear even in the history of Anselm, who, although opposed to and persecuted by the king, never forgot his duty to the people so far as to take part with the barons against him. Besides the bishops, however, there was in the monasteries a great reserve fund of national feeling; and, up to the reign of Henry II., what little we can trace of English feeling is to be traced in the writings of the monks; they kept alive an English sentiment as distinct from the new national idea that was to blend English and Norman, the king and the bishops more distinctly representing the latter. These things being so, we are able to understand what it was that gave the prelates the great moral weight In Stephens they possesscd in Stephen's reign, and to per- reign. ceivc how vast was the importance of main- taining: the alliance between them and the crovvn. We learn too how the many streams of influence which they guided reacted upon the clerical body itself, and pro- duced several distinct schools or classes of ecclesiastical character. In the first place, the kings had taken pre- Secular \dX^'s> to be their ministers, and had promoted school. their ministers to be prelates. Bishop Roger of Salisbury was not only a powerful ecclesiastic but the royal justiciar, the head of all the courts and the treasurer of all the money of the king. Under him was a set of clerks who would set the fashion for one school of the clergy, secular in mind and aim and J T CH. IV Henry IL and Thomas Beckct, 6i manners ; often married men, so far as their right to marry can be accounted valid, canons of cathedrals, where they provided for their children and made estates for themseh es ; worthy men most of them, the predeces- sors of the clerical magistrates of this day, far greater in quarter sessions and county meetings than in convocation or missionary work. That was one very strong school — a school that required tender handling both pohtically and ecclesiastically, and in the view of which we can under- stand how important it was for Bishop Roger to secure the consent of the Pope and the archbishops to his hold- ing secular office. For it is said that, worldly man as he was, he refused, as a matter of conscience as well as policy, to act as the king's minister without the distinct approval of the saintly Anselm and his successors, the archbishops as well as the popes. A second class was composed of the ecclesiastical politicians, men, that is, who were before all things Churchmen, of whom Henry of Winchester Ecciesiasti- is one of the best specimens. These did not, ^^"^ school. like the first, sink the clergyman in the statesman or the magistrate, and accept preferment as the mere reward of political service ; they were not the Sadducees but the Pharisees of the time ; they would not marry, nor sell livings, nor act against the Pope ; whatever secular power they could get they would use for the benefit of the Church. To say this is not to condemn them ; they saw in the service of the Church the clearest and readiest way of serving both God and man. These men were in tone and morals a higher set of men than the first. They were in close alliance with the see of Rome ; they knew far more than the others about the state of Christendom gene- rally; they were scholars, the founders of universities, the protectors of culture ; they prevented the Church from becoming thoroughly secular; and, if there was a higher 62 The Early Plantagcncts. CH. IV. cii. IV. Henry II. and Thomas Bcckct. 63 Spiritual school. type, it was a type also much more liable to be assumed by counterfeits. It is a great mistake to undervalue this school. It would seem probable that both Archbishop Theobald as well as his rival, Henry of Winchester, should be referred to it ; it was the party of the Legate, the party that tried to introduce the Civil law as a subject of study at Oxford ; that went abroad to attend councils, that bearded royal tyranny in Church and State. And there was a higher type— a type we will call it rather than a school, because the graces that compose it The ^"^^ "ot learned in men's schools, but under the discipline of a Divine master: the pure religious type, which we find, with some alloy, in such men as Anselm ; the meek and quiet spirit that has a zeal for righteousness and a love of souls ; that will bear all things for itself, but rise up to avenge the cause of the helpless. It is the noblest type ; to which belong the true hero, the true martyr, the saint indeed ; but it is a type which to man's eye is the most easily counterfeited by the popular hero, the self-advertising saint, the professed candidate for mock martyrdom. Such, then, are the three types of character which perhaps mark all ages of the Church, but \\hich come out most markedly and distinctly in the present period ; and the career of Thomas Bcckct, the hero of this part of our national history, cannot be understood without a clear idea of them. For Bcckct was a vcr\' extraordinary man. In what- ever he did he acted on Solomon's maxim and did it with Rise of h's might ; and, as he passed through each of BecSr the phases of character that mark these three schools, his career may be divided accord- ingly. In the first phase he was a secular Churchman. He had been trained in the house of his father, a Lon- don merchant of Norman blood ; he had been schooled ; 4- in accounts by Master Octonummi ; he had learned accomplishments in the hall of Richer de TAigle ; and then had entered Archbishop Theobald's family as secre- tary. There, no doubt, he got his knowledge of civil and canon law, and learned the business of a diploma- tist. Although Theobald was an ecclesiastical politician of the second stamp, he did not as yet impress that character on Becket. John of Salisbury, who also was Theobald's secretary, took some such impression from him, and shows it in a constant criticism of Becket from the point of view natural to the Churchman pure and simple. Still Becket learned that side of life during these experi- ences. With this training he was qualified not only to conduct the negotiations that secured the crown to Henry IL, but, when he was made Chancellor, as he Becket as was at the king's accession, he was able to chancellor. manage and extend the duties of his office, magnifying it as no other Chancellor had done before. The Chan- cellor was a sort of secretary of state for all depart- ments; he was not so powerful in himself, or in his con- stitutional position, as the Justiciar, but he had nearly as much real power through his hold on the king, whose letters he wrote, whose accounts he kept, all whose formal business he recorded, and all whose irksome duties he took off his hands. We find Becket, then, in this rela- tion to Henry, who had no great love of public pomp, and was willing enough that the Chancellor should share the expense. Bcckct at this time appears to us as a very splendid officer, with a great retinue of knights and a great revenue from his churches ; an indefatigable letter- writer, an efficient judge, a cunning financier ; as yet not a great Churchman in politics, for the plan of taxing the bishops by scutage was set on foot by him, in opposition to the archbishop, his old patron. Henry might well think himself fortunate in securing 64 The Early Plantagencts, CH. IV A.D. 1 162. Henry II. and Thomas Becket. 65 such a minister ; he threw himself with entire confidence upon him, and there can be Httle doubt that Henrv > ' ' . . - confidence in him. Becket is to a great degree answerable for the grievous change in Henry's character that followed their quarrel. To anticipate, however: when Henry made his Chancellor Archbishop of Canterbury he contemplated securing, at the head of the Church, a friend who would sympathise with his statesmanlike designs, who was sure to be able to sway the clergy, and who would repay his unbounded confidence with grateful and straightforward service. But he was sadly disap- pointed. Becket was not the man to exchange his splendid position as Chancellor for the life of an ordi- nary commonplace archbishop. If he undertook the office he would act up to the highest idea of its require- ments. Never was there a more sudden transformation. One day he is, like Roger of Salisbury, hear- ing causes and framing his budget, counting out his money, or reviewing his knights ; the next he is Lanfranc in miniature, or not so much Lan- franc as Anselm, or Henry of Winchester rather than Anselm;— the high ecclesiastic pure and simple, coveting the Papal legation, hand-and-glove with the Pope, full of ideas based on the canon law, which his friend Gratian had just codified in the Decretum ; an unflinching and unreasoning supporter of all clerical claims, right or wrong, wholesome or unwholesome, consistent or incon- sistent with his previous life and opinions. A third phase awaits him. In his new character he is pretty sure to quarrel with the king ; he does so, and, „ , . however just his cause, he does it in a way Becket in -' . ,. • 1 • r u* his later that does not prejudice us m his favour ; nis phase. object is studiously to put Henry in the wrong ; his conduct in the last degree exasperating. The second form of clerical life has served its time. Becket becomes archbishop. X. ji Now he comes out as a candidate for martyrdom. In this also he will do what he has to do with all his might. Unmindful of the early friendship of the king, from whom certainly he had never met with anything but kindness and the most familiar courtesy, he declares that he is in danger of his life; he insists on celebrating mass at the altar of the protomartyr and on appearing at court carrying his own cross, partly as a safeguard against violence which he has no reason to apprehend, partly in an awful miserable parody of the great day of Calvary. All the rest of his career is the same — a morbid craving after the honours of martyrdom, or confessorship at the least, a crafty policy for embroiling Henry with his many enemies, combined with a plausible allegation that it is all for his good and that of the Church. There is in him some greatness of character still, some sincerity, we will hope, but no self-renunciation, no self-restraint, no earnest striving for peace ; little, very little, care of the flock over which he was overseer, and which was left shepherdless. On a calm review of his life it seems that Becket was most at home in his first position; that in the second he was ill at ease and awkward, divided between two aims and failing in conduct as well as in cause. The third phase becomes him least of all ; and it is only by con- sidering the horrible sufferings of his death that we pardon him for the conduct that brought the pains of death upon him. Briefly to recapitulate the stages of the career of this man, to whom even his enemies allow the title of great- ness: Becket was Chancellor from the accession of Henry, in 1 154, to his consecration as Archbishop of Canterbury, in June 1 162. The king was still in France when Theo- bald died. It was regarded as a somewhat unprecedented measure to make so secular a person as Thomas arch- bishop, but Henry's influence and his own were supreme ; Af, //. F 66 The Early Plan tagaicts. a. d. i i 63. A. D. 1 163. Henry II. and Thomas Becket. 67 he had accepted the dignity with misgiving, but having He becomes accepted he did not hesitate about the mea- archbishop. sures to be taken for securing it ; the consent of the bishops and monks was readily yielded, and one who was, so far as his place of birth could make him, an Englishman, sat once more on the throne of Augustine. All difliculties were smoothed for him; he had not to go to Rome for his pall; it arrived a few weeks after his consecration ; and he had six months' quiet and peace in his new dignity before the king came home. This was on the 25th of January, 1163. Henry found, as was to be expected, that considerable arrears of busi- Henry ness had accrued during his long absence. France/'^°'" He was meditating a new expedition to Wales "63. in order to enforce the homage due to him and his heir-apparent from the Welsh princes. The trial of Henry of Essex, who had been accused of treason and cowardice by Robert de Montfort, for letting fall the standard at the battle of Consilt, and who was to defend himself by battle, was also imminent ; and already some apprehensions were felt as to the conduct of the arch- Becket bishop. He had resigned, much in opposition resigns the to Hcnry's wishcs, his office of Chancellor on ancer>. j^.^ appointment as Archbishop, and had pro- cured from the justiciar a full acquittance for all sums which he had received for the king during his tenure of office, especially the sums arising from the revenue of vacant churches, a source of royal income which was specially administered by the Chancellor. But he had not resigned the great manors of Eye and Berkhampstead, which were usually held as part of the endowment of the Chancellor ; these it is possible he intended to hold only until his successor was appointed, but no successor was appointed, and the strange spectacle was seen of the Archbishop of Canterbury holding two of the finest pieces - -y ,4 of the secular patronage of the crown without any official claim to them. In another point he also showed himself somewhat grasping, or at all events made enemies at a moment when his experience should have taught him to be He enforces more politic. Many of the old possessions of jS^ghtTot^his his see had come into the hands of laymen, see. who were negligent in performing their services, and probably wished to throw off the yoke of the archbishop altogether. In order to enforce his rights he acted in a way which, justifiable as it was, was nevertheless impru- dent; the result was a royal inquest as to the arch episco- pal fiefs ; and, as the archbishop was already becoming unpopular, the verdict of the jury robbed him of some rights that might otherwise have been successfully main- tained. In all this, however, he had no coolness with the king. Henry felt the resignation of the Chancellor- ship as a personal wrong ; for although in the empire, where the king looked for precedents, the office of Arch- chancellor was held by the three great metropolitans of Germany, Becket had followed the usage almost un- broken in England in resigning; but there was nothing like an open quarrel. The spring of the year passed without one. In March the fate of Henry of Essex was decided ; he was defeated in the battle trial, and the king, greatly against his will it was said— for he believed that the fall of the standard at Consilt was accidental— was obliged by the Norman law to declare his estates for- feited. Henry of Essex retired into a monastery, and so Henry lost one of his best friends. Immediately after the king went on his second Welsh war, a sort of military demonstration marked second by no great victory or defeat, and on the i st of "^Veish war, J uly called a great court at Woodstock to wit- ness the homage of the princes. The King of Scots F 2 68 The Early Plant agenets. a.d. 1163. made his appearance at this* council, and took the oath Council at of fcaltv to the htlle heir to the crown, Henry, Woodstock. ^yi^Q ^yjjg j^Q^y eight years old. This was the first opportunity that the archbishop had of declaring his new attitude. He had been to visit the Pope, Alexander HI., at Tours. The Pope was in exile from his see ; the Emperor Frederick had refused to ac- knowledge him, and had set up an anti-Pope. Henry and Lewis, the former probably acting by Becket's ad- vice, had in 1 161 recognised Alexander as the Catholic Pope, and Tours, where he was holding the council at which Becket attended, was within the dominions of Henr)'. We can only suppose that the sight of the Pope kindled Becket's zeal, not so much against his own lord who was the Pope's friend, as against the secular power in general, of which he had been hitherto a devoted servant. Anyhow he came back from Tours prepared, on the first question, ecclesiastical or civil, which might arise, to take the lead of what might be called the constitutional opposition; an idea which is, for the first time since the Norman Conquest, realised in the course he now adopted. As we should expect from our knowledge of later crises of the kmd, the bone of contention was found in Becket ^'^^ financial budget of the year. Henry was, opposes the as usual, busy with his reforms ; and, although financial he was an honest reformer and had a true point. genius for organisation, he liked best those methods of reform that helped to fill the treasury. The administration of the sherifts was during the latter part of the reign a frequent subject of legislative ordinance, and the question which now arose was connected with it. The sheriff's had been used to collect from every hicfe of land in their counties two shillings annually. It was probable that out of this a fixed sum was paid to the A.D. 1 163. Henry 11. and Thomas Becket. 69 king under the name of Danegeld ; certainly the Dane- geld was collected at that rate; and as the sums paid into the Exchequer under that name were very small compared with the extent of land that paid the tax, it is probable that the sheriff's paid a fixed composition, and retained the surplus as wages for their services in the execution of judicial work and police. Our authorities merely tell us that the king proposed to take away this money from the sheriffs and bring it into the general ac- count of his revenue. Thomas opposed this; declared that the tax should not go into the king's coffers, that the sheriffs should not lose, that the lands of his Church should pay the tax no more ; and he seems to have prevailed, although we have no positive record to that eff"ect. Two most important points stand out here. This is the first case of any express opposition being made to the kings financial dealings since the Con- Constitu- quest. Until now, whenever money was [Importance wanted, the royal necessities were laid before of this act. the national council, the assembly of bishops, earls, and great vassals, and others, and the method was explained by which they were to be satisfied. If he wanted to marry his daughter, or to knight his son, or to tax his towns, he said how much he wanted, and it was paid. Here, how- ever, we find the archbishop objecting to the royal deal- ings with the Danegeld, and thus asserting the right of the national council to refuse as well as to bestow money. A second point is, that although ever since the reign of Ethelred, with the exception of a few years of Abolition of Edward the Confessor— who had, as the legend l^a"^g^>d. ran, seen the devil sitting on the money-bags, and had, therefore, abolished the tax — and certainly ever since the days of the Conqueror, this odious impost had been levied, from this time it ceases to appear by this name in the 70 The EiD'ly Plajitagcncts. a.d. 1163. new enemies. rolls of the revenue. Henry II. devised other ways of getting money, but the Danegeld appears no more ; and thus the first fruit of the first constitutional opposition is the abolition of the most ancient property-tax, imjxjsed as a bribe for the Danes. We may well imagine how angry Henry would be at this interference, coming from the man who had hitherto been his right hand in all his reforms. The courtiers saw it, and they began to raise little suits against Becket on little matters by which they Beckets might harass him, and, like true courtiers, accelerate the fall of a falling man. Such in particular were John the Marshal, who raised a claim touching one of the archiepiscopal manors, and William of Eynesford, who claimed the patronage of one of the archbishop's livings, and was rashly excommuni- cated by Becket, contrary to the custom which forbade Council at ^^ cxcommunication of a tenant-in-chief of Westmin- the king without the king's licence. Three ster, 1 163. , °, , ** months, however, passed away; and on the 1st of October the king called a great council at West- minster. In the process of his reforms he was startled by the absolute immunity accorded to the crimes of the clergy, or persons pretending to be clergymen, through the double jurisdiction of the lay and Church courts which was introduced by William the Conqueror. Any clerk who committed a crime could be demanded by his bishop from the officers of secular justice, and sen- tenced by him to ecclesiastical punishment, which, ac- cording to the law of William, was to be enforced by the secular arm. But, in fact, so much afraid were the bishops of any clerk being tried by the lay courts, and so jealous were the lay officers of being called on to enforce the ecclesiastical punishments, that the whole A.D. 1 163. Henry 11. and Thomas Beeket, J\ system broke down. Thieves and murderers who called themselves clerks were demanded by the bishops and sentenced to penances and deprivation of orders, two punishments at which they could afford to laugh. Henry proposed that, when such prisoners were taken and found guilty, they should be delivered to the bishops to be spi- ritually punished, and then to the secular officers, to have sufficient punishment, to be hanged or blinded or impri- soned as the mild laws of the period ordered. Thomas would not hear of this — one punishment was Becket enough for one fault ; if the clergyman was a ^f/ricar ^^^ thief, and proved so to be, let him be degraded immunities. — that was enough ; if he broke the law again, the law might have him, for he was after degradation entitled to the privileges of a clergyman no more. Henry grew very angry at this foolish and imprudent pioposal. Such, he said, had not been the law in the time of his grand- father, the great king Henry the Elder, the lion of righteousness. He would not submit, but would Henry enforce the ancient rights and customs of the ^j^TSciem realm as his grandfather had done. But what, customs. it was asked, were those customs? The reign of Stephen had witnessed a total abeyance of secular law, and had listened to very extraordinary assertions of ecclesiastical right and liberty. Let the ancient customs be first ascer- tained, and then it would be time to say whether or no the clerg)' and laity could act together. Becket allowed the bishops to promise to observe these customs ' saving their order.' Henry declared that that meant nothing. The assembly was broken up in wrath. The king or- dered the manors of Eye and Berkhampstead to be surrendered, and the archbishop in two or three later interviews sought in vain for a reconciliation. Whether in this Henry acted from passionate indig- nation, or because he saw that Becket had taken on him- 72 The Early Plajitagcuets. a.d. 1164. Clarendon, 1 164. self the maintenance of the extreme views propounded by Henry's the Canonists as to the immunity of spiritual motives. j^gj^^ ^yg cannot now venture to determine. The breach between the two was never healed ; both probably saw that it never could even be compromised. The dispute had its real basis in the difficulty of ad- justing legal and spiritual relations, which even at the present day seems no nearer receiving a permanent set- tlement. Soon after Christmas another court was held, at Clarendon, one of those forest palaces at which, as at Council of Woodstock, Henry and his sons used to call the counsellors together, and diversify busi- ness with sport. It was called for the purpose of finishing the business begun at Westminster. The archbishop was asked whether he would accept the ancient customs ; he declined to do it without making conditions. The king then ordered that the 'recognition of the customs ' should be read. This was the report of the great committee appointed to ascertain and commit them to writing, a committee which nominally contained nearly all the bishops and barons, but which Becket de- clared to consist only of Richard de Lucy, the justiciar, and Jocelin de Bailleul, a French lawyer. This report was the Consiitu- celebrated Constitutions of Clarendon, a sort of code or concordat, in sixteen chapters, which included not merely a system of definite rules to regulate the disposal of the criminal clerg)-, but a method of proceeding by which all quarrels that arose between the clergy and laity might be satisfactorily heard and determined. Questions of advowsons, of dis- puted estates, of excommunication, the rights of the spiritual courts over laymen, and of lay courts over spiritual men, the rights of the crown in vacant churches and in the nomination to benefices, and the right of appeal lions of Clarendon \ •<*'' " '«►. A.D. 1 1 64. He7iry II. and Thomas Becket. 7Z in ecclesiastical causes, were all defined. No one was to carry a suit farther than the archiepiscopal court ; that is, no one was to appeal to the Pope without the king's leave. Prelates and parsons were not to quit the king- dom without licence. The sons of rustics or villeins were not to be ordained without leave of the lords on whose lands they were born. Many similar customs were re- corded, which show that Henry had determined to set the jurisprudence of the kingdom, as touching laymen and clergy alike, on a just and equal basis; no unfairness towards the spiritual estate was intended, but simply the extinction or restriction of the immunities, the exist- ence of which threw the whole system into disorder. An appeal to Rome must not be allowed to paralyse the whole ecclesiastical jurisdiction, any more than an asser- tion that the murderer or the murdered man— for the im- munity told both ways — was a clerk, should be allowed to ensure the escape and impunity of the murderer. Becket was perhaps, at the first sight of these Con- Becket's stitutions, inclined or, as he would have said, c""duct. tempted to yield. He accepted the Constitutions. Al- most as soon as he had done so he drew back ; either he recalled his concession or refused to set his seal to the acceptance, or in some way recanted. We have no entirely trustworthy evidence ; but it would seem he de- clared that he had sinned, that he would go to Rome, that he would resign his see, that he would not act as archbishop without first receiving special absolution. All this had no other effect than to exasperate Henry the more, and to encourage the rapidly increasing crowd of Becket's enemies. Unfortunately we have council of no details for the next six months, save that Northamp- , , , . , • 11- ton, 1 164. the archbishop once or twice saw the king in vain. In October 1164, at Northampton, the cloud finally broke. Becket's enemies saw their way to crush 74 The Early Plantagcuets A.D. I164- -1169. Henry II. and Thomas Bcckct. 75 him altogether, and Henry yielded to them. The council was formally summoned; all the persons who held of the king directly— that is, who were subject to no lord coming between them and the king — were duly invited ; the greater barons probably, as had been usual under Henry I., and, as the Great Charter afterwards enjoined, by special letters ; the minor ones by a general summons made known through the sheriff in each shire. It was to the archbishop that the first letter of summons ought Summons by ancicnt rule to have been directed. Instead of Becket. ^f ^h^j. j^g received a writ through the Sherift* of Kent ordering him to present himself at Northampton to answer the complaint of John the Marshal. However informal this was, Becket complied, rather than by absenting himself from the court to leave his . cause in hands which he could not trust. He rlis trial. attended, and was overwhelmed. First he was sentenced to pay 500 marks to John the Marshal, who was declared to have proved his claim against him. Then he was called on to present the accounts of the Chancery, of which he had been acquitted by a general discharge when he became archbishop. He now put on the aspect of a martyr, and declared himself ready to die for the rights of his Church. Henry and his agents declared that it was the person, not the prelate, who was aimed at ; that they were not assailing the rights of the Church but vindicating the laws of the land. The bishops advised unconditional submission, which would, no doubt have been the wisest course, for it would have disarmed the king without conceding any matter of principle; for Henry was not the man to make an extreme use of victory, and might still perhaps have been induced to act with moderation. Instead of this, as Henry grew more peremptory Thomas grew more provoking; at last he declared himself really in danger, turned and fled. ^b^'.* icA \ He went off in disguise from Northampton, and, after several trying adventures, landed in Flanders, „. ^. , ■' ° • • 1 "'^ flight. whence he made his way to jom the pope at Sens, and thence to Pontigny. It would be a tedious task to trace the minute cir- cumstances of Beckct's life during the next six years; they are somewhat obscure, and the large number of undated letters of the period makes even the sequence of the main events puzzling. The upshot of the stor>' is briefly this : — At Pontigny Becket remained until Henry threatened the whole Cistercian body „. ., ^ . "^ His exile. if they did not expel him ; m consequence of that he threw himself on the friendship of Lewis VII., who appointed as his resting-place the abbey of St. Colombe, at Sens. There he remained, making occasional journeys on his own business^ until he returned to Canterbury in 1170. Whilst at Pontigny and Sens he acted up to his new character — wore a hair shirt, practised great mor- tifications, and behaved as if he believed himself to be undergoing a sort of modified martyrdom. All the time he was bringing all the influence which he had to bear upon Lewis VIL, the Counts of Champagne and Flanders, and other potentates, to induce them to take up his cause, and either by urging the Pope to extreme mea- sures, or by direct negotiation with Henry, to procure his honourable recall. The Pope would have given anything for peace and quietness, but he could not afford to alienate Henry so long as he was on bad terms with the Emperor. He sent commissions and legations to Normandy, of which Henry disposed either by pro- mises or by plausible professions of his own goodwill, or by substantial presents of the strongest of all the powers of silence, a handsome sum of gold. Had he rested here he might have been forgiven. But unfor- tunately for his own credit he determined to persecute cruel measures 76 The Early Plaiitagcnets., a.d. 1165- the archbishop in the person of his relations, and by Henry's ^ ^'"'^1^1 cdict senf many inoffensive famihes, who were connected with Thomas, into exile. Then Becket answered with excommunica- tion, including in his ban all the king's closest coun- sellors, some of whom had very little to do with the proceedings against him. From time to time Becket saw the king, under the wing of Lewis VII.; once at Montmirail, in January 1169, once at Montmartre, in November of the same year. In each case either Henry was hypocritical or Becket offensive : we cannot decide. At length a new point of quarrel brought about a re- conciliation, and the reconciliation immediately resulted in Becket's death. Before ending the stor>' we may briefly recapitulate the chief events of these years, outside the Becket Strug- Henry's gle. In the year 1165, that succeeding the during thf archbishop's flight from Northampton, Henry quarrel. paid a short visit to Normandy, and received a proposal from Frederick I. for a couple of marriages, a close league of alliance, and a joint action against the Pope, who was supposed to be abetting Becket. The only result of this was the marriage of Henry's eldest Alliance daughter, Matilda, with Henry the Lion, Duke Germany. °^ Saxony and Bavaria, at this moment Fre- derick's most intimate friend and kinsman, later on his enemy and victim. Neither Henry nor England could be persuaded to accept the anti-Pope, but the temporising action of the king's agents in Ger- many gave Becket an opportunity of involving all alike in a charge of heresy and apostasy. After his return to England, later in the year, Henry Third rn^'^de his third Welsh expedition, which had Welsh war, no more permanent effect than the former ones, as an attempt either to subdue the country or to secure the peace of the borders. It was - 1 1 70. Henry 11. and Thomas Becket. 77 carried out with an amount of cruelty which shows Henry s character to have already deteriorated. After his return he held, early in 1 166, another council at Claren- Assize of don, also marked by an important act of legis- clarendon, lation, the Assize of Clarendon, by which the criminal law was reformed, and the grand jury system established or reformed in ever>' shire. As soon as this was done he went to Normandy, in March 1166, and stayed away until March Long visit 1 1 70. During this time little or nothing but to France. the ordinary business of justice and taxation is recorded in English authorities. The Becket quarrel was the all- engrossing subject, the sole question of public interest. Abroad the view is only diversified by negotiation and border warfare with Lewis VII.- and. by the carrying out of Henrys plan for securing possession of Brittany by the marriage of his third son, Geoffrey, with the heiress of the count. Having spent nearly four years in this way he returned, in order to look after business at home, and in particular to see his eldest son, who was fifteen, crowned as his associate and successor in the kingdom. The importance of the former acts comes into prominence in the later history of the reign. The coronation was the first of a series of e\ents which sealed Becket's fate. It was solemnised on the 14th Coronation ofjune, at Westminster. The Archbishop of jf^;;",;,"""^ York, Roger of Pont I'Eveque, an old rival of "70. Thomas Becket, placed the crowp on the boy's head, in contravention of the right of Canterbury, and in the absence of the little Queen IMargaret. Lewis was ex- asperated by this act of neglect or disrespect shown to his daughter; Becket was maddened by the contempt shown for his authority. The storm began to rage ; Lewis went to war ; Thomas, and the counts whom he made his friends, besieged the Pope with prayers, and at last he sent or promised to send a definitive legation 7S The Early Plantagencts. A.D. 1 1 70. A I) 1 1 70. Henry II. and 1 konias Bccket. 79 to place Henry's dominions under interdict, and compel him to recall the archbishop. Then Henry gave way. Crossing to Normandy a few days after the coronation, he met Recket at Freteval Reconciiia- in July, and there consented to the return of hTh^ and ^^^ o^^^^ enemy. Three months, however, in- Becket. tervened before Becket started for home, and during the time he had several meetings with the king, in which he behaved, or his behaviour was interpreted, in a way very prejudicial to his reputation for sincerity. Becket's At last he reached England, early in Decem- return. ^^^j-, and as soon as he landed began to ex- communicate the bishops who had crowned the boy Henry. At London and at Canterbury he was received with delight. Henry had become unpopular : the arch- bishop's popularity had been increased by his absence, and the multitude does occasionally sympathise with a man who has been oppressed. The news of his rash, intemperate conduct reached Henry at court, at Bur, near Bayeux, where he had established himself after a very severe illness in the autumn. In high passion the king spoke works which he would have recalled at once, Henry's but which laid on him a lifelong burden : rash words. < Would all his Servants stand by and see him thus defied by one whom he had himself raised from poverty to wealth and power ? Would no one rid him of the troublesome clerk t ' Armed by no public grievance, moved by no loyal zeal, but simply private enemies who saw their way to Murder of revenge and impunity, Reginald FitzUrse, Dec'!^^ H"gh de Morville, Richard Brito, and Wil- li 70. liam de Tracy, came to Canterbury, sought out the archbishop, and slew him. The cruelty on the one side, the heroism on the other — the savage barbarity of the desperate men, the strange passionate violence of \ the would-be martyr, finding at the last that he could not place a curb on his words or temper, even when he was, as he may be truly believed to have been, offering up his life for his Church — forms a sad but a thrice- told tale. Becket died on the 29th of December, 1170, and for 350 years and more that day was kept in the Church of England as one of the chief festivals after Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas. It is no small proof of the strength of character which certainly marks Becket throughout his versatile career, that he should have made so deep an impression not only on England but on Christendom. Although some allowance must be made for the influence of superstition, and doubtless of imposture also, in the spread of the honour paid to him so widely, even such superstitions could not have gathered round one whose reputation was a mere fig- ment of monks and legend-writers. He was undoubt- edly recognised as the champion of a great cause which was then believed to need championship, and which through the greatness of the need served to r^^^ ^^^^ excuse even such championship as it found in p'^ry of him. But whatever were the cause which he was maintaining, he had some part of the glory that belongs to all who vindicate liberty, to all who uphold weakness against overwhelming strength. And in this view of him, in which Englishmen may have regarded him as the one man able and daring to beard the mighty king whom the memory of his fore- fathers had clothed with enhanced terrors, and whose de- signs for their good they were too ignorant to appreciate. Continental Christendom saw him the champion of the papacy as against the secular power. Later generations under the recoil of the Reformation viewed him merely as a traitor, and his cultus as an organised imposture. 8o The Early Plantagenets. AD. 1 1 70. CH. V. Henry II. and his Sons. 81 More calmly regarded— as now perhaps we may afford to regard him— he appears, as we have described him, a strong, impulsive man, the strength of whose will is out of all proportion to the depth of his character, with little self-restraint, little self-knowledge, no statesmanlike in- sight, and yet too much love of intrigue and craft. He is not a constructive reformer in the Church; in the state he is obstructive and exasperating. Even on the esti- mate of his friends he does not come within the first rank of great men. The cause for which he fought was not the cause for which he fell, and the cause of liberty, which to some extent benefited by his struggle, was not the actual cause for which he was consciously fighting. He appears small indeed by the side of Ansolm, who knew well how to distinguish between the real and factitious importance of the claims which he made or resisted ; small indeed by the side of his successor, St. Edmund, who, brave as Thomas himself was to declare the right, chose the part of the peace-maker rather than that of the combatant and recognised the glory of suf- fering patiently. Yet the world s gratitude has often been abundantly shown to men who deserv-ed it less. CHAPTER V. THE LATTER YEARS OF HENRY II. Continued reforms — Revolt of 1173-1174 — Renewed industry of Henry— His later years— Quarrel with Richard— Fall and death. It is one of the most distinct marks of Henry's mind, that whatever pressure his most engrossing employments Henry's put upon him, he never for a moment gave up ranceTn ^^e task of developing the great legal reforms reform. ^vith which he began his reign. Even at the siege of Bridgenorth, in 1155, he had lent an ear to the \7; -(- 4. ui suit of the monks of Battle; in the very thick of the Becket struggle he was busily employed in reforming the criminal law and introducing or expanding the system of presentment by grand jury. The same purpose is con- stantly maintained, and every great and famous exploit of his adventurous life may be matched with some mea- sure of practical reform, some step in the progress of a policy by which his people were to be made safer and his own power consequently to be made stronger. Through- out the whole reign there may be traced a constant and progressive policy of taking power out of the ^•, .• . hands of the great vassals of the crown, of cal object entrusting power to the great body of the free ° ''' men of the nation, and of consolidating the royal autho- rity by employing the people in the maintenance of law. The blow struck at the military power of feudalism by the institution of scutage, the commutation of personal service in the field for a money payment, was one of the first of his distinctive measures. The judicial power of the same body he limited, quite as much, by the mission of itinerant judges throughout the country to itinerant hear the suits of the people and to punish Justices, criminals. These visitations had been practised under Henry I.; they were restored by Henry II. at the begin- ning of the reign. These officers were employed not only for the trial of prisoners and determination of law- suits, but for the assessment and collection of revenue. When the national council had decreed a tax, the itinerant judges, as Barons of the Exchequer, travelled through the land, fixing the payments to be made by the towns or by individuals. It was not a very difficult business, for as all the revenue was raised from the land and the land remained divided in much the same proportions as it was in the Domesday Book, that famous record became, as it were, the rate-book of the M. H. G Fiscal work. 82 The Early Planiagcncts, CH. V. CH. V. Henry II. and his Sons. country; every landowner could refer to it, to see what was the valuation of his property, and be taxed accord- ingly. Only the towns, therefore, which had grown in wealth and number since the time of the Conqueror's survey, would have occasion for debating with the judges how much they would have to pay. Almost every year of Henry's reign we find these officers making their circuits, which are the historical origin of the c'ircuits Circuits of of the Judges of Assize in the present day. judges. Sometimes, in the earlier part of the reign, one or two go over the whole country ; sometimes six circuits are made, each managed by three judges ; some- times four circuits of four, or two circuits of five or more. The chief epochs of this development are these : the year 1166, when the Assize of Clarendon was published ; the year 11 76, when six circuits of three justices did the work, under a revised form of the Assize of Clarendon, issued at Northampton; and the year 1179, when Henry reformed the central as well as the provincial tribunals. Of the effects of this system one, the abatement of the power of the feudal courts of justice by forcing them Training of Under royal jurisdiction, has been noticed the people ^^ A \ ^ ■^v-'-» in self-go- already. A second was the training of the vernment. people generally, through the use of juries which were employed both for legal and fiscal business ; they thus learned to manage their own affairs and to keep up an intelligent interest in legislation and political busi- ness. A third-was, to limit the power of the sheriffs, who being the sole royal representatives in the shires, judicial, militar>^ and fiscal, had great chances of exercising irre- sponsible tyranny, of which the books of the time contain many complaints. Besides the visitations of the judges Henry from time to time used still stronger measures of remedy or precaution against the oppressions of the sherifis. In 1170 he turned them all out of office, and 83 4- J. held a very strict inquir>' into the amount of money they had received, filling up their places with servants and officers of his own court, by whose action the local government would be placed in more direct relation to the central. Nor were these labours solely directed to the reform of provincial jurisdiction. Henry II. reformed also the supreme court of justice, which was supposed central to emanate from !iis own person and house- judicature. hold, and established a distinct staff of well-instructed lawyers to hear the suits that were sent up for his royal decision. These men he found it hard work to manage, and once in 1178 he swept them all away as summarily as he had done the sheriffs in 1170. Sometimes he em- ployed clerks, sometimes knights, sometimes prelates, in the office of judge, with unequal success, but with a never-faltering purpose of securing easy justice. In the same way he varied the taxes, from year to year, not allowing the same interest to be oppressed with continual imposts, but taking now a tallage Vanety in from the towns, now a scutage or an aid from taxation. the landowners or knightly body ; and on the occasion of the Crusade, in 11 84 and 11 88, calling for a contribu- tion from personal property, a fixed proportion or a tithe of goods for the war against Saladin. In order finally to secure the defence of the country and to have a force on which he could depend for the maintenance of peace and order, he armed the unitary whole free population, or ordered them to pro- system, vide arms, according to a fixed scale, proportioned to their substance. Thus he restored the ancient Anglo- Saxon militia system, and supplied the requisite counter- balance to the military power of the great feudatories, which, notwithstanding the temptation to avoid service by payment of scutage, they were still able and too c a i 84 The Early Plantagenets. A.D. I J 70. willing to maintain. In all these measures we may trace one main object, the strengthening of the royal power, and one main means or directing principle, the doing so by increasing the safety and security of the people. Whatever was done to help the people served to reduce the power of the great feudal baronage ; to disarm their forces, to abolish their jurisdictions, to diminish their chances of tyranny. Now all this could not but make Henry very much disliked by the great nobles. The people of course were slow to see the benefit of the re- forms, but the barons were quick enough at detecting the measures taken to humiliate and reduce them ; so, before Henry gained the affection of the people, he had to encounter the hostility of the barons. This hostility had been growing for a long time, awaiting the opportunity of breaking out into open Coronation revolt. Such an opportunity the 3hock which of the heir, followed the death of Becket gave it ; and the very same measure taken by Henry, which in its results caused the death of Becket, gave a head and a direction, nominally at least, to the outbreak. This measure was the coronation of the boy Henry in 1 1 70. The idea of having the heir-apparent crowned in his father's lifetime was not familiar to the English or Normans ; the royal succession still retained so much of the elective character that it would perhaps have been regarded as an unconstitutional measure, thus violently and without option to determine the succession irrevocably before the vacancy occurred. Much of the Forei-n interest of the reigns of William Rufus and custom of Henry I. turns upon this question. William fhe'Si^? ^he Conqueror and William Rufus both left the sor to the succession undetermined ; hence arose the re- bellions of the reign of the Red King and the early struggles of Henry I. The measures by which he ^1 A.D. II 70. Henry II. and his Sons. 85 had done everything in his power to secure and settle it had ended in the anarchy under Stephen. But in France and Germany this experiment, now tried for securing the hereditary succession, was familiar ; almost every one of the kings who followed Hugh Capet had had his son crowned m his lifetime ; and in Germany since the very beginning of the Karolingian empire such cases had been frequent. Frederick Barbarossa at this very moment was working for the succession of his own son ; and the introduction of a second or inchoate partner in sovereignty, under the name of King of the Romans, became later on a part of the ordinary machinery of the empire. It is possible that Henry II. had this object solely and simply in view ; but another theory is conceivable. Henry well knew by what very discordant nationali- ties his states were peopled ; and he entertained the idea of dividing his dominions among his Henry's sons at his death. To Richard, the second P^l't'cal ' object in son, as his mother's heir, Aquitaine and Poic- this. tou were already given ; for Geoffrey he had obtained the succession to the duchy of Brittany, and he was thinking of Ireland to be conquered for a kingdom for John. Henry, the eldest son, would of course have his father's inheritance, England, Normandy, and Anjou. Such a division the king actually made, when in the autumn of 1170 he believed himself to be at the point of death ; and he brought up his sons among the people they were to rule, Henry among the Normans, Richard among the Poictevins. It would be still a question whether the elder brother should govern the family estates, as had been the case in the early Karolingian empire, his brethren owning his feudal superiority; or whether each should possess his provinces in sovereignty subject only to the already existing feudal claims. However, when Henry began, as early as 11 60, to 86 The Early Plantagcnett A.D. 1171. Henry applies to the Pope on Becket s death. broach the subject of his son's coronation he was only twenty-seven years old, and probably thought more of securing the allegiance and attachment of the English for the child, than of the chances which might follow his own death; and later on we find him anxious to abridge the tedious parts of the royal duties by sharing them with the heir, although he never would part with one iota of the substance of power. Hence, then, the coronation of Henry the younger in 11 70, the anger of Lewis VU. be- cause his daughter was not also crowned, and the quarrel among the bishops which caused Becket's death. Henry — for we must now return to the direct string of the story — was momentarily paralysed at the news of the martyrdom. He saw how the blame was sure to fall upon him, and how all his enemies would sooner or later take the opportunity to overwhelm him. Immediately, therefore, he sent envoys to Rome to promise any terms whatever for acquittal or absolution. Whilst this negotiation was pending, knowing that the legates, for whom Lewis, before the death of Becket, had applied, were on their way to Normandy, and would not scruple to exert the utmost of their power against him, he organised an expe- Expediiion <^ition to Ireland, which for the last sixteen years had been his by papal grant, and for the last four had been undergoing the process of conquest in the hands of Richard de Clare, surnamed Strongbow. In Ireland he stayed from the autumn of 1 171 to the Easter of 1172, receiving the submission of kings and bishops, and really keeping out of the way of the hostile legates : awaiting the arrival of the friendly legates who were coming to absolve him. Now, no doubt it appears strange that the Court of Rome should at this same moment be pouring out both sweet water and bitter ; that the supreme judge on earth to Ireland, 1171 1 A.D. 1 1 72. Henry II. and his Sons. 87 4 should send forth a legation to put Henry's dominions under interdict for one act and directly after send another to absolve him for what seems a more heinous characterof one. It must, however, be remembered that theCounof in this the papal court was rather acting as a great tribunal of international arbitration than as the council of a Christian bishop. The Court of Rome was a great legal machine, the disadvantages of which are manifest at first sight, but the benefit of which in a warlike age can scarcely be overrated, although less obvious at a glance. A very severe judgment may per- haps be allowable, as to the assumptions and arrogance and unrighteousness of the papacy in taking the office of international arbitration ; but judged by its results it was for the time a great public benefit, for it stopped and hindered the constant appeals to war. Thus viewed the Court of Rome was as open for suitors as any simple court of justice: an applicant who wanted legal redress applied for a commission of inquiry or a legation. In so doing he brought the usual means to bear on the papal officials, who no doubt found it to their interest to keep their minds always open, to hear both sides, and to keep their purses also open to receive the contribu- tions of all sides in each suit, and thus maintain the wealth and power of the court itself. It is not to be denied that, however arrived at, the decisions ultimately given were in most cases fair and just. Henry, then, on this occasion eluded one legation and welcomed another. In 1172 he met the friendly cardi- nals at Avranches, took all the oaths they Henrys proposed, renounced the Constitutions of Ij^^'abSu- Clarendon, purged himself of the guilt of tion, 1172. Becket's death, declared his adherence to Alexander III., as Catholic Pope, in refutation of the statement that he had acknowledged the anti-Pope, and received full abso- 88 lution. T/ie Early Plantagc7iets. A.D. 1 1 73. A. I). 1 1 -ji. Henry II. and his Sons. &g Second coronation of the heir. He then, by way of general pacification, had his son re-crowned and his wife crowned with him, and went down to the South of France to make a lasting peace with the Count of Toulouse, and to bargain for the marriage of John with the heiress of the county of Maurienne and Savoy. The storm seemed to have blown over; unfortunately the lull preceded the great outbreak. Strange to say, the Quarreler immediate occasion for the strife was the tje two little boy John, the five-vear-old bridegroom. rleniys. * n 1 • . ' All his great enemies Henry had silenced ; Lewis had got his daughter crowned, the Pope was paci- fied, the barons were secured by the strength of the home government, the Scots were humble and obliging, all the sons were friends. The little child who in the end broke his heart was already a stumbling-block. The Count of Maurienne naturally asked what provision was to be made by Henry for his son's marriage. Henry found himself obliged to ask his elder sons to give up for their brother some few castles out of their promised shares of his dominions. The eldest son refused ; he would give up nothing; he had got nothing by being crowned, he was not trusted to go about alone; let the king give him some real power, England or Normandy, then he might have something that he could give up. The ill-conditioned lad nursed his grievance, and, early in the spring of 1 1 73, fled from his fathers court and threw himself into the arms of Lewis. Queen Eleanor too, whose influence with her husband was lessened by her misguidance of her children, and by the evil habits which Henry himself had contracted during the Becket quarrel, used all her influence to increase the breach in her family. She intrigued with her first husband against her second, and brought even Richard into the list of his father's enemies. ''/ 1/ 1 Thus, then, early in 1 1 73 a head was provided for a great confederation of French lords and English barons, actively aided by Lewis ot p>ance, Philip of f^.^^^^ Flanders, the Counts of Champagne and the league King of Scots, William the Lion, who had Henry, succeeded Malcolm IV. in 1165. The younger "^3- Henry, liberal in promises, proposed to reward with vast English estates the men who were to help in renewing the glories of the Conquest. And the great English earls, Chester, Leicester, and Norfolk, were bent on reviving the feudal influence which Henry's reforms had so weakened. These earls were mighty men on both sides of the Channel: the Norman quarrel could be fought in England as well as in Normandy, Anjou, and Poictou. Measures were contrived at Paris for a universal rising. And the success of the design seemed at first almost certain. Henry had a large force of Brabangon merce- naries about him, but scarcely any other force on which he could depend at all. The war began by a Flemish invasion of Normandy : then the Earl of Chester raised Brittany against the king ; then the Poictevins rose in arms. From France the torch was handed to England. William the Lion, with a half-barbarian army, began a devastating march southward ; the Earl of Leicester landed a great force of Flemings in Norfolk ; the Earl Ferrers of Derby fortified his castles in the midland counties; old Hugh Bigot of Norfolk, who had sworn the disinheritance of Matilda in 1135, garrisoned his castles — all England was in an uproar. The old justiciar, the king's lieutenant, Richard de Lucy, was bewildered; and the great Bishop of Durham, Hugh de Puiset, King Stephen's nephew, began to play a double game, negotiating with the Scots, and allowing the landing of Flemish mercenaries, to be used at discretion. War begins. 90 The Early Planiagencfs: I A.D. 1 1 73. In France. Two influences, however, turned the scale against this overwhelming preponderance of treachery and force — Henry's Henry's wonderful energy, which his contem- success. poraries called supernatural good luck, and the faithfulness of the English people, who now, when the crucial test was applied to them, amply repaid the many years of culture spent upon them. Henry had been taken by surprise by the general onset ; and, un- willing to believe in the ingratitude of his boys, he at first was slow to move against them ; but he showed ex- traordinary promptness when he saw the state of affairs and had made up his mind how to act. Having put Lewis VII. to ignominious flight at Conches, he rushed down upon Dol, in Brittany, where he captured the Earl of Chester and the chief Breton and Angevin rebels; and during the autumn of 1 173, before the worst news from England arrived, he had captured one after the other the nests of rebellion in Maine. At Christmas he concluded a three months' truce with Lewis and undertook the pacification of Poictou, which em- ployed him until the next summer, fretting and chafing against the detention which kept him away from Eng- land. In England matters had gone on more slowly, owing to the unprepared state of the ministry and the general War in feeling of apprehension and mistrust. There, Engand. howcver, Henry had some men on whom he could depend : Richard de Lucy the justiciar ; Ranulf Glanvill, the great lawyer, who was rising into the first rank as a minister; Reginald Earl of Cornwall, the king's uncle ; the Earl of Arundel, husband of Queen Adeliza, widow of Henry I., and others connected with the royal house. These men had insufficient forces at their dis- posal, and were at first unable to decide whether the Scots in the North, or the Earl of Leicester in the East, A.D. 1 1 74. Hairy II. and his Sons, 91 or the midland revolt under Earl Ferrers, was the most formidable. At last, having made up their minds to make a truce with the Scots, they moved upon Norfolk, and defeated the earls in October, at Fornham St. Gene- vieve. There they took prisoners the Earl of Leicester and his wife, the great Lady Petronilla, whose compre- hensive soul embodied all the spite and arrogance and vindictiveness of the oligarchy of the Conquest. She, as heiress of Grantmesnil, had brought a great inherit- ance to her husband, the degenerate heir of the faithful Beaumonts ; for the Leicester Beaumonts were the only house which since the Conquest had been uniformly faithful to the Conqueror and his heirs. This great success enabled Henry to remain in Poictou during the winter and spring of 1174, and allowed the ministers to concentrate their force against the Scots. The people rose against the feudal party, and a brisk struggle was kept up in the interior of the country until the summer. William the Lion spent his time in securing q^^^^^^ of the border castles, seeking his own ends, in- William the 11 J J Lion. stead of pressing southwards, and so doing his part to overturn Henry's throne. At last, early in July 1 174, he was surprised and taken prisoner at Alnwick by the host of Yorkshire men and the loyal barons. Just at the same moment Henry had crossed from Normandy with his Braban^ons, and made a pilgrimage to Becket's grave. His triumph was now regarded as a token of Divine forgiveness. He marched at Henry's once into Norfolk, where he received the sub- England" mission of the Bigots and the Mowbrays, the 1^74- latter of whom had been overcome by the kings natural son, Geoffrey, now bishop elect of Lincoln, and after- wards so well known as Archbishop of York. All his foes were now at his feet ; the King of Scots and the two great earls were prisoners ; the rest entirely humiliated. 92 The Early Plantagetiets. f A.D. 1 175. In less than a month from his landing he was able to go back to Normandy. The French war came to an end on the collapse of End of the the English rebellion, and in the month of ^^'■- September all Henry's dominions were at rest, his children reconciled, even the King of France admitted to peace. And now we have true evidence of Henry's real greatness in policy and spirit, notwithstanding his pro- vocations and the changed strain of his character and temper. He shed no blood, he took no ransoms, he condemned to destitution not one of the leaders of the rebellion ; he laid his hands for a few years on their estates, but even these were shortly restored, and no man was disinherited by way of punishment. But he pulled down their castles. The nests of feudal tyranny and insubordination he not merely dismantled, but in some cases destroyed so utterly as to leave not one stone upon another, that they might be no more the beginning or the temptation to such a design. Against the Scots his hand was very heavy; he insisted on abject submission. Before he would release the king from his Submission Captivity he insisted that he should do ho- of ^Scotland, mage, acknowledging the supremacy of his crown over the Scottish crown, and of the English Church over the Scottish. The Scottish barons must become his men ; the Scottish bishops must declare their obedient subjection to the English Church; and the castles of the Lowlands must be retained in the hands of men whom he should place there with English garrisons. This humiliating negotiation, concluded at Falaise before William's liberation, was confirmed at York in the follow- ing August. From this time, until Richard I. sold back to William the Lion the rights that he had lost, Scotland was subject to the English king as overlord, and her %»= A.D. 1 175. Hawy II. and Jiis Sons. 93 king as king was our king's vassal. The Church, how- ever, escaped subjection, because the archbishops of Canterbury and York could not agree which should rule her, and before their quarrel was ended the Pope stepped in and declared the Scottish Church the immediate care and peculiar daughter of the Roman see. Besides this, the half-independent prince of Galloway was compelled to acknowledge himself a vassal of both the kings. So completely was the authority of Henry II. re- established by the peace of 1174, that we are almost tempted to underrate the importance of the y ^ * Importance elements that had been arrayed against him. of this It was not, however, in the want of strength ''^'""^^^• and spirit that the confederation against him failed ; the kings of France and Scotland, the counts of Champagne, Boulogne, and Flanders, the earls of Chester, Leicester, Norfolk, and Derby, his own sons and his own wife, were united in their hostility. The religious feeling of the nation, which since the death of Becket had to a re- markable degree realised or rather exaggerated his merits as a statesman and a churchman, was used as a weapon against him. Every interest that he had injured, or that had suffered in the process of his reforms, was made to take its part. Yet all failed. They failed partly, no doubt, because they had really no common cry, no common cause. They had many grievances and a good oppor- tunity ; but all their several aims .were selfish; their plan, so far as they had one, destructive not constructive; their leaders unwilling to sacrifice or risk anything of their own, greedy to grasp what belonged of right to the king, the nation, or even to their own fellows. They fought one by one against a prompt, clear-headed, accomplished warrior, and they were beaten one by one ; not, how- ever, without a very considerable intermingling of what is ordinarily called good fortune on the king's side. 94 TJie Early Plantageficts. a.d. 1176- -II 78. Henry II. and Jiis Sons. 95 Thus Henry in the twentieth year of his reign was more powerful by far than when, at the beginning of it, the desire and darhng of the whole people, he brought back peace and light and liberty after the evil days. The general line of policy which Henry had hitherto pursued he took up almost at the identical point at which it had been interrupted bv the rebellion ; but Henr>' r t i ' resumes instead of seekmg for John a provision on the his schemes, ^o^itinent, he determined to find him a wife and an endowment in England, and, when he should be old enough, to make him king of Ireland. With this idea „ . . he arranged for him, in 11 76, a marriage with Provision ° 7/7 o made for Hawisia, the daughter of William Earl of "■ Gloucester, his cousin ; and the next year, in a great assembly at Oxford, he divided the still uncon- quered provinces of Ireland into great fiefs, the receivers of which took the oath of fealty, not only to himself, but to John as their future king. The Pope also was can- vassed as to the erection of Ireland into a kingdom and the coronation of John. The same year Johanna, the ,, . kinir's voungest daughter, was married with Marriaees & - e? 07 of the kings ver\' great pomp to the young king William aug ten,. ^^ Good, as he is called, of Sicily, a prince who had an unbounded admiration for his father-in-law, and would have settled the reversion of his kingdoms upon him if Henrv' had accepted the offer. Eleanor, the second daughter, was already married to Alfonso, King of Castille, who in 1177 referred to the judgment of Henry a great lawsuit between himself and his kinsman the King of Navarre. This arbitration not only illustrates the estimation in which Henry after his great victor)' was held on the Continent, but shows us also how he delibe- rated with his councillors. He held a very great court of bishops and superior clergy, of barons and other tenants- in-chief, on the occasion ; the arguments of the parties were laid before them, and,.in conformity with their advice asked and given, the judgment was delivered. The two or three years that followed the rebellion were the period of Henry's longest stay in England. He came in April 1 175, and stayed until August visitsto 1 177; after a year spent in Normandy and England. Anjou he returned in 11 78, and stayed until the end of June 1 180; after which, although he paid several long visits to England, his absences were much longer. These years were periods of great activity in political matters. The number of councils that he held, the varietv of public business that he despatched in them, the scries of changes intended to promote the speedy attainment of justice, the unfailing purpose which he showed of fulfil- ling the pledge which in his early days he had given to his people, all these come out in the simple details of the historian with remarkable fulness. Henry was not at this time, or ever after, a happy man ; his son Henry, nomi- nallv reconciled, was constantly intriguing , ■ , ' •' . Intrigues of against him with his father-in-law, Lewis, and the younger the discontented lords of the foreign dominion. ^"'^^' He took up the part of an advocate of local rights and privileges, and headed confederations against his father, and against his brother Richard as the oppressor of the barons of Poictou. He complained that his father treated him meanly, not giving enough money, and jea- lously refusing him his share of power. The father treated him generously and patiently, but he could not trust him, and did not pretend to do so. Queen Eleanor, too, was now imprisoned, or seques- tered from her husband in honourable captivity. This great lady, who deserves to be treated with Queen more honour and respect than she has gene- Eleanor, rally met with, had behaved very ill to her husband in the matter of the rebellion ; and, although he occasion- 96 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. ii8o. A.D. 1 183. Henry II. and his Sons, 97 ally indulged her with the show of royal pomp and power, he never released her from confinement or forgave her. She was a very able woman, of great tact and experience, and still greater ambition ; a most important adviser whilst she continued to support her husband, a most dan- gerous enemy when in opposition. Her political intrigues in the East, when she accompanied her first husband on the Crusade, had made him contemptible, and that Lewis never forgave her. But her second husband was made of sterner stuff. He took and kept the upper hand ; it was only after his death that Eleanor's real powers found room for play ; and had it not been for her governing skill while Richard was in Palestine, and her influence on the Continent during the early years of John, England would have been a prey to anarchy, and Normandy lost to the house of Anjou long before it was. The quarrel with his wife and the mistrust of his chil- dren threw the king under very evil influences, although as a king he tried hard to do his duty ; and they sowed the seed of later difficulties which at last overwhelmed him. The internal history of these years is occupied with the judicial and financial doings which have been sketched in the early pages of this chapter ; outside there was peace, except in Poictou, where Richard was learn- ing the art of war, winning his first laurels and making his worst and most obstinate enemies. In 1 1 80 the long strife and jealousy between Henry II. and Lewis VII. came to an end. The weak and un- ^ principled Kinsr of France, after resigning his Accessionof ^ ^ ^ ^ f ■ Philip II., crown to his son Philip, a boy of sixteen, ^*^^' retired into a convent and died. Philip in- herited all his hatred of Henr\-, although he was better able to appreciate his wisdom, and showed in his early years a desire to have him as a political adviser and instructor. He inherited, too, all his father's falseness, r craft, and dishonesty, but not his morbid conscience nor' his irresoluteness. Without being so great a coward as his father, Philip was yet a long way from being a brave man, and loses much by his juxtaposition with Richard and even with John in that respect. But he was very unscrupulous, ver>' pertinacious, and in result very suc- cessful, outhving all his rivals, and leaving his king- dom immensely stronger than it was when he succeeded to it. In the domestic quarrels of his early years, with his stepmother and the counts of Champagne, he availed himself of the advice of Henry, which was given honestly and effectually ; but, after Henry's quarrels with his sons began again, Philip saw his way clearly enough to the humiliation of the rival house ; and he took too sure and too fatal advantage of his opportunity. There is no need to dwell on the events of 1181 and 1182 ; the chief mark of the former year is that assize of arms which has been already mentioned. In 1182 the king was a good deal in Poictou. England was governed now, and chiefly for the rest of the reign, by Ranulf Glanvill, the chief justiciar, who in 11 80 or 11 79 had succeeded to Richard de Lucy. The country was quiet ; so quiet, that when the troubles began on the Continent not a hand or foot in England stirred against the king. English history dunng these and the following years is a simple record of steady growth ; all interest, personal and political, centres in the king. The year 1 183 begins with a new phase. The young king had of late shown himself somewhat more dutiful. His father was now in his fiftieth year, and c j , ^ ' Second that was for the kings of those days a some- revolt of the what advanced maturity. The heir seemed >'°""s^'"8- to have learned that he might, as he must, bide his time. The arrangement which was to provide for the continued cohesion of the family estates was as yet uncompleted. M. H, H 98 The Early Plantagcnets. a.d. 1183. A.D. 1 185. Henry II. and Jiis Sons. 99 Henry urged that the younger brothers should all do homage and swear fealty to the elder. Richard was with some difficulty prevailed on to do this; but almost as soon as it was done Henr>^ took advantage of the discon- tent of the Poictevins, quarrelled with Richard about the custody of a petty castle, and headed a war party against him. Their father, who at first perhaps had intended that Henry should be allowed to enforce his superiority, soon saw that it was his bounden duty to maintain the cause of Richard. Geoffrey of Brittany joined his eldest brother. Whilst Richard and his father besieged Limoges, Henry and Geoffrey allowed their archers to shoot at their father; they ill-treated his messengers, drove him to desperation, and became desperate them- selves. The younger Henry, after feigning reconcilia- tions, and more than once cruelly and hypocritically deserting his father, tried to recruit his resources by plundering the rich shrines of the Aquitanian saints. The age saw in his fate speedy vengeance for his impiety, his own evil conscience found perhaps in his behaviour to his father a still greater burden. Before Limoges was His death, taken, the wretched man — for at eight-and- "83. twenty he was a boy no more — sickened and died at Martel, and left no issue. He passed away like foam on the water, no man regretting him; lamented only as his father's enemy, and by that father who, with all his faults and his mismanagement, loved his sons far more than they deserved. The death of the heir threw upon Richard the right, so far as it could be regarded as a right, of succession; Distrust of it reopened also the question about the por- Richard. tjQj^ Qf Q^jeen Margaret, the castles of the Vexin which Henry had so craftily got into his hands in consequence of the marriage. These castles he re- fused to restore to the King of France. Richard's claim 1 to the fealty of the barons he could not allow to be recognised, lest Richard should attempt to play against him the part which his elder brother had played. He wished also that the Aquitanian heritage should be made over to John, especially after the death of Death of Geoffrey of Brittany, which occurred in 11 86, Geoffrey. no right of succession being allowed to the baby Arthur, born after his father's death. Hence there were constant feuds and difficulties, mainly, however, on the French side of the Channel, Philip fomenting the family discord. The threatening condition of Palestine long averted open war. Henry was the head of the house of Anjou, from which the Frank kings of Jerusalem, de- n,, , „,,,. -i ^"^ house scended from Fulk, his grandfather, drew their of Anjou at origin. Baldwin the Leper, the son of King J^'""^^^'^'"- Amalric the conqueror of Egyptian Babylon, was waging a very unequal fight against Saladin, Sultan of Eg}'pt and Syria. It was a brilliant struggle, but against fearful odds. A prey to a sickness which physically disabled him, weakened by the divisions of a court speculating already on his death and the break-up of the kingdom ; at the head of an aristocratic body which had in a single century learned all the vices and none of the virtues of the East ; with the knightly orders quarrelling with one another ; with the barons of the kingdom playing the part of traitors, the princes of the confederation leaguing with Saladin, and the ablest of his allies utterly unfettered by the sense of honour; — Baldwin in despair sent the keys of the Holy Sepulchre to Henry of England, as his kins- man, and prayed him to come to the rescue. Then he died and left the kingdom first to his baby nephew, then to his sister Sibylla and Guy of Lusignan her husband. The mission of the patriarch Heraclius, in 1185, was received with little enthusiasm in the West. Some two or three great English barons, Hugh of Beauchamp and H 2 100 The Early Plantageiicts. a.d. i 187-8. A.D. 1 189. Henry 11. and his Sons. lOI Roger Mowbray, went ; but the English Church and baron- age, assembled at the Council of Clerkenwell, told the king that it was his first duty to stay at home and keep the Jerusalem promises made in his coronation oath. He taken. himself could do no more than offer contribu- tions in money. The patriarch went off in disgust; and before anything was really done Saladin had captured the king, the True Cross, and the holy city. This news, which reached England in October or November 1 187, silenced for a moment the petty quar- rels of the West. But it was for a moment only. At the first shock of the tidings Henr>' and Philip laid aside their grievances. Richard was the first to take the cross. The popes one after another in quick suc- The Third cession issucd impassioned adjurations that Crusade. peace should be made, and that one great Catholic Crusade should rescue imperilled Christendom. The Emperor himself, the lord of the Western world, the great Frederick, declared that he would go to Pales- tine with all the German chivalr)\ In England and France went out a decree that all men who had anything should pay a tenth towards the Crusade. The Saladin tithe was enacted by a great assembly of all England, at Geddington, near Northampton, and it was the first case in which Englishmen ever paid a general tax on all their goods and chattels. This was done in Februar>' 1 1 88. The money was hastily collected. It was yet uncertain whether the king would go himself or send Richard or John or both. But the moment of peace -was over, and for Henry at least the end was coming. The last storm arose in the South ; the quarrel be- „ , , tween Richard and the Count of Toulouse, Henrys last • i / quarrel, beginning about a little matter, drew m both "^^" Henry and Philip. Philip complained to Henry of the misrule of his son. Henry disowned the measures I of Richard ; and Philip invaded Berry. At first Richard acted in concert with his father, drove Philip out of Berry, and recovered the places that he had taken. Henry was in England at the time of the outbreak. He sent over first the Archbishop of Canterbury, then John, and at last, in July 1 188, left his kingdom never to return. The name of the great king was, at first, potent enough. Philip sued for peace ; the Counts of Champagne insisted that there should be peace until the Crusade was over. Once and again the two kings met, and failed to come to a recon- ciliation. In November Richard began to waver : he did homage to Philip for all the French provinces, Richard saving, however, his fealty to his father. A J^'"** Philip. truce was made, and the Pope sent a legate to turn the truce into a peace. But when the time of truce expired Richard had gone over to Philip, and actually joined in the invasion of his father's territories. Philip insisted that Richard should be acknowledged heir : Henry hesi- tated ; Richard suspected that John was to supplant him : John was bribed to take part with his father's enemies. Henry, unable to believe the monstrous conspiracy, for the first time in his life showed want of resolution ; he did not draw his forces to a head, but deliberated and negotiated whilst Richard and Philip were acting. His health was failing, and his spirits had failed already. So the spring of 1189 went on, Henry staying mostly at Saumur, in Anjou, or at Chinon ; and Philip watching for his opportunity. At length, on May 28, after a con- ference at la Fertd Bernard, in which Henry, as it was said, bribed the papal legate to take his side, Philip finally broke into war; carried almost by surprise the chief castles of Maine, and with a good fortune which he could scarcely realise captured the city of le Mans capture of itself, which Henr>', although at the head of '^ ^^^"^• a stout force of knights, refused to defend. Wretchedly 102 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. 1189. A.D. 1 1 89. Henry II. a? id his Sons. 103 ill and broken in spirit, he rode for his life from le Mans, to escape from the hands of his son and of Philip. This was on June 12. Le Mans was Henry's birthplace; there his father was buried, and he had loved the place very much; it was also a very strong place, and when it was taken he knew that sooner or later Tours must go too. But even before Tours was taken all was lost, for Henry seemed to think that he had nothing left to live or fight for. Scarcely able to Henry's sit on liorscback, he rode all day from le flight. Mans, and rested at night at la Frenaye, on the way to Normandy, where the chief part of his force and all his strength lay. Geoffrey, his natural son and chancellor, afterwards Archbishop of York, was with him, and the poor father clung to him in his despair. To him, through his friend Giraldus Cambrensis, we owe the story of these sad days. Henry was worn out with illness and fatigue — he would, he said, lie down and die : at night he would not His last be undressed ; Geoffrey threw his cloak on him and watched by his side. In the morning the day king declared that he could not leave Anjou; Geoffrey was to go on to Alenqon with the troops. He would return to Chinon. Geoffrey was not allowed to depart until the Steward of Normandy had sworn that, should the king die, he would surrender the castles only to John; for Henry did not yet know the treachery of his fa- vourite child. All was done as he bade; Geoffrey se- cured Alencon and then returned to look for his father ; he found him at a place called Savigny, and took him to Chinon, as he wished. For a fortnight Philip pur- sued his conquests unimpeded. Henry moved again to Saumur, and was there visited by the Counts of Cham- pagne ; but he had neither energy, nor apparently even the will, to strike a blow or to come to a decision that would ensure peace. A conference was fixed for June .1 -r 30, at Azai, but when the day came Henry was too ill to attend ; and Philip and Richard went off loudly exclaim- ing that it was a false excuse. The same day Philip came to Tours. Again the princes interfered ; but Philip would not listen. On July 3 he took the city. Then Henry, dying as he was, made his last effort ; he was carried from Saumur to Azai, mounted there on horse- back, and met his two foes on the plain of Colombieres. There, after two attempts to converse, broken by a terrible thunderstorm, Henry, held up on horseback by his servants, accepted Philip's terms and submitted, surrendering all that he was asked to surrender. One thing he asked for, the list of the conspirators, to whom he was obliged to promise forgiveness. The list was given him ; and with reluctance and muttered reproaches, per- haps curses also, he gave Richard the kiss of peace. He went back to Azai, still transacting some little busi- ness on the way, for the monks of Canterbury, who had quarrelled with their archbishop, forced themselves into his presence and provoked some sharp words of reproof even then. Then he opened the list of rebels, and the first name that he saw was John's. And that broke his heart ; he turned his face to the wall and said, ' I have nothing left to care for ; let all things go their way.' From that blow he never rallied. He was carried in a litter to Chinon, chafing against the shame of defeat and the mortification of his love. Geoffrey sat by him fan- ning him in the sultry air and driving away the flies that teased him. To him Henry confided his last wishes. He told him that he was to be Archbishop of York, and gave him his ring, with the seal of the panther, to give to the King of Castille ; then he ordered them to take him up, on his bed, and lay him before the Death of altar of the castle chapel; there he received Henry 11. the last sacraments and died, two days after the meeting at Colombieres. I04 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. 1189. A.D. 1 1 89. RicJiard Cceur de Lion, 105 There is hardly in all English history a more striking catastrophe or a scene in itself more simply touching. So much suffering, so great a fall, from such grandeur to such humiliation, such bitter sorrow, the loss of every- thing worth having, power and peace and his children's love, may have stirred in him in that last moment the thought of forgiveness. But Richard saw him alive no more ; and when at the funeral, at Font Evraud, he met the bier on which his father's body lay, blood flowed forthwith from the nostrils of the dead king, as if his spirit were indignant at his coming. CHAPTER VI. RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. Character of the reign — Richard's first visit to England— His cha- racter -The Cnisade — Fall of Longchamjj — Richard's second visit — His struggle with Philip— His death. The historical interest of the reign of Richard I. is of two sorts : there is abundance of personal adventure and incident, and there is a certain quantity of legal and constitutional material which it is easier to interweave into a general disquisition on such subjects than to invest with a unity and plot of its own. But there is no great national change, no very pronounced develop- ment, no crisis of stirring interest or great permanent im- port. The strong system of government introduced by Henry II. was gaining still greater strength and consis- tency; the royal power, which it was the first object of that system to consolidate, was growing stronger and stronger, and the nation in general, whilst it was passing through that phase in which a strong government is a necessary guide and discipline, was benefiting by the policy which must sooner or later educate it to remedy T JL the abuses andperhaps to overthrow the strong govern- ment itself. But as yet the royal power was wielded by men who used it like statesmen, and the strength of the nation was not tempted to assert itself by a premature struggle. One great personal struggle there was during the reign, and a somewhat interesting one in point of detail, but it is one which typified and prefigured rather than formed a link in the chain of causes that brought about the struggle of Runnymede. The great subjects of romantic interest are Richard's crusade, captivity, and death. England had little to do with these, except as being the source for the supply of treasure ; she scarcely saw Richard ; to her the king was little more than a political expression which furnished arguments to a series of powerful administrators, William Longchamp, Walter of Coutances, Hubert Walter, and Geoffrey FitzPeter. But as connecting English with Continental history the personal career of Richard has its own interest and value, and, even in a rapid survey like the present, it demands, if not the first place, cer- tainly one which is second to no other. Richard, as we have seen, was not acknowledged by his father as his heir, nor had he received the homage of the barons as presumptive successor, until he Richard's had wrung the concession from the dying succession. Henry on the field of Colcmbieres. The fact that, with- out a word of opposition, he was received as Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou, and King of the English, im- mediately on the news of his father's death, proves that the doctrine of hereditary succession was, in practice if not in theory, already admitted as the lawful one, and that Henry's reforms had left the countries subject to his ifnmediate sway in such order that no one even ventured to take advantage of the interregnum to disturb the peace. It also proves that Richard had strong friends. io6 The Early Plantagencts. a.d. 11S9. Among these the first was his mother, who, rejoicing in Eleanor her deliverance by Henry's death from her regent. \ori^ captivitv, placcd herself at the head of the English government, and, empowered by Richard, ruled as regent until his arrival. One reason for this probably was that Ranulf Glanvill, the justiciar, had been a confidential friend of Henry, and may have been suspected of promoting the design of placing John upon the throne. For more than a month Eleanor reigned, Richard spending the time in making terms with Philip, who had become his enemy as soon as he succeeded to his father's place, and in receiving the formal investi- ture of the several dignities which he claimed on the Continent. In the middle of August he came to England, and John with him. After a magnificent progress of little more Coronation than a fortnight, he was crowned with exceed- of Richard, j^g great pomp at Westminster, on the 3rd of September. This is the first coronation the state cere- monies of which have been exactly recorded, and it has remained a precedent for all subsequent occasions : the religious services of course are much older. It was un- fortunately disgraced by a riot promoted by Richard's Persecution foreign attendants against the Jews, who, of the Jews, notwithstanding the king's exertions, were severely handled, robbed, and murdered, the example being followed, as soon as his personal protection was removed, at York, Stamford, and St. Edmund's. Richard at the time of his coronation was thirty-two years old ; a man of tall stature, like his father and elder brother, ruddy and brown-haired, and giving already some indications of corpulence, which he tried to keep down by constant exercise. In dress he was very splendid and ostentatious, therein unlike his fiither. The dissimi- larity in character was greater. Richard was foolishly A.D. 1 1 89. Richard Ccetir de Lion. 107 extravagant, as lavish of money as Henry was sparing, and as unscrupulous in his ways of exacting character of it as his father was cautious and considerate. l' had exacted in the peace of Falaise ; to the Bishop of Durham he sold the office of Justiciar, or a share in it, and the county of Northumberland; to the Bishop of Winchester he sold the sheriffdom of Hamp- shire, and castles and lands belonging of old to his see. Many other prelates paid large sums to secure rights and properties which were their own, but which were deemed A.D. 1 190. RicJiard Ccciir de Lion. 109 safer for the royal confirmation ; and so great were the promises of money made to him that, if they had been fulfilled, he would have been richer by far than all the kings that were before him. He filled up the bishoprics with officers of his father's court. York he gave to his half-brother Geoffrey the Chancellor; Salisbury to Hubert Walter, nephew of the Justiciar Glanvill; Lon- don to Richard the son of old Bishop Nigel of Ely the treasurer, and himself also treasurer and historian of the Exchequer. He also made great provision for John. He had him married, as soon as he could, to the heiress of Glouces- ter, to whom he had been so long betrothed, r, • • 1111 11-1 r'rovision although the archbishop protested that they made for were too near akin. He gave him the counties ^^"" of Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Derby, and Not- tingham, with divers other castles and honours ; but he would not recognise him as his heir or leave him with a settled share in the government. The real power he placed in the hands of a man whom he had found for himself, William Longchamp, who had gone „ ^, , . 1 • • . , ^. Promotion through the usual training m the Chancery, of Long- and whom he now made Chancellor and ^^^"^p- Bishop of Ely. To him also he committed the justiciar- ship, in partnership with the Bishop of Durham, after the death of William de Mandeville, whom he had meant to leave as lieutenant-general of the kingdom ; and before his final departure on the Crusade he made him sole Justiciar, and obtained for him the office of legate from Clement HI. In order to remove the two greatest obstacles to peace he bound his two brothers John and Geoffrey Richard to stay away for three years from England, so ^^uide ^'^^ as to leave a clear stage for Longchamp. He 1190- then prepared for his departure. He left England in no The Early Plaiitagenets. a.d. 1189. December. After arranging matters in Normandy and Poictou, he proceeded to Vezelai, whence he started with PhiHp soon alter midsummer. It may be said that, in spite of good intentions, he took away with him the men whom it would have been wisest to leave behind, Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury, Ranulf Glanvill, and Hubert Walter, and left behind him the uneasy spirits whom he might have made useful against the infidel, John, Geoffrey, and Longchamp. And this the later his- tory proves. At present we will follow Richard. The third Crusade, in which he was the foremost actor, is one of the most interesting parts of the The Third crusading history ; the greatness of the occa- Crusade. gjon, the grcatncss of the heroes, and the greatness of the failure, mark it out especially. And yet it was not altogether a failure, for it stayed the Western progress of Saladin, and Islam never again had so great a captain. Jerusalem had been taken in the autumn of 1187. The king had been taken prisoner in the summer. Before or after the capture almost every stronghold had been surrendered within the territory of Jerusalem. Saving the lordship of Tyre and the principalities of Antioch and Tripoli, all the Frank possessions had been lost, and only a few moun- tain fortresses kept up a hopeless resistance. The counsels of the Crusaders were divided; the military orders hated and were hated by the Frank nobility ; and these, with an admixture of Western adventurers like Conrad of Montferrat, played fast and loose with Saladin, betraying the interests of Christendom and working up in their noble enemy a sum of mistrust and contempt which he intended should accumulate till he could take full vengeance. When King Guy, released from captivity, opened, in August 1 1 89, the siege of Acre, he was probably conscious I "mtf A.D. 1189. Richard Caiir dc Lion, \ 1 1 that no more futile design was ever attempted. Yet it showed an amount of spirit unsuspected by sie e of the Western princes, and drew at once to his Acr? "^ side all the adventurous soldiers of the Cross. If he could maintain the siege long enough, there were hopes of ultimate success against Saladin, of the recovery of the Cross and the Sepulchre, for the emperor and the kings of the West were all on the road to Palestine. Month after month passed on. The Danes and the Flem- ings arrived early, but the great hosts lagged strangely behind. The great hero Frederick of Hohenstaufen started first; he was to go by land. Like a cru,.de of great king, such as he was, he first set his Frederick, realms in order; early in 1188, at what was called the Court of (iod, at Mentz, he called his hosts together • then from Ratisbon, on St. George's day, 1189, he set off, like St. George himself, on a pilgrimage against the dragons and enchanters that lay in wait for him in the barbarous lands of the Danube and in Asia Minor. The dragons were plague and famine, the enchanters were Byzantine treachery and Seljukian artifice. Through both the true and perfect knight passed with neither fear nor reproach. In a little river among the mountains of Cihcia he met the strongest enemy, and only his bones reached the land of his pilgrimage. His people looked for him as the Britons for Arthur. Thev would not believe him dead. Still legend places him, asleep but yet alive, m a cave among the Thuringian mouniains, to awake and come again in the great hour of German need. His diminished and perishing army brought famine and pestilence to the besieging host at Acre. His son Frede- rick of Swabia, who commanded them, died with them ; and the German Crusaders who were left— few indeed alter the struggle-returned to Germany before the close OJ the Crusade under Duke Leopold of Austria. 1 1 2 The Early Plantagenets. a. d. 1 190. Next perhaps, after the Emperor, the Crusade de- pended on the King of Sicily-he died four months after hisfather-in-law, Henry II. ■,. ^\^„ For two years the siege of Acre dragged on ,t. m.ser- able length. It was a siege within a siege : the Clnnst.an host held the Saracen army withm the walls ; Segfac they themselves fortified an entrenched camp ; A"'- outside the trench was a countless Saracen host besieging the besiegers. The command of the sea was disputed: but both parties found the,r supplies m that way, and both suffered together. This had been going on for nearly a year before Richard and Philip left Vezelai. From V-ela- to Lyons f the kings marched together ; then Phil p set £cS° out for Genoa, Richard for Marseilles. R.ch- ard coasted along the Italian shore, wiling -vay the t>me until his fleet arrived. The ships had gone, of course, bv he Bav of Biscay and Straits of Gibraltar, where they had been drawn into the constant crusade gomg on between the Moors and the Portuguese, and lost time also by s^lin- up to Marseilles, where they expected to meet the k^. Notwithstanding the delay they arrived S Messma ^veral days before Richard. Phil.p, -hose fleeVsuch as it was, had assembled at Marse.Ues, reached the Dlace of rendezvous ten days before him. Immediately on Richard's arrival, on September ^ 3, Philip took ship, but as i-™ediately put back^ Richard .,., , , , made no attempt to go farther than Messina iX:^"* until the spring. It was an unfortunate delay, but it was absolutely necessary. The besiegers of Acre wl plrishing with plague and fa-;"e ^ P™-^"the not abundant even in the fleet. To have ad-^^^ *« Kn-lish and French armies to the perishing host wouia l^ngusn ana English barons, how- have been suicidal. Some 01 tne r-it, ever, persisted. Ranulf Glanvill went on to Acre, and A.D. I 191, Richard Ccciir de Lion. II \ died in the autumn of 1190; Archbishop Baldwin and Hubert Walter, the Bishop of Salisbury, took the mili- tary as well as the spiritual command of the English contingent ; but me archbishop died in November, and Hubert found his chief employment in ministering to the starving soldiers. Queen Sibylla and her children were dead also ; and Conrad of Montferrat, separating her sister, now the heiress of the Frank kingdom, from her youthful husband, prevailed on the patriarch to marry her to himself, and so to oust King Guy, and still more divide the divided camp. The two factions were arrayed against one another as bitterly as the general exhaustion permitted, when at last Philip and Richard came. The winter months of 1 190 and the spring of 1 191 had been spent by them in very uneasy lodgings at Messina. Richard and Philip were, from the very first, ihe kings jealous of one another. Richard was betrothed ^^ Messina, to Philip's sister, and Philip suspected him of wishing to break off the engagement. Richard's sister Johanna, the widow of William the Good, was still in Sicily. Richard wanted to get her and her fortune into his hands and out of the hands of Tancred, who, with a doubtful claim, had set himself up as King of Sicily against Henry of Hohen- staufen, who had married the late king's aunt. Now, the Hohenstaufen and the French had always been allies; Richard, through his sister's marriage with Henry the Lion, was closely connected with the Welfs, who had suffered forfeiture and banishment from the policy of Frederick Barbarossa. He was also naturally the ally of Tan- cred, who looked upon him as the head of Richard and Norman chivalry. Yet to secure his sister he Tancred. found it necessary to force Tancred to terms. Whilst Tancred negotiated the people of Messina rose against the strangers; the strangers quarrelled among them- M.H, I 112 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. 1190. Double siege at Acre. Next perhaps, after the Emperor, the Crusade de- pended on the King of Sicily — he died four months after his father-in-law, Henry II. For two years the siege of Acre dragged on its miser- able length. It was a siege within a siege : the Christian host held the Saracen army within the wall*; ; they themselves fortified an entrenched camp ; outside the trench was a countless Saracen host besieging the besiegers. The command of the sea was disputed, but both parties found their supplies in that way, and both suffered together. This had been going on for nearly a year before Richard and Philip left Vezelai. From Vezelai to Lyons Journey of the kings marched together ; then Philip set Richard. out for Genoa, Richard for Marseilles. Rich- ard coasted along the Italian shore, wiling away the time until his fleet arrived. The ships had gone, of course, by the Bay of Biscay and Straits of Gibraltar, where they had been drawn into the constant crusade going on between the Moors and the Portuguese, and lost time also by sailing up to Marseilles, where they expected to meet the king. Notwithstanding the delay they arrived at Messina several days before Richard. Philip, whose fleet, such as it was, had assembled at Marseilles, reached the place of rendezvous ten days before him. Immediately on Richard's arrival, on September 23, Philip took ship, but as immediately put back. Richard The English "lade no attempt to go farther than Messina at Acre. until the spring. It was an unfortunate delay, but it was absolutely necessary. The besiegers of Acre were perishing with plague and famine; provisions were not abundant even in the fleet. To have added the English and French armies to the perishing host would have been suicidal. Some of the English barons, how- ever, persisted. Ranulf Glanvill went on to Acre, and 1- 7 A.O. II91, Richard Cccur dc Lion. 113 \ died in the autumn of 1190; Archbishop Baldwin and Hubert Walter, the Bishop of Salisbury, took the mili- tary as well as the spiritual command of the English contingent ; but the archbishop died in November, and Hubert found his chief employment in ministering to the starving soldiers. Queen Sibylla and her children were dead also ; and Conrad of Montferrat, separating her sister, now the heiress of the Frank kingdom, from her youthful husband, prevailed on the patriarch to marry her to himself, and so to oust King Guy, and still more divide the divided camp. The two factions were arrayed against one another as bitterly as the general exhaustion permitted, when at last Philip and Richard came. The winter months of 1 190 and the spring of 1 191 had been spent by them in very uneasy lodgings at Messina. Richard and Philip were, from the very first, The kings jealous of one another. Richard was betrothed ^^ Messina. to Philip's sister, and Philip suspected him of wishing to break off the engagement. Richard's sister Johanna, the widow of William the Good, was still in Sicily. Richard wanted to get her and her fortune into his hands and out of the hands of Tancred, who, with a doubtful claim, had set himself up as King of Sicily against Henry of Hohen- staufen, who had married the late king's aunt. Now, the Hohenstaufen and the French had always been allies; Richard, through his sister's marriage with Henry the Lion, was closely connected with the Welfs, who had suffered forfeiture and banishment from the policy of Frederick Barbarossa. He was also naturally the ally of Tan- cred, who looked upon him as the head of Richard and Norman chivalry. Yet to secure his sister he I'^n'-red. found it necessary to force Tancred to terms. Whilst Tancred negotiated the people of Messina rose against the strangers; the strangers quarrelled among them- M.H, I . 114 TJic Early Plantagcncts. A.D. 1191. Richard sails from Messina. selves; Philip planned treachery against Richard, and tried to draw Tancred into a conspiracy; Tancred in- formed Richard of the treachery. IVIatters were within a hair's breadth of a battle between the crusading kings. Philip's strength, however, was not equal to his spite, and the air gradually cleared. Tancred gave up the queen and her fortune, and arranged a marriage for one of his daughters with Arthur of Brittany, who was re- cognised as Richard's heir. Soon after Queen Eleanor arrived at Naples with the lady Berengaria of Navarre in her company; whereupon, by the advice of Count Philip of Flanders, Philip released Richard from the promise to marry his sister ; and at last, at the end of March 1191, the French Crusaders sailed away to Acre. Richard followed in a few days ; but a storm carrying part of his fleet to Cyprus, he found himself obliged to fight with Isaac Comnenus, the Emperor, and then to conquer and reform the island, where also he was married. After he reached Acre, where he arrived on June 8, he as well as Philip fell ill, and only after a delay of some weeks was able to take part in Acre taken, the siegc. The town held out a little longer ; "91- but early in July it surrendered, and gave the Christians once more a footing in the Holy Land. Im- mediately after the capture Philip started homewards, leaving his vow of pilgrimage unfulfilled. Richard re- mained to complete the conquest. The sufferings and the cruelties of this part of the history are not pleasant to dwell upon. It is a sad tale Richard's ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ Saladin slew his prisoners, how campaigns the Duke of Burgundy and Richard slew theirs ; how Conrad and Guy quarrelled, the French supporting Conrad and Richard supporting Guy; how the people perished, and bi-ave and noble knights took menial service to earn bread, A more brilliant yet # I T A.D. 1 192. Richard Ca:ur dc Lion, 115 scarcely less sad story is the great march of Richard by the way of the sea from Acre to Joppa, and his progress, after a stay of seven weeks at Joppa, on the way to Jeru- salem as far as Ramlah. Every step was dogged by Saladin, every straggler cut off, every place of encamp- ment won by fighting. Christmas found the king within a few miles of Jerusalem; but he never came within reach of it. Had he known the internal condition of the city he might have taken it. Jerusalem was in a panic, Saladin for once paralysed by alarm; but Richard had no good intelligence. The Franks insisted that Ascalon should be secured before the Holy City was occupied. The favourable moment passed away. Richard with a heavy heart turned his back on Jeru- salem and went to rebuild Ascalon. Ikfore Ascalon that was done the French began to draw back, rebuilt. The struggle between Guy and Conrad broke out again. Saladin, by Easter 1192, was in full force and in good spirits again. Richard performed during these months some of the most daring exploits of his whole Exploits of life : capturing the fortresses of the south Richard, country of Judah, and with a small force and incredibly rapid movements intercepting the great caravan of the Saracens on the borders of the desert. Such acts in- creased his fame but scarcely helped the Crusade. In June it became absolutely necessary to determine on further steps. Now the French insisted on attacking Jerusalem. Richard had learned caution, and the council of the Crusade recommended an expedition to Egypt to secure the south as Acre barred the north. At last Richard yielded to the pressure of the French, March on and in spite of the want of water and the ab- Jerusalem, surdity of sitting down before the Holy City with an enormous army in the middle of summer, he led them again to Beit-niaba, four hours' journey from Jerusalem. I 2 W ii6 The Early Plaiitagcncts. a.d. 1193. Then the French changed their minds again ; and thence, on July 4, began the retreat preparatory to the return. Richard had been too long away from France, whither Philip had returned, and from England, where John was Retreat and Waiting for his chanccs ; he began to negotiate truce. fQj. ^ truce, and in September, after a dashing exploit at Joppa, in which he rescued the town from almost certain capture, he arranged a peace for three years three months and three days. Early in October he left Palestine, the Bishop of Salisbury remaining to lead home the remnant of the Richards host, as soon as they had performed the pil- journey grimagc which they were to make under the homewards. ^ ■ r t^ ^ ^■ t-. • i i • protection of Saladm. Richard, nnpatient of delay, and not deeming himself worthy to look on the city which he had not strength and grace to win back for Christendom, left his fleet and committed himself to the ordinary means of transport. After bargaining with pirates and smugglers for a passage, and losing time by unnecessary hurry, he was shipwrecked on the coast of the Adriatic near Aquileia; travelled in disguise through Friuli and part of Salzburg, and was caught by Duke Leopold of Austria, his bitter personal enemy, at Vienna, in December. In March 1193 he was handed over to the Emperor Henry VI., who was in correspondence with Philip of France, as Philip was with John. For more than a year Richard was in captivity. We may take the opportunity of turning back and seeing how England had fared during his absence. When he started on the Crusade, early in December 1 189, he left the regency in the hands of Bishop Hugh England °^ Durham and Bishop William of Ely the during the Chancellor, with a committee of associate justices. John and Geoffrey had sworn to stay away for three years. As soon as he was out of the A.D. 1 190. RicJiard Cccur de Lion, 117 country, as early as January 1 190, the justices quarrelled. They were, indeed, very ill-mated. Hugh de Puiset, the liishop of Durham, was a great lord of the Hugh de house of Champagne, nephew to King Ste- i^^'s^^t. phen, and cousin to the king : a rich man, an old man, the father of a fine family, one son being chancellor to the King of France ; a great captain, a great hunter, a most splendid builder; not a very clerical character, but altogether a grand figure for nearly fifty years of English history. William of Longchamp, although per- ^.^^. haps, notwithstanding the stigma of low birth Long- cast upon him by his rivals, a man of good *^ ^'"^* family, was an upstart by the side of Bishop Hugh. He was a man of very unpopular manners ; ver}- ambitious for himself and his relations, very arrogant, priding him- self on his Norman blood, but laughed at as a parvenu by the Norman nobles; disliking and showing contempt in the coarsest way for the English, whose language he would not speak and declared that he did not under- stand ; very jealous of a sharer in power, and unscru- pulous in his use of it. With all this, however, he was, it is certain, faithful to Richard ; his designs were all directed to the securing and increasing of his master's power, and his bitterest enemies were his masters enemies. Richard knew this, and never discarded his minister, although his unpopularity once endangered the throne, and was always so great that he thought it best to keep him out of the country. He continued to be chancellor as long as he lived. William, as the king's confidant, chancellor, justiciar, and prospective legate, was far more than a match for Bishop Hugh. They quarrelled at the Exchequer as soon Quarrel of as Richard left for France. The chancellor the justices, crossed over and laid his complaint before the king; then Hugh followed, and obtained a favourable answer; ii8 The Early Plantagcnets. A.D. IIOO. A.D. II9I. Richard Ca:nr dc Lion. 119 but when he presented the royal letters to Longchanip he was arrested and kept in honourable confinement until the king^s pleasure should be further known. Richard was probably aware of this summary treatment of the bishop, but he had extracted from his coffers as much of his treasure as he was likely for the present to get, and he practically rewarded the chancellor by showing him increased confidence. In June Longchamp became legate of the pope and sole justiciar. After Hugh de Puiset's defeat Longchamp had several months of practical sovereignty ; supreme in Church and Longchamp State, he travelled about in royal pomp, supreme. making double exactions, as chancellor and legate, from the religious houses. He fortified the Tower of London. He punished the rioters at York who had attacked the Jews and driven them to destroy themselves. He put his own brothers into high and lucrative posts, married his nephews and nieces to the great wards of the crown, taught the noble pages of his household to serve on the knee, and, partly by misconduct, partly by mis- management and contumelious behaviour in general, did his best to make himself intolerable. By this time John was released from the oath to stay three years on the Continent and had come to England, Position of where he was keeping royal state in his castles John. Qf Marlborough and Lancaster. John's posi- tion, if not his ability, made him a more formidable an- tagonist than Bishop Hugh de Puiset, and John's enmity was no doubt first incurred by the support which Long- champ gave to the idea that Arthur should be Richard's heir. Whether Richard really intended Arthur to suc- ceed, or merely allowed him to be set up as a check upon John, cannot perhaps be certainly decided ; but he was so set up, and Longchamp's policy was, for a time, de- voted to the securing of his claim. For a time John remained quiet, angry at not having his proper share of power, but restrained by the presence, and probably by the advice, of Eleanor, his mother, who certainly never intended that Arthur should exclude him from the throne. Eleanor, however, early in 1191, went to Messina with Berengaria of Navarre, and probably with the express purpose of laying before her son the imprudent behaviour of his chancellor. John was thus released from her influ- ence, and in a very short time found an opportunity of asserting himself as the protector of the nation against the tyranny of Longchamp. The Chancellor, in pursuance of a deliberate plan for maintaining the royal power, was engaged in taking into his own hands the many castles which since Longchamp the death of Henry 11. had got into untrust- fheToTal worthy keeping. The importance of this castles. measure, sufficiently clear from the history of the two last reigns, justified some severity. Yet action so speedy and direct could scarcely have been expected by men who had only a year and a half before paid down large sums of money to Richard for the possessions of which they were now deprived. John knew this ; he knew that he had himself been kept out of the castles belonging to the lordships which were showered upon him, and deter- mined to avail himself of the first chance to set matters right and to obtain recognition as his brother's heir. So whilst Longchamp was busy in the West of England John took measures for securing the castles of Tickhill and Nottingham, the two strongest fortresses to which he thought he had a claim. The chance soon came. Gerard Camvill, the warden of Lincoln Castle and sheriff of the shire, refused to surrender his fortress at the command of Longchamp, and appealed to Gerard John as his liege lord. John took up arms <^amvin. and seized Nottingham and Tickhill. The Chancellor I20 The Early Plantagcncts. A.D. II91. went northwards to meet him, but no battle was fought ; War and and a truce was made at Winchester towards truces. the end of April 1 191. This lasted but a short time. Soon after the pacification, about midsummer, war broke out again ; again the castles were surrendered to John, and a battle was imminent. But now a new actor appeared. Richard, hearing from his mother of the angry Mission of ^^^^^ "^ ^he kingdom, sent from Messina the Walter of Archbishop of Rouen, Walter of Coutances, Loutances. i j ,-/--- , an old otficer of the English court who had been Vice-Chancellor to Henry II., with instructions of which we have no very certain account, but which probably contained two or three alternative courses, one of which was the superseding of Longchamp. Just at the same time Clement III. died, and it was very uncertain whether Celestine III., who succeeded him, would renew the legatine commission. The Archbishop of Rouen arrived in time to prevent bloodshed; but he did not produce his summary instructions. A second truce was made at Winchester in July, and the castles both of the king and of John were placed ?n safe hands. Two months had scarcely passed when a third struggle occurred. Archbishop Geoffrey of York, released, as he Return of ^^^<^' ^'^^ John, from his three years' exile, GeoSe^'''^ returned from his consecration at Tours, and ^° ^^^' landed at Dover in September. The Chan- cellor, fearful of his influence and afraid of his coalescing with John, tried to prevent his landing. The new arch- bishop was sacrilegiously handled by the legate's ser- vants, drawn from sanctuary and imprisoned. John took up at once his brother's cause, and the bishops and barons, indignant that a son of the great King Henry should be so treated, compelled the Chancellor to dis- avow the act and release the prisoner. Geoffrey, set free, went at once to London. John and the Archbishop of i I i •^"^^^1^ A.D. I 192. Richm-d Co'tir dc Lion. 121 Rouen collected the barons, and Longchamp shut himself up at Windsor. The barons cried out for.his deposition, the bishops for his excommunication. Scarcely any of the many friends whom he had purchased Longchamp stood by him. It was at last agreed that he removed should meet the whole body of the baronage justidar- at the bridge over the Loddon near Reading, ^^'p- early in October. The barons met there. Longchamp's courage failed him; instead of keeping his appointment he started at full speed to London. When he arrived there he found that his friends were a minority among the citizens, and took refuge in the Tower. No sooner was he there than John and the barons came at full speed after him. The next day they held a solemn assembly. The Archbishop of Rouen at last exhibited his commis- sion and was received as Justiciar. John was recognised as his brother's representative. Longchamp was com- pelled to surrender his castles and go into exile. This would seem to have been a case of revolutionarv action, rather than of the constitutional dismissal of a minister ; still it is important in it^ relation to the theory of the responsibility of ministers, and as containing in germ the idea that an unworthy minister is amenable to punish- ment and deposition at the hands of the nation, and is not responsible to his master only. Before Christmas King Philip had returned from the Crusade and was laying snares for Richard, who was still bearing the burden of Christendom in Pales- , "1 - Intrigues of tme. 1 he hrst net was spread for John. John Philip and was ver>' much disgusted that the Archbishop -'"^"' "^''" of Rouen had secured all the benefits of the late victory over the Chancellor and indignant at being kept in order by his mother. He was ready enough to betray Richard's interests ; he intrigued first with Philip, then with Long- champ, who wanted to return .to his see; he accepted 122 The Early Planiagcnets. ad. 1193. A.D 1 194. Richard Ca'ur de Lion. 123 bribes in money from both. The whole year 1192 affords nothing but a record of his machinations, which were for the present futile. But when the news of the capture of Richard at Vienna arrived he immediately entered into negotiations with V\(\\\'<^^bo7id fide on both sides, to secure the crown to himself and to prevent his brother's return. These manoeuvres resulted in open war as soon as the release of Richard was determined on. We must now return to the fortunes of the captive king, the news of whose imprisonment took all Europe Negotia- by Surprise and shocked all Christendom. It Richard's reached England in February 1193; and the release. first thing the Justiciar did was to send two abbots to Germany to seek him. They met him at Ochsenfurth, in Bavaria, on his way to Worms, where he was to meet the Emperor on Palm Sunday. Their first negotiations were friendly enough, notwithstanding the alliance which Richard had made with Tancred, and his connexion with the Welfic familv. An enormous ransom was demanded, but Richard was to have no inconsider- able gift in compensation, that little Provencal kingdom which Frederick had been able to reclaim, but over which Henry possessed scarcely more than nominal sway. Richard was to be made King of Aries. In the mean- time he was to resign the crown of England to Henry VI. as lord of the world, and to receive it back again as a tributary fief of the empire ; and this, our historian says, was done, although the Emperor before his death released him from the obligation. But as soon as Philip and John learned that the transaction was assuming such an amicable shape, they attempted to prevent the Emperor from fulfil- ling the agreement, and the position of parties within the empire gave them fair hopes of attaining their end. For, in consequence of the murder of the Delays. ■•lAItek Bishop of Liege, in which the Emperor was somehow implicated, Henr)' was at open strife with the great barons and lords of the Low Countries. They hampered his action in his wide-reaching schemes of policy; against them he felt the need of having Philip's aid, and he listened to the overtures of Richard's enemies. John, having so far succeeded in retarding opera- tions, secured his castles, and added even Windsor to their number; he gave out that Richard would Rebellion of never return ; and although he professed to J°^"- collect money for the ransom, collected all that he could in his own treasury. Eleanor, however, and the justices, were too strong for him. Hubert Walter too had returned from Palestine ; he, in company with the Chancellor, had visited Richard in his prison, and had by his recommend- ation been chosen archbishop of Canterbury. He under- took to raise the ransom, and to manage John. Richard's The whole nation behaved nobly. Enormous ransom. contributions were raised; the knights paid a scutage in aid to ransom their lord ; the Cistercians surrendered their wool ; the whole people paid a fourth of their move- able goods, clergy as well as lay. \\ hether all the money that was raised reached the Emperor's coffers may fairly be doubted, but the nation paid it, and at last by Feb- ruary 1 194 the ransom was ready. But before Richard was set free it was found neces- sary to buy the help of the lords of the Low Countries, and compel Henry to fulfil his promise by Release; threats that they would renounce their alle- "94- giance. He had defied the Pope, and indeed died ex- communicate, but he could not stand against this pres- sure. Richard was released, and landed in England on the 13th of March. England the returning hero found at war. Archbishop Hubert, who had succeeded to the justiciarship at Christ- 124 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. 1194. A.D. 1 194-8. Richard Cccur de Lion. Return. mas, had been obliged to look John's treason in the face. As archbishop he excommunicated him ; as justice he condemned him to forfeiture ; as lieutenant-general of the king he led an army against him. One by one John's castles had been taken, and at the time of Richard's landing only Tickhill and Not- tingham held out. Tickhill surrendered on hearing the hews, Nottingham at the arrival of the king. John's party at once broke up, and Richard had but to show himself to be supreme. This is Richard's second and last appearance on English soil as king. He stayed only from March 13 to May 12, 1 1 94, but he did a great deal of second visit busincss. As soon as Nottingham had surren- to England. ^^^^^ ^g called a great council there, and for three days acted as chief judge, financier, and politician ; taxing his friends, condemning his enemies, and concoct- ing new plans for the security and quiet administration of the realm. By selling sheriffdoms, exacting fines, and enacting taxes, he raised, money to begin hostilities with Philip at once. He punished the enemies of Longchamp and the friends of John, especially his chief minister, Hugh of Nunant, Bishop of Coventry, who had as bishop and as sheriff offended the laws secular and ecclesias- tical. But he showed himself by no means implacable ; and, before he left, he had reconciled not only Arch- bishop Geoffrey and the Chancellor, but almost all the other jealous and divided parties. In accordance with the recommendation of his council, before he left England, he wore his crown in solemn state at Winchester; and, having done fairly well all that he had undertaken, show- ing that his pride, dignity, and energy had undergone no diminution by his captivity, he sailed to Barfleur on the 1 2th of May, and England saw his face no more, heavily as from time to time she felt the pressure of his hand. r From this time all Richard's personal history is un- connected with England. From 1194 to 1198 the king- dom was governed by Hubert Walter, the ^ ' (joverament Archbishop of Canterbury, who, like Lonsr- of Hubert champ, was both legate and justiciar; Long- ^ ^^' champ retained the title and emoluments of chancellor, but did not come to England. The history of these years is simply a record of judicial and financial mea- sures taken on the lines and inspired by the n^otives of Henry the Second's policy. Hubert had been his secretary, and, being the nephew of Ranulf Glanvill, he had been fitted by education to be a sound lawyer and financier, as well as a good bishop and a suc- cessful general. He was a strong minister ; and al- though as a good Englishman he made the pressure of his master's hand lie as lightly as he could upon the people, as a good servant he tried to get out of the people as much treasure as he could for his master. In the raismg of the money and in the administration of jus- tice he tried and did much to train the people to habits of self-government. He taught them how to assess their taxes by jury, to elect the grand jury for the assizes of the judges, to choose representative knights to transact legal and judicial work ; — such representative knights as at a later time made convenient precedents for parliamentary representation. The whole working of elective and re- presentative institutions gained greatly under his man- agement — he educated the people against the better time to come. But he collected vast sums — eleven hundred thousand pounds, it was said, in four years — beyond the ordinary revenue. He allowed no evasions. The king watched him closely ; threatened reforms which would increase the exactions of the treasury, and directed the formation of a new national survey, or at least tried to force one on the country. The people of London, worked 126 The Early Plantagcncts. a.d. 1198. A.D. 1 1 98. Richard Caur de Lion. 127 on by the demagogue William FitzOsbert, insisted on a new mode of assessment in which the taxes would be collected in proportion to the means of the payers, and not by a simple poll-tax. This project might be just, but was promoted by rev'olutionary means ; Hubert sum- marily cowed the rioters into submission. He went to the very extreme of what was right to serve Richard, and at last he gave in to the number of influences which combined to weary him of a position of power too great to be undertaken by any single person. This occasion is a memorable one. In the spring of 1 198 Richard, as usual, wanted money, and had ex- Monev hausted all the usual means of procuring it. refused by He accordingly directed Hubert to propose Council, to the assembled barons and bishops that 119S. xh^y should maintain for him, during his war, a force of three hundred knights, to be paid a sum of three shillings a day. To the archbishop's amazement, for the first time for five-and-thirty years, for the second time in English history, the demand was disputed. Again the opposition was led by a bishop, as then by St. Thomas, this time by St. Hugh. That great Hugh of Lincoln, the Burgundian Carthusian who had won the heart of Henry H. and had treated him as an equal, now acted on behalf of the nation to which he had joined himself. Herbert, the Bishop of Salisbury, the son of Henry's old servant Richard of Ilchester, followed the example. The estates of their churches were not bound, they said, to afford the king military service except within the four seas; they would not furnish it for foreign war- fare. The opposition prevailed : the bishops had struck a chord which awoke the baronage. This body now, to a far greater extent than before, consisted of men who had little interest in Normandy, were far more English in sympathy, and perhaps also in blood, than they had u been under Henry \\. The occasion is marked by another consequence. The great minister re- r, . * '^ Kesignation signed — not perhaps merely on this account — oi the Jus- he had long been weary of his office; the new ^'^'^'^' Pope, Innocent III., was telling him that it was unworthy of an archbishop to act as a secular judge and task- master. The monks of his cathedral were harassing him about the sacrilege involved in the execution of William FitzOsbert, whom he had ordered to be taken from sanctuary and hanged ; and the Roman lawyers were threatening excommunication if he did not pull down the grand new college which he had built in honour of St. Thomas at Lambeth. He had had as much as he wanted of power, and as much as he could bear of blame. He therefore, in July 1198, made way for a new justiciar, Geoflrey PltzPeter, Earl of Essex, Oeofrey who had no such scruples of conscience and I'itzi'eter. no such eccle>iiastical embarrassments, but who began his administration with a severe forest assize, and by his general sternness taught the nation how good a friend, with all his shortcomings, Archbishop Hubert had been. Geoffrey FitzPeter retained his office for life, dying, as will be seen, at a critical period in the next reign. During this time Richard was engaged in foiling the projects of Philip, and drawing together the strings of a great Continental alliance against him. Richard's Alternate interviews, battles, treaties or pro- '-^^^ years. jects of treaties, truces and truce-breakings, form the history of years, interesting only to those who care to follow the military and geographical side of the history. Philip gains strength on the whole ; it would not be true to say that Richard loses strength, and he would pro- bably, if he had lived, have completely overwhelmed his enemy. But still they were more on an equality than they had been ; Philip gaining experience which was far 128 The Early Plantagcnets. a.d 1109. more valuable to him than any mere access of force. In 1 198 Richard made a great step, by securing the crown of Germany for his nephew, the son of Henry Saxon'^y. the Lion of Saxony, who had been brought emperor. ^^p ^^ ^^ English court, and was, of course, in the closest alliance with his benefactor. With Otho's aid he drew in all the Flemish nobles and the Low Country Germans, who hated the Hohenstaufen, and so hated their ally the King of France not only as a bad neighbour but as an ally of the Emperor. This confede- rati'on might ultimately have been successful if Richard had lived to guide it. He had at last by patient and for- giving kindness drawn John from Philip's side ; he had c-ot the King of Scots also safe under his influence. In the spring of 1199 he v/as, as usual, in appear- ance negotiating a peace, probably in reality meditating a brisker war, when he heard that the Viscount Rkhard! of Limoges had found a great buried treasure : "^^" a golden emperor and all his court sitting at a golden table. The very name of the gold aroused Richard : he demanded his share -the lion's share. The viscount gave, but not all. So the king besieged his castles ; and before one of them, Chalus-Chabrol, he re- ceived a wound in the shoulder, which the awkwardness of the surgeons made mortal to him. He lived long enough to set his house in order. He left his jewels to Otho"; John he declared his heir, and directed the barons to swear allegiance to him ; he sent for his mother to receive his last words ; he ordered the man who had wounded him to be set free, and declared his forgive- ness of all his enemies. Then in an agony of penitence he made a very solemn and ver>' sad confession. It was said that he had not confessed for seven years, because he would not profess to be reconciled to Philip; and he had much besides that to ask pardon for. After re- A.D. 1 199. Richard Cceur de L ion. 129 ceiving the last sacraments he closed his laborious life on the 7th of April, and was buried with his father, by St. Hugh of Lincoln, in the abbey church of Fontev- raud ; a very strong man, who knew at last his own need of mercy. CHAPTER VII. JOHN. John's succession — Arthur's claims — Loss of Normandy — Quarrel with the Church— Submission to the Pope — Quarrel with the Barons — The Great Charter and its consequences — Arrival of Lewis — ^John's death. The death of Richard placed John at last in the position for which he had toiled and intrigued so long ; not, it is true, without a competitor, and that one john and whose claims were destined, after his own Arthur, death, to be fatal to John's retention of half his posses- sions. But the competitor was for the moment in the background, and in England at least never gained a foot- ing or gathered the semblance of a party. Arthur was now twelve years old ; his mother, Constance of Brittany, who was left a widow before he was born, had been mar- ried in the year of his birth to Earl Ranulf of Chester, whom she disliked, and who, after having been married to her for some years, found himself unable to manage her, and, following the example of Henry IL, imprisoned her. She was an imprudent, probably a bad woman, as her later conduct tends to show; but it may be questioned whether, in her management of her hereditary state of Brittany, she went farther than any good patriot might go in opposition to the centralising policy by which Richard carried out the schemes of his father. Anyhow she had made herself the champion of the independence M. H. K 130 The Early Plantagcnets. a.d. 1199. John secures Normandy of Brittany, and so had imperilled the chances of her son's succession to the rest of the inheritance. She seems to have been in constant opposition to Richard, and likewise to Eleanor, who alone after Richard's death could have maintained Arthur's rights. It is probably for this reason that, after Richard returned from the Cru- sade, we never again hear of Arthur as heir ; that John therefore, although personally disliked, was accepted as an inevitable necessity; and that Arthur, when he was old enough to act for himself, ruined his own cause by his wanton attack upon his grandmother. John seems to have known that England was safely his own. He had bound the baronage by oath to agree to his succession as early as 1191 ; he had a faithful friend in the Archbishop of Can- terbury, who transferred to him the devotion which he had always shown to Richard, and had con- sented to become his chancellor. He was willing to make any sort of promises to secure those of the magnates w^ho were not already pledged to him. He spent, there- fore, the first six weeks of his reign in France, making good his hold on Normandy, and providing for the main- tenance of peace with Philip. Meanwhile he sent the archbishop to England, to smooth his way there and prepare for the coronation. The difficulties which Hubert had to encounter were not caused by the question of the succession, but by the Parties m attitude of the great earls, all of whom had England. something to gain by the possible reversal of that repressive policy which had been pursued for the last twenty-six years, and some of whom had on former occasions taken a leading part against John, which he might now embrace the opportunity of avenging. A reactionary feudal party, a party of personal opponents, and a body of ambitious self-seekers, might all together, A.D. 1 199. ^ohn. J 131 if they had taken up Arthur's cause, have given John much trouble ; but they contented themselves, as it was, with stating their grievances, and the archbishop was empowered to make any concessions that would appease them. The state of the country was not so peaceful as it had been during the last interregnum. The disturbers of public order took advantage of the attitude of the earls to plunder and ravage ; but the strong arm of the justiciar avenged what he could not prevent, and, after a formal debate held between Hubert and the earls at Northampton, peace was restored and the promises of John accepted as conclusive at all events for the present. On Ascension-day accordingly he presented himself at Westminster, and was there chosen, anointed, and consecrated with great splendour. On this John's occasion the ancient doctrine of election to coronation. the crown was vindicated in word and deed. Matthew Paris, the historian of this and the next reign, a writer who hated John with inveterate hatred, and who has therefore been suspected of having inserted in his work some things which never took place, has put in the mouth of the archbishop a somewhat elaborate speech, in which he declares that the crown of England is elective rather than hereditary, and that John's title to the succession lies in the fact that he has been chosen king, as the first and strongest and most famous of the royal house. That some declaration of the kind was made is certain, for it is quoted by Lewis of France in the manifesto issued when he landed in England in 1216; but the historian draws suspicion upon his own account of it by saying that Hubert had a prophetic fore- sight in doing this; that he foresaw John's misrule and insisted on his elective title as one that might be set aside hereafter. But in whatever terms the fact of the election was stated, and whether the claim of Arthur was denied K 2 ^32 The Early Plaittagenets. a.d. 1199. John. 133 or passed over in silence, it is important as showing the accepted doctrine of election in the thirteenth century. Arthur, according to the principles of inheritance of fiefs, as they were now admitted in England, was clearly his uncle's heir. The election of John was, and perhaps was understood to be, a recurrence to the older rule by which the national choice of a king was directed to the ablest or eldest or most prominent member of the royal house. Although we have a detailed account of John's coro- nation we find no mention of a charter, such as Henr}' II. Coronation ^nd Stephen had issued. Richard had not o^^^- issued one, but had contented himself with the three strong promises included in the coronation oath — to defend the Church, to maintain justice, and to make good laws, abolishing evil customs. John did the same ; and, as the oath was again required of him after his reconciliation with Langton in J213, we may with- out hesitation infer that no charter was granted at the coronation. The history of John's reign may conveniently be arranged in three divisions, which fall into a nearly Arrange chronological scqucnce ; first, the foreign re- ment of the lations, including the war with Philip, the fate c apter. ^^ Arthur, and the loss of Normandy; se- condly, the dispute with the clergy, and the interdict and submission to Rome ; and thirdly, the events that led to and flowed from the granting of Magna Carta. In each of these divisions of our period we find certain persons coming to the front as the mainstay of John's power, at whose death that power, in one region or another, seems at once to suffer collapse. Of these the first is his Queen mother, the great source and prop of his Con- Eleanor. tinctttal position. Of her character enough has been said already ; her better points come out most strongly in her old age, when we see her, between 1 - A.D. II99. seventy and eighty years old, running about from one end of Europe to another to patch up truces, to make peaces, and to close wars which sprang mainly out of her own levity and intriguing of half a century past. She had engaged in a lifelong quarrel with her first husband in 11 50, and with her second in 1 173; now in 1200 she fetches a granddaughter of the second to marry the grandson of the first, as a pledge of harmony between the sons of the two. John's fortunes are not wholly hopeless until he loses his mother. Richard's unexpected death occurred during a nego- tiation for peace with Philip ; and John succeeded at once, just as Richard himself had done, to the whole Arthur's accumulation of dynastic and territorial griev- ciaims^in ances, which had been mounting up for fifty years ; with the addition of Arthur's claims, which gave Philip the opportunity of interfering in every possible question. Before the coronation these claims had been raised ; Philip had determined to be beforehand, and had seized the city of Evreux on the receipt of the news of Richard's death. At the same moment the barons of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine had declared Arthur their count, and Constance had delivered him bodily into Philip's keeping. John, in revenge for this, had destroyed the walls and imprisoned the citizens of le Mans, which he regarded as the stronghold of Arthur's party. He re- turned to Normandy directly after the coronation, on June 20, and made a truce with Philip for two months, during which Philip accepted Arthur's homage for all the Con- tinental estates of the family and constituted himself his champion. Immediately on the expiration of the truce the kings met again, and Philip then proposed by way of compromise that John should retain Normandy, and Arthur have the remaining states, Philip himself receiv- ing the Vexin as a remuneration for his good offices in 134 TJie Early Plantagcnets. a.d. 1200. thus arbitrating. John refused this, and war broke out again, in which Phihp showed himself so much more anxious for his own interest than for Arthur's that the unhappy boy allowed himself to be removed from Philip's protection and placed under John's, He discovered his mistake, however, almost instantly, and fled from his uncle's court to Angers, in company with his mother, who took the opportunity of finally breaking with the Earl of Chester, and, without waiting for a divorce, bestowed herself in marriage on Guy, a brother of the Viscount of Thouars. Upon this John and Philip made a fresh truce which grew into a peace, by which Arthur's interests were Peace finally sacrificed, and which was cemented by 'lohn^and ^^ marriage of Blanche of Castille, John's Philip, 1200. niece, to Lewis, the son and heir of Philip. This was accomplished in May 1200. Philip's matri- monial difficulties, which arose from his wanton repudia- tion of his second wife, Ingeburga of Denmark, exposed him at the time to a threat of interdict, and he probably thought it wise not to have both John and Innocent III. arrayed against him at once. John, seeing the marriage laws practically in abeyance, had taken advantage of the objection which had been raised by Archbishop Baldwin to his marriage, and released himself from his wife, John's Hawisia of Gloucester, on the ground of re- mamage. lationship. Now, inspired either by love or territorial covetousness, he married Isabella, the child- heiress of the Count of Angouleme. This marriage offended, on the one side of the Channel, Hugh of la Marche, who was betrothed to her, and on the other side the great kinsmen of the house of Gloucester, and the lady Hawisia herself, who subsequently married Geoffrey de Mandeville, one of the bitterest of John's enemies. The peace did not last longer than Philip's domestic f Jl ^ X A.D. I20I-5. JoJin. 135 difficulties, which came to an end on his consenting to receive back Ingeburga. Mischief began in 1201, both on the Norman frontier, where Hugh de Gournay Forfeiture plaved fast and loose between the kings, and of Nor- " ' • J 1 mandy. in Poictou, where the barons were excited by the Count of la Marche to rebel against the severe re- pression exercised by John. The next year Philip sum- moned courage to call John before his court of the peers of France to answer the charges of the Poictevins, and on his non-appearance declared him to have forfeited his fiefs. Arthur, who was now fifteen, and who had lost his mother the year before, thought that this was his oppor- tunity. He mustered his forces and attempted to seize the old queen Eleanor in the castle of Mirabel. Instead of taking her he was defeated and captured by John, who imprisoned him, and in whose hands he died. Death of how we know not, on April 3, 1203. Philip ^•■^''"'• did not hesitate to declare John the boy's murderer; he held another court upon him, and again sentenced him to forfeiture. This time he undertook the execution of the sentence himself. He invaded Normandy, and took city after city. John did not raise a hand in its defence, and quitted the duchy finally in November. The lo^sof next year, 1204, saw Anjou and the rest of ^^^^^^^^ the patrimony in Philip's hands ; the loss of most of Guienne followed. Eleanor died on April i, 1204, and on her death John's cause became hopeless. He did little or nothing to redeem it. In 1206 he tried to recover Poictou, but was obliged to purchase a truce by resigning his claims on the northern provinces ; and in 1 2 14, as a part of a general scheme of attack upon Philip, in which he had the support of Flanders and the Empire, he made another expedition, but it also ended in a truce by which some small fragments of Eleanor's inheritance were preserved to her grandchildren. 136 The Early Plantagcnets. a.d. 1205. Thus then, after a union of a hundred and forty years, Normandy was separated from England. Dur- Separation ing a portion of those years, — the reigns of fnd^No'r'^ William Rufus and part of that of Henry I., mandy. — they had been under different rulers, but they had been administered on the same principles and for the same interest all the time. The English had been ruled by Norman lords; their laws, institutions, customs, had been remodelled under Norman influences. But they had grown under and through the discipline. So far as English and Normans united, the Norman element gave strength, order, discipline to the English ; so far as they were in opposition the Norman tyranny had called forth in the English patience, perseverance, and a sense of nationality which they had not shown before. The people had had to make common cause with the king against the Norman feudalism, and they had done this until their support became absolutely necessary to the royal power. Gradually the baronage were learning the like lesson ; disciplined and educated under the royal training, they were finding that they were one in interest with the people; and that, as the royal power was becoming too great for either, the two might in time combine 10 curb it. They were becom- ing themselves more English — more English perhaps in blood, more English in the possession of English lands and by the gradual devolution of Norman lands into other hands ; ready to be quite English when once they lost their Norman incumbrances. So when the time came for the barons who had lands in both coun- tries to make their choice between John and Philip, the division was effected with little noise and less trouble. The Norman barons and prelates gave up their English lands, and the English — for henceforth these have a right to the name of English — barons and prelates gave A.D. 1205. John. 137 X k 4 X T up their Norman lands. There was very little internal division in Normandy itself, and Walter of Coutances, who had been Richard's prime minister and justiciar, died a contented subject of Philip. The separation did much for England. Henceforth the king is mainly if not solely King of England, and the welfare of England the main if not the sole object of English counsels. It was Normandy that, by the exchange of masters, lost the share of the benefits won from John. Yet Normand)- was for ages freer than the rest of France, in conse- quence of her early discipline under the house of Rollo, one part of which was the policy which made her run in harness with the English people. Ikit to detail all the benefits of the separation would be to anticipate very much of the later history. No sooner was Normandy lost than John's ecclesias- tical troubles began; and they began in the most dan- gerous way, for the very event that caused them robbed him of the only counsellor he had who could have guided him safely through them. Hubert Walter, the j^^j^jh of Archbishop of Canterbury — whose career we Hubert Walter have traced first as a chaplain to Henry II., then as Bishop of Salisbury, counsellor, captain, and chaplain to the third Crusade ; then as Chief Justiciar of England, Archbishop of Canterbury, and legate, mak- ing laws and canons, leading armies, administering justice, collecting taxes, under Richard ; and lastly, acting as Chancellor to John from the coronation to his death — Hubert Walter died on July 12, 1205. The appointment to the archbishopric had been for many years a vexed question. The monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, claimed the right of free disputed election ; they were the chapter of the cathe- dral, and had the same right as any other chapter to elect their prelate. It was a right that was election at Canterbury. 138 The Early Plajitagenets. A.D. 1205. distinctly recognised by the canon law, had been granted by Stephen's charter, and had been so far made good at each change in the primacy that certain forms of election by them had been required as needful to the validity of the appointment. But the bishops of the province of Canterbury, whose chief and judge the archbishop was, also claimed a right in the election, partly on mere grounds of equity, but partly also on the ground of a prescription which, based on the pre- cedent of the Anglo-Saxon councils, had given them an active influence on each occasion since the reign of Henry I. And besides these the king had his right; the Archbishop of Canterbur\- was his chief constitu- tional counsellor, the counsellor of whom he could not rid himself without breaking at once with religion and state custom. The king had generally since the Con- quest nominated the archbishop, sometimes with and sometimes without the co-operation of the other two bodies, but always practically by his own fiat : and the pacification between Henry I. and Anselm had con- tained an admission that the homage of the archbishop elect to the king was necessary to the full right to ex- ercise his constitutional power. Usually, however, as was generally done where the canon law and national law ran counter or overlapped one another, the end in view was secured by adroit management, saving the rights of each party for the time. The quarrel on this occasion began with the monks of Canterbury. This famous convent, which deserves on more than one occasion credit for having set a courageous example Election of °^ Opposition to tyranny, was a very ambitious and disorderly body ; and just at this moment, having compelled Archbishop Hubert to pull down his grand new church at Lambeth, they, or a part of them, were quite intoxicated with conceit. It was A.D. 1206. John. 139 the sub- prior f always a great object with them to have a monk for archbishop ; such a leader would extend their privi- leges and foster their ideas of independence. So now, during the night following Huberts death, the younger monks — no doubt a majority of the body— elected the sub-prior, Reginald, as archbishop, and, without asking the roval consent, sent him off at once to Rome to ask for the archiepiscopal pall and consecration. No sooner had Reginald crossed the Channel than, forgetting the promise of secrecy with which his electors had bound him, he gave out that he was the new archbishop, and the news came back to England. John was very angr)-; he had intended his minister John de Gray, Bishop of Nor^vich, to be Hubert's suc- cessor ; the bishops were angry because their domination prescriptive and equitable right was disre- of John de garded ; the senior monks were angry because they had been betrayed by the juniors, and the juniors because Reginald by his imprudent vanity had caused the premature discovery of their schemes. So all parties appealed to the Pope; and John, without waiting to hear what became of the appeal, had his nominee elected and put in possession of the estates of the see. We can hardly doubt that, if John had had an adviser like Hubert, he might have tided over the difficuhy, but now he plunged deeper and deeper, and at conductor last lost his footing altogether. The Pope let innocent the appeals drag on their weary length. He sufifered all the contending bodies to spend their strength and their money, and to involve and compromise them- selves as much as they chose. Then after a year and a half he decided the cause. The bishops, he said, had no standing-ground ; the canonical electors were the monks of the chapter. The sub-prior Reginald was rejected because he had not been canonically chosen ; John de I40 The Early Plaiitagencts. A.D. 1207. A. I). 1208-13. John. 14T Gray was rejected because he had been elected whilst an appeal was pending. The course was, therefore, clear. The monks were the electors ; their proctors, now at the Court of Rome, had full power from them to elect, and the king had promised to confirm their choice, having secretly agreed with them to elect only John de Gray ; for thus he had tried to impose on the Pope, sending at the same time large sums of money to clear the eyes of the Pope's advisers. Innocent III., however, was very wide- awake, and John's insincerity had put his game in his own hands. It was of no use, he said, to waste time. If they all went back to England they would have to come to Rome again for the confirmation of the election and the gift of the pall. They all had full powers— why should it not be done pleasantly and on the spot.^ He had a man fit for the place— an Englishman, the first scholar of the day, a cardinal, in whose favour John had more than once written to him on other occasions ; let them elect him, he would confirm and consecrate him, and then all would be done. Whether Innocent really Consecra- expected that John would submit to this we cannot say; probably not. But he did it. Only one of the monks objected, and re- minded his brethren of their obligation to the king ; the rest, relying on their powers from the king and convent, and overawed by the dignity and urgency of Innocent, elected Langton. Innocent immediately wrote to John to report the decision and ask him to receive Langton as archbishop. John was furious — refused, threatened, and blustered. The Pope, in reply, declared that he had done no more than was his duty to the widowed Church, and, in June 1207, consecrated the archbishop. John was obdurate : proposal after proposal was made, offer after offer ; letter followed letter, embassy followed tion of Stephen Langton, 1207. I embassy. John seized the possessions of the convent ot Christ Church and threatened to wreak vengeance on the monks. Then the Pope answered threat with The inter- threat : if John did not receive the archbishop ^'<^'' ^2°^- the kingdom must be laid under interdict. It would then be unlawful to perform the services of the Church, the dead would be unburied, the sacraments would cease to be administered, or would be celebrated only in private ; the people would be forced by the want of spiritual ne- cessaries to compel the king to compliance. Still he held out, and in March 1208 the interdict was proclaimed. He then declared that he would be avenged on the bishops ; many of them fled, and he seized their lands. Again, after a while, negotiations were resumed. Lang- ton came to Dover to meet the king, but John would not face him. The Pope threatened personal excom- munication ; if that were not effective, it should be fol- lowed by a Bull of deposition and the absolution of the English from their obedience. If that were done, the execution of the sentence would be committed to one who would be only too glad to add England to his do- minions, and to gratify the hatred that he had nursed for so many years, even to Philip of France, the conqueror of Normandy and Anjou. For a long time John showed himself impenetrable. He was quite content that his people should be deprived of the sacraments, that the clergy should be John's exiled, that the whole administration of the obduracy. country should be paralysed, almost as it had been in the days of Stephen. Even the terrors of personal excom- munication had been too lavishly used of late to make much impression, for Philip had thriven under the anger of Innocent, and John had at this very moment his nephew, the Emperor Otho, a partner in the tribulation. The threat of deposition might be a mere threat ; it \ 142 The Early PI antagencts. a.d. 12 13. would be very strange if the Pope should prefer the King of France to the King of England ; and, if he did, John had a great army and fleet and treasure. But if he thought that Innocent III. would be swayed either by the ordinary motives of Popes or by the ordi- Persistence i^'^^O' ^i""^^ of policy, he was much mistaken, of Innocent. That great Pope had set before himself a grand purpose of righteousness as it appeared to him ; he was ready to set up the Hohenstaufen again and to depress the Welf, and to set Philip, the ally of the Hohen- staufen, and the husband of Ingeburga, above the other kings of the West, if he could gain his object. Innocent persisted. His legates openly warned John what the result would be if the sentence of deposition were to issue; and their words came true. John found or fan- Panic of cied himself involved in a web of conspiracy ; John. warnings reached him from Wales and Scot- land that his enemies were intriguing all around him, that he and his children would be put out of the throne and a new race of kings brought in. Then arose Peter of Wakefield and prophesied that on the next Ascension- day John should be a king no more. Then came the news that Philip was equipping his fleet. So the man whom neither spiritual nor temporal weapons could bring to submission, moved by the prophecy of an impostor, lowered his flag and made the most abject submission that any king of the English has ever made. On the 13th of May, 12 13, he met Pandulf, the Pope's subdeacon and envoy, at Ewell, near Dover, and swore fealty to the Pope ; he consented at last to receive Lang- ton, to restore the bishops and the monks of Canter- bury, and indemnify them for their wrongs: he would do all that was asked of him, hold his kingdoms as fiefs of the Apostolic see and pay tribute for them. 1 he barons and people looked on in amazed acquies- \\. A.IX I213. John. 143 -i I ^ '' cence ; they did not, it would seem, all at once realise the shame of the transaction, or see that for them to be vas- sals of the Pope's vassal was to sink a long step in the scale of freedom, whether political or ecclesiastical. They acquiesced, some gladly welcoming any solution of the difficulty, some, we are told, with grief and shame. And so that part of the drama of the reign ends. John made friends with the Pope; but the struggle had thrown the Church into an attitude of opposition to the crown in which she had never stood since the Political Conquest. It was a providential determination, ''*=s"'^- by which the clergy— who, with the people, had hitherto supported the royal power against the barons — were, just at the moment that the royal power was becoming dan- gerous, dislodged from the side of the crown and almost compelled to make common cause with the baronial party and the people ; awaking all at once to the need of common action, mutual forbearance, and the sense of national unity. Such was the effect of the struggle. Henceforth the Church in union with the barons and the people helps to limit the power which in the earlier days she had striven to strengthen. But the very moment that closes the ecclesiastical quarrel begins a new one — the baronial quarrel, which opens the way for the vindication of national r^^^ liberty and the consolidation of constitutional baronial life, as typified by Magna Carta. To realise ^^^^^ ' this we must glance back for a moment to the beginning of the reign, and recur to the negotiations which Arch- bishop Hubert had had with the earls before he obtained their consent to receive John as king, and the promise he had made that all their lawful demands should be satisfied. What those demands were we cannot tell exactly ; probably they wanted the custody of their own castles and some other privileges of which they had 144 The Early Plantagencts. A.D. 1213, A.D. 1213. i been deprived by the strong government of the late king, for he had no doubt availed himself of every plea to re- strict their forest privileges and perhaps to extend the royal right of wardship. It is from Magna Carta itself, rather than from the historians who have told the story' that we gather the nature of their grievances. The pro- mises made at Northampton in 11 99 had never been fulfilled; in 1201, when the earls repeated their demands John replied by laying his hands on their castles and by compelling them to surrender their heirs as pledges of their good behaviour. Matters had after that gone on from bad to worse. Not content with insisting on the feudal service of the knights, he had increased the rates of carucage and scutage, the two great imposts that affected the land, and multiplied the occasions of the exaction Year after year he had collected his forces as if for a French war, had brought them to the coast at great ex- pense, and then exacted money from the barons as the price of their discharge. He had not led them to battle • he had let Normandy fall out of his hands, he had spoiled them and put them to shame, implicating them in his own cowardice. Year after year taxation increased, whilst the king and the kingdom became more really helpless ; for all Englishmen hated his hosts of mercenaries, and dis- trusted his project of creating a fleet which, far more than any national army, would be at his own absolute disposal And this went on until, in 1207, he began to plunder the clergy, thus giving a respite to the people and the barons. Whilst the king could maintain himself by confiscation and plunder of the clergy he abstained from confisca- tion and plunder of the laity ; and this partlv accounts for the equanimity with which the interdict was borne. Men acquiesced in the loss of their religious rights so long as they were in a manner compensated by immunity from taxation. The interdict, too, paralysed national action John. f .^ JL 145 John was unable to conduct anything like a great war as long as that blight lay upon the land ; he could attack Wales or Ireland or Scotland, but he could not attack France, under the circumstances; and he was not by any means idle now, what few military successes he did achieve being won against the Irish. For the nation this state of inactivity was less destructive, less expensive than war. So, until the crisis of 12 13 came, the barons sat still ; they had no eminent leader ; Geoffrey FitzPeter, the man in whom as a statesman they had the most confidence, was the king's prime minister and justiciar. This, then, was the state of things when the pacification at Ewell put an end to the national paralysis, promised the restoration of the Church, a successful resistance to Philip, and possibly a recovery of the royal inheritance across the Channel. The first token of the new life immediately showed itself. It was necessary that some delay should take place before the interdict was taken off. Bv r. . 4.u« „ • • 1 /• 1 1 • • , Refusal of the principles of law the injured persons must the barons be replaced in their rights before the con- ^°^^"'^- straining measures could be suspended. Langton must be received before the king was absolved, the bishops must be indemnified for their losses before the interdict could be relaxed. John did not see this ; he knew that Philip was preparing for an invasion ; he demanded the feudal support of his vassals for a French war; they replied that they would not serve under an excommuni- cated king. John was provoked, but obliged to wait. In July Langton landed, came to Winchester and absolved the king, exacting from him an oath to observe the pro- mises made at his coronation, to maintain good laws and abolish evil customs. John, now absolved, renewed his command to the barons, and they declined to join in an expedition which took them away from England. Within M.H. I I 41 .* 146 Tke Early Plantagenets. a.d. 121; John's journey to the North. the four seas they would serve, as bound by their tenure, but abroad they would not go. They did not trust the king or believe that it was possible to recover Normandy. John was savagely wroth. Time was being lost. Philip was gaining strength. True, his fleet had been destroyed, and the Pope had withdrawn his commission, but there were abundant causes of enmity, and at last perhaps the desire of revenge was uppermost. But John always re- venged his wrongs on the guiltless and neutral ; he deter- mined, whilst his ministers were arranging for the suspension of the interdict, to go into the North of England and punish the barons, for they were chiefly the Northern barons who had refused to follow him. He set off at full speed, and Langton after him, to persuade him to let the matter be settled by the lawyers. At Northampton the archbishop overtook him and convinced him of the folly of his threats ; he went north, however, as far as Durham, and then re- turned rapidly to London, where in the month of October he met the papal legate Bishop Nicolas of Tusculum, who had come to receive his formal homage, and did homage to him as the Pope's representative. During this hasty journey to Durham and back events ever memorable in English histor\' had taken place. On eai to ^^^ 4^^ °^ August the justiciar Geoffrey Fitz- the laws of Peter held a great assembly at St. Albans, at Henry I. ^yhich attended not only the great barons of the realm but the representatives of the people of the townships of all the royal estates. The object of the gathering was to determine the sum due to the bishops as an indemnity for their losses. There no doubt the commons and the barons had full opportunity of dis- cussing their grievances, and the justiciar undertook, in the name of his master, that the laws of Henry I. should be put in force. Not that they knew much about the /, A.D. 1 2 14. JoJui. ^A7 laws of Henry I., but that the prevailing abuses were regarded as arising from the strong governmental system consolidated by Henry II., and they recurred to the state of things which preceded that reign, just as under Henry I. men had recurred to the reign and laws of Edward the Confessor. On the 25th of the same month the arch- bishop, at a council at St. Paul's, actually produced the charter issued by Henry I. at his coronation, and pro- posed that it should be presented to the king as the embodiment of the institutions which he had promised to maintain. Upon this foundation Magna Carta was soon to be drawn up. Almost directly after this, in October, the justiciar died ; and John, who had hailed the death of Hubert Walter as a relief from an unwelcome adviser spoke of Geoffrey with a cruel mockery as gone to join his old fellow-minister in hell. Both h:id acted as re- straints on his desire to rule despotically, and the last public act of Geoffrey FitzPeter had been to engage him to an undertaking which he was resolved not to keep. But matters did not proceed very rapidly. It is more than a year before we hear much more of the baronial demands. The new legate showed himself ^ ^ J • •/•,,. John goes desirous to gratify the king ; and although the to France, Northern barons still refused to go on foreign ^^''*' service, he managed to prevent an open struggle. The king went to Poictou in February 12 14, and did not return until the next October. In the meanwhile the damages of the bishops were ascertained and the inter- dict taken off on the 29th of June. The war on the Continent occupied men's minds a good deal. Philip won the battle of Bouvines over the forces of Flanders, Gen-nany, and England, on the 27th of July; and John did nothing in Poictou to make the North Country barons regret their determination not to follow him. The great confederacy against Philip which Richard had planned, L 2 148 TJic Early Plantagcncts. a.d. 12 14. A.D. 1215. John. 149 and which John had been labouring to bring to bear on his adversary, was defeated, and Phihp stood forth for the moment as the mightiest king in Europe. Disappointed and ashamed, John returned, resolved to master the barons, and found them not only resolved The party ^^^^ prepared and organised to resist him, per- of the haps even encouraged bv his ill success. Thev had found in Stephen Langton a leader worthy of the cause, and able to exalt and inform the defenders of it. Among those defenders were men of very various sorts ; some who had personal aims merely, some who were fitted by education, accomplishments, and patriotic sympathies for national champions, some who were car- ried away by the general ardour. In general they may be divided into three classes : those Northern barons who had begim the quarrel, the constitutional party who joined the others in a great meeting held at St. Ed- mund's, in November 12 14, and those who adhered later to the cause, when they saw that the king was helpless. It was the two former bodies that presented to him their demands a few weeks after he returned from France. He at once refused all, and began to manoeuvre to divide the consolidated phalanx. First he tried to disable them by demanding the renewal of the homages throughout the country and the surrender of the castles. He next tried to detach the clerg)- by granting a charter to secure the free- dom of election to bishoprics ; he tried to make terms with individual barons ; he delayed meeting them from time to time ; he took the cross, so that if any hand was raised against him it might be paralysed by the cry of sacrilege ; he wrote urgently to the Pope to get him to condemn the propositions, and excommunicate the per- sons, of the barons. They likewise presented their com- plaints at Rome, resisted all John's blandishments, and declined to relax one of their demands or to give up one of their precautions. -- Negotiations ceased, and preparations for war began about Easter 12 15; the confederates met at Stamford, then marched to B'-ackley, Northampton, March of Bedford, Ware, and so to London, where they ^'^'^ barons. were received on the 24th of May. The news of their entry into London determined the action of those who still seemed to adhere to the king, and they joined them, leaving him almost destitute of forces, attended by a few advisers whose hearts were with the insurgents, and a body of personal adherents who had little or no political weight beside their own unpopularity. Then John saw himself compelled to yield, and he yielded : he consented to bind himself with promises in which there was nothing sincere but the reluct- Magna ance with which he conceded them. Magna ^^'^^^' Carta, the embodiment of the claims which the arch- bishop and barons had based on the charter of Henry I., was granted at Runnymede on June 15, 12 15. Magna Carta was a treaty of peace between the king and his people, and so is a complete national act. It is the first act of the kind, for it differs from the charters issued by Henr}' I., Stephen, and Henry II. not only in its greater fulness and perspicuity, but by having a distinct machinery provided to carry it out. Twenty- five barons v»ere nominated to compel the king to fulfil his part. It was not, as has been sometimes said, a selfish attempt on the part of the barons and bishops to secure their own privileges ; it provided that the commons of the realm should have the benefit of every advantage which the two elder estates had won for them selves, and it bound the barons to treat their own de- pendents as it bound the king to treat the barons. Of its sixty-three articles some provided securities for per- sonal freedom ; no man was to be taken, imprisoned, or damaged in person or estate, but by the judgmer.t of his peers and by the law of the land. Others fixed the rale i;o The Early Plajttagenets. A.D. I215. of payments due by the vassal to his lord. Others pre- sented rules for national taxation and for the or-anisa- tion of a national council, without the consent of which the king could not tax. Others decreed the banishment of the alien servants of John. Although it is not the foundation of English liberty, it is the first, the clearest the most united, and historically the most important of all the great enunciations of it ; and it was a revelation of the possibility of freedom to the mediaeval world The maintenance of the Charter becomes from henceforth the watchword of English freedom. The remaining sixteen months of John's rei-n were a mere anarchy, of which it would be difficult to unravel Attempts to ^^^ ^^6 causes. In the first place may be Charlen' ^f ""^^^ ^^e savage wrath of the king at beino- thus defeated and fettered ; then the unfortu- nate interference of the Pope, who quashed the Charter by a Bull of August 25, and on December i6 anathema- tised the barons singly and collectively; he also peremp- torily suspended Archbishop Langton for his share in bringing about the result. But we are not to lay all the blame of what followed on John. It is true that within a few weeks after the crisis he had thrown off all semblance of compliance, but the barons were elated with their success, and showed very little moderation. They trusted him no more than he trusted them. They divided the country among their chiefs, some with the idea of enforcing the Charter, many no doubt with the desire of humiliatino- the king. Langton's departure for Rome left them with- out the prudent, sincere, and honest English counsel that was needed for the successful vindication of the national cause, and gave the chief place amongst them to men who had personal wrongs to avenge and personal objects to attain. Hence the great body that had united ^^ A.D. I216. John. I '^ 151 to produce the Charter broke up into its former elements ; some returned to the king's side, the more violent intri- gued with France and Scotland. John showed himself incapable of using his oppor- tunity. The Earl of Essex, the husband of his first wife, took the lead on the baronial side ; but Robert ^.^^ ^^^^^ FitzWalter and Eustace de Vescy, two of the offe%d°o" second rank, were leagued with Philip, and ^^^''^' under their influence John was declared to have forfeited his crown. Lewis, the heir of France, was selected to be the king of the English. War could be delayed no longer. The barons began by besieging the castles of Northamp- ton and Oxford. John brought up his mercenaries to besiege Rochester, a castle which the confederates held in the name of the absent archbishop. He had the first measure of success, and, in spite of the attempt of the barons to relieve Rochester, captured it, showed a politic mercy to its defenders, and then traversed the South of England, securing the population as he went. He kept Christmas at Nottingham, then marched north and seized Berwick, striking consternation into the Scots. The Earl of Salisbury, his half-brother, com- John's manded in the Midland district, and London successes, became the last and almost the only refuge of the mal- contents. Colchester was taken by the king in March 1216 ; and up to this point he exhibited military skill and energy that shows him to have been not entirely devoid of the qualities of his father and brother. But now a new actor appears. Lewis, after a long delay, arrived in England in May, and at once gave spirit and consistency to his party. John retired Success of before him and took up a position at Win- Lewis. Chester. Lewis marched by Canterbury to London, and there received the homage and fealties of his friends. In spite of the sentence of excommunication actually passed 152 The Early Plantager.cts. A.D. I2l6. upon him and his adherents by the new legate, Gualo, he then marched on Winchester, John retiring still i took Winchester, and besieged W^indsor and "bover.' The Northern lords joined him first, then the great earls even the Earl of Salisbury himself. John was desperate ; he roved up and down the country at the head of his banditti, burning and plundering and slaying; whilst Lewis was gathering strength and friends every hour. At last, on October 19, death overtook the king at New- ark. From that very day the strength of Lewis, which was based on the popular and baronial hatred of John began to decline. It mehed away as quickly as it had S^ of grown, and in less than a year he was obliged to make peace and leave England alone. John ended thus a life of ignominy in which he has no rival m the whole long list of our sovereigns. There is no need to attempt an elaborate analysis of his character History has set upon it a darker and deeper mark than she has on any other king. He was in every way the worst of the whole list : the most vicious, the most pro- fane, the most tyrannical, the most false, the most short- sighted, the most unscrupulous. There was an old legendary prophecv, spoken in a dream by an angel to Fulk the Good, Count of Anjou when he had in an ecstasy of fervent charity carried on his shoulders a leprous beggar for two leagues to the church of Marmoutier. He was told that to the ninth generation his successors should extend the bounds of their dominion until it was immensely great The pro phecy had been fulfilled — to Anjou had been added Maine and Normandy, Aquitaine and England ; Pales- tine too was ruled by his descendants ; and at last in the person of Otho IV., the seed of the good count had reached the summit of earthly ambition. But the time fixed by the legend was come. John was the representa- A.D. I216. He my II L 153 4- tive of the last generation, with which the blessing ended, and the inheritance of Fulk the Good passed into other hands. CHAPTER VIIL HENRY III. Character of Henry— Administration of William Marshall— Hubert de Burgh— Henry his own minister— Foreign favourites— General nusgovernment— Papal intrigue and taxation. The reign of Henry III. is not only one of the longest but one of the most difficult in English history. It con- tains more than one great crisis, and coincides in time with an epoch of vast progress ; but the critical im- portance is by no means equally diffused, and the rate and fashion of the progress are matter for minute study, rather than for vivid illustration. The reign covers more than half of one of the most eventful and brilliant cen- turies of the world's history ; a century made famous by the actions of some of the greatest sovereigns, the most illustrious scholars, the wisest statesmen ; the most noble period of architecture ; the last act of the Crusades, the last struggle of the Papacy with the yet undiminished strength of the Empire. The life which, on the Con- tinent, runs in these streams is not without its purpose in England. England also looks on the thirteenth century as her great architectural age, the age of her great lawyers and some of her greatest divines. She also has her vveight in European aftairs, her struggles with the Papacy, her at- tempts at sound government. But the real interest of English history lies in minute constitutional steps of pro- 1 gress, which are to be estimated rather by their later and united effects than by the actual and momentary appear- 154 The Early Plantao-cncts. A.D. I2l6. ance of growth. For during this time England has no guiding or presiding genius. Her king is a man by no means devoid of all the picturesque qualities of his fore- fatliers, and possessed of some negatively good qualities which they had not ; but on the whole a degenerate son of such great ancestors, degenerate from their strength Characterof and virtues as well as from their faults and Henr>ill. vices. Henry III. is perhaps a better hus- band and father, a more devout man, than any of his predecessors ; he is not personally cruel or regardless of human life; he has no passion for war, no insatiable greed for the acquisition of territory, such as in the case of his ancestors had cost so much bloodshed. He is content for the most part to be king of England, and his success in retaining some part of his Continental dominion is the result far more of the honesty of his adversary than of any ambition, skill, or force of his own. In these respects England might have been ex- pected to fare better under Henry than she had done under John or Richard or Henry II.; better even than she was to fare under Edward I. ; yet she can scarcely, even viewed in the results, be said to have done so! The long reign was a long period of trouble, suffering, and disquietude of ever>- sort. We have no reason to suppose that Henry was deficient in personal courage or in skill in arms such as a brave knight might possess without being a great captain in fieldwoi k or in sieges ; or that he was wanting in the desire to be thought a splendid and magnificent sovereign— as, indeed, he was thought— for he reaped the advantage of the political position which Henry II. had planned, and he outlived the greater princes whose power and character and career had thrown his own into the shade. Yet England did nothing great in his time except as against him. He had no great design, no energetic purpose. He was not 1 A.D. I2l6. Henry HI. '55 -i J. i Strong enough to be true, although he was strong enough to be pertinacious, resolute enough to be false. He was vain and extravagant ; and this, with the exception of his falseness, is the worst that can be said of him. Hence, whilst he could not inspire love or loyalty, he could inspire hatred, and hatred is not, in the case of kings, as is so often said of the feeling in the case of lower men, incompatible with contempt : a king may inspire both feelings, and be despised for moral weakness and iniquity, whilst he cannot safely be contemned alto- gether, because of his great power to cause mischief. Then, vanity and extravagance, which are minor faults in a man with strong purposes, become aggravations and incentives to hatred in a man whose other motives and purposes are weak. Henry III. was well hated. His life, good or evil, had no gloss or glitter upon it: it was mean in the midst of its magnificence; it was wanting in the one element that leads men to respect, even where they fear and blame, the character of reality or ' veracity to a man's self.' There was no purpose, as there was no faith in it. Fifty-six years of such a king cannot but be a weari- some lesson to the reader, if the eye rest on the king only or on the circle of events of which he is Division of the centre ; and, to a certain degree, in these ^'^'^ '"'^'S"- ages in which we have to depend chiefly on the historians of the time, with little help from other sorts of literature, the king is necessarily the centre of every circle. The monotony of detail may, however, be broken by arranging the reign in four divisions. Henry was nine years old when he began to reign. The first portion, then, com- prises the years of his minority, and may be regarded as closing about the year 1227, although, as the influence of his early ministers continued to affect him for some years longer, that date is not a very distinct limit. The second 156 The Early Plaiitagcncts. A.D. I2l6. division comprises the years of his personal administra- tion, during which he mismanaged matters for himself, and which end at the year 1258, when, having brought affairs to a dead lock, he was obliged to consent to "be superseded by a new scheme of government embodied in the Provisions of Oxford. The third period includes the years of eclipse, from 1258 to 1265, when the battle of E\esham gave him again the power as well as the name of king. The last period contains the seven years intervening between the battle of Evesham and the king's death, and depends for its historic interest entirely on the fact that it witnessed the results of the great struggle-the clearing of the board after the crisis of the game was past. Returning now to the state of affairs in October 1 216, when John had just finished his suicidal career at Accession of Newark, we find the kingdom to a very great enry III. g^tent in the hands of the party pledged to support Lewis, the enterprising prince to whom the French have not hesitated to attribute the title of the Lion, or the Lion-hearted. This party comprised nearly all the baronage, for John's insane behaviour during the last year had dispersed the friends whom after the grant- ing of Magna Carta he had gathered to his side^even his brother William, Earl of Salisbury, had gone over to the enemy. Lewis's party had, however, only one point of union, the hatred and distrust inspired by John ; and when John was once removed, the disruption of the party and the expulsion of Lewis were sure to come in time. It was certain that all real national feeling would take part against a foreign king; that all the desires for free and ancient institutions and good government would have a much better chance of contentment in the pros- pect of the reign of the child Henry; and that even the party among the barons which still clun^ to the A.D. 1 2 16. Henry III. 157 1 J. feudal ideas of government would have a much better opportunity of regaining its coveted influence through him than through Lewis. But the cause of the child was at first sight very weak. John had driven all the strong men from his side ; and Archbishop Langton, on whom the defence of what was now become the national dynasty would properly have devolved, was at Rome, in temporary disgrace. It may be fairly said that had not the Roman legate Gualo taken up a decided line, had not Honorius III. seen his way to reconcile the rights of the nation with the maintenance of the Plantagenet dynasty, Lewis must for the moment have triumphed, and England would then have had to win her freedom by a mortal struggle with France. But Gualo was staunch. The great Pope who had committed England to him was just dead, but Honorius III. was no more likely than Innocent to be satisfied with half-service; and the legate saw that both his own prospects of ad- vancement and the credit of the Roman see were involved in the success of this administration. With him was Peter des Roches, the Bishop of Winchester, whom John had made justiciar after the death of Geoffrey FitzPeter. He was a Poictevin who had been transformed from a knight into a bishop with few qualifications Henry's and little ceremony; but he was faithful to p^'"^>'- John and to his son, and he was the representative man of the foreign party at court, which stood chiefly if not solely by personal attachment to the king. There were two or three other bishops who had won their places in John's chancery, the Earl Ranulf of Chester, nearly the last left of the great feudal aristocracy of the Conquest ; William Marshall, the Earl of Pembroke, now growing old, who had been the intimate friend of the younger Henry, who had been a justice and regent under Richard, who had helped to set John on the throne, and had re- 158 The Early Plaiitagcncts. A.D. I2l6, mained personally faithful to him to the last, although his own sons were on the side of the barons This httle party had the child crowned on October '>8 at Gloucester; and on November 12, at Bristol, re-issued l^£tr ^'^^^ ^"^^'^^^ ^" ^^^ ^^"le, with some im- • portant omissions. They did not venture at so critical a time to renew the articles which placed taxa- tion ,n the hands of the national council or defined the nature of that assembly ; but in the final clause of the document these articles were declared to be suspended only because of the urgency of the times. The guardian- ship of the kmg and what little remained to him of the kingdom was placed in the hands of William Marshall and the bishops and barons swore fealtv to Henrv is his contemporaries called him-Henry IV., or Henr; of Winchester, the son of King John. The office of Guar- dian for an infant king had never yet been needed in England, at least since the days of Ethelred the Un- ready, and all that we know of the present arrange- ment IS that it was made in the council, and with the acquiescence of the legate. The title that William Mar- shall took was ^govcrnour of the king and kingdom' We niight have expected that the queen-mother would have been guardian of the person of the king; but he had no near male kinsman to take charge of the kin^ dom according to the reasonable rule that the defence of the inheritance belongs to the nearest heir, that of the person to the nearest relation who cannot inherit • and accordingly the wardship of both was entrusted bv the national council to a chosen leader. No other in age dignity experience, or faithfulness came near the i-arl of Pembroke. The struggle with Lewis covers the first year of the reign. Winter was too far advanced at the time of the Bristol Council for much active warfare, and a truce was A.D. 1217. Henry III. \ i ! ^59 as usual concluded for the Christmas season, purchased by the surrender of some of the roval castles. Before the new reign began Lewis's side had lost two struggle of its representative men— Geoffrey de Man- ^i^h Lewis, deville, Earl of Essex, the leader of the old baronial party, and Eustace de Vescy, who had conducted the intrigues with Scotland and France which had brought about the present complication. The greatness of Lewis's early success and the haughty assumptions of his French followers were already disgusting the barons, and those who had no cause to despair of pardon were contemplating adhesion to Henry. The year 12 17, however, began with brisk action, Henry's supporters assembled at Oxford, Lewis and his party at Cambridge. The military stren-th was all on the side of the latter; whilst the legate was treating for a truce Lewis was besieging and taking castles Before Lent he had reduced the whole of Eastern Eng- land, except Lincoln, which held out unswervingly under Nicolaa de Camvill, the wife of that Gerard who had drawn John into his first quarrel with Longchamp. But at Midlent Lewis was summoned to France; and, although he returned in a few weeks, he found that some of his supporters had changed sides. The Earl of Salisbury had gone over to his nephew; the legate was preaching a crusade against the disloyal and excommunicated; and the loyal barons bestirred themselves to some pur- pose. They advanced from the West, just as had been the case in the end of Stephen's days, Lincoln again appear- ing to be the decisive battle-ground. And so it was. Lewis returned in an evil mood, detemiined to treat England as a conquered country ; the barons detected his design and deserted him one by one. At Whitsuntide the king- party advanced to relieve Lincoln under the Earl of Pembroke, the Earl of Chester, and the legate. 1« 11 i6o The Early Plantagcncts. A.D. 121 7. I Battle of Perche, and Saer de Quincv and Rr.K Vl- !;r "■ ^Valeer, .he leading spl.^^f .he anXn::r «a.ed in thTr;eTLe';^c^3:;r:^;f ^ ^"' -- been tak'pn n^Tu ^'^ '^^^^^^^^ ^^nich had not yet into" IX ?n 'fhrriS T' '" '''-'' "'"-'^ foreign succour de as f^;?!^ """J '"'~"- ^he Bartholomew's 0^1.17/. ''' """ "''^■■^' "" St. Departure legate showed a vvic-e and r^^lV of Lewis. 4.,^ ^- , ^^ ^"<^ politic mercv in and ad.i.t;;r:hL":oit,:ti;n tr'^" ""-^- VVilhan. Marshal, was not a^^! s o a L^a^fS ^ exactmg the penalties for a treison «h K . '''' difficult to define, and in Ih ' "his o ' 'Irif '^ largely .mplicated. By Michaelmas .2,7 he pTat . restored, and the Cha«er again re-issued' InVs 1 m :: '''^""- Dha / [. ''°"'' 5""^ -^'^Sgle in its first palladium ^^j. ^^^^st" LSiiieTir::;:; %' cognised as the salvation of kin- nn^ • ^ ^" - -It' ^-'-^ "^ --emt;:^nr.a^;rnTd' a^d^ deatI!':atin',l';rThe'r''f "'"''"'"' ""'" ■^'^ peace; but 'order waLoI easHy fesrrer^t^''^'''^- ■-" which had lasted for n.ore Lfour ve' fa^nd'T'.' was itself the result of a Ion- penod of mi ""'^'"^ In .he general struggle for "po^ thtcriuir Ihe A.D. 1217. Henry III. 161 pacification it was not always the wisest or the best men that gained the ultimate ascendency. It is clear that from the very first there were among the royal counsellors men who had neither understood nor sympa- thised with the policy of Langton. Hence the omission from the reissued charters of the clauses by which the king forbade and renounced unconstitutional taxation, and prescribed the order of the national council. Many of the men who had been leaders of the baronial party at Runnymede had Allien into treasonable com- plicity with France or had perished in the war; so that the regent was forced to give a disproportionate share of power to the personal friends of John, foreigners and mercenaries as they were, or to men like the Earl of Chester and the Count of Aumale, who fought really for their own feudal independence. Thus we must ac- count for the power of such men as Falkes de Breaute', who almost caused a civil war before he would submit to the law or resign to the king the castles which he held as the king's servant. Hence also, perhaps, the retention of Hubert de Burgh in the justiciarship ; for he, great man as he afterwards proved himself, was as yet only known as a creature of John. Hence too the distin- guished position retained by Peter des Roches, although he, as Bishop of Winchester, had a dignity and power of his own. Hence, further on, the jealousy with which, after the death of the Earl of Pembroke, the administra- tion of Hubert de Burgh was viewed by the barons, and the constant risings against royal favourites and against the too strong government exercised in the name of the boy king. These troubles furnish nearly all the history of the years of Henry's minority. The expulsion of the French, the restoration of order, and the securing of the validity of the Great Charter by successive and solemn confirmations, were the chief debt M, H. M l62 The Early Plantagencts. A.D. I220. that England owed to William Marshall. So Ion- is he '"'ZTf'" '° '^^^^" ''^ P— ^ ° "he hand wrnll™' 1 ^ '^°"'" '"S«'^ ^"'l "> l^eep in order the .Ma'^S,. ^--gn servants of John. Early in ,3,9 L incurred ^eraS.^ ^hi^vt afr '''''"' appointed .th the sal^^ ^r a^^'d t^Z^''-::^ New Go- Roches became g-uarrlinn ..f .k ^^^eraes Cualo. p JeT2 .ts-- witrH^ttTS '" Crusade, and matters seemed 7,1. if ^one on some ti^e. At "tsunl ^t^V"" ^'"°°"''>- ^o^ -«.ed at Westminster, af :h:-e;;r^rrmandtrtt Jfo".^ --^hti^rLlti-rhfch^T^ Gloucester coronation had been omitted 1/ grand ceremony ; al, the due servtc "of fte L.^::: IZ'?- tones were regularly performed, and it was maril of typical exhibition of the national restoration ,^ Th also a political intention. If Henrv v,f ^ through •;::;^;rr t^sirtrni^hiit^ ^f ^ dangerous hands. The feudal Inr^c f ^^^^^^^ left in to Henry III. as they haS To " rthe f"'"' adventurers must be remnveH °"^"'>''- the foreign although they had earneT hem bTfid f,""''.' "''^''' made the strongholds of tyrann^ nnd ^^^''- "''-' "^'^ land must be reclaimed for he EnelishTH''""' '^"^- me iingiish, and not even the U 4- A.D. 1221-23. Hairy III. 163 legatine not even the papal, influence must be allowed to ;";."'"■'' ''™'"" "'"■•^* '"'""=" ""-'>-" The demand for the restoration of the royal cstle^ produced the first outbreak. Just as, at the Sning ^ the re>gn of Henry II., William of Aun.ale wmlof had refused to surrender Scarborough so Au'Sa^d now his grandson refused to surrender Rock- If^t ingham. nmediately after the coronation the king was brouglu to the siege, but the garrison L "f he approached The earl, undismayed, seized in t^ esiste'd n^t TT '"' ^°"^^""«'-'>- ^ -" ^"hough "he sentence oe' '""""" °' "" «—-"' but the s!bm?t I ^"~'"'7"'^at>on also, he was forced to more f ^ T ,""'* '"^ '"" '^'"'SS'^ «-^^ ^^"ewed in more formidable dnnensions. The Earl of Chester, who had at first supported the government, made himself the spokesman of the feudal party; and the foreigner the un'slr J T- "■" ?"" ^' ^^^^""^' ^'^ 'hfir bit to man „ ,K^ ^"■'"■'- " '° "■•■'' "°"' ^^^Snised as the chief man ,n the admmistrative council. The evil was in- creased by the discord in the council itself. Peter des Roches was known to prompt the resistance to Hubert de Burgh and to be the patron of the foreigners; he nether tmderstood nor lo^•ed the institutions of Eng- land, and although an able and experienced man was very ambitious and altogether unscrupulous. In ,224 however, the contest was decided. An act of violent in subordination on the part of Falkes de Breaute brought down the king and the kingdom upon him; the great con- spiracy of which he held the strings was broken up, and he Rorhl' "°';r"hstanding the secret support of Peter des from ir"i / "?.'" '"''''•'"'°" °f "^^ P°P«' '^as banished from the land. His fall involved the humiliation of the M 2 164 The Early Plantagcnets. A.D. 1220-25. feudal lords who were allied with him, and the expulsion of the foreigners whom he represented and headed. Peter des Roches himself had to take a subordinate place. Long before this England had been relieved from the presence of the legate. In 1220 Langton had gone to Work of Rome and obtained a promise that so long as Hubert de he lived no other legate should be sent to lingland. Pandulf seems to have regarded the promise as implying his own recall. He was weary of his post ; and having obtained his election to the see of Norwich, resigned in July 1221. Before the end of the year 1224 the able hand of Hubert de Burgh had shaken off the three dangerous influences; he had re- claimed England for the English. But he had done it at considerable cost of taxation. This the country was ill able or disposed to bear, and the alarm of war was sounding on the side of France, where Lewis succeeded his father in 1223. It was in order to obtain from the Re-issue of nation a grant of money to defray these ex- the Charter, penses and to equip an army that Henry, under Hubert's advice, for the third time confirmed the charter. But, although these were the special occasions of the re-issue, the confirmation itself is a typical act, and might be regarded as the renewed good omen of a happy reign. Most of the hereditary enemies of Henry were dead ; all foreign influences were banished; the right of the nation to sound and good government was recognised by the charter itself. The general acquiescence in the policy of the administration was shown by the grant of a fifteenth of all moveable property to the king, which was made conditional on the confirmation of the charter, and the national union was proved by the long list of prelates and magnates who attested it. Henry, by altering the terms in which he enacted it from the older form, * by the council' of his barons, to *by my spontaneous will,' A.D. 1227. Henry III. 16s I (I seemed to be giving more than a mere official ratifi- cation—a personal and sincere adhesion to the great formula of the constitution. Two years after this Henry came of age, and then begins not only his dangerous and unbusinesslike med- dling with foreign politics but the gradual reve- Henry in lation of the fact that he was not more willing ^227. than his father had been to act and reign as a constitu- tional king. From this point date the constant demands of the Pope on the one hand, and the king on the other, for money to be spent on purposes which called forth little sympathy in England, or which were opposed to the national instincts ; constant difficulties with the adminis- tration, and, consequent upon those difficulties, that alien- ation of popular affection from the person of the young sovereign whose growth had been intently and hopefully watched— an alienation which grew from year to year, as the conviction gained ground that he was not to be trusted, any more than he could be honoured or ad- mired. But for this conviction that serious attack on his authority, which amounted in the end to an absolute superseding or deposition, could have been neither con- templated nor carried into effect. This was not the mere result of a mismanaged minority. No doubt the posses- sion or even the anticipation of the possession of great power is a dangerous obstacle to education; and in every case of a royal minority which we have in English history we find the same miserable story of a most im- portant charge neglected, and the most important of all possible trusts unfulfilled. It may be that Hubert de Burgh and Peter dcs Roches had to work on an un- kindly soil. In the child of John and Isabella we should not look for much inherited goodness ; yet Richard of Cornwall, Henry's brother, was a ver>- different man from Henry himself Still the fault cannot be ascribed 1 66 The Early Platitagenets. A.D, 1227. altogether to the education. It would have been a sore discipline for a noble mind, but to Henry it was fatal. He learned nothing great; what was good in him was dwarfed and warped. The histoiy of the thirty-one years, 1227 to 1258, which form the period of his personal administration, is one long series of impolitic and unprincipled acts! These acts may, it is true, be arranged under certain distinct heads, but it is not to be forgotten that they were at the time the successive expressions of one weak, headstrong mind, and as such have a unity and a bearing upon one another, creating as they proceed a tide of hostile feeling in the nation that becomes at last overwhelming. It would be an unprofitable exercise of ingenuity and patience to detail these acts in order of time, and to point out how one led to another. They may be divided into the three heads of internal mis- government, a mischievous foreign policy pursued under the guidance of the popes, and the unfortunate line adopted with regard to the P>ench provinces on which the king still retained his hold. Under the first of these come Henr>-'s reluctance to observe the charters, heavy taxation for a long series of years, the revival of the hated system of foreign favouritism, the rash displacement and replacement of ministers, the attempts of the king to rule by means of mere clerks and servants without proper ministers, and the series of domestic troubles which arise from these causes. Under the second Papal de- head come the heavy demands of the popes mands. f^j. pecuniary help, or for the preferment of Italians in English churches, and the successive attempts made by the several pontiffs to use Henry, his wealth, and influence in Europe, for the destruction of the house of Hohenstaufen, and thus for the promotion of designs Internal misgovem- ment. \ t A.D. 1228. Henry III. 167 which worked his final humiliation. Under the third come the several expeditions to France, the negotiations with Lewis IX., the administration of Gas- Foreign cony, and the part taken by Richard of Corn- ^f^^^r-,. wall and Simon de Montfort in the administration of that province. These three lines of mischief combine to produce the great crisis of 1258, in which the cHsls of leading spirit was Simon de Montfort, in which ^258. the critical and determining cause was the negotiation with the Pope for the kingdom of Sicily, and in which the form of the constitutional demands made by the op- position was determined by the character of the internal misgovernment which had been going on so long. Where the same points so frequently recur a chronological sum- mary becomes monotonous, and a comprehensive sketch is sufficient to convey all the lessons that are of real value. Henry's first act was an ill-omened one. In January 1227, in a council at Oxford, he declared himself of full age to govern, emancipated himself from the Henry of guardianship of Peter des Roches, but insisted ^^e- that all charters and other grants sealed during his mino- rity should be regarded as invalid until a confirmation of ! them had been purchased at a fixed rate. This declara- tion, founded, it would seem, on a resolution of the council agreed on in 1218, that no grants involving per- petuity should be sealed until he came of age, was heard with great alarm. The alarm spread further when it was known that the forest boundaries, which had been settled by perambulation in 1225, were to be re-arranged under royal direction. If the forest liberties were to be tam- pered with, the Great Charter itself would be in peril. But either the alarm was unfounded or the excitement that followed ensured its own remedy. Large sums were raised by confirming private charters ; but, on a repre- 1 68 The Early Plantagaiets, A.D. 1227- sentation made by a body of the earls the forest ad- ministration was let alone and the Great Charter was not threatened. The whole project was seen to be a mere expedient for raising money. Matters went on peacefully for some four or five years, and if complaints of misgovernment were heard they were, by the ready action of Hubert, who continued to be justiciar, either remedied or silenced. From 1227 to 1232 Hubert filled the place of prime minister, in very much the same way as Hubert Walter and Geoffrey Fitz- Peter had done, sacrificing his own popularity to save his master's character, and risking his master's favour by lightening the oppressions and exactions of irresponsible government. Besides the wars with Wales and Scotland which mark these years, and the pecuniary demands which were necessarily made for carrying on the wars, the chief interest of the period arises from the fact that Papal taxa- it saw the first of those papal claims and ex- ^'^"- actions which were to exercise so baneful an influence on the rest of the reign. Archbishop Langton died in 1228, and Henry's envoys at Rome purchased the confirmation of his successor, Archbishop Richard, by promising the Pope a heavy subsidy to sustain him in his war with the Emperor. When the time came for this demand to be laid before the assembled council Earl Ranulf of Chester took the lead in opposing it. The means taken notwithstanding to exact money roused a strong popular feeling. The papal collectors were plun- dered, the stores taken in kind were burned ; and so in- effectual were the means taken to suppress the outrages, that suspicion fell, not without good reason, on the justi- ciar himself as conniving at this rough justice. Henry was already weary of his minister, and his strongest feel- ings were the devotion which he consistently maintained towards the papacy and his determination, equally reso- I t ■ 1232. Henry III. 169 t 1 JU lute, to let no scruple prevent him from acquiring money whenever he had the opportunity. Peter des Roches, who had been absent from England for some years on Crusade, had now returned. He lost no opportunity of increasing the king's dislike to Hubert, and of ^^ ,, , ° ^ ' Fall of promotmg the mterest of the foreigners who Hubert de were beginning again to speculate on Henry's ^^^ ' weakness. The king was told that his poverty was owing to the dishonesty of his ministers, who were grow- ing rich to his disadvantage ; he had no money to carry on war, whilst Hubert de Burgh was becoming more powerful in acquisitions and alliances, and was even using his influence to screen offenders against the Apos- tolic see. Henry was not slow in learning to be un- grateful. He had been taught by Hubert himself that he must discard the favourite servants of his father; Hubert had to exemplify, however unrighteously, his own lesson. In July 1232 he was driven from office, overwhelmed, as Becket had been, with charges which it was impossible definitely to disprove; and after some vain at- ,,. ■' , 1 r Victory of tempts to escape, he was before the end of the Peter des year a prisoner and penniless. His successor ^°'^"^^- in the justiciarship was Stephen Segrave, a creature of Peter des Roches. Peter himself resumed the influence over the unstable king which he had won in his early years, and filled the court and ministry with foreigners, in whose favour he displaced all the king's English servants. Hubert's fall was great enough in itself to excite pity; even Earl Ranulf of Chester, who had been most opposed to him as a minister, was moved to intercede for him. But far more than his personal disgrace the reversal of his English policy alarmed the baronage. Earl Ranulf, the natural head of opposition, died in 1232 ; Richard of Cornwall, who had hitherto shown signs of attachment I/O The Early Plantagcncts. A.D. 1234, to the national cause, was scarcely fitted to lead an attack on his brother's ministers; the Earl Marshall Richard, Richard son of the great regent, and younger brother Marshall. ^f William .Alarshall who had married the king's sister, became the spokesman of the nation. Richard Marshall was one of the most accomplished knights and the most educated gentleman of the age; but he had to contend against the long experience and unscrupulous craft of Peter des Roches. After a distinct declaration made by the barons to the king, at his sug- gestion, that they would not meet the Bishop of Win- chester in court or council, and a positive demand for the dismissal of the foreign servants who had been placed in office by him, the Earl Marshall was declared a traitor. The king marched against him and drove him into alliance with the disaffected Welsh. A cruel strata- gem of Peter des Roches induced him to cross over to Ireland to defend his estates there, and, in a battle into which he was drawn by Peter's agents, he was betrayed and mortally wounded. For a long time after his death the baronage continued to be without a leader of their own. The cunning of Bishop -Peter prevailed to the de- struction of Earl Richard, but it was not sufficient to Fall of ensure his own position. The barons, although Rochef ' ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ \^^^^r when the Earl Marshall fled, were not inchned to be submissive, and the bishops, now under the guidance of Edmund of Abingdon the primate consecrated in 1234, insisted that justice should be done to the Earl Marshall and that the foreigners' should be removed. The king was com- pelled to submit; Bishop Peter was ordered to retire from court, and with him fell the men whom he had patronised. But it was too late to do justice to the earl or to stop the measures contrived for his ruin. As A.D. 1234-44. Henry III, 171 a matter of fact the dismissal of Peter des Roches pre- ceded by a few days the death of his victim far away in Ireland. Hubert de Burgh, however, profited by the change and regained his estates, although not his poli- tical power, when his rival fell. To some extent the administration of Hubert and of Peter after him had been a continuance of the roval tutelage; from this time Henry determined to j^^^^ ^.^ be not only king but chief administrator. Ste- plan of go- phen Segrave had been a very mean successor ^*^"""^- to Hubert in the great office of justiciar; henceforth the officer who bears the name is no longer the lieutenant- general of the king, but simply the chief officer of the law courts. The supreme direction of affairs Henry kept in his own incompetent hands. The position of the chan- cellor too was stronger than was convenient to a king who intended to have his own way. Ralph Neville, the Bishop of Chichester, had received the great seal in 12:6, by the advice and consent of the great council of the nation ; he now refused to surrender it to the king except at the express command of the assembly by which he had been appointed. Henry succeeded in wresting the seal from him in 1238, but he retained the income and title of chancellor until his death in 1244. The constant petitions of the barons that a properly quali- fied justiciar, chancellor, and treasurer should be elected or appointed, subject to the approval of the national council, show that this independent action of the king was regarded with jealousy, and that they had already in germ the idea of having the affairs of the kingdom administered by men who would be responsible, not only as Becket and Hubert de Burgh had been to the king, but to the nation, as represented at the time in the great council of the barons. The histor}' of these years is a series of national 1/2 The Early Plantageneis. a.d. 1234-44. complaints and royal shortcomings and evasions, diver- sified by occasional campaigns or splendid marriage / Influx of ceremonies. In 1235 Henry married his sister 7 foreigners. jg^^^dla to the Emperor Frederick II.; in 1236 he hmiself married Eleanor of Provence. Both mar- riages were the occasions of great outlay of money, which the nation was rapidly becoming more and more unwill- ing to pay. Nor was the discontent owing to taxation only. The queen's relations poured into the country as into a newly-discovered gold-field ; dignities, territories, high office in Church and State were lavished upon them, and the rumour went abroad that they were attempt- ing to change the constitution of the kingdom. Under their influence the old foreign agents who had flourished under the patronage of Peter des Roches returned into court and council, and brought with them the old abuses and the old jealousies in addition to the new. In 1238 the king gave his sister Eleanor, the widow of William Marshall the younger, to Simon de .Montfort. The mar- riage and subsequent quarrel with Simon served to aug- ment the jealousy and divisions at court. In 1242 Henry made a costly expedition to France, from which he returned in 1243; a new flood of strangers, this time the Poictevin sons and kinsfolk of his mother, followed him. In 1244 Earl Richard of Cornwall married the queen's sister; and in 1245 Boniface of Savoy, the queen's uncle, was consecrated to the see of Canterbury. Each of these years is marked by a struggle about taxation, conducted in the assembly of barons and bishops, Constitu- which from this time is known both in history gHevLces ^^^ records by the name of Parliament. In these discussions the lead is taken some- times by the bishops, sometimes by the barons ; now it IS the papal, now the royal demands that excite oppo- sition. The charters are from time to time confirmed A.D. 1234-44. Henry III. 173 I as a condition of a money grant ; and as often as money is required they are found to need fresh confirmation. Up to the time of his marriage Earl Richard of Cornwall constantly appears among the remonstrants; Archbishop Edmund, as long as his patient endurance lasts, heads the opposition of the bishops ; Robert Grosseteste, the Bishop of Lincoln, the great divine, scholar, and pastor of the Church, is not less distinguished as a leader in the plans propounded for the maintenance of good go- vernment and the diminution of the royal power of oppression. Every class suffered under the absolute administra- tion, but the citizens of London and the Jews perhaps most heavily, as from them without any in- t^ ,• ^ Parliamen- termediate machinery the king contrived to tar>- discus- wring money. Not slowly or gradually but ^'°"^" by great and rapid accumulations the heap of national grievances grew, and but for the want of a leader a forcible attempt at revolution must have occurred much sooner than it did. In 1237 the national council gave their money under express conditions, none of which were observed, as to the control and purpose of ex- penditure. In 1242 they presented to the king a long list of the exactions to which they had submitted out of their goodwill to assist him, but from which no good had arisen. In 1244, when Henry had assembled the magnates in the refectory at Westminster and with his own mouth had asked for money, the two great estates present, lay and clerical, determined, after de- bating apart, to act in concert, and chose twelve repre- sentatives to make terms with the king. The twelve, of whom the chief were Richard of Cornwall and Simon de Montfort, demanded the confirmation of the charters, and the election of a justiciar, chancellor, and treasurer; they broached even a plan for constitutional reform /i^ J J 172 T/^e Early Plantagcnets. a.d. 1234-44. il complaints and royal shortcomings and evasions, diver- sified by occasional campaigns or splendid marriage Influx of ceremonies. In 1235 Henry married his sister foreigners. Isabella to the Emperor Frederick II. ; in 1236 he himself married Eleanor of Provence. Both mar- riages were the occasions of great outlay of money, which the nation was rapidly becoming more and more unwill- ing to pay. Nor was the discontent owing to taxation only. The queen's relations poured into the country as into a newly-discovered gold-field; dignities, territories, high office in Church and State were lavished upon them, and the rumour went abroad that they were attempt- ing to change the constitution of the kingdom. Under their mfluence the old foreign agents who had flourished under the patronage of Peter des Roches returned into court and council, and brought with them the old abuses and the old jealousies in addition to the new. In 1238 the king gave his sister Eleanor, the widow of William Marshall the younger, to Simon de Montfort. The mar- riage and subsequent quarrel with Simon served to aug- ment the jealousy and divisions at court. In 1242 Henry made a costly expedition to France, from which he returned in 1243; ^ ri^w flood of strangers, this time the Poictevin sons and kinsfolk of his mother, followed him. In 1244 Earl Richard of Cornwall married the queen's sister; and in 1245 Boniface of Savoy, the queen's uncle, was consecrated to the see of Canterburv. Each of these years is marked by a struggle about taxation, conducted in the assembly of barons and bishops, Constitu- which from this time is known both in history tionai and records by the name of Parliament. gnevan.es. j^ thcsc discussions the lead is taken some- times by the bishops, sometimes by the barons ; now it is the papal, now the royal demands that excite oppo- sition. The charters are from time to time confirmed J A.D. 1234-44. Henry III. 173 as a condition of a money grant ; and as often as money is required they are found to need fresh confirmation. Up to the time of his marriage Earl Richard of Cornwall constantly appears among the remonstrants ; Archbishop Edmund, as long as his patient endurance lasts, heads the opposition of the bishops ; Robert Grosseteste, the Bishop of Lincoln, the great divine, scholar, and pastor of the Church, is not less distinguished as a leader in the plans propounded for the maintenance of good go- vernment and the diminution of the royal power of oppression. Every class suffered under the absolute administra- tion, but the citizens of London and the Jews perhaps most heavily, as from them without any in- pariiamen- termediate machinery the king contrived to tary discus- •VT 11 1 11 1 sions. wrmg money. Not slowly or gradually but by great and rapid accumulations the heap of national grievances grew, and but for the want of a leader a forcible attempt at revolution must have occurred much sooner than it did. In 1237 the national council gave their money under express conditions, none of which were observed, as to the control and purpose of ex- penditure. In 1242 they presented to the king a long list of the exactions to which they had submitted out of their goodwill to assist him, but from which no good had arisen. In 1244, when Henry had assembled the magnates in the refectory at Westminster and with his own mouth had asked for money, the two great estates present, lay and clerical, determined, after de- bating apart, to act in concert, and chose twelve repre- sentatives to make terms with the king. The twelve, of whom the chief were Richard of Cornwall and Simon de Montfort, demanded the confirmation of the charters, and the election of a justiciar, chancellor, and treasurer; they broached even a plan for constitutional reform 174 The Early Plantagenets. A.D. 1245- according to which a perpetual council was to be ap- pointed to attend the king and secure the execution of reforms to be embodied in a new charter. Henry first resisted, then produced an order from the Pope ; but the barons were unable to persevere in their designs. They refused, however, to make a large grant and voted a sum which they could not legally object to pay for the marriage of the king's daughter. The pages of the great historian, Matthew Paris, teem with details like this. Whether money were given or re- Henry's fused,the king went on askingformore; whether impolicy. jjg jy^ej- ^Q^ national complaints with promise or with insult, the evils remained alike unredressed. No permanent ministers were appointed; the king nomi- nated a clerk or a judge from time to time to despatch formal business, and every important transaction for which he himself was not personally competent was left to be settled at haphazard. Some good results followed ; the country learned that the king was really dependent on the nation, although it failed to impress that lesson upon Henry himself; every year the machinery for as- sessing and collecting the taxes assumed more and more a representative character, and the forms as well as the spirit of a parliamentary constitution grew apace. But in the countless assemblies which were held during this part of the reign it is not possible to trace any uniformity or even any tendency towards a system of representative government. The councils are more busy about their powers than about their constitution, and the representa- tive machinery already in use for carrying out the execu- tive part of the public business does not yet reach the region of legislative or supreme taxation. No great design is attempted during these years ; the barons see no return for the great costs to which the king puts them. The King of France goes on -1257- Henry III. 175 Crusade, but Henry only raises money on the pretext and spends or wastes it on other purposes. The Pope drains the kingdom. There are murmurs but National no blows : no conspiracies, no leader. Simon »nact'^"y- de Montfort is employed in Gascony ; Earl Richard minds his own business. The kingdom is again handed over to the Poictevins, yet no one has position or energy to take the lead. So matters drag on. In 1248, 1249, 1255 the demands for a regular ministry are confirmed; and now it is desired that they shall be appointed by the common council of the nation. In 1237 and again in 1253 the charters are solemnly renewed, and excom- munication passed on the transgressors of them. In 1254 an assemblv is held to grant an aid, to which two knights of the shire are called from each county, elected by the county court— a very important step towards the creation or development of a parliamentary system. At last, in 1257, by a series of events like these, the patience of the baronage is absolutely worn out, and the king by an extraordinary act of daring presumption gives the signal for the outbreak. Our second division of the causes which led to the great crisis of the reign comprises Henry's relations with the popes and the papal policy. It is Henry and not a thing to be wondered at that Henry ^^e Popes, should adhere closely to the Pope : for it was papal in- fluence that made him king, and his mind was formed under religious influences redolent of papal ideas. He had to deal too with popes of high and masterly minds, and bowed implicitly to such. He never disputed or quarrelled with any pope; no point was to his mind worth defence. He was just old enough to remember the last days of the Interdict; he knew how Hono- rius III. had supported him against Philip and Lewis; he watched the long humiliation of Frederick II. by \y6 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. 1226-52. Gregory IX. and Innocent IV. He never knew a weak pope. He might have resisted, and would have gained The arch- immensely by resistance : his archbishops, bishops. Stephen Langton, Richard le Grand, and Edmund of Abingdon, were three model ecclesiastics, men unassailable in the points of patriotism, inde- pendence, and sanctity. Even Boniface of Savoy, although he was neither an Englishman nor a saint, would have boldly resisted the Pope and strengthened the king with his sword if not with his staff. But Henry was generally thwarting his archbishops ; he alienated their support and wore out their patience. Edmund he drove into exile by his tyranny and extortion ; and even Boniface on occasion chose to side with the national party rather than to support such a king. The string of papal difficulties begins in 1226, when the Pope demanded a share of the property of every ^. , , cathedral church and monastery. In 1229 List of papal , , , . , /- n assump- Gregory IX. demanded a tithe of all move- ''''"'• ables, which only Earl Ranulf of Chester had courage to refuse. In 1 23 1 the Roman exactions produced public tumults, and led to the quarrel which ruined Hubert de Burgh. In 1237 the king invited Cardinal Otho to re- form the Church. He stayed until 1241, visited Oxford, and put the University under interdict ; visited Scotland in 1 239, and in 1 240 exacted enormous sums for the benefit of the Pope, besides forbidding the king to bestow prefer- ment on Englishmen until three hundred Italians had been provided for. In 1244 Innocent IV. sent a still more intolerable representative, Master Martin, who within a year was obliged to fly; but neither king nor parliament ventured to refuse money. Besides direct payments a vast proportion of English livings was held by foreigners. Bishop Grosseteste, who regarded these usurpations as the very destruction of the flock for which he was ready to A.D. 1252-5. Henry III. 177 lay down his life, declared that in 1252 the Pope's nomi - nees had revenues within the realm three times as great as the roval income. There was too a constant succes- sion of appeals to Rome, as the episcopal elections were disputed, and the Pope either assumed the power of pre- sentation or sold the justice or injustice that it pleased him to dispense. To understand how these vast sums were disposed of by the popes involves the careful read- inn- of the history of Frederick II. The exactions of Gregory IX. begin with the first quarrel with Frederick, and the crowning difficulties of Henry III. are caused by his entancrlcment with Alexander IV. on the subject of Sicily. Yet Frederick II. was his own brother-m-law, and a prince who, whatever his faults may have been, suffered papal enmity for reasons which had nothing to do with his shortcomings. Frederick was admired and pitied in England as a papal victim. Lewis IX. could refuse to be an instrument in his humiliation, but Henry III. seems to have tied himself to the Popes chariot-wheels. The Pope and the king, according to the saving of the time, left to men only the task of dis- cerning whether the upper or the nether millstone were the heaviest. Fatal as the friendship of Gregory IX. and Innocent IV. had been, it was the policy of Alexander IV. which broke the long-enduring patience of the baron- Henry age and compelled them to bind the kings ^i„gdomof hands. Innocent IV. in 1252 had offered the sidy. kingdom of Sicily to Richard of Cornwall. The negotiation went on until in 1255 it was accepted, not for Richard, but for Edmund, the king's second son. It might have been supposed that as the quarrel was the Pope's Alexander would have hired Henry to fight his battles; but by this adroit system of enlistment he reversed the rule. He fought the battles and expected Henry to pay him. M. //. N 178 The Early Planiagcnets. a.d. 1225-54. French transac tions. Henry was weak enough to bear this and even to pledge the credit of the kingdom to the Pope for the sum which the craftv Itahan moneylender had advanced to main- tain his own quarrel. It was this act that led to the demand for a new constitution, which opens the next great epoch of this long dismal reign. Henry's French transactions, the third of the three Henry's heads in which we have arranged the second portion of the reign, must be summed up very briefly, for they are in themselves the least important part of his history. Of all the possessions of Henry II. only Aquitaine and Gascony remained to John at the time of his death ; and these remained, not because they loved the Planta- iienets, for thev hated them, but because thev hated all government, and found that distant England was a less vigorous mistress than nearer France. So, as they had opposed ftenry 1 1., they resisted Philip and Lewis ; and they continued subject to the English kings until the reign of Henry \'I., but shorn of their proportions. Henry III. in his early years entertained some idea of reclaiming all. In 1225 Richard of Cornwall was sent to Bourdeaux, and re-established order in Gascony; in 1229, during the minority of Lewis IX., not only Gas- cons but Normans proposed to Henry the restoration of the Continental dominions of his house; and in 1230 he actually went across by Brittany and Anjou and re- ceived the homage of Poictou, whilst the Earl of Chester made an attempt on Normandy. But in the following year a truce was made, and no more is said of a French war for twelve years. In 1242, however, at the invitation of the Poictevins, over whom Lewis had set his brother Alfonso as count, Henry made a great expedition, which he managed with so little felicity that he owed his escape from captivity to the mercy of his enemy, just as he owed * I- \ J- I A.D. 1254. Henry III. 179 his continued possession of Gascony to that enemy's good faith. After his return home in 1243 the only foreign difficulties which occurred for several years arose from the conduct of the Gascons, who, finding no pressure put upon them by Lewis, took courage to rebel on their own account, and required constant chastise- ment. From 1249 onwards Simon de Montfort was em- ployed to keep them in order ; and whilst his demands for money were one cause of Henry's difficulties at home, Henry s treatment of him laid the foundation of a last- ing enmity. The complaints of the Gascons against his severe administration were readily listened to, and Simon was easily convinced that his employment in France was a mere expedient for securing his ruin. In 1253 he re- signed his command, and Henry for the third time went in person to France, where he stayed for a year and a half, returning at the end of 1254 more hopelessly in debt than ever. From this point the accumulating grievances of the nation, whether constitutional, religious, or political, blend in one mass ; all the oppressed and offended make com- mon cause. Extortion, faithlessness, improvidence, im- potence at home and abroad, compel and suggest their own remedy ; and every class having been insulted or oppressed, the time and the men for reform and revenge are not wantmg. CHAPTER IX. SIMON DE MONTFORT. Delay of the crisis — Simon de Montfort — Parliament of 1258 — Pro- visions of Oxford — Political troubles — Award of St. Lewis — Battle of Lewes — Baronial government — Battle of Evesham — Closing years. The long and dreary survey of the first forty years of Henry's reign has its chief use in enabling us to trace N 2 i8o The Ejxrly Plantagcncts. CH. IX. CH. IX. Simon dc Montfort. i8i Why the constitu- tional crisis wa^ de- layed. the string of events, the accumulation of causes and motives, which produced the more striking comphcations of the remaining sixteen years. We have seen that on the one hand a gradually in- creasing spirit of resistance was being roused among all classes of the people. Through a shifty, shuffling, purposeless public policy on the king's part, a sullen determination to reign as despotically as his father had done constantly makes itself apparent. The papal influence, too, by which his foreign policv was guided, was gradually bringing him up to a point at which the national spirit would no longer endure him. We cannot fail to perceive further that Henry's deter- mination to act as his own minister could have but one result — that, when the time for account came, the account would be demanded of him himself personally : he would have no agents behind whom he could screen himself, or whom he could sacrifice to justify himself Henry's per- sonal character, his pliancy and want of principle, mav perhaps have helped to put off the day of account, so long delayed, and it may have been his own misfortune that he lived so long to try the patience of the people. Another reason for their endurance was no doubt the want of a leader, and that was a potent reason. In the early difficulties of the reign the place of the leader of constitutional opposition was occasionally taken by the Earl of Chester, a man in whose conduct the desire of rule was stronger than the love of liberty ; and after his death it was occupied with higher principles and nobler purposes by the Earl Marshall Richard. After Richard's death no great lay baron for a long time stood out from the rest as a leader. The bishops proclaimed their grievances and the oppressions of the court, but the bishops were forbidden by their order to take up arms against the king. The great earldoms of the former age i were extinct in spirit if not in title, and possibly the king may have found means to keep their modern representa- tives silent or inactive. The great earldom of „ T • 1 J 1 Henrys Leicester had been split in two, and one half, dynastic which bore the name of Leicester, was, at ^°'''^^" the beginning of the reign, in the king's hands, although claimed by the Montforts. The earldom of Chester came, on the extinction of the heirs, to the crown in 1237; Essex and Hereford were held by one family; Cornwall by the king's brother; Salisbury by his cousin. Gloucester alone retained anything like its old importance, and the Earl of Gloucester could not stand alone. Henry was wise enough to see this, and so avoided the restoration of Chester by keeping it as a provision for one of his sons. It was probably with the like object that he connived at the marriage of his sister with Simon de Montfort, to whom the Leicester inheri- tance must in the end come ; and when the earldom of the Marshalls escheated he gave it to his half-brother. If all the great earldoms could be comfortably distributed among his near kinsmen the baronial party would be without its natural head, and might lie at his mercy. That this was a part of his plan we may infer from his treatment of the bishoprics. He no doubt thought that he had a safe hold on the clergy when his wife's uncle was made archbishop of Canterbury, his half-brother, Ethelmcr of Lusignan, bishop of Winchester, and ano- ther important bishopric, that of Hereford, was in the hands of a Provencal kinsman. PMward III., a hun- dred years after him, adopted somewhat the same plan of consolidating family power by marrying his sons to the heiresses of the earldoms ; and at an earlier period in the history of the empire the German duchies more than once take the form of a compact family party. Unfortunately, however, the plan has seldom answered: I82 The Early Plantagcncts, CH. IX. people can hate their relations perhaps more cordiallv than they can hate anyone else ; and in a generation o'r two, when personal hated is complicated with the ricrhts of mhentance, wars between cousins are apt to become mternecme. Even in the present reign we shall come upon one or two instances of this. One effect of this statecraft on Henry's part was to keep the constitu- I tional party divided and headless; another was to pro- voke opposition amongst those in whom he might other- wise have trusted. His treatment of the Gascons was such as at one period to throw even his son Edward and his brother Richard into opposition ; and as early as 1242 we have seen Earl Richard of Cornwall takin- an important place in the baronial councils ; but the lead- ing and crowning instance is Simon de Montfort the personal enemy, the leader of constitutional opposition the national champion, whom Henry raised up for his own discomfiture as directly and as persistently as if he had had from the beginning that object in view. The opinions of historians have differed wideh- in drawing the characters of the two most influential men Cornwan"^ ""^ ^^''' ^'^'^°'^- ^^^^^^^'^^ ^i"^ ^^ the Romans, a dignity which he attained in 1257, the se- cond son of John, must have been on anv showing a man of more energy and enterprise than his brother Henrv • It IS attested by his early achievements in war, by his crusade, and by the adventurous wav in which he at- tempted and really maimained his hold on Germany He was also a better manager; for whilst Henrv was always hopelessly over^vhelmed with debt, Richard was always amply provided with money, and able to lend his brother large sums, which kept him afloat for a time but did not get him out of his difficulties. Richard had'also much sounder ideas of policy, acting frequently with the baronial party, resisting and remonstrating against his CH. IX. Simon de Moutfort. 183 brother's foolish designs, and winning throughout both France and England no small reputation for political sagacity. In opposition to these favourable points must be set a strong public opinion existing at the time, and since constantly re-echoed both in England and in Ger- many. The English, disliking his attempts at foreign sovereignty, represented him as a foolish, extravagant, tricky man, who for the name of Emperor sacrificed his real interests and imperilled the interests of his country; a man who would let the Germans delude him out of all his treasure and then come back to England and take the unpopular side, as he did in the barons' war. The Germans, who always treated the English kings as rich fools to be handled from time to time for their own profit, got out of him all they could in the way of money and privileges, and showed their gratitude by mocking him. A more careful view of his career leads to the conclusion that both his abilities and his success were underrated. He was certainly not a great sovereign, but the proba- bility is that, with the chances he had, he might have done very much worse. He was one of the very last of the Kings of the Romans who thought of building up the empire as distinct from their own dynastic power; who lavished what he had upon it instead of merely using the power and dignity which it gave him to in- crease the wealth of his own family. In respect to his conduct as an English earl we find him always acting as a mediator and arbitrator, never urging the king to his despotic and deceitful courses. If when the country was actually at war he threw in his lot with his brother, rather than with Simon de Montfort, whom he did not understand, but suspected and reasonably disliked, he can hardly be visited with severe blame. He was the wisest and most moderate, it would seem, of Henry's advisers ; but Henry was not fond of being ad\ ised. 1 84 The Early Plmitagcncts. CH. IX. CH. IX. Simon dc Montfort. 185 Simon de Montfort was a very different man, and very different estimates have been formed of him. On Simon de One sidc he is regarded as an almost inspired Montfort. Statesman, a scholar, a saint, a martyr; on the other he is a mere adventurer, a demagogue, a man full of selfish ambitions and personal hatreds, a rebel, a traitor, a criminal. A short notice of his chief actions may in- dicate what reason there is for either, neither, or both of these estimates. Simon de Montfort was no doubt an adventurer, descended from a race of counts that had played for high stakes with very little capital, and had been persistently pushing into power for some cen- turies. His father was the scarcely less renowned Simon de Montfort, the persecutor of the Albigensian here- tics, who had, at the head of that cruel crusade, been made Count of Toulouse, and perished in making good his claims. The Counts of Evreux, his remoter ances- tors, had made their way into that position by a fortu- nate marriage as early as the time of Henry I. They had made a bold attempt in the time of Lewis VI. to claim the high stewardship of France ; in later times one of the family had held, in the right of his wife, the earldom of Gloucester after the death of Geoffrey de Mandeville and Hawisia. Earl Simon, the Crusader, was a nephew of the last Earl of Leicester of the house of Beaumont, on whose death John divided his earldom into two, that of Winchester going to Saer de Quincy as co-heir, and that of Leicester to Simon de Montfort. But that Simon, although he was Earl of Leicester, had little to do with England; he was an enemy of John, and the barons are said, at one time, to have thought of calling him in as a deliverer. His crusade against the Albigenses was directed really against Raymond of Toulouse, who was John's brother-in-law ; and as John was never loth to keep the lands of his enemies in his own hands, the revenues of the earldom seldom found their way into the treasury of the Montforts. This Simon had four sons; Amalric, Count of Montfort, was the eldest, and the second Simon, the hero of the barons' war, was the youngest. Amalric, of course, was his father's heir, but he contented himself with his patrimony in France ; and the two intermediate brothers being now dead, Simon, according to Matthew Paris, attempted, at the Council of Bourges, in 1226 or 1227, to recover the county of Toulouse, trailing to do this, he came to England to see whether he could not get the earldom of Leicester, and his brother consented to make over to him such rights in it as he possessed. After some years he succeeded. Henry allowed the arrangement between the brothers to take effect, and gave Simon the honour of Leicester. He had already failed in two attempts to make himself a great position by marriage with the countesses of Flan- ders and Boulogne. In a third he was more successful; Henry connived, as it was said, at a clandestine marriage between Simon and his sister Eleanor, the widow of the second William Marshall — an unlawful marriage, as she had taken a vow of widowhood — and soon after, in 1239, gave him the title of Earl. Richard of Cornwall, and others of the baronage were exceedingly angry at this, and Henry himself in no long time quarrelled with his new brother-in-law, who had to leave England, and had some expense and trouble in obtaining the recog- nition of his marriage as lawful. For some years he appears to have been coolly treated, and perhaps nursed his wrongs. But up to this time there is little about him to distinguish him from the other foreigners with whom England swarmed. By what pro- cess he educated himself into the ideas and position of an English baron we have but little information to show. It is clear, however, that he did so ; that he had much k 1 86 TJie Early Pla7itagencts. CH. IX. A.D. 1257. Simon de Mojitfort. 187 intercourse with the clergy, especially >vith that section which, with Bishop Grosseteste, was bent on resisting the royal exactions and papal usurpations ; that he de- voted much thought and care to the education of his children; and that when, in the parliament of 1244, the prelates and barons selected a committee to treat with the king, his name, with that of Earl Richard of Corn- wall, was among the first chosen. In his own earl- dom, nearly the only notice found of him is that he persecuted the Jews of Leicester, and this slight indi- cation may show that he had somewhat of his father's spirit — that some persecuting zeal was an ingredient in his peculiar form of piety. From this date we find him, however, employed more and more in public business, and for several years together commanding in Gascony, where the complaints of his severity and impolicy were pro- bably occasioned as much by Henry's deceitful treatment of his foreign adherents as by Simon's own fault. Of this, however, it is impossible to judge certainly ; we only know that the bitter feelings which existed between him and the king were constantly more and more embittered, and that Earl Richard, although sometimes he was obliged to take Simon's part, had the same personal antipathy, which grew greater and produced terrible results in the next generation. In Gascony, however, Simon must have gained a good deal of political experience ; and he was already by inherited talent and early training a highly accomplished soldier and tactician. Such was the man whom Henrv III. had raised and trained to his own confusion : a brilliant, religious, en- terprising, experienced man, who had cultivated popu- larity ; and who although a foreigner, an adventurer, a man descended from high feudal parentage and an adept in all the lessons of feudal insubordination, had yet fitted him- self to be a leader of the English baronage in a crusade i- i against tyranny. Earl Simon's greatness throws all the other actors into the shade, for Bishop Grosseteste, who f he had hved would no doubt have taken a great place m the story, d,ed m ,253; and of the other prelates besides Archbishop Boniface, the only one o^ ntuch personal emnencc at the time was Walter of Cantilupe Bishop of Worcester. Of the barons the most eminent' were Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, and Willi, m of Ferrers, the last Earl of Derby of that house which had been engaged in every conspiracy and intrigue since the days of Stephen. The struggle opens at the parliament held at Mid- lent at \\ estminster, in r.57, when the king presented his son Eonumd to the barons as King of slcily, and announced that he had pledged the kingdom to the Pope for 140000 marks. He demanded an aid, a tenth of ail church revenue, and the income of all vacant benefices for five years. The clergy remonstrated. The ears of all tingled, says the historian, and their hearts died within them, but he succeeded in obtaining 52,000 marks, and was encouraged to try again. This he did alter taster at London. This assembh- met on »f "58. April 9, and continued until May 5. Everyone brought up h.s grievances ; the king insisted on ha^■ing money. The Pope had pledged himself to the merchants, Henry had pledged hin,self to the Pope; was all Christendom to be bankrupt.' The barons listened with impatience: at last the time was come for reform, and the king was obliged to yield. On May 2 he consented that a parlia- ment should be called at O.^ford within a month after \\ husuntide, and that then and there a commission of twenty-four persons should be constituted, twelve mem- bers of the royal council already chosen and twelve elected by the barons; then if the barons would do i88 The Early Plantagcncts. A.D. 1257. A.D. \2^%. Simon de Moutfoi-t. 189 their best to get the king out of his difficulties by a pecuniary aid, he would, with the advice of these twenty- four, draw up measures for the reform of the state of the kingdom, the royal household, and the Church. It will be remembered that in 12 15 the execution of the articles of Magna Carta was committed to twenty-tive barons, wich power to constrain the king to make the necessary reforms : in this case the arrangement is somewhat different, although the method of proceeding is not quite dissimilar, and both alike afforded prece- dents for that superseding of the royal authority by a commission of government which we find in the reigns of Edward II. and Richard II. At Oxford the parliament met on June 11, and the barons presented a long list of grievances which they Parliament insisted should be reformed. If this list be of Oxford. compared with the list of grievances on which Magna Carta was drawn up, it will be found that many points are common to the two documents. We may thus infer that, notwithstanding the constant conhrma- tions of the charters which were issued by the king, the observance of them was e\ aded by violence or by chica- nery ; that the king enforced some of the most offensive feudal rights, and that his officers found little check on their exactions. Castles had been multiplied, the itinerant judges had made use of their office to exact large sums in the shape of fines, and the sheriffs had oppressed the country in the same way. English fortresses had been placed in the hands of foreigners, and the forest laws had been disregarded. A great number of other evil cus- toms are now recounted. But, strange to say, there is no proposal to restore the missing articles of the Charter of Runnymede, by which taxation without the consent of the national council is forbidden. These grievances were to be redressed before the end 'r^ of the year ; and the aliens were to be removed at once from all places of trust. But this was not the most critical part of the business. The Provisions of Oxford, as they were called, were intended to be much more than an enforcement of Magna Carta ; a body of Provisions twenty-four was chosen, twelve bv the king- ^^ Oxford, twelve by the earls and barons, to reform the grievances ; of the king's twelve the most eminent were his three half-brothers, the Lusignans, his nephew Henry of Cornwall, and the Earls of Warenne and Warwick; of the baronial twelve the chief were the Bishop of Worcester, the Earls of Leicester, Gloucester, and Here- ford, Roger Mortimer, Hugh Bigot, and Hugh le Des- penser. A next step was to restore the three great dignities of the administration which had been so^long in al^eyance; Hugh Bigot was made justiciar, but the great seal still remained in the hands of a keeper who must be supposed to have taken the oath of chancel- lor. The king was then provided with a council of fifteen advisers : each of the two twelves selected two out of the other twelve, and these four nominated the fifteen, subject to the approval of the whole twenty- four. The chiefs of this permanent council were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Worcester, and the Earls of Gloucester, and Leicester. The fifteen were to hold three annual sessions, or parliaments, in February, June, and October; and with them the barons were to negotiate through another committee of twelve. There was another body still, also consisting of twenty-four members, who had the special task of nego- tiating the financial aids ; and the original twenty-four were empowered to undertake the reform of the Church. Of course these several committees contained very much the same elements, the Earls of Leicester, Gloucester, and Norfolk, Roger Mortimer, and others being elected to 1 90 The Early Plantagcnets. a.d. 1259. A.D. 1263. Simon dc Montfort. 191 each. It was a cumbrous arrangement, and scarcely likely to be permanent, but was accepted with great solemnity. Everybody was sworn to obey, and several minor measures were ordered to give security to the new constitution. It is this framework of government, the permanent council of fifteen, the three annual parliaments, the representation of the community of the realm through twelve representative barons, that is historically known as the Constitution of the Provisions of Oxford. Henry was again and again forced to swear to it, and to proclaim it throughout the country. The grievances of the barons were met by a set of ordinances called the Provisions of Westminster, which were produced after some trouble in October 1259. Before the scheme had begun to work the foreign favourites and kinsmen fled from the court and were allowed to quit the country with some scanty remnant of their ill-gotten gains Their departure left the royalist members of the new administration in a hopeless minority. England had now, it would appear, adopted a new form of government, but it must have been already suffi- Disunion cicntly clcar that so many rival interests and among the ambitious Icadcrs would not work together, that Henry would avail himself of the first pretext for repudiating his promises, and that a civil war would almost certainly follow. The first year of this provisional government passed away quietly. The King of the Romans, who returned from Germany in January 1259, was obliged to swear to the provisions. In November Henry went to France, returning in April 1260. Immediately on his return he began to intrigue for the overthrow of the government, sent for absolution to Rome, and prepared for war. Edward, his eldest son, tried to prevent him from breaking his word, but before the king had begun the contest the two great earls had -t quarrelled : Gloucester could not bear Leicester, Leicester could not bear a rival. A general reconciliation was the prelude as usual to a general struggle. In February 1 261 Henry repudiatcjil his oath, and seized the Tower. In June he produced ca papal Bull which absolved him from his oath to observe the Provisions. The chiefs of the government, Leicester and Gloucester, took up arms, but they avoided a battle. The summer was occupied with preparations for a struggle, and peace was made in the winter. , In 1262 Henry went again to France for six months, and on his return again swore to the Provi- sions ; that year the Earl of Gloucester died, and Edward began to draw nearer to his father. Simon was without a rival, and no doubt created in Edward that spirit of jealous mistrust which never again left him. The next year was one of open war. The young Earl j he Rarons' of Gloucester refused to swear allegiance to ^^^'■' ^-^^s- Edward; Simon insisted that the pertinacious ahens should be again expelled. Twice if not three times in this year Henry was forced to confirm the Provisions ; but Edward saw that they had now become a mere form under which the sovereignty of Simon de Montfort was scarcely hidden ; and the increasing conviction of this induced the barons to refer the whole question to the arbi- tration of Lewis IX. of France. This was Award of done on December 16, 1263. An examination Lewis ix. of the names of the barons which appear in the two hsts of sureties who undertake the carrying out of this arbitration shows that Simon de Montfort had now lost some of his most important allies. The young Earl of Gloucester ap- pears in neither list, but the Earls of Norfolk and Here- ford, Hugh Bigot, and Roger Mortimer are now on the king's side, and no earl except Leicester himself appears in the baronial party, the foremost layman there being Hugh le Despenser, the justiciar. There can be no doubt that 192 The Em-ly Plaiitagcucts. A.D. 126' since the outbreak of the war much moral weight ha'd fallen to the royalists, and it seems most probable that Earl Simon had rather offended than propitiated the men who regarded themselves as his equals. The conduct of the barons after the award of Lewis IX. seems to place them in the wrong, and to show either that Simon de Mont- fort's views had developed, under the late changes, in the direction of personal ambition and selfish ends, or that other causes were at work of which we have no informa- tion. The barons were so distinctly justified in their first proceedings that an equitable consideration cannot be refused to their later difficulties. Both parties, however equally bound themselves to abide by the arbitration. Henry took the wise course of being personally pre- sent on the occasion and taking his son Edward with him. Some of the barons also appeared in person, but not the Earl of Leicester, who was supporting the Welsh princes in their war with Mortimer, a method of con- tinuing the struggle which was neither honest nor pa- triotic. At Amiens Lewis heard the cause, and did not long hesitate about his answer, which was delivered on January 23, 1264. By this award the King of France entirely annulled the Provisions of Oxford, and all en- gagements which had been made respecting them. Not content with doing this in general terms, he forbade the making of new statutes, as proposed and carried out in the Provisions of Westminster, ordered the restoration of the royal castles to the king, restored to him the power of nominating the officers of state and the sheriffs, the nomination of whom had been withdrawn from him by the Provisions of Oxford; he annulled the order that natives of England alone should govern the realm of England, and added that the king should have full and free power in his kingdom as he had had in time past. AU this was in the king's favour. The arbitrator, how- I V A.D. 1263. Simon de Montfort. 193 the decision of the French king. ever, added that all the charters issued before the time of the Provisions should hold good, and that all parties should condone enmities and injuries arising from the late troubles. Lewis mentions as his chief motive for thus giving the verdict practically in the king's favour the fact that the Provisions had already been annulled by Motives fg^ the Pope, and the parties bound by them released from their oaths. But we cannot suppose that he was entirely guided by this consideration ; it is probable that he did not understand the limits which the growth of constitutional life had put upon the exercise of royal power as early as Magna Carta, or the shameless way in which Henry had broken his engagements. He may, very reasonably, have re- garded England as much the same sort of country as his own, and have seen in the strengthening of the royal power — a thing absolutely necessary in France at the time — a measure as necessary for England. He may have been moved by Henry's own pleadings, or by the more weighty if more moderate statements which we can imagine were laid before him by Edward. And the care that he shows for the restoration of peace and good feeling may well be interpreted to prove that, although his award was more favourable to the one party than to the other, he yet did not think the defeated party entirely in the wrong. the award of Lewis. The award, however, was entirely in favour of the crown. The new form of government was already giving way, and both parties might have and ought Effects of to have submitted to the sentence. Henry had had a severe lesson, and might not offend again ; the baronage had had their chance, and had been found wanting both in unity of aim and in administra- tive power. Neither party, however, acquiesced in the M. H. O 194 The Early Plantagenets. a,d. 1264. admonition, and each of course laid on the other the blame of disregarding a judgment by which both had sworn to stand. At first the war was continued on the Welsh marches principally ; Edward's forces assisting Mortimer, and Montfort continuing to support Llewelyn, the Prince of Wales, his opponent. But when the king returned from France, as he did in February, the struggle became general. The responsibility for this rests unquestionably with Simon de Montfort ; how far he was justified by the great- Milita ^^^^ ^^ ^^ necessity is another question He successes of had the sympathy of the Londoners, which ofVmon de was probably shared by the burghers of the Montfort. great towns, that of the clergy, except those who were led by the Pope entirely, of the universities, and of the great body of the people. The barons by themselves would have treated with the king ; they would probably have thrown over Earl Simon, if only they could have got rid of the foreigners and had England for the English. On March 31, however, whilst negotiations were proceeding, the Londoners broke into riot against the king, and he in his anger put an end to the consulta- tion. The war began favourably for the king; North- ampton was taken, Nottingham opened her gates, and Tutbury, the castle of the Ferrers, surrendered to Ed- ward. Earl Simon had his successes too, and captured Warwick. Both parties then turned southwards. Earl Simon besieged Rochester, the king marched to relieve it. Henry also took Tunbridge,the Earl of Gloucester's castle, for the young Earl of Gloucester was now on the barons' side ; then he collected his forces at Lewes, where he arrived in the first week of May. Lewes castle belonged to the Earl of Warenne, who had throughout stood on the king's side. The barons also collected their host in the immediate neighbourhood ; A.D. 1264. Simon dc Montfort. 195 I but before fighting they made one bid for peace. The two bishops who were the chief political advisers of the barons — the Bishops of Worcester and London — brought the proposition to the king : they would give 50,000 marks in payment for damages done Le"el°^ in the late struggle, if he would confirm the \ictor>' of T-» • • r ^ r r^i r- ^he Barons. Provisions of Oxford. The oner was sealed by the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester, and dated on May 13. The king returned an answer of defiance, which was accompanied by a formal challenge on the part of the King of the Romans, Edward, and the rest of the royalist barons. No time was lost ; on the very next day the battle was fought, and fortune declared against the king. He had the larger force, but all the skill, care, and earnestness was on the side of the barons. Simon, who had broken his leg a few months before— an acci- dent which prevented him from going to meet the King of France at Amiens — had been obliged to use a carriage during the late marches ; he now posted his carriage in a conspicuous place, and himself went elsewhere. Edward, thinking that if he could capture the earl the struggle would be over, attacked the post where the carriage was seen, routed and pursued the defenders, and going too far in pursuit, left his father exposed to the attack of the earl. King Henry was a brave man, but of course no general, for he had never seen anything like real war before. He defended himself stoutly ; two horses were killed under him, and he was wounded and bruised by the swords and maces of his adversaries, who were in close hand-to- hand combat. When he had lost most of his immediate retainers he retreated into the priory of Lewes. The King of the Romans, who had commanded the centre of the royal army, was already compelled to retreat, and, whilst Henry was still struggling, had been taken cap- tive in a windmill, which made the adversaries very o 2 196 The Early Plaiitagencts. a.d, 1264. A.D. 1265. Simon de Montfort. 197 merry. A general rout followed. The baronial party was victorious long before Edward returned from his unfortunate pursuit, and many of the king's most power- ful friends secured themselves by flight. The next day an arbitration was determined on, called the Mise of Lewes, and the king gave himself and his son into the hands of Simon, who, from that time to the end of the struggle in the next year, ruled in the king's name. The Mise of Lewes contained seven articles, the most important of which prescribed the employment of native The Mise of counscllors, and bound the king to act by the Lewes. advice of the council which would be provided for him. Measures were also taken for obtaining a new arbitration. Thus England for the second time within seven years passed under a new constitution. The system devised at the Council of Oxford in 1258 was not revived, but a parliament was called for June 22, to devise or t ratify a new scheme. This assembly comprised four knights from each shire, as well as the ordinary elements, the bishops and abbots, earls and barons, who formed the usual parliament. In it the new form of government was drawn up. This time the king was bound to act by the advice of nine counsellors. Three electors or nominators were first to be chosen — whether by the whole body of the parliament or by the barons only, it is not said ; and these three were to name the nine. Of the nine three were to be in constant attendance on the king, and his sovereign authority was, in fact, to be exercised by and through them. They were to nominate the great functionaries of the state and the other ministers whose appointment had before rested with the king, and their authority was to last until all the points of controversy were settled by the arbitration provided in the Mise of Lewes. The three electors chosen were the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester and the Bishop of Chichester, Stephen « Berksted, a man who comes into prominence now for the first time, but who was probably the agent of the constitutional party among the clergy, which had been hitherto represented by the Bishop of Worcester. These men governed England until the battle of Evesham. But their reign was not an easy or peaceful one. The Pope was still zealous for Henry, (Conduct of and left no means untried by which the bishops the new Go- might be detached from the barons. The ^^"™^" • queen collected a great army in France and prepared to invade England, assisted by the Archbishop of Canter- bury, her uncle, and all the English refugees who had come under the rod of Earl Simon. Mortimer also made an attempt to prolong the state of war on the border. Nothing, however, came of these preparations during this year : the new government professed itself to be provi- sional, and negotiations were resumed, by which the king of France, now better informed, was to settle all contro- versies. In December a summons went forth for a new parliament. This is the famous parliament, as it is called, of Simon de Montfort, the first assembly of the sort to which representatives of the borough towns ^j^^ p^j.j. were called ; and thus to some extent forms a mem of | landmark in English history. It was not made iySfort. a precedent, and in fact it is not till thirty years after that the representatives of the towns begin - regularly to sit in parliament ; but it is nevertheless a very notable date. Nor was the assembly itself what would be called a full and free parliament, only those persons being summoned who were favourable to the new regime ; but five earls and eighteen barons, and an overwhelming number of the lower clergy, knights, and burghers, who were of course supporters of Earl Simon. It met on January 20, 1265, and did not effect 1 9^ The Early Plantagencts. a. d. i 265. much. Edward, however, was allowed to make terms for his liberation, and Simon secured for himself and his family the earldom of Chester, giving up to Edward, however, other estates by way of exchange. The libera- tion of Edward, who was released on the condition of surrendering his castles, staying for three years in England and keeping the peace, led immediately to the earl's overthrow. Edward was to live under sur- veillance at Hereford— far too near the Mortimers and the Welsh border. This was carried out ; Edward was liberated on March 10. Already, however, dissensions were springing up. Earl Simon's sons, who did very little credit to his instructions, ippoiicyof and on whom perhaps some of the blame Simon's '"''^y ^Gst of which Otherwise it is impossible sorts. to acquit their father, managed to offend the Earl of Gloucester. They challenged the Clares to a tournament at Dunstable. When they were ready and already angry and prepared to turn the festive meeting mto a battle, it was suddenly stopped by the king or by Earl Simon, acting in his name. Gloucester and his kinsmen deemed themselves insulted, and immediately began to negotiate with the Mortimers; and, when hos- tilities were just beginning, Edward escaped from his honourable keeping at Hereford and joined the party. From this point action is rapid. Simon, with the king in his train, marched into the West, and advanced Battle of into South Wales. Edward and Gloucester Evesham. ;^;r,^j u at .• . -^»-'-« , Death of joined by Mortimer, mustered their adherents Earl Simon, in the Cheshire and Shropshire country, and then rushed down by way of Worcester on the town of Gloucester, which surrendered on June 29,thus cuttin^r off the earl's return to England. The younger Simon de Montfort, the earl's second son, was summoned to his father's aid, came up from Pevensey, which he was besiecr- A.D. 1267. Simon dc Montfort. 199 ^^ 1 ing, plundered Winchester, and took up his position at Kenilworth. His father meantime had got back to Hereford and formed a plan for surrounding Edward. Edward, however, had now learned vigilance and caution. He took the initiative, succeeded in routing the young Simon and nearly capturing Kenilworth, and thus turned the tables on the earl. Simon marched on to Evesham, expecting to meet his son ; instead of his son he met his nephew ; and on August 4 the battle fought there reversed the judgment of Lewes. There the great earl fell, and with him Hugh le Despenser, the barons' justiciar, fighting bravely, but without much hope. The interest of the reign, and indeed its importance, ends here. Simon is the hero of the latter part of it, and the death of Simon closes it, although Dictum de the king reigns for seven years longer. The Kenilworth. war does not end here : the remnant of the baronial party held out at Kenilworth until October 1266. There the last supporters of Earl Simon, the men whose atti- tude towards Henry was unpardonable, had made their stand. The final agreement which was drawn up at the siege, and which is called the Dictum de Kenilworth, was intended to settle all differences, and for the most part it did so, by allowing those who had incurred the penalty of forfeiture to redeem their possessions by fines. But until the end of 1267 there were constant outbreaks. The Isle of Ely was made the refuge of one set, just as it had been two hundred years before, in the time of the Conqueror. The Earl of Gloucester raised the banner of revolt, declaring that the king was dealing too hardly with the victims, and the Londoners were very loth indeed to lose the power and advantages which they had secured by their alliance with Simon. But gradually all the storni subsided. In the parlia- ment of Marlborough, in November 1267, the king re- 200 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. 1268-72. newed the Provisions of Westminster of 1259, by which the most valuable legal reforms of the constitutional party became embodied in statutes. In 1268 the papal legate held a council for the permanent maintenance of peace and Edward, with many of the leading nobles, took the Cross. In 1270 they went on Cmsade, and the Londoners were restored to favour. In December 1271 the King of the Romans died, broken-hearted at the loss of his son Henry, who was murdered by the Mont- forts at \ iterbo. In 1272, on November 16, Henry III ^"nliu ^'^^' ^""^ '° completely was the kingdom frnn TT ' , T ^^ P^""'^' ^^^^ ^^\^^^^rC., although far away from England, was at once proclaimed king, and oaths ol fealty were taken to him in his absence. The long struggle had not yet come to an end : more than twenty years were yet to elapse before Edward { The recognised the fundamental justice of the ?onSd. ^^^'"'^ «^ ^'^ subjects, and admitted all the estates to that full and equal share in the action of the country which lies at the basis of our national constitution. We may perhaps ask whether Simon de Montfort deserves that character of a hero the to 'hi' ""tx" ^''?'^' "'^^^ ^^ ^''^^^^'y -"nbuted Lr .l-"''" ''"^'' "^"""^P' '^ ^^^^^'^^ the motives that swayed him. There is no doubt that he was a great man, a much greater man as he was a much better and wiser man than Henry, and perhaps better cer- tainly wiser and greater, than such men L Gloucest/r But that he was absolutely a patriot, or absolutely wise and good, It IS needless to affirm and impossible to prove ; nor is it necessary that in attempting to estimate his personal eminence we are to look at him through the medium of his political glories. There is no question that the objects which were aimed at by the baronial policy were necessary, and the attainment of them, when they A.D. 1272. Simon de Montfort. 201 t were attained, was beneficial. It is possible, though not probable, that had Simon never existed those objects would never have been attained ; also it is quite possible that if he had not forced on rebellion the objects might have been attained long before they were. That we can- not decide. But there are three points to be considered. Were the aims of the barons beneficial? Was Simon a great and good man "i Were all the motives of his party and the means taken to realise them good and justifiable "i To the first two questions unhesitatingly we may answer, yes. The barons wanted only what was fair. Simon de Montfort was a great and good man. The third ques- tion is not so easy. It is better to allow that there were mixed motives and unjustifiable expedients. Simon was not successful as an administrator, he could not maintain peace even when he had the whole kingdom at his feet. His expedient for governing was fanciful and cumbrous. His own conduct in his elevation was not quite free from the charge of rapacity. He stands out best and most grandly in comparison with the meanness with which he was surrounded — the paltry, faithless king, the selfish and unscrupulous baronage. He is relatively great ; but he is not perfect. He is scarcely a patriot — a foreigner could hardly be expected to be so. He is somewhat more distinctly a hero, but he never quite rids himself of the character of the adventurer. 202 The Early Planta^enets. A.D. 1272. CHAPTER X. EDWARD I. Position and character of Edward-The Crusade-The Accession- The Conquest of Wales-Edwards legal reforms-Financial system— Growth of Parliament. If ever king came to his throne with a distinct under- standing of the work that lay before him, that king must Political have been Edward I. The lessons of the last EdwSd I °^ ^^^^^"^ >'^^^s of his father's reign had not been thrown away upon him. He had been trained for the task of reigning, as well by his father's mistakes and misgovernment as by the means which the nation, under Earl Simon and the barons, had taken to remedy the evils which those mistakes and misgovernment had produced. He must have known that England required sound laws and strong administration, an adequate organi- sation for national defence, and effective methods for pre- serving internal peace; and the history of thelatereignmust have taught him not only that without the svmpathy and CO- operation of the nation at large these ends' could not be secured, but that the nation was itself readv, educated sufficiently and imited sufficiently, to give the aid that he required. Earl Simon and his companions had perished ,( but the great end of their work had been achieved /they had made it impossible for a king again to rule as John had ruled, and as Henry had tried to rule. They had drawn out a plan of reform in the laws which Henry himself had accepted after their death, although he had struggled against it and evaded it whilst they lived- for most of the articles which had been forced upon him at A.D. 1272. Edward I. 203 ^.tte'd'in'f ' "';' Westminster in 1.59, he had re- enacted m the great statute of Marlborough, in 1267 He had reformed his expenditure; he had observed nt'oT'the'^l' "1' °'"" '^^^^ -^^-^ ^h" o^" sent of the national council ; he had even on some occasions called together representatives of the to'^s far mutated his rival as to make them an integral part of his Parliament. And thus the great contest had imme- diate effects even under Henry / ceivedThf dlf 'T'' 'Y- ''^P^^ ^^"^"^' h^ h'-^d con- ceived the desire of satisfying the more essential needs of his people. Hence, perhaps, in part, his ./ wUlmgness to go on the Crusade. He knew -S/^' that he had made enemies in the late war- a C?u^adf few years would heal the old wounds. He'knew that the and was exhausted ; a few years' rest would giJe it jr^! to recruit. If he were likely to be the cause ofunrest "e was better away; and even if he should not return umH he returned as king, he might begin his new caree, Te But Edward was qualified to do far more than merelv restore the strength and energy of his fainting peopTe' he was fitted to start and guide them on a new ^ ' path of progress He seems to have possessed, 1^,?:^'^ with his English name, the desire, which he '""''^>'- certainly did not inherit, of being an English kin<. • nf putting himself at the head of his English ^ ople to f.'ake England a great power in Christendom. His ain^ no trneZTuTT/''''''^'' '"' ''' d-endantrno": f-„w^ V ''""^ "' '""P'y ^y founding a grea family inheritance of states scattered and divided b!t as he true kmg of a people strong in the feeling of natla unity, bound together by good laws, but more so by a 204 The Early Plantagenets. A.D. 1272. / sense of national identity, an intelligent participation in all national designs. The restoration of law and order the determination that the English crown should be su- preme within the British isles, the assertion and realisa- tion of the idea that the king should work as the leader and spokesman of a nation that could enter into his plans and take a share of his responsibilities-these thoughts must have been more or less before Edward's mind from the beginning of his reign. Very possibly he foresaw little of the exact path in which he was going to walk- the exact points of legal reform, the opportunities for con- quest, the exigencies in which he would have to act for the execution of his great designs, no doubt broke gra- dually on his view as he proceeded. He had still some- thing to unlearn as well as something to learn. If in spirit he was English, he was in education and by asso- ciation French; if he was to be a great national kin- Edward's still his idea of kingship had too much of an kingship inherited form, a form which it did not surren- der without a struggle. His greatness was not without an element which sets it far above all the greatness that arises from mere success; he had to learn and he learned, to rule himself, to cast away his own cherished idea of reigning, and faithfully and honourably abide by the conditions which, although forced upon him he saw at last were needed for the true realisation of his character as a national king. He was not free from iaults; it is no small part of his grandeur that, in a nature so strong as his, and with temptations so powerful as those which were presented to him, those faults had so little sway. Of an eminently legal mind, he was too apt to take captious advantage of his legal position, somewhat prone to evade responsibilities to which the letter of the law did not bind him. This weakness was the source of all his mistakes and the cause of all his failures ; but this A.D. 1272. Edward I. 205 was all. His mistakes were few, and his failures fewer still. Yet, as we shall see, he did not realise all that he hoped, nor was his actual contribution to national pro- gress exactly what he designed. There are dark lines in his history as well as bright ones. Of his schemes some were too early, some too late for success ; and in some points he drew the outline rather than built the fabric that was to last. Still his reign is a great era; he is the great lawgiver, the great politician, the great organiser of the mediaeval English polity. Edward was thirty-three years old at the time of his father's death. He had been for eighteen years a married man ; his wife, Eleanor of Castille, was the sister of that Alfonso the Wise who had been PnS' °' the competitor of Richard of Cornwall for the ^^'^''''"■'^• imperial crown, a noble and faithful lady. He himself was a tall, strong man, an adept in all knightly accom- plishments, brave to rashness, and now skilled and ex- perienced in war. His crusade had not been a successful one. Late m starting, he had reached the African coast m the autumn of 1270, to find Lewis IX. dead, and the hopes of the pilgrims already waning. After spending the winter in Sicily,he had, in May i27i,gone on, like Richard Coeur ae Lion, to Acre, and had spent more than a year in an attempt to retrieve the fortunes of the Frank kingdom It was quite m vain. Mutual jealousies and universal mistrust had eaten out the heart of the Crusaders. A few dashing exploits, and a few almost wanton inroads, could do little more than exasperate the hatred of the Moslem Edward played his part as a knight, but he had neither force nor opportunity to do more. Still he made himself feared; and an attempt at assassination in June 1^72 warned him of the risks he was running. An emissary of the Sultan Bibars struck him in his tent. The weapon was poisoned, it was said, and the story was told and be- The Early Plantagciicts. 206 A.D. 1273. lieved that his faithful queen, who had followed him in his pilgrimage, had sucked the poison from the wound Two months later he sailed homewards, thoroughlv dis-' appointed, and heavily burdened with the cost of his ex a^ctiL':%„ Pf ""."• "';'"' ''°"'>' P'-^'^^ding on his the English ^^>''^^'^en, at Capua, in January J''?:? here Tdeath off'1 ,*' ""^" "' ""''' father's' death and o^ h^s oace 1° ''' '°" ^°'^"' " '^''>- "f =■=<■ Quickening h.s pace, he went on at once to Rome, visited the Pope at Orvieto and crossed by the Mont Cenis pass to Lvons • or h-: French"' "'"'= '^ "'' ''"""^'^ "^ ^'"^ ^'^'^^P^^^- tor his French provinces ; and then into Gasconv where Enrhndt'lT' '"^ ^""^''^^ '''' ^'"''^ "^ ^-"^ "- - iingiancl to be crowned. HI. passed on at once to his son. There was no formal interregnum such as had always occurred be- fore, between the death of the old king and the coronation of the new. Edward was pro- claimed without being waited for. The kincr's peace was maintained by the royal council, and the three mmisters to whom, before he started, he had committed ihe defence of his private interests, under- took to govern England in his stead. Archbishop GifTard of \ork, Roger Mortimer, the great lord of the Welsh Marches, who had helped him so well in 1265, and Robert Burnell, his confidential chaplain, the man who was to be his prime minister during half his reign, acted as regents m his place, and were at once recognised bv the baronage and nation as his agents. Competitor there was none. Gilbert of Gloucester, the brilliant and somewhat erratic earl who had tried to act as arbiter in the last scenes of the barons' war, and had lost the confidence of both parties, had sworn to King Henry on his deathbed that he would maintain the rights of Edward He as I A.D. 1274-5. Edward L 207 Administra- tion of the kingdom dunng Edward's absence. J J i the first baron of the kingdom, took the oath of allegiance to the new king at his father's funeral. Early in 1273 a great assembly of all estates of the realm, an assembly not only of barons and prelates, but of knightly repre- sentatives of the shires and citizens deputed by every city, met at Westminster, and bound themselves by the same oath. One or two faint reports of local tumult served only to mark the profoundness of the general peace. The government worked in quiet ; even money was raised without much murmuring. On August 2, 1274, Edward I. landed at Dover, and on the 19th he was crowned. At once the work of his reign began. He was a warrior and a lawgiver Coronation by nature, education, and opportunity ; the °^ Edward, exigencies of the time made him a financier also; and the occasion speedily arose for him to display his powers in each capacity. The princes of North Wales had long been a sharp thorn in the side of England. Neither force nor friendly alliance had been strong enough to keep them Turbulence quiet. The love of independence, the inherit- w,!^t ance of proud, although illusory traditions, the princes. attachment of an affectionate people, the possession of remote mountain fastnesses, the antipathy as strongly felt towards the Norman as it had been towards the Saxon, combined to prevent either peace or submission. All the other races had combined on the soil of Britain, the Welsh would not. The demands of feudal homage made by the kings of England were evaded or repudiated; the intermarriages by which Henry II. and John had tried to help on a national agreement had in every case failed. In every internal difficulty of English politics the Welsh princes had done their best to embarrass the action of the kings ; they had intrigued with every aspi- rant for power, had been in league with every rebel. At 208 The Early Plantagejicts. a.d. 1276. the beginning of the reign of Henry III. thev had con- spired with Falkes de Breautd against the Marshalls ; at the close of it they were in intimate alHance with 'the Montforts. Not only so ; the necessity of guarding the Welsh border had caused the English kings to found on the March a number of feudal lordships, which were privileged to exercise almost sovereign jurisdictions, and exempted from the common operation of the English law The Mortimers at Chirk and Wigmore, the Bohuns at Hereford and Brecon, the Marshalls at Pembroke, and the Clares in Glamorgan, were out of the reach of the king, and often turned against one another the arms which'had been given them to overawe the Welsh. There they had an open ground for combats which they could not wage where English law was strong. So long as the Welsh were left free to rebel the Marchers must be left free to fight. Edward had long known this. He too had been ''put in the position of a Marcher. His father had given him, Rebellion of in 1254, agreat territory in Wales, between Dee and Conway, and into it he had tried, with signal ill success, to introduce English laws. He probably knew that one of his greatest tasks, when he came to the crown, would be this. And he had not to wait for his opportunity! Llewelyn, the prince of North Wales, had, by the assist- ance given to Simon de Montfort, earned as his reward a recognition of his independence, subject only to the ancient feudal obligations. All the advantages won during the early years of Henry HI. had been thus surrendered"! When the tide turned Llewelyn had done homage to Henry ; but when he was invited, in 1273, to perform the usual service to the new king, he refused ; and again, in 1274 and 1275, he evaded the royal summons. In 1276, under the joint pressure of excommunication and a great army which Edward brought against him, he made a A.D. 1277-82. Edward I. 20( Llewelyn, Prince of North ^Vales, and his brother David. 1' formal submission ; performed the homage, and received, as a pledge of amity, the hand of Eleanor de Montfort in marriage. But Eleanor, although she was Edward's cousin, was Earl Simon's daughter, and scarcely qualified to be a peacemaker. Another adviser of rebellion was found in Llewelyn's brother David, who had hitherto taken part with the English, and had received special favours and promotion from Edward himself. The re- conciliation of Edward and Llewelyn had put an end to his hopes of supplanting his brother, and he had drawn closer to him, in order to entangle him in a rebellion for which he was always ready. The peace made in 1277 lasted about four years. In 1282 the brothers rose, seized the border castles of Hawarden, Flint, and Rhudd- lan, and captured the Justiciar of Wales, Roger Clifford. Edward saw then that his time was come. He marched into North Wales, carrying with him the courts of law and the exchequer, and transferring the seat of government for the time to Shrewsbury. He left nothing undone that might give the expedition the character of a national effort. He collected forces on all sides ; he assembled the estates of the realm, clergy, lords, and commons, and prevailed on them to furnish liberal supplies ; he obtained sentence of excommunication from the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Welsh made a brave defence, and, had it not been for the almost accidental capture and murder of Llewelyn in December, England might have found the task too hard for her. The death of Llewelyn, how- ever, and the capture of David in the following June, deprived the Welsh of their leaders, and they submitted. Edward began forthwith his work of consolidation. David, as a traitor to his feudal lord, a conspirator against his benefactor, a blasphemer of God, Conquest of and a murderer, was tried by the king's judges "^^ ales, at Shrewsbury and sentenced to a terrible death, the details M. H. p 10 The Early Plajitagaicts. A.D. 1284. of which were apportioned according to the articles of the accusation. Justicesatisfied,Edward devoted himself tothe securing of his conquest; in 1284 he pubhshed at Rhudd- Waief"*^ ^^". ^ ^^^^"^^' ^^"<^d the Statute of Wales, which was intended to introduce the laws -and customs of England, and to reform the administration of that country altogether on the English system. The pro- cess was a slow one ; the Welsh retained their ancient common law and their national spirit; the administrative powers were weak and not far-reaching; the swav of the lords Marchers was suffered to continue ; and, although assimilated, Wales was not incorporated with Encrlan'd It was not until the reign of Henry VIII. that the p'rinci- pahty was represented in the English Parliament, and the sovereignty, which from 1300 onwards was generally although not invariably bestowed on the king's eldest son, conferred under the most favourable circumstances little more than a high-sounding title and some sli-ht and ideal claim to the affection of a portion of the Welsh people. The task, however, which the energies of his predecessors had failed to accomplish was achieved by Edward. All Britain south of the Tweed recognised his direct and supreme authority, and the power of the Welsh nationality was so far broken that it could never more thwart the determined and united action of En-- land. ^ During the first ten years of the reign the Welsh war and rumours of war were the chief matters that distracted a fau-f ""^ "^^^^^^^^ ^^^"^ ^'^^ scarcely less congenial work of a awgiver. ig^glation and political organisat^ion. The age was one of great lawgivers. Frederick II. had set the example in Naples, and his minister Peter de Vineis had codified there the laws and constitutions of the Norman kings of Sicily. Lewis IX. had in his ' Etablissements ' created a body of law for France ; and Alfonso the Wise A.D. 1276-84. Edivard L 211 in the * Siete Partidas,' or seven divisions of a system of universal law, had tried to do the same for Spain. Law had become a chief subject of study in the universities, and Englishmen, especially clerg>^men, had been used for a century to go to Bologna to read the canon and civil law under the great professors there. In England the expansion of judicial machinery and judicial business, which followed the reforms of Henry II., had worked, out of old and new materials, a body of customs which became known as the common law ; and one great sum- mary of the hitherto unwritten law of England had been published towards the end of the last reign by Henry Bracton, one of the judges of the king's court. Men's minds had been invited by these and the like influences to this study. The nation, awaking to political work, began to see the necessity of changing or amending the existing system of law. In undertaking the work of a lawgiver Edward I. was simply approaching one part of his duty as a king ; but his own mind had, as has been said, a Probable legal bent ; his chief minister Robert Burnell p'^n/orthe ° codincation was a great lawyer ; in his journey through of the law. Italy he had engaged the services of Francesco Accursi, an eminent jurist of Bologna, whose father had written a body of explanatory glosses on the Roman law. It is probable that the king had set before himself the codifica- tion of the law as one great object. The work of Britton, another eminent judge of his time, which is written in French, and contains much that is not in Bracton, was published in Edward's name ; and some of his longer Acts of Parliament contain provisions so varied and full as almost to constitute codes in special departments of law. But the English nation seems to have had a dread of too elaborate systems, and the whole of the national law has p 2 212 The Early Plantagcncts. CH. X. CH. X. Edivard I, 213 Edward's legislation. never yet been under supreme authority embodied in a single compilation. The legislation of Edward I. must be sought in the statute books. It may be generally described as an Princi lesof ^^^cmpt to dcvclop and apply the principles which had been conceded in Magna Carta, and to adapt them to the changed circum- stances of his time. That document had now become, what the laws of Edward the Confessor had been in the reign of Henry I., and the laws of Henry I. under John, the watchword of the party which was bent on preventing any increase or abuse of royal power. Edward himself, who took for his motto the words * Pactum serva,' which may be seen upon his tomb, not Edward and unnaturally regarded the demands which were the Great made for the re-issue of the Great Charter as a slur upon his good faith. Only once during the first half of his reign did he undertake to re-confirm it; and when the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1279 ob- tained the enactment of a canon by which copies of the charter were to be affixed to the doors of the churches, the king interfered to forbid it. It is not too much, per- haps, to say that it was the legal rather than the consti- tutional articles of the Great Charter that he took the most pains to develop. The influence of the great lords is conspicuous in some of the provisions of his statutes which tend to restrict the liberty of alienating lands Jealousy of ecclesiastical aggrandisement appears in others which forbid the acquisition of new estates by the clergy. It cannot be supposed likely that a king like Edward would miss his opportunity of strengthening the hold which he had on both barons and prelates. The idea of constitutional liberty had now grown so powerful that he knew that he could no longer make laws, or raise taxes, or even go to war without their consent. In those t ^^ i respects he could not coerce them. But the legal rights which the crown had over its own vassals were a dif- ferent matter. It was quite practicable for y&\xA2\ him to exact the full payment of feudal ser- powers of vices, to prevent the impoverishment of the crown by the transference of estates which paid a large revenue to the king on the occasion of successions or marriages or wardships, into the hands of religious corpo- rations which neither died nor married nor required tutelage. It was equally practicable to prevent the owners of great estates from cutting up their property, by what was called subinfeudation, into smaller holdings, which would not, any more than the church lands, render to the king the feudal services that he required. Two of Edward's most famous statutes — the statute ' De Religiosis,' in 1279, and the statute ' Quia Emptores,' in 1290, were intended to secure these two points. Again, all measures for the due interpretation and ex- ecution of the law protected the people at large against the usurpations of their strong neighbours. It powerof is not to be forgotten that although in England the feudal the feudal landlords had, more than a century before, been deprived of their power to usurp jurisdiction over their vassals, and obliged to admit the king's judges, still a great part of Europe was governed under the old plan. We have seen how, during the barons' war, the party opposed to the king was divided between those who really desired the freedom of the people, and those who wished to restrict the king's power in order to increase their own. In some important matters of judicial proceed- ing the interests of the crown and of the people at large were still united in opposition to the claims of the great landowners. Hence the importance of regulating and improving the courts of provincial judicature, the limita- tion of the functions of the sheriffs, which fell constantly (i. 214 The Early Plantagcnets, CH. X. Courts of Exchequer, King's Bench, and Common Pleas. into the hands of local magnates ; the organisation of the sessions of the king's judges, and the opening of ways by which suits, which could not be fairly or justly settled in the country, might be heard in the king's courts at West- minster, It is to the early years of Edward I. that we owe the final division of the three great royal tribunals; the Court of Exchequer, in which were heard all causes that touched the revenue ; that of King's Bench, which determined suits in which the king was concerned, criminal questions on the matters, which under the name of ' pleas of the crown ' were reserved for his particular treatment; and that of Common Pleas, which heard suits between pri- vate individuals. Now these matters were apportioned to three distinct staffs of judges, instead of being heard indiscriminately by the whole or part of the judicial body. The circuits of judges of assize were defined during the same period of the reign. Many other measures for the protection of life and property helped to increase the feel- ing of security in the body of the people, to further the growth of loyalty, and at the same time to increase the royal income. A third principle of Edward's legislation may be dis- covered in the careful reform and expansion of some of Statute of the most ancient institutions, which he knew Winchester. ^^^ -j^ former reigns assisted greatly in the defence of the crown and in the maintenance of peace and order. In the Statute of Winchester, in 1285, he placed the ancient militia system, which Henr>' II. had remodelled by the Assize of Arms, upon a better footing, and re-organised the ' watch and ward,' by which the particular districts and communities were trained to keep order and to search for and arrest criminals. Similar methods were followed in the preparations for national defence in 1294, and both by sea and land the old duty of CH, X. Edward L 215 ■^ " guarding the country was based upon the same primitive system. In all these particular points we may trace a purpose of developing the policy by which Henry II. had tried to overthrow the influence of feudalism, and to strengthen his administration by alliance with the great body of the free people; by placing arms in their hands, providing them with just and accessible tribunals, and by diminishing, as far as could be done, the means which the landlord had of oppressing those who held their land under him. We shall see by and by how the same prin- ciples affected his plans, or the plans which circum- stances forced upon him, for the development of the Parliament and constitution. But before doing this we must look at the question of finance, which, with those of war and legislation, gave him, from the very begin- ning of the reign, a great deal of hard work. This has been already sketched in connexion with the work of Henry II. It must now be viewed in fuller detail. The sources of royal revenue were various rather than abundant. There were, first of all, the estates of the crown, crown lands strictly so called, which the king as king possessed and managed like the royal any other landlord, out of which he provided '■^^'^""^• for his family and friends, and which, in spite of the national jealousy of favourites, were always more liable to be diminished than to be increased. Of the same class, though with some important differences, were the estates which fell into the hands of the sovereign on the extinc- tion of great families or the forfeiture of their owners ; so the earldom of Chester had come into the hands of Henry III. on the death of the last earl, and the estates of the Montforts after the battle of Evesham. These estates — escheats, as they were called — seldom remained long in the king's hands ; the magnates did not like to see the inheritances of their fellows one by one absorbed in the / 2i6 The Early Platitage7iets. ch. x. royal domain, and it was necessary from time to time to provide for new rising men and for younger sons of the king. The possession of crown estates is,' of course, common to all ages and forms of royalty. But a some- what intricate system pervades the English finance of the middle ages, and grows out of the growing history of the nation itself. Under the Anglo-Saxon kings there had been little call for taxation. The king had a revenue from the public lands of the nation, which furnished him with provisions and money, enough to supply all needs that were not satisfied from his royal estates. It was a part of the sheriff's duty to collect these contributions and they were later on fixed at a regular sum to be paid by the sheriff, and exacted by him from the county he ruled. All local administration was maintained by popular action, the landowners being liable for the three great tasks called 'trinoda necessitas,' the building of bridges and fortresses, and the service in arms for^'na- tional defence ; and thus the king had little expense if he had little revenue. In the great emergencies, how- ever, of the Danish wars, a tax of two shillings on the hide of land, the famous Danegeld, was established and became perpetual. These three, the royal lands, the contributions of the shires, and the Danegeld, were the sources of revenue S? uer' ^^ ^^^^^ William the Conqueror found when he "" ^'^""- had secured his hold on England. Under him, or under the ministers of William Rufus, were mtroduced a number of new expedients for raising money, expedients which were made easv by the new doctrine of land tenure that had been brought in at the Conquest. The Norman kings did not commute the old for the new methods, but simply added the feudal burdens to the ancient national taxes. The Exchequer under Henry I. audited the national, or rather the royal CH. X. Edivard L 217 accounts ; twice a year the sheriffs paid the 'ferm'— that is, the composition or rent for the ancient dues of their counties — the Danegeld, and the fines arising from the local courts of law ; but at the same times were paid the feudal incidents, the reliefs, the sums which the son paid to secure the inheritance of his father, the profits of marriages, of wardships, and the aids which the king as feudal lord of the whole land claimed as a right from his vassals. Henry I. had, in the beginning of his reign, promised to make these demands definite and reasonable, and he had done so; but they were heavy notwithstanding. Still nothing beyond these could, even on the feudal theory, be taken from the subject without the consent of the national council. When the king's necessities were too great to be met by the ordinary means, the barons and bishops in council were asked for a grant; and the inferior classes received in the county courts an intimation of what they were expected to con- tribute. It is true that there was little liberty of refusing or chance of evading, payment, but a certain form of consent on the part of the taxpayer was thus main- tained. After the time of Henry I. important changes had taken place in the matter of taxation, many of which have been noticed in our former pages. Henry , r -111 /- Changes m II., as we saw, introduced the payment of the modes scutage, by which the landowners contributed "f 1^^^'°"- money instead of serving personally in arms. He like- wise got rid of Danegeld, and consulted the towns and shires on the amount of grants required, by means of his itinerant judges. Until now all taxation had been de- frayed by the land, except in the boroughs, where the contribution required was often raised by a poll-tax, an equal sum per head imposed on every inhabitant. To- wards the end of the reign of Henry II. the custom of 2l8 The Early Plantagencts. CH. X. CH. X. Edward I. 219 taxing moveables, household furniture, and stock was introduced ; first, in order to raise the national contribu- tion for the Crusade, known as the Saladin tithe. Great part of the money required for Richard's ransom was levied in the sa^ne way, and under John and Henry III. this became the most common way of taxing. A seventh a tenth, a fifteenth, or a thirtieth of ' moveables ' was from time to time asked for, and the more frequent the need became the more fully was developed the idea that the taxpayer had a right to be consulted on the amount which he was to pay, and to gain, if he could, some ad- vantage in return. John's frequent demands for money, and the illegal ways in which he took it, led to the exac- tion of the famous promise embodied in the 12th article of the Great Charter : ' No scutage or iid shall be im- posed in our kingdojii unless by the common counsel of our kingdom, except to ransom our own person, to make our firstborn son a fcnight, and to marry once our firstborn daughter.' The J4th article describes the assembly which is to be called when any such impost is required : ' We will cause our archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons to be summoned seve- rally by our letters, and besides we will cause all who hold of us in chief to be summoned by general summons by our sheriffs and bailiffs.' The growth of the country in wealth during the first half of the reign of Henry III. made this plan of raising The revenue revenue the most convenient and the easiest. FWyiii. ^^ ^^^^^ '^'^^^ few foreign expeditions there was little opportunity of asking for scutage, and nearly all the regular taxation was raised from move- ables, or, as we should now say, personal property. On each occasion on which such a grant was demanded, the barons and bishops tried to obtain some compensation in the shape of a re-issue of the charters or an amendment 4 of the law. The many confirmations of the charters during that long reign were, it may be said, purchased from the crown in this way. But Henry could not obtain grants sufficient to meet the requirements of his greedy and extravagant court. He exacted, contrary to the letter and spirit of the charter, large sums from the citizens of London, under the name of gifts ; from the Jews, whom he looked upon very much as if they were part of the farming stock of his realm ; and from every class of persons whom he could draw within the meshes of his legal nets, he exacted money by fine or composition for real or imaginary offences. But besides the land and the personal property of its inhabitants there was another source of income which ultimately was to become most lucrative — t^u ■' 1 he cus- the taxation of merchandise, imported and toms exported, and especially the wool, wool-fells, imports and and leather, which were, if not exactly the e^po"s. chief produce of the land, at least the most profitable, the least easy to conceal, and the most easy for the king's ministers to confiscate. These two branches of indirect taxation, although distinct in themselves, were managed by the same machinery — that of the customs ; and they have to be treated together. But the taxes on imported merchandise had their origin in the licences to trade or to introduce particular sorts of goods, which it was one of the ancient rights of the king to grant, whilst the taxes on exported produce were primarily a part of the general system of taxing moveables. Both had been long in requisition ; the privileges of the foreign mer- chants had been a source of profit even before the Conquest; the wool of the Cistercian monks and other great sheep-farmers had been demanded for Richard's ransom, and both classes had suffered under John and Henry III. Magna Carta had contained, in its 41st 220 The Early Planiagoicts. CH. X. CH. X. Edivard I. 221 article, a distinct provision in favour of free trade, which would have obviated the evils of mismanagement in this department, if it could have been carried out. All mer- chants were to have safe ingress and egress to and from England, and to pay only the right and ancient customs. But such a provision did not forbid separate negotiations between the king and the traders, by which both made a profit to be wrung from the consumers. One part of Edward's financial policy was to bring the customs into order and make them permanently and regularly profit- able, and this he undertook in his first parliament. He had come home, deep in debt, to an inheritance heavily encumbered by his father's debts. He had ob- Pariiamen- Gained from the Pope, whom he visited at tary settle- Orvicto on his way, permission to exact a ment of i r i • r i , revenue on tenth ot the mcome of the clergy for three Edward I. sQ^xs. But this would not be sufficient. He took counsel, therefore, with the Italian bankers, who had already obtained a footing in England, and devised the plan of obtaining from his assembled estates a per- manent revenue from wool ; half a mark— that is, six shillings and eightpence— on each sack of wool exported. This is the legal foundation of the English customs. It was formally granted in the parliament which met soon after Easter 1275, and with a grant of a fifteenth of moveables, and the tax already imposed on the clergy, provided him with a revenue which carried on the government for some years. Nor did it require material increase until Edward, in 1292 and 1 293, became involved in a new series of wars. The exigencies of the Welsh war, the necessity for legal changes, and the orderly arrangement of the royal revenue, could not have failed to make their mark on the growth of parliament, even if Edward had not learned the lessons of constitutional lore which his father's reign had -■ .L Summoning of represen- tative as- semblies for purposes of taxation. furnished; and, even without those lessons, Edward was eminently qualified by the very habit of his mind to be a constitutional reformer. Accordingly, in the parliaments of his reign, especially in those which were called at ir- regular intervals from 1275 ^o 1295, are found the clearest, most distinct, steps of growth, which led to the complete organisation of the three estates of the realm in one central assembly. And here, again, we must take a brief retrospect. The days were long past in which either the king, the barons, or the nation at large were content to see the kingdom managed by a council of barons and bishops, gathered round a sovereign who was of necessity either strong enough to coerce thern or too weak to resist them. From the very beginning of the century the right of the taxpayer to give or refuse had been becoming more clearly recognised ; and the methods which under Henry I. and Henry II. had been used for facilitating the col- lection of money provided a machinery which could be used for still more important purposes. In the twelfth century, when the king wanted money, and had declared in his council what he expected, he sent down his justices or barons of the Exchequer to arrange with the towns and counties the sums which were to be contributed. Whilst land only was taxed all questions of liability could be answered by reference to Domesday Book; but when personal property was taxed it was necessary to discover how much each man possessed before he could be made to pay. This could be ascertained only by consulting his neighbours ; and, in order to do this, a system of assessment was devised by which the property" of each taxpayer was valued by a jury of his neighbours. The custom of electing these assessors, and, further, of electing collectors for the counties, treasurers, and similar 222 TJic Early Plaiitage^icts. CH. X. officers, familiarised the people with the idea of using representation for such business. For legal transactions . they already used representation in the county courts. The grand jury which presented the list of accused per- sons to the king's judges on circuit was, for instance, an elected and representative body, chosen in the county court. The convenience of dealing thus with the govern- ment by representative accredited agents approved itself to both king and nation long before there was any idea of calling the representatives to parliament. On one occa- sion, in the reign of John, each shire had been ordered to send four discreet knights to speak with the king at Oxford; and that Council of St. Albans, in which men- tion was first made of the charter of Henry I., contained representatives from every township in the royal de- mesne. In 1254, when Henry III. was in France, the cjueen regent summoned representative knights to the parliament to make a grant. In the parliaments which were held in 1259 and afterwards, representative knights brought up the lists of grievances under which their constituents were groaning; and in 1264 Simon de Montfort had called up from both shires and boroughs representatives to aid him in the new work of govern- ment. That part of Earl Simon's work had not been lasting. The task was left for Edward I., to be advanced by gradual, safe steps, but to be thoroughly completed, as a part of a definite and orderly arrangement, according to which the English Parliament was to be the perfect representation of the Three Estates of the Realm, as- sembled for purposes of taxation, legislation, and united political action. Under this system the several commu- nities were no longer to be asked to give their money or to accept the laws, by commissions of judges whom they could neither resist nor refuse, but were to send their deputies with full powers to act for them, to join with the CH. X. Edwa7'd I. 223 lords and the judges and the king himself in deliberation on all the matters on which counsel and consent were needed. The steps of the change may be traced very briefly. Edward's first parliament, in 1275, enabled him to pass a great statute of legal reform, called the Statute of Westminster the First, and to exact the new custom on wool; another assem.bly, the same mtrn'rof year, granted him a fifteenth. Both these are Edward i. said to represent the ' communaulte,' or community of the land ; but there is no evidence that the commons of either town or county were represented. They were, in^ fact, consulted as to taxation by special commissions, as had been done before. In 1282, when the expenses of the Welsh war were becoming heavy, Edward again tried the plan of obtaining money from the towns and counties by separate negotiation ; but as that did not provide him with funds sufficient for his purpose, he called together early in 1283, two great assemblies, one at York and another at Northampton, in which four knights from each I shire and four members from each city and borough were ordered to attend ; the cathedral and conventual clergy also of the two provinces being represented at the same places by their elected proctors. At these assemblies there was no attendance of the barons ; they were with the king in Whales ; but the commons made a grant of one thirtieth on the understanding that the lords should do the same. Another assembly was held at Shrewsbury the same year, 1283, to witness the trial of David of Wales ; to this the bishops and clergy were not called but twenty towns and all the counties were ordered to send representatives. Another step was taken in 1290:- knights of the shire were again summoned ; but still much remained to be done before a perfect parliament^ was constituted. Counsel was wanted for legislation 224 The Early Plantagcncts. CH. X. I consent was wanted for taxation. The lords were sum- moned in May, and did their work in June and July, granting a feudal aid and passing the statute ' Quia Emptores,' but the knights only came to vote or to ' promise a tax, after the law had been passed ; and the towns were again taxed by special commissions. In 1294— for we must anticipate the thread of the general history— under the alarm of war with France, an alarm which led Edward into several breaches of constitutional law, he went still further, assembling the clergy by their representatives in August, and the shires by their repre- sentative knights in October. The next year, 1295, witnessed the first summons of a perfect and model par- liament ; the clergy represented by their bishops, deans, archdeacons, and elected proctors ; the barons summoned 1^ severally in person by the king's special writ, and the commons summoned by writs addressed to the sheriffs, directing them to send up two elected knights from each shire, two elected citizens from each city, and two elected burghers from each borough. The writ by which the prelates were called to this parliament contained a famous sentence taken from the Roman law, ' That which touches all should be approved by all,' a maxim which might serv^e as a motto for Edward's constitutional scheme, however slowly it grew upon him, now permanently and consistently completed. The House of Commons was not the only part of the parliamentary system that benefited by his genius for organisation. The House of Lords became House of J ^1 . ^ l^^-^-a^ll^,, Lords. under the same mfluence and about the same time, a more definitely constructed body than it had been before. Up to this reign the numbers of barons specially summoned had greatly varied. When they were assembled for military service they had been summoned by special writ, whilst the forces of the shires CH. X. Edwa7'd I. 225 were summoned by a general order to the sheriff Al- though a much smaller number were requisite for pur- poses of counsel than for armed service, the two functions of the king's mimediate vassals were intimately connected, and for a long period every baron or landowner who was summoned by name to the host might perhaps claim to be summoned by name to the parliament. ]3ut such a sum- mons was a burden rather than a privilege. The poorer lords, the smaller landowners, would be glad to escape It, and to throw in their lot with the commons, who were represented by elected knights ; nor were the kings very anxious to entertain so large and disorderly a company of counsellors. The custom of calling to parliament a much smaller number of these tenants-in-chief than were cal^d to the host must have grown up during the rei-n of Henry HI., as the idea of representation grew. From the reign of Edward I. it became the rule to call only a definite number of hereditary peers ; and, although that rule was not based upon any legal enactment or any recorded resolution of government, it quickly gained acceptance as the constitutional rule: the king could in- crease the number of lords by new writs of summons, and the special writ conferred hereditarv peerage This hmited body was the House of Lords, and the dignity of the peerage descended from father to son, no longer tied to the possession of a particular estate or quantity of land held of the king. ^ With the representatives of the commons and the estate of the lords Edward associated a representative assembly of clergy ; delegates were to be sent p from each diocese to each parliament to assist tSoTthe m the national work and to tax the ecclesi- '''^'"^■• astical property. And the form invented bv Edward in 1294 still subsists, although for many centuries no such representatives have been chosen or sat in parliament. M. H. Q 226 The Early Plantagatets. CH. X. ^ In tnith the clergy were averse to obeying the mandate for their appearance in a secular parliament, and pre- ferred to vote the money, which it would have been very difficult for them to refuse, in the two provincial convoca- tions of York and Canterbury, which likewise contained their chosen representatives, assembled as a spiritual council. These were called together by the writs of the two archbishops ; they could, through the bishops, act in concert with the parliament, and were not unfrequently, in modern times invariably, called together within a few days of the meeting of parliament. The latter half of Edward's reign witnessed most of the critical occasions which opened the way for these National changes or improvements in the constitutional Edwlrfi. sys^e"^> ^^^ supplied means for testing their efficiency. These must form the subject of another chapter. But we may pause, before we proceed, to mark definitely one other note of Edward's policy. Henry II. had done his best to get rid of the feudal ele- ment in judicial matters, and to create a national army independent of the influences of land tenure. He had sent his judges throughout the land and taken the judi- cature out of the hands of the feudal lords. He armed all freemen under the assize of arms, and, by instituting scutage, raised money to provide mercenaries. By the national militia at home and by mercenary forces abroad he strengthened himself so as not to depend for an army on that feudal rule by which every landlord led his vas- sals to battle. Edward I., whilst he still more perfectly carried out these principles, went further in the same direction, in his constitution of parliament, /the repre- sentatives whom he called up from the shires and towns were chosen by the freemen of the shires and towns in their ancient courts ; they were not the delegates of royal tenants-in-chief, but of the whole free people. Even A.D. 1284-9. Edward I. 227 the barons who composed the House of Lords owed their places there not so much to the fact that they held great estates as the immediate vassals of the crown, as to the summons by which they were selected from a great num- ber of persons so qualified. Even if this had not been the case, the institution of the House of Commons would Itself have marked the extinction of the ancient feudal idea that the council of the king was merely the assembly of those who held their land under him. But it was so throughout Edward's policy. In court, and camp, and council, It was the general bond of allegiance and fealty, not the peculiar tie of feudal relation, by which he chose to bind his people, in their three estates, to help him to govern and to take their share in all national work. ^ CHAPTER XI. THE CONFIRMATION OF THE CHARTERS- Punishment of the judges-Banishment of the Jews-Scottish suc- cession—The Ffench quarrel-The ecclesiastical quarrel— The constitutional crisis-The confirmation of the charters-Parlia- EdwLrd-s S sequel-War of Scottish independatice- Edward completed his work in Wales at th^ end of the year 1284. The next year was spent in legislation, and m the summer of 1286 he went to France. Evils conse- Edmund of Cornwall acted as recrent in his quentonthe absence, and he stayed away for three years. The king.'' For two out of the three the country was at peace; in 1288, however, the absence of the king began to teU, and in 1289 the need of money for home and foreign purposes became pressing. The news that the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford were engaged in all but open warfare on the Welsh marches, and that the collected parliament of 1289 Q2 228 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. 1284-90. had refused to sanction a new tax before the king came home, brought Edward back in the August of that year. He found that the pubhc service had suffered sadly from the removal of the guiding hand. Complaints were pour- ing in against the judges of the Courts of Westminster; violence and corruption were charged upon the chief administrators of the law; and the king's first work was to try the accused, to remove and punish the guilty. The two chief justices and several other high officers were after careful investigation, deprived of their places. The next thing was if possible to gain a stronger hold over the uneasy earls. Gilbert of Gloucester, whose assistance had enabled Edward to overthrow Earl Simon at Eves- ham, and who had been the first to take the oath of fealty at his accession, had been throughout his career marked by singular erratic waywardness. He was not yet an old man, and a project had been on foot for some time, by which he was to marry 'the king's daughter Johanna, who was born at Acre during the Crusade. This was now carried into eff'ect, and thus one of the most dangerous competitors for influence in' the country was bound more closely than ever to the king. That done Edward looked round for means of raising money. And this was found in a device which has ever Banishment sincc weighed heavily on his reputation. The of the Jews. Jews Were banished from England, and in gratitude for the relief the nation undertook to make a grant of money. The measure was no doubt generally acceptable ; it was backed by the clergy, by the strong influence of Eleanor of Provence, the king's mother, and by his own bitter prejudice. Harsh, however, as this measure was, it was not a mere act of religious persecu- tion. The Jews had, unfortunately for the nation and for themselves, devoted themselves to usurious banking when usury was forbidden to Christians. They had A.D. 1290. Edward I. 229 thus come to wear the appearance of oppressive money- lenders. They lived, too, under a system of law devised by the kings to keep them ever at the royal mercy ; their accumulated stores of gold lay conveniently under the kmg's hand, and Henry HI., whenever he wanted money, had been able to obtain it by extortion from the Jews' But, last and worst, they had allowed themselves to be used by the rich as agents in the oppression of the poor • they had made over the mortgages on small estates to the neighbouring great landowners, and in other ways had played into the hands of the nobles, whose protection was necessary to their own safety. They were hated by the poor. Great men, like Grosseteste and Simon de Montfort, had longed to see them banished ; the accusa- tion of money-clipping and forger>^ was rife against them and two hundred and eighty had been hanged for these offences since the beginning of the reign. Edward was too bigoted or perhaps too high-minded to wish to retain them as useful servants when the nation demanded their expulsion. They were banished, and the price paid for the concession was a tax of a fifteenth granted by clergy and laity in the autumn of 1290. Just at this time the death of the young Queen of Scots opened to Edward the prospect of assening his supremacy over the whole island, a prospect claims of which within a few years tempted him to Edward claim the actual sovereignty of Scotland. The land ^'°'' design of a marriage between the young queen and Edward's eldest surviving son, Edward of Carnarvon, which had been already concluded, shows that the king contemplated the union of the two kingdoms in the next generation ; her death disappointed that hope, but there is no reason to suppose that Edward, when he undertook to settle the Scottish succession, had in his eye any pro- ject of conquest. 230 The Early Plaiitagcncts. a.d. 1290. The case of Scotland was very different from that of Wales. The Scottish people were a rising not a declining The Scottish nation. The Scottish kingdom was a col- kin^dom. lection of states held by different historical titles, and inhabited by races of different origin, not a nationality struggling for existence. Southern Scotland was far more akin to Northern England than to Northern Scotland; inhabited by people of English blood and English institutions, and feudally held, like great part of England, by Norman barons. The royal race was a Celtic race, but Celtic Scotland gave to the kings little more than a nominal recognition ; the strength of the royal house was in the Lowlands. Ever since the Nor- man Conquest the relations between Scotland and England had been close. Of the several provinces over which the Scottish king now ruled, Lothian was a part of the ancient Northumbria, which had been granted, according to English accounts, by either Edgar the Peaceable or by Canute to a Scottish king. South-western Scotland, or Scottish Cumberland, had been given by Edmund L to Malcolm. The whole Scottish race had acknow- ledged as their father and lord Edward, the West Saxon king, the son of Alfred ; and William the Con- queror, and William Rufus after him, had extorted a recognition of the superiority or overlordship of the King of the English. These were shadowy claims, certainly ; but since the middle of the twelfth century there had been several instances in which either the King of Scots or his son had received English estates and dignities and done homage for them. The earldoms of Northumberland and Huntingdon had been thus held by Henry, son of David L, and the latter by his son William the Lion. Homage had on several occasions been ren- dered without any ver>^ distinct understanding whether it was for the English earldoms, for the Lowland provinces, A.r). 1290-3. Edward I. 231 or for the whole Scottish kingdom, that the overlordship of the English crown was acknowledged. Henry H. had, indeed, after the capture of king William, compelled both him and his barons to recognise his superiority in the strictest terms, but Richard had liberated them from that special bondage, and the mutual reservations or compromises, which both preceded and followed that short period of subjection, left the claims as vague as ever. Except during the same period the relations of the two kingdoms had been, since the death of Stephen, fairly friendly. The Scottish kings were married to kins- women of the English kings ; their political progress followed at some short distance behind, but in the foot- steps of the progress begun under Henry H., and for nearly a century there had been only short and languid intervals of war. Now and then the Scots had pillaged or intrigued, but the two crowns were generally at peace. Edward's design for the Scottish marriage would have turned the peace into union ; but the time was not come for that. These facts will explain the position taken by Edward in 1290. He believed that upon him, as overlord, de- volved the right of determining which of the DecisL of many heirs was entitled to the succession. *^dwardin ■\\r-..i j^ 1 • . * favour of With great pomp and circumstance he under- Baiiioi. took the task ; obtained from the competitors a recog- nition of his character as arbitrator, and, after careful examination, decided the cause in favour of John Balliol a powerful North Country baron of his own, in whom according to recognised legal right the inheritance vested. He was careful to obtain, on Balliol's accession, a distinct homage for himself and his heirs for the whole kingdom of Scotland. This was the work of 1291 and 1292 ; early in 1293 symptoms began to show themselves that the result would not be lasting. The rising troubles 232 The Eai^ly PlaHtage7icts. a. d. 1293. in the North were followed by an alarm on the side of 1^ ranee. The opportunity given by these troubles, and the means taken by Edward to meet them, combined to pro- duce the complication of difficulties which brought about the great constitutional crisis of the reign in 1-97 The several points must be taken in order: the relations with France first. In France Edward still possessed Gascony and some small adjommg provinces, which, after all the vicissitudes Relations of ^^ the preceding century, had, mainly by the wfth th'e ^^"^^f>' ^"d friendly feeling of Lewis IX. and French Phihp III., been preserved to the descendants • of Henr>' II. In 1279 Eleanor of Castille, his wife, had claimed as her inheritance the little pro- vince of Ponthieu, lying on the coast between Flanders and Normandy, and her claim had been recognised by Phihp III. But Philip died in 1285, and his son, Philip IV., generally known as Philip the Fair, was a true inheritor of the guile and ability of Philip Augustus. Edwards long visit to France, from 1286 to 1-.80 had been spent partly in arranging for a continuance 'of friendship with the king, and partly in securing and reforming the administration of Gascony; but he must have been aware that the jealousy with which Philip viewed him would sooner or later take the form of downright hostility. Until 1293, however, they con- tinued to be friends. In that year a series of petty quarrels, between the Norman coast towns and the English sailors, and an outbreak between the Gascons and their neighbours, gave Philip his opportunitv. He summoned Edward to Paris to render an account for the misdeeds of the offenders, and on his non-appearance condemned him to forfeiture. This was done with con- siderable craft. Edward, who had lost his faithful wife m 1290, was engaged in a negotiation for marriage with A.D. 1294-5. Edward I. ^11 Margaret, the sister of Philip; in preparation for that marriage a new enfeoffment or settlement of Gascony on the King of England and his heirs was agreed on As a step towards that settlement the fortresses of Guienne were for form's sake placed in Philip's hands and as soon as he had hold of them he declared Edward a contumacious vassal, for not having obeved his sum- mons to Paris. This was done in May 1294. The news of this outrageous proceeding was received m England with great indignation, and for a moment it appeared that the nation was unanimously ^ determined to uphold the rights of the king. ^7^:"" Evjn John Balliol, the King of Scots, who TvZK^f" had himself got into trouble owing to his *^^''"- divided duties to his subjects and his overlord, and who was present in the Parliament which Edward called in June, offered to devote the whole produce of his English estates to maintain the righteous cause. A great scheme was set on foot for foreign alliances : the Spaniards were asked for substantial assistance ; the princes of the Low Countries, the King of the Romans too, were taken into pay. A thorough scheme for the defence of the coast and organisation of the navy was devised. Edward's urgent needs or consistent policy led him to assemble, as we saw, the estates of the kingdom, in a way in which they had never been brought together before, and the parliaments of 1294 and 1295 completed the formation of the constitutional system. But a rising on the Welsh border prevented any general expedition in 1294; and the dread of a common enemy threw the Scots in i-oc into correspondence with France. Edward, provoked at ' the delay, pressed by the deficiency and waste of his re- sources, had recourse to very exceptional measures for raising money, and so produced a reaction against the ' foreign war, and a combination of political forces most 234 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. 1296-7, dangerous to his own authority, and most trying to the new machinery of government at the very moment of its completion. The model parliament of 1295 was followed by the crisis of 1296, and the confirmation of charters of 1297. So strong a king, so determinate a policy, was sure to provoke complaints ; the very enforcement of order wears the appearance of oppression. Both clergy Edvvard^° ^"^ l^ity had their grievances, and Edward's cieil^ \^^ extremity gave them their opportunity. The clergy, with a certain number of bishops at their head, had throughout the struggles of the century ranged themselves on the side of liberty. The inferior clergy had always had much in common with the people, and John's conduct during the Interdict had broken the alliance which ever since the Norman Conquest had sub- sisted between the great prelates and the court. Stephen Langton had set an example which was bravely followed. Henry III., by his love of foreigners, his obsequious be- haviour to the popes, and his unscrupulous dealings in money matters, alienated the national Church alq^ost as widely as John had done; while Simon de Montfort had conciliated all that was good and holy. But when Henry III., with the abuses which he had maintained, had passed away, and when Church and nation alike saw that Edward was labouring for the benefit of his people with all his heart, matters might have been changed. There was doubtless need for watchfulness on the part of the clergy, for the ministers of the court were always on the look- out for means to limit the spiritual power; but defensive watchfulness is a different thing from aggression. Three successive archbishops had ruled since Edward's acces- sion, all of them anxious to promote the independence of the Church and to diminish the power of the crown, even if it were to be done by throwing the Church more entirely A.D. 1297. Edivard I. '?'»!? ^03 into the hands of the Pope. Hence it was that Archbishop Peckham in 1279 had declared himself the champion of the Great Charter, although the Great Charter was not assailed, and had in a council at Reading passed several canons which were intended to limit the king's action in ecclesiastical causes. Edward in return had taken his opportunity of repressing what seemed to him to be eccle- siastical innovation ; he had interfered to prevent the publication of the canons, and had made the archbishop apologise and withdraw them. Not content with this, he took advantage of the occasion to pass the statute ' De Religiosis,' by which he prevented the clergy from acquiring more land than they held at the time, with- out express permission. The taxation of the clergy too was heavy ; the popes were as willing to minister to Edward's needs as they had been to supply his father with money from the revenues of the English Church. More than once they had empowered him to collect a three years tenth of all the revenue of the clergy for the purpose of a crusade which was never carried out, and in 1288 #ope Nicolas IV. ordered a new and very exact valuation of all church property. This valuation included both temporal property, that is land, and spiritual, that is tithes and offerings. Such a permanent record laid them open at any moment to exaction. But Edward was not satisfied to have to ask the Pope's leave to tax his own subjects, whether clerical or lay ; he had begun to assemble the clergy in councils of their own, for the purpose of obtaining money grants, and, a little later, gave them a representative constitution as an estate of parliament. They were, on the other hand, unwilling to obey the summons to attend a secular court, and to spend their money on secular purposes, much more so when it was demanded out of all proportion and without reasonable consultation. Robert Winchelsey, who be- 236 The Early Plantagencts, A.D. 1297. came archbishop in 1294, was fitted to be the leader of a strong ecclesiastical opposition. He was a pious, learned, and farseeing man, but he was fully possessed with the idea that the king was determined to subject the Church to the State ; and he knew that in the Pope, Boniface VIII., he had a friend and supporter who would not desert him. He was ready to fight the battle the prospect of which was ver>' near. Edward regarded the situation of affairs in 129435 entitling him to assume the office of dictator ; to take all advantage the law offered him for raising men Quarrel , i .<- i ^ between ^^1^1 moncy ; but, if he saw means which the SeX'^gJ"'^ ^^'^ ^*^ ^^^ warrant, to use them also as jus- tified by the necessity of the case. So he not only assembled the barons, clergy, and commons, to obtain money grants from them, but seized the wool of the merchants and took account of the treasures of the churches. It is true that by negotiating with the merchants in assemblies of their own he obtained their consent to pay a large increase of custom on the wool, and that he did not actually confiscate the church treasure, still the measures were oppressive and alarm- ing; and when in the autumn council of 1294 he de- manded one-half of the revenue of the Church the alarm became a panic. The clergy yielded, only to find another heavy demand made on them the next year ; but the king was becoming irritated by delay and the clergy emboldened by papal support. Boniface VI 1 1., in February 1296, issued a famous Bull called, from its opening words, the Bull Clericis Laicos, in which he forbade the king to take or the clergy to pay taxes on their ecclesiastical revenue. Armed with this Archbishop Winchelsey in 1297 declined to agree to a money grant, and the king replied by placing all the clergy, who would not submit, out of the protection of the law. A.D. 1297. Edward I. ^37 Discontent of the greater barons under the growth of the royal power. But by this time the spirit of the laity was roused. Gilbert of Gloucester was dead, and the heads of the baronage were Iloger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, the Marshal, and Humfrey Bohun Earl of Hereford, the Constable of England ; men not of high character or of much patriotism, but of great power and spirit, and eager to take the opportunity of asserting their posi- tion, which the king's measures for enforcing equal jus- tice had threatened to shake. Bohun, too, had been miprisoned on account of the private war which he had carried on against Gloucester in 1288. Edward's legal reforms had touched the baronage like every other class. A close inquiry into the title by which they held their estates and local jurisdictions— the commission, as it was called, of * quo warranto '—had alarmed them in 1278; then the Earl Warennc had boldly averred that his warrant was the sword by which his lands had been won, and by which he was prepared to defend them. They found too that, although the new legislation in some re- spects gave them a stronger hold on their vassals, that advantage was counterbalanced by the stronger hold which the king gained by it over themselves. They did not care to have too strong a king, or one who ruled them by ministers of his own choosing. When, then, early in 1297, Edward called for the whole military force of the kingdom to go abroad, part to follow him to Flanders to support his allies, and part to go to Gascony, they determined to thwart him. It was a moot question how far they were bound to foreign service at all ; the king himself seemed to be asking them for a favour rather than a right. They knew that the clergy were hostile on account of the taxes, and the merchants on account of the wool ; they would make the king feel their strength. Edward himself acted unwisely ; he had become exas- 2^8 The Early Plantageiiets. a.d. 1297. perated with the delay; he had lost his early and best counsellor, Robert Burnell, and had taken in his place Walter Langton, the treasurer, a faithful but unpopular and unscrupulous man, and he had conceived the notion, which was probably a true one, that the barons wished to embarrass him. The plea of necessity by which he tried to justify himself must also justify him with posterity. The year 1297 saw the contest decided. In February the king had summoned the barons to meet at Salisbury. When they were assembled the two earls re- th?barons° fused to perform their offices as marshal and at Sahs- constable ; the clergy were in a state of out- lawry, and the king did not venture to sum- mon the representatives of the commons. The assembly broke up in wrath. Edward again laid hands on the wool, summoned the armed force, and put in execution the sentence against the clergy ; the barons assembled in arms, the bishops threatened excommunication. In spite of this, the king, in July, collected the military strength of the nation at London and tried to bring matters to a decision. As the earls would not yield he determined to submit to the demands of the clergy, and to use his in- fluence with the commons so as to get, even informally, a vote of more money. Winchelsey saw his opportunity. If the king would confirm the charters, the Great Charter and the charter of the forests, he would do his best to obtain money from the clergy; the Pope had already declared that his prohibition did not affect voluntary Reconcilia- ^^nts for national defence. The chief men tionof of the commons, who although not summoned Edward and ° Archbishop as to parliament were present m arms, agreed Winchelsey. ^^ ^,^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^ ^ ^^^^ . ^^^ ^^^ people were moved to tears by seeing the public reconciliation of the archbishop with the king, who commended his son Edward to his care whilst he himself went to war. A.D. 1297. Edward I. 239 But the end was not come even now. The arch- bishop and the earls knew how often the charters had been confirmed in vain in King Henry's days ; Confirma- and it was an evil omen that the kinjr, whilst ^'/'" °^ '^« offering to confirm them, was attempting to establishing exact money without a vote of Parliament. Ihepe^o^pie^ They drew up a series of new articles to be »".deter- added to the Great Charter, and, after some ation/''^" difficulty, forced them upon the king just as he was pre- '- paring to embark. Edward saw that he must yield, but ' he left his son and his ministers to finish the negotiation. As soon as he had sailed the earls went to the Exchequer and forbade the officers of that court to collect the newly imposed tax; the young Prince Edward was urged to summon the knights of the shire to receive the copies of the charter which his father had promised, and on October 10 the charters were reissued, with an addition of seven articles, by which the king renounced the right of taxing the nation without national consent. It is true that these articles were not drawn up with such exact- ness as to prevent all evasion, and Edward I. and Ed- ward III. are accused of using the obscurities of the wording to justify them in transgressing the spirit of the concession. But the confirmation of the charters, however won, was the completion of the work begun by Stephen Langton and the barons at Runnymede. It established finally the principle that for all taxation, direct and indirect, the consent of the nation must be asked, and made it clear that all transgressions of that principle, whether within the letter of the law or beyond it, were evasions of the spirit of the constitution. The seven articles were these : by the first the charters were confirmed ; by the second all proceedings in contraven- tion of them were declared null ; by the third copies of them were to be sent to the cathedral churches to be 240 The Early Plantagcnets. A.D. 1297. read twice a year; and by the fourth the bishops were to excommunicate all who transgressed them. These four were the contribution of the prelates, the condition under which the clergy had been reconciled. By the fifth article the king declared that the exactions, by which the people had been agrieved, should not be regarded as giving him a customary right to take such exactions any more*; by the sixth he promised that he would no more take such 'aids, tasks, and prises but by common assent of the realm'; and by the seventh he undertook not to im- pose on the wool of the countr)- any such ' maletote ' or heavy custom in future without their common assent and goodwill. It would have been clearer if the rights renounced had been absolutely renounced and clearly specified. The king and his servants soon learned that, without taking such taxes and maletotes as had been complained of, they could by negotiating with the mer- chants raise money indirectly without consulting parlia- ment, but that excuse was never allowed by the parlia- ment to be sufficient, and, when they could, they closed ever)' opening for evasion. Thus was England's greatest king compelled to make to his people the greatest of all constitutional concessions, at the very moment at which by his new organisation of Parliament he had placed the nation for the first time in a position in which they could compel him to fulfil it. It was to some extent a compromise, in which both parties felt themselves jus- tified in putting their own interpretation on the terms by which they had been reconciled, but it is not the less a landmark in the history of England, second only to Magna Carta. The co7iJirmatio cartarum is the fulfilment, made now to the whole consolidated people, of the pro- mises made in the charter to a nation just awaking to its unity and to the sense of its own just claims. Before we turn again to the military work of the A.D. 1297-9. Edward I. 241 reign, the war for the subjection of Scotland, which was one of the main causes of Edward's difficulties at this time, and which furnished him with hard dj^^^^j. work for the rest of his life, we may briefly tion^'of *" ^^' sum up the sequel of the great constitutional ItZht crisis. Not the least of the causes that led to ^"bjects. Edward's irritation, and provoked him to impolitic vio- lence, was the thought that the nation did not trust him. From the beginning of the reign he had laboured inde- fatigably for their good ; he had amended their laws, and had given them what, to all intents and purposes' was a new and free constitution. He felt that he had a right to their confidence, and a right to direct, if not also to control, the mechanism which he had created. But as yet it was only thirty years since the Battle of Evesham. Men were still alive who remembered the countless ter- giversations of Henry III., and who, so warned, could scarcely help suspecting that Edward in the hour of need would repudiate his obligations, as his father had done. They did not profess to be satisfied with the act of con- firmation which Edward sealed at Ghent on November 5, 1 297. As soon as he returned from Flanders, in the fol- lowing year, the earls insisted on a renewal of Re-confir- the act, and, before they would join him in the "P^^'on of Scottish war, the king had to promise to grant Charters. it. In March 1299 the promise was fulfilled, but the con- firmation was even now regarded as incomplete. The enforcement of the charter of the forests involved a new survey of the forests, and the king, when he promised that this should be done, made a distinct reserv^ation of the rights of the crown, and of some questions which had just been referred to the court of Rome. The re- servation appeared to the people to be an evident token of insincerity ; and to calm the excitement Edward, two months afterwards, executed an unconditional confirma- M.H. R 242 The Early Plantagenets. A.D. 1 300- 1. tion. Still, however, it was declared that the forest re- forms were intentionally delayed; and in a full parlia- ment, held at London in March 1300, the confirmation was repeated, additional articles being embodied in an important act called * The articles upon the charters.' In consequence of these the sur\ey of the forests was made and the report of the survey presented to a parlia- ment held at Lincoln in January 1301, at which all the old animosities threatened to revive, and the barons, backed by the commons, and with Archbishop Win- chelsey at their head, subjected the king to a pressure which he felt most bitterly and never forgave. Again he was in grievous want of money. The Pope had claimed the overlordship of Scotland, and it was of Papal ^^ utmost importance that he should receive claims over a united and unhesitating answer from the assembled nation. In spite of all the con- cessions that Edward had made so reluctantly, show- ing by his ver>' reluctance that he intended to keep them, a new list of articles was presented as con- ditions on which money would be granted. Nay, even if the king agreed to the articles, the Archbishop, on the part of the clergy, would consent to no grant that the Pope had not sanctioned. Again Edward yielded, although he refused to admit the article in which the Pope's consent was mentioned. It was by thus yielding probably that he obtained from the whole assembled baronage a distinct denial of the Papal claims over Scotland. But the prelates and clergy did not join in the letter addressed in consequence to the Pope: and Quarrel of Edward, putting the two things together, Edward chose to regard the archbishop as a traitor with .\rch- . . . ^ . ^ bishop m mtention if not m act. The knight who ^^'""'^^'^^^'- had presented to him the articles at Lincoln was sent for a short time to prison, as a concession per- A.D. 1302-4. Edward I, 243 haps to Walter Langton, whose dismissal had been asked for. Winchelsey's punishment was delayed as long as Pope Boniface lived; but, when Clement V. in 1305 succeeded him, the Archbishop was formally accused, summoned to Rome, and suspended, nor was he allowed to return to England during the remainder of the reign. This quarrel is a sad comment on the conduct of two great men, both of whom had at heart the welfare of England; but if the balance must be struck between them it inclines in favour of Edward. He may have been somewhat vindictive, but his adversary had taken cruel advantage of his needs, had credited him with un- worthy motives, and with a guile of which he knew him- self to be innocent ; and the archbishop had, in order to humiliate him, laid him open to the most arrogant as- sumptions on the part of the Pope. Winchelsev wished to be a second Langton ; Edward was not, and' was in- capable of becoming, a second John. The Parliament of Lincoln closes the constitutional drama of the reign ; but two or three minor points in connexion with what has gone before may be mentioned here. In 1303 and 1304 Ed- ThSign'^ ward was again in great straits for mone\-, '"^'■<^'^^"'=^ and he did not wish to be again subjected to the treat- ment which he had endured at Lincoln. In searching for the means of raising a revenue he recurred to the same source from which he had obtained the custom of wool at the beginning of his reign, the assistance of the merchants. He called together the foreign merchants in 1303 and offered them certain privileges of trading, on the condition that they should consent to pay ini^port duties. They agreed ; and, although an as- ^, x, sembly of English representatives from the Custom, mercantile towns refused to join in the arrangement, the institution held good. The 'New Custom,' the R 3 244 l^f^^ Earfy Plantagcncts, a. d. 1305. origin of our import duties, was established without the consent of parliament, although not in direct contraven- tion of the Act of 1297, for it was a special agreement made with the consent of the payers and in consideration of immunities received. In 1304 he adopted an expedient even more hazardous, and collected a tallage from the royal demesne ; yet even here he avoided breaking the letter of his promise. Such tallage was not expressly renounced in 1297, and it was now sanctioned by the consent of the baronage, who raised money from their vassals in the same way. In 1305 he did a still more imprudent and dangerous act, in obtaining from Clement V. a formal absolution from the engagements taken in 1297. Except in a slight modification of the forest regu- lations, which was perhaps made rather as a demonstra- tion of his power than as a real readjustment of the law, he took no advantage of this absolution. These three facts, however, remain on record as illustrations of Edward's chief weakness, the legal captiousness, which was the one drawback on his greatness. The last was too grievously justified by the morality of the time, and proves that in one respect at least Edward was not before other men of the age. We turn now to trace the course of events which had so powerfully affected the king's action during these Rebellion in Critical years. We saw him in 1294 preparing- under ^"^^ ^^ expedition to France, which was de- Madoc. layed until 1297 by troubles in Wales and Scotland, and by the political crisis on which we have dwelt so long. The Welsh revolt under Madoc, a kins- man of the last princes, involved an expedition which Edward himself in the winter of 1294 led into Wales. It was an unseasonable undertaking, and attended with no great success. Madoc was, however, taken prisoner in 1295, and the rebellion came to an end. The Scot- A.D. 1295. Edward L 245 tish troubles were more general and lasted much longer. John Balliol had from the beginning of his reign felt himself in a false position, distracted between his duties to Edward as his suzerain and patron, and his c 1.- .1- 1. T^ . bunimonsof duties to his subjects. By a curious coinci- Kdward to dence Edward had summoned him to appear as ^'*""^'" a vassal in his court to answer the complaints of the Earl of Fife, in the very year that he himself was summoned to appear at Paris to answer the complaints of the Nor- mans. The neglect and contempt with which Balliol was treated may have embittered his feelings towards Edward, yet in 1294 he had been the foremost of the barons in offering help against France. But it is clear that he was not a man of strong will or decided views ; that he could not easily bring himself to break with Edward, and so throw himself on the support of the Scottish baronage, and that even Edward's support did not make him strong enough to defy them. He halted between the two and lost his hold on both. In 1295 the Scottish lords determined, in imitation of the French court, to institute a body of twelve peers who were practically to control the action of Balliol, and opened negotiations for an alliance with France. Such an alliance was then a »n• , . , . . Alliance of new thing, but in its consequences it was one Scotland of the most important influences of mediicval ""'^^ ^'■^"<=^' history, for it not only turned the progress of Scottish civilisation and politics into a French channel, leading the Scots to imitate French institutions, as they had hitherto copied those of England, but gave to the French a most effective assistance in every quarrel with England, down to the seventeenth century. As soon as Edward learned that such a negotiation was in progress he de- manded that, until peace should be made between Philip and himself, the border castles of Scotland should be 246 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. 1295-S. placed in his hands. This was at once refused, and war broke out. In March 1296 Edward took and sacked Scottish Berwick, and the Scots threatened CarHsle. The unfortunate Balliol seeing himself at last compelled to choose between the two evils, renounced his allegiance to Edward and almost immediately paid the penalty of his temerity. The Earl VVarenne won a great victory at Dunbar in April, and took Edinburgh ; Surrender BalHol Surrendered in Julv, and was obliged EdS' '" ^^ ^^^i^" the crown to his conqueror. The Scottish regalia were carried to England. The coronation-stone, which tradition identified with the stone on which the patriarch Jacob had rested his head at Bethel, was removed from Scone to Westminster. The chief nobles of Scotland were led awav as hostacxes and Scotland, if not subdued, was so far cowed TntJ silence that during 1297 Edward thought it safe to leave It under the government of the Earl Warenne. Sir William Wallace, the somewhat obscure and mythical hero of Scottish liberation, remained, however, in arms against him, and he in September defeated the Earl Warenne at Cambuskenneth, and drove the Encrlish out of the country. Edward's expedition to France,"so long twTen Eng- ^^^^>'^d' terminated in March 1298 in a truce land and ^f two years, which was renewed in 1299 and Scotland. turned into a peace in 1303. As a pledge of the arrangement Edward married Margaret, the sister of Phihp, in 1299. The Scots thus lost at first the active help of their new ally. Immediately on his return Ed- ward resumed the attack upon them, and the victorv won at Falkirk in July 1298 proved his continued superiority while It served to stimulate the national aspirations of the Scots and, what was even more important, tau-ht them that, if they were still to be free, they must learn'to act as a united people. Wallace's victory at Cambuskenneth had earned for A.D. 1 298- 1 303. Edivard I. 247 him the jealousy instead of the confidence of the Scottish nobles; the defeat at Falkirk was made an Affairs in excuse for declining his leadership and din?- ^^Q^land , - , , ^ *= after the fall ing to the shadowy royalty of the imprisoned <'i Baiiid. Balliol. They chose a council of regency to govern Scotland in his name. Three regents were elected ; the bishop of St. Andrew's was one; the other two were John Comyn, lord of Badenoch, and Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick ; sons of two of the lords who had competed for the crown when Balliol was chosen. Wallace was not even named. Some small successes now fell to the Scots : in 1299 they compelled the English garrison in Stirling Castle to capitulate ; in 1300 they foiled the in- vading army by avoiding a pitched battle, and, at the close of the campaign, obtained by the mediation of the French a truce which lasted till the summer of 1301. It was just then that Boniface VIII. had laid claim to the suzerainty of Scotland, and Edward's time was spent during the truce in obtaining from his barons a unanimous declaration against that claim. This, as we saw, was done in the parliament of Lincoln. Althoucrh the papal argument was one to which Edward could not refuse to listen, Boniface's influence with Arch- bishop Winchelsey gave him more trouble than the illusory claim. The Scottish campaign of 1301 was a repetition of that of the preceding year ; Edward spent the winter in the country and built a castle at Linlithgow; and another truce was made, which lasted to the winter of 1302. The conclusion of peace with France in 1303 left Edward free to direct all his strength against Scotland ; and the Scots, under Comvn as regent, were ^, ... ' 07 Campaign now in better condition to resist. They had of Edward defeated the English army under Sir John '" ^^"^'^d- Segrave in February, and were preparing for greater exertions, when the news arrived that not only the Pope 248 The Early Plajitagencts. a.d. 1303-5. but the French had deserted them. No provision in their favour was contained in the treaty of peace ; and Edward was already in the country in full force. The year 1303 appeared to be a fatal year to the hopes of Scotland. Edward marched the whole length ci the country as far north as the Moray Frith, and within sight of Caithness. Stirling alone of all the castles of the land was left in the possession of the native people, and after a futile attempt under the walls of Stirling to intercept the invader, they seem to have given up all idea of resistance. The so-called governors of the Scots surrendered and submitted on condition of having their lives, liberties, and estates secured ; a few patriotic men were excepted from the benefit of the act, the chief of whom was Wallace, against whom as the leading spirit of liberty Edwards indignation burned most hotly, and whom the selfish and jealous lords cared least to protect. StirHng, after a brave resistance, surrendered in July and Scotland seemed to be at last subdued. The hero Wal- Captnreand ^^^^' X.-^^^^^ by treachery in 1305, was sent to Wallace"'' London to be tried and put to death as a traitor. The execution of this sentence is one of the greatest blots upon Edward's character as a high-minded prince. Only the profound conviction that his own claims over Scotland were indisputably legal and that all the misery and bloodshed which had followed the renewal of the war must justly be charged upon Wallace —a conviction akin in origin to the other mistakes which we have traced in Edward's great career— can have over- come the feeling of admiration and sympathy which he must have felt for so brave a man. Wallace perished in 1305. In the same year Edward drew up a new constitution for Scotland, dividing the country into sheriffdoms like the English counties and providing machinery for the representation of the Scots A.D. 1306-7. Edward L 249 at the meetings of the English parliament. But the ar- rangement was very shortlived. Scarcely four months had elapsed when the new and more success- Edward's ful hero of Scottish history, Robert Bruce, "ewconsti- tuiion for declared hnnself He was the son of the Scotland. regent Earl of Carrick, but had hitherto clung to the English interest, in the hope that Edward would at last set him in the place of Balliol. When the new measures for the government of Scotland were drawn up, disap- pointment, mingled perhaps with the shame which Wal- laces death must have inspired, led him to quit the court and return to Scotland. At Dumfries, Return of early in 1306, he slew John Comyn, the late ^"uSo regent, whom he could not induce to join Scotland. him. He then gathered round him all whom he could prevail on to trust him ; and by his energy and military ability took all his enemies by surprise. In March he was crowned at Scone. His success was too great to be permanent; before the close of the summer Aymer de V^alence, Edward's lieutenant, had driven him into the islands, i.^ .^ , r and the king himself soon followed and put I5ruce. an end to all collective opposition. Still Bruce was active, and defied all attempts to crush him. Constantly put to flight and as constantly reappearing, he kept the English armies on the alert during the winter of 1306 and the spring of 1307 ; and in July, on his last march from Carlisle against him, king Edward died. Edward had just passed into his sixty-ninth year. He was older than any king who reigned in England before him, nor did any of his successors until Eliza- Death of beth attain the same length of years. His Edward I. life had been one, in its earlier and later portions, of great exertion, both bodily and mental ; and constant labour and irritation had made him during his latter years 250 The Early PlaJitagcncts. a. d. 1307. somewhat harsh and austere. His son Edward gave no hopes of a happy or useful reign ; he had already chosen his friends in detiance of his father's wishes, and had been rebuked by the king himself for misconduct towards his ministers. Edward had outlived, too, most of his early companions in arms ; he saw a generation spring- ing up who had not passed through the training which he and they had had, and who were more luxurious and Hischarac- extravagant, less polished and refined than modves. ^^^ ""^^^ ^^ ^^^ youth. An earnestly religious man, he had been unable to keep on good terms with the great scholar and divine who filled the see of Canterbury, or even with the Pope himself. The people for whom he had laboured and cared were scarcely as yet able to understand how much they had gained by his toil ; how even in his foreign undertakings he was fighting the battles of England and earning for them and for their posterity a place which should never again be lost in the councils of Europe. But though his bodily strength was gone his mental vigour was not abated, nor his belief in the justice of his cause. When he made his solemn vow, at the knighting of Prince Edward in 1306, to avenge the murder of Comyn and punish the broken faith of the Scots, he looked on them not as a noble nation fighting for liberty, but as a perjured and re- bellious company of outlaws, whom it would be a shame to him as a king and as a knight not to punish. The sin of breaking foith, the crime which his early lessons had taught him to think the greatest which could be com- mitted by a king, the temptation to which he believed himself to have overcome, and which he even inculcated on posterity by the motto * Pactum serva ' on his tomb,— in his eyes justified all the cruelty and oppression which marked his treatment of the Scots. Cruel it was, what- ever allowances are to be made for the exaggeration of A.D. 1307. Edward II. 2Si contemporary writers or for the savageness of contem- porary warfare. Yet it was not the bitter cruelty of the tyrant directed agai.ist the liberty of a free nation. Edward's death took place at Burgh-on-the-Sands, in Cimiberland, on the 7th of July, 1307. His character we have tried to draw in tracing the history of his acts. His work remains in the history of the country and the people whom he loved. CHAPTER XII. EDWARD II. Character of Edward II.— Piers Gaveston— The Ordinances— Tho- mas of Lancaster— The Despensers— The king's ruin and death. It 15 not often that a strong son succeeds a strong father, and where that is the case the result is not always salutary. If Edward I. had left a son like Reaction- himself, a new fabric of despotism might have ^^^ P^'^'^y been raised on the foundation of strong govern- H. ^'^'^^'"'^ ment which he had laid. Sometimes such alternations have worked well ; a weak administration following on a strong one has enabled the nation to advance all the more firmly and strongly for the discipline to which it has been subjected ; and a strong reign following a weak one has taught them how to obtain from the strong suc- cessor the consolidation of reforms won from the weakness of the predecessor. But more commonly the result has been a simple reaction, and the weak son has had to bear the consequences of his father's exercise of power, the strong son has had to repair the mischief caused by his fathers weakness. The case of Edward II., however, does not come exactly under either gene- ralisation. It was no mere reaction that caused his 252 The Early Plantageiicts. A.D. 1307. reign to stand in so strong contrast to his fathers. Instead of following out his fathers plans he re- versed them ; and his fate was the penalty exacted by hatreds which he had drawn upon himself, not the result of a reaction upon a policy which he had inherited. He cast away at the beginning of the reign his father's friends, and he made himself enemies where he ought to have looked for friends, in his own household and within the narrowest circle of home. Edward II. was the fourth son of Edward I. and Eleanor. John, their eldest boy, had died in 1272; Personal Henry, the next, died in 1274; Alfonso, the faJourftef of ^^^^d, lived to be twelve years old, and died in Edward II. 1 285. Edward was born in 1 284, at Carnarvon, became heir-apparent on his brother's death, and in 1301 was made Earl of Chester and Prince of Wales. Losing his mother in 1290, he was deprived of the early teaching which might have changed his whole history. His father, although he showed his characteristic care in directing the management of his son's household, in choosing his companions, and rebuking his faults, was far too busy to devote to him the personal supervision which would have trained him for government and secured his affections. He grew up to dread rather than to love him, hating his father's ministers as spies and checks upon his pleasures, and spending his time in amusements unbecoming a prince and a knight. His most intimate friend. Piers Gaveston, the son of an old Gascon servant of his father, had been assigned Piers l^iiTi by the king as his companion, and had Gaveston. gained a complete mastery over him. Gaves- ton was an accomplished knight, brave, ambitious, in- solent and avaricious, like the foreign favourites of Henry III. Edward, although a handsome, strong lad, did not care to practise feats of arms or to follow the pursuits of A.D. 1307. Edward II. 253 war. He was fond of hunting and country' life, averse to public labour, but splendid to extravagance in matters of feasting and tournament. He was indolent, careless about making new friends or enemies ; the only strong feeling which marked him was his obstinate champion- ship of the men whom he believed to be attached to himself. Edward was not a vicious man, but he was very foolish, idle, and obstinate, and there was nothing about him that served to counterbalance these faults or invite sympathy with him in his misfortunes. Edward I. some months before his death had found out this to his sorrow. He saw in the influence that Gaveston had won a sign that the scenes were to be repeated which, as he so well remembered, had marked the stormy period of his own youth. He had banished Gaveston from court and made him swear not to return without his leave. No sooner was he dead than the favourite was recalled, and by his return began that series of miseries which over- whelmed himself first, and then his master, and the con- sequences of which ran on in long succession until the great house of Plantagenet came to an end. Edward was absent when his father died, but within a few days he had rejoined the army, was received as king, without waiting for coronation, by the Peace with English and Scottish lords, and proclaimed Scotland. his royal peace. One of his father's last injunctions, that he should promptly and persistently follow up the war, was set aside from the first ; Aymer de Valence was made commander and governor of Scotland, and the king himself moved southwards. Another of his father's commands was set at nought directly after : Gaveston was recalled and raised to the earldom of Cornwall. Waker Langton, the late king's treasurer and chief minister, was removed from office and imprisoned, and the chancellor also was displaced. Edward I. was not yet 254 The Early Plaiitagencts. a.d. i-^oS buried, and his son's first parliament, called at North- ampton, in October 1307, was asked to provide money for the expenses of the funeral and the coronation ; for already it was said the favourite had got hold of the treasure and was sending it to his foreign kinsfolk. But the jealous nobles were not inclined to hurry matters as yet ; the parliament granted money ; Edward I. was solemnly buried ; and orders were given to prepare for the coronation in February 1308. The young king had been betrothed to Isabella of France, the daughter of Philip the Fair. He wished that Marriage of ^'^ young bride should be crowned with him, 'iilh''"^ ^"^ ^^ crossed over to Boulogne to marry her! FWe'^°^ The indignation of the lords and of the country- at the recall and promotion of Gaves- ton was fanned into a flame by the announcement that, as It was necessary to appoint a regent during the king^s short absence, the Earl of Cornwall with full and even peculiar powers was appointed to the place. It became clear that the coronation could scarcely take place with- out an uproar. Nor was the question of coronation itself without some difficulties; for Archbishop Winchelsey, although invited The Coro- by the new king, had not yet returned from nation. banishment, and it was by no means safe for any other prelate to act in his stead. After a little delay Winchelsey consented to empower a substitute ; and Edward II. and Isabella were crowned on the 25th of February by the Bishop of Winchester. The form of the coronation oath taken on this occasion, perhaps for the first time in this shape, is worth careful remark. In it the king promises to maintain the ancient laws, to keep the The corona- peace of God and the people, and to do right tmn oath. judgment and justice. So much was found^'in the older formula ; but another question was put : 'Will A.D. \XO%. Edward II. ^55 you consent to hold and keep the laws and righteous customs which the community of your realm shall have chosen, and will you defend them and strengthen them to the honour of God, to the utmost of your power .^' If, as is supposed, these words were new, they seemed to con- tain a recognition of the fact that the community of the realm had now entered into their place as entitled to control by counsel and consent the legislative action and policy of the king. And so construed they form a valu- able comment on the results of the last reign, which had seen the community organised in a perfect parliament and admitted to a share of the responsibilities of govern- ment. The lords heard them with interest ; even if they had been used at the coronation of Edward I. few were old enough to remember them. They saw in them either an earnest of good government or a lever by which thev themselves could remedy the evils of misgovernment, and they proceeded to try the maiden weapon against the favourite whom they now hated as well as feared. Gaveston had at first tried to propitiate the more powerful lords of the court, especially Earl Thomas of Lancaster and Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln. The latter was an old and trusted servant of EarUf^ Edward I. Thomas of Lancaster was the son i^^ncaster. of Earl Edmund of Lancaster, the younger son of Henry III., who had been titular King of Sicily; his mother was Blanche, the Queen Dowager of Navarre, whose daughter by her first husband had married Philip the Fair. He was thus cousin to the king and uncle to the queen ; he possessed the great estates with which his grandfather and uncle had founded the Lancaster earl- dom ; he was Earl of Leicester and Derby also, and had thus succeeded to the support of those vassals of the Montforts and the Ferrers who had sustained them in their struggle again«^t the crown; and he was the son-in- 2qo The Early Plaittagcncts. a.d. 1308. j law and heir of Henry de Lacy. Distantly following out the policy of Earl Simon, he had set himself upas a friend of the clergy and of the liberties of the people. Person- ally he was a haughty, vicious, and selfish man, whom the mistakes and follies of Edward II. raised into the fame of a popular champion, and whom his bitter sufferings and cruel death promoted to the rank of a martyr and a saint. But he was not a man of high principle or threat capacity, as the result proved. No sooner had Gaveston made good his position than by his wanton insolence he incurred the hatred of Earl Gaveston Thomas, and by the same folly provoked the and the animosity of the Earl of Pembroke, the king's cousin, of the Earl of Hereford, his brother-in- law, and of the strong and unscrupulous Earl of Warwick, Guy Beauchamp. Some of them he had defeated in a tournament ; nicknames he bestowed on all. One good friend Edward had tried to secure him; he had married him to a sister of Earl Gilbert of Gloucester, the king's nephew and their common playfellow ; but even Earl Gilbert only cared sufficiently for him to try to mediate in his fiivour : he would not openly take his side. The storm rose steadily. Shortly after the coronation a great council was held in which his promotion was the chief topic of debate, and on the i8th of May he was banished. Banishment ^dward tried to lighten the blow by appoint- or Gaves- ing him lieutenant of Ireland, and besought the interposition of the King of France and the Pope in his favour. All the business of the kingdom We'^n the ^"'^^ delayed by the hostility of the king and king and the the great lords. Money was wanted, and ^'''^^- could be got only through the Italian bankers, whom the people looked on as extortioners. The divided Scots were left to fight their own battles. Such a state of things could not last long. Edward had to A.D. 1309-10. Edward II. 257 meet his parliament in April 1309. He wanted money the country wanted reform, but the king desired the re- turn of Gaveston even more than money, and the nation dreaded it more than they desired reform. When the estates met they presented to Edward a schedule of eleven articles : if these were granted they would grant money. The articles concerned several important matters- the exaction of corn and other provisions by the kin-'s agents under the name of purveyance, the maladministra- tion of justice and usurped jurisdictions ; but the most important was one touching the imposts on wine, wool, and other merchandise which had been instituted by Edward 1. in 1303, after consultation with the merchants. Edward however, thought little of the bearing of the request- he proposed to agree to it if he might recall Gaveston. The parliament refused to listen to him, and he adjourned the discussion until July. Then in a session of the ba- ronage at Stamford he yielded the points in question and received the promised subsidy. But he had already recalled Gaveston and by one means or another had ob- tamed the tacit consent of all the great lords Reea„of except the Earl of Warwick. Scarcely two -^-"'11 months had elapsed when the storm rose again The king summoned the earls to council. The Earl of Lan caster refused to meet the Earl of Cornwall. Graduallv the parties were re-formed as before, and the quarrel assumed larger dimensions. Gaveston was still the great offence, but the plan now broached by the lords extended to the whole administrative work of the kingdom At the parliament which met in March 1310 a new scheme of reform was promulgated, which was framed on the model of that of 1258 and the Provisions ^ of Oxford. It was determined that the task onl^"^ of regulating the affairs of the realm and of the kin^s household should be committed to an elected body of 258 The Early Plaiitagcnets, a.d. 131 i. A.D. 1311. Edward II. twenty-one members, or Ordainers, the chief of whom was Archbishop Winchelsey. Both parties were repre- sented, the royal party by the earls of Gloucester, Pem- broke, and Richmond, the opposition by the Earls of Lincohi, Lancaster, Hereford, Warwick, and Arundel. But the preponderance both in number and influence was against Gaveston. They were empowered to remain in office until Michaelmas 131 1, and to make ordinances for the good of the realm agreeable to the tenor of the king's coronation oath. The whole administration of the kingdom thus passed into their hands ; and Edward, seeing himself superseded, joined the army now engaged in war with Scotland, and in company with Gaveston continued on the border until the Ordainers were ready to report. During this time the Earl of Lincoln, who had been left as regent, died, and the Earl of Gloucester took his place. The Ordainers immediately on their appointment issued six articles directing the observance of the charters, the careful collection of the customs, and the arrest of the foreign merchants ; but the great body of the ordinances was reserv^ed for the parliament which met in August 131 1. The famous document or statute known as the Ordi- nances of 131 1 contained forty-one clauses, all aimed at _ . existing abuses. Some of these abuses were TheOrdi- ,, , ,. ., , , nances of old long-standing evils, such as the miscar- ^^"" riage and delay of justice, the misconduct of officials, and the maladministration and misapplication of royal property. Others were founded on the policy of the late reign, which Edward's ministers had perverted and abused ; the Ordainers had no hesitation in declaring the customs duties established by Edward L to be illegal and contrarv' to the charter. But two classes of enact- ments are of more special interest. Four whole clauses were devoted to the punishment of the favourite and of those courtiers who had cast in their lot with him. 259 f . Gaveston had stolen the king's heart from his people, and led him into every sort of tyranny and dishonesty; the Lord Henry de Beaumont, to whom Edward had given the Isle of Man, and the lady de \'escy, his sister, were Httle better ; the Friscobaldi, the Italian bankers who received the customs, were the enemies of the people and mere instruments of oppression. Gaveston was to be banished for life, Beaumont to be expelled from the council, and the Friscobaldi to be sent home. Not content with this, the Ordainers further enacted some very important limitations on the king's power. All the great officers of state were to be appointed with the counsel and consent of the baronage, and to be sworn in parlia- ment ; the king was not to go to war or to quit the kingdom without the consent of the barons in parlia- ment ; parliaments were to be called every year, and the king's servants were to be brought to justice. The articles thus seem to sum up not only the old and new grievances, but the ideas of government entertained by the Ordainers: they are to punish the favourite, to remedy the points in which the charter has failed, and to restrain the power of the king. But the power is only transferred from the king to the barons. There is no provision analogous to the principle laid down by Edward I., that the whole nation shall join in the tasks and re- iheTngV sponsibilities of national action. The baron- ^^^ i^arons. age, not the three estates in parliament, are to admonish, to restrain, to compel the king. Edward, after such a struggle as he could make to save Gaveston — a matter which was to him far more im- portant than any of the legal questions involved in the Ordinances— consented that thev should become law, intending perhaps to obtain abso- lution when it was needed, or to allege that his consent was given under compulsion. He went back 6 2 The struggle of the king in favour of Gaveston. 26o The Early Plautageiicts. a,d. 13 12. into the North, was rejoined by Gaveston, and after some short consideration annulled the ordinances which were made against him. The barons immediately on hearing of this prepared to enforce the law in arms. Winchelsey excommunicated the favourite ; the king left no means untried to save him. After a narrow escape at Newcastle, where he lost his baggage and the vast collection of jewels which he had accumulated, many of them belong- ing to the hereditary hoard of the crown, Gaveston was besieged in Scarborough Castle. In May 13 12 he sur- rendered, and was conducted by the Earl of Pembroke into the South, to await his sentence in parliament. His enemies, however, were too impatient to wait for justice. The Earl of Warwick carried him off whilst Pembroke was off his guard, and he was beheaded in the presence Death of of the Earl of Lancaster. It is more easy to Gaveston. account for than to justify the hatred which the earls felt towards Gaveston. His conduct had been offensive, his influence was no doubt dangerous, but the actual mischief done by him had been small ; neither he nor Edward had exercised power with sufficient freedom as yet to merit such a punishment, and no policy of mere caution or apprehension could excuse the cruelty of the act. It was a piece of vile personal revenge, for insults which any really great man would have scorned to avenge. From the time of Gaveston's death the unhappy king remained for some years the sport or tool of con- Chan es in tending parties. He was indeed incompetent theadminis- to reign alonc, or to choose ministers who could rule in his name. The Earl of Pem- broke, Aymer de \'alence, the son of that William of Lusignan, Henr>' III.'s half-brother, who was banished in 1258, first attempted to take the reins. Walter Langton had made his peace and become treasurer A.D. 1313. Edward II. 261 again ; and on the death of Archbishop Winchelsey, in '313) Walter Reynolds, the king's old tutor and present chancellor, became primate. But these were not men to withstand the great weight of the opposition. Thomas of Lancaster, who on the death of Henry de Lacy had added the earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury' to the three which he already held, treated on equal terms with the king as a belligerent. The mediation of the clergy brought the two together at the close of 131 2, and in the autumn of 131 3 a general pacification was brought about, followed by an amnesty and a liberal supply of money in Parliament. The Ordinances were recognised as the law of the land ; the birth of an heir to the crown was hailed as a good omen, and better hopes were enter- tained for the future. The war with Scotland was to be resumed, and with secure peace order in the government must follow. The Scots had been indeed left alone too long. Short truces, desultory warfare, the defeat of any spasmodic effort on the part of the English by a deter- Successes mined policv on the Scottish side of evading 9f Robert r^ ' ° nnice in battle, had resulted in a great increase of Scotland, strength in the hands of Robert Bruce. He had taken advantage of the domestic troubles of England to re- cover one by one the strongholds of his kingdom. It was believed that he had intrigued both with Gaveston and with Lancaster. The Castle of Linlithgow came into his hands in 131 1, Perth in 1312, Roxburgh and Edin- burgh in 13 1 3. Stirling, almost the only fortress left in the hands of the English, was besieged, and had promised to surrender if not reliev^ed before midsummer 1314. Edward prepared to take the command of his forces and to raise the siege. But it was no part of Lancaster's policy to support him. Taking advantage of the article of the Ordinances which forbade the king to go to war without Battle of Bannock- burn. 262 The Early Plaittagmets. a.d. 13 14- 16. the consent of the baronage in Parhament, he declined to obey the summons to war until Parliament had spoken. Edward protested that there was no time; Lancaster and his confederate earls stood aloof. The King and Pem- broke, with such of the barons as they coufd influence, and a great host of English warriors, who had no confi- dence in their commander, met the Scots at Bannockburn on the 24th of June, and were shamefully defeated. Edward lost all control over the country in consequence. The young Earl of Gloucester, whose adhesion had been a tower of strength to him, fell in the battle ; the Earl of Pembroke, who had fled with him, shared the contempt into which he fell. Lancaster was practically supreme ; he and his fellows* the survivors of the Ordainers, appointed and displaced mmisters, put the king on an allowance, and removed his personal friends and attendants as they chose. In 1-16 Lancaster was chosen official president of the royal coun- cil ; he was already commander-in-chief of the army. He now sought the support of the clergy, forced the king Despotism ^^ ^rder the execution of the Ordinances o^f^Lancas- and conductcd himself as an irresponsible ruler. But he had not a capacity equal to his ambition, and his greed of power served to expose his real weakness. He acted as a clog upon all national action ; he would not act with the king, for he hated him; he dared not act without him, lest his own failure should give his rivals the chance of overthrowing him. The country, notwithstanding his personal popularity, was miserable under him. The Scots plundered and ravaged as they chose. He would not engage in war. He would not attend parliament or council. The court became filled with intrigue. The barons split up into parties ; Edward, rejoicing in the removal of control, launched into extravagant expenditure, and began to form a A.D. 1316-18. Edward II. 263 new party of his own. With general anarchy it is no wonder that private war broke out, or that private war assumed the dimensions of public war. The Coun- tess of Lancaster was carried off from her warofthe husband ; the Earl of Warenne was accused ^^'''^• and the king was suspected of conniving at the elope- ment. The earls went to war. Edward forbade Lancaster to stir, and Lancaster of course disobeyed the order. In the midst of all this Robert Bruce, in April 1318, took Berwick. There were now three parties in the kingdom. Lan- caster had lost ground, but the king had gained none. The Earl of Pembroke had been gradually conflict of alienated, and now aimed at acquiring power parties. for himself The death of the Earl of Gloucester had left his earldom to be divided between the husbands of his three sisters, Hugh le Despenser, Roger d'Amory, and Hugh of Audley. The division of the great estates was in itself sufficient to create a new division of parties. D'Amory and Pembroke framed a league for gaining influence over the king in conjunction with Sir Bartholo- mew Badlesmere, a bitter enemy of Lancaster. Hugh le Despenser, the father of the one just mentioned, took on himself to reform the king's personal party, and was aided by the few barons and bishops whom Edward had been strong enough to promote. The capture of Berwick had one salutary effect : it stopped the private war, and shamed the three parties into a compromise ; Effects of but the compromise was itself a proof of com- the loss of mon weakness. It was concluded in August 1 318, between Lancaster alone on his own part, and ten bishops and fourteen temporal lords as sureties for the king. It provided a new form of council — eight bishops, four earls, and four barons ; one other member was to be nominated by Lancaster, who did not deign to accept a 264 The Early Plantagencts. a.d. 1319. seat. But this constitution had no more permanence han the former. The official preponderance was main- tamed by Pembroke and Badlesmere, and they could do nothmg .vhilst the Earl of Lancaster continued to stand aloof. Edward in 1319 made a vain attempt to recover Berwick, but only gave the Scots an opportunity of invad- mg Yorkshire, and matters grew worse and worse Men could not help seeing that even Edward himself could not mismanage matters more than thev were being now mismanaged, and that, whether incapable or no, he had never yet had a chance of showing what capacity he had. The fate of Gaveston might have warned any who counted on acquiring power by Edward's favour ; and in New favour- ^^ct for Several years he remained unburdened ues^of the and uncomforted by a confidential ser^•ant .PPn..i ^"^ ^^^ '''^"^"^ popularity of Lancaster seemed now to render the position of the king's friend Jess hazardous, and an aspirant was found in the youn-er Hi^?h le Despenser. He was the grandson of that Hu^h ^^'Trc\\ '^^ •'■"''^"'^^ ^^ '^^ ^^^^"^^^ government, ^ho had fallen with Simon de Montfort at Evesham His father now the elder Hugh, had been a courtier and minister of Edward L, and had been throughout the early troubles of the reign faithful to Edward H., but he was regarded as a deserter by the barons and had a bitter personal enemy in the Earl of Lancaster. Father and The Des- son were alike ambitious and greedy • thev pensers. g^owed little regard for either 'the person or the reputation of their master, and sacrificed his interest whenever it came in competition with their own The younger Hugh, like Piers Gaveston, was married to one of the heiresses of Gloucester, and had been appointed in 1 318 chamberlain to the king under the government of compromise. Edward in his weakness and isolation clung tenaciously to these men ; they had inherited some A.D. I319.2I. Edward II. 26$ \ of the political ideas of the barons of 1258, and had per- haps an indistinct notion of overthrowing the influence of Lancaster by an alliance with the commons. The younger Hugh, at all events, from time to time uttered sentiments concerning the position of the king which were inconsistent with the theory of absolute royalty ; he had said that the allegiance sworn to the king was due to the crown rather than to the person of the sovereign, and that if the king inclined to do wrong it was the duty of the liegeman to compel him to do right. Another part of the programme of the Despensers involved a more distinct recognition of the right of parliament than had ever been put forth by Lancaster, and it would seem probable that they hoped by maintaining the theorv of national action, as stated by Edward L, to strengtlien their master's position, and through it to strengthen their own. So low, however, was the political morality of the time, that the same selfish objects were hidden un- der widely different professions. The Despensers had sadly miscalculated the force of the old prejudice against court favourites, and did not see how every step in ad- vance made them new enemies. The Earlof Lancaster saw in their unpopularity a chance of recovering his place as a national champion, and a quarrel among the coheirs of Gloucester gave the opportunity for an outcry. Hugh of Audley, who had married Piers Gaveston's widow, and who was therefore a rival and brother-in-law of Hugh le Despenser, showed some signs of contuma- cious conduct in the marches. The Earl of Hereford and Roger Mortimer, the Lord of Wigmore, declined to join in the measures necessary to reduce him to order, and refused to meet the Despensers in council ; and in a parliament which the king called to meet on the 15th of July, 1321, the- whole baronage turned against the favourites. Their attempts to influence the king, their 266 TJie Early Plantagcnets. a.d. 1322. greedy use of the king's name for their own purposes, the rash words of the younger Hugh, the vast acquisitions of his father, their unauthorised interference in the adminis- tration of government, and their perversion of justice were alleged as demanding condign punishment. The Earl of Hereford, Edward's brother-in-law, made the charge before the three estates, and the lords, ' peers Sentence ^^ ^^^ land,' as they now perhaps for the first against the time Called themselves, passed the sentence Despensers. . . . . -, •■, , r^, 01 lorfeiture and exile on the two. They were not to be recalled except by consent of parliament, and a separate act was passed to ensure the immunity of the prosecutors and the pardon of those who had taken up arms to overthrow them. This was Lancaster's last triumph, and it was very shortlived. In the month of October the Lady Badlesmere shut the gates of Leeds Castle against the queen, and Edward raised a force to avenge the insult offered to his wife. All the earls of his party joined him, and the Earl of Lancaster, who hated Badlesmere for his old rivalry, did not interfere to protect him. Finding himself for the first time at the head of a sufficient force, the king determined to enforce order in the marches and to avenge his iriends the Despensers. He marched against the border castles of the Earl of Hereford, Audley, and D'Amory. On receiving news of this Lancaster at once discovered his mistake, and called a meeting of his party — the good lords, as they were called — at Doncaster. Both parties showed great energy, but the king had got the start. He obtained from the convocation of the clergy of Canterbury, under the influ- ence of the archbishop, his old tutor, a declaration that the War sentence against the Despensers was illegal, ktngTnd*^^ and. lost no time in forcing his way towards the barons. Hereford to punish the earl who had procured it. On his way he defeated the Mortimers. He took A.D. U22. Edward II. 26'J Hereford ; and having reached Gloucester in triumph, on the nth of February, recalled his friends to his side.' Lancaster and his party were not idle, but they under- rated the importance of the crisis and divided their forces. One part was sent to secure the king's castle of Tickhill, the other, under Lancaster himself, moved slowly towards the south. Edward, in the hope of inter- cepting the latter division, moved northwards from Ciren- cester, and the earl, when he reached Burton-on-Trent, did not venture any farther. On the news of his flight his castles of Kenilworth and Tutbury surrendered, and Edward started in pursuit. The unfortunate earl had reached Boroughbridge on his way to his castle of Dunstanburgh, with his enemies close behind him, when he learned that his way was blocked by Sir Andrew Harclay, the governor of Carlisle, who was coming to meet the king. A battle ensued, in g^^^,^ ^j. which the Earl of Hereford was slain, the Borough- forces of Lancaster were defeated, and the ^"'^^^^ earl himself forced to surrender. He was taken on the 17th of March, and on the 22nd was tried by the king's judges, in the presence of the hostile earls, in his own castle of Pomfret. He was condemned as a traitor. Evidence of his intrigues with the Scots was adduced to give colour to the sentence, and he was beheaded at once. So the bloodof Gaveston vvasavenored, t^ 1 .1 ^.j ^ , , to J Execution and the tide of savage cruelty began to flow of Lancas- in a broader stream, to be avenged, like ^^''' Lamech, seventy and sevenfold. At once the people, hating the Despensers and misdoubting Edward, de- clared that the martyr of Pomfret was worthy of canon- isation : miracles were wrought at his tomb ; it Ulterior was a task worthv of heroes and patriots to consequen- , . J 1 ' T T • , ^^'^ of the avenge his death. His name became a watch- execution. word of liberty ; the influence which he had laboured 268 The Early Plantagencts. A.D. 1322. to build up became a rival interest to that of the crown. First, Edward II. and the Despensers fell before it; then, in the person of Henry IV., the heir of Lancaster swept from the throne the heir of Edward's unhappy traditions. In the next century the internecine struggle of the Roses wore out the force of the impulse, and\et enough was left to stain from time to time the scaffolds of the Tudors, long after the last male heir of the Plan- tagenets had perished. Some few of the other hostile barons perished in the first flush of the triumph ; Badlesmere, in particular, was ?A\Tordi ^^^^" ^^^ hanged. Roger D'Amory was dead. nances of ' The Audleys were spared. About thirty were '3". put to death ; many were imprisoned ; many more paid fines or forfeitures which helped to enrich the Despensers. Edward was now supreme, and took, as might be expected, the opportunity to undo all that' his enemies had tried to do. In his first parliament, held at York, six weeks after the battle, he procured the revoca- tion of the Ordinances, and an important declaration on the part of the assembled estates that from henceforth ' matters to be established for the estate of our lord the king and of his heirs, and for the estate of the realm and of the people, shall be treated, accorded, and estab- lished in parliaments by our lord the king and by the consent of the prelates, earls and barons, and commonalty of the realm, according as hath been hitherto accus- tomed.' No ordinances were to be made any more like the Ordinances of 131 1. The declaration, intended to secure the crown from the control of the barons, enun- ciates the theory of constitutional government. And thus the Despensers tried to turn the tables against their foes. But although they determined to annul the Ordinances they did not venture to withdraw the material benefits which the Ordinances had secured. The king, immediately A.D. 1323. Edward IL 269 after the revocation, reissued in the form of an ordinance of his own some of the most beneficial provisions ; and the parliament responded by reversing the acts against the favourites and granting money for defence against the Scots. It was indeed high time, for such had been the course of recent events that the attitude of the two kingdoms was reversed, and England seemed Campaign more likely to become tributarv to Scotland ?f Edward in the than to exercise sovereignty over it. Edward's Nonh. campaign was, however, as usual, unsuccessful. He narrov.ly escaped capture amongst the Yorkshire hills, and the whole county was in such alarm that he found it scarcely possible to hold a parliament at York. Nor did his troubles end there. Early in the following year he found that Sir Andrew Harclay, whom be had just made Earl of Carlisle, \vas negotiating treasonably with Robert Bruce ; he was taken, condemned, and executed. Well might the unhappy king throw himself more desperately than ever on the support of the Despensers, for he knew none others, even of those who had served him best or whom he had most richly rewarded, who were not ready to turn and betray him. With the Despensers he was safe, for they, he was sure, could only stand with him and must fall when he fell. One thing, however, he did, in itself wise and just — concluding with Scotland a truce for thirteen years. This was done in May 1323. Prudent as it was, it alienated from him the adventurers who like Henry de Beaumont were intent on carving out for them- selves counties in conquered Scotland. Every- i^^^ ^\^ thing was interpreted in the worst sense Scotland, against him : the men who refused to follow him to war cried out against the peace ; and the men who had followed him to war deserted him. Thus, when he at last found himself without a rival in the kingdom, it 270 The Early Plantagenets. a.d. 1323. seemed as if he were left alone to discover how ^reat depths of abasement were still to be sounded; new calamities which, whoever really caused them, seemed to result from his own incapacity. In truth, partly owino- to Edward's neglect of the duty of a king, and partly owing to the mveterate animosities following on the death of Lancaster, the tide of public and private hatred was too high to be long resisted. Yet the last impulse came from a quarter from which it might have been least expected and from which it was certainly least deserved. Edward, with all his faults, had been a kind husband and father ; but he had trusted his wife less implicitly Position than she desired to be trusted. In this he and policv • ^-z- i i , - «-*ii.j n\, of the was justified by the fact of her close re- ' of Lancaster, the king's brothers, the earls, save Arundel and Warenne, the bishops almost to a man, ^^^^ , joined her either in person or with effective march of^"' help. Adam Orlton, the Bishop of Hereford, /h^ wL^Cf who had been the confidential friend of Bo- ^^"giand. hun, and Henry Burghersh, the Bishop of Lincoln, the nephew of Badlesmere, led the councils of aggression. They advanced by Oxford to attack Bristol, where they expected to find Edward and the Earl of Winchester 274 The Early Plantagcncts. a.d. 1326. On October 26 the queen reached Bristol, but her husband had gone into Wales and was attempting to Fall of escape to Ireland. The capture of Bristol, Bristol. however, was the closing event of his reign. The Earl of Winchester was hanged forthwith. The young Edward was declared by the lords on the spot guardian of the kingdom, and he summoned a parlia- ment to meet in his father's absence. The king, with Hugh le Despenser and Baldock, were taken on Novem- ber 16 ; on the 17th the Earl of Arundel was beheaded at Hereford ; on the 24th Hugh le Despenser was hanged, drawn, and quartered at the same place. The parliament was to settle the fate of the king, and the parliament Overthrow met at Westminster on January 7. There anddeposi- niattcrs were formallv discussed, but the con- tion 01 the - ' king. elusion was, as all the world knew, foregone. Even if anv had thouE^ht that, now that the countr\' was rid of the Despensers, the king might be allowed to reign on, the dread of the London mob and of the armed force which Mortimer brought up silenced them. The ^\Tetched archbishop declared that the voice of the people was the voice of God. Bishop Orlton, professing to believe that if the king were released the queen's life would not be safe, insisted that the parliament should choose between father and son. Bishop Stratford of Winchester, who led the Lancaster party and had no love for Mor- timer, drew the articles on which the sentence of renun- ciation was founded. The king, he said, was incompetent or too indolent to judge between right and wrong; he had obstinately refused the advice of the wise and listened to evil counsel ; he had lost Ireland, Scotland, and Gascony, he had injured the Church, oppressed the barons, he had broken his coronation oath, and he was ruining the land. After seme debate the articles were placed before the unhappy king, who confessed that they were true and A.D. 1327. Edward 11. 275 f that he was not worthy to reign. On January 20 he resigned the crown and the parliament renounced their allegiance and set his son in his place. For eight months longer he dragged on a miserable life, of which but little is known. Men told sad stories of suffering and insult which after his death provoked his kinsmen to avenge him, but none interfered to save him now. The reign of Mortimer and Isabella was a reign of terror ; and before the terror abated Edward was murdered. The :\iurder of place of his death, the Castle of Berkeley, Kdwardll. and the date, September 21, are known. Henry of Lan- caster, who was at first appointed to guard him, had treated him too well. His new keepers, either prompted by the queen and Mortimer or anxious to win a reward, slew him in some secret wav. And thus ended a reign full of tragedy, a life that may be pitied but affords no ground for sympathy. Strange infatuation, unbridled vindictiveness, recklessness beyond belief, the breach of all natural affection, of love, of honour, and loyalty, are here ; but there is none who stands forth as a hero. There are great sins and great falls and awful vengeances, but nothing to admire, none to be praised. So the son of the great king Edward perished ; and with a sad omen the first crowned head i„„„wo.,^» Importance went down before the offended nation ; with a -ind signifi- j c • 1 • 1 cance of the sad omen, for it was not done m calm or reign of righteous judgment. The unfaithful wife, the ^^^^^^ ^^■ undutiful son, the vindictive prelaie, the cowardly minister were unworthy instruments of a nation's justice. Such as it is, however, the reign of Edward II. is chiefly important as a period of transition. It winds up much that was left undone by his father ; it is the seed- time of the influences which ripened under his son. The constitutional acts of 1309, 13 10 and 131 1 are the supple- ment to those of 1297; the tragedy of Piers Gaveston and T 2 276 The Early Piajitagenets. a.d. 1327. Earl Thomas is the primary cause of much of the per sonal history that follows. So, too, the reign closes the ffreat interest of Scottish warfare, and contains the germ o of the long struggle with France. But viewed by itself its tragic interest is the greatest ; and it is rich in moral and material lessons. It tells us that the greatest sin for which a king can be brought to .account is not personal vice or active tyranny, but the dereliction of kingly duty ; the selfish policy which treats the nation as if it were made for him, not he for the nation. It is the greatest sin and the greatest folly, for it at once draws down the penalty and leaves the sinner incapable ot avoiding it or resisting it ; it leaves the nation to be op- pressed by countless tyrants, and is by so much worse than the tyranny of one. It allows the corruption of ustice at the fountain's head. So we close a long and varied epoch. The sum of its influences and results must be read in the history of the following age, in which, in many important points, the reign of Richard II. repeats the tragedy of Edward II. ; and the struggles of York and Lancaster consummate the series of events which begin at Warwick and at Pomfret; in which the constitution that we have seen organised and consohdated under Henry II. and Edward I. is tested to the utmost, strained and bent and warped, but still survives to remedy the tyranny of the Tudors and over- throw the factitious absolutism of the Stewarts. Con>titu- tional re- sults of the epoch closing with his down- fall. INDEX. -*o*- ACC ACCURST, Francesco, 211 Acre, siege of, 110 ; the English at, 1 12 ; double siege at, 112 ; taken, 114 Adeliza, queen, 90 Adrian IV., pope, 28,44 Alexander III., pope, 3, 68, 87 Alexander IV., pope, 177 Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, 20 Alfonso, King of Castille, 94 Alfonso, the Wise, 21 Alnwick, battle of, 91 Amalric, Count of Montfort, 185 Amiens, council at, 192 Amory, Roger d', 263 ; his death, 268 Anarchy in the reign of Stephen, 21 Anglo-Saxon militia system, 83 Anjou, house of, at Jerusalem, 99 ; loss of, 135 Anselm, 60 Aquitaine, feudal rights of, 48, 49 Archbishops, disputed election oi, at Canterbury, 137 Arthur, grandson of Henry II., 118 ; his claims to the throne, 129 ; his claims in France, 133 ; murder of, 135 Arundel, earl of, 90 Ascalon rebuilt, 115 Audley, Hugh of, 263 Aumale, William of, 42 Azai, conference at, 103 BADLESMERE, Sir Bartholo- mew, 263 ; his death, 268 Badlesmere, Lady, 266 Baldock, chancellor, 270 BEC Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, 110 Baldwin of Redvers, 17 Baldwin the Leper, 99 Balliol, John, made king of Scot- land, 231 ; summoned by Edward I., 245; at war with Edward I., 246 ; surrender of, 246 Bannockbum, battle of, 262 Barbarossa, Frederick, 35 Barons, disputes with, 143 ; refuse to serve under John, 145 ; their appeal to the laws of Henry I., 146 ; their quarrels with John, 148 : granting of the Magna Carta by John, 149; their long list of grievances, 187, 188 ; disunion among, 190 ; the differences with the king referred to arbitration, 191 ; refuse to abide by the deci- sion, 192, 193 ; victory of, at the battle of Lewes, 195 ; defeated at Evesham, 199 ; their discontent under the growth of the royal power, 237 ; assembly of, at Salis- bury, 238; control of Edward II. by, 259 ; at war with Edward II., 266 Barons' War, the, 191 Battles, Alnwick, 91 ; Bannockbum, 262 ; Boroughbridge, 267; Bou- vines, 147 ; Consilt, 46 ; Dunbar, 246 ; Evesham, 198 ; Lewes, 195 ; Lincoln, 22, 160 ; Standard, 18 Bavaria, 8 Beauchamp, Guy, Earl of Warwick, 256 Beaumont, Henry de, 259 Becket, Thomas. 28 ; appointed han- \ // 2'J'^ hidex. BER cellor, 40 ; at the siege of Tou- louse, 50 : his early Hie, 62 : rises into note, 62 ; as chancellor, 63 ; becomes archbishop of Canterbury, 64 ; Henry's confidence in him, 64 ; resigns the chancery, 66 ; en- forces the feudal rights of his see, 67 ; opposes the king on a finan- cial point, 68 ; his new enemies, 70 ; quarrels with Henry II., 71 ; defends the clerical immunities, 71 ; his conduct regarding the Constitutions of Clarendon, 73 ; is summoned to Northampton, 74 : his trial, 74 ; his flight, 75 ; is exiled, 75 ; under the protection of Lewis VII., 75 ; his interviews with the king, 76 ; reconciliation with Henry II., 78; returns to England, 78 ; murder of, 78 ; the true glory of, 79 ; pilgrimage to his grave, 91 Berengaria, Princess of Navarre, her marriage with Richard I., 114 Berksted, Stephen, 196 Berwick, sacked by Edward I., 246 ; capture of, by the Scotch, 263 Bibars, Sultan, 205 Bigod, Hugh, 12, 14, 17, 29, 44, 89, 189 Bigod, Roger, Earl of Norfolk, 237 Bishops, indemnity for their losses caused by John, 146 Bishops, Norman, 60 Blanche ol Castille, marries Lewis of France, 134 Bohun, Humfrey, Earl of Hereford, 237 Boniface, Archbi.shop, 172, 176, 189 Boniface VIII., pope, 236, 247 Boroughbridge, battle of, 267 Bouvines, battle of, 147 Braban^on mercenaries, 89 Bracton, Henry, 211 Breaute, Falkes de, i6i, 163 Bridgenorth, siege of, 43 Bristol, fall of, 274 Brito, Richard, 78 Britten, judge, 211 Bruce, Robert, Earl of Carrick, as regent, 247 Bruce, Robert, son of the Earl of Carrick, lays claim to the crown ot Scotland, 229 ; his successes in Scotland, 261 CLI Burgh, Hubert de, justiciar, i6r ; as regent, 162 ; work of. 164 ; fall of, 169 ; reinstatement of, 171 Burghersh, Henry, Bishop of Lin- coln, 273 Burnell, Robert, 206, 211 CADWALADER. 46 Cambuskenneth, 246 Campaign of 1301, 247 Camvill, Gerard, warden of Lincoln castle, 119 Camvill, Nicolaa de, 159 Canterbury', Archbishop of, his power, 57 ; disputed election of the Archbishop at, 137 Castles, destruction of, by Henry II., Celestine II I.,- pope, 120 Chalus-Chabrol, castle of, 128 Chancellor, his duties, 63 Charles IV., King of France, 271 Charters, confirmation of the, 239 ; reconfirmation of the, 241 Christianity in England, 56 Church, English, its history', 55 ; national unity first realised, 56 ; under the heptarchy, 56 ; great power of the clergy, 57 ; alliance with the State, 57 ; effect of the Conquest on, 58 ; policy of William I. regarding, 59 ; in Stephen's reign, 61 ; quarrel of John with, 137 ; plunder of the clergy, 144 ; state of, in 1213, 143 Clare, Richard de (Strongbow), his conquests of Ireland, 86 Clare, Richard de. Earl of Gloucester, 187, 189 ; his death, 191 Clarendon, council at, 72 ; consti- tutions of, 72 ; council at, 77 ; assize of, passed, 77 ; constitutions of, renounced, 87 Clement III., pope. 120 Clement V., pope, 243 Clergy, the, Stephen's breach with, 19 ; great power of, 57 ; plunder of, 144 ; representation of, imder Edward I., 2215 ; relations of Edward I. with, 234 ; taxation of, 235 ; Edward I. quarrels with, 236 Clericis Laicos, Bull, 236 Clerkenwell, council of, 100 ClitTord, Roger, justiciar of Wales, 209 Index, 279 CO I Coinage, debased by Stephen, 19 Commons, House of, 224 Comnenus, Isaac, King of Cyprus, 114 Comyn, John, Earl of Badenoch, 247, 249 Confirmatio cartarum, 82 Conquest, the, effects of, on the Church, 58 Conrad of Hohenstaufen, 27 Conrad of Montferrat, 113 Conradin, 5 Consilt, battle of, 46 Constance of Brittany, 120 Constantia of France married to Eustace, 29 Constitutional crisis, 237. 238 Constitutional grievances in 1245, 172 Constitutions of Clarendon, 72 ; re- nounced, 87 Corbeuil, William of, Archbishop, Coronation, ceremony of, 45 Court of Common Pleas, 214 Court of Exchequer, 214 Court of King's Bench. 214 Court of Rome, character of, 86, 87 Coutances, \\ alter of, 120 Cowton Moor, 18 Crisis of 1258, 167 ; why it was de- layed, 180 Crusade, second, 27 Crusade, third, 100. no Crusade of Prince Edward, 205 Customs, the revenue, 219 ; the new, 243 DANEGELD, abolition of, 16, 53> 69 David I., King of Scotland, first invasion by, 16 ; second invasion by, 18 David, son of Llewelyn. Prince of Wales, rebels against Edward I., 209 ; his death, 209 De Religiosis statute, 213, 235 Despcnser, Hugh le, the baron's justiciar, 189 ; his death, 199 Despenser, Hugh le, the favourite of Edward II., 263 ; sentence against, 266 ; avarice and arrogance of, 271 Despenser, Hugh le. Earl of Win- chester, hanged, 274 EDW Dictum de Kenilworth, 199 Dunbar, battle of, 246 Durham, Bishop of, io8 EARLS, appointment of, 19 ; Ecclesiastical school in the reign of Stephen, 6r Ecclesiastical quarrels, 236 Edmund of Abingdon, Archbishop of Canterbury, 170 ; driven into exile, 176 Edmund of Cornwall, as regent, 227 Edmund, Earl of Kent, 272 Edward I., at the battle of Lewes, 195 ; proclaimed king, 200; joins the crusade, 200 ; political educa- tion of, 202 ; motives determining his crusade, 203 ; his English policy, 203 ; his idea of kingship. 204 ; crusade of 1270, 205 ; his ac- cession to the throne, 206 ; ad- ministration of the kingdom during his pilgrimage, 206 ; his corona- tion, 207 ; rebellion of the prince of North Wales, 208; conquest of Wales, 209; as a lawgiver, 210; Erinciples of his legislation, 212 ; is legal reforms, 212 ; parlia- mentary settlement of revenue on, 220 ; his first parliament, 223 ; national policy of, 226; evil con- .sequence caused by his absence, 227 ; his claims upon Scotland, 229 ; his relations with Philip IV., 232 ; quarrel with Philip IV., 232 ; consequences thereof, 233 ;his rela- tions with the clergy, 234 ; quarrel:, with the clergy, 236 ; resistance of his subjects, 237, 238 ; dissatisfied with his subjects, 241 ; quarrels with Archbishop Winchelsey, 242 ; his relations with foreign merchants 243 ; concludes peace with France. 246 ; marries Margaret, sister of Philip IV.. 246 ; truce concluded with Scotland, 246 ; his new con- stitution for Scotland, 248 ; his death, 249 ; his character and motives, 250 Edward II., reactionary policy of, 251 ; personal tastes and tWvouritcs of, 252 ; his character, 252 ; peace with Scotland, 233 ; married to Isabella of France, 254 ; coronation of, 254 ; controlled by the barons, "/ ( / 28o Index, EDW 259 ; his struggles in favour of Gaveston, 259 ; changes in the administration, 2?6o ; new favour- ites of, 264 ; at war with the barons, 266 ; his campaign in the north, 269 ; truce concluded with Scotland, 269 ; summoned to do homage to Charles IV., 271 ; in- trigues of the queen against, 272 ; helplessness of, 273 ; overthrow and deposition of, 274 : murder of, 275 ; importance and signifi- cance of his reign, 275 ; consti- tutional results of the epoch closing with his downfall, 276 £dward III., 272 ; appointed gover- nor of the kingdom, 274 Eleanor, daughter of Henry II., 94,95 Eleanor de Montfort, wife of Llewe- lyn, Prince of Wales, 209 Eleanor of Aquitaine, 27 ; her mar- riage with Henry II., 30; regent on the death of her husband, 106 ; her relations with John, 132 ; her death, 135 Eleanor of Provence marries Henry III., 172 Eleanor, widow of William Marshall, her second marriage with Simon de Montfort, 172 Election at Canterbury, 137 Evesham, battle of, 198 Exchequer under Henry I., 216 Empire, relations with the papacy, 3 England, importance of its work during this epoch, 5 ; state of, during the absence of Henry II., 52 ; under the heptarchy, 56 ; national unity first realised, 56 ; alliance with Germany, 76 ; during the crusade, 116 ; state of, on the death of Richard, 130; separa- tion from Normandy, 136 ; laid under interdict, 141 ; national in- activity of, 175 ; at war with Scotland, 245 ; truce concluded, 246 Essex, Earl of, 251 Eugenius III., 28 Eustace, son of Stephen, 20 ; his marriage with Constantia of France, 29 ; his death, 31 rj*ERRERS, Earl of Derby, joins a league against Henry II., 89 GIL Ferrers, William of. Earl of Derby 187 Feudal law, 48 Feudal lords, power of, 213 Finance, system of, during the reign of Edward I., 215 FitzOsbert, William, 126, 127 Fitz Peter, Geoffrey, justiciar, 127, M5. 146 FitzUrse, Reginald, 78 Fitz Walter, Robert, 151, 160 Flemings, invasion of Normandy bv 89 Foliot, Gilbert, 29 Foreign affairs in 1258, 167 France, alliance of, with Scotland, 245 Franconia, 6 Frederick I., Emperor, 3, 35, (Z, 76, III Frederick II., Emperor, 3, 210; marries Isabella, sister to Henry III., 172, 210 Frederick of Swabia, iii French history, character of the epoch of, 2 Friscobaldi, the, 259 Fulk the Good, Count of Anjou, 152 GASCONS, the, rebellion of, 179 Gaveston, Piers, favourite of Edward II., 252 ; his hatred of the earls, 256 ; banishment of, 256 ; recall of, 257 ; his death, 260 Geddington, assembly at, 100 Geoffrey of Anjou, 13, 15, 2^, 27 Geoffrey of Brittany, 98 ; his death, 99 Geoffrey of Nantes rebels against his brother Henry II., 50 Geoffrey, son of Henry II., Arch- bishop of York. 120 Geographical summary, 6 German history, character of the epoch of, 3 Germany, 3 ; condition of, under the early Plantagenets, 7 ; alliance with England, 76 Giffard, Archbishop of York, ap- pointed regent, 206 Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, 194, 196, 198, 199 ; swears fealty to Ed- ward I., 206; marries Johanna daughter of Edward L, 228; hi.s death, 237 Index, 281 GIL Gilbert of Vacoeuil, 52 Gilbert, son of the Earl of Glouces- ter, regent, 258 Glanvill, Kanulf, thejusticiar, 90, 97, 106, no ; his death, 112 Gray, John de. Bishop of Norwich, elected Archbishop of Canterbury, 139 Gregorj- IX., pope, 176 Grosseteste, Robert, Bishop of Lin- coln, 173, 176 Gualo, 152, 157, 162 Gwynneth, Owen, 46 HARCLAY, Sir Andrew, go- vernor of Carlisle, 267 ; exe- cution of, 269 Hawisia, daughter of William, Earl of Gloucester, 94 ; wife of John, 134 Henry I., question of succession at his death, 11; precautions taken by, 12 ; competitors for the suc- cession, 13 ; his funeral, 15 Henry II.. knighted at Carlisle, 29 ; marries Eleanor of Aquitaine, 30 ; his arrival in England, 30 ; leaves England, 31 ; importance attached to his succession, 32 ; his youth and education, 33 ; his character, 34 : his family policy, 34 ; his great position in Christendom, 35 ; mis- management of his children, 36 ; his personal appearance, 36 ; early reforms of, 37 ; his advisers, 39 ; coronation of, 40 ; disputes re- garding the resumption of lands, 42 ; surrender of the malcontents, 43 ; frequent councils, 43 ; second coronation of, 45 ; first war against Wales, 46 ; visits France, 47 ; his foreign possessions, 47; his rela- tions with his vassals, 47 ; his rela- tion to the King of France, 48 ; questions of boundary', 49 ; per- sonal questions, 4C> ; his true po- licy, 49 ; crushes his brother Geof- frey's rebellion, 50 ; desists from attacking Toulouse, 50 ; his chil- dren, 51 ; conclusion of peace with Lewis VII., 52 ; his legal reforms, 52. 53 :. increase of national unity, 55 ; his confidence in Thomas Becket, 64 ; returns from France HEN 66 ; second war with Wales, 67 ; his disputes with Becket, 68-71 ; appeal to the ancient customs, 71 ; his motives, 72 ; exaspe- rated at Becket, 73 ; his cruel measures towards Becket, 76 ; third war with Wales, 76 ; pro- ceedings during the quarrel, 76 ; reconciliation with Becket, 78 ; perseverance in reform, 80; training of the people in self-government, 82 ; his political object in crown- ing his son, 85 ; applies to the pope on Becket's death, 86 ; his penitenceand absolution, 87 ; quar- rels with his son Henry, 88 ; his success against Lewis VII., 90 ; in fVance, 90 ; his arrival in England, 91 ; his policy, 92 ; importance of this struggle, 93 ; resumes his schemes, 94 ; his visit to England, 95 ; his last quarrel, 100 ; at war with Philip II., loi ; his flight to Normandy, 102 ; hLs last days, 102 ; his death, 103 Henry III., 4 ; character of the reign of, 153; his character, 154; division of his reign, 155 ; his party, 157 ; coronation of, 158 ; second coronation of, 162 ; his foreign policy, 165 ; his personal administration, 165 ; internal mis- government, 166 ; his first act, 167 ; his ingratitude, 169 ; his plan of governing, 171 ; marries Eleanor of Provence, 172 ; his uncon.siitu- tional means for raising money, 174; his impolicy, 174; his rela- tions with the popes, 175 ; accepts the kingdom of Sicil>, 177; his French transactions, 178 ; visits France, 1 79 ; his dynastic policy, 181 ; political troubles of, 190 ; the award of Lewis IX., 191 ; its effects, 193 ; military successes of, 194 : defeated at the battle of Lewes, 195 ; conduct of the new government, 197 ; defeats the barons at Evesham, 199 ; his death, 200 Henr>' VI., Emperor of Germany, 116-122 Henry, Bishop of Winchester, 20, 22 ; retires from court, 23 Henry, Earl of Lancaster, 271, 273 Henry of Essex, constable, 46, 67 / \ 282 Index. HEN Henry, son of Henry II., his mar- riage, 51 ; coronation of, without his queen, 77 ; second coronation of, with his queen, 88 ; quarrels with his father, 88 ; intrigues of, 95 ; second revolt against his fa- ther, 97 ; his death, 98 Henry, son of the King of the Ro- mans, his death, 200 Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, his marriage, 76 Heraclius, patriarch, mission of, 99 Herbert, Bishop of Salisbur>', 126 Hildebrandine revival, 59 History, human, various areas and stages of, I ; under the early Plan- tagenets, 5 Hohenstaufen, drama of, 3 : empire of, 8 Honorius III., pope, 157 House of Commons, 224 House of Lords, 224 Hoveden, Roger, 33 Hugh de Gournay, 135 Hugh of Beauchamp, 99 Hugh of la Marche, 134 Hugh of Lincoln, 126 Hugh of Nunant, Bishop of Coven- try, 124 IMPORTED merchandise, taxes on, 219 Income Tax, 53 Ingeburga of Denmark, 134 Innocent III., pope, 4, 127, 139, 142 Innocent IV., pope, 176 Interdict, England laid under, 141 Ireland, proposal to conquer, 43 ; expedition of Henry II. to, 86 Isabella, betrothed wife of Hugh of la Marche, 134 Isabella of France, wife of Edward II., 254; position and policy of, 270 ; her intrigues in France, 272 ; her triumphant march to the West of England, 273 ; rule under, 275 Isabella, sister to Henr^' III., mar- ried to Emperor Frederick II., 172 Italy, condition of, 6 Itinerant judges first go their cir- cuits, 82 JERUSALEM, captured by Sala- din, 100; Richard's march on, 115 LAU Jews, persecution of, 106 ; banished from England, 228 Jocelin de Bailleul, 72 Johanna, daughter of Edward I., marries Gilbert of Gloucester, 228 Johanna, daughter of Henry II., 94 ; wife of William the Good, "3 John, son of Henry II., his marriage, 94 ; cursed by his dying father, 103 ; provision made for, by his brother Richard, 109 ; position of, 118 ; intrigues with Philip II., 121 ; rebellion of, 123 ; secures Normandy, 130 ; his coronation, 131 ; division of the history of hi.s reign, 132 ; at peace with Philip II., 134 ; his second marriage, 134 ; loses Normandy and Anjou, 135 ; his ecclesiastical troubles, 137 : ex- communication of, 141 ; his obdu- racy, 141 ; swears fealty to the pope. 142 ; quarrels with the barons, 143 ; his journey to the Nonh, 146 ; goes to France, 147 ; the crown offered to Lewis, 151 : his successes against the barons, 151 ; his death, 152 John of Salisbury', 28 John of Brienne, 4 John the Marshall, 70, 74 John XX II., 3 Judges, punishment of, 228 ; itine- rant, 81 ; fiscal work of, 81 ; first go their circuits, 82 Judicature, restoration of, 43 ; cen- tral, 83 Jurisdiction, provincial reform of, 81, 82 Justice, administration of, 53 KENILWORTH, 199 dictum de. LACY, Henr>' de. Earl of Lin- coln, 255 ; his death, 258 Lands, resumption of, 42 Langton, Stephen, elected Arch- bishop of Canterbury', 140 ; ab- .solves the king, 145 ; crowns Henrj' III., 162 ; his death, 168 Langton, Walter. 238, 243, 253, 260 Laudabiliter Bull, 44 Lidex, 283 LAW Laws, appeal to the, of Henry I., 146 ; probable plan for the codifica- tion of, 211 ; Edwards principles of legislation, 212 League against Henry II., 89 Leicester, Earl of, joins a league against Henry II., 89 I^opold, Duke of Aui:tria, 116 Lewes, battle of, 195 Lewes, Mise of, 196 Lewis VI., King of France, 8 Lewis VII., Kmg of France, 4 ; joins the second crusade, 27 ; his character, 35; his relation to Henry II., 48 ; takes up the cause of Becket, 73 ; joins a league against Henr>- II., 89 ; utterly routed by Henrj" II., 90 : his death, 96 Lewis IX., King of France, 4 ; arbi- trates between Henry III. and his barons, 191 ; award of, 191 ; effects of the award, 193 ; motives for his decision, 193 ; his death, 205 Lewis of Bavaria, 3 Lewis son of Philip of France, his marriage, 134 ; the crown of Eng- land offered to him, 151 : his .successes against John, 151 ; lands in England, 151 ; treaty concluded with Henr>' III., 159; defeated at Lincoln and departure from England, 160 Liege, Bishop of, 123 Lincoln, battle of, 22, 160 Lincoln, parli."ment at, 242 Linlithgow castle, 247 Lisbon, 10 Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, 194 ; rebellion of, against Edward I., 208 ; married to Eleanor de Montfort, 209 ; his death, 209 Longchamp, William, bishop of Ely, 109; chancellor, 116, 117; as su- preme justiciar, ii8 ; demands the royal castle.s, 119; removed from the justiciarship, 121 l>ords. House of, 224 Lorraine, Lower, 9 Lothar II., 6 Lucy, Richard de, 29. 40, 72, 89, 90; appointed regent during the king's absence, 52 Lusignan, Ethelmer, Bishop of Win- chester, 181 Lusignan, Guy of, 99 MON MABILIA, Countess of Glouces- ter, 24 Madoc, rebellion of, 244 Magna Carta, granted at Runny- mede, 149 ; attempts to annul it, 150 ; re-issued, 158 ; third issue of, 160 ; confirmed, 227 Malcolm IV., King of Scotland, Mandeville, Geoffrey, Earl of Essex, 25. 134, 159 Mandeville, William, 109 Manners during this epoch, 4 Mans, le, capture of, by Philip II., lOI Margaret of France, daughter of Lewis VII., 51 ; wife of Hcnr>', son of Henry II., 9S Margaret, sister of Philip IV., mar- ries Edward I., 246 Marlborough, parliament of, 199 Marshall, Richard, 170 Marshall. William, Earl of Pembroke, 157 ; his death, 160 ; work of, 162 Martell, William, 29 Martin, master, 176 Matilda, daughter of Henry I., fealty sworn to, 14, 16 ; her arrival m England, 21 ; elected Lady of England, 22 ; her imprudent rule, 23 ; her struggles against .Stephen, 24 ; flies to Oxford, 24 ; the king- dom divided, 25 ; her government in Normandy, 40 Matilda, daughter of Henry II., her marriage, 76 Maurienne, Count of, 88 Mercenaries, importation of, 19 ; expulsion of, 40 Merchandise, taxation on importa- tion of, 219 Merchants, foreign, relations of Ed- ward I. with, 243 Merlin, prophesies of, 37 Miles of Hereford, 27 Military' system in Henry II.'s time, ?3 Mise of Lewes, 196 Monasteries, 60 Monks of Canterbury, their quarrels regarding the election of arch- bishop, 138 Montfort, Simon de. Earl of Leices- ter, marries Eleanor, daughter of John, 172 ; his character, 184, military successes of, 194 ; parlia- 284 - Index, Index. 285 MOR ment of, 197 ; impolicy of his sons, 198; killed in the battle of Eves- ham, 199 ; his character, as a great and good man, 200, 201 Moral lessons, 4 Mortimer, Hugh, 42 Mortimer, Roger, 189; appointed regent, 206 Mortimer, Roger, Lord of Wigmore, 265, 271, 272. 275 Morville, Hugh de, 78 Mowbray, Roger, 100 NEVILLE, Ralph, Bishop of Chichester, 171 New Custom, the, 243 Nicolas IV., pope, 235 Nicolas, Bishop of 'I'usculum, 146 Nigel, Bishop of Ely, 40 Norman bishops, 60 Normandy, invasion of, 89 ; for- feiture of, 135 ; separation from England, 136 Normans, results of rule under, 10 Northampton, council at, 73 ; par- liament at, 254 Nottingham, castle of, 119 ORDAINERS, the, 258 Ordinances of 131 1, the, 258 ; revocation of, 268 Orlton, Adam, Bishop of Hereford, 273,274 Otho, Cardinal, 176 Otho, of Saxony, Emp)eror, 128 Oxford, siege of, 25 ; parliament of, 188 ; provisions of, 189 PACIFICATION, terms of, in 1.153. 37 Palestine, condition of, 99 Pandulf, 142 ; as legate, 162 ; resigns, 164 Papacy, relations with the empire, 3 : demands in Henry III.'s time, 166; taxation, i58 ; Henry III.'s relations with the popes, 175; list of papal assumptions, 176 ; papal claims over Scotland, 242 Pari.s, Matthew, 131, 174, 185 Parliament, 172 ; discussions in, 173; of 1258, 187; origin of our mo- dem, 197 ; under Edward I., 223 ; growth of, 223 ; Lincoln, 242 Peckham. Archbishop, 235 REY Pembroke, Earl of, 256 Perche, Count of, i6o Peter de Vineis, 210 Peter of Wakefield, 142 Petronilla, Lady, 91 Peverell, William, 43 Philip II., King of France, his hatred of Henry II., 96 ; at war with Henry II., 100; joins the third crusade, no ; at Messina, 113 ; intrigues of, against Richard, 121 ; concludes a two months' peace with John, 133 ; at peace with John, 134 ; takes Normandy and Anjou, 135 Philip III., King of France, 206; his death, 232 Philip IV., the Fair, King of France his relations with Edward I , 232 ; quarrels with Edward I., 233 Philip v.. King of France, 271 Philip of Flanders joins a league against Henry II., 89 Pipewell, council of, 108 Political history during this epoch, 2 Politicians, ecclesiastical, 61 Portugal during the age of the earlj[ Plantagenets, 9 Provisions of Oxford, 189 Provisions of Westminster, 190 Puiset, Hugh de, Bishop of Durham, 89 : justiciar, 116, 117 ; expelled, 118 Q UIA Emptores statute, 213, 224 ■p ANULF, Earl of Chester, 21 Ranulf, Earl of Chester, 129, 157, 169 Raymond of Toulouse, 184 Rebellion of 1136, 17 Reform, Henry II.s plans of, 37 ; progress of, 52 ; Henry's pei seve- rance in, 80 ; political object of it, 81 ; new schemes of, 257 Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, 90 Reginald, subprior, elected Arch- bishop of Canterbury, 139 Religion during this epoch, 4 Revenue, nature of, in the time of Henry II., 52 ; under Henry III. 218 ; sources of, during Edward l.'s reign, 215: customs, 219; parliamen- tary settlement on Edward I., 220 Reynolds, Walter, 261 ' r RIC Richard I., Coeur de Lion, son of j Henry II., 51 ; quarrels with his i brother Henry, 98 ; his father's distrust of, 98 ; joins the third crusade, 100 ; does homage to Philip II., loi ; joins in a con- spiracy against his father, loi ; cnaracter of his reign, 104 ; his accession to the throne, 105 ; his coronation, 106 ; his personal ap- pearance and character, 106, 107 ; his mode of procuring means for the third crusade, 108 ; starts on the crusade, 109 ; his journey along the Italian shore, 112 ; at Messina, 113; his campaigns in Palestine, 114; exploits of, 115; his retreat and truce, 116 ; cap- tivity of, 116; negotiations for his release, 122 ; ransom raised for his relea.se, 122 ; his relea.se, 123 ; his ■ second visit to England, 124 ; money refused him by the great council, 126 ; his last years, 127 ; events of the war with Philip II., 127 ; his death, 128 Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, 168 Richard, Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, brother to Henry III., 165, 169 ; his mar- riage, 172 ; his character, 182 ; at the battle of Lewes, 195 ; his death, 200 Robert, Earl of Gloucester, 15 ; swears fealty to Stephen, 16 ; his power 18 ; taken prisoner, 24 ; his death, 27 Robert, Earl of Leicester, regent during the king's absence, 52 Roches, Peter des. Bishop of Win- chester, regent, 157, 161 ; the king's adviser, 169 ; fall of, 170 Rochester castle besieged, 151 Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, 14 ; jus- ticiar of Henry I., 20 ; arrested, 20 Roger, Earl of Leicester, 26 Roger of Hereford, 42 Roger of Pont I'Eveque, Archbishop of York, 77 Rome, proceedings at, 28 ; character of the cour t of, 86, 87 "Kudolf of Hapsburg, 3 ^ , ,, Tvmcr^.e, granting of the Magna STE SAER DE QUINCY, 160 St. Albans, assembly at, 146 St. Andrew's, Bishop of, 247 St. Bernard, 4, 28 St. Edmund, 80 St. Edmund's, coronation at, 45, 46 St. Gregory, 56 St. Hugh^ 126 St, Paul's, council at, 146 St. William, 28 Saladin, Sultan of Egj'pt, 99 Salisbury', Earl of, 151 Salisbury, meeting of barons at, 238 Saragossa, 10 Saxony, 8 Scotland, invasion of England by, 16, 18 ; submission of, to Henry II., 92 ; claims of Edward I. upon, 229 ; the kingdom of, 230 ; papal claims over, 242 ; alliance of, with France, 245 ; troubles in, 245 ; war against England, 246 ; truce with England, 246 ; affairs in, after the fall of Balliol, 247 ; Edward's new constitution for, 248 ; truce concluded with Edward II., 269 Scottish independence, war of, 246 Scutage, institution of, 54 Segrave, Sir John, 247 Segrave, Stephen, justiciar, 169 Shrewsbury, assembly at, 223 Sibylla, queen of Jerusalem, sister of Baldwin the Leper, 99, 113 Simon de Montfort, see Montfort, Simon de Spain, state of, 9 Standard, battle of the, 18 Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, 270 Statute DeReligiosis, 235 Statute of Wales, 210 Statute of Westminster, the first, 223 Statute of Winchester, 214 Stephen of Blois, his claim to the throne, 13 ; his reception in England, 14 ; his election and coronation, 14 ; his first charter, 15; his second charter, 16; in- vaded by the Scots, 16, 18 ; rebel- lion of 1136, 17; beginning of troubles, 17 ; his imprudent poTicy, 18 ; debases coinage, 19 ; his new earls, 19 ; imports mercenaries, - ^ • Vi 1 .- Ki-.'n/-n \i-itn the cler'^ 286 Index. STI prisoner, 21 ; is released, 24 • his Sn '" "^^' ^5 : divisi'ontf the kmgdom. 25 : period of anarchy 26. proceedings at Rom«» oR • quarrels with the archbishop X •' question of succession. ^9 ; '^'eS-' tiates for peace, 30 ; his death ft ^,?^'™'-^te of his character fi' ' Sugand. Archbishop, 58 ' ^ S ;^lV"^;^^"§''.'^ ^^^^^^^d near ^.. Stratford. John, Bishop of Win Chester. 274 ^ ^ '" Swabia, 6 YPK ! \yAIERANofMcuIan,26 11 .^^'' ^i ^^"^ ^ith Henry iJ-, 67 ; third war with Henrv iT 76; turbulence of hf ^ "' T'^-^CRED. King Of Sicily. „ 3 inthTrde'yP2T';;^,«-,^h-^ representative'' ailn,;Terfo;"ff;f 4^"^PJ'\'-s, the. 50. 51 Theobald. Archbishop of Cinter bury, 20: quarrels with sreXn J8 ; ne ,,, ,, succeS'^Cf II 2- hi' ^^^•■^'^''^"'o Henry Tk T'*, ,• "''^ ^eath, 52 ' Theobald, Count, ,3. i\ Ihomas, Earl of Lancaster 2-. of Sl'-^" if ' •''^' ''^ •■ "^-"' 'on ^hisetcutiinV°"-^--esof I,hurstan, Archbishop, 18 I 'ckhdl, castle of, ng • oledo, 10 Toulouse, war of, 50 Iracy, William de, 78 11- ^ "allmgford, peace „4;i.-,l?o„s a,, death, 137 ^'^fiard, 130 ; his Wareham, 25 Warenne, Earl, 246 hood conferred 0*4; « ' '^"'«'>'- Westminster, treafv 0/ at,7o;proSSotx'^^r:rt'' t^i "^gainst Henry H £>, . ,,,?^^^en prisoner, qi ^ ^'^ *^. ^J'.'am, Earl of Salisbury 1,6 W. hamofAumale,i63^' ^^ U, IjamofEynesford. 70 ^1 ham of Ferrers, 187 ^J..' I'lm, son of Henry J ,, «,!,,a™,eGood,oflicUV:i,is,„ar. V-*PeiS^'r; AJ™" <"'- Earl of |ovef„?r'-o^VcSlat;1?3-,t , death, 272 ^^ ' "*^ Vescy, Lady de 2-n • P.,-. '51, 159 ^^ ' -^"^'^ce de. „ riage, 94 '^Sjetef ^°' "^t-V of U-'"*^J"f^r, Bishop of, 108 Worms, Qiet of, 122 Y^^ES. 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