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 ■ A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 AS WELL AS A HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH 
 
 SEVERAL HUNDRED WOOD-CUTS 
 
 MONUMENTAL RECORDS; COINS; CIVIL AND MILITARY COSTUME; DOMESTIC BUILDINGS, FURNITURC, 
 
 AND ORNAMENTS ; CATHEDRALS AND OTHER GREAT WORKS OF ARCHITECTURE ; SPORTS AND 
 
 OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF 3IANNERS ; MECHANICAL INVENTIONS ; PORTRAITS OF 
 
 THE KINGS AND aUEENS ; AND REMARKABLE HISTORICAL SCENES. 
 
 GEORGE L CRAIK AND CHARLES MACFARLANE, 
 
 ASSISTED BY OTHER CONTRIBUTORS. 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF STREET. 
 
 M.DCCC.XLVI.
 
 iH 
 
 r
 
 The publishers respectfully present the Pictorial History of England to the American 
 people, because they regard it as, in many very important respects, the most valuable history 
 that has ever been w^ritten of that colossal empire. Its entire freedom from partisan or sectarian 
 bias, the spirit of ardent and exact research by which its pages are distinguished, the compre- 
 hensiveness of the plan upon which it is written, and the admirably faithful and accurate manner 
 in which that plan has been carried out, combine, it is believed, to give it a value not possessed 
 by any other work of a similar kind accessible to the American public. 
 
 It was originally issued in London, in monthly parts, by Charles Knight, the well known 
 publisher of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and was thus sent forth, to some 
 extent at least, under the supervision, and with the sanction, of that renowned association. Its 
 authorship is, of course, shared by a number of writers ; but it was edited by Mr. George L. 
 Craik, whose various works upon the literary and general antiquities of Great Britain have made 
 him favorably known in this department. The leading and most prominent merit of the book is 
 the completeness of the historical view which it presents of the history of England. After an 
 introductory sketch of the primitive history of the British Isles, in which the question of their 
 original population is discussed with great learning and ability, the work is divided into succes- 
 sive Periods, the history of each Period forming a separate Book. The Books are sub-divided 
 into Chapters, each Chapter being devoted to a distinct department in the history of the entire 
 Period. Thus we have — 
 
 I, A narrative of the Civil and Military transactions of a Period, in which is presented all that 
 is usually given in historical works, namely, a "narrative of the progress of arms, the develop- 
 ment of the military power of the empire, its achievements and conquests at home and abroad, 
 ;ind the more marked and important changes effected in the forms of government and legislation. 
 The constant aim, in this department of the work, has been, to avoid all the prejudices and sym- 
 pathies connected with parties and sects, which have so seriously distorted most of the English 
 histories that have hitherto been written, and rendered them adroit and elaborate pleadings, in
 
 arc 
 
 .^escribed, 
 ..ch these events 
 occurred, accui^.. w«ie Period, and spirited 
 
 delineations of the most important scenes, copi^u --- ^.lotoncal paintings of celebrated artists 
 of acknowledged merit. This portion of the work, constituting the first chapter of each Book, 
 and extending in all to above two thousand pages, was furnished by Mr. Chaules M'Farlaxe. 
 
 II. Following this, we have, in a second chapter of each Book, a history of Religion, written, 
 with one exception, by Mr. Thomas Thomson, in which the progress of religion, from the earliest 
 period to the introduction of Christianity, and then the changes which took place in consequence of 
 the prevailing rehgious conflicts, are clearly presented and illustrated by pictorial representations. 
 
 III. The third chapter of each Book is devoted to a history of the Constitution, Government, 
 and Laws of the Period embraced in the general division to which the Book relates. This por- 
 tion forms, more strictly, the constitutional history of the empire, and gives a clear, connected, 
 and elaborate view of the growth of the Constitution of England, the rise and progress of populai 
 liberty, and all the changes which have taken place in the legislation and government of Great 
 Britain. This is one of the most valuable and important portions of the work, and was written 
 by Mr. A. Bisset, barrister-at-law, with occasional and inconsiderable exceptions. 
 
 IV. The fourth chapter of each Book embraces a history of the National Industry, the various 
 occupations which chiefly prevailed in the successive Periods, the methods of agriculture, of 
 mechanics, of all the useful arts, and the gradual progress of the people from the pursuits of a 
 rude and semi-savage state to the refinements and diversified industry of later and more culti- 
 vated times. This department forms a very curious and valuable portion of the work, and will 
 be still more highly prized from the fact, that it is the first attempt ever made to present a history 
 of the industry of the nation. This chapter, in the first Book, which contains an iramensi; 
 amount of recondite and most curious information, was \vi-itten by Mr. Planche, and the cor- 
 responding chapters for the succeeding Periods by Mr. J. C. Platt. The narrative is illustrated 
 throughout by pictorial representations of every portion of the subject — the methods of plough- 
 ing, sowing, reaping, digging, spinning, weaving, threshing, and, indeed, of every department of 
 agricultural, mechanical, and domestic labor, copied from pictures of the date to which they refer.
 
 He. 
 
 second an. 
 
 fifth, seventh, ei^ 
 
 flw VI. The sixth chapter in each noun. ^, ...^ o.^.counts of the costume and furniture in use at 
 
 the time, furnished by Mr. Planciie, and a liistory of Manners and Customs by Mr. Thomson, 
 copiously illustrated by well drawn and authentic pictorial illustrations. 
 
 VII. The seventh chapter in each Book comprises a history of the Condition of the People, 
 and gives a comprehensive view of their Social Position. It embraces facts which could not con- 
 veniently be introduced into any of the preceding chapters, and treats principally of the National 
 Civilization of the Period — the proportions of the different classes into which the population was 
 divided — the incomes and costs of living of each class — the state of health of the community — 
 ordinary length of life — statistics of vice and ciime, and some account of the judicial institutions 
 for repressing and punishing violations of the law. 
 
 This detailed statement of the contents of the work is here presented, in order that an idea may 
 be formed of its general scope, and the comprehensiveness of the plan upon which it has been 
 executed. It gives a complete history of the People, as well as of the Government — of the 
 progress of Arts, as well as of Arms — of Manners and Customs, as well as of Laws — a picture 
 of the Pursuits, Habits, and Condition of the great mass of the People, as well as of the more 
 dazzling and ambitious achievements of the Warriors and Nobles. Little reflection is needed 
 to convince any one that this is the only way in which the actual progress and growth of a 
 nation can be accurately and satisfactorily traced. The true life of a nation lies in these 
 details. Its well-being is involved in them, far more than in those military exploits to which 
 historians in general have limited their attention. They funiish the elements of national power, 
 and lay the foundation of national greatness; and the history of England is far more accurately 
 to be learned from these representations of the growth of her industry, the development of her 
 resources, the extension of her commerce, and her general advancement in civilization and 
 science, as shown in the most ordinary pursuits of daily life, than from the proudest conquests of 
 her world-encircling arms. The pictorial illustrations, of which there are an immense number, 
 add greatly to the value of the work, by rendering more impressive and definite the representa- 
 tions of the narrative. They present to the eye accurate pictures of what is described in the
 
 i 
 
 uan 
 and best 
 
 Hitherto the very high price of the tnguo^ . ..„^ louuered it entirely inaccessible to the 
 
 great body of the American people. It is now presented in a form and at a price which will, it is 
 confidently believed, place it within the reach of the great majority of the reading public throughout 
 tlie United States. In thus republishing this extensive work, the American publishers believe they 
 are rendering an important service to the cause of popular instruction and of general intelligence. 
 
 Harper and Brothers.
 
 Introductory View of tnt 
 
 Primitive History of the x^ 
 
 "^ BOOK I. 
 
 THE BRITISH AND ROMAN PERIOD ; FROM B.C. 55 TO 
 A.D. 449. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— Narrative of Civil and Military Trans- 
 actions ........ 22 
 
 CHAPTER II.— The History of Religion. 
 
 Section I. — Druidism ...... 54 
 
 Section II. — Introduction of Christianity . . 67 
 CHAPTER III.— Histoiy of the Constitution, Govern- 
 ment, and Laws. 
 Section I. — Political Divisions of the British Na- 
 tions . . . .71 
 
 Section II. — The Government and Laws of the 
 Ancient Britons before the Invasion of the 
 Romans . ....... 77 
 
 Section III. — The Government and Laws of 
 Roman Britain ....... 79 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— History of the National Industry . 86 
 CHAPTER v.— The History of Literatiure, Science, 
 
 and the Fine Arts . . . . . .111 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— The History of Manners and Cus- 
 toms . . . . . . . .118 
 
 CHAPTER VII.— Histor)' of the Condition of the 
 
 People 127 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 the period from the arrival of the SAXONS to 
 
 the arrival of the NORMANS, A.D. 449-1066. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— History of Civil and Military Trans- 
 actions ........ 130 
 
 CHAPTER II.— The History of Religion. 
 
 Section I. — Saxon Paganism .... 213 
 
 Section II. — Christianity 217 
 
 CHAPTER III.— History of the Constitution, Govern- 
 ment, and Laws ...... 234 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— Histoiy of the National Industry . 250 
 
 I 3tmmm.. . 270 
 
 ..i. X jt,lt VI. — The History of Manners and Cus- 
 toms ........ 31 
 
 CHAPTER VII.— Histor)' of the Condition of the 
 
 People 333 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 the period from the NORMAN CONQUEST TO THE DEATH 
 OF KING JOHN, A.D. 1066-1216. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— Narrative of Civil and Militaiy Trans- 
 actions ........ 345 
 
 CHAPTER II.— The Histoiy of Rehgion . . 529 
 
 CHAPTER III.— History of the Constitution, Grovem- 
 
 ment, and Laws ...... 543 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— History of the National Industry . 565 
 
 CHAPTER v.— The History of Literature, Science, 
 
 and the Fine Arts 583 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— The History of Manners and Cus- 
 toms ......... 613 
 
 CHAPTER VII.— History of the Condition of the 
 
 People C36 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 THE PERIOD FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY III. TO THE 
 END OF THE REIGN OF RICHARD II., A.D. 1216-1399. 
 
 CHAPTER I.— Narrative of Civil and Military Trans- 
 actions ........ 648 
 
 CHAPTER II.— The History of Religion . . 773 
 
 CHAPTER III.— History of the Constitution, Govern- 
 ment, and Laws . . . . . .781 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— History of the National Industry- . 796 
 
 CHAPTER v.— The History of Literature, Science, 
 
 and the Fine Arts . . . . . .813 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— The Histoiy of Manners and Cus- 
 toms 834 
 
 CHAPTER VII.— History of the Condition of the 
 
 People 852
 
 k
 
 On 
 
 Initia. 
 
 Round To 
 
 Ornamental i>i. 
 
 Initial Letter 
 
 Head of Julius Csesar 
 
 Dover Cliffs 
 
 Landing of Julius Caesar. After « 
 
 Roman Galley. From a Coin 
 
 11 Ditto. From Copper Coins of the time of Hadrian 
 
 Plan, Elevations, and Section of a Roman Galley. From a 
 Model presented to Greenwich Hospital by Lord Anson 
 
 The Thames at Coway Stakes . . ... 
 
 Huts in a Cingalese Village 
 
 British War Chariot, Shield, and Spears. — De Loutherbourg 
 
 Roman General, accompanied by Standard-bearers, and com- 
 mon Legionaries, landing from a Bridge of Boats. From a 
 bas-relief ou the Column of Trajan .... 
 
 Charge of Roman Infantry. From the Column of Trajan 
 
 Head of Claudius . 
 
 Coin of Claudius, representing his British Triumph 
 
 British Camp at Caer-Caradoc. From Roy's Military An- 
 tiquities ... . . 
 
 Caractacus at Rome. — Fuseli .... 
 
 Boadicea haranguing the British Tribes. — Stothard 
 
 Head of Hadrian ... 
 
 Copper Coin of Hadrian 
 
 Head of Antoninus Pius 
 
 Copper Coin of Antoninus Pius, commemorative of hisVictories 
 in Britain ... . ... 
 
 The earliest figure of Britannia on a Roman Coin. From a 
 Copper Coin of Antoninus Pius ..... 
 
 Duntocher Bridge, on the line of Graham's Dyke . . . 
 
 Profile of Roman Vallum, Agger, and Fosse 
 
 Section of Wall of Severus . . . . 
 
 Wall and Ditch of Severus 
 
 Wall of Severus, near Housestead, Northumberland 
 
 Roman Soldier . 
 
 Roman Image of Victory ... 
 
 Roman Citizen ... . . . . 
 
 Tombstone of a young Roman Physician 
 From Sculptures found in the line of the Wall of Severus. 
 
 Wall of Severus, at Denton Dean, near Newcastle-on-Tyne . 
 
 British Gold Coin of Carausius . 
 
 Head of Constantino the Great 
 
 British Coracles . , . . 
 
 Ensign of Kent 
 
 Initial Letter — Druidical Circle and Oak 
 
 Grove nf Oaks. From a Picture by Ruysdael 
 
 Kits Coty House, a Cromlech, near Aylesford, Kent . 
 
 Group of Arch-Druid and Druids . . . . 
 
 Silbury Hill.AViltshire ... . . 
 
 Stonelienge ....... 
 
 Ground-Plan of Druidical Temple at Avebury . 
 
 Plan or Map of the whole Temple and Avenues at ditto 
 
 Gaulish Deities. FromRoman bas-reliefs under the Choirof 
 Notre Dame, Paris 
 
 Bronze Bowl or Patera, found in Wiltshire 
 
 Initial Letter 
 
 Arch-Druid in his full Judicial Costume 
 
 Initial Letter — Roman and Ring Money 
 
 Hare Stone, Cornwall 
 
 Ground-Plan and Section of the Subterranean Chamber at 
 Carrighhill, in the County of Cork .... 
 
 Plan of Subterranean Chambers on a Farm near Ballyhendon 
 
 Plan of Subterranean Chambers at Ballyhendon . 
 
 Section of a Subterranean Chamber at Kildrurapher . 
 
 Gaulish Huts. From the Antonine Column . 
 
 Welsh Pig-sty, supposed to represent the form of the Ancient 
 British Houses . . , . 
 
 Plan and Section of Chun Castle .... 
 
 The Herefordshire Beacon 
 
 Constantine To! man, Cornwall 
 
 Ancient British Canoe, found at North Stoke, Sussex . 
 
 105 
 
 _ • ^^ 
 
 ._.. v^om Mould . 107 
 
 /5 Remains of a Roman Hypocaust, or Subterranean Furnace for 
 
 heating Baths, at Lincoln 109 
 
 76 Part of a Roman Wall, near St. Albans 101) 
 
 77 Roman Arches, forming Newport Gate, Lincoln, as it appeared 
 
 in 1792 110 
 
 78 Restoration of the Roman Arch, forming Newport Gateway, 
 
 Lincoln 110 
 
 79 Initial Letter— Roman Lorica Ill 
 
 80 Celtic Astronomical Instrument 115 
 
 81 Initial Letter— Ancient Beacon 118 
 
 82-84 Figures of Ancient Gauls in the Braccse, Tunic, and Sa- 
 
 guni. From the Roman Statues in the Louvre . . . 120 
 
 8.5 Remains of a British Breast-Plate, found at Mold . . 121 
 
 86 Group of the principal Forms of Barrows .... 123 
 
 87 Contents of Ancient British Barrows 124 
 
 88 Group of Vessels. From Specimens found in Roman Burial 
 
 Places in Britain 125 
 
 89 Contents of Roman-British Barrows 12(i 
 
 90 Metal Coating of Ancient British Shield. Found at Rhydy- 
 
 gorse, in Cardiganshire, (not in the Witham, as stated by 
 
 mistake in page 126) . 126 
 
 91 Initial Letter . 127 
 
 92 Ornamental Border, from the Title-page of Charlemagne's 
 
 Bible 130 
 
 93 Initial Letter — Druidical Serpent Egg .... 130 
 
 94 Arms and Costume of the Tribes of the Western Shores of 
 
 the Baltic 131 
 
 95 Vortigern and Rowena. — Angelica Kauffinan . . . 133 
 
 96 Arms and Costume of a Saxon Military Chief . . . 136 
 
 97 Remains of the Abbey of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island . 138 
 
 98 Rock of Bamborough, with the Castle in its present state . 139 
 
 99 Silver Coin of Offa 141 
 
 100 Silver Coin of Egbert 142 
 
 101 Arms and Costume of Danish Warriors .... 143 
 
 102 Silver Coin of Ethelwulf 143 
 
 103 Arms and Costume of an Anglo-Saxon King and Armor- 
 
 Bearer 148 
 
 104 Alfred and the Pilgrim.— B. West . ^ ... 150 
 
 105 Alfred's Jewel. Found at Athelney 152 
 
 106 Silver Coins of Alfred 158 
 
 107 Specimen of a copy of the Latin Gospels, given by King 
 
 Athelstane to Canterbury Cathedral 160 
 
 108 Costume of King Edgar, a Saxon Lady, and a Page . . 164 
 
 109 St. Mary's Chapel, Kingston, as it appeared about fifty years 
 
 since 106 
 
 110 Silver Coin of Canute 171 
 
 111 Canute reproving his Flatterers. — Smirke . . . 174 
 
 112 Silver Coins of Edward, the Confessor .... 177 
 
 113 Harold taking leave of Edward on his departure for Nor- 
 
 mandy. Frwu the Bayeux Tapestry 186 
 
 114 Harold on his Journey to Bosham. From the Bayeux Tapestry 187 
 
 115 Harold entering Bosham Church. From the Bayeux Tapestry 187 
 
 116 Harold coming to Anchor on the Coast of Normandy. From 
 
 the Bayeux Tapestry 188 
 
 117 Harold's appearance at the Court of Duke William. From 
 
 the Bayeux Tapestry 188 
 
 118 Harold's Oath to William. From the Bayeux Tapestry . 189 
 
 119 Harold's Interview with King Edward on his Return from 
 
 Normandy. From the Bayeux Tapestry . . . 190 
 
 120 The Sickness and Death of Edward the Confessor. From the 
 
 Bayeux Tapestry 191 
 
 121 Funeral of Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey. 
 
 From the Bayeux Tapestry . . . . . . 192 
 
 122 Remains of the Shrine of Edward the Confessor, Westmin- 
 
 ster Abbey 192
 
 133 Battle of Hastings. I 
 
 134 Ditto Ditto 
 
 135 Death i)f Harold. From the Bayeux Tapestry 
 
 136 Srulptured Stone, dug up in the Chapel of St. Regulus, at 
 
 St. Andrews 
 
 137 Coronation Chair, with the Scottish " Stone of Destiny,'' kept 
 
 in Westminster Abbey ....... 
 
 133 Sueno's Pillar at Forres 
 
 139 Initial Letter 
 
 140 Ruins of the Monastery of lona, or I-columb-kiU 
 
 141 Gregory and the Angles. — Singleton 
 
 142 Augustin preaching before Ethelbert. — Treshani 
 
 143 Consecration of a Saxon Church. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 144 Christian Missionary preaching to the British Pagans. — Mor- 
 
 timer . 
 
 145 Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey 
 
 146 Portrait of St. Dunstan in fuU Archiepiscopal Costume. 
 
 From an Illuminated MS. in the British Museum 
 
 147 Pnrtrait of King Alfred 
 
 148 Initial Letter ... 
 
 149 The Witenagemot — The King presiding. MS. in the British 
 
 Museum 
 
 150 Saxon Flagellation. MS. in the British Museum . 
 
 151 Saxon Whipping and Branding. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 152 Initial Letter 
 
 153 Saxon Ships 
 
 154 Entrance of the Mine of Odin, Derbyshire .... 
 
 155 Beating Acorns for Swine. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 156 Ploughing, Sowing, and carr}ing Com. MS. in the British 
 
 Museum 
 
 157 Wheel-Plough. From the Bayeux Tapestry 
 
 158 Costume of Shepherds. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 159 Two-handed \\Tieel-Plough, drawn by Four Oxen. MS. in 
 
 the British Museum 
 
 160 Harrowing and Sowing. From the Bayeux Tapestry 
 
 Ifll Sowing. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 162 Digging, breaking Earth with a Pick, and Sowing. MS. in 
 
 the British Museum 
 
 163 ^\'heel-Plough and Spades. MS. in the British Museum . 
 
 164 Reaping and Carting Corn. MS. in the British Museum . 
 
 165 Felling and Carting Wood. MS. in the British Museum 
 106 Mowing. MS. in the British Museum .... 
 
 167 Threshing and Winnowing Com. From MS. in the British 
 
 Museum .......... 
 
 168 Ploughing, Sowing, Mowing, Gleaning, Measuring Com, and 
 
 Harvest Supper. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 169 Pruning Trees. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 170 Raising Water from a Well with a loaded Lever. MS. in the 
 
 British Museum 
 
 171 Drinking from Cows' Horas. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 172 Wine-Press. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 173 Saxon Lantem. From Strutt's Chronicle of England 
 
 174 Candelabra. MS. in the British Museum . 
 
 175 Digging and Spinning. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 176 Smithy. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 177 Smithy and a Harper. MS. in the British Museum 
 
 178 Saxon Ship. MS. in the British Museum . 
 
 179 Initial Letter 
 
 180 Jarrow, at the Mouth of the River Tyne . 
 
 181 Golden Gate of the Palace of Diocletian at Spalatro 
 
 182 Console from the Palace at Spalatro .... 
 ia3 Basilica of St. Paul, Rome, after the Fire of 1823 
 
 184 Ground-Plan of the Church of Grisogono, Rome 
 
 185 Portico at Lorsch 
 
 186 Capital from the Doorway of Mcntz Cathedral 
 
 187 Capital from the Portico at Lorsch 
 
 188 Windows from the Palace at Westnwnstcr 
 
 268 
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 209 
 
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 300 
 
 306 
 
 ..n . 307 
 
 c-um . 30f 
 MS. m the 
 
 . 30(3 
 310 
 
 -am 310 
 
 311 
 
 J -ornamented Seat. MS. in the British 
 311 
 
 205 Saxon Tables. MS. in the British Museum 311 
 
 206 The Puscy Horn 312 
 
 207 Fac-simile of the Inscription on the Pusey Horn . 312 
 
 208 Saxon Bed. MS. in the British Museum . . .313 
 
 209 Saxon Beds. MS. in the British Museum . 313 
 
 210 Wheel Bed. MS. in the British Museum . . . .313 
 
 211 Royal Costume, from a Picture of Herod and the Magi. MS. 
 
 in the British Museum 314 
 
 212 Royal Costume, and the Harness and Equipment of Horses. 
 
 From a Picture of the Magi leaving the Court of Herod. 
 
 MS. in the British Museum 314 
 
 213 Ornamented Tunic. MS. in the British Museum . . 315 
 
 214 Saxon Cloaks. Plain and Embroidered Tunics, and Shoes. 
 
 MS. in the British Museum 315 
 
 215 Ringed Mail. MS. in the British Museum . . . 316 
 
 216 Costume of Saxon Female. MS. in the British Museum . 316 
 
 217 Canute and his Queen. From Strutt's Horda Angel Cynnan 317 
 
 218 King Edgar. MS. in the British Museum . . 3)7 
 
 219 St. Augustin. MS. in the British Museum . . . .3)7 
 
 220 Egbert, King of Nortliumberland, and an Ecclesiastical Synod, 
 
 offering the Bishopric of Hexham to St. Cuthbert. From 
 
 MS. Life of Bede 318 
 
 221 Bishop and Priest. MS. in the British Museum . . . 318 
 
 222 .Statue of St. Cuthbert — from one of the external Canopies of 
 
 the Middle Tower of Durham Cathedral . . . 31f 
 
 223 Golden Cross, worn by St. Cuthbert, found in his Tomb in 
 
 1827 3I« 
 
 224 Costume of a Soldier. Saxon MS. in the British Museum 319 
 
 225 Battle Scene. Saxon MS. in the British Museum . . 320 
 
 226 Anglo-Saxon Weapons 320 
 
 227 Ditto 321 
 
 228 Feast at a Round Table. From the Bayeux Tapestry . . 323 
 
 229 Dinner — the Company pledging each other. MS. in the Bri- 
 
 tish Museum 323 
 
 230 Dinner Party— Servants on their Knees offering Food on 
 
 Spits. MS. in the British Museum 323 
 
 231 Convivial Party. MS. in the British Museum ... 324 
 
 232 Boar-Hunting. MS. in the British Museum . . . 328 
 
 233 Hawking Party. MS. in the British Museum ... 328 
 
 234 Hawking. MS. in the British Museum . . . .328 
 
 235 Killing Birds with a Sling. MS. in the British Museum . 329 
 
 236 Dancing. MS. in the British Museum 330 
 
 237 Coffin and Grave-Clothcs, from a Pictuie of Raising of Laza- 
 
 rus, in a MS. in the British Museum . . . 331 
 
 238 Initial Letter ... 333 
 
 239 Ornamental Border. From a Saxon MS. in the British .Mu- 
 
 seum .344 
 
 240 Great Seal of William the Conqueror 34.'i 
 
 241 Initial Letter "Mh 
 
 242 Battle Abbey, as it appeared about 1.50 years since . .340 
 
 243 View of Winchester 3.50 
 
 244 Rougemoiit Castle, Exeter 351 
 
 245 York, from the Ancient Ramparts Si.'i 
 
 246 Durham .I.W 
 
 247 Richmond, Yorkshire .361 
 
 248 Croyland Bridge, with the Saxon statue of St. Ethelred 364 
 
 249 Norwich Castle 367 
 
 250 Norman Dice-playing. From Strutt's Sports . . . 360 
 
 251 Church of St. Stephen at Caen 37(1 
 
 2.52 Statue of William the Conqueror, placed against me of the 
 
 external Pillars of St. Stephen's, Caen . . 377 
 
 253 Great Se.il of William Rufus ... ST** 
 
 254 Ruins of Pevensey Castle 3T<' 
 
 255 Rochester Castle : the Keep, with its Entrance Tower 3S1
 
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 :k!8 
 
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 Pon 
 
 Sir h 
 Standard ot > 
 Remains of Olu _ 
 Arundel Castle . 
 Lincoln . 
 
 Tower of Oxford Castle 
 The Thames at Wallingford 
 Great Seal of Henry II. . . . 
 
 Portrait of Henry II. From the Tomb at FontevrauJ 425 
 
 Murder of Becket .... . . 440 
 
 Penance of Henry II. before tlie Shrine of Becket. From 
 
 Carter's Ancient Sculptures .... . 442 
 
 Rnins of the Ancient Royal Manor-House of Woodstock 465 
 
 Gre«t Seal of Richard 1 466 
 
 Portrait of Richard I. From the Tomb at Fontevraud 467 
 
 Ramparts of Acre ... 479 
 
 Part of the Walls and Fortifications of Jerusalem . . 482 
 
 Castle and Town of TiernsteigTi 480 
 
 Lynn, Norfolk .... ... 487 
 
 Great Seal of Kin^ John 497 
 
 Portrait of King John. From his Tomb at Worcester . 498 
 
 Castle of Falaise .... .... 501 
 
 Hubert and Prince Arthur. — Northcole .... 502 
 
 St. Edmunds-bury . 509 
 
 Runnymead ........ 511 
 
 Tomb of King John at Winchester . 514 
 
 Castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne . 518 
 
 Ruins of Norham Castle .... . 522 
 
 Seal of William the Lion, of Scotland . . 527 
 
 Initial Letter . . . 529 
 
 Baptism of the Mother of Becket. MS. in the British Mu- 
 seum . 534 
 
 Group of Anglo-Norman Fonts .... 535 
 Blarriage of the Father and Mother of Becket. MS. in the 
 
 British Museum 535 
 
 Consecration of Becket as Archbishop. MS. in the British 
 
 Museum 536 
 
 Becket's Crown, a Chapel in Canterbury Cathedral . . 538 
 
 Ruins of the Augustine Monastery at Canterbury . . . 540 
 
 A Benedictine . .541 
 
 A Carthusian . . 541 
 
 A Cistercian . 541 
 
 A Templar in his Mantle 542 
 
 Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, pronouncing a Pastoral Blessing. 
 
 MS. in the British Museum . . . . 542 
 
 Initial Letter . . 543 
 
 William I. granting Lands to his Nephew, the Eail of Brit- 
 tany. MS. in the British Museum .... 547 
 Specimen of Magna Charta. From the original in the British 
 
 Museum . . . 557 
 
 Specimen of Domesday Book ... . . 558 
 
 Initial Letter ... 565 
 
 Ship-building. MS. in the British Museum . . 566 
 Coiner at work. From the Capital of a Pillar at St. Georges 
 
 de Bocherville, Normandy . .... 574 
 
 Silver Penny of William I. .... 575 
 
 Silver Penny of William II. . . 575 
 
 Silver Penny of Henry I. . . . 575 
 
 Silver Penny of Stephen . .... 575 
 
 Silver Penny of Henry II. . .... 575 
 
 Irish Silver Penny of John . ... 576 
 
 Reaping and Gleaning. MS. in the British Museuin 577 
 
 Threshing. MS. in the British Museum . . . 577 
 
 Corn-sacks and Store-basket. MS. in the British Museum 578 
 
 Fishing with a Seine Net. MS. in the British Museum . 580 
 
 Ancient Com Hand-mill. MS. in the British Museum . 581 
 
 Ancient English House-building. MS. in the Bntish Museum 58l 
 
 Initial Letter . . 583 
 
 Window of Southwell Minster 595 
 
 Ditto of St. Cross, Hants .... . 595 
 
 Ditto of Caxton Church, Northamptonshire . 595 
 
 Ditto of Castle Hedingham Church 596 
 
 . i)U6 
 607 
 
 shire . •, ^--»— »- . 607 
 
 ..1-t.iace, Conisborough Castle 608 
 
 351 Elevation of a Norman House. From the Bayeui Tapestry . 608 
 
 352 Doorway of St. Leonard's Chapel, Stamford . . . 609 
 
 353 Sarcophagus assigned to Archbishop Theobald, at Canterbury 610 
 
 354 Stone Coffins, Ixworth Abbey, Sutfolk 610 
 
 355 One of the early Abbots of Westminster. From the Cloisters, 
 
 Westminster ........ 610 
 
 356 Roger, Bishop of Sarum. From Salisbury Cathedral . . 610 
 
 357 Andrew, Abbot of Peterborough. From Peterborough Ca- 
 
 thedral • . 610 
 
 358 Specimens of Ornamental Letter of the period. MS. in the 
 
 British Museum 611 
 
 359 Initial Letter 613 
 
 360 Chairs, Ancient Chess-men. From specimens in the British 
 
 Museum 613 
 
 361 Cradle. MS. in the British Museum . . 613 
 
 362 Ancient Candlestick ..... . . 614 
 
 363 Cup, found in the Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey . 614 
 
 364 Groups of Soldiers. From Bayeux Tapestry . . . 615 
 
 365 Matilda, Queen of Henry I. From a Statue in the West 
 
 Door oC Rochester Cathedral 615 
 
 366 Costume of Anglo-Norman Ladies of the Twelfth Century . 615 
 
 367 Female Costume of the time of William Rufus and Henry I. 
 
 From a Psalter of the Twelfth Century .... 616 
 
 368 Laced Bodice and Knotted Sleeves of the Twelfth Century. 
 
 MS. in the British Museum 616 
 
 369 Effigy of Henry II. From the Tomb at Fontevraud . 617 
 
 370 Eleanor, Queen of Henry II. From the Tomb at Fontevraud 617 
 
 371 Berengaria, Queeu of Richard I. From the Tomb at Fon- 
 
 tevraud . 617 
 
 372 Mascled Armor— Seal of Milo Fitz- Walter ... 618 
 
 373 Examples of Mascled Armor. MS. in the British Museum . 618 
 
 374 Knight of Modcna. MS. in the British Museum . 618 
 
 375 Tegulated Armor— Seal of Richard, Constable of Chester . 618 
 
 376 Avantailles 619 
 
 377 Geoffrey Plantagenet. MS. in the British Museum . . 619 
 
 378 William I., andTonstain bearing the Consecrated Banner, at 
 
 the Battle of Hastings. From the Bayeux Tapestry . 619 
 
 379 Ancient Stag-hunting. MS. in the British Museum . . 625 
 
 380 Ancient Royal Rabbit-hunting. MS. in the British Museum 626 
 
 381 Ladie« hunting Deer. MS. in the British Museum . . 626 
 
 382 Ancient Quintain, now standing on the Green of OfTham, 
 
 Kent . 628 
 
 383 Water Tournament. MS. in the British Museum . 629 
 
 384 Ancient Chess-men, preserved in the British Museum 630 
 
 385 Country Revel. MS. in the British Museum 631 
 
 386 Balancing. From Strutt .631 
 
 387 The Daughter of Herodias Tumbling. From Strutt . . 631 
 
 388 Playing Monkeys and Bears. MSS. in the British Museum 632 
 
 389 Playing Bears. MS. in the British Museum 632 
 
 390 Eijuestrian Exercises. From Strutt . . .632 
 
 391 Horse-baiting. MS. in the British Museum 633 
 
 392 Sword-fight. Ditto . . .633 
 
 393 Ditto Ditto 633 
 
 394 Fencing. Ditto . 633 
 
 395 Buckler-play. From Strutt . . . .633 
 
 396 Sword-dance. MS. in the Bntish .Museum . 633 
 
 397 Wrestling. Ditto . . 6.34 
 
 398 Bowling. Ditto 6,34 
 
 399 Kayle Pins Ditto <134 
 
 400 Bob-Apple. Ditto 635 
 
 401 Bird-catching with Clap-Net. MS. in the British Museum 635 
 
 402 Crossbow Shooting at Small Birds. MS. in the British Mu- 
 
 seum . ...... 635 
 
 403 Initial Letter . , . . . 63«
 
 419 Ruuisu. 
 
 4i0 Baliol surrendennfe . • eiii'r 
 
 •fcJl Slirling Castle 
 
 423 Ruins of Kildrummie Castle . 
 
 4ia Great Seal of Edward II. . . . 
 
 424 Edward II. From the Tomb at Gloucester . 
 
 425 Warwick Castle — Guy's Tower . 
 
 4iC Leeds Castle . . ... 
 
 427 Berkeley Castle . . . . 
 
 4i8 Great Seal of Edward 111. 
 
 429 Edward III. From the Tomb in Westminster Abbey 
 
 430 Queeii Philippa. From the Tomb in Westminster Abbey 
 
 431 Uunfermline Abbey, Fife . ... 
 
 432 Ancient Caves near Nottingham Castle . 
 
 433 Mortimer's Hole, Nottingham Castle .... 
 
 434 Genoese Archer, winding up or bending his Cross-bow 
 
 435 Cross-bow and Quarrel . ..... 
 
 430 Queen PhiUppa interceding for the Burgesses of Calais.— Bird 
 
 437 Effigy of Edward the Black Prince. From the Tomb in Can- 
 
 terbury Cathedral . 
 
 438 Great Seal of Richard II. . 
 
 433 Richard II. From a Painting in the Old Jerusalem Cham- 
 ber in the Palace at Westminster .... 
 
 440 Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Strand 
 
 441 Death of Wat Tyler.— Northcote . 
 
 442 Field of the Battle of Chevy Chase.— Bird 
 
 443 Meeting of Richard and Bolingbroke at Flint Castle. MS. in 
 
 the British Museum ........ 
 
 444 Bolingbroke conducting Richard II. into London. MS. in the 
 
 British Museum . ...... 
 
 445 Parliament assembled for the Deposition of Richard II. MS 
 
 in the British Museum 
 
 446 Initial Letter 
 
 447 Dominican or Black Friar . ... 
 
 448 Franciscan or Gray Friar 
 
 449 Archbishop reading a Papal Bull . 
 
 450 Specimen from a copy of Wycliffe's Bible 
 
 451 Initial Letter ... 
 
 452 Initial Letter 
 
 453 Ships of the time of Richard II. MS. in the British Mu 
 
 seum ......... 
 
 454 Penny of Henry III 
 
 455 Penny of Edward I. 
 
 456 Penny (supposed) of Edward II. . . . . 
 
 457 Penny of Edward 111 
 
 458 Groat of Edward HI 
 
 459 Half-Groat of Edward III. 
 4fi0 Penny of Richard II. 
 
 781 
 796 
 
 803 
 
 808 
 
 809 
 809 
 809 
 
 li 
 
 -/". 89G 
 
 . . 827 I 
 
 ' . . 827 1 
 
 ■..*.. 827 
 
 829 I 
 
 , at Lincoln ... 829 | 
 
 . ork Cathedral 830 ' j 
 
 -iice, in Westminster Abbey . . 831 , 
 
 jgh le Despenser, Earl of Gloucester, and his 
 
 Countess, in Tewkesbury Cathedral .... 831 i 
 
 490 Hand-Organ or Dulcimer, and Violin. MS. in the British ' 
 
 Museum .......... 833 
 
 491 Hand-Bells. MS. in the British Museum . ., 8X1 j 
 
 492 Initial Letter 834 I 
 
 493 Ancient Chair. MS. in the British Museum ... 834 | 
 
 494 Ancient Library Chair, Reading-Table, and Readiug-Desk. , 
 
 MS. in the British Museum 834 i 
 
 495 Ancient Bed. MS. in the British Museum . . . 835 
 
 496 Ditto Ditto 835 j 
 
 497 Ancient Female Head-dresses. MS. in the British Museum 837 I 
 
 498 Ladies' Costume, time of Edward I. MS. in the British Mu- | 
 
 seum ...... . .• 837 i 
 
 499 Male Costume, time of Edward II. MS. in the British Mu- 
 
 seum . . . . . . . ' . . . . 837 I 
 
 500 Effigy of Edward II. in Gloucester Cathedral ... 838 i 
 
 501 Head-dresses, time of Edward II. MS. in the British Museum 838 ' 
 
 502 Female Dress, time of Edward II. Ditto . . 838 j 
 
 503 Cardinal's Hat. Ditto . . 838 
 
 504 Male Costume, time of Edward HI. Ditto . . 839 I 
 
 505 Female Costume, time of Edward HI. Ditto . . 839 ; 
 
 506 Tomb of William of Windsor and Blanch de la Tour, in I 
 
 Westminster Abbey 840 I 
 
 507 Mourning Habits. From the Tomb of Sir Roger Kerdeston 840 .! 
 
 508 Male Costume, time of Richard II. MS. in the British Mu- 
 
 seum . . ....... 841 
 
 509 Female Costume, time of Richard II. MS. in the British Mu- 
 
 seum ........... 841 
 
 510 Armor of the Fourteenth Century, exhibited in the Effigy of j 
 
 John of Eltham, from his Tomb in Westminster . 842 ' 
 
 511 St. George, at Dijon .... . . 843 j 
 
 512 Shield of John of Gaunt . ... . 844 ! 
 
 513 Specimens of Ancient Cannon 844 I 
 
 514 Mounting of a Cannon, from Froissart. MS. in the British i 
 
 Museum . . . . ' .... 844 
 
 515 Knights preparing to Combat. MS. in the British Museum 845 
 
 516 Knights Jousting. MS. in the British Museum . . 846 
 
 517 Knights Combating. MS. in the British Museum . . 848 
 
 518 Knights Jousting. MS. in the British Museum . . 846 ^ 
 
 519 Ordeal Combat or Duel. MS. in the British Museum . . 847 j 
 
 520 Playing at Draughts. MS. in the British Museum . 849 | 
 
 521 Circular Chess-board. MS. in the British Museum . 849 I 
 
 522 Mummers. Bodleian MS 850 ! 
 
 523 Tomb of the Boy-Bishop, Salisbury 851 j 
 
 524 Initial Letter 852 
 
 *,* It IS to be understood that the Wood-Cuts have in general been copied from drawings, sculptures, coins, or other works of the period 
 which they are employed to illustrate ; but, among so great a number of subjects, it has not been possible to adhere to this rule in every 
 instance with perfect strictness.' It sometimes happened that no suitable illustration of tlie custom or other matter described was to be found 
 among the remains of the period under consideration ; in a <ew such cases a drawing of a subsequent period has been made use of, where there 
 was reasim to believe that it nevertheless conveyed a sufficiently accurate representation of the thing spoken of. An instance occurs at page 547, 
 where, in the Chapter on the Government and Laws of the Early Norman Period, the mode of granting lands introduced or practiced by the 
 Conqueror is illustrated by a drawing executed in the thirteenth century. In a lew instances the age of the MS. is somewhat doubtful, and 
 has been matter of dispute ; but it is believed that no misconception as to any material point can be occasioned by the use that has been made 
 i)f any authorities as to which such difference of opinion exists. The copies of modern historical pictures, it will of course be understood, have 
 been given for other reasons altogether than their fidelity in regard to costume and other characteristics. An opportunity has been taken m 
 the above List of correcting a few misprints in the titles or descriptions of the Cuts
 
 INTRODUCTORY VIEW 
 
 ORIGINAL POPULATION AND PRIMITIVE HISTORY 
 
 THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 !^^^'- ''ks:^=.4^-^'^^^® 
 
 O question in histoiy is 
 moi"e intricate and dififi- 
 cult than that of the 
 original population of 
 the British islands. 
 The subject, indeed, 
 in its various relations, 
 is entangled with near- 
 ly all the darkest ques- 
 tions that perplex the 
 primeval antiquities of 
 our race. Every part 
 of it has been a field of long and keenly waged 
 controversy, where all the resources of learning and 
 ingenuity, and, it may be added, all the license of 
 imagination and passion, have been called forth in 
 support of the most in-econcilable opinions and sys- 
 tems ; and still there is scarcely a leading point in the 
 inquhy that can be said to be perfectly established, 
 or cleared from all obscurity and confusion. 
 
 Yet, almost in direct proportion to its difficulty, 
 and the degree in which it has exercised and baffled 
 speculation, the subject is interesting and tempting to 
 a liberal curiosity. The connexion which it developes 
 bet%veen the present and the remotest past — the ex- 
 tent of the space over which the survey of it carries 
 us — the light, however faint and interrapted, shed by 
 it upon that wide waste of the time gone by, which 
 the torch of history has left in utter darkness — aU 
 combine to excite and lure on the imagination, and at 
 the same time to give to the investigation much of a 
 real utility and importance. 
 
 It will not be expected that we should here enter 
 upon the more remote inquiries to which the subject. 
 If pursued to its utmost extent, might conduct us ; 
 but it will be of importance to the understanding of 
 much, especially of the earliest portion, of the history 
 which is to follow, that the reader should, in the first 
 place, be put in possession of the clearest views that 
 can be obtained with regard at least to the immediate 
 parentage of each of the various races which appear 
 to have occupied, or made a conspicuous figure in 
 
 VOL. 1. 1 
 
 these islands, before the comparatively recent date 
 at which it commences. Even confined within the 
 limit thus marked out, the investigation is beset with 
 difficulties ; and in pursuing it, we are frequently 
 obliged to be satisfied with such probable conjectures 
 as we are enabled to make when deserted by every- 
 thing like clear evidence, and left to grope our way 
 among a crowd of doubts and perplexities in the dim- 
 mest twilight. It may be of advantage that we should 
 preface the exposition of the conclusions to which 
 we have come, by a statement of the several sources 
 from which evidence or conjectural intimations upon 
 subjects of this kind may be di-awn ; and of the 
 general principles according to which our judgments 
 ought to be formed. 
 
 1. The most obvious species of evidence, in regard 
 to the events that have happened in any particular 
 countiy, or the actions and fortunes of nations and 
 races of men, is the histoiy of them recoi-ded, either 
 in writing or by monuments, at the time, or while 
 the remembrance of them was still fresh. If we had 
 such records in all cases, bearing sufficient marks of 
 their authenticity and faithfulness, we should not 
 need to have recourse to any other kind of evidence, 
 the infei-ences from which must always be compara- 
 tively conjectural, uncertain, and vague. A contem- 
 poraiy histoiy of any past event i» the nearest thing 
 that can be obtained to the actual obsenation of it ; 
 and even for those living in the age in which the event 
 takes place, with the exception only of the few per- 
 sons who may have been present on the occasion, 
 such a histoiy or narrative constitutes the very best 
 information which it is possible for them to command. 
 In the state of the world at which we are now anived, 
 with the mighty printing-press in perpetual opera- 
 tion everywhere like another power of nature, it is 
 not to be apprehended that any important movement 
 in human affairs can happen, at least in the eivilized 
 parts of the earth, without an account of it being 
 immediately drawn up, and so multiplied and dis- 
 persed that it cannot fail to go down to posterity. 
 Without any regular machinery established and kept
 
 INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE PRIMITIVE 
 
 at work for that purpose, the transmission of a knowl- 
 edge of eveiything worth noting that takes place to 
 all future generations, is now secured much more 
 effectually than it ever was in those times when pub- 
 lic functionaries used to be employed, in many coun- 
 tries, to chronicle occurrences as they arose, expressly 
 for the information of after-ages. Such were the 
 pontifical annalists of ancient Rome, and the keepers 
 of the monastic registers in the middle ages among 
 ourselves, and in the other countries of Christendom. 
 How meagre and valueless are the best of the records 
 that have come down to us thus compiled by authority, 
 compared with our newspapers, which do not even 
 contemplate as at all coming within their design the 
 preservation and handing down to other times of the 
 intelligence collected in them, but limit themselves to 
 the single object of its mere promulgation and imme- 
 diate dirt'usion! So much more effectually do we 
 sometimes attain a particular end by leaving it to be 
 provided for by what we may call the natural action 
 of the social economy, than by any artificial apparatus 
 specially contrived to secure it in what may appear 
 to us a more direct and shorter way. In the present 
 case, the preservation of the memory of events, which 
 in itself is an end that never could be expected strongly 
 to engage the zeal of men in its accomplishment, and 
 therefore could not, generally speaking, be well at- 
 tained by being directly aimed at, is secured, in the 
 most con)plete and perfect form, through the inter- 
 vention, and, as the incidental consequence, of another 
 endeavor, which is found to command, in abundant 
 measure, the most active and eager exertions. The 
 best histoiy for posterity is obtained out of materials 
 which were originally provided without any view to 
 that object at all. Nor is this true only of the written 
 materials of history. The same is the case with 
 nearly all the monuments and memorials of eveiy 
 kind of which history makes use. All have been 
 produced, in the first instance, chiefly or exclusively 
 for some other purpose than that of conveying a 
 knowledge of events to posterity. Coins, at once the 
 most distinct and the most enduring witnesses of 
 public transactions, may be said to be wholly intended 
 for the mere present accommodation of the commu- 
 nity. So in general are works of architecture, which 
 nevertheless often also eventually come to take their 
 place among the most valuable of our historic evi- 
 dences. Even a medal struck, or a statue or other 
 monument raised, professedly in honor of some par- 
 ticular event, while it may be admitted to have also 
 in view the pei-pe>tuation of the memory of the event, 
 and the ti-ansmission of a knowledge of it to future 
 ages, has usually for its main end the present orna- 
 ment and illustration of the city or country in which 
 it makes its appearance, and the gratification of those 
 who are to be its first beholders. Indeed, were 
 motives of this selfish description wanting, we should 
 probably make very little provision for posterity in 
 anything; and yet, instigated as we actually are, how 
 constantly and imtiringly are we making such pro- 
 vision in all things ! Eveiy year that an advancing 
 country continues to be inhabited, it is becoming a 
 richer inheritance, in eveiy inspect, for all its future 
 
 occupants. The ages, hqwever, which witnessed the 
 dispersion and earhest migrations of the different 
 races of the great human family, have left us, for the 
 most part, neither histoiy nor monuments. The 
 only contemporary accounts that we have of the 
 affairs of ancient Europe are those that have been 
 presei-ved by the (ireek and Roman writers; and the 
 portion of history which has thus been illustrated 
 with any degree of fulness is exti'emely limited. Of 
 those countries which the writers in question were 
 accustomed to call barbarous, being all the countries 
 of the earth, with the exception of the two inconsid- 
 erable peninsulas of Italy and Greece, they have, for 
 the most part, given us nothing beyond the most 
 scanty and unsatisfactory notices. They scarcely, 
 indeed, advert at all to any of the other European 
 nations but themselves, till the late period of the 
 absorption of those races in the universal empire of 
 Rome : and then we have merely, less or more fully 
 detailed, the history of the generally very short pro- 
 cess by which their subjugation was accomplished. 
 Of the remoter antiquities of these races, the classic 
 authorities tell us scarcely anything that is much to 
 be depended upon ; and, indeed, even of their own 
 origin the Greeks and Romans have recorded little 
 else than fables. Still, such scattered notices as their 
 writings contain, respecting the various nations with 
 which they came in contact, are not to be neglected 
 in considering the subject with which we are now 
 engaged. The information with which they furnish 
 us is no doubt frequently enoneous, and is always to 
 be received with suspicion till found to be corrobo- 
 rated by other evidence, and by the probabilities of 
 the case ; but it may sometimes afford a clue to guide 
 us in the investigation when bther resources fail. 
 Although a great deal of industry, learning, and inge- 
 nuity, has been expended in examining the testimo- 
 nies of the Greek and Roman writers, respecting the 
 ancient population of the British islands, perhaps all 
 the passages that might be quoted in reference to the 
 matter, from the entire series of these writers, have 
 scarcely yet been brought so completely as they 
 might be into one view, and considered both in their 
 connexion among themselves, and as illustrating, 
 or illustrated by, the evidence derived from other 
 sources. 
 
 2. Next in directness among the evidences upon 
 this subject to contemporary history (which is the 
 only history that is not inferential and conjectural), 
 is to be placed the testimony of tradition. Tradition 
 is merely unrecorded history ; but the circumstance 
 of its being unrecorded — that ts to say, of its being 
 ti-ansmitted from one generation to another by no 
 more secure vehicle than tliat of oral communication 
 — very materially detracts, of course, from its trust- 
 worthiness and value. In the case even of a docu- 
 ment or written history, it is not always easy to 
 ascertain that it really is what it professes to be, that 
 it is of the age assigned to it, and that it has not been 
 corrupted or falsified ; in the case of a ti'adition, this 
 matter is always of much more diftieult determination. 
 Indeed, it may be affirmed that a ti-adition is almost 
 universally nothing more than an emblematic or enig
 
 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 raatical representation of the facts on which it is 
 founded ; and frequently the riddle is so absurd or so 
 obscure, that no ingenuity is capable of giving a satis- 
 factory interpretation of it. A tradition is obviously 
 much more exposed, in its descent through a long 
 course of time, to all the chances of alteration and 
 perversion, than a written history ; and the metamor- 
 phosis which it undergoes is sometimes so complete, 
 as to leave little or no intelligible trace of its original 
 form or import. On these accounts, the dependence 
 that can be placed on this source of information 
 respecting events of remote antiquity, must neces- 
 sarily be, in most cases, very slight and dubious. Still 
 the evidence of tradition is not altogether without its 
 value in such inquiries as the present. WHien the 
 tradition is tolerably distinct in its affirmations — when 
 it appears to have prevailed for a long period, and to 
 have been uniform in its tenor for all the time through 
 which its existence can be ti-aced — when it is found 
 as the national belief, not of one merely, but of several 
 counti'ies or races — and when it harmonizes with 
 other traditions relating to tiiie same subject pre- 
 served in other parts of the earth, it is evidently 
 entitled to examination at least, if not to implicit 
 acquiescence. Of the traditions, however, which all 
 nations have of their origin or remote ancestors, very 
 few present all these characteristics. Most of them 
 probably contain some truth, but it is usually overlaid 
 and confused by a large mixture of fable, so that it 
 becomes a process of the gi'eatest nicety and difficulty 
 to extract the metal from the ore. 
 
 3. The religion, the laws, the manners, and the 
 customs of a people, with the memorials of what 
 these have been in past ages, constitute a species of 
 evidence as to their origin, which, although it may 
 be described as only indirect and circumstantial, is 
 really much more valuable than the positive testi- 
 mony of mere tradition. A tradition may be a pure 
 invention or fiction ; it may be nothing more than 
 the creation of national vanity ; even where it has 
 been honest from the first, it may be but an honest 
 mistake ; and it is always liable, in its ti'ansmission 
 through a succession of ages, to undergo change and 
 vitiation from many causes. But a current of evi- 
 dence furnished by all the m.ost characteristic pecu- 
 liarities of the national habits and feelings, cannot 
 lie. It may be misunderstood ; too much or too 
 little may be infeired from it ; we may be deceived 
 while considering it by our own credulity, prejudices, 
 or fancies ; but we are at any rate sure that the facts 
 before us are really what they seem to be. They 
 are the undoubted characteristics which distinguish 
 the people ; and the only question is, how did they 
 originate, or whence were they derived ? It is true 
 that this is commonly far from being an easy question 
 to solve, and that we are veiy apt to be misled in 
 our interpretation of such indications of the connexion 
 between one people and another, as facts of the 
 kind we are now adverting to may seem to supply. 
 So many things in the notions, practices, and institu- 
 tions, and in the general moral and social condition 
 of a people, may arise from principles of universal 
 operation — may be the gi-owth of what we may call 
 
 the common soil of human nature — that a relationship 
 between nations must not be too hastily presumed 
 from resemblances which they may preseni in these 
 respects. Besides, institutions and customs may be 
 bonowed by one nation from another with which it 
 has no connexion of lineage, or may be communi- 
 cated by the one to the other in a variety of ways. 
 If France or Spain, for instance, were to adopt tlie 
 present political constitution of Great Bi'itain, the 
 establishment of that constitution in either of these 
 countries would form no proof, some centuries hence, 
 that the countiy in question had been peopled from 
 England. The progi-ess both of civilization and of 
 religion has been, for the most part, quite indepen- 
 dent of the genealogical connexion of nations ; they 
 have been canied from one country to another, not 
 in general along the same Une by which population 
 has advanced, but rather by intercourse, either casu- 
 ally arising between two countries, or opened ex- 
 pressly for the purpose of making such a communi- 
 cation. They have been propagated at one time by 
 friendly missionaries, at another by conquering ai*- 
 mies. But still, when, in the absence of any other 
 known or probable cause sufficient to produce the 
 phenomenon, we find a pervading similarity between 
 two nations in all their gi-and* social characteristics, 
 we have sti-ong reasons for infeiTing that they be- 
 long to the same stock. When such is the case, 
 however, it will rarely happen that there are not 
 also present other evidences of the relationship, ot 
 a different kind ; the memoiy of it will probably be 
 preserved, at least, in the popular traditions of the 
 two counti'ies ; and the identity or resemblance of 
 laws, religion, and customs, therefore, has usually to 
 be considered merely as coiToborative proof. 
 
 4. Some assistance may also be derived in such 
 inquu'ies from an attention to the physical charac- 
 teristics of nations. Where these happen to be 
 very sti'ongly marked, as in the case of the leading 
 distinctions of the three great races of the Whites, 
 the Malays, and the Negi-oes, they furnish veiy 
 decisive evidence ; but ig regard to the mere subor- 
 dinate varieties of the same race — and the contro- 
 versy is commonly confined to that gi'ound — the 
 tests which they afford us are of much less value. 
 There are probably no distinctions, for instance, be- 
 tween the Celtic and the Germanic races which 
 would not, in course of time, be obliterated by the 
 mere influence of climate. It is with the several 
 Celtic and Germanic races alone that we have to 
 do in discussing the question of the population of the 
 British islands. It may be doubted if any of these 
 could have long presei-ved a distinct physical appear- 
 ance, when mixed together, as they would be, if the 
 country is to be supposed to have been indebted for 
 its population to more than one of them. They 
 might, however, remain distinguishable from each 
 other in that respect for some time ; and when Taci- 
 tus, for example, alleges the superior size and the 
 red hair of the Caledonians of his time as a proof of 
 their Scandinavian origin, and the dark complexions 
 of the Silures, who inhabited the south of Wales, as 
 making it probable that they were of Spanish descent,
 
 INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE PRIMITIVE 
 
 he may have been justified in so reasoning in that 
 iige, when the supposed innnigiations, if they took 
 place, would be comparatively recent, and the difter- 
 ent tribes or nations that occupied the country re- 
 mained still in general separate and unmixed. At 
 the best, however, such indications can hardly be 
 taken as anything more than a sort of makeweight — 
 as something that may 
 
 " — help to thicken other proofs 
 That do demonstrate thinly." 
 
 5. Of course, in attempting to trace the migrations 
 of nations, the relative geogi-aphical positions of the 
 countries from one to another of which they are 
 supposed to have proceeded, must not be overlooked. 
 It is indispensable that the route assumed to have 
 been taken shall be shown to be a natural and a 
 probable one. The mere distance, however, of one 
 country from another, is not the only consideration 
 to be here attended to. Of t^vo inhabited countries 
 equally near to another pait of the world as yet 
 destitute of population, or not fully peopled, the 
 inhabitants of that which is the most overcrowded, 
 or those who are the farthest advanced in civilization, 
 or the most distinguished for their adventurous spirit 
 and their habits of extended intercourse, will be 
 likely to be the first to reach and seize upon the 
 unoccupied territoiy. It has been a disputed ques- 
 tion whether the first xnigiations of mankind Avere 
 made by laud or by sea ; but it does not appear that 
 anything can be generally affirmed on the subject. 
 Some tribes, however, seem to have been always 
 more addicted to navigation than others ; and there- 
 fore they may be supposed to have, in veiy early 
 times, accomphshed voyages of a length which could 
 not be probably presumed in the case of others. In so 
 far as respects the British islands, however, whether 
 we suppose them to have derived their population 
 from Gaul, from Scandinavia, or fiom Spain, there 
 are no difficulties presented by the breadth of sea 
 which would have to be traversed on any hypothesis. 
 6. Were the several descriptions of circumstan- 
 tial evidence aheady enumerated our only guides 
 when deserted by the direct testimony of history, it 
 would scarcely be possible to airive at much certainty 
 on any of the controverted questions relating to the 
 pedigree of nations. But there is another species of 
 evidence which is in many cases, in respect both of 
 its distinctness and of the reliance that may be placed 
 on it, worth much more than all those that have yet 
 been mentioned put together. This is the evidence 
 of Language. Their peculiar language indeed is, 
 strictly speaking, only one of the customs of a people ; 
 but it stands distingiiished from other customs in 
 two particulars, which give it an important advantage 
 for our present pui"pose. In the first place, although 
 it may be admitted that there are certain general 
 principles which enter into the structure of all lan- 
 guages, and also, possibly, that all existing languages 
 are spining fi-om one original, the different degi-ees 
 'of alliance that subsist between different tongues are 
 yet, in most cases, verj' distinctly marked ; nor is it 
 possible in the nature of things that there should be 
 a pervading similarity between two tongues that have 
 
 been formed quite apart from each other. There is 
 not here any such common soil of the human mind 
 as would of itself produce an identity of results in 
 different countries, like what might verj' well hap- 
 pen, to a gieat extent, in the case of what are com- 
 monly called manners and customs, and even in that 
 of laws and institutions. These last naturally admit 
 of comparatively little variety of form. It would 
 seem nothing at all wonderfiil, for example, that two 
 nations which should never have had any connexion 
 of blood or much intercourse with each other, should 
 yet, at the same stage of their social progiTSs, ex- 
 hibit a considerable general resemblance in their 
 political institutions and their systems of laws — n 
 certain degree of civilization naturally resolving itself 
 into nearly the same forms and arrangements, in 
 these respects, by its own spontaneous action. The 
 same is the case with many of the ordinaiy arts and 
 customs of life. These are suggested by their obvi- 
 ous utility, and can hardly arise except in one and 
 the same form everjwhere ; or, if we suppose them 
 to have been derived by every people fi'om some 
 common source, their inherent simplicitj' would in 
 like manner preserve them from variation in their 
 transmission through ever so long a period of time ; 
 and in this view also, therefore, they would fail to 
 furnish any indication of the degree of affinitj' be- 
 tween the races to which the possession of them 
 was found to be common. But the sounds of articu- 
 late language admit of infinite varietj', and there is, 
 generally speaking, no natural connexion between 
 the objects of thought and their vocal signs; so that 
 for two nations that never had anj^ communication 
 with each other, to be found speaking the same 
 language, or even two languages, the vocabularies of 
 which, in any considerable degi-ee, resembled each 
 other, would be a phenomenon altogether miraculous 
 and unaccountable. Nor could the preservation, 
 down to the present day, of a strong resemblance 
 between the languages of two particular countries, 
 be in any degi-ee explained simply by the supposition 
 of all existing languages having spnmg from a com- 
 mon original ; the insufficiency of such a merely 
 primitive connexion to produce the resemblance sup- 
 posed, is demonstrated by the great diversity of lan- 
 guages which actually subsists. We are entitled, 
 therefore, to assume, that in all cases where we find 
 this clear and decided relationship of languages, 
 there must have been a comparatively recent con- 
 nexion of blood, or long and intimate intercourse of 
 one kind or another, between the races of people by 
 whom they are spoken. For, secondly, it is another 
 peculiarity of a national speech, that it is never 
 adopted from another people on merely that slight 
 acquaintance and communication which has some- 
 times sufficed not onlj- to transfer a knowledge of 
 the ordinary arts of civUized life, but to inti'oduce 
 into and establish in a country, whole sjstems of 
 religion, of laws, and of philosophy. These things, 
 as already obsened, have frequently been conveyed 
 from one part of the earth to another by a few mis- 
 sionaries^ or chance emigrants, or simply by the op- 
 portunities of commerce and travel. But languages
 
 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 5 
 
 have never been taught in this way. A people al- 
 ways derives its language either from its ancestors, 
 or from some other people with which it has been 
 for a long time thoroughly mixed up in the relations 
 of social and domestic life. It would, we apprehend, 
 be impossible to quote an instance of an exchange of 
 the popular speech of any country being produced 
 by anything short of either the amalgamation, or at 
 least the close compression, of one people with 
 another, which is the result only of conquest. This 
 can hardly take place without the history or memory 
 of the event being preserved, and therefore there is 
 little or no danger of a language thus imposed being 
 ever mistaken for one derived in the ordinary way, 
 or of any difficulty being thereby occasioned in the 
 application of the general rule — that where the lan- 
 guages exhibit a strong resemblance to each other, 
 the nations speaking them are of one stock. A per- 
 son, for instance, visiting South Britain io the third 
 or fourth century, would have found many of the 
 people speaking Latin ; and the people of France, or 
 ancient Gaul, stiU speak a dialect of the Latin, for 
 the modern French tongue is little else ; but no con- 
 siderate inquirer into such matters would ever con- 
 clude from these facts, in disregard of all other evi- 
 dence, that the original population of Britain and of 
 Gaul was Roman. The prevalence of the Roman 
 speech is sufficiently accounted for, in these cases, 
 by the Roman conquest and colonization of both 
 countries, which are events that have left, and could 
 not fail to leave, abundant memorials of themselves 
 behind them, in a great variety of forms. 
 
 7. But there is still to be noticed another source 
 of evidence sometimes available on the subject of the 
 original population of a countiy, which is of kindred 
 character to that derived from the language spoken 
 in it, and of equal distinctness and ti'ustworthiness. 
 This is the evidence supplied by the topogi-aphical 
 nomenclature of the countiy, or the language to which 
 the most ancient names of places in it are found to 
 belong. Names have all some meaning when first 
 imposed ; and when a place is named, for the first 
 time, by any people, they apply to it some term, in 
 early times generally descriptive of its natural pecu- 
 liarities, or something else on account of which it is 
 remarkable, from their own language. When we 
 find, therefore, that the old names of natural objects 
 and localities in a countiy belong, for the most part, 
 to a particular language, we may conclude with cer- 
 tainty that a people speaking that language formerly 
 occupied the country. Of this the names they have 
 so impressed are as sure a proof as if they had left a 
 distinct record of their existence in words engraven 
 on the rocks. Such old names of places often long 
 outlive both the people that bestowed them, and 
 nearly all the material monuments of their occu- 
 pancy. The language, as a vehicle of oral commu- 
 nication, may gi-adually be forgotten, and be heard 
 no more where it was once in universal use, and the 
 old topogi'aphical nomenclature may still remain un- 
 changed. Were the Irish tongue, for instance, ut- 
 terly to pass away and perish in Ireland, as the 
 speech of any portion of the people, the names of 
 
 rivers and mountains, and towns and villages, all over 
 the countiy, would continue to attest that it had once 
 been occupied by a race of Celtic descent. On the 
 other hand, however, we are not entitled to conclude, 
 from the absence of any ti'aces of their language in 
 the names of places, that a race, which there is 
 reason for believing from other evidence to have an- 
 ciently possessed the country, could not really have 
 been in the occupation of it. A new people coming 
 to a country, and subjugating or dispossessing the old 
 inhabitants, sometimes change the names of places 
 as well as all or many other things. Thus when the 
 Saxons came over to this island, and wrested the 
 principal part of it from its previous possessors, they 
 seem, in the complete subversion of the former order 
 of things which they set themselves to effect, to have 
 everywhere substituted new names in their own 
 language, for those which the towns and villages 
 throughout the countiy anciently bore. On this ac- 
 count the topogi'aphical nomenclature of England has 
 ever since been, to a large extent, Saxon ; but that 
 circumstance is not to be taken as proving that the 
 countiy was first peopled by the Saxons. 
 
 Guided by the principles that have been laid down, 
 we will now proceed to explain those views respecting 
 the original population of the British islands which 
 seem best to accord with the various facts bearing 
 upon the question, and to form together the most 
 consistent whole. It will be convenient to consider 
 the several parts of the subject in the order of the 
 population, I. of England; II. of Ireland; III. of 
 Scotland; IV. of Wales. 
 
 I. For a long time, what was held to be the or- 
 thodox belief respecting the original population of the 
 southern part of Britain, was the stoiy of the descent 
 of the first Britons from the Trojans, a colony of 
 whom was supposed, after the destruction of their 
 native city, to have been conducted to this island by 
 Brutus, a gi-andson or gi-eat-gi-andson of jEneas, more 
 than a thousand years before the commencement of 
 our era. The person who first made this story gen- 
 erally known was the famous Geoffi-ey ap Arthur, 
 Archdeacon of Monmouth, and afterwards Bishop of 
 St. Asaph, who flourished in the twelfth century ; but 
 there is no reason to suppose, as has been sometimes 
 asserted, that he was its inventor. His Latin history is. 
 in all probability, what it professes to be, a translation 
 of an Armorican original, entitled " Brut y Breninodd, 
 or a Chronicle of the Kings of Britain," which was put 
 into his hands by his friend Walter de Mapes, other- 
 wise called Calenius, Archdeacon of Oxford, who had 
 himself brought the manuscript from Bretagne. The 
 same legend, which is found in so amplified a form 
 in Geoflfrey's work-, is more briefly detailed in various 
 histories of a much earlier date. The earliest writer 
 to whom it can be traced, appears to be the Welsh 
 priest Tysilio, who is believed to have flourished in 
 the latter part of the seventh century. The Brut 
 (that is, the Chronicle) of Tysilio seems to have been 
 the prototj'pe both of the work which G eoffrey ti-ans- 
 lated and of many other similar performances. ' 
 
 I The best edition of Geoffrey of Monmouth is printed under the 
 title of Galfridus Monumetensis de Origine et Gestis Regum Britanni-
 
 INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE PRIiNIITIVE 
 
 The vanity of being supposed to be sprung from 
 the Trojans was common, in early times, to many of 
 the European nations; but the English probably re- 
 tained their belief in the notion to a later date than 
 any of the rest. It is gravely alleged by Edward I., 
 in a letter which he addressed to Pope Boniface in 
 1301, as part of the argument by which he attempts 
 to establish the supremacy of the English crown over 
 Scotland. As the Romans themselves pretended to 
 a Trojan descent, it has been plausibly conjectured 
 that the various nations brought under subjection by j 
 that people were induced to set up the same claim, i 
 through an ambition of emulating their conquerors ; 
 and at a later period it obviously fell in with the views I 
 (»r natural prejudices of the churchmen, who were 
 for the most part the compilers of our histories, to 
 encourage an opinion which drew the regards of the 
 people towards the ecclesiastical metropolis, as the 
 head city of their race as well as of their religion. 
 The acute and judicious Camden, at the end of the 
 sixteenth centurj', was almost the first inquirer into 
 our national antiquities who ventured to question the 
 long-credited tale ; yet nearly a hundred years after- 
 wards we find a belief in its truth still lingering in the 
 poetic imagination of Milton. 
 
 Geoffrey makes Brutus and his Trojans to have 
 found Britain nearly uninhabited, its only occupants 
 being a few giants of the race of Cham, over whom 
 the famous Gogmagog ruled as king; but another 
 tbrm of the fable settles a numerous jwpulation in the 
 countiy at a much earlier date. '• As we shall not 
 doubt of Brutus coming hither," says Holinshed, "so 
 may we assuredly think that he found the isle peo- 
 pled, either with the generation of those which Albion 
 the giant had placed here, or some other kind of peo- 
 ple whom he did subdue, and so reigned as well over 
 them as over those which he brought with him." 
 Vlbion is said to have been a son of Neptune, who took 
 the island from the Celts, after they had occupied it 
 for above three hundred years, under a succession of 
 five kings, the first of whom was Samothes, the eldest 
 son of Japhet, and the same who is called by Moses 
 Meshech. From Samothes, Britain received the first 
 name it ever had, Samotliea. Albion, and his brother 
 Bergion,who was King of Ireland, were eventually con- 
 quered and put to death by Hercules. The inventor 
 of this history appears to have been Annius or Nanni, 
 a Dominican friar of Viterbo in Italy, who published 
 it about the end of the fifteenth ceuturj-, in a forged 
 work which he atti-ibuted to Berosus, a priest of the 
 Temple of Belus, at Babylon, in the time of Ptolemy 
 Philadelphus. It was afterwards taken up and fur- 
 
 comm, in Jerome Commeliue's Britannicarum Rerum Scriptores Ve- 
 tustiores et Prscipui, fol. Heidelb. 1587. It has been translated into 
 English by Aaron Thompson, 8vo. Lond. 1718. An analysis of the 
 work is given hy Mr. Geo. Ellis, in his Specimens of Early English 
 Metrical Romances, vol. i. sec. 3 The Brut of Tysilio is printed in 
 the second volume of the Welsh Archaiology, 3 vols. 8vo. 1801 ; and 
 there is an English translation of it by the Rev. Peter Roberts, 8vo. 
 Lond. 1810. On the dispute relating to Geoffrey of Monmouth, see 
 Warton's Dissertation on the Origin of Romantic Fiction in Europe, 
 prefixed to his History of English Poetry, 8vo. edit. Lond. 1824, vol. i. 
 pp. viii.-iiv., and the Preface of the editor (the late Mr. Price), pp. 
 97-99; Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, 4th edit. 8vo. Lond. 
 1833, vol. i. p. 62 ; and Britannia after the Romans, 4to. Lond. 1836, 
 pp iiii.-ixiii. 
 
 ther illustrated by the celebrated English Bishop 
 Bale. 
 
 Another ancient account respecting the original 
 population of Britain, is that preserved in the Welsh 
 poetical histories known by the name of the Triads, in 
 allusion to the three events which each of them com- 
 memorates. " Three names," says the first Triad, 
 " have been given to the isle of Britain since the be- 
 ginning. Before it was inhabited, it was called Clas 
 Merddin (literally, the country with sea-clifl^s), and 
 afterwards, Fel Ynis (the Island of Honey). When 
 government had been imposed upon it by Prydain, 
 the son of Aedd the Great, it was called Inys Prydain 
 (the Island of Prydain) : and there was no tribute to 
 anj- but to the race of the Cymry, because they first 
 obtained it ; and before them there were no more men 
 alive in it, nor anything else but bears, wolves, bea- 
 vers, and the oxen with the high prominence. "* 
 The Cymry, or ancestors of the present Welsh, 
 therefore, were, according to this authority, the first 
 inhabitants of Britain. Another triad (the fourth of 
 the same series) states that their leader was Hu 
 Cadarn, that is, Hugh the sti-ong, or the mighty, by 
 wliom they were conducted through the Hazy, that 
 is, the German Ocean, to Britain, and to Llydaw, that 
 is, Armorica, or Bretagne. It is added, tliat they 
 came originallj' from the countiy of Summer, which 
 is called Defrobani, where Constantinople is. Some 
 interpreters have been inclined to go so far for De- 
 frobani as to the island of Ceylon, one of the ancient 
 Hames of which was Tabrobane ;- and we shall find in 
 the sequel that there is another theory, as Avell as 
 that of the Welsh triads, which connects the British 
 islands with Ceylon. Subsequent ti'iads inform us, 
 that the next people who came to Britain were the 
 Lloegrwys, who came from the land of Gwasgwj-n, 
 or Gascony, and were of the same race with the 
 Cymry ; as were also the next colonists, the Brjthon, 
 from the land of Llydaw (Bretagne). These, it is 
 added, were called the three peaceful nations, be- 
 cause they came one to another with peace and 
 tranquillity; they also all spoke the same language. 
 From the Lloegr^V3•s, a gieat part of England re- 
 ceived the name of Lloegi-ia. Afterwards, other 
 nations came to the countrj' with more or less vio- 
 lence ; according to the enumeration of Mr. Turner, 
 " the Romans ; the Gwyddyl Fficti (the Picts), to 
 AJban or Scotland, on the part which lies nearest to 
 the Baltic; the Celyddon (Caledonians), to the north 
 parts of the island ; the G^Nyddjl, to other parts of 
 Scotland ; the Corraniaid from PvNyll (perhaps Po- 
 land), to the Humber ; the men of Galedin, or Flan- 
 ders, to Wyth ; the Saxons ; and the Llychlynians, 
 or Northmen."^ The ti'iads, from facts mentioned 
 in them, appear not to be older than the reign of 
 Edward I.,^ although they may have been founded 
 
 1 Turner's Anglo-Saxons, i. 33. The series which this triad intro- 
 duces, and which is stated to be one of the most complete that exists, 
 has lieen printed in the Original Welsh, in the second volume of the 
 Welsh Archaiology. 
 
 2 Sketch of the Early History of the Cymry, by the Rev. Peter 
 Roberts, 8vo. 1803, pp. 150, &c. 
 
 3 History of the Anglo-Saxons, i. 54. 
 
 * Britannia after the Romans, pp. i.— xiv. At the end of Mr. Tur- 
 ner's History is an elaborate Vindication of the Genuineness of the
 
 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 upon the fragments of earlier compositions ; but even 
 if tliey were of much gi-eater antiquity, they could 
 be no authority for anything more than the ti-adi- 
 tionaiy accounts of the first peopling of the countiy. 
 
 Of the theories which have been proposed upon 
 this subject by modern inquhers, one supposes the 
 first colonizers, both of Britain and Ireland, to have 
 been the Phoenicians. The original suggester of 
 this notion appears to have been Aylett Sammes, a 
 writer of the latter part of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury. ^ It has been recently advocated, with con- 
 siderable ingenuity, by Su- William Betham, who, 
 however, is of opinion that the Phoenicians were 
 preceded in the occupation of both islands by the 
 Caledonians, afterwards called the Picts, whom he 
 conceives to have been a people of Scandinavian 
 origin, the Cimbri of antiquitj^ The Phoenicians he 
 considers to be the same people with the Gael, or 
 Celts. 2 
 
 Notwithstanding any diversity of views, however, 
 which may exist as to some of the remoter points 
 of the investigation, it may be affirmed to be now 
 admitted on all hands that the numerous population 
 which the Romans found in the occupation of the 
 southern part of this island, about half a centuiy 
 before the commencement of oiu- era, was principally 
 a Celtic race, and had, in all probability, been im- 
 mediately derived from the neighboring country of 
 France, then known by the name of Gallia. Csesar, 
 the first of the ancients who saw the people, or who 
 has described them, informs us that their buildings 
 were almost similar to those of the Gauls, and that 
 their religion was the same ; and it appears also 
 from his narrative, that a close political alliance ex- 
 isted between the states of Britain and those of Gaul, 
 and that the latter were all along aided by the former 
 in their resistance to the Romans. The proximity 
 of the one countiy to the other, indeed — the British 
 coast being visible from that of Gaul — would almost 
 alone authorize us to conclude that the one could not 
 long remain unoccupied, after the other had been 
 settled. Tacitus, who had the best opportunities of 
 information, has expressly recorded that, in addition 
 to an identity of religious rites, the languages of the 
 ^Gauls and Britons were nearly the same ; and evi- 
 dence of this fact remains to the present day, in the 
 Celtic character of the topogi-aphical nomenclature 
 of the south, as well as of the other parts of Britain, 
 in so far as it has not been obliterated by the Saxon 
 conquest. Bishop Percj^ has observed that in Eng- 
 land, " although the names of the towns and villages 
 are almost universally of Anglo-Saxon derivation, yet 
 the hills, forests, rivers, &c., have generally retained 
 their old Celtic names."* 
 
 It is certainly possible that the country may, pre- 
 
 Ancient British Poems, vol. iii. pp. 493—646. See, also, Mr. Robert's 
 Preface to the Poems of Aneurin ; and Mr. E. Davie's Celtic Research- 
 es, 8vo. 1804, pp. 152, &c. 
 
 1 See his Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, or the Antiquities of Ancient 
 Britain derived from the Phoenicians, fol. 1676. Wood, in his Athense 
 Oionienses, asserts that the true author of this work was Roliert Ay- 
 lett, LL.D., a Master in Chancery, who was the uncle of Sammes, 
 and left his papers to his nephew. 
 
 2 The Gael and Cymbri. 6vo. Dub. 1834. 
 
 3 Preface to translation of Mallet's Northern Antiquities, i. xxxix. 
 
 viously to the arrival of the Gauls, have been occu- 
 pied by a people of different origin, who on that 
 event were obliged to retire to the northern parts of 
 the island, where they became the progenitors of 
 the Caledonians ; but it would be difficult to bring 
 forward any satisfactory proof that such was the 
 case. This supposed previous race has not left be- 
 hind it either any traces of its language, or any other 
 monuments of its existence. Notliing remains, either 
 on the face of the soil, or in the customs of the 
 people, which would suggest the notion of any earlier 
 colonization than that from Gaul. Everything of 
 greatest antiquity' that survives among us is Celtic. 
 
 At the same time this view of the subject is not 
 free from some difficulties, which it is fair to state. 
 Caesar, in the first place, in his account, makes a 
 marked distinction between the inhabitants of the 
 coast of Britain and those of the interior, not only 
 describing the latter as much more i-ude in their 
 manners, and altogether less advanced in civilization 
 than the fomier, but also expressly declaring them 
 to be, according to the common belief at least, of a 
 different race. He says that the tradition was, that 
 they originated in the island itself; whereas the 
 inhabitants of the maritime parts had come over 
 from Belgium, and seized by violence upon the por- 
 tion of the countiy which they occupied. This state- 
 ment may be considered, at least, to establish the 
 fact, that the occupation of the coast by the Belgic 
 invaders was a much more recent event than the 
 colonization from which the people of the interior 
 had sprung. The phraseologj- of the account tlu'ough- 
 out is very precise in regard to the distinction inti- 
 mated to exist between the two races. For instance, 
 it is said in one place that those inhabiting Kent 
 were by far the most civilized portion of the British 
 population, and that in their customs or general 
 manner of life, they differed but little from the Gauls, 
 while most of those in the interior sowed no corn, 
 lived only upon milk and flesh, and were clothed in 
 skins ; and then the Avinter immediately proceeds to 
 mention some other peculiarities as common to all 
 the Britons.^ It is ti'ue he does not affirm that 
 different languages were spoken on the coast and in 
 the interior ; but it so happens, that on the subject 
 of language he says nothing whatever in his account 
 of Britain. He informs us, however, that Kent and 
 the maritime portion of the countrj' generally was 
 inhabited by Belgians ; and he had already stated in 
 other parts of his work, first, that the Belgae diflered 
 from the Gauls or Celts both in language, in institu- 
 tions, and in laws,- and secondly, that they were a 
 people for the most part of German descent, who 
 had acquired a settlement for themselves on the 
 left bank of the Rliine by expelling the Gauls, by 
 whom the district was previously occupied.* In so 
 far, therefore, as the testimony of Caesar is worth 
 anything, it would seem to imply that the Britons 
 
 1 De Bell. Gal. v. 14. Tacitus also (Ag^ic. xi.) appears to have in 
 his immediate view only the inhabitants of those parts of Britain which 
 are nearest to France, when he describes them as resembling: the Gauls 
 in language, religion, iScc. 
 
 2 De Bell. Gal. i. 1. ^ ibid. ii. 4.
 
 8 
 
 INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE PRIMITIVE 
 
 whom he describes were a German or Teutonic 
 race, not a Celtic. It is to be observed, that the 
 inhabitants of the maritime parts were the only por- 
 tion of the people of Britain whom lie liad any 
 oppoitiinity of seeing. But if this be the case, what 
 is the value of his assimilation of the Britons to the 
 Gauls, as proving the Celtic lineage of the forjner ? 
 
 Notwithstanding what Ciesar has said in the pas- 
 sages we have just quoted, it has been a much con- 
 troverted question to which of the two great races 
 from whom the population of the principal part of 
 Europe appears to be derived — the Celts or the 
 Germans — the ancient Belgae are to be considered 
 as belonging. It has been argued, that when Caesai* 
 describes them as differing in language from the 
 Celts, he must in all probability be understood as 
 meaning only that they spoke a different dialect of 
 the same language ; and that that expression, there- 
 fore, is not to be taken as any evidence that they 
 were not a Celtic people.' It must be admitted 
 that the point is an exceedingly doubtful one. The 
 distinction, in respect both of language and of lineage, 
 between the Celtic and the Teutonic, Germanic, or 
 Gothic races, may be said to be the fundamental 
 canon of the modern philosophy of the origin and 
 connexion of nations ; but it is not yet very long since 
 its importance came to be understood. The old 
 writers on the subject of the Celts, all include both 
 the Celtic and the Gothic races under that name.- 
 Attention seems to have been first called to the dis- 
 tinction in question by our countryman John Toland,^ 
 and it was afterwards much more fully unfolded b}^ 
 Bishop Percy.* The most elaborate discussion, 
 however, the subject has met with, is that which it 
 received from tlie late John Pinkerton,^ in all whose 
 historical investigations the radical distinction between 
 the Celtic and the Gothic races, and the inherent 
 inferiority of the former, are maintained with as 
 much zeal and vehemence, as if the writer had a 
 personal interest in the establishment of the point. 
 The coiTectness of the new views, in so far as re- 
 spects the general position of the non-identity of the 
 Celtic and Germanic nations, and also their impor- 
 tance to the elucidation of the whole subject of the 
 original population of Europe, are now universally 
 
 1 Whitaker's Genuine History of the Britons, 1773 ; Chalmer's Ca- 
 ledonia, 1807, vol i. p. 16; Pritchard's Researches into the Physical 
 History of Mankind, 1826, vol. ii. Stral)0, it is to be observed, ex- 
 pressly describes the three great nations of Gaul, the Cellar, the Bel- 
 gaj, and the Aquitani, as only differing slightly from each other in lan- 
 guage. Geogr. lib. tv. 
 
 2 See Ph. Clavier's Germania Antiqua, fol. 1689 ; J. G. Keysler's 
 Antiquitates Selects Septentrionales et Celticae, 8vo. 1720 ; BorUse's 
 Antiquities of the County of Cornwall, fol. 1754, p. 22 ; S. Pelloutier's 
 Histoire des Celtea et particulierement des Ganlois et des Germains, 
 4to. 1778, &c. To these may be added so recent a work as P. II. Lar- 
 cher's G^ographie d'llerodote, in the last edition, published in 1801. 
 
 3 See his Specimen of a History of the Druids, written in 1718, and 
 published in Posthumous Pieces, 1726, vol. i. A new edition of To- 
 land's History of the Druids appeared in 1814, in an octavo volume, at 
 Montrcye, edited by Mr. R. Huddleston, schoolmaster of Lunan, who 
 has introduced it by a modest and sensible preface, and appended to 
 the original tent a large body of notes which display very considerable 
 ingenuity and learning. 
 
 * Preface to Mallet's Northern Antiquities, 2 vols. 8vo. 1770. 
 
 s Dissertation on the Origin and Progress of the Scythians or Goths, 
 8vo 1787, and appended to the second volume of his Enquiry into the 
 History of Scotland preceding the Reign of Malcolm III., 1789. 
 
 admitted ; but perhaps in avoiding the eiTor of their 
 predecessors, there has been a tendency on the part 
 of modern writers to run into the opposite extreme, 
 and to assume a more complete disconnexion between 
 everything Celtic and everything Gothic, than can be 
 reasonably supposed to have existed. It is to be 
 recollected that both the Celts and the Goths appeal- 
 to have come to the west of Europe, though at dif- 
 ferent times and by different routes, from the same 
 quarter ; both races are undoubtedly of eastern origin, 
 and are admitted by all physiologists to have been 
 branches of the same great paternal stem. Both 
 are classed as belonging to the same Caucasic or 
 Japetic family. This being the case, the distinction 
 between them, when they eventually found them- 
 selves planted alongside of each other in the different 
 countries of Europe, could hardly have been so com- 
 plete in all respects as it is usually considered. Their 
 languages, for instance, notwithstanding the striking 
 dissimilarity both in vocabulary, in sti-ucture, and in 
 genius, which they seem now to exhibit, may not 
 have been by any means so unlike each other two 
 thousand years ago, seeing that, according to all 
 historic probability, they must have both sprung from 
 the same common ancesti-al tongue. Refen-ing to 
 Schilter's ' Thesaurus Antiquitatum Teutonicarum,' 
 and Wachter's ' Glossarium Germanicum,' " these 
 vastly learned authors," obsei-ves a late writer, " de- 
 monstrate, without intending it, that the Celtic and 
 Teutonic languages had a common origin. "i Both 
 the Celtic and the Teutonic have been shown to enter 
 largely into the composition of the Greek and Latin ; 
 and it has been lately conclusively proved by Dr. 
 Pritchard, by a minute comparison of vocabularies 
 and grammatical peculiarities, that the Celtic belongs 
 to the same gi-eat family of Indo-European languages 
 Avith the Sanskrit, the Greek, the Latin, and the 
 German.* 
 
 Upon the whole, therefore, the probability seems 
 to be, that although the inhabitants of the inland part 
 of South Britain, at the time of the Roman invasion, 
 were the posterity of a much earlier colonization than 
 that which had peopled the maritime parts of the 
 island, yet both the tribes of the coast and those of 
 the interior were of the same Celtic descent, and all 
 spoke dialects of the same Celtic tongue. We find 
 the evidences of this community of language and of 
 lineage spread over the whole length of the country, 
 from its northern boundary to the channel ; for the 
 oldest names of natural objects and localities, even in 
 the portion of this range which is commonly under- 
 stood to have been eventually occupied by Belgic col- 
 onies, are equally Celtic with those that occur else- 
 where. This circumstance must be considered as a 
 testimony, in regard to the original population of the 
 countiy, far oursveighing the meagre and vague notices 
 handed down to us upon the subject by Caesar and 
 Tacitus ; and it is to be explained only by supposing 
 either that the seats of the Belgic tribes in Britain 
 had, before their arrival, been in the possession of a 
 Celtic race, or that the Belgians, notwithstanding their 
 
 ' Chalmer's Caledonia, i. 12. 
 
 " The Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, Svo. 1831
 
 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 German descent, had, before their invasion of Britain, 
 become, by their long residence on the west side of 
 the Rhine, more a Celtic than a Teutonic people. If 
 there was any difference of language between them 
 and the other inhabitants of South Britain, it could 
 scarcely have amounted to more than a difference 
 of dialect. There is certainly, at least, no indication 
 in the topographical nomenclature of the countiy, that 
 any Teutonic people, before the arrival of the Saxons 
 in the fifth and sixth centuries of our era, had ever 
 occupied those parts of it of which they then came 
 into possession. It is not unlikely that a few settle- 
 ments may have been effected, in very early times, 
 on the west coast by the Spaniards, and on the east 
 coast by emigi-ants from the opposite Scandinavian 
 regions ; but, with these exceptions, there appears to 
 be little reason to doubt that the whole of what is 
 now called England was first occupied by a Celtic 
 population, which came over in successive swarms 
 from the neighboring country of Gaul. Some specu- 
 lators have even attempted to show that Britain was 
 originally united by land to Gaul.' At any rate, it 
 may be assumed that the first migi'ation from the 
 one to the other took place at a very early period, 
 most probably considerably more than a thousand 
 years before the commencement of our era. The 
 Belgic colonization of the southern coast seems to 
 have been an event of historic memory — that is to 
 say, not yet ti-ansformed into the shape of fable — in 
 Caesar's day ; and, therefore, we may suppose it to 
 have happened within two or three centuries pre- 
 ceding that date. 
 
 The name Britannia, by which our island was 
 known among the Greeks and Romans, was doubtless 
 formed from the name in use among the natives 
 themselves. With respect to its origin and meaning 
 many conjectures have been proposed, a long list of 
 which may be seen in Camden. Geoffrey of Mon- 
 mouth, of course, and the other retailers of the story 
 of Brutus and his Trojans, derive it from the name of 
 that leader. We have seen from one of the Welsh 
 triads quoted above, that it is deduced by those au- 
 thorities from an eai-ly king of the country — the first, 
 it is affirmed, by whom a regular government was 
 established in it — Prydain, the son of Aedd the Great. 
 These fables are deserving of no attention ; and equally 
 worthless and palpably absurd are most of the other 
 etymologies which have been suggested by the labo- 
 rious ingenuity of learned word-torturers. Among 
 the more plausible interpretations may be mentioned 
 that of Whitaker, who contends that Britin, which 
 he conceives to be the origin of the Greek and Roman 
 Britannia, was not the name of the island but of its 
 inhabitants, and that it is a plural word, of which the 
 singular is Brit, signifying divided or separated. The 
 Britin, therefore, he translates the separated people, 
 
 1 See this position learnedly maintained in a dissertation, De Bri- 
 tannia quondam pene Insula, prefixed to Musgrave's Antiquitates Eri- 
 tanno-BelgicE, 3 vols. 8vo. 1789. It will appear presently that Mr. 
 Whitaker, in his Genuine Origin of the Britons Asserted (1773), has, 
 without any view to the establishment of this point, suggested that 
 the term Britin means, properly, the separated people, or the emigrants, 
 as he explains it. This epithet would be better accounted for upon the 
 supposition of the actual separation of the two countries by the inter- 
 vention of the sea. 
 
 or the emigi-ants ; and he supposes that name to have 
 been given them by their kindred in Gaul, whom they 
 left in order to occupy the island. This account of 
 the matter, however, we believe, has not gained much 
 acceptance among Celtic scholars. Yet it is not veiy 
 distant from the notion of Sir William Betham, who 
 conceives the term Britannia to have been formed 
 from the Celtic Brit daoine, that is, painted peoi)le — 
 the name, he says, which " the Phcenician Gallic 
 colony," on their anival, bestowed upon the wild na- 
 tives of Scandinavian extraction whom thej^ found in 
 possession of the countiy. Whitaker adverts to the 
 application of the word Brit in the sense of painted ; 
 it is the same word, he obsei-ves, with BriJc or Bre- 
 chan, the name still given to his tartan plaid by the 
 Scotch Highlander, and signifying properly a garment 
 marked with divided or variegated colors. The an- 
 onymous author, also, of the lately published volume 
 entitled " Britannia after the Romans," (the work of 
 a scholar and a man of talent, who is apt, hoAvever. 
 to have more charity for his own crotchets than might 
 be expected from his contempt for those of other 
 people,) strenuously maintains the derivation of the 
 name Briton from a Welsh, and, as he conceives, old 
 Bi'itish, word signifying painted. Pezron, he ob- 
 serves, although his authority is of no weight, has, 
 nevertheless, the merit of surmising this trae ety- 
 mology. 
 
 There can be little doubt that the element tan in 
 Britannia is the same word which we find forming a 
 part of so many other names of countries, both ancient 
 and modern, such as Mauri-tan-ia, Aqui-tan-ia, Lusi- 
 tan-ia, Kur-dis-tan, Afghanis-tan, Kuzis-tan, Louris- 
 tan, Hindos-tan, &c. It appears to signify merely a 
 land or country, though it is not, we believe, found in 
 that sense in any existing dialect of the Celtic, and 
 for anything that is known, it may after all be really 
 Daoine, people, as suggested by Sir William Betham. 
 Bruit, again, is the Celtic term for tin, or metal gene- 
 rallj^ ; so that Bruit-tan, or, as smoothed down by the 
 Gi-eeks and Romans, Britannia, signifies altogether 
 the metal or tin land — an epithet which would be na- 
 turally bestowed upon the country, from the circum- 
 stance for which it probably first became known to 
 other nations. The meaning of the name is exactly 
 the same with that of the Greek Cassiterides, by 
 which alone the British islands were known to Hero- 
 dotus. 
 
 II. If the traces of an original Celtic population are 
 still to be found over the greater portion of the south 
 of Britain, such traces are much more abundant, and 
 more distinctly legible, over the whole of Ireland. 
 The ancient topographical nomenclature of that 
 country is exclusively Celtic, as the speech of a large 
 proportion of the people still continues to be. A Cel- 
 tic race, therefore, must either have formed the origi- 
 nal population of the country, or must have become 
 its predominant population in veiy ancient times. 
 W^ience was this race derived ? 
 
 The traditional histoiy preserved among the Irish 
 people makes the island to have been possessed by 
 three nations in succession — the Firbolgs, the Tuath 
 de Danans, and the Milesians, or Scots— the last-
 
 10 
 
 INTRODUCTORY V^EAV OF THE PRIMITIVE 
 
 Round Tower of Donoughmork.i 
 
 mentioned of whom it represents as the progenitors 
 of the present Celtic population. The question of 
 who these races were has given occasion to endless 
 controversy. What is certain is, that both the Fir- 
 bolgs and the Tuath de Danans existed in the countiy 
 within what may be properly called the historic 
 period. The Firbolgs are generally believed to have 
 been a Belgic colony or invading band ; and the Tuath 
 de Danans a Scandinavian people. Another theory, 
 however, makes the latter, and not the Milesians, to 
 be the Celtic people, from whom have descended the 
 great bulk af the present population of the island. 
 
 There come to us through the long night of the 
 past many strange glimmerings of an extraordinary 
 civilization existing in Ireland in a very remote an- 
 tiquitj% and of a wide-spread renown which the island 
 had once enjoyed^ as a peculiarly-favored seat of let- 
 ters, the arts, and religion. That during a consider- 
 able portion of the period which we are accustomed 
 to call the dark ages, the light of learning and philos- 
 ophy continued to shine in Ireland after it had been 
 extinguished throughout all the rest of Christendom, 
 although so remarkable a circumstance has been little 
 noticed by most of the historians of modern Europe, 
 
 must be regarded as a fact as well established as any 
 other belonging to that period. From about the be- 
 ginning of the seventh till towards the close of the 
 eighth century, Ireland, under the name of Scotia, 
 was undoubtedly the recognized centime and head of 
 European scholarship and civilization. This is abund- 
 antly proved by the testimony of contemporaiy ^^Titers 
 in other countries, as well as by the i-emaining works 
 of the early theologians and philosophers of Christian 
 Ireland themselves. But long before this Christian 
 civilization, there would seem to have been another 
 period, when the arts existed in that countiy in a high 
 state of advancement, in the midst of surrounding 
 barbarism. If there were no other evidences of this 
 than those extiMordinary erections, the Round Tow- 
 ers, which are still found standing in so many places, 
 the inference would not be easily resisted. The 
 argument derived from these buildings is very short 
 and direct. We have evidence which cannot be 
 questioned, not only of their existence in the twelfth 
 century, but of their great antiquity even at that 
 date. Giraldus Cambrensis, who then visited Ire- 
 land, describes them in such terms as show that the 
 memorj' of their origin had been ah'eady long lost 
 
 ' In most instances the cnt of a particular local object will have reference to its existing state, except when otherwise expressed.
 
 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 11 
 
 among the people. If, as has been supposed by some 
 writers, they had been erected by the Danes, who 
 occupied a part of the island two or three centuries 
 before, this could not have been the case. But the 
 notion that the Danes were the architects of the 
 Round Towers of Ireland is altogether untenable on 
 other giounds. No similar sti'uctures are to be found, 
 nor any trace of such ever having existed, either in 
 the native country of the Danes, or in any other 
 country in which they ever obtained a settlement. 
 Nay, in Ireland itself, it is curious enough, that while 
 Round Towers are found in many parts of the coun- 
 try where the Danes never were, in other parts 
 which these invaders are well known to have occu- 
 pied, there are none. Nor can these Round Towers 
 ■with any probability be looked upon as Christian mon- 
 uments ; there are no such buildings in any other 
 part of Christendom, nor anywhere, indeed, through- 
 out the western world, if we except Scotland, which, 
 from many other evidences, appears to have been in 
 part colonized from Ireland. We are forced there- 
 fore to ascend in search of their origin beyond the 
 date of the establishment of Christianity in the latter 
 country, which is well ascertained to have taken place 
 in the early part of the fifth century. But for some 
 centuries at least preceding that date there is certainly 
 no reason to believe that there existed in Ireland any 
 such superior civilization or knowledge of the arts as 
 would account for the erection of the Round Towers. 
 On the contrary, it appears probable, from all the 
 facts that can be collected, and all the contemporaiy 
 notices that have come down to us, that at the time 
 of the invasion, and during the occupation of Britain 
 by the Romans, the Irish were in much the same 
 semi-barbarous condition with the Britons. The 
 primitive civilization of Ireland, therefore, whether 
 under the same, or, what is more likely, under a dif- 
 ferent dominant race, must be sought for in a yet 
 more remote antiquity. The only structures that 
 have been any^vhere found similar to the Irish Round 
 Towers are in certain countries of the remote east, 
 and especially in India and Persia. This would seem 
 to indicate a connexion between these countries and 
 Ireland, the probability of which, it has been attempted 
 to show, is coiToborated by many other coincidences 
 of language, of religion, and of customs, as well as by 
 the voice of ti'adition, and the light, though faint and 
 scattered, which is thrown upon the subject by the 
 records of histoiy. The period of the first civilization 
 of Ireland then would, under this view, be placed in 
 the same early age of the world which appears to 
 have witnessed, in those oriental countries, a highly 
 advanced condition of the arts and sciences, as well 
 as flourishing instittitions of religious and civil politj', 
 which have also, in a similar manner, decayed and 
 passed away. Nothing can be more certain than that 
 the first period of human civilization is at any rate 
 much more ancient than the oldest written histories 
 we now possess. The civilization of Egyjit was on 
 the decline when Herodotus vsTote and ti-aveled, 
 nearly tsventy-tliree centuries ago. The vast archi- 
 tectural monuments of that countiy were of venei*able 
 antiquity, even when his eye beheld them. The 
 
 earliest civilization of Phoenicia, of Persia, and of 
 Hindostan, was, perhaps, of still more ancient origin. 
 We know that the navigating nation of the Phoeni- 
 cians had, long before tlie time of Herodotus, estab- 
 lished flourishing colonies, not only in the north of 
 Africa, but also on the opposite coast of Spain. Even 
 the foundation of Marseilles, on tlie coast of France, 
 by a Greek colony, has not been stated by any au- 
 thority to be more recent than six hundred years 
 before the commencement of our era, and there are 
 some reasons for believing a town to have been 
 established there at a much earlier date. There is, 
 therefore, no such improbability as is apt to strike 
 persons, not conversant with such investigations, in 
 the supposition that Ireland also may have been col- 
 onized by a civilized people at some veiy remote 
 period. It seems, indeed, to be scarcely possible 
 otherwise to account either for the Round Towers, 
 or for the other relics and memorials of a formerly 
 advanced state of, the arts which the countiy stiU 
 contains — the extensive coal-works and other mining 
 excavations which appear in various places, and the 
 many articles of ornamental workmanship in gold and 
 silver which have been found in almost everj' pait of 
 the island, geneially buried deep in the soil — all un- 
 questionably belonging to a time not comprehended 
 within the range of the historic period.^ 
 
 It is remarkable, and may be taken as some confir- 
 mation of the evidence afforded by circumstances of 
 another kind which appear to indicate a connexion in 
 very ancient times between Ireland and the east, that 
 nearly all the knoAvledge of the country of which Ave 
 find any traces in the Greek and Roman writers seems 
 to have been derived from oriental sources. If the 
 Orphic poem on the voyage of the ship Argo be of the 
 age to which it has been assigned by some of the ablest 
 critics, namely, five hundred years before the birth of 
 Christ, it is there that we have the first mention of 
 Ireland by its Celtic name. The wi-iter speaks of an 
 island which he calls lernis, as situated somewhere in 
 the Atlantic ; and, from various passages of his poem, 
 he is believed to have had much of his information 
 from the Phoenicians. He makes no mention of Bri- 
 tain. Herodotus, a century later, had only heard of 
 the British islands bj' the descriptive epithet of the 
 Cassiterides, or Tin Islands. Even Eratosthenes, in 
 the third centuiy before Chi'ist, appears not to have 
 been aware of the existence of Ireland, although the 
 island is mentioned by the name of lerne, in a work 
 attributed to Aristotle,- and which has been supposed 
 to be at least of the age of that philosopher, who floii- 
 
 1 See these and other arguments to the same effect, copiously illus- % 
 trated, though applied to the maintenance of somewhat varying hypo- 
 theses, in the several puhlirations of General A'allancey ; Lord Ross's 
 Vindication of the Will of the Right Honorable Henry Flood ; Dr. 
 Villanueva's Phcpnician Ireland, translated by the late Mr. H. O'Brien ; 
 Mr. O'Brien's highly ingenious and learned, though occasionally rather 
 fanciful work on the Round Towers (2nd edit. 8vo. Loud. 18.14) ; Sir 
 William Betham's Gael and Cymbri (8vo. Dublin, 1834) ; and the first 
 volume of Mr. Thomas Moore's History of Ireland (12mo. Lojid. ]S^5) 
 — a work not more distinguished by those graces of conipo.«ilion which 
 were to have been expected from its eminent author, than by extensive 
 erudition and varied and laborious resean-h. 
 
 3 Xitpt KotJiiOV. The writer says that in the sea beyond the Pillars 
 of Hercules (the Straits of Gibraltar) are two large islands, called the 
 British Islands, Albion and leme.
 
 12 
 
 INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE PRIMITIVE 
 
 rished in the fourth centuiy before the commencement 
 of our era. Polybius, in the second century befoi-e 
 Christ, just notices Ireland. On the other hand, 
 Ptolemy, who is known to have composed his work 
 from materials collected by tlie Tyrian writer Mari- 
 nus, gives us, in his Geogi-aphy, a more full and accu- 
 rate account of Ireland than of Britain. Another very 
 curious notice of Ireland is that which has been pre- 
 served in the Latin geogi-aphical poem of Festus Avie- 
 nus, a ^\^•iter of the fourth century, but who tells us 
 expressly that he drew his information on the subject 
 from the Punic records. Avienus gives us the only 
 account which we possess of the voyage made by the 
 Carthaginian navigator Himilco to the seas north of 
 the Pillars of Hercules, at the same time that Hanno, 
 whose Periplus has come down to us, set out in the 
 opposite direction from the same straits. These voy- 
 ages seem to have been undertaken about a thousand 
 years before our era. In the narrative given by Avie- 
 nus, which is a veiy slight sketch, the islands with 
 which the Carthaginians were wont to trade are 
 designated the CEstrumnides, by which name is sup- 
 posed to have been meant the Scilly Islands ;i and two 
 days' sail from these is placed, what is said to have been 
 called by the ancients, the Sacred Island, and to be 
 inhabited by the nation of the Hiberni. The island 
 thus described there can be no doubt is Ireland. Near 
 either to the CEsti-umnides or the island of the Hiberni 
 (it is not very clear which is intended), is said to ex- 
 tend the island of the Albiones, that is, Britain. 
 
 The existence of an abode of science and the arts, 
 and the seat probably also of some strange and myste- 
 rious religion, placed in the midst of the waters of the 
 farthest west, and withdrawn from all the rest of the 
 civilized world, could hardly have failed, however ob- 
 scurely and imperfectlj' the tale might have been ru- 
 mored, to make a powerful impression upon the fancy 
 oflhe imaginative nations of antiquitj^ Some specu- 
 lators have been disposed to ti-ace to the Ireland of the 
 primeval world, not only the legend of the famous 
 island of Atlantis mentioned by Plato and other writers, 
 but also the still earlier fables of the Isle of Calypso, 
 and the Hesperides, and the Fortunate Islands, and 
 the Elysian Fields of Homer and other ancient poets. 
 "The fact," observes Mr. Moore,- "that there existed 
 an island devoted to religious rites in these regions, 
 has been intimated by almost all the Greek wi-iters 
 who have treated of them ; and the position in every 
 instance assigned to it, answers perfectly to that of 
 Ireland. By Plutarch it is stated that an envoy de- 
 spatched by the Emperor Claudius to explore the 
 British Isles, found, on an island in the neighborhood 
 of Britain, an order of magi accounted holy by the 
 people ; and in another work of the same WTiter, some 
 fabulous wonders are related of an island lying to the 
 west of Britain, the inhabitants of which were a holy 
 race ; while, at the same time, a connexion between 
 them and Carthage is indistinctly intimated." In a 
 passage which Stiabo has extracted from an ancient 
 geogi-apher, it is expressly stated that in an island near 
 
 I See a curious interpretation of this name in Davies' Celtic Re- 
 searches, p. 228. 
 
 * History of Ireland, i. 13. 
 
 Britain sacrifices were offered to Ceres and Proser- 
 pine, in the same manner as at Samothrace, in the 
 Egean, the celebrated isle where the Phoenicians had 
 established the Cabiric or Guebre worship, that is, the 
 adoration of the sun and of fire, which they again ap- 
 pear to have received from the Persians. " From the 
 words of the geogi'apher quoted by Strabo," continues 
 Mr. Moore, " combined with all the other evidence 
 adduced, it may be inferred that Ireland had become 
 the Samothrace, as it were, of the western seas; that 
 thither the Cabiric gods had been wafted by the early 
 colonizers of that region ; and that, as the mariner 
 used, on his departure from the Mediterranean, to 
 breathe a prayer in the Sacred Island of tlie East, so 
 in the seas beyond the Pillais, he found another Sa- 
 cred Island, where, to the same tutel.iry deities of the 
 deep, his vows and thanks were offered on his safe 
 arrival." 
 
 But the most curious of all the legends presened 
 by the classical >vi"iters, which have been supposed 
 to allude to Ireland, is the account given by Diodorus 
 Siculus of the Island of the Hyperboreans, on the 
 authority, as he says, of several investigators of 
 antiquity, and es]iecially of Hecatteus, an author who 
 is believed to have flourished in the sixth century be- 
 fore our era. The island, in the first place, is stated 
 to lie in the ocean over against Gaul, and under the 
 aretic pole — a position agi'eeing with that assigned to 
 Ireland by Strabo, who describes it as situated be- 
 yond Britain, and as scarce habitable for cold. It is 
 affirmed to be as large as Sicily, which is a suffi- 
 ciently correct estimate of the size of Ireland. The 
 soil, the narrative goes on to say, is so rich and fruit- 
 ful, and the climate so temperate, that there are two 
 crops in the year. Mention is then made of a fa- 
 mous temple of round form, which was here erected 
 for the sei-vice of Apollo, whom the inhabitants wor- 
 shiped above all other gods, his mother Latona hav- 
 ing been born in the island. Here seems to be an 
 evident reference to the Round Towers, and the 
 Cabiric rehgion, of which they were in all probability 
 the temples. The remainder of the account contains 
 apparent allusions to the skill of the inhabitants in 
 playing on the harp, and to their knowledge of as- 
 ti-onomy, a study which has always been associated 
 with the worship of the sun. Upon the supposition 
 that this relation refers to Ireland, the famous Abaris, 
 who is said to have come from the Hyperboreans on 
 an embassy to Athens, six centuries before the com- 
 mencement of the Christian era, and of whose learn- 
 ing and accomplishments so many wonderful stories 
 are told by various authors, would be an Irishman.^ 
 
 These, and other seeming indications of an oriental 
 connexion have appeared so irresistible to many of 
 the ablest and most laborious inquirers into the an- 
 tiquities of Ireland, that, however variously they may 
 
 1 For a more complete examination of the narrative in Diodorus Si- 
 culus, see O'Brien's Round Towers, chaps, iv. and xxvii. Toland, how- 
 ever, conceives the island of the Hyperboreans to be " the great island 
 of Lewis and Harris, with its appendages, and the adjacent island of 
 Skye" in the Hebrides. (History of the Druids, p. 155, &c.) Davies 
 is decidedly of opinion that it was Great Britain. (Celtic Researches, 
 lgl_]99, and Appendix, 549, &C.) There is a curious article on Aba- 
 ris in Bayle's Dictionary.
 
 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 13 
 
 have chosen to shape their theories in regard to sub- 
 ordinate details, they have found themselves obliged 
 to assume an early colonization of the country by 
 some people of the east, as the leading principle of 
 their investigations. Whatever question there may 
 be, however, as to who this people were, it is agi-eed 
 on all hands that they were a people speaking the 
 present Irish language. The popular tradition, which 
 makes the Milesians or Scots to have been a Scythian 
 colony, considers them nevertheless to be Gael, or 
 Gauls. Colonel Vallancey, who in his latter days 
 adopted the hypothesis that the original Irish people 
 were a colony of Indo-Scythians, and denied that 
 they were either Gauls or Celts, maintained at the 
 same time that the Irish was not a Gallic or Celtic 
 tongue. Mr. O'Brien, who deduces the Irish pop- 
 ulation from Persia, makes the Irish to have been 
 the ancient language of that country.^ Finally, 
 Sir William Betham and others, whose system is 
 that Ireland was colonized by the Phoenicians, con- 
 tend that the ancient Phoenician or Punic language 
 was the same with the modern Irish, and hold them- 
 selves to be able to make out that point from the 
 remains of it which we yet possess. In particular, 
 they supply, by the aid of the Irish tongue, an inter- 
 pretation of the celebrated scene in Punic, in the 
 " Pcenulus" of Plautus, which has at least a very 
 imjwsing plausibility.- " The complete identity of 
 the Phoenician and Irish languages," observes Sir 
 William Betham, " explains, makes palpable, and 
 elucidates, not only the history and geography of 
 Europe, but most of the ancient maritime world, and 
 in fact removes every difficulty to the acquirement 
 of connect notions of the events of the earliest times." 
 
 There can be no doubt, it may be here observed, 
 that the Irish is a Celtic tongue, and essentially the 
 saiTie with that which was anciently spoken by the 
 chief part of the population both of Gaul and of the 
 south of Britain. Colonel Vallancey and others who 
 have doubted or denied this identity have been 
 misled by taking it for gi'anted that the ti'ue rep- 
 resentative of the Celtic tongue of the ancient Brit- 
 ons and Gauls is the modern Welsh, which, as we 
 shall presently have occasion to hotice more particu- 
 larly, appears really to be a different language al- 
 together. 
 
 It may also be remarked that there does not appear 
 to be any uTcconcilable discordance between the two 
 principal modern theories on the subject of the an- 
 cient connexion of Ireland with the East, namely 
 that which atti-ibutes the colonization of the country 
 to the Phoenicians, and that which deduces the peo- 
 ple, together with their language and their religion, 
 from Persia. It is far from improbable that the 
 Phoenicians were originally a Persian people. The 
 ancient writers generally bear testimony to the fact 
 
 ' The identity of the Celtic people and the Persians, and of the 
 Celtic and Persian langTiages, is also considered by Pelloutier as ad- 
 mitting of no doubt. See his Histoire des Celtes. 
 
 2 This interpretation was first published by the late General Vallan- 
 cey, by whom, however, it appears to have been obtained, though that 
 fact was not acknowledged, from a manuscript of an Irish scholar of 
 the name of Neachtan. It is given in the most complete form in Sir 
 W. Belhara's Gael and Cymbri, pp. ] 13-138. 
 
 that the district called Phoenicia, at the extremity of 
 the Mediterranean, was not then* original seat. They 
 seem to have found their way thither from some 
 couutiy farther to the east or the south-east. He- 
 rodotus makes them to have been Chaldseans, and 
 Strabo brings them from the neighborhood of the 
 Persian Gulf. Their religion, as has been already 
 observed, appears to have been the same Cabiric or 
 Guebre worship which prevailed among the ancient 
 Persians. 
 
 The popular ti'adition brings the progenitors of the 
 people of Ireland immediately from Spain, making 
 that country one of the principal resting-places of the 
 Gaelic or Milesian race in their progiess from the 
 East. This view also would sufficiently harmonize 
 with the supposition that Ireland was indebted for its 
 earliest civilization and its language to the Phoeni- 
 cians, who had settlements in Spain, and are ex- 
 pressly stated by Strabo and other ancient ^^Titers 
 to have canned on a ti'ading intercourse from very 
 remote times with the British Islands. The Irish 
 traditional history, however, it is to be obsei-ved, 
 brings the Spanish colonizers of the countiy, not from 
 Gades, which Sti-abo speaks of as the place from 
 which the voyages to Britain were chiefly made, but 
 from Gallicia, at the opposite exti-emity of Spain. 
 Particular mention is made of a lighthouse which 
 stood in the neighborhood of the port now called 
 Corunna, and was of gi-eat service in the navigation 
 between that coast and Ireland ; and a remarkable 
 coincidence has been noticed between this part of 
 the tradition and an account given by .S^thicus, the 
 cosmogi-apher, of a lofty pharos, or lighthouse, stand- 
 ing formerly on the sea-coast of Gallicia, and, as his 
 expressions seem to imply, serving as a beacon in 
 the direction of Britain. WTiatever may be thought, 
 indeed, of the share that either the Phoenicians or 
 some other eastern people may have had in coloniz- 
 ing Ireland, or at least in communicating to the coun- 
 try its earliest civilization and religion, little doubt can 
 be entertained that the gi-eat body of the Celtic pro- 
 genitors of its present population was derived, not, as 
 in the case of Britain, from Gaul, but from Spain. 
 Even some of the British tribes, as we have already 
 hinted, were probably of Spanish extraction. Taci- 
 tus, as has been observed above, conjectures that the 
 Silures, who inhabited the south of Wales, had come 
 from Spain, from their swarthy countenances, their 
 curled hair, and the position of the disti-ict in which 
 they dwelt, facing that countiy. Ireland, from its 
 position, in hke manner, offered the most inviting 
 field for the occupation of colonists from the same 
 quarter. Many of the names of the ancient Irish 
 ti-ibes, as recorded by Ptolemy, are the same with 
 those of tribes forming part of the Spanish popula- 
 tion. " So irresistible, indeed," observes Mr. Moore, 
 "is the force of tradition in favor of a Spanish col- 
 onization, that every new propounder of an hypothe- 
 sis on the subject is forced to admit this event as part 
 of his scheme. Thus Buchanan, in supposing colo- 
 nies to have passed from Gaul to Ireland, contrives 
 to caiTy them first to the west of Spain ; and the 
 learned Welsh antiquary, Lhuyd, who traces the
 
 14 
 
 INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE PRIMITIVE 
 
 origin of the Irish to two distinct sources, admits one 
 of those primitive sources to have been Spanisli. In 
 the same manner, a late ^VTiter,' who, on account of 
 the remarkable similarity which exists betsveen his 
 countiy's Round Towers and the Pillar-temples of 
 Mazanderan, deduces the origin of the Irish nation 
 from the banks of the Caspian, yields so far to the 
 cun-ent of ancient tradition, as, in conducting his col- 
 ony from Iran to the west, to give it Spain for a rest- 
 ing-place. Even Innes, one of the most acute of 
 those wTiters wlm have combated the Milesian pre- 
 tensions of the Irish, yet bows to the universal voice 
 of tradition in that country, which, as he says, pe- 
 remptorily declares in favor of a colonization from 
 Spain." ^ 
 
 At the same time, as Mr. Moore has elsewhere 
 remarked, there are sufficient evidences that Gothic 
 tribes from Germany have effected settlements in 
 Ireland as well as the Celts from Spain. This would 
 be proved by Ptolemy's map of the country alone, in 
 which there are several tribes set down whose names 
 clearly indicate them to have been of Teutonic origin. 
 There is every reason to believe, indeed, as we shall 
 liave occasion to show in the sequel, that the most 
 famous of all the Irish ti-ibes, the Scots, a people 
 who seem to have eventually established a dominion 
 over all the other races in the island, were not Celts, 
 but Germans or Goths. Not^vithstanding these mix- 
 tures, however, the mass of the population I'emained 
 essentially Celtic, as it had been from the first ; and 
 so thoroughly was the Celtic character impressed 
 upon and worked into the whole being of the nation, 
 that it speedily fused down, and assimilated every- 
 thing foreign with which it came in contact. " It can- 
 not but be regarded as a remarkable result," obsei-ves 
 Mr. Moore, " that while, as the evidence adduced 
 sti'ongly testifies, so many of the foreign tribes that in 
 turn possessed this island were Gothic, the gi-eat bulk 
 of the nation itself, its language, character, and insti- 
 tutions, should have remained so free from change, 
 that even the conquering ti'ibes themselves should, one 
 after another, have become mingled with the general 
 mass, leaving only in those few Teutonic words, 
 which are found mixed up with the native Celtic, any 
 vestige of their once separate existence. The fact 
 evidently is, that, long before the period when these 
 Scythic invaders first began to arrive, there had al- 
 ready poured, from the shores of the Atlantic, into the 
 country an abundant Celtic population, wliich, though 
 but too ready, from the want of concert and coalition 
 which has ever characterized that race, to fall a weak 
 and easy prey to successive bands of adventurers, was 
 yet too numerous, as well as too deeply imbued with 
 another sti-ong Celtic characteristic, attachment to 
 old habits and prejudices, to allow even conquerors 
 to innovate materially either on their language or 
 their usages." ^ 
 
 According to Sir William Betham, the proper 
 Celtic name of Ireland is not, as commonly stated, 
 Erin, but Eire, of which Erin is the genitive, and 
 which is pronounced precisely as lar, a word still in 
 
 1 Popular History of Ireland, by Mr. Wliitty, Part I. 
 
 2 History of Ireland, i. !8. 3 ibid. j. Qg. 
 
 common use, and signifying the west, the end, eveiy- 
 thing last, beyond, the extremity. So, he observes, 
 we find by the Periplus of Hanno that the last 
 Phoenician settlement on the west coast of Africa 
 was called Cerne, pronounced Kerne, or Heme, 
 being the same word with Erin. Strabo also tells us 
 that the promontory forming the most western point 
 on the coast of Spain was called lerne. lerne and 
 lernis are among the forms wliich the Celtic name 
 of Ireland assumes in the pages of the Greek and 
 Romnn authors. The same original has, without 
 doubt, also given rise to the forms Juvernia and Hi- 
 bernia, and to the common Latin names for the peo- 
 ple Hiberni and Hiberniones. The derivation of the 
 Celtic name of Ireland from a word signifying the 
 extremity, or the remotest point, is as old as the 
 time of Camden. 
 
 It is an important part, however, we ought to note, 
 of Mr. O'Brien's theory, that this name is nearly the 
 same word with Iran, the old and still the native name 
 of Persia. Iran, he says, means the Sacred Land, 
 and Irin the Sacred Island. In support of this ex- 
 planation he quotes a statement by Sir John Mal- 
 colm, to the effect that he had been told by a learned 
 Persian that Eir or Eer signified in the Pahlavi, or 
 court dialect of Persia, a believer, and that that was 
 the root of the name of the country. The uniform 
 spelling of Erin, or Irin, in the oldest manuscripts, 
 according to Mr. O'Brien, is Eirin.i 
 
 III. The most ancient name by which the northern 
 part of Britain was known, appears to have been Cale- 
 donia. We have no evidence, however, that this name 
 was in use among the inhabitants of tlie countiy them- 
 selves. It seems to have been that Avhich was em- 
 ployed to designate them by the southern Britons, 
 from whom no doubt the Romans learned it. Caoill 
 signifies wood in Celtic, as naluv, Jcalon (which ap- 
 pears to be the same word), does in Greek ; and the 
 Caledonii of the Roman Avi'iters has been supposed, 
 with much probability, to be merely a classical trans- 
 formation of Caoill daoin, literally, the people of the 
 woods, or the wnld people. The meaning of the terra, 
 indeed, is exactlj" expressed by the modern word sav- 
 ages, in French sauvages, in Italian selvaggie, the 
 original of which is the Latin silva, a wood. 
 
 If it could be shown that the northern Britons of 
 the time of the Romans called themselves Caledoni- 
 ans, or Caoill daoin, this circumstance would aflford 
 some evidence that they were a Celtic people. But 
 the name in itself, if the commonly received interpre- 
 tation of it be correct, does not appear to be one which 
 a people would be very likely to adopt as their national 
 appellation. Notwithstanding this probably Celtic 
 name, therefore, by which they were known to the 
 Romans and to the southern Britons, the Caledonians 
 may not have been a Celtic race. 
 
 As tlie south of Britain was in all probability chiefly 
 peopled from Gaul, and Ireland chiefly from Spain, 
 so it has been conjectured that the main source of the 
 original population of North Britain was in like man- 
 ner the part of the continent immediately opposite to 
 it, namely, the noi-th of what was then called Gei-- 
 
 ' The Round Towers, chap. ix.
 
 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 15 
 
 many, including modern Holland and Denmark, and 
 also Nonvay and Sweden, or the region anciently 
 comprehended under the general name of Scandina- 
 via. Tacitus, as already noticed, expressly tells us 
 that the red hair and big bones of the Caledonians 
 asserted their German origin. If this view be cor- 
 rect, the earliest occupants of the North of Britain 
 were a people not of Celtic, but of Teutonic race. 
 
 In the later days of the Roman domination the 
 name Caledonians appears to have gi-adually fallen 
 into disuse, and in their stead the Picts appear on the 
 scene. Everything connected with the Picts — then- 
 name, their language, their origin, their final histoiy 
 — has been made the subject of long and eager con- 
 b'oversy. But it may now be said to be agi'eed on all 
 hands that, whether we are to consider them as hav- 
 ing been Gothic or Celtic, the Picts were really of the 
 same stock with the Caledonians. 
 
 The Picts are mentioned for the first time about 
 the beginning of the fourth century, by Eumenius, 
 the author of a Panegyric on the Emperor Constan- 
 tine, who speaks of the Caledonians as being a tribe of 
 Picts : Caledones aliique Picti — the Caledonians and 
 the other Picts — is his expression. About a cen- 
 tury later Ammianus Marcellinus describes the Picts 
 as divided into two nations, the Dicaledones, or, ac- 
 cording to another reading, Deucaledones, and the 
 Vecturiones. Upon this passage, a late wi'iter, who 
 holds that both the Caledonians and the Picts were 
 Celts, observes — " The term Deucaledones is attend- 
 ed with no difficulty. Duchaoilldaoin signifies, in the 
 Gaelic language, the real or genuine inhabitants of 
 the woods. Du, pronounced short, signifies black ; 
 but pronounced long, signifies real, genuine ; and in 
 this acceptation the word is in common use ; Du 
 Erinnach, a genuine Irishman; Du Albinnach, a 
 getiuine Scotsman. The appellation of Deucaledones 
 served to distinguish the inhabitants of the woody 
 valleys of Albinn, or Scotland, from those of the clear- 
 ed country on tlie east coast of Albinn, along its whole 
 extent, to certain distances westward along its moun- 
 tains in the interior parts of the countiy. These last 
 were denominated, according to Latin pronunciation, 
 Vecturiones ; but in the mouths of the Gael, or native 
 inhabitants, the appellation was pronounced Uachta- 
 rich,^^^ We do not find, however, that any explana- 
 tion of this last term is attempted further than the fol- 
 lowing : — " That a portion of the countiy was knoAvn 
 in ancient times by the name of- Uachtar, is evinced 
 by the well-known range of hills called Druim-Uach- 
 tar, from which the country descends in every direc- 
 tion towards the inhabited regions on all sides of that 
 mountainous range." - Sir William Betham, also, 
 explaining the names recorded by Marcellinus from 
 the Welsh, will have the Dicaledones to mean the 
 separated Caledonians ; di, he says, in that language, 
 having the same disjunctive effect with the particle 
 dis in English; while he considers Vecturiones to 
 come from the two words Uc, chief, and Deyrn, lord, 
 and to signify a superior reahn, or the chief district, 
 
 1 Thovights on the Origin and Besoent of the Gael. By James 
 Grant, Esq., of Corrimony. 8vo. Lond. 1828, p. 376. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 277. 
 
 the residence of the Ucdeyrn, or sovereign prince. 
 Pinkerton considers the Latin Vecturiones to be a 
 corruption of Peohtar or Pehtar, which is the form 
 in which the name Picts was anciently vsTitten.' 
 Chalmers, also, derives the Latin appellation from 
 the old name of the Picts, which he conceives to have 
 been Peithi, or Peithwyi-, a word that in Welsh is 
 said to signify those that are out or exposed, the peo- 
 ple of the open country." In Scotland the name is 
 still pronounced Pechts, or Pechs, with a strong 
 enunciation of the guttural. After all, the name 
 Picti may not improbably be merely the common 
 Latin term signifying painted, bestowed upon the 
 northern barbarians, from their custom of dyeing or 
 tattooing their bodies, for the existence of which there 
 is abundant evidence. The Latin wi'iters themselves 
 seem to have generally understood the name in this 
 sense. 
 
 With regard to the language of the Picts, Bede, 
 wi-iting while that name was still their recognized 
 national designation, distinctly informs us that it was 
 different from that of the Britons. He has also pre- 
 served one Pictish word, and that does not belong to 
 the Gaelic either of Ireland or Scotland.- So, when 
 the Irish saint, Columba, in the sixth century, went 
 to the court of the Pictish king, for the purpose of 
 converting that prince and his subjects to Christianity, 
 it is expressly recorded by his biogi-apher, Adomnan, 
 in more than one passage, that he employed an inter- 
 preter. But the strongest proof of all is derived from 
 the old names of places, which, throughout the whole 
 of that part of Scotland formerly constituting the king- 
 dom of the Picts, are not Irish or Gaelic, but belong 
 to another language. The same is also the case with 
 the names of the Picti-sh kings, several lists of which 
 have been preserved. The people therefore that 
 originally occupied the territory in question would 
 appear not to have been a Celtic race. 
 
 The kingdom of the Picts, which subsisted under 
 that designation in an independent state, till the mid- 
 dle of the ninth century, extended, as is well known, 
 along the east coast of Scotland, from the Firth of 
 Forth northwards. As for the countiy to the south 
 of the Forth and the Clyde, it did not properly be- 
 long to ancient Scotland at all. But while the Picts 
 thus occupied the lowland country, the hilly country 
 to the west was undoubtedly in the possession of a 
 people of genuine Celtic lineage, the progenitors of 
 the present Scottish Highlanders. Of those writers 
 who consider the Caledonians to have been Celts, 
 several hold that the modern Highlanders are tlie 
 descendants of those earliest occupants of Nortli 
 Britain. This, for instance, is the view propounded 
 by jMr. James jNIacpherson in the inti'oduction pre- 
 fixed to his celebrated translation of the Poems of 
 Ossian (1762), and also by his relation. Dr. James 
 Macpherson, in his Dissertations on the Caledonians, 
 &c., which the translator of Ossian edited (1768). 
 Yet both these writers contend that the Picts also 
 were the descendants of the same Caledonians ; or, 
 
 1 Inquiry into the History of Scotland preceding- the reign of Mal- 
 colm III. 
 
 = Caledonia, i. 203.
 
 16 
 
 INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE PRIMITIVE 
 
 in other ■words, that the Highlanders and the Low- 
 landers were really the same people — a fact which 
 would make it extremely difFicult to account for the 
 complete distinction between the two, which we find 
 preserved in all the historical notices that liave come 
 down to us respecting them. The Scottish High- 
 landers consider themselves to be of Irish descent, as 
 Dr. James Macpherson admits. In these respects 
 their own ti-aditions perfectlj' agree with the uniform 
 voice of the traditional history of Ireland. It may 
 now indeed be said to be admitted on all hands that 
 the Scottish Highlanders are the descendants of a 
 band of Irish who settled in Argjieshire about tlie 
 middle of the third centiuy, under a leader named 
 Carbry Riada, the lord of a territory in Antiim, named 
 after himself, Dalriada. The descendants of these 
 Irisli colonists, about the beginning of the sixth cen- 
 tury, founded in that district of Scotland what was 
 long called the Dalriadic kingdom, or kingdom of the 
 Dab-eudini, and which eventually, on the seizure of 
 the Pictish throne, by Kenneth Macalpine, in the 
 year 843, became the kingdom of all Scotland. This 
 is the view concuiTed in by Innes, O'Connor, Chal- 
 mers, and all the ablest modern inquirers. 
 
 Indeed, until the appearance of the publications of 
 the Macphersons, the Irish origin of the Scottish 
 Highlanders does not appear ever to have been doubt- 
 ed or called in question, either among themselves or 
 by others. Their own name for their language is 
 Erse or Ersh, that is, Irish. They designate them- 
 selves Gael, and they call the Irish by the same name 
 at this day. 
 
 Of the origin and meaning of the term Gael, it does 
 not appear possible to give any satisfactory account. 
 The Irish tiadition is that the name is derived from 
 Gaodhal (pronounced Gael), gi-andson of Feine Farsa, 
 the first gi'eat leader of the colony, variously desig- 
 nated Milesian, Scotic, Gaelic, and Phoenician, from 
 which the Celtic population of Ireland is sjn'ung. It 
 has been supposed by some that the word Gael, or 
 Galli, is really the same with Celts (pronounced 
 Keltae), as well as with Galatse, the name given to the 
 mhabitants of Galatia, or Gallo-Graecia, in Asia Minor. 
 Sir William Betham conceives that the Phoenicians, 
 long before the Christian era, called themselves Gael 
 and Gaeltach, from the latter of which names the 
 Greeks and Romans formed their Keltoi and Celtae. 
 Others, however, think Celtee to be a corruption of 
 Caoildch, which signifies a woodland people, from 
 Caoill, wood, already mentioned. The commonly 
 received classical derivation of the name Celts is from 
 the old Greek word, used by Homer, Kf;ij?f, Keles 
 (originally iiTc^e^s), a horse, the Celts being, it is said, 
 every^vhere distinguished for their skill in horseman- 
 ship. Perhaps the word ought rather to be deduced 
 at once from the verb KeUu, Kello, to move about, 
 from which Ke/rjc is itself considered a derivative. 
 The wandering character of the race would go to 
 vindicate this etjmology ; but we do not know that 
 there is any Celtic word con-esponding in sound and 
 sense to the Greek Ke/2u. Caesar tells us that the 
 people of ancient France, whom the Romans called 
 Galli, were called Celts in their own language ; and 
 
 Pausanias also testifies that the ancient name of the 
 Gauls was Celts. Herodotus, who mentions the 
 Celts, is silent as to the Gauls. 
 
 The words (iael and Galli have also been by some 
 supposed to be identical with the modern names 
 Waldenses or Walloons, and Waelsh or Welsh. 
 Nothing certainly is more common than the conver- 
 sion of the sound g into w or giv, and therefore the 
 name Waelsh, by which the Saxons were latterly 
 wont to designate the alien race who occupied the 
 western corner of South Britain, might possibly be 
 merely a corruption of Gael. At the same time, as 
 the Welsh never have called themselves Gael, it 
 would be somewhat difficult to account for the Saxons 
 bestowing upon them that name, if it was thereby 
 intended to identify them with the Gael of Ireland 
 and of Scotland. There can be no doubt that the 
 word Welsh is the same with the modern German 
 Waelsch, which is still applied in that language to 
 designate generally all strangers or foreign nations. 
 The Italians, in particular, are called fit this day, 
 AVaelsch or Welsch by the Germans, their language 
 the Welsh tongue, and their country Welsh-land. 
 Precisely in the same way our German ancestors, the 
 Saxons, called the race of distinct blood and language 
 who occupied the west of England Welsh, and the 
 disti-ict they inhabited Wales. 
 
 What original connexion there may have been 
 between the two words Gael and Waelsh (or Wael, 
 as it may perhaps have been in its simplest form), 
 when the Celtic and Teutonic tongues were less 
 widely divided than they eventually came to be, we 
 shall not take upon us to conjecture. If any relation- 
 ship could be established, it might perhaps help us to 
 the true meaning of the name Gael. It is worth 
 remarking that there appears to be another genaine 
 Celtic word, which, fi-om llie similarity of its sound, 
 is apt to be confounded with the word (Jael, Dut to 
 which is atti-ibuted exactly the signification of the 
 German Waelsch. This fact is obscurely noticed by 
 Buchanan, who states that the ancient Scots divided 
 all the nations of Britain into Gaol and Galle, which 
 names he translates by the Latin Galli and Gallaeci. 
 But the matter is more clearly explained in the fol- 
 lowing passage from a modern work : — " Gaoll, in the 
 Gaelic language, signifies a stranger. All the inhab- 
 itants of the kingdom of Scotland, whose native lan- 
 guage is not Gaelic, are by the Gael called Gaoill ; 
 Gaoll, nom. singular ; Gaoill, nom. plural, that is, 
 strangers ; so GaoUdock is the countiy of the Scots 
 who speak English, as Gaeldoch is the country of the 
 Highlanders who speak Gaelic. Caithness, that part 
 of the northern extremity of Scotland which has been 
 for many centuries inhabited by Anglo-Saxon colo- 
 nies, is called by the Gael, Gaollthao, the quarter of 
 strangers ; and, for the same reason, the Hebrides, 
 after their conquest by the Danes, got the name of 
 Insegaoll, which signifies the islands inhabited by 
 strangers. Circumstances of a like nature gave the 
 names of Galloway and Galway to the districts of 
 countiy known by these appellations in Scotland and 
 Ireland."^ The author of " Britannia after the Ro- 
 
 1 Grant's Origin of the Gael, p. 154.
 
 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 17 
 
 mans'' conceives tliat Wal and Gaul are the same 
 word, and is convinced " that the words Wal, Wealli, 
 Welsch, and Walsch were all primarily applied to 
 that extensive family of ti-ibes which we distinguish 
 from the Teutonic towards the west, and that when- 
 ever it obtained the general force of stranger or for- 
 eigner, it had been among such tribes of Teutons as 
 had then little collision with any other description of 
 foreigners." ^ But how will this theory account for 
 the Gael themselves calling foreigners Gaoll / 
 
 But all this while who and whence were the Scots ? 
 and from whom has North Britain received the name 
 of Scotland ? In the first place, it is to be obseiTed, 
 that down to the eleventh or twelfth century the 
 name Scotia was appropriated not to what is now 
 called Scotland, but to Ireland, and by the Scots was 
 meant the Irish, or at least a people dwelling in that 
 countiy. This is now universally admitted. The 
 Scots are first mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus 
 under the year 360, as fighting in alliance with the 
 Picts. If these Scots were a British people, they 
 must be supposed to have been a portion of that band 
 of colonists fiom Ireland, who, as aheady mentioned, 
 had a short time before this obtained a settlement in 
 Argyleshire. But it is far from being certain that the 
 Scots spoken of by Marcelhnus, and whom, on another 
 occasion, he describes as per diver sa vagantes — vag- 
 abondizing fi-om one place to another, as the words 
 may be tianslated — were not native Irish who had 
 come over expressly for the purpose of the predatoiy 
 expeditions in which they are represented as having 
 been engaged. We find, at any rate, that the ti-ibes 
 of the north of Britain were sometimes joined in their 
 attacks upon the Roman province by bands of Scots, 
 who are expressly stated to have come from Ireland. 
 Thus, the poet Claudian, describing the chastisement 
 inflicted by Theodosius, in the year 368, upon the 
 Saxons, Picts, and Scots, says that of the last-men- 
 tioned people icy Ireland (glacialis lerne) wept the 
 heaps that were slaughtered. We have seen above 
 that the notion of Ireland commonly entertained 
 among the Greeks and Romans was that the island 
 was situated very far to the north, which accounts 
 for the epithet here made use of. Another expres- 
 sion in the poem, proceeding from the same miscon- 
 ception, occurs in the passage in which it is affirmed 
 that Theodosius, in pursuing the flying Scots, broke 
 with his daring oars the Hyperborean waves. This 
 may remind us of the island of the Hyperboreans, 
 commemorated by Diodorus Siculus. In like man- 
 ner, in another poem, in which he celebrates the 
 exploits of Stilicho,. about thirty years later, on the 
 same scene of war, he makes Britannia exclaim, 
 " By him was I protected" — 
 
 " totam cum Scutus lemen 
 Movit, et infesto spumavit remise Tethys" — 
 
 that is, as it has been ti'anslated by Dr. Kennet in 
 (iibson's Camden, 
 
 " When Scots came thundering- from the Irish shores, 
 And the ocean trembled, struck with hostile oars." 
 
 It may be considered, then, not to admit of any 
 dispute, that the Scots were originally an Irish peo- 
 
 i Britannia after the Romans, p. Ixxviii. 
 vol.. T- ■? 
 
 pie. "It is certain," observes Camden, "that the 
 Scots went fiom Ireland into Britain. Orosiiis, Bede, 
 and Eginliard bear indisputable testimony that Ire- 
 land was inhabited by the Scots." Bede, indeed, 
 who yet had never heard of North Britain being 
 called Scotland, expressly informs us that the nation 
 of the Scots first came into that part of Britain which 
 belonged to the Picts, from Ireland, under their 
 leader Reuda — the Riada mentioned in a preceding 
 page. As the country eventually received its kings, 
 so it also received its name from these Ii-ish colonists. 
 The proper Scots, accordingly, Camden describes to 
 be those commonly called Highlandmen; "for the 
 rest," he adds, " more civilized, and inhabiting the 
 eastern part, though comprehended under the name 
 of Scots, are the farthest in the world from being Scots, 
 but are of the same German origin with us English." 
 The name Scot has been usually supposed to be the 
 same with Scythian, and to be a Celtic term signify- 
 ing a scattered or wandering people. It has been 
 suggested, however, that it may be a truncated form 
 of the Welsh Ysgo-do-gion or Ysgotiaid, which names 
 appear to have been applied to the Scots by the 
 Welsh in the twelfth centuiy, and to be derived 
 from Ysgawd, signifying shade, as if meaning a people 
 of the woods. ' We doubt, at all events, the deriva- 
 tion from Ysgawd. 
 
 But having found the Scots settled in Ireland 
 before they were known in Britain, we have still to 
 endeavor to discover when and whence they found 
 their way to the former countiy ; and these are much 
 darker questions. The Irish traditionary account, as 
 we have seen, is, that the Scots, or the Milesians, 
 were that great nation who, arriving in Ireland many 
 centuries before the birth of Christ, brought with 
 them the present Irish or Gaelic language, and 
 became the progenitors of the gieat body of the pre- 
 sent Irish population. But, to pass over all the other 
 improbabilities involved in this legend, it is sufficient to 
 remark, that the account of the geogi-aphy of Ireland 
 given by Ptolemy, sufficiently proves that there were 
 no Scots in Ireland at the time when Marinus of 
 Tyre collected the materials from which that writer 
 drew his information. And still more decisive is the 
 evidence of a work of unquestionable authenticity, 
 " The confession of St. Patrick," written so recently 
 as the middle of the fifth century, from a passage in 
 which it appears that even then the Scots were a 
 distinct race from the Hiberionaces, or great body of 
 the Irish people. The manner, however, in which 
 they are here spoken of, as well as the ascendancy 
 which their name afterwards acquired, would seem 
 to imply that they formed a superior class ; and the 
 probabiUty is, that they were really a foreign people 
 who, perhaps a century or two at most before our era, 
 had effected a settlement in the countiy by force, and 
 eventually reduced the natives to subjection. One 
 supposition, that proposed by Whitaker in his Histoiy 
 of Manchester, is, that the Scots were emigi-ants 
 fi-om Britain, and consequently Celts ; but this hy- 
 pothesis is entirely unsupported by evidence, and is 
 directly contraiy to the uniform tenor of tlie Iiish 
 
 1 Britannia after the Romans, p. Ixiji.
 
 18 
 
 INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE PRIMITIVE 
 
 tiadition respecting the people in question, which 
 pereniptoril}- asserts them to have been of Scythic or 
 Germanic race. Pini<ertoii, Wood (in his " Inquiiy 
 into the Primitive Inhabitants of Ireland"), and others, 
 conceive the Scots to have been Beliiians ; but the 
 whole course of early Irish history, as ^Ir. Moore has 
 remarked, "runs counter to this conjecture — the Bel- 
 gx and Scoti,thouf;lijoinin<!; occasionally as alUes in the 
 field, being represented throughout as distinct races." 
 On the whole, we are disposed to agree with this last- 
 mentioned writer, that the Scots were really a tribe 
 of Scythians, that is, a people from Germany, or the 
 north of Europe, who arrived in Ireland subsequently 
 to the Firbolgs or Belg;e, and that they were there- 
 fore of Teutonic blood and language. Although they 
 appear to have in course of time reduced all the otlier 
 inhabitants of the island under their authority, and to 
 have given their name to the whole country, their 
 numbers were probably very small as comjjared with 
 those of the original Celtic poj)ulation. Hence the 
 language of the country continued to be Celtic, and 
 eventually, both in this and in other particulars, the 
 conquering tribe came to be melted down among the 
 mass of those whom it had subdued — ^just as after 
 the Norman invasion England still continued to be 
 essentially a Saxon country. It is not therefore 
 necessary to conclude from the facts of the High- 
 landers of North Britain being sprung from a colony 
 of Irish, and of that country inheriting from Ireland 
 the name of Scotland, that the Irish progenitors of 
 the Scottish Highlanders were of the Scotic race 
 properly so called ; long before the name of Scoti 
 was transferred to the Highlanders of North Britain, 
 it had entirely lost its original distinctive meaning, 
 and was applied to all the people of Ireland indis- 
 criminately. The Irish colonists of Scotland, for any- 
 thing that is known, may not have even had a drop of 
 Scotic or Scythic blood in their veins. It is certain, 
 at least, that they were Celts or Gael in speech, and 
 that their descendants to this day have never called 
 themselves Scots, or anything else but Gael. 
 
 In distinguishing themselves from the Irish, the 
 Scottish Highlanders designate that people Gael 
 Erinnich, or Gael of Erin, and themselves Gael 
 Albinnich, or Gael of Albin. Alhin, or Albion, ap- 
 pears to have been anciently the name of the Avhole 
 island of Great Britain, and that by which it was first 
 known to the Greeks and Romans. The Avriter of 
 the geographical treatise ascribed to Aristotle, to 
 Avliich we have referred in a former page, says that 
 the two British islands were called Albion and lerne. 
 Pliny intimates that, the whole gi'oup of islands 
 being called Britannia, the former name of that then 
 called Britannia was Albion. Eustathius, the com- 
 mentator on the Greek geogi-aphical poem of Diony- 
 sius Periegetes, tells us that the British islands are 
 trsvo in number, Ouernia and Alou'ion, or Bcrnia and 
 Albion. Albinn, according to Mr. (xrant, means in 
 Gaelic ichife or fair island. "The Gael of Scotland 
 and Ireland," he observes, " never knew any other 
 name for Scotland than that of Alhinn ; it is the 
 name used by them at this day ; the apjjellation of 
 Scotia, or any appellation similar to it in sound, is 
 
 entirely unknown to them. The Gael have pre- 
 served, and apply at this day to the kingdom of Scot- 
 land, the most ancient name known to the Greeks 
 and Romans, to denominate the whole island of 
 Great Britain. The etymology of the name serves 
 to show that it was denominated Albinn by the con- 
 tinental (iauls, and was naturally called by them the 
 Fair or White Island, from the chalky appearance 
 of the British coast opposite to the nearest part of the 
 coast of ancient Gaul." ' An old name given to the 
 island by the Welsh is stated to have been Innis-wen, 
 which also in their language signifies the Fair or 
 White Island.- 
 
 IV. The Welsh, as every one is aware, have 
 been in the habit of regarding themselves as the 
 genuine descendants and representatives of the an- 
 cient Britons, who possessed the whole of the south- 
 ern portion of the island before the arrival of the 
 Saxons, and were indeed the same people that in- 
 habited the coimtry when it was first invaded by the 
 Romans, and had proi)ably occupied it for many 
 preceding centuries. This descent being assumed, 
 the AVelsh language has generally been held to be 
 a Celtic dialect, and essentially the same that was 
 spoken by the original Britons, only mixed with some 
 words of Latin derivation, which it is supposed to 
 have received from the intercourse of those who 
 used it with the Roman colonists. 
 
 It would probably be difficult to produce any direct 
 evidence for these notions ; but they have been, until 
 very recently, the almost universally received faith 
 among the students of British antiquities. 
 
 Yet it is certain, in the first place, that no ti-ace 
 is to be found in the notices of Britain by the (ireek 
 or Roman writers, of any people or tribe settled in 
 the district now called Wales, from which the Welsh 
 can with any probabilitj- be supposed to have sprung. 
 They exhibit no marks which would lead us to sus- 
 pect their progenitors to have been the SUures, 
 whose swarthy countenances and curled hair gave 
 them to Tacitus the appearance of a Spanish race. 
 The Welsh have always called themselves Cymry; 
 there is no resemblance between this name, and 
 either that of the Silures, or that of the Demetse, or 
 that of the Ordovices, the only British tiibes whom 
 we read of, either in Ptolemy, or in any of the his- 
 torians of the Roman wars, as occupying Wales in 
 the time of the Romans. Indeed, no name resem- 
 bling the Cymry occurs any^vhere in the ancient 
 ' geogi'aphy of the island, so far as it is to be collected 
 from these authorities. It is not pretended that this 
 appellation has been adopted by the Welsh since the 
 I time of the Romans; if therefore the people bearing 
 
 1 Tlioughts oil the Gael, p. 297. 
 I 2 The authnr of " Britannia after the Romans,*' however, contends 
 I that we must consider the ancient and correct form of Albion to be 
 i Alouion or Alwion. " Neither/) nor i," he is pleased to say, " is ca- 
 pable of mutation into u» ; nor is the converse possible." Tlie Romans, 
 he proceeds, modified the sound of the word "to suit the etyniologj- 
 furnished by their own language, but not existing in the Greek, albus. 
 I white. And they harped upon that idea so long, that it was adopted 
 I in the island itself while it was their province."' Alwion, he is inclined 
 ] to think, is the Land of Gwion, which appears to have been a name of 
 " the Hermes, or Mercury, whom the ancient Britons revered above all 
 other deities, and who (in the alchemic sii])ersytion&J presided over thi 
 permutations of n->ture." — pp. hiv — Ixviii.
 
 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 19 
 
 it were then in the island, and more especially if 
 they formed, as the common account would seem to 
 imply, the most ancient and illustrious of all the 
 ti-ibes by which the countiy was occupied, how did 
 it happen that they wholly escaped notice ? How 
 are we to account for the fact of tribes with other 
 appellations altogether being set down by contempo- 
 raiy geogi-aphers and historians in the very district 
 which the Cymry claim as their proper and ancient 
 residence ? 
 
 But further, it clearly appears, and has been ac- 
 knowledged by some of the ablest and most learned 
 of the Welsh antiquaries themselves, that the dis- 
 h'ict now called Wales must have been inhabited in 
 ancient times by another race than the present 
 Welsh. The oldest names of natural objects and 
 localities throughout Wales are not Welsh. This 
 was long ago stated by Humphrey Lhuyd, and has 
 been since abundantly established. 
 
 Lhuyd's statement is that the old names through- 
 out Wales are Irish; and until very lately it was 
 universally assumed that the Welsh and the Irish 
 were only two dialects of the same Celtic speech. 
 It was unquestionable that the Irish and Scottish 
 Gaelic was, {is its name imports, the language of the 
 ancient Gael or Celts ; and as no doubt was enter- 
 tamed that the Welsh, as descendants of the old 
 Britons, were a Celtic race, it was taken for gi'anted 
 that their language also was only another sister dia- 
 lect of the Celtic. But it would seem that this too 
 was another notion adopted without any evidence, 
 and indeed in the face of evidence, if it had been 
 looked into, quite sufficient to disprove it. It would 
 not, we apprehend, be possible to quote, in support 
 of the asserted identity of the Welsh and Irish, or 
 Gaelic, the authority of any wi'iter who had reaUy 
 made himself master of the t\vo languages, or even 
 examined them attentively with the view of ascer- 
 taining in how far they resembled or differed from 
 each other, and whether they were properly to be 
 regarded as belonging to the same or to different 
 stocks. On the other hand, we have in denial of 
 their relationship the distinctly pronounced judgment 
 both of Welshmen, of Irishmen, and of inquirers 
 having no partialities of origin to influence their con- 
 clusions, all speaking upon a question which they 
 iiave deliberately considered, and which some of 
 them, at least, possessed all the necessary quahfica- 
 tions for deciding. The same opinion that had been 
 fii'st expressed upon the subject by the learned and 
 acute Bishop Percy, an Englishman, has since been 
 maintained as not admitt'mg of any doubt both by the 
 Welsh antiquary Roberts, and the Irish O'Connor, 
 and has also been adopted by the German Adelung, 
 , and finally, to all appearance, unanswerably estab- 
 lished by Sir William Betham, who has devoted 
 many years to the study of both languages. All these 
 authorities declare in substance that the Cymiaog 
 tongue spoken in Wales, and the Gaelic spoken in 
 [reland and Scotland, exhibit little resemblance even 
 in vocabulaiy, and, to use the words of Dr. O'Con- 
 nor, " are as difl'crent in their syntactic coush'uction 
 as any two tongues can be." It mav be added, that 
 
 this seems also to have been the opinion of the late 
 learned General Vallancey. 
 
 This view of the Welsh language throws an en- 
 tirely new light upon other points that have given 
 occasion to a world of contioversy. We have ab-eady 
 seen that nearly all inquirers are agi*eed in consider- 
 ing the Picts to have been of the same race with the 
 ancient Caledonians. But it had still continued to 
 be a keenly agitated question, whether the Picts 
 were a Celtic or a Teutonic people. Without en- 
 tering into any detail of this long conti'oversy, hi 
 which the Celtic origin of the Picts has been main- 
 tained by Camden, Lloyd (Bishop of St. Asaph), 
 the very learned and able Father Innes, and the late 
 George Chalmers, in his elaborate work entitled 
 " Caledonia," while the opposite side of the question 
 has been supported by Archbishop Usher, Bishop 
 Stillingfleet, and the late John Pinkerton, to whom 
 may be added, Dr. Jamieson, in the Inti-oduction to 
 his Scottish Dictionaiy ; we shall merely remark, 
 that the assertors of the Teutonic lineage of the Picts 
 have evidently all along had the best of the argument 
 on all other gi-ounds, excepting only on the important 
 ground of the evidence afforded by the language of 
 the lost people. All the historical evidence is in 
 favor of their Teutonic or Germanic descent. StUl. 
 if it could be clearly proved that they spoke a Celtic 
 language, that single fact would go far to prove them 
 to have been Celts, notwithstanding even all the 
 direct historical testimony there is to the contrary. 
 Now, this Camden and his followers conceive not to 
 admit of any doubt, from the remains of the Pictish 
 language which are still to be collected, and Chal- 
 mers especially has, by a minute examination of the 
 old topogi-aphical nomenclature of the part of Scot- 
 land fonnerly occupied by the Picts, completely, as 
 he thinks, established the position that their language 
 was Celtic. But how is this demonsti-ation made 
 out? Altogether by the assumption, never for a 
 moment suspected to be unfounded or doubtful, thai 
 the ancient British Celtic tongue is still substantially 
 preserved in the modern Welsh. All the instances 
 adduced by Camden, and the much longer list enu- 
 merated by Chalmers, are instances of Pictish names 
 of places which are not Irish or Gaelic, but Welsh. 
 Chalmers even shows that on the countiy, after 
 having been occupied by the Picts, felling into the 
 possession of the Celtic Scots, the Welsh, or, as he 
 calls it, the Cambro-British name was in some cases 
 changed into a Celtic name of the same impoit. 
 The Welsh Aber, for example, applied to places situa- 
 ted at the mouths of rivers, is found to have in this way 
 given place in several names to the coiresponding 
 Gaelic term Inver. In examining the list of the 
 Pictish kings, the same WTiter obsei-ves that the 
 names of those kings are not Irish, and, " conse- 
 quently," he adds, " they are British :" " they are," 
 he sajs elsewhere, " undoubtedly Cambro-British." 
 And in like manner, the single Pictish word which 
 Bede has preserved, Pengvahel, the name of tlie 
 place where the Pictish wall commenced, is ac- 
 knowledged to be not Gaelic, but Welsh. 
 
 The opinion expressed by Camden and Inncs, that
 
 20 
 
 INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE PRIMITIVE 
 
 the Picts were "Welsh, may therefore be admitted, 
 without the consequence which they supposed to be 
 involved in it, that either were Celts, being at all 
 established. On the contrary, it would appear from 
 what has been said above, that the fact of the lan- 
 guage of the Picts having been the same with that 
 spoken by the present inhai)itants of Wales, is the 
 best of all proofs that the former people were not 
 Celts. It comes in confirmation of all the other 
 arguments bearing upon the question, the decided 
 tendency of which is to make it probable that they 
 were a Teutonic I'ace. 
 
 Here, then, we have two remarkable facts ; the 
 one, that the part of England now occupied by the 
 Cymry, as the present Welsh call themselves, was 
 appiirently not occupied by them in ancient times; 
 the other, that the part of Scotland known to have 
 constituted what is called the Pictish kingdom, was 
 in ancient times occupied by a people speaking the 
 same language with the modern Welsh. It seems 
 impossible to resist the conclusion, that the same 
 Cymry who are now settled in the west of England 
 were previously settled in the east of Scotland — in 
 other words, that the present Welsh are the de- 
 scendants of the Picts. 
 
 Usher has, without reference to the evidence of 
 langiiage, and merely upon the sti'ength of the his- 
 toric testimony and the general probabilities of the 
 case, advanced the opinion that the Picts were Cim- 
 brians. The name of Cymri, borne by the Welsh, 
 has long ago suggested a belief that they are a rem- 
 nant of the ancient Cimbri. Their own traditions, 
 as we have already seen, make them to have been 
 conducted into Britain by their gi-eat leader, Hu 
 Cadarn, across the German Ocean. Bede expressly 
 states that the Picts came from Scythia, a name 
 which, as is well known, comprehended at one time 
 all the regions forming the north of modern Germany 
 and Denmark, the Cimbric Chersonesus, or Penin- 
 sula of Jutland, among the rest. Bede also informs 
 us, that, before ai'riving in Britain, the Picts were 
 driven towards Ireland, and touched in the first in- 
 stance at that island. In this relation the venerable 
 Saxon historian is confirmed by the Irish bardic his- 
 tories, which, in like manner, represent the Picts to 
 have sought a settlement in Ireland, before they 
 resorted to Britain. Finally, it may be mentioned as 
 a curious confirmation of the identity here assumed 
 of the Cimbri and the modern Welsh, that the only 
 word which has been preserved of the language of 
 the former people, namely, the term Morimarusa, 
 which Pliny quotes as meaning the Dead Sea, ap- 
 I)ears to be Welsh, Mor in that language signifying 
 the sea, and Maru dead.^ 
 
 That the Welsh, indeed, were in very ancient 
 
 1 We find the following passage in a forgotten, and, in most respects, 
 sufficiently absurd book, entitled, " The Pronunciation of the English 
 language Vindicated," &c., by the Rev. James Adams, 8vo., Edin., 
 1799 : — " The Welsh dialect (of the English language) is characterized 
 hj' a peculiar intonation, . . . and by the vicarious change of consonants, 
 k for g, t for d and p, f for v, and s for z. . .Now this twang and change 
 lieing common to the Germans, . . and moreover not being found in 
 Irish or Highland English (the author means the pronunciation of Eng- 
 lish by the Scotch Highlanders), there is an opening for a curious in- 
 ijuiry I never met w^ith." — pp. 144, 145. 
 
 times established in Scotland, is matter of authentic 
 and undoubted history. Their kingdom of Strath- 
 clyde, or Reged, otherwise called Regnum Cum- 
 brense, or the kingdom of the Cymry, lay in the 
 south-west of Scotland. There are certainly no 
 probable gi'ounds for believing that there were any 
 Cymry in England till an age subsequent to the 
 establishment of this northern kingdom. " Most of 
 the gi'eat Welsh pedigi'oes," obsei-ves Mr. Moore, 
 " commence their line from princes of the Cumbrian 
 kingdom, and the archaiologist Lhuyd himself boasts 
 of his descent from ancestors in the ' province of 
 Reged in Scotland, in the fourth centuiy, before the 
 Saxons came into Britain.' To this epoch of their 
 northern kingdom, all the ti-aditions of the modern 
 Welsh refer for their most boasted antiquities and 
 favorite themes of romance. The name of their 
 chivalrous hero, Arthur, still lends a charm to much 
 of the topogi-aphy of North Britain ; and among the 
 many romantic traditions connected with Stirling 
 Castle, is that of its having once been the scene of the 
 festivities of the Round Table. The poets Aneurin 
 and Taliessin, the former born in the neighborhood of 
 the banks of the Clyde, graced the court, we are 
 told, of Urien, the king of Reged or Cumbria ; and 
 the title Caledonius bestowed on the enchanter Mer- 
 lin, who was also a native of Sti-ath- Clyde, suflft- 
 ciently attests his northern and Pictish race."^ 
 
 We have thus, however cursorily, taken a survey 
 of the subject of the original population of these 
 islands, in its whole extent, and have endeavored, as 
 we went along, both to note the principal of the 
 various opinions that have been entertained on the 
 many obscure and difficult questions it presents, and 
 to collect, from the lights of histoiy, and the evidence 
 of facts together, what appears to be the most con- 
 sistent and otherwise probable conclusion on each 
 conti'overted j)oint. The following may be given as 
 a summary of the views that have been offered. 
 Beginning with Ireland, it may be affirmed that 
 everything in that countiy indicates the decidedly 
 Celtic character of its primitive population ; and 
 taking the geogi'aphical position of the island along 
 with the traditions of the people, we can have little 
 doubt that the quarter from which chiefly it was 
 originally colonized was the opposite peninsula of 
 Spain. That settlements were also effected in va- 
 rious parts of it, before the dawn of recorded history, 
 by bodies of people from other parts of the continent 
 — from Gaul, from Germany, from Scandinavia, and 
 even possibly from the neighboring coast of Britain 
 — is highly probable ; but although several of these 
 foreign bands of other blood seem to have acquired 
 in succession the dominion of the countiy, their 
 numbers do not appear in any instance to have been 
 considerable enough to alter the thoroughly Celtic 
 character of the gi-eat body of the population, of 
 their language, of their customs, and even of their 
 institutions. Thus, the Scots, who appear to have 
 been originally a Teutonic people from the northern 
 
 I History of Ireland, p. 103. The view that has been taken of the 
 origin of the Welsh is substantially the same with that given both by 
 Mr Moore and by Sir William Betham
 
 HISTORi' OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 
 
 21 
 
 parts of the European continent, although they even- 
 tually subjugated the divided native Irish so com- 
 pletely as to impose their own name upon the island 
 and the whole of its inhabitants, were yet themselves 
 more truly subjugated, by being melted down and 
 absorbed into the mass of the more numerous Celtic 
 race among whom they had settled. The invasion 
 of Ireland by the Scots, and the subsequent inter- 
 mixture of the conquerors with the conquered, re- 
 sembled the subjugation of Saxon Britain by the 
 Normans, or still more nearly that of Celtic or Ro- 
 manized Gaul by the Franks, in which latter case 
 the conquerors, indeed, as happened in Ireland, 
 gave their name to the countiy, but the native inhab- 
 itants in turn gave their language to the conquerors. 
 In this manner it happened that the Irish, after they 
 came to be called Scots, were really as much a Celtic 
 or Gaelic people as ever. The Scots from Ireland 
 who colonized the western coast of North Britain, 
 and came at last to give their name to the whole of 
 that part of our island, were undoubtedly a race of 
 Gael. They were called Scots merely because the 
 whole of Ireland had, by that time, come to be known 
 by the name of the country of the Scots, who had 
 obtained the dominion of it. The original population 
 of ancient Caledonia, however, appears to have been 
 of Gothic lineage, and to have come from the opposite 
 coasts of Germany, and what is now called Den- 
 mark. Long after the an-ival of the Irish Scots in 
 the western part of the countiy, this original Gothic 
 race, or possibly another body of settlers who had 
 subsequently poured in from the same quarter, 
 retained, under the name of the Picts, the occupa- 
 tion and sovereignty of by far the greater portion of 
 what is now called Scotland. But most probably 
 some ages before they were deprived of their Scot- 
 tish sovereignty by the successful arms or intrigues 
 of the king of the Highland Gael, bands of Picts 
 appear to have established themselves in the west of 
 England, where they came eventually to be known 
 
 to their Saxon neighbors by the name of the for- 
 eigners, or the Welsh. The Welsh, however, still 
 do and always have called themselves only the 
 Cymiy, which appears to be the same name with 
 that of the Cimbri or Cimmerii, so famous in ancient 
 times ; and taking this circumstance, along with the 
 tradition they have constantly presei-ved of their 
 original emigi-ation into Biitain from a country on 
 the other side of the German Ocean, there seems to 
 be every reason for concluding that the Cymry of 
 Britain, called by their neighbors of other blood at 
 one time Picts (whatever that name may mean), 
 at another Welsh, are really the remnant of the 
 Cimbri of antiquity. 
 
 There remains only to be noticed the original 
 population of the rest of South Britain, or of that 
 part of the island now properly called England. It 
 can hardly admit of a doubt that the whole of the 
 south of Britain was originally colonized mainly from 
 the neighboring coast of Gaul. Some bands of Ger- 
 mans may have settled along the east coast, and some 
 Celtic tribes from Spain may have established them- 
 selves in the west ; but the great body of the inhabi- 
 tants by whom the country was occupied when it 
 first become known to the Romans were in all 
 probability Celts from Gaul. We are inclined to 
 think that even the Belgic tiibes who, some cen- 
 turies before Caesar's invasion, appear to have ob- 
 tained the possession of the greater part of the south 
 coast, were either really of mixed German and Celtic, 
 hneage, or had adopted the Celtic tongue from the 
 previous occupants of the territory, with whom they 
 intermixed after their arrival in Britain, and who 
 were probably much more numerous than their inva- 
 ders. There does not seem to be any evidence 
 either that what are called the Belgic tribes of Britain 
 spoke a different language fi-om the rest of the natives, 
 or that any people speaking a Gothic dialect had ever 
 been spread over any considerable portion of the 
 south of Britain in those eai'ly times.
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE BRITISH AND ROMAN PERIOD; FROM B.C. 55 TO A. D. 449. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 NARRATIVE OF CIVIL AKD MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 HE con- 
 quests of 
 Julius Caj- 
 sar in Gaul 
 brought him 
 within sight 
 of the coast 
 of Britain, 
 and having 
 established 
 the Roman 
 authority in 
 the nearest countries on the continent, 
 which are now called France and Belgium, 
 It was almost as natural for him to aim at 
 the possession of our island, as for tlie mas- 
 ters of Italy to invade Sicily, or the con- 
 queroi-s of India the contiguous island of 
 Ceylon. The disjunction of Britain from 
 the rest of the world, and the stormy but 
 naiTow sea that flows bet^veen it and the 
 main, were circumstances just sufficient to 
 give a bold and romantic character to the 
 enterprise, witliout being real barriers to a 
 
 skilful and courageous general. But there 
 were other motives to impel Ceesar. Bri- 
 tain, or the far greater part of it, was in- 
 habited by a people of the same race, lan- 
 guage, and religion as the Cauls, and during 
 his recent and most arduous campaigns the 
 islanders had assisted their neighbors and 
 kindred of the continent, sending important 
 aid more particularly to the Veneti, who 
 occupied Vanues in BretJigne, and to other 
 people of Western Gaul who lived near the 
 sea-coast. Csesar, indeed, says himself that 
 in all his wars with the Gauls the enemies 
 of the Republic had always received assist- 
 ance from Britain, and that this- fact made 
 him resolve to pass over into the island. 
 This island, moreover, seems to have had 
 the character of a sort of Holy Land among 
 the Celtic nations, and to have been consid- 
 ered the great centi-e and stronghold of tlie 
 Druids, the revered priesthood of an iron 
 superstition that bound men, and ti-ibes, and 
 nations together, and inflamed them, even 
 more than patriotism, against tlie Roman 

 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 23 
 
 conquerors. With respect to Druidisra, Britain per- 
 haps stood in the same relation to Gaul that the island 
 of Mona or Anglesey bore to Britain ; and when the 
 Romans had established themselves in Gaul they had 
 the same motives for attacking our island that they 
 had a centuiy latei% when they had fixed themselves 
 in Britain, tor falling upon Anglesey, as the centre of 
 the Druids and of British union, and the source of 
 the remaining national resistance. 
 
 It is to be remembered, also, that, whatever may 
 liave been the views of personal ambition from which 
 Cipsar principally acted, the Romans i-eally had the 
 best of all pleas for theu' wars with the Gauls, who 
 had been their constant enemies for centuries, and 
 originally their assailants. Their possession of Italy, 
 indeed, could not be considered as secure until they 
 had subdued, or at least impressed with a sufficient 
 dread of their arms, the fierce and restless nations 
 both of Gaul and Germany, some of whom — down al- 
 most to the age of Caesar — had not ceased occasionally 
 to break through the barrier of the Alps, and to carry 
 fire and sword into the home territories of the republic. 
 These and the other northern barbarians, as they 
 were called, had had their eye upon the cultivated 
 fields of the Italic peninsula ever since the irruption 
 of Bellovesus in the time of the elder Tarquiii ; and 
 the war the Gauls were now canying on with Caesar 
 was only a part of the long contest which did not ter- 
 minate tiU the empire was overpowered at last by its 
 natural enemies nearly five centuries aftei^wards. In 
 the meantime it was the turn of the Gauls to find the 
 Roman valor, in its highest condition of discipline and 
 efficiency, irresistible ; and the Britons, as the active 
 allies of the Gauls, could not expect to escape sharing 
 in their chastisement. 
 
 According to a curious passage in Suetonius, it was 
 reported that Caesar was tempted to invade Britain by 
 the hopes of finding pearls.' Such an inducement 
 seems scarcely of sufficient importance, although we 
 know that pearls were very highly esteemed by the 
 ancients, and Pliny, the naturalist, tells us that Caesar 
 offered or dedicated a breastplate to Venus ornamented 
 with pearls which he pretended to have found in Bri- 
 tain. But Caesar might be tempted by other real and 
 more valuable productions, and he could not be igno- 
 rant of the existence of the British lead and tin which 
 the Phoenicians had imported into the Mediterranean 
 ages before his time, and in which the Phocaean colo- 
 ny of Massilia or Marseilles was actually carrying on 
 a trade. Caesar himself, indeed, says nothing of this ; 
 but within a few miles of our coasts, and among a peo- 
 ple with whom the British had constant intercourse, 
 he must have acquired more information than appears 
 respecting the natural fertility of the soil, and the 
 mineral and other productions of the island. From 
 evident reasons, indeed, the Gauls in general might 
 not be very communicative on these subjects ; but 
 among that people Caesar had allies and some stea'dy 
 friends, who must have been able and ready to satisfy 
 all his inquiries. His subservient instrument Comius, 
 who will presently appear upon the scene, must have 
 possessed much of the information required. His love 
 
 ' Vit. Jul. Caes. ch. 47. 
 
 of conquest and glory alone might have been a suffi- 
 cient incentive to Caesar, but a recent and philosophic 
 writer assigns other probable motives tor his expedi- 
 tions into Britain, — such as his desire of dazzling his 
 countrymen, and of seeming to be absorbed by objects 
 remote from internal ambition by expeditions against 
 a new world, or of furnishing himself with a pretence 
 for prolonging his provincial command, and keeping 
 up an army devoted to him, till the time should arrive 
 for the execution of his projects against liberty at 
 Rome.' 
 
 
 Julius Cssar. 
 Frum a Copper Coiu in the British Museum. 
 
 Whatever were his motives, in the year 55 before 
 Christ, Caesar resolved to cross the British Channel, 
 not, as he has himself told us, to make then a conquest, 
 for which the season was too far advanced, but in 
 order merely to take a view of the island, learn the 
 nature of the inhabitants, and survey the coasts, har- 
 bors, and landing-places. He says that the Gauls 
 were ignorant of all these things ; that few of them, 
 except merchants, ever visited the island ; and that 
 the merchants themselves only knew the sea-coasts 
 opposite to Gaul. Having called together the mer- 
 chants from all parts of Gaul, he questioned them 
 concerning the size of the island, the power and cus- 
 toms of its inhabitants, their mode of warfare, and the 
 harbors they had capable of receiving large ships. He 
 adds, that on none of these points could they give him 
 information ; but, on this public occasion, the silence 
 of the ti-aders probably proceeded rather from unwil- 
 lingness and caution than ignorance, while it is equally 
 probable that the conqueror received a little more in- 
 formation than he avows. He says, however, that 
 for these reasons he thought it expedient, before he 
 embarked himself, to dispatch C. Volusenus, wth a 
 single galley, to obtain some knowledge of these things ; 
 commanding him, as soon as he had obtained this ne- 
 cessary knowledge, to return to head-quarters with 
 
 1 Sir James Mackintosh, Hist. Eiig. vol. i. p. 12.
 
 24 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boo£ 1. 
 
 all haste. He then himself marched Avith his whole 
 army into the ten-itoiy of the Morini, a nation or tribe 
 of the (4aiil.s who iiiliabited the sea-coast between Ca- 
 lais and Boulogne, — " because thence was the shortest 
 passage into Britain." Here he collected many ships 
 from the neighboring ports. 
 
 Meanwhile many of the British states having been 
 warned of Ca-sar's premeditated expedition by the 
 merchants that resorted to their island, sent over am- 
 bassadors to him with an offer of hostages and sub- 
 mission to the Roman authority. He received these 
 ambassadors most kindly, and exhorting them to con- 
 tinue in the same pacific intentions, sent them back 
 to their own country, dispatching with them Comius, 
 a (iaul, whom he had made king of the Ati'ebatians, 
 a Belgic nation then settled in Artois. Caesar's choice 
 of this envoy was well du'ected. The Belgje at a com- 
 paratively recent period had colonized, and they still 
 occupied, all the southeastern coasts of Britiiin ; and 
 these colonies, much more civilized than the rest of 
 the islanders, no doubt held frequent commercial and 
 friendly intercourse with the Atrebatians in Artois, 
 and the rest of the Belgic stock settled in other places. 
 CcBsar himself saj^s not only that Comius was a man 
 in whose virtue, ^visdom, and fidelity he placed gi'eat 
 confidence, but one "whose authority in the island of 
 Britain was very considerable." He therefore charged 
 Comius to visit as many of the British states as he 
 could, and persuade them to enter into an alliance 
 with the Romans ; informing them, at the same time, 
 that Caesar intended to visit the island in pei^son as 
 soon as possible 
 
 C. Volusenus appears to have done little service 
 with his galley. He took a view of the British coast 
 as far as was possible for one who had resolved not to 
 quit his vessel or ti-ust himself into the hands of the 
 natives, and on the fifth day of his expedition returned 
 to head-quarters. With such information as he had 
 Cssar embarked the infantry of two legions, making 
 about 12,000 men, on board eighty ti'ansports, and set 
 sail from Portus Itius, or Witsand, between Calais 
 and Boulogne. The cavahy, embai'ked in eighteen 
 other transports, were detained by conti-ary >vinds at 
 a port about eight miles off, but Caesar left orders 
 for them to follow as soon as the weather permitted. 
 This force, however, as will be seen, could never make 
 itself available, and hence mainly arose the reverses of 
 the campaign. 
 
 At ten o'clock on a morning in autumn (Halley, 
 the asti'onomer, in a paper in the Philosophical Trans- 
 actions, has almost demonsti'ated that it must have 
 been on the 26th of August) Ca?sar reached the Bri- 
 tish coast, near Dover, at about the worst possible 
 point to effect a landing in face of an enemy ; and the 
 Britons were not disposed to be friends. The sub- 
 mission they had offered through their ambassadors 
 was intended only to prevent or retard invasion ; and 
 seeing it fail of either of these effects, on the return 
 of their ambassadors with Comius, as Caesar's envoy, 
 they made that prince a prisoner, loaded him with 
 chains, prepared for their defence as well as the short- 
 ness of time would permit ; and when the Romans 
 looked from their ships to the steep white cliffs above 
 them, they saw them covered all over by the armed 
 
 Dover Cuffs
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 25 
 
 Landing of Julius CjEsab. — After a Picture by Blakey. 
 
 Britons. Finding that this was not a convenient land- 
 ing-place, Caesar resolved to lie by till the third hour 
 after noon, in order, he says, to wait the airival of the 
 rest of liis fleet. Some laggard vessels appear to have 
 come up, but the eighteen transports, bearing tlie cav- 
 ahy, were nowhere seen. Caesar, however, favored 
 by both wind and tide, proceeded at the appointed 
 hour, and sailing about seven miles further along the 
 coast, prepai-ed to land his forces, on an open, flat 
 shore, which presents itself between Walmer Castle 
 and Sandwch.' The Britons on the clifl's perceiving 
 his design, followed his motions, and sending their 
 cavalry and war-chariots before, marched rapidly on 
 with their main force to oppose his landing anywhere. 
 Caesar confesses that the opposition of the natives was 
 a bold one, and that the difficulties he had to encoun- 
 ter were very great on many accounts ; but superior 
 skill and discipline, and the employment of some mil- 
 itary engines on board the war-galleys, to which the 
 British were unaccustomed, and which projected mis- 
 siles of various kinds, at last ti-iumphed over them, 
 and he disembarked his two legions. We must not 
 omit the act of the standard-bearer of the tenth legion, 
 wliich has been thought deserving of particular com- 
 
 1 Horsley (in Britannia Romana) shows that Caesar must have pro- 
 ceeded to the north of the South Foreland, in which case the landing 
 must have been eflFected between Walmer Castle and Sandwich. Oth- 
 ers, with less reason, think he sailed sonthward from the South Fore- 
 land, and landed on the flats of Romney Marsh. 
 
 meraoration by his general. While the Roman sol- 
 diers were hesitating to leave the ships, chiefly de- 
 terred, according to Caesar's account, by the depth of 
 the water, this officer, having first solemnly besought 
 the gods that what he was about to do might prove 
 fortunate for tlie legion, and then exclaiming with a 
 loud voice, " FoUow me, my fellow-soldiers, unless 
 you will give up your eagle to the enemy ! I, at least, 
 will do my duty to the republic and to our general !" 
 leaped into the sea as he spoke, and dashed with his 
 ensign among the enemy's ranks. The men instantly 
 followed their heroic leader ; and the soldiers in the 
 other ships, excited by the example, also crowded for- 
 ward along with them. The two ai'mies were for 
 some time mixed in combat ; but at length the Britons 
 withdrew in disorder from the well-contested beach. 
 A's their cavahy, however, was not yet arrived, the 
 Romans could not pursue them or advance into the 
 island, which Cfesai" says prevented his rendering the 
 victory complete. 
 
 The native mai"itime tribes, thus defeated, sought 
 the advantages of a hollow peace. They dispatched 
 ambassadors to Caesar, offering hostages, and an 
 entire submission. They liberated Comius, and 
 restored hun to his employer, tllI•o^\'ing the blame of 
 the harsh ti-eatment his envoy had met \N-ith upon 
 the multitude or common people, and entreating 
 Csesai' to excuse a fault wliich proceeded solely from
 
 26 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 the popular ignorance. The conqueror, after re- 
 proachino; them for sending of their own accord am- 
 bassadors into Gaul to sue for peace, and then making 
 war upon him, u-ithout any reasc/n, forgave them theii* 
 offences, and ordered them to send in a certain num- 
 ber of hostages, as security for their good behavior 
 in future. Some of these hostages were presented 
 immediately, and the Britons promised to deliver the 
 rest, who lived at a distance, in the course of a few 
 days. The native forces then seemed entirely dis- 
 banded, and the several chiefs came to Caesar's camp 
 to offer allegiance, and negotiate or inti'igue for their 
 own separate interests. 
 
 On the day that this peace was concluded, and not 
 before, the unlucky ti-anspoi-ts, with the Roman cav- 
 alry, were enabled to quit their port on the coast of 
 Gaul. They stood across the channel with a gentle 
 gale ; but when they neared the British coast, and 
 were even within view of C;rsar's camp, thoy were 
 dispersed by a tempest, and were finally obliged to 
 return to the port where they had been so long de- 
 tained, and whence they had set out that nioruing. 
 That very night, Caesar says, it happened to be full 
 moon, when the tides ahvays rise highest — " a fact 
 at that time wholly unknown to the Romans"' — and 
 the galleys which he had with him, and which were 
 hauled up on the beach, nvere filled with the rising 
 waters, while his heavier ti-ansports, that lay at an- 
 chor in the roadstead, were either dashed to pieces, 
 or rendered altogether unfit for sailing. This dis- 
 aster spread a general consternation through the 
 camp ; for, as every legionary knew, there were no 
 other vessels to carry back the ti'oops, nor any ma- 
 terials with the army to lepair the ships that were 
 disabled ; and as it had been from the beginning 
 Caesar's design not to winter in Britain, but in Gaul, 
 he was wholly unprovided with corn and provisions 
 to feed his troops. Suetonius says, that during the 
 nine years Caesar held the militarj* conmiand in 
 Gaul, amidst a most brilliant series of successes, he 
 experienced only three signal disasters ; and he counts 
 the almost entire destruction of hi-s fleet by a storm 
 in Britain, as one of the three. 
 
 Nor were the invaded people slow in perceiving 
 the extent of Caesar's calamity, and devising means 
 to profit by it. They plainly saw he was in want 
 of cavalry, provisions, and ships ; a close inspection 
 showed that his troops were not so numerous as they 
 had fancied, and probably familiarized them in some 
 measure to their Wiu-like weapons and demeanor; 
 and they confidently hoped, that by defeating this 
 force, or suiTounding and cutting off their reti'eat, 
 and staiTing them, they should prevent all future 
 invasions. The chiefs in the camp having previously 
 held secret consultations among themselves, retired 
 by degrees from the Romans, and began to draw 
 the islanders together. Caesar says, that though he 
 was not fully apprised of their designs, he pai'tly 
 guessed them, from their delay in sending in the hos- 
 
 1 The operations of the Roman troops had hitherto been almost con- 
 fined to the Mediterranean, where there is no perceptible tide. Yet, 
 during their stay on the coast of Gaul, on the opposite side of the chan- 
 nel, they ought to have become acquainted with these phenomena. 
 ProlaHly they had never attended to the irregularities of a spring-tide. 
 
 tages promised from a distance, and from other cir- 
 cumstances, and instantly took measures to provide 
 for the worst. He set part of his army to repair his 
 shattered fleet, using the materials of the vessels 
 most injured to patch up the rest ; and as the sol- 
 diers wrought with an indefatigability suiting the 
 dangerous urgency of the case, he had soon a num- 
 ber of vessels fit for sea. He then sent to Gaul for 
 other materials wanting, and probably for some pro- 
 visions also. Another portion of his ti'oops he em- 
 ployed in foraging parties, to bring into the camp 
 what corn they could collect in the adjacent country. 
 This supply could not have been great, for tlie na- 
 tives had everywhere gathered in their harvest, ex- 
 cp])t in one field ; and there, by lying in ambush, the 
 Britons made a bold and bloody attack, which had 
 well nigh proved fatal to the invaders. As one of 
 the two legions that formed the expedition were cut- 
 ting down the corn in that field, Caesar, who was in 
 his fortified camp, suddenly saw a gi-eat cloud of dust 
 in that direction. He rushed to the spot with two 
 cohorts, leaving orders for all the other soldiers of the 
 legion to follow as soon as possible. His an-ival was 
 very opportune, for he found the legion, which had 
 been surprised in the corn-field, and which had suf- 
 fered considerable loss, now suiTounded and pressed 
 on all sides by the cavalry and war-chariots of the 
 British, w'ho had been concealed in the neighboring 
 woods. He succeeded in bringing off the engaged 
 legion, with which he wthdrew to his enti-enched 
 camp, declining a general engagement for the pre- 
 sent. Heavy rains that followed for some days, 
 confined the Romans within their entrenchments. 
 Meanwhile the British force of horse and foot was 
 increased from all sides, and they gi-adually drew 
 round the intrenchments. Caesar, anticipating theu- 
 attack, marshalled his legions outside of the camp, 
 and, at the proper moment, fell upon the islanders, 
 who, he says, not being able to sustain the shock, 
 were soon put to flight. In this victory he attaches 
 great importance to a body of thirty horse, which 
 Comius, the Ati-ebatian, had brought over from Gaul. 
 The Romans pursued the fugitives as far as their 
 sh-ength would permit ; they slaughtered many of 
 them, set fire to some houses and villages, and then 
 returned again to the protection of their camp. On 
 the same day the Britons agcain sued for peace, and 
 Caesar being anxious to return to Gaul as quickly as 
 possible, " because the equinox was approaching, and 
 his ships were leaky," granted it to them on no 
 harder condition than that of doubling the number of 
 hostages they had promised after their first defeat. 
 He did not even wait for the hostages, but a fair 
 wind springing up, he set sail at midnight, and ar- 
 rived safely in Gaul. Eventually only two of the 
 British states sent their hostages ; and this breach of 
 treaty gave the Roman commander a ground of com- 
 plaint by which to justify his second invasion. 
 
 In the spring of the followng year (b. c. 54) Caesar 
 again embarked at the same Portus Itius for Britain. 
 This time peculiar attention had been paid to the 
 build and the equipment of his fleet : he had 800 
 vessels of all classes, and these cairied five legions
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 27 
 
 and 2000 cavalry, an invading force in all not short 
 of 32,000 men.i At the approach of this formidable 
 armament the natives retired in dismay from the 
 coast, and Caesar disembarked, without opposition, at 
 " that part of the island which he had marked out 
 the preceding summer as being the most convenient 
 landing-place." This was probably somewhere on 
 the same flat between Walmer Castle and Sandwich, 
 where he had lauded the year before. Having re- 
 ceived intelligence as to the direction in which the 
 Britons had retired, he sat out about midnight in 
 quest of them, leaving ten cohorts, with 300 horse, 
 behind him on the coast, to guard his camp and fleet. 
 After a hurried night-march, he came in sight of the 
 islanders, who were well posted on some rising 
 grounds behind a river, probably the Stour, near 
 Canterbury. The confederate army gallantly dis- 
 puted the passage of the river with their cavalry and 
 chariots ; but being repulsed by tlie Roman horse, 
 they retreated towards the woods, to a place strongly 
 fortified both by nature and art, and which Caesar 
 judged had been strengthened before, on occasion of 
 some internal native war ; " for all the avenues were 
 secured by strong barricades of felled tiees laid upon 
 one another." This shoughold is supposed to have 
 been at or near to the spot where the city of Canter- 
 buiy now stands. Strong as it was, the soldiers of 
 the seventh legion (the force that had suffered so 
 much the preceding campaign in the corn-field) 
 carried it by means of a mound of earth they cast 
 up in front of it ; and then they drove the British 
 from the cover of the wood. The evening closed 
 on their retreat, in which they must have suf- 
 fered little loss, for Caesar, fearful of following them 
 thi'ough a countiy with which he was unacquainted, 
 stiictly forbade all pursuit, and employed his men 
 in fortifying then* camp for the night. The Roman 
 eagles were scarcely displayed llie following morn- 
 ing, and the trumpets had hardly sounded the ad- 
 vance, when a pai'ty of horse brought intelligence 
 from the coast that nearly all the fleet had been 
 driven on shore and wrecked during the night. 
 Commanding a necessaiy halt, Caesar flew to the 
 sea-shore, whither he was followed by the legions 
 in full reti-eat. The misfortune had not been exag- 
 gerated : forty of his ships were iiretrievably lost, 
 and the rest so damaged that they seemed scarcely 
 
 1 In this calculation an allowance of 500 is made for sickness, casu- 
 alties, and deficiencies. At this period the infantrv of a legion, wken 
 complete, amounted to 6100 men. 
 
 capable of repah-. With his characteristic activity, 
 he set all the carpenters of the army to work, WTote 
 for more artisans from Gaul, and ordered the legions 
 stationed on that coast to build as many new ships 
 as they could. Apprehensive alike of the storms of 
 the ocean and the fierce attack of the natives, Caesar 
 ordered that all his ships should be drawn up on 
 diy land and inclosed within his fortified camp. Al- 
 though the ancient galleys were small and light com- 
 pared to our modern men-of-war, and the tians- 
 ports and tenders of his fleet in all probability' little 
 more than sloops and barges, this was a laborious 
 operation, and occupied the soldiers ten days and 
 nights. Having thus secured his fleet, he set oft' in 
 pursuit of the enemy, who had made a good use of 
 his absence by increasing their army, and appointing 
 one chief to the supreme command of it. The 
 choice of the confederated states fell upon Cassivel- 
 launus (his Celtic name was perhaps Caswallon), 
 whose territories were divided from the maritime 
 states of the river Thames, at a point which was be- 
 toeen seventy and eighty miles from Caesar's camp 
 on the Kentish coast. This prince had hitherto 
 been engaged in almost constant wars with his neigh- 
 bors, whose aff'ection to him must have therefore 
 been of recent date and of somewhat doubtful con- 
 tinuance ; but he had a reputation for skill and bra- 
 very, and the dread of the Romans made the Britons 
 forget their quarrels for a time, unite themselves 
 under his command, and inh-ust him with the whole 
 conduct of the war. Caesar found him well posted 
 at or near to the scene of the last battle. Cassivel- 
 launus did not wait to be attacked, but charged the 
 Roman cavaliy with his horse supported by his 
 chariots. Caesar says that he constantly repelled 
 these charges, and drove the Britons to then- woods 
 and hills ; but that, after making gieat slaughter, 
 venturing to continue the pursuit too far, he lost 
 some men. It does not appear that the British 
 reti'eated far; and some time after these skir- 
 mishes they gave the Romans a serious check. 
 Sallying unexpectedly from the wood, they fell upon 
 the soldiers, who were employed as usual in fortify- 
 ing the camp or station for the night, and cut up the 
 advanced guard. Caesar sent two cohorts to their 
 aid, but the Britons charged these in separate parties, 
 broke tlirough them, routed them, and then retii-ed 
 without loss. A military tribune was slain, and but 
 for the timely aiTival of some fiesh cohorts the con- 
 flict would have been veiy disastious. Even as it 
 
 GvLLEY.— From a Copper Coin in the British Gallky.— From a Copper Coin in the British Gallcy.— From a Copper Coin in the British 
 Museum, ol the time of Antony. Museum, of the time of Hadrian. Museum, of the time of Hidrian.
 
 28 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 SiDK Elevation. 
 
 Midship Section. 
 
 Elevation of Uend and Stern. 
 
 SCALE OF TEN FEET. 
 
 Roman Galley. — Talien from the Model presented to Greenwich Hospital by Lord Anson.' 
 
 was, and though Csesar covers the fact by a some- 
 what confused narrative, it should appear that a good 
 part of his array was beaten on this occasion. He 
 says that from this action, of which the whole Ro- 
 man anny were spectators, it was evident that his 
 heavy-armed legions were not a fit match for the 
 active and light-armed Britons, who always fought in 
 detachments with a body of resei-ve in their rear, 
 that advanced fresh supplies when needed, and cov- 
 ered and protected the forces when in retreat ; that 
 even his cavalry could not engage without great dan- 
 ger, it being the custom of the Britons to counterfeit 
 a retreat, until they had drawn the Roman horse a 
 considerable way from the legions, when suddenly 
 leaping from their chariots, they charged them on 
 foot, and, by this unequal manner of fighting, ren- 
 dered it equally dangerous to pursue or retire. 
 
 The next day the Britons only showed small 
 bodies on the hills at some distance from the Roman 
 
 camp. This made Caesar believe they were less 
 willing to skirmish with his cavalry; but no sooner 
 had he sent out all his cavalry to forage, supported 
 by three legions (between horse and foot this foraging 
 party comprised considerably more than half the 
 forces he had with him), than the Britons fell upon 
 them on all sides, and even charged up to the solid 
 and impenetrable legions. The latter bold step was 
 the cause of their ruin : the superior arms, the 
 defensive armor, and the perfect discipline of those 
 masses, rendered the contest too unequal ; the 
 British warriors were repulsed, — thrown off like 
 waves from a mightj- rock, — confusion ensued, and, 
 CcEsar's cavalry and infantry charging together, ut- 
 terly broke the confederate army. The conqueror 
 informs us that after this defeat, the auxiliary' troops, 
 which had repaired from all parts to Cassivellaunus' 
 standard, returned severally to their own homes ; 
 and that during the rest of the campaign the enemy 
 
 • The construction of Roman galleys has been more completely investigated since Lord Anson's time ; but as this model was prepared with 
 great care, and is open to public inspection, we give an engraving of it.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 29 
 
 never again appeared against the Romans with their 
 whole force. 
 
 These severe contests had not brought Caesar far 
 into the interior of the island ; but now he followed 
 up Cassivellaunus, who retired, for the defence of 
 his own kingdom, beyond the Thames. Marching 
 through Kent and a part of SuiTey, or the beautiful 
 country which now bears those names, the Romans 
 reached the right bank of the Thames, at Coway- 
 stakes, near Chertsey^ in Surrey, where the river 
 was considered fordable. The passage, however, 
 was not undisputed : Cassivellaunus had drawn up 
 his troops in gi'eat numbers on the opposite bank ; 
 he had likewise fortified that bank with sharp stakes, 
 and driven similar stakes into the bed of the river, 
 yet so as to be concealed or covered by the water. 
 Of these things Caesar says he was informed by 
 prisoners and deserters. It should appear that he 
 overcame the obstacles raised at the ford with great 
 ease ; he sent the horse into the river before, order- 
 ing the foot to follow close behind them, which they 
 did with such rapidity that, though nothing but their 
 heads appeared above water, they were presently on 
 the opposite bank, where the enemy could not stand 
 their charge, but fled. 
 
 The rest of his army having disbanded, Cassivel- 
 launus now retained no other force than 4000 war- 
 chariots, with which he harassed the Romans, always 
 
 1 This point, like most of the other localities mentioned by Caesar, 
 has been the subject of dispute. We venture to fix it where we do, 
 on the authority of Camden, and Mr. Gale, a writer in the Archseo- 
 Ingia, vol. i. p. 183. 
 
 keeping at a distance from their main body, and re- 
 tiring, when attacked, to woods and inaccessible places ; 
 whither also he caused such of the inhabitants as lay 
 on Caesar's line of march, to withdraw with their 
 cattle and provisions. Being perfectly acquainted 
 with the countiy, and all the roads and defiles, he 
 continued to fall upon detached paities ; and the Ro- 
 mans were never safe, or masters of any giound, 
 except in the space covered by their entrenched camp 
 or their legions. On account of these frequent sur- 
 prises, Caesar would not peraiit his horse to forage 
 at any distance from the legions, or to pillage and 
 destioy the country, unless where the foot was close 
 at hand to support them. 
 
 The fatal want of union among the petty states into 
 which the island was frittered, and the hatred some 
 of them entertained against their foiTner enemy Cas- 
 sivellaunus, now, however, began to appear and to 
 disconceit all that chief's measures for resistance. 
 The Trinobantes, who dwelt in Essex and Middlesex, 
 and who formed one of the most powerful states in 
 those parts, sent ambassadors to Caesar. Of this 
 state was Mandubratius, who had fled to Caesar into 
 Gaul, in order to avoid the fate of his father, Imanu- 
 entius, who had held the sovereignty of the state, and 
 whom Cassivellaunus had defeated and put to death. 
 The ambassadors entreated Caesar to restore their 
 prince, who was then a guest in the Roman camp, to 
 defend him and them against the fuiy of Cassivellau- 
 nus, promising, on these conditions, obedience and 
 entire submission in the name of all the Trinobantes. 
 
 -^-^ 
 
 The Thames at Cowat-stakes. 
 
 It is stated, upon local tradition, that the passage was made at the bend of the River
 
 30 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [IjOOK 1. 
 
 Hits in a Cingalese Village. 
 
 Caesar demanded foitj' hostages, and that they should 
 supply his army with corn. The general does not 
 confess it, but it is very probable tliat, through the 
 wise measures of Cassivellaunus, the Romans were 
 at this time sorely distressed by want of provisions. 
 The Trinobantes delivered both the corn and the 
 hostages, and Csesar restored to them their prince. 
 Immediately upon this, other tribes, whom Csesar 
 designates the Cenimagni, Segontiaci, Ancjilites, Bi- 
 broci, and Cassi, also sent in their submission. Some 
 of tliese people informed Ca?sar that he was not far 
 from the capital of Cassivellaunus, which was situated 
 amidst woods and marshes, and whither multitudes 
 of the British had retired with their cattle, as to a 
 place of safety. This town is supposed to have been 
 near to the site of St. Alban's, and on the spot where 
 the flourishing Roman colony of Verulamiura arose 
 many years after. Though called a town, and a 
 capital, it appears from Ctesar to have been nothing 
 but a thick wood or labja-inth, with clusters of houses 
 or villages scattered about it, the whole being sur- 
 rounded by a ditch and a rampart, the latter made of 
 mud or felled ti-ees, or proljably of both materials 
 mixed. In many respects the tow*ns of the Cingalese 
 in the interior of Ceylon, and the mode of fighting 
 against the English practised by that people, at the 
 beginning of the present centiiry, resemble the British 
 towns and the British warfare of nineteen centuries 
 ago. 
 
 Cfesar soon appeared with his legions before the 
 capital of Cassivellaunus ; and he saj's, that though 
 the pliicc seemed verj- sti'ong both by art and nature, 
 
 he resolved to attack it in two several points. He 
 was once more successful : the Britons fled to another 
 wood, after a short stand, and the Romans took many 
 prisoners and vast numbers of cattle. Though thus 
 defeated in the inland districts, Cassivellaunus still 
 hoped to redeem the fortunes of his country by a 
 bold and well-conceived blow, to be stiuck on the 
 sea-coast. While the events related were passing 
 beyond the Thames, he dispatched messengers to the 
 four princes or kings of Cantium (Kent), to insti'uct 
 them to draw all their forces together, and attack the 
 camp and ships of the Romans by surprise. The 
 Kentish Britons obeyed their instructions, but, ac- 
 cording to Csesar, the Romans, sallying from their 
 enti'enchments, made a gi-eat slaughter of theu- troops, 
 took one of the princes prisoner, and returned in 
 safety to the camp. At the news of this reverse, 
 the brave Cassivellaunus lost heart ; he sent ambas- 
 sadors to sue for peace, and availed himself of the 
 mediation with Ctesar of Comius, the king of the 
 Atrebatians, with whom, at one time or other, he 
 appears to have had friendly relations. The Roman 
 general, as we have noticed, states that the authoiity 
 or influence of Comius in the island was veiy consid- 
 erable. It would be curious to see how he exercised 
 it in favor of his Roman patron ; but here we are left 
 in the dark. Csesar turned a ready ear to the over- 
 tures of Cassivellaunus, and gi-anted him peace on 
 such easy conditions, that some writers have been 
 induced to believe that he was heartily tired of the 
 harassing war. For himself he onlj" says that he 
 
 was in a hunv t'> rr>t:ivii tn Cnil on nroonvf of the
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 31 
 
 frequent insurrections in that countiy. He merely 
 demanded hostages, appointed a yearly tribute (the 
 amount of which is nowhere named, and which was 
 probably never paid), and charged Cassiveliaunus to 
 respect Mandubratius and the Tiinobantes. Having 
 received the hostages, he led his troops back to the 
 Kentish coast, and crowding them into his ships as 
 closely and quickly as he could, he set sail by night 
 for Gaul, fearing, he says, the equinoctial storms which 
 were now at hand. He tells us he had many prison- 
 ers ; but he certainly did not erect a fort, or leave a 
 single cohort behind him, to secure tlie ground he had 
 gained in the island. ' 
 
 Tacitus, writing 150 years later, says distinctly, 
 that even Julius Caesar, the first who entered Britain 
 with an army, although he struck terror into the 
 islanders by a successful battle, could only maintain 
 himself on the sea-coast ; — that he was a discoverer 
 rather than a conqueror. He only saw a small portion 
 of the island ; but the farther he got from the coast 
 and the Belgic colonies, the more fierce and barbarous 
 he found the natives. 
 
 We have dwelt more particularly on these cam- 
 paigns, as we have the accomplished general's own 
 account to guide us, and as many of his details may 
 be applied to explain the other Roman wars which 
 followed, when there was no Cfesar to describe in 
 the closet his exploits in the field. The sequel, indeed, 
 when we must follow professional historians, who 
 were never even in Britain, is comparatively unin- 
 teresting and monotonous. We shall, therefore, set 
 down the great results, without emban-assing the 
 reader with unnecessary details ; but at this point it 
 will be well to pause, in order to ofier a few general 
 remarks, which will equally elucidate the past and 
 future campaigns of the Romans in our island. 
 
 The contest which had thus taken place between 
 the British bands and the famed Roman legions at a 
 period when the discipline of those coi-]>s was most 
 perfect, and when they were commanded by the 
 greatest of their generals, was certainly very une- 
 qual ; but less so (even without taking into account 
 the superiority of numbers and other advantages, all 
 on the side of the invaded) than is generally imagined 
 and represented. A brief examination of the arts and 
 practices of war of the two contending parties may 
 sei-ve to explain, in a great measure, what is past, 
 and render more intelligible the events which are to 
 ensue. The first striking result of such an examina- 
 tion is a suspicion, and indeed a proof, that the Britons 
 were much farther advanced in civilization than the 
 savage tribes to which it has been the fashion to com- 
 pare them. Were this not the case, the somewhat 
 u,nsuccessful employment against them of so large 
 an army as that of Caesar, would be disgraceful to the 
 Roman name. Their war-chariots, which several 
 times produced tremendous effects on the Romans, 
 and the use of which seems at that time to have been 
 peculiar to the Britons, would of themselves prove a 
 high degi-ee of mechanical skill, and an acquaintance 
 with several arts. These cars were of various forms 
 
 ■ For the preceding part of our narrative, see Cssar de Bcllo Gallico. 
 '.iCH,k :v. cti. IS, l^ bj 1. v. cli. I'J fincV-?ivri, 
 
 and sizes, some being rude, and others of curious and 
 even elegant workmanship. Those most commonly 
 in use, and called Esseda, or Essedee, by the Romans, 
 were made to contain each a charioteer for driving, 
 and one, two, or more warriors for fighting. They 
 were at once strong and light ; the extremity' of their 
 axles and other salient points were armed with scythes 
 and hooks for cutting and tearing whatever fell in 
 their way, as they were driven rapidly along. The 
 horses attached to them were perfect in training, and 
 so well in hand, that they could be driven at speed 
 over the rougheal country, and even through the 
 woods, which then abounded in all directions. The 
 Romans were no less astonished at this dexterity 
 than at the number of the chariots. The way in 
 wliich the Britons brought the chai-iots into action, 
 was this : at the beginning of a buttle they drove 
 about the flanks of the enemy, throwing darts from 
 the cars ; and, according to Ctesar, the very dread of 
 the horses, and the noise of the rapid wheels, often 
 broke the ranks of his legions. When they had 
 succeeded in making an impression, and had winded 
 in among the Roman cavalry, the warriors leaped 
 from their chariots, and fought on foot. In the 
 meantime, the drivers retired with the chariots a 
 little from the combat, taking up such a position as to 
 favor the retreat of the warriors in case of their being 
 overmatched. " In this manner," says Caesar, "they 
 perform the part both of rapid cavahy and of steady 
 infantry ; and, by constant exercise and use, they 
 have arrived at such expertness, that they can stop 
 their horses when at full speed, in the most steep 
 and difficult places, turn them which Avay they please, 
 run along the carriage-pole, rest on the harness, and 
 throw themselves back into their chariots with incred- 
 ible dexteritj'." 
 
 For a long time the veteran legions of Rome could 
 not look on the clouds of dust that announced the ap- 
 proach of these war-chariots Avithout ti-epidation. 
 The Gauls had once the same mode of fighting, and 
 equally disti-essed the Romans with their war-char- 
 iots. Nearly 300 years before the invasion of Bri- 
 tain, when the Gauls were established in parts of Italy, 
 and in close alliance with the Samnites, a successful 
 charge of the Roman cavalry was repulsed, and the 
 whole army thrown into dismay, by a mode of fight- 
 ing to which they were utter stiangers : " A number 
 of the enemy," says Livy, "mounted on chariots and 
 cars, made towards them with such a terrible noise, 
 from the tramphng of the horses and the rolling of 
 the wheels, as affrighted the horses of the Romans, 
 unaccustomed to such operations. By this means, 
 the victorious cavahy were dispersed, and men and 
 horses, in their headlong flight, were thrown in heaps 
 to the ground. The same cause produced disorder 
 even in the ranks of the legions : through the impetu- 
 osity of the horses, and the carriages they dragged 
 through the ranks, many of the Roman soldiers in the 
 van were trodden or bruised to death ; and the Gauls, 
 as soon as they saw the enemy in confusion, followed 
 up the advantage, nor allowed them bresithing-time."' 
 The use of war-chariots, however, seems to have
 
 32 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 ^?pifeiH^v,ai 
 
 British War Chariot, Shield, and Speaks. — De Loutlierbourg. 
 
 fallen out of fashion among the Gauls, during the long 
 period that had intervened ; for Caesar never makes 
 mention of them, in describing his many battles with 
 that people on the continent. 
 
 The existence of the accessories — the hooks and 
 scythes attached to the wheels or axles — has been 
 questioned, as neither Cssar, nor Tacitus, nor any 
 early writer, with the exception of the geogi-apher 
 Pomponius Mela (who wrote, however, in the first 
 century), expressly mentions them in describing the 
 war-chariots. Weapons, answering to the descrip- 
 tion, have, however, been found, on the field of some 
 of the most ancient battles. Between the Roman 
 invasion under Caesar, and that ordered by the Em- 
 peror Claudius, the cars or chariots of the British 
 atti-acted notice, and were exliibited in Italy. They 
 were seen in the splendid pageantry with which Ca- 
 ligula passed over the sea from Puteoli to Baiae, on 
 his mole and bridge of boats. The emperor, Sueto- 
 nius tells us, rode in a chariot drawn by two famous 
 horses, and a party of his friends followed, mounted 
 in British chariots. Probably Caesar had earned 
 some of the native war-cai-s to Rome, as curiosities, 
 just as our navigators bring the canoes of the Indians 
 and South-Sea Islanders to England. At subsequent 
 periods, the war-chariots of the Britons were fre- 
 ([uently alluded to by the poets as well as historians 
 of Rome. 
 
 The ancient Britons were well provided with horses, 
 of a small breed, but hardy, spirited, and yet docile. 
 
 Their cavahy were armed with shields, broad-swords, 
 and lances. They were accustomed, like the Gauls, 
 and their own chariot-men, to dismount, at fitting 
 seasons, and fight on foot; and their horses are said 
 to have been so well ti-ained, as to stand firm at the 
 places where they were left, till their masters re- 
 turned to them. Another common practice among 
 them was, to mix an equal number of their swiftest 
 foot with their cavalry, each of these foot-soldiers 
 holding by a horse's mane, and keeping pace with him 
 in all his motions. Some remains of this last custom 
 were obsei-ved among the Highland clans in the last 
 century, in the civil wars for the Pretender ; and in 
 more modern, and regular, and scientific warfare, an 
 advantage has often been foimd in mounting infantry 
 behind cavalry, and in teaching cavalry to dismount, 
 and do the duty of foot-soldiers. A gi'eat fondness 
 for horses, and a skill in riding them, and breaking 
 them in for cars and chariots, were observable in all 
 the nations of the Celtic race. The scythe-armed 
 cars of the Britons maj^ be assumed as one of the 
 many links in that chain which seems to connect them 
 with Persia and the east, where similar vehicles 
 were in use for many ages. 
 
 The infantiy of the Britons was the most numerous 
 bodj% and, according to Tacitus, the main strength of 
 their armies. They were very swift of foot, and ex- 
 pert in swimming over rivers and crossing fens and 
 marshes, by which means they were enabled to make 
 sudden attacks and safe reti'eats. They were slightly
 
 Chap. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 33 
 
 clad ; throwing off in battle the whole, or at least the 
 greater part, of whatever clothing they usually wore, 
 according to a custom which aj)pears to have been 
 common to all the Celtic nations. They were not 
 encumbered with defensive armor, carrying nothing 
 of that sort but a small light shield ; and this, added 
 to their swiftness, gave them, in some respects, a 
 gi'eat advantage over the heavily-armed Romans, 
 whose foot could never keep pace with them. This, 
 indeed, was so much the case in the ensuing wars, 
 that the turn of a battle was often left to depend, not 
 on the legions, but on their barbnrian auxiliaries, some 
 of whom were as lightl}- equipped as the Britons them- 
 selves. In coming to their offensive arms, we reach a 
 point where they were decidedly inferior to the Ro- 
 mans ; and a cause, perhaps, as principal as any other, 
 of their invariable defeat when they came to close 
 combat. Their swords were long and unwieldy, 
 without points, and only meant for cutting — awkward 
 and offenceless weapons compared to the compact, 
 manageable, cut-and-thrust swords of their enemies, 
 which could be used in the closed tnch'e. But an im- 
 portant circumstance, which throws the advantage still 
 more on the side of the Romans, is, that while their 
 weapons were made of well-tempered steel, the 
 swords and dirks of the Britons were, in all probabil- 
 ity-, only made of copper, or of copper mixed with a 
 little tin. We are told that the swords of their neigh- 
 bors, the Gauls, were made of copper, and bent after 
 the first blow, which gave the Romans a gi-eat advan- 
 tage over them. 
 
 A prodigious number of warlike implements, as 
 axes, swords, spear-heads, all made of copper, or of 
 copper mixed with tin, and known among antiquaries 
 by the general name of " Celts," have been dug up 
 in different parts of our island ; but we are not aware 
 of the discovery of any things of the sort made of 
 ii-on, that can safely be referred to the manvifactiu-e 
 of the ancient Britons. In the absence of metals, 
 they used bones and flints to tip their arrows, their 
 spears, and lances. Heavy black stones, perforated 
 to receive a wooden handle, served them as maces or 
 battle-axes. These are the veiy weapons of savages ; 
 and perhaps those which have been found in such 
 abundance buried in the earth, are much more ancient 
 than the period of Ca?sar's invasion, or were only used 
 at that and later periods in the interior and northern 
 parts of the country. 
 
 In addition to their clumsy sword, the British in- 
 fantiy carried a short dirk and a spear. The spear 
 was sometimes used as a missile weapon, having a 
 leather thong fixed to it, and retained in the hand 
 when thrown, in order that it might be recovered 
 again : at the butt-end of this spear was sometimes a 
 round hollow ball of copper, or mixed copper and tin, 
 with pieces of metal inside, and, shaking this, they 
 made a noise to frighten the horses when they en- 
 gaged with cavalry. 
 
 With the exception of the Druids, all the young 
 men among the Britons and other Celtic nations 
 were trained to the use of arms. Frequent hostili- 
 ties among themselves kept them in practice, and 
 hunting and martial sports were among their princi- 
 VOL. I. — 3 
 
 pal occupations in their brief periods of peace. Even 
 in tactics and sti'atagetics, the more difficult parts of 
 war, they displayed veiy considerable talent and skill. 
 They drew up their h'oops in regular order ; and if 
 the form of a wedge was not the very best for infan- 
 try, it has been found, by the Turks and other east- 
 ern nations, most eftective for-cavahy appointed to 
 charge. They knew the importance of keeping a 
 body in resei-ve ; and in several of their battles they 
 showed skill and prompitude in outflanking the ene- 
 my, and turning him by the wings. Their infantiy 
 geiierally occupied the centre, being disposed in sev- 
 eral lines, and in distinct bodies. These corps con- 
 sisted of the wai-riors of one clan, commanded each 
 by its own chieftain ; they w^ere commonly formed in 
 the shape of a wedge, presenting its sharp point to 
 the enemy ; and they were so disposed, that they 
 could readily support and relieve each other. The 
 cavalry and chariots were placed on the wings, but 
 small flying parties of both manoeuvred along the 
 front. In the rear and on their flanks they fixed 
 their ti-avelling chariots and their wagons, with their 
 respective families in them, in order that those vehi- 
 cles might serve as barriers to prevent attack in those 
 directions, and that their courage might be inflamed 
 by the presence of all who were most dear to 
 them. 
 
 Some of the native princes displayed eminent abil- 
 ities in the conduct of war. Accordmg to the Roman 
 writers, Cassivellaunus, Caractacus, and Galgacus all 
 formed combined movements and enlarged plans of 
 operation, and contrived stratagems and surprises 
 which would have done honor to the greatest cap- 
 tains of Greece and Rome. Their choice of gromid 
 for fighting upon was almost invariably judicious, and 
 they availed themselves of their superior knowledge 
 of the countiy on all occasions. In the laborious arts 
 of fortifying, defending, or attacking camps, castles, 
 and towns, they were, however, deficient. Their 
 strongest places were surrounded only by a shallow 
 ditch and a mud wall, while some of their towns had 
 nothing but a parapet of felled trees placed length- 
 wise. While the Roman camps, though occupied 
 only for a night, were strongly fortified, their own 
 camps w^ere merely surrounded by their cars and 
 wagons, a mode of defence stiE common among the 
 Tartar and other nomadic tribes in Asia. But, as 
 the Roman war proceeded, we frequently find them 
 giving more attention to the defence of their night 
 camps ; and some of the more permanent positions 
 they took up were strengthened with deep ditches 
 and stone walls. 
 
 The armies of the ancient Britons were not divided 
 into bodies, mixed, but distinct as a whole, consisting 
 each of a determinate number of men recruited from 
 diflerent families and in different places, and com- 
 manded by appointed officers of various ranks, like 
 the Roman legions and our modern regiments ; but 
 all the fighting-men of each particular clan or gi-eat 
 family formed a separate band, commanded by the 
 chieftain or head of that family. By this system, 
 which had other disadvantages, the command was 
 frittered away into minute fractions. All the several
 
 34 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book L 
 
 MM^^^ 
 
 Roman General, accompanied by Standard Bearers and common Legionaries, landing from a Bridge of Boats. 
 Drawn from a Bas-relief on the Column of Trajan. 
 
 clans which composed one state or kingdom were 
 commanded in chief by tlie sovereign of that state ; 
 and when two or more states formed an alliance and 
 made war in conjunction, the king of one of these 
 states was chosen to be generalissimo of the whole. 
 These elections gave rise to jealousies and dissen- 
 sions, and all through the system there were too 
 many divisions of command and power, and too gi'eat 
 a disposition in the wan-iors to look up only to the 
 head of their own clan, or at furthest to tlie king of 
 their own limited state. 
 
 Fai- different from these were the thorougUy or- 
 ganized and inter-dependent niasses of the Roman 
 army, where the commands wei'e nicely defined and 
 graduated, and tlie legions (each a small but perfect 
 army in itself) acted at tlie voice of the consul, or its 
 ime supreme chief, like a complicated engine set in 
 motion by its main-wheel. As long as Rome main- 
 tained her militaiy gloiy, tlie legions were composed 
 only of free Roman citizens, no allies or subjects 
 of conquered nations being deemed worthy of the 
 honor of fighting in their ranks. Each legion was 
 divided into horse and foot, the cavaby bearing what 
 is considered, by modem scientific ^vriters, a just 
 propoi-tion, and not more, to the infantiy. Under the 
 old kings a legion consisted of 3000 foot, and 300 
 horse ; under the consuls, of 4200 foot, and 400 horse ; 
 but under Caesar and the emjjerors it amounted to 
 6100 foot, and 726 horse. Like oui' regiments, the 
 
 legions were distinguished from each other by their 
 number ; being called the first, the second, the third, 
 (kc. In the early ages of the repubhc they had no 
 more than four or five legions kept on foot, but these 
 were increased with increase of conquest and terri- 
 toiy, and under the empire they had as many as 
 twenty-five or thirty legions, even in time of peace. 
 The infantiy of each legion was divided into ten co- 
 horts. The first cohort, which had the custody of 
 the eagle and the post of honor, was 1105 strong; 
 the remaining nine cohorts had 555 men each. 
 
 Instead of a long, awkward sword of copper, every 
 soldier had a short, manageable, well-tempered Span- 
 ish blade of steel, sharp at both edges as at the point ; 
 and he was always instructed to thrust rather than 
 cut, in order to inflict the more fatal woimds, and ex- 
 pose his own body the less. In addition to a lighter 
 spear, the legionaiy caiTied the formidable pilum, a 
 hea\y javelin six feet long, terminating in a strong 
 ti-iangular point of steel, eighteen inches long. For 
 defensive armor they wore an open helmet Avitli a 
 lofty crest, a breast-plate or coat of mail, greaves on 
 their legs, and a large, sti'ong shield on theii- left 
 arms. This shield or buckler, altogether unlike the 
 small, round, basket-looking thing used by the Bri- 
 tons, was fom- feet high, and two and a half broad ; 
 it was framed of a light but firm wood, covered with 
 bull's hide, and strongly guarded with bosses or plates 
 of iron or bronze.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS 
 
 35 
 
 Charge of Roman Infantry.— From the Column of Trajan. 
 
 The cavalry of a legion was divided into ten ti'oops 
 or squadrons ; the first squadron, as destined to act 
 with the strong first cohort, consisting of 132 men, 
 whilst the nine remaining squadrons had only 66 men 
 each. Their principal weapons were a sabre and a 
 javelin ; but at a later period they borrowed the use 
 of the lance and iron mace or hammer from foreign- 
 ers. For defensive armor they had a helmet, a 
 coat of mail, and an oblong shield. The legions 
 seiTing abroad were generally attended by auxilia- 
 ries raised among the provinces and conquests of the 
 emphe, who for the most part retained their national 
 arms and loose modes of fighting, and did all the 
 duties of hght troops. Their number varied accord- 
 ing to circumstances, being seldom much uifeiior to 
 that of the legions ; but in Britain, where mention of 
 the barbarian auxiliaries constantly occurs, and where, 
 as we have intimated, they performed sei-vices for 
 which tlie legions were not calculated, they seem to 
 have been at least as numerous as the Roman sol- 
 diers. Three legions, say the historians, were com- 
 petent to the occupation of Britain ; but to this force 
 of 20,478 we must add the auxiliaries, which will 
 swell the number to 40,956. Gauls, Belgians, Bata- 
 vians, and Germans were the hordes tliat accompanied 
 the legions in our island. 
 
 Such were the main features and appointments of 
 the Roman legions in their prime, and such they con- 
 tinued during their conflict with the Britons, and long 
 after all the southern parts of our island were subju- 
 gated by their might. They were aftei-wards sadly 
 diminished in numbers and in consideration. They 
 lost their discipline ; the men threw off their defen- 
 sive armor as too heavy for them to wear ; changes 
 
 were made in their weapons ; and, not to notice 
 many intermediate variations, a legion, at the final 
 departure of the Romans fi-om Britain, consisted 
 only of from 2500 to 3000 indifferently armed men. 
 
 After the departure of Caesar, Britain was left un- 
 disturbed by foreign arms for nearly one hundred 
 years. But few of the events that happened dur- 
 ing that long interval have been transmitted to us. 
 We can, however, make out in that dim obscurity 
 that the country, and more particularly those mari- 
 time parts of it occupied by the Belgse, and facing 
 the coast of Gaul, made considerable advances in 
 civilization, borrowing from the Gauls, with whom 
 they were in close communication, some of those 
 useful and elegant arts which that people had learned 
 from the Roman conquerors, now peaceably settled 
 among them. Besides theii- journej's into Gaul, 
 which are well proved, it is supposed that during this 
 long interval not a few of the superior class of Britons, 
 from time to time, crossed tlie Alps, and found their 
 way to Rome, where the civilization and aits of the 
 world then centred. 
 
 This progi'ess, whatever it was, does not appear to 
 have been accompanied by any improvement in the 
 political system of the country, or by any union and 
 amalgamation of the disjointed parts or states. In- 
 ternal wars continued to be waged ; and this disunion 
 of the Britons, their constant civil dissensions, and 
 the absence of any steady system of defence, laid 
 them open to the Romans whenever those conquer- 
 ors should think fit to revisit their fair island and re- 
 new the sti'uggle in earnest. 
 
 That time at lengtli anived. In the ninety-seventh 
 year after Caesar's second expedition (a. d. 43), the
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [B00K~I. 
 
 Claudius. 
 From a Copper Com in the British Museiim. 
 
 Coin of Claudius, representing his British triumi)h. From the 
 British Museum. 
 
 Emperor Claudius' resolved to seize the island, and 
 Aulus Plautius, a skilful commander, landed with 
 four complete legions, -which, with the cavahy and 
 auxiliaries, must have made above 50,000 men. The 
 Britons, who had made no preparations, at first offered 
 uo resistance ; and when they took the field under 
 Caractacus and Togodumnus, sons of the deceased 
 Cvuiobelinus, Avho is supposed to have been king of 
 the Trinobantes, they were thoroughly defeated in 
 the inland country by the Romans. Some states or 
 ti'ibes, detaching themselves from the confederacj', 
 then submitted ; and Aulus Plautius, leaving a gar- 
 rison in those parts which included Gloucester.shire 
 
 and portions of the contiguous counties, followed up | by surprise, and defeated with gi-eat loss, 
 his victories beyond the river Severn, and made con 
 sidernble progi-ess in subduing the inhabitants. After ; all the country, as far as the Severn, that had been 
 
 swamps. Though Togodumnus was slain, it does 
 not appear that the natives were defeated in this 
 battle ; and Plautius, seeing their determined spirit, 
 withdrew his army to the south of the Thames, to 
 await the anival of the Em|)eror Claudius, whose 
 presence and fresh forces he earnestly solicited. 
 Claudius eml)arked with reinforcements at Ostia at 
 the mouth of the Tyber, landed at Massilia (Mar- 
 seilles), and proceeded through Gaul to Britain. It 
 is said that some elephants were included in the force 
 he brought, but we hear nothing of those animals 
 after his arrival in the island. There is some confu- 
 sion as to the immediate effect of the emperor's ar- 
 rival, the two biief historians' of the events conti-a- 
 dicting each other ; but we believe that, without 
 fighting any battles, the pusillanimous Claudius ac- 
 companied his army on its fresh advance to the north 
 of the Thames, was present at the taking of Camalo- 
 dunum, the capital of the Trinobantes, and that then 
 he received the proffered submission of some of the 
 states, and returned to enjoy an easily-earned tri- 
 umph at Rome, whence he had been absent alto- 
 gether somewhat less than six montlis. 
 
 \\niile Vespasian, his second in command, Avho 
 was aftei-Avards emperor under the same name, em- 
 ployed himself in subduing Vectis (the Isle of Wight) 
 and the maritime states on the southern and eastern 
 coasts, Aulus Plautius prosecuted a long and, in good 
 part, an indecisive warfare with the inland Britons, 
 who Avere still commanded by Caractacus. Between 
 them both, Plautius and Vespasian thoroughly re- 
 duced no more of the island than what lies to the 
 south of the Thames, with a narrow sti'ip on the left 
 bank of that river ; and when Plautius was recalled 
 to Rome, even these tenitories were overrvni and 
 thrown into confusion by the Britons. Ostorius Sca- 
 pula, the new proinaetor, on his arrival in the island 
 (a.d. 50), found the attiiirs of the Romans in an all but 
 hopeless state ; their allies, attacked and plinidered 
 on all sides, were falling from them, the boldness of 
 the unsubdued states was rapidly increasing, and 
 the people they held in subjection were ripe for re- 
 volt. But Ostorius, who had probably brought rein- 
 forcements into the island, was equal to this emer- 
 gency : knowing how much depends on the beginning 
 of a campaign, he put himself at the head of the light 
 ti'oops, and advanced against the marauding enemy 
 by rapid marches. The Britons, who did not expect 
 he would open a campaign in the winter, were taken 
 
 It should 
 •ippear from Tacitus that Ostorius at once recovered 
 
 sustaining a gi-eat defeat on the right bank of the 
 Severn, the Britons reti*eated eastward to some marsh- 
 es on the Thames, where, availing themselves of the 
 
 conquered, or rather temporarily occupied, by his 
 predecessor Plautius ; for the gi-eat historian tells us, 
 immediately after, that he erected a line of forts on 
 
 nature of the gi-ound, they made a desperate stand, and the Sabrina (Severn) and the Antona (Nene) ; but it 
 
 caused the Romans gi"eat loss. In these cam])aigns 
 Plautius made great use of his light-armed barbarian 
 Auxiliaries (chiefly Germans), many of whom, on this 
 particular occasion, were lost in the deep bogs and 
 
 1 PompoiMus Mela, who wrote in the time of Claudius, expresses a 
 hope that the success of the Roman arms will soou make the island and 
 . its savai'e inhabitants better known. 
 
 is more probable that this advance was made by a 
 series of battles, rather than by one hasty blow stinick 
 in the winter by the light division of his army. Osto- 
 rius was the first to cover and protect the conquered 
 territory by forts and lines; the line he now drew 
 
 1 Dio Cass, (in the abridgment by Xiphilinus), lib. Ix. Suetonius in 
 I C. Claud, c. xvii.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 3T 
 
 cut off from the rest of the island nearly all the south- 
 ern and south-eastern parts, which included the more 
 civilized states who had either submitted or become 
 willing allies, or been conquered by Plautius and Ves- 
 pasian. It was by the gi-adual advance of lines like 
 these that the Romans brought the whole of England 
 south of the Tyne under subjection. Ostorius, also, 
 adopted the cautious policy of disarming all such of 
 the Britons within the line of forts as he suspected. 
 This measure, always odious, and never to be carried 
 into effect without shameful abuses of power, partic- 
 ularly exasperated those Britons within the line, who, 
 like the Iceni, had not been conquered, but, of their 
 own good and fi-ee will, had become the alUes of the 
 Romans. Enemies could not treat them worse than 
 such friends — the surrender of arms was the worst 
 consequence that could result fi'om defeat in a war 
 which they had not yet essayed. It would also nat- 
 urally occur to them that if the Romans were per- 
 mitted to coop them up within military posts, and 
 sever them from the rest of the island, their inde- 
 pendence, whether unarmed or armed, was completely 
 sacrificed. 
 
 The Iceni, a brave ti'ibe who are supposed to have 
 dwelt in Norfolk and Suffolk, took up arms, formed 
 a league with their neighbors, and chose their gi-ound 
 for a decisive battle. They were beaten by Ostorius, 
 after having fought obstinately to the last and given 
 signal proofs of courage. After the defeat of the 
 Iceni and their allies, the Romans marched beyond 
 their hue of demarcation against a people called the 
 Cangi, and, Tacitus says, got within a short march 
 of that sea that lies between Britain and Ireland. 
 From the pursuit of this timid enemy, Ostorius was 
 recalled by a rising of the Brigantes, who occupied 
 Yorkshire, with parts of Lancashire and the adjoin- 
 ing counties. Having subdued these in then- turn, 
 
 and drawn a camp and fixed a colony of veterans 
 among them, Ostorius marched rapidly against the Si- 
 lures, — the inhabitants of South Wales, — the fiercest 
 and most obstmate enemies the Romans ever encoun- 
 tered in South Britain. To their natural ferocity, 
 says Tacitus, these people added the courage which 
 they now derived from the presence of Caractacus. 
 His valor, and the various turns of his fortune, had 
 spread the fame of this heroic chief throughout the 
 island. His knowledge of the country, his admirable 
 skill in the sti'atagems of war, were gi"eat advantages ; 
 but he could not hope, with inferior forces, to beat a 
 well-disciplined Roman army. He therefore retired 
 to the territory of the Ordovices, which seems to have 
 included within it nearly all North Wales. Having 
 dra^vu thither to his standard all who considered peace 
 with the Romans as another word for slavery, he re- 
 solved to wait firmly the issue of a battle. According 
 to the great histoiian, he chose his field with admira- 
 ble art. It was rendered safe by steep and craggy 
 hills. In parts where the mountains opened and the 
 easy acclivity afforded an ascent, he raised a rampart 
 of massy stones. A river which offered no safe ford 
 flowed between him and the enemy, and a part of 
 his forces showed themselves in fi-ont of his ram- 
 parts. 
 
 As the Romans approached, the chieftains of the 
 confederated British clans rushed along the ranks ex- 
 horting their men, and Caractacus animated the whole, 
 exclaiming, — "This day must decide the fate of Bri- 
 tain. The era of liberty or eternal bondage begins 
 from this hour ! Remember your brave ancestors 
 who drove the gi-eat Caesar himself from these shores, 
 and preserved their freedom, their property', and the 
 persons and honor of their wives and children!" 
 There is a lofty hill in Sliropshire, near to the con- 
 fluence of the rivers Coin and Teme, which is gener- 
 
 British Camp at Caer-CaraJ)OC — From Roy's Military AntiquitieB.
 
 38 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 f\ y .V ^^^ '^^ 
 
 Caractacus at Rome. — Fuseli. 
 
 ally believed to be the scene of the hero's last action. 
 Its ridges are furrowed by ti-enches and still retain 
 fragments of a loose stone rampart, and the hill for 
 many centuries has been called by the people Caer- 
 Caradoc, or the castle or fortified place of Cai^adoc, 
 supposed to be the British name of Caractacus. Os- 
 torius was astonished at the excellent arrangement 
 and spirit he saw, but his numbers, discipline, and 
 superior arms once more gained him a victory. Ta- 
 citus says that the Britons, having neither breast- 
 plates nor helmets, could not maintain the conflict, — 
 that the better Roman swords and spears made 
 dreadful havoc, — that the victory was complete. 
 Caractacus escaped from the carnage ; but his wife 
 and daughter were taken prisoners, and his brothers 
 surrendered soon after the battle. The hero himself 
 did not, however, escape long, for having taken refuge 
 wth his stepmother, Cartismandua, queen of the 
 Brigantes, that heartless woman caused him to be 
 put in chains, and delivered up to the Romans. 
 From the camp of Ostorius he was caiTied, with his 
 wife and all his family, to the foot of the emperor's 
 tlirone. All Rome — all Italy — were impatient to 
 gaze on the indomitable Briton, who for nine years 
 liad bidden defiance to the masters of the world. 
 His name was everywhere known, and he was 
 everywhere received witli marked respect. In the 
 presence of Claudius, his friends and family quailed 
 and begged foi' mercy ; he alone was superior to mis- 
 fortune : his speech was manly wnthout being inso- 
 lent, — ^liis countenance still unaltered, not a symptom 
 
 of fear appearing — no sorrow, no mean condescen- 
 sion ; he was gi-eat and dignified even in ruin. This 
 magnanimous behavior no doubt contributed to pro- 
 cure him milder ti-eatment than the Roman conquer- 
 ors usually bestowed on captive princes ; his chains 
 and those of his family were instantly struck off. At 
 this crisis Tacitus leaves him, and his subsequent 
 history is altogether unknown. 
 
 Their sanguinary defeat and the loss of Caractacus 
 did not break the spirit of the Silures. They fell 
 upon the Romans soon after, broke up their fortified 
 camp, and prevented them from erecting a line of 
 forts across their country. The prefect of the camp, 
 with eight centurions and tlie bravest of his soldiers, 
 was slain ; and, but for the arrival of reinforcements, 
 the whole detachment would have been sacrificed. 
 A foraging party, and the strong detachments sent to 
 its support, were routed ; this forced Ostorius to 
 bring his legions into action, but, even with his whole 
 force, his success was doubtful and the loss of the 
 Silures very inconsiderable. Continual and most ha- 
 rassing attacks and sui-prises followed, till at length 
 Ostorius, the victor of Caractacus, sank under the 
 fatigue and vexation, and expired, to the joy of the 
 Britons, who boasted tliat though he had not fallen 
 in battle, it was still their wai- which had brought 
 him to tlie grave. The countiy of the Silures, in- 
 tersected by numerous and rapid rivers, heaped into 
 mountains, with winding and narrow defiles, and 
 covered with forests, became die gi-ave of many 
 other Romans ; and it was not till the reign of Yes-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 39 
 
 pasian, and more than twenty years after the death 
 of Ostorius, th-^t it was conquered by Julius Fronti- 
 
 DUS. 
 
 For some time the Roman power in Britain was 
 stationary, or, at most it made very little progress 
 under Aulus Didius and Veranius, the immediate 
 successors of Ostorius. Indeed, under these gov- 
 ernors, the Emperor Nero, who had succeeded his 
 father Claudius, is said to have seriously entertained 
 the thought of withdrawing the troops and abandon- 
 ing the island altogether, — so profitless and uncertain 
 seemed the Roman possession of Britain. 
 
 But the next governor, Paulinus Suetonius, an 
 officer of distinguished merit (a. d. 59-Gl), revived 
 the spirit of the conquerors. Being well aware that 
 the island of Mona, now Anglesey, was the chief 
 seat of the Druids, the refuge place of the defeated 
 British warriors and of the disaffected generally, he 
 resolved to subdue it. In order to facilitate his 
 approach, he ordered the consti-uction of a number 
 of flat-bottomed boats ; in these he transported his 
 infantry over the strait which divides the island 
 from the main (the Menai), while the* cavalry were 
 to find their way across, partly by fording and partly 
 by swimming. The Britons added the terrors of 
 their superstition to the force of their arms for the 
 defence of this sacred island. " On the opposite 
 shore," says Tacitus, "there stood a wildly-diversified 
 host : there were armed men in dense airay, and 
 women running among them, who, in dismal dresses 
 and with disheveled hair, like furies, carried flaming 
 torches. Around were Druids, pouring forth cm'ses, 
 lifting up then- hands to heaven, and striking terror, 
 by the novelty of their appearance, into the hearts 
 of th« Roman soldiers, who, as if their limbs were 
 paralyzed, exposed themselves motionless to the 
 blows of the enemy. At last, aroused by the exhor- 
 tations of then* leader, and stimulating one another 
 to despise a frantic band of women and priests, they 
 make their onset, overthrow their foes, and burn 
 them in the fires which they themselves had kindled 
 for others. A garrison was afterwards placed there 
 among the conquered, and the groves sacred to their 
 cruel superstition were cut down." 
 
 But while Suetonius was engaged in securing the 
 sacred island, events took place in his rear which 
 went far to commit the safety of the entire empire 
 of the Romans in Britain. His attack on the Druids 
 and the grove of jMona could not fail to exasperate 
 all the British tribes that clung to their ancient wor- 
 ship ; other and recent causes of provocation were 
 particular to certain of the states. The Romans, in 
 the colonies they had planted in the island, indulged 
 too freely in what are called the rights of conquest : 
 they treated the Britons with cruelty and oppression ; 
 they drove them from their houses, and adding 
 insult to wrong, called them by the opprobrious 
 names of slaves and captives. In these acts the 
 veterans or superiors were actively seconded by the 
 common soldiery, — a class of men who, in the words 
 of Tacitus, are by their habits of life trained to 
 licentiousness. The conquerors, too, had introduced 
 priests of their own creed ; and these, "with a pre- 
 
 tended zeal for religion, devoured the substance of 
 the land." Boadicea, widow of king Prasutagus, 
 and now queen of the Iceni, probably because she 
 remonstrated against the forcible seizure of the 
 territory her husband bequeathed her, or possibly 
 because she attempted to resist the Romans in their 
 plunder, was ti'eated with the utmost barbarity : 
 Catus, the procurator, caused her to be scourged, 
 her daughters to be violated in her presence, and 
 the relations of her deceased husband to be reduced 
 to slavery. Her unheard-of wrongs, the dignity of 
 her birth, the energy of her character, made Boa- 
 dicea the proper rallying point ; and immediately an 
 extensive armed league entrusted her with the 
 supreme command. Boadicea's own subjects were 
 joined by the Trinobantes ; and the neighboring' 
 states, not as yet broken into a slavish submission, 
 engaged in secret councils to stand forward in the 
 cause of national liberty. They were all encouraged 
 by the absence of Suetonius, and thought it no difii- 
 cult enterprise to oveiTun a colony undefended by a 
 single fortification. Tacitus says (and the statement 
 is curious, considering their recent and uncertain 
 tenure) that the Roman governors had attended to 
 improvements of taste and elegance, but neglected 
 the useful, — that they had embellished the province, 
 but taken no pains to put it in a state of defence. 
 The storm first burst on the colony of Camalodunum, 
 which was laid waste with fire and sword, a legion 
 which marched to its relief being cut to pieces. 
 Catus, the procurator, terrified at the fury his own 
 enormities had mainly excited, fled, and effected his 
 escape into Gaul. On receiving the news of these 
 disasters, Suetonius hurried across the Menai strait, 
 and, marching through the heart of the country came 
 to London, which city, though not yet dignified with 
 the name of a Roman colony, was a populous, ti'ading, 
 and prosperous place. He soon found he could not 
 maintain that important town, and therefore deter- 
 mined to evacuate it, in order to secure the rest of 
 the provinces. The inhabitants, who foresaw the 
 fate of the fair town, implored him with tears to 
 change his plan, but in vain. The signal for the 
 march was given, the legions defiled through the 
 gates, but all the citizens who chose to follow their 
 eagles were taken under their protection. They 
 had scarcely cleared out from London when the 
 Britons entered : of all those who from age, or weak- 
 ness, or the attractions of the spot, had thought 
 proper to remain behind, scarcely one escaped. The 
 inhabitants of Vei-ulamium were in hke manner ut- 
 terly annihilated, and, the carnage still spreading, no 
 fewer than 70,000 Romans and their confederates 
 fell in the course of a few days. The infuriated 
 insurgents made no prisoners, gave no quarter, but 
 employed the gibbet, the fire, and She cross, without 
 distinction of age or sex. 
 
 Suetonius, having received reinforcements which 
 made his army amount to about 10,000 men, all 
 highly disciplined, chose an advantageous field, and 
 waited the battle. The Britons were also reinforced, 
 and from all quarters: Tacitus says they were an 
 j incredible multitude ; but their ranks were swelled
 
 40 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 BoADicEA Haranguing the British Tribes.— Stortiard. 
 
 and weakened by women and children. They were 
 the assailants, and attacked the Romans in the front 
 of their strong position. 
 
 Previously to the first charge, Boadicea, niaftnted 
 in a war-chai-iot, Avith her long yellow hijir stream- 
 mg to her feet, with her two injured daughters 
 beside her, drove through the ranks, and harangued 
 the tribes or nations, each in its turn.' She reminded 
 them that she was not the fii-st woman that had led 
 the Britons to battle ; she spoke of her own in-epara- 
 ble WTongs, of the A^Tongs of her people, and all their 
 neighbors ; and said whatever was most calculated 
 to spirit them against their proud and licentious op- 
 pressors. The Britons, however, were defeated 
 with tremendous loss ; and the -wi-etched Boadicea 
 put an end to her existence by taking poison. As if 
 iK>t to be behind the barbarity of those they em- 
 phatically stjied barbarians, the Romans committed 
 an indiscriminate massacre, visiting with fire and 
 sword not only the lands of those who had joined 
 the revolt, but of those who were thought to have 
 wavered in their allegiance. Tacitus estimates the 
 number of the Britons who were thus destroyed at 
 80,000 : and in the ti-ain of war and devastation 
 followed famine and disease. But the despondence 
 
 1 Dio has described her costume as being a plaited tunic of various 
 colors, a chain of ^old round her waist, and a long mantle over all. 
 Vio Nic. apud Xiphil. 
 
 of sickness and the pangs of hunger could not induce 
 them to submit; and though Suetonius received 
 important reinforcements from the continent (accord- 
 ing to Tacitus, by the directions of the Emperor 
 Nero, 2000 legionary soldiers, 8 auxiliaiy cohorts, 
 and 1000 horse, were sent to him from German}-), 
 and retained the command some time longer, he left 
 the island without finishing this war ; and notwith- 
 standing his victories over the Druids and Boadicea, 
 his immediate successors were obliged to relapse into 
 inactivity, or merely to stand on the defensive, without 
 attempting the extension of their dominions. 
 
 Some fifteen or sixteen jears after the departure 
 of Suetonius the Romans recommenced their for- 
 ward movements, and (a.d. 75-76) Julius Frontinus 
 at last subdued the Silures. This general was suc- 
 ceeded by Cn<eus Julius Agricola, who was fortunate, 
 as far as his fame is regarded, in having for his son- 
 in-law the great Tacitus, the partial and eloquent 
 recorder of his deeds. Exaggeration and favor apart, 
 however, Agricola appears to have had a skill in the 
 arts both of peace and war. He had served undei 
 Suetonius during the Boadicean war ; he was beloved 
 by his army, and well acquainted with the country ; 
 and now, before he left the supreme command, he 
 completed the conquest of South Britain, and showed 
 the victorious eagles of Rome as far north as the 
 Grampian hills. One of his first operations, wliich
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 41 
 
 proves with what tenacity the British held to their 
 own, was the reconquest of Mona ; for scarcely had 
 Suetonius turned his back wheu they repossessed 
 themselves of that island. Having made this suc- 
 cessful beginning, and also chastised the Ordovices, 
 who had cut a division of cavalry to pieces, he en- 
 deavored by mild measures to endear himself to the 
 acknowledged provincials of Rome, and to conciliate 
 the British tribes generally, by acts of kindness. 
 " For," says Tacitus, " the Britons willingly supply 
 our armies with recruits, pay their taxes without a 
 uiurmur, and they perform all the sei^'ices of gov- 
 ernment with alacritj% provided they have no reason 
 to complain of oppression. Wheu injured, their 
 resentment is quick, sudden, aud impatient: they 
 are conquered, not spirit-broken ; they may be re- 
 duced to obedience, not to slavery." 
 
 At the same time Agricola endeavored to subdue 
 theh* fierceness and change their erratic habits, by 
 teaching them some of the useful arts, aud accustom- 
 ing them to some of the luxuries of civilized life. He 
 persuaded them to settle in towns, to build comforta- 
 ble dwelling-houses, to raise halls aud temples. It 
 was a capital part of his policy to establish a system 
 of education, and give to the sons of the leading British 
 chiefs a tincture of polite letters. He praised the 
 talents of the pupils, and aheady saw them, by the 
 force of their natural genius, outstripping the Gauls, 
 who were distinguished for their aptitude aud abilities. 
 Thus, by degrees, the Britons began to cultivate the 
 beauties of the Roman language, which they had before 
 disdained, to wear the Roman toga as a fashionable 
 part of dress, and to indulge in the luxuries of baths, 
 porticos, and elegant banquets. 
 
 In the second year of his government (a. d. 79), 
 Agi'icola advanced into the north-western parts of 
 Britain, and partly by force and tnore by clemency, 
 brought several tribes to submission. These are not 
 named by Tacitus, but they probably dwelt in the 
 heart of the country to the east of tlie Ordovices and 
 the Silures. Wherever he gamed a district he 
 erected fortifications composed of castles and ram- 
 parts. 
 
 In his third campaign (a. d. 80) Agricola led his 
 anuy still further north ; but the line of march, and 
 the degree of progi'ess made in it, are not easily ascer- 
 tained. The outlines presented to us by Tacitus are 
 vague and indistinct, which may be ascribed both to 
 the generality of that writer's language, and to the 
 limits of his information. 
 
 It is the opinion of a late ■WTiter,^ however, that 
 Agi-icola, setting out from Mancunium, the 3Ianches- 
 ter of present times, led his army towards the north- 
 western coasts, and npt towards the north-eastern, 
 as is commonly stated ; and that after traversing parts 
 of Lancashu-e, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, he 
 came to the Tau, which this writer contends was 
 not the river Tay, but the Solway Frith. The Tau, 
 he says (the Taus of Tacitus) was a British word, 
 signifying an estuaiy, or any extending water; it 
 might equally imply the Solway, the Tay, or any 
 otlier estuaiy. Besides, it was the plan of this cau- 
 
 1 Chalmers' Caledduia. 
 
 tious general, it is argued, to advance by degi-ees, 
 and fortify the country as he advanced ; and we ac- 
 cordingly find him spending the remainder of this 
 season in building a line of foits, in the most conve- 
 nient situations for keeping possession of the territoiy 
 he had gained. The raising of a part, if not of the 
 whole of that rampart drawn right across the island, 
 from the Solway to near the mouth of the Tyne, 
 and called Agi'icola's Wall, is supposed to have taken 
 I)Iace in this year. It must be confessed, however, 
 that the tenor of Tacitus's uaiTative, and some of his 
 expressions in particular, require considerable strain- 
 ing before we can reconcile them with this account. 
 In the first place, it is to be observed, that he speaks 
 of Agi-icold"s march to the Taus in his third summer, 
 as merely an inroad, the effects of which were to 
 discover the country, to lay it waste, and to strike 
 terror into the inhabitants. It appears to be clear that 
 the occupation of it was not at that thne attempted or 
 thought of. Then, when the historian proceeds to 
 relate the operations of the next campaign, he ex- 
 pressly informs us that the country which Agricola 
 employed this fourth summer in taking possession of 
 and fortifying, was that which he had thus in the 
 preceding summer overrun. No word£ are used 
 which can imply that he penetrated into any new 
 country in his fourth campaign ; the statement dis- 
 tinctly is, that he onlj^ occupied and secured what he 
 had already surveyed aud laid waste. 
 
 According to the view, however, which supposes 
 him not till now to have ever been beyond the Solway, 
 his fourth summer (a. d. 81) was employed in ex- 
 ploring and overrunning the country extending from 
 that arm of the sea to the Friths of Clyde and Forth, 
 and in securing, as usual, the advance he had thus 
 made. Tacitus describes the place where the waters 
 of the Glotta aud Bodotria (the Friths of Clyde and 
 Forth) are prevented from joining oijy by a narrow 
 neck of land, aud teUs us that Agricola drew a chain 
 of forts across that isthmus. These forts are sup- 
 posed to have stood in the same fine where LoUius 
 Urbijjus afterwards erected his more compact rampait, 
 and not far from the modern canal wliich connects 
 the two estuaries. 
 
 But in making this advance, Agi'icola seems to have 
 neglected the gieat piomontory of Galloway, which 
 lay between the Solway and the Clj'de, and was then 
 occupied by the Novautse, and, in part, by the Selgovae 
 and Damnii ; we mean more particularly the country 
 now included in Wigton, Kirkcudbright, Dumfries, 
 and AjTshire. In his fifth campaign (a.d. 8'2), there- 
 fore, he thought it prudent to subdue these tribes, 
 who, in the advance he contemplated for the next 
 year beyond the Frith of Forth, would, from their 
 western position, have been in his rear. He accord- 
 ingly invaded " that part of Britain," says Tacitus, 
 " which is opposite to Ireland," being the whole ex- 
 tent of Galloway ; and, to do this, he is supposed to 
 have sailed from Kilbride Loch, in Cumberland asid 
 on the Solway, and to have Itmded on the estuaiy of 
 Locher.i From the Galloway coast he saw the 
 distant hills of Ireland ; and the sight jf said to have 
 
 ' Chalmers' Caleduuia.
 
 42 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 suggested the idea of a fresh invasion, to wliich, 
 moreover, he was incited by an Irish chieftain, who, 
 being expelled from his native country, had taken 
 refuge with the Konian commander. Having, after 
 various engagements, cleared the south-west of Scot- 
 land as far as his fortified works on the Frith of Clyde, 
 he seems to have put the mass of his army into winter 
 quarters along the line he had drawn from that estu- 
 ary to the Frith of Forth, so as to have them ready 
 for next year's campaign. 
 
 In his sixth year (a.d. 83), Agi'icola resolved to 
 extend his conquests to the north-east, beyond the 
 Frith of Forth. His fleet had already survej-ed the 
 coasts and harbors, and his naval officers showed him 
 the most commodious passage, — at Inchgarvey, as it 
 is su|)posed, — where he seems to have been met by 
 a part of his fleet, and wafted over to the advancing 
 point in Fife, now called Northfeny.^ Other writers, 
 however, suppose that he marched along the southeru 
 side of the Forth, to a point where the river was 
 narrow and fordable, and crossed it somewhere near 
 Stu'ling. It is possible that both courses may have 
 been adopted by different divisions of the troops. On 
 the north side of the Forth the troops were attended 
 and supported by the ships; so that their march 
 must have been along the east coast. The fleet kept 
 so near the shore, that the mariners frequently landed 
 and encamped with the land forces — each of these 
 bodies entertaining the other with marvelous tales of 
 what they had seen and done in these unknown seas 
 and regions.* 
 
 Having crossed the Frith of Forth, Agricola found 
 himself, for the first time, fairly engaged with the 
 real Caledonians — a people, at the least, as fierce and 
 brave as any he had hitherto contended with. They 
 were not taken by surprise, nor did they wait to be 
 attacked. Descending from the upper country, as 
 Agricola advanced into Fife, strong bands of them fell 
 upon the new Roman forts on the isthmus between 
 the Forth and Clyde, which had been left behind 
 without sufficient defence. Soon after, they made a 
 night attack on the ninth legion, one of the divisions 
 of the main army, and nearly succeeded in cutting it 
 to pieces, in spite of the strong camp in which it was 
 inti-enched. This camp was probably situated at 
 Loch Ore, about two miles to the south of Loch 
 Leven, where ditches and other traces of it are still 
 seen. In a general battle, however, to which this 
 nocturnal attack led, the Caledonians were beaten ; 
 and, without any other successful exploit, the Romans 
 wintered north of the Frith of Forth, in Fife, where 
 their fleet supplied them with provisions, and kept 
 open their communications with the forts in the south. 
 The Caledonians, no way disph'ited, mustered all 
 their clans for the next summer's campaign, and sub- 
 mitted to the supreme command of Galgacus, who 
 ranks with Cassivellaunus and Caractacus, as one of 
 the heroes of the British wars. 
 
 At the opening of his seventli and last campaign 
 (a.d. 84), when Agricola moved fonvard, he found 
 the enemy, to the number of 30,000, posted on tlie 
 acclivities of Mons Grampius, determined to oppose 
 
 1 Chalmers' Caledonia. ' Tacit. Vit. Agric. chap. xxv. 
 
 his progress in a general battle. The position of the 
 Caledonians on this occasion, and the field of the gi-eat 
 battle, although they have been much disputed, seem 
 to admit of being fixed on very probable gi-ounds. 
 From the nature of the countiy, Agi-icola would direct 
 his line of march by the course of the Devon, would 
 turn to the right from Glen-Devon, through the 
 opening of the Ochil hills, along the coui-se of the 
 rivulet which forms Glen-Eagles, leaving the Braes 
 of Ogilvie on his left. He would then pass between 
 Blackfoid and Auchterarder, towards the Grampians 
 (or Gran-Pen of the British, meaning the head or 
 chief ridge or summit), which he would see before 
 him as he defiled from the Ochils. An easy march 
 would then bring him to the Moor of Ardoch, at the 
 roots of the Grampians, where there are very evident 
 signs of ancient conflicts. The large ditch of a Roman 
 camp can still be traced for a considerable distance ; 
 weapons, both British and Roman, have been dug up ; 
 and on the hill above Ardoch Moor, are two enormous 
 heaps of stones, called Carnwochel, and Carnlee — 
 probably the sepulchral cairns of the Caledonians who 
 fell in the battle.^ 
 
 The host of Galgacus fought with gi'eat obstinacy 
 and bravery ; but they were no more able to resist 
 the disciplined legions of Rome in a pitched battle, 
 than their brethren the southern Britons had been. 
 They were defeated, and pursued with gi-eat loss ; 
 and the next day nothing was seen in front of the 
 Roman army but a silent and deserted country, and 
 houses involved in smoke and flame. Tacitus relates 
 that some of the flying natives, after tears and tender 
 embraces, killed their wives and children, in order to 
 save them from slavery and the Romans. In the 
 battle the Caledonians used war-chariots, like the 
 southern Britons ; and the Roman Avi-iter mentions 
 tjheir broadswords and small tai-gets, which remained 
 so long after the peculiar arms of the Highlanders. 
 The victory of Agi'icola, however valueless in its re- 
 sults, was complete ; and, though Tacitus does not 
 record his death on the field, he speaks no more of 
 the brave Galgacus. 
 
 In the course of these two campaigns north of the 
 Forth the Romans seem to have derived an uncommon 
 degree of assistance from theii' fleet, which was prob- 
 ably much better appointed and commanded than on 
 any former occasion. After defeating Galgacus, Agri- 
 cola sent the ships from the Frith of Tay to make a 
 coasting voyage to the north, which may veiy properly 
 be called a voyage of discoveiy ; for though nearly a 
 century and a half had passed since Caesar's invasions, 
 the Romans were not yet quite certain that Britain 
 was an island, but thought it might have joined the 
 European continent either at the exti-eme north or 
 north-east, or at some other, to them, unknown point. 
 Agi'icola's fleet doubled the promontory of Caithness 
 and Cape Wrath, ran down the western coast from 
 the end of Scotland to the Land's End in Cornwall, 
 then turning to the east, arrived safe at the Trutulen- 
 sian hai-bor (supposed to be Sandwich), and sailing 
 thence along the eastern coast, retui'ned with glon 
 
 1 Chalmers' Caledonia, b. 1. ch. iii. Roy's Military Antiquities, 
 plate 10. Slobie's map of Perth.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 43 
 
 to the point from which it had started, having thus, 
 according to Tacitus, made the first certain discovery 
 that Britain was an island. 
 
 The fears and imagination of the mariners were no 
 doubt much excited during this periplus ; and Tacitus, 
 who probably heard the recital from his father-in-law 
 Agricola, and some of the officers of the fleet, was 
 not proof against exaggeration. He tells us that the 
 cluster of islands called the Orcades, till then wholly 
 uiTknown, was added to the Roman empire (he omits 
 all mention of the Hebrides) ; that Thule, which had 
 lain concealed in gloom and eternal snows, was seen 
 by the navigators, and that the sea in those parts was 
 a sluggish mass of stagnated water, hardly yielding to 
 the stroke of the oar, and never agitated by winds and 
 storms.'- 
 
 Agi-icola did not keep his army, this second winter, 
 north of the Friths ; but withdrawing them by easy 
 marches, put his troops in cantonments behind his 
 works on the isthmus, if not behind those on the 
 Solway and Tyne. Soon after this he was recalled 
 from his command by the jealous, tyi-annical Domi- 
 tian. There is no evidence that Agricola left any 
 garrison on the north of the Frith of Forth ; and it 
 appears probable that most of the forts thrown up in 
 the passes of the Grampians to check the incursions 
 of the Caledonians, remains of which still exist at 
 Coupar-Angus, Keithock, Harefaulds, Invergovsrie, 
 and other places, were either temporary encamp- 
 ments made on his march northwai'ds, or were 
 erected at a later period by the Emperor Severus, 
 and never maintained by the Romans for any length 
 of time. The great difficulty in these regions was 
 not the act of advancing, but that of remaining ; and 
 the poverty of the country was, no doubt, as good a 
 defence as the valor of its inhabitants. 
 
 It was under Agricola that the Roman dominion 
 in Britain reached its utmost permanent extent ; for 
 a few hurried marches, made at a later period, far- 
 tlier into the north of Caledonia, are not to be counted 
 as conquests or acquisition of territory. For the long 
 period of thirty years the island remained so tranquil 
 that scarcely a single mention of its affairs occurs in 
 the Roman annals ; and we need scarcely remark 
 that, as history has usually been written, the silence 
 of historians is one of the best proofs of a nation's 
 happiness. 
 
 But in the reign of Hadrian" the Romans were 
 attacked all along their northern frontiers by the 
 Caledonians, and the whole state of the island was 
 so disturbed as to demand the presence of that ener- 
 getic emperor (a.d. 120). The conquests of Agri- 
 cola north of the Tyne and Solway were lost, his 
 advanced line of forts between the Forth and the 
 Clyde swept away ; and Hadrian contented himself, 
 without either resigning or reconquering all that ter- 
 ritory, with raising a new rampart (much stronger 
 than that drawn by Agi'icola) between the Solway 
 
 1 Vit. Agric. ch. x. and xxiviji. 
 
 2 In a general description of the Roman empire, under Trajan, the 
 immediate predecessor of Hadrian, Appian says that the emperor 
 possessed more than one-half of Britain, that he neglected the rest 
 of the island as useless, and derived no profit from the part he pos- 
 sessed. 
 
 ItADRIAN. 
 
 From a Copper Coin in the British Museum. 
 
 Copper Com of Hadrian, from one in the British Museum. 
 
 Frith and the German Ocean. Perhaps it would 
 have been wise in the Romans to have kept to this 
 latter line ; but in the following reign of Antoninus 
 Pius (a. d. 138), the governor of Britain, Lollius 
 Urbicus, advanced from it, drove the barbarians before 
 him, and again fixed the Roman fi-ontier at the isth- 
 mus between the Clyde and Forth, where he erected 
 a strong rampart on the line of Agi-icola's forts. The 
 prtetentura or rampart of Lollius Urbicus consisted 
 of a deep ditch, and an earthen wall raised on a stone 
 foundation. There were twenty-one forts, at inter- 
 vals, along the line, which, from one exti-emity to the 
 other, measured about thirty-one miles. A militaiy 
 road, as a necessary appendage, ran within the ram- 
 part, affording an easy communication from station 
 to station. The opposite points are fixed at Caer- 
 ridden on the Forth, and Dunglas on the Clyde. 
 The woi-ks appear to have been finished about a.d 
 140 ; and, notwithstanding the perishable materials, 
 the mound can be traced after the lapse of seventeen 
 centuries. Among the people, whose traditions have 
 always retained some not-ion of its original destination, 
 it is called Gramme's or Graham's Dyke. Inscribed 
 stones have been discovered there, recording that the 
 2d legion, and detachments from the 6th and the
 
 44 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 20th legions, with some auxiliaries, were employed 
 upon the works.' 
 
 It had been the boast of the Romans, even from 
 the time of Agi'icola, that this fortified line was to 
 
 Antoninus Pius. 
 From a Copper Coin in the British Museum. 
 
 • Roy's Milit. Antiq. 
 
 Copper Coin of Antoninus Pius, commemorative of his victories 
 in Kritain, from one in the Britisli Museum. 
 
 The earliest figure of Britannia on a Roman Coin, from a Copixir 
 Coin of Antoninus Pius, in the British Museum. 
 
 cover and protect all the fertile territories of the 
 south, and to drive the enemy as it were into another 
 island, barren and barbarous Uke themselves. But 
 the northern tribes would not so understand it : in 
 the reign of Commodus (a.d. 183) they again broke 
 
 DuNTOCHER Bridge. 
 
 On the line of Graham's Dyke, said in the neigliliorhooii to have been a Roman work, but conjectured by Roy to Iiave been erected nt a 
 
 later but very disitant period, and of the stones from the wall of Urbicus. The Bridge is over Duntocher Burn, which falls into the Clyde.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 45 
 
 through this bari'ier, and swept over the country 
 which lay between it and the wall of Hadrian, and 
 which became the scene of several sanguinary bat- 
 tles with the Romans. About the same time a mu- 
 tinous spirit declared itself among the legions ia 
 Britain, and symptoms were everywhere seen of 
 that decline in discipline and military virtue which 
 led on rapidly to the entire dissolution of the Roman 
 empire. Shortly after, the succession to the empire 
 was disputed with Severus by Clodius Albinus, the 
 governor of Britain. The unequal contest was de- 
 cided by a great battle in the south of France ; but 
 as the pretender Albinus had drained the island of 
 its best troops, the northern tiibes took that favorable 
 opportunity of breaking into and desolating the settled 
 Roman provinces. These desti'uctive ravages con- 
 tinued for years, and cost the lives of thousands of 
 the civilized British subjects of Rome. 
 
 The Emperor Severus, in his old age (a.d. 207), 
 and though oppressed by the gout and other maladies, 
 resolved to lead an army in jierson against the north- 
 ern barbarians. Having made gi'eat preparations, 
 he landed in South Britain, and almost immediately 
 began his mai'ch to the northern frontier, which was 
 once more marked by the walls of Agricola and 
 Hadrian, between the Solway Frith and the mouth 
 of the Tyne. The tremendous difficulties he en- 
 countered as soon as he crossed that line, sufficiently 
 show that the countiy beyond it had never been 
 thoroughly conquered and settled by the Romans, 
 who invariably attended to the construction of roads 
 and bridges. Even so near to the walls as the pres- 
 ent county of Durham the countiy was an impassa- 
 ble wilderness. Probably there is some exaggeration 
 in the number, and a part of the victims may have 
 fallen under the spear and javelins of the natives ; 
 but it is stated that Severus, in his march north- 
 ward, lost 50,000 men, who were worn out by the 
 incessant labor of draining morasses, throwing raised 
 roads or causeways across them, cutting down for- 
 ests, leveling mountains, and building bridges. By 
 these means he at length penetrated farther into the 
 heart of Caledonia than any of his predecessors, and 
 struck such terror into the native clans or tribes, 
 who, however, had most prudently avoided any 
 general action, that they supplicated for peace. He 
 
 went so far to the north that the Roman soldiers 
 Avere much struck with the length of the summer 
 days and the shortness of the nights ; but the Arcs 
 Flnium Imperii Ro?nani, and the exti'eme pomt to 
 which Severus attained in this arduous campaign, 
 seems to have been the end of the narrow promon- 
 tory that separates the Murray and Cromarty Friths, 
 the conqueror or explorer still leaving Ross, Suther- 
 land, and Caithness, or all the most northern parts 
 of Scotland, untouched. ^ The uses of this most 
 expensive militaiy promenade (for, with the excej)- 
 tion of the road-making, it was nothing better) aie 
 not veiy obvious ; no Roman army ever followed his 
 footsteps, and he himself could not maintain the old 
 debatable ground between the Tyne and the Forth. 
 Indeed, after his return from the north, his first care 
 was to erect a new frontier barrier in the same line 
 as those of Agi'icola and Hadrian, but sti'onger than 
 either of them, thus acknowledging, as it were, the 
 uncertain tenure the Romans had on the country 
 beyond the Solway and the Tyne. For two years 
 the Romans and their auxiliaries were employed iii 
 building a wall, which they vainly hoped would for- 
 ever check the incursions of the northern clans. 
 
 The wall of Agi'icola, which has been so frequently 
 alluded to, was in reality a long bank or mound of 
 earth, with a ditch, on the borders of which he 
 built, at unequal distances, a range of forts or castles. 
 This work very nearly extended from sea to sea, being 
 about seventy-four miles long ; beginning three miles 
 and a half east of Newcastle, and ending twelve miles 
 west of Carlisle. After existing thirty-seven years, 
 this work, which had been much injured, was re- 
 paired (about A.D. 121) by Hadi'ian, who added 
 works of his own to strengthen it. He dug an ad- 
 ditional and much larger ditch, and raised a higher 
 rampart of earth, making his new works run in 
 nearh' parallel lines with the old. Fi'om the date of 
 these operations and repab's the name of Agi-icola 
 was lost ; and the whole, to this day, has retained 
 the name of Hadrian's Wall.- During the ninety 
 years that intervened between the labo-rs of Hadrian 
 and those of Severus, the rampart, not well calcu- 
 lated to withstand the fi'osts and rains of a cold and 
 wet climate, had, no doubt, suffered extensively, and 
 
 1 Chalmers" Caledonia. ^ Huttuu's Hist, of the Romau Wall. 
 
 Pro.ile iif Uie Roiiiiii W;:!! and Valhin:, ;ie ir the South A2!;er Tort G.ite. 
 
 ecLioa ol' Wall uf Scveius. 
 
 Wall and Ditch of Severus.
 
 46 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I 
 
 Wall of Seterus, near Housesteao, Northumberland. 
 
 the barbarians had probably broken through the 
 earthen mound in more places than one. Severus — 
 in this surpassing his predecessors — determined to 
 build with stone : the wall he raised was about 8 feet 
 thick and 12 high to the base of the battlements, so 
 that, viewed in profile, a section of it would appear 
 much like a chair, the main part forming the seat 
 and the embattled part the back.' To the wall were 
 added, at unequal distances, a number of stations or 
 towns, 81 castles, and 3.30 castelets or tuiTets. At 
 the outside of the wall (to the north) was dug a 
 ditch about 36 feet wide and from 12 to 1.5 feet deep. 
 Severus' works run nearly parallel with the other 
 two (those of Agricola and Hadrian), lie on the north 
 of them, and are never far distant, but may be said 
 always to keep them in view : the gi'eatest distance 
 between them is less than a mile, the nearest dis- 
 tance about 20 yards,^ — the medium distance 40 or 
 50 yards. Exclusive of his wall and ditch, these 
 stations, castles, and tuiTets, Severus consti"ucted a 
 variety of roads, — jet called Roman roads, — 24 feet 
 wide and 18 inches high in the centre, which led 
 from tun-et to turret, from one castle to another, and 
 still larger and more distant roads from the wall, 
 which led from one station or town to another, be- 
 sides the grand military way (now our main road 
 from Newcastle to Carlisle), which covered all the 
 
 1 nutton. 
 
 woi'ks, and no doubt was first formed by Agricola, 
 improved by Hadrian, and, after Ijing neglected for 
 1500 years, was made complete in 1752.' 
 
 As long as the Roman power lasted this ban-ier 
 was constantly garrisoned by armed men. The 
 stations were so near to each other that, if a fire 
 was lighted on any one of the bvilwarks, it was seen 
 at the next, and so repeated from bulwark to bul- 
 wark, all along the line, in a veiy short time. 
 
 Severus had not finished his works of defence when 
 the Caledonian ti'ibes resumed the offensive. The 
 iron-hearted and iron-framed old emperor marched 
 northward with a dreadful vow of extermination ; 
 but death overtook him at Eboracum (York), in the 
 early part of the year 211. Caracalla, his son and 
 successor, who had been sening with him in Britain, 
 tired of a warfare in which he could gain compara- 
 tively little, hopeless perhaps of ever succeeding in 
 the so-frequently-foiled attempt of subjecting the 
 countiy north of the walls, and certainlj- anxious to 
 reach Rome, in order the better to dispose of his 
 brother Geta, whom his father had named co-heir to 
 the empire, made a hasty peace with the Caledonians, 
 formally ceding to them the debatable ground be- 
 tween the Sohvay and Tj'ne and the Friths of Clyde 
 and Forth, and then left the island for ever. 
 
 After the departure of Caracalla there occurs an-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 47 
 
 Roman Soi.bier. 
 
 Roman Citizen. 
 
 Tomb-stone of a Young Roman Physician 
 
 The above Cu»« were drawn from a large coIlecUon of sculptures found in the line of the Wall of Severus, and preserved in the 
 
 Newcastle Museum.
 
 48 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 other long blank, supposed to have been a tranquil 
 inteiTiil, lor during nearly seventy years history 
 scarcely devotes a single page to Britain and its affairs. 
 The formidable stone rampart of Severus had, no 
 doubt, its part in preserving the tianquillitj' of the 
 southern division of the island, but it wius not the 
 sole cause of this happy effect. The territory ceded 
 by Caracalla, extending eighty miles to the north of 
 Severus' wall, and averaging in breadth, from sea to 
 sea, not less than seventy miles, was, in good part, a 
 fertile country, including what are now some of the 
 best lands in Scotland. The clans left in possession 
 of this valuable settlement would naturally acquire 
 some taste for the quiet habits of life, would imbibe 
 some civilization from the Roman provincials of the 
 south side of the wall, and then their instinctive love 
 of propeity and quiet would make them restrain, 
 with arms in their hands, the still barbarous moun- 
 taineers to the north of their own teiritory, whilst 
 tlieir own civilization, such as it might be, would 
 make some little progi-ess among the clans in that 
 direction. And it certainly did happen that, even 
 when the Roman power had long been in a state of 
 decrepitude, no great or decisive invasions took place 
 from the north to the south, until the Scots, a new 
 enemy, pouring in from Ireland with an ovenvhelm- 
 ing force, drove clan upon clan, and advanced be- 
 yond the wall of Severus. This latter event ought 
 always to bo taken in connexion with the growing 
 weakness of Rome to account for the catastrophe 
 which followed. 
 
 Though it has been generally overlooked, there is 
 
 another, and a great cause too, which will help to 
 account for the ti-anquillity enjoyed in the south, or 
 in all Roman Britain. Caracalla imparted the free- 
 dom of Rome, and the rights and privileges of the 
 Roman citizen, to all the provinces of the empire ; 
 and thus the Briton, exenqjted from arbitrary spolia- 
 tion and opi)ression, enjoyed his patrimony without 
 fear or challenge.' Such a boon merited seventy- 
 years of a grateful quiet. 
 
 When Britain reiippcars in the annals of history, 
 we find her beset by fresh foes, and becoming the 
 scene of a new enterprise, which was frequently 
 repeated in the course of a few following years. In 
 the reign of Diocletian and Maximian (a.d. 288), 
 the Scandinavian and Saxon pirates began to ravage 
 the coasts of Gaul and Britain. To repress these 
 marauders, the emperors appointed Caiausius, a 
 Menapiiin, to the command of a stiong fleet, the 
 head-quarters of which was in the British Channel. 
 The Menapians had divided into several colonies : 
 one was settled in Belgium, one in Hibernia, one in 
 the islands of the Rhine, one at Menevia (now St. 
 David's), in Britain — and Carausius was by birth 
 either a Belgian or a Briton — it is not veiy certain 
 which. Wherever he was born, he appears to have 
 been a bold and skilful naval commander. He beat 
 the pirates of the Baltic, and enriched himself and 
 his mariners with their plunder. It is suspected that 
 he had himself been originally a pirate. He was 
 soon accused of collusion with the enemy, and autici- 
 
 1 Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the English Cormnonweallh, 
 chap. X. 
 
 y,/t^:- 
 
 Wall of Sbvprus, on the S:ind-stone Quarries, Denton Dean, near Newcastle upon-Tyne.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 pating, fi-om his gi-eat wealth and power, that he 
 would throw off his allegiance, the emperors sent 
 orders from Rome to put him to death. The wary 
 and ambitious sailor fled, in time, with his fleet to 
 Britain, where the legions and auxiliaries rallied round 
 his victorious standard, and bestowed upon him the 
 imperial diadem. The joint emperors of Rome, 
 after seeing their attempts to reduce him repelled 
 with disgi-ace to their own arms, were fain to pur- 
 chase peace by conceding to him the government of 
 Britain, of Boulogne, and the adjoining coast of Gaul, 
 together with the proud title of Emperor. Under 
 his reign we see, for the first time, Britain figuring 
 as a gi-eat naval power : Carausius built ships of war, 
 manned them in part with the intrepid Scandinavian 
 and Saxon pirates, against whom he had fought ; and 
 remaining absolute master of the Channel, his fleet 
 swept the seas from the mouths of the Rhine to the 
 Straits of Gibraltar. He sti-uck numerous medals, 
 
 British Coin of Caravsius. 
 From a unique Gold Coin in the British Museum. 
 
 with inscriptions and devices, " which show the pomp 
 and state he assumed in his island empire." The 
 impressive names he borrowed were, " Marcus Au- 
 relius Valerius Ctirausius."' 
 
 He had escaped the daggers of pii'ates and empe- 
 rors, but a surer executioner rose up in the person of 
 a friend and confidential minister. He was murdered 
 in the year 297, at Eboracum (York), by Allectus, a 
 Briton, who succeeded to his insular empire, and 
 reigned about three years, when he was defeated 
 and slain by an officer of Constantius Chlorus, to 
 whom Britain fell in succession on the resignation of 
 Diocletian and Maximian (a.d. 296). In this shoit 
 war we hear of a strong body of Franks and Saxons, 
 who formed the main strength of Allectus' army, 
 and who attempted to plunder London after his 
 defeat. Thus, under Cai'ausius and Allectus, the 
 Saxons must have become acquainted even with the 
 interior of England. Constantius Chlorus died, in 
 the summer of a.d. 306, at Eboracum, or York, a 
 place which seems to have been singularly fatal to 
 royalty in those days. Constantine, aftenvards called 
 the Great, then began his reign at York, where he 
 was present at his father's death. After a very 
 doubtful campaign north of the wall of Severus, the 
 details of which are very meagre and confused, this 
 prince left the island, taking with him a vast number 
 of British youths as recruits for his army. From 
 this time to the death of Constantine, in 337, Britain 
 seems again to have enjoyed ti-anquillity. 
 
 The Roman power was, however, decaying ; the 
 removal of the capital of the empire from Rome to 
 Constantinople had its effects on the remote prov- 
 inces of Britain, and, under the immediate successors 
 ot Constantine, while the Frank and Saxon pirates 
 
 1 Pa!jTavr's Hist. England, chap i 
 VOL. I — 4 
 
 ravaged the ill-defended coasts of the south, 
 Scots, and Attacots — all mentioned for the 
 
 49 
 
 the Picts. 
 first time 
 
 Constantine the Great. 
 From a Gold Coin in the British Museum. 
 
 by historians in the earlier part of the fourth century — 
 began to press upon the northern provinces, and defy 
 Severus' deep ditches and wall of stone. As the Scott 
 came over from Ireland in boats, and frequently made 
 their attacks on the coast line, it seems not improb- 
 able that in some instances their depredations were 
 mistaken for, or mixed up with those of the Saxons. 
 According to our insufficient guide,' however, it was 
 the Picts and Scots alone, that, after breaking through 
 the wall of Severus, and killing a Roman general, 
 and Nectaridius, the " Count of the Saxon Shore," in 
 the reign of Julian the Apostate, were foimd, about 
 three years after (a.d. 367), in the time of the Em- 
 peror Valentinian, pillaging the city of London (Au- 
 gusta), and canying off its inhabitants as slaves. 
 Theodosius, the distinguished general, and father of 
 the emperor of that name, repelled these invaders, 
 and repaired the wall and the ruined forts in different 
 parts of the south ; but the northern districts were 
 never aftenvards reduced to order or tranquillitj-; and 
 even for tlie partial and temporaiy advantage they 
 obtained, the Romans were compelled to foUow the 
 host of pirates to the exti'emity of the British islands. 
 "when," as it is expressed in the verses of the poet 
 Claudian, upon this achievement, " the distant Or- 
 cades were drenched with Saxon gore." 
 
 By watching these occurrences, with others that 
 were equally fatal, step by step, as they happen, we 
 shall be the better able to understand how Britain. 
 when abandoned by the Roman legions, was in so 
 reduced and helpless a state as to fall a prey to the 
 barbarians. If that fact is presented to us in an 
 isolated manner, it almost passes our comprehension : 
 but, taken in connexion Avith gi-eat causes and the 
 events of the two centuries that preceded the Saxon 
 conquest, it becomes perfectly intelligible. 
 
 Following an example which had become very 
 prevalent in difterent parts of the disorganized em- 
 pire, and which had been first set in Britain b}- 
 Carausius, several officers, relying on the devotion of 
 
 1 Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xxvii. and ixviii.
 
 50 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 the legions and auxiliai'ies under their command, and 
 supported sometimes by the affection of the people, 
 cast ofl' their allegiance to the emperor, and declared 
 themselves independent sovereigns. It was the 
 fashion of the servile historians to call these provin- 
 cial emperors " tyrants," or usurpers, and to describe 
 Britain especially as being " insula tjTannorum fer- 
 tilis" — an island fertile in usurpers. But, in sober 
 truth, these provincial monarchs hud as pure and 
 legititnate a biisis for their authority as any of the 
 later emperors of Rome, in whose succession hered- 
 itary right and the will of the governed were alike 
 disregarded, and whose election depended on the 
 chances of war and the caprices of a barbarian sol- 
 diery; for the right of nomination to the vacant 
 empire so long assumed by the pra?torian bands, and 
 which right, questionable as it was, was still certain 
 and ascertainable — still something like a settled rule 
 — was soon overset, and disallowed by the men of all 
 nations in arms on the frontiers. If a pretension had 
 lieen set up for purity of Roman blood, or a principle 
 established that the sovereign should be at least a 
 Roman born, there would have been a line of exclu- 
 sion drawn against the provincial officers ; but so far 
 from this being the case, we find that the large ma- 
 jority of the so-called legitimate Roman emperors 
 were barbarians by race and blood — natives of lUyria 
 and other more remote provinces, while several of 
 the most distinguished of their number sprang from 
 the very lowest orders of society. 
 
 The most noted of the provincial emperors or pre- 
 tenders that raised their standard in Britain was 
 Maximus (a.d. 382) ; certainly a man of rank, and 
 probably connected with the imperial family of Con- 
 stantiue the Great. If not born in Britain, he was of 
 British descent, and had long resided in the island, 
 where he had repelled the Picts and Scots. Brave, 
 skilful, and exceedingly popular in Britain, Maximus 
 might easily have retained the island, but his ambition 
 induced him to aim at the possession of all that por- 
 tion of the Western Roman empire which remained 
 to Gratian ; and this eventually not only led to his 
 ruin, but inflicted another dreadful blow on British 
 prosperity. He withdrew nearly all the troops, and 
 so many of the Britons followed him to Gaul, that 
 the island was left almost defenceless, and utterly 
 deprived of the flower of its youth and nobilitj-. 
 Many of these were swept off on the field of battle, 
 many prevented by other causes from ever returning 
 home. Gaul and Germany also gave willing recruits 
 to the army of Maximus, who was left, by the defeat 
 and death of Gratian, the undisputed master of Brit- 
 ain, Gaul, Spain, and Italy. He established the seat 
 •of his government for some time at Treves, and is 
 !fl,id to have declared Victor, his son by a British wife, 
 his partner in the empire of the west — a proceeding 
 which could scarcely fail of gi-atifying the host of 
 Britons in his army. But Theodosius, called the 
 Great, the emperor of the east, marched an over- 
 powering army into the west, and, after being defeated 
 in two great battles, Maximus retired to Aquileia, 
 near the head of the Adi'iatic gulf, on the confines of 
 ItHly and lUyria, where he was betrayed to the con- 
 
 queror, who ordered him to be put to death in the 
 summer of 388. 
 
 Theodosius the Great now reunited the Roman em- 
 pires of the east and west. While Maximus was ab- 
 sent, conquering many lands, the Scots and Picts 
 renewed their depredations in Britain. We are 
 wearied of this sad repetition, but the moment oi 
 crisis is now at hand. Chrysantus, an able general, 
 and the heutenant of Theodosius in Britain, wholly 
 or partially expelled the invaders. Soon after this, 
 Theodosius the Great died (a. d. 395), and again 
 divided, by his will, the empire which his good for- 
 tune had reunited. Britain, with Gaul, Italy, and 
 all the countiies forming the empire of the west, he 
 bequeathed to his son Houorius, a boy only ten years 
 of age, whom he placed under the guardianship of the 
 famous Stilicho, who fought long and bravely, but in 
 vain, to prop the faUing dignity of Rome. Theodosius 
 was scarcely cold in his gi-ave, when Picts, Scots, and 
 Saxons again sought what they could devour. Stili- 
 cho claimed some temporary advantages over them, 
 but the inflated verses of his panegyi'ist are probably 
 as far from the truth, as Claudian is from being a poet 
 equal to Virgil.' 
 
 While these events were passing in Britain (a.d. 
 403), the withered majesty of Rome was shrouded 
 for ever : Africa was dismembered from her empire ; 
 Dacia, Pannonia, Thrace, and other provinces were 
 laid desolate ; and Alaric the Goth was ravaging Italy, 
 and on his way to the eternal citj% In this extrem- 
 ity, some Roman ti'oops which had been lately sent 
 into the island by Stilicho, were hastily recalled for 
 the defence of Italy, and the Britons, again beset by 
 the Picts and Scots, were left to shift for themselves. 
 
 The islanders seem to have felt the natural love of 
 independence, but there was no unanimity, no politi- 
 cal wisdom, and probably but httle good principle 
 among them. Seeing the necessitj' of a common 
 leader to fight their battles, they permitted the sol- 
 diery to elect one Marcus emperor of Britain (a.d. 
 407) ; and, shortly after, they permitted the same 
 soldiery to dethrone him, and put him to death. The 
 ti'oops then set up one Gratian, whom, in less than 
 four months, they also deposed and murdered. Their 
 third choice fell upon Constantine, an officer of low 
 rank, or, according to others, a common soldier. They 
 are said to have chosen him merely on account of his 
 bearing the imperial and auspicious name of Constan- 
 tine ; but he soon showed he had other properties 
 more valuable than a name ; and had he been con- 
 tented with the sovereign possession of Britain, he 
 might possibly have foiled its invaders, and reigned 
 with peace and some glory. But, like Maximus, he 
 aspired to the whole empire of the west, and, like 
 Maximus, he fell (a.d. 411), after having caused the 
 loss of vast numbers of British youths, whom he dis- 
 ciplined and took ^^■itll him to his wars on the conti- 
 nent. At one part of liis short career, Constantine 
 made himself master of nearly the whole of Gaul, 
 and put his son Constans, who had previously been a 
 monk at Winchester, in possession of Spain. In the 
 course of this Spanish campaign, it is curious to re- 
 
 ' Claud, de Bcllo Gallico 
 
 n
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 51 
 
 mark, that iu Constantine's army there were two 
 bands of Scots or Attacotti.^ 
 
 Soon after the fall of Constantine we find Geron- 
 tius, a powerful chief, and a Briton by birth, cultiva- 
 ting a close connexion with the Teutonic tribes ; and, 
 at his instigation, the barbarians from beyond the 
 Rhine, by whom we are to understand the Saxons, 
 continued to invade the unhappy island. Such un- 
 derhand villanies are always common in the downfall 
 of nations (but can the Romanized Britons fairly be 
 called a nation?); and we find other chiefs, worse 
 than Gerontius, in secret league with the more bar- 
 barous Picts and Scots. 
 
 It appears that after the death of Constantine, Ho- 
 norius, during the short breathing-time allowed him 
 by his numerous enemies, twice sent over a few troops 
 for the recoveiy and protection of Britain, the sove- 
 reignty of which he still claimed ; but his exigencies 
 soon obliged him to recall them, and about the year 
 420, nearly five centuries after C?esar's first invasion, 
 and after being masters of the best part of it during 
 nearly four centuries, the Roman emperors finally 
 abandoned the island. The Britons had already de- 
 posed the magistrates appointed by Rome, proclaimed 
 their independence, and taken up arms for that de- 
 fence against their invaders which the emperor could 
 no longer give ; but the final disseverance was not ac- 
 companied by reproach or apparent ill-will. On the 
 contrary, a mutual friendship subsisted for some time 
 after between the islanders and the Romans ; and the 
 Emperor Honorius, in a letter addressed to the states 
 or cities of Britain, seemed formally to release them 
 from their allegiance, and to acknowledge the national 
 independence. 
 
 For some years after the departure of the Romans 
 the historian has to gi'ope his way in the dark ; nor 
 is it easy to determine the precise condition of the 
 country. It appears, however, that the free munici- 
 pal government of the cities was presently overthrown 
 by a multitude of military chiefs, who were princi- 
 pally of British, but partly of Roman origin. It was 
 a period to appreciate the warrior who could fight 
 against the Scots and Picts rather than the peaceful 
 magistrate ; and the voice of civil libeily would be 
 rarely hear(} in the din of war and invasion. In a 
 very few years all traces of a popular govei-nment 
 disappeared, and a number of petty chiefs reigned 
 absolutely and tyi-annically under the pompous name 
 of kings, though the kingdoms of few of them could 
 have been so large as a second-rate modern county of 
 England. Instead of uniting for their general safety, 
 at least until the invaders were repelled, these roite- 
 lets, or kinglings, made wars upon each other in the 
 presence of a common danger ; and, unwiser even than 
 their far less civilized ancestors in the time of Csesar, 
 they never thought of forming any gi-eat defensive 
 league until it was too late. 
 
 It is chiefly in this mad disunion that we must look 
 for the cause of what has created astonishment in so 
 many wi-iters, — the miserable weakness of Britain on 
 the breaking up of the Roman government. Other 
 causes of decline, however, had long been at work. 
 
 ' ^|'olitia Imperii, sect, xirviii. 
 
 Almost from the first establishment of the Roman 
 power, the British youths raised as recruits were 
 drafted off to the continent, where they were disci- 
 plined, and whence few ever returned. It was con- 
 traiy to the policy of the Romans to teach the provin- 
 cials the arts of war, and establish them as troops in 
 their own countiy. The soldiers of Britain were 
 scattered from Gaul to the extremities of the empire ; 
 the sedentary and unwarlike remained at home. All 
 this, we think, may account for the absence of a well- 
 disciplined force in the time of need. Moreover, dur- 
 ing nearly a century and a half, the drain upon the 
 population for the purposes of Roman war must have 
 been prodigious. In 308 Constantine took with him 
 a vast number of Britons to the continent ; this exam- 
 ple was followed as the enemies of the empire increased 
 in number and audacity, or as one pretender disputed 
 the imperial crown with another ; and we have shown, 
 at periods so recent as a.d. 383 and 411, how the 
 pride and flower of the youth were sacrificed in foreign 
 warfare. The exterminating inroads of the Scots and 
 Picts, which began early in the fourth century, and 
 lasted, almost without intermission, until long after the 
 departure of the Roman legions in the fifth century, 
 must have fearfully thinned the population in the 
 north, where arms were most wanted. The curses 
 that destroy mankind were many, and there were 
 none of the blessings that tend to their increase. 
 Gaul and other provinces with which Britain traded, 
 were in as bad a condition as herself, and thus an end 
 was put to foreign commerce, while the internal trade 
 of the countiy was gradually destroyed by divisions 
 and wars which made it unsafe for the inhabitant of 
 one district to ti-ansport his produce into the next, 
 although only at a few miles' distance. Under such 
 a state of things, moreover, agriculture would be 
 neglected, for men would not sow in the sad uncer- 
 tainty whether they or the enemy should reap. Fa- 
 mine and pestilence ensued ; and Britain, in common 
 with the gi-eater part of Europe, where the same 
 causes had been in operation, was still further depop- 
 ulated by these two scourges. 
 
 We can scarcely credit Gildas, who wrote about 
 the middle of the sixth century, when he asserts that, 
 at the departure of the legions, the Britons were sunk 
 in such helplessness and ignorance that they could not 
 repair the stone wall of Severus without the guidance 
 and assistance of Roman workmen ; but we can un- 
 derstand how they could not muster forces sufficient 
 to man that rampart, and also how the Picts and Scots 
 sliould render it of no avail by turning the wall on its 
 flanks, and landing in its rear at such distances as best 
 suited their convenience. To maintain an adequate 
 gaiTison against a vigilant and restless enemy, along a 
 line upwards of seventy miles in length, would demand 
 a very large disposable force. The northern barba- 
 rians would not hesitate to launch their boats in the 
 Solway Frith, or at the mouth of the Tyne, north of 
 the wall, and, by sailing south, pass that rampart at 
 one of its extremities, and land on the coast within 
 the wall, or ascend rivers, where that defence, left far 
 in the r rear, could present no obstacle to their pi"o- 
 gi'ess. Their rudest coracles might have performed
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 J^^/y;^///:? 
 
 British 
 this coasting service in fine weather; but it is not im- 
 probable that during their occasional connexions with 
 the Teutonic or Saxon pirates, who had made some 
 progress in naval architecture, the Scots came into 
 possession of larger and better vessels. An obvious 
 fact is, that from the arrival of the latter peo})le from 
 Ireland, the rampart of Severus began signally to fail 
 in answering the purposes for which it was intended, 
 though, perhaps, if, instead of taking the usual ex- 
 pression of their breaking through the wall, we read 
 that they turned it at one or other of its extremities, 
 by means of their shoals of boats, we shall generally, 
 in regard to their earlier inroads, be nearer the truth. 
 
 But the time was now come when such sti-atagems, 
 or circuitous courses, were unnecessary, and the 
 Scots and Picts leaped the ditches and scaled the ill- 
 defended walls at all points. The fertile provinces 
 of the south tempted them forward till they reached 
 the very heart of the countiy, which they racked 
 with a most bai'barous hand. It was not their object 
 to occupy the countiy and settle in it as conquerors 
 (had such been their plan, the Britons would have 
 suffered less) ; their expeditions were forays ; they 
 came to plunder and desti-oy : and the booty they 
 canied off, season after season, was a less serious loss 
 than the slaughter and devastation that marked their 
 advance and reti'eat. 
 
 At this horrid crisis the more southern and least 
 exposed parts of the island appear to have been occu- 
 pied by two gi"eat parties or factions, which had ab- 
 sorbed all the rest, but could not come to a rational 
 understanding with each other. One of these was a 
 Roman party, including, no doubt, thousands of Ro- 
 man citizens who had remained on the estates thev 
 
 Coracles. 
 had acquired, and the many native families that must 
 have been connected with them by mari'iage and the 
 various ties of civil life ; the other was a British paity, 
 composed, or pretending to be composed, exclusively 
 of Britons. As soon as such a line of distinction was 
 drawn, dissension was inevitable. The Roman party 
 was headed by Aurelius Ambrosius, a descendant of 
 one of the emperors ; the British rallied round the 
 notorious ^'^ortigern. It is not very clear whether, 
 when it was determined a third time to implore the 
 aid of the Romans, both these parties consented to 
 that measure, or whether Aiuelius Ambrosius did 
 not take it upon himself, as his rival Vortigern did the 
 calling in of the Saxons only three years after. 
 
 The abject prayer, however, entitled " The Groans 
 of the Britons," and addressed to ^tius, thrice consul, 
 was sent to the continent (a.d. 441). "The barba- 
 rians," said the petitioners, "chase us into the sea; 
 the sea throws us back uj)on the barbarians ; and we 
 have only the hard choice left us of perishing by the 
 sword or by the Avaves." But jEtius, though as great 
 a warrior as Stilicho, was then contending with Attila, 
 a more tenible enemy even than Alaric, and could 
 not afford a single cohort to the supplicants, whose 
 last, faint reliance on Rome thus fell to the ground. 
 
 Religious conti-oversy and the mutual hatred that 
 inflames men when they fix the charge of heresy on 
 one another, completed the anarchy of Britain. This 
 is also a very common, though a very strange concom- 
 itant with the fall and last agonies of nations ; and the 
 Britons, like the Jews some centuries before, and like 
 the Greeks at Constantinople, besieged by the Turks, 
 ten centuries after, consumed their time in theologi- 
 cal subtleties and disputations when the enemy was
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 63 
 
 at their gates, and their last defences were falling 
 above their heads. Had some of the disputants been 
 animated with the same martial spirit as Germanus 
 of Auxerre, a Gallic bishop, who was sent over by the 
 pope to decide the controversy, their ruin might 
 have been delayed ; but his was a solitary instance. 
 Germanus, who had been a soldier before he became 
 a priest, sallied out with a number of Britons, and to 
 the shouts of Hallelujah, if we may believe the nai*- 
 rative of the Venei-able Bede, cut up a partj- of Picts 
 that were plundering the coast. But this Hallelujah 
 victory, as it was called, was far from being sufficient 
 to stay the march of the invaders, and at length Vor- 
 tigeru took his memorable step, and called the Saxons 
 to his assistance — a fierce and predatory people who 
 had frequently ravaged the island, sometimes by 
 themselves, at others in union with the Picts and 
 Scots, whom they were now to oppose. The people 
 of Armorica or Brittany had ah-eady set the example, 
 and more fortunate than their neighbors proved in 
 the end, they had succeeded, by means of some 
 Saxon allies, in maintaining the independence, and 
 securing the tranquillity of their country. 
 
 It may be suspected that, even at this exti'emity, 
 Vortigern applied for the aid of foreign arms, as 
 iimch for the purpose of destroying the Roman party 
 in the island, as for the expulsion of its invaders ; 
 and this suspicion, though not proved, gains some 
 strength from their past and existing disputes, from 
 the reports of the deadly hati-ed and bloody conflicts 
 which ensued between Aurelius Ambrosius, the head 
 of the Roman party, and Yortigern, and from the 
 circumstance that Aurelius, from the first landing, 
 
 made head against the Saxons, while his enemy lived 
 in peace and amity with them for some time. 
 
 But, whatever were his motives, Yortigern (a.d 
 449) called the hardy freebooters of the Baltic and 
 northern Germany, and they came most readily 
 at his call. The story of a formal embassy to the 
 court or general assembly of the Saxons, and the pa- 
 thetic speeches put into the mouths of the British 
 envoys, seem to be pure inventions of the old histo- 
 rians. Three Chiules (keels), or long ships, were 
 cruising in the British Channel, under the command of 
 two brothers, distinguished wan-iors or pirates among 
 the Saxons, who are called Hengist and Horsa, though 
 it is possible those may not have been really their 
 names, but designations merely derived from the stan- 
 dards they bore.^ It appears to have been on the deck 
 of these marauding vessels that the Saxons received 
 the invitation, which eventually led to the conquest 
 of a gi-eat kingdom. Yortigern appointed his ready 
 guests to dwell in the east.part of the land, and gave 
 them the Isle of Thanet for their residence, an insu- 
 lated and secure ti-act to those who, like the Saxons, 
 had the command of the sea ; for the nan-ow, and, at 
 times, almost invisible rill which now divides Thanet 
 from the rest of Kent, was then a channel of the sea, 
 nearly a mile in width. From this date begins the 
 history of the Saxons in Britain. 
 
 * Hengst, or Hengist, signifies a stallion ; and Horsa, or Hross, does 
 not require any explanation. It may be remarked, however, that in 
 Danish, hors signifies not a horse, but a mare. The snow-white steed 
 still appears as the eusign of Kent, in England, as it anciently did in 
 the shield of the " old Saxons'' in Germany. Hence the White Horse 
 is still borne on the royal shield of Brunswick-Hanover. — Palgrave, 
 Hist. chap. ii. 
 
 
 Ension of Kent.
 
 54 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 Section I. — Druidism. 
 
 HERE are tsvo views 
 under which the his- 
 toiy of religion may 
 form a part of the his- 
 tory of a countr)- or 
 a people. There is 
 the histoiy of religious 
 opinion, and there is 
 the history of the es- 
 tablished church con- 
 sidered as one of the in- 
 stitutions of the state. 
 There never probably was a period in the history of 
 this counhy when religion was more mixed up with 
 civil affairs than in that earliest period of which we 
 are now treating. Among the ancient Britons the 
 ministers of religion appear to have been also the 
 chief legislators and administrators of the law, as well 
 as almost the sole depositories of whatever knowledge 
 and civilization existed in the country. As, however, 
 no British histoiy, properly so called, of any kind, 
 has been presei-ved, all the information that can be 
 given in regard to the religious system which we 
 have reason to believe then prevailed, is such a gen- 
 eral account of it as we are enabled to present of the 
 state of the island and its inhabitants in those remote 
 ages in other respects. But even for this our mate- 
 rials are scanty' and unsatisfactoiy ; much of the sub- 
 ject is concealed in a darkness which we can have 
 DO hope of piercing ; and there is so much of fanciful 
 speculation and conjecture in the interpretation that 
 has been put upon the few facts from which we must 
 deduce our conclusions, that at the best the endeavor 
 to shape them into order and meaning is very like 
 tracing pictures in the clouds. 
 
 The ancient religion of the Britons is generally 
 believed to have been the same with that of their 
 Gallic neighbors and kinsmen. It is proper, how- 
 ever, to observe that the skepticism of some modern 
 historicaUvi-iters has carried them so far as to incline 
 them to doubt whether the Druidism of Gaul ever 
 generally prevailed in Britain. It appears from the 
 narrative which has been given of the Roman con- 
 quest, that there were Druids in the island of An- 
 glesey ; but it is rather remarkable that no ancient 
 author has expressly mentioned the existence of 
 Druidism in any other part of the country. Both 
 Caesar and Pliny, indeed, have spoken of the British 
 Di"uids generally ; but their expressions may very 
 well refer merely to the Druidism of Anglesey, or 
 even, as has been suggested, to that of Ireland, which, 
 as Pliny himself informs us, was included under the 
 name of the British Islands. If the matter therefore 
 depended entirely on the testimony of the Greek 
 
 and Roman wi'iters, the common opinion would 
 scarcely rest on sufficient gi'oimds. But the general 
 prevalence of Druidism in Britain appears to be 
 abundantly established both by the mateiial monu- 
 ments of that system of religion which are spread 
 over all parts of the country, and by popular customs 
 and superstitions, derived from the same source, which 
 have either survived to our own day, or have only 
 recently disappeared. 
 
 Caesar, who of all the ancients has given us the 
 fullest and clearest account of the Druids, expressly 
 records it to have been the common opinion of the 
 Gauls that the Druidical discipline was discovered or 
 invented in Britain, and from thence brought over to 
 Gaul ; and he adds that those of the Gauls who 
 wished to obtain a more perfect knowledge of the 
 system were still wont to pass over into Britain to 
 study it. Although, therefore, his sketch professes 
 to relate only to the Di'uidism of Gaul, we may safely 
 assume that it is in general equally applicable to that 
 of Britain. The Druids, according to Caesar, formed 
 throughout the whole of Gaul one of the two honor- 
 able classes of the population, the Equites, or military 
 order, forming the other. The office of the Druids 
 was that of presiding over sacred things, of perform- 
 ing all public and private sacrifices, and generally of 
 duecting all religious matters. They were also the 
 teachers of gi'eat numbers of youth, who resorted to 
 them for instiuction in their discipline. But the 
 function which procured them the highest honor was 
 that which they discharged as the judges by whom 
 were determined almost all disputes or litigations, 
 both public and private. If any criminal act was 
 done, if any murder was committed, if any difference 
 arose about an inheritance or the boundaries of land, 
 the decision lay with them ; they appointed the re- 
 ward or the penalty. But even in this capacity- of 
 administi-ators of the law, religion was the instrument 
 the)- made use of to enforce obedience to their sen- 
 tences. "Whoever he was, whether a private indi- 
 vidual or a person discharging a public office, that on 
 any occasion refused to abide by their decree, they 
 interdicted him from being present at the sacrifices. 
 The exercise of this power, resembling the modern 
 ecclesiastical weapon of excommunication, inflicted a 
 punishment of the greatest severity. The person 
 interdicted was held as one impious and accursed ; all 
 men shunned him, and fled from his approach and 
 converse, lest they should receive injury from his 
 very touch ; he lost the protection of the law, and 
 was excluded from all offices of honor. 
 
 The Druidical hierarchy, it is plain from this ac- 
 count, held in their hands the regulation and control 
 of by far the most important part of the internal affairs 
 
 ^
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 55 
 
 of the community, thus occupying a position in the 
 state very similar to that formerly held in many coun- 
 tries by the Christian priesthood ; but, if anything, 
 still more commanding than that was, even in the 
 darkest period of modern history. It was distinctly 
 another power, if not superior to the civil power, at 
 least certainly not in any respect in subjection to it. 
 Caesar goes on to tell us that there was one head 
 Druid set over the whole body, who was elected to 
 his place of supreme authority by the suffrages of the 
 rest, whenever it happened that there was no single 
 individual of their number whose merits were so pre- 
 eminent as to prevent all competition for the vacant 
 dignity. The struggle, however, among the parti- 
 sans of various candidates for the primacy sometimes 
 came to a contest of arms. The Druids of Gaul were 
 wont to hold a meeting at a certain time of everj' year 
 in a consecrated place in the territory of the Car- 
 nutes, which was considered to be the central region 
 of Gaul ; and hither all people flocked who had any 
 litigations, and submitted themselves to their decisions 
 and judgments. The spot here refeired to is sup- 
 posed to have been that on which the town of Dreux, 
 in the Pais de Chartiain, now stands ; and here it is 
 thought the chief Druid had his residence. The 
 seat of the Druidical primacy in Britain is conjectured 
 to have been the Isle of Anglesey. 
 
 Caesar goes on to state that the Druids were not 
 accustomed to take part in war, nor did they pay anj^ 
 taxes, enjoying both exemption from military service 
 and freedom from all other public burdens. The 
 consequence of these privileges was, that numbers 
 of persons both came of their own accord to be ti-ained 
 up in their discipline, and were sent to them by their 
 parents and relations. A part of the education of 
 these pupils was said to consist in learning by heart 
 a great number of verses, and on that account some 
 of them remained twenty years at their studies ; for 
 the Druids did not deem it right to commit their in- 
 structions to wi'iting, although, in most other things, 
 and in both their public and private affairs of business, 
 they used, Caesar seems to say, according to the read- 
 ing of most manuscripts of his text, the Greek charac- 
 ters. Even if the epithet Greek is an interpolation 
 here, as some critics have supposed, the important 
 part of the statement remains unaffected, namely, 
 that the Druids were familiar with the art of A\Titing. 
 Caesar supposes that they refrained from committing 
 their religious doctrines to writing for two reasons : 
 first, because they did not wish that the knowl- 
 edge of their system should be diffused among the 
 people at large ; secondly, because they thought that 
 the learners, having wTitten characters to trust to, 
 would bestow less pains in cultivating their memoiy, 
 it generally happening that diligence in acquiring 
 knowledge, and the exercise of the power of memoiy, 
 are relaxed under a sense of the security which 
 written characters afford. 
 
 He then proceeds to give an account of the doc- 
 trines taught by the Druids. The chief doctrine 
 which they inculcated was that commonly known by 
 the name of the metempsychosis or h-ansmigration 
 of souls, a favorite principle of some of the most an- 
 
 cient religious and philosophical creeds both of the 
 east and of the west. They asserted that when a 
 man died his spirit did not perish, but passed imme- 
 diately into another body ; and this article of faith, by 
 its power of vanquishing the fear of death, they con- 
 sidered to be the most efficacious that could be in- 
 stilled into the minds of men for the excitement of 
 heroic virtue. They also discussed and delivered to 
 their pupils many things respecting the heavenly 
 bodies and their motions, the magnitude of the uni- 
 verse and the earth, the nature of things, and the 
 force and power of the immortal gods. The whole 
 nation of the Gauls, Caesar remarks, was gi-eatly given 
 to religious observances ; and on that account those 
 persons who were attacked by any serious disease, 
 or were involved in the dangers of warfare, were ac- 
 customed either to immolate human victims, or to 
 vow that they would, and to employ the Druids to 
 perform these sacrifices ; their opinion being that the 
 gods were not to be pi-opitiated, unless for the life of 
 a man the life of a man were offered up. There 
 were also sacrifices of the same kind appointed on 
 behalf of the state. Sometimes images of wicker 
 work, of immense size, were constructed, which, 
 being filled with living men, were then set fire to, and 
 the men perished in the flames. They regai-ded the 
 destruction in this manner of persons taken in the 
 commission of theft or robbery, or any other delin- 
 quency, as most agreeable to the gods ; but when the 
 supply of such criminals was insufiicient, they did 
 not hesitate to make victims of the innocent. 
 
 The account is concluded by a short enumeration 
 of the divinities worshiped by the Gauls. The chief 
 object of their adoration, it is stated, was Mer- 
 cury : of this god they had nmFierous images ; they 
 regarded him as the inventor of all arts, as the guide 
 of men in highways and in their journeys, and as 
 having the greatest power in eveiything belonging to 
 the pursuits of wealth and commerce. After hun 
 tliey worshiped Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minei-va, 
 holding nearly the same opinion with regard to each 
 as other nations ; namely, that Apollo warded off dis- 
 eases — that Minerva was the first instructor in man- 
 ufactures and handicrafts — that Jupiter was the sov- 
 ereign of the inhabitants of heaven — that Mais was 
 the ruler of war. To him, when they came to the 
 determination of engaging in a battle, thej^ commonly 
 devoted whatever spoil they had taken in war ; out 
 of what remained to them after the fight, they sacri- 
 ficed everj'thing that was alive, and gathered the 
 rest together into one spot. Heaps of things thus 
 put aside in consecrated places were to be seen in 
 many of the states, and it was rarely that any person 
 was so regardless of religion as to dare either secretly 
 to retain any part of the spoil in his own possession, 
 or to take it away when thus laid up : for such a 
 crime there was appointed a very severe punishment, 
 accompanied with torture. It is added that all the 
 Gauls believed themselves to be descended from 
 Father Dis or Pluto, saying that the fact was de- 
 clared to be so by the Druids. On that account, 
 they reckoned time not by days but by nights, so 
 regulating their birthdays, and the beginnings of
 
 36 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 raontlis and years, that the night came first and then 
 the day.^ 
 
 Such is the outline of tlie Druidical superstition 
 ;ind system of ecclesiastical polity which has been 
 left to us by this accurate and sagacious obsei-ver, 
 not WTiting from hearsay, but describing what he 
 saw with his own eyes, or had othenvise the best 
 opportunities of learning on the spot. Of all the 
 writers in whom we find any notices of the disci- 
 pline or docti-ines of the Druids, there is perhaps 
 scarcely another who can be regarded as speaking 
 to us on the subject from his own obseiTation. We 
 have no reason to suppose that any of the rest ever 
 wa-s in a counhy where the Druidical religion was 
 established. Some of the ancient authorities who 
 are commonly refeiTed to can scarcely be considered 
 as even the contemporaries of Druidism either in 
 IJritoin or Gaul. 
 
 As in these circumstances was to be expected, 
 rhe account given by Ciesar may be affirmed not to 
 be conti-adicted in any material particular, by those 
 supplied to us from other quarters ; but his sketch 
 is a rapid and general one, and other ancient ^^Titers 
 have enabled us to fill it up in various parts with 
 some curious and interesting details. Such of these 
 :is seem to be most deserving of attention, we shall 
 now proceed to notice. 
 
 It is remarkable that Ca?sar nowhere makes any 
 mention of the sacred gioves and the reverence paid 
 to the oak, which makes so great a figure in most of 
 the other accounts of Druidism. Among various 
 derivations which have been given of the name of 
 the Druids, the most probable seems to be that 
 which brings it from Drui, the Celtic word for an 
 oak, con-uptly written in the modern Irish I>roi, 
 and more corruptly Draoi, but without the pro- 
 nunciation being altered, and making in the plural 
 Drvidhe.'^ Drui is the same word with Drus, 
 which signifies an oak in the Greek language ; and 
 also, indeed, with the English tree, which in the old 
 Mfesogothic was triu. The name Dryades given to 
 their nymphs or goddesses of the woods by the 
 Greeks, is only another form of the name Druids, 
 given to their priests of the woods by the Celts. It 
 is curious that Diodorus Siculus calls the philosophers 
 and theologians of the Gauls, by wliich he evidently 
 means the Druids, Saronides ; the original significa- 
 tion of the Greek word Saron, according to Hesy- 
 chius, being an oak. 
 
 "If you come," says the philosopher Seneca, 
 writing to his friend Lucilius, "to a grove thick 
 planted w'\ih ancient trees which have outgrown tlie 
 nsual altitude, and which shut out the view of the 
 heaven with their interwoven boughs, the vast height 
 of the wood, and the retired secrecy of the place, 
 and the wonder and awe inspired by so dense and 
 unbroken a gloom in the midst of the open day, im- 
 press you with the conviction of a present deity."^ 
 These natural feelings of the human mind were 
 taken advantage of and turned to account by the 
 ■Druids, as we find them to have been in the other 
 1 Caesar de Bello Gallico, ri. 13, 14, 16, 17. 18. 
 3 Taland, p- 1". ^ M. A. Seneca Epist. 41 
 
 most primitive and simple forms of ancient supersti- 
 tion. Pliny informs us that the oak was the tree 
 which they principally venerated, that they chose 
 gloves of oak for their residence, and performed no 
 sacred rites without the leaf of that tree. The 
 geographer Pomponius Mela describes them as teach- 
 ing the youths of noble families, that thronged to 
 them in caves, or in the depths of forests. We 
 have seen that when (a.d. 61) Suetonius Pauhnus 
 attacked and made himself master of the isle of 
 Anglesey, he cut down the Druidical groves, "hal- 
 lowed," sajs Tacitus, " with cruel superstitions ; for 
 they held it right to stain then- altars with the blood 
 of prisoners taken in war, and to seek to know the 
 mind of the gods from the fibres of human victims."' 
 The poet Lucan, in a celebrated passage on the 
 Druids and the doctrines of their religion, has not 
 forgotten their sacred groves : — 
 
 " The Druids now, while arms are heard no more, 
 Old mysteries and barbarous rights restore ; 
 A tribe, who singular religion love,' 
 And haunt the lonely coverts of the grove. 
 To these, and these of all mankind ,ilone, 
 The gods are sure reveal'd, or sure unknown. 
 If dying mortals' dooms they sing aright. 
 No ghosts descend to dwell in dreadful night ; 
 No parting souls to grisly Pluto go, 
 Nor seek the dieary silent shades below ; 
 But forth they fly, immortal in their kind, 
 And other bodies in new worlds they find. 
 Thus life forever runs its endless race, 
 And like a line Death but divides the space, 
 A stop which can but for a moment last, 
 A point between the future and the past. 
 Thrice happy they beneath their northern skies, 
 Who that worst fear, the fear of death, despise : 
 Hence they no cares for this frail being feel, 
 But rush undaunted on the pointed steel ; 
 Provoke approaching fate, and bravely scorn 
 To spare that life which inust so soon return. "2 
 
 No Druidical giove, we believe, now remains in 
 any part of Great Britain ; but within little more 
 than a century, ancient oaks were still standing 
 around some of the circles of stones set upright in 
 the earth, which are supposed to have been the tem- 
 ples of the old religion. In the parish of Holj~wood 
 in Dumfriesshire, for instance, there is such a tem- 
 ple, formed of twelve very large stones, inclosing a 
 piece of gi'ound about eighty yards in diameter, and 
 although there are now no trees to be seen near the 
 spot, " there is a ti-adition," says an account of the 
 parish published in 1791, " of their existing in the 
 last age ;" and it is added, " many of their roots have 
 been dug out of the gi'ound by the present minister, 
 and he has still one in his possession."* As far as 
 can be gathered from the vestiges of such of these 
 sacred inclosures as remain least defaced, they seem 
 in their perfect state to have generally consisted of 
 the circular row or double row of stones in the cen- 
 tral open space (the proper lucus, or place of light), 
 and beyond these, of a wood surrounded by a ditch 
 and a mound. A holy fountain, or rivulet, appears 
 also to have usually watered the grove. The rever- 
 ence for rivers or streams, and more especially for 
 springs or wells, is another of the most prevalent of 
 
 1 Tac. An. xiv. 30. 
 
 2 Pharsalia i. 462 ; Rowe's translation. See also, iii. 399, 4;c 
 
 3 Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, i. 18.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 57 
 
 Grove of Oaks. — From a Picture by Ruysdael. 
 
 ancient superstitions ; and it is one which, having, 
 along with many other Pagan customs, been adopted 
 and sanctioned, or at least tolerated, by Christianity 
 as first preached by the Roman missionaries, and 
 being, besides, in some sort recommended to the 
 reason by the high utility of the object of regard, 
 has not even yet altogether passed away. The 
 cultivation, too, or the decay from lapse of time, 
 which has almost everywhere swept away the an- 
 tique religious grove, has for the most part spared 
 the holy AveU. In the centre of the circle of upright 
 stones is sometimes found what is still called a crom- 
 lech, a flat stone supported in a horizontal position 
 upon others set perpendicularly in the eartli, being 
 apparently the altar on which the sacrifices were 
 oflfered up, and on which the sacred fire was kept 
 burning. The name cromlech is said to signify the 
 stone for bowing to or worshiping. Near to the 
 temple frequently rises a carnedd, or sacred mount, 
 
 from which it is conjectured that the priests were 
 wont to address the people. 
 
 The Platonic philosopher Maximus Tyrius tells 
 us that the Celtic nations all Avorshiped Jupiter 
 under the visible representation of a lofty oak. But 
 the most remarkable of the Draidical superstitions 
 connected AAith the oak, Avas the reverence paid to 
 the parasitical plant called the mistletoe, when it was 
 found groAving on that ti"ee. Pliny has given us an 
 account of the ceremony of gathering this plant, 
 which, like all the other sacred solemnities of the 
 Druids, Avas performed on the sixth day of the moon, 
 probably because the planet has usually at that age 
 become distinctly visible. It is thought that the 
 festival of gathering the mistletoe was kept always as 
 near to the 10th of March, Avhich was their New 
 Year's Day, as this rule would permit. Having told 
 us that the Druids believed that God loved the oak 
 above all the other trees, and that everything grow-
 
 58 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boor I. 
 
 ing upon that tree came from heaven, he adds, that 
 there is nothing they held more sacred than tlie 
 mistletoe of the oak. Whenever the plant was found 
 on that tree, which it very rarely was, a procession 
 was made to it on the sacred day with gi-eat form 
 and pomp. First two white bulls were bound to the 
 oak by their horns ; and then a Druid clothed in 
 white mounted the tree, and with a knife of gold cut 
 the mistletoe, which another, standing on the ground, 
 held out his white robe to receive. The sacrifice of 
 the victims and festive rejoicings followed. The 
 saci'edness of the mistletoe is said to have been also 
 a part of the ancient religious creed of the Persians, 
 and not to be yet forgotten in India ; and it is one of 
 the Druidical supei-stitions of which traces still sur- 
 vive among our popular customs. Virgil, a diligent 
 student of the poetiy of old religions, has been 
 thought to intend an allusion to it by the golden 
 branch which iEneas had to pluck to be his passport 
 to the infernal regions. Indeed the poet expressly 
 likens the bi-anch to the mistletoe : — 
 
 "Quale solet silris brumali frigore viscum 
 Fronde virere nuva, quod non sua seminat arbos, 
 Et croceo fetu tcretes circumdare truncos ; 
 Talis erat species auri frondentis opac^ 
 Ilice ; sic leni crepitabat bractea vento." 
 
 iEx. vi. 109. 
 As in the woods beneath mid-winter's snow 
 Shoots from the oak the fresh-leaved mistletoe, 
 Girding the dark stem with its saffron glow ; 
 So sprung the bright gold from the dusky rind, 
 So the leaf rustled in the fanning wind. 
 
 The entire body of the Druidical priesthood ap- 
 pears to have been divided into several orders or 
 
 classes ; but there is some uncertainty and difference 
 of opinion as to the characters and offices of each. 
 Strabo and Ammianus Marcellinus are the ancient 
 authorities upon this head ; and they both make the 
 orders to have been three — the Druids, the Vates, 
 and the Bards. Marcellinus calls the Vates, accord- 
 ing to one reading, Euhages, which is most probably 
 a corruption, but according to another Eubates. 
 which is evidently the same with Strabo's Ouates, oi- 
 Vates. It is agreed that the Bards were poets and 
 musicians. MarceUinus says that they sung the 
 brave deeds of illustrious men, composed in heroic 
 verses, with sweet modulations of the lyre ; and 
 Diodorus Siculus, who does not include them among 
 the theologians and philosophers whom he calls Sa- 
 ronides, also mentions them in nearly the same terms. 
 He states that they composed poems, some of which 
 were celebrations, and others invectives, and sung 
 them to the music of an instrument resembling the 
 Greek and Roman lyi'e. The Vates, according to 
 Strabo, were priests and physiologists : but Marcel- 
 linus seems to assign to them only the latter office, 
 saying that they inquired into nature, and en- 
 deavored to discover the order of her processes and 
 her sublimest secrets. The Latin word vates, it 
 may be observed, although frequently used for a 
 poet, and sometimes indeed for a person of very 
 eminent skill in other intellectual arts, seems prop- 
 erly to have always implied something prophetic or 
 divine. Such is said also to be the signification of th»' 
 Celtic Faidh, which, in modern Irish, is used for a 
 prophet, and is believed to have been in former 
 
 Kits Coty House, a Cromlech, near .'Vylesford, Kent
 
 Chap. II. j 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 59 
 
 Group of ARrn-DRuiD and Druids 
 
 times the name of an order of soothsayers or sacred 
 poets, both in Ii-eland and in Scotland. The Druids 
 Strabo speaks of as combining the study of physiol- 
 ogy with that of moral science. Marcellinus de- 
 scribes them as persons of a loftier genius than the 
 others, who addressed themselves to the most occult 
 and profound inquiries, and rising in their contem- 
 plations above this human scene, declared the spirits 
 of men to be immoital. Some modern wa-iters, dis- 
 regarding altogether these ancient authorities, have 
 conjectured that the Dnaids, as forming the chief 
 order of the hierarchy, had under them first the 
 Bards, whom they make the same with the Saron- 
 ides, and to have been poets and musicians ; second- 
 ly, the Euhages or Eubages, who studied natural 
 philosophy ; and, thirdly, the Vates, who performed 
 the sacrifices. It is at least highly probable that all 
 these classes were considered as belonging to the 
 
 Druidical body.^ A remarkable fact mentioned by 
 MarceUinus is that the Druids, properly so called, 
 lived together in communities or brotherhoods. 
 This, however, cannot have been the case with all 
 the members of the order ; for we have reason to 
 believe that the Druids frequently reckoned among 
 their number some of the sovereigns of the Celtic 
 states, whose civil duties of course would not per- 
 mit them to indulge in this monastic life. Divitia- 
 cus, the ^duan prince, who performed so remarkable 
 a part, as related by Cccsar, in the drama of the sub- 
 jugation of his country by the Roman arms, is stated 
 by Cicero to have been a Druid. Cicero tells us thai 
 he knew Divitiacus, who was wont both to profess 
 
 1 Strabo iv. ; Ammian. Marcell. xv. 9 ; Diod. Sic. v. 31 ; Toland's 
 History of the Druids, pp. 24-29 ; Rowland's Mona Antiqua, p. 65 ; 
 Borlase's Cornwall, p. 67 ; Macpherson's Dissertations, p. 203 ; Bouche's 
 Histoire de Provence, i. 68; Fosbroke's Encycloptedia of Antiquities, 
 II. 662.
 
 60 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 to be familiar with that study of nature which the 
 Greeks called physiology, and to make predictions 
 respecting future events, partly by augury, partly by 
 conjecture.' Strabo records it to have been a notion 
 among the Gauls that the more Druids they had 
 among them, the more plentiful would be their liar- 
 vests, and the greater their abundance of all good 
 things ; and we may therefore suppose that the 
 numbers of the Druids were very considerable. 
 
 Toland, who in what he calls his " Specimen of 
 the Critical History of the Celtic Religion and 
 Learning," has collected many curious facts, and 
 who probably had authorities of one kind or another 
 for most of the things he has advanced, although they 
 were unfortunately resen'ed for a subsequent W'ork 
 of gi'eater detail, which never appeared, has given 
 us the following account of the dress of the Druids. 
 Eveiy Druid, he informs us, cairied a wand or staff', 
 such as magicians in all counh-ies have done, and 
 had what was called a Druid's egg (to which we 
 shall avert presently) hung about his neck inclosed in 
 gold. All the Druids wore the hair of their heads 
 short, and their beai'ds long ; while other people 
 wore the hair of then- heads long, and shaved all then* 
 beards witli the exception of the upper lip. " They 
 Ukewise," he continues, " all wore long habits, as did 
 the bards and tlie Vaids (the Vates) : but the Druids 
 had on a white surplice whenever they religiously 
 officiated. In Ireland, they, with the gi-aduate Bards 
 and Vaids, had the privilege of weai'ing six colors 
 in their breacans or robes (which ^vere tlie stinped 
 braccEB of the Gauls, still worn by the Highlanders) ; 
 whereas the king and queen might have in theirs but 
 seven, lords and ladies five, governors of forti-esses 
 four, officers and young gentleman of quality three, 
 common soldiers two, and common people one. 
 These particulai's appear to have been collected from 
 the Irish traditions or Bardic manuscripts. 
 
 It is commonly said that there were Druidesses 
 as well as Druids, and some modern \\Titers have 
 even given us a minute account of the several de- 
 grees or orders of this female hierarchy ; but the 
 notion does not seem to rest upon any sufficient 
 authority. On the conti-ary, Striibo expressly tells 
 as that it was a rule with the Druids, which they 
 most stiictly obsei-ved, never to communicate any of 
 their secret doctrines to women, having no faith, it 
 seems, in the docti'ine held by some of the moderns, 
 that a woman can keep a secret. 
 
 Vopiscus, indeed, relates that the Emperor Au- 
 relian on one occasion consulted certain female for- 
 tune-tellers of Gaul, whom this historian calls Druid- 
 esses, and that one of these personages also another 
 time delivered a w'arning to Alexander Severus ; but 
 tlie women in question seem to have been merely a 
 sort of sibyls or witches. The art of divination, as 
 we ha\'e aheady seen from the example of Divitiacus, 
 was one of the favorite pretensions of the Druidical, 
 as it has been of most other systems of superstition. 
 The British Druids, indeed, appear to have professed 
 the practice of magic in this and all its other depart- 
 ments. Pliny observes that in his day this supernat- 
 * De Pivinatifine, i. 41. 
 
 ural art was cultivated with such astonishing cere- 
 monies in Britain, that the Persians themselves 
 might seem to have acquued the knowledge of it 
 from that island. In the Irish tongue a magician is 
 still called Drui, and the magic art Diiiidlieach, that 
 is Druidity, as it might be literally tianslated.' In 
 the Irish ti-anslation of the Scriptures the magicians 
 of Egj'pt ai-e called the Druids of Egypt, and the 
 same name is given to the magi or wise men from 
 the east mentioned in the gospel of St. Mattliew. 
 jElian tells us that the Druids of Gaul were hberally 
 paid by those who consulted them for tlieir revela- 
 tions of the future, and the good fortune they prom- 
 ised. Among their chief methods of divination was 
 that from the entrails of victims oflered in sacrifice. 
 One of their practices was remarkable for its strange 
 and horrid cruelty, if we may believe the account of 
 Diodorus Siculus. In sacrificing a man they would 
 give him the mortal blow by the sti'oke of a sword 
 above the diaphragm, and then, according to rules 
 W'hich had descended to them from their forefathers, 
 they would draw their predictions from inspection of 
 the posture in which the dying >\Tetch fell, the con- 
 vulsions of his quivering limbs, and the direction in 
 which the blood flowed from his body. A wild stoiy 
 is told by Plutarch, in his Treatise on the Cessation 
 of Orjicles, about a discovery made by a person 
 named Demetiius, of an island in the neighborhood 
 of Britain, inhabited by a few Britons who were 
 esteemed sacred and inviolable by their countrymen. 
 Immediately after his arrival, it is affirmed, the air ^ 
 gi-ew black and troubled, and strange apparitions 
 were seen ; the winds rose to a tempest, and fiery 
 spots and wiiirlwinds appeared dancing towards the 
 earth. Demetrius was told that all this turmoil of 
 the elements was occasioned by the death of one of 
 a certain race of invisible beings who frequented the 
 isle. It has been conjectiu-ed that this island was 
 either Anglesey, or one of the Hebrides, and that 
 the persons inhabiting it were Druids, who thus 
 affected a commerce with the world of spirits and 
 supernatm'al powers. Somewhat resembling tliis 
 account is that given by Mela of the island of Sena, 
 which he describes as situated in the British sea, 
 opposite to the coast inhabited by the Osismi, and 
 which is believed to be the isle of Sain, near the 
 coast of Britany. It was famous, according to the 
 ancient geogi-apher, for the oracle of a certain Gallic 
 divinity. The priestesses, who were called Bar- 
 rigenae, were said to be nine in number, and to have 
 vowed perpetual virginity. They were thought to 
 be endowed with vaiious singular powers, such as 
 that of raising the waves and winds with their songs, 
 of changing themselves into whatever animals they 
 chose, of healing diseases which were incurable by 
 the skill of others, and of knowing and predicting 
 future events ; these, however, they revealed onlj" to 
 mariners wiio came on purpose to consult them. It 
 is highly probable that the moon was the deity wliich 
 was here worshiped.- i 
 
 There is reason to believe that the Druids, like 1 
 
 1 T.iland, p. 20. 
 
 ' Don Marline : Religion des GauUoig.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 61 
 
 other ancient teachers of religion and philosophy, 
 had an esoteric or secret doctrine, in which the 
 members of the order were insti-ucted, of a more 
 refined and spiritual character than that which they 
 preached to the multitude. Diogenes Laertius ac- 
 quaints us, that the substance of their system of 
 faith and practice was comprised in three precepts, 
 namely, to worship the gods, to do no evil, and to 
 behave courageously. They were reported, how- 
 ever, he says, to teach their philosophy in enigmatic 
 apophthegms. Mela also expresses himself as if 
 he intended us to understand that the greater part 
 of their theology was reserved for the initiated. 
 One doctrine, he says, that of the immortality of the 
 soul, they published, in order that the people might 
 be thereby animated to bravery in war. The lan- 
 guage of this AVi'iter would rather imply, that what 
 they promised was merely the continuance of ex- 
 istence in another world. The people, he tells us, 
 in consequence of their belief in this docti-ine, were 
 accustomed when they buried their dead to burn 
 and inter along with them things useful for the 
 living ; a statement which is confirmed by the com- 
 mon contents of the baiTOws or graves of the ancient 
 Britons. He adds a still better evidence of the 
 sti-ength of theii- faith. They were wont, it seems, 
 to put off the settlement of accounts and the exac- 
 tion of debts, till they should meet again in the 
 shades below. It also sometimes happened, that per- 
 sons not vrishing to be parted from their friends who 
 had died, would throw themselves into the funeral 
 
 piles of the objects of their attachment, with the 
 view of thus accompanying them to their new scene 
 of life. It does not seem to be easy to reconcile 
 these statements with the common supposition that 
 the doctrine on the subject of the immortality of the 
 soul taught by the Druids, was that of the Metemp- 
 sychosis, or its ti-ansmigi-ation immediately after 
 death hito another body. Yet we find the practice 
 of self-immolation also prevjilent in India, along with 
 a belief in the soul's transmigration, under the 
 Braminical system of religion. Perhaps we may 
 derive some assistance in solving the difificulty, from 
 the statement which has been little noticed of Dio- 
 dorus Siculus. This writer, speaking of the Gauls, 
 says that they believed that the souls of the dead 
 returned to animate other bodies after the lapse of a 
 certain number of j^ears. In the mean time, it 
 seems to have been thought, they lived with other 
 similarly disembodied spirits in some other world ; 
 for it is added that, in this belief, when they buried 
 their dead they were wont to address letters to their 
 deceased friends and relations, which they threw 
 into the funeral pile, as if the persons to whom they 
 were addressed would in this way receive and read 
 them. Other ^\Titers, in their account of the Draidi- 
 cal doctrine of the immortality of the soul, expressly 
 afifirm that the spirits of the dead were thought to 
 enjoy their future existence only in another world.* 
 There has also been some dispute as to whether the 
 Druidical metempsychosis included the transmigra- 
 
 1 Annnian. Marcell. lib. xt. 
 
 SiLBCRY Hill, in Wiltshire.— Conjectured to be a colossal Barrow
 
 62 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 ton of the soul into animals, as well as from one to 
 another human form.' 
 
 It has been conjectured that the fundamental prin- 
 ciple of the Druidical esoteric doctrine was the be- 
 lief in one God. For popular effect, however, this 
 opinion, if it ever was really held even by the initi- 
 ated, appears to have been from the first wrapped 
 up and disguised in an investment of materialism, as 
 it was presented by them to the gross apprehension 
 of the vulgar. The simplest, purest, and most an- 
 cient form of the public religion of the Druids, seems 
 to have been the worship of the celestial luminaries 
 and of fii'e. The sun appears to have been adored 
 under the same name of Bel or Baal, by which he 
 was distinguished as a divinity in the paganism of the 
 east.'' We have ab-eady had occasion to notice their 
 obsei-vance of the moon in the regulation of the times 
 of their gi'eat religious festivals. These appear to 
 have been four in number : the first was the 10th of 
 March, or the sixth day of the moon nearest to that, 
 which, as already mentioned, was their New Year's 
 Day, and that on which the ceremony of cutting the 
 mistletoe was performed ; the others were the 1st of 
 May, Midsummer Eve, and the last day of October. 
 On all these occasions the chief celebration was by 
 fire. On the eve of the festival of the 1st of May, 
 tlie tradition is, that all the domestic fires through- 
 out the country were extinguished, and lighted again 
 the next day from the sacred fire kept always burn- 
 ing in the temples. " The Celtic nations," observes 
 Toland, " kindled other fires on Midsummer eve, 
 which are stiU continued by the Roman Catholics 
 of Ireland, making them in all their gi'ounds, and 
 cariying flaming brands about their cornfields. This 
 they do likewise all over France, and in some of the 
 Scottish isles. These Midsummer fires and sacri- 
 fices were to obtain a blessing on the fruits of the 
 earth, now becoming ready for gathering; as those 
 of the 1st of May, that they might prosperously 
 grow ; and those of the last of October were the 
 thanksgiving for finishing their harvest." In Ireland, 
 and also in the north of Scotland, the first of May, 
 and in some places the 21st of June, is still called 
 Beltein or Beltane, that is, the day of the Bel Fire ; 
 and imitations of the old superstitious ceremonies 
 were not long ago still generally performed. In Scot- 
 land a sort of sacrifice was offered up, and one of the 
 persons present, upon whom the lot fell, leaped three 
 times tlirough the flames of the fire. In Ireland the 
 cottagers all drove their cattle through the fire. 
 Even in some parts of England the practice still pre- 
 vails of lighting fires in parishes on Midsummer eve.' 
 
 The adoration of fire was the adoration of what 
 was conceived to be one of the great principles or 
 sovereign powers of nature. Water was another of 
 the elements, or ultimate constituents of things, as 
 
 1 See Borlase's Antiquities of Cornwall, pp. 94, 95 ; and Fosbrokc's 
 Encyclopedia of Antiquities, il 662. 
 
 2 Tlie author of " Britannia after the Romans," however, denies that 
 the Celtic Beli or Belinus has any connexion with the Oriental Baal or 
 Bel. 
 
 3 See Statistical Account of Scotland, iii. 105, t. M, and xi. 620 : 
 Vallancey's Essay on the Antiquity of the Irish Language, p. 19 ; and 
 Brande's Popular Antiquities, i. 238, <fec 
 
 they were long deemed to be, which appears to have 
 been in like manner held sacred, and in some sort 
 worshiped. There is reason to believe that as the 
 sun and moon, although sometimes worshiped to- 
 gether, had at other times their rival and contending 
 votaiies ; so the adorers of water were sometimes 
 considered as the opponents of those of fire. We 
 know, at least, that contests took place between them 
 in the east ; and there arc some traces to be detected 
 of the separation and mutual aversion of the two 
 creeds, also in the west. All these differences, no 
 doubt, originated in the preferences, gradually more 
 and more displayed, by some persons for one, by others 
 for another, of several imaginaiy deities which had 
 been all at first the objects of a common worship, till 
 at last the preference became an exclusive adoption, 
 and the god of the rival sect was either altogether 
 deprived of divine honors and veneration, or, what 
 was more in accordance with the spirit of supersti- 
 tion, was denounced as a demon or power of evil, and 
 as such still believed in, though with trembling and 
 abhori'ence. But after this state of things had lasted 
 for some time, it might naturally enough happen, in 
 favorable circumstances, that the divided creeds would 
 lay aside their hostility and again coalesce ; the wor- 
 ship of Baal, for instance, thus recombining with that 
 of Ashtaroth, or the adorers of fire and those of water 
 consenting to bow down and make their offerings to- 
 gether to both deities. Some indication of such a 
 reconcilement as this last, seems to be presented in 
 the doctrine, according to Strabo, held by the Druids % 
 respecting the destiny of the material world, which 
 they taught was never to be entirely destroyed or 
 annihilated, but was nevertheless to undergo an endless 
 succession of gi"eat revolutions, some of Avhich were to 
 be effected by the power of fire, others by that of water. 
 Another of the most remarkable principles of prim- 
 itive Druidism appears to have been the worship of 
 the Serpent ; a superstition so widely extended as to 
 evince its derivation from the most ancient traditions 
 of the human race. Pliny has given us a curious 
 account of the anguinum, or serpent's egg, which he 
 tells us was worn as their distinguishing badge by the 
 Druids. He had himself seen it, he says, and it was 
 about the bigness of an apple, its shell being a carti- 
 laginous incrustation, full of little cavities like those 
 on the legs of the polypus. ]MaiTels of all kinds were 
 told of this jnoduction. It was said to be formed, at 
 first, by a great number of serpents twned together, 
 whose hissing at last raised it into the air, when it was 
 to be caught, ere it fell to the gi'ound, in a clean white 
 cloth, by a person mounted on a swift horse, who had 
 immediately to ride off at full speed, the enraged ser- 
 pents pursuing him until they were stopped (as witches 
 still are supposed to be in the popular faith) by a run- 
 ning water. If it were genuine it would, when 
 enchased in gold and thrown into a river, swim against 
 the stream. All the virtues also of a charm were 
 ascribed to it. In particular, the person who carried 
 it about with him was insured against being overcome j 
 
 in any dispute in which he might engage, and might I 
 
 count upon success in his attempts at obtaining the 
 favor and friendship of the great. It has been con-
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 63 
 
 Stonehenge. 
 
 jectured on highly probable gi'ounds, that the great 
 Druidical temples of Avebury, of Stonehenge, of 
 Carnac in Britany, and most of the others that remain 
 both in Britain and Gaul, were dedicated to the united 
 worship of the sun and the serpent, and that the form 
 of their construction is throughout emblematical of 
 this combination of the tsvo religions.^ 
 
 But, however comparatively simple and resti'icted 
 may have been the Druidical worship in its earliest 
 stage, there is sufficient evidence that, at a later period, 
 its gods came to be much more numerous. Caesar, 
 as we have aheady seen, mentions among those 
 adored by the Gauls, Mercuiy, Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, 
 and Minerva. It is to be regi'etted that the historian 
 did not give us the Celtic names of the deities in 
 question, rather than the Roman names which he 
 considered, from the similarity of attributes, to be 
 their representatives. Livy however tells us that the 
 Spanish Celts called Mercmy, Teutates ; the same 
 word, no doubt, with the Phoenician Taaut, and the 
 Egj'ptian Thoth, which are stated by various ancient 
 writers to be the same with the Hermes of the Greeks, 
 and the Mercury of the Latins." Mercury is proba- 
 blyj also, the Oriental Budha, and the Scandinavian 
 Woden ; the same day of the week, it is observable, 
 being in the Oriental, the Northern, and the Latin 
 countries respectively, called after or dedicated to 
 these three names. Hesus appears to have been 
 the Celtic name for Mars. Apollo seems to have 
 
 ' See on this subject a curious Dissertation by the Ro 
 in the Archaologia, toI. xav. (for 1834), pp. 188-229. 
 s Philobiblius ex Sanconiath. Cic. de Nat. D. iii. 22 
 
 B. Deano, 
 
 been considered the same with the Sun, as he also 
 was by the Greeks and Romans, and to have been 
 kno-vvn by the name of Bel, the same ^\ith the Oriental 
 Baal. Jupiter is thought to have been called Jow. 
 which means young, from his being the youngest son 
 of Saturn, whom both Cicero and Dionysius of Hali- 
 carnassus affirm to have been also adored by the Celtic 
 nations. Bacchus, Ceres, Proserpine, Diana, and 
 other gods of Greece and Rome, also appear to have 
 all had their representatives in the Druidical worship : 
 if, indeed, the classic theology did not borrow these 
 divinities from the Celts. Another of the Celtic 
 gods was Taranis, whose name signifies the God of 
 Thunder. 
 
 The eai-liest Druidism seems, like the kindred su- 
 perstition of Germany, as described by Tacitus, to 
 have admitted neither of covered temples nor of 
 sculptured images of the gods. Jupiter, indeed, is 
 said to have been represented by a lofty oak, and 
 Mercuiy by a cube — the similarity of that geometrical 
 figure on all sides tjpifyiug that perfect ti-uth and 
 unchangeableness which were held to belong to this 
 supreme deity ; but these are to be considered not as 
 attempts to imitate the supposed bodily forms of the 
 gods, but only as emblematic illustrations of their at- 
 tributes. At a later period, however, material con- 
 figurations of the objects of worship seem to have 
 been introduced. Gildas speaks of such images as 
 still existing in gi-eat numbers in his time among the 
 unconverted Britons. They had a greater number 
 of gods, he says, than the Egyptians themselves, there 
 being hardly a river, lake, mountain, or wood, which
 
 64 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Booii I. 
 
 
 Section 1 to 2 
 
 [No. 1 — Ground Plan of the Temple, with a sectional view of the same from 1 to 2 — t. e. from east to west. The plan, though on a small 
 scale, shows ibe relative proportions and arrangements of the lofty bank, or vallum, e ; the ditch, or moat,/; the commencement of the west- 
 ern, or Beckhampton Avenue, a ; the southern, or Kennet Avenue, b ; the southern inner temple, c ; the northern inner temple, d.] 
 
 [No. 2. — Plan- or Map of the whole Temple, with its two avenues, c and d; the temple, a ; a small temple, e; Silbury HiU, /; hisrh 
 eround. g : a line of road, or British track-way, A; the course of the river Kennet, t ; line of Roman road from Bath to London, i • ' * bar- 
 fjws ; sites of villages, 1.] 
 
 Gauu^-h Deities. — From Roman Bas-reliefs under the Choir of Xotre Dame, Paris 
 
 had not its dinnity. ^Nlontfaucon has given an en- 
 gi'aving of an image of the god Hesus, and another of 
 another Celtic god, who.se name appears to have been 
 Cernunnos, from bas-reUefs found under the chou" of 
 the church of Noti-e Dame, at Paris, in 1711. Above 
 we have inserted copies of both. 
 
 With regard to the peculiar forms of the Dniidical 
 worship, little information has come do\\ii to us. 
 Pliny has merely recorded that, in offering the sacri- 
 fice, tlie officiating priest was wont to pray to the 
 divinity' to send down a blessing upon the offerer. 
 Popular ti-adition has preserved the memory of the 
 practice by the worshipers of the Deasuil or Deisol, 
 
 which consisted iu moving round, in imitation of the 
 apparent course of the sun from the east by the 
 south to the west.^ Pliny states that at some of the 
 sacred rites of the Britons the women went naked, 
 only having their skins stained dark with the juice of 
 the woad. 
 
 As for the human sacrifices of which Ciesar speaks, 
 his account is fully borne out by the testimonies of 
 various other ancient authors. Stiabo describes the 
 image of wicker or sti-aw, in which, he says, men and 
 all descrij)tions of cattle and beasts were roasted to- 
 gether. He also relates, that sometimes the victims 
 
 > See upon this subject Borlase's .Antiquities of Cornwall, p. 123, Ac.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 65 
 
 were crucified, sometimes shot to death with arrows. 
 The statement of Diodonis Siculus is, that criminals 
 were kept under gi'ound for five years, and then 
 offered up as sacrifices to the gods by being impaled, 
 and burned in great fires along with quantities of other 
 offerings. He adds, that they also immolated the 
 prisoners they had taken in war, and along with them 
 devoured, burned, or in some other manner destroyed 
 likewise whatever cattle they had taken from their 
 enemies. Plutai'ch tells us, that the noise of songs 
 and musical instruments was employed on these oc- 
 casions to drown the cries of the sufferers.^ Pliny is 
 of opinion that a part of every human victim was ate 
 by the Druids ; but what reason he had for thinking 
 so does not appear, nor does the supposition seem to 
 be probable in itself. Upon the subject of the prac- 
 tice of human sacrifice it has been observed, that, " if 
 we rightly consider this point we shall perceive that, 
 shocking as it is, it is yet a step towards the human- 
 izing of savages ; for the mere brute man listens only 
 to his ferocious passions and horrid appetites, and 
 slays and devours all the enemies he can conquer ; 
 but the priest, persuading him to select only the best 
 and bravest as sacrifices to his protecting deity, 
 thereby, in fact, preserves numberless lives, and puts 
 an end to the cannibalism which has justly been 
 looked upon as the last degradation of human na- 
 ture."^ 
 
 The origin of Druidism, and its connexion with 
 other ancient creeds of religion and philosophy, have 
 given occasion to much curious speculation. Diogenes 
 Laertius describes the Druids as holding the same 
 place among the Gauls and Britons with that of the 
 Philosophers among the Greeks, of the Magi among 
 the- Persians, of the Gymnosophists among the In- 
 dians, and of the Chaldeans among the Assyrians. 
 He also refers to Aristotle as affirming in one of his 
 lost works that philosophy had not been taught to the 
 Gauls by the Greeks, but had originated among the 
 former, and, from them, had passed to the latter. 
 The introduction into the Greek philosophy of the 
 doctrine of the Metempsychosis is commonly attrib- 
 uted to Pythagoras ; and there are various passages 
 in ancient-authors which make mention of, or allude 
 to some connexion between that philosopher and the 
 Druids. Abaris, the Hyperborean, as has been no- 
 ticed above, is by many supposed to have been a 
 Druid ; and he, lamblicus tells us, was taught by 
 Pythagoras to find out all truth by the science of 
 numbers.^ Marcellinus, speaking of the conventual 
 associations of the Druids, expresses himself as if he 
 conceived that they so lived in obedience to the com- 
 mands of Pythagoras ; "as the authority of Pythago- 
 ras hath decreed," are his words.'' Others affirm 
 thpt the Grecian philosopher derived his philosophy 
 from the Druids. A report is preserved by Clement 
 of Alexandria that Pythagoras, in the course of his 
 travels, studied under both the Druids and the Brah- 
 mins.^ The probability is that both Pythagoras and 
 
 1 De Superstitione. 
 
 2 Introduction to History, in Encycki-^dia Metropolitana, p. 63. 
 
 3 Vita Pythag. c. xii. Ammian. Marcel, xv. 9. 
 » Strom, i. 35. 
 
 VOL. I 5 
 
 the Dioiids drew their philosophy from the same 
 fountain. 
 
 Several of the ablest and most laborious among 
 the modern investigators of the subject of Druidism 
 have found themselves compelled to adopt the theory 
 of its oriental origin. Pelloutier, from the numer- 
 ous and strong resemblances presented by the Dru- 
 idical and the old Persian religion, concludes the Celts 
 and Persians, as Mr. O'Brien has lately done, to be 
 the same people, and the Celtic tongue to be the an- 
 cient Persic.^ The late Mr. Reuben Burrow, dis- 
 tinguished for his intimate acquaintance with the 
 Indian astronomy and mythologj^, in a paper in the 
 Asiatic Researches, decidedly pronounces the Druids 
 to have been a race of emigiated Indian philosophers, 
 and Stonehenge to be evidently one of the Temples 
 of Budha.- It may be recollected that some of the 
 Welsh antiquaries have, on other gi-ounds, brought 
 their assumed British ancestors from Ceylon, the 
 great seat of Budhism.^ The same origin is also as- 
 signed by Mr. O'Brien to the primitive religion and 
 civilization of Ireland. This question has been ex- 
 amined at great length in a "Dissertation on the 
 Origin of the Druids," by Mr. Maurice, who, consid- 
 ering the Budhists to have been a sect of the Brah- 
 mins, comes to the conclusion that "the celebrated 
 order of the Druids, anciently established in this 
 country, were the immediate descendants of a tribe 
 of Brahmins situated in the high northern latitudes 
 bordering on the vast range of Caucasus ; that these, 
 during a period of the Indian empire, when its limits 
 were most extended in Asia, mingling with the Cel- 
 to-Scythian tribes, who tenanted the immense deserts 
 of Grand Tartary, became gi-adually incorporated, 
 though not confounded with that ancient nation ; in- 
 troduced among them the rites of the Brahmin re- 
 ligion, occasionally adopting those of the Scythians, 
 and together with them finally emigrated to the west- 
 ern regions of Europe."* 
 
 It must be confessed that the Druidical system, 
 as established in Gaul and Britain, has altogether 
 very much the appearance of something not the 
 growth of the country, but superinduced upon the 
 native barbarism by importation from abroad. The 
 knowledge and arts of which they appear to have 
 been possessed, seem to point out the Druids as of 
 foreign extraction, and as continuing to form the 
 depositories of a civilization greatly superior to that 
 of the general community in the midst of which they 
 dwelt. It was quite natural, however, that Druidism. 
 supposing it to have been originally an imported and 
 foreign religion, should nevertheless gradually adopt 
 some things from the idolatry of a different form 
 which may have prevailed in Britain and Gaul pre- 
 vious to its introduction ; just as we find Christianity 
 itself to have become adulterated in some countries 
 by an infusion of the heathenism Avith which it was 
 brought into contact. On this hypothesis we may 
 
 1 Histoire des Celtes, p. 19. See also Borlase's Antiquities of Corn- 
 wall, c. xrii. — "Of the Great Resemblance betwixt the Druid and Per 
 sian Superstition, and the Cause of it inquired into." 
 
 2 Asiatic Researches, ii. 468. ^ See ante, p. 9 
 
 * Indian Antiqutties, vol. vi. part. i. p. 18.
 
 66 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 perhaps best account for those apparent traces of the 
 Druidical religion which are to be detected in some 
 Celtic countries, where, at the same time, we have 
 no reason to believe that there ever were any Druids. 
 It has been contended that although there were no 
 Druids anywhere except in Britain and Gaul, the 
 Druidical religion extended over all the north and 
 west of Europe.' It is probable that what have been 
 taken for the doctrines or practices of Diiiidism in 
 other Celtic counti'ies, were really those of that elder 
 native superstition from which pure Druidism event- 
 ually received some intermixture and conuption. 
 
 The Germans, Caesar expressly tells us, had no 
 Druids ; nor is there a vestige of such an institution 
 to be discovered in the ancient history, traditions, 
 customs, or monuments of any Gothic people. It 
 was probably indeed confined to Ireland, South Bri- 
 tain, and Gaul, until the measures taken to root it 
 out from the Roman dominions seem to have com- 
 pelled some of the Druids to take refuge in other 
 countries. The emperor Tiberius, according to Pliny 
 and Strabo, and the emperor Claudius, according to 
 Suetonius, issued decrees for the total abolition of 
 the Druidical religion, on the pretext of an abhorrence 
 of the atrocity of the human sacrifices in which it 
 indulged its votaries. The true motive may be sus- 
 pected to have been a jealousy of the influence among 
 the provincials of Gaul and Britain of a native order 
 of priesthood so powerful as that of the Druids. 
 Suetonius, indeed, states that the practice of the 
 
 1 Borlase's Antiquities of Cornwall, p. 70. 
 
 Druidical religion had been already interdicted to 
 Roman citizens by Augustus. We have seen in 
 the course of the preceding naiTative how it was 
 extirpated from its chief seat in the south of Britain 
 by Suetonius Paulinus. Such of the Druids as 
 survived this attack are supposed to have fled to the 
 Isle of Man, which then became, in place of Angle- 
 sey, the head-quarters of British Druidism. It was 
 probably after this that the Druidical religion pene- 
 trated to the northern parts of the island. The 
 vestiges, at all events, of its establishment at some 
 period in Scotland are spread over many parts of 
 that country, and it has left its impression in various 
 still sui-viving popular customs and superstitions. The 
 number and variety of the Druid remains in North 
 Britain, according to a late learned \\Titer, are almost 
 endless. The principal seat of Scottish Druidism is 
 thought to have been the parish of Kirkmichael, in 
 the recesses of Perthshire, near the great moun- 
 tainous range of the Grampians.' 
 
 Di-uidism long sui-vived, though in obscurity and 
 decay, the thunder of the imperial edicts. In Ire- 
 land, indeed, where the Roman arms had not pene- 
 trated, it continued to flourish down nearly to the 
 middle of the fifth century, when it fell before the 
 Christian enthusiasm and energy of St. Patrick. 
 But even in Britain the practice of the Druidical 
 worship appears to have subsisted among the peoi)le 
 long after the Druids, as an order of priesthood, 
 were extinct. The annals of the sixth, seventh, 
 
 1 Chalmers' Caledonia, i. pp. 69-78. 
 
 Tlircc views, copieJ from Horslev's Britannia Romana, of a sjilondid bronze bnwl, or patera, found in Wiltshire, and supp.^sed to linvn l.een 
 uied for the joint libation of the chief magistrates of the five Roman towns whose names appear on its margin.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 67 
 
 and even of the eighth century, contain numerous 
 edicts of emperors, and canons of councils, against 
 the worship of the sun, the moon, mountains, rivers, 
 lakes, and trees. ^ There is even a law to the same 
 effect of the English king Canute, in the eleventh 
 centuiy. Nor, as we have already more than once 
 had occasion to remark, have some of the practices 
 of the old superstition yet altogether ceased to be 
 remembered in our popular sports, pastimes, and 
 anniversary usages. The ceremonies of All-Hal- 
 lowmass, the bonfires of May-day and Midsummer 
 eve, the virtues attributed to the mistletoe, and vari- 
 ous other customs of the villages and country parts 
 of England, Scotland, and Ireland, still speak to us 
 of the days of Druidism, and evince that the impres- 
 sion of its glim ritual has not been wholly obliterated 
 from the popular imagination, by the lapse of nearly 
 twenty centuries. 
 
 On the settlement of the Romans in Britain, the 
 established religion of the province of course became 
 the same classic superstition which these conquer- 
 ors of the world still maintained in all its ancient 
 honors and preeminence in their native Italy, which 
 was diffused alike through all the customs of their 
 private life and tlie whole system of their state 
 economy, and which they cari-ied with them, almost 
 as a part of themselves, or at least as the very living 
 spirit and sustaining power of their entire politj' and 
 civilization, into every foreign land that they colonized. 
 In this far island, too, as in the elder homes of poetiy 
 and the arts, 
 
 " An age hath been when Earth was proud 
 Of lustre too intense 
 To be sustained ; and mortals bowed 
 The front in self defence." 
 
 Beside the rude gi'andeur of Stonehenge, and sur- 
 rounded by the gloom of the sacred groves, glittering 
 temples, displaying all the grace and pomp of finished 
 architecture, now rose to Jupiter, and Apollo, and 
 Diana and Venus ; and the air of our northern clime 
 was peopled with all the bright dreams and visions 
 of the mythology of Greece. A temple of Minei-va, 
 and probably other sacred edifices, appear to have 
 adorned the city of Bath : London is supposed to 
 have had its temple of Diana, occupying the same 
 natural elevation which is now crowned by the mag- 
 nificeht Cathedral of St. Paul's ; and the foundations 
 and other remains of similar monuments of the Roman 
 Paganism have been discovered in many of our other 
 ancient towns. But perhaps no such material me- 
 morials are so well fitted to strike the imagination, and 
 to convey a lively impression of this long past state of 
 things, as the passage in the Annals of Tacitus in 
 which we find a string of prodigies recounted to have 
 happened in diflferent parts of the province of Britain 
 immediately before the insurrection of Boadicea, just 
 as the same events might have taken place in Italy or 
 in Rome itself. First, in the town of Camalodunum, 
 the image of the goddess Victory, without any ap- 
 parent cause, suddenly falls from its place, and turns 
 its face round, as if giving way to the enemy. Then, 
 females, seized with a sort of prophetic fury, would 
 be heard mournfully calling out that destiuction was 
 
 1 PeUoutier's Hist, des Celtes, iii. 4 
 
 at hand, their cries penetrating from the streets both 
 into the curia, or council-chamber, and into the the- 
 atre. A representation, in the air, of the colony laid 
 in ruins was seen near the mouth of the Thames, 
 while the sea assumed the color of blood, and the 
 receding tide seemed to leave behind it the phantoms 
 of human carcasses. The picture is completed by 
 the mention of the temple in which the Roman sol- 
 diery took refuge on the rushing into the city of their 
 infuriated assailants, — of the undefended state of the 
 place, in which the elegance of the buildings had 
 been more attended to than their strength — of another 
 temple which had been raised in it to Claudius the 
 Divine, — and, finally, of its crew of rapacious priests, 
 who, under the pretence of religion, wasted every 
 man's substance, and excited a deeper indignation in 
 the breasts of the unhappy natives than all the other 
 cruelties and oppressions to which they were sub- 
 jected. 
 
 Section II. 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Another result, however, of the Roman invasion 
 of Britain was the introduction into the island of the 
 Christian faith. An event so important might be ex- 
 pected to hold a prominent place in our eai'ly Chron- 
 icles. The missionary by whom Christianity was 
 first brought to this island, the manner in which it was 
 impressed upon the belief of so primitive a people, and 
 the persons by whom its profession was earliest adopt- 
 ed, are particulars which it would have been interest- 
 ing and gi-atifying to find recorded. But from the 
 obscurity that pervades the ecclesiastical records of 
 the first centuiy, and the unobti'usive silence with 
 which the commencing steps of the Christian faith 
 were made, it cannot be accounted sti-ange if Britain, 
 a country at that time so remote and insignificant, 
 should have the beginning of her religious history 
 involved in much obscurity. 
 
 The investigations of, the curious however have, 
 partly by bold conjectures and partly from monkish 
 legends, attempted to show how Britain either was, or 
 might have been, Christianized. Some have attribu- 
 ted the work to St. Peter, some to James the son of 
 Zebedee, and others to Simon Zelotes ; but for so 
 important an ofifice as the apostleship of this island the 
 majority of ^\Titers will be contented with no less a per- 
 sonage than St. Paul ; and they ground their assump- 
 tion upon the fact that several of the most active 
 years of his life are not acccounted for in the Acts of 
 the Apostles. They think that therefore some part 
 at least of this intei-val must have been employed 
 among the Britons. By others again, such inferior 
 personages a-s Aristobulus, who is incidentally men- 
 tioned by St. Paul,^ Joseph of Arimathea, and the 
 disciples of Polycarp, have been honored as the 
 founders of Christianity in Britain. Some of these 
 accounts would imply that British Christianity is as 
 old as the apostolic age ; and, although this point too 
 must be considered as verj' uncertain, a few shght 
 collateral facts have been adduced as affording ev' ■ 
 
 I Romans, xvi. 10
 
 68 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 dence that the island contained some converts at that 
 early date. Thus, about the middle of the first cen- 
 tmy, we find Pomponia Graecina, a British lady, and 
 \vife of the proconsul Plautius, accused of being 
 devoted to a strange and gloomy superstition, by 
 which it has been thought, not improbably, that 
 Christianity is implied ;' and Claudia, the wife of 
 Pudens the senator, a British lady eulogized by Mar- 
 tial,^ is supposed by some to have been the person of 
 the same name mentioned by St. Paul.^ 
 
 All that can be regarded as well established is, that 
 at a comparatively early period Christianity found its 
 way into the British islands. Even before the close 
 of the first century, not only Christian refugees may 
 have fled thither from the continent to escape perse- 
 cution, but Christian soldiers and civilians may have 
 accompanied the invading armies. The path thus 
 opened, and the work commenced, successive mis- 
 sionaries, fiom the operation of the same causes, 
 would follow, to extend the sphere of action and 
 increase the number of the converts. Circumstances, 
 too, were peculiarly favorable in Britain for such a 
 successful progress. The preceding subtle and influ- 
 ential priesthood of Druidism, who might have the 
 most effectually opposed the new faith, had been 
 early desti'oyed by the swords of the conquerors, and 
 the latter were too intent upon achieving the complete 
 subjection of the country, to concern themselves about 
 the transition of the inhabitants from one system of 
 religious opinions to another. In this manner it 
 would appear that Christian communities were grad- 
 ually formed, buildings set apart for the purposes of 
 public worship, and an ecclesiastical government 
 established. But the same obscurity that pervades 
 the origin of Chinstianity in Britain, extends over the 
 whole of its early progi-ess. Unfortunately, those 
 monastic ^vi-iters who attempted to compile its history 
 were more eager to discover mii-acles than facts. 
 Even of the venerable Bede, it must be admitted that 
 his credulity appears to have been, at least, equal to 
 bis honesty. The favorite legend with which these 
 writers decorate their history of the first centuries of 
 the British church is that of King Lucius, the son of 
 Coilus. According to their account, Lucius was king 
 of the whole island, and, having consented to be bap- 
 tized at the instance of the Roman emperor, he 
 became so earnest for the conversion of his people 
 that he sent to Eleutherius, bishop of Rome, for 
 assistance in the important work. In consequence of 
 this application several learned doctors were sent, 
 by whose instrumentality Paganism was abolished 
 throughout the island, and Christianity established in 
 its room. They add, moreover, that three arch- 
 bishops and twenty-eight bishops were established, 
 for the government of the British church, upon the 
 ruins of the Pagan hierarchy ; and that to them were 
 made over, not only the revenues of the former priest- 
 hood, but also large additional means of support. Not 
 to waste a moment in pointing out such impossibilities 
 as a king of the whole island at this time, or a heathen 
 emperor laboring for his conversion in concert with a 
 
 1 Tac. Annal. xiii. 32. 
 
 3 2 Timothy, iv. 21. 
 
 Epigram xi. 53. 
 
 Roman bishop, we see dimly shadowed forth in this 
 monkish legend, some petty British king or chieftain, 
 in vassalage to Rome, who, with the aid of Roman 
 missionaries, effected the conversion of his ti'ibe. A 
 passing allusion, in the writings of Tertullian, gives us 
 a more distinct idea of the state of Christianity in 
 Britain than can be obtained from any such nanatives 
 as this. In his work against the Jews, written a.d. 
 209, he says that " even those places in Britain hith- 
 erto inaccessible to the Roman arms have been sub- 
 dued by the gospel of Christ." From this sentence 
 we may form a conjecture as to the extent to which 
 the new religion had spread even at this early period. 
 It must have been planted for a considerable time in 
 the south, and obtained a material ascendancy before 
 it could have penetrated beyond the northern boundaiy 
 of the province. We cannot suppose, however, that 
 in circumstances so much more unfavorable it could 
 make much progi-ess in these barbarous regions. The 
 wild tribes of Scotland, still unconquered, were also 
 disunited, or employed in mutual hostility ; and the 
 native priesthood possessed an influence that would 
 materially impede the success of the new faith. We 
 discover accordingly that, at a much later period, 
 Kentigern and Columba found the Scots and Picts 
 still heathens. The expressions of Tertullian, how- 
 ever, may very possibly refer to the extension of 
 Christianity, not so much to Scotland, as to Ireland, 
 in which latter part of Britain, for so it was then 
 accounted, there are other reasons for supposing that 
 this religion reckoned some converts even at that 
 early period. 
 
 As yet, the remoteness of Britain, and the suppres- 
 sion of the Druids, had equally preserved its humble 
 church from foreign and domestic persecution ; but 
 the time arrived when it was to share in those afflic- 
 tions which fell to the lot of the Chi-istian world at 
 large. Diocletian, inspired with hatred and jealousy 
 at the predominance of doctrines which were sup- 
 posed to menace all civil authority, addressed him- 
 self to the entire destruction of Christianity; and 
 edicts were published in every part of the empire for 
 the suppression of its rites, and the persecution of its 
 followers. In a storm so universal Britain was no 
 longer overlooked ; and St. Alban. the first mart^T of 
 our island, perished, with many others whose names 
 have not been recorded. This event, according to 
 Bede, took place in the year 286 ; but if it really hap- 
 pened in the great persecution under Diocletian, a 
 date at least seventeen or eighteen years later must 
 be assigned to it. Although Constantius, who at this 
 time directed the affairs of Britain, was favorably 
 inclined towards the Christians, he durst not oppose 
 the imperial mandate ; and hoAvever he might indi- 
 rectly alleviate its severities, yet the inferior magis- 
 trates had no such scruples. One incident at this 
 time betrayed his friendly disposition towards the 
 persecuted. Assembling the officers of his house- 
 hold, he announced to them the pleasure of the em- 
 peror, requiring the dismission of the Christians from 
 office, and gave those who were of that religion their 
 choice either to renounce their creed or resign their 
 situations. Some of them, unwilling to make tlie
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 69 
 
 required sacrifice, abjured their faith ; upon which 
 Constantius discharged them from his service ; de- 
 claring that those who had renounced their God 
 could never prove true to a master.' This persecu- 
 tion continued to rage in Britain, according to Gildas, 
 for the space of two years, during which numbers of 
 the Christian churches were desti-oyed, and multitudes 
 who escaped from death were obliged to fly to the 
 forests and mountains. But at last Diocletian, having 
 laid down the purple, and compelled his colleague 
 Maximian at the same time to abdicate, a persecution 
 that had been conducted upon a more regular system 
 than any that had preceded it, and had almost extin- 
 guished the Christian faith, subsided as suddenly as 
 it had commenced, and the British church was re- 
 stored to its former ti'anquilltty. 
 
 Of the histoiy of Christianity in our island during 
 the third century we know little or nothing; those 
 subtle or incomprehensible religious disputes which 
 agitated the churches of the East and West appear 
 to have been of too refined a character for the simple 
 understandings of the Britons ; and by these we may 
 perhaps assume, from the silence of histoiy, that they 
 remained nearly unmolested. From the time of the 
 accession of Constantino, however, in the beginning 
 of the fourth century, the hitherto secluded church 
 of Britain seems to have become united to the civil- 
 ized world, and to have been considered as making a 
 part of the spiritual empire which he established. In 
 the year 314, Eborius, bishop of York, Restitutus, 
 bishop of London, and Adelphius, bishop of Richbo- 
 rough, attended the council at Aries ; and as three 
 bishops formed the full representation of a province, 
 it appears that Britain was thus placed on an equality 
 with the churches of Spain and Gaul. The liberality 
 of Constantine gave opportunities to the ecclesiastics 
 of acquiring wealth and distinction, of which many 
 were eager to avail themselves ; but while, in Italy 
 and the east, they gradually began to rival the pomp 
 of temporal princes, nothing of this kind was exhibited 
 in Britain. In fact, we are rather justified in the 
 conclusion that the British bishops had hitherto been, 
 and still continued poor, on account not only of the 
 national poverty, but of the partial conversion of the 
 people, many of whom still remained attached either 
 to the classical or Druidical worship. This view is 
 corroborated by a circumstance that occurred in the 
 succeeding reign. When Constantius offered to 
 maintain the bishops of the West fi-om the royal rev- 
 enues, only those of Britain acceded to the proposal, 
 while the rest rejected it. This would seem to im- 
 ply that the British bishops must have been but in- 
 differently provided for from other sources. 
 
 It has generally been supposed that, during the 
 fourth centm-y, the British church was considerably 
 tainted with tliose corruptions in doctrine that so 
 largely overspread the continental churches ; and that 
 Arianism, so triumphant in the west, extensively 
 prevailed in our island : and in proof of this Gildas is 
 quoted, who describes the progi-ess of that heresy 
 among his countrymen with many mournful amplifi- 
 cations. In opposition to the statement of Gildas, St. 
 I Euseb. Vit. Constant, i. 16 
 
 Jerome and St. Chrysostom frequently allude, in their 
 writings, to the orthodoxy of the British church. 
 This contradiction may perhaps be reconciled by the 
 supposition that while these fathers regarded merely 
 the nafional creed, the historian described the private 
 interpretation of its doctrines which may have been 
 cherished by certain ecclesiastics. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that, during this century, 
 the bishops of Britain, if we may believe the account 
 of Facundus,' exhibited in one instance but a weak 
 and compromising spirit. At the council of Arimi- 
 num, summoned by Constantius, in tlie year 359, 
 they are asserted to have allowed themselves to be 
 influenced so much by the persuasions or threats of 
 the emperor, as to subscribe to sentiments in favor of 
 Arianism ; but, upon their return to Britain, they 
 hastened to reti'act these concessions, and renew 
 their allegiance to the Nicean creed. These cu'cum- 
 stances would seem to show, that though the doctrines 
 of Arius may have been partially cherished, yet they 
 were unpopular, and that the body of the church 
 remained comparatively orthodox and undivided. 
 The only ostensible difference by which the British 
 church was distinguished, during this period, from 
 the churches on the continent, was, its observing the 
 Asiatic computation of time in keeping Easter, 
 instead of the Roman — a distinction frivolous in itself, 
 but important in its consequences at a later period, 
 when the Roman pontiffs laid claim to universal rule, 
 and sought to secure it by enforcing a universal con- 
 formity. 
 
 After the Christian church had been established 
 in power and splendor, the same results were ex- 
 hibited in Britain as in other countries ; and while 
 the Italian and Greek infused into the Christian 
 faith the classical Paganism of his fathers, the Briton 
 leavened it with his ancestral Druidical superstitions.- 
 To these also were added the religious follies that 
 were now of general prevalence. Pilgrimages to the 
 Holy Land became fashionable, and were performed 
 by numerous devotees. The oi'ders of monks also 
 became more numerous, though they were obliged, 
 from the poverty of the country, to procure their 
 subsistence by manual labor. 
 
 In the fifth century, the opinions of Pelagius, 
 most probably a native of Ireland, were zealously 
 disseminated through the British islands, by his 
 disciples and countrymen, Agincola and Celestius: 
 and we are told by Bede, that, alarmed at the rapid 
 progress of these doctrines, but unable to refute 
 them, the British ecclesiastics implored assistance 
 from the bishops of Gaul. The latter sent Ger- 
 manus, bishop of Auxeire, and Lupus, bishop of 
 Troyes to their aid, who arrived in Britain about 
 the year 429. After having been welcomed by the 
 orthodox clergy, they appointed a meeting for public 
 disputation with the Pelagians. The latter, accord- 
 ing to the narrative of the venerable historian, came 
 to the arena in great pomp, and advocated their 
 cause ^v^th the most showy rhetoric, but Germanus 
 and Lupus, when it was their turn to reply, so over- 
 
 1 Facund. t. 30. Du Pin. Hist. Cent. iv. 
 * Southey's Book of the Church, i. 16.
 
 70 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book T. 
 
 ■svhelmed them with arguments and authorities, that 
 they were completely silenced, and the whole as- 
 sembly triumphed in their discomfiture. Bede was 
 too orthodox and too credulous to have doubted the 
 tradition, if it had affirmed that the arguments of the 
 Gallic bishops on this occasion struck their antagonists 
 dead as well as dumb. 
 
 But these bishops were skilled in the handling of 
 other weapons as well as those of controversy. We 
 have already related how the militaiy force of the 
 South Britons, being led on by Germanus against 
 the Scots and Picts, put the barbarians to flight with 
 shouts of "Hallelujah." Having thus conquered the 
 temporal as well as the spiritual enemies of Britain, 
 the bishops departed. In a short time, however, 
 the narrative proceeds, the baffled Pelagians again 
 raised their heads, and their cause became more 
 
 triumphant than before. A fresh application was in 
 consequence made to the victorious Germanus, the 
 British bishops having, as it would seem, profited 
 little by the arguments with which he had formerly 
 defended their cause. He leturned in 44G, accom- 
 panied by Severus, bishop of Treves ; and this time, 
 not contented with merely silencing the Pelagians 
 for the moment, he procured the banishment of their 
 leaders from the island ; and thus peace and order 
 were restored for the short intei-val that preceded 
 the arrival of the Saxons. It would appear, there- 
 fore, that equally disunited and helpless, the church 
 and the state were at this period both obliged to 
 invoke aid against their domestic adversaries. Bede 
 has gai'nished the whole of this detail with many 
 miraculous circumstances, wliich we have not con- 
 sidered it necessary to retain.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 71 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 Section I. 
 
 POLITICAL DIVISIONS OF THE BRITISH NATIONS. 
 
 EFORE proceeding to 
 the sketch which the 
 brief notices of the an- 
 cient writers enable us 
 to give of the form of 
 government that ap- 
 pears to have prevailed 
 in Britain before the 
 Roman Conquest, it will 
 be convenient to take 
 a rapid survey of the 
 manner in which the countiy was divided among the 
 several nations or ti'ibes that inhabited it. These 
 tribes were not only distinguished by different names, 
 and by the occupation of separate territories, but 
 they were to a certain extent so many different 
 races, which had come to the island from various 
 districts of the opposite continent, and still continued 
 to preserve themselves as unmixed with each other 
 as they were in their original seats. Thus Csesar 
 tells us that the several bodies of Belgians which he 
 found settled on the sea-coast, although they had 
 united to wrest the ti'act of which they were in pos- 
 session from the previous inhabitants, had almost all 
 retained the distinguishing names of their mother 
 states ; and the same thing no doubt had been done 
 in most instances by the earlier settlers from Gaul 
 and elsewhere. 
 
 We derive all the direct information we possess 
 respecting the ancient British nations partly from 
 Caesar, Tacitus, Dio Cassius, and the other authors 
 who have given us details of the military operations 
 of the Romans in the island, and partly from certain 
 professedly geogi*aphical accounts of it. One of these 
 is that contained in the gi-eat geographical compilation 
 of the celebrated Ptolemy of Alexandria, who wrote 
 in the early part of the second century, but who, as 
 we have already obsei'ved, is believed to have drawn 
 the materials for much of his work, and for the por- 
 tion of it relating to the British islands in particular, 
 from sources of considerably greater antiquity. We 
 may probably regard his description, thei-efore, as, 
 in part at least, applicable to the country rather 
 before Caesar's invasion than after the Roman con- 
 quest; in other words, rather as it was known to 
 the Phoenicians than to the Romans. It is evident, 
 however, that Ptolemy must have made a good 
 many additions to his original TjTian authorities 
 from later accounts. Another detailed description 
 of Britain is that contained in what is called the 
 Itinerary of Antoninus, a most valuable survey of all 
 the roads throughout the Roman empire, evidently 
 
 drawn up by public authority, and the last additions 
 to Avhich do not appear to have been made later than 
 the beginning of the fourth centuiy, while its original 
 compilation has been ascribed, on probable gi'ounds, 
 to the time of Julius C^sar. It presents us with a 
 view of the high roads and chief towns of South 
 Britain dui'ing the most flourishing period of the 
 Roman occupation. Another ancient account of Ro- 
 man Britain of undoubted authenticity is that found 
 in the work entitled " Notitia Imperii," Avhich is an 
 enumeration of the civil and militaiy establishments 
 of all the provinces of the empire, brought down, 
 according to the title, to beyond the times of Arca- 
 dius and Honorius. In the case of Britain, the 
 Notitia may be understood to give us the imperial 
 establishment at the latest date at which the island 
 formed a part of the Roman empire. It has pre- 
 served the names (though unfortunately merely the 
 names) of the several provinces into which Roman 
 Britain wras divided, and of the several militaiy sta- 
 tions. Lastly, there is a remarkable performance, 
 professing to be a geographical account of Britain in 
 the time of the Romans, drawn up from the papers 
 of a Roman general, by a Benedictine monk of the 
 fourteenth centuiy named Richard of Cirencester. 
 Of the existence of Richard of Cirencester there is 
 no doubt ; we have other works from his pen, of 
 which some have been printed, and others remain in 
 manuscript. It may also be admitted, that if he 
 really wrote the present work, he did not, in its com- 
 position, draw upon his own learning or ingenuity, 
 which appear to have been quite unequal to such an 
 achievement, but transcribed what he has set down 
 from some other document. The only reasonable 
 doubt is, whether the work be not altogether a 
 modern forgery. It was never heard of till the 
 year 1757, when the discovery of the manuscript 
 was announced by Mr. C. Bertram, Professor of the 
 English Language in the University of Copenhagen, 
 and a copy of it ti"ansmitted to this country to Dr. 
 Stukely, by whom an extract, containing the most 
 material part of the work, was immediately printed. 
 The whole was published the same year at Copen- 
 hagen by Mr. Berti-am. The original manuscript, 
 however, we believe, has never since been seen, and 
 no trace of it was to be found among Mr. Bertram's 
 papers after his death. On the other hand, the 
 internal evidence has appeared to many persons to 
 be in favor of the authenticity of the work ; and it 
 has been very generally received as an important 
 contribution to our knowledge of ancient Britain. 
 Richard of Cirencester's description, which is ac-
 
 72 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 companied by a rudely-drawn map, contains much 
 information, if we could be assured of its trust- 
 worthiness, especially respecting the geography of 
 the northern part of the island, which is not to be 
 found either in Ptolemy or the Itinerary. 
 
 Cwsar, in his two descents upon Britain, saw no 
 more than a corner of the country. The farthest 
 point to which he penetrated was the capital of Cas- 
 sivellaunus, which is generally supposed to have stood 
 on the site of the now ruined town of Verulam in the 
 vicinity of St. Alban's, in Hertfordshire. Cecsar him- 
 self describes the dominions of this prince as lying 
 along the north bank of the Thames, at the distance 
 of about eighty miles from the sea, by which he prob- 
 ably means the east coast of Kent, from which he 
 began his march. Unfortunately we are nowhere 
 told of what people Cassivellaunus was king. The 
 only British nations mentioned by Cssar are the peo- 
 ple of Cantium, the Trinobantes, the Cenimagni, the 
 Segontiaci, the Ancalites, the Bibroci, and the Cassi. 
 All these must have dwelt in the part of the country 
 which he hastily overran. Cantium was undoubtedly 
 Kent, so called from a Celtic word signifying a head 
 or promontory. The Saxons, it has been observed,^ 
 called Kent Cantirland, whence our present Canter- 
 bury ; and we may therefore conjecture that the origi- 
 nal name of the disti-ictwas Cean-tir, that is, the head 
 or protruding part of the land, the same word with 
 Cantire, the name still borne by the long peninsular 
 tract which forms the south-western exti-emity of Ar- 
 gjieshire. " Vanguard of Liberty !" exclaims a mod- 
 ern poet, 
 
 "Ye men of Kent, 
 Ye children of a soil that doth advance 
 Its haughty brow against the coast of France I" 
 
 Ptolemy, it may be noted, sets down London, or as 
 he writes the name, Londinium, as one of the towns 
 of the Cantii ; and from this it has been conjectured, 
 with much probability, that the original London stood 
 on the south side of the Thames. Caesar mentions 
 no such place ; but indeed he has not recorded the 
 name of a single British town. The Trinobantes, 
 called by Ptolemy the Trinoantes, occupied Essex, 
 and, probably, the gi-eater part of Middlesex. Lon- 
 don on the north bank of the Thames, therefore, the 
 proper foundation of the present British metropolis, 
 was one of their towns. Geoffi-ey of Monmouth's 
 story, however, about that people having derived their 
 name from Trinovant, that is. New Troy, the origi- 
 nal name of London, cannot be received. Trinoban- 
 tes is said to mean, in Celtic, a powerful people.^ 
 
 Of the other tribes mentioned by Ctesar none are 
 noticed, at least under the same names, by any other 
 authority except Richard of Cirencester. He enu- 
 merates the Bibroci, the Segontiaci, and the Cassi, 
 whom he calls the Cassii. The Bibroci are commonly 
 supposed to have been the inhabitants of Berkshire, 
 and to have left their name to that county ; the Se- 
 gontiaci of Hampshire ; and the Cassi of Hertford, 
 one of the hundreds of which, that in which St. Al- 
 bans stands, still retains the name of Cassio. The 
 Cassi would therefore appear to have been the sub- 
 
 1 Betham's Gael and Cymri. =* Betham. 
 
 jects of Cassivellaunus, if Verulam was his capital ; 
 but this supposition, it must be admitted, does not 
 appear to be very consistent with the narrative of 
 Cassar, in which the Cassi are stated to have made 
 their submission along with other tribes, while Cas- 
 sivellaunus still held out. The Cenimagni have been 
 supposed to be the same with the Iceni mentioned 
 by Richard and also by Tacitus, and with the Semini 
 of Ptolemy, who appear to have inhabited the shires 
 of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge ; and the Anca- 
 lides with the Atrebatii of Ptolemy and the Atti-ebates 
 of Richard, whose residence is placed in Wiltshire. 
 If this latter notion be well founded, it is probable 
 that the name, which only occurs once in Caesar, has 
 not come down to us as he wrote it ; for he was well 
 acquainted with the Atrebates of Belgic Gaul (the an- 
 cient occupants of the territory «f Artois), of whom 
 this British people are supposed to have been a colony, 
 and could not have mistaken the name when it met 
 him again here. On the whole, it must be confessed 
 that nothing can be more unsatisfactoiy than these 
 attempted identifications of the tribes of whom Caesar 
 speaks. We should be inclined to think that they 
 were not spread over nearly so gi'eat an extent of ter- 
 ritory as they are by this account made to occupy. 
 All of them, except the Cantii, who are not recorded 
 to have submitted, would almost appear, from the 
 manner in which they are mentioned, to have been 
 merely dependent upon the Trinobantes, whose policy 
 in making terms with the Roman general they are 
 stated instantly to have followed, and that is really all 
 that is said of them. We do not believe that any of 
 them ever formed part of the confederation organized 
 to oppose the invasion, at the head of which Cassivel- 
 launus w^as. 
 
 According to Ptolemy, who, after all, is the only 
 authority upon whom much dependence can be placed, 
 the space over which the tribes mentioned by Caesar, 
 and by no other writer, if we cast aside the very sus- 
 picious authority of Richard of Cirencester, have been 
 commonly diffused, appears to have been fully occu- 
 pied by other ti-ibes. The following is the order in 
 which he enumerates the several nations inhabiting 
 what we now call South Britain, with the manner in 
 which he appears to distribute the country among 
 them. 
 
 1. The Brigantes. Their ten-itoiy is described 
 as extending across the island fi'om sea to sea, and it 
 appears to have comprehended the greater part of 
 the modern counties of Durham, York, Cumberland, 
 Westmoreland, and Lancashire. The Brigantes 
 were considered the most powerful of the British 
 nations. Among their towns mentioned by Ptolemy 
 are Eboracum, now York, and Isurium, now Aldbo- 
 rough, reduced to a small village, though it retained 
 till lately the right of sending a member to parliament, 
 an evidence of its importance even in comparatively 
 modern times. 
 
 2. The Parisi are stated to have been adjacent to 
 the Brigantes, and about the well-havened bay. They 
 are thought to have occupied the south-eastern angle 
 of Yorkshire, now called Holderness, lying along the 
 coast of Bridlington or BurHngton Bay.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 73 
 
 3. The Ordovices dwelt to the south of the Bri- 
 gantes and the Parisi, in the most westerly part of 
 the island They appear to have been the inhabitants 
 of North Wales. 
 
 4. The CoRNAVii were east from these last, and 
 seem to have occupied Cheshu'e, Shropshire, Staf- 
 ford, Worcester, and Warwick. Their towns men- 
 tioned by Ptolemy are Deuna, now Chester, and Ui- 
 roconium, supposed to be Wroxeter, near Shrews- 
 bury. 
 
 5. The CoRiTANi are described as adjacent to the 
 Cornavii. They probably occupied the whole of the 
 space intervening between the Cornavii and the east 
 coast, comprehending the modern counties of Derby, 
 Nottingham, Lincoln, Leicester, Rutland, and part 
 of Northampton. Their chief towns were Lindum, 
 now Lincoln, and Rhage, now Leicester. 
 
 6. The Catyeuchlani (or Catuellani, as they are 
 called by Dio Cassius) come next in the list. They 
 are conjectured to have occupied the remainder of 
 Nortliampton, and all Buckingham, Bedford, Hertford, 
 and Huntingdon. To these we should be inclined to 
 add the southwestern portion of Oxfordshire, lying 
 along the Thames. One of their towns mentioned 
 by Ptolemy is Urolanium, universally admitted to be 
 Verulam, near St. Alban's. It does not necessarily 
 follow, however, that this was the capital of Cassivel- 
 launus, although it is perhaps most probable that this 
 prince was really the chief of the Catyeuchlani. 
 
 7. The SiMENi are described as adjacent to these 
 last, and are supposed to have occupied Norfolk, Suf- 
 folk, and Cambridge. They are conjectured, as has 
 been already stated, to be the same with the Iceni, 
 of whom mention is made by Tacitus. Ptolemy as- 
 signs to them only one town, and to that he gives the 
 name of Uenta or Venta, which appears to have been 
 a common British name for the capital of a state. 
 The Venta of the Simeni or Iceni is supposed to have 
 been at Caister, near Noi*wich. 
 
 8. The Trinoantes (or Trinobantes, as they are 
 called by CaBsar and Tacitus), the next nation men- 
 tioned, are placed more to the eastward than the Si- 
 meni ; and this may suggest a doubt as to these last 
 being really the same with the Iceni, who appeal-, 
 from the Itinerary, to have certainly inhabited Nor- 
 folk. Probably, however, Ptolemy erroneously sup- 
 posed the coast of Essex to stretch farther to the east 
 than that of Norfolk and Suffolk. He places Canm- 
 lodanum, the capital of the Trinoantes, half a degi-ee 
 to the east of the Venta of the Simeni. Camuloda- 
 num, or, as it is called in the Itineraiy, Camoludu- 
 num, is generally supposed to be Maldon, though 
 some place it at Colchester. There can be no doubt 
 as to Essex being the district, or part of the disti'ict, 
 assigned by Ptolemy to the Trinoantes, since he set- 
 tles them beside the estuary lamensa, or, as the word 
 is found written in another place, lamissa, evidently 
 a transcriber's corruption of Tamissa, the Thames. 
 
 9. The Demet^: follow next in the enumeration, 
 being described as dwelling to the south of the tribes 
 already mentioned, and in the extreme western part 
 of the island. They seem to have occupied the three 
 south Welsh counties of Caermarthen, Cardigan, and 
 
 Pembroke. One of their towns, Maridunum, is be- 
 lieved to be the present Caermarthen. 
 
 10. The SiLURES were to the east of these, occu- 
 pying, it is supposed, the modern counties of Radnor, 
 Brecknock, Glamorgan, Hereford, and Monmouth. 
 Ptolemy makes no mention of two important towns 
 which were certainly situated in the ten'itory of the 
 Silures, namely the Venta Silurum, now Caerwent, 
 and Isca Silurum, now Caerleon, both in Monmouth- 
 shire. 
 
 11. The DoBUNi (probably the same who are called 
 by Dio Cassius the Boduni) are described as next to 
 the Silures, and probably inhabited Gloucestershire 
 with the greater part of Oxfordshire. Their chief 
 town, Corinium, appears to be the present Ciren- 
 cester. 
 
 12. The Atrebatii follow in the enumeration. 
 They are thought, though the point is disputed, to 
 have been the occupants of Berkshire. As they 
 were, if we may ti'ust to their name, a Belgic people, 
 it is more probable that they were seated to the south 
 than to the north of the Thames ; and the order in 
 which they are enumerated by Ptolemy — among the 
 nations to the south of the Catyeuchlani and the Tri- 
 nobantes — appears also clearly to indicate the former 
 position. 
 
 13. The Cantii are described as adjacent to the 
 Ati-ebatii, and as extending to the eastern coast of the 
 island. These two states, therefore, probably met 
 somewhere in the north part of SuiTey. Besides 
 Londinium, Ptolemy mentions Daruenum (believed 
 to be Canterbury) and Rutupiae, the Rutupae of the 
 Itinerary (probably Richborough, near Sandwich), as 
 towns of the Cantii. 
 
 14. The Regni are next mentioned, and are stated 
 to lie to the south of the Atrebatii and the Cantii. 
 They therefore occupied Surrey, Sussex, and prob- 
 ably the greater part of Hampshire. 
 
 15. The Belgje are described as situated to the 
 south of the Dobuni, and are supposed to have pos- 
 sessed the eastern part of Somerset, Wilts, and the 
 western part of Hampshire. Their towns were Venta 
 Belgarum, generally beheved to be Winchester; Is- 
 chalis, probably Ilchester ; and the Hot Springs (ia 
 Latin, Aquae Calidae), undoubtedly Bath. 
 
 16. The DuROTRiGES are described as south-west 
 from the Belgae. Their seat was the present Dor- 
 setshire, which still preserves their name, signifying 
 in the Celtic the dwellers by the water. Their town 
 Dunium is supposed to be the present Dorchester. 
 
 17. The DuMNONii (or Damnonii, as they are 
 called in the Itinerary) close the list, and are described 
 as occupying the western exti-emity of the island. 
 They were the inhabitants of Devon, Cornwall, and 
 the west of Somerset ; their name Dumn, or, as it 
 would be in Celtic, Duvn, probably still subsisting in 
 the modern Devon. Their capital was Isca Dumno- 
 niorum, supposed to be the present Exeter. 
 
 Of course, although we have thus indicated the 
 localities of the several tribes by the names of our 
 present counties, it is not to be understood that the 
 ancient boundaries were the same as those of these 
 comparatively modern divisions. But to ascertain
 
 74 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 the precise line by which each tenitory was separated ; 
 from those adjacent to it, is now in most instances 
 utterly impossible. All that can be attempted is, to 
 determine, generally, the part of the country in which 
 each lay. In a good many cases the evidence of in- 
 scriptions and of other remains has confirmed Ptole- 
 my's account ; and, making allowance for a very cor- 
 rupt text, it may be affirmed that his distribution of 
 the several ancient British states lias not been proved 
 to be erroneous in any material resjx'ct by the dis- 
 coveries of this kind that have from time to time been 
 made. We do not believe that a viewof the ancient 
 geography, at least of the southern part of the island, 
 on the whole, so complete, so distinct, and so accordant 
 at once with the testimony of history and of monu- 
 ments, as that which he has given us, is to be obtained 
 from any other source, or from all other existing 
 sources of information combined. The ti-ibes men- 
 tioned by Richard of Cii-encester, in addition to those 
 enumerated by Ptolemy, within the space we have 
 now been surveying, are, the Segontiaci, Ancalites, 
 Bibroci, and Cassii (as already noticed), the Hedui in 
 Somersetshire, the Cimbri in Devonshire, the Volantii 
 and Sistuntii in Lancashire, and the Rhemi in Surrey 
 and Sussex; but these last are probably intended to 
 be considered the same people with the Regni of 
 Ptolemy. Richard's list also includes the Cangiani, 
 supposed to be the same with the Cangi mentioned 
 by Tacitus, and with the Cangani of Dio. These, 
 however, do not appear to have been a distinct nation, 
 but to have been those of the youths of each tribe, 
 or at least of many of the tribes, who were employed 
 as the keepers of the flocks and herds.' Richard 
 fixes them in Caernarvonshire, a location which by 
 no means helps to make the passages in which they 
 are mentioned by the ancient historians more intel- 
 ligible. 
 
 Ptolemy's description of North Britain is, in various 
 respects, not so satisfactory as that which he has given 
 of the southern portion of the island. In particular, 
 his account is rendered obscure and confused by a 
 strange mistake, into which he has fallen, as to the 
 direction of the land, which he extends, not towards 
 the north, but towards the east. In other words, he 
 gives !is differences of longitude what he ought to 
 have given as differences of latitude. His enumera- 
 tion of the northern tribes may also be safely pre- 
 sumed to be more imperfect than that which he gives 
 of those in the south. 
 
 18. The NovANTi are the first people he men- 
 tions. He describes them as dwelling on the north 
 coast of the island (by which we must understand 
 the west), immediately under the peninsula of the 
 same name. The peninsula or promontory of the 
 Novantae is admitted, on all hands, to be what is 
 now called the Mull of Galloway ; and the Novantae 
 are considered to have occupied the county of Wig- 
 ton, the western hiilf of Kirkcudbright, and the 
 southern extiemity of Ayi'shire, their boundaries 
 probably being the Irish Sea, the Sohvay Frith, the 
 river Dee, and the hills dividing the districts now 
 called Galloway and Carrick. One of their towns 
 
 1 Baxter Gloss Biit. 
 
 was Loucopibia, supposed to be the present WTii- 
 thorn. 
 
 19. The SelgovjE are described as under, or 
 south (meaning east) from the Novanta-, and appear 
 to have occupied the eastern half of Kirkcudbright 
 and the greater part of Dumfriesshire. They are 
 supposed to have given its present name to the Sol- 
 way, along which their territory extended, or to 
 have received theirs from it. The Sohvay is called 
 by Ptolemy the Ituna, probably from the Eden, which 
 falls into that estuary. 
 
 20. The Dammi lay north from these, and would 
 seem to have extended over the shires of Ayr, La- 
 nark. Renfrew, and Stirling, a corner of that of 
 Dumbfirton, and a small pait of that of Perth. 
 Among their towns were Vanduara, believed to be 
 Paisley, and Lindum, which has been generally 
 supposed to be Linlithgow, but which Chalmers 
 places at Ardoch in Perthshire, where there is a 
 famous Roman camp. The wall of Antoninus passed 
 through the territory of the Damnii. 
 
 21. The Gadeni, of whom all that Ptolemy says 
 is, that they were situated more to the north. This 
 cannot, however, mean more to the north than the 
 Damnii List mentioned, who, as we have seen, were 
 placed along the sea coast of what Ptolemy under- 
 stands to be the north side of the island. The 
 meaning must be more to the north than the Otadeni, 
 who are next mentioned, and are, by a corresponding 
 epithet, described as more to the south. With the 
 notion which Ptolemy had of the shape of the island, 
 this would place the Gadeni along a tract in the 
 interior, which might extend from the Tyne to the 
 Forth, embracing the north of Cumberland, the west 
 of Northumberland, the west of Roxburgh, together 
 with the counties of Selkirk, Peebles, west Lothian, 
 and the gi-eater part of Midlothian. There is no 
 pretence, on a fair interpretation of Ptolemy's words, 
 for saying, as has been done by some of the sup- 
 porters of the authority of Richard of Cirencester,^ 
 that he places the Gadeni on the north of the Damnii 
 beyond the Clyde, conti-ary to the evidence of in- 
 scriptions. In his geography the sea only was to 
 the north of the Damnii. The town of Jedburgh 
 and the river Jed, on which it stands, in Roxburgh- 
 shire, seem still to preserve the name of the Gadeni. 
 
 22. The Otadexi, lying to the south of this 
 tract in Ptolemy's notion, in reality to the southeast 
 of it, woTild occupy the space intervening between 
 it and the sea coast, comprehending the remainder 
 of Northumberland and Roxburgh, and the whole of 
 Berwick and East Lothian. 
 
 23. The Epidii lay east (that is, north) from 
 the Damnii, but more northerly (that is, westerly), 
 stretching eastwards (that is, northwards), from the 
 promontory Epidium. The promontory in question 
 is undoubtedly the peninsula of Cantyre; and the 
 Epidii, therefore, were the inhabitants of this dis- 
 tiict, and of nearly all the rest of Argyleshire from 
 the Frith of Clyde on the east to Loch Linne on the 
 west. 
 
 24. The Cerones were next to the Epidii, and 
 
 ' Chalmers' Caledonia.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 75 
 
 are supposed to have inhabited the part of Argyle- 
 shire to the west of Loch Linne, and the continua- 
 tion of the same tract forming the western half of 
 Inverness. 
 
 25. The Creones, who are described as lying to 
 the east (that is, the north) of the Cerones, probably 
 occupied nearly the whole of the present shire of 
 Ross. But it may be doubted if the Cerones and 
 the Creones were not the same people, in which 
 case, their territory must have included the whole 
 space we have assigned to the two. 
 
 26. The Carnonac^ came next, and would, there- 
 fore, occupy the west coast of Sutherland, including 
 probably a small part of the north of Ross. 
 
 27. The Careni, who lay beyond them, may be 
 supposed to have inhabited the north coast of Suth- 
 erland, and perhaps a small portion of Caithness. 
 Richard of Cii'encester, indeed, calls them the Catini, 
 in which name it has been suggested we may find 
 the origin of the present Caithness. 
 
 28. The CoRNAVii are described as lying to the 
 east (that is, the north) of these, and as being the 
 last people in that direction. They, therefore, oc- 
 cupied the north and east of Caithness. In their 
 countiy were the three promontories, of the Tar- 
 vedrum, or Orcas, now Dunnet Head ; the Vir- 
 vedrum, now Duncansby Head ; and the Virubium, 
 now the Noss Head. 
 
 29. The Caledonii, properly so called, are the 
 next people mentioned by Ptolemy ; but the enu- 
 meration here starts from a new point, namely, from 
 the Lelamnonian Bay on the west coast, which ap- 
 pears to be Loch Fyne. The Caledonii are described 
 as extending from that bay across the country to 
 the estuary of Varar, undoubtedly the Moray Frith, 
 a river falling into the upper part of which still retains 
 the ancient name. They, therefore, occupied the 
 eastern portion of .Inverness, with probably the ad- 
 joining parts of the shires of Argyle, Perth, and 
 Ross. In the northwestern part of this tract was 
 the great Caledonian Forest. 
 
 30. The CantjE were more to the east (that is, 
 the north), and are supposed to have possessed the 
 eastern angle of Rossshire included between the 
 Murray and the Dornoch Friths. 
 
 31. The LoGi were between them and the Cor- 
 navii, and must, therefore, have occupied the south- 
 east part of Sutherland, and probably a portion of 
 the south of Caithness. 
 
 32. The Mertje lay north (that is, northwest) 
 from the Logi, which would place them in the 
 central parts of Sutherland. 
 
 33. The Vacomagi are described as lying to the 
 south (that is, the southeast) of the Caledonii, and 
 appear to have occupied the counties of Nairn, Elgin, 
 and Banff, with the west of Aberdeenshire, and 
 perhaps a small portion of the east of Inverness. 
 
 34. The Venicontes are described as lying south 
 from these last, to the west, and as, along with the 
 Texali, they appear to have occupied the whole 
 space between the tribes to the south of the Foilh, 
 the Caledonians, and the Vacomagi, we must assign 
 to them the whole of the peninsula now forming 
 
 the counties of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan, with 
 a portion of the east and southeast of Perth, and 
 probably also the counties of Forfar and Kincardine. 
 Richard of Cirencester, however (who calls the 
 Venicontes, Venricones), places the tribe of the Ho- 
 restii (mentioned by Tacitus under the name of the 
 Horesti) in the peninsula of Fife. All that appeal's 
 with regard to the situation of the Horestii, from the 
 narrative of Tacitus, is, that they lay somewhere 
 between the Grampian Hills and the previously con- 
 quered nations to the south of the Forth. It is 
 probable enough that they may have been the inhabi- 
 tants of Fife ; but they may also veiy possibly have 
 dwelt on the north side of the Frith of Tay. They 
 seem to be included by Ptolemy under the name of 
 the Venicontes. 
 
 35. The Texali are desci'ibed as lying also to the 
 south of the Vacomagi, and to the east, that is, the 
 northeast of the Venicontes. As Kinuaird's Head 
 appears to have been called after them the promon- 
 tory Taizalum (probably an error for Texalum, or 
 Taixalum), and as, moreover, their chief town is 
 designated Devana, and appears to have stood on the 
 Diva (the modern Dee), either where Old Aberdeen 
 now stands, or more probably on the spot occupied 
 by Norman-Dykes, about six miles farther from the 
 sea, we can scarcely have any doubt that the present 
 Aberdeenshire, with, perhaps, a part of Kincardine, 
 formed the territory of the Texali. 
 
 Besides the Horestii, two other tribes, the Albani, 
 or Damnii Albani, and the Attacotti, are mentioned 
 by Richai'd of Cirencester, and not by Ptolemy. 
 The Albani are placed in the mountainous region 
 now forming the district of Breadalbane and Athol 
 in the west of Perth, and south of Invernessshire ; 
 but it is admitted that they had been subjugated by 
 the Damnii, and that this region, therefore, might 
 be considered as forming part of the territory of the 
 latter. The Attacotti are mentioned by Ammianus 
 Marcellinus ; but it must be considered as very 
 doubtful whether they were a British or an Irish 
 nation. A territory is found for them, on the au- 
 thority of Richard, in the space between Loch Fyne 
 and Loch Lomond, comprehending a portion of 
 Argyle and the greater part of Dunbartonshire. 
 
 Another name mentioned by some later writers, 
 and not occurring in Ptolemy, is that of the Mseatae. 
 This term, of the meaning of which different inter- 
 pretations have been offered, appears to have been a 
 collective name given to the ti'ibes included between 
 the wall of Antoninus Pius, which joined the Friths 
 of Forth and Clyde, and that of Severus, extending 
 from the Solway Frith to the mouth of the Tyne. 
 These tribes were, the Novantae, the Selgovae, the 
 Gadeni, the Otadeni, and, in part, the Damnii. In 
 a loose way of speaking, the Mseatse and the Cale- 
 donii seem to have come at length to be used as a 
 general expression for all the tribes beyond the more 
 limited Roman province ; the Mseatse being under- 
 stood to mean the inhabitants of the comparatively 
 level and open country ; the Caledonii, those who 
 dwelt among the woods and mountains of the north 
 and west. From about the beginning of the fourth
 
 76 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 ceiiturj', we begin to find the Caledonians and Mseatae 
 giving place to the new names of the Scots and Picts. 
 A late writer has. from this and other considerations, 
 inferred that the Picts were the same people with 
 the Maeata? ;' but perhaps all that we are warranted 
 in concluding is, that the same prominent place which 
 the fierce Irish tribe of the Scots had now assumed 
 among the mountaineers had been taken by the Picts 
 among the Lowlanders. The Picts, if not the de- 
 scendants of the Mseatw, appear certainly, at least, 
 to have been their successors in the occupation of 
 the same tract of country. 
 
 It may here be convenient very shortly to recapitu- 
 late the progress of the Roman arms as it affected 
 the several British tribes that have just been enume- 
 rated. Tacitus, in his Life of Agi'icola, has sketched 
 it very distinctly up to the commencement of the 
 campaigns of that celebrated general. The eflforts 
 of Claudius and'the two first governors, Aulus Plau- 
 tius and Ostorius Scapula, had, by a.d. 50, either 
 subdued by force or otherwise obtained the submis- 
 sion of all the nations included within the line of forts 
 by which Ostorius may be said to have in some de- 
 gree connected the opposite estiiaries of the Wash 
 and the Severn ; namely (taking them in the order 
 of Ptolemy's enumeration), the Catyeuchlani, the 
 Iceni (supposing this people to be the same with the 
 Semini), the Trinobantes, the Dobuni, the Atrebatii, 
 the Cantii, the Regni, the Belgae, the Durotriges, 
 and the Dumnonii. Some of these, however, were 
 not so completely reconciled to the yoke as not after- 
 wards to make repeated attempts to regain their in- 
 dependence ; and, in fact, it was not till about a.d. 
 64 or 65, under Petronius Tarpilianus, that the whole 
 of this section of the island, now known by the name 
 of the Province, could be said to be brought into a state 
 of entire subjection and tranquillity. Meanwhile, be- 
 yond the boundary of the Province, incursions had 
 been made into the territories of the Brigantes in the 
 north, and of the Silures, the Ordovices, and the 
 people of Anglesey in the west ; but no permanent 
 impression had been made in those parts. It was 
 not till the reign of Vespasian (a.d. 70 — 78) that the 
 Brigantes were subdued by Petilius Cerealis, and 
 the Silures by Julius Frontinus. Agi-icola assumed 
 the government a.d. 78, and the same summer com- 
 pletely conquered the Ordovices and the island of 
 Anglesey. In the course of the next three years 
 he appears to have reduced to subjection all the na- 
 tions to the south of the rampart which he consti'uct- 
 ed between the Friths of Forth and Clyde, with the 
 exception only of those inhabiting the part of the 
 west coast nearest to Ireland — the Novantae and the 
 Selgovae in all probability — whom, however, he re- 
 duced in his next campaign. This was really the 
 utmost extent to which the conquest of the country 
 by the Romans was ever earned. Agricola, indeed, 
 afterwards defeated the Caledonians in the famous 
 battle fought at the foot of tlie Grampians ; but it is 
 not alleged that the victory was followed by any per- 
 manent results, or that even a single new tribe, the 
 Horesti only excepted, made their submission for the 
 
 1 Lingard, History of England, i. 54. 
 
 moment. Certainly no establishments were ever 
 attempted by the Romans beyond the Forth ; nor 
 were the conquests made by Agricola long maintained 
 even up to that limit. Within twenty or thirty years 
 after his time, we find the emperor Hadrian abandon- 
 ing everj'thing beyond the Solway. Antoninus Pius, 
 indeed, soon after extended the province to its former 
 boundaiy ; but it was found impossible eflectually to 
 reduce the turbulent native occupants of the country 
 between the fvvo walls ; and in the beginning of the 
 second centurj-, the attempt to hold it may be said 
 to have been finally given up, first by the erection of 
 the new barrier between the Solway and the Tyne 
 by Severus, and, a few years afterwards, by the for- 
 mal cession of the greater part of the disputed teiTi- 
 toiy by Caracalla. After this, although the legions 
 may have been sometimes found in conflict with the 
 barbarians, perhaps, at a considerable distance be- 
 yond the wall of Severus, yet there seems to be no 
 ground for believing that the Roman power ever re- 
 newed the attempt to gain a footing in these outer 
 regions. The common hypothesis that, after this 
 time, in the decline and rapidly accumulating diffi- 
 culties of the empire, a new province, whether under 
 the name of Valentia or of Flavia Caesariensis, was 
 formed in this part of the island, cannot be received 
 upon the slight evidence that is brought fonvard in 
 its support. At all events, if any such province was 
 really established, as is assumed, in the latter part of 
 the fourth centurj^ it is quite impossible that the ex- 
 tension of the empire in that direction could have 
 been more than nominal. When the northern tribes, 
 on the final retirement of the imperial legions not 
 many years after this, poured in upon the provincials, 
 we hear of no obstruction whatever that they met 
 with till they came to the wall of Severus. 
 
 Although the native British tribes, before their sub- 
 jugation by the Romans, were so far from being united 
 into one community that they were very generally 
 at war one with another, yet there are circumstances 
 which indicate that, to a certain extent, many of them 
 felt themselves to have a common interest as the oc- 
 cupants of the same countiy. Even their intestine 
 wars would of necessity often array them into op- 
 posing confederacies, and thus establish among them 
 the habits and feelings of a mutual relationship and 
 dependence. But it is not easy to form a judgment 
 as to the range of territoiy over which, in such a state 
 of society, any connexion, or even any communica- 
 tion, was kept up between the various tribes. Per- 
 haps their intercourse with each other was carried 
 on between points more remote from each other than 
 we should be at first inclined to suppose. The na- 
 tions to the south of the Thames and the Severn, or 
 rather we ought probably to say of the Severn and 
 the Wash, appear evidently to have been all accus- 
 tomed to cooperate on emergencies, and to consider 
 themselves as in some sort forming one society : al- 
 though even when pressed by a common danger, their 
 differences of origin may have afforded great facilities 
 for fomenting divisions between those of Belgic de- 
 scent, for instance, and the aborigines (as Caesar calls 
 them) of the interior; and the inhabitants of Devon
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 77 
 
 and Cornwall, withdrawn within their peninsula, may 
 be supposed to have been apt to feel less interest than 
 the rest in the general cause. But even the Brigantes 
 in the north seem early to have taken a part in the 
 resistance to the Roman invasion ; and, on more than 
 one occasion, we find them apparently acting in con- 
 cert with the insurgent tribes within the conquered 
 territory or with the yet unsubdued combatants in 
 the west. The notion of a common nationality, how- 
 ever, even in its faintest form, seems scarcely to have 
 extended beyond the Brigantes ; the ruder occupants 
 of the bleak and wild country farther to the north 
 were probably always regarded as the people of an- 
 other land. Yet although we do not find any actual 
 association of the tribes of the north and south, as 
 thus distinguished, we should perhaps be in error if 
 we were to assume that they kept up no intercourse 
 with each other. If any reliance is to be placed on 
 the correctness even of the general import of the 
 speech which Tacitus puts into the mouth of the 
 Caledonian general Galgacus, we must suppose that 
 the events which had happened in South Britain, 
 since the arrival of the Romans, were both well 
 known, and had excited a deep interest beyond the 
 Grampians. Galgacus, in rousing the valor of his 
 followers, makes his appeal throughout to feelings 
 which he assumes to be common to all Britons, and 
 he alludes to the revolt of the Trinobantes under 
 Boadicea, and to other passages of the conquest of 
 the southern tribes, as to transactions that were fa- 
 miliar to all his hearers. 
 
 Section II. 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT AND LAWS OF THE ANCIENT 
 BRITONS BEFORE THE INVASION OF THE ROMANS. 
 
 We learn from Caesar, whose account is confirmed 
 by other writers of good authority, that the govern- 
 ment of the ancient British nations was, in form at 
 least, monarchical. We are scarcely, however, en- 
 titled to assume that each of the tribes or nations 
 we have enumerated had its own king or chief, and 
 fonned, in all respects, a distinct and independent 
 state. The same sovereign may in some cases have 
 governed several tribes ; or, on the other hand, what 
 is described as a single district inhabited only by one 
 people, may have been divided into several sovereign- 
 ties. Caesar, for instance, mentions four kings in 
 Kent ; and yet no geographer, or other ancient writer, 
 has spoken of that territory as occupied by more 
 than one nation. Of the niles of succession to the 
 royal authority little is known. We are informed, 
 however, that they made no distinction of sexes in 
 the succession to the royal office ;' differing in this 
 from the tribes of the Germanic stock. We have 
 examples of British female sovereigns in Boadicea 
 and Caitismundua. 
 
 But though the form of government was monar- 
 chical, the British princes appear to have possessed 
 but a small portion of the substance of sovereignty. 
 One of their chief prerogatives was that of command- 
 ing the forces of their respective ti'ibes in the time 
 
 1 Tacit. Agric. xv 
 
 of war. But even then their authority was very 
 much circumscribed by their nobility, and still more 
 by their priests. The Druids, as we have already 
 had occasion to obsei-ve, were possessed of very great 
 power among the rude Britons, almost, it would ap- 
 pear, as much as was possessed by the Egyptian 
 priesthood ; insomuch that the government among 
 the ancient Britons was more properly a theocracy 
 than either a monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy. 
 
 Dio Chrj'sostom says, speaking of the Celtic na- 
 tions generally, " Their kings are not allowed to do 
 anything without the Dniids ; not so much as to con- 
 sult about putting any design into execution without 
 their participation. So that it is the Druids who 
 reign in reality ; and the kings, though they sit on 
 thrones, feast in splendor, and live in palaces, are no 
 more than their instruments and ministers for exe- 
 cuting their designs." But the government appears 
 to have had also a mixture in it of popular elements. 
 Ambiorix, king of a people of Gaul, made this excuse 
 to Caesar for having assaulted his camp : — " That it 
 had not been done with his advice or consent ; and 
 that his government was of such a nature that the 
 people had as much power over him as he had over 
 them." The British princes made a similar excuse 
 to Caesar for having seized and imprisoned his am- 
 bassadors, — that is, they laid the blame upon the 
 multitude. These slight intimations, however, are 
 not sufficient to enable us to form any opinion as to 
 the share which the people really had in the gov- 
 ernment. With regard to the power of the Di-uids 
 we have more distinct information. 
 
 Among most rude nations the laws receive their 
 force from being regarded as the express commands 
 of their gods. Where a particular order of men are 
 supposed to be the only persons to whom the gods 
 have communicated the knowledge of their com- 
 mands, this order of men are of course the only per- 
 sons capable of declaring and explaining those com- 
 mands to the people. In a word, they are the sole 
 legislators of that people. Moreover, the violations 
 of these laws being considered as violations of the 
 will of heaven, the punishment of such violations 
 could not be committed to any but the ministers of 
 heaven — to wit, the order of men above specified. 
 In an early state of society a very large proportion 
 of these laws are penal, consequently punishment is 
 the chief employment of the judicial office. Conse- 
 quently, too, we have the same men who have de- 
 clared the law as the ministers, and as it were the 
 secretaries of the gods, executing it in virtue of the 
 same privilege. That is, we have the same men 
 performing the legislative and judicial functions. 
 Among the ancient Britons these vast powers were 
 enjoyed by the Druids.' 
 
 Of the times, places, and forms of the judicial 
 proceedings of these ghostly judges little or nothing 
 is known. Most of the notices preserved by Caesar 
 in relation to these matters we have already given 
 in our general abstract of his account of the Druidi- 
 cal system. The courts of justice in which the 
 
 1 Diod. Sicul. V. 31.— Strabo iv. p. 107. (LutetiiE 1620.)— Casar 
 B. G. vi. 13, 16.
 
 78 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book 1. 
 
 Druids presided were, there can be little doubt, like 
 their temples, open to the sky. The vestiges of 
 that in which the chief British tribunal is supposed 
 to have been held are still to be traced iu the Isle of 
 Anglesey, and are thus described by Rowland : " In 
 the other end of this township (of Tre'r Dryw), 
 wherein all these ruins already mentioned are, there 
 first appears a large cirque or theatre, raised up of 
 earth and stones to a great height, resembling a 
 horseshoe, opening directly to the west, upon an 
 even, fair spot of gi-ound. This cirque or theatre is 
 made of earth and stones, carried and heaped there 
 to form the bank. It is, within the circumvallation, 
 about twenty paces over; and the banks, where 
 whole and unbroken, above five yards perpendicu- 
 lar height. It is called Bryn-Gwyn, or Brein- 
 Gwjni, i. e. the supreme or royal tribunal.'" It ap- 
 pears from Caesar that the extraction of evidence by 
 torture was a form of judicial procedure sometimes 
 resorted to among the Gauls, and most probably it 
 
 1 Mona Antiqua, pp. 89, 80. 
 
 was also in use among the Britons. Cwsar tells us 
 that it was applied by the Gauls in the case of 
 women who were suspected of having occasioned 
 the death of their husbands; but he does not say that 
 this was the only case in which it was applied. One 
 of the few laws of the Gauls which he expressly men- 
 tions is, that when a woman was found guiltj' of this 
 crime, she was delivered to the flames, and put to 
 death by the aid of excruciating torments. We may 
 here obseiTe that, notwithstanding what is related 
 respecting the promiscuous concubinage in use 
 among the Britons, the marriage connexion appears 
 still to have been distinctly acknowledged and pro- 
 tected by the law. The histoi-y of Cartismundua, 
 whose subjects rose in revolt against her and drove 
 her from her kingdom, in their indignation at her 
 profligate abandonment of her husband's bed, shows 
 the general feeling that was entertained upon this 
 subject. Cffisar also informs us that among the 
 Gauls the husbands had the power of life and death 
 both over their wives and their children. Another 
 
 /■^■^ 
 
 
 ■.s> 
 
 .viuu-Uki IB ill his full Judicial Costume, and wearing the Breastplate of Juilginent, pronouncing Sentence.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 79 
 
 Gallic law relating to marriage which he mentions 
 is, that, whatever dowiy the husband received with 
 his wife, he added to it an equivalent amount ; the 
 whole then continued the common property of the 
 tsvo so long as both lived, and, after the death of 
 either, devolved, with all accumulations, upon the 
 sui"vivor. It also appears from his account of the 
 Druids, already quoted, that theft and some other 
 crimes were punished capitally, according to the 
 laws administered by these judges. Their system 
 of law, there can be little doubt, was of as sangui- 
 naiy a character as their system of religion, of which 
 it made a part. 
 
 Of the taxes paid by the Britons to their kings 
 we know nothing further than that the Druids, as 
 already mentioned, took care to be exempted from 
 them, as well as from serving in war, and indeed all 
 other burdens. 
 
 We shall conclude this section, necessarily a veiy 
 meagi'e one (since we refrain from swelling out our 
 history with idle conjectures), with the account 
 given by Solinus of a singularly constituted govern- 
 ment, Avhich he places in the Western Islands of 
 Caledonia, and to which possibly in some features 
 the government of the other British nations may 
 have borne a resemblance. These islands, called 
 the Hebrides, " being only," he says, " separated 
 from each other by naiTow firths, or amis of the sea, 
 constitute one kingdom. The sovereign of this king- 
 dom has nothing which he can properly call his own, 
 but he has the free use of all the possessions of all 
 liis subjects. The reason of this regulation is, that 
 he may not be tempted to acts of oppression and 
 injustice, by the desire or hope of increasing his 
 possessions, since he knows that he can possess no- 
 thing. This prince is not even allowed to have a 
 wife of his own, but he has free access to the wives 
 of all his subjects, that, having no children which he 
 knows to be his own, he may not be prompted to 
 encroach on the privileges of his subjects, in order 
 to aggrandize his family." It is curious that this 
 was one of the means devised by Plato in his Re- 
 public, to guard against the same evil. Solinus, 
 however, is not a writer of any authority, and, al- 
 though most of his stories are stolen, no confirma- 
 tion or trace of tliis very strange statement is, we 
 believe, to be found anywhere else. It is not un- 
 likely that he may be merely here exercising his 
 invention in giving a " local habitation and a name" 
 to the philosophical fiction of Plato. 
 
 Section III. 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT AND LAWS OF ROMAN BRITAIN. 
 
 , The transformation of South Britain into a Roman 
 province necessarily swept away the native govern- 
 ment, and estabhshed another in its place ; the least 
 of the novel characteristics of which was, that it was 
 a government of for^ners. It was a sudden substi- 
 tution of the institutimis of civilization for those of a 
 condition nearly approaching to barbarism. The 
 Romans were certainly, as a nation, the gi-eatest 
 practical statesmen whom the world has yet beheld. 
 
 Among other people individuals have from time to 
 time arisen who have exhibited vast genius in devi- 
 sing schemes of government, or have shown gi-eat 
 capacity for administration. But among the Romans 
 alone there existed institutions which were able to 
 ensure a succession of men who were systematically 
 taught to " sway the rod of empire." The celebra- 
 ted lines of their great poet were no mere poetical 
 rhapsody — no vain and empty boast. 
 
 Exnudent alii spirantia mollius aera, 
 Credo equidem : vivos ducent de marmore vultus ; 
 Orabunt causas melius ; Cfplique meatus 
 Describent radio, et surgentia sidera dicent: 
 Tu regere imperio populos, Romanp, memento ; 
 Hse tibi erunt artes ; pacisque iniponere morem, 
 Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos. 
 
 JEneid, vi. 648. 
 Let others better mould the running mass 
 Of metals, and inform the breathing brass ; 
 And soften into flesh a marble face : 
 Plead better at the bar ; describe the skies, 
 And when the stars descend, and when they rise. 
 But Rome, 'tis thine alone, with awful sway. 
 To rule mankind, and make the world obey ; 
 Disposing peace and war thy own majestic way : 
 To tame the proud, the fettered slave to free ; 
 These are imperial arts, and worthy thee. 
 
 Jirydcn's Translation. 
 
 The Roman was probably the wisest oligarchy that 
 ever existed. In Rome, unlike what we have seen 
 happen in other oligarchies, the education of the 
 ruling class was as careful!}' attended to, as jealously 
 watched over, as the preservation of their privileges. 
 The Roman pati-ician was carefully and systemati- 
 cally instructed in the art of war, and in such, and 
 such only, of the arts of peace as were to be the 
 source of power, the foundation of dominion over 
 those who aimed at universal dominion. Thus, they 
 made their law, and above all their actiones legis — 
 their law of procedure — a mystery into which a 
 plebeian could never penetrate, but with which 
 they themselves took care to be familiar. Thus 
 among the Romans we sometimes see the most vari- 
 ous and apparently (at least to our modern notions on 
 the subject) inconsistent qualities united in the same 
 individual. Without bringing forward cases such as 
 that of the all-accomplished Julius Ca;sar, of men of 
 great power and extent of original genius, we might 
 cite instances from the Roman annals of the same 
 man being juriscorisult, general, public professor of 
 law, pontifex maximus, consul, dictator.^ When we 
 consider that to these various accomplishments were 
 added in the Roman an iion discipline, and a cour- 
 age, cool, steady, collected, we shall not wonder that 
 his march was to uninteri-upted victory and universal 
 empire. 
 
 Long after a military despotism had succeeded to 
 the power of that mighty oligarchy, Rome still con- 
 tiimed as much of her ancient policy as required that 
 able men, though no longer so exclusively selected 
 from one class, should be appointed to govern her 
 provinces and command her armies. We have only 
 to look at the result to be convinced that Britain was 
 not an exception to this salutary rule. 
 
 The ministers of the Roman state, Avhether called 
 
 1 Oranna Orig., lib. i. cap. 47 et seq. See also Ilciueccii Ilistoria 
 Juris Romani.
 
 80 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book 1. 
 
 republic or empire, the representatives of the majesty 
 of the Roraau name, were educated soldiers, juris- 
 consults,^ statesmen ; and whatever might be their 
 en-ors and their vices — and they were, no doubt, 
 many — they conquered, and, up to a certain point, 
 civilized a large portion of the world. In a greater 
 degi-ee than any other people have done, the Romans 
 communicated to the nations they conquered (not 
 merely, as is often falsely asserted, their vices, but) 
 whatever of the blessings of civilization they them- 
 selves possessed. 
 
 It is interesting to an inhabitant of Great Britain 
 at the pi-esent day, to reflect that, towards the be- 
 ginning of the Christian era, more than 1500 years 
 ago, this island actually possessed, for a period of 
 above 300 years, nearly the whole of the Roman 
 civilization ; that, in the second and third centuries 
 of the Cliristian era, the inhabitants of Britain en- 
 jojed personal security ; and, after the payment of 
 the Roman taxes, security of propeity ; arts and let- 
 ters; elegant and commodious buildings; and roads, 
 to which no roads they have had since could bear 
 comparison, till the establishment of the present rail- 
 ways. As we look along the line of the Greenwich 
 railroad, and contemplate its massive yet elegant 
 arches, — its compact and solid masoniy, — its iron 
 highway, and the ponderous yet compact carriages 
 that fly along it, and reflect that the whole kingdom 
 will soon be intersected with similar gigantic sti-uc- 
 tures, we feel as if the times of Roman enterprise, 
 as regards vastness of design and durability of work- 
 manship, had returned. It is an inquiiy of no com- 
 mon importance and interest to attempt to learn Avhat 
 were the principal features of that civilization which 
 rose so early, and, after lasting some three centuries, 
 was so rapidly and totally desti'oyed. 
 
 The Roman settlements were originally divided 
 mto colonies, municipia, and Latin cities ; but, in tlie 
 decline of the empire, the distinctions between them 
 were obliterated, and they were all invested with 
 equal rights. However, from the importance of the 
 subject, it is fit that we should say something of the 
 rise and progress, as well as of the leading charac- 
 teristics of the municipia. When we come to ti-eat 
 of the military government of the province, we shall 
 have to say something of the colonies. One leading 
 distinction between them, noted by Aulus Gellius, 
 we may mention here, that the colonies were sent 
 out from, the municipia taken into, the Roman state. 
 
 The Romans, in their conquests, so far pursued a 
 diflferent system from that of most of the ancient 
 nations, that they neither sought to exterminate nor 
 reduce to slavery the nations they conquered. It is 
 the opinion of M. Guizot,' whose opinion on most 
 points of the philosophy of history is entitled to gi-eat 
 respect, that this difference arose from the situation 
 of most of the neighboring tribes on which Rome at 
 first made war. They were assembled in towns, 
 not dispersed over the country. At first, the Ro- 
 mans did not venture to leave their former inhabitants 
 in the conquered towns. They were occupied either 
 
 1 Essais sur I'Histoire de France : Paris, 1634. Premier Essai, Du 
 Regime Municipal dans I'Empire Romain, p. 5, et seq. 
 
 by soldiers, or by inhabitants taken from Rome. 
 Cffire was the first which presened its laws and 
 magistrates, and received, in part at least, the rights 
 of Rome.' This example soon became genei-al. 
 There were different degrees, however, of the privi- 
 lege ; and it was only the highest degree that con- 
 feiTed the right of voting at Rome like the Romans. 
 The towns of the last class, whose citizens were thus 
 admitted to all the rights of Roman citizens, were 
 called municipia. 
 
 Thence arose in those towns a separation between 
 the municipal rights and duties, and the political 
 rights and duties : the former were exercised upon 
 the spot ; the latter were transported to Rome, and 
 could only be exercised within its walls. The prin- 
 cipal matters which remained local were — 1. The 
 religious worship. 2. The administration of the mu- 
 nicipal property and revenues. 3. The police, to a 
 certain extent ; Avith 4. A few judicial functions spe- 
 cially connected with it. 
 
 All these local aflfairs were regulated either by in- 
 dividual magistrates, named by the inhabitants, or by 
 the curia of the town, that is, the college oi decuriones, 
 or inhabitants possessed of a territorial revenue to a 
 certain amount. In general, the magistrates were 
 named by the cmia, though sometimes by all the 
 inhabitants. As a necessaiy consequence of slavery, 
 there were few free men who were not admissible 
 into the curia. Later, the decuriones were called 
 curiales. 
 
 When the Roman government from an aristocracy 
 was changed into an absolute monarchy, the chief 
 men of the municipia, who had repaired to Rome for 
 the purpose of exercising their political powers, and 
 from a natural ambition to share in the government, 
 having no longer the same motive to go to Rome, 
 remained at their respective municipia. Thus the 
 municipia obtained a portion of the importance which 
 Rome lost. This was the flourishing time of the 
 Roman municipia. Their importance during this 
 epoch is attested by the number of laws regarding 
 them, and the attention bestowed upon them by the 
 jurisconsults. 
 
 But this epoch of their history was, in process of 
 time, succeeded by another far less prosperous. The 
 imperial despotism had difficulties to struggle with 
 which required vast sums of money. On one side 
 were the barbarians, who were either to be bought 
 off, or beaten. In either case money was wanted — 
 in the first, to pay the barbarians ; in the second, to 
 pay the soldiers who fought them. On the other 
 side was a vast and increasing populace, to be fed, 
 amused, and kept under. In order to obtain re- 
 sources, an administrative machinery was created, 
 capable of extending its action eveiywhere, but vast 
 and complicated, and consequently itself a source of 
 great expense. The revenues of the towns, as well 
 as those of individuals, came to be in this way laid 
 under contribution. At different times the emperor 
 seized a great quantity of munieipkl property. Never- 
 theless, the local burdens for which that property 
 was intended to provide, remained the same, or 
 
 ■ Liv. lib. V. cap. i.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 81 
 
 rather went on increasing, from the increase of the 
 population. When the revenues of a municipality 
 were insufficient for its expenses, the members of 
 the cmia (or corporation) were obliged to provide for 
 them out of their private property. Thus the station 
 of decurio became a source of ruin to those who held 
 it, that is, to all the inhabitants in easy circumstances 
 of all the municipia of the empire. And thus was 
 desti'oyed the middle class of citizens, and the way 
 prepared most effectually for the total ruin of the 
 empire. 
 
 This result was accelerated by an exemption from 
 the curial functions being gi-anted to certain individu- 
 als and classes as a privilege. So that, as the bui-dens 
 of the decuriones increased, this privilege came in to 
 diminish their numbers. Consequently, the weight 
 pressed with increased and increasing force on those 
 that remained, till it ultimately annihilated the order ; 
 and, for a season, a middle class may be said to have 
 disajjpeared from among mankind. And as human 
 society, without that middle class, is as infirm as any 
 fabric of which the extremities are not bound to- 
 gether, or are bound but by a rope of sand, it is not 
 surprising that the Roman world should have fallen 
 an easy prey to the hordes of warlike barbai'ians that 
 poured in upon it.' 
 
 Besides the main incorporation, each city contained 
 various colleges, or corporations of operatives, who 
 held, says Sir Fi-ancis Palgi'ave, an ambiguous station 
 between slavery and freedom. In these societies 
 employments were hereditaiy, so that the son of the 
 handicraftsman became a member of the college by 
 birth or caste. It is foreign to our present purpose 
 to enter into an account of these Roman guilds ; but 
 we refer the reader who wishes for more information 
 respecting them, to the elaborate and learned dis- 
 cussion on the subject contained in the tenth chapter 
 of Sir Fi-ancis Palgrave's work on the " Rise and 
 Progi-ess of the English Commonwealth." That 
 prince of jurisprudential expositors, Heineccius, has 
 also -wTitten a work, " De Collegiis et Corporibus 
 Opificum." 
 
 When the Romans had established themselves 
 in Britain, they proceeded, according to their usual 
 policy, to make Venilamium a municipium, or free 
 town, bestowing on the inhabitants all the privileges 
 of Roman citizens. Wlien this first happened, the 
 municipal system was in the second stage or epoch 
 of the progi-ess which we have briefly traced above, 
 that is, it was in its flourishing state. London, too, 
 though it does not appear to have been a municipium, 
 nor even distinguished by the name of a colony, 
 was, we are informed by Tacitus,^ famous for its 
 trade, enjoying, no doubt, some of the advantages of 
 the> Roman Municipia. The fact in this paiticular 
 
 1 In the above brief account of the Roman municipia, we have chiefly- 
 followed the essay of M. Guizot, above quoted. 
 
 2 Annal. lib. xiv. cap. xxxiii. His words are "Londinium— cogno- 
 mento quidem colonic non insigne, sed copia. negotiatorum et commea- 
 tuLim maxime celebre." He expressly calls Verulamium a municipium. 
 See also Suetonius, Vit. Neron. cap. ixxix. Both Tacitus and Sue- 
 tonius use the words civium et sociorum,— while civium may refer to 
 Verulamium, sociorum to London. Seo also Horsley's Britannia Ro- 
 mana, pp. 16 and 28. 
 
 VOL. I G 
 
 instance of Britain, agi-ees with and illustrates the 
 general fact stated above. In a few years the two 
 places above named were crowded with inhabitants, 
 who were all zealous partisans of the Roman govern- 
 ment. Both these facts are demonstrated by what 
 happened to these two cities in the great revolt under 
 Boadicea. The revolted Britons, as already related, 
 attacked with fury London and Verulamium, on 
 account of their attachment to the Romans, and des- 
 troyed no fewer than 70,000 of their inhabitants — a 
 sufficient proof of the populousness of those towns. 
 
 That populousness also, in so short a time after 
 the establishment of the Romans in the island, is a 
 sufficient proof of the wise policy of the Romans, in 
 reconciling the conquered people to their domina- 
 tion, by their municipal institutions ; for the wonder 
 is, not that a part of the Britons made the revolt 
 above alluded to, but that so many of them were 
 already quietly settled, along with the colonists sent 
 out from Italy, or their descendants, in London and 
 Verulamium. The principal towns of every Roman 
 province, besides, as we have already stated, being 
 governed by laws and magisti-ates similar to those of 
 Rome, were adorned with temples, courts of justice, 
 theati'es, statues, and other public buildings and 
 monuments, in imitation of that mighty citj^ — thus 
 imitating the external and physical, as well as the 
 internal and moral characteristics of their metropolis. 
 " The country was replete," says Sir Francis Pal- 
 grave, " with the monuments of Roman magnificence. 
 Malmesbury appeals to those stately ruins as testi- 
 monies of the favor which Britain had enjoyed ; the 
 towers, the temples, the theatres, and the baths,, 
 which yet remained undestroyed, excited the wonder 
 and admiration of the chronicler and the traveler ;: 
 and even in the fourteenth century, the edifices 
 raised by the Romans were so numerous and costly, 
 as almost to excel any others on this side the Alps. 
 Nor were these sti'uctures among the least influ- 
 ential means of establishing the Roman power. Ar- 
 chitecture, as cultivated by the ancients, was not 
 merely presented to the eye ; the art spake also to 
 the mind. The walls covered with the decrees of the 
 legislature, engi-aved on bronze, or sculptured in the 
 marble ; the triumphal arches, cro-\vned by the statues 
 of the princes who governed the province fi'om the 
 distant Quirinal ; the tesselated floor, pictured with 
 the mythology of the state, whose sovereign was its 
 pontiff — all contributed to act upon the feelings of 
 the people, and to impress them with respect and 
 submission. The conquered shared in the fame, 
 and were exalted by the splendor of the victors."^ 
 
 The government of Britain, so long as it formed 
 only one province, is supposed to have been com- 
 mitted, according to custom, to a single president, 
 whose powers appear to have at first been almost 
 discretionary, and but little controlled even by the 
 established laws of the empire. It is sufficiently 
 clear, from what Tacitus says in his Life of Agi'i- 
 cola, that the government of the Romans in Britain, 
 before the airival of Agricola, was exti'emely op- 
 
 1 Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, vol. i. part, i.pi^ 
 323. 4to London, 1832.
 
 82 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book 1. 
 
 pressive. That excellent person employed his first 
 winter in redressing the ginevances of the Britons, 
 which had been so great as to occasion frequent 
 revolts, and render a state of peace more terrible to 
 them than a state of war. One remark of Tacitus, 
 in describing the course of policy pursued by his 
 tather-in-law, seems to contain nearly the whole 
 secret of the Roman art of governing their provinces, 
 iis distinguished from the barbarous imbecilitj' usually 
 displayed by conquering states in their conduct to- 
 wards the conquered. " Doctus," he says of Agri- 
 cola, " per aliena experimenta, ^jarum profici armis, 
 si injuriee sequerentur ;" — taught by the experience 
 of others, that little was gained by arms, if success 
 was followed by injuries. The edict of Hadrian, 
 however, promulgated a. d. 131, and called the per- 
 petual edict, had no doubt the eftect of mitigating 
 the tjTanny of the provincial presidents, since it con- 
 rained a system of rules by which they were to 
 regulate their conduct in their judicial capacity, and 
 by which the administration of justice was rendered 
 imiform throughout all the empire.' 
 
 From the promulgation of the perpetual edict of 
 the Emperor Hadrian to the final departure of the 
 l\omans out of this island, was about 300 years ; 
 and during that period the laws of Rome were firmly 
 established in all the Roman dominions in Britain. 
 In our sketch of the municipal institutions we have 
 already given the substance of a portion of those 
 laws, — and in what remains to be said we shall have 
 to allude to others. Most of them were embodied 
 in the Theodosian Code, by command of the Em- 
 ;)eror Theodosius, about the year 438. This code 
 did not, however, as Montesquieu seems to suppose, 
 constitute the whole body of the Roman law in the 
 fifth century. It was a collection of the constitutions 
 of the emperors from Constantine to Theodosius the 
 younger.- Independently of those constitutions, the 
 law of the Twelve Tables; the ancient senatus-con- 
 sulta, and plebiscita ; the edicts of the preetors, or 
 rather the perpetual edict of Hadrian, which had 
 superseded these; and, lastly, the responsa pruden- 
 tum, the opinions of the jurisconsults, formed part of 
 the Roman law. Indeed, in the year 426, by a con- 
 stitution of Theodosius the younger and Valentinian, 
 the works of five of the gi'eat jurisconsults. Papinia- 
 nus, Paullus, Gains, ITlpianus, and Modestinus, and 
 of four others, secundo loco, Scaevola, Sabinus, Ju- 
 lianus, and Marcellus, had expressly received the 
 force of law.^ The Theodosian Code, however, 
 doubtless contained the most important portion of 
 the law of the empire, and is also the document 
 which throws most light on that epoch, particularly 
 when aided by the veiy learned commentary of 
 .facobus Gothofred. To attempt to give any de- 
 tailed account of that vast body of laws in this place 
 would evidently be futile. 
 
 It is ahnost unneoessary to add that the corpus 
 
 1 Heinec. Antiq. Roman, lib. i. cap. it. $ 104. See also Heineccii 
 Hist. Jur. Rom. i. 5 275 and Gravinse Origin, lib. i. cap. 38. 
 
 2 Heineccii Hist. Jur. Rom. lib. i. § 379. Gra^-inte Orig. lib. i. cap. 
 Ul. 
 
 3 Heineccii Hist. Jur. Rom. lib. i. ^ 368. 
 
 juris, or body of law, promulgated by Justinian, con- 
 tains in substance much of what ^^^ls in the Theodo- 
 sian Code, as well as in the works of those great 
 jurisconsults. And although we cannot join in the 
 admiration expressed by some for the " regular 
 order" of that digest, where order there is none, we 
 must needs admit that, as a body of law, it remains a 
 monument of the good sense of that illusti'ious people, 
 and of their great practical talents for government 
 and legislation. 
 
 It has been the fashion with historical wiiters' 
 to attribute much of the progress of modem Eu- 
 ropean civilization to the revival of the knowledge of 
 the Roman law, by the discoveiy of a copy of the 
 Pandects of Justinian at Amalphi, a. d. 1137. Von 
 Savigny, in his Histoiy of the Roman Law during 
 the Middle Ages, has completely proved that the 
 Roman law had never perished, and therefore that 
 the story of its resuscitation by the discovery of the 
 Pandects at Amalphi in the twelfth century is en'o- 
 neous. Indeed, more than half a centuiy before the 
 appearance of the work of Von Savigny, Heineccius 
 had aiTived at nearly the same conclusion, though 
 he did not go into such fulness of detail as ^"on 
 Savigny.- But the reported discovery of the Pan- 
 dects, and the rapid effects ascribed to that one 
 cause, bear about them sometliing of that air of the 
 miraculous which has always found such favor with 
 mankind. 
 
 For the purposes of administration, the Roman 
 territories in Britain were, about 150 years after its 
 first occupation by these conquerors, divided into 
 two provinces, to which three more were aftenvards 
 added. The only notice of these divisions which 
 can be perfectly depended on, so far as it goes, is 
 contained in the " Notitia," already mentioned, a 
 document which is of about the same date with the 
 Theodosian Code ;^ but all that we learn from this 
 document is, that the names of the five provinces 
 were Flavia Cresariensis, Britannia Prima, Britannia 
 Secunda, Valentia, and Maxima Cspsariensis. As 
 to the parts of the i.sland to which these names 
 were respectively applied, we are altogether in the 
 dark. It is even doubtful whether they were all 
 contained within the wall of Severus, or whether 
 one of them (but which is matter of conjecture) did 
 not comprehend the space between that rampart and 
 the wall of Antoninus. Richard of Cirencester adds 
 a sixth province, to which he gives tlie name of 
 Vespasiana, and which he makes to extend from 
 the wall of Antoninus to the Moray Frith. 
 
 The machinery for governing Britain as well as 
 the other provinces of the Roman eiripire, varied 
 with the extent of that empire. We shall now 
 give an account of it when it was in its most com- 
 plete and extensive form. In the fifth centuiy, the 
 Emperor Constantine the Great divided the whole 
 
 1 See Henry. Hist, of Britain, book 1. chap. iii. § 3. Also Heinec- 
 cius, Robertson, Hume, Ac. 
 
 3 Heineccii Hist. Jur. Rom. lib. i. § 413, 414, 415. 
 
 3 The best edition of it is that with the Commentary of Pancirolus, 
 given in the seventh volume of the Roman Antiquities of Grffivius. An 
 account of the portion of it relating to Britain will be found in Hors- 
 ley's Britannia Romana.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 83 
 
 Roman empire into the four prefectures of the East, 
 Illyricum, Italy, and Gaul, over each of which he 
 established a prefect.^ Each of these prefectures 
 was subdivided into a certain number of dioceses, 
 each of which was governed, under the prefect, by 
 an officer called the vicar of the diocese. The 
 diocese of Britain, as well as those of Gaul and 
 Spain, was comprehended in the prefecture of Gaul. 
 The court of the vicar of Britain, who resided 
 chiefly at London, was composed of the following 
 officei-s : — a principal officer of the agents ; a prin- 
 cipal secretaiy ; two chief accountants ; a master of 
 the prisons ; a notary ; a secretaiy for dispatches ; 
 an assistant ; under-assistants ; clerks for appeals ; 
 sergeants and other inferior officers. 
 
 Each of the five provinces of Britain had a par- 
 ticular governor, styled a president, who resided 
 within the province. From these governors appeals 
 lay to the vicar, and fi'om him to the prefect of Gaul. 
 The title of the vicar of Britain was Spectabilis, and 
 the ensigns of his office were a book of instructions 
 in a gi'een cover, and five castles representing the 
 five provinces under his jurisdiction, and placed 
 within a line which imitated the triangular form of 
 the island. Two of the provinces — probably the 
 two most northerly — ^were governed by persons of 
 consular dignity, the three others by persons styled 
 presidents. The court, or more properly bureau, of 
 each of these governors v/as almost an exact copy, 
 on a smaller scale, of that of the vicar of the diocese 
 and of the prefect of the prefecture.* 
 
 It is not necessary to enter into more detail in 
 regard to the various subordinate administrative offi- 
 ces. It is sufficient to observe that they form a 
 complete example of pure and simple administrative 
 despotism. There is no independence for the func- 
 tionaries ; they are subordinate one to another, up 
 to the emperor, who has the absolute disposal of 
 their destiny. There is no appeal for the subjects 
 against the functionaries, but to their superiors. 
 We meet with no coordinate powers destined to act 
 as checks upon one another ; everything proceeds 
 according to a strictly gi-aduated scale ; and yet M. 
 Guizot thinks, and not a few will agree with him, 
 that this administrative machinery of the imperial 
 despotism was less grievous to those who lived under 
 it than the powers which preceded it, — whether 
 the short-lived, but on that account more rapacious, 
 tyranny of the Roman proconsul, republican at least 
 in name, or the barbarous oppression of their native 
 nilers, — their ignorant and ferocious chieftains, and 
 fanatic priests. With respect to the administration 
 of the laws, the Roman governors had the sole 
 judgment of all causes, without other appeal than to 
 the emperor. In the first ages of the empire, and 
 conformably to the ancient customs, he to whom 
 the jurisdiction belonged, whether praetor, governor 
 of the province, or municipal magistrate, when a 
 case came before him for trial, did nothing but 
 determine the rule of law. He then appointed 
 
 1 Heineccii Hist. Jur. Romani, lib. i. § 365.— Notitia Imperii, with 
 Pancirolus' Commentary. 
 - Notitia Imperii, chap. ilix. Heineccii Antiq. Rom. Append, lib. i. 
 
 a private citizen, called, ^'wc^ex (literally "judge"), 
 corresponding to our jury, who examined and decided 
 upon the point of fact. The principle laid down by 
 the magisti-ate was applied to the fact recognized by 
 the judex, and the tiial was completed. 
 
 In proportion as the imperial despotism was es- 
 tablished, the intervention of the judex became less 
 regular. The magistrates, without having recourse 
 to that contrivance, decided certain aflfairs which 
 they called extraordinarice cognitiones. Diocletian 
 formally abolished the institution of the judex in the 
 provinces ; it no longer appeared but as an exception 
 to a rule ; and, in the time of Justinian, it seems to 
 have fallen completely into desuetude.^ 
 
 From this it will appear that, in Britain as else- 
 where, the governors had two sorts of duties : — 
 
 1. They were the emperor's ministers, intiusted 
 with the collection of the revenues, with the com- 
 mand and recruiting of the armies, with the manage- 
 ment of the imperial posts, and, in a word, of every 
 relation in which the emperor stood to his subjects; 
 
 2. They had the administration of justice.'^' The 
 administrative and judicial departments were thus, 
 conti'ary to some of the most important principles of 
 good government, sti'ictly combined ; the Roman 
 emperors not being of the opinion of George III., 
 when he declared that "he looked upon the indepen- 
 dence and uprightness of the judges as essential to 
 the impartial administration of justice — as one of the 
 best securities of the rights and liberties of his sub- 
 jects — and as most conducive to the honor of the 
 crown."* 
 
 When the Romans conquered a people, they gen- 
 erally pursued with them one of two modes; — they 
 either imposed on them an annual ti'ibute, or they 
 took from them their lands, colonizing them from 
 Rome, or restoring them to the conquered people 
 on the condition of their paying a certain proportion 
 of the revenue of them to the conquerors. Those 
 treated in the former manner were called tributarii; 
 those ti-eated in the latter, vectigales. At first Bri- 
 tain belonged to the former class, but afterwards to 
 the latter. The vectigales paid from their arable 
 land a tax called decumce, from their pasture a tax 
 called scriptura, and from their ports a tax called 
 portoriurn.* 
 
 The decumee, as the name implies, was properly a 
 tithe ; but this proportion varied, being sometimes 
 less, sometimes more, than a tenth, according to the 
 exigencies of the occasion and the poverty and fertility 
 of the country.^ Afterwards, under the emperors, 
 the proportion was settled by the Canon frumentarius, 
 or law for supplying Rome, and aftei-wards Constan- 
 tinople, with corn.^ Certain grievances in the man- 
 ner of levying this tax imposed upon the inhabitants 
 of Britain were remedied by Agi'icola.^ This tax was 
 
 1 Instit. lib. iv. tit. 17. De officio Judicis. — Guizot. Cours d'Histoire 
 Moderiie, vol. ii. p. 54. Heinecc. Antiq. Rom. ubi supra. 
 
 2 Heineccii Antiq. Rom. Appendix, lib. i. § iii. 
 
 3 Commons' Journals, 3rd March, 1761. 
 * Hein. Antiq. Rom. App. lib. i. $ 114. 
 
 s Hein. Id. § 115. — Burmann. de Vectigal. Pop. Rom. cap. ii 
 « Jac. Gothofred. ad Tit. Cod. Theod. Can. Frum. 
 ■' Tacit. Agric. cap. xix.
 
 84 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 also levied on otlier things besides corn, such as vine- 
 yards and orchards. 
 
 The Romans also levied a tax on pasture-grounds 
 and fruits. This tax was called scriptura, because 
 the collector of it wrote down in his books the num- 
 ber of the cattle.' Under the emperors, this tax was 
 partly levied in kind.* This tax, when first imposed 
 on them, proved very oppressive to the Britons, their 
 property chiefly then consisting in cattle, and they 
 being obliged to borrow money from some of the 
 wealthy Romans at an exorbitant rate of inter- 
 est. Seneca is said to have lent the Britons above 
 32'3,0(X)/. ; and his demanding it with rigor at a time 
 when they were unable to pay is supposed to have 
 contiibuted to the great revolt under Boadicea.^ 
 
 Another important tax was the portoria, or cus- 
 toms, which in Britain are said to have been remark- 
 ably heavy. Another was raised from mines of eveiy 
 description. Besides these, there were various 
 other taxes, which pressed heavily on the conquered 
 people.* 
 
 The charge of collecting all these taxes was com- 
 mitted to an imperial procurator, who had the super- 
 intendence of all the inferior officers employed in this 
 branch of administration ; and in Britain, as else- 
 where, the principal taxes were let to fanners at a 
 yearly rent. We have the authority of Tacitus, that 
 the Britons were exposed to grievous extortions in 
 the raising of them. 
 
 The troops which the Romans stationed in Britain 
 to secure their conquest were, according to their 
 usual policy, collected from many distinct and remote 
 provinces of the empire, and differed from the Bri- 
 tons and from each other in their manners and lan- 
 guages.* About the same time that the changes 
 which have been described were made in the civil 
 administration of the empire, a similar change was 
 made in the government of the mihtary establish- 
 ment. Constantine the Great deprived the praetorian 
 prefects of their militaiy command, and appointed in 
 their stead tAvo new officers called magistri militum, 
 one of whom had the command of the cavahy, the 
 other of the infantry. These had not their ordinary 
 residence in Britain; but the Roman troops there 
 were commanded under them by the tlii'ee following 
 officers: 1. Comes Littoris Saxonici per Britan- 
 niam, the Count of the Saxon Shore in Britain. 
 •2. Comes Britanniae, the Count of Britain. 3. Dux 
 Britanniarum, the Duke of Britain.*^ 
 
 Wherever the government is a pure despotism, the 
 principal officers of state will be, at least to a certain 
 extent, the private friends or associates of the mon- 
 arch, or individual in whose hands is lodged the sov- 
 ereign power. These will be his counseUors and his 
 
 1 Heinecc. Id. $ 116. 
 
 2 Burmann. de Vectig-al. Pop. Rom. cap. iv. p. 65, et seq. 
 
 3 Xiphilinus, Epitome Diunis NicEi in Nerone. 
 
 * Heinecc. Id. $ 118. 
 
 5 Notitia, § 52, 63, or 71^^, lib. ii. of Pancirolus' division. 
 
 * Notitia, <i 52, 53, 63 in Horsley ; or 71, 72, 87, lib. ii. of Panciro- 
 lus' division. This is the order in which they occur in the Notitia, as 
 ■vi-e apprehend, without reference to their rank. For it is probable, for 
 reasons which will be assigned in the note on the Count of Britain, 
 that the Duke of Britain, though placed last, was at least equal in 
 rink to the other two functionaries. 
 
 ministers. Thus, in the courts of the middle ages, as 
 we shall have occasion to remark hereafter, those 
 who held offices about the king's person, many of 
 which we should consider menial, were, in effect, 
 the king's ministers. In fact, the more modern prac- 
 tice was borrowed from the later Roman and Byzan- 
 tine emperors. In the courts of the Roman empe- 
 rors, from Augustus downwards, these counsellors 
 were styled Comites Augustales, or Comites Augusti, 
 companions of the emperor, from their constant at- 
 tendance on his person. They were divided into 
 three oi'ders or degi-ees. When they left the impe- 
 rial court, to take upon them the government of a 
 province, town, or castle, in the exercise of any office, 
 they were no longer called Comites Augustales, but 
 Comites of that province, town, castle, or office.' Of 
 this the Comites Britanniarum, the Counts of Britain, 
 and the Comites Littoris Saxonici per Britanniam, 
 the Counts of the Saxon Shore in Britain, were 
 examples. 
 
 The Counts of Britain- are supposed to have had 
 the command originally of about 3000 foot, and 600 
 horse, in the interior parts of Britain. But after- 
 wards these forces seem to have been withdrawn, or 
 stationed on the frontiers ; for, in the section of the 
 Notitia, where the court of this officer is described, 
 there is no mention of any forces under his com- 
 mand.' 
 
 In the third century the south and east coasts of 
 Britain began to be much infested by Saxon pirates ; 
 and thence it is supposed to have got the name of 
 Littus Saxonicum, the Saxon shore.* To protect 
 the country from these pirates, the Romans not only 
 kept a fleet on these coasts, but also built a chain of 
 forts, which they garrisoned. The officer who com- 
 manded in chief all these forts and garrisons, was 
 called Comes Littoris Saxonici per Britanniam, the 
 Count of the Saxon Shore in Britain. These forts 
 were nine in number, and were situated at the fol- 
 lowing places : 1. Branodunum, Brancaster. 2. Gari- 
 annonum, Burghcastle, near Yarmouth, both on the 
 Norfolk coast. 3. Othona, Ithanchester, not far 
 from Maiden, in Essex, now overflowed by the sea. 
 
 ' Selden's Titles of Honour, p. 941, et seq. Du Cange, Gloss, voc 
 Comites. 
 
 2 Sir Francis Palgrave (Rise and Progress of the English Common- 
 wealth, vol. i. part i. p. 359) says that the Comites Britanniarum are 
 conjectured to have been the supreme commanders of the diocese. 
 This, too, is the opinion of Brady. (Hist. p. 41.) We do not think 
 this conjecture well founded. There appears reason to believe (see 
 particularly Cotl. Theod. lib. vi. t. 14, 1, 3, and Gothofred's Commen- 
 tary upon it) that generally the dux was a military officer of superior 
 rank to the Comes. The law referred to is for the express purpose of 
 placing certain Comites primi ordihis ret militaris upon an eyuality 
 with the duces, with the special exception of two — the " duces .SIgypti 
 et PonticsB." 
 
 3 Notitia, 72. lib. ii., edit, of Pancirolus. 
 
 ♦ On this subject Sir Francis Palgrave has the following remark : 
 " It has been conjectured that this extensive tract was so denominated, 
 in consequence of being continually exposed to the incursions of the 
 Saxons ; but is it not more reasonable to assume that they had already 
 fixed themselves in some portion of the district 1 For it is a strange 
 and anomalous process to name a country, not from its inhabitants, but 
 from its assailants, and on the opposite "littus Saxonicum," afterwards 
 included in Normandy, they had obtained a permanent domicile in the 
 neighborhood of Baieux." — Rise and Progress of the English Common- 
 wealth, vol. i. part. i. p. 384. And yet the reader will remark, that the 
 Roman forts were all situated on the very verge of the ocean, some of 
 them on places which it has since overflowed.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 85 
 
 4. Regulbium, Reculver. 5. Rutupse, Richborough. 
 6. Dubi-se, Dover. 7. Lemanae, Lime ; these four 
 last on the coast of Kent. 8. Anderida, Hastings, or 
 East Bourn, in Sussex. 9. Portus Allurnus, Ports- 
 mouth, in Hampshire. 1 They were garrisoned by 
 about 2200 foot, and 200 horse. The ensigns of the 
 count of the Saxon shore in Britain were, a book of 
 instructions, and the figures of nine castles, repre- 
 senting the nine forts under his command. His court 
 was composed of the following officers ; — a principal 
 officer fi-om the court of the master of the foot ; two 
 auditors fi-om the same court; a master of the pris- 
 ons, fi-om the same; a secretary; an assistant; an 
 under-assistant; a registrar; a clerk of appeals ; ser- 
 geants and other inferior officers.^ 
 
 The word dux (which originally signified the leader 
 of an army in general) became, under the lower em- 
 pire, the title of a particular military officer, who 
 commanded the Roman forces in a certain district, 
 commonly on the frontiers.^ Such was the Dux 
 Britanniarum, the Duke of Britain, who liad com- 
 mand on the northern frontier over thirty-seven 
 
 1 Horsley, Brit. Rom., p. 472. 
 
 2 Notitia, >> 71, lib. ii, ; edition of Pancirolus. 
 
 3 Jac. Gothofred. ad Jib. vii. Cod. Theod. (de re militari) ; see par- 
 tJcuJarlj torn, iL p. 256,— SeUeo's TitJtes of Honour, p, 263, , 
 
 fortified places, and the troops stationed in them. 
 Twenty-three of these forts were situated on the 
 line of Severus' wall, and the other fourteen at no 
 great distance from ii.^ In these thirty-seven forts 
 about 14,000 foot and 900 horse were stationed.'^ 
 The court of the Duke of Britain was exactly similar 
 to that of the Count of the Saxon Shore, which has 
 been described above. 
 
 The Roman soldiers were not less remarkable for 
 their industry than for their disciphne and valor. 
 These several bodies of troops, composing the stand- 
 ing army of the Romans in Britain, besides perfoi-m- 
 ing the then important sei-vices of guarding the coasts 
 against the Saxon pirates, presei-ving the internal 
 tranquillity of the country, and protecting the north- 
 ern frontiers from the incursions of the Scots and 
 Picts, executed many of those noble works of utility 
 and ornament, the vastness and durability of which, 
 though only contemplated after numerous hordes of 
 desti'oying barbarians have swept over them, have 
 excited the astonishment and admiration of eveiy 
 successive generation of mankind. 
 
 1 Horsley, Brit. Rom. p. 481, et seq. 
 
 2 Pancirolus ad Notitiam, lib. ji. cap, 87, according to bis division. 
 Brad/, Hist,, vol, i, p, 47,
 
 86 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 NDER this title we 
 propose to present a 
 view of the state and 
 progress, in each pe- 
 riod, of all those arts 
 commonly called the 
 ^ useful arts, the object 
 of which is to make 
 provision for the main- 
 tenance and physical 
 accommodation of hu- 
 man life, and which 
 in every country must necessarily employ the labors 
 of the gi-eat body of its inhabitants. The cultivation 
 of the earth and all other modes of procuring food — 
 the different handicrafts and manufactures practised 
 by the people — the means of communication and con- 
 veyance made use of by them — their internal trade 
 and foreign commerce, will fall to be here considered. 
 Some of these applications of skill and industiy con- 
 stitute the indispensable foundation on which the 
 whole of the national civilization stands ; the rest 
 may be said to form the main body of the fabric. 
 All else that can be added to adorn and elevate the 
 social condition of man depends for its existence upon 
 these ; for the fine or ornamental arts are to the ne- 
 cessaiy or useful arts only what the pillars, and sculp- 
 tures, and domes, and pinnacles of a building are to 
 the apartments within, to which indeed they may be 
 made to serve for something more than mere deco- 
 rations, but without which to decorate, and in part 
 also, it may be, to support and cover, they never would 
 have appeared. 
 
 As in nearly everything else relating to the British 
 islands during tlie period at present under review, so 
 with regard to the arts of life practised by the natives, 
 our knowledge is extremely limited and imperfect. 
 No written records, or other literary remains, either 
 of the Britons or of the Gauls, have come down to 
 us. A small number of scattered notices in the Greek 
 and Roman writers, few of whom had any good op- 
 portunity of ascertaining the facts of which they make 
 mention, while the subject was probably not one about 
 which they felt much interest, make up all the direct 
 information we possess. Our other hghts are to be 
 extracted from the few ruined monuments and other 
 almost obliterated reUcs and memorials of the primi- 
 tive Britons which the waste of time has spared, the 
 fragmeuts of a -vvieck which scarcely tell us anything 
 positively or distinctly, and many of which do nothing 
 more than afford some mystic hints for fancy and con- 
 jecture to work upon. 
 
 In disti-ibuting our scanty materials, we will begin 
 by noticing the intercourse and h-affic which appear 
 
 to have been maintained with this island in early 
 times by foreign nations, the facts belonging to this 
 part of the subject constituting our first knowledge 
 of the ancient Britons, and the natural introduction 
 to an examination of the internal condition of the 
 country. 
 
 The small beginnings, hidden in the depths of an- 
 cient time, of that which has become so mighty a 
 thing as British commerce, have an interest for the 
 imagination, the same in kind with that belonging to 
 the discovery of the remote spring or rill which forms 
 the apparently insignificant source of some famous 
 river, but as much higher in degree as the history of 
 human affairs is a higher study than the histoiy of 
 inanimate natiu'e. 
 
 The Phcenicians, the great trading people of anti- 
 quity, are the first foreigners who are recorded to 
 have opened any commercial intercourse with the 
 British islands. There are some facts which make it 
 probable that this extremity of the globe was visited 
 even by the navigators of the parent Asiatic states of 
 Sidon and Tyre. Tin, a product then to be obtained 
 only from Britain and Spain, was certainly used in 
 considerable quantities by the civilized nations of the 
 earliest times. It was the alloy with vrhich, before 
 they attained the knowledge of the art of giving a high 
 temper to ii-on, they hardened copper, and made it 
 serve for warlike instruments and many other pur- 
 poses. A mixture of copper and tin, in due propor- 
 tions, was perhaps fitted, indeed, to take a sharper 
 edge as a sword or spear than could have been given 
 to iron itself, for a long time after the latter metal 
 came to be known and wrought. It is certain at least 
 that swords and other weapons fabricated of the com- 
 pound metal continued to be used long after the intro- 
 duction of u-on. This composition was really what 
 the Greeks called chalcus and the Romans aes, al- 
 though these words have usually been improperly 
 translated brass, which is compounded not of copper 
 and tin, but of copper and zinc. There is no reason 
 to suppose that zinc was at all known to the ancients ; 
 and if so, brass, properly so called, was equally un- 
 known to them. What is commonly called the brass 
 of the Greeks and Romans, being, as we have said, a 
 mixture of copper and tin, is not brass, but bronze. 
 This is the material, not only of the ancient statues, 
 but also of many of their other metallic aiticles both 
 ornamental and useful. It was of this, for instance, 
 that they fabricated the best of tlieir mirrors and 
 reflecting specula; for the composition, in certain 
 proportions, is capable of taking a high polish, as well 
 as of being hammered or filed to a sharp and hard 
 edge in others. This also is the material of which so 
 many of the Celtic antiquities are formed, and which
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 87 
 
 on this account is sometimes called Celtic brass, 
 although it might with as much propriety be called 
 Greek brass, or Roman brass. In like manner the 
 swords found at Cannje, which are supposed to be 
 Carthaginian, are of bronze, or a composition of cop- 
 per and tin. Tin, too, is supposed, with much prob- 
 ability, to have been used by the Phoenicians at a very 
 early period in those processes of dyeing cloth for 
 which Tyre in particular was so famous. Solutions 
 of tin in various acids are still applied as mordants for 
 fixing colors in cloth. Tin is understood to be men- 
 tioned under the Hebrew term oferet, in the Book of 
 Numbers ;' and as all the other metals supposed to 
 have been then known are enumerated in the same 
 passage, it would be difficult to give another probable 
 translation of the word. This would carry the 
 knowledge and use of tin back to a date nearly 1500 
 years antecedent to the commencement of our era. 
 At a much later date, the prophet Ezekiel is sup- 
 posed to mention it under the name of bedil as one 
 of the commodities in which Tyre ti-aded with Tar- 
 shish, probably a general appellation for the countries 
 lying beyond the Pillars of Hercules. The age of 
 Ezekiel is placed nearly six centuries before the birth 
 of Clu-ist ; but we have evidence of the knowledge 
 and employment of tin by the Phoenicians at a much 
 earlier period in the account of the erection and dec- 
 oration of the Temple of Solomon, the principal 
 workmen employed in which — and among the rest 
 the makers of the articles of brass, that is, bronze, 
 and other metals — ^were brought from Tyre. 
 
 The oldest notice, or that at least professing to be 
 derived from the oldest sources, which we have of 
 the Phoenician ti-ade with Britain, is that contained 
 in the nan-ative of the voyage of the Carthaginian 
 navigator Himilco, which is given us by Festus Avi- 
 enus.^ This voyage is supposed to have been per- 
 formed about 1000 years before the commencement of 
 our era. Himilco is stated to have reached the isles 
 of the CEstiymnides within less than four months 
 after he had set sail from Carthage. Little doubt 
 can be entertained, from the description given of their 
 position and of other circumstances, that these were 
 the Scilly islands. The CEstrymnides are placed by 
 Avienus in the neighborhood of Albion and of Ireland, 
 being two days' sail from the latter. They were 
 rich, he says, in tin and lead. The people are de- 
 scribed as being numerous, high-spirited, active, and 
 eagerly devoted to trade ; yet they had no ships built 
 of timber wherewith to make their voyages, but in a 
 wonderful manner eifected their way along the wa- 
 ters in boats consti'ucted merely of skins sewed to- 
 gether. We must suppose the skins or hides were 
 distended by wicker-work which they covered, al- 
 though that is not mentioned. There are well-au- 
 thenticated accounts of voyages of considerable length 
 made in such vessels as those here described at a 
 much later period. 
 
 It is observable that in this relation neither the 
 CEsti-ymnides, nor the Sacred Isle of the Hiberni, 
 nor that of the Albiones in its neighborhood, appear 
 to be spoken of as discoveries made by Himilco ; on 
 
 ' xxxi. 22. s See ante, p. 12. 
 
 the contrary, the Isle of the Hiberni is described as 
 known by the epithet of the Sacred Isle to the an- 
 cients, and the resort for the purposes of traffic to the 
 CEstiymnides is declared to have been a custom of 
 the inhabitants of Tartessus and Carthage. 
 
 No mines of any kind are now wrought in the 
 Scilly islands ; but they present appearances of an- 
 cient excavations, and the names of two of them, as 
 Camden has remarked, seem to intimate, that mining 
 had been at one time carried on in them. They may 
 in early times have produced lead as well as tin ; or, 
 these metals here obtained by the Phoenicians or 
 their colonists of Tartessus and Carthage, may have 
 been brought from the neighboring peninsula of Corn- 
 wall, which produces both, and which besides was 
 most probably itself considered one of these islands. 
 Pliny, it may be noted, has preserved the ti'adition, 
 that the first person who imported lead (by which 
 name, however, he designates both lead and tin) from 
 the island of Cassiteris was Midacritus, which has 
 been supposed to be a corruption of Mehcartus, the 
 name of the Phoenician Hercules. Cassiteris means 
 merely the land of tin, that metal being called in 
 Greek cassiteron. 
 
 The next notice which we have of the trade of the 
 Phoenicians, or their colonists, with Britain, is that 
 presei-ved by Strabo. His account is, that the traffic 
 with the isles called the Cassiterides, which he de- 
 scribes as being ten in number, lying close to one 
 another, in the main ocean north from the Artabri 
 (the people of Gallicia), was at first exclusively in the 
 hands of the Phoenicians of Gades, who carefully con- 
 cealed it from all the rest of the world. Only one of 
 the ten islands, he states, was uninhabited ; the peo- 
 ple occupying the others wore black cloaks, which 
 were girt about the waste and reached to their ancles : 
 they walked about wdth sticks in their hands, and then- 
 beards were as long as those of goats. They led a 
 pastoral and wandering life. He expressly mentions 
 their mines both of tin and lead, and these metals, he 
 adds, along with skins, they give to the foreign mer- 
 chants who resort to them in exchange for earthen- 
 ware, salt, and articles of bronze. 
 
 We may here obsei-ve that the geogi-apher Dio- 
 nysius Periegetes gives the name of the Isles of the 
 Hesperides to the native countiy of tin, and says that 
 these isles, which he seems to place in the neighbor- 
 hood of Britain, are inhabited by the wealthy descend- 
 ants of the famous Iberians. It is remarkable that 
 Diodorus Siculus describes the Celtiberians, or Celts 
 of Spain, as clothed in black and shaggy cloaks, made 
 of a wool resembling the hair of goats, thus using 
 almost the same terms which Strabo employs to 
 describe the dress of the people of the Cassiterides. 
 The chief island of the Scilly group is called Silura 
 by Solinus; and perhaps the original occupants of 
 these isles were the same Silures who are stated to 
 have afterwards inhabited South Wales, and whose 
 personal appearance, it may be remembered, Tacitus 
 has expressly noted as betokening a Spanish origin.. 
 
 It was undoubtedly through the extended commei-- 
 cial connexions of the Phoenicians, that the metallic 
 products of Britain were first distributed over the
 
 So 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boor 1. 
 
 civilized world. A regular market appears to have 
 been found for them by these enterprising traffickers 
 in some of the most remote parts of the earth. Both 
 Pliny and Arrian have recorded their export to India, 
 where the former writer says they were wont to be 
 exchanged for precious stones and pearls. It is prob- 
 able that this commerce was at one time carried on, 
 in part at least, through the medium of the more an- 
 cient Palmyra, or Tadmor of the Desert, as it -svas 
 then called, which is said to have been founded by 
 Solomon a thousand years before our era.' 
 
 The Phoenicians, and their colonists settled in Afri- 
 ca and the south of Spain, appear to have retained 
 for a long period the exclusive possession of the trade 
 with the British islands, even the situation of which 
 they contrived to keep concealed from all other na- 
 tions. It appears fi'om Herodotus, that, in his time, 
 about four centm-ies and a half before the birth of 
 Christ, although tin was known to come from certain 
 islands which, on that account, went by the name of 
 the Cassiterides, or Tin Isles, yet all that was knovra 
 of their situation was, that they lay somewhere in the 
 nortli or northwest of Europe. It is generally sup- 
 posed that the first Greek navigator who peueti-ated 
 into the seas in this part of the world was Pytheas of 
 Marseilles, who is said to have flourished about a hun- 
 dred years after the time of Herodotus. From this 
 celebrated colony of Marseilles something of the 
 Greek civilization seems early to have radiated to a 
 considerable distance over the sunounding regions ; 
 but whether tiiere ever was any direct intercourse 
 between Marseilles and Britain we are not informed. 
 The only accounts of the trade which have come 
 down to us, represent it as carried on through the 
 medium of certain ports on the coast of Gaul, neai'est 
 to our island ; and we are probably to understand that 
 the ships and traders belonged, not to Marseilles, but 
 to these native Gallic towns. From the northwest 
 coast of Gaul, the tin and lead seems to have been for 
 a long time transported across the countiy to Mar- 
 seilles, by land-caniage. 
 
 Strabo relates on the authority of Polybius, that 
 when Scipio Africanus the younger made inquiry 
 respecting the tin islands of the people of Marseilles, 
 they professed to be totally ignorant of where they 
 lay. From this we must infer, either that the Mas- 
 silians had adopted the policy of the Carthaginians 
 with regard to the navigation to these isles, and studi- 
 ously concealed what they knew of them, or, what is 
 more probable, that they really knew nothing of the 
 countries from which their tin came, the trade being, 
 in fact, caiTied on, as we have just supposed, through 
 the medium of the merchants of the northwest coast 
 of Gaul. The Romans, according to the account given 
 by Strabo in another place, had made many endeavors 
 to discover the route to these mysterious isles, even 
 
 I See in Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. vi. pp. 249, &c., a "Dis- 
 sertation on the Commerce carried on in very remote ages by the Phce- 
 nicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks, with the British Islands, for their 
 ancient staple of tin, and on their extensive barter of that commodity 
 with those of the Indian Continent ; the whoJe confirmed by extracts 
 from the Institutes of Menu, &c." The extracts from the Institutes of 
 Menu, however, hardly deserve this formal announcement ; and the 
 essay, altogether, is, like everything else of this author's, a very wordy 
 performance. 
 
 while the trade was still in the exclusive possession of 
 the Carthaginians. He relates, that, on one occiision, 
 the master of a Carthaginian vessel finding himself 
 pursued, while on his way to the Cassiterides, by one 
 whom the Romans had appointed to watch him, j)ur- 
 posely ran his vessel aground ; and thus, althougli he 
 saved his life, sacrificed his cai'go, the value of which, 
 however, was repaid to him, on his return home, out 
 of the public ti'easui-y. But the Romans, he adds, at 
 length succeeded in discovering the islands, and get- 
 ting the tin trade, or at least a part of it, into their 
 own hands. As Strabo died a.d. 25, this commercial 
 intercourse of the Romans with the southwest of 
 Britain must have long preceded the invasion of the 
 southeastern part of the countiy by Claudius, and 
 may very possibly have preceded even the earlier 
 invasion by Ciesar. It is remarkable that Strabo 
 does not speak of it as having been a consequence of, 
 or in any degi'ee connected with the last-mentioned 
 event. He says, that some time after its commence- 
 ment, a voyage was made to the island by a Roman 
 navigator of the name of Publius Crassus, who, find- 
 ing the inhabitants of a pacific disposition, and also 
 fond of navigation, gave them some instructions, as the 
 words seem to imply, for cairying it on upon a larger 
 scale. This passage has attiacted less attention than 
 it would seem to deserve ; for, if the Cassiterides be, 
 as is generally supposed, the Scilly islands, we have 
 here the first notice of any commercial intercourse 
 carj'ied on with Britain by the Romans, and a notice 
 which must refer to a date considerably ef^rlier than 
 that at which it is usually assumed that the country 
 first began to be resorted to by that people. 
 
 We are inclined to believe, however, that the trade 
 of the Romans with the Cassiterides was entirely 
 confined to their colonial settlements in the south of 
 Gaul. Of these the city of Narbonne, situated about 
 as far to the west of the mouth of the Rhone as the 
 Greek city of Marseilles stood to the east of it, was 
 the chief, as well as one of the oldest, having been 
 founded about the year b.c. 120. The historian Dio- 
 dorus Siculus, who was contemporaiy with Julius 
 Caesar, has given us an account of the manner in 
 which the trade between Britain and Gaul was canied 
 on in his day, which, although it does not expressly 
 mention the participation of either the Romans or 
 any of their colonies, at least shows that the Cassi- 
 terides and the island of Britain had become better 
 known than they were a hundred years before in the 
 time of the younger Scipio. Diodorus mentions the 
 expedition of Caesar, of which he promises a detailed 
 account in a part of his history now unfortunately 
 lost ; but he tells us a good many things respecting 
 the island, the knowledge of which could not have 
 been obtained through that expedition. We must, 
 therefore, suppose that he derived his information 
 either through an intercourse with the country which 
 had arisen subsequent to and in consequence of Cae- 
 sar's attempt, or, as is much more probable, from the 
 accounts of those by whom the southwestern coast 
 had been visited long before. Indeed, various facts 
 concur to show that, however ignorant of Britain 
 Caesar himself may have been when he first medita-
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 89 
 
 ted his invasion, a good deal was even then known 
 about it by those of the Greeks and Romans who 
 were curious in such inquiries. Csesar notices the 
 fact of tin, or white lead, as he calls it, being found in 
 the country ; but he erroneously places the stores of 
 this mineral in the interior {in mediterraneis region- 
 ihus), probably from finding that they lay a gi-eat dis- 
 tance from the coast at which he landed ; and he does 
 not seem to have any suspicion that this was really 
 the famous Land of Tin, the secret of whose situa- 
 tion had been long guarded with such jealous care by 
 its first discoverers, and which his own countrymen 
 had made so many anxious endeavors to find out. 
 But a century and a half before Polybius, as he tells 
 us himself, had intended to write respecting Britain ; 
 and Sti-abo informs us that the gi-eat historian had 
 actually composed a treatise on the subject of the 
 British islands, and the mode of preparing tin. His 
 attention had probably been drawn to the matter by 
 the inquiries of his friend Scipio ; for Polybius, as is 
 well known, was the companion of that celebrated 
 general, in several of his military expeditions and 
 other journeys. No doubt, although the people of 
 Marseilles were unwilling or unable to satisfy the 
 curiosity of the ti-avelers, they obtained the informa- 
 tion they wanted from some other quarter.^ And in 
 the title of this lost treatise of Polybius, as quoted by 
 Stiabo, it is important to remark, that we find the tin 
 country distinctly recognized as being the British 
 islands, the vague or ambiguous name of the Cassite- 
 rides being dropped. It is so, likewise, in the ac- 
 count given by Diodoi'us. That A\Titer obsei-ves that 
 the people of the promontory of Belerium (the Bole- 
 rium of Ptolemy, and our present Land's End) were 
 much more civilized than the other British nations, 
 in consequence of their intercourse with the great 
 number of foreign traders who resorted thither fi-om 
 all parts. This statement, written subsequently to 
 Cccsar's expedition, warrants us in receiving that 
 winter's assertion as to the superior refinement of 
 the inhabitants of Kent, as true only in a restricted 
 sense. In fact, there were tsvo points on the coast 
 of the island separated by a long distance from each 
 
 1 Camden has here expressed himself in a manner singularly con- 
 trasting with his customary, and, it may be justly added, characteristic 
 accuracy. First, in order to prove " that it was late before the narme 
 of the Bntons was heard of by the Greeks and Romans,"' he quotes a 
 passage from Polybius, which in the original only implies that it was 
 doubtful whether the north of Europe was entirely encompassed by the 
 sea, but which he renders as if it asserted that nothing was known of 
 Europe to the north of Marseilles and Narbonne at all. Polybius has, 
 in fact, himself described many parts of Gaul to the north of these 
 towns. Next he makes the historian to have been the friend, not of 
 the younger, but of the elder Africanus, and to have traveled over 
 Europe not about B.C. 150, but 370 years before Christ. Even if he 
 had been the contemporary of the elder Scipio, this would be a mon- 
 strous mistake. The whole of this passage in Camden, however (it is 
 ■ in his chapter on the Manners of the Britons), is opposed to his own 
 opinions as expressed in other parts of his work. The authority of 
 Festus Avienug, which he here disclaims, he elsewhere makes use of 
 very freely (see his chapter on the Scilly islands, at the end of the Bri- 
 tannia). And whereas he contends here that Britain had never been 
 heard of by the Greeks till a comparatively recent date, he has a few 
 pages before a long argument to prove that it must have been known 
 "to the most ancient of the Greeks." In the same chapter (on the 
 Name of Britain) he quotes a passage from Pliny, in which that writer 
 characterizes the island as famous in the writings (or records, as it 
 may be translated) of the Greeks and Romans—" clara Grsuis nostris- 
 que monumentis." 
 
 Other, at Avhich the same cause, a considerable for- 
 eign commerce and fiequent intercourse with sti-an- 
 gers, had produced the same natural effect. Diodo- 
 rus goes on to describe the manner in which these 
 ancient inhabitants of Cornwall prepared the tin which 
 they exported. To this part of his description we 
 shall aftei-wards have occasion to advert. After the 
 tin has been refined and cast into ingots, he says, they 
 convey it in wheeled carriages over a space which is 
 dry at low water, to a neighboring island, which is 
 called Ictis ; and here the foreign merchants purchase 
 it, and transport it in their sliips to the coast of Gaul. 
 The Ictis of Diodorus has, by the majority of recent 
 wi'iters, been assumed to be the Isle of Wight, the 
 Uectis of Ptolemy, and the Vectis or Vecta of some 
 of the Latin writers. But this seems to us alto- 
 gether an untenable supposition. It is impossible to 
 believe either that Diodorus would call the Isle of 
 Wight an island in the neighborhood of the promon- 
 tory of Bolerium, seeing that it is distant from that 
 promontory about 200 miles, or that the people of 
 Bolerium, instead of carrying down their tin to their 
 own coast, would make a practice of transporting it 
 by land-carriage to so remote a point. Least of all is 
 it possible to conceive how a journey could be accom- 
 plished by wheeled caiTiages from the Land's End to 
 the Isle of Wight over the sands which were left dry 
 at low water, as Diodorus says was the case. There 
 can be no doubt whatever that Ictis was one of the 
 Scilly isles, between which group and the exti-emity 
 of Cornwall a long reef of rock still extends, part of 
 which appears, from ancient documents, to have 
 formed part of the main land at a comparatively 
 recent date, and which there is no improbability in 
 supposing may have afforded a dry passage the whole 
 way in the times of which Diodorus WTites. The 
 encroachments of the sea have unquestionably eflfect- 
 ed extensive changes in that part of the British coast; 
 and at a very remote period it is evident fi'ora present 
 appearances, as well as from facts well attested by 
 records and tradition, that the distance between the 
 Scilly isles and the main land must have been very 
 much less than it now is. " It doth appear yet by 
 good record," says a %vriter of the latter part of the 
 sixteenth century, " that whereas now there is a great 
 distance between the Syllan Isles and point of the 
 Land's End, there was of late years to speak of 
 scarcely a brooke or drain of one fathAin water be- 
 tween them, if so much, as by those evidences ap- 
 peareth that are yet to be seen in the lands of the 
 lord and chief owner of those isles."^ Some of the 
 islands even may have been submerged in the long 
 course of years that has elapsed since tlie Ictis was 
 the mart of the tin trade; and the numerous group 
 of islets which we now see may very possibly be only 
 the relics left above water of the much smaller num- 
 ber, of a considerable size, which are described as 
 forming the ancient Cassiterides. It may be added 
 that if thef southwest coast of Brittany, where the 
 maritime nation of the Veneti dwelt, was, as seems 
 most probable, the part of the continent from which 
 the tin ships sailed, the Isle of Wight was as much out 
 ' Harrison's Description of England, b. iii. c. 7.
 
 90 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 of their way as of that of the peojjle of Bolerium. 
 The shortest and most direct voyage for the mer- 
 chants of V'anues was right across to the very point 
 of the British coast where the tin mines were. It 
 appears to us to admit of Httle doubt that the Ictis of 
 Diodorus is the same island which, on the authority 
 of the old Greek historian, Timseus, is mentioned by 
 Pliny under the name of Mictis, and stated to lie six 
 days' sail inward (introrsus) from Britain (which 
 length of navigation, however, the Britons accom- 
 plished in their wicker boats), and to be that in which 
 the tin was produced. It must no doubt have taken 
 fully the space of time here mentioned to get to the 
 Scilly isles from the more distant parts even of the 
 south coast of Britain. 
 
 Diodorus goes on to inform us that tlie foreign 
 merchants, after having purchased the tin at the 
 Isle of Ictis, and conveyed it across the sea to the 
 opposite coast of Gaul, were then wont to send it 
 overland to the mouth of the Rhone, an operation 
 which consumed thirty days. At the mouth of the 
 Rhone it was no doubt purchased by the merchants 
 of Marseilles, and at a later period also by their 
 rivals of Narbonne, if we are not rather to suppose 
 that the Gallic tiaders who brought it from Britain 
 were merely their agents. Ceesar, however, ex- 
 pressly informs us that the Veneti, who occupied a 
 part of the present Bretague, had many ships of 
 their own, in which they were accustomed to make 
 voyages to Britain. From the two great emporia in 
 the south of France the commodity was diffused 
 over all other parts of the earth, as it had been at an 
 earlier period from Cadiz and the other Phoenician 
 colonies on the south coast of Spain. 
 
 It appears from Strabo, however, that the operose 
 and tedious mode of conveyance by land carriage 
 from the coast of Brittany to the gulf of Lyons was 
 eventually abandoned for other routes, in which 
 some advantage could be taken of the natural means 
 of ti'ansportation afforded by the country. By one 
 of these, the British goods being brought to the 
 mouth of the Seine, in Normandy, were sent up 
 that river as far as it was navigable, and then, being 
 carried on horses a short distance overland, were 
 transmitted for the i-emainder of the way down the 
 Rhone, and afterAvards along the coast to Narbonne 
 and Marseilles. It is probable enough that the Isle 
 of Wight, which is opposite to the mouth of the 
 Seine, may have been used as the mart of the 
 British trade in this navigation, for which purpose it 
 was also well adapted, as lying about midway between 
 Cornwall and Kent, and being therefore more con- 
 veniently situated than any other spot both for the 
 supply of the whole line of coast with foreign com- 
 modities, and for the export of native produce. 
 When the route we are now describing came to be 
 adopted for the British trade generally, even a por- 
 tion of the tin of Cornwall may have found its way 
 to this central depot. But even after land carriage 
 came to be displaced by river navigation, a large 
 portion of the British trade still continued to be car- 
 ried on from the west coast of Gaul, through the 
 medium botli of the Loire and tlie Garonne. The 
 
 Loire seems to have been taken advantage of chiefly 
 to convey the exports from Narbonne and Marseilles 
 down to the sea-coast after they had been brought 
 by land across the countiy from Lyons, to which 
 point they had been sent up by the Rhone. The 
 Garonne was used for the conveyance to the south 
 of France of British produce, which was sent up that 
 river as far as it was navigable, and thence carried to 
 its destination over land. 
 
 This is nearly all that is known respecting the 
 commercial intercourse of Britain with other parts 
 of the world before the countrj- became a province of 
 the Roman empue. The traffic both with Carthage 
 and the Phoenician colonies in the south of Spain 
 had of course ceased long before Caesar's invasion ; 
 at that date the only direct trade of the island was 
 with the western and northwestern coasts of Gaul, 
 from the Garonne as far probably as to the Rhine ; 
 for, in addition to the passage of commodities, as just 
 explained, to and from Provence, the Belgic colonists, 
 who now occupied so large a portion of the maritime 
 disti'icts in the south of Britain, appear also from 
 their first settlement to have kept up an active inter- 
 course wth their original seats on the continent, 
 which stretched to the last-mentioned river. The 
 British line of communication, on the other hand, 
 may be presumed to have extended from the Land's 
 End to the mouth of the Thames; though it was 
 probably only at two or three points in the course of 
 that long distance that the continental vessels were 
 in the habit of touching. There is no evidence that 
 any of the vessels in which the trade Avitli the con- 
 tinent was carried on belonged to Britain. The 
 island in those days seems only to have been resorted 
 to by strangers as the native place of certain valuable 
 commodities, and to have maintained little or no inter- 
 change of visits with foreign shores. Even from this 
 imperfect intercourse with the rest of the world, 
 however, the inhabitants of all this line of coast must 
 have been enabled to keep up, as we are assured 
 they did, a verj- considerably higher degi'ee of civil- 
 ization than would be found among the back-woods- 
 men bej'ond them. It is to be remembered that no 
 small amount of the commercial spirit may exist in a 
 country which maintains no intercourse with for- 
 eigners except in its own ports. The situation of 
 Britain in this respect, two thousand years ago, may 
 be likened indeed to tliat of Spitzbergen or New 
 Zealand at present; but the same peculiarity, which 
 at first sight seems to us so remarkable and so unnat- 
 ural, characterizes the great commercial empire of 
 China. There the national customs and the insti- 
 tutions of the government have done their utmost 
 to discourage and restrain the spirit of commercial 
 enterprise ; but that spirit is an essential part of 
 the social principle, and as such is unextinguishable 
 wherever the immutable circumstances of physical 
 situation are not adverse to its development. Hence, 
 although their laws and traditionaiy morality have 
 operated with, so much effect as to prevent the peo- 
 ple of China from pushiag to any extent what may 
 be called an aggi'essive commerce, that is to say, 
 from seeking markets for their commodities in foreign
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 91 
 
 countiies, these adverse influences have not been able 
 so far to overcome the natural incentives arising out 
 of their geogi-aphical position as to induce them to 
 refrain equally from what we may call admissive 
 commerce, or indeed to be other than very eager 
 followers of it. The case of the early Britons may 
 have been somewhat similar. The genius of most 
 of the Oriental religions seem to have been opposed 
 to foreign intercourse of eveiy kind, the prohibition 
 or systematic discouragement of which the priests 
 doubtless regarded as one of their most important 
 securities for the preservation of their influence and 
 authority ; and very probably such may also have been 
 the spu-it of the Celtic or Druidical religion. It is 
 remarkable, at least, that the well-ascertained Celtic 
 tribes of Europe, though distributed for the most part 
 along the sea-coast, have never exhibited any striking 
 aptitude either for navigation or for any employment 
 in connexion with the sea. 
 
 The most particular account of the exports and 
 imports constituting the most ancient British trade is 
 that quoted above from Stiabo, and it is probably 
 not very complete. It only adds the single article of 
 skins to the tin and lead mentioned by Festus Avienus 
 and others. It is probable, however, that the island 
 was known for a few other products besides these, 
 even before the first Roman invasion. Caesar ex- 
 pressly mentions iron as found, although in small 
 quantities, in the maritime disti'icts. And it appears 
 from some passages in the Letters of Cicero, that 
 the fame of the British war-chariots had already 
 reached Rome. Writing to Trebatius, while the 
 latter was here with Csesar, b.c. 55, after obsei-ving 
 that he hears Britain yielded neither gold nor silver, 
 the orator playfully exhorts his friend to get hold of 
 one of the esseda of the island, and make his way 
 back to them at Rome with his best speed. In an- 
 other epistle he cautions Trebatius to take care that 
 he be not snatched up and carried off before he 
 knows where he is, by some driver of one of these 
 rapid vehicles. Strabo's account of the foreign com- 
 modities imported into Britain in those days is, that 
 they consisted of earthenware, salt, and articles of 
 bronze, which last expression is undoubtedly to be 
 understood as meaning not mere toys, but articles of 
 use, in the fabrication of which bronze, as we have 
 explained above, was the great material made use of 
 in early times. Cresar also testifies that all the bronze 
 made use of by the Britons was obtained from abroad. 
 The metal, however, as we shall presently have oc- 
 casion to show, was probably imported to some ex- 
 tent in ingots or masses, as well as in manufactured 
 articles. Much of the bronze which was thus brought 
 to them, whether in lumps of metal, or in the shape 
 of weapons of war and other necessary or useful 
 articles, had no doubt been formed by the aid of their 
 own tin. Neither the Britons themselves, nor any 
 of the foreigners who traded with them at this early 
 period, appear to have been aware of the abundant 
 stores of copper which the island is now known to 
 contain. Indeed the British copper-mines have only 
 been wrought to any considerable extent in very 
 recent times. 
 
 Having thus collected and arranged the few but 
 interesting facts that have been preserved relating 
 to the earliest interchange of their own commodities 
 for those of foreign parts, carried on by the ancient 
 Britons, we now proceed to take a survey, as far as 
 our scanty sources of information enable us to do, of 
 the different aits of life which appear to have been 
 known and practised among themselves. 
 
 We begin with their modes of obtaining subsist- 
 ence. The country, as has already appeared, is 
 presented to us, when the first light of history dawns 
 upon it, as inhabited by a mixed race of people, di- 
 vided into many tribes, varying more or less from 
 each other in dress, customs, and acquirements ; 
 those situated farthest fi-om the south coast being 
 the rudest in their manner of life, and the most de- 
 ficient in general information. These, as we are 
 informed by Caesar, never sowed their land, but fol- 
 lowed the primitive callings of the hunter and the 
 herdsman, clad in the skins, and living upon the flesh 
 and the milk of their flocks and herds, and the spoils 
 of the chace, which was at once their sport and their 
 occupation. Although they had abundance of milk, 
 however, some of the Britons, according to Strabo, 
 were ignoi-ant of the art of making cheese ; and it 
 is asserted by Xiphilinus, that none of them ever 
 tasted fish, although they had multitudes in their 
 lakes and rivers ; but whether from an ignorance of 
 the art of fishing, or from some religious or other 
 prejudice, does not appear. Caesar, who says noth- 
 ing of this, states that they thought it wrong to eat 
 either the hare, the common fowl, or the goose, 
 although they reared these animals for pleasure. 
 The limits of pasturage were marked as in the patri- 
 archal times, recorded in the Scriptures, by large, 
 upright, single stones, numbers of which are still to 
 be found all over the kingdom, and are known by 
 the names of hoar or hare stones (t. e. literally border 
 or boundary stones) in England, and maen hir or 
 menni gwyr in Wales.' 
 
 The southern ti-ibes inhabiting the coasts of the 
 British channel, and more particularly the Cantii or 
 people of Kent, are distinguished by Caesar as re- 
 sembling in habits and manners the Belgic Gauls, their 
 opposite neighbors and kinsmen. They possessed 
 the same knowledge of agriculture, and, according to 
 Pliny, were not only acquainted with the modes of 
 manuring the soil in use in other counti'ies, but prac- 
 tised one peculiar to themselves and the Gauls. This 
 was the application of marl to that purpose ; and one 
 white chalky sort is mentioned, the effects of which 
 had been found to continue eighty years ; " no man," 
 it is added, " having yet been known to have manured 
 the same field twice in liis lifetime." Of the British 
 insti-uments, and methods of ploughing, sowing, and 
 reaping, we have no information ; but thej' were 
 probably the same as in Belgium and Gaul, and little 
 diff'erent from those used in Italy at that period. 
 
 To the flail the Britons appear to have been 
 strangers ; for Diodorus Siculus tells us they had 
 
 1 Menhars in Armoricisaboundstone. See on this subject a learned 
 and highly curious letter by the late William Hamper, Esq., F.S.A , in 
 the 23lh vol. of the Archaeoloda.
 
 93 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 Hare Stone, Cornwall. — From King's Munimenia Antiqua. 
 
 granaries or subten-anean chambers, in which they 
 housed their corn in the ear, beating out no more 
 tlian they required for the day ; then, drying and 
 bruising the grain, they made a kind of food of it for 
 immediate use. Some vestiges of this ancient prac- 
 tice were remaining not long ago in the western isles 
 of Scotland. " It is called graddan" says Martin, 
 "from the Ii-ish word grad, which signifies quick. 
 A woman, sitting down, takes a handful of corn, 
 holding it by the stalks in her left hand, and then 
 sets fire to the ears, which are presently in a flame ; 
 she has a stick in her right hand, which she manages 
 very dextrously, beating off the grain at the very 
 instant when the husk is quite burnt ; for, if she miss 
 of that, she must use the kiln ; but experience has 
 taught them this art to perfection. The corn may 
 be so dressed, winnowed, ground, and baked within 
 an hour."' 
 
 1 Description of the Western Isles of Scotland, p. 204. 
 
 ■<t> 
 
 GeoundPlan anil i-^Ecxios of the Sibterrasean Chamber at 
 Carrighuill, in the Countv or Cork. 
 
 Several subterranean caves were discovered in 
 1829, on a farm named Garranes, in the parish of 
 Carrighhill, about nine miles east of Cork, perfectly 
 corresponding with the descriptions of Diodorus and 
 Tacitus, tlie latter of whom mentions the existence 
 of a similar practice amongst the ancient Germans. 
 They were situated within a circular intrenchment, 
 commonly but improperly called a Danish fort. They 
 consisted of five chambers of an oval or circular form. 
 
 Plan of Chambers on a Farm Twelve Miles from Ballyhendon. 
 
 Section of a Chamber at Kildrcmpber. 
 about seven or eight feet each in diameter, commu- 
 nicating with each other by narrow passages. A 
 considerable quantity of charcoal was found in them,
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 93 
 
 and the fragments of a quei-n or hand-mill.' More 
 were subsequently discovered in other parts of the 
 south of Ireland, differing only from the above in 
 their being lined with stone f and some are still re- 
 maining in the western isles of Scotland^ and in 
 Cornwall.^ The pits near Crayford and at Faver- 
 sham in Kent, at Tilbury in Essex, and at Royston 
 in Hertfordshire, are also presumed to have been 
 made for or appropriated to that purpose.^ Of gar- 
 dening Strabo expressly states that some of the 
 Britons knew nothing, any more than others did of 
 agriculture ; and we have no notices of any fruits or 
 garden vegetables cultivated in the country before 
 its subjugation by the Romans. 
 
 With regard to the houses of the Britons, at the 
 period of the Roman invasion, we have the testimony 
 of Caesar, that on the southern coast, where they 
 were numerous, they were nearly of the same de- 
 scription with those of the Gauls. Diodorus Siculus 
 calls them wretched cottages, constructed of wood 
 and covered with straw ; and those of Gaul are de- 
 scribed by Strabo as being constructed of poles and 
 wattled work, in the form of a circle, with lofty, 
 tapering, or pointed roofs. Representations of the 
 
 Gaulish Hdts. — From the Antonine Column. 
 
 Gaulish houses occur on the Antonine column, 
 agreeing sufficiently with the description of Strabo, 
 but the roofs are in general domed. They all have 
 one or more lofty arched entrances ; but from want 
 of skill in the artist, they certainly appear, as a 
 modern writer has remarked, more like the large tin 
 canisters set up as signs by grocers, than habitable 
 
 1 Archffiologia, vol. xxiii. p. 79. 2 Ibid. p. 82 
 
 3 Martin's Description, p. 154, 
 
 * Borlase's Antiquities of Cornwall, p. 292-3. 
 
 6 Vide Cough's Additions to Camden's Brit., vol. i. p. 341 ; vol. ii. p. 
 41. Hasted's Hist, of Kent, vol. i. p. 211, and vol. ii. p. 717, and King's 
 Munimenta Antiqua, vol. i. p. 53 
 
 buildings.' At Grimspound, Devonshire,^ in the 
 island of Anglesey,^ and in many other parts of the 
 United Kingdom, vestiges are to be seen of stone 
 foundations and walls, apparently of circular houses. 
 Near Chun Castle, in Cornwall, are several dilapi- 
 dated walls of circular buildings, the foundations 
 detached from each other, and consisting of large 
 stones piled together without mortar : each hut 
 measures from ten to twenty feet in diameter, and 
 has a dooi-way with an upright stone or jamb on 
 each side. There is no appearance of chimneys or 
 windows.* 
 
 They had nothing amongst them answering to the 
 Roman ideas of a city or town. " What the Britons 
 call a town," says Caesar, "is a tract of woody 
 country, suiTounded by a vallum (or high bank) and 
 a ditch for the security of themselves and cattle 
 against the incursions of their enemies ;" and Strabo 
 observes, " The forests of the Britons are their 
 cities ; for, when they have inclosed a very large 
 circuit with felled trees, they build within it houses 
 for themselves and hovels for their cattle. These 
 buildings are very slight, and not designed for long 
 duration." What Caesar calls a vallum and ditch is 
 expressed in Welsh by the words caer and din or 
 dinas ; the same with the Gaelic dun. The caer is 
 generally found to consist of a single vallum and 
 ditch. Such is the circular intrenchment called 
 Caer Morus, in the parish of Cellan, county of Car- 
 digan. The dun, din, or dinas was a more important 
 work, and generally crested like a fortress some very 
 commanding situation. The Catterthuns in Angus- 
 shire, Scotland, are posts of great sti-ength. The 
 mountain on which they stand is bifurcated with a 
 fortress on each peak, the highest called the White, 
 the other the Black Catterthun. The White is of 
 an oval form, and made of a stupendous dike of 
 loose white stones, whose convexity from the base 
 within to that without is 122 feet. On the outside 
 of a hollow made by the disposition of the stones, is 
 a rampart suiTounding the whole, at the base of 
 which is a deep ditch, and below that, about 100 
 yards, are vestiges of another that went round the 
 hill. The area within the stony mound is flat : the 
 greatest extent of the oval is 436 feet; the transverse 
 line is 200. Near the east side is the foundation of 
 a rectangular building, and on most parts are the 
 foundations of others, small and circular. There is 
 also a hollow, now almost filled with stones, which 
 was once the well of the place.^ • 
 
 The towns of the warlike Britons were all, in 
 fact, military posts ; and we have the testimony of 
 Caesar, that they evidenced distinguished skill in 
 fortification and castrametation. The capital of Cas- 
 
 1 Vide also King's Munimenta Antiqua, vol. i. p. 112, for vignette 
 representing a Welsh pig-sty, numbers of which occur in the neigh- 
 borhood of Llaudaff, and have been supposed to have been built in im- 
 itation of the ancient British houses. However unfounded the notion, 
 there can be but one opinion of their accordance in shape to those de- 
 scribed by Strabo. 
 
 * Lyson's Brit. vi. cccvi. 
 
 3 Rowland's Mona Antiqua, pp. 88, 89. 
 
 * Borlase. Britton's Architectural Antiquities, ii. p. 57. ArchffiO- 
 logia, vol. xxii. p. 300, and Appendix. 
 
 5 Munimenta Antiqua, vol. i. p. 27. Meyrick's Orig. Inhab. p. 7 
 Pennant's Tour in Scotland, part. ii. p. 157.
 
 94 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boor I. 
 
 
 Welsh Pig sty, supposed to represent the form of the Ancient British Houses. (See Xote.) 
 
 sivellaunus he describes as admii-ably defended {egre- 
 gie munitum) both by nature and art. Chun Castle, 
 which we have before mentioned, is another highly 
 interesting specimen of an ancient British dun, or 
 fortress. It consists of two circular walls, having a 
 teiTace thirty feet wide between. The walls are 
 built of rough masses of granite of various sizes, 
 some five or six feet long, fitted together and piled 
 up without cement, but presenting a regular and 
 tolerably smooth surface on the outside. The outer 
 
 West. 
 
 Section. 
 Plan and Section of Chun Castle. 
 
 wall was surrounded by a ditch nineteen feet in 
 width : part of this wall in one place is ten feet 
 high, and about five feet thick. Borlase is of opinion 
 that the inner wall must have been at least fifteen 
 feet high ; it is about twelve feet thick. The only 
 entrance was towards the southwest, and exhibits in 
 its arrangement a surprising degree of skill and mili- 
 tary knowledge for the time at which, it is supposed 
 to have been constructed. It is six feet wide in the 
 narrowest part, and sixteen in the widest, where the 
 walls diverge, and are rounded ofl^ on either side. 
 There also appear indications of steps up to the 
 level of the area within the castle, and the remains 
 of a wall, which, crossing the ten-ace from the outer 
 wall, divided the entrance into two parts at its widest 
 end. The inner wall of the castle incloses an area 
 measuring 175 feet north and south, by 180 feet east 
 and west. The centre is without any indication of 
 buildings ; but all around, and next to the wall, are 
 the remains of circular inclosures, supposed to have 
 formed the habitable parts of the castle. They are 
 generally about eighteen or twenty feet in diameter, 
 but at the northern side there is a larger apartment 
 thirty by twenty-six.^ Castle an Dinas and Caer 
 Bran, both in the same county of Cornwall, exhibit 
 similar vestiges of circular stone walls, containing 
 smaller inclosures. The first is situated on one of 
 the highest hills in the hundred of Penwith ; the 
 second on a hill in the parish of Sancred.^ A fine 
 specimen of a triple ramparted British camp exists 
 on one of the Malvern Hills, called the Herefordshire 
 Beacon. Of ancient British earth-works also there 
 is a most interesting relic at Tynwald, in the Isle of 
 Man.^ It is a round hill of earth, cut into terraces, 
 
 1 ArrhsBologia, vol. xxii. p. 300. 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 En^aved in Grose, vol. viii. p. 61. Described in Cough's Cam- 
 den, 700. 701.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 95 
 
 The Herefordshire Beacon. 
 
 and ascended by steps of earth like a regular stair- 
 case. The enti'ance into the area had stone jambs, 
 covered with ti-ansverse imposts, fixed by the con- 
 trivance called a tenon and mortice, like those at 
 Stonehenge. 
 
 The last-named stupendous monument, and similar 
 circles and inclosures in various parts of the kingdom, 
 are evidences of a much higher degi'ee of archi- 
 tectural skill than is displayed either in the domestic 
 or the military erections we have noticed. The 
 application of the principle of the lever must have 
 been known to those by whom such enormous blocks 
 of stone were lifted from the quany, conveyed to 
 the place where they were to be used, and hoisted 
 and disposed in then- present form. It thus appears, 
 that although the towns of the Britons may be 
 likened to the kraals of the Hottentots, their for- 
 tresses, castles, and the pillared circles dedicated to 
 the worship of their divinities, or the solemn delibera- 
 tions of their kings or legislators, are not to be pai'al- 
 leled amongst savages. 
 
 With regard to the furniture and interior decora- 
 tions of the habitations of the Britons, a knowledge 
 of which would throw considerable light upon the 
 degree of civilization to which they had attained, we 
 are completely in the dark. But however poorly 
 furnished the houses of private individuals may have 
 been, it is probable enough that the residences of 
 their kings, their sages, and their chiefs, were not 
 destitute of such comforts and even ornaments or 
 elegancies as their intercourse, first with the Phoeni- 
 
 cians, and afterwards with the Gauls, would have 
 procured them, supposing them to have been abo 
 riginal savages, instead of colonists, bearing with 
 them the arts, customs, and manners of the counti'ies 
 from whence they came . Of the handicrafts in which 
 they themselves excelled, that of basket-making or 
 wicker-work has been particularly mentioned by the 
 Roman poets, Juvenal and Martial. The Latin 
 hascauda, fiom whence is the modern basket, ap- 
 pears to have been a British word. Wicker-work 
 was used in the construction of their smaller boats 
 by the Britons ; and of this manufacture were made 
 the gigantic idols in which they burned their victims 
 at their religious festivals. Long before the arrival 
 of the Romans, it is obvious that the Britons must 
 have possessed certain implements required for the 
 cutting, smoothing, shaping, and joining of wood.^ 
 Besides their houses, they had, as we have already 
 seen, at the time of Caesar's invasion, not only instru- 
 ments of husbandry, but caiTiages both for war and 
 for other purposes. These war-carriages have al- 
 ready been described in our narrative of their pro- 
 ti-acted contest with their invaders. The Greek and 
 Roman writers mention the British wheel-carriages 
 under the six different names of Benna, Petoritum, 
 Currus or CaiTus, Covinus, Essedum or Esseda, 
 and Rheda ; and it is thought by some, though 
 
 1 See a great variety of those instruments called celts in the fifth 
 vol. of the Archaeoloeia, p. 106, shaped so as to serve for chisels, adzes, 
 hatchets, &c. Some have been found with cases to them, as if to pre- 
 serve their edge.
 
 96 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 CoNSTANTiNE ToLMAN, Cornwall; consisting of a vast stone 33 feet long, 14i deep, and 18A across, pl.nced on the points of two natural 
 rocks. The stone, which is calculated to weigh 750 tons, points due south and noilti. 
 
 perhaps without sufficient reason, that each of these 
 terms designated a particular description of can-inge. 
 The covinus is supposed to have been the cliariot 
 which was armed with a scythe.- 
 
 There is no reasonable ground for supposing, as 
 some writers have done, that the ancient Britons 
 possessed any description of navigating vessels which 
 could properly be termed ships of war. The notion 
 has been taken up on an inference from a passage in 
 Caesar, or rather from a comparison of several pas- 
 sages, which the language of that vsTiter rightly 
 understood, certainly does not at all authorize. C?e- 
 sar gives us in one place an account of a naval en- 
 gagement which he had with the Veneti of western 
 Gaul, whose ships appear, from his description, to 
 have been very formidable military engines. Tn a 
 preceding chapter he had informed us, that in making 
 preparations for their resistance to the Roman arms, 
 the Veneti, after fortifying their towns, and collect- 
 ing their whole naval sti'ength at one point, associated 
 with them for the purpose of carrj'ing on the war, 
 the Osismii, the Lexobii, and other neighboring tribes, 
 and also sent for aid out of Britain, which lay directly 
 over against their coast. But it is not said that the 
 assistance which they thus obtained, either from 
 Britain or any other quarter, consisted of ships. It 
 does not even appear that it consisted of seamen ; for, 
 although it so happened that the war was terminated 
 by the destruction of the naval power of the Veneti, 
 in the engagement we have just mentioned, prepara- 
 
 1 " Agmina falcifero circumvenit arcta Covino," Silius Italicus. So 
 also Mela, iii. 6. See the Collect, de Reb. Hih. pi. 11, for a represen- 
 tation of one (as it is presumed) thirteen inches long. 
 
 tions had evidently been made in the first instance 
 for carrying it on by land as well as by sea. The 
 supposition that the Britons possessed anj' ships at 
 all resembling the high-riding, strong-timbered, iron- 
 bound vessels of this principal maritime power of 
 Gaul — provided, amongst other things, Cffisai' assures 
 us, with chain cables (anchora, j^^o funihus, Jerreis 
 catenis revinctee) — is in violent contradiction to the 
 general bearing of all the other recorded and probable 
 facts respecting the condition of our island and its 
 inhabitants at that period. There is no evidence or 
 reason for believing that they were masters of any 
 other navigating vessels than open boats, of which it 
 may be doubted if any were even furnished with 
 sails. Their common boat appears to have been 
 what is still called the currach by the Irish, and the 
 coracle (cwrwgyl) by the Welsh, formed of osier 
 twigs, covered with hide. The small boats yet in 
 use upon the rivers of Wales and Ireland are in 
 shape like a walnut-shell, and rowed with one pad- 
 dle. Pliny, as already noticed, quotes the old Greek 
 historian Timaeus, as affirming that the Britons used 
 to make their way to an island at the distance of 
 six days' sail in boats made of wattles, and covered 
 with skins ; and Solinus states that in his time, the 
 communication between Britain and Ireland was kept 
 up on both sides by means of these vessels. Caesar, 
 in his history of the Civil War, tells us that, having 
 learned their use while in Britain, he availed himself 
 of them in crossing rivers in Spain ; and we learn 
 from Lucan, that they were used on the Nile and 
 the Po, as well as by the Britons. Another kind of 
 British boat seems to have been made out of a single
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY, 
 
 97 
 
 tree, like the Indian canoes. Several of these have 
 been discovered. In 1736 one was dug up from a 
 morass called Lockermoss, in Dumfries, Scotland. 
 It was seven feet long, dilated to a considerable 
 breadth at one end : the paddle was found near it. 
 Another, hollowed out of a solid ti-ee, was seen by 
 Mr. Pennant, near Rilblain. It measured eight feet 
 three inches long, and eleven inches deep. In the 
 year 1720 several canoes similar to these were dug 
 up in the marshes of the river Medway, above Maid- 
 stone ; one of them so well preserved as to be used 
 as a boat for some time afterwards. On draining 
 Martine Muir, or Marton Lake, in Lancashire, 
 there were found sunk at the bottom, eight canoes, 
 each made of a single ti-ee, much like the American 
 canoes.' In 1834 a boat of the same description 
 was found in a creek near the village of North Stoke, 
 on the river Arun, Sussex. It is now in the British 
 Museum, and measures in length thirty-five feet four 
 inches ; in depth one foot ten inches ; and in width, 
 m the middle, four feet six inches. There are three 
 bars left at the bottom, at different distances from 
 each other, and from the ends, which seemed to 
 have served the double purpose of strengthening it 
 and giving firm footing to those who rowed or paddled 
 the canoe. It seems to have been made, or at least 
 finished, by sharpened instruments, and not by fire, 
 according to the practices of the Indians.- 
 
 Although Strabo mentions articles of earthenware 
 among the supplies brought to the inhabitants of the 
 tin islands by the foreign merchants, it is probable 
 that the art of manufacturing certain descriptions of 
 such articles was not unknown to the Britons. The 
 Gauls had numerous and extensive potteries. The 
 British earthenware, however, appears to have been 
 of an inferior description, composed of veiy coarse 
 materials, nidely formed, before the use of the lathe 
 was known, imperfectly baked, and subject, therefore, 
 to crack by mei-e exposure to the weather. The 
 ornaments chiefly consisted of the zigzag pattern, 
 
 ^ King's Munimenta Antiqua, vol. i. page 28, &c. 
 2 Archaeologia, vol. xivi. p. 257, <fec. 
 
 and of lines evidently worked by some pointed in- 
 strument, W'ith the hand, and not formed in a mould. 
 The vases most frequently found are dii^ed by Sir 
 R. Colt Hoare into three kinds. 1. The large sepul- 
 chral or funeral urn, which contains the burnt bones 
 of the deceased, sometimes in an upright, but more 
 frequently in a reversed position. It is usually a 
 truncated cone, plain, standing mouth downwards in 
 a dish to fit, like a pie dish, worked with zigzags. 2. 
 The drinking cup, most frequently found with skele- 
 tons, and placed at the head and feet, of a ban-e) 
 form, but widening at the mouth, always neatly or- 
 namented with zigzag or other patterns, and holding 
 about a quart in measure : they are supposed to have 
 contained articles of food for the dead. 3. Incense- 
 cups, or thuribula, diminutive, more fantastic in shape 
 and ornaments than the former, frequently perforated 
 in the sides, and sometimes in the bottom, like a 
 cullender. These are supposed to have been filled 
 with balsams and precious ointments, or frankin- 
 cense, and to have been suspended over the funeral 
 pile.' 
 
 Among the useful arts practised by the ancient 
 Britons, they must be allowed to have had some 
 acquaintance with those relating to the metals, but 
 how much it is not easy to determine. Both Strabo 
 and Diodorus Siculus have briefly noticed their 
 mode of obtaining the tin from the earth. The for- 
 mer obsei-ves that Publius Crassus, upon his visit to 
 the Cassiterides, found the mines worked to a very 
 small depth. It may be inferred from this expres- 
 sion, that the only mining known to the natives was 
 that which consisted in digging a foAv feet into the 
 earth, and collecting what is now called the stream 
 tin, from the modern process of washing and sepa- 
 rating the particles of the ore thus lodged by direct- 
 ing over their bed a stream of water. No tools of 
 which they were possessed could have enabled them 
 to cut their way to the veins of metal concealed in 
 the rocks. The language of Diodorus supports the 
 same conclusion. He speaks of the tin as being 
 
 ' Ancient Wiltshire, Inlrod. i. 25 
 
 Side View 
 
 Foreshortened View, showing the End 
 
 Anciknt British C.vmoes.— Found at North Stoke, Susses 
 
 VOL. 1.— 7
 
 98 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book 1 
 
 mixed with earth when it is first dug oiit of the mine ; 
 but, from what he adds, it would api)ear that the 
 islanders knew how to separate the metal fiom tlie 
 dross by smelting. After it was thus purified, they 
 prepared it for miirket by casting it into ingots in the 
 shape of dice. What lead they had Avas no doubt 
 procured in like manner from the surface of the soil 
 or a vei-y small depth under it. Phny indeed ex- 
 pressly states that, even in his time, this latter metal 
 was found in Britain in gi-eat plenty lying thus ex- 
 posed or scarcely covered. 
 
 There is eveiy reason to believe that some knowl- 
 edge of the art of working in metals was possessed 
 by the Britons before the Roman invasion. Moulds 
 for spear, aiTow, and axe heads have been freauently 
 
 Moulds for Spear-Heads. 
 
 found both in Britain and Ireland ;' and the discovery 
 in 1735, on Easterly Moor, near York, of 100 axe- 
 heads, with several lumps of metal and a quantity of 
 cinders, may be considered sufficient testimony that 
 at least the bronze imported into Britain was cast 
 into shapes by the inhabitants themselves.^ The 
 metal of which the British weapons and tools were 
 made has been chemically analyzed in modern times, 
 and the proportions appear to be, in a spear-head, 
 one part of tin to six of copper ; in an axe-head, one 
 of tin and ten of copper; and in a knife, one of tin to 
 seven and a half of copper.^ 
 
 1 Archaeologia, vol. xiv. pi. Iv. and vol. xv. pi. xxxiv. Collectanea de 
 Reb. Hibem. vol. iv. pi. i. 
 
 2 Borlase's Conivfall, p. 287. 
 
 3 Meyrick's Original Inhabitants, and Philosophical Transactions for 
 1790, p. 395. &c. 
 
 Axe-IIeads, commonly called Celts. 
 
 Wliatever knowledge the Gauls possessed of the 
 art of fabricating and dyeing cloth, the more civilized 
 inhabitants of the south of Britum, having come 
 originally from Gaul, and always keeping uj) a close 
 intercourse with the people of that country, may be 
 fairly presumed to have shared with them. The 
 long dark-colored mantles in which Strabo describes 
 the inhabitants ol' the Cassiterides as attired, may 
 indeed have been of skins, but were more probably 
 of some woolen texture. The Gauls are stated by 
 various ancient authors to have both woven and dyed 
 wool ; and Pliny mentions a kind of felt which they 
 made merely by pressure, which was so hai-d and 
 sh-ong, especially when vinegar was used in its man- 
 ufacture, that it would resist the blow of a sword. 
 Caesar tells us that the ships of the Veneti of Gaul, 
 notwithstanding their superior strength and size, had 
 only skins for sails ; and he expresses a doubt as to 
 whether that mateiial was not employed either from 
 the want of linen or ignorance of its use. At a some- 
 wbat later period, liowever, it appears from Pliny 
 that linen cloth was fabricated in all parts of Gaul. 
 The dyes which the Britons used for their cloth 
 were probably exti'acted from the same plant from 
 which they obtained those with which tliey marked 
 their skin, namely, the isatis, or woad. " Its color," 
 says a late WTiter, "was somewhat like indigo, which 
 
 has in a gieat degi-ee superseded the use of it 
 
 The best woad usually yields a blue tint, but that 
 herb, as well as indigo, when partially deoxidated, 
 
 has been found to yield a fine gi-een The robes 
 
 of the fanatic British women, witches, or priestesses, 
 were black, vestis feralis ; and that color was a thu"d 
 prepaivation of woad by the application of a gi-eater 
 heat." ' Woad is still cultivated for the purposes of 
 dj'eing in France, and also, to a smaller extent, in 
 England. 
 
 Some of the facts stated above would seem to 
 afford us reason for suspecting that Britain was bet- 
 ter known even to tlie Roman world before the two 
 expeditions of Cwsar than is commonly supposed, or 
 than we should be led to infer from Caesar's own 
 account of those attempts. We may even doubt 
 whether he was himself as ignorant of the coimtiy 
 
 1 Britannia after the Romans, p. 56.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 99 
 
 WoAD — (Isatis Tmctoria. 
 
 as he aflfects to have been. He may veiy possibly 
 Imve wished to give to his achievement the ah' of a 
 discovery as well as of a conquest. Tacitus, as we 
 have seen, is disposed to claim for Agi'icola, a century 
 and a half later, the honor of having first ascertained 
 Britain to be an island, although even Csesar pro- 
 fesses no doubt about that point; and from the lan- 
 guage of every preceding ^^Titer who mentions the 
 name of the country, its insular character must evi- 
 dently have been well known from time immemorial. 
 The Romans did nothing directly, and, notwithstand- 
 ing all their conquests, little even indirectly in geo- 
 gi'aphical discovery ; almost wherever they peneti-ated 
 the Greeks or the orientals had been before them ; 
 and any reputation gained in that field would naturally 
 be valued in proportion to its rarity. But however 
 this may be, Cajsar's invasion certainly had tiie 
 immediate effect of giving a celebrity to Britain 
 which it had never before enjoyed. Lucretius, the 
 oldest Roman writer who has mentioned Britain, is 
 also, we believe, the only one in whose works the 
 name is found before the date of Caesar's visit. Of 
 the interest which that event excited, the Letters of 
 Cicero, to some passages of which we have aheady 
 refeiTed, written at the time both to his brother 
 Quintus, who was in Caesar's army, and to Atticus 
 and his other friends, afford suflScient evidence. In 
 the firet instance, expectations seem to have been 
 excited that the conquest would probably yield more 
 than barren laurels ; but tliese were soon dissipated. 
 " It is ascertained," Caesar A\Tites to Atticus, before 
 the issue of tlie expedition was yet known at Rome, 
 " that the approaches to tlie island are defended by 
 
 natural impediments of wonderful vastness {mirificis^ 
 molihus) ; and it is known too by this time that there 
 is not a scruple of silver in that island, nor the least 
 chance of booty, unless it may be from slaves, of 
 whom you will scarcely expect to find any very highly 
 accomplished in letters or in music." ' So, also, in 
 the epistle immediately following to the same corres- 
 pondent, he mentions having had letters both from 
 his brother and from Caesar, informing him that the 
 business in Britain was finished, and that hostages 
 had been received from the inhabitants ; but that no 
 booty had been obtained, although a pecuniaiy tribute 
 had been imposed {imjyerata tamen j^ecunia). 
 
 Although the island was not conquered by Caesar, 
 the way was in a manner opened to it, and its name 
 rendei-ed ever after familiar, by his sword and his 
 pen. Besides the reduction of Gaul, which he ef- 
 fected, removed the most considerable barrier be- 
 tween the Romans and Britain. After that, whether 
 compelled to receive an imperial governor or left 
 unattacked, it could not remain as much dissociated 
 from the rest of the world and unvisited as before. 
 A land of Roman arts, letters, and government, — of 
 Roman order and magnificence, public and private, — 
 now lay literally under tlie eyes of the natives of 
 Britain ; and it was impossible that such a spectacle 
 should have been long contemplated, and that the 
 intercoui-se which must have existed between the 
 two closely approaching coasts could have long gone 
 on, without the ideas and habits of the formerly seclud- 
 ed islanders, semibarbarians themselves and encom- 
 passed by semibarbarians, undergoing some change. 
 Accordingly Strabo has intimated that, even in his 
 time, that is to say, in the reign of Augustus, the 
 Roman arts, manners, and religion had gained some 
 footing in Britain. It appears also, from his account, 
 that although no annual payment under the obnox- 
 ious name of a tribute was exacted from the Britons 
 by Augustus, yet that prince derived a considerable 
 revenue, not only from the presents which were 
 made to him by the British princes, but also by 
 means of what would certainly now be accounted a 
 veiy decided exercise of sovereignty over the island, 
 the imposition of duties or customs upon exports and 
 imports. To these imposts, it seems, the Britons sub- 
 mitted without resistance ; yet they must of course 
 have been collected by functionaries of the imperial 
 government stationed within the island, for it is well 
 known to have been a leading regulation of the 
 Roman financial system that all such duties should 
 be paid on goods exported before embarkation, and 
 on goods imported before they were landed. If the 
 duties were not paid according to this rule, the goods 
 were forfeited. The right of inspection, and the 
 other rights with which the collectors were invested 
 to enable them to appoition and levy these taxes, 
 were necessarily of the most arbitrary description ; 
 and they must have been even more than ordinarily 
 so in a country where the imperial government was 
 not established, and there was no regular superin- 
 tending power set over them. Strabo says that a 
 great part of Britain had come to be familiarly known 
 
 1 Epist. ad Att. iv. 16
 
 100 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 to the Romans through the intercourse with it which 
 was thus maintained. 
 
 All this implies, that the foreign commerce of the 
 island had already been considerably extended ; and 
 such accordingly is proved to have been the case 
 even by the catalogue — probably an incomplete one 
 
 of its exports and imports which Strabo gives us. 
 
 Amon" the former he mentions gold, silver, and 
 iron, but, strangely enough, neither lead nor tin; 
 corn, cattle, skins, — including both hides of horned 
 cattle and the skins and fleeces of sheep, — and dogs, 
 wliich he describes as possessing various excellent 
 qualities. In those days slaves were also obtained 
 from Britain as they now are from the coast of Af- 
 rica; and it may be suspected from Cicero's allusion 
 already quoted, that this branch of trade was older 
 even than Cajsar's invasion. Cicero seems to speak 
 of the slaves as a well known description of British 
 produce. These several kinds of raw produce the 
 Britons appear to have exchanged for articles the 
 manufacture of which was probably of more value 
 than the material, and which were, for the gi-eater 
 part, rather showy than useful. The imports enu- 
 merated by Strabo are ivory bridles, gold chains, 
 cups of amber, drinking glasses, and a variety of 
 other articles of the like kind. Still, all these are 
 articles of a very ditferent sort from the brass but- 
 tons and glass beads, by means of which trade is 
 can"ied on with savages. 
 
 After the establishment of the Roman dominion 
 in the country, its natural resources were no doubt 
 much more fully developed, and its foreign trade 
 both in the way of exportation and importation, but 
 in the latter more especially, must have assumed 
 altogether a new aspect. The Roman colonists set- 
 tled in Britain of course were consumers of the 
 same necessaries and luxuries as in other parts of 
 the empire ; and stich of these as could not be obtained 
 in the country were imported for their use from 
 abroad. They must have been paid for, on the 
 other hand, by the produce of the island, of its soil, 
 of its mines, perhaps of its seas, and by the native 
 manufactures, if there were any of these suited to 
 the foreign market. 
 
 The chief export of Roman Britain, in the most 
 flourishing times of the pi-ovince, appears to have 
 been corn. This island, indeed, seems eventually 
 to have come to be considered in some sort as the 
 Sicily of the northern part of the empire ; and in 
 the fourth century we find the armies of Gaul 
 and Germany depending in gi'eat part for their sub- 
 sistence upon the regular annual an-ivals of corn 
 from Britain. It was stored in those countries for 
 their use in public gi-anaries. But on extraordinary 
 emergencies a much gi-eater quantity was brought 
 over than sufficed for this object. The historian 
 Zosinus relates that in the year 359, on the Roman 
 colonies situated in the Upper Rhine having been 
 plundered by the enemy, the Emperor Julian built a 
 fleet of 800 barks, of a lai-ger size than usual, which 
 he dispatched to Britain for corn ; and that they 
 brought over so much that the inhabitants of the 
 plundered towns and disti'icts received enough not 
 
 only to support them during the winter, but also to 
 sow their lands in the spring, and to serve them tiU 
 the next harvest. It is probable also that Britain 
 now supplied the continental j)arts of the empire 
 with other agi'icultural produce as well as grain. 
 No doubt its cattle, which were abundant even in the 
 time of Caesar, frequentl}' supplied the foreign mar- 
 ket with caicases as well as hides, and were also 
 exported alive for breeding and the plough. The 
 British horses were highly esteemed by the Romans 
 both for their beauty and their training. Various 
 Latin poets, as well as the geogi'apher Strabo, have 
 celebrated the preeminence of the British dogs above 
 all others both for courage, size, strength, fleetness, 
 and scent.' Cheese, also, which many of the British 
 tiibes when they first became known to the Romans 
 appear not to have understood how to make, is said 
 to have been afterwards expoi'ted from the island in 
 large quantities. The chalk of Britain, and probably 
 also the lime and the marl, seem to have been held 
 in high estimation abroad ; and an altar or votive 
 stone is stated to have been found in the seventeenth 
 century at Donburgh, in Zealand, with an inscrip- 
 tion testifying it to have been dedicated to a goddess 
 named Nehalennia, for her preservation of his freight, 
 by Secundus Silvanus, a British chalk-merchant 
 (Negociator Cretarius Britannicianus). 
 
 We may fairly presume that the trade in the 
 ancient metallic products of the island, tin and lead, 
 was greatly extended during the Roman occupation. 
 It seems to have been then that the tin-mines first 
 began to be worked to any considerable depth, or 
 rather that the metal began to be procured by any 
 process which could properly be called mining. It 
 has been supposed that convicted criminals among 
 the Romans used to be condemned to work in the 
 British mines.- Roman coins, and also blocks of 
 tin, with Latin inscriptions, have been found in the 
 old tin-mines and stream-works of Cornwall. The 
 
 1 See a curious collection of these testimonies in Camden's Britan- 
 nia, by Gibson, i. 139-40. See also Harrison's Description of England, 
 B. iii. c. 7. 2 lb. ii. 1523. 
 
 ^ d 
 
 u ii 
 
 "3; ESeH:M31liMHrA 
 
 mm ! 
 
 ,, WCM»lf M@')icec SYDD
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 101 
 
 British Museum contains several pigs of lead stamped 
 by the Romans, which have been discovered in dif- 
 ferent parts of the country. Britain then, as now, 
 seems to have produced much more lead than all the 
 rest of Europe. But we shall return to this subject 
 presently, when we come to speak of the improve- 
 ments in the useful arts inti'oduced by the Romans. 
 We have no direct information as to any actual ex- 
 ports of the metals from Britain in the Roman times, 
 and can merely infer the fact from the mention which 
 we find made of them as important products of the 
 countiy, and from the other evidences we have that 
 they were then obtained in considerable quantities. 
 On these grounds it has been supposed that supplies 
 were in those days obtained from Britain not only of 
 lead and tin, but also of iron, and even of the pre- 
 cious metals. Tacitus expressly mentions gold and 
 silver as among the mineral products of the island.^ 
 
 The same writer adds that Britain likewise pro- 
 duces pearls, the color of which however is dusky 
 and livid, but this he thinks may probably be at- 
 tributed to the unskilfulness of the gatherers, who 
 do not pluck the fish alive from the rocks, as is done 
 in the Red Sea, but merely collect them as the sea 
 throws them up dead. The pearls of Britain seem 
 to have very early acquired celebrity. We have 
 already quoted the tradition preserved by Suetonius 
 about Julius Caesar having been tempted to invade 
 the island bj' the hope of enriching himself with its 
 pearls ; and what Pliny tells us of the shield studded 
 with British pearls, which he dedicated to Venus, 
 and suspended in her temple at Rome. Solinus 
 aflfirms that the fact of the pearls being British was 
 attested by an inscription on the shield, which agi'ees 
 very well with Pliny's expression, that Csesar wished 
 it to be so understood. The oldest Latin wTiter, we 
 believe, who mentions the British pearls is Pompo- 
 nius Mela, who asserts that some of the seas of 
 Britain generate pearls and gems. They are also 
 mentioned in the second century by Aelian in his 
 History of Animals, and by Origen in his Commen- 
 tary on St. Matthew, who, although he describes 
 them as somewhat cloudy, affirms that they were 
 esteemed next in value to those of India. They 
 were, he says, of a gold color. Some account of the 
 British pearls is also given in the fourth centuiy by 
 Marcellinus, who describes them, however, as gi-eatly 
 inferior to those of Persia. In the same age the 
 poet Ausonius mentions those of Caledonia under 
 the poetical figure of the white shell-berries.^ But 
 the British pearls have also been well known in 
 modern times. Bede notices them as a product of 
 the British seas and rivers in the eighth century. 
 There is a chapter upon those found in Scotland in 
 the description of that country prefixed to Hector 
 Boece's History, in which the writer gives an ac- 
 count of the manner of catching the fish in his time 
 
 ' Agric. 12. 
 
 2 " Albentes concharum g-ermina baccas ;" literally, the white ber- 
 ries, the buds of shells. Ausonius in iloseUa. This appears to be 
 the origin of the verse " Gignit et insignes antiqua Britannia baccas," 
 quoted by Camden and by other writers after him, from Marbodaeus, a 
 Frenchman of the eleventh century, who wrote a Latin poem entitled 
 "De Gemraarum Lapidumque preciosorum fnrmis, natura, et viribus." 
 Of course a writer of that age can be no authority in this case. 
 
 (the beginning of the sixteenth century). It is very 
 different from that which Tacitus has noticed, as 
 will appear from the passage which is thus given in 
 HaiTison's English ti'anslation : — " They are so sensi- 
 ble and quick of hearing, that although you, standing 
 on the bi-ae or bank above them, do speak never so 
 softly, or throw never so small a stone into the water, 
 yet they will descry you, and settle again to the 
 bottom, without return for that time. Doubtless 
 they have, as it were, a natural carefulness of their 
 own commodity, as not ignorant how gi-eat estima- 
 tion we mortal men make of the same amongst us ; 
 and therefore so soon as the fishermen do catch 
 them, they bind their shells together, for otherwise 
 they would open and shed their pearls, of purpose 
 for which they know themselves to be pursued. 
 Their manner of apprehension is this ; first, four or 
 five persons go into the river together, up unto the 
 shoulders, and there stand in a compass one by 
 another, with poles in their hands, whereby they 
 rest more surely, sitli they fix them in the gi-ound, 
 and stay Avith one hand upon them ; then, casting 
 their eyes down to the bottom of the water, they 
 espy where they lie by their shining and clearness, 
 and with their toes take them up (for the depth of 
 the water will not suffer them to stoop for them), 
 and give them to such as stand next them." The 
 Scotch pearls, according to Boece, were engendered 
 in a long and large sort of mussel, called the horse- 
 mussel. On the subject of the origin of the pearl 
 he follows Pliny's notion. These mussels, he says, 
 " early in the morning, in the gentle, clear, and calm 
 air, lift up their upper shells and mouths a little 
 above the water, and there receive of the fine and 
 pleasant breath or dew of heaven, and afterwards, 
 according to the measure and quantity of this vital 
 force received, they first conceive, then swell, and 
 finally product the pearl." •' The pearls that are so 
 got in Scotland," he adds, " are not of small value ; 
 they are very orient and bright, light and round, and 
 sometimes of the quantity of the nail of one's little 
 finger, as I have had and seen by mine own experi- 
 ence." In his own Description of England, also, 
 written about the middle of the sixteenth centuiy, 
 Harrison notices those still to be found in that part 
 of the island. He accounts for their having fallen 
 into disrepute in a curious way. " Certes," he 
 writes, " they are to be found in these our days, 
 and thereto of divers colors, in no less numbers than 
 ever they were of old time. Yet are they not now 
 so much desired, because of their smallness, and 
 also for other causes, but especially sith church- 
 work, as copes, vestments, albes, tunicles, altar- 
 cloths, canopies, and such trash are worthily abol- 
 ished, upon which our countrymen superstitiously 
 bestowed no small quantities of them. For I think 
 there were few churches or religious houses, besides 
 bishops' mitres, books, and other pontifical vestures, 
 but were either thoroughly fretted or notably gar- 
 nished with huge numbers of them." He adds, " I 
 have at sundry times gathered more than an ounce 
 of them, of which divers have holes already entered 
 by nature, some of them not much inferior to great
 
 102 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 peason (peas) in quantity, and thereto of sundry 
 colors, as it happeneth among such as are brought 
 from the easterlj" coast to Saffron Waldon in Lent, 
 when for want of flesh stale stinking fish and welked 
 mussels are thought to be good meat, for other fish 
 is too dear amongst us when law doth bind us to use 
 it. They (pearls) ai-e also sought for in the latter 
 end of August, a little before which time the sweet- 
 ness of the dew is most convenient for that kind of 
 fish which doth engender and conceive them, whose 
 form is flat, and much like unto a lempit. The 
 further north, also, that they be found, the brighter 
 is their color, and their substances of better valure, 
 as lapidaries do give out." In another place, Harri- 
 son mentions, as found in England, what he calls 
 mineral pearls, "which," he says, "as they are for 
 gi-eatness and color most excellent of all other, so 
 they are digged out of the main land, and in sundry 
 places far distant from the shore." Camden, and 
 his translator, Gibson, have given us an account of 
 pearls found in the river Conway in their time. 
 " The pearls of this river," says the latter, " are as 
 large and well colored as any we find either in Britain 
 or Ireland, and have probably been fished for here 
 ever since the Roman conquest, if not sooner." The 
 writer goes on to inform us, that the British and 
 Irish pearls are found in a large black mussel ; that 
 they are peculiar to rapid and sti'ong rivers ; and that 
 thej-are common in Wales, in the north of England, 
 in Scotland, and some parts of Ireland. They are 
 called b}- the people of Caernarvonshire, kretjin diliw, 
 or deluge shells. The mussels that contain pearls 
 are generally known by being a little contracted, or 
 contorted from their usual shape. A Mr. Wynn 
 bad a valuable collection of ])earls, procured fi-ora the 
 Conway, amongst which, Gibson says that he noted 
 a stool-pearl, of the form and bigness of a lesser 
 
 button mould, weighing seventeen gi-ains. A Con- 
 way pearl presented to the queen of Charles II., by 
 her chamberlain. Sir Richard Wynn (jjerhaps of the 
 family of this Mr. Wynn), is said still to be one of 
 the ornaments of the British crown. Camden also 
 speaks of pearls found in the river Irt, in Cumber- 
 land. •' These," he says, " the inhabitants gather 
 up at low water; and the jewelers buy them of the 
 poor people for a trifle, but sell them at a good piice." 
 Gibson adds (writing in the beginning of the last 
 century), that not long since a patent had been 
 gi-anted to some persons for pearl fishing in this 
 river ; but the pearls, he says, were not very plenti- 
 ful here, and were most of the dull-colored kind, 
 called sand-pearl. Mention is made in a paper in 
 the Philosophical Transactions, of several pearls of 
 large size that were found in the sixteenth century 
 in Ireland ; among the rest, one that weighed thirty- 
 sL\ caiats.' Pennant (Toui* in Scotland. 17G9) gives 
 an account of a pearl-fislieiy then canied on in the 
 neighborhood of Perth, in Scotland, which, though 
 by that time nearh' exliausted, had, a few years 
 before, produced between three and four thousand 
 pounds' worth of pearls annually. An eminent 
 naturalist, we observe, has recently expressed some 
 surprise that the regular fisheries which once existed 
 for this native gem should have been abandoned.* 
 The pearl, however, though still a gem of prize, is not 
 now held in the same extraordinarj' estimation as in 
 ancient times, when it appears, indeed, to have been 
 considered more valuable than any other gem Avhat- 
 ever. " The chief and topmost place," says Pliny, 
 "among all precious things, belongs to the pearl." ^ 
 Another product of the British waters, which was 
 
 1 Phil. Trans, for 1693, p. 659. 
 
 a SwaiiisoQ on the Zoolog^y of England and Wales, in Maculloch's 
 Statistical Account of the British Empire, vol. i. p. IGO. 
 3 Nat. Hist. ix. 54. 
 
 BritWh Pearl Shells Natural Size. — a. Duck Fresh-Water Pearl Mussel (Anodon Auatinus). b. Swan ditto (Anodon Cygneusl.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 103 
 
 highly prized by the luxurious Romans, was the oys- 
 ter. From the manner in which the oysters of Bri- 
 tain are mentioned by Pliny, their sweetness seems 
 to have been the quality for which they were espe- 
 cially esteemed.^ Juvenal speaks of them as gath- 
 ered at Rutupiae, now Richborough, near Sandwich.- 
 Pliny, who mentions as among the greatest delicacies 
 of Britain a sort of geese, which he calls cheaerotes, 
 and describes as smaller than the anser, or common 
 goose. ^ 
 
 Soliuus^ celebrates the gi'eat store found in Britain 
 of the stone called the gagates, in English the black 
 amber, or jetstone. This mineral, as may be seen 
 from Pliny,^ was held by the ancients to be endowed 
 with a gi-eat variety of medical and magical virtues. 
 Camden mentions it as found on the coast of York- 
 shire. " It grows," he says, " upon the rocks, within 
 a chink or cliff of them ; and before it is polished 
 looks reddish and rusty, but after, is really (as Soli- 
 nus describes it) diamond-like, black, and shining." 
 " Certain it is," says Harrison, " that even to this day 
 there is some plenty to be had of this commodity in 
 Derbyshire and about Berwick, whereof rings, salts, 
 small cups, and ^[undry trifling toys are made ; al- 
 tliough that in many men's opinions nothing so fine as 
 that which is brought over by merchants daily from 
 the main." Marbodaeus, however, gives the prefer- 
 ence to the jets of Britain over those of all other 
 countries. 
 
 The inhabitants of Britain under the Roman gov- 
 ernment, no doubt carried on traffic with the other 
 parts of the empue in ships of their own ; and the 
 province must be supposed to have possessed a con- 
 siderable mercantile as well as military navy. It is 
 of the latter only, however, that the scanty histoiy of 
 the island we have during the Roman domination has 
 preserved any mention. A powerful maritime force, 
 as we have already had occasion to observe, was main- 
 Sained by the Romans for the defence of the east, or, 
 as it was called, the Saxon coast ; and about the end 
 of the third century we have the first example of an 
 exclusively British navy imder the sovereignty of the 
 famous Carausius.* The navy of Carausius must have 
 been manned in gi-eat part by his own Britons ; and the 
 superiority which it maintained for years in the sur- 
 rounding seas, preserving for its master his island 
 empire against " the superb fleets that were built and 
 equipped," says a contemporary writer,' "simultane- 
 ously in all the rivers of the Gauls to overwhelm him," 
 may be taken as an evidence that the people of Bri- 
 tain had by this time been long famihar with ships of 
 all descriptions. 
 
 Wholly uncultivated as the greater part of the 
 country was when it was first visited by the Romans, 
 it was most probably not unprovided with a few great 
 highways, by which communication was maintained 
 between one disti-ict and another. Ca?sar could 
 scarcely have marched his forces even so far into the 
 
 1 Nat. Hist. ix. 29, and ixiii. 21. 2 Sat. iv. 141. 
 
 3 Nat. Hist. I. 29. * Polyhistnr, 22. 
 
 5 Nat. Hist, xxxvi. 34. 6 See ante, p. 49. 
 
 ' The orator Mamertinus, c. xii. ; <juoted in Britannia after the Ro- 
 mans, p. 10 
 
 interior as he did, if the districts through which he 
 passed had been altogether without roads. Rude and 
 imperfect enough these British roads may have been, 
 but still they must have been to a certain extent arti- 
 ficial; they must have been cleared of such incum- 
 brances as admitted of being removed, and carried in 
 a continuous line out of the way of mhrshes and such 
 other natural impediments as could not be otherwise 
 overcome. Tacitus would seem to be speaking of 
 the native roads, when he tells us that Agi-icola, on 
 preparing in his sixth summer to push into the re- 
 gions beyond the Forth, determined first to have a 
 sui-vey of the country made by his fleet; because it 
 was apprehended that the roads were infested by the 
 enemy's forces. The old tradition is, that the south- 
 ern part of the island was, in the British times, 
 crossed in various directions by four gi-eat highways, 
 still in gi-eat part to be traced, and kno^vn by the 
 names of the Fossej Watling-sti-eet, Ermine-street, 
 and the Ichenild. The Fosse appears to have 
 begun at Totness, in Devonshire, and to have pro- 
 ceeded by Bristol, Cirencester, Chipping Norton, 
 Coventry, Leicester, and Newark, to Lincoln. Wat- 
 ling-street is said to have commenced at Dover, to 
 have proceeded thence through Kent, by Canterbury, 
 to London; then to have passed towards the north, 
 over Hampstead Heath, to Edgeware, St. Alban's, 
 Dunstable, Stony Stratford, in Northamptonshire, 
 along the west side of Leicestershire, crossing the 
 Fosse near Bosworth, and hence to York and Ches- 
 ter-le-Street, in the county of Durham. Some carry 
 it, in later times, from this point as far as to Lanark 
 and Falkirk, in Scotland; and others even to Caith- 
 ness, at the extremity' of the island. The Ermine- 
 street is understood to have run from St. David's, in 
 Wales, to Southampton, crossing the Fosse between 
 Cirencester and Gloucester. The Ichenild is sup- 
 posed to have been so called from having begun in 
 the country of the Iceni, on the east coast. It is 
 commonly thought to have crossed Watling-sti-eet, at 
 Dunstable, and thence to have taken a northeasterly 
 direction, through Staffordshire, to the west side of 
 the island. The utmost, however, that can be con- 
 ceded in regard to these roads being of British origin, 
 is, that lines of communication in such directions may 
 have existed in the time of the Britons. It was the 
 Romans, undoubtedly, by whom they were ti-ans- 
 formed into those elaborate and almost monumental 
 woi'ks which their remains declare them to have been. 
 Roads constructed to last for ever were laid down by 
 that extraordinary people, as the first foundations of 
 their empire wherever they planted themselves, and 
 seem to have been considered by them as the indis- 
 pensable veins and aiteries of all civilization. In 
 Britain it is probable that they began their operations 
 with the great native high-roads, the course of which 
 would be at least accommodated to the situation of 
 the principal towns and other more important locali- 
 ties throughout the countiy. These they no doubt 
 leveled, sti-aightened, and paved, so as to fit them 
 not only for the ordinary purposes of pedestrian and 
 carriage communication, but also for the movements 
 of large bodies of infantrj' and cavalry, in all weathers
 
 104 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 and in all seasons. But they formed also many new 
 lines of road, leading from one to another of the many 
 new stations which they established in all parts of the 
 country. Camden describes the Koman ways in 
 Britain as i-unning in some places through drained 
 fens, in others through low valleys, raised and paved, 
 and so broad tliat they admit of two carts easily pass- 
 ing each other. In this country, as elsewhere, the 
 Roman roads were in great part the work of the sol- 
 dier}', of whose accomplishments skill in this kind of 
 labor was one of the chief. But the natives were 
 also forced to lend their assistance ; and we find the 
 Caledonian Galgacus, in Tacitus, complaining, with 
 indignation, that the bodies of his countrymen were 
 worn down by their oppressors, in clearing woods 
 and draining marshes — sti-ipes and indignities being 
 added to their toils. To this sort of work also crimi- 
 nals were sentenced as well as to the mines. The 
 laws of the empire made special provision for the 
 repair of the public ways, and they were given in 
 charge to overseers, whose duty it was to see them 
 kept in order. The ancient document called the 
 Itinerary of Antoninus, enumerates fifteen routes or 
 journeys in Britain, all of which we may presume 
 were along regularly formed high-roads; and prob- 
 ably the list does not comprehend the whole number 
 of such roads tlie island contained. In eveiy instance 
 the distances from station to station are marked in 
 Roman miles ; and no doubt they were indicated on 
 the actual road by milestones regularly placed along 
 ihe line. Of these, the famous London stone, still 
 
 London Stone. 
 
 to be seen leaning against the south wall of St. Swith- 
 in's church, in Cannon-street, London, is supposed 
 to have been the first, or that from which the others 
 were numbered, along the principal roads, which 
 
 appear to have proceeded from this point as from a 
 centre. The Roman roads in Britain have under- 
 gone so many changes since their first formation, 
 from neglect and dilapidation on the one hand, and 
 from many repairs which they are known to have 
 received long after the Roman times, and in styles of 
 workmanship veiy different from the Roman, that the 
 mode in which they were originally constructed is in 
 most cases not very easy of discovery. One of those 
 which had probably remained most nearly in its prim- 
 itive condition, was that discovered by Sir Christo- 
 pher Wren, under the present Cheapside, London, 
 while he was prejjaring to erect the church of St. 
 Mary-le-Bow. "Here," says the account in the 
 Parentalia, "to his surprise, he sunk about eighteen 
 feet deep through made ground, and then imagined 
 he was come to the natural soil and hard gi-avel; but 
 upon full examination, it appeared to be a Roman 
 causeway of rough stone, close niM well rammed, 
 with Roman brick and rubbish at the bottom for a 
 foundation, and all firmly cemented. This causeway 
 was four feet thick. Underneath this causeway lay 
 the natural clay, over which that part of the city 
 stands, and which descends at least forty feet lower." 
 Wren eventually determined to erect the tower of 
 the church upon the Roman causeway, as the firmest 
 foundation he could obtain, and the most proper for 
 the lofty and weighty structure he designed. Some 
 of the other Roman roads in Britain, however, and 
 especially those connecting some of the fines of mili- 
 tar)' posts, were constmcted in a more ambitious style 
 of workmanship than appears to have been here em- 
 ployed — being paved, like the faiuous Appian way and 
 others in Italy, with flat stones, although of different 
 sizes, yet carefully cut to a uniform rectangular shape, 
 and closely joined together. Some of our great roads 
 still in use were originally formed by the Romans, or 
 were used at least in the Roman times. One ex- 
 ample is the great western road leading to Bath and 
 Bristol, at least for a considerable part of its course. ^ 
 
 We may here most conveniently notice the subject 
 of the description of money Avhich appears to have 
 been in use among the ancient Britons. Caesar's 
 statement is, distinctly, that they had no coined 
 money. Instead of money, he says they used pieces 
 either of bronze or of iron, adjusted to a -certain 
 weight. There is some doubt, owing to the disa- 
 greement of the manuscripts, as to whether he calls 
 these pieces of metal rings, or thin plates, or merely 
 tallies or cuttings (talea»); but the most approved 
 reading is rings. A curious paper on this ring-money 
 of the Celtic nations has been lately printed by Sir 
 William Betham.- Specimens of this primitive cur- 
 rency, according to the ^vl•iter, have been found in 
 gi-eat numbers in Ireland, not only of bronze, but also 
 of gold and silver. Sometimes the form is that of a 
 complete ring, sometimes that of a wire or bar, merely 
 bent till the two extremities are brought near to each 
 other. In some cases the extremities are armed with 
 
 1 In the "United Service Journal" for January, 1836, is an account 
 of a. Surrey of the Roman Road from Silchester to the Station on the 
 Thames, called Pontes, lately made by the officers studying at the 
 Senior Department of the Royal Military College. 
 
 2 Papers read before the Royal Irish Academy, 4to., Dublin, 1836. 
 
 I
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 105 
 
 flattened knobs, in others they are rounded out into 
 cup-like hollows. Sometimes several rings are joined 
 together at the circumferences ; other specimens con- 
 sist of rings linked into one another. The most im- 
 portant peculiarity, however, distinguishing these 
 curious relics, and that which the Avriter conceives 
 chiefly proves them to have really served the purpo- 
 ses of money, is, that upon being weighed, by far the 
 gi-eater number of them appear to be exact multiples 
 of a certain standard unit. The smallest of gold 
 which he had seen, he says, weighed twelve grains, 
 or half a pennyweight ; and of others, one contained 
 this quantity three times, another five, another ten, 
 ancrther sixteen, another twenty-two, another four 
 hundred and eighty (a pound troy), and another five 
 hundred and thirty-fovir. The case he affirms to be 
 similar both with those of silver and those of bronze. 
 All, he says, with a very few exceptions, which may 
 easily be accounted for on the supposition of partial 
 waste or other injury, weigh each a certain number of 
 half pennyweights. The smallest specimens even of 
 the bronze ring money are quite as accurately balanced 
 as those of the more valuable metals ; and among 
 these bronze specimens, indeed, the author states, 
 that, after having weighed a gi'eat many, he has 
 never found a single exception to their divisibility 
 into so many half pennyweights. It would thus 
 appear that the ancient Celtic scale was the same 
 with that which we now call troy weight. The wri- 
 ter conjectures that the Latin uncia, an ounce, is the 
 Celtic word unsha, which he says signifies one-sixth; 
 in which case we must suppose the original integral 
 weight of which the ounce was a fraction, to have 
 been half our present pound troy. " To what remote 
 period of antiquity," he observes, "do these singular 
 facts carry us back ! To many ages before the time 
 of Caesar, or even Herodotus. The latter speaks of 
 
 the Lydians as the first who coined metallic money, 
 at least six centuries before our era. These are no 
 visionaiy speculations ; we have here the remains and 
 imperishable relics of those early times to verify the 
 whole ; and recent investigations and discoveries, in a 
 most singularly convincing manner, come to our aid, 
 by showing that the fresco paintings in the tombs ot 
 Egypt exhibit people bringing, as tribute to the foot 
 of the throne of Pharaoh, bags of gold and silver rings, 
 at a period before the exodus of the Israelites." 
 These things, however, are not the only specimens 
 that have been found of the substitutes used by the 
 Britons before the introduction of coined money. 
 Both in barrows and elsewhere there have been occa- 
 sionally turned up hoards of what has all the appear- 
 ance of being another species of primitive currency, 
 consisting of small plates of iron, mostly thin and rag- 
 ged, and without any impression. 
 
 Of British coined money, the description which is 
 apparently of gi-eatest antiquity, is that of which the 
 specimens present only certain pictorial figures, with- 
 out any legends or literal characters. Of this sort 
 of coins a considerable collection was discovered 
 about the middle of the last century, on the top of 
 Carnbre Hill, in Cornwall. Of these, some were 
 stamped with figures of horses, oxen, hogs, and 
 sheep ; a few had such figures of animals on one 
 side, and a head apparently of a royal personage on 
 the other. All of them were of gold ; and perhaps 
 it was only money made of the more precious metals 
 which it was thought necessary at first to take the 
 ti-ouble of thus impressing. When the convenience 
 of the practice had been experienced, and perhaps 
 its application facilitated, it would be extended to the 
 bronze as well as to the gold and silver currency. 
 Although even that point has been disputed, it may 
 be admitted as most probable that the Carnbre coins 
 
 Group or Rino Coins.
 
 i06 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 were really British money, that is to say, that they 
 were not only cuirent in Britain, but had been 
 coined under the public authority of some one or 
 more of the states of this island. This we seem to 
 be entitled to infer, from the emblematic figures 
 impressed on them, which distinguish them from 
 any known Gallic or other foreign coins, and are at 
 the same time similar to those commonly found on 
 what appears to be the British money of a some- 
 what later period. The questions, however, of when, 
 where, and by whom were they coined, still remain. 
 Although the figures upon them are peculiar, they 
 still bear a general resemblance to the money, or 
 what has been supposed to be the money, of the 
 ancient Gauls ; and as well from this circumstance, 
 as from the whole character of the early British 
 civilization, which appears to have been mainly bor- 
 rowed from Gaul, we may presume that they were 
 either fabricated in that country, or were at least 
 the work of Gallic artists. It is remarkable that 
 
 these coins are all formed of pure gold ; and Diodo- 
 rus Sicnlus informs us, that in no articles which 
 they made of gold did the Gauls mix any alloy with 
 the precious metal. As to then- date, it would seem 
 to be subsequent to the time of Ciesar, since, accord- 
 ing to his account, the Britons were then unaccpiainted 
 with the use of coined money of any description ; and 
 it may be placed with most probability in the interval 
 between his invasion and that of the Emperor Claudius 
 — a period, as we have already endeavored to show, 
 during which British civilization must have made a 
 very considerable, though unrecorded, progress. 
 
 Besides this merely pictured metallic money, how- 
 ever, there exist numerous British coins, or what 
 bear the appearance of being such, which are marked 
 not only with figures of various kinds, but also with 
 legends in Roman charsicters. One of these, from 
 having the letters Sego inscribed upon it, has been 
 attributed to Segonax, who is mentioned by Cicsar 
 as one of the four kings of Kent ; but it is obvious 
 
 Ancilnt iiuiiisH Coins. 
 
 that upon such an inference as this, no reliance can 
 be j)laced. The gi-eater number of the coins in 
 question bear, either in full or abbreviated, the name 
 of Cunobelinus, who is said to have lived in the 
 reign of Augustus. Some of these have the name 
 Cunobilin at full length ; one has Cunohelinus Re, 
 the latter word being probably the Latin Rex ; others 
 have the abbreviations Cun, Cuno, Cunob, or Cunobe. 
 Several have, in addition, what has been supposed 
 to be the abbreviated name of their place of coinage; 
 being most frequently Cam, or Caynu, for Camulo- 
 dunura, as it is conjectured; in one instance Ver, 
 perhaps for Verulamium ; in other cases No, or 
 Novane, or Novanit, of which no probable interpreta- 
 tion has been given. And in addition to these in- 
 scriptions, the greater number present the singular 
 word Tascia, or Tascio, either written at length, or 
 
 indicated by two or more of its commencing letters. 
 This word has given occasion to much disputation ; 
 but perhaps nothing has been projjosed on the sub- 
 ject so probable as Camden's suggestion, who con- 
 ceives that the word, derived apparently from the 
 Latin taxatio, signified, in the British language, a 
 tribute, or tribute-money. The figures upon these 
 coins of Cunobeline are very various. Some have a 
 head, probably that of the king, occasionally stir- 
 rounded with what seems to be a fillet of pearls, in 
 allusion, we may suppose, to the ancient fame of 
 the island for that highly-prized gem ; others have a 
 naked full-length human figiu-e, with a club over his 
 shoulder; many have the figure of a horse, some- 
 times accompanied by a wheel ; which has been 
 supposed to convey an allusion to the formation of 
 highways, but perhaps is rather intended to indicate
 
 Chaf. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 107 
 
 the national war-chariot : a crescent, an ear of corn, 
 a star, a comet, a tree, a hog, a dog, a sheep, an ox, 
 a lion, a sphinx, a centaur, a Janus, a female head, 
 a woman riding on an animal like a dog, a man play- 
 ing on a harp, are some of the representations that 
 have been detected on others. One shows what 
 evidently appears to be a workman in the act of 
 making money ; he is seated in a chair, and holds a 
 hammer in his hand, while a number of pieces lie 
 before him. About forty of these coins of Cunobe- 
 line have been discovered. Many others also exist, 
 which, from the names, or fragments of names in- 
 scribed on them, have been assigned to Boadicea, 
 Cartismandua, Caractacus, Venutius, and other Bri- 
 tish sovereigns. The legends on most of these, 
 however, are extremely obscure and dubious. What 
 is somewhat remarkable is, that no two, we believe, 
 have been found of the same coinage. They are 
 almost all more or less dish-shaped, or hollowed on 
 one side — a circumstance which is common also to 
 many Roman coins, and may be supposed to have 
 been occasioned by the want of the proper guards to 
 prevent the metal from being bent over the edges of 
 
 Roman Coin Mocld. 
 
 the die by the blow of the hammer. The British 
 coins thus inscribed with Roman characters are 
 some of them of gold, some of silver, some of bronze, 
 some of copper. Unlike also to the coins mentioned 
 above, without legends, all of them that are formed 
 of the more precious metals are much alloyed. 
 
 It must be confessed that the whole subject of 
 these supposed British coins, notwithstanding all the 
 disputation to which they have given rise, is still 
 involved in very considerable obscurity. It has even 
 been denied that they ever served the purposes of a 
 currency at all. "They are works," observes a 
 late Awiter, " of no earlier date than the apostacy and 
 anarchy after the Romans. Moreover, they were 
 not money. They were Bardic works belonging to 
 that numerous family of Gnostic, Mitliriac, or Ma- 
 sonic medals, of which the illustration has been 
 learnedly handled in Chifflet's 'Abraxas Proteus,' 
 Von Hammer's ' Baphometus,' the Rev. R. Walsh's 
 'Essay on Ancient Coins,' and (as applicable to 
 
 these very productions) the Rev. E. Davies's 'Essay 
 on British Coins.' The coins engraved by Dom B. 
 de Montfaucon as remnants of ancient Gaulish 
 money, are productions of similar appearance and of 
 the same class. Paracelsus alludes to them as money 
 coined by the gnomes and distiibuted by them among 
 men. Their uses have never been known ; but I 
 explain them thus. Money is a ticket entitling the 
 bearer to goods of a given value. . . Masonic 
 medals were tickets entitling one initiate to receive 
 assistance from another. It may be objected that 
 there was no gi-eat difficulty of stealing or forging 
 them. True ; but to be a beneficial holder of these 
 baubles it was necessary that you should be able to 
 explain the meaning of all the devices upon them. 
 According to the sort of explanation given by the 
 partj-, it would appear whether he was an authorized 
 holder, and, if such, what rank of initiation he had 
 attained, and consequently to what degi-ee of favor 
 and confidence he was entitled. The names selected 
 to adorn these British medals are unequivocally 
 marked with hatred for the Romans, and love for 
 the memory of those Britons who warred against 
 them ; and they imply an exhortation and a compact 
 to expel and exclude the Roman nation from the 
 island."' This view is supported by some plausible 
 ai'guments ; but it is far from being altogether satis- 
 factory. The deriial, however, of the title of these 
 coins or medals to be accounted a species of ancient 
 money, is no mere piece of modern skepticism. 
 Camden, though he inclines to a different opinion, 
 expresses himself upon the point with the gi'eatest 
 hesitation. "For my part," he says, "I freely de- 
 clare myself at a loss what to say to things so much 
 obscured by age ; and you, when you read these 
 conjectures, will plainly perceive that I have groped 
 in the dark." " Whether this sort of money passed 
 cuiTent in the way of trade and exchange,'' he 
 observes in conclusion, " or was at first coined for 
 some special use, is a question among the learned. 
 My opinion (if I may be allowed to interpose it) is 
 this. After Caesar had appointed how much money 
 should be paid j-early by the Britons, and they 
 were oppressed under Augustus with the payment 
 of customs, both for exporting and importing com- 
 modities, and had, by degi'ees, other taxes laid upon 
 them, namely, for corn-grounds, plantations, gi'oves, 
 pasturage of gi'eater and lesser cattle, as being now 
 in the condition of subjects, not of slaves ; I have 
 thought that such coins were first stamped for these 
 uses ; for gi'eater cattle with a horse, for lesser with 
 a hog, for woods with a tree, and for corn-ground 
 with an ear of corn ; but those with a man's head 
 seem to have been coined for poll money. Not but 
 I gi-ant that afterwards these came into common 
 use. Nor can I reconcile myself to the judgment of 
 those who would have the hog, the horse, the ear, 
 the Janus, &c. to be the arms of particular people or 
 princes ; since we find that one and the same prince 
 and people used several of these, as Cunobeline 
 stamped upon his coins a hog, a horse, an ear, and 
 other tilings. But whether this tribute-money was 
 
 ' Britannia after the Romans, pp. 218, &c.
 
 108 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 coined by the Romans, or the provincials, or their 
 kings, when the whole world was taxed by Augustus, 
 1 cannot say. One may guess them to have been 
 stamped by the British kings, since Britain, from the 
 time of Julius Casar to that of Claudius, lived under 
 its own laws, and was left to be governed by its own 
 kings, and since also they have stamped on them 
 the effigies and titles of British princes." 
 
 After the establishment of the Roman dominion in 
 the island, the coins of the empire would naturally 
 become the currency of the new province ; and 
 indeed Gildas expressly states that from the time of 
 Claudius it was ordained by an imperial edict that 
 all money current among the Britons should' bear the 
 imperial stamp. These expressions, by the by, 
 would rather seem to countenance the opinion, that 
 coined money not bearing the imperial stamp had 
 been in circulation in the countiy before the publica- 
 tion of the edict. Great numbers of Roman coins of 
 various ages and denominations have been found in 
 Britain. " There are prodigious quantities found 
 here," obsen'es Camden, " in the ruins of demol- 
 ished cities, in the ti'easure -coffers or vaults which 
 were hidden in that age, and in funeral urns ; and I 
 was very much surprised how such great abundance 
 should remain to this day, till I read that the melting 
 down of ancient money was prohibited by the im- 
 perial constitutions." It is highly probable, also, 
 that some of this imperial money was coined in Bri- 
 tain, where the Romans may be presumed to have 
 established mints, as they are known to have done in 
 their other provinces. There are several coins ex- 
 tant both of Carausius and of Allectus, and these it 
 can hardly be doubted were the productions of a 
 British mint. It is remarkable that in the sepulchral 
 barrows there has been found imperial money of the 
 times of Avitus (a.d. 455), of Anthemius (a.d. 467- 
 472), and even of Justinian (a.d. 527-565). Many 
 of the Roman coins, also, or imperial medals struck 
 upon particular occasions, from the time of Claudius, 
 bear figures or legends relating to Britain, and form 
 interesting illustrations of the history of the island.^ 
 
 We now proceed to notice shortly the chief im- 
 provements in the necessary or useful arts for which 
 the Britons appear to have been indebted to then- 
 Roman conquerors. 
 
 The Romans, themselves devoted to agi'iculture, 
 eagerly encouraged and assisted the British hus- 
 bandmen ; and we, therefore, as has been already 
 noticed, find the island eventually not only producing 
 a sufficient quantity of corn for the support of its 
 own inhabitants and the Roman troops in occupation, 
 but affording a large surplus annually for exportation. 
 In addition also to an improved and extended tillage, 
 the Romans appear, immediately on their obtaining a 
 firm establishment in Britain, to have introduced the 
 practice, previously scarcely known to the natives, of 
 useful and ornamental gardening. Tacitus tells us 
 they began to plant orchards, and found, by ex- 
 perience, that the soil and climate were favorable to 
 tlie giowth of all kinds of fi-uit ti-ees except the 
 
 I See upon this subject, " The Coins of the Romans relating to 
 Britain," by J. G. Akerman ]2mo. Lond. 1836. 
 
 vine and the olive, and of all plants and vegetables 
 save a few which were peculiar to warmer countries. 
 
 Notwithstanding also his particular exception of 
 the vine, it is said that permission was granted long 
 aftei-wards by the Emperor Probus to plant vines 
 and to make wine in Britain, and that, if so, it was 
 not granted in vain, appears probable from the fact 
 that the vine was certainly flourishing here in the 
 time of the Saxons ; the continual mention of vine- 
 yards in their wills and deeds affording us indis- 
 putable evidence of its general cultivation. 
 
 On the settlement of the Romans a change of 
 course took place in the architecture of the British 
 houses and towns, for the commencement of which 
 the country appears to have been indebted to the 
 policy of Agi-icola, the most excellent of the Roman 
 governors. " That the Britons," says Tacitus, "who 
 led a roaming and unsettled life, and were easily 
 instigated to war, might contract a love of peace and 
 tianquillity by being accustomed to a more pleasant 
 way of living, he exhorted and assisted them to build 
 houses, temples, courts, and market-places. By 
 praising the diligent and reproaching the indolent, he 
 excited so gi'eat an emulation amongst the Britons, 
 that after they had erected all those necessary edifices 
 in their towns, they proceeded to build others merely 
 for ornament and pleasure, such as porticos, galle- 
 ries, baths, banqueting-houses, 6cc." 
 
 Giraldus Cambrensis has left us an account of the 
 remains of the city of Caerleon, in Wales, as he 
 beheld it himself in the twelfth century. " It was," 
 he says, " elegantly built by the Romans with brick 
 walls. Many vestiges of its ancient splendor still 
 remain, and stately palaces which formerly, witli the 
 gilt tiles, displayed the Roman gi'andeur. It was 
 first built by the Roman nobility, and adorned with 
 sumptuous edifices, with a lofty tower, curious hot 
 baths, temples now in ruins, and theatres encom- 
 passed with stately walls, in part yet standing. The 
 walls are three miles in circumference, and within 
 these, as well as without, subterraneous buildings 
 are frequently met with, as aqueducts, vaults, hypo- 
 causts, stoves, &;c." 
 
 Matthew Paris also, in his "Lives of the Abbots," 
 mentions the numerous interesting remains of Roman 
 architecture discovered near St. Alban's, at the ancient 
 Verulam, by two abbots, previous to the Norman Con- 
 quest, and consisting of dilapidated temples, subverted 
 columns, altars, idols, and the foundations of a large 
 palace. 
 
 The more recent discoveries of these Roman Bri- 
 tish ruins it would be endless here to enumerate and 
 useless to describe, as there appears to have been 
 nothing to distinguish them from those of the Romans 
 themselves ; we have however the authority of one of 
 the best informed writers on the subject, that "noth- 
 ing very good of Roman work ever existed in Brit- 
 ain." .... "All the fragments of architecture which 
 have been discovered, whether large or small, wheth- 
 er the tympanum of a temple as found at Bath, or m 
 small altars as found in many places, 1 believe," says ^ 
 Mr. Rickman,' "were all deficient either in corapo- 
 1 Letters on Architecture, vol. xxv, of the Archeulogia, p. 1G7.
 
 Cii.vp. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 109 
 
 Remains of ii Roman Hypocaust, or Subterranean Furnace, for Heating Baths, at Lincoln 
 
 ^^J^^^^-P^^^^ ^^ 
 
 Part of a Roman Wall, or the Site of the Ancu:nt Verulam, near St. Alban's. 
 
 sition or in execution, or in both, and none that I 
 know of have been better, if so good, as the debased 
 work of the Emperor Diocletian in his palace at Spa- 
 latro. With these debased examples we cannot ex- 
 pect that the inhabitants of Britain would (while 
 harassed with intestine warfare) improve on the 
 models left by the Romans." 
 
 " It is not now to be ascertained," he continues, 
 " whether any examples of the actual use of columns, 
 with an architrave incumbent, were left by the Ro- 
 mans, but we have various examples of the plain arch 
 with a pier. As a specimen, the north gate of Lin- 
 coln, now used, as it was many centuries ago, for a 
 gate, is perhaps the most perfect. This plain square 
 
 pier and a semicircular arch I believe to have been 
 imitated in the Saxon buildings; and thus I find 
 actually now a part of Brixworth Church with a bond 
 tier of what we call Roman brick {i. e. flat tiles) 
 carried tlu-ough the work." 
 
 The use of mortar, plaster, and cement, of the 
 various tools and implements for building, the art of 
 making the flat tiles abovementioned, and all things 
 connected with masonry and bricklaying, as known 
 and practised by the Romans, must, of course, in the 
 progi-ess of these works, have been communicated to 
 their new subjects ; and it appears that, by the close 
 of the third century, British builders had acquired 
 considerable reputation. The panegyrist Eumenius
 
 110 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 tells us that when the Emperor Constantius rebuilt 
 tlie city of Autun, in Gaul, about the end of the third 
 century, he broujjht the workmen chiefly from Britain, 
 which very much abounded with the best artificers. 
 
 We have already mentioned the labors of the 
 Romans in the improvement of the old roads of the 
 country, and the formation of many new ones. Their 
 attention was at the same time given to the working 
 of the valuable mines throughout the island. The 
 primitive mode of procuring the various metals, by 
 searching the beds of rivers and the depths of valleys, 
 or extracting proti'uding lumps of ore from fractured 
 lodes in the fissures of the mountains, was replaced 
 l)y the art of mining. A beautiful specimen of the 
 Roman mode of driving levels exists at a place called 
 Pynsaint, in the parish of Caeo, Caermarthenshire. 
 
 In the British Museum, as previously stated, are 
 preserved several pigs or masses of British lead, one 
 of which has the name of the Emperor Domitian 
 inscribed on it, another that of the Emperor Hadrian, 
 
 and a third bears that of a private individual. " These 
 pigs or oblong masses," observes a late writer, " afford 
 undoubted evidence that the lead-mines of Derby- 
 shire and its neighborhood were worked in the Ro- 
 man time. The inscriptions also, which they bear, 
 usually indicating the emperor in whose time the 
 metal was obtained, confirm the testimony of Pliny, 
 who says, 'that in Britain lead is found near the sur- 
 face of the earth in such abundance that a law is 
 made to limit the quantity which shall be taken.' It 
 was therefore necessary in the royal mines to mark 
 the lead with the emperor's name.' In a few instan- 
 ces such pigs apparently bear the name of a private 
 proprietor, but all show that the article was under 
 fiscal regulation, which accounts for the form in 
 which the lead was cast ; the inscription, and some- 
 times a border which surrounds it, always covering 
 the upper area of the piece to its full extent.'" 
 
 ^ Library of Entertaining Knowledge ; The Townley Gallery, vol 
 ii. p. 283. 
 
 Roman Arches foiiiiing Xe«tort Gate, Lincoln, as it nijpoared in 17!>2. 
 
 Restoration of the Roman Arch forming Newport Gate, Linc
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 HIS division of our histo- 
 ry will contain an account 
 of the state and progress 
 under each period of those 
 higher kinds of krfowl- 
 edge and skill, which are 
 distinguished from the 
 arts treated of in the pre- 
 ceding chapter, by not 
 being directly contiibu- 
 tory to the sustenance or 
 physical accommodation of life, but having in view, 
 at least immediately and in the first instance, the ex- 
 ercise, gratification, and improvement of the intellec- 
 tual faculties, and of those other powers and tastes 
 which peculiarly constitute our humanity, and the 
 general exaltation and embellishment of the social 
 condition. The intellectual character of the time ; 
 the branches of learning and science that were chiefly 
 cultivated in our OAvn country and elsewhere, and the 
 manner in which they were cultivated ; the schools, 
 colleges, and other institutions for the maintenance 
 or diffusion of erudition and philosophy that existed 
 in these islands ; the state and progi-ess of the na- 
 tional language ; the more eminent literary and sci- 
 entific names by which the age was adorned ; the 
 gi'eat literary works that were produced, and the sci- 
 entific discoveries that were made; and finally, the 
 state of the fine arts of music, painting, engraving, 
 &c., and of the popular taste — will all fall under this 
 part of our survey. We need scarcely remark, that 
 these things are much more than the mere ornamen- 
 tal flower and crown of our civilization ; they are the 
 very sti'ength of its fibres, and the main element of 
 its growth and expansion ; for, while it is ti'ue that 
 the exclusively useful arts both naturally originate 
 learning and the fine arts, and form the indispensable 
 basis and support without which they could neither 
 flourish nor exist, it is equally ti'ue that the lattei', in 
 the end, amply repay the debt, and that the sure 
 effect of the advance of every form of intellectual 
 culture is to extend or consolidate the fabric of that 
 other prosperity which rests upon the operations of 
 manual, mechanical, and mercantile industry. And, 
 indeed, what is the worth to a nation of the highest 
 state of manufacturing and commercial greatness, if 
 it do not at the same time assert to itself a high place 
 in regard to those tastes and pursuits which can alone 
 prevent the pursuit of wealth from being at once the 
 most stupid and most debasing of aU idolati'ies ? 
 
 The title of the chapter, in the strictest acceptation 
 of its terms, is scarcely applicable to what we shall 
 have to state in regard to the present period, when 
 literature, science, and the fine arts can scarcely be 
 
 said to have yet had their birth in our island. At all 
 events, whatever existed in those remote times de- 
 serving the name of learning or scientific knowledge, 
 never having been committed to writing, and having 
 consequently perished with the general subversion of 
 the order of things then established, cannot be re- 
 garded as having been even the beginning or rudi- 
 mental germ of that which we now possess. The 
 present literary civilization of England dates its com- 
 mencement only from the next, or Saxon period, and 
 not from a very early point in that. 
 
 A learned writer of the last century commences a 
 " Literaiy History of the Britons before the Arrival 
 of Csesar," by gi'avely infoi-ming us that " King Sa- 
 mothes was the first who established a school in this 
 island for instructing the Giants in arts and sciences."* 
 We shall not cany our review quite so far back, but 
 leaving Samothes and his giants at their studies undis- 
 turbed, shall content ourselves with taking up the 
 histoiy of learning in Britain from the days of the 
 race of people of ordinary dimensions who were 
 found inhabiting the island on its invasion by the 
 Romans. 
 
 At this time, as has been already shown, the south 
 of Britain was occupied by a population which, al- 
 though divided into many distinct tribes, bore through- 
 out the appearance of being of Gallic origin. In par- 
 ticular, we are expressly informed that the language 
 of Britain differed very little from that of the Gaul. 
 Some of the British tribes seem to have come from 
 Celtic, and others from Belgic Gaul ; but it is prob- 
 able, as indeed Strabo distinctly assures us, that the 
 Celts and the Belgians spoke merely two slightly dif- 
 fering dialects of the same tongue. The evidence of 
 the most ancient names of localities throughout the 
 whole of South Britain confirms this account ; eveiy- 
 where these names appear to belong to one language, 
 and that the same which is still spoken by the native 
 Irish and the Scotch Highlanders ; the latter of whom 
 call themselves, to this day, Gael or Gauls. The 
 same evidence goes to prove that this Gallic tongue 
 was then the popular speech in the part of the coun- 
 try now called Wales, as well as throughout the rest 
 of south Britain ; for the oldest names of places in 
 Wales are not Welsh but Gaelic. Nor does the 
 peculiar dialect of Cornwall appear to have been at 
 this time known any more than its sister Welsh, in 
 the southern parts of the island. The Celtic or Gaelic 
 was also undoubtedly the language of the gi-eat body 
 
 1 Primus qui scholam ad instruendos Gigantes in artibus et scientiis 
 erexit, erat Rex Samothes, qui, ex Armenia per Galliam profectus, ad 
 Htora Britannias appulit, anno post diluvium CCLII, <tc. Rev. et 
 Doct. V. Davidis Wilkinsii Prsefatio, Historiam Literariam Britannico- 
 rum ante Csesaris Adventum complectens, apud Bibliothecam Britanno- 
 Hibcrnicam, auctore Thoma Tannero ; fol., Lond. 1748.
 
 112 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 of the people of Ireland. The tribes by whom North 
 Britain was occupied, on the other hand, seem to have 
 been for the greater part of German or Scandinavian 
 extraction ; and, if so, tliey must be supposed to have 
 spoken a-Teutonic dialect. But in the absence of all 
 direct evidence, historical, traditional, or monumental, 
 the point is one upon which it is impossible to affirm 
 anjthino; with confidence. As far as the topograph- 
 ical nomenclature of the countiy affords us any light, 
 it would seem to indicate that the greater part of 
 modern Scotland was anciently occupied by a people 
 speaking a language very nearly allied to the present 
 Welsh. 
 
 It is with the Britons of the south exclusively, how- 
 ever, that we are now concerned ; for among these 
 onlj' have we reason to believe that any kind of leai-n- 
 ing or scientific knowledge whatever existed at the 
 time to which our inquiry relates. Among the South 
 Britons there was undoubtedly established a class of 
 persons, forming a clergj-, not only in the modern, 
 but in the original and more extensive signification 
 of the term ; that is to say, a body of national func- 
 tionaries intiusted with the superintendence over all 
 the departments of learning.' The Druids were not 
 merely their theologians and priests, but their law- 
 yers, their physicians, their teachers of youth, their 
 moral and natural philosophers, their asti-onomers, 
 their mathematicians, their architects, their musi- 
 cians, their poets, and in that character, no doubt, 
 also their only historians. To them, in short, were 
 left the care and contiol of the whole intellectual cul- 
 ture of the nation. 
 
 It is most pi'obable that, in discharging this duty, 
 the Druids proceeded upon the principle of imparting 
 none of their knowledge except to such as they 
 trained up to be members of their own bodj-. The 
 state of society" would scarce^ admit of any diffu- 
 sion of their, insti'uctions among the people at large; 
 and the genius of their system, as far as it can be 
 detected, appears to have been wholly opposed to 
 any such lavish communication of that to which they 
 owed all their ascendancy over their fellow-country- 
 men. To them knowledge was power, not onlj' in 
 the sense in which it is so to eveiy individual in the 
 possession of it, as enabling him to do those things 
 the way of doing which it teaches, but besides, and 
 to a much larger extent, as putting into their hands 
 an instrument of authority and command over all 
 around them. This latter advantage, unlike the for- 
 mer, they could not share with others without leav- 
 ing less of it for themselves ; its value lay in its exclu- 
 siveness. They naturally enough, therefore, no more 
 thought of communicating their knowledge to the 
 multitude, than people would now think of so com- 
 municating their money or their estates. 
 
 Yet their institution seems to have had the impor- 
 tant merit of being no mere hereditary' oligarchy, or 
 other close corporation, but of being open to all who 
 chose to undergo the requisite preparatoiy training, 
 and of being accustomed in this way to sustain itself 
 by constant drafts from the mass of the nation. Al- 
 though the point has been disputed, there is no evi- 
 
 1 Coleridge on the Constitution of the Church and State, pp. 46, &c. 
 
 dence for the supposition that the Druidical rank was 
 a hereditary dignity. We know that the chief Druid 
 obtained his place by election ; and it does not seem 
 likelj- that this would have been the case if the insti- 
 tution generallj- had been founded upon the heredi- 
 tary piinciple. The Druidical clergy appear lather to 
 have been a body of the same "sort with the clergj" of 
 any modern Christian church ; that is to say, consist- 
 ing not of the members of particular families, but of 
 persons educated to the profession from any of all the 
 lamilies in the land. It may be assumed, however, 
 that they were principally derived from the more 
 opulent or honorable classes. Ctesar describes the 
 young men who — some of their o^vTl accord, others 
 sent by their pjirents and relations — resorted to the 
 Druids of Gaul to obtain instruction in their system, 
 and to be trained to become members of their body, 
 as very numerous. Pomponius Mela speaks of their 
 pupils as consisting of the most noble individuals of 
 the nation. 
 
 In regard to the particular studies in which these 
 crowds of pupils were exercised, our information, as 
 might be expected, is very unsatisfactory'. Both Cje- 
 sar and Mela state the fact of their sometimes re- 
 maining twentj- jears under tuition ; and the former 
 reports that they were said in the course of that time 
 to learn a great number of verses. Caesar adds, as 
 has been detailed in a former chapter nearly in his 
 own words, that besides the theological instruction 
 which they imparted, the Druids instructed their 
 scholars in many things respecting the heavenly 
 bodies and their motions, the magnitude of the uni- 
 verse and the earth, and the nature of things — the 
 last phrase designating, we may suppose, a sort of 
 mixed course of phjsics and metaphysics. 
 
 All these instructions, it seems, they communica- 
 ted orally, the employment of the art of writing being 
 dispensed with for two reasons — first, that the things 
 taught might be more secure from the chance of 
 coming into the possession of the multitude or the 
 uninitiated ; secondly, for the sake of better exercis- 
 ing the meniorv- of the learners. Caesar expressly 
 informs us, however, that the Druids were acquainted 
 vyith letters, and used them on all common occasions. 
 The characters which they used, however, would 
 hardly seem to have been those of the Greek alpha- 
 bet, as the common reading of the passage asserts, 
 seeing that, independently of other objections to that 
 reading, we find Ca*sar upon one occasion in Gaul, 
 when he had a letter to dispatch to some distance 
 which he was afraid might fall into the hands of the 
 natives, ^\Titing it in the Greek language, in order 
 that they might not be able to read it. It has been 
 suggested, indeed, that the Druids might use the 
 Greek letters, or letters resembling those of the 
 Greek alphabet, without understanding the Greek 
 tongue. It is a curious circumstance that in the 
 number and powers of the letters, the Celtic alphabet, 
 which has been used from time immemorial in Ire- 
 land, exactly corresponds with the- original Greek 
 alphabet said to have been brought by Cadmus from 
 Phoenicia, although the ancient forms of the former 
 have been exchanged in modern times for those of
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE. AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 113 
 
 the Saxon characters expressing the same sounds. 
 The Druids, therefore, may have obtained possession 
 of letters resembfing those of the Greeks without 
 having been indebted for them to that people. The 
 Gallic God of Eloquence, as we learn from Lucian, 
 was called Ogmius ; and it is remarkable that certain 
 ancient inscriptions in an unknown character found 
 engi'aved upon the rocks and elsewhere in Ireland, 
 have always been known among the people by the 
 name of Ogam or Ogma. This coincidence would 
 seem to warrant us in inferring a connexion between 
 the ancient Celtic eloquence and the use of letters. 
 
 The art of eloquence was no doubt assiduously 
 cultivated and held in the highest honor both by the 
 Druids and by the other leading personages among 
 the Celtic nations. In the state of society which 
 then subsisted this was the most powerful instru- 
 ment for ruling the popular mind, as it still is among 
 the islanders of the South Sea and the Indians of 
 America, in a much less advanced social condition. 
 Among both the Gauls and the Britons we read of 
 displays of oratory in all their public proceedings. 
 The debates of theii- councils and the direction of 
 their armies alike demanded the exercise of this 
 popular accomplishment. The harangues delivered 
 on certain memorable occasions by Galgacus, Boadi- 
 cea, and other British chiefs, have been preserved to 
 us by the Roman wTiters. Tacitus has depicted the 
 Druids of Mona, when that sanctuary was attacked by 
 the Roman general Suetonius, rushing, with burning 
 torches outsti'etched before them, through the ranks 
 of their armed countiymen arrayed to repel the inva- 
 ders, and inflaming their courage by pouring forth 
 fi-enzied prayers Av-ith their hands uplifted to heaven. 
 On other occasions, accoi'ding to Diodorus Siculus, 
 they would evince their powers of persuasion by 
 throwing themselves between two bodies of combat- 
 ants ready to engage ; and by the charm of their 
 words, as if by enchantment, appeasing their mutual 
 rage, and prevailing upon them to throw down their 
 arms. In the administration of the laws also, and in 
 the celebration of their religious solemnities, they 
 would no doubt often have occasion to address the 
 people. The artificial mounts called Cornedds, still 
 remaining in Anglesey and in other parts of Wales, 
 are supposed, as has been already noticed, to have 
 formed the stations from which they were wont to de- 
 liver their regular insti'uctions and admonitions to the 
 listening crowd. The account which Lucian gives 
 of the manner in which their god Ogmius was repre- 
 sented by the Gauls shows forcibly the high estima- 
 tion in which the art was held over which he was 
 supposed to preside. The epithet of Ogmius, or the 
 God of Eloquence, was given by them to Hercules, 
 whose matchless sh-ength, they finely conceived, did 
 not lie in his thews and sinews, but in the power of 
 his persuasive >words, by which he took captive the 
 reason and subdued the hearts of all men ; a thought 
 which we might almost call an anticipation of the 
 sti-iking and beautiful expression of Burke when he 
 described the common mother tongue of Englishmen 
 and Americans as uniting the two nations by "a tie 
 lighter than air, but sti'onger than iron." The Gauls 
 VOL. I — 8 "^ 
 
 accordingly painted their Hercules Ogmius as an old 
 man surrounded by a gi-eat multitude of people, who 
 seemed attached to him in willing subjection by slen- 
 der chains reaching from his tongue to theu- ears. 
 They made him old, they said, because the richest 
 and sti-ongest eloquence was that of age ; and it might 
 also be because they in this way the more distinctly 
 showed that it was not by bodily sti-ength he eflected 
 the subjugation of his fellow men. This allegory, it 
 may be added, both in its conception and in the mannei- 
 in which it was represented to the senses, evinces a 
 very considerable advance in civilization and intellec- 
 tual culture, and would be enough of itself to place 
 these Celtic nations of antiquity in a different cate- 
 gory altogether in these respects from the modern 
 savage communities with which they have sometimes 
 been compared. 
 
 Poetry, and its then inseparable accompaniment, 
 Music, were doubtless also cultivated by the British 
 and Gallic Druids, or by that particular division of 
 their body called the Bards. It was, as we have 
 already related, the especial office of these bards, 
 whom Sti-abo designates by the epithet of Hymners, 
 to celebrate in verse the praises both of the gods and 
 heroes of their nation. Then* compositions would 
 thus contain all that was by any artificial process 
 preserved from oblivion of the national history. 
 Their recitations were most probably chanted to the 
 accompaniment of some musical insti-ument resem- 
 bling the ancient lyre or the modern harp. 
 
 Of the Theology of the Druids a sufficiently full 
 account has already been given. This formed not 
 only the chief department of the Druidical learning, 
 but that with the spirit of which all the rest of their 
 learning was impregnated. Their law, their medi- 
 cine, their ethics, their astronomy, their system oi 
 the physical constitution of the universe, were all 
 accommodated to their theological doctrines, or, to 
 speak more correctly, were all only so many parts of 
 their theology. Of their views and the extent oi 
 their knowledge in all of these sciences, accordingly, 
 we have ah-eady had occasion to detail most of the 
 few particulars that are known in explaining their 
 religious system. A few words may be added how- 
 ever on one or two of the branches of their physical 
 knowledge. 
 
 Their medicine seems to have been iq its general 
 character, and in most of its professions and practices,, 
 a medley of their all alike vain and delusive theology, 
 astrolog}\ divination, and magic, and must have owed' 
 the greater part of any efficacy that may have belonged 
 to it to its mere power over the imagination. But 
 they seem also to have been possessed of a limited 
 materia medica, and may even have known some 
 useful secrets i-especting the preparation or adminis- 
 tration of simples of which we are at present ignorant. 
 Pliny has told us of several herbs which were vener- 
 ated by the Druids of Gaul for their supposed medi- 
 cinal virtues, and were appHed by them to cure vari- 
 ous diseases. We have ah'eady quoted his account 
 of the sacred character and moral influences atti'ibuted 
 bj^ them to the mistletoe. This plant, which they 
 called by a name signifying all-heaUng, would seem
 
 114 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 to have been also their sovereign remedy for most : 
 bodily disorders. The mistletoe is said to have been ; 
 found useful in modern times in cases of epilepsy.' 
 Another medical herb of the Druids was what Pliny 
 calls the selago, and describes as resembhng savin, 
 and which has been supposed to be a species of 
 hedge-hyssop. This, too, they regarded as an ex- 
 cellent protection against diseases in general, and its 
 smoke as particularly salutary for ailments of the 
 eyes. Another which he mentions was the samolus, 
 or marsh-wort ; this they administered to cattle as 
 well as to human patients. But of all vegetable pro- 
 ductions, with the exception only of the mistletoe it- 
 self, that which they held in the highest estimation 
 seems to have been the ver\'ain. It is described, with 
 the usual mixture of medical and talismanic atti'ibutes, 
 as of efficacy to enable those who anointed themselves 
 with it to obtain the objects of their wishes, as having 
 the power to repel fevers, to conciliate friendships, 
 tuid to cure eveiy disease. Mixed with wine, it was 
 good against serpents. Veiy little reUance however 
 was placed by the Druidical physicians upon the mere- 
 ly uatiu'al properties of these precious plants. Eve- 
 rything depended upon the ceremonial with which 
 they had been gathered. Some were to be cut from 
 their stalks with an instrument of iron, others were 
 to be plucked by the hand ; some were to be gathered 
 by the left hand, others by the right ; some while the 
 sun was shining, others in the moonlight, others in 
 the absence of both these luminaries and under the 
 ascendancy of some appropriate star. In some cases 
 the person who went culling was to be attired in 
 white ; in others he was to go barefooted ; in others, 
 fasting.- All these minute formalities, in addition to 
 their main purpose of impressing the seal of religion 
 upon eveiything, would have the secondary advantage 
 of aftbrding a convenient shelter for the credit of the 
 drug and the doctor in all cases in which the prescrip- 
 tion failed of its promised effect ; the ready explanation 
 would be some neglect or irregularity in these cere- 
 monial observances. Some knowledge of real value 
 however may, as we have said, have been hidden 
 under all this delusion and imposture. If the Druids 
 possessed any recondite knowledge whatever (and 
 there can be no doubt that they possessed a great 
 deal), an intimate acquaintance with those productions 
 of the earth by which they were sunounded in the 
 woodland retreats where they spent so much of their 
 studious lives can hardly be denied to them. The 
 few scattered notices in Pliny of their medicine and 
 botany have evidently no pretensions to be considered 
 a full account of their knowledge in these sciences ; 
 an-d it is probable enough that his details may be in 
 many respects as erroneous as they are obviously 
 fragmentaiy and imperfect. We have seen that Ci- 
 cero testifies to the extensive information possessed 
 by one of the fraternity in all that the Greeks called 
 physiology, that is, natural science in general. It 
 
 ' See Dissertation on the Mistletoe, by Sir John Colbach, 1729 ; and 
 Treatise on Epilepsy, and the Use of the Viscus Quercinus, or Mistle- 
 toe of the Oak in the Cure of that Disease, by Henry Fraser, M.D., 1806. 
 
 - For the particulars with regard to each plant, see the following 
 passages in Pliny's Natural History : — on the Mistletoe, xvi. 95 ; on the 
 Selago, xxiv. 62 ; on the Samolus, xxiv. 63 ; on the Ver%ain, xxv. 59. 
 
 may also be presumed that, practised as they were 
 in the sacrifice both of brute and of human victims, 
 the Druids could hardly fail to have attained a good 
 deal of anatomical knowledge ; but as to whether they 
 made this available either in their medical practice 
 or in any operations of surgeiy, we have no informa- 
 tion. 
 
 The branch of science respecting the cultivation of 
 which in these islands in early times we have the 
 most direct historical testimony, and also perhaps the 
 best conoborative evidence of another kind, is that of 
 astronomy. Here, in an especial manner, we find 
 science springing out of, and taking the form almost of 
 a part of, the national religion, if indeed we ought not 
 rather to regard the religion as the daughter of the 
 science, and to suppose the worship of the sun, moon, 
 and stars as divinities, to have been originally merely 
 the popular exhibition made of their discoveries by 
 the sages who studied the movements of these celes- 
 tial bodies. Wherever, at all events, this particular 
 species of idolatry prevailed, the observation of the 
 celestial motions, in other words, the study of astron- 
 omy appears to have been blended with it ; and no 
 doubt can be entertained that, whether it was so in 
 the first instance or not. many scientific truths came 
 eventuallj' to be hieroglyphically signified both in the 
 mythology and in the ceremonial forms of the super- 
 stition. Ingenious speculators have endeavored to 
 detect an astronomical meaning in the disposition of 
 the stones of Stonehenge and Avebuiy, and of other 
 similar Druidical or supposed Druidical temples. The 
 Irish Round Towers are also conjectured, in combi- 
 nation with their design as sacred or emblematical 
 monuments, to have sen'ed the purpose of observato- 
 ries or watch-towers of the heavens. They have 
 generally, near the top, four openings or windows 
 facing the four cardinal points.' Both C<esar and 
 INIela (apparently copying him) bear testimony, in 
 passages which we have already had occasion to 
 quote, to the reputation of the Gallic Druids for an 
 acquaintance both with the movements and the mag- 
 nitudes of the heavenly bodies. We are not aware, 
 however, of any evidence for the supposition, although 
 not unlikely in itself, that, in addition to its general 
 religious application, the science of astronomy was 
 cultivated by these priests as being imagined to afford 
 them the means of looking into futurity, or, in other 
 words, for ash'ological purposes, unless we are to con- 
 sider so much to be intimated by the expression of 
 Mela, who mentions their profession of being able to 
 tell the intentions of the gods immediately after hav- 
 ing infonued us of their knowledge of the motions of 
 the stars, as if their divination had been a part of their 
 astronomy. Another cu'cumstance that in all the an- 
 cient ceremonial religions tended to maintain an inti- 
 mate alliance between religion and asti"onomical 
 science, was the necessity of some skiU in the latter 
 for the regulation of the various annual festivals. 
 
 1 See upon this subject Moore's History of IVeland, pp. 33, and 68- 
 71 ; and O'Brien's Round Towers, pp. 48-62. This last writer, how- 
 ever, while he admits the astronomical purposes of the towers, assigns 
 their erection to another order of priests, of the Budhist faith, who, he 
 contends, preceded the Druids, and far surpassed them in the knowl- 
 edge of astronomy and in all other learning.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 115 
 
 Such festivals, as we have seen, constituted a remark- 
 able feature of the Druidical system of worship. The 
 slight notices which the classical writers have preserved 
 would lead us to infer that among the Gauls and Bri- 
 tons, and also among the Germans, all their periods 
 were made to depend upon the movements of the 
 moon. Even what Tacitus has recorded of the Ger- 
 mans and Csesar of the Gauls, that they reckoned 
 time not by days but by nights, would favor this sup- 
 jwsition. We find both nations, also, holding their 
 great solemnities always under some particular aspect 
 of the moon ; the Germans, according to Tacitus, at 
 the time of the new or full moon ; the Gauls, as Pliny 
 informs us, when that luminary was six days old. From 
 the sixth day of the moon, also, according to Pliny, 
 the Druids began the reckoning not only of then- 
 months and years, but likewise of their great cycle, 
 which he says was a period of thirty years. It is re- 
 markable that in the description given by Diodorus 
 Siculus from Hecat?eus of the wonders of the Hyper- 
 borean Isle, which has been supposed to be Britain 
 or Ireland, the cycle of nineteen years, called the cy- 
 cle of the moon, because after that number of solar 
 revolutions, the relation of the moon's place in the 
 heavens to that of the sun becomes the same as it 
 was at the commencement of the period, is mentioned 
 in such a manner as to seem to indicate that it was 
 applied as the gi*eat regulator of the national religious 
 calendar. The Hyperboreans believe, the historian 
 tells us, that Apollo descends to their isle at the end 
 of every nineteen years, and plays upon the harp, 
 and sings and dances all the night from the vernal 
 equinox to the rising of the Pleiades (about the au- 
 tumnal equinox), as if rejoicing in the honors rendered 
 to him b}' his votaries. The knowledge of the lunar 
 cycle, liowever, would imply a nearly correct knowl- 
 edge of the solar year ; and that also, accordingly, 
 both upon this and upon other grounds, has been 
 claimed for the ancient British and Irish astronomers. 
 The passage in Diodorus has even been adduced as 
 sanctioning the supposition that their observation of 
 the heavenly bodies may not have been unassisted by 
 optical instruments. The ancient authorities from 
 whom Diodorus copied his account afifirmed, it seems, 
 that in this Hyperborean isle the moon appeared as 
 if it were near to the earth, and exhibited distinctly 
 protuberances upon its surface like the mountains on 
 our globe. This is certainly verj' much tlie shape 
 which would be assumed in times of wondering igno- 
 rance by the rumors transmitted from a distant land, 
 and perhaps through a long succession of generations, 
 of such an unintelligible marvel as the drawing down 
 of the heavens towards the earth by the optician's 
 glass. The doctrine, however, that the moon was a 
 globular body like the eaith, and that its surface was 
 similarly varied by elevations in one place and depres- 
 sions in another, may naturally enough have been 
 adopted by these ancient astronomical sages, merely 
 on general considerations of theoiy or probability', and 
 without having been suggested by any spots or ex- 
 crescences actually detected on the planet by the eye. 
 An account of a curious relic found in Ireland, 
 which is supposed to be an ancient Celtic astronomi- 
 
 cal instrument, has lately been communicated by Sir 
 William Betham to the Royal Irish Academy. Parts 
 
 Astronomical Instrument. 
 
 of similar instruments have before been found in that 
 country, but the present is the only perfect specimen 
 that is known to exist. It is of what is called Celtic 
 brass, that is, bronze, and " consists," to quote the de- 
 scription of Sir William Betham, " of a cii-cle, the 
 outside edge of which represents the moon's orbit, 
 having on it eight rings representing the different 
 phases of the planet. In the inside of this circle is 
 another fixed on an axis, in the line of the inclination 
 of the poles, on which this, which represents the 
 earth, ti-averses." The size of the insti-ument is not 
 given, but it is conceived to have been in common 
 use, probably in teaching the science of astronomy, 
 and, in its exhibition, to have been suspended fi-om 
 the ring representing the moon in its first quarter by 
 another ring, which was found loose in that. 
 
 Several circles of ancient stones, it may be added, 
 exist both in Wales and in Ireland, which still bear, 
 in the language of the people, the names of the As- 
 h-onomers' Circles, and are supposed to mark the 
 sites of Druidical observatories, or seminaries for 
 instruction in asti-onomical science. But this study 
 could not have been prosecuted to any extent without 
 a considerable proficiency in the absti-act sciences both 
 of mathematics and numbers ; and these branches 
 also, therefore, we must suppose to have formed a 
 part of the Druidical learning, and of that extensive 
 course of instruction which we are told the pupils of 
 the Drviids sometimes spent twenty years in passing 
 through. 
 
 On the whole, shrouded from our distinct view as 
 the facts of the subject are by the remoteness of the 
 time, and the scantiness of the light shed upon them 
 by history, there is reason to believe that these studi- 
 ous Celtic priests had accumulated no contemptible 
 stock of knowledge in various departments of science 
 and philosophy. According to Ammianus Marcelli- 
 nus, it was to the Druids that the Gauls were in- 
 debted for nearly all that they possessed of civilization 
 and learning; and the same thing in all probability 
 might have been said of the Britons. That with the 
 real and valuable knowledge possessed by the Druids, 
 there was much eiTor and superstition mixed uj- 
 there can be no doubt; everything they believed.
 
 116 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 and evei-j thing they taught may have been, at the 
 best, but a mixture of ti'uth and falsehood ; but still 
 it would be very far from being worthless on that 
 account. In the most advanced state to which 
 human knowledge has yet attained, it has perhaps 
 in no department been purified from all alloy of 
 error ; and in the gi-eater number of the fields of philo- 
 sophical speculation, the conjectural and doubtful still 
 forms a large portion of the most successful investi- 
 gations that the wit of man has been able to achieve. 
 Civilization could never make any progi'css, if noth- 
 ing except knowledge free from all error could cairy 
 it forward. Nor shall we perhaps be disposed, ujjon 
 reflection, to pass a very severe judgment upon the 
 Druids, even if they should appear to us, in their 
 endeavors to secure an influence over the popular 
 mind, not to have scrupled sometimes to employ such 
 arts of deception as their superior knowledge enabled 
 them to play off. It is not necessaiy to assume tliat 
 in practising these pious fi-auds, they set no other 
 object before them except the maintenance of their 
 own ascendancy ; that object may not have been 
 overlooked, but in pursuing it they may have believed 
 at the same tune that they were adopting the best 
 course for the people over whom they exercised so 
 powerful a sway. Whatever we may think of the 
 soundness of their reasoning, this may have been 
 their motive ; such a consideration may be supposed 
 to have actuated them, even if we admit, as is very 
 hkely, that their judgment in the case was somewhat 
 biassed by their self-interest. Undoubtedly neither 
 fraud nor force seems to be a suitable instrument of 
 civilization ; but it is also not to be doubted that both 
 have often been so employed, not only with the most 
 honest intentions, but what is more, not without 
 some degi-ee of success. They may not be the best 
 civilizers in ordinary circumstances, or their use may 
 not be justifiable on principle in any circumstances ; 
 but it does not follow that they have never been used 
 either with any good effect or with any good design. 
 Perhaps what was good in the effect has always 
 been counterbalanced by what was bad in its accom- 
 paniments ; — it has doubtless always been impaired 
 in that way ; — but still in many instances the attempt 
 canrot reasonably be charged as being, at the very 
 worst, anything worse than a mistake of the judg- 
 ment. The Druidical religion was a system of de- 
 lusion and imposture, vmquestionably ; we mean, it 
 was not only a false religion, but it was one which its 
 priests systematically sought to support by deluding 
 the understandings of the people, and by a thousand 
 devices and conti-ivances which they must liave 
 known to be fraudulent and dishonest. All this it 
 was, in common with nearly every other form of 
 ancient superstition. Nevertheless, we shall certainly 
 not judge either charitably or wisely if we at once 
 assume that in all these old idolatries, some of which 
 have held in awe half the nations of the earth for 
 thousands of years, the priests were nothing else but 
 an uninteiTupted succession of knaves and hypocrites, 
 cherishing no thought and pursuing no end but that 
 of the aggrandizement of their own order and the 
 coiTuption and degradation of their fellow-men. 
 
 They were, it cannot be doubted, most generally 
 deceived as well as the rest ; even wliile deceiving, 
 and consciously deceiving, others, they remained, to 
 a gi-eat extent, deceived themselves ; they believed 
 that it was the truth which they supported even by 
 their stratagems and ti'icks. And the more philo- 
 sophical minds among them, with whom the religion 
 in no part of it had any credit as a supernatural 
 revelation, may still liave deemed its 'influences on 
 the multitude salutary on the whole, and so have 
 justified to themselves their profession and support 
 of it. The national religion was in almost all these 
 cases the principal cement of tlie national civilization, 
 and the latter would have crumbled to pieces if the 
 former had been suddenly destroyed or removed. 
 
 When the south of Britain be^came a part of the 
 Roman empire, the inhabitants, at least of the 
 towns, both adopted generally the Latin language, 
 and applied themselves to the study of the Latin 
 literature and art. The diffusion among them of 
 this new taste was one of tlie first means employed 
 by their politic conquerors, as soon as they had fairly 
 established themselves in the island, to rivet their 
 dominion ; and a more efficacious they could not 
 have devised. Happily, it was also the best fitted to 
 turn their subjugation into a blessing to the conquered 
 people. Agi'icola, having spent the first year of his 
 administration in establishing in the province that 
 order and tranquillity which is the first necessity of 
 the social condition, and the indispensable basis of all 
 civilization, did not allow another winter to pass 
 without beginning the work of thus training up the 
 national mind to a Roman character. Tacitus in- 
 forms us that he took measures for having the sons 
 of the chiefs educated in the liberal arts, exciting 
 them at the same time by professing to prefer the 
 natural genius of the Britons to the studied acquire- 
 ments of the Gauls ; the effect of which was, that 
 those who lately had disdained to use the Roman 
 tongue now became ambitious of excelling in elo- 
 quence. In later times, schools were no doubt es- 
 tablished and maintained in all the principal towns 
 of Roman Britain, as they were throughout the 
 empire in general. There are still extant many 
 imperial edicts relating to these public seminaries, 
 in which privileges are conferred upon the teachers, 
 and regulations laid down as to the manner in which 
 they were to be appointed, the salaries they were to 
 receive, and the branches of learning they were to 
 teach. But no account of the British schools in par- 
 ticular has been preserved. It would appear, how- 
 ever, that, for some time at least, tlie older schools 
 of Gaul were resorted to by the Britons who pursued 
 the study of the law : Juvenal, who lived in the end 
 of the first and the beginning of the second century, 
 speaks, in one of his Satu'es, of eloquent Gaul in- 
 structing the pleaders of Britain. But even already 
 forensic acquirements must have become very general 
 in the latter country and the surrounding regions, if 
 we may place any reliance on the assertion which 
 he makes in the next line, that in Thule itself people 
 now talked of hiring rhetoricians to manage their 
 causes. Thule, whatever may have been the par-
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 117 
 
 ticular island or countiy to which that narae was 
 given, was the most northern land known to the 
 ancients. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable that while a good many 
 names of natives of Gaul are recorded in connexion 
 with the last age of Roman literatm-e, scarcely a 
 British name of that period of any literaiy reputation 
 has been preserved, if we except a few which figure 
 in the history of the Christian Church. The poet 
 Ausonius, who flourished in the fourth century, 
 makes frequent mention of a contemporary British 
 writer whom he calls Sylvius Bonus, and whose 
 native name is supposed to have been Coil the Good, 
 but of his works, or even of their titles or subjects, 
 we know nothing. Ausonius, who seems to have 
 entertained strong prejudices against the Britons, 
 speaks of •'sylvius with the same animosity as of the 
 rest of his countiymen. Among the early British 
 churchmen the celebrated heresiarch Pelagius, his 
 disciple Celestius, St. Ninian the converter of the 
 southern Picts, and St. Patrick the great apostle of 
 Ireland, might all be included in this period ; but 
 the missionary exertions of the two last-mentioned 
 will fall to be noticed more conveniently in our next 
 chapter on the History of Religion. Pelagius, al- 
 though he has been claimed as a native of South 
 Britain, was more probably, like his disciple Celes- 
 tius, a Scot ; that is to say, a native of Ireland. He 
 is said to have been a monk of Bangor ; but whether 
 this was the monastery of Bangor in Wales, or that 
 of Bangor, or Banchor, near Carrickfergus in Ireland, 
 has been disputed. Pelagius supported bis peculiar 
 
 opinions with his pen as well as orally ; and some 
 controversial writings attributed to him still exist. 
 Until he began to propagate the heretical opinions 
 which have made him so famous, he appears to have 
 enjoyed the highest esteem of his contemporaries 
 for his moral qualities as well as for talent and elo- 
 quence ; the extraordinary success with which he 
 diffused his views may suffice to attest his intellect- 
 ual ability and accomplishments. The reputation of 
 his disciple Celestius was nearly as great as his own. 
 Many of the followers of the Pelagian heresy indeed 
 styled themselves Celestians. Celestius also appears 
 to have been an Irishman. St. Jerome, the gi-eat 
 opponent of him and his master, almost says as much 
 when, in one of his passionate invectives, he calls 
 him a blockhead swollen with Scotch pottage, that 
 is, what we should now call Irish flummery.' We 
 may quote as a specimen of the eloquence of the age, 
 and also of its most orthodox Christianity, a little 
 more of the " splendid bile" of the learned saint. 
 He goes on to describe Celestius as " a gi'eat, corpu- 
 lent, barking dog, fitter to kick with his heels than to 
 bite with his teeth ; a Cerberus, who, with his mas- 
 ter Pluto (so Pelagius is designated), desen'ed to be 
 knocked on the head, and so put to eternal silence." 
 There still exist some epistles and other works 
 ath-ibuted to Celestius, which are believed to be 
 genuine. 
 
 1 The orig^inal Latin is " Scotorum pultihus pTjrsfravatns." — Vossiiis, 
 however, ui his Dissertation upon Pelagianism, considers the Irish 
 flummery with which Celestius is here said to have been swollen, as 
 meaning the notions of his master Pelagius, and adduces the words as 
 a testimony in favor of the Irish origin of the latter.
 
 118 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE HISTORY OF MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 N the present period, 
 under this head, al- 
 though it would not 
 be difficult to collect 
 a gi'eat deal of matter, 
 by availing ourselves 
 of all that has been 
 related of communities 
 conceived to be in the 
 same state of social 
 advancement with the 
 ancient Britons, and 
 thence assuming, by 
 analogy or conjecture, the particulars of the domestic 
 life and habits of the latter, the real information we 
 possess amounts to very little. All that we know 
 upon the subject is to be found in the incidental 
 notices that have fallen from the Roman writers in 
 the course of their historical naiTatives, or to be 
 deduced from the few relics of the British people 
 that have survived the destruction of time ; and even 
 when these sources are most carefully studied, what 
 we learn from both of them together is extremely 
 scanty and unsatisfactory. 
 
 We have already described the houses of the 
 Britons. Of the manner in which these rude hovels 
 were furnished we know scarcely anything. In 
 some of the coins of Cunobeline we find the interior 
 of a habitation furnished with seats resembling our 
 modern chairs, stools like the crickets of our peas- 
 antry, and others composed of a round block of wood, 
 while the arms of the family are ranged along the 
 wall.' The floor probably served for a bed, and the 
 mantle of the sleeper for a blanket ; in winter they 
 might have recourse to the additional warmth of 
 shaggy skins. Wooden bowls and platters, and their 
 celebrated baskets of osier work, would contain their 
 provisions and other necessaries ; and in addition to 
 these they had, as already mentioned, articles of 
 coarse pottery, consisting of bowls, cups, and jars. 
 According to Sti-abo, they also had cups and other 
 vessels of glass ; but as these were articles of impor- 
 tation, it is probable that they were confined to the 
 houses of the chiefs. Though the Britons were a 
 hardy race, yet their climate would make the com- 
 forts of a fire desirable during the winter, and ac- 
 cordingly we may suppose that they adopted the 
 obvious resource of a fire upon the floor, until the 
 Romans introduced among them the luxury of a 
 brazier. Their forests supplied them abundantly 
 with fuel ; but, in addition to this, they appear to 
 have been acquainted with coal before the aiTival of 
 their conquerors, collections of this mineral having 
 been found in various places, attesting their British 
 
 1 Pegge on the Coins of Cunobelinus. 
 
 deposition.' The only coal they had, of course, was 
 gathered upon or near the surface, and used in cases 
 where wood could not easily be obtained. Theii* 
 diet, no doubt, corresponded with the poverty of 
 their dwellings and the general simplicity of their 
 lives. The country, where it was cultivated by that 
 superior race who occupied the sea-coast opposite 
 Gaul, was productive in grain, and the pastures were 
 covered with flocks and herds, so that the fortunate 
 natives of these quarters were well supplied with 
 the materials at least of even comfortable living. Of 
 the milk they made curds ; and while the Romans, 
 contented with their own olives, Avere ignorant of 
 butter, it was probably known to the Britons, as 
 Pliny informs us it was generaUy to the barbarous 
 nations.^ Salt was an imported article at the period 
 of the Roman invasion, and probably was a luxury 
 attainable only by a few. 
 
 While such were the articles of subsistence among 
 the more favored and better civilized of the ancient 
 Britons, their more barbarous cduntiymen must have 
 been in a state of considerable destitution. This is 
 evident from the testimony of several Roman authors. 
 Caesar, who attests the fertility of Kent and the 
 superiority of its people, informs us also that, in the 
 interior of the island, the inhabitants sowed no gi'ain, 
 but lived on the milk and flesh of their flocks and 
 herds. The inhabitants of the northern parts of the 
 island were in a still more wretched condition in the 
 article of food. We are told of the Mseatse and 
 Caledonians, that they lived upon the milk of their 
 flocks, upon wild fruits, and whatever they could 
 procure in hunting.^ This was their food even under 
 favorable circumstances ; for it is added Hist, when 
 they were in the woods, they fed upon iroots and 
 leaves. A melancholy proof of their Avi-etchedness 
 may be deduced from what we are told of the sub- 
 stitute they employed in the want of natural suste- 
 nance. It was a certain composition, by which, it is 
 said, when they had eaten about the quantity of a 
 bean, their spirits were so admirably supported that 
 they no longer felt hunger or thirst.* This inven- 
 tion, to which such miraculous eflfects are attributed, 
 was probably nothing more than a drug made use of 
 by them to deaden the gnawings of hunger, just as 
 Indian hunters, in similar cases, gird a bandage 
 tightly upon their stomachs. The game upon which 
 the more needy or more adventurous natives, both 
 of the north and south, chiefly subsisted, was probably 
 of a kind only to be procured with difficulty, — the 
 bison, the boar, and the moose-deer, against which 
 their imperfect weapons must have been frequently 
 unavailing. Antiquarians have been more curious 
 
 1 Whittakcr's Manchester, sec. iii. chap. 9. 
 2 Nat. Hist. xi. 96. ^ Xiphilin. in Sever. * Idem.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 119 
 
 about how this game was cooked than were probably 
 the hunters themselves ; and while some have al- 
 leged that the ancient Britons ate it raw in the 
 forests, after expressing the blood between flat stones 
 or pieces of timber, according to the fashion of the 
 Scotch Highlanders in former times, others have sup- 
 posed that the carcase was baked in a pit lined with 
 heated flints, as is done in the present day by the 
 New Zealanders. 
 
 We have already mentioned the abstinence of the 
 Southern Britons from hares and poultiy, and that 
 of those in the north from fish. It is remarkable 
 that in this last particular the ancient occupants of 
 the northern part of our island were till lately imi- 
 tated by their representatives, the Scottish High- 
 landers. But whatever may have been the cause of 
 this avoidance of what we should deem some of the 
 most natural and salutary kinds of food, the early 
 Britons have been accused of not abstaining from the 
 most revolting of all the gi'atifications of a depraved 
 appetite. Antiquity has subjected them to the odious 
 charge of cannibalism. Diodorus Siculus and Strabo 
 both mention the existence of a report to that effect 
 respecting the Irish ; St. Clnysostom, in one of his 
 sermons, speaks of it as a practice that had prevailed, 
 in th-e exclamation — " How often was human flesh 
 eaten in Britain ?" and St. Jerome seems expressly 
 to aflirm that when he was a young man, in Gaul, 
 he saw some of the Attacotti, a British nation, eating 
 human flesh. Gibbon has adduced this as the tes- 
 timony of an eyewitness to the fact of the cannibalism 
 of some of the Britons, and has declared that he finds 
 no reason to question the veracity of the saint ; but 
 the account is certainly in some respects a strange 
 one. It is difficult to believe, in the first place, that 
 an exhibition of cannibalism could be publicly tole- 
 rated in the fourth centuiy in the Roman province of 
 Gaul. But Jerome not only would seem to say that 
 he saw the Attacotti eating human flesh ; he adds, 
 as equally what he had ascertained bj^ his own ob- 
 sei-vation iu Gaul, that these British savages, when 
 they found 'herds of hogs and cattle in the woods, were 
 wont to CTit off and devour certain parts of the bodies 
 of the shepherds, which they accounted particularly 
 delicate. Now this certainly he could not have seen 
 with his own ej'es, although he may have heard it 
 reported. Although, therefore, his words are not so 
 cautious as they ought to have been, and are dictated 
 with a view to rhetorical effect, we seem to be 
 justified in regarding him as testifying not to what he 
 had seen, but only to what he had heard, in the whole 
 story. Still his statement will be evidence to the 
 reputation of the Attacotti for man-eating ; and all 
 we can say is, that it is not impossible they may 
 hiive deserved the character they appear to have 
 acquired. The frequent existence of the practice of 
 cannibalism among tribes not always in the lowest 
 stage of barbarism, has now been completely estab- 
 lished. The Battas of Sumati-a, who have a wi-itten 
 language, and have in other respects made con- 
 siderable advances in civilization, have perhaps carried 
 the practice further than it has been carried in any 
 other country. 
 
 We know nothing about the habits of the Britons 
 in regard to temperance in drinking. Mead, or me- 
 theglin, was probably the common beverage at their 
 social feasts, as it is said to have been among the 
 Celtic nations generally. They are also said to have 
 used a preparation fi"om barley,^ forming a coarse 
 sort of wine, or " spurious Bacchus," as the Italians 
 called it, which was of a much more intoxicating 
 quality. This was nothing more than a species ol' 
 ale common to the Gauls, the Spaniards, and the 
 nations of the west and north, and alluded to by 
 several writers,'^ who admired the ingenuity of savages 
 in making even water intoxicate. With wine they 
 probably had little if any acquaintance. 
 
 In their personal appearance, the Britons seem to 
 have been a people of large limbs and much muscular 
 strength and activity. This much may be gathered 
 even from the narrative of their various encounters 
 in fight with the Roman legions. Strabo mentions 
 that he had seen some British young men at Rome 
 half a foot taller than even the Gauls, who were a 
 bulky race compared with the Italians. He alleges, 
 however, that they were not strongly and gi-acefully 
 formed in proportion to their great stature, and did 
 not stand very firmly upon their legs ; but this was 
 perhaps owing to the immaturity of those juvenile 
 specimens that came under his notice. 
 
 Their clothing, both for warmth and ornament, is 
 one of the chief signs by which the degree of civili- 
 zation among an early people is indicated. The 
 half-naked savage shivering amidst the storm of the 
 elements, with no better defence than a loose cloak 
 of skin, betokens a human being in the lowest stage 
 of helplessness, and whose intellectual capacities are 
 as yet in great part dormant. The addition of a 
 single pin or button, by which his garment is rendered 
 more comfortable, indicates an advance in intellect 
 that will operate equally upon all his other arrange- 
 ments ; and as one piece after another, for conveni- 
 ence or decoration, is added to his attire, we may 
 commonly trace the progress of his general civiliza- 
 tion. Mei-e expediency was at first his standard ; 
 but as his wants increase and his tastes improve, the 
 narrow limits of necessity are soon overstepped for 
 those of decency, gracefulness, and splendor. 
 
 The Maeatse and Caledonians are described by the 
 Romans as living in a state of nudity ; but as thev 
 seldom saw these warlike tribes except in battle or 
 flight, their want of clothing may have been only 
 temporaiy, and for convenience, during their de- 
 sultory warfare. The flinging off of their garments 
 in battle was a custom general among the Celtic 
 nations. Livy informs us that, at the battle of Can- 
 nae, there were Gauls, who fought naked from the 
 waist upwards ; and Polybius says that some Belgic 
 Gauls fought entirely naked, but it was only on the 
 day of battle that they stripped themselves. It 
 was thus that, in the battles of modern times, the 
 Scottish Highlanders were accustomed to throw ofl" 
 their plaids, by which they sometimes astonished 
 their antagonists by the view of then- naked limbs, as 
 much as their prototypes did the Roman legions, 
 
 1 Dioscorid. lib. ii. c. 110. 2 pHny, Orosius, Isidorus.
 
 120 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book L 
 
 and incurred an equal charge of barbarism. Ca;sar 
 himself informs us that the inhabitants of the interior 
 of Britain wore clothing of skins. Wlien this was 
 the case with the least refined part of the population, 
 it is obvious that the more advanced portion of th^em, 
 who inhabited the sea-coast, must have possessed a 
 more plentiful and less primitive wardrobe. Of the 
 several kinds of cloth manufactured in Gaul, one, 
 according to PUny and Diodorus Siculus, was com- 
 posed of fine wool dyed of several colors, which 
 bein" spun into yarn, was woven either in stripes or 
 checkers; and of this the Gauls and Britons made 
 their summer garments. Diodorus describing the 
 Belgic Gauls, says, they wore dyed tunics, betlow- 
 ered with all manner of colors. With these they 
 wore close trowsers, which they called hracca. 
 These trowsers, an article of dress by which all the 
 barbaric nations seem to have been distinguished 
 from the Romans, were made by the Gauls and 
 Britons of their sti'iped or checkered cloth, called 
 breach, brycan, or breacan, brcac in Celtic signifying 
 anything speckled, spotted, striped, or in any way 
 party-colored. Over the tunic both the Gauls and 
 the Britons wore a short cloak, called a sagum by 
 the Romans, from the Celtic word saic, which, ac- 
 cording to Varro, signified a skin or hide, such hav- 
 ing been the material which the invention of cloth 
 bad superseded. The British sagum was of one 
 uniform color, generally either blue or black.' The 
 
 1 Diodor. v. 33. 
 
 FiovREs OF ANCIENT Gavls IN THE Bracc*, Tcnic, AND Sagum.— Drfiwn fnim Koman Statues in the Louvre.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 121 
 
 predominating tint in the checkered trowsei's and 
 tunic was red. Their hau- was turned back upon 
 the crown of the head, and fell down in long and 
 bushy curls behind. Men of rank amongst the Gauls 
 and Britons, according to Caesar and Diodorus, shaved 
 the chin, but wore immense tangled mustaches. 
 The ornaments of the Britons consisted, like those 
 of the Gauls, of rings, bracelets, and armlets of iron, 
 copper or brass, silver or gold, according to the rank 
 or means of the wearer, and that peculiar decoration 
 the torch or dorch. Latinized torques, which was 
 probably a symbol of nobility or command. When 
 the captive Caractacus was led through the sti-eets 
 of Rome, several of these chains, — the spoils which 
 he had taken from his conquered enemies in Britain, 
 — were carried in the procession. ^ It was a sort of 
 necklace or collar composed of flexible bars of gold 
 or silver, twisted or moulded like a rope or wreath, 
 and hooked together behind. Sometimes the tor- 
 ques were formed of bronze ; and Herodian says 
 that those of the northern part of the island wore 
 torques of iron, " of which they were as vain as other 
 barbarians were of gold."- Specimens of those of 
 gold, silver, and bronze have been frequently found 
 both in Britain and Ireland. Two splendid specimens 
 of gold torques found in the county of Meath have 
 been supposed, from their size, to be meant for 
 girdles instead of collars, as Herodian mentions they 
 were also worn round the waist. From the hook of 
 one proceeded a gold wue, a quarter of an inch thick 
 and eight inches long, terminating in a solid knob, an 
 appendage never before seen in any specimen. The 
 weight of the whole torque was twentj'-five ounces.' 
 The ring, Phny tells us, was worn by the Britons 
 and Gauls upon the middle finger. 
 
 Of the weapons, offensive and defensive, of the 
 ancient Britons sevei'al specimens have been pre- 
 served. The most complete collection is undoubtedly 
 that at Goodrich Court. Hatchets or battle-axes 
 of stone, aiTow-heads of flint and lances of bone, 
 supposed to have been the primitive weapons, and 
 others of the same form but of mixed copper and 
 tin ; the leaf-shaped sword of the same metal, worn 
 also by the Gauls, and the metal coatings of the flat 
 circular shields or targets, called tarians or dashers, 
 
 1 Tac. Annal. xii. 36. 2 L. iii. c. xlvii. 
 
 3 Meyrick's Orig. Inhab. p. 14, note. Sir W. Betham, however, 
 we suppose, would consider this and other such specimens to have 
 been pieces of money. See ante, pp. 104, 105i 
 
 the concentric circles on which, separated by rows 
 of little knobs, forcibly remind us of the Highland 
 target, are all to be seen there in perfect preservation. 
 The shields have a hollow boss in the centre, to 
 admit the hand, as they were held at arm's length 
 in action. 1 
 
 A most interesting relic of this period was lately 
 discovered in a earn at Mold, in Flintshire. It is a 
 golden breastplate or gorget, embossed with a figured 
 pattern in various degi-ees of relief. It was found 
 containing the bones of the deceased warrior, and in 
 the position in which it would have been worn, with 
 remnants of coarse cloth or serge, beads of amber, 
 and pieces of copper, upon which the gold had been 
 probably fastened. Its extreme length is three feet 
 seven inches, being made, apparently, to pass under 
 the arms and meet in the centre of the back ; and 
 its width in front, where it is hollowed out to receive 
 the neck, eight inches. Some separate pieces found 
 with it appear to have passed over the shoulders like 
 straps, but the mutilation of the corslet at the very 
 point on each side at which they must have been 
 affixed unfortunately prevents us from ascertaining 
 precisely the mode of their application. The breast- 
 plate is here engraved from the original, which is 
 now in the British Museum.^ 
 
 We have already more than once had occasion to 
 advert to the painted skins of the Britons. Caesar, 
 the first of the Roman writers who mentions this 
 national peculiarity, describes it to have consisted 
 merely in staining themselves of a cerulean color 
 with the herb vitnim or woad. Solinus, however, 
 represents the process as a laborious and painful one, 
 but permanent in its eflfect, and speaks of the painting 
 as consisting chiefly of the figures of animals that 
 grew with the groAvth of the body. Herodian says 
 they punctured their bodies with the figures of all 
 sorts of animals. Isidore is still more explicit, for, 
 in speaking of the Picts whose name he derives 
 from their colored skins, he tells us that the painting 
 was done by squeezing out the juice of certain herbs 
 upon the body, and puncturing the figures with a 
 needle. Here, then, we have the same process of 
 tattooing which is performed in the present day by 
 the natives of the South Sea islands. Caesar sup- 
 poses the Britons to have colored their skins for the 
 
 1 See also Archaeologia, vol. xitiii. p. 95. 
 
 2 See also engraving and account by Mr. Gage in vol. iivi. of the 
 ArchiEologia, p. 22. 
 
 Re.mains of .k British Breast Plate, found at Mold
 
 183 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 purpose of teriifyins their enemies ; but such could I might prove a brave warrior and die on the field of 
 scarcely have been the object with a people among i battle 
 whom the practice was universal, and whose wars '^^ 
 
 were international. Probably this skin-painting was 
 the national dress, and existed in its highest state 
 of perfection at a period considerably prior to the 
 Roman invasion, when the clothing of the people 
 was more scanty than in the days of Caesar. They 
 miiiht attempt by the operation, also, to indurate the 
 skin more effectually against the inclemency of the 
 elements. But a still stronger motive for the endur- 
 ance of such pain and labor as the practice occasioned, 
 is to be sought in that love of ornament so natural to 
 mankind at large, and so especially powerful in the 
 savatJe. The ancient Briton, in the absence of other 
 distinctions in the way of clothing and decoration, 
 would find, in these fantastic ornaments, his badge 
 of rank in society, and his chief attraction in the 
 eyes of the other sex. As the process also was per- 
 formed in early youth, it was a probation, among a 
 rude people, for a life of hardihood; and by the 
 profusion of its lines and figures, the wearer evinced 
 his contempt of pain and power of endurance. But 
 when the body began to be covered, such a profusion 
 was found superfluous ; and as the articles of raiment 
 were increased, the blue figures were proportionably 
 discontinued, so that the practice gradually declined, 
 and was at last wholly abandoned. It is therefore 
 that we heai- no more of this tattooing in the south 
 after it was subdued and civilized into a Roman 
 province; though it still continued among the rude 
 tribes of the north, where it lingered until it was 
 banished thence also by the full attire of civilization.' 
 We may here observe that, by the same giadual 
 process, this pi-actice is on the wane in New Zealand, 
 and probably, in the course of a centuiy, will be re- 
 corded among the things that have been. 
 
 A still more singular distinction than that of a 
 painted or punctured skin separated the ancient 
 Britons morally from the rest of the world, as much 
 as their insular position did geogiaphically. This 
 was the nature of theii- institutions or customs of 
 marriage. Those rights of exclusive property in a 
 wife, which even among the rudest tribes are prized 
 so highly, and guarded with such jealous care, are 
 asserted to have been straiigety disregarded by the 
 early inhabitants of this island. According to Caesar, 
 ten or twelve families used to live under the same 
 roof, the husbands having their wives in common. 
 The ties of previous consanguinity, also, so far fiom 
 being a check, seem rather to have been considered 
 as a recommendation in these strange associations, in 
 which, we are told, for the most part brothers joined 
 with brothers, and parents with their sous. The 
 paternity of the children was settled by their affilia- 
 tion upon the person by whom their mothers had 
 been first maiTied. Of the manner in which the 
 children were reared, all the information we have is 
 a story told by Solinus, who relates that the first 
 morsel of food was put into the infant's mouth on the 
 point of his father's sword, with the prayer that he 
 
 1 We shall find in th; 
 the Saxous. 
 
 sequel, however, that it reappeared among 
 
 These matiumonial clubs have ajjpeared so prepos- 
 terous and incredible to inquirers of the present day, 
 that many have been dis|)Osed to class them among 
 the fictions of antiquity. It has been supposed that 
 the Romans drew a wrong conclusion from the Bri- 
 tish mode of living, which was so unlike their own, 
 and, finding so many families huddled together under 
 one roof, too hastily assumed that they lived in all 
 respects in common. But the Romans were never 
 so mistaken when they found other rude tiibes thus 
 crowded together : while they brought this revolting 
 charge against the Britons, they have imputed noth- 
 ing of the kind to the Germans, for instance, who 
 were placed in similar circumstances. The fact, 
 too, does not depend upon the solitary testimony of 
 Caesar. It is also stated by Dio Cassius, or his 
 abridger Xiphilinus ; and that writer rejmrts a con- 
 versation respecting it between the Empress Julia 
 and tlie wife of a British chief, in which the latter, 
 on being rallied about the man-iages of her country- 
 women, at once admits the charge, only retorting 
 that the Roman matrons acted in a manner much 
 more indefensible by indulging themselves in an 
 equal licence covertly, and in violation of the laws of 
 their country. St. Jerome also speaks of the prac- 
 tice as still prevailing in his day, in the northern 
 parts of Britain. It fingered in these regions, of 
 course, long after civilization and Christianity had 
 extirpated it in the south. But even during the 
 general prevalence of this promiscuous polygamy, 
 the virtue of conjugal fidelity, as already noticed, 
 seems still to have been perfectly well understood, 
 and also held in much respect. Their marriages, 
 however extraordinary their nature appears to us, 
 may still have been protected by a law, the provisions 
 of which it was both dangerous and disreputable to 
 U'ansgi'ess. Cartisraandua, the Queen of the Bri- 
 gantes, when she ti'ansferred her affections from lier 
 husband to her armor-bearer, may very probably 
 have violated the established regulations, however 
 liberal ; and hence the universal storm of indignation 
 which her conduct raised. Or, the community of 
 husbands and lovers may have been customary only 
 among the lower classes, and not tolerated by the 
 general opinion in the case of the princes and chiefs. 
 Female honor also appears, from the instance of 
 Boadicea, and from various scattered notices in the 
 , Roman WTiters, to have been highly appreciated by 
 the Britons. The general respect in which women 
 were held, indeed, is attested by various circum- 
 stances. They, as well as men, appear to have 
 assiuned the prophetic office, and dictated for the 
 emergencies of the future. Women occasionally 
 both held the sovereignty of states, and commanded 
 armies in the field of battle. This is the reason 
 that some of the female sepulchres, when opened, 
 display an assortment like the commodities of Ulysses, 
 when he went to discover Achilles, viz., implements 
 of housewifery, ti'inkets, and warlike weapons. 
 
 Those affections that have cherished a friend or 
 relative when living, ai-e generally expressed for his
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 123 
 
 lifeless remains in a great variety of forms; and as 
 love and friendship are most intense among the un- 
 civilized, the rudest ti-ibes are found to present the 
 most striking indications of these passions, in their 
 funeral ceremonies and modes of burial. The in- 
 tensity of their feelings on such occasions the ancient 
 Britons have sufficiently announced to posterity, in 
 the numerous barrows that exist in the southern 
 division of the island, and the cairns that are found 
 in the northern. What paiticular ceremonies they 
 used in their interment of the dead we know not ; but, 
 from the contents of the gi-aves, we find that, like 
 otlier rude nations, they buried with the body what- 
 ever they accounted most valuable. Weapons of 
 war and of the chace, ornaments of every kind, and 
 even articles of jewehy were thus deposited ; and 
 frequently also the relics of dogs and deer are found 
 mixed with human bones. All this had, doubtless, a 
 prospective view to the existence of the departed 
 individual in a future state ; he was thus not only 
 arrayed for that other scene in a manner befitting 
 his rank and former estimation, but furnished with 
 the means of defence, subsistence, and amusement. 
 The prodigious labor with which the old British bar- 
 rows were evidently constructed, by soil in many 
 cases brought from a gi-eat distance, and the care and 
 ingenuity displayed in their forms, excite the wonder 
 
 of modern ages. These strange sepulchres exhibit 
 gi-eat variety both in size and shape, an4 by this, in 
 some cases, we can conjecture not only the period of 
 their consti'uction, but also the condition of those 
 whom they were designed to commemorate. Thus 
 the immense mounds of earth of an oblong form and 
 rude consti-uction, some of which are about 400 
 feet in length, but containing few bones, and fewer 
 valuable rehcs, were probably the earliest graves of 
 the island, and designed for chieftains, who could 
 more easily obtain the labor of a thousand vassals, 
 than the possession of a single tiinket. Next to 
 these may perhaps be classed the bowl-shaped bar- 
 rows, as they are called, which are plain hemispheric 
 mounds of earth. The bell-shaped baiTow is evi- 
 dently of still later date, being an improvement upon 
 the former, having its sides gi'acefully curved inward, 
 immediately above the surface, and exhibiting gi'eater 
 skiU and labor in its construction. To these may 
 be added Avhat have been improperly termed the 
 Druid barrows : these are the most elegant of the 
 whole series of gi-aves, and appear to have been in 
 general occupied by females, from containing trinkets 
 of a finer and more feminine character, and bones of 
 a smaller size than those of the others. It would 
 appear also that these vast piles were reserved only 
 for chiefs and personages of elevated rank ; while 
 
 a. Loll? Barrow. 
 
 Group of the Principal Forms of Barrows. 
 i, c. Druid Barrows. d. Bell-shaped13arruw. e. Conical Barrow. 
 
 /. Twin Barrows.
 
 124 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 Flint Arrow Heads. 
 
 ' Celts. 
 
 1. 
 2. 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 5. Weapon. 
 
 6. PlM. 
 
 7. Arrow Head. 
 
 8. Dirk or Knife. 
 
 Of Bronze. 
 
 Of Bronze. 
 
 9. Spear Head. 
 
 10. Lance Head. 
 
 11. Brass Knife in sheath, set m 
 
 stag's horn handle. 
 
 12. Flint Spear Head. 
 
 13. Ivorv Tweezers. 
 
 14. Ivory Bodkin. 
 
 15. Amber Ornament. 
 
 16. Necklace of Shells. 
 
 17. Beads of Glass. 
 
 18. Ivory Ornament. 
 
 19. Nippers. 
 
 20. Stone for Sliner. 
 
 21. Stone to sharpen bone. 
 
 22. Ring Amulet. 
 
 23. Breastplate of Blue Slate. 
 
 24. lu'-ense Cup. 
 
 25. Ditto. 
 
 26. Ditto. 
 
 27. Whetstone. 
 28 to 32. Urns. 
 
 33 to 37. Drinking Cups. 
 
 Contents of Ancient British Barrows. 
 
 the common people, as in other counti-ies, were 
 buried in those more humble receptacles whose 
 traces are soon erased. 
 
 In the interment of the dead, the Britons appear 
 to have observed a variety of modes in the disposition 
 of the body. In all probability the earliest was, to 
 place it in a cist, with the legs bent up towards the 
 head. This practice is generally found to have been 
 adopted in the long barrows mentioned above ; and in 
 these, along with the remains of the body, there are 
 sometimes found daggers of bronze, and drinking-cups 
 of the rudest workmanship. Sometimes they laid 
 the body in the grave at full length. In these cases, 
 the articles of bronze and iron, such as spear-heads, 
 lances, swords, bosses of shields, and ornaments of 
 chain-work, together with beads of glass and amber, 
 and other trinkets, proclaim a more refined period, 
 and gi'eater skill in the arts. In some instances, their 
 practice seems to have assimilated more nearly to 
 that now followed, the bodies being inclosed in a sti'ong 
 wooden coffin, riveted with bronze, or an unbarked 
 piece of a tree, hollowed out in the centre. It ap- 
 pears, however, that they were also in the frequent 
 practice of consuming tlie body by fire. In many of 
 the baiTows, tlie charred or half-burnt bones are 
 
 found carefully collected on the floor, or deposited 
 within a cist cut in the chalk. A still more classical 
 mode of burial was also frequently followed among 
 the Britons. When the body had been consumed on 
 the pile, the ashes were carefully collected, inclosed 
 in a linen sheet, which was secured by a brass pin, 
 and deposited in an urn. Many of the barrows, on 
 being opened, are found to contain these urns, which 
 are placed, in most instances, with the bottom upper- 
 most. This practice of sepulture by burning, appears 
 to have been whoUj' confined to the inhabitants of the 
 southern part of Britain, making it probable that they 
 had learnt it from the Romans. As for the Caledo- 
 nians, it would seem that they were contented with 
 laying the body in the earth entire, and raising over 
 the spot a loose heap of stones, to perpetuate the 
 memory of the departed.' 
 
 Such are nearlj- all the facts that are now to be 
 collected under the head of the private life and social 
 habits of the Britons, while they remained an uncon- 
 quered people. The ti'ansformation of the island, or 
 the gi'eater part of it, into a Roman province, also in 
 course of time transformed the inhabitants into Ro- 
 
 ' See Hoare's Ancient Wiltshire ; Douglas' Nenia Britannica. 
 Cough's Sepulchral Remains of Britsin, &c.
 
 Chap. V^.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 125 
 
 Group of Vessels. — From Specimens found in Roman Burial Places in Britain. 
 
 mans, in their tastes, manners, and modes of life. 
 The countiy now, in eveiy respect, assumed a new 
 aspect. The forests were opened, and roads con- 
 sti'ucted in every direction ; and the wild beasts being 
 dislodged, the occupation of the hunter ceased, or be- 
 came an occasional amusement. The building of 
 towns, and the extension of ti-affic, banished those 
 rude practices or inconvenient customs, that were 
 only tolerable amidst the dreariness of the woods and 
 the idleness of their inhabitants. Superior modes of 
 agi-iculture were introduced ; and the natives, thus 
 taught the fertility of their soil, forsook a precarious 
 mode of subsistence for the settled life of the hus- 
 bandman. Houses of brick or stone gradually super- 
 seded those of mud or timber, and while, in the pro- 
 gress of improvement, the tesselated pavement and 
 domestic ornaments of the " eternal city" adorned the 
 habitations of the British kings and chieftains, their 
 retainers would also, in their humbler sphere, vie with 
 each otlier in the comforts of then- dwellings. In this 
 manner, too, the sports and recreations of the people 
 would be either changed or modified. The chariot 
 being laid aside, as unserviceable in the Roman mode 
 of fighting, that enthusiasm for horsemanship which 
 it cultivated must necessarily have decayed. Now 
 that the several native ti'ibes were no longer permit- 
 ted to war against each other, the warlike exercises 
 ra which their youth and manhood were formerly 
 trained became unnecessary, and perhaps were pro- 
 hibited by the law. Their religious practices, and .su- 
 perstitions of common Ufe, must, in like manner, have 
 rapidly faded away with the disappearance of the 
 Druids, by whose authority they were enforced, and 
 the advances of Christianity and a higher civilization. 
 Among other things, the external appearance of 
 
 the Romanized Britons was altogether different fi-om 
 that of their conquered ancestors. We are informed 
 by Tacitus, that so early as during the command of 
 Agricola in Britain, the sons of the British chieftains 
 began to affect the Roman dress. The braccse 
 were abandoned by them, and the Roman tunic, 
 reaching to the knee, with the cloak or mantle, still 
 called the sagum, became the general habit, at least 
 of the superior classes. The change in the female 
 garb was less remarkable, perhaps, as it had originally 
 been similar to that of the Romans. The hair of 
 both sexes was cut and dressed after the Roman 
 fashion. 
 
 In their arms and weapons similar alterations 
 appear to have taken place, even before the complete 
 subjugation of the country. The metal coating of a 
 shield, supposed to have been fabricated by the Bri- 
 tons after they had been induced to imitate the 
 Roman fashions, was found some years since in the 
 bed of the river Witham, in Lincolnshire, with 
 several broken swords and spear-heads of bronze, 
 and is now in the Meyrick collection. It bears a 
 strong resemblance to the Roman scutum. It ap- 
 pears originally to hare been gilt, and is adorned on 
 the umbo, or boss, with the common red carneUan 
 of the countiy. While its shape is Roman, the 
 ornamental detail partakes sti'ongly of the character 
 of the British patterns ; and the learned proprietor 
 remarks, that "it is impossible to contemplate the 
 artistic portions without feeling convinced that there 
 is a mixture of British ornaments with such resem- 
 blances to the elegant designs on Roman works as 
 would be produced by a people in a state of less 
 civilization."' ^**v 
 
 ' Arcliaeologia, vol. sxiii.
 
 126 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 3«^ 
 
 1. Bronze Spear Head. 
 
 2. Ditto Dasher. 
 
 3. Iron Knife. 
 
 4. Bronze Lance Head. 
 
 5. Iron ditto. 
 
 6. Celt. 
 
 7. Bronze Lance Head. 
 
 8. Bronze Celt. 
 
 9. Ivorv Arrow Head. 
 10. Iron' Boss of a Shield. 
 
 11. Bronze Buckle. 
 
 12. Iron Crook. 
 
 13. Iron Ring. 
 
 14. Plated Iron Stud. 
 
 15. Bronze Pin. 
 
 }^' I Ditto with Ivory Handles 
 
 18. Bronze Ornament. 
 
 19. Ditto. 
 
 20. Amulet. 
 
 • Gold Ornaments. 
 
 21. Gold Box. 
 22. 
 
 23. . 
 
 24. Amber and Bead Neck- 
 
 lace. 
 
 25. Gold Breastplate 
 
 26. Patera. 
 
 27. Ivory Bracelet. 
 
 28. Drinking Cup 
 
 29. Incense Cup. 
 
 30. i 
 
 31. > Drinking Cups. 
 
 32. S 
 
 „^' I Double Drinking Cups 
 
 .35:1 
 
 36. VI 
 
 37. S 
 
 • Urns. 
 
 B. Druidical Hook for gathering 
 the Sacred Mistletoe. 
 
 12, 13, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 38, are conjectured to have belonged to the Priesthood. 
 Contents of Roman-British Barrows. 
 
 AVhile these changes were gradunlly taking place, 
 however, in the southern parts of the island, the 
 north, beyond the wall of Hadrian, remained in its 
 oriffinal wild and uncultivated state. When the 
 Emperor Seveiiis invaded Caledonia in the begin- 
 
 ning of the third century, a contemporary author^ 
 describes the Maeata? and Caledonians in almost the 
 same words as Caesar had the Britons of the interior 
 more than two centuries before. 
 
 1 Xiphilou ex Dione Nic. in Sever 
 
 Circular British Shikld, rorND in the Witha>i
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 127 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 HISTORY OF THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 natiuDttl cinL^atiOij, bj 
 
 HE account of each 
 period will be con- 
 cluded by a chap- 
 terunder this tifle, 
 the objectof which 
 Avill be, to take a 
 general view of 
 the whole social 
 condition of the 
 people, and to en- 
 deavor to estimate 
 the amount and 
 character of the 
 cullectiiig into a focus the 
 light that may be thrown upon these subjects, both 
 by the vai-ious particulars akeady noticed, and by 
 certain additional classes of facts not admitting of 
 being conveniently intioduced under any of the pre- 
 ceding heads. The additional facts will consist prin- 
 cipally of such authentic information as can be ob- 
 tained relating to the distribution of property, the 
 proportions in which the population appears to have 
 been divided into the different classes composing it, 
 the incomes and rates of living of these several 
 classes, the health and sickness of the community, 
 the prevalent diseases, the ordinary length of life, 
 with the other matters belonging to the department 
 of what has been called Vital Statistics, and the sta- 
 tistics of vice and crime, including toth the kinds 
 and extent of crime committed, and the institutions 
 for preserving order, and repressing and punishing 
 violations of the law. 
 
 The sources of information of this description, 
 however, are lamentably deficient even in regard to 
 the most recent times ; and in the earlier periods 
 of our history no regular record of such facts is to be 
 found, even in the most meagi'e form. In the re- 
 mote and obscure period with which we are at 
 present engaged, where we are nearly without any- 
 thing that can properly be called history of any kind, 
 we have only a few incidental notices to guide us to 
 some vague general conclusions on one or two points 
 of the inquiry. 
 
 On the question of the degi'ee of civilization pos- 
 sessed by the Britons at the time of the Roman inva- 
 sion, although it would be easy enough to draw up a 
 plausible argument in support of any hypothesis that 
 might be proposed, it is extremely difficult to come 
 to any certain or perfectly satisfactory determination. 
 The facts upon which we have to form our judgment 
 are too few and too unconnected to afford us more 
 than the merest glimpses of the subject. And from 
 the insulated and fragmentaiy way in which they 
 are stated, it is a business of the most conjectm-al 
 
 specidation to attempt to reconcile them with one 
 another, and to weave them into a consistent whole. 
 On the one hand, we have a country covered in 
 great part with woods and marshes, without towns, 
 except such forest fastnesses as have been found 
 even among the rudest savages (although those of 
 the Britons may have been more artificially de- 
 fended from hostile assaults), and in all probability 
 without any roads, except some two or three great 
 tracks, sufficing rather to point the way from one 
 locality to another, than to serve as the means of 
 convenient communication. We have a people, in 
 fight at least, showing themselves naked or half 
 naked — without books or letters, — without any arts, 
 as far as our evidence goes, save the simplest and 
 rudest, — without even other habitations, apparently, 
 than mud-hovels, not reared for permanent occupa- 
 tion, but hastily put together to be crept into for a 
 few months or weeks, and then possibly to be aban- 
 doned or set fire to on the approach of an enemy or 
 on any other occasion that might make it convenient 
 for their occupants to shift their quarters. Thus, 
 in the impressive sketch of Tacitus, the day following 
 the fatal battle of the Grampians is described as 
 having displayed to the view of the victors a vast 
 silence all around, the hills a wide expanse of loneli- 
 ness, houses smoking in the distance, not a human 
 being to be met with anywhere by the parties sent 
 out to scour in all directions. This, indeed, was in 
 the wilder regions of the north ; but we can hardly 
 doubt that in the wars between the different tribes 
 which we are told raged incessantly even in the 
 southern parts of the island, the people must havie 
 been accustomed in like manner to fly for safety to 
 the woods, when a hostile band, too strong to be 
 resisted, sAvept the country, and without hesitation 
 to leave their slight and miserable dwellings to be 
 ransacked and trodden under foot. AVe learn even 
 from tlie brief narrative of Cwsar's campaign, that 
 the natives made for the woods, and hid themselves 
 there after every defeat, and that it was from the 
 woods they came forth whenever they ventured 
 again to attack the invaders. In short, they evi- 
 dently were in the gi-eater part a people living in the 
 woods, which probably covered most of the country, 
 and in which, as has been just noticed, we are ex- 
 pressly told that the only groups of cottages they 
 had that could be called towns or villages Avere all 
 hidden. These are the habits of mere savages, in 
 as far as the climate of a high latitude wll allow. 
 On the other hand, we find coexistent with all this 
 rudeness, many indications of a much more advanced 
 social state. These Britons appear to have long 
 maintained a commercial intercourse, not only with
 
 128 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I. 
 
 the adjacent coast of Gaul, but with other and much ' 
 more distant parts of the world, from which traders 
 regularly resorted to more than one point of the 
 island. The inhabitants of the south coast, we are 
 expressly told, were not clothed in skins ; from which 
 we may infer that they had garments made of woolen 
 cloth, or some other woven or manufactured material. 
 Indeed, the common statement of Caesar and other 
 writers, that they did not differ much in their way 
 of life from the Gauls, never could have been made 
 of a people who went naked. The Britons of the 
 south were not even dependent for their subsistence 
 solely either upon the chace or upon pasturage ; 
 they sowed corn, as well as possessed gi-eat plenty of 
 cattle. They were a large population, and their 
 houses also were very numerous. They had a sort 
 of money, perhaps not ruder than that which appears 
 to have been in use in Egjpt in the time of the 
 Pharaohs. They showed not only much bravery, 
 but also vei-y considerable skill in war — venturing to 
 encounter even the Roman legions both in sudden 
 surprises and in pitched battles, and evincing military 
 organization and array in the latter, as well as strat- 
 agem in the former. Although their offensive arms 
 were not of the best material, they were still of 
 metal, and not merely of wood, or bone, or stone. 
 Their war-chariots, both in their management and 
 their construction, were machines which never could 
 have been found among a people altogether without 
 civilization. Yet we find them in the possession of 
 Galgacus and his Caledonians, as well as of the Bri- 
 tons of the south. Without taking into account the 
 scj'thes with which they are said to have been armed, 
 the fact that they were carriages running rapidty 
 upon wheels, and capable of being driven impetuously 
 to and fro according to the sudden exigencies of 
 battle, is enough to prove the existence of considera- 
 ble mechanical knowledge and ingenviitj' among a 
 people provided with such engines of war. Then 
 \, there seems to have been established in each ti-ibe a 
 ". regular government, presided over by a single chief 
 or king, whose power, however, was not absolute, 
 but was controlled by an aristocracy, and perhaps 
 also, in some degree, by the community at large. 
 Dio Cassius, in an account of the northern ti'ibes, 
 tells us that the people had a gi-eat share in the 
 government — a circumstance, by the by, which some- 
 what tends to corroborate the supi)osition of the 
 Germanic origin of these tribes. Fvuther, the Bri- 
 tish states, though often at enmity among them- 
 selves, had made a sufficient advance in policy, to be 
 accustomed to provide against a common danger, 
 by both leaguing themselves together, and placing 
 the general direction of affairs for the time in the 
 hands of a single chief, selected for his supposed 
 fitness to hold the supreme command. It was thus 
 that they combined under Cassivellaunus, to repel 
 the first invasion of the Romans, and long afterwards 
 under Boadicea to destroy their conquerors, after the 
 latter had gained possession of the country, and 
 although they were defeated in both these attempts, 
 and the animosities and conflicting interests or views 
 of the different ti'ibes seem also in both instances to 
 
 have interfered to hinder the league from being 
 either so extensive or so compact as it otherwise 
 might liave been, yet such general movements, 
 however unsuccessfully conducted, could only have 
 sprung from a spirit of patriotism or nationalitj' much 
 too comprehensive as well as too considerate for 
 mere barbarians. Above all, there existed among 
 these Britons a numerous order of persons, con- 
 stituting what we should now call one of the estates 
 of the realm, who were possessed of a knowledge of 
 letters, and also, we have eveiy reason to believe, of 
 a very considerable amount of scientific knowledge. 
 They had a system of laws regularly taught and 
 administered by these learned sages, and a religion 
 of mysterious doctrines and an imposing ritual of 
 which they were the ministers. These Druids of 
 Britain and Gaul, as we may gather fi"om the in- 
 stance of Divitiacus, mentioned by Cicero, were 
 qualified by their intellectual acquirements to asso- 
 ciate with the most eminent among the literaiy men 
 of Rome ; and in some departments of natural 
 knowledge they were probabl}'- more accomplished 
 than any Roman or Grecian philosoi)her. Even if 
 we suppose the Druidical learning to have been 
 originally an importation from abroad, and never to 
 have spread beyond the members of the Druidical 
 body, it is difficult to conceive that the mass of the 
 population, in the midst of which such a permanent 
 light was fed and sustained, could have been wholly 
 without a civilization of their own, although it may 
 have differed in many of its features from the civili- 
 zation of the Greeks and Romans, and from that 
 which the modern nations of Europe have in gi-eat 
 part inherited fi'om them. 
 
 The civilization of the Southern Britons was the 
 same in kind, though perhaps inferior in degree, 
 with that of their neighbors and kindred, the Gauls. 
 It was a social state, implying the possession of many 
 of the more homely accommodations of life, but of 
 very few of its luxuries, or at least of what we 
 should designate by that name. Of luxuries, indeed, 
 in the strictest sense, that is to say, of something 
 more than the indispensable necessaries of existence, 
 no human condition is wholly destitute ; the savage 
 as well as the civilized man has his enjoyments be- 
 yond what nature absolutely requires ; but the luxu- 
 ries of the latter only are artificial refinements. Of 
 that description of luxm'ies there was no general 
 diffusion under the civilization of the ancient Britons; 
 their chief extra gi-atifications were still no doubt 
 those of the savage state — war, and the chace, and 
 the pleasures of roving adventure, and festive mer- 
 riment, and such other indulgences of little more 
 than mere animal passion, which enlist no arts in 
 their service, and demand no other materials but 
 such as are spontaneously furnished by nature. 
 But even the highest civilization, it is to be remem- 
 bered, does not throw these things entirely aside ; 
 and their existence, therefore, as an accompaniment 
 of the social condition of the Britons, affords in itself 
 no criterion of the general character of that social 
 condition. It evidently, however, as has been ob- 
 served, stood elevated in many other respects far 
 
 I
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 129 
 
 above the possession of the mere necessaries of 
 existence ; and, therefore, it was not a savage state. 
 It was a state, although of low civilization, yet in 
 which the principle of progi-ession was at work, and 
 out of which a higher civilization would probably, in 
 course of time, have evolved itself. That peculiarity 
 is the gi-eat characteristic distinction between civili- 
 zation and barbarism. 
 
 In the meantime, however, came suddenly and 
 by force the substitution of the different and no 
 doubt much more advanced civilization of Rome. 
 Order and magnificence, arts and literature, now 
 took the place of the imperfect government, the 
 constant internal wars, the uninstructed intellects, 
 the mud hovels, the towns in the woods, and the 
 generally rude accommodations of the Britons. The 
 country assumed a new face, and looked as if the 
 light of a new and brighter day had been let in upon 
 it. Cultivation was improved and extended ; forests 
 were swept away, with the beasts of prey by which 
 they were tenanted ; roads were formed ; towns 
 arose, exhibiting, for the first time, piles of regular, 
 stately, and decorated architecture, and multitudes 
 of people moving along in " the sweet security of 
 streets." There cannot be a question that, after the 
 period of transition and conflict was over, this change 
 was on the whole a happy one for Britain. The 
 very silence of history, in regard to the province 
 during a long period of the Roman domination, 
 attests the tranquillity which it enjoyed. That dom- 
 ination lasted altogether for nearly four hundred 
 years ; and with the exception of the incursions of 
 the northern barbarians in the reigns of Hadrian and 
 Severus, which the energetic proceedings of these 
 emperors speedily put an end to, little or nothing 
 seems to have occurred to disturb the southern 
 parts of the island throughout almost the whole of 
 the second and thud centuries. At this time it was 
 
 VOL. I — 9 
 
 probably as flourishing and as happy a province as 
 any other in the empire. It was now occupied by 
 a population no longer cut off from the rest of the 
 world, and lagging in the rear of civilization, but in 
 possession of all the literature and science, and of all 
 the useful and elegant arts, that were cultivated in 
 the most refined parts of the earth, and qualified, 
 therefore, to turn the natural advantages of the 
 country to the best account. The panegyric of the 
 orator Eumenius on Constantine the Great may be 
 received as testifying to the general behef of the 
 prosperous and happy condition of Britain, even at a 
 later date. " Oh, fortunate Britannia !" he ex- 
 claims, " thee hath nature desei-vedly enriched with 
 the choicest blessings of heaven and earth. Thou 
 neither feelest the excessive colds of winter nor the 
 scorching heats of summer. Thy harvests reward 
 thy labors with so vast an increase, as to supply thy 
 tables with bread and thy cellars with liquor. Thy 
 woods have no savage beasts ; no serpents harbor 
 there to hurt the traveler. Innumerable are thy 
 herds of cattle, and the flocks of sheep, which feed 
 thee plentifully and clothe thee richly. And as to 
 the comforts of life, the days are long, and no night 
 passes without some glimpses of light." Another 
 panegyi-ist of the same age, in like manner expatiates 
 upon the excellencies of Britain as " a land so stored 
 with corn, so flourishing in pasture, so rich in variety 
 of mines, so profitable in its tributes ; on all its coasts 
 so furnished with convenient harbors, and so immense 
 in its extent and cu'cuit." " It is the masterpiece 
 of Nature," affectionately adds our own Camden, after 
 quoting these ancient testimonies, " pei-formed when 
 she was in her best and gayest humor, which she 
 placed as a little world by itself, by the side of the 
 gi'eater, for the admiration of mankind ; the most 
 accurate model, which she proposed to herself, by 
 which to beautify the other parts of the universe."
 
 BOOK 11. 
 
 THE PERIOD FROM THE ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONS TO 
 THE ARRIVAL OF THE NORMANS. A.D. 449-1066. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HISTORY OF CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 OME 
 etymo- 
 -'^^li' logists 
 have 
 deriv- 
 ed the 
 vk'ord 
 Saxon 
 from 
 the 
 term 
 Seax, a 
 short 
 sword with which the warlike 
 natives of the shores of the Bal- 
 tic, the Elbe, the Weser, and 
 the Rhine, are supposed, but 
 on somewhat doubtful authority, 
 to have been generally armed. 
 It is much more probable, how- 
 ever, that the Saxons are the 
 Sakai-Suna, or descendants of 
 the Sakai, or Sacse, a tribe of 
 Scythians, who are mentioned 
 by ancient WTiters as making 
 their way towards Europe from 
 the East so early as in the age 
 of Cyrus. Pliny tells us of a 
 branch of the Sacfe, who called 
 themselves Sacassani ; and Ptol- 
 emy designates another branch 
 by the name Saxones, which 
 seems to be merely another 
 form of the same word. But 
 whatever was the etymology of 
 the name, it was certainly, at 
 
 the time of the British invasion, 
 applied, in a very general sense, 
 to ti'ibes or nations who were 
 separate, and differing in some 
 essentials, though they had most 
 probably all sprung from the 
 same stock at no very distant 
 period, and still preserved the 
 same physical features, the 
 same manners and customs, and 
 nearly, though not quite, the 
 same unaltered language, which, 
 at the distance of fourteen cen- 
 turies, is the basis and staple of 
 the idiom we speak. They were 
 all of the pure Teutonic or Go- 
 thic rfice, and all their kings 
 claimed their descent from Wo- 
 din, or Odin, an ancient sove- 
 reign, magnified by veneration 
 and superstition into a god, the 
 traces of whose capital (real or 
 traditional) are still shown to 
 the ti'aveler at Sigtuna, on the 
 borders of the gi-eat Malar Lake, 
 between the old city of Upsala 
 and Stockholm, the present cap- 
 ital of Sweden. Other tribes 
 that issued both before, and after 
 the fifth century from that fi'uit- 
 ful store-house of nations, Scan- 
 dinavia, were of the same Teu- 
 tonic origin; and the Franks, 
 the Danes, the Norwegians, the 
 Norse, or Northmen, and the 
 most distinguished of the last 
 
 BiiRDER TO TiiK Title-Page OF Charlemaone's Bible, Writtes BY Alcvix.— Reduced from the Original in the British Museum.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 131 
 
 mentioned, tiiose known throughout Europe under 
 the name of Normans, were all of the same race, 
 and commenced their career from the same regions, 
 though differing subsequently, owing to the time and 
 circumstances of their disseverance from the great 
 northern stock, the direction in which their migra- 
 tions and conquests had lain, and the character, physi- 
 cal and moral, the habits, and the language of the 
 people they had conquered, or among whom they 
 had settled and been mixed. It would neither be a 
 profitable nor a very easy task to trace all these 
 kindred streams to their pi'imitive fountain-head, by 
 the shores of the Caspian in Asia, and thence follow 
 them back again to the coasts, promontories, and 
 islands of the Baltic and the Rhine ; but it is necessary 
 to give a local habitation to the particular tribes that 
 now began to work a total change in Britain. Al- 
 though classed under one general head as Saxons, 
 these tribes were three in number: 1. The Jutes. 
 2. The Angles. 3. The Saxons. The Jutes and 
 the Angles dwelt in the Cimbric Chersonesus, or 
 peninsula of Jutland (now a province of Denmark), 
 and in parts of Schlesswig and Holstein, the terri- 
 tory of the Angles extending as far as the modern 
 
 town of Flensburg. In Holstein there is a district 
 still called Anglen (the real old England) ; and the 
 narrowness of its limits need not interfere with oui' 
 belief that this was the seat of the tribe (the Angles) 
 that gave its name to our island. The Saxons Proper, 
 to the south of the Jutes and Angles, were far more 
 widely spread, extending from the Weser to the 
 Delta of the Rhine, and occupying the countiues now 
 called Westphalia, Friesland, Holland, and probably 
 a part of Belgium. Their precise hmits are not fixed, 
 but, it seems, their gi-adual encroachments on the 
 continent had brought them fiom the Baltic to the 
 neighborhood of the British Channel, when they 
 embraced, as it were, our southeastern coast. P^rom 
 the very close resemblance the old Frisick dialect 
 bears to the Anglo-Saxon, a recent writer conject- 
 ures that the conquerors of Britain must have come 
 principally from Friesland.^ But many known fluxes 
 and refluxes of population took place between .the 
 fifth and the twelfth centuries : the Jutes and the 
 Angles, whose language may have been as like that of 
 our Anglo-Saxon ancestors as the old Frisick dialect, 
 were partially dispossessed of their territory in the 
 1 Palgrave, Hist. Eng 
 
 ; '/' 
 
 Arms and Costume of the Tribes on the Western Shores of the Baltic. 
 Hesigneil from a Plate In Sir S. Meyrick's " Ancient Costume of the British Islands;" and tiken by liim from some Danish horns of gdld.
 
 132 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 l)eninsula of Jutland, and mixed up with newer tribes 
 from Scandinavia, who eventually formed the Danish 
 kingdom, and must have influenced the dialect there, 
 as afterwards in Schlesswig and Holstein. On the 
 other hand, the occupants of the remarkable district 
 of Friesland, where language, manners, usages — 
 where all things seem, even in our days, to retain an 
 ancient and primitive stamp, may, from local situation 
 or other causes, have escaped the intermixture that 
 befel the other Saxons. It is generally admitted 
 that Horsa, Hengist, and their followers, were Jutes, 
 and that the tribe or nation they first called in to 
 partake in the pay and spoils of the Britons, were 
 their neighbors the Angles, from Holstein, and not 
 the Saxons, from Friesland, though the latter soon 
 joined the enterprise, and probably derived some ad- 
 vantage from being nearer than the others to the 
 scene of action. 
 
 When the conquests of the Romans, in the first 
 century of our era, brought them into contact with the 
 Saxons, they found them as brave as the Britons, but, 
 like the latter people, unprovided with steel blades 
 and the proper implements of war. During the 
 three centuries, however, that had elapsed since 
 then, in their wars with the Roman armies, and their 
 friendly intercourse with the Roman colonies in Gaul 
 and on the Rhine, they had been made fully sensible 
 of their wants, and learned, in part, how to supply 
 rhem. In their long-continued piratical excursions 
 they had looked out for bright arms and well-wrought 
 steel, as the most valuable article of plunder, and a 
 constant accumulation must have left them well pro- 
 vided with that ruder metal which commands gold. 
 When tliey appeared in Britain, they certainly felt 
 no want of good arms. Every warrior had his dag- 
 ger, his spear, his battle-axe, and his sword, all of 
 steel. In addition to these weapons, they had bows 
 and arrows, and their champions frequently wielded 
 a ponderous club, bound and spiked with iron, a sort 
 of sledge-hammer, a copy, possibly, from the Scan- 
 dinavian type of Thor's "mighty hammer." These 
 two weapons, the battle-axe and the hammer, wield- 
 ed by nervous arms, were the dread of their enemies, 
 and constantly recun-ing images in the songs of their 
 l)ards, who represent them as cleaving helmets and 
 brains w^ith blows that nothing could withstand. 
 When their depredations first attracted the notice of 
 the Romans, they ventured from the mouth of the 
 13altic and the Elbe, in crazy little boats ; and shoals 
 of these canoes laid the coasts of Gaul, Britain, and 
 other parts of the empire under contribution. Though 
 larger, the best of these vessels could scarcely have 
 l)een better than the coracles of the British ; they 
 were flat-bottomed, their keels and ribs were of light 
 timber, but the sides and upper works consisted only 
 of wicker, with a covering of strong hides. In the 
 fifth century, however, their chiules,' or war ships, 
 were long, strong, lofty, and capable of containing 
 each a considerable number of men with provisions 
 and other stores. If they had boldly trusted them- 
 selves to the stormy waves of the Baltic, the German 
 ocean, the British channel, and the Bay of Biscay, in 
 ' Hence our word heel. 
 
 their frail embarkations, they would laugh at the 
 tempest in such ships as these. All their contempo- 
 raries speak of their love of the sea, and of their gi-eat 
 familiarity- with it and its dangers. " Tempests," snya 
 Sidonius, "which inspire fear in other men, till them 
 with joy : the storm is their protection when they 
 are pressed by an enemy — their veil and cover when 
 they meditate an attack." This love of a maritime 
 life afterwards gained for some of the northmen the 
 title of Sea-kings. The passion was common to all 
 the Saxons and to the whole Teutonic race ; and a 
 recent historian has suggested that the settlement of 
 so many pirates in England, the natives of every 
 country from the Rhine to the North Cape, may have 
 conti'ibuted to cultivate those nautical propensities 
 which form a part of the English character.^ 
 
 Thus supposing that the Britons retained the arms 
 of the Roman legions — and there is no reason to 
 doubt that they did, though the Roman discipline was 
 lost — their new enemy was as well armed as them- 
 selves ; while the Saxons had over them all the ad- 
 vantages of a much greater command of the sea, and 
 could constantly recruit their armies on the continent, 
 in the midst of their warlike brethren, bring them 
 over in their ships, and land them at whatever point 
 they chose. 
 
 At the period of their invasion of Britain, the Sax- 
 ons were as rough and uncouth as any of the barba- 
 rian nations that overturned the Roman empire. Of 
 civilization and the arts, they had only borrowed those 
 parts which strengthen the arm in battle by means of 
 steel and proper weapons, and facilitate the work of 
 destruction. They were still Pagans, professing a 
 bloody faith that made them hate or despise the 
 Christian Britons. Revenge was a religious duty, 
 and havoc and slaughter a delight to their savage 
 tempers. Their enemies and victims who drew their 
 porti'aits darkened the shades; and the Saxons had, 
 no doubt, some of those rude virtues which are gene- 
 rally attached to such a condition of society. 
 
 The obscurity that comes over the history of Bri- 
 tain with the departure of the Romans, continues to 
 rest upon it for the two following centuries. In the 
 first instance, Hengist and Horsa appear to have 
 fulfilled their part of the engagement upon which 
 they had come over by marching with the Jutes, 
 their follow^ers, against the Ficts and Scots, and driv- 
 ing these invaders li-om the kingdom. Soon after 
 this, if it occurred at all, must be placed the story 
 of the feast given by Hengist, at his stronghold of 
 Thong-caster, in Lincolnshire, to the British King 
 Vortigern, and of the bewitchment of the royal guest 
 by the charms of Rowena, the young and beautiful 
 daughter of his entertainer. Rowena's address, as 
 she gracefully knelt and presented the wine cup to 
 the king, Liever Kyning trass heal (Dear king, j-our 
 health), is often quoted as the origin of our still exist- 
 ing expressions, wassail and wassail-cup, in which, 
 however, the word wassail might mean health drink- 
 ing, or pledging, although it had never been uttered 
 by Rowena. But as the story goes on, the action 
 and the words of the Saxon maid finished the con- 
 
 ' Sir James Mackintosh, Hist. Eng.
 
 Chap. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 133 
 
 V'oRTiGERN and RowENA. — Angelica Kauffman. 
 
 quest over tlie heart of the king which her beauty 
 had begun ; and, from that time, he rested not till he 
 had obtained the consent of her fether to make her 
 his wife. The latest writer who has investigated the 
 history of this period, sees no reason to doubt the 
 story of Rowena, and has advanced many ingenious 
 and plausible arguments in proof of its truth.' But, 
 at any rate, it appears that, either from Vortigern's 
 attachment thus secured, or from his gi-atitude for 
 martial services rendered to him, or from an inability 
 on his part to prevent it, the Jutes were allowed to 
 fortify the Isle of Thanet, and to invite over fresh 
 forces. The natural fertility and beauty of Britain, 
 as well as its disorganization and weakness, must 
 long have been familiar to the pirates on the conti- 
 nent ; and as soon as they got a firm footing in the 
 land, they conceived the notion of possessing at least 
 a part of it, not as dependent allies or vassals, but as 
 masters. The conquest of the whole was probably 
 an after-thought, which did not suggest itself till many 
 generations had passed away. The sword was soon 
 drawn betsveen the Britons and their Saxon guests, 
 who, thereupon, allied themselves with their old 
 friends the Scots and Picts, to oppose whom they 
 had been invited by Vortigern. That unfortunate 
 king is said to have been deposed, and his son Vorti- 
 mer elected in his stead. A partial and uncertain 
 league was now formed bet^veen the Roman faction 
 and the Britons ; and several battles were fought by 
 their united forces against the Saxons. In one of 
 these engagements, Vortigern is said to have com- 
 manded the Britons. Then, after a time, the two 
 
 1 Britannia after the Rumans, pp. 42, 6'2, etc. 
 
 nations, according to the story commonly told, agi'eed 
 to terminate their contention ; and a meeting was 
 held, at which the chief personages of both were 
 mixed together in festive enjojment, when, suddenly. 
 Hengist, exclaiming to his Saxons, Nimed eure seaxa-s 
 (Unsheath your swords), they pulled forth each a 
 short sword or knife, which he had brought with 
 him concealed in his hose, and slew all the Britons 
 present, Vortigern only excepted. This stoiy, too, 
 has been treated as a fiction by most recent writers ; 
 but the same ingenious and accomplished inquirer who 
 has vindicated the historic existence of Rowena, has 
 also argued ably and powerfully in favor of the truth 
 of this other ancient tividition. " The h'ausaction," 
 he observes, " certainly occun-ed. It has been un- 
 justly brought into doubt. The memory of it is gen- 
 erally difiused among the British : it is detailed in 
 their Bruts : it is refeired to in their Triads as a no- 
 torious event ; and it is alluded to by their bards, in 
 language of dark and mysterious allusion, which 
 proves its reality better than the dire.ct narratives 
 do."i This writer, however, considers Hengist and 
 his Saxons to have been the parties plotted against, 
 and, in what they did, to have acted only on the de- 
 fensive. The bloody congi-ess appears to have taken 
 place at Stonehenge, on a May-day. In the end, 
 Eric, the son of Hengist, remained in possession of 
 all Kent, and became the founder of the Kentish, or 
 first Saxon kingdom, in our island. 
 
 The conquerors of " Cantwara Land," or Kent, 
 seem to have been Jutes mixed with some Angles ; 
 but now the Saxons appeared as their immediate 
 
 1 Britannia after the Romans, p. 46.
 
 134 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 neighbors. In the year 477, Ella, the Saxon, with 
 his thi-ee sons, and a formidable force, landed in the 
 ancient territory of the Regni, now Sussex, at or near 
 to Withering, in the isle of Selsey. The Britons, 
 who had certainly recovered much of their martial 
 spirit, miide a vigorous resistance ; but they were 
 defeated with gi-eat slaughter, and di-iven into the 
 forest of Andreade, or Andredswold.' According to 
 the old writers, this forest was 120 miles long, and 
 .{0 broad ; prodigious dimensions, which astonish us, 
 although informed that even at the evacuation of the 
 countiy by the Romans, a considerable portion of the 
 island was covered with primeval woods, forests, and 
 marshes. Continuing to receive accessions of force, 
 Ella defeated a confederacy of the British princes, 
 became master of nearly all Sussex, and established 
 There the second kingdom, called that of the South 
 Saxons. Taking the coast line, the invaders now- 
 occupied fi-om the estuary of the Thames to the 
 river Arun ; and to obtain this short and naiTow slip 
 had cost them half a century. Cerdic, with another 
 band of Saxons, extended the line westward a few 
 years after, as far as the river Avon, by conquering 
 Hampshire and the Isle of Wight ; when he founded 
 Wessex, or the kingdom of the West Saxons. The 
 countiy to the west of the Hampshii-e Avon, remained 
 for many years longer in possession of the Britons, 
 who now yielded no gi-ound without hard fighting. 
 
 The next important descent was to the north of 
 the estuaiy of the Thames, where Ercenwine, about 
 627-9, took possession of the flats of Essex, with 
 some of the contiguous country, and formed the state 
 of the East Saxons. Other tribes cairied their arms 
 in this direction as far as the Stour, when there was 
 a short pause, which was not one of peace, for the 
 Britons, driven from the coasts, pressed them inces- 
 santly on the land side. About the year 547, Ida, at 
 rhe head of a formidable host of Angles, landed at 
 riamborough Head, and leaving a long lapse on the 
 coast between him and the East Saxons, proceeded 
 to settle between the Tees and the Tyne, a wild 
 country, which now includes the county of Durham, 
 but which was then abandoned to the beasts of the 
 forest. This conquest obtained the name of the 
 Kingdom of Bernicia. Other invaders, again, step- 
 ped in between the Tees and the Humber, but it 
 (!Ost them niuch time and blood before they could 
 establish their southern fi-ontier on the Humber. 
 Their possessions were called the Kingdom of Deira. 
 At the end of the sixth century, a general emigration 
 seems to have taken place from Anglen, or Old Eng- 
 land; and under chiefs that have not left so much 
 as a doubtful name behind them, the Angles, in two 
 great divisions, called the Southfolk and the Northfolk, 
 rushed in between the Stowe and the Great Ouse 
 and Wash, and gave a lasting denomination to our 
 two counties of Suffolk and Norfolk. Their conquest 
 was called the Kingdom of East Anglia. The ten-i- 
 tory thus seized by the East Angles was almost insu- 
 lated from the rest of the island, by a succession (on 
 its western side) of bogs, meres, and broad lakes, 
 connected, for the most part, by numerous sti-eams. 
 
 1 The forest, or wold, is also called Anderida 
 
 Where these natural defences ended, the East An- 
 gles dug a deep ditch, and cast up a lofty rampart of 
 earth. In the middle ages this was called the " Giants' 
 Dyke," a name which was afterAvards changed into 
 the more popular denomination of the "Devil's 
 Dyke." The marshes upon which it leant have 
 been drained, but the remarkable mound is still very 
 perfect. The other Angles advanced from beyond 
 the Humber, and fresh tiibes pouring in from the 
 peninsula of .lutland and Holstein, the territory now 
 forming Lincolnshire, between the Wash and the 
 Humber, was gradually but slowly conquered from 
 the Britons, and the only lapse or chasm filled up, 
 that existed in the Saxon line of coast from the 
 Hampshire Avon to the Northumbrian Tyne. This 
 line was extended as far north as the Frith of Forth 
 by the Angles of Bernicia and Deira, who were uni- 
 ted under one sceptre, about the year 617, and 
 thenceforward were called Norflivmlrians. All the 
 western coast from the Frith of Clyde to the Land's 
 End, in Cornwall, and the southern coast from the 
 Land's End to the confines of Hampshire, remained 
 unconquered by the Saxons. Such had been the 
 security of Cornwall, and its indifference to the fate 
 of the rest of the island, that, while the states of the 
 south were falling one by one under the sword of the 
 Saxon invaders, twelve thousand armed Britons left 
 its shore to take part in a foreign war. This curious 
 event took place about the year 470, when Gaul was 
 overran by the Visigoths, and Anthemius, who reigned 
 in Italy, was unable to protect his subjects noitli of 
 the Alps. He purchased or otherwise procured the 
 services of Riothamus, an independent British king, 
 whose dominion included, besides Cornwall, parts of 
 Devonshire. The Britons sailed iip the river Loire, 
 and established themselves in Berry, where, acting 
 as oppressive and insolent conquerors, rather than as 
 friends and allies, they so conducted themselves, that 
 the people were rejoiced when they saw them cut to 
 pieces or dispersed bj- the Visigoths.' 
 
 The breadth of the- Saxon territories or their fi-on- 
 tiers inland, were long uncertain and wavering, now 
 advancing, and noAV receding, according to the fortune 
 of war. Under the name of Mi/rcna-ric, latinized 
 Mercia," a branch of the Angles, penetrating into the 
 heart of the island, founded a kingdom that extended 
 over all the midland counties, from the Severn to tlie 
 Humber, and that pressed on the borders of Wales. 
 In this district, however, the population was not de- 
 stroyed or expelled ; the Britons lived mixed up, in 
 about equal numbers, -vAnth the Saxons. The Mer- 
 cian Angles, who, at one period, had spread to the 
 south and east, until they reached the Thames, and 
 included London in their dominion, contributed most 
 extensively to the conquest of the island, and formed 
 a kingdom, which was one of the last of the Heptar- 
 chy to be overthrown or absorbed. During their 
 
 1 Jornandes, cap. xlv. Sidonius, lib. iii. Epist. 9. 
 
 2 " We ore generally told that Mercia signifies the march or frontier 
 — a signification peculiarly impmpRr for a central country. Myrcna-ric, 
 in the Anglo-Saxon, signifies the woodland kingdom, which agrees very 
 closely with Coilani, the latinized name of the old British inhahitants, 
 signifying woodland men or foresters." — Macpherson's Annals of Com- 
 merce, i. 237.
 
 Chap. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 135 
 
 power, the Mercians more than once followed the 
 bold mountaineers of Wales, who maintained a con- 
 stant hostility, right through their country to the 
 shores of St. George's channel and the Irish sea; 
 but they were never able to subdue that rugged land. 
 The other Anglo-Saxons who seized then* dominions 
 in the ninth and tenth century, were not more suc- 
 cessful than the Mercians ; and although, at a later 
 day, some of its princes paid a trifling tribute, and 
 the countiy was reduced to its present limits of Wales 
 and Monmouthshire, Cambria was never conquered 
 by the Saxons during the six hundred years of their 
 domination.' 
 
 The people of Sti-athclyde and Cumbria, which 
 teiTitories extended along the western coast from 
 the Frith of Clyde to the Mersey and the Dee, 
 appear to have been almost as successful as the 
 Welsh, and by the same means. Their disposition 
 was fierce and warlike, their hatred to the Saxons 
 inveterate, and, above all, their country was moun- 
 tainous and abounding with lakes, marshes, moors, 
 and forests. Part of the territoiy of Strathclyde, 
 moreover, was defended by a ditch and a rampart of 
 earth. This work, which is popularly called the 
 Catrail or the March Dykes, can still be traced from 
 the Peel-feU, on the Borders, between Northumber- 
 land and Roxburghshire, to Galashiels, a little to the 
 north of Melrose and the river Tweed, and near to 
 Abbotsford.^ In our Introduction we have stated 
 the grounds there are for a belief that the Welsh 
 and the occupants of Strathclyde and C umbria were 
 both the same people, and descended, not from the 
 ancient Britons, but the Picts. But lower down on 
 the western coast, the Saxon arms were more suc- 
 cessful. Even there, however, the slowness of their 
 progress denotes the sturdy resistance they met with. 
 Nearly two centuries had elapsed since their landing 
 at Thanet before they found their way into Dum- 
 nonia or Devonshire, which, together with Cornwall, 
 appears to have remained in the occupation of a great 
 undisturbed mass of British population. The King 
 Cadwallader had resigned his earthly crown and 
 gone to Rome as a pilgrim, in search of a crown of 
 gloiy ; disunited and disheartened, the nobles of the 
 land fled beyond sea to Armorica or Brittany, and, 
 at the approach of the invaders, hardly any were 
 left to oppose them except the peasantiy. From 
 the traditions of the country, and the signs of camps, 
 ti'enches, and fields of battle spread over it, we 
 should judge that the rustics made a vigorous de- 
 fence. =* They made a stand on the river Exe ; but, 
 being routed there, retreated to the right bank of 
 the Tamar, abandoning all the fertile plains of Devon- 
 shire, but still hoping to maintain themselves in the 
 billy country of Cornwall. Defeat followed them 
 to the Tamar and the countiy beyond it, upon which 
 they, in a. d. 647, submitted to the Anglo-Saxons, 
 who by this time may be called the English. 
 
 ' A portion of Monmouthshire was, however, thoroughly conquered 
 a short time before the Norman invasion, when the Saxons occupied 
 the towns of Monmouth, Shepstow, Caerwent, and Caerleon.— Coxe, 
 Monmouthshire. 
 
 2 Gordon's Iter Septentrionale. Chalmers' Caledonia. 
 
 3 Borlase. Mrs. Bray's Letters to Southey. 
 
 In this rapid and general sketch of the Saxon con- 
 quest, which, from the dates that have been given, 
 wiU be perceived to have occupied altogether a space 
 of nearly 200 years, — of which above 100 were con- 
 sumed even before the eastern and central parts of 
 the island were subdued, and the last of the several 
 new Saxon kingdoms established, a sufficient proof 
 of the obstinate resistance of the Britons, — we have 
 omitted all details of the achievements of the British 
 champions, not excepting even — 
 
 — " what resounds 
 In fable or romance of Uther's son," 
 
 as Milton has chosen to designate the history of the 
 famous King Arthur. It seems impossible to arrive 
 at any certainty with regard to the chronology or 
 particular events of a period the only accounts of 
 which are so dark and confused, and so mixed up 
 and overrun with the most palpable fictions. But as 
 to Arthur, there appear to be the strongest reasons 
 for suspecting that he was not a real but only a my- 
 thological personage, the chief divinity of that system 
 of revived Druidism which appears to have arisen 
 in the unconquered parts of the west of Britain after 
 the departure of the Romans, the name being often 
 used in the poetiy of the bards as the hieroglyphical 
 representative of the system. This is the most im- 
 portant of the subjects upon which new light has 
 been thrown by the researches of the author of 
 " Britannia after the Romans," and his elaborate and 
 masterly examination of the question of Arthur 
 certainly seems to go veiy near to settle the con- 
 ti'oversy. " The ' Saxon Chronicle,' " he observes 
 upon the several probabilities of the case (the only 
 part of his argument to which we can here advert), 
 " does not suppress the names of islanders with 
 whom the Saxons had to deal, but mentions those of 
 Vortigern, Natanleod, Aidan, Brochvael, Geraint, 
 Constantino of Scots, and CadwaUon. Its author 
 betrays no knowledge of Arthur's existence. The 
 venerable Beda either never heard of it or despised 
 it as a fable." Nor is it mentioned, he goes on to 
 remark, either by Florence of Worcester or by Gil- 
 das. Yet, as he observes elsewhere, " the name of 
 Arthur is so gi-eat, that if such a man ever reigned 
 in Britain, he must have been a man as great as the 
 circumscribed theatre of his actions could permit." 
 And again ; " The Arthurian era was one in the 
 course of which the British frontier receded, and 
 Hants, Somerset, and other districts passed for ever 
 into the hands of the invader. It is not by suffering 
 a series of severe defeats that any Saxon or other 
 man conquers provinces : it is done by gaining suc- 
 cessive victories. If Arthur lived and fought, he did 
 so with a preponderance of ill success, and with the 
 loss of battles and of provinces. But exaggeration 
 must be built upon homogeneous truth. For a Cor- 
 nish prince to be renowned through all countries, 
 and feigned a universal conqueror, he must really 
 have been a hero in his own land and a signal bene- 
 factor to it. No man was ever deified in song for 
 being vanquished and losing half a kingdom. But 
 the God of War would retain his rank in any case... 
 The God of War would keep his station and preside
 
 136 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 over valiant acts, whether the results of war were 
 fortunate or not. But the disasters of the British, 
 historically and geogiaphically certain as they are. 
 make it also clear that they were commanded by ao 
 king fit for their bards to canonize." * 
 
 To bring the course of the invaders and the per- 
 manent settlement of the Anglo-Saxons under one 
 point of view, we have glanced from the middle of 
 the fifth to the middle of the seventh century. We 
 may now reti-ace our steps over part of that dark 
 and utterly confused interval, but in doing so we 
 shall not venture into the perplexing labyi-inth pre- 
 sented by the more than half fabulous histoiy of 
 the Heptai'chy, or seven separate and independent 
 states or kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons. Modern 
 ^^Titers have assumed, that over these separate states 
 there was always a lord paramount, a sort of emperor 
 of England, who might be by inheritance or conquest, 
 sometimes the king of one state and sometimes the 
 king of another. This ascendant monarch is called 
 the Britvvalda, or Bretwalda, a Saxon term which 
 signifies the wielder, or dominator, or ruler, of Brit 
 (Britain). According toBede and the Saxon Chron- 
 
 1 Britannia after the Romans, pp. 70-141. For a defence of the 
 historic reality of Arthur, see Turner's Anglo-Saxons, i. 268-283. 
 
 icle, seven or eight of the Saxon princes in irregular 
 succession bore this i)roud title ; and perhaps it may 
 be infeiTed from Bede's expressions that the other 
 six kings of the island acknowledged themselves the 
 vassals of the Bretwaldas. We are not thoroughly 
 convinced of any such supremacy (even nominal), 
 and in the real operations of war and government 
 we continually find each state acting in an inde- 
 pendent manner, as if separate from all the rest, a 
 proof at least that the authority of the lord paramount 
 was very limited or very uncertain. As, however, 
 their whole history is uninteresting, and as it is 
 easier to trace the reigns of the more marking 
 monarchs than to enter into seven separate dynasties, 
 we shall follow the modern example. 
 
 Ella, the conqueror of Sussex, and the founder 
 there of the kingdom of the South Saxons, — the 
 smallest of all the new states, — was the first Bret- 
 walda, and died, little noticed by the English chron- 
 iclers, about the year 510. After a long vacancy, 
 Ceawlin, King of Wessex, who began to reign about 
 568, stepped into the dignity, which, however, was 
 contested with him, by Ethelbert, the fourth king 
 of Kent, who claimed it in right of his descent fi-om 
 Hengist, the brother of Horsa. The dispute led to 
 
 Arm? anil Costu.mi: nf a Sa.\on .Military CmKr.— Designed from a Saxon Illumination in Bib. Harl. No, Q03.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 137 
 
 hostilities ; for long before the Anglo-Saxons had 
 subdued all the Britons, they made fierce wars upon 
 one another. The fiist example of this practice, 
 which must have retarded their general progress in 
 the subjugation of the island, was set by Ethelbert, 
 who, after sustaining two signal defeats from his 
 rival, and many other reverses, during the twenty-two 
 years that Ceawlin reigned, acquired the dignity of 
 Bretwalda (a.d. 593) soon after that prince's death. 
 Ceawlin, by the law of the sword, had taken posses- 
 sion of the kingdom of Sussex, and seems to have 
 fought as often against his Saxon brethren as against 
 the Britons. 
 
 The gi-and incident under the reign of this, the 
 third Bretwalda, was the conversion of himself and 
 court by Augustine and forty monks, chiefly Italians, 
 who were sent for that purpose into Britain, by Pope 
 Gregory the Great. Ethelbert's change of religion 
 was facilitated by the circumstance of his having 
 espoused a Christian wife shortly before. This was 
 the young and beautiful Bertha, sister or daughter of 
 Charibert, King of Paris, to whom, by stipulation, he 
 gi-anted the free exercise of her religion when she 
 came into the island. Ethelbert's close connexion 
 with the more enlightened nations of the continent, 
 and his frequent intercourse with French, Roman, 
 and Italian churchmen, who, ignorant as they were, 
 were infinitely more civilized than the Saxons, proved 
 highly beneficial to England ; and in the code of laws 
 this prince published before his death, he is supposed 
 to have been indebted to the suggestions and science 
 of these foreigners, although the code has more of 
 the spirit of the old German lawgivers than of Justi- 
 nian and the Roman jurisconsults. This code was 
 not octroyed, as from an absolute sovereign (a quality 
 to which none of the Saxon princes ever attained), 
 but was enacted by Ethelbert with the consent of 
 the states of his kingdom of Kent, and formed the 
 first wi'itten laws promulgated by any of the northern 
 conquerors ; the second being the code of the Bui'- 
 gundians, published a little later ; and the third, that 
 of the Longobardi or Lombards, which was promul- 
 gated in their dominions in the north of Italy, about 
 half a centuiy after Ethelbert's code. As king of 
 Kent, Ethelbert's reign was a very long and happy 
 one ; as Bretwalda, he exercised considerable author- 
 ity or influence over all the Saxon princes south of 
 the Humber. He died in 616, and was succeeded, 
 as King of Kent, but not as Bretwalda, by his son Ead- 
 bald. The Anglo-Saxons at this period were very 
 volatile and fickle in their faith, or very imperfectly 
 converted to the Christian religion. Passionately 
 enamored of the youth and beauty of his step-mother, 
 Ethelbert's widow, Eadbald took her to his bed ; and 
 as the Christians reprobated such incestuous mar- 
 riages, he broke with them altogether, and returned 
 to his priests of the old Teutonic idolatry. The whole 
 Kentish people turned with him, forsook the mission- 
 aries and the churches, expelled the Christian bishop, 
 and again set up the rude altars of the Scandinavian 
 idols. Such a relapse as this was not uncommon 
 among the recently converted heathen of other coun- 
 tries, but the sequel is curious, and makes our Saxon 
 
 ancestors appear like a flock of sheep following the 
 bell-wether. Laurentius, the successor of Augustine 
 in the archbishopric of Canterbury, prevailed on Ead- 
 bald to put away his step-mother and return to his 
 fold ; and no sooner had the king done so than all his 
 subjects returned with him, without murmur or dis- 
 putation. 
 
 We have said that Eadbald did not succeed to the 
 dignity of Bretwalda. It appears, however, he made 
 a claim to it, and that the other princes refused their 
 concurrence and obedience. The dignity of Bret- 
 walda would seem from this and other instances not 
 to have been obtained by regular and free election, 
 but to have been conceded to him who showed him- 
 self ablest to maintain his claim to it by the sword. 
 The three first Bretwaldas, Ella, Ceawlin, and Ethel- 
 bert, were Saxons or Jutes, but now the dignity passed 
 to the more powerful Angles in the person of Red- 
 WALD, about the year 617. Redwald was King of 
 East Anglia, and a kind of a Christian, having been 
 converted some years before by the Bretwalda Eth- 
 elbert. But his wife and people were attached to 
 the old idolatry, and, yielding to their importunities, he 
 reopened tlie temples, taking care, however, to place 
 a Christian altar by the side of the statue of Woden, ^ 
 in doing which he no doubt hoped to conciliate both 
 parties. During his reign the Scots, who had re- 
 newed hostilities in the north, were beaten by the 
 now united and extended Saxon kingdom of North- 
 umbria. At a later period Redwald himself was 
 hostilely engaged with the Northumbrian king Edil- 
 frid, who is said to have destroyed more Britons than 
 all the other Saxon kings. The ai'mies of the Saxon 
 kings met on the banks of the river Idel, in Notting- 
 hamshire, where victory, after a sanguinary engage- 
 ment, rested on the crest of the Bretwalda. Edil- 
 frid was slain. 
 
 Edwin, the fifth Bretwalda, succeeded (about 621), 
 in a somewhat irregular manner, both to the dignitj' 
 of Redwald and the kingdom of Edilfrid ; and so suc- 
 cessful was he in his wars and his politics that he 
 raised Northumbria to a superiority over all the Saxon 
 kingdoms, thus transferring the ascendancy from the 
 south to the north of the island. After wavering 
 some time betw^een the old national faith of the Sax- 
 ons and Christianity, Edwin, as we shall afterwards 
 have to relate more particularly, was converted by 
 the preaching of Paulinus, a Roman missionary, and 
 the influence of his fair wife Edilberga, who was 
 daughter of Ethelbert, the Bretwalda and King of 
 Kent, and a Christian, before she married Edwin. 
 The happiest eflects are asserted to have followed 
 the conversion of the hitherto ferocious Northum- 
 brians. "In this time," says one of the old chroni- 
 clers, "was so gi-eat peace in the kingdom of Edwin 
 that a woman might have gone from one town to an- 
 other without grief or noyaunce (molestation) ; and 
 for the refreshing of way-goers, this Edwin ordained, 
 at clear wells, cups or dishes of brass or iron to be 
 fastened to posts standing by the said wells' sides; 
 and no man was so hardy as to take away those cups, 
 he kept so good justice."- Edwin added the Jsles of 
 1 Bede. 2 Fal'jan.
 
 138 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Man and Anglesey to his Northumbrian dominions, 
 and was so powerful that all the Saxon kings acknowl- 
 edged his authority, and paid him a kind of tribute. 
 According to some accounts, he also maintained a 
 supremacy over the Scots and Picts. In wi-iting to 
 him, in the year 625, the pope styles Edwin " Rex 
 Anglorum," — King of the Angles, or English. In his 
 person the dignity of Bretvvalda had a significant and 
 clear meaning; but he did not hold it very long. 
 About the year 633 Penda, the Saxon prince of Mer- 
 cia, rebelled against his authority, and, forming an 
 alliance with Ceadwalla, or Cadwallader, the king of 
 North Wales, he fought a great battle at Hatfield, 
 or Heathfield, near the river Trent, in which Edwin 
 was defeated and slain (a.d. 634). The alliance of 
 one paity of the Saxons with the Welsh to fight 
 against another party of Saxons is remarkable, but 
 the case was often repeated. The confederate ar- 
 mies between them committed a horrible slaughter, 
 sparing neither old men nor children, women nor 
 monks. Cadwallader and the Welsh remained in the 
 ten-itory of the Northumbrians at York, but Penda 
 
 marched into Norfolk against the East Angles. This 
 people had embraced the Christian faith some seven 
 years before, at the earnest representations of the 
 Bretwalda Edwin, and Sigebert, their old king, had 
 lately renounced his crown to his cousin Egeric, and 
 retired into a monastery. But at the approach of 
 Penda and his pagan host the old soldier left his holy 
 retirement and directed the manoeuvres of his army, 
 with a while rod or wand, his religious scruples not 
 permitting him to resume the sword and battle-axe. 
 Penda was as successful here as he had been against 
 the Christians of Northumbria, and both Sigebert 
 and Egeric fell in battle. At this time a struggle for 
 supremacy seems to have existed between the con- 
 verted and the unconverted Saxons ; and Penda, as 
 head of the latter, evidently aimed at possessing the 
 full dignity of Bretwalda as it had been exercised by 
 Edwin of Northumbria. But the latter prince had 
 laid a broad and sure basis, which enabled the North- 
 l^mbrians to retain the advantage in their own coun- 
 tiy, and transmit the dignity to two members of his 
 family. 
 
 liEMAINS or TUK AbbEY OF LlNDISFAK.NE. HoLY IsLAND.
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 139 
 
 In the year 634, Oswald, the nephew of Edwin, 
 raised his banner in Northumbria, where Cadwalla- 
 der, after many successes, seemed to despise precau- 
 tion. He and his Welsh were surprised near Hex- 
 ham, and totally defeated by inferior numbers. On 
 the part of the Anglo-Saxons, the battle began with 
 kneeling and prayers ; it ended, on the part of the 
 Welsh, in the death of Cadwallader, whose detest- 
 able cruelty, cunning, and treacheiy prevent us fi-om 
 honoring his braveiy or pitying his fall, and in the 
 annihilation of his army, which appears to have as- 
 sumed the title of " the invincible." Oswald being 
 equally recognized by the two Northumbrian states 
 of Bernicia and Deira, then regained all that his uncle 
 Edwin had lost, and soon after most of the Saxons 
 acknowledged him as Bretwalda. He attributed his 
 success to the God he worshiped ; and, to show his 
 gratitude, he invited many monks to complete the 
 conversion of the people of Northumbria. The do- 
 nation of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, and the mag- 
 nificent monastery that rose there, testified to his 
 munificence. Churches and monasteries sprang up 
 in other parts of the north, and undoubtedly for- 
 warded civilization, to a certain point, more than any 
 other measures or establishments. Oswald, who re- 
 paired to the court of Cynegils, the king of that coun- 
 tiy, to demand his daughter in marriage, took an 
 active part in the conversion of Wessex ; and when 
 Cynegils made a donation of land to Birinus, the 
 Roman missionary and bishop, he confirmed it in his 
 quality of Bretwalda. 
 
 As Bretwalda, Oswald exercised an authority over 
 
 the Saxon nations and provinces fully equal to that of 
 his uncle Edwin j and he is said, beside, although the 
 fact is disputed, to have compelled the Pictish and 
 Scottish kings to acknowledge themselves his vassals. 
 Oswald was slain in battle (a.d. 642) like his uncle 
 Edwin, and by the same enemy, the fierce and still 
 unconverted Penda, King of Mercia, who was as 
 desirous as ever of establishing his own supremacy. 
 But the Northumbrians once more rallied round the 
 family of the beloved Edwin, and on the retreat of 
 the heathens from the well-defended rock of Bambo- 
 rough, they enabled Oswald's brother, named Os^vy, 
 or Oswio, whose wife was the daughter of the gieat 
 Edwin, to ascend the throne of his father-in-law. 
 His succession, however, was not undisputed, nor did 
 his murder of one of his competitors preserve the 
 integrity of the Northumbrian kingdom. About the 
 year 651 it was redivided into its two ancient inde- 
 pendent states ; and whilst Oswy retained to himself 
 Bernicia, the more northern half, Odelwald reigned 
 in Deira, or the southern part. The disseverance 
 was a fatal blow from which Northumbria never re- 
 covered. 
 
 Oswy had soon to contend with the old enemy of 
 his house, the sjayer of his two predecessors. Pen- 
 da, still anxious to obtain the dignity of Bretwalda, 
 which, as on other occasions, seems to have been in 
 abeyance for some years, after driving the Christian 
 king of Wessex from his throne (a.d. 652), advanced 
 once more, and this time with fire and sword, into 
 Northumberland. Burning every house or hut he 
 found in his way, this savage ma]'ched as far as Bam- 
 
 
 RocK or Bamborough, with the Castle in its Present State.
 
 140 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 borough. Trembling at his recollections of the past, I 
 and his present danger, Osw}' entreated for peace, 
 which he at length obtained by means of rich presents, 
 hostages, and an arrangement of intermarriage. His 
 second son was sent as an hostage to Penda's court. 
 Alchfrid, his eldest son, espoused one of Penda's 
 daughters, and shortly after Penda's son, Peada, or 
 VVeda, married one of Os^^'J•'s daughters, the fair 
 and Christian Alchfreda, who carried four priests in 
 her train, and became instrumental in converting the 
 people of Mercia. "Thus," says Hume, "the fair 
 sex have had the merit of introducing the Christian 
 doctrine into all the most considerable kingdoms of 
 the Heptarchy." 
 
 But as long as Penda was alive in the land there 
 could be no lasting peace. Having desolated East 
 Anglia (a.d. 654), he advanced once more against 
 the Northumbrians, his army being swelled by the 
 forces of thirty vassal kings or chieftains, Welsh or 
 Cumbrians, as well as Saxons. This time gifts and 
 oft'ers were of no avail. OsAvy was obliged to fight ; 
 and the hardest fought battle that had been seen for 
 many years before, took place between him and 
 Penda, not {>\y from York. Here, at last, this 
 scourge of Britain or England (for tlie first name is 
 now scarcely appropriate) perished by that violent 
 deatli he had caused so many princes, and thirty of 
 his chief captains were slain with him. Another 
 account is, that of the thirty vassal kings or chiefs 
 who followed him to the field, only one escaped, and 
 that this one was the King of Gwynedh, a state in 
 North Wales, which seems to have comprised Cardi- 
 ganshire, part of Merionethshire, and all Caernar- 
 vonshire. Twelve abbeys, with bi-oad lands attached, 
 showed the gi-atitude of Oswy for his unexpected 
 victory ; and, according to a custom which was now 
 obtaining among all the northern conquerors, he ded- 
 icated an infant daughter to the sei-vice of God, and 
 took her to the Lady of Hilda, who short Ij^ after re- 
 moved with her nuns from Hartlepool to the vale of 
 Whitby, where there soon arose one of the most 
 famed and splendid monasteries of the middle ages. 
 But all the proceedings of the victor were not of so 
 pious or tranquil a nature. After Penda's death Os- 
 wy rapidly overran the country of his old enemies 
 the Mercians, on whom he inflicted a cruel ven- 
 geance. He attached all their territoiy north of the 
 Trent to liis Northumbrian kingdom ; and Peada, his 
 son-in-law, being treacherously murdered soon after 
 (it is said by his own wife, who was Oswy's daugh- 
 ter), he seized the southern part of Mercia also. It 
 was probably at this high tide of his fortune (a.d. 655) 
 that OswY assumed the rank of Bretwalda. The 
 usual broad assertion is made, that the Picts and 
 Scots, and the other natives of Britain, acknowledged 
 his supremacj*. There w-as soon, however, another 
 Bretvvalda ; the first instance we believe of two such 
 suns shining together in our hemisphere. 
 
 In 656 the eoldermen or nobles of Mercia rose up 
 in arms, expelled the Northumbrians, and gave the 
 crown to Wulfere, another of Penda's sons, whom 
 they had carefully concealed from the eager search 
 of Oswy. This Wuh'ere not only retained posses- 
 
 sion of Mercia, but extended his dominions by con- 
 quests in Wessex and the neighboiing countries ; 
 after which he became king of all the "Australian 
 regions," or Bretwalda in all those paits of the island 
 that lie south of the Humber. About the same time 
 Oswy was further weakened by the ambition of his 
 eldest son Alchfrid, who demanded and obtained a 
 part of Northumbria in independent sovereignty. 
 The sickness called the yellow, or the yellers plague, 
 afflicted Oswy and his enemies alike ; for it began in 
 the south, giadually extended to the north, and at 
 length raged over the whole island with the exception 
 of the mountains of Caledonia. Among the earliest 
 victims of this pestilence were kings, archbishops, 
 bishops, monks, and nuns. As the plague now makes 
 its appeai'ance annually in some of the countries of 
 the East, so did this yellow sickness break out in our 
 island for twenty years. King Oswy, who is gene- 
 rally considered the last of the Bretwaldas, though 
 others continue the title to Ethelbald, King of Mercia, 
 died in 670, during the progress of this fearful dis- 
 ease, but not of it. 
 
 Although we here lose the convenient point of con- 
 centration afforded by the reigns of the Bretwaldas, 
 it is at a point where the seven kingdoms of the Hep- 
 tarchy had merged into three ; for the weak states 
 of Kent, Sussex, Essex, and Ea^ Anglia were now 
 reduced to a condition of vassalnge by one or the 
 other of their powerful neighbors : and the gi'eat 
 game for supreme dominion remained in the hands 
 of Northumbria, 3Iercia, and Wessex We are also 
 relieved from any necessity of detail. The preceding 
 narrative will convey a sufficient notion of the wars 
 the Anglo-Saxon states waged with one another ; and 
 as we approach the junction of the three great streams 
 of Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex, which were 
 made to flow in one channel under Egbert, we shall 
 notice only the important circumstances that led to 
 that event. 
 
 Oswy was succeeded in the gi-eater part of his 
 Northumbrian dominions by his son Egfrid, who was 
 scarcely seated on that now tottering throne when 
 the Picts seated between the Tj-ne and the Forth 
 broke into insunection. With a strong body of cav- 
 ahy, Egfrid defeated them in a bloody battle, and 
 again reduced them to a doubtful obedf^-nce. Some j 
 eight years after, ambitious of obtaining all the power fl 
 his father had once held, Egfrid invaded Mercia. A 
 drawn battle was fought (a.d. 679) by the rival Sax- 
 ons on the banks of the Trent, and peace was then 
 restored by means of a holy servant of the church ; 
 but it was beyond the bishop's power to restore the 
 lives of the brave who had fallen, and whose loss sadly 
 weakened both Mercia and Northumbria. In 685 
 Egfrid was slain in a war wnth Brude, the Pictish 
 king ; and the Scots and some of the northern Welsh 
 joined the Picts, and can-icd their arms into England. 
 In the exposed parts of Northumbria the Anglo-Sax- 
 ons were put to the sword or reduced to slavery, and 
 that kingdom became the scene of wretchedness and 
 anarchy. In the course of a centuiy fourteen kings 
 ascended the throne in a manner as iiregular as their 
 descent from it was rapid and ti'agical. Six were
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 141 
 
 murdered by their kinsmen or other competitors, five 
 were expelled by their subjects, tsvo became monks, 
 and one only died with the crown on his head. 
 
 Although exposed, like all the Anglo-Saxon states, 
 to sanguinary revolutions in its government, Mercia, 
 the old rival of Northumbria, for a considerable period 
 seemed to rise on the decline of the latter, and to bid 
 fair to be the victor of the three gi-eat states. After 
 many hardly-contested battles the kings of Wessex 
 were reduced to serve as vassals, and by the year 
 737 Ethelbald, the Mercian king, ruled with a 
 paramount authority over all the country south of 
 the Humber, with the exception only of Wales. But 
 five years after the vassal state asserted its indepen- 
 dence, and in a great battle at Buxford, in Oxford- 
 shire, victoiy declared for the Golden Di-agon, the 
 standard of Wessex. Between the years 757 and 
 794 the superiority of 31ercia was successfully reas- 
 serted by King Offa, who, after subduing parts of 
 Sussex and Kent, invaded Oxfordshire, and took all 
 that part of the kingdom of Wessex that lay on the 
 left of the Thames. Then turning his arms against 
 the Welsh, he drove the kings of Powis from Peng- 
 wern (now Shrewsbury) beyond the river Wye, and 
 planted strong Saxon colonies between that river and 
 the Severn. To secure these conquests and protect 
 his subjects from the inroads and forays of the Welsh, 
 he resorted to means that bear quite a Roman char- 
 acter-. He caused a ditch and rampart to be drawn 
 all along the frontier of Wales (a line measuring 100 
 miles), beginning at Basingwerke in Flintshire, not 
 far from the mouth of the Dee, and ending on the 
 Severn near- Bristol. There are extensive remains 
 of the work, which the Welsh still call " Clawdh 
 Offa," or Offa's Dyke. But the work was scarcely 
 finished when the Welsh filled up part of the ditch, 
 broke through the rampart, and slew many of Offa's 
 soldiers while they were pleasantly engaged in cele- 
 brating Chi'istmas. Offa the Terrible, as he was 
 called, took a terrible vengeance. He met the moun- 
 taineers at Rhuddlan, and encountered them in a 
 battle there, in which the king of North Wales, and 
 the pride of the Welsh youth and nobility, were cut 
 to pieces. The prisoners he took were condemned 
 to the harshest condition of slavery. Master of the 
 south, it is said that he now compelled the Northum- 
 brians beyond the Humber to pay him tribute ; but 
 the year is not mentioned, and the fact is not very 
 clear. Ten years of victory and conquest, say his 
 monkish eulogists, neither elated him nor swelled 
 him with pride ; " yet," adds one of them, " he was 
 not negligent of his regal state ; for that, in regard of 
 his gi"eat prerogative, and not of any pride, he first 
 instituted and commanded, that even in times of 
 peace, himself, and his successors in the crown, 
 should, as they passed through any city, have trump- 
 eters going and sounding before them, to show that 
 the presence of the king should breed both fear and 
 honor in all who either see or hear him."^ We 
 would forgive him the trampets, cracked and out of 
 tune as they might be ; but Offa, in reality, had the 
 worst kind of pride — ^the most insatiable ambition ; 
 
 1 The Ligger Book of St. Alban's, as quoted m Speed's Chronicles. 
 
 and he was guilty of a series of cruel and treacherous 
 murders that makes the heart shudder, even in the 
 midst of these barbarous annals, where almost every 
 alternate page is soaked through and tlu'ough with 
 blood. William of Malmesbuiy declares he is at a 
 loss to determine whether the merits or crimes of 
 this prince preponderated ; but as Offa was a most 
 munificent benefactor to the church, the monks in 
 general (the only historians of those times) did not 
 partake of this scruple, and praised him to excess. 
 As a sovereign, how^ever, Offa had indisputable and 
 high merits, and the country made some progress 
 under his reign and by his example. He had some 
 taste for the elegancies of life and the fine arts; he 
 built a palace at " Tamworth town," which was the 
 wonder of the age ; and his medals and coins are of 
 much better taste and workmanship than those of any 
 other Saxon monarch.^ He maintained an epistolary 
 
 Silver Coin of Offa. — From British Museum. 
 
 correspondence WMth Charlemagne ; and it is highly 
 interesting, and a consoling proof of progression, to 
 see the trade of the nation and the commercial inter- 
 course between England and France made a subject 
 of discussion in these royal letters. When, towards 
 the close of his reign, his body being racked with 
 disease and his soul with a late remorse, he gave 
 himself up to monkish devotion and superstitious ob- 
 servances, there was still a certain taste as well as 
 gi-andeur in his expiatoiy donations, and a remarkable 
 happiness of choice (though this is said to have been 
 directed by the accidental discovery of a few bones) 
 in his site for the Abbey of St. Alban's, the most 
 magnificent of all the ecclesiastical edifices he erected.* 
 According to some of the old writers, his last warlike 
 exploit was the defeat of a body of Danish invaders : 
 and it is generally allowed that, during the latter part 
 of his reign, a few ships' crews, the precursors of 
 those hordes that desolated England soon after, eftec- 
 ted a landing on our coast, and did some mischief. 
 On the death of Offa, after a long reign, in the year 
 795, the great power of Mercia, which his craft, 
 valour, and fortune had built up, and which his ener- 
 gies alone had supported, began rapidly to decline ; 
 and as Northumbria continued in a hopeless condition, 
 Wessex, long the least of the three great rival states, 
 soon had the field to herself. 
 
 At the time of Offa's death the throne of Wessex 
 was occupied by Brihtric, or Beortric, whose right 
 was considered very questionable even in those days, 
 when the rule of succession was very far fi-om being 
 settled. Egbert, the son of Alchmund, had a better 
 title but fewer partisans ; and, after a short and un- 
 
 1 Palgrave, Hist. 
 
 2 The present venerable Abbey Church of St. Alban's, which stands 
 on the site of that erected by Offa, was built three centuries later, by 
 William Rufus. A considerable portion of the materials employed are 
 Roman bricks or tiles taken from the ruins of the ancient city of ^ eru 
 lamium, which stood in the ncighborhoed.
 
 142 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAxND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 successful struggle for the crown, he fled for his life, 
 and took refuge in the court of Oftii, the Mercian. 
 His triumphant rival, Beortric, then dispatched am- 
 bassadore into Mercia, charged with the double duty 
 of demanding the hand of Eadburgha, one of Offa's 
 daughters, and the head of Egbert. Ofla reatlily 
 gave his daughter (he could hardly have givet! a 
 greater curse), but he refused the second request. 
 He, however, withdrew his protection from his royal 
 guest, who fled a second time for his life. Egbert re- 
 pau-ed to the court or camp of the Emperor Charle- 
 magne, who received him hospitably, and emplojed 
 him in his armies. During a residence of fourteen or 
 fifteen years on the continent, living chiefly among 
 the French, who were then much more polished tlian 
 the Saxons, ^Egbert acquired many accomplishments; 
 and, whether as a soldier or statesman, he could not 
 have found a better instructor than Charlemagne. 
 Eadburgha, the daughter of Ofla, and wife of Beortric, 
 was a woman of a most depraved character — inconti- 
 nent, wanton, perfidious, and cruel. AVhen men 
 thwarted her love or otherwise gave her ofl'ence, she 
 armed the uxorious king against them ; and wlien he 
 would not be moved to cruelty, she became the exe- 
 cutioner of her own vengeance. She had prepared 
 a cup of poison for a young nobleman who was her 
 husband's favorite ; by some inadvertence this was so 
 disposed that the king drank of it as well as the in- 
 tended victim, and died a horrid death (a.d. 800). 
 According to another version of the stoiy she had 
 filled the bowl expressly for the king, and many of 
 his householders and warriors were poisoned by it. 
 The crime was discovered, and the queen degraded 
 and expelled ; the thanes and men of Wessex de- 
 creeing, at the same time, that for the future no king's 
 wives should be called queens, nor sufl'ered to sit by 
 their husbands' sides upon the throne. She also took 
 refuge with Charlemagne, who assigned her a resi- 
 dence in a convent or abbey. But in process of time 
 she began to conduct herself so viciously, that she 
 was turned out of this place of shelter. Some years 
 after her expulsion a woman of foreign mien, and 
 faded beauty, was seen begging alms in the streets of 
 Pavia, in Italy; it was Eadburgha, the widow pf 
 the king of the West Saxons — the daughter of Ofla, 
 monarch of all England south of the Humber. It 
 is believed she ended her days at Pavia. 
 
 As soon as Egbert learned ihe death of Beortric, he 
 returned from France to Wessex, when the thanes 
 and the people received him with open arms. The, 
 first years of his reign were employed in establishing 
 his authority over the inhabitants of Devonshire and 
 Cornwall ; but he had then to meet the hostility of 
 the jealous Mercians, who invaded Wessex with all 
 their forces. Egbert met them at Elyndome, or 
 Ellandum, near Wilton, in Wiltsliire, with an army 
 very inferior in numbers, but in superior fighting con- 
 dition ; being, to use the expression of one of our 
 quaint old chroniclers, " lean, meagi-e, pale, and long- 
 breathed," whereas the Mercians were "fat, corpu- 
 lent, and short-winded." He gained a complete vic- 
 tory, and was soon after enabled to attach Mercia 
 and all its dependencies to his kingdom. He estab- 
 
 lished subreguli, or under-kings, in Kent and East 
 Anglia; and not satisfied with the dominion of the 
 island south of the Humber, he crossed that river, 
 and penetrated into the heart of Northumbria. He 
 invaded that once powerful state when anarchy was 
 at its height. Incapable of resistance, the Northum- 
 brians made an offer of entire sulimission (a.d. 825) ; 
 and Eanred, their king, became the vassal and tribu- 
 tary of the great monarch of Wessex. It appeai-s, 
 however, that Egbert granted much milder terms of 
 dependence to the Northumbrans than to any of the 
 rest. 
 
 
 Silver Coin of Egbert. — From British Museum 
 
 Thus, in the first quarter of the ninth century, 
 and three hundred and seventj'-six jears after the 
 first landing of Hengist and Horsa, was effected what 
 some historians call the reduction of all the kingdoms 
 of the Heptarchy under one sovereign. Egbert, 
 however, did not assume the title of King of England. 
 He contented himself with the style of King of 
 Wessex, and with the dignity and authority of Bret- 
 walda. This authority was sometimes questioned 
 or despised in more than one part of the kingdom ; 
 but counting from the river Tweed to the shores of 
 the British Channel and the exti'emity of Cornwall, 
 there were none could make head against him ; and 
 during the last ten years of his reign he possessed, 
 or absolutely controlled, more teiritory, not only than 
 any Saxon sovereign that preceded him, but than 
 any that followed him. Even Wales, if not con- 
 quered, was at one time coerced and kept in a 
 dependent state. 
 
 But no sooner had England made some approaches 
 towards a union and consolidation, and the blessings 
 of a regular government, than the Danes or North- 
 men appeared in force, and began to throw every- 
 thing into confusion and horror. In the year 832, 
 when Egbert was in the plenitude of his power, a 
 number of these ferocious pirates landed in the Isle 
 of Sheppey, and having plundered it escaped to their 
 ships without loss or hinderance. The veiy next 
 year the marauders landed from thirty-five ships, 
 and were encoimtered by the brave and active Eg- 
 bert at Charmouth, in Dorsetshire. The English 
 were astonished at the ferocity and desperate valor 
 of these new foes, who, though they lost great num- 
 bers, maintained their position for awhile, and then 
 made good their retreat to their ships. Indeed, 
 some accounts state that Egbert's army was defeated 
 in the engagement ; that two chief captains and tAVO 
 bishops were slain ; and that Egbert himself only 
 escaped by the covert of night. In cruising along 
 the English coasts, where they frequently landed in 
 small bodies at defenceless places, the robbers of the 
 north formed an acquaintance with the inhabitants
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 U3 
 
 Arms and Costume of Danish Warriors. 
 
 Designed from a Plate in Sir S. Meyrick's " Ancient Costume of the British Islands:" taken by him from figures on a Danish Bass-relief; 
 
 and from Mr. Astle's Eeliquiary, engraved in the " Vetusta Monumenta." 
 
 of Cornwall, which ended in an ill-assorted alliance. 
 The rugged promontory which 'stretches out to the 
 Land's End had never been invaded by the Saxon 
 conquerors of the island until the comparatively re- 
 cent period of 647, and even then, as we have shown, 
 the native population there was not much disturbed. 
 As recently as 809 Egbert had invaded their teni- 
 tory, where he found them in such force and spirit 
 that he lost many of his ti'oops before he could re- 
 duce them to a nominal obedience. They must 
 even now have been numerous and warlike, for on the 
 stipulated landing in their territory of their Danish 
 allies, in 834, they joined them in gi-eat force, and 
 -marched with them into Devonshire, where they 
 found many old Britons equally willing to rise against 
 the Saxons who had settled among them. But 
 Egbert was again on the alert. He met them with 
 his well-appointed army at Hengsdown-hill, and de- 
 feated them with enormous slaughter. 
 
 This was the last martial exploit of Egbert, who 
 died in 836, after a long reign. The kingdom he 
 had in a manner built up out of many pieces began 
 to fall asunder almost before his coffin was deposited 
 
 in the church of Winchester. He was succeeded 
 by his eldest surviving son Ethelwulf, one of the 
 first operations of whose government was to give the 
 
 Silver Coin of Ethelwulf. 
 
 kingdom of Kent, with its dependencies, Sussex and 
 Essex, in separate sovereignty, to his son Athelstane.' 
 He retained Wessex ; but Mercia, which Egbert 
 had subdued, again started into independence ; and 
 thus, when union was becoming more and more 
 necessarj-, to face an enemy as ten-ible to the Sax- 
 ons as the Saxons had been to the Britons, the spirit 
 
 1 Elhelwulf had been sub-regulus of Kent under his father, but then 
 he was in reality subordinate to Egbert, who maintained full authority 
 It is not quite clear whether Athelst;r;ie was the eldest son or the bro- 
 ther of Etbelwulf.
 
 144 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 of disunion, jealousy, and discord assumed a fatal 
 ascendency. 
 
 The Scandinavian pirates soon found there was no 
 longer an Egbert in tlie land. They ravaged all the 
 southern coasts of the kingdoms of AVessex and 
 Kent ; they audaciously sailed up the Thames and 
 the Medway ; and stormed and pillaged London, 
 Rochester, and Canterbuiy. The idea of the need 
 of a common cooperation at last suggested itself, and 
 a sort of congi'ess composed of the bishops and thanes 
 of Wessex and Mercia, was held at Kingsbuiy, in 
 Oxfordshire (a.d. 851). Some energetic, and for 
 the most part successful measures followed these 
 deliberations. Barhulf, King of Mercia. was defeated 
 and slain ; but Ethelwulf and his son Ethelbald, at 
 the head of their men of Wessex, gained a complete 
 victory over the Danes at Okeley, in Surrey, and 
 achieved such a slaughter as those marauders had 
 never before suftered in any of the several countries 
 they had invaded. Soon after Athelstane, the King 
 of Kent, with Alchere, the eolderjxian, defeated the 
 pirates, and took nine of their ships at Sandwich. 
 The west of England also contributed a victory ; for 
 Ceorl, with the men of Devon, defeated the Danes 
 at Wenbury. These severe checks, together with 
 the disordered state of France, which favored their 
 incursions in that direction, where they soon laid 
 Paris in ashes, seem to have induced the marauders 
 to suspend for awhile their great attacks on England ; 
 but such was the mischief they had done, and the 
 apprehensions they still inspired, that the Wednes- 
 day of each week was appointed as a day of public 
 prayer to implore the Divine assistance against the 
 Danes. During the confusion their attacks caused 
 in England, the Welsh many times descended from 
 theu- mountains, and fell upon the Saxons. Ethel- 
 wulf is said to have taken vengeance for this, by 
 marching through their country as far as the Isle of 
 Anglesey, and compelling the Welsh to acknowledge 
 his 'authority ; but precisely the same stories are 
 vaguely related (as this is) of several Saxon kings, 
 who certainly never preserved any conquest or 
 authority there for any length of time. 
 
 Ever since then* conversion the Saxons of superior 
 condition had been singularly enamored of journeys 
 or pilgrimages to Rome ; and besides the prelates 
 who went upon business, many princes and kings, 
 crowned or uncrowned and dethroned, had told their 
 orisons before the altar of St. Peter. Ethelwulf, 
 whose devotion was fei-vent, though his sense of 
 some moral duties was languid, now felt the general 
 desire, and, as the island was tranquil, he passed over 
 to the continent (a.d. 853), and, crossing the Alps 
 and the Apennines, arrived at Rome, where he was 
 lionorably received, and tarried nearly one year. 
 On his return, forgetting that he was an old man, he 
 became enamored of Judith, the fair and youthful 
 (laughter of Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, 
 and espoused that princess with gieat solemnity in 
 the cathedral of Rheims, where he placed her by 
 Ills side, and caused her to be crowned as queen. 
 Alhelstane, his eldest son, was dead, but Ethelwulf 
 had still three sons of man's estate, — Ethelbald, 
 
 Ethelbert, and Ethelred, besides Alfred, then a boy, 
 who was destined to see his brothers ascend and 
 descend the throne in rapid succession, and to 
 become himself " the Great." From the usual 
 thirst for power, it is probable that, before this 
 French marriage, Ethelbald, who was already in- 
 tiiisted with the government of part of his father's 
 kingdom, was anxious to possess himself of the whole ; 
 but the marriage and the circumstances attending 
 it gave plausible grounds of complaint, and Prince 
 Ethelbald, Adelstane, Bishop of Sherborn, Enwulf, 
 Earl of Somerset, and the other thanes and men of 
 Wessex that joined in a plot to dethrone the absent 
 king, set forth in their manifesto that he had given 
 the name and authority of queen to his French wife, 
 had seated her by his side on the throne, and " openly 
 eaten with her at the table ;" all which was against 
 the constitution and laws of Wessex, which had for 
 ever abolished the queenly dignity, in consequence of 
 the crimes of Eadburgha. It is probable also that 
 the favor shown to the boy Alfred had some share in 
 Ethelbald's resentment. EthehvTilf had carried his 
 favorite son with him to Rome, where the pope 
 anointed him as king with holy oil, and with his own 
 hands. It is more than likely that Alfred had al- 
 ways been destined by his father to fill a minor 
 throne in the kingdom, but this act, and the wonder- 
 ful estimation the oil of consecration was held in, in 
 those days, especially when administered by the 
 pontiff of the Christian world, luay have induced his 
 brothers to suspect that the Benjamin of the family 
 was to be prefen-ed to them all. A recent historian 
 — an indefatigable searcher into the old chronicles 
 and records of the kingdom — is of opinion that, 
 though the fact is not mentioned in express terms in 
 our ancient historians, Osburgha, his first wife, and 
 the mother of his children, was not dead at the time, 
 but merely put away by Ethelwulf to make room 
 for Judith.' In spite of their devotion and zeal for 
 the church, such proceedings were not uncommon 
 among kings in the middle ages ; but if Ethelwulf so 
 acted, the undutifulness of his eldest son, who had a 
 mother's wrongs to avenge, would appear the more 
 excusable. Whatever were their motives and griev- 
 ances, a formidable faction, in arms, opposed Ethel- 
 ^\'ulf when he returned to the island with his young 
 bride. Yet the old king had many friends ; his 
 part^' gained strength after his an'ival among them, 
 and it was thought he might have expelled Ethel- 
 bald and his adherents. But the old man shrunk 
 from the accumulated hoiTors of a civil wai* waged 
 between father and son, and consented to a com- 
 promise, which, on his part, was attended with great 
 sacrifices. Retaining to himself the eastern part of 
 the kingdom of Wessex, he resigned all the western, 
 which was considered the richer and better portion, 
 to Ethelbald. " And this unequal division," says 
 Speed, " gave great suspicion that the revolt was 
 rather grounded upon ambition than any inclination 
 they had for their laws." Ethulwulf did not long 
 
 J According to some of the chroniclers, the Queen Osburgha was 
 
 alive twenty-seven years after Ethelwulfs marriage with Judith, and 
 
 I in 8T8 repaired to Athelney, in Somersetshire, the retreat of her son
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 145 
 
 survive this partition, dying in 857, in the twenty- 
 first year of iiis reign. 
 
 Ethelrald then not only succeeded to the whole 
 of his father's kingdom, but to his young widow also ; 
 for, according to the chroniclers, howsoever unwilling 
 he had been that this fair queen should sit in state 
 by his fiither's side, yet, contrary to all laws both of 
 God and man, he placed her by his own, and by 
 nuptial rites brought her to his sinful and incestuous 
 bed. A tolerably well-grounded supposition that 
 Judith was only twelve years old when Ethelwulf 
 married her, and that their marriage had never been 
 consummated, may diminish our horror ; but such 
 a union could in no sense be tolerated by the Romish 
 Church, which, by means of its bishops in England, 
 at last gained Ethelbald's reluctant consent to a 
 divorce. According to other old authorities, the 
 mari'iage was only dissolved by his death, and priests 
 and people generally attributed the shortness of 
 his reign, which did not last two years, to the sinful 
 marriage, which had drawn down God's vengeance. 
 As she is connected by her posterity with many 
 succeeding ages of our history, we must devote a 
 few words to the rest of the checkered career of 
 Judith. Either on her divorce, or at the death of 
 Ethelbald, she retired to France, and lived some time 
 in a convent at Senlis, a few miles to the north of 
 Paris. From this convent she either eloped with, 
 or was forcibly carried off by, Baldwin, the gi'and for- 
 ester of Ardennes. Her father, Charles the Bald, 
 made his bishops excommunicate Baldwin for having 
 ravished a widow ; but the pope took a milder view of 
 the case, and by his mediation the marriage of the still 
 youthful Judith with her third husband was solem- 
 nized in a regular manner, and the earldom of Flan- 
 ders was bestowed on Baldwin. Judith then lived 
 in great state and magnificence : her son, the second 
 earl of Flanders, espoused Elfrida, the youngest 
 daughter of our Alfred the Great, from whom, 
 through five lineal descents, proceeded Maud, or 
 Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror, from 
 whom again descended all the subsequent kings of 
 England. 
 
 Ethelbald was succeeded in the kingdom of Wes- 
 sex by his brother Ethelbert, who had a short 
 reign, troubled beyond measure by the Danes, who 
 now made inroads in almost every part of the island. 
 He had the mortification to see them burn Winches- 
 ter, his capital, and permanently establish themselves 
 in the Isle of Thanet, which they made their nucleus, 
 and the key of their conquests, just as the Saxons 
 had done more than four centuries before. This 
 king died in the year 866 or 867, and was succeeded 
 by his brother Ethelred, who, in the course of one 
 year, had to fight nine pitched and murderous bat- 
 tles against the Danes. Whilst he was thus busied 
 in resisting the invaders in the south and west parts 
 of the island, the kings and chiefs of Mercia and 
 Northumbria wholly withdrew from their covenanted 
 subjection or alliance, and, only thinking of them- 
 selves, they gave no timely aid to one another or to 
 the common cause. Thus left to their own re- 
 sources, the men of Wessex maintained a doubtful 
 VOL. I — 10 
 
 sti'uggle, at times losing, and at others gaming bat- 
 tles. According to the old writers, the destruction 
 of the Danes was immense ; and during the five or 
 six years of Ethelred's reign there were killed in the 
 field nine yarls or earls, one king, " besides others 
 of the meaner sort without number." But this loss 
 was constantly supplied by fresh forces from the 
 north, who brought as eager an appetite for plunder 
 as their precursors, and whose vengeance became 
 the more inflamed as the number of deaths of their ' 
 brethren was increased. In most of these con- 
 flicts Alfred, who was already far more fitted to 
 command, fought along with Ethelred, the last of 
 his brothers ; and at Ashton or Ashenden, in Berk- 
 shire, while the king was engaged at his prayers, 
 and would not move with his division of the Saxon 
 army till mass was over, Alfred sustained the brunl 
 of the whole Danish force, and mainly contributed 
 to a splendid victoiy. The victory of Ashton was 
 followed by the defeats of Basing and Mereton ; and, 
 soon after, Ethelred died (871), at Whittingham, of 
 wounds received in battle, upon which the crown 
 fell to Alfred, the only surviving and the best of all 
 the sons of Ethelwulf. But, under existing circum- 
 stances, the crown was a jewel of no price, and for 
 many years the hero had to fight for territory and 
 for life against the formidable Danes. 
 
 The piratical hordes called Danes or Norsemen 
 by the English, Normans by our neighbors the 
 French, and Normanni by the Italians, were not 
 merely natives of Denmark, properly so called, but 
 belonged also to Norway, Sweden, and other coun- 
 tries spread round the Baltic sea. They were oflT- 
 shoots of the great Scandinavian branch of the Teu- 
 tons, who, under different names, conquered and 
 recomposed most of the states of Europe on the 
 downfall of the Roman empire. Such of the Scan- 
 dinavian tribes as did not move to the south and the 
 west to establish themselves permanently in fertile 
 provinces, but remained in the barren and bleak 
 regions of the north, devoted themselves to piracy as 
 a profitable and honorable profession. The Saxons, 
 then scattered along the south of the Baltic, did this 
 in the fourth and fifth centuries, and now, in the 
 ninth century, they were becoming the victims of 
 their old system, earned into practice by their kin- 
 dred the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, and others. 
 All these people were of the same race as the Sax- 
 ons, being an after-ton-ent from the same Scandina- 
 vian fountain-head ; and though time, and a change 
 of country and religion on the part of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, had made some difference between them, 
 the common resemblance in physical appearance, 
 language, and other essentials, was still strong. It 
 is indeed remarkable that the three difterent con- 
 quests of England made in the course of six centu- 
 ries, were all the work of one race of men, bearing 
 diff'erent names at diff'erent epochs ; for the Nor- 
 mans of the eleventh centuiy were called Danes in 
 the ninth, and were of the same stock as the Danes 
 and Saxons they subdued in England. A settlement 
 of 200 years in France, and an intermixture with 
 the people of that country, had wonderfully modified
 
 146 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 the Scandinavian character, but still the followers 
 of William the Conqueror had a much greater af- 
 finity with the Danes and Anglo-Saxons than is gen- 
 erall}' imagined. 
 
 Hume and other historians are of opinion that 
 the remorseless cruelties practised by Charlemagne 
 from the year 772 to 803, upon the Pagan Saxons 
 settled on the Rhine and in Germany, were the 
 cause of the fearful reaction and the confirmed idol- 
 atry of that people.' There can be little doubt that 
 this was partly the case ; and it is a well-established , 
 fact that the Northmen or Normans made the imbe- 
 cile posterity of Charlemagne pay dearly for their 
 father's cruelty. Retieating from the arras, the [ 
 priests, and the compulsory baptisms of this con- | 
 queror, many of these Saxons fixed their homes in 
 the peninsula of Jutland, which had been nearly 
 evacuated tliree centuries before by the Jutes and 
 Angles who went to conquer England. A mixed 
 population, of which the Jutes formed the larger 
 portion, had, however, grown up in the interval on 
 that peninsula, and, as they were unconverted, thej- 
 w^ere inclined to give a friendly reception to brethren 
 sufl'ering in the cause of Woden. The next step 
 was obvious, and in the reprisals made on the French 
 coasts, which were ravaged long before those of 
 England were touched, the men of Jutland were 
 probably joined by many of their neighbors from the 
 mouth of the Baltic, the islands of Z eland, Funen, 
 and the islets of the Cattegat. All these might prob- 
 ably be called Danes ; but there are reasons for be- 
 heving tliat the invaders of our island, under Alfred 
 and his predecessors, were chiefly Norwegians and | 
 not Danes ; and that the real Danish invasions, j 
 which ended in final conquest, were not commenced • 
 until nearly a century later. Our old chroniclers, i 
 who applied one general name to all, call Rollo, " the ! 
 Ganger," one of the most formidable of our invaders, 
 a Dane, and jet it is well ascertained that he was a 
 Norwegian nobleman. It is difficult, however, and 
 not very imjwrtant, to distinguish between two na- ] 
 tions speaking the same language and having the i 
 same manners and pursuits. All the maritime Scan- 
 dinavian tribes, from Jutland to the head of the ; 
 Baltic — from Copenhagen nearly to the North Cape ; 
 — ^were pirates alike ; and the fleet that sailed fi-om j 
 the coasts of Norway would often be mixed with i 
 ships from Jutland and Denmark, and vice versa, i 
 Moreover, on certain great occasions, when their j 
 highest numerical force was required, the " Sea- ' 
 kings," the leaders of these hordes, were known to ! 
 make very extensive leagues. 
 
 In their origin the piratical associations of the 
 Northmen partook somewhat of the nature of our 
 privateering companies in war-time, but still more 
 closely resembled the associations of the Corsairs of 
 the Barbary coast, who, crossing the Mediterranean 
 as the Danes and Norwegians did the German Ocean 
 and the British Channel, for many ages plundered 
 
 1 Charlemapne massacred the Saxons by thousands, even after they 
 bid laid down their arms. "Hie alternative he oflered was death or a 
 Christian baptism. Those who renounced their old gods, or pretended 
 to do so, he sent in colonies into the interior of France. Some were 
 even hurried into Italy. 
 
 every Cliristian ship and country they could approach. 
 The governments at home, such as they were, licensed 
 the depredations, and partook of the spoils, having, 
 as it seems, a regularly fixed {x»rtion allotted them 
 after every successful expedition. Like the Saxons 
 we have described, the Danes, the Norwegians, and 
 all the Scandinavians were familiar with the sea and 
 its dangers, and expert mariners. Every family had 
 its boat or its ship, and the younger sons of the no- 
 blest of the land had no other fortune than theii' 
 swords and their chiules (keels). With these they 
 fought their way to fame and fortune, or perished 
 by the tempest or battle, which were both considered 
 most honorable deaths. All the males were prac- 
 tised in the use of arms from their infancy, and the 
 art of war was cultivated with more success than by 
 any nation in Europe. The astonishing progress of 
 the Danes (as they were called) in England, of the 
 Normans in France, and later, in Italy and Sicily, 
 not only prove their physical vigor, their valor and 
 perseverance, but their militarj* skill and address. 
 Their religion and literature (for they had a litera- 
 ture at least as early as the eighth century) were 
 subservient to the ruling passions for war and plun- 
 der, or, more properly speaking, they were both cast 
 in the mould of those passions, and stamped with 
 the deep impress of the national character. The 
 blood of then- enemies in war, and a rude hospitaUty, 
 with a barbarous excess in drinking, were held to be 
 the incense most acceptable to the god Woden, who 
 himself had perhaps been nothing more than a mighty 
 slayer and drinker. War and feasting were the con- 
 stant themes of their scalds or bards ; and what they 
 called their history, which is mixed with fable to 
 such a degi-ee that the fragments remaining of it ai"e 
 seldom intelligible, recorded little else than piracy 
 and bloodshed. Like their brethren the Saxons, 
 they were not at one time very bigoted, or very in- 
 tolerant to other modes of faith, but when they came 
 to England, they were embitteied by recent perse- 
 cution, and they treated the Saxons as renegados 
 who had forsaken the faith of their common ances- 
 tors to embrace that of their deadly enemies. This 
 feeling was shown in their merciless attacks on 
 priests, churches, monasteries, and convents. 
 
 With good steel arms the Danes were abundantly 
 provided. Their weapons seem to have been much 
 the same as those used by the Saxons at their inva- 
 sion of the island, but the Scandiua\ian mace and 
 battle-axe were still more conspicuous, particularly a 
 double -biaded axe. '■ To shoot well with the bow" 
 was also an indispensable qualification to a Danish 
 warrior ; and as the Saxons had totally neglected 
 archeiy, it should seem the English were indebted 
 to the conquest, and intermixture wth them, of the 
 Danes for the high fame they afterwards enjoyed as 
 bowmen. They had great skill in choosing and for- 
 tifying the positions they took up. Wherever a 
 camp was established, a ditch was dug, and a ram- 
 part raised with extraordinary rapidity ; and all the 
 skill and bravery of the Saxons were generally baf- 
 fled by these intrenchments. Their ships were large 
 and capable of contaioing many men ; but in most of
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 147 
 
 theii' expeditions they were attended by vessels draw- 
 ing little water, that could easily run up the creeks 
 and rivers of our island. Many of our rivers, how- 
 ever, must have been deeper in those times, for we 
 constantly hear of their ascending such as would not 
 now float the smallest embarkation. They frequently 
 drew their vessels on shore, and having formed an 
 intrenchment around them (as Caesar had done with 
 his invading fleet), they left part of their force to 
 guard them, and then scattered themselves over the 
 country to plunder and destroy. On many occasions 
 they dragged their vessels overland from one river 
 to- another, or from one arm of the sea to another 
 inlet. 
 
 If they met a superior force, they fled to their 
 ships, and disappeared ; for there was no dishonor 
 in retreat, when they can-ied off" the pillage they had 
 made. They then suddenly appeared on some other 
 distant or unprepared coast, and repeated the same 
 manoeuvres ; thus, at length, as their numbers in- 
 creased more and more, keeping every part of Eng- 
 land in a constant state of alarm, and preventing the 
 people of one countiy from marching to the assist- 
 ance of those of another, lest in their absence their 
 own district should be invaded, and their own fami- 
 lies and property fall the victims of the marauders. 
 The father and brothers of Alfred had established a 
 sort of local dista-ict militia ; but the same causes of 
 self-interest and alarm continued, and it was sel- 
 dom that a sufficient force could be concentrated on 
 one point, in time to prevent the depredations of the 
 pu'ates. On some occasions, however, these armed 
 burghers and peasants, throwing themselves between 
 the Danes and their ships, recovered the bootj% and 
 inflicted a fearful vengeance ; quarter was rarely 
 given to the defeated invaders. For a considerable 
 time, the Danes carefully avoided coming to any gen- 
 eral engagement ; for, like the Picts and Scots of old, 
 their object was merely to make forays, and not con- 
 quests and settlements. Their success, with the 
 weakness and divisions of England, gradually enlarged 
 their views. They brought no horses with them ; 
 but as cavalry was necessary to scour the country, 
 and an important component of an armed force, they 
 seized and mounted all the" horses they could catch ; 
 and as their operations extended inland, their first 
 care was to provide themselves with those animals, 
 for the procuring of which they would promise neu- 
 trality or an exemption from plunder, to the people 
 or districts that furnished them. Thus, on one occa- 
 sion, the men of East Anglia mounted the faithless 
 robbers, who rushed upon the men of Mercia, vow- 
 ing they would not injure the horse-lenders. But no 
 promises or vows were regarded — no treaty was kept 
 sacred by the Danes, who had always the ready ex- 
 cuse (when they thought fit to make one), that the 
 peace or truce was broken by other bands, over 
 whom those who made the treaty had no control. 
 Thus, when the men of Kent resorted to the fatal 
 expedient of offering money for their forbearance, 
 the Danes concluded a treatj% took the gold, and, 
 breaking from their permanent head-quarters in the 
 Isle of Thanet, ravaged the whole of their country 
 
 shortly after. The old writers continually call them 
 " truce-breakers ;" and the Danes well deserved the 
 name. 
 
 We need not foUow the gi-adual development of 
 this sanguinary story, nor trace, step by step, how 
 the Danes established themselves in the island. It 
 will be enough to show their possessions and power 
 on the accession of Alfred to the degraded throne. 
 They held the Isle of Thanet, which gave them the 
 command of the river Thames and the coasts of Kent 
 and Essex ; they had thoroughly overrun or conquer- 
 ed all Northumbria, from the Tweed to the Hum- 
 ber ; they had planted strong colonies at York, which 
 city, destroyed during the wars, they rebuilt. South 
 of the Humber, with the exception of the Isle of 
 TJianet, their iron grasp on the soil was less sure, 
 but they had desolated Nottinghamshire, Lincoln- 
 shire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk; and, 
 with numbers constantly increasing, they ranged 
 through the whole length of the island on this side 
 the Tweed, with the exception only of the western 
 counties of England, and had established fortified 
 camps between the Severn and the Thames. The 
 Anglo-Saxon standard had been gradually retreating 
 towards the southwestern corner of our island, 
 which includes Somersetshire, Devonshire, and Corn- 
 wall, and which was now about to become the scene 
 of Alfred's most romantic adventures. For awhile, 
 the English expected the anlval of their foes during 
 tlie spring and summer months, and their departure 
 at the close of autumn ; but now a Danish army had 
 wintered seven years in the land, and there was no 
 longer a hope of the blessing of their ever departing 
 from it. 
 
 But Alfred, the savior of his people, did not de- 
 spair, even when worse times came : he calmly 
 abode the storm over which his valor, but still more 
 his prudence, skill, and wisdom, finally triumphed. 
 Though only twenty-three years of age, he had been 
 already ti-ied in many battles. He had scarcely been 
 a month on the throne, when his army, very inferior 
 in force to that of the Danes, was forced into a gen- 
 eral engagement at Wilton. After fighting despe- 
 rately through a great part of the day, the heathens 
 fled ; but seeing the fewness of those who pursued, 
 they set themselves to battle again, and got the field. 
 Alfred was absent at the time, and it is probable his 
 army was guilty of some imprudence ; but the Danes 
 suffered so seriously in the battle of Wilton, that 
 they were fain to conclude a peace with him, and 
 evacuate his kingdom of Wessex, which they hardly 
 touched again for three years. The invading army 
 withdrew in the direction of London, in which city 
 they passed the winter. In the following spring, 
 having been joined in London by fresh hosts, both 
 from Northumbria and from their own country, they 
 marched into Lyndesey, or Lincolnshire, robbing 
 and burning the towns and villages as they went, and 
 reducing the people, whose lives they spared, to a 
 complete state of slavery. From Lincolnshire the)' 
 marched to Derbyshire, and wintered there at the 
 town of Repton. 
 
 The next year (a.d. 875) one armj- under Half-
 
 148 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Arms and Costi'mb of an Anglo-Saxon Kino and Armor-Bearer. 
 Designed from a Saxon IlIuminHted US. Cotton Lib. Claudius B. IV. 
 
 den, or Halfdane, was employed in settling North- 
 umbria, and in waging war witli that probably mixed 
 population that still dwelt in Cumberland, Westmore- 
 land, and Galloway, or what was called the kingdom 
 of Strathclyde. They now came into hostile collision 
 with the Scots, who were forced to retreat beyond 
 the Friths of Clyde and Forth. Halfdane then di- 
 vided the mass of the Northumbrian territory among 
 his followers, who, settling among the Anglo-Saxons 
 there, and, intermarrying with them, became, in the 
 course of a few generations, so mixed as to form al- 
 most one people. It is not easy, from the vagueness 
 of the old writers, to fix hmits; but this fusion was 
 probably felt strongest along our northeastern coast 
 between the Tees and the Tweed, where some 
 Danish peculiarities are still detected among the 
 people. W^lile Halfdane was pursuing these mea- 
 sures in the north, a still stronger army, commanded 
 by three kings, marched upon Cambridge, which 
 they fortified and made their winter-quarters. By 
 this time the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria, 
 Mercia, and East Anglia were entirely obliterated. 
 
 and the contest lay between the Danes and Alfred's 
 men of Wessex. 
 
 At the opening of the year 876, the host that had 
 wintered in Cambridge, took to their ships, and, 
 resolving to carry the war they had renewed into 
 the heart of Wessex, they landed on the coast of 
 Dorsetshire, surprised the castle of Wareham, and 
 scoured the neighboring countiy. But in the inter- 
 val of the truce, Alfred's mind had conceived an idea 
 which may be looked upon as the embryo of the 
 naval glory of England. After their establishment 
 in our island, the Saxons, who, at their first coming, 
 were as nautical a people as the Danes, imprudently 
 neglected sea affairs ; but, in his present straits, Al- 
 fred saw the advantages to be derived from the em- 
 ploj'ment of ships along tlie coast, where they might 
 either prevent the landing of an enemy, or cut off 
 their supplies and reinforcements, which generally 
 came by sea, and as frequently from the continent 
 as elsewhere. The first flotilla he set afloat was 
 small and almost contemptible ; but in its very first 
 : encounter with the enemy, it proved victorious, at-
 
 Chap. T.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 149 
 
 tacking a Danish squadron of seven ships, one of 
 which was taken, the rest put to flight. This hap- 
 pened immediately after the surprise of Wareham ; 
 and when, in a few days, the Danes agi-eed to treat 
 for peace, and evacuate the territoiy of Wessex, the 
 consequences of the victory were magnified in the 
 eyes of the people. In concluding this peace, after 
 the Danish chiefs or kings had sworn by their golden 
 bracelets — a most solemn form of oath with them — 
 Alfred, who was not above all the superstitions of 
 his age, insisted that they should swear upon the 
 relics of some Christian saints.^ The Danes swore 
 by both, and the very next night fell upon Alfred as 
 he was riding with a small force, and suspecting no 
 mischief, towards the town of Winchester. The 
 king had a narrow escape ; the horsemen who at- 
 tended him were nearly all dismounted and slain, 
 and, seizing their horses, the Danes galloped off in 
 the direction of Exeter, whither, as they were no 
 doubt informed, another body of their brethren were 
 proceeding, having come round by sea, and landed 
 at the mouth of the £xe. Their plan now was to 
 take Alfred in the rear of his stronghold in the west 
 of England, and to rouse again the people of Corn- 
 wall against the Saxons. A formidable Danish fleet 
 sailed from the mouth of the Thames to reinforce 
 the troops united in Devonshire ; but Alfred's infant 
 navy, sti^engthened by some new vessels, stood ready 
 to intercept it. A storm which arose, caused the 
 wreck of half the Danish ships on the Hampshire 
 coast ; and when the others aiTived tardily and in a 
 shattered condition, they were met by the Saxon 
 fleet that blockaded the Exe, and entirely destroyed, 
 after a gallant action. Before this, his second sea 
 victory, Alfred had come up with his land forces, and 
 invested Exeter ; and King Guthrun, the Dane, who 
 held that town, on learning the desti'uction of his fleet, 
 capitulated, gave hostages and oaths, and marched 
 with his northmen from Exeter and the kingdom of 
 Wessex into Mercia. 
 
 Alfred had now felt the value of the fleet he had 
 created, and which, weak as it was, maintained his 
 cause on the sea during the reti-eat to which he was 
 now about to be condemned. The crews of these 
 ships, however, must have been oddly constituted : 
 for, not finding English mariners enough, he engaged 
 a number of Fri'esland pirates or rovers to serve him. 
 These men did their duty gallantly and faithfully. It 
 is curious to reflect, that they came from the same 
 country which ages before had sent forth many of 
 the Angles to the conquest of Britain ; and they may 
 have felt even at that distance of time a strong sym- 
 pathy with the Anglo-Saxon adherents of Alfi-ed. 
 The reader has already weighed the value of a Dan- 
 ish treaty of peace. Guthrun had no sooner retreated 
 from Exeter, than he began to prepare for another 
 war ; and this he did with great art, and by employ- 
 ing all his means and influence ; for he had learned 
 to appreciate the qualities of his enemy, and he was 
 himself the most skilful, steady, and persevering of 
 all the invaders. He fixed his head-quarters at no 
 greater distance from Alfi-ed than the city of Glou- 
 1 Asser, 28 
 
 cester, around which he had broad and fertile lands 
 to distribute among his warriors. His fortunate ra- 
 ven attracted the birds of rapine from every quarter; 
 and when eveiything was ready for a fresh incursion 
 into the west, he craftily proceeded in a new and 
 unexpected manner. A winter campaign had hith- 
 erto been unknown among the Danes, but on the first 
 day of January, 878, his choicest warriors received 
 a secret order to meet him on horseback, at an ap- 
 pointed place. Alfred was at Chippenham, a sti-ong 
 residence of the Wessex kings. It was the feast of 
 the Epiphany, or Twelfth-night, and the Saxons 
 were probably celebrating the festival, when they 
 heard Guthrun and his Danes were at the gates. 
 Surprised thus, by the celerity of an overwhelming 
 force, they could ofl'er but an ineffectual resistance. 
 Many were slain ; the foe burst into Chippenham, 
 and Alfred escaping with a little band, retired, with 
 an anxious mind, to the woods and the fastnesses of 
 the moors. As the story is generally told, the king 
 could not make head against the Danes ; but other 
 accounts state that he immediately fought several 
 battles in rapid succession. We are inclined to the 
 latter belief, which renders the broken spirits and 
 despair of the men of Wessex more intelligible; but 
 all are agreed in the facts that, not long after the 
 Danes stole into Chippenham, they rode over the 
 kingdom of Wessex, where no army was left to op- 
 pose them ; that numbers of the population fled to 
 the Iste of Wight and the opposite shores of the con- 
 tinent, while those who remained tilled the soil for 
 their hard task-masters the Danes, whom they tried 
 to conciliate with presents and an abject submission. 
 The brave men of Somerset alone retained some 
 spirit, and continued, in the main, ti'ue to their king; 
 but even in their country, where he finally sought a 
 refuge, he was obliged to hide in fens and coverts, 
 for fear of being betrayed to his powerful foe Guth- 
 run. Near the confluence of the rivers Thone and 
 Parret, there is a tract of country still called Athel- 
 ney, or the Prince's Island. The waters of the little 
 rivers now flow by corn-fields, pasture-land, a farm- 
 house, and a cottage; but in the time of Alfred, the 
 whole ti'act was covered by a dense wood, the seclu- 
 ded haunt of deer, wild boars, wild goats, and other 
 beasts of the forest. It has now long ceased to be 
 an island ; but in those days, when not washed by the 
 two rivers, it was insulated by bogs and inundations, 
 which could only be passed in a boat. In this secure 
 lurking-place the king abode some time, making him- 
 self a small hold or fortiess there. For sustenance, 
 he and his few followers depended upon hunting and 
 fishing, and the spoil they could make by sudden and 
 secret forays among the Danes. From an ambiguous 
 expression of some of the old writers, we might 
 believe he sometimes plundered his own subjects ; 
 and this is not altogether improbable, if we consider 
 his pressing wants and the necessity under which he 
 lay, of concealing who he was. This secret seems 
 to have been most scrupulously kept by his few ad- 
 herents, and to have been maintained, on his own 
 part, ^vith infinite patience and forbearance. A well- 
 known story, endeared to us all by our earliest recol-
 
 150 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 lections, is told bj' his contemporaiy and bosom friend, 
 the monk Asser ; it is repeated by all the writers 
 who lived near the time, and may safely be consid- 
 ered as authentic as it is interesting. In one of his 
 excursions he took refuge in the humble cabin of a 
 swineherd, where he stayed sometime. On a certain 
 day, it happened that the wife of the swain prepared 
 to bake her loudas, or loaves of bread. The king, 
 sitting at the time near the hearth, was making 
 ready his bow and arrows, when the shrew beheld 
 her loaves burning. She ran hastily and removed 
 them, scolding the king - for his shameful negli- 
 gence, and exclaiming, " You man ! you will not 
 tm*n the bread you see burning, but you will be glad 
 enough to eat it." " This unlucky woman," adds 
 Asser, " little thought she was talking to the king 
 Alfi-ed." 
 
 From his all but inaccessible reti*eat in Atholney, 
 the king maintained a correspondence with some of 
 his faithful adherents. By degrees, a few bold war- 
 riors gathered round him in that islet, which they 
 more sti-ongly fortified, as a point upon which to re- 
 treat in case of reverse : and between the Easter and 
 Whitsuntide following his flight, Alfred saw hopes of 
 his emerging from obscm-ity. According to some of 
 the superstitious old chroniclers, these hopes were 
 first raised by a supernatural intervention. We have 
 passed in silence over the miracles and marvels that 
 swarm in all these ages, but the following is a good 
 tniit of the times, and a touching picture of Alfred's 
 
 destitution and benevolence. The incident is thus 
 related by an old writer : *' Upon a time, when his 
 company had departed from him in search of victuals 
 to eat, and he for pastime was reading on a book, a 
 poor pilgrim came to him, and asked his alms, in God's 
 name. The king lifted up his hands to heaven, and 
 said, 'I thank God of his grace that he visiteth his 
 poor man this day by another poor man, and vouch- 
 safeth to ask of mo that which he hath given me.' 
 Then the king anon called his servant, that had but 
 one loaf and a very little wine, and bade him give the 
 half thereof unto the poor man, who received it thank- 
 fully, and suddenly vanished from his sight, so that 
 no step of him was seen on the fen or moor he passed 
 over ; and also what was given to him by the king, 
 was left there even as it had been given unto hiui. 
 Shortly after, the company returned to their master, 
 and brought with them gi'eat plenty of fish that they 
 had then taken. The night following, when the king 
 was at his rest, there appeared to him one in a bish- 
 op's weed, and charged him that he should love God, 
 and keep justice, and be merciful to the poor men, 
 and reverence priests ; and said, moreover, ' Alfred ! 
 Christ knoweth thy will and conscience, and now 
 will make an end of thy sorrow and care; for to- 
 mon'ow strong helpers shall come to thee, by whose 
 help thou shalt subdue thine enemies.' ' Who art 
 thou?' said the king. 'I am St. Cuthburt,' said he: 
 ' the poor pilgrim that yesterday was here with thee, 
 to whom thou gavest both bread and wine. I am busy 
 
 Ali Rtn \xp THE Pilgrim —B West
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 151 
 
 for thee and thine ; wherefore have thou mind here- 
 of when it is well with thee.' Then Alfred, after 
 this vision, was well comforted, and showed himself 
 more at large." 
 
 To descend to more sober history. The men of 
 Somersetshire, Wiltsliire, Dorsetshire, and Hamp- 
 shire began to flock in ; and, with a resolute force, 
 Alfred was soon enabled to extend his operations 
 against the Danes. In the intei-val, an important 
 event in Devonshire had favored his cause. Hubba, 
 a Danish king or chief of great renown, in attempt- 
 ing to land there, was slain, with eight or nine hun- 
 dred of his followers ; and their magical banner, a 
 raven, which had been embroidered in one noon-tide 
 by the hands of the three daughters of the great 
 Lodbroke, fell into the hands of the Saxons. Soon 
 after, receiving the welcome news at Athelney, the 
 king determined to convert his skirmishes and loose 
 partisan warfare into more decisive operations. Pre- 
 viously to this, however, he was anxious to know 
 the precise force and condition of the army which 
 Guthrun kept together ; and, to obtain this informa- 
 tion, he put himself in gi-eat jeopardy, ti'usting to his 
 own resources and address. He assumed the habit 
 of a wandering minstrel, or gleeman, and with his 
 instruments of music in his hands, gained a ready 
 entrance into the camp and the tents and pavilions 
 of the Danes. As he amused these idle warriors 
 with songs and interludes, he espied all their sloth 
 and negligence, heard much of their councils and 
 plans, and was soon enabled to return to his friends 
 lit Athelney with a fuU and satisfactory account of 
 the state and habits of that army. Then secret 
 messengers were sent to all quarters, requesting the 
 trusty men of Wessex to meet in arms at Egbert's 
 stone, on the east of Selwood forest.' The sum- 
 mons was obeyed, though most knew not the king 
 had sent it ; and when Alfi-ed appeared at the place 
 of rendezvous, he was received with enthusiastic 
 joy — the men of Hampshire, and Dorset, and 
 Wilts rejoicing as if he had been risen from death 
 to life. In the general battle of Ethandune which 
 ensued (seven weeks after Easter), the Danes were 
 taken by surprise, and thoroughly beaten. Alfred's 
 concealment, counting from his flight from Chippen- 
 ham, did not last above five months. 
 
 It is reasonably supposed that the present Yat- 
 ton, about five miles from Chippenham, is the repre- 
 sentative of Ethandune, or Assandune ; but that the 
 battle was fought a little lower on the Avon, at a 
 place called " Slaixghter-ford," where, according to 
 a ti'adition of the country people, the Danes suffered 
 a great slaughter. Guthrun retreated with the 
 mournful residue of his army to a fortified position. 
 Alfred followed him thither, cut oflf all his communi- 
 cations, and established a close blockade. In four- 
 teen days, famine obUged the Danes to accept the 
 conditions off'ered by the Saxons. These conditions 
 ■ were liberal ; for, though victorious, Alfred could 
 not hope to drive the Danes by one, nay, nor by 
 
 1 Asser, 33. The wond extended frjm Frome to Burliam, and was 
 jirobably much larger at one lime. 
 
 twenty battles, out of England. They were too 
 numerous, and had secured themselves in too con- 
 siderable a part of the island. The first points in- 
 sisted upon in the treaty were, that Guthrun should 
 evacuate all Wessex, and submit to be baptized. 
 Without a conversion to Christianity, Alfred thought 
 it impossible to rely on the promises or oaths of 
 the Danes ; he saw that a change of religion would, 
 more than anything else, detach them from their 
 savage Scandinavian brethren across the seas ; and 
 as he was a devout man, with priests and monks for 
 his counsellors, religion, no doubt, was as precious 
 to him as policy, and he was moved with an ardent 
 hope of propagating and extending the Christian 
 faith. Upon Guthrun's ready acceptance of these 
 two conditions, an extensive cession of teri'itoiy was 
 made to him and the Danes ; and here the great 
 mind of Alfred probably contemplated the giadual 
 fusion of two people — the Saxons and the Danes — 
 who differed in but few essentials, and foresaw that 
 the pm'suits of agriculture and industry, gi'owing 
 up among them, after a tranquil settlement, would 
 win the rovers of the north from their old plunder- 
 ing, piratical habits. As soon as this took place, 
 they would guard the coasts they formerly desolated. 
 If it had even been in Alfred's power to expel them 
 all (which it never was), he could have had no 
 security against their prompt return and incessant 
 attacks. There was territory enough, fertile though 
 neglected, to give away, without straitening the Sax- 
 ons. In the most happy time of the Roman occupa- 
 tion, a great part of Britain was but thinly inhabited ; 
 and the famines, the pestilences, the almost inces- 
 sant wars which had followed since then, had de- 
 populated whole counties, and left immense tracts of 
 land without hands to till them, or mouths to eat the 
 produce they promised the agriculturist. 
 
 Alfred thus drew the line of demarkation between 
 him and the Danes : — " Let the bounds of our 
 dominion stretch to the river Thames, and from 
 thence to the water of Lea, even unto the head of 
 the same water ; and thence straight unto Bedford, 
 and finally, going along by the river Ouse, let them 
 end at Watling-street." Beyond these lines, all the 
 east side of the island, as far as the Humber, was 
 surrendered to the Danes ; and as they had estab- 
 lished themselves in Northumbria, that territory was 
 soon united, and the Avhole eastern country from the 
 Tweed to the Thames, where it washes a part of 
 Essex, took the name of the Dane-lagh, or " Dane- 
 law," which it retained for many ages, even down 
 to the time of the Norman conquest. The cession 
 was large ; but it should be remembered that Alfred, 
 at the opening of his reign, was di'iven into the 
 western corner of England, and that he noAV gained 
 ti'anquil possession of five, or perhaps ten times more 
 territoiy than he then possessed.' In many respect'^, 
 these his moderate measures answered the end be 
 
 1 Mercia fell completely into the power of Alfred, after the defeat of 
 Guthrun. He abolished the reg^al honors of that state, and intrusteri 
 the military command of it to Ethelred, who was afterwards marrip<i 
 to one of his daughters. Ethelred seems to have been merely styled 
 the " Eolderman of Mercia."'
 
 152 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 proposed. Soon iifter the conclusion of the ti'euty, 
 Guthrun, relying on the good fuith of the Saxons, 
 went with only thirty of his chiefs to Aulre, near 
 Athelney. His old but gallant and generous enemy, 
 Alfred, answered for hiui at the baptismal font, and 
 the Dane was christened under the Saxon name of 
 Athelstan. The next week the ceremony was com- 
 pleted >vith gieat solemnity at the royal town of 
 Wedmor, and after spending twelve days as the 
 guest of Alfred, Guthrun departed (a. d. 878), 
 loaded with presents, which the monk Asser says 
 were magnijicent. Whatever were his inward con- 
 victions, or the efficacy and sincerity of his conver- 
 sion, tlie Danish prince was certainly captivated by 
 the merits of his victor, and ever afterwards con- 
 tinued the faithful friend and ally (if not vassal) of 
 Alfi'ed. The subjects under his rule in the Dane- 
 lagh, or " Dane-law," assumed habits of industiy and 
 tranquillity, and gi-adually adopted the manners and 
 customs of more civihzed life. By mutual agi-ee- 
 ment, the laws of the Danes were assimilated to 
 those of the Saxons ; but the former long retained 
 many of their old Scandinavian usages. In the juris- 
 prudence of those days, the life of an Englishman 
 was estimated according to his rank, at so many 
 shillings or pieces of coined money ; and now it wei^ 
 agreed that the lives of the Danes should be con- 
 sidered of equal value with the lives of the Anglo- 
 Saxons. In other words, the same money was to 
 be paid in fine by him who killed a Dane, as by him 
 who slew an Englishman, supposing always the rank 
 of the slain to be equal. The fines payable for all 
 offences were determined both in Danish and Saxon 
 moneys, to prevent disputes arising from their diflfer- 
 
 Alfred's ''Jewel." 
 
 Ad ornament of gold, apparently intended to hang round the neck, 
 found in Athelney, and now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The 
 inscription on the side here represented, around the female figure hold- 
 ing flowers, is " Aelfred mr haet sewercan" (Alfred had me wrought). 
 On the other side is a flower. The workmanship is in good style. 
 
 ence of cuiTency. A wise regulation, considering 
 the recent hostilities and implacable hatred that had 
 existed between those forces, forbade all secret in- 
 tercourse between the soldiery of the Saxon and 
 Danish armies. All sales, whether of men, horses, 
 or oxen, were declared illegal, unless the purchaser 
 produced the voucher of the seller. This was to 
 put a stop on both sides to the lifting of cattle, and 
 the carrying oflf of the peasantry as slaves. Both 
 kings engaged to promote the Christian religion, and 
 to punish apostasy. We are not well infomied as to 
 the progi'ess the faith made among his subjects on 
 Guthrun's conversion ; but it was probably rapid, 
 though imperfect, and accompanied with a lingering 
 at!'ection for the divinities of the Scandinavian my- 
 tliology. 
 
 It was about this time, or very soon after Alfred's 
 breaking up from his retreat at Athelney, and gain- 
 ing the victory of Ethandune, that, moved by the 
 love of humane letters which distinguished him all 
 his life, he invited Asser, esteemed the most learned 
 man then in the island, to his court or camp, in 
 order that he might profit by his insti'uctive conver- 
 sation. The monk of St. David's, who was not a 
 Saxon, but descended from a Welsh family, obeyed 
 the summons, and, according to his own account, he 
 was introduced to the king at Dene, in Wiltshire, 
 by the thanes who had been sent to fetch him. A 
 famihar intercourse followed a most courteous recep- 
 tion, and then the king invited the monk to live con- 
 stantly about his person. The vows of Asser and 
 his attachment to his monastery, where he had 
 been nurtured and instructed, interfered with this 
 arrangement ; but, after some delays, it was agreed 
 he should pass half his time in his monastery, and 
 the rest of the year at court. Returning at length 
 to Alfred, he found him at a place called Leonaford. 
 He remained eight months constantly with him, 
 conversing and reading with him all such books as 
 the king possessed. On the Christmas eve follow- 
 ing, Alfred, in token of his high regard, gave the 
 monk an abbey in Wiltshire, supposed to be at Ames- 
 bury, and another abbey at Banwell, in Somerset- 
 shire, together with a rich silk pall, and as much 
 incense as a strong man could cany on his shoulders, 
 assuring him at the same time, that he considered 
 these as small things for a man of so much merit, 
 and that hereafter he should have greater. Asser 
 was subsequently promoted to the bishopric of Sher- 
 burn, and thenceforward remained constantly with 
 the king, enjoying his entire confidence and affection, 
 and sharing in all his joys and soitows. This nire 
 friendship between a sovereign and subject continued 
 unbroken till death ; and when the gi-ave closed over 
 the great Alfred, the honorable testimony was read 
 in his will, that Asser was a person in whom he had 
 full confidence. To this singular connexion Alfred 
 and his subjects were, no doubt, indebted for some 
 improvements in the ro5al mind, which wrought 
 good alike for the king and for the people ; and we, 
 at the distance of nearly a thousand years, owe to it 
 an endearing record of that monarch's personal 
 \ character and habits. Asser was a sort of Boswell
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 153 
 
 of the dark ages ; and the hero whose private as 
 well as public life he deUneated, well deserved so 
 attentive a chronicler. 
 
 But some time had yet to pass ere Alfi'ed could 
 give himself up to quiet enjoyments, to law-making, 
 and the intellectual improvement of his people. 
 Though Guthrun kept his contract, hosts of maraud- 
 ing Danes, who were not bound by it, continued to 
 cross over from the continent, and infest the shores 
 and rivers of our island. In 879, the very year after 
 Guthrun's treaty and baptism, a great army of Pa- 
 gans came from beyond the sea, and wintered at 
 FuUanhara, or Fulham, hard by the river Thames. 
 From Fulham, this host proceeded to Ghent, in the 
 Low Countries. At this period the Northmen al- 
 ternated their attacks on England, and their attacks 
 on Holland, Belgium, and East France, in a curious 
 manner, the expedition beginning on one side of the 
 British channel and German Ocean frequently end- 
 ing on the other side. The rule of their conduct, 
 however, seems to have been this — to persevere 
 only against the weakest enemy. Thus, when they 
 found France strong, they tried England ; and when 
 they found the force of England consolidated under 
 Alfred, they turned off in the direction of France, 
 or the neighboring shores of the continent. It is a 
 melancholy fact, that England then benefited by the 
 calamities of her neighbors. In the year 886, while 
 the armies of the Northmen were fully employed 
 in besieging or blockading the city of Paris, Alfred 
 took that favorable opportunity to rebuild and fortify 
 the city of London. Amongst other cities, we are 
 told, it had been destroyed by fire, and the people 
 killed ; but he made it habitable again, and com- 
 mitted it to the care and custody of his son-in-law, 
 Ethelred, earl or eolderman of the Mercians, to 
 whom before he had given his daughter Ethelfleda. 
 Each of the six years immediately preceding the 
 rebuilding of London, he was engaged in hostihties ; 
 but he was generally fortunate by sea as well as by 
 land, for he had increased his navy, and the care due 
 to that truly national service. In the year 882 his 
 fleet, still officered by Frieslanders, took four, and, 
 three years after (in one fight), sixteen of the 
 enemy's ships. In the latter year (885) he gained 
 a decisive victory over a Danish host that had as- 
 cended the Medway, and were besieging Rochester, 
 having built them a strong castle before the gates of 
 that city. By suddenly faUing on them, he took 
 their tower with little loss, seized all the horses they 
 had brought with them from France, recovered the 
 greater part of their captives, and drove them with 
 the sword in their reins to their ships, with which 
 they returned to France in the utmost distress. 
 
 Alfred was now allowed some breathing time, 
 which he wisely employed in strengthening his 
 kingdom, and bettering the condition of his people. 
 Instead, however, of tracing these things strictly in 
 their chronological order, it will add to the perspicuity 
 of the narrative, if we follow at once the warlike 
 fvcnts of his reign to their close. 
 
 The siege of Paris, to which we have alluded, 
 and which began in 886, employed the Danes or 
 
 Northmen two whole years. Shortly after the 
 heathens burst into the country now called Flanders, 
 which was then a dependency of the Prankish or 
 French kings, and were employed there for some 
 time in a difficult and extensive warfare. A horrid 
 famine ensued in those parts of the continent, and 
 made the hungry wolves look elsewhere for suste- 
 nance and prey. England now revived by a happy 
 repose of seven years ; her corn-fields had borne 
 their plentiful crops ; her pastures, no longer swept 
 by the tempests of war, were well sprinkled with 
 flocks and herds ; and those good fatted beeves, 
 which were always dear to the capacious stomachs 
 of the Northmen, made the island a very land of 
 promise to the imagination of the famished. It is 
 true that of late years they had found those ti-easures 
 were well defended, and that nothing was to be got 
 under Alfred's present government without hard 
 blows, and a desperate contest, at least doubtful in 
 its issue ; but hunger impelled them forward ; they 
 were a larger body than had ever made the attack 
 at once ; they were united under the command of a 
 chief equal or superior in fame and military talent to 
 any that had preceded him ; and therefore the 
 Danes, in the year 893, once more turned the prows 
 of their vessels towards England. It was indeed a 
 formidable fleet. As the men of Kent gazed sea- 
 ward from their cliffs and downs they saw the 
 horizon darkened by it; — as the winds and waves 
 wafted it forward they counted two hundred and 
 fifty several ships ; and every ship was full of war- 
 riors, and horses brought from Flanders and France 
 for the immediate mounting of them as a rapid, 
 predatory cavalry. The invaders landed near Rom- 
 ney marsh, at the eastern termination of the great 
 wood or weald of Anderida (already mentioned in 
 connexion with an invasion of the Saxons), and at 
 the mouth of a river, now dry, called Limine. They 
 towed their ships four miles up the river towards the 
 weald, and there mastered a fortress the peasants 
 of the country were raising in the fens. They then 
 proceeded to Apuldre or Appledore, at which point 
 they made a strongly foitified camp, whence they 
 ravaged the adjacent country for many miles. 
 Nearly simultaneously with these movements, the 
 famed Haesten, or Hasting, the skilful commander- 
 in-chief of the entire expedition, entered the Thames 
 with another division of eighty ships, landed at and 
 took Milton, near Sittingbourn, and there threw U]) 
 prodigiously strong entrenchments. Their past re- 
 verses had made them extremely cautious, and for 
 nearly a whole year the Danes in either camp did 
 little else than fortify their positions and scour the 
 country in foraging parties. Other piratical squad- 
 rons, however, kept hovering round our coasts to 
 distract attention and create alarm at many points 
 at one and the same time. The honorable and 
 trustworthy Guthrun had now been dead three 
 years ; and to complete the most critical position of 
 Alfred, the Danes settled in the Danelagh, even 
 from the Tweed to the Thames, violated their oaths, 
 took up arms against him, and joined their maraud- 
 ing brethren imder Hasting. It was in this cam-
 
 154 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 paign, or rather this succession of campaigns, which 
 lasted altogether three years, that the military genius 
 of the Anglo-Saxon monarch shone with its greatest 
 lustre, and was brought into full play by the ability, 
 the wonderful and eccentric rapidity, and the great 
 resources of his opponent Hasting. To follow their 
 Dperations the reader must place the map of Eng- 
 land before him, for they ran over half of the island, 
 and shifted the scene of war with almost as much 
 rapidity as that with which the decorations of a 
 theatre are changed. 
 
 The first great difficulty Alfred had to encounter 
 was in collecting and bringing up sufficient forces to 
 one point, and then in keeping them in adequate 
 number in the field ; for the Saxon " fyrd," or 
 levie en masse, were only bound by law to serve 
 for a certain time (probably forty days), and it was 
 indispensable to provide for the safety of the towns, 
 almost everywhere threatened, and to leave men 
 sufficient for the cultivation of the country. Alfred 
 overcame this difficulty by dividing his army, or 
 militia, into two bodies ; of these he called one to 
 ihe field, while the men composing the other were 
 left at home. After a reasonable length of service 
 those in the field returned to their homes, and those 
 left at home took their places in the field. The 
 spectacle of this large and permanent army, to which 
 thej' had been wholly unaccustomed, struck Hasting 
 and his confederates with astonishment and dismay. 
 Nor did the position the English king took up with 
 it give them much ground for comfort. Advancing 
 into Kent, he threw himself between Hasting and 
 the other division of the Danes : a forest on one 
 side, and swamps and deep waters on the other, 
 |)rotected his flanks, and he made the front and rear 
 of his position so strong that the Danes dared not 
 look at them. He thus kept asunder the Uvo armies 
 of the Northmen, watching the motions of both, 
 being always ready to attack either, should it quit 
 its intrenchments ; and so active were the pati'ols 
 and troops he threw out in small bodies, and so good 
 the spirit of the villagers and town-folk, cheered by 
 the presence and wise dispositions of the sovereign, 
 that in a short time not a single foraging party could 
 issue from the Danish camp without almost certain 
 destruction. Worn out in body and spirit, the 
 Northmen resolved to break up from their camps, 
 and, to deceive the king as to their intentions, they 
 sent submissive messages and Iwstages, and prom- 
 ised to leave the kingdom. Hasting took to his 
 shipping, and actually made sail, as if to leave the 
 well-defended island ; but while the eyes of tlie 
 Saxons were fixed on his departure, the other divi- 
 sion, in Alfred's rear, rushed suddenly from their 
 entrenchments into the interior of the country, in 
 order to seek a ford across the Thames, by which 
 t'ley hoped to be enabled to get into Essex, where 
 the rebel Danes that had been ruled by Guthrun 
 would give them a friendly reception, and where 
 they knew they should meet Hasting and his divi- 
 sion, who, instead of putting to sea, merely crossed 
 the Thames, and took up a strong position at Ben- 
 fleet, on the Essex coast. Alfred had not ships to 
 
 pursue those who moved by water ; but those who 
 marched by land he followed up closely, and brought 
 them to action on the right bank of the Thames, 
 near Farnham in Surrey. The Danes were thor- 
 oughly defeated. Those who escaped the sword 
 and drowning marched along the left bank of the 
 Thames through Middlesex into Essex ; but being 
 hotly pursued by Alfred, they were driven right 
 through Essex and across the river Coin, when they 
 found a strong place of refuge in the isle of Mersey. 
 Here, however, they were closely blockaded, and 
 soon obliged to sue for peace, promising hostages, as 
 usual, and an immediate departure from England. 
 Alfred would have had this enemy in his hand 
 through sheer starvation, but the genius of Hasting 
 and the defection of the Northmen of the Danelagh 
 called him to a distant part of the island. Two 
 fleets, one of a hundred sail, the second of forty, and 
 both in good part manned by the Danes who had 
 been so long, and for the last fifteen years, so peace- 
 fully, settled in England, set sail to attack in two 
 points and make a formidable diversion. The first 
 of these, which had probably been equipped in Nor- 
 folk and SuflTolk, doubled the North Foreland, ran 
 down the southern coast as far as Devonshire, and 
 laid siege to Exeter : the smaller fleet, which had 
 been fitted out in Northumbria, and probably sailed 
 from the mouth of the Tyne, took the passage round 
 Scotland and the extreme north of the island, ran 
 down all the western coast from Cape Wrath to 
 the Bristol Channel, and, ascending that arm of the 
 sea, beleaguered a fortified town to the north of the 
 Severn. Though Alfred had established friendly 
 relations with the people of the west of England, 
 who seem on many occasions to have served him 
 with as much ardor as his Saxon subjects, he still 
 felt Devonshire was a vulnerable part. Leaving, 
 therefore, a part of his army on the confines of 
 Essex, he moimted all the rest on horses, and flew 
 to Exeter. Victory followed him to the west ; he 
 obliged the Danes to raise the siege of Exeter ; he 
 beat them back to their ships with great loss, and 
 soon after the minor expedition was driven from 
 the Severn. The blockade of the Danes in the islo 
 of Mersey does not appear to have been well con- 
 ducted during his absence, and yet that inten'al was 
 not devoid of great successes : for, in the mean time, 
 Ethelred, eolderman of the Mercians and Alfred's 
 son-in-law, with the citizens of London and others, 
 went down to the fortified post at Benfleet, in Esse\. 
 laid siege to it, broke into it, and despoiled it of 
 great quantities of gold, silver, horses, and garments : 
 taking away captive also the wife of Hasting and 
 his t\vo sons, who were brought to London and 
 presented to the king on his return. Some of his 
 followers urged him to put these captives to death, 
 — others to detain them in prison as a check upon 
 Hasting; but Alfred, with a generosity which was 
 never properly appreciated by the savage Dane, 
 caused them immediately to be restored to his 
 enemy, and sent many presents of value with theni. 
 By this time the untiring Hasting had thrown u" 
 another formidable entrenchment at South Show-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 155 
 
 bury, in Essex, when he was soon joined by numbers 
 from Norfolk and Suffolk, from Noithumbria, from 
 all parts of the Danelagh, and by fresh adventurers 
 from beyond sea. Thus reinforced, he sailed boldly 
 up the Thames, and thence spread the mass of his 
 forces into *he heart of the kingdom, while the rest 
 returned with their vessels and the spoil they had 
 so far made to the entrenched camp at South Show- 
 bury. From the Thames Hasting marched to the 
 Severn, and fortified himself at Buttington. But 
 here he was surrounded by the Saxons and the 
 men of North Wales, who now cordially acted with 
 them ; and in brief time Alfred, with Ethelred and 
 two other eoldermen, cut off all his supplies, and 
 blockaded him in his camp. After some weeks, 
 when the Danes had eaten up nearly all their horses, 
 and famine was staring them in the face. Hasting 
 rushed from his entrenchments. Avoiding the 
 Welsh forces, he concentiated his attack upon the 
 Saxons, who formed the blockade to the east of his 
 position. The conflict was terrific ; some hundreds 
 (some of the chronclers say thousands) of the Danes 
 were slain in their attempt to break through Alfred's 
 lines ; many were thrown into the Severn, and 
 drowned; but the rest, headed by Hasting, effected 
 their escape, and, marching across the island, reached 
 their entire nchment and their ships on the Essex 
 coast. Alfred lost many of his nobles, and must 
 have been otherwise much crippled, for he did not 
 molest Hasting, who could have had hardly any 
 horse in any part of his retreat. Most of the Sax- 
 ons who fought at Buttington were raw levies, and 
 hastily got together. When Hasting next showed 
 front it was in the neighborhood of North Wales, 
 between the rivers Dee and Mersey. During the 
 winter that followed his disasters on the Severn he 
 had been again reinforced by the men of the Dane- 
 lagh, and at early spring he set forth with his usual 
 rapidity, and marched through the midland counties. 
 Alfred was not far behind him, but could not over- 
 take him until he had seized Chester, which was 
 then almost uninhabited, and secured himself there. 
 This town had been very sti-ongly fortified by the 
 Romans, and many of the works of those con- 
 querors, still remaining,^ no doubt gave sti'ength to 
 Hasting's position, which was deemed too formida- 
 ble for attack. But the Saxon ti-oops pressed him 
 on the land side, and a squadron of Alfred's ships, 
 which had put to sea, ascended the Mersey and 
 the river Wirall, and prevented his receiving succour 
 in that direction. Dreading that Chester might 
 become a second Buttington, the Danes burst away 
 into North Wales. After ravaging part of that 
 country, they would have gone off in the direction of 
 the Severn and the Avon, but they were met and 
 turned by a formidable royal army, upon which they 
 retraced their steps, and finally marched off to the 
 northeast. They ti-aversed Northumbria, Lincoln- 
 shire, Norfolk, Suflfolk,— nearly the whole length of 
 the Danelagh, where they were among fi-iends and 
 
 » Some noblo arched gateways built by the Romans were standing 
 klniost eutire until a recent period, when they were laid low by a bar- 
 ij«rotts decree of the Chester corporation. 
 
 allies, and by that circuitous route at length regained 
 their fortified post at South Showbury, in Essex, 
 where they wintered and recruited their strength as 
 usual. 
 
 Eai'lier next spring the persevering Hasting sailed 
 to the mouth of the Lea, ascended that river with his 
 ships, and at or near Ware,^ about twenty miles above 
 London, erected a new fortress on the Lea. On the 
 approach of stimmer the burgesses of London, with 
 many of their neighbors, who were sorely harassed 
 by this movement of the Danes, attacked the strong- 
 hold on the Lea, but were repulsed with great loss. 
 As London was now more closely pressed than ever, 
 Alfred found it necessaiy to encamp his army round 
 about the city until the citizens got in their harvest. 
 He then pushed a strong reconnoissance to the Lea, 
 which (far deeper and broader than now) was covered 
 by their ships, and aftenvards surveyed, at great per- 
 sonal risk, the new fortified camp of the Danes. His 
 active ingenious mind forthwith conceived a plan 
 which he confidently hoped would end in their inevi- 
 table destruction. Bringing up his forces, he raised 
 two fortresses, one on either side the Lea, somewhat 
 below the Danish station, and then dug three deep 
 channels from the Lea to the Thames, in order to 
 lower the level of the tributary stream. So much 
 water was thus drawn oflT, that " where a ship," says 
 an old writer, " might sail in time afore passed, then 
 a little boat might scarcely row," — and the whole fleet 
 of Hasting was left aground, and rendered useless. 
 But yet again did that remarkable chieftain break 
 through the toils spread for him, to renew the war in a 
 distant part of the island. Abandoning the ships where 
 they were, and putting, as they had been accustomed to 
 do, their wives, their children, and their booty under 
 the protection of their friends in the Danelagh, the 
 followers of Hasting broke from their entrenchments 
 by night, and hardly rested till they had traversed 
 the whole of that wide tract of country which sepa- 
 rates the Lea from the Severn. Marching for some 
 distance along the left bank of the Severn, they took 
 post close on the river at Quatbridge, which is sup- 
 posed to be Quatford, near Bridgenorth, in Shrop- 
 shire. When Alfred came up with them there, he 
 found them already strongly fortified. 
 
 On our first introducing the Northmen we men- 
 tioned their skill in choosing and sti'engthening mili- 
 tary positions, and the course of our narrative will 
 have made their skill and speed in these matters evi- 
 dent, especially in the campaigns they performed un- 
 der Hasting, who had many of the qualities that con- 
 stitute a great general. Alfred was compelled to re- 
 spect the entrenchments at Quatbridge, and to leave 
 the Danes there undisturbed during the winter. In 
 the mean time the citizens of London seized Has- 
 ting's fleet, grounded in the Lea. Some ships they 
 burned and desti'oyed, but others they were enabled 
 to get afloat and conduct to London, where they were 
 received with exceeding great joy. 
 
 For full three years this Scandinavian Hannibal 
 had maintained a war in the countiy of the enemy ; 
 
 ' Some topographers contend that this fortified camp was nft at 
 Ware, b-.t at Hertfird.
 
 156 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boos: n. 
 
 but now watched on every side, worn out by constant 
 losses, and probably in good part forsaken, as an un- 
 lucky leader, both by his brethren settled in the Dane- 
 lagh and by those on the continent, his spirit began 
 to break, and he prepared to take a reluctant and in- 
 dignant farewell of England. In the following spring 
 of 897, by which time dissensions had broken out 
 among their leaders, the Danes tumultuously aban- 
 doned their camp at Quatbridge, and utterly disbanded 
 their army soon after, flying in small and separate 
 parties, in various directions. Some sought shelter 
 among their bretlu'en ofthe Danelagh, either in North- 
 umbria, or Norfolk and Suffolk ; some built vessels, 
 and sailed for the Scheldt and the mouth ofthe Rhine ; 
 while others, adhering to Hasting in his evil fortune, 
 waited until he was ready to pass into France. A 
 small fleet, bearing his drooping raven, was hastily 
 equipped on our eastern coast, and the humbled 
 chieftain, according to Asser, crossed the Channel. 
 ^^ sine lucro et sine honore," — without profit or honor. 
 It appears tliathe ascended the Seine, and soon after 
 obtained a settlement on the banks of that river (prob- 
 ably in Normandy) from the weak king of the French. 
 A few desultory attacks made by sea, and by the 
 men of tlie Danelagh, almost immediately after Has- 
 ting's departure, only tended to show the naval su- 
 periority Alfred was attaining, and to improve the 
 Anglo-Saxons in maritime tactics. A squadron of 
 Northumbrian pirates cruised off" the southern coasts 
 with their old objects in view. It was met and de- 
 feated on several occasions by the improved ships of 
 the king. Alfred, who had some mechanical skill 
 himself, had caused vessels to be built far exceeding 
 those of his enemies in length of keel, height of board, 
 swiftness and steadiness : some of these can'ied sixty 
 oars, or sweepers, to be used, as in the Roman gal- 
 leys, when the wind failed ; and others carried even 
 more than sixty. They diff'ered in the form of the 
 hulk, and probably in their rigging, from the other 
 vessels used in the North Sea. Hitherto the Danish 
 and Friesland builds seem to have been considered as 
 the best models ; but these ships, which were found 
 peculiarly well adapted to the service for which he 
 intended them, were consti-ucted after a plan of Al- 
 fred's own invention. At the end of his reign they 
 considerably exceeded the number of one hundred 
 sail : they were divided into squadrons, and stationed 
 at difl"erent ports round the island, while some of 
 them were kept constantly cruising between England 
 and the main. Although he abandoned their system 
 of ship-building, Alfred retained many Frieslanders 
 in his service ; for they were more expert seamen 
 than his subjects, who still required instruction. After 
 an obstinate engagement near the Isle of Wight, two 
 Danish ships, which had been much injured in the 
 fight, were cast ashore and taken. When the crews 
 were can-ied to the king, at Winchester, he ordered 
 them all to be hanged. This severity, so much at 
 variance with Alfred's usual humanity, has caused 
 some regret and confusion to historians. One writer 
 says that the Danes do not seem to have violated the 
 law of nations, as such law was then understood, and 
 that, therefore, Alfred's execution of them was inex- 
 
 cusable. Another wi-iter is of opinion that Alfred al- 
 ways, and properly, drew a distinction between pii-ates 
 and waiTiors. This hne would be most difl[icult to 
 draw when all were robbers and pirates alike ; but 
 the real rule of Alfred's conduct seems to have been 
 this — to distinguish between such Danes as attacked 
 him from abroad, and such Danes as attacked liim 
 from the Danelagh at home. On the services and 
 gratitude of the former he had no claim ; but the 
 men of Northumbria, Norfolk, and Sussex had, 
 through their chiefs and princes, sworn allegiance to 
 him, had received benefits from him, and stood bound 
 to the protection of his states, which they were rav- 
 aging. From the situation they occuj)ied they could 
 constantly trouble his tranquillitj' ; and in regard to 
 them he may have been led to consider, after the ex- 
 perience he had had of their bad faith, that measures 
 of extreme severity were allowable and indispensable. 
 The two ships captured at the Isle of Wight came 
 from Northumbria ; and the twenty ships taken during 
 the three remaining years of his life, and of which the 
 crews were slain or hanged on the gallows, came 
 from the same countiy, and the other English lands 
 included in the Danelagh. 
 
 The excursions of Hasting were accompanied with 
 other calamities ; " so that," to use the words of the 
 chronicler Fabian, " this land, for three years, was 
 vexed with three manner of sorrows, — with war of 
 the Danes, pestilence of men, and muiTain of beasts." 
 The horrors of famine, to escape which the Danes 
 had come to England, are not alluded to; but the 
 pestilence, which is mentioned by all the chroniclers, 
 carried off vast numbers, and among them many of 
 the chief thanes or nobles of the Saxons. It seems 
 to have continued some time after Hasting's depar- 
 ture, and then, on its cessation, Alfred enjoyed as 
 much comfort as his rapidly declining health would 
 permit. 
 
 The intellectual character of this tmly great sove- 
 reign, his literarj' productions, his efforts for promoting 
 the education of his people, his improvements in laws 
 and administration, will be noticed in their proper 
 places. But before we descend to the far inferior 
 reigns of his successors, we must select from his biog- 
 raphers a few personal details, and cull a few of those 
 flowers which adorned his reign, and which still give 
 it a beauty and an interest we look for in vain else- 
 where during those barbarous ages. 
 
 Historians have generally attached gi'eat conse- 
 quences to his travels on the continent through 
 France and Italy ; and, mere child as he was, it was 
 not improbable that Alfred's mind received impres- 
 sions in those countries that were aften;^'ards of ben- 
 efit to himself and his kingdom. On the first of these 
 journeys to Rome, Alfred was only in his fifth year, 
 but on the second, when he was accompanied by his 
 father, and anointed by the pope, he was eight years 
 old. On this last occasion he staid nearlj' a year at 
 Rome, and returning thence, through France, he re- 
 sided some time at Paris. The eternal city, though 
 despoiled by the barbarians, and not yet enriched 
 with the works of modern art, must have retained 
 much of its ancient splendor; the Coliseum, and
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 157 
 
 many other edifices that remain, are known to 
 have been much more perfect in the days of Alfred 
 than they are now : the proud capitol was compara- 
 tively entire ; and in various parts of the city, where 
 we now trace little but foundations of walls, and scat- 
 tered fragments, there then stood lofty and elegant 
 buildings. Alfred, who at home had lived in wooden 
 houses, and been accustomed to see mud-huts with 
 thatched roofs, could hardly fail of being sti'uck with 
 the superior splendor of Rome. The papal court, 
 though as yet modest and unassuming, was regulated 
 with some taste and great order; while the otlier 
 court at which he resided (the French) was more 
 splendid than any in Europe, with the exception of 
 Constantinople. 
 
 But whatever effect these scenes may have had in 
 enlarging the mind of Alfred, it should appear he had 
 not yet learned to read — an accomplishment, by the 
 way, not then very common even among princes and 
 nobles of a more advanced age. He, however, de- 
 lighted in hstening to the Anglo-Saxon ballads and 
 songs which were constantly recited by the minstrels 
 and glee-men attached to his father's court. From 
 frequent vocal repetition, to which he listened day 
 and night,' he learned them by heai*t; and the taste 
 he thus acquired for poetry lasted him, through many 
 cares and sorrows, to the last day of his life. The 
 stoiy told by Asser is well known. One day his 
 mother, Osburgha, was sitting, surrounded by her 
 children, with a book of Saxon poetry in her hands. 
 The precious manuscript was gilded or illuminated, 
 and the contents were probably new, and much to 
 the taste of the boys. " I will give it," said she, " to 
 him among you who shall first learn to read it." Al- 
 fred, the youngest of them all, ran to a teacher, and 
 studying earnestly, soon learned to read Anglo-Sax- 
 on, and won the book. But, with the exception of 
 popular poetry, Anglo-Saxon was the key to only a 
 small portion of the literature or knowledge of the 
 times ; and as his curiosity and intellect increased, it 
 became necessary for him to learn Latin. At a sub- 
 sequent period of his life, Alfred possessed a knowl- 
 edge of that learned language, which was altogether 
 extraordinary for a prince of the ninth century. It 
 is not very clear when he obtained this degree of 
 knowledge ; but after teaching himself by translating, 
 he was probably greatly improved in his mature man- 
 hood, when the monk Asser, Johannes Erigena, 
 Grimbald, and other learned men, settled at his court. 
 Alfred was accustomed to say that he regretted the 
 neglected education of his youth, the entire want of 
 proper teachers, and also the difficulties that then 
 baned his progress to intellectual acquirements, much 
 more than all the hardships and sorrows and crosses 
 that befel him afterwards. As one of his great im- 
 pediments had been the Latin language, which, even 
 with our improved system of tuition, and with all our 
 facilities and advantages, is not mastered without long 
 and difficult study, he earnestly recommended from 
 the throne, in a circular letter, addressed to the 
 bishops, that thenceforward "all good and useful 
 books be translated into the language which we all 
 
 1 Asser, 16. 
 
 understand; so that all the youths of England, but 
 more especially those who are of gentle kind, and in 
 easy circumstances, may be gioanded in letters — for 
 they cannot profit in any pursuit until they are well 
 able to read English." Alfred's own literary works 
 were chiefly translations from the Latin into Anglo- 
 Saxon, the spoken language of his people. It excites 
 surprise how he could find time for these laudable 
 occupations; but he was steady and persevering, 
 regular in his habits, when not kept in the field by 
 the Danes, and a great economist of his time. Eight 
 hours of each day he gave to sleep, to his meals, and 
 exercise ; eight were absorbed by the affaii-s of gov- 
 ernment ; and eight were devoted to study and devo- 
 tion. Clocks, clepsydras, and the other ingenious 
 instruments for measuring time were then unknown 
 in England. Alfred was, no doubt, acquainted with 
 the sun-dial, which was in common use in Italy and 
 parts of France ; but this index is of no use in the 
 hours of the night, and would frequently be equally 
 unserviceable during our foggy sunless days. He, 
 therefore, marked his time by the constant burning 
 of wax torches or candles, which were made precisely 
 of the same weight and size, and notched in the stem 
 at regular distances. These candles were twelve 
 inches long ; six of them, or seventy-two inches of 
 wax, were consumed in twenty-fours, or 1440 min- 
 utes ; and thus, supposing the notches at intervals of 
 an inch, one inch would mark the lapse of twenty 
 minutes. It appears that these time-candles were 
 placed under the special charge of his mass-priests, or 
 chaplains. But it was soon discovered, that sometimes 
 the wind, rushing in through the ^-indows and doors, 
 and the numerous chinks in the walls of the palace, 
 consumed the wax in a rapid and irregular manner. 
 Hence Asser makes the great Alfred the inventor of 
 horn-lanterns ! He says the king went skilfullj' and 
 wisely to work ; and having found out that white 
 horn could be rendered transparent, like glass, he, 
 with that material, and with pieces of wood, admira- 
 bly {mirabiliter) made a case for his candle, which 
 kept it from wasting and flaring. 
 
 In his youth Alfred was passionately fond of field 
 sports, and was famed as being " excellent cunning 
 in all hunting ;" but after his retreat at Athelney he 
 indulged this taste with becoming moderation ; and 
 during the latter years of his reign he seems to have 
 ridden merely upon business, or for the sake of his 
 health. He then considered every moment of value, - 
 as he could devote it to lofty and improving purposes. 
 
 We have already mentioned the care and ingenuity 
 he employed in creating a navy. Sea affairs, geogra- 
 phy, and the discovery of unknown countries, or rather 
 the descriptions of countries then little known, ob- 
 tained by means of bold navigators, occupied much of 
 his time, and formed one of bis favorite subjects for 
 writing. He endeavored, by liberality and kindness, 
 to attract to England all such foreigners as could give 
 good information on these subjects, or were other- 
 wise quahfied to illuminate the national ignorance. 
 From Audher, or Ohthere, who had coasted the con- 
 tinent of Europe from the Baltic to the North Cape, 
 he obtained much informatitm ; from Wulfstan, who
 
 158 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 appears to have been one of liis subjects, and who 
 undertook a voyage round the Baltic, he gathered 
 many particulars concerning the divers countries sit- 
 uated on that sea ; and from other voyagers and trav- 
 elers whom he sent out expressly himself he obtained 
 a description of Bulgaria, Sclavonia, Bohemia, and 
 Germany. All this information he committed to 
 writing in the plain mother tongue, and with the 
 noble design of imparting it to his people. Having 
 learned that there were colonies of Christian Syrians 
 settled on the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, he 
 sent out Swithelm, Bishop of Sherburn, to India — a 
 tremendous journey in those days. The stout- 
 hearted ecclesiastic, however, making what is now 
 called the overland journey, went and returned in 
 safety, bringing back with him presents of gems and 
 Indian spices. Hereby was Alfred's fame increased, 
 and the name and existence of England probably 
 heard of for the first time in that remote country, of 
 which, nine centuries after, she was to become the 
 almost absolute mistress. 
 
 While his active mind, which anticipated the na- 
 tional spirit of much later times, was thus engaged in 
 drawing knowledge from the distant corners of the 
 earth, he did not neglect home affairs. He taught 
 the people how to build better houses ; he labored 
 to increase their comforts ; he established schools ; he 
 founded or rebuilt many towns ; and, having learnt 
 the importance of fortifications during his wars with 
 the Danes, he fortified them all as well as he could. 
 He caused a survey to be made of the coast and nav- 
 igable rivers, and ordered castles to be erected at 
 those places which were most accessible to the land- 
 ing of the enemy. Fifty strong towers and castles 
 rose in different parts of the countrj', but the number 
 would have been threefold had Alfred not been 
 thwarted by the indolence, ignorance, and careless- 
 ness of his nobles and people. He revised the laws 
 of the Anglo-Saxons, being aided and sanctioned 
 therein by his witenagemot, or parliament; and he 
 established so excellent a system of police, that to- 
 wards the end of his reign it was generally asserted 
 that one might have hung golden bracelets and jewels 
 on the public highways and cross-roads, and no man 
 would have dared to touch them for fear of the law. 
 Towards arbitrary-, unjust, or corrupt administrators 
 of the law, he was inexorable ; and, if we can give 
 credit to an old ^Titer,' he ordered the execution of 
 no fewer than forty-four judges and magisti-ates of 
 this stamp in the course of one year. Those who 
 were ignorant or careless he reprimanded and sus- 
 pended, commanding them to qualify themselves for 
 the proper discharge of their office before they ven- 
 tured to griisp its honors and emoluments. He heard 
 all appeals with the utmost patience, and, in cases of 
 importance, revised all the law proceedings with the 
 utmost industry. His manifold labors in the couit, 
 the camp, the field, the hall of justice, the study, 
 must have been prodigious ; and our admiration of 
 this wonderful man is increased by the well-estab- 
 lished fact, that all these exertions were made in spite 
 
 ' Andrew Home, author of "Miroir des Justices," who wrote, in 
 Norman French, under EJward I. or Edward II. 
 
 of the depressing influences of physical pain and con- 
 stant bad health. In his early years he was severely 
 afflicted by the disease called the /("cms. This left him ; 
 but, at the age of twentj- or twenty-one, it was replaced 
 by another and still more tormenting malady, the in- 
 ward seat and unknown mysterious nature of whidi 
 baffled all the medical skill of his "leeches." The 
 accesses of excruciating pain were frequent — at times 
 almost unintermittenf, and then, if by day or by 
 night, a single hour of ease was mercifully granted 
 him, that short interval was embittered by the dread 
 of the sure returning anguish.' This malady never 
 left him till the day of his death, which it must have 
 hastened. He expired in the month of October, six 
 nights before All-Hallows-mass-day, in the year 901, 
 when he was only in the fiftj-'third year of his age, 
 and was buried at Winchester, in a nionasteiy he 
 had founded. 
 
 i*':f.T-i 
 
 SiLviR Coins or Alfred. — From Specimens in the British Ma^eum. 
 
 In describing his brilliant and mcontestible deeds, 
 and in tracing the character of the great Alfred, we, 
 in common with nearly all the A\niter3 who have pre- 
 ceded us in the task, have draAvn » general eulog}% 
 and a character nearly approaching to ideal perfec- 
 tion. But were there no spots in all this brilliancy 
 and purity ? As Alfi-fnl was a mortal man, there 
 were, no doubt, many ; but to discover them, we must 
 ransack his private life, and his vaguely reported con- 
 duct when a mere stripling king; and the discovery, 
 after all, confers no honor of sagacity, and does not 
 justify the exulting yell with which a recent waiter 
 announces to the world, that Alfred had not only 
 faults, but crimes to bemoan. It is passed into « 
 truism that he will seldom be in the wrong, who de?- 
 ducts alike from the amount of virtue and vice, in the 
 characters recorded in history ; but. this deduction 
 will be made according to men's tempers ; and whilt» 
 some largely reduce the amount of virtue, they seem 
 to leave the vice untouched — their incredulity ex- 
 tending rather to what elevates and ennobles human 
 nature, than to the things which degrade and debase 
 it. The directly contraiy course, or that of reducing 
 the crime, and leaving the virtue, if not the more cor- 
 rect (which we will not decide) is certainly the more 
 generous and improving. Eveiy people above the 
 condition of barbarity have their heroes and their na- 
 tional objects of veneration, and are probably improved 
 by the high standard of excellence they present, and 
 by the very reverence they pay to them. We may 
 venerate the memory of our Alfred with as little dan- 
 ger of paying an unmerited homage as any of them. 
 On this subject the late Sir James Mackintosh, whose 
 historical sagacity was equal to his good feeling, says, 
 " The Norman historians, who seem to have had his
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 159 
 
 diaries and note-books in their hands, chose Alfred as 
 the glory of the land which had become their own. 
 There is no subject on which unanimous ti'adition is 
 so nearly sufficient evidence as on the eminence of 
 one man over others of the same condition. His 
 bright image may long be held up before the national 
 mind. This tiadition, however paradoxical the asser- 
 tion may appear, is, in the case of Alfred, rather sup- 
 ported than weakened by the fictions which have 
 sprung from it. Although it be an infirmity of every 
 nation to ascribe their institutions to the conti"ivance 
 of a man rather than to the slow action of time and 
 circumstances, yet the selection of Alfred by the 
 English people, as the founder of all that was dear to 
 them, is surely the sti-ongest proof of the deep im- 
 pression left on the minds of all of his transcendent 
 wisdom and virtue.'" 
 
 Edward, a.d. 901. Alfred, with all his wisdom 
 and power, had not been enabled to settle the succes- 
 sion to the throne on a sure and lasting basis. On 
 his death, it was disputed between his son Edward, 
 and his nephew Ethelwald, the son of Ethelbald, one 
 of Alfred's elder brothers. Each party armed ; but 
 as Ethelwald found himself the weaker, he declined 
 a combat at Wimburn, and fled into the Danelagh, 
 where the Danes hailed him as their king. Many of 
 the Saxons who lived in that country mixed with the 
 Danes, preferred war to the restraints of such a gov- 
 ernment as Alfred had established ; and an internal 
 wai' was renewed, which did infinite miscliief, and 
 prepared the way for other hon-ors. Ethelwald was 
 slain in a terrible battle fought in the year 905, upon 
 which the Danes concluded a peace upon equal terms ; 
 for Edward was not yet powerful enough to treat them 
 9^ a master. The sons of the princes and yarls, and 
 in many instances the individuals themselves, who 
 had been tranquil and submissive under Alfred, soon 
 aimed, not merely at making the Danelagh an inde- 
 pendent kingdom, but at conquering the rest of the 
 island. Edward was not deficient in valor or mili- 
 tary skill. In the year 911 he gained a most signal 
 victory over the Danes, who had advanced to the 
 Severn ; but the whole spirit of Alfred seemed more 
 particularly to sui-vive in his daughter Ethelfleda, sis- 
 ter of Edward, and wife of Ethelred, the eolderman 
 of Mercia, who has been so often mentioned, and 
 whose death, in 912, left the whole care of that king- 
 dom to his widow. Her brother Edward took pos- 
 session of London and Oxford, but she claimed, and 
 then defended the rest of Mercia, with the bravery 
 and ability of an experienced warrior. Following her 
 father's example, she fortified all her towns, and con- 
 structed ramparts, and enti-enched camps in the pro- 
 per places : allowing them no Test, she drove the 
 Danes out of Derby and Leicester, and compelled 
 many tribes of them to acknowledge her authority. 
 In the assault of Derby, four of her bravest command- 
 ers fell, but she boldly urged the combat until the 
 place was taken. As some of the Welsh had become 
 troublesome, she conducted an expedition with re- 
 markable spirit and rapidity against Breccanmere, or 
 %Brecknock, and took the wife of the Welsh king a 
 
 ' Hist. Eug. ch. li. 
 
 prisoner. In seeing these her wavlike operations, 
 says Ingulf, one would have believed she had changed 
 her sex. The Lady Ethelfleda, as she is called by 
 the clironiclers, died in 920, when Edward succeeded 
 to her authority in Mercia, and prosecuted her plan 
 of securing the country by fortified works. He wa.«» 
 active and successful : he took most of the Danish 
 towns between the Thames and the Humber, and 
 forced the rest of the Danelagh that lay north of the 
 Humber to acknowledge his supremacy. The Welsh, 
 the Scots, the inhabitants of Strathclyde and Cumbria 
 (who still figure as a separate people), and the men 
 of Galloway, are said to have done him homage, and 
 to have accepted him as their "father, lord, and pro- 
 tector." 
 
 Athelstane. a.d. 925. Edward's dominion ftir 
 exceeded in extent that of his father Alfred ; but his 
 son Athelstane, who succeeded him in 925, estab- 
 lished a more brilliant throne, and made a still nearer 
 approach to the sovereignty of all England. By war 
 and policy he reduced nearly all Wales to an inoflien- 
 sive tranquillity, if not to vassalage. A tribute was 
 certainly paid during a part of the reign, and together 
 with gold and silver, and beeves, the Welsh were 
 bound to send their best hounds and hawks to the 
 court of Athelstane. He next turned his arms against 
 the old tribes of Cornwall, who were still turbulent, 
 and impatient of the Saxon yoke. He drove them 
 from Devonshire, where they had again made en- 
 croachments, and reduced them to obedience and good 
 order beyond the Tamar. 
 
 In 937 he was assailed by a more powerful con- 
 federacy than had ever been formed against a Saxon 
 king. Olave, or Anlaf, a Danish prince, who had al- 
 ready been settled in Northumbria, but who had 
 lately taken Dublin, and made considerable conquests 
 in Ireland, sailed up the Humber with 620 ships; his 
 friend and ally, Constantino, King of the Scots, the 
 people of Strathclyde and Cumbria, and the northern 
 Welsh, were all up in arms and ready to join him. 
 Yet this coalition, formidable as it was, was utterly 
 destroyed on the bloody field of Brunnaburgh,i where 
 Athelstane gained one of the most splendid of victo- 
 ries, and where five Danish kings and seven earls 
 fell. Anlaf escaped with a wretched fragment of his 
 forces to Ireland ; Constantine, bemoaning the loss of 
 his fair-haired son, who had also perished at Brunna- 
 burgh, fled to the hilly countiy noith of the Friths. 
 After this great victory, none seem to have dared 
 again to raise arms against Athelstane in any part of 
 the island. 
 
 It appears to have been from this time that Athel- 
 stane laid aside the modest and limited title of his 
 predecessors, and assumed that of " King of the 
 Anglo-Saxons," or "King of the English" — titles 
 which had been given to several of them in the let- 
 ters of the Roman popes and bishops, but had never 
 till now been used by the sovereigns themselves. 
 His father, and his grandfather Alfred, had simply 
 stj'led themselves Kings of Wessex, or of the West 
 Saxons. 
 
 1 Supposed by some to be Bum in the south of Lincolnshire, bj^ 
 others, Bmgh in the north of the same county.
 
 160 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Under Athelstane, the English court was polished 
 to a considerable degree, and became the chosen 
 residence or asylum of several foreign princes. Har- 
 old, the King of Nonvay, entrusted his son Haco to 
 the care and tuition of the enlightened Athelstane ; 
 and this son, by the aid of England, aftei-wards suc- 
 ceeded to the Norwegian throne, on which he dis- 
 tinguished himself as a legislator. Louis D'Outre- 
 mer, the French king, took refuge in London before 
 he secured the throne ; and even the Celtic princes 
 of Arniorica, or Brittany, when expelled their states 
 by the Northmen or Normans, fled to the court of 
 Athelstane, in preference to all others. He bestow- 
 ed his sisters in marriage on the first sovereigns of 
 those times, and, altogetlier, he enioved a degree of 
 
 respect, and exercised an influence on the general 
 politics of Europe, that were not surpassed by any 
 living sovereign.' A horrid suspicion of guilt — tlie 
 crime of nuirdering his own brother Edwin — has 
 been cast upon him ; but this is scarcely jnoved by 
 any contemporary evidence, and his conduct as a 
 sovereign seems almost ineproachable. He revised 
 the laws, promulgiited some new and good ones, 
 made a provision for the poor and helpless, and en- 
 couraged the study of letters by earnest recommen- 
 dations and by his own example. Like his grand- 
 
 1 Amonj the costly presents sent to Athelstane )iy foreiipTi soTereipns, 
 was one from the King of Norway, "of a goodly ship of fine workman- 
 ship, with gilt stem and purple sails, furnished round about the deck 
 within with a row of gilt pavises (or shields)." 
 
 NPR^N 
 
 CIPIO 
 
 eRATVC€RBttCohoc GRAT 
 
 INTPRIVCTPlOyVPUrd 6o7 • 
 OcoNlApeRTPSU RACJASUN/; 
 
 ersiNeipsoFAcruesTNibiL 
 QvobFAcruco esT- 
 I'vrpsoui TAesT' GrmvA 
 6RATLuxT>omrNUoo' 
 
 GtL ux iNTTGN eBRlSLucer. 
 
 GTTeKeBRAe GACDTsTON 
 
 COOOpRebG N DeRXlMT' 
 rUITbocoOCOTSSUSAOO 
 
 CUI NTOODGIVeRATTOMNTMES* 
 bjCUeVlTTMTeSTlcnOKIir' 
 
 UTTeST7COONtUpeRT)TB6tlH 
 
 PoRTiow or THE FiRST CHAPTER OF THE GosPEL oT Sx. JoHK.— FroiH the Cnttontan MS. Tiberius, A. 2. a Copy of the Latin Gos- 
 pels, which, from an inscription on the volume, appears to have been presented by King Athelstane to the Cathedral Church of Canter- 
 bury (Dorobemenste Cathedra-). This is believed to h:we been the volume on which the .^nglo Saxon kins-s after Athelstane, took the 
 Coronation Oath. From the names found on a page at the beginning, Odd.\ Rex. «nd Mihthild Mater Regis, it is conjectured by Mr. 
 Turner to have been a present from the Empress Matilda of Germany, and her son the Emperor Oiho. who n.arrtd the sister of Athelstane
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 161 
 
 father Alfred, he was exceedingly fond of the Bible, 
 and promoted the translation of it into the spoken 
 language of the people. The life of this king was, 
 in the words of William of Malmsbuiy, " in time 
 little — in deeds gi-eat." Had it been prolonged, he 
 might possibly have consolidated his power, and 
 averted those tempests from the north which soon 
 again desolated England. He died a.d. 940, being 
 only in his forty-seventh year, and was buried in the 
 abbey of Malmsbury. 
 
 Edmund the Athehng, his brother, who was not 
 quite eighteen years old, succeeded to the throne. 
 In him the family virtue of courage knew no blemish 
 or decrease, and he showed a determined taste for 
 elegance and improvement, which obtained for him 
 the name of "the Magnificent;" but his reign was 
 troubled from the beginning, and he was cut off in his 
 prime by the hand of an assassin. He had scarcely 
 ascended the throne when the Danes of Northumbria 
 recalled fi*om Ireland Anlaf, the old opponent of Athel- 
 stane at Brunnaburgh. The Danish prince came in 
 force, and the result of a war was, that Edmund was 
 obliged to resign to liim, in separate sovereignty-, the 
 whole of the island north of Watling-sti'eet. But Anlaf 
 did not enjoy these advantages many months ; and 
 when he died, Edmund repossessed himself of all the 
 territory he had ceded. During his troubles the people 
 of Cumbria, who had submitted to Athelstane, broke 
 out in rebellion. He marched against them in 946, ex' 
 pelled their king, Dunmail, and gave the countiy as 
 a fief to Malcolm of Scotland, whom he at the same 
 time bound to defend the north of the island against 
 Danish and other invaders. The two sons of Dun- 
 mail, whom he took prisoners, he barbarously deprived 
 of their eyes. Such abominable operations, togethei- 
 with the amputating of limbs, cutting off of tongues 
 and noses of captive princes, had become common on 
 the continent ; but, hitherto, had veiy rarely dis- 
 graced the Anglo-Saxons. Edmund did not long 
 survive the perpetration of this atrocity. On the 
 festival of St. Augustin, in the same year, as he 
 was carousing with his nobles and oflficers, his eye 
 fell upon a banished robber, named Leof, who had 
 dared to mingle with the company. The royal cup- 
 bearer or dapifer ordered him to withdraw. The 
 robber refused. Incensed at his insolence, and 
 heated by wine, Edmund started from his seat, and, 
 seizing him by his long hair, tried to throw him to 
 the ground. Leof had a dagger hid under his cloak, 
 and in the scufifle he stabbed the king in a vital part. 
 The desperate villain was cut to pieces by Edmund's 
 servants, but not before he had slain and hurt divers 
 of them. The body of the king was interred in 
 Glastonbuiy Abbey, where Dunstan, who was soon 
 to occupy a wider scene, was then abbot. 
 
 Edred (946), who succeeded his brother Edmund, 
 was another son of Edward the Elder, and grandson 
 of Alfred. He was not twenty-three years old, but 
 a loathsome disease had brought on a premature old 
 age. He was afflicted with a constant cough — he 
 lost his teeth and hair — and he was so weak in his 
 lower extremities that he was eick-named " Edredus 
 debilis pedibus" (Edred weak in the feet). Accord- 
 VOL. I. — 11 
 
 ing to some authorities, his mnid was as feeble as 
 his body, and the vigor that marked his reign sprung 
 from the energy of Dunstan, the Abbot of Glaston- 
 bury, who now began to figure as a statesman, and 
 of Torketul, another churchman, who was chancel- 
 lor of the kingdom. Other writers, however, affirm 
 that Edred's weak and puny body did not affect his 
 mind, which was resolute and vigorous, and such as 
 became a grandson of Alfred. Though, in common 
 with the other states of the north, the Danes of 
 Northumbria had sworn fealty to Edrgd at Tadwine's 
 Cliff, they rose soon after his accession, and being 
 joined by Eric and other princes and pirates fiom 
 Denmark, Norway, Ireland, the Orkneys, and the 
 Hebrides (where the sea-kings had established them- 
 selves), they once more tried the fortune of war 
 with the Saxons. The operations of Edred's ar- 
 mies, though disgi-aced bj' cruelty and the devasta- 
 tion of the land, were marked with exceeding vigor 
 and activity, and, after two or three most obstinate 
 and sanguinary battles, they were crowned with 
 success. The Danes in England, humbled, and 
 apparently crushed, were condemned to pay a heavy 
 pecuniary fine ; Northumbria was incorporated with 
 the rest of the kingdom much more completely than 
 it had hitherto been, the royal title was abolished, 
 and the administration put into the hands of an earl 
 appointed by the king. Even the victorious Athel 
 stane had left the title of king or sub-king to the 
 Danish rulers of Northumbria ; and it is assumed 
 that the constant rebellions of those rulers were 
 principally excited by their anxious wish to throw 
 off the allegiance due to the E-nglish crown. We 
 believe, however, there was a powerful excitement 
 from without. The sea-kings still I'oamed the ocean, 
 in search of plunder or settlements ; many princes 
 or chiefs in Denmark and Norway claimed kindred 
 with those who had made conquests and obtained 
 kingdoms in England, and whenever an opportunity 
 offered they pretended to those possessions by an 
 indefeasible, hereditary right. Such a right might' 
 not be recognized by the Anglo-Saxons, but it would, 
 pass unquestioned among the Scandinavian rovers,, 
 who would profit by its being enforced. The names 
 of a whole series of these Danish pretenders may 
 probably be found in the mythical historians, — in 
 the more than half fabulous Edda and Sagas of the- 
 north, — but we are not aware that the discovery of 
 them would cast any veiy important light on our 
 annals. 
 
 Edred died soon after the reduction of Northum- 
 bria, and, leaving no children, was succeeded by the 
 son of his brother and predecessor on the throne. 
 
 EwDY was a boy of fifteen when he began his 
 troublous reign (a.d. 955). One of the first acts of 
 his government seems to have been the appointment 
 of his brother Edgar (whom the monks soon played 
 off against him) to be sub-regulus or vassal-king of 
 a part of England, ' most probably of the old kingdom 
 
 ' " This fact, which is of some importance, is proved, like many 
 other points of a similar description, not by historians, but by a charti.r 
 The document, however, does not designate the locality of the domin- 
 ions assigned to Edgar.'' Palgrave, Hist. Eng. chap. xii. We follow 
 this learned investigator in supposing it was Mercia.
 
 162 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 of Mercia, where he was to acknowledge Edwy's 
 supremacy. As the Northumbrians remained in 
 subjection, and as the Danes generally seemed to 
 have ceased from troubling the land, he might have 
 enjoyed a tranquil reign but for some irregularities 
 of his own, and his quarrels with a body more pow- 
 erful then than warriors and sea-kings, and who 
 fought with a weapon more deadly than the sword. 
 
 AVe now reach an interesting part of our history, 
 which, after passing current for many ages, has been 
 fiercely disputed by some recent writers, whose 
 main course of argument is weakened by the glaring 
 fact, that in shifting all the blame from Dunstan to 
 Edwy, they had party or sectarian purposes to servo. 
 For ourselves, who are perfectly impartial between 
 a king and a monk, we think the old narrative has 
 been disturbed without rendering any service to 
 historical truth ; and that this is proved to be the 
 case, almost to a demonstration, by a learned and 
 acute writer who has sifted the w'hole question.' 
 Like nearly every other part of the Saxon histoiy, 
 the story of Edwy and Elgiva is certainly involved in 
 some difficulties or obscurities. Avoiding discussion 
 and disputations, we will briefly state the facts as 
 they seem to us best established. 
 
 Edwy, who was gay, handsome, thoughtless, and 
 very young, became enamored of Elgiva, a j'oung 
 lady of rank, and married her, although she was 
 related to him in a degree within which the canon- 
 ical laws forbade such unions. She was probably 
 his first or second cousin, and we need not go 
 nearer, as such mairiages are still illegal in Catholic 
 countries without the express dispensation of the 
 pope. Her mother Ethelgiva lived with her at the 
 court of Edwy, and seems to have been a person of 
 good repute, for, under the honorable designation of 
 the " king's wife's mother," she attested an agree- 
 ment betw^een St. Ethelwold and the Bishop of 
 Wells, to which three other bishops were subscribing 
 witnesses. We are entitled to assume that had 
 there been anything more than a slight infringement 
 of church-law in the marriage of Elgiva, or had she 
 and her mother been the depraved characters some 
 writers have represented them, such personages as 
 saints and bishops, and most orthodox churchmen, 
 would not be found frequenting the court where 
 both the ladies lived in preeminence and honor. 
 Dunstan and his partj', however, must surely have 
 had other provocations than the irregularity of the 
 marriage, or the thoughtlessness of Ed\\y in quitting 
 their company, when they proceeded to the insolent 
 extremities we are now to relate. On the day of 
 the king's coronation the chief nobles and clergy 
 Avere bidden to a feast, where they sat long carous- 
 ing, deep in their cups, which they were too much 
 accustomed to do.^ The stomach of the youthful 
 king may have been incapable of such potations, — 
 
 1 See article on Lingard's " Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church," 
 in Edinburgh Rfiview, vol. xxv. pp. 346-354 ; and article on Lingard's 
 " History of England," in the same work, vol. ilii. pp. 1-31. Both 
 these reviews are acknowledged to be by John Allen, Esq., in his 
 " Letter to Francis Jeffrey, Esq., in reply to Dr. Lingard's Vindication." 
 8vo. Lon. 1827. 
 
 3 "Quibus Angli nimis sunt assucti." Wallingford. 
 
 his taste may have been revolted bj- such coarse 
 excesses ; he was still passionately enamored of 
 
 his beautiful bride, and, stealing from the banquet- 
 ing hall, he withdrew with her and her mother to 
 an inner apartment of the palace. His absence was 
 remarked by Odo, the Archbishop of Canterbury, u 
 Dane by birtli,' a harsh, ambitious man, who may 
 be more than suspected of having played false with 
 Edwj''s father. King Edmund, when engaged in the 
 Northumbrian troubles, and obliged to renounce half 
 
 ' the island to Anlaf. Odo was probably exasperated 
 himself, and perceiving that the company were 
 displeased at the king's leaving them, he ordered 
 some persons to go and bring him Ijack to partake of 
 the general convivialitj^. The individuals addressed 
 seem to have declined the office fi'om motives of 
 respect and decency, but Dunstan, the friend of 
 Odo, feeling no such scruples, rushed to the inner 
 apartment, diagged the young king from the side of 
 
 . his wife, and thrust him back into the banqueting- 
 hall by main force. Such an outrage, — such a hu- 
 miliation in the face of his assembled subjects, — 
 must have passed Edwy's endurance. Nor was 
 this all the wrong. While in the chamber Dunstan 
 addressed the queen and her mother in the most 
 brutal language, and threatened the latter with 
 infamy and the gallows. The king had a ready rod 
 wherewith to scourge the monk. Dunstan, among 
 other offices, filled that of treasurer to Eldred, the 
 preceding sovereign, and Edwy had all along sus- 
 pected him of having been guiltA' of peculation in his 
 charge. If Edv\'y had ever whispered these sus- 
 picions, — and from his youth, impinidence, and hasti- 
 ness of temper, he had probably done so often, — this 
 alone would account for Dunstan's ire. However 
 this may be, the fiery Abbot of Glastonbury, who 
 returned from the festival to his abbey, was now 
 questioned touching the moneys : his property was 
 sequestered, lus court places were taken from him, 
 the monks who professed celibacy were driven out, 
 and his monastery was given to the secular clergy, 
 who still insisted on having wives like other men ; 
 and finally a sentence of banishment was hurled at 
 Dunstan. He fled for the monastery of St. Peter's 
 in Ghent, but was scarcely three miles from the 
 shore, on his way to Flanders, when messengers 
 reached it, — dispatched by Edwy or his mother-in- 
 law, — and who, it said, had orders to put out his 
 eyes if they caught him in this countiy. 
 
 Before this exti-eme rapture Edwy had probably 
 meddled with the then stormy politics of the church, 
 or betrayed an inclination to favor the secular clergy 
 in opposition to the monks ; and this again would, 
 and of itself, suffice to account for Dunstan's out- 
 rageous behavior at the coronation feast. After 
 Dunstan's flight the king certainly made himself tne 
 protector of the " married clerks ;" for, expelling 
 those who professed celibacy, he put the others in 
 possession, not only of Glastonbury and 3Ialmsbury, 
 but of several other abbeys, which he thus made (to 
 speak the language of Dunstan's adherents and suc- 
 cessors) " sties for canons." In so doing Edwy, 
 
 ' He was the son of one of the chieftains who had invaded England.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 163 
 
 fatally for himself, espoused the Aveaker party, and 
 still further exasperated Odo, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, who entertained the same views in 
 state matters and church discipline as his friend 
 Dunstan. 
 
 The disputes of these churchmen of the tenth 
 century, together with the extraordinary character 
 of Dunstan, will be noticed more at length in the 
 Chapter of Religious History. Here we havfe only 
 indicated a few features to render intelligible the 
 story, to the tragical conclusion of which we must 
 now hasten. Shortly after the departure of Dun- 
 stan, a general rising of the people, instigated by 
 Odo, took place in Northumbria (the reader will 
 bear in mind that the archbishop was a Dane), and 
 a corresponding movement following under the same 
 influence or holy sanction in Mercia, it was deter- 
 mined to set one brother in hostile array against 
 the other ; and, in brief time, Edgar was declared 
 independent sovereign of the whole of the island 
 north of the Thames ! Dunstan then returned in 
 triumph from his brief exile, which had scarcely 
 lasted a year. 
 
 But while these events were in progress, and 
 before they were completed, the young soul of Ed- 
 wy was racked by an anguish more acute than any 
 that could be caused by the loss of territory and 
 empire. Some knights and armed retainers of the 
 implacable archbishop tore his beautiful wife Elgiva 
 from one of his residences, branded her in the face 
 with a red-hot iron to destroy her beauty, and then 
 hurried her to the coast, whence she was trans- 
 ported to Ireland, probably as a slave. Her melan- 
 choly fate, her high birth, gracefulness, and youth 
 (for she seems to have been now not more than six- 
 teen or seventeen years old), probably gained her 
 friends among a kind-hearted people. She was 
 cured of the cruel wounds inflicted ; her scars were 
 obliterated, and, as radiant in beauty as ever, she 
 was allowed (and no doubt insisted) to return to 
 England. It is not clear whether Elgiva had actu- 
 ally joined her husband or was flying to his em- 
 braces when she was seized near Gloucester ; but 
 all the early accounts agree in stating that she was 
 there barbarously mangled and hamstrung, and ex- 
 pired a'few days after in great torture. The gen- 
 erally received statement is, that the perpetrators 
 of this atrocious deed were armed retainers of the 
 Archbishop Odo: others, however, are of opinion 
 that the young queen fell into tlie hands of the 
 Mercians, who were in insurrection against her 
 husband, and that in neither case was the execution 
 ordered either by Odo or Dunstan. However this 
 may be, the deed was undeniably done by the ad- 
 herents of those churchmen (for the Mercians were 
 armed in their quarrel), and praised as an act of in- 
 flexible virtue by their encomiasts. The palliation 
 set up by a recent historian, who cannot deny the 
 fact of the hamstringing, that such a mode of pun- 
 ishment, " though cruel, was not unusual in that 
 age," leaves the question of justice and law un- 
 touched, and seems to us to be conceived in the 
 spirit of an inquisitor of the worst ages. Edwy did 
 not long survive his wife: he died in the following 
 
 year (958), when he could not have been more than 
 eighteen or nineteen years old. His death is gen- 
 erally attributed to grief and a broken heart, but it 
 is just as probable that he was assassinated by his 
 enemies.' From the comeliness of his person, he 
 was generally called Edwy the Fair. 
 
 Edgar (958-9), his brother, who had been put 
 forward against him in his lifetime, now succeeded 
 to all his dignities. As a boy of fifteen, he could 
 exercise little authority: he was long a passive in- 
 strument in the hands of Dunstan and his party, 
 who used their power in establishing their cause, 
 in enforcing the celibacy of the clergj-, and in driving 
 out, by main force, from all abbeys, monasteries, 
 cathedrals, churches, and chantries, all such mar- 
 ried clergymen as would not separate from their 
 wives. At the same time, it cannot be denied that 
 Dunstan and the monks ruled the kingdom with 
 vigor and success, and consolidated the detached 
 states into compactor integrity and union than had 
 ever been known before. Several causes favored 
 this process. Among others, Edgar, who had been 
 brought up among the Danes of East Anglia and 
 Northumbria, was endeared to that people, who, in 
 consequence, allowed him to weaken their states by 
 dividing them into several separate earldoms or 
 governments, and to make other innovations, which 
 they would have resented under any of his prede- 
 cessors with arms in their hands. His fleet was 
 also wisely increased to the number of 360 sail ; 
 and these ships were so well disposed, and power- 
 ful squadrons kept so constantly in motion, that the 
 sea-kings were kept in check on their own element, 
 and prevented from landing and troubling the coun- 
 try. At the same time, tutored by the indefatigable 
 Dunstan, who soon was made, or rather who soon 
 made himself. Archbishop of Canterbury, the king 
 accustomed himself to visit in person every part of 
 his dominions annually. In the land progresses he 
 was attended by the primate or by energetic minis- 
 ters of Dunstan's appointing ; and as he went from 
 Wessex to Mercia, from Mercia to Northumbria, 
 courts of justice were held in the diff'erent counties, 
 audiences and feasts were given, appeals were 
 heard, and Edgar cultivated the acquaintance of all 
 the nobles and principal men of the kingdom. The 
 neighboring princes— his vassals or allies^ — of Wales, 
 Cumbria, and Scotland, were awed into respect or 
 obedience, and on several occasions seem to have 
 bowed before his throne. When he held his court 
 at Chester, and had one day a wish to visit the 
 monastery of St. John's, on the river Dee, eight 
 crowned kings (so goes the story) plied the oars of 
 his barge while he guided the helm. These sover- 
 eign bargemen are said to have been, Kenneth, 
 King of Scotland, Malcolm, his son. King of Cumbria, 
 Maccus the Dane, King of Anglesey, the Isle of 
 Man, and the Hebrides, the Scottish kings of Gallo- 
 way and " Westmere," and the three Welsh kings 
 of Dynwall, Siferth, and Edwall. 
 
 1 An old MS. in the Cottonian Library says explicitly, "in pago 
 Glocestrensi interfectus fuit." Another old MS. quoted by Mr. Sharon 
 Turner says, "misera riorte exspiravit ;" but this would apply as well 
 (or better) to death by grief as to death hy the dagger.
 
 164 
 
 HISTORY OF ExXGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Edgar certainly bore prouder and more sounding 
 titles than any of his predecessors. He was stjied 
 Basileus, or Emperor, of Albion, King of the Eng- 
 lish, and of all the nations and islands around.' He 
 obtained the more honorable epithet of the Peace- 
 able, or Pacific ; for, luckily, during his whole reign, 
 his kingdom was not troubled by a single war. He 
 cominuted a tribute he received from a part or the 
 whole of Wales, into 300 wolves' heads annually, in 
 order to extirpate those ravenous animals ; and, ac- 
 cording to William of Malmsbury, this tribute ceased 
 in the fourth year, for want of wolves to kill. The 
 currency had been so diminished in weight by the 
 fraudulent practice of clipping, that the actual value 
 was far inferior to the nominal. He therefore re- 
 formed the coinage, and had new coins issued all 
 over the kingdom. Though Edgar was now in ma- 
 ture manhood, there is pretty good evidence to 
 show that these measures, with others, generally of 
 a beneficial nature, were suggested and earned into 
 effect by Dunstan, who, most indubitably, had his 
 
 I "Nothing," says Mr. Turner, "can more strongly display Edgar's 
 vanity than the pompous and boasting titles which he assumes in his 
 charters. They sometimes run to the length of fifteen or eighteen 
 lines. How different from Alfred's "Ego occidentalium Saxonum 
 Rei." — Hist. .Vnglo Sax. 
 
 full share in the next operations whicli are men- 
 tioned with especial laud and triumph by the monk 
 ish writers. He made maiTied priests so scarce or 
 so timid, that theu" faces were nowhere to be seen ; 
 and he founded or restored no fewer than fifty mon- 
 asteries, which were all subjected to the rigid rules 
 of the Benedictine order. It is curious that the 
 monks, who had a debt of gratitude to pay, and who, 
 in their summaiy of his whole character, indeed, 
 uphold Edgar as a godly, virtuous prince, should 
 have recorded actions which prove him to have 
 been one of the most viciously profligate of the Saxon 
 kings. The court of this promoter of celibacy and 
 chastity smarmed at all times with concubines, some 
 of whom were obtained in the most violent or flagi- 
 tious manner. To pass over less authentic cases, in 
 an early part of his reign, during the life of his first 
 wife, he can-ied off from the monaster}- of Wilton a 
 beautiful young ladj- of noble birth, named AVulfreda, 
 who was either a professed nun, or receiving her edu- 
 cation under the sacred covering of the veil. It has 
 been said that Dunstan here interfered with a cour- 
 age which absolves him from the charge of reserving 
 his reproofs for those who stood like the unfortunate 
 Edwy in the position of enemies. But what was 
 
 CosTlMt OF KiNO Ldg.vR. a Savon Lad 
 Edgar, from the Cottonian M3. Vespasian, A. viii. Lady, fioin the Harleiau M: 
 
 , AND X Pagk. 
 Qy08. Page, from the Cottonian M?.. Tiberius, C. vl.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 165 
 
 the amount of his interference in this extreme case, 
 where the sanctity of the cloister itself was violated ? 
 He condemned the king to lay aside an empty, in- 
 convenient bauble — not to wear his crown on his 
 head for seven years, — and to a penance of fasting, 
 which was probably in good part performed by dep- 
 uty. This was not the measure of punishment that 
 was meted out to Edwy ; and, for all that we can 
 learn to the contrary, Edgar was allowed to retain 
 Wulfreda as his mistress ! On anotlier occasion, 
 when the guest of one of his nobles at Andover, he 
 ordered that the fair and honorable daughter of his 
 host should be sent to his bed. The young lady's 
 mother artfully substituted a handsome slave, or ser- 
 vant; and this menial was added to his harem, or 
 taken to court, where, according to AVilliam of Malms- 
 bury, she enjoyed his exceeding great favor until 
 he became enamored of Elfrida, his second lawful 
 wife. Romantic as are its incidents, the story of 
 his marriage with the execrable Elfrida rests on 
 about as good authority as we can find for any of the 
 events of the time. The fame of this young lady's 
 beauty reached the ears of Edgar, ever hungry of 
 such reports. To ascertain whether her charms 
 were not exaggerated, the royal voluptuary dis- 
 patched Athelwold, his favorite courtier, to the dis- 
 tant castle of her father, Orgar, Earl of Devonshire, 
 with whom she resided. Athelwold became him- 
 self enamored of the beauty, wedded her, and then 
 represented her to the king as being rich, indeed, 
 but not otherwise commendable. Edgar suspected, 
 or was told, the real truth. He insisted on paying 
 her a visit. The unlucky husband was allowed to 
 precede him, that he might put his house in order ; 
 but he failed in his real object, which was to obtain 
 his wife's forgiveness for having stepped between 
 her and a throne, and to induce her to disguise or 
 conceal the brilliancy of her charms by homely attire 
 and rustic demeanor. The visit was made ; the 
 king was captivated, as she intended he should be. 
 Soon after Athelwold was found murdered in a 
 wood, and Edgar married his widow. This union, 
 begun in crime, led to the foul murder of Edgar's 
 eldest son ; and under the imbecile Etheh-ed, the 
 only son he had by Elfrida, the glory of the house 
 of Alfred was eclipsed for ever. He himself did not 
 sui'vive the marriage more than six or seven years, 
 when he died at the early age of thirty-two, and 
 was buried in the abbey of Glastonbury, which he 
 had made magnificent by vast outlays of money and 
 donations of land. 
 
 Edward, commonly called the Martyr, who suc- 
 ceeded A.D. 975, was Edgar's son by his first mar- 
 riage. Like all the kings since Athelstane, he was a 
 mere boy at his accession, being not more than four- 
 teen or fifteen years old. His rights were disputed, 
 in favor of her own son, Ethelred, who was only six 
 years old, by the ambitious and remorseless Elfrida, 
 who boldly maintained that Edward, though the 
 elder brother, and named king in his father's, will, 
 was excluded by the illegitimacy of his birth. The 
 legitimacy of several of the Saxon princes who had 
 worn the crown was more than doubtful ; but in the 
 case of Edward the challenge seems to have been 
 
 unfounded. The cause of Edward and his half- 
 brother was decided on far different grounds. As 
 soon as Edgar was dead the church war was re- 
 newed, and Dunstan, after a long and unopposed 
 triumph, was compelled once more to descend to 
 the arena with his old opponents the " married 
 clerks," or secular clergy, who again showed them- 
 selves in force in many parts of the kingdom, and 
 claimed the abbeys and churches of which they had 
 been dispossessed. The nobles and the governors 
 of provinces chose different sides. Alfere, the pow- 
 erful eolderman of Mercia, declared for the secular 
 clergy, and drove the monks from every part of his 
 extensive dominions: Alwyn of East Angha, on the 
 contrary, stood by Dunstan and the monks, and 
 chased the seculars. Elfrida, no doubt because 
 Dunstan and his friends had got possession of Ed- 
 Avard, gave the weight of her son Ethelred's name 
 and herself to the party of Alfere and the seculars, 
 which soon proved again to be the weaker of the two 
 factions. Had it been the stronger, Ethelred would 
 have been crowned ; as it turned out, Dvinstan was 
 enabled to place Edward upon the throne. But the 
 animosities of two religious parties were not to be 
 reconciled by the decisions of national or church 
 councils, by disputations, or even by miracles ; nor 
 was the ambition of the perfidious Elfrida to be cured 
 by a single reverse. She continued her intrigues 
 with the secular party ; she united herself more 
 closely than ever with Alfere, the eolderman of 
 Mercia ; and soon saw herself at the head of a pow- 
 erful confederacy of nobles, who were resolved her 
 son should reign, and Dunstan be deprived of that 
 immense power he had so long held. But not even 
 this resolution would prepare us for the horrible 
 catastrophe that followed. About three years after 
 his accession, as Edward was hunting one day in 
 Dorsetshire, he quitted his company and attendants 
 to visit his half-brother Ethelred, who was living 
 with his mother, hard by, in Corfe Castle. Elfrida 
 came forth with her son to meet him at the outer 
 gate : she bade him welcome with a smiling face, 
 and invited him to dismount ; but the young king, 
 with thanks, declined, fearing he should be missed 
 by his company, and craved only a cup of wine, 
 which he might drink in his saddle to her and his 
 brother, and so be gone. The wine was brought, 
 and as Edward was carrying the cup to his lips one 
 of Elfrida's attendants stabbed him in the back. The 
 wounded king put spurs to his horse, but soon faint- 
 ing from loss of blood, he fell out of the saddle, and 
 was dragged by one foot in the stirrup through woods 
 and rugged ways until he was dead. His but too 
 negligent companions in the chase traced him by his 
 blood, and at last found his disfigured corpse, which 
 they burned, and then buried the ashes of it at 
 Wareham without any pomp or regal ceremonies. 
 " No worse deed than this," says the Saxon chroni- 
 cle, " had been committed among the people of the 
 Angles since they first came to the land of Britain." 
 It is believed that Alfere, the eolderman of Mercia, 
 with other nobles opposed to Dunstan and the monks, 
 was engaged with the queen-dowager in a plot to 
 assassinate Edward, but that Elfrida, impatiently
 
 166 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 seizing an unlooked-for opportunity, took the bloody 
 execution instantly and wliolly upon herself. The 
 boy Ethelred, who was not ten years old, had no 
 part in the guilt which gave him a crown, though 
 that crown certainly sat upon him like a curse. It 
 is related of him that he dearly loved his half-brother 
 Edward, and wept his death, for which liis virago 
 mother, seizing a large torch at hand, beat him with 
 it until he was almost dead himself. Such, how- 
 ever, was the popular odium that fell both on son 
 and mother, that an attempt was made to exclude 
 him from the throne by substituting Edgitha, Ed- 
 gar's natural daughter by the lady he had stolen 
 from the nunnery of Wilton. This Edgitha was 
 herself at the time a professed nun in the same mo- 
 nastery from which her mother had been torn ; and 
 it is said tliat nothing but her timidity, and the dread 
 inspired by her brother Edward's murder, and her 
 firm refusal to exchange the tranquillity of the cell 
 for the dangers of the throne, prevented Dunstan 
 from causing her to be proclaimed queen of all Eng- 
 land. There was no other prince of the blood royal, 
 — no other pretender to set up, — so the prelates and 
 thanes, with no small repugnance, were compelled 
 to bestow the crown on the son of the murderess ; 
 and Dunstan, as primate, at the festival of Easter 
 (a.d. 979), put it on his weak head in the old chapel 
 of Kingston, at this time the usual crowning place of 
 the Saxon monarchs. The vehement monk, who 
 was now soured by age, and exasperated at tlie tem- 
 porary ti-iumph of his enemies, is said to have pro- 
 nounced a malediction on Ethelred, even in the act 
 of crowning him, and to have given public vent to a 
 prophecy of woe and misery, which some think was 
 well calculated to insure its own fulfilment, — for 
 Dunstan already enjoyed among the nation the repu- 
 tation of being both a seer and a saint, and the words 
 
 he dropped could hardly fail of being treasured in 
 the memoi-y of the people, and of depressing their 
 spirits at the approach of danger. Ethelred, more- 
 over, began his reign with an unlucky nickname, 
 which it is believed was given him by Dunstan, — he 
 was called " the Unready." His personal and moral 
 qualities were not calculated to overcome a bad 
 prestige, and the unpopular circumstances attending 
 his succession : in him the people lost their warm 
 affection for the blood of Alfred, and by degi'ees 
 many of them contemplated with indifference, if not 
 with pleasure, the transfer of the crown to a prince 
 of Danish race. This latter feeling luore than half 
 explains the events of his reign. During the first 
 part of the minority the infamous Elfrida enjoyed 
 great authority, but, as the king advanced in years, 
 her influence declined, and followed by the execra- 
 tions of nobles and people (even by those pf her own 
 party), she at last retired to expiate her sins, accord- 
 ing to the fashion of the times, in building and en- 
 dowing monasteries. 
 
 Although the Northmen settled in the Danelagh 
 had so frequently troubled the peace of the kingdom, 
 and had probably at no period renounced the hope 
 of gaining an ascendency over the Saxons of the 
 island, and placing a king of their own race on the 
 throne of England, the Danes beyond sea had cer- 
 tainly made no formidable attacks since the time of 
 Athelstane, and of late years had scarcely been heard 
 of. This suspension of hostility on their part is not 
 to be attributed solelj"^ to the wisdom and valor of 
 the intermediate Saxon kings. There were great 
 political causes connected with the histories of Nor- 
 way and Denmark, and Fi-ance and Normandy, and 
 circumstances which, by giving the Danes employ- 
 ment and settlement in other countries, kept them 
 away from England. But now, when unfoi-tunately 
 
 St. Mary's Chapel at Kingston, in which Kings Edred, Edward the Miutyr, and Ethelred are stated to hnve been crowned, as it apprired 
 about fifty years since, before its destruction by the fulling of the church wall, against which it was built.
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 167 
 
 there was neither wisdom or valor in the king and 
 council, nor spirit in the people, these extraneous 
 circumstances had changed, and instead of checking, 
 they threw the men of the north on our shores. 
 
 Sweyn, a son of the king of Denmark, had quar- 
 reled with his father, and been banished from his 
 home. Young, brave, and enterprising, he soon 
 collected a host of mariners and adventurers round 
 his standard, with whom he resolved to obtain 
 wealth, if not a home, in our island. His first opera- 
 tions were on a small scale, intended merely to tiy 
 the state of defence of the island, and were probably 
 not conducted by himself. 
 
 In the third year of Ethelred's reign (a. d. 981) 
 the Danish raven was seen floating in Southampton 
 water, and that city was plundered, and its inhabit- 
 ants carried into slavery. In the course of a few 
 months Chester and London partook of the fate of 
 Southampton, and attacks were multiplied in differ- 
 ent points, — in the north, in the south, and in the 
 west, as far as the extremity of Cornwall. These 
 operations were continued for some years, during 
 which Ethelred seems to have been much occupied 
 by quarrels with his bishops and nobles. Alfere, 
 the Mercian, who had conspired with Elfrida against 
 Edward the Martyr, was dead, and his extensive 
 earldom had fallen to his son Alfric, — a notorious 
 name in these annals. In consequence of a con- 
 spiracy, real or alleged, this Alfric was banished. 
 The weak king was soon obliged to recall him, but 
 the revengeful nobleman never forgot the past. In 
 the year 991 a more formidable host of the sea-kings 
 ravaged all that part of East Anglia that lay bet^veen 
 Ipswich and Maldon, and won a great battle, in 
 which Earl Brithnoth, a Dane by descent, but a 
 Christian, and a friend to the established govern- 
 ment, was slain. Ethelred then, for the first time, 
 had recourse to the fatal expedient of purchasing 
 their forbearance with money. Ten thousand 
 pounds of silver were paid down, and the sea-kings 
 departed for a while, carrying with them the head 
 of Earl Brithnoth as a ti-ophy. In the course of the 
 following year the witenagemot adopted a wiser plan 
 of defence. A formidable fleet was collected at 
 London, and well manned and supplied with arms. 
 But this wise measure was defeated by Alfric the 
 Mercian, who, in his hatred to the king, had opened 
 a correspondence with the Danes, and being en- 
 trusted with a principal command in the fleet, he 
 went over to them on the eve of a battle with many 
 of his ships. The traitor of course escaped, and 
 Ethelred wreaked his savage vengeance on Elfgar, 
 the son of Alfric, whose eyes he put out. In 993 a 
 Danish host landed in the north, and took Bambo- 
 rough Castle by storm. Three chiefs of Danish 
 origin, who had been appointed to command the na- 
 tives, threw down the standard of Ethelred, and 
 ranged themselves under the raven. All through 
 Northumbria and the rest of the Danelagh the Dan- 
 ish settlers gradually either joined their still Pagan 
 brethren from the Baltic, or offered them no resist- 
 ance. In the mean time the fortunes of Sweyn the 
 exile had undergone a change. By the murder of 
 his father he had ascended the throne of Denmark, 
 
 and, formidable in himself, he had gained a power- 
 ful ally in Olave, King of Norway, a prince of the 
 ti'ue Scandinavian race, — a son of an old pirate who, 
 in former times, had often pillaged the coast of Eng- 
 land. In 994 the two north kings ravaged all the 
 southern provinces of our island, doing " unspeaka 
 ble harm," and meeting nowhere with a valid re- 
 sistance. It was again agreed to treat, and buj- 
 them off with money. Their pretensions of course 
 rose, and this time sixteen thousand pounds of silver 
 were exacted and paid. By a clause in the treatj" 
 Olave and some chiefs were bound to embrace the 
 Christian religion. Sweyn had been baptized al- 
 ready more than once, and had relapsed to idolatry. 
 One of the chiefs boasted that he had been washed 
 tioenty times in the water of baptism ; by which we 
 are to understand that the marauder had submitted 
 to what he considered an idle ceremony whenever 
 it suited his convenience. Olave, the Norwegian 
 king, however, stood at the fount with a better spirit ; 
 his conversion was sincere ; and an oath he there 
 took, never again to molest the English, was honor- 
 ably kept. During the four following years the 
 Danes continued their desultory invasions ; and 
 when (in 998) Ethelred had got ready a strong fleet 
 and army to oppose them, some of his own ofificern 
 gave the plunderers timely warning, and they re- 
 treated unhurt. On their next returning in force 
 (a. d. 1001), Ethelred seems to have had neither 
 fleet nor army in a condition to meet them; for 
 after two conflicts by land, they were allowed to 
 ravage the whole kingdom from the Isle of Wight 
 to the Bristol Channel, and then they were stayed 
 not by steel, but by gold. Their price, of course, 
 still rose : this time twenty-four thousand pounds 
 were paid to purchase their departure. These 
 large sums were raised by direct taxation upon 
 land : and the " Dane-geld," as it was called, wa^ 
 an oppressive and most humiliating burden that be- 
 came permanent. Nor was this all. The ti"eatiet^ 
 of peace or truce generally allowed bands of the 
 marauders to winter in the island at Southampton 
 or some other town ; and during their stay the Eng- 
 hsh people, whom they had plundered and beggared, 
 were obliged to feed them. Their appetites had 
 not decreased since the days of Guthrun and Hasting. 
 
 As if the Danes were not enemies enough, 
 Ethelred had engaged in hostilities with Richard 
 II., Duke of Normandy, and had even, at one time, 
 prepared an armament to invade his dominions. 
 The quarrel was made up by the mediation of the 
 pope ; and then the English king, who was a 
 widower, thought of strengthening his hands by 
 marrying Emma, the Duke of Normandy's sister. 
 The alliance, which laid the first grounds for the 
 pretext of Norman claims on England, afterwards 
 pressed by William the Conqueror, was readily 
 accepted by the Duke Richard, and in the spring 
 of 1002 Emma, the " Flower of Normandy," as 
 she was styled, arrived at the court of Ethelred, 
 where she was received with great pomp. 
 
 The long rejoicings for this marriage were 
 scarcely over when a memorable atrocity suddenly 
 covered the land with blood and horror. This was
 
 168 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 the sudden massacre of the Danes, perpetrated by 
 the people with whom they were living intermixed 
 as fellow-subjects. It is universally asserted that 
 the plot was laid beforehand, — the fatal order given 
 by the king himself; and there is little in Ethelred's 
 general conduct and character to awaken a doubt in 
 his favor. At the same time, be it observed, the 
 people must have been as guilty, as secret, as 
 treacherous, as cruel, as the king; and must have 
 entered fully into the spirit which dictated the 
 bloody order of which they were to be the execu- 
 tioners. Such being the case, we think they were 
 fully equal to the conception of the plot themselves, 
 and that, from the loose, unguarded manner in 
 which the Danes lived scattered among them, such 
 a mode of disposing ^f them would naturally sug- 
 gest itself to a very imperfectly civilized people, 
 maddened by the harsh treatment and insults of 
 their invaders. In the simultaneous massacre of 
 the French invaders all over Sicily in 1282 the 
 same mysterj- was observed ; but it is still a matter 
 of doubt whether the " Sicilian vespers" were 
 ordered by John of Procida, or sprung sponta- 
 neously fiom the people. These two cases, which 
 belong alike to the class of the terrible acts of 
 vengeance which signalize a nation's despair, are 
 nearly parallel in their circumstances ; and in 
 England, as afterwards in Sicily, it was the insults 
 offered by the invaders to tlieir women that ex- 
 tinguished the last sentiments of humanity in the 
 hearts of the people. The outrages of the Danish 
 pagans were extreme. According to the old chron- 
 iclers, they made the English yeomanry, among 
 whom they were settled, perform the most menial 
 offices for them ; they held their houses as their 
 own, and, eating and drinking of the best, scantly 
 left the real proprietor his fill of the worst : the 
 peasantry were so sorelj- oppressed that, out of fear 
 and dread, they called them, in every house where 
 they had rule, " Lord Danes." Their wives and 
 daughters w^ere everywhere a prey to their lust, 
 and when the English made resistance or remon- 
 strance, they were killed or beaten, and laughed 
 at. All this description seems to point at soldiers 
 and adventurers, and men recently settled in the 
 land, and not to the converted married Danes, who 
 had been living a long time in different parts of the 
 country (as well as in the Danelagh, where they 
 were too numerous to be touched), who had 
 contracted quiet, orderly habits, and successfully 
 cultivated the friendship of the EngHsh. It was 
 resolved, however, to desti'oy them all at one blow, 
 — the good with the bad, — the innocent infant at 
 the breast with the hardened ruffian, — the neighbor 
 of years with the intruder of yesterday. As the 
 story is told, Ethelred sent secretly to all his good 
 burghs, cities, and towns, charging the rulers 
 thereof to rise, all on a fixed day and hour, and, by 
 falling suddenly on the Danes, exterminate them 
 from the land by sword and fire. By whatever 
 means this simultaneous movement was arranged, 
 it certainly took place. On the 13th of November 
 1002 (the holy festival of St. Brice), the Danes, 
 dispersed through a great part of England, were 
 
 attacked by surprise, and massacred without dis- 
 tinction of quality, age, or sex, by their hosts and 
 neighbors. Gunhilda, the sister of Sweyn, King 
 of Denmark, who had embraced Christianity and 
 married an English earl of Danish descent, after 
 being made to witness the execution of her husband 
 and child, was barbarousl}- murdered herself. 
 
 This tale of horror was soon wafted across the 
 ocean, where Sweyn prepared for a deadly revenge. 
 He assembled a fleet more numerous than any that 
 had hitheito invaded England. The Danish war- 
 riors considered the cause a national and a sacred 
 one ; and in the assembled host there was not a 
 
 I slave, or an emancipated slave, or a single old man, 
 
 j but every combatant was a free man, the son of a 
 
 I free man, and in the prime of life.' 
 
 I These choice warriors embarked in lofty ships, 
 every one of which bore the ensign or standard of 
 
 j its separate commander. Some carried at their 
 
 I * 
 
 I prow such figures as lions, bulls, dolphins, dragons, 
 or armed men, all made of metal and gaily gilded ; 
 ! others carried on their topmast-head the figures of 
 I large birds, as eagles and ravens, that stretched out 
 j their wings and turned with the wind : the sides of 
 I their ships were painted with different bright colors, 
 j and, larboard and starboard, from stem to stern, 
 \ shields of burnished steel were suspended in even 
 I lines, and glittered in the sun. Gold, silver, and 
 I embroidered banners were profusely displayed, and 
 I the whole wealth of the pirates of the Baltic was 
 made to contribute to this barbaric pomp. The 
 I ship that bore the royal standard of Sweyn was 
 I moulded in the form of an enormous serpent, the 
 j sharp head of which formed the prow, while the 
 I lengthening tail coiled over the poop. It was called 
 i " The Great Dragon." The first place where the 
 I avengers landed was near Exeter, and that im- 
 , portant citj' was presently surrendered to them 
 I through the treachery of Etheh-ed's governor, a 
 I Norman nobleman, and one of the train of favorites 
 j and dependants that had followed Queen Emma. 
 j After plundering and dismantling Exeter, the Danes 
 ! marched through the country into Wiltshire, com- 
 mitting every excess that a thirst for vengeance 
 j and rapine could suggest. In all the towns and 
 villages through which they passed, after gaily 
 I eating the repasts the Saxons were forced to prepare 
 J for them, they slew their hosts, and, departing, set 
 j fire to their houses.^ At last an Anglo-Saxon army 
 I was brought up to oppose their destructive pro- 
 ! gress ; but this force was commanded by another 
 I traitor, — by Alfric the Mercian, — who had already 
 betrayed Ethelred, and whose son, in consequence, 
 had been barbarously blinded by the king. We 
 are not informed by what means he had been 
 I restored to favor and emploj'ment after such ex- 
 treme measures; but Alfric now took the oppor- 
 tunity offered him for further revenge on the king. 
 pHe pretended to be seized with a sudden illness, 
 ' called off" his men when thej- were about to join 
 I battle, and permitted Sweyn to retire with his 
 ! army and his immense boot)- through Salisbury to 
 I the sea-coast. In the following year Norwich wa3 
 
 I 1 Sax. Chron. " Hen. Ilunling. Hist.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 169 
 
 taken, plundered and burnt, and the same fate 
 befel nearly every town in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cam- 
 bridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, and Lincolnshire. 
 The Danes then (a.d. 1004) returned to the Baltic, 
 retreating from a famine which their devastations 
 had caused in England. 
 
 By marrying the Norman princess Emma, Ethel- 
 red had hoped to secure the assistance of her 
 brother, Duke Richard, against the Danes ; but it 
 was soon found that the only Normans who crossed 
 the Channel were a set of intriguing, ambitious 
 courtiers, hungry for English places and honors ; 
 and by his inconstancy and neglect of his wife, 
 Ethelred so irritated that princess that she made 
 bitter complaints to her brother, and caused a fresh 
 quarrel between England and Normandy. Duke 
 Richard seized all the native English who chanced 
 to be in his dominions, and, after shamefully killing 
 some, threw the rest into prison. According to 
 Walsingham, and some of the old Norman writers, 
 Ethelred then actually sent a force to invade Nor- 
 mandy, and this force, after effecting a landing near 
 Coutances, was thoroughlj' defeated. We are in- 
 cHned to believe that the expedition was less im- 
 portant than the Norman chronicles represent it, 
 but it shows the impolicy of the Saxon king, and 
 had, no doubt, some effect in weakening an already 
 weak and dispirited nation. 
 
 In 1006 Sweyn, whose vengeance and rapacity 
 were not yet satisfied, returned, and carried fire 
 and sword over a great part of the kingdom ; and 
 when it was resolved in the gi*eat council to buy 
 him off with gold, 36,000L was the sum demanded. 
 The frequent raising of these large sums utterly 
 exhausted the people, whose doors were almost 
 constantly beset either by the king's tax-gatherers 
 or the Danish marauders. Those few who had, 
 as yet, the good fortune of escaping the pillage of 
 the Danes, could not now escape the exactions of 
 Ethelred, and, under one form or another, they 
 were sure of being plundered of all they possessed. 
 By an insolent and cruel mockery the royal tax- 
 gatherers were accustomed to demand an additional 
 sum from those who had paid money to the Danes 
 directly, in order to save their persons and their 
 houses from destruction, affecting to consider such 
 transactions with the enemy as illegal. 
 
 In 1008 the people were oppressed with a new 
 burden; but had this been properly apportioned, 
 had the countiy been less exhausted, and had the 
 measure for which the money was to be applied 
 been carried vigorously and honestly into effect, it 
 seems as if it ought to have saved England from the 
 Danes. Every 310 hides of land were charged 
 with the building and equipping of one ship for the 
 defence of the kingdom ; and in addition to this, 
 every nine hides of land were bound to provide one 
 man, armed with a helmet and iron breastplate. It 
 is calculated that, if all the land which still nomi- 
 nally belonged to Ethelred had supplied its proper 
 contingent, more than 800 ships, and about 35,000 
 armed men, would have been provided. The force 
 actually raised is not stated, but, in spite of the 
 exhaustion of the counn-y, it appears to have been 
 
 large ; some of the old writers stating, particularly 
 as to the marine, that there never were so many 
 ships got together in England before. This fleet, 
 however, was soon rendered valueless by dissensions 
 and treachery at home. Ethelred, who had always 
 a favorite of some kind, was now governed by 
 Edric, a man of low birth, but eloquent, clever, and 
 ambitious. He obtained in marriage one of the 
 king's daughters, and about the same time one of 
 the highest ofiflces in the state. His family shared, 
 as usual, in his promotion. Brihtric, the brother of 
 this powerful favorite, conspired against Earl Wulf- 
 noth. Wulfnoth fled, and can-ied twenty of the 
 new ships with him, with which he plundered all 
 the southern coast of England, even as if he had 
 been a Danish pirate. Eighty other ships were 
 placed under the command of Brihtric, who pur- 
 sued the man he had sought to ruin. A storm 
 arose ; these eighty vessels were wrecked on the 
 coast, where Wulfnoth succeeded in burning them 
 all; and then the rest of the king's fleet appear to 
 have dispersed in anarchy and confusion. This 
 story, like so many others of the period, is imper- 
 fectly told ; but the annalists agree in stating that 
 the new navy was dissipated or lost ; and that thus 
 perished the last hope of England. 
 
 As soon as the intelligence of this disaster reached 
 the mouth of the Baltic, a large army of Danes, 
 called, from their leader, " Thurkill's host," set 
 sail for England, where, during the three following 
 years, they committed incalculable mischief, and, 
 by the end of that period, had made themselves 
 masters of a large part of the kingdom. They now 
 and then sold short and uncertain truces to the Sax- 
 ons, but they never evinced an intention of leaving 
 the island, as Sweyn had left it on former occasions, 
 when wellloaded with gold. As Ethehed's difficul- 
 ties increased, he was surrounded more and more 
 by the basest treacherj% and he seems, at last, not to 
 have had a single ofificer on whom he could depend. 
 During this lamentable period of baseness and cow- 
 ardice, a noble instance of courage and firmness 
 occurred in the person of a churchman. Alphege, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, defended that city for 
 twenty days, and when a traitor opened its gate to 
 the Danes, and he was made prisoner and loaded 
 with chains, he refused to purchase liberty and life 
 with gold, which he knew must be \^Tung from the 
 people. Tired out by his resistance, they thought 
 to overcome it by lowering the rate of his ransom ; 
 and they proposed to take a small sum from him, if 
 he w^ould engage to advise the king to pay them a 
 further amount as a largess. "I do not possess so 
 much money as you demand from me," replied the 
 Saxon archbishop, "and I will not ask or take money 
 from anybody, nor will I advise my king against the 
 honor of my country." He continued immovable 
 in this resolution, even refusing the means of ran- 
 som voluntarily offered by his brother, saying, it 
 would be treason in him to enrich, in any degree, 
 the enemies of England. The Danes, more covet- 
 ous of money than desirous of his blood, frequently 
 renewed their demands. " You press me in vain," 
 said Alphege ; " I am not the man to provide Chris-
 
 170 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 tian flesh for Pagan teethi by robbing my poor 
 countrymen to enrich their enemies." The Danes, 
 at length, lost patience, and one day, when they 
 were assembled at a drunken banquet, they caused 
 him to be dragged into their presence. "Gold, 
 bishop! give us gold I gold!" was their cry, as they 
 gathered about him in menacing attitudes. Still 
 unmoved, he looked round that circle of fierce men, 
 who presently broke up in rage and disorder, and 
 running to a heap of bones, horns, and jaw-bones, 
 the remains of their gross feast, they threw these 
 things at him, until he fell to the ground half dead. 
 A Danish pirate whom he had previously converted, 
 or, at least, baptized with his own hands, then took 
 his battle-axe and put an end to the agony and life 
 of Archbishop Alphege.' 
 
 This heroic example had no effect upon King 
 Etheh"ed, who continued to pay gold as before. 
 After receiving 48,000L (for still their demands 
 rose), and the formal cession of several counties, 
 Thurkill took the oaths of peace, and became, with 
 manj- of his chiefs, and a large detachment of his 
 host, the ally and soldier of the weak Saxon mo- 
 narch. It is probable that Earl Thurkill entered 
 the service of Ethelred for the purpose of betraying 
 him, and acted all along in concert with Sweyn ; but 
 the Danish king aflected to consider the compact as 
 treason to himself, and, with a show of jealousy 
 towards Thurkill, prepared a fresh expedition, 
 which he gave out was equally directed against 
 Ethelred and his vassal Thurkill. The fact, at all 
 events, was, that Sweyn, who had so often swept 
 the land from east to west, from north to south, had 
 now resolved to attempt the permanent conquest of 
 our island. He sailed up the Humber with a nu- 
 merous and splendid fleet, and landed as near as he 
 could to the city of York. As the Danes advanced 
 into the country, they stuck their lances into the 
 soil, or threw them into the current of the rivers, 
 in sign of their entire domination over England. 
 They marched, escorted by fire and sword, their 
 ordinary satellites." Nearly all the inhabitants of 
 the Danelagh joined them at once : the men of 
 Northumbria, Liudesey, and the " Five Burghs," 
 welcomed the banner of Sweyn, and finally all the 
 " Host" north of Watling-street took up arms in his 
 favor.' Even the provinces in the centre of Eng- 
 land, where the Danish settlers or troops were far 
 less numerous, prepared themselves for a quiet sur- 
 render. Leaving his fleet to the care of his son 
 Canute, Sweyn conducted the main body of his 
 army to the south, exacting horses and provisions 
 as he marched rapidly along. Oxford, Winchester, 
 and other important towns threw open their gates 
 at his approach ; but he was obliged to retire from 
 before the walls of London and the determined 
 valor of its citizens, among whom the king had taken 
 refuge. Swej-n then turned to the west, where he 
 was received with open arms. The eolderman of 
 Devonshire and nearly every other thane in that 
 
 1 Vita Alphegi, in Angliii Sacra.— Ingulf.— Chron. Sax. Eadmer.— 
 Brompton. 
 
 2 Scriptores Rer. Danic. quoted in Thierry. — Brompton. 
 
 3 Chron. Sax. 
 
 part of the kingdom repaired to his head-quarters 
 at Bath, and did homage to him as their lawful or 
 chosen sovereign. Seeing the whole kingdom fall- 
 ing from him, Ethelred abandoned London, which 
 soon followed the general example, and submitted 
 to the Danes. This unready king then fled to the 
 Isle of Wight, whence he secretly sent his children 
 with Emma, his Norman wife, to the court of her 
 brother at Rouen. He was for some short time 
 doubtful where he should lay his own head ; for, 
 after the hostilities and insults which had passed 
 between them, he reasonably doubted the good-will 
 of his brother-in-law. The Duke of Normandy, 
 however, not only received Emma and her children 
 with great kindness, but offered a safe and honora- 
 ble asylum to Ethelred, which that luckless prince 
 was fain to accept as his only resource. 
 
 Sweyn was now (about the middle of January, 
 1013) acknowledged as "Full King of England;" 
 but the power which had been obtained with so 
 much labor, and at the expense of so much blood- 
 shed and wretchedness, remained to the conqueror 
 a very short time. He died suddenly at Gainsbor- 
 ough; and, only six weeks after the time when he 
 had been allowed to depart for Normandy, " aban- 
 doned, deserted, and betrayed" by all, Etheh-ed was 
 invited by the Saxon nobles and prelates to return 
 and take possession of his kingdom, which was 
 pledged to his defence and support — -provided only 
 that he would govern them letter than he had done 
 before. Ethelred, before venturing himself, sent 
 over his son Edward, with solemn promises and as- 
 surances. Pledges were exchanged for the faithful 
 performance of the new compact between king and 
 people. A sentence of perpetual outlawry was pro- 
 nounced against every king of Danish name and 
 race ; and, before the end of Lent, Ethelred was 
 restored to those dominions which he had already 
 misgoverned thirty-five years. In the mean time, 
 the Danish army in England had proclaimed Canute, 
 the son of Sweyn, as king of the whole land ; and 
 in the northern provinces they and their adherents 
 were in a condition to maintain the election they had 
 made. Indeed, north of Watling-street, the Danes 
 were all powerful ; and Canute, though beset by 
 some difficulties, Avas not of a character to relinquish 
 his hold of the kingdom without a hard struggle. 
 A sanguinary warfare was renewed, and murdering 
 and bribing, betraying and beti'ayed, Ethelred was 
 fast losing ground, when he died of disease, about 
 three years after his return from Normandj . 
 
 The law of succession continued as loose as ever ; 
 and, in seasons of extreme difficulty like the present, 
 when so much depended on the personal character 
 and valor of the sovereign, it was altogether neg- 
 lected or despised. Setting aside Ethelred's le- 
 gitimate children, the Saxons chose for their king a 
 natural son, Edmund, surnamed Ironside, who had 
 already given many proofs of courage in the field 
 and wisdom in the council. By general consent, 
 indeed, Edmund was a hero; but the country was 
 too much worn out and divided, and the treasons 
 that had torn his father's court and camp were too 
 prevalent in his own to permit of his restoring Saxon
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 171 
 
 independence throughout the kingdom. After twice 
 relieving London, when besieged by Canute and all 
 his host, and fighting five pitched battles with unva- 
 rying valor, but with various success. Ironside pro- 
 posed that he and his rival should decide their 
 claims in a single combat, saying " it was pity so 
 many lives should be lost and periled for their ambi- 
 tion."^ Canute declined the duel, saying that he, as 
 a man of slender make, would stand no chance with 
 the stalwart Edmund ; and he added, that it would 
 be wiser and better for them both to divide England 
 between them, even as their forefathers had done 
 in other times. This proposal is said to have been 
 received with enthusiastic joy by both armies, and, 
 however the negotiation may have been conducted, 
 and whatever was the precise line of demarkation 
 settled between them, it was certainly agreed that 
 Canute should reign over the north, and Edmund 
 Ironside over the south, with a nominal superiority 
 over the Dane's portion. The brave Edmund did 
 not survive the treaty more than two months. His 
 death, which took place on the feast of St. Andrew, 
 was sudden and mysterious. As Canute profited so 
 much by it, as to become sole monarch of England 
 immediately after, it is generally believed he plan- 
 ned his assassination ; but, judging from the old 
 chroniclers who lived at or near the time, it is not 
 clear who were the contrivers and actual perpetra- 
 tors of the deed, or whether he was killed at all. 
 There is even a doubt as to the place of his death, 
 whether it was London or Oxford. 
 
 Silver Coin of Canute. — From a Specimen ia the British Museum. 
 
 Canute, a.d. 1017. Although the death of Ed- 
 mund removed all obstacles, and the south lay pros- 
 trate before the Danes, Canute began with a show 
 of law and moderation. A great council of the 
 bishops, " duces," and " optimates," was convened 
 at London ; and before them Canute appealed to 
 those Saxons who had been witnesses to the con- 
 vention and ti-eaty of partition between himself and 
 Edmund, and called upon them to state the terms 
 upon which the compact was concluded. Intimi- 
 dated by force, or won by promises, and the hopes 
 of conciliating the favor of the powerful survivor, 
 who seemed certain to be king, with or without 
 their consent, they all loudly testified that Edmund 
 had never intended to reserve any right of succes- 
 sion to his bi-others, the sons of Ethelred, who were 
 absent in Normandy, and that it was his (Edmund's) 
 express wish that Canute should be the guardian of 
 his own children during their infency. The most 
 imperfect and faint semblance of a right being thus 
 established, the Saxon chiefs took an oath of fidelity 
 to Canute, as king of all England ; and Canute, in 
 return, swore to be just and benevolent, and clasped 
 
 1 Malinsb. 
 
 their hands with his naked hand, in sign of sincerity. 
 A full amnesty was promised ; but the promise had 
 scarcely passed the royal lips ere Canute began to 
 proscribe those whom he had promised to love. 
 The principal of the Saxon chiefs who had formerly 
 opposed him, and the relations of Edmund and 
 Ethelred, were banished or put to death. " He 
 who brings me the head of one of my enemies," 
 said the ferocious Dane, "shall be dearer to me 
 than a brother." The witenagemot, or parliament, 
 which had so recently passed the same sentence 
 against the Danish princes, now excluded all the 
 descendents of Ethelred from the throne. They 
 declared Edwy, a grown-up brother of Ironside, an 
 outlaw, and when he was pursued and murdered 
 by Canute, they tacitly acknowledged the justice of 
 that execution. This Edwy bore the curious title of 
 " King of the Churls, or Peasants," concerning the 
 proper meaning of which there have been some dis- 
 putes. We incline to the opinion of a recent WTiter 
 — that this designation did not imply a real dignity, 
 and that it may be conjectured to have been merely 
 a name given to Edwy on account of his popularity' 
 among the peasants.^ Such a popularity in the 
 Saxon prince would naturally excite the jealousy of 
 the Danes, who, however, sought the destriiction of 
 all the race. Edmund and Edward, the two infant 
 sons of the deceased king, Edmund Ironside, were 
 seized, and a feeling of shame, mingled perhaps 
 with some fear of the popular odium, preventing 
 him from murdering them in England, Canute sent 
 them over sea to his ally and vassal, the king of 
 Sweden, w'hom he requested to dispose of them in 
 such a manner as should remove his uneasiness on 
 their account. He meant that they should be mur- 
 dered ; but the Swedish king, moved by the inno- 
 cence of the little children, instead of executing the 
 horrid commission, sent them to the distant court 
 of the King of Hungary, where they were affection- 
 ately and honorably entertained, beyond the reach 
 of Canute. Of these two orphans Edmund died 
 without issue, but Edward married a daughter of 
 the German emperor, by whom he became father 
 to Edgar Atheling, Christina, and Margaret. Edgar 
 Avill be frequently mentioned in our subsequent 
 pages. Margaret became the wife of Malcolm, 
 King of Scotland, and through her the rights of the 
 line of Alfred and Cerdic were transmitted to Mal- 
 colm's progeny, after the Norman conquest of Eng- 
 land. There were still two princes Avliose claims 
 to the q^rown might some day disquiet Canute, but 
 they were out of his reach in Normandy. These 
 were Edward and Alfred, the sons of King Ethelred, 
 by Eunna. Their uncle Richard, the Norman duke, 
 at first sent an embassy to the Dane, demanding, on 
 their behalf, the restitution of the kingdom ; but 
 though his power was great, he adopted no meas- 
 ures likely to induce Canute to a surrender or par- 
 tition of the territories he was actually possessed 
 of; and, very soon after, he entered into close and 
 friendly negotiations with that enemy of his nephews, 
 and even offered him tlieir own mother and his sister 
 
 ' Palg-rave, Hist. ch. xiii. We hear of no "King- of the Churls" 
 either before or after Edwy. It cenainly looks lilve a nickname.
 
 172 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 in marriage. According to some historians, the first 
 overtures to this unnatural marriage, which was fol- 
 lowed by most unnatural consequences, proceeded 
 from Canute. However this may be, the Dane 
 wooed the widowed "Flower of Normandy;" and 
 the heartless Emma, forgetful of the children she 
 had borne, and only anxious to become again the 
 wife of a king, readily gave her hand to the man 
 who had caused the ruin and hastened the death of 
 her husband Etheh-ed. In this extraordinary trans- 
 action an old chronicler is at a loss to decide whether 
 the greater share of dishonor falls to Queen Emma 
 or to her brother Duke Richard.* Having soon be- 
 come the mother of another son, by Canute, this 
 Norman woman neglected and despised her first- 
 born ; and those two princes being detained at a 
 distance from England, became by degrees sti-an- 
 gers to their own country-, forgot its language and 
 its manners, and gi'ew up Normans instead of 
 Saxons. The Danish dynasty of Canute was not 
 destined to take root ; but the circumstance just al- 
 luded to most essentially contributed to place a long 
 line of Norman princes upon the throne of England. 
 Canute was not one that loved blood for the sake 
 of bloodshedding. When he had disposed of all 
 those who gave him fear or umbrage, he stayed his 
 hand, and was praised, like so many other conquer- 
 ors and tyrants, for his merciful forbeai'ance. The 
 Danish warriors insulted, robbed, and sorely op- 
 pressed the Saxons, and he himself wrung from 
 them more " geld" than they had ever paid before ; 
 but by degrees, Canute assumed a mild tone to- 
 wards his new subjects, and partially succeeded in 
 gaining their good-will. They followed him wil- 
 lingly to his foreign wars, of which there was no 
 lack, for, besides that of England, Canute now held, 
 or pretended to, the crowns of Denmark, Sweden, 
 and Norway. In these distant wars, the Saxons, 
 who had not been able to defend themselves, fought 
 most bravely under their own conqueror, for the 
 enslaving of other nations. But this is a case of 
 verj^ common occurrence, both in ancient and mod- 
 ern history. Canute's last military expedition (a.d. 
 1017-19) was against the Cumbrians and Scots. 
 Duncan, the regulus, or under-king of Cumbria, 
 refused homage and allegiance to the Dane, on the 
 ground that he was a usurper ; and IMalcolm, King 
 of Scotland, equally maintained that the English 
 throne belonged of right to the legitimate heir of 
 King Ethelred. Had the powerful Duke of Nor- 
 mandy seconded these demonstrations in favor of his 
 nephews, Canute's crown might have been put in 
 jeopardy ; but the Cumbrians and Scots were left 
 to themselves, and compelled to submit, in the face 
 of a most formidable army which the Dane had col- 
 lected. 
 
 These constant successes, and the enjoyment of 
 peace which followed them, together Avith the so- 
 bering influence of increasing years, though he was 
 yet in the prime of manhood, softened the conquer- 
 or's heart; and, though he continued to rule de- 
 spotically, the latter part of his reign was marked 
 with no acts of cruelty, and was probably, on the 
 
 1 Maliiisb. 
 
 whole, a happier time than the English had known 
 since the days of Alfred and Athelstane. He was 
 cheerful and accessible to all his subjects, without 
 distinction of race or nation. He took pleasure in 
 old songs and ballads, of which both Danes and 
 Saxons were passionately fond ; he most liberally 
 patronized the scalds, minstrels, and glee-men, the 
 poets and musicians of the time, and occasionally 
 wrote verses himself, which were orally circulated 
 among the common people, and taken up and sung 
 by them. He could scarcely have hit upon a surer 
 road to popularity. A ballad of his composition 
 continued long after to be a special favorite with 
 the English peasantry. All of it is lost except the 
 first verse, which has been preserved in the Histo- 
 ria Eiiensis, or History of Ely. The interesting 
 royal fragment is simply this : — 
 
 Morie suiiEj'en the niunerhos binnen Ely, 
 Tha Cnut Chiiig rcu them l)y. — 
 R<iweth, cnilitPS, iiiPr the Innd, 
 And here \vn l\ws luuneclius s^icng 
 
 that is : — 
 
 Merrily sung ihe monks within Ely, 
 When Cnute kins; rowed thereby. — 
 Row, my knights, row ncitr the land, 
 And hear we these monks' song. 
 
 The verses are said to have been suggested to hiui 
 one day as he was rowing on the river Nenne, near 
 Ely Minster, by hearing the sweet and solemn 
 music of the monastic choir floating over the waters.^ 
 In his days of quiet, the devotion of the times had 
 also its full influence on the character of Canute. 
 This son of an apostate Christian showed himself a 
 zealous believer, a friend to the monks, a visitor and 
 collector of relics, a founder of churches and mon- 
 asteries. His soul was assailed Avith remorse for 
 the blood he had shed and the other crimes he had 
 committed; and, in the year 1030, he determined 
 to make a pilgrimage to Rome. He started on his 
 journey to the Holy City with a wallet on his bark 
 and a pilgrim's staft' in his hand. He visited all the 
 most celebrated churches on the road between the 
 Low Countries and Rome, leaving at every one of 
 them some proof of his liberality. According to a 
 foreign chi-onicler, all the people on his Avay had 
 reason to exclaim — " The blessing of God be upon 
 the king of the English !" But no one tells us how 
 dearly this munificence cost the English people. 
 Returning from Rome, where he resided a consid- 
 erable time, in company with other kings (there 
 seems to have been a sort of royal and ecclesiastical 
 congress held), he purchased in the city of Pavia, 
 the arm of St. Augustine, the " Great Doctor." 
 This precious relic, for which he paid a hundred 
 talents of gold and a hundred talents of silver, he 
 afterwards presented to the church of Coventry; — 
 an act of Hberality by which, no doubt, he gained 
 many friends and many prayers. 
 
 On recrossing the Alps, Canute did not make 
 his way direct to England, but went to his other 
 kingdom of Denmark, where, it appears, he liad 
 
 1 The mennin? of the old Eiicrlish •'merry." and ''merrily," it is to 
 be remembered, was different Ironi that which we now attach to the 
 words. A '■ merry" S"n_' was merely a sweet or touching melody, and 
 nii^'ht be plaintive as well as gay.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 17J 
 
 still difficulties to settle, and where he remained 
 some months. He, however, dispatched the Ab- 
 bot of Tavistock to England, with a long letter of 
 explanation, command, and advice, addressed to 
 " Egelnoth the Metropolitan, to Archbishop Alfric, 
 to all Bishops and Chiefs, and to all the nation of 
 the English, both nobles and commoners, greeting." 
 This curious letter, which appears to have been 
 carefully preserved, and which is given entire by 
 writers who lived near the time, begins with ex- 
 plaining the motives of his pilgi-image, and the na- 
 ture of the sacred omnipotence of the Church of 
 Rome. It then continues : — 
 
 " And be it known to you that, at the solemn 
 festival of Easter, there was held a great assem- 
 blage of illustrious persons ; to wit : — the Pope 
 John, the Emperor Conrad, and the chiefs of all 
 the nations from Mount Garganus to the neighbor- 
 ing sea. They all i-eceived me with distinction, 
 and honored me with rich presents, giving me vases 
 of gold and vessels of silver, and stuffs and garments 
 of gi-eat price. I discoursed with the Lord Pope, 
 the Lord Emperor, and the other princes, on the 
 grievances of my people, English as well as 
 Danes. I endeavored to obtain for my people, just- 
 ice and secui-ity in their journeys to Rome ; and, 
 above all, that they might not henceforth be delayed 
 on the road by the shutting up of the mountain 
 passes, the erecting of barriers, and the exaction of 
 heavy tolls. My demands were gi-anted, both by 
 the emperor and King Rudolf, who are masters of 
 most of the passes ; and it was enacted that all my 
 men, as well merchants as pilgrims, should go to 
 Rome and return in full security, without being de- 
 tained at the barriers, or forced to pay unlawful 
 tolls. I also complained to the Lord Pope that 
 such enormous sums had been extorted up to this 
 day from my archbishops, when, according to cus- 
 tom, they went to the apostolic see to obtain the 
 pallium ; and a decree was forthwith made that this 
 gi'ievance likewise should cease. Wherefor, I re- 
 turn sincere thanks to God that I have successfully 
 done all that I intended to do, and have fully satis- 
 fied all ray wishes. And now, therefore, be it known 
 to you all that I have dedicated my life to God, to 
 govern my kingdoms with justice, and to observe 
 the right in ail things. If, in the time that is pass- 
 ed, and in the violence and carelessness of youth, I 
 have violated justice, it is my intention, by the help 
 of God, to make full compensation. Therefore I 
 beg and command those unto whom I have entrust- 
 ed the government, as they wish to preserve my 
 good-will, and save their own souls, to do no injus- 
 tice either to rich or poor. Let those who are 
 noble, and those who are not, equally obtain their 
 rights, according to the laws from which no devia- 
 tion shall be allowed, either from fear of me, or 
 through favor to the powerful, or for the purpose of 
 supplying my ti-easmy. / want no money raised by 
 injustice." The last clause of this remarkable and 
 characteristic epistle had reference to the clergj-. 
 " I entreat and order you all, the bishops, sheriffs, 
 and officers of my kingdom of England, by the faith 
 which you owe to God and to me, so to take mea- 
 
 sures that before my return among you. all our 
 debts to the church be paid up ; to wit : — the plough 
 alms, the tithes on cattle of the present year, the 
 Peter-pence due by each house in all towns and 
 villages, the tithes of fruit in the middle of August, 
 and the kirk-shot at the feast of St. Martin to the 
 parish chiu-ch. And if, at my return, these dues 
 are not wholly discharged, I will punish the delin- 
 quents according to the rigor of the laws, and with- 
 out any gi'ace. So fare j'e weU."^ 
 
 It does not clearly appear whether the old writers 
 refer the following often-repeated incident to a pe- 
 riod preceding or one subsequent to this Roman 
 pilgrimage. When at the height of his power, and 
 when all things seemed to bend to his lordly will 
 (so goes the story), Canute, disgusted one day with 
 the extravagant flatteries of his courtiers, deter- 
 mined to read them a practical lesson. He caused 
 his throne to be placed on the verge of the sands 
 on the sea-shore as the tide was rolling in ^\'ith its 
 resistless might, and, seating himself, he addressed 
 the ocean, and said, — "Ocean! the land on which 
 I sit is mine, and thou art a part of my dominion — 
 therefore rise not — obey my commands, nor pre- 
 sume to wet the edge of my robe." He sate for 
 some time as if expecting obedience, but the sea 
 rolled on in its immutable course ; succeeding waves 
 broke nearer and nearer to his feet, till at length 
 the skirts of his garment and his legs were bathed 
 bj' the waters. Then, turning to his courtiers and 
 captains, Canute said, — " Confess ye now how friv- 
 olous and vain is the might of an earthly king com- 
 pared to that Great power who rules the elements, 
 and can say unto the ocean, ' Thus far shalt thou 
 go, and no farther.' " The chroniclers conclude 
 the apologue by adding that he immediately took off 
 his crown, and depositing it in the cathedral of 
 Winchester, never wore it again. 
 
 This great Danish sovereign died a.d. 1035, at 
 Shaftesbury, about three years after his return from 
 Rome, and was buried at Winchester. The churches 
 and abbeys he erected have long since disappeared, 
 ox their fragments have been imbedded in later ed- 
 ifices erected on their sites ; but the great public 
 work called the King^s Del/, a causeway connecting 
 Peterborough and Ramsey, and carried through the 
 marshes by Canute's command, is still serviceable. 
 
 On his demise there was the usual difficulty and 
 contention respecting the succession. Canute left 
 but one legitimate son, Hardicanute, whom he had 
 by Etheh-ed's widow, the lady Emma of Normandy. 
 He had two illegitimate sons, Sweyn and Harold. 
 In royal families bastardy was none, or a very shght 
 objection in those days ; but, according to the con- 
 temporary writers, it was the prevalent belief, or 
 popular scandal, that these two young men were 
 not the children of Canute, even illegitimately, but 
 were imposed upon him as such by his acknowledged 
 concubine Alfgiva, daughter of the eolderman of 
 Southampton, who, according to this gossip, knew 
 full well that Sweyn was the son of a priest by an- 
 
 ' Ingulf. Malmsb. Florent. Wigorn. The substance of the lettei 
 ■ is also found in Torfai Hist. Norveg. and in Ditmari Script. Rer. 
 Danicar
 
 174 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 omer wftman, and Harold the offspring of a cobbler 
 and his wife. Wlioever were their fathers and 
 mothers, it is certain that Canute intended that his 
 dominions should be divided among the three young 
 men, and this without any apparent prejudice in 
 favor of legitimacy ; for Harold, and not Hardicanute 
 (the lawful son), was to have England, which was 
 esteemed by far the best portion. Denmark was to 
 fall to Hardicanute, and Norway to Sweyn. Both 
 these princes were in the north of Europe, and ap- 
 parently in possession of power there when Canute 
 died. The powerful Earl Godwin, and the Saxons 
 of the south generally, wished rather to choose for 
 king of England either one of the sons of Ethelred, 
 who were still in Normandy, or Hardicanut?, the 
 son of Emma, who was at least connected with the 
 old Saxon line. But Earl Leofric of Mercia, Avith 
 the thanes north of the Thames, and all the Danes, 
 supported the claims of the illegitimate Harold ; and 
 when the influential city of London took this side, 
 the cause of Hardicanute seemed almost hopeless. 
 But still all the men of the south and the great Earl 
 Godwin adhered to the latter, and a civil war was 
 imminent (to escape the horrors of which many 
 fomilies had already fled to the morasses and forests), 
 when it was wisely determined to eff'ect a com- 
 promise by means of the witenagemot. This as- 
 
 Canute Reproving hi3 Flatterers. — Smirke. 
 
 sembly met at Oxford, and there decided that Harold 
 should have all the provinces north of the Thames, 
 with London for his capital, while all the country 
 south of that river should remain to his real or fic- 
 titious half-brother Hardicanute. 
 
 Hardicanute, showing no anxiety for his domin 
 ions in England, lingered in Denmark, where the 
 habits of the Scandinavian chiefs, and their hard 
 drinking, were to his taste ; but his mother Emma 
 and Earl Godwin governed in the south on his be- 
 half, and held a court at Winchester. Harold, 
 however, who saw his superiority over his absent 
 half-brother, took his measures for att.iching the 
 provinces of the south to his dominions ; and two 
 fruitless invasions from Normandy only tended to 
 increase his power and facilitate that aggrandize- 
 ment. 
 
 Soon after the news of Canute's death reached 
 Normandy, Edward, the eldest of the surviving sons 
 of Ethelred by Emma, and who eventually became 
 king of England under the title of Edward the Con- 
 fessor, made sail for England with a few ships, and 
 landed at Southampton in the intention of claiming 
 the crown. He threw himself in the midst of his 
 mother's retainers, and was within a few miles of 
 her residence at Winchester. But Emma had no 
 affection for her children by Ethelred: she was at
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AhB MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 175 
 
 the moment making every exertion to secure the 
 Enghsh throne for her son by Canute, and, instead 
 of aiding Edward, she set the whole country in hos- 
 tile array against him. He escaped with some dif- 
 ficulty from a formidable force, and fled back to 
 Normandy, determined, it is said, never again to 
 touch the soil of his fathers. 
 
 The second invasion from Norma-ndy was attend- 
 ed with more tragical results, and part of the history 
 of it is enveloped in an impenetrable mystery. 
 
 An affectionate letter,^ purporting to be written 
 by the queen-mother, Emma, was conveyed to her 
 sons Edward and Alfred, reproaching them with 
 their apathy, and urging that one of them, at least, 
 should return to England and assert his right against 
 the tyrant Harold. This letter is pronounced a 
 forgery by the old writer who preserves it; bnt 
 those who are disposed to take the darkest view of 
 Emma's character may object, that this writer was 
 a paid encomiast of that queen's (and paid by her 
 living self), and therefore not likely to confess her 
 guilty of being a participator in her own son's mur- 
 der, even if such were the fact. The same authority, 
 indeed, even praises her for her ill-assorted, shame- 
 ful marriage with Canute, which undeniably alien- 
 ated her. from her children by the former union. 
 For ourselves, although she did not escape the 
 strong suspicion of her contemporaries any more 
 than Earl Godwin, who was then in close alliance 
 with her, we rather incline to the belief that the 
 letter was forged by the order of Harold ; though, 
 again, there is a possibility that it may have been 
 actually the product of the queen, who may have 
 meant no harm to her son, and that the harm he 
 suffered may have fallen upon him through Godwin, 
 on that chief's seeing how he came attended. How- 
 ever this may be, Alfred, the younger of the two 
 brothers, accepted the invitation. The instructions 
 of Emma's letter were to come without any arma- 
 ment f but he raised a considerable force {militcs 
 non parvi numeric in Normandy and Boulogne. 
 When he appeared off Sandwich, there was a far 
 superior force there, which rendered his landing 
 hopeless. He therefore bore round the North 
 Foreland, and disembarked '* opposite to Canter- 
 bury," probably about Heme Bay, between the 
 Triculvers and the Isle of Sheppey. Having ad- 
 vanced some distance up the country without any 
 opposition, he was met by Earl Godwin, who is said 
 to have sworn faith to him, and to have undertaken 
 to conduct him to his mother Emma. Avoiding 
 London, where the party of Harold was predomi- 
 nant, they marched to Guildford, where Godwin 
 billeted the strangers, in small parties of tens and 
 scores, in different houses of the town. There was 
 plenty of meat and drink prepared in every lodging ; 
 and Earl Godwin, taking his leave for the night, 
 promised his dutiful attendance on Alfred for the 
 following morning. Tired with the day's journey, 
 and filled with meat and wine, the separated com- 
 pany went to bed, suspecting no wrong; but in the 
 
 1 Eucom. Emm. 
 
 " Rogo unus vestrum ail me veluritcr ct private venial. Enc Emm. 
 
 2 GuiU. Gemeticeusis. 
 
 dead of night, when disarmed and buried in sleep, 
 they were suddenly set upon by King Harold's 
 forces, who seized and bound them all with chains 
 and gyves. On the following morning they were 
 ranged in a line before the executioners. There 
 are said to have been 600 victims, and, with the ex- 
 ception of every tenth man, they were all barba- 
 rously tortured and massacred. Prince Alfred was 
 reserved for a still more cruel fate. He was hurried 
 away to London, where, it should seem, Harold 
 personally insulted his misfortunes ; and from Lon- 
 don he was sent to the Isle of Ely, in the heart of 
 the country of the Danes. He made the sad journey 
 mounted on a wretched horse, naked, and with his 
 feet tied beneath the animal's belly. At Ely he was 
 arraigned before a mock court of Danish miscreants, 
 as a disturber of the country's peace, and was con- 
 demned to lose his eyes. His eyes were instantly 
 torn out by main force, and he died a few days after 
 in exquisite anguish. Some believe that Earl God- 
 win was guilty of betraying, or at least deserting the 
 prince after he had landed in England, without 
 having premeditated treachery in inviting him over ; 
 and they say his change of sentiment took place the 
 instant he saw that Alfred, instead of coming alone 
 to throw himself on the affections of the Saxon 
 people, had surrounded himself with a host of am- 
 bitious foreigners, all eager to share in the wealth 
 and honors of the land. Henry of Huntingdon, a 
 writer of the twelfth century, supports this not ir- 
 rational view of the case, and says that Godwin told 
 his Saxon followers that Alfred came escorted by 
 too many Normans, — that he had promised these 
 Normans rich possessions in England, — and that it 
 would be an act of imprudence in them, the Saxons, 
 to permit this race of foreigners, known through the 
 world for their audacity and cunning, to gain a- 
 footing in England. The whole life of the great 
 earl abounds in sudden resolutions and changes ; 
 nor did he ever hesitate at bloodshed ; but without 
 going into a discussion which would fill many pages, 
 and leave us in uncertainty at last, we will quit this 
 horrid tragedy, of the truth of which there is no 
 reason to doubt, by confessing that the motives of 
 the parties concerned, and the share of guilt which 
 each had in it, cannot be estabhshed from the ac- 
 counts of the old chroniclers, who hold very different 
 language, and contradict each other. Shortly after 
 the murder of Alfred, Emma was either sent out of 
 England by Harold, or retired a voluntary exile. It 
 is to be remarked that she did not fix her residence 
 in Normandy, where her son Edward, brother of 
 Alfred, was living, but went to the court of Baldwin, 
 Earl of Flanders. 
 
 Harold had now little difficulty in getting himself 
 proclaimed " full king" over all the island. The 
 election, indeed, was not sanctioned by legislative 
 authority; but this authority, always fluctuating 
 and uncertain, was at present almost worthless. 
 A more important opposition was that oftered by 
 the church, in whose ranks the Saxons were far 
 more numerous than the Danes, or priests of Dan- 
 ish descent; and in all these contentions the two 
 hostile races must be considered, and not merely
 
 176 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 the quarrels or ambition of the rival princes. The 
 question at issue was, whether the Danes or the 
 Saxons should liave the upper liand. Ethelnoth, 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was a Saxon, 
 refused to perforin the ceremonies of the corona- 
 tion. Talking the ci"own and sceptre, which it ap- 
 pears liad been entrusted to his charge by Canute, 
 he laid them on the altar, and said, " Harold ! I 
 will neither give them to thee, nor prevent thee 
 from taking the ensigns of royalty ; but I will not 
 bless thee, nor shall any bishop consecrate thee on 
 the throne." It is said that, on this, hke a modern 
 conqueror, the Dane put the crown on his head 
 with his own hands. According to some accounts 
 he subsequently won over the archbishop, and was 
 solemnly crowned. Other authorities, however, 
 assert that he was never crowned at all, that out of 
 spite to the archbishop, he showed an open con- 
 tempt for the Christian religion, absenting himself 
 fi'om all places of worship, and uncoupling his 
 hounds, or calling for meat and wine at the hours 
 when the fajthful were summoned to mass and 
 prayer. His chief amusement was hunting; and, 
 from the fleetness with which he could follow the 
 game on foot, he acquired the name of " Harold 
 Harefoot." Little more is known about him, ex- 
 cept that he died after a short reign of four years, 
 in A.D. 1040, and was buried at Westminster. 
 
 Hardica.\ute, his half-brother, was at Bruges, 
 and on the point of invading England, when Hai-old 
 died. After long delays in Denmark, he listened 
 to the urgent calls of his exiled mother, the still 
 stirring and ambitious Emma ; and, leaving a greater 
 force ready at the mouth of the Baltic, he sailed to 
 Flanders with nine ships to consult his parent. He 
 had been but a short time at Bruges when a depu- 
 tation of English and Danish thanes arrived there 
 to invite him to ascend the most brilliant of his 
 father's thrones in peace. The two great factions 
 in England had come to this agreement, but, ac- 
 cording to the chroniclers, they were soon made to 
 repent of it by the exactions and rapacity of Hardi- 
 canute. Belying more on the Danes, among whom 
 he had lived so long, than on the English, and being 
 averse to part with the companions of his revels 
 and drinking bouts, he brought with him a great 
 number of Danish chiefs and courtiers, and retained 
 an expensive Danish army and navy. This obliged 
 him to have frequent recourse to " Danegelds," the 
 arbitrary levying of which by his " Huscarles," or 
 household ti-oops, who were all Danes, caused fre- 
 quent insurrections or commotions. The people of 
 Worcester resisted the Huscarles with arms in their 
 hands, and slew Feader and Turstane, two of the 
 king's collectors. In revenge for this contempt, that 
 city was burnt to the ground, and a great part of the 
 surrounding country laid desolate, and the goods of 
 the citizens put to the spoil "by such power of 
 lords and men of war as the king sent against 
 them." It should appear that not even the church 
 was exempted from these oppressive levies of Dane- 
 geld, for a monkish writer complains that the clergy 
 were forced to sell the very chalices from the altar 
 in order to pay their assessments. 
 
 On his first arriving in England, Hardicanute 
 showed his horror of Prince Alfred's murder, and 
 his revenge for the injury done by Harold to him- 
 self and his relatives, in a truly barbarous manner. 
 By his order, the body of Harold was dug up from 
 the grave ; its head was struck olf, and then both 
 body and head were thrown into the Thames. To 
 increase the dramatic interest of the story, some of 
 the old writers, who maintain that the great earl 
 had murdered Alfred to serve Harold, say that 
 Godwin was obhged to assist at the disinterment 
 and decapitation of the corpse, the mutilated re- 
 mains of which were soon after drawn out of the 
 river by some Danish fishermen, who secretly in- 
 terred them in the churchyard of St. Clement 
 Danes, "without Temple-bar at London." Earl 
 Godwin, indeed, a very short time after, was for- 
 mally accused of Alfred's murder ; but he cleared 
 himself, in law, by his own oath, and the oaths of 
 many of his peers ; and a rich and splendid present 
 ie generally supposed to have set the question at 
 rest between him and Hardicanute, though it failed 
 to acquit him in popular opinion. This present 
 was a shij) of the first class, covered with gilded 
 metal, and bearing a figure-head in solid gold : the 
 crew, ^vhich formed an intrinsic part of the gift, 
 were fourscore picked warriors, and each Avarrior 
 was furnished with dress and appointments of the 
 most costly description — a gilded helmet was on his 
 head, a triple hauberk on his body, a sword with a 
 hilt of gold hung by his side, a Danish battle-axe, 
 damasked with silver, was on his shoulder, a gold- 
 studded shield on his left arm, and in his right hand 
 a gilded atcgar.^ 
 
 During the remainder of Hardicanute's short 
 reign. Earl Godwin, and Emma the queen-mother, 
 who were again in friendly alliance, divided nearly 
 all the authority of government between them, 
 leaving the king to the tranquil enjoyment of the 
 things he most prized in life — his banquets, which 
 were spread four times a day, and his carousals at 
 night. From many incidental passages in the old 
 writers, we should conclude that the Saxons them- 
 selves were sufficiently addicted to drinking and 
 the pleasures of the taljle, and required no instruc- 
 tors in those particulars; j'et it is pretty generally 
 stated that hard drinking became fashionable under 
 the Danes ; and more than one chronicler laments 
 that Englishmen learned from the example of Har- 
 dicanute " their excessive gormandizing and un- 
 measurable filling of their bellies with meats and 
 drinks." 
 
 This king's death was in keeping with the tenor 
 of his life. When he had reigned two years all but 
 ten days, he took part, with his usual zest, in the 
 marriage feast of one of his Danish thanes, which 
 was held at Lambeth, or, more probably, at Clap- 
 ham.- At a late hour of the night, as he stood up 
 
 1 The same scythc-shapcd weapon as the Moorish " assa^ay," the 
 Turkish "yataghan," &c. It was a common weapon with the Danes, 
 and is still so in the East. 
 
 • The name of the bride's father, in whose house the feast is sup- 
 posed to have been held, was Osjod Clapa ; and Clapa-ham, the hamr 
 or home of Clapa, is taken as the etymology of our suburban village. — 
 Palgrave, Hist. c-h. xiii
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 177 
 
 to pledge that jovial company, he suddenly fell 
 down speechless with the wine-cup in his hand : 
 he was removed to an inner chamber, but he spoke 
 no more ; and thus the last Danish king in England 
 died drunk. He was buried in the church of Win- 
 chester, near his father Canute. 
 
 Silver Coins of Edward the Confessor.— From Specimens in the 
 Bi'itiiili Museum. 
 
 Edward the Confessor. Hardicanute was 
 scarcely in his grave when his half-brother Ed- 
 ward, who was many years his senior, ascended 
 the throne (a. d. 1042) with no opposition, except 
 such as he found from his own fears and scruples, 
 which, had he been left to himself, would probably 
 have induced him to prefer a monastery or some 
 other quiet retirement in Normandy. During his 
 very brief reign, Hardicanute had recalled the exile 
 to England, had received him with honor and affec- 
 tion, granted him a handsome allowance, and even 
 proposed, it is said, to associate him in his govern- 
 ment. Edward was, therefore, at hand, and in a 
 favorable position at the moment of crisis ; nor, ac- 
 cording to the modern laws of hereditary succes- 
 sion, could any one have established so good a 
 right ; for his half-nephew, Edward, who was still 
 far away in Hungary, was only illegitimately de- 
 scended from the royal line of Cerdic and Alfred, 
 his father, Edmund Ironside, though older than 
 Edward, being a natural son of their common father 
 Etheh-ed. But, in truth, rules of succession had 
 little to do with the settlement of the crown, which 
 was effected by a variety of other and more potent 
 agencies. The connexion between the Danish and 
 English crowns was evidently breaking off; there 
 was a pi'ospect that the two parties in England 
 would soon be left to decide their contest without 
 any intervention from Denmark ; for some time 
 the Saxon party had been gaining ground, and, be- 
 fore Hardicanute's death, formidable associations 
 had been made, and more than one successful bat- 
 tle fought against the Danes. On their side, the 
 Danes, having no descendant of the great Canute 
 around whom to rally, became less vehement for 
 the expulsion of the Saxon line, while many of 
 them settled in the south of the island were won 
 over by the reputed virtue and sanctity of Edward. 
 If we may judge by the uncertain light of some of 
 the chronicles, many leading Danes quitted Eng- 
 land on Hardicanute's decease ; and it seems quite 
 certain that when the nobles and prelates of the 
 Saxons (were there not Danes among these?) 
 assembled in London, with the resolution of elect- 
 ing Edward, they encountered no opposition from 
 any Danish faction. But the great Earl Godwin, 
 the still suspected murderer of the new king's 
 VOL. I 12 
 
 brother, Alfred, had by far the greatest share in 
 Edward's elevation. This veteran politician, of an 
 age considered barbarous, and of a race (the Saxon) 
 generally noted rather for stupidity and dulness, 
 than for acuteness and adroitness, trimmed his 
 sails according to the winds that predominated, 
 with a degree of skill and remorselessness which 
 would stand a comparison with the manoeuvres of 
 the most celebrated political intriguers of the most 
 modern and civilized times. In all the sti'uggles that 
 had taken place since the death of Canute he had 
 changed sides with astonishing facility and rapiditj', 
 going back more than once to the party he had de- 
 serted, then changing again, and always causing the 
 faction he embraced to triumph just so long as he 
 adhered to it, and no longer. Changes, ruinous to 
 others, only brought him an accession of strength. 
 At the death of Hardicanute, he was earl of all 
 Wessex and Kent ; and by his alliances and in- 
 ti'igues, he controlled nearly the whole of the 
 southern and more Saxon part of England. His 
 abilities were proved by the station he had attained ; 
 for he had begun life as a cow-herd. He was a 
 fluent speaker ; but his eloquence, no doubt, owed 
 much of its faculty of conveying conviction to the 
 power or material means he had always at hand to 
 enforce his arguments. When he rose in the 
 assembly of thanes and bishops, and gave it as his 
 opinion that Edward the Atheling, the only sur- 
 viving son of Ethelred, should be their king, there 
 were but very few dissentient voices ; and the earl 
 carefully marked the weak minority, who seem all 
 to have been Saxons, and drove them into exile 
 shortly after. It is pretty generally stated, that 
 his relation, William, Duke of Normandy (after- 
 wards the Conqueror), materially aided Edward by 
 his influence, having firmly announced to the 
 Saxons, that if they failed in their duty to the sons 
 of Emma, they should feel the weight of his ven- 
 geance ; but we more than doubt the authenticity 
 of this fact, from the simple circumstances of Duke 
 William's being only fifteen years old at the time, 
 and his states being in most lamentable confusion 
 and anarchy, pressed from without by the French 
 king, and troubled within by factious nobles, who 
 all wished to take advantage of his youth and in- 
 experience. 
 
 The case, perhaps, is not veiy rare, but it must 
 always be a painful and perplexing one. Edward 
 hated the man who was serving him ; and while 
 Godwin was placing him on the throne, he could 
 not detach his eyes from the bloody grave to which, 
 in his conviction, the earl had sent his brother 
 Alfred. Godwin was perfectly well aware of these 
 feelings, and, like a practised pohtician, before he 
 stin-ed in Edward's cause, and w^hen the fiite of 
 that pi-ince, even to his hfe or death, Avas in his 
 hands, he made such stipulations as were best cal- 
 culated to secure him against their eflects. He 
 obtained an extension of territories, honors, and 
 commands for himself and his sons — a solemn 
 assurance that the past was forgiven, and, as a 
 pledge for future affection and family union, he 
 made Edward consent to marry his daughter. The
 
 178 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 fair Editha, the daughter of the fortunate earl, 
 became queen of England ; but the heart was not 
 to be controlled, and Edward was never a husband 
 to her. Yet, from contemporarj' accounts, Editha 
 was deserving of love, and possessed of such a 
 union of good qualities as ought to have removed 
 the deep-rooted antipathies of the king to herself 
 and her race. Her person was beautiful; her 
 manners graceful ; her disposition cheerful, meek, 
 pious, and generous, without a taint of her father's 
 or brother's pride and arrogance. Her mental 
 accomplishments far surpassed the standard of that 
 age ; she was fond of reading, and had read many 
 books. Ingulphus, the monk of Croyland, wlio 
 was her contemporary and personal acquaintance, 
 speaks of her with a homely and subdued enthu- 
 siasm that is singularly touching. He says she 
 sprung from Godwin as the rose springs from the 
 thorn. " I have very often seen her," he continues, 
 " in my boyhood, when I used to go to visit my 
 father, who was employed about the court. Often 
 did I meet her as I came from school, and then 
 she questioned me about my studies and my verses ; 
 and, willingly passing from grammar to logic, she 
 would catch me in the subtleties of argument. 
 She always gave me two or three pieces of money, 
 which were counted to me by her hand-maiden, 
 and then sent me to the royal larder to refresh 
 mysclfy 
 
 If Edward neglected, and afterwards persecuted 
 his wife, he behaved in a still harsher and more 
 summary manner to his mother Emma, who, though 
 she has few claims on our sympathj-, was, in spite 
 of all her faults, entitled to some consideration from 
 him. But he could not forgive past injuries — he 
 could not forget, that, while she lavished her affec- 
 tions and ill-gotten treasures on her children by 
 Canute, she had left him and his brother to languish 
 in poverty in Normandy, where they were forced 
 to eat the bitter bread of other people ; and he 
 seems never to have relieved her from the horrid 
 suspicion of having had part in Alfred's murder. 
 These feelings were probably exasperated by her 
 refusing to advance him money at a moment of need, 
 just before, or at the date of his coronation. Shortly 
 after his coronation he held a council at Gloucester, 
 whence, accompanied by Earls Godwin, Leofric, 
 and Siward, he hurried to Winchester, where 
 Emma had again established a sort of court, seized 
 her treasures, and all the cattle, the corn, and the 
 forage on the lands which she possessed as a dower, 
 and behaved otherwise to her with great harshness. 
 Some say she was committed to close custody in 
 the abbey of Wearwell ; but, according to the more 
 generally received accoimt, she was permitted to 
 retain her lands, and to reside at large at Winches- 
 ter, where, it appears, she died in 1052, the tenth 
 year of Edward's reign. We omit the stoiy of her 
 alleged amours with Alwin, Bishop of Winchester, 
 and her exculpating herself by walking unscathed 
 with naked feet over nine red-hot plough-shares, 
 as rather a fiibulous legend, than belonging to real 
 history. 
 
 In the second year of Edward's reign (a.d. 1043) 
 
 a faint demon sti'ation to reestablish the Scandina- 
 vian supremacy in England was made by Magnus, 
 King of Norway and Denmark ; but the Saxons as- 
 sembled a great fleet at Sandwich ; the Danes in 
 the land remained quiet, and, his last hopes expir- 
 ing, Magnus was soon induced to declare that he 
 thought it " right and most convenient" that he 
 should let Edward enjoy his crown, and content 
 himself with fhe kingdoms which God had given 
 him. But though undisturbed by foreign invasions 
 or the internal wars of a competitor for the crown, 
 Edward was little more than a king in name. This 
 abject condition arose in part, but certainly not 
 wholly, from his easy, pacific disposition ; for he not 
 unfrequently showed himself capable of energy, and 
 firm and sudden decisions ; and although supersti- 
 tious and monk-ridden, he was, when roused, neither 
 deficient in talent nor in moral courage. A wider 
 and deeper spring, that sapped the royal authority, 
 was the enormous power Godwin and other earls 
 had possessed themselves of before his accession ; 
 and this power, be it remembered, he himself was 
 obliged to augment before he could put his foot on 
 the lowest step of the throne. When he had kept 
 his promises with the " Great Earl" — and he could 
 not possibly evade them — what with the territories 
 and commands of Godwin, and of his six sons, Ha- 
 rold, Sweyn, Wulnoth, Tostig, Gurth, and Leof- 
 win, the whole of the south of England, from Lin- 
 colnshire to the end of Cornwall, was in the hands 
 of one family. Nor had Edward's authority a better 
 basis elsewhere, for the whole of the north was 
 unequally divided betu^een Leofric and the gi-eater 
 Earl Siward, whose dominions extended from the 
 Humber to the Scottish border. These earls pos- 
 sessed all that was valuable in sovereignty within 
 the territories they held. They appointed their 
 own judges, received fines, and levied what troops 
 they chose. The chief security of the king lay in 
 the clashing interests and jealousies of these mighty 
 vassals : and, notwithstanding the remark of a great 
 writer,^ that this policy of balancing opposite parties 
 required a more steady hand to manage it than that 
 of Edward, it appears to us that he for some time 
 acquitted himself skilfully in this particular. As the 
 king endeared himself to his people by reducing 
 taxation, and removing the odious Dane-geld alto- 
 gether, — by reviving the old Saxon laws, and ad- 
 ministering them with justice and promptitude ; — 
 as he gained their reverence by his mild virtues, 
 and still more by his ascetic devotion, which event- 
 ually caused his canonization, he might have been 
 enabled to curb the family of Godwin and the rest, 
 and raise his depressed thi'one bj' means of the 
 popular will and affection ; but, unfortunately, there 
 were circumstances interwoven which neutralized 
 Edward's advantages, and gave the favorable color 
 of nationality and pati'iotism to the cause of Godwin, 
 whenever he chose to quarrel with the king. It 
 was perfectly natural, and it would have been as 
 excusable as natural, if the irapnidence of a king 
 ever admitted of an excuse, that Edward should 
 have an affection for the Normans, among whom 
 
 1 Hume, Hist.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 179 
 
 the best years of his Hfe had been passed, and 
 who gave him food and shelter when abandoned by 
 all the rest of the world. He was only thhteen 
 years old when he was first sent into Normandy ; 
 he was somewhat past forty when he ascended the 
 English throne ; so that for twenty-seven years, 
 commencing with a period when the young mind 
 is not formed, but ductile and most susceptible of 
 impressions, he had been accustomed to foreign 
 manners and habits and to convey all his thoughts 
 and feelings through the medium of a foreign lan- 
 guage. He was accused of a predilection for the 
 French, or " Romance," which by this time had 
 superseded their Scandinavian dialect, and become 
 the vernacular language of the Normans ; but it is 
 more than probable he had forgotten his Saxon. It 
 is not at the mature age of forty that a man can 
 shake off all his previous tastes, habits, and connex- 
 ions, and form new ones. Thus the king, as a mat- 
 ter of course, preferred the society of the Normans 
 to that of his own subjects ; and, whatever may have 
 been the relative civilization of the two kindred peo- 
 ple half a century before, it is quite, certain that the 
 Danish wars, fi'om the time of Ethelred downwards, 
 had caused the Saxons to retrograde, while it is 
 probable the Normans had made considerable ad- 
 vances in refinement in the same interval. Relying 
 on Edward's gi'atitude and friendship, several Nor- 
 mans came over with him when he was invited to 
 England by Hardicanute : this number Avas aug- 
 mented after his accession to the throne ; and as the 
 king provided for them all, or gave them constant 
 entertainment at his court, fresh adventurers con- 
 tinued to cross the Channel from time to time. It 
 should appear it was chiefly in the church that Ed- 
 ward pi'ovided for his foreign favorites. Robert, a 
 Norman, and, like most of his race, a personal ene- 
 my to Earl Godwin, was promoted to be Archbishop 
 of Canterbury and primate of all England ; Ulf and 
 William, two other Normans, were made bishops 
 of Dorchester and London ; and crosiers and abbots' 
 staffs were liberally distributed to the king's exotic 
 chaplains and house-clerks, Avho are said to have 
 closed all the avenues of access to his person and 
 favor against the English-born. Those Saxon no- 
 bles who yet hoped to prosper at court learned to 
 speak French, and imitated the dress, fashions, and 
 _ manner of living of the Normans. Edward adopted, 
 in all documents and charters, the hand-writing of 
 the Normans, which he thought handsomer than 
 that of the English : he introduced the use of the 
 " great seal," which he appended to his parchments, 
 in addition to the simple mark of the cross, which 
 had been used by the Anglo-Saxon kings ; and as 
 his chancellor, secretaries of state, and legal ad- 
 visers were all foreigners, and, no doubt, like the 
 natives of France of all ages, singularly neglectful 
 of the tongue of the people among whom they were 
 settled, the English lawyers were obliged to study 
 French, and to employ a foreign language in their 
 deeds and papers.^ Even in those rude ages fashion 
 had her influence and her votaries. The study of 
 the French language, to the neglect of the Saxon, 
 
 1 In^u'.f. 
 
 became very general,^ and the rich, the young, and 
 the gay of both sexes were not satisfied unless their 
 tunics, their chausses, their streamers, and mufflers 
 were cut after the latest Norman pattern. Not one 
 of these things was trifling in its influence — united, 
 their effect must have been most important; and it 
 seems to us that historians in general have not suf- 
 ficiently borne them in mind as a prelude to the 
 great drama of the Norman conquest. 
 
 All this, however, was distasteful to the gi-eat 
 body of the Saxon people, and highly in-itating to 
 Earl Godwin, who is said to have exacted an ex- 
 press and solemn promise from the king not to in- 
 undate the land with Normans, ere he consented 
 to raise him to the throne. The earl could scarcely 
 take up a more popular gi'ound ; and he made his 
 more private wrongs — the king's ti-eatment of his 
 daughter, and disinclination to the society of him- 
 self and his sons — all close and revolve round this 
 centre. Even personally the sympathy of the peo- 
 ple went with him. " Is it astonishing," they said, 
 " that the author and supporter of Edward's reign 
 should be wroth to see neivmen, of a foreign nation, 
 prefeiTed to himself?"^ 
 
 In 1044 a crime committed by a member of 
 his family somewhat clouded Godwin's popularity. 
 Sweyn, the earl's second son, and a married man, 
 violated an abbess, and was exiled by the king ; for 
 this, of all others, was the crime Edward was least 
 likely to overlook. After keeping the seas for some 
 time as a pirate, Sweyn returned to England on the 
 promise of a royal pardon. Some delay occuiTed 
 in passing this act of grace ; and it is said that 
 Beorn, his cousin, and even Harold, the brother of 
 Sweyn, pleaded strongly against him at court. The 
 fury of the outlaw knew no bounds, but pretending 
 to be reconciled with his cousin Beorn, he won his 
 confidence, got possession of his person, and then 
 caused him to be murdered. In spite of this accu- 
 mulated guilt Edward was fain to grant a pardon to 
 the son of the powerful earl, and Sweyn, though 
 he had rendered himself odious, and injured the 
 popularity of his family, Avas restored to his govern- 
 ment. 
 
 But in 1051 an event occurred which exasperated 
 the whole nation against the Normans, and gave 
 Godwin the opportunity of recovering all his reputa- 
 tion and influence with the Saxon people. Among 
 the many foreigners that came over to visit the king, 
 was Eustace, Count of Boulogne, who had married 
 the Lady Goda, a daughter of Ethelred, and sister 
 to EdAvard. This Eustace was a prince of consid- 
 erable power, and more pretension. He governed 
 hereditarily, under the supremacy of the French 
 crown, the city of Boulogne and the contiguous 
 territory on the shores of the channel ; and as a sign 
 of his dignity as chief of a maritime countiy, when 
 he armed for Avar he attached two long aigrettes, 
 made of whalebone, to his helmet. This loA'ing 
 brother-in-law, with rather a numerous retinue of 
 AvaiTiors and men-at-arms, Avas hospitably enter- 
 tained at the court of EdAvard, where he saAV French- 
 
 1 According to Ingulf, French came to be considered as the only laa 
 guage worthy of a gentleman. ^ Malmsb.
 
 180 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 men and Normans, and everything that was French 
 und foreign, so completely in the ascendant, that 
 he was led to despise the Saxons as a people already 
 conquered. On his return homewards Eustace 
 slept one night at Canterbury. The next morning 
 he continued his route for Dover, and when he was 
 within a mile of that town he ordered a halt, left 
 his traveling palfrey, and mounted his war-liorse, 
 which a page led in his right hand. He also put 
 on his coat of mail : all his people did the same ; 
 and in this warlike harness they entered Dover. 
 The foreigners marched insolently through the 
 town, choosing the best houses in which to pass the 
 night, and taking free quarters on the citizens with- 
 out asking permission, which was contrary to the 
 laws and customs of the Saxons. One of the towns- 
 men boldly repelled from his threshold a retainer 
 who pretended to take up his quarters in his house. 
 The stranger drew his sword and wounded the 
 Englishman. — the Englishman armed in haste, and 
 he, or one of his house, slew the Frenchman. At 
 this intelligence Count Eustace and all his troop 
 mounted on horseback, and, suiTounding the house 
 of the Englisliman, some of them forced their way 
 in, and murdered him on his own hearth-stone. This 
 done, they galloped through the streets with their 
 naked swords in their hands, striking men and 
 women, and crushing several children under their 
 horses' hoofs. This outrage roused the spirit of 
 the burghers, who armed themselves with such 
 weapons as they had, and met the mailed warriors 
 in a mass. After a fierce conflict, in which nine- 
 teen of the foreigners were slain and many more 
 wounded, Eustace, with the rest, being unable to 
 reach the port and embark, retreated out of Dover, 
 and then galloped with loose rein towards Glouces- 
 ter to lay his complaints before the king. Edward, 
 who was, as usual, surrounded by his Norman favor- 
 ites, gave his peace to Eustace and his companions, 
 and believing, on the simple assertion of his brother- 
 in-law, that the inhabitants of Dover were in the 
 wrong, and had begun the aftray, he sent immedi- 
 ately to Earl Godwin, in whose government the 
 city lay. " Set out forthwith," said the king's or- 
 der,^ " go and chastise with a military execution 
 those who attack my relations with the sword, and 
 trouble the peace of the country." " It ill becomes 
 you," replied Godwin, " to condemn, without a hear- 
 ing, the men whom it is your duty to protect." " 
 The circumstances of the fight at Dover were now 
 known all over the country : the assault evidently 
 liad begun by a Frenchman's daring to violate the 
 sanctity of an Englishman's house, and, right or 
 \VTong, the Saxon people would naturally espouse 
 the cause of their countrymen. Instead, therefore, 
 of chastising the burghers, the earl sided with them. 
 Before proceeding to extremities, Godwin proposed 
 that, instead of exercising that indiscriminate ven- 
 geance on all the inhabitants, which was implied 
 by a military execution, the magistrates of Dover 
 should be cited in a legal manner to appear before 
 the king and the royal judges, to give an account of 
 their conduct. It should seem that, transported by 
 
 1 Chron. Sar. 2 Malmsb 
 
 the indignation of his brother-in-law the Earl Eus- 
 tace, and confounded by the clamors of his Norman 
 favorites, Edward would not listen to this just and 
 reasonable proposition, but summoned Godwin to 
 appear before his foreign court at Gloucester; and 
 on his hesitating to put himself in so much jeopardy, 
 threatened him and his family with banishment and 
 confiscation. Then the great earl armed, and in so 
 doing, though some of the chroniclers assert it was 
 only to redress the popular giievances, and to make 
 an appeal to the English against the courtiers from 
 beyond sea, and that nothing was farther from his 
 thoughts than to offer insult or violence to the king 
 of his own creation, we are far from being convinced 
 of the entire purity of his motives or the modera- 
 tion of his objects. 
 
 Godwin, who ruled the country south of the 
 Thames, from one end to the other, gathered his 
 forces together, and was joined by a large body ot 
 the people, who voluntarily took up arms. Harold, 
 the eldest of his sons, collected many men all along 
 the eastern coast between the Thames and the 
 city of Boston ; and Sweyn, his second son, whose 
 guilt was forgotten in tlie popular excitement, 
 aiTayed his soldiers, and formed a patriotic associa- 
 tion among the Saxons wlio dwelt on the banks of 
 the Severn and along the frontiers of Wales. These 
 three columns soon concenti'ated near Gloucester, 
 then the royal residence ; and, with means adequate 
 to enforce his wish, Godwin demanded that the 
 Count Eustace, his companions, and many other 
 Normans and Frenchmen, should be given up to 
 the justice of the nation. Edward, knowing he 
 was wholly at the mercy of his irritated father-in- 
 law, was still firm. To gain time, he opened a ne- 
 gotiation ; and so much was he still esteemed by 
 the people, that Godwin was obliged to save appear- 
 ances, and to grant him that delay which, for a 
 while, wholly overcast the earl's fortunes. Edward 
 had secured the good-will of Godwin's great rivals. 
 Siward, Earl of Northumbria, and Leofric, Earl of 
 Mercia : to these chiefs he now applied for protec- 
 tion, summoning to his aid at the same time, Ranulf 
 or Ralph, a Norman knight, whom he had made Earl 
 of Worcestershire. When these forces united and 
 marched to the king's rescue, they were equal or su- 
 perior in number to those of Godwin, who had thus 
 lost his moment. The people, however, had improved 
 in wisdom : and on the two armies coming in front 
 of each other, it was presently seen by their re- 
 spective leaders, that old animosities had in a great 
 measure died away — that the Anglo-Danes from 
 the north were by no means anxious to engage their 
 brethren of the south for the cause of Normans, 
 and men equally alien to them both — and that the 
 Saxons of the south were averse to shedding the 
 blood of the Anglo-Danes of the north. The whis- 
 pers of individual ambition — the mutterings of mu- 
 tual revenge — the aspirations of the great, were 
 mute, for once, at the loud and universal voice ol' 
 the people. An armistice was concluded between 
 the king and Godwin, and it was agreed to refer all 
 differences to an assembly of the legislature, to be 
 I held at London in the following autumn. Hostages
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 181 
 
 and oaths were exchanged — both king and earl 
 swearing " God's peace and full friendship" for one 
 another. Edward employed the interval between 
 the armistice and the meeting of the witenagemot 
 in publishing a ban for the levying of a royal army 
 all over the kingdom, in engaging troops both foreign 
 and domestic, and in strengthening himself by all 
 the means he could command. In the same time 
 the forces of Harold, which consisted in chief part 
 of burghers and yeomen, who had armed under 
 the first excitement of a popular quarrel, and who 
 had neither pay nor quarters in the field, dwindled 
 rapidly away. According to the Saxon Chronicle, 
 the king's army, which was cantoned within and 
 about London, soon became the most numerous 
 that had been seen in this reign. The chief, and 
 many of the subordinate commands in it, were given 
 to Norman favorites, who thirsted for the blood of 
 Earl Godwin. At the appointed time the earl and 
 his sons were summoned to appear before the wi- 
 tenagemot without any military escort whatsoever ; 
 and that, too, in the midst of a most formidable 
 army and of deadly enemies, who would not have 
 spared their persons, even if the king and the legis- 
 lative assembly had been that way inclined. God- 
 win, who before now had frequently both suffered 
 and practised treachery, refused to attend the as- 
 sembly unless proper securities were given that he 
 and his sons should go thither and depart thence 
 in safety. This reasonable demand was repeated, 
 and twice refused ; and then Edward and the great 
 council pronounced a sentence of banishment, de- 
 creeing that the earl and all his family should quit 
 the land forever within five days. There was no 
 appeal ; and Godwin and his sons, who it appears 
 had marched to Southwark, on finding that even 
 the small force they had brought with them was 
 thinned by hourly desertion, fled by night for their 
 lives. The sudden fall of this great family con- 
 founded and stupified the popular mind. " Won- 
 derful would it have been thought," says the Saxon 
 Chronicle, " if any one had said before that matters 
 would come to such a pass." Before the expiration 
 of the five days' grace, a troop of horsemen were 
 sent to pursue and seize the earl and his family ; 
 but these soldiers were wholly or chiefly Saxons, 
 and either could not, or would not overtake them. 
 Godwin, with his wife and his three sons, Sweyn, 
 Tostig, and Gurth, and a ship well stored with mo- 
 ney and treasures, embarked on the east coast, and 
 sailed to Flanders, where he was well received by 
 Earl Baldwin : Harold and his brother Leofwin 
 fled westward, and embarking at Bristol, crossed 
 the sea to Ireland. 
 
 Their property, their broad lands, and houses, 
 with everything upon them and within them were 
 confiscated,— their governments and honors distri- 
 buted, in part, among foreigners, and scarcely a trace 
 was left in the country of the warlike earl or his 
 bold sons. But a fair daughter of that house re- 
 mained, — Editha was still queen of England, — and 
 on her Edward determined to pour out the last vial 
 of his wrath, and complete his vengeance on the 
 obnoxious race that had given him the throne. He 
 
 seized her dower, — he took from her her jewels 
 and her money, " even to the uttermost farthing," — 
 and allowing her only the attendance of one maiden, 
 he closely confined his virgin wife in the monastery 
 of Wherwell, of which one of his sisters was Lady 
 Abbess, — and in this cheerless captivity she, in the 
 language of one of the old chroniclers, " in tears 
 and prayers expected the day of her release and 
 comfort." 
 
 Although the whole of his thoroughly unnatural 
 conduct to his beautiful and amiable wife is made 
 matter of monkish laudation and jubilee, this vindic- 
 tiveness does not savor of sanctity ; and if he made 
 use of the excuse for " his unprincely and unspouse- 
 like usage," which some have attributed to him, — 
 namely, " that it suited not that Editha should Uve 
 in comfort when her parents and her brethren were 
 banished the realm," we must have a poor opinion 
 of his notion of the moral fitness of things — at least 
 as far as his queen was concerned. 
 
 Released from the awe and timidity he had always 
 felt in Earl Godwin's presence, the king now put no 
 restraint on his affection for the Normans, w'ho 
 flocked over in greater shoals than ever to make 
 their fortunes in England. A few months after 
 Godwin's exile he expressed his anxious desire to 
 have William Duke of Normandy for his guest ; and 
 that ambitious and most crafty prince, who already 
 began to entertain projects on England, readily ac- 
 cepted the invitation, and came over with a nume- 
 rous retinue in the fixed purpose of turning the 
 visit to the best account, by personally informing 
 himself of the strength and condition of the coimtry, 
 and by influencing the councils of the king, who had 
 no children to succeed him, and was said to be la- 
 boring under a vow of perpetual chastity, even as if 
 he had been a cloistered monk. 
 
 William was the natural son of Robert, Duke of 
 Normandy, the younger brother of Duke Richard 
 III., and the son of Duke Richard II., who was 
 brother to Queen Emma, the mother of King 
 Edward and of the murdered Alfred, by Ethelred, 
 as also of the preceding king Hardicanute, by 
 her second husband, Canute the Great. On the 
 mother's side William's descent was sufficiently ob- 
 scure. One day as the Duke Robert was returning 
 from the chase he met a fair girl, who, with com- 
 panions of her own age, was washing clothes in a 
 brook. Sti-uck by her surpassing beauty, he sent 
 one of his discreetest knights to make proposals to 
 her family. Such a mode of proceeding is startling 
 enough in our days; but in that age of barbarism 
 and the Ucense of power, the wonder is he did not 
 seize the lowly maiden by force, without treaty or 
 negotiation. The father of the maiden, who was a 
 currier or tanner of the town of Falaise, at first re- 
 ceived the proposals of Robert's love-ambassador 
 with indignation ; but, on second thoughts, he went 
 to consult one of his brothers, a hermit in a neigh- 
 boring forest, and a man enjoying a great religious 
 reputation ; and this religious man gave it as his 
 opinion that one ought, in all things, to conform to 
 the will of the powerful man. The name of the 
 maid of Falaise was Arlete, Harlotta, or Herleva,
 
 182 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 for she is indiscriminately called by these different 
 appellations, whicli all seem to come from the old 
 Norman or Danish compound Herlere, " The much 
 loved." And the duke continued to love her dearly, 
 and he brought up the boy William he had by her 
 with as much care and honor as if he had been the 
 son of a lawful spouse. Although — or perhaps it 
 will be more correct to saj- — because their conver- 
 sion was of a comparatively recent date, no people 
 in Europe surpassed the Normans in their devotion, 
 or their passion for distant pilgrimages. When 
 William was only seven years old his father, Duke 
 Kobert, resolved to go to Jerusalem, as a pilgrim, to 
 obtain the remission of his sins. As he had governed 
 his states wisely, his people heard of his intention 
 with alarm and regret ; but his worldly advantage 
 could not be put in the balance against his spiritual 
 welfare. The Norman chiefs, still anxious to retain 
 him among them, represented that it would be a bad 
 thing for them to be left without a head. The native 
 chroniclers put the following naif reply into the 
 mouth of Duke Robert : " By my faith, sirs, I will 
 not leave you without a seigneur. I have a little 
 bastard, who will grow big, if it pleases God ! Choose 
 him fi"om this moment, and, before you all, I will put 
 him in possession of this duchy as my successor." 
 The Normans did what the Duke Robert proposed, 
 "because,'' says the chronicle, " it suited them so to 
 do." According to the feudal practice, they, one by 
 one, placed their hands within his hands, and swore 
 fidelitj^ to the child. Robert had a presentiment 
 that he should not return ; and he never did : he 
 died about a year after (a.d. 1034) on his road 
 home. He had scarcely donned his pilgi-im's weeds 
 and departed from Normandy, when several of the 
 chiefs, and above all the relations of the old duke, 
 protested against the election of William, alleging 
 that a bastard was not worthy of commanding the 
 children of the Scandinavians. A civil war ensued, 
 in which the party of William was decidedly victo- 
 rious. As the boy advanced in years, he showed an 
 indomitable spirit and a wonderful aptitude in learn- 
 ing those knightly and warlike exercises which then 
 constituted the principal part of education. This 
 endeared him to his partisans ; and the important 
 day on which he first put on armor, and mounted 
 his battle-steed without the aid of stirrup, was held 
 as a festal day in Normandy. Occasions were not 
 wanting for the practice of war and battles, but 
 were, on the contrary, frequently presented both 
 by his own turbulent subjects and his ambitious 
 neighbors. From his tender youth upwards, Wil- 
 liam was habituated to warfare and bloodshed, and 
 to the exercise of policy and craft, by which he often 
 succeeded when force and arms failed. His con- 
 temporaries tell us that he was passionately fond of 
 fine horses, and caused them to be brought to him 
 from Gascony, Auvergne, and Spain, preferring 
 above all those steeds which bore proper names by 
 which their genealogy was distinguished. His dis- 
 position was revengeful and pitiless in the extreme. 
 At an after period of life, when he had imposed re- 
 spect or dread upon the world, he scorned the dis- 
 tinctions between legitimate and illegitimate birth, 
 
 and more than once bravingly put " We, William 
 the Bastard " to his charters and declarations :^ but 
 at the commencement of his career he was exceed- 
 ingly susceptible and sore on this point, and often 
 took sanguinary vengeance on those who scoH'ed at 
 the stain of his birth. One day while he was be- 
 leaguering the town of Alenyon, the besieged took 
 it into their heads to cry out from the top of their 
 walls, " The hide ! the hide ! — have at the hide !" 
 and to shake and beat pieces of tanned leather, in 
 allusion to the humble calling of William's maternal 
 grandfather. As soon as the bastard heard this, he 
 caused the feet and hands of all the Alen^on pris- 
 oners in his power to be cut off, and then thrown by 
 his slingers within the walls of the town. 
 
 The fame of William's doings had long preceded 
 him to this island, where they created very different 
 emotions, according to men's dispositions and inte- 
 rests. But when he arrived himself in England, 
 with a numerous and splendid train, it is said that 
 the Duke of Normandy might have doubted, from 
 the evidence of his senses, whether he had quitted 
 his own country. Normans commanded the Saxon 
 fleet he met at Dover, Normans garrisoned the cas- 
 tle and a forti-ess on a hill at Canterbuiy ; and as he 
 advanced on the journey, Norman knights, bishops, 
 abbots, and burgesses met him at every relay to bid 
 him welcome. At the court of Edward, in the 
 midst of Norman clerks, priests, and nobles, who 
 looked up to him as their " natural lord," he was 
 more a king than the king himself; and every day 
 he spent in England must have conveyed additional 
 conviction of the extent of Norman influence, and of 
 the weakness and disorganization of the country- 
 It is recorded by the old writers, that King Edward 
 gave a most affectionate welcome to his good cousin 
 Duke William, — that he lived lovingly with him while 
 he was here, — and that, at his departure, he gave 
 him a most royal gift of arms, horses, hounds, and 
 hawks." But what passed in the private and confi- 
 dential intercourse of the two princes, these writers 
 knew not, and attempted not to divine f and the 
 only evident fact is, that, after William's visit, the 
 Normans in England carried their assumption of su- 
 periority still higher than before. 
 
 But preparations were in progress for the inter- 
 rupting of this domination. Ever since his flight into 
 Flanders, Godwin had been actively engaged in de- 
 vising means for his triumphant return, and in cor- 
 responding with and keeping up the spirits of the 
 Saxon party at home. In the following summer 
 (a.d. 1052) the gi-eat earl having well employed the 
 money and treasure he took with him, got together 
 a number of ships, and, eluding the vigilance of the 
 royal fleet, which was commanded by two Normans, 
 his personal and deadly enemies, he fell upon our 
 southern coast, where many Saxons gave him a 
 hearty welcome. He had previously won over the 
 
 1 In one of his English charters, preserved in Hickes, he styles him- 
 self, with less truth, " Rex Hereditarius." 
 
 2 Maistre Wace, Roman du Rou. 
 
 3 Ingulf intimates, that at this visit William did not introduce the 
 subject of his succession to the English throne, being well content to 
 let things take their natural course, which could hardly run counter to 
 his ambitious hopes.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 183 
 
 Saxon garrison and the mariners of Hastings, and he 
 now sent secret emissaries all over the country, at 
 whose representations hosts of people took up arms, 
 binding themselves by oath to the cause of the exiled 
 chief, and " promising, all with one voice" says Roger 
 of Hoveden, " to live or die with Godwin." Sailing 
 along the Sussex coast to the Isle of Wight, he was 
 met there by his sons Harold and Leofwin, who 
 had brought over a considerable force in men and 
 ships from Ireland. From the Isle of Wight the 
 Saxon chiefs sailed to Sandwich, where they landed 
 part of their forces without opposition, and then, 
 with the rest, boldly doubled the North Foreland, 
 and sailed up the Thames towards London. As 
 they advanced, the popularity of their cause was 
 manifestly displayed ; the Saxon and Anglo- Danish 
 troops of the king and all the royal ships they met 
 went over to them ; the burghers and peasants has- 
 tened to supply them with provisions, and to join the 
 cry against the Normans. In this easy and triumph- 
 ant manner did the exiles reach the suburb of South- 
 wark, where they anchored, and landed without 
 being obliged to draw a sword or pull a single bow. 
 Their presence threw everything into confusion, 
 and the court party soon saw that the citizens of 
 London were as well affected to Godwin as the rest 
 of the people had shown themselves. The earl 
 sent a respectful message to the king, requesting 
 for himself and family the revision of the irregular 
 sentence of exile, the restoration of their former 
 territories, honors, and employments, — promising, 
 on these conditions, a dutiful and entire submission. 
 Though he must have known the critical state of his 
 affairs, Edward was firm or obstinate, and sternly 
 refused the conditions. Godwin dispatched other 
 messengers, but they returned with an equally posi- 
 tive refusal ; and then the old earl had the greatest 
 difficulty in restraining his irritated partisans. But 
 the game was in his hand, and his moderation and 
 aversion to the spilling of kindred blood greatly 
 strengthened his party. On the opposite side of the 
 river a royal fleet of fifty sail was moored, and a 
 considerable army was drawn up on the bank ; but 
 it was soon found there was no relj'ing either on 
 the mariners or the soldiers, who, for the most part, 
 if not won over to the cause of Godwin, were averse 
 to civil war. Still, while most of his party were 
 trembhng around him, and not a few seeking safety 
 in flight or concealment, the king remained inflexi- 
 ble, and, to all appearance, devoid of fear. The 
 boldest of his Norman favorites, who foresaw that 
 peace between the Saxons would be their ruin, 
 ventured to press him to give the signal for attack ; 
 but the now openly expressed sentiments of the 
 royal troops, and the arguments of the priest Stigand 
 and of many of the Saxon nobles, finally induced 
 Edward to yield, and give his reluctant consent to 
 the opening of negotiations with his detested father- 
 in-law. At the first report of this prospect of a 
 speedy reconciliation, there was a hurried gathering 
 together of property or spoils, and a shoeing and 
 saddling of horses for flight. No Norman or French- 
 man of any consequence thought his life safe. Ro- 
 bert, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and William, 
 
 Bishop of London, having armed their retainers, 
 took horse and fought their way sword in hand 
 through the citj', where many English were killed 
 or wounded. They escaped through the eastern 
 gate of London, and galloped with headlong speed 
 to Ness, in Essex. So great was the danger or the 
 panic of these two prelates, that they threw them- 
 selves into an ill-conditioned small open fishing-boat : 
 and thus, with great suffering, and at an imminent 
 hazard, crossed the channel to France. The rest 
 of the foreign favorites fled in all dhections, some 
 taking refuge in the castles or fortresses commanded 
 by their countrymen, and others making for the 
 shores of the British Channel, where they lay con- 
 cealed until favorable opportunities offered for pass- 
 ing over to the Continent. 
 
 In the mean time the witenagemot was summon- 
 ed ; and when Godwin, in plenitude of might, ap- 
 peared before it, after having visited the humbled 
 king, the " earls" and " all the best men of the land" 
 agreed in the proposition, that the Normans were 
 guilty of the late dissensions, and Godwin and his 
 sons innocent of the crimes of which they had been 
 accused. With the exception of four or five ob- 
 scure men, a sentence of outlawry was hurled 
 against all the Normans and French ; and, after he 
 had given hostages to Edward, Godwin and his sons, 
 with the exception only of Sweyn, received full 
 restitution ; and, as a completion of his triumph, his 
 daughter Editha was removed from her monastic 
 prison to court, and restored to all her honors as 
 queen. The hostages granted were Wilmot, the 
 youngest son, and Haco, a grandson of Godwin. 
 Edward had no sooner got them into his hands, 
 than, for safer custody, he sent them over to his 
 cousin WiUiam of Normandy ; and from this cir- 
 cumstance there arose a curious episode or under- 
 act in the treacherous and sanguinary drama. The 
 exclusion of Sweyn from pardon and a nominal 
 restoration to the king's friendship, did not arise 
 from the active part he had taken in the Norman 
 quarrel, but was based in his old crimes, and more 
 particularly the treacherous murder of his cousin 
 Beorn. It seems that his family acquiesced in the 
 justice of his sentence of banishment, and that 
 Sweyn himself, now humble and penitent, submit- 
 ted without a struggle. He threw aside his costly 
 mantle and his chains of gold, his armor, his sword, 
 and all that marked the noble and the warrior ; he 
 assumed the lowly garb of a pilgrim, and, setting 
 out from Flanders, walked barefoot to Jerusalem — 
 that great pool of moral purification, which, accord- 
 ing to the notion of the times, could wash out the 
 stains of all guilt. He reached the holy citj' in 
 safetj' — he wept and prayed at all the holiest places 
 there — but, returning through Asia Minor, he died 
 in the province of Lycia. 
 
 Godwin did not long survive the reestablishment 
 of Saxon supremacy, and his complete victory over 
 the king. According to Henry of Huntingdon and 
 other chroniclers, a very short time after their 
 feigned reconciliation, as Godwin sat at table with 
 the king at Windsor, EdAvard again reproached the 
 ear] with his brother Alfred's murder. " Oh, king !"
 
 184 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book H. 
 
 (Godwin is made to say) "whence comes it that, at 
 the least remembrance of your brother, you show 
 me a bad countenance ? If I have contributed even 
 indirectly to his cruel fate, may the God of heaven 
 cause this morsel of bread to choke me !" He put 
 the bread to his mouth, and of course, according to 
 this story, was choked, and died instantly. But it 
 appears, from better authority, that Godwin's death 
 was by no means so sudden and dramatic ; that 
 though he fell speechless from the king's table on 
 Easter Monday (most probably from apoplexy), he 
 was taken up and carried into an inner chamber by 
 his two sons Tostig and Gurth, and did not die till 
 the following Thursday. Harold, the eldest, the 
 handsomest, the most accomplished, and in every 
 respect the best of all the sons of Godwin, succeed- 
 ed to his father's territories and commands, and to 
 even more than Godwin's authority in the nation ; 
 for, while the people equally considered him as the 
 great champion of the Saxon cause, he was far less 
 obnoxious than his father to the king; and, where- 
 as his father's iron frame was sinking under the 
 weight of years, he was in the prime and vigor of 
 hfe. The spirit of Edward, moreover, was subdued 
 by misfortune, the fast-coming infirmities of age, 
 and a still increasing devotion, that taught him all 
 worldly dominion was a bauble not worth contending 
 for. He was also conciliated by the permission to 
 retain some of his foreign bishops, abbots and clerks, 
 and to recall a few other favorites from Normandy. 
 The extent of Harold's power was soon made 
 manifest. On succeeding to Godwin's earldom, he 
 had vacated his own command of East Anglia, which 
 was bestowed by the court on Algar, the son of 
 Earl Leofric, the hereditary enemy of the house of 
 Godwin, who had held it during Harold's disgrace 
 and exile. As soon as he felt confident of his 
 strength, Harold caused Algar to be expelled his 
 government and banished the land, upon an accu- 
 sation of treason ; and, however unjust the sentence 
 may have been, it appears to have been passed with 
 the sanction and concurrence of the witenagemot. 
 Algar, who had married a Welsh princess, the 
 daughter of King Griffith, fled into Wales, whence, 
 relying on the power and influence possessed by 
 his father, the Earl Leofric, and by his other family 
 connexions and allies, he shortly after issued with a 
 considerable force, and fell upon the county and 
 city of Hereford, in which latter place he did much 
 harm, burning the minster and slaying seven canons, 
 beside a multitude of laymen. Rulf, or Radulf, the 
 Earl of Hereford, who was a Norman, and a nephew 
 of the king's, made but a feeble resistance; and, it 
 ia said, he destroyed the efficiency of the Saxon 
 troops, by making them fight the Welsh on horse- 
 back, "against the custom of their country." Ha- 
 rold soon hastened to the scene of action, and ad- 
 vancing from Gloucester with a well-appointed armj% 
 defeated Algar, and followed him in his retreat 
 through the mountain defiles and across the moors 
 and morasses of Wales. Algar, however, still 
 showed himself so powerful, that Harold was 
 obliged to treat with him. By these negotiations, 
 he was restored to his former possessions and hon- 
 
 ors ; and when, very shortly after, his father Leo- 
 fric died, Algar was allowed to take possession of 
 his vast earldoms. The king seems to have wished 
 that Algar should have been a counterpoise to Ha- 
 rold, as Leofric had once been to Godwin ; but both 
 in council and camp Harold carried everything be- 
 fore him, and his jealousy being again excited, he 
 again drove Algar into banishment. Algar, indeed, 
 was no mean rival. Both in boldness of character 
 and in the nature of his adventures, he bore some 
 resemblance to Harold. This time he fled into 
 Ireland, whence he soon returned with a small fleet 
 and an army, chiefly raised among the Northmen 
 who had settled on the Irish coasts, and who thence 
 made repeated attacks upon England. With this 
 force, and the assistance of the Welsh under his 
 father-in-law King Griffith, he recovered his earl- 
 doms by force of arms, and held them in defiance 
 of the decrees of the king, who, whatever were his 
 secret wishes, was obliged openly to denounce these 
 proceedings as illegal and treasonable. After en- 
 joying this triumph little more than a year, Algar 
 died (a.d. 1059), and left two sons, Morcar and 
 Edwin, who divided between them part of his ter- 
 ritories and commands. 
 
 While these events were in progress, other cir- 
 cumstances had occurred in the north of England 
 which materially augmented the power of Harold. 
 Siward, the great Earl of Northumbria, another of 
 Godwin's most formidable rivals, had died, after an 
 expedition into Scotland ; and as his elder son Os- 
 berne had been s'lain, and his younger son Waltheof 
 was too young to succeed to his father's government, 
 the extensive northern earldom was given to Tostig, 
 the brother of Harold. Siward, as will be presently 
 related more at length, had proceeded to Scotland 
 to assist in seating his relation Prince Malcolm, the 
 son of the late King Duncan, upon the throne of 
 that country, which had been usurped by Duncan's 
 murderer, Macbeth. It was in this enterprise, and 
 before it was crowned with final success, that, as 
 has just been mentioned, Osberne, the pride of his 
 father's heart, was slain. He appears to have fallen 
 in the first battle fought with Macbeth (a.d. 1054) 
 near the hill of Dunsinan. Checking his natural 
 emotions, the old earl asked how the young man 
 had fallen; and being told that he had received all 
 his wounds in front, like a brave man, he said he 
 was satisfied, and wished no better death for him- 
 self. He did not, however, die in battle, nor would 
 he die in his bed — a death he held to be dishonor- 
 able. Soon after his return from Scotland he was 
 attacked by a fatal disorder. As he felt his end ap- 
 proaching he said to his attendants, " Lift me up, 
 that I may die on my legs, like a soldier, and not 
 crouching, like a cow! Dress me with my coat of 
 mail — cover my head with my helmet — put my 
 shield on my left arm, and my battle-axe in my 
 right hand, that I may die under arms!"' 
 
 Siward, who was a Dane, either by birth or near 
 descent, was much beloved by the Northumbrians, 
 who were themselves chiefly of Danish extraction. 
 They called him Sigward-Digr, or Siward the 
 
 1 Hen. Ilunt. — lligden.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 185 
 
 Sti-ong ; and mauy years after his death they 
 showed, with pride, a rock of soHd granite which 
 they pretended he had split in two with a single 
 blow of his battle-axe. To his irregular successor, 
 Tostig, the brother of Harold, they showed a strong 
 dislike from the first, and this aversion was subse- 
 quently increased by acts of tyranny on the part of 
 the new earl. In another direction the popularity 
 of Harold was increased by a most successful cam- 
 paign against the Welsh, who had inflamed the 
 hatred of the Saxon people by their recent forays 
 and cruel murders. Their great leader, King Grif- 
 fith, had been weakened and CTiposed by the death 
 of his son-in-law, and Harold's rival, the Earl Algar, 
 in 1059 ; and after some minor operations, in one 
 of which Rees, the brother of Griflith, was taken 
 prisoner and put to death, by the order of King 
 Edward, as a robber and murderer, Harold was 
 commissioned, 1063, to carry extreme measures 
 into effect against the ever-turbulent Welsh. The 
 great earl displayed his usual ability, bravery, and 
 activitjs and by skilfully combined movements, in 
 which his brother Tostig and the Northumbrians 
 acted in concert with him by employing the fleet 
 along the coast, by accoutring his troops with 
 light helmets, targets, and breast-pieces made of 
 leather (instead of their usual heavy armor), in 
 order that they might be the better able to follow 
 the fleet-footed Welsh, he gained a succession of 
 victories, and finally reduced the mountaineers to 
 such despair that they decapitated their king, Grif- 
 fith, and sent his bleeding head to Harold, as a 
 peace-offering and token of submission. The two 
 half-brothers of Griflith swore fealty and gave hos- 
 tages to King Edward and Harold. They also en- 
 gaged to pay the ancient tribute ; and a law was 
 passed that every Welshman found in arms to the 
 east of Offa's dyke should lose his right hand. 
 From this memorable expedition, the good effects 
 of which were felt in England through the tran- 
 quillity of the Welsh for many years after, Harold 
 returned in a sort of Roman triumph to the mild 
 and peaceable Edward, to whom he presented the 
 ghastly head of Griffith, together with the rostrum 
 or beak of that king's chief war-ship. 
 
 The king's devotion still kept increasing with his 
 years, and now, forgetful of his bodily infirmities, 
 which in all probability would have caused his 
 death on the road, and indiff'erent to the temporal 
 good of his people, he expressed his intention of 
 going in prilgrimage to Rome, asserting that he 
 was bound thereto by a solemn vow. The witan 
 objected that, as he had no children, his absence 
 and death would expose the nation to the dangers 
 of a disputed succession ; and then the king for the 
 first time turned his thoughts to his nephew and 
 namesake Edward, the son of his half-brother, 
 Edmund Ironside. The long neglect of this prince 
 of the old race of Cerdic and Alfred, which, count- 
 ing fi-om the time of King Edward's accession, had 
 extended over a period of more than twenty years, 
 shows but slight affection for that Saxon family ; 
 and, as the king had never expected any children 
 of his own to succeed him, it seems to confirm the 
 
 statement of those old writers who say he had all 
 along intended to bequeath his crown to his cousin 
 William of Normandy. But at this moment Nor- 
 man interest and influence, though not dried up, 
 were at a low ebb : be his wishes what they might, 
 Edward durst not propose the succession of Wil- 
 liam, and being pressed by the witan, and his own 
 eager desire of traveling to Rome, he sent an em- 
 bassy to the German emperor Henry HI., whose 
 relative the young prince had married, requesting 
 he might be restored to the wishes of the English 
 nation. Edward the Atheling, or Edward the Out- 
 law, as he is more commonly called, obeyed the 
 summons with alacrity, and soon arrived in London 
 with his wife Agatha and his three young children 
 — Edgar. Margaret, and Christina. The race of 
 their old kings was still dear to them; Edmund 
 Ironside was a national hero inferior only to the 
 great Alfred ; his gallantry, his bravery, his victo- 
 ries over the Danes, were sung in popular songs, 
 and still foi'med the subject of daily conversation 
 among the Saxon people, who therefore deceived 
 his son and grandchildren with the most hearty 
 welcome and enthusiastic joy. But though King 
 Edward had invited over his nephew with the pro- 
 fessed intention of proclaiming him his heir to the 
 crown, that prince was never admitted into his 
 presence. This circumstance could not fail of 
 creating great disgust ; but this and all other sen- 
 timents in the popular mind were speedily absorbed 
 by the deep and universal grief and despondence 
 caused by Prince Edward's death, who expired in 
 London shortly after his arrival in that city, and 
 was buried in the cathedral of St. Paul's. This 
 sudden catastrophe, and the voluntary or constrained 
 coyness of the king towards his nephew, have 
 awakened horrid suspicions of foul play. The more 
 generally received opinion seems to be that the 
 prince was kept at a distance by the machinations 
 and contrivances of the jealous Harold, and that 
 that earl caused him to be poisoned in order to re- 
 move what he considered the greatest obstacle to 
 his own future plans. In justice, however, the 
 memory of Harold ought not to be loaded with a 
 crime which, possibly, after all, was never commit- 
 ted ; for the prince might very well have died a 
 natural death, although his demise tallied with the 
 views and interests of Harold. His long neglect of 
 him proved that the king had no aff'ection for his 
 nephew, whom he had recalled at last by compul- 
 sion of the nation. The animosities borne by sov- 
 ereigns against those who are to succeed them, even 
 when their successors are their own children, have 
 prevailed in all ages. These causes would suffi- 
 ciently account for Prince Edward's not being read- 
 ily received by his uncle, who moreover, in many 
 circumstances of his life, showed himself a moody, 
 wayward man, wanting "the natural touch." There 
 is no proof, nor shadow of proof, that Harold cir- 
 cumvented and then destroyed the prince. It is 
 merely presumed that, because the earl gained most 
 by his death, he caused him to be killed. But 
 William of Normandy gained as much as Harold by 
 the removal of the prince, and was, at the very
 
 186 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II 
 
 least, as capable of extreme and treacherous meas- 
 ures. During his visit in England the king may 
 have promised the duke that he would never re- 
 ceive his nephew Edward ; and, while this circum- 
 stance would of itself account for the king's shyness, 
 the coming of the prince would excite the jealousy 
 and alarm of William, who had emissaries in the 
 land, and friends and partisans about the court. 
 Supposing, therefore, Prince Edward to have been 
 murdered (and there is no proof that he was), the 
 crime was as likely to have been committed by the 
 orders of the duke as by those of the earl. 
 
 The demise of Edward the Outlaw certainly cut 
 off the national hope of a continuance of the old 
 Saxon dynasty ; for, though he left a son, called 
 Edgar the Atheling, that prince was very young, 
 feeble in body, and in intellect not far removed 
 from idiocy. The latter circumstance forbade all 
 exertion in his favor ; but. had he been the most 
 promising of youths, it is very doubtful whether a 
 minor would not have been crushed by one or other 
 of two such bold and skilful competitors as William 
 and Harold. As matters stood, the king, whose 
 journey to Rome could be no more talked of, 
 turned his ej^es to Normandy, while many of the 
 Saxons began to look up to Harold, the brother of 
 the queen, as the best and most national successor 
 to the throne. 
 
 Here we again reach a point in our annals that, 
 
 like so many others, is involved in mysteiy and the 
 most perplexing contradictions. According to some 
 writers, Edward now for the first time made a will, 
 bequeathing the crown to his cousin ; according to 
 others, he had made this will long before, when the 
 recall of Prince Edward was not thought of, and 
 had privateh' communicated the nature of his tes- 
 tament to Duke William, through the medium of 
 Robert, the Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. On 
 one side it is stated that Harold was, to the last, 
 kept in the dark as to these proceedings; on another, 
 it is as confidently' asserted that, in 1065, about a 
 year before the king's death, Harold himself w^as 
 the messenger appointed to convey to William the 
 intelligence of the will, which (according to this 
 version of the story) was now first executed. 
 
 That Harold went to Normandy at this time is 
 certain, but it is said that his sole object in goini: 
 was to obtain the release of his brother Wulnot amf 
 his nephew Haco, the two hostages for the Godwin 
 family, Avhom Edward had committed to the cus- 
 tody of Duke William, but who the king was now 
 willing should be restored. Another opinion is, that 
 Harold's going at all was wholly agcidental. Ac- 
 cording to the latter version, being one day at his 
 manor of Bosenham, or Boshan*, on the Sussex 
 coast, he went into a fishing-boat for recreation with 
 but few attendants, and those not vei-j^expert mar- 
 iners, and scarcely was he launched'' into the deep 
 
 HA.ROLD TAKING Leave OF Edward OS HIS DEPARTURE FOR NoRMANDV. Ffoni the Bayeux Tapestry.' 
 
 ■ The Bayeui Tapestiy is a roll of linen 20 inches broad, and 214 feet in length, on which is worked with woolen thread, of different colors, 
 a representation, in seventy-two distinct compartments, of the whole history of the Norman conquest of England, from the departure of Harold 
 for Normandy to the rout of the Saxons at the battle of llastings. It embraces all the incidents of Harold's stay in Normandy, and has preserved 
 some that have not been noticed by any of the chroniclers. Every compartment has a superscription in Latin, indicating its subject ; a specimen 
 of these titles is given in one of the cuts below. The Bayeai tapestry is said by tradition to have been the work of the Conqueror's queen, 
 Matilda, and to have been presented by her to the cathedral of Bayeui, of which her husband's half-brother, Odo, one of those vfho rendered 
 the most effective service in the invasion of England, was bishop; and the delineations, which correspond in the minutest points with what we 
 know of the manners of that age, afford the strongest evidence that it is of this antiquity. It was preserved in the cathedral of Bayeui till 
 1803, having been wont to be exhibited for some days in every year to the people, in the nave of the church, round which it exactly went. It 
 is now in the hotel of the prefecture of that city, where it is kept coiled round a roller, from which it is unwound upon a table for inspection. 
 An engraving of the whole, in sixteen plates, colored like the original, and one-fourth of the original size, was published by the Society of 
 Antiquaries, in the sixth vol. of the " Vetusta Monumenta.'' The cuts we have given are reduced from these plates.
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 187 
 
 Harold on his Journey to Bosiiam. Bayeux Tapestry. 
 
 Harold enteriso Bosham Church. Bayeux Tapestry. 
 
 when a violent storm suddenly arose, and drove 
 the ill-managed boat upon the opposite coast of 
 France; but whether he went by accident or de- 
 sign, or whatever were the motives of the voyage, 
 the following facts seem to be pretty generally ad- 
 mitted. 
 
 Harold w^as \\Tecked or stranded near the mouth 
 of the river Somme, in the territory of Guy, Count 
 of Ponthieu, who, according to a barbarous practice 
 not uncommon, and held as good law in the middle 
 ages, seized the Avi'eck as his right, and made the 
 hassengers his prisoners until they should pay a 
 heavy ransom for their release. From the castle 
 of Belram, now Beaurain, near Montreuil, where 
 the earl and his retinue were shut up, after they 
 had been despoiled of the best part of their baggage, 
 Harold made his condition known to Duke Wil- 
 liam, and entreated his good offices. The duke 
 could not be blind to the advantages that might be 
 derived from this accident, and he instantly and 
 
 earnestly demanded that Harold should be released 
 and sent to his court. Carefid of his money, Wil- 
 liam at first employed threats, without talking of 
 ransom. The Count of Ponthieu, who knew the 
 rank of his captive, was deaf to these menaces, and 
 only yielded on the offer of a large sum of money 
 from the duke, and a fine estate on the river D'Eaune. 
 Harold then went to Rouen ; and the bastard of 
 Normandy had the gratification of having in his 
 court, and in his power, and bound to him by this 
 recent obligation, the son of the great enemy of the 
 Normans — one of the chiefs of the league that had 
 banished from England the foreign courtiers, the 
 friends and relations of William, those on whom hi.'* 
 hopes rested, the intriguers in his favor for the 
 royalty of that kingdom. Although received with 
 much magnificence, and treated with great respect, 
 and even a semblance of affection, Harold soon per- 
 ceived he was in a more dangerous prison at Rouen 
 than he had been in the castle of Belram. His as-
 
 188 
 
 HISTORV OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Harold coming to Anchor on the Coast or Normandy. Bnyeux Tapestry. 
 
 pirations to the English crown could be no secret 
 to himself, and his inward conscience would make 
 him believe they were well known to William, 
 who could not be ignorant of his past hfe and pre- 
 sent power in the island. If he was indeed unim- 
 formed as yet as to William's intentions, that happy 
 ignorance was soon removed, and the whole peril 
 of his present situation placed full before him by 
 the duke, who said to him one day, as they were 
 riding side by side, — " Wlien Edward and I lived 
 together, like brothers, under the same roof, he 
 promised me that, if ever he became king of Eng- 
 land, he would make me his successor. Harold ! I 
 would, right well, that you helped me in the fulfil- 
 ment of this promise; and be assured that if I ob- 
 tain the kingdom by your aid, whatever you choose 
 to ask shall be granted on the instant." The liberty 
 •md life of the earl were in the hands of the pro- 
 jmser, and so Harold promised to do what he could. 
 William was not to be satisfied with vague promises. 
 •' Since you consent to sen'e me," he continued, 
 " you must engage to fortify Dover Castle, to dig a 
 
 well of good water there, and to give it up to my 
 men-at-arms : you must also give me your sister, 
 that I may marry her to one of my chiefs ; and 
 you yourself must marry my daughter Adele. 
 Moreover, I wish yon, at your departure, to leave 
 me, in pledge of your promises, one of the hostages 
 whose liberty you now reclaim : he will stay under 
 my guard, and I will restore him to you in England 
 when I arrive there as king." Harold felt that to 
 refuse or object would be not only to expose him- 
 self, but his brother and nephew also, to ruin ; and 
 the champion of the Saxon case, hiding his heart's 
 abhorrence, pledged himself verbally to deliver the 
 principal fortress of his country to the Normans, 
 and to fulfil all the other engagements, which were 
 as much forced upon him as though William had 
 held the knife to his defenceless throat. But the 
 ambitious, crafty, and suspicious Norman was not 
 yet satisfied. 
 
 In the town of Avranches, or, according to other 
 authorities, in the town of Bayeux, William sum- 
 moned a grand council of the barons and headmen 
 
 Harold's Afpkarance at the Court or Dike William. Bayeux Tapestry.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 189 
 
 of Normandy to be witnesses to the oaths he should 
 exact from the EngHsh earl. The sanctity of an 
 oath was so frequently disregarded in these devout 
 ages, that men had begun to consider it not enough 
 to swear by the majesty of heaven, and the hopes 
 of eternal salvation, and had invented sundry plans, 
 such as swearing upon the host or consecrated wafer, 
 and upon the relics of saints and martyrs, which, 
 in their dull conception, were things far more awful 
 and binding. But William determined to gain this 
 additional guarantee by a trick. On the eve of the 
 day fixed for the assemblj-, he caused all the bones 
 and relics of saints preserved in all the churches 
 
 and monasteries in the country, to be collected and 
 deposited in a large tub, which was placed in the 
 council-chamber, and covered and concealed under 
 a cloth of gold. At the appointed meeting, when 
 William was seated on his chair of state, with a 
 rich sword in his hand, a golden diadem on his head, 
 and all his Norman chieftains round about him, the 
 missal was brought in, and being opened at the 
 evangelists, was laid upon the cloth of gold which 
 covered the tub, and gave it the appearance of a 
 rich table or altar. Then Duke William rose and 
 said, " Earl Harold, I requh'e you, before this noble 
 assembly, to confirm, by oath, the promises you 
 
 Harold's Oath to William. Bayeux Tapestry. 
 
 have made me — to wit : to assist me in obtaining 
 the kingdom of England, after King Edward's death, 
 to marry my daughter Adele, and to send me your 
 sister, that I may give her in marriage to one of 
 mine." 
 
 Harold, who, it is said, was thus publicly taken 
 by surprise, durst not reti-act : he stepped forward 
 with a troubled and confused air, laid his hand upon 
 the book, and swore. As soon as the oath was 
 taken, at a signal from the duke, the missal was 
 removed, the cloth of gold was taken oft', and the 
 large tub was discovered filled to the very brim with 
 dead men's bones and dried up bodies of saints, over 
 which the son of Godwin had sworn without know- 
 ing it. According to the Norman chroniclers, Ha- 
 rold shuddered at the sight.' 
 
 Having, in his apprehension, thus made surety 
 doubly sure, William loaded Harold with presents, 
 and permitted him to depart. Liberty was restored 
 to young Haco, who returned to England with his 
 uncle, but the politic duke retained the other host- 
 age, Wulnot, as a further security for the faith of 
 his brother the earl. 
 
 Harold had scarcely set foot in England when he 
 was called to the field by circumstances which, for 
 the present, gave him an opportunity of showing 
 
 ' Mem. de I'Acad. des Inscriptions.— Roman du Rou.— Eadmer.— 
 Ruilielmus Pictavien.sis, or William of Poitou. William of Poitou 
 received the particulars from persons who were present at this extra- 
 ordinary scene. 
 
 his justice and impartiality or his wise policy, but 
 which soon afterwards tended to complicate the 
 difficulties of his situation. His brother Tostig, 
 who had been enti'usted with the government of 
 Northumbria on good Siward's death, behaved with 
 so much rapacity', tyranny, and cruelty, as to pro- 
 voke a general rising against his authority and per- 
 son. The insurgents — the hardiest and most war- 
 like men of the land — marched upon York, where 
 their obnoxious governor resided. Tostig fled like 
 a coward ; his treasury and armory were pillaged, 
 and two hundred of his body-guard, the tools of his 
 tyranny, were massacred in cold blood on the banks 
 of the Ouse. The Northumbrians, then, despising 
 the weak authority of the king, determined to choose 
 an earl for themselves ; and their choice fell on 
 Morcar, one of the sons of Earl Algar, the old enemy 
 of Harold and his family. Morcar, whose power 
 and influence were extensive in Lincoln, Notting- 
 ham, and Derbyshire, readily accepted the author- 
 ity offered him, and gathering together an armed 
 host, and securing the services of a body of Welsh 
 auxiliaries, he not only took possession of the great 
 northern earldom, but advanced to Northampton, 
 with an evident intention of extending his power 
 towards the south of England. But here he was 
 met by the active and intrepid Harold, who had 
 never yet returned vanquished from a field of bat- 
 tie. Before drawing the sword against his own 
 countrymen, the son of Godwin proposed a confer-
 
 190 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 ence. This was accepted by the Northumbrians, 
 who, at the meeting, exposed the Avrongs they had 
 suffered from Tostig, and the motives of their in- 
 surrection. Harold endeavored to palliate the faults 
 of his brother, and promised, in his name, better con- 
 duct for the future, if they would receive him back 
 as their earl lawfully appointed by the king. But 
 the Northumbrians unanimously protested against 
 riny reconciliation with the chief who had tyran- 
 nized over them. " We were born free men," said 
 rhey, " and were brought up in freedom ; a proud 
 chief is to us unbearable — for we have learned from 
 <mr ancestors to live free, or die." 
 
 The crimes of Tostig were proved, and Harold, 
 :^iving up his brother's cause as lost, agreed to the 
 demands of the Northumbrians, that the appoint- 
 ment of 3Iorcar as earl should be confirmed. A 
 rruce being concluded, he hastened to obtain the 
 consent of the king, which was little more than a 
 matter of form, and granted immediately. The 
 Northumbrians then withdrew with their new earl, 
 Morcar, from Northampton ; but during Harold's 
 short absence at court, to complete the treaty of 
 pacification, and at their departure, they plundered 
 and burned the neighboring towns and villages, and 
 carried off some hundreds of the inhabitants, whom 
 they kept for the sake of ransom. The Enghsh 
 pulse beats high at the tone of the Northumbrians' 
 protest; but in these barbarous times the heart 
 cannot fully enlist itself in favor of any one cause, 
 or party, or set of men. As for the expelled Tos- 
 tig, he fled to Bruges, the court of Baldwin, Earl 
 of Flanders, whose daughter he had married, and, 
 !)urning with rage and revenge, and considering 
 himself betrayed or unjustly abandoned by his bro- 
 ther Harold, he opened a correspondence, and 
 sought friendship and support, with William of 
 Normandy. 
 
 ,The childless and now childish Edward was 
 dying. A recent historian' suggests that Harold's 
 moderation in the affair of the Northumbrian insur- 
 
 > Dr. Lingard. 
 
 rection may be partly attributed to a piudent regard 
 for his oAvn interests, which, at this moment of 
 crisis, required his immediate presence in London, 
 that he might look after the succession to the crown. 
 There may be some grounds for this supposition, 
 which, however, must add to his reputation for wis- 
 dom, policy, and command of temper, however they 
 may detract from his impartiality and abstract love 
 of justice. An inferior statesman would have in- 
 volved the country in a civil war, at a moment 
 when, of all others, it was most essential to him 
 and the nation that it should be tranquil and united. 
 
 Harold an'ived in London on the last day of 
 November ; the king grew worse and worse ; and 
 in the first days of January it was evident that the 
 hand of death was upon him. The veil of mystery 
 and doubt again thickens round the royal death- 
 bed. The Avriters who go upon the authority of 
 those who were in the interest of the Norman, 
 positively affirm that Edward repeated the clauses 
 of his will, and named William his successor ; and 
 that when Harold and his kinsmen forced their 
 way into his chamber to obtain a different decision, 
 he said to them with his dying voice, " Ye know 
 right well, my lords, that I have bequeathed my 
 kingdom to the Duke of Normandy ; and are there 
 not those here, who have plighted oaths to secure 
 William's succession ?" On the other side, it is 
 maintained, with equal confidence, that he named 
 Harold his successor, and told the chiefs and 
 churchmen that no one was so worthy of the crown 
 as the great son of Godwin. 
 
 The Norman duke, whose hest right (if iiood or 
 right can be in it) was the sword of conquest, 
 alwaj's insisted on the intentions and last will of 
 Edward. But, although the will of a popular king 
 was occasionally allowed much weight in the de- 
 cision, it was not imperative or binding to the 
 Saxon people without the consent and concurrence 
 of the witenagemot, — the parliament or great 
 council of the nation, — to which source of right the 
 Norman, very naturally, never thought of aj)plyiiig. 
 
 Harold's Tntkrvikw with Kiso F.dwarp on his Return from Normandy. Bayeiu Tapestry
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 191 
 
 The English crown was in great measure an 
 elective crown. This fact is sufficiently proved by 
 the irregularity in the succession, which is not 
 reconcilable with any laws of heirship and primo- 
 geniture, for we frequently see the brother of a 
 deceased king preferred to all the sons of that king, 
 or a younger son put over the head of the eldest. 
 As the royal race ended in Edward, or only survived 
 in an imbecile boy, it became imperative to look 
 elsewhere for a successor, and upon whom could 
 the eyes of the nation so naturally fall as upon the 
 experienced, skilful, and brave Harold, the defender 
 of the Saxon cause, and the near relation by mar- 
 riage of their last king? Harold, therefore, de- 
 rived his authority from what ought always to be 
 considered its most legitimate source, and which 
 was actually acknowledged to be so in the age and 
 country in which he lived. William, a foreigner of 
 an obnoxious race, rested his claim on Edward's 
 dying declaration, and on a will that the king had 
 no faculty to make or enforce without the consent 
 and ratification of the states of the kingdom ; and, 
 strange to say, this will, which was held by some 
 to give a plausible, or even a just title (which it 
 did not), loas never inoduced, whence people con- 
 cluded it had never existed. If a signed and 
 sealed will would have been little, the dying de- 
 claration, subject to all sorts of misinterpretation, 
 ought to be considered as nothing. The proba- 
 bilities however are, that Edward, bound by old 
 promises and affections, and moved by old ani- 
 mosities, really wished to appoint the duke and 
 
 exclude the earl, — that in the presence of his wife 
 and her family he had not courage to insist on this 
 wish, and that, when worn out by importunities, 
 he faintly declared, as is reported, that the English 
 nation might name Harold or whomsoever they 
 liked best for their king. He probably knew better 
 than any man the resolute character of both com- 
 petitors, and may therefore have trembled at the 
 prospect of the war and misery about to befall his 
 people, to whom, in spite of his weaknesses and 
 foreign prejudices, he was sincerely attached. The 
 chroniclers agi-ee in stating that he was visited by 
 frightful visions, — that he repeated the most men- 
 acing passages of the Bible, which came to hia 
 memory involuntarily, and in a confused manner, — 
 and that the day before his death he pronounced a 
 fearful prophecy of woe and judgment to the Saxon 
 people. At these words there was " dole and 
 sorrow enough ;" but Stigand, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, could not refrain from laughing at the 
 general alarm., and said the old man was only 
 dreaming and raving, as sick old men are wont to do. 
 During these his last days, however, the anxious 
 mind of the king was in good part absorbed by the 
 care for his own sepulture, and_ his earnest wish 
 that Westminster Abbey, which he had rebuilt 
 from the foundation, should be completed and con- 
 secrated before he departed this life. The works, 
 to which he had devoted a tenth part of his rev- 
 enue, were pressed, — they were finished ; but on 
 the Festival of the Innocents, the day fixed for the 
 consecration, he could not leave his chamber ; and 
 
 The Sickness and Death of Edward the Confessor. Bayeiix Tapestry. 
 
 the gi'and ceremony was performed in presence of 
 Queen Editha, who represented her dying hus- 
 band, and of a great concourse of nobles and priests 
 who had been bidden in unusual numbers to the 
 Christmas festival, that they might partake in this 
 solemn celebration. He expired on the 5th of 
 .lanuary, 1066; and, on the very next day, the 
 Festival of the Epiphany, all that remained of the 
 last Saxun king of the race of Cerdic and Alfred 
 was interred with great pomp and solemnity, within 
 
 the walls of the sacred edifice he had just lived time 
 enough to complete. He was in his sixty-fifth oi* 
 sixty-sixth year, and had reigned over England 
 nearly twenty-four years. 
 
 In the character of Edward the Confessor there 
 were many amiable and excellent traits. In an age 
 when war was considered the fittest and noblest 
 occupation for a king, he was a sincere and con- 
 sistent lover of peace. He was an enemy to all 
 violence, force, and oppression, and studied, nut
 
 U<2 
 
 HISTORV OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 4 T' 
 
 & E tX 
 
 FtNERjLL OF Edward the Cokfessor at Wt-TMiN^TEH Abbkv. Biycux T.ipestry. 
 
 Remaivs of the SnRiNE OF Kdward the Confessor, Westminster Abbiy.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 19S.' 
 
 unsuccessfully, to relieve the body of the people 
 from the heavy hand of power, and to establish the 
 mild empire of the law. The body of laws he 
 compiled, and which were so fondly remembered 
 in after times, when the Saxons were ground to the 
 dust by Norman tyranny, were selected from the 
 codes or collections of his predecessors Ethelbert, 
 Ina, and Alfred, few or none of them originating in 
 himself, although the gratitude of the nation long 
 continued to attribute them all to him. He felt 
 keenly for the privations and misfortunes of the 
 people ; he was averse to burdening them with 
 taxes ; and his own economy, together with the 
 comparatively peaceful state in which the kingdom 
 was kept under him, enabled him to hghten the 
 load which had oppressed them during several pre- 
 ceding reigns. It is said he could never look on a 
 heap of gold and silver in his treasury without 
 making melancholy reflections as to the manner in 
 which it must have been Avrung from the people. 
 
 On one occasion, when he was led by his courtiers 
 to contemplate, as a pleasurable sight, the money 
 that had just been collected by a tax, his imagina- 
 tion was so affected by the prodigious mass, that 
 (says Ingulf) he fancied he saw the Devil leaping 
 exultingly about it, and ordered it to be imme- 
 diately restored to his poor subjects who had been 
 forced to contribute it. Later historians laugh at 
 this hallucination ; but it would have been well for 
 the people if many of the later kings had partaken 
 of Edward's squeamishness of conscience, or even 
 of his superstition, in this respect. 
 
 Superstition, a boundless credulity, and an ascetic 
 and unmanly devotion were, however, the foibles 
 and vices of Edward's character, and though they 
 obtained him canonization ft-om a thankful church, 
 they certainly narrowed the hmits of his usefulness 
 in this world, unfitted him. in some essential res- 
 pects, for the task of government, and entailed a 
 legacy of misery on the Anglo-Saxon nation. 
 
 Impressions from the Great Skal of Edward the Comfessor. — Engraved from Original Casts. 
 
 Harold was proclaimed king in a vast assembly 
 of the chiefs and nobles, and of the citizens of 
 London, almost as soon as the body of Edward 
 was deposited in the tomb ; and the same evening 
 witnessed his solemn coronation, only a few hours 
 inten'ening between the two ceremonies. The 
 common account is, that Stigand, the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, who, in right of his office, should 
 have crowned the king, having quarreled with the 
 court of Rome, and then lying under a sentence of 
 suspension, the ecclesiastic next in dignity, Aldred, 
 Archbishop of York, officiated in his stead; other 
 authorities affirm that Harold crowned himself, or 
 put the crown on his head with his own hands; 
 but both William of Poictiers, a contemporary 
 writer, and Ordericus Vitalis, who lived in the next 
 century, assert that the act was performed by 
 Stigand. This account seems to be confirmed by 
 the representation of the ceremony on the Bayeux 
 tapestiy, where Harold appoars seated on the 
 VOL. I — 13 
 
 throne, with Stigand standing on his left. In this 
 moment of excitement the strong mind of the 
 Saxon, though not destitute of supei'stition, may 
 have risen superior to the terrors of the dead men's 
 bones, and the oaths that had been extorted froin 
 him most foully and bj^ force in Normandy ; but the 
 circumstances, no doubt, made an unfavorable im- 
 pression on the minds of most of such of his coun- 
 trymen as were acquainted with them. Still all the 
 southern counties of England hailed his accession 
 with joy, nor was he wanting to himself in exertions 
 to increase his well-established popularitj% " He 
 studied by all means which way to win the people's 
 favor, and omitted no occasion whereby he might 
 show any token of bounteous liberality, gentle- 
 ness, and courteous behavior towards them. The 
 grievous customs also and taxes, which his prede- 
 cessors had raised, he either abolished or dimin- 
 ished ; the ordinary wages of his servants and men 
 of war he increased, and further showed himself
 
 194 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 fBooK n. 
 
 The Crown offered to Harold dy the People. Bayeux Tapestry. 
 
 Coronation of Harold. Bayeux Tapestry. 
 
 very well bent to all virtue and goodness."' A 
 writer who lived near the time, adds, that from the 
 moment of his accession he showed himself pious, 
 humble, and affable ; and that he spared himself no 
 fatigue, either by land or by sea, for the defence of 
 his country.^ 
 
 The court was effectually cleared of the unpopu- 
 lar foreign favorites ; but their property was re- 
 spected, they were left in the enjoyment of their 
 civil rights, and not a few retained their employ- 
 ments. Some of these Normans were the first to 
 announce the death of Edward, and the coronation 
 of Harold, to Duke William. At the moment when 
 he received this great news he was in his hunting 
 
 1 Ilolingshed - Roger of Iloveden. 
 
 grounds near Rouen, holding a bow in his hand with 
 some new arrows that he was trj'ing. On a sudden 
 he was observed to be very pensive ; and giving his 
 bow to one of his people, he threw himself into a 
 skiff, crossed the river Seine, and then hurried on 
 to his palace of Rouen without sajing a word to any 
 one. He stopped in the great hall, and strode up 
 and down that apartment ; now sitting down, now 
 rising, changing his seat and his posture, as if un- 
 able to find rest in any. None of his attendants 
 durst approach, he looked so fierce and agitated : 
 they all kept themselves at a distance, staring at 
 each other in silence. An officer of rank, and one 
 who enjoyed the intimate 'Confidence of the duke, 
 having arrived at the palace, was immediately sur-
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 195 
 
 rounded by the attendants, all eager to know from 
 him why their prince was so sore troubled. " I know 
 nothing certain," said the officer, "but we shall 
 soon be well informed ;" and then advancing alone 
 to William, he thus addressed him : — «' My lord, 
 where is the use of hiding your news from us ? 
 what will you gain by so doing ? It is a common 
 rumor in the town that the King of England is 
 dead, and that Harold has seized the kingdom, 
 belying his faith towards you." " They speak 
 the truth," replied the duke ; " my spite comes 
 from the death of Edward, and the wrong that 
 Harold has done me." " Well, sire," continued the 
 courtier, " be not wroth at what can be mended. 
 For the death of Edward there is no help, but 
 there is one for the wrongs of Harold : justice is 
 on your side, and you have good soldiers ; under- 
 take boldly, a thing well begun is half done."' Re- 
 covering from his reverie, William agreed that am- 
 bassadors should be immediately sent to England. 
 When these envoys appeared before Harold, they 
 said, " William, Duke of the Normans, reminds 
 thee of the oath thou hast sworn him with thy 
 mouth and with thy hand on good and holy relics." 
 " It is true," replied the Saxon king, " that I made 
 an oath to William, but I made it under the influ- 
 ence of force : I promised what did not belong to 
 me, and engaged to do what I never could do ; for 
 my royalty does not belong to me, nor can I dispose 
 of it without the consent of my country. In the 
 like manner I cannot, without the consent of my 
 country, espouse a foreign wife. As for my sister, 
 whom the duke claims in order that he may marry 
 her to one of his chiefs, she has been dead some 
 time, — will he that I send him her corpse ?" A 
 second embassy terminated in mutual reproaches ; 
 and then William, swearing that, in the course of 
 the year, he would come to exact all that was due 
 to him, and pursue the perjured Harold even unto 
 the places where he believed his footing the most 
 sure and firm, pressed those preparations for war 
 which he had begun almost as soon as he learned 
 the course events had taken in Entjland. 
 
 On the continent the opinion of most men was 
 in favor of William, and Harold was regarded in 
 the light of a sacrilegious oath-breaker, with whom 
 no terms were to be kept. The habitual love of 
 war, and the hopes of obtaining copious plunder, 
 and rich settlements in England, were not without 
 their effect. In the cabinet council which the duke 
 assembled there was not one dissentient voice — all 
 the great Norman lords were of opinion that the 
 island ought to be invaded ; and knowing the mag- 
 nitude of the enterprise, they engaged to serve him 
 with their body and goods, even to the selling or 
 mortgaging then- inheritance. "But this is not 
 all," said they : " you must ask the aid, and also 
 the advice, of the Norman people ; for it is but 
 right that those who pay the expense should be 
 summoned to consent to it." William then con- 
 voked the great parliament or assembly of men 
 of all conditions — warriors, priests, merchants, 
 
 1 Thierry, Hist, de la Conqufite de TAngleterre.— Chronique de 
 Nonnandie. 
 
 farmers, and others, at Lillebonne, where he ex- 
 plained his project, and solicited their assistance. 
 After hearing the duke's discourse the members 
 retired, in order that they might deliberate more 
 freely out, of the reach of any influence. The 
 Normans were as yet a comparatively free people, 
 and the debate which ensued was loud and stormy. 
 Rising from their seats, the disputants formed 
 themselves into separate groups, and spoke and 
 gesticulated with much violence. The great plea 
 of those opposed to the enterprise was, that their 
 sovereign had no right to command any of his vas- 
 sals to cross the seas on mihtary service. In the 
 midst of this disorder William Fitz-Osborn, the 
 grand seneschal of Normandy, raised his voice, and 
 said, " Why do you dispute in this sort ? William 
 is your lord ; he has need of you ; your duty would 
 be to make him the ofier of your services, without 
 waiting for his asking them. If you fail him at 
 this crisis, and he obtains his ends without you, by 
 the living God he will remember it against you. 
 Show, then, that you love him, and act now with 
 a good will." " No doubt," cried the opposition, 
 " he is our lord ; but is it not enough for us to pay 
 him his rents ? We owe him no aid in his going 
 beyond sea : he has already overburdened us by his 
 wars, and now, if he fails in this new enterprise, 
 our country will be entirely ruined." After a long 
 dispute it was agreed that the seneschal Fitz- 
 Osborn, who was acquainted with the property and 
 means of all of them, should be the person deputed 
 to excuse the assembly for the smallness of its 
 offers. The members all returned to the presence 
 of the duke, when the seneschal, hurried on by his 
 own ardent zeal, delivered a message very different 
 from that which had been agreed upon, declaring 
 nothing less than that each feudatory was ready to 
 serve him beyond sea, that he who hitherto had 
 furnished only two horse-soldiers would now pro- 
 vide four, and that in all things his Norman vassals 
 would render double the service to which they 
 were bound by their tenures. At this unexpected 
 discourse a long shout of rage and disapprobation 
 shook the hall. " No ! no !" cried the members, 
 " we never charged you with such an answer, we 
 did not say that, that will never be. If the duke 
 is pressed in his own country we will sei"ve him, 
 as it is due to him we should, but we are not bound 
 to assist him in conqviering the country of other 
 men. Besides, if we do him double service once, 
 and if we follow him once beyond sea, he will hold 
 it as his right and a precedent for the future, — he 
 would thus exact it from our children ! This must 
 not be ! this shall never be !" The assembly then 
 broke up in a general tumult. 
 
 WiUiam was exasperated, for he never brooked 
 an opposition to his decided will ; but he was not 
 disheartened, and was sufficiently master of his 
 passion to have recourse to cajolery and artifice. 
 He summoned the members of the assembly into 
 his presence one by one, beginning with the richest 
 and most influential ; and, charming them with his 
 condescension, and dazzling them with the certain 
 prospect of gain and glory, he proceeded to assure
 
 196 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 them that whatever they did now should be con- 
 sidered as voluntary and gratuitous, and should in 
 no sense be held as a right or established as a pre- 
 cedent for future times; and he oflered to give 
 them security for this by letters sealed with his 
 great zeal. The opposition of the mass was thus 
 overcome in detail ; and every person, when he 
 himself was once engaged, endeavored to bring 
 over others. Some subscribed for ships, others to 
 furnish men-at-arms, others engaged to march in 
 person : the priests gave their gold and silver, the 
 merchants their stuffs, and the farmers their corn 
 and provender. A clerk stood near the duke with 
 a large book open before him, and as the vassals 
 made their promises he wrote them all down in 
 his register. The ambitious William looked far 
 beyond the confines of Normandy for soldiers of 
 fortune to assist him in his enterprise. He had his 
 ban of war published in all the neighboring coun- 
 tries : he offered good pay to every tall, robust man 
 who would serve him with the lance, the sword, or 
 the cross-bow. A multitude flocked to him from 
 all parts, from far and near, from the north and 
 the south. They came from Maine and Anjou ; 
 from Poitou and Bretagne ; from the country of the 
 French king and from Flanders; from Aquitaine 
 and from Burgundy ; from Piedmont beyond the 
 Alps and from the banks of the Rhine. Adven- 
 turers by profession, the idle, the dissipated, the 
 profligate, the enfans i^c'dns of Europe, hurried at 
 the summons.' Of these, some were knights and 
 chiefs in war, others simple foot-soldiers ; some 
 demanded regular pay in money ; others merely 
 their passage across the channel, and all the booty 
 they might make. Some demanded territory in 
 England — a domain, a castle, a town ; while others, 
 again, simply wished to secure some rich Saxon 
 lad}' in marriage. All the wild wishes, all the pre- 
 tensions of human avarice, were wakened into 
 activity. " WiUiam," says the Norman chronicle, 
 "repulsed no one, but promised and pleased aU as 
 much as he could." He even sold, beforehand, a 
 bishopric in England to a certain Remi of Fescamp 
 (afterwards canonized as St. Remigius), for a ship 
 and twent)"^ men-at-arms. 
 
 When the pope's bull arrived, justifying the 
 expedition, and with it the consecrated banner that 
 was to float over it, the matrons of Normandy sent 
 their sons to enrol themselves for the health of 
 their souls ; and the national eagerness for war was 
 increased twofold. Three churchmen, the cele- 
 brated Lanfranc, Robert of Jumieges, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, who had been expelled by Earl God- 
 win and his sons, and a deacon of Lisieux, had been 
 sent on an embassy to Rome, where they urged the 
 cause of William Avith entire success, and obtained 
 from Alexander III. a holy license to invade Eng- 
 land ; on the condition, however, that the Norman 
 duke, when he had conquered our island, should 
 hold it as a fief of the church. This measure was 
 not carried through the consistory without oppo- 
 sition. The man who combated most warmly in 
 its fiwor was the fiery Hildebrand, then archdeacon 
 
 1 Thierry. — Chron. de Normaudie. 
 
 of the clmrch of Rome, and afterwards the cele- 
 brated Pope Gregory VII. In after years, when 
 William could mock the power he now courted, 
 and quarreled with the pope, this Gregory re- 
 minded him of these services in a vehement epistle. 
 " Thou art not ignorant," wrote the pontiff', " of the 
 pains I took in bygone times for the success of thy 
 enterprise, and that, above all, I suffered on thy 
 account infamy and reproaches from some of my 
 colleagues. They murmured to see me display so 
 nmch warmth and zeal for the cause of such an 
 homicide ; but God knows my intention was good : 
 I believed thee the friend of holy church, and I 
 hoped that, by the grace of Heaven, thy bountj' to 
 the church would increase with thy power." The 
 most valid reasons William or his ambassadors 
 could present to the pope were the will of King 
 Edward the Confessor, which was never produced, 
 the perjury and sacrilege of Harold, the forcible 
 expulsion from England of the Norman prelates, 
 and the old massacre of the Danes on St. Brice's 
 day by King Ethelred. But if there was any want 
 of plausibility in the argumentative statement of his 
 case, William, as already intimated, was most libe- 
 ral and convincing in his promises to the pope, to 
 whom, among other things, he offered an annual 
 tribute, to be levied in England after the fashion 
 set by Canute. 
 
 A pontifical diploma signed with the cross, and 
 sealed, according to the Roman visage, with a seal 
 in lead of a roimd form^ Avas sent ti the Norman 
 duke, and, in order to give him still more confi- 
 dence and securit}^ in his invasion, a consecrated 
 banner, and a ring of great price, containing one of 
 the liairs of St. Peter, were added to the bull. 
 William repaired in person to St. Germain, in order 
 to solicit the aid of Philip I., King of the French. 
 This sovereign, though tempted by flattering pro- 
 mises, thought fit to refuse any direct assistance ; 
 but he permitted (what he probably could not pre- 
 vent) that many hundreds of his subjects should join 
 the expedition. William's father-in-laAV, Baldwin 
 of Flanders, gave some assistance in men, ships, and 
 stores ; and the other continental princes, pretty 
 generally, encouraged William, in the politic hope, 
 that a formidable neighbor might be kept at a dis- 
 tance for the rest of his life, if the expedition suc- 
 ceeded, or so weakened as to be no longer formida- 
 ble, if it foiled. - But there was one state, whose his- 
 tory in old times had been singularly mixed and in- 
 terwoven with that of Britain, which might have 
 proved an impediment. Armorica, now called Bre- 
 tagne, or Brittany, had become a sort of fief to Nor- 
 mandy ; but Conan, the reigning chief or duke of 
 the Bretons, sent a message to WilHam, requiring 
 that, since he was going to be king of England, he 
 should deliver up his Norman duchy to the legiti- 
 mate descendants of Rollo the Ganger," from whom 
 the Breton said he issued by the female line. Co- 
 nan did not long survive this indiscreet demand ; and 
 his sudden death, by poison, was generally, and 
 
 1 Called in Latin " bulla ;" hence the common name " bull" fur 
 the pope's letters, <Src 
 
 2 The founder of the Duchy of Normandy.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 197 
 
 William giving Orders for the Invasion. Bayeiix Tapestry. 
 
 above all in Bi'ittany, imputed to William the Bas- 
 tard. Eudes, or Eudo, the successor of Conan, 
 raised no pretensions, but voluntarily yielding to the 
 influence of William, sent him two of his sons (which 
 he was not bound to do) to serve him in his wars 
 against the English. These two young Bretons, 
 named Brian and Allan,^ came to the rendezvous ac- 
 companied by a troop of men of their own country, 
 who gave them the title of Mac Tierns (the sons of 
 the chief), while the Normans styled them Counts. 
 Other rich Bretons, as Robert de Vitry, Bertrand 
 de Dinan, and Raoul de Gael, flocked to William's 
 standard, to otter their services as volunteers or as 
 soldiers of foi'tune. 
 
 From early spring all through the summer months 
 the most active preparations had been carried on in 
 all the sea-ports of Normandy. Workmen of all 
 classes were employed in building and equipping 
 ships ; smiths and armorers forged lances and made 
 coats of mail ; and porters passed incessantly to-and- 
 fro carrying the arms from the workshops to the 
 ships. These notes of preparation soon sounded 
 
 1 This Allan is supposed by some to have been the original stock of 
 the royal house of Stuart. 
 
 across the channel, where Harold became anxious 
 to ascertain the amount and nature of the forces 
 which William had raised. Concealment would 
 have been difficult, and was not considered needful, 
 the duke probably hoping to astound his rival with 
 the magnitude and completeness of his prepsirations. 
 At least, there is an old story, that a detected spy 
 from England was permitted to see what he chose, 
 and dismissed without hurt, with this message from 
 William : — " That Harold need not trouble himself 
 to ascertain the Norman strength, which he should 
 see, and feel too, before the year was at an end." 
 
 The first storm of war that burst upon England 
 did not, however, proceed from Normandy, and, but 
 for his own unnatural brother, Harold might possi- 
 bly have derided the proud threat of William. It 
 will be remembered how this brother, Tostig, ex- 
 pelled from Northumbria, fled with treacherous in- 
 tentions to the court of the Earl of Flanders, and 
 opened communications with the Duke of Norman- 
 dy. Soon after Harold's coronation, Tostig repaired 
 in person to Rouen, where he boasted to William 
 that he had more credit and real power in England 
 than his brother, and promised him the sure posses- 
 
 /\ iliJlHtlJiillltl- 
 
 Normans preparing Arms and Military Implements for the Invasion. Bayeux Tapestry.
 
 198 
 
 HISTORY OF ExXGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 sion of that country, if he would onlj' unite with him 
 for its conquest. William was, no doubt, too well 
 informed to credit this assertion ; but he saw the ad- 
 vantage which might be derived from this fraternal 
 hate, and gave Tostig a few ships, with which that 
 miscreant ravaged the Isle of Wight and the country 
 about Sandwich. Reti-eating before the naval force 
 of his brother, Tostig then w^ent to the coast of Lin- 
 colnshire, where he did great harm. He next sailed 
 up the Humber, but was presently driven thence by 
 the advance of Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, and 
 his brother Edwin, which two powerful chiefs were 
 now living in friendship) with Harold, who had es- 
 poused their sister Algitha, and made her Queen of 
 England. From the Humber, Tostig fled with only 
 twelve small vessels to the north of Scotland, whence, 
 forgetful of his alliance with the Norman duke, he 
 sailed to the Baltic to invite Sweyn, the King of Den- 
 mark, to the conquest of our island. Sweyn wisely 
 dechned the dangerous invitation, and then, caring 
 little what rival he raised to his brother, he went to 
 Norway and pressed Harold Hardrada, the king of 
 that country, to invade England. Hardrada, who 
 was powerful, warlike, and ambitious, could not re- 
 sist the temptation, and early in autumn he set sail 
 with a formidable fleet, consisting of two hundred 
 war-ships, and three hundred store-ships and vessels 
 of smaller size. Having touched at the Orkneys, 
 where he left his queen, and procured a large re- 
 inforcement of pirates and adventurers, Hardrada 
 made for England, and sailed up the Tyne, taking 
 and plundering several towns. He then continued 
 his course southwards, and, being joined by Tostig, 
 sailed up the Humber and the Ouse. The Norwe- 
 gian king and the Saxon traitor landed their united 
 forces at Riccall, or Richale, not far from the city 
 of York. Notwithstanding his former infamous con- 
 duct, Tostig had still some friends and retainers in 
 that country : these now rallied round his standard, 
 and many others were won over or reduced to an 
 unpatriotic neutrality by the imposing display of 
 force on the part of the invaders. The earls Mor- 
 car and Edwin, true to Harold and their trust, 
 marched boldly out from York ; but they were de- 
 feated after a desperate conflict, and compelled to fly. 
 The citizens of York then opened their gates to the 
 Norwegian conqueror, who made himself the more 
 formidable to Harold by the wisdom and moderation 
 of his conduct. 
 
 Through all the summer months, the last of the 
 Saxon monarchs had been busily engaged watching 
 the southern coasts, where he expected William to 
 land: but now, giving up, for the moment, every 
 thought of the Normans, he united nearly all his 
 forces, and marched most rapidly to the north, to 
 face his brother and the King of Norway. This 
 march was so skilfully managed, that the invaders 
 had no notion of the advance, and they were taken 
 by surprise when Harold burst upon them like a 
 thunderbolt, in the neighborhood of York, a very 
 few days after their landing. Hardrada drew up 
 his forces as best he could at Stamford Bridge : as 
 he rode round them his horse stumbled, and he fell 
 to the ground : but he presently sprang up unhurt, 
 
 and, in order to stop a contrary augury, exclaimed, 
 that this was a good omen. Harold saw what had 
 happened, and inquired Avho that Norwegian chief 
 was, in the sky-blue mantle and with the splendid 
 helmet. He was told thiit it was the King of Nor- 
 way ; upon which he added, " He is a large and 
 strong person, but I augur that fortune has forsaken 
 him." Before joining battle, Harold detached twen- 
 ty mail-clad horsemen to parley with that wing of the 
 enemy where the standard of Tostig was seen ; and 
 one of these warriors asked if Earl Tostig was there. 
 Tostig answered for himself, and said, " You know 
 he is here !" The horseman then, in the name of 
 his brother, King Harold, offered him peace and the 
 whole of Northumbria ; or, if that were too little, 
 the third part of the realm of England. " And what 
 territory would Harold give in compensation to my 
 ally Hardrada, King of Norway ?" The horseman 
 replied, " Seven feet of English ground for a grave ; 
 or a little more, seeing that Hardrada is taller than 
 most men." " Ride back, ride back," cried Tostig, 
 "and bid King Harold make ready for the fight! 
 When the Northmen tell the story of this day, they 
 shall never say that Earl Tostig forsook King Har- 
 drada, the son of Sigurd. He and I have one mind 
 and one resolve, and that is, either to die in battle 
 or to possess all England." Soon after the action 
 commenced : it was long, fierce, and bloody ; but 
 the victory was decisive, and in favor of Harold. 
 Hardrada fell with nearly every one of his chiefs, 
 and the greater part of the Norwegians perished. 
 Tostig, the cause of the war, was slain soon after 
 Hardrada. Even the Norwegian fleet fell into the 
 hands of the conqueror, who had the generosity to 
 permit Olave, the son of Hardrada, to depart with 
 all the survivors in tw^enty-four ships, after that 
 prince had sworn that he would for ever maintain 
 faith and friendship with England. 
 
 Only three days after this signal victory, the Nor- 
 mans landed in the south. Harold received this 
 news as he was sitting joyfully at table in the good 
 city of York ; but, taking his measures with his 
 usual rapidity, he instantly began his march towards 
 London. Upon his way, his forces, which had suf- 
 fered tremendously in the battle against the Norwe- 
 gians, were weakened by discontents and desertion ; 
 and not a few men were left behind by the velocity 
 of his march, from the effects of their wounds, and 
 from sheer fatigue. In number, spirit, discipline, 
 appointment, and in all other essentials, the enemies 
 he had now to encounter were most formidable. 
 They have well been called "the most remarkable 
 and formidable armament which the western na- 
 tions had seen, since some degree of regularity and 
 order had been introduced into their civil and mili- 
 tary arrangements."' 
 
 By the middle of August the whole of William's 
 fleet, with the land-troops on board, had assembled 
 at the mouth of the Dive, a small river which falls 
 into the sea between the Seine and the Orne. The 
 total number of vessels amounted to about 3000, of 
 which 600 or 700 were of a superior order. During 
 a whole month the winds were contrary, and kept 
 
 1 Sir J. Mackintosh, Hist. Eng.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 199 
 
 A Ship or the Fleet of Duke William transporting Troops for the Invasion of England. Bayeux Tapestry. 
 
 the Normfin fleet in that port. Then a breeze sprang 
 up from the south, and carried the ships as far as 
 St. Valery, near Dieppe ; but there the weather 
 changed; a storm set in, and they were obhged to 
 cast anchor and wait for several days. During this 
 delay some of the ships were wrecked and their 
 crews drowned on the coast. In the forced idleness 
 to which the soldiers were condemned, they passed 
 their time in talking, and in making melancholy re- 
 flections on the danger of the voyage and the diffi- 
 culties of the whole enterprise, — so much had their 
 uncomfortable situation abated their spirit. They 
 began to murmur, that though there had been as 
 yet no battle, many men had perished ; and they 
 calculated and exaggerated the number of dead 
 bodies which the sea had thrown upon the sands. 
 In consequence of all this not a few of the discour- 
 aged adventurers broke their engagements, and 
 withdrew from the army ; and the rest were in- 
 clined to believe that Providence had declared 
 against the war. To check these feelings, which 
 might have proved fatal to his projects, William 
 caused the bodies of the shipwrecked to be privately 
 buried as soon as they were found, and increased 
 their rations both of food and strong drink. But 
 their inactivity still brought back the same sad and 
 discouraging ideas. "He is mad!" murmured the 
 soldiers ; " that man is very mad who seeks to take 
 possession of another's countiy ! God is oflTended 
 at such designs, and this he shows now by refusing 
 us a fair wind." The duke then had recourse to 
 something more potent than bread and wine. He 
 caused the body of St. Valery, the patron of that 
 place, where a town had grown up around his cell, 
 to be taken from his shrine, and carried in proces- 
 sion through the camp, the knights, soldiers, camp- 
 followers, and sailors all devoutly kneeling as it 
 passed, and praying for the saint's intercession. In 
 the course of the ensuing night the weather changed, 
 and the wind blew fair from the Norman to the 
 
 English coast. The troops repaired to their seve- 
 ral ships, and, at an early hour the next morning, 
 the whole fleet set sail. William led the van in a 
 vessel which had been presented to him for the 
 occasion by his wife Matilda, and which was distin- 
 guished by its splendid decorations in the day, and 
 in the darkness of night by a brilliant hght at its 
 mast's head. The vanes of the ship were gilded, — 
 its sails were of diff'erent bright colors, — the three 
 lions, the arms of Normandy, were painted in seve- 
 ral places, — and its sculptured figure-head was a 
 child with a drawn bow, the arrow ready to fly 
 against the hostile land. The consecrated banner 
 sent from Rome by the pope floated at the main- 
 top-mast, and the invader had put a cross upon his 
 flag, in testimony of the hohness of his undertaking. 
 This ship sailed faster than all the rest, and, in his 
 impatience, William neglected to order the taking 
 in of sail to lessen its speed. In the course of the 
 night he left the whole fleet far astern. Early in 
 the morning he ordered a sailor to the mast-head to 
 see if the other ships were coming up. " I can see 
 nothing but the sea and sky," said the mariner; and 
 then they lay-to. To keep the crew in good heart, 
 William ordered them a sumptuous breakfast, with 
 wines strongly spiced. The sailor was again sent 
 aloft, and this time he said he could make out foui 
 vessels in the distance : but mounting a third time 
 shortly after, he shouted, " Now I see a forest of 
 masts and sails !" A few hours after this the united 
 Norman fleet came to anchor on the Sussex coast 
 without meeting with any resistance ; for Harold's 
 ships, which so long had cruised on that coast, had 
 been called elsewhere, or had returned into port 
 through want of pay and provisions.^ It was on the 
 28th of September, 1066, that the Normans landed 
 unopposed at a place called Bulverhithe, between 
 Pevensey and Hastings. The archers landed first : 
 
 1 Thierry.— Soutbey's Naval Hist, of Eng.— Chron. fie Normand.— 
 Guil. Pictav.
 
 200 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II, 
 
 they wore short dresses, and their hair was shaved 
 off: then the horsemen landed, wearing iron casques 
 and tunics and chaussts (or defences for the thighs) 
 of mail, being armed with long and strong lances and 
 straight double-edged swords. After them de- 
 scended the workmen of the army, pioneers, car- 
 penters, and smiths, who carried on shore, piece by 
 piece, three wooden castles, which had been cut 
 and prepared beforehand in Normandy. The duke 
 was the last man to land ; and as his foot touched 
 the sand, he made a false step, and fell upon his 
 face. A murmur instantly succeeded this trifling 
 mishap, and the soldiery cried out, " God keep us ! 
 but here is a bad sign !" In those days the con- 
 queror's presence of mind never forsook him, and, 
 leaping gaily to his feet, and showing them his hand 
 full of English earth or sand, he exclaimed, " What 
 now ? What astonishes you ? I have taken seisin 
 of this land with my hands, and by the splendor of 
 God as far as it extends it is mine, — it is yours !" 
 
 From the landing-place the army marched to 
 Hastings, near to which town he traced a fortified 
 camp, and set up two of the wooden castles or tow- 
 ers that he had brought with him from Normandy, 
 
 Orders oiven for the Erection or a Fortified Ga.mp at 
 Hastings. Bayeux Tapestry. 
 
 and there placed his provisions. Detached corps of 
 Normans then overran all the neighboring country, 
 
 pillaging and burning the houses. The English fled 
 from their abodes, concealed their goods and their 
 cattle, and repaired in crowds to their churches, 
 which they believed the surest asylum against their 
 enemies, who, after all, were Christians like them- 
 selves. But the Normans cared little for the sanc- 
 tity of English churches, and respected no asylum. 
 William personally surveyed all the neighboring 
 country, and occupied the old Roman castle of Pe- 
 vensey with a sti'ong detachment. It should appear 
 that he was presently welcomed into England by 
 several foreigners, the remnant of the old Norman 
 court party which had been so predominant in the 
 days of the late king. One Robert, a Norman thane 
 who was settled in the neighborhood of Hastings, is 
 particularly mentioned as giving him advice imme- 
 diately after his landing. It is probable that the 
 disembarking the army, horse and foot, and the land- 
 ing of the provisions and military stores, would oc- 
 cupy two or three days ; but sixteen days elapsed 
 between their arrival and the battle, and in all that 
 time William made no advance into the country, but 
 lingered within a few miles of the coast where he 
 had landed. 
 
 On reaching London, where he appears to have 
 been well received by the people, Harold manned 
 700 vessels, and sent them round to hinder Wil- 
 liam's escape — for he made no doubt of vanquishing 
 the Normans, even as he had so recently vanquished 
 the Norwegians. Reinforcements of troops came 
 in from all quarters except from the north; and 
 another of his Norman spies and advisers, who was 
 residing in the capital, informed the duke there 
 were grounds for apprehending that in a few days 
 the Saxon army would be swelled to 100,000 men. 
 But Harold was irritated bj^ the ravages committed 
 in the country by the invaders ; he was impatient 
 to meet them, and hoping to profit a second time by 
 a sudden and unexpected attack, he marched off for 
 the Sussex coast by night, only six days after his 
 arrival in London, and with forces inferior in num- 
 bers to those of William. The camp of William 
 was well guarded, and, to prevent all surprise, he 
 had thrown out advanced posts to a considerable 
 distance. These posts, composed of good cavalry, 
 fell back as the Saxons approached, and told William 
 that Harold was rushing on with the speed and fury 
 of a madman. On his side Harold dispatched some 
 spies, who spoke the French language, to ascertain 
 the position and state of preparation of the Nor- 
 mans. Both these the returning spies reported to 
 
 CooKiNo AND Feasting of the Normans at Hastings. Bayeu.x Tapestry
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 201 
 
 be formidable, and they added, with astonishment, 
 that there were more priests in WiUiam's camp 
 than there were soldiers in the English army. 
 These men had mistaken for priests all the Norman 
 soldiers that had short hair and shaven upper lips ; 
 for i-t was then the fashion of the English to let both 
 their hair and their mustaches grow long. Harold 
 smiled at their mistake, and said, " Those whom 
 you have found in such great numbers are not 
 priests, but brave men of war, who will soon show 
 us what they are worth." He then halted his 
 army at Senlac, since called Battle, and changing 
 his plan, surrounded his camp with ditches and pal- 
 isades, and waited the attack of his rival in that 
 well-chosen position. One whole day was passed 
 m fruitless negotiations, the nature of which is dif- 
 ferently reported by the old chroniclers. Accord- 
 ing to William of Poictiers, who was chaplain to 
 the Conqueror, and had the best means of informa- 
 tion, and the writer or wi-iters of the Chronicle of 
 Normandy, a monk named Hugh Maigrot was dis- 
 patched to demand fi'om Harold, in the name of 
 William, that he would do one of three things — 
 
 resign his crown in favor of the Norman ; submit to 
 the ai-bitration of the pope ; or decide the quarrel 
 by single combat. Harold sent a refusal to each of 
 these proposals, upon which William charged the 
 monk with this last message : " Go, and tell Harold, 
 that if he will keep his old bargain with me, I will 
 leave him all the country beyond the river Humber, 
 and will give his brother Gurth all the lands of his 
 father. Earl Godwin : but if he obstinately refuse 
 what I offer him, thou wilt tell him, before all his 
 people, that he is perjured, and a bar ; that he and 
 all those who shall support him are excommunicated 
 by the pope, and that I carry a bull to that effect." 
 The Norman Chronicle says that the monk Hugh 
 pronounced this message in a solemn tone, and at 
 the word " excommunication," the English chiefs 
 gazed upon one another in great dismay ; but that, 
 nevertheless, they all resolved to fight to the last, 
 well knowing that the Norman had promised their 
 lands to his nobles, his captains, and his knights, 
 who had already done homage for them. 
 
 The Normans quitted Hastings, and occupied an 
 eminence opposite to the English, plainly showing 
 
 Hastings from the Fairlight Downs. 
 
 that they intended to give battle on the morrow. 
 Several reasons had been pressed upon Harold by 
 his followers, and were now repeated, why he 
 should decline the combat, or absent himself from 
 its perilous chances. It was urged, that the despe- 
 rate situation of the Duke of Normandy forced him 
 to bring matters to a speedy decision, and put his 
 whole fortune on the issue of a battle, for his pro- 
 visions were ah-eady exhausted, and his suppUes 
 
 from beyond sea would be rendered precarious both 
 by the storms of the coming winter and the opera- 
 tions of the English fleet, which had already block- 
 aded all the ships William kept with him in the 
 ports of Pevensey and Hastings ; but that he, the 
 King of England, in his own country, and well pro- 
 vided with provisions, might bide his own time, and 
 harass with skirmishes a decreasing enemy, who 
 would be exposed to all the discomforts of an in-
 
 202 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 clement season and deep miry roads ; that if a gen- 
 eral action were now avoided, the whole mass of 
 the English people, made sensible of the danger 
 that threatened their property, their honor, and 
 their liberties, would reinforce his army from all 
 quarters, and by degrees render it invincible. As 
 he turned a deaf ear to all these arguments, his 
 brother Gurth, who was gi'eatly attached to him, 
 and a man of bravery and good counsel, endeavored 
 to persuade him not to be present at the action, but 
 to set out for London, and bring up the levies, while 
 his best friends should sustain the attack of the 
 Normans. " Oh ! Harold," said the young man, 
 " thou canst not deny, that either by force or free- 
 will, thou hast made Duke William an oath upon 
 the body of saints ; why, then, adventure thyself in 
 the dangers of the combat with a perjury against 
 thee ? To us, who have sworn nothing, this war is 
 proper and just, for we defend our country. Leave 
 us, then, alone to fight this battle — thou wilt succor 
 us if we are forced to retreat, and if we die thou 
 wilt avenge us." To this touching appeal Harold 
 answered, that his duty forbade him to keep at a 
 distance whilst others risked their lives ; and, de- 
 termined to fight, and full of confidence in the jus- 
 tice of his cause, he waited the morrow with his 
 usual courage. The night was cold and clear; it 
 was spent very differently by the hostile armies; 
 the English feasted and rejoiced, singing, with a 
 great noise, their old national songs, and emptying 
 their horn-cups, which were well filled Avith beer 
 and wine : the Normans having looked to their arms 
 and to their horses, listened to their priests and 
 monks, who prayed and sung litanies ; and, that 
 over, the soldiers confessed themselves, and took 
 the sacrament by thousands at a time. 
 
 The day of trial — Saturday, the 14th of October 
 — was come. As day dawned, Odo, the Bishop of 
 Bayeux, a half-brother of Duke William, celebrated 
 mass, and gave his benediction to the troops, being 
 armed the while in a coat of mail, which he wore 
 under his episcopal rochet : and when the mass and 
 the blessing were over, he mounted a war-horse, 
 which the old chroniclers, with their interesting 
 
 minuteness of detail, tell us was large and white, 
 took a lance in his hand, and marshaled his brigade 
 of cavalry. The whole army was divided into three 
 columns of attack ; the third column, composed of 
 native Normans, and including many great lords and 
 the choicest of the knights, being headed by the 
 duke in person. William rode a fine Spanish horse, 
 which a rich Norman had brought him on his return 
 from a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. lago of Gali- 
 cia : he wore suspended round his neck some of 
 those revered relics upon which Harold had sworn, 
 and the standard blessed by the pope was carried 
 at his side by one Tonstain, surnamed " the White," 
 or " the Fair,"' who accepted the honorable but 
 dangerous office, after two Norman barons had de- 
 clined it. Just before giving the word to advance, 
 he briefly addressed his collected host — " Make up 
 your minds to fight valiantly and slay your enemies. 
 A great booty is before us ; — for if we conquer we 
 shall all be rich ; what I gain, you will gain ; if I 
 take this land, you will have it in lots among yon. 
 Know ye, however, that I am not come hither solely 
 to take what is my due, but also to avenge our whole 
 nation, for the felonies, perjuries, and treachery of 
 these English. They massacred our kinsmen the 
 Danes — men, women, and children, — on the night 
 of St. Brice ; they murdered the knights and good 
 men who accompanied Prince Alfred from Nor- 
 mandy, and made my cousin Alfi"ed expire in tor- 
 ture. Before you is the son of that Earl Godwin 
 who was charged ^vith these murders. Let us for- 
 ward, and punish him, Avith God to our aid !" 
 
 A gigantic Norman, called Taillefer, who united 
 the different qualities of champion, minstrel, and 
 juggler, spurred his horse to the front of the van, 
 and sung, with a loud voice, the popular ballads 
 which immortalized the valor of Charlemagne, and 
 Roland, and all that flower of chivalry that fought 
 in the great fight of Roncesvalles. As he sang he 
 performed feats with his sword, throwing it into 
 the air with great force with one hand, and catching 
 it again with the other. The Normans repeated 
 
 ' The readers of Marmion will remember the brave bearing of 
 " Stainless Tunstall's banner white," long after in the fight of Fludden. 
 
 Duke William audressino his Soldiers on the Field of Hastings. Bayeux Tapestry.
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 203 
 
 the burden of his song, or cried Dieu aide ! Dieu 
 aide ! This accomplished bravo craved permission 
 to strike the first blow : he ran one Englishman 
 through the body, and felled a second to the 
 ground ; but in attacking a third cavalier he was 
 himself mortally wounded. The English, who, in 
 reply to the Dieu aide ! or " God is our help !" of 
 the Normans, shouted " Christ's rood ! — the holy 
 rood !" remained in their position on the ridge of a 
 hill fortified by trenches and palisades ; and within 
 these defences they were marshaled after the 
 fashion of the Danes, shield against shield, present- 
 ing an impenetrable front to the enemy. Accord- 
 ing to old privilege, the men of Kent were in the 
 first line, and the burgesses of London had the 
 honor of being the body-guard, and were drawn up 
 close, round the royal standard. At the foot of this 
 banner stood Harold, with his two brothers, Gurth 
 and Leofwin, and a body of the bravest thanes of 
 England. The Normans attacked along the line 
 
 with their bowmen and crossbowmen, who pro- 
 duced no impression ; and Avhen their cavalrj- 
 charged, the English, in a compact body, received 
 the assailants with battle-axes, with which they 
 broke the lances and cut the coats of mail, on 
 which the Normans relied. The Normans, de- 
 spairing of forcing the English palisades and ranks, 
 retired in some disorder to the division where 
 William commanded in person. The duke then 
 threw forward all his archers, and supported them 
 by a charge of cavalry, who shouted, as they 
 couched their lances, " Notre Dame ! Notre Dame! 
 Dieu aide! Dieu aide!'" Some of this cavalry 
 broke through the English line, but presently they 
 were all driven back to a deep trench artfully 
 covered over with brushes and grass, where horses 
 and riders fell in pele mele, and perished in great 
 numbers. According to some accounts more Nor- 
 mans fell here than in any other part of the field. 
 For a moment there was a general panic : a cry 
 
 Battle of Hastings. Bayeux Tapestry. 
 
 spread that the duke was killed, and at this report 
 a flight commenced. William threw himself before 
 the fiigitives, and stopped their passage, threat- 
 ening them and striking them with his lance ; then, 
 uncovering his face and head, he cried, " Here I 
 am! look at me! I am still alive, and I will con- 
 quer by God's help." In another part of the field 
 the rout was stopped by the fierce Bishop of 
 Bayeux, and the attacks on the English line were 
 renewed and multiplied. From nine in the morning 
 till three in the afternoon the successes were 
 nearly balanced, or, if anything, seemed rather to 
 preponderate on the English side. William had 
 expected the gi-eatest advantage from the charges 
 of his numerous and brilliant cavalry ; but the Eng- 
 lish foot stood firm (a thing which infantiy seldom 
 did in those days under such circumstances), and 
 they were so well defended by their closed shields, 
 that the arrows of the Normans had little effect 
 upon them. The duke then ordered his bowmen 
 to alter the direction of their shafts, and, instead of 
 shooting point-blank, to direct their arrows upward, 
 so that the points should come down like hail from 
 above upon the heads of the enemy. The ma- 
 noeuvre took effect, and many of the English were 
 wounded, most of them in the face ; but still they 
 stood firm, and th« Normans, almost disheartened, 
 I had recourse to a stratagem. William ordered a 
 thousand horse to advance, and then turn and fly ; 
 at the view of this pretended rout the English lost 
 
 their coolness, and leaving their positions, a part of 
 the line gave pursuit with their battle-axes slung 
 round their necks. At a certain distance a fresh 
 corps of Normans joined the thousand horse, who 
 drew rein and faced about; and then the English, 
 surprised in their disorder, were assailed on every 
 side by lances and swoi'ds. Here many hundreds 
 of the English fell ; for, encompassed by horse and 
 foot, they could not retreat, and they would not 
 surrender. The latter word, indeed, is never 
 once used in any of the many old accounts of the 
 battle of Hastings. The Norman writers speak 
 with admiration of the valor of several of Harold's 
 thanes, who fought single-handed against a host of 
 foes, as though each of them thought to save his 
 country by his individual exeitions. They have not 
 preserved his name, but they make particular men- 
 tion of one English thane, armed with a battle-axe, 
 who spread dismay among the invaders. The 
 battle-axe appears to have been the arm chiefly 
 used by the English. This ponderous weapon 
 had its advantages and its disadvantages ; wielded 
 by nervous men, it brake in pieces the coats of 
 mail, and cleft the steel casques of the Normans, a« 
 no swords could have done ; but from its weight 
 and size it required both hands to wield it, and it 
 was awkward and diflScult to manage in close 
 combat. 
 
 The feint flight, which had succeeded so well, 
 was repeated by the Normans in another part of
 
 304 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Battle of Hastings. Bayeuz Tapestry. 
 
 the field, and, owing to the impetuosity of the Eng- 
 lish, with equal success. But still the main body 
 maintained its position behind its stakes and pali- 
 sades on the ridge of the hill ; and such was their 
 unshaken courage, that the Normans were obliged to 
 try the same stratagem a third time ; and a third time 
 the brave but imprudent victims fell into the snare. 
 Then the Norman horse and foot burst into the 
 long-defended inclosure, and broke the English 
 hne in several points. But even now the Englisk 
 closed again round Harold, who, throughout the 
 day, had shown the greatest activity and bravery. 
 At this juncture he was struck by an arrow, shot at 
 random, which entered his left eye, and peneti'ated 
 into his brain. The English then gave way, but 
 they retreated no further than their standard, 
 which they still sought to defend. The Normans 
 hemmed them in, making the most desperate efforts 
 to seize the banner. Robert Fitz-Ernest had 
 almost grasped it, when a battle-axe laid him low 
 
 forever. Twenty Norman knights then undertook 
 the task, and this attempt succeeded, after ten of 
 their number had perished. The standard of 
 England was then lowered, and the consecrated 
 banner, sent from Rome, raised in its stead, in 
 sign of victory. Gurth and Leofwin, the brave 
 brothers of Harold, died at that last rallying point. 
 The combat had lasted nine hours, for it was now 
 six o'clock in the evening, and the sun was setting. 
 After a desperate attempt at rallying made by the 
 men of Kent and the East Angles, which cost the 
 lives of many of the victors, the English troops, 
 broken and dispirited by the loss of their leader, 
 dispersed through the woods which lay in the rear 
 of their position : the enemy followed them by the 
 light of the moon ; but, as they were ignorant of 
 the country, which was in some places intersected 
 by ditches, and as the English turned and made a 
 stand wherever they could, they suffered severely 
 in this pursuit, and soon gave it up. In every 
 
 Death gf Harolp. Bayeux Tapestry.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 205 
 
 clause of their narrative the Norman writers ex- j 
 press their admiration of the valor of the foe ; and | 
 most of them confess that the great superiority of 
 his forces alone enabled William to obtain the vic- 
 tory. During the sanguinary conflict the fortunate 
 duke had three horses killed under him, and at one 
 moment he was nearly laid prostrate by a blow 
 struck upon his helmet by an English cavalier. 
 The proud band of lords and knights that followed 
 him from the continent was fearfully thinned, as 
 was well proved on the morrow, when the muster- 
 roll he had prepared before leaving the port of St. 
 Valery was called over. He lost one-fourth of his 
 army, and he did not gain by the battle of Hastings 
 a fourth pai't of the kingdom of England ; for many 
 an after-field was fought, and his wars for the con- 
 quest of the west, the north, and the east, were 
 protracted for seven long years. The conqueAt 
 effected by the Normans was a slow, and not a sud- 
 den one.^ " Thus," to use the energetic language 
 of an old writer,^ " was tried by the great assize of 
 God's judgment in battle, the right of power be- 
 tween the English and Norman nations ; a battle 
 the most memorable of all others ; and howsoever 
 miserably lost, yet most nobly fought on the part of 
 England." 
 
 In the preceding narrative we have seen the 
 Saxons frequently engaged in wars, and occasion- 
 ally also connected by alliances, with various other 
 nations dwelling around them in the same island. 
 The largest as well as the fairest portion of Britain 
 was conquered and occupied during the period we 
 have been reviewing by these Germanic invaders ; 
 but much of it still remained in the possession of 
 the races of other lineage, by whom it had been 
 earlier colonized, or was seized upon by invaders 
 like themselves, but from a different quarter. All 
 the east and south, from the channel to the Tweed, 
 was Saxon ; in the west, along the whole extent of 
 the Saxon dominion, were the alien and generally 
 hostile tribes of Cornwall arid Wales ; on the north- 
 west were the independent sovereignties of Cum- 
 bria and Strathclyde (if these were really two dis- 
 tinct kingdoms) ; and to the east and north of these 
 was the powerful and extensive kingdom of the 
 Picts, originally, it should seem, embracing the 
 whole of the rest of modern Scotland. Behind the 
 Picts, however, in the north-west, a colony of Scots 
 from Ireland, not long aftef the arrival of the Sax- 
 ons in the south, founded another new power of 
 foreign origin, destined in like manner in course of 
 time to bear down before it the elder thrones of its 
 own part of the island. 
 
 The doubtful and confused annals of the several 
 Cornish and Welsh principalities of those times 
 offer nothing to detain the historian. Cornwall 
 appears to have usually formed one kingdom. South 
 Wales another, and Nol-th Wales a third. But 
 the subjects of these several states, and also those 
 of Cumbria and Strathclyde, farther to the north, 
 may be regarded as having been in the main one 
 people. It seems not improbable that they may 
 
 1 Sir J. Mackintosh, Hist. 2 Daniel. 
 
 have been a mixture of the old Celtic Britons who 
 fled before the Saxons, or were the original inhabi- 
 tants of this strip of country, and of Cimbrians 
 originally from the north of Germany and Den- 
 mark, the proper progenitors of the present Welsh. 
 At what date these Cimbrians first found their way 
 from the east coast of Scotland, where they seem 
 to have earliest settled, to the west coast of Eng- 
 land, and there mixed with and established a 
 dominion over the native British occupants, no 
 chronicles have told us. But some ancient relation 
 between the Welsh and the Picts seems to be indi- 
 cated by the strong evidence of language ; and the 
 close connexion that subsisted between Wales and 
 the Scottish kingdom of Strathclyde, down to the 
 extinction of the latter, is established by abundance 
 of historic testimony. If, in the mixture of the 
 two races, the ascendency remained with the Celtic 
 Britons anywhere, it was most probably in Corn- 
 wall. Everywhere else both the government and 
 the language appear to have become chiefly Cim- 
 brian, the national denomination of the Welsh in 
 their vernacular tongue to this day. One of the 
 northern Welsh kingdoms was actually called the 
 kingdom of Cumbria, whence our modern countj- 
 of Cumberland; and if the kingdom of Strathclyde 
 was a different state from this (which is doubtful),, 
 we know at least that in that district of Scotland 
 also, the native land and residence of Merlin and 
 Aneurin, and many other personages famous in 
 Cumbrian song and story, the language, and govern- 
 ment, and all things else, were Welsh. 
 
 At what time the various tribes of the north, 
 often spoken of under the general appellation of 
 the Caledonians, although that name was properly 
 applicable only to the occupants of the woody and 
 mountainous regions of the west and northwest, 
 came to be united in the single monarchy of the 
 Picts, it is impossible to ascertain. The Picts are first 
 mentioned about the beginning of the fourth cen- 
 tury, at which time the name appears to have been 
 understood to comprehend all the northern ti'ibes. 
 Antiquaries are generally agreed that a kingdom 
 under the name of the kingdom of the Picts, which, 
 in pretension at least, extended over the whole of 
 what is now called Scotland, with the exception of 
 the district of Sti-athclyde in the southwest, had 
 been established some considerable time before the 
 evacuation of South Britain by the Romans in the 
 middle of the fifth century. Records, the authen- 
 ticity of which does not admit of any reasonable 
 doubt, make the Pictish sovereign, when this event 
 took place, to have been Durst, the son of Erp, for 
 whom his warlike achievements against the pro- 
 vincialized Britons of the south, and the length of 
 his reign, have obtained from the Irish annalists the 
 poetic title of King of a Hundred Years and a Hun- 
 dred Battles. The Picts, as our preceding pages 
 have already informed the reader, came into col- 
 lision with the Saxons of Northumberland not long 
 after the establishment of the two kingdoms of 
 Deira and Bernicia, the princes of the latter of 
 which appear to have claimed as within their bound- 
 aries the whole of the territory along the east coast
 
 206 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 as far as to the Frith of Forth. For some time, 
 accordingly, all this district formed a sort of de- 
 batable land, alternately subject to the Northum- 
 brian Saxons and to the Picts. The Saxons are 
 believed to have begun to settle in the territory as 
 early as the middle of the fifth century, and proba- 
 bly from this date the population continued to be 
 mainly Saxon ; but after the great battle of Dun- 
 nechtan (supposed to be Dunnichen in Angus), 
 fought in 685 between the Pictish king Bridei, the 
 son of Beli, and the Northumbrian Egfrid, it became 
 permanently a part of the Pictish dominions. This 
 is the tract of country which in a later age came to 
 be called by the name of Lodonia, or Laodonia, 
 still surviving in the Lothians, the modern designa- 
 tion of the greater part of it. Lodonia appears to 
 be a Teutonic word, signifying the Marches or 
 Borders. 
 
 In the earliest times of the Pictish monarchy its 
 capital appears to have stood near the present town 
 of Inverness. It was here that King Bridei, or 
 Brude, son of Merlothon, was visited soon after 
 the middle of the sixth century by St. Columba. 
 Afterwards, on the extension of their power to- 
 wards the south, the Kings of the Picts transferred 
 their residence to Forteviot in Perthshire, and here 
 they seem to have fixed themselves so long as the 
 monarchy subsisted. The history of the state, so 
 far as it had been preserved, is made up of little 
 else than a long succession of hostilities, sometimes 
 with the Saxons, sometimes with the neighboring 
 kingdom of Strathclyde, sometimes with the Scots 
 from Ireland, ^vho from the commencement of the 
 sixth century continued to encroach upon the ter- 
 ritories of the Picts, and the pressure from whom 
 perhaps had some share in inducing the latter 
 eventually to remove the chief seat of their sove- 
 reignty from its ancient position in the heart of the 
 true Caledonia. The meagre narrative is also 
 varied by some domestic wars, principally arising 
 out of the competition of various claimants for the 
 crown, to which there seems to have been no defi- 
 nitely settled rule of succession. Bede tells us that 
 a preference was usually given to the female line — 
 that is to say, the brother of the deceased sovereign 
 by the same mother, or his uncle, who was the son 
 of his graadmother, was preferred to his own son. 
 This practice, which still prevails among many bar- 
 barous tribes, was probably conceived to be recom- 
 mended by the double advantage of better securing 
 the purity of the blood royal, and, at the same time, 
 of generally providing a man of mature age, instead 
 of a boy or a child, to fill the vacant throne. In the 
 end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth 
 century the Picts found a new enemy in the north- 
 ern pirates or sea-kings, the same marauders who 
 in the same age ravaged the neighboring coasts of 
 England and France, and indeed it may be said 
 generally of all the northwest of Europe. The 
 dissolution of the ancient Pictish royalty however, 
 and the extinction of the name of the Picts as that 
 of an independent people, were now at hand. 
 
 The earliest colony of Irish, or Scots, as they were 
 called, is said to have settled on the west coast of | 
 
 North Britain, about the middle of the third century. 
 They w^ere led by Carbry Riada, prince or sub-re- 
 gulus of a district called Dalriada in Ulster ; and 
 they were long known by the name of the Dalria- 
 dmns, from this their native seat. The Dalriadians, 
 however, do not appear to have set up any pretences 
 to an independent sovereignty in the country of 
 their adoption, until after the beginning of the sixth 
 century, when their numbers were greatly augment- 
 ed by an immigration of their Irish kindued, under 
 the conduct of Lorn, Fergus, and Angus, the three 
 sons of Erck, the then prince of Dalriada. This 
 new colonization seems to have amounted to an ac- 
 tual invasion of North Britain, and the design of its 
 leaders probably was, from the first, to wrest the 
 country, or a part of it, from its actual possessors. 
 Very soon after this we find the Picts and Scots 
 meeting each other in arms. A still more decided 
 proof of the growing strength of the latter nation is, 
 in course of time, afforded by a matrimonial alliance 
 between the king of the Dalriadians and the Pictish 
 royal house. This connexion took place in the reign 
 of Achaius, who is reckoned the twenty-seventh of 
 the Scottish kings from Fergus, in whose hne and 
 in that of the descendants of his elder brother. Lorn, 
 the sovereign power had been all along preserved. 
 Achaius married Urgusia, the sister of the Pictish 
 kings Constantino and Ungus, who reigned in suc- 
 cession from A.D. 791 to 830. The issue of this 
 marriage, and the successor of Achaius, was Alpin, 
 and his son and successor was Kenneth II., who 
 mounted the throne of his ancestors in the year 836- 
 Three years after, the Pictish king Uven, the son 
 and successor of Ungus, fell in battle with the Danes. 
 Kenneth, as the near relation of its deceased occu- 
 pier, immediately claimed the vacant throne : a con- 
 test of arms bet^veen the two nations appears to have 
 ensued ; but at last, in a.d. 843, Kenneth, having 
 subdued all opposition, was acknowledged king both 
 of the Scots and the Picts. There is no reason to 
 suppose, as is asserted by some of the Scottish chron- 
 iclers who wrote in a comparatively recent age, that 
 the Pictish people were, upon this event, either de- 
 stroyed or driven from their country ; it is probable 
 enough that the chiefs of the faction that had resist- 
 ed the claim of Kenneth, and also perhaps many of 
 their followers, may have fled from the vengeance 
 of the conqueror, and taken refuge in the Orkney 
 islands and elsewhere ; but the great body of the in- 
 habitants no doubt remained the subjects of the new 
 king. It appears that Kenneth and his immediate 
 successors styled themselves, not kings of Scotland 
 and of Pictavia or Pictland, but kings of the Scots 
 and the Picts ; and the Picts are spoken of as a dis- 
 tinct people for a century after they thus ceased to 
 form an independent state. ^ 
 
 ' The account here given is that which is now generally received ; 
 but it is proper to notice that the whole story of the conquest of the 
 Picts by Kenneth, and also Kenneth's extraction from the old royal 
 line of the Irish Scots, have been called in question and denied by 
 Pinkerton in his " Enquiry into the History of Scotland preceding the 
 reign of Malcolm III," a work of much learning and acuteness, and 
 also of great value for the quantity of materials collected in it from 
 previously unexplored sources, but disfigured by many precipitate as- 
 sertions and a pervading spirit of prejudice and paradox. The anthor 
 founds his skepticism as to the events mentioned in the text principally
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 207 
 
 Meanwhile the kingdom of Strathclyde, the capi- 
 tal of which was Alcluyd, the modern Dunbarton, 
 still subsisted, and withheld a large portion of the 
 present Scotland from the sway of the Dalriadian 
 prince. There is some appearance of Kenneth 
 Mac Alpin having attempted to possess himself of 
 that additional throne by the same combination of 
 policy and force by which he had acquired the do- 
 minion of the Picts. After long fighting, he concluded 
 a peace with Cu or Caw, the king of Strathclyde, and 
 gave him his daughter in marriage. No opportunity, 
 however, was found of turning this arrangement to 
 
 upon the silence of certain contemporary authorities. He admits it to 
 be "clear, however, that the opinion that Kenneth vanquished the 
 Picts is as old as the eleventh century." (Enquiry, ii. 152, Edit, of 
 J814.) He conceives it to be more probable that the Picts subdued the 
 Scots, than the Scots the Picts ; but on the whole is persuaded that 
 all that really took place was a union on equal terms between the two 
 nations. Then, to account upon this hypothesis for the unquestionable 
 fact that the whole territory fell under the dominion of Kenneth Mac 
 Alpin, he conceives that Kenneth and his father Alpin were not de- 
 scendants of the old Dalriadic kings at all, but of a new line of Pictish 
 princes that had been imposed upon the Dalriadians by the Picts about 
 a century before this first amalgamation of the one people with the 
 other. An assumption so gratuitous as this last, and so directly op- 
 posed to the uniform testimony of chronicles and records, it is quite im- 
 possible to admit. In our abstract we have principally adhered to the 
 dates and order of events as settled by the latest investigator of this 
 part of our aatiooal history, Chalmers, in his Caledonia, i. pp. 374-43S. 
 
 account in the manner which its projector probably 
 contemplated ; and the kingdom of Strathclyde, 
 though distressed and weakened both by the pres- 
 sure of its powerful neighbor and the frequent 
 predatory and devastating attacks of the Danes from 
 beyond seas, continued to maintain a nominal inde- 
 pendence till the native government was finally 
 subverted, and the country incorporated with the 
 rest of the Scottish dominions, by the defeat of its 
 last king, Dunwallon, by Kenneth III., the king of 
 the Scots (the great-great-grandson of Kenneth 
 Mac Alpin), at the battle of Vacornar, in a.d. 973. 
 Even before this event, however. North Britain had 
 begun to be known, after its Irish conquerors, by 
 the name of Scotland. It is so called for the first 
 time in the Saxon Chronicle under the year 934. 
 
 Meanwhile the united Scottish kingdom founded 
 by Kenneth Mac Alpin continued to consolidate and 
 strengthen itself under the sway of his descendants. 
 Kenneth himself, in the remaining part of his reign, 
 had to make good his position by his sword, some- 
 times in defensive, sometimes in aggressive contests, 
 both with the Danes, the Saxons, and his neighbors 
 of Strathclyde ; but he died at last in bed at his cap. 
 ital of Forteviot, a.d. 859. He was succeeded by 
 
 Sculptured Stone lately dug up m the ancient chapel of St. Regulus, at St. Andrews. This is givenasaspecimenof many stones of a similar 
 Kind which are found in various places along the east coast of Scotland, where the Pictish dominions lay. The present stone has not been 
 before engraved, and is, besides, remarkable as being, we believe, the only specimen of these stones which has been f<mnd to the south of the 
 Tay. In the county of Angus, on the other side of that river, they are very numerous ; and they have been found as far north as the county ot 
 Sutherland. As this range of country constituted the principal part of the dominions of the Picts, they have generally been supposed to be 
 monuments of that people. But all sorts of conjectures have been formed respecting them ; and both the people by whom, and the age in which 
 they were erected, must be considered as still remaining undiscovered. While some antiquaries have been disposed to refer them chiefly to the 
 ninth and the two or three following centuries, and to connect them with the events of the Danish invasions of those times ; others have carried 
 them back to the age in which the famous King Arthur is supposed to have flourished, with whose history and exploits, real or mythological, 
 some of them ate certainly connected in the popular traditions. Notwithstanding the figure of the cross, which is not unfrcquently found on 
 these shores, it must be considered doubtful if they are Christian memorials ; for that symbol is undoubtedly more ancient than Christianity 
 A very remarkable circumstance is, that various oriental figures, the elephant especially, appear in several instances among their decorations. 
 The serpent is also not an unusual figure. In one instance only, as far as we are aware, has any inscription in literal, or apparently literal 
 characters, been found — namely, on one of two stones discovered a few years ago at Pitmachie, in Aberdeenshire, and engraved in the last (1814) 
 edition of Pinkerton's " Enquiry into the Early History of Scotland." " The characters," Mr. Pinkerlon observes, "seem to resemble the Anglo- 
 Saxon, as published by Hickes, especially those on the coins of the Kings of Northambria of the ninth century."
 
 208 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 his brother Donald III., who reigned tdl a.d. 863. 
 Constantine II., the son of Kenneth, followed, and, 
 'during a reign of eighteen years, was engaged in 
 almost uninterrupted warfare with the Danes, who 
 harassed him both from Ireland and from the Con- 
 tinent, and penetrated into the heart of the kingdom 
 by all its maritime inlets, — by the Clyde from the 
 west, and by the Friths of Moray, Tay, and Forth 
 from the east. It is asserted by the old historians 
 that these invaders were first called in by the fugitive 
 or subjugated Picts, a fact which may be taken as 
 some confirmation of the common northern origin of 
 both. The enemy, therefore, with whom Constan- 
 tine had to contend had friends and supporters in 
 the heart of his dominions ; and while he endeavored 
 to repel the foreigners with one hand, he must have 
 liad to keep down his own subjects with the other. 
 Nor were the Picts altogether defrauded of their 
 revenge on the son of their conqueror. They and 
 their allies the Danes appear to have WTested from 
 the Scottish king not only the Orkney and Western 
 islands, but also the extensive districts of Caithness, 
 Sutherland, and part of Ross-shire, on the continent 
 of Scotland ; and these acquisitions continued to be 
 governed for many ages by Norwegian princes 
 entirely independent of the Scottish crown. The 
 traditionary account, repeated by the later histo- 
 rians, of the termination of Constantine's disastrous 
 reign is, that he was killed in a battle with the 
 Danes, or put to death by them immediately after 
 the battle near Crail, in Fife. A cave in which he 
 was massacred is still shown, and called the Devil's 
 Cave. The older writers, however, place his death 
 in A.D. 882, a year after the great battle in Fife. 
 
 Constantine's immediate successor was his brother 
 Hugh ; but he was dethi-oned the same year by 
 Grig, the chieftain of the district now forming the 
 shires of Aberdeen and Banff, who, associating 
 with himself on the throne Eocha, or Eth, son of 
 the King of Strathclyde by a daughter of Kenneth 
 Mac Alpin, is said to have reigned for about twelve 
 years with a more extensive authority than had 
 been enjoyed by any of his predecessors. The 
 monkish chroniclers, indeed, who designate him by 
 the pompous title of Gregory the Great, absurdlj- 
 make him not only to have held his own with a 
 strong hand, but to have actually reduced to subjec- 
 tion all the neighboring states, including both the 
 English and the Irish. He appears to have been a 
 favorer of the church, upon w-hich he probably leant 
 for support in the deficiency of his hereditary title. 
 However, he and his partner in the sovereignty 
 were at length dethroned by a popular insun-ection, 
 A.D. 89.3; on which their place was supplied by 
 Donald IV., the son of Constantine II. A succes- 
 sion of combats with the Danes, again, one of the 
 most memorable of which was fought at Collin, 
 near Scone, for the possession of the famous Stone 
 of Destiny, which Kenneth Mac Alpin had trans- 
 fei'red thither from the original British nestling- 
 place of his antique race in Argyleshire, form almost 
 the only recorded events of his reign. The north- 
 ern invaders were beaten at Collin ; but a few years 
 after, in 904, Donald fell in fight, near Forteviot, 
 
 Coronation Chair of the Kings of England, kept in West 
 
 MINSTER Abbey. Beneath the seat is tlie '• Stone ot" Destiny," 
 
 carried off from Scone by Edward I., in 1296. 
 
 against another band of them from Ireland. He 
 was succeeded by Constantine III., the son of his 
 uncle Hugh. This was the Scottish king who, as 
 related in a preceding page, made an inroad, in 937, 
 into the dominions of the Saxon Athelstane in con- 
 junction with Olave or Anlaf, the Danish chief of 
 Northumberland, Avhen their united forces Were 
 routed in the bloody day of Brunanburgh, and Con- 
 stantine with difficulty escaped from the slaughter 
 in which his eldest son fell. A few j'ears after 
 this humiliating defeat, in a. d. 944, he exchanged 
 his crown for a cowl, and he passed the last eight 
 or nine years of his life as Abbot of the Culdees of 
 St. Andrews. Meanwhile the throne was ascended 
 by Malcolm I., son of Donald IV. The most im- 
 portant event of this reign was the cession by the 
 Saxon King Edmund, of the district of Cumbria, 
 which he had recently conquered from its last king 
 Dunmail, to Malcolm, to be held by him on condi- 
 tion of his arming when called upon in the defence 
 either of that or of any other part of the English 
 territory. Cumberland remained an appanage of 
 the Scottish crown from this time till 1072, when 
 it was recovered by William the Conqueror. 
 
 Malcolm I. came to a violent death at the hands 
 of some of his own subjects in 953, and left his 
 sceptre to Indulf, the son of his predecessor Con- 
 stantine III. The reign of Indulf was grievously
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 209 
 
 troubled by repeated attacks of the Northmen ; and 
 he at last lost his life in what the old writers call 
 the Battle of the Bauds, fought in 961, near the 
 Bay of Cullen, in Banffshire, where several barrows 
 on a moor still preserve the memory of the defeat 
 of the foreigners. Duff, the son of Malcolm I., no\v 
 became king, according to what appears to have 
 been the legal order of succession at this time, when 
 each king, for many generations, was almost uni- 
 formly succeeded not by his own son, but by the 
 eon of his predecessor. But the effects of the na- 
 tural disposition of the sovereign in possession to 
 retain the succession exclusively in his own line 
 now began to show themselves ; and the right of 
 Duff was disputed from the first by Indulf's son 
 Culen, whose partisans, although defeated in the 
 fair fight of Duncrub, in Perthshire, are asserted to 
 have afterwards opened the way to the throne for 
 their leader by the assassination of his rival. This 
 event took place at Forres in 965. But Culen did not 
 long retain his guiltily acquired power. Disregard- 
 ing all the duties of his place, he abandoned himself 
 to riot and licentiousness, and soon followed up the 
 murder of Duff by an act of atrocious violence, com- 
 mitted on another near relation, the daughter of 
 the King of Strathclyde. The nation of the injured 
 lady took arms against her violator ; and Culen fell 
 in a battle fought with them at a place situated to 
 the south of the Forth in a.d. 970. 
 
 The crown now fell to Kenneth III., another 
 son of Malcolm I., and the brother of Duff. The 
 reign of Kenneth III. is one of the most important 
 in the early history of Scotland. He was a prince 
 of remarkable ability, and of a daring and unscrupu- 
 lous character ; he occupied the throne for a suffi- 
 cient length of time to enable him to lay a deep 
 foundation for his schemes of policy, if not to carry 
 them into complete effect ; and he came at a crisis 
 when the old order of things was naturally breaking 
 up, and the most favorable opportunity was offered 
 to a bold and enterprising genius like his of es- 
 tablishing, or at least originating, a new system. It 
 was one of those conjunctions of circumstances and 
 of an individual mind fitted to take advantage of 
 them, by which most of the great movements in 
 national affairs have been produced. His first effort 
 was to follow out the war with the dechning state 
 of Strathclyde until he wound it up, as has been 
 intimated above, with the complete subjugation of 
 that rival kingdom and its incorporation with his 
 hereditary dominions. With the exception, there- 
 fore, of the nominal independence, but real vassal- 
 age in everything except in name, of the Welsh, 
 the whole of Britain was now divided into the two 
 sovereignties of England and Scotland. The Saxon 
 power of Wessex had swallowed up and absorbed 
 everything else in the south, and in the north every 
 other royalty had in like manner fallen before that 
 of the Celtic princes of Dalriada. Peace and inti- 
 mate alliance, also, had now taken place of the old 
 enmity between the two monarchies ; and an open- 
 ing must have been made for the passage to Scot- 
 land of some rays from the superior civilization of 
 her neighbor, which would naturally be favorable 
 VOL. I. — 14 
 
 to imitation in the arrangements of the government 
 as well as in other matters. It was in this position 
 of affairs that Kenneth proceeded to take measures 
 for getting rid of what we have seen was the most 
 remarkable peculiarity of the Scottish regal consti- 
 tution, the participation of two distinct lines in the 
 right of succession to the throne, a rule or custom 
 to which, notwithstanding some advantages, there 
 would seem to exist an all-sufficient objection in its 
 very tendency to excite to such attempts as that 
 which Kenneth now made. Kenneth's mode of pro- 
 ceeding was characteristically energetic and direct. 
 To put an end in the most efltectual manner to the 
 pretensions of Malcolm, the son of his brother Duff, 
 he had that prince put to death, although he had 
 been already recognized as Tanist, or next heir to 
 the throne, and had as such been invested, accord- 
 ing to custom, with the lordship of Cumberland. 
 We shall see, however, that this deed of blood was 
 after all perpetrated to no purpose. Another of 
 Kenneth's acts of severity, and perhaps also of cru- 
 elty and vengeance, recoiled upon him to his own 
 destruction. After the suppression of a commotion 
 in the Mearns, he had thought it necessary to sig- 
 nalize the triumph of the royal authority by taking 
 the life of the only son of the chief of the district, 
 either because the young man had been one of the 
 leaders of the vanquished faction, or pei'haps because 
 his father had not shown sufficient energy in meet- 
 ing and putting down their designs. By some 
 means or other, however, Kenneth was some time 
 after induced to trust himself in the hands of Fe- 
 nella, the mother of his victim, by visiting her in 
 her castle near Fettercairn. Here he was mur- 
 dered either by her orders, or not improbably by 
 her own hands, for it is related that she fled the 
 instant the deed was done, although she was soon 
 taken, and suffered the same bloody death she had 
 avenged and inflicted. The reign of Kenneth was 
 thus terminated a.d. 994. 
 
 We ought not to omit to notice that it was in the 
 early part of this reign that the Danes were defeat- 
 ed in the great battle of Luncarty, near Perth, still 
 famous in Scottish story and tradition for what we 
 fear must be designated the fable of the origin of the 
 nobility of the Hays, Earls of Errol, from the inci- 
 dent of their ancestor, a husbandman, who chanced 
 to be busy at work in a neighboring field, having, 
 accompanied by his two sons, armed only with their 
 ploughbeams, opposed a chief division of their coun- 
 trymen when flying from the fight in a moment of 
 panic, and driven them back to victory. The ar- 
 morial bearing of this ancient family, which exhibits 
 three escutcheons, supported by two peasants, car- 
 rying each the beam of a plough on his shoulder, 
 is appealed to in proof of the story ; but it is just 
 as hkely that the story may have been invented to 
 explain the arms. At all events the arms are of 
 much less antiquity than the battle of Luncarty, at 
 the date of which event armorial ensigns were un- 
 known. It is well estabhshed that the Hays are a 
 branch of the Norman De Hayas, whose ancestor 
 came over to England with the Conqueror — that 
 they did not come to Scotland till more than a hun-
 
 210 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 'hed years after the battle of Luncarty — and that 
 they only obtained the lands of Errol from King 
 William, the Lion of Scotland, about the middle of 
 the twelfth century. It was not till the middle of 
 the fourteenth century that they were ennobled. 
 
 The throne left vacant by the death of Kenneth 
 appears to have been contested from the first by 
 three competitors. Of these, a son of Culen, under 
 the name of Constantino IV., is regarded as having 
 been first crowned ; but, within a year, he fell fight- 
 ing against one of his rivals, a son of King Duff, 
 and younger brother of the murdered Prince Mal- 
 colm, who immediately assumed the sovereignty as 
 Kenneth IV. The Scottish chroniclers call him 
 Kenneth the Grim. There was still, however, 
 another claimant to the succession of Kenneth III., 
 Malcolm the son of that king, whom his father had 
 designed to be his heir, and invested as such with 
 the principality of Cumberland after the violent 
 removal of his cousin, the other Malcolm. The 
 two competitors met at last, in a.d. 1003, at Moni- 
 vaird, when a battle took place, in which Kenneth 
 the Grim lost both the day and his life along with it. 
 
 The vigorous line of Kenneth III. was now again 
 seated on the throne in the person of Malcolm II. 
 The earlier part of Malcolm's reign appears to have 
 
 The scolptuied stone, commonly called SuENo's Pillar, at Forres. 
 This stone, which is twenty-five feet in length by about four feet in 
 breadth at the base, is the most remarkable of the ancient sculptured 
 stones found along the cast coast of Scotland. The side hore repre- 
 sented is the east side, on which the sculptures nrc the must numerous. 
 No satisfactory erplanation has hrrn given of the figures ; but in this 
 instance the popular name by which the stone is known, would seem 
 lo pnn;t out its connexion wiih the D;mish invasions. Yet what can 
 >\ e nuke ol' the clejOiant Iij which the whole delineation is surmounted ? 
 
 been consumed in a long succession of fierce con- 
 tests with the Danes, in the course of which these 
 persevering invaderg are said to have been defeat- 
 ed in the several battles of Mortlach in Moray, in 
 the parish church of which place the skulls of the 
 slaughtered foreigners were, not many years ago, 
 to be seen built into the wall — of Aberlemno, where 
 barrows and sculptured stones are held still to pre- 
 serve the memory and to point out the scene of the 
 conflict — of Panbride, Avhere the Danish comman- 
 der Camus was slain — and of Cruden, near Forres, 
 where a remarkable obelisk, covered with engraven 
 figures, is supposed, but probably erroneously, to 
 have been erected in commemoration of the Scottish 
 victory'. It was in 1020, also, in the reign of this 
 king, thcat a formal cession was obtained from Ea- 
 dulf, the Danish Earl of Northumberland, of the 
 portion of modern Scotland south of the Forth, 
 then called Lodonia, the possession of which had 
 for a long period been disputed between the Scots 
 and the Saxons, although in the mean time such 
 numbers of the latter had settled in it that its pop- 
 ulation appears already to have become in the 
 greater part Saxon, and the country itself was often 
 called Saxonia or Saxony. Malcolm II., the ability 
 of whose administration was long held in respectful 
 remembrance, died in 1033. 
 
 This king, unfortunately for the peaceful success 
 of his father's scheme of changing the old rule of 
 succession, left no son ; but, imitating his father's 
 remorseless policy, he had done his utmost to make 
 matters even in that respect between himself and 
 the rival branch of the royal stock, by having, a 
 short time before his decease, had the only existing 
 male descendant of Kenneth the Grim, a son of 
 his son Boidhe, put in the most effectual manner 
 out of the way. In these circumstances no oppo- 
 sition appears to have been made in the first in- 
 stance to the accession of Duncan, the grandson of 
 Malcolm II., by his daughter Bethoc or Beatrice, 
 who was married to Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld — in 
 those days a personage of great eminence in the 
 state. Boidhe, however, besides the son who was 
 murdered, had left a daughter, Gruoch ; and this 
 lady had other wrongs to avenge besides those of 
 the line from which she was sprung. Her first 
 husband, Gilcomcain, marmor or chief of Moray, 
 having been defeated in an attempt to support the 
 cause of his wife's family by arms against King 
 Malcolm, had been burnt in his castle along with 
 fifty of his friends, when she herself had to fly for 
 her life, with her infant son Lulach. She sought 
 shelter in the remoter district of Ross, of which the 
 famous Macbeth appears to have then been the he- 
 reditary lord, maintaining probably within his bounds 
 an all but nominal independence of the royal au- 
 thority, if he and his people indeed even professed 
 to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Scottisli 
 king. Thif! part of Scotland, it may be remember- 
 ed, had been torn scarcely a century before from 
 Constantino II. by the Danes, and Macbeth him- 
 self may possibly have been of Danish lineage. Bi* 
 this as it may, to him the Lady Gruoch now gave 
 her hand. She is the Lady Macbeth, made fnniillar
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 211 
 
 to us all by the wonderful drama of Shakspeare. 
 It would appear that for some time after the acces- 
 sion of Duncan, Macbeth and his wife had feigned 
 an acquiescence in his title, and had probably even 
 won the confidence of the good and unsuspecting 
 king (the pure-breathed Duncan, as he is designated 
 in Celtic song) by their services or professions. 
 The end of their plot, however, was, that Duncan 
 was barbarously assassinated in 1039, not, as Shak- 
 speare has it, in Macbeth's castle at Inverness, but 
 at a place called Bothgouanan, near Elgin.' Mac- 
 beth immediately mounted the throne, and the ac- 
 counts of the oldest chroniclers give reason to be- 
 lieve that he filled it both ably and to the general 
 satisfaction of the people. A usurper may be con- 
 sidered to give proof of ability by his successful 
 attempt; and the original defect of his title will 
 often force him to seek support by the wisdom and 
 beneficence of his government. The partisans of 
 the race of Kenneth III., however, resisted the 
 new king from the first; for Duncan had left two 
 sons, the elder of whom, Malcolm, fled on his fath- 
 er's assassination to Cumberland, and the younger, 
 Donald, to the Western Isles. One revolt in favor 
 of Malcolm's restoration was headed by his grand- 
 father, the Abbot of Dunkeld ; but this and several 
 other similar attempts failed. At length, in 1054, 
 Macduff, marmor or chief (improperly called by 
 later wi'iters Thane) of Fife, his patriotism inflamed, 
 it is said, by some personal injuries, called to arms 
 his numerous retainers ; and Siward, the Danish 
 Earl of Northumberland, whose sister Duncan had 
 married, having joined him at the head of a formi- 
 dable force, the two advanced together upon Mac- 
 beth. Their first encounter appears to have taken 
 pLace, as tradition and Shakspeare agree in repre- 
 senting, in the neighborhood of Dunsinan Hill in An- 
 gus, on the summit of which Macbeth probably had a 
 stronghold.^ Defeated here, the usurper retreated 
 to the fastnesses of the north, where he appears to 
 have proti-acted the war for about two years longer. 
 His last place of refuge is supposed to have been a 
 forti'ess in a solitary valley in the parish of Lunfa- 
 nan, in Aberdeenshire. In this neighborhood he 
 was attacked by the forces under the command of 
 Macduff" and Malcolm, on the 5th of December, 
 1056, and fell in the fight, struck down, it is said, 
 by the hand of Macduff. His followers, however, 
 did not even yet everywhere throw down their 
 firms. They immediately set up as Jiing Lulach, 
 the son of Lady Macbeth, who indeed, as descended 
 from Duff the elder son of Malcolm I. in the same 
 degree in which his rival was descended from Mal- 
 colm's younger son, Kenneth HI., might be aflfirmed 
 to have had the better right to the throne of the 
 two. Lulach, however, a fugitive all the while that 
 
 • " The word Bothgouanan means in Gaehc, the Smith's Dwelhng. 
 It is probable that the assassins lay in ambush, and murdered him at 
 a smith's house in the neighborhood of Elgin." — Haile's Annals, i. 1. 
 (Edit. ofl819.) 
 
 ' The foundations of an ancient store building are still to be found 
 buried in the soil on the top of the hill. Dunsinan is about eight 
 miles north-east from Perth ; the hill is of very regular shape, and 
 although more than a thousand feet above the level of the sea, it has 
 been supposed to be in great part artificial. — See Chalmers' Caledonia, 
 vol. i. 
 
 he was a king, did not long bear the empty title that 
 thus mocked his fortunes. His forces and those of 
 Malcolm met on the 3d of April, 1057, at Eassie, in 
 Angus ; and that day ended his life, and also broke 
 for ever the power of his faction. In a few days 
 after this (on the 25th of April, the Festival of St. 
 Mark) Malcolm HI. was crowned at Scone. But 
 the history of his reign belongs to the next period. 
 
 It will be convenient also, before we close the 
 present chapter, to turn for a few moments to the 
 course of events in Ireland, which, although not 
 politically connected with England in the period 
 under review, had already acquired a remarkable 
 celebrity, and begun to maintain a considerable in- 
 tercourse both with Britain and with continental 
 Europe. Taking up the history of Ireland at the 
 point where we left it in the Introduction, we find 
 the country at the commencement of our era sub- 
 jected to the rule of the Scots, a foreign people, 
 who had wrested the supreme dominion of it from 
 the Tuatli de Danans, in the same manner as the 
 latter had displaced their predecessors the Firbolgs, 
 with which last mentioned occupants the first glim- 
 merings of historic light break through the confu- 
 sion and darkness of the national traditions. The 
 fables of the bards, indeed, make mention of three 
 still earlier races by whom the island was succes- 
 sively colonized — the Partholans, so called from 
 their leader Partholan, a descendant of Japhet, who 
 arrived four hundred years after the flood ; — the 
 Nemedians, who came from the Euxine three cen- 
 turies afterwards ; — and the Fomorians, from Africa, 
 who were the immediate predecessors of the Fir- 
 bolgs. But all that can be gathered from the chaos 
 of wild inventions which forms this first part of the 
 Irish story is, that probably before the arrival of the 
 Firbolgs the country had been peopled by that 
 Celtic race to which the great body of its popula- 
 tion still continues to belong. These primitive 
 Celtic colonists, whose blood, whose speech, whose 
 manners and customs remain, in spite of all subse- 
 quent foreign infusions, dominant throughout the 
 island to this day, would seem to be the Partholans 
 of the legendary account. The Fomorians, again, 
 who came from Africa, were perhaps the Pheni- 
 cians or Carthaginians. The Nemedians, the Tuath 
 de Danans, the Firbolgs, and the Scots or Milesians, 
 are afifirmed to have all been of the same race, 
 which was different from that of the Partholans ; a 
 statement which is most easily explained by suppo- 
 sing that all these subsequent bodies of colonists or 
 invaders were of the Gothic or Teutonic stock, and 
 came, as indeed the bardic narrativfe makes them to 
 have done, from the north of continental Europe. 
 It seems, at all events, to be ijiost probable that the 
 Scots were a Gothic people ; Scythae, Scoti, Gothi, 
 Getae, indeed appear to be only different forms of 
 the same word.' The Scots are supposed, by the 
 ablest inquirers, not to have made their appearance 
 in Ireland very long before the commencement of 
 our era, if their colonization be not, indeed, a still 
 more recent event; for we believe no trace of their 
 
 1 See this matter very ably treated in Pinkerton's Dissertation on 
 the Origin and Progress of the Scythians or Goths, Part i. chap. I.
 
 212 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 occupation is to be discovered before the second or 
 third century. From the fourth century down to 
 the eleventh — tlmt is, during the whole of the pe- 
 riod with which we are at present engaged — Ire- 
 land was known by the name of Scotia or Scotland, 
 and the Irish generally by that of the Scoti or Scots; 
 nor till the close of the tenth century were these 
 names ever otherwise applied.' If the Scots of 
 North Britain were spoken of, they were so desig- 
 nated as being considered to be a colony of Irish. 
 
 The bardic account, however, carries back the 
 arrival of the Scotic colony, under the conduct of 
 Heber and Heremon the sons of Milesius, to a much 
 more ancient date ; and the modern inquirers who 
 have endeavored to settle the chronology of that 
 version of the story have assigned the event, in the 
 most moderate of their calculations, to the fifth or 
 sixth century before the birth of Christ. Others 
 place it nearly a thousand years earlier. It is re- 
 lated that the two brothers at first divided the island 
 between them, Heber, the elder, taking to himself 
 Leinster and Munster, and Heremon getting Ulster 
 and Connaught ; but, in imitation of Romulus and 
 Remus (if we ought not rather to suppose the Irish 
 to have been the prototype of the classic incident), 
 they afterwards quarreled, and, Heber having been 
 slain, Heremon became sole sovereign. From him 
 is deduced a regular succession of monarchs of all 
 Ireland down to Kimbaoth, who is reckoned the fifty- 
 seventh in the list, and is said to have reigned about 
 two hundred years before our era. Besides the 
 supreme monarch, it is admitted that there were 
 always four subordinate kings, reigning each over his 
 province ; and the history is made up in great part 
 of the wars of these reguli, not only with one another, 
 but frequently also with their common sovereign 
 lord. Tacitus relates that one of the reguli of Ire- 
 land, who had been driven from his country by some 
 domestic revolution, came over to Britain to Agri- 
 cola, who kept him with him under the semblance 
 of friendship, in the hope of some time or other 
 havjng an opportunity of making use of him. It was 
 the opinion of Agricola that Ireland might have been 
 conquered and kept in subjection by a single legion 
 and a few auxiliaries. Tacitus observes, however, 
 that its ports and harbors were better known than 
 those of Britain, through the merchants that resorted 
 to them and the extent of their foreign commerce.^ 
 
 We need not further pursue the obscure and 
 undoubtedly in great part fabulous annals of the 
 country before the introduction of Christianity. It 
 is probable that some knowledge of the Christian 
 rehgion had penetrated to Ireland before the mission 
 of St. Patrick ; but it was by the labors of that 
 celebrated personage that the general conversion of 
 the people was effected in the early part of the fifth 
 century. The first Christian king of Ireland was 
 Leogaire, or Laogaire Mac Neil, whose reign is 
 etated to have extended from a.d. 428 to a.d. 463. 
 The twenty-ninth king, counting from him, was 
 
 i See this completely established, and all the authorities collected, 
 in Pinkerton's Enquiry, Part t. chap. 4. 
 2 Agric. 84. 
 
 Donald III., who reigned from a.d. 743 to a.d. 763. 
 It was in his time (in a.d. 748) that the Danes or 
 Northmen made their first descent upon Ireland. 
 In 815, in the reign of Aodhus V., these invaders 
 obtained a fixed settlement in Armagh ; and thirty 
 years afterwards, their leader, Turgesius, or Tur- 
 ges, a Norwegian, was proclaimed king of all Ireland. 
 At length a general massacre of the foreigners led 
 to the restoration of the line of the native princes. 
 But new bands speedily arrived from the north to 
 avenge their countrymen ; and in a few j-ears all 
 the chief ports and towns throughout the south and 
 along the east coast were again in their hands. The 
 struggle between the two races for the dominion 
 of the country continued with little intermission 
 and with various fortune for more than a century 
 and a half, although the Danes, too, had embraced 
 Christianity about the year 948. The closing period 
 of the long contest is illustrated by the heroic deeds 
 of the renowned Brien Boroimhe, or Boru, the 
 " Brien the Brave" of song, who was first king of 
 Munster, and afterwards king of all Ireland. He 
 occupied the national throne from 1003 to 1014, in 
 which latter year he fell, sword in hand, at the age 
 of eighty-eight, in the great battle of Clontarf, in 
 which, however, the Danish power received a dis- 
 comfiture from which it never recovered. Brien, 
 however, though his merits and talents had raised 
 him to the supreme power, not being of the ancient 
 royal house, is looked upon as little better than a 
 usurper by the Irish historians ; and the true king of 
 this date is reckoned to have been Maelsechlan Mac 
 Domhnaill, more manageably written Melachlan, or 
 Malachi, whom Brien deposed. Malachi, too, was 
 a great warrior ; — the same patriotic poet who in 
 our own day, and in our Saxon tongue, has cele- 
 brated " the glories of Brien the Brave," has also 
 sung,— 
 
 " Let Erin remember the days of old, 
 Ere her faithless sons betray'd her, 
 When Malachi wore the collar of gold 
 Which he won from her proud invader ;" — 
 
 and on the death of Brien, Malachi was restored to the 
 throne, which he occupied till 1022. He is reckoned 
 the forty-second Christian king of Ireland.' The 
 interruption of the regular succession, however, by 
 the elevation of Brien, now brought upon the coun- 
 try the new calamity of a contest among several 
 competitors for the throne ; and the death of Mala- 
 chi was followed by a season of great confusion and 
 national misery. The game was eventually reduced 
 to a trial of strength between Donchad, the son of 
 Brien, and Donchad's nephew, Turlogh ; and in 
 1064 Turlogh succeeded in overpowering his uncle ; 
 who, bidding farewell to arms and to ambition, re- 
 tired across the sea, and ended his days as a monk 
 at Rome. Turlogh, reckoned a usurper by the na- 
 tive annalists, but acknowledged to have ruled the 
 country ably and well, occupied the Irish throne at 
 the epoch of the Norman conquest of England. 
 
 t In these dates we have followed the authority of the " Catalogs 
 Chronologicus Regum Christianorum Hibemiae," in O'Connor's " Be- 
 rum Hibernicarum Scriptores Vetcres," vol. i.pp. lixv., &c
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 213 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 Section I. Saxon Paganism. 
 
 iHiii(i'!i|!i)iiiii|(!!!!'!ririiii 
 
 F the heathenism of 
 the Angles, Jutes, 
 and Saxons, the 
 three tribes of 
 northern Germany 
 that suppHed the 
 invaders and con- 
 querors of Britain 
 in the fifth and 
 sixth centuries, if 
 these races had any 
 system of super- 
 stition pecuhar to 
 themselves, we can hardly be said to know anything. 
 But there is reason to believe that their mj thology 
 was the same which is known to have flourished at 
 the same period, or not long after, among their kin- 
 dred who remained in their original seats around the 
 Baltic. The historic traditions of the Saxons as 
 well as of the ancient Danes and Swedes, all ascend 
 to and terminate with Woden, or Odin, the cele- 
 brated head of that mythology. This system is 
 preserved to us in the two books of the Edda, the 
 first compiled about a.d. 1057 by Soemund Sig- 
 fusson ; the second about a.d. 1180 by Snon-o Stur- 
 leson, from such sacred poems of the ancient scalds, 
 or bards of northern paganism, as still survived either 
 in the memory of the people, or in a written form. 
 A more compendious view of the religion of Odin is 
 also given in the singular poem entitled the Voluspa, 
 that is, the Prophecy of Vola, which is certainly 
 more ancient than the second Edda, in which it is 
 often quoted as an authority, and is believed, as well 
 as the first Edda, to be the composition of Soemund. 
 In describing the religion of the north, therefore, 
 we are not, as in the case of the Druids, left to the 
 vague inferences that may be drawn from a few 
 notices, probably in many respects mistaken, left to 
 us by wi'iters of another creed, of doctrines which 
 their votaries anxiously endeavored to conceal from 
 the uninitiated ; but we have the fullest information 
 on all the particulars of the system from the most 
 competent authorities, its believers and professors 
 themselves. 
 
 When we attempt, however, to investigate its 
 earliest history, we are encountered by the same 
 difficulties that are found to exist in the case of 
 every similar creed. I^he source from whence it 
 issued, the period of its first promulgation, and the 
 agents by whom it was planted in the several coun- 
 tries where it flourished, are historical difficulties 
 that still remain to be settled. Instead of facts, we 
 are here presented with fables which it is impossible 
 to restore to their original truth ; and for the earthly 
 founder of a religion, we have a shadowy form armed 
 
 with the atti'ibutes of divinity, and receiving divine 
 honors after a life of miracles on earth. The most 
 probable account that can be given of the matter ap- 
 pears to be the following : — Sigge, the son of Fri- 
 dulph, chief of the Asi, a Scythian tribe, originally 
 perhaps from the north of Persia, being oppressed, 
 in common with the other chieftains of the country 
 to the north of the Euxine, by Pompey, at the close 
 of the Mithridatic war, in the century immediately 
 preceding our era, resolved to maintain his liberty 
 by abandoning the land of his fathers. Gathering, 
 therefore, his people together, he led them in safety 
 from the Euxine to the shores of the Baltic. There 
 he found a country far wilder than that he had 
 abandoned, and a scanty population, inferior in arts 
 and arms to his warlike Scythians. The result of su- 
 perior knowledge was soon exhibited. The houseless 
 fugitive became a conqueror — the martyr to liberty 
 an enslaver of nations. In a short period the sub- 
 jugation of the surrounding regions attested the 
 power of his arms, while, by his superior intelli- 
 gence, he endeavored to civilize those tribes which 
 his valor had subdued.^ 
 
 It was natural, under these circumstances, that 
 the son of Fridulph should become a god. A rude 
 and credulous people would easily be persuaded to 
 deify a mortal who had come thus strangely among 
 them, and wi'ought so wonderful a revolution in their 
 social condition. The resistless conqueror was also a 
 poet, a sage, a legislator, and a priest ; and while his 
 powers of persuasion are described as miraculous, 
 he is supposed also to have distinctly claimed a 
 divine commission. Political expediency might 
 suggest to him such a step, to bind more firmly the 
 tribes he had conquered by a common religion. In 
 this manner Sigge, the conqueror and lawgiver of 
 the north, is supposed to have become Odin, its pre- 
 siding deity. Whether this was the name of the 
 supreme being whom the northern tribes had wor- 
 shiped before his arrival, and which he was after- 
 wards pleased to assume, is uncertain.* His chil- 
 dren, who were numerous, were invested by him 
 with the govei'nment of the conquered provinces ; 
 and it was natural that they should subsequently 
 find a place in the same mythology which had origi- 
 nated in the deification of their sire. This was but 
 a new form of the Cretan Jupiter and his offspring. 
 The end of the ambitious Scythian was well fitted 
 to complete and consolidate his fabric of delusion. 
 Finding his death approaching, he inflicted nine 
 wounds in a circle upon his body, and telhng his 
 people that he was departing to his native land to 
 become a god, he expired.' 
 
 1 Mallet's Northern Antiquities, chap. iv. 
 
 2 Ibid. ch. \-i. 3 Ibid. cb. iv.
 
 214 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book 11.- 
 
 In considering the career of this remarkable per- 
 sonage, the imagination naturally turns to the mys- 
 terious history of the first Peruvian Inca. But 
 a still closer parallel is to be found between the 
 Scythian Odin and the Arabian Mohammed. Both 
 were impostors upon a gigantic scale, and influenced 
 the destinies of a large portion of the human race. 
 Under their auspices, the tribes of the east and the 
 north were brought together, and inspired for the 
 momentous part they were in due season called 
 upon to act in the drama of the world, when they 
 came in their irresistible might to destroy, that 
 they might regenerate. The philosophy of history 
 scarcely presents a more interesting subject of con- 
 jecture than the probable fate of the civilized world, 
 had the two great superstitions sent forth their 
 myriads simultaneously. What would have been 
 the issue to the human race, had they met upon 
 the great battle-field of the Roman empire, to con- 
 tend with equal valor and fanaticism, while the pos- 
 session of the earth itself was the prize in question ? 
 
 It is proper to mention, however, that the chro- 
 nology of Odin's emigration has been a subject of 
 much controversy. While Mallet has placed the 
 event as early as the time of Pompey,' others have 
 postponed it till the beginning of the fourth centuiy. 
 It is probable that more than one victorious conqueror 
 or subtle priest assumed the name of Odin, and that 
 in process of time their several qualities and exploits 
 came all to be attributed to the first, just as the 
 achievements of several Greek champions, all assum- 
 ing the name of Hercules, were bestowed upon a 
 single hero. This supposition will also explain the 
 circumstance of several northern warriors having 
 asserted their descent from Odin at the distance of 
 only four or five generations, at a date so recent as 
 the Saxon invasion of England.'^ 
 
 The religious system which the Scythian legis- 
 lator established was, no doubt, amplified in a more 
 advanced age by the united efforts of priest^ and 
 poets, although in every stage it continued to cor- 
 respond with the character of its ferocious votaries. 
 Its breath is that of* a furnace, and its " voice is still 
 for war." A wild grandeur as well as a solemn 
 gloom pervades it, harmonizing with the scenery of 
 its native home ; and its iimtastic arraj- of tales and 
 miracles was well adapted to the understandings of 
 a people too ignorant to philosophize, and too indo- 
 lent to cavil. Occasionally, too, there irradiate from 
 its darkness those emanations of tnith which are 
 found in mythologies even the most depraved, and 
 which appear to evince by their purity that they 
 are light from heaven. These are most probably the 
 relics of the simple theism of the patriarchal era. 
 Even the Edda, here probably following the original 
 belief of the rude children of the north, before the 
 arrival of the Scythian, describes the supreme 
 Divinity as " The author of everything that exists ; 
 the eternal, the ancient, the living and awful Being ; 
 
 1 This opinion is favored by Snorro Sturieson, the Icelaodic his- 
 torian who flourished in the thirteenth century, and by the modem 
 Torfieus. 
 
 3 Another theory, however, is, that Odin never existed, and is merely 
 a mythological personage,— the god of war. See this view supported 
 by Pinkerton in his " Dissertation on the Scythians," Part ii. chap. 5. 
 
 the searcher into concealed things ; the Being who 
 never changes — who lives and governs during the 
 ages ; who directs everything that is high and eve- 
 rj'thing that is low." But far difterent are the at- 
 tributes of Odin. He is called " The terrible and 
 severe god ; the father of slaughter ; the god that 
 carries desolation and fire ; the active and roaring 
 deity ; he who gives victory and revives courage in 
 the conflict ; who names those that are to be slain." 
 Such a divinity was more suited to the imaginations 
 of a people who continually rushed hke eagles to the 
 slaughter. Tlie former could rule alone ; and, 
 therefore, by his simple votaries he was contem- 
 plated without the intervention of a delegate, and 
 worshiped without an image. But the Odin of the 
 subsequent mythology' required the aid of associates, 
 and therefore his followers liberally furnished him 
 with deputies, for the various operations of heaven 
 and earth. Frigga, or Frea, his wfe, was the god- 
 dess of love, pleasure, and sensuaHty. Thor con- 
 trolled the tempests, Balder was the god of light, 
 Kiord of the waters, Tyr of champions, Brage of 
 orators and poets, and Heimdal was the janitor of 
 heaven, and the guardian of the rainbow. Eleven 
 gods in all, and as many goddesses, all the children 
 of Odin and Frea, assisted their parents, and were, 
 like them, objects of worship. 
 
 These, however, would still have formed but a 
 scanty polytheism ; and when fancy assumes the 
 right of creating gods, the limits are only determined 
 by its own activity. An immense array of inferior 
 divinities followed. There were three Fates by 
 whom the career of men were predestined ; and 
 every individual was supposed, besides, to have a 
 Fate attending him, by whom his life was controlled 
 and its end determined. There were also the Val- 
 keries, a species of inferior goddesses, who acted as 
 celestial attendants, and who were also employed by 
 Odin to determine victory and select the warriors 
 who were to perish. And in addition to all these 
 there was the usual corruption of the idea of an 
 all-pervading Providence in the Genii and Spirits, 
 who mingled in every event, and were possessed 
 of supernatural power whether to bless or injure. 
 The necessary concomitant of infernal agents was 
 also appended to the creed. Their personification 
 of the evil principle was Lok, sometimes deprecated 
 as a god, and always dreaded as an enemy, whom 
 the deities, in consequence of his malignity, had 
 been constrained to shut up in a cavern. He is de- 
 scribed in the Edda as beautiful in form, but depraved 
 in character ; " the calumniator of the gods, the 
 grand contriver of deceit and frauds, the reproach 
 of gods and men." The goddess Hela, the wolf 
 Fenris, the great Dragon, the Giants, and the ma- 
 lignant Genii, completed the dark array of their 
 mythology. 
 
 On the subject of a future state, the religion of 
 the north was particularly explicit ; and a heaven 
 was formed congenial to a people whose chief em- 
 ployment and greatest pleasure was battle. Those 
 who had led a life of heroism or perished bravely in 
 fight, ascended to Valhalla, and the felicity -which 
 awaited them there was rapture to the imagination
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 215 
 
 of a Dane or a Saxon. The day was spent in furious 
 conflict, amidst the struggle of armies and the cleav- 
 ing of B-iields ; but at evening the conflict ceased ; 
 every wound was suddenly healed ; and the con- 
 tending warriors sat down to the banquet, where 
 they feasted on the exhaustless flesh of the boar 
 Scrimner, and drank huge draughts of mead from 
 the skulls of their enemies. But the wicked, by 
 which term the cowardly and the slothful were 
 chiefly intimated, were doomed to the miseries of 
 Niflheim.^ There Hela dwelt, and exercised her 
 terrible supremacy. Her palace was Anguish, her 
 table Famine, her waiters Expectation and Delay, 
 the threshold of her door was Precipice, her bed 
 was Leanness, and her look struck terror into every 
 beholder. 
 
 It is here that a creed generally terminates ; but 
 at this point the northern mythology only finds a 
 resting-place for a moment. A fresh flight is com- 
 menced, and a new revelation more mysterious and 
 more august than the former is unfolded. That 
 bliss and those punishments are not eternal, but 
 only for a season. After ages have revolved, and 
 when time has arrived at its close, terrible signs in 
 heaven and earth are to announce the coming 
 dissolution ; while the human race, unsuspicious of 
 the danger, shall be involved in universal depravity. 
 And then comes the end. The malignant powers, 
 so long constrained, are to burst from their en- 
 thralment ; the gods are to perish beneath their 
 fierce assault, or in despair, and by mutual wounds ; 
 even Odin himself expires, while a conflagration 
 bursts forth, in which Valhalla, and the world, and 
 the place of penal anguish, with all their divine 
 and human inhabitants, are to be consumed and 
 pass away. But from this second chaos a new 
 world is to emerge in its youthful grandeur, with a 
 heaven more glorious than Valhalla, and a hell more 
 fearful than Niflheim ; while over all a God appears 
 preeminent and alone, possessed of greater might 
 and nobler atti-ibutes than Odin. Then, too, the 
 human race are finally to be tried, when higher 
 virtues than bravery, and heavier guilt than cow- 
 ardice, are to form the standard of good and evil. 
 The righteous shall then be received into Gimle, 
 while the bad shall be doomed to the unutterable 
 punishments of Nastrande ; and either state shall 
 continue through eternity, under the reign of Him 
 who is eternal. 
 
 In this strange system it is interesting to mark 
 the existence of two distinct creeds, united, yet not 
 incorporated ; the one simple and spiritual, the 
 other extravagant and sensual. In other creeds a 
 complete amalgamation has been accomplished 
 between the first principles of pure rehgion and 
 the adventitious corruptions of succeeding periods, 
 because, in these, the progi-ess from primeval truth 
 to error has been the gi-adual work of ages. In 
 that case, though a few of those original principles 
 are suff'ered to remain, which form the common 
 basis of every system of religious belief, yet the 
 fables that gather upon them become gradually so 
 
 1 Even the god Balder, because he died a natural death, was con- 
 iigned to the dominion of Hela, Edda, Fab. 29. 
 
 identified with the whole, that they can scarcely be 
 recognized or separated from the general mass. 
 But in the system of Odin there is nothing of thiri 
 complete intermixture and amalgamation. Here 
 there is only one system superinduced upon 
 another, while each remains separate and distinct. 
 The coming of the ferocious and popular creed 
 from Scythia resembled the sudden rush of a lava 
 torrent rather than the gradual concretion of a 
 fresh soil ; and under its hard and gloomy surface 
 we can discover the layer of earth still unmixed 
 that, before the inundation, was the source of beauty 
 and sustenance. The son of Fridulph, though he 
 found in his new home a people far inferior to his 
 own, yet found them possessed of a higher system 
 of religion than was known to his more accom- 
 plished countrymen ; and some of its principles he 
 adopted, while the rest he tacitly sanctioned, or 
 left undisturbed, in the propagation of his new 
 creed. It is thus, perhaps, that we are to account 
 for the discourse ascribed to him called the " Hava- 
 maal," ^ containing a morality not only superior to 
 his general precepts, but even at variance witli 
 their tenor; and thus also in the Edda have the 
 singularly clear traditions of chaos, the creation of 
 man, the deluge, and the restoration of the world, 
 come to be mingled with the wildest fables. Thus, 
 above all, may we solve the otherwise incompre- 
 hensible anomaly of the northern creed, where we 
 recognize so distinctly the existence of two chief 
 deities, the one a warrior-god surrounded by his 
 assistant powers, and doomed to perish, — the other 
 a more spiritual and exalted Being, who reigns 
 alone, and shall live for ever; together with the 
 two-fold standard of good and evil, the double 
 heaven, and the double hell. When truth and 
 error thus come into competition the result may 
 easily be anticipated. The former, severe and un- 
 compromising in its authority, is supplanted by the 
 indulgences of the latter ; and the primitive sim- 
 phcity of its ritual is soon eclipsed by gay festivals 
 and splendid processions. It is for this reason 
 that, among the fierce worshipers of Odin, we can 
 discover no practical results of that patriarchal faith 
 that lay immediately beneath the surface of their 
 own system. Their tempest-breathing god, and 
 his paradise of battles, though these were finally to 
 be consumed, were more attractive than the excel- 
 lencies of a more spiritual deity, and the eternity 
 of a purer heaven. 
 
 The rites of the popular worship accorded with 
 the spirit of such a grim theologj-. In Germany, 
 in Denmark, in Sweden, and Norway, there were 
 temples of colossal size but rugged workmanship, 
 in which Odin was represented by a gigantic image 
 armed, and crowned, and brandishing a naked 
 sword; his wife Frea as an hermaphrodite; Thor 
 wearing a crown of stars, and wielding his terrible 
 mace ; and the other gods and goddesses delineated 
 according to their respective attributes. Songs 
 composed under that wild inspiration which charac- 
 terized the muse of the north were chanted in their 
 praise; and, as in other rituals, animals deemed 
 
 1 Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. ii.
 
 216 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 most acceptable to each god were sacrificed, while 
 the blood was sprinkled upon the worshipers. 
 But sterner offerings than these were sometimes 
 deemed necessary, when the emergency was ur- 
 gent, or when an extraordinary boon was asked of 
 heaven. Human victims drenched the altar;' and 
 while crowds of captives and slaves were fre- 
 quently immolated, for the welfare of the people at 
 large, princes often sacrificed their own children, 
 either to avert a mortal sickness or secure an im- 
 portant victory.* As they beheved that the exclu- 
 sion from Valhalla, which a natural death entailed, 
 could be avoided by the sacrifice of a substitute, 
 every warrior who could procure a slave to put to 
 death with this object, had a motive peculiarly 
 powerful for so horrid a practice. This fearful 
 practice of human sacrifice, which seems to have 
 been common to every ancient creed of superstition, 
 was merely the chmax of the principle that as- 
 cended from a handful of fruits and flowers, to 
 offerings the most costly and valued. When a 
 sacrifice was regarded as a price, it was supposed 
 that the magnitude of the gift^should correspond 
 with the importance of the petition, and in this 
 view human hfe was tendered as the highest 
 offering of all. 
 
 As females among the northern nations were 
 regarded with a veneration elsewhere unknown, 
 and were supposed to be chosen receptacles of 
 divine inspiration, they were therefore considered 
 as well fitted to preside over the worship of the 
 gods. The daughters of princes officiated as 
 priestesses of the national faith, were consulted as 
 the oracles of heaven, and were frequently dreaded 
 as the ministers of its vengeance ; while those who 
 cultivated the favor of the malignant divinities 
 were held to be witches of mightier power and 
 wilder terrors than the classical enchantresses of 
 Thessal}^ On the subject of the authority of the 
 priests among the German nations we are less dis- 
 tinctly informed. Those of the Saxons were not 
 permitted to mount a horse, or handle a warlike 
 weapon f and this prohibition has been supposed 
 to have been a mark of disrespect among a people so 
 devoted to arms ; but probably it originated rather 
 in their ideas of the superior sanctity of the sacer- 
 dotal office than in any intention to degrade it. 
 This view seems to be confirmed by the account of 
 Tacitus, who represents the German priests as also 
 invested with magisterial authority. He informs 
 us that they settled controversies, attended the 
 armies in their expeditions, and not only awarded 
 punishments, but inflicted them with their own 
 hands, while the fierce warriors who received their 
 stripes endured them as inflictions from the hand 
 of heaven. 
 
 The gloomy regions of the north, and the lives 
 of its inhabitants, alternating between the extremes 
 of activity and repose, had a strong tendency to 
 nurse a superstitious temperament. Among vast 
 
 1 Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. ii. Dithmar's Chronicles of 
 Merselung, Book i. 
 
 * Wormius in Monument. Dan. pp. 25, 26. Saxo Grammatic, lib. 
 X. The traditions of the North abound in instances of children sacri- 
 liced by their parents. 3 Bed. ii. ch. 13. 
 
 forests of perpetual twihght, among mountains 
 rugged with rocks of ice and crested with storms, 
 and the dismal vicissitudes of northern winter.^, the 
 flitting shadows that traverse the wild scenery 
 become spiritual visitants, while the mysterious 
 sounds of hill and valley are regarded as their 
 supernatural voices. The northern nations were 
 superstitious, not only from the scenery in the 
 midst of which they lived, but from their religion, 
 which gave to every object and event a presiding 
 spirit ; and it was believed that from these super- 
 natural intelligences might be extorted, not only 
 counsel for the present, but premonition of the 
 future. The direction of the wind, the aspect of 
 the sky, the flight or voice of birds, the entrails of 
 a victim, were all heavenly indications, in which 
 the inquirers took counsel of the gods as to the 
 course of an enterprise, and endeavored to read its 
 issue. The graves were invoked with vehemence, 
 and the dead entreated to answer. The warrior, 
 frequently scorning gentler methods, and resolving 
 to force a reply, rushed, with his sword brandished, 
 into the storm, that he might subdue its guardian 
 spirit, and compel its reluctant utterance. When 
 the knowledge desired was of high importance, the 
 mode of consultation was proportionally solemn. 
 Men were stabbed or thrown into the water ; and 
 from the manner in which the blood floAvcd, or the 
 body sank, a satisfactory reply was elicited.' They 
 also placed great reliance upon incantations ; and 
 they had songs by which the elements were con- 
 trolled, and every evil averted, as well as every 
 benefit obtained. The smith, an important per- 
 sonage everywhere in the earliest age of civilization, 
 had a song by which the glowing iron beneath his 
 hammer became a breastplate impenetrable to every 
 earthly weapon, and another by which the sword 
 received a charmed edge that nothing could resist. 
 And when the bark, filled with its armed adven- 
 turers, was ready to rush forth wherever fortune 
 might direct its course, a sure promise of favorable 
 winds and a rich harvest of plunder was supposed 
 to be secured, from the chant of some withered 
 beldame sent after it as it left the port. The same 
 superstition that inspired the most trancendent 
 daring could also depress its votaries into childish 
 timidity. Those cheeks would turn pale at the 
 untoward chattering of a bird, which no earthly 
 danger could blanch ; and an adverse fold in the 
 entrails of a sacrifice stayed that projected expedi- 
 tion, of which the danger and the difficulty com- 
 posed the highest charm. 
 
 Such were the general principles and observances 
 of that religion which appears to have generally 
 prevailed among the inhabitants of the north. AVe 
 find, however, that they were subject to great 
 modifications, according to the situation and circum- 
 stances of the several tribes. They were of a more 
 sanguinary complexion, and clothed with wilder 
 terrors, among the reckless followers of the sea- 
 kings, than among those who dwelt on shore ; and 
 amidst the dark recesses of Noi'way, where the 
 mind brooded over their horrors, unvisited and 
 
 1 Mallet's Antiquities, chap. vii.
 
 Chap. II.J 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 217 
 
 unrelieved, they were more extravagant than among 
 the less isolated tribes of Germany. Perhaps the 
 Saxon invaders of Britain might be classed with 
 those among whom the religion assumed its least 
 revolting shape, while the Danes, who afterwards 
 followed in their track, exhibited the worship of 
 Odin in its fiercest and most pernicious aspect. 
 With them the primitive superstition was fearfully 
 amplified by the principles and tales of the Scalds, 
 
 who clothed it in their songs with horrors of which 
 its first founders had probably no conception. Thus, 
 though both Saxons and Danes worshiped the same 
 gods, and beheved in the same future state, yet the 
 former, even while they continued heathens, be- 
 came peaceful cultivators of the soil which their 
 swords had won, while th^ latter did not subside 
 into the same sucial condition until after they had 
 abandoned their original creed. 
 
 Ruins op the Monastery of Iona, or 1-columb-kill.i 
 
 Section II. 
 
 Christianity. 
 
 When Hengist and Horsa, and their followers, 
 arrived in Britain, in the middle of the fifth century, 
 still pagans themselves, they found Christianity 
 professed both by the inhabitants of the southern 
 part of the island, the late Roman province, and 
 also by a portion of the natives of the north, the 
 modern Scotland, then known by the name of the 
 Picts. The Christianity of the South Britons, how- 
 ever, there is reason to believe, had, in the distrac- 
 tions and miseries of the time, both ceased to exert 
 much influence over the lives of its professors, and 
 likewise become mixed with many corruptions of 
 doctrine. Gildas has painted the manners of both 
 people and clergy in the darkest colors ; and what- 
 ever allowance we may make for an apparently 
 atrabilious temper, and a very vehement and de- 
 clamatory style, his representations, which are in 
 
 part adopted by. Bede, have all the air of having a 
 foundation of truth. In addition to general profli- 
 gacy of conduct, he charges the British clergy with 
 what he calls infidelity, by which he Avould seem to 
 imply something beyond mere heresy or unsound- 
 ness of faith. From the oldest remains of the early 
 Welsh poetry, which belong probably to an ago 
 not much later than that of Gildas, it would appear 
 as if the ancient religion of Britain, which had no 
 doubt lingered in the remoter corners of the coun- 
 try, had now shot up again into new life in the 
 upsetting of the whole social system which took 
 place at this crisis ; for these poems are pervaded 
 by a tone of sentiment an'^ expression which betray 
 a strange intermixture ol Chri:?tianity and Druidisui 
 — the latter, however, of the two combined elements, 
 as was to be expected in such a case, being by far 
 the more prevalent. On the part of the bards, 
 indeed, whose order enjoyed so important a station 
 in the old pagan hierarchy, the design of restoring 
 
 ' This building, it need scarcely be ohserved, belongs to an age much more recent than that of Columba.
 
 218 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Druidism to its former ascendency seems for a 
 long period to have been systematically and perse- 
 veringly pursued. Throughout the protracted 
 struggle with the Saxons it would appear to have 
 been in the spirit and through the ritual of this 
 Neo-Druidism, and not of Christianity, that the 
 national feeling was chiefly appealed to, and the 
 resistance to the foreigners sustained and directed. 
 In the northern division of the island, Ninian, ac- 
 cording to Bede, had converted the Picts to the south 
 of the Grampian range, about the year 412. Ninian 
 is called Bishop of Whithern, in Wigtonshire, where 
 he founded a monastery, and died a.d. 432. About 
 the same time the heathenism of Ireland had been 
 swept away, and Christianity established there as 
 the national religion, by the exertions of the cele- 
 brated St. Patrick. The year 422 is assigned as 
 the date of the arrival of that illustrious missionarj- 
 in the country with which his name was destined to 
 be so honorably connected for all succeeding ages. 
 About the middle of the sixth century Kentigern, 
 or St. Mungo, appeared among the Britons of Strath- 
 clyde, and is supposed to have founded the see of 
 Glasgow. But the most distinguished of the mis- 
 sionaries to Caledonia, during this period, was Co- 
 lumba, venerated as the national saint of Scotland 
 until that honor was conferred upon St. Andrew. 
 He was born at Garten, a village now included in 
 tlie county of Donegal in Ireland, and landed in 
 Scotland, with twelve companions, in the year 563. 
 Illustrious by his birth, being connected with the 
 royal families of Ireland and of the Scots of North 
 Britain, and possessed of those personal endowments 
 that gain an ascendency over a rude people, he ad- 
 dressed himself with great advantage to his self-im- 
 posed task of converting the heathen Picts to the 
 north of the Grampians. Their king, Brude II., to 
 whose court Columba proceeded, was the first who 
 was baptized, and his subjects immediately followed 
 the royal example. Columba then settled in lona, 
 where he founded his celebrated monastery, and 
 estabUshed a system of rehgious discipline which 
 became the model of many other monastic institu- 
 tions. Much controversy has been waged upon the 
 nature of the system of ecclesiastical polity founded 
 by Columba; one class of writers, at the head of 
 whom is the acute and learned Selden, maintaining 
 it to have been strictly Presbyterian, while others 
 contend that the Culdees, as the clergy generally 
 were called, were subject to episcopal authority. 
 The former is the opinion that has been most gene- 
 rally held, and that seems most conformable to the 
 expressions of Bede, the earliest authority on the 
 Bubject.' The small and barren island of lona, after 
 this, soon became illustrious in the labors and tri- 
 umphs of the Christian church ; and the Culdees. 
 animated with the zeal of their founder, not only 
 devoted their efforts to enlighten their own country, 
 but became adventurous missionaries to fields t^ e 
 most dangerous and remote. It is gratifying a'.^o to 
 observe that, with all the disputation there has been 
 as to their form of church government, there is a 
 general agreement as to the purity and simplicity 
 1 Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. c. 4. 
 
 both of their doctrines and of their lives. Even 
 Bede, though indignant at their rejection of the au- 
 thority of the Roman bishop, testifies that " they 
 preached only such works of charity and piety as 
 they could learn from the prophetical, evangelical, 
 and apostolic writings." Of the care with which 
 they were trained to be the guardians of learning 
 and instructors of the people, we may form some 
 idea from the fact that eighteen years of study were 
 frequently required of them before they were or- 
 dained.' 
 
 In the south of Britain, in the first fury of the 
 Saxon invasion, the storm had burst with equal vio- 
 lence upon tower and temple. Amidst the havoc of 
 an exterminating warfare the churches were de- 
 stroyed and the ecclesiastics massacred, so that at 
 length the former Christianity of the country was 
 chiefly to be traced by heaps of ashes and tokens of 
 devastation. Yet there is no probabihty, as we have 
 observed in another place, in the common notion that 
 all the native Britons were swept from the soil 
 which was thus overrun ; and as the great body of 
 the laboring population were in all likelihood allowed 
 to remain as the bondmen of the conquerors, we 
 may suppose that such of them as were Christians, 
 and most, if not all of them must have been so, would 
 be permitted to retain their faith in peace. Without 
 a clergy, however, or any apparatus of which a 
 trace can be discovered for the administration among 
 them of the ordinances of religion, for we find no 
 notice of even a single Christian church being any- 
 where kept up as a place of worship, it is not easy 
 to conceive that they would very generally or very 
 long retain their knowledge and profession of the 
 truth. But meanwhile, as their position in the 
 country became easier and more secure, the Saxons, 
 naturally turning their swords to ploughshares, were 
 themselves gradually losing something of their old 
 ferocitjs and acquiring a disposition and habits more 
 favorable for their o^\•n conversion to the religion 
 of love and peace. When things were in this state 
 an incident occurred which, simple in itself, led to 
 great results. Gregory, afterwards pope, and sur- 
 named the Great, passing one day through the streets 
 of Rome, was arrested at the market-place by the 
 sight of some young slaves from Britain, who were 
 publicly exposed for sale. Struck with the bright- 
 ness of their complexions, their fair long hair, and 
 the remarkable beauty of their forms, he eagerly 
 inquired to what country they belonged ; and being 
 told that they were Angles, he said, with a sigh, 
 " They would not be Angles, but Angels, if they 
 were but Christians." Continuing his inquiries, 
 he played in the same whimsical manner upon the 
 name of the district from whence they had been 
 brought, and that of the king who reigned over it. 
 But never, perhaps, were puns expressed in a 
 spirit of purer benevolence or attended with more 
 important consequences. Anxious that a people so 
 endowed by nature should no longer be left without 
 a knowledge of divine truth, he resolved, at every 
 hazard, to carry the gospel to their shores, and 
 actually set off upon the dangerous pilgrimage.' 
 1 Adomnani. Vit. Sti. C.lumbae.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 219 
 
 Gregory and the Angles. — Singleton. 
 
 His friends and countrymen, by whom he was en- 
 thusiastically beloved, were dismayed at his depart- 
 ure, and prevailed upon the pope to command his 
 return. When, some years after, however, he 
 succeeded to the popedom, and found a fitting 
 opportunity, he appointed Augustin, prior of the 
 convent of St. Andrew's at Rome, with forty monks, 
 to proceed on a mission to England. The holy men 
 departed accordingly upon their journey, but when 
 they had reached Aix, in Provence, they were so 
 dismayed by accounts of the ferocity of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, that they refused to proceed, and sent to 
 Gregory to ask permission to return. The benevo- 
 lent pontiff, in his reply, adjured them by every 
 Christian motive to persevere in their enterprise ; 
 and, to facilitate its success, he^vrote letters in their 
 behalf to the kings and prelates of France. By 
 these they were received with kindness, and supplied 
 with interpreters, the language of the Franks and 
 Saxons being nearly the same ;' and in the year 597 
 they landed in the Isle of Thanet. Augustin im- 
 mediately dispatched one of his companions to the 
 court of Ethelbert, the King of Kent, announcing the 
 purpose of his coming, and entreating the counte- 
 nance and protection of the king. 
 
 No selection of place could have been more happy 
 for the conmiencement of the good work. Ethel- 
 * Gregor. Epist. iv. 57, 
 
 bert held the important rank of Bretwalda, and his 
 authority extended to the shores of the Humber.' 
 His queen. Bertha, as we have already mentioned,' 
 was a Christian princess ; and having stipulated at 
 her marriage for the liberty of professing her own 
 religion, she had several French priests in her train, 
 and a bishop of the name of Liudhard, by whom 
 the rites of the Christian faith were performed in 
 a ruined church that had been repaired for her use, 
 without the walls of Canterbuiy.^ The king was 
 thus not only in some measure acquainted with the 
 religion of the strangers, and perhaps inclined in 
 its favor, but possessed of power to protect them in 
 teaching it; while in the queen they could avail 
 themselves of an assured and influential friend. On 
 the other hand, the opposition of the Pagan priest- 
 hood was feeble and momentary. They advised the 
 king to meet the strangers, not under a roof, but in 
 the open air, as he would there be safe from their 
 magical contrivances — an idea perhaps suggested by 
 those miraculous powers which Christian missiona- 
 ries, at this period, were but too ready to claim. 
 This precaution Ethelbert adopted. Augustin and 
 his companions advanced to the important interview 
 in solemn procession ; a silver crucifix, and a banner 
 on which was painted a picture of the Redeemer, 
 
 1 Bed. I. 25. 
 
 3 Bed. i. 25, 26 
 
 2 See ante, p. 137.
 
 220 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 were borne before him, while the attendant monks 
 made the air resound with their melodious anthems, 
 which they sang in alternate choirs. After this 
 impressive commencement, Augustin, through the 
 medium of an interpreter, gave the king a sum- 
 mary delineation of the nature of the Christian 
 faith ; and after describing the triumphs it had 
 achieved, and the blessings it had confeiTed upon 
 the nations among whom it was established, he im- 
 plored him to receive this beneficent religion, and 
 allow it to be taught to his subjects. The reply of i 
 Ethelbert was cautious, but encouraging. He said 
 that he had no intention to forsake the gods of his 
 fathers for a new and uncertain worship ; but since 
 the purposes of the strangers were good, and their 
 promises inviting, they should be sullered to instruct 
 
 his people, while he would secure them from inter- 
 ruption, and maintain them at his own expense. 
 On receiving this favorable answer, the monks joy- 
 fully directed their procession towards the neigh- 
 boring city of Canterbury ; and as they entered 
 within its walls, they chanted these words of solemn 
 intercession : " We beseech thee, O Lord, of thy 
 mercy, let thy wrath and anger be turned away 
 from this citj', and from thy holy place ; for we 
 have sinned. Hallelujah !"* 
 
 They now began to preach among the Saxons of 
 Kent, — the purity of their lives and the simplicity 
 of their manners forming powerful arguments in 
 favor of their docti-ines. The idolaters were com- 
 pelled to venerate a faith so illustrated, and converts 
 
 I Bed. i. 25. 
 
 ArorsTiy Preaching before Ethelbert. — Trefhara.
 
 Chap. II.J 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 221 
 
 began to crown the labors of the missionaries. At 
 last Ethelbert himself, persuaded by their reasoning, 
 and probably induced by the entreaties of his queen, 
 consented to be baptized. This important event 
 happened on the day of Pentecost ; and on the en- 
 suing Christmas ten thousand of the people followed 
 the royal example. The joy of Gregory, when he 
 heard these tidings, was so great, that he conferred 
 the primacy of the whole island upon the capital of 
 Kent, and sent the pall to Augustin, who had already 
 been consecrated archbishop of Canterbury by tiie 
 prelate of Aries, to whom he had repaired for that 
 purpose.^ As emergencies arose in this sudden 
 success which Augustin had not foreseen, he sent 
 to the pope a series of questions for solution, some 
 of which appear sufficiently strange in the present 
 day.^ He asks, among other things, if a pregnant 
 woman may be baptized ? — what interval of time 
 should elapse after her confinement, before she 
 could be admitted into the church ? — and also, lest 
 an infant should die, after how many days it might 
 be baptized ? These queries, which were gravely 
 propounded, were as gravely answered. But a 
 more important difficulty presented itself respect- 
 ing the abolition of heathen festivals and ceremo- 
 nies, to whose allurements the simple converts 
 were still fondly attached. It was feared that their 
 entire abrogation would be too violent a change in 
 the rude habits of the people, and might provoke a 
 relapse into idolatry. By the advice of Gregory, 
 Augustin, instead of destroying the heathen tem- 
 ples, consecrated them as Christian churches ; and 
 while the festivals were suffered to remain, they 
 were held in honor of the saints — the same number 
 of animals as before being still eaten, and sober, re- 
 ligious joy assuming the place of outrageous convi- 
 viality. 
 
 From the facility with which the Christian faith 
 had thus been established in Kent, Augustin hoped 
 for a similar conversion of the whole island. But 
 though Gregory had sent him additional aids, his 
 resources for this great work were still inadequate. 
 In this emergency he resolved to endeavor to secure 
 the assistance of the Welsh ecclesiastics. Unfor- 
 tunately, however, these heads of the more ancient 
 British church were indignant at the metropolitan 
 authority which the Roman missionary assumed in 
 virtue of his papal appointment, and the subservi- 
 ency he demanded to the bishop of Rome, whose 
 claim to universal supremacy in the church they 
 could not comprehend. With this might be con- 
 nected a lurking feehng of envy at the success of 
 Augustin among the Saxons, and of shame at the re- 
 buke it administered to their own supineness. There 
 were other grounds of difference also between the 
 native British and the Italian priests, the chief of 
 which was regarding the proper period for the cel- 
 ebration of Easter.^ This state of matters made 
 
 > Bed. i. 27-29. 2 Ibid. i. 27. 
 
 3 As this matter has been generally misunderstood and misstated, it 
 may be well to quote the following correct explanation: "The ditter- 
 ence between the Roman and Eastern church concerning Easter, which 
 began about the year 200, lay in this. The churches of Asia observed 
 this feast on the fourteenth moon, upon whatsoever day of the week it 
 fell out, being the day on which the Jews ofTored their Paschal lamb. 
 
 cooperation between the parties hopeless. At the 
 first meeting, which was attended by only a small 
 number of the Welsh clergy, nothing was con- 
 cluded. It was agreed, however, that another 
 meeting should take place, at which the native 
 priests promised to assemble in greater force. 
 During the interval, they consulted a hermit, one 
 of their countrymen, famed for his sanctity and 
 wisdom, respecting the claims of Augustin, and re- 
 ceived this sententious advice : "If the stranger be 
 a mnn of God, follow him." " But how," said they, 
 " shall we know that he is a man of God ?" " By 
 his liut>.iiity," replied the anchorite. As this reply 
 was still vague, he furnished them with the follow- 
 ing criterion, by which the humility of Augustin 
 might be tested. " When you repair," he said, 
 "to the appointed conference, observe the manner 
 in which he receives you. If he rise at your ap- 
 proach, be sure that he is the leader whom God 
 has appointed you to follow ; but if he receive you 
 seated, reject him for his pride." Furnished with 
 this index, the synod, consisting of seven bishops, 
 and the Abbot of Bangor, repaired to the confer- 
 ence ; but Augustin did not rise at their approach. 
 This instance, whether of arrogance or oversight, 
 set the seal upon his rejection. He limited his de- 
 mands to thi-ee particulars, which were, that they 
 should agree with the Roman church in the time 
 of keeping Easter; that they should use the same 
 ceremonies in the sacrament of baptism ; and unite 
 their efforts with his in the conversion of the Saxons. 
 But to these proposals they returned an abrupt and 
 unqualified negative. The indignation of Augustin 
 now burst forth. Assuming the tone of a prophet, 
 he declared to them, that since they refused their 
 aid in converting the Saxons, by the swords of the 
 Saxons they should perish. It has been insinuated 
 by Jeffrey of Monmouth, and the imputation has 
 been reechoed by successive historians, that the 
 archbishop, by his intrigues, procured the fatal ac- 
 complishment cf his prophecy, in the slaughter 
 some time after of the monks of Bangor by the 
 Northumbrian king Edilfrid. But that appears to 
 have been a sudden and accidental, not a premedi- 
 tated act of devastation, and it did not occur till 
 some years after the death of Augustin. 
 
 The church of Rome celebrated it on the Sunday following that day, if 
 it chanced not to fall on Sunday ; but did not, as the Eastern churches 
 had, from perpetual practice and tradition, ever done, celebrate Easter 
 on a week day. Thus the difference between the Roman and Eastern 
 church only consisted in six dai/s at most ; and the only question was, 
 whether Easter was to be celebrated on the week day on which it fell, 
 or on the Sunday following. At the Council of Nice, A. d. 325, Asia 
 was forced to follow the European mode ; and from that time till 532, 
 all the world kept Easter alike. Very different was the dispute be- 
 tween the Roman church and those of Britain and Ireland, concerning 
 Easter. It began in the sixth century upon this ground. In 532, Dio- 
 nysius Exiguus, a Roman priest, introduced a great variation into the 
 mode of computing Easter, of which thi! technical terms would neither 
 instruct nor entert.ain the reader. Suffice it to say, that his rule, adopt- 
 ed by the Roman church, threw the celebration of Easter a whole vwnth 
 further back than before. But Britain and Ireland were as obstinate 
 for their old Easter as they were lately for the old style ; and thus kept 
 Easter a whole month before the Roman church. C'uminius, who lived 
 at the time, specially mentions this difference of a month (Usser. Syl- 
 loge, p. 34) ; and the dispute between the Roman and the British and 
 Irish churches was not known till Augustin, the monk, was sent tn 
 convert the Saxons, in 597." — Pinkerton's Enquiry into the Early His- 
 tory of Scotland, ii. 265. (Edit, of 1814 )
 
 *i22 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Notwithstanding the failure of this negotiation 
 with the Welsh church, the commencement of 
 Christianity among the Saxons had been too pros- 
 perous for the progress of the faith to be now per- 
 manently checked. In the converted Bretwalda 
 himself it found a zealous and efficient advocate. 
 Sebert, King of Essex, his nephew, moved by the 
 example and arguments of Ethelbert, abjured his 
 idols, and received the rite of baptism : this event 
 happened in the year 604. Numbers of the people 
 having as usual immediately followed the example 
 of their king, a Christian church was erected in 
 London, Sebert's capital, upon the rising ground 
 formerly the site of the Roman temple of Diana. 
 This church was dedicated to St. Paul ; and each 
 successive building, upon the same site, has re- 
 tained the name to the present day. A second 
 royal convert rewarded the zeal of the Bretwalda, 
 in the person of Redwald, the King of East Anglia. 
 We have already related the compromise he made 
 between his own convictions and the opposition of 
 his queen and nobility, by setting up a Christian 
 altar and an idol in the same temple, and leaving 
 his people to judge for themselves between the 
 rival religions.' This strange and perilous experi- 
 ment is said to have been attended with full suc- 
 cess. The contrast was so striking, that the ancient 
 faith was gradually forsaken, and East Anglia was 
 numbered among the Christian kingdoms of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 In the same year (604) Augustin died, after 
 having thus seen the gospel firmly established in 
 the kingdoms of Kent and Essex. The early 
 historians of the English church have adorned him 
 with every apostolic virtue, and the honor of can- 
 onization has been awarded to him by the gratitude 
 of the Roman pontiffs. At this distant period it is 
 difficult to form a proper estimate of his character ; 
 but we may venture to affirm, that while he felt 
 the paramount importance of Christianity, and la- 
 bored devotedly for its extension, he showed him- 
 self, in many instances, but little scrupulous as to 
 the means by which he sought to accomplish so 
 desirable an end. Such, indeed, was too generally 
 the conduct of the saints and missionaries of that 
 period. While they compassed sea and land with 
 all the zeal of the apostolic ages, they never lost 
 sight of Rome and its spiritual supremacy. Augus- 
 tin consecrated Justus bishop of Rochester, and 
 Mellitus bishop of the East Saxons, and appointed 
 his faithful follower Laurentius to be his successor 
 in the see of Canterbury. 
 
 Laurentius had to contend with still more serious 
 ilifficulties than those which had impeded the efforts 
 of Augustin ; and the faith, so lately planted among 
 the Anglo-Saxons, was soon doomed to sustain a 
 violent shock. Sebert, the protector of the Chris- 
 tian church in the kingdom of Essex, died ; and his 
 three sons endeavored to reestablish the ancient 
 superstition. In consequence of the violent meas- 
 ures which followed, Mellitus was banished, and 
 obliged to flee for shelter to his friend Justus, 
 llere, however, he fjund the cbi^rch in n condition 
 
 ' Src ante, p. 137. 
 
 equally perilous. It has been alreadj- related' how 
 Eadbald, the son and successor of Ethelbert, had 
 married the youthful widow of his father, and in 
 consequence of the remonstrances of the ecclesias- 
 tics, had become hostile both to their persons and 
 their religion. In this gloomy posture of affairs 
 Laurentius, Mellitus, and Justus hastily concluded 
 that their cause was hopeless: the two latter re- 
 treated with precipitancy to Gaul, and Laurentius 
 himself prepared to follow them. In such an 
 emergency, which threatened the extinction of 
 Christianity in England, it seemed as if nothing 
 short of a miracle could have saved it ; and, if we 
 may believe the early writers, a miracle was vouch- 
 safed. On the night previous to his intended de- 
 parture, Laurentius passed the night in the church 
 dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. At midnight 
 the Prince of the Apostles appeared to him ; and 
 after reproaching him for his lack of zeal in thus 
 abandoning his spiritual charge, he bestowed a 
 severe flagellation upon the trembling archbishop. 
 On the next morning, when Laurentius repaired to 
 the palace, he threw off his cloak, and displayed 
 before the king his back and shoulders, bloody and 
 waled. Eadbald, dismayed at the spectacle, and 
 apprehending a worse visitation for himself, made 
 haste to repair the consequences of his apostacy. 
 He cursed the idolatry into which he had relapsed, 
 and dissolved the unnatural union in which it had 
 originated. In consequence of his repentance, 
 Mellitus and Justus were recalled, and the cause 
 of Christianity was restored with fresh lustre. 
 Such is the tale which Bede has delivered, and 
 which he would have thought it impietj' to question. 
 We may venture, without anj breach either of 
 faith or charity, to regard the flagellation of Laur- 
 entius as one of those well-intended stratagems, or 
 pious frauds, which abound in the proceedings of 
 persons of that age, pursuing evidently the worthiest 
 ends and actuated by the highest and purest mo- 
 tives. 
 
 The most important event in the history of the 
 Saxon church, after the conversion of Ethelbert, is 
 that of Edwin, by which Christianity was introduced 
 into the powerful kingdom of Northumberland. 
 Here, too, we are encountered by miracles, which 
 indeed make up so much of the story as given by 
 the original authorities, that it is impossible now to 
 separate what is fact from what is fiction. We 
 must repeat the legend, therefore, as Bede has 
 recorded it. Edwin has passed the gi-eater part of 
 his youth as a fugitive and an exile, continually 
 exposed to the machinations of his relentless enemy 
 Edilfrid, who then occupied the Northumbrian 
 throne. Driven from the protection of Cadwallon, 
 the King of North Wales, he wandered from court 
 to court, until at last he seemed to have found a 
 pei-manent shelter with King Redwald in East 
 Angha. But his haunt was discovered by Edilfrid, 
 who thereupon immediately sent to Redwald de- 
 manding that Edwin should be given up. As the 
 power of Edilfrid was terrible throughout the 
 Heptarchy, the heart of Redwald failed, and he 
 
 ' See aulf, p. 137
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 223 
 
 resolved to secure his safety at the expense of 
 hospitality, justice, and religion. A faithful friend 
 advertised Edwin of the deliberation within the 
 palace, and exhorted immediate flight, offering, 
 withal, to conduct him to a place of safety ; but the 
 spirit of the noble exile, that had contended so long 
 against misfortune, was weary of the struggle. He 
 declared that he would fly no further ; and that it 
 was better to perish by the treachery of his host, 
 and the cruelty of his enemy, than to continue the 
 life of disquietude which he had hitherto led. In 
 this gloomy spirit of resignation he sat down near 
 the gate of the palace, prepared for whatever might 
 await him. 
 
 In the mean time, while his friend left him to 
 gain further intelligence of the deliberation, and 
 Edwin remained thoughtful and alone, revolving the 
 bitterness of his fate, amidst the gloom of the ap- 
 proaching midnight, a stranger (continues the story) 
 advanced, and demanded wherefore he sat there, 
 and awake, at an hour when other men were 
 asleep ? Edwin, raising his head, abruptly asked, in 
 turn, how it could concern his questioner whether 
 he passed the night under shelter or in the 
 open air ? The stranger then told him that he 
 knew well the nature of his present condition, and 
 the cause of his disquietude. " Now tell me," he 
 said, " what thou wouldst give to him, whoever he 
 might be, who should deliver thee from these 
 calamities, and so persuade Redwald that neither 
 he nor his enemies should do thee hurt?" Edwin, 
 encouraged by the prospect, replied that he would 
 show all the gratitude in his power to him who 
 should render him such a benefit. " And what 
 wouldst thou give," again demanded the mysterious 
 stranger, " if he should truly promise thee the des- 
 truction of thy enemies, and the possession of a 
 kingdom, so that thou shouldst surpass not only all 
 thy predecessors, but all the kings of England who 
 have gone before thee ?" To which Edwin repHed, 
 that to him who should render him such favors, 
 he would answer by corresponding actions. A 
 third time the strange visitant propounded a pro- 
 phetic question: "If he who procured such bless- 
 ings should truly foreteU to thee what is to come, 
 and give thee, for the security of thy life and 
 fortunes, such counsels as none of thy fathers and 
 kindred ever heard, wouldst thou follow them ? 
 and dost thou promise to receive his salutary direc- 
 tions ?" Edwin joyfully declared that he who con- 
 ferred upon him such distinguished benefits should 
 from thenceforth be his guide. The stranger then 
 placed his right hand upon the head of Edwin : 
 " When this sign," he said, " shall- come upon 
 thee, remember this time, and our conversation, 
 and the promises thou hast made." When he had 
 uttered these words he suddenly disappeared ; so 
 that Edwin perceived he had been talking, not with 
 a man, but a spirit. 
 
 His friend who had lately left him now returned 
 from the palace with joyful intelligence. The 
 timid Redwald had been awakened to shame, and 
 i-oused to courage, by the remonstrances of his 
 high-spirited consort, so that he determined rather 
 
 to brave the vengeance of Edilfrid than incur the 
 reproach of treachery, and had dismissed the am- 
 bassadors with a bold refusal of their demands. 
 Aware of the position in which he had placed him- 
 self, he lost no time in mustering his army, and 
 marching against Edilfrid. The victory which fol- 
 lowed, and the death of Edilfrid, placed Edwin on 
 the throne of Northumbria. The persecuted wan- 
 derer thus suddenly raised to an eminent station 
 among the kings of the Heptarchy, evinced the 
 excellence of the lessons of adversity by the pru- 
 dence and prosperity of his government. After a 
 reign of nine years he sought in man-iage Ethel- 
 berga, the daughter of the late Ethelbert of Kent. 
 But the princess was a Christian, and Eadbald, her 
 brother, was averse to her union with an idolater. 
 This difficulty was removed by the agreement of 
 Edwin that she should be allowed the free profes- 
 sion of her rehgion ; and he even promised to 
 embrace the same faith himself, if, on examination, 
 he should find it worthy of adoption. The queen 
 was accompanied to Northumbria by Paulinus, one 
 of the last of the missionaries whom Gregory had 
 sent to Augustin ; and as, by rather a rare chance, 
 the prudence of this ecclesiastic was equal to his 
 zeal, he forebore to press the subject of Christianity 
 prematurely upon the mind of Edwin, but left the 
 matter to time and opportunity. On the other 
 hand, the king still adhered to his idolatry, and 
 seemed to have forgotten both the vision and his 
 marriage agreement. At length a narrow escape 
 which he made from the dagger of an assassin 
 happening at the same time with the birth of a 
 daughter, appeared to Paulinus to afford a fit oc- 
 casion for remonstrance, and in such a susceptible 
 moment the heart of the king was touched. He 
 allowed the infant to be baptized ; and he pi'omised 
 that, should he return victorious from an expedition 
 on which he was about to set out against the King 
 of Wessex, he would himself submit to the same 
 ceremony. He was successful ; but still he hesi- 
 tated. A thoughtfulness and caution, unusual 
 among the royal converts of the heptarchy, retain- 
 ed him in painful suspense,' to the great regret of 
 the pope, his consort, and Paulinus. At length 
 Paulinus one day entered the apartment while 
 Edwin was absorbed in thought, and, laying his 
 right hand upon the head of the king, he solemnly 
 said, " Dost thou remember this sign, and the en- 
 gagement it betokened ?" In an instant the king 
 fell down at the feet of Paulinus, who, immediately 
 raising him up, reminded him that all which had 
 been promised by the heavenly stranger was now 
 fulfilled. The result was Edwin's instant determi- 
 nation to fulfil also his own part of the engagement. 
 Such is the story. How far it is a mere fiction, or 
 how far the facts related were the result of con- 
 trivance or of chance, it is now impossible to deter- 
 mine. It comes down to us, as has been observed, 
 on the authority of Bede, who was incapable of 
 
 1 " Sed et ipse cum essct v.r nntMra sR^acissimas, sjepe diu solus 
 rcsideiis, ore qiiiilcm tacito, sed in intimis cordis miilta serum ciji- 
 loquens, quid s:b; esset fat ie: dun>, qua; rc'igio scrv.indn. I:-. c:a!)at."" — 
 Bed. ii. 9.
 
 224 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boos II. 
 
 inventing it, but whose credulity was equal to any 
 demands of that superstitious age. Bede was born 
 within half a century of the date (a.d. 627) assigned 
 to the conversion of Edwin. 
 
 Before he was actually baptized, however, Edwin 
 called an assembly of his nobles, that they might 
 discuss the claims of the new faith and the old; 
 and, having announced his sentiments, he desired 
 each member to deliver his opinion upon the sub- 
 ject. Coifi, the high-priest, was the first to speak, 
 and, to the surprise of the whole assembly, he 
 declared that the gods Avhom they had hitherto 
 worshiped were utterly useless. None, he pro- 
 ceeded, had served them with greater zeal than 
 himself, and yet others had prospered in the world 
 far more than he had done ; he was, therefore, 
 quite ready at least to give a trial to the new 
 religion. One of the nobles followed in a wiser 
 and purer spirit. Comparing the present hfe of 
 man, whose beginning and end is in darkness, to 
 a swallow entering a banqueting-hall to find refuge 
 from the storm without, flitting for a moment 
 through the warm and cheerful apartment, and 
 then passing out again into the gloom, he proposed 
 that if Christianity should be found to lighten this 
 obscurity, and explain whence we came and 
 whither we departed, it should immediately be 
 adopted. Coifi, upon this, moved that Paulinus 
 should be called in to explain to them the nature of 
 Christianity, which was immediately done ; and so 
 cogent were the arguments of the missionary, that 
 the imp'<tient Coifi declared there was no longer 
 room for hesitation. He proposed that the national 
 idols should be immediately overturned ; and, as 
 he had hitherto been the chief of their worshipers, 
 he offered to be now the first to desecrate them. 
 He therefore threw aside his priestly garments, 
 called for arms, which the Saxon priests were for- 
 bidden to wield, and for a horse, which they were 
 not permitted to mount, and thus accoutred he 
 galloped forth before the amazed multitude, who 
 thought he had become frantic. Advancing to a 
 temple in the neighborhood, where the chief idol 
 stood, he hurled his lance within the sacred inclo- 
 sure, by which act the building was profaned. 
 No hghtning descended, no earthquake shook the 
 ground; and the crowd, encouraged by the impunity 
 of the daring apostate, proceeded to second his 
 efforts. The temple and its surrounding inclosures 
 were leveled with the ground. This event hap- 
 pened at a village still called Godmundham, which 
 means the home or hamlet of the inclosure of the 
 god.i 
 
 The conversion of the king was followed by that 
 of multitudes of his subjects ; so that Paulinus, 
 who was afterwards consecrated Archbishoj) of 
 York, is said to have baptized twelve thousand 
 converts in one day in the river Swale. During 
 the short remainder of his reign Edwin continued 
 to second the efforts of the archbishop in ad- 
 vancing the cause of religion among his subjects. 
 Being offered the crown of East Anglia, on the 
 death of his benefactor Redwald, he refused it in 
 
 1 Bed. ii. 12, 13. 
 
 behalf of Eorpwald, the son of Redwald, whom he 
 persuaded to embrace Christianity. He now, how- 
 ever, succeeded to the supreme dignity of Bret- 
 walda, which he retained till he fell, while yet in 
 the vigor of his days, in battle against the terrible 
 Penda, in the year 634. In consequence of this 
 calamitous event the cause of Christianity in North- 
 umberland was arrested in the midst of its triumphs ; 
 and such was the general apostacy of the people, 
 that Paulinus was obliged to abandon his see, and 
 retire into Kent. This general apostacy, however, 
 was counteracted on the accession of Oswald. 
 Having spent his youth in lona, to which northern 
 sanctuary he had repaired for shelter, and having 
 been taught Christianity among that primitive com- 
 munity of Culdees, he naturally sent thitlier for 
 spiritual instructors to his people when he was 
 established upon the throne. Corman, a monk, 
 was accordingly sent from the monastery of lona 
 to Northumberland, i)ut, disheartened by the diffi- 
 culties of his office, he quickly returned. While 
 he was descanting to the assembled chapter of his 
 order on the barbarous dispositions and gross in- 
 tellect of the Northumbrians, and vindicating, on 
 that score, his abandonment of his task, a voice 
 of rebuke was heard from amidst the throng, — 
 " Brother, you seem to have forgotten the apostolic 
 injunction, that little children should be fed with 
 milk, that they might afterwards be fitted for 
 stronger food !" ' Every eye was fnrned upon 
 the speaker, who was Aidan, a monk of the order ; 
 and he was immediately appointed to the mission, 
 and sent to the court of Oswald. The learning and 
 piety of the ardent Culdee vindicated the choice of 
 his brethren. He addressed himself with zeal and 
 patience to reclaim the apostate Northumbrians ; 
 and in these labors he was well seconded by the 
 king, who interpreted his sermons to the people. 
 Aidan, in the year 635, fixed his seat, and founded 
 a monastery upon the bleak island of Lindisfarne, 
 directed perhaps in his choice* by its resemblance 
 to his beloved lona ; and there his religious com- 
 munity flourished for more than two centuries, 
 until it fell beneath the fuiy of the Danes. Oswald, 
 who, as well as Aidan, has been honored with the 
 title of saint, was solicitous for the conversion not 
 only of his own people, but of those of the other 
 states of the Heptarchy ; and, having repaired to 
 the court of Wessex, to demand the daughter of 
 King Cynegils in marriage, he prevailed upon both 
 the king and the royal bride to embrace the 
 Christian faith. Berinus, a missionary, sent from 
 Rome to the court of Wessex, was thus enabled to 
 preach successfully to the West Saxons, and an 
 episcopal see was founded at Dorchester, of which 
 he was consecrated bishop.^ 
 
 The introduction of the gospel into the powerfu-1 
 kingdom of Mercia was the next event by which 
 its progress was distinguished ; and, as in several 
 preceding cases, it was the consequence of a royal 
 marriage. Peada, the son of the terrible Penda, 
 in whom the Christianity of England had hitherto 
 found its deadhest enemy, solicited, while his 
 1 Bed. iii. 5 ^ Bed. iii. «. 6.
 
 Chap. IL] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 225 
 
 -^ll-^^, 
 
 Consecration of a Saxon Church. From the Cottonian MS. of Caedmon's Metrical Paraphrase of parts of Scripture. 
 
 father was yet alive, the hand of Alchfleda, the 
 daughter of Oswy, King of Northumberland ; but 
 the princess refused to be united to an unbelieving 
 husband. The prince, in consequence, abjured his 
 idols, and became a Christian ; and on his return 
 to Mercia, he brought with him four missionaries, 
 who were successful in converting many of his 
 father's subjects. The aged monarch, though he 
 refused to be himself baptized, tolerated the labors 
 of the Christian priests ; and he even required 
 consistency of conduct in those of his court who 
 professed the Christian faith.^ The small kingdom 
 of Sussex was now the only state of the Heptarchy 
 the subjects of which still remained idolaters ; but 
 they, too, were converted about the close of this 
 century, by the exertions of Wilfrid, Bishop of 
 York, who found shelter among the South Saxons 
 when driven from his see, and is said to have 
 obtained a great influence over them by instructing 
 them, among other things, in the art of fishing. 
 Thus, in less than ninety years from the arrival of 
 Augustin, Christianity was established over the 
 whole of England. 
 
 The conversion of a great country, inhabited by 
 J Bed. iii. 21. 
 VOL. I. — 15 
 
 different tribes, and divided into several kingdoms, 
 often at war with each other, was thus accom- 
 plished with a rapidity and facility resembling more 
 the miraculous ti'iumphs of the apostolic age, than 
 the progress of Christianity in after times. It is 
 evident, from the view already given of the north- 
 ern mythology, that it was only fitted for predatory 
 savages. Its element was carnage, its morality a 
 code of strife, and its rewards plunder and revenge ; 
 and however, therefore, such a ferocious system 
 might have suited the Saxons when they were 
 wont to rush from the gloom of the forests into the 
 storms of the ocean, it lost much of its influence 
 when they sat down quietly in a conquered king- 
 dom, to enjoy their spoils. Nay, the Saxons, thus 
 situated, may have begun to regard even with a 
 jealous eye a religion that might animate, in turn, 
 a more adventurous people than themselves to land 
 upon their shores, and bereave them of the fruits 
 of their victories. All the local attachments also 
 which endear a national faith to a people were 
 completely broken, when the roving Saxons be- 
 came stationary cultivators of the soil. The san- 
 guinary sacrifices, the wild rites, and turbulent 
 festivals of the system of Odin, could only flourish
 
 226 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 in their native north, and amidst its hurricanes and 
 storms, and must have drooped, when transplanted 
 into the "gay greenwood" and tranquil atmosphere 
 of England. While the conquerors of Britain 
 were thus loosely held by a religion unsuitable to 
 their new condition, and whose chief attractions 
 were left behind, the Christian faith was brought 
 to their shores. Their peculiar wants, and the 
 general circumstances of the time, were equally 
 favorable to its acceptance. It was fitted for the 
 settled occupants of a land, because it was a re- 
 ligion of love, and peace, and order ; and it was 
 the establislied faith of that civilized world around 
 them in which it was now necessary for them to 
 become naturalized. Fully admitting, therefore, 
 the piety and sincerity of the first royal converts 
 of the Heptarchy, we may still be inclined to con- 
 jecture that they were in some degree also favor- 
 ably disposed towards the new faith by their con- 
 viction of the advantages they would derive from 
 its adoption, in forwarding the civilization of their 
 kingdoms, and their adoption into the family of 
 Europe. 
 
 Further, the importers of Christianity into Eng- 
 land were not a handful of obscure adventurers. 
 They came from Rome, still a mighty name, and 
 regarded as the metropolis of all that was intellec- 
 tual and venerable ; and they came recommended 
 by kings and prelates. Their arrival was, there- 
 fore, a gi'eat national embassy. Thus highly ac- 
 credited, the Roman ecclesiastics were certain. 
 
 not only of a safe reception, but also of a patient 
 hearing. Their princij)al task which remained, 
 therefore, and for which they were well qualified, 
 was to show the superiority of knowledge over 
 ignorance, and of a true religion over one that was 
 false. It was then that their intrepidity, their 
 lofty ambition, and persuasive powers, combined 
 with purity of character and religious zeal, gave 
 them their due superiority, and produced the 
 natural results. 
 
 The missionaries wisely addressed themselves, 
 in the first instance, to the kings of the Heptarchy ; 
 and these having readily embraced a religion so at- 
 tractive as Christianity, and so advantageous for 
 their political circumstances, tlieir subjects were 
 naturally eager to follow tlie example. Each royal 
 convert was earnest to secure the convcsion of his 
 aUies, and frequently accomplished, by a friendly 
 visit, or apolitical convention, the religious change of 
 a whole kingdom. It has often been observed, that 
 wherever the Christian faith has entered, it has 
 found its most zealous advocates among the female 
 sex, to whom in particular it recommends itself, 
 not only by its intrinsic excellence, but by the 
 equality to which it raises them with the other sex. 
 This was remarkably exemplified among the An- 
 glo-Saxons. The women here, possessing an influ- 
 ence in society unknown to the most refined nations 
 of antiquity, were enjibled powerfully to promote 
 the extension of the faith; and while the princesses 
 refused to eipouse idolatrous kings, unless they con 
 
 A ChBISTIAN MlSblONARY PREACH1^G TO THE BRITISH PaOANS — MurtllllOr
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 227 
 
 sented to be baptized, we can well imagine that, in 
 numberless instances, among persons of inferior 
 rank, the " unbelieving husband was converted by 
 the believing wife." Nor was the influence of the 
 Saxun females impaired by the adoption of Christi- 
 anity. A prioress might preside over a meeting of 
 ecclesiastics, and legislate for the government of 
 the church; and might take precedence in rank of 
 all the assembled presbyters, as was the case in the 
 council of Becanceld, convoked in the year 694. 
 
 A variety of powerful causes were thus com- 
 bined in behalf of Chi-istianity, and their effect was 
 exhibited in its rapid and cordial adoption. It is 
 also worthy of remark, that all was accomplished 
 without violence on either side. No convert seems 
 to have been compelled ; no preacher was required 
 to seal his testimony by martyrdom. The fervent 
 proselytizing zeal of missionaries and kings was 
 met by the spontaneous assent of the people, and 
 the conversion of the land was accomplished with 
 a peacefulness to which it would be difficult to find 
 a parallel. 
 
 When Christianity thus became the religion of 
 Saxon Britain, its rude inhabitants were prepared 
 for the further blessings of learning and civiliza- 
 tion, and these were now introduced in the ti'ain 
 of Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was 
 consecrated to the primacy by Pope Vitalian in 
 '668. Like St. Paul, he was a native of Tarsus in 
 Cilicia and eminent for his extensive learning. 
 Though already sixty-six years old, yet such was 
 the energy of his character, that a life of useful- 
 ness was still expected from him ; and these hopes 
 were not disappointed, for he governed the Eng- 
 Hsh church for twenty-two years. He brought 
 with him a valuable library of Latin and Greek 
 authors, among which were the works of Homer, 
 and established schools of learning to which the 
 clergy and laity repaired. The consequence was, 
 according to Bede, that soon after this many Eng- 
 Ush priests were as conversant with the Latin and 
 Greek languages as with their native tongue.^ 
 
 Scarcely, however, was the national faith thus 
 settled, when controversies arose in the bosom of 
 the infant church on certain points of ceremonial 
 practice, the triviality of which, of course, did not 
 prevent them from being agitated with as much 
 heat and obstinacy as if they had involved the most 
 essential principles of morality or religion. One 
 of the subjects of dispute was the same difference 
 as to the mode of computing Easter that had al- 
 ready prevented the union of the English and 
 Welsh churches ; it now in like manner threatened 
 to divide the two kingdoms of Mercia and North- 
 umberland, which, as already related, had been 
 converted by Scottish missionaries, from the other 
 states of the Heptarchy, which had received their 
 instructors from Rome and France. To this was 
 added the difference between the Romish and Scot- 
 tish churches, upon the form of the ecclesiastical 
 tonsure. While the priests of the former wore 
 the hair round the temples in imitation of a crown 
 of thorns, they were hoiTor-struck at the latter, 
 I Bed. iv'. 2 
 
 who, according to the custom of the Eastern 
 church, shaved it from their foreheads into the 
 form of a crescent, for which they were reproached 
 with bearing the emblem of Simon Magus.' A 
 council had been summoned with the view of ac- 
 commodating these dissensions by Oswy, King of 
 Northumberland, in the year 664 ; but the only 
 result of this attempt was to increase the animosity 
 of the two factions, the clergy of the Scottish per- 
 suasion, in fact, retiring from the assembly in dis- 
 gust.^ The zeal and prudence of Theodore, how- 
 ever, triumphed over these difficulties. He visited 
 the several churches throughout England, and so 
 effectually employed authority and conciliation, that 
 at a council called at Hertford, in the year 673, 
 the bishops generally consented to the canons 
 which he had brought with him from Rome, by 
 which a complete agreement in faith and worship 
 was established.^ 
 
 Theodore now addressed himself with vigor to 
 the vindication of his authority as primate of all 
 England, a preeminence with which he contended 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury had been invested by 
 Pope Gregory, and in right of which he claimed for 
 himself scarcely less than a papal supremacy over 
 the British church. In the prosecution of this object 
 he was involved in a long contest with Wilfrid, the 
 Bishop of York, whose extensive diocese he wished 
 to divide, on the pretext that it was too large for the 
 superintendence of one man. But Wilfi'id was not 
 a character to submit tamely to such a stretch of 
 power. Appealing from the archbishop to the pope, 
 he set off for Rome, where he was graciously re- 
 ceived ; and he soon obtained a decree rescinding 
 the partition of his bishopric. Though the papal 
 mandate was so little regarded that King Egfrid, on 
 Wilfrid's return, committed him to prison, yet this 
 precedent was afterwards followed by ecclesiastical 
 appeals to Rome, which terminated, as in other 
 countries, in the universal supremacy of the pope. 
 Our limits do not permit us to trace the singular ca- 
 reer of Wilfrid, so full of vicissitudes, or to delineate 
 his character, that apparently combined so many in- 
 consistencies. With his haughtiness in power, and 
 his restless ambition, he united, in the hour of ad- 
 versity, the meekness and self-denial of an apostle. 
 Being shipwrecked on his voyage to Rome upon the 
 shores of Friesland, he embraced the opportunity of 
 preaching the faith to the barbarous natives ; and 
 when driven into Sussex bj' the resentment of Eg- 
 frid, he there also, as already noticed, turned his ill- 
 ■fortune to an occasion of usefulness, and, engaging 
 with ready zeal in a new work of conversion, suc- 
 ceeded in gaining over to Christianity the last dis- 
 trict in England in which the ancient superstition 
 survived. 
 
 In the meantime Theodore, being delivered from 
 the presence of so formidable an adversary, was 
 enabled to proceed with his division of the larger 
 dioceses. That of 3Iercia, in particular, which had 
 
 1 Theodore, who, when he was railed to the primacy, wore the 
 Eastern tonsure, was obliged to wait four months, that his hair might 
 grow so as to be $haven according to the orthodox fashion. Bed. iv. I. 
 
 - For the lengthened discussion at this council, see Bede, iii. 25. 
 
 3 Bed. iv. 5
 
 228 
 
 HISTORY OP f:ngland. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 till now embraced the whole of the state so called, 
 was divided by King Ethelred, at his instigation, into 
 the four dioceses of Lichfield, Worcester, Hereford, 
 and Chester. Many other reforms were also pros- 
 ecuted by the energetic primate. He encouraged 
 the wealtliy to build parisli churches, by conferring 
 upon them and their heirs the right of patronage. 
 The sacred edifices, till now for the most part of 
 timber, began to give place to larger and more 
 durable structures of stone ; the beautiful chanting, 
 hitherto confined to the cathedrals, was introduced 
 into the churches generally; and the priests who 
 had been accustomed, in the discharge of their oflRce, 
 to wander from place to place, had fixed stations as- 
 signed to them. They and the churches had as yet 
 been maintained solely by the voluntary contributions 
 of the peojjle ; but, because this was a precarious 
 resource when the excitement of novelty had ceased, 
 Theodore provided for the regular support of reli- 
 gion, by prevaihng upon the kings of the different 
 states to impose a special tax iipon their subjects for 
 that purpose, under the name of kirk-scot.' By 
 these and similar measures, all England, long before 
 the several kingdoms were united under one sove- 
 reign, was reduced to a state of religious uniformity, 
 and composed a single spiritual empire. After living 
 to witness many of the benefits of his important 
 labors, this illustrious primate died in 690, after a 
 well-spent and active life of nearly ninety years. 
 
 The age of the Christian church in England that 
 immediately succeeded its establishment was dis- 
 tinguished by the decline of true religion, and the 
 rapid increase both of worldly-mindedness among 
 the clergy, and of fanaticism and superstition among 
 the people. From the humble condition of a de- 
 pendence upon the alms of the faithful, the church 
 now fomid itself in the possession of revenues 
 which enabled its bishops to vie in pomp and luxury 
 with the chief nobility, and even conferred no small 
 consideration upon many of its inferior ministers. 
 It is generally held that tithes were first imposed 
 upon the Mercians in the latter part of the eighth 
 century by their king Otia, and that the tax was 
 extended over all England by King Ethelwulf, in 
 855. But the subject of this assumed donation of 
 Ethelwulf to the church is involved in great obscurity.^ 
 All that is certain is, that in after ages the clergy were 
 uniformly wont to refer to his charter as the found- 
 ation of their claim. The tithes of all England, 
 however, at this early period, if such a general tax 
 then existed, would not have been sufficient of 
 themselves to weigh down the church by too great 
 a burden of wealth. A great portion of the soil was 
 still composed of waste or forest land ; and the tithes 
 appear to have been charged with the repair of 
 churches, the expenses of worship, and the relief of 
 the poor, as well as with the maintenance of the 
 clergy. It was from the lavish benevolence of indi- 
 viduals that the church principally derived its large 
 revenues. Kings, under the influence of piety or 
 remorse, were eager to pour their wealth into the 
 ecclesiastical treasury, to bribe the favor of heaven, 
 
 1 Bedae Epistol. ad Egbert. 
 
 2 See Turner's Anglo-Saxons, i. 479-481. 
 
 or avert its indignation ; and wealthy thanes were 
 in like manner wont to expiate their sins, as they 
 were taught they might do, by founding a church 
 or endbwing a monastery. Among other conse- 
 quences of these more ample resources, we find 
 that the walls of the churches became covered with 
 foreign paintings and tapestry ; that the altars and 
 sacred vessels were formed of the precious metals, 
 and sparkled with gems ; while the vestments of 
 the priests were of the most splendid description. 
 Other much more lamentable effects followed. In- 
 dolence and sensuality took the place of religion and 
 learning among all orders of the clergy. The mo- 
 nasteries in particular, founded at first as abodes of 
 piety and letters, and refuges for the desolate and 
 the penitent, soon became the haunts of idleness 
 and superstition. Many of the nunneries were 
 mere receptacles of profligacy, in which the roving 
 debauchee was sure of a welcome.' In the year 
 747 the Council of Cloveshoe found it necessary to 
 order that the monasteries should not be turned into 
 places of amusement for harpers and buftoons ; and 
 that laymen should not be admitted within their 
 walls too freely, lest thej' might be scandalized at 
 the offences they should discover there.^ Most of 
 the monasteries in England, too, were double houses,* 
 in wliich resided communities of men and women ; 
 and the natural consequences often followed this 
 perilous juxtaposition of the sexes, living in the 
 midst of plenty and idleness. These establishments 
 also continued to multiply with a rapidity that was 
 portentous, not only from the tendency of the idle 
 and depraved to embrace such a hfe of indulgence, 
 but from the doctrine current at the end of the 
 seventh century, that the assumption of the monas- 
 tic habit absolved from all previous sin. Bede, who 
 saw and lamented this growing evil, raised a warning 
 voice, but in vain, against it ; and expressed his fears 
 that, from the increase of the monks, soldiers would 
 at last be wanting to repel the invasion of an enemy.* 
 Many nobles, desirous of an uninterrupted life of 
 sensuality, pretended to devote their wealth to the 
 service of heaven, and obtained the royal sanction 
 for founding a religious house ; but in their new 
 character of abbots, they gjithered round them a 
 brotherhood of dissolute monks, with whom they 
 lived in the commission of every vice ; while their 
 wives, following the example, established nunneries 
 upon a similar principle, and filled them with the 
 most depraved of their sex.® To these evils was 
 added the bitterness of religious contention. Men, 
 thus pampered, could scarcely be expected to live 
 in a state of mutual harmonj^; and fierce dissensions 
 were constantly raging between the monks, or regu- 
 lars, as they called themselves, and the seculars, or 
 unmonastic clergy, about their respective duties, 
 privileges, and honors. 
 
 It was natural enough that the gi'ossest supersti- 
 tion should accompany and intermingle with all this 
 gross profligacy. So many Saxon kings accordinglj' 
 
 1 Bed. de reme lio pcccaforum. Wilkin's Concilia, i. 88, 89. 
 
 ! Wilkin's Concilia, i, 97. 
 
 ^ Lingard's Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, p. 120. 
 
 * Bed. Epist. ad Egbert. 
 
 ' Alcuin, EpistolE. Lingard's Saxon Antiquities, p. 133.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 229 
 
 abandoned their crowns, and retired into monasteries, 
 that the practice became a proverbial distinction of 
 their race ;' while other persons of rank, nauseated 
 with indulgence, or horror-struck with religious 
 dread, often also forsook the world of which they 
 were weary, and took refuge in cells or hermitages. 
 The penances by which they endeavored either to 
 expiate their crimes or attain to the honors of saint- 
 ship, emblazoned though they are in chronicles, 
 and canonized in calendars, can only excite contempt 
 or disgust, whether they ascend to the extravagance 
 of St. Gurthlake, who endeavored to fast forty days 
 after the fashion of Elias,^ or sink to the low standard 
 of those noble ladies who thought that heaven was 
 to be won by the spiritual purity of unwashed linen. 
 In addition to the feeling of remorse by which such 
 expiations were inspired, a profligate state of society 
 will multiply religious observances as a cheap substi- 
 tute for the practice of holiness and virtue ; and men 
 will readily fast, and make journeys, and give alms, 
 in preference to the greater sacrifice of amendment 
 of life. We need not, therefore, wonder to find 
 Saxon pilgi-ims thronging to the continent and to 
 Rome, who do not seem to have considered a little 
 contraband ti'affic, when opportunity offered, as de- 
 tracting from the merits of theu* religious tour ; 
 while ladies of rank, who undertook the same jour- 
 ney, frequently parted with whatever virtue they 
 possessed by the way.^ 
 
 While such was the state of the English church, 
 the invasions of the Danes commenced at the end 
 of the eighth century, and were continued in a suc- 
 cession of inundations, each more terrible than the 
 preceding. These spoilers of the north, devoted to 
 their ancient idolatry, naturally abhorred the Chris- 
 tianity of the Saxons, corrupted though it was, as a 
 religion of humanity and. order ; and as the treasures 
 of the land, at the first alarm, were deposited in the 
 sacred edifices, which were fondly believed to be 
 safe from the inti-usion even of the most daring, the 
 tempest of the Danish warfare was chiefly directed 
 against the churches and monasteries. Those mira- 
 cles lately so plentiful, and so powerful to deceive, 
 were impotent now to break or turn back the sword 
 of the invader. The priest was massacred at the 
 altar ; the monk perished in his cell ; the nuns were 
 violated ; and the course of the Northmen might be 
 traced by the ashes of sacred edifices, that had been 
 pillaged and consumed. The eflfects of these de- 
 vastations upon both religion and learning may be 
 read in the mournful complaint of Alfred. At his 
 accession, he tells us, in the interesting preface to 
 his translation of Pope Gregory's tract on the Duties 
 of Pastors, he could find very few priests north of 
 the Humber, who were able to translate the latin 
 service into the vulgar tongue ; and south of the 
 Thames, not one. 
 
 After the land had begun to recover from the im- 
 mediate eft'ects of this visitation, and the church had 
 resumed its wonted position, the celebrated Dunstan 
 appeared. He was born in Wessex, about the year 
 
 J Huntingd. p. 33T. 
 
 2 Flores Sanctoram in Vit. Gurth. p. 347. 
 
 3 Spelman's Concilia, i. p. 237. 
 
 925. Although he was of noble birth, and remotely 
 related to the royal family, as well as connected with 
 the church through two uncles, one of whom was 
 primate, and the other bishop of Winchester, these 
 signal advantages were not deemed enough for the 
 future aspirant to clerical supremacy, without the 
 con'oboration of a miracle. His career was, there 
 fore, indicated before he was born. AVhile his 
 mother Cjnedrith attended divine service, in the 
 church, at the festival of Candlemass, the lights 
 which the worshipers carried were suddenly ex- 
 tinguished, and a supernatural darkness involved the 
 whole building. But in the midst of the consterna- 
 tion which such a portent excited, her candle was 
 rekindled by fire which seemed to descend from 
 heaven. Of course, the interpretation was easy, 
 and all were thus taught what a light would proceed 
 from her, to illuminate the church and kingdom.^ 
 While a boy, he was also honored by divine mani- 
 festations. The church of Glastonbury, still humble 
 in its dimensions, needed enlargement, and sought 
 it at the hands of the embryo saint ; for this purpose, 
 a venerable man appeared to him in a vision, led him 
 over the building, explained the scale on which it 
 was to be enlarged, and stamped the whole plan so 
 indelibly upon his mind, that he could not forget it. 
 His early studies having been pursued with an in- 
 tensify that soon exhausted his feeble constitution, 
 a fever ensued, and, under the delirium it produced, 
 he escaped from his bed during the night, and hur- 
 ried to the church. Having found the doors locked, 
 he scaled the walls by the help of a ladder, reached 
 a scaflTolding — the building being under repair — and 
 safely descended into the body of the church, where 
 he was found asleep next morning. His fortunate 
 escape from the danger of an attempt upon which 
 no sane person would have ventured, appeared to 
 others, and perhaps to himself, as nothing less than 
 miraculous ; and his restored health, which the ex- 
 citement might have produced, gave countenance to 
 the supposition. The story was, therefore, ampli- 
 fied and embellished in the spirit of the age. It 
 was an angel that had visited his couch by night, 
 and suddenly restored him to health. An impulse 
 of holy gratitude had hurried him to church, that 
 he might return thanks to heaven for the miracle ; 
 but here, it was added, his adversaiy, the devil, ac- 
 companied by his dogs, had opposed his path, and 
 endeavored to drive him back; however, the intrepid 
 youth, with pious ejaculations and a staff", routed the 
 fiend and his formidable hell-hounds, when angels 
 came to his aid, and wafted him into the church in 
 safety. 
 
 Thus heralded in his career, Dunstan was careful 
 to omit no efforts on his ovm part that might aid his 
 claims to the character he proposed to assume ; and 
 therefore he accomplished himself in all the learn- 
 ing that might give him an influence in society. He 
 was an excellent composer in music ; he played 
 skilfully upon various instruments ; was a painter, 
 a worker in design, and a calligrapher ; a jeweler 
 and a blacksmith. After he had taken the clerical 
 
 1 Osbernus de Vit. S. Dunst. in Anglia Sacra, ii. p. 90; et Eadmer 
 in Vit. Dunst , ibid., ii. 213.
 
 230 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 habit he was introduced by his uncle Adehn, the 
 primate, to King Athelstane, who seems to have 
 been delighted with his music' But Dunstan's 
 character for saintship, attested though it had been, 
 was still imperfect. To his other endowments, he 
 had added a familiaritj- with the heathen songs of 
 the ancient Saxons ; and this acquisition was con- 
 sidered by many as not a little unprofessional and 
 profane. A miracle that would have canonized him 
 in the cloister, almost brought about his ruin in the 
 court. Upon one occasion, when he had hung his 
 harp upon the wall, it was heard to utter, of itc?elf, 
 the words and tune of an anthem. Whether this 
 effect was produced by ventriloquism on the part of 
 Dunstan, or an excited imagination in the hearer, or 
 whether the harp was one of those called ^olian, 
 of which the circumstance has obtained for him, 
 with some, the credit of being the inventor, it is 
 impossible to conjecture; but if he here actually at- 
 tempted a mu-acle, the occasion was ill chosen, and 
 the effect unfortunate. The courtiers, who envied 
 him the favor of the king, loudly denounced him as 
 a dealer in sorcery, and procured his expulsion from 
 the court; and, not contented with this victory, 
 they pursued him, bound him hand and foot, tram- 
 pled upon him, and threw him into a marsh, where 
 they left him to perish. He escaped, however, from 
 this imminent peril, and sought refuge with his uncle, 
 the Bishop of Winchester. 
 
 1 " Iterun cum (Dunstanas) videret doniinum regem sscularibas 
 curis fatigatum psallebat in tympano sive in cythara," &c. Osbeme. 
 
 A new scene now opens in the hfe of this extra- 
 ordinary person. Contiguous to the church of Glas- 
 tonbury he erected a cell, live feet in length by two 
 in breadth, the floor of which was sunk beneath the 
 surface, while the roof, qn the outside, was only 
 breast high, so that he could stand upright in it, 
 though unable to lie at full length. This strange 
 sepulchre^ was at once his bed-chamber, his oratory, 
 and his workshop ; and it was here that one of his 
 most celebrated combats with the prince of dark- 
 ness took place. One evening, while the saint was 
 employed at his forge, the devil thrust his head in 
 at the window, and began to tempt him with some 
 immoral propositions. Dunstan patiently endured 
 the annoyance until his tongs were red-hot in the 
 fire, when, snatching them suddenly up, he seized 
 with them the nose of the foul fiend, who bellowed 
 in agony until the neighborhood resounded with his 
 clamor. Such were the gross ideas at this time 
 entertained of the nature and agency of spirits. In 
 this and many similar legends Satan appears merely 
 as the clown in the pantomime, and generally to be 
 outwitted and baffled.^ By all this mortification 
 Dunstan gradually repaired the error or misfortune 
 into which he had fallen. His character for sanc- 
 tity became more illustrious than ever ; and EtheJ- 
 
 1 So Osbeme, who had seen the cell, is pleased to term it, after de- 
 scribing its dimensions. 
 
 2 In the narrative of Dnnstan's feat, the cry of Satan, at his depar- 
 ture, was, " O quid fecit calvus iste I O quid ferit calvus iste !" Anglia 
 Sacra, ii. 97. In another conflict the saint struck the devil so fiercely 
 with his pastoral staff, that it broke in three pieces. Ibid. p. 105. 
 
 RciNS OF Glaston-bcry Abbey, as Ihey appeared in 1785 ;— St. John's Church, and St. Mich-tel's Tower, on the Torr Hill, in the Dismnce.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 231 
 
 fleda, a noble lady who occupied a cell near his own, 
 made him, at her death, her sole executor. He 
 distributed the personal property among the poor, 
 and bestowed the lands upon the church of Glas- 
 tonbury, endowing that establishment at the same 
 time with the whole of his own patrimony, which 
 had lately fallen to him. His ambition, indeed, 
 however inordinate and reckless, was certainly of 
 too lofty a character to stoop to lucrative considera- 
 tions. 
 
 Edmund having now succeeded to the throne, 
 Dunstan was recalled to court ; but, in spite of his 
 recent exploits and penances, he was still opposed 
 by the courtiers, who probably saw his ambition, 
 and dreaded his talents. Their intrigues again pro- 
 cured his dismission, but once more he was recalled 
 through the opportune interference of a miracle ; and 
 the king not only made him Abbot of Glastonbury, but 
 greatly increased the privileges of that monastery. 
 Edred, the successor of Edmund, showed him equal 
 favor, and would have made him bishop of Crediton ; 
 but Dunstan, who seems to have contemplated a 
 still higher elevation, refused the offer. The fol- 
 lowing day he declared that St. Peter, St. Paul, 
 and St. Andrew had visited him in the night in a 
 vision ; and that the last, having severely chastised 
 him with a rod for rejecting their apostolic society, 
 commanded him never to refuse such an offer again, 
 or even the primacy, should it be offered him ; as- 
 suring him, withal, that he should one day travel to 
 Rome. 
 
 It is probable that Dunstan's ultimate aim all this 
 •while was to effect what he deemed a reformation 
 of the church, and that, according to the morality 
 of the times, he justified to himself the means to 
 which he resorted by the importance of the object 
 he had in view. The ecclesiastical reformation to 
 which his efforts were directed was such as might 
 have been expected from his character. A fierce 
 champion for the fancied holiness of celibacy, he 
 determined to reduce the clergy under the monas- 
 tic yoke ; and, as during the late political troubles 
 many both of the secular and the regular priests 
 had married when they were driven from their 
 homes, he insisted that those who had so acted 
 should put away both their wives and families. 
 Those clergj' also who dwelt with their respective 
 bishops were required to become the inmates of a 
 monastery. In these views he was happy in having 
 for his coadjutor Archbishop Odo. This personage, 
 born of Danish parents, and distinguished in the 
 early part of his life as a soldier, retained ever after 
 the firmness and ferocity of his first calling. We 
 have already related the part he acted along with 
 Dunstan in the tragedy of the unhappy Elgiva. 
 When Dunstan, soon after this, was obliged to fly 
 froiu England on being accused of embezzlement in 
 the administration of the royal revenues, it is re- 
 lated that while the officers were employed at the 
 Abbey of Glastonbury in taking an inventory of his 
 effects, his old adversary the devil made the sacred 
 building resound with obstreperous mirth at the dis- 
 comfiture of its abbot. But Dunstan checked his 
 triumph by the prophetic intimation of a speedy re- 
 
 turn.' He then hastened to leave the kingdom, and 
 was so fortunate as to escape the pursuit of the 
 queen's messengers, who, it is said, were commis- 
 sioned to put out his eyes. 
 
 The death of Edw)^ immediately brought about 
 the recall of Dunstan, and the restoration of his 
 influence, and he was appointed by Edgar Bishop of 
 Worcester, in 957. Three years afterwards, on the 
 death of Odo, he was promoted to the archbishopric 
 of Canterbury, when, according to custom, he re- 
 paired to Rome to receive the pall at the hands of 
 the pope, thus fulfilling the prediction of his vision. 
 
 He was now possessed of unlimited ecclesiastical 
 authority ; and though he no longer enjoyed the 
 powerful cooperation of Odo, he was seconded by 
 the no less zealous efforts of Oswald and Ethelwald, 
 the former of whom he had promoted to the see of 
 Worcester, and the latter to that of Winchester, 
 and both of whom were afterwards canonized with 
 their principal. He had also the superstitious Ed- 
 gar under his control, and afterwards the youthful 
 Edward. Being thus surrounded with political and 
 spiritual coadjutors, he proceeded with merciless 
 zeal in his projects of reformation, and alternately 
 adopted force and stratagem for the accomplishment 
 of his purposes. The clergy were now imperiously 
 required to dismiss their wives and conform to the 
 law of celibacy, or resign their charges ; and when 
 they adopted the latter alternative, they were rep- 
 resented as monsters of wickedness by whose pres- 
 ence the church was polluted. The secular canons 
 were driven out of the cathedrals and monasteries, 
 and their places were filled with monks. On one 
 occasion Ethelwald entered his cathedral during 
 the celebration of mass, and causing his servants to 
 throw a heap of cowls which they had brought 
 with them upon the floor, he commanded the as- 
 tonished canons to assume these habits or resign. 
 In vain they pleaded for time to deliberate ; the com- 
 mand was imperative, and must be instantly obeyed. 
 Eventually a few only complied with the haughty 
 mandate.'^ Miracles were necessary for such obsti- 
 nate recusants, and therefore, besides the wonderful 
 legends that were devised and propagated in praise 
 of St. Benedict and his institution, the archbishop 
 vouchsafed to them a sign for their conviction. A 
 synod having been held at Winchester in 977, at 
 which the canons hoped that the sentence against 
 them would be reversed, all at once a voice issued 
 from a crucifix in the wall, exclaiming, " Do it not ! 
 do it not ! you have judged well, and you would do 
 ill to change it."^ This miracle, however, so far 
 from convincing the canons, only produced confu- 
 sion, and broke up the meeting. A second meeting 
 was held, but with no better result. A third was 
 appointed at Calne, and there a prodigy was to be 
 exhibited of a more tremendous and decisive char- 
 acter. The opponents of Dunstan had chosen for 
 their advocate Beornelm, a Scotch bishop, who is 
 described as a person of subtle understanding and 
 infinite loquacity. Dunstan, perplexed by the ar- 
 
 ' Anglia Sac. ii. p. 105. 
 
 2 Eadnier in Anglia Sac. ii. p. 319. 
 
 3 Anglia Sac. ii. pp. 112 and 219.
 
 232 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IL 
 
 IfWW../ 
 
 Portrait op Dcnstan in full Archiepiscopal Costume. — From an Illuminatioa in Ihe Cottonian MS. Claud. A. iii. 
 
 guments of such an antagonist, produced his final 
 demonstration. " I am now growing old," he ex- 
 claimed, " and you endeavor to overcome me. I 
 am more disposed to silence than contention. I 
 confess I am unwilling that you should vanquish 
 me ; and to Christ himself, as judge, I commit the 
 cause of his church." At these words, the floor 
 suddenly gave way, and fell to the ground with his 
 adversaries, of whom some were crushed to death, 
 and many grievously injured, while the part which 
 Dunstan occupied, with his adherents, remained 
 unmoved. It is no violation of charity to suspect, 
 from this incident, that the archbishop was skilled 
 in the profession of the carpenter as well as in that 
 of the blacksmith. 
 
 Dunstan lived for ten years after this sanguinary 
 deception, and spent them in still prosecuting his 
 favorite schemes of ecclesiastical reform. His last 
 moments are irradiated in the legend of his life by 
 a whole galaxy of miracles ; but enough of this sort 
 of matter has been already quoted. He died in 
 the reign of Ethelred in a.d. 988. 
 
 The history of the Anglo-Saxon church, from 
 the death of Dunstan to the Norman conquest, 
 presents little to interest the general reader. The 
 cause for which Dunstan and his coadjutors had 
 labored remained completely in the ascendant; 
 monasteries continued to be founded or endowed 
 in every part of the kingdom ; and such were the 
 
 multitudes who devoted themselves to the cloister, 
 that the foreboding of Bede was at length accom- 
 plished — above a third of the property of the land 
 was in possession of the church, and exempted 
 from taxes and military service. It is probable that 
 an increase of superstition of a certain kind was 
 one of the consequences of the invasions of the 
 Danes. In a canon of the reign of King Edgar we 
 find the clergy enjoined to be diligent in withdraw- 
 ing the people from the worship of trees, stones, 
 and fountains, and other heathen practices which 
 are therein specified ; and the laws of Canute 
 prohibited the worship of heathen gods, the sun, 
 moon, fire, rivers, fountains, rocks, or trees ; the 
 practice of witchcraft, or the commission of murder 
 by magic, firebrands, or any infernal devices. The 
 penitential by some ascribed to Dunstan requires 
 that penitents shall confess whatever sins have 
 been committed by their bodies, their skin, their 
 flesh, their bones, their sinews, their veins, their 
 gristles, their tongues, their lips, their palates, their 
 hair, their marrow — by everything soft or hard, 
 moist or dry. The penances imposed upon the 
 laity for their sins had a reference to the spirit of 
 the age and people. They chiefly consisted in a 
 prohibition from carrying arms; in abstinence from 
 flesh, strong liquors, soft beds, and warm baths ; in 
 not polling the head and beard, or paring the nails ; 
 and if they were rich, they were required to build
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 233 
 
 and endow nfonasteries. Some of the prescribed 
 fastings would appear intolerable, but for the meth- 
 ods which they had discovered of vicarious penance 
 in this particular. The abstinence of another, 
 which might be obtained by purchase, was carried 
 to the account of the offender; so that he upon 
 whom was imposed a cessation from food for seven 
 years, might finish the whole in three days, if he 
 could procure eight hundred and fifty men to fast 
 along with him on bread, water, and vegetables. 
 Exemption, too, was to be directly bought at a 
 stipulated price ; so that a year's fasting would be 
 remitted on payment of a fine of thirty shillings to 
 the church. 
 
 In the canons of Elfric, who was Archbishop of 
 Canterbury from 995 to 1005, we learn that there 
 were seven orders of clergy in the church, whose 
 names and offices were the following: — 1st. The 
 Ostiary, who took charge of the church doors and 
 rang the bell. 2nd. The Lector, or reader of Scrip- 
 ture to the congregation. 3rd. The Exorcist, who 
 drove out devils by sacred adjurations or invocations. 
 4th. The Acolyth, who held the tapers at the 
 reading of the gospels and the celebration of mass. 
 5th. The Sub-deacon, who produced the holy ves- 
 sels, and attended the deacon at the altar. 6th. 
 The Deacon, who ministered to the mass-priest, 
 laid the oblation on the altar, read the gospel, bap- 
 tized children, and gave the eucharist to the people. 
 7th. The Mass-priest, or Presbyter, who preached, 
 baptized, and consecrated the Eucharist. Of the 
 same order with the last of these, but higher in 
 honor, was — the bishop. 
 
 During this long period the history of the Church 
 of Scotland is" involved in much obscurity. While 
 the remoteness and barbarism of the country, how- 
 ever, protected it from the extending influence of 
 Rome, it appears that the Culdees diffused them- 
 selves over the territory to the south as well as 
 over that to the north of the Grampians, and in 
 course of time came to form exclusively, or almost 
 exclusively, the national clergy. Of either the doc- 
 trines or ecclesiastical government of the Culdees 
 we know little positively, although the subject has 
 given rise to a great deal of angry disputation. But 
 it would appear that whatever may have been the 
 principles of their founder, Columba, they eventu- 
 ally came to be considered as opposed to many of 
 
 the claims of the Roman see. On this account, 
 although a great part of the north of England was 
 converted by missionaries sent from lona, it was 
 decreed at the Council of Cealhythe, in the year 
 816, that no Scottish priest should for the future 
 exercise his functions in England. The English 
 writers of that age, nevertheless, bear testimony to 
 the purity of their lives and the zeal of their apos- 
 tolic labors, while they denounce their exclusive 
 devotedness to the authority of Scripture, their 
 rejection of the Romish ceremonies, doctrines, and 
 ti'aditions, the nakedness of their forms of worship, 
 and the republican character of their ecclesiastical 
 government. It has been maintained also by some 
 protestant writers that the Culdees rejected the 
 practice of auricular confession, and various other 
 points of ceremony and doctrine pecuhar to the 
 Romish Church. It is certain that, as had happen- 
 ed in every part of the Christian world, even those 
 of them who belonged to monasteries came at length 
 to marry, although there is much reason to suspect 
 that this was a corruption of the rule originally 
 established by St. Columba. The office of Culdee 
 in Scotland would even in some cases appear to 
 have become hereditary. The attitude of opposi- 
 tion into which the Scottish priests were thrown, 
 by circumstances, to the English church founded 
 by Augustin and his companions upon the Roman 
 model, naturally fixed them to the maintenance of 
 their own creed, worship, and discipline, and con- 
 solidated their church into an establishment nearly 
 if not altogether independent of that of Rome. 
 Their separation from the Roman church, and op- 
 position to its doctrines, was so strong that Marga- 
 ret, the Anglo-Saxon queen of Malcolm Canmore, 
 was shocked, on her arrival in Scotland, to find the 
 faith and worship of the people so different from 
 the rules of that church in which she had been 
 educated. She therefore endeavored to rouse, 
 against what she considered a profane schism, the 
 influence of her husband, and for a time succeeded; 
 but the Scottish church appears to have reverted, 
 after her death, to its former condition. It is from 
 the debates which she held with the king upon the 
 subject that we learn a considerable portion of the 
 little we know respecting the religious opinions of 
 the Culdees.' 
 
 1 Turgot, in Vita Sanctise Margarita.
 
 234 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [BouK II. 
 
 P jRTRAiT OF King Alfred. — From a Plate in Spelman's Vita Magni /Elfredi : drawn from Coins and two ancient Busts. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 HE Roman civilization, 
 such as it was, passed 
 away, and a long, dreary 
 tract of disorder and dark- 
 ness succeeded. Yet that 
 chaotic mass which then 
 constituted society con- 
 tained the elements of 
 modern European civili- 
 zation ; and in proportion 
 to that very confusion, 
 to the number and heterogeneous character of the 
 component elements of that chaos, are the richness 
 and completeness of the civilization which has been 
 the result of them. Our business in the present 
 chapter is with the particular element that belonged 
 to those wild, free, warlike barbarians who, in the 
 fifth and sixth centuries, overran and conquered 
 the larger portion of the Roman world. 
 
 " Tacitus," says M." Guizot, " painted the Ger- 
 mans, as Montaigne and Rousseau did the savages, 
 in a fit of spleen against his country ; his book is a 
 satire upon Roman manners; the eloquent outbreak 
 of a patriot philosopher who desires to see virtue 
 there where he does not find the disgraceful effem- 
 inacy and elaborate depravity of an old society." ' 
 Not that M. Guizot infers that Tacitus stated facts 
 that were inaccurate. On the contrary, he admits 
 that all subsequent inquiries have gone to prove 
 the general accuracy of his statements. But from 
 the circumstance above alluded to, what Guizot 
 calls the moral coloring of the picture has in it 
 somewhat of a false and misleading tinge. Seve- 
 ral German writers in modern times have followed 
 the course of Tacitus, though from a motive dif- 
 ferent from his, giving a highly-colored picture 
 of the virtues of their rude ancestors, who differed, 
 
 1 Guizot, Cours d'Histoire Modeme, torn. ii. p. 258.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 235 
 
 however, as is satisfoctorily shown by M. Guizot, 
 verj- httle from other communities similarly situ- 
 ated. 
 
 We perceive among the Saxons, as among other 
 Germanic tribes, the germs of three great systems 
 of institutions which, from the fall of the Roman 
 empire, have divided Europe amongst them. — 1. 
 Assemblies of freemen, in which the common af- 
 fairs of the nation are debated. 2. Kings ; some 
 hereditary, others elective. 3. The principle of 
 aristocratic patronage ; either of a militarj^ chief 
 over his companions in arms, or of a landed pro- 
 prietor over his family and his husbandmen.^ 
 
 AVhen the bands of Saxons arrived and took 
 possession of any tract of countiy, the chiefs appro- 
 priated to themselves extensive domains, while the 
 larger portion of the warriors who accompanied 
 them continued to live around them. Gradually, 
 however, the distance between the chief and his 
 companions — at first not very gieat — increased, 
 partly from the circumstances natural to their res- 
 pective positions, and partly from a chcumstance 
 upon which it will be necessary to bestow a few 
 words of explanation. 
 
 The only kings of the continental Saxons appear 
 to have been temporary leaders, appointed to hold 
 the general command in time of war. This is the 
 statement made by Caesar respecting all the German 
 nations in his time, and it is repeated nearly eight 
 centuries afterwards by Bede as still applicable to 
 the Saxons who remained in their original seats. 
 The king, according to Bede, when a war broke 
 out, was elected by lot fi'om among the chiefs : as 
 soon as the war was ended, all the chiefs became 
 again of equal power. In like manner, there is 
 every reason to believe, the first kings of the Saxons 
 in England were merely the captains of the several 
 invading bands, or those appointed to succeed them 
 in the conduct of the war with the Britons. The 
 long continuance of that contest first made the office 
 permanent, and converted the military commander 
 into the supreme magistrate of his nation. The 
 Saxon word cijning, of which our modern king is 
 an abbreviation, appears to have meant the off- 
 spring or creature of the community.^ That in 
 early times, among the Anglo-Saxons, the person of 
 the king was not sacred, is proved by the fact that 
 the law afforded him the same security (in kind, 
 though different in degree) for his life that it did 
 to the meanest of his subjects. It gave him the 
 protection of his weregild, — that is, a certain 
 pecuniary value put upon his life, — and nothing 
 more. 
 
 We have said that the Roman civilization passed 
 away ; but it was not probable that that vast power 
 which had overshadowed the earth for so many 
 centuries with its mighty .wings should disappear, 
 like the unreal fabric of a dream, without leaving a 
 wreck behind. On the conti-ary, the Roman em- 
 pire left marks that are indelible, not merely such 
 as, like the vast material relics of its greatness, only 
 
 1 Guizot, Cours d'Histoire, torn. ii. p. 268. 
 
 2 Allen's Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Premgative 
 in England, 8vo. 1830. 
 
 affect the senses, but such as sink deep into the 
 mind and influence the actions. Those things bor- 
 rowed by the noithern nations from the Roman 
 civilization, which are most important to be here 
 noted for their effect on modern European civiliza- 
 tion, were, 1st. the idea of imperial power; and, 
 2nd. the municipal institutions. 
 
 This idea of imperial power found much favor in 
 the sight of our Anglo-Saxon kings, as it did in that 
 of their Teutonic brethren in whatever part of the 
 earth they had succeeded the Roman occupants of 
 the soil. 
 
 But though the Anglo-Saxon princes might as- 
 sume some of the external insignia, they had but 
 little of the substance of the imperial sovereignty. 
 The Anglo-Saxon government would seem to have 
 been an aristocracy in a somewhat wide meaning 
 of the term. Thus, instead of the purely mo- 
 narchical form of the Roman imperial legislation, 
 their style runs thus : " Ego Dei gratia, &:c. cum 
 consilio et cum doctrina — Episcopi mei, et — Epis- 
 copi mei, et cum omnibus meis Senatoribus, et 
 Senioribus sapientibus populi mei, et multa cum 
 societate ministi'orum Dei," &c. &cc. — that is, " I 
 by the grace of God, &c., with the advice and con- 
 sent of certain of my bishops (naming them), and 
 along with all mj- senators and the wise elders of 
 my people, and a large associated number of the 
 ministers of God," &:c. Whence it appears that 
 the laws were made by the king and a national 
 assembly or parliament, composed of the nobility 
 and others. This was called the Witenagemot, — 
 literally, the meeting of the wise men ; but before 
 proceeding to examine its constitution, it will be 
 necessaiy to saj' a few words respecting the several 
 classes of the Saxon population. 
 
 As the Saxons conquered Britain, every warrior 
 obtained a number of captives, and a portion of 
 land, proportioned to the services which he had 
 performed. It is at least probable, however, that 
 something similar took place in Britain to what is 
 known to have happened in other parts of the 
 Roman empire, Avhere, on the settlement of the 
 northern conquerors, though of the former inhabi- 
 tants many were reduced to slavery, many retained 
 their liberty ; and though the estates of some were 
 totally confiscated, in general the vanquished were 
 left in possession of part of their land. This was 
 the mode adopted by the Burgundians in Gaul, the 
 Visigoths in Spain, and the Ostrogoths in Italy.' 
 Owing to the vigorous opposition made by the 
 Britons, which was much beyond what the con- 
 querors had to encounter in other parts of the Ro- 
 man empire, such as Gaul and Italy, a much larger 
 number of invaders, in proportion to the native 
 inhabitants, was required to effect the conquest than 
 in the case of Gaul. This would be one good 
 reason, even if no other could be found, for the 
 ordinary divisions of land among the Saxon con- 
 querors not being very large ones ; and we find 
 accordingly that the land was divided into " hides," 
 each comprehending as much as could be cultivated 
 by a single plough. It is likely that this circum- 
 1 Allen's Imjuiry, pp. 138-9.
 
 236 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book It. 
 
 stance may have something to do with the more 
 popular character of the Anglo-Saxon institutions as 
 compared with those of their continental brethren, 
 whether remaining in Germany or transplanted to 
 France and Italy. 
 
 AVhen the estate of an Anglo-Saxon was large, 
 one part of it was occupied by the kindred and free 
 retainers of the proprietor, who gave in return 
 military service ; another part was parceled out 
 into different farms, and committed to the manage- 
 ment of particular bondmen, from whom, at the 
 end of the year, he required an account of the pro- 
 duce. The former came eventually to receive the 
 name of "vassals," the latter of " villains." 
 
 The distinction between the original proprietor 
 and his vassals gave rise to the division of landed 
 estates into "allodial" and "feudal," the former 
 being those held without, the latter those held 
 with, a lord superior. The feudal estates, heneficia, 
 or fiefs, or feuds, appear to have been held oi-igin- 
 ally during the pleasure of the superior, then for a 
 determinate time, afterwards for life, and at length 
 to have become hereditary. M. Guizot, who has 
 treated this subject with his usual ability and 
 research, has come to the following conclusions : — 
 1. Originally the grants were generally made ia 
 usufruct and for life, provided that the grantee 
 remained faithful to the gi-antor. 2. The course of 
 events constantly tended to render them hereditary.^ 
 We may here add that the constant tendency also 
 was, during the turbulency of the middle ages, to 
 convert allodial into feudal property, in consequence 
 of the more effectual protection afforded by that 
 description of tenure.- 
 
 Connected with this subject is the celebrated 
 Saxon distinction of land into "folcland" and " boc- 
 land," upon which Mr. Allen has the merit of 
 having thrown a considerable quantity of new light. 
 When the Saxons had secured a territory, after 
 appropriating certain portions to individuals accord- 
 ing to their claims (as stated above), they considered 
 what remained as belonging to the state or com- 
 munity at large, and called it " folcland," which is 
 interpreted by Spelman "terra popularis," that is, 
 the land of the pubhc.^ It corres|)onded to the /tsc 
 of the continental nations. When a particular 
 portion of land was severed from the folcland, and 
 appropriated, provided the conveyance was made 
 by a written instrument, it received the name of 
 " bocland." The proprietor of bocland, unless 
 specially fettered, appears to have had an unlimited 
 power to dispose of it as he chose. Moreover, 
 when once severed from the folcland or property of 
 the community, whatever were the burdens and 
 services imposed upon it, provided it was ahenated 
 by writing, an estate received the name of bocland.'* 
 However, it is, as Mr. Allen remarks, not quite 
 correct to say that all the lands of the Anglo-Saxons 
 were either folcland or bocland, because land was 
 not properly bocland unless conveyed by a WTitten 
 instrument, and at an early period conveyances 
 
 • Guizot, Essais sur I'Histoire de France, pp. 128 and 143. 
 
 2 Allen's Inquiry, p. 142. 
 
 3 Spelm. Gloss, v. Folcland. * Allen, p. 153. 
 
 were made by the dehvery of a staff, a spear, an 
 arrow. Arc. 
 
 That the Anglo-Saxon kings had private proj)erty 
 in land, that is, bocland, is decisively proved by 
 the will of King Alfred, still extant. When the 
 kings in process of time began to be considered aa 
 the representatives of the state, the term terra 
 regis, or crown land, took the place of the word 
 folcland. This is the terra regis of Domesday.' 
 In time the bocland, or private estate of the king, 
 came to be mixed up with it. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxons, like the other Teutonic na- 
 tions, were divided into various castes. The highest 
 of these was that out of which their kings were 
 taken ; for though the Anglo-Saxon kings were 
 elective, not hereditary, they were usually chosen 
 out of a certain particular familj- or race. The 
 Anglo-Saxon chieftains of this family were all de- 
 scended from the deified monarch of the Asi, Odin 
 or Woden. " It may be admitted," observes Sir 
 Francis Palgrave, " that their proud genealogies 
 had no foundation in truth." ' Nevertheless these 
 pretensions of theirs may probably Tiave had some 
 share in originating the Divine right doctrine of 
 later times. 
 
 The second great caste among the Anglo-Saxons 
 were the nobility, who bore the title of eorls, or 
 eorlcundmen, or thane-born.^ The pervading prin- 
 ciple, as we have already remarked, of the Anglo- 
 Saxon government was aristocratic. But among 
 the Anglo-Saxons, nobility, to have its full preemi- 
 nence, required the addition of property. Noble 
 birth, though it raised a man above the condition of 
 villainage, did not place him on a level with those 
 who possessed land in absolute dominion, as well 
 as nobility of birth. We have already spoken of 
 the systems of hlafords and men, or in the feudal 
 phrase, lords and vassals. If a noble did not pos- 
 sess the property sufficient to constitute a lordship, 
 he was then " ranked," says Sir Francis Palgrave, 
 " in the very numerous class, whose members in 
 Wessex and its dependent states were originally 
 known by the name of Sithcundmen ; an appella- 
 tion which we may paraphrase by the heraldic 
 expression of ' gentle by birth and blood.' " The 
 Sithcuudman appears to have originally had the 
 privilege of choosing his own lord or superior. 
 After the reign of Alfred, the Sithcundmen came 
 to be commonly known by the name of Sixhaend- 
 men, — a denomination, as Sir Francis Palgrave 
 remarks, " indicating their position between the 
 highest and lowest law-worthy classes of society ;" 
 — the former, the landed nobility, being called 
 Twelfhaendmen ; the latter, forming the third 
 caste, Twihaendmen. 
 
 This third caste was composed of the remainder 
 of the people, and consisted of the ceorls, or villains, 
 already mentioned. The distinctions between the 
 eorl and the ceorl were numerous and strongly 
 marked. The declaration of one eorl was equal to 
 that of six ceorls ; the life of one eorl was equal in 
 
 1 Allen, p. 160-1. 
 
 2 Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, vol. i. part. i. 
 p. 10. 3 Ibid. p. 11.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 237 
 
 value to the lives of six ceorls ; and so for other 
 mattei's in proportion.' The ceorls were known 
 by various other names, of which Sir Francis Pal- 
 grave quotes several. " But," he continues, " the 
 ceorl or villain, however named, may be defined as a 
 tenant ascribed to the glebe ; one who, pei'forming 
 praedial or agricultural services, was unable to de- 
 part from the land which he held ; and who, either 
 by law or by long established custom equivalent to 
 law, had acquired a definite and recognized estate 
 in the soil. So long as the villain performed his 
 services he was not to be removed from his land, 
 nor was a higher rent or a gi'eater proportion of 
 labor to be exacted from him than what was due 
 and of right accustomed."^ And yet the ceorl was 
 in some sense free. Nevertheless, " a ceorl thus 
 circumstanced — a freeman — could, according to the 
 legal language of the Anglo-Saxons, be given and 
 bequeathed, bought and sold. These expressions, 
 which sound so harsh, and seem so inconsistent 
 with any degree of personal liberty, bore, however, 
 a meaning dift'ering essentially from that which we 
 should now assign to them. In no instance can 
 we find the ceorl separated from his land, — he was 
 always a villain appurtenant ; and, notwithstanding 
 the language which was employed, it must be un- 
 derstood that the gift, the bequest, or the sale, was 
 in effect the disposition of the land and of the ceorl, 
 and of the services which the ceorl performed for 
 the land ; all of which passed by virtue of the will 
 or the charter, — a transaction widely differing from 
 the transfer of a slave, whose person is the subject 
 of the purchase. The assertion, therefore, not 
 unfrequeutly made, that a great proportion of the 
 population of England was in a state of absolute 
 servitude, cannot be warranted ; and the most con- 
 vincing proof that the rights of the lord over the 
 ceoi-1 and his goods and chattels, however burden- 
 some, were limited and certain, is founded in the 
 "iact that the ceorl, even when in actual vassalage, 
 could purchase his own freedom and the freedom 
 of his wife and offspring : he, therefore, had the 
 means of acquiring wealth, and the power of retain- 
 ing it."'' This last fact does not prove so much, 
 we think, as Sir Francis supposes. The slaves of 
 the Spaniards in some of their West India settle- 
 ments had the same privilege ; yet it will scarcely 
 be thence inferred that the rights of their masters 
 over them, while in actual slavery, were limited. 
 The ceorls were entirely destitute of political pow- 
 er,* and consequently their rights could not, how- 
 ever well ascertained, be very well protected. 
 
 It has been doubted whether the ceorls were 
 generally of British or Saxon origin. Sir Francis 
 Palgi-ave, who has examined the subject with care, 
 seems to incline to the supposition " that the ceorls 
 were originally the British cultivators of the soil, 
 but into whose class individuals of families of Anglo- 
 Saxon birth and blood may have been from time to 
 time aggregated and introduced."* 
 
 The Theowes, the Servi of Domesday, were 
 
 1 Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, vol. i. part. i. p. 13. 
 
 2 Ihid. p. 17. 3 Ibid p. 18. * Ibid. p. 19. 
 
 5 Palgra-vt, Hist. p. 29 
 
 entirely destitute of political rights — they did not 
 rank among the people. Their condition was sim- 
 ilar to that of the negro or the Roman slave. Some 
 of the theowes may have been the offspring of 
 British serfs, but by far the gi-eatest portion con- 
 sisted of freemen who had forfeited their liberty by 
 their crimes. " A culprit who could not discharge 
 the penalty or wite, became a wite theow. He 
 might be redeemed by his kinsmen ; but if he was 
 abandoned by them — if, in the words of the law, 
 he clasped his hands, and knew not who should 
 make amends for him, then slavery was his doom."' 
 During one year he might be redeemed, but not 
 afterwards. 
 
 There is much discrepancy and confusion among 
 writers on the subject of the territorial divisions of 
 the Anglo-Saxons. What is tolerably certain is, 
 that the division of the country into counties, hun- 
 dreds, and tithings, goes back to the first age of the 
 settlement of the Saxons in England. Over each 
 of these territorial divisions there presided a magis- 
 trate : over the county a count, earl, or alderman : 
 over the hundred a centenary, or hundreden : over 
 the tithing a decanus, or tithing-man. 
 
 There prevailed at one time pretty generally an 
 opinion^ that the tithing consisted of ten families, 
 and consequently the hundred of a hundred fami- 
 lies. This opinion Professor Millar has, we think, 
 succeeded in showing to be erroneous.* 
 
 Each of these officers held a court, in which jus- 
 tice was administered, and all the affairs of the dis- 
 tinct discussed. In these courts the military as- 
 sembhes to provide for defence against a foreign 
 enemy were held. There also took place sales and 
 many other transactions in which publicitj^ Avas of 
 importance.* 
 
 These courts were subordinate one to another ; 
 so that from the decision of that of the tithing there 
 lay an appeal to that of the hundred, and from that 
 of the hundred to that of the shire. 
 
 These courts were at first held frequently, and 
 by all the allodial proprietors of each district.® On 
 the continent the vassals of the king or of the count 
 were called upon to be present as well as the allo- 
 dial proprietors f and probably this was also the 
 case in England as soon as feuds were introduced 
 there. The power of the court belonged to the 
 assembly, not to the magistrate. The function of 
 the magistrate was limited to convoking the assem- 
 bly and presiding in it. " It is now," observes M. 
 Guizot, " a fact agi-eed upon among the writers 
 the most versed in the antiquities of the modern 
 nations, that the free men, ahrimanni, rachimburgi, 
 boni homines (Anglice, ' good men and true''), present 
 in the assembly of the hundred or the county, alone 
 judged the causes, in p)oint of law as tcell as in point 
 of fact ; that the count or centenary had no other 
 function but to convoke the meeting, to preside in 
 it, and cause its judgments to be put in execution "^ 
 
 > Palgrave, Hist. p. 29. s See Blackstone, Henry, &c. 
 
 3 Historical View of 'he English Government, vol. i. p. 180, et seq. 
 * Guizot, Essais sur I'llistoire de France, p. 258. Lex Rip. tit. lii. 
 cap. 1. * Millar, ib. 
 
 6 Guizot, ib. Lex. Alam. tit, xxxvi. cap. 4, 5. 
 ' Guizot, ib. p. 2,59, n te.
 
 238 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Wc spp, then, that the institution of tithings, of 
 liundreds, iind of counties or shires, was not con- 
 fined to England, but had place in most, if not all 
 of the feudal countries. To this we would add a 
 remark of M. Gui/.ot: that the graduated organiza- 
 tion of the local courts above described is no more 
 than the application to their new situation of the 
 old principles, according to which the Germans 
 governed themselves in Germany. We shall see 
 by and by the great importance of the knowledge 
 of the above fact towards the solution of the ques- 
 tion, how it happened that principles of liberty and 
 popular institutions were found in England at a time 
 when they were utterly unknown in almost every 
 other European country. 
 
 There is one regulation connected with the ad- 
 ministration of justice among the Anglo-Saxons that 
 has excited a good deal of attention. " The mem- 
 bers of every tithing," says Professor Millar, " are 
 said to have been responsible for the conduct of 
 one another ; and the society, or its leader, might 
 be compelled to make reparation for an injury com- 
 mitted by any individual. If we look upon a tithing 
 as regularly composed of ten families, this branch 
 of its police will appear in the highest degree arti- 
 ficial and singular ; but if we consider that society 
 as of the same extent with a town or village, we 
 shall find that such a regulation is conformable to the 
 general usage of barbarous nations, and is founded 
 upon their common notions of justice.'" Professor 
 Millar then shows that a similar custom prevailed 
 among the Jews, among the Scottish Highlanders, 
 among the ancient Irish, among the ancient inhab- 
 itants of Hindostan, and among various other tribes 
 of human beings in a similar stage of civilization ; 
 and he arrives at the conclusion that this noted 
 regulation concerning the Saxon tithings is to be 
 regarded as the remains of extreme simplicity and 
 barbarism, rather than the effect of uncommon re- 
 finement or policy. The professor supports this 
 view by observing, that as civilization advanced 
 somewhat, the original obligation imposed upon 
 every tithing to repair the injuries committed by 
 any one of its members, was subsequently sub- 
 jected to certain limitations, and this among the 
 Anglo-Saxons themselves ; for, by a law ascribed 
 to William the Conqueror, but which is probably 
 of an earlier date, it is enacted, that if a crime is 
 committed by any member of a decennary, who 
 escapes from justice, his tithingman, with two oth- 
 ers of the same tithing, together with the respec- 
 tive tithingmeu, and two others, out of the three 
 neighboring tithings, shall assemble to examine the 
 state of the fact ; and if the tithing to Avhich the 
 criminal belongs is cleared by the oath of tliese 
 twelve persons, it shall be freed from the obligation 
 to pay the damage.^ 
 
 Mr. Hallam, however, does not agree with the 
 view taken of this subject by Professor Millar. 
 He thinks there is not a complete analogy between 
 any of the cases cited by the professor and that of 
 the Anglo-Saxons. He enumerates, by reference 
 to the Anglo-Saxon laws, the gradual stages through 
 
 1 Historical View, vol. i. p. 189. 2 Ibid. p. 198. 
 
 which the system of frank-pledges seems to have 
 passed; and he comes to the conclusion that "the 
 obligation of the tithing was merely that of perma- 
 nent bail, responsible only indirectly for the good 
 behavior of their members.'" There is no very 
 great difference between this conclusion and the 
 view of Mr. Millar, as stated above, made apparent 
 to our perception. Professor Millar, however, it 
 must be admitted, in the portion of his work de- 
 voted to the Anglo-Saxons, deals far too much in 
 conjecture ; not above one-fourth of his volume de- 
 voted to that subject rests upon unexceptionable 
 evidence. 
 
 The system of " frank-pledge" is considered by 
 Sir Francis Palgrave as divided into two branches : 
 the first being the seignorial or personal liability of 
 the superior, which rendered him the permanent 
 surety for the appearance of his vassal, retainer, 
 or inmate ; and the second the collective or mu- 
 tual responsibility of the villainage, as included in 
 their tithings ; — " associations," adds Sir Francis, 
 " which, in the Saxon era, were of unequal ex- 
 tent, according to the custom of the country, ten 
 being the smallest number of which a tithing could 
 be composed, and from whence it derived its 
 name."* 
 
 The earl or alderman of the shire had a deputy, 
 called in Latin vice comes, and in English the sheriff, 
 shrieve, or shire-reeve. In some counties there 
 was an intermediate division between the shire 
 and the hundred — as lathes in Kent, and rapes in 
 Sussex. These had their lathe-reeves and rape- 
 reeves. When a county was divided into three of 
 these intermediate jurisdictions, they were called 
 trithings. These still subsist in the county of York, 
 corrupted into ridings ; the north, the east, and the 
 west riding. 
 
 The subject of the constitution of the Anglo- 
 Saxon legislature is involved in gi-eat obscurity. It 
 is probable that whatever assemblies exercising the 
 function of legislation existed among the Saxons 
 and the other northern nations, they were, m their 
 first conception, merely courts of justice, or at least 
 had been established and had originally met chiefly 
 for the administration of the laws. The institution 
 of a legislative or law-making body is an idea so far 
 from being obvious or natural to an early state of 
 society, that it is opposed to the whole political sys- 
 tem and notions of national government which then 
 prevail. Every people has received its first laws 
 either from what it has believed to be the authority 
 of heaven itself, or from some other authority which 
 it has felt nearly as little disposition to disobey or 
 question. For a long period the laws thus received 
 arc held to be something sacred, and nobody thinks 
 of abolishing or altering them, any more than he 
 would think of attempting the amendment of the 
 laws of nature. Even when circumstances fit length 
 force on innovatinns, the change of the law is the 
 last change that takes place. It does not precede 
 and prescribe the new practice, but only, reluctantly 
 as it were, follows and sanctions it. In this way is 
 
 1 Middle Apes, vol. ii. p. 407. 
 
 - English t'ommonwealth, vol. i. part i. page 192.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 239 
 
 slowty produced in the general mind the first notion 
 of the possibiUty of mending the old laws or making 
 new ones — the first conception of legislation. And 
 even after the first exercise of the power has been 
 thus brought about, the act of legislation is for a 
 long time only timidly and sparingly indulged in ; 
 there is still something of a superstitious aversion 
 to it, as if it were a proceeding interdicted by reli- 
 gion or by nature ; only the most pressing necessity 
 is held, and scarcely held, to justify it ; the form of 
 the old law is often retained after its spirit has been 
 departed from : even a new law is made to wear 
 as much as possible the appearance of an old law 
 revived. In short, in every way the bearing of the 
 legislation is towards the conservation rather than 
 the improvement of the law ; it affects to be not 
 law-making but only law-declaring. 
 
 This character is traceable nearly throughout 
 the whole course of English legislation, and in the 
 earlier periods especially is very strongly marked. 
 " The legislative power of the Court of Parlia- 
 ment," says a writer who has investigated this sub- 
 ject with great learning and ability, "was exercised 
 unconsciously, because it resulted from the reme- 
 dial power. Complaints arose of violations of the 
 law, of neglect of the law. The monarch pro- 
 mised to forbid the abuse ; and further remedies 
 were provided in defence of the existing law. It 
 w^as strengthened and declared. Its principles of 
 justice and equity received a new and more solemn 
 sanction. Remedial and declaratory statutes thus 
 succeeded to older remedial and declaratory stat- 
 utes. Yet parliament, echoing the sentiments, if 
 not the words, of the Barons of Merton, scarcely 
 ever intended to introduce a new law, to enact a 
 new statute."' 
 
 There can be little doubt that the Saxon Witen- 
 agemot was the root from which has sprung our 
 modern English parliament, and nearly as little 
 that the Witenagemot was in its original concep- 
 tion and institution rather a court of law than a leg- 
 islative body. The parliament indeed still retains 
 this its oi-iginal character in part, and is accord- 
 ingly styled the High Court of Parliament, although 
 it is no longer a tribunal for the trial of ordinary 
 causes, now that other courts have been established 
 exclusively for that purpose. The Witenagemot 
 seems to have been for the whole kingdom what 
 the Shire-moot, afterwards called the Sheriffs 
 Leet or Tourn, was for each shire, and what the 
 leets of the hundred and the town (or manor) were 
 for these subordinate divisions. It is to be observed 
 that these were all to a certain extent representa- 
 tive assemblies. " Originally," says the writer wo 
 have just quoted, " the leet of the hundred (which 
 he considers to have been the organic germ, or the 
 unit as we might call it, of the Saxon common- 
 wealth) was held twelve times in each year. Magna 
 Charta enacted that it should only be summoned 
 twice within that period. The indwellers of the 
 hundred, who owed suit real to the leet, appeared 
 in the moot by their judicial representatives. 
 
 1 Article nn Courts of the Ancient English Common Law, in the 
 Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxvi. p. 306. 
 
 These were the tithingmen, the headboroughs, 
 the chief pledges, who were respectively accom- 
 panied by four good law-worthy men, belonging to 
 the Friborgs who deputed them. The Saxon 
 Custumal of Henry I. also notices the presence of 
 the parish priest ; and it seems to intimate that 
 the lord or his steward might supply the place of 
 the reeve. As all crimes were committed against 
 the peace of the people, the offender who was un- 
 true to his Friborg was impeached or accused by 
 his pledges or the delegates of the little commu- 
 nity which answered for his default. To use the 
 technical term of the law, the oflTence was pre- 
 sented to the leet jury, or legislative and judicial 
 branch of the assembly."' From this account a 
 general notion may be formed of the original 
 constitution and probable mode of procedure of 
 the other moots or assemblies ; the Witenagemot, 
 or supreme national assembly, amongst the num- 
 ber. 
 
 The most learned investigation of the constitu- 
 tion of the Witenagemot is that which it has 
 received from Sir Francis Palgrave. " In the 
 smaller kingdoms," he observes, " such as Kent, 
 the Witenagemot did not probably differ materially 
 in composition from the Shiremoot, which assem- 
 bled on Penenden Heath in subsequent times. 
 The prelates appear as the first order in the com- 
 munity. The seniors, earls or aldermen, are con- 
 vened, not only in the character of chieftains, but 
 also by virtue of the bond of 'trust' which con- 
 nected them with their sovereign. The thanes 
 gave suit and service, as principal landlords. And 
 the ceorls, attending for the townships, listen to the 
 promulgation of the decree, declare their griev- 
 ances, and present the trespasses committed in the 
 communities to Avhich they belong. The actual 
 appearance of the foregoing classes is not a matter 
 of hypothesis, but of evidence ; the document lies 
 before us in which they address their sovereign ; 
 and, with respect to the functions exercised by the 
 ceorls, the testimony of the Anglo-Saxon laws re- 
 ceives the fullest corroboration from the universal 
 usage of subsequent times. "'^ " In the earlier 
 periods," he proceeds, "a dependent or vassal 
 kingdom retained its own legislature, sitting and 
 acting distinct from the legislature of the paramount 
 kingdom. But the Witenagemot convened by the 
 Basileus was the general diet or placitum of the 
 empire. Here the King of Albion appeared, wear- 
 ing his crown, and surrounded by his great officers 
 of state. The prelates concurred in the enact- 
 ments. The vassal kings, the rulers of the Cymric 
 and Celtic tribes, testified their obedience. The 
 earls, and eoldermen, and thanes, whether of 
 Anglo-Saxon race, or the Northmen settled in the 
 Danelagh, completed the assembly, which compre- 
 hended all the councillors and sages, redesmen and 
 witan, both clerks and laymen, whose advice and 
 assistance the sovereign was entitled to demand."^ 
 The great point of doubt and dispute has been the 
 
 1 Article on Courts of the Ancient English Common Law, in the 
 Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxvi. p. 335. 
 
 2 English Commonwealth, p. 6M. ^ Ibid. p. 636.
 
 240 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 The Witexaoemot — The King Presiding. — From the Cotton MS. Claudius, B. iv. 
 
 character in which the folk or people appeared, 
 who are repeatedly mentioned both by the old 
 historians and in the laws themselves, as present 
 at the Witenagemot. There has been much con- 
 troversy both as to who the persons were that are 
 thus designated, and as to whether they formed a 
 constituent part 'of the assembly, or were only 
 spectators of the proceedings. Taking all the cir- 
 cumstances into consideration. Sir Francis Palgrave 
 thinks that " we may be led to the supposition that 
 the elected or virtual representatives of townships 
 or hundreds constituted the multitude, noticed as 
 the people, in the narratives describing the great 
 councils and other similar assemblies; for the share 
 taken by the fulk in the proceedings forbids the 
 conjecture that the bystanders were a mere dis- 
 orderly crowd, brought together only as specta- 
 tors, and destitute of any constitutional character."' 
 " Admitting," he adds, however, " the great prob- 
 abihty that the burghs did constitute a branch of 
 the Witenagemot, or Mycel-getheacht, it must be 
 recollected that the members, by whom they ap- 
 peared, would scarcely attend in the character of 
 mere deputies. Popular election, in our modern 
 sense of the term, rarely (if ever) existed. The 
 functionaries who ruled the burgh became the 
 proper and natural representatives of the commu- 
 nity' in the legislative assembly or in the congress; 
 and if the imperial Witenagemot was intended in 
 any wise to protect the privileges of the nation, 
 the heads of the burgh would be the most efficient 
 advocates and defenders of their community."^ 
 As it was hardly possible, however, that all the 
 magistrates could, generally, or on any occasion, 
 give their attendance, thus leaving the burgh with- 
 out any government, he thinks it probable that 
 1 English Commonwealth, p. 635. = ihjd. p. 645 
 
 some one of them would usually be deputed by the 
 rest to undertake the duty. It might even in par- 
 ticular contingencies be inconvenient for any of the 
 magistrates to leave their station. " In such a 
 case," proceeds Sir Francis, "the expedient of au- 
 thorizing a person, not bearing office, to appear as 
 a deputj', in the name and on the behalf of the 
 magistracy, would be easily suggested, and a rep- 
 resentation approximating to the modern system 
 would be formed."' Still, it must be remembered, 
 there was here an election by the magistracy only, 
 and not by the people. The people, therefore, 
 were not directly represented in the Saxon Witen- 
 agemot. The only representation of the burghs or 
 of the Commons was a representation merely of 
 the thanes or governors of the burghs and town- 
 ships, who in some cities, indeed, were themselves 
 elected by the people ; but in other cases appear 
 to have been hereditary, or to have held their 
 offices by a sort of proprietorship. To this indi- 
 rect representation of the Commons, nevertheless, 
 through persons having at least a natural connexion 
 with them and an interest in their welfare, may 
 most probably be traced back all that yet exists 
 among us of popular parliamentary representa- 
 tion. Indeed, up to the passing of the Reform 
 Bill, many burghs were only represented as they 
 had been in the Saxon times ; and even now the 
 Commons enjoj'ing the right of election are every- 
 where only a class, however important a class, of 
 the people. 
 
 The supreme government of the state resided in 
 the witenagemot and the king, who presided over 
 the assembly while it sat, and who appears to have 
 had the right of calling it together, and also probably 
 of dissolving it at his pleasure. It seems to have 
 1 English Commonwealth, p. 646.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 241 
 
 been wont to meet several times in the course of 
 the year, usually at the great festivals of Christmas, 
 Easter, and Whitsuntide ; and its sessions were, no 
 doubt, very short. It is impossible, from the imper- 
 fect accounts that remain, to discover what were un- 
 derstood to be the limits of the royal authority, and 
 of that of the parliament ; but in all the more impor- 
 tant acts of the executive, the concurrence of the 
 legislative body seems to have been required. Al- 
 fred and his successors promulgate their laws as 
 enacted by themselves with the advice of their wi- 
 tan. The king, as the first magisti-ate and head of 
 the state, was held in high honor, and invested with 
 many prerogatives, such as the right of commanding 
 the forces, of appointing and displacing all the chief 
 administrative functionaries throughout the king- 
 dom, of dispensing justice in the last resort, and of 
 pardoning offenders or mitigating and remitting 
 penalties. His independent power of action, as one 
 of the estates of the realm, however, seems to have 
 been confined by the theory of the constitution with- 
 in rather narrow limits. But in such a state of so- 
 ciety, the real power of the sovereign would depend 
 much more upon his personal character and the ac- 
 cidents of his reign, than upon any understood prin- 
 ciples of the constitution. On the whole, the royal 
 authority had, from the first foundation of the An- 
 glo-Saxon kingdoms, been gaining ground upon that 
 of the witenagemot, in which had originally resided 
 the supreme and sole government of the nation, the 
 king being merely its elected president or deputj'. 
 The large and constantly increasing territorial pos- 
 sessions of the crown, no doubt, greatly conti'ibuted 
 to secure for it a position of elevation and power far 
 beyond that which it had originally occupied. After 
 the union, especially of the several states of the old 
 Heptarchy into one kingdom, the lands, in all parts 
 of England which were held by the king, must have 
 formed a property of immense extent. These lands, 
 as we have already intimated, appear to have been 
 originally, in part, the private domains of the kings, 
 in part, the public lands reserved on the first settle- 
 ment of the nation for the support of the govern- 
 ment ; but the two descriptions of property had, in 
 course of time, naturally become mixed up together, 
 and the crown retained the uncontrolled manage- 
 ment of the whole. In return, the crown, from the 
 revenues of these estates, from the annual payments 
 by the burghs in lieu of services, and from certain 
 other profits to which it was by law entitled, defrayed 
 all the ordinary expenses of the supreme civil gov- 
 ernment. The additional revenue chiefly arose from 
 customs at the sea-ports, tolls in the markets, and 
 other taxes paid on sales, and from the wites or pub- 
 lic penalties exacted from persons convicted of delin- 
 quencies, over and above the were-geld or damages 
 paid by them in satisfaction of the private injury. 
 There is reason to believe, also, that in later times, 
 at least, much of the land throughout the kingdom 
 became subject to certain occasional payments to the 
 crown, similar to those which were afterwards made 
 universal under the more systematized feudalism of 
 the Norman government; but their exact nature 
 cannot now be ascertained. The only burdens to 
 VOL. I 16 
 
 which it is quite certain that all landed estates were 
 subject, are those called by later writers the Tri- 
 noda Necessitas, — among the Saxons themselves, 
 the three common labors, or universal necessities, — 
 of the Brycg-bote, the tax for the maintenance of 
 bridges and highways ; the Burh-bote, that for the 
 repairs of walls and fortresses ; and the Fyrd, or 
 military service. It is conjectured, from the notices 
 in Domesday Book, that in most parts of the king- 
 dom one soldier was required to be provided, in time 
 of war, for every five hides of land, — a hide being, 
 according to Bede, as much land as could maintain 
 a single family throughout the year. It appears that 
 all England was divided into about 274,950 hides of 
 land.^ • The Dane-geld, also, or tribute to the Danes, 
 first collected in 991, in the reign of Ethelred, Wris 
 a tax upon each hide of land ; and, although for 
 some time it was only imposed on particular occa- 
 sions, it eventually became permanent, and formed 
 an important portion of the ordinary revenue of 
 the crown. At the original rate of a shilUng for 
 each hide of land, it produced 12,1 SOL, equal in 
 weight of silver to nearly three times the same 
 amount in modern money, and in efficiency to a 
 much greater sum. It is said, however, to have 
 been raised by Canute, in 1018, to six shilHngs on 
 the hide ; and four shillings was in later times the 
 common rate. 
 
 Much controversy has taken place on the question 
 of whether the feudal system of the tenure of lands 
 is to be considered as having been introduced into 
 England in the Saxon times. That the system, in 
 all its regularity and extent, was not fully established 
 till after the Conquest, is generally admitted ; but it 
 appears to be equally clear, not only that, in the reign 
 of the Confessor, a very considerable advance was 
 made towards its perfect consolidation after the con- 
 tinental model, but also, that, in a ruder shape and 
 looser coherency, it had subsisted among the Anglo- 
 Saxons from their first settlement in the country. 
 We have given an account of the division of the pro- 
 prietors of the soil into hlafords and men, which 
 terms are merely the lords, or superiors, and vas- 
 sals of the feudal phraseology. And in the earliest 
 Saxon times, the vassal seems to have held his land 
 (which might have been, though it was not, called 
 his fief) from his lord, on condition of rendering ser- 
 vices precisely similar to those which, in after times, 
 were rendered by a vassal to his feudal superior. 
 Upon this subject, it has been well observed, by a 
 ^vriter whose prejudices are by no means always a 
 match for his learning and acuteness, that there are 
 two divisions of the history of the feudal system, the 
 former of which " extends, from the earhest account 
 of time, through the early History of Greece and 
 Rome, till the progress of society changed the man- 
 ners of these nations ; and through the early history 
 of the Goths and Germans, who overturned that 
 Roman empire, down to the eleventh centurj^ At 
 this period commences the corrupted feudal system, 
 and lasts till the fifteenth century, when the feudal 
 system began, after its corruption, to dissolve quite 
 away. The feudal system was that of the Persians, 
 
 > Brady's History of England, i. 370.
 
 242 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book 11 
 
 who were, and are, Scyths or Goths, as ancient au- 
 thors and their own speech testify. Xenophon tells 
 us that when the younger Cyrus came to Cilicia, he 
 was met by Epyaxa, the beautiful wife of the satrap, 
 who, according to the custom of the East, presented 
 her acknowledged liege lord and superior with gold, 
 silver, and other precious gifts. Indeed, the feudal 
 system, about which so much noiee is made, is the 
 natural fruit of conquest, and is as old in the world 
 as conquest. A territory is acquired, and the state 
 or the general bestows it on the leaders and soldiers, 
 on condition of military service, and of tokens ac- 
 knowledging gratitude to the donors. It was known 
 in the Greek heroic ages. It was known to Lycur- 
 gus ; for all the lands of Sparta were held on militaiy 
 tenure. It was known to Romulus, when he regu- 
 lated Rome. It was known to Augustus, when he 
 gave lands to his veterans, on condition that their 
 sons should, at fifteen years of age, do military ser- 
 vice. The reason it did not preponderate and 
 corrupt in Greece and Rome was, that it was 
 stifled by the necessary effects of cities. In Per- 
 sia, where there were no cities of any power or 
 privilege, it preponderated and corrupted at an 
 early period."^ 
 
 We now proceed to consider the general charac- 
 ter of the laws of the Anglo-Saxons, and to describe 
 their modes of judicial procedure. 
 
 It is remarked by M. Guizot, that there is one 
 material point of difference between the Salic laws 
 and the capitularies of the Carlovingian Frank kings. 
 The former do not contain moi'al and religious texts 
 in the way of advice ; they only contain texts for- 
 mally prohibitive or imperative. " But in the pas- 
 sage," we quote the words of M. Guizot, " from 
 primitive barbarism to civilization, legislation as- 
 sumes another character ; morals introduce them- 
 selves into it, and become, for a certain time, matter 
 of law.^ The able legislators, the founders or re- 
 formers of communities, became aware of the em- 
 pire exercised over men by the idea of duty ; the 
 instinct of genius informs them that, without its sup- 
 port, without the fi-ee concurrence of the human 
 will, the society cannot maintain and develop itself 
 in peace ; and they apply themselves to introduce 
 this idea into the minds of men by all sorts of ways, 
 and they make of legislation a sort of preaching, a 
 means of instnaction. Consult the history of all na- 
 tions, of the Hebrews, the Greeks, &c. ; you will 
 everywhere encounter this fact : you will every- 
 where find, between the epoch of primitive laws, 
 which are purely penal, prohibitive, intended to re- 
 press the abuses of violence, and the epoch of civ- 
 ilized laws, which have confidence in the morality, 
 in the reason of individuals, and leave all that is 
 purely moral in the domain of liberty ; between 
 these two epochs, I say, you will always find one 
 in which morals are the object of legislation, in 
 which legislation formally wTites and teaches them. 
 Franco - Gaulish society was at this point when 
 
 1 Pinkerton's Dissertation on the Scythians, p. 140. (Edition of 
 1814.) 
 
 2 The meaning must be, aflfirmations of moral trutlis, or supposed 
 truths, come to be promulgated and received as laws. 
 
 Charlemagne governed it, and that was one of the 
 causes of his sti'ict alliance with the church, the 
 only power then capable of teaching and preach- 
 ing morality."' 
 
 Something similar to what M. Guizot has here 
 described is observable in the Anglo-Saxon laws; 
 the laws of the earher kings partaking more of the 
 character of the Salic law above specified, those of 
 the latter partaking more of that of the capitularies 
 of Charlemagne. 
 
 Of the eighty-nine laws, of which the collection 
 bearing the name of King Ethelbert, of Kent, the 
 earUest Saxon laws that are extant, consists, a ma- 
 jority (upwards of fifty) have reference to the pun- 
 ishment of acts of violence against the person. The 
 next most numerous class is occupied with penalties 
 for illicit intercourse with, and acts of aggression to- 
 wards, women. The next has reference to theft. 
 There are not more than three or four — at the most, 
 five — laws in the collection that are not of a penal 
 character, but descriptive merely of certain rights. 
 There is not a single paragi'aph of the nature merely 
 of a moral or rehgious test. We may thus tabula- 
 rize the result : — 
 
 Attacks on Person .58 
 
 Attacks on Property 11 
 
 Fornication and Aggressions on Women 13 
 
 Adultery 2 
 
 Total of Penal 84 
 
 Declaratory of Rights 5 
 
 Total Number of Laws • 
 
 Ethelbert's reign was about the end of the sixth 
 and the beginning of the seventh century. In his 
 legislation, adultery was thus disposed of: — " If a 
 free man lie with a free man's wife, let him expi- 
 ate his offence and buy another wife, and take her 
 to the other man." About a century after, in the 
 laws of Wihtraed, a change of tone is observable; 
 the legislator uses the style of exhortation rather 
 than of prohibition or command : — " Let adulterers 
 be brought to repent and lead a virtuous life, or be 
 excommunicated from the assembly of the church." 
 It is not improbable, however, that the civil penalty 
 was continued along with the test and the religious 
 penalty ; for afterwards, in the laws of Canute, we 
 find, together with the moral and religious test, 
 the penalty much increased in severity. It is re- 
 markable that, in the last-mentioned collection, in 
 one of the articles there is more attempt than usual 
 at precise definition : — " Adultery is bad which a 
 married man commits with an unmarried wOman, 
 and much worse with another man's wife, or with 
 a woman who has taken upon her the monastic 
 vows." 
 
 In this collection of the laws of Ethelbert there 
 are thirty-nine laws specifying different wounds, and 
 inflicting various penalties accordingly. In all this 
 we see legislation in a very rude state. But there 
 are other points of view in which these early laws 
 are objects of extreme interest. One of these is the 
 nature of the penalties they decree. Here there 
 appears a singular regard for the person and the 
 
 1 Histoire de la Civilisation en France, tome ii. p. 329.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 243 
 
 liberty of the subject. There is little or no corporal 
 punishment, no imprisonment, no death punishment, 
 at least which may not be compounded for ; for as 
 we have seen in the last section, even the life of the 
 king had its price. The chief, or rather only, pun- 
 ishment in the Anglo-Saxon as in the Salic law, is 
 the composition, the " wehrgeld," that is, a certain 
 sum which the delinquent was bound to pay to the 
 injured party or to his family. To this was added, 
 in many cases, — those which may be called, in the 
 language of the English law, " pleas of the crown," 
 — a sum paid to the king or the magistrate as a com- 
 pensation for the violation of the public peace. The 
 not unusual alternative, as we have already had 
 occasion to remark, where the offending party was 
 unable to make good the " wehrgeld," was to reduce 
 him to the state of slavery. 
 
 " The composition," observes M. Guizot, " is the 
 first step of criminal legislation out of the custom of 
 personal vengeance. The right concealed under 
 that punishment, the right which exists at the bottom 
 of the Salic law, and of all barbarous laws, is the 
 right of every man to do himself justice, and to 
 avenge himself by force : it is the war between the 
 offender and the offended. The composition is an 
 attempt to substitute a legal system for war ; it is the 
 means given to the offender of securing himself, by 
 the payment of a certain sum, from the vengeance 
 of the party offended ; it imposes upon the injured 
 party the obligation to renounce the use of violence. 
 
 "We must not imagine, however, that from the 
 first it had that effect ; the offended party for a long 
 time preserved the right of choosing between the 
 composition and war, — of rejecting the ' wehrgeld' 
 and having recourse to vengeance. The chronicles 
 and documents of every kind leave scarcely a doubt 
 of it. I incline to think that in the eighth century 
 the composition was decidedly obhgatory, and that 
 the refusal to be satisfied with it was regarded as a 
 violence, not as a right; but assuredly it was not 
 always thus, and the composition was an attempt, 
 sufficiently inefficacious, to put an end to the disor- 
 derly struggle of individual forces, a sort of legal offer 
 from the offender to the offended."^ 
 
 From the apparently deep feeling of morality and 
 liberty, in the solemn renunciation of vengeance on 
 the part of the injured party, and as regards the 
 offender in the respect displayed for his person and 
 liberty, exhibited to so much greater a degree in 
 these early laws, particularly in the composition, 
 than in more civilized systems of legislation, some 
 late German writers have conceived an erroneously 
 high notion of the state of the civilization of the 
 nations among which it is found. M. Guizot has 
 veiy ably exposed the fallacy of these writers. Ad- 
 mitting that at that epoch individual liberty is really 
 great, we must be on our guard against confound- 
 ing such liberty with what in the present day is 
 understood by that term. It is a liberty possessed 
 by a man of doing what seemeth good in his own 
 eyes, it being at the same time always carefully 
 borne in mind that every other man has exactly the 
 same liberty- of doing what seemeth good in his 
 
 1 Histoire dc la Civilisation en France, tome i. p. 343. 
 
 eyes ; so that whenever that which seemeth good 
 to one man doth not comport with that which 
 seemeth good to another, a clash takes place, and 
 in such a state such clashes are almost as frequent 
 as those in the elemental war of primaeval chaos. 
 Such a state of society has been most justly and 
 forcibly described by Hobbes in the following pas- 
 sage : — " Whatsoever is consequent to a time of war, 
 where every man is enemy to every man, the same 
 is consequent to the time wherein men live without 
 other security than what their own strength and 
 their own invention shall furnish them withal. In 
 such condition there is no place for industry, be- 
 cause the fruit thereof is uncertain; and conse- 
 quently no culture of the earth ; no navigation ; no 
 use of the commodities that may be imported by 
 sea; no commodious building; no instruments of 
 moving and removing such things as require much 
 force ; no knowledge of the face of the earth ; no 
 account of time ; no arts ; no letters ; no society ; 
 and, which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger 
 of violent death ; and the life of man, sohtary, poor, 
 nasty, brutish, and short."^ 
 
 For this state of chaos, which cannot be called 
 society, two remedies arise : — 1. Inequality of con- 
 dition shows itself among men ; some become rich, 
 others poor ; some become noble, others obscure ; 
 some masters, others slaves : 2. A central public 
 power develops itself, a force which in the name of 
 the community proclaims and enforces certain laws. 
 Thus arise on one side aristocracy, on the other, 
 government, — two different modes of repressing the 
 excess of individual liberty. 
 
 But, in their turn, the remedies become evils :: 
 the aristocracy and the government both oppress, 
 producing a disorder, different from the former, but 
 deep and intolerable. In the mean time, however, 
 by their influence, and by the natural action of social 
 life, individuals are improved and enlightened ; their 
 understanding becomes stronger, and their will bet- 
 ter regulated. They begin to see that they can live 
 very well in peace without so much inequality of 
 conditions, and so much central power, — in other 
 words, that society can exist without costing liberty 
 so much. Thus " if liberty," to borrow the language ' 
 of M. Guizot, " perished at the commencement of 
 the social career, it was because man was incapable 
 of advancing while he retained it ; to regain it and 
 enjoy it more and more is the end, the perfection 
 of society ; but this is by no means the primitive 
 state, the condition of barbarians. . . . Instead, then, 
 of ascribing to the plan of composition so much moral 
 value, we must only regard it as a first step out of 
 the state of war."^ 
 
 Let us now turn from these early Anglo-Saxon 
 laws to those of a later period ; and, as the best 
 means of affording to the reader a general idea of 
 the character of these, we shall give an analytical 
 table of those of the kings of the Heptarchy after 
 the accession of Alfred, which have been collected 
 by Wilkins.3 
 
 1 Leviathan, c. xiii. 
 
 2 Histoire de la Civilisation en France, tome i. p. 349. 
 
 3 The oldest of the Anglo-Saxon laws now extant are those of King
 
 244 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 ll 
 
 5^ 
 
 -| 
 
 Totals. 
 
 Alfred 
 
 6 
 
 32 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 ^ 
 
 13 
 
 06 
 
 Edward the Elder . 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 
 - - 
 
 - - 
 
 11 
 
 Athelslane .... 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 Edmund .... 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 - - 
 
 - - 
 
 - - 
 
 - - 
 
 17 
 
 Edgar 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 - - 
 
 97 
 
 55 
 
 - - 
 
 163 
 
 Ethelred .... 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 - - 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 Canute 
 
 15 
 
 34 
 
 10 
 
 32 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 104 
 
 
 42 
 
 108 
 
 17 
 
 143 
 
 62 
 
 19 
 
 391 
 
 We will now add a few remarks as to the relative 
 proportions of the classes in the preceding table to 
 one another in different reigns, as well as in expla- 
 nation of the classes themselves into which we have 
 arranged these Anglo-Saxon kws. 
 
 I. Declaratory Legislation. In this column of 
 the table we have placed, as well as we have been 
 iible to interpret their meaning, those capitida or 
 laws which have appeared to us merely expository 
 uf rights and duties. It will be observed that the 
 (igures do not present much apparent increase in 
 the number of this class, at least till the time of 
 Canute. 
 
 II. Penal Legislation. Under this head we have 
 classed those commands-or prohibitions having a def- 
 inite sanction or penalty annexed to them. We 
 have also, however, included certain laws of Alfred's, 
 respecting which it may be doubted whether they 
 do not rather belong to the religious or the moral 
 (;olumn ; for at the beginning of the collection of 
 Alfred's laws stand about fifty capitula or articles, 
 all taken from the laws of Moses, with the excep- 
 tion of one or two from the canons of the first 
 apostolic council. Now, though many of these Mo- 
 saic laws appear merely in the shape of religious 
 or moral precepts, others have distinct penalties 
 attached to them ; and, therefore, as we see no 
 Hvidence that Alfred did not mean these penalties 
 to be enforced, we have placed -them in the class 
 i>f penal legislation, while those without such pen- 
 alties we have pla&ed in the religious and moral 
 classes. 
 
 III. Legislation of Procedure. Under this head 
 we have classed those capitula that appear to refer 
 t'xclusively to the machinery for executing the rest. 
 Although of great importance in a rude state of 
 
 i'lhelbert, of Kent, who reigned from 561 to 616. The next are those 
 • if Hlothaire and Eadric, and of Wihtraed, kings of Kent. Next are 
 those of Ina, King of the West Saxons. After the Heptarchy, we have 
 the laws of Alfred, Edward the Elder, Athelstane, Edmund, Edgar, 
 Ethelred, and Canute. There are, besides, canons and constitutions, 
 ilecrees of councils, and other acts of a public nature. All these are 
 III the Saxon language ; of some of them a collection was made in one 
 volume folio, by Mr. Lambarde, and published, in 1568, under the title 
 of '^ Apxotovoiita ; sive, de priscis Anglorum legibua." An enlarged 
 edition of Lambarde's book was published under the superintendence 
 uf Abraham Wheloc, iu 1644. To this many additions have since been 
 made by Dr. Wilkins, in his Leges Anglo-Saionicas, fol. Lon. 1722. 
 The laws in Latin, which have gone under the name of Edward the 
 Confessor, have been rejected by antiquarians as spurious. They are 
 supposed to have been written or collected about the end of the reign 
 .if William Rufus. — Reeves' Hist, of the English Law, i. 27 ; Wilkin's 
 Leges Angl.-Sai. passim. 
 
 society, this branch does not appear from the table 
 to have borne, at least till the time of Canute, any 
 considerable proportion to the others ; the reason 
 probably being, that originally the execution of the 
 laws being vested in the same hands that had the 
 making of them, it would be some time before those 
 who were thus at once magistrates and legislators 
 would become aAvare of the necessity of guiding 
 their proceedings in their former capacity by certain 
 fixed rules. We are told of Alfred's zeal for the 
 proper administration of the laws ; but we do not 
 find many enactments, among those laws of his that 
 have come down to us, relating to that subject. We 
 may assume, therefore, that the praise to which he 
 was entitled was not so much that of having improved 
 the old modes of procedure, as that of having exerted 
 himself successfully in seeing the laws strictly and 
 impartially executed. 
 
 IV. Religious Legislation. Under this head we 
 place the enactments regarding the people at large 
 in their relation with the church or the clergy. In 
 reigns where th-e clergy possessed great power 
 arising from influence over the king, it will be seen 
 that this branch of legislation was a very large one, 
 sometimes the largest of any. 
 
 V. Canonical Legislation. The same remark 
 applies to this head, under which we class the 
 enactments regarding the duties and functions of 
 the clergy alone, as distinguished from the rest of 
 the community. From the influence which church- 
 men, from their superior education, possessed for 
 many centuries in the European governments of 
 the middle ages, we might expect this and the pre- 
 ceding columns of the table to be large ones. Ac- 
 cordingly such they are, forming together more than 
 half the total number of laws. 
 
 VI. Moral Legislation. Under this head are 
 classed those articles which, having no sanction 
 annexed to them, are to be viewed merely as moral 
 precepts, and not as laws at all. The column ap- 
 propriated to these in the table will be seen not to 
 be a large one, and more than two-thirds of its arti- 
 cles belong to Alfred. We may add, that several of 
 these articles being of the number of those taken by 
 Alfred from the old Testament, may be, under an- 
 other point of view, considered as belonging to the 
 religious column. 
 
 It appears to have been not till a late period that 
 judges were appointed among the Anglo-Saxons 
 expressly for presiding over the trial of causes. Ac- 
 cording to Ingulphus, it was Alfred who introduced 
 this innovation. He is stated to have divided the 
 office of the governor of the province or shire into 
 the two offices of viscount (or sheriff) and justiciary. 
 But the system of the Saxon jurisprudence was such 
 as usually, whether the case would be called, in 
 modern phraseology^, a civil or a criminal case, to 
 leave veiy little to be done by the presiding func- 
 tionary, except perhaps to pronounce the sentence. 
 Everj-thing was regulated by certain rigid forms, 
 which of themselves determined the issue, without 
 the discretion or judgment of the persons before 
 whom the trial was held being at all called into ex- 
 ercise. The ti'ial took place in one or other of the
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 215 
 
 public assemblies, the folc-mot, the leet of the hun- 
 dred, the shire-mot, or the witenagemot, according 
 probably to the residence and rank of the parties, 
 and the importance of the question, or, perhaps, ac- 
 cording as it was a first trial or an appeal. The chief 
 ordinary business of all these courts seems to have 
 consisted in the hearing of causes, which it was 
 obviously necessary should at least be carried on and 
 concluded before some public or recognized tribunal. 
 But the trial itself was rather of the nature of an 
 arithmetical calculation, or a chemical experiment, 
 than what we now understand by the trial of a 
 cause. A certain form was gone through, and ac- 
 cording to its result, which was always palpable 
 and decisive in the one way or in the other, the 
 accused person was found guilty or acquitted, — the 
 verdict, to use the modern language, was for the 
 plaintiff or the defendant. This view of the sub- 
 ject, as far as we are aware, has not before been 
 stated ; but its correctness will be apparent from a 
 short account of the mode of procedure in Saxon 
 trials at law. 
 
 In the first place, in all cases, whether in disputes 
 about property or in the pursuit of alleged offenders, 
 the claimant or the person who conceived himself 
 to be injured appears to have retained, under the 
 Saxon law, so much of the rights of a state of nature 
 as to be entitled to begin the process at his own 
 hands, and by an act of force ; — he made forcible 
 entry upon the land, or he seized without any writ 
 the person of the accused. It was only after this 
 that the law interfered, or rather that application 
 was made to its authority. The cause might be 
 brought into court in various ways. A person ac- 
 cused of an offence, for example, might be arraigned 
 either by the presentment of the thanes (or heads) 
 of the hundred, or by that of the ceorls inhabiting 
 the township, or upon the appeal of the injured party, 
 swearing that he was not actuated by hatred or ani- 
 mosity, and having his oath confirmed by that of seven 
 compurgators.' The following is the account of the 
 sequel of the proceeding given by Sir Francis Pal- 
 grave : — " The culprit being thus charged with the 
 crime, either by the voice of the country or by the 
 testimony of the appellant, he was put upon his de- 
 liverance ; but, at this stage of the trial, if he belonged 
 to the Sithcund class, or to the Villainage, he was 
 required to obtain the testimony of his superior. 
 The hlaford, or his gerefa on his behalf, came forth 
 and swore that the man had not been convicted of 
 theft within the period of limitation, which appears 
 to have been usually fixed from the last great council, 
 and had never paid the theft-fine. This declaration 
 was confirmed by the oaths of two other true men, 
 or thanes ; and the culprit had then the privilege of 
 clearing himself, either by simple compurgation or 
 by the simple ordeal. If he asserted the liberty of 
 appealing to that testimony of character which was 
 termed compurgation, he himself swore to his inno- 
 cence, and a certain number of his neighbors, whose 
 ' worth,' according to the legal arithmetic of the An- 
 glo-Saxons, was considered as equivalent to one 
 pound, were assigned as his compurgators. If they 
 
 1 Palgrave's English Commonwealth, p. 213. 
 
 confirmed his oath by their own, he was acquitted 
 of the charge ; but if he was unable to procure this 
 testimony, and dared to abide the 'judgment of God,' 
 he plunged his arm into the boiling caldron up to the 
 wrist, or he bore the red-hot iron in his naked hand 
 for the distance of nine paces : and if, after the lapse 
 of three days, no marks of injury appeared, he was 
 declared innocent of the crime. Such was the pro- 
 ceeding when the testimony of the lord or superior 
 was in favor of the accused. But if he refused to 
 afford the testimony which diminished the suspicions 
 of the law, then the culprit was bound to undergo 
 the threefold ordeal ; he plunged his arm into the 
 boiling water up to his elbow, the iron was of treble 
 weight, and his compurgation, if he preferred that 
 mode of trial, consisted of five compurgators, he 
 being the sixth hand."' A civil suit was decided by 
 a mode of procedure precisely similar in principle, 
 though differing in some of the forms. In either 
 case, everything depended upon the number and the 
 legal " worth " or estimated value of the witnesses 
 which each party was enabled to bring forward, or 
 upon the issue of some experimental process resem- 
 bling the ordeals that have just been mentioned. 
 Sometimes the question was decided by what has 
 been called the ordeal of the cross, that is, by the 
 accused party being allowed to draw from under a 
 cover either of two pieces of wood, on one of which 
 the figure of the cross had been cut : if he drew that, 
 he was acquitted ; if the other, he was condemned. 
 Another ordeal was that called the corsned ; this 
 was a small pi«ce of bread (supposed to have been, 
 originally, though it was not latterly, the sacramental 
 wafer), which was given to the culprit to eat, and, 
 if it appeared to stick in his throat, or if he shook oi- 
 turned pale in the attempt to swallow it, his guilt 
 was held to be proved. It appears most probable 
 also that the wager of battle, although commonly 
 supposed to have been of Norman introduction, was 
 in use among the Saxons before the conquest.^ This 
 was merely another species of ordeal, or appeal to 
 heaven. By this mode of trial, after the requisite 
 averments had been made on oath by the two parties 
 and their witnesses, each party denying word for 
 word what the other had asserted, the two would 
 be brought together and set to fight out their quarrel 
 with arms in the presence of the court, which here 
 again, as in all other cases, had nothing more to do 
 except to see that the prescribed regulations were 
 observed, and to watch the result. The result of 
 itself declared the verdict. 
 
 In everything, therefore, we see the trial was re- 
 duced to the performance of an operation every stej) 
 of which was regulated by certain established rules, 
 and about the result of which, that result deciding 
 the case, there could be no mistake or dispute. 
 This view of the subject at once explains another 
 peculiarity which has been noticed as marking the 
 legal procedure of the Anglo-Saxons. In their trials 
 circumstantial evidence was wholly disregarded. 
 Witnesses were only allowed to swear that the feet 
 
 1 Palfrave's English Commonwealth, p. 215. 
 
 a This is the opinion of Sir F. Palgrave. See English Common- 
 wealth, pp. 223-225.
 
 246 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 in dispute was or was not as represented by either 
 of the contending parties.' It is plain that it was 
 only such direct evidence as this that admitted of 
 being counted and summed up according to the sim- 
 ple rule of tale which we have supposed to govern 
 the whole proceeding. The weighing of circum- 
 stantial evidence would have demanded the exercise 
 of discretion and judgment, and consequently the 
 apparatus of a court in the modern sense, that is, 
 either a single judge, or (what would have been more 
 conformable to the spirit of the Gothic politj', and 
 what it eventually produced) a bench or box of 
 judges, consisting, it might be, of one to preside and 
 direct, and a number of others to deliberate, — our 
 present judge and jmy. There has been much 
 controversy as to whether the institution of the jury 
 existed among the Saxons, and it is a question upon 
 which legal antiquaries are still divided. But if the 
 view that has been taken of the principle of the Avhole 
 Saxon legal system be correct, it is evident that what 
 we now understand by a jury could have found no 
 part in that system, so long at least as it retained its 
 original and proper character unimpaired. A jury 
 could have been of no use, and would have had no 
 duties to discharge. The finding of the verdict was 
 not an affair of deliberation ; it was an affair of ob- 
 servation merely, and was sufificiently performed by 
 the general body of the persons present at the trial, 
 among whom there never could have been any doubt 
 or dispute on the subject. We shall afterwards 
 have occasion to show how the modern jury in all 
 probability arose out of the ancient mode of con- 
 ducting trials ; but the thing itself, like the name, is 
 imdoubtedly not Saxon but Norman, that is to say, 
 it did not come into use until the Norman times. 
 We will here only observe that it was not, properly 
 speaking, the increased complication of the relations 
 of society, and of the matters giving rise to legal 
 trials, that led to the abrogation of that ancient sj's- 
 tem, and the substitution of the system of the jury. 
 The fact is, that the jury and the ordeal could not 
 practically exist together. The principle of the 
 one mode of trial was altogether opposed to that of 
 the other. If the ordeal could have maintained it- 
 self against the adverse forces of another kind with 
 which it necessarily had to contend as society ad- 
 vanced, and which eventually brought about its 
 downfall, the increased complication of the affairs 
 of the community would not have overthrown it, or 
 introduced the substitute of the jury. If it could 
 have retained the support of public opinion, it would 
 have been sufficient for any state of society, how- 
 ever complex, and the jury never would have 
 supplanted it. 
 
 The ordeal was the soul of the original Anglo- 
 Saxon system of law ; and this has probably been 
 among all nations the first resort in the attempt to 
 substitute any other law for the law of mere force. 
 And although it is really not at all more equitable 
 than the law of force, it still has certain decided 
 advantages in other respects over the rule of mere 
 physical strength. It is the substitution of policy 
 
 for violence, and that is necessarily in itself a hu- 
 
 1 
 
 1 Palgrave's English Commonwealth, p. 232. I 
 
 manizing and productive change. The ordeal, also, 
 it is to be remembered, though in reality, if fairly 
 conducted, only a throwing of the dice, and leaving 
 of the decision to chance, — if collusively managed, 
 capable of being made an instrument of gi-eat injus- 
 tice and cruelty, — was believed, so long as it was in 
 use, to be nothing less than an appeal to heaven, 
 and to be always effective in securing the fairest and 
 wisest of all possible decisions. It was the decay 
 of this belief, and nothing else, that occasioned the 
 abolition of the ordeal. But even while it was still 
 legally recognized, and in constant application as the 
 final mode of determining a cause, an apprehension 
 was naturaily entertained that heaven might be of- 
 fended by such an appeal being lightly or too fre- 
 quently made to it ; and there was accordingly a 
 shrinking from the ordeal on the part of the law, 
 and an eftbrt to avoid it as far as possible by taking 
 refuge in another method of decision. The next 
 advance to a correct system was the admission of 
 the sort of evidence which we have found to have 
 been received in the first stage of the trial among 
 the Anglo-Saxons, and the treatment of it in the 
 manner that has been described. The resort to the 
 ordeal was in this way avoided altogether in many 
 cases ; for if the culprit or defendant failed in his 
 compurgation, or could not bring up a sufficient 
 " worth " of witnesses to balance the testimony 
 against him, he was not allowed his appeal to the 
 "judgment of God." This was a great step gained 
 in the progress towards the decision of the case 
 solely upon the evidence, and the weighing of the 
 evidence in the scales, not of the calculating faculty, 
 but of the judgment. 
 
 So that there may be said to be four, or, more 
 accurately, five distinct stages in the ascent up to 
 our present method of judicial practice, which is 
 the last of the five. Of those preceding, the first 
 is that in which all disputes are decided by mere 
 brute force, emancipated from all check or regula- 
 tion. The second is that in which disputes are 
 decided by such a proceeding as the wager of battle, 
 in which physical force is still left the umpire, but 
 is constrained to act under certain forms ; and some 
 contrivances in reference to the weapons and mode 
 of the encounter are also usually introduced, which 
 go in some degree to reduce any natural inequality 
 that may chance to exist between the combatants. 
 The third stage is that of the ordeal, or imaginary 
 appeal to Heaven ; by which the law of force is 
 first wholly put down, being supplanted by the law 
 of chance, taking, however, the appearance of a 
 criterion of a very different kind, and being be- 
 lieved to be the actual adjudication of Heaven. 
 And the fourth is that in which evidence first 
 makes its appearance, though as yet only in subor- 
 dination to the ordeal, which is still maintained in 
 its position of the supreme and finally determining 
 test. It would be very easy to show how each of 
 these modes of procedure is naturally evolved out 
 of the one immediately preceding it, as well as how 
 the last iiientioned leads in like manner to the in- 
 troduction of its proper successor, the mode that 
 now prevails.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 247 
 
 We are apt to assume that the hearing of evi- 
 dence is the natural mode of trying a cause, and 
 the earhest that would be adopted. But the science 
 of evidence, both in law and in all other depart- 
 ments of inquiry where we have to do with mere 
 probabilities, is late in springing up, and long in 
 being brought to perfection. The science of math- 
 ematical demonstration, where there is little com- 
 plexity and no uncertainty, may be early cultivated 
 and perfected ; but not so that of the evidence 
 either of human testimony or of any description of 
 what we may call merely indicative facts. The 
 ancient Greeks and Romans, with all their cultiva- 
 tion, seem to have had no distinct notions on the 
 subject of evidence in any department either of 
 physical or of moral inquiry. They philosophized, 
 indeed, eloquently and ingeniously both in morals 
 and in physics, but just as frequently without as 
 with any regard to the facts bearing upon the 
 question. In historical inquiries it is only in mod- 
 ern, and it may be said in very recent times, that 
 the science of evidence has been at all applied ; 
 the ancients do not seem to have dreamed of such 
 a thing ; and among ourselves, down to the seven- 
 teenth centuiy, it was equally unheard of and 
 unthought of. Camden was perhaps the first Eng- 
 lish writer in this department who doubted any- 
 thing that had been asserted by his predecessors ; 
 all our older chroniclers took in each the whole of 
 what had been told by those who had gone before 
 him as unresistingly as one sheet of paper after 
 another, in the process of printing, takes the im- 
 pression of the types on which it is spread. Look 
 at the boundless credulity of the numerous copiers 
 of the fables of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Bishop 
 Bale, or of those of Fordun and Boyce among the 
 Scottish vsTiters down even to Buchanan and Sir 
 George Mackenzie, the latter of whom flourished 
 at the time of the revolution. And what was the 
 inductive philosophy of Lord Bacon but a develop- 
 ment of the science of evidence as applicable to 
 physics ? Yet it was wholly new to the world 
 little more than two centuries ago. The science 
 of evidence is a study as foreign to the whole men- 
 tal dispositions and habits of men in an early state 
 of society as it is to those of children. Both equally 
 demand certainty in all their conclusions, and can- 
 not endure either to act or to believe merely upon 
 a favorable balance upon probabilities. All their 
 methods of investigation, therefore, aim at attaining 
 this certainty. A method which promises less is 
 despised and rejected. Hence anything else is 
 preferred to the patient and impartial examination 
 of facts ; anything that will produce an instant and 
 complete conviction, a supposed sign from Heaven 
 of any kind, some circumstance impressive enough 
 to occupy the imagination and exclude every other 
 view of the subject, or even, when nothing better 
 is to be had, mere authority and confident assertion. 
 This is the time of inexperience and of ready and 
 abundant faith. The science of evidence is the 
 offspring of doubt, as well as the parent of rational 
 belief and of truth. 
 
 To prevent objection or misapprehension, it may 
 
 be proper just to remark farther, that very possibly, 
 in point of fact, one mode of procedure may have 
 sometimes been partially introduced before another 
 was quite abandoned ; and it is probable, indeed, 
 that the changes were mostly brought about in this 
 way. But what is intended to be affirmed is, that 
 no two of the forms which we have distinguished 
 could ever be mixed up together in the trial of the 
 same cause ; for instance, the jury, as we have 
 said, could never be thus employed in association 
 with the ordeal. It was, as is weU known, not tiU 
 within the last twenty years that the old mode of 
 trial by judicial combat, or wager of battle, was 
 abolished ;' and Sir Francis Palgrave seems to 
 think that the right to the trial by wager of law 
 derived from the Anglo-Saxon compurgation, still 
 subsists. "At later periods," he observes, speak- 
 ing of the times after the conquest, " there were 
 many irregularities arising from the breaking down 
 of the Saxon jurisprudence ; parts and portions of 
 the ancient forms continued in use, though no 
 longer guided by their ancient and consistent prin- 
 ciples. ... In all personal actions, wager of law 
 was the regular mode of trial, until new proceed- 
 ings were instituted, which enabled the judges to 
 introduce the jury trial in its stead. But this silent 
 legislation has not destroyed the Anglo-Saxon trial ; 
 it is out of use, but not out of force ; and it may 
 perhaps contmue as a part of the theory of the law 
 until some adventurous individual shall again as- 
 tonish the court by obtaining his privilege ; and, 
 by thus informing the legislature of its existence, 
 ensure its abolition."^ 
 
 Absurd as the ordeal was, it had, in its suitable- 
 ness to the particular social condition of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, certain recommendations not only over the 
 still ruder system which it supplanted, but even as 
 compared with the more refined and intelligent 
 method to which, in due time, it was in its turn 
 to give way. That improved method would have 
 made demands which the age and the country were 
 altogether inadequate to meet. Neither juries nor 
 judges could then have been found to administer 
 justice throughout England according to that plan. 
 Even in our own day the experience of some of 
 the most enlightened countries in the world has 
 proved how difficult a thing it is to get the system 
 of trial by jury to work well among a people to 
 whom it is new. Among the Anglo-Saxons of the 
 ninth or tenth century there certainly was not a 
 sufficiently general diffusion of intelligence either 
 to supply competent judges and juries, or to make 
 their decisions be respected if they could have 
 been found. In the state of society that then ex- 
 isted, it would not have answered for the law to 
 profess to give its decisions on anything like doubt- 
 ful presumptions. The simple understandings of 
 
 I " The general law of the land," said Lord EUenborough, in the 
 case of Ashford against Thornton, argued before the Court of King's 
 Bench, in April, 1818, which led to the abolition, "is in favor of the 
 wager of battle, and it is our duty to pronounce the law as it is, and 
 not as we may wish it to be. Whatever prejudices, therefore, may 
 justly exist against this mode of trial, still, as it is the law of the land, 
 the court must pronounce judgment for it." — Barnewall and Alderson'g 
 Reports, i. 460. 
 
 3 English Commonwealth, p. 263
 
 248 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 the men of that time were to be satisfied with 
 nothing less than absolute certainty in such mat- 
 ters. It would have been strange if they had been 
 satisfied with less, so long as they believed that 
 there was such a ready and effective mode as the 
 ordeal of securing that certainty. While they 
 retained their faith in the ordeal, the establishment 
 of any fair plan of deciding causes by evidence 
 submitted to the unshackled judgment of a jury 
 was impossible. But the ordeal, so long as the 
 popular faith in it subsisted, answered the purpose 
 of putting an end to differences, and keeping men 
 under subjection to the law, at least as well as a 
 more equitable and more rational mode of judicial 
 decision could have done. There is reason to 
 believe, also, that on the whole its inherent injus- 
 tice was rather mitigated than otherwise by the art 
 and management with which the process was no 
 doubt usually conducted. 
 
 The principle that has been pointed out as that 
 of the legal procedure of the Anglo-Saxons, it may 
 be observed in conclusion, ran through the whole 
 course of the law and its administration. From 
 the first step that could be taken for the trial of a 
 case down to its final disposal, everything was reg- 
 ulated upon this principle, and arranged with a 
 view to its application ; no room was left for any 
 exercise of discretion on the part of the court ; the 
 human judgment was never appealed to or its exer- 
 cise permitted ; nothing was trusted to the fallibility 
 of that arbiter ; the element of mere probability 
 was excluded as rigorously as it is fi"om the dem- 
 onstrations of the mathematics. That this system 
 might be carried fully out, not only was a certain 
 value put by the law upon every individual, which 
 determined the amount at which his testimony was 
 to be rated when he appeared as a witness, and the 
 damages he could claim as a plaintiff, and those he 
 could be called upon to pay as a defendant ; every 
 distinct limb and part of the body had also its were, 
 or legal worth. Thus, in the oldest laws, a leg 
 was valued at fifty shillings, the little finger at 
 eleven, the great toe at ten, a front tooth at six, an 
 eye tooth at four, a back tooth at one, and a nail 
 of the finger at the same price. In this way every 
 personal injury that could be received hnd its fixed 
 compensation. After the trial had been gone 
 through, therefore, the sentence or the assessment 
 of damages was as much a matter of course as all 
 
 the rest of the procedure had been : here, also, the 
 law might be said to go upon its own feet, and to do 
 all but execute itself. 
 
 Besides the fines, however, either to the injured 
 individual or to the state, with which most delin- 
 quencies were punished, capital punishments were 
 also in use among the Anglo-Saxons in certain 
 cases. Among the " boteles" crimes, as they were 
 called, or those for which the life of the convict 
 was always taken, were treason, military desertion, 
 open theft, housebreaking, and premeditated mur- 
 der.' Summary punishment might aho be inflicted 
 by any private hand upon criminals taken in open 
 delict. " When a capital offence," sjiys Sir Fran- 
 cis Palgrave, " was flagrant, committed in open 
 day, and under such circumstances as to render 
 the act capable of instant and indisputable proof, no 
 further trial was required ; no evidence was dis- 
 cussed, and no defence was allowed. Mercy was 
 never extended to the outlaw ; he was said to bear 
 a wolfs head, and, like the wild beast to whom he 
 was compared, he was slain whenever he ap- 
 proached the haunts of human-kind ; every hand 
 might be raised to strike him, none to revenge his 
 fiill. If a thief was apprehended »hond-habend' and 
 ' back-barend,' or in actual possession of the spoil, 
 he was hanged or decapitated by his pursuers with- 
 out respite or delay. Similar proceedings took 
 place with respect to the murderer. If he was 
 found standing near the corpse with the bloody 
 weapon in his grasp, no witnesses could be heard for 
 the purpose of explaining away a token, which, ac- 
 cording to the average of human probability, was 
 necessarily the accompaniment of the transgres- 
 sion A sti-anger lurking in the woods, who 
 
 did not blow his horn or otherwise proclaim that 
 he was in disti-ess and anxiety, was to be judged as 
 a thief, though no other indication of crime could 
 be alleged against him."* It is scarcely necessary 
 to observe that, notwithstanding some of the ex- 
 pressions made use of in this statement, there 
 was really no procedure here Uj>on mere sus- 
 picion or probability. For a man to endeavor to 
 conceal himself in the woods, for instance, was, 
 probably for veiy good reasons, denounced by the 
 law as in itself a crime ; and in the case of the man 
 found beside the newly-murdered body with the 
 
 1 Prilgrave's English Commonwealth, pp. 204, 205. 
 ' 2 Turner's Anglo-Saxons, ii. 510. 
 
 Saxon Flagellation.— From the Harleian MS. 603.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 249 
 
 deadly weapon in his hand, the presumption of his 
 guilt, though really only a probability, was consid- 
 ered to amount to absolute certainty. Rigidly 
 speaking, indeed, the utmost attainable certainty in 
 such matters is only a strong probability. Even 
 the most direct evidence does not afford anything 
 more. 
 
 Among the legal punishments inflicted by the 
 
 Anglo-Saxon laws, besides fines and death, are 
 found imprisonment, outlawry, banishment, slave- 
 ry, transportation, whipping, branding, the pillory, 
 amputation of limb, mutilation of the nose, ears, 
 and lips, plucking out of the eyes, and tearing 
 off the hair. Their common capital punishment 
 seems to have been hanging, and in some instances 
 stoning. 
 
 Saxon Whipping akd Branding. — From the Cotton MS. Claud. B. iv.
 
 250 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book TI. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 RITAIN, as an island, 
 and one of the largest 
 in the world, as well as 
 from its nearness to the 
 continent of Europe, 
 would seem to have 
 been intended by nature 
 for the residence of a 
 navigating and commer- 
 cial people, and it might 
 be supposed that any 
 people who had obtained 
 the occupation of it would be speedily turned to 
 navigation and commerce by the natural temptatiorts 
 and advantages of their position. The political 
 state of a country, however, and its social circum- 
 stances generally, as well as the condition of the 
 rest of the world and the spirit of the time, may 
 all be so unfavorable as long effectually to coun- 
 teract these advantages of geographical position, 
 and even the genius and the old habits of the 
 people themselves. 
 
 Of the successive nations that obtained posses- 
 sion of the south of Britain within the period of au- 
 thentic history, the Gallic colonists of the time of 
 Caesar were in too early a stage of civilization to 
 hold any considerable intercourse with the rest of 
 the world ; and the Romans who succeeded them, 
 although they necessarily maintained a certain con- 
 nexion both with the central and other parts of the 
 extended empire to which they belonged, were of a 
 stock that had always shown itself anti-commercial 
 in genius and policy. But the Saxons, although 
 they had not been in circumstances to turn their 
 skill in navigation to commercial purposes, had long 
 before their conquest of our island been accustomed 
 to roam the seas, and were famous for their naval 
 enterprises. We read of predatory warfare carried 
 on by the different Germanic nations in small and 
 light vessels on rivers, and even along the adjacent 
 parts of the sea-coast, so early as before the middle 
 of the first century. In the year 47, as we learn 
 from Tacitus, the Chauci, dwelling along the Ba- 
 tavian coast, ravaged in this manner the neighbor- 
 ing coast of Gaul, under the conduct of their coun- 
 tryman Gannascus, who had long served in the 
 Roman armies.' It is probable that it was in the 
 imperial service Gannascus acquired his knowledge 
 of naval warfare, or at least the general military 
 education which fitted him to train and command 
 the Chauci in this expedition. In little more than 
 twentj' years after this we find the Roman fleet on 
 the Rhine partly manned by Batavians,*^ and even a 
 Batavian fleet under the command of Paulus Civilis, 
 another individual of that nation who had been edu- 
 
 > Tac. Annal. xi. 18. 
 
 a Ibid. iii. 16. 
 
 cated in the Roman armies, giving battle to the 
 naval forces of the empire.' In the course of the 
 next two hundred years the German nations gene- 
 rally appear to have improved upon the insti'uction 
 and experience thus gained ; and both the Saxons 
 and others became distinguished for their familiarity 
 with the sea and for their naval exploits. About 
 the year 240 the union under the name of Franks, 
 or freemen, of the various tribes of the Lower 
 Rhine and the Weser, laid the foundation for those 
 more extensive predatory incursions upon the neigh- 
 boring countries, both by sea and land, by which the 
 barbarians of the northwest first assisted those of 
 the northeast in harassing and enfeebhng the Roman 
 empire, and afterwards secured then* share in its 
 division. One remarkable incident has generally 
 been noted as having given a great impulse to these 
 expeditions, what Gibbon has called " the successful 
 rashness" of a party of Franks that had been re- 
 moved by the Emperor Probus from their native 
 settlements to the banks of the Euxine. " A fleet," 
 to give the story as he tells it, "stationed in one of 
 the harbors of the Euxine, fell into the hands of the 
 Franks; and they resolved, through unknown seas, 
 to explore their way from the mouth of the Phasia 
 to that of the Rhine. They easily escaped through 
 the Bosphorus and the Hellespont, and, cruising 
 along the Mediterranean, indulged their appetite 
 for revenge and plunder, by frequent descents on 
 the unsuspecting shores of Asia, Greece, and Africa. 
 The opulent city of Syracuse, in whose port the 
 navies of Athens and Carthage had formerly been 
 sunk, were sacked by a handful of barbarians, who 
 massacred the gi'eatest part of the ti-embling inhab- 
 itants. From the island of Sicily the Franks pro- 
 ceeded to the Columns of Hercules, trusted them- 
 selves to the ocean, coasted round Spain and Gaul, 
 and steering their triumphant course through the 
 British Chemnel, at length finished their surprising 
 voyage by lauding in safety on the Batavian or Fri- 
 sian shores. The example of their success, instruct- 
 ing their countrj^men to conceive the advantages and 
 to despise the dangers of the sea, pointed out to their 
 enterprising spirit a new road to wealth and glory." 
 This event happened about the year 280. Im- 
 mediately after this time we read of the commence- 
 ment of ravages on the coasts of Gaul, of Belgium, 
 and of Britain, by assailants who are called Germans 
 by Aurelius Victor, and Saxons by Eutropius. They 
 appear to have been a mixture of Franks and Saxons, 
 which latter name ere long began to be also distin- 
 guished as that of another military confederacy 
 of the Germanic nations not less powerful than 
 the Franks. In maritime affairs, indeed, the Sax- 
 ons soon took the lead ; and while the Franks 
 1 Tac. Annal. v. 23.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 251 
 
 pushed their conquests by land, the Saxon name 
 became a terror to all the neighboring sea-coasts. 
 Yet their marine was still of the rudest description. 
 " If the fact," says Gibbon, " were not established 
 by the most unquestionable evidence, we should 
 appear to abuse the credulity of our readers by the 
 description of the vessels in which the Saxon pi- 
 rates ventured to sport in the waves of the German 
 Ocean, the British Channel, and the Bay of Biscay. 
 The keel of their large flat-bottomed boats was 
 framed of light timber, but the sides and upper 
 works consisted only of wicker, with a covering of 
 sti'ong hides. . . . But the daring spirit of the pirates 
 braved the perils both of the sea and of the shore : 
 their skill was confirmed by the habits of enter- 
 prise ; the meanest of their mariners was alike ca- 
 pable of handhng an oar, of rearing a sail, or of con- 
 ducting a vessel ; and the Saxons rejoiced in the 
 appearance of a tempest, which concealed their 
 design and dispersed the fleets of the enemy." 
 The Romans now found it necessary to fit out and 
 maintain a fleet expressly for the protection of the 
 coasts of Britain and Gaul. The command of this 
 armament, which was stationed in the harbor of 
 Boulogne, was given, as has been related in the 
 preceding Book, to Carausius.^ His revolt soon 
 after, and his estabhshment of an empire for him- 
 self in Britain, where he endeavored to maintain 
 his power by alliances with those very nations of 
 the north whom he had been appointed to repress, 
 and by enlisting the barbarians both among his land 
 and sea forces, was another event in the highest 
 degree favorable to the progress of the Saxons in 
 navigation and naval warfare. It was a new lesson 
 to them both in ship-building and in tactics, which 
 must have made their boldness and hardihood much 
 more formidable than ever. The empire of Carau- 
 sius had lasted for seven years, when it was over- 
 thrown by his death in 294. 
 
 In the next century we find the Saxons almost 
 the acknowledged masters of the northern seas, and 
 so constantly infesting Britain that the east coast of 
 the island had come to be known by the name of 
 the Saxon coast, and was strongly fortified, and put 
 under the charge of a warden, whose especial duty 
 it was to repel their assaults. Their defeat by 
 Theodosius, in the neighborhood of the Orkney 
 Islands, in 368, for which he obtained the surname 
 of Saxonicus, was not accomphshed till the barbari- 
 ans had sustained several encounters with the Ro- 
 man fleet; and although it seems to have deterred 
 them for a long time after from repeating their des- 
 cents upon Britain, and although, after the exam- 
 ple of the Franks, they were now also beginning to 
 employ their strength more than formerly in mili- 
 tary operations by land, they certainly did not aban- 
 don the field of their elder renown. The keels of 
 Hengist and Horsa were cruising in the British 
 Channel when they received the invitation of Vor- 
 tigern in 449; and it was their command of the 
 seas that, by enabling them to maintain all along a 
 free communication with the continent, and also to 
 make their descents upon the island at the most 
 
 1 See ante, p. 48. 
 
 advantageous points, chiefly contributed to gain for 
 the Saxons, Angles, and Jutes, the possession of 
 Britain. 
 
 These new settlers, therefore, the fathers of the 
 future population of the country, and the founders 
 of its political institutions and its social state, were 
 by long use a thoroughly navigating race, and having 
 obtained their island stronghold, they would natu- 
 rally, it might be thought, proceed both to fortify it 
 by securing the dominion of the surrounding seas, 
 and to make it the centre of a great commercial 
 empire. But although all this was to come to pass 
 in process of time, nothing of the kind happened in 
 the first instance ; and the Saxons, after their set- 
 tlement in Britain, completely neglected the sea, 
 now more truly their proper element than ever, for 
 so long a period, that when they did at last apply 
 themselves again to maritime affairs, their ancient 
 skill and renown in that field of enterprise must have 
 been a mere tradition, if it was so much as remem- 
 bered among ttem at all, and could have lent no aid 
 in directing or even in exciting their new eft'orts. 
 It was not till the reign of Alfred, towards the end 
 of the ninth century, that the Saxons of England 
 appear even to have thought of building a ship, at 
 least for war ; and it may be doubted if before that 
 time they had even any trading vessels of their own. 
 Ever since their settlement in Britain they seem 
 to have wholly abandoned the sea to their kindred 
 who remained in their native seats in the north of 
 Germany and around the Baltic, — the Northmen or 
 Danes, by whom they were destined to be succeed- 
 ed in their career of rapine and conquest. 
 
 This latter race of sea-rovers had adopted a policy 
 different from that which had been followed both by 
 the Franks and the Saxons. These two nations, or 
 rather great confederacies of various nations, al- 
 though they had both first made themselves formi- 
 dable at sea, had, as we have seen, successively 
 abandoned that field of adventure as soon as they 
 had entered upon the course of land conquest, or at 
 least as soon as they had secured the possession the 
 first of Gaul, the second of Britain, and had estab- 
 lished their Gothic sovereignties in these fair pro- 
 vinces of the former western empire. But the 
 Danes, who were also a great confederacy, — the 
 several Scandinavian nations of the Danes, the 
 Swedes, and the Norwegians, being all compre- 
 hended under that name, — continued to seek plun- 
 der and glory on the waters long after they had 
 founded a multitude of kingdoms on shore. These, 
 however, were not kingdoms carved, like the pos- 
 sessions of the Franks and Saxons, out of the rich 
 and cultivated Roman territory, but were all con- 
 fined to the bleak and barbarous coasts of the Baltic 
 and the neighboring seas, where the Romans had 
 never been. Down to the close of the eighth cen- 
 tury, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway were each 
 parceled out into numerous independent principal- 
 ities, the chiefs of all of which were at the same 
 time also either sea-kings themselves, or more usu- 
 ally were the fathers or elder brothers of the bold 
 piratical captains who rejoiced in that designation ; 
 the custom being for the younger sons of the royal
 
 252 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 house tx) be sent to seek their fortune on the ocean, 
 while the eldest was kept at home to inherit his 
 ancestral throne. But the class of sae-konungen, 
 or sea-kings, otherwise called vikingr, which is sup- 
 posed to mean kings of the bays, where they had 
 their head stations, was very numerous, and com- 
 prehended many individuals who were not of royal 
 extraction. Piracy was the common resource of 
 the younger sons of all the best families among these 
 Scandinavian nations ; and the sea was regarded as 
 a field whereon a bold adventurer might rear for 
 himself a fabric both of wealth and dominion almost 
 as stable as could be founded on the land. In the 
 course of the ninth century in all the three coun- 
 tries central sovereignties had arisen, and absorbed 
 or reduced to dependence the rest of the chieftain- 
 ships ; but this change did not for some time affect 
 the free movements of the vikingr. They continued 
 as heretofore to maintain their independence on their 
 own element. The new state of things in the north 
 only had the effect of giving a new direction to their 
 enterprises. Formerly the natural prey of the sea- 
 kings of the Baltic had been the territories of the 
 petty land-sovereigns along the coasts of that sea ; 
 for their common origin formed no general or per- 
 manent bond between the two classes, in circum- 
 stances so nearly resembling those under which the 
 various descriptions of wild beasts are thrown to- 
 gether in a forest. But now that something of the 
 strength of union and consohdation had been ac- 
 quired by the northern kingdoms, they had become 
 less easily assailable ; and the captains of the pirat- 
 ical armaments began to look out for adventures and 
 plunder farther from home. The coasts of England, 
 of ScotLand, of Ireland, and of France, became 
 henceforth the chief scenes of their ravages. Nor 
 had civilization yet advanced so far in any of the 
 Scandinavian countries as to discountenance these 
 expeditions. On the contrary, the Danish, Nor- 
 wegian, and Swedish kings were no doubt well 
 pleased to see their natural enemies and the most 
 turbulent spirits among their subjects thus finding 
 occupation elsewhere ; and as for the popular feel- 
 ing on the subject, the old national custom of roam- 
 ing the seas was still universally held to be among 
 the most honorable of employments. Navigation 
 can be cherished and promoted only by commerce 
 or by war ; it never has flourished in the absence of 
 the former except under the nourishment and sup- 
 port afforded by the latter. It was the want of both 
 war and commerce that brought about its decay and 
 extinction among the Franks and Saxons, after their 
 conquests of Gaul and Britain ; it was preserved 
 among the Danes through the habits and necessities 
 of that predatory life upon which they were thrown 
 for some centuries by the peculiar circumstances in 
 which they were placed. The power of this third 
 northern confederacy grew up during a period when 
 the spirit of foreign conquest and settlement, gen- 
 erated among the barbarous nations by the dismem- 
 berment of the Roman empire, was still in full vigor, 
 but when the means of satisfying it had been taken 
 away in consequence of the previous occupation of 
 Gaul, of Britain, of Spain, and of all the other Roman 
 
 provinces, by those whose fortune it had been to be 
 earlier in the movement. The Danes were in this 
 way left to the piratical maritime warfare in which 
 they soon became so distinguished ; it was the nat- 
 ural result of the ambition of foreign conquest 
 checked by the want of any territory lying open 
 for them to invade and overi-un. Still this was in 
 its nature only an intermediate and temporary re- 
 source. The instinct of aggression, which it could 
 only imperfectly gratify, it yet fostered, and was 
 constantly strengthening and arming with new 
 power for the full attainment of what it sought. 
 The Danes, under this disciphne, were becoming 
 every day more warlike and formidable, and more 
 capable of achieving foreign conquests, whenever 
 they should make the attempt. On the other hand, 
 the Franks and Saxons, whom they would have to 
 drive before them, were, in the unassailed security 
 of their rich and ample settlements, gradually losing 
 the use of war and the power of defending the pos- 
 sessions they had gained. This was the state of 
 circumstances when the Danes commenced, in the 
 latter part of the eighth century, their descents 
 upon the coasts of France, England, Scotland, and 
 Ireland. These Northmen were now merely re- 
 peating what had been done by their kindred, the 
 Franks and Saxons, three or four centuries before. 
 They, also, from mere plundering incursions, with 
 which they had hitherto satisfied themselves, were 
 about to rise in their turn to the grander operations 
 of invasion, conquest, and colonization, now that 
 occasion presented itself, and called them to that 
 career. This was the proper consummation of their 
 system of sea-kingship ; the ti"ue end and develop- 
 ment of their long course of piracy and desultory 
 warfare. That was but the impatient restlessness 
 of the animating passion repelled, baffled, and in 
 some sort imprisoned ; this was its free and natural 
 action. The new path of enterprise, accordingly, 
 immediately attracted to itself all the disposable 
 courage, activity, and resources of the North. It 
 was not left to the sea-kings alone ; the most po- 
 tent of those of the land joined the great national 
 movement, Avhich promised to add new realms to 
 those they already possessed, or to enable them to 
 exchange their niggardly ancestral islets and strips 
 of sea-coast for broader domains in a sunnier clime. 
 By means of these expeditions the pressure and 
 uneasiness occasioned by the opposition between 
 the old piratical system and the new order of things 
 that was now growing up in the Scandinavian king- 
 doms, were at once relieved ; and while occupation 
 and settlements were found for the more active and 
 adventurous who chose to abandon their native 
 country, more room was also made, and more quiet 
 secured, for those that remained behind. 
 
 By these bold sea-captains and their crews was 
 a great part of England taken possession of and 
 occupied ; and thus, a second time, did the country 
 receive an accession of the kind of population most 
 appropriate to it as an island — a race of a navigating 
 spirit and habits. The Normans also, we may an- 
 ticipate so far as just to remark, were, before they 
 won their settlements here and in France, pirates
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 253 
 
 as well as the Danes and the Saxons ; in fact they 
 were merely a division of the Danish vikingr and 
 their companies. So that of the several races that 
 were eventually mingled together to form the Eng- 
 lish people, no one had to be gradually turned to- 
 wards maritime affairs by the force of the new cir- 
 cumstances in the midst of which it was placed ; 
 all brought along with them an old familiarity with 
 the sea, on which they had in fact lived, and con- 
 quered, and maintained dominion, before they had 
 ever made good any footing for themselves upon 
 land. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, however, we find each 
 race, as soon as it has established itself in the coun- 
 tiy, almost wholly abandoning the former theatre 
 of its exploits, and attaching itself to the land as 
 exclusively as if the sea had been left a thousand 
 miles behind. We cannot discover that either the 
 previous navigating habits of the Saxons and Danes 
 who successively settled in Britain, or the natural 
 advantages of their new position, prompted them 
 to any considerable efforts of commercial enter- 
 prise, after they had lost the motive which had 
 originally impelled them to the sea. Nay, as we 
 have already observed, the ships in which, and 
 through which, they had made their conquests, 
 were abandoned by them even as instruments of 
 protection; they had served their turn in aggressive 
 warfare, but in the defensive warfare that followed 
 their employment was not thought of, till after long 
 and disastrous experience of the insufificiency of 
 other military means. Such being the case, we 
 need not wonder that commercial navigation was 
 neglected. The navigating spirit, in fact, will not 
 of itself create commerce ; it appears to have been 
 usually rather the commercial spirit that has taught 
 a people navigation, where it has not been taught 
 by war ; and even war does not teach it in the 
 effective manner that commerce does, as we may 
 see at once by comparing the Saxons or the Danes 
 with the Phenicians. The latter had no doubt been 
 a commercial long before they became a navigating, 
 a discovering, a colonizing, and a civilizing people. 
 In the same manner it is their commercial habits, 
 growing out of their permanent geographical posi- 
 tion, and not their use and wont of maritime war- 
 fare, that has made the English, the descendants 
 of these old Saxons and Danes, the great lords of 
 the sea, planters of nations, and diffusers of civiliza- 
 tion in the modern world. 
 
 But a power like this can only grow up under a 
 favorable state of circumstances in the world gener- 
 ally, or throughout a large portion of it. The com- 
 mercial empire of the ancient Phenicians was reared 
 during the most flourishing period of the early civ- 
 ilization of the East; the commercial empire of 
 modern Britain has in like manner arisen in the 
 midst of the later civilization of the West. In the 
 rude and turbulent ages that followed the overthrow 
 of the Roman power in Europe, the existence of 
 an extensive commerce in any hands was impossi- 
 ble. Almost continual wars everywhere, either 
 between one people and anothei-, or between two 
 factions of the same people, or where there was 
 
 any temporary relaxation of war, the still more 
 brutifying effects of misgovernment and oppression, 
 left no time, no inclination, and no means for carry- 
 ing on any considerable commerce. The great 
 mass of the people were in all countries sunk in 
 ignorance and in poverty ; their miserable condition 
 hardly permitted them to aspire after the enjoy- 
 ment of anything beyond the absolute necessaries 
 of existence ; they were untaught in those arts and 
 processes of industry by which commerce is fed ; 
 there had been little or no accumulation of capital, 
 without which there can be no extensive commerce, 
 nor any other species of undertaking that looks 
 much beyond the passing day. It was only by slow 
 degrees that Europe emerged out of this condition, 
 and that the beginnings of modern commerce were 
 nurtured into strength and stability. 
 
 We shall now notice the most interesting of the 
 few facts that have been preserved relating to the 
 foreign trade carried on by the Anglo-Saxons, in 
 their chronological order. The first distinct notice 
 which we have upon the subject is not of earlier 
 date than the close of the eighth century. At this 
 time, it appears that some English commodities 
 were carried abroad, and probably some of those of 
 the continent brought to this country, by the de- 
 votees who went on pilgi'image to Rome, or by per- 
 sons who found it convenient to make profession of 
 being so engaged. It is not to be supposed that 
 these pilgrimages opened the first commercial in- 
 tercourse between England and the continent ; but 
 they undoubtedly made the communication much 
 more frequent than it had been before. The prac- 
 tice established by the Romans, of exacting certain 
 payments at each seaport, on the embarkation and 
 landing of goods, appears to have been retained in 
 all the new kingdoms formed out of the western 
 empire ; and their amount probably long remained 
 nearly the same that had been paid under the im- 
 perial regime. Hence the name of customs, or 
 some equivalent term, by which they were called, 
 as if they had been dues universally and immemo- 
 rially demanded. There is a letter still extant, from 
 the French Emperor Charlemagne to OfFa, King 
 of Mercia, and Bretwalda, which seems to have 
 been the result of a negotiation between the two 
 sovereigns, respecting the exaction of these duties 
 in the case of the English pilgrims traveling to 
 Rome. The document must be assigned to the 
 year 795, in which Ofl['a died, at the latest ; and it 
 may be regarded as the earhest commercial treaty 
 on record, or perhaps that ever was entered into, 
 between England and any other country. It runs 
 as follows : — " Charles, by the grace of God, King 
 of the Franks and Lombards, and patrician of the 
 Romans, to our venerable and most dear brother, 
 Offa, King of the Mercians, gi-eeting. First, we 
 give thanks to Almighty God, for the sincere Cath- 
 olic faith which we see so laudably expressed in 
 your letters. Concerning the strangers, who, for 
 the love of God and the salvation of their souls, wish 
 to repair to the thresholds of the blessed apostles, 
 let them travel in peace without any trouble ; nev- 
 ertheless, if any are found among them not in the
 
 254 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boor II. 
 
 Saxon Ships. — From an Engraving in Strntt's Chronicle of England, made up from various Saxon illuminations. 
 
 service of religion, but in the pursuit of gain, let 
 them pay the established duties at the proper places. 
 We also will that merchants shall liave lawful pro- 
 tection in our kingdom according to our command ; 
 and if thej' are in any place unjustly aggrieved, let 
 them apply to us or our judges, and we shall take 
 rare that ample justice be done to them." There 
 U.more of the letter, which it is unnecessaiy to 
 quote. We gather from it that the profession of 
 pilgrimage had already been taken advantage of as 
 a cloak for smuggling ; and, no doubt, in this way 
 the practice gave an impulse to ti-ade. Even the 
 smuggler is sometimes of use ; he may be the means 
 of planting a traffic which would not have grown 
 up without his assistance, and which, of however 
 objectionable a character originally, may eventually 
 assume a legitimate form, and attain to a great value 
 and importance. It is conjectured that articles in 
 gold and silver were probably the principal com- 
 modities in which these traders from England dealt, 
 who thus put on the guise of pilgrims, with the view 
 of cheating the custom-house of its dues. Such 
 articles, being of small bulk, would be easily con- 
 cealed in a traveler's baggage ; and it appears that 
 even at this early age the English works in gold 
 and silver were famous over the continent.' Al- 
 ready, it may be noted, there seem to have been 
 Jews resident in England and even in the northern 
 kingdom of Northumberland; for among the Ex- 
 cerpts of Archbishop Egbert of York— which must 
 have been compiled between the years 735 and 
 766 — we find a transcript of a foreign canon, pro- 
 hibiting Christians fi-om imitating the manners of 
 that people, flr partaking of their feasts. The Jews 
 have been the introducers or chief encouragers of 
 foreign commerce, especially in jewelry, articles 
 made of the precious metals, and other such luxu- 
 ries, in most of the countries of modern Europe. 
 
 ' Macphersoii's Annals of Commerce, i. 248. 
 
 From this date the history of Anglo-Saxon com- 
 merce is again nearly a blank till we come down to 
 the reign of Alfred. Of this illustrious prince, it 
 is recorded in relation to the present subject, that 
 he cultivated an intercourse with distant countries, 
 in which he seems to have had in view the exten- 
 sion of commerce as well as other objects. He 
 appears to have kept up a frequent communication 
 with Rome ; and his biographer Asser states, that 
 he also corresponded with Abel, the patriarch of 
 Jerusalem, who sent him several valuable presents 
 of oriental commodities. His embassy to the Chris- 
 tians in India is mentioned, not only by Malmesbury 
 and other authorities of the next age, but by the 
 contemporaiy compiler of the Saxon Chronicle, who 
 says that Bishop Swithelm made his way to St. 
 Thomas, and returned in safety. Malmesbury gives 
 Sighelm as the name of the adventurous bishop of 
 Shireburn, and relates that he brought back fi-om 
 India aromatic liquors and splendid jewels; some 
 of the latter, Malmesbury says, were still remain- 
 ing in the ti-easury of his church when he wrote, 
 in the twelfth century. Sighelm is stated to have 
 left England in the year 883, and to have gone in 
 the first instance to Rome, from which he probably 
 sailed up the Mediterranean to Alexandria, and then 
 made his way by Bassora to the Malabar coast, 
 where it is certain that a colony of Syrian Chris- 
 tians, who regarded St. Thomas as their apostle, 
 were settled from a very early period. Asser re- 
 lates that he received, on one occasion, as a pre- 
 sent from Alfred, a robe of silk, and as much in- 
 cense as a strong man could carry : these precious 
 commodities must have been obtained from the 
 East. 
 
 But the interest which Alfi*ed took in hearing of 
 remote parts of the earth is most distinctly shown 
 in the accounts he has himself given us of the two 
 voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan ; the first to the
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 255 
 
 North seas, the second towards the east of the Bal- 
 tic. These voyages were related to Alfred by the 
 navigators themselves ; and he has inserted what 
 they told him in his Saxon translation of the Latin 
 geography of Orosius. It has been observed that 
 Alfred " obtained from Ohthere and Wulfstan such 
 information of the Baltic Sea with the adjacent 
 countries, as far exceeded that of professed geog- 
 raphers, either before or after his time, till the 
 route of Ohthere was retraced in the year 1553 by 
 the English navigator Chancellor, who was supposed 
 the original discoverer of the northern passage to 
 Russia."* Ohthere rounded the North Cape, and 
 peneti-ated into the White Sea, from which he 
 ascended a great river, which must have been the 
 Dwina, on which Archangel now stands. Wulfstan 
 navigated the Baltic as far as to the land of the 
 Estum, the present Prussia. " This Eastland," says 
 his narrative, " is very large, and there be a great 
 many towns, and in every town there is a king; 
 and there is a gi'eat quantity of honey and fish. The 
 king and the richest men drink mare's milk, and 
 the poor and the slaves drink mead. There be 
 very many battles between them. There is no ale 
 brewed amid the Estum, but there is mead enough." 
 Pytheas had remarked the same abundance of honey 
 and use of mead, among the people of this coast, 
 twelve centuries before. 
 
 It is one of Alfred's many great merits and titles 
 to perpetual and gi-ateful remembrance, that he 
 first called into action, and gave proof of what could 
 be achieved by the natural right arm of England — 
 her maritime sti-ength. The year 887, the sixth 
 of his reign, while he was engaged in that first 
 struggle with the northern invaders which ended 
 80 disastrously, is marked as the year in which he 
 fitted out his first few ships. Twenty years later, 
 in his days of prosperity and power, he built a much 
 larger fleet, and introduced certain important im- 
 provements in the form of the vessels, which, whe- 
 ther suggested by his own inventive sagacity, or 
 borrowed, as it has been conjectured they might 
 have been, fi'oni the galleys then used in the Medi- 
 terranean, of which he had obtained models, he 
 showed at least his usual active and inquisitive spirit 
 in searching after, and his good sense in adopting. 
 The Saxon chronicler says that Alfred's ships were 
 neither like those of the Danes nor those of the 
 Frisians, but were made in a fashion which he him- 
 self thought would be more serviceable than that of 
 either. They were twice as long as the aescas, as 
 they were called, of the Northmen, and also higher 
 than theirs ; in sailing, they were swifter and less 
 unsteady. Some of them had sixty oars, some 
 more. Yet, notwithstandiag the statements of some 
 later writers, we have no authentic account of any 
 attempt by Alfred to create an Enghsh mercantile 
 marine. One of his laws only shows that merchant 
 ships sometimes arrived in England in those days; 
 and even this regulation regards not the cargoes of 
 these foreign vessels, but the passengers. The 
 only notice that has been found of the export of 
 any English commodity in the time of Alfred, is 
 
 1 Macpherson's Commerce, i. 263. 
 
 the mention of some of the famous native breed of 
 dogs having been sent as a present to Folk, Arch- 
 bishop of Rheims, in France.* 
 
 By far the most remarkable and significant event 
 in the whole history of Anglo-Saxon commerce, is 
 the law passed in the reign of King Athelstan, in 
 the second quarter of the tenth century, by which 
 it was enacted that every merchant who should 
 have made three voyages over the sea with a ship 
 and cargo of his own, should have the rank of a 
 thane or nobleman. The liberality of this law has 
 usually been ascribed exclusively to the enlightened 
 judgment of Athelstan ; but we are entitled to pre- 
 sume that it must have been also in some degree in 
 accordance with the general feeling of the country ; 
 for, not to mention that it must have been passed 
 with the consent of the witenagemot, it is unhkely 
 that so able and prudent, as well as popular a mon- 
 arch as Athelstan, would have attempted in regard 
 to such a matter to do violence to public opinion, 
 without the acquiescence and support of which the 
 measure could have had little efficacy or success. 
 We may take this decree confemng the honors of 
 nobihty upon commerce, therefore, as testifying 
 not only to the liberality and wisdom of Athelstan, 
 but also to the estimation in which commerce had 
 already come to be held among the English people. 
 It may be regarded as a proof that the Anglo-Sax- 
 ons had never entertained much of that prejudice 
 against the pursuits of ti-ade, which we find so 
 strongly manifested during the middle* ages, wher- 
 ever the political and social institutions were mould- 
 ed upon, and fully animated by the spirit of the 
 feudal system. But it is especially interesting in 
 reference to our present subject, as an indication 
 of the growing importance of English commerce 
 and of the public sense of that importance. From 
 this time English fleets and ships of war come to 
 be frequently mentioned. Athelstan assisted his 
 nephew, Louis IV. of France, in his contest with 
 the Emperor Otho, by sending a fleet to the coast 
 of Flanders, to ravage the emperor's territories in 
 that quarter. This was done in conformity with a 
 treaty of mutual defence, which is memorable as 
 the first of the kind ever entered into between the 
 two kingdoms. Edgar's navy, and also that which 
 Ethelred fitted out by a tax upon all the lands in 
 the kingdom to repel the Danes, make a gi-eat figure 
 in the history of the next half century. Some ac- 
 counts make Edgar's fleet to have amounted to be- 
 tween three and four thousand ships — a statement 
 resembhng in its style of evident hyperbole the 
 whole history the old monkish chroniclers have 
 given us of this king, whose lavish benefactions to 
 the church have secured him an extraordinary re- 
 turn of their gratitude and laudation. Ethelred's 
 is recorded to have been the most numerous naval 
 armament that had yet been seen in England ; so 
 that it must have surpassed that of Edgar. 
 
 Even in the disastrous reign of Ethelred, we find 
 indications of the continued progress of trade, both 
 coasting and foreign. In certain laws enacted by 
 Ethehed and his Witan, at Wantage, in Berkshire, 
 
 1 Macpherson, i. 265.
 
 256 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 it is declaimed, that every smaller boat arriving at 
 Billingsgate (so old are that landing-place and that 
 name) should paj' for toll or custom one halfpenny; 
 a larger boat with sails, one penny ; a keel, or what 
 we should now call a hulk, four pennies ; a vessel 
 with wood, one piece of wood ; a boat with fish 
 coming to the bridge, one halfpenny, or one penny, 
 according to her size. And from other passages of 
 these laws, it appears that vessels were then wont 
 to come to England from Rouen, with wine and 
 large fish; from Flanders, Ponthieu, Normandy, 
 France, Hegge (an unknown place), Liege, and 
 Nivell. Certain German merchants, called the em- 
 peror's men, when they came with their ships, are 
 declared to be worthy of good laws — that is, of 
 being treated with favor ; but they were to pay 
 their dues, and were not to forestall the market to 
 the prejudice of the citizens. The dues to be paid 
 by the emperor's men, who were probably the rep- 
 resentatives of some trading company, were two 
 gruj cloths and one brown one, ten pounds of pep- 
 per, five pairs of men's gloves, and two vessels or 
 measures (called cabillini colenni, the meaning of 
 which is unknown) of vinegar, at Christmas, and 
 the same again at Easter. These were probably 
 the articles of which their cargoes usually consisted. 
 It is also worth notice, that a meeting was held in 
 this reign of the wise men of England and Wales 
 for regulating the intercourse, commercial and 
 general, between the two kingdoms ; at which rates 
 of compensation were fixed for slaves, cattle, &c., 
 that might be stolen or injured, and it was agreed 
 to appoint a standing tribunal, consisting of six En- 
 glish and six Welsh lawmen, or persons skilled in 
 the law, to settle all disputes between individuals of 
 the two nations. 
 
 Among many other interesting details derived 
 from a volume of Saxon Dialogues, apparently in- 
 tended for a school-book, which is preserved in the 
 British Museum,' Mr. Turner has quoted the fol- 
 lowing passage, in which the merchant, as one of 
 the characters introduced, gives an account of his 
 occupation and way of life : »■' I say that I am useful 
 to the king, and to ealdermen, and to the rich, and 
 to all people. I ascend my ship with my merchan- 
 dise, and sail over the sealike places, and sell my 
 things, and buy dear things which are not produced 
 in this land, and I bring them to you here with 
 great danger over the sea ; and sometimes I suffer 
 shipwreck, with the loss of all my things, scarcely 
 escaping myself." He is then asked, "What do 
 you bring to us ?" to which he answers, " Skins, 
 silks, costly gems, and gold ; various garments, pig- 
 ment, wine, oil, ivory, and orichalcus (perhaps 
 brass) ; copper and tin, silver, glass, and such like." 
 The principle of all commercial dealings is distinctly 
 enough stated in the answer to the next question, 
 " Will you sell your things here as you bought them 
 there?" "I will not; because what would my labor 
 benefit me ? I will sell them here dearer than I 
 bought them there, that I may get some profit to 
 feed me, my wife, and children." The silks and 
 other Oriental commodities here mentioned were 
 
 1 Cotton. MS. Tib. A. lii. 
 
 usually, in all probability, obtained from Italy, or 
 sometimes perhaps from Marseilles. 
 
 Foreign commodities can only be obtained by the 
 exchange of other commodities produced at home 
 But the Anglo-Saxons had not much to export. 
 Notwithstanding the flourishing state to which 
 British agriculture had been raised by the Romans, 
 there is no evidence or reason for believing that a 
 single cargo of corn was ever exported from Eng- 
 land during the whole of the period now under 
 review. Although, however, there is no positive 
 authority to establish the fact, Mr; Macpherson 
 thinks there can be little doubt that the Flemings, 
 the great manufiicturers of fine woolen goods for 
 the whole of Europe, carried away great quantities 
 of English wool in this period, as we know for cer- 
 tain they did in the following ages. That there 
 was an export trade in wool would seem to be indi- 
 cated by the disproportionate price the fleece ap- 
 pears to have borne compared with the whole 
 sheep, and also by the high price of wool.' Prob- 
 ably also the mines of the different metals yielded 
 something for exportation. The Abbe Raynal has 
 mentioned, but without quoting his authority, that 
 among the traders of different nations who resorted 
 to the fairs established in France by King Dagobert 
 in the seventh century, were the Saxons with th^ 
 tin and lead of England f and Mr. Macpherson is 
 of opinion that, as we know from Domesday Book, 
 that in the neighborhood of Gloucester there were 
 iron-works in the time of Edward the Confessor, 
 which had probably been kept up since before the 
 mvasion of the Romans, iron too, as well as lead 
 and tin, may perhaps have been one of the few 
 British exports during the Anglo-Saxon period. 
 This writer thinks it also not impossible that mines 
 of the precious metals may have been wrought at 
 this time in England, and part of their produce ex- 
 ported, although the existence of such mines in the 
 island is unnoticed by any historian since the begin- 
 ning of the Roman dominion, with the exception of 
 Bede.^ It is certain that large sums in gold and 
 silver were raised in the country on different occa- 
 sions, and much coin or bullion repeatedly carried 
 out of it; and it appears difiicult to comprehend 
 whence all this wealth could be obtained with so 
 few manufactures and so little exportable produce 
 of any kind. The early eminence of the Anglo- 
 Saxons in the art of working gold and silver may 
 be taken as affording another presumption that, 
 whencesoeve'r procured, there was no want of 
 these metals in the island. " We have undoubted 
 proof," says Mr. Macpherson, "that the English 
 jewelers and workers of gold and silver were emi- 
 nent in their professions, and that probably as early 
 
 as the beginning of the seventh century So 
 
 great was the demand for highly-finished trinkets 
 of gold and silver, that the most capital artists of 
 Germany resorted to England; and, moreover, the 
 most precious specimens of foreign workmanship 
 were imported by the merchants."'' On the other 
 hand, articles in gold and silver seem to have been 
 
 1 Marpherson, i. 288. 
 3 Macjihereon, i. 291. 
 
 - Hist, dp.s Indes, ii 
 * Ibid. i.290.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 257 
 
 Entrance of thk Mine of Odin, an ancient Lea<i-Mine in Derbyshire: the Hill called Mam Tor, in the distance. 
 
 the chief description of manufactured goods ex- 
 ported from England in this period. 
 
 Among the exports from Britain during part of 
 this period are supposed to have been horses, be- 
 cause one of King Athelstan's laws prohibits their 
 being carried out of the kingdom unless they were 
 to be given as presents. Another part of the export 
 trade, which was probably carried on to a much 
 gi-eater extent, was the trade in slaves. The mis- 
 sion of Augustine, which effected the conversion of 
 the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, was, it will be 
 recollected, the memorable result of the attention 
 of Augustine's patron, Gregory, having been at- 
 ti-acted by the appearance of a gi'oup of young An- 
 gles exposed for sale as slaves in the market place 
 of Rome. Afterwards several laws find ecclesias- 
 tical canons were passed prohibiting the sale of 
 Christian slaves to Jews or Pagans. Finally it was 
 enacted that no Christians, and no persons who had 
 not committed some crime, should be sold out of 
 the country. But William of Malmesbury, who 
 'wrote nearly a century after the conquest, affirms 
 that the practice of selling even their nearest rela- 
 tions had not been altogether abandoned by the 
 people of Northumberland in his own memory. 
 And in the contemporary biography of Wulfstan, 
 who was Bishop of Worcester at the time of the 
 Conquest, the following curious account is given : — 
 There is a sea-port town, called Bristol, opposite to 
 Ireland, into which its inhabitants make frequent 
 VOL. I — 17 
 
 voyages on account of trade. Wulfstan cured the 
 people of this town of a most odious and inveterate 
 custom which they derived from their ancestors, of 
 buying men and women in all pai'ts of England, 
 and exporting them to Ireland for the sake of gain. 
 The young women they commonly got with child, 
 and carried them to market in their pregnancy, 
 that they might bring a better price. You might 
 have seen with sorrow long ranks of young persons 
 of both sexes, and of the gi-eatest beauty, tied to- 
 gether with ropes, and daily exposed to sale ; nor 
 were these men ashamed, O horrid wickedness ! to 
 give up their nearest relations, nay, their own chil- 
 dren, to slavery. Wulfstan, knowing the obstinacy 
 of these people, sometimes stayed two months 
 among them, preaching every Lord's day, by which, 
 in process of time, he made so great an impression 
 upon their minds that they abandoned that wicked 
 trade, and set an example to all the rest of England 
 to do the same.'" But for this remarkable passage 
 it would scarcely have been suspected that there 
 ever was a time when the natives of England were 
 regularly exported to be sold as "slaves to the Irish. 
 Their principal purchasers were probably the 
 Danes, or Ostmen (that is. Eastern men), as they 
 were called, who were at this time the dominant 
 people in Ireland, and especially were masters of 
 nearly the whole line of the coast opposite to Bri- 
 tain. They appeared to have carried on a consid- 
 ' Anglia Sacra, ii. 258
 
 258 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book 11. 
 
 erable commerce both with England and other 
 countries. Chester, as well as Bristol, is particularly 
 mentioned as one of the ports to which Irish ships 
 were accustomed to resort about the time of the 
 Norman Conquest. William of Malraesbury de- 
 scribes the inhabitants of Chester as depending in 
 his day upon Ireland for a supply of the necessaries 
 of hfe ; and, in another place, he speaks of the 
 great distress the Irish would suffer if they were 
 deprived of their trade with England. Marten 
 skins are mentioned in Domesday Book among the 
 commodities brought by sea to Chester ; and this 
 appears, from other authorities, to have been one 
 of the exports in ancient times from Ireland. No- 
 tices are also found of merchants from Ireland land- 
 ing at Cambridge with cloths, and exposing their 
 merchandise to sale.^ Other English ports which 
 are noticed as possessed of ships cat the time of the 
 Conquest, or immediately before that event, are Pe- 
 vensey, Rumney, Hythe, Folkstone, Dover, Sand- 
 wich, Southwark, and London. Bede speaks of 
 merchants' ships sailing to Rome ; and it appears 
 that trading-vessels sometimes joined together, and 
 went out armed for their mutual protection.* 
 
 At all the above places, and at every other sea- 
 port in the kingdom, customs seem to have been 
 exacted upon the arrival and departure of ships and 
 goods, both by the king and by the lord, generally 
 called the earl or comes, whose property or under 
 \7h0se protection the town Avas ; and trade was 
 besides fettered by many restrictive regulations. 
 At Chester, for instance, if a ship arrived or sailed 
 without the king's leave, she was subject to a fine 
 of forty shillings to the king and the earl for every 
 one of her crew. If they came against the king's 
 express prohibition, the ship, the men, and the 
 cargo were forfeited to the king. Ships that came 
 in with the king's permission might sell quietly 
 what they brought, paying at their departure to the 
 king and the earl four pennies for every last, or 
 load. Those that brought marten skins, however, 
 were bound to allow the king the preemption of 
 them, and, for that purpose, to show them to an 
 officer before any were disposed of, under a penalty 
 of forty shillings. It is possible, however, that 
 some of these oppressive regulations may have 
 been first imposed by the Conqueror. At the time 
 when the account in Domesday Book was drawn 
 up, the port of Chester yielded to the crown a 
 revenue of forty-five pounds, and three timbres 
 (whatever quantity that may have been) of marten 
 skins. 
 
 Of the internal trade of England during this 
 period we know very little. That it was on a very 
 diminutive scale might be inferred from the single 
 fact, that no person was allowed to buy anything 
 above the value of tjventy pennies, except within a 
 town, and in the presence of the chief magistrate, 
 or of two or more witnesses. Such at least is the 
 regulation found in the laws of King Hlothaere of 
 Kent, who reigned in the seventh century. Another 
 enactment in the same collection is, that " if any 
 of the people of Kent buy anything in the city of 
 1 See Turner, iii. 113 2 Ibid. 
 
 London, he must have two or three honest men, or 
 the king's port-reve (who was the chief magistrate 
 of the city), present at the bargain." And a third 
 of Hlothaere's laws is, — " Let none exchange one 
 thing for another except in the presence of the 
 sheriff", the mass-priest, the lord of the manor, or 
 some other person of undoubted veracity. If they 
 do otherwise they shall pay a fine of thirty shillings, 
 besides forfeiting the goods so exchanged to the 
 lord of the manor." 
 
 These regulations were probably intended in 
 part to prevent fraud and disputes, and they might 
 perhaps be in some measure serviceable for that 
 purpose in an age when writing was not in common 
 use ; but there can be no doubt that they had prin- 
 cipally in view the protection of the revenue of the 
 king and the lord of the manor; to each of whom, 
 it appears from Domesday Book, a certain propor- 
 tion of the price of everything sold for more than 
 twenty pennies, was paid, the one half by the buyer, 
 and the other by the seller. The amount here 
 specified would prevent the rule from affecting the 
 ordinary purchases of the people in shops, to which 
 it must be supposed they were permitted to resort 
 for the necessaries of life without any of these an- 
 noying formalities. The transactions to which it 
 applied would chiefly take place at the public mar- 
 kets or fiiirs, which appear to have been established 
 in various parts of the country, and which in all 
 the greater towns were probably held eveiy week. 
 Originally the Sunday seems to have been the 
 usual market-day ; but the repeated efforts of the 
 church at length eff'ected the general substitution 
 of Saturday. Besides the weekly markets, how- 
 ever, there were' probably others of a more impoi'- 
 tant kind held at greater intervals. At many of 
 the markets, besides the duties exacted upon all 
 sales, a toll appears to have been demanded either 
 from every individual frequenting the market, or at 
 least from all who brought goods to dispose of. 
 Most of these commercial usages of the Anglo- 
 Saxons were inherited from their predecessors the 
 Romans. 
 
 They had also, to a certain extent, the advantage 
 of the facilities of communication between the dif- 
 ferent parts of the country, which had been created 
 while it was in the occupation of that gi'eat people. 
 The four great highways appear to have received 
 Saxon names, and they were undoubtedly maintain- 
 ed in use during the whole of the Saxon period, as 
 were also, it may be presumed, most of the other 
 roads, or streets, as they were called, with which 
 the country was intersected in all directions. And 
 besides the navigable rivers, it has been supposed 
 that artificial canals were cut in some places. A 
 canal in Huntingdonshire, in particular, called Kings- 
 delf, is mentioned in the Saxon Chronicle under the 
 year 963 ; and several of the boundary ramparts, 
 erected primarily for the purposes of defence, ap- 
 pear to have had wide ditches, along which boats 
 might be dragged. 
 
 The subject of the Money of the Anglo-Saxons 
 is, in some parts, extremely perplexed and obscure. 
 The diff"erent denominations of money of which
 
 Chap. IV.j 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 259 
 
 mention is found, are the pound, the mai'k, the man- 
 cus, the ora, the shilling, the thrimsa, the sceatta, 
 the penny, the tiiens, the halfling, or half-penny, 
 the feorthling, or farthing, and the styca, or half- 
 farthing. Of some of these, however, we know 
 with certainty little more than the names. 
 
 The first difficulty that occurs is in regard to which 
 of these kinds of money were actual coins, and which 
 were merely nominal, or money of account. Upon 
 this part of the subject, Mr. Ruding, from whom it 
 has received the latest as well as the most elaborate 
 investigation, comes, though not without hesitation, 
 to the following conclusion : " That the penny, half- 
 penny, farthing, and half-farthing were actual coins ; 
 as was probably the triens, which divided the penny 
 into three equal parts; and that the mancus, the 
 mark, the ora, the shilling, and the thrimsa, were 
 onlj^ money of account : or, that if the mancus was 
 ever current among the Anglo-Saxons, it was a for- 
 eign coin, and was never imitated in their mints.'" 
 There is no doubt that the pound was merely money 
 of account. The sceatta seems to have been rather 
 a general expression for a piece of money, than the 
 denomination either of a coin or of a particular sum. 
 Others, however, have held that the sceatta, the 
 mancus, the shilling, the thrimsa, and perhaps also 
 the ora, were all coins. 
 
 The next question that arises relates to the metal 
 of which each coin was made. Mr. Ruding is of 
 opinion, " that no evidence has yet been adduced to 
 prove that the Anglo-Saxons struck any gold money ; 
 but that the balance of probability apparently inclines 
 to the determination that no such money was issued 
 from their mints."^. By others the mancus is sup- 
 posed to have been of gold ;, and Mr. Turner thinks 
 that both gold and silver were used in exchanges in 
 an uncoined state.'' It is certain that mention is re- 
 peatedly made of payments in gold. It is agreed 
 that the penny, the halfpenny, the farthing, and the 
 ti'iens (if that was a coin) were all of silver ; and that 
 the styca was of copper, or of that metal with an al- 
 loy. In fact, no Saxon coins have yet been discov- 
 ered except some of those last mentioned. Of pen- 
 nies and stycas, some large hoards have been found 
 within these few years. In April, 1817, a wooden 
 box was turned up by a ploughman in a field near 
 Dorking, in Surrey, which contained nearly seven 
 hundred Saxon pennies, principally of the coinages 
 of Ethelwulf, the son and successor of Egbert, and 
 of Ethelbert, the father of Alfred, but partly also of 
 those of preceding kings of Wessex, of Mercia, and 
 of East-Anglia.* Eighty-three silver coins of King 
 Ethelred, and two of his father, King Edgar, were 
 found, in 1820, by a peasant while digging a woody 
 field in Bolstads Socked, in Sweden, and are now 
 deposited in the Royal Cabinet of Antiquities at 
 Stockholm.^ And in 1832, a brass vessel containing 
 about eight thousand stycas, principally of the kings 
 of Northumberland, was found at Hexham in that 
 county. About five thousand of them were recov- 
 
 1 Annals of the Coinage, i. 316. (Edit, of 1819.) 3 Ibid. 
 
 ^ Hist, of Anglo-Saxons, ii. 470, 471. 
 
 * See account of these Coins by Tajlor Combe, Es(i., in the Archaeo- 
 logia, vol. xix. (for 1821), p. 110. 
 ^ Turner's Anglo-Saxons, ii. 480. 
 
 ered from the persons into whose hands they had 
 fallen ; and a selection of about three hundred of 
 them is now in the British Museum.' 
 
 But the most important, and, unfortunately, also 
 the darkest question of all, is that of the determina- 
 tion of the value of these several coins or denomina- 
 tions of money. There has been the greatest doubt 
 and difference of opinion, both as to the absolute value 
 or weight, and as to the relative value, of nearly ev- 
 ery one of them. Almost the only thing which is 
 perfectly certain, is, that the poimd was always un- 
 derstood to be a full pound of silver. It appears, 
 however, to have been not the common ti'oy pound, 
 but another measure, long known in Germany by the 
 name of the Cologne pound, and used in this coun- 
 try as the Tower or Mint weight down to the reign 
 of Henry VII. It was three quarters of an ounce 
 less than the pound troy, and was equal, therefore, 
 to only eleven ounces and a quarter ti"oy weight, 
 that is, to 5400 grains. 
 
 Out of this amount of silver, throughout the whole 
 Saxon period, the rule seems to have been to coin 
 240 silver pennies, each of which would therefore 
 weigh 221 of our grains. Accordingly, this is about 
 the average weight of the Saxon pennies that have 
 been found. Our present pound no longer means a 
 pound of silver of any denomination ; but the old re- 
 lation between the pound and the penny, it will be 
 remarked, is still preserved — the value of the pound 
 is still 240 pence. A few passages in old wi'iters 
 and documents have inclined some antiquaries to 
 suspect that the Saxons had two kinds of pennies, a 
 greater and a less ; but, on the whole, this notion 
 does not seem to be tenable. The name of the pen- 
 ny in Saxon is variously written, — peneg, penig, pe- 
 ninc, pening, penincg, penning, and pending. 
 
 Supposing the value of the penny to have been 
 thus ascertained, we have obtained that also of each 
 of the inferior coins. The halfpenny, which, as 
 existing specimens show, was also of silver, would 
 weigh about 111 of our grains, and the feorthling, 
 or farthing, about 5|. But no Saxon farthings have 
 been discovered, and we do not know whether the 
 coin was of silver or copper. The stj'ca was of 
 copper much alloyed, in other words, of bronze ; 
 but, as it was the half of the farthing, its precise 
 value would be estimated at 2i| grains of silver. 
 All the stycas that have yet been found are from 
 the mints of the Northumbrian kings and the Arch- 
 bishop of York ; but the circulation of the coin ap- 
 pears to have been general throughout England. If 
 there were such coins as the thrimsa and the triens, 
 the former, at least, was probably of silver. The 
 value of the thrimsa seems to have been three pen- 
 nies, or G7i grains of silver ; that of the triens, the 
 third of a penny, or 71 grains of silver. 
 
 These conclusions, as we have intimated, are not 
 unattended with some difficulties ; but thej- seem, 
 on the whole, to be tolerably well made out, and at 
 any rate it would only embarrass the statement, 
 without adding any information of the least interest 
 
 1 See account of these stycas, by John Adamson, Esq., with en- 
 gravings of some hundreds of them, in the Archa;olog)«, vol. xxv. (fur 
 18341, pp. 229-310; and vol. ixvi. (fcr 1836) pp. 346-8.
 
 260 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 or value for our present purpose, to enter upon a 
 discussion of tlie doubts or objections that have been 
 raised upon certain points. 
 
 One of the main hinges on which the investi- 
 gation of the subject of the Saxon money turns is 
 the question of tlie nature and vahie of the shiUing. 
 The Norman shiUing, hke that of the present day, 
 was the twentieth part of the pound, and consisted 
 of twelve pence ; and this is the scale according to 
 which the payments in Domesday Book are com- 
 monly stated. The scill or scilling of tlie Saxons 
 is the denomination of money most frequently men- 
 tioned in their laws and ^vl•itings, and it appears to 
 have been that in Avhich sums were usually reck- 
 oned; yet no Saxon shilling has ever been found, 
 and the different ancient accounts and computations 
 in which it is mentioned seem to be only recon- 
 cilable upon the supposition that it was of fluc- 
 tuating value. Both these facts go to support the 
 conclusion that the shilling was not a coin, but only 
 a denomination of money of account. At one 
 time it appears to have contained five, and at 
 another only four pennies; if there were not indeed 
 two sorts of shillings circulating together of these 
 different values.' When the shilling contained 
 five pennies its value was the forty-eighth part of 
 the pound, or 1121 grains troy of silver; when it 
 contained four pennies only, it was the sixtieth part 
 of the pound, and its value was only 80 gi'ains troy 
 of silver. The principal evidence for there ever 
 having been a shilling containing only four pennies 
 is a law of Athelstan, in which 7200 shillings are 
 distinctly stated to be equal to 120 pounds ; in 
 which case there must have been sixty shillings in 
 each pound. But there is equally good evidence 
 that five pennies was the value of the shilling 
 both before and after the time of Athelstan ; and it 
 has therefore been supposed that the shilling was 
 depreciated by that king, and afterwards restored 
 to its ancient value. In the laws of Canute the 
 shilling appears clearly to be reckoned the forty- 
 eighth part of the pound ; and Elfric, the gram- 
 marian, who wrote in this age, expressly states that 
 there were five pennies in the shilling. 
 
 If the mancus ever was a coin, Mr. Ruding is 
 of opinion that it became latterly merely a denom- 
 ination of money of account. The commonly 
 received etjnnology of the word, from the Latin 
 manu cusum, struck with the hand (though this 
 etymology may be doubted), would seem to favor 
 the notion that it had been a coin- at one time ; but 
 
 ' Mr. Ruding is inclined to think that this was the case. 
 Aunals of the Coinage, i. 310. 
 
 as we find the mancus of silver mentioned as well 
 as the mancus of gold, it must be concluded that 
 the name came to be afterwards used as that simply 
 of a certain sum, for it is improbable that any coin 
 was in use of so large a size as the silver mancus 
 would have been. The value of the mancus is 
 stated by Elfric to have been thirty pennies, in the 
 same passage in which he states five pennies to 
 have made a shilling. The mancus, therefore, con- 
 tained six Saxon shillings, or was of the value of 
 675 grains troy of silver, being rather more than is 
 contained in seven of our present shillings. It is 
 oliservable that a gold coin, sometimes called a 
 mancus, in other cases known by other names, cir- 
 culated during the middle ages in many countries 
 both of Europe and the East, the weight of which 
 was 66 grains troy, which would be just about the 
 weight of gold equivalent to thirty Saxon pennies, on 
 the supposition, which other considerations render 
 probable, that the relative value of gold and silver 
 was then as twelve to one. Of this weight were 
 the mancuses or ducats of Italy, Germany, France, 
 Spain, and Holland, the sultani of Constantinople, 
 the sequins of Barbary, and the sheriff's of Egypt. 
 
 The mark used to be supposed the same with 
 the mancus, but this opinion is now quite exploded. 
 The mark appears to have been a Danish denom- 
 ination of money, and to have been introduced into 
 this country by the Danish settlers, the first men- 
 tion of it being found in the articles of agreement 
 between Alfred and Guthrun. Some of the notices 
 would seem to imply that, at first, the mark was 
 accounted equivalent in value to only a hundred 
 Saxon pennies ; but it certainly came eventually to 
 be estimated at one hundred and sixty pennies, that 
 is, at two-thirds of the pound. Two-thirds of a 
 pound is still the legal value of a mark. The mark, 
 therefore, may be set down as of the value of 3600 
 grains troy of silver. The mark has never been 
 supposed to be a real coin, except by those who 
 have taken it for the same with the mancus. 
 
 The ora was also a Danish denomination, and 
 appears to have been the eighth part of the mark. 
 Its value, therefore, would be twenty Saxon pennies, 
 or 450 grains troy of silver. There appears also, 
 however, to have been an ora which was valued at 
 only sixteen pennies. 
 
 The amount of silver, 5400 troy grains, which 
 made an Anglo-Saxon pound, is now coined into 
 21. 165. 3d. sterling. The value, therefore, of each 
 of the Saxon coins, according to the view that has 
 now been taken, would Jbe as stated in the following 
 Table :— 
 
 The Pound — Money of Account . 
 
 The Mark . . ditto 
 
 The Mancus . . ditto (probably) 
 
 The Ora . . ditto 
 
 The greater Shilling ditto (probably) 
 
 The smaller Shilling ditto (probably) 
 
 The Thrimsa . ditto (probably) 
 
 The Pt'iiuy . Silver Coin 
 
 The Tiions . . ditto (pi-obably) 
 
 The Halfpenny . ditto 
 
 The Farthing . ditto (perhaps) 
 
 equivalent to 5400 gi-ains troy of Silver, or 
 
 " 3600 or 
 
 " 67.5 . . . . .or about 
 450 or 
 
 weishins 
 
 about 
 
 The Stj'ca . Copper Coin equivalent to about 
 
 lV2i 
 90 
 67i 
 
 15 
 
 la 
 
 value in sterling money about 
 
 about J of a Farthing 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 Oi 
 
 4 
 
 H 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 
 in 
 
 
 8^ 
 
 li
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 261 
 
 The Saxon coins are generally sufficiently rude 
 in workmanship ; and this circumstance has been 
 used as an argument to prove that the Saxons 
 brought the art of coining with them to Britain 
 from Germany, and did not acquire it by imitation 
 of the Roman models. The earliest Saxon coin 
 that has been appropiuated is one in silver (a penny 
 apparently, though commonly called a sceatta) of 
 Ethelbert, King of Kent, who reigned from 561 to 
 616, the patron of St. Augustine. As the coin 
 does not exhibit the usual Christian symbol of the 
 cross, it may be presumed to have been struck 
 before the year 597, in which Ethelbert Avas bap- 
 tized. According to Mr. Ruding's description, " it 
 bears on the obverse the name of the monarch, 
 and on the reverse a rude figure, which occurs on 
 many of the sceattas, and which is supposed to be 
 intended to represent a bird." But other coin* 
 that exist without names, or with names that can- 
 not be deciphered, may be older than this. Besides 
 the kings of the different states of the Heptarchy, 
 and afterwards of all England, the Archbishops of 
 Canterbury and York had mints and issued monej' 
 in the Anglo-Saxon times. In addition to the 
 name of the king or the archbishop, the coins 
 usually contain that of the moneyer by whom they 
 were struck, and from the time of Athelstan also 
 that of the town where the mint was situated. 
 The later kings appear to have usually had numer- 
 ous moneyers, and mints in all the principal towns 
 throughout the kingdom.^ 
 
 Besides the coins of their own minting, several 
 foreign coins appear to have circulated among the 
 Anglo-Saxons, especially the byzantine gold solidi, 
 commonly called byzantines, or byzants, each 
 weighing seventy-three grains troy, and being of 
 the value of forty Saxon pennies, or (at their esti- 
 mation of the relative values of gold and silver) 
 nine shillings and fourpence-halfpenny of our pres- 
 ent money. Thus St. Dunstan is recorded to have 
 purchased the estate of Hindon (now Hendon), in 
 Middlesex, from King Edgar, for 200 gold byzan- 
 tines, and then to have presented it to the monks 
 of St. Peter in Westminster.^ There were also 
 silver byzantines, which, according to Camden, 
 were valued at two shillings each. At an early 
 period even some of the Roman imperial money 
 might remain in use. " That gold and silver," Mr. 
 Turner remarks, " had abounded in the island while 
 it was possessed by the Romans and Britons, the 
 coins that have been found at every period since, 
 
 1 Complete lists of the moneyers and mints in each reign, as far as 
 they can be recovered, are g^iven in Ruding's elahurate and exact 
 Annals of the Coinage, 2nd Edit. 5 vols. 8vo. and 1 4to. of Plates, Lon. 
 1819. On the subject of the Anglo-Saxon Coinage, the reader may also 
 consult Bishop Fleetwood's Chronicon Preciosuni, 2ud Edit. 8vo. Lun. 
 1745 ; the Introduction to Leake's Historical Account of English money 
 from the Conquest, 2nd Edit. 8vo. Lond. 1745 (but the views of these 
 earlier writers have been corrected in some important respects by the 
 results of subsequent investigation) ; Pegge's Dissertations Ih some 
 Anglo-Saxon remains, 4to. Lon. 1756; Clarke's Connection of the Ro- 
 man, Saxon, and English Coins, 4to. Lon. 1767 (both Pegge and Clarke 
 ■endeavor to show that the Saxons coined gold) ; andP olkes' Tallies of 
 English Coins, published at the expense of the Society of Antiquaries, 
 4to. Lon. 1763 (in this work was announced the important discovery 
 that the Saxnn pound was the Old Tower or Cologne pound) 
 
 * Camden's Britannia, 399 
 
 almost every year, sufficiently testify ; and it was 
 the frequency of these emerging to view which 
 made treasure-trove an important part of our ancient 
 laws, and which is mentioned by Alfred as one of 
 the means of becoming wealthy." '■ 
 
 Slaves and cattle passed also as a sort of circu- 
 lating medium during this period so generally that 
 they are spoken of as living money. Cattle, the 
 first wealth of mankind, were probably in most 
 countries the first money ; that is to say, commodi- 
 ties were valued at so many cattle, and cattle were 
 commonly given in exchange for all other things. 
 When metal money, therefore, was first introduced, 
 it was looked upon not as a convenient represen- 
 tative of commodities or property of all kinds, but 
 only as a substitute for cattle ; some of the oldest 
 coins have the figures of cattle stamped on them ; 
 and in some languages money was actually called 
 cattle. Thus pecus, cattle, is the origin of the 
 Latin pecunia, money, and of our English pecuni- 
 ary. The same thing is very curiously shown by 
 the history of another still existing term, the word 
 mulct, meaning a fine or pecuniary penalty. Mulct 
 is a translation of the Latin mulcta, or, as it is more 
 properly written, multa, which was an ancient 
 Roman law-term for a fine, but which the Roman 
 lawyers and antiquaries themselves, as we learn 
 from Aulus Gellius, admitted to have originally 
 meant a sheep, or rather a ram. Varro asserted 
 that it was a Samnite word, and that the Samnites, 
 the descendants of the old Sabines, had used it in 
 that sense within his own recollection. It is re- 
 markable that the original word still survives, in its 
 original signification, in the Celtic dialects of Ire- 
 land and Scotland, in the former of which a wether 
 is to this day niolt^ and in the latter mult." Hence, 
 in fact, come the French mouton, and our Enghsh 
 mutton. The Anglo-Saxon?, it would appear, al- 
 though they had metallic money, had not com- 
 pletely passed out of the state of only commencing 
 civilization in which cattle serve the purposes of 
 money. A certain value seems to have been affixed 
 by the law to horses, cows, sheep, and slaves, at 
 which they might be seized by a creditor in pay- 
 ment of a debt due to him ; and it is supposed that 
 all kinds of fines, or pecuniary penances, imposed 
 either by the state or the church, might be dis- 
 charged either in dead or living money. The 
 church, however, which to its honor from the first 
 opposed itself to slavery, and greatly contributed by 
 its systematic discouragement and resistance to put 
 down that evil, early refused to accept of slaves 
 instead of money in the payment of penances. In 
 the parts of Britain not occupied by the Saxons, it 
 may be doubted if during the present period any 
 metallic money was coined. No coins either of 
 Scotland or of Wales of this antiquity have ever 
 been found. Considering the intercourse, however, 
 that in the latter part of the period subsisted be- 
 tween both of these counti-ies and England, it is 
 impossible to suppose that, although they may not 
 have minted any money themselves, they could be 
 
 1 Hist. Ang. Sax. iii. 237. 
 
 2 Grant's Origin and Descent of the Gael, 145.
 
 262 
 
 EIISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 unacquainted with its use. A few of the Saxon 
 coins probably found their way both to the Welsh 
 and Scotch, and supplied them with a scanty cir- 
 culation. The Welsh laws indeed show that the 
 denominations, at least, of money were familiarly 
 known to that people ; but they seem to show, 
 also, by the anxious minuteness with which they 
 fix the price of almost every article that could be- 
 come the subject of commerce, that a common 
 representative of value and medium of exchange 
 was not yet in common use. These Welsh laws, 
 for instance, in one section, lay down the prices of 
 cats, of all different ages, and with a most elaborate 
 discrimination of species and properties. This may 
 be regarded as a rude attempt to provide a substi- 
 tute for barter without a coinage ; but the system 
 which it would aim at establishing is in reality any- 
 thing rather than an improvement of simple, un- 
 regulated barter. The real price, or exchangeable 
 value, of a commodity, depending, as it does, upon 
 a variety of circumstances which are constantly in 
 a state of fluctuation, is essentially a variable quan- 
 tity, and we can no more fix it by a law than we can 
 fix the wind. A law, therefore, attempting to fix 
 it would only do injustice and mischief; it would, 
 in so far as it was operative, merely substitute a 
 false and unfair price of commodities for their nat- 
 ural and proper price. 
 
 When the prices of commodities, however, are 
 thus settled by the law, it may be presumed that 
 the prices assigned are those generally borne by 
 the commodities at the time ; and in this point of 
 view the law becomes of historic value as a record 
 of ancient prices. Thus, from one of the Saxon 
 laws of King Ethelred we learn that in England 
 the common prices of certain articles, about the 
 end of the tenth century, were as follows : — 
 
 Of a Man, or slave 
 
 A pound . . . 
 
 equivalent to 
 
 2 16 
 
 3 sterl 
 
 Horse . . 
 
 Thirty shillings 
 
 
 1 15 
 
 2 
 
 Mare or colt 
 
 Twenty shillings 
 
 
 1 3 
 
 5 
 
 Ass or mule 
 
 Twelve shillings 
 
 
 14 
 
 1 
 
 Ox . . . 
 
 Six shillings . 
 
 
 7 
 
 0* 
 
 Cow . . . 
 
 Five shillings . 
 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 Swine . . 
 
 One shil. and 3 pennies " 
 
 1 
 
 lOJ 
 
 Sheep . . 
 
 One shilling 
 
 " 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 Goat . . . 
 
 Two pennies . 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 5i 
 
 We are not to suppose, however, that these 
 legal rates were always adhered to in actual sales 
 and purchases. The prices of all commodities 
 among the Saxons, no doubt rose and fell as they 
 do at present, and with much more suddenness and 
 violence than now ; for, in that rude period, from 
 tlie scarcity of capital, and the compai-atively little 
 communication between one place and another, 
 supplies of all kinds were necessarily much more 
 imperfectly distributed than they now are over both 
 time and space ; and any deficiency that might, 
 from any cause, occur, was left to press with its 
 whole severity upon the particular moment and 
 the local market, without the greater abundance of 
 other places or other seasons being admitted to 
 relieve it. Compai-ative, though not absolute stead- 
 iness of prices, or at any rate a steady and calcula- 
 ble, in lieu of an irregular and jolting movement of 
 prices, especially of those of the great necessaries 
 of subsistence, is, on the whole, the accompaniment 
 
 of an advanced civilization, the general character 
 and result of which, indeed, may be said to be to 
 repress irregularities of all kinds, and to bring all 
 social processes nearer and nearer to the equability 
 of those of mechanics. Several of the articles 
 enumerated in the above list, we find mentioned 
 elsewhere, as bearing a variety of other prices. In 
 one case, for instance, we find a slave purchased 
 for half a pound ; in another, for an yre of gold (the 
 amount of which is not known) ; in another, for 
 three mancuses, or about a guinea; in another, for 
 five shillings and some pence.' In these purchases 
 it is generally mentioned, that besides the price, 
 the toll was paid. " The tolls mentioned in some 
 of the contracts for slaves," observes Mr. Turner, 
 " may be illustrated out of Domesday Book. In 
 the burgh of Lewis, it says, that at eveiy purchase 
 and sale, money was paid to the gerefa : for an ox, 
 a farthing was collected ; for a man, four pennies." 
 Slaves, of course, differed very considerably from 
 one another in real value. On the other hand, the 
 same sum at which a sheep is here rated at the 
 end of the tenth century, appears to have been 
 also its legal price three hundred years before. At 
 least, in the laws of Ina, King of the West Saxons, 
 who reigned at the close of the seventh century, a 
 sheep with its lamb is valued at a shilling. In 
 another of Ina's laws, the fleece alone is valued 
 at two pennies, that is, at two-fifths of the price of 
 the entire sheep and lamb. This high price of 
 wool, as has been mentioned above, is accounted 
 for on the supposition that there was some foreign 
 trade in that commodity in the Anglo-Saxon times. 
 By a law of Edgar, in the latter half of the tenth 
 centurj-, the highest price which could be taken for 
 a weigh of wool was fixed at half a pound of silver; 
 "being," observes Mr. Macpherson, "if the weigh 
 contained then, as now, 182 pounds of wool, near 
 three-fourths of a (Saxon) penny (equivalent to 
 nearly twopence in modern money) for a pound ; a 
 price, which, as far as we are enabled to compare 
 it with the prices of other articles, may be thought 
 high.""- 
 
 Of the prices of other articles, however, in the 
 Anglo-Saxon times, with the exception of articles 
 of agricultural produce, we scarcely know anything. 
 Money being then comparatively scarce, the prices 
 of most commodities were of course much lower 
 than they now are — that is to say, they might be 
 purchased for a much smaller amount of money. 
 But there is no uniform proportion between the 
 prices of that period and those of the present day, 
 some things being nominally dearer than they now 
 are, as well as many others nominally cheaper. 
 Books, for instance, were still scarcer than money; 
 and accordingly their prices were then vastly higher 
 than at present. We shall have occasion in the 
 next chapter to mention some of the prices that 
 wer* given by the Anglo-Saxons for books. It fol- 
 lows, that no correct estimate can be formed of the 
 proportion generally between the value of money 
 
 ' See these instances collected by Mr. Turner, from Hickes ami 
 other authorities, in Hist. Ang. Sax. iii. 90. 
 2 Annals of Commerce, i. 288.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 263 
 
 in those times and its value at present ; for the 
 calculation that might be true of some articles, 
 would not hold in regard to others. Some con- 
 clusions, denied, may be deduced from the com- 
 parison of the prices both of the same article at 
 different periods, and of different articles during 
 the same period ; but these will be most conveni- 
 ently adverted to in speaking, as we shall now pro- 
 ceed to do, of the several arts or processes of indus- 
 tiy of which the commodities in question are the 
 products. 
 
 In giving some account of the useful arts during 
 the Anglo-Saxon period, it is scarcely possible to 
 exhibit a sketch of their progressive state from its 
 commencement to its close ; and yet, during the 
 lapse of six centuries, external circumstances, vary- 
 ing in their character and in the influence which 
 they exercised, must, no doubt, at certain times, 
 have given an impulse to industry, while at others 
 the arts were repressed or continued in an unim- 
 proving and languid state. But it may safely be 
 concluded that, on the whole, the various arts which 
 contribute to the comfort or embellishment of life 
 were in a state of greater advancement during the 
 reigns of the last Anglo-Saxon monarchs than they 
 could possibly be under the fierce domination of 
 their restless and warlike ancestors who overran 
 the island in the fifth century. Still the extent of 
 that improvement which undoubtedly took place, 
 was small considered with reference to so long a 
 period, though it was as considerable as could be 
 expected under the circumstances of the times. 
 The last fifty years have produced in our own day 
 greater changes, as compared with the period of 
 similar length by which it was immediately pre- 
 ceded, than all the social changes which occurred 
 during the Anglo-Saxon age, even when the ex- 
 treme points, which offer the most striking con- 
 trasts, are compared with each other. The influ- 
 ence of order and the laws may be supposed in 
 ordinary circumstances to have gradually increased 
 in efficacy ; and under this protection men would 
 purs.ue their avocations with augmented security 
 both of life and property; but there was nothing 
 which could act with sudden and electric power on 
 the nation, or quicken into fuller life and activity 
 the germs of civilization which were advancing with 
 such slow development. 
 
 In all the means by which a people can be sus- 
 tained in a state above want, and supplied with 
 food, shelter, and clothing, the Saxon invaders were 
 inferior to their immediate predecessors in the oc- 
 cupation of the island, the Britons, who had derived 
 their knowledge of the arts by which this is accom- 
 plished from the practices of their Roman con- 
 querors. The produce they raised from the soil 
 was sufficient not only for the consumption of the 
 inhabitants of Britain, including a considerable non- 
 agricultural population, but a surplus remained 
 which was exported to Rome. Agriculture had 
 been benefited by the improved methods of culti- 
 vation employed by the Romans ; and when they 
 left the island, it was capable of diffusing consid- 
 erable wealth. But the incursions of the northern 
 
 barbarians and the ravages which they committed 
 in the better cultivated districts of the south, were 
 calculated to act with most fatal effect on agi'icultu- 
 ral industry, and to weaken the stimulus to exertion 
 by frequent and often successful attempts to rob 
 the cultivator of the fruits of his labor. The ad- 
 vancement of agriculture as an art it would be 
 hopeless to anticipate under such discouragements; 
 and, judging only by the known operation of human 
 motives, its decline would be inevitable, as all the 
 best allurements to industry would be taken away, 
 and it was verging to that point when the land would 
 be tilled only to such an extent as would afford little 
 beyond a narrow subsistence. Such was the state 
 of agriculture when the Britons invited over the 
 Saxons ; and from them they could derive no im- 
 provements in this useful art, even if their protec- 
 tion had enabled it to recover from the depressed 
 condition in which it was placed by the ravages of 
 the Picts previous to their arrival. But the subse- 
 quent proceedings of the Saxons, by engendering 
 acts of rapine and warfare, still further oppressed 
 industry. When, however, the Saxon invaders 
 had become dominant, they applied themselves to 
 the cultivation of the soil, and the Britons in all 
 probability were to a great extent their servants 
 as well as their agricultural teachers. From this 
 point agiviculture began to emerge into that state 
 in which we find it during the Anglo-Saxon pe- 
 riod. Leaving these general views we proceed 
 to notice the few facts relative to the state and 
 practice of agi-iculture, and the other useful arts 
 which have been handed down to us on good au- 
 thority: 
 
 The great bulk of the Anglo-Saxon population 
 were engaged in producing food. A considerable 
 portion of each estate was woodland, which fur- 
 nished a supply of fuel and timber for building; 
 and farms generally, though varying in size, were 
 divided as at present, though in different propor- 
 tions to those which now prevail, into meadow, pas- 
 ture, arable, and woodland. Though the last men- 
 tioned description of land was everywhere in the 
 greatest abundance, the laws carefully protected 
 both timber and growing trees, a wite, or penalty 
 to the state, of thirtj' shillings being incurred by 
 each offence, besides a payment of five shillings for 
 each large tree that was cut down, and five pennies 
 for every other ; these two latter sums being prob- 
 ably an approximative estimate of the damage com- 
 mitted. The value of a tree appears to have been 
 determined by the number of swine which could 
 be gathered under its branches. The boundaries 
 of propertj"^ were accui'ately defined, and were in- 
 dicated by a ditch, a brook, a hedge, a wooden 
 mark, or some other prominent object. Gates are 
 mentioned, so that the inclosures were protected 
 from the devastations of cattle. This was only 
 necessary in the case of their arable land and that 
 from which they obtained their crops of hay. 
 There are many regulations concerning the pastur- 
 ing of cattle in the Anglo-Saxon laws. In Wales, 
 as appears from the Welsh laws — and the case was 
 probably the same in England — the common lands
 
 264 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 were pastured by the cattle belonging to several 
 owners under the direction of a neatherd and his 
 assistants. Pasturage, indeed, is the most impor- 
 tant department of rural economy when agriculture 
 is in a rude state. " The English people," says 
 Stow, referring to this period, " might have been 
 said to be graziers rather than ploughmen, for almost 
 three parts of the kingdom were set apart for cattle. 
 This must necessarily be the case when cattle run 
 on the uncultivated lands, and require merely the 
 superintendence of a neatherd or shepherd. A 
 very trifling amount of labor is demanded compared 
 with that which arable land requires. It is not 
 profitable under these circumstances to fiitten cattle 
 at a great cost with the produce of cultivated land, 
 and hence cattle generally form the chief wealth of 
 a people who have not made much progress in agri- 
 culture. This was the case with the inhabitants of 
 Britain under the Roman domination, and it had 
 not become altered in the Anglo-Saxon times. But 
 though cattle formed a large proportion of the prop- 
 erty of an Anglo-Saxon landed proprietor, an erro- 
 neous idea is apt to be formed of the degree of 
 wealth which the possession of this description of 
 agi-icultural stock implies. They were abundant 
 because land was exceedingly cheap. An acre of 
 land appears to have been frequently sold for the 
 price of four sheep. Those animals which could 
 feed on waste and common lands were cheap, while 
 such as it was necessaiy partlj- to support by the 
 produce of land cultivated for the purpose were dis- 
 proportionately dear. A cow, as we have seen, 
 was of six times less value than a horse, and an ass 
 or mule was double the price of an ox. The value 
 derived from neat stock must have been small, and 
 the system of managing them very imperfect, when 
 ewes were milked for the sake of the cheese which 
 was made from their milk. The month of May 
 was, however, denominated Trimilchi, because they 
 commenced milking their cattle three times a day. 
 To keep live stock during a long winter is sometimes 
 a difficult task in the present day, with all the natural 
 and artificial aids obtained from grasses of a more 
 valuable kind, better and larger crops of hay, gi-een 
 food in winter, and various modes of prepiiring arti- 
 ficial food ; but when none of these improvements 
 existed, it may easily be conceived that cattle, 
 although in large herds, would not be so productive 
 of wealth as their numbers might lead us at first to 
 suppose. The practice in the Hebrides within the 
 last half century probably resembled in many points 
 this department of Anglo-Saxon husbandry. It was 
 as follows, and the results would doubtless be some- 
 what similar in the case of the Anglo-Saxons: — 
 "With the exception of the milch-cows, but not 
 even of the calves, they were all wintered in the 
 field. If they were scantily fed with hay, it was 
 coarse and withered, and half rotten ; or if they got 
 a little straw, they were thought to be well taken 
 care of. One fifth of the cattle, on an average, used 
 to perish every winter from starvation. When the 
 cold had been unusually severe, and the snow had 
 been long on the ground, one-half of the stock has 
 been lost, and the remainder have afterwards been 
 
 thinned by the diseases which poverty had engen- 
 dered."' Dr. Walker- adduces a fact which shows 
 that there may be a large amount of live stock ex- 
 isting at the same time with an unproductive and 
 poor system of husbandry : — " A farm in Kintail 
 was found to have on it 40 milch cows, which, with 
 their young stock, from a calf to a four-year old, 
 made about 120 head of cattle ; besides 80 ewes 
 and 40 goats, which, with their young, were about 
 250; and 10 horses. Yet this farm, with arable 
 land sufficient to supply all the lamily, was rented 
 at 20Z. a-year." This was about the year 1810. The 
 Saxon Chronicle mentions several years in which 
 there was an extraordinary mortality among cattle. 
 The year 897 and the two previous years were 
 thus remarkable. The year 986 is noted for the 
 great murrain of cattle ; and in 1041 it is stated that 
 more cattle died, either owing to various diseases 
 or the severity of the weather, than any man ever 
 remembered. In 1054, the writer of the Chronicle 
 states, " was so great loss of cattle as was not re- 
 membered for many winters before. There can 
 be little doubt that the Anglo-Saxon system of cattle 
 husbandly was exceedingly imperfect, that every 
 year probably some loss was sustained in conse- 
 quence, and that on the whole it bore considerable 
 resemblance to that which up to a recent period 
 existed in the Hebrides. Cattle were, however, 
 fattened for slaughter. Two fatted cows are men- 
 tioned, in an existing Anglo-Saxon manuscript, as 
 forming a portion of the annual rent paid for the 
 occupation of land.^ 
 
 The possessions of the Anglo-Saxons in swine 
 were, there is reason to beheve, as available, or at 
 least nearly so, as their herds of neat cattle, in fur- 
 nishing them with supphes of flesh-meat. The 
 sheep, it has already appeared, was prized chiefly 
 on account of its fleece, which was valued at two- 
 fifths of the price of the whole sheep. There are 
 several additional facts which denote that it was less 
 on account of their flesh than for the materials for 
 clothing which the fleece afllbrded, that sheep were 
 bred and reared. The average price of a sheep was 
 about four shillings ; but the value which it would 
 bring varied of course according to the season, and 
 until a fortnight after Easter it was not considered 
 worth more than a shilling. The fleece was not 
 to be shorn until midsummer, and from Easter until 
 this period it was gradually increasing in value, owing 
 to the increase of the wool, until it reached its high- 
 est price, just before the time of shearing. On the 
 other hand, swine were of no value except as food, 
 and yet they were kept in great numbers during the 
 whole of the Anglo-Saxon times, and none of the 
 common occupations of husbandry are more fre- 
 quently mentioned than that of the swineherd. 
 They could be driven into the woods and on the 
 waste lands equally well with neat cattle ; and the 
 food which they picked up there — the oak and 
 beech-mast — was much superior for its fattening 
 eflfects to that which was the spontaneous growth of 
 
 1 Cattle ; Lib. of Useful Knowledge, p. 67. 
 
 2 Agricultural Suirey of the Hebrides. 
 
 3 Turner's Anglo-Saxons, ii. 547 (5th edit.).
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 265 
 
 Beating Acorns for Swine. Cotton MS. Nero, C. 4. 
 
 the pastures in which cattle were fed.' Swine could 
 therefore be fattened on what may be regarded as 
 the surplus bounty of nature, while cattle could only 
 
 1 The word bacon is said to have been applied to the flesh of the 
 swine, from this custom of feeding the animal on beech-mast, the an- 
 cient name of which was bucon. — Verstegan's Restitution of Decayed 
 Intelligence, p. 331. 
 
 be rendered fit for slaughter by a more expensive 
 process — the consumption of cultivated produce, the 
 fruits of much previous labor. Great numbers of 
 swine therefore were naturally kept, as they were 
 a stock easily provided for, and supplying nutritious 
 food at a small expense. In Domesday Book pan- 
 nage (swine's food) is returned for 16,535 hogs in 
 Middlesex; in Hertfordshire for 30,705; and in 
 Essex, which was one continued forest, for 92,991. 
 In the will of a nobleman two thousand swine are 
 left to his two daughters ; another nobleman gives 
 to his relations a hide of land with one hundred 
 swine, and he directs two hundred swine to be given 
 to two priests in equal proportions for the good of 
 his soul. An individual gives land to a church on 
 condition that two hundred swine are fed for the 
 use of his wife. Besides the live stock already 
 mentioned, they had goats, geese, and fowls. 
 
 The arable portion of an estate was generally 
 situated nearest to the dwelling-house as a matter 
 of convenience. It produced but a small portion 
 of what it was capable of doing under a better 
 system of cultivation, but still sufficient to supply 
 corn for bread ; and after this article of primaiy 
 necessity had been provided for, there remained 
 grain for the purpose of making their favorite drink. 
 Their bread was made of barley as well as wheat. 
 
 The use of marl as a manure had been known in 
 Britain under the Romans, and a marl-pit is alluded 
 to in an old Anglo-Saxon conveyance ; but the suc- 
 cessful application of manures is only of modern 
 introduction in British agriculture. The state of 
 cultivation in some parts of Scotland before the 
 
 Ploughing, Sowing, and Carrying Corn. Harleian BIS., 603.
 
 266 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IL 
 
 Union may, perhaps, be taken as an illustration 
 of its condition in England before the Conquest. 
 The lands which were kept manured did not 
 amount to a third or a fourth part of the whole 
 farm, and sometimes did not equal a fifth or a sixth. 
 The remainder was cultivated when that part of 
 the farm which had been for some time arable was 
 exhausted of its natural fertility.' A great breadth 
 of land was required to supply the wants of a small 
 number of consumers, as the relative quantity of 
 produce was small, though at the same time the 
 labor and cost of cultivation were proportionably low. 
 Famines were frequent ; but these were a conse- 
 quence of imperfect social relations, the want of 
 intercourse which prevented men from being mutu- 
 ally acquainted with each other's wants, the uon- 
 existence of a class of individuals who busied 
 themselves in attending to the means for obviating 
 these events, as well as to an imperfect state of 
 agriculture. The Saxon Chronicle mentions several 
 of these periodical visitations. In 793 a great famine 
 
 ' Smith's Wealth of Nations, book i. chap. ii. 
 
 took place. In 975, to use the expressive words of 
 the chronicler, "famine scoured the hills." In 976 it 
 is briefly stated " that this year was the great famine 
 in England ; so severe that no man ere remember- 
 ed such." In 1040 "rose the sester of wheat to 
 fifty-five pence, and even farther." In 1044 the fol- 
 lowing notice occurs : — " This year there was very 
 gi-eat hunger all over England, and corn so dear a? 
 no man ever remembered before ; so that the sester 
 of wheat rose to sixty pence, and even further." 
 
 In the Anglo-Saxon times, as in every country 
 in which agriculture is not in an advanced condition, 
 seed-time and harvest were almost the only seasons 
 of exertion. There was not room for that continu- 
 ous labor which is required when a great number 
 of intermediate operations are practised ; but the 
 division of employments existed to some extent, 
 and on a considerable estate the services of the 
 hinds were carried on under the eye of a steward 
 or bailiff. The duties of the cowherd were distinct 
 from those of the ploughman. The latter went out 
 to his labors at daybreak, attended by a boy to drive 
 
 Whkel-Plough.— From the Bayeiix Tapestry. 
 
 the oxen. Four oxen usually, but sometimes few*er, 
 were yoked to the plough. When the cattle were 
 not turned out, as was the case in the winter, the 
 ploughman attended to the feeding and watering of 
 the oxen in the stable ; but in the summer season 
 
 they were committed to the care of the cowherd at 
 the close of the day's labor, and were driven by 
 him to the meadows, and, for fear of thieves, he 
 attended them during the night, and in the morning 
 drove them to the plough. Horses were not em- 
 
 CosxrME OF Shepherds. Cotton MS Nero, C 4.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 267 
 
 ployed in field labor, but only oxen, the use of horses 
 being prohibited. We have some account, also, of 
 the occupation of the shepherd. Lest his flock 
 should be attacked by wolves, he watched over its 
 safety, attended by his dogs. The sheep were 
 folded, and the folds were at times changed. Twice 
 a-day the ewes were milked, and the cheese and 
 butter were prepared by the sViepherd. The swine- 
 
 herd was an occupation as necessary as any of the 
 above. An Anglo-Saxon manuscript' contains a se- 
 ries of sketches representing the operations of hus- 
 bandry during each month in the year. In January 
 the ploughman is pursuing his labors. The plough, 
 drawn by four oxen, which are attended by a driver, 
 is provided with an iron coulter and share, an-^ has 
 1 Cottou MS. Tiberius, B. 5. 
 
 Two Handed Wheel Plough, Drawn BY Four Oxen. Siixon Calendar. Cotton MS Tib. B. 5. 
 
 a wheel attached to the end of the beam. The 
 ropes by which the oxen are attached were made 
 of twisted willows, and sometimes, it appears, of 
 the skins of whales ;' and this is certainly better 
 than the practice prevailing in the Hebrides not 
 
 1 In Norway ships' ropes were made of the skins of both whales and 
 s als.— See Voyage of Ohthere, already mentioned. 
 
 longer ago than 1811, which dispensed with harness 
 altogether, the horse's tail being fastened to the 
 harrow by a rope made of hair.' In the manuscript 
 alluded to the seed is scattered by a man who follows 
 close to the ploughman, and it is at once deposited 
 in the newly-made furrow. The Bayeux tapestry, 
 
 ' Macdonald's Agric. Survey of the Hebrides. 
 
 Harrowing and 
 
 Cotto JiS. Neru, C. 4. 
 
 So.vixG. Bayeux Tapestry. 
 
 however, shows that in Normandy harrows were 
 used ; and there can be little doubt that, at the same 
 period, they were employed in England, though in 
 the ninth century agriculture may have been prac- 
 tised in so loose and slovenly a manner as to omit 
 their use altogether. The plough-beetle, in the 
 hand of the ploughman above represented, used for 
 breaking clods of earth, is mentioned in the list of 
 " husbandry furniture " by Tusser. It had not 
 wholly gone out of use in some parts of the country 
 so early as twenty-five years ago. In February the 
 husbandmen are engaged in trimming plants, some 
 of which resemble vines, and in loosening the earth 
 around their roots. In March, one man is digging, 
 another is sowing, and a third is using a pickaxe. 
 Their labors seem to relate to the garden rather 
 than the field. In April, the labors of seed-time 
 being over, the landowner or occupier is regaling 
 his friends, two of whom, who are seated beside 
 him, are engaged in drinking out of horns. In May 
 he goes into the fields to examine his flock previous 
 to the time of shearing. In June the reapers are
 
 268 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Cook II. 
 
 DioGiNO, Breaking Uarth with a. Pick, and Sowing. 
 
 Wheel PLnuGH and Spades. From the Cotton Mf. Claiul. R. 4. 
 
 The form of the Spade is remarkable. Cotton MS. Tib. B. .5. 
 
 cutting down the corn.' It is bound into sheaves, 
 and put into a cart for conveyance to the barn or 
 stack. One inan is represented as blowing a horn, 
 perhaps for the purpose of enhvening the labors of 
 the reapers. In July the husbandinen are in the 
 woods felling and trimming the trees. In August 
 the barley is cut : it is mown as in the present day. 
 In September, the harvest being finished, the lord 
 and his attendants are hunting the wild boar ; and 
 in October they are pursuing the diversion of hawk- 
 ing. In November the husbandmen are engaged 
 around a large fire repairing their implements. In 
 December they are employed in threshing out the 
 grain, which is winnowed or sifted, and carried out 
 in large baskets to the granary ; an overseer or 
 steward taking an account of the quantity by notches 
 cut on a tally. 
 
 From these notices some idea may be obtained 
 of the general nature of their field labors. The 
 lands belonging to the church were generally in 
 the best state of cultivation, and exhibited the ap- 
 plication of a more intelligent system than those 
 belonging to other landowners. On the church 
 property the woods were better cleared, and the 
 quantity of waste land was smaller. The monks 
 themselves engaged in the labors of the field. 
 Bede, in his Life of the Abbots of Wearmouth, 
 tells us that one of tliese ecclesiastics, " being a 
 
 ' Mr. Slrutt supposes the illuminator to have here, by mistake, trans- 
 posed the illustrations for June and .luly. 
 
 Reai'ing anu Carrying Corn. L„il .. .\1=. 1..,. L. „.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 269 
 
 Fklling and Carting Wood. Cotton MS Tib. B. .5. 
 
 MowiNa. Cotton MS Tib. B. 5. 
 
 Threshing and Winnowino Corn. Cotton MS. Tib. B. 5. 
 
 Strong man, and of a humble disposition, used to 
 assist his monks in their several labors, sometimes 
 guiding the plough by its stilt or handle, and some- 
 times forging instruments of husbandry with a 
 hammer upon an anvil." One of the customs of 
 modern tenancy — the principle of which is now 
 carried out still further— existed at this period, viz., 
 that the land should be left in a proper condition 
 on its being given up. Thus, the holder of twenty 
 
 hides of land was required to leave twelve hides 
 of it sown for the advantage of the succeeding 
 occupant. The implements of husbandry were 
 ploughs, scythes, sickles, spades, axes, pruning- 
 hooks, forks, and flails ; and they had also carts and 
 waggons. 
 
 The gardens and orchards attached to the mon- 
 asteries are mentioned at an early period of Anglo- 
 Saxon history. They produced figs, grapes, nuts.
 
 270 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Plocghino. Sowing, Mowing, Gleaning, Measuring Corn, and Harvest Siti-er., Harlcinn MS. 603. 
 
 almonds, pears, and apples. The monks did not ter, according to William of Malmesbury, was 
 
 neglect ornamental planting, and planted herbs and famous for the excellence of its grapes. The 
 
 shrubs around the monasteries as well as fruit- management of bees must also have been an object 
 
 trees. The cultivation of the vine had been intro- of considerable importance, 
 duced by the Romans ; and the county of Glouces- An account of the productions raised from the 
 
 
 ,-vo/a.^ ,— i\'^ 
 
 ^^. .^^ 
 
 Prlnino Trees. C'oltoii MS. Julius, .\. C. 
 
 soil by the agriculturist necessarilj' affords conside- 
 rable insight into the diet in general use. Cattle, 
 sheep, and swine were numerous; and, therefore, 
 meat was a common article of food. They also 
 reared poulti'y ; and ten geese and twenty hen 
 fowls are mentioned among the articles to be sup- 
 plied to the lord of the manor by the occupier of a 
 certain quantity of land. Milk, cheese, and eggs 
 were allowed on fast-days. Bi'oth and soups Avere 
 made, flavored and seasoned with herbs. Barley- 
 bread, being cheaper, was consumed by a greater 
 number of persons than that made from wheaten 
 flour. The peasant baked his own bread, some- 
 times probably in an oven, sometimes by toasting, 
 sometimes on a heated plate of iron, placed over 
 the fire. The baker carried on his art in the towns, 
 and in the monasteries it was the business of a 
 particular individual. At the commencement of 
 the Anglo-Saxon period hand-mills were common. | 
 
 but the establishment of water-mills and windmills 
 had become general towards its close. Cases 
 occur in which several Imndred loaves are paid as 
 a portion of the rent of land. We find an instance 
 of a poor monastery in which the monks could not 
 aflbrd to eat wheaten bread, but were obliged to 
 confine themselves to that made from barley. The 
 monastic establishments were sometimes so poor, 
 at an early period, that even a cheaper food was 
 resorted to than barley-bread. Land is mentioned 
 as being given to one monastery, in order to furnish 
 salt, beans, and honey. The latter article was 
 held in much esteem, and continued to be so until 
 the discovery of the tropical regions of the west 
 afforded sugar from vegetable productions. Herbs, 
 eggs, fish, cheese, butter, and beans, with meat, 
 constituted the diet of children. The spices of 
 eastern countries found their way overland, and 
 small quantities were offered as acceptable presents
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY, 
 
 271. 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 Raisino AVater from a Well with a Loaded Lever. 
 Cotton MS. Nero, C. 4. 
 
 from one person of distinction to another. The 
 want of green food in winter rendered it necessary 
 to provide a supply of salt meat sufficient to last 
 until the pastures again furnished the cattle Avith 
 nutritive grasses. ' The manufacture of salt was 
 conducted by a separate class of men ; and in 
 grants and conveyances, vessels for the boiling of 
 salt, wood sufficient to boil salt, and the utensils 
 used, are mentioned. Horse-flesh, which had been 
 eaten by the ancient Saxons, was not rejected by 
 those of Britain until some time after their con- 
 version to Christianity ; but in the eighth century 
 this practice was discouraged, and as it had been 
 declining since the time of Egbert, there can be no 
 doubt but that it soon entirely ceased. Of fish, 
 eels, being caught with the greatest ease, were 
 more common as food than other descriptions. 
 They were received in payment of rent, and also 
 offered as presents to the monasteries. Two por- 
 tions of land, purchased for twenty-one pounds, 
 bring a rent of 16,000 fish annually. Salt-water fish 
 could only have been conveyed fiir from the coast 
 at a disproportionate cost; and the country being 
 undrained, the meres, brooks, and ditches offered 
 a receptacle for those which reside in fresh water ; 
 and thus the proportion of the latter which would 
 be eaten as food, would probably exceed the con- 
 sumption of salt-water fish. The fitting out a 
 boat, and providing materials for sea-fishing, in- 
 volved an expense which the limited extent of the 
 market might not justify, except in the vicinity of 
 the most populous places. Fish were taken both 
 by the rod and in nets ; and amongst those which 
 were an object of pursuit were eels, eel-pouts, lam- 
 preys, skates, flounders, plaice, haddocks, herrings, 
 salmon, sturgeon, minnows, porpoises, oysters, 
 cockles, crabs, lobsters, mussels, and winkles. The 
 
 serfs who were employed as fishermen were con- 
 veyed to a purchaser along with the fishery, when 
 the latter was sold. They formed a separate class. 
 The people on the coast of Sussex, Avho are now 
 the most expert fishermen in the British Channel, 
 were, as we have already had occasion to notice, 
 unable to avail themselves of the riches by which 
 they were surrounded until after the middle of the 
 seventh century. 
 
 Henry of Huntingdon relates that the Anglo- 
 Saxon kings were " so generous and bountiful, that 
 they commanded four royal banquets to be served 
 up every day to all their courtiers ; choosing rather 
 to have much superfluity at their tables than the 
 least deficiency." They were, in common with 
 other northern nations, as much devoted to drink- 
 ing as to the substantial bounties of the table. 
 Their most common drink was ale, prepared as 
 
 Drinking from Cows' Horns. Cotton MS. Claud. B. 4. 
 
 now, from malted barley ; and allusions are made 
 in old manuscripts to three descriptions or quali- 
 ties, viz., mild ale, clear ale, and Welsh ale. Ale- 
 houses seem to have been established, as priests 
 were forbidden to frequent the "wine-tuns;" and 
 other liquors as well as ale were perhaps sold at 
 these places. Mead was, if not more highly-prized, 
 at least more costly than ale ; and it was the fa- 
 vorite beverage of the Welsh. Honey, which is the 
 chief ingredient, generally formed a portion of the 
 rent paid in kind ; and in some cases the liquor 
 itself already prepared was required. In case this 
 part of the agreement could not be fulfilled to the 
 letter, the payment was commuted, and two casks 
 of spiced ale, or four casks of common ale, were 
 received in heu of one cask of mead. A hquor 
 called morat was mivde of honey, flavored with 
 the juice of mvilberries. Pigment was a sweet 
 liquor, or perhaps cordial composed of honey, 
 wine, and spices. Wine was expressed from the 
 grape bj' means of a wine-press, but it does not 
 seem to have been a common drink, and it is not 
 mentioned in the laws of Wales. None but the 
 wealthy, we may suppose, could indulge in these 
 luxuries. 
 
 The comfort even of the best furnished dweUing- 
 houses would have been very incomplete without 
 an abundant supply of fuel, which was obtained 
 from a portion of each estate set apart for the 
 growth of wood fbr burning and building. Turf 
 also appears to have been in use, and probably
 
 272 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boor II. 
 
 Wine Press. Cotton MS. Claud. B. 4. 
 
 coal. In a lease examined by Mr. Turner, the 
 conditions on which it was granted are, the yearly 
 payment of sixtj- fotlier of wood, six fotlier of turf, 
 and twelve fother of graefan, which he is of opinion 
 may mean coal. In another lease, amongst the 
 articles mentioned are, five waggons full of good 
 twigs, and every year an oak for building, and 
 others for necessary fires, and sufficient wood for 
 burning ; and in one grant is included also wood 
 sufficient to boil salt. Candles made of wax were 
 used in the palace of Alfred, as appears from the 
 story we have related in a preceding chapter, of the 
 contrivance by which he made them serve the pur- 
 pose of marking the lapse of time, as well as giving 
 hght. If this story be correct, we must attribute 
 to Alfred the invention of lanterns ; and they seem 
 
 highly ornamented. Candlesticks of bone were 
 used : but we also find that silver candelabra were 
 
 SiXON Lastern. Engraved in Strutt's Chronicle of England. 
 
 afterwards to have come into common use, and 
 from the representations of them found in the 
 illuminated manuscripts, to have been sometimes 
 
 Candelabra. Harleian MS. 603. 
 
 The materials used for clothing were, to a great 
 extent, the produce of household industry. The 
 female domestics were employed in spinning and 
 sewing, and there were under each landowner 
 serfs who were ti-ained to the practice of the 
 most necessary mechanical arts. The most skilful 
 artificers were attached to the monasteries, and 
 there also were to be found those who were pro- 
 ficients in the superior departments of art; such as 
 architects, illuminators, and workers in gold and 
 silver, as well as carpenters, smiths, shoemakers, 
 millers, bakers, and farming-servants. Females of 
 the highest rank did not disdain the labors of the 
 distaff, the loom, and the needle. The daughters 
 of Edward the Elder were taught to occupy them- 
 selves in this manner; and Alfred, in his will, terms 
 the female part of his family the spindle side. The 
 word spinster, appUed in the present day to un- 
 married females, had its origin in an age when the 
 distaff really occupied a large portion of their time.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 2Tc 
 
 At the same time the art of weaving was suffi- 
 ciently advanced to give variety to the fabric, 
 whether of linen or woolen, by the introduction 
 of different colors. A robe belonging to Aldhelm 
 was purple, and within black circles, were worked 
 figures of the peacock. A love of gaudy colors is a 
 natural characteristic of a comparatively rude age, 
 and several recorded facts show that the Anslo- 
 
 Saxon mind was deeply imbued with this taste. 
 Bede states that, in St. Cuthbert's monastery, the 
 clothing of the monks was made of the natural 
 wool, and not dyed ; but this monastic rule may be 
 regarded only as an instance of what was conceived 
 an act of mortification ; and Aldhelm, in a simile 
 m one of his homilies, gives us more information 
 on this point, and also on the art of weaving, than 
 
 riGGiNG AND SPINNING. Froiti Cotton MS. Nero, C. 4. 
 
 In the first compartment of this Picture, an Angel is represented in the act of giving a Spade to Adam, and a Distaff to Eve ; and the 
 
 second exhibits the Instruments in use. 
 
 we derive from any treatise professedly on these 
 subjects. The virtue which he is panegyrizing 
 does not, he observes, alone constitute a perfect 
 character; and he sustains his argument by stating 
 that " it is not a web of one uniform color and 
 texture, without any variety of figures, that pleaseth 
 the eye and appears beautiful, but one that is 
 woven by shuttles, filled with threads of purple, 
 and many other colors, flying from side to side, 
 and forming a variety of figures and images, in 
 different compartments, with admirable art." This 
 was written towards the close of the seventh cen- 
 tury. In an illuminated manuscript the robes of 
 the four Evangehsts exhibit the following colors : — 
 yellow, green, pea-green, purple, blue, red, lilac. 
 The art of dyeing was doubtless in great request, 
 but we possess no accounts concerning the sub- 
 stances which were used. The art of obtaining a 
 scarlet dye from an insect of the cochineal species 
 was discovered about the close of the tenth cen- 
 tury.* Silk was worn only by the most wealthy. 
 The common materials of wearing apparel were 
 linen and woolen. Several articles of dress were 
 
 VOL. I. — 18 
 
 1 Muriatori, Antiq. ii. 4]£ 
 
 derived from the art of the tanner, who seems to 
 have afterwards worked up the leather he had tanned 
 into shoes, ankle leathers, and leathern hose, and 
 to have also made a variety of things which are now 
 obtained from the hands of the saddler and harness- 
 maker, such as bridle thongs, trappings, halters, and 
 leather neck-pieces ; as well as bottles, wallets, 
 pouches, flasks, and boiling-vessels. The variety 
 of articles which one class of men were requirec'- 
 to make illustrates the imperfect division of em- 
 ployments which existed. The art of tanning skins 
 with the wool or hair on was also practised. The 
 skins of martens, as we have seen, were imported, 
 but a bishop is mentioned who never made use of 
 other fur in lining his garments than lambs' skins. 
 Cats' skins were also used. 
 
 The handicrafts of the blacksmith and the car- 
 penter are of great importance in any state of 
 society, but especially in such as existed in the 
 Anglo-Saxon times. They demand considei-able 
 skill, and are therefore among the first to become 
 separated from other occupations. The implements 
 of the blacksmith were the bellows, anvil, hammer, 
 and tongs. The number of smiths' forges in the
 
 27.4 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Smithy. From the Cotton J!S. B. 4 
 
 city of Gloucester, in the time of Edward the Con- 
 fessor, was six. Iron ore was obtained in several 
 counties, and there were furnaces for smelting. 
 The mines of Gloucestershire in particular ar«i 
 alluded to by Giraldus Cambrensis as producing an 
 abundance of this valuable metal;' and there is every 
 reason for supposing that these mines were w rought 
 by the Saxons, as indeed they had most probably 
 been by their predecessors the Romans. The lead- 
 mines of Derbyshire, which had been worked by 
 the Romans, furnished the Anglo-Saxons with a 
 supply of ore ; but the most important use of this 
 metal in the Anglo-Saxon period — that of covering 
 the roofs of churches — w^as not introduced before 
 the close of the seventh century. '^ The ecclesias- 
 tics were the' most skilful workers in metal, but 
 none were more famous than Dunstan. Edgar had 
 commanded that every priest, " to increase know- 
 ledge, should dihgently learn some handicraft;" 
 and the wants of the age rendered a compliance 
 with his directions a matter of convenience to the 
 priests themselves, for there did not exist a class of 
 native artificers capable of executing in a superior 
 manner the ornaments for the churches. Bells, 
 
 1 Itin. CambriiE, lib. i. c. 5. 2 Cede. 
 
 A Harper in the other Compartment. From the Cotton MS. 
 
 images, and crucifixes are among the articles on ' 
 which their skill was exercised. No vessel made 
 of horn or wood was used in the various offices of 
 the church. Precious stones were inserted in their 
 works of silver and gold, to add to their value and 
 beauty. Gold and silver cups, gold dishes, silver 
 basons gilt, gold rings, silver mirrors, and bracelets, 
 are among the articles of this description, the man- 
 ufacture of which is mentioned. The art of gilding 
 was known, and gold and silver thread was made. 
 The art of the coppersmith was also called into 
 requisition. The carpenter was called the treow- 
 wjrhta, that is, the tree or wood worker. Carts, 
 waggons, ploughs, and other implements of agricul- 
 ture, were constructed by his art, as well as articles 
 of household furniture. The machinery for their 
 
 corn-mills, though rude, would call into exercise the 
 abiUties of the most skilful of this class of artificers. 
 Their services appear also to have been required in 
 making other four-wheeled carriages besides those 
 required for agricultural purposes. These were 
 doubtless constructed with as much elegance as the 
 workman was capable of giving to his work. The 
 body was formed of some flexible material, proba- 
 bly leather, and was slung like a hammock. It 
 could not apparently contain more than one person, 
 who must have reclined as in a palanquin. Ship- 
 building, after the incursions of the Danes directed 
 attention to its revival, was also a most important 
 department of the useful arts. The head of a 
 royal vessel was wrought with gold : the deck was 
 gilded, and the sails were purple. That the useful
 
 Chap. IY.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 275 
 
 arts were held in much esteem at a time when 
 they were practised by a comparatively small num- 
 ber of individuals may be readily imagined, as the 
 advantages which they conferred would be the 
 more obvious ^and striking on this account. The 
 office of king's chief smith was one of considerable 
 dignity. In the court of the kings of Wales his 
 place at table was next to that of the king's chap- 
 lain. There were, however, two classes of smiths, 
 those who forged arms and weapons for military 
 purposes, and others who were employed in fabri- 
 cating the more humble implements of agriculture 
 and articles required for the daily purposes of life ; 
 and unhappily the former would enjoy the honors 
 which Avere due to their more useful brethren. 
 
 The above arts may all be considered as of native 
 origin, since they were practised, in however rude 
 a state, from the earliest period. But the art of 
 making glass was not indigenous. In the seventh 
 century the Anglo-Saxons are described by Bede 
 as being " ignorant and helpless" in the manufac- 
 ture of glass. At that period, however, persons 
 acquainted with the art were brought over from 
 France by Benedict Biscop, the founder of the 
 Abbey of Wearmouth, for the purpose of glazing 
 the windows of his monastery. Our ancestors 
 were initiated into the process by these artificers, 
 and windows and drinking vessels of glass, though 
 they did not become common, were still withiu 
 reach of the affluent. 
 
 Saxon Ship. Taken from an Illumination of Noah building the Ark, m Cotton MS. B.
 
 276 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE, SCIEN'CE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 ^ HE space of about a 
 
 thousand years, ex- 
 
 ^ tending fi-omtheover- 
 
 tlirowofthe Western 
 
 y f J Roman empire, in the 
 
 middle of the fifth 
 
 century, to that of the 
 Eastern, in the middle 
 of the fifteenth, may 
 be divided into two 
 neiirly equal parts ; 
 the first of which may 
 be considered as that 
 of the gradual decline, the second as that of the 
 gradual revival of letters. The first of these 
 periods, coming down to the close of the tenth 
 century, nearly corresponds with that of the Saxon 
 domination in England. In Europe genei'ally 
 throughout this long space of time we perceive the 
 intellectual darkness, notwithstanding some brief 
 and partial revivals, deepening more and more on 
 the whole, as in the natural day the gray of even- 
 ing passes into the gloom of midnight. The Latin 
 learning, properly so called, may be regarded as 
 terminating with Boethius, who wrote in the early 
 part of the sixth century. The Latin language, 
 however, continued for some time longer to be used 
 in hterary compositions, both in our own country 
 and in the other parts of Europe that had composed 
 the old empire of Rome. 
 
 Of the early British and Irish authors, some of 
 whose works still remain, we have ah-eady made 
 mention of the two famous heretics, Pelagius and 
 his disciple Celestius, who flourished in the fourth 
 century. To the next century belong the great 
 Apostle of the Irish, St. Patrick, from whose pen 
 we have the composition styled his Confession ; 
 his friend and fellow -laborer the Irish Bishop 
 Secundinus, by whom there is extant a Latin poem 
 in praise of St. Patrick; and the poet Sedulius, or 
 Shiel, who, although an Irishman by birth, appears 
 to have resided on the continent, and whose various 
 works have been repeatedly printed.^ All these 
 wrote only in Latin, although St. Patrick, in his 
 Confession, apologizes for the rudeness of phrase 
 with which he expressed himself in that language, 
 owing to his long habit of speaking Irish. 
 
 Gildas, our earliest historian, also wrote in Latin. 
 St. Gildas the Wise, as he is styled, was a son of 
 Caw, Prince of Strathclyde, in the capital of which 
 kingdom, the town of Alcluyd, now Dunbarton, he 
 was born, about the end of the fifth or beginning of 
 the sixth century. Caw was also the father of 
 the famous bard Aneurin. In his youth Gildas is 
 
 1 See an article on Sedulius in Bayle 
 
 recorded to have gone over to Ireland, and to have 
 studied in the schools of the old national learning 
 that still flourished there ; and like his brother 
 Aneurin, he also commenced his career as a bard, 
 or composer of poetry in his native tongue. He 
 afterwards, however, was converted to Christianity, 
 and became a zealous preacher of his new religion. 
 The greater part of his life he appears to have 
 spent in his native island ; but he at last retired to 
 Armorica, or Little Britain, on the continent, and 
 died there. He is said to lie buried in the cathe- 
 dral of Vannes.' He is the author of two declam- 
 atory eff'usions — the one entitled a " History of the 
 Britons," the other an " Epistle to the Tyrants of 
 Britain," which have been often printed. They 
 consist principally of violent invectives directed 
 both against the Saxons and the author's own coun- 
 trymen ; but they also contain a few historical 
 notices respecting the obscure period to which 
 they relate that are of some value. 
 
 The immediate successor of Gildas among our 
 historians is Nennius, said to have been one of the 
 monks of Bangor, from the massacre of whom in 
 613 he escaped, and to have written his History of 
 the Britons a few years afterwards. His native 
 name is supposed to have been Ninian, and he 
 was, like Gildas, of Welsh or Cumbrian origin. 
 But there is much obscurity and confusion in the 
 accounts we have of Nennius ; and it appears to 
 be most probable that there were at least two early 
 historical writers of that name. The author of 
 " Britannia after the Romans," who has bestowed 
 considerable pains in investigating the subject, sup- 
 poses that the true work of the ancient Nennius 
 only came down to the invasion of Julius Caesar, 
 and is now lost, although we probably have an 
 abridgment of it in the work published under the 
 name of Nennius, by Gale, in the first volume of 
 the " Historise Britannica?, Saxonicae, Anglo-Da- 
 nicae Scriptores Quindecim" (fol. Oxon. 1691), and 
 commonly refeiTed to as his British History. That 
 performance is stated in the preface by the author 
 himself to have been written in the year 858.^ 
 
 Contemporary with the original Nennius was 
 the Irish saint Columbanus, distinguished for his 
 missionary labors among the Gauls and Germans. 
 Columbanus died in 615, at the monastery of 
 Bobbio, in northern Italy, of which he was the 
 founder. " The writings of this eminent man that 
 have come down to us," obsei'ves Mr. Moore, 
 " display an extensive and various acquaintance, 
 not merely with ecclesiastical, but with classical 
 literature. From a passage in his letter to Boni- 
 
 i Britannia after the Romans, pp. xiv.-.\x., and 175-180. 
 2 Ibid. pp. 21.22.
 
 Cha-p. V"..] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE,^ AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 277 
 
 face, it appears that he was acquainted bftth withi' 
 the Greek and Hebrew languages ; and when it is 
 recollected that he did not leave' Ireland till he was 
 nearly fifty years of age, and that his life after- 
 wards was one of constant activity and adventure, 
 the conclusion i-s obvious, that all this knowledge of 
 elegant literature must have been acquired in the 
 schools of his own country. Such a result from a 
 purely Irish education, in the middle of the sixth 
 century, is, it must be owned, not a little remark- 
 able. Among his extant works are some Latin 
 poems, which, though not admissible of course to 
 the honors of comparison with any of the Wiutings 
 of a classic age, shine out in this twilight period 
 of Latin literature with no ordinary distinction." ^ 
 Another learned Irishman of this age was St. Cum- 
 mian, the author of an epistle, still extant, addressed 
 to Segienus, Abbot of lona, in defence of the Ro- 
 man mode of computing Easter, in which he shows 
 a very extensive acquaintance both with the subject 
 of chronology and with the works of the fathers, 
 Greek as well as Latin. " The various learning, 
 indeed," says the writer we have just quoted, 
 "which this curious tract displays, implies such a 
 facility and range of access to books, as proves the 
 libraries of the Irish students, at that period, to 
 have been, for the times in which they lived, 
 extraordinarily well furnished."^ To the Irish 
 scholarship of this age may also be regarded as 
 belonging the two Latin lives of Columba ; the first 
 by Cuminius, who succeeded him as Abbot of lona 
 in 657 ; the second, which is of much greater 
 length, by Adomnan, who succeeded Cuminius in 
 the same ofifice in 679. Both these productions, 
 the second of which in particular is highly curious, 
 have been printed. Their authors, although they 
 resided in one of the North British islands, were 
 probably Irishmen by birth. The school of lona 
 was at least an Irish foundation. 
 
 Of the Latin writers among the Anglo-Saxons 
 the most ancient is Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmes- 
 bury, and afterwards Bishop of Sherborn, who died 
 in 709, and has left various writings both in prose 
 and verse. Aldhelm received his education in part 
 from an Italian monk named Adrian, who had come 
 over to England with Archbishop Theodore, but 
 chiefly fi-om Mailduft", an Irishman, the founder of 
 the monastery of Malmesbury, by whom he tells 
 U3 he was thoroughly instructed both in Latin and 
 Greek. Among the studies of his after-life, he 
 mentions the Roman law, the rules of Latin 
 prosody, arithmetic, astronomy, and astrology. He 
 also wrote a tract on the gi-eat scientific question of 
 the age — the proper method of computing Easter 
 But Aldhelm's favorite subject seems to have been 
 the virtue of virginity, in praise of which he wrote 
 first a copious treatise in prose, and then a long 
 poem. Both these performances have been printed. 
 Aldhelm long enjoyed the highest reputation for 
 learning; but his ^Titings are chiefly remarkable 
 for their elaborately unnatural and fantastic rhet- 
 oric. His Latin style bears a strong resemblance 
 to the pedantic Enghsh, full of alliteration and all 
 
 ' Ilistoiy (.f Irrlaiid, i. WT. = Ibid. 273 
 
 sorts of barbarous quaintness, that was fashTOjable 
 among our English theological writers in the reigns 
 of Elizabeth and James I. 
 
 But the Anglo-Saxon name most distinguished 
 in literature is that of Beda, or Bede, upon whom 
 the epithet of the " Venerable" has been justly 
 bestowed by the respect and gratitude of posterity. 
 All that Bede has written, like the other works 
 already mentioned, is in Latin. He was born 
 some time between the years 672 and 677, at 
 Jarrow, a village near the mouth of the Tyne, in 
 the' county of Durham, and was educated in the 
 n-eighboring monastery of Wearmouth, under its 
 successive abbots Benedict and Ceolfrid. He re- 
 sided here, as he tells us himself, from the age of 
 seven to that of twelve, during which time he ap- 
 plied himself with all diligence, he says, to the 
 meditation of the Scriptures, the observance of 
 regular discipline, and the daily practice of singing 
 in the church. " It was always sweet to me," he 
 adds, "to learn, to teach, and to write." In his 
 nineteenth year he took deacon's orders, and in his 
 thirtieth he was ordained priest. From this date 
 till his death, in 735, he remained in his monastery, 
 giving up his whole time to study and writing. His 
 chief task was the composition of his celebrated 
 Ecclesiastical History of England, which he brought 
 to a close in his fifty-ninth year. It is our chief 
 original authority for the earlier portion even of 
 the civil history of the Anglo-Saxons. But Bede 
 also wrote many other works, among which he has 
 himself enumerated, in the brief account he gives 
 of his life, at the end of his Ecclesiastical History, 
 which has just been quoted. Commentaries on most 
 of the books of the Old and New Testaments and 
 the Apocrypha, two books of Homilies, a Mar- 
 tyrology, a chronological treatise entitled " On the 
 Six Ages," a book on orthography, a book on the 
 metrical art, and various other theological and bio- 
 graphical treatises. He also composed a book of 
 hymns and another of epigrams. Most of these 
 writings have been preserved, and have been re- 
 peatedly printed. The first edition of the Eccle- 
 siastical History appeared at Eshng, in Germany, 
 in 1474 ; and there are three continental editions 
 of the entire works of Bede, each in eight volumes 
 folio, the latest of which was published at Cologne, 
 in 1688. Some additional pieces were pubhshed 
 at London in a quarto volume, by Mr. Wharton, 
 in 1693. It appears also, from an interesting ac- 
 count of Bede's last hours, by his pupil, St. Cuth- 
 bert, that he was engaged at the time of his death 
 in translating St. John's Gospel into his native 
 tongue. Among his last utterances to his afi"ec- 
 tionate disciples watching around his bed, were 
 some recitations in the English language : " For," 
 says the account, " he was very learned in our 
 songs; and putting his thoughts into Enghsh verse, 
 he spoke it with compunction." 
 
 Another celebrated Anglo-Saxon churchman of 
 this age was St. Boniface, originally named Winfrith. 
 who was born in Devonshire about the year 680. 
 Boniface is acknowledged as the Apostle of Germany, 
 in which country he founded various monasteries,
 
 278 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Jarrow, at the Moulli of the River Tyne The Birthplace ami Residence of Beile. 
 
 find was greatly ii\strumental in the diffusion both of 
 Christianity and of civilization. He eventually be- 
 <"ime Archbishop of Mentz, and was killed in East 
 Friesland by a band of heathens in 755. Many of 
 his letters to the popes, to the English bishops, to 
 rne kings of France, and to the various Anglo-Saxon 
 kings, still remain, and are printed in the Magna 
 Ribliotheca Patrum. We may here also mention 
 another contemporary of Bede's — Eddius, surnamed 
 Stephanus, the author of the Latin life of Bishop 
 Wilfrid. Bede mentions him as the first person 
 who taught singing in the churches of Northumber- 
 land. 
 
 But at this time, and down to a considerably later 
 date, as we have already had occasion to observe, 
 the chief seat of learning in Europe was Ireland; 
 and the most distinguished scholars who appeared 
 in other countries were either Irishmen, or had 
 received their education in Irish schools. We are 
 informed by Bede, that it was customary for the 
 English of all ranks, from the highest to the lowest, 
 to retire for study and devotion to Ireland, where, 
 he adds, they were all hospitably received, and sup- 
 plied gratuitously with food, with books, and with 
 instruction. 1 His contemporary, Aldhelm, in a pas- 
 sage in which he labors to exalt the credit of the 
 English scholars, and especially of his patrons, 
 TJiopdore and Adrian, yet admits that those of Ire- 
 land enjoyed the higher reputation, and bears dis- 
 tinct, though reluctant testimony to the crowded 
 attendance of her schools. " Why should Ireland," 
 
 ' Hist. Eccles. iii. 28. 
 
 he exclaims, " whither troops of students are daily 
 transported, boast of such unspeakable excellence, 
 as if in the rich soil of England Greek and Roman 
 masters were not to be had to unlock the treasures 
 of divine knowledge ? Though Ireland, rich and 
 blooming in scholars, is adorned like the poles of the 
 world with innumerable bright stars, it is Britain 
 has her radiant sun, her sovereign pontiflf Theo- 
 dore.'" It was during the eighth and the early part 
 of the ninth century that the Irish scholars made 
 the most distinguished figure in foreign countries. 
 Virgilius, the Bishop of Saltzburgh, famous for his 
 assertion of the existence of antipodes, for which he 
 was denounced as a heretic by his British contem- 
 porary Boniface, but was not, as is commonly said, 
 deposed by Pope Zachary, his elevation tothe bish- 
 opric having, on the contrary, taken place some years 
 afterwards, was an Irishman, his native name having 
 been probably Feargil, or Feargal. He died in 784. 
 Of the learned persons who were attached to the 
 court of France in this age by the munificent pat- 
 ronage of Charlemagne, the most eminent were 
 Irish. Such, by birth, at least, Alcuin himself, the 
 chief ornament of the imperial court, appears to 
 have been, the oldest accounts designating him a 
 Scot, although he has himself told us that he received 
 his education at York. Alcuin was appointed by 
 Charlemagne to preside over the seminary estab- 
 lished by that emperor out of which the University 
 of Paris is regarded as having grown. At the same 
 time, his friend and fellow-countiyman, Clement, 
 
 • Traiislatcfi in Moore's Il^st. of Ireland, i. 299.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 279 
 
 was set ovei* a similar institution in Italy. Somewhat 
 later, we find another eminent Irishman, named 
 Dungal, selected by the emperor Lothaire I., the 
 j;randson of Charlemagne, to superintend the whole 
 system of the Italian universities or public schools. 
 He governed that of Pavia in person ; but he is stated 
 to have founded and exercised a general control also 
 over those of Ivrea, of Torino, of Ferno, of Verona, 
 of Vicenza, and of Cividad del Friuh. Dungal has 
 left various works, which bear honorable testimony 
 both to his scientific and his literary acquirements. 
 A second Irish Sedulius, the author of a prose 
 Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul, also ap- 
 pears to have flourished in the early part of the ninth 
 century. He became Bishop of Oreto in Spain ; and 
 besides hrs Commentary, is the author of a treatise 
 entitled " The Concordance of Spain and Hibernia ;" 
 in which he not only maintains the Irish to be 
 Spaniards by origin, but asserts their right to be 
 still considered as merely a division of the Spanish 
 nation. Donatus, who was about the same time 
 Bishop of Fiesole, in Italy, was also an Irishman. 
 The only piece of his that remains is a short Latin 
 poem in praise of his native country.^ 
 
 But the glory of this age of Irish scholarship and 
 genius is the celebrated Joannes Scotus, or Erigena, 
 as he is as frequently designated, — either appellative 
 equally proclaiming his true birthplace. He is 
 supposed to have first made his appearance in France 
 about the year 845, and to have remained in that 
 country till his death, which appeai-s to have taken 
 jilace before 875. Erigena is the author of a trans- 
 lation from the Greek of certain mystical works 
 ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, which he 
 executed at the command of his patron, the French 
 king, Charles the Bald, and also of several original 
 treatises on metaphysics and theology. His pro- 
 ductions may be taken as furnishing clear and con- 
 clusive evidence that the Greek language was taught 
 at this time in the Irish schools. Mr. Turner has 
 given a short account of his principal work, his Dia- 
 logue de Divisione Naturae (On the Division of Na- 
 ture), which he characterizes as "distinguished for 
 its Aristotelian acuteness and extensive information." 
 In one place " he takes occasion," it is observed, " to 
 give concise and able definitions of the seven liberal 
 arts, and to express his opinion on the composition 
 of things. In another part he inserts a very elabor- 
 ate discussion on arithmetic, which he says he had 
 learnt from his infancy. He also details a curious 
 conversation on the elements of things, on the 
 motions of the heavenly bodies, and other topics of 
 astronomy and physiology. Among these he even 
 gives the means of calculating the diameters of the 
 lunar and solar circles. Besides the fathers Austin, 
 the two Gregories, Chrysostom, Basil, Epiphanius, 
 Origen, Jerome, and Ambrosius, of whose works, 
 with the Platonizing Dionysius and Maximus, he 
 gives large extracts; he also quotes Virgil, Cicero, 
 Aristotle, Pliny, Plato, and Boethius ; he details the 
 opinions of Eratosthenes and of Pythagoras on some 
 asti'onomical topics ; he also cites Martianus Capella. 
 His knowledge of Greek appears almost in every 
 
 1 Translated in Moore's Hist, of Irela-nd, p. 300. 
 
 page."' The subtle speculations of Erigena have 
 strongly attracted the notice of the most eminent 
 among the modern inquirers into the history of 
 opinion and of civilization ; and the German Tenne- 
 man agrees with the French Cousin and Guizot in 
 attributing to them a very extraordinary influence 
 on the philosophy of his own and of succeeding 
 times. To his writings atid translations it is thought 
 may be ti-aced the introduction into the theology 
 and metaphysics of Europe of the later Platonism of 
 the Alexandrian school. It is remarkable, as 3Ir. 
 Moore has observed, that the learned Mosheim had 
 previously shown the study of the scholastic or Aris- 
 totelian philosophy to have been also of Irish origin. 
 "That the Hibernians," says that writer, "who 
 were called Scots in this (the eighth) century, were 
 lovers of learning, and distinguished themselves iu 
 these times of ignorance by the culture of the 
 sciences beyond all the other European nations, 
 traveling through the most distant lands, both with 
 a view to improve and to communicate their knowl- 
 edge, is a fact with which I have been long acquaint- 
 ed ; as we see them in the most authentic records 
 of antiquity discharging, with the highest reputation 
 and applause, the function of doctor in France, Ger- 
 many, and Itaty, both during this and the following 
 century. But that these Hibernians were the first 
 teachers of the scholastic theology in Europe, and 
 so early as the eighth centviry illustrated the doc- 
 trines of religion by the principles of philosophy, I 
 learned but lately."* And then he adduces the 
 proofs that establish his position. 
 
 We now proceed to give "some account of the 
 Anglo-Saxon language and literature. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon language is one of the dialects 
 of the ancient Gothic, which prevailed over all the 
 countries of Europe designated as barbarous by the 
 Greeks and Romans, except those in which the 
 Celtic and Sclavonian were spoken. The three 
 immediate descendant languages from the Gothic 
 were the Anglo-Saxon, the Franco-Theotisc, and 
 the old Icelandic. From the Anglo-Saxon the Eng- 
 lish, and probably also the Lowland Scotch, are 
 descended ; from the Francic, the German and the 
 Dutch; from the old Icelandic, the -Swedish, the 
 Danish, the Norwegian, and the modern Icelandic. 
 Of the Gothic itself but a single monument remains, 
 an imperfect copy of the Gospels, preserved in the 
 library at Upsala in Sweden. From the silver with 
 which the characters in it are adorned, it has long 
 been called the Codex Argentcus, or silver book ; 
 and it is believed to be a portion of the Gothic'Bible, 
 all, or the greater part of which was translated by 
 Ulphilas, Bishop of the Moesian Goths, who lived 
 under the Emperor Valens, about the year 360, and 
 who is supposed to have invented or apphed an 
 alphabet, formed from the Greek and Latin, to his 
 translation. 
 
 What was the form of the Saxon language when 
 Hengist and Horsa entered Britain, in 443. it is 
 impossible to discover. The Saxons were evidently 
 at that time a people without learning, and there is 
 every probability that they were without an alpha- 
 
 1 Turner, Anglo Sax. iii. 393. = Moore's Ireland, i. 302
 
 2S0 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 bet. Till after the arrival of St. Austin we have no 
 monument of their literature. A passage in Bede, 
 which is copied in the Saxon chronicle, under the 
 year just named, points out the tribes who in the 
 two centuries which followed Hengist's and Horsa's 
 invasion were called in to complete the Saxon 
 domhiation. " Then came the men from three 
 powers of Germany; the old Saxons, the Angles, 
 and the Jutes. From the Jutes are descended the 
 inhabitants of Kent and the Wightware, that is, 
 the race that now dwells in Wight, and that tribe 
 among the West Saxons which is still called the 
 Jute tribe. From the Old Saxons came the East 
 Saxons, the South Faxons, and the West Saxons. 
 From the Angles' land, which has ever since stood 
 waste between the Jutes and the Saxons, came the 
 East Angles, the Mercians, the Northumbrians, and 
 also the other nations of England." Raske, in the 
 preface to h'ts Grammar, in conformity to this pas- 
 sage, considers the Anglo-Saxon language, in its ori- 
 gin, to have been a rude mixture of the dialects of 
 these three people ; which, in the progress of time, 
 melted into one language, just as the kindred tribes 
 
 themselves united to form one nation after they had 
 taken possession of England. 
 
 Dr. Hickes and other philologists have divided 
 the Saxon language as spoken in England into three 
 dialects : the first, that in use from the arrival of the 
 Saxons till the irruption of the Danes — a period of 
 330 years — this they term the Anglo-Saxon ; the 
 second, which prevailed from the Danish to the 
 Norman invasion, they call the Dano-Saxon ; and 
 the third, which was in fact beyond the limits of the 
 tongue (which was then in a state of transition to 
 the English), they call Normanno-Saxon, and extend 
 it as low as the time of Henry II. But these were, 
 in fact, merely successive stages of the language, 
 not dialects. That a mixture of Danish might be 
 found in the Northumbrian part of England is prob- 
 able, as the Danes landed so frequently and in such 
 numbers in that country, that they had mixed with 
 the inhabitants ; but we agree generally with Raske, 
 that, at least in the Anglo-Saxon works hitherto 
 printed, no clear traces are to be met with of any- 
 thing that can properly be called a variation of dia- 
 lect. 
 
 The Song of the elder Caedmon, " On the Origin of Things," preserved in Alfred's Trauslartion of 
 Bede'g Ecclesiastical History, is one of very few specimens now remaining of the Saxon of the earliest 
 period.* It follows, with a literal translation in the opposite column : — 
 
 Nu we sceolan herian. 
 Heofon-rices weard. 
 Metodes milite. 
 & his mod-gethone. 
 Wera wuldor-fasder. 
 Swa he wuiidra gehvvass. 
 Ece drihten. 
 Oord onstealde. 
 He terest gesceop. 
 Eorthan bearnum. 
 Heofon to hrofe. 
 Halig scyppend. 
 Tha middangeard. 
 Moncynnes weard. 
 Ece dryhten. 
 JEiter teode. 
 Firum foldan. 
 Frea Belmihtig. 
 
 Now must we praise 
 
 The guardian of heaven's kingdom, 
 
 The Creator's might, 
 
 And his mind's thought ; 
 
 Glorious Father of men .' 
 
 As of eveiy wonder he, 
 
 Lord eternal, 
 
 Formed the beginning. 
 
 He first framed 
 
 For the children of earth 
 
 The heaven as a roof; 
 
 Holy Creator ! 
 
 Then mid-earth, 
 
 The Guardian of mankind, 
 
 The eternal Lord, 
 
 Aftei-wards produced ; 
 
 The earth for men, 
 
 Lord Almighty ! 
 
 The next specimen of Saxon which we shall give is a copy of the Lord's Prayer, written by Eadfrith, 
 Bishop of Lindisfarne, about the year 700 : there is little in it that is unintelligible to an English reader. 
 It is presented in the ancient copy of the Gospels called the Durham Book :- — 
 
 Fader uren thu arth in heofuum sie gehalgud noma 
 thin ; to cymeth ric thin ; sie willo thin Buacls iuheofne 
 & in eortho ; hlaf usenne ofer wistlic sel us todirg ; & 
 forgef us scylda usna suae ua; forgefon scyldgum usum ; , 
 
 & ne inlted usih in costunge uh gefrig usich from yfle. 
 
 Next in order of time, as a composition, we are perhaps to place the " Metrical Paraphrase of Part? 
 of the Holy Scriptures," by a nameless author, but ascribed to a second Caedmon, which has recently 
 been so ably edited by Mr. Benjamin Thorpe. The first portion of this poem, after an exordium of 
 thanksgiving to the great Creator, relates the fall of a portion of the angelic host, and the design of the 
 Deity to replenish the void thus occasioned in his creation by a better and a holier race. The fall of Man 
 is next considered, ushered in by a repetition of the circumstances already introduced in the exordium, 
 of the pride, rebellion, and punishment of Satan and his powers, and with a resemblance to Milton so 
 
 1 ("unyb.arr. Illust. p. SO. fivfs the year 6T0 as lis ilatr 
 
 - MS. Cotton, Brit. Mus. Noro I), iv.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 281 
 
 remaiioible, that, as Mi'. Conybeare has observed, much of this portion might be ahnost literally trans- 
 lated by a cento of lines from that great poet. We shall produce a specimen or two, accompanied by 
 Mr. Thorpe's version : — 
 
 Tha wearth se mihtiga gebolgen. 
 
 Hehsta heofones waldend. 
 
 Wearji hiue of than hean stole. 
 
 Hete haefde he aet his hearran gewuniien. 
 
 Hyld lijefde his ferlorene. 
 
 Gram v^rearth him se goda on his mode. 
 
 Forthou he sceolde gnuid gesecau. 
 
 Heardes helle-wites 
 
 Tha?s the he wann with heofnes waldend. 
 
 Acwaeth hiue tlia fram his hyldo. 
 
 And hine on helle weai^p. 
 
 On tha deowan dalas. 
 
 Tlia;r lie to deofle wearth. 
 
 Se feond mid his geferam eallum. 
 
 Feollon tha ufon of heofiium. 
 
 Thm-h longe swa threo niht & dagas. 
 
 Tha englas of heofumn on helle. 
 
 & heo alle forsceop drihten to deofliim. 
 
 Forthon heo his da?d & word. 
 
 Noldon weorthian. 
 
 Forthon the heo on wyrse leoht. 
 
 Under eorthan neothan. 
 
 iEUmihtig god. 
 
 Sette sigelese. 
 
 On tha svveartan heUe. 
 
 Thaer hoebbath heo on eefyn. 
 
 Ungemet lange. 
 
 Ealra feonda gehwilc. 
 
 Fyr-edneowe. 
 
 Thonne cymth on uhtan. 
 
 Easteme ^vind. 
 
 Forst fymiim cald. 
 
 Symble fyr oththe gar. 
 
 Sum heard ges\vinc. 
 
 Habban sceoldon. 
 
 Worhte man liit him to wite. 
 
 Hyra woruld waes gehwyrfed. 
 
 For man-si the. 
 
 Fylde helle. 
 
 Mid tham andsacum. 
 
 * * * « 
 
 Haefdon wite micel. 
 Waeron tha befeallene. 
 Fyre to botme. 
 On tha hatan hell. 
 Thurh hygeleaste. 
 & thurh ofermetto. 
 Sohton other land. 
 That w;bs leohtes leas. 
 & wses liges full. 
 Fyres fter micel. 
 
 Satan mathelode. 
 Forgiende spraec. 
 Sethe heUe forth. 
 Healdan sqeolde. 
 Gymau tliaes grundes. 
 VVcES aer Godes engel. 
 Hvvrit on heofue. 
 0th hine his hyge forspeon. 
 & his ofermetto. 
 Ealra swithost. 
 Thaet he ne wolde. 
 Wereda drihtnes. 
 
 ' Thorpe's Caeclinou's I'nniplirasc. p. ISI. 
 
 Then was the Mighty angiy, 
 
 The highest Ruler of heaven 
 
 Hurled him from the lofty seat; 
 
 Hate had he gain'd at his Lord, 
 
 His favor he had lost, 
 
 Incensed with him was the Good in his mind. 
 
 Therefore he must seek tlie gulf 
 
 Of hard hell-tonnent, 
 
 For that he had wan'd with heaven's Ruler 
 
 He rejected him then from his favor, 
 
 And cast him mto hell. * 
 
 Into the deep parts, 
 
 When he became a devil : 
 
 The fiend with all his comrades 
 
 Fell then fi-om heaven above, 
 
 Through as long as three nights and days, 
 
 The angels from heaven into hell ; 
 
 And them all the Lord transformed to devils, 
 
 Because they his deed and word 
 
 Would not revere ; 
 
 Therefore them in a worse light, 
 
 Under the earth beneath, 
 
 Almighty God 
 
 Had placed triumphless 
 
 In the swart hell ; 
 
 There they have at even, 
 
 Immeasurably long, 
 
 Each of all the fiends, 
 
 A renewal of fire ; 
 
 Then conieth ere dawn 
 
 The eastern wind, 
 
 Frost bitter-cold, 
 
 Ever fire or dart ; 
 
 Some hard tomient 
 
 They must have. 
 
 It was wrought for them in punishment. 
 
 Their world-life was changed ; 
 
 For their sinful course 
 
 He filled heU 
 
 With the apostates."^ 
 
 !f * * !f *• 
 
 They had great torment ; 
 Then were they fallen 
 To the fiery abyss, 
 Into the hot hell. 
 Through phrensy 
 And through pride ; 
 They sought another land. 
 That was void of light. 
 And was fidl of flame, 
 A gi-eat receptacle of fire.^ 
 » # # * » 
 
 Satan harangued, 
 
 Sorrowing spake, 
 
 He who hell thenceforth 
 
 Should rule, 
 
 Govern the abyss. 
 
 He was erst God's angel, 
 
 Fair in heaven, 
 
 Until him his mind m-ged. 
 
 And his pride 
 
 Most of all, 
 
 That he would not 
 
 The Lord of Hosts" 
 
 ■-• Ibid. p. -M
 
 i;82 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Word \\nirthiau. 
 
 Weoll him on iimaii. 
 
 Hyge ymb his heortan 
 
 Hat w.-ps him utan. 
 
 WrathHc wite. 
 
 He tlia worcie c\v;eth. 
 
 Is thes irnga stetle ungelic swithe. 
 
 Tham othnim the we aer cuthon. 
 
 Hean on lieofon-rice. 
 
 The me min hean-a onlag. 
 
 Theah we hine for tham alwealdau. 
 
 Agaii ne mostoii. 
 
 Romigan ures rices. 
 
 Ntefth he theah riht gedon. 
 
 Tha't he us hiefth befylled. 
 
 Fyre to botrae. 
 
 Ilelle thicre hatan. 
 
 Heofon-rice benumen. 
 
 Hafath hit geniearcod. 
 
 Mid mon-cynne. 
 
 To gesettaune. 
 
 That me is sorga moest. 
 
 That Adam sceal. 
 
 The wii's of eorthan geworht. 
 
 Minne sti'onglican. 
 
 Stol behealdan. 
 
 Wesau him on wynne. 
 
 (fc the tills wite thohen. 
 
 Heann on this.se helle. 
 
 Word revere ; 
 
 Boird within him 
 
 His thought about his heart, 
 
 Hot was without him 
 
 His dire pmiishment. 
 
 Tiien spake he the words, 
 
 This narrow place is most unlike 
 
 That other that we ere knew. 
 
 High in heaven's kingdom. 
 
 Which my Master bestow'd on me, 
 
 Though we it, for the AU-poweriiil, 
 
 May not possess, 
 
 Must cede our realm; 
 
 Yet hath he not done rightly 
 
 That he hath stiniek us down 
 
 To the fieiy abyss 
 
 Of the hot hell, 
 
 Bereft us of heaven's kingdom. 
 
 Hath it decreed 
 
 With mankind 
 
 To people. 
 
 That of sorrows is to me the greatest. 
 
 That Adam shall, 
 
 AV'ho of earth was wrought, 
 
 My sti-ong 
 
 Seat possess, 
 
 Be to him in delight, 
 
 And we endiu-e this tonneut, 
 
 Misery in this hell.' 
 
 The following is another passage from the same paraphrase — a part of the Song of Aznriah : — 
 
 Tha of roderum wies. 
 
 Eugel a-lbeorht. 
 
 Ufan onsended. 
 
 Wlite scyne wer. 
 
 On his ^^■uldor-haman. 
 
 Se him cwom to frofre. 
 
 ifc to feorh-nere. 
 
 Mid lufan & mid lisse. 
 
 Se thone lig tosceaf. 
 
 Halig & heofon-beorht. 
 
 Hatan fyres. 
 
 Tosweop hine & loswende. 
 
 Thurli tha swithfin miht. 
 
 Ligges leoma. 
 
 That hyra lice ne wa?s. 
 
 Ovviht geegled. 
 
 Ac he on audan sloh. 
 
 Fyr on feondjis. 
 
 For fyren-da^dura. 
 
 Tha waes on tham ofne. 
 
 Thier se engel becwom. 
 
 Windig & \\'jnisum. 
 
 Wedere gelicost. 
 
 Thonne hit on sumeres tid. 
 
 Sended vi'eortheth. 
 
 Dropena dreanmg. 
 
 On diuges hwUe. 
 
 AVearmlic wolcna scur. 
 
 Swylc bith wedera cj-st. 
 
 Swlcy wans on tham fjTe. 
 
 Frean mihtum. 
 
 Halgum to helpe. 
 
 Wearth se hata lig. 
 
 Todrifen & todwa?sced. 
 
 Threr tha da>d-hwatan. 
 
 Geond thone ofen eodon. 
 
 Then from the firmament was 
 
 An all-bright angel 
 
 Sent from above, 
 
 A man of beauteous form. 
 
 In his garb of glory ; 
 
 Who to them came for comfort, 
 
 And fur their lives' salvation, 
 
 With love and with grace ; 
 
 Who the flame scattered 
 
 (Holy and heaven-bright) 
 
 Of the hot fire. 
 
 Swept it and dashed away. 
 
 Through his great might, 
 
 The beams of flame ; 
 
 So that their bodies were not 
 
 Injured aught ; 
 
 But in haste he cast 
 
 Fire on the foes. 
 
 For their wicked deeds. 
 
 Then wjis it in the oven. 
 Where the angel came, 
 AViiuly and winsome, 
 To the weather likest 
 W'hen there, in summer's tide. 
 Is sent 
 
 A falling of drops. 
 In the day's space, 
 A warm shower of the clouds. 
 
 As is the bounty of the skies, 
 So was it in the fire. 
 Through the Lord's might. 
 In help to the holy ones. 
 The hot flame was 
 Scattered and quenched. 
 There those bold of deed 
 AVent through the oven. 
 
 Tliurpe's Cacdiuoii's Paraphrase, p. 22.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 283 
 
 & se engel mid. 
 Feorh-nerigende. 
 Se thaer feortha wtBs. 
 Anuanias. 
 & Azarias. 
 & Misael. 
 
 Thaer tha mod-hwatan 
 Thry on gethancum. 
 Theodeu beredon. 
 Baedon bletsian. 
 Beam Israela. 
 Eall land-gesceaft. 
 Ecne drihteu. 
 Theoda waldend. 
 Svva hie thry cwiedon. 
 Modum horsce. 
 Thurh semaene word. 
 
 And the angel with them, 
 
 Life preserving. 
 
 Who was there the fourth : 
 
 Hananiah, 
 
 And Azariah, 
 
 And Mishael. 
 
 There those, bold of mind, 
 
 The three, in their thoughts, 
 
 Praised the Lord, 
 
 Prayed him to bless 
 
 The children of Israel, 
 
 All the land-creation, 
 
 The Lord-eternal, 
 
 Rider of nations 
 
 Thus they three spake 
 
 With minds sagacious 
 
 Throudi common voice. ^ 
 
 We shall now give one or two specimens of the language as it existed in the latter part of the iiintli 
 century, from the works of Alfred. The following is the prefiice to his paraphrase, or imitation of 
 Bcethius' De Consolatione Philosophies ; a work which we are assured he carried constantly about him : — 
 
 Alfred kuning wses wealhstod thisse bee. & hie of bee 
 Ledeue on Euglisc wende. swa hio nu is gedon. hwilum 
 he sette worde be worde. hwilum andgit of andgite. swa 
 swa he hit tha sweotolost and andgit-fidlicost gereccan 
 mihte for thaem mistlicmn &manigfealdum weondd bisgum 
 the hiue oft aegther ge on mode ge on lichomau bisgodan. 
 Tha bisgu us sint swithe earfoth rime the on his dagum on 
 tha ricu becomon the he underfangen hicfde. &. theah 
 I ha lie thas boc hsfde geleoniode & of Laedene to 
 Engliscum spelle gewende. tha geworhte he hi efter to 
 leothe. swa svva heo nu gedon is. & nu bit &. for Godes 
 uaman healsath selcne thara the thas boc raedan lyste. that 
 he for hine gebidde. & him ne wite gif he hit rihtlicor 
 ongite thonne he mihte. forthgemthe eelc mon sceal be his 
 andgites majthe and be his aemettan sprecan thset he 
 sprecth. & don that that he deth. 
 
 Alfred, king, was translator of this book, and turned it 
 from book Latin into English, as it now is done. .Some- 
 times he set word by word, sometimes meaning of mean- 
 ing, as lie the most plainly and most clearly could render 
 it, for the various and manifold worldly occupations which 
 often busied him both in mind and body. The occupa- 
 tions are to us very difficult to be numbered, which in his 
 days came upon the kingdoms which he had undertaken ; 
 and nevertheless, when he had learned this book, and 
 turned it from Latin into the Euglish language, he after- 
 wards composed it in verse, as it now is done. And ho 
 now prays, and for God's name implores every one of those 
 whom it lists to read this book, that he would pray fur 
 him, and not blame him if he more rightly understand it 
 than he could; for every man must, according to the 
 measure of his understanding, and according to his leisui'e, 
 speak that which he speaks, and do that which he does. 
 
 We add the Story of Orpheus, from the 31st chapter of the work 
 
 Hit gelamp gio. that te an hearpere. waes on thaore 
 theode. the Thracia hatte. sio waes on Creca rice, se hear- 
 pere was swithe. ungefraeglice god. thaes nama waes Or- 
 l>heus. he hafde an swithe aenlic wif. sio waes haten Eu- 
 rydice. tha ongann monn secgan. be tham hearpere. that 
 lie mihte heaipiau that se wuda wagode. and tha stanas hi 
 styredon. for thy swege. & wild deor. thter woldon to 
 irnan. & standon. svvilce hi tame waeron. swa stille. theah 
 hi men. oththe huudas. with eodon. that hi hi na ne ons- 
 cunedon. tha saedon hi. that thaes hearperes wif. sceolde 
 acwelan. & hire sawle. mon sceolde. liedon to belle, tha 
 sceolde se hearpere. weorthaii swa sarig. that he ne mihte. 
 on gemong otlirum mannum bion. ac teali to wnida. & sajt 
 on thaem muutum. aegther ge daeges. ge nihtes. weop & 
 hearpode. that tha wudas bilbdon. & tlia ea stodon. & nan 
 heort ne onscunode. naemie leon. ne nan liara. naeune 
 hund. ne nan neat, nyste naenne andan. ne naenne ege. to 
 othrum. for thaere mirhte thaes sones. Tha thaem heai-pere 
 tlia thuhte. that hine tha. nanes thinges ne lyste on thisse 
 vvonilde. that thohte he. that he wolde gesecan. helle 
 Godu. & onginnau him. oleccan mid his heai-epan. & bid- 
 tlen that, hi him ageafau eft his wif. Tha he tha thider 
 com. tha sceolde cuman. thaere helle hund. ongeaii hine. 
 1 hffis nama waes Geruerus. se sceolde habban. thrio haefdu. 
 .Si ongan faegeniau. mid his steorte. & plegian with hine. 
 for his heai-punga. Tha was thaer eac. swithe egeslic 
 
 It happened formerly that there was an harper iu the 
 coimtry called Thrace, which was in Greece. The harper 
 was inconceivably good. His name was Oi-pheus. He 
 had a very excellent wife, who was called Euiydice. 
 Then began men to say, concerning the harper, that he 
 could harp so that the wood moved, and the stones stiired 
 tliemselves at the sound, and wild beasts would nin there- 
 to and stand as if they were tame ; so still, that though 
 men or homids pursued them, they shumied them not. 
 Then said they, that the harper's wife should die, and her 
 soul should be led to hell. Then should the harper be- 
 come so sorrowful that he could not remain among other 
 men, but frequented the wood, and sat on the mountains, 
 both day and night, weeping and hai-ping, so tliat the 
 woods shook and the rivers stood still, and no hart shunned 
 any lion, nor hare any hound, nor did cattle know any lia- 
 tred or any fear of others, for the sweetness of the sound. 
 Tiien it seemed to the haiijer, tliat he desired nothuig in 
 this world. Then thought he, that he would seek the 
 gods of liell, and endeavor to soften them with his harp, 
 and pray that they woidd give him back his wife. When 
 he came thither, then should there come towards him the 
 dog of hell, whose name was Cerbenis (he should have 
 three heads), and began to wag his tail and play with him 
 for his harping. Then was there also a very dreadful 
 gate-keeper, whose name slioidd be Charon. He had also 
 
 Thorpe's CaoOmoiiS Paraphrase, p 237
 
 284 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 geatweard. tlines nama sccolde beon Caron. se htefde eac 
 thrio heatilu. & se \v;es svvithe oreald. Tha ongan the 
 hearpere. hine biddan. that he hine gemundbyrde. tha 
 liwile the he tha-r w.ere. & hme gesiindue. eft thanon 
 brohte. tha gehet he him that. fortha;m he wjl's oflyst. 
 thss seldcuthaa soues. Tha eode he furthor oth he ge- 
 niette. tha gnimau Gydeua the folcisce men. hatath Parcas. 
 tha hi secgath. that on naniim men. uytou uane are. ac 
 «lcum meun. wrecan be his gewjThtiim. tha hi secgath. 
 that wealdan. aelces monues wyrde. tha ongann he biddan. 
 hiora miltse. tha ougiinnon hi wepan mid him. Tha 
 eode [he] furthor. &. him union ealle hellwaran ongean. 
 & la;don hine. to hiora cyninge. & ongunnon ealle 
 sprecan mid him. & biddan tlites the he hasd. And that 
 unstillc hweol. the I.xiou wass to gebunden. Laiuta cy- 
 iiiug for his scylde. that othstod. for liis heaqiunga. And 
 Tantalus se cyuing. the on thisse worulde. ungemetlice 
 gifre wffis. & him th;er that ilce. yfcl fyligde. thajs gifer- 
 nesse. he gestilde. And se Uultor. sceolde forlsctan. that 
 he ne slat, tha lifre Tyties. thtes cyninge.o. the hine ser.mid 
 thy wituode. And eall helhvara. witii gestildon. tha hwile 
 the he beforan tham cyuinge hearpode. Tha he tha lange. 
 & lange heai-pode. tha clipode. se hellwarana cyiiign & 
 cwajetlk Uton agifan. thaem esne his wif. fortham he hi. 
 iiiefth geeamod. mid his heai-puuga. Bebead him tha. 
 thaet he geara waste, that he hine ntefre. imderbtec ne be- 
 sawe. siththan he thonouvveard wsere. & saede. gif he hine 
 underb;ec besawe. that he sceolde. forla^tan tha^t ■wif. Ac 
 tha Infe mou maeg svvithe uneathe. oththe na forbeodan. 
 ■»\nla wei. hwa;t Orfeus tha. Ifcdde his wif mid him. oththe 
 he com. on that gemirre. leohtes & tlieostro. tha eode that 
 ■v^-if a;fter him. tha he forth on that leoht com. tha beseah 
 he hine underbade, with thres wifes. tha losede heo him 
 t-»na. Thas leasan spell. Iterath gehwilcne man. thara the 
 ■wilnath. helle tliiostra. to flionue. &. to tha^s sothes. godes 
 liohte. to cumemie. that he hine ne besio. to his ealdum 
 yfelum. swa that he hi eft. swa fidlice fidlfremme. swa he 
 hi jer dyde. fortham swa hwa swa. mid fiillon willan. his 
 Mod went, to tha yflum. the he ser forlet. & hi thonne 
 fulfi-emeth. and he liim thonne. fullice liciath. and he hi 
 na;fre. forlajtan ne thencth. thonne forlyst he. eall his ten-an 
 god. buton he hit eft gebete.-. Her endath nu. seo thridde 
 Itoc Boeties, and ongith ses feorthe. 
 
 three heads, and he was very old. Then began the harper 
 to beseech him, that he would protect him whilst he was 
 there, and bring him thence again safe. Then did he 
 promise that to him, because he was captivated with the 
 unaccustomed somid. Then went he farther, till he met 
 the grim goddesses, whom tlie common people called 
 I'arcae, of whom they say that they know no respect for 
 any man, but punish eveiy man according to his deserts, 
 and of whom they say that they control every man's for- 
 tune. Then began he to implore their mercy. Then 
 began they to weep with him. Then went he farther, 
 and all the inhabitants of hell ran towards him, and led 
 him to their king, and began all to speak with him, and 
 to pray that which he prayed. And the unstill wheel, 
 w-hich Ixiou the king of the Lapitha; was bound to for his 
 guilt ; that stood still for his harping. And Tantalus the 
 king, who in this world was immoderately greedy, and 
 whom that same vice of greedmess followed there ; he 
 became quiet. And the Vulture should cease, so that he 
 tore not the Uver of Tityus the king, which before there- 
 wnth tonnented him. And all the punishments of the 
 inhabitants of hell were suspended while he hai-ped before 
 the king. When he long and long had harped, then spoke 
 the king of the inhabitants of hell, and said : Let us give 
 the man his wife, for he has earned her by his harping. 
 He then commanded him that he should well observe that 
 he never looked backwards after he departed thence, and 
 said that if he looked backwards he should lose the w-ife. 
 But men can with great difficulty, if at all, restrain love. 
 Wellaway ! What ! Orpheus then led his wife with him, 
 till he came to the boimdary of light and darkness. Then 
 went the wife after him. When he came forth into the 
 light, then looked he backwards towards the wife. Then 
 was she immediately lost to him. This fable teaches every 
 man who desires to fly the darkness of heU, and to come 
 to the light of the true good, that he regard not his old 
 \'ices, so that he practise them again as fully as he before 
 did. For whosoever with full will turns his mind to the 
 vices which he had before forsaken, and pi-actises them, 
 and they then fully please him, and he never thinks of 
 forsaking them ; then loses he all his former good, unless 
 he again amend it. Here ends the third book of Boethius, 
 and begins the fourth.' 
 
 A different character of language is found in Athelstan's Song of Victory, which is given in tlie Saxon 
 Chronicle under the year 938 : — 
 
 jEthestan cyniug 
 eorla drihten 
 beoma beah-gyfa. 
 & his brother eac 
 Eadmmid ^Etheling. 
 ealdor langyne tyr. 
 geslogon at secce 
 sweorda ecgum 
 ymbe Brunan-burh 
 Bord-weall clufon. 
 heo won heathoUndc, 
 hamera lafum. 
 afarau Eadwerdes. 
 Swa him ge-sethele wajs 
 Irom cneo-maegum. 
 that hie fet campe oft 
 with lathra ge-hw;t'nc 
 land ge-ealgodon. 
 hord & hamas. 
 Hettend cningiui 
 Sceotta Icoda. 
 
 iEthelstan king, 
 
 of eai-ls the lord, 
 
 rewarder of heroes, 
 
 and his brother eke, 
 
 Edmund Athelmg, 
 
 elder of ancient race, 
 
 slew in the fight, 
 
 with the edge of their swords, 
 
 the foe at Brumby ! 
 
 The sons of Edward 
 
 their board-walls clove, 
 
 and hewed their banners, 
 
 with the wTecks of their hammers 
 
 So were they taught 
 
 by kindred zeal, 
 
 that they at camp oft 
 
 'gainst any robber 
 
 their land should defend, 
 
 their hoards and homes. 
 
 Pursuing fell 
 
 the Scottish clans ; 
 
 ' ('arilale's BMcthius, J.. 9fil
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE. SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 285. 
 
 and scip-flotan 
 
 fsege-feollon. 
 
 feld dynede. 
 
 secga swate. 
 
 Syththan sunne up 
 
 on morgen-tid. 
 
 moere tuncgol. 
 
 glad ofer grundas. 
 
 Godes condel beorht 
 
 eces Dryhtnes. 
 
 othth sio aethele gesceaft 
 
 sah to settle.-. 
 
 thaer Iseg secg maenig. 
 
 garum ageted. 
 
 guma Northema. 
 
 ofer scyld scoten. 
 
 swilce Scyttisc eac 
 
 werig wiges-saed.-, 
 
 Weat-Seaxe forth 
 
 ondlongne daeg 
 
 eorod-cystum 
 
 on-last legduu 
 
 lathum theodum. 
 
 heowon here-flyman 
 
 hindan thearle 
 
 mecum mylen sceai-pum.- 
 
 Myrce ne wynidon 
 
 heordes hond-plegaii 
 
 haeletha naiium 
 
 thara the mid Anlafe 
 
 ofer aera-geblond 
 
 on lides bosme 
 
 land gesohtun 
 
 fsege to gefeohte.-. 
 
 Fife legim 
 
 on tham camp-stede 
 
 cyningas geonge 
 
 sweordum aswefede. 
 
 Sweolca seofeue eac 
 
 eorlas Anlafes. 
 
 and unrim 
 
 heriges-flotan.-. 
 
 And Sceotta thaer 
 
 geflemed wealth. 
 
 Northmanna bregu. 
 
 nyde-gebaeded 
 
 to hdes stefiie 
 
 litle werede.-. 
 
 Cread-cnearon 
 
 flot-cjTiing ut gewat 
 
 on fealone flode 
 
 feorh generede.-. 
 
 Swilce thaer eac se fi'oda 
 
 mid fleame com 
 
 on his cythtbe north 
 
 Constantinus.'. 
 
 Har Hylde-riuc 
 
 hreman ne thorfte 
 
 maecan gemanan. 
 
 Her w«8 his msega sceard 
 
 & freonda gefylled. 
 
 on folc-stede 
 
 beslagen set secce. 
 
 And his sunu forlet 
 
 on w^ael-stole. 
 
 ■wundum forgrunden. 
 
 geonge aetjuthe. 
 
 Gylpan ne thorfte 
 
 beom blanden-feax 
 
 the men of the fleet 
 in numbers fell ; 
 'midst the din of the field 
 the warrior sweat. 
 Since the sun was up 
 in morning-tide, 
 gigantic hghti 
 glad over the grounds, 
 God's candle-bright, 
 eternal Lord.' 
 'till the noble creature 
 sat in the Western main : 
 there lay many 
 of the northern heroes 
 nuder a shower of arrows, 
 shot over shields; 
 and Scotland's boast, 
 A Scythian race, 
 the mighty seed of Mars! 
 With chosen troops, 
 throughout the day, 
 the West-Saxons fierce 
 press'd on the loathed bands; 
 hew'd dowTi the fugitives, 
 and scatter'd the rear, 
 with strong mill-sharpen'd blades. 
 The Mercians too 
 the hard hand-play 
 spared not to any 
 of those that with Anlaf 
 ■over the briny deep 
 in the ship's bosom 
 sought this land 
 for the hardy fighL 
 Five kings lay 
 on the field of battle, 
 in bloom of youth, 
 pierced with swords. 
 So even eke 
 of the earls of Anlaf; 
 and of the ship's-crew 
 unuumber'd crowds. 
 There was dispersed 
 the little band 
 of hardy Scots, 
 the dread of noithem hordes, 
 urged to the noisy deep 
 by unrelenting fate J 
 The king of the fleet 
 with his slender craft 
 escaped with his life 
 on the felon flood; 
 and so too Coustantiue, 
 the vahant chief^ 
 returned to the north 
 in hasty flight 
 The hoary Hildriuc 
 cared not to boast 
 among his kindred- 
 Here was his renmant 
 of relations and friends 
 «lain with the sword 
 in the crowded fight 
 His son too he left 
 on the field of battle, 
 mangled with wounds, 
 young at the fight. 
 The fair-hair'd youth 
 had no reason to boast
 
 2S6 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 bil-geslehtes.- 
 
 Eald luwidda 
 
 ue Anlaf thy ma 
 
 mid heora here-lafimi 
 
 hlelian ue thorftan. 
 
 that hie beadu-weorca 
 
 beteran wurdou. 
 
 on camp-stede. 
 
 cumbel-gehnades. 
 
 gar-mittinges. 
 
 gumena gemotes. 
 
 wsejjen-gewrixles. 
 
 thiBS the liie on wa-'l-felda 
 
 with Eadweardes 
 
 aforan plegodon.-. 
 
 Gewitan him tha Northmen 
 
 Ufcgledou cnearrum. 
 
 dreorig daretlia laf. 
 
 on duuies mere. 
 
 ofer deop wa'ter. 
 
 Difelrn secan 
 
 & heora land. 
 
 a? wise-mode. 
 
 Swilce tha gebrother 
 
 begen ret samne. 
 
 cyning and aetheling. 
 
 cyththe sohton, 
 
 West-Seaxna land, 
 
 wiges hreamie. 
 
 Lsetou bim behyndan 
 
 hra brj-ttian. 
 
 salowig pad an. 
 
 and thoue swear tan hre&i, 
 
 hyrned uebban. 
 
 & thaue hasean padau. 
 earn teftan hwit 
 
 eeses bnican. 
 
 gnedigne guth-hafoe. 
 
 & that grffige deor 
 
 wnilf on %vealde.'. 
 
 Ne weartb wiel mare 
 
 on thise iglande 
 
 sefer gyta 
 
 folces gefyUed 
 
 beforau thissum 
 
 Bweoi'des ecgum 
 
 thres the us secgath bee 
 
 ealde uthwititu. 
 
 siththan eastan hider 
 
 Engle & Seaxe 
 
 up becomon 
 
 ofer brymum brad 
 
 Brytene sohton. 
 
 wlarce wig-smithas- 
 
 Wealas ofer-comon. 
 
 eorlas arhwate. 
 
 card befjeaton.'. 
 
 of the slaughtering strife. 
 
 Nor old Linwood 
 
 and Anlaf the more 
 
 with the wrecks of then- army 
 
 could laugh and say, 
 
 that they on the field 
 
 of stem command 
 
 better workmen were, 
 
 in the conflict of banners, 
 
 the clash of spears, 
 
 the meeting of heroes, 
 
 and the rustling of weapons, 
 
 which they on the field 
 
 of slaughter played 
 
 with the sons of Edward. 
 
 The Northmen sail'd 
 
 in their nail'd ships, 
 
 a dreary remnant, 
 
 on the roaring sea ; 
 
 over deep water 
 
 Dublin they sought, 
 
 and Ireland's shores, 
 
 in great disgrace. 
 
 Such then the brothers, 
 
 both together, 
 king and aetheling, 
 
 sought their countrj-. 
 
 West Saxon land, 
 
 in fight triumphant. 
 
 Tliey left behind them 
 
 raw to devour, 
 
 the sallow kite, 
 
 the swarthy raven 
 
 with homy rib, 
 
 and the hoarse vulture, 
 
 with the eagle swift 
 
 to consume his prey ; 
 
 the greedy gos-hawk, 
 
 and that gray beast 
 
 the wolf of the w^eald. 
 
 No slaughter yet 
 
 was greater made 
 
 e'er in this island, 
 
 of people slain, 
 
 before this same, 
 
 with the edge of the sword ; 
 
 as the books inform us 
 
 of the old historians ; 
 
 since hither came 
 
 from the eastern shores 
 
 the Angles and Saxons, 
 
 over the broad sea, 
 
 and Britain sought, — 
 
 fierce battle-smiths, 
 
 o'ercame the Welsh, 
 
 most valiant earls, 
 
 and gained the land.' 
 
 We shall give but one more specimen of the Saxon language, from the Preface to ^Ifiic's Homilies, 
 probably written some time in the reign of Canute : — 
 
 Ic JElfric munuc & meesse preost swa theah waccre 
 thonne swilcum hadum gebyrige. wearth asend on iEthel- 
 redes daege cyninges fram jElfeage biscope jEthelwoldes 
 refter-gengan to sumum mynstre the is Cemel gehaten 
 thurh jEthelmaeres bene thses thegenes. his gebyrd & 
 soodnys sind gehwaer cuthe-.- Tha be am me on mode 
 ic truwige thurh godes gife. thoet ic thas boc of ledenum 
 
 I iElfric, monk and mass-priest, although a man of less 
 abilities than are requisite for one in such orders, was sent 
 in the days of King ^tbelred from Alphege the bishop, 
 the successor of ^Ethelwold, to a monastery which is caHed 
 Cemel, at the desire of iEthelmar the thain, whose noble 
 birth and goodness are everywhere known. Then ran it 
 in my mind, I trust through the grace of God, that I ought 
 
 1 Ingr. Sai. Chron. p. 141-145.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 287 
 
 gereorde to Engliscre sprscce awende. na thiirh gebylde to translate this book out of the Latin tongue into tlu- 
 
 micelre lare. ac forthan the .ic geseah & gehyrde micel English speech, not upon presumption of great learning, 
 
 gedwyldonmanegumengliscumbocuin. The ungelaerede but because I saw and heard much error in many Englisli 
 
 men thui'h heora bilewitnysse to micclum wisdome tealdon. books, which ignorant men, through their simplicity, es- 
 
 and me of hreow thaet hi ne cuthon ne naefdon tha godspel- teemed great wisdom, and because it grieved me, that 
 
 lican lare on heora gewritum. buton tham mannum the that they neither knew, nor had the gospel learning in their 
 
 leden cuthon. & buton tham bocum the iElfred cyning writings, except from those men that understood Latin, 
 
 snoterlice awendo of ledene on Englisc. tha sind to haeb- and those books which are to be had of King Alfred's, 
 
 benne-.- For tliisum antimbre ic gedyrstlifihte on gode which he skilfully ti-anslated from Latin into English, 
 
 truwiende. that ic thas gesetnysse under gann. &. eac for- For this reason I took courage, tiiisting ui God, to enter 
 
 tham the menu behofath godre lare swithost on thisiim upon this task, and because men have now most need of 
 
 timan the is ge endung thyssere worulde. & beoth fela sound doctrine, especially at this time, which is so near 
 
 frecednyssa on man cynne aerthau the se ende becume. swa the end of the world, and vexations will torment mankmd, 
 
 swa ure drihteu on his godspelle cwceth to his leoniing before the end is come, as our Lord hi his gospel said to 
 
 cnihtum-.- his disciples. 
 
 The reader will remark that the term English is more than once used in this extract to designate the 
 Saxon language ; but the same name had been applied to it by Bede, himself an Angle, three centuries 
 before. It is impossible also not to be struck with the close resemblance in phrase and style which the 
 earliest and latest specimens of Saxon bear to each other, throughout our selections. The Anglo-Saxon 
 in all these specimens has been given in Roman, not in Saxon characters. With the exception of the 
 p {th, as in thin), the s {dh, or th, as in that), and the p (u'), the Saxon characters have the same forms 
 with those of the Roman alphabet. 
 
 Having given specimens of the language from 
 its earliest to its latest use, we shall now take a 
 rapid survey of what is still remaining of the native 
 literature of the Anglo-Saxons, beginning with their 
 poetry as its oldest branch. 
 
 With the exact laws of their metres we are un- 
 acquainted. Their poetical compositions, however, 
 strongly resemble the Runic Odes so admirably 
 imitated by Gray ; they are generally more or less 
 marked by alliteration, by a mixture of regular and 
 irregular cadence, by abrupt transitions, by a fre- 
 quent omission of the particles, and by an artificial 
 inversion of words and phrases. At a late period, and 
 in a few instances, we have an approach to rhyme. 
 The most remarkable poem in the language is 
 the narrative of the attempt of Beowulf to wreak the 
 fsehthe or deadly feud on Hrothgar ; supposed to be 
 founded upon certain mythic legends of the Angles, 
 and to be far older than the writing of the manuscript 
 which contains the story. The copy of this poem, 
 which forms one of the Cottonian volumes (Vitel- 
 lius, A. XV.), is unique. Wanley first noticed it in 
 1705; Mr. Sharon Turner made some copious ex- 
 tracts from it in his History of the Anglo-Saxons ; and 
 an elaborate memoir upon its composition, accom- 
 panied by some criticisms and some beautiful trans- 
 lations, was presented to the literary world by the 
 late Rev. John Josias Conybeare, in his Illustrations 
 of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, 8vo. London, 1826. The 
 earliest publication, however, of the entire work 
 appeared in 4to. at Copenhagen in 1815, with a 
 Latin translation nearly literal, a preface and in- 
 dices, from the pen of the late Grimm Johnson 
 Thorkelin. It was the second time he had trans- 
 lated it, his first version having been burnt in 1807, 
 in the bombardment of Copenhagen. Another 
 edition of Beowulf has since appeared, more ac- 
 ceptable to the English reader, in two small vol- 
 umes, one containing the text, 12mo. Loud. 1833 ; 
 the other, a translation by John Mitchell Kemble, 
 Esq., 12mo. Lond. 1837, with a copious glossary, 
 preface, and philological notes. 
 
 Of similar character to Beowulf is the Fragment 
 on the Battle of Finsborough, first printed by 
 Hickes, subsequently in Conybeare's Illustrations, 
 and lastly with the Traveler's Song, as appendages 
 to Beowulf, by Mr. Mitchell Kemble. 
 
 Of the meti'ical paraphrase of different parts of 
 Scripture, ascribed to a second Caedmon, we have 
 already spoken. It was first published by Junius, 
 in 1655; and lately, with an English translation, 
 under the auspices of the Society of Antiquaries, 
 by Mr. Thorpe, 8vo. Lond. 1832. 
 
 A manuscript volume of Saxon poetry given by 
 Bishop Leofric to the cathedral of Exeter, about 
 the time of the Norman conquest, preserves some 
 invaluable relics, among which the Song of the 
 Traveler, already mentioned, stands conspicuous. 
 This volume, which contains a number of Hymns 
 and minor sacred Poems, most of them enumerated 
 in the Introduction to Conybeare's Illustrations, is 
 preparing for publication under the same auspices, 
 and by the same editor, as the Paraphrase of Caed- 
 mon. 
 
 The fragment of the Apocrjphal History of 
 Judith, printed by Thwaites, at the end of the 
 Heptateuch ; the fragment on the Death of Byrth- 
 noth, published by Hearne, from the Cottonian 
 MS., Otho A. xii., at the end of John of Glaston's 
 Chronicle ; a short Menology, or poetical Calendar, 
 first printed by Hickes, in the Thesaurus, and since 
 separately, with an English translation and notes, 
 by the Rev. Samuel Fox, 8vo. Lond. 1830 ; 
 Alfred's Boethian Metres ; and some Odes and 
 Elegies in the Saxon Chronicle, in part already 
 referred to, and all translated by Dr. Ingram ; form 
 the other chief remains of Saxon poetry. 
 
 In scriptural learning, we have the Heptateuch, 
 with the story of Job, and the Pseudo-Gospel of 
 Nicodemus, to which the fragment of Judith, 
 already mentioned, is added, published at Oxford, 
 in 8vo. 1698 ; the Gospels of the four Evangelists, 
 with the English in parallel columns, edited by 
 John Foxe, in 1571, under the auspices of Arch-
 
 288 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 bishop Parker ; the Gothic and Saxon Gospels, by 
 F. Junius and Marshall, published at Dordt, in 
 1C65, and again at Amsterdam in 1684 ; a Latin 
 and Saxon interlineary version of the Psalms, pub- 
 lished from a manuscript in his father's library, by 
 Sir John Spelman, 4to. Lond. 1640; and a Saxon 
 and English Psalter, published from another manu- 
 script, by Mr. Thorpe, two years ago. No other 
 portions of the Saxon Scriptures now remain ex- 
 cept a scattered Gloss upon the Proverbs and 
 some excerpts from Ecclesiasticus, preserved among 
 the Cottonian manuscripts. Humphry Wanley, 
 Lord Oxford's librarian, selected numerous pas- 
 sages of various parts of Scripture, as quoted in 
 the Saxon Homilies, which still remain in manu- 
 script. 
 
 Either to enumerate, or enter into the history of 
 the various Saxon Homilies which remain, would 
 occupy a larger space than we can allow. Many 
 of them are not now assignable to any particular 
 author ; but the greater part are known to have 
 issued from the pens of vElfric and Lupus, the 
 latter of whom was the same person with Wulfstan, 
 Archbishop of York and Bishop of Worcester. 
 Orm, or Ormin, is the name of another ^vriter 
 whose homilies are preserved among the manu- 
 scripts of Junius, at Oxford ; and iEthelwold, who 
 became Bishop of Winchester in 961, occurs as a 
 fourth homilist, previous, in point of time, to the 
 former. From these homilies alone can the faith 
 and docti'ines of the Saxon church be recovered 
 and explained. Celibacy, it appears, though en- 
 couraged among the clergy, was not enjoined: the 
 people, as well as the priests, were allowed the use 
 of the Scriptures in the native tongue ; nor had the 
 Saxon church embraced the doctrine of Transub- 
 stantiation. jElfric's Homilies were principally 
 written at the Abbey of Cerne, in Dorsetshire. 
 They were compiled from the writings of St. Au- 
 gustine of Hippo, St. Jerome, Bede, Gregory, 
 Smaragdus, and Haimo ; and were directed to be 
 read constantly to the foithful in the church. Mrs. 
 Elstob, the celebrated female Saxonist, published 
 an English-Saxon Homily on the birthdaj' of St. 
 Gregory, 8vo. Lond. 1709 ; and she and her brother 
 contemplated a folio edition of the Homilies at large, 
 with an English translation, of which a few sheets 
 only were printed, when the work dropped : their 
 prepared manuscript, in part translated, is preserved 
 in five volumes among the Lansdowne manuscripts 
 in the British Museum.' 
 
 Connected with the Homilies are the Injunctions 
 to the clergy, which go by the name of uElfric's 
 Canons, drawn up for the use of Wulfsin, Bishop of 
 Sherburn. As the Homilies contained the form for 
 the clergy to instruct the laity, these supplied the 
 form for the bishops to instruct their clergy, and 
 they afford the most complete view of the disci- 
 pline and ceremonies of the Saxon church which 
 can be anywhere obtained. 
 
 Some Lives and Passions of the Saints, exclusive 
 of those in the Homilies, translated from the Latin, 
 may be here mentioned, which are still preserved 
 
 1 MS Lansd. No. 370-374. 
 
 in our manuscript libraries, particularly that of St. 
 Guthlac, in the Cottonian collection, originally writ- 
 ten about the year 730, by Felix, a monk of Croy- 
 land. 
 
 Bishop Ethelwold, about the middle of the tenth 
 century, whilst Abbot of Abingdon, received the 
 manor of Sudburn, in Suffolk, from King Edgar, on 
 condition of translating from the Latin the monastic 
 rule of St. Benedict. His Anglo-Saxon version 
 formed afterwards the basis of the Concord of Rules 
 promulgated by Dunstan, of which a fine and con- 
 temporaiy manuscript is preserved in the Cottonian 
 collection.' Previous to that time the Saxon monks 
 lived principally under the rule which had been 
 brought from Ireland. 
 
 Among works connected with theology which 
 remain in manuscript only, are versions of Gregory 
 " De Cura Pastorali," of the " Flores ex D. Augus- 
 tini Soliloquiorum Libro," and of the " Libri Dial- 
 ogorum Gregorii Magni et Petri Dificoni ejus." 
 The two first are by King Alfred, who also made 
 the selection of the " Flores :" but the Dialogues of 
 Gregory and Peter Diaconus were translated by 
 Werefrid, Bishop of Woi'cester, one of the learned 
 men Avho aided Alfred's studies, by whom a short 
 inti'oduction was prefixed. Of these last a beautiful 
 manuscript was all but destroyed in the Cottonian 
 fii"e of 1731 ; though other ancient manuscripts of 
 the Dialogues remain in the Bodleian and among 
 Sir William Dugdale's manuscripts at Oxford, and 
 in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. 
 The Bodleian MS. is of the age of Canute, that in 
 Corpus Christi College a little later than the time 
 of the Conquest. 
 
 In moral philosophy we have Alfred's version of 
 Boethius " De Consolatione," of which specimens 
 have been already given, but which displays the 
 spirit rather than the letter of Boethius. It is in 
 some cases abridged, and in others paraphrastic. 
 This translation has by some been atti'ibuted to 
 Werefrith, Bishop of Worcester, and by others to 
 Asser, Bishop of St. David's; but the Cottonian 
 manuscript, Otho, A. vi., evidently of the ninth 
 century, ascribes it in the proem to Alfred. It 
 was made, we are told, at Woodstock, in Oxford- 
 shire, and so addressed to the passions, as frequently, 
 in the Saxon times, to draw tears from those who 
 read it. Alfred named it Hand-boc, or the manual. 
 The Saxon was first published in 1698 at Oxford, 
 by Christopher Rawlinson, of Carke HaU in Lan- 
 cashire, from Junius' transcript of a manuscript in 
 the Bodleian, collated with a Cottonian manuscript. 
 It was again published with an English translation 
 and notes, Bvo. 1829, by J. S. Cardale, who has 
 also given a revised copy of the text. 
 
 In civil history we have only one work of primai-y 
 importance, the Saxon Chronicle ; which is, in 
 fact, a collection of chronicles, rather than one 
 uniform work, continued from time to time, to the 
 year 1154. A portion of it was first edited under 
 the name of Chronologia Saxonica, at the end of 
 Wheloc's Bede, fol. Camb. 1644; and an enlarged 
 and improved, though still not a complete edition of 
 
 I MS. Cotton. Tiberius, A. iii
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 289 
 
 the work, was published by Edmund Gibson, then 
 a scholar of Queen's College, Oxford, afterwards 
 Bishop of London, 4to. Oxford, 1692, accompanied 
 by an elegant Latin version. An English ti'ansla- 
 tion from Gibson's edition, by Miss Gurney, of 
 Keswick, in Norfolk, was printed for private dis- 
 tribution in 1819. Lastly appeared the Saxon 
 Chronicle, with an English translation, and notes, 
 critical and explanatory, by the Rev. J. Ingram, 
 B.D. 4to. Lond. 1833 — a work of superior value. A 
 synoptical view of the different manuscripts of the 
 Chronicle which remain is prefixed, with a short 
 grammar of the Anglo-Saxon language.' Fox, in 
 his Acts and Monuments of the Church, speaks of 
 having seen a manuscript in Saxon entitled the 
 Story of Alfred, written by Alfred himself; but no 
 such work is at present known to be extant. 
 
 The Ecclesiastical History of the English, by 
 Bede, formed another of King Alfred's translations. 
 It was first edited by Abraham Wheloc, fol. Cambr. 
 1644, and again by Dr. John Smith at Cambridge 
 in 1722. A third edition is intended to appear, 
 with an English translation, in the great collection 
 of our historians preparing by Mr. Petrie. 
 
 We have but one specimen of what may be 
 termed the Saxon knowledge of other countries ; 
 and for that, too, we are indebted to King Alfred, 
 who epitomized Orosius, the best abridgment of 
 ancient history then extant. He sometimes deserted 
 his author to make additions, of which the most 
 important of all are an original account of the 
 geography of Germany in the ninth century, and 
 the two voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, already 
 noticed. These voyages were edited at the end of 
 the Latin copy of Spelman's Life of Alfred, by the 
 Hon. Daines Barrington, with an English transla- 
 tion, in the body of Orosius, 8vo. Lond. 1773 ; and 
 again more perfectly in 1807 by Dr. Ingram, at the 
 end of his inaugural lecture as Saxon Professor in 
 the University of Oxford. 
 
 We have already mentioned the several printed 
 editions of the Saxon laws by Lambarde, Wheloc, 
 and Wilkins. 
 
 A republication of the Anglo-Saxon laws is in- 
 tended to form a part of the Corpus Historicum, 
 the new History of Britain, undertaken by Mr. H. 
 Petrie. 
 
 A separate edition of Canute's Saxon Laws was 
 published at Copenhagen in 4to. in 1826, with 
 numerous notes, by Professor Rosenvinge. 
 
 There is a copy of Wheloc's Archaionoraia in 
 the Bodleian Library, in which the celebrated F. 
 Junius has made almost a fresh translation of the 
 Saxon laws neatly written above Lambarde's ver- 
 sion. 
 
 King Alfred's will is preserved in a register of 
 the Abbey of Newminstor at Winchester, founded 
 by that king a short time before his death ; and, 
 as a legal document, is interesting to us on many 
 accounts. " First," as is observed in the preface 
 
 ' Some light has been attempted to be thrown upon the authorship 
 of the difl'erent portions of the Saxon Chronicle in a late publication 
 entitled " Ancient History, English and French, exemplified in a regu- 
 lar Dissection of the Saxon Chronicle." 8vo. Lond. 1830. 
 VOL. I. — 19 
 
 to the Oxford edition, " we learn from it the ideas 
 entertained by the king and the great men of the 
 realm concerning the succession of the crown in 
 the times of the Saxons. Secondly, we are in- 
 formed of several particulars relative to the rights, 
 liberties, and privileges of the difl'erent orders and 
 degrees of men at that early period. Thirdly, we 
 are furnished with many curious facts which eluci- 
 date the nature of the tenures by which estates 
 were held in the time of our Saxon ancestors." 
 Alfred's will was published at Oxford, by the dele- 
 gates of the University Press, in 4to. in 1788, 
 accompanied by a literal translation from the pen 
 of the Rev. Owen Manning, the editor of Lye's 
 Dictionarium Saxonico et Gothico Latinum. It 
 was republished, with a preface and additional 
 notes, in 8vo., Lond. 1828. 
 
 Here, too, may be mentioned the numerous 
 charters which remain, so extensively illustrative 
 of the civil polity of the Saxons. They are often 
 accompanied by what are termed land-books, or 
 exemplifications of the boundaries of land, in the 
 less cultivated parts of our country, still useful to 
 topographers.' A collection of these is intended 
 to form one of the divisions of Mr. Petrie's Corpus 
 Historicum. 
 
 Our Saxon ancestors were not entirely without 
 treatises on natural knowledge and medicine, or 
 rather medical botany ; for their remedies were 
 usually vegetable medicines, sometimes accompa- 
 nied by incantations. The principal, however, 
 were translations from a Latin herbal falsely 
 ascribed to Apuleius. The most beautiful and 
 curious manuscript which is known of this work is 
 preserved in the Cottonian Library," accompanied 
 bj- the Medicina ex Quadrupedibus ; with drawings 
 not only of the herbs and animals, but of ^scu- 
 lapius, Apuleius Platonicus, and Chiron, whom the 
 Greeks reputed the inventor of medicine. Another 
 ancient manuscript of it occurs, though without the 
 drawings, in the Hatton Collection at Oxford,' and 
 a third herbal is particularly described by W^anley 
 in the catalogue which accompanies Dr. Hickes" 
 Thesaurus.* It forms a small thick volume in oc- 
 tavo, largely written, and contains a few specimens 
 of incantations. The most valuable manuscript in 
 medicine, however, is the Liber Medicinalis in the 
 Royal Library now at the British Museum.^ It 
 appears to have been the work of one Bald, and 
 was compiled from the old Latin physicians, such 
 as Marcellus, Scribonius Largus, Pliny, Ccelius 
 Aurelianus, and Theodorus Priscianus ; and is evi- 
 dently of the tenth century, if not earher. 
 
 In Romance literature we have a fragment oi 
 the story of Apollonius of Tyre, which has been 
 carefully edited from a manuscript in the Library 
 of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, with a 
 translation by Mr. Benjamin Thorpe, 8vo. Lond. 
 1834. The Latin of this Romance forms the 
 153d chapter of the Gesta Romanorum. The 
 story, as is well known, is the same upon which 
 
 J See Sir Richard Iloare's Registrum Wiltunense. 
 2 Vitell. C. ii. ' MS. Hatton 100, transcribed in MS. .lunuis 58. 
 ♦ Tom. iii. p. 304. ^ 12 D, xxii.
 
 290 
 
 HISTORY OF ExXLiLAND. 
 
 [Book TI. 
 
 the play of Periclos was founded, attributed to 
 Shakspe.ire. 
 
 In j;raiiiinati(al learning we have a valuable 
 though late treatise, of which the best manuscripts 
 have been neglected. It is a translation of the 
 younger Prisciau by Archbishop iElfric, accom- 
 panied by a glossary of words. Somner, in the 
 preface to his Dictionary, complains of tho errors 
 and barbarity of the ancient copy of this glossary j 
 which he used from tho library of his and Junius' ' 
 iViend Rubenius at Brussels ; and Skynner, in his 
 Ktymologicon, has also noticed its errors. It is j 
 remarkable that, at the close of his preface, JElfric 
 should express a fear that his labors would in after 
 rimes be mutilated by transcribers. The variations 
 in the dillerent copies of the Glossaiy now remain- 
 ing prove the reality of his suspicions. There are 
 •several copies both of the Graimnar and the Glos- 
 sary among the Cottonian and llarleian manuscripts 
 in the British Museum ; Imt the finest of all, and 
 l)V far the most copious manuscript, is in the 
 i/ii)rarj- of St. John's College, Oxford, improved 
 by iElfric Bata, the grammarian's scholar. This 
 manuscript is very different from the other copies, 
 iuid is accompanied with Dialogues bj- both jElfrics. 
 
 Such forms the general survey of the native lite- 
 rature of the Anglo-Saxons. We have not men- 
 tioned every fragment which remains, but the reader 
 who would be more inquisitive has only to refer to 
 Humphry Wanley's Catalogue of Saxon Manu- 
 scripts, inserted in Dr. Hickes' Thesaurus, which 
 Wanley traveled through England to compile. 
 
 Limited as the circle of Saxon literature and 
 science may appear, it is impossible not to reflect 
 >vith wonder on the exertions of tho man to whom 
 »ve are indebted for the gi'eater part; who, amidst 
 the most violent commotions of the state, found 
 leisure not only to rival the i'.iustrious Charlemagne 
 in the protection and promotion of literary merit, 
 but to surpass him in the personal exertions of a 
 .strong and active genius.' 
 
 ' Ilcarne, in a Note to the English edition of Spplman's Life of 
 Alfred, from a memorandum among Dr. James' manuscripts in the 
 Bodleian Library, mentions a translation by King Alfred of jEsop's 
 Fables from the Greek into Lutin and Saxon ; and it is not a little re- 
 markable that the same fact is recorded in one of the old Lays in the 
 Romance language, the Lay of jEsop, the author of which writes that 
 -IJsop's Fables were translated out of Greek into Latin and into English, 
 by King Alfred, from whose version, now lost, he made his own in 
 French : — 
 
 Esope apelum cest liure, 
 
 Qu'il translata e fist esorire 
 
 Del Griu en Latin le turna 
 
 Li reis Alurez qui mult lama 
 
 Le translata puis en Engleis 
 
 E jeo lai riuite en Franceis. 
 
 Ilarl. MS. 978, fol. fiO. 
 
 In prosecuting the study of Anglo-Saxon literature, the reader will 
 find Dr. Ilickes' •' Linguanim Vett. Septentrional) um Thesaurus," 
 3 torn. fol. Oxon. 1705, an indispensable work for consultation. The 
 dictionaries are, Somner's, fol. Oxford, 1659, and Lye's " Dictionarium 
 Saionico et Gothico Latiiuim," edited by O. Manning, 2 vols. fol. Lond. 
 1 772, with Benson's V<:cabulary, chiefly abridged from Somner, 8vo. 
 Dtf. 1701. Tho earliest Grammar was Dr. Hickes', 4to. Oxf. 1689, 
 reprinted with additions in the Thesaurus, and published in an abridged 
 firm by Ed. Thwaitcs, 8vo. Oxf. 1711 ; Elstob's Grammar, 4to. Lond. 
 1715 ; Orator Henley's, 8vo. Lond. 1720; Manning's, prefixed to Lye's 
 1) ctionary, fol. 1772 ; Ingram's short Grammar, prefixed to the Saxon 
 rbronicle, 4to. Lond. 1823 ; Bosworth's Elements, accompanied by a 
 Grammatical Praxis, 8vo. Lond. 1823, followed by his Compendious 
 
 But even at this early period the Saxon is not 
 our only native literature that claims some notice. 
 The Irish were probably possessed of the knowl- 
 edge of letters from a very remote antiquity ; for, 
 although the forms of their present alphai>etical 
 characters are Roman, and were probably intro- 
 duced by St. Patrick, it is very remarkable, as we 
 have before observed, that the alphabet, in the 
 uuraljer and powers of its elements, exactly corre- 
 sponds with that which Cadmus is recorded to have 
 brought to (ireece from Pheuicia. If we may be- 
 lieve the national traditions, and the most ancient 
 existing chronicles, the Irish also possessed a suc- 
 cession of Bards from their first settlement in the 
 country; and the names at least of some of those 
 that are said to have flourished so early as in the 
 first century of our era are still i-emembered. But 
 the oldest bardic compositions that have been pre- 
 served are of the fifth century. Some fragments of 
 metrical productions to which this date is attributed 
 are found in the old annalists, and more abundant 
 specimens occur in the same records under each 
 of the succeeding centuries. The oldest existing 
 Irish manuscript, however, is believed to be the 
 Psalter of Cashel, a collection of bardic legends, 
 compiled about the end of the ninth century, by 
 Cormac 3Iac Culinan, Bishop of Cashel and King of 
 Munster. But the most valuable remains of this 
 period of Irish literature that have come down to us 
 are the various historical records in prose, called 
 the Annals of Tigernach, of the Four Masters of 
 Ulster, and many others. The most important of 
 these have been pul)lished in the original, and ac- 
 companied with Latin translations, in Dr. O'Conor's 
 " Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores Veteres," 4 vols. 
 4to. Buckingham, 1814-182G ; a splendid monument 
 of the munificence of his grace the present Duke 
 of Buckingham, at whose expense the woi'k was 
 prepared and printed, and from the treasures of 
 whose library its contents were principally derived. 
 Tigernach, the oldest of these Irish annalists whose 
 works we have in the original form, lived in the 
 latter part of the eleventh century ; but both his and 
 the other Annals profess, and are believed, to have 
 been compiled from authentic records of much 
 greater antiquity. They form undoubtedly a col- 
 lection of materials in the highest degree precious 
 for the information they supply with regard to the 
 history both of Ireland and of the other early Brit- 
 ish kingdoms. These Annals difl'er wholly in 
 character from the metrical legends of Irish history 
 found in the book of Cashel and in the other later 
 compositions of the Bards. They consist of ac- 
 counts of events related for the most part both with 
 sobriety and precision, and with the careful notation 
 of dates that might be expected from a contem- 
 porary and official recorder. They aie in all prob- 
 
 Grammar, 8vo. Lond. 1626; Gwilt's Rudiments, 8vo. Loud. 1829; and 
 Raske's Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Tongue, translated from the 
 Danish by B. Thorpe, 2nd edit. 8vo. Copenh. 1H30. Raske's Grammar 
 was first published at Copenhagen, 8vo. 1817. To these may be added, 
 " Analecta Anglo-Saxonica. A Selection, in prose and verse, from 
 Anglo-Saxon authors of various ages ; with a Glossary. Designeil 
 chiefly as a First Book for Students." By Benjamin Thorpe. 6v,i. 
 Lond. 1834.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 29^1 
 
 ability, indeed, copies of, or compilations from, public 
 records. 
 
 Not of such historic importance, but still more 
 curious and interesting in another point of view, 
 are the remains we still possess of the early Welsh 
 literature. The Welsh have no annals to be com- 
 pared in value with those of the Irish ; but some of 
 their Bruts, or chronicles, fabulous as they evidently 
 in gi-eat part are, are undoubtedly of considerable 
 antiquity. There can be little doubt that Geoffrey 
 of Monmouth's Latin history is really a translation 
 from a much older Welsh original. The Chronicle 
 of Tyssilio, who flourished in the seventh century, 
 still survives, and has been published in the original 
 (in the Welsh Archasology), as well as in an English 
 translation, by the Rev. Peter Roberts, 8vo. Lond. 
 1810. The Laws of Howel Dha, who reigned in 
 South Wales in the early part of the tenth century, 
 have been printed with a Latin translation, by Wot- 
 ton, in his Leges Wallicffi, fol. 1730. They develop 
 a state of society in which many primitive features 
 are strangely mixed up with a general aspect of 
 considerable civilization, and all the order of a well- 
 established political system. Then there are the 
 singular compositions called the Triads, which are 
 enumerations of events or other particulars, bound 
 together in knots of three, by means of some title 
 or general observation — sometimes it must be con- 
 fessed forced and far-fetched enough — under which 
 it is conceived they may all be included. Of the 
 '^l^riads, some are moral, and others historical. The 
 historical are certainly not all ancient ; for they 
 contain allusions to events that took place in the 
 reign of our Edward I. ; but it appears most proba- 
 ble that the form of composition which they exem- 
 plify was long in use ; and, if so, the comparatively 
 modern character of some of them does not disprove 
 the antiquity of others. A late writer, who consid- 
 ers them to be a compilation of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, admits that they '♦ reflect, in a small and 
 moderately faithful mirror, various passages of bardic 
 composition which are lost."^ The most volumi- 
 nous of the ancient Welsh remains, however, are 
 the poems of the Bards. The authenticity of these 
 compositions may be considered to be now estab- 
 lished beyond dispute, by the labors of various 
 writers by whom the subject has been recently 
 investigated, and especially by Mr. Turner's able 
 and elaborate " Vindication."^ The most ancient 
 of them are the poems ascribed to the four bards, 
 Aneurin, Tahesin, Llywarch Hen, and Merdhin, or 
 Merlin, the Caledonian, who all appear to have be- 
 longed to the sixth century. A few additional pieces 
 have also been preserved of the seventh, eighth, 
 ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, which are 
 printed along with those in the first volume of the 
 " Myrvyrian Archaeology of Wales," 3 vols. 8vo. 
 Lond. 1801. Much of this early Welsh poetry is 
 in a strangely mystical stjde, and its general spirit 
 is evidently much more Druidical than Christian. 
 
 ' Britannia after the Romans, xiv. 
 
 2 Published at the end of his History of the Angio- Saxons. See 
 also the Rev. E. Davies' Celtic Researches, Mr. Probert's Preface to 
 his edition of Aneurin, and Britannia after the Romans, i.-vi. 
 
 The author of " Britannia after the Romans " has 
 endeavored to show that a revival of Druidism was 
 effected in Wales in the sixth century, principally 
 thi-ough the eftbrts of the Bards, whose order had 
 formerly composed so distinguished a part of that 
 system ; and certainly the whole character of this 
 ancient poetry seems strongly to confirm that sup- 
 position, which does not, however, rest upon this evi- 
 dence alone. No existing manuscript of these poems, 
 we may observe, nor any other Welsh manuscript, 
 appears to be much older than the twelfth century. 
 
 As the forms of the Saxon alphabetical characters 
 are the same with those of the Irish, it is probable 
 that it was from Ireland the Saxons derived their 
 first knowledge of letters. There was certainly, 
 however, very little literature in the country before 
 the arrival of Augustin, in the end of the sixth 
 century. Augustin is supposed to have established 
 schools at Canterbury ; and about a quarter of a 
 century afterwards, Sigebert, King of the East An- 
 gles, who had spent part of his early life in France, 
 is stated by Bede to have, upon his coming to the 
 throne, founded an institution for the instruction of 
 the youth of his dominions similar to those he had 
 seen abroad. The schools planted by Augustin at 
 Canterbury were afterwards gi-eatly extended and 
 improved by his successor. Archbishop Theodore, 
 who obtained the see in 668. Theodore and his 
 learned friend Adrian, Bede informs us, delivered 
 instructions to crowds of pupils, not only in divinity, 
 but also in astronomy, medicine, arithmetic, and the 
 Greek and Latin languages. Bede states, that some 
 of the scholars of these accomplished foreigners were 
 alive in his time, to whom the Greek and Latin were 
 as familiar as their mother tongue. Schools now 
 began to multiply in other parts, and were generally 
 to be found in all the monasteries and at the bishops' 
 seats. Of these episcopal and monastic schools, that 
 founded by Bishop Benedict, in his abbey at Wear- 
 mouth, where Bede was educated, and that which 
 Archbishop Egbert established at York, where Al- 
 cuin studied, were among the most famous. Otliers 
 of gr3at reputation were superintended by learned 
 teachers fi-om Ireland. We have already men- 
 tioned that of Maildulf at Malmesbury, to which 
 Aldhelm repaired after having studied for some time 
 under Adrian. At Glastonbury also, it is related in 
 the life of St. Dunstan, some Irish ecclesiastics had 
 settled, the books belonging to whom Dunstan is 
 recorded to have diligently studied. The northern 
 parts of the kingdom were indebted for the first light 
 of learning as well as of religion to the missionaries 
 from lona. 
 
 It should not seem to be altogether correct to 
 attribute the decline and extinction of this earliest 
 literary civilization of the Anglo-Saxons wholly to 
 the Danish invasions. The Northmen did not 
 make their appearance till towards the close of the 
 eighth century, nor did their ravages occasion any 
 considerable public alarm till long after the com- 
 mencement of the ninth ; but for a whole century 
 preceding this date, learning in England appears to 
 have been falhng into decay. Bede, who died in 
 ■735, exactly ninetj'-seven years before that landing
 
 292 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 of the Danes in the Isle of Sheppey, in the reign of 
 Egbert,' which was followed by incessant attacks of 
 a similar kind, until the fierce marauders at last won 
 for themselves a settlement in the country, is the 
 last name eminent for scholarship that occurs in 
 this portion of the English annals. The historian 
 Malmesbury, indeed, affirms that the death of Bede 
 was fatal to learning in England, and especially to 
 history ; " insomuch tliat it may be said," he adds, 
 writing in the early part of the twelftli century, 
 " that almost all knowledge of past events was buried 
 in the same grave with him, and hath continued in 
 that condition even to our times." " There was 
 not so much as one Englishman," Malmesbury de- 
 clares, " left behind Bede, who emulated the glory 
 which he had acquired by his studies, imitated his 
 example, or piu-sued the path to knowledge which 
 he had pointed out. A few, indeed, of his succes- 
 sors were good men, and not unlearned, but they 
 generally spent their lives in an inglorious silence ; 
 while tlie far greater number sunk into sloth and 
 ignorance, until by degrees the love of learning was 
 quite extinguished in this island for a long time." 
 
 The devastations of the Danes completed what 
 had probably been begun by the confusion of the in- 
 ternal dissensions that attended the breaking up of 
 the original system of the Heptarchy, and perhaps 
 also by the natural decay of the national spirit among 
 a race long habituated to a stirring and adventurous 
 life, and now left in undisturbed ease and quiet be- 
 fore tjie spirit of a new and superior activity had 
 been sufficiently diffused among them. Nearly all 
 the monasteries and the schools connected with 
 r.hem throughout the kingdom were either actually 
 laid in ashes by the nortiiern invaders, or were de- 
 serted in the general terror and distraction occa- 
 sioned by their attacks. When Alfred was a young 
 man, about the middle of the eighth century, he 
 could find no masters to instruct him in any of tlie 
 higher branches of learning ; there were at that 
 time, according to his biographer Asser, few or 
 none among the West Saxons who had any scholar- 
 ship, or could so much as read with propriety and 
 ease. The reading of the Latin language is proba- 
 bly what is here alluded to. Alfred has himself 
 stated, in the preface to his translation of Gregory's 
 Pastoralia, that though many of the English at his 
 accession could read their native language well 
 enough, the knowledge of the Latin tongue was so 
 much decayed, that there were very few to the 
 south of the Humber who understood the common 
 prayers of the church, or were capable of translating 
 a single sentence of Latin into English; and to the 
 south of the Thames he could not recollect that 
 there was one possessed of this very moderate 
 amount of learning. Contrasting this lamentable 
 state of things with the better days that had gone 
 before, he exclaims, " I wish thee to know that it 
 comes very often into my mind, what wise men there 
 were in England, both laymen and ecclesiastics, and 
 l;ow happy those times were to England! The 
 sacred profession was diligent both to teach and to 
 learn. Men from abroad sought wisdom and learn- 
 
 ^ See ante, p. 14i2. 
 
 ing in this country, though we must now go out of 
 it to obtain knowledge if we should wish to have it." 
 
 It was not till he was nearly forty years of age, 
 that Alfred himself commenced his study of the 
 Latin language. Before this, however, and as soon 
 as he had rescued his dominions from the hands of 
 the Danes, and reduced these foreign disturbers to 
 subjection, he had exerted himself with his charac- 
 teristic activity in bringing about the restoration of 
 letters as well as of peace and order. He had in- 
 vited to his court all the most learned men he could 
 discover anywliere in his native land, and had even 
 brought over instructors for himself and his people 
 from other countries. Werefrith, the Bishop of 
 Worcester ; Ethelstan and Worwulf, two Mercian 
 priests ; and Plegmund, also a Mercian, who after- 
 wards became Archbishop of Canterbury, were some 
 of the English of whose superior acquirements he 
 thus took advantage. Asser he brought from the 
 western extremity of Wales. Grimbald ho obtained 
 from France, having sent an embassy of bishops, 
 presbyters, deacons, and religious laymen, bearing 
 valuable presents to his ecclesiastical superior Fulco, 
 the Archbishop of Rheitiis, to ask permission for the 
 great scholar to be allowed to come to reside in 
 England. And so in other instances, like the bee, 
 looking everywhere for honey, to quote the simili- 
 tude of his biographer, this admirable prince sought 
 abroad in all directions for the treasure which his 
 own kingdom did not afford. 
 
 The works which he is known to have translated 
 from the Latin, after he had acquired that language, 
 have been enumerated in a preceding page. These 
 labors, so interesting and valuable to postei-ity, he 
 seems himself to liave been half inclined to regard 
 as to be justified only by the low state into which 
 all learning had fallen among his countrymen in his 
 time, and as likely perhaps to be rather of disservice 
 than otherwise to the cause of real scholarship. 
 Reflecting on the erudition which had existed in 
 the country at a former period, and which had made 
 those volumes in the learned languages useful that 
 now lay unopened, " I wondered greatly," he says, 
 " that of those good wise men who were formerly 
 in our nation, and who had all learned fully these 
 books, none would translate any part into their own 
 language ; but I soon answered myself, and said, 
 They never thought that men would be so reckless, 
 and that learning would be so ftillen. They inten- 
 tionally omitted it, and wished that there should be 
 more wisdom in the land, by many languages being 
 known." He then called to recollection, however, 
 what benefit had been derived by all nations from 
 the translation of the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures, 
 first into Latin, and then into the various modern 
 tongues ; and, " therefore," he concludes, " I think 
 it better, if you think so (he is addressing Wulfsig, 
 the Bishop of London), that we also translate some 
 books, the most necessary for all men to know, that 
 we all may know them ; and we may do this, with 
 God's help, verj- easily, if we have peace ; so that all 
 the youth that are now in England, who are free- 
 men, and possess sufficient wealth, may for a time 
 apply to no other task till they first well know to read
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 293 
 
 English. Let those learn Latin afterwards, who will 
 know more, and advance to a higher condition." In 
 this wise and benevolent spirit he acted. The old 
 writers seem to state that, besides the translations 
 that have come down to us, he executed many others 
 that are now lost. 
 
 It is probable, though there is no sufficient au- 
 thoritj' for the statement, that Alfred reestablished 
 many of the old monastic and episcopal schools in 
 the various parts of the kingdom. Asser expressly 
 mentions that he founded a seminary for the sons of 
 the nobility, to the support of which he devoted no 
 less than an eighth part of his whole revenue. 
 Hither even some noblemen repaired who had far 
 outgrown their youth, but nevertheless had scarcely 
 or not at all begun their acquaintance with books. 
 In another place Asser speaks of this school, to 
 which Alfred is stated to have sent his own son 
 Aethelweard, as being attended not only by the 
 sons of almost all the nobility of the realm, but 
 also by many of the inferior classes. It was pro- 
 vided with several masters. The common opinion 
 is, that this seminary, instituted by Alfred, is to be 
 considered as the foundation of the illustrious L'ni- 
 versity of Oxford. ' 
 
 Up to this time absolute illiteracy seems to have ' 
 been common even among the highest classes of the | 
 Anglo-Saxons. We have just seen that, when 
 Alfred established his schools, they were as much ] 
 needed for the nobilitj- who had reached an advanced j 
 or a mature age as for their children ; and indeed j 
 the scheme of instruction seems to have been in- j 
 tended from the first to embrace the former as well j 
 as the latter, for, according to Asser's account, 
 every person of rank or substance who, either from i 
 age or want of capacity, was unable to learn to read i 
 himself, was compelled to send to school either his 
 son or a kinsman, or, if he had neither, a servant, 
 that he might at least be read to by some one. 
 Anglo-Saxon charters exist, which, instead of the 
 names of the kings, exhibit their marks, used, as it 
 is frankly explained, in consequence of their igno- 
 rance of letters. 
 
 The measures begun by Alfred for effecting the 
 literary civilization of his subjects were probably 
 pursued under his successors ; but the period of 
 the next three quarters of a century, notwithstand- 
 ing some short intervals of repose, was on the 
 whole too troubled to admit of much attention being 
 given to the carrjing out of his plans, or even, it 
 may be apprehended, the maintenance of what he 
 had set up. Dunstan, indeed, during his adminis- 
 tration, appears to have exerted himself with zeal 
 in enforcing a higher standard of learning as well 
 as of morals, or of asceticism, among the clergy. 
 But the renewal of the Danish wars, after the ac- 
 cession of Ethelred, and the state of misery and 
 confusion in which the country was kept from this 
 cause till its conquest by Canute, nearly forty years 
 after, must have again laid in ruins the greater part 
 of its literary as well as ecclesiastical establish- 
 ments. The concluding portion of the tenth cen- 
 tury was thus, probably, a time of as deep intellectual 
 darkness in England as it was throughout most of 
 
 the rest of Europe. Lender Canute, however, who 
 was a wise as well as a powerful sovereign, the 
 schools no doubt rose again and flourished. We 
 have the testimony of the historian Ingulphus, who 
 wrote immediately after the Norman conquest, but 
 whose boyhood coincided with the early part of the 
 reign of the Confessor, that at that time seminaries 
 of the higher as well as elementary learning existed 
 in England. He tells us that, having been born in 
 the city of London, he was first sent to school at 
 Westminster ; and that from Westminster he pro- 
 ceeded to Oxford, where he studied the Aristotelian 
 philosophy and the rhetorical ^^Titings of Cicero. 
 This is, we believe, the earliest express mention of 
 the University of Oxford. 
 
 The studies that were cultivated in those ages 
 were few in number and of veiy hmited scope. 
 Alcuin, in a letter to his patron Charlemagne, has 
 enumerated, in the fantastic rhetoric of the period, 
 the subjects in which he instructed his pupils in 
 the school of St. Martin. " To some," says he, 
 " I administer the honey of the sacred writings ; 
 others I try to inebriate with the wine of the ancient 
 classics. I begin the nourishment of some with the 
 apples of grammatical subtlety. I strive to illumi- 
 nate many by the arrangement of the stars, as from 
 the painted roof of a lofty palace." In plain lan- 
 guage, his instructions embraced gi-ammar, the 
 Greek and Latin languages, astronomy, and theo- 
 logy. In the poem in which he gives an account of 
 his own education at York, the same wi'iter informs 
 us that the studies there pursued comprehended, 
 besides grammar, rhetoric, and poetry, "the har- 
 mony of the sky, the labor of the sun and moon, the 
 five zones, the seven wandering planets ; the laws, 
 risings and settings of the stars, and the aerial mo- 
 tions of the sea ; earthquakes ; the nature of man, 
 cattle, birds, and wild beasts, with their various 
 kind and forms ; and the sacred Scriptures." 
 
 This poem of Alcuin's is especially interesting 
 for the account it gives us of the contents of the 
 library collected by Archbishop Egbert at York, 
 the benefit of which Alcuin had enjoyed in his 
 early years, and which he seems to speak of in his 
 letter to Charlemagne, already quoted, as far supe- 
 rior to any collection then existing in France. He 
 proposes that some of his pupils should be sent to 
 York to make copies of the manuscripts there for 
 the imperial library at Tours. Among them, he 
 says, were the works of Jerome, Hilary, Ambrose, 
 Austin, Athanasius, Orosius, the Popes Gregorj- 
 and Leo, Basil, Fulgentius, Cassiodorus, John Chry- 
 sostom, Athelmus, Bede, Victorinus, Boethius ; the 
 ancient historical WTiters. as he calls them, Pom- 
 peius (most probably Justin, the epitomizer of the 
 lost Trogus Pompeius), and Pliny ; Aristotle, Cicero ; 
 the later poets Sedulius and Juvencus ; Alcuin him- 
 self, Clement, Prosper, Paulinus, Arator, Fortu- 
 natus, and Lactantius (writers of various kinds evi- 
 dently thus jumbled together to suit the exigencies 
 of the verse); Virgil, Statius, Lucan; the author 
 of the Ars Grammaticae ; the gi-ammarians and 
 scholiasts, Probus, Phocas, Donatus, Priscian, and 
 Servius; Entychius; Pompeius (probably Festus)
 
 294 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 and Commeniaiius; besides, he adds, many more 
 whom it would be tedious to enumerate. This was 
 certainly a very extraordinary amount of litenny 
 treasure to be amassed in one place, and by one 
 man, at a period when books were everywhere so 
 scarce and necessarily bore so high a price. * " To- 
 wards the close of the seventh century," says War- 
 ton, in his Dissertation on the Introduction of Learn- 
 W'^ into England, " even in the Pai)al library at 
 Home, the number of books was so inconsiderable 
 that Pope St. Martin requested Sanctamand, Bishop 
 of Maestricht, if possible, to su|)ply this defect from 
 the remotest parts of Germany. In the year 85.5, 
 Lupus, Abbot of Ferrieres in France, sent two of 
 his monks to Pope Benedict the Third, to beg a 
 copy of Cicero de Oratore, and Qnintiliau's Insti- 
 tutes, and some other books : ' for,' says the abl)ot, 
 'although we have part of these books, yet there is 
 no whole or complete copy of them in all France.' 
 Albert, Abbot of Gemblours, who with incredible 
 labor and immense expense had collected an hun- 
 dred volumes on theological and fifty on profane 
 subjects, imagined he had formed a splendid library. 
 About the year 790 Charlemagne ^"anted an un- 
 hmited right of hunting to the Abbot and monks of 
 Sithiu, for making their gloves and girdles of the 
 skins of the deer they killed, and covers for their 
 books. We may imagine that these religionists 
 were more fond of hunting than of reading. It is 
 certain that they were obliged to hunt before they 
 could read ; and, at least, it is probable that under 
 these circumstances, and of such materials, they did 
 not manufacture many volumes. At the beginning 
 of the tenth century books were so scarce in Spain, 
 that one and the same copy of the Bible, St. Je- 
 rome's Epistles, and some volumes of ecclesiastical 
 offices and nmrtyrologies, often served several dif- 
 ferent monasteries." To these instances we may 
 add what Bede relates in his History of the Abbots 
 of Wearmouth, in wliich monastery, as already 
 mentioned, Benedict Biscopt, the founder, had about 
 the end of the seventh century collected a consid- 
 erable library, at the cost not only of much money, 
 but also of no little personal exertion, having made 
 five journeys to Rome for the purchase of books, 
 relics, and other furniture and decorations for the 
 establishment. Bede records that Benedict sold 
 one of his volumes, a work on cosmography, to his 
 sovereign, Alfred of Northumberland, for eight 
 hides of land. 
 
 The account which has been given of the existing 
 remains of the Saxon literature, and of the other 
 works of the period under review, has sufficiently 
 indicated the branches of learning and science that 
 were chiefly cultivated. We shall, therefore, merely 
 add a short account of the state of the fine arts of 
 architecture, sculpture, painting, and music among 
 the Anglo-Saxons. 
 
 It will be proper to introduce our notice of the 
 Ansrlo-Saxon architecture by a short inquiry into its 
 origin, especially as we shall find that the Norman 
 8lyle, and perhaps in some particulars that of the 
 
 middle ages in general, may be traced to tlie same 
 source. 
 
 The pure style of classical architecture perfected 
 by the Greeks, underwent several modifications in 
 the liands of the Romans, which materially changed 
 its character, and finally led to its debasement. Even 
 the Roman temples, which are direct imitations of 
 those of the Greeks, have not the same purity of 
 style, though superior to them in magnificence ; and 
 in their more extensive works, the use of the arcl« 
 draws a strong Hue between the architecture of the 
 Romans and that of the Greeks, the distinctive 
 characteristic of the latter being the horizontal 
 architrave supported on colunms. But though the 
 Romans adopted tlie arch in their constructions, 
 they did not therefore abandon the architectural 
 details of the Greeks ; when, from the introduction 
 of vaulted coverings and arched forms generally, 
 columns ceased to be used as supports, they were 
 retained as ornaments; and it is this combination 
 of incongruous members, of vaults with columns and 
 horizontal architraves, to which, by the gradual 
 addition of other conniptions, we owe the stjle of 
 architecture which at length became universal 
 throughout the extent of the Roman empire, and 
 to which has been given the name of Romanesque. 
 
 To this point, the decline of the Roman archi- 
 tecture was rapidly advancing as early as the reign 
 of Diocletian. In the baths of Diocletian at Rome, 
 vast gi'oined vaultings are supported on columns, 
 and their outward thrust counterpoised by external 
 piers, performing the same office as the buttresses 
 so extensively introduced into the constructions of 
 later ages. In the palace of Spalatro, built by the 
 same emperor, the porticos of the internal courts 
 are formed by arches springing directly from single 
 columns ; and over the principal entrance, or golden 
 gate of the palace, small arches springing fi-oni 
 columns — the cohimns resting on consoles project- 
 ing from the wall — are introduced merely as a dec- 
 oration ; and it is a curious coincidence with refer- 
 ence to the purpose for which this example is cited, 
 that we find in the consoles two forms Avhich make 
 a most important figure in the decorations of the 
 eleventh century, viz., the zigzag ornament and the 
 corbel head. 
 
 To what state of decay the arts had fallen wlien 
 Constantino removed the seat of empire to Byzan- 
 tium, may be seen by such parts of his triumphal 
 arch at Rome, as were the work of that period. 
 The empire and the arts decayed together, and the 
 general decline of prosperity finally led to the ruin- 
 ous custom of demolishing ancient buildings, in 
 order to furnish materials for erecting new ones, 
 and especially such as were required by the spread 
 and supremacy of the Christian religion. The 
 ancient temples were incapable of being converted 
 to the purposes of Christian worship ; but the 
 Basilicas were so well calculated to receive large 
 assemblies of people, that their form was adopted 
 and retained in the construction of churches, their 
 name became diverted from its original meaning; 
 and the Christian Basilicas, erected with the spoils 
 of ancient Rome, remain the most striking raonu-
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 295 
 
 Golden Gate of the Palace of Dioi letias at Spalatro. 
 
 ments of 
 
 ages. 
 There 
 
 the barbarous magnificence of the lower 
 seems to be no foundation for attributing 
 
 C'OJiSOLE FROM TIIK PaLACE AT SPALATRO 
 
 to the Goths and other northern nations who over- 
 ran the Roman provinces, any influence upon the 
 state of art, further than that of precipitating its foil. 
 On the contrary, these conquerors, with the wealth 
 of the Roman empire, carried back with them a 
 taste for the arts of civilization ; and the conversion 
 of the northern nations to Christianity, which estab- 
 lished an intimate connexion with Rome and with 
 the Latin clergy, introduced among them as much 
 of the arts and sciences as survived in the western 
 world. With some modifications, the Roman archi- 
 tecture of the fifth and sixth centuries will be found 
 to have prevailed wherever the Christian religion 
 was established; and as regards the Goths, so far 
 from having any distinct architecture of their own, 
 there is positive proof that the buildings erected by 
 Theodoric, who reigned in Italy from 493 to 526, 
 and was a great builder, were in the Roman stjie,
 
 296 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 and built by Roman architects. The celebrated 
 Boethius is named by Cassiodorus as one of the 
 architects of that conqueror. Nor is there any 
 proof that the Lombards carried with them into 
 Italy any innovations in archit(!cture, or that during 
 the existence of their kingdom, which lasted for 
 above two centuries, they introduced any deviations 
 from the style they found established there. What- 
 ever modifications architecture may have received 
 iti Italy, are probably to be attributed to the Byzan- 
 tines, who long tookthe lead in all matters connected 
 with the arts. 
 
 Admitting this view of the state of the arts sub- 
 sequently to the time of Constantino the Great, we 
 shall not expect to find any original traces of art 
 among a people in so rude a state as the Saxons at 
 the time of their settlement in England. They 
 came as invaders and destroyers ; they entered an 
 abandoned and despoiled province, and neither 
 brought nor inherited the arts. Most of the edi- 
 fices, either public or private, which the Romans, 
 in accordance with their universal practice in their 
 provinces, had erected in Britain, appear to have 
 perished during the devastating wars in which the 
 ootintry was involved with Scots, Picts. and Saxons ; 
 and the final supremacy of the latter obliterated the 
 arts, till they were restored from without. 
 
 That the Saxons erected temples of some kind 
 for their pagan worship there can be no doubt, but 
 of their form or materials nothing is known with 
 certaintJ^ It has, indeed, been inferred, that they 
 were not altogether deficient in show or solidity, 
 from the fact that some of them were converted 
 into churches at the first establishment of Christi- 
 anity; and it is certain that Pope Gregory writes 
 lo St. Augustin, advising him not to demolish the 
 temples, but to cast out and destroy the idols and 
 consecrate them to the service of God. This, how- 
 (^ver, throws no hght upon the nature or extent of 
 the Saxon temples, (h-egory's impression of tem- 
 ples was a Roman one, and in any case we can 
 hardly suppose that the buildings of a people so 
 uncultivated as the Saxons before their conversion, 
 ever possessed any distinct architectural character. 
 
 The conversion of the Saxons led immediately to 
 the erection of churches. Some few churches left 
 by the Romans appear to have escaped the general 
 devastation. Bede records two in the city of Can- 
 terbury, one of which was repaired and given to St. 
 Augustin, by King Ethelbert, on his conversion, 
 dedicated to our Savior, and established as the 
 episcopal see. Two other churches were also 
 founded by Ethelbert — that of the monastery of St. 
 Peter and St. Paul at Canterbury, and that of St. 
 Andrew, at Rochester, which also became an epis- 
 copal see. About the same time the see of London 
 was founded, and a church built, by Sebert, King of 
 the East Saxons. So little is upon record concerning 
 these churches, that it has been a subject of contro- 
 versy among antiquarians, whether they were of 
 stone or timber, and even whether the Anglo-Saxons 
 were sufficiently advanced in the arts to erect stone 
 buildings for a considerable time afterwards. That 
 many timber buildings were erected about this pe- 
 
 riod, there is no doubt. The first chapel or oratory 
 erected by Edwin, King of Northumberland, at 
 York, in 627, was of timber. A wooden church is 
 mentioned by William of Malmesbury, at Dutlinge, 
 in Somersetshire ; and the cathedral of Lindisfarne 
 was built in G52 entirely of sawn oak, and even cov- 
 ered with thatch, till Eadbert, the seventh bishop of 
 Lindisfarne, replaced the thatch with lead. But 
 the cathedral of York, founded bj' Edwin soon after 
 his baptism, was undoubtedly a stone building, and 
 it puirks the progress of the arts in this century, 
 tliac in GG9 Bishop Wilfrid glazed the windows. 
 The glass for this purpose seems to have been im- 
 ported from abroad, since, as we have ah'eady men- 
 tioned, the famous Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wear- 
 mouth, is recorded as the first who brought artificers 
 skilled in the art of making glass into this country 
 from France (about C76). These artificers not only 
 glazed the windows of Biscop's church at Wear- 
 mouth, but taught their art to the native workmen ; 
 before this period, windows even of churches were 
 inclosed by lattice-work, or sometimes by linen 
 blinds. 
 
 These two prelates, Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop, 
 were the most munificent patrons of architecture in 
 the seventh century. The monastery of Wear- 
 mouth Avas begun by the latter in the year 675, 
 when he went over to France, in order to engage 
 artificers to execute his church " in the Roman 
 manner," as it is expressly termed by Bede. In the 
 same style must have been the buildings of Wilfrid, 
 enumerated in his life by Eddius, of which the most 
 important, and indeed one of the most important 
 buildings of the age, if we may believe the biogra- 
 pher, was the church of St. Andrew, at Hexham, 
 of which Wilfrid laid the foundation in 674. Eddius 
 expatiates at some length upon the glories of this 
 edifice, of which, he says, the like is not to be seen 
 on this side the Alps. But it will be more to the 
 purpose, to quote the description of Richard, Prior 
 of Hexham, who wrote toward the end of the twelfth 
 century, when it was still in existence ; and as he 
 might compare this church with those by which the 
 Normans had then attested their magnificence and 
 skill in architecture, there can be no doubt that it 
 really merited his praises, from which we cannot 
 but conceive a somewhat high idea of the state of 
 architecture among the Anglo-Saxons at this period. 
 Prior Richard's description is as follows. 
 
 " The foundations of this church St. Wilfiid laid 
 deep in the earth for the crypts and oratories, and 
 the passages leading to them, which Avere then wit]i 
 great exactness contrived and built under ground. 
 The walls, which were of great length, and raised 
 to an immense height, and divided into three several 
 stories or tiers, he supported by square and various 
 other kinds of well-polished columns. Also, the 
 walls, the capitals of the columns which supported 
 them, and the arch of the sanctuary, he decorated 
 with historical representations, imagery, and various 
 figures in relief, carved in stone, and painted with a 
 most agreeable variety of colors. The body of the 
 church he compassed about with pentices and por- 
 ticos, which, both above and below, he divided with
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 297 
 
 great and inexpressible art, by partition walls and 
 winding stairs. Within the staircases, and above 
 them, he caused flights of steps and galleiies of 
 stone, and several passages leading from them both 
 ascending and descending, to be artfully disposed, 
 that multitudes of people might be there, and go quite 
 round the church, without being seen by any one be- 
 low in the nave. Moreover, in the several divisions 
 of the porticos or aisles, both above and below, he 
 erected many most beautiful and private oratories 
 of exquisite workmanship, and in them he causer^ Jo 
 oe placed altars in honor of the Blessed Virgih 
 Mary, St. Michael, St. John the Baptist, and the 
 holy apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins, with 
 all decent and proper furniture to each of them ; 
 some of which, remaining at this day, appear like 
 so many turrets and fortified places." 
 
 The same historian mentions three other churches 
 remaining at Hexham, call of which he attributes to 
 the munificence of Wilfrid. One of these, dedicated 
 to the Blessed Virgin, is particularly worthy of notice. 
 It is described as being in the form of a tower, 
 almost circular, having four porticos at the four 
 principal points. We may here see the rudiments 
 of a cruciform church with a tower at the intersec- 
 tion, a form which subsequently became universal 
 
 in large churches, and of which the adoption was 
 accompanied by important changes of style in the 
 architecture of the tenth and eleventh centuries. 
 
 Wilfrid appears to have been one of the most 
 enterprising and enlightened prelates of his age. 
 He was in high favor with Oswy, King of North- 
 umberland, and for some part of his reign with Eg- 
 frid ; and, by his influence with them and the nobil- 
 ity', enriched the church, and obtained the funds 
 tiecessary to carry his designs into effect. Accord- 
 ing to his biographer Eddius, he was himself emi- 
 nent for his skill in architecture, and principal di- 
 rector of his own works, with the assistance of many 
 eminent artists, whom he invited from Rome, and 
 retained in his service by his liberality. Eddius 
 was engaged by him, in conjunction with Eona, to 
 instruct his choir in the Roman manner of singing. 
 
 In the beginning of the eighth century the arts 
 had begun to peneti'ate into the northern parts of 
 our island. In the year 710, Naiton, King of the 
 Picts, wrote to Ceolfrid, Abbot of Jarrow, of his in- 
 tention to build a church of stone, and desired him 
 to send some artificers to build it after the Roman 
 manner. 
 
 In 716, Ethelbald, King of Mercia, erected the 
 Abbey of Croyland, in Lincolnshire, the foundations 
 
 Basilica of Si. Pail, Kome, ArrtR the Fire. Itf3.t.
 
 208 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLA^'D. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 of which are described as being laid upon large 
 wooden piles driven into the ground, solid earth, 
 brought in boats from a distance of nine miles, being 
 laid upon them. 
 
 In the year 767, the church of St. Peter, at York, 
 having been damaged by fire, was taken down and 
 rebuilt by Albert, then archbishop of that see. Al- 
 bert was a learned, accomplished, and munificent 
 prelate. He had visited Rome and other seats of 
 learning abroad, and brought home with him a fine 
 collection of books and relics, and various objects of 
 art. In the reedification of his church he was as- 
 sisted by his pupils, Eanbald, who succeeded him in 
 the see, and the famous Alcuin. The latter, in tlie 
 account he has left of tlie church he contributed to 
 build, describes it as a lofty pile, supported by arches 
 on solid coluuuis, with admirable vaultings and win- 
 dows, surrounded by porticos and galleries, and 
 containing thirty altars variously ornamented. 
 
 We luive few notices or indications of the pro- 
 gress of the arts during the wars which desolated 
 the countrj', with little intermission, during the 
 ninth and tenth centuries, shortly after which the 
 Anglo-Saxon architecture merged into that modifi- 
 cation of the Romanesque, which, regarding the 
 source from whence we immediately derived it, we 
 properly term the Norman style. As the intro- 
 duction of this style forms a second period of 
 Anglo-Saxon architecture, it will be well here to 
 take a short view of the few facts which have been 
 collected concerning the first. 
 
 Of the buildings of the period we have gone 
 through, not one stone remains upon another to 
 inform us either of their character or extent, and 
 it is only from the scanty notices of them in the 
 chronicles and records of the time that we are 
 enaided to judge of either. From what has been 
 cited of this sort, we may safely infer that the 
 architecture of the Anglo-Saxons was identical 
 with that of the continent, as far as the Christian 
 religion had spread a taste for Roman art — an infer- 
 ence confirmed by the analogj' of later styles, even 
 down to the fourteenth century. That the larger 
 Anglo-Saxon churches were in form as well as in 
 name the same as the Roman Basilicas, may be 
 inferred from the fact that they are frequently- 
 spoken of by historians as being in the Roman 
 manner, as w^ell as from their quadrangular form 
 and internal porticos, which are clearly described 
 by Bede in more than one passage. Add to these 
 considerations the absence of any allusion to tran- 
 septs or large towers, and they are identified with 
 the churches of the same age, of which so many 
 remain in Italy, and some in Germany. The 
 Basilica of St. Paul without the walls of Rome, 
 founded by Constantine, is in its general features 
 as close a copy of the ancient Basilica as the use 
 for which it was designed would allow, and the 
 degenerate age in which it was erected could pro- 
 duce. The interior of this magnificent church, 
 until the year 1823, when it was nearly destroyed 
 by fire, remained much as it was left by Theodosius 
 the Great, who was a great benefiictor to it, with 
 the exception of the extraneous decorations of all 
 
 ages, laid upon it by the piety of succeeding empe- 
 rors aTid ])ontirt's ; and its style of architecture con- 
 trasted strangely with the precious materials and 
 beautiful workmanship of the hundred columns 
 which supported it, the {)lunder of many a classical 
 edifice, and especially of the sumptuous mausoleum 
 of Hadrian. The view even of the ruins of this 
 church (see p. 297) will give a perfect idea of the form 
 and arrangement of the Basilica in general, which 
 consisted of a nave and two lateral internal porticos, 
 sometimes double, sometimes single (oi*, as we 
 should now saj-, of five or three aisles), leading to 
 the upper end of the building, which in the ancient 
 Basilica was occupied by the public tribunal, and 
 in the Christian church by the high altar. But as 
 it is not to be supposed that the Anglo-Saxons ever 
 produced, or were capable of producing, anjthing 
 upon this scale, the plan of the church of St. 
 Grisogono, at Rome, believed also to have been 
 
 
 • 
 
 L 
 
 ■ • • 
 
 GRorsD Plajs of the Cuvrch of Grisogono, Rome 
 
 founded by Constantine, will probably give a per- 
 fectly correct idea of their more important eccle- 
 siastical structures during the pei'iod we have been 
 considering ; and that the Roman architecture had 
 not undergone any material change upon the con- 
 tinent by the latter part of the eighth century, will 
 be evident from a view of the portico to the atrium 
 of the church at Lorsch, near Manheim, founded in 
 764, and consecrated in the presence of Charle- 
 magne in 774. This portico is undoubtedly part-of 
 the original building.
 
 CiiAi>. v.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 299 
 
 ..Ji 
 
 l'Wifi!jt!s,.,,,:: ■ ..,-/ ;iiili!!Kliiiiltiia,i;,,:,, 
 
 Portico at Lorsch. 
 
 By referring to the Roman Basilica, the descrip- 
 tion which has been quoted of the church at 
 Hexham becomes perfectly intelligible. It was 
 evidently a Basilica, with an upper internal portico 
 over the side aisles, — an arrangement described by 
 Vitruvius in his Chapter on the Ancient Basilica, 
 and actually existing in the Christian Basilica of 
 St. Agnese at Rome. 
 
 In the tenth century we find a very evident 
 change of style prevailing on the continent. The 
 doorway of the cathedral at Mentz, founded about 
 978, though it exhibits the old Roman detail, some 
 of the capitals of the columns being strictly of the 
 Corinthian order, presents the same general form 
 that prevailed in all gateways of the middle ages, 
 through successive changes of style, — namely, a 
 series of recessed arches reducing the real aperture 
 to a much smaller size than the external archway ; 
 and in the Cathedral of Worms, a little later in 
 date, there is not only a change of plan by the 
 distinct marking of the cross, but the style alto- 
 gether approaches that of the Normans, in which, 
 as we have already observed, the ai'chitecture of the 
 Anglo-Saxons finally merged. 
 
 The origin of this style, which speedily became 
 universal, may perhaps be traced to the Byzantine 
 school. This at least is certain, that the Byzantine 
 style of sculpture accompanies it to a great extent 
 both in Germany and France, though rare in 
 England. A comparison of two capitals, from 
 works already noticed, the portico at Lorsch, and 
 the doorway at Mentz, may serve to illustrate this 
 
 Capital from the Doorway of BIentz Cathedral. 
 
 hypothesis. The Roman and Greek styles of orna 
 mental sculpture cannot be more strikingly marked 
 or more vividly contrasted ; and it may be further 
 remarked that the cruciform plan had been shad- 
 owed out in the religious edifices of Constantinople 
 as early as the sixth century. The subject is very 
 obscure, and this is not the place to examine it ; 
 but it may be observed that the settlement of the 
 Western Empire by the Franks, and the muuifi- 
 cence of Charlemagne, had brought the arts from
 
 300 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II 
 
 Capital from the Portico at Lorsch. 
 
 Constantinople, and even from Arabia, and that 
 they continued to flourish under his successors, at 
 a period when the Anglo-Saxons were struggling 
 for their existence as a nation with their Danish 
 invaders, and had neither means nor leisure to 
 bestow upon the arts. During this period, when 
 all the resources of the church and government 
 must have been cut off or diverted to more exigent 
 purposes, there could have been no temptation to 
 foreign artists to settle in the countiy. Alfred the 
 Great, in the interval of quiet he had won by his 
 arms and policy, applied himself to architecture ; 
 but though he did not neglect the restoration of tlie 
 ruined monasteries and churches, yet his chief cai-e, 
 and that of his two immediate successors, was 
 du-ected chiefly to military works, and to walling 
 und fortifying the towns. His monastery at Athel- 
 ney seems to have been an insignificant building, 
 and probably only of timber. 
 
 From this period scarcely a fact that throws any 
 
 light upon architecture as an art is to be met with 
 until the reign of Edgar, surnamed the Peaceable ; 
 in whose time, under the influence of St. Dunstan 
 and his coadjutors, monastic establishments were 
 multiplied, and their riches increased in an enor- 
 mous degree, and numerous ecclesiastical edifices 
 appear to have been the result. 
 
 Among these we have a description of the Abbey 
 of Ramsey, in Huntingdonshire, founded by Aihvin, 
 styled in history the Alderman of all England, with 
 the assistance of St. Oswald, Bishop of Worcester. 
 This church was completed in 974, and is described 
 in the histoiy of the abbey as having two towers 
 raised above the roof, — one at the west end, and 
 the other, which was larger, supported by four 
 pillars in the middle of the building, where it 
 divided into four parts, being connected together 
 by arches with other adjoining arches, which pre- 
 vented their giving way. This is a clear descrip- 
 tion of a church with transepts and a tower at the 
 intersection. How far this change of plan was 
 accompanied by the introduction of the charac- 
 teristic details of the new style, we have no means 
 of judging. The date is too early to suppose the 
 alteration complete in all particulars, and a state of 
 transition has been found invariably to precede 
 every radical change at subsequent periods ; but 
 that architecture at this time was at a very low ebb, 
 and had grievously fallen oft' from ift former flour- 
 ishing condition, may be inferred by a remark 
 made by Wulstan, Bishop of "Worcester, in 1084, 
 upon a work of this very St. Oswald. Wulstan, 
 Avho founded a new church in Worcester in that 
 year, is said to have wept at the abandonment and 
 demolition of the former edifice, erected about 960 ; 
 and being reminded that he ought rather to rejoice 
 at the superior extent and magnificence of the new 
 foundation, answered, — " We destroy the works of 
 our holj' forefathers that we may obtain praise. 
 
 Windows from the Palace ofWe?t-
 
 Chap. V,] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 301 
 
 These pious men hnew 7iot how to construct pom- 
 pous edifices, but undei* any roof devoted them- 
 selves to God, and excited others by their example. 
 We, on the contrary, heap up stones, and neglect 
 the care of souls." 
 
 The introduction of the Norman style is un- 
 doubtedly what the historians mean by the " new 
 manner" in which Edward the Confessor rebuilt 
 the Abbey of Westminster. .Of this style the par- 
 ticular description must be reserved for the next 
 period, to which it properly belongs. The Palace 
 of Edward the Confessor, at Westminster, was 
 
 Doorway from the Palace of Westminster. 
 
 built in the same style, and its remains show it to 
 have been a spacious and solid structure. The 
 Painted Chamber, or, as it was called as late as 
 the fifteenth century, St. Edward's Chamber, 
 though its architectural character was changed by 
 Henry III., possesses strong claims to be con- 
 sidered a part of the original structure, together 
 with other apartments which have disappeared only 
 within a few years ; and this claim is corroborated 
 by the character of the arches and triangular door- 
 way in the vaults underneath. The apartment to 
 which belong the ancient windows, still extant 
 toward Palace-yard, is supposed, with good reason, 
 to have been the great hall of the palace previously 
 to the erection of that by William Rufus. 
 
 In this view of the architecture of the Anglo- 
 Saxon period, our remarks have been chiefly con- 
 fined to ecclesiastical edifices, since little remains 
 that can be described, and the only information to 
 be gathered on the subject is principally from his- 
 torians who have written upon ecclesiastical affairs, 
 and whose attention has consequently been con- 
 fined to ecclesiastical structures. Parish churches 
 
 had become frequent early in the ninth century, 
 since a particular canon, relating to their consecra- 
 tion, was enacted in the Council of Ceal-Hythe in 
 816. Their most general form was probably that 
 of the smaller parish churches of later date, con- 
 sisting of a simple nave and chancel, without side 
 aisles ; but that some of the smaller Anglo-Saxon 
 churches were built with side aisles is proved by 
 that still existing at Brixham, near Northampton. 
 This church has been considered a Roman work, 
 from the nature of the bricks with which the arches 
 are turned. But that the Anglo- Sixxons were ac- 
 quainted with the use of bricks, — whether the art 
 of making them had remained in the island from 
 the time of its occupation by the Romans, or was 
 restored with the other arts for which the Anglo- 
 Saxons were afterwards indebted to the Latins, — 
 is clear from a passage in Bede, who says of St. 
 Cuthbert's hermitage, that he did not build it with 
 squared stones, nor with tiles and cement, but with 
 such materials as he could collect on the spot. The 
 church of Brixham, however, is undoubtedly con- 
 siderably older than the time of the Norman con- 
 quest. It has a square tower at the west end, with 
 a circular staircase attached in a most inartificial 
 manner. 
 
 The diligence of antiquarians has distinguished 
 a class of bell-towers, which, from their peculiar 
 character, are reasonably presumed to be of a date 
 earlier than that at which the Norman style was 
 established in England. Of these towers that of 
 Earl's Barton, in Northamptonshire, is the most 
 remarkable, and displays most conspicuously their 
 peculiarities of style. Of the triangular arch we 
 have seen a specimen in the degraded Roman style, 
 and it is common on the sarcophagi of the lower 
 ages ; both this form, and the sort of balustrade 
 which appears in the belfry windows, are also to be 
 seen in the architecture represented in Anglo-Saxon 
 manuscripts. It is to be supposed that this tower 
 was finished by a modillion cornice and low roof; at 
 present it terminates with a modern battlement, 
 which is omitted in the view. The construction of 
 these towers is extremely massive, with rubble- 
 work, and stone quoins and dressings, the walls 
 being equal in some instances to the whole space 
 inside ; but they betray a low state of the art and 
 ignorance of its principles. 
 
 The first introduction of bells among the Anglo- 
 Saxons is involved in obscurity. Large ones were 
 certainly rare as late as the middle of the tenth 
 century, since William of Malmesbury reckons them 
 among the wonderful and sti'ahge things which St. 
 Dunstan gave to the abbey. Bell towers are there- 
 fore probably not more than a centuiy older than 
 the Norman conquest. It might be possible to 
 enumerate a few insignificant buildings, which, from 
 something analogous in their construction, may be 
 presumed to approach an equal antiquity, but they 
 possess no architectural interest. The little church 
 of Darent, in Kent, from some peculiarities of detail, 
 may be selected as a specimen. It consists of a 
 nave without aisles, and a chancel with a plain 
 groined vault, destitute of any ornament, twelve
 
 302 
 
 HISTORY OF EX(jLAND. 
 
 [BuOK II. 
 
 
 \\ // 
 
 Tower of Earl's Barton Cuurch. 
 
 feet two inches long, and thirteen feet four inches I work older than the Conquest, is to be attributed 
 
 wide : the height to the springing of the arch is to the demolition of the churches of any importance 
 
 only seven feet. t by the Normans, for the sake of replacing them by 
 
 The extreme rarity of any well authenticated ! more magnificent structures; and though it can 
 
 Windows, Barest fm rth Kt
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 303 
 
 scarcely be doubted that they may have incorpo- 
 rated some of the old work with their own, yet 
 such work can have belonged only to the latest 
 Anglo-Saxon period, since the most critical ex- 
 amination has failed satisfactorily to detect the 
 difference between the two constructions. A por- 
 
 tion of Edward the Confessor's work at West- 
 minster Abbey, forming vaults to the College 
 buildings, and now used as the Pix Ofifice, is the 
 only part of the building that can be satisfactorily 
 identified as a specimen of the latter Anglo-Saxon 
 architecture. 
 
 Edward tue Confessor's Chapel, Westminster Abdey, — now used as the Pix Office. 
 
 <^n the DOMESTIC architecture of the Anglo- 
 Saxons there is but little information to be obtained. 
 That edifices of this class were generally of timber 
 may be inferred from the circumstance that all the 
 monastic buildings (which properly come under this 
 head) of which we have any description were so 
 constructed. Such was the Abbey of Croyland, 
 with its infirmaiy and chapel, baths, halls, strangers' 
 apartments, brewhouse, bakehouse, granaries, and 
 stables ; all of which, we learn from Ingulphus, 
 were constructed of beams of wood, and boards 
 most exactly joined, and most beautifully worked, 
 by the admirable art of the carpenter, and covered 
 with lead. The prevalent use of timber in mo- 
 nastic buildings may also be inferred from the often- 
 quoted passage in King Edward's charter to Malmcs- 
 bury Abbey, in which lie says, " All the monas- 
 teries of my realm are to the sight nothing but 
 worm-eaten and rotten timbers and boards." But 
 this use of timber by no means necessarily implies 
 a low state of art. We shall have occasion to see, 
 
 in treating of later periods, that the use of timber 
 in domestic architecture prevailed in England 
 throughout the middle ages ; that timber buildings 
 were susceptible of a very high degree of architec- 
 tural character ; that they were thought worthy of 
 being carried to a considerable extent, and of being 
 executed with all the luxury of art as late at least 
 as the fifteenth century ; and that the general dis- 
 continuance of timber constructions is comparatively 
 of a modern date. It is therefore not unreasonable 
 to supjiose, that during the period when ecclesias- 
 tical architecture Avas in a flourishing condition, the 
 domestic style would not be neglected, though ex- 
 emplified in more humble materials. King Alfred, 
 we are told, displayed a superior taste in the con- 
 struction and decoration of his palaces. It must, 
 however, be admitted, that at the period of the 
 C'onquest, the dwellings of the Anglo-Saxons must 
 have presented an unfavorable contrast with those 
 introduced by the Normans ; since William of 
 Mahnesbury observes, that the houses of the former
 
 304 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 were low and moan, though their way of living was [ were fond of stately and sumptuous houses, and 
 luxarious and extravagant; where is the Normans, afiected magnificence in their buildings both puDlic 
 though moderate, and even abstemious in their diet, | and private. 
 
 
 Residente of a Saxon Nubleman. 
 
 The Proprietor, seairrl at the entrance of the Great Hall, is engaged in aliiiseivine ; on his right appear a number of armed Servants, and on 
 his left a (Chapel, at the door of which, as is common in most illuminations, a lamp is su?pended. Harleian MS. No. 603. 
 
 On the MILITARY ARCHiTF.cTURF, of tliis peHod, 
 there is as little to be collected. That the Anglo- 
 Saxons walled and fortified their towns, has. already 
 appeared ; and that they had the skill to do so with 
 effect, is evident from the sieges some of them 
 were able to sustain against the Normans. Exeter 
 could resist the Conqueror for eighteen days, and 
 then, says the Saxon Chronicle, "the citizens sur- 
 rendered because their chiefs deceived them." 
 Oxford, Warwick, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, 
 and York were all fortified places, and made suffi- 
 cient resistance to provoke the utmost vengeance 
 of the conquering army. At Leicester there ap- 
 pears to have been a citadel. In the absence of 
 any authority afifording a description of the Anglo- 
 Saxon fortresses, we may venture to suppose that 
 such of them as might possess any architectural 
 character or solidity of structure, bore a reseiu- 
 blance to those of the Continent, though probably 
 on an inferior scale. But it is useless to waste 
 conjectures on a subject which will form an im- 
 portant branch of the architecture of the Norman 
 period. 
 
 The little that is known of the st«te of architec- 
 ture in Wales during this period, is not much cal- 
 culated to excite either our interest or our curiosity 
 to know more, since the art appears not to have 
 advanced beyond the most primitive modes of con- 
 struction. The chief palace of the kings, and place 
 of assembly for the great council of the nation, ap- 
 
 pears to have been no better than an edifice of wat- 
 tles, and was called the White Palace, from the 
 osiers with which it was woven being peeled. 
 This we learn incidentally from the Leges Wallicae, 
 in which it is enacted, that a fine of one pound and 
 eighty pence shall be paid by whoever shall burn 
 the king's hall or palace. Eight buildings or de- 
 pendencies upon the palace are also enumerated, 
 the destruction of each of which is valued at one 
 hundred and twenty pence. These buildings are, 
 the dormitory, the kitchen, the chapel, the granary, 
 the bakehouse, the storehouse, the stable, and the 
 dog-house. 
 
 It will be sufficient to notice very briefly the 
 state of SCULPTURE and painti>'g during the Anglo- 
 Saxon period. The former was necessarily prac- 
 ticed by the idolatrous Saxons; descriptions of the 
 forms and attributes of their deities have been 
 handed down to us, but their eflforts to represent 
 them were undoubtedly of the lowest grade of bar- 
 barism. 
 
 The art of sculpture, such as it was in the 
 seventh century, accompanied the introduction of 
 Roman architecture into England, and probably 
 underwent similar vicissitudes, flourishing and de- 
 caying from the same causes. Nothing remains 
 which may mark its progress or exemplify its mer- 
 its, except a few of the smaller works of art, among 
 which the Horn of Ulphus, preserved at York, may 
 be cited for its undoubted authenticity. But there
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 305 
 
 Horn of Ulphus. 
 
 must have been a demand for the images of saints 
 for the churches, and monumental sculpture was 
 not uncommon. In an episcopal tomb of the eighth 
 century (that of Acca, Bishop of Hexham), two 
 crosses elegantly decorated with ornaments of 
 sculpture are described as being set up, one at the 
 head, the other at the foot of the tomb ; on one of 
 which — namely, that at the head — were letters 
 declaring who was buried there. 
 
 Stone coffins became common among the richer 
 classes as early as the middle of the seventh cen- 
 tury, and were frequently charged with decorative 
 carvings and sometimes even with an effigy of the 
 deceased. If we may trust L eland, the figure of 
 Eschwine, an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Dorchester, 
 was in his time still extant on his tomb in the 
 church there. Such effigies, however, were prob- 
 
 ably rather relievos than statues, and perhaps in no 
 worse taste than those of other nations, if we may 
 judge by analogy from the state of the sister art, 
 upon which we are fortunately possessed of better 
 information. 
 
 One of the earliest notices on the art of painting 
 is the record of the munificence of Benedict Biscop, 
 who imported a vast number of pictures in the sev- 
 eral voyages he made to Rome, principally for the 
 purpose of collecting books, relics, and ornaments 
 for the churches he had founded at Wearmouth 
 and Jarrow. These pictures, which were not 
 merely effigies of the saints and apostles, but, as 
 Bede informs us, comprehended the whole Gospel 
 history, with the concord of the Old and New Tes- 
 taments, must have been of the Byzantine school, 
 to which, at this period, and long after, artists of all 
 countries looked for instruction. 
 
 But whatever improvement the Anglo-Saxons 
 may have derived from an acquaintance with Greek 
 art or the instructions of foreign artists, an inde- 
 pendent school for the illumination of manuscripts 
 appears to have existed in Ireland as early as the 
 sixth century ; and the perfection to which the 
 Anglo-Saxons had arrived in this branch of painting 
 at the beginninf of the eighth is sufficiently proved 
 by many existing manuscripts, particularly that cel- 
 
 voL. I.— 20
 
 106 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book If. 
 
 ■ebrated by the name of the " Durham Book," or 
 ••St. Cuthburt's Gospels," the work of Eadfrid, 
 Bishop of Lindisfarne, who came to that see in 
 69S, and died in 721. In this splendid example of 
 Anglo-Saxon art the figures certainly bear strong 
 marks of the Byzantine style of drawing, but the 
 design and execution of the illuminated capitals are 
 original, and such as are not to be found in the 
 works of any continental school. The chief fea- 
 tures of tliis species of illumination nro described 
 by Sir F. Maiden to be, extreme intricacy of pat- 
 
 Anolo-Saxos Ornament. From MS. of the Tenth Century. 
 
 tern, interlacings of knots in a diagonal or square 
 form, sometimes interwoven with animals, and ter- 
 minating in heads of serpents or birds. Though we 
 cannot distinctly trace the progress of this art, we 
 
 may conclude that it continued in a flourishing and 
 improving state in the interval from the eighth to 
 the tent^i and eleventh centuries, which wei'e so 
 prolific in Anglo-Saxon Avorks of calligraphy and 
 illumination, that perhaps, says a competent au- 
 thority speaking of this period, our public libraries 
 and the collections abroad contain more specimens 
 executed in this country than any other can pro- 
 duce during the same space of time. 
 
 This art, like all others, flourished in the cloister. 
 The greatest dignitaries of the church not only en- 
 couraged but practiced it, and a specimen is extant 
 in the Bodleian Library by the liand of no less a 
 personage than St. Dunstan. St. Ethelwold, Bishop 
 of Winchester, was a great patron, and perhaps also 
 a professor of the art ; and the names of Ethric and 
 Wulfric, monks of Hyde Abbey, are recorded with 
 the additional designation of " painters," in a man- 
 ner which sliows such artists to have been persons 
 held in the highest respect and estimation. New 
 Minster, or Hyde Abbey, at Winchester, appear.s 
 to have been one of the principal schools of illumi- 
 nation, and many of the finest manuscripts of the 
 period are known to have been produced there. 
 The magnificent Benedictional of St. Ethelwold, 
 the execution of which is attributed to the monk 
 Godewin, may be especially referred to, and is the 
 more remarkable and honorable to our native talent, 
 as being the work of an age when the arts were 
 generally, and particularly in Italy, in the most dcs- 
 based condition. The paintings exhibit much of the 
 Greek character, which maj- arise from the use of 
 a standard set of designs originally emanating from 
 that school, particularly as the scriptural subjects 
 represented are treated in nearly the same manner 
 in diff"erent manuscripts. But with the exception 
 of the naked parts, in which the ignorance of the 
 period is most conspicuous, the drawing display's no 
 little proficiency : the draperies especially are full 
 of grace and intelligence; and the decorations, which 
 are in a style altogether pecuUar to the Anglo-Saxon 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Illuminated Letter. From MS. of the Tenth Centurj-.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 307 
 
 school, exhibit bold and rich masses of foliage not to 
 be surpassed either in composition or execution by 
 any contemporary productions of the same class. 
 The well-known manuscript of the sacred poem of 
 Caedmon is also supposed to have issued from the 
 New Minster school about the year 1000. The 
 drawings are curious, rather than of any value as 
 works of art ; but it contains some very remarkable 
 initials, composed by the interlacing of foliage with 
 birds, serpents, &:c. 
 
 There is little on record concerning the more ex- 
 tensive branches of the art. Stubbs, in the Actus 
 Pontificum Eboraceusium, speaks of a magnificent 
 '• heaven " executed in gold and colors under Arch- 
 bishop Aldred shortly before the Conquest. This 
 may have been mere decoration painting, — stars on 
 a blue ground, &c. ; though the term generally im- 
 plies something more. 
 
 In the arts of design it will be proper to include 
 embroidery, in which the Anglo-Saxon ladies were 
 reputed eminently skilful. The four daughters of 
 Edward the Elder excelled in spinning, weaving, 
 and needle-work; and St. Dunstan himself conde- 
 scended to draw a pattern for a sacerdotal vestment 
 which a religious lady of the tenth century executed 
 in threads of gold. In the same century a drapery 
 on which were represented the actions of Brithnod, 
 Duke of Northumberland, was presented by his 
 widow Edelfleda to the church of Ely ; and at an 
 earlier period Witlaf, King of Mercia, in a charter 
 to the Abbey of Croyland, gives, among other things, 
 a golden veil embroidered with the siege of Troy, 
 to be hung up in the church on his birthday. 
 
 Music, before the invention of the present mode 
 of notation by Guide of Arezzo in the eleventh cen- 
 tury, and the other improvements Introduced about 
 the same epoch or soon after, may seem to be 
 scarcely entitled to the name of a science, if com- 
 pared with what it is in its present state. Yet, 
 although confined to melody merely, music was cer- 
 tainly cultivated with much ardor in this country 
 from a somewhat early date in the Anglo-Saxon pe- 
 riod. The Anglo-Saxon music of which the fullest 
 and most distinct notices have come down to us is 
 the church music. St. Ambrose, in the fourth cen- 
 tury, has the credit of having first introduced singing 
 into the Christian services of the West ; and his 
 method (of the peculiarities of which, however, 
 nothing appears to be known) continued in general 
 use till the latter part of the sixth century, when it 
 was reformed by Pope Gregory the Great. The 
 Gregorian chant may be presumed to have been 
 brought over to this country along with the Chris- 
 tian religion, by St. Augustin and his companions, 
 and it was this mode of singing most probably of 
 which they gave a specimen at the first audience 
 granted them by King Ethelbert, and on their solemn 
 procession immediately afterwards into the city of 
 Canterbury.^ The musical service, however, seems 
 to have been confined to the metropolitan church, 
 or at least to the district of Kent, till the time of 
 Archbishop Theodore, in the latter part of the sev- 
 enth century. Some are disposed to attribute to 
 » See ante, p. 220 
 
 Theodore and his friend Adrian the first introduction 
 into England of the Gregorian chant: it is admitted 
 on all hands that it was to their exei'tions that the 
 general dift'usiou of a knowledge of the improved 
 chant was owing. Bede relates that, in 678, one 
 John was sent from Rome by the pope to teach 
 music to the English clergy, and that he both gave 
 instructions in the art during his stay and left behind 
 him written directions for its study. Accordingly, 
 to quote the account as it stands in Holiushed, 
 " whereas, before time, there was in manner no 
 singing in the English churches, except it were in 
 Kent, now they began in every church to use sing- 
 ing of divine service after the rite of the church of 
 Rome." 
 
 '' The Archbishop Theodore," the chronicler 
 proceeds, " finding the church of Rochester void 
 by the death of the last bishop, named Damian, or- 
 dained one Putta, a simple man in wordly matters, 
 but well instructed in ecclesiastical discipline, and 
 namely (especially) well seen in song and music to 
 be used in the church after the manner as he had 
 learned of Pope Gregorj's disciples." Putta indeed 
 would appear, from the sequel of his story, to have 
 been intended by nature rather for a singing-master 
 than a bishop. His church of Rochester having 
 been spoiled and defticed a few years after in a 
 hostile incursion made into Kent by the Mercian 
 king Ethilfred, he went, we are told, " to Servulf, 
 Bishop of Mercia, and there obtaining of him a small 
 cure and a portion of gi-ound, remained in that 
 countiy, not once laboring to restore his church of 
 Rochester to the former state, but went about in 
 Mercia to teach song, and instruct such as would 
 learn music, wheresoever he was required or could 
 get entertainment."' Some time after this a chief 
 seminary of music was established at Canterbury, 
 and other permanent schools also in the other mo- 
 nasteries. 
 
 Nor were the Saxons by any means without in- 
 strumental music. Among their musical instru- 
 ments, besides bells, we find mention made of the 
 horn, the trumpet, the flute, the drum, the cymbal, 
 
 I Ilolinshed's England, b. v. ch. 35. 
 
 Trombones, or Flctes. From the Cotton MS. Cleopntra, C. 7.
 
 308 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book. TI. 
 
 the rotii, or viol, the lyre, and tlie harp. Repre- 
 sentations of most of these are found among the 
 illuminations of their manuscripts. They also 
 seem to have been acquainted with the organ. Mr. 
 Turner has produced a passage from Aldhelm's 
 Latin poem in praise of virginity, and another from 
 a work of Bede's, in both of which the organ is 
 mentioned ; and William of Mahnesbury describes 
 an organ as existing in his own church, which bore 
 an inscription stating that it had been presented by 
 St. Dunstan, who, the historian elsewhere tells us, 
 gave many great bells and organs to the churches 
 of the West. These Saxon organs, according to 
 Malmesbury, had brass pipes and bellows. The 
 drum is described by Bede as formed of tense 
 leather. The Saxon lyre is represented in the 
 illuminations with four strings, struck by a plec- 
 trum. The harp is depicted in some instances of 
 the modern ti'iangular form, in others square or ob- 
 long-shaped. In one manuscript the psalmist David 
 is represented playing on one of the latter fashion, 
 which has ten strings ; he plays with the fingers of 
 his right hand, and holds the instrument with his 
 
 ^ 
 
 ( 
 
 f\ 
 
 ; ' :' ' 
 
 U: 
 
 I 
 
 ■^ I ' 
 
 * 
 
 ? 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 ; 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 .- 
 
 — 
 
 ° 
 
 ^ 
 
 — 1 
 
 n 
 
 '- - ■ ^ o 
 
 
 -' 
 
 David Playing os the Harp. From the Cotton MS. Tib. C. 6. 
 
 left. In another instance, the royal psalmist has a 
 triangular harp of eleven strings ; and he is accom- 
 panied by three other musicians, one with a straight 
 trumpet, supported in the middle by a pole ; another 
 with a curved horn ; and the third with a sort of 
 violin, on which he plays with a bow. Bede tells 
 us, in his History, that the harp was in common 
 use among his countrymen on all festive occasions ; 
 when the custom was for it to be handed round the 
 company, that all might sing and perform in turn. 
 The art of playing on this instrument appears to 
 have been practiced professionally by wandering 
 minstrels or gleemen, and to have been also a fash- 
 ionable accomplishment of the highest and best ed- 
 
 The Harp, AcroMPAMED by other Isstrument3. 
 From the Cotton MS. Tib. C. 6. 
 
 ucated classes. The reader will remember the 
 storj' that is told of Alfred on one occasion disguising 
 himself as a minstrel, and in that character finding 
 ready admission to the camp of the Danes, with his 
 harp in his hand.' A similar story is related of a 
 visit paid by Anlaff, the Danish king or earl of 
 Northumberland, to the camp of the Saxon Athel- 
 stane, on the eve of their famous encounter at Bru- 
 nanburgh. Dunstan also, it will be remembered, 
 was celebrated, among his other accomplishments, 
 for his skill as a harper. 
 
 The harp, and the popular music generally of 
 the Saxons, were in all probability borrowed from 
 the Irish, among whom the art appears to have 
 flourished from the remotest antiquity, and to have 
 been carried, at an early period, to a perfection 
 elsewhere unknown. Some of the most learned 
 of the Welsh antiquaries have admitted that their 
 national music is of Irish origin ; and there can be 
 little doubt, from the character of the Scottish 
 melodies, that they also have been derived from 
 the same source. Even to the Italian music an 
 
 t See ante. p. 151.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 309 
 
 Irish extraction has been assigned, and by Italians 
 themselves. The harp, called in Celtic the cruit, 
 is noted in the oldest records, as Avell as in the 
 traditions of the people of Ireland, as the favorite 
 instrument of their bards from the earliest times. 
 The most remarkable foreign testimony, however, 
 to the musical skill of the Irish is that of Giraldus 
 Cambrensis in the twelfth centuiy. Their eminence 
 in insti'umental music he describes as beyond com- 
 parison superior to that of any nation he had known. 
 Their modulation, he adds, " is not slow and solemn, 
 as in the instruments of Britain, to which we are 
 accustomed, but the sounds are rapid and precipi- 
 tate, yet at the same time sweet and pleasing. It 
 is wonderful how, in such precipitate rapidity of 
 
 the fingers, the musical proportions are preserved ; 
 and how, by their art, faultless throughout, in the 
 midst of their complicated modulations, and most 
 intricate arrangement of notes, by a rapidity so 
 sweet, a regularity so irregular, a concord so dis- 
 cordant, the melody is rendered harmonious and 
 perfect." So famous, also, was the church music of 
 the Irish at an early period, that the daughter of 
 Pepin of France, in the seventh century, is re- 
 corded to have sent to Ireland for persons qualified 
 to instruct the nuns of the Abbey of Nivelle in 
 psalmody.' 
 
 1 See these and other similar testimonies collected by Mr. Moore, 
 Hist, of Ireland, i. 312-316. See also O'Brien's Round Towers, pp. 
 404-407.
 
 310 
 
 HISTORY OF EXCLAXD. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TIIK HISTORY OF MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 UR knowledge of the 
 miscellaneous partic- 
 ulars coining under 
 this head in the pres- 
 ent period is much 
 more extensive, as 
 well as more distinct 
 and certain, than that 
 which we possess of 
 the manners and cus- 
 toms of the ancient 
 Britons, but it is still 
 far from being perfectly satisfoctory. We have in- 
 deed many Anglo-Saxon writings, from which a 
 good deal of authentic information may be gleaned 
 respecting various parts of the subject; but the in- 
 formation thus preserved consists, after all, only of 
 incidental notices, which are often so brief or so 
 allusive as to admit only of a conjectural interpreta- 
 tion, and which leave many things which it would 
 be important for us to know altogether untold and 
 untouched upon. No work professing to present a 
 view of their domestic and social usages, their pop- 
 ular pastimes and su{)erstitions, the accommodations 
 of their dwelling-houses, their dress, and their mode 
 'if living in general, has been bequeathed to us by our 
 Saxon ancestors. We are left to gather what hints 
 we can respecting all these matters from records 
 drawn up with no view of affording us any such in- 
 struction — from their chronicles of transactions in 
 church and state, from their laws, from their works 
 of science and learning, from their homilies, from 
 their almanacs, from their wills, their grants of land, 
 their leases, and other charters and legal documents. 
 But perhaps the richest of all our now remaining 
 sources of information respecting all the minor de- 
 tails of the social condition of the Anglo-Saxons has 
 been furnished us by what we may call their na- 
 tional illumination. The drawings on their manu- 
 scripts, originally intended merely for embellish- 
 ment, and still in a high degree interesting and 
 estimable as works of art, have now acquired a new 
 value, as preserving distinct representations of 
 many things of which no intelligible verbal descrip- 
 tion has come down to us, and of some of which 
 perhaps the very memory would otherwise have 
 been lost. Of the industrious arts, as well as of the 
 popular customs of this period, the fullest and 
 clearest record that has been transmitted to us is 
 literally a pictorial history. In the present chap- 
 ter, as in that upon the National Industry, we shall 
 draw liberally from this source, both in the illustra- 
 tions and in the text.' 
 
 1 It is proper to state, that although some of the ancient drawings 
 presented in the present work have been before c'>graved in Strutt's 
 
 Having already given an account of the houses of 
 the Anglo-Saxons, in so far as regards their archi- 
 tecture, we shall now proceed to describe their 
 furniture as far as our materials enable us. The 
 dwellings of the higher classes appear to have been 
 completely and sometimes splendidly furnished: 
 their walls were hung with silk richly embroidered 
 with gold or colors. The needle-work, for which 
 the English ladies were so famous, was herein dis- 
 played to great advantage. Ingulj)hus mentions 
 some hangings ornamented with golden birds in 
 needlework, and a veil or curtain on which was 
 represented in embroidery the destruction of Troy. 
 In the Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf we read that 
 in " the great wine-chamber" — 
 
 " There, shone variolated with gold 
 The web on the walls. 
 Many wonders to the sight 
 Of each of the warriors 
 That would gaze on it became visible." 
 
 The Saxon term for a curtain or hanging was wah- 
 rift ; and, in the will of Wynflccda, we find tho 
 bequest of a long heall icaJtrift and a short one. 
 The same lady also bequeaths three coverings for 
 benches or settles (seU-Jirtpffl)- Pedalia, or foot- 
 stools, are mentioned by Ingulphus, the larger ones 
 covered with woven lions, and the smaller sprinkled 
 with flowers. A common form of the Saxon chair 
 or bench, as may be seen from several cuts already 
 given, appears to have somewhat resembled that of 
 our modern camp-stool, consisting of a seat held in 
 tension by two or more crossing bars. Chairs, how- 
 
 I 
 
 Chairs. From Cotton MS. Claud. B. 4. 
 
 II irda Angel-Cyniian, Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities, ChronicU 
 of England, &c., and in other expensive publications, the rej rnsonta- 
 tions here given have, with few exceptions, been traced or otherwise 
 copied from the originals, and with scrupuloos fidelity.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 311 
 
 9-.-.^ 
 
 .m- 
 
 Chairs. From Uarleinn MS. No. GO:t. 
 
 An Elevated and Richly Ornamented Se.vt. From Cotton MS. Tiberius, B. 5. 
 
 ever, or seats with backs to them, are occasionally 
 met with in Saxon illuminations, and, as well as the 
 benches and stools of various descriptions, are gen- 
 erally ornamented at their extremities with the 
 
 heads and feet of lions, eagles, griffins, (fee. These 
 were commonly formed of wood, and carved, but 
 occasionally of gold and silver, or were at least 
 highly ornamented with those precious metals. 
 
 Saxon Taiiles, From Unrleian MS. No. 60.1.
 
 312 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Their tables were sometimes made of the same 
 costly materials. In the reign of Edgar a table is 
 said to have been made of silver, by an artist named 
 yEthelwold, which was of the value of 300/.' In the 
 illuminated MSS. we perceive tables, both oblong 
 and oval, covered with table-cloths, and furnished 
 with knives, spoons, drinking-horns and cups, bowls 
 and dishes, but no forks. That they had gold and 
 silver plate in abundance, and of the most costly 
 description, we have ample evidence in the wills of 
 AVynfloeda, Wulfur, and Brithric, and similar docu- 
 ments. Wulfur bequeaths four cups, two of which 
 are described as of 4L value.* A lady on one occa- 
 sion makes a gift of a golden cup weighing four 
 marks and a half ;^ and the King of Kent sent to 
 Boniface, the Anglo-Saxon missionary in Germany, 
 a silver basin, gilt within, weighing three pounds 
 and a half.'' Two silver cups, weighing twelve 
 marks, are mentioned as used by the monks in a 
 refectory to serve their drink.® A king in the ninth 
 century is recorded to have made a present of his 
 gilt cnp, engraved on the outside with vine-dressers 
 fighting dragons, which he called his cross-bowl, 
 because it had a cross marked within it and four 
 angles projecting like a similar figure f and in other 
 places we read of golden and silver dishes, and a 
 dish adorned with Grecian workmanship.^ Those 
 of the commonalty were of brass, of wood, of horn, 
 and of bone. Cups and dishes of horn were for- 
 bidden to be used in the sacred offices.® But drink- 
 ing-horns were much used at table, and some of 
 them were richly carved and ornamented. Witlaf, 
 King of Mercia, gave the horn of his table to Croy- 
 iand monastery, " that the elder monks might drink 
 thereout on festivals, and in their benedictions re- 
 member sometimes the soul of the donor."^ 
 
 The delivery of a drinking-horn, at least under 
 the Danish kings, was a mode of conveying landed 
 property. The estate of Pusey, in Berkshire, is 
 atill held by the possession of a horn, by the de- 
 livery of which it was granted by Canute to an 
 officer of his army, who, according to tradition, had 
 made his way in disguise into the camp of the 
 Saxon enemy, and there obtained information of a 
 plot laid to surprise the Danes. The Pusey horn 
 was most probably the drinking-horn of Canute. 
 It is an ox horn, of a dark brown color, about two 
 feet in length, and a foot in circumference at the 
 rim. At the small end is a hound's head of silver 
 gilt, made to screw in as a stopper ; and, by taking 
 <mt this, it might be made to serve as a hunting- 
 horn, a use of it which appears to be indicated by 
 two rings, one at the mouth and another at the 
 middle, with which it is furnished, as if for a strap 
 or belt to go through. Upon a broad silver ring, 
 encompassing the middle of the horn, and by which 
 
 2 Hickes, Diss. Ep. 54. 
 
 * Mag. Bib. Pat. xvi. p. 64. 
 
 6 Ingulph. p. 9. 
 
 1 Dugdale's Monasticon, 104. 
 
 ' Dugdale's Mon. p. 240. 
 
 * Gale, Scriptores, iii., 406. 
 
 7 Dugdale's Mon. 21, 40, 123. 
 
 9 Spelman's Concil. 295, and in the Exhortations of Elfric it is said 
 that " the sacramental cup should be of gold or silver, glass or tin, 
 and not of earth, at least not of wood."— Wilkins, Leg. 169. So also 
 in the Canons of Edgar. "The cup was to be of something molten, 
 not of wood." — Ibid. 85. 
 
 9 Ingulph. p. 9. 
 
 it is supported on a stand, is the following inscrip- 
 tion, which, however, is comparatively modern : — 
 
 " Kyng Knowde geve Wyllyam Pewse 
 This home to holde by thy lond."' 
 
 The Pusey-IIorn. From the Archa-ologia, vol. i 
 
 Fac-simile of the Inscription on the PuseyIIorn. 
 
 Glass vessels were rarities in the early periods, 
 but became more common towards the Norman 
 Conquest. A disciple of Bede inquired of Lullus, 
 in France, if there were any man in his parish who 
 could make glass vessels well ; and desired in such 
 case that he might be persuaded to go to England, 
 as its people were " ignorant and helpless in the 
 art."* Bede, however, mentions glass lamps and 
 vessels for many uses.* 
 
 They had silver candelabra and candlesticks of 
 various descriptions.'' Lanterns of horn, as already 
 mentioned, were also used. A silver mirror is 
 mentioned in Dugdale, and hand-bells were used 
 to summon the attendants.* 
 
 In an illuminated MS. we have a representation 
 of an Anglo-Saxon bedstead. It has a roof hke 
 that of a house to it, and is furnished with curtains, 
 pillow, &c. In the Anglo-Saxon poem of Judith 
 the bed of Holofernes is described as hung with a 
 " golden fly-net." In various wills we read of beds, 
 pillows of straw, bed-clothes, curtains, sheets, &c.* 
 Skins of animals were sometimes used as coverhds. 
 A goat-skin bed-covering is mentioned as presented 
 to an Anglo-Saxon abbot.^ The terms specking 
 (sacking) and lang bolster also occur in Saxon works. 
 In the poem of Beowulf we are told that when the 
 evening came on, the tables were taken away, and 
 the place was spread with beds and bolsters, by 
 which it would appear that the warriors slept in 
 the same halls in which they had feasted. " The 
 beer-servants," continues the bard 
 
 " Speedy and joyful, 
 Prepared the chamber of rest. 
 
 t See Archaeologia, iii. 1, and xii. 397. - Mag. Bib. Pat. xvi. 88. 
 3 Bede, p. 295. * Dugdale's Mon. 40, 221. ' Mon. 24, 221 
 
 « Hiokcs, Diss. Ep. 54. ' 16 Mag. Bib. Pat. ivi. 45.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 313 
 
 Saxon Bed. From Ihe Cotton MS. Claud. B. 4 
 
 They fixed over their heads 
 
 The shields of Hilda, 
 
 The boards of bright wood. 
 
 There, high over the Etheling on his bench, 
 
 The helmet of the noble one was seen, 
 
 His ringed coat of mail, 
 
 His glorious wood of strength" (t. e. his spear). 
 
 Thus, whether seated at the banquet-board or 
 stretched on his couch, the arms of the warrior 
 
 ornamented the wall above his head, ready to be 
 grasped at the first alarm.' 
 
 Not to enter a warm bath or a soft bed was en- 
 joined by what they called their deep-like or severe 
 
 1 His coverlid was frequently nothing but his cloalt, for Charle- 
 magne deriding the short cloaks then in fashion, remarks, amongst 
 other things, We cannot be covered by them in bed.''-Monk of Si 
 Gall. 
 
 Saxon Beds. From the Harleian MS. No. 603. 
 
 Whki:!, Bed. From the Cotton MS. Claud B. 4. 
 
 penance.' For culinary purposes they possessed 
 boiling vessels,^ and ovens for baking meat and bread. 
 In one of the manuscripts is an illumination, repre- 
 senting men killing and dressing meat. One of 
 them lias put a stick, with a hook at the end, into a 
 cauldron which stands upon a four-legged trivet, 
 within which the fire is made. In the same MS..' 
 also, we perceive that the roast meats are brought 
 up to table by the servants upon the spits, the guest.* 
 cutting off such portions as pleased them. This 
 continued to be a custom amongst the Normans, as 
 we find by the Bayeux Tapestry, 
 
 ■ Leges Edgari. Wilkins, p. 94. 
 
 2 These were of leather, and made by the seeo-wyrtha or shoe 
 maker. Saxon Dialogues in Cotton MS. Tib. A. 3.
 
 314 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Not one of the least important parts of the his- 
 tory of manners and of civilization is the history of 
 costume. The dress of a people Js always in some 
 degree an indication of the progress they have made 
 in wealth as well as in taste, and in the useful as 
 well as in the merely elegant arts. Nor can we 
 call up in imagination any lively picture of a past 
 age without a knowledge of its prevailing forms of 
 attire, and of the distinctions in this respect that 
 "larked the different classes of the community. An 
 
 ing perfectly into a feeling of the spirit of the period 
 and of the condition of society in regard to matters 
 in themselves of much more consequence ; and false 
 notions here may falsify our conceptions as to many 
 other things. 
 
 The history of British costume properly com- 
 mences with the Anglo-Saxon period. Wo have 
 no pictorial authority for the costume of the Anglo- 
 Saxons earlier than the eighth century ; but Paulus 
 Diaconus, who wrote during the latter half of that 
 
 ignorance of this subject will prevent us from enter- century a history of the Lombards, describes 
 
 >^^ — .y 
 
 Royal Costume. From a Picture of Harold and the Magi in tJHiXoHon MS. Nero, C. 4. 
 
 KoYM Costume, and tiik FIarnbss and Eqcipmint of Horses. From n Picture of the Magi, leaving the Court of Harold, i.- ihc 
 
 Cjtlon MS. Ner.), C. 4.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 J15 
 
 painting of the sixth century which he had seen in 
 the palace of Theodelinda, Queen of the Lombards, 
 in Italy, said to be painted by her command, and 
 representing some of the exploits of her country- 
 men, whose dress the historian expressly states to 
 have been the same as that of the Anglo-Saxons. 
 " Their garments," he tells us, " were loose and 
 flowing, and chiefly made of linen, adorned with 
 broad borders, woven or embroidered with various 
 colors." His description perfectly agrees with 
 Eginhart's elaborate account of the costume of 
 Charlemagne, and also with the dresses depicted in 
 the illuminated MSS. of the eighth and ninth cen- 
 turies ; and that they continued to wear some an- 
 cient habits at that period is tolerably evident from 
 the reproach addressed to them by the council of 
 Cealchyth in a.d. 787 : " You put on your garments 
 in the manner of pagans, whom your fathers ex- 
 pelled from the world ; an astonishing thing that 
 you imitate those whose life you always hated." 
 From the eighth to the tenth century we have, 
 however, abundant authority for the civil, military, 
 and ecclesiastical costume of the Anglo-Saxons, 
 both in the notices of the writers of the time, and 
 especially in the numerous miniatures with which 
 the MSS. are ornamented. From their concurring 
 evidence we find that the undermost part of the 
 male attire consisted of a linen shirt, above which 
 they wore a tunic of linen or woolen, according to 
 the season, descending to the knee, and plain or 
 ornamented round the collar and borders, according 
 to the rank of the wearer. It was open at the 
 neck, and sometimes at the sides, and had long 
 sleeves reaching to the wrists, sometimes tight, at 
 others, set in close rolls or wrinkles from the wrist 
 to the elbow. It was generally confined by a girdle 
 or belt round the waist. Its Saxon name was roc 
 or rooc. Over this was worn a short cloak (mentil), 
 fastened sometimes on the breast and sometimes 
 on the shoulder, with brooches or fibulae. Linen 
 drawers, and stockings (called brech-hose) of linen 
 
 Ornamented Tunic. From Cotton MS. Claud. B. 4. 
 
 or woolen, the latter frequently bandaged from the 
 ankle to the knee with sti'ips of cloth, linen, or 
 leather, were worn bj^ the better orders, and shoes 
 of some description by all, as even the common la- 
 borers, who are generally depicted bare-legged, are 
 rarely seen bare-footed.^ The Saxon shoe {sceo or 
 scoh) is generally painted black, and drawn with an 
 opening down the instep, secured by two thongs.' 
 They also wore a sort of short boot or buskin ; and 
 a half-stocking or sock (probably what they called 
 socca) is sometimes seen worn over the hose instead 
 of the bandages.' 
 
 The practice of bandaging or cross-gartering IJi.'. 
 hose was followed by the Franks, whose costum*?, 
 as well as that of the Lombards, was very similar 
 to that of the Saxons. The Monk of St. Gall says, 
 
 1 To go barfifooted was a penitentiary injunction. Upon the land- 
 ing of one of the great Danish armies, a general penance for three 
 days was ordered, and every man commanded to go "barefoot ti> 
 church, without gold and ornaments." MS. C C Cantab, apud 
 Wanley, p. 138. 
 
 2 In the Life of St. Neot he is said to have lost his scoh (shoe), 
 and to have seen a fox having the " thwanges" of it in his mouth. 
 Gotten MS. Vespasian, D. xiv. p. 144. 
 
 3 Soccas and hosan are mentioned in St. Benedict's rules, Cotton MS. 
 Tib. A. 3 ; also two other coverings for the legs and feet called meon 
 and fiand reaf fota, and the earra slife for the upper part of the body. 
 
 Saton Cio^K'-, Piain and EvBRoiEEitrD Tfvics. \NP ?rnEs. From Cotton JIS. ClnuJ. B. 4.
 
 316 
 
 HISTORY OF ExNGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 that " over their stockings or drawers they wore 
 Allets bound crosswise in such a manner as to keep 
 them properly upon the legs." Such bandaged hose 
 were worn as late as the sixteenth century by the 
 butchers in France, and called les lingettes.^ The 
 Saxon name appears to have been scancheorg, 
 literally shank or leg guard. A similar fashion 
 etill exists among the people of the Abruzzi and 
 the Apennines, and in some parts of Russia and 
 Spain. The bandages are sometimes depicted as 
 gilt on the legs of regal personages, as are also the 
 shoes and buskins of princes or high ecclesiastical 
 dignitaries. Theganus, in his Life of Louis le 
 Debonnaire, son of Charlemagne, describes his 
 buskins as being of gold stuft' or gilt (ocreas aureas). 
 The hose are commonly represented either red 
 or blue. Coverings for the head are rarely seen 
 except upon the figures of wairiors. The cap, 
 therefore, seems to have been the helmet, and its 
 shape is either conical or of the ancient Phrygian 
 description. Indeed, the whole of the Anglo- 
 Saxon costume, whether civil or military, curiously 
 resembles the Phrygian. Silk, which was known 
 as early as the eighth century, and purple cloth, 
 formed the mantles of sovereigns and princes ; and 
 golden tissues, and embroideries in gold, silver, and 
 silks of various colors, were also worn from the 
 eighth to the tenth century by pei'sons of high 
 rank." Furs were also used for the lining and 
 ornamenting of garments. Those of sable, beaver, 
 and fox, by the richer classes, and the skins of cats 
 and lambs by the poorer or more economical. The 
 ornaments of the male sex consisted of bracelets, 
 brooches, and fibulae of gold, silver, and ivory ; 
 chains, crosses, and rings of gold and silver, some- 
 times beautifully enameled ; belts of gold and silver 
 studded with jewels, and headbands or diadems of 
 the same magnificence. The hair, when worn 
 long, was parted on the forehead, and suffered 
 to fall naturally down the shoulders. The beard 
 
 1 Archaeolog;ia, xxiv. 37. 
 
 2 Bede, p. 297. Ingulph, p. 61. Dugdale's Mon. 5M. 
 
 RiNGBD Mail. Cotton M?. Claud. B. 4. 
 
 was ample, and generally forked. The fulmina- 
 tions of the clergj- against long hair may be sup- 
 posed occasionally to have produced some effect for 
 a short period, as we find in some illuminations 
 the hair cropped and the face shaven.' The old 
 Teutonic passion for long, flowing ringlets, how- 
 ever, was never totally eradicated. The barbaric 
 custom of tatooing, or puncturing the skin, was 
 practiced by the Anglo-Saxons as well as by the 
 Britons, and a law was passed against it a.d. 785 ; 
 but it was nevertheless continued during the whole 
 of the Anglo-Saxon period, and is amongst the 
 English vices reprobated by William of Malmesbury 
 after the Norman Conquest. 
 
 Costume of Female, exhibiting the Under and Upper Sleeved 
 Tunic, the Mantle, and Hood. From Harleian MS. No. 2908. 
 
 The female costume of thife period appears to 
 have consisted generally of a long and ample gar- 
 ment with loose sleeves (probably that called the 
 gunna or gown),* worn over a closer-fitting one 
 (either the tunic or the Jcirtle),^ which had tight 
 sleeves reaching to the wrist, shoes similar to those 
 worn by the male sex, and a head-dress formed of 
 a veil or long piece of linen or silk wrapped round 
 the head and neck, called in Saxon heafodes roegel 
 (head-rail), or wcefles, derived from wcefan, "to 
 cover.^^ The mantle also formed part of the dress 
 of the superior classes, and in some of the illumi- 
 nations it resembles the ecclesiastical vestment 
 called a chasuble. We may presume that the 
 socca or some other sort of hose was worn by the 
 women as well as by the men ; but the length of 
 the tunic prevents our observing them in the illu- 
 minations. Notwithstanding the universal appear- 
 ance of the head-rail, we find that the Anglo-Saxon 
 ladies paid great attention to the dressing and or- 
 namenting of their hair. Adhelm describes the 
 
 1 In the fourth century, we are told they cut their hair so close that 
 the head appeared diminished and the face enlarged. Sid. Apollinarius. 
 
 2 A Bishop of Winchester sends as a present, " a short gunna, 
 sewed in our manner." Mag. Bib. Pat. xvi. &2. But that it was the 
 exterior garment that was so called is evident from another passage 
 in the same work, where a gunna is stated to hare been composed of 
 otter's skin, p. 88. In Scotland an upper garment worn by women, 
 which comes down only to the middle, is still called a short-gown 
 (with a strong emphasis on the first syllable). 
 
 3 Will of Wynfleed. Vide Preface to Hickes" Anglo-Saxon Gram- 
 mar, p. 22.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 317 
 
 twisted locks of a lady as being delicately curled 
 by the iron of those adorning her ; and Judith, in 
 the Anglo-Saxon poem so called, is apostrophized 
 as the " maid of the Creator, with twisted locks." 
 Adhelm also describes the wife as loving to paint 
 her cheeks with the red color of stibium. 
 
 Canute and his Queev. From llie Re?ister of Hyde Abbey. 
 Engraved in Striitt's Horda Angel Cynan. 
 
 Cuffs and ribands (ctiffian and hindan) are men- 
 tioned in the will of an Anglo-Saxon lady, and an 
 engraved teah or bracelet. In other Anglo-Saxon 
 documents mention is made of a golden fly beau- 
 tifully adorned with gems, of golden vermiculated 
 necklaces, of a bulla that had belonged to the grand- 
 mother of the lady spoken of, golden head-bands, 
 ear-rings, a neck cross, and of golden ornaments 
 called sylas. 
 
 Gloves appear to have been very rare amongst 
 the Anglo-Saxons. In one illumination only have 
 we seen the hand covered except by the sleeve of 
 the gown or tunic, and in that instance it is by a 
 species of muffler, having a thumb, but no separate 
 fingers. Amongst the representations of male 
 figures they are never met with ; but from a law of 
 Ethelred the Unready, quoted in a preceding chap- 
 ter, it may be inferred that, at the close of the 
 tenth or beginning of the eleventh century, they 
 were gi'eat rarities — five pair forming a considera- 
 ble part of the duty paid by a society of German 
 merchants for the protection of their trade. 
 
 Of the royal costume among the Anglo-Saxons 
 perhaps the most distinct representation to be found 
 is that furnished by the drawing in one of the 
 manuscripts, of King Edgar seated on his throne. 
 To this we may add some representations of the 
 costume and ornaments of the ecclesiastical order. 
 
 The military costume of the Anglo-Saxons on 
 their first appearance in Britain is exceedingly un- 
 certain. The Welsh bard Aneurin, who flourished 
 in the sixth century, and fought in person against 
 
 Kino Edgar. From the Cotton MS. Tib. A. 3. 
 
 St. Auoustin. From Royal MS. 10. A. 13.
 
 IIS 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 rurRiD, King i>r Nortih mberiand, and an Ecclesiastical Synod 
 
 OFfEHING THE BISHOPRIC OF HeXHAM TO St. ClTUBERT. 
 
 MS. Life of Bede, a. a 1200. 
 
 Bif nor AND Priest. From Cotton MS. Claud. B 4. 
 
 Ptatce or St. Cutiibert. From one ot' the external Canopies of the Middle Tower of Durham Cathedral.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 319 
 
 Golden Cross. Wnrn by St. Cuthbert, and found on his body at the 
 opening of his Tomb in 18-.J7. 
 
 the invaders, describes them as being armed with 
 ••daggers, white- sheathed piercers, spears, and 
 shields, the latter being made of spht wood, and 
 four-pointed or square hehnets." He says " their 
 leader was armed in scaly mail, carrying a project- 
 ing shield, a slaughtering pike, and wore (as a 
 mantle perhaps) the skin of a beast." His men- 
 tion of the square or four-pointed helmet is a cir- 
 cumstance which goes to confirm the credit of his 
 iian"ation, as that singular head-piece is to be seen 
 both in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon illuminations.^ 
 The Saxons who invaded Thuringia in the same 
 century are described by Wittichind as leaning on 
 small shields, bearing long lances, and wearing 
 
 Costume of a Soldier. From Cotton MS. Tib. C.6. 
 
 great knives or crooked swords by their sides. 
 But Wittichind wrote at the close of the tenth 
 century, and Mr. Sharon Turner, who quotes this 
 
 J 1 The regal diadem of the Franks and Anglo-Saxons is also ocra- 
 I sionally depicted quadrangular. Vide Plates in Strutt and Mont- 
 ! faucon, Mon. Franc. 
 
 passage, remarks, in another part of his work, that 
 Wittichind, though a Saxon himself, appears to 
 have been completely ignorant of Saxon antiquities.' 
 Alcuin and Adhelm, both writers of the eighth 
 century, are the first who afford us any authority 
 on which we may rely for the military dress of the 
 Anglo-Saxons. The former tells us that the short 
 linen tunic was preferred to all other vestments as 
 the one in which they could most freely wield their 
 weapons ; and from the composition by the latter, 
 entitled his Enigma, we find that some description 
 of metal armor, if not the gehringed hyrne, or 
 tunic of iron rings, derived from the East, and 
 Latinized (indiscriminately with other armor) loricu, 
 was known at the sam« period. '• I was produced," 
 runs the Enigma, "in the cold bowels of the dewy 
 earth, and not made from the rough fleeces ol" 
 wool : no woofs drew me, nor at my birth did tin- 
 tremulous threads resound : the yellow down of the 
 silkworms formed me not; I passed not through 
 the shuttle, neither was I stricken with the wool- 
 comb ; yet, strange to say, in common discourse, I 
 am called a garment, I fear not the darts taken 
 from the long quivers." This testimony is in favor 
 of the descriptions of Aneurin, who speaks ot 
 " loricated bands" and " scaly mail." The latter, 
 the lorica squamata, which the Romans derived 
 from the Sarraatians, and which was known to and 
 worn by so many nations of the East, may very 
 probably be supposed to have been worn by the 
 leaders of the Saxon host. The scales or rings 
 were sewn in rows upon an under garment of linen 
 or leather. Phiygian warriors are often depicted 
 so arranged ; and Pausanias describes a Sarmatian 
 lorica, with the scales made of thin shces of horses" 
 hoofs, which he saw and inspected in the Temple 
 of Esculapius at Athens." The improvement of 
 connecting the rings one with the other, so as to 
 make a tunic of them, independent of their leather 
 or linen foundation, is ascribed by most antiquarie^- 
 to a period as late as the reign of Edward I. There 
 are some expressions, however, that occur in an 
 Anglo-Saxon poem of the tenth century, which 
 seem to prove that such defences were then in 
 use; and the ''■lorica" of Adhelm being called u 
 garment at the same time that he expressly denies 
 the assistance of wool, linen, or silk in its compo- 
 sition, would lead to the inference that it was a 
 vestment complete in itself, which could only arise 
 from its being formed of linked rings, or scales or 
 plates of metal riveted one to the other. The 
 expressions alluded to are such as 
 
 " Their battle-niail shone 
 
 By hard hands well locked. 
 
 The shining iron rings 
 
 Sung against their weapons, 
 
 When they to the palace 
 
 In their formidable apparel were delighted to go." 
 
 ***** 
 " Beownlf addressed him ; 
 
 The mail shone upon him ; 
 
 The heavy net mas linked 
 
 By the smith's care." ^ 
 
 1 Hist. Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. p. 236. 
 
 2 Lib. i. p. 50, Edit. Kuhn. The Sarmatians are also represented 
 with such coats of mail on the Trajan Column. 
 
 3 Poem of Beowulf. Turner's Trans. Hist. Anglo-Saxons, iii. 335-d.
 
 320 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 The " locking and linking of iron rings" by " hard 
 hands," or " the smith's care," and the mail form- 
 ing " a heavy net," are phrases which may autho- 
 rize us to beUeve that the gehringed hyrne of the 
 Saxon was occasionally, and at least as early as the 
 tenth century, nearly the same as the hauberk of 
 single-chain mail of the thirteenth. 
 
 Be this, however, as it may, the chiefs only could 
 aflbrd so expensive an equipment. The linen tunic 
 was the general garb of the Anglo-Saxon soldiery, 
 to which was occasionally added a border or collar 
 
 of metal, as a thorax or pectoral, as we find it 
 alluded to by the term of breost-beden, or breosl- 
 beorg, literally, breast-defence, or breast-guard. 
 The helmet, originally of the Phrygian shape, wna 
 made of leather, sometimes bound or bordered with 
 metal. It had sometimes a serrated comb or crest, 
 called by their writers carnb on hette, or camb oh 
 helme. In the tenth century we find the helmet 
 becoming conical, and approaching to the form of 
 the nasal helmet of the eleventh. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon shield appears to have been 
 
 Battle Scene. From the Cotton MS. Claud. B. J. 
 
 oval and convex, with an iron umbo or boss. The 
 shields appear in the illuminations painted with 
 red and blue borders, but the ground and centre 
 generally white. Aneurin describes them as being 
 made of split wood ; and in the Anglo-Saxon poem 
 of Beowulf they are called 
 
 "The shields of Hilda, 
 The boards of bright wood." 
 
 They were sometimes covered with leather, but, 
 according to one of the Saxon laws, no shield- 
 maker was allowed to put a sheep-skin over a 
 shield.' The rim and the boss were of iron, 
 either painted or gilt. They were held at arm's 
 length in action, hke those of the Britons, and were 
 sometimes large enough to cover nearly the whole 
 body ; but their sizes are various in the illumina- 
 tions ; and we also read of " little shields," '» lesser 
 shields," and of " the targan," or " target."* 
 
 The offensive weapons were all formed of iron. 
 Their swords were long, broad, and double-edged, 
 their javelins and spears sometimes barbed, some- 
 times leaf-shaped. They fought also with axes 
 fixed to long handles, called bills, and the double 
 axe or bipennis, called twy-byl. To these some 
 authorities add the alle-barde or cleave-all. The 
 specimens of Anglo-Saxon weapons here engraved 
 are in the collection of Sir S. Meyrick, at Good- 
 rich Court, and were found in one of the tumuli 
 called Chapel Tumps, near Pengethley, county of 
 Hereford. No. 1 is the head of a javeHn. Nos. 
 2 and 3 are spear-heads. No. 4, the blade of a 
 bill or alle-barde. No. 5, Sir S. Meyrick con- 
 siders to be a specimen of the often-talked of seax, 
 
 » Wilkins, Leg-. Saxon, p. 59. 
 
 a Will of Ethelstan, son of Ethelred II., dated 1015. 
 
 the curved sword or dagger, from which tradition 
 says the Saxons derived their name, and with 
 which the famous massacre of the Britons is said 
 to have been perpetrated. That the seax was not 
 a curved sword or dagger, however, is pretty 
 evident from the testimony of Bede, who, in his 
 relation of the attempted assassination of Edwin by 
 an emissary of Cwichelm, King of Wessex, a.d. 
 625, tells us that the twi-eced (double-edged) seax 
 of the ruffian passed through the body of Lilla, the 
 king's thegn, who had flung himself before Edwin, 
 and slightly wounded the king himself.' Such a 
 
 » Bede, lib. ii. c. 9. 
 
 \ 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Weapons.
 
 Chap. V^I.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 321: 
 
 Anglo-Saxon Weapons. 
 
 blow could never surely be struck by a curved 
 weapon. It Avas evidently a thrust ; and if the 
 weapon here engraved be indeed the hand-seax of 
 the Saxons, it will be observed that it can scarcely 
 be called curved, the hilt only taking an inclination 
 like the but-end of a pistol. Wittichind is the only 
 authority who speaks of a crooked sword ; and if 
 he is to be I'ehed upon, the Saxons must certainly 
 have abandoned it very shortly after their arrival in 
 Britain, if not before,^ as the swords discovered in 
 Saxon tumuli are long, broad, and straight, corres- 
 ponding exactly with those depicted in all the 
 illuminations from the eighth to the eleventh century. 
 And as to the term seax meaning a weapon of any 
 particular shape, the proofs are all to the contrary. 
 The word is used to express any sharp instrument, 
 whether a sword, a dagger, a knife, or a lancet, the 
 latter being called ceder-seax, or vein-knife. 
 
 The spur worn by the Anglo-Saxon horsemen 
 appears to have been the goad, or pryck-spur, and 
 to have been fastened with leathers nearly as at 
 present. 
 
 The costume of the Danes during the ninth and 
 tenth centuries appears from the few authorities 
 we possess, to have generally resembled that of the 
 Saxons of the same period. A few national pecu- 
 liarities alone distinguished them from their Anglian 
 brethren. 
 
 Arnold of Lubeck describes the whole Danish 
 nation as originally wearing the garments of sailors, 
 as befitted' men who lived by piracy and inhabited 
 the sea ; but in process of time, he says, they became 
 wearers of scarlet, purple, and fine linen. On their 
 
 ' The curved or crooked sword is, in our opinion, the weapon of 
 the third great stream of population which flowed westward — 
 namely, the Sclaronic, and not of the second or Teutonic race, from 
 whence the Saxons were derived. Thus we find the sabre in the 
 hands of the Pole, the Hungarian, the Bohemian, and all the Scla- 
 vonic nations ; and the still more recent Turk present* us with the 
 cimitar. 
 
 VOL. I. — 21 
 
 establishment in England, we find them described 
 as effeminately gay in their dress, combing their 
 hair once a day, bathing once a week, and often 
 changing their attire ; by which means they pleased 
 the eyes of the women, and frequently seduced the 
 wives and daughters of the nobility.' 
 
 Long hair with them, as with the Saxons, was 
 considered amongst their greatest ornaments. 
 Harold Harfagi-e, i. e., Fair Locks, received that 
 appellation from the length and beauty of his hair, 
 which is said to have flowed in thick ringlets to his 
 girdle, and to have been like golden or silken threads. 
 The Knyghtlinga Saga describes Canute's hau- as 
 profuse. The portrait of this monarch, which has 
 been given in a preceding page, from the MS. 
 register of Hyde Abbey, written during his reign, 
 exhibits him in the customary regal Saxon costume. 
 The only novelty observable is, the fastening the 
 mantle by cords and tassels in lieu of a fibula or a 
 ring. The Danes wore the same description of 
 ornaments, but were particularly paitial to their 
 massive golden bracelets, which were always buried 
 with them.^ 
 
 The military dress of the Danes of the tenth 
 and eleventh centuries was apparently the same as 
 that of the Normans. Both were more heavily 
 armed than the Anglo-Saxons. But the latter 
 speedily adopted the superior defences of their in- 
 vaders and conquerors ; and at the commencement 
 of the eleventh century, the conical helmet of iron 
 with its nasal, or nose-guard, called nef biorg, and 
 the long tunic covered with iron rings or mascles, 
 and furnished with a hood, as an additional protec- 
 tion to the head and neck, are found worn in com- 
 mon by the three nations. 
 
 The Danish shields were generally painted red; 
 and one of a lunated form, like the Amazonian 
 pelta, was used by those who fought with the 
 Danish axe — a weapon for the use of which they 
 had acquired a terrible celebrity. The Danes 
 were taught " to shoot well with the bow ;" a 
 weapon which the Anglo-Saxons are said to have 
 neglected. 
 
 The task of investigating the social usages of the 
 Anglo-Saxons cannot be completed in a very satis- 
 factory manner. But though it may be impossible 
 to give a distinct picture of every department of 
 Anglo-Saxon life, a tolerably correct delineation 
 may be made of some of its principal features. 
 The labors of the husbandman varied only with the 
 seasons, and the state of the useful arts admitted 
 but of few subdivisions, so that there would be a 
 great degree of uniformity in all the active and 
 industrial operations of the communitj'. Each large 
 landowner divided the employment of his serfs in 
 such a manner that they should be enabled to 
 supply all his necessities. A large retinue, as in 
 every rude age, was considered a mark of wealth 
 and consequence. Labor was employed in a much 
 less economical manner than in a period of greater 
 civilization, and there being a small amount of free 
 men practicing the various handicrafts and most 
 
 ' .]. Wallingford. apud Gale. 
 
 - Bartholiaus.— Johannes Tinmuth
 
 322 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 necessary employments, the number of servants 
 and artificers required by each occupier of a large 
 landed property could not have been otherwise 
 than crreat.' From whence could the various arti- 
 cles of daily necessity have been obtained but from 
 the serfs whom their lord had trained up for the 
 purpose? It is stated in Bede that there were 250 
 slaves on some land which was given to Wilfrid by 
 the king. The isolating tendency of this state of 
 society was, however, gradually counteracted by 
 the practice of manumitting sl.aves, chiefly from 
 religious motives. Men of landed property often 
 rewarded their serfs with grants of land when they 
 had been particularly faithful, or had excelled in 
 the arts to which they had been brought up. From 
 these elements arose a free population, whose ex- 
 istence rendered the services of a population in a 
 state of slavery gradually less advantageous. 
 
 The higher classes were called upon to perform 
 a number of duties which the Anglo-Saxon institu- 
 tions attached to their station. The great festivals 
 of the church, the royal courts, which were held 
 at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, the county 
 courts, the hundred courts, were all occasions on 
 which they were called upon to take an active part 
 in public life. The clergy had a variety of duties 
 to perform. They were the best practical agri- 
 culturists, the most skilful architects, and were, 
 besides, acquainted with many of the common 
 handicrafts. 
 
 The accounts which we possess of domestic 
 usages at this period are few and brief. The hours 
 of rising amongst a country population are in- 
 variably early. The ploughman, the shepherd, the 
 swineherd, would be at their labors by the earliest 
 dawn. It is not improbable that a short time was 
 devoted during the middle of the day to a siesta. 
 In the monasteries this was the case, and indeed 
 was rendered almost necessary by the services per- 
 formed " before-day," and again at the dawn of 
 day. At mid-day the monks took a meal and slept, 
 and again rose and went through the remaining 
 services. In the sixteenth century, as we learn 
 from Tusser. the laborers in husbandry enjoyed a 
 similar i-elaxation.- 
 
 Persons of substance had four meals a-day ; and 
 as flesh-meat was cheap in proportion to the price 
 of bread, there can be no doubt but that it consti- 
 tuted a large portion of the food of all classes. 
 At the commencement of the eighth century, an 
 Anglo-Saxon missionary complains tliat the priests 
 rejected animal food, which he considers as some- 
 thing like ingratitude towards God. We have a 
 strong proof of the extensive use of animal food in 
 a law of Wihtrffid, which declares that a man who 
 gave meat to his servants on fast-days was liable to 
 
 ' Charlemagne commanded his judges to provide for each of his 
 castles or royal abodes " good citizens," viz., " workmen in iron, gold 
 and silver, stone-cutters, turners, carpenters, armorers, engravers, 
 washers ; brewers skilled in making good mead, cider, and perry, and 
 all other liquors tit to be drunk ; bakers, who likewise have the art of 
 preparing millet for our use ; and all other tradesmen whom it would 
 l>e too long to enumerate.'' — Sismondi"s Fall of the Roman Empire, 
 p. 239. 
 
 " Tusser's Five Hundred Points of Good II isbandrv, p. 157, Mavor's 
 Edit. 
 
 be punished in the pillory. If the servant ate it of 
 his own accord, he was either fined or bound "to 
 sufl'er in liis hide."' It appears, therefore, that so 
 much cheaper was animal food than any other, that 
 a master was resti-ained from giving it to his ser- 
 vants, just as in many places near the sea it is still 
 not unusual for servants to bargain with their em- 
 ployers not to have fish oftener than a certain num- 
 l)er of days in each week. The food allowed on 
 fast-days consisted of milk, cheese, and eggs. As 
 to the inferior quality of butchers' meat in the An- 
 glo-Saxon times, there can be no question, as it is 
 only within the last century that it lias been much 
 improved, and the Anglo-Saxons consumed their 
 animal food in a salted state during one half of the 
 year. In one of the manuscripts* there is a draw- 
 ing representing the killing of animals, and the 
 method of preparing their flesh for the table. A 
 sheep is killed by a stroke on the neck with an axe, 
 while it is held by the horns. Another man severs 
 entirely the head of an animal with the axe. These 
 are both rude modes of butchering. The meat is 
 cooked in a cauldron which rests upon a trivet, and 
 underneath is the fire. One of the attendants has 
 a crook for the purpose of taking out the meat. 
 The use of iron rendered the process much supe- 
 rior to that which was once the practice of the 
 Scottish Highlanders, who sometimes boiled their 
 meat in wooden vessels, and efl'ected their objeft 
 by repeatedly plunging heated stones into the 
 water. 
 
 Boiling, baking, and broiling were the usual 
 modes of preparing animal food. The former was 
 perhaps the most common. The Anglo-Saxons 
 used herbs of various kinds to season their food, 
 but their principal vegetable ingredient was cole- 
 wort, which there is reason for presuming was 
 eaten with animal food. The month of February 
 was called " sprout-kele," from the plant beginning 
 to grow at this season.' There was a cook in all 
 the monasteries, but in other households the duties 
 were perfoFraed by females in a servile state. An 
 opulent lady is mentioned who bequeathed her 
 cook to one of her friends. 
 
 The ancient Saxons had been addicted to eating 
 raw flesh ; but amongst their descendants in this 
 island, one of the canons of the church directed 
 that " if a person ate anything half dressed, igno- 
 rantly, he should fast three days ; if knowingly 
 four days." The following ecclesiastical regula- 
 tions have also the same tendency as the one just 
 given : — " For eating or drinking what a cat or dog 
 has spoiled, he (the offending person) shall sing a 
 hundred psalms, or fast a day. For giving an- 
 other any liquor in which a mouse or a weasel 
 shall be found dead, a layman shall do ponance 
 for four days; a monk shall sing three hundred 
 psalms."* 
 
 Some of the drawings in the MSS. exhibit the 
 customs of the Anglo-Saxons at table. The most 
 important fact to be noticed is, that both sexes 
 
 1 Wilk. Leg. Sax. 9T. = Claud. B. iv. 
 
 3 Verstegan's Restitution of Dcciycd Intelligence, p 64. 
 * Spelman's Concilia, p. 287
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 323 
 
 were assembled on these social occasions, and this 
 alone indicates many important points relative to 
 the state of manners and civilization. Knives, 
 horns, bowls, and dishes are placed on the tables ; 
 and loaves of bread, fish, and soup or houilli, are 
 prepared for the entertainment. The tables are 
 each of them covered Avith a cloth; and in some 
 instances the cloth appears to extend over the 
 knees of the guests, as if it was intended also to 
 serve as a substitute for napkins. At one table 
 two attendants, in a kneeling attitude, offer the 
 meat on spits. But with however keen a relish 
 the Anglo-Saxons indulged in the pleasures of eat- 
 ing, they were still more addicted to the love of 
 
 Feast at a Uound Table. Bayeux Tapestry 
 
 Dinner :— the Company Pledging each other. Cotton MS. Cleopatra, C. 8. 
 
 Dinner Party .—the Servants on their Knees offering the Food on Spits. Cotton MS. Tib. C. 7. 
 
 drinking. William of Malmsbury, who wrote his 
 history httle more than a century after the Con- 
 quest, and was well acquainted with Anglo-Saxon 
 manners, states that " excessive drinking was the 
 common vice of all ranks of people, in which they 
 spent whole nights and days without intermission." 
 Hven the festival days of the chui'ch were disgraced 
 l)y intemperance ; and it may be recollected that it 
 
 was on the festival of St. Augustin, in 946, that 
 Edmund I. was murdered, a catastrophe which 
 might have been prevented but for the inebriated 
 state of the king's attendants and of the nobles 
 who were present.^ A few years after this, Edgar 
 the Peaceable endeavored to check the national 
 vice, and put an end to the disputes and quarrels 
 
 1 See p. 161.
 
 324 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 which arose from a practice which prevailed of 
 handing round the company a common drinking 
 vessel, which the guests were expected to vie with 
 each other in trying who should drain to the 
 greatest depth. He ordered that these vessels 
 should be made with knobs of brass at a certain 
 distance from each other, so that no one was com- 
 pelled to drink more at a draught than from one of 
 the knobs to another.' In the poem of Beowulf, 
 Hrothgar, one of the heroes, is invited to " a feast 
 in the hall of mead." Benches are spread in " the 
 beer-hall ;" the cup-bearer, " laden with ale," dis- 
 tributes it to those assembled, and the scop or 
 poet is introduced. At another banquet described 
 in the same poem, " there was then a number of 
 men and women who the wine-chamber of the 
 great mansion prepared." The description then 
 oroceeds as follows : — " Then were song and music 
 united ; the lay was oft narrated ; the hall-games 
 followed." The harp, as has been already noticed, 
 as well as the drinking-cup, was handed round at 
 festive meetings, and each individual was expected 
 to sing and play on the instrument in turn. Bede 
 
 > William of Malnisbury, lib. ii. c. 8. 
 
 relates that the religious poet Caedmon used always 
 to raise from table before it came to his turn to per- 
 form, that he might avoid taking part in what he 
 considered too worldly a kind of hilarity. Even at 
 their ordinary social entertainments the evenings 
 uniformly concluded with drinking. That there 
 might be no mistake as to the exact point against 
 which the prohibitions of the church on drunken- 
 ness were directed, one of the canons declared — 
 " This is drunkenness, when the state of the mind 
 is changed, the tongue stammers, the eyes are dis- 
 turbed, the head is giddy, the belly is swelled, and 
 pain follows." The general love of unrefined 
 pleasure characterized the clergy as well as the 
 laity. In Edgar's time the monasteries are de- 
 scribed as presenting scenes of gambling, dancing, 
 and singing, " even to the very middle of the 
 night."' The monks were pi-ohibited by the Coun- 
 cil of Cloveshoe from admitting poets, musicians, or 
 buffoons into the monasteries ; and a previous council 
 had endeavored to repress the love of convivial plea- 
 sures which characterized the inmates of the cloister.* 
 
 I Ethel. Ah. Riev. p. 360. Turner's Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii. p. 59., 
 3 Spelman's Concilia, 159. 
 
 Convivial Party : — the Forms of the Harp, Lute, Pipe, and Trumpet, deserve attention. Ilarleian MS. No. G03. 
 
 The mode of salutation among the Anglo-Saxons 
 appears to have been that which several of the 
 continental nations still observe ; for during penance 
 a man was forbidden to kiss another.' When a 
 titranger entered a house it was customary to bring 
 him water to wash his hands, and warm water for 
 his feet. Their habits of personal cleanliness de- 
 serve to be noted. The use of warm baths ap- 
 pears to have been general. They were held in 
 such estimation, that the deprivation of the use of 
 them was inflicted by the church as a penance. 
 Sometimes the deprivation of the warm bath was 
 joined with the prohibition of a soft bed. Cold 
 bathing, on the other hand, was imposed as a mor- 
 tification ; and, at the same time, the penitent was 
 to pay so little attention to his personal ornament or 
 comfort, that " the iron should not come to his hair 
 or nails." These penances, inflicted by the church, 
 would alone prove that the warlike spirit of the 
 ancient Saxons had greatly degenerated among 
 their descendants, and that a long course of tran- 
 (|uillity and prosperity had effected important 
 ihanges in their character. 
 
 The treatment of children offers an important 
 
 1 Leges Edga", Wilk. p 94. 
 
 illustration of national manners. The desertion of 
 children sometimes occurred among the Anglo- 
 Saxons. The practice was common among their 
 pagan ancestors ; but the influence of Christianity 
 on one of the most natural feehngs of the heart 
 soon occasioned it to be regarded as a crime, and 
 a law was passed Avhich, though not well calcu- 
 lated for its repression, shows the kindly affections 
 which were aroused in behalf of deserted children. 
 For the fostering of a foundling six shillings were 
 to be allowed for the first year ; twelve shillings for 
 the second year ; thirty shillings for the third year ; 
 and afterwards the foster-parent was to receive a 
 sum varying according to the appearance which the 
 child exhibited of having been properly ti'eated.' 
 On children being bereft of their father, they re- 
 mained imder the mother's care ; but, until the 
 eldest child became of age, were subject to the 
 guardianship of the husband's relations. From 
 their birth, imtil after the period of childhood, 
 children were under the care of females. Edgar 
 rewarded with lands the wife of an eolderman who 
 had nursed and brought him up in his childhood ; 
 and such instances of grateful feeling were not un- 
 
 ^ Laws of Ina in Wilkin's Concilia.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 32:, 
 
 common.^ Cradles were used, and women gen- 
 erally nursed their own children. 
 
 Children were baptized by immersion, within 
 thirty days after their birth.' The holy oil, how- 
 ever, was also used, as in tlie present ceremonial of 
 the Catholic church ; and the canons of Edgar 
 direct that priests should always keep oil ready for 
 baptism. The connexion established between the 
 child and those who undertook the responsibility 
 of sponsorship was much respected. The name 
 by which each sponsor was known to the other 
 and to the child was " godsib," implying that they 
 were religiously allied ; the word " sib" meaning 
 kindred.' Names were given to children while 
 yet infants, and they therefore indicate supposed 
 qualities, and not those which the bearer actually 
 possessed. Verstegan, in his admiration of our 
 Anglo-Saxon forefathers, adverts with much satis- 
 faction to the fact, that " nobleness, honor, honesty, 
 valor, peace, amity, quietness, charity, truth, loy- 
 alty, and all other virtues were in their name- 
 giving recommended." * Some of their names, in- 
 deed a large porportion, were, however, expressive 
 rather of admiration of those rough qualities which 
 are esteemed by a rude people. Thus we have 
 Athelwulf, the noble wolf; Behrtwulf, the illus- 
 trious wolf ; Hundbert, the illustrious hound ; Ead- 
 wulf, the wolf of the province ; Sigwulf, the wolf 
 of victory. There are, however, others which im- 
 ply more regard for the peaceful and civic virtues: 
 Edgar, a keeper of his oath ; Egbert, advised unto 
 equity ; Earnulph, the help or defence of honor ; 
 Oswine, beloved of his house and family. Some of 
 their female names are gentle and expressive : — 
 Adeleve, the noble wife ; Wynfreda, the peace of 
 man ; Deorwyn, dear to man ; Deorswythe, very 
 dear ; Winnefride, a winner or gainer of peace.^ 
 Mr. Turner gives instances, showing that surnames 
 derived fi'om the appearance of an individual, fi-om 
 his dwelling-place, office, calling, or other circum- 
 stances, were in use among the Anglo-Saxons, 
 though they were apparently by no means com- 
 mon." 
 
 A father, if very poor, was allowed to give up 
 his son to slavery for seven years, if the child's 
 consent were given.' Even this restricting pro- 
 vision had not always existed, but was introduced 
 through the intervention of the clergy in 668, 
 though it probably would not go far towards miti- 
 gating the evil. We have seen, in a preceding 
 chapter, that in some parts of the country the 
 custom of peasants selling their children for slaves 
 was common down nearly to the Norman Con- 
 quest. A child of ten years old could give evi- 
 dence. Until a daughter was fifteen years old, 
 her father could marry her to whomsoever he 
 pleased ; but after this age he no longer possessed 
 such power. A boy of fifteen might enter upon 
 
 1 Turner's Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii. p. 6. 
 
 2 Wilk. Leg. Anglo-Sai., p. 14. 
 
 3 Verstegan, p. 246. The word is still in common use in Scotland 
 m the same sense. * lb. 304. 
 
 5 Turner's Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii. p. 2. Verstegan, p. 304. 
 * Anglo-Saions, vol. iii. p. 11 Hickes's Dis. Epist. 22-25 
 ' Wilk. Couc. 130. 
 
 the monastic life, if he were so disposed ; and :i 
 girl at a somewhat later period. Many of the youtli 
 were received in the monasteries, where they ob 
 tained the means of instruction. The canons ot 
 Edgar directed the clergy to " teach youth witli 
 care, and to draw them to some craft." School- 
 boys appear to have been kept in order, and urged 
 to their tasks by the dread of personal chastise- 
 ment, as in modern days. The youth of superioi' 
 rank, after they had passed through their limited 
 course of instruction, were initiated and rendered 
 proficients in the manly sports of the times. It 
 was only at a later period, however, that it becam<i 
 customary for the children of the higher classes to 
 receive any school education. The brothers of 
 Alfred the Great did not learn to read. 
 
 The respect paid to women, and the influence 
 which they enjoyed, appear to have been greater 
 among our Anglo-Saxon ancestors than some of 
 the general characteristics of their state of society" 
 might have led us to expect. Before their arrival 
 in this country the Saxons, in common with other 
 German nations, punished unchastity in female."- 
 with extreme rigor. None regard a crime of this 
 nature with greater detestation than women them- 
 selves ; and the severity of its punishment amonj; 
 the Saxons may be conceived when we find that to 
 their hands was frequently committed the female 
 who had disgraced her sex. A number of them 
 pursued her from one place to another, and no 
 where did she obtain refuge or pity, but found 
 fresh persecutors wherever she went. Her body 
 was pierced with their knives, till, under this cruel 
 and vindictive treatment, she expired. In some 
 cases the woman was compelled to hang herself: 
 after which her body was burnt, and her partner 
 in crime was put to death over her ashes.' This 
 savage mode of protecting the honor, and pro- 
 moting the virtue of women, was quite consistent 
 with the spirit of a rude and barbarous people, who 
 were as yet untouched by the more kindly influ- 
 ences of Christianity. It had, however, the eff'ect 
 of giving additional support to a virtue which is 
 the chief basis of female excellence. Other de- 
 sirable qualities had thus the opportunity of takini: 
 root; and the acquisition, by women, of a consid- 
 erable degree of social influence, was the natural 
 result. Another of the causes which contributed 
 to the elevation of women amongst the ancient 
 tribes of the Germanic stock is probably to be foimd 
 in the fortunate circumstance of their mental and 
 bodily faculties making their progress towards ma- 
 turity at something like an equal rate. When a 
 female was fitted to become a wife, her skilfulness 
 in household matters, and her general experience 
 and knowledge, gave her an authority which she 
 could not have possessed if her bodily develop- 
 ment had been more precocious than that of her 
 intellect and understanding. Instead of being the 
 slaves of their pleasures, women, even in a bar- 
 barous age, exercised a permanent influence over 
 men, and occupied the position of their associates 
 and equals. 
 
 1 Letter of Boniface, in Mag. Bibl. Patrum, xvi. 55.
 
 326 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 Very seldom, if ever, in the illuminated manu- 
 scripts which relate to this period do we find women 
 represented as taking a part in the labors of the 
 field, but even in those which are of the lightest 
 kind men only are employed. In our account of 
 rural occupations, it has already been stated that 
 the shepherd who tended his flock also milked the 
 ewes and made cheese ; and if this were the general 
 practice, women were more exclusively occupied 
 within doors than at the present day, when, owing 
 to improved practices in agriculture, there are many 
 means of employing both them and children in field 
 work. Women were therefore placed within the 
 sphere which is most favorable to their influence. 
 In the East, the most hberal Mussulmans, who 
 allow a future state and future felicity to women, 
 maintain that they will not be admitted into the 
 same Paradise as men ;' but instead of having to 
 describe a state of society in which notions so de- 
 grading were prevalent, we find women among the 
 Anglo-Saxons invested, both in their families, in the 
 vye of the law, and by political circumstances, with 
 their fair share of influence.^ They do not appear 
 to have attained this condition because they embel- 
 lished life by their graces, for the remains of Anglo- 
 Saxon Uterature do not contain any notices which 
 ran lead us to infer that the charms of female society 
 were highly prized ; but their substantial value con- 
 sisted rather in the due performance of their duties 
 as mothers and as housewives. Women were the 
 possessors of land, of slaves', and other property. 
 They made wills bequeathing their possessions. 
 They appeared before the shire-gemot in disputes 
 respecting their property; and in a case mentioned 
 by Mr. Turner, there were present an abbot, a 
 priest, an ethehng, eight men, two abbesses, six 
 other ladies, and many other good thegns and women. 
 The woman obtained her suit.^ Another case is 
 mentioned in which a man and his wife were asso- 
 ciated in a law-suit. In their marriages, their dig- 
 nity as well as inclination was consulted; and in 
 the History of Ely a case is mentioned of a lady re- 
 fusing to maiTy a man because his possessions were 
 not large enough to entitle him to sit in the witena- 
 gemot.* In the earliest of the Saxon laws that re- 
 main, those of Ethelbert, female chastity is protected 
 by penalties, vaiying according to the rank or condi- 
 tion of the injured party. The mund, or protecting 
 fine, for a widow of the highest rank was fifty shil- 
 lings ; for one of the second class, twenty shillings ; 
 of the third, twelve shillings ; and of the fourth, six 
 shilhngs. Even the violation of the domestic hap- 
 piness of the serf was visited by a proportionate 
 fine. The fine paid by the man who forcibly vio- 
 lated a female was increased if she were betroth- 
 ed, and was still higher if she w^ere pregnant at 
 the time. These regulations underwent some 
 alteration in Alfred's time, but the laws on the sub- 
 
 > Chardin, iv. p. 26. 
 
 « By the Cauons of Edgar, women were not allowed to come near 
 (he altar at mass. It does not seem easy to account for such a regula- 
 tion, unless Its object was to prevent those engaged in the offices 
 from being disturbed by their presence. 
 
 * Turner's History, vol. ii. p. 575. 5th Ed. 
 
 * Gale. Scrip, iii. 513 
 
 ject were still framed on the same principle. Con- 
 cubinage was expressly forbidden, and also the 
 marrying within certain degrees of kindred. On 
 the father's death, the children remained under the 
 mother's care, subject to some provisions aheady 
 alluded to. 
 
 It appears clear, from all this, that women were 
 surrounded with a number of those privileges and 
 advantages which generally accompany a better state 
 of society than existed in the Anglo-Saxon times. 
 The same thing will be further apparent from a 
 notice of some of a few particulars relative to their 
 marriage contracts and ceremonies. The laws of 
 Ethelbert and Edmund, the former made in the 
 sixth or seventh, the latter in the tenth century, 
 supply the best information on this subject. Ethel- 
 bert's law provided, that if a wife who had borne 
 children was left a widow, she was to have one half 
 of her husband's property ; but if he died without 
 having had children by her, the property reverted 
 to his own kindred. The morgen-gift, which the 
 man paid, on his marriage, to the wife's relations, 
 was also to be returned. The laws of Edmund 
 indicate more fully what was the course pursued. 
 Nothing appears to have been taken on trust, and 
 every step was accompanied by certain stipulations, 
 which, however unromantic they may appear, con- 
 ferred real and substantial influence on women at a 
 period when their claims to regard would not have 
 been so certainly acknowledged if they had rested 
 more exclusively on moral considerations. Alfred's 
 Boethius contains a passage in which he has em- 
 bodied some affectionate feehngs on the love of a 
 wife for her husband. We give it, though it is of a 
 higher tone than we may suppose to have generally 
 prevailed. He sajs : — " Liveth not thy wife also? 
 She is exceedingly prudent and very modest. She 
 has excelled all other women in purity. . . . She 
 lives now for thee ; thee alone. Hence she loves 
 nought else but thee. She has enough of every 
 good in this present life ; but she has despised it all 
 for thee alone. She has shunned it all because she 
 has not thee also. This one thing is now wanting 
 to her. Thine absence makes her think that all 
 which she possesses is nothing. Hence for thy love 
 she is wasting, and full nigh dead with tears and 
 sorrow !" The preliminaries of a marriage consisted 
 in obtaining, first, the consent of the lady ; next, of 
 her friends, one of whom was appointed to act on 
 her behalf, and who required not only the pledges 
 of the bridegroom expectant, that he would keep 
 his wife in circumstances suitable to her condition, 
 but also the sureties of his friends, who thus bound 
 themselves to see that he duly fulfilled his engage- 
 ments. But the precautions taken did not terminate 
 here ; the next subject for consideration was the 
 means of supporting the children who might be the 
 issue of the marriage ; and the friends of the bride- 
 groom were here again called upon to become re- 
 sponsible for the proposals which he made. The 
 amount of the morgen-gift, a bridal offering or joint- 
 ure (generally a piece of land), which was given the 
 day after the marriage ; and of the pi-operty to be 
 settled upon the wife in case of the husband's death.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 327 
 
 were next to be determined upon ; and pledges 
 having been mutually given that in case of removal 
 from one jurisdiction to another no injury should 
 arise to the wife, and, on the other hand, that if she 
 committed any offence, the proper compensation 
 would be made, the seal was put to all these nego- 
 tiations by the performance of the marriage. This 
 ceremony was of a religious nature, and was attended 
 by a priest, who implored a blessing on the union. 
 It was followed by festivities, which often continued 
 many days. Alfred was attacked with the disorder 
 which never left him, during the protracted banquets 
 in honor of his nuptials. Hai-dicanute died with 
 the cup in his hand at the marriage festivities of a 
 noble Dane. The marriage of Gunihlda, Hardica- 
 nute's half-sister, who was married to the Emperor 
 Henry III., was performed with unusual splendor. 
 The chroniclers state that never had there been so 
 great a display in England of gold and silver, gems, 
 garments of rich workmanship, and horses. Songs 
 were composed in honor of the lady, to perpetuate 
 the recollection of her beauty, and were sung by the 
 people for a long period afterwards. A widow might 
 not many until twelve months of her widowhood 
 had expired. If she neglected this observance, she 
 lost all claim to the property which she had obtained 
 by her previous marriage. 
 
 In addition to the influence derived by women 
 from the possession of property which they could 
 freely dispose of by will, those of the highest rank 
 not unfrequently had some share in the management 
 of political affairs, and sometimes displayed an activ- 
 ity and energy which led to important events. They 
 were, in early times, frequently instrumental in 
 the conversion of their husbands to Christianity, 
 and the mission of Augustin was rendered much 
 more successful through their influence than it 
 might otherwise have been. The influence of ladies 
 of rank who took the veil and became abbesses could 
 not have been unimportant throughout the whole of 
 the Anglo-Saxon period. There are also instances 
 in which they took a part in concerns which 
 demanded sterner qualities. Ethelberga, the queen 
 of Ina, put herself at the head of an army to repress 
 an insurrection which had taken place in her hus- 
 band's absence, and a fortress which she attacked 
 was taken and leveled with the ground. About fifty 
 years before, an able and spirited woman, Seax- 
 burgha, the widow of King Cenwealth, had reigned 
 for a short time, in conformity with her deceased 
 husband's nomination, over the powerful kingdom 
 of Wessex,in spite of the hostility of the neighbor- 
 ing princes, which she counteracted by her prudence 
 and activity. Notwithstanding this instance, how- 
 ever, a female sovereignty was altogether abhoiTont 
 to the notions and customs of the Saxons and the 
 other Germanic nations. Even the right of being 
 crowned was for some time taken from the wives 
 of the Anglo-Saxon kings in consequence of the 
 crimes of Eadburgha, the queen of Brithric of Wes- 
 sex, who poisoned her husband ; but they afterwards 
 recovered this honor. The queen is frequently 
 mentioned as sitting in the witenagemot; and her 
 position was no doubt altogether one of great in- 
 
 fluence as well as dignity. Suit seems to have been 
 not unusually made to her, and her interest sought, 
 when a favor was solicited from the crown. Thus, 
 Alfwin, Abbot of Ramsay, in order to procure the 
 favor of Edward the Confessor to his monastery, 
 gave the king twenty marks of gold ; but he did not 
 neglect at the same time to propitiate his queen, 
 Editha, to whom he presented five marks. 
 
 Ties of political amity were often cemented by 
 marriages ; and this would also be the means of 
 conferring importance and distinction upon the 
 highest rank of females, and of elevating the 
 general standard and tone of manners with regard 
 to women. Four of Athelstane's sisters were 
 married to powerful princes ; one of whom was 
 Hugo, Count of Paris, the founder of the dynasty 
 of Capet. Hugh urged his suit by an embassy 
 loaded with splendid presents, which appear to have 
 been intended partly for the lady, and partly for 
 her brother, who had the disposal of her hand. 
 Among them were the sword of Constantine the 
 Great, the spear of Charlemagne, besides horses, 
 perfumes, jewels, and relics. Another of Athel- 
 stane's sisters was married to Otho the Great, Em- 
 peror of Germany. Various instances might be 
 quoted of marriages entered into by the Anglo- 
 Saxon kings for pohtical objects, and of the effect of 
 such connexions in promoting peace and intercourse 
 between different states. 
 
 But it was not only in politics that the influence 
 of women of the higher classes Avas often beneficially 
 exerted. Their mental endowments and acquisi- 
 tions were also occasionally employed with the 
 happiest effect in domestic life. It was Osburgha, 
 the mother of Alfred, it will be remembered, who 
 first awakened the literaiy taste of her illustrious son.^ 
 Ethelfleda, Alfred's eldest daughter, was the inher- 
 itor of her father's intellect and accomplishments, as 
 well as of his patriotic spirit, and even of his martial 
 ardor and talent.^ She is spoken of by the old 
 chroniclers as the wisest lady in England. Tne 
 character of Athelstane was formed by Ethelfleda ; 
 and her judicious superintendence of his education 
 rendered this monarch only inferior to Alfred the 
 Great. Editha, the queen of Edward the Confessor, 
 we have also seen, graced her high rank by high 
 mental cultivation.^ 
 
 The conclusions to which we may fairly come 
 from a consideration of the facts which have been 
 brought forward in relation to the condition and 
 influence of women, are, upon the whole, highly 
 favorable both to them and to the general state of 
 society in the Anglo-Saxon period. "Women then 
 occupied a position which has enabled them ever 
 since to move forward with every social improve- 
 ment ; and their present condition is not the result 
 of any sudden revolution in public feeling, but tho 
 consequence of a gradual advancement which has 
 operated with nearly equal effect upon the various 
 parts of society. 
 
 There has never yet existed a people without 
 their peculiar sports and pastimes. The popular 
 diversions of a nation are a pait of its civilization, 
 I See p. 157. 2 See p. 159. ^ See p. 178.
 
 328 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book TI. 
 
 and they change with the various phases of its 
 social condition. For example, hunting and fishing, 
 which, in one stage of a people's progress, are 
 pursued as a means of subsistence, become, in a 
 subsequent period, a principal source of recreation 
 and amusement. It is related by Asser, in his life 
 of Alfred, that the young nobles, after having received 
 some instruction at school in the Latin tongue, ap- 
 
 plied themselves to the " arts adapted to manly 
 strength, such as hunting." Many of the Anglo- 
 Saxon kings were great lovers of the chase. One 
 of them, the first Harold, received the surname of 
 " Harefoot," from the fleetness with which he pur- 
 sued the game on foot. The huntsman, however, 
 was usually mounted. Boars and wild deer were 
 the principal objects of pursuit, and hounds were 
 
 Boar Hunting. From CoUon MS. Julius, A. 7. 
 
 trained for the purpose of hunting them down. 
 Hares, and sometimes goats, were also hunted. 
 Nets were frequently used, into which the hunter 
 endeavored to drive these animals. The chase was 
 enlivened with the sounds of the horn. The laws 
 respecting game were mild and hberal compared 
 with those which were afterwards enacted by the 
 
 Norman princes. When the king went to hunt in 
 any place no one was allowed to interfere with his 
 pastime ; but at other times every man might pur- 
 sue the animals which were found upon his own 
 land.' Until the reign of Canute it was customary 
 to hunt on Sundays. 
 
 1 Wilkins, Leg. Sax 146. 
 
 Hawking Party. Harleian MS. No. 603 
 
 Hawking always ranked next in consideration to 
 hunting, and in latter times became a sport of still 
 hieher distinction. Alfred wrote a book on the 
 
 management of hawks ; and, according to Asser, 
 his biographer, he insti-ucted his falconers, hawkers, 
 and hound-trainers. We read of an archbishop of 
 
 Hawking. From Cotton MS. Julius, A. 6.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 329 
 
 Mons, a native of England, sending a hawk and two 
 falcons to Ethelbert, King of Kent, at the commence- 
 ment of the seventh century. The birds bred in 
 England were not held in much esteem ; and a king 
 of the Mercians requests the same archbishop to 
 send him two falcons that had been trained to attack 
 cranes, not being able to procure such as were suf- 
 ficiently skilful and courageous at home. Such 
 presents, between persons of consequence, were 
 frequently made. Hawking, at a later period, be- 
 came so common that regulations were made for 
 the purpose of restraining some of the abuses to 
 which it gave rise. The monks were forbidden to 
 keep hawks and falcons; and, in 821, persons car- 
 
 rying hawks were prohibited by a king of the Mer- 
 cians from trespassing upon the lands belonging to 
 the monks of Abingdon. Both hawks and hounds 
 were frequently bequeathed by will. The falconer 
 seems to have taken his birds in harvest, and after 
 training them for use, kept them until the spring, 
 when he let them fly to the woods ; and again, in 
 harvest, provided himself with others. By some, 
 however, they were kept through the whole year. 
 Birds of various kinds were also taken in snares, 
 traps, and with bird-lime, and wild ducks by decoys. 
 The bow and arrow, and also the sling, were used 
 for the destruction both of birds and beasts. In the 
 Cotton MS. of the paraphrase of Caedmon there is 
 
 Killing Birds with a Slino. Cotton MS. Claud. B. 4. 
 
 a representation of Esau going to seek venison, and 
 of Ishmael in the desert. Both are provided with 
 a bow and arrows, and Esau is accompanied by a 
 dog. The bow is ornamented so as to resemble a 
 serpent, the head being carved at one end, and the 
 tail at the other. The string is not fixed at the ex- 
 tremity of the bow, but within a short distance of 
 it. The birds which Ishmael has killed are slung 
 by the neck on his belt. 
 
 We have no account of any horse-racing among 
 the Anglo-Saxons ; but Bede, in one passage, speaks 
 of a party of young men ti-ying the speed of their 
 horses on an open piece of ground to which they 
 happened to come. 
 
 The in-door sports were various, and suitable to 
 diflFerent ranks. The games of chess and backgam- 
 mon were both known, or at least games very sim- 
 ilar to them. Canute is mentioned on one occasion 
 as being found engaged in a game of tesserae or 
 scacci. Backgammon is said to have been invented 
 in the tenth century, and some etymologists have 
 assigned the name a Saxon or a Welsh derivation. 
 In the canons of Edgar games of chance are forbid- 
 den to the clergy. 
 
 The gleemen were the most important characters 
 in the Anglo-Saxon festivals. Some of them seem 
 to have performed tricks, gambols, and feats, of all 
 kinds, while others were harpers or bards, and bal- 
 lad-singers. In the edicts of the Council of Clove- 
 shoe, among those who practiced the sportive arts, 
 
 are classed poets, harpers, musicians, and buffoons. 
 The first-mentioned class of gleemen were in fact 
 mimics, dancers, tumblers, and performers of sleight 
 of hand tricks; and the rudiments of the drama are 
 to be traced in some of the performances with which 
 they amused the people. Some of their dances 
 appear to have demanded great exeition and skill. 
 One of these was a sort of war-dance by two men 
 in martial dresses. They were armed with a sword 
 and shield, and went through a mock combat to the 
 sound of music — the musicians, a man playing on a 
 horn, and a female, dancing round the two comba- 
 tants. 
 
 An illuminated MS. which is intended to exhibit 
 Herodias dancing before Hei-od, represents her as 
 tumbling ; and it may therefore be concluded that 
 their dancing consisted to some extent of this kind 
 of posture-making. But exercises of strength and 
 agility were practiced by others as well as by these 
 professional performers. St. Cuthbert is recorded 
 by Bede to have excelled in running, wrestling, and 
 other athletic exercises. Another of the feats of 
 the gleemen consisted in throwing up three balls 
 and three knives alternately into the air, and catch- 
 ing them in their fall. This performance is repre- 
 sented in one of the drawings given in the preced- 
 ing chapter. Animals also were taught to dance 
 and put themselves into various attitudes for the 
 popular amusement. Bear-baiting, and doubtless 
 many other unrefined amusements, aflforded pleas-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boor II. 
 
 Dance. Tlie Lyre and Double Flute are of the Classic form and proportions. Cotton MS. Cleopatra, C. 8. 
 
 ure during an age in which education included very 
 little to exercise the intellect. 
 
 We may here notice some of the popular super- 
 stitions of the Anglo-Saxons, the remains of their 
 old paganism which Christianity had not succeeded 
 in uprooting. The change from one systeni to the 
 other would for a great length of time be imperfect, 
 and, until the work was completed, we may con- 
 ceive that the old superstitions would still continue 
 to exercise an almost undiminished influence over 
 the popular mind : some of them have scarcely yet 
 been put to flight. The Christianized Saxons ac- 
 cordingly retained unimpaired that belief in witches, 
 charms, and prognostics, which had formed the 
 greater part of their former religion. The male or 
 female dealer with the powers of darkness was all 
 but universally supposed to have the power of 
 inflicting sickness, of inciting to love or hatred, 
 controlling the elements, or rendering the fields 
 fertile. Every day in the year was distinguished 
 by its aptitude or unfitness for one or other of the 
 concerns of hfe. From the occurrence of some 
 trivial circumstance at a certain time unfovorable 
 omens were drawn ; while some other equally nat- 
 ural and unimportant incident was regarded as the 
 harbinger of every blessing. The diminution in 
 the amount of individual happiness among a people 
 hable every hour of the day to be filled with the 
 apprehensions of approaching calamity must have 
 been incalculable. Dreams, in like manner, ope- 
 rated upon the Anglo-Saxon mind with more than 
 the force of actual events. The law, however, en- 
 deavored to repress certain of the forms of the na- 
 tion.al superstition, which evinced in a more palpable 
 nianuer the imperfect conversion of the people to 
 Christianity. The following is one of the earlier 
 laws which were passed with this object: — "We 
 teach that every priest shall extinguish all heathen- 
 dom, and forbid wilweorthunga (fountain worship), 
 and licwiglunga (incantations of the dead), and 
 hwata (omens), and galdra (magic), and man-wor- 
 ship, and the abominations that men exercise in 
 various sorts of witchcraft, and in frithsplottum, and 
 with elms and other trees, and with stones, and 
 
 with many other phantoms."" Even so late as in 
 the time of Canute the practices here prohibited 
 were still rife, for in one of his laws the people are 
 ordered not to worship the sun or the moon, fire or 
 floods, wells or stones, or any sort of tree ; not to 
 love witchcraft, or frame death-spells, either by lot 
 or by touch ; nor to eflect anything by phantoms.* 
 
 We shall close our sketch of the domestic and 
 social usages of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors with a 
 notice of their mode of disposing of the dead and 
 their funeral ceremonies. The burning of the dead, 
 as practiced by the Britons, after the Roman exam- 
 ple, had at one time also been prevalent amongst 
 the ancient Germans. The Germans were accus- 
 tomed to divide their history into two periods ; the 
 first, in which the bodies of the dead were burnt, 
 termed the age of burning; the second, termed the 
 age of hillocks, in which the dead were buried, and 
 a cairn or mound of earth raised over their remains.* 
 But the Germans, in the time of the Anglo-Saxons, 
 burned the bodies of criminals ; and it may there- 
 fore be presumed that this was not their usual mode 
 of disposing of their dead. There is abundance of 
 proof that in England the custom of interment had 
 then become general. The body of Edward the 
 Martyr, indeed, who was murdered in 978, was 
 burnt by his friends, and the ashes were deposited 
 at Wareham ; but this is the only instance we meet 
 with of a body being burnt among the Anglo-Saxons. 
 The interment of a corpse in a pit or gi-ave suc- 
 ceeded to the custom of covering it only with a 
 mound or a heap of stones. The use of coffins 
 would not perhaps at first be general, but it subse- 
 quentl}' became so. For persons of distinction or 
 wealth they were of stone, and for others of wood. 
 The corpse was sometimes covered with a sheet of 
 lead, and was then placed in a wooden coffin. Linen 
 shrouds were used, and the clergj' were buried in 
 the habits of their office. The burial-places at first 
 were not in the midst of the population ; but Arch- 
 
 1 Wilk. Leg. Anglo-Sax. p. 53, quoted by Mr Turner in Hist, ol 
 the Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii. p. 136. 5th edit. 
 
 2 Wilkins, p. 134, in Turner, iii, 137 
 
 3 Bartholin, lib. i, c, 8.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 331 
 
 bishop Cuthbert, about the middle of the eighth 
 century, obtained permission to bury the dead with- 
 in cities. The churches in consequence at length 
 became crowded with graves, so that in the course 
 of time it was found necessary to restrain the prac- 
 tice ; and none were allowed to be buried in the 
 churches but ecclesiastics and persons whose lives 
 had been distinguished by piety and good works. 
 The body was often conveyed a considerable dis- 
 tance for burial. Wilfrid, Archbishop of York, died 
 at Oundle, in Noithamptonshire, in 708, and was 
 buried at Ripon. The manner in which the funeral 
 was conducted is thus described by the bishop's biog- 
 rapher, Eddius : — " Upon a certain day many abbots 
 
 and clergy met those who conducted the corpse of 
 the holy bishop in a hearse, and earnestly begged 
 that they might be allowed to wash the sacred body, 
 and dress it honorably, according to its dignity ; and 
 they obtained permission. Then one of the abbots, 
 named Bacula, spreading his surplice on the ground, 
 the brethren deposited the holy body upon it, washed 
 it with their own hands, dressed it in the pontifical 
 habits, and then taking it up, carried it towards the 
 appointed place, singing psalms and hymns in the 
 fear of God. Having advanced a little, they again 
 deposited the corpse, pitched a tent over it, bathed 
 the sacred body in pure water, dressed it in robes 
 of fine hnen, placed it in the hearse, and proceeded. 
 
 The Coffin and Grave-clothes. From a Picture of the Raising of Lazarus ia Cotton MS. Nero, C. 4. 
 
 .singing psalms, towards the monastery of Ripon. 
 When they approached that monastery the whole 
 family of it came out to meet them, bearing the 
 holy relics. Of aU this numerous company there 
 was hardly one who abstained from tears ; and all 
 raising their voices, and joining in hymns and songs, 
 they conducted the body into the church which the 
 holy bishop had built and dedicated to St. Peter, 
 and there deposited it in the most solemn and hon- 
 orable manner." These honors, it will be recollect- 
 ed, were paid to a personage of importance and of 
 great sanctity. It is mentioned' that a nobleman 
 having died dm'ing his attendance at the King's 
 Easter Court, the king directed that the body should 
 be attended to the place where it was to be depos- 
 ited by several bishops, earls, and other noblemen. 
 
 The custom of ringing the passing-beU when a 
 person's death occurred originated in the Anglo- 
 Saxon period. The intention was, that those within 
 reach of the sound might put up a prayer for the 
 dead. Bede relates that at the death of the Abbess 
 1 Gale, Script, iii. 395 
 
 of St. Hilda, one of the sisters of a distant monas- 
 tery thought she heard the well-known sound of 
 that bell which called them to prayers when any &f 
 them had departed this hfe ; and the superior of 
 the monastery was no sooner informed of this than 
 she raised all the sisters, and called them into the 
 church to pray fervently and sing a requiem for the 
 deceased abbess.' A payment called the " soul- 
 sceat" was made to the clergy on a person's death. 
 The anxiety of persons to procure the prayers of 
 the clergy for the good of their souls was one of the 
 most productive sources of ecclesiastical wealth. 
 One of the objects of the associations among arti- 
 sans, called gilds, was to provide for the honorable 
 interment of a member according to his last wishes. 
 A fine, paid in honey, was inflicted upon any brother 
 for non-attendance at the funeral ; and the gild was 
 to provide half of the provisions for the funeral en- 
 tertainment, at which all who were present gave 
 twopence for alms. If a member died, or fell sick, 
 out of his own district, the rest were to fetch him 
 
 1 Brande's Popular Antiquities.
 
 332 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 back, according to his wish, under the same penalty. 
 The period which elapsed between the death of a 
 person and the interment of his remains was usually 
 short, except Avhere it was necessary to convey 
 thein to some distant burial-place. The body of 
 Edward the Confessor was interred the day after 
 his deatli. The head and shoulders of the corpse 
 remained uncovered until the time of burial. It 
 
 would appear from the delineations in some of their 
 MSS., that the bodies of the dead were sometimes 
 conveyed to the grave on a bier, and that no coffin 
 was used. One person taking hold at the head, 
 and another at the feet, deposited the deceased in 
 the grave, the priest throwing incense over it. Be- 
 sides the shroud, the body was enveloped in a col- 
 ored garment.
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 333 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 URING the period of 
 which we are now 
 about to close the sur- 
 vey, the population of 
 the British Islands 
 was more diversified 
 in respect of lineage, 
 language, and laws — 
 the three great con- 
 stituents of nationali- 
 ty, than at any other 
 time either before or 
 since. In Ireland, even if we suppose the Scots and 
 other earlier Gothic colonists, or conquerors, to have 
 been already completely melted down into the mass 
 of the native Celtic population, we have still two per- 
 fectly distinct races dividing the land between them, 
 and contending for its sovereignty — namely, the old 
 Irish, and their recent invaders, the Northmen or 
 Danes. The latter had estabhshed themselves, by 
 the middle of the ninth century, along the whole 
 line of the east coast, from Belfast to Cork, and oc- 
 cupied Dublin and nearly all the other cities of any 
 importance throughout the island ; the proper Irish 
 were driven beyond what might be called the pale 
 as completely as they were some centuries after- 
 wards by their Anglo-Norman invaders. In Scot- 
 land also a large Danish or Norwegian population 
 was settled not only in the Shetland, Orkney, and 
 Western Islands, but also in the northern part of 
 the mainland : these foreigners had maintained a 
 long and fierce struggle with the Scottish ruler for 
 his crown ; and even after their failure in that ob- 
 ject (for the Danes never succeeded in Scotland in 
 acquiring the supreme dominion of the country, as 
 they did for a season both in England and in Ire- 
 land), it may be doubted if the allegiance of the 
 Danish chieftains of Sutherland and Ross to the 
 Celtic monarch was for a considerable period so 
 much as nominal. The Scottish Celts themselves, 
 though they had obtained the sovereignty of the 
 country, and it came eventually to be called by their 
 name, were intruders upon an older population of a 
 diflferent race. The Picts, the representatives of 
 the ancient Caledonians, who had held the whole of 
 North Britain up to the beginning of the sixth cen- 
 tury, subsisted as an independent state till the middle 
 of the ninth ; and, although from that date united 
 under one sceptre with the Scots, continued to be 
 recognized as a distinct people for a long time after. 
 A Welsh kingdom maintained its existence in the 
 southwest of Scotland till the latter part of the 
 tenth century. In South Britain, finally, the Welsh 
 occupied, and retained at least the nominal sove- 
 
 reignty of, the whole western side of the island ; and, 
 even if we include Cumbria in the northern Sti-ath- 
 clyde, not fewer than three separate kingdoms that 
 were not Saxon survived there throughout the 
 Saxon period. Nor Avas the rest of South Britain 
 — that part of the island which was properly called 
 England — all in the occupation of one race of people. 
 The Saxons themselves were divided into at least 
 three several great tribes ; some of them were Sax- 
 ons proper, some were Angles, some were Jutes ; 
 and they appear to have come from different parts 
 of the continent — some from a point so far north as 
 the present duchy of Sleswig in Denmark, others 
 from a quarter so much farther to the south as the 
 modern Friesland in Holland, and the country of 
 the ancient Belgae, which extended to the Seine. 
 This mixed population continued down to the ninth 
 century to be distributed into seven or eight distinct 
 states or kingdoms, all, except when any of them 
 happened to be reduced for a time to subjection by 
 force, substantially independent of each other. But 
 the different tribes of the Anglo-Saxons only pos- 
 sessed a part even of England proper. Here also, 
 as in Ireland and in Scotland, there was settled, in 
 full occupation and possession of a large portion of 
 the country, a population of Danes or Northmen, 
 who had made good their footing by their swords, 
 and had wrested the soil from the Saxons exactly 
 in the same manner as the Saxons had before 
 wrested it from the Britons. These Danes at 
 length actually acquired the sovereignty of England, 
 and retained it for a considerable time ; nor after 
 the Saxon line of kings was restored did the king- 
 dom itself cease to be still to a full half of its extent 
 in the hands of the Danes. 
 
 In the latter years of the Anglo-Saxon period 
 England appears to have been divided into thirty- 
 two shires, of which nine constituted what was 
 called Wcst-Seaxnalage or Sexenalaga (the pro- 
 vince, or, as the word perhaps properly signifies, 
 the law of the West Saxons) ; eight, Myrcenlage or 
 Merchendaga (the district over which the Mercian 
 law prevailed) ; and the remaining fifteen, Danelage 
 or Denelaga (the Danish territorj'). The nine 
 West Saxon shires were — Kent, Surrey, Sussex, 
 Berks, Hants, Wilts, Somerset, Dorset, and Devon ; 
 the eight Mercian — Chester, Shropshire, Hereford, 
 Stafford, Worcester, Gloucestei', Warwick, and Ox- 
 ford ; and the fifteen Danish — Norfolk, Suflblk, 
 Essex, Cambridge, Hertford, Middlesex, Hunting- 
 don, Bedford, Leicester, Northampton (including 
 Rutland), Buckingham, Lincoln, Nottingham, Der- 
 by, and York (which in those times appears to have 
 coiTiprehended Durham and Lancashire, nnd also
 
 334 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 perhaps the whole or part of Westmoreland). 
 Northumberland and Cumberland seem as yet to 
 have been usually considered as rather belonging to 
 Scotland than to England; nor was either Cornwall 
 or Wales (in which Monmouth was included) reck- 
 oned as part of England proper.^ Although, there- 
 fore, the whole country was subject to one sover- 
 eign, it may be considered as having been composed 
 of three territories, which were probably nearly as 
 listinct from each other as if they had been three 
 separate states, both in regard to the races by wliich 
 they were chiefly inhabited, and the laws and cus- 
 toms by which they were governed. The southern 
 counties only composed the original dominion of the 
 state which had acquired the general sovereignty ; 
 the district extending from the heart of the country 
 to the borders of Wales was still regarded, in every- 
 thing except its subjection to the authority of the 
 common sovereign, as the distinct state of Mercia, 
 of which kingdom it had anciently formed a part ; 
 and what might pi'operly be called a foreign people 
 held possession of all the east and north, a space 
 certainly not less than that occupied by the English 
 in the south and west. The distinction of the 
 West Saxon, the Mercian, and the Danish laws, as 
 severally prevalent in these three territories, ap- 
 pears to have subsisted for a considerable period 
 after the Norman conquest ; but in what it con- 
 sisted is very imperfectly known. The account 
 usually given is, that what is called the common 
 law of England was originally composed of a selec- 
 tion from all these different codes, and received its 
 name of the common law from that circumstance. 
 But it may be reasonably doubted if this was really 
 the origin of the name ; the common law would 
 rather seem never to have existed in the shape of 
 any regularly compiled or promulgated collection of 
 enactments, but to have been always a body of un- 
 written rules and usages, which were designated 
 common, as being behoved to have been observed 
 throughout the whole course of the national history. 
 It is probable enough, however, that the efforts of 
 the later Anglo-Saxon kings may have been directed 
 to th« removal, as far as possible, of such diversities 
 of legal usage as distinguished one part of the king- 
 dom from another — an object which the natural 
 tendency of events would itself assist in promoting. 
 The chief part of this task of assimilating the laws 
 of the West Saxons, Mercians, and Danes, is gene- 
 rally ascribed to Edward the Confessor ; but it was 
 begun, according to some authorities, nearly a cen- 
 tury before his time, by Edgar. Still the work does 
 not seem to have ever been completed during the 
 Saxon period. The West Saxons, the Mercians, 
 ar>d the Danes, all along appear to have had their 
 distinct laws, though they had all, as Spelman has 
 observed, "a uniformity in substance, differing 
 rather in their mulcts than in their canon ; that is 
 to say, in the quantity of fines and amerciaments, 
 than in the course and frame of justice." .... "In 
 those disti-icts," says Sir Francis Palgrave, " which 
 were conquered and colonized by the Danes, the 
 
 1 See Camden's Brit, ocxirii., Blackstone's Com. lutrod. $ 3, and 
 Palgrave's English Com. i. 48. 
 
 settlement of the invaders was probably accompa- 
 nied by a partial introduction of their peculiar 
 usages. It must be recollected that these strangers 
 made the country entirely their own. Halfdane 
 divided Northumbria amongst his followers, who 
 tilled and sowed the land which they had won. 
 The portion of ancient Mercia constituting the 
 commonwealth of the five burghs, Lancaster, Lin- 
 coln, Nottingham, Stamford, and Derby, became a 
 Danish state in the following year ; and the division 
 of East Anglia amongst the army of Guthiiin com- 
 pleted the colonization of Danelage. Within the 
 limits of these acquisitions, and which, so far as 
 East Anglia and its dependencies extended, were 
 settled and confirmed by the treaty between Alfred 
 and Guthrun, the conquest of the Anglo-Saxons by 
 the Danes appears to have been as complete as 
 that which was effected at a subsequent period by 
 William of Normandy." " Yet," he concludes, 
 "the influence of the more civilized community 
 was not unfelt, and the laws which Edgar recom- 
 mended to the Danes, perhaps without immediate 
 effect, were adopted after his decease, when both 
 Danes and Angles, in the midland and eastern 
 parts of the island, were gradually uniting into one 
 people. Beyond the Trent the process was more 
 tardy ; and it was not until the close of the reign 
 of the Confessor that the laws of Canute were 
 promulgated by the Confessor in the earldom of 
 Northumbria. The chief peculiarities of the Dane- 
 lage are to be sought rather in forms of policy and 
 administration than in the doctrines of the law 
 itself."' 
 
 Of the old states of the Heptarchy, the West 
 Saxon province comprehended the kingdoms of 
 Wessex, Sussex, and Kent ; the province of Mer- 
 cia consisted of part of the former kingdom of the 
 same name; and the remainder of the kingdom of 
 Mercia, with the Avhole of those of Essex, East 
 Anglia, and Northumberland, constituted the Dan- 
 ish province. According to the account in Bede 
 and the Saxon Chronicle of the races by Avhich 
 these several kingdoms were founded, and the ter- 
 ritories composing them originally occupied,* the 
 subjects of the West Saxon law would be partly 
 Saxons, and partly Jutes ; those of the 3Iercian 
 law. Angles ; and those of the Danish law, in so far 
 as they were not Danes, partly Angles, and partly 
 Saxons. 
 
 The Britons, as we have seen in the preceding 
 book, although they had strongholds in the woods, 
 had no towns properly so called. These were first 
 founded by the Romans. Gildas, writing in the 
 sixth century, says, that there were then twenty- 
 eight cities in Britain. Lists of these twenty-eight 
 cities under their British names are given in the 
 History bearing the name of the Nennius of the 
 ninth century, and in their British and in some in- 
 stances also in their modern names, by Henry of 
 Huntingdon, who, although he lived in the twelftli 
 centurj% evidently compiled many parts of his work 
 from records or documents of a much earher period. 
 In regard to about twenty of the names, the two lists 
 
 1 English Com. p. 51. = See ante, p. 280.
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 335 
 
 may be considered to correspond, although both are 
 obviously much corrupted ; the remaining places 
 seem not to be the same in the one as in the other. 
 The lists, however, defective and in part unintelli- 
 gible as theyare, are still highly curious, as furnish- 
 ing the oldest notice we have of the topogi-aphy of 
 Britain after the time of the Romans, and the ear- 
 liest that can be regarded as appertaining to the 
 Saxon period. The towns which are found in both 
 lists appear to be the following : — Verulam, or the 
 ancient St. Albans (called Cair-Municip by Nennius, 
 Kair-Mercipit by Huntingdon) ; Carlisle, Meivod in 
 Montgomeryshire, Colchester, York, Cambridge, or 
 rather Grantchester in the neighborhood of that 
 place; London, Canterbury, Worcester, Porches- 
 ter, Warwick, Caer-Seiont near Carnarvon, Caer- 
 leon, Leicester, Draiton in Shropshire, Wroxeter, 
 Lincoln ; and three unknown towns, of which the 
 British names are, in Nennius, Cair-Caratauc, Cair- 
 Mauchguid, and Cair-Guorthigirn ; in Huntingdon, 
 Kail"- C user at, Kair-Meguaid, and Kair-Guortigern. 
 The last would seem to mean the City of Vortigern. 
 The following are enumerated by Nennius, and not 
 by Huntingdon : Cair-Guntuig, supposed to be Win- 
 wik, in Lancashire ; Cair-Custeint, literally Con- 
 stantino's town, probably Constanton, near Fal- 
 mouth; Cair-Daun, Doncaster ; Cair-Legion, Ches- 
 ter; Cair-Guent, either Winchester, or Caer-went 
 in Monmouthshire ; Cair-Brithon, supposed to be 
 Dunbarton; Cair-Pensavelcoit, Pevensey; and 
 Cair-Celemion, Camalet in Somerset. Those in 
 Huntingdon and not in Nennius are, Kair-Glou, 
 Gloucester ; Kair-Cei, Chichester ; Kair-Bristou, 
 Bristol; Kair-Ceri, Cirencester; Kair-Dauri, Dor- 
 chester ; Kaii'-Dorm, near Walmsford, on the Nen ; 
 Kair-Merdin, Caermarthen ; and Kair-Licelid, the 
 modern name or site of which is not known. These, 
 however, were certainly not all the towns left in 
 Britain by the Romans. One remarkable omission 
 is Bath; but we are inclined to suspect that Cair- 
 Badon, the ancient name of this city, should be sub- 
 stituted in the list of Nennius for Cair-Brithon, 
 taken to mean Dunbarton, which never was a 
 Roman town. In another list given by Alfred of 
 Beverley, a writer contemporary with Huntingdon, 
 although it contains only twenty names in all, we find 
 both Caer-Badon. and Caer-Paladour, supposed to 
 be Shaftesbury. 
 
 Although, however, some of the names, in all the 
 lists as we now have them, may be wrong, or may 
 be misunderstood, we may probably rely upon the 
 correctness of the general statement of Gildas — that, 
 in his time, the number of cities, by which he may 
 be supposed to mean walled towns, in the island, or 
 rather in that portion of it which had formed the 
 Roman province, was twenty-eight. There were, 
 also, he says, some strongly fortified castles. This 
 was, then, the amount, or at least the measure of 
 what may be called, with somewhat more than mere 
 etymological propriety, the civilization of the coun- 
 try at the time when the Saxons entered upon the 
 possession of it ; for not only is it true, that without 
 -towns there can be little or no civilization in any 
 country, but the quantity of civilization in a country 
 
 may be generally taken as being nearly in propor- 
 tion to the number of towns in it. These are, at 
 least, the fountains where the light of knowledge is 
 collected and preserved, and from which it is dif- 
 fused over the population. Many of the Roman 
 towns appear to have been deserted or laid in ruins 
 in the course of the long, fierce, and desolating war- 
 fare that preceded the establishment of the several 
 states of the Heptarchy ; no contest so obstinate and 
 protracted had to be fought by the barbarian inva- 
 ders in taking possession of any other part of the 
 Roman empire. The Saxons, Avhen they first is- 
 sued from the seas and woods of the north of Europe 
 for the conquest of Britain, probably held the peace 
 and protection of walled towns and congregated build- 
 ings in contempt : and in this feeling they may have 
 recklessly destroyed, or taken no pains to preserve, 
 those of the British cities that fell into their hands, so 
 long as they Avere actually engaged in contending, 
 sword in hand, for the possession of the country. But 
 as they gradually effected a settlement in it, and be- 
 came transformed from invaders into colonists, and 
 from mere soldiers into occupants and cultivators of 
 the soil, the instinct of their new position and cir- 
 cumstances turned them to new views and another 
 mode of procedure. Their attention was now 
 awakened to what had been done by their prede- 
 cessors in the sovereignty of the island ; they set 
 themselves to take advantage of, and to improve 
 upon, the foundations which that illustrious people 
 had laid ; the Roman cities and other fortified sta- 
 tions were onde more occupied, and became the 
 sites and beginnings of new cities and towns, most 
 of which subsist to the present day. But this was 
 not nearly all that was accomplished by the Anglo- 
 Saxons in the embellishment of the country, and in 
 planting throughout its soil at least the roots of 
 future industry, wealth, and civilization, during the 
 period it was in their hands. They certainly did 
 not work with anything like the high finish of the 
 Romans ; they were from the first, and continued all 
 along, a people in a much less advanced state in re- 
 gard to the arts, and almost every kind of intellect- 
 ual cultivation, than those inheritors of all the knowl- 
 edge and philosophy of the ancient world : and what 
 they produced, therefore, was infinitely less perfect, 
 less imposing, and in every way less remarkable in 
 the result actually attained, than were the creations 
 and achievements of the older and more lettered 
 people. But they evinced, nevertheless, in all that 
 they did, a sufficiently robust and productive genius ; 
 and if they did not themselves carry out many things 
 to a very elevated degree of excellence, they at least 
 scattered the seeds of improvement for others to 
 rear over a wide field, and in no stinted measure. 
 Very striking evidence of this healthy fertility is 
 aflbrded by the multiplication of towns and villages, 
 which seems to have taken place in South Britain 
 during their domination, and by a comparison of the 
 state to which the country was eventually brought 
 by them in this respect with the state in which they 
 appear to have found it. It is a remarkable fact, 
 and one which has scarcely been sufficiently ad- 
 verted to, that, with very few exceptions indeed, all
 
 336 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II 
 
 the towns, and even villages and hamlets, which I 
 England yet possesses, appear to have existed from j 
 the Saxon times. This is in general sufficiently at- I 
 tested by their mere names, and there is historical 
 evidence of the fact in a large proportion of instances. 
 Our towns and villages have become individually 
 larger in most cases in the course of the last eight 
 or ten centuries ; but in all that space of time no 
 very great addition has been made to their number. 
 The augmentation which the population and wealth 
 of the country have undergone, vast as it has been, 
 in the course of so many ages, has nearly all found 
 room to collect and arrange itself around the old 
 centres. This fact does not disprove the magnitude 
 of the increase that has been made to the numbers 
 of the people, for the extension of the circumfer- 
 ences without any multiplication of the centres 
 would suffice to absorb any such increase, however 
 great; but seeing how thickly covered the country 
 actually is with towns and villages, it is certainly 
 curious to reflect that they were very nearly as nu- 
 merous over the greater part of it in the time of the 
 Saxons. And if only about twenty-eight of our 
 cities and towns, or even twice that number, can 
 be traced to a Roman original, the number indebted 
 to the Saxons for their first foundation must be very 
 great, for, as we have seen, nearly all that are not 
 Roman are Saxon. As for our villages, the un- 
 doubted fact that the present division of the coun- 
 try into parishes is, almost without alteration, as 
 old, at least, as the tenth century, would alone prove 
 that the English villages in the Saxon times were 
 nearly as numerous as in our own day. One ac- 
 count, indeed, which has been often quoted as trust- 
 worthy, though it seems impossible to believe that 
 it does not involve some great mistake, makes the 
 number of parish churches in England about the 
 time of the Norman Conquest to have been 45,011, 
 and that of the villages 62,080.^ The number of 
 
 1 This statement is quoted in Spelman's Glossary, voc. Feodum, 
 from Thomas Sprot, a monk of the monastery of St. Augustin, in 
 Canterbury. The circumstance of the numbers both of parishes and 
 of villages being set down, and that of a certain correspondence being 
 preserved between them, would rather go to negative the supposition 
 that there was any corruption in the text of the manuscript. On the 
 other hand, the particularity of the figures would seem to indicate 
 that they were the result of something like an actual computation. 
 It appears that a similar exaggerated notion of the number of 
 parishes in England was long entertained. In the year 1371 the 
 parliament granted Edward III. a subsidy of 50,000Z., which it was 
 calculated would be raised by an assessment at tlie average rate of 
 II. 2s. id. upon each parish ; but it was found that the number of 
 parishes had been so much overrated that, to make up the sum, the 
 assessment had eventually to be raised to 5/. 16s. on each. The 
 number of parishes, therefore, had been taken to be about five times 
 as great as it really was — a curious specimen of statistical ignorance 
 on the pan of a government — and also a striking example of the 
 absurdity and inconvenience of legislating in the absence of that 
 knowledge of facts wliich ought to be the basis of every legislative 
 proceeding. So, in a treatise published in 1527 by Simon Fish of 
 Gray's Inn, entitled "A Supplication of the Beggars to the King," 
 the number of parishes in England is assumed to be 52,000. Yet 
 several actual enumerations appear to have been made before this 
 time. It is affirmed, in a work entitled " The Happy Future State 
 of England," pubhshed in 1689, that a MS. in the Bodleian Library at 
 Oxford makes the parishes in the time of Edward I. to have been 
 only about 8900, exclusive of many chapelries since grown up into 
 parsonages. Stowe, in his Annals, states that the parishes were 
 •actually numbered for the purposes of the tax laid on in 1371, as above 
 mentioned, and were found to amount only to 8600. And Camden 
 tells us (Britannia, cc.xxx ), that in an enumeration made for Cardinal 
 
 parishes at present is not much above 10,000, and 
 that of the villages would probably be overrated if 
 reckoned at half as many more. If, in like manner, 
 instead of the numbers just given, we allow only 
 10,000 parishes and 15,000 villages to England in 
 the time of the Saxons, we shall be led to form a 
 very high idea of the extent to which the countiy 
 must already have been reclaimed and settled. Let 
 it bo conceded that many of the villages were very 
 small, consisting perhaps only of a dozen or two of 
 cottages ; still we apprehend the facts imply a dif- 
 fusion of population and of cultivation vastly beyond 
 what can be supposed to have taken place in the 
 preceding or Roman period, during which, indeed, 
 the country w'as traversed in various directions by 
 noble roads, and ornamented with some considera- 
 ble towns, but does not appear, from any notices 
 that have come down to us, or any monuments or 
 signs that remain, to have been generally covered 
 with villages of any description. 
 
 Various attempts have been made to extract an 
 estimate of the amount of the population of Eng- 
 land in the Anglo-Saxon times from the statements 
 in Domesday-Book ; but very little dependence 
 can be placed upon any of the inferential calcula- 
 tions upon tliis subject (for they are nothing more) 
 that have been founded upon that record. Domes- 
 day-Book does not profess to present any census of 
 the population ; the object with which the survey 
 was imdertaken appears to have been merely to ob- 
 tain an exact account of the demesnes and profits 
 belonging to the crown, and of the public services 
 due by the several estates in the kingdom ; and 
 whatever information respecting other matters may 
 be found in the register must be considered as hav- 
 ing been introduced principally, if not exclusively, 
 with a view to this, its primary design. It is in this 
 way only that we can explain such entries as those 
 which mention no more than forty-two persons as 
 resident in the town of Dover, forty-six in St. Al- 
 bans, five in Sudbury, nine in Bedford, ten in Bris- 
 tol, and many others as manifestly not intended to 
 include the whole population of the places to which 
 they refer. By counting a man for every wood, 
 mill, pasture, or house that is mentioned (evidently 
 a very arbitrciry assumption), Mr. Turner makes 
 the total number of persons of all description enu- 
 merated in Domesday-Book to amount to 300,785. 
 He then considers this number of individuals as 
 representing so many families, each of which may 
 be supposed to have consisted of five persons on an 
 average. This would produce an entire population 
 of about a million and a half, of which about a third 
 part is assigned to the Danish half of the kingdom.' 
 
 Wolsey in 1520, there were reckoned in all the counties of England 
 9407 churches. He himself gives us another enumeration made in 
 the reign of James I., whith makes the number of parish churches to 
 amount to 9284. Although the present number of parishes, properly 
 or popularly so called, amounts only to about 10,700 (see Maccul- 
 loch's Statistical Account of the British Empire, i. 171), it has been 
 ascertained, in the course of the recent inquiries into the administra- 
 tion of the Poor Laws, that the entire number of places throughout 
 the kingdom separately relieving their own paupers is (or rather was, 
 before the formation of the new unions) 13,635. 
 
 ' But upon what authority does Mr. Turner exclude from the 
 Danish part of the kingdom the counties of Northampton ( with
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 337 
 
 But as several towns, especially London and Win- 
 chester, are not mentioned at all, while the four 
 northern counties of Cumberland, Durham, West- 
 moreland, and Northumberland, are likewise alto- 
 gether omitted ; and as, moreover, no account ap- 
 pears to be taken either of the monks or (except in 
 a very few instances) of the parochial clergy, it is 
 conjectured that at least half a million more may 
 be allowed for these deficiencies, and that therefore 
 tlie entire Anglo-Saxon population in the reign of 
 the Confessor, must have rather exceeded two 
 millions.* Sir James Mackintosh has drawn up a 
 table which appears to make the entire number of 
 persons mentioned in the survey only 258,293. He 
 has omitted, he says, such of Mr. Turner's esti- 
 mates as seem to depend upon a supposed propor- 
 tion of persons to tenements. He adds, that "no- 
 thing more than a very general approximation can 
 be expected till Domesday-Book be much more crit- 
 ically examined than it has hitherto been." Per- 
 haps it would have been more correct to say that no 
 satisfactory information upon the subject in question 
 is likely ever to be obtained from that source. 
 
 Some valuable particulars, nevertheless, of an- 
 other kind may be thence gathered in illustration 
 of the state of the country in the Anglo-Saxon pe- 
 riod. In the first place, we obtain evidence at least 
 of the existence in those times of a long list of 
 cities and burghs (as they are usually designated 
 in the record), comprising nearly all the consider- 
 able towns the kingdom yet contains ; a good many 
 of the number, indeed, having apparently been of 
 greater consequence then than they are now. We 
 also gain some small insight into the government 
 or political constitution of these burghs ; and some 
 light is thrown upon the constitution of society 
 generally by the notices of the different classes or 
 orders of the people, though, for the reasons that 
 have been stated, little or nothing can be inferred 
 from the particular numbers of each class that are 
 registered in different places. 
 
 The larger towns, as we have just observed, 
 were distinguished among the Saxons by the name 
 of burghs, the same term with our modern English 
 boroughs.^ The word burgh has been derived 
 from the Latin hurgus, which was in common use 
 in later times among the Romans for a fort or mili- 
 tary stronghold, and is itself nearly the same with 
 a Greek word of similar signification which is as 
 old as the time of Homer.' The burghs of the 
 
 Rutland), Leicester, Nottingham, Buckingham, Cambridge, Hertford, 
 Bedford, Derby, Huntingdon, and Middlesex, which the old writers 
 generally enumerate as belonging to the Danelage ? Restoring these 
 counties to their proper place in the table, the account will stand 
 thus ; — Danish counties 151,100 ; other counties, 149,085. Cornwall 
 (with 5606 persons for its share) is included among the latter. 
 
 ' Turner's Hist. Ang.-Sax. iii. 254. 
 
 ^ In Scotland the term used is still burgh, which, however, is there 
 •Iways pronounced as a word of two syllables, and exactly like the 
 English borough. Thus the name of the capital is a word not of 
 three, but of four syllables, — as Wordsworth has correctly given it, — 
 
 " And stately Edinburgh throned on crags." 
 But the true old Scottish form of the word, also still in familiar use, 
 IS brogh, with the guttural strongly pronounced. 
 
 3 See Jos. Scaliger, Lection. Auson. li. 9. Palgrave's English Com- 
 monwealth, p. 353. — The Burgundiones, or people of Burgundy, are 
 uid to have been so called as being sprung from the sildiers by 
 
 VOL. I. — 52 
 
 Anglo-Saxons appear to have in most instances 
 arisen out of the military stations of their Roman 
 predecessors ; as the places they distinguished by 
 the name of cities had in general, if not always, 
 been Roman towns or civitatcs. All cities, how- 
 ever, came in course of time to be considered as 
 burghs, though only some burghs were cities. 
 
 " It must be clearly understood," observes Sir 
 F. Palgrave, "that a Saxon burgh was nothing 
 more than a hundred, or an assemblage of hun-f 
 dreds, surrounded by a moat, a stoccade, or a wall ; 
 and the name of the hundred was actually given to 
 some of the most considerable cities, burghs, and 
 towns of England. No right was conferred or de- 
 stroyed by the feeble fortification which protected 
 the burgesses ; and the jurisdiction of the burgh- 
 moot or portmoot differed from that possessed by 
 the analogous districts in the open country only 
 in consequence of the police required by a more 
 condensed population, and the institutions, perhaps 
 of Roman origin, which incorporated the trading 
 portions of the community." ' " We must aban- 
 don," the learned writer afterwards remarks, " any 
 conjectures as to the government of the burghs in 
 the earlier periods. We must rest satisfied with 
 the fact that, in the reign of the Confessor, the 
 larger burghs had assumed the form of commu- 
 nities, which, without much impi'opriety, may be 
 described as territorial corporations. The legal 
 character of the burgess arose from his possessions ; 
 it was a real right arising from the qualification 
 which he held. The burgess was the owner of a 
 tenement within the walls, and the possession might 
 descend to his heirs, or be freely ahenated to a 
 stranger. The lawmen of the burgh were so de- 
 nominated in respect of the mansi which each held. 
 . . . . Lawmen occur by name only in the Danish 
 burghs ; but a similar territorial magisti'acy existed 
 in other places. The soke of the aldermen of 
 Canterbury was transferable, like any other inherit- 
 ance ; and the possession of the land imparted to 
 the lord the right of judicature in the burgh-mote 
 or municipal assembly. Such functionaries were 
 lawmen or aldermen by tenure. Other burghs, 
 however, may possibly have possessed an elective 
 magistracy. . • . Nor is it improbable but that the 
 guilds of traders and handicraftsmen possessed con- 
 siderable influence ; and the aldermen of these cor- 
 porations may have been allowed to enter the folk- 
 moot and to share in its proceedings."^ 
 
 Sir Francis proceeds to state that, in the larger 
 and more important cities, the only rights that the 
 king had were to the various payments and services 
 which were imposed upon the municipal commu- 
 nities, and that, provided these were discharged, 
 he had nothing more to demand, he could not exact 
 the oath of fealty from the citizens, nor even enter 
 within their walls without their consent. The only 
 fact, however, which is referred to in proof of these 
 positions is the resistance made to the Conqueroi 
 by the citizens of Exeter, who, as will appear ii- 
 
 whom the Roman forts in that country were occupied. Isidor. Orig 
 ii. 2 and 4. But this etymology has been disputed. 
 
 ' Eiig'ish CymmonweoltVi, p. 103. » IbiJ. p f30.
 
 538 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 the next Book, although they offered to pay to that 
 king the same tribute thoy had paid to his prede- 
 cessors, refused to become his men or vassals. But 
 an act of resistance like this to the Jittack of a foreign 
 invader (for such William might very naturally be | 
 considered in a part of the country which he had 
 not yet overrun) would seem to afford no evidence 
 from which we could safely infer what were the 
 privileges possessed or claimed by the burghs under 
 H government which they completely acknowledged. 
 It is difficult also to understand how the Saxon 
 burghs should have acquired this independence of 
 the royal authority, considering the gradual inanner 
 in which they appear to have grown up to wliat- 
 over importance they actually did attain. It is 
 ndmitted, as we have just seen, that in their origin 
 they were merely certain of the inhabited localities, 
 which either from having been formerly occuj)ied by 
 the Bomans, or from the peculiar natural advan- 
 tages which they presented, came to be surrounded 
 Avith walls, ditches, or some other such protection ; 
 but this visible line of demarkation conferred no pe- 
 culiar character upon the comnmnity which it in- 
 closed. It tended, no doubt, to produce a state of 
 things favorable to the acquisition, by the burgesses, 
 of the right of managing both the police and the 
 internal government generally of their burgh ; but 
 in the absence of any record of so remarkable a 
 revolution, we cannot venture to assume that these 
 walled towns eventually became so many all but 
 independent republics established all over the king- 
 dom, as they would really have been if we can sup- 
 pose them to have held, in relation to the general 
 4^overnment, the position which the men of Exeter 
 took up against William the Conqueror. 
 
 The word town, it is to be observed, convoyed a 
 diftercnt idea, as used by our Saxon ancestors, from 
 what it now does. A town or township (in Saxon 
 'tun, from tynan, to inclose) was very nearly the 
 same with what came after the Conquest to be de- 
 nominated a manor. Sir Francis Palgrave explains 
 the term thus : — " Denoting, in its primary sense, 
 the inclosure which surrounded the mere home- 
 stead or dwelling of the lord, it seems to have been 
 gradually extended to the whole of the land which 
 constituted the domain."' " Every Anglo-Saxon 
 township," he afterwards observes, " was subjected, 
 in demesne, to a superior ; to the sovereign, whe- 
 ther king or eolderman, who succeeded to the very 
 extensive possessions of the British princes ; or to 
 a lord (a hlaford, or landrica). In some few in- 
 stances the township belonged to small corporations, 
 if such a term may be used, whose members held 
 
 the township as a joint property The right of 
 
 the lord of the township was accompanied by the 
 sovereignty of the land. I apply the term sove- 
 reignty, rather than that of ownership, because the 
 euperiority of the township was unquestionably 
 vested in him, although his right of possession does 
 not seem to have extended beyond the demesne or 
 inlands, which he enjoyed in severaltj', and which 
 he cultivated as his own. Another portion of the 
 township consisted of the feuds which be or his 
 
 ' Ecglish Commonwealth, p 65 
 
 predecessors had granted by landboc (or charter) 
 to the Bokemen. Such a benefice, pra;starium, or 
 feud, Avhich jn Anglo-Saxon was denominated a 
 LTien, was usually created for one, two, or three 
 lives, to be nominated by the grantee, after which 
 it reverted to the lord ; and during the existence of 
 those derivative estates, the lord, according to the 
 language of the later law, had only the services and 
 the reversion. Some benefices, however, were 
 granted in perpetuity. Analogous in many respects 
 to the benefices were the lands which were held 
 by the tenants, whether Sokemen or Bondes, by 
 folkright, or customary tenure ; but these do not 
 appear to have been generally subject to devise or 
 alienation. Lastly, every township contained those 
 extensive common fields, or common leasowes, which 
 the law assumed to belong to every town, and of 
 which the usufruct was shared between the lord 
 and the men of the community.' 
 
 The whole country, therefore, it will be observed, 
 was divided into towns, or townships, as well as 
 into hundreds and shires. And the township, as 
 well as the hundreds and shires, constituted in every 
 case, for certain purposes, a community by itself, 
 having a jurisdiction and legislative powers of its 
 own. The chief government belonged to the lord ; 
 but it appears that the court in which it was exer- 
 cised could not be held without the presence of a 
 certain number of the Sokemen or tenants." The 
 deputy of the lord, and the functionary through 
 whom he usually exercised his rights, was the Tun- 
 Gerefa, or Town-Reeve. " No township," says 
 Sir Francis Palgrave, "was without a gerefa, who 
 was allowed, in the folk-moots, or judicial assem- 
 blies, to speak and act on behalf of the Twelf hind- 
 man, who was the lord of the township, and to give 
 such testimony as would have been given by the 
 lord himself: and the right of being so represented 
 was one of the peculiar privileges of the aristocracy. 
 He appears to have been the fiscal officer of the 
 lord : he received the seignorial tolls and dues, and 
 superintended the performance of the agricultural 
 labors of the villainage."^ Yet the gerefa, though 
 thus the officer of the lord, seems to have been 
 usually elected to his office by the tenanti-y. By 
 him, and by four good and lawful men by whom he 
 was attended, the township was represented in the 
 monthly courts of the hundred and the half-yearly 
 courts of the shire. Each township had also the 
 keeping of its own police : when a crime was com- 
 mitted, the inhabitants were required to raise the 
 hue-and-cry, and were bound to enforce the appear- 
 ance of the offender to take his trial. 
 
 These statements, taken in connexion with the 
 notices in a former chapter, of the tithings and the 
 system of frank-pledge,* will enable the reader to 
 understand the general ari'angement of the Anglo- 
 Saxon population, in so far as regards its territorial 
 or local distribution. An account has also been al- 
 ready given of the leading distinctions of rank and 
 political condition by which it was marked. What 
 was properly called the people, was divided into 
 
 ' English Common wealth, p. 66 
 3 Ibid. p. 62 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 79. 
 « Sea aaie, p. 238.
 
 Chap. V^II.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 339 
 
 two great classes — the noble, and the ignoble ; the 
 cori» and the ceorls ; or, as they were designated 
 by a form of expression that denoted the relative 
 estimation in which they were severally held by 
 the law, the Twelfhaendmen and the Twihaend- 
 men — that is, people with a dozen hands each, and 
 people with only a pair each. In this general di- 
 vision, however, we must consider as included in 
 the first class, not only the Eorls, or Eorlcundnien, 
 or Thaneborn, who were, strictly speaking, the 
 men of^ twelve hands, but also the Ealdormen, or 
 persons of the royal blood, upon whom a still higher 
 value was set, and the inferior nobility or gentry, 
 designated Sithcundmen, or Sixhaendmen.' On 
 the other hand, the Twihaendmen were also of 
 various descriptions, or at least were known by 
 various names, although among them no distinction 
 existed in respect of legal estimation. The general 
 name by which they were known was that of Ceorls, 
 the origin of our modern churls.'- In Latin they 
 were called Villani, translated Villains, w'hich prop- 
 erly signifies nothing more than the inliabitants of 
 the villa, that is, of the township, whether it was a 
 village or merely a farm. The word villagers would 
 convey the nearest idea of what was meant by vil- 
 lani to a modern ear. Another name of the Ceorls 
 was Bonds, or Bondsmen, that is, occupants of the 
 soil. Boors, a name by which they were also called, 
 means the same thing. Other descriptions of Ceorls 
 were the Cotsetan, in Latin, Cottarii, that is, cot- 
 tiers, or holders of small tenements ; and Bordarii, 
 a term of which the exact meaning is not known.'' 
 
 Not accounted as at all forming pait of the peo- 
 ple, but deprived of all rights, both political and 
 personal, and classed rather with the cattle than 
 among human beings, were the Theowes, in Latin, 
 servi, which maj' be translated serfs, or slaves, in 
 modern language. The theowes, as has been al- 
 ready observed, were probably, for the most part, 
 persons who had either been convicted of crimes, 
 or captured in war, or their descendants. Some 
 of them may also have been the descendants of the 
 old British cultivators of the soil ; but it is not likely 
 that these were generally reduced to a state of 
 slavery by their conquerors. The Saxon theowes 
 ipoke the same language, and, according to every 
 appearance, were in general of the same race with 
 their masters. 
 
 Although we have not any account that can be 
 depended upon as giving the exact numbers of the 
 different classes of the Anglo-Saxon population, 
 there can be no doubt that by far the most numerous 
 class was tliat of the Ceorls. They formed the 
 great body of the nation, corresponding verj^ nearly 
 in their social, though not in their political position, 
 to the vast mass that came in aftertimes to be 
 
 ' See ante, p. 236. 
 
 s Scolt, in his lulrnUuction to the " Lay of the Last Minstrel," has 
 presened the familiar old rhyming distinction of our Saxon ances- 
 tors: — 
 
 " It was not framed for village churls. 
 But for high dames and mighty earls." 
 
 • P.ilgravc's English Com. p. 17. See also " A General Introdur- 
 Ij«a li> Domcsday-Bocik, by Sir Henry Ellis, K. H." 2 vols. Svo. 1833, 
 pp. 44-94 ; and Sergeant Haywood '• On the Ranks of the People 
 uDiiev the Aoglo Saxon Govenuueiit." Svo, Lon. 1818. 
 
 known by the name of the Commons of England. 
 They are by no means fully represented merely 
 by the class now called the common people. ]f 
 we may be permitted for the moment to regard the 
 theowes as answering to our modern convicts, th(! 
 Ceorls may be considered as comprehending all 
 the rest of the population except the nobility and 
 the clergy. To this class belonged not only those 
 of the laborers, the peasantry, and the artisans, that 
 were not theowes, but also the traders, of all de- 
 scriptions, the farmers, and all the smaller land- 
 holders and owners of tenements, whether in burgh 
 or in the open country. Every lay person, in fact, 
 who was not an eorl was a ceorl. 
 
 As for the clergy, of all orders, they were sub- 
 stantially ranked with the nobility, if we ought not 
 rather to say they were considered as occupying a 
 still higher place in the state. While the compur- 
 gatory oath of one eorl, for instance, was equal to 
 that of only six ceorls, a priest in this matter was 
 considered as equivalent to one hundred and twenty 
 ceorls ; a deacon to sixty ; and a monk who was 
 neither priest nor deacon, to thirty. The word of 
 a bishop, again, like that of the king, was conclusive 
 in itself, and did not require to be supported by the 
 oaths of compurgators. The lowest priest was con- 
 sidered as a mass-thane, that is, a nobleman or 
 knight of rehgion, and had the same degree and 
 honor as the world-thane, with whom he was ranked 
 in the scale of the community.' 
 
 Tacitus bears testimony to the lenity with which 
 the ancient Germans treated their slaves, although 
 he states, at the same time, that when a master 
 chanced to kill his slave, as sometimes happened in 
 the heat of passion, he committed the act Avith im- 
 punity. We have no reason to suppose that the 
 Anglo-Saxons differed in this matter from the cus- 
 tom of their ancestors. Their slave population was 
 not so numerous as to keep them in any state of 
 apprehension from that quarter, or to make great 
 severity or strictness of discipline necessary in the 
 way of self-protection. The number of the servi 
 reckoned up in Domesday Book is only between 
 twenty and thirty thousand ; and it may be fairly 
 assumed that they and their families did not amount 
 to a tenth part of the entire population. We find 
 no trace of any servile insurrection in Anglo-Saxon 
 history. The life of a tlieowe, indeed, was no 
 further protected by law than that of one of the 
 inferior animals ; but he Avas in general worth much 
 more to his master than a cow or an ox, and nearly 
 as much as a horse ; and therefore we may sup- 
 pose the slaves would be on the whole at least as 
 well taken care of as the cattle. It appears, more- 
 over, that this unfortunate class was not deprived 
 of all means and opportunities of acquiring prop- 
 erty-. Fines were imposed upon them, as upon 
 others, for offences, by the laws ; and frequent 
 mention is m<ide of slaves themselves purchasing 
 their freedom. The practice, also, of masters eman- 
 cipating their slaves, sometimes by their wills, some- 
 times in their hfetime, became more and more 
 common as the influence of the church extended 
 
 ' P:tl?ra -e's English Co»r>.. "". 1«4. 165
 
 340 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 itself, and religious feelings spread throughout the 
 community. 
 
 It does not appear that any particular kinds of 
 labor were exclusively assigned to the thcowes. 
 They seem to have been employed in the different 
 handicraft arts as well as in the operations of agri- 
 culture, indifferently with the bondes. The latter, 
 however, from their greatly superior numbers, must 
 have constituted the chief strength of the national 
 industry. While Domesday-Book mentions only 
 about 26,500 servi, it enumerates about 184,000 
 villaai, bondarii, and cotttirii. These must have 
 been all, or nearly all, laborers, partly for them- 
 selves, perhaps, in the cultivation of their small 
 holdings, but principally for the proprietors on 
 whose estates they resided. Every peasant was 
 obliged by the law, if he had not a domicile of his 
 own, to find a householder who would take him 
 into his service, and allow him to become one of 
 his household. The villains who were house- 
 holders were called heorth-fastmen ; the others, 
 folghers, that is, followers. Any householder who 
 allowed a person to pass three nights luider his 
 roof became responsible for the conduct of that 
 person, and seems to have been obliged to retain 
 him, at least for a certain term, as an inmate.' 
 
 Besides all these viilani, and other inferior classes 
 of the peasantry, Domesday-Book notices about 
 26,000 tenentes, subtenentes, and sockmanni, about 
 the half of whom are distinguished as iiberi homines, 
 or freemen. These latter, at least, though counted 
 as still belonging to the class of ceorls, must be 
 supposed to have been exempted from that personal 
 control and adscription to the soil under which the 
 viilani Labored. Above 17,000 burgesses and citi- 
 zens are also enumerated ; but this number, as 
 has been already observed, cannot be taken as that 
 of the entire population of the cities and boroughs 
 throughout the kingdom, nor even as that of the 
 householders. It may be that of the tenants of the 
 crown, or those upon whom the crown had some 
 claim of services on account of their tenements. 
 The cities and burghs, as well as the country, no 
 doubt contained both theowes and persons of each 
 of the various descriptions of ceorls ; and it is prob- 
 able that most of those who practiced the handicraft 
 arts, as well as those engaged in trade, resided in 
 these natural receptacles and sheltering places of 
 collective industry. 
 
 The associations for various purposes, which 
 went by the name of gilds or gildships, have been 
 already alluded to ; they seem to have been common 
 among all classes, and to have been, some of them, 
 of the nature of our modern friendly or benefit 
 rsocieties, while some were mere convivial clubs. 
 <3thers, however, were associations of the traders 
 or artisans of particular kinds in the cities and 
 burghs ; and these appear to have been permanent 
 institutions, which perhaps took their rise fi'om the 
 colleges of operatives in the Roman towns, and 
 may be regarded as perpetuated in the guilds, or 
 incorporated trades, of modern times. As the 
 burghs gradually acquired more and more of the 
 
 1 PaJgiave's Eng]i3h ConnnonvFcalth, p. 20. 
 
 right of self-government, these fraternities or com- 
 panies may be supposed to have obtained a share in 
 the appointment of the municipal officers and the 
 general direction of affairs. 
 
 The feature of the Anglo-Saxon system of so- 
 ciety that appears the most singular to our modern 
 notions is, the existence of a large body of the 
 people in the condition which has been described 
 as that of the viilani, or «diief cultivators of the 
 soil — that is to say, not subject to the control of 
 any master who had a right to regard and use them 
 as his absolute property, but yet so completely 
 destitute of what we understand by freedom, that 
 they had not the power of removing from the 
 estate on which tliey were born, and were trans- 
 ferred with it on every change of proprietors, they 
 and their services together, exactly in the same 
 manner as any other portion of the stock, alive or 
 dead, human or bestial, which happened to be ac- 
 cumulated on its surface. They were bound to the 
 soil, and could no more uproot themselves and 
 withdraw elsewhere, than could the trees that were 
 planted in it. This system seems to have been of 
 great antiquity among the Teutonic nations. The 
 kind of predial slavery which Tacitus describes as 
 existing among the Germans of his time, is plainly 
 nothing more than this villainage of the Anglo- 
 Saxons. " The rest of their slaves," he says, after 
 having noticed those that were freely sold like any 
 other goods, "have not, like ours, particular em- 
 ployments in the family allotted them. Each is 
 the master of a habitation and household of his 
 own. The lord requires from him a certain quan- 
 tity of grain, cattle, or cloth, as from a tenant ; and 
 so far only the subjection of the slave extends." ' 
 It was natural enough for Tacitus to speak of this 
 as a state of slavery ; but it is probable that neither 
 these German viilani nor their lords considered the 
 matter in that light. Tacitus, whose acquaintance 
 with the subject was evidently superficial enough, 
 does not carry his delineation beyond these few 
 general strokes, giving the mere outside view of 
 the case ; but to understand it fully it is necessary 
 to look to it from other points. These Anglo-Saxon 
 viilani could not, indeed, withdraw themselves from 
 the soil to which they were said to be adscribed, 
 nor could they withhold their services from whoso- 
 ever might become by inheritance, by gift, by pur- 
 chase, or in any other legal way, the lord of the 
 manor. This is, in plain language, the whole 
 amount of the obligation under which they lay. 
 They were under the same obligation under which 
 every modern tenant or lessee lies during the cur- 
 rency of his lease, with this difference only, that 
 the latter, provided he continue to pay his rent, 
 may withdraw his person to where he pleases. 
 But his rent he is as strictly bound to continue to 
 pay as the villain of old was to pay his yearly 
 dues, and to render the accustomed services. That 
 these services were often of a menial or otherwise 
 degrading description, or, more correctly, of what 
 would now be considered so, does not affect the 
 principle of the case ; they were suited to the cir- 
 
 ' Germania, c. 25, Aikjo's Transl.
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 341 
 
 cumstiinces of the time, and no doubt the persons 
 bound to perform them would not, in general, have 
 agreed to any proposal of commuting them for 
 money-rents. This, then, we repeat, was the obli- 
 gation lying on the villain ; he was bound to pay 
 certain dues, and to render certain sei'vices to his 
 lord, which there is no reason to suppose were 
 usually felt to be any heavier burden than the pay- 
 ment of rent is felt to be by a tenant of the present 
 day. But had he no rights as well as obligations ? 
 The soil, in truth, was as much his as he was the 
 soil's. If he could not leave it, so neither could he 
 be driven from it. It was his property to occupy, 
 and cultivate, and reap the produce of, as much as 
 his services and dues were the property of his 
 lord. The master could no more sell, or dispossess, 
 or in any other way (except by divesting himself of 
 the land) get rid of his villain than the villain could 
 get rid of his master. There can be no doubt that 
 even those of this class of persons who possessed 
 the smallest tenements considered themselves 
 better off, with all the services they had to render, 
 than if they had been without both the services 
 and the tenements. With our modern feelings, 
 we think only of the villain as being born to a life- 
 time of hopeless bondage — he, and his children, 
 and all his descendants after him; he, we may be 
 sure, looked upon himself and them as born to the 
 inheritance of a property of which no one could 
 deprive them. Of what real advantage would it 
 have been to the villain in that state of society to 
 possess the liberty of tranferring his person and 
 his residence from one property or one part of the 
 kingdom to another ? If the law had allowed him 
 such a liberty, the circumstances of the times 
 would have made it, in general, almost impossible 
 for him to exercise it. To whom could he have 
 gone, or who would have received him, if he had 
 left his natural lord ? We have no reason to 
 suppose that the services of the villains were, in 
 general, accounted more than an equivalent for 
 their holdings, or that, consequently, one lord 
 would have usually been inclined to outbid another 
 in a competition to obtain them. The case was 
 most probably quite otherwise. These men were 
 originally the military followers of their lord, who 
 settled them upon his lands because they had a 
 claim upon him for their services, and because, 
 from the relation in which thej' stood to him, he 
 was held to be bound to provide for them. The 
 arrangement was, indeed, to a certain extent, a 
 beneficial and necessary one for him as well as for 
 them — since, if they required the land to live upon, 
 the land required them to cultivate it ; but the 
 circumstances of the case certainly would not have 
 admitted of their interests being entirely sacrificed 
 to those of their lord ; and we may fiiirly presume 
 that both parties shared, however unequally, in 
 the advantages of the transaction. The former 
 inhabitants would, no doubt, have been glad to 
 remain to cultivate the ground ; but although we 
 may not suppose them, with some, to have been in 
 eveiy case altogether swept away to make room for 
 their conquerors, it cannot be questioned that they 
 
 were obliged to give place to the new-comers to a 
 very great extent. Had they not, the conquest oi 
 the country would have alforded no means oi 
 rewarding those by whom it was achieved. 
 
 Nothing has vai-ied more than the notions that 
 have been entertained in different ages and coun- 
 tries respecting what it is that constitutes the 
 freedom of a nation, or of a class of men. It is 
 evident that freedom and slavery are not two con- 
 ditions essentially and at all points opposed to eacli 
 other, as they are commonly represented by the 
 rhetoricians, but that the one rather melts by 
 almost imperceptible gradations into the other, and 
 that there is a considerable border space which 
 may be indifferently, or, according to the point of 
 view from which it is regarded, considered as 
 either slavery or freedom. It is like the distinction 
 between high and low, or between great and small, 
 or any other qualities of a similar kind, which, 
 although opposed in a sufificiently marked manner 
 in their higher degrees, yet lie, in fact, as it were, 
 in the same continuous Une, of which, notwith- 
 standing the wide separation of the extremities, 
 the middle portion must always be of debatable 
 character, and assignable to either. Rigidly speak- 
 ing, a nation or a class of persons is not entitled to 
 call itself free, so long as it lies under any restraint 
 whatever from which it might be relieved, or is 
 deprived of any right which it might be allowed to 
 exercise, without prejudice to the common safety 
 and welfere. But even this point does not admit 
 of being determined by any infallible and universal 
 formula, in so many respects have the actual cir- 
 cumstances of one age and country differed from 
 those of another, and such disagreement will there 
 always be in the judgments and opinions of men a.s 
 to these questions. Nor below the point thus fixed 
 upon, although it may be denied that there is any- 
 thing that can properly be called freedom, will it be 
 affirmed that there is nothing but slavery. In fact, 
 whatever freedom, or so-called freedom, has been 
 hitherto enjoyed by men in political society, has 
 probably been for the most part something inferior 
 to what the above definition would consider to bo 
 freedom at all. Still it may be quite as properly 
 spoken of under the name of freedom as under that 
 of slavery ; for in truth it is a mixture of the two. 
 It will be naturally in each case regarded as slavery 
 or freedom, according as the one or the other of 
 these conditions is conceived to preponderate ; and 
 if there appear to be any considerable quantity of 
 freedom at all present, it will be described as a 
 state of freedona more or less complete. But yet 
 different ages and countries, not to speak of dif- 
 ferent individuals, will not always demand the 
 presence of the same elements to constitute free- 
 dom of any kind. Sometimes this prized posses- 
 sion will be conceived to consist in political privilege 
 — sometimes in exemption from personal restraint 
 — sometimes in mere security of person and prop- 
 erty. 
 
 It was this last-mentioned and lowest kind of 
 freedom which was enjoyed by the villains of the 
 Anglo-Saxon period. They were subjected to
 
 342 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book II. 
 
 many restrictions and burdens which we should 
 now account of the most oppressive character ; but 
 still they were not held to be in a state of slavery, 
 because, with ail their privations, the law yet threw 
 its full protection around both their persons and 
 their property. It treated tliem as persons and not 
 as things. They were no man's property to do as 
 he cliose with. They were, it is true, inseparable 
 from the soil of the estate on which they lived, and 
 •dS a matter of necessitj, therefoie, when the estate 
 received a new owner they received a new lord ; a 
 modern tenant in the same manner n^ceives a new 
 landlord whenever the farm whidi he rents is trans- 
 ferred from one proprietor to another, as it may be 
 at any time, without any more right on his part to 
 object or interfere than had the Saxon villain. But 
 the villain could not himself be sold, as the theowe 
 might be ; nor could any of the rights appertaining 
 to his condition, such as they were, be disregarded 
 with impunity, any more tlian those of the classes 
 of persons that were higher in the social scale. He 
 may have had no poHtical rights, and even his 
 social rights may have been extremely limited : 
 but the slave, properly so called, had no rights of 
 any kind. He was, at least in the original purity 
 of the system, a mere item of his master's stock — a 
 portion of his goods and chattels. 
 
 Sir Francis Palgrave has advanced the opinion, 
 that " perhaps the essential distinction between the 
 classes of the nobility and the plebeians, was the 
 entire absence of political power in the ceorls." ' 
 Little doubt, we imagine, can be entertained that 
 those of the ceorls who were in a state of villainage 
 Were wholly destitute of political power ; and this 
 «;lass seems to have constituted by far the largest 
 portion of the population ; but the assertion of the 
 learned writer may perhaps be thought not to be 
 so indisputably applicable to those of the teuentes, 
 subtenentes, and sockmanni of Domesday-Book, 
 who are there marked as freemen (liberi homines). 
 These were ceorls who certainly at least were not 
 villains ; and it seems to be not unlikely that along 
 with their freedom from adscription to the soil they 
 had acquired some other franchises. 
 
 The period over which we have now passed, 
 though exhibiting many features of a state of society 
 only yet emerging from barbarism, is a most im- 
 portant one, as having been that in which were 
 first brought together the germs of modern Euro- 
 pean civilization. A foreign writer of our own 
 day, to whose learned and jihilosophical speculations 
 we have already had more than once occasion to 
 refer, has given a view of it in this light, which is 
 in several respects novel and well deserving of 
 attention.* Though a chaos, he observes, it was a 
 chaos out of which was to spring all of order, and 
 light, and life, which our present civilization has to 
 boast of. The three elements of that civilization 
 may be regarded as being the Roman world, the 
 Christian world, and the Germanic world. 
 
 I. The working of the two latter of these ele- 
 •jnents, having been more on the surface, has been 
 
 1 English Com. p. 19. 
 
 * Guizot, Kist. de la Civilis. en France. 
 
 less overlooked than that of the first. Never- 
 theless, the first has been no less active, no less 
 influential, than the other. M. de Savigny, in his 
 history of the Roman law after the fall of the 
 empire, has proved that the Roman law never 
 perished, but that, though with groat modification* 
 undoul)tedly, it was perpetuated from the fifth to 
 the fifteenth century. 31. Guizot has gone further, 
 lie has, to use his own words, •' generalized this 
 result." lie has shown that not only in nmnicipal 
 institutions and civil laws, but in politics, in philoso- 
 phy, in literature — in a word, in all departments of 
 social and intellectual hfe, the Roman civilization 
 has been perpetuated bejond the empire ; that 
 there is no break in the continuity; in a word, 
 that tli-e modern is throughout still, to a consider- 
 able degree, the prolongation of the ancient civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 We have already touched upon the subjects of 
 the imperial power and the municipal institutions, 
 j — in other words, of what modern civilization 
 derived from ancient in a social point of view ; it 
 I remains to say a few words of what it received in 
 I an intellectual point of view from Greco-Roman 
 I antiquity. 
 
 INI. Guizot considers it as a fact, though far too 
 j little attended to, of immense importance, that the 
 principle of liberty of thought, the principle of all 
 philosophy, reason taking itself as a point to ^tait 
 from and as a guide, is an idea essentially the 
 I offspring of antiquity, an idea which modern society 
 I derives from Greece and Rome. It came neither 
 from Christianity nor from Germany, for it was 
 contained in neither of these elements of our civili- 
 I zation. Another intellectual legacy left by the 
 j Roman civilization to ours is that of the classical 
 I works of antiquity. Spite of the general ignorance 
 I that pervaded the middle ages, spite of the confu- 
 sion and barbarism attendant upon the corruption 
 of the Latin language, the ancient literature has 
 always been held up to the mind as a worthy object 
 of admiration, of study, of imitation ; in a word, 
 as the type of the beautiful. The philosophical 
 spirit and the classical spirit, the principle of free- 
 dom of thought and the model of the beautiful, 
 these were what the Roman world handed down to 
 the modern world, what survived it in the intel- 
 lectual order of things at the end of the tenth 
 century. 
 
 II. The effects of Christianity under the intel- 
 lectual point of view are so important, as they have 
 been developed by M. Guizot, that they desei-ve 
 1 especial consideration. 
 
 I Most of the philosophers, whether of the most 
 ] brilliant era of Greek antiquit}', or of later times, 
 I under the Roman empire, pursued their specu- 
 lations nearly in perfect freedom. The statfe 
 scarcely interfered either to check or control them. 
 They, on their part, meddled little with politics; 
 sought little to exercise a direct and immediate 
 influence on the society in the midst of which they 
 lived ; satisfied with that indirect, remote influence 
 which belongs to every great mind placed in the 
 midst of mankind. With the triumph of Chria-
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 COxXDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 343 
 
 tianity in the Roman world the intellectual devel- 
 opment changed its character : what was philoso- 
 phy became religion — the form of thought became 
 religion. Fi-om that time it aimed at much more 
 power over human affairs. The spiritual order con- 
 tinued, indeed, to be separate from the temporal order. 
 The government of nations was not directly and fully 
 handed over to the clergy. But the spiritual pene- 
 trated much further into the temporal order of things 
 than was the case in the Greek and Roman antiquity. 
 From this, resulted another change, not less im- 
 portant. As human thought, under the religious 
 form, aspired to more power over the conduct of 
 men and the destiny of nations, it lost its liberty. 
 But when, after a long time, the religious form 
 ceased to have an exclusive dominion in human 
 thought, the philosophical development recom- 
 menced. What was the consequence ? Philoso- 
 phy made the same pretensions to practical inter- 
 ference that religion had done ; or, more accurately 
 speaking, thought, having again become philosophi- 
 cal, retained the pretensions which it had assumed 
 under the religious form. Philosophy aspired to do 
 what religion did — with this difference, however — 
 that while it wished to govern mankind, it refused 
 to submit to a legal yoke. " The union," says M. 
 Guizot, "of intellectual liberty, as it existed in 
 antiquity, and of intellectual power, as it displayed 
 itself in Christian communities, is the gi'and, the 
 original character of modern civilization ; and it is 
 undoubtedly in the bosom of the revolution accom- 
 plished by Christianity in the relations of the spir- 
 itual and temporal orders, of thouglit and the 
 
 exterior world, that this new revolution had its 
 origin and its first vantage ground." '■ 
 
 III. The two principles, or rather the two germs 
 of principles furnished by Germany, were the tribe 
 formed of all the heads of families who were pro- 
 prietors, and governed by an assembly of free men ; 
 and the band of warriors, where the individual was 
 still very free, but where the social principle was 
 no longer the equality of free men, and common 
 deliberation, but the patronage of a chief over his 
 companions ; and if we consider the system of 
 social organization, it was fitted to produce aristo- 
 cratic and military subordination. 
 
 The principle of the common deliberation of free- 
 men may be said to have disappeared in the Roman 
 world. The principle of aristocratic patronage, com- 
 bined with a strong infusion of liberty, had become 
 equally unknown. Both these elements of our social 
 and political organization are of Germanic, or, to 
 speak specifically of England, of Saxon origin. 
 
 The two grand results that specially demand 
 consideration are these: 1. The unbroken conti- 
 nuity, though undoubtedly much weakened and 
 modified, of ancient civilization down into modern. 
 2. The total want, both in the social and intellectual 
 order of things, from the fifth to the tenth century^ 
 of any stability, of anything systematic, of anything 
 fixed, general, regular. The general fact we meet 
 with is a continual, universal fluctuation. It is, in 
 truth, the work going on of the fermentation and 
 amalgamation of the three great elements of modern 
 civilization. 
 
 ' Hist, de la Civilis. en France torn. iii. p. 197.
 
 [The Border is from a Saxon MS. in the British Museum.]
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 845 
 
 Great Seal of William the Conqckror. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 NARRATIVE OF CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 WILLIAM I., SURNAMED THE CONqUEROR. 
 
 HE first feelings of the 
 Normans after the bat- 
 tle of Hastings seem 
 to have been sensations 
 of triumph and joy, 
 amounting almost to a 
 delirium. They are rep- 
 represented by a con- 
 temporary^ as making 
 their horses to prance 
 and bound over the 
 thickly strewed bodies 
 of the Anglo-Saxons ; 
 after which they pro- 
 ceeded to rifle them 
 and despoil them of their clothes. By William's 
 orders the space was cleared round the pope's 
 
 - William of Poictiers. This writer asserts, that although Harold's 
 mother oflered its weight in gold fur the dead body of her son, the 
 stem victor was deaf to her request, professing indignation at the 
 proposal that he should enjoy the rites of sepulture for whose ex- 
 cessive cupidity so many men lay unburied. Harold, it is added, was 
 buried on the beach. Most of the English historians, however, say 
 that the body was given to his mother without ransom, and interred 
 by her in Waltham Abbey, which had been founded by Harold before 
 he was king. The Cottonian MS.. Julius D. 6, which appears to have 
 been written in Waltham Abbey about a century after the event, 
 relates that two monks, who were allowed by William to search for 
 the body, were unable to distinguish it among the heaps of slain, 
 until they sent for Harold's mistress Editlia, "the swan-necked," 
 whose eye of affection was not to be eluded or deceived. The im- 
 probable story told by Giraldus Cambrensis (and in more detail in the 
 Harleian MS. 3776) about Harold, after receiving his wound, having 
 escaped from the battle, and living for some years as an anchorite in a 
 cell near St. John's Church, in Chester, though a pretty enough 
 romance, is palpably undeserving of notice in an historical point of 
 view. 
 
 Standard, which he had set up ; and there his tent 
 was pitched, and he feasted with his followers 
 amongst the dead. The critical circumstances in 
 which he had so recently been placed, and the difli- 
 culties which still lay before him, disposed the mind 
 of the Conqueror to serious thoughts. Not less, per- 
 haps, in gratitude for the past than in the hope that 
 such a work would procure him heavenly favor for 
 the future, he solemnly vowed that he would erect 
 a splendid abbey on the scene of this, his first victory; 
 and when, in process of time, this vow was accom- 
 plished, the high altar of the abbey church stood on 
 the very spot where the standard of Harold had 
 been planted and thrown down. The exterior walls 
 embraced the whole of the hill, — the centre of their 
 position which the bravest of the English had cov- 
 ered with their bodies, — and all the surrounding 
 country where the scenes of the combat had passed, 
 became the property of the holy house, which was 
 called in the Norman or French language, VAhhaye 
 (le la BataiUe, and was dedicated to St. Martin, 
 the patron of the soldiers of Gaul. Monks, invited 
 from the great convent of Marmontier, near Tours, 
 took up their residence in the new edifice. They 
 were well endowed with the property of the English 
 who had died in the battle, and prayed alike for the 
 repose of the souls of those victims and for the pros- 
 perity and long life of the Normans who had killed 
 them.' The Abbot of Battle was declared to be in- 
 dependent of the authority of the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury and all other prelates, and was invested 
 with archiepiscopal jurisdiction, and honored with 
 
 I Thierry.
 
 310 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III 
 
 ^r 
 
 Battle Abbey as it appeared about 150 years since. — (In the case of an old building, of which only the rums now remain, the cut will 
 generally represent the building in the most perfect state in which an authentic engraving or drawing of it can be obtained.) 
 
 other peculiar privileges. In the archives of the 
 house was deposited a long roll, on which were in- 
 scribed the names of the nobles and gentlemen of 
 mark, who came with the Conqueror and survived 
 tlie battle of Hastings.^ 
 
 The most sanguine of the Normans, in common 
 with the most despondent among the English, ex- 
 pected that immediately after the battle of Hastings 
 the Conqueror would march straight to London and 
 make himself master of that capital. But the first 
 move was a retrograde one ; nor did William esta- 
 bhsh himself in the capital until more than two 
 months had passed. While the army of Harold 
 kept the field at Senlac, or Battle, several new 
 ships, with reinforcements, came over from Nor- 
 mandy to join William. Mistaking the proper place 
 for landing, the commanders of these vessels put in 
 to Romney, where they were at once assaulted and 
 beaten by the people of the coast. William learned 
 this unpleasant news the day after his victory, and 
 to save the other recruits, whom he still expected, 
 from a similar disaster, he resolved before proceed- 
 ing further to make himself master of all the south- 
 eastern coast. He turned back, therefore, from 
 Battle to Hastings, at which latter place he stayed 
 some days awaiting his transports from beyond sea, 
 
 1 The original roll of Battle Abbey is lost ; but some copies have 
 been preserved, from whioh the document has been repeatedly 
 printed. It is believed, however, that these pretended transcripts 
 are far from faithful, and that, beside other corruptions, many names 
 have been inserted in later times by the monks of the abbey, to gratify 
 families or individuals that wished to make it appear they were sprung 
 from followers of the Conqueror. 
 
 and hoping, it is said, that his presence would induco 
 the population of those parts to make voluntary sub- 
 mission. At length, seeing that no one came to ask 
 for peace, William resumed his march witli the rem- 
 nant of his army and the fresh troops which had ar- 
 rived in the interval from Normandy. The amount 
 of this seasonable reinforcement is nowhere men- 
 tioned, but there are good reasons for believing that 
 it must have been considerable. He kept close to the 
 sea-coast, marching from south to north, and spread- 
 ing devastation on his passage. He took a savage 
 vengeance at Romney for the reverse his troops had 
 sustained there, by massacring the inhabitants and 
 burning their houses. From Romney he advanced 
 to Dover, the strongest place on the coast, — " the 
 lock and key of all England," as Holinshed calls it. 
 With little or no opposition, he burst into the town, 
 which his troops set fire to ; and the strong castle, 
 which the son of Godwin had put into an excellent 
 state of defence, was so speedily surrendered to him 
 that a suspicion of treachery- rests on the Saxon 
 commander. The capture of this fortress was most 
 opportune and important, for a dreadful dysentery 
 had broken out in the Norman army, and a safe re- 
 ceptacle for the sick had become indispensable. 
 Dover Castle also commanded the best landing- 
 place for troops from the Continent, and William 
 was not yet so sure of his game as not to look anx- 
 iously for a place of retreat on the coast in case of 
 meeting with reverses in the interior. He spent 
 eight or nine days in strengthening the cistle and 
 repairing some of the damage done to the town by
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 347 
 
 his lawless so.diery. Meanwhile, in order to con- 
 ciliate the inhabitants, he made them some compen- 
 sation for the losses and injm-ies they had sustained; 
 and in the same interval he received more recruits 
 from Normandy. The historian who would pretend 
 to write a complete and consecutive account of these 
 obscure times must have recourse to his imagination, 
 or to some hitherto undiscovered documents, for the 
 chronicles and original documents we possess will 
 not enable him to accomplish such a task. In the 
 particular transactions we are relating, the naval 
 forces ought to have had some share, more or less 
 important, but we have no means of telling what 
 steps were taken either by the English or the Nor- 
 man fleet. Just before the battle of Hastings, the 
 former of these blockaded the latter. Did the de- 
 feat and death of Harold induce the English seamen 
 to disperse ? or did they from that moment place 
 themselves under the command of Godwin and Ed- 
 mund, Harold's sons, who certainly reappeared, with 
 a considerable portion of the English navy, against 
 William in the course of the following year 1 Ac- 
 cording to some accounts, William burnt his ships 
 at his first landing in England : the whole story is 
 doubtful ; but, at most, he could only have destroyed 
 the rude vessels he had hastily constructed for the 
 passage. What became of the better class of ships 
 which were mainly supplied by his great lords and 
 the foreign princes in alliance with him ? Did 
 these latter return to their own ports as soon as the 
 English raised the blockade ? or did they sail round 
 the coast and enter the Thames, cooperating with 
 William in his advance, and making diversions in 
 his favor ? No jiositive answer can be given to these 
 queries. 
 
 When the Conqueror moved from Dover, he 
 ceased to creep cautiously roimd the coast, but pen- 
 etrating into Kent, marched direct to London. A 
 confused story is told by some of our early historians 
 about a popular resistance organized by Archbishop 
 Stigand and the Abbot Egelnoth, in which the men 
 of Kent, advancing like the army of Macduft' and 
 Siward against Macbeth, under the cover of cut- 
 down trees and boughs, disputed the passage of the 
 Normans, and, with arms in their hands, exacted 
 from them terms most favorable to themselves 
 and the part of England they occupied. But the 
 plain truth seems to be, that, overawed by the re- 
 cent catastrophe of Hastings, and the presence of a 
 compact and numerous army, the inhabitants of 
 Kent made no resistance, and meeting William with 
 offers of submission, placed hostages in his hands, 
 and so obtained mild treatment. 
 
 During these calamities, the Saxon Witan had 
 assembled in London to deliberate and provide for 
 the future ; but evidently, as far as the lay portion 
 of the meeting was concerned, with no intention of 
 submitting to the Conqueror. The first care that 
 occupied their thoughts was to elect a successor to 
 the throne. Either of Harold's brave brothers, at 
 such a crisis, when valor and military skill were the 
 qualities most wanted, might probably have com- 
 manded a majority of suffiages ; but they had both 
 fought their last fight; and, owing to their youth, 
 
 their inexperience, their want of popularity, or to 
 some other circumstance, the two sons of Harold 
 seem never to have been thought of. Many voices 
 would have supported Morcar or Edwin, the pow- 
 erful brothers-in-law of Harold, who had already an 
 almost sovereign authority in Northumbria and Mer- 
 cia ; but the citizens of London, and the men of the 
 south of England generall}% preferred young Edgar 
 Atheling, the imbecile son of Edmund Ironside, 
 who had been previously set aside on account of his 
 little worth ; and when Stigand the primate, and 
 Aldred the Archbishop of York, threw their weight 
 into this scale, it outweighed the others, and Edgar 
 was proclaimed king. It should seem, however, 
 that even at this stage, many of the bishops and dig- 
 nified clergymen, who were even then Frenchmen 
 or Normans, raised their voice in fovor of William, 
 or let fall hints that were all meant to favor his pre- 
 tensions. The pope's bull and banner could n-ot be 
 without their effect, and, motives of interest and 
 policy apart, some of these ecclesiastics may have 
 conscientiously beheved they were performing their 
 duty in promoting the cause of the elect of Rome. 
 Others there Avere who were notoriously bought 
 over, either by money paid beforehand or by pro- 
 mises of future largess. 
 
 The party that ultimately prevailed in the Witan 
 did not carry their point until much precious time 
 had been consumed ; nor could the blood of Cerdic, 
 Alfred, and Edmund, make the king of their choice 
 that rallying point which conflicting factions re- 
 quired, or a hero capable of facing a victorious in- 
 vader, advancing at the head of a more powerful 
 army than England could hope to raise for some 
 time. In fact, Edgar was a mere cipher ; a strip- 
 ling incapable of government as of war, — with no- 
 thing populiir about him except his descent. The 
 Primate Stigand took his place at the council board, 
 and the military command was given to earls Edwin 
 and Morcar. A very few acts of legal authority had 
 been performed in the name of Edgar, when Wil- 
 liam of Normandy appeared before the southern 
 suburb of London. If the Normans had expected 
 to take the capital by a coup-de-mahi, and at once, 
 they were disappointed ; the Londoners were very 
 warlike ; and the population of the city, great even 
 in those diiys, was much increased by the presence 
 of the thanes and chiefs of all the neighboring coun- 
 ties, who had come in to attend the Witan, and had 
 brought their servants and followers with them. 
 After making a successful charge with 500 of his 
 best horse against some citizens who were gathered 
 on that side of the river, William set fire to South- 
 wark, and marched away from London with the 
 determination of ravaging the country around it, 
 destroying the property of the thanes who had as- 
 sembled at the Witan, and, by interrupting all com- 
 munication, inducing the well-defended capital to 
 surrender. Detachments of his army were soon 
 spread over a wide tract ; and in burning towns and 
 villages, and the massacre of men armed and men 
 unarmed, and in the violation of helpless females, 
 the people of Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, and Berk- 
 shire, were made to feel the full signification of a
 
 348 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [3ooK III. 
 
 Norman conquest. William crossed the Thames at 
 Wallingford, near to which place he established an 
 entrenched camp, where a division of his army was 
 left in order to cut otl" any succors that miglit be 
 sent towards London from the west. This done, 
 he proceeded across Buckinghamshire into Ilert- 
 Ibrdshire, " slaying the people," till he came to 
 Berkhampstead, where he took up a position in 
 order to interrupt all communication with London 
 from the north. The capital, indeed, at this time 
 seems to have been girded round by the enemy, 
 and afflicted by the prospect of aijsolute famine. 
 Nor were there wanting other causes of discour- 
 agement. The earls Edwin and Morcar showed 
 little zeal in the command of the weak, and, as yet, 
 unorganized army, and soon withdrew towards the 
 Humber, taking with them all the soldiers of Nor- 
 thumbria and Mercia, who constituted the best part 
 of King Edgar's forces, but who looked to the earls 
 much more than to the king. These two sons of 
 Alfgar probably hoped to be able to maintain them- 
 selves in independence in the north, where, in re- 
 ality, they at a later period renewed and greatly 
 prolonged the contest with the Normans. Their 
 departure had a baneful effect in London ; and 
 while the spirit of the citizens waxed fainter and 
 fainter, the partisans and intriguers for William, 
 encouraged at every move by the prevalent faction 
 among the clergj', raised their hopes and extended 
 their exertions. 
 
 After some time, however, earls Morcar and 
 Edwin appear to have returned to the capital. 
 On many an intermediate step the chroniclers are 
 provokingly silent : but at last it was determined 
 that a submissive deputation shoidd be sent from 
 London to Berkhampstead; and King Edgar him- 
 self, the Primate Stigand, Aldred, Archbishop of 
 York, Wolfstan, Bishop of Worcester, with other 
 prelates and lay chiefs, among whom the Saxon 
 chronicler expressly names the two earls of North- 
 umbria and Mercia, and many of the principal 
 citizens, repaired to William, who received them 
 with an outward show of moderation and kind- 
 ness. It is related that w'hen the man whom he 
 most hated, as the friend of Harold and the ener- 
 getic enemy of the Normans, that when Stigand 
 came into his presence, he saluted him with the 
 endearing epithets of father and bishop. The 
 puppet-king Edgar made a verbal renunciation of 
 the throne, and the rest swore allegiance to the 
 Conqueror ; the bishops swearing for the whole 
 body of the clergy, the chiefs for the nobility, and 
 the citizens for the good city of London.^ During 
 a part of this singular audience, William pretended 
 to have doubts and misgivings as to the propriet}" 
 of -his ascending the vacant throne ; but these 
 hypocritic expressions were drowned in the loud 
 acclamations of his Norman barons, who felt that 
 the crown of England was on the point of their 
 
 1 "Bugon tha for neode," says the Saxon Chronicle, " tha maest 
 waes to hearm gedon ; and thaet waes mir-el unread thaet man aeror 
 swa ne dyde tha hit god betan nolde for urum syniium." (They 
 submitted them fur need, when the most harm was done. It was very 
 ill advised that they did not so before, seeing that God would not 
 lietter things for our sins.— Ingram's Translation.) 
 
 swords. Having taken oaths of fidelity and peace, 
 the Saxon deputies left hostages with the Norman, 
 who, on his side, promised to be mild and merciful 
 to all men. On the following morning the foreign- 
 ers began their march towards London, plunder- 
 ing, murdering, and burning, just as before.' They 
 took their way through St. Albans. On approach- 
 ing that place William found his passage stopped 
 by a multitude of great trees which had been 
 felled and laid across the road. The Conqueror 
 sent for the Abbot of St. Albans, and demanded 
 why these barriers were raised in his jurisdiction ? 
 The abbot, Frithric or Frederic, who descended 
 from nol)le Saxon blood, as also from King Caimte 
 the Dane, answered boldly, "I have done the duty 
 appertaining to my birth and calling; and if others 
 of my rank and profession had performed the like, 
 as they well could and ought, it had not been in 
 thy power to penetrate into the land thus far."* 
 Even now William did not enter London in per- 
 son, but sending on part of his army to build a 
 forti"ess for his reception, he encamped with the 
 rest at some distance from the city. This fortress, 
 which was built on the site, and probably included 
 part of a Roman castle, grew giadually, in after 
 times, into the Tower of London. Some accounts 
 state that William's vanguard was hostilely en- 
 gaged by the citizens, but according to others they 
 met with no resistance, and were permitted to 
 raise their fortifications without any serious moles- 
 tation. 
 
 As soon as the Normans had finished his strong- 
 hold, William took possession of it, and then they 
 fixed his coronation for a few days after. The 
 Conqueror is said to have objected to the jierform- 
 ance of this ceremony while so large a part of the 
 island was independent of his authority ; and he 
 certainly hoped, by delaying it, to obtain a more 
 formal consent from the Englisli nation, or some- 
 thing like a Saxon election, which would be a 
 better title in the eyes of the people than the right 
 of conquest. Little, however, was gained by delay; 
 and the coronation, which, for the sake of greater 
 solemnity, took place on Christmas-day, was ac- 
 companied by accidents and circumstances highly 
 irritating to the people. It is stated, on one side, 
 that William invited the Primate Stigand to per- 
 form the rites, and that Stigand refused to erown 
 a man " covered with the blood of men, and the 
 invader of others' rights."' Although there might 
 have been some policy in making this great cham- 
 pion of the Saxon cause hallow the conqueror, 
 it does not appear i)robable that William would 
 ask this service of one who was lying under the 
 severe displeasure of Rome ; and it is said, on the 
 other side, that he refused to be consecrated by 
 Stigand, and conferred that honor on Aldred, Arch- 
 bishop of York, whom some of the chroniclers 
 describe as a wise and prudent man, who under- 
 stood the expediency of accommodating himself to 
 circumstances. The new Abbey of Westminster, 
 the last work of Edward the Confessor, was chosen 
 
 ' Roger Hoveden.— Chron. Sax. 
 
 3 Will, of Newbury 
 
 2 Stow, Chron.
 
 CllAP. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 349 
 
 RS the place for the coronation of our first Norman 
 king. The suburbs, the streets of London, and 
 all the approaches to the abbey, were lined with 
 double rows of soldiers, horse and foot. The Con- 
 queror rode through the ranks, and entered the 
 abbey church, attended by 260 of his warlike 
 chiefs, by many priests and monks, and a consid- 
 erable number of English, who had been gained 
 over to act a part in the pageantry. At the open- 
 ing of the ceremony one of William's prelates, 
 Geoffrey, the Bishop of Coutances, asked the Nor- 
 mans, in the French Language, if they were of 
 opinion that their chief should take the title of 
 King of England ? and then the Archbishop of 
 York asked the English if they would have Wil- 
 liam the Norman for their king ? The reply on 
 either side was given by acclamation in the affirm- 
 ative, and the shouts and cheers thus raised were 
 60 loud that they startled the foreign cavalry sta- 
 tioned round the abbey. The troops took the con- 
 fused noise for a cry of alarm raised by their friends, 
 and, as they had received orders to be on the alert 
 and ready to act in case of any seditious move- 
 ment, they rushed to the English houses nearest 
 the abbey, and set fire to them all. A few, think- 
 ing to succor their betrayed duke and the nobles 
 they served, ran to the church, where, at sight 
 of their naked swords, and the smoke and flames 
 that were rising, the tumult soon became as great 
 as that without its walls. The Normans fancied 
 the whole population of London and its neigh- 
 borhood had risen against them; the English im- 
 agined that they had been duped by a vain show, 
 and drawn together unarmed and defenceless, that 
 they might be massacred. Both parties ran out 
 of the abbey, and the ceremony was interrupted, 
 though William, trembling from head to foot, and 
 left almost alone in the church, or with none but 
 the Archbishop Aldred and some terrified priests of 
 both nations near him at the altar, decidedly refused 
 to postpone the celebration. The service was there- 
 fore completed amidst these bad auguries, but in 
 the utmost hurry and confusion, and the Conqueror 
 took the usual coronation oath of the Anglo-Saxon 
 kings, making, as an addition of his own, the 
 Bolemn promise that he would treat the English 
 people as well as the best of their kings had done.' 
 Meanwhile the commotion without continued, and 
 it is not mentioned at what hour of the day or night 
 the conflagration ended. The English, who had been 
 at the abbey, ran to extinguish the fire, — the Nor- 
 mans, it is said, to plunder, and otherwise profit by 
 the disorder; but it appears that some of the latter 
 exerted themselves to stop the pi'ogress of the flames, 
 and to put an end to a riot peculiarly unpalatable to 
 their master, whose anxious wish was certainly, at 
 that time, to conciliate the two nations. At this, as 
 at several subsequent stages of the conquest, William 
 could not prevent the wrongs done by his disorderly 
 and rapacious soldiery, who gave but slight tokens 
 of that superiority in civilization which has so gen- 
 erally been challenged for the Normans. 
 
 ' Guil. Pictav.—Orderic. Vital.— Chron. Sax. Orderic says "Tre 
 pu'anies, super rrgem vehcmcnter t/emcntcm, i>t1icium vijt peregerunt.'" 
 
 Soon after his inauspicious coronation William 
 withdrew from London to Barking, where he es- 
 tablished a court which gradually attracted many of 
 the nobles of the south of England. Edric, sur- 
 named the Forester, Coxo, a warrior of high re- 
 pute, and others, are named ; and as WiUiam ex- 
 tended his authority, and laid aside the harshness 
 of a conqueror, even the thanes and the gi-eat earls 
 from the north, where the force of his arms was 
 not yet felt, repaired to do him homage. Turchil, 
 Siward, and Aldred, all northern chiefs of the 
 highest rank, are mentioned by a contemporary 
 chronicler, as among those that presented them- 
 selves to perform the same painfxil ceremony which 
 had previously been submitted to by earls Edwiu 
 and Morcar, the brothers-in-law of the late king. 
 In return for the homage thus rendered, William 
 granted them the confirmation of their estates and 
 honors, which he had not at present the power to 
 seize or invade. It appears that the Conqueror'^ 
 first seizures and confiscations, after the crown 
 lands, were the domains of Harold and his brothers 
 Gurth and Leofwin, and the lands and property of 
 such of the English chiefs as were either very 
 weak, or unpopular, or indifferent to the nation. 
 But, even thus limited, the spoils of the south are 
 represented as prodigious. 
 
 Edgar Atheling, whose moral nulhty secured 
 him from suspicion and danger, was an inmate of 
 the new court, and William, knowing he was cher- 
 ished by many of the English on account of his 
 descent, pretended to treat him with great respect, 
 and left him the earldom of Oxford, which Harold 
 had conferred on him when he ascended the throne 
 in his stead. From Barking the new king made a 
 progress through the territory, that was rather 
 militarily occupied than securely conquered, dis- 
 playing as he went as much royal pomp, and treat- 
 ing the English with as much courtesy and consid- 
 eration, as he could. The extent of this teiTitory 
 cannot be exactly determined, but it appears the 
 Conqueror had not yet advanced, in the northeast, 
 beyond the confines of Norfolk, nor in the south- 
 west beyond Dorsetshire. Both on the eastern 
 and western coast, and in the midland counties, the 
 invasion was gradual and slow, and as yet the city 
 of Oxford had certainly not fallen. 
 
 All AVilliam's measures at this time were mild 
 and conciUating, and some of them marked with 
 wisdom and a laudable anxiety for the good of th? 
 country. He respected the old Anglo-Saxon laws, 
 which, indeed, were not much disturbed or changed, 
 at least in the letter, until the accession of Henry 
 XL, nearly a century after the Conquest. He es- 
 tablished good courts of justice, encouraged agri- 
 culture and commerce, and (at least nominally) 
 enlarged the privileges of London and some other 
 tow)is. At the same time, liowever, the countrj 
 he held was bristled with castles and towers, and 
 additional fortresses erected in and around the cap- 
 ital showed his distrust of what Avas termed, in the 
 language of the Normans, an over numerous and 
 too proud poptilation. Next to London, the city cf 
 Winchester, which had been a favorite resider.cffe of
 
 050 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 w^\}m^^ 
 
 Winchester. — ;This is the city as it now appears. In this and similar cases the town or other phice, about which an interest may Ic 
 supposed to have been awakened by the narrative, will be represented in its existing stale, except where an authentic engraving or drawing of 
 elder date may be considered to preserve some features now lost that belonged to it at or near the time to which the history relates.) 
 
 the Anglo-Saxon kings, excited most suspicion ; 
 "for," says AVilliani of Poictiers, the Conqueror's 
 chaplain, " it is a noble and powerful city, inhabited 
 by a race of men rich, fearless, and perfidious " A 
 castle was therefore erected at Winchester, and a 
 strong Norman giirrison put into it. These foi-- 
 tresses, hastilj- thrown up in the course of three or 
 four months, could not be very large or very solid, 
 but they answered their present end, and they 
 were subsequently increased in size and strength. 
 Such operations could not be otherwise than dis- 
 tasteful to the English, who were further irritated 
 by seeing proud foreign lords fixed among them, 
 and married to the widows and heiresses of their 
 old lords wdio had fallen at Hastings. The rapa- 
 cious followers of William were hard to satisfy; 
 and, to secure their attachment, he was frequently 
 obliged to go beyond those bounds of moderation 
 he was inclined to set for himself. A most numer- 
 ous troop of priests and monks had come over from 
 the Continent, and their avidity was scarcely in- 
 ferior to that of the barons and knights. Nearly 
 every one of them wanted a church, a rich abbey, 
 or some higher promotion ; and at a very early 
 period of his occupation the Conqueror began to 
 gratify their wishes. To pass over other wrongs 
 and provocations inseparable from foreign conquest, 
 and, in good part, indeed, inseparable even from a ' 
 change of dynasty, the people presently saw the , 
 •coming on of that sad state of things which they j 
 
 soon after sulTercd, "when England became the 
 habitation of new strangers, in such wise, that 
 there was neither governor, bishop, nor abbot re- 
 maining therein of the English nation."' It was, 
 however, to those foreign churchmen that our coun- 
 try was chiefly indebted for whatever intellectual 
 improvement or civilization Avas imported at the 
 Conquest. 
 
 In the midst of this universal hungering after 
 the domains and benefices of the English evinced 
 by lay and clergy of all degrees, one single instance 
 is recorded of a most marvelous abstinence. There 
 was one of the Norman warriors who neither asked 
 for estates nor a rich English wife, and who would 
 not accept any part of the spoils taken from the 
 conquered. He said he had accompanied his liege 
 lord the Duke William into England, because such 
 was his duty as a true and faithful vassal, but that 
 property seized and stolen from other men did not 
 tempt him, that he should return to Normandy, 
 there to enjoy his moderate but lawful inheritance, 
 and rest content with his own lot, without coveting 
 the portion of others. The name of this wise man, 
 which ought not to be permitted to perish, was 
 Guilbert, the son of Richard.^ 
 
 In the month of March, 10G7, the English in 
 the north and west being yet untouched, and thsir 
 countrymen in the south beginning to harbor vio- 
 lent feelings — while the Normans were anxious to 
 
 ' Ilolinshed. a Orderic. Vital.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 351 
 
 provoke an insurrection, and prosecute the war in 
 the land where so many broad acres remained to 
 reward the victors, WiUiam resolved to pass over 
 into Normandy. Many ingenious surmises have 
 been made as to the motives which induced him to 
 take this journey at this crisis ; and historians may 
 still speculate without coming to any positive con- 
 clusion borne out by contemporary evidence. Al- 
 though, as he admits, no ancient Avriter has as- 
 cribed such a purpose and plan to the Conqueror, 
 \ve are disposed to suspect, with Hume, that in 
 this extraordinary step he was guided by a con- 
 cealed policy, and that though he had thought 
 proper at first to allure the people to submission, 
 he found that he could neither satisfy his followers, 
 nor secure his unstable government, without fur- 
 ther (>xerting the right of conquest, and seizing the 
 remaining possessions of the English, — that in order 
 to have a pretext for this violence, he was anxious 
 they should break out into insurrections which 
 could hardly prove dangerous to him, while he 
 detained all the principal English nobility in Nftr- 
 mandy, while his gi'cat and victorious army was 
 placed in strongholds in England, and while he 
 himself was so near at hand to crush any insurrec- 
 tion. That he made the journey, as some have 
 thought, out of a vain eagerness to show himself as 
 the conqueror of England to his subjects in Nor- 
 mandy, is a supposition not consistent with his 
 character ; and that he crossed the sea merely to 
 put the booty he had made in a place of safety, does 
 not appear very probable. 
 
 Had he determined to vex and rouse the Eng- 
 lish, he could scarcely have left a more fitting in- 
 strument than his half-brother, Odo, to Avhom he 
 confided the royal power during his absence, asso- 
 ciating with him as counsellors of state William 
 Fitz-Osborn, Hugo of Grantmesnil, Hugo de Mont- 
 fort, Walter Gifiord, and William de Garenne. 
 The Conqueror carried in his train Stigand, the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, the abbot Egelnoth, 
 Edgar Atheling, Edwin, Earl of Mercia, Morcar, 
 Earl of Northumbria, Waltheof, Earl of Northamp- 
 ton and Huntingdon, and many others of high nobility. 
 
 The place chosen for his embarkation was Pe- 
 vensey, near Hastings ; and when he had made a 
 liberal distribution of money and presents to a part 
 of his army which had followed him to the beach, 
 he set sail with a fair wind for Normandy, just six 
 months after his landing in England. According 
 to every account, he was received with enthusiastic 
 joy by his continental subjects, who were filled 
 with wonderment at his success and the quantity 
 of gold and silver and other precious effects he 
 brought back with him. A part of this wealth, the 
 fruit of blood and plunder, was sent to the pope 
 with the banner of Harold, which had been taken 
 at the battle of Hastings, and another portion Avas 
 distributed among the abbeys, monasteries, and 
 churches of Normandy ; " neither monks nor 
 priests remaining without a guerdon." William 
 gave them coined gold, and gold in bars, golden 
 vases.'and, above all, richly embroidered stuffs, which 
 on high feast-days they hung up in their churches, 
 
 where they excited the admiration of all travelers 
 and strangers. The whole of the account given by 
 William's chaplain tends to raise our idea of the 
 wealth of England. " That land," says the Poic- 
 tevin, " abounds more than Normandj' in the pre- 
 cious metals. If in fertility it may be termed the 
 granary of Ceres, in riches it should be called the 
 treasury of Arabia. The English women excel 
 in the use of the needle and in embroidering in 
 gold ; the men in every species of elegant work- 
 manship. Moreover, the best artists of Germany 
 live amongst them ; and merchants, who repair to 
 distant countries, import the most valuable articles 
 of foreign manufacture unknown in Normandy." 
 The same contemporary informs us, that at the 
 feast of Easter, which William held with unusual 
 splendor, a relation of the King of France, named 
 Raoul, came with a numerous retinue to the Con- 
 queror's court, where he and his Frenchmen, not 
 less than the Normans, considered with a curiosity, 
 mingled with surprise, the chased vases of gold 
 and silver, brought from England ; and, above all, 
 the drinking-cups of the Saxons, made of large 
 buffiilo-horns, and ornamented at either extremity 
 with precious metal. The French prince and his 
 companions were also much struck with the beauty 
 of countenance and the long flowing hair of the 
 young Englishmen William had brought over with 
 him as guests or hostages. The chaplain adds, 
 with amusing naivete, "they remarked all those 
 things, as also many others equally new unto them, 
 in order that they might relate and describe them 
 in their own country." 
 
 While all thus went on merrily in Normandy, 
 where the presence of the Conqueror, with his 
 foreign court, move where he would, caused the 
 suspension of all labor, and made a general holi- 
 day, events of a very different nature were taking 
 place on the other side of the channel. The rule 
 of Odo and the barons left in England pressed 
 harshly on the people, whose complaints and cries 
 for justice they despised. Without punishment or 
 check, their men-at-arms were permitted to insult 
 and plunder, not merely the peasants and bur- 
 gesses, but people of the best condition, and the 
 cup of misery and degradation was filled up, as 
 usual in such cases, by violence offered to the 
 women. The English spirit was not yet so de- 
 pressed, and in fact never sank so low as to tole- 
 rate such wrongs. Several popular risings took 
 place in various parts of the subjugated territory, 
 and many a Norman, caught beyond the walls of 
 his castle or garrison-town, was cut to pieces. 
 These partial insurrections were followed by con- 
 certed and extensively combined movements. A 
 grand conspiracy was formed, and the Conqueror's 
 throne was made to totter before it was nine 
 months old. The men of Kent, who had been the 
 first to submit, were the first to attempt to throw 
 off the yoke. A singular circumstance attended 
 their effort. Eustace, Count of Boulogne, the 
 same who had caused such a stir at Dover in the 
 time of Edward the Confessor,' was then in open 
 
 1 Sep p. 160, ante
 
 352 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 quarrel With William the Norman, who kept one 
 of his sons in prison. This Eustace was famed 
 far and wide for his military skill ; and his relation- 
 ship to the saintod Kinj;; Edward, whose sister he 
 had married, made the English consider him now 
 in tlie lii;ht of a natural ally. Forgetting, there- 
 fore, their old grievances, the people of Kent sent 
 a message to Count Eustace, promising to put 
 Dover into his hands, if he would make a descent 
 on the coast, and help them to wage war on thiMr 
 Norman oppressors. Eustace most readily ac- 
 cepted the invitation, and, crossing the channel 
 with a small but chosen band, he landed under 
 favor of a dark night, at €a short distiince from 
 Dovei% where he was presently joined by a host of 
 Kentish men in arms. A contemporary says, that 
 had they waited but two days, these insurgents 
 would have been joined by the whole population 
 of those parts, but they imprudently made an at- 
 tack on the strong castle of Dover, were repulsed 
 with loss, and then thrown into a panic by the false 
 report that Bishop Odo was approaching them with 
 all his forces. Count Eustace fled, and got safely 
 on board ship, but most of his men-at-arms were 
 slain or taken prisoners by the Norman garrison, or 
 broke their necks by falling over the cliffs on which 
 Dover Castle stands. The men of Kent, with a 
 few exceptions, found their way home in safety, by 
 taking by-paths and roads with which the Normans 
 were unacquainted. 
 
 In the west the Normans were much less fortu- 
 nate. Edric the Forester, who had visited the 
 Conqueror at Barking, and done homage to him, 
 was the lord of extensive possessions that lay on 
 the Severn and the confines of Wales. This pow- 
 erful chief was at first desirous of living in peace, 
 but being provoked at the depredations committed 
 by some Norman captains who had garrisoned the 
 city of Hereford, he took up arms, and forming an 
 alliance Avith two Welsh princes, he was enabled 
 to shut the foreigners close up within the walls of 
 the town, and to range undisputed master of all the 
 western part of Herefordshire. 
 
 If there had been but one bright national idol — 
 one prince or chief of ability or popularity to unite 
 and lead them — the English would have cleared 
 the country of its invaders. At this favorable mo- 
 ment the two sons of King Harold appeared in the 
 west; but though they were nearly a year older 
 than at the time they were passed over unnoticed by 
 the Witan assembled at London, they soon showed 
 that neither of them had the qualities required, or 
 was destined to be the savior of the Anglo-Saxon 
 •nation. Their proceedings would be altogether in- 
 explicable if we did not reflect that they were allied 
 with, and probably controlled by, a host of pirates. 
 These two young men sailed over from Ireland 
 with a considerable force, embarked in sixtj'' ships. 
 They ascended the Bristol Channel and the river 
 Avon, and landing near Bristol, plundered that fer- 
 tile country. Whatever were the pretexts and 
 claims set forth by the sons of Harold, they acted 
 as common enemies, and were met as such by the 
 English people, who repulsed them vvhea they 
 
 attempted to take the city of Bristol, and soon after 
 defeated them upon the coast of Somersetshire, 
 whither they had repaired with their ships and 
 plunder. There was no Norman force in those 
 parts, nor was it considered necessary to send one. 
 The whole defence was made by the English, com- 
 manded by their own countrynum, Ednoth, who 
 fell, with many of his followers, in the battle. The 
 invaders, who also sullered severely, took to their 
 ships, and returned to Ireland immediately after the 
 defeat. In Shropshire, Nottinghamshire, and other 
 parts of the kingdom, both where they had felt the 
 Norman oppression, and where, as yet, they only 
 apprehended it, bodies of English rose in arms, and 
 urged their neighbors to join them. It is related 
 that Earl Coxo, who had appeared at Barking, and 
 been much honored by William, was slain by his 
 vassals because he refused to head them in an in- 
 surrection ; but it seems the death of that chief 
 took p'ace before the Conqueror left England, and 
 there is some doubt whether he was really killed 
 by'his vassals, or by another English nobleman, his 
 rival. There is, however, no doubt but that the 
 indignation of the people was general, and that, 
 encouraged by the Conqueror's absence, efforts 
 were made, and others contemplated, for throwing 
 ort" the yoke. Rumors spread that a simultaneous 
 msiBsacre, like that perpetrated on the Danes, was 
 intended ; and it was equally natural that the 
 English should make use of such threats in their 
 moments of rage, and that the Normans, conscious 
 of oppression, ano well versed in the histoiy of St. 
 Brice's day, should believe them and tremble at 
 them. Letter after letter, and message after mes- 
 sage, were sent into Normandy; but the Conqueror, 
 either because he was insensible to the alarm, or 
 thought sufficient provocation had not been given, 
 lingered there for more than eight months. When 
 at last he departed, it was in hurry and agitation. 
 He embarked at Dieppe on the 6th of December, 
 and sailed for England by night. On arriving, he 
 placed new governors whom he had brouglit from 
 Normandy, in his castles and sti-ongholds in Sussex 
 and Kent. On reaching London he was made fully 
 sensible of the prevailing discontent; but with his 
 usual crafty prudence he applied himself to soothe 
 the storm for awhile, deeming that the time had 
 not yet arrived for his openly declaring that the 
 fickle, faithless English were to be exterminated or 
 treated as slaves, and all their possessions and 
 honors given to the Normans. He celebrated the 
 festival of Christmas with unusual pomp, and invited 
 many Saxon chiefs to London to partake in the cel- 
 ebration. He received these guests with smiles 
 and caresses, giving the kiss of welcome to every 
 comer.' If they asked for anything, he granted it: 
 if they announced or advised any thing, he listened 
 with respectful attention : and it should seem that 
 they were nearly all the dupes of these royal arti- 
 fices. He then propitiated the citizens of London 
 by a proclamation, which was written in the Saxon 
 language, and read in all the churches of the capital. 
 "Be it known unto you," said this document, 
 
 ' DulcitiT ad oscula invitabat. Orderic.
 
 Ghap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS 
 
 353 
 
 "what is my will. I will that all of ymi enjoy your 
 national laws as in the days of King Eiiward ; that 
 every son shall inherit from his father, after the 
 days of his father ; and that none of my people do 
 you wrong." William's first public act after all 
 these promises was to impose a tax, which was 
 made more and more burdensome as his power 
 increased. 
 
 The war of 10G8, or what may be called the 
 Conqueror's second campaign in England, opened 
 in the fertile province of Devonshire, where the 
 people, supported by their hardy neighbors of 
 Cornwall, and animated by the presence of the 
 mother and some other relations of King Harold, 
 refused to acknowledge his government, and had 
 prepared to resist the advance of his lieutenants. 
 Some of the thanes, to whom the command of the 
 insurrection had been intrusted, proved cowards or 
 traitors ; the Normans advanced, burning, and de- 
 stroying, and breathing vengeance ; but the men of 
 Exeter, who had had a principal share in organizing 
 the patriotic resistance, Avere resolute in the defence 
 of their city. Ever since the days of Athelstan, 
 Exeter had been increasing in trade and considera- 
 tion, and now it was a well-peopled citj', surrounded 
 by a strong wall. Githa, or Editha, Harold's moth- 
 er, had fled there after the battle of Hastings, and 
 carried with her considerable riches. In no part 
 of England was the Norman name more odious, for, 
 young and old, the citizens hated to death the whole 
 'race of Frenchmen. This feeling had been re- 
 cently displayed by the populace in a cruel attack 
 made upon some Norman ships that were driven 
 upon their coast by a storm. When the Conqueror 
 came within four miles of Exeter he summoned 
 the citizens to submit, and take the oath of fealty. 
 They replied, " We will not swear fealty to this 
 •man, who pretends to be our king, nor will we re- 
 ceive his garrison within our walls; but if he will 
 receive as tribute the dues we were accustomed to 
 pay to our kings, we will consent to pay them to 
 him." To this somewhat novel proposal William 
 said, "I would have subjects, and it is not my cus- 
 tom to take them on such conditions.'" Sgme of 
 the magistrates and wealthiest of the citizens then 
 went to William, and, imploring his mercy, prof- 
 fered the submission of the city, and gave hostages ; 
 but the mass of the population either did not sanc- 
 tion this proceeding or repented of it, and when 
 William rode up at the head of his cavalry he found 
 the gates barred and the walls manned with com- 
 batants, who bade him defiance. The Normans, 
 in sight of the men on the ramparts, then tore out 
 the eyes of one of the hostages they had just re- 
 ceived ; but this savage act did not daunt the people, 
 who were well prepared for defence, having raised 
 new turrets and battlements on the walls, and 
 brought in a number of armed seamen, both native 
 and foreigners, that happened to be in their port. 
 The siege which followed lasted eighteen days, and 
 cost William a great number of men ; and when 
 the city surrendered at last, if we are to believe the 
 Saxon Chronicle, it was because their chiefs had 
 
 Orderio. Vital. 
 
 again betrayed them. The brave men of Exeter, 
 however, obtained much more favorable terms than 
 were then usual ; for though they were forced to 
 take the oath, and admit a Norman garrison, thoir 
 lives, property, and privileges Avere secured to them, 
 and successful precautions were taken by the Con- 
 queror to prevent any outrage or phmdcr. During 
 the siege wo hear of a strong body of English, in 
 the pay of the Conqueror, fighting against their own 
 countrymen— a fatal example which was soon fol- 
 lowed in other parts of the kingdom. Having 
 ordered a strong castle to be built in the captured 
 town, William returned eastward to Winchester, 
 where he was joined by his wife Matilda, who had 
 not hitherto been in England. At the ensuing fes- 
 tival of Whitsuntide she was publicly crowned by 
 Aldred, the Archbishop of York ; and as this cere- 
 mony, in regard to a king's wife, was contraiy to an 
 old law of the Anglo-Saxons (which, however, had 
 been disregarded on some former occasion), it dis- 
 pleased the people, who were further irritated 
 against Matilda by seeing a large share of the con- 
 fiscated territory in the west assigned to her. On 
 the surrender of Exeter, the aged Githa, Avith sev- 
 eral ladies of rank, escaped to Bath, and finding no 
 safety there, they fled to the small islands at the 
 mouth of the Severn, AA'here they lay concealed 
 until they found an opportunity of passing over to 
 Flanders. 
 
 Harold's sons, GodAvin and Edmund, AA-ith a 
 younger brother named Magnus, again came over 
 from Ireland about 3Iidsummer, and Avith a fleet 
 about equal to the one they had brought the pre- 
 ceding year they hovered off the coasts of Devon- 
 sliire and CornAvall, landing occasionally and invit- 
 ing the people to join them against the Normans. 
 Nothing could be more absurdly concerted than 
 these movements. Had they appeared a little 
 earlier, Avhile Exeter held out, their presence might 
 have been most important ; but now the sons ol 
 Harold Avere left to shift for themselves, and having 
 imprudently ventured too far from the shore with- 
 out any information as to the state of the country, 
 they Avere suddenly attacked by a Norman force 
 from Exeter, under Earl Beorn, and defeated Avith 
 great slaughter. It appears they were even igno- 
 rant of the facts that the city of Exeter had fallen, 
 and that their mother had fled to a foreign country. 
 Their means were noAv exhausted, and, AA'earied by 
 their ill-success, their Iritjh allies declined giving 
 any further assistance to these exiles. The sons of 
 Harold next appeared as suppliants at the court of 
 SAA'eyn, King of Denmark. 
 
 During the spring and early summer of this same 
 year (10G8), William established his authority in 
 Devonshire, Somersetshire, and Gloucestershire, 
 and besides taking Exeter, made himself master of 
 Oxford and other fortified cities AA'hich he had left 
 in his rear Avhen he advanced into the Avest. 
 Wherever his dominion AAas imposed, the mass of 
 land Avas given to his lords and knights, and for- 
 tresses and castles were erected and garrisoned by 
 Normans and other foreigners, Avho continued to 
 cross the Channel in search of employment. Avealth, 
 
 VOL. I. — 23
 
 354 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IIL 
 
 RoiT.EMONT Castle, Exeter. Founded by William the Conqueror. — From a Print dated 1T25. 
 
 and honors. The meanest of these exotic adven- 
 tui-ers — the least cultivated of these vagabonds — 
 thought himself entitled to treat the best English- 
 man with contempt, as a slave and barbarian. 
 
 The accounts of the sufferings of the conquered 
 people, as given by the native chroniclers, are con- 
 densed in a sti'iking passage of Holinshed : — " He 
 took away from divers of the nobility, and others of 
 the better sort, all their livings, and gave the same 
 to his Normans. Moreover, he raised great taxes 
 and subsidies through the realm ; nor anything re- 
 garded the English nobility, so that they who before 
 thought themselves to be made for ever by bringing 
 a stranger into the realm, did now see themselves 
 trodden under foot, to be despised, and to be mocked 
 on all sides, in so much that many of them were 
 constrained (as it were, for a further testimony of 
 servitude and bondage) to shave their beards, to 
 round their hair, and to frame themselves as well 
 in apparel as in service and diet at their tables, after 
 the Norman manner, very strange and far differing 
 from the ancient customs and old usages of their 
 country. Others utterly refusing to sustain such 
 an intolerable yoke of thraldom as was daily laid 
 upon them by the Normans, chose rather to leave 
 all, both goods and lands, and, after the manner of 
 outlaws, got them to the woods with their wives, 
 children, and servants, meaning from thenceforth to 
 live upon the spoil of the country adjoining, and to 
 take whatsoever came next to hand. Whereupon 
 it came to pass within a while that no man might 
 travel in safety from his own house or town to his 
 next ueighbors, and ever}- quiet and honest man's 
 
 house became, as it were, a hold and fortress fur- 
 nished for defence with bows and arrows, bills, pole- 
 axes, swords, clubs, and staves, and other weapons, 
 the doors being kept locked and strongly bolted in 
 the night season, as it had been in time of open war, 
 and amongst public enemies. Prrtyers were said 
 also by the master of the house as though they had 
 been in the midst of the seas in some stormy tem- 
 pest ; and when the windows or doors should be 
 shut in and closed, they used to say loiedicitc, and 
 others to answer dominus, in like sort as the priest 
 and his penitent were wont to do at confession in 
 the church." 
 
 The bands of outlaws thus formed of impover- 
 ished, desperate men, were not suppressed for sev- 
 eral successive reigns ; and while the Normans 
 considered and treated them as banditti, the English 
 people long regarded them in the light of unfortu- 
 nate patriots. As late as the reign of King John, 
 popular tradition gives some of its brightest colors 
 to Robin Hood and his outlaws who haunted Sher- 
 wood Forest ; nor was this dangerous sympathy 
 suppressed till the memoiy of the Saxon supremacy 
 had waxed faint, and the conquering and conquered 
 races, being fused into one nation, enjoyed an 
 equality of laws and rights. 
 
 Men of higher rank and more extended views 
 were soon among the fugitives from the pale of the 
 Conqueror. When in his conciliating mood, Wil- 
 liam had promised Edwin, Earl of Mercia, one of 
 his daughters in marriage, and flattered by the 
 prospect of such a prize, this powerful brother-in- 
 law of Harold had rendered important service'? tt>
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 355 
 
 the Norman cause ; but now when he asked his 
 reward, the Conqueror not only refused the fair 
 bride, but insulted the suitor. Upon this Edwin, 
 with his brother Morcar, absconded from the Nor- 
 man court and went to the north of England, there 
 to join their incensed countrymen and make one 
 general effort for the recovery of their ancient 
 liberties. They were followed by the good wishes 
 of the poor people of the south ; and such of the 
 priests and monks of English race who were not 
 yet dispossessed, secretly offered up prayers for 
 their success in their cells and churches. No for- 
 
 eign soldier had as yet passed the Humber ; and 
 it was behind that river that Edwin and Morcar 
 fixed the great camp of independence, the most 
 southern bulwark of which was the fortified citj- of 
 York. Among the men of Yorkshire and North- 
 umbria they found some thousands of hardy war- 
 riors who swore they would not sleep under the 
 roof of a house till the day of victory, and they were 
 joined by some allies from the mountains of Wales 
 and other parts. The ever-active Conqueror, how- 
 ever, came upon them before they were prepared. 
 I His march, considering the many obstacles he had 
 
 York. From the Ancient Ramparts. 
 
 to overcome, was wonderfully rapid. Advancing 
 from Oxford, he took Warwick and Leicester, the 
 latter of which places he almost entirely destroyed. 
 Then crossing the Trent, which he had not seen 
 till now, he fell upon Derby and Nottingham. 
 From Nottingham he marched upon Lincoln, which 
 he forced to capitulate and deliver hostages, and 
 thence pressing forward might and main, he came 
 to the river Ouse, near the point where it falls 
 into the Humber. Here he found Edwin and Mor- 
 car drawn out to oppose him. The battle which 
 immediately ensued was fierce in the extreme ; but, 
 as at Hastings, their superiority in number, arms, 
 armor, and discipline, gave the Normans the vic- 
 tory. A great number of the English perished ; the 
 rest retreated to York, within the walls of which 
 they hoped to find refuge : but the conquerors fol- 
 lowing them closely, broke through the walls and 
 entered the city, destrojMng everything with fire 
 
 and sword, massacring all they found, from the boy, 
 as a contemporary authority assures us, to the old 
 man.' The wreck of the pati'iotic army fled to the 
 Humber, and descended that estuary in boats ; they 
 then turned to the north, and landed in the country 
 of the Scotch, or in the territory near the border.^ 
 which became the places of refuge of all the brave 
 men of the north, who did not yet despair of lib- 
 erty, or who, at all hazards, were resolved not to 
 submit to slavery. 
 
 The victors, wlio were not prepared to advance 
 farther, built a strong citadel at York, which became 
 their advanced post and bidwark towards the north. 
 A chosen garrison of 500 knights and tnen-at-arras, 
 with a host of squires and servants-at-arms, was left 
 at this dangerous post. So perilous indeed was it 
 considered, from the well-known martial and obsti- 
 nate character of the men that dwelt beyond its 
 
 1 Guil. Oenirt.
 
 356 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 walls, that the Normans labored day and night to 
 strengthen their position, forcing the poor inhabit- 
 ants of York who had escaped the massacre to dig 
 deep ditches and build strong walls for them. Fear- 
 ing to be besieged in their turn, they also collected 
 all the stores and provisions they could. At this 
 crisis Aldred, the Archbishop of York, the prelate 
 who had crowned and favored William, came to his 
 cathedral to celebrate a religious festival. Soon 
 after his arrival in the city, he sent to his lands sit- 
 uated near York, for some corn and other provisions, 
 for the use of his own house. As his domestics re- 
 turned with pack-horses and carts loaded with these 
 provisions, they met at the gate of the town the 
 Norman Viscount or Governor of York, surrounded 
 by a great retinue ; and though the servants told 
 him they were the archbishop's people, and that 
 the provisions were for the archbishop's own use, 
 the governor caused the corn to be seized and car- 
 ried to his magazines in the castle. The calmness 
 and accommodating temper of Aldred were not 
 proof against such an outrage as this. He quitted 
 York almost immediately, and journeyed southward 
 to the camp of the Conqueror, before whom he pre- 
 sented himself in his pontifical robes, holding his 
 pastoral staff in his hand. William rose to offer him 
 the kiss of peace ; but the prelate stood at a dis- 
 tance and said, " Listen to me. King William ! 
 Thou wast a foreigner, and, notwithstanding that, 
 God wishing to punish our nation, thou obtainedst, 
 at the price of much blood, this kingdom of England: 
 then I consecrated thee, I blessed thee, and crowned 
 thee with mine own hand ; but now I curse thee 
 — thee and thy race, because thou hast made thy- 
 self the persecutor of God's chui'ch and the oppres- 
 sor of its ministers !'" The Norman nobles of Wil- 
 liam who were present at this strange scene half 
 drew their swords, and would have slain the bishop 
 where he stood, but their master, caring little for 
 the old Saxon's curse, checked their fuiy and per- 
 mitted him to return in peace to York, where he 
 was soon seized with a slow but consuming malady, 
 the offspring, it was imagined, of disappointment 
 and grief. 
 
 In spite of his successes in the north, and his firm 
 establishment in the midland counties, where he 
 built castles and gave away earldoms, the Conquer- 
 or's throne was still threatened, and the country 
 still agitated from one end to the other. The Eug- 
 hsh chiefs, who had hitherto adhered to his cause, 
 fell off, at first one by one, and then in troops togeth- 
 er, following up their defection with concerted plans 
 of operation against him. To these was added a 
 fugitive of still higher rank, of whose custody the 
 Conqueror was very negligent. At the instance of 
 Marleswine, Cospatric, and some other noblemen 
 " who were anxious to avoid King William's rough 
 and boisterous dealing, and feared to be put in 
 ward," Edgar Atheling fled by sea into Scotland, 
 taking his mother, Agatha, the widow of Edmund 
 Ironside, and his two sisters, jNIargaret and Chris- 
 tina, with him. These royal fugitives were re- 
 ceived with great honor and kindness, and conduct- 
 
 i J Stubbs. Chr'jn. 
 
 ed to his castle of Dunfermline by the Scottish 
 monarch, Malcolm Caenmore, who, in the vicissi- 
 tudes of his early life, had been himself an exile, 
 and had experienced in England the hospitality of 
 Edward the Confessor and of many of his nobility. 
 Edgar's sister 3Iargaret was young and handsome ; 
 " and in process of time the said King Malcolm 
 cast such love unto the said Margaret, that he took 
 her to wife.''' Some of the English nobles had pre- 
 ceded Edgar to Scotland; inany followed him, en- 
 couraged by the reception they met with from the 
 king, who was naturally anxious to strengthen him- 
 self against the growing power of William ; and 
 these emigrants, and others that arrived from the 
 same quarter on various subsequent occasions, be- 
 came the stocks of a j)rincipal part of the Scottish 
 nobility. 
 
 It is probable that William did not mourn much 
 for the departure of the English thanes; but pre- 
 sently he was vexed and embarrassed by the de- 
 parture of some of his Norman chiefs and many of 
 the soldiers of fortune that had followed him from 
 the continent. These warriors, wearied by the 
 constant surprises and attacks of the English, and 
 seeing no term to that desultory and destructive 
 warfare, longed for the quiet of their own homes. 
 Some considered themselves enriched enough by 
 the plunder they had made : others thought that 
 estates in England were not worth the trouble and 
 danger with which they were to be obtained and 
 secured : others, again, wanted to join their wives, 
 who were constantly pressing them to return to 
 them and their children : for it appears that few or 
 none of them had as yet thought it safe to bring 
 their families to England. The latter class of com- 
 plainants were made the subjects of raillery and 
 bitter sarcasm ; for William, who had his own 
 spouse with him, found it unseemly that man and 
 wife should wish to be together.^ It was also whis- 
 pered that those who asked le.ive to retire must all 
 be cowards, to think of abandoning their liege lord 
 when in peril and in the midst of foreigners. Not 
 counting wholly on the effect of such light artillery, 
 William tried to reanimate their zeal by ofters more 
 bountiful than ever, and by promising lands, money, 
 and honors in abundance the moment the conquest 
 of England should be completed. In spite, however, 
 of all these manoeuvres, Hugh de Grantmesnil, Earl 
 of Norfolk, his brother-in-law, Humphrey Tilleuil, 
 the warden of Hastings Castle, and a great number 
 of others, retired from the service, and recrossed 
 the Channel. The king punished this desertion by 
 immediately confiscating all the possessions they 
 had obtained in our island. Foreseeing, however, 
 that he was about to be sui-rounded by great diffi- 
 culties and dangers, he sent his own wife Matilda 
 back to Normandy, that she might be in a place of 
 safety. At the same time, he invited fresh adven- 
 turers and soldiers of fortune from nearly every 
 country in Europe ; and, allured by his brilliant 
 offers, bands flocked to him from the banks of the 
 Rhine, the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, and the 
 
 1 Grafton. 
 ^ The abase fell chiefly on the poor wives in Normandy. — Orderic.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND lAIILITAR.Y TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 357 
 
 Tagus — from the Alps, and the Italian peninsula 
 beyond the Alps. The reinforcements he thus re- 
 ceived must have been very considerable ; for in 
 spite of the losses he had suffered in his canijjaign 
 against Edwin and Morcar, and the constant thin- 
 ning of his troops by a partisan warfare, he was 
 enabled to meet a more formidable confederacy than 
 any previously set on foot. 
 
 A.D. 1069. The strong garrison which the Con- 
 queror had left at York could scarcely adventure a 
 mile in advance of that post without being attacked 
 by the natives, who laj- constantly in ambush in all 
 the woods and glens. The governor, William Malet, 
 was soon fain to declare that he would not answer 
 for the security of York itself, unless prompt suc- 
 cor was sent him. On receiving this alarming news, 
 William marched in person, and arrived before York 
 just as the citizens, in league with all the country 
 people of the neighborhood, were laying siege to 
 the Norman fortress. Having raised this siege by 
 a sudden att'ack, he laid the foundation of a second 
 castle in York, and, leaving a double garrison, re- 
 turned southward. Soon after his departure, the 
 English made a second attempt to drive the'enemy 
 from their fortress, but they W'ere repulsed w^ith 
 loss ; and the second castle and other works were 
 finished without further interruption. Thinking 
 themselves now secure in this advanced post, the 
 Normans resumed the offensive, and made a despe- 
 rate attempt to extend their frontier as far north 
 as Durham. The advance was made by a certain 
 Robert de Comine, to whom William had promised 
 a vast terriXory yet to be conquered. 
 
 This Robert set out from York with nmcli pomp 
 and circumstance, having assumed, by anticipation, 
 the title of Earl of Northumberland. His army 
 was not large, consisting only of 1200 lances; but 
 his confidence was boundless. He crossed the 
 Tees, and was within sight of the walls of Durham, 
 which the Normans called "the stronghold of the 
 rebels of the North," — when Egelwin, the English 
 bishop of that place, came forth to meet him, and 
 informed him that the natives had vowed to destroy 
 him, or be desti'oyed, and warned him not to expose 
 himself with so small a force. Comine treated the 
 warning with contempt, and marched on. The 
 Normans entered Durham, massacring a few de- 
 fenceless men. The soldiers quartered themselves 
 in the houses of the citizens, plundering or wasting 
 their substance ; and the chief himself took posses- 
 sion of the bishop's palace. The march of the Nor- 
 mans and all these proceedings had been well noted ; 
 and when night fell, the people lighted signal-fires 
 on the hills, that were seen as far as the Tees to 
 the south, and as far northward as the river Tyne. 
 The inhabitants gathered in great numbers, and 
 hurried to Durham. At the point of day they rushed 
 into the city, and attacked the Normans on all sides. 
 Many were killed before they could well rouse 
 themselves from the deep sleep induced by the fa- 
 tigue of the preceding day's march, and the revelry 
 and debauch of the night. The rest attempted to 
 rally in the bishop's house, where their leader had 
 estabhshed his quarters. They defended this post 
 
 for a short time, discharging their arrows and other 
 missiles on the heads of their assailants, but the 
 English ended the combat by setting fire to the house, 
 which was burnt to the gi'ound with Robert de Co- 
 mine and all the Normans in it. The chroniclers 
 relate, that of all the men engaged in the expedition 
 only two escaped. 
 
 This dreadful reverse called forth a large body of 
 troops from York, who hastened to take vengeance. 
 These Normans advanced with sufficient confidence 
 as far as Northallerton, about midway between York 
 and Durham, but here they halted, as if seized with 
 a panic, and refused to go farther. A report was 
 spread, and believed, at least by the English, that 
 they were struck motionless by supernatural agency 
 — by the power of St. Cuthbert, whose body, after 
 many removals, now reposed in Durham, and who, 
 it was thought, protected his last resting-place. 
 
 When the Northumbi-ians struck the blow at 
 Durham, they were expecting powerful allies, who 
 soon arrived. As w^e have so often had occasion to 
 repeat, these men, with the inhabitants of most of the 
 Danelagh, were exceedingly fierce and Avarlike, and 
 chiefly of Danish blood. Many of the old men had fol- 
 lowed the victorious banner of the gi-eat Canute into 
 England, or had served under his sous, Kings Harold 
 Harefoot and Ilardicanute ; and the sons of these 
 old warriors were now in the vigor of mature man 
 hood. They had always maintained an intercourse 
 with Denmark, and as soon as they saw themselves 
 threatened by the Normans, they applied to that 
 country for assistance. The court of the Danish 
 king was soon crowded by supplicants from the 
 Danelagh, from Norwich and Lincoln, to York, 
 Durham, and Newcastle. There were also envoys 
 from other parts of the kingdom, where the Saxon 
 blood predominated, and the sons of King Harold 
 added their efforts to urge the Danish monarch to 
 the invasion of England. At the same time, the 
 men of Northumberland had opened a correspond- 
 ence with Malcolm Caenmore and his guest Edgar 
 Atheling, and allied themselves with the English 
 refugees in Scotland and on the border. Even sup- 
 posing that the sons of Harold made no pretensions 
 to the crown, there must have been some jealousy 
 and confusion in this confederacy, for while one 
 party to it held the weak Edgar as legitimate sove- 
 reign, another maintained that by right of succes- 
 sion the King of Denmark was King of England. It 
 seems well established that the Danish monarch, 
 Sweyn Estridsen, held the latter opinion ; and the 
 ill success of the confederacy may probably be at- 
 tributed to the disunion inevitably arising from such 
 clashing interests and pretensions. As soon as the 
 battle of Hastings was known, and before any invi- 
 tations were sent over, Swe\'n had contemplated a 
 descent on England. To avert this danger, William 
 had recourse to Adelbert, the Archbishop of Bremen, 
 who, won by jjersuasion and presents of large sums 
 of money, undertook the negotiation, and endeavored 
 to make the Danish king renounce his project. 
 
 Two years passed without anything more being 
 heard of the Danish invasion ; but this lapse was 
 probably rather owing to a desire on Sweyn Estrid-
 
 358 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 sen's side, to gain time in order to make his prepa- 
 rations, than to the effects of the archbishop's diplo- 
 macy ; and when in this, the third year after the 
 battle of Hastings, the solicitations of the English 
 emigrants were more urgent than ever, and the men 
 of the north, his natural allies, were up in arms, the 
 powerful Dane dispatched a fleet of 240 sail, with 
 orders to act in conjunction with the King of Scot- 
 land and the Northumbrians. The army embarked 
 in tliis fleet was composed of almost as many hete- 
 rogeneous materials as the mercenary force of Wil- 
 liam : besides Danes and Holsteiners, there were 
 Frisians, Saxons, Poles, and adventurers from other 
 countries, tempted by the hojje of plunder.' The 
 Danish king sent his two sons, Harold and Canute, 
 with the expedition, and placed it under the supreme 
 command of their uncle Osbeorn, who was accom- 
 panied by five Danish chiefs of high renown, and 
 by Christian, the king's bishop. After alarming the 
 Normans in the southeast, at Dover, Sandwich, and 
 Ipswich, the Danes went northward to the Humber, 
 so often ascended by their ancestors, and sailed up 
 that estuary to the Ouse, where they landed about 
 the middle of August. It appears that Osbeorn 
 was not able to prevent his motley army from plun- 
 dering and wasting the country. As soon, however, 
 as the Anglo-Danes, the men of Yorkshire and 
 Northumberland, were advised of the arrival of the 
 armament, they flocked to join it from all parts of 
 the country; and Edgar Atheling, with MarlesAvine, 
 Cospatric, Waltheof, the son of Siward, the great 
 enemy of Macbeth, Archil, the five sons of Carl, 
 and many other English nobles, arrived from the 
 frontiers of Scotland, bearing the consoling assurance 
 that, in addition to the force they brought with them, 
 Malcolm Caenmore was advancing with a Scottish 
 army to support the insurgents. York was close 
 at hand, and they determined to commence opera- 
 tions by the attack of the Norman fortifications in 
 that city. Archbishop Aldred, who had never re- 
 covered from the wi'ong done him the preceding 
 year, was in York at the time : as he saw the fierce 
 array advance on that devoted city, he prayed to 
 God to remove him from this world, that he might 
 not witness the total ruin of his country and the de- 
 struction of his church ; " and he is said to have died 
 ©f "very grief and anguish of mind," before the 
 confederates entered the city. The Normans had 
 rendered the walls of the town so strong that they 
 defended them seven days : on the eighth daj' of 
 the siege they set fire to the houses that stood nefir 
 their citadels, in order that their assailants might 
 not use the materials to fill up the ditches of the 
 castles, and then they shut themselves up within 
 those lines. A strong wind arose, — the flames 
 spread in all directions ; the minster, or cathedral 
 church, with its famous library, and great part of 
 the city, was consumed ; and even within their cas- 
 tles the Normans saw themselves threatened with 
 a horrid death by the fire they had kindled. Pre- 
 ferring death by the sword and battle-axe to being 
 burnt alive, they made a sally, and were slain almost 
 to a man by an enemy far superior in number, and 
 I Southey, Naval Hist. 
 
 inflamed with the fiercest hiitred. They had sulTered 
 no such loss since the ever-memorable fight of Hast- 
 ings ; 3000 Normans and mercenaries of diflerent 
 races fell; and only William Malet, the governor of 
 York, with his wife and children, Guilbert of Ghent, 
 and a few other men of rank, were saved and carried 
 on board the Danish fleet, where they were kept 
 for ransom. Such parts of the city of York as es- 
 caped the conflagration were occupied by Edgar 
 Athehng, who, according to some authorities, as- 
 sumed the royal title, and exercised the rights of 
 sovereigntj", — circumstances, we should think, that 
 could scarcely coincide with the views of the Danes 
 and the pretensions of their king. A rapid advance 
 to the south, after the capture of York, with no 
 enemy in their rear, might liave insured the con- 
 federates a signal and perhaps a decisive success ; 
 but the King of Scotland did not appear with his 
 promised armj', and at the approach of winter, 
 which proved unusually severe, the Danes retired 
 to their ships in the Humber, or took up quarters 
 between the Ouse and the Trent, and spent that 
 long season in sloth and gluttony. William was 
 thus allow^ed time to collect his forces and bring over 
 fresh troops from the continent. 
 
 The Conqueror was himting in the forest of Dean 
 when he received the first news of the catastrophe 
 of York : and then and there he swore, by the 
 splendor of the Almighty, that he would utterly ex- 
 terminate the Northumbrian people, nor ever lay 
 his lance in rest, when he had once taken it up, 
 until he had done the deed. In the meantime lie 
 attempted, with infinite art, to conciliate the people 
 in the south of England, redressing many of their 
 grievances, and promising them a just and mild rule 
 for the future. Not relying, however, wholly on 
 these mancEuvres, he exacted fresh oaths and hos- 
 tages. At the same time he opened secret negotia- 
 tions with Osbeorn, the brother of King Sweyn, 
 and finally succeeded, by means of gold and other 
 presents, in inducing him to agree to withdraw his 
 Danish fleet and army, and to give no more assist- 
 ance to the Northumbrians. With the earliest 
 spring William took the field, riding at the head of 
 the finest and most numerous cavalry that had ever 
 been seen in England, and causing his infantry to 
 folloAv by forced marches. As he thus advanced, 
 the English rose nearly everywhere in his rear, 
 recommencing a war on many diflerent points at 
 once. An inferior commander would have been 
 confused by this multiplicity of attacks, and inevita- 
 bly ruined ; but William, who, considering times 
 and circumstances, was one of the greatest generals 
 that ever lived, did not suffer his attention to be dis- 
 tracted, and steadily pursued his course to the north, 
 where he knew the great blow must be struck. 
 
 The defenders of York learned nearl}' at the same 
 moment that the ruthless conqueror was approaching 
 their walls, and that their allies, the Danes, had 
 abandoned them, and were sailing away for the 
 south, where, according to the treacherous compact 
 they had made, they were to be permitted to victual 
 and plunder the English. Abandoned as they were, 
 and ill provided with defences, — for in their rage
 
 Chap. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 359 
 
 they had utterly destroyed the two castles, — they 
 made an obstinate resistance ; nor was York taken 
 until many hundreds of English and Normans lay 
 dead together. Edgar Atheling, escaping with his 
 life, and little else, fled for a second time to the 
 court of the Scottish king. Elated by his victory, 
 William spent but a short time in ordering and 
 planning fresh fortifications in York, and then con- 
 tinued his march northward. His rage had not 
 moderated in the time that had elapsed, and he 
 thought it wise and good policy to carry into effect 
 the fearful vow he had made in the forest of Dean. 
 His troops required no excitement from him : the 
 destruction of their comrades at Durham and York 
 in the preceding year, and the loss they had just 
 sustained themselves at the latter city, rankled in 
 their savage minds, and they threw themselves oti 
 the territory of Northumbria in a frenzy of ven- 
 geance, wasting the cultivated fields, burning towns 
 and villages, and massacring indiscriminately flocks, 
 herds, and men. To accomplish this havoc over a 
 great width of country, they marched in separate 
 columns ; and when the natives, rushing from their 
 concealment in the woods and morasses, extermi- 
 nated some of their scouring parties, such occasional 
 disasters only made the survivors the more pitiless. 
 An English army, commanded by Cospatric, dis- 
 heartened, disorganized, and very inferior in num- 
 bers, retreated before the Normans, and either re- 
 tired into Scotland or threw itself into the moun- 
 tains, being followed by all the population that had 
 strength and activity enough to escape. Egelwin, 
 
 the Bishop of Durham, the same wno had had the 
 interview with Robert de Comine, — assembled the 
 inhabitants of that city, and, like a good shepherd, 
 proposed to conduct his flock to a place of safety, 
 out of the reach of what an old rhyming chronicler 
 calls " Normans, Buvgolouns,' thieves, and felons." 
 Leaving their homes to become the prey of the 
 enemy, but carrying with them the body or bones 
 of St. Cuthbert, these wretched people followed 
 their bishop across the Tyne to Lindisfarne, or 
 Holy Island, near the mouth of the Tweed ; and 
 the Normans a second time entered Durham, but 
 in such force as to leave them no grounds for appre- 
 hending a repetition of the tragedy that had termi- 
 nated their first visit. Having fortified Durham, 
 which is by nature a strong position, the invaders 
 pushed forward to the Tyne, continuing their work 
 of devastation, and feeling their thirst for blood un- 
 slaked. A havoc more complete and diabolical was 
 never perpetrated, nor is the relation of any event 
 of those ages sustained by more numerous and per- 
 fect proofs. The Norman and French chroniclers 
 and historians join the English in narrating and de- 
 ploring the catastrophe which, even in those times 
 of violence and blood, seems to have overpowered 
 men's minds with a wild horror and wonderment. 
 William of Malmsbury, who wrote in the reign of 
 Stephen, about eighty years after, says, '■'■ From 
 York to Durham not an inhabited village remained. 
 Fire, slaughter, and desolation made a vast wilder- 
 ness there, which continues to this day." From 
 
 1 Burgundians, 
 
 
 DrHHAM. 

 
 360 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Durham north to Hexham, from the Wear to the 
 Tyne, the remorseless Conqueror continued the 
 same infernal process. Orderic Vitalis denounces 
 tl>e '■"feralis occisio,'' the dismal slaughter; and says 
 that more than a hundred thousand victims perished. 
 " It was a horrid spectacle," says Roger Hoveden, 
 " to see on the high roads and public places, and at 
 the doors of houses, human bodies eaten by the 
 worms, for there remained no one to cover tliem 
 with a little earth." The fields in culture were 
 burned, and the cattle and the corn in the barns car- 
 ried off by the conquerors, who made a famine where 
 they could not maintain themselves by the sword. 
 This frightful scourge was felt in those jjarts in the 
 months that followed, with a severity never before 
 experienced in England. After eating the flesh of 
 dead horses which the Normans left behind them, 
 the peo])le of Yorkshire and Northumberland, driven 
 to the last extremity, are said to have made many a 
 loathsome repast on human flesh.' Pestilence fol- 
 lowed in the wake of famine ; and as a completion 
 to this picture of hoiror, we are informed that some 
 of the English, to escape death by hunger, sold 
 themselves, with their wives and children, as slaves 
 to the Norman soldiery, who were well provided in 
 their citadels and castles with corn and provisions, 
 purchased on the continent with gold and goods 
 robbed from the English. 
 
 On his return from Hexham to York, by an im- 
 perfectly known and indirect route across the fells, 
 William was well nigh perishing. The snow was 
 still deep in those parts, and the rivers, torrents, 
 ravines, and mountains continually presented ob- 
 stacles which the Normans had been little accus- 
 tomed to in the level counties of England. The 
 army fell into confusion, the king lost the track, 
 and passed a whole night without knowing where 
 he was or what direction his troops had taken. 
 Historians are silent as to his motives for choosing 
 this dangerous road, when a better one lay open for 
 him ; but his intention no doubt was to clear the 
 mountains of the English fugitives, who, had they 
 possessed proper information as to his movements, 
 might have attacked his confused and scattered 
 bands and inflicted a severe punishment. Even as 
 it was, and though no such attack is mentioned (by 
 no means a proof that none happened), William 
 did not reach York without a serious loss, for he 
 eft behind him most of his horses, which were said 
 to have perished in the snow : his men also suft'ered 
 the severest privations. 
 
 Confiscation now became almost general, and 
 William openly avowed his determination to despoil 
 and degrade the natives. All property in land, 
 whether belonging to patriotic chiefs or to men who 
 had taken no active part in the conflict, began to 
 pass into the possession of the Normans and other 
 foreigners. Nor was movable property safer or 
 more respected. From the beginning of the in- 
 vasion the English had been accustomed to deposit 
 their most valuable eflects in the monasteries, in 
 the hope that these sanctuaries would be respected 
 by men who professed to be Christians, and to have 
 1 Florent. Wigorn. 
 
 a special reverence for such holy places ; but now 
 William, emboldened by success, seized the whole, 
 under the pretext that it belonged to disloyal and 
 rebellious subjects. His commissioners, who in 
 many places performed their work sword in hand, 
 did not always draw a distinction between the plate 
 and jewels left in deposit and the treasures that 
 belonged to the monasteries themselves, but carried 
 off the church ornaments and the vessels of silver 
 or gold that were attached to the service of the 
 altar. They also removed or destroyed all deeds 
 and documents, charters of imnmnities, and evi- 
 dences of propertj'. The newly-conquered terri- 
 tory in the north, which must long have remained 
 suflicicntly unproductive, seeing how it had been 
 wasted and the cultivators of the soil destroyed, 
 was distributed in immense lots. William de Ga- 
 ronne had twenty-eight villages; William de Percy 
 more than eighty manors. In Domesday-Book, 
 which was drawn up fifteen years after the Norman 
 occupation of them, most of these domains are 
 described as laying fallow or waste. Vast tracts of 
 country to the north of the city of York fell to the 
 lot of Allan the Breton, who erected a castle and 
 other works of defence on a steep hill, nearly sur- 
 rounded on all sides by the river Swale. In tho 
 language of the times, this fortress was intended 
 to protect him and his against the redoubtable 
 attacks of the disinherited English. Like most of 
 the chiefs of the conquering army, he gave a 
 French name to the place — he called it Richetnont 
 or Richmount, now Richmond. Dreux Bruere, 
 the chief of a band of Flemish auxiliaries, had tho 
 eastern part of Yorkshire, between the rivers and 
 the sea. A story is told of this man that gives a 
 curious idea of some of William's followers. Ho 
 had married a relation of the king's, and this wife 
 he killed in a fit of passion. Before the murder 
 was known, he went to the king and begged him 
 to give him money in lieu of his English estates, as 
 he had an earnest desire to return to his own 
 country. William granted the sum he asked, and 
 did not learn the cause of his hasty departure imtil 
 it was too late to think of stopping him. The 
 territory of the Fleming was then conferred on 
 Eudes of Champaign, who subsequently married a 
 lialf-sister of the Conqueror. When Eudes' wife 
 was delivered of a son, he represented to the king 
 that his lands were not at all fertile, producing only 
 oats, and prayed he would make him a grant of an 
 estate pioper to bear wheat, that he might have 
 wherewith to inake wheaten-bread for his infant, 
 the king's nephew. King William presented him 
 with some lands to his heart's wish in Lincolnshire. 
 Gamel, the son of Quetel, who came from Meaux, 
 in France, with a troop of his own townsmen, 
 established himself and his companions in lands 
 adjoining the Yorkshire possessions of Eudes of 
 Champaign. And Basin, Sivard, Francon, and 
 Richard d'Estouteville are mentioned as landholders 
 and neighbors of Gamel of Meaux. The vast do- 
 main of Pontefract was the share of Gilbert do 
 Lacy, who soon afterwards extended the Norman 
 conquest in Lancashire'^nd Cheshire, and obtained
 
 Chap. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 36* 
 
 Richmond, Yorkshire. 
 
 there estates still more extensive.' This De Lacy 
 built Pontefract Castle, which became at a later 
 age the scene of a fearful tragedy, and echoed 
 with the dying groans of a successor and lineal 
 descendant of the Conqueror. The desperate re- 
 sistance they had made, the bands of houseless 
 English that still roamed from place to place, 
 made the Normans more than ever sensible of 
 the value of deep ditches and strong stone walls. 
 Every baron erected his castle ; and in every pop- 
 ulous town there was a sti'ong fortress, where the 
 Normans confined the principal natives as hostages, 
 and into which they could retire in case of an insur- 
 rection. William did not advance farther than 
 Hexham; but some of his captains continued the 
 progress both to the north and to the west, though 
 their tenure of the land was scarcely secured until 
 some years later, when the mountainous country 
 of Westmoreland and Cumberland, and the ad- 
 jacent part of Northumberland, were reduced by 
 various chiefs. The first Earl of Cumberland 
 was a certain Renouf Meschines, who divided the 
 domains and handsome women of the countiy 
 among his followers, thus following out the feudal 
 system fully established by William. Simon, the 
 son of Thorn, the English proprietor of two rich 
 manors, had three daughters : one of these Mes- 
 chines gave to Humphrey, his man-at-arms, the 
 second he gave to Raoul, nicknamed Tortcs-mains, 
 and the third he reserved for his squire, William of 
 » Thierry. 
 
 St. Paul. In the north of Northumberland, Ives 
 de Vescy took possession of the town of Alnwick, 
 along with the granddaughter and all the inheri- 
 tance of a Saxon who had died in battle. Robert 
 de Bruce obtained, by conquest, several manors 
 and the dues of Hartlepool, the seaport of Dur- 
 ham. Robert D'Onifreville had the forest of Rid- 
 desdale, which belonged to Mildred the Saxon, 
 the son of Akman. On his receiving investitux'e of 
 this domain, William gave to D'Onifreville the 
 sword he had himself worn at his entrance into 
 Northumberland, and D'Onifreville swore upon 
 that sword that he would make good use of it to 
 clear the land of wolves and the enemies of the 
 Conqueror. The nominal government of Northum- 
 berland was, however, intrusted to a native who 
 had recently borne arms against William. This 
 was Cospatric, who came in with Waltheof, the 
 brave son of Siward, with Morcar and Edwin, the 
 brothers-in-law of King Harold, and submitted to 
 William for the second time, being probably in- 
 duced thereto by liberal promises from the Con- 
 queror, who then considered them as the main 
 prop of the English cause, wanting whom Edgar 
 Atheling would at once fall into insignificance. The 
 reward of Cospatric we have mentioned : Waltheof 
 was made Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton, 
 and received the hand of Judith, one of King Wil- 
 liam's nieces, and Morcar and Edwin were restored 
 to their paternal estates. In reality, however, 
 these four men were little better than prisoners,
 
 362 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 and three of them perished miserably in a very 
 short time. 
 
 The insurrections which broke out in William's 
 rear during his march to York were partially 
 suppressed by his lieutenants, who suffered some 
 reverses, and perpetrated great cruelties in return. 
 The garrison of Exeter, besieged by the people of 
 Cornwall, was relieved by Fitz-Osborn ; Monta- 
 cute repulsed the insurgents of Devonshire and 
 Somersetshire ; and Edric the Forester, who took 
 the town of Shrewsbury with the help of the men 
 of Chester and some Welsh, was foiled in his at- 
 tempt to reduce the castle. The whole of the 
 northwest was, however, in a very insecure state ; 
 and the haste with which William marched thither 
 on his return to York from Hexham, seems to de- 
 note some greater peril on the side of the Normans 
 than is expressed by any of the annalists. The 
 weather was still inclement, and his troops were 
 fatigued by their recent exertions, their rapid 
 marches and counter-marches in Northumberland, 
 yet he led them amidst storms of sleet and hail 
 across the mountains which divide our island length- 
 wise, and which have been called, not inappropri- 
 ately, the Apennines of England. The roads he 
 took as being those which led direct to Chester, 
 were scarcely passable for cavalry, and his troops 
 were annoyed and disheartened by actual difficulties 
 and prospective hardships and dangers. The coun- 
 try lying on the western sea, on the Mersey and 
 the Dee, was painted in appalling colors ; but the 
 soldiers scarcely exaggerated the difficult and moun- 
 tainous nature of Wales or the fierce valor of its 
 inhabitants. The auxiliaries, particularly the men 
 of Anjou and Brittany, began to murmur aloud, 
 and not a few of the Normans, complaining of the 
 hard service to which their chief was exposing 
 them, talked of returning beyond sea. This dis- 
 content was overcome partly by promises of reward 
 when the campaign should end, and partly by an 
 affected indifference. " I can do very well without 
 them,'- said William, referring to the foreign mer- 
 cenaries ; " they may go if they please. I have 
 plenty to follow me. I do not want their services." ' 
 And then, on the I'ough way over the wealds, he 
 partook in the fatigues of the common soldiers, 
 marching on foot with them, and faring as they 
 fared. Chestei*, which still retained the outer 
 features of a Roman city, and where the Conqueror 
 gazed on Roman walls and gates, then compara- 
 tively entire, had not yet been invaded by the 
 Normans. No defence, however, was attempted 
 there ; and, after entering in triumph, William 
 proceeded to lay the foundations of a new and 
 strong castle, while detachments of his army reduced 
 the surrounding country. During the Conqueror's 
 stay, Edric the Forester submitted, and was re- 
 ceived into favor. From Chester William marched 
 to Salisbury, where he distributed rewards among 
 the mercenaries, a part of whom he disbanded ; and 
 from Sahsbury he repaired to his strong citadel or 
 palace at Winchester, which city became a favor- 
 ite abode with him, as it had been with his Saxon 
 
 • Orderic. 
 
 predecessors. To retain the newly-conquered 
 province in the northwest, he had left a strong 
 body of troops behind him, under the command of 
 a Fleming named Gherbaud, who became tlie first 
 Count or Earl of Chester. This Gherbaud was 
 soon wearied by the constant fatigues and dangers 
 of his post, for the English rose whenever they 
 found an opportunity ; and the mountaineers from 
 North Wales harassed him incessantly, so that he 
 was glad to resign his command, fiefs, and honors, 
 and return to his own country. The Conqueror 
 then granted the earldom of Chester to Hugh d'Av- 
 ranches, a more warlike and much fiercer com- 
 mander, who earned, even in that age, the surname 
 of " The Wolf." Not satisfied with defensive ope- 
 rations, the new earl immediately crossed the Dee, 
 invaded North Wales, made himself master of a 
 part of Flintshire, and built a castle at Rhuddlan, 
 thus taking an important step towards the subjuga- 
 tion of the Welsh, a project the Normans never 
 abandoned until it was completed, two centuries 
 later, by Edward I. Hugh the Wolf and his fero- 
 cious followers, roused to even more than their 
 usual ferocity by the obstinate and fierce resistance 
 they encountered, shed the blood of the Welsh like 
 water, and burnt and wasted their houses and lands. 
 The fearful tragedy of Northumberland and York- 
 shire was repeated on a smaller scale in this corner 
 of the island, and famine and pestilence stalked 
 along the banks of the Clwyd, the Dee, and the 
 Mersey, as they had done by the rivers of the 
 northeastern coast. 
 
 The conquered territory was apportioned as in 
 the north. A few incidental accounts of these 
 measures, that are found in the chroniclers, taken 
 as they occur, may convey a better notion of the 
 Norman system of settlement than any formal dis- 
 cussion of it. Almost as soon as Hugh the AVolf 
 was installed Earl of Chester, he invited over from 
 Normandy one Lenoir or Nigel, a friend of his 
 early days, whom he was anxious to make the 
 partaker of his good fortune in England. Nigel 
 not only came over himself, but brought his five 
 brothers, Houdard, Edward, Volmar, Horsuin, and 
 Volfan with him, having concluded, no doubt, from 
 good reports, that there was plenty of room and 
 promotion for them all. The Earl of Chester gave 
 Nigel the burgh and domains of Hulton on the 
 Mersey, and made him his constable and hereditary 
 marshal, with great privileges, and almost unlimited 
 means of raising money by fines, for he had the 
 right of administering justice himself, with power 
 of life and death, within his district of Hulton. Of 
 the boot}' taken, or to be taken, from the Welsh, all 
 the four-footed beasts were declared to be the 
 share of Nigel, who had moreover the right of pre- 
 emption in the city of Chester, by which he or his 
 servants could insist on being served first of what- 
 ever they wanted to buy, provided only the servants 
 of the earl had not presented themselves as pur- 
 chasers sooner than tliey. All stray cattle and 
 animals found within the limits of Hulton were his, 
 and Nigel enjoyed the privilege of freely selling at 
 fairs or otherwise, without tax or duty, every
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 363 
 
 species of mercnandise except salt and horses. 
 These possessions, rights, and immunities were 
 declared hereditary in Nigel's family on the usual 
 condition of feudal service and fealty to the imme- 
 diate superior, the Earl of Chester. In the due 
 gradation of this feudal system, Houdard, the eldest 
 of his five brothers, was placed nearly in the same 
 political relation to Nigel that Nigel occupied with 
 regard to the Earl of Chester; he was hereditary 
 Seneschal of Hulton. Nigel, his loi'd, gave him, 
 2^0 hommagio et servitio suo (for his homage and 
 service), the lands of Weston and Ashton. His 
 profits of war were to be all the bulls taken in 
 Wales, and the best ox, as a recompense for his 
 standard-bearer. Edward, the second brother, re- 
 ceived from Nigel the constable a tract of land 
 near Weston ; Horsuin and Volmar got between 
 them the dontain and village of Runcone ; and the 
 fifth brother, being a priest, obtained the church of 
 Runcone. In this manner were lands and powers 
 lavished on hungry adventurers, who continued a 
 slow and lasting tyranny under the names of earls, 
 constables, and seneschals.^ 
 
 The disturbances on the eastern coast, which 
 had been overlooked, now grew to such importance 
 as to demand attention. Hereward, " England's 
 darling," as he was called by his admiring country- 
 men, was Lord of Born, in Lincolnshire, and one 
 of the most resolute chiefs the Normans ever had to 
 encounter. Having expelled the foreigners who 
 had taken possession of his patrimonj', he assisted 
 his neighbors in doing the like, and then estab- 
 lished a fortified camp in the Isle of Ely, where 
 he raised the banner of independence, and bade 
 defiance to the Conqueror. His power or influ- 
 ence soon extended along the eastern sea-hne, over 
 the fen country of Lincolnshire, Huntingdon, and 
 Cambridge ; and English refugees of all classes, 
 thanes dispossessed of their lands, bishops deprived 
 of their mitres, abbots driven from their monas- 
 teries, to make room for foreigners, repaired from 
 time to time to his "camp of refuge." The jealous 
 fears of the king increased the danger they were 
 intended to lessen. Though Edwin and Morcar 
 remained perfectly quiet, and showed every dispo- 
 sition to keep their oaths of allegiance, he dreaded 
 them on account of their great popidarity with their 
 countrymen, and he finally resolved to seize their 
 persons. The two earls received timely notice of 
 this intention, and secreted themselves. When he 
 thought the vigilance of the Normans was lulled, 
 Edwin endeavored to escape to the Scottish border, 
 but he was betrayed by three of his attendants, and 
 fell on the road gallantly fighting against his 
 Norman pursuers, who cut oflf his head, and sent 
 it as an acceptable present to the Conqueror.^ 
 Morcar effected his escape to the morasses of Cam- 
 bridgeshire, and joined Hereward, whose camp 
 was further crowded about this time by many of 
 the English chiefs of the north, who had been 
 driven homeless into Scotland. Among the eccle- 
 siastics of Northumbria who took this course was 
 Egelwin, the Bishop of Durham. Even Stigand, 
 
 1 Thierry. » Orderic. Vital.— Ingulf.— 11. Hunt. 
 
 the Primate of all England, but now degraded by 
 king and pope, and replaced by Lanfranc, an 
 Itahan, is mentioned among the refugees of Ely: 
 but his presence there seems to rest on doubtful 
 authority. 
 
 William at length moved with a formidable army. 
 The difficulties of this war on the eastern coast 
 were different from, but not inferior to, what the 
 Normans had encoimtered in the west and the 
 north. There were no mountains and defiles, but 
 the countiy was in good part a swamp on which no 
 cavalry could tread ; it was cut in all directions by 
 rivers, and streams, and broad meres ; and the few 
 roads that led through this dangerous labyrinth 
 were little known to the foreigners, and likely to 
 be well defended by the natives, who would fight 
 with many local advantages in their favor. The 
 country, too, where the banner of independence 
 floated was a sort of holy land to the English : the 
 abbeys of Ely, Peterborough, Thorney, and Croy- 
 land, the most ancient, the most revered of their 
 establishments, stood within it; and the monks, 
 however professionally timid or peaceful, were dis- 
 posed to resistance, for they well knew that the 
 coming of the Normans would be the signal for 
 driving them from their monasteries. The monks 
 of Croyland, indeed, had already to deplore and 
 resent many wrongs sustained from the invaders. 
 They possessed a house at Spalding, where a part 
 of the brotherhood had resided, and their next 
 neighbor was a fierce baron, named Tailie-bois, 
 from Anjou, who had done them all kinds of mis- 
 chief — laming their horses and their oxen, killing 
 their sheep and poultry, robbing their farmers, and 
 assaulting their servants on the highway with swords 
 and staves. After vain attempts to mollify this ty- 
 rant with entreaties and presents, the unlucky 
 monks had taken up their beds, and their books, 
 and the sacred utensils, and leaving their habitation 
 at Spalding to the protection of Heaven, and shaking 
 the dust oflf their feet against that " son of the fire 
 eternal," had returned in no complacent humor to 
 Croyland.' Taille-bois sent immediately over to 
 Angers for some monks of his own countiy, whom 
 he put in possession of the house and church at 
 Spalding. 
 
 The Normans, surprised among the bogs and the 
 tall rushes that covered them, suflVred some severe 
 checks. The sagacious eye of William soon saw 
 that the proper way of proceeding would be by a 
 blockade that should prevent provisions and succor 
 from reaching the Isle of Ely. He accordingly 
 stationed all the ships he could collect in the Wash, 
 with orders to watch every inlet from the sea to 
 the fens ; and he so stationed his army as to block 
 up every road that led into the fens by land. When 
 he resumed more active operations he undertook a 
 work of great note and difticulty. In order to ap- 
 proach the fortified camp in the midst of marshes, 
 and an expanse of water in some places shallow, in 
 others deep, he began to build a wooden causeway, 
 two miles long, with bridges over the beds of the 
 rivers. Hereward frequently interrupted these 
 
 1 Ingulf.
 
 :i6i 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Croyland Bridge, with the Saxon sculpture of St. Etuelred. 
 
 operations, and in a manner so mui'derous, sudden, 
 and mysterious, that the aflVighted workmen and 
 soldiers became firmly convinced that he was leagued 
 with the devil, and aided by some necromancer. 
 William, whose philosophy in these matters was 
 not in advance of his age, and who liad brought over 
 with him from Normandy a conjuror and soothsayer 
 as an essential part of liis army of invasion, was 
 readily induced by Ives Taille-bois, the persecutor 
 of the monks at Spalding, to employ a sorceress on 
 the side of the Normans, in order to neuti'alize or 
 defeat the spells of the English. This sorceress 
 was placed with much ceremony on the top of a 
 wooden tower at the head of the works ; but Here- 
 ward, the " cunning captain," watching his oppor- 
 tunity, set fire to the dry reeds and rushes, — the 
 flames were rapidly spread by the wind, and tower 
 and sorceress, workmen and soldiers, were con- 
 sumed. 
 
 When the Isle of Ely had been blockaded three 
 months, provisions became scarce there. Those 
 whose profession and vowed duties included fre- 
 quent fasting were the first to become impatient 
 under privation. The monks of Ely sent to the 
 enemy's camp, offering to show a safe passage across 
 the fens if the king would only promise to leave 
 them in undisturbed possession of their houses and 
 lands. The king agreed to the condition, and two 
 of his barons pledged their faith for the execution 
 
 of the treaty. Under proper guides the Normans 
 then found their way into the Isle of Ely, and took 
 possession of the strong monastery which formed 
 part of Hereward's line of defence. They killed a 
 thousand Englishmen that either occupied €an ad- 
 vanced position or had made a sortie ; and then 
 closing round the "camp of refuge," they finally 
 obliged the rest to lay down their arms. Some of 
 these brave men were liberated on paying heavy 
 fines 0¥ ransoms; some were put to death; some 
 deprived of their sight ; some maimed and rendered 
 unfit for war by having a right hand or a foot cut 
 off; some were condemned to perpetual imprison- 
 ment; and in this last category were Earl Morcar 
 and the Bishop of Durham*. Hereward, the soul 
 of the confederacy, would not submit, but making an 
 effort which appeared desperate to all, he rushed 
 from the beleaguered camp, and escaped by throw- 
 ing himself into the marshes where the Normans 
 would not venture to follow him. Passing from 
 fen to fen, he gained the low, swampy lands in Lin- 
 colnshire, near his own estate, Avhere he was joined 
 by some friends and renewed a partisan or guerilla 
 warfare, which cost the Normans many lives, but 
 which could not, under existing circumstances, 
 produce any great political result. At last, seeing 
 the hopelessness of the struggle, he listened to 
 terms from William, who was anxious to pacify an 
 enemy his armies could never reach, and who prob-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 365 
 
 ably admired, as a soldier, his wonderful courage 
 and address. Hereward made his peace, took the 
 oath of allegiance, and was permitted by the Con- 
 queror to preserve and enjoy the estates of his an- 
 cestors. The exploits of the last hero of Anglo- 
 Saxon independence formed a favorite theme of 
 tradition and poetry; and long after his death the 
 inhabitants of the Isle of Ely showed with pride the 
 ruins of a wooden tower which they called the Cas- 
 tle of Hereward. 
 
 After the destruction of the camp of refuge in 
 Ely, the Norman forces, naval as well as military, 
 proceeded to the north to disperse some bands 
 which had again raised the standard of independ- 
 ence, and invoked the presence of Edgar Atheling, 
 who was enjoying the tranquillity and obscurity for 
 which he was fitted, in Scotland. After some 
 bloody skirmishes the confederates were driven 
 beyond the Tweed ; and then. William crossed that 
 river to seize the English emigrants, and punish 
 Malcolm Caenmore. A Scottish army, wliich had 
 been so anxiously expected by the English insur- 
 gents at York two years before, when its weight in 
 the scale might have proved fatal to the Normans, 
 had tardily marched at a moment when the North- 
 umbrians and people of Yorkshire were almost ex- 
 terminated, and when it could do little more than 
 excite "the few remaining inhabitants to a hopeless 
 rising, and burn the houses of such as refused to 
 join in it. The want of provisions in a land laid 
 waste soon made the Scots recross the border. To 
 avenge this mere predatory ini-oad, however, Wil- 
 liam now advanced from the Tweed to the Frith 
 of Forth, as if he intended to subdue the whole 
 of the " land of the mountain and flood," taking 
 with him the entire mass of his splendid cavalry, 
 and nearly every Norman foot-soldier he could pru- 
 dently detach from garrison duty in England. Some 
 native English, on whose fidelity to himself or dis- 
 like of the Scots he could rely, also followed him 
 by land, while others acted as sailors on board his 
 ships, which sailed close in-shore, and cooperated 
 with him as he marclied through the Lothians. 
 The emigi'ants escaped his pursuit ; nor would Mal- 
 colm deliver them up ; but, intimidated by the ad- 
 vance of an army infinitely more numerous and bet- 
 ter armed than his own, the Scottish king, says the 
 Saxon Chronicle, " came and agreed with King Wil- 
 liam, and delivered hostages, and was his man, and 
 the king went home with all liis force." 
 
 On his return from Scotland, William Avas re- 
 ceived at Durham by the new bishop, Vaulcher or 
 Walcher, a Lorrainer by nation, who felt so inse- 
 cure in his diocese that he entreated the king to 
 stay and build a castle for him. William, who liad 
 other business to transact, remained some time, and 
 erected a sort of citadel on the top of tlie highest 
 liill, in which the prelate might live without fear 
 of attack. During his stay at Durham the king 
 summoned Cospatric to appear before him, and, on 
 the idle ground of old grievances, which had been 
 pardoned when that nobleman surrendered with 
 Edwin and Morcar, he deprived him of the earldom 
 of Northumberland, for which it appears he had 
 
 paid a large sum of money. Cospatric* fearing 
 worse consequences, abandoning whatever else he 
 had in England, fled to Malcolm Caenmore, who 
 gave him a castle and lands. The earldom of North- 
 umberland was conferred on Waltheof, an English- 
 man like himself, but now the nephew of the Con- 
 queror by mai-riage with his niece Judith. 
 
 The Normans had now been seven years in the 
 land, engaged in almost constant hostilities; and at 
 length England, with the exception of Wales, might 
 fairly be said to be conquered. In most abridgments 
 and epitomes of history the events we have related 
 in not unnecessary detail, are so faintly indicated, 
 and huddled together in so narrow a space, as to 
 leave an impression that the resistance of our an- 
 cestors after the battle of Hastings was trifling and 
 brief, — that the sanguinary drama of the Conquest 
 was almost wholly included in one act. Nothing 
 can be more incorrect than this impression, or more 
 unfair to that hardy race of men who were the 
 fountain-source of at least nine-tentlis of the blood 
 that flows in the large and generous vein of the 
 English nation. " The successive contests in which 
 the Conqueror was engaged," says a i"ecent histo- 
 rian, with becoming warmth, " ought not to be re- 
 garded as, on his part, measures to quell rebellion. 
 They were a series of wars, levied by a" foreign 
 prince against unconquered and unbending portions 
 of the Saxon people. Their resistance was not a 
 flame casually lighted up by the oppression of 
 rulers, — it was the defensive warfare of a nation 
 who took up arms to pi-eserve, not to recover, their 
 independence. There are few examples of a peo- 
 ple who have suff'ered more for national dignity and 
 legitimate freedom. Tlie Britons are, perhaps, too 
 far from us to admit our fellow-feeling with them. 
 When we stretch out our hands towards their 
 heroes, we scarcely embrace more than a shadow. 
 But let us not distort history by throwing the un- 
 merited reproach of want of national spirit on the 
 Anglo-Saxon, and thus placing an impassable barrier 
 between our sympathy and the founders of our laws 
 and liberties, whose language we speak, in whoso- 
 homes we dwell, and in whose establishments and 
 institutions we justly glory. "^ 
 
 Not long after his return from Scotland, circum- 
 stances imperatively called for the presence of Wil- 
 liam in his continental dominions. His talents as a 
 statesman and warrior are indisputable, j^etfewmeu 
 have owed more to good fortune. Their wrongs 
 and provocations were the same then as now, and 
 policy would have suggested to the people of Maine 
 to exert tliemsclves a year or two before, when 
 William, engaged in difficult wars in England, would 
 have been embarrassed by their insurrection on the 
 continent. But they made their great effort just as 
 England was reduced to the quietude of despair, 
 and when William could proceed against them un- 
 incumbered by any other war. Herbert, the last 
 count or national chief, bequeathed the county of 
 Maine, bordering on Normandy, to Duke William, 
 who, to the displeasure of the people, but without 
 any important opposition, took possession of it sev- 
 
 ' Sir J. Mackintosh.
 
 366 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 eral years before he invaded England. Instigated 
 by Fulk, Count of Anjou, and vexed by a tyrannical 
 administration, the people of Maine now rose against 
 William, and expelled the magistrates he had placed 
 over them, and drove out from their towns the offi- 
 cers and garrisons of the Norman nice. Deeming 
 it imprudent to remove his Norman forces from this 
 island, he collected a considerable army among the 
 English population, and carrying them over to Nor- 
 mandy, he joined tluMU to some troops levied there, 
 and putting himself at their head, marched into the 
 unfortunate province of Maine. The national valor 
 which so often opposed him was now exerted with 
 a blind fury in his favor. The English beat the men 
 of Maine, burnt their towns and villages, and did as 
 much mischief as the Normans (among whom was 
 a strong contingent from Maine) had perpetrated in 
 England. 
 
 While these things were passing on the continent, 
 Edgar Atheling received an advantageous olfer of 
 services and cooperation from Philip, King of 
 France, who at last, and too late, roused himself 
 from the strange sloth and indifference with which 
 he had seen the progress made by his overgrown 
 vassal, the Duke of Normandy. The events in 
 Maine, the dread inspired in all the neighboring 
 country, even to the walls of Paris, and William's 
 exhibition of force, were probably the immediate 
 causes that dispelled Philip's long sleep. He invited 
 Edgar, with whose unpromising character he was 
 probably unacquainted, to come to France and be 
 present at his council, promising him a strong fortress 
 situated on the Channel at a point equally convenient 
 for making descents upon England or incursions or 
 forays into Normandy. Closing with the proposals, 
 Edgar got ready a few ships and a small band of 
 soldiers, being aided therein by his sister the Queen 
 of Scotland, and some of the Scottish nobility, and 
 made sail for France. His usual bad luck attended 
 him : he had scarcely gained the open sea when a 
 storm arose, and drove his ships ashore on the coast 
 of Northumberland, where some of his followers 
 were drowned, and others taken prisoners by the 
 Normans. He and a few of his friends of superior 
 rank escaped and got into Scotland, where they 
 arrived in miserable plight, with nothing but the 
 clothes on their backs, some walking on foot, some 
 mounted on sorry beasts. After this misfortune, 
 his brother-in-law. King Malcolm, advised him to 
 seek a reconciliation with William, and Edgar 
 accordingly sent a messenger to the Conqueror, 
 who at once invited him to Normandy, where he 
 promised proper and honorable treatment. In- 
 stead of sailing direct from Scotland, the Atheling, 
 whose feelings were as obtuse as his intellect, 
 took his way through England, the desolated king- 
 dom of his ancestors, feasting at the castles of the 
 Norman invaders as he went along. Insignificant 
 as he was, the English people still loved his name ; 
 it was therefore deemed expedient to secure his 
 person, and this was done under a decent semblance 
 l)y the sheriff of Yorkshire, who met him with a 
 numerous escort at Durham, and accompanied him 
 until he embarked. AVilliam received him with a 
 
 show of kindness, and allotted him an apartment in 
 the palace of Rouen, with a pound of silver a-day 
 for his maintenance ; and there the descendant of 
 the great Alfred passed eleven years of his life, 
 occupying himself with dogs and horses. 
 
 The king, who had gone to the continent to quell 
 one insurrection, was recalled to England by another 
 of a much more threatening nature, planned, not by 
 the English, but by the Norman barons, their con- 
 querors and despoilers, who were either dissatisfied 
 with the rewards they had received, or disgusted by 
 the imperious character, the overbearing, and inter- 
 meddling of the king. William Fitz-Osborn, the 
 prime favorite and counsellor of the Conqueror, had 
 died a violent death in Flanders, and had been suc- 
 ceeded in his English domains and the earldom of 
 Hereford by his son Roger Fitz-Osborn. This young 
 nobleman negotiated a marriage with Raoul or Ralph 
 de Ga6l, a Breton by birth, and Earl of Norfolk in 
 England by the right of the sword. For some reason 
 not explained, this alliance was displeasing to the 
 king, who sent from Normaiidj- to prohibit it. The 
 parties were enraged at this prohibition, which, 
 however, they deteriuined not to obey, and on the 
 day which had been previously fixed for the cere- 
 mony Emma, the affianced, was conducted to Nor- 
 wich, where a wedding-feast was celebrated that 
 was fatal to all who were present at it.^ Among 
 the guests who had been invited, rather for the after- 
 act than to do honor to the bride and bridegroom, 
 were Waltheof, the husband of Judith, sundry 
 barons and bishops of the Norman race, some Sax- 
 ons who were friends to the Normans, and even 
 some chieftains from the mountains of Wales, wnth 
 whom their neighbor, the Earl of Hereford, the 
 brother of the bride, had thought proper to cultivate 
 amicable relations. A sumptuous feast was followed 
 by copious libations ; and when the heads of the 
 guests were heated by wine, the Earls of Hereford 
 and Norwich, who were already committed by car- 
 rying the forbidden marriage into effect, and who 
 knew the implacable temper of William, opened 
 their plans with a wild and energetic eloquence. 
 They inveighed against the arbitrary conduct of the 
 king, his harsh and arrogant behavior to his noblest 
 barons, — and his apparent intention of reducing the 
 Normans to the same condition of misery and servi- 
 tude as the English, whose wrongs and misfortunes 
 they affected to commiserate. Hereford complained 
 of his conduct with regard to the marriage, saying 
 it was an insult offered to the memory of his father, 
 Fitz-Osborn, the man to whom the bastard incon- 
 testably owed his crown. By degrees the excited 
 assembly broke forth in one general curse against 
 the Conqxioror. The old reproach of his birth was 
 revived over and over again. " He is a bastard, a 
 man of biise extraction," cried the Normans ; " it is 
 in vain he calls himself a king ; it is easy to see he 
 was never made to be one, and that God hath him 
 not in his grace." — " He poisoned our Conan, that 
 brave Count of Brittany," said the Bretons. " He 
 has invaded our noble kingdom, and massacred the 
 legitimate heirs to it, or driven them into exile," 
 1 Chron. Sax.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 367 
 
 Norwich Castle. 
 
 cried the English. " He is ungrateful to the brave 
 nien who have shed their blood for him, and raised 
 him to a higher pitch of greatness than any of his 
 predecessors ever knew," said the foreign captains ; 
 •' and what has he given to us conquerors covered 
 with wounds ? Nothing but lands naturally sterile 
 or devastated by the war ; and then, as soon as he 
 sees we have improved those estates, he takes them 
 from us, or diminishes their extent." The guests 
 cried out tumultuously that all this was true, — that 
 William the Bastard was in odium with all men, — 
 that his death would gladden the hearts of many. ^ 
 
 The great object of the Norman conspirators was 
 to gain over Earl Waltheof, whose warlike qualities 
 and great popularity with the English were well 
 known to them ; and, when they proceeded to di- 
 vulge the particulars of their plan, the Earls of 
 Hereford and Norwich allured him with the prom- 
 ise of a third of England, which was to be partitioned 
 into the old Saxon kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia, 
 and Northumberland. With the fumes of wine in 
 his head, and a general ardor and enthusiasm around 
 him, Waltheof, it is said, gave his approval to the 
 conspiracy, which he thought held out a prospect 
 ofrehef to his own countrymen; but, according to 
 one version of the story, the next morning, "when 
 he had consulted with his pillow, and awaked his 
 wits to perceive the danger whereunto he was 
 drawn, he determined not to move in it," and took 
 measures to prevent its breaking out. A more gen- 
 erally received account, however, is, that Waltheof, 
 seeing from the first the madness of the scheme. 
 1 Will. Malm —Malt. Paris.— Ord.Tic. 
 
 and the little probability it offered of benefiting the 
 English people, refused to engage in it, and only 
 took an oath of secrecy. The whole project, in- 
 deed, was insane ; the discontented barons had 
 scarcely a chance of succeeding against the estab- 
 lished authority and the genius of William ; and 
 their success, had it been possible, would have 
 proved a curse to the country, — a step fatally ret- 
 rogade, — a going back towards the time of the Saxon 
 Heptarchy, when England was fractured into a 
 number of pettj', hostile states. It is quite certain 
 that Waltheof never took up arms, nor did any overt 
 act that could be construed into treason ; but in his 
 uneasiness of mind, and his confidence in so dear a 
 connexion, he disclosed to his wife Judith all that 
 had been done in Norwich Castle ; and this confi- 
 dence is generally believed to have been one of the 
 main causes of his ruin. Roger Fitz-Osborn and 
 Ralph de Gael, the real heads of the confederacy, 
 were hurried into action before their scheme was 
 ripe, for their secret was betrayed by some one. 
 The first of these earls, who had returned to hi« 
 government, and collected his followers and a con- 
 siderable numl)er of Welsh, was checked in his at- 
 tempt to cross the Severn at Worcester ; nor could 
 he find a passage at any other point, as Ours, the 
 Viscount of Worcester, and Wulfstan, the bishop, 
 occupied the left bank of tliat river with a gi-eat 
 force of Norman cavahy. Egelwin, the Abbot of 
 Evesham, who, like Wulfstan, was an Englishman, 
 induced the population of Gloucester to rise and 
 cooperate with the king's officers ; and Walter <l.i 
 Lncv. !i great bnron in those parts, soon brou;^1it up
 
 368 
 
 HISTORY OF ExXGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 a mixed host of English and Normans, tiiat rendered 
 the Earl of Hereford's project of crossing the Sev- 
 ern, to cooperate with liis brother-in-law in the 
 heart of England, altogether liopeless. Lanfranc, 
 the Italian Archbishop of Canterbnry, wlio acted as 
 viceroy during William's absence, proceeding with 
 the greatest decision, also sent troops from London , 
 and Winchester, to oppose Fitz-Osborn, at whose j 
 head ho hurled, at the same time, the terrible sen- 
 tence of excommunication. In writing to the king 
 in Normandy, the primate said, " It would be with ' 
 pleasure, and as envoy of God, that we would wel- 
 come you among iis ; but," fidded the energetic old 
 priest, " do not hurry yourself to cross the sea, for 
 it would be putting us to shame to come and aid us 
 in destroying such traitors and thieves." The Earl 
 of Hereford fell back from the Severn ; and his 
 brother-in-law, the Earl of Norfolk, left to himself, 
 and unable to prc/fcure in time assistance for which 
 he had applied to the Danes, was suddenly attacked 
 by a royal army of very superior force, led on by 
 Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux, Geoffrey, Bishop of 
 Coutance, and Richard de Bienfait and W^illiam de 
 Warenne, the two justiciaries of the kingdom, who 
 obtained a complete victory, and cut off the right 
 foot of eveiy prisoner they made. The earl re- 
 treated to Norwich, garrisoned his castle with the 
 most trusty of his followers, and, leaving his bride 
 to defend it, passed over to Brittany, in hopes of 
 obtaining succor from his countrymen. The daugh- 
 ter of William Fitz-Osborn defended Norwich Cas- 
 tle with great bravery; and when, at the end of 
 three months, she capitulated, she obtained mild 
 terms for her garrison, which was almost entirely 
 composed of Bretons. They did not suffer in hfe 
 or hmb, but were shipped oft' to the continent within 
 the term of forty days. The Bretons generally 
 had rendered themselves unpopular at William's 
 court. With the true character of their race, they 
 were irascible, turbulent, factious, and much more 
 devoted to the head of their clan than to the king. 
 When they were embarked, Lanfranc wrote to his 
 master, " Glory be to God, your kingdom is at last 
 purged of the filth of these Bretons." The king 
 invaded Brittany in the hope of exterminating the 
 fugitive Earl of Norwich in his native castle, and re- 
 ducing that province to entire subjection ; but, after 
 laying an unsuccessful siege to the town of Dol, he 
 was obliged to retire before an army of Bretons, who 
 were supported by the French king.' William then 
 crossed the Channel to suppress the insurrection in 
 England ; but by the time he arrived there was little 
 left for him to do except to punish the principal 
 offenders. The Earl of Hereford had been follow- 
 ed, defeated, and taken prisoner; and many of his 
 adherents, Welsh, English, and Normans, hanged 
 on high gibbets, or blinded or mutilated. At a royal 
 court, De Gael was outlawed, and his brother-in- 
 law, Fitz-Osborn, condemned to perpetual impris- 
 onment and the forfeiture of his property. Scarcely 
 one of the guests at the ill-augured marriage of 
 Emma Fitz-Osborn escaped with life ; and even the 
 inhabitants of the town of Norwich felt the weight 
 ' Daru, Hist, de la Brotagne. 
 
 of royal vengeance. The last and most conspicuous 
 victim was Waltheof, who had been guilty at most 
 of a misprision of treason. His secret had been 
 betrayed by his wife Judith, who is said, moreover, 
 to have accused him of inviting over the Danisli fleet, 
 which now made its appearance on the coast of 
 Norfolk. The motive that made this heartless wo- 
 man seek the death of her brave and generous hus- 
 band was a passion she had conceived for a Norman 
 nobleman, whom she hoped to marry if she could 
 but be made a widow. Others, however, althovigh 
 acting under different impulses, were quite as urgent 
 as the Conqueror's niece for the execution of the 
 English earl. These were Norman barons who had 
 cast the eyes of afl'ection on his honors and estates, 
 — " his great possessions being his greatest ene- 
 mies." The judges were divided in opinion as to 
 the proper sentence ; some of them maintaining 
 that, as a revolted English subject, Waltheof ought 
 to die ; others, that as an officer of the king, and 
 according to JSorman law, he ought only to suffer 
 the minor punishment of perpetual imprisonment. 
 These dilferences of opinion lasted lU'arly a whole 
 year, during which the earl was confined in the 
 royal citadel of Winchester. At length his wife 
 and other enemies prevailed ; the sentence of death 
 was pronounced, and confirmed by the king, who is 
 said to have long wished for the opportunity of put- 
 ting him out of his way. The unfortunate son of 
 that great and good earl, Siward, whom Shakspeare 
 has immortalized, was executed on a hill, a short 
 distance from the town of Winchester, at a very 
 early hour in the morning, and in great haste, lest 
 the citizens should become aware of his fate, and 
 attempt a rescue.' His body was thrown into a hole 
 dug at a cross-road, and covered with earth in a 
 hurry ; but the king was induced to permit its re- 
 moval thence, and the English monks of Croyland, 
 to whom the deceased earl had been a benefactor, 
 took it up and carried it to their abbey, where they 
 gave it a more honorable sepulture. The patriotic 
 superstition of the nation soon converted the dead 
 warrior into a saint, and the universal grief of the 
 English people found some consolation in giving a 
 ready credence to the miracles said to be performed 
 at his tomb. The Anglo-Saxon hagiology seems to 
 have abounded beyond that of most other nations in 
 unfortunate patriots and heroes who had fallen in 
 battle against the invaders of the country. We 
 may excuse the superstition for the sake of the pat- 
 riotism ; but it was of course far otherwise with the 
 Conqueror, who took harsh measures against the 
 English Abbot of Croyland for publishing the mirac- 
 ulous facts, and preaching about them to those who 
 visited his' house to weep and pray over Waltheof 's 
 grave. A council of Norman bishops and barons 
 assembled at London accused the abbot of idolatry, 
 degraded him from his dignity, and sent him as a 
 simple monk or recluse, to be shut up in Glastonbury 
 Abbey, which was far away from Croyland, and gov- 
 erned by Toustain, a Norman, noted as being " cin- 
 entissimus abbas" (a most cruel abbot). But, in 
 spite of the decisions of the Norman council, the 
 
 ' Orderic gives some rurious particulars respecting the evccution.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 569 
 
 ecclesiastical chief of Croyland was still a true man 
 in the eyes of the English, and Earl Waltheof re- 
 mained a saint in their estimation. Even Avhen 
 forty years had passed, and the government of the 
 abbey, which had been held by a succession of for- 
 eigners, fell to a certain Geoffrey, a native of Or- 
 leans, the miracles began again at the tomb of the 
 English chief, and the people flocked thither in great 
 numbers, heedless of the mockery and insults of the 
 Norman monks of Croyland, who maintained that 
 Waltheof was a felon and a traitor, who had justly 
 merited his fate.' And what became of the widow 
 of the brave son of Siward, — of the " infamous Ju- 
 dith," as she is called by nearly all the chroniclers ? 
 So far from permitting her to marry the man of 
 whom she was enamored, her uncle William, who 
 was most despotic in these matters, and claimed as 
 part of his prerogative the right of disposing of female 
 wards, insisted on her giving her hand to one Simon, 
 a Frenchman of Senlis, a veiy brave soldier, but 
 lame and deformed ; and when the perverse widow 
 rejected the match with insulting language, he drove 
 her from his presence, deprived her of all Waltheof 's 
 estates, and gave them to Simon without the incum- 
 brance of such a wife. Cast from the king's favor, 
 and reduced to poverty, she became almost as un- 
 popular with the Normans as she was with the 
 English; and the wretched woman, hated by all, or 
 justly contemned, passed the rest of her life in wan- 
 dering in different corners of England, seeking to 
 hide her shame in remote and secluded places." 
 
 The Normans had been gradually encroaching on 
 the Welsh territory, both on the side of the Dee 
 and on the side of the Severn, and now William in 
 person led a formidable army into Wales, where he is 
 said to have struck such terror that the native princes 
 performed feudal homage to him at St. David's, and 
 delivered many hostages and Norman and English 
 prisoners, with which he returned as " a victorious 
 conquej"or." In the north of England he made no 
 farther progress, and had considerable difficulty in 
 retaining the land he had occupied. The Scots 
 again crossed the Tweed and the Tyne, and much 
 harassed the Norman barons. At the approach of 
 a superior army they retired ; but William's officers 
 did not follow them, and the only result of the 
 expedition, on the king's side, was the founding of 
 the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The impression 
 made upon Scotland by the Conqueror, when he 
 had marched in person, must have been of the slight- 
 est kind, and his circumstances never permitted him 
 to return. 
 
 A.D. 1077-9. He was now wounded by the 
 sharp tooth of filial disobedience, and obliged to 
 be frequently, and for long intervals, on the con- 
 tinejit, where a fierce and unnatural war was 
 waged between father and son. When William 
 first received the submission of the province of 
 Maine (the subsequent and unfortunate insurrection 
 of which we have mentioned), he had promised 
 the inhabitants to make his eldest son, Robei't, 
 
 ' Orderic. Vital. — Florent. Wigorn. — Ingulph. 
 5 Odio omnibus habita, et digne despicta, per diversa loca et latibula 
 eiTavit. — IngTilph. 
 
 VOL. I. — 24 
 
 their prince ; and before departing for the conquest 
 of England he stipulated, that in case of succeeding 
 in his enterprise, he would resign the Duchy of 
 Normandy to the same son. So confident was he 
 of success, that he permitted the Norman chiefs 
 who consented to, and legalized the appointment, 
 to swear fealty and render homage to young Robert 
 as their future sovereign. But all this was done 
 to allay the jealousy of the King of France and his 
 other neighbors, uneasy at the prospect of his 
 vastly extending power; and when he was firmly 
 seated in his conquest, and had strengthened his 
 hands, William openly showed his determination of 
 keeping and ruling both his insular kingdom and 
 his continental duchy. Grown up to man's estate, 
 Robert claimed what he considered his right. 
 " My son, I wot not to throw off my clothes till I 
 go to bed," was the homely but decisive answer of 
 his father. Robert was brave to rashness, am- 
 bitious, impatient of command ; and a young prince 
 in his circumstances was never yet without adhe- 
 rents and counsellors to urge him to those extreme 
 measures on which they found their own hopes of 
 fortune and advancement. He was suspected of 
 fanning the flames of discontent in Brittany as well 
 as in Maine, and to have had an understanding with 
 the King of France, when that monarch frusti'ated 
 William's attempt to seize the fugitive Breton 
 Raoul de Gael, and forced the King of England to 
 raise the siege of Dol. Some circumstances which 
 added to the number of the unnatural elements 
 ah'eady engaged made Robert declare himself more 
 openly. In person he was less favored by nature 
 than his two younger brothers William and Henry, 
 who seemed to engross all their father's favor, and 
 who probably made an improper use of the nick- 
 name of Courte-heuse,^ which was given to Robert, 
 on account of the shortness of his legs. One day, 
 when the king and his court were staying in the 
 little town of I'Aigle, William and Henry went to 
 the house of a certain Roger Chaussiegue, Avhich 
 had been allotted to their brother Robert for his 
 lodging, and installed themselves, without his leave, 
 in the upper gallery or balcony. After playing for 
 a time at dice, " as was the fashion with military 
 men," ^ they began to make a great noise and up- 
 
 ' Literally " short-hose," or "short-boot" — Brevis Ocrea. — Orderic. 
 Vital. 
 
 1 " Ibique super solarium (sicut militibus mos est) tesseris lulls'** 
 ccpperunt." — Ibid. 
 
 Dice Plavino. From an Engraving in Strutl's Sports.
 
 570 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book ITI. 
 
 roar, and then they finished their boyish pranks 
 by emptjing a pitcher of water on the heads of 
 Robert and his comrades, who were passing in the 
 court below. Robert, naturally passionate, prob- 
 ably required no additional incentive ; but it is 
 stated, that one of his companions, Alberic de 
 Grantmosnil, a son of Hugh de Grantmesnil, whom 
 King William had formerly deprived of his estates 
 in England, instigated the prince to resent tlie 
 action of his brothers as a public alfront, which 
 could not be borne in honor. Robert drew his 
 sword and ran up stairs, vowing he would wipe out 
 the insult with blood. A great tumult followed, 
 and the king, who rushed to the spot, liad much 
 difficulty in quelling it. That very night Robert 
 fled with his companions to Rouen, fully deter- 
 mined to raise the standard of revolt. He failed 
 in his first attempt, which was to take the castle of 
 Rouen ; and soon after, some of his warmest par- 
 tisans were surprised and made prisoners by the 
 king's officers. The prince escaped across the 
 frontiers of Normandy into the district of Le 
 Perche, where Hugh, nephew of Aubert le Ribaud, 
 welcomed him, and sheltered him in his castles of 
 Sore! and Reymalard. By the mediation of his 
 mother, who seems to have been fondly attached 
 to him, Robert was reconciled to his father ; but 
 the reconciliation did not last long, for the prince 
 was as impatient for authority as ever ; and the 
 young counsellors who surrounded liim found it 
 unseemlj" and altogether abominable that he should 
 be left so poor, through the avarice of his father, 
 as not to have a shilling to give his faithful friends 
 who followed his fortunes.' Thus excited, Robert 
 went to his father, and again demanded possession 
 of Normandy ; but the king again refused him, ex- 
 horting him at the same time to change his asso- 
 ciates for serious old men like the royal counsellor 
 and pilme minister. Archbishop Lanfranc. " Sire," 
 said Robert, bluntly, " I came here to claim my 
 right, and not to listen to sermons — I heard plenty 
 of them, and tedious ones too, wlien I was learning 
 my grammar ;" and then he added, that he insisted 
 on a positive answer to his demand of the duchy. 
 The king wrathfully replied that he would never 
 give up Normandy, his native land, nor share with 
 another any part of England, which he had won 
 with his own toil and peril. " Well, then," said 
 Robert, " I will go and bear arms among strangers, 
 and perhaps I shall obtain from them what was re- 
 fused to me by my father." " He set out accord- 
 ingly, and wandered through Flanders, Lorraine, 
 (xascony, and other lands, visiting dukes, counts, 
 and rich burgesses, relating his grievances, and 
 asking assistance ; but all the money he got on 
 these eleemosynary circuits lie dissipated among 
 minstrels and jugglers, parasites and prostitutes, 
 and was thus obliged to go again a begging, or 
 borrow money at an enormous interest. Queen 
 Matilda, whose maternal tenderness was not es- 
 tranged by the follies and vices of her son, con- 
 trived to remit him several sums when he was in 
 great distress. William discovered this, and sternly 
 
 1 Orderic. a Ibi<l. 
 
 forbade it for the future. But her heart still 
 yearning for the prodigal, the queen made further 
 remittances, and her secret was again betrayed. 
 The king then reproached her in bitter terms for 
 distributing among his enemies the treasures he 
 gave her to guard for himself, and ordered the 
 arrest of Samson, her messenger, who had carried 
 the money, and whose eyes he vowed to tear out 
 as a proper punishment. Samson, who was a 
 Breton, took to flight, and became a monk " for the 
 salvation both of body and soul." ' . 
 
 After leading a vagabond life for some time, 
 Robert repaired to the French court ; and King 
 Philip, still finding in him the instrument he 
 wanted, openly espoused his cause, and established 
 him in the castle of Gerberoy, on the very con- 
 fines of Normandy, where he supported himself by 
 plundering the neighboring country, and whence 
 he corresponded with the disaffected in the duchy. 
 Knights and troops of adventurers on horseback 
 flocked to share the plunder and the q)ay he now 
 had to oft'er them : in the number were as many 
 Norman as French subjects, and not a few men of 
 King William's own household. Burning with rage, 
 the king crossed the Channel with a formidable 
 English army, and came in person to direct the 
 siege of the strong castle of Gerberoy, where he 
 lost many men in fruitless operations, and from 
 sorties made by the garrison. With all his faults, 
 Robert had many good and generous qualities, 
 
 i which singularly endeared him to his friends when 
 livine, and which, along with his cruel misfortunes, 
 
 ] caused him to be mourned when dead. Ambition, 
 passion, and evil counsel had lulled and stupified, 
 but had not extirpated his natural feelings. One 
 day, in a sally from his castle, he chanced to engage 
 in single combat with a stalwart warrior clad in 
 mail, and concetiled, like himself, with the visor of 
 his helm. Both were valiant and well skilled in 
 the use of their weapons, but, after a fierce combat, 
 Robert wounded and unhorsed his antagonist. In 
 the voice of the fallen warrior, who shouted for 
 assistance, the prince, who was about to follow up 
 his advantage with a death-stroke, recognized his 
 fother, and, instantly dismounting, fell on his knees, 
 craved forgiveness with tears, and helping him to 
 his saddle, saw him safely out of the mtUc which 
 now thickened. The men who were coming up to 
 the king's assistance, and bringing a second horse 
 for him to mount, were nearly all killed. William 
 rode away to his camp on Robert's horse, smarting 
 with his wound, and still cursing his son who had 
 so seasonably mounted him.'- He relinquished the 
 siege of (.Terberoy in despair, and went to Rouen, 
 where, as soon as his temper permitted, his wife 
 and bishops, with many of the Norman nobles, 
 labored to reconcile him again to Robert. For a 
 long time the iron-hearted king was deaf to their 
 entreaties, or only irritated by them. " Why," 
 cried he, " do you solicit me in fovor of a tiaitor 
 who has seduced my men, — my very pupils in war, , 
 
 1 Pro salvatione corpuris et anims. — Orderic. Vital. 
 3 Chron. Sax. — Florent. Wigorn. — Th« story is told somewhat dif- 
 ferently in the Chrun. Laniljardi.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 371 
 
 whom I fed with ray own bread, and invested with 
 the knightly arms they wear ?" ^ At last he yielded, 
 and Robert, having again knelt and wept before 
 him, received his father's pardon, and accompanied 
 him to England. But even now the reconciliation 
 on the part of the unforgiving king was a mere 
 matter of policy, and Robert, finding no symptoms 
 of returning affection, and fearing for his life or 
 liberty, soon fled for the third time, and never saw 
 his father's face again. His departure was followed 
 by another paternal malediction, which was never 
 revoked. 
 
 A.D. 1080. We have seen in the course of this, 
 as we shall see in several succeeding reigns, that 
 bishops were soldiers as well as priests, — as ready 
 to wield the lance as the crosier, — and especially 
 ambitious of temporal commands. Walcher de 
 Lorraine, installed in the bishopric of Durham and 
 his strong castle " on the highest hill," soon united 
 to his episcopal functions the political and military 
 government of Northumberland. The admirers of 
 the earl-bishop boasted that he was equally skilful 
 in repressing rebellion with the edge of the sword 
 and reforming the morals of the English by elo- 
 quent discourse.^ The plain truth, however, seems 
 to be, that the Lorrainer was a harsh task-master 
 to the English, laying heavy labors and taxes upon 
 them, and permitting the ofificers under him and 
 his men-at-arms to plunder, insult, and kill them 
 with impunity.' Liulf, an Englishman of noble 
 birth, and endeared by his good qualities to the 
 whole province, ventured, on being j-obbed by some 
 of Walcher's satellites, to lay his complamt before 
 the bishop. Shortly after making this accusation, 
 Liulf was murdered by night in his manor-house, 
 near the city of Durham, and it was well proved 
 that one Gilbert, and others in the bishop's service, 
 were the perpetrators of the foul deed. " Here- 
 upon," says an old writer, " the malice of the 
 people was kindled against him, and when it was 
 known that he had received the murderers into his 
 house and favored them as before, they stomached 
 the matter highly." Secret meetings were held at 
 the dead of night, and the Northumbrians, who had 
 lost none of their old spirit, and were absolutely 
 driven to madness, because, among other causes of 
 endearment, Liulf had married the widow of Earl 
 Siward, the mother of the unfortunate Earl Waltheof, 
 resolved to take a sanguinary vengeance. Both 
 parties met by agi'eement at Gateshead ; * the 
 bishop, who protested his innocence of the homi- 
 cide, in the pomp of power, surrounded by his 
 retainers; the Northumbrians, in humble guise, as 
 if to petition their lord for justice, though every man 
 among them carried a sharp weapon hid under his 
 garment. The bishop, alarmed at the number of 
 English that continued to flock to the place of ren- 
 dezvous, retired with all his retinue into the church. 
 
 ' Tiroiies meos, quos alui ct armis militaribus decoravi, abduxit. — 
 Oderic. Vital. 
 
 ' Frienaret rebellionem gcnlis gladio, et reformar&t mores eloriuio. — 
 W.Il. Malmj. 
 
 3 Malt. Paris. — Aiiglia Sacra. 
 
 * The name iiieau^ "Goat's Head;'' "ad capul capra;.''— Florent. 
 Wigorn 
 
 The people then signified in plain terms that, unless 
 he came forth and showed himself, they would fire 
 the place where he stood. As he did aot move, the 
 threat was executed. Then, seeing the smoke and 
 flames arising, he caused Gilbert and his accomplice.'^ 
 to be thrust out of the church. The people fell 
 with savage joy on the murderers of Liulf, and cur 
 them to pieces. Half suftocated by the heat ami 
 smoke, the bishop himself wrapped the skirts of his 
 gown over his face and came to the threshold of the 
 door. There seems to have been a moment of 
 hesitation, but a voice was heard among the crowd. 
 saying, " Good rede, short rede ! Slay ye the 
 bishop!" and the bishop was slain accordingly.' 
 The foreigners had nothing left but the alternative 
 of being burnt alive or perishing by the sword. 
 The bishop's chaplain seemed to give a preference 
 to the former death, for he lingered long in th(^ 
 burning church ; but, in the end, he was compelled 
 by the raging fire to come out, and was also slain 
 and hacked to pieces — " as he had well deserved," 
 adds an old historian, " being the main promoter of 
 all the mischief that had been done in the countiy." - 
 Of all who had accompanied the bishop to the tragi- 
 cal meeting at Gateshead, only two were left alive, 
 and these were menials of English birth. Above 
 a hundred men, Normans and Flemings, perished 
 with Walcher.' The conspirators attacked the 
 castle at Durham ; but finding it well defended by 
 a numerous garrison, and altogether too strong for 
 them, they gave up the siege the fourth day, and 
 dispersed. 
 
 A.D. 1082. William inti-usted to one bishop the 
 ofifice of avenging another. His half-brother, Odo. 
 the fierce Bishop of Bayeux, marched to Durham 
 with a numerous army. He found no force on foot 
 to resist him, but he treated the whole country a? 
 an insurgent province, and making no distinction of 
 persons, and employing no judicial forms, he be 
 headed or mutilated all the men he could find in 
 their houses. Some persons of property bought 
 their lives by sun-endering everything they pos 
 sessed. By this exterminating expedition Odo ob 
 tained the reputation of being one of the greates-r 
 "dominators of the English ;" but it seems to havo 
 been the last he commanded, and disgraced with 
 cruelty, during the reign of William. This church- 
 man, besides being Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy, 
 was Earl of Kent in England, and held many high 
 offices in this island, where he had accumulated 
 enormous wealth, chiefly by extortion, or a base 
 selling of justice. For some years a splendid 
 dream of ambition, which he thought he could 
 realize by means of money, increased his rapacity. 
 There were many instances in those ages of kinga 
 becoming monks, but not one of a Catholic priest 
 becoming a king. Profane crowns being out of his 
 reach, Odo aspired to a sacred one, to the tiara, 
 that triple crown of Rome which gradually obtained, 
 in another shape, a homage more widely extended 
 than that paid to the Caesars. His dream w.w 
 cherished by the predictions of some Italian astro- 
 logers, who, living in his service, and being well 
 
 1 Matt. Par. a Holmshed. ' Chn.>n. Sax
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 naid, assured him that he would be the successor 
 .if Gregory VII., the reigning pope. Odo opened a 
 correspondence with the eternal city by means of 
 Knglish and Norman pilgrims, who were constant^ 
 flocking thither, l)ought a palace at Rome, and sent 
 rich presents to the senators. His project was not 
 liltogether so visionary as it has been considered by 
 most writers, and we can hardly understand why 
 his half-brother William should have checked it, 
 unless indeed his interference proceeded from his 
 desire of getting possession of the bishop's wealth. 
 Ten years before the Conqueror invaded England, 
 Robert Guiscard, one of twelve heroic Norman 
 brothers, had acquired the sovereignty of the greater 
 part of those beautiful countries that are now in- 
 cluded within the kingdom of Naples. The Nor- 
 man lance was dreaded in all the rest of Italy, and, 
 with a Norman pope established at Rome, the 
 supremacy of that people might have been extended 
 from one end of the Peninsula to the other. The 
 IJishop of Rayeux had some reason for counting on 
 the sympathy of his powerful countrymen in the 
 south, the close neighbors of Rome ; and the in- 
 rtuence of gold had been felt before now in the 
 college of cardinals and the elections of popes. It 
 is quite certain that a considerable number of the 
 >forman chiefs entered into Odo's views, and when 
 lie made up his mind to set out for Italy in person, 
 a brilliant escort was formed for him. " Hugh the 
 Wolf," the famous Earl of Chester, who had a long 
 account of sin to settle if he considered the butcher- 
 ing of English and AVelsh as crimes, was anxious to 
 go to Rome, and joined the bishop, with some con- 
 siderable barons, his friends, and much money. 
 
 The king was in Normandy when he heard of 
 this expedition, which had been prepared in great 
 secrecy, and being resolute in his determination of 
 stopping it, he instantly set sail for England. He 
 surprised the aspirant to the popedom at the Isle of 
 Wight, seized his treasures, and summoned him 
 l)efore a council of Norman barons hastilj' assembled 
 at that island. Here the king accused his half- 
 brother of "untruth and sinister dealings," — of 
 liaving abused his power both as viceroy and judge, 
 and, as an earl of the realm, of having maltreated 
 the English bejond measure, to the great danger of 
 the common cause, of having robbed the churches 
 of the land, and, finally, of having seduced and 
 attempted to carry out of England, and beyond the 
 Alps, the warriors of the king, who needed their 
 services for the safe keeping of the kingdom. 
 Having exposed his gi-ievances, William asked the 
 council what such a brother deserved at his hands ? 
 No one durst answer : " An-est him, then !" cried 
 the king, " and see that he be well looked to !" If 
 they had been backward in pronouncing an opinion, 
 they were still more averse to lay hands on a 
 bishop : not one of the council moved, though it 
 was the king that ordered them. William then 
 advanced himself, and seized the prelate by his 
 robe. " I am a clerk, a priest," cried Odo. " I 
 am a minister of the Lord : the pope alone has the 
 right of judging me !" But his brother, without 
 losing his hold, repHed, "I do not arrest you as 
 
 Bishop of Bayeux, but ns Earl of Kent."' Odo 
 was caiTied forthwith to Normandy, and, instead of 
 crossing the Alps and the Apennines, was shut up 
 in the dungeon of a castle. Some of the worst 
 crimes imputed to Odo had been committed at the 
 order and for the service of his brother, but Wil- 
 liam probably found a relief in laying as much of the 
 guilt as he could on another's shoulders ; and the 
 bishop was so universally detested by the English 
 people, that the king became almost popular among 
 them by the punishment he awarded. 
 
 Soon after imprisoning his brother, William lost 
 his wife, INIatilda, whom he tenderly loved ; and 
 after her death, it was observed, or fancied, he 
 became more suspicious, more jealous of the au- 
 thority of his old companions in arms, and more 
 avaricious than ever. The coming on of old age 
 is, however, enough in itself to account for such a 
 change in such a man. After a lapse of ten years, 
 the Danes were again heard of. The fleet and 
 army which had cooperated so badly with Edgar 
 Atheling and the Northumbrians, and so shame- 
 fully deserted them in the hour of need, when the 
 Conqueror marched upon York, returned to Den- 
 mark a shattered and dishonored wreck, having 
 been assailed by tempests on their way. Sueno 
 Estridsen disgraced and banished Osboern, f''e 
 commander-in-chief of the expedition, who was his 
 own brother, charging him witli corrupt and faith- 
 less conduct. He then assembled a second fleet 
 for the assistance of the English confederates, who 
 maintained the struggle in the fen country with 
 Hereward ; but -when these ships reached our 
 eastern coast, those on board found that William 
 was provided with a maritime force quite suflTicient 
 to prevent their landing or assisting the patriots. 
 The fleet then returned to Denmai'k with no more 
 success, but with less dishonor, than the one that 
 had preceded it. 
 
 In a short space of time both Sueno and his legiti- 
 mate son Harold departed this life. Canute the 
 Dane, who was illegitimate, like W^illiam the Nor- 
 man, then ascended the throne, and though he 
 ended it as a saint he began his reign like a warrior, 
 and laid claim to England as successor of his name- 
 sake Canute the Great. Not relying wholly on the 
 strength of Denmark, he applied to the Norwegians 
 for assistance, after the fashion of old times, not 
 forgetting to remind them of the glorj- their fore- 
 fathers had obtained in England. Olaf, or Olave, 
 surnamed the Peaceful, was then King of Norway. 
 A meeting between the two kings took place upon 
 the river Gotha-Elf, near Konungahella (or Kong- 
 hell), at that time the capital of the Norwegian 
 kingdom. Olave approved of the enterprise as a 
 just one, and promised to furnish sixtj- ships, but 
 declined taking any further part in it, affirming 
 that Norway could no longer furnish such an ar- 
 mament as had followed his father Hardrada to 
 the Humber; and that he, Olave, was far from 
 being such a general as Hardrada. Olave must 
 have remembered the fearful catastrophe of Stam- 
 ford-bridge, the generosity he experienced from 
 
 > Chron. Sax. — Florent.^Malmsb. — Orderic.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 37li 
 
 Harold when a captive in his hands, and the vow 
 he took to that unfortunate king to maintain con- 
 stant faith and friendship with the English.' It is 
 probable, however, that he would not consider a 
 war made on the Normans in England as a breach 
 of that vow ; and that the narrow scale of his co- 
 operation was really owing to the cause he assigned 
 to Canute, namely, that the strength of Noi-way 
 had been exhausted by Hardrad.a's fatal expedition. 
 In another quarter to which he applied Canute 
 received more liberal promises ; his father-in-law, 
 Robert, Earl of Flanders, engaging to join him with 
 six hundred ships. The united armament, it was 
 calculated, would amount to a thousand sail. Olave 
 sent his sixty ships with sufficient promptitude ; 
 but we have not discovered the state of preparation 
 of the Earl of Flanders, who possibly had promised 
 more than he could perform. Delays of various 
 kinds arose ; and when Canute had fixed the day 
 for sailing, he discovered that his own brother, the 
 governor of Sleswic, who was engaged to accom- 
 pany him to England, had secretly withdrawn from 
 the fleet to his government, intending to take ad- 
 vantage of his absence, and seize the Danish throne. 
 He was apprehended, and sent in chains to Flan- 
 ders, there to be kept in safe prison ; but all this 
 caused still further delay, and the traitor left many 
 partisans in the fleet. These men, among whom 
 it appears were some officers of high rank, reported 
 among the mariners and soldiers that the provisions 
 for the voyage would be found insufficient ; and 
 many left their ships from the dread of being 
 starved at sea. There was also the discouragement 
 of bad weather, contrary winds, and inauspicious 
 omens ; and the gold of the wealthy king of Eng- 
 land is said to have been again employed in Den- 
 mark. Desertion at last took place to such an 
 extent that Canute, abandoned by his own, was left 
 with only the Norwegian fleet ; and thus the last 
 invasion from the Baltic with which England was 
 threatened was wholly frustrated.^ The intention 
 of Canute, his alliances and preparations, of all of 
 which he was well informed, kept William in a 
 state of anxiety for nearly two whole years, and 
 were the cause of his laying fresh burdens upon 
 his English subjects. He revived the odious Dane- 
 gelt; and because many lands and manors which 
 had been charged with it in the time of the Anglo- 
 Saxon kings had been specially exempted fi"om 
 this tax when he granted them in fief to his nobles, 
 he made up the deficiency by raising it upon the 
 other lands to the rate of six shillings a hide. The 
 money he thus obtained, with part of the treasures 
 he had amassed, was employed in hiring and bring- 
 ing over foreign auxiliaries ; for though he could 
 rely on an Enghsh army when fighting against 
 Frenchmen, or the people of Normandy, Maine, 
 and Brittany, he could not trust them at home ; and 
 he well knew that many of them on the eastern 
 and northeastern shores would join the Danish 
 invaders heart and hand, instead of opposing them. 
 He therefore collected, as he had done before, men 
 
 1 See ante, p. 198. 
 
 2 Southey, Naval Hist. — SnoTe, Antiq. Celto-Scand. 
 
 of all nations ; and these came across the Channel 
 in such numbers that, according to the chroniclers, 
 people began to wonder how the land could feed so 
 many hungry beUies. These hordes of foreigners 
 sorely oppressed the natives, for William quartered 
 them throughout the country, to be paid as well as 
 supported. They were mostly foot-soldiers, which 
 implies that they were men of a very low and rude 
 condition ; for at this period soldiers of fortune of 
 any pretension served only on hoi'seback. One of 
 the bands which he thus engaged belonged to 
 Hugh, a brother of the French king ; but this wa.s 
 probably of a class superior to the rest. 
 
 To complete the miseries inflicted upon England 
 at this time, William ordered all the land lying near 
 the sea-coast to be laid waste, so that, if the Danes 
 should land, they would find no ready supply of food 
 or forage.' 
 
 The Conqueror had often felt the want of a 
 naval force, but he had not the same genius for 
 maritime as for military affairs ; and it require- 
 more time to make good sailors than to make good 
 soldiers. Knowing, however, that to encourage 
 commerce was the best means of fostering a navy, 
 he repeatedly invited foreigners to frequent his 
 ports, promising that they and their property should 
 be perfectly secure. But he did not live to posses., 
 a navy of his own. The spirit of Englishmen, whu 
 were more prone to the sea than his Normans, was 
 depressed under his iron rule ; nor did this country 
 make any approach towards her naval supremacy 
 until several reigns after. 
 
 Another domestic calamity afflicted the latter 
 years of the Conqueror, for he saw a violent jeal- 
 ousy growing up between his favorite sons, William 
 and Henry. Robert, his eldest son, continued a.i 
 exile or fugitive ; and Richard, his second son in 
 order of birth (but whom some make illegitimate), 
 had been gored to death by a stag^ some years be- 
 fore, as he was hunting in the New Forest; and 
 he was noted by the old Enghsh annalists as beinsx 
 the first of several of the Conqueror's progeny 
 that perished in that place, " the justice of God 
 punishing in him his father's dispeophng of that 
 country." 
 
 Perhaps no single act of the Conqueror inflictel 
 more misery within the limits of its operation, and, 
 certainly, none has been more bitterly stigmatized 
 than his seizure and wasting of the lauds in Hamp- 
 shire, to make himself a hunting-ground. Liki; 
 most of the great men of the time, who had few 
 other amusements, William was passionately fond 
 of the chase. The Anglo-Saxon kings had the 
 same taste, and left many royal parks and forests 
 in all parts of England, wherein he might have 
 gratified a reasonable passion ; but he was not 
 satisfied with the possession of these, and resolved 
 to have a vast hunting-ground " for his insatiate 
 and superfluous pleasure" in the close neighbor- 
 hood of the royal city, Winchester, his favorito 
 
 1 Saxon Chron. 
 
 3 Other accounts say he was killed by a "pestilent blast" which 
 crossed him while hunting ; but we believe aU fii ihe scene of his 
 death in the New Forest .
 
 374 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 place of residence. In an early part of his reign 
 he therefore seized all the southwestern part of 
 Hampshire, measuring thirty miles from Salisbury 
 ro the sea, and in circumference not much less than 
 ninety miles. This wide district, before called 
 Ytene or Ytchtene (a name yet partially pre- 
 served), was to some extent uninhabited, and fit 
 for the purposes of the chase, abounding in sylvan 
 repots and coverts; but it included, at the same 
 time, many fertile and cultivated manors, which 
 lie caused to be totally absorbed in the surrounding 
 wilderness, and many towns or villages, with no 
 lewer than thirtj-six mother or parish churches, 
 :dl of which he demolished, and drove away the 
 l)eople, making them no compensation. According 
 lo the indisjjutable authority of Domesday-Book, in 
 which we have an account of the state of this ter- 
 ritory both before and after its "aft'orestation," the 
 ilamage done to private property must have been 
 immense. In an extent of nearly ninety miles in 
 circumference, one hundred and eight places, ma- 
 nors, villages, or handets suflfered in a greater or 
 less degi'ee.' Some melancholy traces of these 
 nncient abodes of the Anglo-Saxons are still to be 
 fjund in the recesses of the New Forest, and have 
 iieen described by a gentleman* who has passed 
 much of his life in and near those woods, and who 
 is the successor in office to Sir Walter Tyrrell, as 
 l)OW-bearer to the king. In many spots, though no 
 ruins are visible above ground, either the line of 
 i-rections can be traced by the elevation of the soil, 
 iir fragments of building materials have been dis- 
 covered on turning up the surface. The traditional 
 names of places still used by the foresters, such as 
 ■• Church-place," " Church-moor," " Thomson's 
 (-'astle," seem to mark the now solitary spots as the 
 sites of ancient buildings where the English people 
 worshiped their God, and dwelt in peace, before 
 they were swept away by the Conqueror ; and the 
 same elegant Avriter we have last referred to sug- 
 gests that the terminations of ham and ton, yet 
 annexed to some woodlands, may be taken as evi- 
 dence of the former existence of hamlets and towns 
 in the forest.^ 
 
 We have entered into these slight details because 
 some foreign writers, at the head of whom is Vol- 
 taire, have professed a disbelief of the early history 
 
 • if the New Forest, and because some native writ- 
 ers, including even Dr. Warton, who was " natu- 
 rally disposed to cling to the traditions of antiquity," 
 lUncying there were no existing ruins or traces of 
 such desolation, have doubted whether William 
 
 ' Warner, Topographical Remarks on the Southwestern parts of 
 Hampshire. 
 
 2 William Stewart Rose, Esq. The office of bow-bearer for the 
 Js'ew Forest is now, of course, a sinecure, and it is almost purely 
 I .morarj',— the salary being forty shillings in the year and one buck in 
 l.ie season. In his oath of office the bow bearer swears " to be of good 
 Iwhavior towards his majesty's wild beasts " 
 
 3 See notes to " The Red King," a spirited poem, in which the 
 manners and costume of the periml are carefully preserved. Mr. 
 Kose justly o'.iserves, " That this cannot be considered as one of those 
 
 • historical doubts,' the solution of which involves nothing beyond the 
 rueie disentanglement of an intricate knot. It may be considered as 
 making one of a series of acts of tyranny, unvarnished with any plea 
 which might palliate or disguise its enormity, and, as such, forming a 
 furious feature in the history of raannei-s." 
 
 destroyed villages, castles, and churches, though 
 that demolition is recorded by chroniclers who 
 wrote a very short time after the event, and is 
 proved beyond the reach of a doubt by Domesday- 
 Book. If any other proof were necessary, it ought 
 to be found in the universal tradition of the peopJe 
 in all ages, that on account of the unusual crimes 
 and cruelties committed there by William, God 
 made the New Forest the death-scene of three 
 princes of his own blood. The seizure of a waste 
 or wholly uninhabited district would have been 
 nothing extraordinary : it was the sufferings of the 
 people, who were driven from their villages, the 
 wrongs done the clergy, whose churches were de- 
 stroyed, that made the deep and ineffaceable im- 
 pression.' 
 
 At the same time that the Conqueror thus 
 enlarged the field of his own pleasures at the 
 expense of his subjects, he enacted new laws, by 
 which he prohibited hunting in any of his forests, 
 and rendered the penalties more severe than ever 
 had been inflicted for such offences. At this 
 period the killing of a man might be atoned for 
 by payment of a moderate fine or composition : but 
 not so, by the New Forest laws, the slaying of ono 
 of the king's beasts of chase. " He ordained," says 
 the Saxon Chronicle, " that whosoever should kill 
 a stag or a deer should have his eyes torn out : wild 
 boars were protected in the same manner as deer, 
 and he even made statutes equally severe to pre- 
 serve the hares. This savage king loved wild 
 beasts as if he had been tJieir fatlier!'''' These 
 forest laws, which were executed with rigor against 
 the English, caused great miserj-, for many of them 
 depended on the chase as a chief means of subsist- 
 ence. By including in his royal domain all the 
 gi'eat forests of England, and insisting on his right 
 to grant or refuse permission to hunt in them, Wil- 
 liam gave sore offence to many of his Norman 
 nobles, who were as much addicted to the sport as 
 himself, but who were prohibited from keeping 
 sporting dogs, even on their own estates, unless 
 they subjected the poor animals to a mutilation of 
 the fore-paws, that rendered them unfit for hunt- 
 ing. From their first establishment, and through 
 their different gradations of "forest laws" and 
 "game laws," these jealous regulations have con- 
 stantly been one of the most copious sources of dis- 
 sension, litigation, violence, and bloodshed. 
 
 Towards the end of the year 1086, William 
 summoned all the chiefs of the army of the Con- 
 quest, the sons of those chiefs, and every one to 
 whom he had given a fief, to meet him at Salis- 
 bury. All the barons and all the abbots came, 
 attended with men-at-arms and part of their vas- 
 sals ; the whole assemblage, it is said, amounting 
 to 60,000 men. The chiefs, both lay and church- 
 men, took again the oath of allegiance and homage 
 to the king ; but the assertion, that they rendered 
 the same to Prince William, as his successor, 
 seems to be without good foundation. Shortly 
 
 I According to most of the old writers some monasteries were also 
 destroyed. As the Sa.xou buildings were chiefly of wood, it is natural 
 that the traces left of them should be slight.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 375 
 
 after receiving these new pledges, William, accom- 
 panied by his tAvo sons, passed over to the conti- 
 nent, taking with him " a mighty mass of money 
 fitted for some great attempt," and being followed 
 by the numberless curses of the English people. 
 The enterprise h-e had on hand was a war with 
 France, for the possession of the city of Mantes, 
 with the territory situated between the Epte and 
 the Oise, which was then called the country of 
 Vexin. William, at first, entered into negotiations 
 for this territoiy, which he claimed as his right ; 
 but Philip, the French king, after amusing his rival 
 for a while with quibbles and sophisms, marched 
 troops into the countrj', and secretly authorized 
 some of his barons to make incursions on the 
 frontiers of Normandy. During the negotiations 
 William fell sick, and kept his bed. As he ad- 
 vanced in years he grew excessively fat, and, spite 
 of his violent exercise, his indulgence in the pleas- 
 ures of the table had given him considerable rotun- 
 dity of person. On the score of many grudges, his 
 hatred of the French king was intense ; and Philip 
 now drove him to frenzy, by saying, as a good joke 
 among his courtiers, that his cousin William was a 
 long while lying in, but that no doubt there would 
 be a fine churchiiig when he was delivered. On 
 hearing this coarse and insipid jest, the conqueror 
 of England swore by the most terrible of his oaths 
 — by the splendor and birth of Christ — that he 
 would be churched in Notre Dame, the cathedral 
 of Paris, and present so many wax torches, that all 
 France should be set in a blaze.' 
 
 It was not until the end of July (1087) that he 
 was in a state to mount his war horse, though it is 
 asserted by a contemporary that he was convales- 
 cent before then, and expressly waited that season 
 to make his vengeaace the more dreadful to the 
 counti-y. The corn was almost ready for the 
 sickle, the grapes hung in rich, ripening clusters 
 on the vines, when William marched his cavalry 
 through the corn-fields, and made his soldiery tear 
 up the vines by the I'oots, and cut down the pleas- 
 ant trees. His destructive host was soon before 
 Mantes, which was either taken by surprise and 
 treachery, or ofli'ered but a feeble i-esistance. At 
 his orders, the troops fired the unfortunate town, 
 sparing neither church nor monastery, but doing 
 their best to reduce the whole to a heap of ashes. 
 As the Conqueror rode up to view the ruin he had 
 made, his horse put liis fore-feet on some embers 
 or hot cinders, which caused him to swerve or 
 plunge so violently-, that the heavy rider was thrown 
 on the high pummel of the saddle, and grievously 
 bruised. The king dismounted in great pain, and 
 never more put foot in stirrup.^ He was carried 
 slowly in a litter to Rouen, and again laid in his 
 bed. The bruise had produced a rupture, and 
 being in a bad habit of bodj% and somewhat ad- 
 vanced in years, it was soon evident to all, and 
 even to himself, that the consequence would be 
 fatal. Being disturbed by the noise and bustle of 
 
 ' Chrnn. de Normand. — Brompton. — It was the custom for women, 
 at their churching, to carry lighted tapers in their hauds. 
 ' Orderic— Aiifflia Sacra. 
 
 Rouen, and no doubt desirous of dying in a holy 
 place, he had himself carried to the monastery of 
 St. Gervas, outside of the city walls. There he 
 lingered for six weeks, surrounded by doctors who 
 could do him no good, and by priests and monks, 
 who, at least, did not neglect the opportunity of 
 doing much good for others. Becoming sensible 
 of the approach of death, his heart softened for the 
 first time ; and though he preserved his kinglj' de- 
 corum, and conversed calmly on the wonderful 
 events of his life, he is said to have felt the vanity 
 of all human grandeur, and a keen remorse for the 
 crimes and cruelties he had committed. He sent 
 money to Mantes, to rebuild the churches he had 
 burned, and he ordered large sums to be paid to 
 the churches and monasteries in England ; " in 
 order," says an old chronicler, "that he might 
 obtain remission for the robberies he had committed 
 there." It was represented to him, that one of the 
 best means of obtaining mercy from God was to 
 show mercy to man ; and at length he consented to 
 the instant release of his state-prisoners, some of 
 whom had pined in dungeons for more than 
 twenty years. Of those that were Enghsh among 
 these captives, the most conspicuous were, Earl 
 3Iorcar, Beorn, and Ulnoth, or Wulnot, the brother 
 of Harold : of the Normans, Roger Fitz-Osborn, 
 formerly Earl of Hereford, and Odo, Bishop of 
 Bayeux, his own half-brother. The pardon which 
 was wrung from him with most difficulty was that 
 of Odo, whom, at first, he excepted in his act of 
 grace, saying he was a firebrand, that would ruin 
 both England and Normandy if set at large. 
 
 His two younger sons, William and Henry, 
 were assiduous round the death-bed of the king, 
 w^aitiug impatiently for the declaration of his last 
 will. A day or two before his death, the Con- 
 queror assembled some of his chief prelates and 
 barons in his sick chamber, and declared in their 
 presence that he bequeathed the duchy of Nor- 
 mandy, with Maine and its other dependencies, to 
 his eldest son, Robert, whom, it is alleged, he could 
 not put aside in the order of succession, as the 
 Normans were mindful of the oaths they had taken, 
 with his father's consent, to that unfortunate 
 pi'ince, and were much attached to him. " As to 
 the crown of England," said the dying monarch, 
 " I bequeath it to no one, as I did not receive it, 
 like the duchy of Normandy, in inheritance from 
 my father, but acquired it bj^ conquest and the 
 shedding of blood with mine own good sword. The 
 succession to that kingdom I therefore leave to the 
 decision of God, only desiring most fervently that 
 my son William, who has ever been dutiful to me 
 in all things, may obtain it, and prosper in it." 
 " And what do you give unto me, O my father ?" 
 impatiently cried Prince Henry, who had not 
 been mentioned in this distribution. " Five thou- 
 sand pounds' weight of silver out of my treasury," 
 was his answer. " But what can I do with five 
 thousand pounds of silver, if I have neither lands 
 nor a home ?" " Be patient," replied the king, 
 " and have trust in the Lord ; suffer thy elder 
 brothers to precede thee — thy time will come after
 
 376 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 their's." * Henry weut straight, and drew the 
 silver, which ho weighed with great care, and then 
 furnished himself with a strong coffer, well pro- 
 tected with locks and iron bindings, to keep his 
 treasure in. William left the king's bedside at the 
 same time, and, without waiting to see the breath 
 out of the old man's body, hastened over to England 
 to look after his crown. 
 
 About sunrise, on the 9th of September, the 
 Conqueror was for a moment roused from a stupor 
 into which he had fallen by the sound of bells : he 
 eagerly inquired what the noise meant, and was 
 answered that they were tolling the hour of prime 
 in the church of St. Mary. lie lifted his hands to 
 lieaven, and saying, " I recommend my soul to my 
 Lady Mary, the holy mother of God," instantly ex- 
 pired. The events which followed his dissolution 
 not only give a striking picture of the then un- 
 settled state of society, but also of the character 
 and affections of the men that waited on princes 
 and conquei'ors. William's last faint sigh was the 
 signal for a general flight and scramble. The 
 knights, priests, and doctors who had passed the 
 night near him, put on their spurs as soon as they 
 
 ' Orderic 
 
 saw him dead, mounted their horses, and galloped 
 off to their several homes, to look after their prop- 
 erty and their own interests. The king's servants 
 and some vassals of minor rank, left behind, then 
 proceeded to rifle the apartment of the arms, silver 
 vessels, linen, the royal dresses, and everything it 
 contained, and then were to horse and away like 
 the rest. From prime to tierce,' or for about three 
 hours, the corpse of the miglity conqueror, aban- 
 doned by all, lay in a state of almost perfect naked- 
 ness on the bare boards. The citizens of Rouen 
 were thrown into as much consternation as could 
 have been excited by a conquering enemy at their 
 gates : they either ran about the streets asking news 
 and advice from every one they chanced to meet, or 
 busied themselves in concealing their movables 
 and valuables. At last the clergy and the monks 
 thought of the decent duties owing to the mortal 
 remains of their sovereign ; and, forming a pro- 
 cession, they went with a crucifix, burning tapers, 
 and incense, to pray over the dishonored body for 
 
 ' The chroniclers, who were all monks or priests, always count by 
 these and the other canonical hours, as sexis, nones, vespers, Ac. 
 The church service, called prime, or prima, and whicli immediately 
 succeeded matins, began about six A. M., and lasted to tierce, or lertia, 
 which commenced about nine a. M. 
 
 Church of St. Stephen at Caen. Founded by William the Conqueror
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 377 
 
 the peace of its soul. The Archbishop of Rouen 
 ordained that the king should be interred at Caen, 
 in the church of St. Stephen, which he had built 
 and royally endowed. But even now it should 
 seem there were none to do it honor ; for the 
 minute relater of these dismal transactions, who was 
 living at the time, says that his sons, his brothers, 
 his relations, were all absent, and that of all his 
 officers, not one was found to take charge of the 
 obsequies, and that it was a poor knight who lived 
 in the neighborhood who charged himself with 
 the trouble and expense of the funeral, " out of his 
 natural good nature and love of God." The body 
 was carried by water on the Seine and the sea to 
 Caen, where it was received by the abbot and 
 monks of St. Stephen's ; other churchmen and the 
 inhabitants of the city joining these, a considerable 
 procession was formed ; but as they went along 
 after the coffin a fire suddenly broke out in the 
 town ; laymen and clerks ran to extinguish it, and 
 the brothers of St. Stephen's were left alone to con- 
 duct the king to the church. Even the last burial 
 service did not pass undisturbed. The neighbor- 
 ing bishops and abbots assembled for this cere- 
 mony. The mass had been performed ; the Bishop 
 of Evreux had pronounced the panegyric, and the 
 body was about to be lowered into the grave pre- 
 pared for it in the church between the altar and 
 the choir, when a man, suddenly rising in the 
 crowd, exclaimed, with a loud voice, " Bishop, 
 the man whom you have praised was a robber ; 
 the very gi'ound on which we are standing is mine. 
 
 and is the site where my father's house stood. He 
 took it from me by violence, to build this church 
 on it. I reclaim it as my right ; and in the name 
 of God, I forbid you to bury him here, or cover him 
 with my glebe." The man who spoke thus boldly 
 was Asseline Fitz-Arthur, who had often asked ii 
 just compensation from the king in his lifetime. 
 Many of the persons present confirmed the ti-uth 
 of his statement ; and, after some parley, the bishops 
 paid him sixty shillings for the grave alone, engaging, 
 at the same time, to procure him the full value of 
 the rest of his land. The body, dressed in royal 
 robes, but without a coffin, was then lowered into 
 the tomb ; the rest of the ceremony was hurried 
 over, and the assembly dispersed.' 
 
 William's management of the affairs of the 
 church, and his dispute with the pope about in- 
 vestitures — his establishing the feudal system in 
 England, of which, however, he found a ground- 
 work already laid by the Anglo-Saxons — his survey 
 and register of Domesday, the greatest civil opera- 
 tion of his reign — the changes his invasion produced 
 in the language and manners of this country — will 
 all be discussed under their proper heads. His 
 character may be deduced from his deeds — from 
 the details we have given, to which we have little to 
 add. No prince of the time equaled him, either 
 as a general or a politician ; and he surpassed 
 them all in the difficult art of bending men's wills, 
 
 1 Orderic. — Wace, Roman de Rou. — Chron. de Noroian. Ordeiic 
 gives further details respecting the lowering of the body iuto tha 
 grave, but they are too revolting to be translated. 
 
 Statue of William t.ie CoMiiE^iou. I'luccJ uijaujat wt.e wf tlic o\,er..al I'lliais uf sii. ilephcn'-s Dien
 
 378 
 
 HISTORV OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 and achieving great things with a turbulent nobiUty 
 intractable to every one else. His own temper 
 was naturally fiery; and when he had nothiag to 
 gain by dissimulation, or to fear from those he 
 insulted, he gave the reigns to his j)assion, and 
 completely forgot that dignity and majesty of de- 
 meanor which was in part innate, but still more 
 assumed, to impose upon the herd. A domestic 
 anecdote gives a good notion both of the violence of 
 his temper and his love of good eating. He was so 
 nice and curious in his repasts, that one day when 
 his prime favorite, William Fitz-Osborn, who. as 
 dapifer, or steward of the household, had the 
 charge of the table, served him with the flesh of 
 a crane only half roasted, he was so highly exas- 
 jierated, that he lifted up his fist, and would have 
 struck him had not Odo warded off the blow. One 
 of the writers of the Saxon Chronicle, who says he [ 
 " looked on him, and somewhile lived in his herd," 
 describes him as being a verj- stern man, and so | 
 
 hot and passionate, that no man durst gainsay his 
 will ; as one who took money by right and unright, 
 falling into great avarice, and loving greediness 
 withal, not recking how sinfully his officers got 
 money of poor men, or how many iinlawful things 
 they did. He was, however, religiously inclined, 
 after the fashion of the age; and whatever might be 
 the schemes of ambition, or the butcheries in which 
 he was engaged, ho never failed to hear the mass 
 of his private chaplain in the morning, or to say his 
 prayers at niglit. Dynasties Imve been changed, 
 and provinces won by war, but William's attempt 
 against England was the last great and permanent 
 conquest of a whole nation achieved in Europe. 
 The companions of his conquest became one people 
 with those they subdued ; his power was trans- 
 mitted to his posterity ; and after all the changes 
 and revolutions that have happened in the course 
 of seven centuries and a half, the blood of the 
 reigning family is still kindred to his. 
 
 William H. — sur:*amed Rufus. 
 
 Great Seal of William Rufcs. 
 
 A. D. 10c7. William Rufus, or William the 
 Red, who left his father at the point of death, 
 was informed of his decease as he was on the 
 point of embarking at Wissant, near Calais. The 
 news only made him the more anxious to reach 
 England, that he might, by the actual seizure of 
 the succession, set at defiance the pretensions of 
 any other claimant to the crown. Arriving in 
 England, he secured the important fortresses of 
 Dover, Pevensey, and Hastings, concealing his 
 father's death, and pretending to be the bearer of 
 orders from him. He then hastened to Winches- 
 ter, Avhere, with a proper conviction of the efficacy 
 of monej% he claimed his father's treasures which 
 were deposited in the castle there. William de 
 Pont-de-l'Arche, the royal treasurei", readily deliv- 
 ered him the keys, and Rufus took possession of 
 
 sixty thousand pounds in pure silver, with much 
 gold and many precious stones. His next step 
 was to repair to Lanfranc, the prim'ate, in whose 
 hands the destinies of the kingdom may almost be 
 said to have at that moment been. Blofct, a con- 
 fidential messenger, had already delivered a letter 
 from the deceased king, commending the cause 
 and guidance of his son William to the archbishop, 
 already disposed by motives both of affection and 
 self-interest in favor of William, who had been his 
 pupil, and for whom he had performed the sacred 
 ceremonies on his initiation into knighthood. It is 
 stated, however, that Lanfranc; refused to declare 
 himself in favor of Rufus till that prince promised, 
 upon oath, to govern according to law and right, 
 and to ask and follow the advice of the primate in 
 nil matters of importance. It appears that Lan-
 
 Chap. I] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 179 
 
 KuiNS OF Pevensey Castle. 
 
 franc then proceeded with as much activity as 
 Rufus could desire. He first hastily summoned 
 ii council of the prelates and barons, to give the sem- 
 blance of a free election. The former he knew he 
 could influence, and of the latter many were absent 
 in Normandy. Some preferred William's claim 
 and character upon principle, and others were 
 silenced by his presence and promises. Though a 
 strong feeling of opposition existed, none was 
 shown at this meeting ; and Lanfranc crowned his 
 pupil at Westminster on Sunday, the 26th of Sep- 
 tember, 1087, the seventeenth day after the Con- 
 queror's death. 
 
 William's first act of royal authority speaks little 
 in his favor either as a man or a son ; it was the 
 imprisonment of the unfortunate Englishmen whom 
 his father had liberated on his death-bed. Earls 
 Morcar and Wulnot, who had followed him to 
 England in the hope of obtaining some part of the 
 estates of their fathers, were arrested at Winches- 
 ter, and confined in the castle. The Norman state 
 prisoners, however, who had been released at the 
 same time by the Conqueror, reobtained possession 
 of their estates and honors. He then gave a quan- 
 tity of gold and silver, a part of the treasure found 
 at Winchester, to " Otho, the goldsmith," with 
 orders to work it into ornaments for the tomb of 
 that father whom he had abandoned on his death- 
 bed. 
 
 When Robert Courthose heard of his father's 
 death, he was living, an impoverished exile, at 
 
 Abbeville, or, according to other accounts, in Ger 
 many. He, however, soon appeared in Normandy, 
 and was joyfully received at Rouen, the capital, 
 and recognized as their duke by the prelates, 
 barons, and chief men. Henry, the youngest 
 brother of the three, put himself and his five 
 thousand pounds of silver in a place of safety, 
 waiting events, and being fully resolved to avail 
 himself of any means, no matter how dishonorable 
 in themselves, or ruinous to his brothers, that 
 should ofi'er him the chance of gaining either the 
 royal crown or the ducal coronet. 
 
 It was not, perhaps, easy for the Conqueror to 
 make any better arrangement, but it was in the 
 highest degree unlikelj', under the division he had 
 made of England and Normandy, that peace should 
 be preserved between the two brothers. Even if 
 the unscrupulous Rufus had been less active, and 
 the personal qualities of Robert altogether different 
 from what they were, causes independent of the 
 two princes threatened to lead to inevitable hostili- 
 ties. The great barons, the followers of the Con- 
 queror, were almost all possessed of estates and 
 fiefs in both countries: they were naturally uneasy 
 at the separation of the two territories, and foresaw 
 that it would be impossible for them to preserve 
 their allegiance to two masters, and that tliey must 
 very soon resign or lose either their ancient patri- 
 monies in Normandy or their new acquisitions in 
 England. A war between the two brothers would 
 at anv time embarrass them as long as thev held
 
 380 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 territory under both. The tmie, also, was not yet 
 come to reconcile them to consider their native 
 Normandy as a separate and foreign land. In 
 short, every inducement of interest and of local 
 attachment made them wish to see the two countries 
 united under one sovereign ; and their only great 
 difference of opinion on this head was, as to which 
 of the two brothers should be that sovei-eign ; some 
 of them adhering to William, while others insisted 
 that, both by right of birth and the honorableness, 
 generosity, and popularity of his character, Robert 
 was the proper man to have both realms. A de- 
 cision of the question was inevitable ; and the first 
 step was taken, not in Normandy, to expel Robert, 
 but in England, to dethrone William. Had he 
 been left to himself, the elder brother, from his 
 love of ease and pleasure, would in all probability 
 have remained satisfied with his duchy, but he was 
 beset on all sides by men who were coiHtantly 
 repeating how unjust and disgraceful to him it was 
 to see a younger brother possess a kingdom while 
 he had only a duchy, — by Norman nobles that 
 went daily over to him, complaining of the present 
 state of affairs in England, — and by his uncle Odo, 
 the Bishop of Bayeux, who moved with all his 
 ancient energy and fierceness in the matter, not so 
 much out of any preference of one brother to the 
 other, as out of his hatred of the primate Lanfranc, 
 whom he considered as the chief cause of the dis- 
 grace, the imprisonment, and all the misfortunes 
 that had befallen him in the latter years of the 
 Conqueror, and whose great credit at court, and 
 power in the new government, excited his jealousy. 
 The bishop was a formidable partisan, a man 
 framed to be the leader of a conspiracy : he had 
 many friends among the most powerful of the 
 barons ; but so abhorred was he by all classes of 
 English, that it may be doubted whether he did 
 not rather weaken than strengthen the party he 
 embraced. 
 
 Robert promised to come over with an army in 
 all haste, and Odo engaged to do the rest. At the 
 Easter festival the Red King kept his court at 
 Winchester, whither he had invited ail the great 
 lords. Odo was there with his friends, and took 
 that opportunity of arranging his plans. From the 
 festival he departed to raise the standard of Robert 
 in his old earldom of Kent, while Hugh de Grant- 
 mesnil, Roger Bigod, Robert de Mowbray, Roger 
 de Montgomery, William, Bishop of Durham, and 
 Geoffrey of Coutance, repaired to do the like in 
 their several fiefs and governments which lay in 
 the east, in the west, and the north. A dangerous 
 rising thus took place simultaneously in many parts 
 of England ; but the insurgents lost time, and 
 turned the hearts of the Enghsh inhabitants from 
 them by paltry acts of depredation, while the army 
 from Normandy, with which Robert had promised 
 to come over, and which Odo, who was in Kent, 
 was instructed to look out and provide for upon 
 the south coast of England, at a certain time ap- 
 pointed, was slow in making its appearance. The 
 Courtehose, a slave to hi« habitual indolence and 
 iudecisioa, was, as usual, in great straits for money; 
 
 but those who acted for him had raised a considera 
 ble force in Normandy, and but for the adoption, 
 by the new king, of a novel measure, and a confi- 
 dence timely placed in the natives, England would 
 have been again desolated by a foreign army. 
 Rufus, on leai'ning the preparations that were 
 making for this armament, permitted his English 
 subjects to fit out cruisers ; and these adventurers, 
 who seem to have been the first that may be called 
 privateers, rendered him very important service ; 
 for the Normans, calculating that there was no royal 
 navy to oppose them, and that when they landed 
 they would be received by their friends and con- 
 federates, the followers of Odo and his party, began 
 to cross the Channel in small companies, each at 
 their own convenience, without concert or any regard 
 to mutual support in case of being attacked on theu* 
 passage ; and so many of them were intercepted 
 and destroyed by their English cruisers, that the 
 attempt at invasion was abandoned in consequence.' 
 But Rufus was also greatly indebted to another 
 measure which he adopted at this important crisis. 
 Before the success of the privateering experiment 
 could be fully ascertained, seeing so many of the 
 Normans arrayed against him, he had recourse to 
 the native English: he armed them to fight in 
 their own country against his own countrymen and 
 relatives ; and it was by this confidence in them 
 that he preserved his crown, and probably his life. 
 He called a meeting of the long-despised chiefs of 
 the Anglo-Saxon blood, — of those few men having 
 influence over the national mind, who had survived 
 the slow and wasting conquest of his father : he 
 promised that he would rule them with the best 
 laws they had ever known ; that he would give thera 
 the right of hunting in the forests, as their fore- 
 fathers had enjoyed it ; and that he would relieve 
 them from many of the taillages and odious tributes 
 his father had imposed.^ These promises were 
 indifferently kept in the sequel, but the Enghsh 
 people certainly benefited somewhat by the king's 
 difficulties, and commenced from this moment an 
 improvement in condition and consideration, which 
 continued, on the whole, progi'essive under his 
 successors. " Contested titles and a disputed suc- 
 cession," as Sir James Mackintosh has remarked, 
 "obliged Rufus and his immediate successors to 
 make concessions to the Anglo-Saxons, who so 
 much surpassed the conquering nation in numbers ; 
 and these immediate sources of terrible evils to 
 England became the causes of its final deliver- 
 ance." ^ Flattered by his confidence, the thanes 
 and franklins who had been summoned to attend 
 him zealously promoted the levy ; and when Rufus 
 proclaimed his ban of war in the old Saxon form, — 
 "Let every man who is not a man of nothing,* 
 whether he live in burgh or out of burgh, leave his 
 house and come,'" — there came thirtj' thousand stout 
 Englishmen to the place appointed for the muster. 
 
 1 Southey, Naval Hist.— Dr. Campbell. 
 
 2 Chron. Sax. — Waverley Annals. ^ Hist. England. I 
 * In An^lo-Saion, a "nidering," or "unnithing," — one of the 
 
 strongest terms of contempt. The expressions of the Saxim chroni- 
 cler are, " Baed thaet aelc man the waere unnithing sceulde cuman 
 to him — Frencisce and Englisce — of porta and of upplande." '■.
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 381 
 
 Rochester Castle ; the Keep, with its Entrance Tower. 
 
 Kent, with the Sussex coast, was the most vul- 
 nerable part of the island, and Odo, the king's 
 uncle, the most dangerous of his enemies ; Rufus 
 therefore marched against the bishop, who had 
 strongly fortified Rochester Castle, and then thrown 
 himself into Pevensey, there to await the arrival of 
 the tardy and never-coming Robert. After a siege 
 c»f seven weeks, the bishop was obliged to sur- 
 render this stronghold, and his nephew granted him 
 life and liberty, on his taking an oath that he would 
 put Rochester Castle into his hands, and then leave 
 the kingdom for ever. Relying on his solemn vow, 
 Rufus sent the prelate with an inconsiderable escort 
 of Norman horse from Pevensey to Rochester. The 
 strong castle of Rochester Odo had intrusted to the 
 rare of Eustace, Earl of Boulogne, who was devoted, 
 like himself, to the eldest son. When now reciting 
 the set form of words, he demanded of the earl the 
 surrender of the castle, Eustace, pretending great 
 wrath, arrested both the bishop and his guards as 
 traitors to King Robert. The scene was well acted, 
 nnd Odo, trusting to be screened from the accusa- 
 tion of perjury, remained in the fortress to continue 
 the struggle. His loving nephew soon embraced 
 him with a close environment, drfiwing round him 
 a great force of English infantry and foreign cav- 
 alry. But the castle was strong and well garri- 
 soned, for 500 Norman knights, without counting 
 the meaner sort, fought on the battlements ; and 
 after a long siege, the place was not taken by 
 
 assault, but forced to surrender either by pestilential 
 disease or famine, or probably by both. The 
 English, who had shown great ai-dor during the 
 siege, would have granted no terms of capitulation ; 
 but the Norman portion of William's army, who 
 had countrymen, and many of them friends and 
 relations in the castle, entertained very difi'erent 
 sentiments, and at their earnest instance, though 
 not without diflSculty, the Red King allowed the 
 besieged, without any exceptions, to march out with 
 their arms and horses, and freely depart the land. 
 The unconscionable Bishop of Bayeux would have 
 included in the capitulation a proviso that the king's 
 army should not cause their band to play in sign of 
 victory and triumph as the garrison marched out, 
 but this condition was refused, the king saying in 
 great anger he would not make such a concession 
 for 1000 marks of gold. The partisans of Robert 
 then came forth with banners lowered, and the 
 king's music playing the while. As Odo appeared, 
 there was a louder crash ; the trumpets screamed, 
 and the English, scarcely able to keep their hands 
 from his person, shouted as he passed, " Oli I for 
 a halter to hang this perjured, murderous bishop !" 
 It was with these and still worse imprecations that 
 the priest who had blessed the Norman army at 
 the battle of Hastings departed from f'ngland, never 
 more to enter it.' 
 
 Having disposed of Odo, Rufus found no very 
 J Thierry.— Chron. Sax Or^icric. Vital.
 
 382 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 great difficulty in dealiug witli the other con- 
 spirators, who began to curse the procrastination of 
 Robert, and to see pretty clearly that lie was nol 
 the man to reunite the two countries, or give them 
 security for their estates and honors in both. Roger 
 Montgomery, the powerful Earl of Shrewsburj-, 
 was detached from the confederacy by a peaceful 
 negotiation ; others were won over by blandish- 
 ments ; the Bishop of Durham was defeated by a 
 division of William's army, and the Bishop of 
 Worcester's English tenants, adhering to William, 
 killed a host of the insurgents. The remaining 
 chiefs of the confederacy either submitted on proc- 
 lamation or escaped into Normandy. A few of 
 them received a pardon, but the greater part were 
 attainted, and Rufus bestowed their English estates 
 on such of the barons as had done him best service. 
 In the course of the following year (lOBO), Lan- 
 franc, who was in many respects a great and a 
 good man, departed this life. A change was im- 
 mediately observed in the king, who showed him- 
 self more debauched, tyrannical, and rajiacious 
 than he had been when checked by the primate's 
 virtues and abilities. He appointed no successor 
 to the head office in the church, but seized the rich 
 revenues of the archbishopric of Canterbury, and 
 spent them in his unholy revelries. Lanfranc had 
 been, in fact, chief minister as well as primate of 
 tlie kingdom. As minister, he was succeeded by a 
 Norman clergyman of low birth and dissolute habits, 
 but gifted with an aspiring spirit, great readiness of 
 wit, engaging manners, and an unhesitating devotion 
 to the king in ail things. He had first attracted at- 
 tention in the English court of the Conqueror as a 
 skilful spy and public informer. His name was 
 Ralph, to which, in his capacity of minister, and 
 through his violent measures, he soon obtained the 
 significant addition of le Flambard, or the destructive 
 torch. His nominal offices in the court of the Red 
 King were, royal chaplain, treasurer, and justiciary ; 
 — his real duties, to raise as much money as he 
 could for his master's extravagant pleasures, and to 
 flatter and share his vices. He was ingeniously ra- 
 pacious, and seems almost to have exhausted the art 
 of extortion. Under this priest the harsh forest 
 laws were made a source of pecuniary profit ; new 
 offences were invented for the multiplication of 
 fines ; another survey of the kingdom was begun, in 
 order to raise the revenues of the crown from those 
 estates which had been underrated in the record of 
 Domesday ;' and all the bishoprics and abbeys that 
 fell vacant by death were left so by the king, who 
 drew their revenues and applied them to his own 
 use, racking the tenants and vassals on the church- 
 
 1 The measurements in Domesday appear to have been made with 
 a reference to the quality as well as the quantity of the land in each 
 case, whereas Flambard is said to have ranseil the hides to be 7npa- 
 sured exactly by the line, or without regard to anything but their 
 superficial extent. Sir Francis Palgrave believes that a frug-ment of 
 Flambard's Domesday is preserved in an ancient Lieger or Register 
 Book of the Monastery of Evesham, now in the Cottonian Library, in 
 MS. Vespasian B. ixiv. It relates to the county of Glotccstcr, and 
 must have been compiled between 1096 and 1112. See an account 
 of tills curi«us and hitherto unnoticed relic, with extracts, in Sir 
 Francis's Rise and Progress of the English Commouwcalth, ii. 
 C(XO.\lviii &c. 
 
 lands so as they had never been racked before. 
 These latter proceedings could hardlj- ftiil to indis- 
 pose the monastic chroniclers, and the character of 
 the Red King has in consequence come down to uti 
 darkened with perhaps rather more than its real 
 depravity. There is, however, no reasonable ground 
 for doubting that he was a licentious, violent, and 
 rapacious king, nor (as has been well obsei-ved) is 
 there either wisdom or liberality of sentiment in 
 excusing his rapacity because it comprehended the 
 clergj', who, after all, were the best friends of the 
 people in those violent times.' 
 
 A.D. 1090. The barons who had given the pref- 
 erence to Ptobert having failed in their attempts to 
 deprive William of England, the friends of William 
 now determined to drive Robert out of Normandy, 
 which country had fallen into a state of complete 
 anarchy through the imprudent conduct of the new 
 duke. The turbulent barons expelled Robert's 
 troops from nearly ail the fortresses, and then 
 armed their vassals and made war with one another 
 on their own private account. 3Iany would have 
 preferred this state of things, which left them 
 wholly independent of the sovereign authority, to 
 any other condition ; but those of the great lords, 
 who chiefly resided in England, were greatly em- 
 barrassed by it, and resolved it should cease. By 
 treachery and bribery, possession was obtained of 
 Aumale, or Albemarle, St. Vallery, and other Nor- 
 man fortresses, which were forthwith strongly gar- 
 j risoned for Rufus. Robert was roused from his 
 lethargy, but his coffers were emptj', and the im- 
 provident grants of estates he had already made loft 
 him scarcely anything to promise for future services ; 
 he therefore applied for aid to his friend and feudal 
 superior, the French king, who marched an array 
 to the confines of Normandy as if to give assistance, 
 but marched it back again on receiving a large 
 amount of gold from the English king. At the same 
 time the imlucky Robert nearly lost his capital by a 
 conspiracy ; Conan, a wealthj- and powerful burgess, 
 having engaged to deliver up Rouen to Reginald de 
 Warenne for King Rufus. In these difficulties 
 Robert claimed the assistance of the cautious and 
 crafty Henry. Some very singular transactions 
 had already taken place between these two brothers. 
 While Robert was making his preparations to invade 
 England, Henry advanced him 3000L, in return for 
 which slender supply he had been put in possession 
 of the Cotentin country, which comprehended 
 nearly a third part of the Norman duchy. Dissen- 
 sions followed this unequal bargain, and Robert, on 
 some other suspicions, either threw Henry into 
 prison for a short time, or attempted to arrest him. 
 Now, however, the youngest brother Hstened to 
 the call of the eldest, and joined him at Rouen, 
 where he chiefly contributed to put down the con- 
 spii'acy, to repulse King William's adherent, Regi- 
 nald de Warenne, who came up with 300 choice 
 knights, and to take Conan, the gi'oat burgess, pris- 
 oner. The mild and forgiving nature of Robert was 
 most averse to capital punishment, and he condemned 
 
 1 Mackintosh, Hist, of Eng. i. 119.— Sugsri Vit. LuJo.ic. Grossi.— 
 Ingulpli.— Malmsb.— Ordericus.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 3S3 
 
 Conan to a perpetual imprisonment ; but Henrj-, 
 some short time after, took the captive to the top of 
 a high tower, on pretence of showing him the beauty 
 of the surrounding scenery, and while the eye of 
 the unhappy man rested on the pleasant landscape, 
 he suddenly seized him by the waist and flung 
 him over the battlements. Conan was dashed 
 to pieces by the fall, and the prince coolly observed 
 to those who saw the catastrophe that it was not 
 fitting that a traitor should escape condign punish- 
 ment.' 
 
 A.D. 1091. In the following January William 
 Rufus appeared in Normandy, at the head of an 
 array, chiefly English. The affairs of the king and 
 duke would have now come to extremity, but Robert 
 again called in the French king, by whose mediation 
 a treaty of peace was concluded at Caen. Rufus, 
 however, gained almost as much by this treaty as a 
 successful war could have given him. He retained 
 possession of all the fortresses he had acquired in 
 Normandy, together with the territories of Eu, 
 Aumale, Fescamp, and other places; and secured, 
 in addition, the formal renunciation, on the part of 
 Robert, of all claims and pretensions to the English 
 throne. On his side, William engaged to indemnify 
 his brother for what he resigned in Normandy by 
 an equivalent in territorial property in England, and 
 to restore their estates to all the barons who had 
 been attainted in Robert's cause. It was also stip- 
 ulated betAveen the two parties, that the king, if he 
 outUved the duke, should have Normandy ; and the 
 
 1 Orderic. — Malms. 
 
 duke, if he outlived the king, should have England : 
 the kingdom and duchy thus in either case to be 
 united as under the Conqueror : and twelve of the 
 most powerful baron-s on each side swore that they 
 would do their best to see the whole of the treaty 
 faithfully executed — " a strong proof," observes 
 Hume, " of the great independence and authority- 
 of the nobles in those ages." 
 
 The fomily of the Conqueror were not a family 
 of love. No sooner were the bonds of fraternal 
 concord gathered up between Robert and William, 
 than they were loosened between them and their 
 younger brother Henry, whose known abilities and 
 decision of character began to inspire jealous appre- 
 hensions in the breast of Rufus. The united forces 
 of the duke and king proceeded to take possession 
 of his castles ; and Heni-y was obhged to retire to a 
 fortress on Mount St. Michael, a lofty rock on the 
 coast of Normandy, insulated at high water by the 
 sea. In this almost impregnable position he was 
 besieged by Robert and William. Most of the old 
 historians delight in telling a story to show the dif- 
 ference between the characters of these two kins- 
 men. Mount St. Michael afforded no fresh water : 
 the besieged had neglected to supply themselves 
 elsewhere, and were reduced to feel the insufferable 
 anguish of thirst. When Robert heard of Henry's 
 distress, he permitted some of his people to go and 
 take water, and also sent him a supply of wine for 
 his own table. William reproved him for this ill- 
 timed generosity ; but Robert replied, " Hoav can I 
 suffer my brother to die of thirst ? Where shall 
 
 MousT St. Micn.\.Ei., Normandt.
 
 584 
 
 HISTORY OF EN:iLAND. 
 
 Book III. 
 
 Carlisle. 
 
 we find another brother when he is gone ?"' An- 
 other anecdote of the same time is told of Rufus. 
 As he was riding one day alone near the fortress he 
 was attacked by two soldiers in Henry's pay, and 
 dismounted. One of the men raised his dagger to 
 dispatch him, when Rufus exclaimed, "Hold, knave ! 
 I am the king of England." The soldier suspended 
 his blow, helped the king to rise and mount, excusing 
 his own conduct, on the ground of being ignorant of 
 his quality. " Make no excuse," rephed Rufus ; 
 " thou art a brave knight, and henceforward wilt fight 
 under my banner." The story, in conclusion, says 
 the man entered the king's service. In the end. 
 Prince Henry was obliged to capitulate and evacuate 
 the strong fortress of Mount St. Michael. He ob- 
 tained with difficulty permission to retire into Brit- 
 tanj' : he was despoiled of all he possessed, and 
 wandered about for two years, with no better at- 
 tendance than grim poverty, one knight, three 
 squires, and a chaplain. But in this, the lowest 
 stage of his fortunes, he impressed men with a 
 notion of his political abilities ; and he was invited 
 by the inhabitants of Damfront to take upon him- 
 self the government of that city. 
 
 Duke Robert accompanied the king to England, 
 to take possession of those territories which were 
 promised by the treaty. During his stay Rufus was 
 engaged in a war with Malcolm Caenmore, who, 
 while William was absent in Normandy, had invaded 
 
 » William of Malmshury is the first teller of this story among the 
 chroniclers. 
 
 England, and "overrun a great deal of it," says the 
 Saxon Chronicle, " until the good men that governed 
 this land sent an army against him and repulsed 
 him." On his return William collected a great force, 
 both naval and military, to avenge this insult ; but 
 his ships were all destroyed before they reached 
 the Scottish coast. The English and Scottish armies 
 met, however, in Lothian, in England, according to 
 the Saxon Chronicle — at the river called Scotte Uatra 
 (perhaps Scotswater), says Ordericus Vitalis — and 
 were ready to engage, when a peace was brought 
 about by the mediation of Duke Robert on one side, 
 and his old friend Edgar Atheling on the other. 
 " King Malcolm," says the Saxon Chronicle, " came 
 to our king, and became his man, promising all such 
 obedience as he formerly rendered to his father; 
 and that he confirmed with an oath. And the King 
 William promised him in land and in all things what- 
 ever he formerly had under his father." By the 
 same treaty, Edgar Atheling Avas permitted to re- 
 turn to England, where he received some paltry court 
 appointment, and "exhibited the unseemly sight of 
 the representative of Alfred, fed on the crumbs that 
 fell from the table of a Norman tyrant.'" 
 
 Returning from Scotland, Rufus was much struck 
 with the favorable position of Carlisle ; and, expelling 
 the lord of the district, he laid the foundation of a 
 castle, and soon after sent a strong English colony 
 from the southern counties to settle in the town and 
 its neighborhood. Carlisle, with the whole of Cuni- 
 
 1 Sir J Mackintosh, Ilist. Eng.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 386 
 
 berland, had long been an appanage of the elder son 
 of the Scottish kings ; and this act of Rufus was 
 speedily followed by a renewal of the quarrel be- 
 tween him and Malcolm Caenmore. To accommo- 
 date these differences, Malcolm was invited to Glou- 
 cester, where William was keeping his court ; but 
 before undertaking this journey the Scottish king 
 demanded and obtained hostages for his security — a 
 privilege not granted to the ordinary vassals of the 
 English crown.' On arriving at Gloucester, how- 
 ever, Malcolm was required by Rufus to do him 
 right, that is, to make him amends for the injuries 
 with which he was chai'ged, in his court there, or, 
 in other words, to submit to the opinion and decision 
 of the Anglo-Norman barons. Malcolm rejected the 
 proposal, and said that the kings of Scotland had 
 never been accustomed to do right to the kings of 
 England, except on the frontiers of the two king- 
 doms, and by judgment of the barons of both.'^ He 
 then hurried northward, and, having raised an army, 
 burst into Northumberland, where he soon after- 
 Avards fell into an ambush, and was slain, together 
 with Edward, his eldest son. This double calamity 
 is said to have caused the death of the Scottish 
 queen, Margaret, Edgar Atheling's sister; she died 
 four days after (16th November, 1093). 
 
 Duke Robert had returned to the continent in 
 disgust at having pressed his claims for the prom- 
 ised indemnity in England without any success. 
 He afterwai'ds dispatched messenger after messen- 
 ger from the continent, but still William would give 
 up none of his domains. At last, in 1094, Robert 
 had recourse to a measure deemed very efficacious 
 in the court of chivalry. He sent two heralds, who, 
 having found their way into the presence of the 
 Red King, denounced him before his chief vassals, 
 as a false and perjured knight, with whom his 
 brother, the duke, would no longer hold friendship. 
 To defend his honor, the king followed the two 
 heralds to Normandy, where, hoping at least for 
 the majority of voices, he agreed to submit the mat- 
 ters in dispute to the arbitration of the twenty-four 
 barons who had sworn to do their best to enforce 
 the foithful observance of the treaty of Caen. The 
 barons however, decided in favor of Robert ; and 
 then William, who would not be bound by an award 
 unfavorable to himself, appealed to the sword. The 
 campaign which opened went so much in favor of 
 the Red King, that Robert was again obliged to 
 apply for assistance to the King of France ; and 
 Philip once more marched with an army into Nor- 
 mandy. Rufus then sustained some serious losses ; 
 and trusting no longer to the appeal of the sword, 
 he resolved to buy off" the French king. He sent 
 his commission into England for the immediate levy- 
 ing of 20,000 men. By the time appointed these 
 j men came together about Hastings, and were ready 
 I to embark, " when suddenly there came his lieu- 
 tenant with a counter-order, and signified to them, 
 that the king, minding to favor them, and spare 
 them for that journey, would that every of them 
 
 ' Allan's Vindication of the Ancient Independence of Scotland. — 
 Foedera. — Chron. Sax. 
 '■' Flor. Wigorn. — Sim Dun 
 
 VOL. I. — 25 
 
 should give him ten shillings towards the charges 
 of the war, and thereupon depart home with a suffi- 
 cient safe conduct; which the most part were bet- 
 ter content to do than to commit themselves to the 
 fortune of the sea and bloody success of the wars 
 in Normandy."' The king's lieutenant and repre- 
 sentative on this occasion was Ralph Flambard ; and 
 he and that priest probably shared the ingenuity of 
 the device between them. It seems difficult to con- 
 ceive that 20,000 soldiers, or half of them, should be 
 able to pay ten shillings a-piece f but still some con- 
 siderable sum was raised, and King Philip accepted 
 it, and withdrew from the field, leaving Robert, as 
 he had done before, to shift for himself. Rufus 
 would then in all probability have made himself 
 master of Normandy, had he not been recalled to 
 England and detained there by important events. 
 
 A.D. 1094-5. The Welsh, hearing of the variance 
 between the two brothers, " after their accustomed 
 manner," began to invade the English marches, 
 taking booty of cattle, and destroying, killing, and 
 spoiling many of the king's subjects, both English 
 and Normans. Laying siege to the castle of Mont- 
 gomery, which had been erected on a recently oc- 
 cupied part of Wales, they took this castle by as- 
 sault, and slew all whom they found within it. Be- 
 fore William could reach the scene of action, all the 
 Welsh were in arms, and had overrun Cheshire, 
 Shropshire, and Herefordshire, besides reducing 
 the Isle of Anglesea. To chastise them, he deter- 
 mined to follow them, as Harold had done before,' 
 quite through their own country ; for he saw that 
 the Welsh " would not join battle with him in the 
 plain, but kept themselves still aloof within the woods 
 and marshes, and aloft upon the mountains : albeit, 
 oftentimes when they saw advantage they would 
 come forth, and taking the Normans and the Eng- 
 lish unawares, kill many, and wound no small num- 
 bers."* Stimulated, however, by the example of 
 Harold, who had penetrated into the inmost recesses 
 of Wales, the Red King still pursued them by hill 
 and dale ; but by the time he reached the mountains 
 of Snowdon, he found that his loss was tremendous, 
 and, " not without some note of dishonor," began a 
 retreat, which was much more rapid than his ad- 
 vance. The next summer he entered the moun- 
 tains with a still more numerous army, and was 
 again forced to retire with loss and shame. He had 
 not imitated the wise generalship of Harold ; and 
 his heavy Norman cavalry was ill suited for such a 
 warfare. He turned from Wales in despair, but 
 ordered the immediate erection of a chain of forts 
 and castles along the frontier. 
 
 Before he was free from the troubles of this 
 Welsh war his throne was threatened by a formida- 
 ble conspiracy in the north of England, the full ex- 
 tent of which was discovered in a curious manner. 
 
 1 Ilolinslied. The old authorities are Matthew Paris and Simeon 
 Dunelinensis. 
 
 2 It is said, however, that these particular soldiers were purposely 
 chosen among men " well to pass,'' or who were in comparatively 
 good circumstances. Dr. Lingard, on the other hand, is of opinion 
 that ten shillings was the sum each man had received from his lord 
 for purchasing victuals during the campaign; but this does not ap- 
 pear probable. 
 
 3 See ante, p. 185. * Holinshed.
 
 ••386 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III 
 
 The exclusive ri^lit claimed by Rufus over all the 
 forests continued to irritate the Norman barons, and 
 other causes of discontent were not wanting. At 
 the head of the disaffected was Robert Mowbrny, 
 Earl of Northumberland, a most powerful chief, 
 who possessed 280 English manors. His long-con- 
 tinued absence from court created suspicion, and he 
 is said to have committed several illegal acts in his 
 government, militating against the royal authority. 
 The king pul)lislied a decree that every baron who 
 did not present himself at court on the approaching 
 festival of Whitsuntide should be outlawed. The 
 festival came and passed without any tidings of the 
 Earl of Northuml)erland, who feared he should be 
 cast into prison if he went to the south, his demand 
 for hostages for his safety having been refused, as a 
 privilege to which the earl, as an ordinary vassal 
 of the crown, could not pretend. The king then 
 marched with an army into Northumberland, and 
 after taking several of his less important fortresses, 
 shut up the earl within the walls of Bamborough 
 Castle. Finding he could neither besiege nor 
 blockade this impregnable place, he built another 
 castle close to it, in which, leaving a strong garrison, 
 he returned to the south. The new castle, which 
 was hastily constructed of wood, was called " Mal- 
 voisin" (the bad neighbor), and such it proved to 
 Earl Mowbray. Being decoyed from his safe re- 
 treat by a feigned offer of placing the town of New- 
 castle-upon-Tjme in his hands, he was attacked by 
 a large party of Normans from Malvoisin, who lay 
 in wait for him. The earl, with thirty horsemen, 
 his only retinue, fled to the monastery of St. Oswin, 
 at Tynembuth. The sanctuary was not respected ; 
 but Mowbray and his few followers defended it with 
 desperate valor for six days, at the end of which the 
 earl, sorely wounded, was made prisoner. But 
 Bamborough Castle was even more valuable than 
 the person of this noble captive, and the Red King, 
 who had laid the snare into which the earl had 
 fallen, had also arranged the plan upon which the 
 captors now acted. They carried Mowbray to a 
 spot in front of his castle, and invited his countess, 
 the fair Matilda, to whom he had been married only 
 a few months, to a parlej'. When the countess 
 came to the outer walls, she saw her husband in the 
 hands of his bitter enemies, who told her they would 
 put out his eyes before her face unless she instantly 
 delivered up the castle. It was scarcely for woman 
 to hesitate in such an alternative : JNIatilda threw 
 open the gates. Within the walls of Bamborough 
 the king's men found more than they expected, for 
 Earl 3Iowbray's lieutenant betrayed to them the 
 whole secret of the conspiracy, the object of which 
 was to place upon the throne of England Stephen, 
 Count of Aumale, nephew of the Conqueror, and 
 brother to the infamous Judith. The extensive 
 conspiracy included, among others, William, Count 
 of Eu, a relation of the king, William of Alderic, 
 the king's godfather, Hugh, Earl of Shrewsbury, 
 Odo, Earl of Holderness, and Walter de Lacey. 
 The fates of these men were various : Earl Mow- 
 liray was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, 
 and died iu a dungeon of Windsor Castle, about 
 
 thirty years after; the Count of Eu rested his jus- 
 tification on the issue of a duel, which he fought 
 with his accuser in the presence of the king and 
 court, but being vanquished in the combat, he was 
 convicted, according to the prevailing law, and con- 
 demned to have his eyes torn out, and to be other- 
 wise mutilated.' William of Alderic, who was 
 much esteemed and lamented, was hanged ; the 
 Earl of Shrewsbury bought his pardon for an im- 
 mense sum of money ; the Earl of Holderness was 
 deprived of all he possessed, and imprisoned; the rest 
 escaped to the continent, leaving their estates in Eng- 
 land to be confiscated. It appears that part at least of 
 the lands thus forfeited remained for some time 
 without masters, and without culture ; but the rev- 
 enue officers, that the king might not suffer, contin- 
 ued to raise on the town or the district to which 
 tlie vacant property appertained the whole of the 
 taxes as before. The people of Colchester rendered 
 most grateful thanks to Eudes Fitz-Hubert, the gov- 
 ernor of their town, for his having taken, in his own 
 name, smne of the estates of the disinherited Nor- 
 mans, and consented to pay all the fiscal demands 
 made on those lands. 
 
 A.D. 1096. At a moment when the Red King 
 had successfully disposed of all his enemies in Eng- 
 land, and was iu a condition to renew the war in 
 Normandy, his thoughtless brother resigned that 
 duchy to him for a sum of money. The Christians 
 of the west, no longer content to appear at Je- 
 rusalem as despised and ill-treated pilgrims, witli 
 beads and crosses in their hands, resolved to repair 
 thither with swords and lances, and conquer the 
 whole of Palestine and Syria from the infidels. The 
 subject of the Crusades, one of the most interesting 
 that engages the attention of the historian in the 
 middle ages, will be treated of more appropriately 
 in our account of the religion of the times, which 
 was the direct source of those enthusiastic and long- 
 enduring enterprises. It will suffice here to state, 
 that the preaching of Peter the Hermit, the deci- 
 sions of the council of Clermont, and the bulls of 
 Pope Urban II., had kindled a warlike flame 
 throughout Europe, and that all classes of men con- 
 sidered taking a part in the holy war as the surest 
 means of obtaining glorj^ in this world and eternal 
 happiness in the next. Duke Robert had early en- 
 listed in the crusade, engaging to take with him a 
 numerous and well-armed body of knights and vas- 
 sals, but, wanting money, " no news to his coffers," 
 he applied to his brother, the Red King, who was 
 always as expert in the employment of gold as of 
 arms, and who now readily entered into a bargain, 
 which was concluded on terms most advantageous 
 to himself. For the sum of 10,000L the duke re- 
 signed the government of Normandy to his brother. 
 This act is generally considered by historians not as 
 a sale, but as a mortgage, which was to expire ir. 
 five years. But it is almost idle to talk of conditions 
 in such a strange transaction, which could have lefr 
 Robert but a slight chance of ever recovering his 
 dominion from his unscrupulous brother, had Rufus 
 lived. When the bargain was struck, Wiilinni was 
 ' Ciecatus et extesticulatus est. — Malms.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 387 
 
 almost as penniless as Robert, but he was a much 
 greater adept in the art of wringing money from his 
 subjects. According to an old historian, to make up 
 this sum with dispatch, " he did not only oppress 
 and fleece his poor subjects, but rather with impor- 
 tunate exactions, did, as it were, flea off" their skins. 
 All this was grievous and intolerable, as well to the 
 spirituality as to the temporality, so that divers 
 bishops and abbots, who had already made away 
 with some of their chalices and cHurch jewels to 
 pay the king, made now plain answer that they were 
 not able to help him with any more ; unto whom, on 
 the other side, as the report went, the king said 
 again : ' Have you not, I beseech you, coffins of gold 
 and silver full of dead men's bones ?' "^ meaning the 
 shrines wherein the relics of saints were inclosed. 
 The Red King maintained that swch exactions as 
 these were not sacrilegious, inasmuch as the money 
 so raised was to go to maintain wars against infidels 
 and enemies of Christ. The pretext was specious, 
 but rather transparent, for it was his brother who 
 was to spend the money in the holy war, while he 
 was to receive a most usurious interest for it, even 
 taking nothing into account but the immediate rev- 
 enue of Normandy. 
 
 Soon after receiving his 10,000^, Robert de- 
 parted joyfully for Palestine, flattering himself with 
 a splendid futurity; and then William, indulging 
 in the less fantastic prospect of near and solid ad- 
 vantages, sailed to the continent to take immediate 
 possession of Normandy and its dependencies. He 
 had long held many of their fortresses, his parti- 
 sans among the nobility were numerous and power- 
 ful, and he was received by the Normans without 
 opposition. But it was far otherwise with the peo- 
 ple of Maine, who burst into a universal insurrec- 
 tion, and by rallying round Helie, Lord of La 
 Fleche, a young and gallant adventurer, who had 
 some claim to the country himself, gave Rufus 
 much trouble, and obliged him to carry over an 
 army from England more than once. About three 
 years after Robert's departure the brave Helie was 
 surprised in a wood with only seven knights in 
 company, and made prisoner by one of the English 
 king's officers. Rufus marched into Maine soon 
 after at the head of a large force of horse ; but the 
 French king and the Count of Anjou interfering, 
 he was induced to negotiate, and Helie obtained his 
 libertj' by delivering up the town of Mans. The 
 people continued to dishke the sway of their new 
 master, and the Lord of La Fleche, after offering 
 his services, was unnecessarily irritated by Wil- 
 liam. In the following year (1100), as the Red 
 King was hunting in the New Forest, a messenger 
 from beyond sea arrived with intelligence that Helie 
 had surprised the town of Mans, and was besieging 
 the Norman garrison in the castle, being aided there- 
 in by the inhabitants, who had again recognized him 
 as their lawful chief. In bravery, prompt decision, 
 and rapidity of movement, William was little infe- 
 rior to his father, the Conqueror. He instantly 
 turned his horse's head, and set off" for the nearest 
 
 > Ilolinshed. — Speed. — The old authnrities arp Kadiner, Orderic, 
 Malt. Paris, and W. M.nlmsb. 
 
 seaport. The nobles who were hunting with him 
 reminded him that it was necessary to call out 
 troops, and wait for them. " Not so," replied Ru- 
 fus, " I shall see who will follow me ; and, if I un- 
 derstand the temper of the youth of this kingdom, 
 I shall have people enough." Without stopping 
 or turning he reached the port, and embarked in 
 the first vessel he found. It was blowing a gale of 
 wind, and the sailors entreated him to have patienco 
 till the storm should abate. " Weigh anchor, hoist 
 sail, and begone," cried Rufus; "did you ever 
 hear of a king that was drowned ?" ' An old writer 
 intimates that the mariners might have replied, 
 "Yes, Pharaoh with all his host;" but they wero 
 probably not versed in Scripture, and made no 
 such answer, but, obeying their orders, put to sea, 
 and safely landed their royal passenger at Barfleur 
 on the following day. The news of his landing suf- 
 ficed to raise the siege of the castle of Mans ; and 
 Helie, thinking he must have come in force, dis- 
 missed his troops and took to flight. The Red 
 King then barbarously ravaged the lands of hi» 
 enemies ; but being wounded while laying siege to 
 an insignificant castle, he returned suddenly to 
 England, whicli he was destined not to leave again. 
 
 William's lavish expenditure continued on tho 
 increase ; but by his exactions and irregular way of 
 dealing with church property, he still found mean.s 
 for gratifying his extravagance, and enjoyed abroad 
 the reputation of being a rich as well as a powerful 
 king. Wilham, Earl of Poictiers and Duke of 
 Guienne, caught the prevailing passion for tho 
 Crusades, and in order to be enabled to carry a 
 respectable force to Palestine, he also off"ered to 
 mortgage his dominions to the King of England. 
 Rufus, as eager as ever for territorial aggrandise- 
 ment, accepted the ofi'er, and even began to raise 
 the money. But the great creditor, whose de- 
 mands are often as sudden as they are irresistible, 
 closed this new account before it was well opened. 
 
 Popular superstition had long darkened the 
 shades and solitudes of the New Forest, and peo- 
 pled its glades with horrid spectres. The fiend 
 himself, it was said and behoved, had appcareil 
 there to the Normans, announcing the punishment 
 he had in reserve for the Red King and his wicked 
 counselors. The accidents that happened in that 
 chase, which had been so barbarously obtained, 
 gave strength to the vulgar belief. In the montli 
 of May, Richard, an illegitimate son of Duko 
 Robert, was killed while hunting in the forest by 
 an arrow, reported to have been shot at random. 
 This was the second time that the Conqueror's 
 blood had been poured out there, and men said it 
 would not be the last time. On the 1st of August 
 following William lay at Malwood-keep,- a hunting- 
 
 1 Will. Malmsb. 
 2 The Red Kin? lies in Malwood-kcep, 
 To drive the doer o'er lawn and steep, 
 
 lie's bound him with the mom. 
 His steeds arc swift, his hounds are good ; 
 The like, in covert or high-wood, 
 Were never cheer'd with horn. 
 
 W. Stewart Rose. 
 "M:.lwnod Castle, or Keep, seated upon an eminence, einl><wom"1 
 in w.Kid, at a small distance from ihe village of Minestead, lu ni*
 
 388 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 seat in the forest, wi:h a goodly train of liuiglits. 
 A reconciliation had taken place between the two 
 brothers, and the astutious Henry, who had been 
 some time in England, was of the gay party. The 
 circumstances of the story, as told by the monkish 
 chroniclers, are sufficiently renyirkable. At the 
 dead of night the king was heard invoking the 
 Blessed Virgin, a thing strange in him ; and then 
 he called aloud for lights in his chamber. His at- 
 tendants ran at his call, and found him disturbed by 
 a frightful vision, to prevent the return of which 
 he ordered them to pass the rest of the night by 
 his bedside, and divert him with pleasant talk. As 
 he was dressing in the morning an artisan brought 
 him six new arrows : he examined them, praised 
 the workmanship, and keeping four for liimself, 
 gave the other two to Sir Walter Tyrrel, other- 
 wise called, from his estates in France, Sir Walter 
 de Poix, saying as he presented them, " Gooa 
 weapons are due to the sportsman that knows how 
 to make a good use of them." ' The tables were 
 spread with an abundant collation, and the Red 
 King ate more meat and drank even more wine than 
 he was wont to do. His spirits rose to their 
 highest pitch ; his companions still passed the wine- 
 New Forest, was the residence of this prince when he met with the 
 accident which terminated his life. No remains of it exist ; but the 
 circumference of a building is to be traced ; and it yet gives its name 
 to the walk in which it was situated." — Notes to Ihe "Red King." 
 This spirited and beautiful poem is published in the same volume 
 with " Partenopex de Blois." 
 
 ' Orderic. Vital. 
 
 cup, whilst the grooms and huntsmen prepared 
 their horses and hounds for the chase; and all was 
 boisterously gay in Malwood-keep, when a mes- 
 senger arrived from Serlon, the Norman Abbot of 
 St. Peter's, at Gloucester, to inform the king that 
 one of his monks had dreamt a dream foreboding a 
 sudden and awful death to him. " The man is a 
 right monk," cried Rufus, "and to have a piece of 
 money he dreameth such things. Give him, there- 
 fore, an hundred pence, and bid him dream of 
 better fortune to our person." Then turning to 
 Tyrrel, he said, " Do they think I am one of those 
 fools that give up their pleasure or their business 
 because an old woman happens to dream or sneeze ? 
 To horse, Walter de Poix !" 
 
 The king, with his brother Henry, William de 
 Breteuil, and many other lords and knights, rode 
 into the forest, where the company dispersed here 
 and there, after the manner used in hunting; but 
 Sir Walter, his especial favorite in these sports, 
 remained constantly near the kuig, and their dogs 
 hunted together. As the sun was sinking low in 
 the west a hart came bounding bj', between Rufus 
 and his comrade, who stood concealed in the 
 thickets. The king drew his bow, but the string 
 broke, and the arrow took no effect. Startled by 
 the sound, the hart paused in his speed and looked 
 on all sides, as if doubtful which way to turn. 
 The king, keeping his attention on the quarry, 
 raised his bridle-hand above his eyes, that he might 
 see clear by shading them from the glare of the 
 
 /y •.i'.v.'.:.',M4 / 
 
 "~ ^^^, 
 
 De.\th of Rcfcs. — Blimey.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CR'IL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 3S9 
 
 sun, which now shone ahnost horizontally through 
 the glades of the forest ; and at the same time, 
 being unprovided with a second bow, he shouted, 
 "Shoot, Walter! shoot, in the devil's name!"' 
 Tyrrel drew his bow, the arrow departed, was 
 glanced aside in its flight by an intervening tree, 
 and struck William in the left breast, which was 
 left exposed by his raised arm. The fork-head 
 pierced his heart, and with one groan, and no word 
 or prayer uttered, the Red King fell and expired. 
 Sir Walter Tyrrel ran to his master's side, but, 
 finding him dead, he remounted his horse, and, 
 without informing any one of the catastrophe, gal- 
 loped to the sea-coast, embarked for Normandy, 
 whence he fled for sanctuary into the dominions of 
 the French king, and soon after departed for the 
 Holy Land. According to an old chronicler, the 
 spot where Rufus fell had been the site of an An- 
 glo-Saxon church which his father, the Conqueror, 
 had pulled down and destroj^ed for the enlarging of 
 his chase.^ Late in the evening the royal corpse 
 
 • " Trahe, trahe arcum ex parte diaboli." — Hen. Knyghton. 
 2 Walter Hennyngfiirde, quoted in Grafton's Chronicle. 
 
 was found alone, where it fell, by a poor cnarcoal 
 burner,' who put it, still bleeding, into his cart, and 
 drove towards Winchester. At the earliest report 
 of his death, his brother Henry flew to seize the 
 royal treasury, and the knights and favorites who 
 had been hunting in the forest dispersed in several 
 directions to look after their interest, not one of 
 them caring to render the last sad honors to their 
 master. The next day the body, still in the char- 
 coal-maker's cart, and defiled with blood and dirt, 
 was carried to St. Swithin's, the cathedral church 
 of Winchester. There, however, it was treated 
 with proper respect, and buried in the centre of 
 the cathedral choir, many persons looking on, but 
 few grieving. A proof of the bad opinion which 
 the people entertained of the deceased monarch is, 
 that they interpreted the fall of a certain tower in 
 the cathedral, which happened the following year, 
 and covered his tomb with its ruins, into a sign of 
 
 ' " This man's name was Purkess. He is the ancestor of a very 
 numerous tribe. Of his lineal descendants it is reported that, living on 
 the same spot, they have constantly been proprietors of a horse and 
 cart, but never attained to the possession of a team " — Notes to the 
 " Red King." 
 
 Tomb of Rufus. 
 
 the displeasure of Heaven that he had received 
 Christian burial.' 
 
 The second king of the Norman line reigned 
 thirteen years all but a few weeks, and was full of 
 health and vigor, and only forty years of age when 
 he died. That he was shot by an arrow in the 
 New Forest, — that his body was abandoned and 
 then hastily interred, — are facts perfectly well au- 
 thenticated ; but some doubts may be entertained 
 as to the pi'ecise circumstances attending his death, 
 notwithstanding their being minutely related by 
 writers who were living at the time, or who flour- 
 ished in the course of the following century. Sir 
 ' Walter Tyrrel afterwards swore, in France, that 
 1 he did not siioot the arrow ; but he was probably 
 I anxious to relieve himself from the odium of killing 
 i a king, even by accident. It is quite possible, in- 
 
 1 1 Dr. Milner, Hist. Winchest. 
 
 deed, that the event did not arise from chance, and 
 that Tyrrel had no part in it. The remorseless 
 ambition of Henry might have had recourse to 
 murder, or the avenging shaft might have been 
 sped by the desperate hand of some Englishman, 
 tempted by a favorable opportunity and the tra- 
 ditions of the place. But the most charitable con- 
 struction is, that the party were intoxicated with 
 the wine they had drunk at Malwood-keep, and 
 that, in the confusion consequent on drunkenness, 
 the king was hit by a random arrow. 
 
 The Red King was never married ; and his 
 example is said to have induced all his young 
 courtiers to prefer the Hcentious libertj- of a single 
 life. In describing his libertinism, the least heinous 
 charge of the monkish historians is, that he re- 
 spected not the virtue of other men's wives, and 
 was " a most especial follower of Icmmans." For
 
 390 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 ::^ 
 
 . "? '^'^V^v^ ^^!?T? ^W^^ 
 
 
 
 Stone, in the New Forest, marking the site of the Oak-tree against which the Arrow of Sir Walter Tyrrel is said to have glanced. 
 
 the honor of human nature we hope the picture is 
 overcharged ; but there are proofs enough to con- 
 vince us that but Httle order or decorum reigned 
 in the court of Rufus. On the contrary, indeed, 
 all writers agree in their accounts of the dissolute 
 manners of his household and adherents. His 
 rapacity is equally unquestionable ; but this charge 
 is partially alleviated by his taste and magnificence, 
 which were beneficial to the nation. He did not 
 spend all his money in his wars, his foreign 
 schemes, his pleasures and debaucheries, but de- 
 voted large sums to the building of royal palaces, 
 and to some works of great public utility. 
 
 Henry I. — surnamed Beauclerk. 
 
 A. D. 1100. Henry was not unopposed in the 
 first step he took to secure the crown. While he 
 was imperiously demanding the keys of the royal 
 treasury, and the officers in whose charge they 
 were placed were hesitating whether they should 
 deliver them or not, William de Breteuil, the royal 
 treasurer, who had also been of the fatal hunting 
 
 party, arrived with breathless speed from the 
 forest, and opposed his demand. " You and I," 
 said he to Henry, " ought to remember the faith 
 we have pledged to your brother, Duke Robert ; 
 he has received our oath of homage, and, absent or 
 present, he has a right to this money." Henry at- 
 tempted to shake the fidelity of the treasurer with 
 arguments, but William de Breteuil resolutely 
 maintained that Robert was the lawful sovereign of 
 England, to whom, and to no one else, the money 
 in Winchester Castle belonged.^ The altercation 
 grew violent, and Henry, who felt he had no time 
 to lose, drew his sword, and thrccatened immediate 
 death to any that should oppose him. He was 
 supported by some powerful barons who happened 
 to be on the spot, or who had followed him from 
 the forest, and whose favor he had secured before- 
 hand. De Breteuil was left almost single in his 
 honorable opposition, the domestics of the late king 
 taking part against him ; and Henry seized the 
 money and crown-jewels before his eyes. Part of 
 the money seems to have been distributed immedi- 
 i Malms.
 
 CaAP. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 3»1 
 
 Great Seal of Henry I. 
 
 ately among the barons and churchmen at Win- 
 chester ; and the Saxon Chronicle says that " the 
 witan who were then nigh at hand chose him to 
 be king." He immediately gave the bishopric of 
 Winchester to Henry Gifford, a most influential 
 adherent, and then proceeded witli all speed t6 
 London, where he made a skilful usi^ of his ti-eas- 
 nres, and was proclaimed by an assembly of noble- 
 men and prelates, no one phallenging his title, but 
 all acknowledging his consummate abilities and fit- 
 ness for government. On Sunday, the 5th of Au- 
 gust, only ^hree days after the death of Rufus, 
 standing before the altar in Westminster Abbey, he 
 promised God and all the people to annul all the 
 unrighteous acts that took place in his brother's 
 time ; and after this declaration, Maurice, the 
 Bishop of London, consecrated him king.^ Anselm, 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, according to 
 ancient rule, should have performed the ceremony 
 of the coronation, had been driven out of the king- 
 dom some three years before ; and the archbish- 
 opric of York had been left vacant for some time. 
 A popular recommendation, which had, no doubt, 
 great influence, was, that Henry was an English- 
 man, born in the country," and after the Conquest; 
 and some of his partisans set up this circumstance 
 as being in itself a sufficient title to the ci-own. But 
 he himself, in a charter of liberties issued on the 
 following day, and diligently promulgated through- 
 out the land, represented himself as being crowned 
 " by the mercy of God, and by the common con- 
 sent of the barons of the kingdom." 
 
 The claims of Duke Robert were not forgotten ; 
 but Henry, who " had aforehand trained the people 
 to his humor and vein, in bringing them to think 
 well of him," had also caused to be reported, as a 
 certain fact, that Robert was already created king 
 
 1 Sax. Chron. 
 
 2 Henry was born at Selby, in Yorkshire, A.D. 1070, in the fourth 
 year of his fathers reign as King of England 
 
 of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, and would never 
 leave the Holy Land for an ordinary kingdom. 
 Although the law of succession remained almost as 
 loose as under the Saxon dynasty, and the crowit 
 of England was still, in form at least, an elective 
 one, Henry, who, moreover, was bound by oaths to 
 his elder brother Robert, seems himself to have 
 been conscious of a want of validity or security in 
 his title, and to have endeavored to strengthen his 
 throne by reforms of abuses and by large conces- 
 sions to the nation. Such is almost invariably tin- 
 course pursued by intrusive kings ; and hence 
 usurpations, though they may be productive o" 
 war and suffering, are not always to be considered 
 as unmixed evils. The charter of liberties passed 
 by Henry on his accession, as forming an impor- 
 tant feature in our progressive law and govern- 
 ment, will be ti-eated of elsewhere. It will suffice 
 for the course of this narrative to state, that he 
 restored all the rights of the church, promised to 
 require only moderate and just reliefs from his 
 vassals, to exercise his powers in wardsliips and 
 marriages with equity and mildness, to redress all 
 the grievances of the former reign, and to restore 
 the laws of King Edward the Confessor, subject 
 only to the amendments made in them by his 
 father. " So general was the confidence in the 
 restoration of the native institutions," says Sir J. 
 Mackintosh, "that it induced a private compiler 
 to draw up a summary of Saxon law, which is still 
 extant under the title of the ' Laws of Henry the 
 First,' probably as, in the writer's opinion, de- 
 riviuc their validity from his confirmation, and for 
 the purpose of propping Henry's infirm title by 
 resting it on tlie same basis with this reformation." ' 
 Still further to conciliate his Anglo-Saxon sub- 
 jects and to secure them to his interests in case of 
 a revolt on the part of his Norman barons, Henry, 
 who on all necessary occasions boasted of his Eng- 
 
 1 Uist. Eng
 
 392 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 lish birth, determined to espouse an English wife, j 
 This marriage is a most important historical event, ' 
 being a step made towards that intermixture and 
 fusion of the two races which destroyed, at a much ' 
 earlier period than is generally imagined, the odious 
 distinction between English and Normans. It is 
 also exceedingly interesting in some of its details, 
 and particularly those which have been transmitted | 
 by the pen of Eadnier,' who was living at the time, t 
 and who, as an Englishman himself, entertained a 
 lively sympathy for the fortunes of the young | 
 princess. The lady of Henry's choice was, to use i 
 the words of the Saxon Chronicle, " Maud, daugh- | 
 ter of Malcolm, King of Scots, and of Margaret, the 
 good queen, the relation of King Edward, and of i 
 rhe right kingly kin of England." This descendant ; 
 of the gi'eat Alfred liad been sent from Scotland at | 
 a very early age, and committed to the care of her | 
 aunt Christina, Edgar Atheling's second sister, who 
 was abbess of Wilton, or, as others say, of Rumsey, 
 in Hampshire. As she grew up, several of the 
 Norman captains aspired to the honor of her hand. 
 She was asked in marriage by Alan, the lord of 
 Richmond ; but Alan died before he could receive 
 any answer from the king. William de Garenne, 
 Earl of Surrey, was the next suitor, but the mar- 
 riage was not allowed by Rufus, to whom, and not 
 to the young lady or her relations, these several 
 demands were made. A contemporary writer^ 
 nays, he knows not why the marriage with the 
 Earl of Surrey did not take place ; but the policy 
 of forbidding a union between a powerful vassal and 
 a princess of the ancient royal line is evident ; and 
 the Red King, like this fiither, held it as part of 
 ills prerogative to give or refuse the hands of his 
 fair subjects. When proposals were made on the 
 part of King Henry, the fair Saxon, not being 
 dazzled with the prospect of sharing with a Nor- 
 man the throne on which her ancestors had sat for 
 cenlm'ies, showed a decided aversion to the match. 
 But she was assailed by arguments and induce- 
 ments difficult to resist. " Oh ! most noble and 
 fair among women," said her Saxon advisers, " if 
 thou wilt, thou canst restore the ancient honor of 
 England, and be a pledge of reconciliation and 
 friendship ; but if thou art obstinate in thy refusal, 
 the enmity between the two races will be everlast- 
 ing, and the shedding of human blood know no 
 end." ' When her slow consent was obtained, 
 another impediment was raised by a strong Nor- 
 man party, who neither liked to see an English 
 woman raised to be their queen, nor the power of 
 their king confirmed by means which would endear 
 him to the native race, and render him more and 
 more independent of the Normans. They asserted 
 that Maud, who had been brought up from her 
 infancy in a convent, was a nun, and that she had 
 been seen wearing the veil, which made her for 
 ever the spouse of Christ. Such an obstacle would 
 
 1 This historian was the scholar and inmate of Archbishop An- 
 selm, who celebrated the marriage, and afterwards crowned the young 
 queen. 
 
 2 (Irdericus. This chronicler said she had formerly gone by the 
 more Saxon name of Edith. 
 
 3 Matt. Par. 
 
 have been insurmountable ; and as there were some 
 seeming grounds for the report, the celebration of 
 the marriage was postponed, to the great joy of 
 those who were opposed to it.' 
 
 Anseim, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had 
 returned from Italy at the pressing invitation of the 
 new king, was a zealous promoter of the marriage 
 — for his soul was kind and benevolent, and he was 
 interested in favor of the English people ; but, when 
 he heard the reports which were circulated, he de- 
 clared that nothing could* induce him to unite a nun 
 to a carnal husband. The archbishop, however, 
 determined to question the maiden herself; and 
 Matilda, or Msiud, in reply, denied she had ever 
 taken the vows, or e'ven worn the veil of her free 
 will ; and she offered to give full j)roof of this before 
 all the prelates of England. A speech which Ead- 
 mer puts into her mouth is a curious specimen of 
 naivete, and a proof of the brutality of the Norman 
 soldiers towards the females of the conquered race. 
 " I must confess," she said, " that I have sometimes 
 appeared veiled ; but listen to the cause : in my first 
 youth, when I was living under her care, my aunt, 
 to save me, as she said, from the lust of the Nor- 
 mans, who attacked all females, was accustomed to 
 throw a piece of black stuff over my head ; and when 
 I refused to cover myself with it she treated me 
 very roughly. In her presence I wore that cover- 
 ing, but as soon as she was out of sight I threw it 
 Qn the ground, and trampled it under my feet in 
 childish anger " To solve this gi'eat difficulty, An- 
 seim called a council of bishops, abbots, and monks, 
 who met in the city of Rochester. Witnesses sum- 
 moned before this council confirmed the truth of 
 Matilda's words. Two archdeacons, who had been 
 sent to the convent where the young lady was 
 brought up, deposed that public report, and the tes- 
 timony of the nuns, agreed with her declaration. 
 At the moment when the council was to deliberate 
 on its verdict, the archbishop retired, to avoid any 
 suspicion of biassing their decision. This decision, 
 given unanimously, was : " We, the bishops, &c., 
 are of opinion that the young lady is free, and can 
 dispose of herself; and we have a precedent in a 
 judgment rendered m a similar cause by the vene- 
 rable Lanfranc, when the Saxon women, who liad 
 taken refuge in the convent out of fear of the sol- 
 diers of the great William, reclaimed and obtained 
 their liberty." On Sunday, the 11th of November, 
 the marriage was celebrated, and the queen was 
 crowned with great pomp and solemnity. But so 
 wisely cautious was the prelate, and so anxious to 
 dissipate all suspicions and false reports, that before 
 pronouncing the nuptial benediction, he mounted on 
 a bench in front of the church-door, and showed to 
 the assembled people the debate and decision of the 
 ecclesiastical council. The Normans, who had op- 
 posed the union, now vented their spite in bitter 
 railleries, and in applying nicknames taken from 
 Saxon ballads ; — the king they called Godric, and the 
 queen, Godiva. Henry dissembled his rage till a 
 convenient moment, and in public laughed heartily 
 at the insolent jests. Matilda, who had given her 
 > Eadmer.
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 393 
 
 consent to the man-iage with reluctance, and who 
 found a most unfaithful husband, proved a " right 
 loving and obedient wife." She was beautiful in 
 person, and distinguished by a love of learning and 
 great charity to the poor. Her elevation to the 
 throne filled the hearts of the English with a mo- 
 mentary joy. 
 
 Another proceeding which greatly increased the 
 new king's popularity with the English, and with all 
 who entertained respect for virtue and decency, 
 was his expulsion of his brother's minions. If half 
 of the detestable vices attributed by the churchmen, 
 their contempoi-aries, to these favorites, were really 
 prevalent among them, they must have been a curse 
 and an abomination to the land. Henry, however, 
 had intimately associated with them all — his life 
 had been as lewd and licentious as the Red King's ; 
 and the outward reformation and the measures he 
 now adopted seem to have been, at the very least, 
 dictated as much by policy as by any virtuous con- 
 viction. He felt it expedient to yield a homage to 
 the better feelings of the nation. 
 
 It was scarcely possible that Ralph Flambard, the 
 obnoxious minister of the late king, should escape 
 in this general purgation. Ralph's great crime, 
 which was his rapacity, had probably put him in 
 possession of wealth, which Henry stood in need 
 of; and the outcries of the people against the fallen 
 minister urged and seemed to justify his being de- 
 spoiled and otherwise punished. The Bishop of 
 Durham — for such was the ecclesiastical promotion 
 Ralph had attained under Rufus — was thrown into 
 the Tower, where he lived most luxuriously, and 
 captivated the affections of his keepers by his con- 
 viviality, generosity, and wit. In the February fol- 
 lowing Henry's coronation a good rope was conveyed 
 to the bishop, hid in the bottom of a huge wine flagon. 
 His guards drank of the wine until their senses for- 
 sook them ; and then Ralph, under favor of the 
 night, and by means of the rope, descended from 
 his prison window and escaped. Some friends in 
 attendance put him on board ship, and the active 
 bishop made sail for Normandy, to see what fortune 
 would offer him as the servant of Robert Courthose. 
 
 When Henry caused the report to be circulated 
 that Robert had obtained the crown of Jerusalem 
 and thought not of returning to England, he knew 
 right well that another than he had been elected 
 sovereign in the Holy Land, and that his brother 
 was actually in Europe, and on his way back to 
 Normandy, in which country he arrived within a 
 month or six weeks after the death of Rufus. The 
 inprovident duke had greatly distinguished himself 
 in the conquest of Palestine and the taking of Jeru- 
 salem, performing prodigies of valor, which were 
 only surpassed, in later times, by Richard Coeur de 
 Lion, and even showing, it is said, great eloquence 
 when called upon to speak in the councils of the 
 crusaders, and admirable military talents when com- 
 manding in the field. He was also preeminent 
 among the crusading princes and chiefs, from his pow- 
 erful family connexions and from the host of men he 
 led to the holy war ; for besides his subjects of Nor- 
 1 mandy, Maine, and Brittany, many English and 
 
 some Irish followed his standard thither, and would 
 obey the direct orders of none but him. " Yea, 
 England," says old Fuller, quaintly, " the pope's 
 pack-horse in that age, which seldom rested in the 
 stable when there was any work to be done, sent 
 many brave men under Robert, Duke of Normandy ; 
 as Beauchamp, and others whose names are lost. 
 Neither surely did the Irishmen's feet stick in their 
 bogs, though we find no particular mention of their 
 achievements.'" Though respected in proportion 
 to his power, and valued for the good qualities he 
 possessed, the crusaders never thought seriously of 
 electing so imprudent a prince to the difficult post 
 of securing and governing the conquests they had 
 made ; nor does Robert appear ever to have fixed 
 his eye on the throne of Jerusalem, which, by uni- 
 versal consent, fell to Godfrey of Bouillon, a man 
 " born for command," and as wise and prudent as a 
 statesman as he was gallant and fearless as a knight.^ 
 Soon after the capture of Jerusalem, which hap- 
 pened on the 15th of July, 1099, somewhat more 
 than a year before the death of the English king in 
 the New Forest, Duke Robert left the Holy Land 
 covered with holy laurels, and crossed the Mediter- 
 ranean to Brundusium, the nearest port of Italy, 
 intending to travel homeward by land through that 
 beautiful and luxurious country. The Norman 
 lance, as we have already mentioned, had won the 
 fairest portion of Southern Italy some years before 
 the conquest of England ; and as Duke Robert 
 advanced into the land, he was everywhere met by 
 Norman barons and nobles of Norman descent, who 
 ruled even more absolutely in Apuha than did their 
 brethren in our island. At every feudal castle the 
 duke was hailed and welcomed as a countiyman, a 
 friend, a hero, a crusader returning with victory, 
 whom it was honorable to honor ; and so much was 
 their hospitality to the taste of that thoughtless prince 
 that he lingered long and well pleased on his way. 
 Of aU these noble hosts was none more noble, or 
 more powerful than WiUiam, Count of Conversano : 
 he was the son of Geoffrey, who was nephew of 
 Robert Guiscard, the founder of the Norman dynasty 
 in Naples : his vast possessions lay along the shores 
 of the Adriatic, from Otranto to Bari, and extended 
 far inland in the direction of Lucania and the other 
 sea. He was, in short, the most powerful lord in 
 Lower Apuha. His castle, which stood on an emi- 
 nence surrounded by olive groves, at a short distance 
 from the Adriatic, had many attractions for the 
 pleasure-loving and susceptible son of the Conqueror. 
 There were minstrels and jongleurs ; there were 
 fine horses and hounds, and hawks, in almost royal 
 
 1 Hist. Holy War. Among the independent lords who accompanied 
 Robert were, Eustace, Earl of Boulogne, Stephen, Earl of Aubemalc 
 or Albemarle, and his half uncle, the notorious Odo, Bishop of 
 Bayeux and Earl of Kent. 
 
 2 Veramente e cestui nato all' impero, 
 Si del regnar, del comniandar sa I'arti ; 
 E non minor che duco e cavaliero ; 
 Ma del doppio valor tutte ha le parti. — 
 
 Tasso, Gerusalemme. 
 Well seems he bom to be with honor crown'd, 
 
 So well the lore he knows of regiment ; 
 Peerless in fight, in counsel grave and sound, — 
 The double gift of glory excellent. Fairfax.
 
 394 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 abundance ; and the vast plains of Apulia, with the 
 forests and mountains that encompass them, offered 
 u variety of the finest sport. But there was an 
 attraction even greater than all these in the person 
 of a beautiful maiden, the young Sibylla, the daugh- 
 ter of his host the Count of Conversano. Robert 
 became enamored, and such a suitor, who, besides 
 his other merits, was sovereign duke of Normandy, 
 with a prospect of possessing the royal crown of 
 England, was not likely to be rejected. Robert re- 
 ceived the hand of Sibylla, who is painted as being as 
 good as she was fair, together with a large sum of 
 money as her dowry. nai)py in tlie present, care- 
 less of the future, and little thinking tliat a man so 
 young as his brother the Red King would die, he 
 lingered several months in Apulia, and finally trav- 
 eled thence without any eagerness or speed, and at 
 the critical moment when the English throne fell 
 vacant his friends hardly knew when they might 
 expect him. On his arrival, however, in Normandy, 
 lie appears to have been received with great joj' by 
 the people, and to have obtained peaceful possession 
 of the whole of the country with the exception of 
 the fortresses surrendered to Rufus, and which 
 were now held for Henry. He made no secret of 
 his intention of prosecuting his claim on England ; 
 but here again he lost time and threw away his last 
 remaining chance. He was pi-oud of showing his 
 beautiful bride to the Normans, and, with his usual 
 imprudence, he spent her fortune in feasting and 
 pageantry. Ralph Flambard was the first to wake 
 him from this splendid but evanescent dream; and 
 at the earnest suggestion of the fugitive bishop- 
 minister, he prepared for immediate war, knowing 
 it was. vain to plead to Henry his priority of birth, 
 his treaty with Rufus, or the oaths which Henry 
 himself had taken to him. It may be doubted, 
 seeing the character of the factious nobles, whether, 
 had Robert succeeded in his enterprise, his indo- 
 lence, easy nature, and incurable imprudence would 
 not have proved as great a curse to England as the 
 harshness and tyranny of any of the Norman line, 
 and whether the nation would not have made a ret- 
 rogade step instead of advancing, as it certainly did 
 somewhat, under his crafty and cruel, but politic 
 rival Henry. 
 
 When his ban of war was proclaimed, Robert's 
 Norman vassals showed the utmost readiness to 
 fight under a prince who had won laurels in the 
 Holy Land, and the Norman barons expressed the 
 same discontent at the separation of the duchy and 
 kingdom which had appeared on the accession of 
 William Rufus. If the nobles had been unanimous 
 in their preference of Robert as sovereign of the 
 country, on either side the Channel where they 
 had domains, the dispute about the English throne 
 must have been settled in his favor ; but they were 
 divided, and many preferred Henry (as they had 
 formerly done Rufus) to Robert. The friends of 
 the latter, however, were neither few nor power- 
 less : several of high rank crossed the Channel from 
 England to urge liim to recover the title which be- 
 longed to him in virtue of the agreement formerly 
 concluded between him and the Red King; and 
 
 Robert de Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury and Arun- 
 del, William de la Warenne, Earl of Surrey, Arnulf 
 de M6ntgomery, Walter Giff'ord, Robert de Ponto- 
 fract, Robert de Mallet, Yvo de Grantmesnil, and 
 many others of the principal nobility, promised on 
 his landing to join him with all their forces. Henry, 
 knowing the disaffection of the barons, whose secrets 
 were betrayed to him, began to tremble on the throne 
 he had so recently acquired. These fears of the Nor- 
 mans threw him more than ever on the sujjport of 
 the English people, whom he now called his friends, 
 his faithful vassals, his countrymen, — the best and 
 bravest of men, — though his brother, he insidiously 
 added, treated them with scorn, and called them 
 cowards and gluttons.' At the same time he paid 
 diligent court to Archbishop Auselm, who, by the 
 sanctity of his character and his undeniable virtues 
 and abilities, exercised a great influence in the 
 nation. As Anselm was an Italian and a churchman, 
 it may be believed tliat he gladly obtained the large 
 concessions made to the pope by the trembling king ; 
 but from the earnestness with which he embraced 
 the cause of Henry we are also entitled to assume 
 that he saw good and laudable reasons for supporting 
 the existing settlement of the crown, and the avert- 
 ing of ii civil war is no questionable merit. If anx- 
 ious to extend the privileges of the church, he was 
 scarcely less so to establish the liberties of the peo- 
 ple ; and to him, as the representative of the nation, 
 Henry swore to maintain the charter he had granted 
 at his coronation, and faithfully to fulfil all his en- 
 gagements. 
 
 The effect of all this was, that the bishops, the 
 common soldiers, and the native English, with a 
 curious exception, stood firmly on the side oi' 
 Henry, who could also count, among the Norman 
 nobility, Robert de Mellent, his chief minister, the 
 Earl of Warwick, Roger Bigod, Richard de Red- 
 vers, and Robert Fitz-Hamon, all powerful barons, 
 as his unchangeable adherents. The exception 
 against him, on the part of the native English, was 
 among the sailors, who, affected by Robert's fame, 
 and partly won over by the fugitive Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, deserted with the greater part of a fleet which 
 had been hastily equipped to intercept the duke on 
 his passage, or oppose liis landing. Robert sailed 
 from Normandy in these very ships, and, while 
 Henry was expecting him at Pevensey, on the 
 Sussex coast, reached Portsmouth, and there land- 
 ed. Before the two armies could meet, some of the 
 less violent of the Normans from both parties had 
 interviews, and agreed pretty well on the necessity 
 of putting an end to a quarrel among countrymen 
 and friends. When the hostile forces fronted each 
 other, there was a wavering among his Normans; 
 but the English continued faitliful to Henry, and 
 Anselm threatened the invaders with excommuni- 
 cation. To the surprise of most men, the duke's 
 great expedition ended in a hurried peace and a 
 seemingly affectionate reconciliation between the 
 two rivals, after which the credulous Robert, who 
 indeed seemed destined to be the dupe of his crafty 
 brothers, returned peaceably to the continent, re- 
 
 i Matt. Paris
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 395 
 
 nouncing all claim to England, and having obtained 
 a yearly payment of 3000 marks, and the cession to 
 him of all the castles which Henry possessed in 
 Normandy. It was also stipulated, that the adhe- 
 rents of each should be fully pardoned, and re-stored 
 to all their possessions, whether in Normandy or in 
 England ; and that neither Robert nor Henry should 
 thenceforward encourage, receive, or protect the 
 enemies of the other. There was another clause 
 added, which, even without counting how much 
 older he was than Henry, was not worth to Robert 
 the piece of parchment it was written upon : — it 
 imported that if either of the brothers died without 
 legitimate issue, the survivor should be the heir to 
 his dominions. To this clause, as to its counterpart 
 in the former treaty signed at Caen, between Rob- 
 ert and Rufus, twenty-four barons, twelve on each 
 side, gave the solemn mockery of their oaths. 
 
 Robert was scarcely retui-ned to Normandy when 
 Henry began to take measures against the barons, 
 his partisans, whom he had promised to pardon ; 
 and his craft and cunning enabled him to proceed 
 for some time without committing any manifest 
 violation of the treaty. He appointed spies to 
 watch them in their castles, and artfully sowing 
 dissensions among them and provoking them to 
 breaches of the law, he easily obtained from the 
 habitual violence of these unpopular chiefs a plaus- 
 ible pretence for his prosecutions. He summoned 
 Robert de Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury, to answer 
 to an indictment containing forty-five serious charges. 
 De Belesme appeared, and, according to custom, 
 demanded that he might go freely to consult with 
 his friends and arrange his defence ; but he was no 
 sooner out of the court than he mounted his horse 
 and galloped oft' to one of his strong castles. The 
 king summoned him to appear within a given time 
 under pain of outlawry. The earl responded to 
 the summons by calling his vassals around him and 
 preparing for open war. This was meeting the 
 wishes of the king, who took the field with an army 
 consisting in good part of English infantry, well 
 disposed to do his will, and delighted at the pros- 
 pect of punishing one of their many oppressors. 
 He was detained several weeks by the siege of the 
 Castle of Arundel, the garrison of which finally 
 capitulated, and then, in part, escaped to join their 
 earl, De Belesme, who, in the mean time, liad 
 sti'ongly fortified Bridgeflorth, near the Welsh 
 frontiers, and strengthened himself in the citadel of 
 Shrewsbury. During the siege of Bridgenorth the 
 Normans in the king's service showed they were 
 averse to proceeding to extremities against one of 
 the noblest of their countrymen, and some of the 
 earls and barons endeavored to put an end to the 
 war by eft'ecting a reconcilement between Robert 
 de Belesme and the sovereign. " For," says a 
 cotemporary writer, " they thought that the victory 
 of the king over Earl Robert would enable him to 
 make them all bend to his will."^ They demanded 
 a conference, and an assembly was held in a plain 
 near the royal camp. A body of English intantry 
 posted on a hill close by, who knew what was in 
 1 Orderic. 
 
 agitation among the Norman chiefs, cried out " Do 
 not trust in them. King Henry ; they want to lay a 
 snare for you. We are here ; we will assist you 
 and make the assault. Grant no peace to the traitor 
 until you have him in your hands alive or dead!'" 
 The attempt at reconciliation failed, — the siege was 
 pressed, and Bridgenorth fell. The country be- 
 tween Bridgenorth and Shrewsbury, where the earl 
 made his last stand, was covered with thick wood, and 
 infested by his scouts and archers. The English 
 infantry cleared the wood of the enemy, and cut a 
 convenient road for the king to the very walls of 
 Shrewsbmy, where De Belesme, reduced to des- 
 pair, soon capitulated. He lost all his vast estates 
 in England, but was permitted to retire into Nor- 
 mandy, on taking an oath he would never return to 
 the kingdom without Henry's permission. His 
 ruin involved that of his two brothers, Arnulf de 
 Montgomery and Roger, Earl of Lancaster, and 
 as the king's hands became strengthened, the pros- 
 ecution and condemnation of all the barons who 
 had been favorable to Robert followed. One by 
 one nearly all the great nobles, the sons of the men 
 who had achieved the conquest of England, were 
 driven out of the land as traitors and outlaws, and 
 their estates and honors were given to " new men," 
 to the obscure followers of the new court. 
 
 So scrupulous was Duke Robert in observing 
 the treaty, that on the first notice of De Belcsme's 
 rebellion he ravaged the Norman estates of that 
 nobleman ; considermg himself, in spite of former 
 ties of friendship, as bound so to do by the clause 
 which stipulated that neither brother should en- 
 courage the enemies of the othev. He was soon, 
 however, made sensible that the real crime of all 
 the outlaws, in Henry's eyes, was the preference 
 they had given to him ; and following one of those 
 generous impulses to which his romantic nature 
 was prone, he came suddenly over to England, and 
 put himself completely in the power of Henry, to 
 intercede in favor of the unfortunate barons. The 
 crafty king received him with smiles and brotherly 
 embraces, and then placed spies over him to watch 
 all his motions. Robert, who had demanded no 
 hostages, soon found he was a prisoner, and was 
 glad to purchase his liberty by renouncing his 
 annuity of three thousand marks. He then re- 
 turned to Normandy, and, in self-defence, renewed 
 his friendship with the barons exiled from England, 
 accepting among others the services of De Belesme, 
 who was still a powerful lord, as he possessed above 
 thirty castles of different kinds in Normandy. 
 Henry now most impudently pretended that Robert 
 was the aggressor, and declared the peace between 
 them was for ever at an end. The simple truth 
 was, that Robert was completely at his mercy, and 
 he had resolved to unite the duchy to his kingdom. 
 Normandy, indeed, was in a deplorable state, and 
 Robert, it must be said, had given, and continued 
 to give, manifold proofs of his inability to manage 
 a factious and intriguing nobility, or to govern any 
 stJite as states were then constituted. He was. 
 indeed, " too trusting and merciful " for his age ; 
 I Orderic.
 
 39G 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III, 
 
 aud his generous virtues were more fatal to him 
 thuu the vices or defects wliich stained hJs moral 1 
 character.' He had, however, relapsed into his ! 
 old irregularities after losing the beautiful Sibylla, j 
 who died'in llO'i, leaving an infant son, the only ■ 
 isiHie of their brief marriage. His court was again , 
 thronged with vagaljond jongleurs, loose women, 
 and rapacious favorites, who plundered him of 
 his very attire, — at least this sovereign prince is 
 represented as lying in bed at tinu-s from want of 
 proper clothes to put on when he should rise. A 
 much more serious evil for the country was, that 
 his pettiest barons were suffered to wage war on 
 each other and inflict all kinds of wrong and insult 
 on the people. When Henry first raised the mask 
 he declared himself the protector of Normandy 
 agaii>st the bad government of his brother; and 
 there were many, as well nobles as of the common- 
 alty, who were glad to consider him in that light. 
 He called on Robert to cede the duchy for a sum 
 of money or an annual pension. " You have the 
 title of chief," said he ; " but in reality you are 
 no longer a chief, seeing that the vassals who 
 ought to obey you set you at nought."* The duke 
 indignantly rejected the proposal; on which the 
 king crossed the seas with an army, and, " by large 
 distributions of money carried out of England," 
 won many new partisans, and got possession of 
 many of the fortresses of Normandy. The duke, 
 on the other hand, had now nothing to give to any 
 one, for, in his thoughtless generosity and extrava- 
 gance he had squandered everything on his return 
 from Italy ; yet still some brave men rallied around 
 him out of alfectiwn to his person, or in dread and 
 hatred of his brother, and Henry found it impos- 
 sible to complete his ruin in this campaign. 
 
 In the following year (1106) the king reap- 
 peared in Normandy with a more formidable army 
 and with still more money, to raise which he had 
 cruelly and arbitrarily distressed his English sub- 
 jects; for by this time his charter had become 
 worthless, and he had broken nearly every promise 
 he made at his coronation. About the end of July 
 lie laid siege to Tenchebray, an important place, 
 the garrison of which, incorruptible by his gold, 
 made a faithful and gallant resistance. Robert, 
 when informed that his friends were hard pressed, 
 l)romised to march to their relief, ensue what 
 might, and on the appointed day, most true to his 
 word, as was usual with him in such matters, he 
 appeared before the walls of Tenchebray, where 
 Henry had concentrated his whole armj-. As a 
 soldier Robert was far superior to his brother, but 
 liis forces were numerically inferior, and there was 
 treachery in the camp. As brave, however, as 
 when ho fought the Paynim and mounted the 
 breach in the Holy City, he fell upon the king's 
 army, threw the English infantry into disorder, 
 and had nearly won the victory, when De Belesme 
 basely fled with a strong division of his forces, and 
 left him to inevitable defeat; for a panic spread 
 among the troops that remained, and all men 
 
 > William of Malmsbury says, " He furgot and forgave too mucli." 
 ' Orderic. 
 
 thought they were betrayed. After a last and 
 most brilliant display of his valor as a soldier, and 
 his conduct as a commander, the duke was taken 
 prisoner, with four hundred of his knights. " This 
 battle," observes old John Speed, " was fought, and 
 Normandy won, upon Saturday, being the vigil of 
 St. Michael, even the same day forty years that 
 William the Bastard set foot on England's shore 
 for his conquest ; God so disposing it (saith Malms- 
 bury) that Normandy should be subjected to Eng- 
 land that very day, wherein England was subdued 
 to Normandy." 
 
 The fate of the captives made at Tenchebray, or 
 taken after that battle, or who voluntarily surren- 
 dered, was various : some received a free pardon, 
 some were allowed to be ransomed ; and a few, 
 among whom were the Earl of Mortaigne and 
 Robert de Stuteville, were condemned to perpet- 
 ual imprisonment. The ex-earl of Shrewsbury, 
 the false De Belesme, was gratified with a new 
 grant of most of his estates in Normandy ; and the 
 ex-bishop-minister Ralph Flambard, who had been 
 moving in all these contentions, obtained the res- 
 toration of his English see, by delivering up the 
 town and castle of Lisieux to King Henry. A re- 
 markaljle incident in the victory of Tenchebray is, 
 that the royal Saxon, Edgar Atheling, was among 
 the prisoners. Duke Robert had on many occa- 
 sions treated him with great kindness and liberal- 
 itj' ; and, as in some of their qualities the two 
 princes resembled each other, there seems to have 
 been a lasting sympathy and affection between 
 them. According to some accounts Edgar had 
 followed Robert to the Holy Land ;' but this is 
 at the least doubtful, and the Saxon Chronicle 
 represents him as having joined the duke only a 
 short time before the battle of Tenchebray, where 
 he charged with the Norman chivalry. This was 
 his last pubhc appearance. He was sent over to 
 England, where, to show the Norman king's con- 
 tempt of him, he w-as allowed to go at large. At 
 t4ie intercession of his niece, the Queen Maud, 
 Henry granted him a trifling pension ; and this sur- 
 vivor of so many changes and sanguinary revolu- 
 tions passed the rest of his life in an obscure but 
 tranquil solitude in the country. So perfect was 
 the oblivion into which he fell, that not one of the 
 chroniclers mentions the place of his residence or 
 records when or how lie died. The fate of his 
 friend Duke Robert, w-ho had much less apathy, 
 was infinitely more galling from the beginning, 
 and his captivitj' was soon accompanied with other 
 atrocities. He was committed a prisoner for Ufe 
 to one of his brother's castles. At first his keepers, 
 appointing a proper guard, allowed him to take air 
 and exercise in the neighboring Avoods and fields. 
 One day he seized a horse, and breaking from his 
 guard, did his best to escape ; but he was pres- 
 ently pursued, and taken in a morass, wherein his 
 horse had stuck fast. Upon hearing of this attempt 
 
 '•In 10P6, the last year of the Conqueror's reign. Edgar Atheling 
 obtained permission to conduct two hundred knights to Apulia, and 
 thence to Palestine ; but we are not informed what progress he made 
 in this journey, and Duke Robert did not set out fur the Holy Laud 
 until 1096, or ten years after.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 397 
 
 the king not only commanded " a greater restraint 
 and iiarder durance," but ordered that his sight 
 should be destroyed, in order to render him inca- 
 pable of such enterprises, and unapt to all royal 
 or martial duties for the future. This detestable 
 order was executed by a method which had become 
 horribly common in Italy' during these ages, and 
 which was not unknown in other countries on the 
 continent. A basin of copper or iron, made red- 
 hot, was held close over the victim's eyes till the 
 organs of sight were seared and destroyed. The 
 ^vretched prince lived twenty-eight years after this, 
 and died in Cardiff Castle in 1135, a few months 
 before his brother Henry. He was nearly eighty 
 years old, and had survived all the chiefs of name 
 who rescued Jerusalem from the Saracens. Mat- 
 thew of Paris tells a touching anecdote of his cap- 
 tivity. One day, when some new dresses were 
 brought to him from the king, in examining them 
 by his touch he found that one of the garments was 
 torn or rent in the seam : the people told him that 
 the king had tried it on and found it too tight for 
 him. Then the prisoner threw them all far from 
 him, and exclaimed, " How, then, my brother, or 
 rather my traitor, that craven clerk who has de- 
 
 ' The punishment was usually applied to captive princes, fallen 
 ministers, and personages of the highest rank and political influence. 
 The Italians had even a verb to express it — Abbacinare, from bacino, 
 a basin. " L'abbacinare e il medesimo che I'accecare ; e perche si 
 faceva con un bacino roventc, che avvicinato agli occhi tenuti aperti 
 per forza, concentrandosi il calore struggeva que' panicelli, e risec- 
 cava I'umiditA, che, come un' uva e intorno alia pupilla, e la ricopriva 
 di una cotal nuvola, che gli tuglieva la vista, si aveva preso questo 
 Home d'abbacinare." Such is the formal explanation of the horrid 
 verb in the Dictionary Delia Crus( a 
 
 prived me of my aU, imprisoned me, blinded me, 
 now holds me at so mean a rate — I, who had so 
 much honor and renown, — that he makes me alms 
 of his old clothes, as if I were his valet." It seems 
 to have been an established custom for kings to 
 give dresses to their state prisoners at certain fes- 
 tivals in the year; and it is related of Fitz-Osborn 
 that he lost his only chance of enlargement by 
 treating a suit sent him by the Conqueror with dis- 
 respect. 
 
 As another trait of manners we may mention 
 here, that Duke Robert was made prisoner at 
 Tenchebray by Gaidric, King Henry's chaplain, 
 who was promoted to the bishopric of Llandaff for 
 this clerical piece of service. This martial prelate's 
 end was, however, in keeping with the circum- 
 stances of his promotion ; for, having exasperated 
 the people of Llandaflf with his tyranny and vio- 
 lence, they set upon him in a field and killed him, 
 with five of his canons. 
 
 In getting possession of Robert's person Henry 
 became master of all Normandy. Rouen, the cap- 
 ital, submitted to the conqueror, and Falaise sur- 
 rendered after a short resistance. At the latter 
 place William, the only son of Sibylla and Duke 
 Robert, fell into his hands. Wlien the child, who 
 was then only five years old, was brought into the 
 presence of his uncle, he sobbed and cried for 
 mercy. It could not escape the king's far-reaching 
 calculations that this boy's legitimate claims might 
 cause him future trouble ; but Henry, as if making 
 a violent eftort to rid himself of evil thoughts, sud- 
 denly commanded that he should be removed from 
 
 Cardiff Castle, as it appeared in 1'
 
 398 
 
 HISTORY OF ExNGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 h'mi. and given in custody to Helie de St. Saen, a 
 Norman noMe, on whom, though he had married 
 an iHcgitimato daugliter of Duke Robert, lie thought 
 he could rely. lie soon, however, repented of this 
 arrangement, and sent a force to surprise the castle 
 of St. Saen, and secure the person of young Wil- 
 liam, lleiie lied with his pupil, and they were 
 both hon(ual)ly received at all the neighboring 
 CDurts, where the beauty, the innocence, the early 
 misfortunes, and claims of the boy, gained him 
 many protectors. The most powerful of these 
 friends were Louis the Sixth, conuiionly called Le 
 Gros, and Fulk, Earl of Anjou, who were reason- 
 ably apprehensive of the increasing power of his 
 uncle on the continent. As William Fit/.-Robert, 
 as he was called, grew up, and gave good promise 
 of being a valiant prince, they espoused his cause 
 more decidedly, Louis engaging to grant him the 
 investiture of Nonnandj-, and Fulk to give him his 
 daughter Sii)ylla in marriage as soon as he should 
 be of proper age. Before that period arrived cir- 
 cumstances occurred (a. d. 1113) that hurried them 
 into hostilities, and the Earl of Flanders having 
 been induced to sanction, if not to join their league, 
 Henry was attacked at every point along the fron- 
 tiers of Normandy. He lost towns and castles, and 
 was alarmed at the same time by a report, true or 
 false, that some friends of Duke Robert had formed 
 a plot against his life. So great was his alarm, that 
 for a long time he never slept without having a 
 sword and buckler by his bedside. When the 
 war had lasted two years Henry put an end to it 
 by a skilful treaty, in which he regained whatever 
 he had lost in Normandy, and in which the in- 
 terests of William Fitz-Robert were ovei-looked. 
 These advantages were obtained bj^ gi^'ing the 
 estates and honors of the faithful Helie de St. 
 Saen to Fulk, Earl of Anjou, and by stipulating a 
 marriage between his only son, Prince William of 
 England, and Matilda, another daughter of that 
 earl. The previous contract between Fitz-Robert 
 and Sibylla was broken olT, and the Earl of Anjou 
 agreed to give no more aid or countenance to that 
 young prince. 
 
 These arrangements, so advantageous for Henry, 
 were not made without great sacrifices of money 
 on the part of the English people; and some years 
 before they were concluded the nation was made 
 to bear another burden. By the feudal customs 
 the king was entitled to levy a tax for the marrying 
 of his eldest daughter; and (a. n. 1110) Henry 
 affianced the Princess Matilda, a child only eight 
 years old, to Henry V., Emperor of Germany. 
 The high nominal rank of the party, and the gene- 
 ral poverty of the German emperors in those days, 
 would alike rail for a large dowry: and Henry V. 
 drove a hard bargain with his brother (and to-be 
 father-in-law) of England. The marriage portion 
 seems to have been principally raised by a tax laid 
 upon land at the rate of three shillings per hide ; 
 and the contemporary histories abound in complaints 
 of the harsh manner in which instant payment 
 was exacted. ' The stipulated sum was at length 
 ulared in the liatids of the emperor's ambassa- 
 
 dors, who conducted the young lady into Germany, 
 where she was to be educated. If the English 
 people suffered, they were regaled by a fine spec- 
 tacle ; for it is said that never was sight seen 
 more splendid than Matilda's embarkation. The 
 graver of the impressions, however, remained, and 
 it was remembered to her disadvantage, many 
 years after, how dear her espousals had cost the 
 nation. 
 
 About this time Henry checked some incursions 
 of the Welsh, the only wars waged in the interior 
 of England during his reign, and, causing a strong 
 army to follow them into their fastnesses, he 
 gained several advantages over the mountaineers. 
 He despaired, however, of reducing them to his 
 obedience, and was fain to content himself with 
 building a few castles a little in advance of those 
 erected bj- the Conqueror and the Red King. He 
 also collected a number of Flemings who had been 
 driven into England by the misfortunes of their 
 own country, and gave them the town of Haver- 
 fordwest, with the district of Ross, in Pembroke- 
 shire. They were a brave and industrious people, 
 skilled in manufacturing woolen cloths ; and, in- 
 creasing in wealth and numbers, they maintained 
 themselves in their advanced post, in spite of the 
 long efforts of the Welsh to drive them from it. 
 But a subject which occupied the mind of the Eng- 
 glish king much more than the conquest of Wales 
 was the securing the succession of all his dominions 
 to his only legitimate son William, to whom he 
 confidently and proudly looked as to one who was 
 to perpetuate his lineage and power. Having al- 
 ready made all the barons and prelates of Nor- 
 niandj" swear fealty and do homage to the boy, he 
 exacted the same oaths in England at a great coun- 
 cil of all the bishops, earls, and barons of the king- 
 dom, held at Salisburj- ; and being still pursued by 
 the dread of the growing popularitj' on the con- 
 tinent, and the just claims, of his nephew Fitz- 
 Robert, he artfully labored to get him into his 
 power, making use, among other means, of the 
 most enticing promises, — such as the immediate 
 possession of three great earldoms in England. 
 But that prince would never trust the jailer of his 
 father ; and his cause was again supported by pow- 
 erful friends, whose apprehensions were anew ex- 
 cited by the ambition of the Enghsh king. 
 
 A. D. 1118. \t a moment when the most for- 
 midable confederacy that ever threatened him was 
 forming on the continent, Henry lost his excellent 
 consort, Maud the Good, who must indeed have 
 " died with the sad reflection that she had sacri- 
 ficed herself for her race in vain;"' and in about 
 a month after he suffered a loss, which he probably 
 felt luuch more, in the death of the Earl of 
 Melient, the ablest instrument of his ambition, 
 the most skilful of all his ministers, who had so 
 managed his foreign politics as to obtain for him- 
 self the reputation of being the greatest states- 
 ' man in Europe. 
 
 Henry's want of good faith had hurried on the 
 storm which now burst upon him. He had secretly 
 
 ' Mackintosh, Hist. Em
 
 C.IAP. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 399 
 
 assisted his nephew Theobald,' Eai'l of Blois, in 
 a revolt against his feudal superior and liege lord, 
 the French king, — he had broken off the match 
 agreed upon between his son William and the Earl 
 of Anjou's daughter Matilda, — and he had belied 
 many of the promises made to the Norman barons 
 in his hour of need. The league that was formed 
 against him, therefore, included many of his own 
 disaffected Norman subjects, Louis of France, 
 Fulk of Anjou, and Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, — 
 the last-mentioned having fewer interested motives, 
 and a purer affection for the gallant son of Duke 
 Robert, than any of the others. The beginning of 
 the war was altogether unfavorable to the allies, 
 and King Louis, at one time, was forced to beg a 
 suspension of hostilities. Then fortune veered, 
 and King Henry lost gi-ound ; but, after a suc- 
 cession of reverses, his better star prevailed, and 
 he was made happy by the death of Baldwin, P^arl 
 of Flanders, the soul of the confederacy, who died 
 of a wound received at the siege of Eu. Being 
 thus relieved from one of his formidable enemies, 
 he proceeded to detach another by means as preva- 
 lent as sword, or lance, or arrow-shot. He sent 
 a large sum of money to the venal Earl of Anjou, 
 and agreed that the marriage between his son and 
 the earl's daughter should be solemnized forthwith. 
 Fulk took the bribe, and, abandoning his allies, 
 went to prepare for the wedding. At the same 
 time Henry gained over most of the disaffected 
 Norman barons with rich presents or new prom- 
 ises ; and after two more years of a war of petty 
 sieges and of skirmishes scarcely deserving the 
 name of battles, the French king saw himself de- 
 serted by all his allies. As before, the real sufferers 
 in these campaigns were the people of Normandy 
 and the neighboring countries, whose lands were 
 wasted and houses burned, and the people of Eng- 
 land, who were taxed and harried to furnish the 
 money for Henry. As for the chief warriors them- 
 selves, what with the impeneti'able armor in which 
 they now encased themselves, and a system of ran- 
 soming one another, and holding all knights, on 
 whatever side they fought, as forming part of a 
 brotherhood, every member of which, except in 
 certain predicaments, was to be treated with res- 
 pect, they sufifered little more than if they had 
 been engaged in jousts and tournaments. The 
 engagement which closed this war, and which was 
 more decisive than any fought during the course 
 of it, is an amusing specimen of these knightly en- 
 counters. 
 
 On the 20th of August, a. d. 1119, King Louis, 
 with four hundred knights, and King Henry, with 
 five hundred knights, met, more by accident than 
 by any design on either side, in the vicinity of the 
 town of Noyon. Vizors were lowered, trumpets 
 sounded, lances couched, and a brilliant charge 
 made by the French chivalry headed by Fitz- 
 Robert, or, as he was now generally called, " Wil- 
 liam of Normandy." This young prince broke 
 flu'ough Henry's first rank, and penetrated to his 
 
 ' Elder brother of Stephen, who seized the English crown on 
 Henry's death. 
 
 uncle, who was struck twice on the head by Wil- 
 liam Crispin, Count of Evreux, a valiant knight, 
 but, as the king wore a steel helmet of the best 
 quality, he received little injury. After a gallant 
 contest the French were defeated, leaving the 
 royal standard and one hundred and forty knights 
 in the hands of the victors. When the dead were 
 counted they were found to amount to three 
 knights! The King of France and young Wil- 
 liam of Normandy had their horses killed under 
 them, but they escaped on foot. This boasted 
 battle, which deserves to be remembered, was 
 called the battle of Brenville. The French ex- 
 cused their overthrow by saying that King Henry 
 set upon King Louis "when he was not aioare, and 
 his knights were all out of order and array ;" add- 
 ing, also, "that King Henry had a far gi-eater num- 
 ber than the French king had." The Anglo-Nor- 
 mans or English (for the latter designation was al- 
 ready common) maintained that the victory had 
 been won " in the open field royally ;" but their 
 superiority in numbers seem unquestionable. The 
 battle was followed by a display of chivalrous cour- 
 tesies. Henry sent King Louis a war-horse splen- 
 didly caparisoned, and his son made presents to 
 William of Normandy : the prisoners were hospit- 
 ably entertained, and dismissed on the payment of 
 proper knightly ransoms. All this, though it only 
 included the higher classes, was an immense im- 
 provement on the savage practices of earlier times ; 
 but the civilization of chivalry was at all times 
 somewhat superficial and uncertain in its operation, 
 and during this very Avar atrocities were commit- 
 ted which make us shudder. Henry had married 
 .luliana, one of his illegitimate children, to Eustace 
 of Breteuil, of whose fidelity he afterwards doubted. 
 He exacted as hostages two cliildren, the daughters 
 of Juhana and Eustace, and, as a pledge on his own 
 part, ordered Harenc, one of his officers, to place 
 his son in the hands of Eustace. In a moment of 
 rage the brutal lord of Evreux tore out the eyes 
 of the son of Harenc, and sent him back to 
 his father. Harenc demanded justice, and Henry 
 coolly told him he might retaliate on the daugh- 
 ters of Eustace and Juliana, the king's own 
 grandchildren; and this the barbarian did forth- 
 with, by putting out their eyes and cutting 
 off their noses. In this horrid wreck of the 
 strongest affections and feelings of human nature, 
 Juliana attempted the life of her own father. 
 by discharging an an-ow at his breast with her own 
 hands. ^ 
 
 Soon after the battle of Brenville an end was 
 put to the war, now only maintained on one side 
 by Louis, through the praiseworthy mediation of 
 the pope,^ who, however, labored in vain to pro- 
 cure a mitigation of the severity exercised on Duke 
 Robert, and a proper settlement for his son Wil- 
 liam. By this treaty of peace Henry Avas to pre- 
 
 1 Orderic. — lien. Hunt. 
 
 2 Calixtus II. He was related by marriaofe to Kin? Ilenrr, ard 
 personally visited that sovereig^i, who, among other signal falsehooi's, 
 assured him that his brother Robert was not a prisoner, but enter- 
 tained in a sumptuous manner in one of the royal castles, whorf he 
 enjo)-ed as much liberty and amusement as he desired.
 
 400 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 sen-e undisturbed and unquestioned possession of 
 Normandy ; and his pride was saved by Louis con- 
 senting to receive the homage due to him for the 
 duchy from the son instead of the father. This son, 
 who was in liis eighteenth year, had received the 
 oaths of the Norman nobles, as also the hand of his 
 bride, a child only twelve years old, whose father, 
 Fulk of Anjou, had given her a considerable dower. 
 King Henry, elated by success, now resolved to 
 return triumphantly to England. The place of 
 embarkation was Barfleur, where Rufus had landed 
 after his stormy passage and impious daring of the 
 elements.' The double retinue of the king and 
 |)rince royal was most numerous, and some delay 
 was caused by the providing of accommodation and 
 means of transport for so many noble personages ; 
 among whom were counted we scarcely know how 
 many illegitimate children and mistresses of the 
 king. On the 25th of November (a. d. 1120), how- 
 ever, all was ready, and the sails were joyously 
 bent as for a short and pleasant voyage. Thomas 
 Fitz-Stephen, a mariner of some repute, presented 
 himself to the king, and tendering a golden mark, 
 said, — " Stephen, son of Evrard, my fixther, served 
 yours all his life by sea, and he it was wlio steered 
 the ship in which your father sailed for the con- 
 quest of England. Sire King, I beg you to grant 
 me the same office in fief : I have a vessel called 
 the Blanche-Nef, well equipped, and manned with 
 fifty skilful mariners." The king replied that he 
 had already chosen a vessel for himself, but that, in 
 order to accede to the prayer of Fitz-Stephen, he 
 would confide to his care the prince, with his com- 
 panions and attendants. Henry then embarked, 
 and setting sail in the afternoon with a favorable 
 and gentle wind from the south, reached the Eng- 
 lish coast in safety on the following morning. The 
 l)rince was accompanied in the Blanche-Nef, or 
 White Ship, by his half-brother, Richard, his half- 
 sister the Lady Marie,- Countess of Perche, Rich- 
 ard Earl of Chester, v/ith his wife, who was tlie 
 king's niece, her brother, the prince's governor, 
 with a host of gay young nobles, both of Normandy 
 and of England, one hundred and forty in number, 
 eighteen being ladies of the first rank; all these 
 and their retinues amounting, with the crew, to 
 about three hundred persons. On such occasions 
 it was usual to regale the mariners with a little 
 wine, but the prince and the young men with him 
 imprudently ordered three whole casks of wine to 
 be distributed among the men, who " drank out 
 their wits and reason." The captain had a sailor's 
 pride in the speed of his craft and the qualities of 
 his crew, and, though hours passed away, he pro- 
 mised to overtake every ship that had sailed before 
 him. The prince certainly did not press his de- 
 parture, for he spent some hours on deck in feast- 
 ing and dancing with his company. A few prudent 
 
 1 See ante, p. 387. Most of the old historians are of opinion that 
 the drowning of the nephew was a judgment provoked by the pre- 
 KUniption of the uncle. 
 
 * By some writers this lady is called Maud, and by others Adele or 
 Adela. The name of her mothrr is not mentioned. Richard was the 
 son of an English mistress, who is called the " widow of Anskill, a 
 iiulilerr.Rn that lived near the monastery of Abingdon." 
 
 persons quitted the disorderly vessel, and went on 
 shore. Night had set in before the Blanche-Nef 
 started from her moorings, but it was a bright 
 moon-light, and the wind, though it had freshened 
 somewhat, was still fair and gentle. Fitz-Stephen, 
 proud of his charge, held the helm ; every sail was 
 set, and, still to increase the speed, the fifty sturdy 
 mariners, encouraged by their boyish passengers, 
 plied the oar with all their vigor. As they pro- 
 ceeded coastwise they got engaged among some 
 rocks at a spot called Ras de Catte (now Ras de 
 Catteville), and the White Ship struck on one of 
 these with such violence on her larboard side, that 
 several planks were started, and she instantly be- 
 gan to fill. A cry of alarm and horror was raised 
 at once by three hundred voices, and was heard on 
 board some of the king's ships that had gained the 
 high sea, but nobody there suspected the cause. 
 Fitz-Stephen lowered a boat, and putting the prince 
 with some of his companions in it, advised them to 
 row for the shore, and save themselves. This 
 would not have been difficult, for the sea was 
 smooth, and the coast at no great distance ; but his 
 sister Marie had been left behind in the ship, and 
 her shrieks touched the heart of the prince, — the 
 best or most generous deed of whose life seems to 
 have been his last. He ordered the boat to be put 
 back to take her in ; but such numbers leaped into 
 it at the same time as the lady, that it was upset 
 or swamped, and all in it perished. The ship also 
 went down with all on board. Only two men es- 
 caped by rising and clinging to the main-yard, which 
 floated, and was probably detached from the wreck ; 
 one of these was a butcher of Rouen, named Ber- 
 old, the other a young man of higher condition, 
 named Godfrey, the son of Gilbert de I'Aigle. Fitz- 
 Stephen, the unfortunate captain, seeing the heads 
 of two men clinging to the yard, swam towards 
 them. " And the king's son," said he, " what has 
 happened to him ?" " He is gone ! neither he, 
 nor his brother, nor his sister, nor any person of 
 his company, has appeared above Avater." "Wo 
 to me !" cried Fitz-Stephen ; and then he plunged 
 to the bottom. The night was cold, and the young 
 nobleman, the jiore delicate of the two survivors, 
 became exhausted, and after holding on for some 
 hours let go the yard, and, recommending his poor 
 companion to God's mercy, sunk to the bottom of 
 the sea. The butcher of Rouen, the poorest of all 
 those who had embarked in the White Ship, 
 wrapped in his sheep-skin coat,' held on till morn- 
 ing, when he was seen from the shore, and saved 
 by some fishermen, who took him into their boat; 
 and from him, being the sole sui-vivor, the circum- 
 stances of the fearful event were learned. The 
 tidings reached England in the course of the fol- 
 lowing day, but no one would venture on com- 
 municating them to the king. For three days the 
 courtiers concealed the fact, and at last they sent in 
 a little boy, who, weeping bitterly with " no coun- 
 terfeit passion," fell at his feet, and told him that 
 the White Ship was lost, and that all on board had 
 
 1 Qui pauperior erat omnibus, renone amictus ex arietinis pelli- 
 bus Orderic.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 401 
 
 ^ ^3«t^';^ 
 
 perished. The hard hearl^of Henry was not proof 
 to this shock, — he sunk to the ground in a swoon ; 
 and though he survived it many years, and indulged 
 again in liis habitual ambition, he was never after- 
 wards seen to smile.' The English people were 
 far indeed from partaking in this grief; and if half 
 that is related of him be true, they were well rid of 
 a flagitious and tyrannical prince. He had none of 
 the qualities or English feelings of his Saxon mo- 
 ther, the excellent JMaud ; and he had even been 
 heard to threaten that, when he became king, he 
 would make the English natives draw the plough, 
 and treat them like beasts of burden. The old 
 chroniclers considered his tragic fate as an actof 
 divine vengeance, — as a just judgment of the Al- 
 mighty ; and they thought this notion was strength- 
 
 ' f irilpiic— Maliiisb.— Tien. Hunt.— R. Iloveden.— W. Gemot. 
 VOL. I.— 26 
 
 ened by the circumstances of the wreck, which 
 happened in no storm or tempest, but in serene 
 weather, and on a tranquil sea.' They recalled 
 the threat of the arrogant youth, and his designs 
 against the English people. Henry of Huntingdon 
 exclaims, " He was thinking of his future reign and 
 greatness ; but God said it shall not be thus, thou 
 impious, it shall not be ; and it so fell out that his 
 brow, instead of being girded with the crown of 
 gold, was beaten against the rocks of -the ocean. '" 
 The horrid accusations made against Rufus and 
 hi3 courtiers are renewed against Prince "William 
 and his associates by a starthng if not convincing; 
 number of contemporarj" writ^'s ; and we fear no 
 historical skepticism or charity can remove the 
 
 ' It was, of course, not forgotten that the prince sailed — on a 
 
 Friday '
 
 402 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 (ioubt of his having been a dissolute and depraved 
 youth. 
 
 As Henry w.is now deprived of his only legiti- 
 mate son, he was cast upon new plans for the se- 
 curing of his various states in his family. At the 
 same time, the same event seemed to brighten the 
 prospects of his nephew, William of Normandy, 
 whose frit'nds certainly increased soon after the 
 demise of the heir apparent. A circumstance con- 
 nected wi>h the marriage of the drowned prince 
 hastened and gave a color of just resentment to 
 one declaration in favor of Fitz-Robert. His for- 
 mer friend Fulk, Earl of Atijou, demanded back 
 from Henry his daugiiter Matilda, together with 
 the dower ho had given to Prince William. King 
 Henry willingly gave up the young lady,' but re- 
 fused to part with the money ; and upon this, 
 Fulk, who was an adej)t in these matters, renewed 
 his matrimonial negotiations with the son of Duke 
 Robert, and finally affianced to him liis younger 
 daughter Sibylla, putting him, meanwhile, in pos- 
 session of the earldom of Mons. Louis of France 
 continued to favor the young prince, and some of the 
 most powerful of the Norman barons entered into 
 a conspiracy in his favor against his unkind uncle 
 Henry. But no art, no precaution, could conceal 
 these manoeuvres from the English king, who liad 
 spies everywhere, and who fell Uke a thunderbolt 
 among the Norman lords before they were prepared. 
 It cost him, however, more than a year to subdue 
 this revolt; but then he made the Norman leaders 
 of it prisoners, and induced the Earl of Anjou once 
 more to abandon the cause of liis intended son-in-law. 
 
 Some time before effecting this peace, Ileniy, in 
 the vain hope of offspring, which he thought must 
 destroy the expectations of his nephew, espoused 
 Adclais, or Alice, daughter of Geoffrey, Duke of 
 Louvain, and nieco to the reigning pope, Calix- 
 tus 11. This new queen was young, and very 
 beautiful, but the marriage was not productive of 
 any issue ; and after three or four years had passed, 
 the king formed the bold design of sctllijig the 
 crown of England and the ducal coronet of Nor- 
 mandy on his daughter Matilda, who had become 
 a widow in 1124, by the death of her husband, the 
 Emperor Henry V. We call this design a bold 
 one, because it was opposed to the customs and 
 feelings then prevalent in all Europe, and most 
 especially so in our country and the neighboring 
 continental states, where a female reign was un- 
 known, and a she-king regarded as a preposterous 
 anomaly degrading to the warlike nobles and the 
 chivalry that propped the throne. Accordingly, at 
 the first blush of the business, tlie Anglo-Norman 
 barons expressed their astonishment and disgust ; 
 but Henry's power Avas now so absolute in England, 
 that they durst not then venture to oppose it ; and he 
 purchased the acquiescence of the most formidable 
 among them, with money, lands, and promises. 
 
 On the solemn day of Christmas (a.d. 1126) 
 there was a general assembly in Windsor Castle, of 
 l-he bishops, abbots, barons, and all the great tenants 
 
 ' Ten years after MalilJa became a aun in the celebrated convent 
 of Fontevraud. 
 
 of the crown, who, for the most part acting against 
 their inward conviction, unanimvusli/ declared the 
 ex-empress Matilda to be the next heir to the 
 throne, in the case (now not problematical) of 
 her father's dying without legitimate male issue. 
 They then swore to maintain her succession — the 
 clergy swearing first, in the order of their rank, 
 and after them the laity, among whom there seems 
 to have been more than one dispute touching pre- 
 cedence.' The most remarkable of these disputes, 
 as being an index to hidden aspirations, was that 
 for priority between Stephen, Earl of Boulogne, and 
 Robert, Earl of Gloucester. Stephen was the 
 king's nephew, by the dai!ghter of the (Conqueror, 
 Henry's sister, Adela : Robert, on the other side, 
 was the king's own son, but was of ilh^gitimate 
 birth ; and the delicate point to be decided was, 
 whether precedence was due to legitimacy of birth 
 or to nearness of blood— or, in other words, wliich 
 of the two — the lawfully begotten nephew of a 
 king, or t4io unlawfully begotten son of a king — 
 was the greater personage. The shade of the 
 great Conqueror might liave been vexed at such a 
 discussion ; but though the reigning family derived 
 its claim from a bastard, the question was decided 
 by the assembly in favbr of the nephew, Stephen, 
 who accordingly swore first. The question had not 
 arisen out of the small spirit of courtly form and 
 etiquet ; the disputants had higher objects. They 
 contemplated perjury in the very preliminary of their 
 oaths. Feeling, in common with every baron pres- 
 ent at that wholesale swearing, that the succession 
 of Matilda was insecure, they both looked forward 
 to the crown ; and on that account each Wiis anxious 
 to be declared the first prince of the blood. 
 
 The same year that brought Matilda to England, 
 saw Fulk, the Earl of Anjou, depart for tlu^ Holy 
 Land, it being his destiny to become a very indilfer- 
 ent king of Jerusalem. Having marked the sign 
 of the sacred cross on his shield, his helmet, and 
 other arms, as also on his saddle and the bridle-rein 
 of his horse,* he renounced the government of the 
 province of Anjou to his son Geoffrey, surnaraed 
 Plantagenct, on account of a custom he had of 
 wearing a sprig of flowering broom^ in his cap like 
 a feather. Henry had many times felt the hostile 
 power of the earls of Anjou, and various political 
 considerations induced liim to conclude a marriage 
 between his daughter Matilda and Geoffrey, the son 
 of Fulk. The ex-empress, though partly against 
 her hking, consented to the match, which was ne- 
 gotiated and concluded with great secrecy. The 
 barons of England and Normandy pretended that 
 the king had no right thus to dispose of their future 
 sovereign without previously consulting them ; they 
 were generally dissatisfied with the proceeding, and 
 some of them openly declared that it released them 
 from the obligations of the oath they had taken to 
 Matilda. This argument was made more cogent 
 
 ' David, Kinj of Scotland, in his quality of Ene;lish earl, or hold- r 
 of lands in England, swore first of all to support Matilda, who was His 
 own niece. 
 
 2 In clypeo, galeSque et in omnibus armis, et in fraeno seI;^^"i^e, 
 sacras crucis sigmim. — Orderic. 
 
 ' In old French Genest (now Genet), from the Latin genitta.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 403 
 
 when death relieved them from the dread of the 
 power and ability of Henry, who disregarded their 
 present murmm-s, and congratulated himself on his 
 policy, which united the interests of the house of 
 Anjou with those of his own. The marriage was 
 celebrated at Rouen, in the octaves of the feast of 
 Whitsuntide, 1127, and the festival was prolonged 
 during three weeks. Henry, somewhat despot- 
 ically, ordered everybody to be merry. On the 
 first day, heralds, in full costume, went through the 
 streets and squares, crying this singular proclama- 
 tion : " In the king's name, let no man here pi'esent, 
 whether an inhabitant or a stranger, rich or poor, 
 noble or mlain, be so boFd as to withdraw himself 
 from the royal rejoicings ; for, whosoever taketh not 
 part in the diversions and games will be held guilty 
 of an offence toward his lord the king."^ 
 
 But rejoice as he might, Henry felt that the suc- 
 cession of his daughter could never be secure, if his 
 nephew survived him; and he applied himself with 
 all his craft to effect the ruin of that young man, 
 who, at the moment, occupied a position that made 
 him truly formidable. At the late peace, the French 
 king had not abandoned his interests like Fulk, the 
 Earl of Anjou ; on the contrary, Louis invited him 
 again to his court, and soon after, in lieu of Sibylla 
 of Anjou, gave him the hand of'-his queen's sister, 
 and with her, as a portion, the countries of Pontoise, 
 Chauraont, and the Vexin, on the borders of Nor- 
 mandy. Soon after this advantageous settlement, 
 Charles the Good, Earl of Flanders, successor to 
 Baldwin, the steady friend of the son of Duke Rob- 
 ert, was murdered in a church at the very foot of 
 the altar. The King of France entered Flanders 
 as liege lord, and with the consent of the people, to 
 punish the sacrilegious murderers ; and having done 
 this, he, in virtue of liis feudal suzerainty, conferred 
 the earldom upon William of Normandy, who had 
 accompanied him in the expedition, and who, had 
 such claims been allowed, had a good hereditary 
 right to it as the representative of his grandmother, 
 Matilda, who was daughter of Earl Baldwin of the 
 old legitimate line. The Flemish people offered no 
 opposition to their new earl ; and King Louis, with 
 his army, departed, in the gi-atifying conviction that 
 he had secured a stable dominion to his gallant 
 young brother-in-law, and placed him in a situation 
 the most favorable for the conquest of Normandy, 
 or at least for the curbing of that ambition in the 
 English king, which continued to give uneasiness to 
 Louis. This uneasiness could not fail of being in- 
 creased by the union between the Norman line and 
 the house of Anjou, which took place at this very 
 time. But the French army had scarcely left tlie 
 country, when the Flemish people, distinguished 
 even in that age by their turbulence, broke out into 
 revolt against their new earl, and asked and received 
 assistance from King Henry. A respectable party, 
 however, adhered to William, who had many quali- 
 ties to insure respect and love. In the field he had 
 a manifest advantage over the ill-directed insurgents, 
 who then invited Thiedrik, or Thierry, Landgrave 
 of Alsace, to put himself at their head. Thierry 
 
 ' Script. Rtr. Franc 
 
 gladly accepted their invitation. He advanced x 
 claim to the succession on the ground of his descent 
 from some old chief of the country; and Henry, 
 who found in him the instrument he wanted, sent 
 him money, and engaged to support him with all hig 
 might. The treacherous surrender of Lisl(^, Gheni, 
 and other important places in Flanders, immediately- 
 followed ; but William, who had the courage and 
 military skill of his unfortunate father, without any 
 of his indolence, completely defeated his antagonist, 
 Thierry, under the walls of Alost. Most unfortu- 
 nately, however, in the moment of victory, he re- 
 ceived a pike wound in the hand, and this being 
 neglected, or improperly treated by ignorant sui-- 
 geons, brought on a mortification. He was conveyed 
 to the monastery of St. Omer, where he died on thu 
 27th of July, 1128, in the twenty-sixth year of a life 
 which had been subject to extraordinary vicissitudes. 
 In his last moments, he wrote to his unnatural uncle, 
 to implore mercy for the Norman barons who had 
 followed his fortunes. Henry, in the joy of his 
 heart, granted the request of his deceased nephew, 
 who left no children to prolong the king's inquietude, 
 or serve as a rallying point to the disaffected noble;-. 
 We are not informed whether the tidings of Wil- 
 liam's brief greatness were conveyed into the dun- 
 geon of Cardiff Castle, to solace the heart of h\\ 
 suffering father, or whether the news of his early 
 death, which so soon followed it, was in mercy con - 
 cealed from the blind old man. 
 
 To work out his purposes, Henry had hesitate I 
 at no treachery, no bloodshed, no crime, and yet 
 the infiituated man fondly hoped to end his days in 
 tranquillity. The winding up of his story is littln 
 more than a succession of petty family jars and 
 discords — the very bathos of ambition and worldly 
 grandeur. His daughter Matilda, presuming on thu 
 imperial rank she had held, and being naturally of a 
 proud, imperious temper, soon quarreled with her 
 husband : a separation took place ; Matilda returned 
 to England, and her father was occupied durin-^ 
 many months with these family disputes, and in 
 negotiating a peace between man and wife. At 
 length, a reconciliation was patched up, and Matilda 
 returned to her husband. The oath-breaker, her 
 father, thought he could never exact oaths enough 
 from others; and before his daughter left England, 
 he made the prelates and baions again swear fealty 
 to her. Henry, who, in spite of these precautioDi , 
 well knew the chances to which Matilda would bn 
 exposed, ardently longed for a grandson, whom ho 
 hoped to see grow \\\^ ; but for six years he wani 
 kept uneasy and unhappy by the unfruiffulness of 
 the marriage. In March, 1133, however, Matilda wo ^ 
 delivered, at Mans, of her first child, Henry, styled 
 Fitz-Empress, who was afterwards Henry H. of 
 England. At the birth of this gi-andson the kin;^ 
 again convoked the barons of England and Nor- 
 mandy, and made them recognize as his successors 
 the children of his daughter, after him, and after 
 her. The nobles consented in appearance, and, 
 being accustomed to the taking of onths which they 
 meant to break, swore fealty afresh, not only to 
 Matilda, hut to her infant son, and the rest of her
 
 404 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAxND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 progeny as yet unborn. The ex-empress gave birth 
 to two more princes, GeoflVey and William, in the 
 course of the two following years ; but even a grow- 
 ing family failed to endear her husband to her : she 
 quarreled with him on all possible occasions; and as 
 her father took her part, whether right or wrong, 
 she kept his mind almost constantly occupied with 
 their dissensions. Under these circumstances, it 
 was not natural that GeoflVey Plantagenet should 
 prove a loving and dutiful son-in-law : he demanded 
 immediate possession of Normandy, which he said 
 Henry had promised him ; and when the king-*re- 
 fused, he broke out into threats and insults. Ma- 
 tilda, it is said, exerted her malignant and ingenious 
 spirit in widening the breach between her own hus- 
 band and father. The four last years of Henry's 
 reign, which were spent wholly abroad, were 
 troubled with these domestic broils. At length an 
 incursion of the Welsh demanded his presence in 
 England; and he was preparing for that journey, 
 when death dispatched him on a longer one. His 
 health and spirits had been for some time visibly on 
 the decline. On the 25th of November, " to drive 
 his grief away, he went abroad to hunt." Having 
 pursued his sport during the day, in the woods of 
 Lions-la-Foret, in Normandy,^ he returned home 
 
 ' Lious-la-Fortt, now a town, is at a short distance from Rouen, 
 and is approaclied through the remains of a forest, to which it owes 
 its surname. To this forest, once of great extent, the Norman princes 
 eagerly resorted for the diversion of the chase. So early as 929, 
 William I., Duke of Normandy, built a hunting-box there, which 
 afterward became a castle imporlant from its strength. The forest 
 was the scene of many of the adventures recorded in the old chroni- 
 rles and romances. — Tour iu Normandy, by Gaily Knight, Esq. 
 
 in the evening "somewhat amended," and, being 
 hungry, " would needs eat of a lamprey, though 
 his physician ever counseled him to the con- 
 trary." The lamprey or lampreys he ate brought 
 on an indigestion ; and the indigestion a fever : 
 on the third day, despairing of his recovery, he 
 sent for the Archbishop of Kouen, who adminis- 
 tered the sacrament and extreme unction ; and, 
 on the seventh day of his illness, which was Sun- 
 day, December 1, a.d. 1135, he expired at the 
 midnight hour. He was in his sixty-seventh year, 
 and had reigned thirty-five j^ears and four months, 
 wanting four days. By his will he left to hia 
 daughter Matilda and her heirs for ever, all his 
 territories on either side the sea; and he desired 
 that when his lawful debts were discharged, and the 
 hveries and wages of his retainers paid, the residue 
 of his effects should be distributed among the ))oor. 
 He seems to have died in anger with his son-in-law, 
 for the name of GeoflVey Plantagenet was not men- 
 tioned in his wiU. Tliey kept the royal bowels in 
 Normandy, and deposited them in the church of St. 
 Mary, at Rouen, which his mother had founded ; 
 but the body was conveyed to England, and interred 
 in Reading Abbey, which Henry had built himself. 
 The best circumstances attending his long reign 
 were, the peace he maintained in England, and a 
 partial respect to the laws which his vigorous gov- 
 ernment imposed on his haughty and ferocious 
 barons. If regard is had only to success, and no 
 attention paid to the wickedness of the means, he 
 was certainly a great politician. Considering the 
 times, extraordinary care had been taken of his ed- 
 
 Rci.N.s; OF Reading .\r.EiiY, the Burial Place of Henry I., as they appeared in 1721.
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND iMILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 40J 
 
 ncation : his natural abilities were excellent ; and 
 so great was his progress in the philosophy and lit- 
 erature of the age, that his contemporaries honored 
 him with the name of Beau-clerc, or the fine scholar. 
 Henry of Huntingdon, who knew him well, calls 
 him the murderer of many men, the violator of his 
 oaths ; and regards him as one of those princes who 
 cause royalty to be considered as a crime. The 
 same contemporary writer has left us his character 
 as differently painted by his friends and by his ene- 
 mies. According to the first, he was commendable 
 for the three glorious qualities of wisdom, valor, and 
 wealth ; according to the latter, he was to be con- 
 demned for the three especial vices of covetousness, 
 cruelty, and lust. If we unite the good and the 
 evil, and add the qualities of craft, treachery, and 
 an implacable revenge, we shall come to a pretty 
 just estimate of his moral worth. 
 
 Some minor details may be added, partly from the 
 insight they afford into character, and in part for 
 the naivete with which they are recorded by the old 
 writers. He was proud of his learning, and in the 
 habit of saying that he considered an unlearned king 
 as nothing better than a crowned ass. He was very 
 fond of men of letters, and of wild beasts ; and, to 
 enjoy both, he often fixed his residence between 
 them ; or, in the words of one of the chroniclers, 
 " He took chief pleasure to reside in his new palace, 
 which himself built at Oxford, both for the delight 
 he had in learned men — himself being very learned 
 — and for the vicinity of his new park at Woodstock, 
 which he had fraught with all kinds of strange beasts, 
 wherein he much delighted, as lions, leopards, 
 lynxes, camels, porcupines, and the like."^ His love 
 of letters, however, did not interfere with his re- 
 venge. In the last war in which he was personally 
 engaged on the continent, Luke de Barre, a knightly 
 poet, who had fought against him, was made pris- 
 oner, and barbarously sentenced to lose his eyes. 
 Charles the Good, Earl of Flanders, who was pres- 
 ent, remonstrated against the punishment, urging, 
 among other things, that it was not the custom to in- 
 flict bodily punishment on men of the rank of knights, 
 who had done battle in the service of their immediate 
 superior. Henry replied, " This is not the first time 
 that Luke de Barre has borne arms against me ; but 
 he has been guilty of still worse things — for he has 
 satirized me in his poems, and made me a laughing- 
 stock to mine enemies. From his example, let 
 other verse-makers learn what they have to expect 
 when they offend the King of England." The cruel 
 sentence was wholly or partly executed, and the 
 poet, in a paroxysm of agony, burst from the savage 
 hands of the executioners, and dashed out his brains 
 against the wall.* The next anecdote is of a pleas- 
 anter kind, but it will not give an advantageous idea 
 of the devotion of which Henry was accustomed to 
 make frequent profession. Early in life, he chose 
 his chaplain by the rapidity with wliich he got 
 through a mass, saying, that no man could be so fit 
 a mass-priest for soldiers as one who did his work 
 with such dispatch. While serving under his brother 
 William in Normandy, Henry chanced to enter this 
 
 > Rossus., quoted in Speed's Chron 2 Orderic. 
 
 priest's church, as it lay on his road, near Caen. 
 " And when the royal youth," says William of New- 
 bury, " said, follow me, he adhered as closely to him 
 as Peter did to his heavenly Lord, uttering a similar 
 command ; for Peter, leaving his vessel, followed 
 the King of kings — he, leaving his church, followed 
 the prince, and being appointed chaplain to him and 
 his troops, became a blind leader of the blind." In 
 some worldly respects, at least, the censure was too 
 severe. The speedy chaplain, who will reappear 
 under the reign of Stephen, and whose achievements 
 in architecture will be noticed in the proper place, 
 was Roger, afterward the famous bishop of Sarum, 
 and treasurer and favorite minister to Henry, who in- 
 variably made such selections from among the most 
 able and quick-sighted of men.' Another anecdote 
 which is told of him, displays at once Henry's ma- 
 hgnity of disposition and his profound dissimulation. 
 When Bloet, Bishop of Lincoln, one of his principal 
 judges, his steady friend for many years, and who 
 was supposed to be at the moment in the greatest 
 favor, was told that the king had spoken of him in 
 terms of the highest praise, he exclaimed, " Then 
 I am a lost man — for I never knew him praise any 
 one whom he had not resolved to ruin." The bishop 
 ivas ruined very soon after, for having said that the 
 monastery which he was building at Ej-nsham should 
 be as fine an edifice as the abbey which Henry had 
 built at Reading. 
 
 Stephen. 
 
 A.D. 1135. Henry Beauclerk was scarcely dead 
 when events proved how fruitless were all his pains 
 and precautions to secure the succession to his 
 daughter, and how utterly valueless were luianimous 
 oaths which were rather the offspring of fear than 
 of inward conviction and good will. Passing over 
 the always questionable obligation of oaths of this 
 nature, there were sevei'al capital obstacles to bar 
 the avenues of the throne to Matilda. The first 
 among these was her sex. Since the time of the 
 ancient Britons England had never obeyed a female 
 sovereign, and the Saxons for a long time had even 
 a marked aversion to the name and dignity of queen 
 when applied only to the reigning king's wife.'' In 
 the same manner the Normans had never known a 
 female reign, the notion of which was most repug- 
 nant to the whole course of their habits and feelings. 
 To hold their fiefs " under the distaff" (as it was 
 called) was considered humiliating to a nobility 
 whose business was war, and whose king, according 
 to the feudal system, was little else than the first of 
 many warriors, — a chief expected to be in the sad- 
 dle and at the head of his chivalry whenever occa- 
 sion demanded. Wo accordingly find that a loud 
 and general cry was raised by the Anglo-Normau 
 and Norman barons, that it would be most disgrace- 
 ful for so many noble knights to obey the orders of 
 a woman. In certain stages of society, and in all 
 
 1 During Henry's frequent and long absences from England, Roger 
 seems almost invariably to have been lord-lieutenant or regent ol the 
 kingdom. 
 
 2 See ante, pp. 142, 144.
 
 400 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Great Seal of Stephen. 
 
 the earliest, the Salic law, or that portion of it ex- 
 cludinj; females from the throne, to which we have 
 limited its name and meaning, is a natural law. 
 These all but insurmountable objections would not 
 hold good against her son Henry, but that prince 
 was an infant not yet four years old, and regencies 
 under a long minority were as incompatible with 
 the spirit {lod condition of the times as a female 
 reign. Qrteensigoverning in their own right and by 
 themselves, and faithfully guarded minorities, are 
 both the product of an age much more civilized and 
 settled than the twelfth century, and the approach 
 to them was slow and gradual. It was something, 
 however, to have confined the right of succession to 
 the legitimately born ; for if the case had occurred 
 a little earlier in England, the grown-up and expe- 
 rienced natural son of the king, standing in the 
 position of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, might possi- 
 <>ly have been elected without scruple, as had hap- 
 '•pened to Edmund Ironside, Athelstane, and others 
 ■ of the Saxon line. This was a great step made by 
 trhe clergy (through their enforcing the canons of the 
 'idmrch) toward the establishment of that royal le- 
 '"ghawiacy which has been the idol of more modern 
 1 times ; but still it was only a step, and the system 
 to which it tended was not completed and thoroughly 
 established until long after. 
 
 No one was better acquainted with the spirit of 
 the times and the obstacles raised against Matilda 
 and Earl Robert than the ambitious Stephen, who 
 had taken many measures beforehand, who was en- 
 couraged by the irregularity of the succession ever 
 since the Conquest, and who would no doubt give 
 the widest interpretation to whatever of elective 
 character was held to belong to the English crown. 
 His perjury, his ingi-atitude for the benefits received 
 from Henry, belong to quite another view of the 
 subject, and were precisely such as might be ex- 
 pected from his circumstances and the time in which 
 he lived. Henry had indeed been unusually boun- 
 tiful to this nephew. He married him to Maud, 
 daughter and heir of Eustace, Count of Boulogne, 
 
 who brought him, in addition to the feudal sove- 
 reignty of Boulogne, immense estates in England, 
 which had been conferred by the Conqueror on the 
 family of the count. By this marriage Stephen alsc 
 acquired another close connection with the royal 
 family of England and a new hold upon the sympa- 
 thies of the English, as his wife Maud was of the 
 old Saxon stock, being the only child of Maiy of 
 Scotland, sister to David the reigning king, as also 
 to the good Queen Maud, the first wife of Henry, 
 and mother of the Empress Matilda. Still further 
 to aggrandize this favorite nephew, Henry conferred 
 upon him the great estate forfeited by Robert Mal- 
 
 Ptepheh. 
 
 Enlarged from a unique Silver Cnin in the Ciillection of 
 
 Sir Henry Ellis.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 407 
 
 let in England, and that forfeited by the Earl of 
 Mortaigne in Normandy. He also brought over 
 Stephen's younger brother Henry, who, being a 
 churchman, was created Abbot of Glastonbury and 
 Bishop of Winchester. Stephen had resided much 
 in England, and had rendered himself exceedingly 
 popular both to the Normans and the people of 
 Saxon race. The barons and knights admired him 
 for his undoubted bravery and activity, — the people 
 for his generosity, the beauty of his person, and his 
 affable, familiar manners. The king might not know 
 it, but he was the popular favorite in the already 
 important and fast-rising city of London before 
 Henry's death. When that event happened, he 
 was nearer England than Matilda, whose rights he 
 had long determined to dispute. Taking advantage 
 of his situation, he crossed the Channel immediately, 
 and though the gates of Dover and Canterbury were 
 shut against him, he was received in London with 
 enthusiastic joy, the populace saluting him as king 
 without waiting for the formalities of the election 
 and consecration. The first step to the English 
 throne in those days, as we have seen in the cases 
 of Rufus and Henry, was to get possession of the 
 royal treasury at Winchester. Stephen's own 
 brother was Bishop of Winchester, and by his as- 
 sistance he got the keys into his hands, but whether 
 before or immediately after the election is not quite 
 clear. The treasure consisted of 100,000/. in money, 
 besides plate and jewels of great value. His epis- 
 copal brother was otherwise of the greatest use, 
 being mainly instrumental in winning over Roger, 
 Bishop of Sarum, then chief justiciary and regent 
 of the kingdom, and William Corboil, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, without whose consent the coronation 
 would have been informal. Bishop Roger, he who 
 had been the speedy mass-priest of King Henry, 
 was easily gained through his constant craving after 
 money; but.the primate was not assailable on that 
 side, being a very conscientious though weak man : 
 it was therefore thought necessary to practice a de- 
 ception upon him, and Hugh Bigod, steward of the 
 late household, made oath before him and other 
 lords of the land, that the king on his death-bed had 
 adopted and chosen his nephew Stephen to be his 
 heir and successor, hecause his daughter the empress 
 had grievously offended him by her recent conduct. 
 This was a most disgraceful measure ; and those 
 men were more honest, and in every sense occupied 
 better ground, who maintained that the great king- 
 dom of England was not a descendible property, or 
 a thing to be willed away by a dying king, without 
 the consent and against the customs of the people. 
 After hearing Bigod's oath, the archbishop seems to 
 have floated quietly with the current Avithout offer- 
 ing either resistance or remonstrance. But there 
 were other oaths to be considered, for the whole 
 body of the clergy and nobility had repeatedly sworn 
 fealty to Matilda. We have already shown how 
 the oaths were considered by the mass ; and now 
 the all-prevalent Bishop of Sarum openly declared 
 that those vows of allegiance were null and void, be- 
 cause, without the consent of the lords of the land, 
 the empress was married out of the realm ; whereas 
 
 they took their oath to receive her as their queen 
 upon the express condition that she should never be 
 so married without their concurrence.' Some scru- 
 ples may have remained, but no opposition was 
 offered to his election, and on the 26th of Decem- 
 ber, being St. Stephen's day, Stephen was hallowed 
 and crowned at Westminster by the primate, Wil- 
 liam Corboil. Immediately after his coronation he 
 went to Reading to attend the burial of the body of 
 his uncle, and from Reading Abbey he proceeded to 
 Oxford, where he summoned a great council of the 
 prelates, abbots, and lay barons of the kingdom, that 
 he might receive their oaths of allegiance and con- 
 sult with them on the affairs of the state. When 
 the assembly met he allowed the clergy to annex a 
 condition, which, as they were sure to assume the 
 right of interpretation, rendered their oaths less 
 binding even than usual. They swore to obey him 
 as their king so long as he should preserve their 
 church liberties and the vigor of discipline, and no 
 longer. This large concession, however, had the 
 effect of conciliating the bishops and abbots, and the 
 confirmation of the pope soon followed. The letter 
 of Innocent II., which ratified Stephen's title, was 
 brief and clear : " We have learnt," said the pontiff, 
 " that thou hast been elected by the common voice 
 and unanimous consent as well of the lords as the 
 people, and that thou hast been hallowed by the 
 prelates of the kingdom. Considering that the suf- 
 frages of so great a number of men cannot have met 
 in thy person without a special cooperation of the 
 divine grace, and that thou, besides, art a near rela- 
 tion of the deceased king, we are well pleased with 
 all that hath been done in thy fiivor, and adopt the*; 
 with paternal affection a son of the blessed aijostle. 
 Peter and of the holy Roman church."- 
 
 Stephen weakened his right instead of strength- 
 ening it, by introducing a variety of titles into his 
 charter, which, in imitation of his predecessor Hen- 
 ly, he issued at this time ; but particular stress 
 seems to have been laid on his election as king, 
 " with the consent of the clergy and people," and 
 on the confirmation granted him by the pope. In 
 this same charter he promised, as his uncle had 
 done before him, to redress all grievances, and grant 
 to the people all the good laws and good customs of 
 Edward the Confessor. Whatever were his natural 
 inclinations (and we are inclined to believe they 
 were not bad or ungenerous), the circumstances in 
 which he was placed, and the villanous instruments 
 with which lie had to work, fioni the beginning to 
 the end of his troubled reign, put it wholly out of 
 his power to keef) the promises he had made, and 
 the condition of the English people became infinitely 
 worse under him than it had been under Henry or 
 even under Rufus. A concession which he made, 
 to the lay barons contributed largely to the frightful 
 anarchy which ensued. To secure their affections 
 and to sti'engthen himself, as he thought, against 
 the empress, he granted them all permission to for- 
 
 1 Malt. Par.— Gesta Steph. 
 
 2 Surip. Rer. Franc. The letter of the pope has hpcn pres«rveil 
 by Richard of Hexham. It may be possible, though it appears, 
 scarcply probable, that the pope knew nothing of the oaths previooalx- 
 takeii to Matilda and her children.
 
 408 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III 
 
 tify their castles and build new ones; and these, 
 iilmost without an exception, became dens of thieves 
 and cut-throats. At the same time he made large 
 promises to the venal and rapacious nobles, to engage 
 them the more in support of his title to the crown, and 
 gave them strong assurances that they should enjoy 
 more privileges and offices imder him than they had 
 possessed in the reigns of his Norman predecessors. 
 The keeping of these engagements with the barons 
 would of itself render nugatory his promises to the 
 Knglish people, whose greatest hardships arose out 
 of the already extensive privileges of the nobles ; 
 and the non-performance of them was sure to bring 
 down on Stephen's head the vengeance of a warlike 
 l)ody of men, who were almost everything in the 
 nation, and far too much, when united, for any royal 
 authority, however legitimately founded. At first, 
 and probably on account of the large sum of money 
 lie had in hand to meet demands, all went on in 
 great peace and harmony ; and the court the new 
 king held in London during the festival of Easter, 
 in the first year of his reign, was more splendid, and 
 better attended in every respect, than any that had 
 yet been seen in England. The quantity of gold 
 and silver and precious gems, and the costly dresses 
 displayed at the royal banquets, are described as 
 being most imposing.' 
 
 Nor were the prelates and barons in Normandy 
 more averse to the succession of Stephen than their 
 brethren in England. The old reasons for desiring 
 a continuance of their union with our island were 
 still in force with many of them ; and there was a 
 hereditary animosity between the nobles and people 
 of Normandy and those of Anjou, so that when Geof- 
 frey Plautagenet, Earl of Anjou, marched into the 
 duchy to assert the rights of his wife Matilda, he and 
 his Angevins met with a determined opposition, and 
 he was, soon after, glad to conclude a peace or truce 
 for two years with Stephen on condition of receiving 
 during that time an annual pension of 5000 marks. 
 When Stephen appeared on the continent he met 
 with nothing to indicate that he was considered as 
 an unlawful usurper : the Normans swore allegiance, 
 and the French king (Louis VII.), with whom he 
 had an interview, formed an aUiance by contracting 
 his young sister Constance with Eustace, Stephen's 
 young son, and, as suzerain, gi-anted the investiture 
 of Normandy to Eustace, who was then a mere child. 
 
 During the first year of Stephen's reign England 
 was disturbed only by the revolt of the Earl of Exe- 
 ter, who was discontented with his share in the 
 new king's liberalities ; and by a Scottish incursion 
 made into the northern counties in support of Ma- 
 tilda by her uncle. King David,' who, however, was 
 bought oft', for the present, by the grant of the lord- 
 ship of Huntingdon and the castle of Carlisle, with 
 a few other concessions. Robert, Earl of Glouces- 
 ter, the late king's natural sou, who had so vehe- 
 mently disputed the question of precedence with 
 Stephen, merged his own pretensions to the crown 
 in those of his half-sister Matilda, whose cause he 
 
 1 Henry Hunting-. 
 
 2 The Scottish king was equally uncle to Stephen's wife, but he 
 probably remembeied the oaths he had taken to the mother of Henry. 
 
 resolved to promote in England conjointly with his 
 own immediate advantages. He was a soldier of 
 good repute, though by no means so brilliant a one 
 as Stephen ; he was also a man of political abihty 
 and of consummate craft. Pretending to be recon- 
 ciled to his rule, he came over from the continent 
 (a.d. 1137) and took the oaths of fealty and homage 
 to Stephen, by the performance of which ceremony 
 he obtained instant possession of his vast estates in 
 England, together with more power and opportunity 
 of promoting the cause he had embraced than a 
 more straightforward line of conduct or a con- 
 scientious exile would ever have alVorded him. It 
 is said that, in imitation of the clergy, he made his 
 allegiance conditional, stating when he took his 
 oaths, that they were to be binding only as long as 
 the king kept his engagements with him ; but this, 
 if ti'ue, will hardly excuse his conduct, for the first 
 use he made of the advantages the oaths procured 
 him, and before Stephen had time to break any 
 part of his contract, was to intrigue with the nobles 
 in favor of his half-sister, and lay the ground-work 
 of plots against the king de facto. The happy calm 
 in which England lay did not last long after the 
 Earl of Gloucester's arrival. Several of the barons, 
 alleging theu' services had not met with meet re- 
 ward, began to seize, by force of arms, difl'erent 
 parts of the i-oyal demesne, which they said Ste- • 
 phen had promised them in fief, either at his core- I 
 nation or at the council held at Oxford. Hugh 
 Bigod, who had sworn that King Henry had ap- 
 pointed Stephen his successor, and Avho probably J 
 put a high price on his perjury. Avas foremost M 
 among the disaftected. and seized Norwich Castle. 
 Other royal castles were besieged and taken, or 
 were treacherously surrendered. They were 
 nearly all soon retaken by the king, but the spirit of 
 revolt was rife among the nobles, and the sedition, 
 suppressed on one spot, burst taith on others. Ste- 
 phen was lenient and merciful beyond all precedent 
 to the vanquished ; and if, on one occasion, in a mo- 
 ment of passion he ordered a baron who had insti- 
 gated several revolts to be hanged, with a number 
 of his associates, as felons (which they were), the 
 sentence was only in part executed, and he repent- 
 ed of his purpose. It is some relief to humanity to 
 find, auiidst all the horrors perpetrated by others 
 during his reign, no torturiug and mutilating of 
 prisoners performed by royal command ; no tearing 
 out of eyes, no lopping off of hands and feet, and 
 none of those atrocities in which the vindictive spirit 
 of his Norman predecessors had indulged. 
 
 The Earl of Gloucester having settled with his 
 friends the plan of a most extensive insmrection, 
 and induced the Scottish king to promise another 
 invasion of England, withdrew beyond sea, and sent 
 a letter of defiance to Stephen, in which he for- 
 mally renounced his homage. Other great barons 
 — all pleading that Stephen had not given them 
 enough, nor extended their privileges as he had 
 promised — fell from his side, and withdrew to their 
 castles, which, by his permission, they had already 
 strongly fortified. He was abandoned, like Shak- 
 spere's Macbeth, but his soul was as high as that
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 409 
 
 usurper's. " The traitors !" he cried, " they them- 
 selves made me a king, and now they ftill from me ; 
 but, by God's birth, they shall never call me a de- 
 posed king!"' At this crisis of his fortunes he dis- 
 played extraordinary activity and valor ; but having 
 no other politic means of any efficacy with such 
 men, who were all grasping for estates, honors, and 
 employments, he trenched on the domains of the 
 crown, and besides had again recourse to his old sys- 
 tem of promising more than he could possibly per- 
 form to the nobles who remained faithful, or who 
 came over to him without -putting him to the trouble 
 of besieging them in their castles. The history of 
 those petty sieges, wherein Stephen was almost in- 
 variably successful, is singularly uninteresting ; but 
 the campaign against the Scots has some remarkable 
 features. While he was engaged with the revolted 
 barons in the south, King David, true to his prom- 
 ise, but badly supported by the Earl of Gloucester 
 and Matilda, who did not arrive in England to put 
 themselves at the head of their party till a year 
 later, gathered his forces together from every part 
 of his dominions — from the Lowlands, the High- 
 lands, and the Isles — from the great promontory of 
 Gallowaj-, the Cheviot Hills, and from that nursing- 
 place of hardy, lawless men, the border-land between 
 the two kingdoms — and crossing the Tweed (March, 
 1138), advanced boldly into Northumberland, riding 
 with Prince Henry, his son and heir, at the head 
 of as numerous, as mixed, and, in the main, as wild 
 a host as ever trod this ground. These " Scottish 
 ants," as an old writer calls them,* overran the . 
 whole of the country that lies between the Tweed 
 and the Tees. " As for the king of Scots himself," 
 says the anonymous author of Gesta Stephani. •' he 
 was a prince of a mild and merciful disposition ; but 
 the Scots were a barbarous and impure nation, and 
 their king, leading hordes of them from the remotest 
 parts of that l^nd, was unable to restrain their wick- 
 edness." Another contemporary, Orderic Vital, 
 whose powerful descriptions we have so often 
 quoted, says, they exercised their barbarity in the 
 manner of wild beasts, sparing neither age nor sex, 
 nor so much as the child in the womb. We fear 
 there is much truth in this frightful picture ; but 
 the national prejudices and animosity between the 
 Scots and the English were old and confirmed feel- 
 ings ; and the chroniclers we refer to were Eng- 
 lishmen, not likely to give the most favorable ac- 
 count, while it seems certain that the Normans of 
 the time purposely exaggerated tJie barbarous ex- 
 cesses, committed chiefly by the Gallowegiaus, the 
 Highlanders, and the men of the Isles, in order to 
 make the English fight more desperately on their 
 side ; for had they relied solely on their chivahy 
 and the men-at-arms and mercenaries in the service 
 of their northern barons, their case would have 
 been hopeless. At the same time, they conciliated 
 the English people of the north by a strong appeal 
 to the local superstitions — they invoked the names 
 of the saints of Saxon race whom they had been 
 wont to treat with little respect ; and the popular 
 banners of St. Cuthbert of Durham (or, according 
 > Malmsb. » Matt. Par. 
 
 to some, of St. Peter of York), St. John of Bever- 
 ley, and St. Wilfrid of Ripon, which had long lain 
 dust-covered in the churches, were reproduced in 
 the army, as the pledges and means of victory. So 
 rapid was the advance of King David, that Stephen 
 had not time to reach the scene of hostilities ; and 
 the defence of the north was, in a great measure, 
 left to Toustain, or Thurstan, Archbishop of York, 
 an infirm, decrepit old man, but whose warlike en- 
 ergies, address, and cunning were not affected by 
 age and disease. It was he who mainly organized 
 the army of defence which was got together in a 
 hurry. He eloquently exhorted the men to fight 
 to the last, for God and their country, telling them 
 victory was certain, and Paradise the meed of all 
 who should fall in battle against the Scots : he made 
 them swear never to desert each other ; he gave 
 them his blessing and the remission of their sins ; 
 he sent forth all his clergy, bishops and chaplains, 
 and the curates, w^ho led their parishioners " the 
 bravest men of Yorkshire ;" and though sickness 
 prevented him from putting on his own coat of mail, 
 he sent Raoul, or Ranulf, the Bishop of Durham, 
 to represent him on the field of battle. Each lay 
 baron of the north headed his own vassals ; but a 
 more extensive command of divisions was intrusted 
 by the archbishop to William Piperel, or Peverel, 
 and Walter Espec of Nottinghamshire, and Gilbert 
 de Lacy and his brother Walter, of Yorkshire. As 
 the Scots were aheady upon the Tees, the Anglo- 
 Norman army drew up between that river and the 
 Humber, choosing their own battle-field at Elfer- 
 tun, now Northallerton, about equidistant from 
 York and Durham. This was the spot where the 
 soldiers of the Conqueror, marching to avenge the 
 catastrophe of Durham, were saint-struck or panic- 
 seized; but now St. Cuthbert was on the Norman 
 side. Hei'e they erected a remarkable standard, 
 from which the battle has taken its name. A car 
 upon four wheels, which will remind the reader of 
 Italian history of the carroccio of the people of Lom- 
 bardy,' was drawn to the center of the position ; the 
 mast of a vessel was sti'ongly fastened in the car ; at 
 the top of the mast a large crucifix was displayed, 
 having in its center a silver box containing the con- 
 secrated wafer or sacrament ; and, lower down, the 
 mast was decorated with the banners of the three 
 English saints. Around this sacred standard many 
 of the Enghsh yeomanry and peasants from the 
 plains, wolds, and woodlands of Yorkshire, Notting- 
 ham, and Lincolnshire, gathered of their own ac- 
 cord. These men were all armed with large bows 
 and arrows two cubits long ; they had the fame of 
 
 1 The carroccio, or great standard-car, is said to have been iu- 
 vented or first used by Eribert, Archbishop of Milan, in the year 
 1035. It was a car upon four wheels, painted red, and so heavy that 
 it was drawn by four pair of oxen. In the center of the car was 
 fixed a mast, which supported a golden ball, an image of our Savior, 
 and the banner of the republic. In front of the mast were placed a 
 few of the most valiant warriors — in the rear of it a band of warlike 
 music. Feelings of religion, of military glory, of local attachment, 
 of patriotism, were all associated with the carroccio, the idea of which 
 is supposed to have been denved from the Jewish ark of the cove- 
 nant. It was from the platform of the car that the priest administered 
 the offices of religion to the army. No disgrace was so intolerable 
 among the free citizens of Lombardy as that entailed by the suffering 
 aa enemy to take the carroccio.
 
 tio 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Standard of tub English at the Battle of Northallerton. From Ailriil dc Belle Srandardi, inTwisdcn's Sciipmrcs Decern, p. 339. 
 
 being excrllont archers, and the Normans gladly 
 iissigned them posts in the foremost and most 
 exposed ranks of the army. 
 
 The Soots, whose standard was a simple lance, 
 with a sprig of the " blooming heather" wTeathed 
 round it, crossed the Tees in several divisions. 
 Prince Henry commanded the first corps, which 
 consisted of men from the Lowlands of Scotland, 
 armed with cuir.isses and long pikes ; of archers 
 from Teviotdale and Liddesdale, and all the val- 
 leys of the rivers that empty their waters into the 
 Tweed or the Solway Frith; of troopers from 
 the mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland, 
 mounted on small but strong and active horses ; 
 and of the fierce men of Galiowa\% who wore no 
 defensive armor, and carried long thin pikes as 
 their chief if not sole weapon of war. A body- 
 guard of knights and men-at-arms under the com- 
 mand of Eustace Fitz-John, a nobleman of Norman 
 descent, rode round the prince. The Highland 
 clans and men of the Isles came next, carrying a 
 small round shield, made of light wood covered 
 with leather, as their only defensive armor, and the 
 claymore or broad-sw^ord as their only weapon : 
 some of the island tribes, however, wielded the old 
 Danish battle-axe instead of the claymore. After 
 these marched the king, with a strong body of 
 knights, who were all either of English or Norman 
 extraction ; and a mixed corps of men from the 
 Moray Frith and various other parts of the land, 
 brought up the rear. With the exception of the 
 knights and mon-at-arms Avho were clad in com- 
 plete mail, and armed uniformly, the host of the 
 Scottisli king presented a disordered variety of 
 weapons and dresses. The half-naked clans were, 
 however, as forward to fight as the warriors clad in 
 steel; and a hot dispute arose for the honor of 
 beginning the action between the natives of Gallo- 
 way and the well-appointed men-at-arms. "Why 
 should we ti-ust so much to these foreigners ?" said 
 Malise, Eai-I of Strathern. "I wear no armor, but 
 there is not one among them that will advance so 
 
 far as I will do this day." The king was obliged 
 to decide the dispute in favor of the men of Gallo- 
 way, who accordingly had the post of honor, and 
 led the van, when they came in presence of the 
 enemy. The rapid advance of the Scottish forces 
 was covered and concealed by a dense fog, and 
 they would have taken the Anglo-Norman armj' by 
 surprise, liad it not been for Robert de Bruce and 
 Bernard de Baliol, two barons of Norman descent, 
 who held lands both in Scotland and England, and 
 who were anxious for the conclusion of an imme- 
 diate peace. Having in vain argued with David, 
 and hearing themselves called traitors by William, 
 the king's nephew, they renounced the Scottish 
 part of their allegiance, bade defiance to the king, 
 and putting spurs to their horses, galloped off to 
 the camp at Northallerton, Avhich they reached in 
 good time to tell that the Scots were coming. At 
 the sight and sound of their headlong and tumid- 
 tuous approach, the Bishop of Durham read the 
 prayer of absolution from the standard-car, the 
 N(n-mans and the English kneeling on the ground 
 the while, and rising to their fee-t and shouting 
 "Amen," when it was finished. The representa- 
 tive of the energetic old Thurstan then delivered a 
 speech for the further encouragement of the army; 
 it was long, and seems to have been interrupted by 
 the onslaught of the Scots ; but the opening of it 
 ought to be preserved : " Illustrious chiefs of Eng- 
 land," said the bishop, " by blood and race Normans, 
 before whom bold France trembles, to whom fierce 
 England has submitted, under whom Apulia has 
 been restored to her station, and whose names are 
 famous at Antioch and Jerusalem, here are the 
 Scots, who have done homage to you, undertaking 
 to drive you from jour estates." ' 
 
 The Scots came on with the simple war-cry •f 
 " Alban ! Alban !" - which was shouted at once by 
 all the Celtic tribes from the Highlands. The 
 desperate charge of riie men of Galloway drove in 
 the English infantiy, and broke, for a moment, the 
 
 I Matt. Par. " Ibid.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 411 
 
 Norman center. " They burst the enemj's ranks," 
 Bays old Brompton, "as if they had been but spi- 
 ders' webs." Ahnost immediately after, both flanks 
 of the Anglo-Normans were assailed by the moun- 
 taineers and the men of Teviotdale 'and Liddes- 
 dale ; but these charges were not supported in 
 time, and the Norman horse formed in an iiiipene- 
 trable mass round the standard-car, and repulsed 
 the Scots in a fierce charge they made to penetrate 
 there. During thrs fruitless effort of the enemy, 
 the English bowmen r.allied,' and took up good 
 positions on the two wings of the Anglo-Norman 
 army ; and when the Scots renewed their attack 
 on the center, they harassed them with a double- 
 flank flight of arrows, while the Norman knights 
 and men-at-arms received them in front on the 
 points of their couched lances. The long thin 
 pikes of the men of Galloway were shivered against 
 the armor of the Normans, or broken by their 
 heavy swords and battle-axes. The Highland 
 clans, still shouting " Alban ! Alban!" wielded their 
 claymores, and fighting hand to hand, tried to cut 
 their way through the mass of iron-cased chivalry. 
 It was the first time these Normans of England 
 had come in contact with the claymore of the 
 North, and they had good reason to bless the pro- 
 tection of their well-bound shields, their hauberks 
 of mail, and their cuisses of steel plate. For full 
 t>vo hours did the Scots maintain the fight in front 
 of the Norman host ; and at one moment the gal- 
 lant Prince Henry had neai-ly penetrated to the 
 elevated standard ; but, at last, with broken spears 
 and swords, they ceased to attack — paused, re- 
 treated, and then fled in confusion. The king, 
 however, retained near his person, and in good 
 order, his guards and some other troops, which 
 covered the retreat, and gave several bloody checks 
 to the Anglo-Normans who pursued. Three days 
 after, he rallied within the walls of Carlisle, and 
 employed himself in collecting his scattered troops, 
 and organizing a new army. He is said to have 
 lost 12,000 men at Northallerton. The Normans 
 were not left in a situation in which they could 
 pursue their advantages to any extent ; and the 
 Scots soon reassumed the offensive, by laj^ing 
 siege to Wark Castle, whiclf they reduced by 
 famine. The famous battle of the Standai'd, which 
 was fought on the 22d of August, a. d. 1138, was, 
 however, the great event of this Scottish war, 
 which was concluded in the following year by a 
 treaty of peace, brought about by the intercessions 
 and prayers of Alberic, Bishop of Ostia, the pope's 
 legate in England, and Stephen's wife, Maud, who 
 had an interview with her uncle King David at 
 Durham. Though he left the Scots in posses- 
 sion of Cumberland and Westmoreland, and in- 
 vested Prince Henry with the earldom of North- 
 umberland, the issue of the war dispirited the mal- 
 contents all over England, and might have given 
 some stability to Stephen's throne, had he not, in 
 an evil moment, roused the powerful hostihty of 
 the church. 
 
 Roger, Bishop of Sarum, though no longer trea- 
 surer and justiciary, as in the former and at the 
 
 beginning of the present reign, still possessed great 
 influence in the nation, both among clergy and laity, 
 — an influence not wholly arising out of his great 
 Avealth and political abilities, but in part owing to 
 the noble use he made of his money, to his taste 
 and munificence, and the superior learning of his 
 family and adliereuts. Among other works of the 
 same kind he rebuilt the cathedral at Sarum, 
 which had been injured by fire, and the storms to 
 which its elevated position exposed it, and he 
 beautified it so greatly that it yielded to none in 
 England at that time ; and some respect is still due 
 to the memory of a man who greatly raised the 
 architectural taste of this countiy, and whose 
 genius affected the age in which he lived. " He 
 erected splendid mansions on all his estates," says 
 William of Malmsburj^ " with unrivaled magnifi- 
 cence, in merely maintaining which his successors 
 will toil in vain. Hiscathedral he dignified to the 
 utmost with matchl^l adornments, and buildings 
 in which no expense was spared. It was won- 
 derful to behold in this man what abundant au- 
 thority attended, and flowed, as it were, to his 
 hand. He was sensible of his power, and some- 
 what more harshly than beseemed such a character 
 abused the favor of Heaven." He was' indeed 
 little scrupulous about the manner in which he 
 obtained his resources ; and we learn from the same 
 contemporary that, while he was in power, his 
 hand was as grasping in one direction as it was 
 open and liberal in another. " Was there anything 
 adjacent to his possessions which he desired, he 
 would obtain it either by treaty or purchase ; and if 
 that failed, by force." But other powerful barons, 
 both ecclesiastical and lay, equaled his rapacity 
 without having any of his taste and elevation of 
 spirit ; for he was in all things a most magnificent 
 person, and one who extended his patronage to 
 men of learning as well as to architects and other 
 artists. He obtained the sees of Lincoln and Ely 
 for his two nephews, Alexander and Nigel, who 
 were men of noted learning and industry, and 
 were said at the time to merit their promotion by 
 virtue of the education which he had given them. 
 Alexander, the Bishop of Lincoln, who, though 
 called his nephew, is significantly said to have bee'j 
 something nearer and dearer, had the same taste 
 for raising splendid buildings ; he nearly rebuilt the 
 cathedral of Lincoln, and built the castle of New- 
 ark : but Nigel, on the contrary, is said to have 
 wasted his wealth on hawks and hounds. Bishop 
 Roger, next to his own brother, the Bishop of 
 Winchester, had contributed more than any church- 
 man to his elevation, and Stephen's consequent lib- 
 erality for a long time knew no stint. It sliould 
 appear, however, that his gifts were not the free- 
 offerings of gratitude, and that he treated the 
 bishop as one does a sponge which is permitted to 
 fill before it is squeezed. He is reported to have 
 said more than once to his familiar companions, — 
 "By God's birth, I would give him half England if 
 he asked for it : till the time be ripe, he shall tire 
 of asking before I tiro of giving." Roger was one 
 of the castle-builders of that turbulent period, being.
 
 412 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 as he thought, licensed therein bj' the permission 
 granted by Stephen at his coronation : all his 
 stately mansions were in fact strongly fortified 
 places, well garrisoned, and provided with warlike 
 stores. Besides Newark Castle, Alexander had 
 built other houses, which were also fortified ; and, 
 when abroad, uncle and nephews were accustomed 
 to make a great display of military force. The 
 pomp and power of this family had long excited 
 the envy of Stephen's favorites, who had no great 
 dKIiculty in persuading their master tliat Bishop 
 Roger was on the point of betraying him, and 
 espousing the interests of Matilda. Stephen was 
 threatened by an invasion from without, and no 
 longer knew how to distinguish his friends from 
 his foes within : his want of money, to pay the 
 foreign mercenary troops he had engaged, and to 
 satisfy his selfish nobles, now drove him into all 
 kinds of irregular courses, and he probably consid- 
 ered that the bishop's timerwas ripe. The king 
 was holding his court at Oxford : the town was 
 crowded with prelates and barons, with their nu- 
 merous and disorderly attendants ; a quarrel, either 
 accidental or preconcerted, arose between the 
 bishop's retainers and those of the Earl of Brittany 
 concerning quarters, and swords being drawn on 
 both sides, many men were wounded, and one 
 
 knight was killed.' Stephen took advantage of the 
 circumstance, and ordered the arrest of the bishop 
 and his nephews. Roger was seized in the king's 
 own hall, and Alexander, the Bishop of Lincoln, 
 at his lodging in the town ; but Nigel, the Bishop 
 of Ely, who liad taken up his quarters in a house 
 outside the town, escaped, and threw himself into 
 Devizes, the strongest of all his uncle's castles. 
 The two captives were confined in separate dun- 
 geons : — the first charge laid against them was a 
 flagrant violation of tlie king's peace within the 
 precincts of his court; and for this they were 
 assured that Stephen would accept of no atone- 
 ment less than the unconditional surrender to him 
 of all their castles. They at first refused to part 
 with their houses, and ottered " a reasonable com- 
 pensation" in money ; but moved by the dreadful 
 threats of their enemies and the entreaties of their 
 friends, they at length surrendered the castles 
 which Roger had built at Malmsbury and Sher- 
 borne, and that which he had enlarged and 
 strengthened at Sarum. Newark Castle, the work 
 
 • It appears that Bishop Rogpi set out on his journey to Oxford 
 with reluctance. " For," says William of Malmsbury, " I heard hira 
 speaking to the following purpose: 'by my lady St. Mary, 1 know 
 not wherefore, but my heart revolts at this journey : this I am sure 
 of, that I shall be of much the same service at court as a fool in 
 battle :' " 
 
 Remains of Old Sarum. The site of the Castle is marked by the Bushes in the Central Mound. 
 
 of the Bishop of Lincoln, seems also to have been 
 given up. But the Castle of Devizes, the most 
 important of them all, remained ; and, relying on 
 its strength, the warlike Bishop of Ely was pre- 
 pared to bid defiance to the king. To overcome 
 this opposition Stephen had recourse to a measure 
 which was not at all inconsistent with the spirit of 
 the times — he ordered Roger and the Bishop of 
 Lincoln to be kept without food till the castle should 
 
 be given up. In case of a less direct appeal the 
 defenders of Devizes might have been obstinate, or 
 incredulous of the fact that Stephen was starving 
 two bishops ; but Roger himself, already pale and 
 emaciated, was made to state his own hard fate, in 
 front of his own castle, to his own nephew, whom 
 he implored to surrender, as the king had sworn 
 most solemnly to keep his purpose of famishing 
 him and the Bishop of Lincoln to death unless he
 
 Chap. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 413 
 
 submitted. Stephen, though fai- less cruel by na- 
 ture than moit of his contemporaries, was yet 
 thought to be a man to keep his word in such a 
 case as the present : this was felt by the Bishop of 
 Ely, who, overcoming his own haughty spirit out of 
 aft'ection to his uncle, surrendered to save the lives 
 of the captives, after they had been three whole 
 days in a "fearful fast."^ 
 
 At these violent proceedings the whole body of 
 the dignified clergy, including even his own brother 
 Henry, the Bishop of Winchester, who was now 
 armed with the high powers and jurisdiction of 
 papal legate for all England, turned against Ste- 
 phen, accusing him of sacrilege in laying violent 
 hands on prelates, whose persons were held to be 
 holy, no matter what the tenor of their lives, and 
 whose deeds were not to be subjected to a lay tri- 
 bunal or the operations of kingly or civil law. The 
 legate Henry summoned his brother, the king, to 
 appear and answer for his conduct before a synod 
 of bishops assembled at Wincliester. Stephen 
 would not attend in person, but finding it absolutely 
 necessary so to do, he sent Aubrey or Alberic de 
 Vere as his counsel to plead for him. Alberic ex- 
 aggerated the circumstances of the riot at Oxford, 
 and laid all the blame of that disgraceful blood- 
 shedding upon Roger and his insolent nephews, 
 whom, moreover, he directly charged with a ti-ea- 
 sonable correspondence with the Empress Ma- 
 tilda. The legate answered that the three bishops, 
 uncle and nephews, were ready to abide their trial 
 before a proper tribunal ; but demanded, as of right, 
 and according to usage, that their houses and prop- 
 erty should be previously restored to them. Al- 
 beric said that they had voluntarily surrendered 
 their castles and treasures as an atonement for 
 their offences ; and it was insisted, moreover, on 
 the same side, that the king had a right to take 
 possession of all fortified places in his dominions 
 whenever he considered, as circumstances now 
 obliged him to do, that his thi'one was in danger. 
 On the second day of the debate the Archbishop of 
 Rouen, the only prelate that still adhered to the 
 kmg. tooK a more apostolic ana simple view of tne 
 case, and boldly affirmed that the three bishops 
 were bound by their vows at consecration to live 
 humbly and quietly according to the canons of the 
 church, which prohibited them from all kinds of 
 military pursuits whatsoever ; that they could not 
 claim the restitution of castles and places of war, 
 which it was most unlawful for them, as church- 
 men, to build or to hold; and that, consequently, 
 they had merited the greatest part of the punish- 
 ment they had suffered. The points of canonical 
 law thus laid down were undeniable ; but the 
 bishops there assembled were no.t accustomed to 
 their practice, and every one of them might have 
 said that, without making his house a cflstle, there 
 was no living in it in those lawless times. As their 
 temper was stern and uncompromising, Alberic de 
 Vcre appealed to the pope in the name of the king, 
 and dissolved the council, the knights with him 
 drawing their swords to enforce his orders if neces- 
 
 • Malmsb. — OrJrric. — Gestn Stpph 
 
 sary.' The assembly broke up in wrath and con- 
 fusion, and the effects of this confirmed rupture 
 were soon made visible. But Bishop Roger did 
 not live to see the humiliation of Stephen ; he was 
 heart-broken ; and when in the following month 
 of December, as the horrors of a civil war were 
 commencing, he died at an advanced age, his fate 
 was ascribed not to the fever and ague, from which, 
 in Malmsbury's words, he escaped by the kindness 
 of death, but to grief and indignation for the injuries 
 he had suflered. The plate and money whicli had 
 been saved from the king's rapacity he devoted to 
 the completion of his church at Sarum, and he laid 
 them upon the high altar, in the hope that Stephen 
 might be restrained, by fear of sacrilege, from 
 seizing them. But these were not times for deli- 
 cate scruples, and they were carried off, by the 
 orders of Stephen, even before the old man's death. 
 Their value was estimated at forty thousand marks. 
 Bishop Roger was the Cardinal Wolsey of the 
 twelfth century, and his fate, not less tragic than 
 the cardinal's, made a deep impression on the 
 minds of his contemporaries, even in the midst of 
 the many tragedies, domestic as well as public, by 
 which they were constantly surrounded. " To 
 me," says William of Malmsbury, " it seems that 
 God exhibited him to the rich as an example of the 
 ■nstability of fortune, in order that men should not 
 
 trust in uncertain riches But the height of 
 
 his calamity even I cannot help commiserating, 
 that, wretched as he appeared to many men, there 
 were rery few who pitied him, so much envy and 
 hatred had his excessive poAver drawn on him, and 
 undeservedly, too, from some of the very persons 
 whom he had advanced to honor." It has been 
 hinted that he must have regretted in his last 
 hours that irreligious haste in saying mass, which 
 gained him the favor of Henry Beauclerk : this 
 is veiy probable even in a worldly view, and in his 
 season of sickness and fallen gieatness he may 
 have thought that his life would have been, in all 
 senses, a happier one, had he remained a quiet, 
 devout curate in his little church near Caen. His 
 nepnew, or son, Alexander. Bisnop of Lincoin. ar»-i 
 his nephew Nigel, Bishop of Ely, having the advan- 
 tage of a younger age, did not resign themselves to 
 despair but, intent on taking vengeance, they openly 
 joined Matilda, and were soon up in arms against 
 Stephen. 
 
 The synod of bishops held at Winchester was 
 dissolved on the first day of September (a. d. ll.^O), 
 and toward the end of the same month 3Iatilda 
 landed in England with her half-brother Robert, 
 Earl of Gloucester, and one hundred and fortj' 
 knights. Some Normans who went out to meet 
 her, on finding she came with so insignificant a 
 force, and brought no money, returned to the other 
 side: and Stephen, Ijy a rajiitl movement, presently 
 surprised her in Arundel Castle, where Alice, or 
 Adelais, the queen-widow of Henry I., gave her 
 shelter and encouragement. Stephen had both 
 these dames absolutely in his power, but refining 
 on the chivali'ous notions which were becoming 
 
 ' Malmsb. — William of Malmsbury was present at th.<< -"innl
 
 414 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 moio and more in vo'^uc, and to which he was in- 
 clined by nature more perhaps tlian suited good 
 poHcy, he loft Qu(mmi Alice undisturbed in her cas- 
 tle, and gave .Matilda permission to go free and join 
 her half-brother Robert, who immediately after 
 their landing had repaired by by-roads, and with 
 
 only twelve followers, to tho west country, where, 
 at tho very moment of these generous concessions, 
 he was collecting his friends to make war upon 
 Stephen. The king's brother. Henry, Bisliop of 
 Winchester, escorted Matilda from Arundel (Castle 
 to Bristol, and delivered her safely to Karl Robert. 
 
 
 Arundel Castle. 
 
 It was soon seen that those who had declined join- 
 ing Matilda on her fust landing had taken a narrow 
 view of the resources of her party, for most of the 
 chiefs in the north and west renounced their allegi- 
 ance to Stephen, and took fresh oaths to the em- 
 press. There was a moment of wavering and hes- 
 itation, during which many of the barons in other 
 parts of th(! lijugdom weighed the chances of suc- 
 cess, or triiMl i)otli parties, to ascertain which would 
 grant the inore ample recompense to their venal 
 swords. While this state of indecision lasted men 
 knew not who were to be tlieir friends or who their 
 foes in the coming struggle ; — tho neighbor could 
 put no faith in his nearest neighbor, nor tho friend 
 in his friend, nor the brother in his own brother ;'" 
 but at last the more active chiefs chose their sides, 
 the game was made up, and the horrors of civil war, 
 which were to decide it, were let loose upon the 
 land. Still, however, many of the barons kept aloof, 
 and strongly garrisoning their own castles, took the 
 favorable opportunitj' of setting all laws at defiance, 
 and despoiling, torturing, and mui'dering their weak 
 neighbors. The whole war was conducted in a 
 frightful manner; but the greatest of the atrocities 
 seem to have been comraitted by those separationists, 
 
 ' Ger', ase of Canterbury. 
 
 who cared ncitlier for Stephen nor Matilda, and 
 wlio rarely or never took the field for either party. 
 They waged war against one another, and besieged 
 castles, and racked farms, and seized the unpro- 
 tected traveler, on their own account, and for their 
 own private spite or advantage. There was scarcely 
 a corner of the land exempt from these insupporta- 
 ble evils ; for castles had been built everywhere, and 
 nearly every castle was the scene of lawlessness 
 and crime. 
 
 At first the fortune of the greater war inclined in 
 favor of Stephen ; for though he failed in an attempt 
 to take Bristol, which had become the head-quarters 
 of Matilda and Earl Robert, he gained many advan- 
 tages over their adherents in the west, and defeated 
 a formidable insurrection in tho east, headed by 
 Nigel, the Bisliop of Ely, who built a stone rampart 
 among the bogs and fons of his diocese, on the very 
 spot, it is said, whore the brave Earl Ilcreward had, 
 raised his fortress of wood against the Conqueror; 
 To reach the warlike and inveterate nephew of old 
 Bishop Roger, Stephen had recourse to the same^ 
 skilful measures which had been employed by the ' 
 Conqueror at the same difficult place. Defeated 
 at Ely, Nigel fled to Gloucester, whither Matilda 
 had transferred her standard ; and while Stephen
 
 CuAP. T.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 4ir> 
 
 Wiis still on the eastern coast, the flames of war 
 were rekindled in all the west, and the fugitive 
 bishop distinguished himself among the men who 
 were literally of the church militant. The Norman 
 prelates had no scruples in taking an active part in 
 these military operations ; and the garrisons of their 
 castles are said to have been as cruel to the defence- 
 less rural population, as eager after plunder, and 
 altogether as lawless as the retainers of the lay 
 barons. The bishops themselves were seen, as at 
 the time of the Conquest, mounted on war-horses, 
 clad in armor, directing the siege or the attack, and 
 drawing lots, with the rest, for the booty.' No ex- 
 ceptions are named ; but we are inclined, in charity, 
 to believe there were several, and that there were 
 many churchmen who deplored, at the same time, 
 the woful diminution of their peaceful revenues, and 
 
 1 Gesta Steph. 
 
 the misei'ies of the people, whose labors, in hap- 
 pier times, made their wealth and plenty. 
 
 The cause of Stephen was never injured by any 
 want of personal courage and rapidity of movement. 
 From the east he returned to the west, and from 
 the west marched again to the county of fens, on 
 learning that Alexander, the Bishop of Lincoln, had 
 got together the scattered forces of the Bishop of 
 Ely in those parts, and, in alliance with the earls oi' 
 Lincoln and Chester, was making himself very for- 
 midable. The castle of Lincoln was in the hands 
 of his enemies ; but the townspeople were devoted 
 to Stephen, and assisted him in laying siege to the 
 fortress. On the 2d of February, a.d. 1141, as 
 Stephen was prosecuting this siege, the Earl of 
 Gloucester, who had got together an army 10,000 
 strong, and who liad hoped, by rapid marches, to 
 take his adversary by surprise, swam across the 
 
 ^—e^-^.W'^^^^*' 
 
 Lincoln. 
 
 Trent, and appeared in front of Lincoln. Stephen, 
 however, was prepared to receive him; he had 
 drawn out his forces in the best position, and, dis- 
 mounting from his war-horse, he put himself at tlio 
 head of his infantry. But his army was unequal in 
 number, and contained many traitors : the whole 
 of his cavalry deserted to the enemy, or lied at the 
 first onset ; and after he had fought most gallantly, 
 and broken both his sword and battle-axe, Stephen 
 was taken prisoner by the Earl of Gloucester. 
 Matilda was incapable of imitating his generosity ; 
 but her partisans lauded her mercy, because she 
 only loaded him with chains, and threw him into a 
 dungeon in Bristol Castle. Many of the time-serv- 
 
 ing nobles now made their submission to the em- 
 press, and she docs not appear to have encountereil 
 much difficulty in persuading the Bishop of Win- 
 chester wholly to abandon his unfortunate brother, 
 and acknowledge her title. The price paid to the 
 l)i8hop was the promise sealed by an oath, that ho 
 should have the chief direction of her affairs, and 
 the disposal of all vacant bishoprics and abbacies. 
 The scene of the l)argain was on the downs, near 
 Winchester, and the day on which it was concluded 
 (the 2d March) was dark and tempestuous, as if, 
 says Malmsbury, the elements themselves portend- 
 ed the calamities that followed. The next day, ac- 
 companied by a great body of the clergy, the brother
 
 416 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 of Stephen conducted the empress in a sort of 
 triumph to the ciitliedral of Winchester, within 
 whicli lie blessed all who should be obedient to her, 
 and denounced a curse against all who refused to 
 submit to her authority. As legate of the pope, 
 this man's decision had the force of law with most 
 of the clergy ; and several bishops, and even Theo- 
 b:d.i, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, followed 
 his cxamijle.' It is said, in order to excuse the 
 bri ach of their former oaths to Stephen, that they 
 previously obtained a release from their allegiance 
 from their captive king; but the very circumstance 
 of his being a captive must deprive such a release 
 of validity. At Winchester, Matilda took possession 
 of the royal castle, the crown, with other regalia, 
 and such treasure as Stephen had not exhausted. 
 On the 7th of April, she, or the legate acting for 
 her, convened an assembly of churchmen to ratify 
 her accession. The members of this synod were 
 divided into three classes — the bishops, the abbots, 
 and the archdeacons. The legate conferred with 
 each class separately and in private, and his argu- 
 ments prevailed with them all. On the following 
 day they sat together, and the deliberations were 
 public. William of Mahnsbury, who tells us he 
 was present, and heard the opening speech with 
 great attention, professes to give the very words of 
 the legate. The brother of Stephen began by con- 
 trasting the turbulent times they had just witnessed 
 with the tranquillitj" and happiness enjoyed under 
 the wise reign of Henry I. ; he glanced slightly over 
 the repeated vows made to Matilda, and said the 
 a!)sence of that lady, and the confusion into which 
 the country was thrown, had compelled the prelates 
 and lords to crown Stephen ; — that he blushed to 
 bear testimony against his own brother, but that 
 Stephen had violated all his engagements, particu- 
 larly those made to the church ; — that hence God 
 had jironounced judgment against him, and placed 
 them again under the necessity of providing for the 
 tranquillity of the kingdom i)y appointing some one 
 to fill the throne. "And now," snid the legate in 
 conclusion. " in order that the kinadom mav not be 
 without a ruier, we, the clergy of Lnguina, w wnom 
 it cliirjhj bdonffs to elect kiriffs and ordain them, 
 having yesterday deliberated on this great cause in 
 private, and invoked, as is fitting, the direction of 
 the Holy Spirit, did, and do, elect Matilda, the 
 daughter of the pacific, rich, glorious, good, and in- 
 comparable King Henry, to be sovereign lady of 
 England and Normandy." Many persons present 
 listened in silence — but silence, as usual, was inter- 
 preted into consent ; and the rest of the assembly 
 hailed the conclusion of the speech with loud and 
 repeated acclamations. It is curious to observe, that 
 the citizens of London had risen to such importance, 
 that, if not actually consulted in the disposal of the 
 crown, they were called upon to confirm the elec- 
 tion. We learn from Mahnsbury, that they formed 
 » body of great weight ; that the members of the 
 municipality were considered as barons, and that 
 they also admitted barons into their body. The 
 preceding deliberations of the synod, and the procla- 
 ' Malinsb — Gosta Slfpli— Ocrvnsc. 
 
 mation of IMatilda, were hurried over before the 
 deputation from the city of London could reach 
 Winchester ; but such was the respect they im- 
 posed, that it was deemed expedient to hold an ad- 
 journed session on the following morning. When 
 the decision of the council was announced to them, 
 the deputies said they did not come to debate, but 
 to petition for the liberty of their king ; that they 
 had no powers to agree to the election of this new 
 sovereign ; and that the whole community of Lon- 
 don, with all the barons lately admitted into it, ear- 
 nestly desired of the legate, the archbishop, and all 
 the clergy, the immediate liberation of Stephen. 
 When they ended. Christian, the chiiplain of Ste- 
 phen's queen, rose to address the meeting. The 
 legate endeavored to impose silence on this new ad- 
 vocate ; but in defiance of his voice and authority, 
 the chaplain read a letter from his royal mistress, in 
 which she called upon the clergy, by the oaths of 
 allegiance they had taken to him, to rescue her 
 husband from the imjjrisonment in which he was 
 kept by base and treacherous vassals. But Ste- 
 phen's brother was not much moved by tliese mea- 
 sures : he repeated to the Londoners the argu- 
 ments he had used the day before ; — the deputies 
 departed with a promise, in which there was prob- 
 ably little sincerit}^ to recommend his view of the 
 case to their fellow-citizens ; and the legate broke 
 up the council with a sentence of excommunication 
 on several persons who still adhered to his brother, 
 not forgetting a certain William Martel, who had 
 recentlj^ made free on the roads with a part of his 
 (the legate's) baggage. 
 
 If popular opinion can be counted for anything in 
 those days, and if the city of London, together with 
 Lincoln and other large towns, may be taken as in- 
 dexes of the popular will, we might be led to con- 
 clude that Stephen was still the sovereign of the 
 people's choice, or, at least, that they preferred him 
 to his competitor. The feelings of the citizens of 
 London were indeed so decided, that it was not 
 until some time had passed, and the Earl of Glou- 
 cester had soothed them with promises and flatter- 
 ing prospects, that Matilda ventured among them. 
 She entered the city a few days before Midsum- 
 mer, and made preparations for her immediate cor- 
 onation at Westminster. But JMatilda herself, who 
 pretended to an indefeasible, sacred hereditary right, 
 would perform none of the promises made by her 
 half-brother ; on the contrary, she imposed a heavy 
 tallage or tax on the Londoners as a punishment 
 for their attachment to the usurper, and arrogantly 
 and insolently rejected a petition they presented to 
 her, praying that the laws of Edward the Confessor 
 might be restored, and the changes and usages in- 
 troduced b}- the Normans abolished. Indeed, what- 
 ever slight restraint she had formerly put on hei 
 haughty, vindictive temper, wns now entirely re- 
 moved; and in a surprisingly short space of timr 
 she contrived not only to irritate her old oppouent> 
 to the veiy utmost, but also to convert many of her 
 best friends into bitter enemies. When the legate 
 desired that Prince Eustace, his nephew and Ste- 
 phen's eldest son, should be put in possession of the
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 417 
 
 earldom of Boulogne and the other patrimonial rights 
 of his father, she gave him a direct and insulting re- 
 fusal. In dethroning his brother this prelate, who 
 was perhaps the most extraordinary character of 
 the period, had not bargained for the impoverish- 
 ment of all his family, and an insult was what he 
 never could brook. When Stephen's wife, who 
 was her own cousin, and a kind-hearted, amiable 
 woman, appeared before her, seconded by many of 
 the nobility, to petition for the enlargement of her 
 husband, she showed the malignancy and littleness 
 of her soul by personal and most unwomanly up- 
 braidings. 
 
 The acts of this tragedy, in which there was no 
 small mixtui-e of farce, passed almost as rapidly as 
 those of a drama on the stage ; and before the cor- 
 onation clothes could be got ready, and the bishops 
 assembled, Matilda was driven from London with- 
 out having time to take with her so much as a change 
 of raiment. One fine summer's day, " nigh on to 
 the feast of St. John the Baptist," and about noon- 
 tide, the dinner-hour of the court in those times, a 
 body of horse bearing the banner of Queen Maud 
 (the wife of Stephen), who had kept together many 
 partisans in Kent and Surrey, appeared on the 
 southern side of the river opposite the city : on a 
 sudden all the church bells of London sounded the 
 alarm, and the people ran to arms. From every 
 house there went forth one man at least, with what- 
 ever weapon he could lay his hand upon. They 
 gathered in the streets, says a contemporary, like 
 
 bees rushing from their hives.' Matilda saved her- 
 self from being made prisoner by rushing from table, 
 mounting a horse, and galloping off with headlong 
 speed. She had scarcely cleared the western sub- 
 urb when some of the populace burst into her apart- 
 ment, and pillaged or destroyed whatever they found 
 in it. Such was her leave-taking of London, which 
 she never saw again, and which remained unusually 
 firm on the side of Stephen during the rest of the 
 long and destructive contest. Some few of her 
 friends accompanied her to Oxford, but othei-s left 
 her on the route, and fled singly by cross-country 
 roads and unfrequented paths toward their respect- 
 ive castles.^ 
 
 Matilda had not been long at Oxford when she 
 conceived suspicions touching the fidelity of the 
 Bishop of Winchester, whom, in the insolence of 
 success, she had offended beyond redress, and who 
 had taken his measures accordingly, absenting him- 
 self from court, and manning the castles which he 
 had built within his diocese, — as at Waltham, Farn- 
 ham, and other places. He had also an interview 
 with his sister-in-law, Maud, at the town of Guil- 
 ford, where he probably arranged the plans in favor 
 of his brother Stephen which were so soon can-ied 
 into execution. Matilda sent hirn a rude order to 
 appear before her forthwith. The cunning church- 
 man told her messenger that he was " getting him- 
 self ready for her ;" which was true enough. She 
 
 1 Gesta Stephani. 
 2 Malmsb.— Gesta Steph. — Brompton. — Flcir. Wig. 
 
 Tower or Oxford Cactlb. 
 
 -27
 
 418 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 then attempted to seize him at Winchester ; but 
 having weJI fortified his episcopal residence, and set 
 up liis brother's standard on its roofs, he rode out 
 by one gate of the town as she entered at the other, 
 and then proceeded to place himself at the head of 
 his armed vassals and the friends who had engaged 
 to join him. Matilda was admitted into the royal 
 castle of Winchester, whither she immediately 
 summoned the earls of Gloucester, Hereford, and 
 Chester, and her uncle David, King of Scots, who 
 had been for some time in England vainly endeav- 
 oring to make her follow mild and wise counsel. 
 While these personages were with her slie laid 
 siege to the episcopal palace, which was in every 
 essential a castle, and a strong one. The legate's 
 garrison made a sortie, and set fire to all the neigh- 
 boring houses of the town that might have weakened 
 their position, and then, being confident of succor, 
 waited the event. The bishop did not make them 
 wait long. Being reinforced by Queen Maud and 
 the Londoners, who, to the number of a thousand 
 citizens, took the field for Stephen, clad in coats of 
 mail, and wearing steel casques, like noble men of 
 war,' he turned rapidly back upon Winchester, and 
 actually besieged the besiegers there. By the 1st 
 of August he had invested the royal castle of Win- 
 chester, where, besides the empress-queen, there 
 were shut up the King of Scotland, the earls of 
 Gloucester, Hereford, and Chester, and many other 
 of the noblest of her partisans. Sallies were made 
 by the besieged, splendid achievements in arms took 
 place on either side, and, between them, the good 
 people of Winchester were made very wretched, 
 for nearly the wliole of the town was plundered 
 and burned at different times. When the siege had 
 lasted six weeks all the provisions in the castle were 
 exhausted, and a desperate attempt at flight was 
 resolved upon. By tacit consent the belligerents of 
 those times were accustomed to suspend their oper- 
 ations and relax their vigilance on the gi-eat festivals 
 of the church. The 14th of September was a Sun- 
 day, and (what was then for more important) the 
 festival of the Holy Rood or Cross. At a very early 
 hour of the morning of that day Matilda mounted a 
 swift horse, and, accompanied by a strong and well- 
 mounted escort, crept as secretly and quietly as was 
 possible out of the castle : her half-brother, the 
 Earl of Gloucester, followed at a short distance with 
 a number of knights who had engaged to keep l)e- 
 tween her and her pursuers, and risk their own lib- 
 erty for the sake of securing the queen's. These 
 movemeuis were so well timed and executed that 
 they broke through the beleaguerers with little dif- 
 ficulty, and got upon the Devizes road before the 
 legate's adherents, who were thinking of their mass 
 and prayers, could mount and follow them. Once 
 in the saddle, however, they made hot pursuit, and 
 at Stourbridge the Earl of Gloucester and his gallant 
 knights were overtaken. To give Matilda, who 
 was only a short distance in advance, time to escape, 
 they formed in order of battle and offered an obsti- 
 nate resistance. In the end they were nearly all 
 made prisoners ; but their self-devotion had the de- 
 
 1 Gest. Steph. 
 
 sired effect, for the queen, still pressing on her 
 steed, reached the castle of Devizes in safety. That 
 fortress, the work of Bishop Roger, was, we know, 
 very strong, but it is said that, not finding herself in 
 security even there, Matilda almost immediately re- 
 sumed her journey, and, the better to avoid dangei", 
 feigned herself to be dead, and being placed on a 
 bier like a corpse, caused herself to be drawn in a 
 hearse from Devizes to Gloucester.' This part of 
 the story, however, rests on a single authority, and 
 is not alluded to by any other contemporary writer. 
 Her adventures, so romantic in themselves, seem to 
 require no exaggeration, and the probability is, that 
 if she went from Devizes to Gloucester at all, she 
 traveled in a horse-litter. Of all who formed her 
 strong rear-guard on her flight from Winchester, 
 the Earl of Hereford alone reached Gloucester cas- 
 tle, and he arrived in a wretched state, being almost 
 naked. The other barons and knights who escaped 
 from the field of Stourbridge threw away their arms, 
 disguised themselves like peasants, and made for 
 their own homes. Some of them, beti'ayed by their 
 foreign accent, were seized by the English peasantiy, 
 who bound them with cords, and drove the proud 
 Normans before them with whips, to deliver them 
 up to their enemies. As this unhappy and uncivil- 
 ized class suflered so cruelly in these wars between 
 foreign lords and princes, it is not surprising tliat 
 they at times took a cruel vengeance on the persons 
 chance threw in their way. Though, if anything, 
 rather more inclined to Stephen than to his oppo- 
 nent, they seem in general to have been impartial 
 in their spite, and to have killed or stripped both 
 parties alike whenever the opportunity oflered.* 
 The King of the Scots, Matilda's uncle, got safely 
 back to his own kingdom ; but her half-brother, the 
 Earl of Gloucester, who was by far the most impor- 
 tant prisoner that could be taken, was conveyed to 
 Stephen's queen, who secured him in Rochester 
 Castle. According to one account, she "caused 
 him to be hardly handled," in retaliation for the 
 earl's harsh treatment of her husband, who was still 
 in a dungeon in his castle of Bristol ;^ but another 
 statement, which is better authenticated and more 
 in accordance with what we know of the amiable 
 character of Maud, is, that she treated the earl 
 generously, and so for from loading him with 
 chains, granted him every indulgence compatible 
 with captivity."* 
 
 Both parties were now, as it were, without a 
 head, for Matilda was nothing in the field in the 
 absence of her half-brother. A negotiation was 
 therefore set on foot, and, on the 1st of November, 
 it was finally agreed that the Earl of Gloucester 
 should be exchanged for King Stephen. The in- 
 terval had been filled up by unspeakable misery to 
 the people ; but, as far as the principals were con- 
 cerned, the two parties now stood as they did pre- 
 viously to the battle of Lincoln. The clergy, and 
 
 1 Contin. Wig. 
 
 * At different times the Archbishop of Canterbury and several of 
 the Norman bishops and abbots were stripped by the English peasants. 
 — " equis et vestibus ab istis caplis, ab illis horrende at-stractis." 
 Gesta Steph. 
 
 3 Matt. Paris ♦ Mai msb.— Gesta Steph.— Brompt
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 419 
 
 particularly the legate, who had alternately sided 
 with each, found themselves in an embarrassing 
 position; but the brother of Stephen had an al- 
 most unprecedented strength of face and impu- 
 dence, and seems never to have blushed at any- 
 thing. He summoned a great ecclesiastical council, 
 w^hich met at Westminster on the 7th of Decem- 
 ber, and he there produced a letter from the pope, 
 ordering him to do all in his power to effect the 
 liberation of his brother. This letter was held as 
 a sufficient justification of all the measures he had 
 recently adopted ; and the presence of Stephen, 
 who w'as there to speak for himself, only showed 
 how successfully the legate had obeyed the orders 
 of his spiritual chief, who claimed the right of bind- 
 ing and loosening all mortal ties. Stephen then 
 addressed the assembly, briefly and moderately 
 complaining of the wrongs and hardships he had 
 sustained from his vassals, unto whom he had never 
 denied justice when they asked for it ; and adding, 
 that if it would please the nobles of the realm to 
 aid him with men and money, he trusted so to work 
 as to relieve them from the fear of a shameful sub- 
 mission to the yoke of a woman ; a thing which at 
 first they seemed much to mislike, and which now, 
 to their great gi"ief, they had by experience found 
 to be intolerable. At last the legate himself rose to 
 speak, and as he had with a very few exceptions 
 the same audience as in the synod assembled at 
 Winchester onlj' nine months before, when he 
 pronounced the dethronement of his own brother, 
 and hurled the thunders of excommunication 
 against hi? friends and adherents, his speech must 
 have produced a singular effect. He pleaded that 
 it was through force, and not out of conviction or 
 good-will, that he had supported the cause of Ma- 
 tilda, who subsequently had broken all her engage- 
 ments with him, and even made attempts against 
 his liberty and life. He was thus, he maintained, 
 freed from his oaths to the Countess of Anjou, for 
 he no longer deigned to style her by a higher title. 
 The judgment of heaven, he said, was visible in 
 the punishment of her perfidy, and God himself 
 now restored the rightful king Stephen to his 
 throne. Though thei-e were some jealousies al- 
 ready existing between him and the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, the council went with the legate, and 
 no objection was started save by a solitary voice, 
 which boldly asserted, in the name of Matilda, that 
 the legate himself had caused all the calamities 
 which had happened, — that he had invited her into 
 England, — that he had planned the expedition in 
 which Stephen was taken, — and that it was by his 
 advice that the empress had loaded his brother with 
 chains. This orator concluded with prohibiting 
 him, by the faith he had sworn to his queen, from 
 publishing any decision against her rights and dig- 
 nity. The imperturbable legate heard these open 
 accusations, which contained some portion of truth, 
 without any apparent emotion either of shame or 
 anger, and with the greatest composure proceeded 
 to excommunicate all those who remained attached 
 to the party he had quitted. The curse and in- 
 terdict were extended to all who should build new 
 
 castles, or invade the rights and privileges of the 
 church, and (a most idle provision !) to all who 
 should wrong the poor and defenceless.' 
 
 No compromise between the contending parties 
 was as jet thought of; the smouldering ashes of 
 civil war Avere raked together, and England was 
 tortured as if with a slow fire ; for the flames were 
 not brought to a head in any one place, and no 
 decisive action was fought, but a succession of 
 skirmishes and forays, petty sieges, and the burn- 
 ing of defenceless towns and villages kept people on 
 the rack in nearly every part of the land at once. 
 " All England," says a contemporary, " wore a face 
 of woe and desolation. Multitudes abandoned their 
 beloved country to wander in a foreign land : 
 others, forsaking their own houses, built wretched 
 huts in the churchyards, hoping that the sacredness 
 of the place would afford them some protection."^ 
 This last miserable hope was generally vain, for 
 the belligerents no more respected the houses of 
 God than they did the abodes of humble men. 
 They seized and fortified the best of the churches: 
 and the belfry towers from which the sweet sounds 
 of the church-bells were wont to proceed were 
 converted into fortresses and furnished with en- 
 gines of war :^ they dug fosses in the very ceme- 
 teries, so that the bodies of the dead were brought 
 again to light, and the miserable remains of mor- 
 tality trampled upon and scattered all about. At 
 an early period of the contest both parties had 
 engaged foreign mercenaries, and in the absencf 
 of regular pay and provision and of all discipline, 
 bands of Brabanters and Flemings prowled througli 
 the land, satisfying all their appetites in the most 
 brutal manner. So general was the discourage- 
 ment of the suffering people, that whenever only 
 two or three horsemen were seen approaching u 
 village or open burgh, all the inhabitants fled t<> 
 conceal themselves. So extreme were their suf- 
 ferings that their complaints amounted to impiety, 
 for, seeing all these crimes and atrocities going on 
 without check or visible judgment, men said openly 
 that Christ and his saints had fallen asleep."* 
 
 A. D. 1142. During Stephen's captivitj', 3Ia- 
 tilda's husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, reduced nearly 
 the whole of Normandy, and prevailed upon the 
 majority of the resident nobles to acknowledge 
 Prince Henry (his son by Matilda) as their legiti- 
 mate duke. The king's party thus lost all hope of 
 aid and assistance from beyond sea ; but, as they 
 were masters of the coasts of the island, they were 
 able to prevent the arrival of any considerable re- 
 inforcement to their adversaries. Matilda pressed 
 her husband to come to her assistance with all the 
 forces he could raise ; but Geoflfrey's dislike of his 
 wife's society was more prevalent with him than 
 
 1 Gervase. — Malnisb. The honest and judicjious monk of Malms 
 bury says, " I cannot relate the transactions of this council with that 
 exact veracity with which I did the former, as I teas not present at it.'' 
 He tells us that the legate "commanded, therefore, on tlie part of Go<l 
 and the pope, that they should strenuously assist the king, anointed 
 by the aill of the nation and with the approbation of the Holy See ; ami 
 that such as disturbed th» peace in favor of the Countess of Anjuii 
 should be excommunicated, with the exception of herself, viho tots 
 sovereign of the Angevzns." 
 
 = Gcsta Steph. 3 Id. « ChroD Sai.
 
 420 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 ambition, and the past might have instructed him 
 that such a war would not be without its dangers 
 and costly sacrifices : he declined the invitation on 
 the ground that he had not yet made himself sure 
 of Normandy, but he offered to send over Prince 
 Henry. Even on this point he showed no great 
 readiness, and several months were lost ere he 
 would intrust his son to tho care of the Earl of 
 (rloucester, whom Matilda had sent into Normandy. 
 
 Meanwhile Stephen, who had recovered from a 
 long and dangerous illness, marched in person to 
 Oxford, where the empress had fixed her court, 
 and invested that city, with a firm resolution of 
 never moving thence until he had got his trouble- 
 some rival into his hands. At his first approach 
 the garrison came out to meet him : these enemies 
 he put to flight, and pursued them so hotly that he 
 entered the city pell-mell with them. Matilda 
 then retired into the castle, and the victor's troops 
 set fire to the town. Stephen invested the citadel, 
 and persevfered in the operations of the siege or 
 blockade thi'ough the horrors of a winter of extra- 
 ordinary severity ; and so intent was he on his 
 purpose that he would not permit his attention to 
 be distracted even when informed that the Earl of 
 Gloucester and Prince Henry had landed in Eng- 
 land. The castle was strong, but like all such 
 places at the period, insufficiently stocked with 
 provisions for a considerable force ; a proof, per- 
 haps, not merel}'^ of the thoughtlessness and im- 
 providence of the two parties, but of the general 
 poverty and actual distress of the countiy. When 
 the siege had lasted some three months, Matilda 
 again found herself in danger of starvation, to es- 
 cape which she had recourse to another of her fur- 
 tive flights. On the 20th of December, a little 
 after midnight, she dressed herself in white, and 
 accompanied by three knights in the same attire, 
 stole out of the castle by a postern gate. The 
 ground being covered with deep snow, the party 
 passed unobserved, and the Thames being frozen 
 over, afforded them a safe and direct passage. Ma- 
 tilda, who had the strength and courage of her male 
 ancestors, pursued her course on foot as far as the 
 town of Abingdon, where, finding horses, the party 
 mounted, and she rode on to Wallingford, at or 
 near to which place she was soon after joined by 
 the Earl of Gloucester and her young son, who 
 were at the head of a considerable force, though 
 at their first landing many who had gone out to 
 meet him, on finding the prince had stolen into the 
 land with a very inconsiderable force and but little 
 money, turned their backs upon him as they had 
 done upon his mother under the same circumstan- 
 ces, and resumed their allegiance to King Stephen. 
 The day after Matilda's flight Oxford Castle sur- 
 rendered to the king; but the king himself was 
 defeated by the Earl of Gloucester at Wilton in 
 the following month of July, and, with his brother 
 the legate, narrowly escaped being made prisoner. 
 
 After the affair of Wilton, no military operation 
 deserving of notice occurred for three years, during 
 which Stephen's party prevailed in all the east; 
 Matilda's maintained their ground in the west; 
 
 and the young prince was shut up for safety in the 
 strong castle of Bristol, where, at his leisure mo- 
 ments, his uncle, the Earl of Gloucester, who 
 enjoyed — like his father, Henry Beauclerk — the 
 reputation of being a learned person, attended to 
 his education. The presence of the boy in Eng- 
 land was of no use whatever to his mother's or his 
 own cause, and, about the feast of Whitsuntide, 
 1147, he returned to liis fether Geoflrey in Nor- 
 mandy. Gloucester died of a fever, " the natural 
 consequence of an alternate succession of excess 
 and privation," in the month of October; and thus 
 deprived of son and brother, and depressed also by 
 the loss of the Earl of Hereford and other stanch 
 partisans, who fell the victims of disease, the mas- 
 culine resolution of Matilda gave way, and, after a 
 struggle of eight years, she quitted England and 
 retired to Normandy. After her departure Ste- 
 phen endeavored to get possession of all the baronial 
 castles, and to reduce the nobles to a proper degree 
 of subordination ; but the measures he adopted 
 were, in some instances, characterized by craft, if 
 not treachery ; and his too openly avowed purpose 
 of curbing the power and license of the nobility 
 was as unpalatable to his own adherents as to the 
 friends of Matilda. At the same time he involved 
 himself in a fresh quarrel with the church, and that 
 too at a moment when his brother, the legate and 
 Bishop of Winchester, had lost his great authority 
 through the death of the pope who patronized 
 him, and the election of another pope, who took 
 away his legatine office and espoused the quarrel 
 of his declared enemy Theobald, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury. 
 
 For attending the council of Rheims against the 
 express orders of the king the archbishop was ex- 
 iled. Caring little for this sentence, Theobald 
 went (a. D. 1148) and put himself under the pro 
 tection of Bigod Earl of Norfolk, who was of the 
 Angevin faction, and then pubhshed a sentence of 
 interdict against Stephen's party and all that part 
 of the kingdom that acknowledged the rule of the 
 usurper. Instantly, in one half of the kingdom, all 
 the churches were closed, and the priests and 
 monks either withdrew, or refused to perform any 
 of the offices of religion. From their conduct we 
 might have expected the contrary ; but this was a 
 state of things which men could not bear, and Ste- 
 phen was actually compelled to seek a reconcilia- 
 tion with the archbishop. About two years after 
 this reconciliation a general council of the high 
 clergj^ was held at London ; and Stephen, who, in 
 the interval, had endeavored to win the hearts of 
 the bishops and abbots with donations to the church, 
 and promises of much greater things when the 
 kingdom should be settled, required them to recog- 
 nize and anoint his eldest son Eustace as his 
 successor. This the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 resolutely and most unceremoniously refused to do. 
 He had consulted, he said, his spiritual master, 
 and the pope had told him that Stephen was a 
 usurper, and, therefore, could not, like a legitimate 
 sovereign, transmit his crown to his posterity. It 
 was quite natural, and perhaps excusable that Ste-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 421 
 
 phen, on thus hearing his rights called in question by 
 a man who had sworn allegiance to him, should be 
 overcome by a momentary rage (and it was not 
 more in effect), and order his guards to arrest the 
 bishops and seize their temporalities ; but putting 
 aside the question of right, and however much they 
 may have failed in the respect due to one who was 
 their king at the time, the prelates, in acting as 
 they did, indubitably took a most prudent and wise 
 view of the case, and adopted a sj'stem which was 
 calculated to narrow the limits of civil war. 
 
 As long as the contest lay between Steplien on 
 the one side, and a woman and boy on the other, 
 it was likely to be, on the whole, favorable to the 
 former ; but time had worked its changes ; — Prince 
 Henry was no longer a boy, but a handsome, gal- 
 lant young man, capable of performing all the 
 duties of a knight and soldier, and gifted with pre- 
 cocious abilities and political acumen. He had 
 also become, by inheritance and marriage, one of 
 the most powerful princes on the continent. When 
 Henry Plantagenet left Bristol Castle he was about 
 fourteen years of age. In a. d. 1149, having at- 
 tained the military age of sixteen, he recrossed the 
 seas, and landed in Scotland with a splendid ret- 
 inue, in order to receive the honor of knighthood 
 at the hands of his mother's uncle. King David. 
 The ceremony was performed with great pomp in 
 " merry Carlisle," where the Scottish king then 
 kept his court; crowds of nobles from most parts 
 of England, as well as from Scotland and Nor- 
 mandy, were present, and had tlie opportunity of 
 remarking Henry's many eminent qualities ; and as 
 
 that prince had only been returned to the conti- 
 nent some twelve months when Stephen assembled 
 the council for the anointing of his son, the impres- 
 sions made by the fortunate Pkntagenet were still 
 fresh, and his character was naturally contrasted 
 with that of Prince Eustace, who was about his 
 own age, but who does not appear to have had one 
 of his high endowments. Shortly after his return 
 from Carlisle Henry was put in full possession of 
 the government of Normandy : by the death of his 
 father Geoffrey, who died in the course of the 
 same year (1150), he succeeded to the earldom of 
 Anjou; and in 1152, together with the hand of 
 Eleanor, the divorced queen of Louis VII. of 
 France, he acquired her rights over the earldom 
 of Poictou and the vast duchy of Guyenne, or 
 Aquitaine, which had descended to her from her 
 father. The Plantagenet party in England, which 
 had been for some time in a state of depression, 
 recovered their spirits at the prospect of this sudden 
 aggi-andizement, and, thinking no more of the mo- 
 ther, they determined to call in the son to reign in 
 his own right. The Earl of Chester passed over 
 to Normandy, to express what he called the unani- 
 mous will of the nation ; but the King of France, 
 becoming jealous of the great power of Henry, 
 formed an alliance with King Stephen, Theobald 
 Earl of Blois, and Geoffrey of Anjou, Henry's 
 younger brother, who had good reason to be dis- 
 satisfied, and marched a French army to the con- 
 fines of Normandy. This attempt occasioned some 
 delay ; but as soon as Henry had convinced the 
 French king that his design of overrunning the 
 
 The TiiAiMEs at Wallinqford.
 
 422 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 duchy was hope]ess, he obtnined a truce, and forth- 
 with sailed for England with a small fleet. The 
 army lie brought over with him did not exceed 140 
 knights and 3000 foot ; but it was well appointed 
 and disciplined ; and as soon as he landed in Eng- 
 land most of the old friends of his family flocked 
 to join his standard. It was unexpectedly found, 
 however, that Stephen was still strong in the af- 
 fections and devotion of a large party. The armies 
 of the competitors came in sight of each other at 
 Wallingford ; that of Stephen, who had marched 
 from London, occupying the left bank of the 
 Thames, and that of Henry, who had advanced 
 from Marlborough, the right. They lay facing 
 each other during two whole days, and were hourly 
 expecting a sanguinary engagement; but the pause 
 had given time for salutary reflection ; and the 
 Earl of Arundel had the boldness to say, that it 
 was an unreasonable thing to prolong the calamities 
 of a whole nation on account of the ambition of 
 two princes.' Many lords of both parties, who 
 were of the same opinion, or wearied at length with 
 a struggle which had already lasted fifteen yeai's, 
 labored to persuade both princes to come to an 
 amicable arrangement. The two chiefs consented; 
 and in a short conversation which they carried on 
 with one another across a narrow part of the 
 Thames, Stephen and Henry agreed to a truce, 
 (luring which each expressed his readiness to ne- 
 gotiate a lasting peace. On this. Prince Eustace, 
 who was probably well aware that the first article 
 of the treaty would seal his exclusion from the 
 throne, burst away from his father in a paroxysm of 
 rage, and went into Cambridgeshire to get up a war 
 on his own account. The rash young «an took 
 forcible possess^ion of the abbey of St. Edmunds- 
 bury, and laid waste or plundered the country 
 round about, not excepting even" the lands of the 
 abbot. His licentious career was veiy brief; for 
 as he was sitting down to a riotous banquet, he 
 was suddenly seized with a frenzj', of which he 
 soon died. 
 
 It has been supposed that this sudden frenzy 
 and decease were in all likelihood owing to an in- 
 flammation of the brain, the fruit of habitual intem- 
 perance and of frantic passions. According to the 
 monks, his fate was a sudden judgment of the Al- 
 inightj', provoked by his impiety in ravaging the 
 sanctuary of the blessed St. Edmund; and as this 
 was one of the capital favorites in their hagiology, 
 the English people seem generally to have ac- 
 counted for his death in this way. We nowhere 
 find it hinted that he died of poison, though the 
 cii-cumstances which made his death most desira- 
 ble, and the apposite moment at which it took 
 place, tend almost to excite a suspicion.^ The 
 principal obstacle to concession from Stephen was 
 thus removed, for though he had another legiti- 
 mate son. Prince William, he was but a boy, and 
 was docile and unambitious. The principal ne- 
 
 1 Gesta Steph. — Gervase. 
 
 s Writers of a later period introduced some confusion in this matter 
 by accounting for his death m diflerent ways. Some of them said 
 Eustace was drowned. 
 
 gotiators, who with great ability and address recon- 
 ciled the conflicting interests of the two factions, 
 were Theobald, the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and Henry, Bishop of Winchester, Stephen's 
 brother, who played so many parts in this long and 
 checkered drama. On the 7th of November, 1153, 
 a great council of the kingdom was held at Win- 
 chester, where a peace was finally adjusted on the 
 following conditions : — Stephen, who was to retain 
 undisturbed possession of the crown during his life, 
 adopted Henry as his son, appointed him his suc- 
 cessor, and gave the kingdom, after his own death, 
 to Henry and his heirs forever. In return, Henry 
 did present homage, and swore fealty to Stephen. 
 Henry received the homage of the king's surviving 
 son William, and in return, gave that young prince 
 all the estates and honors, whether in England or 
 on the continent, which his father Stephen had 
 enjoyed before he ascended the throne ; and Henry 
 promised, as a testimonial of his own afl"ection, the 
 honor of Pevensey, together with some manors in 
 Kent. There then followed a mighty interchange 
 and duplication of oaths among the earls, barons, 
 bishops, and iibbots of both factions ; all swearing 
 present aflegiance to Stephen and l^uture fealty to 
 Henry. A clause, for which there were several 
 precedents under former reigns, was introduced, 
 and the earls and barons swore that if either of the 
 two princes broke his engagements they Avould in- 
 stantly abandon him, and support the cause of the 
 other. It is curious, and a consoling proof of the 
 advance made by the popular body, notwithstand- 
 ing the horrors of this reign, to observe that the 
 diflerent boroughs of England were taken into 
 account, and sAvore fealty to Henry in the same 
 terms as those employed by the gi'eat nobles. In 
 a minor article the officers of Stephen who held 
 the Tower of London, and the castles of Win- 
 chester, Windsor, Oxford, Lincoln, and South- 
 ampton, gave hostages to Henry for the immediate 
 surrender to him of those fortresses in the event 
 of Stephen's death. The whole arrangement was 
 naiTated and drawn up in the form of a charter, 
 which purported to be octroye, or granted by King 
 Stephen, and witnessed by the prelates and barons.' 
 
 When the time came in which he incurred no 
 danger or risk in so doing, Henry treated his adop- 
 tion by Stephen with scorn ; and while some of his 
 partisans, in relating his history, impudently omitted 
 the fact altogether, others considered it as an idle 
 form, giving no right, and others again maintained 
 that King Stephen himself, and the whole nation, 
 were fain to acknowledge the personal claims of 
 Matilda's son, who consequently was called to reign 
 through a legitimate, hereditary right. The treaty, 
 however, stands recorded as we have given it above, 
 and remains an incontrovertible evidence of the real 
 nature of the transaction. 
 
 Stephen did not long survive the arrangement by 
 which he renounced all hope of keeping the royal 
 crown in his lineage. After signing the treaty he 
 and Henry visited together the cities of Winches- 
 ter, London, and Oxford, in which places solemn 
 
 1 Rymer's Foedera.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 423. 
 
 processions were made, and both princes were re- 
 ceived with acclamations by the people. At the end 
 of Lent they parted with expressions of mutual 
 friendship. 
 
 Henry returned to the continent, and on the 
 following 25th of October (1154) Stephen died at 
 Dover, in the fiftieth year of his age. He was 
 buried by the side of his wife Miiud, who died 
 three years before him, at the monastery of Faver- 
 sham, in the pleasant county of Kent, which she 
 had loved so much while living.* 
 
 " In this king's time," says the Saxon chronicler, 
 " all was dissension, and evil, and rapine. The 
 great men soon rose against him. They had sworn 
 oaths, but maintained no truth. They built castles, 
 which they held out against him. They cruelly 
 oppressed the wretched people of the land with this 
 castle work. They filled their castles with devils 
 and evil men. They seized those whom they sup- 
 posed to have any goods, and threw them into 
 prison for their gold and silver, and inflicted on 
 
 ' At the general suppression of abbeys, under Henry VIII., Stephen's 
 tomb was rifled, and his bones were cast into the sea. 
 
 them unutterable tortures. Some they hanged up 
 by the feet, and smoked with foul smoke ; some by 
 the thumbs or by the beard, and hung coats of 
 heavy mail on their feet. They threw them into 
 
 dungeons with adders, and snakes, and toads 
 
 They made many thousands perish with hunger. 
 They laid tribute after tribute upon towns and 
 cities, and this in their language they called tenserie.^ 
 When the townsmen had nothing more to give, 
 they set fire to all the towns. Thou mightest go a 
 whole day's journey and not find a man sitting in a 
 town, nor an acre of land tilled. The poor died of 
 hunger, and those who had been men well to do 
 begged for bread. Never was more mischief done 
 
 by heathen invaders To till the ground was 
 
 to plough the sands of the sea. This lasted the 
 nineteen years that Stephen was king, and it grew 
 continually worse and worse." 
 
 1 Tenser, or Tanser, is a verb in old French equivalent to the 
 modem ckdtier — to chastise or punish. The Saxon Chronicle contains 
 a long description of the tortures in use. Men of rank employed their 
 inventive faculties in this direction ; and Philip Gay, a relation of the 
 Earl of Gloucester, had the merit of inventing one of the most horrid 
 of the instruments of torture, called a sachentage. 
 
 Henry II. — surnamed Plantagenet 
 
 'A 
 
 Great Seal of Henry H. 
 
 A. D. 1154. — "When Henry Plantagenet received 
 the news of Stephen's death he was engaged in the 
 siege of a castle on the frontiers of Normandy. 
 Relying on the situation of affairs in England, and 
 the disposition of men's minds in his favor, he pros- 
 ecuted the siege to a successful close, and reduced 
 some turbulent continental vassals to obedience, 
 before he went to the coast to embark for his new 
 kingdom. He was detained some time at Barfleur 
 by storms and contrary winds ; and it was not till 
 six weeks after the death of Stephen that he land- 
 ed in England, where he was received with enthu- 
 siastic joy. He brought with him a splendid re- 
 tinue, and Eleanor, his wife, whose inheritance had 
 made him so powerful on the continent, and whose 
 stern character was to influence so many events of 
 his reign. This marriage proved, that if the young 
 
 Henry had the gallantry of his age and all the 
 knightly accomplishments then in vogue, he was 
 not less distinguished by a cool, calculating head, 
 and the faculty of sacrificing romantic or delicate 
 feelings for political advantages. The lady he 
 espoused was many years older than himself, and 
 the repudiated wife of another. 
 
 Eleanor, familiarly called in her own country 
 Aanor, was daughter and heiress of William IX.,' 
 Earl of Poictou and Duke of Aquitaine ; that is to 
 say, of the sovereign chief of all the western coast 
 of France, from the mouth of the Loire to the foot 
 of the Pyrenees. She was married in 1137 to 
 Louis VII., King of France, who was not less en- 
 chanted with her beauty than with the fine prov- 
 
 1 This Duke William was a troubadour of high renown, and the 
 most ancient of that class of poets whose works have been preserved.
 
 424 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 luces she brought him. "WTien the union had 
 lasted some years, and the queen had given birth 
 to two daughters, the princesses Marie and AUx, 
 Louis resolved to make a pilgrimage to the Holy 
 Land, and to take along with him his wife, whose 
 tincle, Haymond, or Raymond, was Duke of An- 
 tioch. The general morality of the royal and noble 
 crusaders and pilgrims is represented in no very 
 favorable hght by contemporary Avriters ; and it 
 13 easily understood how camps and marches, and 
 a close and constant association with soldiers, should 
 not be favorable to female virtue. Suspicion soon 
 fell upon Eleanor, who, according to her least un- 
 favorable judges, was guilty of great coquetry and 
 freedom of manners; and her conduct in the gay 
 and dissolute court of Antioch at last awakened the 
 indignation of her devout husband. She was very 
 generally accused of an intrigue with a young and 
 handsome Turk, named Sal.idiu ; ' and though, in 
 the notions of the age, it made an immense differ- 
 ence in the weight of her guilt, we should now 
 scarcely waste time in considering whether her 
 paramour was converted and baptized, as asserted 
 by some, or was an unredeemed Mahomedan, as 
 maintained by others. In 1152, about a year after 
 their return from the Holy Land, Louis summoned 
 a council of prelates at Baugenci-sur-Loire, for the 
 express purpose of divorcing him from a woman 
 who had pubhcly dishonored him. The Bishop of 
 Langres, pleading for the king, gravely announced 
 that his royal master " no longer placed faith in his 
 wife, and could never be sure of the legitimacy of 
 her progeny" — (she had not borne him a heir 
 male) — and grounded his claim to a divorce on facts 
 proving her flagitiousness. But the Archbishop of 
 Bordeaux, desirous that the separation should be 
 effected in a less scandalous manner, proposed to 
 treat the whole question on very difierent grounds 
 — namely, on the consanguinity of the parties, 
 which might have been objected by the canonical 
 law as an insuperable barrier to the marriage when 
 it was contracted fifteen jears before, but which now 
 seemed to be remembered by the clergy somewhat 
 tardily. This course, however, relieved them from 
 a delicate dilemma, in which they were placed by 
 the rules of the church, which, if fairly interpreted, 
 rendered divorce on any other ground most difficult, 
 and by their anxious desire to avoid going to the 
 extremity of proof against a royal personage ; and 
 as Eleanor, who considered Louis to be " rather a 
 monk than a king," * voluntarily and readily agreed 
 to the dissolution of the marriage, the council dis- 
 solved it accordingly — on the pretext that the con- 
 sciences of the parties reproached them for living 
 as man and wife when they were cousins witliin 
 the prohibited degree. This decent coloring, how- 
 ever, deceived nobody ; but the good, simple Louis 
 wonderfully deceived himself, when he thought 
 that no prince of the time — no, not a private gen- 
 tleman — would be so wanting in delicacy, and re- 
 
 1 Some old writers confound this Saladin with the Great Saladin, 
 the heroic opponent of Eleanor's son, Richard ; but this is a great 
 mistake, involving an anachronism. 
 
 > M6zeTai, Hist, de France. I 
 
 gardless of his own honor, as to marry a divorced 
 wife of so defamed a reputation. According to a 
 contemporary authority, Eleanor's only difficulty 
 was in making a choice, and escaping the too forci- 
 ble addresses of some of her suitors. Immediately 
 after the dissolution of her marriage, she set off for 
 the capital of her own hereditary states, and on 
 the way met with the following adventures, if we 
 are to give credit to the chronicler. At the city of 
 Blois, Thibaud, or Theobald, Earl of Blois, and 
 brother to King Stephen of England, " more from 
 ambition than love," made her the offer of his hand, 
 and not tolerating her refusal, secretly resolved to 
 make her a prisoner in his castle, and marry her by 
 force. Suspecting his design, she stole out of the 
 castle by night, and descended the Loire in a boat 
 to the city of Tours, which was then included in 
 the duchy of Anjou. Here Henry's younger broth- 
 er, Geoffrey of Anjou, conceived the same sort of 
 project which had been entei-tained by Theobald of 
 Blois, and lay in ambush to intercept her and seize 
 her person ; but Eleanor, being " warned by her 
 good angel," suddenly took a different road, and 
 escaped to Poictiers, where the more courteous and 
 more fortunate Henry soon presented himself, and, 
 " with more policy than delicacy," wooed and won, 
 and married her too, within six weeks of her di- 
 vorce.' King Louis's conduct was directly the 
 opposite of Henry's ; for he had been more delicate 
 than politic ; and, however honorable to him indi- 
 vidually, his delicacy was a great misfortune to 
 France, for it dissevered states which had been 
 united by the marriage — retarded that fusion and 
 integration which alone could render the French 
 kingdom respectable, and threw the finest territories 
 of France into the hands of his most dangerous ene- 
 mies. If he could have freed himself of his wife, 
 without resigning her states, the good would have 
 been unmixed ; but this was impossible ; and though 
 he retained the two daughters Eleanor had borne 
 him, and who were by these measures deprived of 
 their appanages and fortune on the mother's side, 
 he found himself obliged to withdraw all the troops 
 he had in the fortresses of Guyenne, or Aquitaine, 
 and Poictou, and resign those countries wholly and 
 immediately to his discarded wife, who seems to 
 have been dear to the people, in spite of her irreg- 
 ularities, and to have encountered little or no diffi- 
 culty in inducing them to admit the garrisons of her 
 new husband, the young and popular Henry. When 
 it was too late, Louis saw the great error in policy 
 he had committed, and made what efforts he could 
 to prevent the by him most unexpected marriage. 
 He prohibited Henry, as his vassal for Normandy 
 and Anjou, to contract any such union without the 
 consent and authority of his suzerain lord, the King 
 of France ; but the obligations of the vassal or liege- 
 man toward the suzerain, even where the parties 
 had expressly contracted and avowed them, were 
 little binding between two princes of equal power; 
 and Henry, who was soon by far the more power- 
 ful of the two, cared little for the prohibition, and 
 Louis, in the end, was obliged to content himself 
 
 I Script. Rer. Franc.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 425 
 
 with receiving the empty oaths of allegiance which 
 the fortunate Plantagenet tendered for Guyenne 
 and Poictou, in addition to those he had already 
 pledged for Anjou and Normandy. The old French 
 historians, who cannot relate these transactions 
 without losing their temper, give it as their opinion 
 that they would not have happened had those two 
 wise statesmen, the Abbot Suger and the Count de 
 Vermandois, been alive to counsel and direct the 
 king ; but the abbot and the count had both died the 
 preceding year ; and Louis, who had depended so 
 entirely on them (particularly on Suger), that he 
 was scarcely capable of thinking or acting for him- 
 self, was bewildered, like a man who had lost his 
 guide in a wild and unknown country, and stumbled 
 on the divorce which cost France so dear.' 
 
 ' Cc qui nous couta bon. Brantome. M6zerai and Larrey (Heretiere 
 de Guicnne) agree in attributing' Louis's error to the want of the wise 
 counsels of Suger. Larrey and Bouchet {Annales d'Aguitaine), with 
 some other writers, natives of Aquitaine, or Poictou, maintained that 
 Eleanor was unjustly calumniated ; but tVe weight of contemporary 
 evidenre is on the other side. 
 
 The sacrifice was indeed immense. The French 
 kingdom almost ceased to figure as a maritime state 
 on the Atlantic ; and when Eleanor's possessions 
 were added to those Henry already possessed on 
 the continent, that prince occupied the whole coast- 
 line from Dieppe to Bayonne, with the exception 
 only of the great promontory of Brittany, where a 
 race of semi-independent princes were established 
 that had sometimes supported the interests of the 
 French kings, and at others allied themselves with 
 the Anglo-Norman sovereigns.' Henry, in fact, 
 was master of one-fifth of the territories now in- 
 cluded in the kingdom of France, and, deducting 
 other separate and independent sovereignties, Louis, 
 driven back from the Atlantic and cooped up be- 
 tween the Loire, the Saone, and the Meuse, did 
 not possess half so much land as his rival, even leav- 
 
 1 Cliarles the Simple appears to have granted to Rollo, the founder 
 of the duchy of Normandy, whatever supremacy the kings of France 
 claimed over the country of the Bretons ; so that the princes of Brit- 
 tany were considered as immediate vassals of the Norman dukes, anJ 
 only through them feudally connected with the French crown. 
 
 Henry II. Drawn from the Tomb at Fontevrand. 
 
 ing out of the account the kingdom of England, to 
 which he succeeded about two years after his mar- 
 riage. Eleanor was soon as jealous of Henry as 
 Louis had been of her. The Plantagenet had not 
 married with a view to domestic happiness, but he 
 was probably far from expecting the wretchedness 
 to which the union would condemn his latter days. 
 At their first arrival in England, however, every- 
 thing wore a bright aspect. The queen rode by 
 the king's side into the royal city of Winchester, 
 where they both received the homage of the nobili- 
 ty; and when, on the 19th of December, Henry 
 took his coronation oaths, and was crowned at West- 
 
 minster by Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 Eleanor was crowned with him, amid the acclama- 
 tions of the people. Not a shadow of opposition 
 was offered : the English, still enamored of their 
 old djnasty or traditions, dwelt with complacency 
 on the Saxon blood, which fi-om his mother's side 
 (a bad Saxon herself!) flowed in the veins of the 
 youthful, the handsome, and brave'^enry ; and all 
 classes seemed to overlook the past history of the 
 queen in her grandeur and magnificence, and pres- 
 ent attachment to their king. The court pagean- 
 tries were splendid, and accompanied by the spon- 
 taneous rejoicings of the citizens. Henry did not
 
 426 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 permit his attention to be long occupied by these 
 pleasures and flattering demonstrations, but pro- 
 ceeded to business almost as soon as the crown was 
 on his head, thus giving his subjects assurance of 
 the busy, active reign they had to expect. He assem- 
 bled a great council, appointed the crown officers, 
 issued a decree promising his subjects all the rights 
 and liberties they had enjoyed under his grand- 
 father, Henry I., whose reign, however tyrannical, 
 was a blessed state compared to the anarchy which 
 had followed ; and he made his barons and bishops 
 swear fealty to his infant children, his wife Elea- 
 nor having already made him the happy father of 
 two sons.* 
 
 Henry then turned his attention to the correct- 
 ing of those abuses which had rendered the reign 
 of Stephen a long agony to himself and a curse to 
 the nation. His reforms w'ere not completed for 
 several years, and many events of a foreign nature 
 intervened during their progress ; but it will render 
 the narrative clearer to condense our account of 
 these transactions in one general statement. 
 
 Henry appointed the Earl of Leicester grand 
 justiciary of the kingdom, and feeling that the office 
 had hitherto been insufficiently supported by the 
 crown, he attached to it more ample powers, and 
 provided the means of enforcing its decisions. As 
 happened in all seasons of trouble and distress in 
 those ages, the coin had been alloyed and tampered 
 with under Stephen ; and now Henry issued an 
 entirely new coinage of standard weight and purity. 
 The foreign mercenaries and companies of adven- 
 ture that came over to England during the long civil 
 war between Stephen and Matilda had done incal- 
 culable mischief. Many of these adventurers had 
 got possession of the castles and estates of the Anglo- 
 Norman nobles who adhered to Matilda, and had 
 been created earls and barons by Stephen ; but, 
 treating all these as acts of usurpation, Henry de- 
 termined to drive every one of them from the land, 
 and their expulsion seems to have aft'orded almost 
 as much joy to the Saxon population as to the Nor- 
 mans, who raised a shout of triumph on the occa- 
 sion. " We saw them," says a contemporary, " we 
 saw these Braban9ons and Flemings cross the sea, 
 to return from the camp to the plough-tail, and be- 
 come again serfs, after having been lords."* They 
 were, in fact, all commanded to quit the kingdom 
 by a certain day, under penalty of death, and it is 
 not likely that the Normans allowed them to carry 
 much away with them. Up to this point the opera- 
 tions were easy, and the king, unopposed by the 
 conflicting interest of any important party in the 
 state, or by claims on his own gratitude, was carried 
 forward on the high tide of popular opinion ; but in 
 what there still remained to do there were great 
 and obvious difficulties, and feelings of a private 
 nature, which might have overcome a less deter- 
 mined and politic prince, for, in the impartial exe- 
 cution of his measures he had to despoil those who 
 fought his mother's battles and supported his own 
 cause when he was a helpless infant. The gener- 
 
 > William and Henry. William died in his childhood. 
 2 R. d.: Diceto. 
 
 ous, romantic virtues natural to youth might have 
 been fatal to him ; but Henry's heart in some re- 
 spects seems never to have been young, and his 
 head was cool and calculating. In a treaty made 
 at Winchester, shortly after his pacification with 
 Stephen, it was stipulated that the king (Stephen) 
 should resume all such royal castles and lands as 
 had been alienated to the nobles, or usurped by 
 them, with the exceptions only of what Stephen 
 had granted to his son William, or had bestowed 
 on the church ; the two last classes of donations to 
 remain to their possessors. Among the resumable 
 gifts were many made by Matilda ; for she, too, 
 acting as a sovereign, had followed Stephen's ex- 
 ample in alienating parts of the demesne of the 
 crown to reward her adherents. Stephen, poor as 
 he was, had neglected this resumption, or made 
 no progress in it during the few months that he 
 survived the treaty. But Henry was determined 
 not to be a pauper king, or to tolerate that widely- 
 stretched aristocratic power which at once gi-ound 
 the people and bade fair to reduce royalty to an 
 empty shadow. In the absence of other fixed 
 revenues the sovereigns of that time depended 
 almost entirely on the produce of the crown lands, 
 and Stephen had allowed so much of these to slip 
 from him, that there remained not sufficient for a 
 decent maintenance of royal dignity. Besides the 
 numerous castles which had been built by the tur- 
 bulent nobles, royal fortresses, and even royal cities 
 had been granted away ; and these could hardly 
 be permitted to remain in the hands of the feudal 
 lords without endangering the peace of the king- 
 dom. Law was brought in to the aid of policy, and 
 it was established as a legal axiom that the an- 
 cient demesne of the crown was of so sacred and 
 inalienable nature, that no length of time, tenure, 
 and enjoyment, could give a right of prescription 
 to anj^ other possessors, even by virtue of grants 
 from the crown, against the claim of succeeding 
 princes, who might (it was laid down) at any time 
 resume possession of what had formerly been alien- 
 ated.' 
 
 Foreseeing, however, that this step would create 
 much discontent in those who were to be aflfected 
 by it, and who (counting both of the old parties) 
 were numerous and powerful, Henry was cautious 
 not to act without a high sanction ; and he therefore 
 summoned a great council of the nobles, who, after 
 hearing the urgency of his necessities, concurred 
 pretty generally in the justice of his immediately 
 resuming all that had been held by his grandfather, 
 Henry I., with the exception of the alienations or 
 grants to Stephen's son and the church, as already 
 mentioned. The cause assigned for these resump- 
 tions was not any inherent defect in the title of the 
 grantor, nor any unworthiness in the grantee, but 
 the indispensable necessity of providing for the 
 crown. As soon as he was armed with this sanc- 
 tion the young king put himself at the head of a 
 formidable army, knowing right well that there 
 were many who would not consider themselves 
 
 1 Lord Lyttehon's Henry II. Contempovary details are found in 
 Gervase of Canterbury, William of Newbury, and Roger of Hoveden.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 427 
 
 bound by the voices of the assembly of nobles, and 
 who would only cede theu' castles and lands by 
 force. In some instances the castles, on being 
 closely beleaguered, surrendered without blood- 
 shed ; in others, they were taken by storm or re- 
 duced by famine. In nearly all cases they were 
 leveled to the ground, and about 1100 of these 
 " dens of thieves," as they are usually called, were 
 blotted out from the fair land they defaced, to the 
 inexpressible I'elief and contentment of the poor 
 people. At the siege of the castle of Bridgenorth, 
 in Shropshire, which Hugh de Mortimer held out 
 against the king, Henry's life was preserved by the 
 aftection and self-devotion of one of his followers. 
 He was commanding in person, and occupying an 
 exposed position, when his faithful vassal, Hubert 
 de St. Clair, seeing one of Moitimer's archers aim- 
 ing point-blank at him, threw himself before his 
 person and received the arrow in his own breast. 
 The wound proved mortal, and St. Clair expired 
 in Henry's arms, recommending his daughter, an 
 only child and an infant, to the care of his prince, 
 who, to his honor, did the duty of a father to the 
 orphan. After many arduous toils, and not a few 
 checks and delays, Henry completed his purpose : 
 he drove the Earl of Nottingham and some other 
 dangerous nobles out of the kingdom ; he leveled 
 with the ground the six strong castles of Stephen's 
 brother, the famous Bishop of Winchester, who, 
 placing no confidence in the new king whom he 
 had helped to make, fled with his treasures to 
 Clugny : he reduced the Earl of Albemarle, who 
 had long reigned like an independent sovereign in 
 Yorkshire, to the proper state of vassalage and 
 allegiance ; and he finally obliged Malcolm, King 
 of Scots, to resign the three northern counties of 
 Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, 
 for the 6o«a/i(/e possession of the Earldom of Hun- 
 tingdon, which the Scottish princes claimed as de- 
 scendants of Earl Waltheof. In driving the nobles 
 from the royal lands and houses they held, no dis- 
 tinction was made between the grants of Stephen 
 and Matilda, for Henry was not less eager to re- 
 cover everything, than wisely anxious to avoid the 
 appearance of acting from motives of party revenge ; 
 and by his equal and impartial proceeding, he left 
 the adherents of Stephen no more reason to com- 
 plain than his mother's or his own partisans. Among 
 the latter were several who lost their all by these 
 resumptions ; but, steady to his purpose, the king 
 would make no exceptions, not even in favor of 
 those who had succored his mother in the hour of 
 need, and made the greatest sacrifices for his fam- 
 ily. He evaded the most earnest applications by a 
 courtesy of demeanor, and a prodigality of prom- 
 ises for the future, which seldom lay heavy on his 
 conscience ; and whenever craft or subterfuge could 
 avail him, he did not scruple to employ them. 
 
 Before these measures were completed Henry's 
 active and ambitious mind was occupied by the 
 affairs of the continent, for his j'ounger brother, 
 Geoffrey, advancing a title to Anjou and Maine, 
 had invaded those provinces. A short time after 
 his marriage, which made him Duke of Aquitaine 
 
 and Earl of Poictou, Henry became Earl of Aujou 
 by the death of his father, but under the express 
 condition, it is said, of resigning that earldom to his 
 younger brother if he ever should become King of 
 England. It is even added that the dying Geoffrey 
 had exacted an oath from the barons and bishops 
 who attended him, that they would not suffer his 
 body to be buried till his son Henry should solemnly 
 swear to fulfil the dispositions of his will. Henry 
 hesitated ; but the nobles and prelates, firm to their 
 vow, kept the corpse above ground until, ashamed 
 of preventing the Christian interment, he took the 
 oath required in a most solemn manner, swearing 
 over the dead body of his father, which was then 
 committed to the gi'ave. The King of England, 
 however, showed no disposition to rehnquish the 
 earldom of Anjou; and, it is said, he solicited the 
 Pope to absolve him from his oath, and that the 
 Pope complied on the ground that he had been 
 made to swear under improper influences.^ This 
 story, though scarcely more romantic than others 
 of the same period, has generally been condemned 
 as fiibulous, and it does not rest on the authority of 
 any contemporary narrator writing on the conti- 
 nent, or in the scene of the events. Henry, it is 
 ti"ue, sent three bishops to Rome, but the ostensible 
 reason was probably the true one, and should seem 
 to be motive sufficient in itself for such a mission. 
 Nicholas Breakspear, the only Englishman that 
 ever wore the tiara, had just been elected, and the 
 three bishops were said to be sent to congratulate 
 the new Pope, in the name of the king and the peo- 
 ple of England. The king's father, however, maj* 
 have wished to leave some proper provision for his 
 younger son, and may even have made a will to that 
 effect; and Geoffrey, seeing his brother in posses- 
 sion of so many states, would naturally consider it 
 most unjust that he himself should have none. That 
 young prince, moreover, was encouraged by the 
 French court, which was still smarting under the 
 injuries received from Henry's marriage ; and he 
 seems to have had a strong party in his favor in the 
 provinces of Maine and Anjou. 
 
 The King of England crossed the seas in 1156, 
 and again did homage to Louis VII. for Normandy, 
 Aquitaine, Poictou, Auvergne, the Limousin, Anjou, 
 Touraine, and a long train of dependent territories ; 
 and by this and other means, the nature of which is 
 not explained, he induced the French king to abandon 
 the cause of his younger brother. He then threw 
 himself into the disputed territory, at the head of an 
 army consisting almost entirely of native English, 
 who soon reduced Chinon, Loudon, Mirabeau. and 
 the other castles which held for his brother. The 
 people returned to their allegiance to Henry, and 
 Geoffrey was soon obliged to resign all his claims 
 for a pension of 1000 English and 2000 Angevin 
 pounds. Having triumphed over every opposition, 
 as much by policy as by force of arms, he made a 
 magnificent progress through Aquitaine and the 
 other dominions he had obtained by his marriage, 
 and received the fealty of his chief vassals in a great 
 council hold in the city of Bordeaux. Wherever 
 ' W. Nenbr.
 
 428 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 he appeared he commanded respect, and no sove- 
 reign of the time in Europe could equal the power 
 and splendor of this jouug king. 
 
 On his return to England, in 11.57, he engaged in 
 hostilities with the Welsh, who still fought furiously 
 for their independence. Feeling over-confident in 
 the number and quality of his army, he crossed 
 Flintshire, and threw himself among the mountains. 
 The Welsh let him penetrate as far as the difficult 
 country about Coleshill Forest, when, issuing from 
 their concealment, and pouring down in torrents 
 from the ujjlands, they attacked Henry in a narrow 
 defile where his troops could not form. 
 
 The slaughter was prodigious. Eustace Fitz- 
 John and Robert de Courcy, men of great honor 
 and reputation, together with several other nobles, 
 were dismounted and cut to pieces ; the king him- 
 self was in the gi'eatest danger, and a rumor was 
 raised that he had fallen. Henry, Earl of Essex, 
 the hereditary standard-bearer, threw down the 
 royal standard and fled. The panic was now uni- 
 versal ; but the king rushed among the fugitives, 
 showed them he was unhurt, rallied them, and 
 finally fought his way through the mountain-pass. 
 The serious loss he suft'ered made him cautious, and 
 instead of following Owen Gwynned, who artfully 
 tried to draw him into the defiles of Snowdon, he 
 changed his route, and gaining the open sea-coast, 
 marched along the shore closely attended by a fleet. 
 He cut down some forests, or opened roads through 
 them, and built several castles in advantageous situ- 
 ations. There was no second battle of any note, 
 and, after a few months, the Welsh were glad to 
 purchase peace by resigning such portions of their 
 native territory as they had retaken from Stephen, 
 and giving hostages and doing feudal homage for 
 what they retained. The homage cost them little : 
 the giving of hostages did not prevent them from 
 renewing hostilities whenever time and circum- 
 stances seemed fiivorable to them, and the hardy 
 mountaineers gave many a subsequent check to the 
 Anglo-Norman chivalry. Six years after the battle 
 of Coleshill, the Earl of Essex was publicly accused 
 of cowardice and treason by Robert de Montfort. 
 The standard-bearer appealed to the trial of arms, 
 and was vanquished in the lists by his accuser. By 
 the law of the times, death should have followed, 
 but the king, qualifying the rigor of the judgment, 
 granted him his life, appointing him to be a shorn 
 monk in Reading Abbey, and taking the earl's pos- 
 sessions into his hands as forfeited to the crown.' 
 
 Geoffrey did not live long to exact payment of his 
 annuities from his brother. Soon after concluding 
 the treaty with Henry, which left him without anj^ 
 territory, the citizens of Nantes, in Lower Brittany, 
 spontaneously offered him the government of their 
 citj', just as the people of Domfront had done by Hen- 
 ry Beauclerk when under similar circumstances. 
 Lower Brittany was then occupied in unequal pro- 
 portions by two populations of different races, the 
 one speaking the ancient Armoric, the other the 
 language of France and Normandy. The latter 
 were the more civilized, and had the greater weight 
 
 1 Diceto. 
 
 in the towns and cities, some of which, like Nantes, 
 were exclusively occupied by them. There was a 
 constant enmity between the two races, and the 
 chiefs of the country, the counts or dukes, were 
 sure to be unpopular with one party in proportion to 
 their popularity with the other. The people of 
 Nantes, which, with its dependent territory, formed 
 the most opulent part of the great promontory of 
 Brittany, thought to detach their fortunes from 
 those of the native race by electing young Geoffrey 
 Plantagenet; and during his short life they main- 
 tained a separate administration, and a government 
 almost wholly independent of the Armorican princes. 
 But Geoffrej' died in 1158, and the citizens of Nantes, 
 returning to their old connection with the rest of 
 the country, were governed by Conan, who was 
 Earl of Richmond in England, as well as the hered- 
 itarj' Count or Duke of Brittany. To the surprise 
 of everybody, King Heniy, setting forth the most 
 novel and groundless pretensions, claimed the free 
 city of Nantes as hereditary property, devolved to 
 him by his brother's death. It was in vain the cit- 
 izens represented that they had not, by choosing 
 Geoffrey to be their governor, resigned their inde- 
 pendence or converted themselves into a property 
 to be descendible in his family. Henry wanted to 
 fill up the only great gap in his continental territo- 
 ries, and, careless of right or appearances, he re- 
 solved to seize Nantes, hoping that if once he gained 
 a firm footing there he should soon extend his abso- 
 lute dominion over the rest of Brittany. The stake 
 indeed was most tempting, and Henry was seldom 
 very scrupulous as to the game he played. He af- 
 fected to treat the men of Nantes as rebels, and 
 Conan as a usurper of his rights; he confiscated 
 his earldom of Richmond, in Yorkshire, and cross- 
 ing the Channel with a formidable army, spread 
 such terror that the people submitted, and, re- 
 nouncing Conan, admitted his garrison within the 
 walls of Nantes.' He then quietly took possession 
 of the whole of the countr}' between the Loire and 
 the Vilaine, relj'ing on his art and address for 
 quieting the alarms these encroachments could not 
 fail to create in the French court. He dispatched 
 Thomas a Becket, then the most skilful and accom- 
 modating of all his ministers, to Paris, the volatile 
 inhabitants of which capital were dazzled and de- 
 lighted by the ambassador's magnificence. Henry 
 soon followed in person, and, between them, these 
 two adroit negotiators completely won over the ob- 
 tuse French king. The price paid for his neutrality 
 was, Henry's affiancing his eldest son to Margaret, 
 an infant daughter Louis had had by his wife Con- 
 stance of Castile, who succeeded Eleanor. The 
 young lady was delivered over to one of Henry's 
 Norman barons ; and her dower, consisting of three 
 castles in the Vexin, was consigned to the keeping 
 of the illustrious order of the Knights of the Tem- 
 ple, who were to deliver up their charge to Henry's 
 son when the marriage should be completed, or re- 
 store it to King Louis in case of the affair being 
 broken off by death or other accidents. Henry then 
 prosecuted his views on the rest of Brittany, and 
 I Newbrig. — Scnpt. Rer. Franc
 
 Chap. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 429 
 
 concluded with Conan, whom he had driven from 
 Nantes, a compact which threatened the indepen- 
 dence of the whole country, whether occupied by 
 the wild original population or the bui-ghers and 
 nobles of the other race. He affianced his then 
 youngest son Geoffrey to Constantia, an infant 
 daughter of Conan, the latter engaging to bequeath 
 to his daughter all his rights in Brittany at his 
 death, and Henry engaging to support him in his 
 present power during his life, taking up arms for 
 him against his turbulent subjects, and all others 
 that might attack him, whenever called upon so to 
 do.' 
 
 If this treaty was kept secret for a time from 
 King Louis, Henry's ambition hurried him into 
 other schemes, which interrupted their good under- 
 standing before it had lasted a year. Not satisfied 
 with the tranquil enjoyment of the states he had 
 procured by his marriage, he advanced fresh claims, 
 m right of his wife, to territories which neither she 
 nor her father had ever enjoyed, and, by obtaining 
 the great earldom of Toulouse, he hoped to spread 
 his power across the whole of the broad isthmus 
 that joins France to Spain, and to range along the 
 French coast on the Mediterranean as he already 
 did along the whole Atlantic seaboard. William, 
 Duke of Aquitaine, grandfather of Queen Eleanor, 
 Henry's wife, and a contemporary of the Conquer- 
 or, married Philippa, the only child of William, the 
 fourth Earl of Toulouse. As a female succession 
 was contrary to the laws or usages of the countiy, 
 the Earl William, Philippa's father, conveyed the 
 j)rincipality, by a contract of sale, to his brother 
 Raymond de St. Gilles, who succeeded at his death, 
 and transmitted it to his posterity in the male line, 
 who had held it many years, not without cavil on 
 the part of the house of Aquitaine, but without any 
 successful challenge of their title. Eleanor conveyed 
 her rights, such as they were, and which she was 
 determined not to leave dormant, to Louis VII. by 
 her first marriage ; and during their union the 
 French king sent forth an army for the conquest 
 and occupation of Toulouse. But the expedition 
 ended in a treaty, and Raymond de St. Gilles, the 
 grandson of the first earl of that name, was con- 
 firmed in possession of the country, and released 
 from all claims to it, whether on the part of the 
 French king or his wife Eleanor, by marrying Con- 
 stance, the sister of Louis. Henry now urged, 
 that by her subsequent divorce from Louis, Eleanor 
 was restored to her original rights ; and after some 
 curious correspondence and ransacking of dusty 
 archives, he demanded the instant surrender of 
 the earldom of Toulouse upon the same grounds 
 as Louis had done before him. The Earl Ray- 
 mond raised his banner of war and applied for aid 
 to his brother-in-law of France. By most of the 
 historians the will of the people is passed over as a 
 point of no importance, but that will was decidedly 
 against Henry, and there were free institutions in 
 Toulouse at the time to give legitimate weight and 
 effect to the popular inclination. " The common 
 council of the city and suburbs," for such was the 
 ' Chron. Norm. — Newbrig. — Daru, Ilist. de la Bretagne. 
 
 title borne by the municipal government of Tou 
 louse, ^ seconded Raymond's negotiations with the 
 French court, and raised their banner as a free and 
 incorporated community. On this occasion Louis 
 broke through the fine meshes of Henry's and 
 Becket's diplomacy, and roused himself to a formid- 
 able exertion in order to check the new encroach- 
 ment. Perceiving that the struggle would be se- 
 rious, and that success could only be obtained by 
 the keeping on foot a large army very diflferent in 
 its constitution and terms of service from his feudal 
 forces, Henry resolved, by the advice of Becket, to 
 commute the personal services of his vassals for an 
 aid in money,^ with which he trusted to procure 
 troops that would serve like modern soldiers for their 
 daily pay, obey his orders directly without the often 
 troublesome intermission of feudal lords, and have 
 no objection either to the distance of the scene of 
 hostilities or the length of time they were detained 
 from their homes. The term of forty days, to which 
 the services of the vassals was limited, would have 
 been in good part consumed in the march alone 
 from England and the north of France to Toulouse. 
 He began by levying a sum of money in lieu of their 
 presence in services upon his vassals in Normandy, 
 and other provinces remote from the seat of action : 
 the commutation was agreeable to most of them ; 
 and when it was proposed in England it was still 
 more acceptable on account of the greater distance, 
 and the laudable anxiety of many of the nobles to 
 take care of their estates, which had suffered so 
 much during the intestine wars of the preceding 
 reign. The scutage, as it is called, was levied at 
 the rate of three pounds in England, and of forty 
 Angevin shillings in the continental dominions, for 
 every knight's fee. There were 60,000 knight's 
 fees in England alone, which would produce 
 180,000L — a sum so prodigious in those days, that 
 doubts are entertained as to the correctness of the 
 account, though it is given by a contemporary. But, 
 whatever was the sum, it sufficed Henry for the 
 raising of a strong mercenary force, consisting 
 chiefly of bodies of the femous infantry of the Low 
 Countries. With these marched Malcolm, King of 
 Scotland, who courted the close alliance of Henry ; 
 Raymond, King of Arragon (to whose infant daugh- 
 ter Henry had affianced his infent son Richard) ; 
 one of the Welsh princes, and many English and 
 foreign barons who voluntarily engaged to follow 
 the king to Toulouse. Thomas a Becket, now Chan- 
 cellor of England, and the inseparable companion of 
 his royal master, attended in this war, and none 
 went in more warlike guise. He marched at the 
 head of 700 knights and men-at-arms, whom he had 
 raised at his own expense ; and, when they reached 
 the scene of action, he distinguished himself by his 
 activity and gallantrj", not permitting the circum- 
 stance of his being in holy orders to prevent him 
 from charging with the chivalry or mounting the 
 deadly breach. After taking the town of Cahors, 
 
 1 Commune concilium urbis TholosE et suhurbii. Script. Rer. 
 Franc. 
 
 2 This seems to have been the first introduction of a practice which 
 tended gradually to the overthrow of the whole feudal system.
 
 430 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Henry marched upon tho city of Toulouse. But 
 the French king, crossing B«rry, which belonged to 
 him in good part, and the Limousin, which granted 
 him a free passage, threw himself with reinforce- 
 ments into the threatened city, where he was re- 
 ceived with exti'eme joy by Earl Raymond and the 
 citizens. The latter meeting in solemn assembly, 
 voted Louis a letter of thanks, in which thej- ex- 
 pressed their obligations for his having succored 
 them " like a father,'" — a touching expression of 
 gratitude, which did not imply any civil or feudal 
 submission on the part of the citizens. The force 
 which Louis brought with him was small, and the 
 energetic Becket advised Henry to make an imme- 
 diate assault, in which the churchman judged he 
 could hardly fail of reducing the town and taking 
 prisoner the French king, whose captivity might be 
 turned to incalculable advantage. But Henry was 
 cool and cautious even in the midst of his greatest 
 successes: he did not wish to drive the French na- 
 tion to extremities, — he was so woven up in the 
 complicated feudal system, and so dependent him- 
 self on the faithful observance of its nice gi-adations, 
 that he wished to avoid outraging the great princi- 
 ples on which it rested ; and being himself vassal to 
 Louis, and, in his quality of Earl of Anjou, heredi- 
 tary Seneschal of France, he declared he could not 
 show such disrespect to his superior lord as to be- 
 siege hun. While he hesitated a French army 
 marched to the relief of their king. Henry then 
 transferred the war to another part of the earldom, 
 and soon after, leaving the supreme command to 
 Becket, returned with part of his arm)' to Norman- 
 dy. The clerical chancellor continued to appear 
 as if in his proper element : he fortified Caliors, took 
 three castles which had been deemed impregnable, 
 and tilted with a Frencli knight, whose horse he 
 carried away as the proof of his victory. But 
 Heniy could not do without his favorite ; and a 
 French force having made a diversion on the side 
 of Normandy, Becket also returned thither, leaving 
 only a few insignificant garrisons on the banks of the 
 Garonne and pleasant hills of Languedoc. The 
 pohtical condition, however, of that favored region 
 declined from that hour. The habit of imploring 
 the protection of one king against another became 
 a cause of dependence ; and with the epoch when 
 the King of England, as Duke of Aquitaine and Earl 
 of Poictou, obtained an influence over the affairs of 
 the south of France, commenced the decline and 
 misery of a most interesting population. Thence- 
 forward, placed between two great powers, the 
 rivals of each other, and both equally ambitious and 
 encroaching, they sought the protection, now of the 
 one, and now of the other, according to circumstan- 
 ces, and were alternately supported and abandoned, 
 betrayed and sold, by both. Their only chance was 
 when the kings of France and England were en- 
 gaged in open war elsewhere ; and the Troubadours 
 were accustomed to sing the joys that arose when 
 the truce between the Stirling? and the Tornes (the 
 Easterlings and the people of Touraine). as they 
 
 1 Quod eorum periculis more prxtemo providcat.'" Script. Rer. 
 Fri;.c. 
 
 called the French and English, was broken.' They 
 had the advantages of an earlier civilization, but 
 state polic}' and wordly wisdom seem to have been 
 incompatible with the character of a people so de- 
 voted to pleasure and the pursuits of poetry and ro- 
 mance. There was also wanting a good substratum I 
 of national morals ; for the code of love and gallantry, « 
 
 which was almost the only one in vogue, did not 
 make the best of citizens. They were turbulent, 
 restless, and passionately fond of change. They 
 were divided by a thousand rivalries ; not merely 
 one province being jealous of another, but town of 
 town, and village of village. They were brave, and 
 passionately fond of war ; but they loved it rather 
 for its excitement, and its poetical and picturesque 
 accompaniments, than from any noble impulse of pat- 
 riotism. Tliey were always more ready to run at the 
 word of a fair lady to the wars of Palestine, or some 
 other distant and romantic enterprise, than to keep 
 steady watch and ward for the defence of their own 
 fair land. They were a people of a light character 
 and lively imagination ; they had a taste for the arts 
 and all delicate enjojments ; they were ingenious 
 and industrious, and their soil was rich and glowing. 
 Nature had given them everything except steadi- 
 ness of character, political prudence, and the spirit 
 of union ; and from the want of these they lost their 
 independence, their riches, their civilization, their 
 poetry, and even their beautiful language, — the first 
 that spread the melody of recreated verse through 
 Europe. Our Plantagenet race of kings contributed 
 to all this ruin, and a short digression may be ex- 
 cused in favor of an intellectual people, to whom 
 our early literature had great obligations. 
 
 In the brief war which ensued after the expedi- 
 tion to Toulouse, on the frontiers of Normandj', 
 Becket maintained 1200 knights, with no fewer than 
 4000 attendants and foot soldiers ; and when the 
 King of France was induced to treat, the eloquent 
 and versatile churchman was charged with the ne- 
 gotiations on the part of his friend and master. A 
 truce was concluded at the end of the year, and a 
 few months after, when the rival kings had an inter- 
 view, the truce was converted into a formal peace 
 (a.d. 1160), Henry's eldest son doing homage to 
 Louis for the duchy of Normandy, and Henry 
 being permitted to retain the few places he had 
 conquered in the earldom of Toulouse. This pre- 
 cious peace did not last quite one month. Con- 
 stance, the French queen, died without leaving any 
 male issue ; and Louis, anxious for an heir, as his 
 daughters could not succeed, in about a fortnight 
 after her decease married Adelais, niece of the 
 late English king Stephen, and sister of the three 
 earls of Blois, Champagne, and Sancerre. This 
 union with the old enemies of his family greatly 
 troubled Henry, who, foreseeing a disposition in the 
 French court to break off the alliance with him, 
 which might give his progeny a hold upon France, 
 secretly secured a dispensation from the Pope, and 
 solemnized the contract of marriage between his son 
 
 ' E m'plai quan la trega es fracta 
 Dels Esterliiis c dels Torucs. 
 
 Puesie des Tr«u!)adonrt.
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 431 
 
 Henry, who was seven years old, and the daughter 
 of Louis, the Princess Margaret, who had been 
 placed in his power at the conclusion of the original 
 treaty, and who had attained the matronly age of 
 three years. Becket, the prime mover in all things, 
 brought the royal infant to London, where this 
 strange ceremony was performed. As soon as it 
 was finished, Henry claimed the infant's dower, 
 according to the express terms of the treaty, and 
 the Knights Templars, without objecting to the ir- 
 regular manner in which he had precipitated the 
 marriage, delivered up to him the three castles and 
 towns. Louis instantly raised his banner of war, 
 and exiled the Templars. It was said at the time 
 that Henry had bribed the grand master ; and this 
 disservice to the French crown was probably not 
 forgotten a hundred and fifty j'ears after, when the 
 order was suppressed in France with unexampled 
 cruelties. The French king, however, was no 
 match for the powerful and politic English monarch; 
 and as Henry was averse to hazardous enterprises 
 likely to be accompanied by great cost and little 
 solid advantage, the war presented nothing more 
 important than the shivering of a few lances and the 
 besieging of a few castles, and another peace was 
 soon concluded through the mediation of the pope. 
 
 At this time, as at several other periods in the 
 middle ages, there were two popes, each calling 
 the other anti-pope and anti-christ. Victor IV. 
 was established at Rome under the patronage of 
 the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa; and Alexander 
 III., whose election is generally recognized as more 
 legal and canonical, was a fugitive and an exile north 
 of the Alps, where both Louis and Henry bowed 
 to his spiritual authority, and rivaled each other in 
 their offers of an asylum and succor, and in theii" 
 reverential demeanor. When the two kings met 
 him in person at Courcy sur Loire, they both dis- 
 mounted, and holding each of them one of the 
 bridle-reins of his mule, walked on foot by his 
 side, and conducted him to the castle.' 
 
 A short period of happy tranquillity both in Eng- 
 land and Hemy's continental dominions followed 
 this reconciliation ; and when it was disturbed, the 
 storm proceeded from a most unexpected quarter 
 — from Thomas a Becket, the king's bosom friend. 
 Further particulars of the history of this extraordi- 
 nary man, and of the ecclesiastical quarrel which 
 troubled the reign and embittered ten years of the 
 life of Henry, will be given in the next chapter, and 
 we shall here merely handle a few of the great con- 
 necting links of the narrative. Becket was born at 
 London, in, or about, the year 1117. His ftither was 
 a citizen and trader, of the Saxon race — circum- 
 stances which seemed to exclude the son from the 
 career of ambition. The boy, however, was gifted 
 with an extraordinary intelligence, a handsome per- 
 son, and most engaging manners ; and his father gave 
 him all the advantages of education that were within 
 his reach. He studied successively at Merton Ab- 
 bey, London, Oxford, and Paris, in which last city 
 he applied to civil law, and acquired as perfect a 
 mastery and as pure a pronunciation of the French 
 
 ' NewlTig.— Cliron. Norm. 
 
 language as any, the best educated of the Norman 
 nobles and officers. While yet a young man, he 
 was employed as an under-clerk in the office of the 
 sherift" of London, where he attracted the attention 
 of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent 
 him to complete his study of the civil law to the 
 then famous school of Bologna. After profiting by 
 the lessons of the learned Gratian, Becket recrossed 
 the Alps, and staid some time at Auxerre, in Bur- 
 gundy, to attend the lectures of another celebrated 
 law professor. On his return to London, he took 
 deacon's orders,' and his powerful patron, the arch- 
 bishop, gave him some valuable church preferment, 
 which neither necessitated a residence, nor the 
 performance of any church duties; and he soon 
 afterward sent him, as the best qualified person he 
 knew, to conduct some important negotiations at 
 the court of Rome. The young diplomatist (for he 
 was then only thirty-two years old) acquitted him- 
 self with great abihty and complete success, obtain- 
 ing from the pope a prohibition that defeated the 
 design of crowning Prince Eustace, the son of 
 Stephen — an important service, which secured the 
 favor of the Empress Matilda and the house of 
 Plantagenet. On Henry's accession. Archbishop 
 Theobald had all the authority of prime-minister, 
 and being old and infirm, he delegated the most of 
 it to the active Becket, who was made chancellor 
 of the kingdom two years after, being the first Eng- 
 lishman since the Conquest that had reached any 
 eminent office. As if to empty the lap of royal 
 bounty, Henry at the same time appointed him 
 preceptor of the heir to the crown, and gave him 
 the wardenship of the Tower of London, the castle 
 of Berkhampstead, and the honor of Eje, with 340 
 knight's fees. His revenue, flowmg in from many 
 sources, was immense ; and no man ever spent 
 more freely or magnificently. His house was a 
 palace, both in dimensions and appointments. It 
 was stocked with vessels of gold and silver, and con- 
 stantly frequented by numberless guests of all goodly 
 ranks, from barons and earls to knights and pages, 
 and simple retainers — of which he had several 
 hundreds, who acknowledged themselves his imme- 
 diate vassals. His tables were spread with the 
 choicest viands ; the best of wines were poured out 
 with an unsparing hand ; the richest dresses allotted 
 to his pages and serving-men ; but with all this 
 costly magnificence, there were certain capital wants 
 of comfort, which show the imperfect civilization 
 of the age ; and his biographer relates, among other 
 things, that as the number of guests was often 
 greater than could find place at table, Becket or- 
 dered that the floor should be every day covered 
 with fresh hay or straw, in order that those who 
 sat upon it might not soil their dresses.^ The 
 chancellor's out-door appearance was still more 
 splendid, and on great public occasions wjis can'ied 
 to an extremity of pomp and magnificence; though 
 here again there are circumstances that would 
 seem discordant and grotesque to a modern eye. 
 When he went on his embassy to Paris, he was at- 
 
 ' He never took the mnjor orders till he became archbishop. 
 
 s Fitz Stejhen. This amusing biog^rapher was Deckel's secretary.
 
 432 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 tended by two hundred knights, besides many barons 
 and nobles, and a complete host of domestics, all rich- 
 ly armed and attired, the chancellor himself having 
 four-and-twenty changes of apparel. As he traveled 
 through France, hi strain of waggons and sumpter- 
 horses, his hounds and hawks, his huntsmen and 
 falconers, seemed to announce the presence of a 
 more than king. Whenever he entered a town, 
 the ambassadorial procession Avas led by 250 boys 
 singing national songs ; then followed his hounds, 
 led in couples ; and these were succeeded by eight 
 waggons, each with five large horses, and five dri- 
 vers in new frocks. Every waggon was covered 
 with skins, and guarded by two men and a fierce 
 mastiflf; two of the waggons were loaded with ale, 
 to be distributed to the people ; one carried the 
 vessels and furniture of his chapel, another of his 
 bed-chamber ; a fifth was loaded with his kitchen 
 apparatus ; a sixth carried his abundant plate and 
 wardrobe ; and the other two were devoted to the 
 use of his household servants. After the wfiggons 
 came twelve sumpter-horses, a monTcey riding on 
 each, with a groom behind on his knees. Then came 
 the esquires, carrying the shields, and leading the 
 war-horses of their respective knights ; then other 
 esquires (youths of gentle birth), falconers, officers 
 of the household, knights and priests ; and last of 
 all appeared the great chancellor himself with his 
 familiar friends. As Becket passed in this guise, 
 the French were heard to exclaim, "What manner 
 of man must the King of England be, when his 
 chancellor travels in such state !"' Henry encour- 
 aged all this pomp and magnificence, and seems to 
 have taken a lively enjoyment in the spectacle, 
 though he sometimes twitted the chancellor on the 
 finery of his attire. All such offices of government 
 as were not performed bj^ the ready and indefati- 
 gable king himself were left to Becket, who had no 
 competitor in authority. Secret enemies he had 
 in abundance, but never even a momentary rival 
 in the royal favor. The minister and king lived 
 together like brothers ; and according to a contem- 
 porarj ,- who knew more of Henry than any other 
 that has written concerning him, it was notorious 
 to all jnen that they were cor imutn et anima una 
 (of one heart and one mind in all things). With 
 his chancellor Henry gave free scope to a facetious 
 frolicsome humor, which was natural to him, though 
 no prince could assume more dignitj' and sternness 
 when necessary. The amusing biographer of 
 Becket tells the following well-known stoiy. One 
 day as the king and his chancellor were riding to- 
 gether through the streets of London in cold and 
 stormy weather, the king saw coming toward them 
 a poor old man in a thin coat worn to tatters. 
 " Would it not be very praiseworthy to give that 
 poor man a good warm cloak ?" said the king. " It 
 would, surely," replied the chancellor; "and you 
 do well, sir, in turning your eyes and thoughts to 
 such objects." While they were thus talking, they 
 came near to the poor man. and the king, turning to 
 the chancellor, said, " You shall have the merit of 
 
 1 Fitz Stpph. 
 
 2 Petrus Blesensis, or Peter of Blois 
 
 See his Loiters. 
 
 this good deed of charity :" then suddenly laying 
 hold of Becket's fine new cloak, Avhich wiis of scar- 
 let cloth, lined with ermine, he tried to pull it from 
 his shoulders. The chancellor defended himself 
 for some time, and pulling and tugging at one another, 
 they had both of them like to have fallen off their 
 horses in the street ; but, in the end, Becket let go 
 his cloak, which the king gave to the beggar, who 
 went his way not less pleased than surprised ; while 
 the courtiers in the royal train laughed, like good 
 courtiers, at the passing pleasantry of their master. 
 The chancellor was an admirable horseman, and 
 expert in hunting and hawking, and all the sports of 
 the field. These accomplishments, and a never- 
 failing wit and vivacity, made him the constant com- 
 panion of the king's leisure hours, and the sharer 
 (it is hinted) in less innocent pleasures — for Henry 
 was a very inconstant husband, and had much ol 
 the Norman licentiousness. At the same time 
 Becket was an able minister, and his administration 
 was not only advantageous to the interests of his 
 master, but, on the whole, extremely beneficial to 
 the nation. IMost of the useful measures Avhich 
 distinguished the early part of the king's reign have 
 been atti'ibuted to his advice, his discriminating 
 genius, and good intentions. Such were the resto- 
 ration of internal tranquillity, the curbing of the 
 baronial power, the better appointment of judges, 
 the reform in the currency, and the encouragement 
 given to trade, the protection of which in foreign 
 countries now became an object of great attention 
 to the government. He certainly could not be ac- 
 cused of entertaining a low notion of the royal 
 prerogative, or of any lukewarmness in exacting the 
 rights of the king. He humbled the lay aristocracy 
 whenever he could, and more than once attacked 
 the extravagant privileges, immunities, and exemp- 
 tions claimed by the aristocracy of the church. He 
 insisted that the bishops and abbots should pay the 
 scutage for the war of Toulouse like the lay vassals 
 of the crown, and this drew upon him the violent 
 invectives of many of the hierarchy, Gilbert Foliot, 
 the Bishop of Hereford, among others, accusing him 
 of plunging the sword into the bosom of 3Iother 
 Church, and threatening him with excommunication. 
 One day in his synod, Avhen some bishops exalted the 
 independence of the church at the expense of the 
 roynl authority-, the chancellor openlj' contradicted 
 their pretensions, and reminded them in a tone of se- 
 veritj' that they, as men of the church, were bound 
 to the king by the same oath as the men of the sword 
 — by the oath to preserve him in life, limbs, dignity, 
 and honors.' All this tended to convince Henry that 
 Becket was the proper person to name primate, as 
 one who had already given proofs of a spirit greiftly 
 averse to ecclesiastical encroachments, and of an af- 
 fection and devotion to his own interests that prom- 
 ised to be of the greatest service to him in a project 
 which, in common Avith other European sovereigns, 
 he had much at heart, namelj^, to check the growing 
 power of Rome and curtail the privileges of the 
 priesthood. Although his conduct had not been very 
 priest-like, he was popular : the king's favor and iu- 
 
 1 Wilkins, Concilia.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 433 
 
 tentions were well known, and accordingly, in llGl, 
 when his old patron Theobald, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, died, the pubhc voice designated Becket as 
 the man who must inevitably succeed him ; and after 
 a vacancy of about thirteen months, during which 
 Henry drew the revenues, he was appointed Pri- 
 mate of all England. 
 
 From that moment Becket was an altered man : 
 the soldier, statesman, hunter, courtier, man of the 
 world, and man of pleasure, became a rigid and 
 ascetic monk, renouncing even the innocent enjoy- 
 ments of life, together with the service of his more 
 friend than master, and resolving to perish by a 
 slow martyrdom rather than suffer the king to in- 
 vade the smallest privilege of the church. Although 
 he then retained, and afterward showed a some- 
 what inconsistent anxiety to preserve, certain other 
 worldly honors and places of trust, he resigned the 
 chancellorship in spite of the wishes of the king — 
 he discarded all his former companions and mag- 
 nificent retinue — he threw off his splendid attire — 
 he discharged his choice cooks and his cupbearers, 
 to surround himself with monks and beggars (whose 
 feet he daily washed), to clothe himself in sackcloth, 
 to eat the coarsest food, and drink water, rendered 
 bitter by the mixture of unsavory herbs. The rest 
 of his penitence, his prayers, his works of charity 
 in hospitals and pest-houses, which soon caused his 
 name to be revered as that of a saint, and his person 
 to be followed by the prayers and acclamations of 
 the people, would lead us from our present pur- 
 pose. With the views the king was known to en- 
 tertain in church matters, the collision was inevita- 
 ble, yet it certainly was the archbishop who began 
 the contest, and it is most unfair to attempt to con- 
 ceal or slur over this fact. In 1163, about a year 
 after his elevation, Becket raised a loud complaint 
 on the usurpations by the king and laity of the 
 rights and property of the church. He claimed 
 houses and lands which, if they ever had been in- 
 cluded in the endowments of the see of Canterbury, 
 had been for generations in the possession of lay 
 families. It is curious to see castles and places of 
 war figuring in his list. From the king himself he 
 demanded the strong, and then most important, 
 castle of Rochester, which he said was his, as 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. From the Earl of 
 Clare, whose family had possessed them in fief 
 ever since the Conquest, he demanded the strong 
 castle and the barony of Tunbridge ; and from other 
 barons, possessions of a hke nature. But to com- 
 plete the indignation of Henry, who had laid it 
 down as an indispensable and unchangeable rule of 
 government, that no vassal who held in capite of 
 the crown should be excommunicated without his 
 previous knowledge and consent, he hurled the 
 thunders of the church at the head of William de 
 Eynsford, a mihtary tenant of the crown, for forci- 
 bly ejecting a priest collated to the rectory of that 
 manor by the archbishop, and for pretending, as 
 lord of the manor, to a right over that living. When 
 Henry ordered him to revoke the sentence, Becket 
 told him that it was not for the king to inform him 
 whom he should absolve and whom excommunicate 
 VOL. I.— 28 
 
 — a right and faculty appertaining solely to the 
 church. The king then resorted from remon- 
 strances to threats of vengeance ; and Becket. 
 bending for awhile before the storm, absolved the 
 knight, but reluctantly and with a bad grace.' In 
 the course of the following year, the king matured 
 his project for subjecting the clergy to the authority 
 of the civil courts for murder, felony, and other 
 crimes ; and to this reform, in a council held at 
 Westminster, he formally demanded the assent of 
 the archbishop and the other prelates. The leni- 
 ency of the ecclesiastical courts to offenders in holy 
 oi"ders seemed almost to give an immunity to crime, 
 and a recent case, in which a clergyman had been 
 but slightly punished for the most atrocious of of- 
 fences, called aloud for a change of court and prac- 
 tice, and lent unanswerable arguments to the min- 
 isters and advocates of the king. The bishops, 
 however, with one voice, rejected the proposed 
 innovations, upon which Heniy asked them if they 
 would merely promise to observe the ancient cus- 
 toms of the realm. Becket and his brethren, ■w;ith 
 the exception only of Hilary, Bishop of Chichester, 
 answered that they would observe them, "saving 
 their order." On this the king immediately de- 
 prived the archbishop of the manor of Eye and the 
 castle of Berkhampstead, which he had hitherto 
 been allowed to retain. Finding, however, that the 
 bishops fell from his side instead of supporting his 
 quaiTel, and being on one side menaced by the 
 king and lay nobles, and on the other, it is said, ad- 
 vised to submit by the pope himself, Becket shortly 
 afterward, at a great council held at Clarendon, in 
 Wiltshire (25th January, 1164), consented to sign 
 a series of enactments embodying the several points 
 insisted upon by the king, and hence called the 
 " Constitutions of Clarendon ;" but he refused to put 
 his seal to them, and immediately after withdrew 
 from the court, and even from the service of the 
 altar, to subject himself to the harshest penance for 
 having acted contrary to his inward conviction. 
 Subsequently the pope rejected the " Constitutions 
 of Clarendon," with the exception only of six arti- 
 cles of minor importance ; and the archbishop was 
 then encouraged to persist by the only superior he 
 acknowledged in this world. 
 
 The king being now determined to keep no 
 measures, nor restrict himself to a purely legal 
 course, assembled a great council in the town of 
 Northampton, and summoned the archbishop to 
 appear before it. He was charged, in the first 
 place, with a breach of allegiance and acts of con- 
 tempt against the king. He offered a plea in ex- 
 cuse, but Heniy swore, " by God's eyes," ' that he 
 would have justice in its full extent, and the court 
 condemned Becket to forfeit all his goods and chat- 
 tels ; but this forfeiture was immediately commuted 
 for a fine of oOOZ. The next day the king required 
 him to refund 300i. which he had received as 
 
 1 Gervase of Canterbury. — Diceto. — Fjtz-Steph. Epist. St. Thorn. 
 —Hist. Quail. 
 
 a This was Henry's usual oath when much excited. The oaths ot 
 all these kin?s would make a curious collection of blasphemy. The 
 chroniclers have been careful to preserve them, and, according to their 
 records, nearly every king had his distinctive oath.
 
 434 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book 111. 
 
 warden of Eye anJ Berkhampstead, and 500Z. 
 which lie (the king) had given him before the 
 walls of Toulouse ; and, on the third day, he was 
 required to render an account of all his receipts 
 from vacant abbeys and bishoprics during his chan- 
 cellorship, the balance due thereon to the crown 
 being set down at the enormous sum of 44,000 
 marks. Becket now perceived that the king was 
 bent on his utter ruin. For a moment he was 
 overpowered ; but, recovering his firmness and self- 
 possession, which never forsook him for long inter- 
 vals, he said he was not bound to plea on that 
 count, seeing that, at his consecration as archbishop, 
 he had been publicly released by the king from all 
 such claims. He demanded a conference with the 
 bishops ; but these dignitaries had already declared 
 for the court, and the majority of them now ad- 
 vised him to resign the primacy as the only step 
 which could restore peace to the church and nation. 
 His health gave way under these troubles, and he 
 was confined to a sick-bed for the two following 
 days. His indomitable mind, however, yielded 
 none of its firmness and (we must add) its pride. 
 He considered the bishops as cowards and time- 
 servers, and resolved to retain that post from which, 
 having once been placed in it, it was held, by all 
 law and custom, he could never be deposed by the 
 temporal power, or by any authority except that of 
 the Pope. It is said that he thought of going bare- 
 foot to the palace, and throwing himself at the 
 king's feet, to appeal to his pity and the remem- 
 brance of their old and dear friendship, — a course 
 which would probably have effected a reconcilia- 
 tion, for the king was not of a harsh or unforgiving 
 disposition, and Jiis pride would have been con- 
 ciliated by the outward semblance of submission. 
 But, in the end, Becket adopted a line of conduct 
 much more natural to his character, resolving to 
 deny the authority of the court and brave the king 
 in his wrath. On the morning of the decisive day 
 (October 18th, 1164), he celebrated the mass of 
 St. Stephen, the first Martyr, the office of which 
 begins with these words : — " Sederunt principes et 
 adversum me loquebantur." (Princes also did sit 
 and speak against me. Ps. cxix. 23.) After the 
 mass, he set out for the court, arrayed as he was in 
 his pontifical robes. He went on horseback, bear- 
 ing the archiepiscopal cross in his right hand, and 
 holding the reins in his left. When he dismounted 
 at the palace, one of his suffragans would have 
 borne the cross before him in the usual manner, but 
 he would not let it go out of his hands, saying, " It 
 is most reason I should bear the cross myself; 
 under the defence thereof I may remain in safety ; 
 and, beholding this ensign, I need not doubt under 
 what prince I serve." — " But," said the Archbishop 
 of York, an old rival and enemy of Becket, " it is 
 defying the king our lord to come in this fashion to 
 his court ; — but the king has a sword, the point of 
 which is sharper than that of thy pastoral staff." 
 As the primate entered, the king, enraged at his 
 unexpected manner of presenting himself, rose 
 from his seat and withdrew to an inner apartment, 
 whither the barons and bishops soon followed him, 
 
 leaving Becket alone in the vast hall, or attended 
 only by a few of his clerks or the inferior clergy, 
 the whole body of which, unlike the dignitaries of 
 the church, inclined to his person and cause. 
 These poor clerks trembled and were sore dis- 
 mayed ; but not so Becket, who seated himself on 
 a bench, and still holding his cross erect, calmly 
 awaited the event. He was not made to wait 
 long : the Bishop of Exeter, terrified at the exces- 
 sive exasperation of the sovereign, came forth from 
 the inner apartment, and throwing himself on his 
 knees, implored the primate to have pity on himself 
 and his brethren the bishops, for the king had 
 vowed to slay the first of them that should attempt 
 to excuse his conduct. " Thou fearest," replied 
 Becket; "flee then! thou canst not understand the 
 things that are of God !" Soon afterward, the rest 
 of the bishops appeared in a body, and Hilary of 
 Chichester, speaking in the name of all, said, 
 "Thou wast our primate, but now we disavow 
 thee, because, after having promised faith to the 
 king, our common lord, and sworn to maintain his 
 royal customs, thou hast endeavored to destroy 
 them, and hast broken thine oath. We proclaim 
 thee, then, a traitor, and tell thee we will no longer 
 obey a perjured archbishop, but place ourselves and 
 our cause under the protection of our lord the Pope, 
 and summon thee to answer us before him." — " I 
 hear," said Becket, and he deigned no further 
 reply. 
 
 According to Roger of Hoveden, the archbishop 
 was accused in the council chamber of the im- 
 possible crime of magic ; and the barons pro- 
 nounced a sentence of imprisonment against him. 
 The door of that chamber soon opened, and Robert, 
 Earl of Leicester, followed by the barons, stepped 
 forth into the hall to read the sentence, beginning 
 in the usual old Norman French form, — " Oyez- 
 ci." The archbishop rose, and, interrupting him, 
 said, " Son and earl, hear me first. Thou knowest 
 with how much faith I served the king, — with how 
 much reluctance and only to please him, I accepted 
 my present charge, and ia what manner I was 
 declared free from all secular claims whatsoever. 
 Touching the things which happened before my 
 consecration, I ought not to answer, nor will I 
 answer. Y^ou, moreover, are all my children in 
 God, and neither law nor reason permits you to sit 
 in judgment upon your father. I forbid you tTiere- 
 fore to judge me ; — I decline your tribunal, and 
 refer my quarrel to the decision of the Pope. To 
 him I appeal : and now, under the holy protection 
 of the Catholic church and the apostolie see, I 
 depart in peace." After this counter appeal to 
 the power which his adversaries had been the first 
 to invoke, Becket slowly strode through the crowd 
 toward the door of the hall. When near the 
 threshold, the spirit of the soldier, which was not 
 yet extinguished by the aspirations of the saint, 
 blazed forth in a withering look and a few hasty 
 but impassioned words. Some of the courtiers and 
 retainers of the king threw at him straw or rushes, 
 which they gathered from the floor, and called him 
 traitor and false perjurer. Turning round and
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 435 
 
 drawing himself up to his full height, he cried, " If 
 my holy calling did not forbid it, I would make my 
 answer with my sword to those cowards who call 
 me traitor.' He then mounted his horse amidst 
 the acclamations of the lower clergy and common 
 people, and rode in a sort of triumph to his lodg- 
 ings, the populace shouting, " Blessed be God who 
 hath delivered his servant from the hands of his 
 enemies." The strength of Becket's party was in 
 the popular body; and it has been supposed, with 
 some reason, that his English birth and Saxon 
 descent contributed, no less than his sudden sanc- 
 tity, to endear him to the people, who had never 
 before seen one of their race elevated to such 
 dignities. He seems, indeed, to have been very 
 popular, even when nothing more than a profane 
 chancellor, and at this critical moment he resorted 
 to means that could hardly fail of giving enthusiasm 
 to the feelings of the multitude. The stately 
 bishops, as we have said, had fallen from his side, 
 — the lordly abbots remained aloof in their houses, 
 — the mass of his own clerical followers had for- 
 saken him, — the lay nobles of the land were almost 
 to a man his declared enemies : his house was 
 empty, and in a spirit of imitation which some will 
 deem presumptuous, he determined to fill it with 
 the paupers of the town and the lowly wayfarers 
 fi"om the road-side. " Suffer," said he, " all the 
 poor people to come into the place, that we may 
 make merry together in the Lord." " And having 
 thus spoken, the people had free entrance, so that 
 all the halls and all the chambers of the house being 
 furnished with tables and stools, they were con- 
 veniently placed, and served with meat and drink 
 to the full," ^ the archbishop supping with them 
 and doing the honors of the feast. In the course 
 of the evening he sent to the king to ask leave to 
 retire beyond sea, and he was told that he should 
 receive an answer on the following morning. The 
 modern historians, who take the most unfavorable 
 view of the king's conduct in these particulars, 
 intimate more or less broadly that a design was on 
 foot for preventing the archbishop from ever seeing 
 that morrow ; but the circumstances of time and 
 place, and the character of Henry, are opposed to 
 tlie belief that secret assassination was contem- 
 plated ; nor does any contemporary writer give 
 reasonable grounds for entertaining such a belief, 
 or indeed say more than that the archbishop's 
 friends were sorely frightened, and thought such 
 a tragical termination of the quarrel a highly 
 probable event. Becket, however, took his de- 
 parture as if he himself feared violence. He stole 
 out of the town of Northampton at the dead of 
 night, disguised as a simple monk, and calling him- 
 self Brother Dearman ; and being followed only by 
 two clerks and a domestic servant, he hastened 
 toward the coast, hiding by day and pursuing his 
 journey by night. The season was far advanced, 
 and the stormy winds of November swept the 
 
 ' Fitz-Steph. — Gervase. — Grym. — Diceto. Dicelo, we know, was at 
 this meeting, and what gives singular interest to the accounts of it 
 is, that it is probable the other three chroniclers, who were all closely 
 connected with Becket, were also present. 
 
 2 Holinshed. 
 
 waters of the Channel when he reached the coast; 
 but Becket embarked in a small boat, and after 
 many perils and fatigues, landed at Gravelines, in 
 Flanders, on the fifteenth day after his departure 
 from Northampton. 
 
 From the sea-port of Gravelines he and his com- 
 panions walked on foot, and in very bad condition, 
 to the monastery of St. Bertin, near to Namur, 
 where he waited a short time the success of his 
 applications to the King of France, and the Pope 
 Alexander III., who had fixed his residence for a 
 time in the city of Sens. Their answers were 
 most favorable ; for, fortunately for Becket, the 
 jealousy and disunion between the kings of France 
 and England disposed Louis to protect the ob- 
 noxious exile, in order to vex and weaken Henry ; 
 and the Pope, turning a deaf ear to a magnificent 
 embassy dispatched to him by the English sove- 
 reign, determined to support the cause of the pri- 
 mate as that of truth, of justice, and the church. 
 The splendid abbey of Pontigny, in Burgundy, was 
 assigned to him as an honorable and secure asylum; 
 and the pope reinvested him with his archiepiscopal 
 dignity, which he had surrendered into his hands, 
 notwithstanding the urgent wish of some of the 
 cardinals that Alexander would keep his resigna- 
 tion, which would allow of a new primate being 
 appointed for England, and so put an end to a dan- 
 gerous controversy. Encouraged by the counte- 
 nance he thus received from the pope, Becket now 
 declared that Christ was again tried in his case 
 before a lay tribunal, and cnicified afresh in the 
 person of himself, the servant of Christ. 
 
 As soon as Henry was informed of these par- 
 ticulars, he issued writs to the sheriffs of England, 
 commanding them to seize all rents and possessions 
 of the primate within their jurisdictions, and to 
 detain all bearers of appeals to the pope till the 
 king's pleasure should be made known to them. 
 He also commanded the justices of the kingdom to 
 detain in like manner all bearers of papers, whether 
 from the pope or Becket, that purported to pro- 
 nounce excommunication or interdict on the realm, 
 — all persons, whether lay or ecclesiastic, who 
 should adhere to such sentence of interdict, — and 
 all clerks attempting to leave the kingdom without 
 a passport from the king. The primate's name 
 was struck out of the Liturgy, and the revenues of 
 every clergyman who had either followed him into 
 France, or had sent him aid and money, were 
 seized by the crown. If Henry's vengeance had 
 stopped here it might have been excused, if not 
 justified ; but, irritated to madness by the tone of 
 defiance his enemy assumed in a foreign country, 
 he proceeded to further vindictive and most dis- 
 graceful measures, issuing one common sentence 
 of banishment against all who were connected with 
 Becket, either by the ties of relationship or those 
 of friendship. The list of proscription contained 
 four hundred names, for the wives and children of 
 Becket's friends were included ; and it is said that 
 they were all bound by an oath to show themselves 
 in their miserable exile to the cause of their ruin, 
 that his heart might be wrung by the sight of the
 
 436 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 misery he had biou<;ht down upon the heads of all 
 those who were most dear to him. It is added 
 that his ceil at Pontigny was accordingly beset by 
 these exiles, but that he finally succeeded in reliev- 
 ing their immediate wants by interesting the King 
 of France, the Queen of Sicily, and the Pope, in 
 their favor. 
 
 In 1165, the year after Becket's flight, Henry 
 sustained no small disgrace from the result of a 
 camj)aign, in which he personally commanded, 
 against the Welsh. That hardy people had risen 
 once more in arms in 1163, but had been defeated 
 by an Anglo-Norman army, which subsequently 
 plundered and wasted with fire the countj- of Car- 
 marthen. Somewhat more than a year later, a 
 nephew of Rees-ap-Gryffiths, prince or king of 
 South Wales, was found dead in his bed, and the 
 uncle asserting he had been assassinated by the 
 secret emissaries of a neighboring Norman baron, 
 collected the mountaineers of the south, and began 
 a fierce and successful warfare, in which he was 
 presently joined by his old allies, Gwynned, the 
 prince of North Wales, and Owen Cyvelioch, the 
 leader of the clans of Powisland. One Norman 
 castle fell after another, and, when hostilities had 
 continued for some time, the Welsh pushed their 
 incursions forward into the level country. The 
 king, turning at length his attention from the church 
 quarrel, which had absorbed it, drew together an 
 army "as well of Englishmen as strangers," and 
 hastened to the Welsh marches. At his approach 
 the mountaineers withdrew "to their starting holes," 
 their woods, and strait passages. Henry, without 
 regard to difficulties and dangers, followed them, 
 and a general action was fought on the banks of 
 the Cieroc. The Welsh were defeated, and fled 
 to their uplands. Henry, still following them, 
 penetrated as far as the lofty Berwin, at the foot of 
 which he encamped. A sudden storm of rain set 
 in, and continued until all the streams and torrents 
 were fearfully swollen, and the valley was deluged. 
 Meanwhile the natives gathered on the ridges of 
 the mountain of Berwin ; but it appears to have 
 been more from the war of the elements than of 
 man that the king's army retreated in great dis- 
 order and with some loss. Henry had hitherto 
 showed himself remarkably free from the crueltj' 
 of his age, but his mind was now embittered, and 
 in a hasty moment he resolved to take a barbarous 
 vengeance on the persons of the hostages whom 
 the Welsh princes had placed in his hands, seven 
 years before, as pledges for their tranquillity and 
 allegiance. The eyes of the males were picked 
 out of their heads, and the noses and ears of the 
 females were cut off. The old chroniclers hardly 
 increase our horror (which they intended to do) 
 when they tell us that the victims belonged to the 
 noblest families of Wales. ^ 
 
 This reverse in England was soon followed by 
 successes on the continent. A formidable insur- 
 rection broke out in Brittany against Henry's sub- 
 servient ally Conan, who applied to him for succor, 
 according to the terms of the treaty of alliance 
 » Gerrase.— Newbrig. — Girald. Carob. Itin. — Dicoto. 
 
 subsisting between them. The troops of the king 
 entered by the frontier of Normandy, under pretext 
 of defending the legitimate earl of the Bretons 
 against his revolted subjects. Henry soon made 
 himself master of Dol and several other towns, 
 which he kept and garrisoned with his own soldiers. 
 Conan had shown himself utterly incapable of man- 
 aging the fierce Breton nobles, by whose excesses 
 and cruelties the poor people, who were the victims 
 of them, were ground to the dust. Henry's power 
 and abilities were well known to the suffering 
 Bretons, and a considerable party, including the 
 priests of the country, rallied round him, and hailed 
 him as a deliverer.' Submitting in part to the 
 force of circumstances and the wishes of Henry, 
 and in part, perhaps, following his own indolent 
 inclinations, Conan resigned the remnant of his au- 
 thority into the hands of liis protector, who gov- 
 erned the state in the name of his son Geoffrey 
 and Conan's heiress Constantia, the espousals of 
 these two children being prematurely solemnized. 
 Another insurrection ensued ; but, though the dis- 
 affected barons of Brittany formed a life and death 
 league with the dissatisfied people of Maine, and 
 were assisted, at fii'st secretly and then openly, by 
 the King of France, they could never make head 
 against the power of Henry, who, in the end, 
 leveled most of their castles, and disarmed and 
 disheartened the turbulent Bretons. In the course 
 of this petty war Henry is accused by more than one 
 French chronicler of making a jest of the virtue of 
 his female prisoners and hostages ; but it is fair to 
 remark that, though this is touching one of his 
 known vices, these accounts are from a prejudiced 
 source ; and it is acknowledged, even by the same 
 writers, that he gave to Brittany tranquillity, regu- 
 lar courts of law, and prosperity, — blessings which 
 were certainly worth more to the mass of the 
 people than the stormy national independence they 
 had before enjoyed. In the month of December, 
 1166, Henry kept his court in the famed old castle 
 on Mount St. Michael, whence his eye could range 
 over the long and extending land of Brittany, and 
 there he was visited by William the Lion, who had 
 recently ascended the Scottish throne, on the death 
 of his brother, Malcolm IV. 
 
 While still abroad he ordered a tax to be levied 
 on all his subjects, whether English or foreign, for 
 the support of the war in the Holy Land, which 
 was taking a turn more and more unfavorable to 
 the Christians ; but at the very time his peace was 
 broken by his own war with the church and the 
 unremitting hostilitj' of Becket. In the month of 
 May the banished ai'chbishop went from Pontigny 
 to Vezeley, near Auxerre, and encouraged by the 
 pope, who intimated that he might proceed without 
 any fear of giving offence to the see of Rome, he 
 repaired to the church on the great festival of the 
 Ascension, when it was most crowded with people, 
 and mounting the pulpit there, " with book, bell, 
 and candle," solemnly cursed and pronounced the 
 sentence of excommunication against the defenders 
 of the Constitutions of Clarendon, the detainers of 
 I Script. Rer. Franc. — Daru, Hist, de la Bretagne.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 437 
 
 the sequestrated property of the church of Canter- 
 bury, and those who imprisoned or persecuted 
 either laymen or clergy on his account. This 
 done, he more particularly excommunicated by 
 name Richard de Lucy, Joycelin Baliol, and four 
 other of Henry's courtiers and prime favorites.' 
 The king was at Chinon, in Anjou, when he was 
 startled by this new sign of life given by his ad- 
 versary. Though in general a great master of his 
 feelings and passions, Henr}'^ was subject to ex- 
 cesses of ungovernable fury, and on this occasion 
 he seems f\iirly to have taken leave of his senses. 
 He cried out that they wanted to kill him body and 
 soul — that he was wretched in being surrounded 
 by cowards and traitors, not one of whom thought 
 of delivering him from the insupportable vexations 
 caused him by a single man. He took off his cap 
 and dashed it to the gi'ound, undid his girdle, 
 threw his clothes about the room, tore off the silk 
 coverlet from his bed and rolled upon it, and 
 gnawed the straw and rushes, — for it appears that 
 this mighty and splendid monarch had no better 
 bed.^ His resentment did not pass away with this 
 paroxysm, and after writing to the pope and the 
 King of France, he threatened that, if Becket 
 should return and continue to be sheltered at the 
 Abbey of Pontigny, which belonged to the Cister- 
 cians, he would seize all the estates appertaining to 
 that order within his numerous dominions. The 
 threat was an alarming one to the monks, and we 
 find Becket removing out of Burgundy to the town 
 of Sens, where a new asylum was appointed him 
 by Louis, who continued to support him for his 
 own views, but who was unable or unwilling to 
 make any gi-eat sacrifice for him. A paltry war 
 was begun and ended by a truce all within a few 
 months : it was followed the next year by another 
 war equally short and still more inglorious for the 
 French king ; for, although he had excited fresh 
 disturbances in Brittany and 3Iaine, and leagued 
 himself with some of Henry's revolted barons of 
 Poictou and Aquitaine, he gained no advantage 
 whatever for himself, was the cause of ruin to most 
 of his allies, and was compelled to conclude a peace 
 at the beginning of the year 1169. Nothing but 
 an empty pride could have been gratified by a 
 series of feudal oaths ; but the designations given 
 to his sons on this occasion by the English king 
 contributed to fatal consequences which happened 
 four years later. Prince Henry of England, his 
 eldest son, did homage to his father-in-law, the 
 King of France, for Anjou and Maine, as he had 
 formerly done for Normandy ; Prince Richard, his 
 second son, did homage for Aquitaine ; and Geof- 
 frey, his third son, for Brittany : and it was after- 
 ward assumed that these ceremonies constituted 
 the boys sovereigns and absolute masters of the 
 several dominions named. At the same time the 
 two kings agreed upon a marriage betAveen Prince 
 Richard of England and Alice, another daughter of 
 the King of France, the previous treaty of matri- 
 
 1 Epist. St. Thomffi. — Rog-. Hove. — Gervase. 
 
 2 Script. Rer. Franc. Henry seems to have acted in this mad way 
 on more than one occasion. 
 
 mony with the King of Arragon being set aside. 
 Sixteen months before these events Henry lost his 
 mother, the Empress Matilda, who ^ied at Rouen, 
 and was buried in the celebrated Abbey of Bee, 
 which she had enriched with the donations of her 
 piety and penitence. Her adventurous, busy, rest- 
 less life ceased with the accession of her able son 
 to the throne of England ; but fi-ora the honored 
 retirement of Normandy, to which he wisely con- 
 demned her, she continued to take a lively interest 
 in the affairs of courts and governments, and it is 
 said of her that she foresaw Becket's character, and 
 highly disapproved of his elevation to the primacy. 
 To that extraordinary man we must now return, 
 for his fate is so interwoven with that of Heniy 
 that it is difificult to separate them for any length of 
 time until the grave closes over the priest; and 
 then his ashes, his name, and writings will be 
 found exercising an influence not only over this 
 king but over his successors. 
 
 About this time Henry was prevailed upon by 
 the Pope, the King of France, and by some of his 
 own friends, to assent to the return of Becket and 
 his party. The kings of France and England met 
 at Montrairail, in Perche, and Becket was ad- 
 mitted to a conference. Henry insisted on quaU- 
 fying his agreement to the proposed terms of ac- 
 commodation by the addition of the words, " saving 
 the honor of his kingdom," — a salvo which Becket 
 met by another on his part, saying that he Avas 
 wiUing to be reconciled to the king, and obey him 
 in all things, " saving the honor of God and the 
 church." Upon this, Henry, turning to the King 
 of France, said, — " Do you know what would hap- 
 pen if I were to admit this reservation ? That man 
 would interpret everything displeasing to himself 
 as being contrary to the honor of God, and would so 
 invade all my rights : but to show that I do not 
 withstand God's honor, I will here offer him a con- 
 cession ; — what the greatest and holiest of his pre- 
 decessors did unto the least of mine, that let him 
 do unto me, and I am contented therewith." All 
 present exclaimed that this was enough — that the 
 king had humbled himself enough. But Becket 
 still insisted on his salvo ; upon which the King of 
 France said, he seemed to wish to be "greater 
 than the saints, and better than St. Peter ;" and 
 the nobles present murmured at his unbending 
 pride, and said he no longer merited an asylum in 
 France. The two kings mounted their horses and 
 rode away without saluting Becket, who retired 
 much cast down. No one any longer offered him 
 food and lodging in the name of Louis, and on his 
 journey back to Sens he was reduced to live on the 
 charity of the common people.' 
 
 In another conference the obnoxious clauses 
 on either side were omitted. The business now 
 seemed in fair train ; but when Becket asked from 
 the king the kiss of peace," which was the usual 
 termination of such quarrels, Henry's irritated 
 feelings prevented him from granting it, and he 
 
 1 Vita S. ThomEB.— Script. Rer. Franc— Gervase.— Epist. S. Thomi. 
 - See a curious discourse on kisses of peace in Ducange, Gluss. in 
 voc. Osculum Facis.
 
 438 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 excused himself by sajing it was only a solemn 
 oath taken formerly, in a moment of passion, never 
 to kiss Becket, that hindered him from giving this 
 sign of perfect reconciliation. The primate must 
 have known kings too well to attach much value to 
 their kisses, but he was resolute to wave no privi- 
 lege and no ceremony, and this conference was 
 also broken off in anger. Another brief quarrel be- 
 tween the two kings, and an impotent raising of 
 banners on the part of Louis, which threatened at 
 first to retard the reconciliation between Henry 
 and his primate, were in fact the cause of hasten- 
 ing that event ; for hostiUties dwindled into a truce, 
 the truce led to another conference between the 
 sovereigns, and the conference to another peace, at 
 which Henry, who was apprehensive that the Pope 
 would finally consent to Becket's ardent wishes, 
 and permit him to excommunicate his king by 
 name, and pronounce an interdict against the whole 
 kingdom, slowly and reluctantly pledged his word 
 to be reconciled forthwith to the dangerous exile. 
 On the 2'2d of July, 1170, a solemn congress was 
 held in a spacious and most pleasant meadow,' be- 
 tween Freteval and La Ferte-Bernard, on the boi-- 
 ders of Touraine. The king was there before the 
 archbishop, and as soon as Becket appeared, riding 
 leisurely toward the tent, he spurred his horse to 
 meet him, and saluted him cap in hand. They 
 then rode apart into the field, and discoursed to- 
 gether for some time in the same familiar manner 
 as in bygone times. Then returning to his attend- 
 ants, Henry said that he found the archbishop in 
 the best possible disposition, and that it would be 
 einfnl in him to nourish rancor any longer. The 
 quarrel has been still further complicated by the 
 coronation of Henrj''s eldest son, a ceremony which 
 had been perfonned in the preceding month of 
 June by the Archbishop of York, in defiance of the 
 rights of Becket as primate. But Henry softened 
 his rancor on this account in the course of his pri- 
 vate conversation with him. 
 
 The primate came up accompanied by the 
 Archbishop of Sens and other priests, and the 
 forms of reconciliation were completed ; always, 
 however, excepting the kiss of peace, which, ac- 
 cording to some, Henry promised he would give in 
 England, where they would soon meet.* The king, 
 however, condescended to hold Becket's stirrup 
 when he mounted. By their agreement Becket 
 was to love, honor, and serve the king, in as far 
 ns an archbishop could " render in the Lord " 
 service to his sovereign ; and Henry was to restore 
 immediately all the lands, and livings, and privi- 
 leges of the church of Canterbury, and to furnish 
 Becket with funds to discharge his debts and make 
 the journey into England. These terms were cer- 
 tainly not kept: the lands were not released for 
 four months ; and, after many vexatious delays. 
 Becket was obliged to borrow money for his jour- 
 ney. While tarrying on the French coast he was 
 several times warned that danger awaited him on 
 the opposite shore. This was not improbable, as 
 
 1 In prato amanissimo. Script. Rer. Fiauc. 
 
 2 Fitz-i?tcphen.— Epist. S. Thoma;. 
 
 many resolute men had been suddenly driven from 
 the church lands, on which they had fattened for 
 years, and as he was known to carry about his 
 person letters of excommunication from the Pope 
 against the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of 
 London and Salisbury, whom he held to be his 
 chief enemies, and who were men likely to adopt 
 strong measures to prevent his piomulgating the 
 terrible sentence. He was even assured that 
 Ranulf de Broc, a knight of a family who all hated 
 him to the death, and who had himself boasted that 
 he would not let the archbishop live to eat a single 
 loaf of bread in England, was lying with a body of 
 soldiers, between Canterbury and Dover, in order 
 to intercept him. But nothing could move Becket, 
 who said seven years of absence were long enough 
 both for the shepherd and his flock, and that he 
 would not stop though he were sure to be cut to 
 pieces as soon as he landed on the opposite coast. 
 The only use he made of the warnings he received 
 was, to confide the letters of excommunication to a 
 skilful and devoted messenger, who, preceding him 
 some short time, stole into England without being 
 suspected, and actuallj^ delivered them publicly to 
 the three bishops, who were as much startled as if 
 a thunderbolt had fallen at their feet. This last 
 measure seems to have had as much to do with 
 Becket's death as any anger of the king's. As he 
 was on the point of embarking, a vessel arrived from 
 England. The sailors were asked what were the 
 feelings of the good English people toward their 
 archbishop ? They replied, that the people would 
 hail his return with transports of joy. This was a 
 good omen, and he no doubt relied much more on 
 the popular favor than on the protection of John of 
 Oxford, one of the roj-al cliaplains, and some others 
 whom Henry had sent to accompany him. He 
 sailed from France in the same gloomy month of 
 the year on Avhich he had begun his exile, and, 
 avoiding Dover, landed at Sandwich, on the 1st of 
 December. At the news of his arrival, the mari- 
 ners, the peasants, the working people generally, 
 and the EngUsh burgesses flocked to meet him ; but 
 none of the rich and powerful welcomed him ; and 
 the first persons of rank he saw presented them- 
 selves in a menacing attitude. These latter were a 
 sherift' of Kent, Reginald de Warenne, Ranulf de 
 Broc (who had ridden across the country from 
 Dover), and some relatives and allies of the three 
 excommunicated bishops, who carried swords under 
 their tunics, and drew them when they approached 
 the primate. John of Oxford conjured them to be 
 quiet, lest they should make their king pass for a 
 traitor ; but it is probable that the determined 
 countenance of the English multitude made more 
 impression on- them than his peaceful words. 
 They retired to their castles, and spread a report 
 among their feudal compeers that Becket was liber- 
 ating the serfs of the country, who were marching 
 in his train drunk with joy and hopes of vengeance. 
 At Canterbury the primate was received with ac- 
 clamations : but still it was onlj- the poor and 
 lowly that welcomed him. A few daj's after, lie 
 set out for Woodi-tocU, to visit the king's eldest
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 439 
 
 son, Prince Henry, who had formerly been his 
 pupil. Becket counted much on his influence 
 over the young prince ; but the party opposed to 
 him succeeded in preventing his having an oppor- 
 tunity to exert that influence. A royal inessenger 
 met him on his journey, and ordered him, in the 
 name of the prince, not to enter any of the royal 
 towns or castles, but to return and remain within 
 his own diocese. The primate obeyed, and, re- 
 turning, spent some days at Harrow-on-the-Hill, 
 which belonged to the church of Canterbury a con- 
 siderable time before the Norman conquest. During 
 his stay at Harrow, Becket kept great hospitality ; 
 but this virtue was probably exercised in regard to 
 persons of a condition resembling those whom he 
 had bidden to his memorable feast at Northampton ; 
 and the only ecclesiastic of rank mentioned as doing 
 him honor was the abbot of the neighboring monas- 
 tery of St. Albans. Two of his own clergy, Ni- 
 gellus de Sackville, who was called " the usurping 
 rector of Harrow," and Robert de Broc, the vicar, 
 a relation of his determined foe, Ranulf de Broc, 
 treated him with great disrespect, and when he 
 was departing maimed the horse which carried his 
 provisions, — an off'ence which was not forgotten 
 by one who presumed to hurl the thunderbolts of 
 damnation. Becket returned to Canterbury es- 
 corted by a host of poor people armed with rustic 
 targets and rusty lances. On Christmas day he 
 ascended the pulpit in the great cathedral church, 
 and delivered an eloquent sermon on the words 
 Venio ad vos mori inter vos (I come to you to die 
 among you). He told his congregation that one of 
 their archbishops had been a martyr, and that they 
 would probably soon see another; "but," he added, 
 "before I depart hence, I will avenge some of the 
 wrongs my church has suffered during the last 
 seven years ; and he forthwith excommunicated 
 Ranulf and Robert de Broc, and Nigellus, the 
 rector of Harrow.^ This was Becket's last public 
 act. As soon as his messengers had delivered his 
 letters, the three bishops excommunicated by them 
 hastened to Prince Henry, to complain of his in- 
 satiate thirst of revenge, and to accuse him of a 
 fixed plan of violating all the royal privileges and 
 the customs of the land; and almost immediately 
 after they crossed over to the continent, to demand 
 redress from the king. " We implore it," said 
 they, " both for the sake of royalty and the clergy 
 - — for your own repose as well as ours. There is a 
 man who sets England on fire ; he marches with 
 troops of horse and armed foot, prowling round the 
 fortresses, and trying to get himself received with- 
 in them."^ The exaggeration was not needed; 
 Henry was seized with one of his most violent fits 
 of fury. " How," cried he, " a fellow that hath 
 eaten my bread, — a beggar that first came to my 
 court on a lame horse, dares insult his king and 
 the royal family, and tread upon the whole king- 
 dom, and not one of the cowards I nourish at iny 
 table — not one will deliver me from this turbulent 
 priest."^ There were four knights present, Avho 
 
 1 Fitz-Steph.— Vita S. Thorn.— Gervase.—Rog. Hove.— Matt. Paris. 
 
 2 Script. Rer. Franc. 3 vita Qiiadriparl. 
 
 had probably injuries of their own to avenge, and 
 who took this outburst of temper as a sufficient 
 death-warrant, and, without communicating their 
 sudden determination to the king (or, at least, 
 there is no evidence that they did), humed over to 
 England. Their names were Reginald Fitzurse, 
 William Tracy, Hugh de Moi-ville, and Richard 
 Brito ; and they are described b}^ a contemporary 
 as being barons, and servants of the king's bed- 
 chamber. Their intention was not suspected, nor 
 was their absence noticed ; and while they were 
 riding with loose rein toward the coast, the king 
 was closeted with his council of barons, who after 
 some discussion, which seems to have occupied 
 more than one day, appointed three commissioners 
 to go and seize, according to the forms of law, the 
 person of Thomas a Becket, on the charge of high 
 treason. But the conspirators, who had bound 
 themselves together by an oath, left the commis- 
 sioners nothing to do. Three days after Christmas 
 day they arrived secretly at Saltwood, in the neigh- 
 borhood of Canterbury, where the De Broc family 
 had a house ; and here, under the cover of night, 
 they arranged their plans — for precautions were 
 necessary, in proceeding against the object of the 
 people's veneration. On the 29th of December, 
 having collected a number of adherents to quell 
 the resistance of Becket's attendants and the citi- 
 zens, in case any should be oft'ered, they proceeded 
 to the monastery of St. Augustine's, at Canter- 
 bury, the abbot of which, like nearly all the su- 
 perior churchmen, was of the king's party. From 
 St. Augustine's, they went to the archbishop's 
 palace, and entering his apartment abruptly, about 
 two hours after noon, seated themselves on the 
 floor without saluting him, or oifering any sign of 
 respect. There was a dead pause — the knights 
 not knowing how to begin, and neither of them 
 Hking to speak first. At length, Becket asked what 
 they wanted ; but still they sat gazing at him with 
 haggard eyes. There were twelve men of the party, 
 besides the four knights. Reginald Fitzurse, feign- 
 ing a commission from the king, at last spoke. 
 " We come," said he, " that you may absolve the 
 bishops you have excommunicated ; reestablish the 
 bishops whom you have suspended ; and answer 
 for your own off'ences against the king." Becket 
 replied with boldness and with great warmth, not 
 sparing taunts and invectives. He said, that he 
 had published the papal letters of excommunication 
 with the king's consent; that he could not absolve 
 the Archbishop of York, whose heinous case was 
 reserved for the pope alone, but that he would re- 
 move the censures from the two other bishops, if 
 they would swear to submit to the decisions of 
 Rome." "But of whom, then," demanded Regi- 
 nald, " do you hold your archbishopric — of the king 
 or the pope ?" " I owe the spiritual rights to God 
 and the pope, and the temporal rights to the king." 
 "How, is it not the king that hath given you all.'" 
 Becket's decided negative Avas received with mur- 
 murs, and the knights furiously twisted their long 
 gloves. Three out of the four cavaliers had fol- 
 lowed Becket in the days of his prosperity and vain-
 
 440 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 ijlory, aud vowed themselves his liege men. He 
 reminded them of this, and observed, it was not for 
 such as they to threaten him in his own house ; 
 adding also, tliat if he were threatened by all the 
 swords in England, he would not yield. " We will 
 do more than threaten," replied the knights, and 
 then departed. When they were gone, his at- 
 tendants loudly expressed their alarm, and blamed 
 him for the rough and provoking tone by which he 
 had inflamed, instead of pacifying his enemies ; but 
 the prelate silenced the latter part of their dis- 
 course by telling them he had no need of their ad- 
 vice, and knew what he ought to do. The barons, 
 with their accomplices, who seem to have wished, 
 if they could, to avoid bloodshed, finding that threats 
 were ineffectual, put on their coats of mail, and 
 taking each a sword in his hand, returned to the 
 palace, but found the gate had been shut and barred 
 by the terrified servants. Fitzurse tried to break 
 it open, aud the sounds of his ponderous axe rang 
 through the building. The gate might have offered 
 some considerable resistance, but Robert de Broc 
 
 showed them the way in at a window. The peo- 
 ple about Becket had in vain urged him to take re- 
 fuge in the church ; but at this moment the voices 
 of the monks singing vespers in the choir sti-iking 
 his ear, he said he would go, as his duty now called 
 him thither; and, making his cross-bearer precede 
 him with the crucifix elevated, he traversed the 
 cloister with slow and measured steps, and entered 
 the church. His servants would have closed and 
 fastened the doors, but he forbade them, saying 
 that the house of God was not to be barricaded like 
 a castle. He had passed through the nortli tran- 
 sept, and was ascending the steps which led to 
 the choir, when Reginald Fitzurse appeared at the 
 other end of the church, waving his sword, and 
 shouting, " Follow me, loyal servants of the king." 
 The other conspirators followed him closely, armed 
 like himself from head to foot, and brandishing 
 their swords. The shades of evening had fallen, 
 and in the obscurity of the vast church, which was 
 only broken here and there by a lamp glimmering 
 before a shrine, Becket might easily have hid him- 
 
 Mi-RDER OF Bt-r KET. Fmui :in ancient Painting hung at the head of the Tomb of Henry IV., in C;inteil)tir.v Caihrdr.i), Engraved and 
 
 described in Carter's Ancient Sculptures and Paintings.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 441 
 
 self in the dark and intricate crypts under ground, 
 or beneath the roof of the old church. Each of 
 these courses was suggested by his attendants, but 
 he rejected them both, and turned boldly to meet 
 the intruders, followed or preceded by his cross- 
 bearer, the faithful Edward Gryme, the only one 
 who did not flee. A voice shouted, " Where is the 
 traitor?" Becket answered not; but when Regi- 
 nald Fitzurse said, " Where is the archbishop ?" he 
 replied, " Here am I, an archbishop, but no traitor, 
 ready to suffer in my Savior's name." Tracy 
 pulled him by the sleeve, saying, " Come hither, 
 thou art a prisoner." He pulled back his arm in 
 so violent a manner, that he made Tracy stagger 
 forward. They advised him to flee, or to go with 
 them ; and, on a candid consideration, it seems to 
 us that the conspirators are entitled to a doubt as 
 to whether they really intended a murder, or were 
 not rather hurried into it by his obstinacy and 
 provoking language. Addressing Fitzurse, he said, 
 *' I have done thee many pleasures ; why comest 
 thou with armed men into my church ?" They 
 told him that he must instantly absolve the bishops. 
 " Never, until they have offered satisfaction," Avas 
 his answer ; and he applied a foul vituperative term 
 to Fitzurse. " Then die," exclaimed the latter, 
 striking at his head. The faithful Gryme inter- 
 posed his arm to save his master; the arm was 
 broken, or nearly cut oft', and the stroke descended 
 on the primate's head, and slightly wounded him. 
 Then another voice cried, " Fly, or thou diest ;" 
 but still Becket moved not, but, with the blood running 
 down his face, he clasped his hands, and bowing his 
 head, exclaimed, " To God, to St. Mary, to the holy 
 patrons of this church, and to St. Denis, I com- 
 mend raj"^ soul and the church's cause." A second 
 stroke brought him to the ground, close to the foot 
 of St. Bennet's altar ; a third, given with such 
 force that the sword was broken against the stone 
 pavement, cleft his skull, and his brains were scat- 
 tered all about : one of the conspirators put his foot 
 on his neck, and cried, " Thus perishes a traitor!"^ 
 The conspirators then withdrew, Avithout encoun- 
 tering any hinderance or molestation ; but when 
 the fearful news spread through Cantei'bury and 
 the neighboring country, the excitement was pro- 
 digious ; and the then inevitable inference was 
 drawn that Becket was a martyr, and miracles 
 would be wrought at his tomb. For some time, 
 however, the superior orders rejected this faith, 
 and made efforts to suppress the veneration of the 
 common people. An edict was published, pi-o- 
 hibiting all men from preaching in the churches or 
 reporting in the public places that Becket was a 
 martyr. His old foe, the Archbishop of York, as- 
 cended the pulpit to announce his death as an in- 
 fliction of divine vengeance, saying that he had 
 perished in his guilt and pride, like Pharaoh." 
 Other ecclesiastics preached that the body of the 
 traitor ought not to be allowed to rest in conse- 
 crated ground, but thrown into a ditch, or hung on 
 
 > Gervase. — Fitz Steph. — Gryme (who was present, and suffered on 
 the occasion). — Newhrig. — Rog. llove 
 2 Epist. Joan. Sarisb. 
 
 a gibbet. An attempt was even made to seize the 
 body, but the monks, who received timely warn- 
 ing, concealed it, and hastily buried it in the sub- 
 terranean vaults of the cathedral. But it was soon 
 found that the public voice, echoed, for its own 
 purposes, by the court of France, was too loud to 
 be drowned in this manner. Louis, whom Henry 
 had so often humbled, wrote to the Pope, imploring 
 him to draw the sword of St. Peter, against that 
 horrible persecutor of God, who surpassed Nero in 
 cruelty, Julian in apostasy, and .Judas in treachery. 
 He chose to believe, and the French bishops be- 
 lieved with him, that Henry had ordered the mur- 
 der. 
 
 Attempts have been made in modern times to 
 lower the character of a faulty man, but who wag 
 one of the greatest of our sovereigns, and to revive 
 this belief, which is certainly unsupported by any 
 good evidence of contemporary history. If Henry 
 had been addicted to cruelty and assassination — 
 which he certainly was not — his consummate pru- 
 dence and foresight would have prevented his or- 
 dering such a deed ; for he must have felt what 
 would be the inevitable effect of it, and have known 
 that Becket, so disposed of, would be a greater 
 thorn in his side, when dead, than he had ever been 
 while living. On receiving the intelligence, he ex- 
 pressed the greatest grief and horror, shut himself 
 up in his room, and refused to receive either food 
 or consolation for three days ; and if he took caro 
 to have a touching detail of his distressed feelings 
 transmitted to the Pope, in which he declared his 
 innocence in the strongest terms, and entreated 
 that censure might be suspended till the facts of 
 the case were examined, such a measure is not to 
 be taken, in itself, as indicating the insincerity of 
 his grief and horror. Tenderness for Becket he 
 could scarcely feel, yet as he was not formed of 
 harsh materials, he may have been greatly shocked 
 at the manner of death of one who had been his 
 bosom friend, and he would grieve sincerely for the 
 foul suspicions cast upon him, and the incalculable 
 mischief the event might do to himself and his 
 family. The extremity of his penance at the tomb 
 of Becket three years and a half later, has been at- 
 tributed to his remorse — to his consciousness of 
 being guilty of the murder ; but he might well feel 
 remorse at the hasty words he uttered, and which 
 were supposed to have led to the deed, although he 
 had used expressions equally violent on former oc- 
 casions, without their being taken at the letter, or 
 producing any evil consequences. It should be re- 
 membered, too, that at the time of his pilgrimage 
 to Becket's shrine, Henry had to overcome a mighty 
 prejudice which had been carefully nourished, and 
 spread by his enemies, and that he was depressed 
 and troubled in spirit by the rebellion of his own 
 children. Like his bishops, who found it much 
 easier to venerate a dead martyr than obey a living 
 and rigid archbishop, he may have entered into the 
 view of Becket's sanctity, in spite of his familiai-ity 
 with his frailties in the flesh ; and the suddenness 
 of Becket's conversion was in accordance with the 
 spirit of the times, and not to be set down uuhesi-
 
 448 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Penance of Henry II. before the Shrine of Becket, al Canterbury. From an ancient Painting on Glass. Engraved aad described in 
 
 Carter's Ancient Sculptures and Paintings of England. 
 
 tatingly as a piece of hypocrisy.' We have reasoned 
 liero as if admitting Henry's sincerity, which is 
 doubted altogether by many writers. 
 
 When Henry's envoys first appeared at Rome — 
 tor the pope was no longer a dependent exile — they 
 were coldly received, and everything seemed to 
 threaten that an interdict would be laid upon the 
 kingdom, and the king excommunicated by name. 
 In the end, however, Alexander rested satisfied 
 with an excommunication in general terms of the 
 murderers and the abettors of the crime. It is said 
 that Henry's gold was not idle on this occasion ; but 
 the employment of it is rather a proof of the noto- 
 rious rapacity of the cardinals, than of his having a 
 had cause to plead. In the month of May, 1172, in 
 ii council held at Avranches, at which two legates of 
 the pope attended, Henry swore, on the holy gos- 
 pels and sacred relics — a great concourse of the 
 clergy and people being present — that he had 
 
 ' We learn, from the letters of Peter of Blois, how Becket was con- 
 s licred by churchmen previously to his tragical death. lie says in 
 <iiia of his letters, written after Becket's canonization, " Wc fools 
 rtmnted his life folly. Sic. ; and whatever he did was then misiuterprct- 
 ,ed. and turned to matter of hatred and envy. If, therefore, the bishop 
 t lert did. at one time, as teas the rase icith us all, hold the blessed 
 martyr in derision, it ought not to be rhareeil ajainst him," &c. &c 
 
 neither ordered nor desired the murder of the 
 archbishop. This oath was not demanded from 
 him, but taken of his own free will. As, however, 
 he could not deny that the assassins might have 
 been moved to the deed by his wrathful words, he 
 consented to maintain two hundred knights during 
 a year, for the defence of the Holy Land ; and to 
 serve himself, if the pope should require it, for 
 three years against the infidels, either the Saracens 
 in Palestine, or the Moors in Spain, as the church 
 should ajjpoint. At the same time, he engaged to 
 restore all the lands and possessions belonging to 
 the friends of the late archbishop ; to permit appeals 
 to be made to the pope in good faith, and without 
 fraud, resei-ving to himself, however, the right of 
 obliging such appellants as he suspected of evil inten- 
 tions to give security that they would attempt noth- 
 ing abroad to the deti'iment of him or his kingdom. 
 To these conditions he made an addition too vague to 
 have any practical effect — that he would relinquish 
 such customs against the church as had been intro- 
 duced in his time. The legates then fully absolved the 
 king ; and thus terminated this quarrel, less to Hen- 
 ry's disadvantage than might have been expected.' 
 
 1 Rog. Hove — Epist S Thorns.— Ei)ist Joan Sarisb.— Gervase.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 443 
 
 In the short interval he had added a kingdom to 
 his dominions. The year that followed the death 
 of Becket was made memorable by the conquest of 
 Ireland. 
 
 In the preceding Book, the sketch of Irish his- 
 tory was brought down to the reign of Turlogh, the 
 commencement of which is assigned^ to the year 
 1064. Turlogh, however, like his uncle Donchad, 
 whom he had succeeded, and Donchad's father, the 
 great Brien, is scarcely acknowledged by the old 
 annalists as having been a legitimate king, not being 
 of the blood of the O'Niells of Ulster, in which line 
 the supreme sceptre had been transmitted, with 
 scarcely any interruption till its seizure by Brien, 
 from the time of O'Niell, or Nial, of the Nine Host- 
 ages, who flourished in the beginning of the fifth 
 century. The long acquiescence of the other pro- 
 vincial regal houses in the superiority thus assumed 
 by that of Ulster was broken by the usurpation of 
 the Munster O'Briens, and we shall find that ere 
 long both the O'Connors of Connaught and the 
 MacMurroghs of Leinster make their appearance 
 on the scene as competitors for the prize of the 
 chief dominion along with the other two families. 
 The whole history of the country from this date is 
 merely the history of these contests for the crown, 
 the course of which will be made sufficiently intel- 
 ligible by a few sentences of explanation taken along 
 with the tabular view of the succession at the head 
 of the present chapter. 
 
 Turlogh, Avho kept his court in the palace of his 
 ancestors, the kings of Munster, at Kinkora, in 
 Clare, died there in July, 1086. His second son, 
 Murtach, or Murkertach, soon after acquired the 
 sole possession of the throne of Munster by the 
 death of one of his two brothers and the banishment 
 of the other ; but his attempt to retain the supreme 
 monarchy in his family was resisted by the other 
 provincial kings, who united in supporting, against 
 his claims, those of Domnal MacLochlin, or Donald 
 MacLachlan, the head of the ancient royal house 
 of O'Niell. At last, after much fighting, it was ar- 
 ranged, at a solemn convention held in 1094, that 
 the island should be divided between the two com- 
 petitors ; the southern half, called Leath Mogh, or 
 Mogh's Half, remaining subject to Murtach, and the 
 northern, called Leath Cuinn, or Conn's Half, being 
 resigned to the dominion of MacLochlin. This was 
 a well-known ancient division, which in former times, 
 even when the nominal sovereignty of the whole 
 country was conceded to the kings of Ulster, had 
 often left those of Munster in possession not only of 
 actual independence but of a share of the supremacy 
 over both Connaught and Leinster; for the line of 
 partition was drawn right across the island from the 
 neighborhood of the town of Galway to Dublin, and 
 consequently cut through each of these provinces. 
 With this real equality in extent of dominion and 
 authority between the two houses, one circumstance 
 chiefly had for a long period held in check the rising 
 fortunes of that of Munster, the law or custom, 
 namely, of the succession to the crown in that pro- 
 vince, which was divided into two principalities, 
 J)esmond or South Munster, and Thomond or North 
 
 Munster, the reigning families of which, by an ar- 
 rangement somewhat similar to that which has been 
 already described as anciently subsisting in the Scot- 
 tish monarchy,' enjoyed the supreme sovereignty 
 alternately. The two lines of princes derived this 
 right of equal participation from the will of their 
 common ancestor Olill Ollum; those of Desmond, 
 which comprehended the present counties of Kerry, 
 Cork, and Waterford, being descended from that 
 king's eldest son Eogan, whence the people of that 
 principality were called Eoganacths, or Eugenians ; 
 while the princes of Thomond, which consisted of 
 Clare, Limerick, and the greater part of Tipperary, 
 were sprung from his second son Cormac Cas, 
 whence their subjects took the name of Dalgais, or 
 Dalcassians. But Brien Boru, himself of the Dal- 
 cassian family, had begun his course of inroad upon 
 the ancient institutions of his country by setting at 
 defiance the rights of his Eugenian kindred, and 
 had possessed himself, by usurpation, of the provin- 
 cial throne of Munster, before he seized, by a like 
 violation of the law, upon the supreme power. The 
 Munster kings had ever since continued to be of his 
 race. 
 
 The compact between MacLochlin and 3Iurtach 
 did not put an end to their contention. Several 
 more battles were fought between them, till at 
 length, in 1103, Murtach sustained a defeat at 
 Cobha, in Tyrone, which so greatly weakened his 
 power as to prevent him from ever after giving his 
 adversary any serious annoyance. They continued 
 to reign, however, MacLochlin at Aileach or Ali- 
 chia, in Donegal, Murtach at Cashel, till the death 
 of the latter, in 1119, after he had spent the last 
 three or four years of his life in a monastery, the- 
 management of affairs having been meanwhile left 
 in the hands of his brother Dermot. From the 
 date of the death of Murtach, MacLochlin is re- 
 garded as having been sole monarch ; but he also 
 died in 1121. 
 
 Fifteen years of confusion followed, during which, 
 a contest between various competitors for the su- 
 preme authority spread war and devastation over 
 every part of the country. At last, in 1136, Tur- 
 logh, or Tordelvac, O'Connor, King of Connaught, 
 was acknowledged monarch of all Ireland ; the an- 
 cient sceptre of the O'Niells thus passing a second 
 time into a new house. O'Connor, however, had 
 to maintain himself on the throne he had thus ac- 
 quired by a great deal of hard fighting with his neigh- 
 bors and rivals. Connor O'Brien, the King of Mun- 
 ster, who had vigorously opposed his elevation, and 
 his successor Turlogh O'Brien, did not cease to dis- 
 pute his power, till the overthrow of the latter at 
 the great battle of Moinmor, fought in 1151, placed 
 Munster for the moment completely under the 
 tread of the victor. O'Brien was driven from his 
 kingdom, and the territory was again divided into 
 two principalities, over which O'Connor set two 
 princes of the Eugenian house that had some time 
 before joined him in his contest with the Dalcas- 
 sians. A few years after, howevei', the expelled 
 king was restored by the interference of Murtogh- 
 I See p. 209.
 
 444 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 O'Lochlin, or Murtarh MacLachlan, O'Niell, the 
 King of Ulster, and the legitimate heir of the ancient 
 nionarchs of Ireland, who now also took arms to re- 
 cover for himself the throne of his ancestors. With 
 this new rival, O'Connor, for whom his martial reign 
 has procured from the annalists the title of The 
 (jreat, continued at war during the remainder of 
 his life; and at his death, in 1156, O'Lochlin was 
 acknowledged supreme king. Some opposition was 
 made to his accession by Roderick O'Connor, the 
 son of the late king, and his successor in the provin- 
 cial throne of Connaught; but he also, at last, as 
 well as the princes of Munster and Leinster, acqui- 
 esced in the restoration of the old sovereign house, 
 and submitted to O'Niell. 
 
 The rule of 3Iurtogh O'Lochlin was distinguished 
 by vigor and ability ; but its close was unfortunate. 
 He was killed, along with many of his nobility, in 
 116G, in a battle with some insurgent chiefs of his 
 own province of Ulster, to whom he had given 
 abundant cause for taking up arms against him, if it 
 be true that, after having been professedly recon- 
 ciled to one of them with whom he had had a quar- 
 rel, and sealing the compact by the acceptance of 
 hostages, he had suddenly seized the unfortunate 
 chief, together with three of his friends, and caused 
 his eyes to be put out, and them to be put to death. 
 On his decease the sovereignty of Ireland devolved 
 upon his rival, Roderick O'Connor, of Connaught, 
 the son of its former possessor, O'Connor the Great. 
 
 Up to this time, almost the only connection be- 
 tween England and Ireland was that of the com- 
 merce carried on between some of the opposite 
 ports ; scarcely any political intercourse had ever 
 taken place between the two countries. Her church, 
 indeed, attached Ireland to the rest of Christendom; 
 and some correspondence is still preserved, that 
 passed between her kings and prelates and the 
 English archbishops Lanfranc and Ansehn, relating 
 chiefly to certain points in which the latter con- 
 ceived the ecclesiastical discipline of the neighbor- 
 ing island to stand in need of reformation. One of 
 Lanfranc's letters is addressed to O'Connor the 
 Great, under the designation of " Tirdelvac, the 
 Magnificent King of Hibernia." The bishops also 
 of the Danish towns in Ireland appear to have been 
 usually consecrated by the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury. But almost the single well-authenticated in- 
 stance of any interference by the one nation in the 
 civil affairs of the other since the Norman Conquest, 
 was in the rebellion of Robert de Belesme, in the 
 beginning of the reign of Henry I., when that no- 
 bleman's brother, Arnul{)h de Montgomery, is said 
 by some of the Welsh chroniclers to have passed 
 over to Ireland, and to have there obtained from 
 King Murtach O'Brien, both supplies for the war 
 and the hand of his daughter for himself. It is 
 said, indeed, that both the Conqueror and Henry I. 
 had meditated the subjugation of Ireland ; and 
 Malmsbury affirms that the latter English king had 
 Murtach and his successors so entirely at his devo- 
 tion, that they wrote nothing but adulation of him, 
 nor did anything but what he ordered. But no facts 
 are specified in support of these vague assertions. 
 
 It is, at all events, certain that no actual attempt 
 had yet been made by any of the Anglo-Norman 
 kings to extend their dominion over Ireland. 
 
 It would appear, however, that such a project 
 had been entertained by Henry II., from the very 
 commencement of his reign. The same year in 
 which he came to the throne, witnessed the eleva- 
 tion to the popedom of the only Englishman that 
 ever wore the triple ci'own — Nicholas Breakspear, 
 who assumed the name of Adrian IV. Very soon 
 after his coronation, Henry sent an embassy to 
 Rome, at the head of which was the learned .lohn 
 of Salisbury, ostensibly to congratulate Adrian on 
 his accession, but really to solicit the new Pope for 
 his sanction to the scheme of the conquest of Ire- 
 land. Adrian granted a bull, in the terms or to the 
 effect desired — declaring that inasmuch as all islands 
 which had received the light of the gospel of Christ 
 undoubtedly appertained of right to St. Peter and 
 the holy Roman church, he gave full permission to 
 the English king to make a descent upon Ireland, 
 and charged the people of that land to receive him 
 and submit to him as their sovereign lord. Before 
 the end of the same year, the matter was submitted 
 by Henry to a great council of his barons ; but the 
 undertaking was opposed by many of those present, 
 and especially by his mother, the empress : and in 
 consequence it Avas for the present given up. The 
 pope's bull appears to have been laid aside without 
 having been promulgated. 
 
 Henry's attention was not recalled to the subject 
 till many years after. The course of the story now 
 carries us back again to Ireland, and to another of 
 the provincial kings of that country of whom we 
 have yet said nothing, Dermond MacMurrogh, or 
 Dermot MacMurchad, Kingof Lagenia, or Leinster. 
 This prince had early signalized himself by his san- 
 guinary ferocity, even on a scene where all the 
 actors were men of blood and violence. So far 
 back as the year 1140, he had, in order to break 
 the power of his nobility, seventeen of the chief of 
 them seized at once, all of Avhom that he did not 
 put to death he deprived of their eyes. His most 
 noted exploit, however, was of a different character. 
 Dervorgilla, a lady of great beauty, was the wife of 
 Tiernan O'Ruarc, the lord of Breft'ny, a district in 
 Leinster, and the old enemy of MacMurrogh. The 
 sworn foe of her husband, however, was the object 
 of Dervorgilla's guilty passion ; and, at her own 
 suggestion, it is said, when her husband was absent 
 on a military expedition, the King of Leinster came 
 and carried her off' fi-om an island in Meath, where 
 she had been left. This happened in the year 1153, 
 when the supreme sovereignty was in the possession 
 of Turlogh O'Connor. To him O'Ruarc applied for 
 the means of avenging his \\Tong, and received from 
 him such effective assistance as to be enabled to re- 
 cover both his wife and the property she had car- 
 ried off" with her. But. from this time, as may well 
 be supposed, MacMurrogh and O'Ruarc, that had 
 little love for each other before, were worse friends 
 than ever. They kept up a spiteful contest, with 
 alternating fortunes, for many years. So long as 
 Turlogh lived O'Ruarc had a steady ally in the
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 445 
 
 common sovereign, and the King of Leinster was 
 effectually kept in check by their united power. 
 The succeeding reign of O'Loghlin, on the other 
 hand, was, for the whole of the ten years that it 
 lasted, a period of triumphant revenge to MacMur- 
 rogh. But the recovery of the supremacy, on 
 O'Loghlin's death, by the House of O'Connor, at 
 last put an end to the long and bitter strife. A 
 general combination was now formed against the 
 King of Leinster; King Roderick, the lord of 
 Breffny, and his father-in-law, the Prince of Meath, 
 united their forces for the avowed purpose of dri- 
 ving him from his kingdom ; they were joined by 
 many of his own subjects, both Irish and Danish, 
 to whom his tyranny had rendered him odious ; and 
 O'Ruarc put himself at the head of the whole. 
 MacMurrogh made some effort to defend himself, 
 but fortune was now against him ; he could not long 
 keep his gi'ound against his old enemy thus formid- 
 ably supported ; his few remaining adherents grad- 
 ually fell away from him ; and at last, finding him- 
 self deserted by all, he sought safety in flight, and 
 left his kingdom for the present to the disposal of 
 his conquerors. They set another prince of his 
 own family on the vacant throne. Meanwhile the 
 deposed and fugitive king had embarked for Eng- 
 land. 
 
 This is the account of the Irish chroniclers, who 
 have in general taken part very strongly against 
 MacMurrogh, and painted his character in the 
 darkest colors. The story of the conquest of Ire- 
 land, however, has been most fully told by an Eng- 
 lish writer, Gerald Bai'ry, commonly called Giraldus 
 Cambrensis (that is, Gerald the Welshman), who 
 was not only nearly related to some of the chief 
 actors in it, but was in Ireland during a considerable 
 part of the time that the events he relates were 
 passing in that country. His narrative, though he 
 may have fallen into some mistakes, is likely to be 
 as unprejudiced as that of any native annahst, at 
 least in the view it gives us of some of the most 
 remarkable of the personages that figure on the 
 scene. Against MacMurrogh, in particular, his 
 countrymen may be supposed to have had some 
 prejudices from which the Welshman would be 
 free. Of the affair of O'Ruarc's wife, Giraldus 
 gives substantially the common version, only that 
 he is very emphatic in pointing out that the lady 
 was herself the principal mover in the business ; she 
 yielded herself to be carried off, he says, because 
 she would be carried off; "for, by her own pro- 
 curement and enticings, she became and would 
 needs be a prey unto the preyer;" '-such," he un- 
 gallantly adds, " is the variable and fickle nature of 
 woman, by whom all mischiefs in the world (for 
 the most part) do happen and come." ^ He ac- 
 knowledges, too, that MacMurrogh, " from his very 
 youth and first entry into his kingdom, was a great 
 oppressor of his gentlemen, and a cruel tyrant over 
 his nobles, which bred unto him great hatred and 
 malice." But the full-length picture that he draws 
 of him in another place, though rather sombre upon 
 the whole, is not entirely unrelieved : — " Dermond 
 
 1 Translation by Hooker, 1587. 
 
 MacMurrogh was a tall man of stature, and of a 
 large and great body — a valiant and bold warrior in 
 his nation ; and by reason of his continual hallooing 
 and crying, his voice was hoarse ; he rather chose 
 and desired to be feared than to be loved ; a great 
 oppressor of his nobility, but a great advancer of the 
 poor and weak. To his own people he was rough 
 and grievous, and hateful unto strangers ; he would 
 be against all men, and all men against him." Mac- 
 Murrogh, we may add, had been a great founder of 
 churches and religious houses, however indiffer- 
 ently it may be thought some other parts of his 
 conduct would sort with such show of piety. 
 
 His purpose in setting sail for England was to 
 seek the aid of King Henry, to enable him to re- 
 cover his kingdom, in return for which he was ready 
 to acknowledge himself the vassal of the Englisli 
 monarch. On landing at Bristol, some time in the 
 summer of 1167, he found that Henry was on the 
 continent, and thither he immediately pi'oceeded. 
 Henry, when he came to him in Aquitaine, was 
 " busied," says Giraldus, " in great and weighty af- 
 fairs, yet most courteously he received him and liber- 
 ally rewarded him. And the king, having at large 
 and orderly lieard the causes of his exile, and of 
 his repair unto him, he took his oath of allegiance 
 and swore him to be his true vassal and subject, and 
 thereupon granted and gave him his letters patent 
 in manner and form as followeth : ' Henry, King of 
 England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and 
 Earl of Anjou, unto all his subjects. Englishmen, 
 Normans, Scots, and all other nations and people 
 being his subjects, sendeth greeting. Whensoever 
 these our letters shall come unto you, know ye that 
 we have received Dermond, Prince of Leinster, 
 into our protection, grace, and favor ; wherefore, 
 whosoever within our jurisdiction will aid and help 
 him, our trusty subject, for the recovery of his land, 
 let him be assured of our favor and license in that 
 behalf.' " 
 
 It would scarcely appear, from the tenor of these 
 merely permissive letters, that Henry, in gi-anting 
 them, looked forward to the application of MacMur- 
 rogh leading to any result so important as the con- 
 quest of Ireland ; the other " great and weighty 
 affairs " in which he had been engaged, had long 
 withdrawn his thoughts from that project; and em- 
 barrassed both by his war with the French king, and 
 his more serious contest with Becket at home, he 
 was at present as httle as ever in a condition to re- 
 sume the serious consideration of it. MacMurrogh, 
 however, returned to England well satisfied with 
 what he had got. " And by his daily journeying," 
 proceeds Giraldus, " he came at length unto the 
 noble town of Bristow (Bristol), where, because 
 ships and boats did daily repair, and come from out 
 of Ireland, he, very desirous to hear of the state of 
 his people and country, did, for a time, sojourn and 
 make his abode ; and while he was there, he would 
 ofttimes cause the king's letters to be openly read, 
 and did then ofl'er great entertainment and promised 
 liberal wages to all such as would help or serve him ; 
 but it served not." At length, however, he chanced 
 to meet Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, sur-
 
 446 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 named Strongbow (sometimes also called Earl of 
 Chepstow, or of Strighul, from a castle belonging 
 to his family in the neighborhood of that town), 
 with whom he soon came to an agreement. Strong- 
 bow, on the promise of the handof Dermond's eldest 
 daughter, Eva, and the succession to the throne of 
 Leinster, engaged to come over to Ireland with a 
 sufficient military force to effect the deposed king's 
 restoration in the following spring. A short time 
 after this, Dermond having gone to the town of St. 
 David's to reembark for his native country, there 
 made another engagement with two young noble- 
 men, Maurice Fitzgerald and Robert Fitzstephen, 
 l)oth sons of the lady Nesta, a daughter of one of 
 the Welsh princes, who, after liaving been mistress 
 to Henry I., married (ierald, governor of Pembroke 
 Castle, and Lord of Carew, and finally became mis- 
 tress to Stephen de Marisco, or Maurice, constable 
 of the castle of Cardigan: Fitzgerald was her son 
 l)y her marriage, and Fitzstephen by her last men- 
 tioned connection. To these two half-brothers, in 
 consideration of their coming over to him with a 
 certain force at the same time with Strongbow, 
 Dermond engaged to grant the town of Wexford, 
 with two cautreds (or hundreds) of land adjoining, 
 in fee for ever. These arrangements being com- 
 pleted, " Dermond," continues the historian, " being 
 weary of his exiled life and distressed estate, and 
 therefore the more desirous to draw homeward for 
 the recovery of his own, and for which he had so 
 long traveled and sought abroad, he first went to the 
 church of St. David's to make his orisons and pray- 
 ers, and then, the weather being fair and wind 
 good, he adventured the seas about the middle of 
 August, and having a merry passage, he shortly 
 landed in his ungrateful countrj' ; and, with a very 
 impatient mind, hazarded himselfamong and through 
 the middle of his enemies ; and coming safely to 
 Ferns, he was very honorablj^ received of the clergy 
 there, who after their ability did refresh and succor 
 him. But he for a time dissembling his princely 
 estate, continued as a private man all that winter 
 following among them." It would appear, however, 
 that he was rash enough to come out of his conceal- 
 ment and show himself in arms in the beginning of 
 the year 1169, before any of his promised English 
 succors had arrived ; and the result of this prema- 
 ture attempt was, that he was again easily reduced 
 by King Roderick and O'Ruarc, who, however, now 
 consented to allow him to retain ten cantreds of his 
 former territory, on condition of his holding the land 
 as the immediate vassal of Roderick. He accepted 
 these terms, of course with no intention of observing 
 •them. 
 
 His allies in England meanwhile did not forget 
 him. Robert Fitzstephen was the first to set out 
 about the beginning of May, accompanied with thirty 
 gentlemen of his own kindred, sixty men in coats- 
 (tf mail, and three hundred picked archers ; they 
 shipped themselves in three small vessels, and sail- 
 ing right across from St. David's Head, landed at a 
 creek now called the Bann, about twelve miles to 
 the south of the citj- of Wexford. Along with them 
 4ilso came the paternal uncle of Strongbow, Hervey 
 
 de Montemarisco, or Mountmaurice, " a man," ac- 
 cording to Giraldus, "unfortunate, unarmed, and 
 without all furniture," and intended to act rather as 
 a conmiissioned agent for his nephew than as a 
 soldier. On the day following, two more vesels ar- 
 rived at the same place, bearing Maurice of Pren- 
 dergast, " a lustj' and a hardy man, born about Mil- 
 ford, in West Wales," with ten more gentlemen 
 and sixty archers. It seems to have been immedi- 
 ately spread abroad that the armed foreigners were 
 come to aid MacMurrogh. He himself was not long 
 in hearing of their arrival, on which he instantly sent 
 500 men to join them under his illegitimate son 
 Donald, and " very shortly after he himself also fol- 
 lowed with great joy and gladness." 
 
 It was now deterniined, without further delay, to 
 march upon the town of Wexford. " When they of 
 the town," proceeds the narrative, "heard thereof, 
 they being a fierce and unruly people, but yet much 
 trusting to their wonted fortune, came forth about 
 2000 of them, and were determined to wage and 
 give battle." On beholding the imposing armor and 
 array of the English, however, they drew back, and, 
 setting the suburbs on fire, took refuge within the 
 walls of the town. For that day all the efforts of 
 the assailants to effect an entrsince were vain ; as 
 they crowded into the ditches and endeavored to 
 mount the Avails, great pieces of timber and stones 
 were thrown down upon them, and many of them 
 having been wounded, they at length retired to the 
 sea-shore, and satisfied themselves in the meantime 
 with setting fire to such ships and boats as they found 
 lying there. Among them, Giraldus mentions, was 
 " one merchant-ship lately come out of England 
 laden with wines and corn." The next morning, 
 after the soleinn celebration of masses through the 
 whole camp, they made ready to renew the assault 
 upon the town; but the besieged, seeing this, lost 
 heart, and saved them further trouble by offering 
 to surrender. Four of the chief inhabitants were 
 given up to MacMurrogh as pledges for the fidelity 
 of their fellow-citizens ; and he, on his part, imme- 
 diately performed his promise to his English friends 
 by making over to Fitzstephen and Fitzgerald the 
 town that had thus fallen into his hands, with the 
 territories thereunto adjoining and appertaining. 
 To Hervey of Mountmaurice, he also gave two can- 
 treds, lying along the sea-side between Wexford and 
 Waterford. 
 
 This first successful exploit was followed up by 
 an incursion into the district of Ossory, the prince 
 of which had well earned the enmity of MacMur- 
 rogh by having some years before, on some suspi- 
 cions he had formed against the young man, steized 
 his eldest son, and put out his eyes. The Ossorians 
 at first boldly stood their ground, and as long as they 
 kept to their bogs and woods, the invading force, 
 though now increased by an accession from the town 
 of Wexford to about 3000 men, made little impres- 
 sion upon them ; but at last, in a moment of preci- 
 pitation, they were imprudent enough to allow 
 themselves to be drawn into the open country, 
 when Robert Fitzstephen immediately fell upon 
 I them with a body of horse, and threw down the Ul-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 447 
 
 armed and unprotected multitude, or scattered them 
 in all directions : those that were thrown to the 
 ground the foot-soldiers straight dispatched, cutting 
 off their heads with their battle-axes. Three hun- 
 dred bleeding heads were brought and laid at the 
 feet of MacMui-rogh, " who, turning every of them, 
 one by one, to know them, did then for joy hold up 
 both his hands, and with a loud voice thank God 
 most highly. Among these there was the head of 
 one whom especially and above all the rest he mor- 
 tally hated ; and he, taking up that by the hair and 
 ears, with his teeth most horribly and cruelly bit 
 away his nose and lips !" So nearly in some respects 
 did an Irish king of the twelfth century resemble a 
 modern savage chief of New Zealand. After this 
 disaster, the people of Ossory made no further re- 
 sistance ; they suffered their invaders to march 
 across the whole breadth of their country, murder- 
 ing, spoiling, burning, and laying waste wherever 
 they passed ; and at last their prince sued for peace, 
 and was glad to be allowed to swear fealty to the 
 King of Leinster, and to acknowledge him for hrs 
 lawful and true lord. 
 
 All this had taken place before anything was 
 heard of a movement on the part of MacMurrogh's 
 old enemies. King Roderick and O'Ruarc, whom 
 surprise and alarm seemed to have deprived at first 
 of the power of action. But news was now brought 
 that the monarch was at last levying an army, and 
 also that the princes and nobility of the land were, 
 at his call, about to meet in a great council at the 
 ancient royal seat of Tara, in Meath. On receiv- 
 ing this intelligence, MacMurrogh and his English 
 friends, withdrawing from Ossory, took up a position 
 of great natural strength in the midst of the hills 
 and bogs in the neighborhood of Ferns, and after 
 having made it still more secure by the addition of 
 such artificial defences as the time and circum- 
 stances permitted, there awaited what might hap- 
 pen. Their small force was speedily surrounded 
 by the numerous army of King Roderick, and it 
 would seem that, if they could not have been at- 
 tacked in their inaccessible stronghold, they might 
 have been starved into a surrender, at no great ex- 
 pense of patience on the part of those who had 
 them thus imprisoned. But notwithstanding the 
 inferiority of their numbers, Roderick appears to 
 have been a good deal more afraid of them than 
 they were of him : it is said that disunion had 
 broken out in the council, which, after assembling 
 at Tara, had adjourned to Dublin ; and the Irish 
 king had probably reason to fear that if he could not 
 in some way or other bring the affair to a speedy 
 termination, he would soon be left in no condition 
 to keep the field at all. 
 
 In this feeling he first attempted, by presents and 
 promises, to seduce Fitzstephen ; failing in that, he 
 next tried to persuade MacMurrogh to come over 
 and make common cause with his countrymen 
 against the foreigners; at last, when there was 
 reason to apprehend that the enemy, encouraged 
 by these manifestations of timidity or conscious 
 weakness, were about to come out and attack him, 
 he actually sent messengers to sue for peace ; on 
 
 which, after some negotiation, it was agreed that 
 MacMurrogh should be reinstated in his kingdom, 
 which should be secured to him and his heirs, on 
 condition only of his consenting, like the other pro- 
 vincial kings, to acknowledge the general sovereign- 
 ty of Roderick, and giving his son as a hostage for 
 the performance of his engagements. Roderick also 
 promised to give him his daughter in marriage. 
 
 It does not appear what terms MacMurrogh pro- 
 fessed to make in his treaty for his Enghsh allies. 
 It is afifirmed, indeed, that it was agreed between 
 him and Roderick by a secret article, that he should 
 send them all home as soon as he had restored his 
 kingdom to order, and in the mean time should pro- 
 cure no more of them to come over. But whatever 
 was the intention with which the King of Leinster 
 made these new engagements, he was too far in- 
 volved in the consequences of those of another kind 
 he had previously made, to have it in his power to 
 abide by them, even if such had been his wish. 
 His English confederates, whose valor and exertions 
 had replaced him on his throne, would not, we may 
 be sure, after such a service, and such assurance of 
 their importance, be so easil}' shaken off as both his 
 countrymen and he himself may have desired. This 
 was soon proved by the arrival at Wexford of two 
 more ships, bringing over Maurice Fitzgerald, with 
 an additional force of ten gentlemen, thirty horse- 
 men, and about a hundred archers and foot soldiers. 
 On receiving this accession of strength, MacMur- 
 rogh immediately cast his recent engagements and 
 oaths to the winds. His first movement was to march 
 with his new auxilinries against the city of Dub- 
 lin, which had not fully returned to its submission : 
 he soon compelled the citizens to sue for peace, to 
 swear fealty to him, and to give hostages. He then 
 sent a party of his English friends to assist his son- 
 in-law, the Prince of Limerick, whose territory had 
 been attacked by King Roderick ; and the royal 
 forces were in consequence speedily defeated, and 
 forced to return home. 
 
 From this time MacMurrogh and the English ad- 
 venturers, encouraged by the uniform and extraor- 
 dinary success that had hitherto attended them, 
 seem to have raised their hopes to nothing short of 
 the conquest of the whole country. The supreme 
 sovereignty had already been enjoyed successively 
 by the kings of Ulster, of Munster, and of Con- 
 naught; and the King of Leinster might naturally 
 enough think that the turn of his own house was 
 now come. To whatever extent his foreign asso- 
 ciates may have sympathized with him in this ambi- 
 tion, they professed, when he opened his mind to 
 them, to enter into his views. By their advice he 
 dispatched messengers to England to urge the Earl 
 of Pembroke to come over with his force imme- 
 diately. His letter, if we must suppose it to have 
 run in the words given by Giraldus, was a some- 
 what highflown composition. " We have alreadj'," 
 he wrote, "seen the storks and swallows, as also 
 the summer birds are come, and with the westerly 
 winds are gone again ; we have long looked and 
 wished for your coming, and albeit the winds havo 
 been at east and easterly, yet hitherto you are not
 
 448 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 come unto us ; wherefore now linger no longer," &c. 
 All Leinster, it was added, was already completely 
 reduced, and there could be no doubt that the earl's 
 presence, with the force he had engaged to bring 
 with him, would soon add the other provinces to 
 that. 
 
 Strongbow still deemed it prudent, before he took 
 any decided step, to inform King Heniy of the pro- 
 posal that had been made to him, and to ask his 
 leave to engage in the enterprise. Henry, with his 
 usual caution and deep policy, would only answer 
 his request evasively ; but the earl ventured to un- 
 derstand him in a favorable sense, and returned 
 home with his mind made up to make the venture. 
 As soon as the winter was over, accordingly, he 
 sent to Ireland, as the first portion of his force, ten 
 gentlemen and seventy archers, under the command 
 of his relation, Raymond Fitzwilliam, surnamed, 
 from his corpulency, Le Gros, or the Gross, an epi- 
 thet which afterward, in the disguised form of 
 Grace, became the distinguished family name of his 
 numerous descendants. Raymond Le Gros was the 
 nephew of Fitzgerald and Fitzstephen, being the 
 son of William, Lord of Carew, the elder brother 
 of the former. He and his company landed at a 
 rock about four miles east from the city of Water- 
 ford, then called Dundonolf, afterward the site of 
 the castle of Dundorogh, in the beginning of May, 
 1170. They had scarcely time to cast a trench and 
 to build themselves a temporary fort of turf and 
 twigs, when they were attacked by a body of 3000 
 of the citizens of Waterford ; but this mob, although, 
 at first, they made their assault with such fierceness 
 as to compel the handful of foreigners to retire to 
 their fort, took to flight as soon as Raymond and his 
 men, having gained their entrenchments, turned 
 round upon them, and were then pursued and scat- 
 tered with frightful slaughter. Five hundred of 
 them were cut down in the pursuit ; and then, as 
 Giraldus asserts, the victors being weary with kill- 
 ing, cast a great number of those whom they had 
 taken prisoners headlong from the rocks into the 
 seas, and so drowned them." A still more disgrace- 
 ful atrocity — because done with more deliberation, 
 and in colder blood, as well as with additional cir- 
 cumstances of cruelty — followed this. In the gen- 
 eral destruction of their prisoners they had saved 
 seventy of the principal citizens of Waterford, for 
 the sake of what they might receive for their ran- 
 som ; and Raymond himself, on considerations of 
 humanity, as well as of policy, strenuously advised 
 that they should be given up ; but Hervey of Mount- 
 maurice, who with three of his comrades had joined 
 them, opposing this counsel, his arguments were at 
 last unanimously acquiesced in ; " whereupon," says 
 the historian, " the captives, as men condemned, 
 were brought to the rocks, and after their limbs 
 were broken, they were cast headlong into the seas, 
 and so drowned." 
 
 The Earl of Pembroke did not set sail till the be- 
 ginning of September. He then embarked at Mil- 
 ford Haven with a force of two hundred gentlemen 
 and a thousand inferior fighting men, and on the 
 vigil of St. Bartholomew landed in the neighborhood 
 
 of the city of Waterford, which still remained un- 
 reduced. On the following day, Raymond Le Gros 
 came with great joy to welcome him, attended by 
 forty of his company. " And on the morrow, upon 
 St. Bartholomew's day, being Tuesday, they dis- 
 played their banners, and in good array they marched 
 to the walls of the city, being fully bent and deter- 
 mined to give the assault." The citizens, however, 
 defended themselves with great spirit ; their reso- 
 lution to die rather than surrender, was, no doubt, 
 strengthened and made sterner by the experience 
 they had already had of the merciless character of 
 their enemy, and the memory of the fate of their 
 friends and relations a few months before so barba- 
 rously butchered ; and the assailants were twice 
 driven back from the walls. But Raymond, who, 
 by the consent of all, had been appointed to the 
 command, now " having espied," continues the nar- 
 rative, " a little house of timber standing half upon 
 posts without the walls, called his men together, and 
 encouraged them to give a new assault at that place ; 
 and having hewed down the posts whereupon the 
 house stood, the same fell down, together with a 
 piece of the town wall ; and then, a way being thus 
 opened, they entered into the city, and killed the 
 people in the streets without pity or mercy, leaving 
 them lying in great heaps ; and thus, with bloody 
 hands, they obtained a bloody victoiy." MacMur- 
 rogh arrived along with Fitzgerald and Fitzstephen 
 while the work of plunder and carnage was still 
 proceeding ; and it was in the midst of the desola- 
 tion, misnamed the restoration of quiet and order, 
 which followed the sacking of the miserable city, 
 that, in fulfilment of his compact with Strongbow, 
 the marriage ceremony was solemnized between 
 his daughter Eva, whom he had brought with him, 
 and that nobleman. 
 
 Immediately after this they again spread their 1 
 banners, and set out on their march for Dublin. ^ 
 The inhabitants of that city, who were mostly of 
 Danish race, had taken the precaution of station- 
 ing troops at different points along the common road 
 from Waterford, so as to make it impassable to a 
 hostile force ; but iVIacMurrogh led his followers 
 by another way among the mountains, and to the 
 consternation of the citizens made his appearance 
 before the walls ere they were aware that he had 
 left Waterford. A negotiation was attempted, 
 but, while it was still going on, Raymond and his 
 friend Miles, or Milo, de Cogan, " more desirous," 
 as Giraldus after his fashion expresses it, " to fight 
 under Mars in the field than to sit in council under 
 Jupiter, and more willing to purchase honor in the 
 wars than gain it in peace, with a company of lusty 
 young gentlemen suddenly ran to the walls, and 
 giving the assault, brake in, entered the city, and 
 obtained the victory, making no small slaughter of 
 their enemies." These Norman knights seem to 
 have held themselves entitled in the contest they 
 were now waging to lay aside not only all the cour- 
 tesies of civilized warfare, but even all honor and 
 fair play ; they treated the people whom they had 
 come to rob of their country as at once a race to 
 whom no mercy was to be shown, and with whom
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 449 
 
 no faith was to be kept. Leaving Dublin in charge 
 of Milo de Cogan, Strongbow next proceeded, on 
 the instigation of MacMurrogh, to invade the dis- 
 trict of Meath, anciently considered the fifth prov- 
 ince of Ireland, and set apart as the peculiar terri- 
 tory of the supreme sovereign, but which King Rod- 
 erick had lately made over to his friend O'Ruarc. 
 The English chief, although he seems to have met 
 with no resistance from the inhabitants, now laid 
 it waste from one end to the other with fire and 
 sword. While all this was going on, the only effort 
 in behalf of his crown or his country that Roderick 
 is recorded to have made, was the sending a rhet- 
 orical message to MacMurrogh, commanding him 
 to return to his allegiance and dismiss his foreign 
 allies, if he did not wish that the life of his son, 
 whom he had left in pledge, should be sacrificed. 
 To this threat MacMurrogh at once replied that he 
 never would desist from his enterprise until he had 
 not only subdued all Connaught, but won to himself 
 the monarchy of all Ireland. Infuriated by this de- 
 fiance, the other savage instantly gave orders to cut 
 off MacMurrogh's son's head. 
 
 About this time, according to Giraldus, a synod of 
 the clergy was held at Armagh, at which it was 
 unanimously agreed that the English invasion was 
 a just punishment by Heaven for the sins of the 
 people, and especially for the practice, of which 
 they had long been guilty, of buying English- cap- 
 tives from pirates and merchants, and making slaves 
 of them. It was therefore ordered that all the 
 English slaves throughout the land should be imme- 
 diately set at liberty. It does not appear what au- 
 thority the synod had to issue such a decree as this, 
 or what obedience was paid to it ; laudable as a gen- 
 eral liberation of the English slaves may have been, 
 the measure was certainly not very well timed, and 
 regarded as the only expedient the reverend assem- 
 bly could think of for saving the country, it must be 
 considered a somewhat cui-ious one. There was 
 something suspicious or not easily intelligible in the 
 part taken by the clergy throughout the whole of 
 these transactions. 
 
 But now the adventurers were struck on a sudden 
 with no little perplexity by the arrival of a procla- 
 mation from King Henry sti-ictly prohibiting the 
 passing of any more ships from any port in England 
 to Ireland, and commanding that all his subjects now 
 in the latter country should return from thence be- 
 fore Easter, on pain of forfeiting all their lands and 
 being for ever banished from the realm. A consul- 
 tation being held as to what ought to be done in this 
 emergency, it was resolved that Raymond le Gros 
 should be immediately dispatched to the king, who 
 was in Aquitaine, with letters from Strongbow re- 
 minding Henry that he had taken up the cause of 
 Derm and MacMurrogh (as he conceived) with the 
 royal permission ; and acknowledging for himself 
 and his companions, that whatever they had ac- 
 quired in Ireland, either by gift or otherwise, they 
 considered not their own, but as held for him their 
 hege lord, and as being at his absolute disposal. 
 While they thus sought, however, to protect them- 
 selves against its more remote consequences, the 
 VAT., :.— ''o 
 
 immediate effect of the proclamation was to deal a 
 heavy blow at their cause, both by the discourage- 
 ment and alarm it spread among their adherents, 
 and especially by cutting off the supplies both of 
 men and victuals they had counted upon receiving 
 from England. 
 
 Things were in this state when a new enemy 
 suddenly appeared — a body of Danes and Norwe- 
 gians brought to attack the city of Dublin by its for- 
 mer Danish ruler, who had made his escape when 
 it was lately taken, and had been actively employed 
 ever since in preparing and fitting out this arma- 
 ment. They came in sixty ships, and as soon as 
 they had landed proceeded to the assault. " They 
 were all mighty men of war," says the description 
 of them in Giraldus, " and well appointed after the 
 Danish manner, being harnessed with good brigan- 
 dines, jacks, and shirts of mail ; their shields, buck- 
 lers, and targets were round, and colored red, and 
 bound about with iron ; and as they were in armor, so 
 in minds also they were as iron strong and mighty." 
 The attack was made upon the east gate of the city, 
 and Milo de Cogan soon found that the small force 
 under his command could make no effective resis- 
 tance. But the good fortune that had all along 
 waited upon him and his associates was still true to 
 them. His brother, seeing how he was pressed, 
 led out a few men by the south gate, and, attacking 
 the assailants from behind, spread such confusion 
 and dismay through their ranks, that after a short 
 convulsive effort to recover themselves, they gave 
 way to their panic and took to flight. Great num- 
 bers of them were slain, and their leader himself, 
 being taken prisoner, so exasperated the English 
 commander when he was brought into his presence 
 by the bold expressions in which he gave vent to 
 his feelings, " in the open sight and audience of all 
 the people," that Milo de Cogan ordered his head 
 to be struck off on the spot. 
 
 It would appear to have been not long after this that 
 Dermond MacMurrogh died, on which it is said that 
 Strongbow took the title and assumed the authority 
 of King of Leinster in right of his wife. Raymond 
 le Gros had now also returned from Aquitaine ; he 
 had delivered the letter with which he was charged, 
 but Henry had sent no answer, and had not even 
 admitted him to his presence. Meanwhile, on the 
 side of the Irish, there was one individual, Lau- 
 rence, Archbishop of Dublin, who saw that the mo- 
 ment was favorable for yet another effort to save the 
 country. Chiefly by his patriotic exertions a great 
 confederacy was formed of all the native princes, 
 together with those of Man and the other surround- 
 ing islands, and a force was assembled around Dub- 
 lin, with King Roderick as its commander-in-chief, 
 of the amount, it is affirmed, of thirty thousand men. 
 Strongbow, and Raymond, and Maurice Fitzgerald 
 had all thrown themselves into the city, but their 
 united forces did not make twice as many himdreds 
 as the enemy numbered thousands. For the space 
 of two months, however, the investing force appears 
 to have sat still in patient expectation. Their hope, 
 no doubt, was that want of victuals would in course of 
 time compel the garrison to surrender. And at length
 
 450 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 a message camo from Strongbow, and a negotiation 
 was opened ; but, before any arrangement was con- 
 eluded, an extraordinary turn of fortune suddenly 
 changed the whole position of aftairs. While the 
 besieged were anxiously deliberating on what it 
 would be best for them to do in the difficult and 
 perilous circumstances in which they were placed, 
 Donald Kavenagh, the son of the late King Mac- 
 .Murrogh, contrived to make his way into the city, 
 and informed them that their friend Fitzstephen was 
 closely besieged by the people of Wexford in his 
 castle of Carrig, near that place, and that, if not re- 
 lieved within a few days, he would assuredlj-, with 
 his wife and children, and the few men who were 
 with him, fall into the hands of the enemy. At 
 another time this intelligence might have confounded 
 and dismayed them ; in their present circumstances 
 it gave them the courage of desperation. Fitzgerald 
 proposed, and Raymond seconded the gallant coun- 
 sel, that, rather than seek to preserve their lives with 
 the loss of all beside, they should, small as their force 
 was, make a bold attempt to cut their way to their dis- 
 tressed comrades, and, at the worst, die like soldiers 
 and knights. The animating appeal nerved every 
 heart. With all speed each man got ready and 
 buckled on his armor, and the little band was soon 
 set in array in three divisions; the first led by Le 
 Gros, the second by Milo de Cogan, the last by the 
 earl and Maurice Fitzgerald. All things being thus 
 arranged, about the hour of nine in the morning 
 they suddenly rushed forth from one of the gates, 
 and threw themselves impetuously upon the vast 
 throng of the enemy, whom their sudden onset so 
 bewildered and confounded, that, while many were 
 killed or thrown to the ground, and elsewhere the 
 disordered masses ran against and struggled with 
 leach other, encumbered by their own numbers, the 
 bold assailants scarcely encountered any resistance, 
 and in a short time the scattered host was flying be- 
 fore them in all directions. King Roderick himself 
 escaped with difficulty, and almost undressed, for 
 he had been regaling himself with the luxury of a 
 bath when this sudden destruction came upon him. 
 Great store of victuals, armor, and other spoils was 
 found in the deserted camp, with which the victors 
 returned at night to the city, and there set every- 
 thing in order, and left a sufficient garrison, now 
 well provided with all necessaries, before setting 
 out the next morning to the relief of their friends at 
 Wexford. 
 
 The earl and his company marched on unopposed 
 on the road to tliat place till they came to a narrow 
 pass in the midst of bogs, in a district called the 
 Odrone or Idrone. Here they found the way 
 blocked up by a numerous force under the command 
 of the prince of the distinct; but after a sharp ac- 
 tion, in which the Irish leader fell, they succeeded 
 in overcoming this hinderance, and were enabled 
 to pursue their journey. They had nearly reached 
 Wexford when intelligence was received that Fitz- 
 stephen and his companions were already in the 
 hands of the enemy. After standing out for several 
 days against repeated attacks from the people of 
 Wexford and the surrounding district, whose num- 
 
 bers are said to have amounted to .3000 men, he and 
 those with him, consisting of only five gentlemen 
 and a few archers, had, it appeared, been induced 
 to deliver up the fort on receiving an assurance, 
 solemnly confirmed by the oaths of the bishops of 
 Kildare and Wexford, and others of the clergy, that 
 Dublin had fallen, and that the earl, with all the rest 
 of their friends there, were kHled. They promised 
 Fitzstephen that, if he would surrender himself in- 
 to their hands, they would conduct him to a place 
 of safety, and secure him and his men from the 
 vengeance of King Roderick, who would otherwise 
 certainly put them all to the sword. But as soon 
 as they had by this treachery got possession of their 
 persons, " some," according to Giraldus, " they 
 killed, some they beat, some thej^ wounded, and 
 some they cast into prison," — a variety enough of 
 ways, certainly, of disposing of so small a number 
 of cases. Fitzstephen himself they carried away 
 with them to an island culled Beg-Eri, or Little 
 Erin, lying not far from Wexford, having fled 
 thither, after setting that town on fire, when they 
 heard that Strongbow had got out of Dublin, and 
 was on his march to their district. They now also 
 sent to inform the earl, that, if he continued his ap- 
 proach, they would cut off the heads of Fitzstephen 
 and his companions, and send them to him. De- 
 terred by this threat, Strongbow deemed it best to 
 turn aside from Wexford and to take his way to 
 Waterford. 
 
 Meanwhile, since the return of Raymond le Gros 
 from his unsuccessful mission, it had been deter- 
 mined to make another application to Henry ; and 
 Hervey of Fitzmaurice had been dispatched to 
 England for that purpose. On reaching Waterford, 
 Strongbow found Hervey there just returned, with 
 the king's commands, that the earl should repair to 
 him in person without delay. He and Hervey ac- 
 cordingly took ship forthwith. As soon as they 
 landed, they proceeded to where Henry Avas, at 
 Newnham, in Gloucestershire. He had returned 
 from the continent about two months before, and 
 had ever since been actively employed in collecting 
 and equipping an army and fleet, and making other 
 preparations for passing over into Ireland. When 
 Strongbow presented himself, he at first refused to 
 see him; but after a short time he consented to re- 
 ceive his offers of entire submission. It was agreed 
 that the earl should surrender to the king, in full 
 possession, the city of Dublin, and all other towns 
 and forts which he held along the coast of Ireland ; 
 on which condition he should be allowed to retain 
 the rest of his acquisitions for himself and his heirs, 
 under subjection to the English crown. This ar- 
 rangement being concluded, the king, attended by 
 Strongbow and many othef lords, embarked at Mil- 
 ford. His force, which consisted of 500 knights or 
 gentlemen, and about 4000 common soldiers, is said 
 to have been distributed into 400 vessels. He 
 landed at a place which the contemporary historians 
 name Croch, supposed to be that now called the 
 Crook, near Waterford, on the 18th of October, 
 1171. 
 
 In the short intei-val that had elapsed since the
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 451 
 
 departure of Strongbow, another attack had been 
 made upon Dublin by Tiernan O'Ruarc ; but the 
 forces of the Irish prince were dispersed with great 
 slaughter in a sudden sally by Milo de Cogan, in ac- 
 cordance with the uniform fortune of this extraor- 
 dinary contest. O'Ruarc's own son was left among 
 the slain. This proved the last effort, for the pres- 
 ent, of Irish independence. When the English 
 king made his appearance in the country, he found 
 its conquest already achieved, and nothing remain- 
 ing for him to do except to receive the eagerly- 
 offered submission of its various princes and chief- 
 tains. The first that presented themselves to him 
 were the citizens of Wexford, who had so treach- 
 erously obtained possession of the person of Fitz- 
 stephen ; they endeavored to make a merit of this 
 discreditable exploit — bringing their prisoner along 
 with them as a rebellious subject, whom they had 
 seized while engaged in making war without the 
 consent of his sovereign. Henry entered so far into 
 their views, that for the present he ordered Fitz- 
 stephen into custody ; but he soon after released 
 him, though he insisted upon his resigning all his 
 claims to the town of Wexford and the adjoining 
 territory which had been bestowed upon him by 
 Dermond MacMurrogh. Some of those who had 
 taken part in betraying him were also seized and 
 put to death. Before Henry removed fi'om Water- 
 ford, the King of Cork, or Desmond, came to him 
 of his own accord, and took his oath of fealty. From 
 Waterford he proceeded with his army to Lismore, 
 and thence to Cashel, near to which city, on the 
 banks of the Suir, he received the homage of the 
 other chief Munster prince, the King of Thomond 
 or Limerick. The Prince of Ossory and the other 
 inferior chiefs of Munster hastened to follow the ex- 
 ample of their betters ; and Henry, after receiving 
 their submission, and leaving garrisons both in Cork 
 and Limerick, returned through Tipperary to Water- 
 ford. Soon after, leaving Robert Fitzbernard in 
 command there, he set out for Dublin. Wherever 
 lie stopped on his march, the neighboring princes 
 and chiefs repaired to him, and acknowledged 
 themselves his vassals. Giraldus gives a list of the 
 names, which we need not copy ; among them is 
 that of Tiernan O'Ruarc. "But Roderick, the 
 monarch," it is added, " came no nearer than to the 
 side of the river Shanon, whicli divideth Connaught 
 from Meath, and there Hugh de Lacy and William 
 Fitzaldelm, by the king's commandment, met him, 
 who, desiring peace, submitted himself, swore alle- 
 giance, became tributary, and did put in (as all others 
 did) hostages and pledges for the keeping of the 
 same. Thus was all Ireland, saving Ulster, brought 
 in subjection." After this, Henry kept his Christ- 
 mas in Dublin, the feast being held in a temporary 
 erection, constructed after the Irish fashion, of 
 wicker-work. " On this occasion," says Giraldus, 
 ' many and the most part of the princes of that 
 land resorted and made repair unto Dublin to see 
 the king's court; and when they saw the great 
 abundance of victuals, and the noble services, as also 
 the eating of cranes, which they much loathed, being 
 not before accustomed thereunto, they much won- 
 
 dered and marveled thereat; but in the end, they 
 being by the king's commandment set down, did 
 also there eat and drink among them." 
 
 Henry remained in Ireland for some months 
 longer, and during his stcay called together a council 
 of the clergy at Cashel, at which a number of con- 
 stitutions or decrees were passed for the regulation 
 of the church, and the reform of the ecclesiastical 
 discipline, in regard to certain points where its laxity 
 had long afforded matter of complaint and reproach. 
 He is also said, by Matthew Paris, to have held a 
 lay council at Lismore, at which provision was made 
 for the extension to Ireland of the English laws, 
 and other enactments were made for the civil gov- 
 ernment of the conquered country. He was in the 
 mean time made very uneasy by the non-arrival of 
 any intelligence from England, in consequence of 
 the state of the weather, which was so tempestuous 
 that scarcely a ship, it is said, came to Ireland all 
 the winter from any part of the world. Henry took 
 up his residence at Wexford, and while here he 
 employed all his arts of policy, according to Giraldus, 
 to attach Raymond le Gros and the other principal 
 English adventurers settled in Ireland to his inter- 
 est, that he might thereby the more weaken the 
 Earl of Pembroke and strengthen himself. At last, • 
 about the middle of Lent, ships arrived both from 
 England and Aquitaine, and brought such tidings as 
 determined the king to lose no time in again taking 
 his way across the sea. So, having appointed Hugh 
 de Lacy to be governor of Dublin, and as such his 
 chief representative in his realm of Ireland ; and 
 having bestowed other high offices, of the same kind 
 with those that were established at the English 
 court, upon the other principal noblemen whom he 
 left behind him ; all of whom were, besides, amply 
 endowed with lands for the support of their newly 
 created dignities, he set sail from Wexford at sun- 
 rise on Easter Monday, the 17th of April, 1172, and 
 about noon of the same day landed at Portfiunan, in 
 Wales. 
 
 It is probable that Henry's very imperfect oc- 
 cupation of Ireland did not greatly increase his 
 resources, but it added to his reputation both in 
 England and on the continent. The envy that ac- 
 companied his successes, and the old jealousy of his 
 power, might have failed to do him any serious 
 injury, or touch any sensitive part, but for the dis- 
 sensions existing in his own family. At this period 
 the king had four sons living — Henry, Richard, 
 Geoffrey, and John — of the respective ages of 
 eighteen, sixteen, fifteen, and five years. He had 
 been an indulgent father, and had made a splendid, 
 and what he considered a judicious, provision for 
 them all. His eldest son was to succeed, not only to 
 England, but to Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Tou- 
 raine — territories which bordered on one another, 
 and comprised an important part of France ; Rich- 
 ard was invested with the states of his mother, 
 Aquitaine and Poictou ; GeoflVey was to have Brit- 
 tany, in right of his wife, the daughter of Conan ; 
 and Ireland was destined to be the appanage of 
 John. 
 
 At the coronation of Prince Henry, which had
 
 452 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 already occasioned so much trouble, his consort, the 
 daughter of the French kinj;, was not allowed to 
 be crowned with him ; and this omission being re- 
 sented by Louis, led to fresh quarrels. The king 
 at last consented that the ceremony should be 
 repeated ; and Margaret was then crowned as well 
 as her husband. Soon after this ceremony, the 
 young couple visited the French court, where Louis, 
 though a very devout prince, stimulated the impa- 
 tient ambition of his youthful son-in-law, and in- 
 cited him to an unnatural rebellion against his own 
 father. It had been the priictice in France, ever 
 since the establishment of the Capetian dynasty, to 
 crown the eldest son during the father's lifetime, 
 without giving him any present share of the territo- 
 ries or government ; but young Henry was per- 
 suaded by Louis and others equally well acquainted 
 with this practice, that, by being crowned, he ob- 
 tained a right of immediate participation ; and as 
 soon as he returned, ho expressed his desire that 
 the king, his father, would resign to him either 
 England or Normandj^ "in order," he said, "that 
 he and the queen, his wife, might have the means 
 of supporting the dignity he had conferred on them." 
 Henry rejected this strange demand, telling the 
 3'outh to have patience till his death, when he would 
 have states and power enough. His son expressed 
 astonishment at the refusal, used very undutiful 
 language, and never more exchanged words of real 
 love or sincere peace with his parent. The vindic- 
 tive Eleanor gave encouragement to her son, and 
 fomented his horrible hatred; and the " elder king,"^ 
 as Henry was now called, was punished for the infi- 
 delities which had long since alienated the affections 
 of his wife. Being at Limoges, Raymond, the Earl 
 of Toulouse, who had quarreled with the King of 
 France, and renounced his allegiance, went suddenly 
 to Henry, and warned him to liave an eye on his 
 wife and son, and make sure of the castles of Poic- 
 tou and Aquitaine. Without showing his suspicions 
 to young Henry, who was with him, the king con- 
 ti-ived to provision his fortresses, and assure himself 
 of the fidelity of the commanders. On their return 
 from Aquitaine, he and his son stopped to sleep at 
 the town of Chinon ; and during the night the son 
 fled and advanced alone to Alencon. The father 
 pursued, but could not overtake the fugitive, who 
 reached Argenton, and thence passed by night into 
 the territories of the French king. Henry, whose 
 activitj' Avas unimpaired, then rode along the whole of 
 the frontier of Normandy, inspecting the fortresses, 
 and putting them in the best possible state of de- 
 fence, to resist the storm which he saw would burst 
 in that direction. 
 
 A.D. 1173 (March). A few days after the flight 
 of Henry, his brothers Richard and Geofii-ey also 
 fled to the French court, and Queen Eleanor her- 
 self, who had urged them to the step, absconded 
 from her husband. Though not for any love that 
 he bore her, the king was anxious to Recover his 
 wife : and at his orders, the Norman bishops threat- 
 ened her with the censures of the church, unless 
 she returned and brought her sons with her. It is 
 ' Rei Senior. 
 
 probable that this threat would have had no great 
 weight, but she was seized as she was trying to 
 find her way to the French court (where she must 
 have met her former husband), dressed in man's 
 clothes. Henry, the husband of her old age, was 
 not so soft and meek toward her as Louis, the con- 
 sort of her youthful years. He committed her to 
 the custody of one of his most trustworthy chatelains; 
 and with the exception of a few weeks, when her 
 presence was necessarj' for a political object, she 
 was kept in confinement for sixteen years,' and not 
 liberated till after his death. Before matters came 
 to extremities, Henry dispatched two bishops to 
 the French court, to demand, in the name of pa- 
 ternal authority, that liis fugitive sons should be 
 delivered up to him. Louis received these ambas- 
 siidors in a public manner, having at his right hand 
 young Henry, who wore his crown as king of Eng- 
 land ; and when they recapitulated, as usual, the 
 titles and style of their employer, they were told 
 that there was no other king of England than the 
 one beside him. In fact, young Henry was recog- 
 nized as sole king of England in a general assembly 
 of the barons and bishops of the kingdom of France 
 — a ceremony as empty as it was unjust in principle. 
 King Louis swore first, and his lords swore after 
 him, to aid and assist the son with all their might to 
 expel his father from his kingdom ; and then young 
 Henry swore first, and his brothers swore after 
 him, in the order of their senioritj', that they would 
 never conclude peace or truce with their father 
 without the consent and concurrence of the barons 
 of France.^ The taking and the exacting of such 
 oaths seem destructive of Louis's character for re- 
 ligion and sanctity ; but the measures were clearly 
 urged by the conspiring foreign nobles of the Eng- 
 lish king, who desired guarantees that they should 
 not be left unprotected by the natural process of a 
 reconciliation between fether and sons. A great 
 seal like that of England was manufactured, in order 
 that young Henry might afifiix that sign of royalty 
 and legality to his treaties and charters. By the 
 feast of Easter, the plans of the rebellious boy and 
 his confederates were matured. The scheme was 
 bold and extensive; the confederates were numer- 
 ous, including, besides the King of France, whose 
 reward was not committed to a written treatj', 
 AVilliara, King of Scotland, who was to receive all 
 that his predecessors had possessed in Northumber- 
 land and Cumberland, in payment of his services, 
 and Philip, Earl of Flanders, who was to have a 
 grant of the earldom of Kent, with the castles of 
 Dover and Rochester, for his share in the paiTicidal 
 war. The nature of these arrangements betokens 
 as gi-eat a want of patriotism as of filial aflfection, 
 and shows the cunning and interestedness of his 
 allies, as much as the ignorance, folly, and rashness 
 of the young prince. To these external enemies 
 were added many of Henry's own vassals — old 
 barons, who remembered the license of former 
 years, and Avere impatient of his firm government, 
 — and young ones, eager for novelty and adventure. 
 
 ^ IIoTed.' 
 
 •R. Diceto. — Neub. — Script. Rer. Franc. 
 ' Gervase.
 
 Chap. I,] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 453 
 
 and naturally inclined to take part with the young 
 and prodigal. Some of these, imitating the royal 
 examples set them, stipulated beforehand for the 
 nature and extent of their rewards. The Earl of 
 Blois, for example, was to have Amboise, Ch&teau- 
 Reynault, and an allowance in money on the reve- 
 nues of Anjou. The most powerful of the conspi- 
 rators in England were the Earls of Leicester and 
 Chester. 
 
 Like the great Conqueror under similar circum- 
 stances, Henry saw himself deserted even by his 
 favorite courtiers, and by many of the men whom 
 he had taught the art of war, and invested with the 
 honors of chivalry with his own hands. According 
 to a contemporary, it was a painful and desolating 
 sight for him to see those whom he had honored 
 with his confidence and intrusted with the care of 
 his chamber, his person, his very life, deserting him, 
 one by one, to join his enemies ; for nearly every 
 night some of them stole away, and those who had 
 attended him in the evening did not appear at his 
 call in the morning.' But Henry's strength of 
 character and consummate abilities were quite equal 
 to the difficulties of his situation, and in the midst 
 of his greatest trouble he maintained a cheerful 
 countenance and pursued his usual amusements, 
 hunting and haAvking, even more than his wont, and 
 was more gay and affable than ever toward the 
 companions that remained with him.^ His courtiers 
 and knights might flee, but Henry had a strong 
 party, and wise ministers and commanders, selected 
 by his sagacity, in most of his states, and in England 
 more than all : he had also money in abundance, 
 and these circumstances gave him confidence without 
 relaxing his precautions and exertions. Twenty 
 thousand Brabancons, who sold their mercenary 
 services to the best bidder, soon flocked to the 
 standard of the richest monarch of the west of 
 Europe. Not relying wholly on arms, he sent 
 messengers to all the neighboring princes who had 
 sons, to interest them in his favor ; and, as his case 
 might be their own, should encouragement and suc- 
 cess attend filial disobedience, their sympathy Avas 
 tolerably complete. In addressing the Pope, he 
 worked upon other feelings, and here his present 
 object hurried him into expressions of submission 
 and vassalage which contributed no doubt to form 
 the grounds of future and dangerous pretensions. 
 He declared that the kingdom of England belonged 
 to the jurisdiction of the pope, and that he, as king 
 thereof, was bound to him by all the obligations im- 
 posed by the feudal law ; and he implored the pon- 
 tiflfto defend with his spiritual arms the patrimony 
 of St. Peter. The rebelHous son applied to the court 
 of Rome as well as his father ; and it may be stated 
 generally, that if the popes meddled largely with 
 the secular affairs of princes, itAVBS not without their 
 being tempted and invited so to do. The letter of 
 the "junior king," as the young Henry was called, 
 was a composition of singular impudence and false- 
 hood. He attributed his quarrel with his father to 
 the interest he took in the cause of Becket, and his 
 desire of avenging his death : — " The villains," he 
 1 Gervas Dorob. a Hoved. — Matt. Par. — Gerv. Dorob. 
 
 said, " who murdered within the walls of the temple 
 my foster-father, the glorious martyr of Christ, St. 
 Thomas of Canterbury, remain safe and sound; they 
 still strike their roots in the earth, and no act of 
 royal vengeance has followed so atrocious and un- 
 heard-of a crime. I could not suffer this criminal 
 neglect, and such was the first and strongest cause 
 of the present discord ; the blood of the martyr cried 
 to me ; I could not render it the vengeance and 
 honors that were due to him, but at least I showed 
 my reverence in visiting the tomb of the holy 
 martyr in the view and to the astonishment of the 
 whole kingdom. My father was wrathful against 
 me therefore, but I fear not oflfending a father when 
 the cause of Christ is concerned."' The youthful 
 hypocrite made most liberal offers to the church ; 
 but the Pope rejected his application, and even 
 confirmed the sentence of excommunication pro- 
 nounced by the bishops of Normandy against the 
 king's revolted subjects. At the same time the 
 legate was dispatched across the Alps with the 
 laudable object of putting an end to the unnatural 
 quarrel by exhortation and friendly mediation ; but 
 before he arrived, the sword was drawn which it 
 was difficult to sheathe, for national antipathies and 
 popular interests and passions were engaged that 
 would not follow the uncertain movements of pater- 
 nal indulgence on one side or filial repentance on 
 the other. In the month of June, the war began 
 on several points at once. Philip, Earl of Flanders, 
 entered Normandy, and gained considerable advan- 
 tages, but his brother and heir being killed at a 
 siege, he thought he saw the hand of God in the 
 event, and he soon left the country, most bitterly 
 repenting having engaged in such an impious war. 
 The King of France, with his loving son-in-law, 
 Prince Henry of England, were not more success- 
 ful than the Earl of Flanders, and were first checked 
 and then put to rapid flight by a division of the 
 Brabanfons. Prince Geoflfrey, who had been joined 
 by the Earl of Chester, was equally unfortunate in 
 Brittany, and the cause of the confederates was 
 covered with defeat and shame wherever the king 
 showed himself. King Louis, according to his old 
 custom, soon grew weary of the war, and desired an 
 interview with Henry, who condescended to grant 
 it. This conference of peace was held on an open 
 plain, between Gisors and Trie, under a venerable 
 elm of " most grateful aspect," the branches of which 
 descended to the earth,* the center of the primitive 
 scene where the French kings and the Norman 
 dukes had been accustomed for some generations to 
 hold their parleys for truce or peace. 
 
 Instead of leading to peace, the pi'esent confer- 
 ence embittered the war, and ended in a disgraceful 
 exhibition of violence. The Earl of Leicester, who 
 attended with the princes, insulted Henry to his 
 face, and, drawing his sword, would have killed or 
 wounded his king had he not been forcibly pre- 
 vented. Hostilities commenced forthwith ; but 
 when Lo^uis was a principal in a war against Henry, 
 
 1 Script. Rer. Franc. 
 
 3 Ulmus erat visu gratissima, ramis ad terrain rcdeuntibus. Script. 
 Rer. Franc.
 
 454 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 it was seldom prosecuted with any vigor, and the 
 rest of that year was spent on the continent in in- 
 significant operations. In England, however, some 
 important events took place ; for Richard do Lucy 
 repulsed the Scots, who had begun to make incur- 
 sions, burnt their town of Berwick, ravaged the 
 Lothians, and, on his return from this victorious 
 expedition, defeated and took prisoner the great 
 Earl of Leicester, who had recrossed the channel, 
 and, in alliance with Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, Avas 
 attempting to light the flames of civil war in the 
 lieart of England. It is honorable alike to Henry 
 and his government, and the people of the two 
 countries, that the insurgents never had a chance 
 of success either in England or Normandy. In 
 Maine, Brittany, Poictou, and Aquitaine, which 
 were held by a more questionable tenure, which 
 had probably not been so well governed, and where 
 the people nourished old national prejudices, the 
 case was different. The natural sons of King 
 Henry, of whom there were two in England grown 
 up to man's estate, and occupying important posts, 
 adhered faithfully to their father, and Geoffrey, the 
 more distinguished of the two, fought most gallantly 
 for his cause. His faith and prowess caused Henry 
 to exclaim, — " This is my lawful son, — the rest are 
 bastards !'" 
 
 A.D. 1174. The allies now showed more resolu- 
 tion than during the preceding year, and acted upon 
 a plan which was well calculated to embarrass Henry. 
 Louis, with the junior King of England, attacked 
 the frontiers of Normandy. Geoffrey tried his for- 
 tune again in Brittany. Prince Richard, who began 
 his celebrated warlike career by fighting against his 
 own father, headed a formidable insurrection in 
 Poictou and Aquitaine. Relying on the Norman 
 barons for the defence of Normandy and Brittany, 
 Henry marched against his son Richard, and soon 
 took the town of Saintes and the fortress of Taille- 
 bourg, drove the insurgents from several other 
 castles, and partially restored order to the country. 
 Returning then toward Anjou, he devastated the 
 frontier of Poictou, and was preparing to reduce the 
 castles there when the Bishop of Winchester ar- 
 rived with news which rendered the king's presence 
 indispensable on the other side of the sea. The Scots, 
 as had been preconcerted, were pouring into the 
 northern counties, and had already taken several 
 towns. Roger de Mowbray had raised the standard 
 of revolt in Yorkshire : Earl Ferrers, joined by 
 David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother to the Scottish 
 king, had done the same in the central counties. In 
 the east, Hugh Bigod, with 700 knights, had taken 
 the castle of Norwich ; and at the same time a for- 
 midable fleet, prepared by his eldest son and the 
 Earl of Flanders, was ready on the opposite coast 
 to attempt a descent on England, where endeavors 
 were again making to alienate the affections of the 
 people by the old story of the king being guUty of 
 Becket's murder. The great Conqueror himself 
 did not surpass Henry in the rapidity of his move- 
 ments. The bishop had scarcely finished his dismal 
 news ere the king, with his court, was on horseback 
 
 1 Angl. Sac. 
 
 for the coast, and embarking in the midst of a storm, 
 he sailed for England, taking with him, as prisoners, 
 his own wife Eleanor, and his eldest son's wife 
 Margaret, who had not been able to follow her hus- 
 band to the court of her father. Although he had 
 still maintained an outward appearance of tranquil- 
 lity, his heart was aching at the rebellion of his 
 children and the treachery of his nobles and friends. 
 Sorrow disposes the mind to devotional feelings, and 
 Henry's high powers of intellect did not exempt him 
 from the superstition of the times. Some sincei-ity 
 may possil)ly have mingled in the feelings and mo- 
 tives that dictated the extraordinary course he now 
 pursued, though, seeing the political expediency of 
 resorting to a striking measure to remove all doubts 
 from the people, and bring their devotional feelings 
 to his side, we would not venture to afl[irm that 
 this sincerity w'as very great or was the sole motive 
 of his conduct. All attempts to depress the fame 
 of Becket had failed, — the Pope had recently in- 
 scribed his name in the list of saints and martyrs, — 
 the miracles said to be worked over his festering 
 body were now recognized by bishops and priests, 
 and reported, with amplifications which grew in 
 proportion to their distance from the spot, by the 
 credulous multitude. The English had not had a 
 native saint for a long time, and they determined 
 to make the most of him. It was on the 8th of 
 July that Henry landed at Southampton. He had 
 scarcely set foot on shore, w^hen, without waiting to 
 refresh himself after the fatigues and discomforts of 
 a rough sea voyage, he mounted his horse and took 
 the nearest road to Canterburj', performing his 
 pilgrimage in a maimer far from being so agreeable 
 as those jocund expeditions described by Chaucer 
 a century and a half later. He took no refreshment 
 save bread and water, and rode on his way all night. 
 As the day dawned he came in sight of the towers 
 of Canterbury Cathedral, still at the distance of 
 some miles, and instantly dismounting from his 
 horse, he threw off his royal dress, undid his san- 
 dals, and walked the rest of his way barefoot like 
 the veriest penitent. The roads were rough, and 
 as the king passed through the gateway of Canter- 
 bury his subjects were touched and edified by the 
 sight of his blood, which fell, at every step he took, 
 from his wounded feet. When he arrived at the 
 cathedral he descended at once into the crypt, and, 
 while the bells tolled slowly, he threw himself with 
 sobs and tears upon the grave of Becket, and there 
 remained with his face pressed to the cold earth in 
 the presence of many people, — an attitude more 
 aft'ecting and convincing perhaps than the discourse 
 of the bishop overhead. Gilbert Foliot, formerly 
 Bishop of Hereford, now of London, and the same 
 who, three j'ears and a half before, had proposed to 
 throw the body of Becket into a ditch or hang it on 
 a gibbet, but who now, with the rest, acknowledged 
 him to be a blessed and glorious martyr, ascended 
 the pulpit and addressed the multitude. " Be it 
 known to you, as many as are here present, that 
 Henry, King of England, invoking, for his soul's sal- 
 vation, God and the holy martyrs, solemnly protests 
 before you all that he never ordered, or knowingly
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 455 
 
 caused, or even desired the death of the saint ; but, 
 as possibly the murderers took advantage of some 
 words imprudently pronounced, he has come to do 
 penance before the bishops here assembled, and has 
 consented to submit his naked flesh to the rods of 
 discipline." The bishop conjured the people to be- 
 lieve the assertions of their king ; and, as he ceased 
 speaking, Henry arose like a spectre, and walked 
 through the church and cloisters to the chapter- 
 house, where, again prostrating himself, and, throw- 
 ing oft' the upper part of his dress, he confessed to 
 the minor offence, and was scourged by all the ec- 
 clesiastics present, who amounted to eighty persons. 
 The bishops and abbots, who were few, handled the 
 knotted cords first, and then followed the monks, 
 every one inflicting from three to five lashes, and 
 saying, as he gave them, " Even as Christ was 
 scourged for the sins of men, so be thou scourged 
 for thine own sin." The blows no doubt were dealt 
 with a light hand, but the whole thing was startling, 
 and such as had never before been heard of. Nor 
 was the penance of the king yet over. He returned 
 to the subterranean vault, and again prostrating 
 himself by Becket's tomb, he spent the rest of the 
 day and the following night in prayers and tears, 
 taking no nourishment, and never quitting the spot ; 
 " but as he came so he remained, without carpet or 
 any such thing beneath him."^ At early dawn, af- 
 ter the service of matins, he ascended from the vault 
 and made the tour of the upper church, praying 
 before all the altars and relics there. When the sun 
 rose he heard mass, and then, having drunk some 
 holy water blessed by the martyr himself, and hav- 
 ing filled a small bottle with the precious fluid, he 
 mounted his horse and rode to London with a light 
 and joyous heart. A burning fever, however, fol- 
 lowed all this fatigue and penance, and confined 
 him for several days to his chamber.* On the fifth 
 night of his malady a messenger arrived from the 
 north, and announced himself to the suffering mon- 
 arch, whose presence he had not reached without 
 much difficulty, as the servant of Ranulf de Glan- 
 ville, a name memorable in the history of our laws 
 and constitution, and a most dear friend of Henry : 
 — " Is Glanville in health ?" said the king. " My 
 lord is well," rephed the servant, " and your enemy 
 the King of Scots is his prisoner." Starting upright, 
 Henry cried, " Repeat those words." The man 
 repeated them, and delivered his master's letters, 
 which fully informed the overjoyed king of the fact. 
 On the morning of the 12th of July, Glanville had 
 surprised William the Lion as he was tilting in a 
 meadow near Alnwick Castle with only sixty Scot- 
 tish lords near him, and had made the whole party 
 captives. By a remarkable coincidence this signal 
 advantage was gained on the very day (it was said 
 by some on the very hour) on which he achieved 
 his reconciliation with the martyr at Canterbury.* 
 
 ^ Gerv. Dorob. 
 
 2 Gervase.— Hen. Hunt.— Girald.— Diceto.— Hoved.— Neub. Pre- 
 vious to this pilgrimage to Canterbury, Henry had done penance for 
 Becket's murder in the cathedral of Avranches in Normandy. The 
 church is now a ruin, but, according to tradition, a flat stone with a 
 cup engraved upon it, still marks the spot of kingly humiliation.— 
 Stothard's Tour in Normandy. a Neub.— Hoved.— Gervase. 
 
 Indisposition, and the languor it leaves, soon 
 departed, and Henry was again on horseback and 
 at the head of a numerous and enthusiastic army 
 for the people of England flocked to his standard 
 and filled the land with an indignant cry against 
 the leaders and abettors of an unnatural revolt. 
 The insurgents did not wait the coming of the 
 king, but dispersed in all directions, their chiefs 
 purchasing their pardon by the surrender of then- 
 castles. According to a French chronicler, so 
 many were taken that it was difficult to find prisons 
 for them all.^ The Scots, disheartened by the 
 capture of their sovereign, retreated beyond the 
 border, and peace being restored at home, the 
 active Henry was enabled, within three weeks, to 
 carry the army which had been raised to subdue 
 the revolt in England, across the seas to Normandy. 
 
 When the Earl of Flanders, who was now the 
 soul of the confederacy, had made ready to invade 
 England, he counted on the absence of the king, 
 whose prompt return disconcerted that measure. 
 Changing his plan, therefore, he repaired to Nor- 
 mandy, and joining his forces with those of King 
 Louis and Henry's eldest son, laid siege to Rouen, 
 the capital. But he was scarcely there when the 
 King of England was after him, and surprised all 
 his stores and provisions. In a few days the allied 
 army was not only obliged to raise the siege, l^ut 
 also to retreat out of Normandy. Humbled by the 
 rapidity, the genius, and good fortune of the Eng- 
 lish monarch, the confederates, following the ad- 
 vice of Louis, who was the very king of confer- 
 ences, requested an armistice and a meeting for the 
 arrangement of a general peace. Of his rebellious 
 children, Henry and Geoffrey offered to submit to 
 these arrangements, but young Richard, who had 
 begun to taste the joys of war and the "raptures 
 of the fight," which were to be his greatest pleas- 
 ures till the hour of his death, and who was sup- 
 ported by the restless nobility of Aquitaine, who 
 had again revolted, and was led by the intrigues 
 and councils of the indefatigable lord who held 
 Hautefort,^ the famous Bertrand de Born, refused 
 to be included, and persisted in open war against 
 his father. But the rash boy lost castle after 
 castle, and at the end of six weeks was fain to 
 throw himself at the feet of his forgiving parent, 
 and accompany him to the congress or conference. 
 
 The conditions of the peace were made easy 
 by the mildness and moderation of Henry. He 
 received from the French king and the Flemish 
 earl all the territories they had overrun since the 
 commencement of the war, and he restored to 
 those princes whatever he had conquered or oc- 
 cupied himself. With one important exception, 
 he also set at liberty all his prisoners, to the num- 
 ber of 969 knights. To his eldest son he assigned 
 for present enjoyment two castles in Normandy, 
 and a yearly allowance of 15,000L Angevin money ; 
 to Richard, two castles in Poictou, with half the 
 revenue of that earldom ; to Geoffrey, two castles 
 in Brittany, with half the rents of the estates that 
 
 1 Script. Rer. Franc. 
 
 * " Colui che gi4 tenne Altaforte." — Dante's Inferno.
 
 456 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book HI. 
 
 had belonged to his father-in-law elect (for the 
 marriage was not yet consummated), Earl Conan, 
 with a promise of the remainder. With these con- 
 ditions the impatient youths professed themselves 
 satisfied, and they engaged henceforth to love, 
 honor, and obey their father. Richard and Geof- 
 frey did homage and took the oaths of fealty ; but 
 Henry, the eldest son, was exempted from these 
 ceremonies. The exception made in liberating the 
 prisoners was in the important person of the Scot- 
 tish king, who had been carried over to the con- 
 tinent and thrown into the strong castle of Falaise, 
 where he was kept until the following month of 
 December, when he obtained his enlargement by 
 kneeling to Henry and acknowledging himself, in 
 the set forms of vassalage, his "liege-man against 
 all men." By the degrading treaty of Falaise, the 
 independence of Scotland was nominally sacrificed ; 
 and from the signing of it in December, 1174, to 
 the accession of Richard I., in December, 1189, 
 when a formal release from all obligations was 
 granted for the sum of 10,000 marks, she may be 
 said to have figured as a dependent province of 
 England.' 
 
 A.D. 1175. — Henry was still detained on the 
 continent, and a quarrel broke out afresh between 
 him and his eldest son : it did not, however, lead 
 to any immediate consequences ; and in the month 
 of May, father and son, or the Rex Senior and Rex 
 Junior, were again reconciled and sailed together 
 over to England, where for sometime they lived on 
 such affectionate terms, that they not only fed at the 
 same table but slept in the same bed.^ 
 
 Henry now enjoyed about eight years of profound 
 peace ; but, as active in civil affairs as in those of 
 war, he devoted this time, and all his energies and 
 resources of mind, to the reform of the internal 
 administration of his dominions. His reputation for 
 wisdom, judicial ability, and power, now stood so 
 high in Europe that Alfonso, King of Castile, and 
 his uncle Sancho, King of Navarre, who had been 
 disputing for some years about the boundaries of 
 their respective territories, turning from the un- 
 certain arbitrement of the sword, referred their 
 difference to the decision of the "just and im- 
 partial" English monarch, binding themselves in 
 the most solemn manner to submit to his award, be 
 it what it might. And in the month of March, 
 1177, Henry, holding his court at Westminster, 
 attended by the bishops, earls, barons, and justices, 
 both of England and Normandy, heard and dis- 
 cussed the arguments proposed on the part of King 
 Alfonso by the Bishop of Palencia, and on the part 
 of King Sancho by the Bishop of Pampeluna, and, 
 after taken the opinion of the best and most learned 
 of the court, pronounced a wise and conciliating 
 award, with which both ambassadors expressed 
 their entire satisfaction.' 
 
 We have some curious evidence of Henry's per- 
 sonal activity, as evinced by his rapid change of 
 residence, just at this period of peace and tranquil- 
 lity, in a letter addressed to him, in the most famil- 
 
 1 Allen's Vindication of the Ancient Independence of Scotland. 
 » Diceto. — Benedictus Abbas. s Kymer. — Rog. Hored. 
 
 iar terms, by his confidential friend Peter of Blois. 
 Peter, who was not a timid, loitering wa} farer, or 
 a luxurious, ease-loving churchman, but a bold and 
 experienced traveler himself, seeing that, in the 
 dischai-ge of his duty, he had fought his way more 
 than once across the then pathless Alps, in the 
 heart of winter, braving the snow hurricane and 
 the tremendous avalanches, seems to have been 
 lost in amazement at the incessant and untiring 
 progi'esses of the king. He had just returned from 
 a royal mission to King Louis, the results of which 
 he was anxious to report. He tells Henry, that he 
 has been hunting after him up and down England, 
 but in vain I — that when Solomon set down four 
 things as being too hard for him to discover, he 
 ought to have added a fifth, — and that was, the path 
 of the King of England! Poor Peter goes on to 
 say, that he really knoweth not whither he is going 
 — that he has been laid up with the dysentery at 
 NeAvport, from fatigue in traveling after his ma- 
 jesty, and has sent scouts and messengers on ail 
 sides to look for him. He proceeds to express an 
 earnest wish that Henry would let him know where 
 he is to be found, as he really has important affairs 
 to treat of, and the ambassadors of the kings of Spain 
 have aiTived with a great retinue, in order to refer 
 the old quarrel of their masters to his majesty. In 
 war, Henrj-'s ubiquity, as we might almost call it, 
 was of course still more conspicuous and astonish- 
 ing — for the field of his exertions extended from the 
 shores of Ireland to the countries at the foot of the 
 Pyrenees. Louis of France, whose character Me- 
 zerai rather happily describes by the single word 
 mou (soft and sluggish), was bewildered and con- 
 stantly foiled by his sharp and active rival. He 
 was once heard to exclaim, " The King of England 
 neither rides on land, nor sails on water, but flies 
 through the air like a bird. In a moment he flits 
 from Ireland to England — in another from England 
 into France !" 
 
 The moment Avas now approaching, when those 
 energies, as yet undiminished by age or the pre- 
 mature decay which they probably caused in the 
 end, were again to be called into full practice ; for 
 foreign jealousies and intrigues, the name and history 
 of his captive wife Eleanor, and the unpopularity of 
 the Anglo-Norman rule in the provinces of the south, 
 contributed, with their own impatience, turbulence, 
 and presumption, to drive his children once more 
 into rebellion. These princes seem to hcive passed 
 their time on the continent in an almost uninter- 
 rupted succession of tilts and tournaments and 
 knightly displays, in which they gained, in an emi- 
 nent degree, the only fame, next to the glory of real 
 war, which was then dear to young men of their 
 condition. Henry rejoiced at the report of their 
 prowess, which was spread from court to court, and 
 from castle to castle, by jongleurs and minstrels, who 
 then performed some of the offices which now fall 
 i to our public newspapers. He probably thought 
 ' that the image of warfare might distract them from 
 j its bloodj' reality, and that they might allow their 
 , sire — the greatest prince in Europe — to descend to 
 ; the grave in peace.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 457 
 
 A.D. 1183. Richard, who was the darhng of his 
 imprisoned mother, and who, on account of the 
 more general unpopularity of his father in Aquitaine 
 and Poictou, was stronger than his brothers, was the 
 first to renew the family war. When called upon 
 by his father to do homage to his elder brother, 
 Henry, for the duchy of Aquitaine, which he was to 
 inherit, he arrogantly refused. Upon this young 
 Henry, or the junior king, allied himself with Prince 
 Geoffrey, and marched with an army of Bretons and 
 Brabancons into Aquitaine, where Richard had pub- 
 lished his ban of war, — for these princes were not 
 more affectionate as bi-others than they were dutiful 
 as sons. The king flew to put an end to these dis- 
 graceful hostilities, and having induced his two sons 
 to come into his presence, he reconciled them with 
 one another. But the reconciliation was rather ap- 
 parent than real, and Prince Geoffrey had the hor- 
 rible frankness to declare, shortly after, that they 
 could never possibly live in peace with one another 
 unless they were united in a common Avar against 
 their own father. In some respects, this was the 
 family of Atreus and Thyestes. Contemporaries 
 seem to have considered it in this light, for they 
 have recorded horrible traditions connected with 
 the whole Plantagenet race. The least revolting of 
 these legends relates to an ancient countess of An- 
 jou, from whom King Heniy lineally descended. 
 The husband of this dame having remarked with 
 fear and trembling that she rarely went to church, 
 and, when she did, always withdrew before the 
 celebration of mass, took it into his head one day to 
 have her seized in church, and forcibly detained 
 there for the whole service by four strong squires. 
 The strong men did as they were ordered, but, at 
 the moment of the consecration of the Host, the 
 countess, slipping off the mantle by which they held 
 her, flew out of a window, disappeared, and was 
 never seen again.' Prince Richard, according to a 
 French chronicler of the time, was wont to repeat 
 this pretty tale of diablerie, and to say it was not 
 astonishing that he and his brothers, issuing from 
 such a stock, should be so fierce and lawless ; adding, 
 that it was quite natural that what came from the 
 devil should return to the devil. The recorded 
 gallantries and the worse whispered offences of 
 Eleanor did not alienate the affections of the people 
 of Poictou and Aquitaine, among whom she had 
 been born and brought up. In their eyes she was 
 still their chieftainess, — the princess of their old 
 native stock ; and Henry had no right over them 
 except what he could claim through her and by his 
 affectionate treatment of her. Now, he had kept 
 her for years a prisoner, and in their estimation it 
 was loyal and right to work for her delivei-ance, and 
 punish her cruel husband by whatever means they 
 could command, even to the arming of Eleanor's 
 sons against their sire. In the fei'vid heads and 
 hearts of these men of the south these feelings be- 
 came absolute passions ; and the graces as well as 
 the ardor of their popular poetry were engaged in 
 the service of their captive princess. The Trouba- 
 dours, with Bertrand de Born at their head, never 
 
 1 Script. Rer. Praiio. 
 
 tired of this theme ; and even the local chroniclers 
 raised their monkish Latin into a sort of poetical 
 prose whenever they touched on the woes and 
 wrongs of Eleanor, — for in Poictou and Aquitaine 
 the manifold provocations she had given her husband 
 were all unknown or forgotten. 
 
 " Thou wast carried off from thine own land," 
 cries Richard of Poictiers, " and transported to a land 
 thou knewest not of. Thou wast brought up in all 
 abundance and delicacy, and in a royal liberty, living 
 in the lap of riches, enjoying the sports of thy mai- 
 dens and their pleasant songs to the soft accompani- 
 ment of the lute and tabor ; and now thou weepest 
 and lamentest, consuming thy days in grief. Re- 
 turn, poor prisoner, return to thy faithful cities ! 
 Where is now thy court? — where are thy young 
 companions ? — where thy counselors ? . . . . Thou 
 cryest and no one hears thee, for the northern king 
 keeps thee shut up like a besieged town; but still 
 cry aloud, and tire not of crying. Raise thy voice 
 like a trumpet, that thy sons may hear thee ; for 
 the day is at hand when thy sons shall deliver thee, 
 and when thou shalt see thy native land again. . . . 
 Woe to the traitors that are in Aquitaine, for the 
 day of vengeance is near! .... Fly before the face 
 of bold Richard, Duke of Aquitaine, for he will 
 overthrow the vainglorious, break their chariots, 
 and those that ride in them. Yea, he will annihilate 
 all who oppose him, from the gi-eatest to the least !'" 
 
 Sentiments like these still more vehemently ex- 
 pressed in their own spoken language, in a deluge 
 of sirventes, as they called their satirical poems, con- 
 stantly kept alive and active the hatred of the peo- 
 ple to the EngUsh monarch ; and'^ertrand de Born, 
 with other men of insinuating manners and profound 
 intrigue, could always avail themselves of this pas- 
 sionate feeling, and make tools of the young princes, 
 who (prince-like) considered them their implements. 
 With the exception of Richard, whose fiery nature 
 now and then, for very transitory intervals, gave 
 access to the tenderer feelings, the ambitious young 
 men seem to have cared little about their mother; 
 but they could raise no such good excuse for being 
 in arms against one parent as that of their anxiety to 
 procure better treatment for the other ; and Henry, 
 and Geoffrey, and Richard, at times in unison, and 
 at times separately, continued to take the name of 
 Eleanor as their cri de guerre in the south. These 
 family Avars Avere more frequent, of longer duration, 
 and greater importance than Avould be imagined 
 from the accounts given of them in our popular 
 English histories. Their details aa-ouM lead us too 
 far aAvay from our object, but a fcAV brief incidents 
 may be given as conveying a striking notion of the 
 times, when refinement and barbarity, baseness and 
 magnanimitjs Avere mixed and confounded in so 
 strange a manner. 
 
 The family reconciliation which took place in 
 1183-4, was speedily interrupted, for Bertrand de 
 Born, nearly indifferent as to AA'hich prince he act- 
 ed with, but Avho, of the three, rather preferred 
 
 1 Chron. RicarJi Pictaviensis, apud Script. Rer. Franc. He calli 
 King Henry Rei aquilonis, or King of the North, and his son Rex 
 austri, or King of the South.
 
 458 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Henry, on seeing that Richard was inclined to keep 
 his oaths to his father, renewed his intrigues with 
 the eldest son, and got ready a formidable party in 
 Aqiiitaine, who pressed Prince Henry, or the Rcy 
 Jovcns, as they called him in their dialect, to tlirow 
 himself among tlicni. Henry consequently revolted 
 again, and his brother Geoffrey soon followed his 
 example. The French court had no inconsiderable 
 share in all these movements ; and the sovereign 
 openlj- announced himself as the ally of the junior 
 king and the nobles of Aquitaine. As Richard con- 
 tinued steady for a while, the King of England 
 joined his forces with his, and they marched to- 
 gether to lay siege to Limoges, Avhich had opened 
 its gates to Henry and Geoftrey. Thus the war 
 recommenced under a new aspect; it being no 
 longer the three sons leagued against the father, 
 but one fighting with the father against two broth- 
 ers. In little more than a month, however, the 
 younger Henry deserted his partisans of Aquitaine, 
 and submitted to his father, who forgave him as he 
 had forgiven him before, soothed his professed re- 
 morse, and once more accepted his oath of fealty. 
 Geoffrey did not on this occasion follow his eldest 
 brother's example ; and the men of Aquitaine and 
 Poictou, now regarding liim as their chief, confirmed 
 hira in his resistance, apprehending, not without 
 some reason, that the King of England would not 
 extend the remarkable clemency he had shown to 
 his children to men who were strangers to his blood, 
 and who had incensed him by repeated revolt. 
 Prince Henry kept up a private correspondence 
 with Berti'and de Born and others of the insurgents, 
 and this enabled him to arrange a meeting for the 
 purpose of conciliation. The King of England rode 
 to Limoges, which was still in the hands of the in- 
 surgents, to keep his appointment with his son 
 Geoffrey and the Aquitaine barons : to liis surprise 
 he found the gates of the town closed against him, 
 although he had taken only a few knights with him, 
 and when he applied for admittance, he was answer- 
 ed by a flight of arrows and quarries from the ram- 
 parts, one of which pierced his cuirass, while an- 
 other of them wounded a knight at his side. This 
 treacherous-looking occurrence was explained away 
 as being a mere mistake on the part of the soldiery, 
 and it was subsequently agreed that the king should 
 have free entrance into the town. He met his son 
 Geofirey in the midst of the market-place of Limo- 
 ges, and began the conference for peace ; but here, 
 again, he was saluted by a flight of arrows discharged 
 from the battlements of the castle or citadel. One 
 of these arrows wounded the horse he rode in the 
 head. He ordered an attendant to pick up the ar- 
 row, and presenting it to Geoffrey with sobs and 
 tears, he said, — "Oh, son! what hath thy unhappy 
 father done to deserve that thou shouldest make 
 him a mark for thine arrows ?"^ 
 
 This foul attempt at assassination is laid by some 
 writers to the charge of Geoffrey himself, but it is 
 quite as probable, and much less revolting to beheve, 
 that the bows and cross-bows were drawn without 
 any order from the prince, by some of the fiery 
 * Script. Rer. Fraao. 
 
 spirits of Aquitaine laboring under the conviction 
 that their cause and interests were about to be sac- 
 rificed in the accommodation between father and 
 son. Prince Henry, who accompanied his father, 
 expressed horror at the attempt, and disgust at the 
 obstinacy of the men of Aquitaine ; and he declared 
 he would never more have alliance, or peace, or 
 truce with them.' Not many days after he once 
 more deserted and betrayed his sire, and went to 
 join the insurgents, who then lield their head-quar- 
 ters at Dorat in Poictou. The bishops of Norman- 
 dy, by command of the Pope, fulminated their ex- 
 communications ; but as Prince Henry had been 
 excommunicated before this, it was probably not the 
 thunders of the church, but other considerations 
 that induced him to abandon the insurgents at Dorat 
 as suddenly as he had abandoned his father, and to 
 return once more to the feet of the king, who, with 
 unexampled clemency or weakness, once more par- 
 doned him, and not only permitted him to go at large, 
 but to meddle again with political af!'airs. Having 
 persuaded his father to adopt measures which cost 
 him the lives of some of his most faithful followers, 
 this manifold traitor, or veriest wheel-about that 
 ever lived, again deserted his banner, and prepared, 
 with his brother Geoffrey and the insurgent barons 
 of the south, to give him battle. A short time after 
 this revolt, which was destined to be his last, and 
 before his preparations for aiming at his father's life 
 or throne, or both, were completed, a messenger 
 announced to the king that his eldest son had fallen 
 dangerously sick at Ch^teau-Martel near Limoges, 
 and desired most earnestly that his father would for- 
 give him and visit him. The king would have gone 
 forthwith, but his friends implored him not to hazard 
 his life again among men who had proved themselves 
 capable of so much treacheiy and cruelty ; and they 
 represented that the accounts he had received might 
 be all a feigned story, got up by the insurgents of 
 Aquitaine and Poictou, for the worst of purposes. 
 Taking, then, a ring from his finger, he gave it to 
 the Archbishop of Bordeaux, and begged that pre- 
 late to convey it with all speed to his repentant son 
 as a token of his forgiveness and paternal aflection. 
 He cherished the hope that the youth and robust 
 constitution of the invalid would triumph over the 
 disease, but soon there came a second messenger, 
 to announce that his son was no more. 
 
 Prince Henry died at Ch&teau-Martel, on the 
 11th of June, 1183, in the twenty-seventh year of 
 his age.' In his last agony he expressed the deep- 
 est contrition ; he pressed to his lips his father's 
 ring, which had mercifully been delivered to him ; 
 he publiclj- confessed his undutifulness to his indul- 
 gent parent and his other sins, and ordered the 
 priests to drag him by a rope out of his bed, and 
 lay him on a bed of ashes, that he might die in an 
 extremity of penance.^ 
 
 The heart of the king was divided between grief 
 at the death of his first-born and rage against the 
 insurgents, whom he held to have been not only 
 the cause of his son's decease, but the impediment 
 which had prevented him from seeing, and em- 
 1 Hoved. » Id. 5 Id. ; also Diceto.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 459 
 
 bracing him in his last moments. The feeling of 
 revenge, hoAvever, allying itself with the sense of 
 his immediate interests, soon obtained entire mas- 
 tery, and he proceeded with all his old vigor and 
 activity against the barons of Aquitaine and Poictou. 
 The very day after his son's funeral he took Limo- 
 ges by assault ; then castle after castle was stormed 
 and utterly destroyed ; and, at last, Bertrand de 
 Born, the soul of the conspiracy, the seducer of his 
 children, fell into his hands. Never had enemy 
 been more persevering, insidious, and dangei'ous — 
 never had vassal so outraged his liege lord, or in 
 such a variety of ways ; fgr Bertrand, like Luke de 
 Barre, was a poet as well as knight, and had cruelly 
 satirised Henry in productions which were popular 
 wherever the langue cVOc^ was understood. All 
 men said he must surely die, and Henry said so 
 himself. The troubadour was brought into his 
 presence, to hear his sentence : the king taunted 
 him with a boast he had been accustomed to make, 
 namely, that he had so much wit in reserve as 
 never to have occasion to use one half of it, and 
 told him he was now in a plight in which the 
 whole of his wit would not sei-ve him. The 
 ti-oubadour acknowledged he had made the boast, 
 and that not without truth and reason ; " And I," 
 said the king, — " I think thou hast lost thy wits." 
 " Yes, sire," replied Bertrand, mournfully ; " I 
 lost them that day the valiant young king died ! — 
 then, indeed, I lost my wits, my senses, and all 
 wisdom." At this allusion to his son the king burst 
 into tears, and nearly swooned. When he came to 
 himself his vengeance had departed from him. 
 " Sir Bertrand," said he, " Sir Bertrand, thou 
 mightest well lose thy wits because of my son, for 
 he loved thee more than any other man upon earth ; 
 and I, for love of him, give thee thy hfe, thy prop- 
 erty, thy castle." ^ The details of this singular 
 scene may have been slightly overcolored by the 
 warm poetical imagination of the south, but that 
 Henry pardoned his inveterate enemy is a histo- 
 rical fact, which shows how superior he was in the 
 quality of mercy to Beauclerk, when acting under 
 much slighter provocation,^ and which ought to be 
 carefully preserved, in justice to his memory. 
 
 If Bertrand de Born was a villain, he was a most 
 accomplished one : he appears to have excelled all 
 his contemporaries in insinuation, elegance, and 
 address, in versatility of talent, and abundance of 
 resource.* Attempts have been made to set off his 
 patriotism against his treachery ; and it has been 
 hinted, that while laboring to free his native country 
 from the yoke of the Enghsh king, he was justi- 
 
 1 The dialect spoken in the south of France, where, instead of 
 out (yes), they said oc : hence the name of the part of this district, 
 still called Languedoc. The rest of France was called Langue-d'oui, 
 or Langue-d'oyl. 
 
 - Po6sies des Troubadours, Collection de Raynouard. — MiUot, Hist. 
 Litt6raire des Troubadours. 
 
 3 See ante, p. 405, for the death of Luke de Barr6. 
 
 ♦ We learn from Dante, who seems to have been forcibly impressed 
 with his strange character, that besides poems on other subjects. Sir 
 Bertrand "treated of war, which no Italian poet had yet dune.'' 
 (Arma vero nullum Italum adhuc poetasse invenio.) — De Vulg. Eloq. 
 Bertrand left a son of the same name, who was also a poet, and who 
 satirised King John. 
 
 liable in making use of whatever means he could. 
 It is, perhaps, difficult to fix precise limits to what 
 may be done in such a cause ; but though we may 
 affect to admire the conduct of the elder Brutus, 
 who slew his own son for the liberties of Rome, we 
 doubt whether the sympathies of our nature will 
 not always be against the man who armed the sons 
 of another against their father's life. Such ap- 
 pears to have been the sentiment of the time ; and 
 Dante, who wrote about 120 years after the event, 
 and who merely took up the popular legend, placed 
 Bertrand de Born in one of the worst circles of 
 hell.i 
 
 Prince Geoffrey sought his father's pardon soon 
 after the death of his brother Henry, and abandoned 
 the insurgents of Aquitaine, who then saw them- 
 selves opposed to a united family (for Richard was 
 as yet true to his last oaths), whose unnatural 
 divisions had hitherto proved their main strength 
 and encouragement. The confederacy, no longer 
 formidable, was partly broken up by the victorious 
 arms of the king, and partly dissolved of itself. A 
 momentary reconciliation took place between Henry 
 and Eleanor, who was released for a short time to 
 be present at a solemn meeting, wherein " peace 
 and final concord" was established between the 
 king and his sons, and confirmed by " wi-iting and 
 by sacrament." ^ In this transaction Prince John 
 was included, who had hitherto been too young to 
 wield the sword against his father. The family 
 concord lasted only a few months, when GeofiVey 
 demanded the earldom of Anjou ; and, on receiving 
 his father's refusal, withdrew to the French court, 
 to prepare for another war. But soon after (in 
 August, 1186) his turbulent career was cut short 
 at a tournament, where he was dismounted and 
 trampled to death under the feet of the horses of 
 the other knights engaged in the lists. Louis VII., 
 the soft and incompetent rival of Henry, had now 
 been dead several years, and his son Philip II., a 
 young and active prince, sat on the throne of France 
 — anxious, and far more able than his father had 
 been, to diminish the English monarch's power on 
 the continent. He buried Geoffrey with great 
 pomp, and then invited to his court his brother 
 Richard, the Lion-hearted, who was to hate him 
 with a deadly hatred in after years, but who now 
 accepted his invitation, and lived with him on the 
 most affectionate terms, " eating at the same table, 
 and out of the same dish by day, and sleeping in 
 ,the same bed by night;"* — things which were 
 j either the common practice of princes who wished 
 I to display their affectionate regard for each other, 
 I or the common and received expression of the 
 I chroniclers to denote the extreme of royal friend- 
 ship. King Henry well knew that this friendship 
 betokened mischief to him, and he sent repeated 
 messages to recall Richard, who always replied that 
 he was coming, without hastening his departure. 
 At last he moved, but it was only to surprise and 
 
 I Inferno, Canto xxviii. The passage is terrific, and one of the 
 most characteristic in the whole poem. 
 
 3 Scripto et Sacramento. — Rog. Hoved. 
 
 3 Singulis diebus in una mens& ad unum catinum manducabant, et 
 in noctibus non separabat eos lectus. — Rog. Hoved.
 
 460 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 seize a treasure of his father, deposited at Chinon, 1 
 aud then to raise the banner o£ revolt once more in 
 Aquitaine. But this time his standard failed to 
 attract a dispirited people, and he was fain to ac- 
 cept his father's pardon. Ilenrj', who had seen so 
 many oaths disregarded, made him swear fealty 
 upon this occasion on a copy of the Holy Evange- 
 lists, in the presence of a great assembly of church- 
 men and laymen. 
 
 A. D. 1188. The misfortunes of the Christians m 
 the Holy Land were the means of producing a 
 brief peace between Henry and Philip, who had 
 been waging an insignificant war with each other, 
 and preparing for more decisive hostilities. Jeru- 
 salem had fallen again before the Mahoraedan 
 crescent, in the September of the preceding year ; 
 the reigning pontiff was said to have died of grief 
 at the news ; and the new Pope called upon all 
 Christian princes to rescue the tomb of Christ and 
 the wood of the true cross, which latter, it was said, 
 had been carried away by the victorious Saladiu. 
 No one responded to the appeal more promptly 
 and enthusiastically than Henry, Avho, at once, de- 
 clared himself willing to quit his kingdom and all 
 his states, and proceed with an army to Asia. A 
 well-settled peace with France was, however, an 
 indispensable preliminary ; and Philip being also 
 pi-essed by the Pope to take the cross, an inter- 
 view for the settlement of all differences Avas easily 
 arranged. The two kings met in the month of 
 January, at the usual place between Trie and 
 Gisors, near to the old elm-tree. William, the elo- 
 quent and enthusiastic archbishop of Tyre, attended 
 the meeting, with many bishops and priests, of 
 whom some had witnessed the reverses and dan- 
 gers of the Christians in Palestine. Roger of 
 Hoveden, the most entertaining and judicious of the 
 contemporary chroniclers, attributes to the arch- 
 bishop's preaching the converting of the two princes, 
 who had been such bitter enemies, into friends and 
 allies. Henry and Philip swore to be " brothers in 
 arms for the cause of God ;" and in sign of their 
 voluntary engagement, each took the cross from the 
 bands of the Archbishop of Tyre, and attached it to 
 his dress, swearing never to quit it or neglect the 
 duties of a soldier of Christ, "either upon land or 
 sea, in town or in the field," ' until his victorious 
 return to his home. Many of the gi-eat vassals of 
 both monarchs followed their masters' example, and 
 took the same oaths. 
 
 The crosses given to the King of France and his 
 people were red ; those distributed to the King of 
 England and his people were white. Richard, who 
 was to connect his name inseparabty with the sub- 
 ject of the Crusades, had neither waited for his 
 father's example nor permission, but had taken the 
 cross some time before.^ The old elm-tree wit- 
 
 1 Script. Rer. Franc. 
 
 s Nor was this the first time the king talked of going to the Holy 
 Land. Several years before, the Patriarch of Jerusalem offered him 
 that kingdom, with the keys of the city and of the holy sepulchre. 
 Henry, who was not then carried away by the popular enthusiasm, 
 referred the matter to an assembly of his bishops and barons, who, 
 mott wisely, determined that, " for the good of his own soul," he would 
 do much better by remaining at home and taking care of his own 
 subjects. 
 
 nessed another solemn peace, which was about as 
 lasting as its predecessors ; and Henry returned to 
 England evidently with a sincere desire of keeping 
 it on his part, and making ready for the Holy War. 
 In the month of February, he called together a 
 great council of the kingdom, at Gidington, in 
 Northamptonshire, to provide ways and means, for 
 money was much wanted, and a royal crusade was 
 always so expensive an undertaking as to demand 
 the consent and cooperation of all the vassals of the 
 crown. The barons, both lay and ecclesiastic, 
 readily enacted that a tenth of all rents for one 
 year, and a tenth of all the moveable property in 
 the land, with the exception of the books of the 
 clergy, and the arms and horses of the knights, 
 should be levied to meet the expenses. The lords 
 of manors who engaged to accompany the king in 
 person were permitted to receive the assessments 
 of their own vassals and tenants ; but those of all 
 others were to be paid into the royal exchequer. 
 It appears that no more than 70,000L was raised ia 
 this manner. To make up the deficiency, Henry 
 had recourse to extortion and violent measures 
 against the Jews, whom he had hitherto treated 
 with laudable consideration and leniency ; and from 
 that oppressed fragment of an imhappy people he 
 procured 60,000^., or almost as much money as he 
 got from all the rest of his kingdom put together. 
 Nominally, the tax was levied upon the Jews at 
 the rate of one-fourth of their personal property. 
 Another council of bishops, abbots, and lay barons, 
 held at Mans, regulated the tax for Henry's con- 
 tinental dominions ; but we are not informed what 
 amount was actually raised in them. It was estab- 
 lished, on both sides of the Channel, that clerks 
 (priests), knights, and serjeants-at-arms, should be 
 exempted on taking the cross ; but that all burgesses 
 and peasants joining the crusading army, without 
 the express permission of their lords,' should be 
 made to pay their tenths, even as if they had staid 
 at home.* 
 
 But the money wrung from Jew and Gentile was 
 never spent against the Turk. " The malice of 
 the ancient enemy of mankind," sajs the honest 
 chronicler, " was not asleep ;" ^ and he goes on to 
 deplore how that infernal malice turned the oaths 
 of Christian princes into a mockery, and relit the 
 flames of war among Christian people on the conti- 
 nent of Europe. The fiery Richard appears to have 
 been the first cause of this new commotion, in which 
 the French king soon took a part. Another con- 
 ference was agreed upon, and the two kings again 
 met under the petaceful shadow of the elm ; they 
 could not, however, agree as to terms of accommo- 
 dation ; and Philip, venting his spite on the tree, 
 swore by all the saints of France that no more 
 parleys should be held there, and cut it down.* 
 Had causes of dissension been wanting, the ingenuity 
 of the King of France and the jealous impatience 
 of Richard would, in all probability, have raised 
 imaginary wrongs ; but unfortunately for the fame 
 of Henry, there was a real existing cause, and one 
 
 1 " Sine licenti4 dominornm." 
 s Roger Hoved. 3 Id. 
 
 * Id. — Script. Rer. Franc
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 461 
 
 singularly calculated to excite and unite those two 
 princes against him, or, at least on Richard's side, 
 to serve as a not unpopular pretext for hostility, 
 while it loaded his father with dark and almost un- 
 avoidable suspicions. Richard, when a child, had 
 been affianced, as already mentioned, to the infant 
 Alix, or Adelais, of France. Henry had obtained 
 possession of the person of the royal infant, and of 
 part of her dowry, and had kept both. By the time 
 the parties were of proper age for the completion 
 of the marriage, Richard was at open war with his 
 father; but it is curious to remark, that at none of 
 the numerous peaces and reconciliations was there 
 any deep anxiety shown either by her spouse 
 Richard or her father King Louis, or her brother 
 Philip, about the fate of the fair Adelais, who re- 
 mained sometimes ostensibly as a hostage, but, of 
 late years, in a very ambiguous situation, at the 
 court of Henry. A report, true or false, had got 
 abroad that the king was enamored of her person, 
 and when he made an unsuccessful application to 
 the church of Rome for a divorce from Richard's 
 mother, Eleanor, it was believed that he had taken 
 the step in order to espouse Richard's affianced 
 bride. Of late, however. King Philip, feeling that 
 the reputation of his sister was committed, had 
 repeatedly urged that Adelais should be given to 
 Richard, and the marriage completed ; and the 
 church of Rome had even threatened Henry with 
 its severest censures in case of his resisting this 
 demand. An air of mystery involves the whole 
 story and every part of it : how Henry evaded the 
 demand we know not, but of this we are perfectly 
 well informed, that he had detained the lady, — that 
 no consequences had ensued therefrom on the part 
 of the Pope, — and that Philip had even made peace 
 more than once, and had vowed eternal friendship 
 to him while he was thus detaining her. If Richard 
 credited the worst part of the current reports (as 
 he afterward averred he did), he was not likely 
 to feel anything but the strongest aversion to the 
 marriage. Affection for his affianced bride was, 
 however, a very colorable pretext ; and as he was 
 now haunted by a more real and serious uneasiness, 
 — namely, by the belief that his father destined the 
 English crown for his youngest son John, — he set 
 this plea forward in justification of his rebellion, and 
 cooperated heart and hand with the French king. 
 If the stipulations and engagements entered into 
 had been observed with anything Hke decency, we 
 should be inclined to praise the wisdom of these 
 princes in staying the ravages of war, and having 
 such frequent recourse to conferences and con- 
 gi-esses. In the month of November in this same 
 year (a. d. 1188), another conference was held, 
 not, however, between Trie and Gisors, but near to 
 Bonmouhns in Normandy. Philip proposed that 
 Adelais should be given up to Richard, and that 
 Henry should declare that prince heir, not only to 
 his kingdom of England, but also to all his con- 
 tinental dominions, and cause his vassals imme- 
 diately to swear fealty to Richard. Henry, who 
 could not forget the miseries he had suffered in 
 consequence of elevating his eldest son in this 
 
 manner, resolutely refused the latter proposition. 
 A violent altercation ensued, and ended in a manner 
 which sufficiently proved that Richard was think- 
 ing little of the first proposition or of his bride. 
 Tm-ning from his father, he furiously exclaimed, 
 " This forces me to believe that which I before 
 deemed impossible" (that is, the report concern- 
 ing his younger brother John). He then ungirded 
 his sword, and kneeling at the feet of King Philip, 
 and placing his hands between his, said, — " To you, 
 sire, I commit the protection of myself and my 
 hereditary rights, and to you I do homage for all 
 my father's dominions on this side the sea." Like 
 the rest of his brothers, he had done homage to 
 the French crown on other occasions ; but this 
 scene was attended with peculiar and exasperating 
 circumstances, and the declaration of Richard was 
 meant to imply that, by force of arms, and with the 
 aid of Philip, he would seize, not one or two states, 
 but everything Henry possessed from the Seine 
 to the Pyrenees. Philip ostentatiously accepted 
 his homage, and made him a present grant of some 
 towns and castles he had captured from his father. 
 Henry, violently agitated, rushed from the scene, 
 and, mounting his horse, rode away to Saumur, to 
 prepare for the further prosecution of the inter- 
 minable war.' But his iron frame now felt the 
 inroads of disease and grief; his activity and de- 
 cision at last forsook him, and, relying on exertions 
 making in his favor by the Pope's legate, he re- 
 mained supine while Philip and Richard took sev- 
 eral of his towns and seduced many of his knights. 
 Even at this extremity, the good people of Nor- 
 mandy were faithful to him, and, wishing to secure 
 that duchy for his favorite son, of whose love and 
 faith he had never doubted, he was careful to 
 procure an oath from the seneschal of Normandy 
 that he would deliver the fortresses of that province 
 to John in case of his death. The church was on 
 this occasion zealously engaged on the side of 
 Henry, and both the French king and his son 
 Richard were threatened with excommunication. 
 Though elated by unusual success, Philip was 
 obliged to consent to another conference for ar- 
 ranging a peace. The meeting took place in the 
 month of June in the following year (a. d. 1189), at 
 La Ferte-Bernard, and Richard, John of Anagni, 
 cardinal and legate, the Archbishops of Canterbury, 
 Rouen, Rheims, and Bourges, were present. Philip 
 proposed the same conditions as at the conference 
 of Boumoulins seven months before ; Henry, who 
 had been hurt in every feeling by Richard in the 
 interval, rejected them, and proposed that Adelais 
 should be united to his dutiful son John, — an over- 
 ture that tends to shake the credibility of the 
 existing scandal even more than does the circum- 
 stance of Henry's advanced age. Should Philip 
 agree to this arrangement he declared his readiness 
 to name Prince John heir to his continental domin- 
 ions, — a distribution which he seems to have long 
 contemplated. But Philip would not enter into 
 the new plan, or abandon Richard, who was pres- 
 ent, and joined the French king in violent abuse of 
 
 1 Hoved. — Diceto. — Script. Rer. Franc.
 
 462 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 his father. Jolin of Anagui, the cardinal-legate, 
 then threatened to put the kingdom of France 
 under an interdict; but these menaces, at times all- 
 prevalent, depended much for their effect on cir- 
 cumstances and the character of the princes to 
 whom they were addressed. Philip had boldness 
 enough to despise them : he even accused the 
 legate to his face of partial and venal motives ; tell- 
 ing him it was easy to perceive he had already 
 scented the pounds sterhng of the English king.' 
 Richard, who was never exemplary for command 
 of temper, went still further : he drew his sword 
 against the cardinal, and would have cut him down 
 but for the timely interposition of some more mode- 
 rate members of the party. 
 
 Henry again rode away from the conference, and 
 this time with a desponding heart. The people of 
 Aquitaine, Poictou, and Brittany were induced to 
 rise in mass against their now falling master ; and 
 under the command of Richard they fell upon him 
 on the west and south, while the French king 
 attacked him in Anjou on the north. He had on 
 former occasions made head against almost equally 
 formidable confederacies, but the strength of frame, 
 the eagle-glance, and the buoyancy of spirits which 
 had then carried him through a victor, were now 
 crippled and dimmed by sickness and sorrow. His 
 barons continued their open desertions or secret 
 treachery, and at last he was induced to solicit 
 peace, with the offer of resigning himself to what- 
 ever terms Philip and Richard should propose.^ 
 The two monarchs met on a plain between Tours 
 and Azay-sur-Cher : it appears that Richard did 
 not attend to witness the humiliation of his father, 
 but expected the issue of the negotiations at a 
 short distance. While the kings were conversing 
 together in the open field and on horseback, a loud 
 peal of thunder was heard, though the sky ap- 
 peared cloudless, and the lightning fell between 
 them, but without hurting them. They separated 
 in great alarm, but after a brief space met again. 
 Then a second peal of thunder more awful than 
 the first rolled over their heads. The state of 
 Henry's health rendered him more nervous than 
 his young and then triumphant rival : he dropped 
 the reins, and reeling in his saddle, would have 
 fallen from his horse had not his attendants sup- 
 ported him.^ He recovered his self-possession, 
 but he was too ill to renew the conference ; and 
 the humiliating conditions of peace, reduced to 
 writing, were sent to his quarters for his signature. 
 It was stipulated that Henry should pay an in- 
 demnity of twenty thousand marks to Philip, re- 
 nounce all his rights of sovereignty over the town 
 of Berry, and submit in all things to his decisions ;* 
 that he should permit all his vassals, both English 
 and continental, to do homage to Richard ; that all 
 such barons as had espoused Richard's party should 
 
 ' Jam sterlingos regis Anglise olfecerat. — Rog. Hoved. — Matt. Par. 
 
 3 Rog. Iloved. — Script. Rer. Franc. 3 Rog. Iloved. 
 
 ♦ "Ex toto se posuit in voluntatc regis Franciae," says Roger of 
 Hoveden. Except in one clause the name of England seems hardly 
 I > have been mentioned; and this submission was evidently limited 
 to the continental dominions, over which (at least in theory) the 
 authority of the French crown was always extensive. 
 
 be censidered the liege-men and vassals of the son, 
 unless they voluntarily chose to return to the father; 
 that he should deliver Adelais to one out of five 
 persons named by Richard, who at the return of 
 Philip and Richard from the crusade on which they 
 proposed to depart immediately (there was no longer 
 any talk of Henry's going), would restore her in all 
 honor either to her brother or her affianced ; and 
 finally, that he should give the kiss of peace to 
 Richard, and banish from his heart all sentiments 
 of singer and animosity against him,' — a clause 
 better fitted for a sermon than for a treaty. The 
 envoys of the French king read the treaty, article 
 by article, to Henry as he lay suffering on his bed. 
 When they came to the article which regarded the 
 vassals who had deserted him to join Richard, he 
 asked for a list of their names. The list was given 
 him, and the very first name upon it which struck 
 his eye was that of his darling son John, of whose 
 base treachery he had hitherto been kept happily 
 ignorant. The broken-hearted king started up from 
 his bed and gazed wildly around. " Is it true," he 
 cried, " that John, the child of my heart, — he 
 whom I have cherished more than all the rest, and 
 for love of whom I have drawn down on mine own 
 head all these troubles, hath verily betrayed 
 me ?" They told him it was even so. " Now, 
 then," he exclaimed, falling back on his bed, and 
 turning his face to the wall, "let everything go as 
 it will — I have no longer care for myself or for the 
 world !" ^ 
 
 Shortly after he caused himself to be transported 
 to the pleasant town of Chiuon f but those favorite 
 scenes made no impression on his profound melan- 
 choly and hopelessness of heart, and in a few days 
 he laid himself down to die. In his last moments, 
 as his intellects wandered, he was heard uttering 
 unconnected exclamations. " Oh shame !" he cried, 
 "a conquered king! I, a conquered king! . . . Cvu'sed 
 be the day on which I was born, and cursed of God 
 the children I leave behind me !" Some priests 
 exhorted the disordered, I'aving man to retract these 
 curses, but he would not. He was sensible, how- 
 ever, to the affection and unwearying attentions of 
 his natural son Geoffrey, Avho had been faithful to 
 him through life, and who received his last sigh. As 
 soon as the breath was out of his body all the min- 
 isters, priests, bishops, and barons, that had waited 
 so long, took a hurried departure, and his personal 
 attendants followed the example of their betters, 
 but not before they had stripped his dead body, and 
 seized everything of any value in the apartment 
 where he died. 
 
 The disrespect and utter abandonment which had 
 followed the demise of the great Conqueror 102 
 years before, were repeated toward the corpse of 
 his great-gi-andson. It was not without delay and 
 difficulty that people were found to wrap the body 
 in a winding-sheet, and a hearse and horses to 
 
 1 Rog. Hoved. — Script. Rer. Franc. 
 
 - Script. Rer. Franc. " Iteruin se lecto reddens, et faciem suani ad 
 parietem vertens," &c. 
 
 3 Chinon, beautifully situated on the river Loire, was the French 
 Windsor of our Norman kings, and Fontevraud, at the distance of 
 about seven miles (to the south), their favorite place of burial.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 463 
 
 convey it to the Abbey of Fontevraud.^ While it 
 was on its way to receive the last rites of sepulture, 
 Richard, who had learned the news of his father's 
 death, met the procession, and accompanied it to 
 the church. Here, as the dead king lay stretched 
 on the bier, his face was uncovered that his son 
 might look upon it for the last time. Marked as it 
 was with the awful expression of a long agony, he 
 gazed on it in silence, and shuddered. He then 
 knelt and prayed before the altar, but only for " a 
 modicum of time, or about as long as it takes to say 
 the Lord's Prayer ;" and when the funeral was 
 over, he quitted the church, and entered it not again 
 until that hour when, cut off in the full strength 
 and pride of manhood, he was carried thither a 
 corpse to be laid at the feet of his father.^ It was 
 a popular superstition which the Normans as well 
 as the Anglo-Saxons had derived from their common 
 ancestors, the Scandinavians, that the body of the 
 dead would bleed in presence of its murderer ; and 
 more than one chronicler of the time avers that this 
 miracle was seen at the church of Fontevraud, 
 where (say they), from the moment that Richard 
 entered until that in which he departed, the king 
 never ceased to bleed at both nostrils, — " the very 
 corse, as it were, abhorring and accusing him for 
 his unnatural behavior."* The story at least shows 
 in what light the conduct of Henry's sons was re- 
 garded by their contemporaries. On the day of 
 Henry's death (July 6th, 1189) he was in the fifty- 
 seventh year of his age, and had reigned over Eng- 
 land thirty-four years, seven lunar months, and five 
 days, counting from the day of his coronation.* This 
 long reign had been highly beneficial to the country ; 
 with a few brief exceptions, peace had been main- 
 tained in the interior, and there is good evidence to 
 show that the condition of the people generally had 
 been elevated and improved. The king's personal 
 character has been differently represented, some 
 dwelling only on its bright qualities, and others lay- 
 ing all their emphasis on his vices, which, in truth, 
 were neither few in number nor moderate in their 
 nature, although, for the most part, common attri- 
 butes to the princes of those ages, few of whom had 
 his redeeming' virtues and splendid abilities. To 
 say with Hume that his character, in private as well 
 as in public life, was almost without a blemish, is a 
 manifest defying of the testimony and authority of 
 contemporary history ; but yet, when every fair 
 deduction is made, he will remain indisputably an 
 illustrious prince, and a man possessed of many 
 endearing qualities. We will briefly state his vices 
 as portrayed by one party, and then give his picture, 
 both physical and moral, as painted by an admiring 
 friend. , 
 
 He was exceedingly ambitious of dominion, and 
 accustomed to repeat, in his prosperity, that the 
 whole world was but portion enough for one great 
 man. His lust was boundless, and he set no hmits 
 
 1 Script. Rer. Franc. — Girald. — Ang. Sac. — Rog. Hoved. 
 
 a Script. Rer. Franc. 
 
 3 Benedict. Abbas.— Script. Rer. Franc— Rog. Iloved.— Speed. 
 Chron. 
 
 * R. Diceto. — Rog. Iloved.— Sir Harris Nicolas, Chronology of 
 History. 
 
 to the gratification of that passion. His dissimula- 
 tion, duplicity, and disregard for truth, when he had 
 any political purpose to serve, were all extreme : no 
 trust could be placed in his promises ; he was wont 
 to say himself, that it was better to repent of words 
 broken than of deeds done ; and Cardinal Vivian, 
 who had frequent intercourse with him, said of him, 
 that he had never met his equal in lying. He was 
 jealous of every species of authority, — anxious to 
 concentrate all power within his own person, — and 
 to depress and degrade the nobles of the land. [This 
 last accusation arose inevitably out of his successful 
 efforts to curb the baronial power.] Though a kind 
 and generous master, and a warm and steady friend, 
 he was a most vindictive enemy [a fact certainly not 
 borne out by the history of his life] . He could not 
 bear contradiction. He was irascible beyond meas- 
 ure [this is admitted by his warmest admirers], and 
 was not to be approached without danger in his mo- 
 ments of passion. When under one of his parox- 
 ysms, he was more like a wild beast than a man ; his 
 eyes were blood-shot, his face like fire, his tongue 
 abusive and blasphemous, his hands most mischiev- 
 ous, striking and tearing whatever came in his way. 
 On one occasion he flew at a page to tear out his 
 eyes, and the boy did not escape without some ugly 
 scratches.^ 
 
 Let us now turn to the friendly picture of Peter 
 of Blois, — as curious, as elaborate, and as character- 
 istic a portrait as ever was painted of a king. It 
 occurs in a letter addressed to the Archbishop of 
 Palermo, and written in the latter part of Henry's 
 reign : — 
 
 " You are aware," says the minute Peter, " that 
 his complexion and hair inclined to red ; but the 
 approach of old age hath somewhat altered this, and 
 the hair is turning gray. He is of middle size, such 
 that among short men he seems tall, and even among 
 tall ones, not the least in stature. His head is spher- 
 ical, as if it were the seat of great wisdom and the 
 special sanctuary of deep schemes. In size it is 
 such as to correspond well with the neck and whole 
 body. His eyes are round, and, while he is calm, 
 dove-like and quiet ; but when he is angry, they 
 flash fire, and are hke lightning. His hair is not 
 grown scant, but he keeps it well cut. His face is 
 lion-like and almost square. His nose projects in a 
 degree proportionate to the symmetry of his whole 
 body. His feet are arched ; his shins like a horse's ^ 
 his broad chest and brawny arms proclaim him to be 
 strong, active, and bold. In one of his toes, however, 
 part of the nail grows into the flesh, and increases 
 enormously to the injury of the whole foot. His 
 hands, by their coarseness, show the man's care- 
 lessness ; he wholly neglects all attention to them, 
 and never puts a glove on, except he is hawking. 
 He every day attends mass, councils, and other 
 public business, and stands on his feet from morning 
 till night. Though his shins are terribly wounded 
 and discolored by constant kicks from horses, he 
 never sits down except on horseback, or when he 
 
 1 Epist. St. Thom.-Girald.—Camh.— Script. Rer. Franc— Radul- 
 phus Niger (apud Wilkins, Leg. Sax.) adds still darker tints ; but this 
 writer had been punished and banished by Henry.
 
 464 
 
 HISTORY OF ExXGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 is eating. In one day, if need requires, he will per- 
 form four or five regular days' journeys, and by 
 these rapid and unexpected movements often defeats 
 his enemies' plans. He uses straight boots, a plain 
 hat, and a tight dress. He is very fond of field- 
 sports ; and if he is not fighting, amuses himself with 
 hawking and hunting. He would have grown en- 
 ormously fat if he did not tame this tendency to 
 belly by fasting and exercise. In mounting a horse 
 and riding, he preserves all the lightness of youth, 
 and tires out the strongest men by his excursions 
 almost every day ; for he does not, like other kings, 
 lie idle in his palace, but goes through his provinces 
 examining into every one's conduct, and particularly 
 that of the persons whom he has appointed judges 
 of others. No one is shrewder in council, readier 
 in speaking, more self-possessed in danger, more 
 careful in prosperity, more firm in adversity. If he 
 once forms an attachment to a man, he seldom gives 
 him up ; if he has once taken a real aversion to a 
 person, he seldom admits him afterward to any 
 familiarity. He has forever in his hands bows, 
 swords, hunting-nets, and arrows, except he is at 
 council or at his books ; for as often as he can get 
 breathing-time from his cares and anxieties, he oc- 
 cupies himself with private reading, or, surrounded 
 by a knot of clergymen, endeavors to solve some 
 hard question. Your king knows literature well, 
 but ours is much more deeply versed in it. I have 
 had opportunity of measuring the attainments of 
 each in literature ; for you know the King of Sicily 
 was my pupil for two years. He had learnt the 
 rudiments of literature and versification ; and, by 
 mj- industry and anxiety, reached afterward to fuller 
 knowledge. As soon, however, as I left Sicily, he 
 threw away his books, and gave himself up to the 
 usual idleness of palaces. But in the case of the 
 King of England, the constant conversation of learned 
 men, and the discussion of questions, make his court 
 a daily school. No one can be more dignified in 
 speaking, more cautious at table, more moderate in 
 drinking, more splendid in gifts, more generous in 
 alms. He is pacific in heart, victorious in war, but 
 glorious in peace, which he desires for his people 
 as the most precious of earthly gifts. It is with a 
 view to this, that he receives, collects, and dispenses 
 such an immensity of money. He is equally skilful 
 and liberal in erecting walls, towers, fortifications, 
 moats, and places of inclosure for fish and birds. His 
 father was a very powerful and noble count, and did 
 much to extend his territory ; but he has gone far 
 bej-ond his father, and has added the dukedoms of 
 Normandy, of Aquitaine, and Brittany, the kingdoms 
 of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, so as to 
 increase, beyond all comparison, the titles of his 
 fiither's splendor. No one is more gentle to the 
 distressed, more aflltible to the poor, more overbear- 
 ing to the proud. It has always, indeed, been his 
 study, by certain carriage of himself like a deity, to 
 put down the insolent, to encourage the oppressed, 
 and to repress the swellings of pride by continual 
 and deadly persecution."^ 
 
 » We avail ourselves of the translation of this highlj- curious 
 passage given in a late number of the Quarterly Revieiv. 
 
 Besides his five legitimate sons, of whom three 
 preceded him to the grave, Henry had three 
 daughters by his wife Eleanor. Matilda, the eldest, 
 was married to Henry, Duke of Saxony, Bavaria, 
 Westphalia, <S:c. ; and from her is descended the 
 present roj'al fixmily of Great Britain : Eleanor, the 
 second daughter, was married to Alfonso the Good, 
 King of Castile ; and Joan, the youngest, was united 
 to William II., King of Sicily, a prince of the Nor- 
 man line of Guiscard. Two of his natural children 
 have obtained the general notice of history on ac- 
 count of the celebrity of their mother, and of their 
 own eminent qualities. The first, who was born 
 while Stephen was yet on the throne of England, 
 was William, surnamed " Longsword," who mar- 
 ried the heiress of the Earl of Sahsbury, and suc- 
 ceeded to the high titles and immense estates of 
 that baron : the second was the still better known 
 GeofiVey, who was born about the time when Henry 
 became king, and who was made Bishop of Lincoln 
 at a very early age. He had much of Henry's 
 spirit and ability, and, if an indifferent prelate, he 
 was a bold and successful warrior in liis nonage, 
 when (during the first insurrection promoted by his 
 father's legitimate sons) he gained in the north 
 some signal advantages for the king, to whom he and 
 his brother William Longsword were ever faithful 
 and affectionate. Geoffrey was subsequentlj- made 
 Chancellor, when, like Becket in the same capacity, 
 he constantly accompanied the king. In his dying 
 moments, Henry expressed a hope or a wish that 
 he might be made Archbishop of York, a promotion 
 which, as we shall find, he afterward obtained. 
 
 The history of their mother, the " Fair Rosa- 
 mond," has been enveloped in romantic traditions, 
 which have scarcely any foundation in truth, but 
 which have taken so firm a hold on the popular 
 mind, and have been identified with so much poetry, 
 that it is neither an easy nor a pleasant task to dis- 
 sipate the fanciful illusion, and unpeople the "bower" 
 in the sylvan shades of Woodstock. Rosamond de 
 Clifford was the daughter of a baron of Hereford- 
 shire, the beautiful site of whose antique castle, in 
 the valley of the Wye, is pointed out to the traveler 
 between the town of the Welsh Hay and the city 
 of Hereford, at a point where the most romantic of 
 rivers, after foaming through its rocky, narrow bed 
 in Wales, sweeps freely and tranquilly through an 
 open English valley of surpassing loveliness. Henry 
 became enamored of her in his youth, before he was 
 king, and the connection continued for many years ; 
 but long before his death, and even long before his 
 quarrel with his wife and legitimate sons ( with 
 which, it appears, she had nothing to do), Rosa- 
 mond retired, to lead a religious and penitent life, 
 into the "little nunnery" of Godestow, in the "rich 
 meadows of Evenlod, near unto Oxford." 
 
 As Henry still preserved gentle and generous 
 feelings toward the object of his youthful and ardent 
 passion, he made many donations to the " little nun- 
 nery," on her account ; and when she died (some 
 time, at least, before the first rebellion), the nuns, in 
 gi-atitude to one who had been both directly and 
 indirectly their benefactress, buried her in their
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 465 
 
 Ruins or the Ancient Royal Manor-House of Woodstock, as tliey appeared before their removal in 1714. 
 
 choir, hung a silken pall over her tomb, and kept 
 tapers constantly burning around it. These few 
 lines, we believe, comprise all that is really known 
 of the Fair Rosamond. The legend, so fomiliar to 
 the childhood of all of us, was of later and gradual 
 gi'owth, not being the product of one imagination. 
 The chronicler Brompton, who wrote in the time 
 of Edward III., or more than a century and a half 
 after the event, gave the first description we pos- 
 sess of the secret bower of Rosamond. He says, 
 chat in order that she might not be " easily taken 
 unawares by the queen " (ne forsan a regina facile 
 deprehenderetur) Henry constructed, near " Wode- 
 stoke," a bower for this "most sightly maiden" 
 ( puellae spectatissimse ), of wonderful contrivance, 
 and not unhke the Daedalian labyrinth ; but he 
 speaks only of a device against surprise, and inti- 
 mates, in clear terms, that Rosamond died a natural 
 death. The clue of silk, and the poison-bowl 
 forced on her fair and gentle rival by the jealous 
 and revengeful Eleanor, were additions of a still 
 more modern date. 
 
 The adventures of the amiable frail one's unof- 
 fending bones are better authenticated. A rigid 
 bishop caused them to be cast out of the church, 
 and interred in the common cemetery, observing to 
 the nuns, that the tomb of a harlot was no fit object 
 for a choir of virgins to contemplate, and that reli- 
 gion made no distinction between the mistress of a 
 king and the mistress of any other man. But 
 gratitude rebelled against this salutary doctrine, 
 und the virgin sisterhood of Godestow gathered up 
 the remains, perfumed the dry bones, laid them 
 again in their church, under a fair, large gravestone, 
 VOL. I.— -30 
 
 and set up a cross hard by, with an inscription, im- 
 ploring requiem or rest for Rosamond. 
 
 Richard I. — surnamed Cceur de Lion. 
 
 A. D. 1189. As soon as his father was buried, 
 Richard laid hands on Stephen of Tours, the sene- 
 schal of Anjou and ti-easurer to Henry II. This 
 unfortunate officer was loaded with chains, and 
 thrown into a dungeon, from which he was not re- 
 leased until he delivered up, not only the funds of 
 the late king, but his own money also, to the last 
 penny he possessed.' Letters were sent over to 
 England for the immediate enlargement of the 
 queen dowager; and, on quitting her prison, Eleanor 
 was invested, for a short time, with the office of 
 regent, and especially charged to have an eye on 
 the moneys in England. Her misfortunes seem for 
 a while to have had a beneficial effect on her impe- 
 rious character; for, during her brief authority, she 
 relieved the people by many works of mercy ; re- 
 leasing those who were arbitrarily detained in prison, 
 pardoning offences against the crown, moderating 
 the severity of the forest-laws, and reversing several 
 attjiinders. She also distributed bountiful alms to 
 the poor, that they might pray for the soul of the 
 husband whom she, more than any one, had con- 
 trived to send with sorrow to the grave. She 
 hastened to Winchester, where the royal treasure 
 was deposited, and having made sure of that city, 
 summoned thither the bai'ons and prelates of the 
 realm, that they might recognize and receive their 
 new sovereign. The state of affairs, however, de- 
 
 i Hoved,
 
 466 
 
 HISTORr OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 tained Richard on the continent for nearly two 
 months. At last, when he had made the necessary 
 Hrrano;ements, he crossed the Channel, accompanied 
 by his brother John, and landed at Portsmouth, 
 whence he repaired to Winchester. Henry had 
 left in his treasury there a large sum in gold and 
 silver, besides plate, jewels, and precious stones. All 
 these Richard caused to be weighed and examined 
 in his presence, and had an inventory of them drawn 
 up. His soul was occupied by an enterprise that 
 was likely to absorb all the money he could possibly 
 procure ; and, to find means for a most lavish ex- 
 j)enditure, he resorted to the cares and expedients 
 that more properly characterize avarice. It was 
 
 this enterprise, however, that gave him the benefit 
 of an undisputed succession to all his fathers 
 dominions; for John, expecting to be left in full 
 authority by the immediate departure of his brother 
 for Palestine, and hoping that he would never 
 return alive from the perils of the Holy War, sub- 
 mitted to what he considered would be a very brief 
 arrangement, and made no effort to dispute Richard's 
 right. But for these circumstances it is very clear, 
 from the character of the crafty and ambitious John, 
 that the old story of a disputed succession would 
 have been repeated, and that that prince would 
 have raised his banner of war either in England or 
 in some one of the continental states. As it was, it 
 
 Great Seal of Richard I. 
 
 was wiser for him to wait awhile for the chance of 
 getting peaceful possession of the whole, than to 
 risk life or failure for a part. The confidence re- 
 posed in him may excite some surprise, and the 
 more, perhaps, because one of Richard's first acts 
 as a sovereign was to discard and persecute all 
 those who had plotted against his father, not ex- 
 cepting even his own most familiar friends who had 
 plotted for his own advantage ; thus reading a good 
 lesson to those who embark their fortunes in the 
 family quarrels of princes. On the 3d of September 
 the coronation festival was held at Westminster 
 with unusual magnificence ; the abbots, and bishops, 
 and most of the lay barons attending on the occa- 
 sion. The crown was intrusted to the Earl of Al- 
 bemarle, who carried it before Richard, over 
 whose head was a rich canopy of silk stretched on 
 four lances, each of which Avas held by a great baron. 
 Two prelates — the bishops of Durham and Bath — 
 walked on either side the king, whose path, up to 
 the high altar, was spread with cloth of the Tyrian 
 dye. On the steps of the altar he was received by 
 Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, who adminis- 
 tered to him the usual oath: — 1. That all the days 
 of his life he would bear peace, honor, and reverence 
 to God and holy church, and the ordinances thereof. 
 2. That he would exercise right, iustice, and law, 
 
 on the people unto him committed. 3. That he 
 would abrogate wicked laws and perverse customs, 
 if anj- such should be brought into his kingdom ; and 
 would enact good laws, and the same in good faith 
 keep without mental reservation. The king then 
 cast oft' his upper garment, put sandals or buskins of 
 gold on his feet, and was anointed from the ampulla 
 of holy oil on the head, breast, and shoulders : ht 
 then received the cap, tunic, dalmatica, sword, spurs, 
 and mantle, each being presented by the proper of- 
 ficer in due order of succession. The unction over, 
 and the king thus royally arrayed, he was led up to 
 the altar, where the archbishop adjured him, in the 
 name of almighty God, not to assume the royal dig- 
 nity unless he fully proposed to keep the oaths he 
 had sworn. Richard repeated his solemn promises, 
 and with his own hands taking the ponderous crown 
 from oft' the altar, " in signification that he held it 
 only from God," he delivered it to the archbishop, 
 who instantly put it on his head, and so completed 
 all the ceremonies of coronation.^ " Which act," 
 says old Speed, with a cold-bloodedness less excu- 
 sable than his superstition, " was accidentally han- 
 seled and auspicated by the blood of many Jews 
 
 1 Hoveden and Diceto, who were both present. At the coronation 
 feasta which immediately followed, the citizens of London were the 
 king's butlers, and the citizens of Winchester served up the meats.
 
 Chap. I.l 
 
 CIVIL Ax\D MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 467 
 
 
 :^vn^f|g>^,^|s|[^ 
 
 Portrait of Richard I. From the Tomb at Fontevraud. 
 
 (though Utterly against the king's wUl), who, in a 
 tumult raised by the multitude, were furiously mur- 
 dered, which, though it were afterward punished 
 by the laws, might seem a presage, that this lion- 
 hearted king should be a special destroyer of the 
 enemies of our Savior." The modern historian 
 cannot permit these ati'ocities to pass off so easily. 
 We have mentioned the Jews under the preceding 
 reign, and our cursory allusion to them has shown 
 that they were ah-eady in possession of great wealth 
 in England, where they were persecuted by the 
 government, though most useful, and, indeed, es- 
 sential to it, and hated bj^ the whole nation, though 
 nearly all the comforts, and, without exception, all 
 the ornaments and luxuries of civilized life, brought 
 from foreign markets, were inti'oduced by their 
 commercial enterprise. Their wealth seems to 
 have had as much to do in rendering them odious 
 as the religious faith to wlxich they heroically ad- 
 hered, and the advance they had made in the rate 
 of interest on their loans to men who were about 
 departing on the dangerous expeditions to the Holy 
 Land — though the necessary consequence of the 
 great and sudden demand for money, and of the 
 augmented risk incurred by the lenders — had re- 
 cently had the effect of exasperating the minds of 
 many of the noble but needy crusaders, and had in- 
 creased that rancor against them which was always 
 a prevalent feehng among the superstitious and 
 ignorant populace — if the populace deserve these 
 distinguishing epithets, when ignorance and super- 
 stition were so prevalent among all classes. At the 
 accession of Philip to the throne of France, all the 
 Jews had been banished that kingdom, their property 
 confiscated, the obligations of their numerous debtors 
 
 [ annulled ; and though Hemy II. had dechned taking 
 this iniquitous course, it was expected by many that 
 Richard, on coming to the throne of England, would 
 follow the example of his friend Philip. The Jews 
 probabl3^ expected something of the sort : they as- 
 sembled in London from all parts of the kingdom, 
 " meaning to honor the coronation with their pres- 
 ence, and to present to the king some honorable 
 gift, whereby they might declare themselves glad 
 for his advancement, and procure his friendship to- 
 ward themselves, for the confirming of their privi- 
 leges and liberties, according to the gi-ants and 
 charters made to them by the former king."' On 
 the day before the coronation, Richard being " of a 
 zealous mind to Christ's religion, abhorring their 
 nation, and doubting some sorcery by them to be 
 practiced, issued a proclamation foi'bidding Jews 
 and u'omen to be present at Westminster, either 
 within the church when he should receive the 
 crown, or within the hall while he was at dinner."* 
 A few, however, persevering in a custom sanctioned 
 by remote antiquity among all Oriental people, ven- 
 tured, on this daj' of general grace and joy, to lay 
 their ofterings at the king's feet. Their humble suit 
 was heard, — their rich presents were accepted, 
 " gladly enough ;" but a Christian raised an outcry, 
 and struck a Jew that was trying to enter the gate 
 with the rest of the crowd. The courtiers and 
 king's servants, catching the contagion of the quar- 
 rel, then fell on the wealthy Jews who had obtained 
 admittance, and drove them out of the hall. A re- 
 port spread among the multitude gathered outside 
 the palace that the king had commanded the de- 
 struction of the unbelievers, and therefore, following 
 » Holinshed. 2 Id.
 
 468 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 up an example already set them by their superiors, [ 
 the peoi)le cruelly beat the Jews aud drove them ! 
 with " staves, bats, and stones, to their houses and 
 lodgings." This violence being left unchecked, and i 
 the rumor of the king's intention still spreading, 
 fresh crowds of fanatic rioters collected, and after 
 barbarously murdering every Jew they found in the 
 streets, they assaulted the houses they occupied and 
 in which they had barricaded themselves. As many 
 of these houses were strongly built, they set fire to 
 them, and burned men, women, and children, with 
 everything they contained. In some cases they 
 forced their way into the apartments, and hurled 
 their victims, not excepting even the aged, the sick, 
 and bed-ridden, out of the windows into fires which 
 they had kindled below. The king, alarmed at 
 length by the riot, sent Ranulf de Glanville, the 
 Lord Justiciary, and other oflficers to appease it ; 
 but the authority of these high functionaries was 
 despised, their own lives were threatened, and in 
 the end they were obliged to fly back to Westmin- 
 ster Hall, where the banquet still continued. When 
 night set in, the "rude sort" were hghted in their 
 horrid work of plunder and murder by the flames that 
 rose from the Jewish houses, and that, at one time, 
 threatened a general conflagration of the town. The 
 magazines and shops of the Jews were plundered and 
 ransacked; the defenceless wretches who attempted 
 to escape from their forced, or burning dwellings, 
 " were received upon the points of spears, bills, 
 swords, and gleaves of their adversaries, that 
 watched for them very diligently." These atrocities 
 continued from about the hour of noon on one daj- till 
 two o'clock in the afternoon of the next, when the 
 infuriated populace seem to have ceased plundering 
 and butchering out of sheer weariness. One or two 
 days after, Richard hanged three men, not because 
 they had robbed and murdered the Jews, but be- 
 cause (as least so it was declared in the public sen- 
 tence) they had burned the houses of Christians ; 
 some of which were indeed unintentionally con- 
 sumed by the spreading of the flames. He then 
 issued a proclamation, iu which, after stating that he 
 took the Jews under his own immediate protection, 
 he commanded that no man should personally harm 
 them or rob them of their goods and chattels ; and 
 these were the only judicial measures that followed 
 the terrific outrage.' All that the new king could 
 think of at this moment was how he should go to 
 Palestine with a splendid army, and leave the care 
 of his kingdom and of all his subjects to others. To 
 raise money he had recourse to expedients similar 
 to those which ruined Stephen and the nation under 
 him. He alienated the demesne lands, publicly 
 selling, by a sort of auction, royal castles, fortresses, 
 and towns, — and, together with estates that were 
 his own, not a few that were the property of other 
 men. When some friends ventured to remonstrate, 
 he swore he would sell London itself if he could 
 only find a purchaser for it.^ Thus most of those 
 royal lands which his father with so much prudence 
 and address had recovered out of powerful private 
 hands, and reannexed to the crown, were again 
 I Hoved. — Diceto. — Newbr. — Hemingford. 2 Newbr. 
 
 detached from it. In the same way places of trust 
 and honor — the highest oftices in the kingdom — 
 were publicly sold to the highest bidder. 
 
 " Richard's presence chamber," says a recent 
 writer, " was a market overt, in which all that the 
 king could bestow — all that could be derived from 
 the bounty of the crown or imparted by the royal 
 prerogative — was disposed of to the best chapman. 
 Hugh Pudsey, the Bishop of Durham, purchased 
 the earldom of Northumberland, together with the 
 lordship of Sadburg. For the chief justiciarship 
 he paid, at the same time, the sum of 1000 marks. 
 In the bargain was included a dispensation to the 
 bishop — or at least such dispensation as the king 
 could grant — from his vow or promise of joining 
 in the crusade." ' There are circumstances attend- 
 ing the sale of the justiciarship which throw at 
 least an odious suspicion on the king. At the 
 period when Richard succeeded to the throne, 
 the celebrated Ranulf de Glanville filled the high 
 office of "rector regni," or regent of the kingdom, 
 and that of " procurator regni," or justiciary ; and 
 under these designations he is enumerated among 
 the great barons who figured at the coronation. 
 There was not a better or wiser man among the 
 ministers of the crown, nor was there any man more 
 cherished by the late king, whose obligations to 
 him were immense, for Glanville had served him 
 with wonderful success, as well on the field of 
 battle as in the council chamber and the infant 
 courts of law, and he it was that had taken 
 prisoner the Scottish king near Alnwick Castle. 
 In every sense the crown, as well as the nation, 
 was deeply indebted to this extraordinary and ex- 
 cellent man. According to one contemporary au- 
 thority he was at the time sinking under bodily 
 infirmity, and being disgusted by the impolicy of 
 the young monarch, he became anxious to free 
 himself from the burden of offices which he could 
 no longer discharge to his satisfaction and the 
 benefit of the country. By this single account, 
 therefore, it appears that Glanville resigned his 
 office of his own free will, and departed as a cru- 
 sader to the Holy Land — that his strong intellect 
 became enfeebled by anxiety and vexation — that he 
 died shortly after, leaving only female issue, and 
 that not an individual remained to continue his hon- 
 ored name. Several other authorities, who were 
 also contemporaries, inform us, however, that Glan- 
 ville was forcibly and rudely deprived of the justi- 
 ciarship by the rapacious king, wheat the same 
 time removed the sheriffs and their oflficers through- 
 out the kingdom, exacting from each the ransom 
 for his release from imprisonment to the very last 
 farthing ; and that Glanville himself, in spite of 
 his reproachful gray head and long services, was 
 cast into prison, aud detained there until he sub- 
 mitted to pay a fine of three thousand pounds. 
 " The latter account," says Palgrave, " is not 
 destitute of plausibility. Coeur de Lion's avarice 
 ' was equaled only by his extravagance ; and, by 
 creating a vacancy in this or any other office, 
 
 1 Introduction to Rotuli Cnriai Regis (published by the Record 
 Commission), by Sir Francis Palgrave.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 469 
 
 he obtained the means of raising money by its 
 sale." ^ 
 
 Richard hastily filled all the vacant bishoprics 
 and abbacies, exacting a heavy fee from each 
 prelate and abbot he appointed. In consideration 
 of twenty thousand marks received from the Scot- 
 tish king, he gi-anted to him a release from all the 
 obligations w^hich had been extorted from him and 
 from his subjects during his captivity, and gave 
 back to him all the charters and documents of his 
 servitude, with this proviso, that he should never- 
 theless duly and fulty perform all the services 
 which his brother Malcolm had performed, or 
 ought of right to have performed, to Richard's 
 predecessors.^ For the sum of three thousand 
 marks he granted his peace to his half-brother 
 Geoffrey, who had been' elected Archbishop of 
 York, according to the wish expressed by his 
 father Henry on his death-bed; and other sums of 
 money were obtained by means much less justi- 
 fiable. 
 
 It was now necessary to nominate a regency. 
 At this step Prince John saw his hopes disap- 
 pointed ; but he remained perfectly quiet, being 
 anxious, no doubt, that nothing should occur to 
 prevent or delay his formidable brother's departure. 
 A gi'eat council was held at the monastery of Pip- 
 well, in Northamptonshire. Here the king formally 
 announced the appointment of Hugh Pudsej', the 
 Bishop of Durham, to be Rector Regni and Pro- 
 curator Regni ; but he included with him in the 
 commission of justiciarship William de Mandeville, 
 Earl of Albemarle. This great earl, however, 
 quitted England soon after, leaving the bishop in 
 the full possession of the high office ; but he did 
 not retain it long, for his authority was first of all 
 weakened and subdivided by Richard before he 
 began his journey, and finally during the king's 
 absence, but while he was yet in Normandy, 
 wrenched from him altogether by the much abler 
 hands of Longchamp, Bishop of Ely and Chan- 
 cellor of England. In part of his bargain Avith the 
 king, poor Pudsey had paid a deal of money for 
 nothing ; but Richard seldom scrupled to break his 
 contracts, or revoke and annul the gi-ants which he 
 had made. To satisfy his brother John he gave 
 him, besides the earldom of Moreton or Moretain, 
 in Normandy, the earldoms of Cornwall, Dorset, 
 Somerset, Gloucester, Nottingham, Derby, and 
 Lancaster, in England, forming together not less 
 than a third part of the whole kingdom. To grat- 
 ify his mother he added to the estates she alreadj- 
 possessed all the lands that had been enjoyed by 
 Matilda, the Saxon wife of Henry I., or by Alice, 
 the French widow of the same monarch. 
 
 She was also to be consulted in sundry matters of 
 government; and at a subsequent period, during 
 Richard's confinement in Germany, Eleanor exer- 
 cised considerable authority with the consent of 
 the king, though whatever power in the state his 
 brother John acquired was usurped and against his 
 will. 
 
 1 Introduction to Roluli Curise Regis. 
 
 2 Allen, Vindic. Anc. Ind. Scot. — Feedera.— Benedict. Abb. 
 
 Richard had proceeded with a most arbitrary 
 haste ; but Philip of France being ready before him, 
 and doubting he might delay, sent messengers to 
 remind him that the time of departure for the Holy 
 Land was unchangeably fixed at the coming festiva\ 
 of Easter. At the arrival of these messengers 
 Richard, with a vast number of the earls, barons, 
 and knights, who had taken the cross with him, 
 swore he would be ready by the time appointed, 
 and Philip's envoys took a like oath on behalf of 
 themselves. The form of these oaths was some- 
 what unusual, the Frenchmen swearing by the 
 soul of the King of France, the Englishmen by 
 the soul of the King of England. By this time 
 Richard had got all the money he could on this 
 side of the Channel, and toward the end of the 
 year, and a little more than three months after his 
 coronation, he left his fair kingdom to its fate, and 
 crossed over to his continental dominions, to see 
 what money he could raise and extort there. 
 
 A.D. 1190. In the month of February following 
 Richard held a great council in Normandy, which 
 was attended by the queen dowager, by his brother 
 John, and by various bishops, who are stated to 
 have crossed the Channel by the king's command. 
 At this meeting there was an abundant pledging of 
 oaths which were but indifferently kept, and many 
 arrangements for the government of the states on 
 both sides the sea were made, most of which were 
 defeated by ambition and intrigue in the sequel. 
 Soon after the two kings made a compact of alliance 
 and fraternity of arms, swearing that each would 
 defend the life and honor of the other — that neither 
 would desert the other in his danger — that the 
 King of France would cherish and protect the rights 
 of the King of England, even as he would protect 
 his own city of Paris, and that the King of England 
 wovild do the like by his majesty of France, even 
 as he would protect his own city of — Rouen} 
 
 Owing to the death of Philip's young queen their 
 departure was postponed from the feast of Easter 
 till midsummer. At last they met in the plains of 
 Vezelai, each accompanied by a gallant and a 
 numerous army, for their forces, when united, are 
 said to have amounted to one hundred thousand 
 men. They marched in company from Vezelai to 
 Lyons, and the people, though much distressed by 
 the passage of such a host, confidently predicted 
 that the Paynim could never withstand them, and 
 that the city of the Lord, with the whole of Pales- 
 tine, would be recovered by their swords and lances. 
 At Lyons the two kings separated, with the mutual 
 understanding that they should meet again in the 
 port of Messina, in Sicily. Philip, with his forces, 
 took the nearest road to Genoa, for he had no fleet 
 of his own, and that flourishing commercial re- 
 public had agreed with him for the furnisJiing of 
 transports and some ships of war. Although it 
 appears that the two kings went on, thus far, 
 amicably together, great inconveniences to the cru- 
 saders as well as to the people among whom they 
 traveled would result from their keeping one line 
 of march : but it was not this consideration, as 
 ' Hoved.
 
 470 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book ITI. 
 
 assumed by some old historians, but the necessity 
 Philip wiis under of contracting for a Genoese fleet, 
 that caused the two armies to part company. From 
 the time of his expedition to Ireland, Henry II. 
 had paid great attention to maritime aft'airs, and an 
 English roijul navy had gradually grown up. We 
 do not possess much information on this interesting 
 subject, but we learn from the chroniclers that he 
 liad souie vessels which would be coneidered, even 
 now, of a large size, and that one of the " chiefest 
 and newest" of his ships was capable of carrying 
 400 persons. Some time before his death he began 
 to build vessels expressly for the voyage to Palestine ; 
 and when his son succeeded, he found these pre- 
 parations so far advanced, that he was soon able to 
 lanch or equip fifty galleys of three banks of oars, 
 and many other armed galleys inferior in size to 
 them, but superior to those generally in use at the 
 period. He had also selected transports from the 
 shipping of all his ports ; and perhaps there is not 
 much danger in assuming, that in size and strength 
 of ships, this was the most formidable naval arma- 
 ment that had as yet appeared in modern Europe.' 
 Having thus a fleet of his own, Richard was not 
 dependent, like Philip, on arrangements with the 
 maritime Italians, and, instead of crossing the 
 Alps, be kept his course by the beautiful valley of 
 the Rhone toward Marseilles — a free trading city, 
 belonging neither to the English nor the French 
 king,- where he had ordered that his ships should 
 meet him, to convey him and his army thence 
 across the Mediterranean to Sicily, and then to 
 Palestine. 
 
 When Richard reached the coast, he found his 
 fleet had not arrived. After passing eight impatient 
 days at Marseilles, he hired twenty gallejs and 
 ten great busses or barks there, and proceeded 
 coastwise with some of his forces to Genoa, where 
 he again met the French king. His English ships, 
 for which he left orders at Marseilles to follow him 
 to Sicily, had met with some strange adventures, 
 even before reaching the sti-aits of Gibraltar and 
 entering the Mediterranean. In his absence, dis- 
 cipline was at a low ebb among the forces em- 
 barked, in spite of the severe, and, in some respects, 
 singular scale of punishment he had drawn up for 
 the preservation of order. He had enacted: — 
 1. That if any man killed another, he should sufter 
 immediate death ; if the crime were committed at 
 sea, the murderer was to be lashed to the dead body 
 of his victim, and so thrown overboard ; if in port, 
 or on shore, the murderer was to be bound to the 
 corpse and buried alive with it. 2. That if any 
 man drew a knife against another, or struck another, 
 so as to draw blood, he should lose his hand, and 
 that every gentler blow, causing no bloodshed, 
 • should be punished by ducking the offender three 
 several times over head and ears. 3. That cursing 
 and swearing and abusive language should be punish- 
 ed by a fine of an ounce of silver for each off"ence. 4. 
 
 1 Southey, Nav. Hist. 
 
 - Marseilles was not even nominally under Philip, but acknowl- 
 edg'ed the suzerainty of the King of Arragon. The same appears to 
 have been the case with all the French ports on the Mediterranean 
 from the Pyrenees to the maritime Alps. 
 
 Any man convicted of theft or '• pickerie" was to 
 have his head shaved, and hot pitch poured upon 
 his bare pate, and over the pitch the feathers of 
 some pillow or cushion were to be shaken, as a 
 mark whereby he might be known as a thief. This 
 appears to be the earliest mention of the punish- 
 ment called, in modern times, "tarring and feather- 
 ing." But this process did not finish the penalty 
 incurred by theft, for the offender was to be turned 
 ashore on the first land the ship might reach, and 
 there abandoned to his fate, without any hope of 
 returning to his comrades.' " These," says Hol- 
 inshed, " were the statutes which this fomons 
 prince did enact, at the first, for his navy ; which, 
 since that time, have been very much enlarged." 
 Two prelates, Gerard, Archbishop of Aix, and Ber- 
 nard, Bishop of Bayeux, and three knights, Robert 
 de Saville, Richard de Camville, and William de 
 Fortz, were intrusted with the command of the 
 fleet, with the title of " constables ;" and all men 
 were ordered to be obedient unto them as deputies 
 and lieutenants of the king. 
 
 The ships sailed from Dartmouth with a gallant 
 display of banners and painted shields ; but in 
 crossing the Bay of Biscay they encountered a 
 storm which scattejed them in all directions. One 
 of them which belonged to London suffered more 
 than the rest, and was well nigh foundering ; but, 
 according to the superstitious chroniclers, there 
 were a hundred pious men on board, who cried 
 aloud to St. Thomas of Canterbuiy ; and Becket 
 not only came himself, with crosier and pall, but 
 also brought with him Ed)nund, the Saxon king, 
 saint, and martyr, and St. Nicholas, the protector 
 of distressed seamen, and told the crew that God 
 and our lady had instructed him and his beatified 
 companions to watch King Richard's fleet, and see 
 it safe.* This same ship, however, or another be- 
 longing to the port of London, did not go far on her 
 voyage ; after beating off" the coast of Spain and 
 Portugal, and doubhng Cape St. Vincent, she 
 arrived at Sylves in a deplorable state. The inhab- 
 itants of that town, who were menaced with a 
 siege by the African Mahomedans, easily persuaded 
 the Englishmen to let their vessel be bi'oken up to 
 form barricades with its timber, and to assist them- 
 selves in defending the town against the Mooi-s, 
 who were as great infidels as any they would meet 
 in Palestine. The townspeople, however, promised 
 them a liberal reward, together with a vessel ae 
 large as that they sacrificed, with which they 
 might continue their voj'age when the Moors should 
 be defeated. Nine others of the scattered ships 
 put into the Tagus, where the crews, or the cru- 
 saders on board, were in like manner entreated to 
 join the Portuguese in a war against the Mahome- 
 dans. The King of Portugal was at Santarem, 
 expecting an immediate attack from the Moors. 
 Five hundred of the English crusaders landed from 
 the ships, and, marching rapidly to his assistance, 
 compelled the enemy to retreat. The king then 
 
 1 Hoved. — Rymer. 
 
 2 Robert de Brunne. — Hearne's Peter Langtoft. Old Robert tells 
 the story in rhymes, some of which are sufficiently impressive
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 471 
 
 marched down to Lisbon, where he found more 
 crusaders than he wished for, as sixty-thi'ee of 
 Richard's ships had by this time found their way 
 into the Tagus, and landed their passengers in his 
 capital. Although two of the constables, De Saville 
 and De Camville, were with this portion of the 
 fleet, they could not " so govern their people, but 
 that some naughty fellows among them fell to 
 breaking and robbing of orchards, and some also, 
 on entering into the city, behaved themselves very 
 disorderly." ' The king, mindful of his recent 
 obligations, would resort to none but courteous 
 measures; and, for the time, these, with the ex- 
 ertions of the two constables, seemed to suffice. 
 In three days, however, fresh riots broke out : the 
 people of Lisbon took up arms for the defence of 
 their wives and their propertj\ and, as almost in- 
 variably happened, whenever these holy warriors 
 staid any time at a foreign town, a considerable 
 quantity of Christian blood was shed. The king 
 then ordered the gates of Lisbon to be shut, and 
 committed all the crusaders found within the walls 
 to prison. The English retaliated by making pris- 
 oners outside the walls. Saucho, the reigning king, 
 was moderate and prudent, and he I'eadily consented 
 to a friendly accommodation. The prisoners were 
 released on both sides ; the English engaged to 
 maintain peace and friendship with the king ; and 
 the Portuguese, glad to be rid of such visitors, 
 promised to aid and succor all future pilgi'ims bound 
 for the Holy War that might put into their ports.^ 
 The crusaders then sailed from Lisbon. At the 
 mouth of the Tagus they were joined by thirty- 
 three vessels ; and, with a fleet now amounting to 
 106 sail, they steered for the Straits of Gibraltar. 
 Passing those straits, and hugging the coasts of 
 Spain and southern France, they reached, in less 
 than four weeks from the time they had quitted 
 Lisbon, the prosperous city of Marseilles, where 
 they found their impatient king was gone. Ac- 
 cording to his orders, the fleet took on board the 
 mass of the army which he had left behind at that 
 port, and made sail again with all expedition for 
 Messina, which city it reached sevei"al days before 
 either the French or English king.^ 
 
 Richard, in the mean while, had had several 
 adventures of his own. After coasting the Riviera 
 of Genoa and a part of Tuscany, he entered the 
 river Arno, and visited the splendid city of Pisa. 
 Continuing his voyage along the coast from the 
 mouth of the Arno, he came to the desolate spot 
 where the Tiber pours his brown waters into the 
 sea. His galley required some repairs, and he 
 brought her to anchor in the famous river where 
 the galleys of the Caesars had once lain. He was 
 there within a few miles of Rome ; but though a 
 liberal curiosity, and devotion, would alike have 
 
 1 Holinshed. 
 
 2 The accounts of these transactions given by the old Portuguese 
 historians differ in a few particulars. Dr. Southey remarks that, to 
 the honor of the Portuguese, they relate the story in the manner the 
 least discreditable to the English. 
 
 3 The English fleet sailed from Marseilles on the 30th of August, 
 and entered the port of Messina on the 14th of September, without 
 having lost a single vessel iii the Mediterranean. The French fleet 
 from Genoa arrived on the 16th, having lost several ships. 
 
 suggested a pilgi-image to the eternal city, he did 
 not go thither. The cardinal bishop of Ostia, a 
 town close to the mouth of the Tiber, went to wel- 
 come him to the patrimony of St. Peter; but, 
 availing himself of the opportunity, he pressed the 
 irascible Richard for the payment of certain fees 
 due to the see of Rome. Instead of money, Richard 
 gave this prince of the church abuse, reproaching 
 the papal court with simony, rapacity, and gross 
 corruption ; and for this reason it is said he re- 
 fused to visit Rome.' When his galley was 
 repaired, he made his way to Naples, where he 
 again landed, and whence he determined to continue 
 his journey to the straits of Messina by land — his 
 active body and restless mind being, no doubt, 
 alike wearied ^^•ith the close confinement of ship- 
 board, and the slow progress made in the dead 
 calms of summer in the Mediterranean. While at 
 Naples, he visited the sanctuary of St. Januarius, 
 the protector of that city, and told his orisons in a 
 crypt, where the bodies of the dead stood up in 
 niches, dry, and shriveled, but arrayed in their 
 usual dresses, and otherwise looking as if they 
 were still alive. The beauties of Naples or some 
 other inducements made him loiter several days in 
 that citj" ; but he then mounted his horse, and 
 taking the beautiful pass of the Apennines, which 
 leads bj- Nocera, the Benedictine abbey of La Cava, 
 and Vietri, he went to Salerno, then celebrated for 
 its School of Medicine, the foundation of which 
 had been laid by the Arabs as early as the eightb 
 century, and which had been can-ied to its height 
 of fame (by orientals, or by persons who had trav- 
 eled and studied in the east) under the reign and 
 by the liberal patronage of Robert Guiscard, the 
 Norman conqueror of the south of Italy. But the 
 city of Salerno, which the lances of the Normans 
 had won from the Saracen invaders, and which the 
 bold Guiscard had made for a time his capital, was 
 redundant with Norman gloiy, and crowded with 
 objects to interest Richard. The Normans had 
 built the cathedral in the plain, and rebuilt the 
 noble castle on the hill. Princes, descended, like 
 himself, from the first Duke Rollo, slept in sculp- 
 tured tombs in the gi-eat church, and goodly epitaphs, 
 with many a Leonine (or rhyming Latin) verse — 
 that favorite measure of the Normans — recorded 
 their praise.^ Every castle that met his eye on the 
 flanks and crests of the neighboring mountains was 
 occupied by the descendant of some Norman knight; 
 for the time, though approaching, was not yet come, 
 when the dynasty of Suabia made a fresh distribu- 
 tion, and introduced a new race of northern lords 
 into the most glowing regions of the south. Sa- 
 lerno, too, then one of the most civilized, as always 
 one of the most beautifully situated towns of Italy, 
 had other schools besides that of medicine ; though 
 
 1 Baronius speaks at some length, and with great emphasis, of this 
 singular interview on the Tiber. — Annal. Eccles. 
 
 2 Dr. Lingard is in error, in saying that the celebrated medical 
 poem in Leonine verse, by the professors of Salerno, was dedicated to 
 Richard. It was first published (nearly eighty years before his visit) 
 in 1100, and dedicated to Duke Robert (the unfortunate Courthose), 
 who was then in Italy, on his way home from Jerusalem, and who 
 was, by right of birth and treaty at least, King of England, through 
 the recent death of Rufus.
 
 472 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 it was held not unworthy of a king, and a fitting 
 accomphshnient in a true knight, to know some- 
 thing of the liealing art. Moral and natural philos- 
 ophy, such as they were, geometry, asti'onomy, 
 dialectics, rhetoric, and poetry, were all cultivated, 
 and Richard himself was a professed poet, being 
 one of the troubadours.' After staying at this in- 
 tere'sting spot several days, during which, the gal- 
 leys he had hired at 3Iarseilles came round to him 
 from Naples, he mounted his horse, and left Salerno 
 on the 13th of September. He rode across the 
 Paestan plain, and through the luxuriant district of 
 Cilento, into Calabria, his galleys following along 
 shore, from which his own path was seldom very 
 distant. Roads there were none ; and, as it was 
 the commencement of the rainy season, he must 
 have encountered great difficulties in crossing the 
 mountain-streams ; for he did not reach Mileto till 
 the 2ist. From that town he spurred on with only 
 one knight to accompany him. On passing through 
 a village, he was told that a peasant there had a 
 very fine hawk. For a man in his condition to keep 
 that noble bird Avas conti'ary to the customs and the 
 written laws of aristocratic Europe ; and Richard, 
 who wanted some sport, to beguile the tedium of 
 the Avay, went into the poor man's house, and 
 seized the hawk. The peasant ran after him, de- 
 manding his property ; but the king kept the bird 
 on his wrist, and would not restore it. The poor 
 man's neighbors took up his quarrel, and the Ca- 
 labrians being then, as now, a pi'oud and fiery race, 
 they presently attacked the robber with sticks and 
 stones, and one of them drew his long knife against 
 him. Richard struck this fellow with the flat of his 
 sword ; the sword broke in his hand, and then matters 
 looked so serious, that the hero took fairly to flight. 
 The enraged rustics followed him with their sticks 
 and stones, and if a priory had not been close at 
 hand, to aflbrd him a refuge, it is probable the Lion- 
 heart would have perished in this ignoble brawl.^ 
 At last, he reached the shore of the narrow strait, 
 commonly called the Faro, which separates Cala- 
 bria from Sicily, and passed the night in a tent hard 
 by the famed rocks and caverns of Scylla. The 
 next morning (September 23d), being either ad- 
 vised by signal, or by some one of the Marseilles 
 galleys, the mass of his fleet crossed over from the 
 island to receive him. He embarked, and scorning, 
 or being ignorant of. the Homeric dangers of Scylla 
 and Charybdis, was presently wafted over to the 
 noble harbor of Messina, which he entered with so 
 inuch splendor and majesty, and such a clangor of 
 horns and trumpets and other warlike instruments, 
 that he astonished and alarmed the Sicilians, and 
 the French also, who had reached that port with a 
 shattered fleet a week before him. The first feel- 
 ings of the allies and confederates in the Holy War 
 toward each other were not of an amicable nature ; 
 and Philip, foreseeing, it is said, that dissensions 
 would be inevitable if the two armies passed much 
 
 ' He was born a poet — if not in the sense of Horace, at least gene- 
 alogically — for his mother Eleanor, as well as his maternal grand- 
 lather, were troubadours, and the rank was made hereditary in some 
 families. He merited it by his cumpositioiis. 
 
 2 Hoved. 
 
 time together in inactivity, got ready his fleet as 
 soon as he could, and set sail for the east. But 
 contrary winds and storms drove him back to Mes- 
 sina; and it was then resolved, for the misfortune 
 of the country, that the two kings should winter 
 there together, and find supplies for their armies as 
 best they could. 
 
 The kingdom of Sicily, which then comprised 
 Calabria and Apulia, and all those parts of lower 
 Italy now included in the Neapolitan realm, was in 
 a weak and distracted state. A feAV years before, 
 under the reign of William I., or of his heroic father, 
 Ruggiero, when the kingdom was united, and their 
 powerful fleets of galleys gave the law in both seas, 
 (the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic), the Sicilians 
 might have been able to defend themselves against 
 the insolent crusaders, numerous as they were ; 
 but Richard, who had a private account to settle 
 with their king, well knew their present weakness, 
 and determined to take advantage of it. The King 
 of Sicily, who had scarcely been ten months on the 
 throne, and who reigned by a disputed title, was 
 Tancred, a prince of the Norman line, of great valor 
 and ability. Richard's sister, Joan, who had been 
 wedded when a mere child, had borne her husband 
 no children ; and, after nine years' marriage with 
 her. King William II., commonly called " The 
 Good," became uneasy about the succession, and re- 
 sorted to curious measures in order to keep it in the 
 legitimate line. The only legitimate member of the 
 f\imily living was an aunt about the same age as 
 himself — a posthumous child of his grandfather, the 
 great Ruggiero. Tl>e Princess Constance had been 
 brought up from her infancy in religious retirement, 
 and was living in a convent — some writers say she 
 had taken the veil and the vows of a nun long be- 
 fore — when her nephew, the king, fixed his eyes 
 upon her for his successor. Notwithstanding her 
 acknowledged legitimacy, William the Good knew 
 it would be worse than useless to propose a single 
 woman to his warlike barons as their queen. It was 
 the same everywhere, and for the same reasons ; 
 but, if anything, the objection to a female reign was 
 stronger in Sicilj^ than elsewhere. By the old laws 
 of the country, as of all Italy (and the laws were 
 not changed in Sicily until after the accession of 
 Frederic II., the son of this very Constance), the 
 deaf, the dumb, the blind, and women, were excluded 
 from the succession to feudal estates, or fiefs, held 
 of the crown on condition of military service — a con- 
 dition which applied to nearly all property, except 
 that belonging to the church. And though the old 
 laws expressly excluding women from the throne 
 had been abrogated since the Norman conquest, the 
 feelings and prejudices of the people, and the usage 
 of the nobles in the inferior class of successions, 
 sunived the destruction of the theory, and all 
 tended to make a female reign odious or impi-acti- 
 cable in idea. William, therefore, looked abroad 
 for a powerful husband that might assert her rights ; 
 or, considering the age of the parties, he might rea- 
 sonably have hoped to live to see a son of his aunt's 
 grow up before he died. He, therefore, negotiated 
 a marriage with Henry, the son and heir of the
 
 Chap. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 473 
 
 Emperor Frederic Bai-barossa. Considering the 
 countrj^ and climate, and the juvenile age at which 
 royal ladies were then given in mari"iage, Constance 
 was rather in advanced life — for she was thirty-two 
 years old ! The dower and the hope of succession 
 were, however, brilliant and tempting ; and Henry 
 espoused her with great pomp and magnificence, in 
 1186, in the city of Milan. In the month of No- 
 vember, 1189 — little more than three years after 
 this marriage, and between nine and ten months 
 before the arrival of the crusaders at Messina, Wil- 
 liam died at Palermo, in the thirty-sixth jear of his 
 age, leaving his childless widow, Joan, the sister of 
 Richard, who was only in her twenty-fourth year, 
 to the care of his successor. This successor was 
 declared by his will to be his aunt Constance, to 
 whom, and to her husband Henry, some time before 
 his decease, he had, according to the practice of the 
 age, made the barons of the kingdom, on both sides 
 the Faro, take an anticipatory oath of allegiance, 
 at the town of Troja, in Apulia. But he was no 
 sooner dead than his will and the oaths he had 
 exacted were alike disregarded. The prejudice 
 against a female succession was as strong as ever ; 
 and it was not prejudice, but laudable policy, in the 
 people of the south to be adverse to the rule of the 
 German emperors, who were already formidable in 
 the north of Italy, which they had deluged with 
 blood, and who threatened the independence of the 
 whole peninsula. By the insular portions of the 
 kingdom, or in Sicily proper, the notion of being 
 governed by Henry, a foreign prince, was held in 
 abhorrence. Constance and Henry were both far 
 away at the time, and, encouraged by these feelings 
 and circumstances, several of the great barons more 
 or less closely connected with the royal family, ad- 
 vanced claims to the crown. It was difficult, and in 
 part impossible, to reconcile these pretensions ; but 
 at length the mass of the people and a large majority 
 of the nobles agreed to elect Tancred, Count of 
 Lecce, cousin to the deceased king, William the 
 Good, but reputed of illegitimate birth, though avow- 
 edly born of a lady of the noblest rank.^ In Sicily, 
 as in England, the church had made great advances 
 in the establishment of the rights of legitimacy ; but 
 these rights were, as yet, far from being imperative 
 or sacred in the ej es of the people, who, in all cir- 
 cumstances, would have preferred a bastard to a 
 woman, and whose choice on the present occasion 
 fell on a prince of ripe manhood and mature expe- 
 rience, who had many qualities to recommend hun, 
 besides that of his descent from the great Ruggiero, 
 the founder of the dynasty. Tancred was, there- 
 fore, hailed king by public acclamation,^ and solemnly 
 
 ' In most of our histories Tancred is called the illegitimate brother 
 of William II., which is decidedly incorrect. He was son of Rug- 
 giero, the elder brother of William I., who was father to William the 
 Good. Count Ruggiero died before his father, the great Ruggiero, 
 and first king of Sicily ; the lady of his love was the beautiful 
 daughter of Robert, Count of Lecce, whose titles and inheritance were 
 subsequently given to his grandson, Tancred. According to some 
 Italian writers, Count Ruggiero and the young lady were lawfully 
 married. 
 
 s Giannone says, " Tancredi adunque non altro titolo pill plaus.ibile 
 poteva allegar per se, se non la volonti de' Popoli." This great writer, 
 no doubt, thought the " will of the people" one of the Liest of rights, 
 but he durst not say so, when and where he wrote. 
 
 crowned at Palermo, in the beginning of the year 
 1190. His election by the nobles and people, or his 
 right, was acknowledged by the court of Rome, just 
 as that of Stephen had been in England, and the 
 reigning Pope (Clement III.) sent him the usual 
 bulls of investiture and the benediction. Though 
 acceptable and dear to the people, Tancred's throne 
 was immediately disturbed by his disappointed com- 
 petitors, and by Archbishop Walter and some of the 
 Apulian barons, who declared for Constance, and 
 armed in her cause. In the island of Sicily this 
 insurrection was defeated by the unanimity of the 
 people ; and, passing over to the continent in per- 
 son, Tancred presently reduced most of the Apulian 
 barons to his obedience. But the civil war had 
 weakened him — plots and conspiracies were form- 
 ing against him, and Henry of Suabia, now emperor, 
 by the death of his father, Barbarossa, was on his 
 march to the south with a powerful army, to claim 
 the throne for Constance, when Richard, received 
 as a guest, commenced his course of aggressions.' 
 
 The question of Tancred's legitimacy was not, in 
 itself, likely to claim much of the Lion-heart's at- 
 tention ; his quarrel had a more private ground. 
 When the late king, William the Good, married his 
 sister Joan, in the first impulse of love and gener- 
 osit}', he gave her a magnificent dower — the cities 
 of Monte Sant' Angelo and Vesti, the towns and 
 tenements of Ischitella, Peschici, Vico, Caprino, 
 Castel Pagano, and others, with their several cas- 
 tles ; Lesina and Varano, with their lakes and thei 
 forests adjoining; two stately monasteries, with 
 their pastures, woods, and vinej'ards — in short, in 
 one extensive and solid mass, the whole of the beau- 
 tiful country comprised in the great promontory of 
 Monte Gargano, between the provinces of Apulia 
 and the Abruzzi, was allotted to the fair daughter 
 of our Henry II. Tancred, on his accession, had 
 withheld this splendid dower, and had even, it was 
 said, deprived the young queen-dowager of her per- 
 sonal liberty.^ Richard's first demand was for the 
 enlargement of his sister ; and, whether she had 
 been a prisoner or not, it is quite certain that Tan- 
 cred sent her immediately to her brother, from 
 Palermo to Messina, escorted by the royal galleys. 
 The impetuous king of England then demanded her 
 dower, which, under circumstances, it would not 
 have been easy for Tancred to put her in possession 
 of, as the territories lay in the very heart of the 
 great fiefs of the continental barons, who were again 
 in revolt. Without waiting the result of peaceful 
 negotiations, into which Tancred readily entered, 
 Richard, embarking part of liis army, crossed the 
 Straits of Messina, and took possession, by force of 
 arms, of the town and castle of Bagnara, on the 
 opposite coast of Calabria. Leaving his sister Joan, 
 with a good garrison, in this castle, he returned to 
 Messina, to commit another act of aggression. There 
 was a monastery on the sea-shore (a little beyond 
 the port of Messina) that covered one of the flanks 
 of his army, which was encamped outside the town. 
 The place was capable of being strongly fortified, 
 
 ' Angelodi Costanza.— Giannone. — Fazello.— Muratori. 
 s This fact is not admitted by the oldest Sicilian historians
 
 474 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III- 
 
 and was otherwise well suited to his purpose ; so 
 he drove the monks out of it, and, garrisoning it for 
 himself, converted it into a place of arms and mili- 
 tary store-house. Whether the poor Sicilians loved 
 these monks' or not, the honor of their wives and 
 daughters was dear to them, and they were proba- 
 bly as jealous as at the time of the " Vespers," a 
 century later ; and when Richard's disorderly sol- 
 diers of the cross, the very day after this seizure of 
 the monastery, " strolled licentiously through the 
 city, with much lasciviousness,"* the townspeople, 
 no longer able to contain their indignation, set upon 
 them in the streets, killed several of them, and then 
 closed the gates of the town. On this, the whole 
 camp armed, and English, Normans, Angevins, 
 Poictevins, with the rest that followed Richard's 
 standard, rushed to the walls, and would have scaled 
 them then, had not their king ridden among them, 
 and commanded them to desist, beating them the 
 while with his truncheon as hard as ho could.^ He 
 then went to the quarters of the King of France, 
 \vhither the magistrates of the town soon repaired. 
 After mutual complaints, promises of redress were 
 made on both sides, and the king drew off his men 
 to their tents and ships. On the following morning 
 51 solemn meeting was held, with a view of providing 
 for future tranquillity and concord among all parties ; 
 for Richard's men and the followers of the French 
 king regarded each other with evil eyes, and had 
 already shed some blood in brawls. The prelates 
 and chief barons of the two nations, and the princi- 
 pal men of Messina, went with Philip to the quar- 
 ters of Richard. While they were deliberating, a 
 troop of incensed Sicilians gathered on the hills 
 above the English camp, with the intention, it is 
 said, of attacking the king. A Norman knight was 
 ■^vounded by these people, and so great an upi"oar 
 arose, that Richard rushed from the conference, and 
 called all his men to arms. The English and Nor- 
 mans rushed up the hill-side, but the French did 
 not move, and Philip at one moment seemed in- 
 chned to take part wth the Sicilians. Richard 
 drove the multitude from the hill, and followed 
 them with the sword in their loins to the city. 
 Some of the English entered pell-mell with the fu- 
 gitives, but the gates were then closed, and the cit- 
 izens prepared to defend their walls. Five knights 
 and twenty men-at-arms were killed before the 
 walls, but Richard, having brought up nearly the 
 whole of his force, took the town by storm, and 
 planted his banner on its loftiest tower, as if it had 
 been his own town, or one taken in regular warfare. 
 At this exhibition Phihp was greatly incensed, but 
 an open rupture between the two sworn brothers in 
 arms was avoided for the present, by Richard's con- 
 senting to lower his banner, and commit the city to 
 the keeping of the Knights Hospitalers and Tem- 
 plars till his demands upon Tancred should be sat- 
 isfied. 
 
 Soon after this altercation the kings of France 
 
 1 From some accounts it appears that the monastery was occupied 
 by Greek monks. If that were the case, they were not likely to be 
 very dear to the Messinese. 
 
 a Fazello.— 1st. de Sic. 3 Hoved.— Vinesauf. 
 
 ' and England solemnly renewed their vows of friend- 
 ship and brotherhood, and, by the advice of the 
 prelates embarked in the crusade, took measures 
 for repressing the excesses of the pilgrim-soldiers. 
 The vice of gaming, it appears, had become very 
 prevalent. Playing for money was now prohibited, 
 with the following exceptions : the two kings might 
 play themselves, and command their followers to do 
 so in their presence ; but these nobles were bound 
 not to lose more than twenty shillings in one day 
 and night; knights and priests might play to the 
 same amount, but were to forfeit four times twenty 
 shillings every time they lost more than the sum 
 appointed in one day and night ; and the servants of 
 archbishops, bishops, earls, and barons might, in like 
 manner, play by their masters' command ; i)ut if any 
 servants were detected in playing without such li- 
 cense, then they were to be whipped round the 
 camp naked on three successive dajs. If any mar- 
 iners played they were to be ducked three times in 
 the sea ; and any others of the crusaders of like mean 
 degree, being neither knights nor priests, so ofieud- 
 ing, were to be whipped as varlets. In all cases, how- 
 ever, the pimishment was redeemable by payment of 
 a fine in money, which was to go toward the expenses 
 of rescuing the tomb of Christ.^ Other laws ^vere 
 enacted at the same time, to prevent any pilgrims or 
 crusaders that might chance to die from remitting 
 their property to their family or friends at home. 
 
 Two of Tancred's nobles and prime favorites — 
 his admiral and another — commanded at Messina at 
 the time of Richard's arrival. Seeing that resist- 
 ance was vain, and feeling that their dignity was 
 committed by remaining in a town where a foreign 
 prince gave the law, they both retii'ed with their 
 families and movable property ; upon which, Rich- 
 ard seized their houses, gallej's, and whatever else 
 they had not been able to carry off with them. He 
 made a complete castle of the monastery on the 
 sea-side, digging a broad and deep ditch round it, 
 and he built a new fort on the hills above the town.' 
 These, and other proceedings, in which he consulted 
 no one, but acted as if he were absolute master of 
 the island, again excited the en\y and disgust of 
 Philip ; but they probably hastened the conclusion 
 of a treaty with Tancred, who, in the difficulties 
 under which he was laboring, could hardly contend 
 with so fierce and powerful a disputant. Richard 
 demanded for his sister all the territories before 
 mentioned, together with a golden chair, a golden 
 table, twelve feet long, and a foot and a half broad, 
 two golden tressels for supporting the same, twenty- 
 four silver cups, and as many silver dishes — to all 
 which, it appears, she, as queen, was, by the custom 
 of that kingdom, entitled. After all this, he de- 
 manded for himself, as representative and heir of 
 his father, a tent of silk, large enough to accommo- 
 date 200 knights sitting at meals, G0,000 measures 
 of wheat, and 60,000 of barley, with 100 armed gal- 
 leys equipped and provisioned for two years.^ This 
 
 ' Roved. We have translated " solidos " by shillings. 
 
 2 This castle, called Mattag^ritfone, after having been enlarged and 
 repaired at different periods, still frowns over Messina. 
 
 3 Hoved. — Bened. Abb.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 475 
 
 voluminous donation, which, as it has been judiciously 
 leinaiked, was not merely a mark of friendship, but 
 meant as a pious contribution to the Holy Wai-, had 
 been left in his will by William the Good to his father- 
 in-law, Henry of England, who was bound for the 
 Holy Land, but who died before the death of his son- 
 in-law gave validity to the testamentary bequest; and 
 Richard must have exercised ingenuity as well as 
 impudence in attempting to prove the legality of this 
 part of his demand. In the end, Richard either 
 proposed or agreed to a compensation in money. 
 Twenty thousand golden oncie' were paid in satis- 
 faction of all Joan's demands, and twenty thousand 
 more were paid to Richard himself, but not in sat- 
 isfaction for his claim, which he waived (caring 
 little, probably, on what ground he obtained the 
 money, so long as he got it), but on a treaty of 
 marriage which he concluded.^ He affianced 
 his young nephew Arthur, who was his heir pre- 
 sumptive,^ to an infant daughter of Tancred, and 
 engaged, in case the marriage should be prevented 
 by the death of either of the parties, that he or his 
 heirs would repay to Tancred or his heirs the 
 twenty thousand oncie then received by him, as the 
 dower of the infant. But the ti-eaty went further 
 than this ; for Richai'd guarantied to Tancred the 
 possession of Apulia, which was partly in revolt, 
 and of the important city of Capua, which liad never 
 submitted to the new king. He, indeed, contracted 
 with him what we now call an alliance offensive and 
 defensive — a league he had cause to regret when 
 his evil fortune threw him into the power of Tan- 
 cred's competitor, the Emperor Henry. The treatj* 
 was sent to Rome, to be placed in the hands of the 
 Pope, who was invited, both by Richard and by 
 Tancred, to enforce its observance, should any want 
 of faith be shown by either of the contracting par- 
 ties in the sequel. The money obtained was lav- 
 ished by Richard in a manner which appeared 
 thoughtless and wild ; but his liberality had the 
 effect of increasing his popularity with the crusading 
 host ; for he made the followers of the French king, 
 and the king himself, share his bounty with his own 
 followers, who highly lauded him, " for that he gave 
 away as much in largesses in one month as his father 
 Henry would do in a whole year." Such a multitude 
 of men collected on one point had greatly raised the 
 price of provisions ; and Richard's treasure, and his 
 table too, were open to the crossed knights of all 
 countries, who complained of the expensiveness of 
 their sojourn at Messina. On the feast of Christ- 
 mas he gave a splendid banquet, to which he invited 
 every man of the rank of a knight or gentleman, in 
 both armies ; and when the dinner was over, he 
 made a present in money to each, the amount being 
 
 1 An oncia is a Sicilian gold coin ; the present value is about ten 
 shillings English. 
 
 2 The Sicilian historians mention only one payment of 20,000 oncie, 
 and this they put down to the account of the dota, or dower of Tan- 
 cred's daughter. 
 
 3 In the treaty, Richard styled him his " most dear nephew and 
 heir," mentioning, however, the condition of his dying without chil- 
 dren — " Si forte sine prole nos obire concingeret.'' — Recueil des Histo- 
 rians de France. — Daru, Hist, de la Bretagne. The tinfortunate 
 Arthur was little more than two years old at the time of this con- 
 tract. 
 
 more or less, according to the rank of the parties. 
 A little army of troubadours and minstrels, who had 
 followed him from Aquitaine and the rest of the 
 south of France, constantly sang his praises. This 
 display of superior wealth, and the popularity he ob- 
 tained by his liberality, seem to have increased the 
 envy and malevolence of Philip, who, however, 
 must have had, all along, a standing cause of com- 
 plaint, which we shall presently refer to. Part of 
 the winter montlis were spent in repairing the 
 ships, that were nmch worm-eaten, in the port of 
 3Iessina, and in preparing catapults, manginalls, and 
 other warlike engines, wherewith to batter the walls 
 of the infidel towns in Syria and Palestine, the tim- 
 ber for which was cut on the mountains of Sicily 
 and in the extensive forests of Calabria. But in 
 spite of these and other occupations, time hung 
 heavily on the hands of the impatient Richard. In 
 a period of inactivity he was seized with a fit of de- 
 votion and penitence. He called all the prelates 
 together that were then with his host at Messina, 
 into the chapel of Reginald de Moiac, in whose 
 house he then resided ; and there, in presence of 
 them aU, falling down upon his knees, he confess- 
 ed his sins and the profligate life which he hither- 
 to had led, and humbly received the penance en- 
 joined him by the bishops ; " and so,*' adds an old 
 historian, who did not sufficiently bear in mind the 
 deeds of his after life, " he became a new man, fear- 
 ing God, and delighting to live after his laws.'" 
 
 At this time Christian Europe was filled with the 
 fame of Giovacchino, or Joachim, the Calabrese, a 
 Cistercian monk and abbot of Curacio, who was 
 commonly reputed a prophet, and who had lashed 
 the vices of the court of Rome in an infinitude of 
 books and treatises, all bearing the most extravagant 
 titles. Richard being anxious to converse with this 
 seer, King Tancred sent for him into Calabria ; and 
 the monk, probably flattered by such an invitation, 
 came over to Messina, where the lion-hearted sol- 
 dier had a grand field-day of theologj- and vaticina- 
 tion. Giovacchino had no difficulty in interpreting, 
 in his own way, the whole of the Apocalypse. He 
 told his majesty of England that Autichiist was born, 
 and then actually living in Rome. Saladin, against 
 whom Richard was to fight, was one of the heads 
 of the beast in the Revelations ; and for every other 
 symbol or type the fervid imagination of the Cala- 
 brian monk found an existing reality in some public 
 character of the time. Christian or Pagan. He 
 foretold the year in which Jerusalem would be re- 
 covered by the crusaders ; and to every doubt he 
 would reply — " but is it not \vi-itten in the book ?" 
 The bishops and learned clerks, however, in 
 Richard's train would not permit the abbot to have 
 it all his own way, and a fierce controversy ensued, 
 in which English lungs (they would have had no 
 chance but for the disparity of numbers) were tried 
 against the stentorian lungs of Calabria.^ According 
 to Giannone, Richard at once set the prophet down 
 as an idle babbler ;^ but people must have been bet- 
 ter quahfied to give a decided opinion on this head 
 some years later, when everj- one of the Abbot Gio- 
 
 i Holinshed. = Hoved. ^ " Ciancialore."
 
 476 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 vacchino's prophecies fibout Jerusalem and the holy 
 war was falsified by the event.' 
 
 A short time after these theological conferences, 
 Richard mounted his horse and rode to the flanks 
 of the towering and smoking Mount Etna, which 
 had recently been in active eruption. At the city 
 of Catania he was met by appointment — and it ap- 
 pears for the first time — by Tancred. The two 
 kings embraced, and, walking in splendid procession 
 to the cathedral church (another work of the Nor- 
 mans), prayed, kneeling side by side, before the 
 shrine of St. Agatha. They lived in great cordiality, 
 and each seemed to entertain a high respect for the 
 valor and character of the other. Like the heroes 
 of Homer, they exchanged presents, Tancred giving 
 Richard a ring, and Richard giving Tancred a sword, 
 icputed to be the enchanted blade Excalebar, or 
 Caliburn, of the British king Arthur. But his Si- 
 cilian majesty also gave, as a contribution to the holy 
 war, four large ships and fifteen galleys. On his 
 return to Messina, he accompanied his guest for 
 many miles, even as far as the town of Taormina ; 
 and before they parted there, it is said, he gave to 
 Richard a letter wherein the French king declared 
 his majesty of England to be a traitor, who meant 
 to break the peace and treaty he had concluded 
 with the King of Sicily, and offered to assist Tan- 
 cred to drive him and his English out of the island. 
 Coeur de Lion, after a furious explosion, and many 
 oaths that he never had been, and never would be, 
 false to Tancred, collected his ideas, and then ex- 
 pressed a doubt that Philip, his liege and sworn com- 
 rade in that pilgrimage, could be guilty of so much 
 baseness. Tancred declared that the letter had 
 leally been delivered to him, as from the King of 
 J<' ranee, by the Duke of Burgundy ; and he vowed 
 ihat, if the duke should deny having so delivered 
 it, he would make good his charge upon him in the 
 lists by one of his barons.'^ When he arrived at the 
 camp Richard met Philip with a clouded brow, and 
 a day or two after, in the course of one of their 
 many altercations, he produced the letter, and asked 
 the French king if he knew it ? Philip pronounced it 
 to be a vile forgery, and, changing defence into attack, 
 accused Richard of seeking a pretext for breaking off 
 liis marriage with the French princess. This was 
 touching at once on the grievance that must long 
 have made all friendship on the part of Philip a 
 mere simulation. All the clamor Richard had raised 
 
 1 Dante, however, diil not hesitate to place the astute Calabrian in 
 Paradise. The abbot probably owed this elevation to liis enmity to 
 the popes, whom Dante hated even more than he : — 
 
 " Raban e quivi, e lucemi da lato, 
 II Calavrese Abate Giovacchino 
 Di spirito profetico dotato." — Paradiso, canto xii. 
 Raban is here ; and at my side there shines 
 Calabria's Abbot Joachim, eudow'd 
 With soul jirophetic. . . . Gary's Translation. 
 
 2 There are several versions of this mysterious story ; we have 
 chosen that which appears most natural. If there was any deceit 
 about the letter it was practiced by Tancred. It is said that before 
 Richard's arrival the Sicilian prince had offered one of his daughters 
 to Philip for his infant son, and that the French king had rejected the 
 alliance. But, again, it is said that, a few hours after Richard had 
 left him at Taormina, Tancred met Philip at the same town and passed 
 the night with him in a friendly manner. The native historians are 
 provokingly silent on nearly all the transactions of the crusaders in 
 Sicily. 
 
 for his affianced bride, in the last months of his fa- 
 ther's reign, was merely for political purposes : as 
 soon as Henry died ho dropped all mention of the 
 Lady Alice ; and at this very moment, as Philip no 
 doubt well knew, he had contracted a very different 
 alliance, and was every day expecting another wife. 
 " I see Avhat it is," said Philip, "you seek a quar- 
 rel with me, in order not to marry my sister, whom, 
 by oath, you are bound to marry ; but of this be 
 sure, that if you abandon her and take another, I 
 will be all my life the mortal enemy of you and 
 yours." Richard replied that he could not and 
 never would marry the princess, as it was of public 
 notoriety that his own father, Henry, had had a 
 child by her ; and, according to the minute relater 
 of these curious passages, he produced many wit- 
 nesses to prove to Philip the dishonor and shame 
 of his own sister. True or false, this exi)osure 
 was a cruel and degrading blow, not likely ever 
 to be forgotten or forgiven.^ For the present, how- 
 ever, Philip bartered his sister's honor for a i)en- 
 sion, agreeing to release Richard from his previous 
 matrimonial contract, and permit him to marry what- 
 soever wife he chose, for two thousand marks a-year, 
 to be paid for the term of five years. Besides prom- 
 ising this money, Richard engaged to restore the 
 Princess Alice, together with the fortresses received 
 as her marriage portion, as soon as he should return 
 from the Holy Land. — [Eventually the lady was 
 not restored till some years after that event, when 
 she espoused the Count of Ponthieu.] — This pre- 
 cious arrangement, and the settlement of other dif- 
 ferences," were confirmed on both sides by fresh 
 oaths, for, in these days, princes seem never to have 
 tired of swearing, or to have felt that the continually 
 recurring rupture of their oaths made them nothing 
 but a solemn mockery. Philip then got ready for 
 sea, and, after receiving some vessels and stores 
 bountifully given him by Richard, he set sail on the 
 30th of March, 1199, for Acre. Richard with a 
 few of his most splendid galleys, accompanied him 
 down the Straits of Messina, and returning the same 
 evening to Reggio, on the Calabrian coast, took on 
 board his new bride, who had been for some time 
 in the neighborhood, waiting only for the departure 
 of the French king, and then carried her over to 
 the citj^ of Messina. This lady was Berengaria, 
 the beautiful daughter of the King of Navarre : 
 Richard had seen her in her own country a year 
 or two before his father's death, and was passion- 
 atelj' enamored of her at the moment when, to 
 annoy Henry, he was raising such a clamor for the 
 Princess Alice. His passion was romantic and dis- 
 interested, for he gained no territories by the union, 
 and seems to have stipulated for no political advan- 
 tages, Avhen he dispatched his mother, Eleanor, to 
 ask the hand of Berengaria. It is said that the fair 
 
 1 According to an old French writer the insult was " a nail stuck in 
 and driven through the heart of Philip." — De Serres, luventaire 
 G6n6ral de I'llist. de France. 
 
 Roger of Hoveden gives the fullest account of this quarrel. See 
 also Diceto. — Iter. Hiero. 
 
 3 With reference to young Arthur, Philip consented that Brittany 
 should continue to acknowledge the direct feudal supremacy of the 
 Norman dukes or English kings, who should do homage for it to the 
 crown of France.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 477 
 
 m:iiden partook of his generous passion, and that, 
 without being deterred by the many dangers and 
 privations to which she exposed herself, she joy- 
 fully consented to travel with her mother-in-law 
 from the Pyrenees to the Alps and Apennines, and 
 thence to follow her husband beyond sea to the 
 land of the Paynim. Leaving Navarre with a suit- 
 able escort of barons, knights, and priests, the young 
 Berengaria and Eleanor, whose activity was not 
 destroyed by age, traveled by land to Naples, and 
 from the gay city of Naples they traveled on through 
 the passes of Monteforte and Bovino, and across the 
 vast Apulian plain to the ancient city of Brindisi, 
 there to wait until the French king should be out 
 of the way. As the expedition of Richard was so 
 nearly ready for sea when the royal travelers ar- 
 rived, it was not thought proper to delay its sailing, 
 and, as the penitential season of Lent was not quite 
 over, the marriage was not celebrated at Messina; 
 and the queen-mother, having placed the bride 
 under the matronly care of her own daughter, Joan, 
 the dowager-(jueen of Sicily, embarked for England 
 four days after. Eleanor, it will be remembered, 
 had already made the " great passage," as it was 
 called, with her first husband, Louis of France, and 
 it is probable that certain recollections of that cru- 
 sade contributed more than her advanced years in 
 preventing her from revisiting Palestine. Accord- 
 ing to a quaint old rhyming writer, " Dame Joan 
 held her sister Berengaria veiy dear, and the two 
 ladies lived together like two birds in one cage."' 
 They did not embark in the same ship with Rich- 
 nrd, but a separate galley was deUcately allotted to 
 them. 
 
 The day after Eleanor's departure for England 
 the whole fleet set sail for Acre. As a rapid cur- 
 rent carried it through the Straits of Messina, it 
 presented a beautiful and imposing appearance, that 
 called forth the involuntary admiration of the people 
 of either shore, — the Sicilians saying that so gallant 
 an armament had never before been seen there, and 
 never would be seen again. The size and beauty 
 of the ships seem to have excited this admiration 
 not less than their number. The flag of England 
 floated over fifty-three galleys, thirteen dromones, 
 " mighty great ships with triple sails,"'^ one hundred 
 carikes or busses, and many smaller craft. Thirty 
 busses from England had arrived just before, bring- 
 ing out fresh stores and men. The mariners of 
 England, however, were not then what centuries 
 of struggle and experience have made them ; and 
 when a great tempest arose, soon after leaving the 
 Sicilian sea, the whole navy was " sore tossed and 
 turmoiled," and scattered in all directions, not a 
 few of the ships being foundered or cast on shore.^ 
 After a narrow escape himseff on the coast of Can- 
 dia or Crete, Richard got safely into Rhodes ; but 
 the ship which bore his sister and his bride was not 
 
 ' Robert of Brunne. 
 
 2 By this is meant that they were three-masted. 
 
 ^ It is said, however, by one who was on board the fleet, that the 
 sailors did everything that it was possible for human skill to do; but 
 old Vinesauf was a landsman, and not a good judge, and people then 
 allowed very narrow limits to the extent of human skill in many 
 things. 
 
 with him, and he passed several days in distressing 
 anxiety as to their fate. At Rhodes he fell sick, 
 and was detained there several days. Incapable 
 of taking the sea himself, he dispatched some of 
 his swiftest vessels to look after the ladies and col- 
 lect the scattered fleet. This storm blew more 
 mischief to the petty tyrant of Cyprus than to any 
 one else. One of the English scouts returned to 
 Rhodes with the information that two of his ships 
 had been cast ashore on the island of Cyprus, and 
 that the people of the country had barbarously plun- 
 dered the wrecks and cast the mariners and cru- 
 saders into prison. Vowing vengeance, — and of 
 these vows he was always very tenacious, — Rich- 
 ard embarked, and, departing immediately with all 
 of the fleet that had joined him at Rhodes, made 
 way, with press of oars and sails, for the devoted 
 island. Oft' Limisso, or Limasol, then the principal 
 seaport town of Cyprus, he found the galley of his 
 bride and sister. Either the Cypriots had refused 
 the royal ship the entrance of the port, or (which 
 is more probable) the ladies, knowing how they had 
 treated the two wrecks, feared putting themselves 
 in their power, and had refused their invitation to 
 land. The island of Cyprus was occupied by Greeks, 
 a people who, from a difference in some dogmas of 
 faith and from other reasons, had never been able 
 to agree with the crusaders of the West. The island- 
 ers had probably learned the overbearing conduct of 
 Richard in Sicily, where there were many Greek 
 colonies ; and general experience had proved that 
 the holy warriors were most turbulent and danger- 
 ous guests. Hence the Cypriots might have been 
 induced to give them so bad a welcome ; but, con- 
 sidering the circumstances of the English who were 
 thrown on their coast, the conduct they pursued 
 was odious and exasperating. The sovereign of 
 the island was one Isaac, a prince of the imperial 
 race of the Comneni, who pompously styled him- 
 self " Emperor of Cyprus." When harshly called 
 upon for satisfaction, he put himself in a posture of 
 defence, throwing out some armed galleys to the 
 mouth of the harbor of Limasol, and drawing up his 
 troops along shore. These troops were ill calcu- 
 lated to contend with the steel-clad warriors of 
 Richard, for, with the exception of a body-guard, 
 which was splendidly armed and appointed, they 
 had no defensive armor, but were half naked, and 
 the mass of them had no better weapons than clubs 
 and stones. Richard boarded and took the galleys, 
 dispersed the troops, and made himself master 
 of the city, with little difficulty. The inhabitants 
 fled, but had not time to cany off" their property, 
 which the crusaders made prize of. They found 
 an abundance of provisions of all kinds, and when 
 Queen Joan and Berengaria landed at Limasol they 
 were welcomed with a feast. Having rallied, to 
 make another impotent attempt at resistance, the 
 Cypriots were surprised the next morning, and 
 " killed like beasts," their " emperor" saving his fife 
 by flying " bare in serke and breke."' Isaac, who 
 
 I Robert of Brunne. From Vinesauf and Iloveden it appears that 
 Isaac, betrayed by the Cypriots, was surprised before he was out of 
 bed, and fled without armor or clothes.
 
 478 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 had now learned, to his cost, the might and fury of 
 the enemy he had provoked, sent from his capital 
 of Leikosia, or Nicosia, situated in the centre of 
 the island, to sue for a conference 6f peace. Rich- 
 ard, gaily mounted on a Spanish charger, and splen- 
 didly attired in silk and gold, met the humbled Greek 
 in a plain near Limasol. The terms he imposed 
 were sufficiently hard; but the "emperor" agreed 
 to pay an indemnity in gold for the Avrong he had 
 done the galleys, to resign all his castles, to do 
 homage to the King of England, and to follow him 
 to the holy war with 500 well-armed infantry, 400 
 light-horse, and 100 knights. Isaac was to place 
 his daughter and heiress as a hostage in Richard's 
 hands, and Richard was to restore her, with all the 
 castles, on their return from Palestine, on the deli- 
 cate condition, however, that the emperor's conduct 
 in the holy war should give the king entire satisfac- 
 tion. That very night the Greek (led to make an- 
 other vain effort at resistance ; but Richard had no 
 great right to complain of this, seeing that he treated 
 Isaac, not as a reconciled enemy and ally, but as a 
 prisoner of war, having actually placed guards over 
 him, whose brute force the Greek defeated by a 
 very excusable exercise of cunning. Dispatching 
 l)art of his army by land into the interior of the 
 country, Richard embarked with the rest, and, 
 sailing round the island, took all the maritime towns, 
 and cut off Isaac's flight by sea, for he seized every 
 ship, and even every boat, though of the smallest 
 dimensions. Isaac fought another battle ; but the 
 contest was in every way unequal, for the people, 
 whom he had governed harshly and corruptly, in- 
 stead of fighting for him, by connivance, if not ac- 
 tively, assisted the invaders. Nicosia, the capital, 
 surrendered, and Isaac's beautiful daughter fell into 
 the hands of Richard, who gave her as a companion 
 to Berengaria. Isaac, who doated on his child, lost 
 all heart in losing her, and quitting a strong castle 
 or fortified monastery in which he had taken refuge, 
 he again sought the presence of the conqueror, and 
 threw himself at his feet, imploring only for the 
 restoration of his child and for the preservation of 
 his own life and limbs. The conqueror would not 
 restore his fair captive, and he sent her father away 
 to be confined in a strong castle at Tripoli in Syria. 
 The unfortunate captive was loaded with chains ; 
 but it is said that, in consideration of his rank, Rich- 
 ard ordered that his fetters should be forged of sil- 
 ver instead of rude iron.' If the Cypriots had been 
 discontented with their old master, they had little 
 reason to be satisfied with their new one. Richard's 
 first act of government was to tax them to the dread- 
 ful amount of half of their movable property, after 
 which he gave them an empty confirmation of the 
 rights and privileges which they had enjoyed in 
 former times under the emperors of Constantinople. 
 The amount of provisions and stores of all kinds 
 which he carried off was so considerable that it 
 enabled the crusaders to carry on their operations 
 with much gi-eater vigor and success than they 
 could otherwise have done. Having conquered, 
 and in a manner settled, the island, he returned to 
 ' Isaac died a prisoner four years after. 
 
 Limasol, and at length celebrated his man-iage 
 with the Lady Bei-engaria, who w^as anointed and 
 crowned by the Bishop of Evreux. All these im- 
 portant operations did not occupy more than a 
 month, and, granting the present government of the 
 island to Richard de Camville, one of the constables 
 of the fleet, and Robert de Turnham,' Richard 
 embarked with his fleet for Acre. Sailing between 
 Cyprus and the Syrian coast, he fell in with a dro- 
 mond, or ship of the largest size, which was carry- 
 ing troops and stores to the great Saladin. He at- 
 tacked her with his usual impetuosity, threatening 
 to crucify all his sailors if they suftered her to escape. 
 She was taken after a gallant action, in which the 
 superior height of her l)oard, and an abundant use 
 of the Greek fire, to which Richard's followers were 
 as yet unaccustomed, gave her for some time a de- 
 cided advantage. There were on board seven Emirs, 
 or Saracens of the highest rank, and 650— some say 
 1500 — picked men. Thirty-five individuals only 
 were saved, the rest were either massacred or 
 drowned, the gi'eat ship sinking before the crusaders 
 could remove much of her cargo. '^ 
 
 On the 8th of June an astounding clangor of 
 trumpets and drums, and every instrument of war 
 in the Christian camp, hailed the somewhat tardy 
 arrival of Richard and his host in the roadstead of 
 Acre. The welcome was sincere, for their aid was 
 indispensable. The French king had arrived some 
 time before, but had done nothing, and the atfairs 
 of the crusaders were in a deplorable condition, for. 
 after prosecuting the siege of Acre the best part of 
 two years, they were not only still outside the walls, 
 but actually pressed and hemmed in, and almost 
 besieged themselves by Saladin, who occupied 
 Mount Carmel and all the neighboring heights 
 with an immense army. The loss of human life 
 was fearful. The sword and the plague had swept 
 away six archbishops, twelve bishops, forty earls, 
 and five hundred barons, whose names are recorded 
 in history, and 150,000 of " the meaner sort," w'ho 
 went to their graves without any such record.^ 
 This heavy draft iipon population had been supplied 
 by fresh and continuous arrivals from all parts of 
 Christendom, for, like a modern conqueror, Europe 
 then believed that the fote of Syria and the east lay 
 within the narrow circuit of Acre. The operations 
 of the besieged, which had languished for some 
 weeks, were vigorously renewed on Richard's 
 arrival ; but the kings of France and England quar- 
 reled again almost as soon as they had met : the 
 besiegers became inactive, and threw away some 
 thovisands of lives from mere pique and jealousy of 
 each other. The French and the English soldiery 
 took a full share in the animosities of their respect- 
 ive leaders ; and of the other bodies of crusaders, 
 some sided with Philip, and some with Richard. 
 
 1 Several of the Italian historians say he sold the government of 
 Cyprus to the Order of the Templars, but this does not appear very 
 probable. 
 
 2 Vinesauf. — Hove. — Bohadin, the Arab historian. 
 
 3 We have taken the very lowest estimate. Vinesauf, who was 
 present part of the time, calculates that 300,000 Christians peri-shed 
 during the long siege. Bohadin, and other Arabic writers, carry the 
 number to 500,000 or 600,000 '.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 479 
 
 Ramparts of Acre. 
 
 The Genoese and Templars espoused the quarrel 
 of France, the Pisans and Hospitallers stood for 
 England ; and, on the whole, it appears that 
 Richard's more brilliant valor, and superior com- 
 mand of money and other means, rendered the 
 English faction the sti-onger of the two. The 
 French tried to take the town by an assault without 
 any assistance from the English, and then the Eng- 
 lish, wishing to have all the honors to themselves, 
 repeated the like experiment without the French, 
 and with the hke ill success. These two fatal at- 
 tempts showed the necessity of cooperation, and 
 another brief reconciliation was effected between 
 the rivals. 
 
 Richard's personal exertions^ attracted universal 
 admiration in the camp, and gave rise to fresh jeal- 
 ousies in the breast of Philip, of whom it has been 
 well said, that, though brave, he had more of the 
 statesman than the warrior in his character. At 
 length, being disappointed of aid from Cairo, and 
 seeing that Saladin could no longer penetrate the 
 Christian lines to throw in provisions, the brave 
 Mussulman garrison offered to capitulate. After 
 some negotiation, during which Philip and Richard 
 once more disagreed, it was finally stipulated that 
 the city should be surrendered to the crusaders, 
 and that the Saracens, as a ransom for their lives 
 (for their property, even to their arms, was for- 
 feited), should restore the wood of the holy cross, 
 
 ^ He worked like a common soldier at the heavy battering engines. 
 When sick, he cansod himself to be carried to the entrenchments on a 
 silk pallet or matress. 
 
 set at liberty 1500 Christian captives, and pay 
 200,000 pieces of gold. Some thousands of Sara- 
 cens were detained as hostages in the fortress for 
 the performance of these conditions. Immediately 
 afterward, — it was on the 12th of June, 1191, — the 
 crusaders entered Acre, and Saladin, evacuating all 
 his positions, retired a short distance into the inte- 
 rior. The banners of the two kings were raised 
 with equal honors on the ramparts ; but it appears, 
 that Richard took the best house in the place for. 
 the accommodation of himself and family, leaving 
 Philip to take up his lodgings with the Templars. 
 Scarcely, however, had they entered this terrible 
 town ere the French king expressed his determi- 
 nation to return to Europe. The cause he alleged 
 for his departure was the bad state of his health ;^ 
 but this probably was not the true one — it certainly 
 was not the only cause. Though Jerusalem was in 
 the hands of the Mussulmans, there was a disputed 
 succession to the throne among the Christians : — 
 Guy of Lusignan had worn the crown in right of 
 his wife, a descendant of the gi-eat Godfrey of 
 Bouillon, the first Christian king of Jerusalem ; but 
 Sybilla was dead, and Conrad, Marquis of Montferrat 
 and Prince of Tyre, who had married her sister, 
 contended that the sole right of Guy of Lusignan 
 was extinct by the demise of his wife, and that the 
 crown devolved to himself as the husband of the le- 
 gitimate heiress. The dispute was referred to the 
 English and French monarchs, and it was not likely 
 
 1 Philip had been sick. Some of the French chroniclers accuse 
 Richard of having given him poison I
 
 480 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 that tliey, who from the commencement of the cru- | 
 satle had never agreed in anything, should act with 
 concord in this important matter. As soon as Phihp 
 reached Acre, without waiting for the opinion of 
 Richard, he declared in favor of the claims of Con- 
 rad, who, without reference to the doubtful right 
 uf legitimacy, seems to have been much better qual- 
 ilied for a throne tliat was to be won and maintained 
 by the sword than his miserable competitor Lusig- 
 nan. Richard, however, swayed by other motives, 
 or possibly merely out of pique, had declared against 
 Conrad, and wheu Lusignan visited him as a sup- 
 pliant in Cyprus, he had acknowledged him as King 
 of Jerusalem, and, with his usual liberalitjs had 
 given him a sum of money, his majesty being pen- 
 niless, and almost in want of bread. This subject 
 had given rise to many disputes during the siege, 
 and they were renewed with increased violence 
 wheu the capture of Acre gave the French and 
 English kings more leisure. In the end, Philip 
 ■was obliged to yield so far to his fiery and deter- 
 mined rival as to allow that Lusignan should be 
 King of .Jerusalem during his life. 
 
 The King of France was otherwise irritated by 
 the absolute will and constant domineering of his 
 rival, who was as superior to him as an adventurous 
 warrior as he was superior to Richard in policy and 
 political forethought. One of our old rhyming 
 chroniclers no doubt hit part of the truth when he 
 said — 
 
 '• So that King Philip was annoyed there at the things, 
 That there was not of him a word, but all of Richard the king." i 
 
 But, after all, we should be doing a manifest injus- 
 tice to Philip's consummate king-craft were we not 
 to suppose that one of his strongest motives for quit- 
 ting an unprofitable crusade was to take advantage 
 of Richard's absence in order to raise and consolidate 
 the French kingdom, — an end perfectly natural, and 
 perhaps laudable in itself, however dishonorable the 
 means that were employed to effect it. Dazzled as 
 he was by dreams of chivalry and glory, Richard 
 himself was yet not so blind as to overlook the dan- 
 ger that threatened him in the west, and, after his 
 efforts to persuade Philip to remain had all failed, 
 lie exacted from him an oath not to make war upon 
 any part of the territories of the English king, nor 
 attack any of his vassals or allies, until at least forty 
 days after the return of Richard from Palestine. 
 Besides taking this otith, Philip agreed to leave at 
 Acre 10,000 of his followers, to be immediately com- 
 manded by the Duke of Burgundy, who, however, 
 was bound to recognize the superior authority of 
 the English monarch. In the popular ej'e, Philip 
 appeared as a deserter, and the mob of all nations 
 that witnessed his departure from Acre hissed him 
 and cursed him.^ His absence, however, saved him 
 from direct participation in an atrocious deed. 
 Forty days was the term fixed for the fulfilment of 
 the articles of capitulation. Receiving neither the 
 Christian captives, nor the cross, nor the money, 
 Richard made several applications to Saladin, who 
 Avas unable or unwilling to fulfil the conditions, though 
 lie sent to oft'er Richard some costly presents for 
 1 Rob. Gloucester, a Vines. — Hoved. 
 
 himself. A rumor — apparently false — was spread 
 through the Christian camp and the town of Acre, 
 that Saladin had massacred his Christian captives, 
 and the soldiers demanded instant vengeance, mak- 
 ing a fearful liot, and killing several of their officers 
 who appeared to be opposed to a massacre in cold 
 blood. On the following day the term of forty daj-s 
 expired. At an appointed hour a signal was given, 
 and all the Saracen hostages were led out beyond 
 the barriers of the French and English camps, antl 
 butchered by the exulting and rejoicing crusaders. 
 Richard presided over the slaughter at one camp, — 
 the Duke of Burgundy at the other. Between 2000 
 and 3000 prisoners' were thus destroyed, and only a 
 few emirs and Mahomedans of rank were saved from 
 the carnage, in the hope of obtaining valuable ran- 
 soms from their families. Some centuries had to 
 elapse ere this deed excited any horror or disgust 
 in Christendom. At the time, and indeed long 
 after, it was considered as a praiseworthy smiting 
 of the infidels, — as a sacrifice acceptable to Heaven ; 
 for was not every drop of blood there shed the blood 
 of the accursed followers of 3Iahomed, who had 
 plundered the sepulchre, and who reviled the laws 
 of Christ ? Vinesauf says his victorious master 
 showed therein his wonderful great zeal for the 
 glory of God ; and the author of the popular ro- 
 mance of "Richard Cceur de Lion," which was 
 produced two or three centuries later, for the admi- 
 ration of the Christian world, represents angels of 
 heaven as assisting at the execution, and crying aloud 
 to Richard, " kill, kill, spare them not."^ But the 
 atrocities of the crusaders did not end with the death 
 of their victims ; the soldiers cut open the bodies of 
 the Saracens to look for precious stones and pieces 
 of gold which they fancied they had swallowed for 
 concealment. " They found many of these things 
 in their bowels," says a contemporary, and they 
 made store of the gall of the infidels for medicinal 
 uses.^ It appears that after this Saladin ordered 
 the massacre of the Christian prisoners in his 
 hands ; but these measures neither injured the 
 fame of the two chiefs, nor prevented Richard and 
 Saladin from having a courteous correspondence 
 with each other at a period a little later. 
 
 Having restored the battered works of Acre, 
 Richard prepared to march upon Jerusalem. The 
 generality of the crusaders by no means shared his 
 impatience ; " for the wine (says old Vinesauf) was 
 of the very best quality, and the city abounded with 
 most beautiful girls;" — and the gravest knights 
 had made a Capua of Acre. At length, however, 
 Richard tore them from these enjoyments, and, 
 leaving behind him his sister and wife, and the fair 
 Cypriot, and strictly prohibiting women from fol- 
 lowing the camp, he began his march on the 22d 
 of August. Thirty thousand men, of all countries, 
 
 1 We have again taken the very lowest number. Bohadin, the 
 Aral), says that 3000 were destroyed by Richard alone, and that the 
 Duke of Burgundy sacrificed a like number. Hoveden says that 5000 
 were slain by the king and the duke. 
 
 " Seigneur, tuez, tuez ! 
 
 Spare hem nougnt." 
 
 Ellis, Spec. Metr. Rn 
 
 3 " Multum invenerunt et fel eorum usui medicinali 
 
 ruut." — Hoved. 
 
 nances. 
 servave-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 481 
 
 obeyed his orders, marching in five divisions : 
 the Templars led the van ; the Knights of St. 
 John brought up the rear. Every night, when the 
 army halted, the heralds of the several camps cried 
 aloud three times, " Save the holy sepulchre !" and 
 every soldier bent his knee, and said " Amen !" 
 Saladin, who had been reinforced from all parts, 
 infested their march every day, and encamped 
 near tliem every night with an army greatly supe- 
 rior in numbers. On the 7th of September Richard 
 brought him to a general action near Azotus, the 
 Ashdod of the Bible, on the sea-shore, and about 
 nine miles from Ascalon ; and after a display of 
 valor, which was never surpassed, and of more 
 cool conduct and generalship than might have been 
 expected, he gained a complete victory. Mourning 
 the loss of seven thousand men and thirty-two 
 emirs, Saladin, the victor of many a field, retreated 
 in great disorder, finding time, however, to lay 
 waste the country, and dismantle the towns he 
 could not garrison or defend ; and Richard ad- 
 vanced without further opposition to Jaffa, the 
 Joppa of Scripture, of which he took possession.' 
 As the country in advance of that position was still 
 clear of enemies, the Lion-heart would have fol- 
 lowed up his advantages, but many of the crusaders, 
 less hardy than himself, were worn out by the heat 
 of the climate and the rapid marches, on which 
 he had already led them ; and the French barons 
 urged the necessity of restoring the fortifications 
 of Jaffa before they advanced. No sooner had 
 Richard consented to this arrangement than the 
 crusaders, instead of prosecuting the work with 
 vigor, abandoned themselves to a luxurious ease ; 
 and Richard himself gave many of his days to the 
 sports of the field, disregarding the evident feet 
 that Saladin was again making head, and that 
 hordes of Saracens were scouring the country in 
 detached parties. One day he was actually sur- 
 prised, and would have lost either his life or liberty, 
 had not one of his companions, William de Pra- 
 telles, a knight of Provence, cried out, " I am the 
 king," and, by drawing attention upon himself, 
 given Richard the opportunity of escaping. On 
 another occasion this generous daring threw him 
 almost into an equal danger. A company of Tem- 
 plars fell into an ambuscade : he sent the brave 
 Earl of Leicester to their aid, promising he would 
 follow as soon as he could get on his armor. Be- 
 fore that rather long operation was completed they 
 told him the Templars and the earl were being 
 crushed by the number of the enemy. Without 
 waiting for any one, he leaped on his war-horse, 
 and galloped to the spot, declaring he were un- 
 worthy of the name of king, if he abandoned those 
 whom he had promised to succor. He spurred into 
 the thickest of the fight, and so laid about him, that 
 the Earl of Leicester and all the Templars who had 
 not fallen previously to his arrival were rescued. 
 On such onslaughts, say the chroniclers, his cry 
 was still " St. George, St. George." Many other 
 adventures equally or more romantic are related of 
 
 1 Jaffa is still a considerable maritime town, distant about thirty 
 miles from Jerusalem. 
 VOL. I. 31 
 
 this flower of chivalry — this pearl of cnjsading 
 princes. His battle-axe seems to have been the 
 weapon most familiar to his stalwart arm. He 
 had caused it to be forged by the best smiths in 
 England before he departed for the east, and 
 twenty pounds of steel were wrought into the head 
 of it, that he might " break therewith the Saracen's 
 bones." ' Nothing, it was said, could resist this 
 mighty axe, and wherever it fell, horseman and 
 horse went to the ground. It appears, indeed, 
 after making every rational deduction from the 
 exaggeration of minstrels and chroniclers, that it 
 was a fearful weapon, and that Richard's strength 
 and valor were alike prodigious. When the fortifi- 
 cations of Jaffa were restored, the Lion-heart was 
 duped into a further loss of time, by an affected 
 negotiation artfully proposed by Saladin, and skil- 
 fully conducted by his brother Saphadin, who came 
 and went between the two armies, and, spite of his 
 turban, ingratiated himself with Richard. At last, 
 the crusaders set forth from Jaffa ; but it was now 
 the month of November, and incessant rains, nearly 
 equal to those in tropical countries, wetted them to 
 the skin, rusted their arms, spoiled their provisions, 
 and rendered the roads almost impassable. Cross- 
 ing the plain of Sharon, where " the rose of Sharon 
 and the lily of the valley" no longer bloomed, 
 they pitched their tents at Ramula,^ only fifteen 
 miles in advance of Jaffa ; but the wind tore them 
 up and rent them. They then sought quarters at 
 Bethany, where they were within twelve miles of 
 the holy city; but their condition became daily 
 worse — famine, disease, and desertion thinned their 
 ranks, and Richard was compelled, sore against his 
 will, to turn his back on Jerusalem. He retreated 
 rapidly to Ascalon, followed closely by the loose 
 light cavalry of the Kourds and Turks, who, 
 though they could make no impression on the main 
 body, or even penetrate the rear-guard, where the 
 gallant knights of St. John wielded sword and lance, 
 yet did much mischief by cutting oft' stragglers, 
 and caused great distress by keeping the whole 
 force constantly on the alert by night as well as 
 by day. On the reti-eat, as during the advance, 
 Richard was greatly indebted to the exertions of 
 the brave Earl of Leicester, Avho covered one flank 
 of the English army, the other being protected by 
 the sea. Ascalon, so celebrated in the ancient 
 history of the Jews, was still a city of great im- 
 portance, being the connecting link between the 
 Mahomedans in Jerusalem and the Mahomedans in 
 Egypt. Saladin had dismantled its fortifications, 
 which Richard now determined to restore in all 
 haste. To set a good example, he worked, as he 
 had already done at Acre, upon the walls and bat- 
 tlements, like a common mason, and he expected 
 every prince and noble in the army would do the 
 same ; for the common crusaders required a stim- 
 ulus, and the Saracens seemed to be gathering for 
 an assault or siege. All the men of rank, with the 
 
 1 Weber, Metrical Romances. 
 
 a Ramula, Ramla, or Rainah, is the Arimathea of Scripture. A 
 little beyond it begin the almost impracticable mountain defiles of 
 Judea, which extend to Jerusalem.
 
 482 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Part of the Walls and Fortifications of Jerusalem, adjoinino Ephraim Gate. 
 
 exception of the proud Duke of Austria, thought it 
 no dishonor to do as the King of England did. 
 There was an old quan-el between these two 
 princes. During the siege of Acre, the Duke of 
 Austria took one of the towers, and planted his 
 banner upon it ; Richard, enraged at this step, 
 which appears to have been, at least, out of order, 
 tore down the banner, and cast it into the ditch. 
 Such an affront could never be forgotten. And 
 now, when urged by Richard to tN'ork on the forti- 
 fications of Ascalon, the duke replied that he would 
 not, seeing that he was the son neither of a mason 
 nor of a carpenter. Upon this, it is reported that 
 Richard struck him or kicked him, and turned him 
 and his vassals out of the town, with threatening 
 and most insulting language. Notwithstanding the 
 duke's refusal, the greatest personages there, in- 
 cluding bishops and abbots, as well as lay lords, 
 worked as masons and carpenters ; and the repairs 
 were soon completed. -Richard, acting with gi'eat 
 military judgment, then turned his attention to 
 the other towns which Saladin had dismantled, or 
 which had not been previously fortified ; and in the 
 course of the winter and the following spring, he 
 made the whole coast from Ascalon to Acre a chain 
 of well-fortified posts ; and below Acre he rebuilt 
 the walls of Gaza. Before these works were com- 
 pleted, however, his forces were considerably di- 
 minished: his lavish generosity had hitherto kept 
 the French and other soldiers not his subjects 
 together ; but now his treasures were nearly ex- 
 
 hausted. Hence arose a wonderful cooling of zeal 
 — a disposition even to criticise his military skill, 
 and a pretty general defection on the part of all 
 except his English and Norman subjects. Acre, a 
 pleasanter place than Ascalon, was again crowded 
 with jealous and mercenarj' chieftains, and became 
 a very hot-bed of corruption and political intrigue. 
 The Genoese and Pisans fought openly in the 
 streets of the town, hiding their old animosities 
 under the pretence of combating for the rights of 
 the la^vful king of Jerusalem ; for Richard's treaty 
 in favor of Guy had not settled that question. 
 The Genoese had declared for Conrad of 3Iont- 
 ferrat — the Pisans for Guy of Lusignan ; and when 
 Conrad himself, disregarding the treaty and the 
 power of the English king, joined his troops with 
 those of the Genoese, a sort of civil war seemed 
 imminent among all the Christians in Palestine. 
 On this, Richard moved from Ascalon to Acre, 
 effected a reconciliation between the Genoese and 
 Pisans, and forced Conrad to retire. He attempted 
 to conciliate that nobleman, who had given him 
 many other causes of complaint ; but Montferrat 
 insultingly rejected all overtures, and withdrew to 
 his strong town of Tyre, where he opened a cor- 
 respondence with the common enemy, Saladin, and 
 where he was soon joined by 600 French knights 
 and soldiers, whom he had seduced from Richard's 
 garrison at Ascalon. Saladin, who was, in all 
 respects, a rival worthy of Richard, gaining fresh 
 heart, from the dissensions of the Christians, once
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 48^ 
 
 more condensed his forces, in the hope of striking 
 a decisive blow. About this time the Liou-heart, 
 in some distress of mind, wrote to the Abbot of 
 Clairvaux,' who had great interest in several of the 
 Em-opean courts, earnestly entreating him to rouse 
 the princes and people of Christendom to arms, in 
 order that he might have a force sufficient for the 
 occasion, and that Jerusalem, the inheritance of the 
 Lord, might be rescued, and made secure for the 
 future. This letter apparently was scarcely dis- 
 patched when he received others from his mother, 
 Eleanor, informing hiln that his own throne in 
 England was beset by the greatest of dangers. At 
 this crisis he opened a negotiation for peace, declar- 
 ing to Saladin that he wanted nothing more than 
 the possession of Jerusalem, and the wood of the 
 true cross. To this Saladin is reported to have 
 replied, that Jerusalem was as dear to the Mussul- 
 mans as to the Christians,^ and that his conscience 
 and the law of the prophet would not permit him 
 to connive at idolatry or the worshiping of a piece 
 of wood. 
 
 The next step related of Richard excites wonder, 
 if not doubt. It is said that he proposed a union 
 and consolidation of the Christian and Mahomedan 
 interests, with the establishment of a government 
 at JeiTisalem partly Christian and partly Mahome- 
 dan ; and that, as a basis and bond to this scheme 
 of policy, he offered to give his own sister Joan, the 
 queen-dowager of Sicily, in marriage to Saphadin, 
 the brother of the great Saladin. And it is added, 
 on the same authorities, that the two Mussulman 
 princes entertained the project, which was only de- 
 feated by the intolerance of the Imams on the one side 
 and of the Catholic priests on the other.' Strange 
 as it may appear, after the long duration of hostili- 
 ties, and all the horrors that had been committed, 
 the people of the two armies, during this negotia- 
 tion, as during several preceding ones, lived in 
 friendly intercourse, mingling in the tournament 
 and other amusements ; and throughout the whole 
 of the war Saladin and Richard emulated each 
 other as much in courtesy as in military exploits. 
 Presents were frequently exchanged : when the 
 King of England was sick Saladin sent him the in- 
 comparable plums of Damascus, with peaches, pears, 
 and other fruits ; and during the heats of summer 
 he regularly fonvarded to the crusader's camp, the 
 inestimable luxury of snow gathered from the lofty 
 mountains in the interior.'' 
 
 In order to reconcile parties, and facilitate his 
 own return to Europe, Richard now abandoned the 
 cause of Guy of Lusignan, whom he most liberally 
 recompensed by the gift of the island of Cyprus ; 
 and consented that Conrad of Montferrat, who was 
 supported by the French, the German, and the 
 Genoese factions, should be crowned King of Jerusa- 
 
 1 The successor of St. Bernard, who had done more than any other 
 single individual, after Peter the Hermit, to promote the crusades. 
 
 2 The Arabs stiU call Jerusalem " El Gootz," or " The Blessed 
 City." 
 
 3 Mill's Hist. Crusades. — Bohadin. — Abulfeda. — D'Herbelot, in art. 
 Salaheddin. 
 
 * Hoved. Vinesauf says that Saladin had received the honor of 
 knighthood from a French cavalier, and that Saphadin obtained the 
 «anie honor from Richard himself, for his (Saphadin's) son. 
 
 lem. Although Conrad had few virtues he had 
 much abiUty, which, together with his undisputed 
 bravery in the field, might have qualified him to 
 take the command of the crusaders in Richard's 
 absence, and possibly might have enabled him to 
 gain Jerusalem, and change his condition from that 
 of a titular to a real king ; but he was murdered in 
 the streets of Tyre, while preparing for his corona- 
 tion, by two of the Assassins, the fanatic subjects of 
 the Old Man of the Mountain. The murderers 
 were seized, and put to the torture. Hoveden and 
 Vinesauf both say that the wretches declared that 
 they had murdered Conrad by the order of their 
 master, in revenge for injuries done to his people 
 and insults oft'ered to himself by Conrad, whose 
 imprudent quarrel with the Old Man of the Moun- 
 tain was notorious. Bohadin, the Arab historian, 
 indeed, affirms that the men said they were em- 
 ployed by the King of England; but another Arabic 
 writer, of equal weight, says that the murderers 
 would make no confession whatever, but that, tri- 
 umphing amidst their agonies, they rejoiced that 
 they had been destined by Heaven to suffer in so 
 just and glorious a cause ; and this account agrees 
 better with the character of the wonderful associa- 
 tion to which they belonged, and is more probable 
 than any other. Everybody knew the generosity 
 which Richard had shown to Conrad; and it ap- 
 pears that that unfortunate prince, with his dying 
 breath, recommended his widow to the protection 
 of the English monarch. The whole tenor of 
 Richard's character and conduct should have ab- 
 solved him from all suspicion; but both the French 
 and Austrian factions at once charged him with 
 being the instigator of this murder ; and the report 
 was dihgently spread in Europe on no evidence at 
 all, or on none but of the loosest and most contra- 
 dictory description. But the French king, the Ger- 
 man emperor, the Austrian duke, and other sove- 
 reigns, were burning with spite and revenge against 
 him ; and Philip more especially, who was contem- 
 plating an attack on Richard's dominions, in oi'der 
 to cover his infamy, filled all the west with excla- 
 mations against his rival's perfidy ; and, pretending 
 that a hke attempt might be made on his own per- 
 son even in France (for the daggers of the Assas- 
 sins despised the obstacles of distance), he ostenta- 
 tiously appointed a new body-guard for his protec- 
 tion. In the mean while the French within the 
 town, declaring that Richard had employed the 
 murderers, rose in arms, and demanded from the 
 widow of Conrad that she would resign Tyre to 
 them : this she refused to do ; and the people, 
 siding with the countess, took up arms against the 
 French. In the midst of the tumult Count Henry 
 of Champagne, King Richard's own nephew, made 
 his appearance, and, at the invitation of the people, 
 took possession of Tyre and the other territories in 
 Palestine which had been held by Conrad. Soon 
 after, by marrj-ing Conrad's widow, young Henry 
 received her claim to the imaginary crown, and 
 the crusaders, with the Christians in the country, 
 generally acknowledged Richard's nephew as King 
 of Jerusalem.
 
 484 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book HI. 
 
 Richard had attempted to conceal his many 
 causes of uneasiness, and when the army showed 
 that they were aware that his presence was most 
 earnestly prayed for in his own dominions, he is- 
 sued a proclamation stating his fixed resolution of 
 remaining in Palestine another year. By his prom- 
 ises and exertions he again restored something like 
 unanimity of purpose, and at the end of May the 
 crusaders once more set out on their march toward 
 Jerusalem under his command. Early in June he 
 encamped in the valley of Hebron, where he re- 
 ceived some messengers from England bringing 
 fresh accounts of plots within, and armed confeder- 
 acies without his dominions. We follow the most 
 consistent, though not the most generally received 
 account, in saying that, on this intelligence, and at 
 the prospect of the increasing power of the Sara- 
 cens (who had not only strongly fortified and gar- 
 risoned the holy city, but had thrown a tremendous 
 force between it and his advanced post), and of the 
 increasing weakness and destitution of the Christian 
 forces, to whose wants he could no longer adminis- 
 ter, Richard now came to a stand, and turned his 
 heart to the west. A council, assembled at his 
 suggestion, declared that, under present circum- 
 stances, it would be better to march and besiege 
 Cairo, whence Salad in drew his main supplies, 
 than to attack Jerusalem. This decision was per- 
 haps a wise one, but it came too late. Richard, 
 however, pi'etended that he would follow it, upon 
 which the Duke of Burgundy wrote a song reflect- 
 ing in severe terms on his vacillation. Richard did 
 not reply by dispatching two emissaries of the Old 
 Man of the 3Iountain, or by adopting any other 
 violent measure : he revenged himself with the 
 same instrument with which the offence had been 
 given, and wrote a satire on the vices and foibles of 
 the Duke of Burgundy. It could not be expected, 
 however, that the Lion-heart should renounce his 
 great enterprise without feelings of deep mortifica- 
 tion. It is related of him that when a friend led 
 him to the summit of a mountain which commanded 
 a full view of Jerusalem, he raised his shield before 
 his eyes, declaring that he was not worthy to look 
 upon the holy citj', which he had not been able to 
 redeem. If the expedition to Egypt had ever been 
 seriously contemplated, it was presently seen that 
 it was impracticable ; for as soon as a counter-march 
 from the Hebron was spoken of, all discipline aban- 
 doned the camp, and, after some conflicts among 
 themselves, the mass of the French and Germans 
 deserted the standard altogether. Richard then 
 fell back upon Acre. Taking advantage of the cir- 
 cumstance, the vigilant Saladin descended from the 
 mountains of Judea, and took the town of Jafia, all 
 but the citadel. At the first breath of this intelli- 
 gence Richard ordered such troops as he had been 
 able to keep together to march by land, while he, 
 with only seven vessels, should hasten by sea to 
 the relief of Jafia. On arriving in the road he 
 found the beach covered with a host of the enemy, 
 but, turning a deaf ear to the advice and fears of 
 his companions, and shouting " Cursed forever be 
 he that followeth me not," he leaped into the water. 
 
 The knights in the ships were too high-minded to 
 abandon their king ; and this small body dispersed 
 the Saracens, and retook the town. On the fol- 
 lowing day, between night and morning, Saladin 
 came up with the main body of his army ; and 
 Richard, who had been joined by the troops that 
 had marched by land, went out to meet him in the 
 open country behind Jafia. The Lion-heart made 
 up for his immense inferiority in point of number 
 by careful and judicious arrangement; and the 
 victory of Jaffa, which was most decisive, is gener- 
 ally esteemed as the greatest of his manj' exploits. 
 Overpowered by a generous admiration, Saphadin, 
 seeing him dismounted, sent him, during the action, 
 two magnificent horses, and on one of these Rich- 
 ard pursued his successes till nightfall. Every 
 champion that met him that day was killed or dis- 
 mounted ; and the ordinary troops, whenever he 
 headed a charge against them, are said to have 
 turned and fled at the very sight of him. It was 
 by deeds like these tliat Richard left a traditionary 
 fame behind him that grew and brightened with 
 the passing years, and that his name became -a 
 .word of fear in the mouth of the Mussulman na- 
 tives. " This tremendous name," says Gibbon, 
 "was employed by the Syrian mothers to silence 
 their infants ; and if a horse suddenly started from 
 the way, his rider was wont to exclaim, " Dost 
 thou think King Richard is in that bush?" ' 
 
 As the battle of Jafia was the most brilliant, so 
 also was it the last fought by the Lion-heart in 
 the Holy Land. His health and the health of his 
 glorious adversary were both declining ; and a mu- 
 tual admiration and respect facilitated the terms of 
 a treaty which was concluded shortly after. A 
 truce was agreed upon for three years, three 
 months, three weeks, three days, and three hours; 
 Ascalon was to be dismantled, after Richard had 
 been reimbursed the money it had cost him ; but 
 Jaffa and Tyre, with all the castles and all the 
 country on the coast between them, were to be left 
 to the peaceful enjoyment of the Christians. The 
 pilgrims of the west were to have full liberty of 
 repairing to Jerusalem at all seasons without being 
 subjected to those tolls, taxes, and persecutions 
 which had originally provoked the crusades. All 
 parties immediately prepared to avail themselves of 
 the treat}--, and since they could not enter Jerusa- 
 lem as conquerors, to visit it as licensed pilgrims. 
 The French, who had refused to take part in the ' 
 battle of Jafia, and who were on the point of em- 
 barking at Acre, now declared their intention of 
 staying yet awhile, that they, too, might visit the 
 holy sepulchre ; but Richard, indignant at their 
 recent conduct, told them they had no claim to the 
 benefits of a treaty which they had done nothing to 
 procure. The rest of the army visited the hallowed 
 spots, and Saladin nobly protected them from all in- 
 jury or insult. The friends and relations of the 
 hostages that had been murdered at Acre threw 
 themselves on their knees before him, imploring 
 permission to take vengeance on the Christians, 
 
 1 The old Sire de Joinville is the reporter of thif " Cuides-tu qua 
 cc soit le loi Richard ?" are his words. 
 
 4
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 485 
 
 who were now in their power ; but he rejected 
 their prayer with disgust, and successfully controlled 
 their fanaticism and revenge. The second body 
 that arrived in Jerusalem experienced the greatest 
 kindness, as Ave learn from Vinesauf, who was one 
 of the party. The Bishop of Salisbury, who led j 
 the third body of pilgrims, was received with marked ' 
 respect, being invited to the royal palace, and ad- 
 mitted to a long and familiar conversation with the 
 sultan. Saladin was eager of fame, even from the 
 Christians. " What say your men of your king and 
 of me?" he inquired. "My king," repUed the 
 bishop, " is acknowledged as one surpassing all men 
 in valorous deeds and generous gifts ; but your fame 
 also stands high, and were you but converted from 
 your unbelief, there would not be in the world two 
 such princes as you and Richard." Saladin ap- 
 plauded, as he had often done before, the loyal 
 frankness and the courage of the English king, but 
 blamed his rashness and unnecessary exposing of 
 himself; ending this part of the conversation by 
 saying that, for his own part, he would rather enjoy 
 the reputation of modesty and prudence, than that 
 of mere audacity. He conceded to the bishop's re- 
 quest that the priests of the Latin church should be 
 allowed to have regular estabhshments at Jerusa- 
 lem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth, — a privilege hith- 
 erto confined to the eastern churches of Greece, 
 Armenia, and Syria. 
 
 A violent fever, brought on by his tremendous 
 exertions in the field of Jaffa, is said to have been 
 the cause why Richard himself did not visit Jeru- 
 .saiem; but it is at least probable that his reluctance 
 to enter merely on sufferance that town which he 
 had so vehemently hoped to conquer, had some share 
 in this omission. 
 
 In the month of October, 1192, on the feast-day 
 of St. Dionysius, Richard finally set sail from 
 Acre with his queen, his sister Joan, the Cypriot 
 princess, and the surviving bishops, earls, and 
 knights of England, Normandy, Anjou, and Aqui- 
 taine. The next morning he took a last view of 
 ttie mountains of Lebanon and the hills above the 
 Syrian shore. With outstretched arms he ex- 
 claimed, " Most holy land, I commend thee to 
 God's keeping. May he give me life and health 
 to return and rescue thee from the infidel." A 
 storm arose and scattered the fleet: — it was the 
 usual season for tempestuous weather in the Med- 
 iterranean ; but people atti-ibuted the storm to the 
 wrath of Heaven at the Christians sailing away and 
 leaving the tomb and the cross of Christ unre- 
 deemed. Some of the vessels were wrecked on 
 the hostile shores of Egj-pt and Barbary, where the 
 crews were made slaves ; others reached friendly 
 ports, and, in time, returned to England. The 
 galley in which Richard's wife and the other ladies 
 were embarked reached Sicily in safety. It is not 
 very clear why Richard sailed in another vessel, or 
 why he did not take his way homeward through 
 the friendly land of Navarre ; but we are told that 
 when within three days' sail of the city of Mar- 
 seilles, fearing the malice of his numerous enemies, 
 he suddenly changed his course for the Adriatic, 
 
 resolving, it should seem, to pursue his way home- 
 ward from the head of that sea through Styria and 
 Germany. He reached the island of Corfu about 
 the middle of November, and there he hired three 
 small galleys to carry him and his suite, which con- 
 sisted of Baldwin de Bethune, a priest, Anselm 
 the chaplain, and a few Knights Templars, — in all 
 twenty individuals. After escaping capture by the 
 Greeks, who were among his numerous enemies, 
 he landed at Zara, on the coast of Dalmatia, where 
 his liberal expenditure attracted attention, and de- 
 feated the object of his disguise. He had put on 
 the humble weeds of a pilgrim, hoping that this 
 dress, with his beard and hair, which he suffered 
 to grow long, would enable him to cross the con 
 tinent without being discovered. A storm drove 
 him on the coast of Istria, between Venice and 
 Aquileia. From this point he and his companions, 
 crossing the Friuli mountains, proceeded inland to 
 Goritz, a principal town of Carinthia. He could 
 hardly have taken a worse course ; for Maynard, 
 the governor of this town, was a near relation to 
 Conrad of Montferrat. Richard sent a page to 
 Maynard to ask for a passport for Baldwin of 
 Bethune and Hugh the merchant, who were pil- 
 gi'ims returning from Jerusalem. To forward his 
 request the young man presented a very valuable 
 ring as a proof of his master the merchant's good 
 will toward the governor. Maynard, much struck 
 with the beauty and value of the ruby, exclaimed, 
 " This is the present of a prince, not of a merchant : 
 — your master's name is not Hugh, but King 
 Richard : tell him, from me, that he may come 
 and go in peace." The king was alarmed at this 
 discovery, and, having purchased some horses, he 
 fled by night. Baldwin de Bethune and seven 
 others who remained behind were arrested by May- 
 nard, and the news was spread far and wide that 
 the King of England was advancing into Germany 
 in a helpless state. The fugitives rode on without 
 accident or molestation till they reached Freisach, 
 in the teiTitory of Saltzburg, where Richard was 
 recognized by a Norman knight in the service of 
 Frederic of Beteson, another near relation of Con- 
 rad. The Norman's sense of duty to his native 
 prince overcame the love of money, — for a large 
 reward had been offered for the detection and ap- 
 prehension of the disguised king, — and instead of 
 seizing him he warned him of his danger, and pre- 
 sented him with a swift horse. Richard escaped 
 with one knight, and a boy who spoke the language 
 of the country, but all the rest of his companions 
 who had been able to keep up with him thus far 
 wei-e taken and thrown into prison. After traveling 
 three days and three nights without entering a 
 house, and almost without nourishment of any kind, 
 he was compelled by hunger and sickness to enter 
 Erperg, a village close to Vienna. His ignorance 
 of the country was probably the cause of his lighting 
 on a spot which, of all others, he ought most care- 
 fullj- to have avoided. Though sensible of his danger, 
 Richard was too weak to renew his flight. He sent 
 the boy to the market-place of Vienna to purchase 
 provisions and a few comforts which he greatly
 
 486 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book HI 
 
 needed. "With his usual thoughtlessness in these 
 matters, he had given the boy a quantity of money, 
 and dressed him in costly clothes. These things 
 excited attention, but the messenger eluded inquiry 
 by saying that his master was a very rich merchant, 
 and would presently make his appearance in Vienna. 
 The boj- was again sent into the town to make pur- 
 chases, and for some days escaped further notice : 
 but one day that he went as usual, the citizens saw 
 in his girdle a pair of such gloves as were not worn 
 save by kings and princes. The poor lad was in- 
 stantly seized and scourged, and on being threatened 
 with torture and the cutting out of his tongue, he 
 confessed the truth, and revealed the retreat of the 
 king. A band of Austrian soldiers surrounded the 
 house where Richard was, forgetting his pains and 
 anxieties in a deep sleep. Surprised and overpow- 
 ered as he was, Richard drew his sword, and re- 
 fused to surrender to any but their chief. That 
 
 chief soon made his appearance in the person of his 
 deadliest enemy — Leopold, Duke of Austria, who 
 had arrived from the Holy Land some time before 
 him. " You are fortunate," said Leopold, with a 
 triumphant smile, as he received the sword which 
 had often made him quail ; " and you ought to con- 
 sider us rather as deliverers than as enemies : for, 
 by the Lord, if you had fallen into the hands of the 
 Marquis Conrad's friends, who are hunting for you 
 everywhere, you had been but a dead man though 
 you had had a thousand lives." The duke then 
 committed the king to the castle of Tiernsteign, 
 which belonged to one of his barons called Hadmar 
 ofCunring.' 
 
 ' There are several versions of Richard's adventures from the 
 time he left Acre to his captivity in the hands of the emperor, but 
 they do not differ very essentially, and are about equally romantic. 
 We have adopted vvhat appears to us the simplest and most con- 
 sistent story, the chief authorities bein? Htiveden, Brompton, R. 
 Coggeshall, William of Newbury, and Matthevir Paris 
 
 Castle and Town of Tiernsteign. 
 
 When the Emperor Henry, the degenerate son 
 of the great Frederic Barbarossa, was informed of 
 this arrest, he claimed the prisoner, saying, " A 
 duke must not presume to imprison a king, — that 
 belongs to an emperor." Henry, the sixth of the 
 name in the list of emperors, and whom old histo- ! 
 rians designate as " a beggar of a prince, ferocious 
 and avaricious,"' hated Richard almost as much as 
 Leopold of Austria did. This arose chiefly out of 
 the English king's close alliance with Tancred of 
 Sicily, whom the emperor held as the usurper of 
 his or lis wife Constance's lights. In the summer 
 of 1191, the year in which Richard sailed from Mes- 
 sina for Acre, Henr}-, accompanied by his Sicilian ; 
 wife, advanced with a powerful German array into 
 the south of Italy, and laid siege to the city of 
 
 1 I.ciTiiHro. Tl-vt. An Fr-Mfp 
 
 Naples, which made a faithful and gaUant stand for 
 Tancred. During the heats of summer a malaria 
 fever carried oft"a vast number of his men, and some 
 nobles of high rank, — the Archlnshop of Cologne 
 among others, — and, as soon as Henry fell sick him- 
 self, he raised the siege of Naples, and made a dis- 
 gi'aceful retreat. Tancred then established himself 
 on the disputed throne more firmly than ever, nor 
 had the emperor been able to retrieve his honor in 
 the South. He was, however, at the moment of 
 Richard's capture, engaged in preparations for that 
 object, and he was overjoyed at an event which 
 would save him from the dangerous hostility of so 
 groat a warrior and so powerful a prince ; for the 
 English king, it will be remembered, had entered 
 into an alliance, offensive and defensive, with the 
 ncrrpnnt nC t'ln >^:f'Ii"!i tlr.ov, and Ilf: -v and Iii
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 487 
 
 advisers had little doubt that, if he reached England 
 in time, Richard would perform his part of the 
 treaty and prevent the success of the emperor.' 
 The Duke of Austria would not resign his prisoner 
 without a reservation of his own claims, and a pay- 
 ment, or at least a promise, of a large sum of money 
 from Henry. The disgraceful sale and transfer 
 took place at the feast of Easter, 1193, after which, 
 
 I Tancred died at the end of 1193, during Richard's imprisonment. 
 He died a king, and transmitted the crown to his young sun William, 
 who, however, could not keep it on his head. The Emperor Henry, 
 111 1 195, enriched with Richard's ransom, invaded his dominions, and 
 became master of them after much treachery and bloodshed. The 
 cruelties committed by the jailer of Cceur de Lion were most 
 atrocious : his advent in Sicily and Naples was made memorable by 
 an apparently interminable process of burning, hanging, blinding, 
 and mutilating. Richard's mother, Eleanor, wrote in earnest terms 
 to the Pope, imploring that he would endeavor to put a stop to these 
 horrors. Richard himself was too much occupied with his wars in 
 France to interfere. 
 
 it appears that, even in Germany, Richard was en- 
 tirely lost sight of, and men knew not where he 
 was confined for some time. 
 
 In following the romantic adventures of one who 
 was rather a knight-errant than a king, and whose 
 history is more that of a crusade than a reign,' we 
 have strayed far and long from England. And 
 what were the hoine events during the interval ? 
 Our information is scanty, but enough is on record 
 to show thnt they were of a gloomy nature, and 
 that the country paid dearly for the knight-eiTanti-y 
 of the king. 
 
 The tragedy of the Jews, enacted at Richard's 
 coronation, was speedily repeated in several of the 
 other principal towns of the kingdom, beginning at 
 Lynn in Norfolk, in the month of February, 1190, 
 while Richard was in Normandy. All these hor- 
 
 ' Sir James Mackintosh 
 
 Lynn, as it appeared at the commencement of the Eighteenth Century. 
 
 rors, indeed, were committed before he sailed for 
 Palestine ; but though so near home, he was unable 
 or unwilling to check them in their progress, or in- 
 Mict a proper punishment on the offenders. Within 
 a month, the populace rose, and robbed and slaugh- 
 tered the Jews at Norwich, Stamford, St. Edmonds- 
 bury, and Lincoln. The great massacre of York 
 was not a mere popular tumult ; it was conducted 
 in a more systematic manner. On the 16th of 
 March, in the dusk of the evening, a number of 
 armed men, apparently strangers, entered the city, 
 and, in the darkness of night, attacked the house of 
 a very ncti Jew, who himself bad fallen six months 
 before in the riot at London. His widow and chil- 
 dren were butchered, — their property was carried 
 off, — their house was burnt. On the following day, 
 Jocen, aHOther wealthy Jew, but who had escaped 
 with life from London, soui^ht refuge in the castls 
 
 of York with his movable treasures and family ; and 
 as the governor received him, on his stating that 
 his house was marked for destruction on the en- 
 suing night, most of the Jews in York and the 
 neighboring country followed his example, and they 
 also were received within the fortress. Soon after, 
 the governor left the castle ; and at his return, the 
 Jews, who, it is said, amounted to five hundred 
 men, besides women aud children, fearing he came 
 with evil intentions, and that the mob which fol- 
 lowed would enter with him should the drawbridge 
 be lowered, refused him admission. They excused 
 their disobedience by stating their reasonable dread 
 of the rabble ; but the governor flew into a trans- 
 port of rage, and, in conjunction with the sheriff of 
 York, ordered the v-ry rabble to attack the castle. 
 It i§ said that he soon repented of this command, 
 and that he tried to r-fa!l it, biit in vain. '!"'.:'
 
 488 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 mob, which continuallj^ increased, and wliich was 
 kept in the highest state of fervor by a mad moniv, 
 who exhorted them night and day to exterminate 
 the enemies of Christ, laid close siege to the castle, 
 and, at the end of several days, had made all their 
 preparations to take the place by assault. On the 
 eve of the day fixed for the assault, a learned Rabbi, 
 who had been but a short time in I^igland, address- 
 ed his afflicted and now despairing brethren : — 
 •' Men of Israel," he said, " God bids us die for the 
 law, and our glorious ancestors have so died in all 
 ages. If we ftill into the hands of these, our ene- 
 mies, not merely death but cruel torture awaits us. 
 Let us, then, return to our Almightj^ Creator that 
 life which he gave ; — let us die willingly and de- 
 voutl}" by our owri hands !" The majority applaud- 
 ed this resolution. They kindled a large fire ; 
 they burnt their costly garments and their Eastern 
 shawls ; they dcsti'oyed or buried their preciou's 
 stones and vessels. They set fire to part of the 
 castle, in the hope that the whole might be con- 
 sumed with them, making a vast funereal pyre ; 
 and then Jocen, as the chief man among them, cut 
 the throat of his own wife. The rest followed his 
 example, each of them cutting the throats of his 
 wife and children. When the women and children 
 were all dispatched, Jocen stabbed himself; and 
 the other men stabbed themselves after him. On 
 the following morning, as the rabble prepared for 
 the assault, they saw only a few Jews, who had 
 shrunk from the complicated horrors of the over 
 night. Pale as ghosts, these wretches spoke from 
 the battlements, and, in the hopes of saving their 
 lives, expressed their readiness to abjure their re- 
 ligion. On this condition the mob promised that 
 their lives should be spared. The gates of the 
 castle were then thrown open, and, in the next 
 minute, every Jew in it that still lived was barba- 
 rously murdered. The Christians then marched 
 to the cathedral church, and got forcible possession 
 of the bonds of Christian debtors, which the Jews 
 had deposited there for greater security ; and hav- 
 ing lit a fire in the middle of the nave of the church, 
 they burnt the bonds in a mass.' As the perpetra- 
 tors of this summary method of extinguishing debt 
 by destroying the securities were not of a condition 
 to have money transactions with the Jews, a sus- 
 picion naturally arises that they were incited and 
 directed in part of their operations by their supe- 
 riors who were in debt to the only people who then 
 had money to lend. On this dreadful occasion, an 
 unusual degree of activity was shown by the gov- 
 ernment ; but the proceedings adopted were scarcely 
 characterized by the purity and proper efficiency 
 of justice. Longchamp, the Bishop of Ely, in his 
 quality of chancellor and chief justiciary of the king- 
 dom, went to York with an armed force, displaced 
 the sheriff and governor, and laid a fine on the rich- 
 est and best of the citizens of York, who hsi$- not 
 moved in the riot. As the king was -still pressing for 
 money, for the holy war, it appears that Longchamp's 
 cRief motive in moving at all in the matter, was to 
 procure soine, and that the amount of the fines 
 
 1 Hnve.I. — Brnmpt. — Matt. Par. 
 
 raised was remitted to Richard on the continent, 
 whither many of the real criminals, who were cru- 
 saders, had already repaired to march under his 
 banner ; the rest of the ringleaders had fled into 
 Scotland ; and as tiie rabble of the town had no 
 money rfo pay, they were let alone, the "stout 
 bishop" dealing only with such as could pay. 
 
 The next important events during Richard's ab- 
 sence arose out of the struggle for power between 
 Hugh Pudsey, the Bishop of Durham, and Long- 
 champ, the Bishop of Ely. The reader has been 
 already informed how Pudsey purchased the post 
 of chief justiciary for 1000 marks. Richard, who 
 was never scrupulous in such bargains, before he 
 departed from England nominated a new regency, 
 and appointed other justiciaries, by which measures 
 Pudsey's bought authority was wofully reduced. 
 These additional justiciaries were, Hugh Bardolf, 
 WilHam Briwere, and Longchamp — the last-named 
 being the royal favorite, in whose hands Richard 
 openly showed his intention of placing the whole 
 power of the government. Besides his justiciaiy- 
 ship, Longchamp held the chancellorship, for which 
 he had paid 3000 marks. He was, moreover, in- 
 trusted with the custody of the Tower of London. 
 He was a man of great worldly Avisdom, activity', and 
 talent for business ; his ambition was immense, and 
 must soon have made itself felt ; but the first accu- 
 sation his opponents seem to have brought against 
 him was his lowness pf birth. His gi-andfather, 
 they said, h.i.d been nothing but a serf in the dio- 
 cese of Beauvais. Richard, however, who did not 
 judge of him by the condition of his grandfather, 
 issued letters patent addressed to all his lieges, com- 
 manding them to obey Longchamp in all things 
 even as they would obey the king himself. He 
 wrote to the Pope, to obtain for him the legation of 
 England and Ireland; and when Longchamp was 
 appointed legate — which he was immediately — his 
 power in spiritual matters completed his authority. 
 The first act of his administration was the digging 
 of the Tower ditch ; but, to use the words of Pal- 
 grave, " he had more skill as a politician than as an 
 engineer ; for he supposed that the river Thames 
 would keep the excavation constantly full." 
 
 Poor Pudsey would not without a struggle sink 
 into the obscurity for which he seems to have been 
 best fitted. Complaints against Longchamp's ex- 
 cessive power had been sent after Richard, and he 
 arrived in great triumph in London, with letters 
 from -the king, importing that he should be restored 
 to some part, or to the whole, of his former author- 
 ity. Although Longchamp was absent from Lon- 
 don, -his rival received an immediate check there 
 from the barons of the Exchequer, who refused to 
 admit him on the bench. Thus rejected, Pudsey 
 posted after Longchamp, who was in the north, and 
 surrounded by an armed force devoted to his inter- 
 est. When the brother bishops met, he of Ely was 
 all courtesy and compliance. He said he was quite 
 willing to obey the king's commands; and then he 
 invited his lordship of Durham to visit him that day 
 se'nnight in the royal castle of Tickhill. Pudsey, 
 with "sineular simpliritv," accented the invitntion •
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 489 
 
 and as soon as he was within the castle-walls, Long- 
 champ laid hands oq him, exclaiming, " As sure as 
 my lord the king liveth, thou shalt not depart hence 
 until thou hast surrendered all the castles which 
 thou holdest. This is not bishop arresting bishop, 
 but chancellor arresting chancellor." Nor was 
 Pudsey released from this duress until he surren- 
 dered the castle of Windsor, and the custody of the 
 forest, together with the shrievalty of the county, 
 as well as the earldom of Northumberland and the 
 lordship of Sadburgh — everything, in short, which 
 be had purchased from the king. Longchamp's 
 power was now without check or control. He had 
 the whole powers of civil and military, and, we may 
 add, ecclesiastical government ; and he is repre- 
 sented as tyrannizing equally over clergy and laity. 
 " Had he continued in office," said his enemies, 
 " the kingdom would have been wholly exhausted ; 
 not a girdle would have remained to the man, nor a 
 bracelet to the woman, nor a ring to the knight, nor 
 a gem to the Jew." Another writer says he was 
 more than a king to the laity, and more than a pope to 
 the clergy. Abroad and at home, he made a display 
 of as much or more power and parade than had 
 been exhibited by any Norman king. A numerous 
 guard always suiTounded his house ; wherever he 
 went he was attended by a thousand horse ; and 
 when he passed the night at an abbey or any house 
 on the road, his immense and greedy retinue con- 
 sumed the produce of three whole years — a poetical 
 exaggeration, implying that they ate, and drank, and 
 probably wasted a gi-eat deal. He was a munificent 
 patron of minsti'els, troubadours, and jongleurs ; he 
 enticed many of them over from France, and these 
 sang his praises in the public places, saying there 
 was not such a man in the world.' It is evident 
 that Longchamp was vain of his authority ; but 
 there is nothing to indicate that he was not most 
 loyal to the king, and anxious for the preservation of 
 peace in the kingdom : the worst shades in his por- 
 trait were put in by men who were notoriously dis- 
 loyal to Richard, and careless of deluging the country 
 with blood, so long as they fancied that they were 
 forwarding their own views ; and it was the bishop's 
 decided opposition to these men that first called 
 forth the accusations against him. Peter of Blois, 
 whose testimony carries no small weight, speaks 
 most highly of Longchamp, and styles him a man 
 famed for wisdom and unbounded generosity, as 
 also for his amiable, benevolent, and gentle temper. 
 In those turbulent times, and with such crafty, re- 
 morseless opponents as Earl John and his advisers. 
 It was almost impossible that he should presene 
 peace ; but while the ambitious and the great envied 
 him, it is probable that the humbler and quieter 
 classes in the land saw him with pleasure get that 
 power into his hands which alone could give him a 
 chance of averting the storm. He was the first to 
 see that John was endeavoring to secure the suc- 
 cession to the throne, and he steadily opposed those 
 pretensions. After many violent dissensions, John 
 wrote to his brother, to tell him that the chief jus- 
 
 > Introduct. Rot. Cur. Reg— Matt. Par.— Hoved.— Newbr.— Ger- 
 
 ticiary was ruining king and kingdom ; and several 
 barons of his faction put their signatures or crosses 
 to this letter. Richard, whose confidence in Long- 
 champ was scarcely to be shaken, sent, however, 
 from Messina two letters patent, in which he or- 
 dered, that if the accusations against him were ti'ue, 
 then Walter, Archbishop of Rouen, was to assume 
 the regency, or chief justiciaryship, with William 
 Mareschal and Geoflfrey Fitzpeter, as his col- 
 leagues ; if false, the three were, nevertheless, to 
 be associated with him in the government. Although 
 those letters are preserved in the contemporary 
 chronicle of Ralph de Diceto, their authenticity has 
 been questioned ; and it appears quite certain, that 
 if they were really written, Richard repented of 
 his doubts, and that immediately before he set sail 
 from Messina he addressed letters to his subjects in 
 nearly the same terms as those written about a year 
 before from France, requiring them all to obey 
 Longchamp, whom he again mentions with the 
 gi-eatest aflfection and honor. It is also equally cer- 
 tain, that though the Archbishop of Rouen came 
 into England from Sicily, he never showed any 
 royal order until a year later, when Longchamp 
 was overwhelmed by his enemies, who never made 
 any judicial inquest into his conduct — nor could they 
 have made it with any fairness, seeing that they 
 would have been both accusers and judges. 
 
 As soon as John knew for a certainty that his 
 brother had actually departed from Sicily, beyond 
 which the real perils of the crusade were supposed 
 to begin, he assumed the state and bearing of an 
 heir-apparent about to enter upon his inheritance. 
 He knew that Richard had named his nephew Ar- 
 thur for his heir ; but that circumstance irritated 
 without discouraging him — he felt that a child would 
 be no formidable rival if he could only dispose of 
 Longchamp, who was bent on doing his master's 
 will in all things, and who, by Richard's orders, had 
 opened a treaty with the King of Scotland to sup- 
 port Arthur's claims in case of necessitj^. The de- 
 cisive conflict, which had been postponed as long as 
 Richard was in Europe, began as soon as his loving 
 brother thought he was fairly in Asia. Gerard de 
 Camville, a factious baron and a partisan of John, 
 claimed the custody of Lincoln Castle, and kept that 
 place in defiance of the regent's authority. Raising 
 an army, Longchamp marched to Lincoln ; but, 
 while he was besieging the castle, John put himself 
 at the head of a still more numerous army, and at- 
 tacked the royal castles of Nottingham and Tickhill, 
 and took them both after a siege of two days. This 
 ! done, the earl sent a threatening message to the 
 regent. Longchamp, who was not much of a sol- 
 dier, was taken by surprise ; he gave up the siege 
 at Lincoln, and Gerard de Camville did homage for 
 his castle to John.' The regent then convened the 
 chiefe of the king's army and the barons most at- 
 tach* to Richard, and warned them in strong terms 
 that John was seeking the government : but he was 
 not properly supported, and, being compelled to 
 
 I John peems to have assumed a royal axiihority in the domain* 
 which Richard had too liberally g^iven him. From the importance of 
 these fxisscssions the chroniclers ca)l .John <.ht TctT.Tich.
 
 490 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III- 
 
 yield, a truce most disadvantageous to Longchamp 
 was concluded between the contending parties. 
 The regent was forced to agree that a certain num- 
 ber of the royal castles, the possession of which had 
 hitherto constituted his greatest strength, should be 
 placed in the custody of various bishops and barons, 
 who were sworn to keep the fortresses in the king's 
 fealty until he should return from Palestine; but 
 should he die during his pilgrimage, then they were 
 to deliver them to Prince John. At the same tnne 
 another concession of almost equal importance was 
 extorted from Longchamp: the settlement in favor 
 of Arthur was formally set aside ; and, the regent 
 himself directing the act, the earls and primates of 
 the kingdom took the oath of fealty to .John, ac- 
 knowledging him, should Richard die without issue, 
 as heir to tlie throne.' For a short time John was 
 satisfied with the progress he had made, and left 
 to the chancellor-regent his places and honors ; but 
 the tranquillity thus insured was disturbed by cir- 
 cumstances artfully arranged. Geofirey, Arch- 
 bishop of York, the son of Henry H. by Fair Rosa- 
 mond, had been compelled to swear that he would 
 live out of England. He was now preparing to re- 
 turn to obtain possession of his church. The whole 
 board of justiciaries joined their chief in prohibiting 
 his landing; and Longchamp, fairly acting in the 
 exercise of his authority, commanded the sheriffs to 
 arrest Geoffrey, should he disregard the injunction. 
 At the instigation of his half-brother John, Geoffrey 
 defied the regent, and landed at Dover, where, how- 
 ever, he was presently obliged to take refuge in a 
 church. When the requisition was made by the 
 bheriff or the constable of Dover, he replied that he 
 would never submit to that " traitor, the Bishop of 
 Ely." It was required of him that he should swear 
 fealty anew or depart the kingdom. For three days 
 he refused to answer, and his asylum was respected 
 the while ; but on the fourth morning the officers 
 broke into the church, where the archl)ishop had 
 just concluded mass, seized him at the foot of the 
 altar, and, after literally dragging him through the 
 streets, lodged him in Dover Castle. At the news 
 of this transaction, which excited considerable in- 
 dignation among the people, John and his party 
 were overjoyed. They had got Longchamp fast 
 in the snare they had laid for him; and now they 
 produced what they called Richard's authority 
 for displacing him altogether, and substituting the 
 Archbishop of Rouen. In vain did the regent plead 
 that he had not directed the more violent and offen- 
 sive part of the proceedings against Geoffrey, — that 
 the authorities of Dover had thought fit to understand 
 much more from his warrant than he ever intended. 
 It was equally in vain that, at the solicitation of the 
 Bishop of London, who gave security for his good 
 behavior, Longchamp released Geoffrey within a 
 very few days, and allowed him to go to London. 
 John, acting >vith the Archbishop of Rouen, who 
 assumed all the rights of a chief justiciary, peremp- 
 torily summoned him to make amends to the Arch- 
 bishop of York, and to answer for the whole of his 
 public conduct before the king's council. The 
 
 1 B. Atibn?. — IloveJ. — R:carJiis Divisiensis. — rxcto. 
 
 semblance of an affection which was as sudden as it 
 was tender, sprung up between John, who had hith- 
 erto hated him, and his illegitimate brother. On 
 the one side all the prelates and barons in the king- 
 dom were invited or ordered by John to assemble — 
 on the other they were all forbidden by Longchamp 
 (who declared that John's object was to disinherit 
 his sovereign) from holding any such meeting. 
 The meeting, however, was held at Loddon Bridge 
 on the Thames, between Reading and Windsor; and 
 Longchamp himself, who was in Windsor Castle, 
 was ordered to attend — an order he did not care to 
 obey. There John and Geoffrey embraced each 
 other weeping ; and John, who was a good actor, 
 fell on his knees before the bishops and barons, and 
 implored them to avenge his dear brother's wrongs. 
 Soon after this meeting Longchamp marched from 
 Windsor Castle to the capital, being informed by 
 Richard Biset that John intended to seize the city 
 of London. The regent required the citizens to 
 close their gates against the earl ; but Geoffrey, the 
 Archbishop of York, who was beforehand with him, 
 had spread disaffection, and John was close behind 
 him with a consideral)le army. Under these cir- 
 cumstances the Londoners replied to the regent's 
 summons by declaring that they would not obey a 
 traitor and disturber of the public peace. Sorely 
 disappointed, Longchamp then took refuge in the 
 Tower of London ; and Earl John was joyfully re- 
 ceived on taking a solemn oath that he would be 
 faithful to his brother Richard, and would maintain 
 and enlarge the franchises of the city. On the fol- 
 lowing day, the 9th of October, 1191, it was decreed 
 by what was called the unanimous voice of the 
 bishops, earls, barons, and citizens of London, that 
 the chief justiciary should be deposed, and that John 
 should be proclaimed " The Chief Governor of the 
 whole kingdom." On receiving this news Long- 
 champ f\iinted and fell on the floor. At an early 
 hour the next morning John assembled his troops in 
 the East Smithfield, which was then a great, open, 
 green plain. A part of his forces, united with a 
 London mob, had already closel}' blockaded the Tow- 
 er both by land and water. The deposed regent came 
 out of the fortress to receive the propositions of his 
 opponents, which were rather liberal, in order, prob- 
 ably, to induce Longchamp to ratify John's title. 
 They offered him his bishopric of Ely, and the cus- 
 tody of three of the royal castles. But he was not to 
 be won, and his conduct on this occasion was honor- 
 able and dignified : he refused to commit any of the 
 king's rights, or to surrender any of the powers in- 
 trusted to him by his master. " But," said he, 
 "you are stronger than I: and, chancellor and jus- 
 ticiary as I am, I yield to force." So saying, he de- 
 livered up the keys of the ToAver to John. 
 
 It is rather surprising that, after these proceed- 
 ings, Longchamp should be left at large, and allowed 
 to escape from the kingdom. It appears, however, 
 that he was obliged to put on an unseeiuly disguise. 
 Some fishermen's wives saw the tall figure of a 
 woman sitting on the sea-shore near Dover, with a 
 web of cloth under one arm and a mercer's yard- 
 mrasure in the right hand : i;pon a neare;- insprc-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND iMILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 491 
 
 tion, the women discovered under the "green hood" 
 the "black face and new shorn beard of a man."' 
 It was the Bishop of Ely, the regent, the "chancel- 
 lor, on his way to Norjnandy ! John appointed the 
 Archbishop of Rouen grand justiciary and chancellor 
 in his place, and sequestrated the revenues of his 
 bishopric to answer for public moneys which he was 
 accused of having dissipated or purloined. His 
 enemies said that, when expelled from office, he 
 left nothing behind him in the treasury except empty 
 chests and the keys. It is very probable that Long- 
 champ did not leave much specie, but it should be 
 remembered that Richard had been constantly call- 
 ing upon liiin for money, and had left him heavj' 
 debts to discharge ; and the chancellor offered to 
 account for every farthing which had come into his 
 hands. He maintained in the face of the world that 
 his beloved master had never ordered his removal, 
 which had been effected by force, in order that .John 
 might with the more ease usurp the crown. The 
 Pope, to whom he wrote from Normandy, took this 
 view of the case, and warmly espoused Longchamp's 
 quarrel, denouncing excommunication against all 
 those who had seized his authority. This time the 
 anathema had little or no effect, for not a bishop in 
 England would obey the commands of Pope or 
 legate. The displaced minister wrote to his master, 
 who assured him that he had not withdrawn his 
 confidence from him, and it should appear ( we 
 venture no positive assertion where all is mystery 
 and confusion) that Richard made representations 
 to his mother in his behalf, for in the following year 
 Longchamp was in friendly correspondence with 
 Eleanor, and soon after, through her means, with 
 John himself, who had probably not found all he 
 expected in the new chief Justiciary, the Archbishop 
 of Rouen, — a man acknowledged by all parties as a 
 prudent and upright minister, one who conducted 
 himself mildly and conscientiouslj-, refusing all 
 bribes, and deciding equitably and according to law. 
 Prince John, on the contrary, was only to be gained 
 by money, and when Longchamp made him a large 
 otter for repurchasing his places, he invited the ex- 
 ile back to England, pi'omising to reinstate him. 
 Eleanor, it is said, had been already propitiated by 
 gifts a.r\d promises ; and she certainly joined John in 
 setting up Longchamp, and endeavoring to persuade 
 the Archbishop of Rouen and the other prelates 
 and nobles to reinstate the legate. John, who, in 
 fact, had displaced Longchamp under a color of 
 acting in obedience to his brother's orders, now un- 
 blushingly urged that it would much displease the 
 king to know how Longchamp had been removed 
 from the government without his command. It is 
 quite evident that this fickle, selfish prince only 
 wanted to make money. A council being assembled 
 at London during these negotiations, a messenger 
 suddenly presented himself, and announced the ar- 
 
 ' Viderunt faciem hnminis nigrani et nonter rasam. — Iloved. We 
 have omitted the indelicate and improbable parts of the story of 
 Li)ii^'c!ianip's escape which were written by Hugh, Bishop of Coven- 
 try, the bitter enemy of the chancellor. Peter of Blois took Huijh to 
 account for this satire, which was evidently intended to put Long- 
 champ in a more ridiculous and degrading- light than Archbishop 
 GeoSi'.'v hud been in at the san.:; p.ace. — Dover 
 
 rival of his master Longchamp, "legate and chan- 
 cellor," at Dover. Alarmed at this intelligence, the 
 new ministers sent for John, who soon appeared anti 
 told them that Longchamp defied them all, provided 
 he could obtain his (John's) protection, for whicli 
 he offered 700Z., to be paid within a week ; and he 
 concluded this significant speech by saying that he 
 was in great want of money, and that " a word to 
 the wise is enough." Such a monition could not be 
 misunderstood, and, anxious to prevent the return 
 of their great rival, the ministers agreed to buy John 
 off" by lending him 5001. from the king's treasury. 
 John then withdrew his proposition ; Eleanor did 
 the same, and a harsh and thi'eatening letter was 
 addressed to Longchamp in the name of the queen, 
 the clergy, and the people, insisting upon his im- 
 mediate departure from England.' The fallen 
 minister withdrew again to Normandy, there to 
 await the return of his master. 
 
 Such was the state of the government in England. 
 On the continent, the French king, who was in close 
 correspondence with Earl John, and who disregarded 
 all his solemn oaths, was preparing most dishonorably 
 to take advantage of Richard's absence. Almost as 
 soon as he returned to France, Philip had demanded 
 the cession of Gisors and the other places in the 
 Vexin constituting the dower of that princess, 
 together with the person of Alice, whom, strange 
 to say, he offered in marriage to John, who (stranger 
 still) listened to the proposition with a willing ear. 
 The governor of Normandy replied that he had no 
 orders from his master ; and all of them knew that, 
 by the treaty of Messina, these restitutions were not 
 to be made until the return of Richard. Philip then 
 threatened to invade Normandy ; but, when his 
 army was partly assembled, some of the French 
 nobles refused to accompany him, alleging the oaths 
 they had taken to protect his states, and in no way 
 make war on Richard till he should be returned 
 from the crusade. As the Pope, too, expressed his 
 abhorrence of the project of invasion, and threatened 
 him with the thunders of the church, Philip was 
 obliged to renounce his disgraceful enterprise, and 
 to satisfy himself with hatching mischief to his rival 
 by intrigues still more disgi-aceful. John, it appears, 
 offered no objection whatever to the marriage with 
 Alice, and Philip engaged to put him in possession 
 of all that his heart had so long coveted.'^ These 
 intrigues were in full activity when the news of 
 Richard's departure from the Holy Land arrived in 
 England. The people were daily expecting his ar- 
 rival, when vague and contradictory, and then very 
 inauspicious intelligence began to circulate. Some 
 returned crusaders asserted that he must have fallen 
 into the hands of the Moors, others that he must 
 have perished at sea, and others again affirmed that 
 they had seen the ship in which he had embarked 
 safe in the Italian port of Brindisi. We are sorry 
 at being again forced to reject a touching and 
 beautiful legend, but, leaving Blondel in the con- 
 genial hands of the poets, we fear that in historical 
 soberness we must attribute the discovery ot 
 
 ' Pal?rave. Rot. Cur. Ke?. 
 
 2 Script. Rrr. Franc— }1 ived—NcAbr
 
 492 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Richard's imprisonment to the copy of a letter 
 from his jailer Henry to Philip. The emperor 
 told the king that the enemy of the empire — the 
 disturber of France — was loaded with chains and 
 safely lodged in one of his castles of the Tyrol, where 
 trusty guards watched over him, day and night, 
 with drawn swords. This discovery shocked and 
 disgusted all Europe. Longchamp, who was still 
 on the continent, was one of the first to learn it, and 
 the first to adopt measures for his master's deliver- 
 ance. Earl John openly rejoiced at the intelli- 
 gence; but Richard's English subjects voluntarily 
 renewed their oaths of allegiance. The Airhbishop 
 of Rouen, and the bishops and barons, met at Oxford, 
 and immediately sent two deputies — the abbots of 
 Broxley and Pont-Robert — into Germany to give 
 the king advice and consolation. .Beyond the Alps, 
 as everywhere else where the cause of the crusades 
 was cherished and Richard known as the greatest 
 champion of the cross, a most violent indignation 
 was excited. The Pope at once excommunicated 
 Leopold, the Austrian duke, and threatened the 
 emperor with the same sentence unless he imme- 
 diately liberated Richard. Seeing that he could not 
 work his ends with English means, John hastened 
 over to Paris, where he surrendered the greater 
 partof Normandy to the French king, and did PhiUp 
 homage for the rest of his brother's continental do- 
 minions. He then engaged some troops of foreign 
 mercenaries, and returned home, having agreed 
 with his ally, that Philip should foil upon Normandy 
 with a powerful army, while he overran England. 
 
 John took the castles of Windsor and Wallingford, 
 and, marching on London, reported that his bi-other 
 was dead in prison, and demanded the crown as 
 lawful heir. For a moment the steadiness of the 
 grand justiciary, the Archbishop of Rouen, was 
 doubtful, but the pi-elates and barons raised Richard's 
 standard, defeated John's mercenaries, and com- 
 pelled him to retreat. He, however, obtained an 
 armistice, during which he extended the threads of 
 his intrigues. Philip was still less fortunate in 
 Nt)rmandy ; for, after advancing to Rouen, he was 
 beaten by the indignant and enthusiastic people, 
 commanded by Richard's old comrade, the brave 
 Earl of Leicester, who had got safely from Pales- 
 tine, and he was obliged to make a most disgraceful 
 retreat into his own territories. 
 
 In the mean time, though irritated by the indig- 
 nities he suffered, and at times depressed by the 
 notion that his subjects would abandon him — a 
 captive as he was in the hands of his ungenerous 
 enemies — Richard's sanguine and jovial spirit 
 saved him from any long fits of despair or despond- 
 ence. He whiled away the weary hours by singing 
 or composing troubadour verses,' and when tired of 
 
 • The love stanzas of Richard have all been lost, but a short poem 
 nf his, written in prison, has been preserved. The following passages 
 iVom Mr. Ellis's translation will give an idea of it. There is more 
 pathos in it than might be expected ; but most men can be pathetic 
 :ibout their own sufferings : — 
 
 If captive wight attempt the tuneful strain. 
 
 His voice, belike, full dolefully will sound ; 
 Yet, to the sad, 'tis comfort to complain. 
 
 T?..;..Ti'l.. Vovp I storp • ""i^ nromises atm'iT,.! . 
 
 this resource, he caroused with his keepers, who 
 seem to have been about equally pleased with hia 
 music, his facetiousness, and his powers of drinking. 
 Borne down by the weight of European opinion, 
 and the authority of the church, the emperor was 
 at length obliged to relax his hold ; and Longchamp, 
 who was now with Richard, seems to have been in- 
 strumental in inducing him to produce his captive 
 before the diet at Hagenau. Richard was on his 
 way to that place, when the two abbots dispatched 
 from England first met him. He received them in 
 a gay and courteous manner. The full accounts 
 they gave him of his brother's treachery made him 
 look grave ; but it was only for a moment, and he 
 said, laughing, " My brother John, however, will 
 never gain a kingdom by his valor." On his Jirrival 
 at Hagenau, Richard was received with a show of 
 courtesy ; but his first interview with the emperor 
 was discouraging. Henry revealed all his avarice 
 and unjustifiable pretensions, and made many de- 
 mands, with which his captive would not comply, 
 saying he would rather die where he Wiis, than so 
 drain his kingdom and degrade his crown. On the 
 following day, Richard appeared before the diet of 
 the empire ; and Henry, who had no right over 
 him, except Avhat he gained by treachery and force, 
 and from the exploded theory of the imperial su- 
 premacy over all the kings of the west, accused him 
 of many crimes and misdemeanors, the chief of 
 which were : — 1. His alliance with Tancred, the 
 usurper of Sicily. 2. His treatment of Isaac, the 
 Christian sovereign of Cyprus. 3. His insults of- 
 fered to the Duke of Austria, and through him to 
 the whole German nation. 4. His impeding the 
 crusade by his quarrels with the French king. 5. 
 His having employed assassins to murder Conrad 
 of Montferrat. 6. The most impudent charge of 
 all — his having concluded a base truce with Saladin, 
 and left Jerusalem in his hands. Richard, after 
 asserting that his royal dignity exempted him from 
 answering before any jurisdiction except that of 
 Heaven, yet condescended, for the sake of his rep- 
 utation, to justify his conduct before that august as- 
 sembly, which was composed of all the ecclesiastical 
 and secular princes of Germany. His speech is not 
 given by any original writer, but it is stated by 
 
 Shame on the niggards ! Since, these winters twain 
 XInransom'd, still I bear a tyrant's chain. 
 Full well they know, my lords and nobles all, 
 Of England, Normandy, Guienne, Poictou, 
 Ne'er did I slight my poorest vassal's call, 
 
 But all whom wealth could buy from chains withdrew 
 Not in reproach I speak, nor idly vain, 
 But I alone unpitied bear the chain. 
 My fate will show, " the dungeon and the grave 
 
 Alike repel our kindred and our friends." 
 Here am I left their paltry gold to save 1 
 
 Sad fate is mine ; but worse their crime attends. 
 Their lord will die ; their conscience shall remain. 
 And tell how long 1 wore this galling chain. 
 There are three more stanzas in the same strain. Another sir- 
 venle, attributed to Richard, is preserved. It is addressed to his 
 cousin, Count Guy of Auvergne, whom it reproaches for lukewarm- 
 ness in not taking up arms against the traitor, King Philip. One 
 passage is curious — " The desire of building strong castles makes you 
 forgetful of ladies and gallantry. You are no more seen at bowers or 
 tournaments. Have a care of the French ; they are Lombards in their 
 HsalinD'.s." — ffift. Troubad.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 493 
 
 Hoveden and other contemporaries, that his reply I 
 to all the charges was manly, clear, and convincing 
 — that his eloquence filled the members of the diet 
 with admiration, and left no suspicion of guilt in 
 their minds.' Matthew Paris says that the emperor 
 was convinced of Plantagenet's innocence, and that 
 he treated him thenceforth with humanity. He 
 still, however, exacted a heavy ransom, though it is 
 difficult to understand by what right, or under what 
 decent pretext, he could detain Richard, or put him 
 to ransom, if his innocence was acknowledged. But 
 there was no right in the transaction — no decency 
 in the actors in it ; it began in revenge, and was to 
 end in money, and as much money as could be pos- 
 sibly obtained, without a care or a thought about 
 guilt or innocence. After fixing one price, the 
 emperor raised it to another, and the bargain was 
 proti-acted for five tedious months, during which, 
 though his fetters were removed, Richard was still 
 kept in prison. This was, no doubt, the most 
 anxious and most painful part of his captivity. He 
 sent Longchamp, as his chancellor, to the council of 
 regency, to press the raising of the ransom. The 
 captivity of the king, or superior lord, was a case 
 especially provided for by the feudal tenures on 
 which the vassals of the crown and others held their 
 estates ; and a tax of twenty shillings was, there- 
 fore, imposed on every knight's fee. The clergy 
 and laity were besides called upon for a fourth part 
 of their yearly incomes. While the money was 
 slowly raising, the emperor still kept increasing his 
 demands. At last, on the 22d of September, 1193, 
 the terms were fixed. It was agreed that Richard 
 should pay 100,000 marks of pure silver of Cologne 
 standard to the imperial court ; that he was also to 
 pay 50,000 marks to the emperor and the Duke of 
 Austria conjointly, giving sixty hostages to the em- 
 peror for 30,000 marks, and other hostages to the 
 Duke of Austria for 20,000 marks ; on condition, 
 however, that these 50,000 marks were to be re- 
 mitted altogether if Richard performed certain pri- 
 vate promises. Several clauses of this treaty were 
 either secret or added afterward. It was also 
 agreed that Richard should restore Isaac of Cyprus 
 to his liberty, though not to his dominions, and de- 
 liver Isaac's beautiful daughter to the care of the 
 Duke of Austria, and send his own niece, Eleanor 
 of Bi-ittany, the sister of young Arthur, to be mar- 
 ried to the Duke of Austria's son. Henry, on his 
 side, agreed to aid Richard against all his enemies ; 
 and, that he might have the air of giving something 
 for so much money, invested him with the feudal 
 sovereignty of the kingdom of Aries, or Provence — 
 an obsolete right which the emperors long claimed 
 without being able to enforce it. According to 
 Hoveden, one of the very best of contemporary au- 
 thorities, Richard, in an assembly of the German 
 
 1 Richard produced two letters from the Old Man of the Mountain, 
 or the Prince of the Assassins, who (in them) gloried in having 
 ordered the murder of the Marquess of Montferrat, because the mar- 
 quess had robbed and murdered one of his subjects. These letters 
 are generally set down as spurious ; but they may have been written, 
 and, as Sir James Mackintosh remarks, the unskilful hands of the 
 chroniclers may have disfigured them, without encroaching on their 
 substantial truth. But, true or false, such evidence was scarcely 
 wanted. 
 
 princes and English envoys, by delivering the ca}) 
 from his head, resigned his crown into the hands of 
 Henry, who restored it to him again, to be held as 
 a fief of the empire, with the obligation attached to 
 it, of paying a yearly tribute of 5000 pounds. But 
 is there not some error in the transmission of this 
 statement, or was not the fanciful crown of Aries 
 here intended ? Such a debasing tender may, how- 
 ever, have been made by Richard to cajole the Ger- 
 man, and defeat the active intrigues of his brother 
 John and King Philip. These precious confederates 
 offered to pay the emperor a much larger sum than 
 that fixed for the ransom, if he would detain Richard 
 in captivity. Henry was greatly tempted by the 
 bait ; but the better feelings of the German princes, 
 who had attended the diet, compelled him to keep 
 his bargain. More difficulties than might have been 
 expected were encountered in obtaining the money 
 for the ransom ; and what was procured seems to 
 have been raised almost wholly in England, the con- 
 tinental dominions contributing little or nothing. In 
 our island, the plate of all churches or monasteries 
 was taken ; the Cistercian monks, who had no plate, 
 gave up their wool ; and England, in the words of 
 an old annalist, " from sea to sea was reduced to the 
 utmost distress." Seventy thousand marks were 
 sent over to Germany, and in the month of Febru- 
 ary, 1194, Richard was at length freed.' He landed 
 at Sandwich, on the 13th of March, after an absence 
 of more than four years — about fourteen months of 
 which he had passed in the prisons of the duke and 
 emperor. Though they had been sorely fleeced, 
 the English people received him with an enthusi- 
 astic and honest joy. There was, it appears, wealth 
 enough left to give him a magnificent reception in 
 London ; and one of the German barons who ac- 
 companied him is said to have exclaimed, " Oh king I 
 if our emperor had suspected this, you would not 
 have been let off so hghtly."^ After spending only 
 three days at London, he headed such troops as 
 were ready, and marched against Nottingham Cas- 
 tle, belonging to Earl John, which surrendered at 
 discretion. As for John himself, being timely ad- 
 vised by his ally, Philip, who wrote to him as soon 
 ae he learned Richard's deliverance, " Take care of 
 yourself — the devil is broken loose," — he had put 
 himself in safety at a distance. On the 30th of 
 March, Richard held a great council at Nottingham, 
 at which it was determined, among other things, 
 that, if John did not appear within forty days, all 
 his estates in England should be forfeited, and that 
 the ceremony of the king's coronation should be 
 repeated, in order that every unfavorable impression 
 which his captivity had made might be thereby 
 effaced.* Accordingly, he was recrowned with 
 great pomp (not at Westminster, but at Winchester) 
 on the feast of Easter. All his attention was again 
 turned to the raising of money ; and he proceeded 
 with a& little scruple or delicacy as he had done four 
 
 t Hoved.— Brompt.— Diceto. — Newb. — Matt. Par. — Rymer, Feed.— 
 Michaud. Hist, des Croisades. — Mills, Hist. Crusades. — Raumer, 
 House of Hoheustaufen. 
 
 3 Brompt. — Hemingford. 
 
 3 It appears that Richard was opposed to this recoronation, but 
 submitted to it in deference to the opinion of the council.
 
 494 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 years before, when filling his purse for the holy 
 war. He resumed many of the estatos which he 
 had then alienated or sold, and took from several 
 individuals the employments and offices which they 
 had bought, selling them all again to the best 
 bidders. 
 
 A.D. 1194. Even from a nature much less fiery 
 and vindictive than Richard's, the forgiveness of 
 such injuries as had been inflicted by the French 
 king could scarcely be expected. Philip, moreover, 
 who during his confinement liad sent him back liis 
 homage, was now actually in arms within, or upon 
 the frontiers of, his continental states. Richard 
 prepared for war, and his people of England were 
 as eager for it as himself. About the middle of 
 May, he landed at Barfleur, in Normandy, bent on 
 revenge. He was met at his landing by his craven- 
 hearted brother John, who threw himself at his 
 feet, and implored forgiveness. At the interces- 
 sion of his mother Eleanor, Richard forgave liim, 
 and received him into favor. This is a noble trait, and 
 a wonderful one, considering the amount of the prov- 
 ocation and the barbarous usages of the times. •' I for- 
 give him," said Richard, " and hope I shall as easily 
 forget his injuries as he will forget my pardon." ' 
 The demoniac character of John was placed in a 
 not less forcible light. To return to his brother, he 
 had deserted from Philip, to whom he had sworn 
 that he would never make peace without his con- 
 currence : so far, however, his step was a usual 
 one ; but he further impressed it with his inherent 
 treachery and ferocity. Before quitting Philip's 
 partly, he invited to dinner all the officers of the 
 garrison which that king had placed in Evreux, and 
 massacred them all during the entertainment. His 
 hands were wet with this blood when he waited 
 upon Richard ; but, with all his vices, we think too 
 well of the Lion-heart to believe that such a deed 
 facilitated his pardon. Although begun with fury, 
 this campaign was carried on rather languidly and 
 on a confined scale, in part owing to the impover- 
 ished state of Richard's exchequer, and in part to 
 the disaffection prevalent in most of his dominions 
 on the continent. He, however, defeated Philip in 
 several engagements, took several towns, and in 
 one encounter got possession of his adversary's mil- 
 itary chest, together with the cartulary, the records, 
 and the archives of the crown. The campaign ter- 
 minated, on the 23d of Julj% in a truce for one 
 year. 
 
 A.D. 119.5. Hubert Walter, who had been lately 
 advanced from the bishopric of Salisbury to the 
 archbishopric of Canterbury, was appointed guardi- 
 an of England and grand justiciary. He had shown 
 his bravery and attachment to Richard in the wars 
 of Palestine, and now he displayed admirable talent 
 and conduct as a peaceful minister. He deserved 
 better times, and a more prudent master. He had 
 been educated under the great Ranulf de Glanville, 
 and was versed in the science of the English laws. 
 Under his administration the justices made their 
 regular circuits ; a general tranquillity was restored ; 
 and men, gradually recovering from the late oppres- 
 
 ' Brompt. 
 
 sions and vexations, began to be reanimated with 
 the spirit of order and industry. The absence of 
 the king might have been felt as a real benefit to 
 the nation, had it not been for his constant demands 
 for money to carry on his wars abroad, and com- 
 plete the payment of his ransom, which demands 
 frequentlj' obliged the minister to act contrary to 
 the conviction of his better judgment and his con- 
 science. Hubert, however, seems to have raised 
 more money with less actual violence and injustice 
 than any of his predecessors. Longchamp was 
 employed in some important embassies, and con- 
 tinued to hold the office of chancellor till his dejith, 
 which happened about a year before that of his 
 master. 
 
 Toward tlie end of the preceding year death had 
 delivered Ricliard from a part of his anxieties. 
 Fearing that the brutal Leopold would take the 
 lives of the hostages placed in his hands, the Eng- 
 lish king fulfilled one of his agreements, by send- 
 ing the Princess of Cyprus and his niece, " The 
 Maid of Brittany," into Germany. Before the 
 ladies reached A'^ienna they received news of the 
 duke's death. As he was tilting on St. Stephen's 
 day, his horse fell upon him, and crushed his foot; 
 a mortification ensued ; and, when liis ph3^sicians 
 told him he must die, he was seized with dread 
 and remorse ; and, to obviate some of the effects of 
 the excommunication under which he still lay, he 
 ordered that the English hostages should be set 
 free, and that the money he had extorted should 
 be returned to Richard.' When war broke out 
 again in France — which it did before the term of 
 the truce had expired — it was carried on in a desul- 
 tory manner, and a strange treaty of peace was 
 proposed, by which Richard was to give " the Maid 
 of Brittany," who had returned to him on learning 
 the Duke of Austria's death, in marriage to the 
 son of the French king. Peace was, however, 
 concluded at the end of the year without this mar- 
 riage. 
 
 Great discontents had long prevailed in London, 
 on account of the vmequal assessment of the taxes ; 
 the poor, it is alleged, were made to pay out of all 
 proportion with the rich. The people found an 
 advocate and champion in William Fitz-Osbert, 
 commonly called " Longbeard" — a man of great ac- 
 tivity and energy, "somewhat learned and very 
 eloquent," who, in his first proceedings, seems to 
 have been perfectlj' in the right. He went over to 
 the continent to laj- his complaints before the king ; 
 and as he admitted that the war which called for 
 so much money was perfectly just, and even neces- 
 sary ; and as he contended for nothing more than 
 that the rich should not throw all the burden of the 
 supplies upon the poor, Richard received him with- 
 out anger, and promised that the matter should bo 
 properly examined. It appears, however, that 
 nothing was done. Longbeard then (a.d. 1196) 
 had recourse to secret political associations — an 
 expedient always dangerous, but particularly so 
 
 1 It does ni)t appear what part, or whether any, of the money was 
 restored. It is asserted that Richard's ransom was spent in beauti- 
 fying and fortifying Vienna.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS, 
 
 495 
 
 with an unenlightened people. Fifty-two thousand 
 persons are said to have sworn implicit obedience 
 to the orders of their "advocate," the "savior of 
 the poor," whose somewhat obscure and mystical 
 harangues,' delivered eveiy day at St. Paul's Cross, 
 filled the wealthier citizens with alarm. 
 
 It is pretty clear that Fitz-Osbert now became a 
 dangerous demagogue, but the particular accusa- 
 tion brought against him is curious : he was charged 
 with inflaming the poor and middling people with 
 the love of liberty and happiness. He was cited to 
 appear before a great council of prelates and nobles ; 
 he went, but escorted by so many of the inferior 
 classes, who proclaimed him " the king of the 
 poor," that it was not considered safe to proceed 
 against him. The agents of govei-nment then en- 
 deavored to gain over a part of the mob, and suc- 
 ceeded by a cunning alternation of promises and 
 threats. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the 
 other justiciaries met the poorest citizens on several 
 occasions, and at last induced them to give up many 
 of their children as hostages for their peaceable 
 behavior. Longbeard, however, was still so for- 
 midable that they durst not arrest him openly. One 
 GeoflTrey. and another wealthy citizen whose name 
 is not recorded, undertook to seize him by surprise : 
 they watched all his motions for several days, 
 being always followed by a body of armed men 
 ready to act at their signal. At length they caught 
 him as he was walking quietly along with only nine 
 adherents. They approached him as if they had no 
 business with him, but when sufificiently near they 
 laid hands on him, and the armed men, who were 
 concealed close at hand, ran up to secure him. Long- 
 beard drew his knife, stabbed Geoffrey to the heart, 
 and then with his comrades fought his way to the 
 church of St. Mary of Arches. He barricaded the 
 church tower, and there made a desperate resist- 
 ance. On the fourth day fire was set to the tower, 
 and the besieged were driven forth by the flames. 
 They were all taken and bound, and, while they 
 were binding Longbeard, the son of that Geoffrey 
 whom he had slain plunged his long knife into his 
 bowels. He fell, but was not so fortunate as to die 
 there. Wounded and bleeding as he was, they 
 tied him to the tail of a horse, and so dragged him 
 to the Tower, where he was presented to the 
 archbishop-regent, who presently sentenced him 
 to the gallows. From the Tower they dragged 
 him at the same horse's tail to " the Elms" in West 
 Smithfield, and there hanged him on a high gibbet, 
 and'his nine companions along with him. 
 
 The mob, who had done nothing to rescue him 
 while living, honored him as a saint and martyr 
 when dead. They stole away the gibbet on which 
 he was hanged, and distributed it in precious mor- 
 sels for rehcs ; they preserved the very dust on 
 which he had trod ; and by degrees not only the 
 people in the neighborhood of London, but the 
 peasantry from distant parts of the kingdom, made 
 pilgrimages to Smithfield, beheving that miracles 
 
 1 It appears that Fitz-Osbert, or Longbeard, took a text from 
 Scripture, and gave to his political discourses the form and character 
 of sermons. He wore his beard that he might look like a true Saxon. 
 
 were wrought on the spot where the "king of the 
 poor" had breathed his last. The archbishop sent 
 troops to disperse these rustic enthusiasts ; but, 
 driven away by day, they reassembled in the dark- 
 ness of night ; and it was not until a permanent 
 guard was established on the spot, and many men 
 and women had been scourged and thrown into 
 prison, that the pilgrimages were stopped, and the 
 popular enthusiasm and ferment abated.' Not 
 many months after these events England was aflSicted 
 with a dreadful scarcity, and the famine was accom- 
 panied or followed by the plague, a frequent visitor 
 in those ages, but which, on this particular occasion, 
 committed unusual havoc. The monasteries alone 
 were exempted. 
 
 A.D. 1197. A war, contemptible in its results, 
 but savagely cruel, again broke out between Rich- 
 ard and Philip, and ended when their barons were 
 tired of it, or when they, the kings, had no more 
 money to purchase the services of Brabauters and 
 other mercenaries. Even had the vengeance of 
 Richard been less implacable, and the ambition of 
 Philip to establish his supremacy in France, at the 
 cost of the Plantagenets, a less fixed and ruling 
 passion, there were other causes which would have 
 sufficed for the disturbance of peace. In Brittany 
 the rule or paramount authority of the Enghsh king 
 was most unpopular, and the same was the case in 
 Aquitaine, where Bertrand de Born, who had so 
 often intrigued with Richard against his father 
 Henry, was now intriguing with the French king 
 against Richard. In both these states some of the 
 most powerful of Richard's vassals raised the ban- 
 ner of war, and, at times separately, at times united 
 with French troops, they fought with the view of 
 emancipating their country from the Plantagenets, 
 not heeding the obvious danger of only changing 
 masters and bearing the yoke of Philip. The Earl 
 of Toulouse also declared war in the south, and, 
 changing from an ally into an enemy, the Earl of 
 Flanders in the north at one time menaced Richard 
 with his dangerous attacks. Though surprised and 
 defeated by the Bretons at Carhaix, and beaten 
 again by the Bretons united with some troops of 
 France near Aumale, Richard, on the whole, main- 
 tained his usual superiority on the field of battle. 
 The Earl of Toulouse was reconciled by a treaty of 
 family alliance, Richard bestowing on him the hand 
 of his sister Joan, the queen-dowager of Sicily.^ 
 
 The most memorable incident of this campaign 
 was the capture of the Bishop of Beauvais, a near 
 connection to the French king, and one of the most 
 bitter of Richard's enemies. He was taken, fight- 
 ing in complete armor, by Marchadee, the leader 
 of the Brabanters in Richard's service. The king 
 ordered him to be loaded with irons, and cast into 
 a dungeon in Rouen Castle. Two of his chaplains 
 waited on Richard to implore for milder treatment 
 " You, yourselves, shall judge whether I am not 
 justified," said Richard. " This man has done me 
 
 1 Newb. — Hoved. — Gervase. — Knighton. — Matt. Par. 
 
 2 We have mentioned that Queen Berengaria and the two other 
 ladies reached Sicily safely from Acre. From Sicily they went to 
 Rome, where the Pope entertained them some months, and then 
 caused them to be conducted to Aquitaine.
 
 49G 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 many wrongs. Mucli I could forget, but not this. 
 When in the hands of the emperor, and when, in 
 consideration of my royal character, they were be- 
 ginning to treat me more gently, and with some 
 marks of respect, your master airived, and I soon 
 experienced the effect of his visit; over-night he 
 spoke with the emperor, and the next morning a 
 chain was put upon me such as ahorse could hardly 
 bear. What he now merits at my hands declare 
 yourselves, and be just." The chaplains, it is 
 said, were silent, and withdrew. The bishop then 
 addressed the Pope, imploring him to intercede. 
 Celestine rated him severely on his flagrant depart- 
 ure from the canons of tlie church ; and told him 
 that though ho might ask mercy as a friend, he 
 could not interfere in such a case as pope. Soon 
 after this the pontiff wrote to Ricliard, imploring 
 him to pity " his son," the bishop. Richard, who, 
 like most of his Normau predecessors, was not 
 ■wanting in a rude wit or caustic humor, replied to 
 the Pope, by sending him the Bishop of Beauvais' 
 coat of mail, which was besmeared with blood, and 
 had the following scroll attached to it, — an apposite 
 quotation from the Old Testament, — " This have 
 ■we found : know now whether it be thy son's coat 
 or no." Though, as usual, sorely in want of money, 
 Richard refused ten thousand marks which were 
 offered as a ransom, and the Bishop of Beauvais oc- 
 cupied his dungeon and wore his chains till Richard 
 went to the gi-ave." ' 
 
 In the month of September, of this same year, 
 disease, misfortune, remorse, and a premature de- 
 cay, did the English king justice on another of his 
 foes. The Emperor Henry died at Messina, after 
 suffering an extremity of humiliation at the hands 
 of his Sicilian wife ; and in his dying moments he 
 confessed his shameful injustice to Richard, and 
 ordered that the money he had extorted as his ran- 
 som should be restored. Though a bishop was 
 charged with a message to Richard, and though the 
 clause was solemnly inserted in the emperor's will, 
 the money was never repaid. As the war again 
 waxed languid, and the powerful vassals of both po- 
 tentates showed again that they were actuated by 
 other motives and interests than those of their mas- 
 ters, the two kings again spoke of peace, and meet- 
 ing at Andely, on the Seine, finally " concluded 
 upon an abstinence of war, to endui-e from the Feast 
 of St. Hilary for one whole year." These paltry 
 details vex and tire the narrator, but it is impossible 
 to convey a just notion of the course of events and 
 the spirit of the times without them. 
 
 A. D. 1198. — When the truce expired, hostilities 
 were again renewed, and with greater ferocity than 
 ever, both princes burning and utterly desolating the 
 territories they invaded, and tearing out the eyes 
 of many of their prisoners. Near Gisors, Richard 
 gained another victory, and Philip in his flight was 
 nearly drowned in the river Epte, abridge he had to 
 cross breaking down under the weight of the fugitives. 
 In his triumphant bulletin, Richard said, " This day 
 I have made the King of France drink deep of the 
 waters of the Epte !" As for himself, he had un- 
 
 1 Hoved.— Brumpt.— Matt. Par.— Newbrif 
 
 horsed three knights at a single charge, and made 
 them prisoners. It was Caur de Lion's last fight. 
 A ti-uce was concluded, and early in the following 
 year, through the mediation of Peter of Capua, the 
 Pope's legate, it was prolonged and solemnly de- 
 clared to be binding for five years. A fresh ground 
 of quarrel arose almost immediately after, but the 
 diflerences were made up, and, marching from Nor- 
 mandy, Richard repaired to Aquitaine to look after 
 his intriguing and ever-turbulent vassals in that quar- 
 ter. A strange ballad had for some time been cur- 
 rent in Normandy. Its burden purported, that in 
 the Limousin the arrow was making by which the 
 tyrant would die. The learned writer^ who has 
 collected all the discrepancies and contradictions 
 respecting the circumstances by which Richard's 
 death was attended, will not venture to decide 
 whether these shadows cast before the event, arose 
 out of the wishes of the people, or indicated any 
 organized conspiracy. We are inclined to believe 
 ourselves that there was no conspiracy beyond the 
 old, dark brooding, the settled hatred and vindictive 
 spirit of his vassals of the south. Those fiery men, 
 it will be remembered, had attempted the life of his 
 father Henry, more than once, by shooting arrows 
 at him. There are many contradictions which 
 throw doubt upon j)arts of the commonly received 
 story of the death of Richard, but all accounts agree 
 in stating that the heroic Lion-heart fell before an 
 obscure castle, and in consequence of a wound re- 
 ceived either from an arrow or a quarrel. The 
 usual narrative, which has almost a prescriptive 
 right to insertion, is to this effect : — Arriving from 
 Normandy in the south, Richard learned that Vido- 
 mar. Viscount of Limoges, his vassiil, liad found a 
 treasure in his domains. This, as superior lord, lie 
 demanded ; and when the viscount oflered only half 
 of it, and refused to give more, Richard, determined 
 to have the whole, besieged him in his castle of 
 Chaluz. The want of provisions reduced the gar- 
 rison to the greatest straits, and they offered to sur- 
 render at the king's mercy, their lives only being 
 spared. Richard refused the terms, telling them 
 he would take the place by storm, and hang every 
 man of them upon the battlements. The garrison 
 of the castle were driven to despair. The king, 
 with Marchadee, the leader of his mercenaries, then 
 surveyed the walls to see where the assault should 
 be made, when a youth, by name Bertrand de Gur- 
 dun, having recognized him from the ramparts, pray- 
 ing God to speed it well, discharged an arrow, and 
 hit the king in the left shoulder. Soon after, the 
 castle was taken by assault, and all the men in it 
 were butchered, with the exception of Bertrand. 
 The wound was not in itself dangerous, but it was 
 made mortal by the unskilfulness of the surgeon in 
 extracting the arrow-head, which had been broken 
 off in the shoulder. Feeling his end approacJi, 
 Richard summoned Bertrand de Gurdun into his 
 presence. "Wretch!" he exclaimed, "what have 
 I done unto thee that thou shouldest seek my life ?" 
 The chained youth replied firmly, — " My father 
 and my two brothers hast thou slain with thine own 
 
 1 Sir Francis Palgrave, lutroduct. Rot. Cur. Reg.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 497 
 
 hand, and myself thou wouldest hang! Let me 
 die now, in cruel torture if thou wilt; I am content 
 if thou diest, and the world be freed of an oppressor!" 
 " Youth, I forgive thee !" cried Richard, " loose his 
 chains and give him a hundred shillings !" But Mar- 
 chadee^ would not let him go, and after the king's 
 death he flayed him alive, and hanged him. Rich- 
 ard expired in anguish and contrition, on Tuesday, 
 
 1 Here there is a varying accdunL The MS. chronicle of Win- 
 <:hester saye that Marchadee surrendered the prisoner to Richard's 
 sister Joan, and that she plucked out his eyes, and caused him to 
 suffer other horrible mutilations and tortures, under which he ex- 
 pired. 
 
 the 6th of April, 1199, a date in which all the con- 
 temporary writers of best note seem to be agreed. 
 He had reigned nearly ten years, not one of which 
 was passed in England, but which had all been 
 wasted in incessant wars, or in preparations for 
 war. He was only forty-two years old, and he left 
 no children to succeed him. By his will he directed 
 that his heart should be carried to his faithful city 
 of Rouen for interment in the cathedral, that his 
 bowels, " as his ignoble parts," should be left among 
 the rebellious Poictevins, and that his body should 
 be buried at the feet of his father at Fontevraud. 
 
 John. — surnamkd Sans-Terre, or Lackland.* 
 
 Great Seal of Kjng John. 
 
 A.D. 1199. Earl John was in Normandy when 
 his brother died. As soon as he received the in- 
 telligence, he sent to retain the foreign mercenaries 
 who had been in Richard's pay, promising them large 
 gifts and increased salaries. Dispatching Hubert 
 Walter, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and William 
 Mareschall into England, to overawe the barons 
 there, he himself hastened to Chinon to seize his 
 brother's trea^sure, which was deposited in that 
 castle. Chinon, with several other castles in the 
 neighborhood, voluntarily received him ; but, in the 
 meanwhile, the barons of Touraine, Maine, Anjou, 
 and Brittany, proclaimed his nephew, the young 
 Arthur, as their lawful sovereign. John, in asser- 
 tion of his claim, proceeded to chastise the citizens 
 of Mans for the support they afforded his nephew, 
 and then, returning to Normandy, he was received 
 at Rouen without opposition, and on Sunday the 
 2.5th of April, he was there inaugurated, being girt 
 with the sword of the duchy, and having the golden 
 coronal put upon his head. News, whether good 
 or bad, traveled but slowly in those days. A vague 
 report of Richard's death was spread in England, 
 but nothing certain was known, and the friends of 
 John seem purposely to have concealed the fact for 
 
 many days. When the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 and his companion arrived, they required all the 
 lieges in the cities and burghs throughout the king- 
 dom, and all the earls, barons, and freeholders, to 
 be in the fealty, and keep the peace of John, Duke 
 of Normandy, son of King Henry, son of the Em- 
 press Matilda.^ But John had never been popular 
 in the nation, and the more powerful classes seemed 
 disposed to resist his accession. Bishops, earls, and 
 barons — most of those who had castles — filled them 
 with armed men and stocked them with provisions. 
 The poorer classes committed great devastations, 
 for in those times a king's death was the signal for 
 the general disorganization of society. The primate 
 and his associate acted with great alacrity and vigor, 
 seeing that nothing less would save the country from 
 a frightful anarchy. They convened a great council 
 at Northampton, and there, by secret gifts and open 
 promises of justice and good government on the part 
 of John, they induced the assembled prelates and 
 barons to swear fealty, and faithful service to the 
 " Duke of Normandy," as the pretender was care- 
 fully called, until his coronation at Westmmster. 
 John did not arrive until the 2.5th of May, when he 
 landed at Shoreham. On the 27th he repaired to 
 
 ' A nickname, according to Brompton, given him by his father, who, in a will which he made at Domfrnnt in 1170, left John no lands, but 
 only recommended him to be provided for by his eldest brother. ' Iloved.— Malt. Par.— Palgrave, Rot. Cur. Reg. 
 
 VOL. I.— 32
 
 498 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 
 Portrait of Kiso John. From his Tomb at Worcester. 
 
 the church of St. Peter at Westminster to claim 
 the crown. He well knew that many prefen-ed 
 the right of his nephew, the son of an elder brother, 
 who had repeatedly been declared his heir by the 
 late king ; and now John professed to be in posses- 
 sion of a will, drawn up in his last hours, by which 
 Richard revoked former wills, and appointed him 
 his successor. But this testament, whether true 
 or false, seems to have can-ied no weight with it, 
 and to have been altogether disregarded on this sol- 
 emn occasion. The fact that the crown was not 
 considered heritable property was stated in the 
 broadest terms, and never was the elective char- 
 acter of the monarchy so forcibly put by such high 
 authority. The Archbishop Hubert, having an- 
 nounced to the audience that the Duke of Normandy 
 had been elected king at Northampton, laid it down 
 as a known principle that no one could be entitled by 
 any previous circumstances to succeed to the crown 
 unless he were chosen to be king by the body of 
 the nation, — " ab universitate regni electus." Mat- 
 thew Paris pretends to give the words of the arch- 
 bishop : their substance is as follows : — " Hear, all 
 ye people ; it is well known that no one can have a 
 right to the crown of this kingdom, unless for his 
 excellent virtues he be elected to it, and then 
 anointed king, as was the case with Saul, the son 
 of no king, nor even rojally connected ; such a man 
 also was David. And thus it was ordained, to 
 the end that he whose merits are preeminent be 
 chosen the lord of all the people. If indeed of the 
 family of the deceased monarch there be one thus 
 supereminently endowed, he should have our pre- 
 ference. This I say touching the noble Duke John, 
 here present, brother of our late excellent King 
 
 Richard, who had no heir proceeding of his body. 
 He possesses the same worthiness of qualities, and 
 is also of the same blood as King Richard was of, 
 and for these qualities, having invoked the Holy 
 Spirit, we elect him our king." According to Mat- 
 thew Paris, John assented without starting the ques- 
 tion either of his inherent right by birth, or of his 
 right by will ; and when he had taken the usual oaths 
 to protect the church and govern justly, all present 
 hailed him with, " Long live the king !'" On the 
 following day, the prelates and barons did homage 
 to him, immediately after which he repaired to St. 
 Albans to pray before the shrine of the martyr. 
 
 John was at this time thirty-two years old, — a 
 manly age, — which gave him many advantages over 
 kings commencing their reigns in youth. He was 
 robust, healthy, and like most of his race, handsome ; 
 but his evil passions distorted his countenance, and 
 gave him a treacherous and ci'uel expression. He 
 was already hated by the people, and his reign 
 opened inauspiciously. Many of the nobles in Eng- 
 land immediately showed disaffection : the King of 
 Scotland, William the Lion, who had quarreled with 
 him on account of the provinces of Northumberland 
 and Cumberland, threatened him wth invasion ; 
 and on the continent, with the exception of those in 
 Normandy, all the great vassals were up in arms for 
 his nephew, and in close alliance with the French 
 king, who had renewed the war, and was promising 
 himself every success, well knowing the difference 
 
 1 The claims of young Arthur do not appear to have bpen men- 
 tioned. It was, however, only by stretching a point, and declaring 
 the crown elective, that the boy could be set aside. If they had gone 
 on legitimacy and the rights of primogeniture, they must have 
 awarded the crown to him, — and this sufficiently accounts for the 
 mode of proceeding adopted by John and his partisans.
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 499 
 
 between the warlike Richard and the cowardly 
 John, as also the weakness that must arise out of a 
 disputed succession, for the election at London and 
 the inauguration at Rouen had no legal effect in 
 those provinces which had declared for Arthur.^ 
 Leaving William de Stuteville to keep in check the 
 Scots, John crossed over to Normandj^ where the 
 Earl of Flanders and other great lords who had 
 confederated with Richai-d brought in their forces. 
 PhiUp demanded and obtained a truce for six weeks, 
 at the end of which term he met John to propose a 
 definitive peace. His demands led to an instant 
 renewal of war, for he not onlj' required the sur- 
 render by the English king of all his French pos- 
 sessions (Normandy excepted) to Arthur, but the 
 cession also of a considerable part of Normandy 
 itself to the French crown. 
 
 The only being engaged in this game of ambition 
 that can at all interest the feelings was the innocent 
 Arthur, who was too young and helpless to play his 
 own part in it. The greatest of our poets has 
 thrown all the intensity both of pathos and horror 
 around the last days of this prince ; but all the days 
 of his brief life were marked with touching vicissi- 
 tudes. Like WilUam of Normandy, the hapless son 
 of Duke Robert, Arthur was the child of sorrow 
 fz'om his cradle upward. His misfortunes, indeed, 
 began before he came into the world ; his father 
 Geoffrey was killed in a toui-nament eight months 
 prior to his birth, and Brittany, to which he had an 
 hereditary right through his mother, was divided 
 into factions, fierce yet changeabjp, desti'uctive of 
 present prosperity and unproductive of future good; 
 for the national independence, their main object, 
 was an empty dream, in the neighborhood of such 
 powerful and ambitious monarchs as the Plantage- 
 nets of England and the Capetians of France. The 
 people of Brittany, however, hailed the birth of the 
 posthumous child of Geofirey with transports of 
 patriotic joy. In spite of his grandfather Henry, 
 who wished to give the child his own name, they 
 insisted on giving him the name of Arthur. That 
 mysterious hero was as dear to the people of Brit- 
 tany as to their kindred of our own island : tradition 
 painted him as the companion in arms of their 
 "King Hoel the Great;" and though he had Jaeen 
 dead some centuries, they still expected his coming 
 as the restorer of their old independence. Merlin 
 had predicted this, and Merlin was still revered as 
 a prophet in Brittany as well as in Wales. Popular 
 credulity thus attached ideas of national glory to the 
 cherished name of Arthur ; and, as the child was 
 handsome and promising, the Bretons looked for- 
 ward to the day when he should rule them without 
 the control of French or English.^ His mother 
 Constance, a vain and weak woman, could spare 
 little time from her amours and intrigues to devote 
 to her son, and at the moment when his uncle John 
 threatened him with destruction, she was occupied 
 by her passion for a third husband, whom she had 
 recently married, her second husband being still 
 living. During the lifetime of Richard, she had 
 
 1 Daru, Hist, de la Bretajne. — Matt. Par. — Hoved. 
 
 2 Daru, Hist, de la Brelagne. 
 
 bandied her son between that sovereign and the 
 French king as circumstances and her caprice va- 
 ried ; and now when, awakened to a sense of hi.s 
 danger, the only course she could pursue was to 
 carry him to Paris, and place him under the protec- 
 tion of the astute and selfish Philip, to whom she 
 offered the direct vassalage not only of Brittany 
 which Arthur was to inherit through her, but also 
 of Normandy, Anjou, Aquitaine, and the other states 
 he claimed as heir to his father. The troops of 
 .John, composed almost entirely of mercenaries, fell 
 with savage fury upon Brittany, burning and de- 
 stroj'ing the houses and fields, and selling the inhab- 
 itants as slaves. Philip assisted William Desroches, 
 the commander of the small Breton army, and took 
 several castles on the frontiers of Brittany and 
 France fi'om the English. But as soon as he gained 
 these fortresses he destroyed them, in order evi- 
 dently to leave the road open to himself when he 
 should throw off the mask and invade the country 
 on his own account. Desroches, incensed at thes.' 
 proceedings, withdrew Arthur and his mother from 
 the French court, and they would both have sought 
 his peace, and delivered themselves up to John, 
 had they not been scared away by the report that 
 he intended the murder of his nephew. After thi.-^. 
 young Arthur returned to Philip, who knighted him, 
 notwithstanding his tender age, and promised to give 
 him his daughter Mary in marriage. But Philip 
 only intended to make a tool of the unfortunate boy ; 
 and when some troublesome disputes, in which ho 
 was engaged with the Pope, induced him to treat 
 with John, he sacrificed all his interests without any 
 remorse. By the treaty of peace which was con- 
 cluded between the two kings, in the spring of 1200, 
 John was to remain in possession of all the states 
 his brother Richard had occupied ; and thus Arthur 
 was completely disinherited, with the connivance 
 and participation of the French king ; for it is said, 
 that by a secret article of the treaty, Philip was to 
 inherit his continental dominions, if John died with- 
 out children. Circumstances and the unruly pas- 
 sions of John soon nullified the whole of this treaty, 
 and made Philip again the slippery friend of young 
 Arthur ; but nothing could eft'ace the French king's 
 perfidy, or reinspire confidence in him, in reasona- 
 ble men. In the summer of this same year, the 
 second of his reign, John made a royal progress into 
 Aquitaine, to receive the homage of the barons of 
 that province. He delighted the lively people of the 
 south with his magnificence and parade ; he capti- 
 vated some of the volatile and factious nobles with 
 a display of a familiar and festive humor ; but these 
 feelings were but momentary ; for neither with the 
 people nor their chiefs could he keep up the favora- 
 ble impression he had made. Though a skilful actor, 
 his capability was confined to a single scene or two; 
 it could never extend itself over a whole act : his 
 passions, which seem to have partaken of insanity, 
 were sure to baffle his hypocrisy on anything like 
 a lengthened intercourse. He had thus shown his 
 true character, and disgusted many of the nobles of 
 Poictou and Aquitaine, when his lawless passion 
 for the young wife of one of them completed their
 
 1^0 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 iiTitation and disgust. Isabella, the daughter of the 
 Count of Angoulenie, was one of the most celebrated 
 beauties of her time : she had been recently married 
 to the Count of la Marche, a powerful noble ; and 
 John had been married ten years to Avisa, a daughter 
 of the Earl of Gloucester, a fair and virtuous woman, 
 who had brought him an immense dower. In spite of 
 these obstacles, John got possession of the person of 
 Isabella, and married her at Angouleme, the Arch- 
 bishop of Bordeaux performing the ceremony. In 
 the autumn, he brought his new wife to England, 
 and caused her to be crowned at Westminster. He 
 himself was recrowned at the same time, the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury officiating. He then gave 
 himself up to idleness and luxurious enjoyment. 
 But in the following spring he was disturbed by the 
 vengeance of the Count of la Marche, whom he had 
 robbed of his wife. That n ibleman, with his brother, 
 the Earl of Eu, and several other barons, took up 
 arms in Poictou and Aquiiaine. When summoned 
 to attend their liege lord, many of the EngUsh vas- 
 sals refused, declaring that it was too insignificant 
 and dishonorable a warfare for them to embark in. 
 They afterward said that they would sail with him 
 if he would restore their rights and liberties. For 
 the present, John so far triumphed over their oppo- 
 sition as to make the refractory barons give him 
 hostages, and pay scutage in lieu of their personal 
 attendance. Their resistance was not yet organ- 
 ized ; but as John's insolence, rapacity, and lawless 
 lust had provoked lay and clergy, and as he had 
 engaged in a personal quarrel with one of the most 
 powerful of the monastic orders, a regular and an 
 extensive opposition was in due process of forma- 
 tion. John, accompanied by Isabella, went through 
 Normandy to Paris, where he was courteously en- 
 tertained by Philip, a much greater master in deceit, 
 who was, at the very moment, in league with the 
 Count of la Marche, in Aquitaine, and preparing a 
 fi-esh insurrection against his guest in Brittany. 
 From Paris, John miirched without his wife into 
 Aquitaine, but not to fight, and after a paltry parade 
 through the safe part of the country, he marched 
 back again to his pleasures, leaving the insurgents 
 in greater power and confidence than ever. 
 
 A. D. 1202. The moment had now arrived for 
 the decision of the question at issue — whether the 
 Plantagenets or the Capetians should be lords of 
 France. The superiority of the former race had 
 been established by the wisdom of Henry II., and 
 pretty well maintained by the valor of Richard ; 
 but under the unwise and pusillanimous John it 
 had no longer a chance. Having settled his dis- 
 putes with the Pope, and freed himself from other 
 troubles, Philip now broke the peace, by openly 
 succoring the insurgents in Aquitaine, and by re- 
 viving and again espousing the claims of young 
 Arthur. The poor orphan — his mother had died 
 the preceding year — was living under the protec- 
 tion of the French king, because, says a chronicler, 
 he was in constant fear of treachery on the part of 
 John. " You know your rights," said Philip to 
 the youth; "and would you not be a king?" 
 " That truly would I," replied Arthur. " Here, 
 
 then," said Philip, "are 200 knights; march with 
 them, and take possession of the provinces which 
 are yours, while I make an inroad on Normandy." 
 In the treaty drawn up between these most unequal 
 allies, Arthur was made to agree that the French 
 king should keep all that he pleased of the terri- 
 tories in Normandy which he had taken, or might 
 henceforth take, with God's aid ; and he agreed 
 to do homage for the rest of the continental domin- 
 ions.^ Arthur then raised his banner of war; the 
 Bretons sent him 500 knights and 4000 foot sol- 
 diers; the barons of Touraine and Poictou 110 
 men-at-arms ; and this, with the insignificant con- 
 tingent supplied by Philip, was all the force at his 
 disposal. His friends had counted on a force of 
 30,000 men ; but it was not the plan of his treach- 
 erous ally to make him powerful. Philip only 
 wanted a diversion in his own favor, while he fol- 
 lowed up his successes in Normandy The young 
 orphan — for, even now, Arthur was only in liis 
 fifteenth year — was of course devoid of all military 
 experience, and dependent on the guidance of 
 others. Some of his friends — or they may have 
 been his concealed enemies — advised him, as his 
 first trial in arms, to march against the town of 
 Mirebeau, about six miles from Poictiers, because 
 his grandmother, Eleanor, who had always been ? 
 the bitter enemy of his mother, was residing there; 
 and because (it was reasoned) if he got possession 
 of her person, he would be enabled to bring liis 
 uncle to terms. He marched, and took the town, 
 but not his grandmother. The veteran Amazon, 
 though surprised, had time to throw herself into a 
 strong tower, which served as a citadel. Arthur 
 and his small army established themselves in the 
 town, and laid siege to the tower where the " Ate" 
 — the stirrer " to blood and strife" — stoutly defended 
 herself. John, with an activity of which he was 
 not deemed capable, marched to her rescue ; and 
 his troops were befoi'e Mirebeau, and had invested 
 that town, ere his nephew Avas aware of his de- 
 parture from Normandy. The unnatural discords 
 of the Norman and Plantagenet race had already 
 and repeatedly presented the spectacle of son war- 
 ring against father, brother against brother, but 
 here was a boy of fifteen besieging his grandmother 
 of eighty, and an uncle besieging his nephew — all 
 at one point. On the night between the 31st of 
 July and the first of August the savage John, by 
 means of treachery, got possession of the town. 
 Arthur was taken in his bed, as were also most of 
 the nobles who had followed him on that dismal 
 expedition. The Count of la Marche, Isabella's 
 husband, on whom he had inflicted the most in- 
 supportable of wrongs, and whom John considered 
 as his bitterest enemy, the Viscounts of Limoges, 
 Lusignan, and Thouars, were among the distin- 
 guished captives, who amounted in all to 200 noble 
 knights. The captor reveled in base vengeance; 
 he caused them to be loaded with irons, tied in t 
 open carts, drawn by bullocks, and afterward to be 
 thrown into dungeons in Normandy and England. 
 Of those whose confinement fell in our island, 
 
 1 Guil. Arinoric. — Matt. Par.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 501 
 
 Castle of Falaise. 
 
 twenn-two noblemen are said to have been starved 
 to death in Corfe Castle — a mode of destruction, 
 indeed, "worthy of a being of unmingled malig- 
 nity."^ Young Arthur was carried to Falaise, and 
 from Falaise he was removed to the castle of Rouen, 
 where ail positive traces of him are lost. Such 
 damnable deeds are not done in the light of day, or 
 in the presence of witnesses, and some obscurity 
 and mystery must always rest upon their horrors. 
 The version of Shakspeare has made an impression 
 which no time and no skepticism will ever efface ; 
 and, after all, it is probably not far from being the 
 true one. Of the contemporary writers who men- 
 tion the disappearance of Arthur, Matthew Paris 
 is the one who expresses himself in the most 
 measured terms ; yet his words convey a fearful 
 meaning. He says, John went to his nephew at 
 Falaise, and besought him with gentleness to trust 
 his uncle. Arthur replied, indignantly, " Give me 
 mine inheritance — restore to me my kingdom of 
 England." Much provoked, John immediately sent 
 him to Rouen, with orders that he should be more 
 closely guarded. " Not long after," proceeds Mack- 
 intosh, "he suddenly disappeared; I trust not in 
 the way that malignant rumor alleges. It was sus- 
 pected l)y all that John murdered his nephew with 
 his own liand, and he became the object of the 
 blackest hatred. The monks of Margan tell us, 
 in their brief yearly notes, 'that John being at 
 Rouen in the week before Easter, 1203, after he 
 had finished his dinner, instigated by drunkenness 
 and malignant fiends, literally imbrued his hands 
 in the blood of his defenceless nephew, and caused 
 his body to be thrown into the Seine, with heavy 
 
 ' Mackintosh.— Rigord. Gest. Phil. Aug.— Matt. Par.— Guil. Armoric. 
 
 Stones fastened to his feet ; that the body was not- 
 withstanding cast on shore, and buried at the abbey 
 of Eec secretly, for fear of the tyrant.' " 
 
 According to the popular traditions of the Bre- 
 tons, John, pretending to be reconciled with his 
 nephew, took Arthur from his dungeon, in the castle 
 of Rouen, and proceeded with him toward Cher- 
 bourg, traveling on horseback, and keeping near the 
 coast. Late one evening, when the king and his 
 nephew had outridden the rest of the party, John 
 stopped on a high chff which overhung the sea : 
 after looking down the precipice he drew his sword, 
 and, riding suddenly at the young prince, ran him 
 through the body. Arthur fell to the ground and 
 begged for mercy, but the murderer dragged him 
 to the brink of the precipice, and hurled him, yet 
 breathing, into the waves below.' But Ralph, the 
 Abbot of Coggeshall, who tells the pitiable tale most 
 minutely, is probably the most correct of all. His 
 account is as follows : — Some of the king's counsel- 
 ors (we believe John needed no counsel save from 
 his own depraved heart), representing how many 
 slaughters and seditions the Bretons were commit- 
 ting for their lord Arthur, and maintaining that 
 they would never be quiet so long as that prince 
 lived in a sound state, suggested that he should de- 
 prive the noble youth of his eyes, and so render him 
 incapable of government. Some wretches were sent 
 to his prison at Falaise to execute this detestable 
 deed : they found Arthur loaded with chains, and 
 were so moved with his tears and prayers that they 
 staid their bloody hands. The compassion of his 
 guards and the probity of Hubert de Burgh — the 
 kind Hubert of Shakspeare — saved him for this 
 
 ' Aigeutr6, Hist, de Bretajne. — Dutnoulin, Hist, de Normandie.
 
 502 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Hubert and Prince Arthur. — Norlhcote. 
 
 time. Hubert, who was warden of the castle, took 
 upon him to suspend the cruelties till the king should 
 be further consulted. This merciful appeal only 
 produced his removal from Falaise to Rouen. On 
 the 3d of April, in the year of mercy 1203, the 
 helpless orphan was startled from his sleep and in- 
 vited to descend to the foot of the tower, which was 
 washed by the peaceful waters of tlie Seine. At 
 the portal he found a boat, and in it his uncle, at- 
 tended by Peter de Maulac, his esquire. The lonely 
 spot, the dark hour, and the darker countenance 
 of his uncle, told the youth his hour was come. 
 Ma-king a vain and last appeal, he threw himself on 
 his knees and begged that his life at least might be 
 spared. But John gave the sign, and Arthur was 
 murdered. Some say that Peter de Maulac shrunk 
 from the deed, and that John seized his nephew by 
 the hair, stabbed him, with his own hands, and threw 
 his body into the river. Hemingford find Knyghton, 
 who wrote near the time-, say that the squu-e was 
 
 the executioner, and this statement is confirmed by 
 the circumstance which they mention, and which is 
 otherwise established, of John having bestowed on 
 De IMaulac, the heiress of the barony of Mulgref in 
 marriage, as the reward of his iniquity. In the es- 
 sential parts of the crime all writers agree. " The 
 small number of English writers," says a recent 
 historian, " who do not speak of the murder, are 
 equally silent respecting the notorious fart of the 
 disappearance of Arthur, which they could have no 
 reason for being afraid to relate, but their conviction 
 of the guilt of John. In all who have dared to speak 
 we can evidently perceive a sort of rivalship in ex- 
 pressing the horror felt by their contemporaries, 
 which more than outweighs in the scales of evidence 
 any mistakes or exaggerations into which these 
 honest feelings may have betrayed them."^ 
 
 The rumor of the murder, which was certainly 
 spread in the month of April of this year, excited a 
 
 ' .Mackintosh.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 503 
 
 universal cry of horror and indignation. The Bre- 
 tons, among whom the young prince had been born 
 and brought up, and who had looked to him with 
 the fondest hopes, were the loudest of all : their 
 rage amounted to an absolute frenzy ; and even 
 when cooler moments came they unanimously swore 
 to revenge their prince's death. The Maid of 
 Brittany — the fair and unfoitunate Eleanor, Ar- 
 thur's eldest sister — was in John's hands, and closely 
 confined in a monastery or prison at Bristol, where 
 she consumed forty years of her life ; but the en- 
 thusiastic people rallied round Alice, an infant half- 
 sister of the prince, and appointed her father, Guy 
 de Thouars, the last husband of their duchess Con- 
 stance, their regent and general of their confederacy. 
 At a meeting of the estates of the province, held at 
 Vannes, it was determined that Guy, with a depu- 
 tation, should forthwith carry their complaints be- 
 fore the French king, " their suzerain lord," and 
 demand justice.' He listened to their petition, and 
 summoned John to a trial before his peers, as a vas- 
 sal of the French crown. The process was in the 
 regular order of feudal justice. But the accused 
 monarch did not appear ; on which, with the con- 
 currence of the barons, this sentence was pronounced 
 on him : — " That John, Duke of Normandy, un- 
 mindful of his oath to Philip, his lord, had murdered 
 his elder brother's son, a homager to the crown of 
 France, within the seignory of that realm ; whereon 
 he is judged a traitor ; and, as an enemy to the crown 
 of France, to forfeit all his dominions which he held 
 by homage ; and that reentry be made by force of 
 arms." 
 
 Philip, who had been obliged to retreat from 
 Normandy after the capture of Prince Arthur and 
 the barons at Mirebeau in the preceding year, was 
 now on the frontier of Poictou, where a general 
 insurrection took place, and most of the nobles 
 joined him against the murderer John. They sur- 
 rendered to Philip most of the strong places,, and 
 then marched with him to Normandy. Here the 
 enraged Bretons were before him, having invaded 
 and occupied all the territory near their own 
 frontiers : they took the strong castle of Mount St. 
 Michael by assault, made themselves masters of 
 Avranches, and then advancing, burnt all the towns 
 between that city and Caen. There was the na- 
 tional wildness and ferocity in their vengeance, but 
 it appears that not a few of the Normans joined 
 them. These movements facilitated the progress 
 of the French king, who, being joined by John's 
 subjects of Anjou and Maine, advanced by Andely, 
 Evreux, Domfront, and Lisieux, all of which 
 places he took, and then effected his junction with 
 the army of the Bretons at Caen. While tower and 
 town thus fell before the invaders, John was passing 
 his time in a voluptuous indolence at> Rouen, sur- 
 rounded by women and effeminate courtiers, who 
 feasted and played, sang and danced, without a 
 thought of the morrow. He wished to remain ig- 
 norant of the loss of his towns, the miseries of his 
 people, his own shame ; and, when obliged to listen 
 to some dismal news, he was accustomed to say, in 
 I Daru. 
 
 the fulness of his infatuation, " Let them go on ; 
 let these French and this rabble of Bretons go on; 1 
 will recover in a single day all that they are taking 
 from me with so much pains." At last his enemies 
 appeared at Radepont, in the neighborhood of Rouen, 
 and then (in the month of December) he fled over 
 to England to demand succor.' 
 
 We are not sufficiently acquainted with the his- 
 tory of the noble families of the time, and the trans- 
 mission or division of their estates; but it appears 
 that the Norman barons of England had no longer 
 that property at stake in Normandy, which on all 
 former occasions had made them resolute to pre- 
 vent the separation of the two countries. There 
 were no doubt other causes for their apathy ; but, 
 in spite of John's demerits, we cannot but believe 
 that they would have made great exertions if they 
 had been in the same position as formerly, when 
 the same barons held great estates in Normandy as 
 well as in England. Now they would make no 
 strenuous effort ; and we find John complaining on 
 this occasion, as a little later, when his other con- 
 tinental provinces were occupied by the French 
 king, that his English nobles had forsaken him, and 
 thereby put it out of his power to resist his enemies. 
 
 A.D. 1204. Unable to meet Phihp with the sword, 
 John attempted to stop his pi'ogress with the spiritual 
 weapons of Rome : he applied to the Pope, imploring 
 him to interfere. Innocent dispatched two legates 
 to plead in the recreant's favor ; but, in the high 
 tide of his success, the French king, made the bolder 
 by the universal odium John had fallen into, turned 
 a deaf ear to their representations and menaces, 
 and the legates departed without producing any 
 apparent effect. 
 
 When John fled nothing remained to him save 
 Rouen, Verneuil, and Ch^teau-Gaillard. The last 
 was a strong castle, the pride of the late king, who 
 took extraordinary pains in its construction, and it 
 was held for John by a brave warrior who was ti-ue 
 to his trust. In Rouen, the people, animated by an 
 hereditary hatred of the French, determined to 
 defend themselves ; but when pressed by a vigorous 
 siege, they applied for aid to their sovereign, the 
 King of England. John had no aid to give. It was 
 in vain he punished his lukewarm barons of England 
 by fines and forfeitures, — it was in vain that he 
 collected a considerable army at Portsmouth, — the 
 nobles resolutely told him that they would not follow 
 his standard out of England. Thus abandoned to 
 themselves, and suffering from famine, the citizens 
 of Rouen surrendered to the French king. Verneuil 
 was taken about the same time, and Ch^teau-Gaillard 
 fell after nobly sustaining a siege of seven months. 
 Thus John had no longer an inch of ground in 
 Normandy, which duchy, after a separation of 
 two hundred and ninety-two years, was finally re- 
 annexed to the French kingdom. Within this year 
 Brittany, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and Poictou 
 equally acknowledged the authority of Philip, and 
 John had nothing left in those wide provinces ex- 
 cept a few castles. Aquitaine, or Guienne, re- 
 tained its connection with the English crown, but 
 
 1 Matt. Par.— Annal. de Margan.
 
 504 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 there the authority of the king wa3 Umited and 
 uncertain. 
 
 A.D. 1206. Philip soon found that it was much 
 easier to incite the people against the detested John 
 than to keep them obedient to himself. The men 
 of Brittany, who indulged in their old dream of 
 national independence, were soon disgusted by 
 seeing their country treated as a mere province of 
 France ; and discontents also broke out in Anjou i 
 and Poictou. John contrived to land an English 
 army at Rochelle, and even to take the strong castle 
 of Montauban ; then marching to the Loire, he took 
 and burned Angers, committing many cruelties. 
 He then reposed on his laurels, and gave himself up 
 to feasting and debauchery. When again aroused, 
 he descended the Loire, and laid siege to Nantes. 
 This siege he raised, to offer battle to Philip. As 
 the battle was about to commence he proposed a ne- 
 gotiation, and as the proposal was under discussion 
 he ran away to England, loaded with new infamy. 
 Philip, who had nothing more to do, as it was not 
 convenient for him to attack Guienne, and an inva- 
 sion of England was as yet a thing not to be con- 
 templated, listened to another legate from the Pope, 
 who induced him to consent to a truce with John 
 for two yeai"s. 
 
 A.D. 1207. The next step of the degraded but 
 still arrogant John was to quarrel with the Pope, and 
 provoke to the utmost — and by deeds which gave an 
 odious coloring to his cause, even where he was 
 wholly or partially in the right — the enduring enmity 
 of that power which had shaken the throne of his 
 great and wise father. The dispute arose out of 
 the conflicting claims of the crown and the church 
 in the appointment of bishops; while John insisted 
 that his favorite minister, John de Gray, Bishop of 
 Norwich, should be elevated to the see of Canter- 
 bury, the Pope canonically appointed Stephen 
 Langton, — and the monks of Canterbury would re- 
 ceive no other archbishop. Never was time, never 
 was place so ill chosen for an attack on the church ; 
 but John, blinded by passion, dispatched two knights 
 with an armed band to drive the monks of Canter- 
 bury from the land. The ministers of his vengeance 
 entered with drawn swords into the cloisters which 
 had alike witnessed the slaughter of Becket and the 
 subsequent humiliation of his sovereign. " In the 
 king's name," exclaimed the knights, " we command 
 you, as traitors, to quit the realm ; begone in a mo- 
 ment, or we will set fire to these walls, and burn 
 you with your convent." All the monks who were 
 not bed-ridden departed forthwith, and going into 
 Flanders were there received and hospitably enter- 
 tained in different religious houses. John seized 
 their effects : but as no one would labor upon 
 them for the king, the lands of the archbishopric 
 and of the convent of Canterbury lay without cul- 
 ture.' When Innocent, in a gentle but most decided 
 tone, asked for redress, John braved his authority ; 
 and thus an 0{^n struggle began between one of the 
 ablest priests that ever wore the tiara, and the 
 meanest and basest king that ever disgraced the 
 F^nglish throne. While John amused himself with 
 
 ' Matt. Par. — Anna! de Marg 
 
 terrible but impotent threats against the monks, the 
 Pope wrote to the already disaffected English barons, 
 ordering them to do all they could with the arms of 
 the flesh to save their king and kingdom from perdi- 
 tion ; and he called upon the prelates and abbots of 
 the kingdom to fight with their spiritual weapons for 
 Langton and the liberties of the church. He then 
 sent orders to the bishops of London, Ely, and AVor- 
 cester to wait upon the king in his name, and, if 
 they found him still refractory, to threaten him with 
 the interdict. John at last received these prelates : 
 when they came to the threat he grew pale with 
 rage, and his lips quivered and frothed. " By God's 
 teeth," he cried, " if you, or any of your body, dare 
 to lay my states under interdict, I will send you and 
 all your clergy to Rome, and confiscate your prop- 
 erty. As for the Roman shavelings, if I find any in 
 my dominions, I will tear out their eyes and cut off 
 their noses, and so send them to the Pope, that the 
 nations may witness their infamy." The bishops 
 trembled and withdrew : but these were not times 
 when personal fear stopped the triumphant march 
 of Rome. A few weeks after, on Monday, the 23d 
 of March, 1208, in passion week, they pronounced 
 the sentence of interdict against all John's domin- 
 ions, and then fled for safety to the continent. To 
 secure himself at this moment of danger, the king 
 obliged as many of his nobles as he could to place 
 their children in his hands as securities for their 
 allegiance ; a measure which created fresh disgust. 
 When his commissioners went to the castle of 
 William de Braouse, that nobleman's lady ex- 
 claimed, " My son shall not go near him ; he mur- 
 dered his own nephew, whom he should have 
 cherished." " Thou hast spoken like a foolish 
 woman," said her husband ; and then turning to 
 the officers, the baron added, " If I have done any- 
 thing against my sovereign, let a day and place be 
 named, for I am readj', and ever shall be, to make 
 him satisfaction, without hostages, according to the 
 judgment of his court and of mj" peers." John gave 
 secret orders to seize the whole family : they were 
 warned in time, and escaped safely into Ireland, but 
 soon after perished in a miserable manner, the vic- 
 tims of the tA'rant's insatiable vengeance.' 
 
 In the mean time the nation was plunged in 
 mourning by the interdict, — the churches were in- 
 stantly closed, — the priests ceased their functions, 
 refusing to administer any of the usual sacred rites, 
 except baptism to infants, and the sacrament to the 
 dying. The dead were buried, without prayers, in 
 unconsecrated ground, — the relics of the saints were 
 taken from their places and laid upon ashes in the 
 silent church, — their statues and pictures were 
 covered with veils of black cloth, — the chime of 
 church bells no longer floated on the air, and every- 
 thing was so arranged under an interdict as to give 
 a most lugubrious aspect to the whole country upon 
 which it had fallen. When this had lasted a year, 
 the Pope followed up the sentence of interdict by a 
 bull of excommunication against John. Although 
 by narrowly watching the ports, he prevented the 
 entrance of the Roman envoj' and the official publi- 
 
 1 Matt. Par. — Annal. de Marg.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 SO.'i 
 
 cation of the latter bull, the king was seriously 
 alarmed, for he knew that excommunication would 
 be followed by a sentence of dethronement, and 
 that Philip was making ready to invade England 
 with a banner that would be blessed by the Pope. 
 He also saw that the disaffection of his barons was 
 still increasing, and that there was no part of Chris- 
 tian Europe to which he could apply for succor or 
 alliance. At this critical moment, if we are to be- 
 lieve a curious story picturesquely told by Matthew 
 Paris, he applied for aid to the Mahomedans of 
 Spain. The Emir al Nassir was in the full career 
 of conquest, and, by crossing the Pyrenees, he could 
 at any time fall upon the dependencies and states of 
 Philip in the south, and so make an important di- 
 version in favor of John. Sovereigns much more 
 sci"upulous than this false-hearted tyrant have had 
 recourse to such infidel alliances, even when pressed 
 by much less danger than John, who, it is reported, 
 intrusted a secret negotiation to Thomas Hardington 
 and Ralph Fitznicholas, knights, and a priest called 
 "Robert of London." These envoys being led 
 through several apartments, lined with Moorish 
 guards with turbans on their heads and cimeters in 
 their girdles, were presented to the emir, " a man 
 of moderate size and grave aspect," who kept his 
 eyes fixed on a book which lay open before him. 
 The Englishmen presented their king's letter, 
 which was translated to the emir by an interpreter. 
 According to the report which was afterward 
 spread, John offered to hold the English crown of 
 the emir, and to embrace the faith of Mahomed. 
 This looks like exaggeration, but John may have set 
 no limits whatever to promises which he never 
 intended to keep, and was quite capable of offering 
 even more than this to serve his purpose in such an 
 emergency. The Moorish chief questioned the 
 envoys as to the population and strength of England, 
 and the age and personal character of the king, and 
 then dismissed them with vague expressions of 
 friendship which signified nothing. He, however, 
 recalled " Robert of London," the priest, and adjured 
 him, by his respect for the faith of Christ, on which 
 he trusted for salvation, to tell him what manner of 
 man his master really was. Thus pressed, Robert 
 replied that John was a tyrant that would soon feel 
 his own subjects' wrath. This terminated the busi- 
 ness. On his return, Robert received the custody 
 of the abbey of St. Albans, and there Matthew of 
 Paris, who was a monk of that house, heard him 
 tell the curious story to his companions. 
 
 The effect of the interdict upon the laity of Eng- 
 land must have been weaker than was anticipated, 
 or probably the expedient had lost its efficiency by 
 time and use, for, as it has been justly remarked, 
 John's strength was so Httle lessened that the only 
 two successful expeditions of his reign, those against 
 Ireland and Wales, occurred during the time that 
 he lay under the proscription of the Roman see. 
 
 A. D. 1210. — John employed the spring of this 
 year in raising money by the most arbitrary means ; 
 all classes suflfered, but none like the unfortunate 
 Jews, who were seized, imprisoned, and tortured 
 all over the kingdom. A great sum is said to have 
 
 been collected, and with this he levied an army, pre- 
 tending that he would go and drive Philip out of 
 Normandy. When all was ready, he sailed for 
 Ireland, where the English nobles had for some 
 time defied his authority. On the 6th of June, he 
 landed on the Irish coast and proceeded to Dublin, 
 where more than twenty of the native chieftains 
 repaired to do him homage and ofi'er tribute. He 
 then marched into the province of Connaught, re- 
 duced the castles of some of the revolted English 
 nobles, and drove Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster, 
 and his brother, Walter de Lacy, Earl of Meath, 
 out of the island. He divided such parts of the 
 island as were subjected to England into counties, 
 established English laws, and appointed sherifl's and 
 other officers. He also ordered, for the convenience 
 of traffic, that the same moneys should be equally 
 current in both countries ; and then, intrusting the 
 government of Ireland to his favorite, the Bishop 
 of Norwich, whom he had not been able to make 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, he returned to England, 
 after an absence of twelve weeks, during which he 
 had enjoyed the pleasures of an easy triumph, for 
 no one offered resistance. In the following year he 
 determined to show his prowess in Wales. Money 
 was again wanted : he summoned all the abbots and 
 lady-abbesses; all the heads of monastic houses, 
 whether male or female, to meet him in London ; 
 he urged his wants in a manner which was not to 
 be resisted, and, having got what he could from 
 these servants and hand-maidens of Christ, he again 
 racked the unheheving Jews, putting them to tor- 
 ture and throwing them into dungeons, where they 
 were kept until they paid enormous fines to the 
 king. Among other Jews thus treated was one of 
 Bristol, a very wealthy man, but who would not 
 consent to pay 10,000 marks for his deliverance. 
 " Whereupon," says an old historian, "by the king's 
 commandment he was put into this penance : that 
 every day till he would agree to give those 10,000 
 marks that he was seized [assessed] at, he should 
 have one of his teeth plucked out of his head.'" 
 The Jew braved the pain to save his money. John's 
 executioner began with the double teeth, and, m 
 the course of as many days, pulled out seven. On 
 the eighth day this torture had its eflfect, and the 
 Jew gave security for the money .^ With the sums 
 obtained in part by such flagitious means John raised 
 a mighty army, and penetrated into Wales as far as 
 the foot of Snowdon. He was not a man to do 
 more than his great and warlike predecessors, and he 
 marched back again immediately, having, however, 
 forced the Welsh to pay him a tribute in cattle and 
 horses, and to give him twenty-eight hostages, youths 
 of the best families. Whenever John had a glimpse 
 of success, he increased his arbitrary proceedings 
 against his English subjects : on a former occasion 
 he gave new rigor to the barbarous forest laws, and 
 now he levied scutage-money in an unjust manner. 
 In the following year the Welsh agam were up in 
 arms to assert their independence. John savagely 
 hanged the twenty-eight hostages, and was pre- 
 paring for a fresh invasion, when he was terrified 
 1 Holinshed. » Matt. Par.
 
 .006 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLA.ND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Iiy a report that many of his own barons were con- 
 spiring against him. He shut himself up in the 
 castle of Nottingham for fifteen days, seeing no one 
 but the personal attendants on whom he most re- 
 lied. He then marched to Chester, still collecting 
 troops, and vowing to exterminate the Welsh; but 
 from Chester he turned suddenly back to London, 
 where he kept strong bodies of foreign mercenaries 
 fonstantly about him, and seldom showed himself 
 to his people. His enemies increased every day, 
 and the crowd of English exiles were incessantly 
 urging the Pope to t.ike vengeance on their king. 
 
 A. D. 1213. — At last Innocent hurled his deadliest 
 thunderbolt at the head of John : he pronounced 
 his deposition, absolved his vassals from their oaths 
 of allegiance, and called upon all Christian princes 
 and barons to take part in the meritorious act of de- 
 throning an impious tyrant. He then sent Stephen 
 Langton, the exiled Archbishop of Canterbury, with 
 other English, and some Italian prelates, to the 
 French court, there to convoke a solemn meeting, 
 and declare to the king and the whole nation that 
 the Pope authorized an immediate invasion of Eng- 
 land. The worldly temptation was so great that 
 Philip probably required none other ; but the Pope 
 promised him the remission of his sins if he executed 
 this pious purpose, and drove John from his throne. 
 About the middle of 3Iarch, Philip collected a great 
 array in Normandy, and prepared a fleet of 1700 
 vessels, of all sizes, at Boulogne and the other ports 
 on the Channel. John, being well informed of these 
 preparations, took for once a bold step : he sum- 
 moned every man capable of bearing arms to be 
 ready to march to the coasts of Kent and Sussex, 
 and he collected every vessel in his dominions capa- 
 ble of carrying six or more horses. When the ships 
 were i"eady, he anticipated Philip's attack: the Eng- 
 lish mariners crossed the Channel, took a French 
 squadron at the mouth of the Seine, destroyed the 
 ships in the harbor of Fecamp, and burned Di- 
 eppe to the ground. They swept the whole coast 
 of Normandy, and returned in tiiumph, the main 
 division of the French fleet at Boulogne not hazard- 
 ing an attack. On Barnham Downs 60,000 lands- 
 men stood as yet firm around the standard of John ; 
 but he dreaded these, his own brave subjects, and 
 he was always spiritless and unmanly. It was soon 
 seen, after all his vain boasting, and his threats 
 against the Church of Rome, that he would lower 
 himself to the dirt before that incensed enemy, that 
 he would do anything rather than fight. The Pope's 
 legate, Pandulph, well knew his dastardly charac- 
 ter, and now skilfully took advantage of it. Two 
 knights of the Temple (traveled men and crafty 
 diplomatists) landed at Dover and proceeded to the 
 English camp. " We come," said they, with great 
 respect, " from Pandulph, the sub-deacon and ser- 
 vant of our lord, the Pope : for your advantage and 
 for that of the realm of England, he asks to see you 
 in private." P Let him come forthwith," said John. 
 Pandulph came, and drew so formidable a picture 
 of the French army of invasion, and represented 
 the general and just disaff"ection of the great barons 
 of England in such forcible, and, on the whole, true 
 
 colors, that the paltry despot's heart died away 
 within hnn. What added to his fears, was the pre- 
 diction of a certain Peter, called " the Hermit," 
 that, before the Feast of the Ascension should be 
 passed (it was distant only three days), John would 
 be unknighted. As he trembled before the astute 
 churchman, Pandulph bade him repent, and re- 
 member that the pontiff' was a merciful master, who 
 would require nothing which was not absolutely 
 necessary either to the honor of the church, or to 
 the security of the king himself. After a little 
 wavering, John gave way, and subscribed an instru- 
 ment which, in itself, was not very objectionable, 
 and which had been oflfered him some time be- 
 fore, when, by accepting it, he might have avoided 
 his present excessive debasement. It was agreed, 
 on the 13th day of May, that John should obey the 
 Pope in all things for which he had been excommu- 
 nicated ; that he should receive into favor the exiled 
 bishops and others, particularly Stephen Langton 
 and the prior and monks of Canterbury ; that he 
 should make full satisfaction to the clergy and laity 
 for the damages they had suff'ered at his hands, or 
 otherwise, on account of the interdict, and that he 
 should pay down, in part of restitution, the sum of 
 8000L John further agreed not to prosecute any 
 person for any matter relating to the late disagree- 
 ment ; and, on his part, Pandulph promised that, 
 on the performance of these conditions, the sen- 
 tences of interdict should be recalled, and that the 
 bishops and other proscribed churchmen, on their 
 return, should swear to be true and faithful to the 
 king. John set his seal to the instrument, and four 
 of his greatest barons, William, Earl of Salisbury, 
 Reginald, Earl of Boulogne, and the earls of War- 
 ren and Ferrers, swore, " on the soul of the king," 
 that he would keep this compact inviolate. The 
 dastardly spirit of John, the overreaching policy 
 and ambition of the Pope, and the address of the 
 envoy, Pandulph, can alone account for the consum- 
 mation of ignominy which followed. On the 14th 
 of May, the following day, John was closeted with 
 the Italian in secret consultation, and when seen 
 for a moment abroad, his countenance was sadly 
 dejected. Though depraved in morals and notori- 
 ously irreligious, he was a prey to superstition, and 
 he was now thinking more of the prediction of a 
 hair-brained recluse than of his kingdom, for he fan- 
 cied that Peter the Hermit's prophecj' betokened 
 he must die. 
 
 On the 15th of May, at an early hour of the morn- 
 ing, John repaiied to the church of the Templars at 
 Dover, and there, surrounded by bishops, barons, 
 and knights, took on his knees, before Pandulph, 
 an oath of fealty to the Pope — the same oath which 
 vassals took to their lords. At the same time, he 
 put into the envoy's hands a charter, testifying that 
 he, the King of England and Lord of Ireland, in 
 atonement for his offences against God and the 
 church, not compelled by the interdict or by any 
 fear or force, but of his own free will, and with the 
 general consent of his barons, surrendered to our 
 lord, the Pope Innocent, and Innocent's successors 
 forever, the kingdom of England and the lordship
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTION-S. 
 
 507 
 
 of Ireland, which were henceforth to be held as fiefs 
 of the holy see, John and his successors paying for 
 them an annual tribute of 700 marks of silver for 
 England and 300 marks for Ireland. He then of- 
 fered some money as an earnest of his subjection, 
 but Pandulph trampled it under his feet — an act 
 which called forth an angry remonstrance from the 
 Bishop or Aixhbishop of Dubhn. Pandulph, it is 
 said, meant to signify that the Church of Rome 
 scorned worldly riches ; but it is hinted bj"^ some 
 old writers that he afterward stooped down to 
 gather up the money. The next day was the fatal 
 term, the Feast of the Ascension, during which John 
 watched the progress of the sun with an anxious 
 eye : it set, and he died not, — it rose on the mor- 
 row, and he was still alive ; instantly, in punish- 
 ment for the vile terror he had suffered, he ordered 
 Peter and his son to be dragged at the tails of 
 horses and hanged on gibbets. The people con- 
 tended that Peter, after all, was no false prophet, 
 and that John, by laying his crown at the feet of a 
 foreign priest, had verified the prediction.' 
 
 Five or six days after these transactions, Pan- 
 dulph went over to France, and, to the astonish- 
 ment and great wrath of Philip, announced to him 
 that he must no longer molest a penitent son and a 
 faithful vassal of the church, nor presume to invade 
 a kingdom which was now part of the patrimony 
 of St. Peter. " But," said Philip, " I have already 
 expended enormous sums of money on this expe- 
 dition, which I undertook at the pontiff's express 
 commands, and for the remission of my sins." The 
 nuncio repeated his inhibition and withdrew. 
 The French king, however, who was already on 
 the road, continued his march to the coast. It 
 appears, indeed, that Philip, who inveighed pub- 
 licly against the selfish and treacherous policy of 
 the Pope, would not have been prevented from 
 attempting the invasion by the dread of the thun- 
 ders of the church, which again rumbled over his 
 head.' But other circumstances of a more worldly 
 nature interfered : Ferrand, the new Earl of Flan- 
 ders, demanded that certain towns which had lately 
 been annexed to the French crown should be 
 restored to him. Philip refused ; and now when 
 he proposed to his great vassals that they should 
 continue the enterprise against England, the Earl 
 of Flanders, the most powerful of them all, said 
 that his conscience would not permit him to follow 
 his lord in such an unjust attempt; and so saying, 
 he suddenly withdrew with all his forces. Philip, 
 vowing he would make Flanders a mere province 
 of France, marched after him, and, taking several 
 of the earl's best towns on his way, sat down with 
 his army before the sti-ong city of Ghent. For- 
 tunately for both parties, Ferrand had already a 
 secret understanding with John, and now he ap- 
 plied to that king for help. John's fleet lay ready 
 in the harbor of Portsmouth. Seven hundred 
 knights, with a large force of infantry, embarked in 
 
 ' Matt. Par. — Matthew Westminster, or Florilegus. — W. Heming. — 
 Chion. MailrM. — Annal. Waver.— Chron. T. Wykes. 
 
 ■•* Philip hud been excommunicated, and his kingdom had been laid 
 under an interdict, a few years before, by the reigning pope, Inno- 
 <:ent III. 
 
 500 vessels, under the command of William, Earl 
 of Holland, and William Longspear, Earl of Salis- 
 bury, one of the sons of Fair Rosamond, and im- 
 mediately made sail for the coast of Flanders. 
 They found the French fleet at anchor at Damme, 
 which was at that time the port of Bruges : it was 
 three times more numerous than the English fleet ; 
 but most of the sailors and land-troops embarked 
 with them were on shore plundering the neighbor- 
 ing country, and committing all sorts of ravages in 
 a district M'hich, through the blessings of peace and 
 commerce, had made a wondierfully rapid progress 
 in civilization and the arts that adorn life. This 
 was the first fleet that the French kings of the 
 Capetian line had ever put to sea, — this was the 
 first naval engagement between the two nations 
 whose unfortunate enmity has since then animated 
 so many sanguinary encounters in all the quarters 
 of the globe. It was an unfortunate beginning for 
 the French : their navy was annihilated. We 
 quote the account of the battle as Southey has 
 abridged it from Holinshed : — " The English, as 
 they neared the coast, espied many ships lying 
 Avithout the haven, which, capacious as it was, was 
 not large enough to contain them all ; many, there- 
 fore, were riding at anchor without the haven's 
 mouth, and along the coast. Shallops were pres- 
 ently sent out to espy whether they were friends 
 or enemies ; and if enemies, what their strength, 
 and in what order they lay. These espials," ap- 
 proaching as if they had been fishermen, " came 
 near enough to ascertain that the ships were left 
 without sufficient hands to defend them, and, has- 
 tening back, told the commanders that the victory 
 was in their hands if they would only make good 
 speed. No time was lost : they made sail toward 
 the enemy, and won the 'tall ships,' which were 
 riding at anchor, with little difficulty, the men on 
 board only requesting that their lives might be 
 spared. The smaller ones, which were left dry 
 when the tide was low, they spoiled of whatever 
 was useful and set on fire, the sailors escaping to 
 the shore. This done, they set upon those that 
 lay in the harbor, within the haven; and 'here 
 was hard hold for a while,' because of the narrow- 
 ness of the place allowing no advantage for num- 
 bers or for skill. 'And those Frenchmen,' says 
 the chronicler, ' that were gone abroad into the 
 country, perceiving that the enemies were come by 
 the running away of the mariners, returned with 
 all speed to their ships to aid their fellows, and so 
 made valiant resistance for a time, till the English- 
 men, getting on land, and ranging themselves on 
 either side of the haven, beat the Frenchmen so 
 on the sides, and, the ships grapphug together in 
 front, that they fought as it had been in a pitched 
 field, till that, finally, the Frenchmen were not 
 able to sustain the force of the Englishmen, but 
 were constrained, after long fight ai^great slaugh- 
 ter, to yield themselves prisoners.' xhe first act of 
 the conquerors was to give thanks to God for their 
 victory. They then manned three hundred of the 
 prizes, which were laden with corn, wine, oil. and 
 other provisions, and with militaiy stores, and sent
 
 508 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 them to England — the first fruits of that maritime 
 superiority for which the church bells of this glori- 
 ous island have so often pealed with joy. A hun- 
 dred more were burnt, because they were drawn up 
 80 far upon the sands that they could not be got off 
 without more hands and cost of time than could be 
 spared for them. There still remained a great part 
 of the enemy's fleet higher up the harbor, and pro- 
 tected by the town, in which Philip had left a suf- 
 ficient force to protect the stores which he had left 
 there, and the money for the payment of his troops. 
 The English landed ; the Earl of Flanders joined 
 them, and they proceeded to attack the place ; but 
 by this there had been sufficient time for the 
 French king to hasten, with an overpowering force, 
 from the siege of Ghent. The English and their 
 allies sustained a sharp action, and were compelled 
 to retreat to their ships, with a loss computed by 
 the French at two thousand men. But they re- 
 treated no farther than to the near shores of the 
 Isle of Walcheren ; and Philip saw the impossi- 
 bility of saving the remainder of his fleet, consider- 
 ing the unskilfulness of his own seamen, as well as 
 other things. He set fire to them, therefore, him- 
 self, that they might not fall into the enemy's 
 hands.'" The French king thus lost the means 
 of supporting his army in Flanders or of transport- 
 ing it to the Enghsh coast : half famished and over- 
 come with vexation, he hurried across his own fi-on- 
 tiers, leaving Earl Ferrand to recover with ease all 
 that he had lost. 
 
 The first great naval victory transported the 
 English people with joy ; but with joy was mingled 
 a malicious confidence and presumption in the 
 heart of John, who now betrayed a determination 
 to break the best part of his recent oaths. Being 
 determined to carry the war into France, he sum- 
 moned his vassals to meet him at Portsmouth. 
 The barons went armed and appointed, as if ready 
 to sail; but, when ordered to embark, they reso- 
 lutely refused unless the king recalled the exiles, 
 ns he had promised to do. After some tergiver- 
 sation John granted a reluctant consent, and Arch- 
 bishop Langton, the bishops of London, Ely, Here- 
 ford, Lincoln, and Bath, the monks of Canterbury, 
 uU with their companions and numerous depen- 
 dents returned. John and the archbishop met 
 and kissed each other at Winchester ; and there, 
 in the porch of the cathedral church, Langton gave 
 full absolution to the king, who again swore to 
 govern justly and maintain his fealty to the Pope. 
 It was, however, clear to all men that Langton 
 placed no confidence in the king ; and that the 
 king, who considered him as the chief cause of all 
 his troubles, regarded Langton with all the deadly 
 liatred which his dark character was capable of. 
 John now set sail with a few ships, but his barons 
 ■were in no hurry to follow him, being far more 
 eager to secure their own liberties than to recover 
 the king's domAions on the continent. They said 
 that the time of their feudal service Avas expired, 
 and they withdrew to a great council at St. Albans, 
 where Fitz-Peter, one of the king's justiciaries, 
 
 - Naval Historj-, i. 187, 188. 
 
 presided, and where they published resolves, in the 
 form of royal proclamations, ordering the observ- 
 ance of old laws, and denouncing the punishment of 
 death against the sheriffs, foresters, or other of- 
 ficers of the king who should exceed their proper 
 and legal authority. John got as far as the island 
 of Jersey, when, finding that none followed him, he 
 turned back with vows of vengeance. He landed, 
 and marched with a band of mercenaries to the 
 north, where the barons were most contumacious. 
 Burning and destroying, he advanced as far as North- 
 ampton. Here Langton overtook him. " These 
 barbarous measures," said the prelate, " are in vio- 
 lation of your oaths ; your vassals must stand to the 
 judgment of their peers, and not be wantonly har- 
 assed by arms." " Mind you your church," roared 
 the furious king, " and leave me to govern the 
 state." He continued his march to Nottingham, 
 where Langton, who was not a man to be intimi- 
 dated, again presented himself, and threatened to 
 excommunicate all the ministers and officers that 
 followed him in his lawless course. John then gave 
 way, and, to save appearances, summoned the 
 barons to meet him or his justices. Langton has- 
 tened to Loudon, and there, at a second meeting 
 of the barons, he read the liberal charter which 
 Henry I. had granted on his accession ; and after 
 inducing them to embrace its provisions, he made 
 them swear to be true to each other, and to conquer 
 or to die in support of their liberties. This was 
 on the 25th of August. On the 29th of September 
 a new legate from the Pope, Cardinal Nicholas, ar- 
 rived in England to settle the indemnitj' due to the 
 exiles, and to take off the interdict. John renewed 
 his oath of fealty to Innocent, knelt in homage be- 
 fore the legate, paid fifteen thousand marks, and 
 promised forty thousand more to the bishops. The 
 interdict was removed ; and from this moment the 
 court of Rome changed sides, and, abandoning the 
 cause of liberty and the barons, stood for the king. 
 This abandonment, however, did not discourage the 
 nobles, nor did it even detach Archbishop Langton 
 from the cause for which they had confederated. 
 
 A. D. 1214. A formidable league was now 
 formed against the French king, and John was 
 enabled to join it with some vigor. Ferrand, Earl 
 of Flanders, Reynaud, Earl of Boulogne, and Otho, 
 the new emperor of Germany, nephew to John, 
 determined to invade France and divide that king- 
 dom among them, giving the English king all the 
 country beyond the Loire for his share. Ferrand 
 was to have Paris with all the Isle of France, Rej'- 
 naud the country of Vermandois, and the emperor 
 all the rest. John sent some English forces under 
 the command of his half-brother, the Earl of Salis- 
 bury, to Valenciennes, where the confederates 
 established their head-quarters, and then sailed 
 himself to the coast of Poictou, where several of his 
 former vassals joined him, and enabled him to 
 advance to Angers. This diversion was well-plan- 
 ned : it obliged Philip to divide his forces, and 
 while he himself marched toward the frontiers 
 of Flanders, he sent his son Louis into Brittany, 
 whither the English king now advanced. John
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 509 
 
 was kept in check, or lost his opportunity through 
 cowardice and indolence, while his allies were 
 thoroughly defeated at the battle of Bouvines, — 
 one of the most memorable battles of the middle 
 ages, in which the emperor was completely ruined, 
 and the Earl of Flanders, the Earl of Boulogne, 
 and the Earl of Salisbury were taken prisoners, 
 with an immense number of inferior lords and 
 knights. Salisbury, the gallant Longsword, was 
 captured by the Bishop of Beauvais, the very in- 
 dividual whom King Richard had loaded with 
 chains, and upon whose coat of mail that king had 
 been so facetious. This prelate, however, had 
 become more pinident or more circumspect, — he no 
 longer wielded the sword, but fought with a heavy 
 club, thus knocking people on the head without 
 shedding blood, which was contrary to the canons 
 of the church. He was not the only prelate in 
 this fierce mtlee. Phihp was chiefly indebted for 
 his success to Guerin, bishop-elect of Senlis, who 
 had also some scruples of conscience, for he would 
 not use a sword, but marshaled the French host 
 and directed the slaughter with a wand. This 
 battle certainly gave lustre to the French arms ; 
 but the French writers gi'ossly exaggerate the dis- 
 parity of numbers. It was fought on the 27th of 
 July, near an obscure village called Bouvines, be- 
 tween Lisle and Tournay. On the 19th of October 
 following John begged a truce, and obtained one 
 for five years, on condition of abandoning all the 
 towns and castles he had taken on the continent. 
 He arrived in England on the 20th of October in a 
 humor more ferocious than ever. As if he would 
 take vengeance on his English subjects for the 
 reverses and shame he had suffered, he again let 
 loose his foreign mercenaries on the land, and be- 
 gan to violate all his most solemn promises. Fitz- 
 
 Peter, his justiciary, the only one of his ministers 
 that could moderate his fury, had now been dead 
 some months. John, who feared him, rejoiced at 
 his death. " It is well," cried he, laughing as they 
 told him the news ; " in hell he may again shake 
 hands with Hubert, our late primate, for surely he 
 will find him there. By God's teeth, now for the 
 first time I am king and lord of England." ' But 
 there were men at work resolute and skilful. Im- 
 mediately after his arrival the barons met to talk of 
 the league they had formed with Langton. " The 
 time," they said, " is favorable ; the feast of St. 
 Edmund approaches ; amidst the multitudes that 
 resort to his shrine we may assemble without sus- 
 picion." On the 20th of November, the saint's 
 day, they met in crowds at St. Edmunds-Bury, 
 where they finally determined to demand their 
 rights, in a body, in the royal court at the festival of 
 Christmas. The spirit of freedom was awakened, 
 not soon to sleep again : they advanced one by one, 
 according to seniority, to the high altar, and, laying 
 their hands on it, they solemnly swore that, if the 
 king refused the rights they claimed, they would 
 withdraw their fealty and make war upon him, till, 
 by a charter under his own seal, he should confirm 
 their just petitions. They then parted to meet 
 again at the Feast of the Nativity. Wlien that 
 solemn but festive season arrived, John found him- 
 self at Worcester, and almost alone, for none of his 
 great vassals came as usual to congratulate him, 
 and the countenances of his own attendants seemed 
 gloomy and unquiet. He suddenly departed, and 
 riding to London, there shut himself up in the 
 strong house of the Knights Templars. The barons 
 followed close on the coward's steps, and on the 
 Feast of the Epiphany (at every move they chose 
 
 1 Matt. Par. 
 
 St. Edmunds Bury.— 1745.
 
 510 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 some day consecrated by religion) they presented 
 themselves in such force that he was obliged to 
 admit them to an audience. At first he attempted 
 to browbeat the nobles. One bishop and two 
 barons were recreants, and consented to recede 
 from their claims, and never trouble him again, but 
 all the rest were firm to their purpose. John 
 turned pale, and trembled. He then changed his 
 tone, and cajoled instead of threatening. " Your 
 petition," he said, " contains matter weighty and 
 arduous. You must gi'ant me time till Easter, that, 
 with due deliberation, I may be able to do justice 
 to myself, and satisfy the dignity of my crown." 
 Many of the barons, knowing the use he would 
 make of it, would not have granted this delay, but 
 the majority consented, on condition that Cardinal 
 Langton, the Bishop of Ely, and William, Earl of 
 Pembroke, should be the king's sureties that he 
 would give thein the satisfaction they demanded on 
 the appointed day. The confederated nobles then 
 retired to their homes. They were no sooner gone 
 than John adopted measures which he fondly hoped 
 would frustrate all their plans, and bring them 
 bound hand and feet within the verge of his re- 
 venge. He began by courting the church, and 
 formally renounced the important prerogative that 
 had been hitherto so zealously contended for by 
 himself and his great ancestors, touching the elec- 
 tion of bishops and abbots. Having thus, as he 
 thought, bound the clergy to his service, he turned 
 his attention to the body of the people, whose 
 progress had been slow, but pretty steady, and 
 whose importance was now immense. He ordered 
 his sheriffs to assemble all the free men of their 
 several counties, and tender to them a new oath of 
 allegiance. His next step was to send an agent to 
 Rome, to appeal to the Pope against what he 
 termed the treasonable violence of his vassals. The 
 barons, too, dispatched an envoy to the eternal city; 
 but it was soon made more than ever evident that 
 Innocent would support the king through right and 
 •WTong. He wrote a startling letter to Cardinal 
 Langton ; but that extraordinary priest was deaf 
 to the voice of his spiritual chief where the in- 
 terests of his country were concerned. To make 
 himself still surer, John took the cross on the 2d 
 of February, solemnly swearing that he would lead 
 an army to the Holy Land. This taking of the 
 cross, by which the debtor was exempted from the 
 pursuit of his creditor, — by which the persons, 
 goods, and estates of the crusaders were placed 
 under the immediate protection of the church till 
 their return from Palestine, — seemed to John the 
 best of all defences. 
 
 On the appointed day in Easter week the barons 
 met at Stamford with great military pomp, being 
 followed by two thousand knights and a host of 
 retainers. The king was at Oxford. The barons 
 marched to Brackley, within a few miles of that 
 city, where they were met by a deputation from 
 the sovereign, composed of Cardinal Langton, the 
 Earl of Pembroke, and the Earl of Warenne. The 
 confederates delivered the schedule containing the 
 chief articles of their petition. " These are our 
 
 claims," they said, "and if they are not instantly 
 granted, our arms shall do us justice." When 
 the deputies returned, and Langton expounded the 
 contents of the parchment he held in his hand, 
 John exclaimed, in a fury, " And why do they not 
 demand my crown also ? By God's teeth I will 
 not grant them liberties which will make me a 
 slave." He then made some evasive offers which 
 the barons understood, and rejected. Pandulph, 
 who was with the king, now contended that the 
 cardinal-primate ought to excommunicate the con- 
 federates ; but Langton said he knew the Pope's 
 real intentions had not been signified, and that 
 unless the king dismissed the foreign mercenaries, 
 whom he had brought into the kingdom for its 
 ruin, he would presently excommunicate them. 
 The barons now proclaimed themselves " the army 
 of God and of holy church," and unanimously 
 elected Robert Fitz- Walter to be their general. 
 They then marched against the castle of North- 
 ampton, but they had no battering engines ; the 
 walls were lofty and strong; the garrison, com- 
 posed of foreigners, stood out for the king ; and 
 their first warlike attempt proved a failure. After 
 fifteen days they gave up the siege, and marched 
 to Bedford with anxious minds. On whichever 
 side the fi"ee burghers of England threw their sub- 
 stantial weight that party must prevail, and, as 
 yet, no declaration had been made in favor of the 
 confederates. But noAv anxiety vanished, — the 
 people of Bedford threw open their gates ; and 
 soon after messengers arrived from the capital with 
 secret advice that the principal citizens of London 
 were devoted to their cause, and would receive 
 them with joy. Losing no time, they marched to 
 Ware, and, not stopping to rest for the night, pur- 
 sued their course to London, which they readied 
 in the morning. It was the 24th of May, and a 
 Sunday: the gates were open, — the people hearing 
 mass in their churches, — when the army of God 
 entered the city in excellent order and profound 
 silence. On the following day the barons issued 
 proclamations requiring all such earls, barons, and 
 knights, as had hitherto remained neutral, to join 
 them against the perjured John, unless they wished 
 to be treated as enemies of their country. In all 
 parts of the kingdom the lords and knights quitted 
 their castles to join the national standard at Lon- 
 don. It is needless, say the old chroniclers, to 
 enumerate the barons who composed the army of 
 God and of holy church : they were the whole 
 nobility of England. The heart of the dastard John 
 again turned to water : he saw himself almost en- 
 tirely deserted, only seven knights remaining near 
 his person. Recovering, however, from his first 
 stupefaction, he resorted to his old arts ; he as- 
 sumed a cheerful countenance ; said what his heges 
 had done was well done ; and from Odiham, in 
 Hampshire, where he was staying, he dispatched 
 the Earl of Pembroke to London, to assure the 
 barons that, for the good of peace, and the exalta- 
 tion of his reign, he was ready freely to grant all 
 the rights and liberties ; and only wished them to 
 name a day and place of meeting. " Let the day,"
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 511 
 
 replied the barons, " be the 15th of June, — the 
 place, Runny-mead.'" 
 
 On the morning of the appointed day, the king 
 moving from Windsor Castle, and the barons from 
 the town of Staines, the parties met on the green 
 meadow, close by the Thames, which the barons 
 had named. With John came eight bishops, Pan- 
 dulph, Almeric, the Master of the English Tem- 
 plars, the Earl of Pembroke, and thirteen other 
 gentlemen ; but the majority of this party, though 
 they attended him as friends and advisers, were 
 known to be in their hearts favorable to the cause 
 of the barons. On the other side stood Fitz- Walter 
 and the whole nobility of England. With scarcely 
 an attempt to modify any of its clauses, and with a 
 facility that might justly have raised suspicion, the 
 king signed the scroll presented to him. This was 
 Magna Charta, — the Great Charter, — a most 
 noble commencement and foundation for the future 
 liberties of England. As the profound duplicity 
 and immorality of John were well known, the 
 barons exacted securities. They required that he 
 should disband and send out of the kingdom all his 
 foreign officers, with their families and followers ; 
 that for the two ensuing months the barons should 
 keep possession of the city, and Langton of the 
 Tower of London ; and that they should be allowed 
 to choose twenty-five members from their own 
 body to be guardians or conservators of the liberties 
 of the kingdom, with power, in case of any breach 
 of the charter. — such breach not being redressed 
 
 1 Matt. Par. 
 
 immediately, — to Tnake war on the king ; to distrain 
 and distress him by seizing his castles, lands, pos- 
 sessions, and in any other manner they could, till 
 the grievance should be redressed ; always, how- 
 ever, saving harmless the person of the said lord 
 the king, the person of the queen, and the persons 
 of their royal children. This last article, which 
 invested a council of twenty-five with the real sov- 
 ereignty of the realm, has been viewed by some as 
 an unwarrantable invasion of the royal prerogative ; 
 but a strong barrier was indispensable against the 
 tyrannical and faithless character of the monarch, 
 and without extreme securities the charter drawn 
 from his reluctant hand would have been utterly 
 valueless. It is true that no hmits were set to the 
 authority of the barons either in extent or duration; 
 but, under the circumstances, it was necessary that 
 their power should be dictatorial, and the only 
 bound as to time which could have been introduced 
 was the death of John, — a clause which could not 
 be decently inserted. 
 
 As soon as the great assembly dispersed, and John 
 found himself in Windsor Castle safe from the ob- 
 serving eyes of his subjects, he called a few foreign 
 adventurers around him, and gave vent to rage and 
 curses against the charter. According to the chron- 
 iclers his behavior was that of a frantic madman ; 
 for, besides swearing, he gnashed his teeth, rolled 
 his eyes, and gnawed sticks and straws. The crea- 
 tures, who would be ruined and expelled by the 
 charter, roused him by appealing to his passion ot 
 revenge, and he forthwith dispatched two of them
 
 512 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 to the continent to procure liiin the means of undo- 
 ing all that he had been obliged to do. One of these 
 adventurers went to Flanders, Poictou, Aquitaine, 
 and Gascony, to hire other adventurers to come to 
 England and fight against the barons; the other went 
 to Rome, to implore the aid of Innocent. John then 
 sent messengers to such governors of his castles as 
 were foreigners or men devoted to him, command- 
 ing them to lay in provisions and put themselves in 
 a state of defence ; "doing all tiiis ^v'ithout noise and 
 with cjiution, lest the barons should be alarmed." 
 lie caused the alarm himself, by instantly evading 
 some of the clauses of the charter. On their de- 
 parture from Runny-mead, the barons, in the joy 
 of their hearts, appointed a great tournament to be 1 
 held at Stamford on the 2d of July. John, during 
 their absence, formed a plot to surprise London, 
 where the main strengtli of the party lay ; but, being l 
 warned in time, the nobles put off the celebration of j 
 the tournament to a more distant day, and named a 
 place for it nearer to London. The king now with- 
 drew to Winchester, where, alarmed at the whole 
 course of his conduct, a deputation waited on him 
 on the 27th of June. He laughed at their suspi- 
 cions, — swore, with his usual volubility, that they 
 were unfounded, and that he was ready to do all 
 those things to which he was pledged. He issued 
 u few writs required of him, and then withdrew 
 .still further to the Isle of Wight, where he would 
 mjx with no society save that of the fishermen of 
 the place and the mariners of the neighboring ports, 
 whom he tried to captivate by adopting their man- 
 ners. Here he remained about three weeks (not 
 months, as stated by Matthew Paris) ; for it appears 
 from public instruments, still extant, that he was at 
 Oxford on the 21st of July, where he appointed a 
 conference which he did not attend, posting away 
 to Dover, where he staid during the whole of Sep- 
 tember, anxiously awaiting the arrival of his merce- 
 nary recruits from the continent. When the barons 
 learned that troops of Brabanters and others were 
 stealing into the land in small parties, they dis- 
 patched William d'Albiney, at the head of a chosen 
 band, to take possession of the royal castle of Roch- 
 ester. D'Albiney had scarcely entered the castle, 
 which he found almost destitute of stores and 
 engines of defence, when John found himself suf- 
 ficiently strong to venture from Dover. The un- 
 English despot, followed by Poictevins, Gascons, 
 Flemings, Brabanters, and others, — the outcasts and 
 freebooters of Europe, — laid siege to Rochester 
 Castle at the beginning of October. The barons, 
 knowing tlie insufificient means of defence within 
 the castle, marched from London to its relief, but 
 they were obliged to retreat before the superior 
 force of the foreigners, who, day after day, were 
 joined by fresh adventurers from the other side of 
 the Channel. Fortunately for England, one Hugh 
 <le Boves and a vast horde of marauders perished in 
 a tempest on their way from Calais to Dover. John 
 bewailed this loss like a maniac, but he pressed the 
 siege of Rochester Castle, and still prevented the 
 barons from relieving it. After a gallant resistance 
 of eight weeks, when the outer walls were thrown 
 
 down, an angle of the keep shattered, and the last 
 mouthful of provision consumed, D'Albiney surren- 
 dered. John, with his usual ferocity, ordered him 
 to be hanged, with his whole garrison ; but Savaric 
 de Manleon, the leader of one of the foreign bands, 
 opposed this barbarous mandate, because he feared 
 the English might retaliate on his own followers, if 
 any should fall into their hands. The tyrant was, 
 therefore, contented to butcher the inferior prison- 
 ers, while all the knights were sent to the castles 
 of Corfe and Nottingham. 
 
 The loss of Rochester Castle was a serious blow 
 to the cause of the barons, who were soon after 
 excommunicated by the Pope ; for the king's appli- 
 cation to Rome had met with full success, notwith- 
 standing a counter ajjpeal made by the English 
 nation. Innocent declared that the barons were 
 worse than Saracens for molesting a vassal of the 
 holy see — a religious king who had taken the cross. 
 Thus emboldened, John marched from Kent to St. 
 Alban's, accompanied by " Faico, without bowels," 
 " Manleon, the bloody," " Walter Buch, the mur- 
 derer," " Sottim, the merciless," " Godeschal, the 
 iron-hearted," and a most mixed and savage host. 
 It was thought at one time he would turn upon 
 London, but the attitude of the capital struck him 
 with terror ; and leaving a strong division to manoeu- 
 vre round it, and devastate the southeastern coun- 
 ties, he moved toward Nottingham, marking his 
 progress with flames and blood. Alexander, the 
 young king of Scotland, had entered into an alliance 
 with the English barons, and, having crossed the 
 borders, was investing the castle of Norham. The 
 whole northern country, moreover, was especially 
 obnoxious to John, and thither he determined to 
 carry his vengeance. A few days after the feast of 
 Christmas, when the ground was covered with deep 
 snow, he marched from Nottingham into York- 
 shire, still burning and slaying, and becoming more 
 savage the farther he advanced and the less he was 
 opposed. Every hamlet, every house on the road, 
 felt the fury of his execrable host, — he himself giv- 
 ing the example, and setting fire with his own hands 
 in the morning to the house in which he had rested 
 the preceding night. His foreign soldiery put his 
 native subjects to the torture to make them confess 
 where they had concealed their money. The tor- 
 tures inflicted were worthy of fiends, and too horri- 
 ble to bear description. All the castles and towns 
 they could take were given to the flames ; and the 
 people of Yorkshire and Northumberland were re- 
 minded of the expedition of William the Conqueror, 
 which their local traditions faithfully painted as the 
 extremity of human barbarity on the one side, and 
 of human misery on the other. The Scottish king 
 retired before a superior force, and John, vowing he 
 would "unkennel the young fox," followed him as 
 far as Edinburgh. Here, meeting with opposition, 
 he paused, and then — never having any valor butr 
 when unopposed — he turned back to England, burn- 
 ing Haddington, Dunbar, and Berwick on his way. 
 Near the borders, Morpeth, Mitford, Alnwick, 
 Wark, and Roxburgh had been consumed already. 
 
 In the meantime the division left in the south.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 513 
 
 which seems to have been reinforced by fresh ar- 
 rivals of mercenaries from the continent, committed 
 equal atrocities ; and wherever the castle of a noble 
 was taken, it was given, with the adjoining estate, 
 to some hungry adventurer, — John thus renewing 
 the early scenes of the Conquest. On the 16th of 
 December another sentence of excommunication 
 was proniulgated by the Abbot of Abingdon and two 
 other ecclesiastics : in this bull Robert Fitz- Walter, 
 the general of the confederacy, and all the principal 
 barons, were mentioned by name ; and the city of 
 London was laid under an interdict. This measure 
 excited some fear and wavering in the country, but 
 the citizens of London had the boldness to despise 
 it. According to Matthew Paris they asserted that 
 the pontiff had no right to interfere in worldly con- 
 cerns ; and, spite of the interdict, they kept open 
 their churches, rang their bells, and celebrated their 
 Christmas with unusual festivity. 
 
 But the barons, who were confined in London by 
 the force that continually increased around them — 
 who saw their property the prey to new invaders — 
 and who knew the full extent of the danger to 
 which the nation was exposed (the effect of the ex- 
 communication on the villains in the country not 
 being the least of these), were sorely disquieted, 
 and knew • not what measures to adopt. Many 
 meetings were held, and a variety of plans debated ; 
 but at last they unanimously resolved, in a moment 
 of desperation, upon the very equivocal and perilous 
 expedient of calling in foreign aid. They sent to 
 offer the crown to Philip's eldest son. Prince Louis, 
 who was connected with the reigning family by his 
 marriage with Blanche of Castile, John's own niece ; 
 believing that, should he land among them, the 
 mercenaries now with John, who were chiefly sub- 
 jects of France, would join his standard, or at least 
 refuse to bear arms against him. Philip and Louis 
 eagerly grasped at this off'er ; but the wary old king 
 moderated the impatience of his son, and would not 
 permit him to venture into England until twenty- 
 four hostages, sons of the noblest of the English, 
 were sent into France. Then a fleet, with a small 
 army, was sent up the Thames : it arrived at Lon- 
 don at the end of February, and the commander 
 assured the barons that Louis himself would be 
 there with a proper force by the feast of Easter. 
 Innocent in the meanwhile was not inactive in 
 John's, or rather in his own, cause ; he dispatched 
 a new legate to England ; and Gualo, on his journey, 
 reached France in time to witness and to endeavor 
 to prevent the preparations making for invasion. 
 He boldly asked both king and prince how they 
 dared attack the pati-imony of the church, and 
 threatened them with instant excommunication. 
 To the astonishment of the churchman, Louis ad- 
 vanced a claim to the English throne through right 
 of his wife, and departed for Calais where his army 
 was collecting. At the appointed time, he set sail 
 from Calais with a numerous and well-appointed 
 armj% embarked on board 680 vessels. His passage 
 was stormy : the mariners of the Cinque Ports, 
 who adhered to the English king, cut off and took 
 some of his ships ; but, on the 30th of May, he landed 
 VOL. I.— 33 
 
 safely at Sandwich. John, who had come round 
 to Dover with a numerous army, fled before the 
 French landed, and, burning and ravaging the coun- 
 try, he went to Guildford, then to Winchester, and 
 then to Bristol, where Gualo, the Pope's legate, 
 soon joined him. Leaving Dover Castle in his rear, 
 Louis besieged and took the Castle of Rochester. 
 He then marched to the capital, where, on the 2d 
 of June, A.D. 1216, he was joyfully received by the 
 barons and citizens, who conducted him, with a 
 magnificent procession, to St. Paul's. After he 
 had offered up his prayers, the nobles and citizens 
 did homage, and swore fealty to him. And then 
 he, with his hand on the Gospels, also swore to 
 restore to all orders their good laws, and to each 
 individual the estates and property of which he had 
 been robbed. Soon after, Louis published a mani- 
 festo, addressed to the King of Scotland and all the 
 nobles not present in London. An immense effect 
 was presently seen : nearly every one of the few 
 nobles who had followed John now left him and 
 repaired to London ; all the men of the north, from 
 Lincolnshire to the borders, rose up in arms against 
 him ; the Scottish king made ready to march to 
 the south ; and, at first in small troops, and then in 
 masses, all the foreign mercenaries, with the ex 
 ception of those of Gascony and Poictou, deserted 
 the standard of the tyrant, and either returned to 
 their homes or took service under Louis and the 
 barons, who were now enabled to retake many of 
 their castles. Gualo, the legate, did all he could 
 to keep up the drooping, abject spirit of John ; but, 
 at the very moment of crisis, on the 16th of July, 
 the Pope himself, the mighty Innocent, died, and 
 left the church to be wholly occupied for some 
 time by the election of a new pontiff. 
 
 Louis marched to Dover, and laid siege to the 
 castle, which was most bravely defended for the 
 king by Hubert de Burgh; and, at the same time, 
 some of the barons attacked Windsor Castle, which 
 was equally well defended. Philip sent his son a 
 famous military engine, called the malvoisine, or 
 bad neighbor, with which to batter the walls of 
 Dover Castle ; but when the siege had lasted sev- 
 eral weeks, Louis found himself obliged to convert 
 it into a blockade. Withdrawing his army beyond 
 reach of the arrows of the garrison, he swore that 
 he would reduce the place by famine and then 
 hang all its defenders. The barons raised the 
 siege of Windsor Castle entirely, in order to repel 
 John, who, after running from place to place, had 
 at last made his appearance near them, and was 
 pillaging the estates of some of those nobles. At 
 their appi-oach he fell back, and eluding their pur- 
 suit by skill, or, more probably, by hard running, 
 he reached the town of Stamford. The barons 
 wheeled round, and joined Louis at Dover, where 
 much valuable time was lost in inactivity, for that 
 prince would neither assault the castle nor move 
 from it. Other circumstances at the same time 
 caused discontent : Louis treated the English with 
 disrespect, and began to make grants of estates and 
 titles in England to his French followers. BuC 
 jealousy and apprehension were excited to the ver-'
 
 514 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boor III. 
 
 utmost by ixn event which happened, or at least was 
 said to have happened. The Viscount de Melun, 
 who had come over with the prince, being suddenly 
 seized by a mortal malady in London, earnestly 
 implored to see such of the English nobles as had 
 remained in that city. The barons went at the 
 summons of the dying man. " Your fate grieves 
 me," said De Melun ; " the prince and sixteen of 
 his army have bound themselves by oath, when the 
 realm shall be conquered and he be crowned, to 
 banish forever those who have joined his standard 
 as traitors not to be trusted. Their whole ofispring 
 will be beggared or exterminated. Doubt not my 
 ■words; I, who here lie dying before j^ou, was one 
 of the conspirators : look to your siifety !" and so 
 saying, the viscount died. This dramatic scene, 
 which possibly originated in the invention of some 
 of John's partisans, was whispered everywhere, 
 and believed by many. Several barons and knights 
 withdrew from Dover, and though few would ti'ust 
 John, all began to doubt whether they liad not com- 
 mitted a fatal mistake in calling in the aid of a for- 
 eign prince. As these doubts prevailed more and 
 more, and as the gloom thickened round the camp 
 at Dover, where Louis had now lost nearly thi-ee 
 months, the cause of John brightened in proportion. 
 Soon after eluding the pursuit of the barons, he 
 had made himself master of Lincoln, where he 
 established his head-quarters for some time, making, 
 hoAvever, predatory incursions on all sides. Asso- 
 ciations were formed in his favor in several of the 
 maritime counties; and the English cruisers fre- 
 quently captured the supplies from the continent 
 destined for Louis. At the beginning of October, 
 marching through Peterborough, he entered the 
 district of Croyland, and plundered and burnt the 
 form-houses belonging to that celebrated abbey : he 
 then proceeded to the town of Lynn, where he had 
 a depot of provisions and other stores. Here, turn- 
 
 ing his face again toward the north, he marched to 
 Wisbeach, and from Wisbeach he proceeded to a 
 place called the Cross Keys, on the southern side 
 of the Wash. It is not clear why he took that dan- 
 gerous route, but he resolved to cross the Wash by 
 the sands. At low water this estuary is passable ; 
 but it is subject to sudden rises of the tide. John 
 and his army had nearly reached the opposite shore, 
 called the Fossdike, when the returning tide began 
 to roar. Pressing forward in haste and terror, they 
 escaped ; but, on looking back, John beheld the 
 carriages and sumpter-horses which carried his 
 money overtaken by the waters ; the surge broke 
 furiously over them, and they presently disappeared 
 — carriages, horses, treasures, and men being swal- 
 lowed up in a whirlpool caused by the impetuous 
 ascent of the tide and the descending current of the 
 river Welhand. In a mournful silence, only broken 
 by curses and useless complaints, John traveled on 
 to the Cistercian abbey of Swineshead, where he 
 rested for the night. Here he ate gluttonously of 
 some peaches or pears, and drank new cider im- 
 moderately. The popular story of his being poi- 
 soned by a monk may be true or false ; but it is 
 told in two ways, and was never told at all by any 
 writer living at the time or within half a century of 
 it, and the excess already mentioned, acting upon 
 an irritated mind and fevered body, seems to be 
 cause enough for what followed. He passed the 
 night sleepless, restless, and in horror. At an early 
 hour on the following morning, the 15th of October, 
 he mounted his horse to pursue his march, but he 
 was soon compelled, by a burning fever and acute 
 pain, to dismount. His attendants then brought up a 
 horse-litter, in which they laid him, and so conveyed 
 him to the castle of Sleaford. Here he rested for 
 the night, which brought him no repose, but an in- 
 crease of his disorder. The next day they carried 
 him with great difficulty to the castle of Newark, 
 
 Tomb or Kino John, at Worcester
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 515 
 
 on the Trent, and there he sent for a confessor, 
 and laid himself down to die. The Abbot of Crox- 
 ton, a religious house in the neighborhood, who, it 
 appears, was equally skilled in medicine and divin- 
 ity, attended him in his last hours, and witnessed his 
 anguish and tardy repentance. He named his eldest 
 son Henry his successor, and dictated a letter to the 
 recently elected pope, Honorius III., imploring the 
 protection of the church for his young and helpless 
 children. He made all the knights who were with 
 him swear fealty to Henry ; and he sent orders to 
 the sheriffs of counties and the governors of castles 
 to be faithful to the prince. Messengers .arrived 
 from some of the barons, who were disgusted with 
 Louis, and proposed returning to their allegiance. 
 This gleam of hope came too late, — the " tyrant 
 fever" had destroyed the tyrant. The Abbot of 
 Croxton asked him where he would have his body 
 buried? John groaned, " I commit my soul to God, 
 and my body to St. Wulstan !" and soon after he 
 expired, on the 18th of October, in the forty-ninth 
 year of his age and the seventeenth of his wretched 
 reign. They carried his body to Worcester and in- 
 terred it in the cathedral church there, of which 
 St. Wulstan was the patron saint.' 
 
 During the whole of the period through which 
 we have now passed, the three states of Albin, 
 Pictland, and Strathclyde, which had formerly 
 divided the northern part of the island, were con- 
 solidated into the single kingdom of Scotland, of 
 which, however, the southern limits varied consid- 
 erably at different times; for the proper Scotland 
 lay all beyond the Forth and the Clyde ; and the 
 territory to the south of these rivers was not ac- 
 counted as strictly forming part either of Scotland 
 or England till some ages after the Norman Con- 
 quest, At the time of that event the Scottish king 
 was Malcolm III., surnamed Canmore, or Great 
 Head, whose reign commenced in 1057.^ His 
 dominions undoubtedly included the ancient king- 
 dom of Strathclyde, or the district now forming the 
 southwestern part of Scotland, which had been 
 conquered by Kenneth III. in the latter part of the 
 preceding century f and the district of Cumbria, 
 lying on the same side of the island, but within 
 what is now called England, was also at this time 
 an appanage of the Scottish crown, having been 
 made over to Malcolm I. by the Saxon king, Ed- 
 mund I., in 946,* and held from that date, either by 
 the occupant of the throne or by the person next in 
 succession, as an English fief or lordship. With 
 regard to the southeastern portion of modern 
 Scotland, or the district then known by the name of 
 Lodonia or Lothian (now confined to a part of it), 
 the state of the case is not so clear. The people 
 appear to have been chiefly or exclusively Angles, 
 mixed in later times with Danes ; and the territorj- 
 undoubtedly at one period formed part of the Anglo- 
 Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. From the defeat, 
 however, of the Northumbrian king, Egfrid, b}- the 
 
 Matt. Par.— Matt. West. 
 See ante, p. 208. 
 
 5 See ante, p. 211. 
 
 * See ante, pp 161 and 208. 
 
 Picts in 685,' it may be considered as having been 
 withdrawn from the actual dominion of its former 
 masters, although perhaps their claim to its sove- 
 reignty was never abandoned, and it may have been 
 for short periods wholly or partially resubjected by 
 the English. " Situated between the Scotch or 
 Pictish and the Northumbrian kingdoms," observes 
 a writer to whom we owe the latest as well as the 
 most acute and learned discussion of this obscure 
 matter, " it is impossible to say to which it usually 
 or rightfully belonged. It seems to have been a 
 debatable land, subject, as they alternately prepon- 
 derated, to the strongest."^ Mr. Allen, however, 
 is inclined to accept the account given by Walling- 
 ford (who, although he wrote in the twelfth or 
 thirteenth century, appears, as it is observed, " to 
 have possessed original materials which are now 
 lost") of the manner in which what he calls the old 
 quarrel, respecting Lothian, was at last determined. 
 Wallingford's statement is, that in the reign of the 
 English Edgar, Kenneth IV., King of Scotland, 
 having come to London, and represented that Lo- 
 thian properly belonged by hereditary right to the 
 Scottish kings, Edgar laid the affair before his no- 
 bles, who, seeing that it was, from its remoteness, 
 difficult to protect, and little profitable to England, 
 agreed to resign the territory to Kenneth ; but only 
 on condition that he should hold it, as they main- 
 tained his predecessors had done, or at least ought 
 to have done, by doing homage for it to the EngHsh 
 crown. To these terms Kenneth assented, promi- 
 sing, while he did his homage, that he would allow 
 the people to keep their ancient customs, and that 
 they should continue English in name and in lan- 
 guage f all which, adds the historian, remains firmly 
 established to this day. This transaction appears to 
 have taken place in the year 971. It is probable, 
 from the account, that Lothian was already in the 
 actual possession of the Scottish kings ; and they 
 appear from this time to have continued in the un- 
 disturbed occupation of it till the defeat of Malcolm 
 II., in 1005, by the Earl of the Northumbrians ; in 
 consequence of which, Mr. Allen thinks, the whole 
 or part of the district was reannexed to the North- 
 umbrian earldom. Some years after, however, the 
 Northumbrians were in their turn defeated by the 
 same Malcolm at the battle of Carrum, near Werk. 
 and eventually, in 1020, a final cession of Lothian 
 to the Scottish king was formally made by the 
 Northumbrian eai;l Eadulf.'' It is probable that the 
 English kings did not consider their ancient claim to 
 the paramount dominion of the district to be affected 
 by this last cession ; but there is no record of any 
 subsequent assertion of the claim till after the Nor- 
 man conquest. Malcolm Canmore may therefore be 
 regarded as reigning in full sovereignty over Lothian, 
 as well as over all the rest of the country now in- 
 cluded under the name of Scotland. 
 
 It is only necessary further to mention, that th*- 
 southwestern angle of Scotland, formerly called 
 
 1 See ante. p. 206. 
 
 " Allen's Vindication of the Ancient Independence of Scotland, 
 8vo. 1833. 
 ' " Sub nomine et lingua Anglicana permanerent." 
 * See ante, p. 210
 
 516 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book HI. 
 
 Galloway, and now forming the counties of Wigton 
 and Kirkcudbright, received various bodies of colo- 
 nists from Ireland in the course of the ninth, tenth, 
 and eleventh centuries. »• They appear," says Mr. 
 Allen, "at all times to have owed subjection to the 
 Scottish kings, but they long retained the barbarous 
 habits and ferocious manners which the ravages of 
 the Northmen had impressed on the country they 
 had quitted. In the twelfth century, they are called 
 Picts, or Galwegians ; and as late as the fourteenth 
 century, they are distinguished by the appellation of 
 the Wild Scots of Galloway." In fact, the name 
 of Galloway, which is first mentioned in the early 
 part of the twelfth century, was derived from this 
 Irish or Gaelic population. 
 
 Malcolm had passed about fifteen years at the 
 court of the Confessor before he became king ; and 
 in his long exile he must have formed various Eng- 
 lish connections, as well as become habituated to 
 the manners of the sister country. He may there- 
 fore be supposed to have, from the first, kept up a 
 more intimate intercourse with England than had 
 been customary with his predecessors. The chief 
 of his English friends, in the beginning of his reign, 
 appears to have been Harold's notorious brother 
 Tostig, who obtained the earldom of Northumber- 
 land about tlie same time that Malcolm ascended 
 the throne of Scotland. Simeon of Durham says 
 they were so much attached to each other that 
 they were commonly called the sworn brothers. 
 Accordingly, when Tostig was driven off from the 
 English coast, on his first invasion after the accession 
 of Harold,^ he took refuge in the first instance with 
 Malcolm. The Scottish king, however, seems to 
 have taken no part in the new attempt made by his 
 friend in the close of the same year; and he did not 
 therefore share in the decisive defeat of Stamford 
 Bridge, in which both Tostig and his ally, Hardrada 
 of Norwjiy, lost their lives. 
 
 The principal events that make up the subsequent 
 history of the reign of Malcolm arose out of his 
 connection with another English fugitive, the un- 
 fortunate Edgar Atheling. Edgar fled to Scotland,^ 
 according to the most probable account, with his 
 mother and his two sisters, in the beginning of 
 1068; and soon after, Malcolm espoused Edgar's 
 oldest sister Margaret, at Dunfermline. From some 
 cause, which is not distinctly explained, Malcolm 
 did not arrive with his forces in time to support the 
 insurrection of the people of Northumbria,^ in con- 
 junction with the Danes and the friends of Edgar, 
 in the following year : and it was not till after the 
 complete suppression of that attempt, and the whole 
 of the east coast; from the Humber to the Tyne, 
 had been made a desert by the remorseless ven- 
 geance of the Norman, that the Scottish king, in 
 1070, entered England, through Cumberland, and 
 spread nearly as great devastation in the western 
 parts of York and Durham as William had done in 
 the east. He commanded his soldiers to spare only 
 the young men and women ; and they were driven 
 into Scotland to be made slaves. A writer* of the 
 
 1 See ante, p. 198. 
 3 See ante, p. 358 
 
 2 See ante, p. 356. 
 ♦ Simeon of Durham 
 
 following century says that Scotland was in conse- 
 quence so fully supplied with male and female 
 slaves of English race that, in his own days, not a 
 village, and scarcely even a house, could be found 
 without them. Great numbers of the people of the 
 east coast also now fled to Scotland, and there sold 
 themselves into slavery, to escape from the sword 
 of the conqueror, or from perishing by hunger in 
 the desolation it had left. 
 
 It was not till 1072 that William found leisure 
 to chastise Malcolm for this inroad. He then 
 iidvanced into Scotland, and wasted the country as 
 far as -the Tay, though the inhabitants, after the 
 plan which they had been accustomed to pursue in 
 such cases from the days of Galgacus, and which 
 they continued to follow occasionally to a much 
 later age, destroyed or removed everything of value 
 as the invader advanced, so that, as the Saxon 
 chronicler expresses it, " he nothing found of that 
 which to him the better was." In the end, how- 
 ever, Malcolm came to him at Abernethy,' when, 
 according to the Saxon Chronicle, a peace was 
 arranged between the two kings, on Malcolm 
 agreeing to give hostages, and to do homage to 
 William as his liege lord. William then returned 
 home with his army. 
 
 This transaction makes a principal figure in the 
 controversy which was formerly carried on with so 
 much unnecessary ^leat, and which still continues 
 to divide historical inquirers, respecting the alleged 
 dependence in ancient times of the kingdom of 
 Scotland upon the English crown. The position 
 taken by the asserters of this dependence appears 
 to be that, from a date long before the Norman Con- 
 quest of England, the Anglo-Saxon kings of that 
 country had in some way or other obtained posses- 
 sion of the sovereignty of the whole island, and the 
 kings of Scotland, as well as the princes of Wales, 
 had become their acknowledged vassals. We may 
 say without hesitation that this notion is directly 
 opposed to the whole course of the history of the 
 two countries. 
 
 Upon what could the Anglo-Saxon kings possibly 
 found any pretension to the sovereignty of Scotland ? 
 The country was never conquered by any of them, 
 nor is there a vestige of evidence that even an at- 
 tempt was ever made by them to settle in it, or 
 to Nvrest it from the possession of the people of 
 another lineage that occupied it before the Saxons 
 and Angles ever set foot in the island. The North- 
 umbrian kings were occasionally engaged in wars 
 with those of the Scots and Picts ; but no one of 
 these wars, as far as any account of it has been pre- 
 served, ever terminated in anything like the conquest 
 of the one country by the other, or even took the 
 shape of a contest having that object; and the sup- 
 position that it did, would be as contr<iry to all the 
 probabilities of the case, as it is wholly unsupported 
 
 1 This seems to be realiy the place meant by the "Abemithi" 
 of Ingulphus, the " Abernithici"<)f Florenre of Worcester, the " Aber- 
 nitici" of R. de Diceto, and the "Abrenitici" of Walsingham, 
 although Lord Hailes, Pinkerton, and other writers hav« contendeJ 
 that it was more probably some place on the river Nith. Mr. Alien 
 conceives that no doubt can exist as to its being Abemethy on tli« 
 Tay. — Vindication, &c. p. 47
 
 Chap. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 517 
 
 by the testimony of historians or records. The 
 quarrel between the two contending parties appears 
 to have been exclusively for the possession of Lo- 
 thian ; and, on the whole, the course of the contest 
 went rather against the English, who, as we have 
 just seen, were at a very early period driven from 
 the disputed territory, and eventually consented to 
 relinquish all claims to its occupation and actual gov- 
 ernment, on receiving from the Scottish kings at 
 most an empty acknowledgment of their merely 
 titular sovereignty. But at any rate there is no evi- 
 dence whatever to show that any attempt was ever 
 made by a Northumbrian or other Anglo-Saxon king 
 to conquer the territory to the north of the Forth, 
 which alone originally and properly constituted the 
 country called Scotland ; to suppose that any such 
 attempt was ever successfully made, would be an 
 assumption in the face of all evidence. 
 
 Notwithstanding this state of the fact, it appears 
 to be clear, on the other hand, that certain of the 
 Anglo-Saxon kings did assume the title of monarch 
 or emperor of all Britaiin — of Scotland as well as of 
 England. This is proved, not only by the testimony 
 of the monkish chroniclers, but by the charters of 
 the kings themselves. It is unnecessary for our 
 present purpose to dispute the genuineness of these 
 charters ; their evidence may be at once admitted — 
 for it proves nothing. The dispute is not, as to 
 whether the vaunting titles in question were assumed 
 by some of the Anglo-Saxon kings, but as to whether 
 they ever actually possessed that right of dominion 
 over the whole island which they thus arrogantly 
 claimed. The whole course of the history of the 
 two countries shows that they never could have ac- 
 quired any such dominion ; their asserted sovereignty 
 over Scotland could only have been founded upon a 
 conquest of that country, of which there is no more 
 evidence than there is of their conquest of France 
 or of Spain. As little good evidence is there of any 
 acknowledgment of this pretended sovereignty by 
 the Scottish kings. To prove what is, in itself, so 
 grossly improbable, as that any country would, with- 
 out being compelled by force, relinquish its inde- 
 pendence, and place itself in subjection to another 
 country, which had always been its rival, and often 
 its enemy, would demand the very strongest evi- 
 dence. But here all the evidence that we have con- 
 sists of a few vague expressions by waiters for the 
 most part extremely credulous and ill-informed, 
 neither agreeing in this particular matter one with 
 another, nor even each with himself, and especially 
 all having their testimony, meager and unsatisfactory 
 as it is, rendered suspicious by their national con- 
 nection and partialities, and for the most part by a 
 manifest anxiety to flatter or magnify the renown of 
 the particular kings to whom they attribute this fan- 
 cied supremacy over the whole island. Against all 
 this, we have, in an age of writing and of charters, 
 the absence of any authentic instrument in which 
 any of the Scottish kings acknowledges his subjec- 
 tion, and a crowd of undisputed historical facts, 
 proving that, in the general government of their do- 
 minions at least, all of these Scottish kings acted in 
 every respect as independent sovereigns. 
 
 The titles of Basileus, or Emperor of Britain, and 
 King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, assumed by 
 Edgar and some of the other Anglo-Saxon princes, 
 are really no better evidence of their possession of 
 this extensive dominion either in fact or in right, 
 than was the long-continued assumption of the title 
 of King of France bj- our modern English kings a 
 proof that they really were sovereigns of that coun- 
 try in any sense whatever. The fact, indeed, seems 
 to be merely that the principal Saxon king, aftei- 
 having reduced to subjection the other states of the 
 heptarchy, and thus made himself king of all Eng- 
 land, not unnaturally chose to consider himself as 
 in some sort the legitimate successor of Carausius 
 and Maximus, and the other rulers over a similar 
 extent of territory, who, in the old Roman times, 
 had boasted with as little truth of possessing the 
 empire of Britain. We have nearly a parallel case 
 in the pretensions of the emperors of Germany, 
 who, on the ground that they were the successors 
 of the Roman emperors, long claimed a sort of sove- 
 reignty over all the other kings of Europe, and were 
 strenuously supported in this vain assumption by a 
 crowd both of churchmen and of lawjers.^ It may 
 be conceded that the English king in Britain, like 
 the emperor in Europe, was considered the chief 
 among the several crowned heads ; the others may 
 have generally " confessed the preeminence of his 
 rank and dignity ;" but the deference that may thus 
 have been paid to him is altogether a different thing 
 from any acknowledgment of his paramount domin- 
 ion, or any surrender by those who yielded it of the 
 independence of their own kingdoms. 
 
 The only subjection or homage which either the 
 Scottish kings rendered, or the English crown 
 claimed from them, before the Norman conquest, 
 appears to have been not for the kingdom of Scot- 
 land, but for territories annexed to that kingdom or 
 otherwise held by them, situated or conceived to be 
 situated in England. Such was the lordship of 
 Cumbria, or Cumbraland, after the donation of it 
 by the English king Edmund to Malcolm I., in 946. 
 Lothian, or a part of it,^ may be considered to have 
 been similarly circumstanced after the agi-eement 
 between Kenneth IV. and Edgar, in 971. There 
 is reason to beUeve, also, that the Scottish kings 
 were anciently possessed of other lands clearly 
 
 1 "Nor was the supremacy of the emperor," says Gibbon, "con- 
 fined to Germany alone : the hereditary monarchs of Europe con- 
 fessed 'he preeminence of his rank and dignity ; he was the first ol 
 the Christian princes, the temporal head of the great republic of the 
 west ; to his person the title of majesty was long appropriated ; and 
 he disputed with the Pope the sublime prerogative of creating kings 
 and assembling councils. The oracle of the civil law, the learned 
 Bartolus, was a pensioner of Charles IV. ; and his school resounded 
 with the doctrine that the Roman emperor was the rightful sovereign 
 of the earth, from the rising to the setting siin. The contrary opinion 
 was condemned, not as an error, but as a heresy; since even the 
 gospel had pronounced, ' And there went forth a decree from CKsar 
 Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.'" — Dec. and Fall of 
 Rom. Empire, ch. 49. 
 
 2 Lord Hailes has endeavored to show that the district anciently 
 called Lothian, and perhaps considered as part of England, by no 
 means included the whole of the southeast of Scotland, but only the 
 counties of Berwick and East Lothian, and the part of Mid Lothian 
 lying to the east of Edinliurgh. And, he adds, " only s small part of 
 that territory could be considered as feudally dependent on England. 
 Great part of those territories was the patrimony of St. Cuthbert." — 
 Remarks on the Hist, of Scotland (Edm. 1772), chap. 2.
 
 518 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IIL 
 
 within the realm of England, besides the county of 
 Cumberland. For these possessions of course they 
 did homage to the English king, and acknowledged 
 him as their liege lord, exactly in the same manner 
 as the Norman kings of England acknowledged 
 themselves the vassals of the crown of France for 
 their possessions on the continent. 
 
 When Malcolm III., however, on the seizure of 
 the English crown by the Duke of Normandy, es- 
 poused the cause of Edgar Atheling, he necessarily 
 at the same time refused to do homage for his Eng- 
 lish lands to the Norman invader, whom by that 
 very proceeding he declared that he did not ac- 
 knowledge as the rightful king of England. Will- 
 iam, on the other hand, took measures to maintain 
 his authority and to compel the obedience of his 
 rebellious vassal ; and these objects he completely 
 attained by the submission of Malcolm at Abernethy. 
 The latter now consented to make that acknowledg- 
 ment of William's title, and of his own vassalage for 
 the lordship of Cumberland and his other English 
 possessions, which he had hitherto refused ; he gave 
 hostages to the English king, as the Saxon chroni- 
 cler expresses it, and became his man. 
 
 After this Malcolm appears to have remained 
 quiet for some years. He did not, however, finally 
 abandon the cause of his brother-in-law, the Athe- 
 ling ; and in 1079, choosing his opportunity when 
 the English king was engaged in war with his son 
 Robert on the continent, he again took up arms, and 
 made another destructive inroad into Northumber- 
 land. The following year, after the reconcilement 
 
 of William and his son, the latter was sent at the 
 head of an army against Scotland ; but he soon re- 
 turned without effecting anything. It was immedi- 
 ately after this expedition that the fortress bearing 
 the name of the Castellum Novum, on the Tyne, 
 which gave origin to the town of Newcastle, was 
 erected as a protection against the invasions of the 
 Scots. 
 
 When Rufus succeeded to the English throne the 
 two countries appear to have been at peace. But 
 in the summer of 1091 we lind Malcolm again in- 
 vading Northumberland. Rufns immediatelj^ made 
 preparations to attack Scotland, both by sea and 
 land ; and, although his ships were destroyed in a 
 storm, he advanced to the north with his army be- 
 fore the close of the year. We have already rela- 
 ted' the course and issue of this new war. After 
 being suspended for a short time by a treaty made, 
 according to the Saxon Chronicle, " at Lothian in 
 England," whither Malcolm came " out of Scot- 
 land," and awaited the approach of the enemy, it 
 was renewed by the refusal of the Scottish king to 
 do the English king right, that is, to afford him sat- 
 isfaction about the matter in dispute between them, 
 anywhere except at the usual place, — namely, on 
 the frontiers, and in presence of the chief men of 
 both kingdoms. William required that Malcolm 
 should make his appearance before the English ba- 
 rons alone, assembled at Gloucester, and submit the 
 case to their judgment. " It is obvious on feudal 
 principles," as Mr. Allen obseiTes. "that if Malcolm 
 
 » See ante, p. 384. 
 
 Castlk or Newcastle rpoN-TYNK
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 519 
 
 had done homage for Scotland to the King of Eng- 
 land, the Scotch nobles must have been rere-vassals 
 of the latter, and could not have sat in court with 
 the tenants in chief of the English crown." Yet it 
 is evident that the nobility of both kingdoms had 
 been wont on former occasions to meet and form 
 one court for adjudication on such demands as that 
 now made by the English king. The hostilities 
 that followed, however, were fatal to Malcolm. He 
 was slain in a sudden attack made upon him while 
 besieging the castle of Alnwick, on the 13th of No- 
 vember, 1093. 
 
 The reign of Malcolm was one of the most mem- 
 orable and important in the early history of Scot- 
 land. It was in his time, and in consequence, in 
 great part, of his personal fortunes, that the first 
 foundations of that intimate connection were laid 
 which afterward enabled the country to draw so 
 largely upon the superior civilization of England, 
 and in that way eventually revolutionized the whole 
 of its social condition. From the time of Malcolm 
 Canmore, Scotland ceased to be a Celtic kingdom. 
 He himself spoke the language of his forefathers as 
 well as Saxon ; but it may be doubted if any of his 
 children understood Gaelic, any more than their 
 English mother. All his six sons, as it has been 
 remarked, as well as his two daughters, received 
 English names, apparently after their mother's re- 
 lations. His marriage with the sister of Edgar 
 Atheling exercised a powei-ful influence both over 
 the personal conduct of Malcolm and over public 
 aftairs. There is still extant a Latin Life of Queen 
 Margaret by her confessor Turgot, which is on va- 
 rious accounts one of the most interesting records 
 of those times. Margaret was very learned and 
 eloquent, as well as pious, and she exercised her 
 gifts not only in the instruction of her husband, but 
 also in controversy with the Scottish clergy, whose 
 various errors of doctrine and discipline she took 
 great pains to reform. One of the subjects upon 
 which she held a solemn conference with them was 
 the proper season for celebrating Lent. On this 
 occasion, " three days," says Turgot, " did she em- 
 ploy the sword of the spirit in combating their 
 errors. She seemed another St. Helena, out of 
 the Scriptures convincing the Jews." Turgot has 
 preserved the heads of the debate, in which Mal- 
 colm acted as interpreter between his wife and the 
 clergy, and which ended in the acquiescence of the 
 latter in the queen's arguments. Her affections, 
 however, were not all set upon the beauty of spiri- 
 tual things. She encouraged merchants, we are 
 told by Turgot, to come from various parts of the 
 world, with many precious commodities which had 
 never before been seen in that country, among 
 which are especially mentioned vestments orna- 
 mented with various colors, which, when the peo- 
 ple bought, adds the chronicler, and were induced 
 by the persuasions of the queen to put on, they 
 might almost be believed to have become new 
 beings, so fine did they appear. She was also, to 
 adopt the summary of the monk's account given by 
 Lord Hailes, " magnificent in her own attire ; she 
 increased the number of attendants on the person 
 
 of the kifig, augmented the parade of his public ap- 
 pearances, and caused him to be sei'ved at table in gold 
 and silver plate. At least (says the honest historian) 
 the dishes and vessels were gilt or silvered over." 
 
 Malcolm is traditionally said to have, with the 
 advice of his nobility, made various important inno- 
 vations in the constitution of the kingdom, or the 
 administration of public affairs. He appears to 
 have restored the rule of law and order, which had 
 been banished from the country by the civil wars 
 that preceded his accession ; and it is probable that 
 in the measures he adopted to accomplish this end, 
 he imitated, as far as he could, the forms and usages 
 of England. There is neither proof nor probability', 
 however, for the statement which has been often 
 repeated, that he introduced feudalism in a sj'ste- 
 matic form into Scotland. That state of things ap- 
 pears rather to have grown up gradually under the 
 influence of various causes, and its complete estab- 
 lishment must be referred to a period considerably 
 later than the reign of this king. The modern 
 titles of Earl and Baron, however, are traced nearly 
 to his time, and seem then, or very soon after, to 
 have begun to supplant the older Celtic Marmor 
 and Saxon Thane. Surnames also began to be 
 used in this or the next reign. But, on the whole, 
 it was probably not so much by any new laws which 
 were enacted by Malcolm Canmore (the collection 
 in Latin which has been attributed to him is admit- 
 ted to be spurious), or by any new institutions which 
 he established, that Scotland was in a manner trans- 
 formed into a new country in his days, as by his 
 English education and marriage, the English man- 
 ners which were thus introduced at his court, and 
 the numbers of English of all ranks whom the poht- 
 ical events of the time drove to take refuge in the 
 northern kingdom. Much of the change, therefore, 
 was really the eft'ect of the Norman Conquest of 
 England, which in nearly the same degree that it 
 made Saxon England Norman, made Celtic Scot- 
 land Saxon. 
 
 The disastrous close of the reign of Malcolm, 
 whose own death was followed in a few days by 
 that of his excellent queen, worn out, it is said, by 
 her vigils and fastings, and other pious exercises, 
 aflbrded an opportunity to his brother Donald Bane 
 (or the Fair) to seize the throne. Malcolm's eldest 
 son, Edward, had fallen with his father at Alnwick; 
 his second, Ethelred, was a churchman ; but he 
 left four other legitimate sons, although they were 
 all as yet under age. Donald is said to have re- 
 mained till now in the Western Islands, where he 
 had taken refuge, on the death of his father Dun- 
 can, more than fifty years before.' He now in- 
 
 1 See ante, p. 211. It must be confessed that the great length of 
 the interval — fifty-four years — between the dates assigned to the death 
 of Duncan and that of Malcolm, throws some suspicion upon the 
 common statement that the one was the son of the other. All that 
 we know of the age of Malcolm is, that he was married about 1069 or 
 1070, that he reigned thirty-six or thirty-seven years, and that at his 
 death he left several children under age. As he fell in battle, how- 
 ever, it seems improbable that he was very old when he died. Pink- 
 erton (who, by-the-by, places his accession, on the authority of the 
 Chronicle of Melrose, in 1056, not in 1057) strongly insists that he 
 must have been not the son, but the grandson of Duncan. — Inquiry, ii 
 203, 204.
 
 520 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book 111. 
 
 vaded Scotland with a fleet fitted out in the West- 
 ern Islands, and, with the aid of the faction which 
 had ail along been opposed to the English innova- 
 tions of Malcolm, carried everything before him. 
 The children of the late king were hastily conveyed 
 to England by their uncle Edgar Atheling ; and 
 Donald, as soon as he mounted the throne, expelled 
 all the foreigners that had taken refuge at his broth- 
 er's court. 
 
 He had reigned only a few months, however, 
 when another claimant of the crown appeared in 
 the person of Duncan, according to the common 
 account, an illegitimate son of Malcolm Canmore. 
 He had been sent, it seems, by his father as a host- 
 age to England ; and by now offering to swear fealty 
 to Rufus, he obtained his permission to raise a force 
 for the invasion of Scotland. He succeeded in driv- 
 ing Donald from the throne and mounting it himself 
 in May, 1094. 
 
 But after a reign of only about a year and a half, 
 Duncan was, at the instigation of Donald Bane, 
 assassinated by Malpedir, Earl of 3Iearns, and 
 Donald again became king about the end of the 
 year 1095. After his restoration, he proceeded in 
 his former course of policy — the expulsion of the 
 foreign settlers, and the abolition, as far as possible, 
 of all the recent innovations upon the old national 
 manners and usjiges, being now prosecuted with 
 greater zeal and vigor than ever. 
 
 Affairs proceeded in this train for about two years ; 
 but at length, in 1097, Edgar Atheling raised an 
 army, with the approbation of the English king, and 
 marching with it into Scotland, after an obstinate 
 contest, overcame Donald, in the beginning of the 
 following year, and obtained the crown for his 
 nephew Edgar, the son of Malcolm Canmore. 
 " Edgar, like Duncan," observes Mr. Allen, " ap- 
 pears to have held his kingdom in fealty to WiUiam. 
 These two cases, and the extorted submission of 
 William the Lion, during his captivity (to be pres- 
 ently mentioned), are the only instances I have 
 found since the Conquest of any king of Scotland 
 rendering fealty to England for his crown. Both 
 occurrences took place after a disputed succession 
 in Scotland, terminated by the arms and assistance 
 of the English. Duncan was speedily punished for 
 his sacrifice of the honor and dignity of the sceptre 
 he unworthily held. Edgar appears to have re- 
 pented of his weakness, and to have retracted be- 
 fore his death the disgraceful submission he had 
 made in order to obtain his crown. One of his 
 coins is said to bear the impress of ' Eadgarus Scot- 
 torum Basileus,' a title which, like Imperator, im- 
 plied that the holder acknowledged no superior 
 upon earth." 
 
 On his second deposition, Donald Bane was de- 
 prived of the power of giving further disturbance 
 by being detained in prison and having his eyes put 
 out. Edgar retained the throne till his death, on 
 the 8th of January, 1107; and during his reign the 
 country appears to have enjoyed both internal tran- 
 quillity and freedom from foreign war. The acces- 
 sion of Henry I. to the throne of England, which 
 took p'.ace in 1100, and his marriage the same year 
 
 with Edgar's sister Maud, had the effect of main- 
 taining peace between the two countries for a long 
 course of years from this date. This favorable ten- 
 dency of circumstances was not opposed by the dis- 
 position of Edgar, whom a contemporaiy chronicler 
 describes as " a sweet-tempered, amiable man, in 
 all things resembling Edward the Confessor; mild 
 in his administration, equitable and beneficent."' 
 Like Edward, the Scottish king appears to have 
 been a favorite of the clergy, to whom he probably 
 showed both liberality and deference. 
 
 Edgar, dying without issue, was succeeded by 
 his next brother, Alexander I. Soon after his 
 accession, Alexander strengthened his connections 
 with the English king by a marriage with one of 
 Henry's numerous illegitimate, daughters, the Lady 
 Sibilla, or, as she is called by other authorities, 
 Elizabeth, whose mother was a sister of Walleran, 
 Earl of Mellent. A dismemberment, however, of 
 the Scottish kingdom, as it had existed for some 
 reigns preceding, now took place, by the separation 
 of Cumberland, which Edgar on his death-bed had 
 bequeathed to his younger brother David. Alex- 
 ander at first disputed the validity of this bequest; 
 but, the English barons taking the part of David, 
 he found himself obliged to submit. By this ar- 
 rangement, the King of Scotland would for the 
 present (putting aside the doubtful case of Lothian) 
 cease to be an English baron; and accordingly it 
 appears that Alexander never attended at the 
 English court. Nearly the whole history of his 
 reign that has been preserved is made up of a long 
 contest in which he was engaged with the English 
 archbishops on the subject of their assumed au- 
 thority over the Scottish church. Turgot, the 
 confessor of the late Queen Margaret, had been 
 appointed to the bishopric of St. Andrews soon 
 after the accession of Alexander : but his consecra- 
 tion was delayed for two years in consequence of a 
 two-fold dispute about the right of performing the 
 ceremony, the archbishops of Canterbury and York 
 severally laying claim to it, while the king and 
 clergy of Scotland denied that it lay with either. 
 In the latter form this ecclesiastical dispute was 
 closely connected with the question respecting the 
 independence of the Scottish crown; and Alexander 
 the Fierce, as he was surnamed, fought the battle 
 with apparently a full sense of its importance. 
 Turgot was at length consecrated on the 30th July, 
 1109, by the Archbishop of York, but only after an 
 agreement between the two kings that the necessary 
 ceremony should be so performed, " saving the 
 authority of either church." Turgot, however, died 
 in 1115; and then the former difficulty recurred. 
 For some years no new bishop was nominated ; but 
 at last, in 1120, Alexander wrote to Anselm, the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, requesting him to set at 
 liberty Eadmer, one of the monks of that church, 
 that he might be placed in the vacant episcopal 
 throne. Eadmer was accordingly sent to Scotland, 
 and elected to the bishopric, as he has himself told 
 us, by the clergy and people of the country, with 
 the consent of the king. On the following day, 
 
 1 Aldred. Rival.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 521 
 
 however, Alexander cnlled the new bishop to a 
 secret conference, and surprised him by intimating 
 the strongest avei'sion to his receiving consecration 
 from the Archbishop of Canterbury. On Eadmer 
 remarking that the church of Canterbury had by 
 ancient right a preeminence over all Britain, Alex- 
 ander started up with much emotion and left the 
 apartment. It was not till after a month, during 
 which time the person who had presided in the 
 bishopric since the demise of Turgot had by the 
 royal command resumed his functions, that Eadmer 
 was again sent for. A compromise was now ar- 
 ranged, and it was agreed that the bishop should 
 in the mean time assume the charge of his diocese 
 without consecration, on receiving the ring from 
 the hands of the king, and taking the pastoral staff 
 from the altar. Eadmer, however, soon found 
 that, in the peculiar circumstances in which he was 
 placed, his situation was not a very comfortable one, 
 and he resolved, therefore, to repair to Canterbury 
 for advice. But Alexander at first peremptorily 
 refused to allow him to leave the kingdom. " I 
 received you altogether free from Canterbury," he 
 said, in a warm altercation they had together; 
 " while I live I will not permit the Bishop of St. 
 Andrews to be subjected to that see." " For your 
 whole kingdom," answered Eadmer, " I would not 
 renounce the dignity of a monk of Canterbury." 
 " Then," rephed the king passionately, " I have 
 done nothing in seeking a bishop out of Canter- 
 bury." In a letter wi'itten some time after to 
 Anselm, Alexander affirmed that the bishop had 
 refused to accommodate himself to the usages of 
 the country and the manners of its inhabitants, as 
 thie exigencies of the times required ; but Eadmer 
 himself denies that there was any ground for this 
 charge. Perhaps, however, he may have needed 
 the advice which it appears he received from an 
 English friend, named Nicolas, who, in a long letter 
 which he wrote to him, urged upon him with 
 especial earnestness, as the best course he could 
 take for softening the barbarity of the Scots, pro- 
 moting sound doctrine, and establishing ecclesiastical 
 discipline, the keeping of a plentiful and hospitable 
 table ! Nicolas, who seems to have been a sort of 
 agent or solicitor in ecclesiastical causes, strongly 
 advised Eadmer to obtain consecration from the 
 Pope himself; and he requested him to inform 
 Alexander that he should himself be happy to 
 undertake the defence of the independence and 
 freedom of the Scottish church at the papal court. 
 [n making this oft'er he probably had an eye to his 
 own interests fully as much as to those of the 
 bishop. It was followed up by a strange request 
 — " I entreat you," the letter concluded, " to let 
 me have as many of the fairest pearls as you can 
 procure : in particular, I desire four of the largest 
 sort. If you cannot procure them otherwise, ask 
 them as a present from the king, who is the richest 
 of all men in this sort of treasure." Eadmer at 
 last was obliged, in order to obtain permission to 
 take his departure, to resign his bishopric, and to 
 engage not to reclaim it during the life of Alex- 
 ander, unless by the advice of the Pope, his con- 
 
 vent, and the King of England. Yet, soon after he 
 had returned to Canterbury, he wrote a long letter 
 to Alexander requesting leave to return and resume 
 his office. " I mean not," he said, " in any par- 
 ticular to derogate fi-om the freedom and inde- 
 pendence of the kingdom of Scotland. Should you 
 continue in your former sentiments, I will desist 
 from my opposition ; for, with respect to the King 
 of England, the Archbishop of Canterburj^ and 
 the sacerdotal benediction, I had notions which, as 
 I have since learned, were erroneous. They will 
 not separate me from the service of God and your 
 favor. In those things I will act according to 
 your inclinations, if you only permit me to enjoy 
 the other rights belonging to the see of St. 
 Andrews." Alexander, however, would not listen 
 to his petition ; and in January, 1124, a new bishop 
 of St. Andrews was appointed in the person of 
 Robert, Prior of Scone. The Archbishop of York 
 again insisted upon his right of consecration ; " but 
 the Scots," says Simon of Durham, "with foohsh 
 prating, asserted that his claim had no foundation 
 either in right or usage." 
 
 Alexander did not long survive the settlement of 
 this affair. He had about two years before lost his 
 queen, who had brought him no offspring ; and his 
 own death took place on the 27th of April, 1124. 
 The quality for which this king is most celebrated 
 by the old historians is his personal valor, of which 
 various remarkable instances are related, although 
 some contests with revolted portions of his own 
 subjects, of which there are obscure notices, seem 
 to have been the only opportunities he had of dis- 
 playing military talent. But he sufficiently proved 
 his intrepidity and firmness of character, in the 
 manner in which he defended and maintained the 
 independence of his kingdom, in the only point in 
 which it was attacked in his time. In the stand 
 which he made here, he appears to have had with 
 him the great body of the national clergy, and they 
 and he were always on the best terms. Aldred 
 describes him as "humble and courteous to the 
 clergy; but to the rest of his subjects, terrible be- 
 yond measure ; high-spirited, always endeavoring to 
 compass things beyond his power ; not ignorant of 
 letters; zealous in establishing churches, collecting 
 relics, and providing vestments and books for the 
 clergy ; liberal, even to profixsion, and taking delight 
 in the offices of charity to the poor." 
 
 David, Earl of Cumberland, the youngest of the 
 sons of Malcolm Canmore, now became king. Hav- 
 ing lived from his childhood in England, his man- 
 ners, says Malmsbury, were polished from the rust 
 of Scottish barbarity. He had also, before he came 
 to the throne, married an English wife, Matilda, or 
 Maud, the daughter (and eventually heiress) of 
 Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland, and the widow 
 of Simon de St. Liz, Earl of Northampton. The 
 King of Scotland was now again an English baron, 
 by his tenure of the earldom of Cumberland ; and 
 accordingly, when Henry I., in 1127, called together 
 the prelates and nobles of the realm, to swear that 
 they would after his decease support the right of his 
 daughter Matilda to the inheritance of the English
 
 522 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 crown,' David was one of those that attended, and 
 was the first who took the oath. In observance of 
 this engagement, the Scottish king, on the usurpa- 
 tion of Stephen, led an army into England, and 
 compelled the northern barons to swear fealty to 
 Matilda. " What the King of Scots," said Stephen, 
 when this news was brought to him, " has gained by 
 stealth, I will manfully recover." He immediately 
 collected a powerful force, and advanced at its head 
 against David. They met at Newcastle ; but no 
 engagement took place ; a compromise was effected 
 (February, 1136), and David consented to withdraw 
 his troops, on Stephen engaging to confer on his 
 eldest son, Henrv, the earldom of Huntingdon, with 
 the towns of Carlisle and Doncaster, and promising 
 to take into consideration his claims, in right of his 
 mother, to the earldom of Northumberland. Earl 
 Henry did homage to Stephen for the new English 
 honor he was thus to receive ; but David himself 
 still refused to do so, although he appears to have 
 retained the earldom of Cumberland in his own 
 hands. 
 
 The war was, however, renewed before the end 
 of the same year by David, on the pretence that 
 Stephen delayed to put his son in possession of the 
 county of Northumberland, but, in reality, in con- 
 sequence of a confederacy into which he had entered 
 with the Earl of Gloucester and the other partisans 
 of the Empress Matilda, who were now making prep- 
 arations for a grand effort to drive her rival from the 
 throne. With the same impetuosity he had shown 
 on the former occasion, David was again first in the 
 
 1 See ante, page 402, note. 
 
 field. A truce, negotiated bj' Archbishop Thurstan 
 of York, gained a short space for Stephen ; but in 
 1137 David entered Northumberland, and ravaged 
 that imfortunate district for some time, without 
 mercy and without check. In the beginning of the 
 following year, however, he deemed it advisable to 
 fall back upon Roxburgh at the approach of Stephen, 
 who followed him across the Tweed, and made re- 
 quital by wasting the Scottish border for part of the 
 injury his own subjects had sustained. But the 
 P^nglish king was soon recalled by other enemies to 
 the south, and then David (in March, 1138) reen- 
 tered Northumberland, sending forward at the same 
 time William, a son of the late King Duncan, into 
 the west, where he and his wild Galwegians (on 
 the 9th of June) gave a signal discomfiture to a party 
 of English at Clithcrow. Meanwhile, Norham Cas- 
 tle, erected in the preceding reign by Bishop Flam- 
 bard on the south bank of the Tweed, to guard the 
 main access from Scotland, surrendered to the 
 Scottish king after a short siege ; and from this 
 point he marched forward, through Northumber- 
 land and Durham, to Northallerton in Yorkshire, 
 without opposition. Here, however, his barbarous 
 host was met by an English force, collected chiefly 
 by the efforts of the aged Archbishop of York. At 
 the great battle of the Standard, fought on the 22d 
 of August,' the Scots sustained a complete defeat. 
 The victors, however, were not in a condition to 
 pursue their advantage. King David retired to 
 Carlisle, and soon after laid siege to the castle of 
 Werk, which having reduced, he razed it to the 
 
 1 See ante, p 409-411. 
 
 ^;^^^,; Jfei^ ^f®^-^ 
 
 RciNs OF Norham Castle
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 523 
 
 ground, and then, to adopt the expression of Lord 
 Hailes, ♦' returned into Scotland more like a con- 
 queror, than like one whose army had been routed." 
 The next year a treaty of peace was concluded be- 
 tween the two kings at Durham, by which David 
 obtained the earldom of Northumberland, the osten- 
 sible object of the war, for his son, who enjoyed it 
 till his death, and left it to his descendants. 
 
 David, however, was never cordially attached to 
 the interests of Stephen. When a few years after 
 this the cause of Matilda for a short time gained 
 the ascendant, he repaired to the court of his niece, 
 and endeavored to persuade her to follow a course 
 of moderation and policy, at which her imperious 
 temper spurned. He was shut up with her in Win- 
 chester Castle, when she was besieged there by Ste- 
 phen, in August and September, 1141,' and escaped 
 thence along with her. It is said that he was in- 
 debted for his concealment afterward, and his con- 
 veyance home to his own kingdom, to the exertions 
 of a young man, named David Oliphant, to whom 
 he had been godfather, and who chanced to be serv- 
 ing in the army of Stephen. 
 
 From this period the reign of David is scarcely 
 marked by any events, if we except the disturb- 
 ances occasioned by some piratical descents made 
 upon the Scottish coasts by an adventurer of ob- 
 scure birth, named Wimund, who gave himself out 
 for a son of the Earl of Moray, but was at last, after 
 giving considerable trouble, taken and deprived of 
 his eyes, in 1151. In his latter years, however, 
 David, relieved from foreign wars, applied himself 
 assiduously to the internal improvement of his coun- 
 try, by the encouragement of agriculture, commerce, 
 and manufactures, the establishment of towns, the 
 erection of churches, monasteries, and other public 
 buildings, and the reform of the law and its admin- 
 istration. Many of the statutes enacted by him are 
 still preserved. 
 
 When the son of the Empress Matilda, afterward 
 Henry II., came over from the continent, in 1149, 
 to assert in person his claim to the English crown, 
 he was met by the Scottish king at Carlisle,* and 
 after receiving from him the honor of knighthood, 
 bound himself, when he should become king of Eng- 
 land, to make over to David the town of Newcastle, 
 and the whole territory between the Tweed and 
 the Tyne. David and his son, Henry, immediately 
 invaded England, and advanced as far as Lancaster ; 
 but on the approach of Stephen, the Scottish army 
 retired without risking a battle. 
 
 David did not live to witness the issue of the con- 
 test between Stephen and Henry. His death was 
 probably hastened by that of his son, Henry, which 
 took place on the 12th of June, 1152, to the gi-eat 
 grief of his countrymen, whom his amiable charac- 
 ter had filled with the anticipation of a continuation 
 of the same prosperity and happiness under his rule 
 which they enjoyed under that of his father. AI- 
 dred, Avho knew him, says that he resembled his 
 father in all things, except that he was in manner 
 somewhat more gentle. Soon after this stroke, 
 David fixed his residence at Carlisle ; and there he 
 1 See ajite, p, 418 a Ibid. p. 421. 
 
 expired on the morning of the 24th of May, 1153, 
 having been found dead in bed, with his hands joined 
 together over his breast, in the posture of devotional 
 suppHcation. Both the virtues and the capacity of 
 this king have been extolled in the highest terms by 
 the monkish chroniclers ; but he seems on the whole 
 to have deserved the praises bestowed upon him. 
 It is true that among the acts for which he is most 
 eulogized, his donations to the church, and his found- 
 ing of numerous religious houses, stand conspicuous 
 — in allusion to which, his descendant, James I., is 
 said to have feelingly complained of him as having 
 been "a sore saint for the crown." But we may 
 reasonably doubt whether it would have been for 
 the advantage of the public interests that the funds 
 thus expended should have remained in the posses- 
 sion of the crown ; and it may also be questioned 
 whether anything more effective could have been 
 done to promote the civilization of a countiy just 
 emerging from barbarism, as Scotland was at this 
 period, than the planting over all parts of it these 
 establishments, which Avere not only seminaries of 
 piety and letters, but examples of ornamental archi- 
 tecture, and even central fountain-heads for diffu- 
 sing a knowledge of the art of cultivating the civil 
 and other useful arts. David, however, had many 
 other estimable qualities besides his regard for re- 
 ligion and the church. He was, always, Aldred tells 
 us, accessible to his subjects, from the highest to 
 the lowest ; and on certain days of every week he 
 sat at the gate of his palace, hearing and deciding 
 upon the causes brought before him by the poor. 
 He took great pains also, it is added, to make them 
 understand the reasons, and to convince them of the 
 justice of his decisions — allowing them freely to 
 argue the matter with him when they were not sat- 
 isfied. His custom was to dismiss all his attendants 
 at sunset, and to retire for solitary meditation ; at 
 daybreak he reappeared in public. One of the 
 favorite occupations of his leisure hours was garden- 
 ing, and the planting and engrafting of trees. Hunt- 
 ing also he used as an exercise ; but " I have seen 
 him," says Aldred, "quit his horse, and dismiss his 
 hunting equipage, when any of the meanest of his 
 subjects implored an audience." 
 
 The late Earl Henry's eldest son, though as yet 
 onl}^ in his twelfth year, succeeded his gi-andfather, 
 under the name of Malcolm IV. The notices we 
 have of the events of his reign in the contemporary 
 chroniclers are scarcely sufficient to furnish a con- 
 tinuous or intelligible narrative — and in the lack of 
 recorded facts the writers of later date appear to 
 have filled up the story bj' drawing on their inven- 
 tion with even more than their usual liberality. 
 With a king of such tender age, the government 
 must have been for some years in the hands of a 
 regency ; but there is no account of any such ar- 
 rangement. This was the first example of the Scot- 
 tish throne having been occupied by a boy, and it 
 may be regarded as having for the first time estab- 
 lished the principle of hereditary succession as the 
 rule of the monarchy in all circumstances. As might 
 have been expected, however, the sceptre was not 
 allowed to pass into the hands of so mere a pageant
 
 524 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III 
 
 of a king without dispute. A few months only after 
 Malcolm's accession, the public tranquillity was dis- 
 turbed by what appears to have been more properly 
 an invasion than an insurrection, being an attack 
 made with the avowed object of effecting the con- 
 quest of the kingdom by Somerled, the Thane of 
 Argyle, whose daughter had married the adven- 
 turer Wimund. The provinces, it may be observed, 
 of Argyle, Moray, Ross, and Galloway, seem still to 
 have remained so many principalities, usu.illy indeed 
 acknowledging a sort of feudal dependence upon the 
 Scottish crown, but scarcely considered as forming 
 parts of the kingdom of Scotland, any more than 
 the vassal dukedoms and earldoms of the crown of 
 France were held to be integi-al parts of that king- 
 dom. They had each its own chief, and in all re- 
 spects its own government, "with which that of the 
 supreme sovereign rarely if ever interfered. Their 
 princes indeed were legally bound to follow his ban- 
 ner in war ; but even this was an obligation which 
 was only attended to when the vassal chose, or did 
 not feel himself sti'ong enough to disregard it. In 
 the present case the Thane of Argjle made war 
 upon his sovereign just as any independent poten- 
 tate might have made war upon another. All that 
 we know of the events of the war is, that it lasted 
 for some years; and then in 1157 the King of Scot- 
 land appears to have made peace with the Thane 
 of Argyle, just as he might have done with any 
 other sovereign as independent as himself. To this 
 date also is assigned Malcolm's first transaction with 
 the English king. At an interview held at Chester 
 he was induced not only to give up his claim to the 
 territory to the north of the Tyne, promised to his 
 father David, but also to abandon Cumberland, and 
 whatever other lands and honors he possessed in 
 England, with the exception only of the earldom of 
 Huntingdon, which Henry either confirmed to him, 
 or conferred upon him, taking it from his youngest 
 brother David, to whom it appears to have been left 
 by the late king. Malcolm at the same time is 
 stated to have done homage to Henry in the same 
 manner as his grandfather had to Henry's grand- 
 father — that is to say, with the reservation of all his 
 dignities. The accounts given of the whole of this 
 affiiir by the old chroniclers are confused and ob- 
 scure ; but it is asserted by Fordun that Henry 
 succeeded in effecting the agreement by bribing the 
 advisers of the Scottish king, and taking advantage 
 of his youth and inexperience, and that it produced 
 a deep and settled hatred against Malcolm among 
 all classes of his own subjects. Nor does his facil- 
 ity appear to have gained for him much gratitude or 
 consideration from Henry. He repaired the follow- 
 ing year to Carlisle to obtain the honor of knight- 
 hood from the English king ; but this interview ended 
 in a quarrel, and Malcolm returned home in disgust, 
 and without his knighthood. When Henry, how- 
 ever, set forth on his expedition for the recovery 
 of Toulouse in 1159,' Malcolm went with him to 
 France, and was knighted by him there. But he 
 had followed Henry's banner on this occasion in 
 opposition to the judgment of the Scottish nobiUty, 
 I See ante, p. 429. 
 
 and after a few months a solemn deputation was 
 sent to him to urge his immediate return to his 
 dominions. The people of Scotland, the deputies 
 were commanded to tell him, would not have Henry 
 to rule over them. Malcolm felt it necessary to 
 obey this call ; but the faction opposed to the con- 
 nection with England was not, it appears, to be sat- 
 isfied with having succeeded in merely bringing him 
 home. While he was holding a great council at 
 Perth, Ferquhard, Earl of Strathearn, and five other 
 noblemen, made an attempt to seize his person, and 
 openly assaulted a tower in which he was lodged. 
 The movement threatened to lead to a general 
 popular insurrection, when an accommodation was 
 brought about by the intervention of the clergy. Im- 
 mediately after this, Malcolm with judicious policy 
 applied himself to the reduction of those districts of 
 his kingdom which, inhabited for the most part by 
 races of foreign extraction, had never yet been com- 
 pletely brought under subjection to the general gov- 
 ernment, and in which revolts or disturbances were 
 constantly breaking out. He found occupation for 
 his restless nobility by leading them first against the 
 wild Irish of Galloway, and then against the people 
 of 3Ioray, who seem to have been principally of 
 Danish lineage. In his two first expeditions against 
 Gallowaj- he was repulsed ; but in a third attempt, 
 he compelled Fergus, the lord of the country, to 
 sue for peace and to make complete submission. In 
 regard to the province of Moray (at that time cer- 
 tainly not confined to the modern county of the same 
 name, but comprehending apparently the whole or 
 the gi'eater part of what is now called Inverness), 
 where rebellions had been incessant, Malcolm is as- 
 serted to have adopted the strong measure of remov- 
 ing the old inhabitants altogether to other parts of 
 the kingdom, and replacing them with new colonies. 
 We may presume, however, that any such trans- 
 ference of population could have been only very 
 partially carried into effect. The subjugation of 
 Galloway and Moray was followed in 1164 by an- 
 other contest with Somerled, who had again risen 
 in arms, and landed at Renfrew on the Clyde with 
 a numerous force, which he had collected both from 
 his own territories and from Ireland. The Thane 
 of Argyle probably sympathized with the lords of 
 Gsilloway and Moray, or regarded their fate as of 
 evil omen to himself. The issue of his present at- 
 tempt, however, was eminently disastrous; his army 
 was scattered with great slaughter in its first en- 
 counter with the king's forces, and both himself and 
 his son were left among the slain. 
 
 It thus appears that Malcolm IV. was at least 
 as successful as any of his predecessors in the 
 maintenance of his proper authority as sovereign of 
 Scotland, and that he probably indeed very con- 
 siderably extended the real sway of the sceptre 
 which they had left him in the country beyond the 
 Tweed. His relinquishment, however, of the pos- 
 sessions which had been held by his grandfather 
 in the south, and the partiality he evinced for a 
 connection with England, seem to have been in the 
 highest degree distasteful to the generality of his 
 subjects. At the head of the party which this
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 feeling raised against him was his next brother 
 Wilham, for whom his grandfather is said to have 
 intended the earldom of Northumberland, and who 
 accordingly considered himself to be deprived of his 
 inheritance by the agi-eement with Henry which 
 Malcolm had made in the commencement of his 
 reign. Meanwhile Malcolm is recorded to have, 
 on the 1st of Julj% 1163, at Woodstock, renewed 
 his homage to Henry, and also to have taken an 
 oath of fealty to his infant son as heir apparent, 
 and the relations between the two kings appear to 
 have become more intimate than ever. The next 
 notice that we have of the course of events in 
 Scotland represents Malcolm as deprived of the 
 government, and his brother William at the head 
 of affairs as Regent. Even the fact of this revolu- 
 tion, however, is involved in considerable doubt, 
 and various accounts are given of the causes that 
 led to it. One story is, that Malcolm incurred the 
 displeasure of his subjects by neglecting the ad- 
 ministration of affairs, and giving himself up wholly 
 to devotion ; and that, moreover, he had bound 
 himself by a vow of chastity, from which no en- 
 treaties of nobles or prelates could prevail upon 
 him to depart. Boyce gives at full length a singu- 
 lar harangue, which he says was addressed to the 
 king upon this subject by the Bishop of St. An- 
 drews, at a great council held for its especial con- 
 sideration at Scone. But the legend of Malcolm's 
 vow of chastity appears to be most probably an 
 invention, founded upon his surname of the Maid- 
 en, which it is likely was intended to designate 
 him only as young and of an effeminate coun- 
 tenance ; for it is known from one of his own char- 
 ters that he ha'd a natural son. Nor would the 
 histoiy of his reign and actions denote him to have 
 been in any respect a person of monkish ten- 
 dencies. His devotion, indeed, may have come 
 on in his last days. Be this as it may, another 
 account (by no means irreconcilable with the last) 
 makes him to have been obliged to give up the 
 management of affairs in consequence of an attack 
 of illness. It is certain that he died at Jedburgh 
 on the 9th of December, 1165, on which his brother 
 William was raised to the throne. 
 
 Notwithstanding the part he had hitherto taken, 
 Wilham appears to have begun his reign by court- 
 ing the alliance of the English king. He passed 
 over to the continent to Henry, while he was em- 
 ployed in reducing the revolted Britons in 1166, 
 and, as already mentioned, was with him while he 
 kept court in the castle on Mount St. Michael in 
 the close of that year.^ The Chronicle of Melrose 
 (which is written throughout in an English spirit) 
 says that Wilham followed Henry to France " to 
 do the business of his lord." It is probable that he 
 expected to succeed by this conduct in his favorite 
 object of recovering possession of Northumberland. 
 Henry seems to have kept up his hopes by fair 
 promises for some years : when his eldest son 
 Henry was solemnly crowned at London on the 
 14th of June, 1170, both William and his younger 
 brother David were present at the ceremony, and 
 1 See ante, p. 436. 
 
 both did homage to the heir apparent along with 
 the other English barons ; but in 1173, when the 
 quarrel broke out between the English king and 
 his son, William, tired of fruitless solicitation, 
 changed his course, and, joining in confederacy 
 with the "junior king," from whom he obtained a 
 grant of the earldom of Northumberland for him- 
 self, and of that of Cambridge for his brother, he 
 raised an army and entered England as an enemy. 
 But after merely ravaging part of the northern 
 counties, he consented to a truce, which was 
 eventually prolonged to the end of Lent in the fol- 
 lowing year. In 1174, however, he again invaded 
 Northumberland. As before, his troops spread 
 devastation wherever they appeared ; but their 
 destructive course was soon stopped. William, as 
 has been already related,' was on the 12th of July 
 suddenly fallen upon at Alnwick by a party of 
 Yorkshire barons, headed by Ranulf de Glanville, 
 and made prisoner, with all his attendants. The 
 Scottish king and his sixty knights, however, were 
 not taken captive without resistance. As soon as 
 William perceived who the enemy were, which 
 was not till they were close upon him, for at first 
 he had taken them for a returning party of his own 
 sti-agglers, he cried out, " Now it will be seen who 
 are true knights," and instantly advanced to the 
 charge. But the numbers of the Enghsh (there 
 were four hundred horsemen with Glanville) made 
 this gallantry wholly unavaihng. The king was 
 quickly overpowered and unhorsed, and was then 
 carried that same night to Newcastle, his attend- 
 ants voluntarily sharing the fate of their sovereign. 
 He was at first confined in the castle of Richmond, 
 in Yorkshire ; but after a few weeks Heniy carried 
 him across the seas to Falaise, in Normandy. In 
 this strong fortress he remained shut up till the 
 conclusion of the treaty of Falaise, in December 
 following, by which William, with the consent of 
 his barons and clergy, became the hegeman of 
 Henry for Scotland and all his other territories. 
 He was then liberated and allowed to return home, 
 on delivering up to the English king the castles of 
 Edinburgh, Stirling, Roxburgh, Berwick, and Jed- 
 burgh, and giving his brother David and many of 
 his chief nobility as hostages for his adherence to 
 the treaty. 
 
 The next event requiring to be noticed in the 
 reign of Wilham is a remarkable contest in which 
 he was engaged with the court of Rome. It began 
 in 1178, when on the death of Richard, Bishop of 
 St. Andrews, the chapter elected as his successor 
 John Scot, an Englishman of distinguished learn- 
 ing. The nomination of a bishop by the chapter, 
 without the rojal consent, was a stretch of eccle- 
 siastical authority which had never been quietly 
 submitted to either in England or Scotland, al- 
 though any actual conflict between the claims of 
 the spiritual and the temporal powers had usually 
 been avoided by the king and the chapter uniting 
 in the election of the same person. But in the 
 present case William had a particular motive for 
 making a stand against the clerical encroachment, 
 
 1 See ante. p. 455.
 
 526 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 having destined the see for Hugh, his chaplain. 
 " By the arm of St. James," he passionately ex- 
 claimed, when lie heard of the election made by the 
 chapter, "while I live John Scot shall never be 
 bishop of St. Andrews." He immediately seized 
 the revenues of the see, and, disregarding the ap- 
 peal of John to Rome, made Hugh be consecrated, 
 and put him in possession. When the Pope, 
 Alexander HI., canceled this appointment, and 
 John was the following year consecrated in obedi- 
 ence to the papal mandate, William instantly ban- 
 ished him from the kingdom. The Pope on this 
 resorted to the strongest measures; he laid the dio- 
 cese of St. Andrews under an interdict ; he com- 
 manded the Scottish clergy within eight days to 
 install John ; soon after he ordered them to excom- 
 municate Hugh; and, finally, he granted legiitine 
 powers over Scotland to the Archbishop of York, 
 and authorized that prelate and the Bishop of Dur- 
 ham to excommunicate the King of Scotland, and 
 to lay the whole kingdom under an interdict if the 
 king did not forthwith put John in peaceable pos- 
 session of the see. Still William was inflexible on 
 the main point. He offered to make John chan- 
 cellor, and to give him any other bishopric which 
 should become vacant : but this was the only con- 
 cession he would make. When the Archbishop of 
 York and the Bishop of Durham called upon the 
 clergy of the diocese of St. Andrews to yield 
 obedience to John under pain of suspension, he 
 banished all who complied with that summons. 
 At last the two prelates went to the full extent of 
 their tremendous powers, and actually pronounced 
 sentence of excommunication against William, and 
 laid the kingdom of Scotland under an interdict. 
 But at this point the death of Alexander (in August, 
 llSl) prevented further consequences. WiUiam 
 lost no time in making application to the new Pope, 
 Lucius HI., who, \vith the customary regard of 
 each sovereign pontiff for the decrees of his pre- 
 decessor, consented to reverse the sentence of ex- 
 communication, and to recall the interdict. The 
 affair was ended by the Pope himself nominating 
 Hugh to the bishopric of St. Andrews, and John to 
 that of Dunkeld, and so, to use the words of Lord 
 Hailes, " making that his deed which was the king's 
 icill." Lord Hailes observes that William, in the 
 obstinate stand he made on this occasion against 
 Pope Alexander, " seems to have been proud of 
 opposing to the uttermost that pontiff, before whom 
 his conqueror Henry had bowed." 
 
 Notwithstanding the success which is attributed 
 to the measures taken by the preceding king for 
 reducing to a real obedience the various provinces 
 that had before only acknowledged, at the utmost, 
 a qualified dependence upon the Scottish crown, 
 we find insurrections in these districts still disturb- 
 ing the present reign. In 1171 the old annalists 
 record another revolt of the people of Moray : in 
 1179 William was obliged to march with an army 
 to Ross, to compose some commotions there ; a state 
 of anarchy and confusion which had lasted for more 
 t han ten years in Galloway was only put an end to 
 J!) 118G; and in 1187 Ross and Moray were invaded 
 
 by Donald Bane, or Mac-William, a grandson of the 
 late king, Duncan, whose attempt, however, was 
 soon put down, and himself slain. 
 
 In 1186, William, on the proposal of the English 
 king, married Ermengarde, the daughter of Rich- 
 ard, Viscount Beaumont, and the descendant of an 
 illegitimate daughter of Henry I. ; on which, as 
 part of the dower of his cousin, Henry restored the 
 castle of Edinburgh. Two years afterward he also 
 offered to give up the castles of Roxburgh and 
 Berwick, if William would pay the tenths of his 
 kingdom for the holy war ; but the Scottish barons 
 and clergy made answer, " That they would not, 
 although both kings should have sworn to levy 
 them." 
 
 The accession of Richard I. to the English throne 
 was followed, in a few months, by the release of 
 William from the obligations which Henry, in the 
 words of the charter of acquittance (dated Decem- 
 ber 5th, 1189), "had extorted from him by new in- 
 struments, in consequence of his captivity ;" with 
 the proviso, only, that he should in future perform 
 whatever homage had of I'ight been performed, or 
 had been of right due, by his brother Malcolm. 
 There seems to be no pretence for denying that 
 this was a full renunciation by Richard, at least of 
 whatever new riglits of sovereignty over Scotland 
 had been created by the treaty of Falaise. " There 
 is no clause, it must be owned," observes Mr. Allen, 
 " in the charter of Richard, which recognizes in 
 express terms the independence of the Scottish 
 
 crown The charter merely replaces the two 
 
 kingdoms on their ancient footing, and leaves it open 
 to discussion what were the lands and possessions for 
 which homage and fealty were due to the English 
 crown. But from one of the most full and accurate 
 of our contemporary chroniclers, it is apparent that 
 the independence of Scotland was understood at 
 the time to be the effect and purport of the treaty. 
 Benedictus Abbas, in his account of the transaction, 
 informs us that William did homage to Richard for 
 his English dignities ; and that Richard, on the part 
 of himself and his successors, granted to the Scotch 
 king, and to his heirs forever, an acquittance from 
 all allegiance and subjection for the kingdom of 
 Scotland." For this acquittance, and the restitu- 
 tion of the castles of Roxburgh and Berwick, Wil- 
 liam agreed to pay ten thousand marks sterling. 
 
 William lived many years after this, but scarcely 
 any events of importance mark the remainder of 
 his reign. Some disturbances in Caithness, in 1196 
 and the following year, compelled him to march an 
 armj- into that province, where he seized Harold, 
 the Earl of Orkney and Caithness, who was at the 
 head of the insurrection, and detained him in cap- 
 tivity until his son Torfin sviri'endered himself as 
 a hostage. This was, perhaps, the earliest actual 
 assertion by any Scottish king of his authority in 
 that remote district ; the earls of which, if they 
 acknowledged any limitation of their independence, 
 had probablj- been wont to consider themselves sub- 
 ject rather to the Danish than to the Scottish crown. 
 
 After the accession of John to the throne of Eng- 
 land, William did homage to him (November 22d,
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 527 
 
 1200) at Lincoln, " saving his own rights." A few 
 years afterward a misunderstanding arose between 
 the two kings respecting a fort which John attempt- 
 ed to erect at Tweedmouth, and which WiUiam 
 repeatedly demolished as soon as it was built. A 
 war at last threatened to arise out of this quarrel ; 
 and, in 1209, the English king advanced to Norham, 
 and the Scottish to Berwick, each at the head of 
 an army. But no encounter took place ; a treaty 
 of peace was concluded by the intervention of the 
 barons of both nations, by which William became 
 bound to pay to John fifteen thousand marks, as a 
 compensation, it is supposed, for his demolition of 
 the fort, which John, on his part, is said to have 
 undertaken not to rebuild. William also delivered 
 his two daughters to John, that they might be pro- 
 vided by him with suitable matches. 
 
 William died, after a long illness, at Stirling, on 
 the 4th of December, 1214, in the seventy-second 
 
 year of his age, and forty-ninth of his reign. He 
 was surnamed The Lion on account, says Boyce, 
 of his singular justice — which seems a strange rea- 
 son. It is more probable that he took this title from 
 the lion rampant, the coat armorial of the Scottish 
 kings, which he appears to have been the first to 
 introduce. The statutes attributed to him consist 
 of thirty-nine chapters ; but a few of them are be- 
 lieved to be interpolations of a later period. He 
 left many natural children ; but, besides his two 
 daughters, mentioned above, only one son by his 
 wife, Ermengarde de Beaumont, a youth in his 
 seventeenth year, who succeeded his father, and 
 was crowned at Scone on the 10th of December. 
 1214, by the name of Alexander II. The part taken 
 by the new King of Scots, in conjunction with the 
 English barons in their contest with John, has been 
 related above. 
 
 Seal of William the Lion, of Scotlaxd. 
 
 [This IS the only Seal of William the Lion that has been engraved. But it is believed, on the authonty of Alexander Nisbet, the herald, that 
 there was, in the charter-chest of the Setons, Earls of Winton, a Charter of William with a seal appended to it, in which the lion rampant 
 appeared on the shield, as it does in the seal of his son and successor, Alexander IL — See Anderson's Diplomata, p. 54, note A.] 
 
 We have now merely to add a notice of the few 
 leading events, of subsequent date to Henry's expe- 
 dition, which occur in the history of Ireland before 
 it becomes mixed in one stream with that of Eng- 
 land. The appearances of entire submission which 
 had been exhibited during Henry's stay in the island 
 were not long preserved after he left its shores. 
 Before the close of the year 1172 the people had 
 risen against the English domination in various dis- 
 tricts ; and, for the next three years, De Lacy, 
 Strongbow, and their associates, were kept in con- 
 stant activity by the active or passive resistance of 
 one part of the country or another. In 1175, Hen- 
 ry, in the hope that it might have some effect in 
 subduing this rebellious temper, produced, for the 
 first time, the bull which he had procured from 
 Pope Adrian, twenty-four years before, along with 
 a brief confirming it, which he had received in the 
 interval from Alexander III. William Fitzaldelm, 
 
 and Nicholas, Prior of Wallingford, were sent over 
 to Ireland with the two instruments ; and they 
 were publicly read in a synod of bishops, which 
 these commissioners summoned on their arrival. 
 In this same year, also, a formal treaty was con- 
 cluded between Henry and Roderick O'Connor, by 
 which the former granted to the latter, who was 
 styled his liegeman, that so long as he continued 
 faithfully to serve him, he should be king of the 
 country under him, and enjoy his hereditarj' terri- 
 tories in peace, on payment of the annual tribute of 
 a merchantable hide for every tenth head of cattle 
 killed in Ireland. For some years after this, one 
 chief governor rapidly succeeded another, as each 
 either incurred the displeasure of the king by the 
 untoward events of his administration, or, as it hap- 
 pened in some cases, awakened his jealousy by 
 seeming to have become too popular or too power- 
 ful. But Henry never himself returned to Ireland.
 
 528 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 At length, in 1185, he determined to place at the 
 head of the government, his youngest son, John, then 
 only in his nineteenth year ; the lordship of Ireland, 
 it is said, being the portion of his dominions which 
 he had always intended that John should inherit. 
 But this experiment succeeded worse than any 
 other he had tried. The same evil dispositions 
 which were afterward more conspicuously displayed 
 on the throne, showed tliemselves in John's conduct 
 almost from the first day he began to exercise his 
 <lelegated authority ; by liis insulting behavior he 
 converted into enemies those of the Irish chieftains 
 
 who had hitherto been the most attached friends of 
 the English interest ; and he met with nothing but 
 loss and disgrace in every military encounter with 
 the natives. He was hastily recalled by Henry 
 after having been only a few months in the country. 
 The government was then put into the hands of 
 John de Courcy, who had some years before pene- 
 trated into Ulster, and established the English power 
 for the first time in that province. De Courcy re- 
 mained governor to the end of the reign of Henry ; 
 and from this date the history of Ireland may be 
 considered as merged in the history of England.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 529 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 HE first act 
 by which the 
 Conqueror 
 expressed 
 the joy of his 
 heart for the 
 victory of 
 Hastings was 
 in accord- 
 ance with the 
 spirit in 
 which he had 
 professed to 
 conduct his 
 enterprise 
 from its com- 
 mencement, 
 and betrayed 
 none of that jealousy of the church which he showed 
 at a later period. Up to this time the countenance 
 of the Pope and the church had been one of his 
 main stays, and he had still to look to that quarter 
 for much important aid in establishing his power. 
 In these circumstances, and in the hour of triumph, 
 when he gave orders for building the abbey of Bat- 
 tle, he was naturally liberal to profusion, both in the 
 privileges which he granted to the new establish- 
 ment and the revenues with which he proposed to 
 endow it. On being told, after the foundation was 
 dug, that there was a scarcity of water in the place, 
 in consequence of which it would be advisable to 
 choose another site for the building ; — " Work ! 
 work on !" cried the elated victor. " If God gives 
 me life, there shall be more wine for the monks of 
 the abbey to drink than there is now clear water in 
 the best convent in Christendom.'" 
 
 Although many of the higher churchmen, how- 
 ever, had, during a great part of the reign of the 
 Confessor, been in the Norman interest, and con- 
 tinued among the firmest friends of William after 
 his seizure of the throne, the great body of the 
 clergy were strongly attached to the national cause. 
 Some of them had even taken arms and fought on 
 the side of Harold at Hastings ; and, in the course 
 of the protracted contest which followed before the 
 country was finally subjugated, the English in their 
 resistance to the foreigners had been on several 
 occasions animated and led on by their priests. 
 Hence it soon became a leading principle in the 
 policy of William to depress the ecclesiastical 
 power ; while on the other hand the church, thus 
 selected as a chief object of attack, rose on that 
 account in the affections of the country, and grew 
 every day to be more and more regarded as the 
 
 ' Dugdale's Monasticun, iii. 241 
 VOL I. — 34 
 
 strength and best representative of the patriotic 
 cause. 
 
 Among the higher ecclesiastics who stood by 
 what was considered as the English faction, the 
 most conspicuous had all along been the Primate 
 Stigand. He had refused, as we have already rela- 
 ted, to put the crown on the head of the Conqueror, 
 who was thereupon obliged to apply to Aldred of 
 York to perform that office. Stigand, beside, lay 
 under the displeasure of the court of Rome on 
 other grounds. William therefore, when he judged 
 that the proper time had come, found no difficulty 
 in effecting the removal of the obnoxious prelate ; 
 he was deposed by the papal legates at a council 
 held at Winchester in the early part of the year 
 1070. The person appointed by the king, with the 
 consent of the barons, to be his successor, was the 
 celebrated Lanfranc. Lanfranc had been a profes- 
 sor of laws in his native city of Pavia; but he had 
 afterward removed to Normandy, and opened a 
 school at Avranches. Here he acquired great ce- 
 lebrity, and his seminary became the source from 
 which the surrounding country was gradually pro- 
 vided with a lettered clergy. Of such importance 
 were his services thought to be, that having, on the 
 advance of old age, given up his public employment 
 and retired to the monastery of Bee, he was after 
 a few years induced, much against his own wish, 
 to resume his occupation of schoolmaster or lec- 
 turer, and he continued to perform his duties with 
 undiminished reputation till he was past the age of 
 eighty, when William made him abbot of his new 
 monastery of St. Stephen at Caen. He had nearly 
 reached his ninetieth year when he was invited to 
 the archbishopric of Canterbury. At first he sought 
 an apology for refusing the offered dignity in his 
 ignorance of the language and manners of the Eng- 
 lish barbarians — for such they still appeared to an 
 Italian ecclesiastic. The request of William, how- 
 ever, backed by the earnest exhortations of the Pope, 
 at length overcame his scniples. 
 
 Having once assumed his high office, Lanfranc 
 showed himself determined to neglect neither its 
 duties nor its rights. The first thing to which he 
 applied himself was to recover for his church of 
 Canterbury the numerous ancient possessions of 
 which it had been deprived in the confusions or by 
 the arbitrary proceedings of the last few years. In 
 pursuing this object, obhged as he was to contend 
 with haughty barons, whom their hege lord could 
 scarcely control, his intrepidity and perseverance 
 enabled him to succeed in many instances. Even 
 the powerful Odo, uterine brother to the king, was 
 thus compelled to restore twenty-five manors which 
 had formerly belonged to the see of Canterbury.
 
 530 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 The wealth thus recovered for the church Avas ap- 
 pHed by Lanfranc to the promotion of its interests. 
 He rebuilt the cathedral of Canterbury with Nor- 
 man stone, repaired the sacred edifices in a style 
 of comfort and elegance hitherto unknown to the 
 Saxons, and erected churches and monastic estab- 
 lishments where they were considered most neces- 
 sary. He also caused the bishops to remove their 
 seats from the villages, in which many of them 
 resided, to the larger towns ; he is said to have 
 introduced cevtain reforms into the monastic insti- 
 tutions; and he established schools in various parts 
 of the kingdom. Lanfranc at the same time cor- 
 dially cooperated with William in that particular 
 point of ecclesiastical reformation which the latter 
 no doubt had most at heart, the general substitution 
 of a foreign for a native clergy. Very good reasons 
 were easily found for the displacement of many of 
 the English priests, on the ground both of ignor- 
 ance and immorality ; and, on the whole, it is prob- 
 able that the result of their ejection was the settle- 
 ment in the country of a more instructed body of 
 pastors than it had previously possessed. 
 
 We must suppose that, whatever may have been 
 the motives of another kind that principally actuated 
 William, this was the end which Lanfranc kept in 
 view, and by which he justified to himself the 
 measures of severity in which he took part. His 
 own elevation, indeed, had been one of the com- 
 mencing moves of the royal scheme of reform ; for 
 it was at the council at which Stigand was deposed, 
 held by the papal legates in 1070, that the removal 
 of the native clergy and the introduction of foreigners 
 were begun. For some years after this, the course 
 which had been thus entered upon was vigorously 
 pursued, till the conversion of the spiritual estate 
 to a community of interest and feeling with the 
 civil government was pretty completely effected. 
 In many instances the crime of being an English- 
 man, or inability to speak the Norman tongue, 
 was reckoned sufficient for clerical deposition in the 
 absence of more substantial charges. Even the 
 saints of the Saxon calendar shared in the fate of 
 their Avorshipers. Their sanctity was denied, and 
 their worship ridiculed. Of the unfortunate clergy, 
 some endeavored to make terms with a power they 
 had no means of resisting, by consenting to descend 
 to a humbler station in the church : others fled to 
 Scotland. Their necessities, or the hope of ven- 
 geance, drove many to the forests, where they 
 joined the bands of outlaws, and sanctioned with 
 the rites of religion the wild struggle of independ- 
 ence which was there long maintained by the sparks 
 of the popular spirit that were last in being trodden 
 out. and also the deeds of rapine and cruelty with 
 which it was doubtless plentifully deformed. Some 
 even of the deposed prelates are said to have taken 
 this course. 
 
 It appears that in most instances the higher 
 church benefices were filled by William with men 
 of learning and virtue ; but it was impossible for 
 him, whatever his wishes may have been, to pre- 
 vent the intrusion of many unworthy persons into 
 the inferior appointments. He had hired adven- 
 
 turers to his standard by promises of ecclesiastical 
 as well as political preferment. The powerful 
 barons, whose swords had hewn out his way to the 
 throne, and now maintained him upon it, had kins- 
 men and retainers of the clerical order, whose de- 
 mands could not be refused ; and thus, though vacan- 
 cies were rapidly made, they were still insufficient 
 for a throng of greedy expectants, the gratification 
 of whose demands, on the other hand, only deep- 
 ened the miseries of the land and the hatred of the 
 unhappy people. 
 
 Amid the acts of deposition that took place during 
 this reign, an attempt was made to eject the ven- 
 erable Wulstan from the see of Winchester. This 
 bishop, though illiterate, surpassed the generality of 
 his brethren of English birth in purity of character 
 and a blameless life. But, on the charge that he 
 was unacquainted with the French language, the 
 resignation of his episcopal staff was required of 
 him, in a synod held in Westminster Abbej-, at 
 which Lanfranc presided. At this demand, Wul- 
 stan arose, and, grasping the crosier with a firmer 
 hand, thus addressed the primate : " I am aware, 
 my lord archbishop, that I am neither worthy of 
 this dignity, nor equal to its duties: this I knew 
 when the clergy elected — when the prelates com- 
 pelled — when my master called me to fill it. By 
 the authority of the holy see he laid this burden 
 upon me, and with this staflf he commanded me to 
 receive the rank of a bishop. You now demand of 
 me the pastoral staff which you did not present, and 
 the office which you did not bestow. AAvare of my 
 insufficiency, and obedient to this holy synod, I now 
 resign them — not, however, to you, but to him by 
 whose authority I received them." He then ad- 
 vanced to the tomb of Edward the Confessor, and 
 thus solemnly invoked the dead king : " Master, 
 thou knowest how reluctantly I assumed this charge, 
 at thy instigation. It was thy command that, more 
 than the wish of the people, the voice of the pre- 
 lates, and the desire of the nobles, compelled me. 
 Now we have a new king, a new primate, and new 
 enactments. Thee they accuse of error, in having 
 so commanded, and me of presumption because I 
 obeyed. Formerly, indeed, thou mightest err, be- 
 cause thou wert mortal; but now thou art with 
 God, and canst err no longer. Not to them, there- 
 fore, who recall what they did not give, and who 
 may deceive, and be deceived, but to thee who gave 
 them, and art now raised above all error, I resign 
 my staff, and surrender my flock." He then laid 
 his crosier upon the tomb, and took his seat among 
 the monks as a simple brother of their order. The 
 synod did not dare to accept of a resignation so 
 tendered. The staflf remained untouched ; and, to 
 justify the continuance of Wulstan in his see, a 
 miracle was invented. It was alleged that the cro- 
 sier was so firmly imbedded in the stone, that it 
 could not be removed. At the death of the Con- 
 queror, Wulstan was the only English bishop who 
 retained his office.' 
 
 1 Anglia Sacra, ii. 255.— W. Malms. De Pontif. lib. iv.— Crispinus, 
 Vit. Lanfranc, torn. \-i.— Parker, de Antiq. Ecc. Brit. p. 110.— J 
 Brampton, p. 976.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 531 
 
 But while William was thus exercising the priv- 
 ileges of a victor in the church as well as the state, 
 he was surprised by finding himself threatened 
 with vassalage in turn. The subtle and imperious 
 Hildebrand, now Pope, by the title of Gregory VII., 
 declaring that kings and princes were but the vas- 
 sals of St. Peter and his successors, summoned 
 William to do homage for the possession of Eng- 
 land. The answer of the proud Norman was brief 
 and decisive. The tax of Peter's-pence, discontin- 
 ued of late years in England, and now required by 
 the Pope, he declared that he would regularly pay ; 
 but the homage he peremptorily refused, alleging 
 that it had never been promised by himself, nor 
 rendered by any of his predecessors. With this 
 answer to his demand, Gregory was obliged to re- 
 main satisfied for the present ; he probably, indeed, 
 expected no other, and only announced his claims 
 with a view to their enforcement in more favorable 
 circumstances, and that no future English king 
 might be able to profess astonishment at their being 
 advanced, seeing that they had first been pressed 
 upon the Conqueror. William, in the mean time, 
 taking advantage of the contest which arose between 
 the Pope and the emperor, and of his own remote- 
 ness from Rome, which enabled him to act with 
 the more independence, commenced a vigorous 
 warfare against the papal encroachments. He or- 
 dered, first, that no pontiff should be acknowledged 
 in his dominions without his previous sanction, and 
 that papal letters, before they were published, 
 should be submitted to his inspection ; secondly, 
 that no decision, either of national or provincial 
 synods, should be carried into execution without 
 his permission ; and, thirdly, that the clerical courts 
 should neither implead nor excommunicate any 
 tenant holding of the crown in capite, until the of- 
 fence had been certified to himself.^ 
 
 During the latter period of William's reign, an 
 event occurred, arising out of the disorders of the 
 conquest, but from which an important benefit re- 
 sulted to religion. No uniformity was observed in 
 the public worship — the prayers and their mode of 
 recital frequently depending upon the caprices of 
 the oflficiating priest. In order to enforce a favorite 
 liturgy among the Saxon .monks of Glastonbury, 
 Thurston, their Norman abbot, entered the church 
 with a band of archers and spearmen. The monks 
 withstood even this armed demonstration ; a des- 
 perate conflict commenced round the altar, and be- 
 hind the great crucifix, which was soon stuck thick 
 with arrows, while benches, candlesticks, and 
 crosses were wielded in their defence by the breth- 
 ren, several of whom were slain. This incident 
 suggested the necessity of a form established by 
 authority ; and Oswald, Bishop of Salisbury, com- 
 posed a church-service that became universal 
 throughout the realm.^ 
 
 Lanfranc did not long survive the accession of 
 Rufus, for whom he materially assisted in securing 
 the throne, and whose chief counselor he continued 
 to be while he lived. The archbishop, it is record- 
 ed, did not foil to press upon the new king the ful- 
 
 ' Eadmer, p. 6. 2 w. Malms.— Chron. Sax. — Knyghton. 
 
 filment of the oaths he had taken to observe the 
 laws ; but Rufus, now that he had obtained his end, 
 was little inclined to give heed to these exhortations. 
 " What man," he impatiently replied, " is able to 
 perform all that he has promised ?" ^ The primate, 
 however, maintained a considerable ascendency 
 over the irregular spirit of the king, by which his 
 excesses were frequently restrained ; and, with 
 longer time, Lanfranc might perhaps have been also 
 enabled to develop some of those better qualities, 
 the elements of which Rufus undoubtedly possessed. 
 But the archbishop, being nearly a hundred years 
 old, died in 1089, about two years after the com- 
 mencement of the reign.^ 
 
 Lanfranc was succeeded in his office of the king's 
 chief adviser by the notorious Ralph Flarabard 
 One of the chief sources to which the new minister, 
 among his plans of extortion, looked for the supply 
 of the royal coffers, was the plunder of the church. 
 At his instigation Rufus took to himself the reve- 
 nues of all vacant bishoprics and abbacies, and in 
 many cases kept the most important offices in the 
 church unfilled for years, drawing the profits all the 
 while into his own exchequer. In these cases the 
 ecclesiastical estates were farmed out to those who 
 offered the highest terms for the uncertain tenure, 
 and who of course employed, without scruple, all 
 the means at their command to repay themselves, 
 and to make the most of their temporary occupa- 
 tion. The tenants under this system were ground 
 to the earth by the most merciless exactions; and 
 when, at last, an occupant was appointed to the 
 benefice, he was usually required to pay a heavy 
 premium for his promotion, which, again, he could 
 only raise by a continuation of the same methods 
 which had already produced so much suffering, and 
 gone so far to exhaust the resources of the benefice. 
 Hence, also, the intrusion into the church of a swarm 
 of hirelings, who were regarded by their people 
 rather as slave-merchants, by whom they were 
 bought and sold, than as pastors by whom they were 
 to be benefited.^ 
 
 This oppressive course of the king had continued 
 for about four years, when, in 1093, he was seized 
 with a dangerous sickness, and, under the agonies 
 of terror and remorse, he became anxious to repair 
 the wrongs he had done the church. Since the 
 death of Lanfranc he had kept the see of Canter- 
 bury vacant, swearing that it should have no arch- 
 bishop but himself; but now, impetuous in repent- 
 ance as in guilt, he insisted that Anselm, the suc- 
 cessor of Lanfranc in the abbacy of Bee, and whom 
 that prelate had, before his death, expressed his 
 wish to have also for his successor in the primacy, 
 should forthwith be appointed archbishop. Anselm 
 happening to be at the time in England, he was 
 hurried to the bedside of the king. A crosier was 
 presented to him, but he refused to touch it, till the 
 royal attendants unclenched his fingers, and forced 
 the sacred staff into his struggling hand, when all 
 with one accord burst forth into a Te deum for the 
 primate whom heaven had sent them, while the 
 
 1 Eadmer, p 14. = Orderic, p. 241-45. W. Malmsb. 117 
 
 3 Eadmer. — W. Malmsb
 
 532 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 helpless monk in vain protested ngainst the whole 
 proceeding. It would perhaps be wrong to assume 
 that the resistance of Anselm was hypocritical. In- 
 dependently of his love of studious retirement, he 
 may be supposed to have foreseen that the primacy, 
 from the temper of the king and the state of the 
 country, would be no enviable elevation. " What 
 are you doing ?" was his language to his friends who 
 were most importunate for his consent : " the church 
 of England should be drawn by two animals of equal 
 strength : but you are yoking to the plough a feeble 
 old sheep with a mad young bull that will tear its 
 companion through every obstacle, and finally drag 
 it to death." 
 
 Anselm had not done justice to his own character 
 when he likened himself to the most gentle of ani- 
 mals. Although unequally yoked with the fiery 
 spirit of Rufus, yet upon occasion he could display 
 an unbending obstinacy that even matched the 
 fierceness of the king. The seeds of future dis- 
 sension were sown betAveen them at the commence- 
 ment of their connection. Anselm, upon accepting 
 the primacy, had stipulated for the restoration of 
 all the church lands belonging to his see, and the 
 implicit obedience of the king to his advice in all 
 matters of religion ; and to these demands William 
 had evasively replied that the archbishop's reason- 
 able expectations would be fulfilled. But the peni- 
 tence of the king vanished with his fit of illness, 
 and he rose from his sick bed with fresh vigor to 
 resume the plunder of the church. His first quar- 
 rel with the primate was on the subject of the 
 price to be paid by the latter for his promotion. As 
 Rufus had not been accustomed to confer the higher 
 benefices without a valuable consideration, Anselm 
 was willing to comply with the usage ; but, pleading 
 his previous poverty and the impoverished condition 
 of the see, he offered only the sum of five hundred 
 pounds. Rufus eyed tUe money with disdain, and 
 refused it, on which the primate bestowed it upon 
 the poor. Afterward he was given to understand 
 that a thousand pounds would be a more welcome 
 offering, but he declared that he was unable to 
 raise such a sum from his exhausted revenues.^ 
 When this answer was reported to the king it 
 filled him with fury. " As I hated him yesterday," 
 he exclaimed, " so I hate him more to-day ; and 
 tell him that I shall hate him more bitterly the 
 longer I live. I shall never acknowledge him for 
 my archbishop."* 
 
 A ground of open quarrel was soon found. About 
 seven months after his forced acceptance of the 
 see, the primate proposed, after the custom of his 
 predecessors, to proceed to Rome, to receive the 
 pall from the hands of the sovereign pontiff; but 
 there were at present two rival popes, between 
 whom Rufus had not yet made his election. When 
 Anselm, therefore, presented himself to request 
 permission to set out on his journey, Rufus asked 
 him, in real or affected surprise, to what pope he 
 
 > Rufus exacted the same sum from his favorite Flambard, on 
 presenting him with the bishopric of Durham. It is likely, however, 
 that this able financier found no great difficulty in raising the money 
 
 2 Ead. p. 21-25. 
 
 meant to go ? Anselm at once answered that he 
 should go to Urban II. Indignant at tliis arbitrary 
 decision, the king instantly exclaimed, " As well 
 tear the crown fi-om my head as dispossess me of n 
 right which is the peculiar prerogative of the Eng- 
 lish kings !" The archbishop, nevertheless, did not 
 hesitate to announce that he intended to proceed on 
 his journey, even without the leave of the king. In 
 these circumstances a council of the nobility and 
 prelates was forthwith assembled at Rockingham to 
 decide upon the case. The bishops acknowledged 
 the illegality of the primate's conduct ; but when 
 the king demanded his deposition, they declared 
 that that could only be effected by the authority of 
 the Pope. They agi*eed, however, to unite in en- 
 deavoring to persuade him to retract his decision in 
 favor of Urban, and to forego his journey ; but 
 Anselm would make no such concessions. The 
 affair was thus fast advancing to a crisis, when the 
 difficulty was solved by Rufus finding it expedient 
 to acknowledge the claims of Urban, and by the 
 Pope, on the other hand, by way of returning the 
 favor, dispensing with the personal attendance of 
 Anselm, and transmitting the pall to England. 
 
 As Rufus, however, still persisted in keeping 
 many of the chief offices of the church vacant, while 
 Anselm felt it his duty to urge that proper persons 
 should be appointed to the abbacies and other pre- 
 ferments which the king thus retained in his own 
 hands, the quarrel between them was not long in 
 breaking out again with all its former violence. 
 "Are not the abbeys mine?" exclaimed the Red 
 King, when the archbishop pressed his unwelcome 
 solicitations ; " Do Avhat you please with the farms 
 of your archbishopric, but leave me the same liberty 
 with my abbeys !" Anselm eventually detennined 
 to go to Rome, and lay the matter before the Pope, 
 deterred neither by the steady refusal of Rufus to 
 grant him permission to leave the kingdom, nor by 
 the confiscation and banishment which he was as- 
 sured would follow his unauthorized departure. He 
 set out on his journey in the spring of 1098, on foot, 
 as a humble pilgrim, with a staff and wallet; and in 
 this guise he reached Dover, where he underwent 
 the indignity of a strict search from the king's offi- 
 cers, that he might carry no money out of England. 
 He arrived, however, in safety at Rome, where he 
 was greeted by the Pope with the most distinguished 
 welcome. Urban, addressing him in a long speech 
 before his whole court, called him the pope of 
 another world, while all the English in the city 
 were commanded to kiss his toe.' The pontiff soon 
 after sent a letter to Rufus, requiring the restitu- 
 tion of Anselm's property' which had been confisca- 
 ted at his departure ; but when the king understood 
 that the bearer was a servant of the archbishop, he 
 swore that he would tear out his eyes unless he 
 instantly quitted the kingdom. 
 
 Before, however, it was known what reception 
 the Pope's application had met with, an ecclesiasti- 
 cal council which was held at Rome in the close of 
 this year, and at which Anselm was present, de- 
 clared that the King of England deserved excom- 
 1 W Malmsb., p. 127.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 533 
 
 munication for his treatment of that prelate ; but at 
 Ansehn's request, made upon his knees, the Pope 
 refrained from actually pronouncing the sentence 
 for the present. But this council is especially mem- 
 orable in the history of the church, for the decision 
 to which it came upon the great question of investi- 
 ture, which had now become the main point in 
 the contest between the pretensions of the spiritual 
 and of the temporal power in every part of Christen- 
 dom. The matter in dispute was simply, whether 
 ecclesiastical persons, on being inducted into bish- 
 oprics and abbeys, should be permitted to receive 
 the ring and crosier, by which the temporalities of 
 the benefice were understood to be conveyed, from 
 the hands of the prince. It is evident, however, 
 that this ceremony involved the whole question of, 
 whether, in every country, the clergy should be 
 under the dominion of the king or of the Pope. Its 
 observance accordingly had been for a long time as 
 strongly protested against by the court of Rome, as 
 it had been usually insisted upon by every temporal 
 sovereign. The present council denounced excom- 
 munication both against all laymen who should 
 presume to grant investiture of any ecclesiastical 
 benefice, and against every priest who should accept 
 of such investiture. It was alleged, with a daring 
 freedom of language, to be too horrible for hands 
 that created the Creator himself — a power not 
 granted even to the angels — and that offered him to 
 the Father as a sacrifice for the world's redemp- 
 tion, to be placed in fealty between the hands of 
 one who might be stained and polluted with every 
 excess.' 
 
 Soon after this arrived the answer of Rufus to 
 the Pope's lettei*. " I am astonished," he wrote, 
 how it could enter your mind, to intercede for the 
 restoration of Anselm. If you ask wherefore, this 
 is the cause : — when he wished to go away, he was 
 plainly warned that the whole revenues of his see 
 would be confiscated at his departure. Since, there- 
 fox-e, he would needs go, I have done what I threat- 
 ened ; and I think I have done right." Anselm was 
 not recalled so long as Rufus lived. 
 
 When Henry Beauclerc succeeded, his defective 
 title required the sanction of the church, and he, 
 therefore, politically recalled Anselm from banish- 
 ment, at the commencement of his reign. He also 
 promised neither to farm nor sell the ecclesiastical 
 benefices, as his brother had done, and to restore 
 to the church all its former immunities ; and he 
 threw into prison the obnoxious Flambard, the 
 agent of the late oppressions. The friendship and 
 aid of the church in the matter both of his estab- 
 lishment on the throne, and of his marriage shortly 
 after with Matilda, notwithstanding her apparent 
 dedication as a nun, rewarded this show of regard. 
 
 It was not long, however, before the quarrel re- 
 specting investiture was renewed, by the demand 
 of Henry, that Anselm should do homage for his 
 archbishopric. To this demand, the latter returned 
 a decided negative. In consequence, the vexatious 
 subject was again referred to Rome, and, as might 
 
 » The proceedings of this council are very minutely related by 
 Eadmer, the companion of Anselm in his flight and banishment 
 
 have been expected, the decision pronounced by 
 Pascal II., who was now pope, was in favor of the 
 church. Henry, notwithstanding, still commanded 
 Anselm either to do homage, or leave the kingdom ; 
 but the archbishop would do neither. He declared 
 that he would abide in his province, and he defied 
 any one to injure him there. A second deputation 
 was thereupon sent to Rome, to intimate, in the 
 name of the king and nobles, that unless the right 
 of investiture was conceded, they would banish An- 
 selm, dissolve their connection with the papal see, 
 and withhold the usual payments. 
 
 Thus pressed, if we may believe the account 
 given by Ansehn's biographer, Eadmer, the court 
 of Rome had recourse to a very strange and clumsy 
 stratagem. Three bishops had brought the message 
 of the king, and two monks had also arrived to plead 
 the cause of the archbishop. To the bishops it is 
 affirmed, the Pope verbally conceded the right of 
 investiture as claimed by the king, but excused 
 himself from committing the permission to writing, 
 lest other sovereigns should demand the same privi- 
 leges, and despise his authority ; while by the monks 
 he sent letters to Anselm, exhorting him to resist 
 all royal investitures, and hold out to the uttermost. 
 The deputies of both parties returned to London, 
 and, at a great council held there (a.d. 1102), after 
 the bishops had rehearsed their verbal commission, 
 the monks produced their letters. The Pope after- 
 ward declared the statement of the bishops to be 
 false, and even excommunicated them as liars ; but 
 still Henry stood out. At length it was arranged 
 that the archbishop should himself repair to Rome 
 to obtain a positive decision ; and he set out on his 
 journey, accordingly, on the 29th of April, 1103. 
 
 Some years of further negotiation followed, dur- 
 ing which Anselm remained abroad. At last a 
 compromise was effected by the Pope consenting 
 that, provided the king would abstain from insisting 
 upon the investiture with ring and crosier, the 
 bishops and abbots should do homage, in the same 
 manner with the lay tenants in chief of the crown, 
 for the temporalities of their sees. On the tedious 
 controversy being thus brought to a close, Anselm 
 returned to England in August, 1106. 
 
 Two years after this act of pacification, a council 
 was held at London, to enforce the obligation of 
 clerical celibacy, a rule which both Anselm and his 
 predecessor Lanfranc had always shown great zeal 
 in promoting, although the subject had been par- 
 tially lost sight of during the late controversies. 
 Ten canons were now passed on this head more 
 rigid than any that had been hitherto promulgated. 
 All maiTied priests of whatever degree were com- 
 manded instantly to put away their wives, — not to 
 sufl^er them to live on any lands belonging to the 
 church, — and never to see them or converse with 
 them except in urgent cases, and in the presence 
 of witnesses. As a punishment for their crime in 
 marrying, they were to abstain from saying mass 
 for a certain period, and to undergo several pen- 
 ances. Those who refused to banish their wives 
 were to be deposed and excommunicated ; their 
 goods were to be confiscated, and their wives, as
 
 534 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 adulteresses, txj bo mcide slaves to the bishop of the ! 
 diocese.' 
 
 Anselm ended his troubled career in 1109, in the | 
 seventy-sixth year of his age and sixteenth of his 
 primacy. His writings, which still remain, prove 
 that he possessed a large share both of literary i 
 knowledge and metaphysical acuteness ; and it de- 
 serves to^e remembered, as one of his chief merits, 
 that he zealously followed up, and even extended, 
 rhe plans of his predecessor Lanfranc, for the es- 
 rablishraeut of schools and the diffusion of learning 
 in the country of his adoption. Whatever may be 
 rhousht, also, of the course which he took in de- 
 fence of what he conceived to be the rights of his 
 station and of his order, or of some of his measures 
 for the reform of the church over which he pre- 
 sided, it is evident that the contest he so persever- 
 ingly waged was for no merely personal or selfish 
 objects. To his honor, it is recoi'ded that the Eng- 
 lish loved him as if he had been one of themselves.^ 
 To the fovor which he thus enjoyed with the con- 
 (]uered race, and the predilection for them on his 
 part by which it may be supposed to have been ac- 
 
 ' Spelman's Concilia, i. p. 29. ^ EaJmer, Hist. Nov. 112. 
 
 quired, it is probable that he owed part of that royal 
 aversion by which his primacy was embittered. 
 After his death, Henry was in no haste to fill the 
 see of Canterbury, and he kept it vacant for the 
 space of five years. 
 
 The ecclesiastical history of the remainder of tho 
 reign of Henry offers no events that require to be 
 related. The conduct of the leading clergy in the 
 contention between Stephen and Matilda has been 
 detailed at sufficient length in the preceding chap- 
 ter. The defective nature of Stephen's title af!brd- 
 ed a favorable opportunity, which the ecclesiastical 
 interest did not neglect, of extorting from the crown 
 an acknowledgment of its haughtiest and hereto- 
 fore most strenuously disputed pretensions. Ex- 
 emption from the royal investiture, and the right 
 of carrying ecclesiastical causes by appeal to Rome, 
 were conceded by Stephen, or usurped in spite of 
 him, by a church that was daily improving in tho 
 art of profiting by every political emergency. It '\3 
 not till the reign of Henry II., however, thiit the 
 contest reassumes much interest or distinctness ; 
 and to that period we will now therefore at once 
 proceed. 
 
 Baptism of the Mother or Becket. From the Royal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 
 From this it may be seen that entire or partial immersion was part of the old mode of baptism ; immersion, indeed, continued to be practiced in 
 
 the English Church till after the Reformation. 
 
 The principal figure here is Becket. The legend 
 of the origin of this celebrated personage is suffi- 
 ciently romantic. Gilbert Beck, or Becket, a Saxon 
 yeoman, followed to the crusades the pennon of his 
 Norman lord, but being taken prisoner bj' an emir 
 of the Saracens, he was thrown into a dungeon. 
 The daughter of the infidel prince saw and loved 
 the humble captive, and by her aid he effected his 
 escape and reached his native country. Pining at 
 his absence, the maiden afterward conceived the 
 wild idea of following his steps, though she knew no 
 more of his language than his name and that of the 
 city in which he dwelt. She hastened to a seaport, 
 and making her wishes known by repeating the 
 W'^rd " London," she obtained a passage in a ship 
 
 bound for England. Having reached the English 
 capital, she went from street to street calling upon 
 " Gilbert," until the invocation met the ear of the 
 lost object of her affection. Having abjured her 
 native faith, and been baptized, the foreign maiden 
 became the wife of Becket, now a citizen of Lon- 
 don. From this union was born Thomas, the future 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, a man whose remarkable 
 life was destined to be a fit sequel to this singular 
 history.' 
 
 His education, his introduction at court by the 
 patronage of Archbishop Theobald, the rapid pro- 
 gress which he made in the royal favor, his elevation 
 
 1 Brompton, in X Scriptores. The story is told by this author at 
 great length and with considerable pathos.
 
 Cbap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 535 
 
 GrOCP or NORMAN-E.NOLISH Fojiis 
 
 Marriage of the Father and Mother of Becket. From the Royal MS. 2B. vii. 
 
 to the chaucellorship, and his subsequent appoint- 
 ment to the primacy, with the extraordinary trans- 
 formation which his mode of life and his whole 
 character underwent upon the last-mentioned event, 
 have been already related. There can be little 
 doubt as to what Henry's design was in thus placing 
 at the head of the church the man who had hitherto 
 been the most compliant as well as the most active 
 and dextrous of his ministers in civil affairs. When 
 the intention of making him primate was first inti- 
 mated to Becket he frankly declared to his friends 
 that, in accepting the new dignity, he was aware 
 that he must forfeit the favor either of God or the 
 king. He expressed the same sentiment to Henry 
 himself, but in such an equivocal manner that hie 
 remark seemed rather intended for a jest. When 
 the king informed him that he had fixed upon him 
 for archbishop, he lifted up a corner of his gay robe, 
 and laughingly said, " A fine saint you have chosen 
 
 for so holy an office !" At first, also, men wondered 
 when the news became public, as if a miracle had 
 been announced.' Many persons, also, professed to 
 be not a little shocked as well as astonished ; but per- 
 haps the indignant feehngs of the Norman part of the 
 community were as much excited by Becket's Saxon 
 lineage as by the daring profanation, at which they 
 affected to be scandalized. 
 
 During the space of twelve months that the mea- 
 sure waited its accomplishment, the chancellor gave 
 no indication of that decided change of sentiment 
 and conduct which he aftei"ward exhibited. It was 
 not till after the appointment was completed, and 
 made irrevocable, that he suddenly underwent that 
 metamorphosis at which the whole realm was as- 
 tounded. The effect, however, produced throughout 
 the nation by so complete a disappointment of the 
 expectations that all men had formed, was great and 
 
 1 Stephen. — Vita Quadripart.
 
 536 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book TII. 
 
 Consecration or Bkcket as Archbishop. From the Royal MS. 2 B. vii 
 
 instantaneous. Unclerical as the archbishop's for- 
 mer life had been, and notwithstanding his obnoxious 
 promotion, the bishops, as well as the clergy gener- 
 ally, were at first delighted with such a primate ; 
 and the Saxon population, while they were charmed 
 with his affability and humbleness of demeanor, had 
 their exultation and affection heightened in regard- 
 ing him as belonging to their own race. 
 
 The circumstances which led to the first breach 
 between the king and the archbishop have already 
 been stated. The whole course, indeed, of the con- 
 test between Henry and Becket is so interwoven with 
 the general history of the kingdom, that a sketch of 
 it from its commencement to its close has been 
 necessarily given in relating the civil transactions of 
 the period, and we have only now to fill up certain 
 parts of that outline by a few additional details in 
 regard to points belonging more especially to the 
 subject of the present chapter. 
 
 The various matters in dispute between the two 
 parties, it will be remembered, were all submitted 
 to the great council of prelates and barons which 
 met at Clarendon in January, 1164. A short review 
 of what took place upon that occasion, and of the 
 history of the decrees, or " constitutions," as they 
 were called, passed by the council, will best explain 
 the conflicting claims of the king on the one hand 
 and the archbishop on the other, and the relative 
 positions in which the church and the state were 
 left by the issue of the controversy. 
 
 The particular question which originated what 
 eventually became a general contest about their 
 respective rights between the crown and the spiri- 
 tual estate, appears to have been — whether the 
 clergy, when accused of crimes, should be tried and 
 punished by the ecclesiastical or the civil courts. 
 Filled as many of the lower offices in the church 
 were, with persons of little education, and whose 
 emoluments were not such as to raise them above 
 the habits and temptations of the lowest poverty, it 
 is no wonder that, in an age of such general rude- 
 
 ness and disorder, some of the most serious offences, 
 including even acts of violence and blood, should 
 occasionally be committed by churchmen. It was 
 alleged, however, with apparent reason, that the 
 temptations to the commission of crime in the case 
 of a priest were greatly augmented by the peculiar 
 sort of trial and punishment to which it subjected 
 him. During the Saxon times, the clergy and laity 
 were alike amenable to the courts of common law ; 
 but the Conqueror withdrew the bishops from the 
 civil tribunals, and, in imitation of the order of things 
 already existing in all the other countries of Christ- 
 endom, placed them at the head of other courts of 
 their oAvn. The extent of the ecclesicistical juris- 
 diction thus established had, from the first, been a 
 subject of uncertainty and dispute ; but latterly the 
 church courts had asserted the right of alone taking 
 cognizance of all offences whatever committed by 
 the clergy. One strong ground on which this claim 
 was objected to by the civil authorities, was the in- 
 adequacy of the punishments which the ecclesias- 
 tical judges were considered to have the power of 
 inflicting ; for they were held to be restricted by 
 the canons from pronouncing sentence of death; 
 and, in consequence, for the most heinous offence 
 committed by a priest, the heaviest retribution was 
 stripes and degi'adation from his sacred ofl[ice. It 
 was also alleged that a natural partiality for their 
 order induced those who presided in the church 
 courts to treat the offenders that were brought be- 
 fore them with dangerous lenity, and sometimes, 
 perhaps, made them shut their eyes altogether to the 
 proofs of a churchman's guilt. 
 
 The Constitutions of Clarendon, as finally di- 
 gested, were sixteen in number. They were pre- 
 sented for the acceptance of the council by the 
 king, as a restoration or recognition of the ancient 
 customs of the realm, or, as it was more specifically 
 declared in the preamble, of the usages, liberties, 
 and dignities which had prevailed and been main- 
 tained in the days of his grandfather and the other
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 537 
 
 kings his predecessors. It must be admitted that 
 this title was not a correct description as applied to 
 all the articles. The instrument comprehended, 
 as has been already observed, the entire scheme of 
 reformation by which Henry proposed to bring the 
 church under subjection to the civil authorities ; 
 and, however necessaiy certain of the clauses might 
 be for this end, or however just and proper, they 
 were undoubtedly innovations upon the laws and 
 practice that had subsisted ever since the Conquest. 
 The substance of the principal enactments was — 
 that all cases, whether civil or criminal, in which a 
 clergyman was concerned, should be tried and de- 
 termined in the king's court ; that appeals should lie 
 from the archbishop to the king ; and that no cause 
 should be carried further than the archbishop's 
 court (in other words, to Rome) without the king's 
 consent; that no archbishop, bishop, or dignified cler- 
 gyman should depart from the kingdom without the 
 king's leave ; that no tenant in chief of the crown, 
 and no officer of the royal household or demesne, 
 should be excommunicated, or his lands put under 
 an interdict, until application had been made to the 
 king or the grand justiciary ; that churches in the 
 king's gift should not be filled without his consent ; 
 that when an archbishopric, bishopric, abbacy, or 
 priory became vacant, it should remain in the cus- 
 tody of the king, who should receive all its rents and 
 revenues ; that the election of a new incumbent 
 should be made upon the king's writ, in the royal 
 chapel, and with the assent of the king ; and that 
 the person elected should do homage and fealty to 
 the king before being consecrated. 
 
 To these propositions Becket, at an interview 
 with the king some time before the meeting of the 
 council, had, although with much reluctance, prom- 
 ised that he would give his assent ; and all the other 
 bishops had also expressed their readiness to acqui- 
 esce in them. But now the archbishop, on being 
 formally asked by the king to fulfil his promise, to 
 the surprise of all present, peremptorily refused to 
 give any other answer than that he would render 
 obedience to the said ancient customs of the realm, 
 saving the rights of his order. Terrified at the rage 
 into which the king broke out at this unexpected 
 opposition, Becket's brethren vehemently implored 
 him to yield. Meanwhile the door of the ante- 
 chamber being thrown open, discovered a band of 
 knights standing clad in armor, and with their swords 
 drawn. In these alarming circumstances Becket's 
 firmness was at last shaken ; and he promised that 
 if the meeting should be adjourned for the purpose 
 of having the enactments digested into a regular 
 form, he would then do what was required of him. 
 But when he retired into solitude he was confounded 
 at the thought of his weakness. Filled with re- 
 morse, he resolved even yet to draw back, to what- 
 ever of reproach or danger he might, by so doing, 
 expose himself. When, therefore, the meeting 
 reassembled on the following day, and copies of 
 the Constitutions were produced, he peremptorily 
 refused his signature. Neither entreaties nor threats 
 could now move him. Retiring from the council, he 
 wrote to the Pope an account of all that had taken 
 
 place, soliciting absolution for the momentary lapse 
 of which he had been guilty ; and, as a penance 
 for the same crime, he condemned himself to an 
 abstinence of forty days from the service of the 
 altar.' 
 
 The Constitutions of Clarendon, however, as 
 assented to by the barons and the other prelates, 
 became for the present the law of the land, not- 
 withstanding the dissent and opposition of the 
 archbishop. 
 
 The rest of Becket's memorable story, — his con- 
 demnation a few months after this by the council 
 of Northampton — his flight to the continent — his 
 reconciliation with the king and return to England 
 after an absence of nearly six years — and, finally, 
 his barbarous murder, has been already told. It is 
 only necessary to add here, that Henry, on his 
 reconcihation with the Pope in 1172, only obtained 
 absolution on solemnly promising to abolish all laws 
 and customs hostile to the clergy that might have 
 been introduced in his kingdom since the beginning 
 of his reign — to reinstate the church of Canterbury 
 in all the possessions it had held a year previous to 
 Becket's departure — and to make restitution to all 
 the friends of the late primate who had been de- 
 prived of their property. To these, it is said, were 
 added some other engagements which were not 
 committed to wi'iting ; and one version of the oath 
 taken by Heniy makes him acknowledge the king- 
 dom of England to be held by him in feudal subjec- 
 tion to the Pope. This article, however, has generally 
 been held io be a forgery ; and while on the one 
 hand the evidence of its authenticity is very defective, 
 its inherent improbability on the other is certainly 
 strong. We cannot agree with a modern writer* 
 in thinking it hkely that this acknowledgment of 
 vassalage on the part of Henry may be what is 
 alluded to in some of the accounts as one of the 
 king's promises or engagements which it was held 
 expedient to keep secret. It is much more probable 
 that what is thus alluded to was a payment of money 
 to the sovereign pontiff. It is expressly stated that 
 these secret engagements were not committed to 
 writing, so that they would not be found in any copy 
 of the oath. It is unnecessary to remark how ir- 
 reconcilable with the character of Henry is the 
 supposition that he could in any circumstances have 
 made such an acknowledgment as this. If the 
 oath, it may also be asked, existed with his signature 
 in the form in which it has been published by Ba- 
 ronius and Muratori, how came it never afterward 
 to be brought forward, even when, as in the reign 
 of John, it might have been produced with so much 
 advantage in support of the pretensions of the papal 
 court ? 
 
 Notwithstanding Henry's promise to abclish the 
 customs that infringed upon the rights of the clergy, 
 the Constitutions of Clarendon remained unrepealed 
 for some years after this time. But if they were 
 still nominally law, they were little better than a 
 dead letter. All effective opposition to the cause of 
 which Becket had been the great champion, was for 
 
 J. Gervase, 1388. 
 
 8 See Lingard's History of England, vol. ii. p. 114.
 
 638 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Becket's Crown, a Chapel in Canterbury Cathedral, 
 
 Situated immediately behind the chapel of the Holy Trinity, in which stood the shrine of the martyr. Becket's Crown, probably so called from 
 
 the form of the ribs of the arched roof, appears to have been in course of erection at the Reformation, and was only finished about the 
 
 middle of the last century, at the expense of a private citizen of t^anterburj'. 
 
 the present put down by liis martyrdom, and l)y the 
 wonders that were believed to have followed that 
 event. The spirit of the murdered archbishop 
 seemed still to walk through the land, to animate 
 his friends and confound his enemies. While his 
 mangled body lay in the choir of the church, the 
 right hand, it was affirmed, had solemnly raised it- 
 self, and made the sign of the cross in benediction 
 of the collected multitude.' His eyes also, which 
 had been dislodged by the blows of the murderers, 
 were averred to have been replaced by two others 
 smaller in size, and, that the miracle might be in- 
 contestable, of different colors.^ After the interment 
 of the body, crowds of the afflicted repaired to the 
 spot, where the lame recovered the action of their 
 limbs, the bhnd received sight, and the sick were 
 healed.^ Every day added to the number of the 
 pilgrims and the miracles, and consequently to the 
 spread and fervor of the delusion. The court, per- 
 plexed and paralyzed, looked on in silence ; the 
 prelates, who had opposed the martyr while he 
 lived, had still their own peace to make with the 
 
 1 Iloveden, p. 522. 2 Girald. Cambren, cap. xx. 
 
 * Gervase, p. 14J7.— Matt. Par. 125. 
 
 Pope, and might be uncertain how far their interfe- 
 rence would be welcome; and perhaps among both 
 parties there might be a lurking dread that miracles 
 so numerous and so well attested might be true. 
 The enthusiasm became general, and messenger 
 after messenger was dispatched to Rome with fresh 
 tidings of prodigies, and supplications that Becket 
 might be made a tutelary saint for the blessing and 
 protection of England. This favor was at last granted 
 by the Pope ; and the 29th of December, the day 
 on which the saint was assassinated, was assigned 
 to him in the calendar.^ 
 
 It was not, however, till the year 1176 that, at a 
 great council held at Northampton, the repeal, or 
 rather the modification, of the Constitutions of 
 Clarendon was formally effected. It was there 
 agreed, though not without much opposition from 
 many of the barons, first, that the clergy should 
 not be brought to trial before the temporal courts 
 on any charges except for offences against the forest 
 laws ; and, secondly, that no bishopric or abbey 
 should be kept in the king's hands longer than a 
 year, except in circumstances which might make it 
 1 Baron. Anaal. 1173.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 539 
 
 impossible to have the vacancy filled up in that time. 
 In this state the law continued during the remain- 
 der of the period now under review. 
 
 Before dismissing this reign, an event remains 
 to be mentioned, which although otherwise insig- 
 nificant, is memorable as the first instance on record 
 of any opposition being made to the common faith, 
 and as such may be regarded as the earhest har- 
 binger of the Reformation in England. About the 
 beginning of the year 1166, a synod was held at 
 Oxford in the presence of the king, for the arraign- 
 ment of certain foreigners accused of heresy. It 
 appears that five years before, several Germans, to 
 the number of thirty men and women, had arrived 
 in England, and began to disseminate their reli- 
 gious opinions ; but as they had hitherto only 
 converted one woman of low rank, and as their 
 demeanor had been peaceful, they had been al- 
 lowed to live unmolested. Attention, however, 
 was at last called to the ciixumstance that their 
 principles differed from the established creed, on 
 which they were thrown into prison, and now 
 brought for trial before the king. To the question 
 of what was their belief, Gerard their leader an- 
 swered that they were Christians, and venerated 
 the doctrines of the apostles. But it is alleged 
 that when they were examined upon particulars, 
 they spoke impiously of the eucharist, baptism, and 
 marriage, and when urged ^\^th texts of scripture, 
 refused all discussion, declaring that they believed 
 as they were taught, and would not dispute about 
 their faith. When they were exhorted to recant, 
 they received the admonition with scorn ; and when 
 threatened with punishment, they answered, with 
 a smile, " Blessed are they who suffer for righte- 
 ousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 
 As heresy was new in England, the judges were 
 at a loss how to act ; but canons had already been 
 enacted by the council of Tours against the Albi- 
 genses, and sentence was pronounced in conformity 
 with these. The accused were condemned to be 
 branded in the forehead with a hot iron, and to be 
 publicly whipped and expelled out of Oxford, while 
 the king's subjects were forbidden by proclama- 
 tion to shelter or relieve them. The enthusiasts 
 went to their punishment in triumph, singing, 
 "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and per- 
 secute you." Their garments were cut off by the 
 waist, their brows were seared, and their backs 
 torn with scourges ; and thus bleeding, and almost 
 naked, in the depth of winter, they wandered 
 about unsheltered among the fields, until they died. 
 Such is the obscure account delivered by the con- 
 temporary writers, in whose eyes dissent in belief 
 from the church of Rome was an incomprehensible 
 anomaly. It is probable that these strangers, from 
 the notions ascribed to them on the institution of 
 marriage and the sacraments, were Cathari, or 
 Albigenses. 
 
 The history of ecclesiastical affairs in England 
 during the reign of Richard I. is almost a blank ; 
 every feeling was absorbed in the great subject of 
 the Crusades, and the clergy, who had already 
 gained all for which they had contended at home, 
 
 found ample scope for their belligerent propen- 
 sities in the fields of Palestine, to which many of 
 them repaired in warlike array notwithstanding the 
 canons that had been enacted against their bearing 
 arms. During the reign, the power of the pope 
 dom, which had been exerted in favor of Richard 
 in the negotiations for his release, was also directed 
 effectually against him when he showed symptoms 
 of opposition to Rome. Hubert, the primate, 
 jealous of the monks of Canterburj-, and desirous 
 to abridge their privileges, had determined to 
 raise up against them a rival body, in the form of 
 an establishment of canons regular, for whom he 
 proceeded to erect a splendid edifice at Lambeth, 
 with the approbation of Richard. But the monks 
 of Canterbury, alarmed for their rights, and sus- 
 pecting that the gainful reUcs of Becket would be 
 transferi'ed to the new house, fiercely opposed the 
 project, and appealed to the Pope, Innocent III., 
 who warmly espoused their cause, and directed a 
 bull to the archbishop, in 1198, commanding him 
 in a very imperious stj'le to desist immediately from 
 his proceedings. " It is not fit," he said, " that 
 any man should have any authority who does not 
 reverence and obey the apostolic see." He after- 
 wai"d addressed another bull to Richard, whom he 
 threatened for his contumacy in abetting the arch- 
 bishop ; warning him that if he persevered he 
 should soon find in his punishment how hard it was 
 to kick against the pricks. By a subsequent man- 
 date also addressed to the king, Innocent declared 
 that he would not endure the least contempt of 
 himself or of God, whose place he held upon earth. 
 " We will take care," he says, " so to punish both 
 persons and lands without distinction that oppose 
 our measures, as to show our determination to pro- 
 ceed prudently, and in a royal manner." The lion- 
 hearted king and the rebellious archbishop were 
 equally dismayed at these menaces, and the obnox- 
 ious building was destroyed.^ 
 
 The history of the church in the reign of King 
 John is principally a continuation of the same great 
 contest respecting the appointment to the higher 
 ecclesiastical offices between the clergy, or the pope, 
 on the one side, and the crown on the other, which 
 had been carried on throughout the greater part of 
 the preceding century ; and the events that arose 
 out of which, exercising as they did an important 
 influence on the course of public affairs, have neces- 
 sarily been related in the preceding chapter. In 
 the earliest ages of the Christian church, the elec- 
 tion of bishops was by the voice of the clergy and 
 the people of the diocese. After the estabhshment, 
 however, of the feudal system in the different king- 
 doms of Europe, and the annexation to bishoprics of 
 high political power and large landed possessions, 
 the king naturally claimed the right of being at least 
 a party in the nomination to an office which gave to 
 its possessor so much weight in the state. The 
 claim to a veto upon the election, was as naturally 
 extended to that of an absolute right of appointment, 
 as soon as the crown found that it could not other- 
 wise secure the office for its own nominee. Ac- 
 1 Gervase, 1616-1624.
 
 540 
 
 HISTORY OF EiNGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Ruins or the Auqustine Monastery at Canterbury. 
 
 <;ordingly, this was substantially the position which 
 the croAvn at last assumed, although the form in 
 which it asserted its claim varied with circum- 
 stances. When it found itself obliged, for instance, 
 to relinquish the absolute nomination of the bishop, 
 it stood out for the right of granting or refusing to 
 the individual elected that investiture, without which 
 h« certainly could not draw the revenues of the 
 see, even if he could exercise any of the spiritual 
 powers of his office. The course taken by the 
 church, on the other hand, equally varied in cor- 
 formity to the course of events. In the first place, 
 at a very early period, the interference of the laity 
 was first reduced to a mere form, and then got rid 
 of altogether. Subsequently the claim of the gen- 
 eral body of the clergy of the diocese to a voice in 
 the election was disputed, and the right of voting 
 was asserted to reside solely in the chapter. As 
 the chapter in many cases consisted of the monks of 
 some religious house to which the cathedrals were 
 held to belong, the natural enmity between the reg- 
 ular and the secular clergy here interfered mate- 
 rially to inflame the quarrel. This was the case, 
 for instance, at Canterbury, where the chapter con- 
 sisted of the monks of the great monastery of St. 
 Augustine, who thus claimed the sole right of elect- 
 ing the Primate of all England. The regular clergy 
 (that is, those living under a monastic rule) were 
 
 always, it may be observed, regarded by the court 
 of Rome as the main support of its authority, and 
 it usually took their side against the secular (so 
 called, as living at large in the world). What the 
 popes therefore endeavored to effect in regard to 
 the nomination of bishops, was to retain that power 
 either in their own hands or in those of the chap- 
 ters. Against the claim of the king to present in 
 the first instance they constantly protested, and this 
 was a point which they would never concede. In 
 many cases, however, the chapters submitted to 
 present the person named to them by the king, and 
 when the affair was arranged in that manner, the 
 compromise of course prevented for the present any 
 collision between the adverse claims of the church 
 and the crown. Even in this case, however, the 
 question of investiture, as we have already seen, 
 created a serious difficulty to be got over after the 
 nomination had been settled. But the particular 
 point upon which the dispute between John and 
 Innocent III. hinged, was the power claimed by the 
 papal court of appointing to a bishopric vacated by 
 the irregularity of the election, or by the unfitness 
 of the person elected, the right being also assumed 
 by it of deciding upon the irregularity or unfitness. 
 On the death of Archbishop Hubert, the monks of 
 Canterbury had, in the first instance, elected Regi- 
 nald, their sub-prior, to the vacant see, but had sub-
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 541 
 
 sequently, in their apprehension of the king's dis- 
 pleasure, proceeded to a new election, and nomina- 
 ted the royal candidate, John de Gi-ay, the Bishop 
 of Norwich. The Pope decided that, although the 
 right of election was in the monks, the appointment 
 of the Bishop of Norwich was invalid, as having 
 been made without the previous election of Regi- 
 nald being legally annulled ; and thereupon he took 
 the nomination into his own hands, and appointed 
 Stephen Langton, who happened to be then at 
 Rome. John's resistance to this appointment, the 
 consequence that followed to himself and the king- 
 dom, and the issue of the contest, have been already 
 related. 
 
 Little or no change took place in the internal 
 constitution of the English church in consequence 
 of the Norman conquest ; and its establishment 
 remained through the whole of the period now 
 under review nearly the same as it was before that 
 event. The principal alteration was that made by 
 the creation of two new sees — of Ely in 1109, and 
 of Carlisle in 1133, in addition to the fifteen (includ- 
 ing the two archbishoprics) that had existed in the 
 Saxon times, being the same that still exist, with 
 the exception of Oxford, Peterborough, Gloucester, 
 Chester, and Ripon. 
 
 Before the Conquest the only order of monks 
 known in England was that of the Benedictines, or 
 observers of the rule of St. Benedict, instituted in 
 
 A Benedictine. 
 
 the early part of the sixth century, which some 
 conceive to have been brought over by Augustin, 
 but which was most probably unknown in the 
 country till a considerably later period, and certainly 
 was first generally established by St. Dunstan in 
 the tenth century. Nor perhaps was the rule of 
 St. Benedict ever strictly observed by the English 
 monks till after the Conquest. In the course of the 
 twelfth century two new orders were introduced. 
 
 the Cistercians, or Bernardines, in 1128, and the 
 Carthusians in 1180. Both these indeed may be 
 considered as branches of the Benedictines, only 
 distinguished by subjection to a discipline of greater 
 severity. The order of the Carthusians especially 
 (founded at Chartreux, in France, by St. Bruno, in 
 
 A Carthusian. 
 
 1080, whence their establishments in England were 
 corruptly called Charter-houses) was the strictest 
 of all the monastic orders, the members never being 
 allowed to taste flesh, and being restricted on one 
 day of every week to bread, water, and salt. The 
 Carthusians never became numerous in England. 
 The order of the Cistercians (instituted at Cisteaux, 
 in Latin Cistertium, in Burgundy, in 1098, and 
 afterward greatly patronized by the celebrated St. 
 
 A Cistercian.
 
 542 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Bernard) was chiefly distinguished by having its 
 houses situated for the most part at a distance from 
 all other habitations. There were a considerable 
 number of them both in England and in Scotland. 
 The habits of the monks of these three orders were 
 distinguished from each other by some minor pecu- 
 liarities ; but they all consisted of an under garment 
 of white, with a long, loose black cloak or gown over 
 it, which latter, however, seems to have been only 
 occasionally worn. The Cistercians, and, accord- 
 ing to some representations, the Carthusians also, 
 when in church, Avore a cloak of white. 
 
 The most common form, however, which enthu- 
 siastic devotion assumed in the eleventh and twelfth 
 centuries, was that of going on pilgrimage to some 
 spot supposed to be of peculiar sanctitj-, either 
 within the kingdom or abroad. After the martyr- 
 dom and canonization of Becket, his shrine at Can- 
 terbury became, and for ages continued to be, the 
 favorite resort of the pious when they did not extend 
 their penitential journey beyond the limits of their 
 own country. Abroad, Rome, Loretto, but espe- 
 cially Jerusalem, Mount Sinai, and the other parts 
 of the Holy Land now attracted crowds of palmers,' 
 " beyond the example of former times," to use the 
 words of Gibbon, " and the roads were covered with 
 multitudes of either sex, and of every rank, who 
 
 1 Pilgrims to foreign parts were properly called Palmers, from the 
 branches of the palm-tree, the emblem of victory, which they used 
 to bear in their hands. In token of having crossed the seas, or of 
 their intention of doing so, they were wont to put cockle, or scallop 
 shells in their hats — according to Ophelia's song in Hamlet, 
 " How should I your true-love know 
 From another one ? 
 By his cockle-hat and staff. 
 And by his sandal shoon." 
 
 professed their contempt of life, so soon as they 
 should have kissed the tomb of their Redeemer. 
 Princes and prelates abandoned the care of their 
 dominions ; and the members of these pious cara- 
 vans were a prelude to the armies which marched 
 in the ensuing age under the banner of the Cross." 
 Out of this practice of pilgrimage grew the Crusades, 
 in which the spirit of devotion formed a strange 
 alliance with the military spirit, each communicating 
 something of its peculiar color and character to the 
 other. Four of these extraordinary expeditions 
 belong to the present period, of which the first (the 
 consequence of which was the establishment of the 
 kingdom of Jerusalem) set out in 1097, the second 
 in 1147, the third (that in which Coeur de Lion took 
 so distinguished a part) in 1189, and the fourth 
 (which resulted in the conquest of Constantinople 
 from the Greeks) in 1203. The crusades, however, 
 though professedly religious enterprises, produced 
 less effect upon the religion of the age in which they 
 were undertaken than upon most of the other great 
 constituents of its social condition. Among the 
 phenomena that sprung out of the Crusades none 
 presented a moi-e expressive type of their character 
 than the religious orders of knighthood. The two 
 earliest and most distinguished of these, the Knights 
 Hospitallers of St. John, and the Knights Templars, 
 both acquired establishments and extensive posses- 
 sions in this country soon after their institution ; the 
 principal seat of the former having been established 
 at St. John's Hospital in Clerkenwell, London, that 
 of the latter at the Temple (to which they had re- 
 moved from a previous residence in Holborn), many 
 years before the close of the twelfth century. 
 
 Templar in his Mantle 
 
 Odo, Bishop of Bayetx, pronouncing a Pastoral Blessing. 
 
 From Kerrick's Collection in the British Museum, Additional MSS 
 No. 6728. Here may be observed the intermediate form assumed by 
 the crosier, or pastoral staff, in its passage from the cross to the crook
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 543 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 HE essential charac- 
 ter of the Norman 
 Conquest of England, 
 as distinguished from 
 the conquests of the 
 northern nations who 
 overran the Roman 
 empire (for example, 
 fi'om those of the Sax- 
 ons in Britain, and of 
 the Franks in Gaul), 
 was this : it was not 
 an old eneiTated com- 
 munity overrun by a 
 band of men much inferior to it in civilization and 
 much superior in energy and courage, but a semi- 
 barbarous and warlike people invaded and subdued 
 by another people in the same state nearly as re- 
 garded these points, but better organized, and led 
 by an able chief whose power was sufficiently estab- 
 lished and concentrated to insure order and disci- 
 pline. The Normans would appear to have been 
 the most widely successful warriors of the middle 
 ages ; comparatively a mere handful of men, they 
 filled Europe and Asia with their victories and their 
 renown. They were victorious wherever they 
 went ; in Italy and the East, under Robert Guis- 
 card, no less than in England under William the 
 Bastard, — and again, be it added, in France, strongly 
 backed, however, by Anglo-Saxon aid, under the 
 banner of the Anglo-Norman Plantagenets, the 
 Henrys and the Edwards. Their victorious course 
 is no less striking and no less distinctly marked if we 
 turn our eyes to Scotland and Ireland. Like the 
 huge image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which was 
 broken by the shock of the stone cut from the moun- 
 tain rock, horde after horde, nation after nation, 
 sank beneath the desperate onset of the Norman 
 chivalry, — was shivered to pieces by the fierce yet 
 firm and compact charge of the Norman lances. It 
 was mainly by the help of the Anglo-Norman no- 
 bility, whom they attached to their country by the 
 ofl['er of broad domains, that the kings of a part of 
 the eastern coast of North Britain became " kings 
 of broad Scotland." The Bruces and Baliols had 
 about as much Norman blood in their veins as the 
 Plantagenets or Abrincis. The battle of the Harlaw 
 was as decisive in establishing a Scoto- Norman aris- 
 tocracy in the northern extremity of the island as 
 that of Hastings had been in estabhshing an Anglo- 
 Norman aristocracy in the south. 
 
 After the Conquest, the Norman feudal aris- 
 tocracy, encamped as it were in the midst of a hos- 
 tile people, who had possessed independence, and 
 who might therefore be supposed to have the will, 
 
 as they had a considerable portion of the power, to 
 regain it, would necessarily be firmly united. On 
 the other hand, their common sufl^erings united the 
 Saxons. Those dissensions which, before the Nor- 
 man invasion, had rent the kingdom in pieces, dis- 
 appeared. While the Normans, too, found an 
 insti'ument of union in the feudal organization which 
 they had possessed in Normandy, the Saxons found 
 one in their ancient customs and laws, which they 
 now cherished the more as being associated with 
 the remembrance of their independence and their 
 prosperity. It was for this reason, probably, as 
 much as for anything peculiarly and eminently good 
 in them, that they constantly demanded with such 
 earnestness the restitution of the laws of Edward 
 the Confessor. 
 
 In order to comprehend the constitution of society 
 during this period of our history, it will be necessaiy 
 to enter into a short examination of the feudal sys- 
 tem. We have already touched upon this subject 
 when treating of the Anglo-Saxon tenures, but it 
 will now be necessary to go into it somewhat more 
 fully. For although, under the Saxons, feudahsm 
 existed in parts, it was with the Normans that it 
 came in as a system. 
 
 The formation of the feudal system was not, as 
 sometimes conceived and described, sudden and re- 
 ferrible to one point of time, but progiessive, and 
 the work of several centuries. 
 
 In the fifth century, when the northern hordes 
 overran and took possession of the Roman empire, 
 the leaders portioned out among them the lands in 
 full and unconditional ownership. They called these 
 alod, a term, according to some etymologists, prop- 
 erly signifying allotted possessions; according to oth- 
 ers, full, independent property. It is probable that, 
 from the very first, the portions which they gave to 
 their followers were held on a diflerent tenure, as 
 we find them very early called henejicia and precaria. 
 The former term is still retained in Enghsh, and its 
 signification will elucidate our subject. A clergy- 
 man receives his benejice upon condition of perform- 
 ing certain services. Similarly a soldier received 
 his benefice. The word was borrowed from the 
 mode of rewarding the Roman soldiers, and apphed 
 to the same purposes. The conquests having been 
 made by a great number of separate and indepen- 
 dent bands of warriors, the leaders of each of which 
 would of course have a larger portion of land than 
 those they led, Europe, or at least the greater part 
 of it, was divided into a very great number of inde- 
 pendent properties, we might almost say small inde- 
 pendent sovereignties, for, according to the nature 
 of allodial property, the smallest landholder was as 
 little dependent on any one else as the largest.
 
 544 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III 
 
 Now in the state of war and insecurity which then 
 prevailed, the small landholders would of course have 
 a much less sure existence, and much less secure 
 tenure of their land, than the large ones. Whence 
 it came to pass in time, that most of the small allo- 
 dial holders of land gave up to some large holder the 
 absolute dominion over their land which they before 
 possessed, receiving in its stead a conditional domin- 
 ion ; the condition being, that they should help the 
 large proprietor when he required their assistance, 
 and likewise, when they required it, receive help 
 from him. Benejicium was the word made use of, 
 from the fifth to the ninth century, to denote this 
 sort of tenure, and is proved' to have designated the 
 same thing which, toward the end of the ninth cen- 
 tury, received the name o{ feodum, the origin of our 
 feud. The etymology of the latter word is uncer- 
 tain ; some deriving it from the Latin, others from 
 the German. 
 
 According to M. Guizot, the principal facts, the 
 essential elements of the feudal system, are reduci- 
 ble to three — 
 
 1. The particular nature of the territorial prop- 
 erty. 
 
 2. The combination of sovereignty with property; 
 that is to say, the assignment to the owner of the 
 soil over all the inhabitants of that soil, of all or 
 nearly all the rights which constitute what we call 
 sovereignty, and are now possessed by the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 3. The system of political, that is of legislative, 
 judicial, and military institutions, which bound to- 
 gether the owners of fiefs, and formed them into a 
 general society. 
 
 We have already, in the section on the Anglo- 
 Saxon government, said as much as is necessary on 
 the first of the above-named subjects. Of the his- 
 tory of the other two, into which M. Guizot enters 
 at considerable length, our limits will not permit us 
 to give more than his conclusions. That fusion, 
 then, of sovereignty with property, was not alto- 
 gether, as by some supposed, the result of conquest. 
 An analogous fact existed in Germany. In the 
 German tribe, the head of a family was sovereign 
 within his domains. There also existed the fusion 
 of sovereignty and property. But in Germany this 
 fusion took place from the influence of two princi- 
 ples ; — from the family or clannish spirit on the one 
 hand, on the other from conquest — from force. 
 Whatever might have been the proportions in which 
 these two elements existed together in Germany, it 
 is certain that in Gaul the patriarchal or clannish 
 proportion was greatly diminished ; while, on the 
 other hand, the other element, that of conquest — of 
 force, became the principal, if not the only, cer- 
 tainly the predominating element of that fusion. 
 
 With regard to the third leading fact : — Imme- 
 diately after the establishment of the Germanic 
 nations in the provinces of the Roman empire, 
 three principles of social organization, three systems 
 of institutions, are found coexisting among them : 
 1 . The system of free institutions. 2. The system 
 
 1 M. Guizot refers to a charter of the Emperor Frederic I., of date 
 1162, in which /eoduOT and benejicium are employed indifferently. 
 
 of aristocratical institutions. 3. The system of mo- 
 narchical institutions. Of these the system of free 
 institutions had its origin — 1. In Germany, in the 
 general assembly of' the heads of families of the 
 tribe, and in the common deliberation and personal 
 independence of the warriors who formed the band. 
 2. In Gaul, in the remains of the municipal regime 
 in the cities. The system of aristocratical institu- 
 tions originated — 1. In Germany, in the domestic 
 sovereignty of the heads of families, and in the pat- 
 ronage of the leader of a band over his companions. 
 2. In Gaul, in the very unequal division of landed 
 property, and in the reduction of the great mass of 
 the population to the condition of villains or of slaves. 
 The system of monarchical institutions originated — 
 1. In Germany, in the military and religious royalty 
 of the people. 2. In Gaul, in the traditions of the 
 Roman empire and the doctrines of the Christian 
 church. Now, while the system of free and that 
 of monarchical institutions went on declining, the 
 system of aristocratical institutions acquired greater 
 strength, so that toward the end of the tenth cen- 
 tury it was the predominating one in Europe. 
 
 Toward the end of the tenth century the feudal 
 society was fully formed. It is therefore, then, in 
 a state fit to be studied, to be analyzed, — in a state 
 such that its dissection will make known to us its 
 component elements. 
 
 The fundamental element of the feudal system, 
 the " primitive feudal molecule," to use the words 
 of M. Guizot, is the simple domain possessed in fief 
 or fee by a lord who has over the inhabitants the 
 sovereignty inherent, as we have seen, in property. 
 This contains — 1. The feudal castle and its propri- 
 etor. 2. The feudal village and its inhabitants. 
 
 After learning the relations between the owner 
 of a fief and the inhabitants of that fief, it will be 
 necessary to inquire into those subsisting as between 
 the owners of fiefs themselves. And, even then, 
 to approximate to a complete view of the subject, it 
 would be also requisite to inquire how the feudal 
 system was acted upon or affected by two other ele- 
 ments, which, though coexistent, never thoroughly 
 amalgamated with it, and at last destroyed it, — we 
 mean royalty and the towns, or municipal institu- 
 tions. 
 
 The feudal castle, then, usually built in an ele- 
 vated and isolated situation, and rendered as strong 
 as nature and the art of the time could make it, is 
 inhabited by the owner of the fief, his wife and chil- 
 dren : in addition to these, perhaps by a few free- 
 men who have not become proprietors, and, being 
 attached to his person, continue to live with him. 
 Without, close under the walls, is grouped a small 
 population of coloni, or cultivators of the soil. Be- 
 fore the German invasion nothing of this kind existed 
 in the Roman empire. The rich either lived in the 
 cities or in fine houses agreeably situated near the 
 cities, in rich plains, or on the banks of rivers. 
 Throughout the country were scattered the villae, 
 properly a sort of farm buildings, where lived the 
 slaves or coloni, who tilled the soil — hence called 
 villani, villains. Of these we shall speak presently. 
 
 One of the first features that strikes us in the
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 54/5 
 
 condition of this feudal lord is its isolation. Take 
 any other form of human society with which history 
 has made us acquainted, — the purely savage, — the 
 nomadic, — the Greek and Roman, — in all you will 
 find man brought into constant contact and coopera- 
 tion with his equals. Not so here. The feudal 
 lord is like Robinson Crusoe in the desert island, — 
 •' monarch of all he surveys ;" for the human beings 
 about the former are as much subjected to his will 
 as the brutes around the latter. 
 
 To this feature was joined another — idleness, 
 want of occupation, almost unexampled in any other 
 human society. For although the feudal baron is 
 compelled, from time to time, to make great, to make 
 desperate exertions to retain his place in that wild, 
 almost anarchical society in which he lives, yet these 
 exertions are called for at such long and irregular 
 intervals, that they provide him with nothing what- 
 ever of the nature of regular occupation. He be- 
 comes, therefore, a prey to ennui — an ennui so intol- 
 erable, that, cost what it may, he must find an escape 
 from it. And what is the refuge he seeks ? The 
 documents that have come down to us from these 
 wild times sufficiently show the nature of it. It 
 consisted in that long series of hunting-matches, rob- 
 beries, and wars, which characterize the middle 
 ages. The crusades may be considered as one valve 
 by which the pent-up energy escaped — by which 
 the ennui was sought to be dispelled. 
 
 Two consequences of the above-mentioned fea- 
 tures are — 1. The strange and savage energy with 
 which individual character is developed, as in the 
 case when man lives alone, given up to the caprices 
 of his imagination and the original tendencies of his 
 nature. 2. The very slow progi'ess of civilization 
 — slower than under any other circumstances when 
 a similar previous advance had been made. 
 
 Yet, at the same time, there existed within those 
 rude and gloomy feudal fortresses a principle of civ- 
 ilization which has exerted a most powerful influ- 
 ence in modern society. It is well known that the 
 domestic life and the condition of women have at- 
 tained a much higher degree of importance in mod- 
 ern Europe than anywhere else. Of the causes of 
 the importance of women in modern Europe, the 
 life of the feudal lord in his solitary castle must be 
 considered as one of the principal. 
 
 In the other nations that have made most advances 
 in civilization — the Greeks and Romans, — as well 
 as in those that more resembled in their mode of 
 life the feudal society — the men were too much oc- 
 cupied to devote much time and attention to their 
 wives and children : — 
 
 Sword, gown, gain, glory, offer'd in exchange, 
 Pride, fame, ambition to fill up the heart. 
 
 Here, on the other hand, the sword was the only, 
 and that not a constant occupation, — and, indeed, 
 rather an amusement than an occupation. When 
 the feudal baron returned from any of his wild ad- 
 ventures to his castle, he always found his wife and 
 children there to receive him — almost his only 
 equals, his only intimates. When he left his home, 
 too, in search of adventures, his wife remained mis- 
 tress of the castle, the representative of her hus- 
 VOL. I. — 35 
 
 band, charged in his absence with the services and 
 the defence of the fief. Hence the examples of 
 displays of courage and dignity which we meet with 
 in women of this period to a greater degree than 
 anywhere else. 
 
 Out of this state of things arose the order and 
 spirit of chivalry ; the latter of which has long out- 
 lived the former, and has certainly performed no 
 mean or unimportant part in the drama of European 
 civilization. But into this our hmits do not permit 
 us to enter in any detail. We shall content our- 
 selves with stating M. Guizot's opinion on the sub- 
 ject — which is, that chivalry was not the result of 
 any regular design, but sprung up spontaneously in 
 the interior of the feudal castles — a consequence, 
 on the one hand, of the ancient German customs — 
 on the other, of the relations subsisting between the 
 suzerain and his vassals. 
 
 Leaving the lordly fortress, let us pause for a mo- 
 ment among the population inhabiting the cluster 
 of huts that are closely huddled together under its 
 walls, or at the foot of the rock or hill on which it 
 is built. It is a common opinion that the deplorable 
 condition of the agricultural population in the times 
 of which We are writing, dates from the destruction 
 of the Roman empire ; that the progi-essive devel- 
 opment of the feudal system plunged them into the 
 state in which we find them from the sixth to the 
 twelfth century. Von Savigny, and after him M. 
 Guizot, have completely demonstrated the errone- 
 ousness of this opinion. By numerous passages 
 which they have quoted from the Theodosian Code, 
 from the code and novels of Justinian, and from the 
 Constitutions of Justinian and succeeding emperors, 
 they have shown that, at least during the latter pe- 
 riods of the Roman rule, the condition of the tillers 
 of the soil, of the coloni, was almost precisely the 
 same as it was afterward under the feudal system ; 
 that the husbandman, or peasant, occupied a sort of 
 intermediate position between that of the freeman 
 and that of the personal slave, corresponding exactly 
 to that of the class in the feudal times described in 
 the language of the English law as villains regard- 
 ant, that is, annexed to the manor or land ; and in- 
 termediate between freemen and the class described 
 in English law language as villains in gross, who 
 were annexed to the person of the lord, and trans- 
 ferable by deed from one owner to another.' There 
 was, however, this diflference between the condition 
 of the Roman colonus and that of the feudal villain. 
 The rent which the Roman colonus paid to the pro- 
 prietor of the soil was a fixed sum ; but the tax 
 which he paid to the State was a variable one. 
 When the northern nations came into the Roman 
 possessions, they left the coloni pretty much as they 
 were ; but from the union of property and sove- 
 reignty, which we have already adverted to as a 
 characteristic feature of the feudal system, the State 
 and the owner of the soil became to the tiller of the 
 soil identical. Consequently, the variable sum which 
 was before in the power of the State, passed to that 
 
 1 Blarkstone, Com. b. ii. c. 6. The word " serf," often confounded 
 with " villain regardant," or " colonus," means the same as " villain 
 in gross."
 
 546 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book ITI. 
 
 of the owner ; and hence the peculiar relations long 
 subsisting between the feudal lord and the feudal 
 villain. On the one side, unchecked oppression, in- 
 solence, rapacity — on the other, helpless, hopeless 
 toil, degradation and suffering. 
 
 The priest, another portion of this little society, 
 was not likely, M. Guizot thinks, to be able to exer- 
 cise much inriuence between the lord and liis vil- 
 lains, although the church exercised a very great 
 influence upon European civilization, but in a gen- 
 eral manner. 
 
 We now pass to the wider feudal society, exhibit- 
 ing the relations of the fief owners with one smother. 
 We have already mentioned the feudal obligations 
 of service on the one side, of protection on the other. 
 An attempt was made to raise uprights correspond- 
 ing to these obligations, and to establish institutions 
 that might protect those rights. Thus there were 
 certain jurisdictions appointed to decide disputes 
 and administer justice among the owners of fiefs. 
 And thus every feudal lord of some consequence 
 assembled his vassals in a parliament, to treat with 
 them of the affairs in which he required their con- 
 currence. It is to be understood that we speak 
 now rather of what was the case in France, than of 
 any state of things that ever existed in England, 
 either before or after the coming in of the Normans ; 
 but, in order to have a correct idea of feudalism, 
 we must stud}' it in its pure state, and it never was 
 precisely pure in England ; and this, too, is neces- 
 sary, in order to understand the state in which it 
 existed in England, inasmuch as to know anything 
 in a modified, it should first be studied and known 
 in a simple form. 
 
 But, to give efficacy to the rights and obligations 
 which feudalism professed to recognize, one indis- 
 pensable element was wanting, — a sovereign, a su- 
 preme power. Consequently, whenever any mem- 
 ber of the feudal body disliked the sentence of the 
 court, he refused to comply with it, and, taking ref- 
 uge in his feudal fastness, set it at defiance. Some- 
 times the other members of the confederacy, by 
 uniting their force against the delinquent, carried 
 their point, but that was a work of time and diffi- 
 culty ; and sometimes they failed, and the obnox- 
 ious member of their body succeeded in defying 
 them. The histories of France and of Scotland 
 abound in examples of this. Why that of England 
 does not Equally abound in them, why, there, the 
 suzerain became really the sovereign, we will now 
 endeavor to explain. 
 
 Any of the great feudatories in France was much 
 more powerful, in relation to any one of his own 
 immediate vassals, than the King of France was 
 in relation to him. Thus, the Duke of Normandy, 
 for example, had much more of the substance of 
 sovereignty in Normandy than the King of France 
 had throughout France. This power the Duke of 
 Normandy retained in full: afterward, bj obtaining 
 possession of England, the field of his suzerainele 
 became greatly enlarged. The general of a victo- 
 rious army, if in addition to his military he pos- 
 sesses political talent, may make his power almost 
 coextensive with his will. This was the case with 
 
 William the Norman, who, to the character of an 
 able militaiy leader, united that of a cold, hard, far- 
 sighted statesman. The consequence was, that he 
 was able to retain as much of the feudal system, 
 then established in France, as tended to support hi? 
 power, and to set aside or alter much of it which 
 was calculated to weaken that power. For exam- 
 ple, it was a principle of that system, that fealty 
 was due from the vassal to the lord of whom lie 
 immediately held his land, and to no other. But 
 
 , William received the fealty of all landholders in 
 England, both those who held in capite or in chief, 
 and their tenants or vassals. This was one power- 
 ful blow struck against the great feudatories. More- 
 over, the fiefs of the Anglo-Norman barons were 
 not only much smaller than those of France, but 
 they were dispersed over various counties.' These 
 two circumstances, taken along with the preceding, 
 must have had a powerful effect in preventing any 
 one of the vassals of the crown from making head 
 against it. 
 
 Again, there were certain feudal services which, 
 though everywhere due to feudal royalty, were, 
 from the very nature of feudalism, as explained 
 above, often incapable of being enforced by the 
 feudal kings of the continent, but which the early 
 Anglo-Norman kings were in a condition to enforce. 
 Their vassals, for instance, were bound to attend 
 them to the wars for forty days in every year, if 
 called upon. Then there were the pecuniary pay- 
 ments due from the vassal to his lord ; and the va- 
 rious profits arising from wardship, marriage, and 
 other rights, the nature of which will be explained 
 when we come to speak of the royal revenue. Be- 
 side all this, William secured, as his own share of 
 the Conquest, 1422 manors, and the principal towns 
 of the kingdom. The forfeitures of the insurgent 
 Saxons were constantly adding to these acquisitions. 
 
 ; All these sources of revenue, together with the sale 
 of public offices, and of the royal protection and 
 justice, and the ginevous imposition upon the infe- 
 rior subjects, called tallages, secured to the king an 
 independent power — a power against which any 
 of his vassals, however great, would singly be as 
 nothing. 
 
 As we have before had occasion to remark, their 
 very position, in the midst of a conquered but spir- 
 ited and warlike people, caused the great vassals of 
 the king to assemble frequently around him. There 
 is reason to believe that, at least on certain solemn 
 
 , occasions, all the immediate vassals of the king had 
 a right to attend his great council. According to 
 the Saxon Chronicle and other ancient authorities, 
 the Conqueror was wont " to wear his crown," as 
 
 ' it is expressed, at Christmas in the city of Glouces- 
 ter, at Easter in Winchester, and at Whitsuntide 
 in Westminster. On these occasions, Malmsbury 
 states, all the spiritual and temporal nobles were 
 assembled and feasted by the king. The same cus- 
 tom was kept up by William Rufus, and, although 
 discontinued by Henry I., was revived by Stephen. 
 Henry II. and his successors, in the same manner, 
 used to call their nobles around them, both at these 
 
 j 1 Dugdale's Baronage. — Madox's History of the Exchequer.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 647 
 
 i"lil"'''!! '"''"'''BlillilJiWW 
 
 William 1. granting lands to his nephew, the Earl of Brittant. From the Registrum Honoris de Richmond. Kerrick, Collect. 6730. 
 
 great festivals and on other occasions ; and there 
 can be no doubt, from the accounts of contemporary 
 writers, that consultation on public affairs was always 
 one of the purposes of these meetings. But the 
 real power of such a parliament could not have been 
 considerable. The king is far richer and more pow- 
 erful than any of his vassals. He alone makes laws, 
 levies taxes, rewards with lands, punishes with ban- 
 ishment or death. He is supreme judge and com- 
 mander-in-chief, as well as supreme legislator, 
 throughout his dominions.' 
 
 Before we proceed further in the development of 
 our subject, let us pause for a moment to examine 
 the machinery by which he puts his government in 
 motion and does its work. It is the more impor- 
 tant that we should do this, as the explanation we 
 are about to give is the analysis of a system out of 
 which has arisen the whole machinery which has 
 
 set in motion the English government and laws from 
 that day to this. 
 
 The power of William the Conqueror and hia* 
 immediate successors being, as we have seen, no^ 
 limited by any other power within the realm of 
 England, they did whatever seemed good in their 
 own eyes. If they chose, therefore, to administer 
 the afiiiirs of state, or to execute justice between 
 subject and subject, in person, they did so; or if 
 they chose to delegate any of those functions to 
 their officers, they did so. Among our early Nor- 
 man princes, as throughout the whole of feudal 
 Europe, and likewise, as we have seen, under the 
 Roman empire, the officers of state were the 
 prince's household officers. Thus the king's trea- 
 surer was the State treasurer; the king's steward 
 the State steward; the king's secretary the State 
 secretary ;' and so for other officers. 
 
 I Glanville, in the Preface to his Tractatus de Legib. et Consuetud , ^ The Home Secretary was at first merely the clerk of the Privy 
 speaks of the will of the prince as law ; using almost the very words j Council. The King's secretary, or clerk, was, properly speiking, tha 
 of Justinian, with whose Cor^u* /uri* he seems to have been familiar. 1 Chancellor.
 
 548 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 There is here a contrast not unworthy of remark 
 between the Roman polity and the feudal. In the 
 former everything bore the popular stamp; in the 
 latter, the monarchical. Thus, instead of PRiEXORS, 
 
 ^DILES, QUATUOR VIRl VlARUM PuBLICARUM CU- 
 
 RANDARUM,' (the Four Curators of the Public Roads), 
 we have the King's Justiciary, the King's Cham- 
 berlain, the King's Forester (now Commission- 
 ers of Woods and Forests). The contrast between 
 the results is also striking. Here the basis of the 
 government has been widening from the first AVill- 
 iam downward. There it went on narrowing, that 
 is with some oscillations, till it ended in the apex of 
 the imperial despotism. 
 
 The only titles of nobility at this period were 
 those of Baron and Earl, or Count ; the latter being 
 in all cases either the possessor or at least the 
 governor of a county, and being always also a 
 Baron, which indeed meant no more than a person 
 holding lands in fee of a superior on the usual 
 condition of military service. The king's barons 
 were the tenants of the crown, or the tenants in 
 chief, as they were called, just as other tenants 
 were the batons of the lordship of which they held. 
 AH the barons of the crown, among whom were in- 
 cluded the bishops, appear to have constituted what 
 the old writers call the Commvne Concilium, or 
 Common Council of the realm. It has been com- 
 monly supposed that what is called the Curia Regis 
 (literally, the king's council or senate) was a differ- 
 ent body from this ; but for that notion there ap- 
 pears to be no foundation.* The ordinary business 
 of the state, however, was certainly mainly con- 
 ducted in the first ages after the Conquest by the 
 great officers of the king's court, or, which is much 
 the same thing, the great officers of the king's 
 household. In order to see this matter in a clear 
 hght, we must go a good way back. The Anglo- 
 Normans borrowed from the Normans, the Nor- 
 mans from the Franks ; and the Franks, though 
 doubtless, like other people in a similar stage of civ- 
 ilization, they would have some offices attached to 
 the persons of their kings, which they retained after 
 their conquest over the Roman territory (that they 
 had such, is implied in the names seneschal, mar- 
 eschal) ; yet they unquestionably borrowed that 
 complex graduated system of officers and ranks 
 from the courts of the Roman emperors. 
 
 The English lawyers and legal antiquaries have 
 produced between them almost inextricable confu- 
 sion on the subject of some of these offices. Ma- 
 dox, who, in an antiquarian point of view, has done 
 the most for this subject, and whom Blackstone 
 and others seem to have followed, in his History 
 of the Exchequer, places the great officers of the 
 king's court in the following order: — 1. The High 
 Justiciary, or High Justiciar, as he writes it. 2. The 
 Constable. 3. The Mareschall. 4. The Senes- 
 chall, or Dapifer. 5. The Chamberlain. 6. The 
 Chancellour. 7. The Treasurer. Instead of this 
 
 I Ileinccc. Hist. Jur. Rom. ^ 55 et seq., and 1. 2, ^ 30 D. de orig. jur. 
 
 ' See this point established in a very learned and able Article on 
 the History of Ihe English Legislature in the Edinburgh Review, 
 No. 69. 
 
 classification we shall substitute the following, for 
 reasons which will be given immediately: 1. The 
 Grand Seneschall, or Dapifer Angliee. 2. The 
 High Justiciary. 3. The Seneschall, or Dapifer 
 Regis. 4. The Constable. 5. The Mareschall. 
 6. The Chamberlain. 7. The Chancellor. 8. The 
 Treasurer. 
 
 1. The Grand Seneschall, or Dapifer — Senes- 
 callus, or Dajnfer^ Anglite; in modern phraseo- 
 logy, the Lord High Steward — comes palalii, major 
 domus regi(e, or maire du j^alais. The word sene- 
 schalch, about the etymology of which opinions vary 
 somewhat, meant originally a sort of steward in the 
 household of the Frank kings. After their con- 
 quest of Gaul, it came to signify a high political 
 dignity. Dapifer, as shown in the preceding note, 
 means the same thing, being the Latin synonym 
 for it. This officer was the highest in the State 
 after the king, executing all the chief offices of the 
 kingdom as the king's representative. He was not 
 only at the head of the king's palace, but of all the 
 departments of the State, civil and military, chief 
 administrator of justice, and leader of the armies in 
 war. Tliis is proved not only to have been the 
 case in France by Ducange and other high authori- 
 ties, as well as by the public records of that king- 
 dom,* but to have been so also in England, by a doc- 
 ument published by Madox himself, from the black 
 and red books of the Exchequer — to wit, the cele- 
 brated Dialogus de Scaccario, written in the time 
 of Henry II. f and likewise by certain MSS. pre- 
 served in Sir Robert Cotton's collection in the 
 British Museum, particularly an old MS., entitled, 
 " Quis sit Seneschallus Angliae, et quid ejus offi- 
 cium."^ Consequently, Madox is wrong, when he 
 says (Hist. Excheq. p. 28) that in the reign of Will- 
 iam I. William Fitz-Osbern was the king's con- 
 
 1 That these terms are synonymous, is shown by Ducange, Spel- 
 man, &c. Dapifer seems to have been introduced when a Latin word 
 came to be wanted for seneschall, and was adopted for want of abetter, 
 there being no Latin term exactly corresponding. Dapifer has been 
 ignoranlly translated " sewer" by Dugdale and others ; whereas sewer, 
 so far from meaning seneschall, means only ecuyer tranchant, an officer 
 a great many degrees below the seneschall. See Ducange, ad voc. 
 Dapifer Senescaltus ; Spelman, ad voc. Dapifer, Capitalis Justitiarius, 
 Senescallus ; and Dugdale's Baronage. 
 
 2 Ducange Gloss, ad toc. Dapifer et Senescallus. See also the 
 Grand Coustumier de Normandie, c. x. " Solebat autem antiquitus 
 quidam justiclarius predictis superior per Normaniam discurrere qui 
 seneschallus principis vocabatur." — Conf. La Coutume Reformee de 
 Normandie comment6e par Basnage, t. i. p. 2, col. 2 (Senfeschal). See 
 also the charters of the various Frank kings, in the witnessing ot 
 which the name of the seneschal or dapifer (sometimes the one word 
 is used, sometimes the other) alwaj's stands before those of all the 
 other great officers. It is right to add, that in the English charters 
 the name of the dapifer, or seneschal, does not invariahly stand so high 
 as in the French. 
 
 3 Madox, Hist. Exchequer (edition 1711). See also Co. Litt. fol. 
 61 a, for some account of the judicial part of the office of seneschal, or 
 steward, and some attempts at the etymology of the word, which, how- 
 ever, are not very successful. 
 
 ♦ Cotton MS. Vespasian, b. vii. fol. 99 b. It will also be found in 
 Harl. MSS., 305, fol. 48, transcribed in a modern hand by D'Ewes, 
 who supposed it to be of the age of Edw. II. See also Cotton MS. 
 Titus C. passim, at the beginning of which volume there is a well- 
 written tract, which contains the most satisfactory account we have 
 met with of the subject. There is also a tract entitled " Summus 
 Anglioe Seneschallus," in Somers' Tracts, vol. viii. All these agree in 
 one thing, viz. — the vastness and paramount nature of the authority 
 originally wielded by the high steward, though none of them explain 
 the anomaly of the coexistence of such an officer as the high justiciary. 
 This we hope we shall now be enabled to do.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 549 
 
 stable, because he is called magistcr militum. The 
 fact is, that in the very same passage (of Ordericus 
 Vitalis) he is called Normanniee Dapifer, in virtue 
 of which office he would be magister militum. It 
 was not till afterward that the constable became 
 magister militum, being originally an ofifiicer subor- 
 dinate to the dapifer. 
 
 By the nature of feudalism, everything had a 
 tendency, as we remarked before, to be given in 
 fief. Among other things, the oflRce of seneschal 
 was given in fief too, and became hereditary among 
 the Franks, Normans, and at the conquest of Eng- 
 land, among the Anglo-Normans. In France, 
 under the Merovingian dynasty, the office was in 
 the family of Charles Martel, from whom sprung 
 the Carlovingian dynasty; afterward the Planta- 
 genet counts of Anjou were hereditary seneschals of 
 France ; and in England this high office was granted 
 by William the Conqueror to the Grantmesnils, and 
 thence came by marriage to the earls of Leicester. 
 After the attainder of the fiimily of Montfort, earls 
 of Leicester, the office was given to Edmund, the 
 second son of King Henry III., and it then re- 
 mained in the royal family till its abolition — 
 Thomas Plantagenet, second son of King Henry 
 IV., being the last permanent High Steward. 
 The office has been since conferred only for special 
 occasions. 
 
 In France, when the office became hereditary in 
 the counts of Anjou, it soon became necessary, for 
 various reasons, to have another seneschal, or dapi- 
 fer, beside the hereditary one ; and this officer, 
 whether he be considered as the representative or 
 as the deputy of the hereditary seneschal, still took 
 precedence, as appears from the charters of the 
 French king, of all the other great officers of state. 
 In England also, something of the same kind took 
 place, but with this difference — that the various 
 functions of the original grand seneschal, or Senes- 
 callus Angliee, were divided into two parts, and 
 committed to two distinct officers as his repre- 
 sentatives; the judicial functions being committed 
 to an officer styled the High, or rather Chief Justi- 
 ciary ; the administrative and those relating to the 
 affairs of the king's palace or household, to an 
 officer styled, not the Senescallus Angliee, but the 
 senescallus, or dapifer Regis.^ This explanation 
 will be found completely to remove the confusion 
 that has so long prevailed among the English his- 
 torians, antiquaries, and lawyers on this subject. 
 Our view of the subject, if it needed it, would be 
 corroborated by the high privileges of the officer 
 created in later times, to preside in the House of 
 Lords at State Trials, which officer, be it observed, 
 is not "High Justiciary," but " Lord High Stew- 
 ard," that is, " Senescallus Angliee." This expla- 
 nation also removes the difficulty of accounting for 
 the extraordinary powers of the Lord High Stew- 
 ard's court, which some English lawyers have at- 
 tempted to get over, by saying that the Lord High 
 Steward succeeded to some of the powers of the 
 High Justiciary, whereas he' merely exercises 
 
 I Among many other proofs of this, see Madox's Form. Anglic, 
 cclxxxiz. 
 
 powers which he had delegated to the High Jus- 
 ticiary.^ 
 
 We would add a reflection which will make appa- 
 rent to every one the vast power anciently attached 
 to this high office of seneschal, dapifer, or steward. 
 To two of the most illustrious royal lines of modern 
 Europe, the Carlovingians and Plantagenets,^ it 
 served as a stepping-stone to the throne. It was for 
 fear of its again doing the same thing to the House 
 of Montfort, earls of Leicester, that the office was 
 first taken into the royal family, and afterward abol- 
 ished in England. And the very name of the 
 House of Stuart came from their holding the office 
 of Steward of Scotland. 
 
 II. The Chief Justiciary — Capitalis Justitiarius. 
 This officer was usually a person Avho had given 
 special attention to the study of jurisprudence. As 
 the representative of the judicial portion of the 
 Grand Seneschal's power, his authority extended 
 over every court in the kingdom. One of the most 
 distinguished persons who filled this high office was 
 Ranulph de Glanville, to whom is usually attributed 
 the Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus An- 
 gliee, the oldest English law book extant. The two 
 offices of Chief Justiciary and Dapifer seem to 
 have been sometimes filled by the same person ; 
 Ranulf de Glanville seems to have been at the same 
 time High Justiciary and Dapifer.' 
 
 HI. Tlie Seneschal, or Dapifer Regis. — That 
 the functions of this officer, as the representative 
 of that portion of the Grand Seneschal's authority, 
 were political, and not merely, hke those of the 
 present Lord Steward of the Household, confined 
 to matters connected with the king's household, is 
 proved from the constant appearance of his name 
 in the charters and other important public docu- 
 ments of the time. His relative position with 
 regard to the Mareschal appears from the follow- 
 ing passage of Britton : "We ordain also, that the 
 Earl of Norfolk (Marshal) shall, either by himself 
 or his deputy (being a knight), be attendant upon 
 us and our Steward, to execute our commands, and 
 the attachments and executions of our judgments, 
 and those of our Steward, throughout the verge of 
 our palace, so long as he shall hold the office of 
 Marshal."* 
 
 IV. The Constable — Comes Stabidi. — An officer 
 who originally had the care of the king's stable and 
 horses ;® afterward, as the power of the Seneschal 
 declined, leader of the armies, or, at least, holding 
 certain posts of honor in them — as, for instance, 
 leading the vanguard in an advance, the rearguard 
 in a retreat. 
 
 V. The Mareschall, or Marshal ; from Ger- 
 man march or marach, horse, and schalch, mas- 
 
 1 See a Disquisition on the Office of Lord High Steward, by Mr. 
 Amos, in Phillips' State Trials, Appendix, vol. ii. Mr. Amos falls into 
 the usual error of supposing that the judicial authority of the Lord 
 High Steward " grew out of that which appertained to the Chief Jus- 
 ticiar at the period when the latter office was aliolished." 
 
 2 Charles Martel was maire du palais, or seneschal, to the Merovin- 
 gian kings, and the Plantagenets, counts of Anjou, were seneschals of 
 France. The eldest son of Henry II. is said to have actually performed 
 the duties of the office to the French king. 
 
 3 Madox, p. 35. Beames' Glanville, Introd. p. 12 
 
 * Britton, fol. 1, b 5 Ducange, ad voc
 
 550 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 ter.' Madox" says mareschall is a general name for 
 several officers emploj'cd about horses, game, &c. 
 For some time the Mareschall was an officer subordi- 
 nate, in the leading of the armies, to the Constable. 
 
 V]. The Cliamhcrlaui. — This requires little ex- 
 planation. It is sufficient to observe, that while 
 some of his functions belonged to the king's house- 
 hold, others belonged to the Exchequer. 
 
 VII. The Chancellor. — This officer did not enjoy 
 by any means the same importance in early times 
 which he afterward obtained. There was an officer 
 about the court in later times whose functions and 
 even whos.e title will furnish a good idea of what 
 the chancellor originally was. This was the "clerk 
 of the closet," a sort of confidential chaplain or 
 (before the Reformation) confessor to the king, oc- 
 casionally employed by him as secretary, or clerk, 
 in the modern sense of the term. In this capacity 
 the Chancellor applied the king's great seal to char- 
 ters and other public documents. But, as Madox 
 observes, " the chancellorship, from a small begin- 
 ning, became, in process of time, an office of great 
 dignity and preeminence."' When the grandeur of 
 the Seneschal and High Justiciary began to decline, 
 the power of the Chancellor gradually increased, un- 
 til it at last approached to within a certain distance 
 of — for it has never come up to by many steps — that 
 portion of the authority of the Great Seneschal 
 which was represented by the High Justiciary. 
 The Chancellor up to a late period was a church- 
 man. He was ex officio chief of the king's chapel.'' 
 He also was wont to act with the High Justiciary 
 and other great officers in matters of revenue at the 
 Exchequer.^ 
 
 Of the Chancellor, we shall add one curious fact, 
 given from an ancient memorial by Madox. " The 
 Chancellor has five shillings a day, and so much in 
 simnells (a sort of sweet biscuit), wine, and other 
 small things."^ 
 
 VIII. The Treasurer. — He was mostly an eccle- 
 siastic. Anciently it seems to have been the duty 
 of the Treasurer to act with the other barons at the 
 Exchequer in the management of the king's reve- 
 nue.'' The dignity of the Treasurer, as -well as 
 that of the Chancellor, was by no means, however, 
 what it became afterward, he being an officer sub- 
 ordinate to the Chamberlain, and more so to the 
 Seneschal. But in the mutations brought about by 
 time, which often decrees that the first shall be last 
 and the last first, the Chancellor has become (after 
 the king), in point of dignity, the first officer of the 
 state ; and the Treasurer, or rather only a portion 
 of him — namely, the First Lord of the Treasury — 
 the first in political power ; while the Lord Steward 
 and Lord Chamberlain of the Household, and the 
 Earl Marshal (albeit the last has become hereditary 
 in a potent house of high and compai-atively ancient 
 nobility), are little more than old lumber ; and the 
 High Steward, to all ordinary intents and purposes, 
 is no longer in existence. 
 
 ■- Ducange, ad voc. MarescaJhis. 
 
 - Hist. Excheq. chap. ii. p. 30. Edit. 1711. 
 
 3 Hist. Eicheq. p. 43. * Madox, p. 42. 
 
 * Madox, p. 42. « Ibid. p. 131 ' Ibid. p. 5a. 
 
 These high officers seem not only to have attended, 
 each in his department, to all the public business 
 which is commonly understood at present to fall 
 under the province of the king's ministers, but also 
 to the hearing and decision of causes between suit- 
 ors — to have, in other words, fulfilled the judicial 
 as well as the administrative office. The court of 
 justice which was thus formed was originally held 
 in the king's palace or wherever he happened to be 
 in person. There was a particular In-anch of it held 
 in a particular part of the palace, in which all mat- 
 ters relating to the revenue were transacted, and 
 which, though composed of nearly the same persons, 
 was known by the name of the Exchequer. 
 
 Among the things that most strike us on first look- 
 ing at this period of our legal and judicial history 
 are the substitution of general and central for local 
 judicatures, and the appointment of judges regularly 
 trained to a knowledge of the law to preside in the 
 several courts. Soon after the Conquest great in- 
 conveniences appear to have been felt from the ad- 
 ministration of justice in the county courts, hundred 
 courts, and courts baron. These inconveniences 
 arose from various causes, of which the principal, 
 according to Sir Matthew Hale,' were the three 
 following : — 1st. The ignorance of the judges, 
 ■who were the fi-eeholders of the county. " For," 
 says Hale, " although the alderman or chief consta- 
 ble of every hundred w'as always to be a man learned 
 in the laws, and although not only the freeholders, 
 but the bishops, barons, and great men, were, by 
 the laws of King Henry I., appointed to attend the 
 county court, yet they seldom attended there, or, 
 if they did, in process of time they neglected to 
 study the English laws, as great men usually do." 
 2dly. The great variety of laws, the efl'ect of 
 several independent jurisdictions. Glanville says, 
 " The customs of the lords' courts are so numerous 
 and various that it is scarcely possible to reduce 
 them into writing."* 3dly. The corruption and in- 
 timidation practiced; for all the business of any 
 moment was carried by parties and factions. 
 
 It is probable, however, that we are to seek for 
 the main causes of the subversion of the ancient 
 system in certain changes which the very principle 
 of that system was itself producing, and which we 
 shall now proceed to consider. 
 
 Of these changes the most important and funda- 
 mental was the establishment of the trial by jury. 
 It has been explained, in the preceding book, that 
 the essential principle of the original Saxon mode of 
 trial was the submission of the matter in dispute, 
 in some form or other, to what was held to be the 
 arbitration of Heaven. There was no interference 
 of the human judgment — no attempt to amve at the 
 truth by weighing and comparing the adverse prob- 
 abilities ; the question was not held to be a question 
 of probabilities at all ; it was conceived to be capable 
 of a solution as certain as any question in arithmetic. 
 The decision was left not to the fallible judgment 
 of man, but, as was believed, to the infallible judg- 
 ment of the Deity. As long as this behef subsisted 
 
 1 History of the Common Law of England, c. 7. 
 - Lib. xii. c. 6. — Beames' Translation.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 561 
 
 universally, it is evident, as we have already ob- 
 served, that no mode of trial proceeding upon a 
 different principle could well come into use. Men 
 would not readily relinquish a method which af- 
 forded them in all cases a certain determination of 
 the matter, for one which afforded them only a 
 doubtful determination of it. They would not easily 
 be disposed to remain satisfied with a decision which 
 might be wrong, while they believed that they had 
 it in their power to obtain one that could not but be 
 right. That belief, however, was so entirely founded 
 in ignorance and superstition, that it of necessity 
 decayed in the light of increasing knowledge and 
 civilization ; even the results of the trials at law that 
 were founded on it would themselves be constantly 
 raising suspicions of its fallacy. Nevertheless, there 
 is reason to suppose that it was not any general 
 conviction of the absurdity of the ordeal, or of the 
 vanity of the imagination on which the use of it 
 rested, that led first to its discouragement, and 
 eventually to its entire abandonment. If such a 
 conviction had been arrived at, the pi'actice would 
 have been given up at once, as one wholly irrational 
 and iniquitous. But this was not the course taken. 
 In the first instance, the legislature only interfered 
 to narrow the application of the ordeal, and the 
 church to discountenance the frequent or indis- 
 criminate resort to it. It is evident that the popular 
 prejudice in its favor could not yet be attacked in 
 front. Its folly was. discerned by the ruling and 
 more enlightened part of the community; and the 
 government and the church, even if either or both 
 may be supposed to have had an interest in keeping 
 it up as a convenient instrument of control, must 
 have perceived that it was one which could not be 
 much longer left iu their hands ; but they did not, 
 for all that, announce that the supposed judgment 
 of Heaven was really nothiug'of the kind. If they 
 had, they would have offended what was yet the 
 general sentiment, and their announcement would 
 probably have been received with incredulity and 
 acorn. Beside, there would be a natural reluctance 
 ■on the part of those by whom the ordeal had been 
 hitherto sanctioned and upheld to make a frank 
 acknowledgment that it was all a solemn mockery. 
 They therefore took another course. The clergy 
 began to preach against the ordeal, not as being 
 absurd, but as being impious ; they did not deny its 
 efiftcacy, as an appeal to Heaven, but they endeavored 
 to show that it was an appeal which, in ordinary 
 circumstances, at least, it was sinful in human beings 
 to make. They may possibly also have sometimes 
 insinuated that one of the consequences of its abuse 
 would be its frequent failure — that the Deity would 
 not consent to favor with a true decision of their 
 cause the parties who thus improperly called upon 
 hijTi. Be this as it may, it was only after a long 
 course of partial opposition to the ordeal that the 
 church ventured finally and distinctly to prohibit its 
 use. It did do this at last, however, by the 18th 
 canon of the Fourth Council of Lateran, published 
 in November, 1215. 
 
 Meanwhile, the ordeal had been gradually foiling 
 more and more into disuse under the operation of 
 
 various causes. The discouragement of it by the 
 church, and the diffusion of the feeling upon which 
 that discouragement was professedly grounded, 
 would, no doubt, have a powerful effect in indispo- 
 sing the public mind toward such a mode of trial 
 except in very extraordinary circumstances. Then, 
 the conviction of its inherent absurdity, and utter 
 unsuitableness in any circumstances, was of course 
 gi'owing and extending itself. Beside, it was not 
 necessary, in order to be opposed altogether to the 
 ordeal as a mode of trying causes, that a person 
 should be a disbeliever in the assumed principle of 
 that kind of trial. That principle was, that the 
 Deity, if fairly appealed to, would work a miracle 
 in vindication of the innocent party — would prevent 
 the boiling water from scalding him, or the red-hot 
 iron from burning him. This might be granted ; and 
 still the ordeal might be objected to on the ground 
 that there was, and could be, no security for its 
 being in any case a fair submission of the matter to 
 the arbitration of Heaven. It might be alleged that, 
 from the way in which the matter was managed, 
 the result was wholly in the hands of the function- 
 aries who superintended the process. The histo- 
 rian Eadmer relates, as an instance of the daring 
 impiety of William Rufus, that upon one occasion, 
 when about fifty Englishmen, of good quality and 
 fortune, whom he had caused to be tried for killing 
 his deer, by the ordeal of hot iron, had all come off 
 unburnt^ and were consequently acquitted, that king 
 declared he would have them tried again by another 
 mode, and not by this pretended judgment of God, 
 which was made favorable or unfavorable at any 
 man's pleasure. Yet Rufus here did not dispute 
 the efficacy of the ordeal if it had been fairly man- 
 aged ; he did not deny that Heaven, if appealed to, 
 would pronounce a just decision, and would even, if 
 necessary, work a miracle for that purpose ; he only 
 denied that the professed appeal to Heaven was 
 really made. And this was a suspicion that was, no 
 doubt, very generally entertained. 
 
 The gi-adual extinction, however, of the practice 
 of trying causes by appeal to the judgment of 
 Heaven was mainly brought about by the natural 
 development of the principle of that mode of trial 
 itself. And this is the most curious point in the 
 inquiry, and that which is most deserving of at- 
 tention. It has been shown in the former Book 
 that the manner in which what we should now call 
 evidence originally obtained admission in trials at 
 law was by its assuming the form of an appeal to 
 Heaven ; that is to say, it obtained admission on the 
 only principle then recognized, — the principle of the 
 ordeal. In a criminal case, instead of the ordeal of 
 water or iron being at once resorted to, an attempt 
 was made to avoid that expedient, and to decide the 
 case by a contest of oaths between the authors of 
 the charge on the one hand, and the accused party 
 and his friends on the other : it was only in the 
 event of the charge not being established by this 
 preliminary process that the trial was caried far- 
 ther. But the persons who thus swore were not 
 at first witnesses at all : they did not profess to tes- 
 tify to the facts at issue upon their own knowledge ;
 
 552 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 all that they declared was, those on the one side 
 their belief in the guilt, those on the other their 
 belief in the innocence of the accused. Nor was 
 their testimony considered and weighed by any act 
 of the judgment ; their testimony, properly speak- 
 ing, was not estimated at all, but they themselves 
 were counted and valued, each man according to his 
 •' were," or the legal worth at which he was rated 
 according to his rank in society. This, therefore, 
 was not the hearing of evidence in any sense ; it 
 was merely another mode of appealing to Heaven, 
 which it was supposed would no more sufl'er the 
 guilty party to come oft' victor in this contest of 
 oaths than it would fail to vindicate the innocent in 
 the ordeal of fire or water. Nevertheless, this me- 
 thod of compurgation, as it was called, could scarcely 
 fail to lead, in course of time, to a further innova- 
 tion. The person pledging his faith in favor of the 
 one side or the other, with an evident or understood 
 knowledge of the facts bearing on the question at 
 issue, would inevitably make a stronger impression 
 upon the court than the person manifestly destitute 
 of such knowledge who presented himself to make 
 a similar or an opposite deposition : this would hap- 
 pen even while the letter and practice of the law 
 made no distinction on that ground between the 
 two deponents. The bringing forward of persons 
 to make their depositions who were not acquainted 
 with the facts of the case would, in this way, be- 
 come disreputable, and gradually fall into disuse, till 
 at length the deponents on both sides, though still 
 only called upon to make oath to their belief in the 
 statement of the one party or of the other, would 
 be almost always understood to speak not merely 
 from partiality to the party whom their declarations 
 were to benefit, or from a general confidence in his 
 credibility, but from their own knowledge of the 
 disputed facts. In truth, a person ignorant of the 
 facts would, it may fairly be presumed, scarcely dare 
 now to present himself to make oath in opposition 
 to one to whom the facts were well known. Here, 
 then, we have the deponents on both sides already 
 turned into witnesses even before the law yet de- 
 mands their testimony. But, this point arrived at, 
 it is impossible that the next step should be long de- 
 layed. The witnesses, that is the persons having a 
 knowledge of the facts, being thus brought before 
 the court, would naturally be led by degrees to ex- 
 tend their depositions beyond a mere general decla- 
 ration in support of either party ; they would pro- 
 ceed to state the grounds of the belief which they 
 made oath that they entertained ; in other words, 
 they would state the facts which they knew in re- 
 lation to the cause, — they would give their testimony 
 as well as their depositions. Evidence having thus 
 once obtained admission, however irregularly, and 
 with however Uttle legal efficacy in the first instance, 
 would speedily come to be received as of weight in 
 the decision of the cause, and would then be de- 
 manded as indispensable. But this change would 
 render necessary other important changes. 
 
 So long as causes were tried on the principle of 
 submitting the matter in dispute, in some form or 
 other, to the arbitration of Heaven, no functionaries 
 
 that could properly be called judges were required 
 in the courts of law. There might be a person to 
 preside, and to declare or make publicly known the 
 result of the process which had been gone through; 
 but no exercise of the judgment was demanded either 
 here or in any other part of the proceedings. The 
 whole aftair, as already observed, was of the nature 
 of a chemical experiment, or an arithmetical calcu- 
 lation ; it was conducted according to certain fixed 
 rules, or might be said to carry on itself; and the 
 ascertainment of the result was merely a matter of 
 observation, and of observation of the easiest kind. 
 Under this state of things therefore, all kinds of 
 causes were tried at popular meetings — at the wit- 
 enagemot, and the shiremote, and the other assem- 
 blies of the same kind ; and the judgment passed in 
 each case might as truly be said to be that of the 
 attending crowd as that of the members of the 
 court. It was really the judgment neither of the 
 one nor of the other, nor was it so considered ; it 
 was called not the judgment of man at all, but the 
 judgment of God. But as soon as the principle of 
 the appeal to Heaven was departed from, by the 
 admission of evidence, the whole system of the ad- 
 ministiation of the law necessarily assumed a new 
 form. The exercise of judgment by the court now 
 became indispensable. It is probable, however, that 
 in the gradual progi-ess of the change, this conse- 
 quence was not for some time very clearly per- 
 ceived, and that it came upon the country and the 
 government before the requisite preparations were 
 made for it. Hence, as occasions arose, expedients 
 of various kinds would be at first resorted to with 
 the view of making the old machinery still answer. 
 It would soon be found, for instance, that the hear- 
 ing of evidence, unlike the ordeal and the trial by 
 compurgation, produced differences of opinion among 
 the persons present ; and it would also become 
 abundantly apparent that a large multitude of per- 
 sons did not form the most convenient tribunal for 
 weighing and coming to a decision upon the state- 
 ments of conflicting witnesses. In these circum- 
 stances we might, on the first view of the matter, 
 suppose the most natural course would be to ap- 
 point a small committee of the court to examine 
 the witnesses and come to a judgment upon the 
 cause. But this is to assume that the proper dis- 
 tinction between the provinces of the court and of 
 the witnesses was already much more distinctly 
 perceived than it could as yet be, when things 
 were only beginning to emerge out of that state in 
 which the court had really never taken any part 
 in the trial of the cause at all. The witnesses, or 
 the persons who came to give evidence, and not the 
 court, would at this time in fact be most naturally 
 looked upon as the real triers of the cause. A com- 
 mittee of the witnesses, therefore, rather than a 
 committee of the court, would be the select body 
 appointed for its consideration and settlement in the 
 earliest attempts to escape from the confusion and 
 perplexity of conflicting evidence. Those of the 
 witnesses who were conceived to be the persons of 
 gi-eatest probity, or to be those best acquainted with 
 the facts, would be chosen out from among the rest,
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 553 
 
 and left to agree among themselves as to how the 
 truth stood, — in other words to try the cause. The 
 persons thus set apart would probably be called upon 
 to make their depositions with more form and so- 
 lemnity than ordinary witnesses : for instance, al- 
 though the ordinary witness might be heard merely 
 upon his declaration, the selected witness would be 
 required to give his evidence upon oath. Finally, 
 it would very soon become the custom for the se- 
 lected witnesses, or ti-iers, to be always of the same 
 number; such a rule would be properly held to 
 conduce to fairness of procedure ; and beside, the 
 popular feeling has always attached a certain virtue 
 or importance to particular numbers. 
 
 In the above deduction we have in fact what ap- 
 pears to be the history of the origin in this country 
 of trial by jury, in as far as it can be collected from 
 the scanty notices that remain to us of changes 
 which, however important they were destined to be 
 in their ultimate results, were scarcely deemed 
 worthy of being recorded by any contemporary 
 chronicler, and the only memory of which that has 
 come down to us has been preserved more by acci- 
 dent than by design. We know, thai, even in the 
 Saxon times, it was occasionally the practice to se- 
 lect for the decision of a civil suit certain of the most 
 reputable of the persons who professed to be ac- 
 quainted with the facts in dispute, the parties agree- 
 ing together in their nomination, and consenting to 
 abide by their decision or verdict. In the Norman 
 times this became a more usual mode of trying 
 causes, and it was now consequently subjected to 
 more strict regulation. Nothing is better estab- 
 lished than that the original jury, or body of sworn 
 triers, were really the witnesses in the case, and 
 that their verdict was their deliverance upon it from 
 their own knowledge of the facts. At first this mode 
 of trial appears to have been only occasionally and 
 sparingly resorted to. Two instances are recorded 
 4Hn the reign of the Conqueror, one in a suit between 
 the crown and Gundulphus, Bishop of Rochester, 
 in 1078, the other in a suit respecting certain lands 
 claimed for the bishopric of Ely in 1080.^ In the 
 subsequent reigns the instances are more frequent. 
 Sir F. Palgrave is of opinion that in criminal cases 
 the jury was unknown in this country until enacted 
 by the Conqueror. William, in a charter by which 
 he professed to restore the laws of the Confessor, 
 with certain additions, directed that, in the partic- 
 ular case of a charge made by an Englishman against 
 a Norman, or by a Norman against an Englishman, 
 the guilt or innocence of the accused should be de- 
 termined by a tribunal of sworn witnesses, " accord- 
 ing to the law of Normandy." The first regulation, 
 however, which established the jury as a general 
 mode of ti'ial, appears to have been one of the laws, 
 or " assizes," as they were called, enacted by Henry 
 11. at Clarendon, about 1176. By this law, to quote 
 the account of Sir F. Palgrave, "the justices, who 
 represented the king's person, were to make inquiry 
 by the oaths of twelve knights, or other lawful men, 
 of each hundred, together with the four men from 
 each township, of all murders, robberies, and thefts, 
 
 ' See Palgrave's Eng. Com. p. 253, and Illustrations, p. clxiviii. 
 
 and of all who had harbored such offenders since 
 the king's accession to the throne." Another en- 
 actment of the same assizes abolished the trial by 
 compurgation in criminal cases, except in certain 
 boroughs. The verdict of the inquest, however, 
 was not yet made final. The person charged by 
 the twelve knights was still allowed to clear himself, 
 if he could, by the ordeal of fire or water. Other 
 laws of the same king, some of which, however, are 
 only imperfectly preserved, appear to have estab- 
 lished the inquest or " recognition" by the twelve 
 lawful men as the regular mode of trial in various 
 kinds of civil suits. 
 
 If tlie trial by battle was at all known in the Saxon 
 times, the earliest record of it in England is subse- 
 quent to the Conquest. The duel (or orneste, as 
 its Saxon name appears to have been) would seem 
 to be a still ruder mode of trial than any of those 
 methods that were more peculiarly called the ordeal, 
 as allowing, which they did not, mere physical force 
 to be the main arbitrator of the dispute, and being 
 therefore almost identical in principle with the mode 
 of deciding quarrels which is proper to a state of 
 nature. It is probably, indeed, of greater antiquity 
 than the ordeal ; yet it was neither supplanted by 
 the ordeal, nor when that mode of trial was abolished 
 did the duel even share its fate. It continued in 
 common use for ages afterward. The duel was 
 undoubtedly looked upon as being, not less than the 
 ordeal, an appeal to the judgment of God, and it was 
 in virtue of this character that it retained its place 
 as one of the allowed modes of trial in association 
 with the ordeal. If it had been deemed to be a 
 mere contest of physical strength, it is difificult to 
 conceive that it ever should have been adopted as a 
 mode of legal trial at all, and it certainly could not 
 have kept its gi-ound as such after the more refined 
 principle of the ordeal came to be recognized. The 
 belief was that Heaven would by no means allow 
 the issue of the appeal to depend upon the thews 
 and sinews of the two combatants, but would defend 
 the right, if necessary, by enabling the weaker man 
 to overcome the stronger, — that is to say, by working 
 a miracle, just as in the case of the ordeal. The duel 
 and the ordeal therefore stood in the popular imagi- 
 nation upon the same principle. Why, then, when 
 the ordeal was prohibited, was not the duel abolished 
 along with it ? To be enabled to answer this ques- 
 tion we must recollect that the prohibition of the or- 
 deal was by no means distinctly placed by the church 
 upon the ground of the inherent absurdity of such 
 a mode of trial, — of the fallacy of the notion that the 
 special interference of Heaven was to be so secured. 
 The practice was discouraged, and at last formally 
 condemned as unlawful, on other gi-ounds altogether, 
 as has been shown above. It was denounced as im- 
 pious rather than as fallacious or absurd. If it was 
 admitted to be in any sense fallacious, it was merely 
 in so far as the supposed appeal to Heaven might by 
 dishonest management be rendered only apparent 
 instead of real. The generally received opinion 
 that the direct judgment of God in a cause might be 
 obtained by being properly sought for was left unas- 
 sailed. All that was affirmed was, that the ordeal
 
 554 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 of fire, or of water, was not a proper mode of seek- 
 ing for such judgment. The condemnation of these 
 modes, therefore, did not necessarily touch the trial 
 by combat. It lay under none of the objections on 
 account of which they Avere condemned. It did not 
 easily admit of collusion or any other species of un- 
 fair management. It was from its nature not likely 
 to be resorted to upon trivial occasions, or to be taken 
 advantage of in any circumstances as a mere form, 
 but was always of necessity a solemn encounter, in 
 which neither party could engage without peril of 
 his life. Add to all this the accordance of the trial 
 by combat with the martial spirit of the times, when 
 prowess in arms was looked upon as almost the chief 
 of human virtues ; and we shall be at no loss to un- 
 derstand the favor, or at least the toleration, which 
 was shown to this mode of trial when the not more 
 barbarous or more unjust custom of the 07"deal was 
 banished from the judicial practice of Christendom. 
 Yet even within the period now under consideration 
 an important step was taken toward the extinction of 
 the appeal of battle in civil suits by a law of Henry II., 
 which gave to both the tenant and defendant in a writ 
 of right' the alternative of having the case tried by 
 what was called the grand assize, which was in fact 
 merely a jury composed of four knights returned by 
 the sheriff, and of twelve other persons named by 
 them. The inti'oduction of the grand assize is ascrib- 
 ed to the advice of Glanville, who has in his book given 
 a very particular description of it, and expatiated upon 
 its great importance as an improvement of the law.^ 
 It is obvious that the entirely new form and char- 
 acter assumed by judicial proceedings, after the com- 
 mencement of the practice of trying and deciding 
 causes by evidence, would render the old machineiy 
 for the administration of the law altogether unser- 
 viceable. An exercise of the judgment was now 
 called for on the part of the court, instead of merely 
 an exercise of the faculty of observation. Judges 
 were therefore of necessity appointed in all the 
 courts. It is probable that this innovation was par- 
 tially introduced in the Saxon times ; but it was not 
 generally established till after the Conquest. The 
 general character of the Norman domination, under 
 which all authority was held to proceed and to 
 derive its being from the crown, was especially fa- 
 vorable to the completion of the new system. It 
 appears to have been as early as 1118, in the reign 
 of Henry I., that Justices Itinerant, or Justices in 
 Eyre, as they were called, were first appointed to 
 go on circuits through the kingdom for the holding 
 of all pleas both civil and criminal.' They were not, 
 however, made a regular part of the judicature of 
 the kingdom till 1176, the twenty-second year of 
 the i-eign of Henry II. 
 
 1 The writ of right was the proceeding in which the right to land 
 was tried when the claimant, or those under whom he claimed, had lost 
 the possession for more than twenty years. The limitation to this cus- 
 tom was sixty years. — Booth on Real Actions. 
 
 2 The mode of trial by the grand assize was only abolished in 1833, 
 by the 3rd and 4th Will. IV. c. 27. We may take this opportunity of 
 mentioning that the other ancient mode of trial by Wager of Law (a 
 remnant of the primitive practice of compurgation), which was spoken 
 of by mistake in a former page (247) as still subsisting, was also abol- 
 
 shed the same year by the 3rd and 4th Will. IV. c. 42. 
 '■> Madox, Hist. E.xcheq. c. iii. 
 
 The court which sat in the king's palace was also, 
 in course of time, divided into several courts, although 
 opinions vai'y somewhat as to the precise period at 
 which this change took place. According to Madox, 
 whose inquiries into the subject were more minute 
 and accurate than those of Sir Edward Coke and 
 others, the bank or Court of Common Pleas was in 
 being several years before the Magna Charta of the 
 seventeenth of King John, though it was then first 
 made stationary. That the division, as existing at 
 this day, was complete in the time of Edward I. is 
 proved more fully than from any other of the ancient 
 law books from a passage of Britton, in which he 
 speaks of the " clerks of our court of chancery, and of 
 one bench and of the other, and of the exchequer.''^^ 
 
 Upon the subdivision of the king's court into sev- 
 eral separate judicatures, and the increasing com- 
 plication of legal proceedings, the great ofllicers of 
 state, whom we have enumerated, and who were 
 originally, together with the king, the judges of it, 
 gave up their places in it to regular lawyers. Of 
 the original nature of this great court it will afford 
 some illustration to remark that, as was the case 
 generally in the feudal system, where, from the top 
 to the bottom, the less was shaped after the image 
 of the greater, the court-baron Avas a model of it on 
 a small scale. The baron had his court, in which, 
 subordinate to himself, presided his seneschal, dap- 
 ifer, or steward, precisely as the king had his court, 
 wherein, subordinate to himself, presided his senes- 
 chal, dapifer, or steward. In the case of the kings 
 of England one portion of the judicial functions^ of 
 the steward's office came, as we have shown, first 
 to be executed by a sort of deputy or representative, 
 called the chief justiciary, afterward to be abolished, 
 or rather to be divided among a number of judges ; 
 while the other portion of those judicial functions 
 remained with another representative of the original 
 steward, or rather representative of another portion 
 of him, called the Steward of the king's Household. 
 
 There has been much controversy respecting the 
 origin of what is called the common law of England. 
 The oldest treatise we have on the Enghsh law 
 after the Conquest is the work bearing the name of 
 " Glanville," and composed in the reign of Henry 
 II. Doubtless many individual laws and customs 
 passed from the Anglo-Saxon to the Anglo-Norman 
 times. There is still extant, as we have already 
 had occasion to notice, a charter, or body of laws 
 which the Conqueror is said to have granted to the 
 English people, being, says the title, " the same 
 which his predecessor and cousin. King EdAvard, 
 observed before him."' These recognize all the 
 main fe.itures of the Saxon system, and especially 
 the principle of the "AA^ere," or pecuniary compen- 
 sation for personal injuries. We knoAv, also, that 
 the system of the frank-pledge continued to be 
 
 1 Britton, f. 37, b. 
 
 2 For, originally, as has been shown, the seneschal was the k ii<.''< 
 representative universally, in his military as well as his judicial capa- 
 city. 
 
 3 These laws of the Conqueror have been preserved both in Latin 
 and in Romance, or French. The best edition of both texts is to be 
 found (with a valuable Commentary) in the Illustrations to Sir F. Pal- 
 grave's Eng. Com. pp. Ixxxviii— cxl.
 
 Cjjap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 555 
 
 strictly enforced for a long period after the Con- 
 quest.* Still the genei-al features and character of 
 the English law after the Conquest appear to be, on 
 the whole, more Norman than Anglo-.Saxon. One 
 striking feature of distinction between Glanville and 
 the Anglo-Saxon laws is the detail with which the 
 former enters into the matter of procedure or actions 
 at law ; and the minute intricacy of the system 
 which he thus presents to us strangely contrasts 
 with the rudeness and simplicity of that of the An- 
 glo-Saxons, described in the last chapter. We find 
 in Glanville the germs of the system of pleading 
 which was afterward cairied out into so much 
 greater complexity. In fact, Glanville presents 
 much, both in body and spirit, of the English com- 
 mon law as it existed for many ages, and does in 
 some degi-ee still exist. With respect, however, to 
 the portion of the common law that may be consid- 
 ered of Saxon, and the portion that may be consid- 
 ered of Norman origin, there is a remark of Mr. 
 Hallam's that appears worthy of quotation. " Per- 
 haps," says he, " it might be reasonable to conjecture 
 that the treatise called ' Leges Henrici Primi'^ con- 
 tains the ancient usages still prevailing in the inferior 
 jurisdictions, and that of Glanville the rules estab- 
 lished by the Norman lawyers of the king's court, 
 which would of course acquire a general recognition 
 and efficacy in consequence of the institution of jus- 
 tices holding their assizes periodically throughout 
 the country."'' It is remarkable, and may be taken 
 as some confirmation of what is here advanced, that 
 the pecuniary compositions are not mentioned in 
 Glanville. However, even by Mr. Hallam's esti- 
 mate, the Saxon would bear but a small proportion 
 to the Norman element in the compound produced 
 under the name of the common law of England. 
 But to say precisely what the proportion of either 
 element may be, is a very different matter ; for we 
 must needs admit thus much at least, with Sir 
 Matthew Hale, that " among all those various in- 
 gredients and mixtures of laws, it is almost an im- 
 possible piece of chemistry to reduce eveiy caput 
 legis to its true original, as to say this is a piece of 
 the Danish, this of the Norman, or this of the Saxon 
 or British law."'' 
 
 Among the most impoitant of the remaining inno- 
 vations in the law and its administi-ation Avhich were 
 introduced in the period now under review may be 
 mentioned the following : — Courts of ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction were for the first time established by 
 the Conqueror, the bishops being forbidden for the 
 future to sit as heretofore with laymen in the county 
 or other civil courts, and all spiritual causes, and all 
 those in which clergymen Avere concerned, being 
 made over to the new jurisdiction. By the time of 
 Henry II. we find express mention of the courts of 
 the archdeacon, the bishop, and the archbishop. 
 The contests which soon broke out between the 
 temporal and the spiritual jurisdictions have repeat- 
 edly occupied our attention in the two preceding 
 
 1 See Palgrave's Eng. Com. p. 527. 
 
 2 A summary of Saion law, in niuety-four chapters, found appended 
 '.n some copies of the charter of Henry I, 
 
 3 Middle Ages, vol. ii. p. 468. ♦ Hist, of Com, Law, chap. iv. 
 
 j chapters. These ecclesiastical courts established 
 the partial authority of the canon law in England ; 
 and the principles and rules of the civil, or Roman 
 imperial law being also favored by the clergy, were 
 introduced into the Court of Chancery and into 
 other jurisdictions where churchmen presided, and 
 opposed by them to the common law. Attorneys, 
 or agents for the management of causes at law, are 
 first distinctly mentioned after the Conquest, and 
 were probably not introduced till then. The series 
 of our judicial records commences with the reign of 
 Richard I., and the custom of making any written 
 memorials of legal proceedings does not appear to 
 be of much earlier origin. Down to this time the 
 technical phrase, " to record," meant merely to tes- 
 tify from memory. It is commonly said that after 
 the coming of the Normans all pleadings, at least in 
 the supreme courts, were carried on in French, and 
 that all deeds were drawn and all laws promulgated 
 in the same language. " This popular notion," 
 observes Sir F. Palgrave, " cannot be easily sup- 
 ported. . . . Before the reign of Henry III. we can- 
 not discover a deed or law drawn or composed in 
 French. Instead of prohibiting the English lan- 
 guage, it was employed by the Conqueror and his 
 successors in their charters until the reign of Henry 
 II., when it was superseded, not by the French, but 
 by the Latin language, which had been gradually 
 gaining, or rather regaining, ground ; for the char- 
 ters anterior to Alfred are invariably in Latin."* 
 To this it may be added that, according to Ordericus 
 Vitalis, so far was the Conqueror from showing any 
 aversion to the English language, or making any 
 such attempt as has been ascribed to him to effect 
 its abolition, that he applied himself to learn it for 
 the special purpose of understanding the causes 
 that were pleaded before him. The common state- 
 ment rests on the authority of Ingulphus, which is 
 extremely suspicious. 
 
 Mr. Hallam thinks the subtle and complex char- 
 acter of English law and legal proceedings attribu- 
 table in some measure to the shrewd and litigious 
 spirit observable in the Normans.* It may, perhaps, 
 be more correctly ascribed to a more general cause 
 — the state of society then existing in feudal Europe. 
 The practitioners of the law, who were, in a great 
 measure, churchinen, had to deal with men — the 
 iron barons "of the bloody hand" — who were ac- 
 customed to obtain every object of their desire by 
 the shortest road — direct violence. In bringing about 
 many alterations in the law, both as regarded the 
 punishment of crimes and the conveyance and de- 
 scent of real propertj-, each of M'hich alterations 
 might be considered as a step made in the march of 
 civilization, though it, at the same time, either di- 
 rectly or obliquely, struck at the power of the feudal 
 aristocracy, they had to take a circuitous course, so as 
 in a great measure to conceal their real design from 
 the powerful and violent, but for the most part obtuso 
 and uninstructed men with whom they had to deal. 
 We must here note a grand distinction between the 
 Roman aristocracy and the feudal. The Roman 
 patricians, as wc before observed, were carefully 
 
 I Eng. Com. p. 56. = Middle Ages, vol. ii. p. 468.
 
 556 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 instructed, not onlj- in the art of war, but in the 
 laws and proceedings of the courts. The feudal 
 aristocracy were mere men of the sword, regarding 
 the habits of study and intellectual industry that 
 would have been necessary to enable them to master 
 a knowledge of their laws as things far beneath their 
 consideration. The consequence was, that the 
 more comphcated the legal net became which was 
 woven around them, the less powerful they became, 
 and the more dependent upon the subtle men of 
 the gown, whose power proportionally rose, till 
 they were at last reduced somewhat to the condi- 
 tion of an animal which, though physically stronger 
 than a spider, has become the spider's prey, by 
 being caught in its cunningly-devised net. In short, 
 what M. Guizot has remarked of the Roman law- 
 yers (meaning rather those under the empire, when 
 the practice of the law had become a distinct pro- 
 fession, than the patrician lawyers alluded to some 
 sentences back) is applicable, with very slight mod- 
 ification, to the English. The English as well as 
 the Romans troubled themselves little about the 
 foundations and the general principles — about the 
 philosophy of law. They set out with certain 
 axioms — with certain legal precedents ; and their 
 ability consisted in tracing with subtlety the conse- 
 quences of these, in order to apply them to particu- 
 lar cases as such presented themselves. Thus the 
 English, as well as the Roman lawyers, were dia- 
 lecticians of wonderful acuteness, but never philos- 
 ophers. As to what has been said of the English 
 lawyers borrowing less than those of any other 
 civilized people from the writings of philosophers, 
 it just amounts to nothing at all, seeing that in the 
 works of the Roman jurisconsults and their modern 
 commentators (however admirable as expositors 
 both may be) there is not a particle more of the 
 philosophy of law than in the writings of the Eng- 
 lish lawyers. 
 
 The most important part of the history of the 
 legislation of this period consists of the history of 
 those great Charters which are usually regarded as 
 the bulwarks of English liberty. 
 
 As we have before remarked, the Norman bar- 
 ons, from the circumstances in which they were 
 placed in England, formed a compact body, of which 
 body the Norman king was the undisputed head. 
 When the necessity which kept this body together 
 ceased to exist, when the invaders began to feel 
 themselves tolerably secure in their possessions, 
 feudalism again resumed its natural character. 
 Each fief-owner sought to isolate himself on his 
 own lands, and to enrich himself by violence and 
 robbery. The kings took advantage of this to in- 
 crease their own power. If Henry I. and Henry 
 II. cannot be called absolute sovereigns, they pos- 
 sessed more power than any other contemporary 
 king. But the barons, although they had no longer 
 the same motives — namely, their common safety — 
 to rally round the king, which they had formerly, 
 had not lost the recollection of how they had thus 
 been banded together to side ivith the king ; and 
 they now thought that they might again assemble 
 and unite, when the purpose was no longer to de- 
 
 fend themselves and the king against the Saxons or 
 Enghsh, but to defend themselves against the en- 
 croachments of the royal power, becoming every 
 day more formidable. 
 
 Several circumstances favored the tendency 
 which we have above alluded to. Three usurpers 
 in less than fifty years, WiUiam Rufus, Henry I., 
 and Stephen, had occasion to have their title ac- 
 knowledged by the barons, and consequently made 
 general promises respecting their liberties. After- 
 ward, in the reign of Richard I., from the disputes 
 about the regency, and the intrigues of John, fac- 
 tions of all sorts arose. In this state of things the 
 government fell into the hands of a council of bar- 
 ons. Hence one portion of the barons acquired 
 the habit of governing, the other portion that of 
 resisting the government, composed only of their 
 peers; and when, in 1199, John mounted the 
 throne, the face of things was quite changed. 
 Though the amalgamation of the two races, the 
 Normans and Saxons, was by no means completed, 
 the principal war was no longer between the Nor- 
 mans and Saxons, but between royalty and aristoc- 
 racy ; the former desiring to retain the power, very 
 nearly absolute, which it had held for a httle time — 
 the latter confederating to compel the recognition 
 of certain rights which they claimed. Some bar- 
 ons joined the king ; and without that there could 
 have been no struggle. And the struggle, when it 
 came, was not, as on the continent, a series of com- 
 bats between individual interests — it was truly a 
 contest between two general independent forces. 
 The concession of the charters was the result of 
 that struggle. 
 
 The confirmation of the laws of Edward the 
 Confessor by the Conqueror, mentioned above, may 
 be considered as the first charter granted by the 
 Anglo-Norman kings. It is assigned by the old 
 chroniclers to the year 1070. 
 
 Henry I. having usurped the throne from his 
 elder brother Robert, who remained Duke of Nor- 
 mandy, occupied a less firm position than his father. 
 Soon after his coronation he granted a charter, 
 which enumerates the abuses of the preceding 
 reigns, and promises the redress of them. Many 
 of its enactments have reference to the relations of 
 feudalism ; but one of its clauses expressly restores 
 the laws of Edward the Confessor, " with those 
 emendations," adds Heniy, " with which my father 
 amended them, by the advice of his barons." Most 
 of the engagements contained in this charter were 
 very indifferently observed ; but it is of importance 
 in the history of the Constitution, as having served 
 in some respects for the model of that which was 
 afterward extorted from John. Matthew Paris 
 informs us that when the barons took arms, in 
 1215, their demand was that those rights and Uber- 
 ties should be conceded to the church and the king- 
 dom which were set down in the charter of Henry 
 I. and in the laws of Edward the Confessor. Lord 
 Lyttelton remarks that, "in some respects, this 
 charter of Henry I. was more advantageous to lib- 
 erty than Magna Charta itself." 
 
 Stephen, likewise a usurper, gi-anted two char-
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 557 
 
 ters — one to the barons, the other to the clergy — 
 both short, and confined to a renewal of the prom- 
 ises before made, but not kept. 
 
 Henry II. again renewed those promises in a 
 fourth charter, also short, and also inefficacious. 
 
 The Anglo-Norman barons, under their first kings, 
 were not in a condition to undertake a struggle, even 
 if they had wished to do so. Under Henry II. cir- 
 cumstances were somewhat changed. The extent of 
 Henry's possessions on the continent drew him into 
 long wars, into which the Anglo-Norman barons 
 were not always disposed to follow him. Nor were 
 they much more disposed to submit patiently to the 
 heavy imposts he levied on them to support the 
 numerous mercenary troops he was obliged to em- 
 ploy. The strong and firm hand of Henry II., 
 however, suppressed, for a time, this insurgent 
 spirit, which, on that account, only broke out with 
 the more violence under his feeble, cowardly, and 
 vicious son John. It would seem that the circum- 
 stances most favorable to liberty's making a step 
 in its progress are those of a powerful and arbitrary 
 ruler, followed by a feeble successor, who fancies 
 that he has an undoubted right to all that his prede- 
 cessor claimed, without possessing any of the quali- 
 ties that made good that claim. Such were the 
 circumstances in which John assumed the crown 
 of England. The strong hands of the two first 
 Plantagenets — Henry II. and Richard Coeur de 
 Lion, his father and brother — were in the dust, 
 
 and the iron sceptre which they had wielded lay 
 rusting among the heavy armor which an imbecile 
 and a coward could not wear. 
 
 Magna Charta was granted on the 15th of June, 
 1215. The enactments of it may be arranged under 
 three heads: — 1. Rights of the clergy. 2. Rights 
 of the barons or fief-holders. 3. Rights of the peo- 
 ple at large. 
 
 I. With regard to the clergy, the charter merely 
 gives a general confirmation of their immunities 
 and privileges. 
 
 II. It carefully enumerates and confirms the 
 rights of the barons. In particular, the right of 
 imposing an escuage, or any extraordinary aid, is 
 formally confined to the great national council ; and 
 the occasions and modes of convocation of that 
 council are carefully determined. 
 
 III. The rights of the freemen of the kingdom 
 are attended to in the following provisions : " The 
 court of common pleas shall not follow the king's 
 court, but shall be held in a certain fixed place.' 
 Justice shall not be sold, refused, or delayed to any 
 one.* We, or if we are absent from the kingdom, 
 our chief justiciary shall send four times a year 
 into each county two judges, who, with four knights, 
 chosen by each county, shall hold the assizes at 
 the time and place appointed in the said county.^ 
 No ft-eemen shall be arrested or imprisoned, or dis- 
 possessed of his tenement, or outlawed, or exiled. 
 
 1 Art. J7. 2 Art. 40. a Art. 18. 
 
 ikiwia 
 
 f (f ''^ 
 
 
 Uttur.-toiC 
 
 liuW Ub<tr hoiMo eiM Ac al4wt|mCDM^,aittrVfraiUit. U-tVtldije^ 
 ^0 oem^*".nec {up mm tlmmilTJa-luH euAix^.ymifemuitn^x^v ic- 
 
 
 
 nieY' 
 
 ■vHO ocawo, 
 
 Bpecimkn of Mjlona. Charta, engraved from one of the Original Copies in the British Museum. The passages are a portion of the Preamble 
 
 the Forty-sixth Clause, and the Attestation, as follows:— 
 
 Johannes dei gratia rex Anglie, dominus Hybernie, dux Normannie, Aquitanie, et comes Andegavie, archiepiscopis, episcopis, alibatibus, 
 cotnitibus, baronibus, justiciariis, forestariis, vicecomitibns, prepositis, ministris, et omnibus ballivis, et fidelibus suis, salutem. 
 
 46. NqIIus liber homo capiatur, vel imprisonetur, aut dissaisiatur, aut utlagetnr, aut e.^uletur, aut aliqao modo destruatur, nee super eum 
 ibimus, nee super eum mittemus, nisi per legale judicium parium suorum, vel per legem terre. 
 
 Data per manum nostram in prato quod vocatur Euningmede inter Windlesorum et Slanes quinto decimo die Junii anno regni nostn 
 septimo decimo.
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 or in anywise proceeded against, unless by the legal 
 judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.' 
 Ho freeman, or merchant, or villain, shall be unrea- 
 sonably fined for a small offence : the first shall not 
 be deprived of his tenement; the second of his 
 merchandise ; the third of his implements of hus- 
 bandry." - This last is the onlj- clause which relates 
 to the interests of the class of villains — probably, as 
 Hume observes, at that time the most numerous in 
 the kingdom. 
 
 The king, also, promised to appoint none but able 
 and upright judges ; to reinstate in his possessions 
 every man unjustly ousted ; to compel no one to 
 make or support bridges but by ancient customs ; 
 that the goods of every freeman should be disposed 
 of according to his will, or, if he died intestate, that 
 his heirs should succeed to them; and that no offi- 
 cer of the crown should take any horses, carts, or 
 wood, without the consent of the owner. 
 
 Upon the whole, w-e are inclined to agree with 
 Barrington, that the main object of those who framed 
 and obtained Magna Charta was not so much the 
 restoration of the Saxon laws in general, or those of 
 Edward the Confessor in particul.ir, as the contin- 
 uance of the Norman and feudal law introduced 
 with the Conquest, and the preservation of their 
 own feudal privileges, which the great power of the 
 early Anglo-Norman kings threatened to destro}'. 
 "In Magna Charta," says Barrington, "there is not 
 one Saxon term for anything that relates to feudal 
 tenures, which are the gi'eat object of many of the 
 chapters. It appears by the last chapter of the 
 Charter, that all the attesting witnesses not in holy 
 orders were of Norman extraction. Whence, then, 
 could arise the inducement to make it an express 
 article that the Saxon laws should be restored?" 
 " The Norman barons," he adds, " could never mean 
 to abolish the Norman and feudal law, which w-as 
 in every respect so highly advantageous to them."' 
 
 In reading Magna Charta, we are struck with 
 the even lawyer-like precision with which it is 
 
 1 An. 39. 2 Art. 20. 
 
 ' Observations upon the Statutes, p. 3. 
 
 worded. It was evidently drawn up by men with 
 intellects as sharp as the swords of the iron barons 
 who wrested it from the reluctant king, who had 
 the will, but not the courage and abilitj', to be a 
 tyrant. 
 
 But though the provisions of this famous charter 
 were as complete as the knowledge of that age 
 could make them, and though they were then and 
 there solemnly signed and sealed, they had many 
 fortunes to go through, many reverses to encounter, 
 many violations to endure, before they were des- 
 tined to operate quietly and securely. These it 
 will be our business to give some account of in the 
 sequel ; contenting ourselves here with the cheering 
 reflection, that though the movement of free insti- 
 tutions is an oscillating one, it is, upon the whole, a 
 decided progress — an advance in the course of a 
 certain number of years, and that 
 
 " Freedom's liattle, once begTin, 
 Though bafHeU oft, is ever won." 
 
 We have now to give a short account of the 
 famous record called Domesdaj', which remains so 
 
 ! remarkable a monument of the extensive and states- 
 manlike genius of the Conqueror. Domesday Book 
 consists of a general survey of all the lands in the 
 kingdom, with the exception of the northern coun- 
 
 I ties, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Northumberland, 
 Durham, and part of Lancashire ; specifying their 
 extent in each district ; their proprietors, tenures, 
 value ; the quantity of meadow, pasture, wood, and 
 
 j arable land, which they contained ; and, in some 
 
 I counties, the number of tenants, villains, cottarii, 
 and servi who lived upon them. " All this," says 
 
 I Sir H. Ellis, in his " Introduction to Domesday," 
 " was to be triply estimated ; first, as the estate 
 
 j was held in the time of the Confessor ; then, as it 
 was bestowed by King William ; and thirdly, as its 
 value stood at the formation of the survey. The 
 jurors (upon whose oaths it was made) were, more- 
 over, to state whether any advance could be made 
 in the value." The making of this survey was de- 
 termined upon, after much deliberation, at a great 
 council held at Gloucester in 1085, and it was finished 
 
 J>^ -tod uv Jivao S^^ i) ^ (in)va- Y^. ^ .^^'Xc fe clc|^ 
 
 Specimen of Domespay Book. From the page engraved in the Report on the Public Records. The reading is as follows: — 
 
 Rex tenet in Doniinio Stoch*. De firma Reg^is E. fuit. Tunc se defendebat pro 17 Hidis. Nichil geldaverunt. Terra est 16 Carucats. 
 In Dominio sunt 2ae CarucatEE & 24 Villani et 10 Bordarij cum 20 Carucis. Ibi Ecclesia quae Willelmus tenet de Rege cum dimidia Hida in 
 Elemosina. Ibi 5 Servi & 2 Molini de 25 sol. & 16 Acrae Prali. Silva 40 Porcorum & ipsa est in parco Regis. 
 
 T. R. E. tc post valebat 12 lib. Modo 15 lib. Tamen qui tenet reddit 15 lib. ad pensura. Vioecomes habet 25 solid
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 559 
 
 in the course of the following year. The particu- 
 lars were collected by commissioners appointed by 
 the king, on the verdicts of sworn inquests, or re- 
 cognitions ; and this important application of the 
 jury (in the form in which it then existed) may 
 probably be considered to have had much influence 
 in establishing the general use of that mode of 
 ti'ial. 
 
 Domesdiiy Book, perhaps the most valuable mon- 
 ument of its kind possessed by any nation, is still 
 preserved. It consists of two volumes — a greater 
 and a less ; the greater comprehending all the coun- 
 ties of England except those specified above, which 
 were never surveyed, and except Essex, Suffolk, 
 and Norfolk, which are contained in the lesser 
 volume. 
 
 The name Domesday has been by many, and, 
 among others, the author of the " Dialogue on the 
 Exchequer," supposed to allude to the final day of 
 judgment. But " if this whimsical account of the 
 name was the real one," saj s Barrington, " the 
 Liatin for it would be Dies Judicii; whereas, in all 
 the old chronicles, it is styled either Liber Judi- 
 ciALis, or Censualis. Bullet, in his Celtic Dic- 
 tionary, has the word Dom, which he renders Seur, 
 Seigneur, and hence the Spanish word Don ; as 
 also the words Deya and Deia, which he trans- 
 lates Proclamation, Advertisement. Domes- 
 day, therefore, may signify the lord's or king's ad- 
 vertisement to the tenants who hold under him ; 
 and this sense of the word agrees well with part of 
 the contents of this famous survey.'" Another ac- 
 count given by Stow, from an old monastic chronicle 
 — the " Book of Bermondsey" — is, that Domesday is 
 a corruption of Dotnus Dei (or God's house), the 
 name of the apartment in the king's Treasury where 
 the volumes were kept. 
 
 As some specimen of so curious and important 
 a document may be acceptable to our readers, we 
 select the following examples of the manner of 
 entering the lands in it, and subjoin an English 
 translation. 
 
 " Essessa. Terra Regis. Dimid. Hundred de 
 Witham. Witham tenuit Haroldus t. R. E. pro 
 maner. et pro 5 hidis. Modo custodit hoc mane- 
 rium Petrus vicecomes in manu regis ; tunc 2 car. 
 in dnio. modo 3 ; tunc 21 villan. modo 15 ; tunc 
 
 9 bordar. modo 10; tunc 6 servi, modo 9; tunc 
 23 sochemanni, et modo similiter; tunc 18 car. 
 hominum, modo 7; tunc inter totum valebat 10 lib. 
 modo 20 ; sed vicecomes inter suas consuetudinis 
 et placita de dimid. hundred, recepit inde 34 lib. 
 
 et 4 lib. de gersuma In hoc manerio adjace- 
 
 bant t. R. E. 34 liberi hominis, qui tunc reddebant 
 
 10 sol. de consuetudine et lid. Ex ilhs tenet 
 Ilbodius 2, de 45 acr. et val. 6 sol. et redd, maner. 
 suam consuetudinem. Tedricus Pointel 8, de 
 dimid. hid. et 22 acr. dimid. reddentes consuetu- 
 dinem. Ranulph Piperel 10 de 2 hid. et 45 acr. 
 non reddentes consuetudinem. Willielmus Grosse 
 5, et unus tantura reddit consuetudinem, et val. 3 
 lib. 13s. Rad. Baignard 6, et unus reddit consuetud. 
 et val. 20s. Hamo dapifer 1. de dimid. hid. et val. 
 
 1 Barrington on the Statutes, p. 232, note. 
 
 20s. Goscelinus Loremarius habet terrata unius, 
 et non reddit consuetud.' 
 
 Thus in English : — " Essex (title in the top of 
 the leaf) ; the king's land ;" and before the par- 
 ticular manor or town, the hundred is noted, as 
 here, " The half-hundred of Witham. Harold held 
 Witham, in the time of King Edward, for a manor 
 and for 5 hides. Now, Peter, the sheriflT, keeps 
 this manor in the king's hand. Then there were 
 2 carucates in the lord's hands, now 3. Then there 
 were 21 villeins, now 15" (for they recorded Avhat 
 was in Edward the Confessor's time as well as in 
 that of the Conqueror) ; " then there were 9 
 bordars, now 10 ; then 6 slaves, now 9; then there 
 were 23 sochemans, now the same number; then 
 18 carucates among the men, now 7: then the 
 whole was valued at 10 pounds, now 20 poimds; 
 but the sheriff, for his customs and nmlcts from the 
 half-hundred, received on account of this manor 
 {inde) 34 pounds, and four pounds for fine. In this 
 manor there were, in the time of King Edward. 34 
 freemen, who then paid an accustomable rent of 
 10 shillings and 11 pence. Of these, Ilbods holds 2, 
 who had 45 acres, and they were worth to him 6 
 shillings, and paid their old rent to the manor. 
 Tedric Pointel holds 8, who had half a hide, and 
 22| acres, paying custom or old rent. Ranulph 
 Piperel holds 10, who had 2 hides and 45 acres, 
 not paying custom or old rent. William Grosse 
 holds 5, and only one of them pays custom, and 
 were worth 3 pounds 13 shillings. Ralph Baignard 
 holds 6, and one pays custom ; they were worth 
 20 shillings. Hamo, the seneschal or steward, 
 holds 1, who has ^ hide, and is worth 20 shillings. 
 Goscelin Loremar has the land of 1, and pays no 
 custom." 
 
 We give another example, which differs some- 
 what from the former : — 
 
 "Essessa Terra Regis Hund. de Beventre. 
 Haveringas tenuit Haroldus t. R. E. pro 1. maner. 
 et pro 10 hid. Tunc 41 villan. modo 40; semp. 
 41 bordar. et 6 servi, et 2 car. in dominio ; tunc 
 41 car. hominum, modo 40 ; sylv. d. pore. c. acr. 
 prati; modo 1 molen. et 2 rune, et 10 animalia, et 
 160 pore, et 269 ov. Huic maner. adjacebant 
 4 lib. homines, de 4 hidis t. R. E. reddentes con- 
 suetudinem ; modo ten. 3 hid. Rob. fil. Corbu- 
 tionis, et Hugo de Montafori quartam hidam, et non 
 reddidere consuetudinem ex quo eas habuere, &c. 
 Hoc maner. val. t. R. E. 361. modo 40; et Petrus 
 vicecomes inde recepit 801. de censu, et 101. de 
 gersuma.^ 
 
 Thus in English : — " Essex (title as before), the 
 king's land; the hundred of Beventre. Harold 
 held Haveringe, in the time of Edward the Con- 
 fessor, for 1 manor and 10 hides. Then there 
 were 41 villeins, now 40 ; there were always 41 
 bordars, and 6 slaves, and 2 carucates in demesne, 
 or the lord's lands; there were 41 carucates among 
 the men (or vassals or tenants), now 40; wood suf- 
 ficient for 500 hogs, 100 acres of meadow ; now 1 
 mill, and 2 working-horses or pack-horses, and 10 
 young gi'owing beasts, 160 hogs, and 269 sheep. 
 
 ^ Dumesd. torn ii. fol. 16. ' Ibid. torn. ii. fol. 2 b.
 
 5G0 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 To this manor there belonged 4 freemen, who had 
 4 hides in the time of Edward the Confessor, pay- 
 ing an accustomable rent ; now Robert, son of Cor- 
 butio, holds 3 of those hides, and Hugh Montfort 
 the fourth, and have paid no rent since they held 
 them. This manor was worth, in the time of King 
 Edward, 36 pounds, now 40 ; and Peter the vis- 
 count, or sheriff, receives from it 80 pounds for 
 rent, and 10 pounds for an income or fine." 
 
 Domesday Book was formerly kept by the side 
 of the Talley Court in the Exchequer, under three 
 different locks and keys ; one in the custody of the 
 treasurer, and the others of the two chamberlains 
 of the exchequer. In 1696 it was deposited in the 
 Chapter-house at Westminster, where it still re- 
 mains."' 
 
 In 1767, in consequence of an address of the 
 house of lords, his majesty gave directions for the 
 publication, among other records, of the Domesday 
 Survey. " In the following year," says Sir Henry 
 ElUs,- "specimens — one executed with types, the 
 other by engraving — were submitted, by command 
 of the lords of his majesty's Treasury, to the presi- 
 dent and council of the Society of Antiquaries, for 
 their opinion ; and an engraved copy of the work 
 appears to have been at first considered as the 
 most proper and advisable. At the close, however, 
 of 1768, the fairest and most perfect letter having 
 been selected from different parts of the survey, a 
 resolution was taken to print it with metal tjpes. 
 A facsimile type, uniform and regular, with tolera- 
 ble exactness, though not with all the correspond- 
 ing nicety of the original, was at last obtained, and 
 the publication was intrusted to Mr. Abraham Far- 
 ley, a gentleman of learning as well as of great ex- 
 perience in records, and who had had almost daily 
 recourse to the book for more than forty years.' 
 It was not, however, till after 1770 that the work 
 was actually commenced. It was completed early 
 in 1783, having been ten years in passing through 
 the press. The type with which it was executed 
 was destroyed in the fire which consumed Mr. 
 Nichols' printing office, in the month of February, 
 1808." 
 
 We shall subjoin here a few explanations of the 
 terms made use of in the above extracts which have 
 not been already noticed. 
 
 1. LiBERi HOMINES (Froo men). — In this term, 
 beside the freemen or freeholders of a manor, ap- 
 pear to have been included all the ranks of society 
 above these, i. e., all holding in militarj' tenure. 
 •' The ordinary freemen before the Conquest, and 
 at the time of compiling Domesday," says Kelham, 
 " were under the protection of great men ; but what 
 their quality was, further than that their persons 
 and blood were free, that is, that they were not 
 nativi, or bondmen, it will give a knowing man 
 trouble to discover to us."* In Domesday, the 
 liberi homines are mentioned as distinct from the 
 SocHEMANNi, or Socmeu ; but by the time of 
 
 1 Sir H. Ellis's Introduct. to Domesday, i. 354. 
 
 2 Introd. V. i. p. 359. 
 
 3 " He was for many years the principal deputy in the Tally Court 
 of the Receipt of the Exchequer." 
 
 « Domesday Book, lllust. p. 254. 
 
 Magna Charta, they would seem not to have been 
 distinct ; at least the three classes of society speci- 
 fied in the famous 20th article of that, are the free 
 men, the merchants, and the villains. 
 
 2. The SocHEMANM, or Socmen. — In regard to 
 these, whatever may be the disputes about the 
 origin of their name (some deriving it from sora, a 
 plough ; others from soc, a franchise) and their 
 condition, one thing is certain, that they held their 
 land by a tenure of a different and inferior kind to 
 military tenure. Littelton defines tenures in soc- 
 age to be where the tenant holds his tenement of 
 the lord by any certain service, in lieu of all other 
 services, so that the service be not knight's ser- 
 vice ; and Blackstone describes the " grand cri- 
 terion and distinguishing mark of this species of 
 tenure" to be, " the having its renders or services 
 ascertained." 
 
 3. The BoRDARii. — Respecting these, opinions 
 vary. Coke calls them " boors, holding a little 
 house with some land of husbandry, bigger than a 
 cottage.' *' The Bordarii, often mentioned in the 
 Domesday Inquisition," says Bishop Kennett, 
 " were distinct from the Servi and Villani, and 
 seem to be those of a less servile condition, who 
 had a bord or cottage, with a small parcel of land 
 allowed to them, on condition they should supply 
 the lord with poultry and eggs, and other small 
 provisions for his board and entertainment." " Bor- 
 darii," adds Sir H. Ellis, " it should seem, were 
 cottagers merely ; and in the Ely manuscript, we 
 find Bordarii where the Breviate of the same entry 
 in Domesday itself reads Cotarii." 
 
 4. Servi. — These, as distinguished from the 
 villani, seem personal, the latter being territorial 
 bondmen ; or, in the English law language, villains 
 in gross, as distinguished from villains regardant. 
 The term serf, which is used on the continent as 
 the translation of servus. is not recognized in Eng- 
 lish law, though it is sometimes loosely used in 
 common discourse to designate villains regardant. 
 
 5. Homines is synonymous with vassals, or feuda- 
 tory tenants, and seems, in fact, a literal translation 
 of the Saxon " men ;" to be any one's man being the 
 same as being his vassal. 
 
 6. Terra Regis. — " The Terra Regis of Domes- 
 day," says Mr. Allen, "was derived from a variety 
 of sources. It consisted in part of land that hap- 
 pened at the time of the survey to be in the king's 
 hands by escheat or forfeitures from his Norman 
 followers. It was constituted, in part, of the lands 
 of Saxon proprietors, Avhich had been confiscated 
 after the Conquest, and had not been granted away 
 to subjects. But it was chiefly composed of land 
 that had been possessed by the Confessor in de- 
 mesne, or in farm, or had been held by his thegns 
 and other servants. Of the last description, part 
 was probably the private bocland of the Confessor, 
 which had belonged to him as his private inherit- 
 ance. But if we compare the number of manors 
 assigned to him as his demesne lands in Domesday, 
 with the estates of bocland possessed by Alfred, it 
 seems incredible that the whole should have been 
 
 1 1 Inst. p. 5, b.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 561 
 
 his private property. A great part must have been 
 the folclaud or pubhc property of the state, of 
 which, though the nominal proprietor, he was only 
 the usufructuary possessor, and, with the license 
 and consent of his witan, the distributor on the part 
 of the public. The land which is called terra regis 
 in the Exchequer Domesday, is termed, in the 
 original returns of the Exon Domesday, demesne 
 land of the king belonging to the kingdom." ^ 
 
 7. Terra. — " Put simply," says Sir H. Ellis, 
 "uniformly signifies arable land, as distinct from 
 wood, meadow, and common pasture."^ 
 
 8. Hide. — The quantity of land it contained is 
 uncertain. " Gervase of Tilbury," says Bishop 
 Jvennett, " makes it 100 acres. The Malmsbury 
 MS., cited by Spelman, computes it at 96 acres, 
 1 hide, 4 vigates ; and every vigate 24 acres. 
 And yet the history of the foundation of the abbey 
 of Battle makes 8 vigates go to 1 hide. But Poly- 
 dore Vergil blunders most, who reduces a hide to 
 20 acres. The truth seems to be, that a hide, a 
 yard-land, a knight's fee, &c., contained no certain 
 number of acres, but varied accoi-ding to different 
 places."' 
 
 9. Carucate. — The carucate was of Norman 
 introduction, and probably nearly corresponded in 
 Norman to hide in Saxon. Its measure is involved 
 in as much uncertainty as that of the hide. Bishop 
 Kennett gives instances of its application to quan- 
 tities of land varying from 60 to as much as 150 
 acres. 
 
 We now proceed to give some account of the 
 royal revenue in this period. 
 
 The complete establishment of the feudal system 
 after the Norman conquest, put the kings of England 
 in possession of revenues greatly more ample than 
 their predecessors had enjoyed. The crown, in 
 the first place, as appears from Domesday Book, 
 acquired the entire property of above 1400 manors, 
 the rents of which must have formed a large in- 
 come altogether independent of casualties. These 
 were in addition to 68 royal forests, 13 chases, and 
 781 parks, in different parts of the country, which 
 were retained to serve as hunting grounds, and only 
 became a source of revenue in consequence of the 
 penalties to which the people were subjected for 
 trespasses upon them in breach of the forest laws. 
 But a very considerable annual return must also 
 have been derived from the various feudal dues that 
 remained payable even from the lands that were 
 gi-anted to his followers by the Norman Conqueror. 
 The crown, it is to be remembered, still retained 
 to itself what was called the dominium directum, or 
 property of these lands : the persons to whom they 
 were granted held them only as tenants under the 
 crown ; and, beside the services which they were 
 bound to render as vassals, they were subjected to 
 the payment both of quit-rents, which were regu- 
 larly collected by the sheriffs, and of other dues to 
 the lord superior, which, although only exigible upon 
 certain extraordinary occasions, were generally of 
 
 1 Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in Eng- 
 land. 8v(). Lond. 1830, p. 160. 
 
 s Introd. to Domesday, v. i. p. 95. 3 p^^. Antiq. Gloss. Hide. 
 
 VOL. I. — 36 
 
 much greater amount than the annual quit-rents. 
 Of these, the principal were, the Relief, or fine 
 which, on the death of every tenant, his heir was 
 obliged to pay to the lord before entering upon the 
 possession of the lands — being the same thing that 
 was known in the Saxon times by the name of the 
 Heriot, that is, the suit of armor, a certain quan- 
 tity of warlike weapons being the original exaction ; 
 the Primer Seisin, a species of additional relief, 
 consisting in some cases of a whole, in others of 
 half a year's profits of the lands, which was paya- 
 ble only by tenants of the crown ; Fines of Aliena- 
 tion, paid on the sale or grant by the tenant of any 
 part of the lands to a stranger ; and Aids, which 
 were called for to ransom the king whenever he 
 was taken prisoner in war, to furnish a portion for 
 any of his daughters when she was married, and 
 to defray the expense incurred when his eldest son 
 was made a knight. Every tenant of the crown 
 also was bound, whenever the king went to war, to 
 furnish an armed soldier, and to maintain him in 
 the field for forty days, for each knight's fee that 
 he possessed — the whole kingdom, as appears from 
 Domesday Book, containing 60,215 such fees. 
 This law, therefore, enabled the crown to raise and 
 keep on foot a numerous army in times of war at 
 no cost. The burden which it imposed upon the 
 tenants of the crown was afterward commuted by 
 Henry II. into a money-payment of twenty shil- 
 lings for each knight's fee, which was called an 
 escuage, or scutage, that is, literally, a tax for fur- 
 nishing a soldier armed with a bow.^ 
 
 The crown, beside, drew large profits from its 
 prerogatives of wardship and of marriage, by the 
 first of which it took the custody and drew the rents 
 of all estates held of it so long as the tenant, if a 
 male, was under twenty-one ; if a female under 
 sixteen years of age : and by the second of which it 
 disposed of all female heiresses, and also of all 
 widows, of its tenants in marriage, or exacted a fine 
 for the rehnquishment of the right. Both of these, 
 indeed, were rights of all lords of manors over their 
 vassals; and that of marriage was extended in, the 
 thirteenth century to heirs male as well as female. 
 Another right which the king possessed in common 
 with other lords was, to all escheats, that is, to all 
 the landed property of persons who either died 
 without heirs or whose blood was attainted by the 
 commission of treason or felony. The numerous 
 forfeitures of the estates of the large proprietors, 
 who were all tenants of the crown, that were con- 
 stantly occurring in the first ages after the Con- 
 quest, must have brought immense wealth into the 
 royal treasury. The estates of which the crown 
 acquired possession in this manner formed the only 
 fund from which it could legally make new grants 
 — the alienation of any part of the original royal 
 demesne being prohibited by law ; and although 
 this restriction was often violated, it was also at 
 other times taken advantage of by the king, and 
 made a pretext for resuming the illegal grants of 
 his predecessors. It was in this way that Henry 
 II., on his accession, recovered for the crown all 
 I See Barrington's Observations on the Statutes (2d edit.) p. 277.
 
 562 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 the estates (with the exception only of those ac- 
 quired by the church) that had been ahenated in 
 the preceding times of confusion, whether by Ste- 
 phen or by liis own mother, the empress. The 
 profits of the estates of all idiots also belonged to 
 the crown, as well as all the personal effects of per- 
 sons who had died without known heirs. The 
 crown had likewise a right to all treasure trove, or 
 money, plate, or bullion found hidden in the earth ; 
 to all waifs, or stolen goods thrown away by the 
 thief in his flight ; to all estrays, or cattle found 
 wandering without an owner ; to all royal fish — that 
 is, whales and sturgeons — either thrown ashore, or 
 caught close to it ; to all goods wrecked to which the 
 owner did not establish his claim within a certain 
 time ; and to all spoil taken in war. 
 
 The crown also possessed various other regular 
 sources of income, beside the produce of the crown 
 lands, and the different dues from its vassals. There 
 were various descriptions of what we should now 
 call taxes, either permanently established, or occa- 
 sionally imposed. In 1083, the Conqueror is said 
 to have revived the old Saxon land-tax, or hideage, 
 called the danegeld, of which an account has been 
 given in the preceding book,' and to have advanced 
 it to six shillings on each hide ; a rate at which, if 
 the common account of the number of hides of land 
 in England may be depended upon, it would have 
 produced above 80,000Z., an amountof silver equal to 
 what is contained in 240,000^. of our present money. 
 Gervase of Tilbury, or the author of the " Dialogue 
 on the Exchequer," commonly attributed to him, says 
 that William would not revive this tax as an annual 
 supply, nor yet would he entirely give it up, but 
 reserved it to answer extraordinary and unforeseen 
 occasions ; for which reason it was rarely taken 
 either by him or his successors, and only when 
 actual wars with foreign nations, or the fear thereof, 
 came upon them. A land-tax, however, can be 
 traced to have been repeatedly collected, either 
 under this or another name, by all the succeeding 
 kings. Such a tax appears, indeed, to have been 
 regularly levied throughout a great part of the reign 
 of Stephen ; it was occasionally revived by Henry 
 II. ; and Richard I. is recorded to have, in the tenth 
 year of his reign, collected it at the mte of five 
 shillings on each hide. The aids, mentioned above, 
 and also the scutages, appear to have been some- 
 times exacted under the name of a hideage, or 
 carucage. 
 
 A species of house-tax is mentioned in Domesday 
 Book under the name of Hearth-money, and seems 
 to have been collected both before and after the 
 Conquest. Another species of hearth-money, of 
 Norman origin, which was collected till its abolition 
 on the accession of Heniy I., was that called Mon- 
 eyage, being a tax of a shilling on each hearth, pay- 
 able every three years, as a recompense to the king 
 for not exercising his prerogative, as he was en- 
 titled to do, in altering or debasing the coins. Cus- 
 toms, or duties upon the import and export of articles 
 of merchandise, seem to have existed from the ear- 
 liest times, and were no doubt continued after the 
 
 1 See ante, p 241. 
 
 Conquest. Similar duties appear to have been also 
 paid by merchants selling their goods within the 
 kingdom, for the use of the king's warehouses, 
 weights, measures, &c. Another permanent tax 
 consisted of the tallages, that is, the cuttings, being 
 a certain assessment upon their property, annually 
 exacted from the inhabitants of the towns and bo- 
 roughs throughout the kingdom. The first general 
 personal tax, however, is said to have been imposed 
 by Henry II., in 1166, for the support of the war 
 in the Holy Land : it amounted only to sixpence in 
 the poimd upon each man's personal effects, to be 
 collected in five years, at the rate of twopence the 
 first year, and a penny each of the four years fol- 
 lowing. It was followed, in 1188, on the news of 
 the expulsion of the crusaders from Jenisalem, by 
 another tax of the same kind, but much heavier in 
 amount, being an exaction of the tenth of the per- 
 sonal property of all those who should not join the 
 expedition which it was proposed to send to regain 
 the holy city. This tax, which came to be known 
 by the name of the Saladin tithe, is said to have 
 produced 130,000L, of which the Jews contributed 
 60,000/. Some years after another new species of 
 general taxation was introduced by Richard I., un- 
 der the form of a scheme for the sale of licenses, 
 which persons of different degrees were obliged to 
 obtain before being permitted to engage in the ex- 
 ercise of the tournament ; an earl being called upon 
 to pay twenty marks of silver, a baron ten marks, a 
 knight having lands, four marks, and a knight with- 
 out lands, two marks. 
 
 Much additional revenue was also obtained by 
 means of various prerogatives of the crown that yet 
 remained to be mentioned. By that of pui-veyance 
 and preemption the king's pui-veyors were entitled 
 to take such provisions and other necessaries as 
 were wanted for the use of his household at a cer- 
 tain fixed price, without the owner's consent, and 
 also to impress the carriages and horses of the sub- 
 ject to do the king's business on the public roads. 
 Considerable profits were derived from the tolls 
 and other dues exacted at public fairs and markets ; 
 from the coining of money, and, in later times at 
 least, from the superintendence of weights and 
 measures, for which fees were received ; and from 
 the grant of patents and monopolies. All fines and 
 amerciaments paid by persons convicted of breaches 
 of the law also went to the king ; and this was one 
 of the most productive sources of revenue in early 
 times. The maintenance of the Saxon system of 
 pecuniary expiation for crimes, including both com- 
 pensation to the party injured and a fine to the king, 
 was no doubt recommended to the Conqueror, 
 among other considerations, by the supplies it pro- 
 vided for the royal coffers. It has even been sus- 
 pected that Henry II., in the institution of the itin- 
 erant justices, looked more to the benefit of the 
 revenue than to any other object. The instructions 
 given to them certainly show a great solicitude to 
 turn their administration of the law to account in 
 the augmentation of the royal profits. But the fines 
 exacted for offences by no means formed the only 
 revenue that the crown drew from its power of
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNIMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 563 
 
 administeriag and executing the law. Privileges of 
 all kinds wei'e matter of open purchase from the 
 king or the royal ofificers, by what were called obla- 
 tions or offerings, which was really onl}' another 
 name for bribes. If the dealers for instance, in any 
 commodity in a particular place, wished a certain 
 price to be fixed upon it below which it might not 
 be sold for a certain time, they bought an order to 
 that effect. Numbers of persons are recorded in 
 the rolls of the Exchequer to have paid large sums 
 merely to obtain the favor or good-will of the king, 
 or to induce him to remit his displeasure. Other 
 payments were made to purchase his direct inter- 
 ference with law proceedings. " Even in the reign 
 of Henry II.," observes Lord Lyttelton, "we have 
 instances of fines being paid to the king, from several 
 of his subjects, for stopping or delaying of pleas, 
 trials, and judgments, or for expediting and speed- 
 ing them, or to have seisin or restitution of their 
 lands or chattels, or to be replevied or bailed, or to 
 be quit of certain crimes or certain methods of trial 
 (as, for instance, by hot iron), or to have the assist- 
 ance of the king in recovering their debts." The 
 right of being tried by a jury was at first often pur- 
 chased by a money payment. Fines were often 
 paid for permission to hold or quit certain offices : 
 and in some reigns all offices under the crown were 
 sold. In the reign of John we find the wife of 
 Hugh de Neville paying a fine of two hundred hens 
 for permission to sleep one night with her husband : 
 she was probably a ward of the crown who had 
 married without the king's consent. It appears 
 also to have been customary, when any of these 
 bribes were paid to the king, for an acknowledg- 
 ment of smaller amount, which passed under the 
 name of the queen's gold, to be paid to his consort.' 
 To all these irregular sources of revenue may be 
 added the sums that were repeatedly obtained by 
 actual extortion and robbery. The Conqueror, ac- 
 cording to Matthew Paris, possessed himself in this 
 way of great quantities of wealth by plundering the 
 churches and monasteries, and seizing not only the 
 money that had been deposited in these buildings 
 for security, but even the shrines and chalices, and 
 other furniture of the altars. Both Rufus and Ste- 
 phen are accused of obtaining money by the same 
 open disregard of all law and right. The victims 
 of the most frequent exactions of this description, 
 however, were the Jews. '• As they fleeced the sub- 
 jects of the realm," says Madox, "so the king fleeced 
 them." Beside the general impositions that were 
 laid upon them, so constant a stream of fines and 
 amerciaments was derived from individuals of their 
 body, that a particular office of the Exchequer was 
 set apart for the management of the revenues thus 
 obtained. In the same class of irregular gains may 
 be placed the profits accruing from vacant church 
 livings retained in the hands of the crown, which 
 were sometimes very great. William Rufus is 
 stated to have been at his death in the receipt of 
 the temporalities of an archbishopric, four bishop- 
 rics, and eleven abbeys. Under this head, too, may 
 
 ' Mention is also found of the aurum regince, or queen's gold, in the 
 Saxon times. See Palgrave's Eng. Com. p. 652. 
 
 be reckoned the sums first extracted fi-om individ- 
 uals in the same reign under the name of Benevo- 
 lences, and the disguise of being free gifts, although 
 they were in fact compulsory; and the Loans, 
 equally free and equally gifts with the benevolences, 
 the credit of the contrivance of Avhich is assigned 
 to Richard I. Another of the expedients by this 
 king for raising money is said to have been the 
 causing a new gi-eat seal to be made, under the 
 pretence that the old one had been lost, and then 
 declaring all existing royal grants to be invalid un- 
 less the holders should take out renewals and con- 
 firmations of them at the cost of a second payment 
 of the fees. But it would be endless to enumerate 
 all the forms of royal extortion of which the records 
 of the period furnish instances. Any contrivance, 
 however essentially iniquitous or oppressive, to 
 which the thinnest color of a legal character could 
 be given, would appear to have answered the 
 purpose when an urgent occasion arose ; and indeed 
 at all times the sovereign seems to have been less 
 restrained in his exactions from the subject by any 
 barriers that the law presented, than by his own 
 sense of the length to which it was prudent to go, 
 or by the absolute failure of sources from which to 
 feed his rapacitj''. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that the annual returns 
 whicli flowed into the royal treasury through all 
 these channels must have been very great. Orderi- 
 cus Vitalis, who was a contemporary of the Con- 
 queror, assures us that the daily income of that 
 prince amounted to above 1060Z., without including 
 the casual profits arising from the redemption of 
 offenders and the other prerogatives of the crown. 
 This would make a fixed ordinary revenue of about 
 400,000^. a-year in the money of that day, which 
 would be equivalent in weight of silver to nearly 
 1,200,OOOL of our money, and in real efficacy, no 
 doubt, to a much larger sum. This statement of 
 Ordericus has been rejected as incredible by Hume 
 and other modern writers ; but from its precision 
 and formahty (the exact sum is set down, after the 
 manner of keeping accounts in the Exchequer books, 
 at one thousand and sixty pounds, thirty shillings, 
 and three farthings, and that in words at full length), 
 it would seem to have been taken from an official 
 record, and it can only be reasonably disputed on 
 the supposition of some corruption having crept into 
 the text. Wilham is said to have left at his death, 
 in the royal treasury at Winchester, 60,000 pounds 
 of silver, beside gold, jewels, vestments, and other 
 articles of great value ; and this was probably only 
 part of his accumulated wealth, much, if not most, 
 of which we may suppose, he would have with him 
 in Normandy, where he died. Nor is the accaunt 
 of the Conqueror's income given by Ordericus incon- 
 sistent with almost the only other notice of a similar 
 kind relating to this period that has been preserved 
 — that which is found in Hoveden of the revenue 
 of Richard I. This historian relates that when 
 Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, resigned the 
 office of high justiciary in 1196, he proved from 
 his books that the revenue he had collected for the 
 king during the two preceding years amounted to
 
 564 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 not less than 1,100,000 marks, or about 750,000 
 pounds of silver. The revenue of the Conqueror, in 
 all probability, considerably exceeded that of Richard. 
 According to the author of the " Dialogue on the 
 Exchequer," the rents of the crown lands were 
 paid in kind from the Conquest till the latter part 
 of the reign of Henry I., when, in consequence 
 of the complaints of the vassals of the great oppres- 
 sions they suffered in being obliged to bring provi- 
 sions for the royal household to different parts of 
 the country from their own dwellings, that prince, 
 with the advice of his great council, sent commis- 
 sioners over the kingdom to estimate the money 
 value of all the rents ; after which the sheriff of 
 each county was appointed to collect them, and to 
 account for them to the Exchequer. It is certain, 
 however, that they were partially paid in money 
 before this time. The institution of the Exchequer, 
 
 we may add, is ascribed b3- the author of the "Dia- 
 logue" to the Conqueror, who took the plan of it, he 
 says, from the Exchequer of Normandy, yet with 
 many differences, and some even in points of great 
 importance. " The authority of this court," the 
 writer proceeds, " is very eminent, as well in re- 
 spect of the image of the king impressed on his 
 great seal, which is constantly kept in the Treasury, 
 as of the persons who sit there, by whose wisdom 
 the whole state of the realm is preserved and main- 
 tained in safety ; for there resides the king's chief 
 justiciary, who is next to the king in jurisdiction ; 
 and all the gi'eatest men of the kingdom, who are 
 of his privy council, have also places there ; that 
 whatsoever is decreed or determined in the presence 
 of so august an assembly may remain inviolable." 
 This treatise appears to have been written in the 
 reign of Henry H.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY, 
 
 565 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRY 
 
 HE Norman 
 quest, by the 
 
 Con- 
 closer 
 connection which it 
 established between 
 our island and the 
 continent, must have 
 laid the foundation for 
 an ultimate extension 
 of English commerce ; 
 but a revolution which 
 so completely over- 
 turned the estabhshed 
 order of things, and 
 produced so much suffering to the body of the pop- 
 ulation, could not be favorable, in the first instance, 
 or until after the lapse of a considerable space of 
 time, either to the foreign trade of the country, or 
 to the national industry in any of its other branches. 
 For the first four reigns after the Conquest, accord- 
 ingly, the notices that have come down to us on the 
 subject of the present chapter are very few and un- 
 important. 
 
 When the Normans first came over, however, they 
 found England a country possessed of considerable 
 capital, or accumulated wealth, and also, as it would 
 seem, of a flourishing foreign commerce, which had, 
 no doubt, chiefly grown up in the long, and, for the 
 greater part, tranquil reign of the Confessor. We 
 have already quoted the account given by William 
 of Poictiers, of the quantities of gold and silver and 
 other precious effects which the Conqueror carried 
 with him on his first visit to Normandy, and of the 
 admiration which these spoils excited both in the 
 Normans themselves, and in strangers from other 
 parts of the continent by whom they were seen.^ 
 The writer expressly testifies that merchants from 
 distant countries were at this time wont to import in- 
 to England articles of foreign manufacture that were 
 unknown in Normandy. He mentions also in other 
 passages, the great wealth of the native or resident 
 merchants, both of London and Winchester. Exe- 
 ter was another town distinguished for its opulence ; 
 and Ordericus Vitalis relates, that when it was at- 
 tacked by the Conqueror, in 1068,^ there were in 
 the harbor a gi-eat number of foreign merchants 
 and mariners, who were compelled by the citizens 
 to assist them in their defence. These notices 
 occur incidentally in the relation of political transac- 
 tions or military events ; no chronicler has thought 
 it worth his while to enumerate either the various 
 points at which this foreign commerce was carried 
 on, or the articles in the exchange of which it con- 
 sisted. If our information were more complete, 
 we should probably find that it was shared by vari- 
 
 1 See ante, p. 351. a ibiJ. p. 353. 
 
 ous Other towns beside those that have been men- 
 tioned. There is reason to believe that Hastings, 
 Dover, Sandwich, and the other towns on the coast 
 nearest to France, which afterward came to be dis- 
 tinguished as the Cinque Ports, and also Lincoln, 
 and York, and other places in the more northern 
 parts of the kingdom, all at this time maintained 
 some commercial intercourse with the Continent — 
 with Italy, and perhaps also with Spain, as well as 
 with France, and the North of Europe or Germany. 
 An active trade seems also to have existed between 
 Ireland and both Bristol and Chester on the west 
 coast. 
 
 The principal exports at this early period were 
 probably the same that for many ages after consti- 
 tuted the staples of our trade with foreign coun- 
 tries, namely, the natural productions of the island 
 — its tin and lead, its wool and hides, and sometimes 
 perhaps also its beeves, and the other produce of 
 the same description reared in its pastures and 
 forests. We find a regular trade in these and other 
 articles established at the most remote date to which 
 it is possible to carry back the history of English 
 commerce ; and it may be safely presumed that 
 they were the commodities for which the island 
 was resorted to by foreign merchants from the ear- 
 liest times. As for corn, it was pi'obably at this 
 date, as it long afterward continued to be, some- 
 times an article of export, sometimes of import. 
 The articles we have enumerated were, lio doubt, 
 those in the production of which the industry of 
 the great body of the people was employed. The 
 only manufacture for their skill, in which the Eng- 
 lish were then eminent, was the working in gold 
 and silver ; and William of Poictiers states that the 
 best German artists in that department found them- 
 selves encouraged to come and take up their resi- 
 dence in the country. From this, we may presume 
 that the chief demand for their productions and 
 those of the native artists of the same class was 
 among the English themselves; but from the high 
 repute of the English workmanship, some of the 
 embroidered stuffs, of the vases, ornamented drink- 
 ing-cups, and other similar articles fabricated here, 
 would, no doubt, also be sent abroad. Considerable 
 quantities of the precious metals must have been 
 consumed in the manufacture of these articles ; and 
 it is not unlikely that the supply was in great part 
 obtained from Ireland, where it is agi-eed on all 
 hands, that, whencesoever it mny have been obtained 
 — whether from native mines, or from the ancient 
 intercourse of the island with the East, or from 
 the Northmen, enriched by the spoils of their pi- 
 racy, who had conquered and occupied a great pnrt 
 of the island in the period immediately precediuc:
 
 566 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 that with wliich we are now engaged — there was 
 formerly an extraordinary abundance of gold and 
 silver, of the former especially.' William of Malms- 
 bury, it may be observed, seems to speak of the 
 trade between England and Ireland as one which 
 the former country could dispense with without any 
 serious inconvenience, but upon which the latter 
 was dependent for the necessaries of life. He tells 
 us that upon one occasion, when the Irish monarch, 
 Murcard (or Murtach O'Brien) behaved somewhat 
 haughtily toward Henry I., he was speedily hum- 
 bled by the English king prohibiting all trade be- 
 tween the two countries ; " for how wretched," 
 adds the historian, " would Ireland be if no goods 
 were imported into it from England." Perhaps 
 English agricultm-al produce was exchanged for Irish 
 gold. 
 
 In the violent transference and waste of property, 
 however, that followed the Conquest, and tlie long 
 struggle the invaders had to sustain before thc^y 
 made good their footing in the country, the wealth, 
 and commerce, and general industry of England, 
 must all have received a shock from which it was 
 not possible that they could rapidly recover. The 
 minds and the hands of men were necessarily 
 called away from all peaceful pursuits, and engaged 
 in labors which produced no wealth. Nor was the 
 system of government and of society that was at 
 List established favorable, even after its consolidation 
 and settlement, to trade and industry. It was a 
 system of oppression and severe exaction on the one 
 hand, depriving the industrious citizen of the fruits 
 
 1 " It appears that there were greater stores of the precious metals 
 inlrelaiiil than could well be supposed. Large sums of gold and silver 
 were frequently given for the ransom of men of rank taken in liattle ; 
 and duties or rents, paid in gold or silver, to ecclesiastical establish- 
 ments, occur very often in the Irish annals. At the consecration of a 
 church in the year 1157, Murha O'Lochlin, King of Ireland, gave a 
 town, 150 cows, and 60 ounces of gold, to God and the clergy ; a chief, 
 called O'Carrol, gave also 60 ounces of gold ; and Tiernan O'Ruark's 
 wife gave as much — donations which would have been esteemed very 
 great in that age in England or upon the continent. What superstition 
 so liberally gave, some species of industry must have acquired ; and 
 that was most probably the pasturage of cattle. ...unless we will sup- 
 pose that the mines of Ireland, which, though unnoticed by any 
 writer, seem to have been at some time very productive, were still 
 capable of supplying the sums collected in the coffers of the chiefs and 
 the clergy " — Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, p. 334. See also 
 ante, p. 12 
 
 of his exertions and of the motive to labor ; and, on 
 the other hand, it was a system of which the ani- 
 mating principle was the encouragement of the 
 martial spirit, to which that of trade and industry is 
 as nmch opposed as creation is opposed to destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 Two charters were granted to the citj' of London 
 by the Conqueror, and a third by Henry I. ; but it 
 is remarkable, that not even in the last-mentioned, 
 which is of considerable length, and confers nume- 
 rous privileges, is there anything relating to the 
 subject of commerce, with the exception of a clause, 
 declaring that all the men of London and their goods 
 should be exempted throughout England and also in 
 the ports from all tolls and other customs. There 
 is no reference to the city itself as a great mart, or 
 to either its shipping or its port. Even in the gen- 
 eral charter granted by Henry I., on his acces- 
 sion, there is not a word in relation to commerce 
 or merchants. It is stated, however, by William 
 of Poictiers, that the Conqueror invited foreign 
 merchants to the country by assurances of his pro- 
 tection. 
 
 The numerous ships in which the Conqueror 
 brought over his troops — amounting, it is said, in 
 all, to about 700 vessels of considerable size, beside 
 more than three times that number of inferior 
 dimensions — must have formed, for some time, a 
 respectable royal navy. William of Poictiers in- 
 forms us that the first care of the duke, after dis- 
 embarking his men, was to erect defences for the 
 protection of his ships ; and most of them were, 
 doubtless, preserved, and afterward employed in 
 war or commerce. It is the opinion of a late writer, 
 that the numerous fleet thus brought over by the 
 Conqueror, "when not engaged in ferrying himself 
 and his armies to and from the continent, was 
 probably employed in trading between his old and 
 new territories and the adjacent coasts of France 
 and Flanders, which Avere all now connected with 
 the new masters of England."' We find a naval 
 force occasionally employed in the wars even of the 
 first English kings after the Conquest. The Saxon 
 Chronicle states, that when the Conqueror made 
 
 1 Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, i 307. 
 
 Ship BriLmso. Roval MS. 2 B. vii
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 567 
 
 his expedition against Scotland in 1072. he sent a 
 fleet to attack that country by sea, at the same time 
 that he invaded it in person at the head of his army. 
 The good service done for Rufus against his brother 
 Robert by the privateers which he pei-mitted his 
 Enghsh subjects to fit out in the beginning of his 
 reign, has been mentioned in the narrative of civil 
 and military transactions.^ A fleet was also equip- 
 ped by Henry I., to oppose the threatened invasion 
 of Robert, on his accession, the greater part of 
 which, however, deserted to the enemy.^ Pro- 
 vision, indeed, was made by the Conqueror for the 
 defence of the kingdom, whenever it should become 
 necessary, by a naval force, by means of the regu- 
 lations which he established in regard to the Cinque 
 Ports — originally Hastings, Hythe, Romney, Dover, 
 and Sandwich — each of which towns was bound, 
 upon forty days' notice, to furnish and man a certain 
 number of ships of war, in proportion probably to its 
 estimated wealth or population. Other towns in 
 different parts of the coast also appear to have held 
 of the crown by the same kind of service- 
 One of the old Saxon laws revived or continued 
 by the Conqueror, and the only one in the collection 
 of enactments which passes under the name of his 
 charter, having any reference to ti'ade, is the pro- 
 hibition against all purchases above a certain amount, 
 except in the presence of witnesses. " No one 
 shall buy," it is declared, " either what is living or 
 what is dead, to the value of four pennies, without 
 four witnesses, either of the borough or of the 
 village."^ 
 
 We have already mentioned the establishment 
 by Henry I. of the colony of Flemings in the dis- 
 trict of Ross, in Pembrokeshire.* These foreigners 
 had come over in the reign of the Conqueror, driven 
 from their native country, it is said, by an inunda- 
 tion of the sea, and they had been settled, in the 
 first instance, chiefly about Carlisle and the neigh- 
 boring ports, and as it would seem, with a view 
 merely to the service their hardihood and skill in 
 war might be of in the defence of the northern 
 frontier of the kingdom. But they were as dex- 
 trous in handling both the plough and the shuttle as 
 the sword. Henry is said to have been induced to 
 remove them to Wales, by finding that they and 
 the English, with whom they were mixed, did not 
 agree well together. In the district of which he 
 put them in possession, and which he had taken 
 from the Welsh, they maintained their ground 
 against all tliB efforts of the hostile people by whom 
 they were surrounded, to dislodge them, and soon 
 came to be regarded as the force to be mainly de- 
 pended upon for keeping the Welsh in check. By 
 these Flemings the manufacture of woolen cloths 
 appears to have been first introduced into this 
 country ; and it is supposed that they soon came to 
 be made for exportation as well as for home con- 
 sumption. Giraldus Cambrensis describes the for- 
 eigners as " a people excellently skilled both in the 
 business of making cloth and in that of merchandise, 
 and always ready with any labor or danger to seek 
 
 1 See ante, p. 380. 
 
 3 See ante, p. 258. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 394. 
 i Ihid. p. 39S. 
 
 for gain by sea or land."' It is probable that they 
 also introduced some improvements in agriculture ; 
 and, altogether, the example of industry, activity, 
 and superior acquirements set by this interesting 
 colony — the last, as it has been remarked, of any 
 consequence settled in any part of the island till 
 the coming over of the French Protestant silk- 
 weavers, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, 
 in 1685 — could not fail to be of high public benefit. 
 Their language was very nearly the same with the 
 English ; and the district in which they dwelt, it 
 seems, used to be called little England beyond 
 Wales ; in fact, they made the whole county of 
 Pembroke, though lying at the further extremity of 
 Wales, an English county. Henry II. afterward 
 added to their numbers by permitting some of those 
 of their countrymen who had served as mercena- 
 ries under Stephen to settle among them. It is said 
 that the descendants of these Flemings may still be 
 distinguished from their Welsh neighbors. 
 
 The Flemings were indebted, both for the wel- 
 come reception they met with in the first instance, 
 and for the permanent settlement they obtained, to 
 their martial more than to their commercial skill — 
 to their being a people, as Giraldus expresses it, 
 equally most ready, now at the plough — now at the 
 sword.^ The Jews, who came over in great num- 
 bers soon after the Conquest, were a people of 
 altogether another stamp. Precluded by their re- 
 ligion from engaging in the wars of any of the Eu- 
 ropean nations among whom they had settled, they 
 had become mere traders, and were, indeed, men 
 of peace in a more strict sense than any other class 
 of persons in those days, the clergy themselves not 
 excepted. Independently, therefore, of the odium 
 to which their faith exposed them, their habits made 
 them in a peculiar degi-ee objects of hatred and 
 contempt to the warlike population of England and 
 the other countries in which they took up their 
 residence. Yet almost wherever commerce had 
 taken any root, there were they to be found, pur- 
 suing perseveringly, under obloquy, danger, and the 
 cruelest oppression, their peculiar ti'ade. To draw 
 down upon them still more of the popular suspicion 
 and dislike in a rude and ignorant age, that trade 
 was not any species of industry by which produce 
 of any kind was visibly created ; it did not necessarily 
 imply even the exertion of any peculiar powers or 
 acquirements ; it was labor neither of the hand 
 nor of the head. Yet it was, in truth, a trade as 
 essential to the creation of wealth as any labor. 
 The Jews were the capitalists of those times ; they 
 were the dealers in that other element, by a com- 
 bination with which alone it is that labor itself can, 
 in the creation of wealth, accomplish any extraordi- 
 nary results. Even in that dark and turbulent age 
 the inherent power of property was strikingly 
 evinced in their case, by the protection which it 
 long secured to them, notwithstanding all the hos- 
 tility of the popular feeling, and the disregard of 
 them by the law itself. It was early found neces- 
 
 1 Itinerar. Canib. i. ii. Giraldus adds, that they were admirably 
 skilled in soothsaying, by the inspection of the entrails of beasts I 
 
 2 Nunc ad aralra, nunc ad arnia, pens pn)niptissinia.
 
 568 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book 1111 
 
 sary to support them iu their rights over their debt- 
 ors; and, while affairs went on in their ordinary 
 course, it does not appear that a Jew ever had any 
 greater difficulty in recovering the money owing to 
 him than a Christian. The law, indeed, seems to 
 have considered the Jews as the property of the 
 king ; and he oppressed and ])Iundered them to 
 any extent that he deemed prudent. But he did 
 not usually allow them to be injured by others ; and 
 perhaps, indeed, they were more secure imdor the 
 royal protection than they would have been under 
 that of the law. Some of the kings, William Rufus 
 in particular, excited much popular clamor by fa- 
 voring them, as it was alleged, too much. Their 
 wealth enabled them, at different times, to purchase 
 charters from the crown. For one which they ob- 
 tained from King John, and which is styled a con- 
 firmation of their charters, they are recorded to have 
 paid four thousand marks ; and it refers to previous 
 charters which they had received both from Henry I. 
 and Henry H.' 
 
 There are traces, as we have already had occa- 
 sion to observe, of an intercourse having subsisted 
 between these islands and the East, from the remo- 
 test times. The mere derivation of the people of 
 Europe from Asia, most probably of itself had always 
 kept up some connection between the East and the 
 West ; neither the Gothic nor the earlier Celtic col- 
 onists of Europe seem to have ever altogether for- 
 gotten their Oriental origin ; the memory of it lives 
 in the oldest traditions alike of the Irish and of the 
 Scandinavians. But even within the historic period 
 we find a succession of different causes operating to 
 keep up a connection between Britain and the East. 
 As long as the country was under the dominion of 
 the Romans it was of course united by many ties, 
 and by habits of regular intercourse, with all the 
 other parts of the extended empire to which it be- 
 longed. Afterward, in the Saxon times, the estab- 
 lishment of Christianity in the country contributed 
 in various ways to keep up its connection with the 
 East. The Greek learning, and probably also some 
 of the Greek arts, were introduced by Archbishop 
 Theodore and other churchmen from Asia : at a 
 later date we find Alfred dispatching a mission to 
 the Christians in India; and not long afterward we 
 find pilgrimage to the Holy Land becoming a com- 
 mon practice. From this practice we may most 
 properly date the commencement of our modern 
 trade with the East ; it has ever since been a well- 
 established and regular intercourse. The pilgrims, 
 from the first, very generally combined the charac- 
 ters of devotees and merchants. Then, toward the 
 close of the eleventh century, commenced the cru- 
 sades, which for nearly two hundred years kept, as 
 it were, a broad highway open between Europe and 
 Asia, along which multitudes of persons of all sorts 
 were continually passing and repassing. 
 
 Some curious evidences of the extent to which 
 Eastern commodities noAv began to find their way to 
 rhe remotest extremities of Europe, may be collected 
 from the records of the times. One very remark- 
 able notice occurs in the Register of the Priory of 
 
 ' Madox, Hist. Excheq. p. 174. 
 
 St. Andrew, in Scotland, in which it is related that 
 Alexander I., when bestowing a certain endowment 
 of land upon the church of that city, presented at 
 the same time an Arabian horse which he was wont 
 to I'ide, with his bridle, saddle, shield, and silver 
 lance, a magnificent pall or horse-cloth, and other 
 Turkish arms (arma Turchensia ) of various descrip- 
 tions. He caused the horse, arrayed in its splendid 
 furniture, to be led up to the high altar of the 
 church ; and the chronicler adds tliat the Turkish 
 armor, the shield, and the saddle were still pre- 
 served there, and shown to the pco])le, who came 
 from all parts of the country to behold them. Alex- 
 ander reigned from 1107 till 1124 ; and this account 
 is written in the reign of his brother and successor, 
 David I.' 
 
 But the most precious gift which Europe obtained 
 from the East within tlie present period was the 
 knowledge of the art of rearing and managing the 
 silk-worm. Cloth of silk had long been known in 
 England and other European countries, to which it 
 was brought in a manufoctui-ed state from Greece 
 and other parts of the East. Afterward the Sara- 
 cens introduced the art of weaving silk into Spain. 
 The silk-worm, however, was first brought from 
 Greece, in 1146, by Roger, the Norman king of 
 Sicily, who, in an expedition which ho led against 
 Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, carried off a great 
 number of silk-weavers from these cities, and set- 
 tled them in his capital of Palermo. From them 
 the Sicilians learned both how to weave the cloth 
 and how to rear the worm ; and within twenty years 
 from this time the silk fabrics of Sicily were cele- 
 brated over Europe. It is not till some centuries 
 later that we have any accounts of the establishment 
 of any branch of the manufecture in this country ; 
 but from about this time we find silks becoming 
 much more abundant in England as well as in the 
 other countries of Europe than formerly — and they 
 must now have been imported, probably from Spain, 
 Sicily, and Italy, as well as from Asia, in consider- 
 able quantities. 
 
 It so happens that rather more information has 
 come down to us respecting the commerce of Scot- 
 land than of England during the first half of the 
 twelfth century. We have not only some very in- 
 teresting notices respecting David I., who reigned 
 from 1124 till 1153, from the historian Ailred, or 
 Aldred, who was educated in Scotland along with 
 Prince Henry, David's eldest son ; but we have also 
 a collection of the laws and customs of the burghs 
 of Scotland, which professes to be as old as the reign 
 of the same king, and is generally admitted to be, 
 in the greater part, of that antiquity. Ailred cele- 
 brates the attention of David to foreign commerce. 
 He exchanged, he says, the produce of Scotland for 
 the wealth of other kingdoms, and made foreign 
 merchandise abound in his harbors. Among the 
 laws of the burghs attributed to him, the following 
 may be quoted as referring to trade with other coun- 
 tries : — By chap. 10, all goods imported by sea are 
 
 1 Extracts from the Register of St. Andrews, printed in Pinkerton's 
 Inquiry, i. 464. The circumstance is also mentioned by Wynton, who 
 is, however, a much later authority.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY, 
 
 569 
 
 ordered not to be sold before being landed, except 
 salt and herrings ; by chap. 18, foreign merchants 
 are prohibited from buying wool, hides, or other 
 goods, from any but burgesses ; and by chap. 48, the 
 lands of all persons trading to foreign countries are 
 exempted from seizure for any claim whatever du- 
 ring their absence, unless they appeared to have 
 withdrawn on purpose to evade justice. From this 
 regulation it would appear that some of the Scottish 
 merchants already traded themselves to foreign 
 parts. Another of these burgh laws prohibits all 
 persons except bui'gesses from buying wool for dye- 
 ing, or making into cloth, or for cutting cloth for sale, 
 except the owners of sheep, who might do with 
 their own wool what they chose. The manufac- 
 ture of woolen cloth had, therefore, been by this 
 time introduced into Scotland. The art had prob- 
 ably been taught to the inhabitants of that country 
 by settlers from England. William of Newbury, 
 writing about twenty years after the death of David, 
 says that the towns and burghs of Scotland were 
 then chiefly occupied by English inhabitants. We 
 know, too, that in the next reign numbers of Flem- 
 ings left England and took refuge in Scotland. 
 " We can trace the settlement of these industrious 
 citizens," says Mr. Tytler, "during the twelfth and 
 thirteenth centuries, in almost every part of Scot- 
 land ; in Berwick, the great mart of our foreign com- 
 merce ; in the various towns along the east coast; 
 in St. Andrews, Perth, Dumbarton, Ayr, Peebles, 
 Lanark, Edinburgh ; and in the districts of Ren- 
 frewshire, Clydesdale, and Annandale. There is 
 ample evidence of their industrious progress in Fife, 
 in Angus, in Aberdeenshire, and as far north as In- 
 verness and Urquhart. It would even appear, from 
 a record of the reign of David II., that the Flemings 
 had procured from the Scottish monarchs a right to 
 the protection and exercise of their own laws. It 
 has been ingeniously conjectured that the story of 
 Malcolm IV. having dispossessed the ancient inhab- 
 itants of Moray, and of his planting a new colony in 
 their stead, may have originated in the settlement 
 of the Flemings in that remote and rebellious dis- 
 trict.^ The early domestic manufactures of our 
 country, the woolen fabrics which are mentioned by 
 the statutes of David, and the dyed and shorn cloths 
 which appear in the charter of William the Lion 
 to the burgh of Perth, must have been greatly im- 
 proved by the superior dexterity and knowledge of 
 the Flemings ; and the constant commercial inter- 
 course which they kept up with their own Uttle 
 states could not fail to be beneficial in imparting the 
 knowledge and improvements of the continental 
 nations into the remoter country where they had 
 settled."^ A manuscript in the Cottonian Library, 
 the work of a contemporary writer, is quoted by Mr. 
 Macpherson for the fact, that, in the reign of Da- 
 vid I., the Frith of Forth was frequently covered 
 with boats manned by English, Scottish, and Belgic 
 fishermen, who were attracted by the great abun- 
 dance of fish (most probably herrings) in the neigh- 
 l)orhood of the island of May. Anderson speaks of 
 the Netherlanders resorting to Scotland so early as 
 
 1 See ante, p. 524. • Ilistorj- of Scctland, ii. 287. 
 
 about the jear 836, for the purpose of buying salted 
 fish of the Scotch fishermen ;' but his authority for 
 this statement is not known. Mr. Macpherson con- 
 siders the passage in the Cottonian Manuscript to 
 be " the very first authentic and positive notice of a 
 fishery, having any claim to consideration as a com- 
 mercial object, upon the North-British coast.'* Hw 
 also doubts if it be not " the eai-liest notice of Eng- 
 lish fishermen going so far from their own ports, on 
 a fishing voyage, if they were indeed subjects of 
 England ; for in the age of the wi'iter here quoted, 
 the Scottish subjects on the south side of the Frith 
 of Forth were called English." '^ 
 
 The long reign and able and successful govern- 
 ment of Henry II. not only enabled the commerce 
 of England to recover from the depression under 
 which it had languished during the whole of the 
 turbulent and miserable reign of his predecessor, 
 but eventually raised it to an extent and importance 
 which it had certainly never attained either since 
 the Conquest or before it, at least since the depart- 
 ure of the Romans. The intercourse, in particular, 
 between this country and France, must immedi- 
 ately have been placed upon a new footing, and no 
 doubt greatly augmented, both by the restoration of 
 the old connection with Normandy, and still more 
 by Henry's acquisition through his marriage of the 
 great duchy of Aquitaine, which gave the English 
 crown the dominion of all the French coast from 
 Picardy to the Pyrenees. Some years afterward 
 the conquest of Ireland, and the establishment in 
 that island of a numerous English population, must 
 have also considerably extended the range, or at 
 least added to the activity, of English commerce in 
 that other direction. 
 
 In several contemporary wi'iters we find notices 
 of the commerce of London, and also of other Eng- 
 lish cities, in this reign. Henry II., in a charter 
 which is without date, but which was probably 
 gi-anted soon after he came to the throne, confirmed 
 to the citizens of London all the privileges which 
 they enjoyed under his grandfather, with some oth- 
 ers in addition, none of which, however, have any 
 particvilar reference to the commerce of the city. 
 The fullest and most curious account we have of 
 London at this period, is that given in the introduc- 
 tion to a Latin Life of Becket, by a monk of Can- 
 terbury, of Norman descent, named William Fitz- 
 stephen, or Stephanides, as he calls himself in 
 Latin, which appears to have been written about 
 1174. He says that no city in the world sent out 
 its wealth and merchandise to so great a distance : 
 but he has not recorded either the description of 
 goods that were thus exported, or the countries to 
 which they were sent. Among the articles, how- 
 ever, which were then brought to London by for- 
 eign merchants, he enumerates gold, spices, and 
 frankincense from Arabia ; precious stones from 
 Egypt ; purple cloths from India; palm-oil from Bag- 
 dad ; furs and ermines from Norway and Russia ; 
 arms from Scythia ; and wines from France. The 
 citizens he describes as distinguished above all 
 
 ' Origin of Commerce, i. 77. (Edit, of \'i.'-j 
 - Annals of Commerce, i. 325
 
 570 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 others in England for the elegance of then- manners 
 and dross, and the magnificence of their tables. It 
 was in this reigu, it may be observed, that London 
 first became decidedly, what Fitzstephen calls it, 
 the capital of the kingdom of England (regni Anglo- 
 rum sedes). Winchester, the ancient royal seat of 
 the West Saxons, although it was the place where 
 the early Norman kings kept their treasury, had 
 begim to decline even befoi'e the Conquest, and had 
 sustained such calamities in the civil wars of the 
 time of Stephen that it was never afterward in a 
 condition to dispute the ascendency of its rival on 
 the Thames. At this time, according to Fitz- 
 stephen, and his account is confirmed by Peter of 
 Blois, there were, in the city and suburbs, thirteen 
 large conventual churches and 126 parochial ones. 
 The archdeacon says that the population was only 
 40,000 ; but this is not absolutely inconsistent with 
 the statement of Fitzstephen, that in the reign of 
 Stephen there issued from the citj% of fighting men, 
 no fewer than GO, 000 foot and 20,000 horse, since 
 the army assembled in the city, or raised under the 
 orders of its authorities, might very possibly greatly 
 exceed the number of the actual inhabitants. It is 
 most probable, however, that there is an error in 
 the numbers found in Fitzstephen's text as it has 
 come down to us. He adds, that the dealers in the 
 various sorts of commodities, and the laborers and 
 artisans of every kind, were to be found every day 
 stationed in their several distinct places throughout 
 the city, and that a market was held every Friday 
 in Smithfield for the sale of horses, cows, hogs, &c. 
 At this time Ludgate, now far within Temple Bar, 
 Avas the west end of London ; the space from thence 
 to Westminster was a tract of fields and gardens : 
 Moorfields was a lai-ge lake of water, into which ran 
 several streams turning mills ; the rising grounds 
 toward Pentonville and Islington were covered with 
 corn and grass ; and a large district of country be- 
 yond was a forest, that had probably stood since the 
 creation, in which the citizens hunted wild boars 
 and other game. Acccording to Fitzstephen, the 
 citizens of London were distinguished from those 
 of other towns by the appellation of barons ; and 
 Malmsbury, an author of the same age, also tells us 
 that, from their superior opulence and the great- 
 ness 'of the city, they were considered as ranking 
 with the chief people or nobility of the kingdom. 
 "It is filled,"' he adds, "with merchandise brought 
 by the merchants of all countries, but chiefly those 
 of Germany ; and, in case of scarcity of corn in other 
 l)arts of England, it is a granary where the article 
 may be bought cheaper than anywhere else." It 
 was in London that the Jews chiefly resided, and 
 many of them were no doubt among its wealthiest 
 citizens. 
 
 The following are some of the most remarkable 
 particulars that are to be collected from contempo- 
 rary authorities respecting other English cities at 
 this period. Exeter, according to Malmsbury, was 
 a magnificent city, filled with opulent citizens. 
 Henry of Huntingdon states, that in consequence of 
 its being the principal port for the mineral produc- 
 t'l n? of the adjacent country, it was so much resorted 
 
 to by foreign merchants, that everytliing that could 
 be desired might be purchased there in abundance. 
 Bristol is mentioned by Malmsbury as having a great 
 trade, not only with Ireland, but also with Norway 
 and other foreign countries. Both Gloucester and 
 Winchester are celebrated for the excellence of 
 their wines made from the grapes of the country. 
 For foreign wines, again, Chester would appear to 
 have been one of the chief ports, if we may trust 
 the testimony of a monk of that city named Lucian, 
 whom Camden quotes. According to this authority, 
 ships repaired to Chester in great numbers, not only 
 from Ireland, but also from Gascony, Spain, anA|| 
 Germany, and supphed the inhabitants with all soit^ 
 of commodities ; " so that," adds Lucian, " being 
 comforted by the favor of God in all things, we drink 
 wine very plentifully ; for those countries have 
 abundance of vineyards." Dunwich, on the coast 
 of Suttolk, now reduced by the encroachments of 
 the sea to an insignificant village, is described by 
 William of Newburgh as a famous seaport town, 
 stored with various kinds of riches ; and in the reign 
 of John this town is stated to have paid twice as 
 much rent to the king as any other upon the neigh- 
 boring coast. Norwich is described in general terms 
 by Malmsbury as famous for its commerce and the 
 numbers of its population. Lynn is described by 
 Newburgh as a city distinguished for commerce and 
 abundance, the residence of many wealthj- Jews, 
 and resorted to by foreign vessels. Lincoln, Malms- 
 bury speaks of as having become one of the most 
 populous seats of home and foreign trade in Eng- 
 land, principally in consequence of a canal of about 
 seven miles in length, made by Henry I., from the 
 Trent to the Witham, which enabled foreign vessels 
 to come up to the city. Grimsby is noted by the 
 Norwegian, or Icelandic writers, as an emporium 
 resorted to by merchants from Norway, Scotland, 
 Orkney, and the Western Islands. York is men- 
 tioned by Malmsbury as resorted to by vessels both 
 from Germany and Ireland, though surely it lay very 
 much out of the way of any trade with the latter 
 country. Whitby, Hartlepool, and some other towns 
 on the same part of the east coast, appear to have 
 possessed shipping. Berwick, as already noticed, 
 was the most eminent of the Scottish towns for 
 foreign commerce. It had many ships. Perth, 
 however, was at this time, properly speaking, the 
 capital of Scotland ; and Alexander Neckhem, Abbot 
 of Cirencester, a Latin poet of this ag«, says that 
 the whole kingdom was supported by the wealth of 
 that city. Inverleith (now Leith), Striveling (now 
 Stirling), and Aberdeen, are also mentioned in char- 
 ters as places at which there was some shipping 
 and trade, and where customs were collected.' 
 Glasgow was as yet a mere village ; it was made a 
 burgh, subject to the bishop, by William the Lion, 
 in 1175; but in the charter there is no mention of 
 a guild, of any mercantile privilege, or of any trade 
 whatever, except the liberty of having a weekly 
 market. Edinburgh, though it was probably made 
 a burgh by David I., was of little note till the middle 
 
 1 See these and other facts collected, and the authorities cited, by 
 the laborious and accurate Macpherson, Ann. of Com. i. 330—333
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 571 
 
 of the fifteenth century. In Ireland, Dublin, which 
 Henry II. granted by a charter in 1172 to be inhab- 
 ited by his men of Bristol, is spoken of by Newburgh 
 as a noble city, which, it is added, somewhat hyper- 
 bolically, might be considered as almost the rival of 
 London for its opulence and commerce. 
 
 There are two laws of Henry II. relating to 
 commerce, that deserve to be here mentioned. 
 Henry I. had so far mitigated the old law or cus- 
 tom, which made all wrecks the property of the 
 crown, as to have enacted, that if any human being 
 escaped alive out of the ship, it should be no wreck ; 
 and his grandson still further extended the operation 
 of the humane principle thus introduced, by decree- 
 ing, that if either man or beast should be found alive 
 in any vessel wrecked upon the coasts of England, 
 Poictiers, Gascony, or the Isle of Oleron, the prop- 
 erty should be preserved for the owners, if claimed 
 within three months. The other law is the last 
 clause of the statute called the " Assize of Arms," 
 published in 1181: it very emphatically commands 
 the Justices in Eyre in their progress through the 
 counties, to enjoin upon all the lieges, as they love 
 themselves and their property, neither to buy nor 
 sell any ship for the purpose of its being carried out 
 of England, and that no person should convey, or 
 cause to be conveyed away, any mariner out of Eng- 
 land. It has been inferred, from these regulations, 
 that both English ships and English seamen were 
 already held to be superior to those of other coun- 
 tries ; but they can only be considered as showing 
 that the naval force of the kingdom had now come 
 to be looked upon as an important arm of its strength, 
 and was the object of a watchful and jealous super- 
 intendence. 
 
 The only articles that are mentioned as imported 
 into England from foreign counti-ies in this period, 
 are the spiceries, jewels, silks, furs, and other luxu- 
 ries enumerated by Fitzstephen, of which there 
 could not be any very extensive consumption ; some 
 woad for dyeing, and occasionally corn, which was 
 at other times an article of export. The exports, 
 on the other hand, appear to have been of much 
 greater importance and value. Henry of Hunting- 
 don enumerates as being annually sent to Germany 
 by the Rhine, great cargoes of flesh and of different 
 kinds of fish (especially herrings and oysters), of 
 milk, and, above all, of what he calls " most precious 
 wool." He also mentions mines of copper, iron, tin, 
 and lead as abundant ; and it appears from other 
 authorities that there was a large exportation both 
 of lead and tin. The roofs of the principal churches, 
 palaces, and castles, in all parts of Europe, are said 
 to have been covered with English lead; and the 
 exports of tin fi-om mines belonging to the crown in 
 Cornwall and Devonshire furnished at this time and 
 forages afterward a considerable portion of the royal 
 revenue. It is probable also that hides and skins, 
 and woolen cloths were exported, as well as wool. 
 All this could not be paid for by the few articles of 
 luxury above enumerated ; and it may, therefore, be 
 concluded that a large part of the annual returns 
 derived by the country at this time from its foreign 
 trade was received in the form of money or bullion. 
 
 This supposition is confirmed by the account of Hun- 
 tingdon, who expressly informs us that the Germans 
 paid for the wool and provisions they bought in sil- 
 ver ; on which account, he adds, that metal is even 
 more plentiful in England than in Germany, and all 
 the money of England is made of pure silver. The 
 balance of trade, then, was what is commonly called 
 in favor of England, unreasonably enough, as if 
 nothing were wealth but gold and silver. The 
 country at this time did not really become richer by 
 exchanging its produce for money, than it would 
 have done by taking foreign produce or manufac- 
 tures in exchange for it. Nor, even if we should 
 hold money to be the only true wealth, could it 
 have accumulated in the country with moi"e rapidity 
 or to a greater amount under the one system than 
 under the other ; for a country in a given social 
 condition can only retain a certain quantity of money 
 in circulation within it, and that quantity it always 
 will obtain, if it is able to obtain anything else of 
 equivalent value. Money is necessary, and profita- 
 ble, to a certain extent, just as shoes or hats are ; but 
 beyond that extent, neither they nor it are either 
 profitable or necessary — that is to say, something 
 else for which the article could be exchanged would 
 be more useful. The money anciently obtained by 
 England through its foreign trade did not enrich the 
 country, or even remain in it ; so much of it as was 
 not required for the purposes of circulation was as 
 sure to find its way abroad again, as the stone 
 thrown up into the air is to return to the gi'ound. 
 
 If the commerce of England had not struck far 
 deeper root, and grown to far gi'eater magnitude 
 and strength at the time of the death of Henry II. 
 than at that of Henry I., somewhat more than half 
 a centviry before, the reign of Richard would have 
 been, in proportion to its length, nearly as ruinous 
 to it as was the disorderly and distracted reign of 
 Stephen. All the activity and resources of the 
 country were now turned from trade and industry 
 to the wasteful work of war, which was carried on, 
 indeed, in a foreign and distant laud, and therefore 
 did not produce the confusion and desolation within 
 the kingdom that would have resulted from a civil 
 contest ; but, on the other hand, was, doubtless, on 
 that account attended with a much larger expendi- 
 ture both of money and of human life. Yet even 
 from Richard's warlike preparations, and the pecu- 
 niary burdens which his expedition in other ways 
 brought upon his people, we may collect a few no- 
 tices of interest in regard to the progress of the 
 commerce, navigation, and wealth of the country. 
 The fleet which carried out his troops to the Holy 
 Land was probably, as already observed, by far the 
 most magnificent that had ever as yet left the Eng- 
 lish shores, although some of those of former times 
 may have consisted of a greater number of vessels. 
 But the barks, amounting, it is said, to some thou- 
 sands, in which the Conqueror brought over his 
 army from Normandy, and the four hundred vessels 
 in which Henry II. embarked his forces for the 
 conquest of Ireland, not to speak of the more ancient 
 navies of Edgar and Ethelred in the Saxon times, 
 must have been craft of the smallest size, or what
 
 372 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 FBooK III. 
 
 would now be merely called boats. Beside a 
 iTowd of vessels of this description — the number of 
 which is not given — Richard's fleet, when it assem- 
 liled in the harbor of Messina, is said to have con- 
 sisted of thirteen large vessels, called busses or 
 dromons, fifty-three armed galleys, and a himdred 
 carricks, or transports.* AH these vessels were 
 constructed both to row and to sail, the dromons 
 having three sails, probably each on a separate mast, 
 and both they and the galleys having, as it would 
 appear, in general two tiers or banks of oars. 
 " Modern vessels," says Vinesauf, " have greatly 
 fallen off from the magnificence of ancient times, 
 when the galleys carried three, four, five, and even 
 six tiers of oars, whereas now they rarely exceed 
 two tiers. The galleys, anciently called liburnee, 
 are long, slender, and low, with a beam of wood 
 fortified with iron, commonly called a spur, project- 
 ing from the head, for piercing the sides of the 
 enemy. There are also small galleys called galeons, 
 which, being shorter and lighter, steer better, and 
 are fitter for throwing fire."* The fire here alluded 
 to is the famous Greek fire, the great instrument of 
 desti'uction at this time, both in encounters at se;i, 
 and in assaults upon fortified places on shore. This 
 expedition of Richard was the first in which an 
 English fleet had accomplished so long and various 
 a navigation ; and. under the conduct of so energetic 
 a commander, it could not fail to give an impulse to 
 the naval progress of the country, and to raise both 
 the military skill and the seamanship of English 
 sailors. 
 
 The kingdom had not yet recovered from the ex- 
 hausting exertions it had made in fitting out this 
 great fleet and army, when it was called upon to 
 raise what was in those days an immense sum for 
 the king's ransom. The agreement was, that be- 
 fore Richard's liberation, his jailer, the emperor, 
 should be paid 100,000 marks of silver, beside 50,000 
 more afterward — an amount of money then deemed 
 so great, that a contemporary foreign chronicler. 
 Otto de St. Bias, declines mentioning it, as he could 
 not, he says, expect to be believed. It does not 
 clearly appear how much of the 150,000 marks was 
 paid in all ; but it is stated that 70,000 marks of 
 silver, equal in weight to nearly 100,000^. of our 
 money, were remitted to Germany before the king 
 was set free. The grievous exactions by which 
 this money was raised have been alluded to in a 
 former chapter.^ It was not all obtained till three 
 successive collections had been made. Four years 
 before this, it may be noted, in the beginning of 
 Richard's reign, the much poorer kingdom of Scot- 
 land had repurchased its independence at the cost 
 of 10,000 marks. 
 
 A few laws for the regulation of trade are re- 
 corded to have been enacted by Richard after his 
 return home. The same year in which he returned, 
 a prohibition was issued against the exportation of 
 corn, " that England," as it was expressed, " might 
 not suffer from the want of its own abundance." 
 
 I See ante, p. 477 
 
 2 Translation in Macpherson, Ann. of Com. i. 352. 
 
 '■' See ante, p. 493. 
 
 The violation of this law is stated to have been pun- 
 ished in one instance with merciless severity ; some 
 vessels having been seized in the port of St. Valery, 
 loaded with English corn for the King of France, 
 Richard burned both the vessels and the town 
 (which belonged to that king), hanged the seamen, 
 and also put to death some monks who had been 
 concerned in the illegal transaction. He then, after 
 all this wild devastation, divided the corn among the 
 poor. In 1197 also a law was passed for establish- 
 ing a uniformity of weights and measures, and for 
 regulating the dyeing and sale of woolen cloths. 
 The business of dyeing, except in black, it was 
 enacted, should only be carried on in cities and bor- 
 oughs, in which alone also any dyeing stuffs, except 
 black, were allowed to be sold. It appears that 
 the duties upon woad imported into London in 
 1195 and 119(3, amounted to 9GL 6s. 8d. "If Lon- 
 don alone," observes Macpherson, " imported woad 
 to an extent that could bear such a payment (and it 
 will afterward appear that but a small part of the 
 whole woad imported arrived in London), the woolen 
 manufacture, to which it was apparently mostly 
 confined, must have been somewhat considerable. 
 But there is reason to believe, that but few Jine 
 woolen goods were made in England, and that the 
 Flemings, who were famous at this time for their 
 superior skill in the woolen manufacture, as is evi- 
 dent from the testimony of several of the English 
 historians of this age, continued for a series of ages 
 to supply most of the western parts of Europe, and 
 even some of the Mediterranean countries, with fine 
 cloths, which the Italians called French cloths, 
 either as reckoning Flanders a part of France (as, 
 indeed, in feudal language it was), or because they 
 received them from the ports of the south coast of 
 that country." Much of the wool used in Flanders, 
 however, appears to have been obtained from Eng- 
 land. In the History, indeed, which bears the 
 name of Matthew of Westminster, it is said that 
 all the nations of the world used at this time to 
 be kept warm by the wool of England, which was 
 made into cloth by the Flemish manufacturers. In 
 the patent of incorporation of the guild of Aveavers 
 in London by Henry II., granted in the thirty-first 
 year of his reign, there is a prohibition against mix- 
 ing Spanish with English wool in the making of 
 cloth, from which it may be inferred that the wool 
 of England was in this age of superior quality to 
 that obtained from Spain. 
 
 From the commencement of his reign. John ap- 
 pears to have affected to favor the interests of the 
 part of the community connected with ti'ade, now 
 daily rising into more importance, and to have 
 courted their support against the power of the no- 
 bility and the clergy. Immediately after his acces- 
 sion, he gi'anted three charters to the citizens of 
 London ; the first generally confirming all their an- 
 cient rights and privileges ; the second empowering 
 them to remove all kidells, or wears, for catching 
 fish, from the rivers Thames and Medway, the 
 navigation of which had been much impeded by 
 these erections, set up by the keeper of the Tower 
 and others ; and the third confirming to them the
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 573 
 
 fee-farm of the sheriffwicks of London and Middle- 
 sex at the ancient rent, and also giving to them the 
 election of the sheriffs. For these charters he re- 
 ceived 3000Z. He also, probably at the same time, 
 addressed letters to the most important commercial 
 towns throughout the kingdom, promising that for- 
 eign merchants of every country should have safe 
 conduct for themselves and their merchandise in 
 coming into and going out of England, agreeably to 
 the due right, and usual customs, and should meet 
 with the same treatment in England that the Eng- 
 lish merchants met with in their countries.' The 
 places to which these letters were sent were the 
 towns of London, Winchester, Southampton, Lynn, 
 the Cinque Ports, and the counties of Sussex, Kent, 
 Norfolk, Suffolk, Dorset, Somerset, Hants, Hert- 
 ford, Essex, Devon, and Cornwall; "whence it 
 appears," observes Macpherson, " that the south 
 coast, and the east coast only as far as Norfolk, 
 were esteemed the whole, or at least the chief, of 
 the commercial part of the country." It is certain, 
 however, that several towns beyond these limits 
 had already risen to considerable commercial im- 
 portance. In a list of towns which in the year 1205 
 paid the tax called the quinzieme, or fifteenth, 
 which appears to have been a species of excise or 
 tallage exacted from merchants, we find enumera- 
 ted the following places in the northern part of the 
 kingdom : — Newcastle in Northumberland ; Yarum, 
 Cotham, Whitby, Scarborough, Headon, Hull, York, 
 and Selby, in Yorkshire; and Lincoln, Barton, 
 Ymmingham, Grimsby, and Boston in Lincolnshire. 
 The other towns in the list are Lynn, Yarmouth, 
 and Norwich, in Norfolk ; Dunwich, Orford, and 
 Ipswich, in Suffolk ; Colchester in Essex ; Sand- 
 wich and Dover in Kent ; Rye, Winchelsea, Peven- 
 sey, Seaford, and Shoreham, in Sussex ; South- 
 ampton in Hampshire ; Exmouth and Dartmouth 
 in Devonshire ; Esse (now Saltash), and Fowey, in 
 Cornwall; and London. It will be observed, how- 
 ever, that these are all coast towns, or places having 
 a river communication with the sea ; and it surely 
 cannot be supposed that there were not at this time 
 some trading towns in the interior of the country. 
 Either the quinzieme was not a duty payable, as 
 has been asserted, by "all persons who made a bus- 
 iness of buying and selling, however trifling their 
 deahngs might be,"* or this is not a complete list 
 of the places from which it was collected. Beside, 
 not a single place on the western coast of the king- 
 dom is mentioned, not even Bristol or Chester. We 
 should be disposed to conjecture that the quinzieme 
 was only an impost upon foreign commerce, and 
 even perhaps only upon some particular branch or 
 branches of that. This supposition Would make 
 somewhat more intelligible the proportions of the 
 whole amount collected which are set down as re- 
 ceived from particular towns. It appears that the 
 whole tax at this time yielded about 5000Z. per an- 
 num ; while of this total Lynn paid 6511., South- 
 ampton 712Z., Boston 7801., and London only 836Z. 
 It cannot for a moment be believed that in their 
 
 ' Maitland's Hist, of London, i. 73—75. — Hakluyt's Voyages, : 
 s Macpherson, Ann. of Cona. i. 371. 
 
 129. 
 
 general mercantile wealth London and Boston stood 
 in this relation to each other. To add to the per- 
 plexity, we find that three years after this time the 
 merchants of London purchased from the king an 
 entire exemption from paying the quinzieme for the 
 small sum of 200 marks, that is to say, for less than 
 a sixth part of the amount of the tax for one year. 
 We must, in these circumstances, suppose the ex- 
 emption to have been accorded as a mark of royal 
 favor to the city, and the 200 marks to have been 
 paid merely as an acknowledgment. Newcastle is 
 the only other town the amount paid by which is 
 mentioned ; it is set down as paying 158/., and must 
 therefore have already grown to considerable conse- 
 quence, although only founded, as we have seen, 
 little more than a century before this time.' Hull 
 also appears for the first time as a place of trade 
 only in the close of the last reign. 
 
 That several of the Scotch burghs were at this 
 period possessed of very considerable opulence is 
 testified by their having, in 1209, contributed 6000 
 marks of the 15,000 which William the Lion bound 
 himself to pay to John by the treaty of Berwick.* 
 In this age Mr. Macpherson calculates that 6000 
 marks would have purchased in Scotland about 
 240,000 bolls of oats, or 60,000 bolls of wheat. 
 Among other countries, a trade with Norway is 
 known to have been carried on by the Scotch in the 
 beginning of the thirteenth century. Among the 
 ai'ticles which are mentioned in the monastic char- 
 tularies of the country as paying tithe at this time 
 are wool, corn, butter, cheese, cattle, fish, and flax. 
 From the occurrence of the last article it may be 
 inferred that some linen was already made in Scot- 
 land. 
 
 It was in the reign of John, as already related, 
 that their first gi'eat naval victory was gained by the 
 Enghsh, at the battle of Damme, or of the Sluys, 
 as it is sometimes called, fought in 1213.^ As yet. 
 however, the country possessed nothing that could 
 properly be called a navy. The royal navy usually 
 consisted merely of merchant ships collected from 
 all the ports of the kingdom, each of which, as we 
 have seen, was bound, when required by the king, 
 to furnish him with a certain number. In pressing 
 emergencies, indeed, the king seized upon the 
 whole mercantile shipping of the kingdom, or as 
 much of it as he required ; " so that in those 
 times," as die historian of commerce observes, " the 
 owners could never call their vessels their own. 
 A striking illustration of the king's claim of right 
 to the services of all merchant ships appears in a 
 letter, written by Edward 11. to the King of Nor- 
 way upon the detention of three English vessels, 
 which he concludes by saying, that he cannot 
 quietly put up with the vessels belonging to his 
 kingdom, which ought at all tinies to be ready for his 
 service, being detained in foreign countries.""* John 
 appears to have possessed merely a few galleys of 
 his own. 
 
 In this reign we find the earliest mention of 
 what may be called letters of credit, the first form, 
 
 » See ante, p. 518. 
 3 See ante, p. 507. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 527. 
 
 * Macpherson's Ann. of Com. i. 379
 
 ■574 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 it iiiiiy be su|>posed, of 6(7/5 of exchange, the inti"o- 
 duction and general employment of which very 
 soon followed. In a document printed in the 
 Foedera, John, under date of 25th August, 1199, 
 at Rouen, engages to repay in four installments, 
 in the course of two years, a sum of 2125 marks, 
 which had been advanced by a company of mer- 
 chants of Placentia to the bishops of Anjou and 
 Bangor, on the faith of the letters of King Richard. 
 Afterward John himself repeatedly raised money 
 by such letters, addressed to all merchants, where- 
 by he bound himself to repay the sums advanced to 
 his agents to the amount named, at such time as 
 should be agreed upon, to any person presenting 
 his letter, together with the acknowledgment of his 
 agents for the sum received by them. Mr. Miic- 
 pherson is of opinion that, as there is no mention 
 of interest in any of those letters, it must have 
 been discounted when the money was advanced. 
 It is remarkable that although at this time, in Eng- 
 land, no Christian was permitted by law to take 
 interest, or usmy as it was called, even at the 
 lowest rate, upon money lent, the Jews in this 
 respect lay under no restriction whatever. The 
 interest which they actually received, accordingly, 
 was sometimes enormous. In the large profits, 
 however, which they thus made the crown largely 
 shared, by the power of arbitrarily fining them, 
 which it constantly exercised. William of New- 
 burgh frankly speaks of them as well known to be 
 the royal usurers ; in other words, their usury 
 was a mode of suction, by which an additional 
 portion of the property of the subject was drawn 
 into the royal treasury : and this sufficiently ac- 
 counts for the manner in which they were tolerated 
 and protected in the monopoly of the trade of 
 money-lending. 
 
 Very few direct notices of the state of trade in 
 this reign have come down to us. Licenses are 
 recorded to have been granted to the merchants of 
 various foreign countries to bring their goods to 
 England, on due payment of the quinzieme, which 
 would thus appear to have been a customs duty, 
 payable probably both on the import and export of 
 commodities. . The Flemings were the chief foreign 
 traders that resorted to the country, and next to 
 them, apparently, the French. In 1213 the duties 
 paid on woad imported from foreign countries 
 amounted to nearly 600L ; of which the ports in 
 Yorkshire paid 98/. ; those in Lincoln, 47/. ; those 
 in Norfolk and Suffolk, 53/. ; those in Essex, 4/. ; 
 those in Kent and Sussex (exclusive of Dover), 
 103/.; Southampton, 72/.; and other places, not 
 named, 214/. The woad, it may be presumed, was 
 almost wholly used in dyeing cloths ; but much 
 cloth would also be both exported and worn at home 
 without being dyed. 
 
 The freedom of commerce was sought to be 
 secured by one of the clauses of the Great Charter 
 (the forty-first), which declared that all merchants 
 should have safety and security in going out of, 
 and coming into England, and also in staying and 
 traveling in the kingdom, whether by land or by 
 water, without any gi-ievous impositions, and ac- 
 
 cording to the old and upright customs, except in 
 time of war, when, if any merchants belonging to 
 the hostile country should be found in the land, 
 they should, at the commencement of the war, be 
 attached, without injury of their ])ersons or prop- 
 erty, until it should be known how the English mer- 
 chants who happened to be in the hostile country 
 were treated there: if they were uninjured, the 
 foreign merchants should be equally safe in England. 
 This was as reasonable and even liberal a regula- 
 tion as could have been desired on the subject. 
 By other clauses, it was declared, that the debts of a 
 minor should bear no interest during his minority, 
 even if they should be owing to a Jew ; that Lon- 
 don and other cities and towns should enjoy their 
 ancient privileges ; that no fine should be imposed 
 upon a merchant to the destruction of his merchan- 
 dise ; and that there should be a uniformity of 
 weights and measures throughout the kingdom. 
 
 The only coined money of this period, as far as 
 is certainly known, was the silver penny, which, 
 as at present, was the twelfth part of a shilling; 
 the shilling being also, as it has ever since been, 
 the twentieth part of a pound. The pound, how- 
 ever, was still a full pound of silver, according to 
 the ancient Saxon or German standard of eleven 
 ounces and a quarter troy, or 5400 grains to the 
 pound.' The same amount of silver is now coined, 
 as explained in the former book, into 2/. IGs. Zd- 
 sterling; and that, therefore, was the amount of 
 money of the present denominations in the early 
 Norman pound. The shilling, consequently, being 
 tlie twentieth part of this, was equivalent to 2s. 
 9?<i. of our present money; and the penny, being 
 the twelfth part of the shilling, or the 240th part of 
 the pound, was still of the same value as in the 
 Saxon times, and contained an amount of silver 
 equal to a trifle more than what might be purchased 
 by 2-^d. of our money. But both the pound and 
 the shilling were only money of account ; there 
 were no coins of these denominations. It is doubt- 
 ful, also, if there were any coins of inferior value 
 
 1 Sec ante, p. 259-261 
 
 Coiner at Work. From the capital of a pillar at St Georges de 
 Bocherville, Jsormandy
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 575 
 
 to the silver penny ; no specimens of any such have 
 been discovered. Both halfpence and farthings, 
 however, are mentioned in the writings of the 
 time ; and a coinage of round halfpennies by 
 Henry I. is expressly mentioned by Florence of 
 Worcester, Simeon of Durham, and Hoveden. It 
 has been supposed that the people before, and also 
 perhaps after this, used to make halfpence and 
 faithings for themselves, by breaking the penny 
 into halves and quarters, which, it has been said, 
 they were more easily enabled to do from the coin 
 having on one side of it a cross very deeply in- 
 dented. Leake, however, has remarked that " the 
 story of the cross being made double, or so deeply 
 impressed for the conveniency of breaking the 
 penny into halves and quarters, is disproved by the 
 coins now extant, whereon the crosses generally 
 terminate at the inner circle, and, instead of being 
 impressed, are embossed, which prevents their 
 being broken equally."^ It is most probable, per- 
 haps, that both halfpence and farthings were actually 
 coined, though none have come down to us. 
 
 Other denominations of money, however, than 
 the above are also mentioned. In the early part 
 of the period, and especially in the reign of the 
 Conqueror, the Saxon mode of reckoning appears 
 to have remained in general use. "In his laws," 
 says Ruding, "the fines are regulated by pounds, 
 oras, marks, shillings, and pence. The shillings 
 are sometimes expressly stated to be English shil- 
 lings of four pennies each. But in Domesday Book 
 various other coins or denominations of money are 
 to be found, such as the mite, farthing, halfpenny, 
 mark of gold and silver, ounce of gold, and marsum. 
 There seems also to have been current a coin of 
 the value of half a farthing, which was probably the 
 same as the mite above mentioned."^ The values 
 of the Saxon coins here enumerated have been 
 stated in the former book.^ The mark, it may be 
 added, long remained a common denomination, 
 and was at all times reckoned two-thirds of the 
 pound. Some foreign coins, especially Byzantines, 
 which were of gold, are also supposed to have been 
 still in use, as in the Saxon times. 
 
 The coins of the earher Norman kings are of 
 great rarity. Those issued by the Conqueror 
 
 Silver Penny of William t. From specimen in Brit. Mus. 
 
 "werf made," Ruding thinks, "to resemble those 
 of Harold in weight and fineness, and some of them 
 in type," in conformity with the policy upon which 
 William at first acted, of aflfecting to be the regular 
 successor of the Saxon kings. The coins of the 
 two Williams can scarcely be distinguished, the nu- 
 
 1 Historical Account of English Money (2d. edit.), P- 38. 
 
 2 Annals of the Coinage (2d. edit.). 
 
 3 See ante, pp. 259—261. 
 
 Silver Pknny of William II. From specimen in Brit. Mus. 
 
 merals being for the most part absent. The same 
 is the case with those of the two Henrys. Royal 
 mints were still established in all the principal 
 
 Silver Penny of Henry I. From specimen in Brit. Mus 
 
 towns ; and the name of the place where it was 
 struck continues to be commonly found on the 
 coin. In the lawless times of Stephen all the 
 bishops and greater barons are said to have very 
 generally coined and issued money of their own ; 
 every castle had its mint ; and the money thus 
 thrown into circulation is alleged to have been so 
 debased that, in ten shiUings, not the value of one 
 in silver was to be found. Stephen himself is also 
 
 Silver Penny of Stephen. From specimen in Brit. Mus. 
 
 charged with having, in his necessities, resorted to 
 the expedient of diminishing the weight of the 
 penny. When Henry II. came to the throne, how- 
 ever, he put down all this base money ; and none 
 
 Silver Penny of Henry II. From a fine specimen in Brit. Mus. 
 
 The coins of this reign are very nnnierous, but in most cases badly 
 struclc. 
 
 of the baronial coins of Stephen's reign are now 
 known to exist, with the exception of a few bearing 
 the names of his son Eustace, and of his brother, 
 the Bishop of Winchester, which were probably 
 issued by the royal license. 
 
 Henry I., on his accession, abolished the tax of 
 moneyage, which had been introduced either by 
 the Conqueror or his son Rufus ; and he afterward 
 effected a reform of the coinage, which had been 
 greatly corrupted by the frauds of the moneyers. 
 Henrj' II. also called in all the old coins in circula- 
 tion in the year 1180. No coins are known to be
 
 576 
 
 IIISTORr OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 iu existence either of Richard I. or John, as kings 
 of England, although there are some of the former 
 us Earl of Poictou and as Duke of Aquitaine, and 
 of the latter as lord of Ireland. 
 
 An English penny of Richard's is given in various 
 collections of plates of coins, but is admitted to be a 
 forgerj'. iNIr. Ruding, speaking of it and another 
 of John, says : — " These two pennies are now well 
 known to be the fabrication of a late dealer in coins, 
 who pretended to have discovered them among some 
 which were found upon Bramham JMoor in York- 
 shire. He sold one of them for thirty guineas ; the 
 other remained in liis possession and was disposed 
 of with the rest of his collection, after his death." 
 The man's name was White.' 
 
 The earliest Scotch coins that have been discov- 
 ered are some of Alexander I., who began his reign 
 in 1107. The Scotch money appears to have, at 
 this period, entirely corresponded with the English; 
 
 Irish Silver Penny of John. From a specimen in Brit. Mus. 
 
 and, indeed, the circulation of Scotland probably 
 consisted in great part of English coins. 
 
 In regard to the real or efficient value of the 
 money of those days, as compared with that of our 
 present money, it is, as we have before had occasion 
 to remark, impossible to make any statement which 
 shall be universally applicable. The question of the 
 value of money at any given period is merely a ques- 
 tion of the price of a particular commodity — namely, 
 the metal of which the money is made. But we 
 have no means of estimating with precision the 
 price of any commodity whatever, in tlie scientific 
 sense of that term. All that we can do is to state 
 it relatively to the price of some other commodity. 
 This is all that we really do when we state the 
 money-price of anything. That is only a statement 
 of the relation between the price of the article in 
 question and the price of the other article called 
 money. It is no expression, either of the general 
 price of either, or of the relation of the price of 
 either to that of any other article whatever. Com- 
 modities of all kinds, from causes sufficiently obvious, 
 are constantly changing their relative positions in 
 regard to price ; and, therefore, the relation between 
 the prices of any two of them can be no permanent 
 index of the relation between the prices of any two 
 others. In other words, the money-price of any 
 one article at a particular time will give us no cer- 
 tain information as to the money-price either of all 
 other articles, or of any other article. 
 
 Although no precise estimate, however, can be 
 arrived at of the general value of money in former 
 times as compared with its present value, many 
 important conclusions iu regard to the state of so- 
 ciety, and the command possessed by the several 
 
 1 See Ruding's Ann. of the Coinag-e, ii. 35 and 50, and v. 98 and 262. 
 
 classes of the population over the necessaries and 
 comforts of life, may be drawn from the notices that 
 have been preserved of the money-prices of com- 
 modities and labor at diffi3ront periods. But these 
 inferences will be more fitly introduced in our chap- 
 ter on the Condition of the People. The only point 
 which properly belongs to our present subject is 
 that of the relative values of gold and silver in the 
 period we have been reviewing. The relation be- 
 tween the values of these two metals has fluctuated 
 considerably in different ages. In ancient Rome, 
 about the commencement of our era, it seems to 
 have i)een usually as one to ten. About the fourth 
 century, however, silver had become so much more 
 plentiful, or gold so much scarcer, that fourteen 
 pounds eight ounces of the former were exchanged 
 for a pound of the latter. In England, in the Saxon 
 times, the legal proportion appears to have been as 
 one to twelve. After the Conquest, however, gold 
 became cheaper; and, about the middle of the 
 twelfth century, one pound of it was exchanged for 
 nine pounds of silver. In the beginning of the thir- 
 teenth century we find the value of silver rated to 
 that of gold in the proportion of ten to one. At 
 present the proportion is about as fourteen to one. 
 
 Our notice of the useful arts within the six cen- 
 turies which the Saxon period comprises will, in 
 some degree, render it unnecessary to enter into a 
 lengthened account of their state from the Conquest 
 to the death of King John. A century and a half 
 is an interval sufficiently long to produce and con- 
 solidate political changes ; but the arts of life, under 
 ordinary circumstances, move with a slower step, 
 and their progress is thwarted by individual habits, 
 and prejudices, and old customs. The power which 
 effects, with httle difficulty, alterations of a consti- 
 tutional nature cannot be brought to act with the 
 same force upon the common course of life, and time 
 is required to work silently any material changes in 
 its character. The devastations of the Conqueror 
 at the commencement of the present period, the 
 wretchedness of the people during the nineteen 
 turbulent years of Stephen's reign, and the lawless- 
 ness which distinguished the unprincipled reign of 
 King John at its close, together with many inter- 
 mediate causes arising from the unsettled state of 
 society, were sufficient to retard improvement either 
 of handicrafts or agi'iculture. There were, how- 
 ever, some other causes of a beneficial kind which 
 served to counteract the evils of the times. The 
 instabiUty of Stephen's position led to concessions 
 which were subsequently favorable to improvement. 
 Stephen's reign had been preceded by five-and- 
 thirty years of comparative tranquillity', and it was 
 fortunately followed by a reign of the same length, 
 presenting the same contrast to the intermediate 
 period. 
 
 As in the Anglo-Saxon times, land was still held 
 during the present period in large masses, the great 
 landowners residing in the midst of their posses- 
 sions, and reserving to themselves a portion of their 
 demesne, which they cultivated by their own hinds. 
 The following are the descriptions of rural laborers 
 mentioned in Domesday Book, from which we may
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 577 
 
 Reapino and Gleaning. Royal MS. 2 B. vii 
 
 infer the ordinary divisions of rural employments 
 soon after the Conquest : ploughmen, shepherds, 
 neatherds, cowherds, goatherds, swine-herds, and 
 keepers of bees.' 
 
 The population to be fed from the produce of 
 the soil was probably under two millions, and an 
 unfavorable season always occasioned severe dis- 
 tress ; while in our own time the soil of Great 
 Britain is capable, in ordinary seasons, of sustaining 
 a population of sixteen millions. Still the impor- 
 tance of agriculture was highly estimated. The 
 Conqueror seems to have been fully aware of the 
 capabilities of the soil, and did not neglect the means 
 of deriving the utmost advantage from its resources. 
 The Saxon chronicler complains of the rapacity 
 which he exercised toward his tenants : — " The 
 king (he says) let his land at as high a rate as he 
 possibly could ; then came some other person, and 
 hade more than the former one gave ; and the king 
 let it to the man that bade him more. Then came 
 the third, and bade him yet more ; and the king 
 let it to hand to the man that bade him most of all ; 
 and he recked not how very sinfully the stewards 
 got it of wretched men."* 
 
 1 Sir H. Kllis, Introd. to Domesday Book. 
 
 2 Ingram's Sax. Chron. p. 291. 
 
 The use of manures was carried to a greater ex- 
 tent than before, as not only was the old practice 
 of marling the land continued, but the more expen- 
 sive application of chalk was not uncommon.' In- 
 gulphus notices the spirit with which one of the 
 great landowners, Richard de Rules, lord of Brunne 
 and Deeping, and chamberlain of the Conqueror, 
 carried on his agricultural operations. " He was," 
 says Ingulphus, " much addicted to agriculture, and 
 delighted in breeding horses and cattle. Beside 
 inclosing and draining a great extent of country, he 
 embanked the river Welland (which used every 
 year to overflow the neighboi-ing fields) in a most 
 substantial manner, building many houses upon the 
 bank, which increased so much that, in a little time, 
 they formed a large town called Deeping, from it« 
 low situation. Here he planted orchards, cultivated 
 commons, and converted deep lands and impassable 
 quagmires into fertile fields, rich meadows, and 
 pastures." 
 
 To the monks belong the praise of effecting the 
 greatest improvements in the agriculture of this pe- 
 riod. They were, many of them, acquainted with 
 the best modes practiced in Normandy, and their 
 intelligence enabled them to apply their knowledge 
 
 1 Peter of Blois, Ep. v. 
 
 VOL. I. — 37 
 
 Threshixo Royal MS. 2 B. vii
 
 57S 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Corn-Sacks and Store-Basket. Roval MS. 2 B. vi;. 
 
 with skill in the cultivation of theii- own ample es- 
 tates. Land was the cheapest means of obtaining the 
 favors of the church, and it was rich in this descrip- 
 tion of property ; but it was the skill and labor of 
 the monks which gave it value, which drained the 
 marshes, and cleared the woodland. They engaged 
 actively in the labors of husbandry ; and even 
 Becket, while he filled the see of Canterbury, was 
 accustomed during harvest, to go into the fields with 
 the monks of the monasteries where he happened 
 to reside, and to join them in reaping their corn or 
 in making their hay.^ 
 
 Further to illustrate the part which the clergy 
 took in husbandry, the twenty-sixth canon of the 
 third Council of Lateran, held a.d. 1179, may be 
 quoted. This canon decreed " that all presbyters, 
 clerks, monks, converts, pilgrims, and peasants, 
 when they were engaged in the labors of husband- 
 ry, together with the cattle in their ploughs, and 
 the seed which they carried into the field, should 
 enjoy perfect security ; and that all who molested 
 or interrupted them, if they did not desist when 
 they had been admonished, should be excommuni- 
 cated."- 
 
 The draining of the fens of Cambridgeshire and 
 Lincolnshire, which was commenced at this period, 
 proves that, in spite of the insecurity arising from 
 various causes, the spirit of agricultural improve- 
 ment existed in considerable vigor, and that it only 
 waited for tranquillity and the stimulus of commerce 
 to put forth greater powers. Agriculture does not 
 seem to have been in so advanced a state in Scot- 
 land ; for we find that, in 1214, a law made respect- 
 ing the cultivation of the land directed that those 
 who did not possess a sufficient number of oxen 
 should delve as much with hand and foot as would 
 produce enough of corn to support themselves and 
 their families. It would seem, therefore, that at 
 this time a considerable part of the country was 
 only cultivated by the method of spade husbandry. 
 At the same time a law was passed requiring farm- 
 ers carefully to destroy a weed called " guilde." 
 In Ireland, somewhat earlier, agriculture was prob- 
 ably not much further advanced than among the 
 
 1 Chron. Gervas, col. 1400. - Idem, col. 1456. 
 
 ancient Britons. The food of the people was flesh, 
 fish, and milk ; and it is even said that neither bread 
 nor cheese formed any part of their diet.' 
 
 It is impossible, at this distance of time, to obtain 
 any certain knowledge of the processes of agricul- 
 ture in England at this period. In most parts of 
 the country they ploughed their lands twice in sum- 
 mer and once in winter, to prepare them for wheat; 
 but in Wales they were ploughed only once a-year, 
 in March or April, in order to be sown with oats.- 
 Summer fallowing and careful ploughing were con- 
 fined to England, and the produce would be large 
 in proportion to the care bestowed. The descrip- 
 tion of stock upon a farm would be regulated by the 
 state of the land. If there were much wood-land 
 many hogs would be kept; while sheep would be 
 more profitable on the uplands and wolds. Goats 
 were kept in parts of the country where they are 
 now seldom seen. The authority for these infer- 
 ences rests upon a single statement in Domesday 
 Book, in which the stock upon a farm is enumerated. 
 The land was in Hertfordshire, and was held by 
 Hunfrid, who, it appears, possessed 68 head of cat- 
 tle (animalis), 350 sheep, 150 hogs, 59 goats, and 1 
 mare. The number of sheep is larger than could 
 have been expected, being gi-eater than that of hogs.' 
 Horses, it will be recollected, were not commonly 
 employed in field labor. Hunfrid had as much 
 household stuflF (pannos et vasa) as was worth twenty 
 shillings.* 
 
 Licenses to export corn, as has already been 
 mentioned, were not unfrequently granted during 
 this period ; and though there were frequent fam- 
 ines, they seem to have been occasioned rather by 
 untoward seasons and warlike devastations than by 
 defective husbandry. This part of the subject, and 
 the casualties which agriculture experienced, may 
 be illustrated by a reference to some of the notices 
 in the Saxon Chronicle, in which years of scarcity 
 are carefully recorded. 
 
 In 1070, four years after the Conquest, and before 
 
 1- Giraldus Cambrensis. ' Idem, c. viii. p. 887. 
 
 3 At Kempsfurd, Gloucestershire, 120 weys nf cheese were paid as 
 rent for a sheep-walk. — Bawdwen's Domesday, p. 60. 
 
 * Translation of Domesday; Hertfordshire, p. 51. By Rev. W 
 Bawdwen.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 579 
 
 the Conqueror had firmly established his power, 
 there was a gi-eat famine. In 1082, 1086, and 1087, 
 there were also famines ; but these were owing 
 either to one or other of the causes before alluded 
 to. The year 1086, the Chronicler remarks, "was 
 a very heavy season, and a swinkful and sonowful 
 year in England in murrain of cattle ; and corn and 
 fruits were at a stand, and so much untowardness 
 in the weather as a man may not easily think." The 
 following year " was a very heavy and pestilential 
 year in this land ;" and the cause is atti-ibuted " to 
 the badness of the weather." Then came, says the 
 writer, " so great a famine over all England, that 
 many men died a miserable death through hunger." 
 The year 1089 "was a very late year in corn, and 
 in every kind of fruits, so that many men reaped 
 their corn about Martinmas and yet later." In 
 1095 the weather was "very unseasonable ; in con- 
 sequence of which, throughout all this land were all 
 the fruits of the earth reduced to a moderate crop." 
 The year 1096 "was a very heavy-timed year 
 through all England ; both through the manifold 
 tributes, and also through the very heavy-timed 
 hunger, that sorely oppressed this earth." The 
 succeeding year was " in all things a very heavy- 
 timed year, and beyond measure laborious from 
 badness of weather, both when men attempted to 
 till the land, and afterward to gather the fruit of 
 their tilth." Again, 1098 "was a very troublesome 
 year, through manifold impositions ; and from the 
 abundant rains that ceased not all the year, nearly 
 all the tilth in the marsh-lands perished." Five 
 years afterward (a.d. 1103) was "a very calamitous 
 year." There was a murrain among the cattle, and 
 a deficiency of the crops of every kind ; but the 
 latter misfortune seems to have been occasioned by 
 a violent storm of wind on St. Lawrence's day, 
 which " did so much harm to all fruits as no man 
 remembered that ever any did before." In 1105 
 the produce of the soil was also injured by the 
 weather. In 1110 the weather was again unfavor- 
 able, " by which the fruits of the earth were very 
 much marred, and the produce of the trees over all 
 this land almost entirely perished." In 1111 "was 
 the winter very long, and the season heavy and 
 severe ; and through that were the fruits of the 
 earth sorely marred, and there was the greatest 
 muiTain of cattle that any man could remember." 
 The next year was fortunately " a very good year, 
 and very fruitful in wood and in field." It was, 
 however, accompanied by a severe mortahty among 
 men. In 1116 occurred a "very heavy-timed win- 
 ter, long and strong for cattle, and for all things." 
 The chronicler adds, that " this was a very vexa- 
 tious and destractive j^ear with respect to the fruits 
 of the earth, through the immoderate rains that fell 
 soon after the beginning of August harassing and 
 perplexing men till Candlemas day." It was also 
 noted for a deficiency of the woods in mast, to such 
 an extent " that there was never known such in this 
 land or in Wales."' The next year was " a very 
 
 ^ The fluctuation in produce of this description, which we have now 
 ceased to notice, was of great importance in this and the preceding^ 
 period. The mast which fell in the woods in the autumn might be of 
 
 blighted year in corn, through the rains, that scarcely 
 ceased for nearly all the year." In 1124 "the sea- 
 sons were very unfavorable in England for corn and 
 all fruits." A famine ensued in the following year. 
 In 1131 "was so great a murrain of cattle as never 
 was before in the memory of man over all England. 
 That was in neat-cattle and swine ; so that in a 
 town where there were ten ploughs going or twelve, 
 there was not one left; and the man that had two 
 or three hundred swine had not one left. After- 
 ward perished the hen-fowls ; then shortened the 
 flesh-meat and the cheese." In 1137 (in Stephen's 
 reign) the writer of the Chronicle observes, — " then 
 was corn dear, and flesh, and cheese, and butter. 
 The earth bare no corn," — in consequence of the 
 pervading rapine. 
 
 It seems impossible to read these notices without 
 entertaining the conviction that the vicissitudes of 
 the seasons were greater in those days than in our 
 own. Years of plenty and scarcity still occur, and 
 with something like regularity, but there is no com- 
 parison in the averages of the two periods. An 
 unfavorable season tries severely the present highly- 
 improved system of agriculture ; but it is easy to 
 see that when the means of stall-feeding were ex- 
 ceedingly limited, the backwardness of vegetation 
 would be fatal to numbers of cattle which had been 
 supported with difficulty throughout a proti'acted 
 winter. 
 
 It appears from Domesday Book, which was com- 
 pleted twenty years after the Conquest, that there 
 was generally "pasture for the cattle of the village" 
 on land where all enjoyed rights of common. The 
 owners of woodland were accustomed to let at a 
 fixed sum the right of turning hogs into the woods. 
 The charge for pannage was often defrayed by ta- 
 king one hog in ten : this system also prevailed in 
 Scotland. But money was also paid. The value 
 of a wood was ascertained by the number of hogs it 
 would support;' and a wood yielding neither acorns 
 nor beech-mast was comparatively of little value. 
 We find, however, that there were in some parts of 
 the country young plantations ; a fact which seems 
 a little inconsistent with this notion. The oak is 
 mentioned in Domesday Book only once :* a grove 
 of ash trees occurs in one county, and many osieries 
 existed. "Wood for the hedges" is often men- 
 tioned in the survey of the southern counties. 
 
 Gardens, orchards, and vineyards are mentioned 
 in the Conqueror's survey ; and if the improvements 
 that took place in agriculture were in a great meas- 
 ure owing to the skill of the monks, still more was 
 the kindred art of gardening indebted to them. The 
 objects of culture to which the husbandman directs 
 his care are few in number, but there is a much 
 greater diversity in those which claim the attention 
 
 more value than timber, on account of its use as food for hogs ; and it 
 is not longer ago than the year 1764 since a year of great abundance in 
 acorns had a very sensible effect upon the meat market of the metropo- 
 lis. In consequence of the great abundance two years before, the 
 feeders had been induced to fatten their whole stock of hogs, and an 
 extraordinary number were in consequence slaughtered. The number 
 had not been replaced in the subsequent two years, and the meat mar- 
 ket not receiving the usual supply, prices rose to an unusual heighL 
 
 1 Nichols, vol. i. p. 63. — Hist. Leicester. 
 
 2 Sir H. Ellis, Introd. to Domesday Book.
 
 580 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 of the horticulturist. The iqtroduction of a foreign 
 clergy at the Conquest could not fail to be immedi- 
 ately followed by the transplanting of the arts with 
 which they were acquainted ; and gardening was 
 one of those which the soil and climate of Normandy 
 had alike encouraged. Vineyards are mentioned in 
 tliirty-eight different places in the Survey.' The 
 vine had been cultivated in the time of Bede, and is 
 noticed in the laws of Alfred, but probably its cul- 
 ture was but little attended to. In several parts of 
 Middlesex vineyards are mentioned in the Survey 
 as being "newly planted." The vale of Gloucester 
 is represented as being rich in vineyards and fruit- 
 trees. William of Malmsbury describes it in glow- 
 ing terms : " This vale," he says, " is planted thicker 
 with vineyards than any other province in England ; 
 and they produce grapes in the greatest abundance 
 and of the sweetest taste. The wine that is made 
 in these vineyards hath no disagreeable tartness in 
 the mouth, and is very little inferior in flavor to the 
 wines of France." It was not, however, until a 
 subsequent period that additions were made to the 
 number of culinary vegetables, or that the number 
 and qualitj' of fruits underwent much change ; but 
 the work of improvement had commenced. At Ful- 
 
 1 Sir H. Ellis, Introd. 
 
 ham, now celebrated for the number and productive- 
 ness of its market-gardens, there were in the days 
 of the Conqueror " eight cottagers with their gar- 
 dens ;" and it is stated, that in the village where the 
 church of St. Peter (Westminster Abbey) is situ- 
 ated, there were forty-one cottagers who paid forty 
 shillings for their gardens. 
 
 In addition to the food furnished by the field and 
 the garden, a considerable supply would he obtained 
 from the woods and forests after the forest-laws 
 had become less rigorous. Parks of " beasts of the 
 wood" were kept by persons of distinction. The 
 "Haiae" belonging to manor-houses were inclosed 
 places, hedged or paled round, into which beasts 
 were driven for catching.' A warren of hares oc- 
 curs in the Survey of Lincolnshire. By a letter of 
 grace respecting the forests, in 1215, proprietors of 
 land were permitted to form rabbit-warrens on their 
 own land. The coasts, rivers, and meres were also 
 productive of food. In Kent, Sussex, Norfolk, and 
 Suflblk, herring-fisheries are noticed as existing at 
 the period of the Survey. Sandwich yielded annu- 
 ally 40,000 herrings to the monks of Christ Church, 
 Canterbury ; and in Cheshire and Devonshire there 
 were salmon-fisheries. In the former county one 
 1 Sir H. EUis, lutrod. 
 
 FisHiNO WITH A Skine Net. Roj'al MS. 2 B. vii. 
 
 fishery paid 1000 salmon annually as rent. Stews or 
 fish-ponds are also frequently mentioned. One at 
 Tudeuuorde (Tudworth), Yorkshire, yielded 20,000 
 eels annually. The rent of marsh or fen-land was 
 generally paid in eels. 
 
 Another source of natural riches which the in- 
 dustry of the age rendered productive, existed, as 
 already mentioned, in mines and quarries. In Glou- 
 cestershire, mines of iron were worked ;' and in the 
 king's demesne, in Derbyshire, the mines of lead 
 supplied ore which was smelted and rolled into 
 sheets, and used for roofing the churches and other 
 purposes. The progress of cultivation had not yet 
 rendered wood the dearest description of fuel, and 
 though coal was consumed to a small extent, yet 
 wood and turf continued to be used for fuel in this 
 as it had been in the preceding period. Stone- 
 quarries are but seldom mentioned in the Survey, 
 and the stone used in many of the ecclesiastical edi- 
 fices was brought from Normandy. Salt was not 
 obtained in a fossil state until the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, before which time it was procured by evapo- 
 ration in salt-pans on the coast, and from the salt 
 
 1 Giraldus Cambrensis, lib. i. c. 5. 
 
 springs in the interior parts of the country. The 
 management of these salt-pans was an important 
 branch of industry. 
 
 But few changes in the common handicrafts took 
 place within the century and a half subsequent to 
 the Conquest. The arts of the miller and baker 
 were necessarily in constant exercise. No descrip- 
 tion of building is so frequently mentioned in Domes- 
 day Book as water-mills. They were in every case 
 the property of the lord of the manor, and his ten- 
 ants were not permitted to grind at any other mill ; 
 a restriction which has not been abolished in some 
 cases even at the present daJ^ Hand-mills had not, 
 however, gone out of use. The lord of the manor 
 monopolized also the privilege of baking his tenants' 
 bread at the common fourne ; but the necessity of 
 the case put an end to this restriction at an early 
 period. Water-mills were known on the continent 
 at the end of the sixth century : they existed in 
 England before the Conquest, and were applied to 
 other purposes beside that of grinding corn. The 
 corn-mills are described by Strutt as square weather- 
 boarded houses, sometimes without a covering nt 
 the top, the water-wheel being at one end. The
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 581 
 
 Corn Hand-Mill. Royal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 
 machinery was simple enough, as the process of 
 separating the bran from the meal was not performed 
 by the machinery, but by a sieve with the hand. 
 Wind-mills were not known in England at the Con- 
 quest,^ but were introduced in less than a century 
 afterward. Those who did not bake at the common 
 fourne made the dough into cakes and baked them 
 on the hearth. The law fixed the assize of bread, 
 and the price at which it was to be sold by the 
 bakers ; and they were severely punished for "lack 
 of size," the first offence subjecting tliem to the loss 
 of the bread, the second to imprisonment, and a 
 third offence to the pillory or tumbrel. In the year 
 1202 the assize of bread was fixed on the principle 
 
 ' In the year 1143, there was in Northamptonshire an abbey, situated 
 in a wood, which, in the course of 180 years, was entirely destroyed. 
 One of the causes of this destrnction was said to be, that, in the whole 
 neighborhood, there was no house, water-mill, or " wind-mill" built, for 
 which timber was not taken from this wood. — Beckmann, Hist, of In- 
 ventions, vol. i. p. 250. 
 
 that in a quarter of wheat, supposed to weigh 512 
 lbs., the baker should make a profit of three pen- 
 nies. The price of wheat at this period ranged from 
 two to six shillings the quarter, and a scale was 
 framed which fixed the weight of the farthing loaf 
 at each fluctuation. Thus, when wheat was sold 
 at two shillings the quarter, the loaf of white bread 
 was to weigh three lbs., and the loaf of brown bread 
 four lbs., and the weight was diminished at each 
 successive increase in the price of wheat.' 
 
 The fabrication of armor now gave a new and 
 higher direction to the art of working in metal. 
 The shoeing of horses with iron is supposed not 
 to have been usual before the Conquest.' The 
 number of builders and artificers employed in the 
 construction of domestic, ecclesiastical, and defen- 
 sive edifices was far greater than it had been at 
 
 1 Lingard's Hist, of England, vol. ii. p. 13. 
 
 2 Beckmann, Hist, of Inventions, vol. 2, p. 310. 
 
 BtnLDiNo A House. Royal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 The architect eiplainmg his plan and receiving instructions :— the builders raising and laying stones with a crane ; carving, plumbing 
 
 the work, <J:c
 
 582 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 any previous time, and their skill was much superior, 
 as will be evident from the notice of the progress of 
 architecture in the subsequent chapter. Norman 
 piety displaj'ed itself in founding cathedrals, abbeys, 
 and monasteries, and the insecurity of society 
 everywhere led to the erection of strongholds for 
 protection. In Stephen's reign, " every one who 
 was able (says the Saxon chronicler) built a castle ;" 
 and he adds, that " the whole kingdom was covered 
 with castles." The progress of one art inevitably 
 leads to improvements in others, as obstacles which 
 have never before been encountered stimulate in- 
 genuity, and lead to inventions for overcoming 
 them. Thus, we are told that William of Sens, 
 whom Lanfranc the archbishop employed as an 
 architect, constructed machines for loading and 
 unloading vessels, and for conveying heavy weights 
 by land. In the reign of Rufus, a bridge of timber 
 was thrown across the Thames, the old one having 
 been carried away by a flood ; and in 1209 this 
 timber bridge was replaced by one of stone. 
 
 The textile arts were also improved. The intro- 
 duction of the art of weaving woolen cloth by the 
 Flemings has been mentioned above. In 1197 this 
 manufacture had become of sufficient consequence 
 to call forth laws for its proper regulation, in regard 
 to both the fabrication and the sale of the cloth. 
 In the unprincipled reign of King John the mer- 
 chants and manufacturers obtained licenses for per- 
 mission to manufacture cloth under the prescribed 
 measure.' Linen was also manufactured. The 
 weavers and fullers, and the bakers, were among 
 the earliest of the incorporated trades or guilds. In 
 the reign of Henry I. the weavers and fullers had 
 guilds at Winchester and Oxford as well as in Lon- 
 don.* Subsequently many other trades were incor- 
 porated ; but the next period was the era in which 
 these incorporations generally took place. In 1180, 
 the sadlers were an incorporated body, but the 
 goldsmiths, glovers, butchers, and curriers who had 
 established themselves as corporate bodies without 
 permission from the king were fined.^ The oldest 
 charters of incorporation now existing are of a later 
 date. The object of the Saxon guilds was rather 
 
 1 Hovcden, Annal. p. 467, col. 2. 
 
 ' Madoi, Fenna Burgi. 3 Madoi 
 
 to afford each other mutual succor than to regulate 
 trade. 
 
 The art of dyeing was necessarily of considerable 
 importance in connection with the woolen manufac- 
 ture. The Jews in some instances are said to have 
 followed the trade of dyeing ; but the art was prob- 
 ably in a very imperfect state, and persons of rank 
 are said to have maintained dye-houses on their 
 own account. Embroidery was the chief occupa- 
 tion of ladies of rank, as it had been in the Anglo- 
 Saxon period. Christina, Abbess of Markgate, is 
 mentioned as having worked three mitres and a 
 pair of sandals, which slie sent as a present to Pope 
 Adrian. The vestments of the higher ranks of the 
 clergy were embroidered, and it was regarded as a 
 pious work to be thus occupied. The churches on 
 festival days were many of them hung with tapestry, 
 which illustrated the lives of saints and holy men. 
 It is not perhaps of much importance to determine 
 whether these works were the production of pro- 
 fessed artisans, or of the pious industry of the in- 
 mates of convents and the higher class of females. 
 
 The art of refining and working in metals was 
 perhaps, as already observed, carried to greater per- 
 fection than any of the useful arts ; and a superior 
 class of men was engaged in this department of in- 
 dustry. Two candlesticks, made of gold and silver, 
 which Robert, Abbot of St. Albans, sent to his 
 countryman. Pope Adrian, are stated to have ex- 
 cited the warm admiration of the pontiff, who de- 
 clared that he had never seen more beautiful 
 workmanship.' A large cup of gold, made by order 
 of the same abbot, by a goldsmith named Baldwin, 
 is described by Matthew Paris as being " adorned 
 with flowers and foliages of the most delicate work- 
 manship, and set around with precious stones in the 
 most elegant manner." Native artisans were al- 
 ways to be found to execute the vessels required in 
 the services of the church and the costly and curi- 
 ous ornaments with which shrines and altars were 
 adorned. The precious metals were lavished on 
 works of this description. Otho, a goldsmith, re- 
 ceived orders from William Rufus to ornament his 
 father's tomb out of the gold and silver which formed 
 a part of the royal treasure at Winchester. 
 1 Matthew Paris.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 583 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 T is probable that learn- 
 ing in England had be- 
 gun before the Norman 
 Conquest to recover 
 fiom the state of de- 
 jnession into which it 
 h id fallen in the calam- 
 itous period of the last 
 Danish invasions. The 
 Danish Conquest, as 
 completed by the acces- 
 sion of Canute, prece- 
 ded the Norman by ex- 
 actly half a century, and 
 during the whole of this space, with scarcely any 
 interruption, the country had enjoyed a government 
 which, if not always national, was at least acknowl- 
 edged and submitted to by the whole nation. The 
 public tranquillity was scarcely disturbed either by 
 attacks fi'om abroad or by domestic commotions. 
 Such of the latter as occurred were either merely 
 local or of very short duration. During this pei-iod, 
 therefore, many of the monastic and other schools 
 that had existed in the days of Alfred, Athelstane, 
 and Edgar, had probably been reestablished. The 
 more frequent communication with the continent, 
 that began in the reign of the Confessor, ought also 
 to have been favorable to the intellectual advance- 
 ment of the country. Accordingly, as'we have be- 
 fore remarked, the dawn of the revival of letters in 
 England may be properly dated from about the com- 
 mencement of the eleventh century." ^ 
 
 Still, at the time of the Norman Conquest, there 
 is reason to believe that literature was at a very low 
 ebb in this country. Ordericus Vitalis, a contempo- 
 rary \vriter, and himself a native of England, though 
 of French descent and educated abroad, describes 
 his countrymen generally as having been found by 
 the Normans a rustic and almost illiterate people. 
 The last epithet may be understood as chiefly in- 
 tended to characterize the clergy, for the great body 
 of the laity at this time were everywhere illiterate. 
 In fact we know that, a few years after the Con- 
 quest, the king took advantage of the general illiter- 
 acy of the Saxon clergy to deprive great numbers of 
 them of their benefices, and to supply their places 
 with foreigners. His real motive for making this 
 substitution was probably not that which he avowed ; 
 but he would scarcely have alleged what was noto- 
 riously not the fact, even as a pretence. No names 
 eminent for learning, it may be observed, are re- 
 corded in this age of the annals of the Saxon church. 
 The Norman Conquest introduced a new state of 
 things in this as in most other respects. That event 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 276 and 393. 
 
 made England, as it were, a part of the continent, 
 where, not long before, a revival of letters had taken 
 place scarcely less remarkable, if we take into con- 
 sideration the circumstances of the time, than the 
 next great revolution of the same kind in the begin- 
 ning of the fifteenth century. In France, indeed, 
 the learning that had flourished in the time of 
 Charlemagne had never undergone so great a decay 
 as had befallen that of England since the days of 
 Alfred. The schools planted by Alcuin and the phil- 
 osophy taught by Erigena had both been perpetua- 
 ted by a line of the disciples and followers of these 
 distinguished masters, which had never been alto- 
 gether interrupted. But in the tenth century this 
 learning of the West had met and been intermixed 
 with a new learning originally from the East, but 
 obtained directly from the Arab conquerors of Spain. 
 The Arabs had first become acquainted with the 
 literature of Greece in the beginning of the eighth 
 century, and it instantly exercised upon their minds 
 an awakening influence of the same powerful kind 
 with that with which it again kindled Europe seven 
 centuries afterward. One diff'erence, however, 
 between the two cases is very remarkable. The 
 mighty efi'ects that arose out of the second revival 
 of the ancient Greek literature in the modern world, 
 were produced almost solely by its eloquence and 
 poetry ; but these were precisely the parts of it that 
 were neglected by the Arabs. The Greek books 
 which they sought after with such extraordinary 
 avidity, were almost exclusively those that related 
 either to metaphysics and mathematics on the one 
 hand, or to medicine, chemistry, botany, and the 
 other departments of physical knowledge on the 
 other. All Greek works of these descriptions that 
 they could procure they not only translated into 
 their own language, but in course of time illustrated 
 with voluminous commentaries. The prodigious 
 magnitude to which this Arabic literature event- 
 ually grew will stagger the reader who has adopted 
 the common notion with regard to what are called 
 the middle or the dark ages. " The royal library 
 of the Fatimites" (sovereigns of Egypt), says Gib- 
 bon, "consisted of 100,000 manuscripts, elegantly 
 transcribed and splendidly bound, which were lent, 
 without jealousy or avarice, to the students of Cairo. 
 Yet this collection must appear moderate if we can 
 believe that the Ommiades of Spain had formed a 
 library of 600,000 volumes, 44 of which were em- 
 ployed in the mere catalogues. Their capital Cor- 
 dova, with the adjacent towns of Malaga, Almeria, 
 and Murcia, had given birth to more than 300 \vri- 
 ters, and above 70 public libraries were opened in 
 the cities of the Andalusian kingdom."' The difti- 
 
 1 Decline and Fall of the Rom. Emp. c. lii.
 
 584 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 culty we have in couceiving the existence of a state 
 of things such as that here described, arises in great 
 part from the circumstance of the entire disappear- 
 ance now, and for so long a period, of all this Arabic 
 power and splendor from the scene of Euro])ean 
 affairs. But long extinct as it has been, the domin- 
 ion of the Arabs in Europe was no mere moment- 
 ary blaze. It lasted, with little diminution, for 
 nearly five hundred years, a period as long as from 
 the age of Chaucer to the present day, and abun- 
 dantly sufficient for the growth of a body of litera- 
 ture and science, even of the wonderful extent that 
 has been described. At the time of which we are 
 now writing, Arabic Spain was the fountain-head of 
 learning in Europe. Thither students were accus- 
 tomed to repair from every other country to study 
 in the Arabic schools ; and many of the teachers in 
 the chief towns of France and Italy had finished 
 their education in these seminaries, and were now 
 diftusing among their countrymen the new knowl- 
 edge which they had thence acquired. The wri- 
 tings of several of the Greek authors, also, and 
 especially those of Aristotle, had been made gener- 
 ally known to scholars by Latin versions of them 
 made from the Arabic. 
 
 There is no trace of this new literature having 
 found its way to England before the Norman Con- 
 quest. But that revolution immediately brought it 
 in its train. " The Conqueror himself," observes a 
 writer who has illustrated this subject with a pro- 
 fusion of curious learning, " patronized and loved 
 letters. He filled the bishoprics and abbacies of 
 England with the most learned of his countrymen, 
 who had been educated at the University of Paris, 
 at that time the most flourishing school in Europe. 
 He placed Lanfrane, abbot of the monastery of St. 
 Stephen at Caen, in the see of Canterbury — an em- 
 inent master of logic, the subtleties of which he 
 employed with great dexterity in a famous contro- 
 versy concerning the real presence. Anselm, an 
 acute metaphysician and theologian, his immediate 
 successor in the same see, was called from the gov- 
 ernment of the abbey of Bee, in Normandy. Her- 
 man, a Norman, Bishop of Salisbury, founded a noble 
 library in the ancient cathedral of that see. Many 
 of the Norman prelates preferred in England by the 
 Conqueror, were polite scholars. Godfrey, Prior of 
 St. Swithin's at Winchester, a native of Cambray, 
 was an elegant Latin epigrammatist, and wrote with 
 the smartness and ease of Martial ; a circumstance 
 which, by the way, shows that the literature of the 
 monks at this period was of a more liberal cast than 
 that which we commonly annex to their character 
 and profession." Geoffrey, also a learned Norman, 
 who came over from the University of Paris, and 
 established a school at Dunstable, where, according 
 to Matthew Paris, he composed a play, called the 
 " Play of St. Catherine," which was acted by his 
 scholars, dressed characteristically in copes borrowed 
 fi-om the sacrist of the neighboring abbey of St. Al- 
 bans, of which Geoflfrey afterward became abbot. 
 " The king himself gave no small countenance to 
 the clergj% in sending his son Henry Beauclerc to 
 the abbey of Abingdon, where he was initiated in 
 
 ! the sciences under the care of the abbot Grymbald, 
 and Farice, a physician of Oxford. Robert D'Oilly, 
 j constable of Oxford Castle, was ordered to pay for 
 the board of the young prince in the convent, which 
 the king himself frequently visited. Nor was Will- 
 iam wanting in giving ample revenues to learning. 
 He founded the magnificent abbeys of Battle and 
 Selby, with other smaller convents. His nobles and 
 their successors cooperated with this liberal spirit in 
 erecting many monasteries. Herbert de Losinga, 
 a monk of Normandy, Bishop of Thetford, in Nor- 
 folk, instituted and endowed with large possessions 
 a Benedictine abbey at Norwich, consisting of sixty 
 monks. To mention no more instances, such great 
 institutions of persons dedicated to religious and lit- 
 eraiy leisure, while they diffused an air of civility, 
 and softened the manners of the people in their re- 
 spective circles, must have afforded powerful incen- 
 tives to studious pursuits, and have consequently 
 added no small degree of stability to the interests 
 of learning." ' 
 
 To this it may be added, that most of the success- 
 ors of the Conqueror continued to show the same 
 regard for learning of which he had set the exam- 
 ple. Nearly all of them had themselves received 
 a learned education. Beside Henry Beauclerc, 
 Henry II., whose father Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl 
 of Anjou, was famous for his literary acquirements, 
 had been carefully educated under the superintend- 
 ence of his admh'able uncle, the Earl of Gloucester 
 and he appears to have taken care that his children ] 
 should not want the advantages which he had him- 
 self enjoyed ; for, at least, the three eldest, Henry, j 
 Geoffrey, and Richard, are all noted for their liter- 
 ary as well as their other accomplishments. 
 
 What learning existed, however, was still for the] 
 most part confined to the clergy. Even the nobil- 
 ity — although it cannot be supposed that they were I 
 left altogether without literary insti'uction — appear] 
 to have been very rarely initiated in any of those | 
 branches which were considered as properly consti- 
 tuting the scholarship of the times. The familiar] 
 knowledge of the Latin language in particular, which 
 was then the key to all other erudition, seems to] 
 have been almost exclusively confined to church- 
 men, and to those few of the laity who embraced] 
 the profession of schoolmasters, as some, at least on] 
 the continent, were now wont to do. The contem- 
 porary writer of a Life of Becket relates, that when j 
 Henry II., in 11G4, sent an embassy to the Pope, in ] 
 which the Earl of Arundel and three other noble- 
 men were associated with an archbishop, four bish- j 
 ops, and three of the royal chaplains, four of the j 
 churchmen at the audience to which they were ad- 
 mitted, first delivered themselves in as many Latin > 
 harangues ; and then the Earl of Arundel stood up, 
 and made a speech in English, which he began with , 
 the words, "We, who are illiterate laymen, do not 
 understand one word of what the bishops have said 
 to your hohness." 
 
 The notion that learning properly belonged ex- 
 clusively to the clergy, and that it was a possession 
 
 1 Warton's Dissertation on Introduction of Learning- into England, 
 prefixed to History of English Poetry, p. cxliii. (EJit. of ]824.)
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 585 
 
 in which the laity were unworthy of participating, 
 was in some degree the common belief of the age, 
 and by the learned themselves was almost uni- 
 versally held as an article of faith that admitted of 
 no dispute. Nothing can be more strongly marked 
 than the tone of contempt which is expressed for 
 the mass of the community, the unlearned vulgar, 
 by the scholars of this period;, in their correspond- 
 ence with one another especially, they seem to 
 look upon all beyond their own small circle as 
 beings of an inferior species. This pride of theirs, 
 however, worked beneficially upon the whole : in 
 the first place, it was in great part merely a proper 
 estimation of the advantages of knowledge over 
 ignorance ; and, secondly, it helped to make the 
 man of the pen a match for him of the sword — the 
 natural liberator of the human race for its natural 
 oppressor. At the same time, it intimates very 
 forcibly at once the comparative rarity of the highly- 
 prized distinction, and the depth of the darkness 
 that still reigned far and wide around the few scat- 
 tered points of light. 
 
 Schools and other seminaries of leai'niug, how- 
 ever, were greatly multiphed in this age, and also 
 elevated in their character, in England as well 
 as elsewhere. Allusion has been made in a pre- 
 ceding chapter to the exertions made by Arch- 
 bishop Lanfranc to establish proper schools in 
 connection with the cathedrals and monasteries in 
 all parts of the kingdom. Both he and his suc- 
 cessor, Anselm, labored for this praiseworthy ob- 
 ject with great zeal ; and it was one which was 
 also patronized and promoted by the general voice 
 of the church. In 1179 it was ordered by the 
 third general council of Lateran, that in every 
 cathedral should be appointed and maintained a 
 head-teacher, or scholastic, as was the title given 
 to him, who, beside keeping a school of his own, 
 should have authority over all the other school- 
 masters of the diocese, and the sole right of grant- 
 ing licenses, without which no one should be en- 
 titled to teach. In former times the bishop himself 
 had frequently undertaken the office of scholastic 
 of the diocese ; but its duties were rarely efficiently 
 performed under that an-angement, and at length 
 they seem to have come to be generally altogether 
 neglected. After the custom was introduced of 
 maintaining it as a distinct office, it was filled in 
 many cases by the most learned persons of the 
 time. Beside these cathedral schools there were 
 others established in all the religious houses, and 
 many of the latter were also of high reputation. It 
 is reckoned that of rehgious houses of all kinds 
 there were founded no fewer than five hundred 
 and fifty-seven between the Conquest and the death 
 of King John ; and, beside these, there still existed 
 many others that had been founded in the Saxon 
 times. All these cathedral and conventual schools, 
 however, appear to have been intended exclusively 
 for the instruction of persons proposing to make 
 the church their profession. But mention is also 
 made of others established both in many of the 
 principal cities, and even in the villages, which 
 would seem to have been open to the community 
 
 at large ; for it may be presumed that the laitj-, 
 though generally excluded from the benefits of a 
 learned education, were not left wholly without the 
 means of obtaining some elementary instruction. 
 Some of these city schools, however, were eminent 
 as institutes of the highest departments of learning. 
 One in particular is mentioned by Matthew Paris 
 as established in the town of St. Albans, which 
 was presided over by Matthew, a phj'sician, who 
 had been educated at the famous school of Salerno, 
 in Italy, and by his nephew Garinus, who was 
 eminent for his knowledge of the civil and canon 
 laws, and where we may therefore suppose in- 
 structions were given both in law and in medicine. 
 According to Fitzstephen there were three of 
 these schools of a higher order regularly established 
 in London, beside several others that were occa- 
 sionally opened by distinguished teachers. The 
 London schools, however, do not seem to have 
 been academies of science and the higher learning, 
 like that of St. Albans. Fitzstephen's description 
 would rather lead us to infer that, although they 
 were attended by pupils of diflferent ages and de- 
 grees of proficiency, they were merely schools of 
 gi"ammar, rhetoric, and dialectics. " On holidays," 
 he says, " it is usual for these schools to hold public 
 assemblies in the churches, in which the scholars 
 engage in demonstrative or logical disputations, 
 some using enthymems, and others perfect syllo- 
 gisms ; some aiming at nothing but to gain the vic- 
 tory, and make an ostentatious display of their 
 acuteness, while others have the investigation of 
 truth in view. Artful sophists on these occasions 
 acquire great applause ; some by a prodigious inun- 
 dation and flow of words, others by their specious 
 but fallacious arguments. After the disputations 
 other scholars deliver rhetorical declamations, in 
 which they observe all the rules of art, and neglect 
 no topic of persuasion. Even the younger boys in 
 the diflferent schools contend against each other, in 
 verse, about the principles of grammar, and the 
 preterites and supines of verbs." 
 
 The twelfth century may be considered as prop- 
 erly the age of the institution of what we now call 
 Universities in Europe, though many of the es- 
 tablishments that. then assumed the regular form 
 of universities had undoubtedly existed long before 
 as schools or studia. This was the case with the 
 oldest of the European universities, with Bologna 
 and Paris, and also, in all probability, with Oxford 
 and Cambridge. But it may be questioned if even 
 Bologna, the mother of all the rest, was entitled, 
 by any organization or constitution it had received, 
 to take a higher name than a school or studium be- 
 fore the latter part of this century. It is admitted 
 that it was not till about the year 1200 that the 
 school out of which the University of Paris arose 
 had come to subsist as an incorporation, divided into 
 nations, and presided over by a rector.' The Uni- 
 versity of Oxford, properly so called, is probably of 
 nearly the same antiquity. It seems to have been 
 patronized and fostered by Richard I., as that of 
 Paris was by his great rival, Philip Augustus. 
 
 1 See Crevier, Hist, de I'Univ. de Tari?, i. 255.
 
 586 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Both Oxford and Cambridge had undoubtedly been 
 eminent seats of learning long before this time, as 
 London, St. Albans, and other cities had also been; 
 but there is no evidence that either the one school 
 or the other had at an earlier date become anything 
 more than a great school, or even that it was dis- 
 tinguished by any assigned rank or privileges above 
 the other gi-eat schools of the kingdom. In the 
 reign of Richard I. we find the University of Oxford 
 recognized as an establishment of the same kind 
 with the University of Paris, and as the rival of that 
 seminary. 
 
 Of the state of the school at Cambridge through- 
 out the twelfth century we have the following dis- 
 tinct account from a contemporary writer : — " In 
 the year 1109," says Peter of Blois, in his "Con- 
 tinuation of the History of Ingulphus," " Jolfrid, 
 Abbot of Croyland, sent to his manor of Cottenham, 
 near Cambridge, Master Gislebert, his fellow monk, 
 and professor of theology, with three other monks 
 who had followed him into England ; who being 
 very well instructed in philosophical theorems, and 
 other primitive sciences, went every day to Cam- 
 bridge, and, having hired a certain public barn, 
 taught the sciences openly, and in a little time col- 
 lected a gi'eat concourse of scholars ; for, in the 
 very second year after their arrival, the number of 
 their scholars from the town and country increased 
 so much that there was no house, barn, nor church 
 capable of containing them. For this reason they 
 separated into different parts of the town, and imi- 
 tating the plan of the Studium of Orleans, Brother 
 Odo, who was eminent as a grammarian and satiri- 
 cal poet, read grammar, according to the doctrine 
 of Priscian and of his commentator Remigius, to 
 the boys and younger students, that were assigned 
 to him, early in the morning. At one o'clock, 
 Brother Terricus, a most acute sophist, read the 
 logic of Aristotle, according to the Introductions and 
 Commentaries of Porphyry and Averroes,^ to those 
 who were further advanced. At three. Brother 
 William read lectures on TuUy's Rhetoric and 
 Quintilian's Institutions. But Master Gislebert, 
 being ignorant of the English, but very expert in 
 the Latin and French languages, preached in the 
 several churches to the people on Sundays and 
 holidays." There is here no hint of any sort of in- 
 corporation or public establishment whatever; the 
 description is merely that of a school set on foot 
 and conducted by an association of private individ- 
 uals ; and even this private school would seem to 
 have been first opened in the year 1109, although 
 there may possibly have been other schools taught 
 in the place before. It may be gathered from what 
 the writer adds, that at the time when he wrote 
 (in the latter part of the same century), the school 
 founded by Gislebert and his companions had at- 
 tained to great celebrity ; but there is nothing to 
 lead us to suppose that it had even then become 
 more than a very distinguished school. " From 
 
 I The works of Averroes, however, who died in 1 198, were certainly 
 not in existence at the time here referred to. Either Peter of Blois 
 must have been i^orant of this, or— if he was really the author of the 
 statement — the name must have been the insertion of some later 
 iranscriber of his text. 
 
 this little fountain," he says, " which hath swelled 
 into a gi-eat river, we now behold the city of God 
 made glad, and all England rendered fruitful, by 
 many teachers and doctors issuing from Cambridge, 
 after the likeness of the holy Paradise." 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, the rising reputation 
 of Oxford and Cambridge, the most ambitious of 
 the English students continued to resort for part of 
 their education to the more distinguished foreign 
 schools during the whole of the twelfth century. 
 Thus, it is recorded that several volumes of the 
 Arabian philosophy were brought into England by 
 Daniel Marlac, who, in the year 1185, had gone to - 
 Toledo to study mathematics. Salerno was still I 
 the chief school of medicine, and Bologna of law, " 
 although Oxford was also becoming famous for the 
 latter study. But, as a place of general instruction, 
 the University of Paris stood at the head of all 
 others. Paris was then wont to be styled, by way 
 of preeminence, the City of Letters. So many 
 Englishmen, or, to speak more strictly, subjects of 
 the English crown, were constantly found among 
 the students at this great seminary, that they 
 formed one of the four nations into which the 
 members of the university were divided. It would 
 appear from the following verses of Negel Wircker, 
 an English student at Paris in 1170, that his coun- 
 trymen, whom they describe, were ah'eady noted 
 for that spirit of display and expense which still 
 makes so prominent a part of their continental rep- 
 utation : — 
 
 Moribus egregii, verbo vultuque venusti, 
 
 Ingenio pollent, consilioque vigcnt. 
 Dona pluunt populis, et delestantur avaros, 
 Fercula multiplicant, et sine lege bibunt. 
 Of graceful mien and manners, gracious speech, 
 Strong sense, with genius brightened, shines in each. 
 Their free hand still rains largess ; when they dine, 
 Course follows course, in rivers flows the wine. 
 
 Among the students at the University of Paris 
 in the twelfth century are to be found nearly all 
 the most distinguished names among the learned 
 of every country. One of the teachers, the cele- 
 brated Abelard, is said to have alone had as pupils 
 twenty persons who afterward became cardinals, 
 and more than fifty who rose to be bishops and 
 archbishops. It has already been mentioned that 
 Thomas a Becket received part of his education 
 here. Several of the most eminent teachers were 
 Englishmen. Among these may be particularly 
 mentioned Robert of Melun (so called from having 
 first taught in that city), and Robert White, or 
 Pullus, as he is called in Latin. Robert of Melun, 
 who afterward became Bishop of Hereford, dis- 
 tinguished himself by the zeal and ability with 
 which he opposed the novel views which the rising 
 sect of the Nominalists were then introducing both 
 into philosophy and theology. He was the author 
 of several theological treatises, none of which, how- 
 ever, have been printed. Robert White, after 
 teaching some years at Paris, where he was 
 attended by crowded audiences, was induced to 
 return to his own country, where he is said to have 
 read lectures on theology at Oxford for five years, 
 which greatly contributed to spread the renown of
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 587 
 
 that rising seminary. After having declined a 
 bishopric that was offered to him by Henry I., he 
 went to reside at Rome in 1143, on the invitation 
 of Celestine II., and was soon after made a cardinal 
 and chancellor of the holy see. One work written 
 by him has been printed, a summary of theology, 
 under the then common title of " The Book of 
 Sentences," which is said to be distinguished by the 
 superior correctness of its style and the lucidness 
 of its method. 
 
 Another celebrated name among the Englishmen 
 who are recorded to have studied at Paris in those 
 days is that of Nicholas Breakspear, who afterward 
 became pope by the title of Adrian IV. But, above 
 all others, John of Salisbury deserves to be here 
 mentioned. It is in his writings that we find the 
 most complete account that has come down to us 
 not only of the mode of study followed at Paris, but 
 of the entire learning of the age. 
 
 At this time, it is to be observed, those branches 
 of literary and scientific knowledge which were 
 specially called the Arts were considered as divided 
 into two great classes, — the first or more elementary 
 of which, comprehending Grammar, Rhetoric, and 
 Logic, was called the Trivium ; the second, com- 
 prehending Music, Arithmetic, Geometry, and 
 Astronomy, the Quadrivium. The whole seven 
 arts, so classified, used to be thus enumerated in a 
 Latin hexameter : — 
 
 Lingua, Tropus, Ratio, Numerus, Tonus, Angulus, Astra ; 
 
 or, with definitions subjoined, in the two still more 
 singularly constructed verses, — 
 
 Gram, loquitur, Dia. vera docet, Rhet. verba colorat, 
 Mus. cadit, Ar. numerat, Geo. ponderat, Ast. colit astra. 
 
 John of Salisbury speaks of this system of the 
 sciences as an ancient one in his day. " The Tri- 
 vium and Quadrivium," he says, in his work entitled 
 " Metalogicus," " were so much admired by our 
 ancestors in former ages, that they imagined they 
 comprehended all wisdom and learning, and were 
 sufficient for the solution of all questions and the 
 removing of all difficulties ; for whoever understood 
 the Trivium could explain all manner of books with- 
 out a teacher ; but he who was farther advanced, 
 and was master also of the Quadrivium, could 
 answer all questions and unfold all the secrets of 
 nature." The present age, however, had outgrown 
 the simplicity of this arrangement ; and various new 
 studies had been added to the ancient seven, as 
 necessary to complete the circle of the sciences and 
 the curriculum of a liberal education. 
 
 It was now, in particular, that Theology first 
 came to be ranked as a science. This was the age 
 of St. Bernard, the last of the Fathers, and of Peter 
 Lombard, the first of the Schoolmen. The distinc- 
 tion between these two classes of wrriters is, that 
 the latter do, and the former do not, treat their 
 subject in a systematizing spirit. The change was 
 the consequence of the cultivation of the Aristotelian 
 Logic and Metaphysics. When these studies were 
 first introduced into the schools of the West, they 
 were wholly unconnected with theology. But, 
 especially at a time when all the learned were 
 
 churchmen, it was impossible that the great instru- 
 ment of thought and reasoning could long remain 
 unapplied to the most important of all the subjects 
 of thought — the subject of religion. It would appear, 
 as was formerly stated, that John Erigena and other 
 Irish divines introduced philosophy and metaphysics 
 into the discussion of questions of religion as early 
 as the eighth centuiy ; and they are consequently en- 
 titled to be regarded as having first set the example 
 of the method afterward pursued by the schoolmen. 
 But although the influence of their wi'itings may 
 thus probably be traced in preparing the way for 
 the introduction of the scholastic system, and also 
 afterward, perhaps, in modifying its spirit, it was 
 derived immediately, in the shape in which it ap- 
 peared in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, from 
 another source. Erigena was a Platonist ; the spirit 
 of his philosophy was that of the school of Alexan- 
 dria. But the first schoolmen, properly so called, 
 were Aristotelians ; they drew their logic and met- 
 aphysics originally from the Latin translations of the 
 works of Aristotle made from the Arabic. How 
 far, if at all, they may also have been indebted to 
 the commentaries of the Arabic doctors, would be 
 a curious inquiry. ' But whether they took their 
 method of philosophy entirely from the ancient 
 heathen sage, or in part from his modern Mahom- 
 edan interpreters and illustrators, it could in neither 
 case have at first any necessary or natural alhance 
 \vith Christianity.' Yet it very soon, as we have 
 said, formed this alliance. Both Lanfranc and 
 Anselm, although not commonly reckoned among 
 the schoolmen, were imbued with the spirit of the 
 new learning, and it is infused throughout their 
 theological writings. Abelard soon after, before he 
 was yet a churchman, may almost be considered to 
 have wielded it as a weapon of skepticism. Even 
 so used, however, religion was still the subject to 
 which it was applied. At last came Peter Lom- 
 bard, who, by the publication, in the latter part of 
 the twelfth century, of his celebrated Four Books 
 of Sentences, properly founded the system of what 
 is called the Scholastic Theology. The schoolmen, 
 from the Master of the Sentences down to Francis 
 Suarez, who died after the commencement of the 
 seventeenth century, were all theologians. Al- 
 though, however, religious speculation was the field 
 of thought upon which the spirit of the Aristotelian 
 philosophy chiefly expended itself, there was scarce- 
 ly any one of the arts or sciences upon which it 
 did not in some degree seize. The scholastic logic 
 became the universal instrument of thought and 
 study ; every branch of human learning was at- 
 tempted to be pursued by its assistance ; and most 
 branches were more or less aflfected by its influence 
 in regard to the forms which they assumed. 
 
 John of Salisbury went to complete his education 
 at Paris in the year 1136. "When I beheld," he 
 writes in a letter to his friend Becket, " the reve- 
 rence paid to the clergy, the majesty and glory of 
 the whole church, and the various occupations of 
 those who applied themselves to philosophy in that 
 city, it raised my admiration as if I had seen the 
 ladder of Jacob, the top of which reached to heaven.
 
 5S8 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 while the steps were crowded with angels ascend- 
 ing and descending." The first master whose lec- 
 tures he attended was the renowned Abelard, still, 
 after all the vicissitudes of his life, teaching with 
 undiminished glory, in the midst of a vast confluence 
 of ad miring disciples, on the Mount of St. Genevieve. 
 "I drank in," says his English pupil, "with incred- 
 ible avidity, every word that fell from his lips ; but 
 he soon, to my infinite regret, retired." Abelard 
 lived only a few years after this date, which he 
 spent in devotion and entire seclusion from the 
 world. John of SaUsbury then studied dialectics 
 for two years under other two masters, one of whom 
 was his countryman, Robert de Melun, mentioned 
 above. After this he returned to the study of 
 grammar and rhetoric, which he pursued 'for three 
 years under William de Couches, of whose method 
 of teaching he has left a particular account. It ap- 
 pears to have embraced a critical exposition both of 
 the style and the matter of the writers commented 
 upon, and to have been well calculated to nourish 
 both the understanding and the taste. After this 
 he spent seven years under other masters, partly 
 in the further prosecution of his acquaintance with 
 the writers of antiquity and the practice of Latin com- 
 position, partly in the study of the mathematics and 
 theology. The entire course thus occupied twelve 
 years ; but some, it would appear, devoted the whole 
 of this time to the study of dialectics, or logic, alone. 
 One of the treatises of John of Salisbury, that enti- 
 tled " Metalogicus," is intended principally to expose 
 the absurdity and injurious effects of this exclusive 
 devotion to the art of wrangling ; and although it 
 must be considered as written with some degree of 
 satirical license, the representation which it gives of 
 the state of things produced by the new spirit that 
 had gone abroad over the realms of learning is very 
 curious and interesting. The turn of the writer's 
 own genius was decidedly to the rhetorical rather 
 than the metaphysical, and he was not very well 
 qualified, perhaps, to perceive certain of the uses or 
 recommendations of the study against which he 
 directs his attack ; but the extravagances of its de- 
 votees, it must be confessed, fairly exposed them to 
 his ridicule and castigation. " I wish," he says in 
 one place, " to behold the light of truth, which these 
 logicians say is only revealed to them. I approach 
 them, — I beseech them to instruct me, that, if pos- 
 sible, I may become as wise as one of them. They 
 consent, — they promise great things, — and at first 
 they command me to observe a Pythagorean silence, 
 that I may be admitted into all the secrets of wisdom 
 which they pretend are in their possession. But 
 ijy-and-by they permit, and even command me, to 
 prattle and quibble with them. This they call dis- 
 puting ; this they say is logic ; but I am no wiser." 
 He accuses them of wasting their ingenuity in the 
 discussion of such puerile puzzles as whether a per- 
 son in buying a whole cloak also bought the cowl ? 
 or whether, when a hog was carried to market 
 with a rope tied about its neck and held at the other 
 end by a man, the hog was really carried to market 
 by the man or by the rope ? It must be confessed 
 that if their logic had been worth much, it ought 
 
 to have made short work with these questions, if 
 their settlement was deemed worth anything. Our 
 author adds, however, that they were declared to 
 be questions which could not be solved, the argu- 
 ments on both sides being perfectly equal. But his 
 quarrel with the dialecticians was chiefly on the 
 ground of the disregard and aversion they mani- 
 fested, in their method of exercising the intellectual 
 powers, to all polite literature, to all that was merely 
 graceful and ornamental. And there can be no 
 question that the ascendency of the scholastic phi- 
 losophy was fatal for the time to the cultivation of 
 polite literature in Europe. So long as it reigned 
 supreme in the schools, learning was whollj' divorced 
 from taste. The useful utterly rejected all connec- 
 tion with the beautiful. The head looked down 
 with contempt upon the heart. Poetry and fiction, 
 and whatever else belonged to the imaginative part 
 of our nature, were left altogether to the unlearned, 
 to the makers of songs and lays for the people. It 
 was probablj' fortunate for poetry, and the kindred 
 forms of literature, in the end, that they were thus 
 left solely to the popukir cultivation for a time ; they 
 drew nourishment and new life from the new soil 
 into which they were transplanted ; and their pro- 
 duce has been the richer and the racier for it ever 
 since. The revival of polite literature probably 
 came at a better time in the fifteenth, than if it had 
 come in the twelfth century. Yet it was not to be 
 expected that when it was threatened with blight 
 and extinction at the earlier era, its friends should 
 either have been able to foresee its resurrection 
 two or three centuries later, or should have been 
 greatly consoled by that prospect if they had. 
 
 John of Salisbury's chief work is his " Polycrati- 
 con," or, as he further entitles it, "A Treatise in 
 eight books, on the Frivolities of Courtiers and the 
 Footsteps of Philosophers." (De Nugis Curialium 
 et Vestigiis Pliilosophorum.) It is, says Warton, 
 "an extremely pleasant miscellany, replete with 
 erudition, and a judgment of men and things, which 
 properly belong* to a more sensible and reflecting 
 period. His familiar acquaintance with the clas- 
 sics appears not only from the happj' facility of his 
 language, but from the many citations of the purest 
 Roman authors with which his works are perpetu- 
 ally interspersed." ' He also wrote Latin verses 
 with extreme elegance. John of Salisbury died 
 Bishop of Chartres in 1182. Another distinguished 
 cultivator of polite literature in the same age was 
 Peter of Blois, to whose letters, abounding as they 
 do in graphic descriptions of the manners and char- 
 acters of the time, we have already more than once 
 had occasion to refer. Neither in elegance of taste 
 and style, however, nor in general literaiy accom- ' 
 plishment, is the Frenchman to be compared with 
 his illustrious English contemporaiy. 
 
 The classical knowledge of this period, however, 
 was almost confined to the Roman authors, and 
 some of the most eminent of these were as yet 
 unstudied and unknown. Even John of Salisbury, 
 though a few Greek words are to be found in his 
 compositions, seems to have had only the slightest 
 
 1 Introd. of Learning into Eng. r- 153.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 589 
 
 possible acquaintance with tbat language. Both it 
 and the Hebrew, however, were known to Abelard 
 and Eloisa; and it is probable that there were both 
 in England and other European countries a few 
 students of the Oriental tongues, for the acquisition 
 of which inducements and facilities must have been 
 presented, not only by the custom of resorting to 
 the Arabic colleges in Spain, and the constant inter- 
 course with the East kept up by the pilgrimages 
 and the crusades, but also by the numbers of learned 
 Jews that were everywhere to be found. In Eng- 
 land the Jews had schools in London, York, Lin- 
 coln, Lynn, Norwich, Oxford, Cambridge, and other 
 towns, which appear to have been attended by 
 Christians as well as by those of their own per- 
 suasion. Some of these seminaries, indeed, were 
 rather colleges than schools. Beside the Hebrew 
 and Arabic languages, arithmetic and medicine are 
 mentioned among the branches of knowledge that 
 were taught in them ; and the masters were gen- 
 erally the most distinguished of the rabbis. In the 
 eleventh and twelfth centuries, the age of Sarchi, 
 the Kimchis, Maimonides, and other distinguished 
 names, rabbinical learning was in an eminently 
 flourishing state. 
 
 In regard to the state of the other branches of 
 knowledge that have been mentioned, only a few 
 words more require to be added. There is no 
 certain evidence that the Arabic numerals were yet 
 known in Europe ; they certainly were not in gen- 
 eral use. Although the Elements of Euclid and 
 other geometrical works had been translated into 
 Latin from the Arabic, the mathematical sciences 
 appear to have been but little studied. " The sci- 
 ence of demonstration," says John of Salisbury, in 
 his Metalogicus, " is of all others the most difficult, 
 and alas ! is almost quite neglected, except by a 
 very few who apply to the study of the mathemat- 
 ics, and particularly of geometry. But this last is 
 at present very little attended to among us, and is 
 only studied by some persons in Spain, Egypt, and 
 Arabia, for the sake of astronomy. One reason of 
 this is, that those parts of the works of Aristotle 
 that relate to the demonstrative sciences are so ill 
 translated, and so incorrectly transcribed, that we 
 meet with insurmountable difficulties in every chap- 
 ter." The name of the mathematics at this time, 
 indeed, was chiefly given to the false science of 
 astrology. " Mathematicians," says Peter of Blois, 
 " are those who, from the position of the stars, the 
 aspect of the firmament, and the motions of the 
 planets, discover things that are to come." As- 
 tronomy, however, or the time science of the stars, 
 which was zealously cultivated by the Arabs in the 
 East and in Spain, seems also to have had some cul- 
 tivators among the learned of Christian Europe. 
 Latin translations existed of several Greek and 
 Arabic astronomical works. Ingulphus gives the 
 following curious description of a sort of scheme or 
 representation of the planetary system called the 
 Nadir, which he says was destroyed when his abbey 
 of Croyland was burnt in 1091 : "We then lost a 
 most beautiful and precious table, fabricated of dif- 
 ferent kinds of metals, according to the variety of 
 
 the stars and heavenly signs. Saturn was of cop- 
 per, Jupiter of gold. Mars of iron, the sun of latten, 
 Mercury of amber, Venus of tin, the moon of silver. 
 The eyes were charmed, as well as the mind in- 
 structed, by beholding the colure circles, with the 
 zodiac and all its signs, formed with wonderful art, 
 of metals and precious stones, according to their 
 several natures, forms, figures, and colors. It was 
 the most admired and celebrated Nadir in all Eng- 
 land." These last words would seem to impl}' that 
 such tables were then not uncommon. This one, 
 it is stated, had been presented to a former abbot of 
 Croyland by a king of France. 
 
 John of Salisbury, in his account of his studies 
 at Paris, makes no mention either of medicine or 
 of law. With regard to the former, indeed, he 
 expressly tells us that the Parisians themselves used 
 to go to study it at Salerno and Montpellier. By 
 the beginning of the thirteenth century, however, 
 we find a school of medicine established at Paris, 
 which soon became very celebrated. Of course 
 there were, at an earlier date, persons who prac- 
 ticed the medical art in that city. The physicians 
 in all the countries of Europe at this period were 
 generally churchmen. Many of the Arabic medical 
 works were early translated into Latin ; but the 
 Parisian professors soon began to publish treatises 
 on the art of their own. The science of the physi- 
 cians of this age, beside comprehending whatever 
 was to be learned respecting the diagnostics and treat- 
 ment of diseases from Hippocrates, Galen, and the 
 other ancient writers, embraced a considerable body 
 of botanical and chemical knowledge. Chemistry 
 in particular the Arabs had carried far beyond the 
 point at which it had been left by the ancients. Of 
 anatomy little could as yet be accurately known, 
 while the dissection of the human subject was not 
 practiced. Yet it would appear that phj-sicians and 
 surgeons were already beginning to be distinguished. 
 Both the canon and civil laws were also introduced 
 into the routine of study at the University of Paris 
 soon after the time John of Salisbury studied there. 
 The canon law was originally considered to be a 
 part of theology, and only took the form of a sep- 
 arate study after the publication of the systematic 
 compilation of it called the " Decretum of Gratian," 
 in 1151. Gratian was a monk of Bologna, and his 
 work, not the first collection of the kind, but the 
 most complete and the best arranged that had yet 
 been compiled, was immediately introduced as a 
 text-book in that university. It may be regarded 
 as having laid the foundation of the science of the 
 canon law, in the same manner as the system of 
 the scholastic philosophy was founded by Peter 
 Lombard's Book of Sentences. Regular lecturers 
 upon it very soon appeared at Orleans, at Paris, at 
 Oxford, and all the other chief seats of learning iu 
 western Christendom ; and before the end of the 
 twelfth century no other study was more eagerly 
 pursued, or attracted greater crowds of students, 
 than that of the canon law. One of its first and 
 most celebrated teachers at Paris was Girard la 
 Pucelle, an Englishman, who afterward became 
 Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. Girard taught
 
 590 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book ITI. 
 
 the canon law in Paris from 1160 to 1177 ; and, in ! 
 consideration of his distinguished merits and what 
 was deemed the great importance of his instruc- ] 
 tions, he received from Pope Alexander III. letters | 
 exempting him from the obligation of residing on i 
 his pi-eferments in England while he was so en- 
 gaged ; this being, it is said, the first known exam- 
 l)le of such a privilege being granted to any pro- 
 fessor.' The same professors who taught the canon 
 law taught also, along with it, the civil law, the 
 systematic study of which, likewise, took its rise in 
 this century, and at the University of Bologna, 
 where the Pandects of Justinian, of which a more 
 perfect copy than had before been known is said to 
 have been found, in 1137, at Amalphi,* were ar- 
 ranged and first lectured upon by the German 
 Irnerius — the Lamp of the Law as he was called^ 
 about the year 1150. Both the canon and the civil 
 law, however, are said to have been taught a ffew 
 years before this time at Oxford by Rogei% sur- 
 named the Bachelor, a monk of Beck, in Normandy. 
 The study was, from the first, vehemently opposed 
 by the practitioners of the common law, but, sus- 
 tained by the influence of the church, and eventually 
 also favored by the government, it rose above all 
 attempts to put it down. John of Salisbury affirms 
 that, by the blessing of God, the more it was per- 
 secuted the more it flourished. Peter of Blois, in 
 one of his letters, gives us the following curious 
 account of the ardor with which it was pursued 
 under the superintendence of Archbishop Theobald: 
 — " In the house of my master, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, there are several very learned men, 
 famous for their knowledge of law and politics, who 
 spend the time between prayers and dinner in lec- 
 turing, disputing and debating causes. To us all 
 the knotty questions of the kingdom are referred, 
 which are produced in the common hall, and every 
 one in his order, having first prepared himself, de- 
 clares, with all the eloquence and acuteness of 
 which he is capable, but without wrangling, what 
 is wisest and safest to be done. If God suggests 
 the soundest opinion to the youngest among us, we 
 all agree to it without envy or deti'action." 
 
 Study in every department must have been still 
 greatly impeded in this period by the scarcity of 
 books ; but their multiplication now went on much 
 more rapidly than it had formerly done. We have 
 already alluded to the immense libraries said to 
 have been accumulated by the Arabs, both in their 
 Oriental and European seats of empire. No col- 
 lections to be compared with these existed any- 
 where in Christian Eurojie ; but of the numerous 
 monasteries that were planted in every country, 
 few were without libraries of greater or less ex- 
 tent. A convent without a library, it used to be 
 proverbially said, was like a castle without an ar- 
 mory. When the monastery of Croydon was burnt 
 
 1 Crevier, Hist, de rUniv. de Paris, i. 244. 
 
 '■> "The discovery of the Pandects at Anialphi," says Gibbon, "is 
 first noticed (in J301) by Ludovicus Bologninus, on the faith of a 
 Pisan chronicle, without a name or date. The whole story, though 
 unknown to the twelfth century, embellished by ignorant ages, and sus- 
 pected by rigid cnticism, is not, however, destitute of much internal 
 probability.'' 
 
 in 1091, its library, according to Ingulphus, con- 
 sisted of 900 volumes, of which 300 were very 
 large. " In every great abbej," says Warton, 
 " there was an apartment called the Scriptorium ; 
 where many writers were constantly busied in 
 transcribing not only the service-books for the choir, 
 but books for the library. The Scriptorium of St. 
 Alban's Abbey was built by Abbot Paulin, a Nor- 
 man, who ordered many volumes to be written 
 there, about the year 1080. Archbishop Lanfranc 
 furnished the copies. Estates were often granted 
 for the support of the Scriptorium .... I find some 
 of the classics written in the English monasteries 
 very early. Henry, a Benedictine monk of Hyde 
 Abbey, near Winchester, transcribed in the year 
 1178, Terence, Boethius, Suetonius, and Claudian. 
 Of these, he formed one book, illuminating the ini- 
 tials, and forming the brazen bosses of the covers 
 with his own hands." Other instances of the same 
 kind are added. The monks were much accus- 
 tomed both to illuminate and to bind books, as well 
 as to transcribe them. " The scarcity of parch- 
 ment," it is afterward observed, " undoubtedly pre- 
 vented the transcription of many other books in 
 these societies. About the year 1120, one Master 
 Hugh, being appointed by the convent of St. Ed- 
 mondsbury, in Suftblk, to write and illuminate a 
 grand copy of the Bible for their library, could pro- 
 cure no parchment for this purpose in England." ' 
 Paper made of cotton, however, was certainly in 
 common use in the twelfth century, though no evi- 
 dence exists that that manufactured from linen 
 rags was known till about the middle of the thir- 
 teenth. 
 
 We have already had occasion to notice the in- 
 correctness of a statement frequently made which 
 attributes to the Conqueror the dehberate design of 
 abolishing the Saxon language in England. The 
 oldest authority for this statement appears to be a 
 wTiter of the name of Robert Holkot, who lived in 
 the fourteenth century ; and his account is not more 
 improbable in itself than it is in opposition to the 
 testimony of the earlier historians. But although 
 the Norman appears neither to have made any 
 efibrts to extirpate the English tongue, nor even to 
 have introduced the French as the language of the 
 law and of all public documents, the substitution of 
 French for English must have followed to a great 
 extent as one of the inevitable consequences of the 
 Conquest. Indeed, causes that helped to bring 
 about this change were in operation even before 
 that event. The Confessor himself, according to 
 Ingulphus, though a native of England, yet, from 
 his education and long residence in Normandy, had 
 become almost a Frenchman ; and when he suc- 
 ceeded to the English throne, he brought over with 
 him great numbers of Normans, whom he advanced 
 to the highest dignities in the church and the state. 
 " Wherefore," it is added, " the whole land began, 
 under the influence of the king and the other Nor- 
 mans introduced by him, to lay aside the English 
 customs, and to imitate the manners of the French 
 in many things ; for example, all the nobility in 
 1 Introd. of Learning into Eng. p. 146.
 
 Chap. V.j 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 591 
 
 their courts began to speak French as a great piece 
 of gentility, to draw up their charters and other 
 writings after the French fashion, and to grow 
 ashamed of their old national habits in these and in 
 many other particulars." The establishment of the 
 Norman dominion of course perpetuated and added 
 much additional force to this tendency, in various 
 ways. The king himself, and, with few exceptions, 
 all the nobility, could speak no language but French. 
 The residence of the Norman nobles and great pro- 
 prietors in all parts of the country must have spread 
 the language of the court. Above all, it would be 
 diffused over the land by the clergy, who were now 
 brought over in great numbers from Normandy, both 
 to serve in the parochial cures, and to fill the mon- 
 asteries that were multiplying so rapidly. These 
 churchmen must have been in constant intercourse 
 with the people of all classes. Beside, they were 
 
 Tha was Engle-laud suithe todeled. sume helden mid te 
 king. &, sume mid themperice. for tha the king was in 
 prisun. tha wendeu the eorles & te rice men that he nevre 
 mare sculde cumme ut. & ssehtleden wyd themperice. & 
 brohten hire into Oxenford. and iauen hire the burch. 
 Tha the king was ute. tha herde that ssegen. and toe his 
 feord & besaet hire in the tur. & me Iset hire dun on niht 
 of the tur mid rapes. & stal ut <& scse fleh & isede on fete 
 to Walingford. Thaer efter scse ferde ofer see. &, hi of 
 Nonnandi wenden alle fra the king to the eorl of Angeeu. 
 sume here thankes & smne here unthankes. for he besaet 
 heom til hi aiauen up here castles. & hi nau helpe ne 
 haefden of the king. Tha ferde Eustace, the kinges sune. 
 to France. & nam the kinges suster of France to wife, 
 weude to bigaeton Normandi thaer thurh. oc he spedde 
 Utel. & be gode rihte. for he was an yuel man. for ware 
 se he wes dide mare yuel thanne god. lie reuede the landes 
 & laeide micel gildes on. he brohte his wif to Engle-land. 
 & dide hire in the castle of . . . . teb. god wmman scse waes. 
 oc scae hedde htel bhsse mid him. & xpist ne wolde that 
 he sculde lange rixan. & wserd ded and his moder beien. 
 & te eorl of Angaeu waerd ded. & his sune Henri toe to the 
 rice. And te cwen of France todselde fra the king. & scae 
 com to the iunge eorl Henri. & he toe hire to wive. & al 
 Peitou mid hire. Tha ferde he mid micel faerd into Engle- 
 land. & wan castles. & te king ferde agenes him mid micel 
 mai'e ferd. & thoth waethere fuhten hi noht. oc ferden the 
 aercebiscop & te wise men betwux heom. & makede that 
 sahte. that te king sculde ben lauerd & king wile he liuede. 
 & aefter his daei ware Henri king, and he helde him for 
 fader & he him for sune. & sib & saehte sculde ben betwyx 
 heom & on al Engle-land. This and te othre forwardes 
 that hi makeden suoren to halden the king & te eorl. and 
 te biscop. & te eorles. & ricemen alle. Tha was he eorl 
 nnderfangen set Wincestre and aet Lundene mid micel 
 wnrtscipe. and alle diden him manred. and suoren the 
 pais to halden. and hit ward sone suithe god pais sua that 
 neure was here. Tha was the king strengere thanne he 
 aeuer ther was. & te eorl ferde ouer sae. & al folc him 
 luuede. for he dide god justise & makede pais. 
 
 not only the instructors of the people from the altar, 
 but the teachers of all the schools. This last cir- 
 cumstance sufficiently accounts for the fact men- 
 tioned by Ingulphus. that it now became the prac- 
 tice for the elements of grammar to be taught to 
 boys at school, not in English, as formerly, but in 
 French. All this would soon make the French 
 language universally familiar to the educated classes 
 even of the Saxon population, while to the Norman 
 part of the nation it was the only language known. 
 The English or Saxon, however, still continued to 
 be the common language of the great body of the 
 people ; and for nearly a century after the Conquest 
 it appears, though considerably modified from its 
 form in earlier times, to have preserved what may 
 still be called a decidedly Saxon character. We give 
 as a specimen the following passage from the Saxon 
 Chronicle, relating to the close of Stephen's reign : 
 
 Then was England very much divided : some held with 
 the king, and some with the empress ; for when the king 
 was in prison, the earls and the rich men supposed that he 
 never more would come out : and they settled with the 
 empress, and brought her into Oxford, and gave her the 
 borough. When the king was out, he heard of this, and 
 took his force, and beset her in the tower.' And they let 
 her down in the night from the tower by ropes. And she 
 stole out, and fled, and went on foot to Wallingford. After- 
 ward she went over sea ; and those of Normandy turned all 
 from the king to the Earl of Anjou ; some willingly, and 
 some against their will ; for he beset them till they gave 
 up their castles, and they had no help of the king. Then 
 went Eustace, the king's son, to France, and took to wife 
 the sister of the King of France. He thought to obtain 
 Normandy thereby ; but he sped little, and by good right; 
 for he w^as an evil man. Wherever he was he did more 
 e%-il than good ; he robbed the lands, and le\'ied heavy 
 guilds upon them. He brought his wife to England, and 
 put her into the castle of. . . . Good woman she was ; but 
 she had little bliss with him ; and Christ would not that he 
 should long reign. He therefore soon died, and his mother 
 also. And the Earl of Anjou died, and his son Henry 
 took to the earldom. And the Queen of France parted 
 from the king ; and she came to the young Earl Henry, 
 and he took her to wife, and all Poictou \\-ith her. Then 
 went he with a large force into England, and won some 
 castles ; and the king went against him with a much larger 
 force. Nevertheless, fought they not ; but the archbishop 
 and the wise men went between them, and made this 
 settlement ; that the king shoidd be lord and king while 
 he hved, and after his day Heniy should be king : that 
 Henry should take him for a father, and he him for a son : 
 that peace and union should be betwixt them, and in all 
 England. This, and the other provisions that they made, 
 swore the king and the earl to obsen-e, and all the bishops, 
 and the earls, and the rich men. Then was the earl re- 
 ceived at Winchester, and at London, with great worship ; 
 and all did him homage, and swore to keep the peace 
 And there was soon so good a peace as never ^va^ here 
 before. Then was the kuig stronger than he ever was 
 before. And the earl went over sea; and all people loved 
 him ; for he did good justice, and made peace. 
 
 An. MCLiv. On this gaer waerd the king Stephne ded. A.n. 1154. In this year died the King Stephen; and 
 
 & bebyried ther his wif and his sune weeron bebyried aet he was buried where his wife and his son were bmied, 
 
 Fauresfeld. thaet minstre hi makeden. Tha the king was at Faversham, which monastery they founded. \Vhen the 
 
 ded tha was the eorl beionde sae. & ne durste nan man king died, then was the earl beyond sea ; but no man 
 
 ^ The tower of the castle at Oxford, built by D'Oyley, which still remains.
 
 592 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 don other bute god for the micel eie of him. Tha he to durst do other than good, for the great fear of him. 
 
 Engle-laud com. tha was he underfangen mid micel When he came to I'.ngland, then was he received with 
 
 wurtscipe. &. to king bletcaed in Luudeue on the sunuen great worship, and blessed to king in London on the Sun- 
 
 daei beforen midwinter da;i. and ther held he micel day before midwinter day. And there he held a full 
 
 curt. court. 
 
 The short composition which follows appears to present a specimen of our language and poetrj' at the 
 latest period at which they could fairly be denominated Saxon. It is from a volume of Homilies in the 
 Bodleian Library (MS. 343), supposed to have been written in the time of Henrj' II. It was first com- 
 municated to the Society of Antiquaries, in 1811, by the late Rev. John Josiah Conybeare. 
 
 Tlie wes bold gebyld 
 Er thu iboren were, 
 The wes mold imynt 
 Er thu of moder come 
 The hit nes no idiht 
 Ne thes deopnes imetea 
 Nes til iloced, 
 Hu long hit the were, 
 Nu me the bringicth 
 AVer thu beon scealt, 
 Nu me sceal the meten 
 And tha mold seoththa : 
 Ne bith no thine bus 
 Healice itimbred. 
 Hit bith unheh and lab ; 
 Thonne thu bist therinne 
 The helewages beoth lage, 
 Sidwages unhege. 
 The rof bith ybild 
 Theie brost fiill neh, 
 Svva thu scealt in mold 
 Winnen fill cald, 
 Dimme and deorcae. 
 Thet clen fulae-t on hod. 
 Dureleas is thEBt hus. 
 And deorc hit is withinnea 
 Daer thu hist fest bidyte 
 And Dseth hefth tha csege 
 Lathlic is that eorth bus. 
 And grim inne to wumen 
 Ther thu scealt wmiien 
 And wurmes the to deletb. 
 Thus thu bist ileyd, 
 And ladffist thine fronden, 
 Nefst thu nenne freond 
 The the wylle faren to, 
 Theet aefre wule lokien 
 Hu the tha?t hus the Uke, 
 Thaet aefre imdon 
 The wule tha dure. 
 And the sefter haten 
 For sone thu bist ladlic 
 And lad to iseonne. 
 
 From about the middle of the twelfth century, 
 the Saxon language is commonly considered to have 
 begun to take a form in which we may discover 
 the beginning of the present English.^ We are 
 not, however, in possession of any undoubted speci- 
 mens of the language in the latter part of the twelfth 
 century. Of the pieces which Warton has given as 
 belonging to this period, the late able and learned 
 editor of the " History of English Poetry" has re- 
 marked that, "judging from internal evidence, there 
 is not one which may not safely be referred to the 
 
 1 See History of the English Language, prefixed to Johnson's 
 Dictionary. 
 
 For thee is a house built 
 
 Ere thou wert born, 
 
 For thee was a mould shapen ^ 
 
 Ere thou of (thy) mother earnest. 
 
 Its height is not determined, 
 
 Nor its depth mea.sured. 
 
 Nor is it closed up 
 
 (However long it may be) 
 
 Until I thee bring 
 
 Where thou shalt remain 
 
 Until I shall measure thee 
 
 And the sod of earth. 
 
 Thy house is not 
 
 Highly built (timbered), 
 
 It is unhigh and low ; 
 
 When thou art in it 
 
 The heelways are low. 
 
 The sideways unhigh. 
 
 The roof is built 
 
 Thy breast fuU nigh ; 
 
 So thou shalt in earth 
 
 Dwell full cold, 
 
 Dim, ami dark. 
 
 That clean putrefies. 
 
 Doorless is that house. 
 
 And dark it is within : 
 
 There thou art fast detained. 
 
 And Death holds the key. 
 
 Loathly is that earth-house, 
 
 And grim to dwell in ; 
 
 There thou shalt dwell, 
 
 And worms shall share thee. 
 
 Thus thou art laid 
 
 And leavest thy friends ; 
 
 Thou hast no friend 
 
 That will come to thee. 
 
 Who will ever inquire 
 
 How that house liketh thee ? 
 
 Who shall ever open 
 
 For thee the door, 
 
 And seek thee ? 
 
 For soon thou becomest loathly. 
 
 And hatefid to look upon. 
 
 thirteenth century, and by far the greater number 
 to the close of that " period." ^ In these circum- 
 stances we shall reserve the consideration of what 
 may be called the birth of the English language for 
 the next book. We shall there also find the most 
 convenient opportunity of noticing the rise and 
 progress of the poetry of the Provencal trouba- 
 dours and of the French and Anglo-Norman ro- 
 mance minstrelsy. 
 
 The Latin, during the whole of the present pe- 
 riod, was the chief language of literary composition. 
 It was in Latin that the teachers at the chief seats 
 
 » Warton's Hist, of Eng. Poetry, i. 7 (Edit, of 1824.)
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 593 
 
 of learning (many of whom were foreigners) deliv- 
 ered their prelections in all the sciences, and that 
 all the disputations among the students were carried 
 on. English and French churchmen of this age 
 appear to have generally been as familiar with Latin 
 as with their native tongue, and to have usually 
 employed it in their intercourse with each other. 
 Nay, some of them who could not speak English 
 seem to have been accustomed to preach to the peo- 
 ple in Latin, and, what is remarkable enough, some- 
 times with much acceptance and effect. Peter of 
 Blois, as we have seen, speaks of this having been 
 done by the French monk Gislebert, or Gilbert, 
 who was one of the founders of the University of 
 Cambridge. So Giraldus Cambrensis tells us that, 
 in a progress which he made through Wales in 
 118G, to assist Archbishop Baldwin in preaching a 
 crusade for the recovery of the Holy Land, he was 
 always most successful when he appealed to the 
 people in a Latin sermon ; it never failed, although 
 they did not understand a word of it, to melt them 
 into tears, and to make them come in crowds to take 
 the cross. 
 
 Much poetry was also written in Latin, in various 
 styles. Joannes Grammaticus, Laurence, Prior of 
 Durham, Robert Dunstable, the historian, Henry 
 of Huntingdon, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Eadmer, 
 William of Malmsbury, John Hanvil, Giraldus Cam- 
 brensis, Alexander Neckham, Walter Mapes, and, 
 above all, Josephus Iscanus, or Joseph of Exeter, 
 are enumerated and celebrated by Warton as flour- 
 ishing within the present period. Joseph of Exeter 
 Warton characterizes as " a mii'acle in classical com- 
 position :" of his epic poem on the Trojan war, he 
 says, " the diction is generally pure, the pej'iods 
 round, and the numbers harmonious ; and, on the 
 whole, the structure of the versification approaches 
 nearly to that of polished Latin poetry. The writer 
 appears to have possessed no common command of 
 poetical phraseology, and wanted nothing but a 
 knowledge of the Virgilian chastity." Some of the 
 compositions of this age, especially some of those 
 of Walter Mapes, who has been styled the Anacreon 
 of the eleventh century, are written in the rhyming 
 Latin, called Leonine verse. Mapes' drinking song, 
 in particular, beginning — 
 
 " Mihi est prupositum in taberna mori," 
 
 is well known. This jovial bard was Archdeacon 
 of Oxford. 
 
 But by far the most precious literary remains of 
 this age are the numerous historical works it has 
 left us. So large a body of early contemporary 
 history as that formed by the writings of the Eng- 
 lish chroniclers of the eleventh and twelfth centu- 
 ries is probably not possessed by any other nation. 
 We will briefly mention some of the chief names. 
 That venerable monument, the Saxon Chronicle, 
 in the first place, comes down to the end of the 
 reign of Stephen. We have the Life of the Con- 
 queror from the pen of William of Poictiers, hk 
 chaplain. Doubts have been cast upon the authen- 
 ticity of the history which passes under the name 
 of Ingulphus, Abbot of Croyland, and indeed it may 
 now be considered as established that the work is 
 vol,. I. — jd 
 
 not what it professes to be ;' but if a forgery in re- 
 spect to its title and the form it is made to assume, 
 it is impossible not to believe that it is founded upo» 
 genuine records of the times to which it relates, 
 and that much of the information contained in it is 
 as trustworthy as it is curious. It narrates the his- 
 tory of the Abbey of Croyland, and to a cei tain ex- 
 tent, that of the kingdom, from the foundation of 
 that abbey in a.d. 664 to a.d. 1091. The Eccle- 
 siastical History of Ordericus Vitalis comes down 
 to the year 1121, and is interspersed with many 
 notices of civil transactions. The History of Ead- 
 mer, the monk of Canterbury, which embraces the 
 period from the Conquest to the year 11J2, is espe- 
 cially valuable for the original papers preserved in 
 it, and for the great number of facts related upon 
 the author's own knowledge. The work of Flo- 
 rence of Worcester, though in what he has given 
 of English history he is little more than a translator 
 of the Saxon Chronicle, is not to be the less prized 
 on that account. " He understood the ancient Sax- 
 on language well," says the le.arned critic to whom 
 we have referred above, " better, perhaps, than 
 any of his contemporaries ; and he has furnished 
 us with an accurate translation from a text whicli 
 seems to have been the best of its kind."" He 
 comes down to the year 1117 ; and the work is con- 
 tinued to the year 1141 by another monk of the 
 same place. 
 
 The excellent histories of William of Malmsbury, 
 his five books of the Acts of the EngUsh kings, and 
 the sequel, in two books, under the title of " Historia 
 Novella," extend over the time from the first ar- 
 rival of the Saxons to the year 1143, in which the 
 author died. Simeon of Durham, and his contin- 
 uators, John and Richard, successively priors of 
 Hexham, have preserved much information, espe- 
 cially respecting the northern part of the kingdom, 
 that is nowhere else to be found : their narrative 
 comes down to the year 1156. Another higlily 
 valuable work relating to the latter part of the same 
 period is the anonymous account of the reign of Ste- 
 phen, entitled " Gesta Stephani." The eight books 
 of the History of Henry of Huntingdon, which, 
 beginning with the earliest accounts of Britain, also 
 come down to the end of the reign of Stephen, and 
 are continued by another writer for ten years far- 
 ther, derive a high value from the numerous ancient 
 authorities, now lost, which appear to have been 
 consulted in their preparation ; some fragments of 
 very early Saxon compositions appear to be almost 
 literally translated and fitted into the text. William 
 of Newbridge, or Newburgh (also known by the 
 names of Little, or Parvus, or Petit), has written 
 with great ability a history of the events from the 
 Norman Conquest to the year 1197. The Annals 
 of Roger de Hoveden, from a.d. 731, where Bede's 
 Ecclesiastical History ends, to a.d. 1202, present 
 an immense repertory of minute details. It has 
 been supposed also that the work entitled the Flow- 
 ers of History, and attributed to Matthew of West- 
 
 1 See an able Article on the sources of early English History, in the 
 Quarterly Review, No. Ixvii. pp. 289 — 297. 
 3 Quarterly Review, vol. Ixvii. p. 281
 
 />94 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book ITI. 
 
 minster, who appears to be a fictitious personage, 
 most probably belongs to this age. The critic quoted 
 above is iuclined to beUeve that the author of the 
 greater part of the work was anterior even to Flo- 
 rence of Worcester.' 
 
 To these might be added a long list of other 
 names : — Brompton, Turgot, Ailred, Gervase of Can- 
 terbury, Ralph de Diceto, Benedict, Abbot of Pe- 
 terborough, Giraldus Cambrensis, Richard of Devi- 
 zes, Walter of Coventry, Ralph, Abbot of Coggeshall, 
 &c. ; not to mention the foreign writers, William 
 of Jumieges (Guhelmus Gemeticeusis), Vinesauf, 
 William of Tyre, aud others ; and the Chronicle of 
 Mailros, the Annals of Burton, Margan, Waverley, 
 and other monastic registers.* 
 
 Few nations, in any period of history, have been 
 more distinguished than the Normans by a taste for 
 magnificent buildings. At the period of their estab- 
 lishment in Neustria, the later Romanesque archi- 
 tecture — the origin of which has been adverted to 
 in the preceding book — had already taken its ulti- 
 mate form and character ; and in this stj le, which 
 they adopted, and continued to prsictice for above 
 two hundred years, many examples remain to at- 
 test their proficiency as early as the tenth century. 
 But in the early part of the eleventh century, which 
 was to them an interval of comparative peace and 
 tranquillity, when they began to enjoy the benefits 
 of permanent security in their possessions, the Nor- 
 mans appear to have been seized with a mania for 
 founding monasteries. The nobility emulated each 
 other in erecting churches on their domains, and 
 the period immediately preceding the descent upon 
 England is distinguished by the erection of the most 
 magnificent edifices in this style remaining in Nor- 
 mandy. Among these may be cited the two cele- 
 brated abbeys at Caen, founded by William the 
 Conqueror and his wife Matilda, of which one at 
 least was nearly completed at the time of the Con- 
 quest, and the other immediately after. The suc- 
 
 ' Quarterly Review, vol. livii. p. 281. 
 
 - The principal of the works mentioned above are to be found in the 
 following collections : — 
 
 1. Rerum Britannicarum, id est, Anglia;, Scotia;, Vicinarumque Insu- 
 larum ac Regionum, Scriptores Vctustiores ac Prsecipui : (a HiER. 
 CoMMELiNO). Fol. Heidelb. <fc Lugd. l.'iS". 
 
 2. Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores post Bedam Prscipui, ex Vetus- 
 tissimis MSS. nunc primuni in lucem editi : (a Hen. Savile). Fol. 
 Lon. 1596, and Francof. 1601. 
 
 3. Anglica, Nomiannica, Ilibernica. Canibrica, a vcteribus Scripta, 
 ex Bibl Glilielmi Camdeni. Fol. Francof. 1603. 
 
 4 Historian Anglicanie Scriptores X. ex Vetustis MSS. nunc primum 
 in lucem editi: (a RoG. Twysde.n et Joan. Selden). Fol. Lon. 
 1652. 
 
 5. Rerum Anglicarum Scriptorum Vetcrum Tomus I""" ; Quorum 
 Ingulfus nunc primum integer, ceteri nunc primum phidcunt: (a Joan. 
 Fkll). Fol. Oxun. 1684 (sometimes cited as the 1st vol. of Gale's 
 Collection). 
 
 6. Ilistoriae Anglicanae Scriptores Quinquc, ex Vetustis Codicibus 
 MSS nunc primum in lucem editi (a Thom. Gale). Fol. Oxou. 1687. 
 (This is called the 2d vol. of Gale's Collection.) 
 
 7. Historiae Britannica?, Saxonicae, Anglo-Danica, Scriptores XV. ex 
 Vetustis Codd. MSS. editi, Opera. THOMa; Gale. Fol. Oxon. 1691. 
 (This is called the 1st vol. of Gale's Collection.) 
 
 8. Historiae Anglicana Scriptores Varii, e Codicibus manuscriptis 
 nunc primum editi : (a Jos. Sparke). Fol. Lon. 1723. 
 
 9. HistorisE Normannorum Scriptores Antiqui ; studio Andre* liu 
 Chesne. Fol. Paris, 1619. 
 
 10. Gesta Dei per Francos: (a Jacob. Bongarsio), 2 torn. fol. 
 Hajiov. 1611 
 
 cess of the Norman arms in England was immedi- 
 ately followed by the general difi'usion of Norman 
 arts ; and when the land was parceled out among 
 Norman barons, and appropriated to the endow- 
 ment of Norman monasteries, and when the sees 
 and religious establishments were filled with Nor- 
 man bishops and monks, edifices rivaling those of 
 their continental dominions speedily rose in every 
 part of the country. Such was the activity and 
 zeal with which the Normans exerted themselves 
 in securing their acquisitions by the construction of 
 fortresses, and in displaying their piety by the foun- 
 dation of monasteries, and the erection and restora- 
 tion of ecclesiastical buildings, that before the end 
 of the eleventh century their strongholds were scat- 
 tered over the kingdom to its remotest parts ; aud 
 in addition to the numerous religious establishments 
 originating from the munificence of the Normans, 
 many of those already existing were refounded, 
 and the buildings demolished for tlie purpose of 
 restoring them on a more extensive scale. How- 
 ever rapaciously the Normans may have possessed 
 thenieelves of the wealth of England, they certainly 
 applied it with good taste, and, by a liberal expendi- 
 ture, encouraged the arts, and restored the forms 
 of religion. " You might see," says William of 
 Malmsbury, " churches rise in every village, and 
 monasteries in the towns and cities, built in a stj'le 
 unknown before. You might behold the country 
 flourishing with renovated sites, so that each wealthy 
 man accounted that day lost to him, which he neg- 
 lected to signalize by some magnificent action." 
 
 The twelfth century was still more productive 
 in works of architecture, especially of the military 
 class. Henry I. was a gi'eat builder both of castles 
 and monasteries ; but in the following turbulent 
 reign the country became, in the words of the Saxon 
 Chronicle, " covered with castles — every one built 
 a castle who was able." So that before the death 
 of Stephen they are reckoned to have amounted to 
 the number of 11 15. Church architecture flourished 
 in nearly an equal degree in the more tranquil part 
 of this century ; and to this period, accordingly, we 
 are indebted for a large proportion of our principal 
 ecclesiastical edifices. 
 
 Of the resources which the clergy of this period 
 brought to the work of founding and constructing 
 churches and monasteries, we may form an idea 
 from the example of Bishop Herbert Losing, who 
 removed the episcopal see of Thetford to Norwich 
 in 1094. Beside settUng a community of Clugniac 
 monks at Thetford, he established an extensive and 
 numerous monastery at Norwich, defraying the ex- 
 pense entirely out of his private fortune, and erected 
 the splendid church which still remains a monument 
 of hia wealth and liberality ; and yet William of 
 Malmsbuiy, to whom we owe these particulars, 
 expressly says, that he u-as hy no means a rich bishop. 
 This church, however, was much surpassed in size 
 by others of the same date ; and the enlarged ideas 
 of Mauritius, Bishop of London, appear to have as- 
 tonished even his contemporaries. He began to 
 rebuild his cathedral, in 1086, upon a plan so vast 
 and magnificent, that it was censured as a rash un-
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 595 
 
 dertaking, never likely to be completed ; and though 
 this building be lost to posterity, the accounts we 
 have of its form and dimensions would go far to jus- 
 tify these feelings of wonder and incredulity. Roger, 
 Bishop of Sarum (1107-1139), was another munifi- 
 cent builder. Beside his cathedral, which he re- 
 built in such a manner " that it yielded to none, and 
 surpassed many, he erected several castles," says 
 Malmsbury, " and splendid mansions on all his 
 estates, with such unrivaled magnificence, that in 
 merely maintaining them, the labor of his success- 
 ors will toil in vain." The abbpy of Malmsbury was 
 also the work of this great prelate ; and its ruins and 
 some fragments of Sherborne Castle are all that 
 remain of the numerous works which drew forth 
 these high encomiums from the historian. 
 
 To particularize all the ecclesiastical edifices 
 founded during this period, would be to enumerate 
 most of the cathedrals and principal abbeys in Eng- 
 land. So solid and well constructed are these 
 works, that wherever the hand of time has not been 
 assisted by violence or neglect, they remain to this 
 day entire, and apparently imperishable. It is true 
 that in many instances the alterations and additions 
 of succeeding periods have done much to obliterate 
 the original character of the Norman style, yet 
 there are few of the buildings in which it cannot be 
 distinctly traced, and in a considerable number it 
 still predominates. In this latter class, beside the 
 cathedral of Norwich already mentioned, we may 
 notice those of Durham, founded by William de 
 Carilepho (1093) ; Chichester, by Bishop Ralph 
 (1091); Peterborough, by Ernulph (1107); Roches- 
 ter, by Gundulph (1077) ; Hereford, by Robert de 
 Losing (1079) ; Gloucester, by Abbot Serlo (1088) ; 
 and Oxford, by Prior Guymond (1120). There are 
 also considerable remains of this period at Ely, in 
 the nave and transepts (1081-1106); at Exeter, in 
 the two noble towers built by Bishop Warelwast 
 (1112) ; at Winchester in the tower and transepts, 
 the work of Bishop Walkelyn (1070); and in the 
 cathedral of Canterbury, of which the whole of the 
 eastern part waa erected before the end of the 12th 
 century. Many other examples will be noticed in- 
 cidentally as we proceed. 
 
 It is not only as the munificent founders of so 
 1 
 
 many noble buildings, and the patrons of the artists 
 by whom their erection was superintended, that 
 these prelates have a claim upon our admiration. 
 In an age when all arts, sciences, and learning were 
 confined to the clerical order, there is great reason 
 to believe that it was their architectural skill which 
 produced the designs which their wealth contrib- 
 uted to carry into execution. Gundulph, Bishop of 
 Rochester, is recorded to have been the most able 
 architect of his day, not only in the ecclesiastical, 
 but also in the military style. The cathedral and 
 castle of Rochester, though neither was completed 
 in his lifetime, and the Tower of London, are suflli- 
 cient evidence of his talents. Peter of Colechurch, 
 architect of the first stone bridge across the Thames 
 at London (1176), was also an ecclesiastic. To these 
 may be added, though on less direct evidence, the 
 names of Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester, 
 who, beside continuing the works at his cathedral, 
 founded the monasteries of St. Cross and Romsey, 
 in Hampshire, where the churches still retain their 
 original architectural character ; the bishops Roger 
 and Ernulph, already mentioned, and Alexander, 
 Bishop of Lincoln (from 1124 to 1147). The list 
 might be much further extended upon at least prob- 
 able grounds. William of Sens, however, who re- 
 built part of Canterbury Cathedral in 1174, appears 
 to have been a professional architect, as well as an- 
 other William, an Enghshman, who succeeded him, 
 and completed his works. 
 
 As the Norman style of architecture forms an in- 
 termediate link between the Roman and the Gothic, 
 and as its transition into the latter is extremely 
 gradual, we find in it, as may be expected, much 
 that recalls the memory of the one, and much which 
 connects it with the other. Its principal character- 
 istic feature is the circular arch, springing either 
 from a single column, varying in every degree from 
 a cylinder of tv/o diameters high to a proportion 
 nearly classical, or from a pier decorated with half 
 columns or light shafts, the evident origin of the 
 clustered pillar of a later date. Both these forms 
 are frequently used in the same building, as in the 
 cathedral of Durham, where they support the main 
 arches alternately. Polygonal shafts and plain rect- 
 angular piers are also to be met with, but they are 
 
 3 
 
 1. Southwell Minster, 
 
 Norman Windows. 
 2. St. Cross, Hants. 
 
 3. Caston Church, Northamptonshire
 
 596 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 less common. The wiills are so massive as to 
 render buttresses unnecessary — the projections so 
 called being rather for ornament than utility. The 
 windows are small in proportion, and generally 
 simple in form, though sometimes divided by a col- 
 un)n into two lights within the exteiiial arch. Cir- 
 cular windows were also used, and in their simple 
 division by small shafts, we may see the outline of 
 the elaborate wheel windows of the Gothic style. 
 
 stone roof, many of which remain in Normandy ; 
 though in England, so universal has been the taste 
 for alterations, as various styles of architecture suc- 
 ceeded to each other, it would be diflicult to find 
 an example in its original state. These roofs are 
 p)obably the origin of the spire ; and in that of the 
 church of Then, the angles are decorated in a man- 
 ner in which the germ of a crocket may be distin- 
 guished. But the general pitch of the Norman roof 
 is moderate ; the acute pitcli accompanied the es- 
 tablishment of the pointed arch. 
 
 Window of Castle Hedingham CnuRcn. 
 
 The cornices are often extremely bold, and sup- 
 ported by corbels in a variety of forms, of which 
 gi'otesque and monstrous heads are the most com- 
 mon. Another sort of cornice consists merely of a 
 band, indented underneath, and forming a parapet : 
 this cornice is usually of the same projection as the 
 buttresses, which die into it. The former style of 
 cornice was generally used to terminate towers, 
 and perliaps originally to support an acute-angled 
 
 Tower of Tuen Church, Normandy 
 3 4 
 
 NoRMAW Capitals. 
 
 1 lumiegcs. 2. Sanson sur-Rille. 3. St. Peter's, Norlt.ampton. 4. Steelly, Derlnshire. 5. nnd 11. St. John's, Chester. 
 
 6. 7. and 10. Rochester Cathedral. 8. Canterbury. 9. St. Georges de Bjcherville 12. Oxford.
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 34 5 6 
 
 597 
 
 'K^ 
 
 i 
 
 mi 
 
 ^^>y;^ 
 
 aOT 
 
 
 I to 8 Shafts of Columns. 
 
 Norman Architectural Decorations. 
 9 to 16, and 24. Arch-Mouldings. 17 to 23. Strings and Imposts. 
 
 27 to 30. Ornaments on Flat Surfaces. 
 
 25 and 26. Cornices 
 
 The details of the Norman style are extremely 
 varied, yet the mouldings are few and simple, and 
 may be traced to a Roman origin. The bases of 
 the columns are also usually simple and regular. In 
 the capitals we constantly find imitations of the 
 classical orders (except, perhaps, the Ionic), from 
 the plainest to the most elaborate. Other forms of 
 the most frequent occurrence appear to be peculiar 
 to the style, while in a very large class, possessing 
 the general resemblance of a sort of campanulate 
 form with a massive square abacus, the imagination 
 seems to have exhausted itself in devising the 
 ornaments with which they are sculptured. In the 
 main columns of buildings the shafts are for the 
 most part plain, and a certain degi-ee of uniformity 
 is observed in the capitals, as in those of the cathe- 
 dral of Oxford, where they are foliated and of the 
 same general aspect, though varied in the details 
 with much taste ; but when columns are iised as 
 decorations only, as they frequently are to a great 
 extent, it is common to find a studied variety not 
 only in the capitals, but even in the shafts. 
 
 The running decorations are also extremely vari- 
 
 ous, and, like the capitals, may often be traced to a 
 classical origin. The antique scroll is reproduced in 
 a variety of modifications. But the most character- 
 istic ornament of the style is the chevron, or zigzag, 
 which is used in the greatest profusion equally in 
 the earliest and latest examples, and even lingers 
 after almost every other trace of the style has dis- 
 appeared. After this almost universal decoration, 
 frets and reticulations of various forms, right-angled, 
 triangular, and lozenge-shaped, are the most com- 
 mon ; and the billeted moulding, described by Ben- 
 tham, "as if a cylinder should be cut into small 
 pieces of equal length, and then stuck on alternately 
 round the face of the arch." Another common and 
 peculiar decoration is a range of beaked heads lying 
 over a hollow moulding. Cabled and spiral mould- 
 ings are also frequent. 
 
 These decorations, and an infinite number of 
 others, of which many may be gathered from the 
 preceding illustrations, were frequently used in 
 great profusion, both in arches and horizontal bands. 
 But in Anglo-Norman works the greatest display of 
 ornament was lavished on the doorways, the arch
 
 598 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 of which often consists of a repetition of many en- I rare) inclosed within an arch, and the space filled 
 riched bands, one within another, surrounded by an 1 up with sculpture. These particulars will be best 
 archivolt, sometimes resembling that member in i understood by reference to the ongravings. The 
 classical architecture, sometimes partaking more of i mode of ornamenting the archivolt with figures in 
 the form of a label. Square-headed doors are com- compartments, as in the doorway of BarfrestoD 
 mon; but this form is generally (the exceptions are 1 Church, is not uncommon. 
 
 Door-way, Romsey Abbey, Hants 
 
 Door-way of Barfreston Church, Kent. 
 
 1 LtDcolu MiDitar 
 
 Decorative Normam Arches 
 2 Castle Acre Pnory 3. St. Auffuatin, Caiiter'jury
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 599 
 
 As the windows in the Norman stj'le are small, 
 and there are no sahent buttresses to break the 
 external outline of the building, several kinds of 
 decoration are appropriated to ornament the face of 
 the walls, which would otherwise exhibit a large 
 extent of plain surface. Of these the most con- 
 spicuous is a series of small columns and arches, 
 sometimes simple, and sometimes interlaced. One 
 or two tiers of these graceful aixades are veiy 
 common, either introduced as a dado (both inside 
 and out), as at Canterbury, Christ Church, and 
 
 Winchester, or as a band between the upper and 
 lower windows, as at Norwich; but some facades 
 present a mass of this beautiful arch-work ; such 
 are the west fronts of Rochester Cathedral and 
 Castle Acre PriOry, and the ancient parts of Lin- 
 coln. Sometimes these arches are richly decorated, 
 and even the flsit surfaces within them ; as in the 
 tower of St. Augustin at Canterbury, now de- 
 stroyed, of which a representation has been given 
 in a preceding page. 
 
 The Latin cross had become, at this period, the 
 
 rA-- ^^-r\^'fUW\^M 
 
 West Front op Rochester Cathedral. 
 The centre window is an addition of much later date. 
 
 established form for churches of the larger class, 
 terminating at the east end in a semicircular apsis. 
 The circular form also predominated in the append- 
 ent chapels, as may be observed in the cathedrals 
 of Canterbury, Norwich, and Gloucester, and still 
 more distinctly in their prototypes in Normandy, 
 which have undergone less alteration. The inter- 
 nal elevation consists of three divisions — the lower 
 arches ; the triforium, occupying the space between 
 the vaulting and external roof of the side aisles ; 
 and the clerestory. These parts may be considered 
 invariable ; and the interior of Durham Cathedral 
 may be taken as an example of their arrangement. 
 But their forms and proportions differ in different 
 buildings ; the triforium being sometimes a spacious 
 open arch, as at Waltham Abbey, and sometimes a 
 very insignificant member of the composition, as at 
 
 Tewksbury. The windows of the clerestory also 
 vary from a single to a triple light. 
 
 The internal roofs are sometimes vaulted and 
 sometimes left open to the timbers. In the former 
 case the groins most commonly spring fi-om a lofty 
 shaft, either rising from the ground, or superposi- 
 ted on the capitals of the main columns. 
 
 The intersection of the cross generally supports 
 a tower, low in proportion, and much decorated 
 with arches pierced for windows. Within it is 
 open to the roof, and forms a lantern. The west 
 end is often flanked by two other towers, as at 
 Southwell Minster, Worksop Abbey, and Durham 
 Cathedral. The angles of the building very com- 
 monly break forward before the face of the wall, 
 and are surmounted by square or octangular turrets, 
 formed of gioups of columns and arches, and ter-
 
 600 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 TBOOK III. 
 
 MaVE of DlRIIAM Catiikdral. 
 
 minatjng in a pinnacle, of which examples remain 
 at Rochester, Bishop's Cleave in Gloucestershire, 
 and a few other places ; but their mutilation is 
 almost universal. 
 
 The smaller parish churches of this period con- 
 sist of a nave and chancel, without side aisles or 
 transepts, with a tower, generally at the west end, 
 but sometimes, as at Iffley and Stewkeley, at the 
 junction of the two divisions of the building. In all 
 churches of this class which possess a decorative 
 character a great share of enrichment is bestowed 
 upon the arch which spans the building between 
 the nave and chancel, as at Tickencote and Barfres- 
 ton. The east end sometimes terminates in the 
 
 semicircular apsis, as at Steetly in Derbysliire, but 
 is more commonly square. 
 
 In this view of Norman ecclesiastical architec- 
 ture it has been deemed expedient to dwell at some 
 length upon its details. In the most important 
 structures of this class, the dates, as we have had 
 occasion to see, are generally to be ascertained ; 
 but we shall not find the light of history so clearly 
 thrown upon the other branches of our inquiry ; 
 analogy must often supply its place, and then a 
 knowledge of detail will be our only guide. 
 
 But, previously to entering into the subject of the 
 military and domestic architecture of this period, it 
 may not be uninteresting to ofl'er a few remarks
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ART 
 
 601 
 
 upon a point which has caused some embarrassments 
 to antiquaries — namely, that in some particulars 
 there is a marked difference between the Anglo- 
 Norman style and that of the continent. Thus the 
 common occurrence of the enriched doorways 
 that have been described is peculiar to England; 
 for though highly-decorated examples are to be 
 found in Normandy, yet they are rare ; whereas on 
 our side of the Channel they abound, and seem at 
 all periods to have been respected and thought 
 worthy of preservation, since nothing is more com- 
 mon than to find an enriched Norman doorway 
 remaining in a phrish church of which every other 
 part has been altered or rebuilt at a subsequent 
 period. In fact, the exterior of our principal 
 churches of this date is generally in a more deco- 
 rative stj-le than those in Normandy. The front 
 of the church of St. Stephen at Caen' (as high at 
 least as the towers) is not merely plain, but mean, 
 especially the windows, to a degree unknown in 
 any English structure of equal importance — a cir- 
 cumstance difficult to be accounted foi', since there 
 is no appearance of parsimony or of imperfection in 
 the style in any other respect ; and the instance is 
 by no means singular. On the other hand, the 
 details are more regular, better drawn, and more 
 skilfully executed in Normandy than in England, 
 where we shall seek in vain for so near an approach 
 to the graceful forms of antiquity as in the tAvo first 
 examples of capitals. The style of these capitals, 
 and of many other specimens of architectural sculp- 
 ture to be found in France, may lead to an expla- 
 nation of the difficulty. 
 
 The architectural works of this period, and 
 throughout the middle ages, must have been the 
 result of a division of labor. The share the clerical 
 architect took in the work was probably confined to 
 the general dimensions, outline, and character of 
 the building; the actual construction was the busi- 
 ness of the master mason ; while the subordinate 
 parts, with their various details, were confided to a 
 class of operative artists unknown in the present 
 age, whose minds as well as hands were occupied 
 upon the mouldings and decorations, which they 
 invented as well as executed, each man's province 
 being, perhaps, extremely limited. It is difficult 
 upon any other theory to account for the combina- 
 tion of unity of design and prodigious variety of 
 detail in the works of the middle ages. We shall 
 find, upon examination, what has been incidentally 
 noticed in a former chapter — that Byzantine sculp- 
 ture abounds in the architecture of this period on 
 the continent, but is of extreme rarity in England. 
 A people so far advanced as the Anglo-Saxons in an 
 original style of decorative painting might be inde- 
 pendent of foreign aid in architectural sculpture ; 
 general designs would naturally be modified by the 
 means of execution at hand ; and we may fairly 
 conclude that, though we undoubtedly owe our 
 greatest works to the energy and magnificence of 
 the Normans, yet much that is valuable about them 
 is due to genuine native talent. 
 
 The military structures of this period must not 
 
 1 Page 376. 
 
 be confounded with the extensive fortified resi- 
 dences which came into vogue toward the end of 
 the thirteenth century. The palatial character of 
 the castles of the feudal barons, the vast halls and 
 lightsome oriels which the records and fictions of 
 chivalry and romance have inseparably associated 
 with them, had no existence in those of the twelfth 
 centurj', which were essentially fortresses, in which 
 everything was sacrificed to security. 
 
 At this period the principles upon which such 
 places were constructed were of necessity essen- 
 tially different from those adapted to the modern 
 art of war, and in some respects even totally oppo- 
 site, the chief strength of the fortress lying in the 
 height and inaccessibility of the defences. For 
 resistance to the modes of attack then in use the 
 buildings in question were admirably calculated, 
 and though the form and arrangement of the strong- 
 holds of the Anglo-Norman barons were as various 
 as the positions in which they were erected, yet it 
 is not difficult to perceive in their scattered remains 
 a common resemblance from which the general 
 system of their construction may be deduced. 
 
 The Anglo-Norman castle occupied a consider- 
 
 A Norman Castle. 
 From an Ancient Drawing- published in Grose's Military Antiquities. 
 
 1. The Dungeon. 3. Stable. 5. Outer Bailey. 7. Mount. 
 
 2. Chapel. 4. Inner Bailey. 6. Barbican. 8. Soldiers' 
 Lodgings. — The Mount is supposed by Grose to be the Court-hill 
 where the lord dispensed justice, and where it was also executed. 
 
 able space of ground, sometimes several acres, and 
 usually consisted of three principal divisions — the 
 outer or lower Ballium (Anglice Bailey) or court.
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Plan and Elevation of Monk Bar. York. 
 
 a Outer Gale. 6 Barbican, c Groove for Portcullis, d Inner Gate. 
 
 / City Walls, g Stairs to ditto, h Guard- room, i Sally-port. 
 
 the inner or upper court, and the keep. The outer 
 circumference of the whole was defended by a 
 lofty and solid perpendicular wall strengthened at 
 intervals by towers, and surrounded by a ditch or 
 <noat. Flights of steps led to the top of this ram- 
 part, which was protected by a parapet,' embattled 
 itnd pierced in different directions by loop-holes or 
 chinks, and oeillets, through which missiles might 
 l>e discharged without exposing the men. The 
 ramparts of Rockingham Castle, according to Le- 
 land, were embattled on both sides, " so that if the 
 area were won the castle keepers might defend the 
 waUs." The entrance through the outer wall into 
 the lower court was defended by the barbican, 
 which in some cases was a regular outwork, cover- 
 ing the approach to the bridge across the ditch; 
 but the few barbicans which remain consist only of 
 a gateway in advance of the main gate, with which 
 
 ' See aats, p. 355 
 
 it was connected by a narrow open passage com- 
 manded by the ramparts on both sides. Such a 
 work remained until lately attached to several of 
 the gates of York, and still remains, though of a 
 later date, at Warwick Castle. The entrance arch- 
 way, besides the massive gates, was crossed by the 
 portcullis, which could be instantaneously dropped 
 upon any emergency ; and the crown of the arch 
 was pierced with holes, through which melted lead 
 and pitch, and heavy missiles, could be cast upon 
 the assailants below. 
 
 A second rampart, similar to the first, separated 
 the lower from the upper court, in which were 
 placed the habitable buildings, including the keep, 
 the relative position of which varied with the nature 
 of the site. It was generally elevated upon a high 
 artificial mound, and sometimes inclosed by out- 
 works of its own. The keep bore the same relation 
 to the rest of the castle that the citadel bears to a 
 'itified town. It was the last retreat of the gar- 
 rison, and contained the apartments of the baron or 
 commandant. In form the Anglo-Norman keeps 
 are varied, and not always regular ; but in those of 
 the larger size rectangular plans are the most com- 
 mon, and of the smaller class many are circular. 
 The solidity of their construction is so great that 
 we find them retaining at least their outward form 
 in the midst of the most dilapidated ruin. Time 
 and violence appear to have assaulted them in vain, 
 and even the love of change has respected them 
 through successive generations. 
 
 In those towers much judgment is shown in dis- 
 .posing of the limited space they afi'ord so as to 
 obtain the best accommodation in a manner com- 
 patible with security ; and as it was also necessary 
 to provide for the subsistence of a garrison inde- 
 pendently of all external communication, they in- 
 variably contain a well, which is sometimes con- 
 trived with a funnel in the wall to supply water to 
 each story separately. There are generally three 
 stories, and often four, of which the lowest is a 
 dark, vaulted basement, traditionally assigned to 
 the custody of prisoners of war. To such a use 
 these dungeons were undoubtedly too often put, 
 but their general destination was more probably for 
 store rooms. This story communicated from above 
 with the second, on which was the entrance, acces- 
 sible only by a steep and narrow flight of steps. 
 The upper floor was the piincipal apartment, and 
 often, the only one possessing the advantage either 
 of a window or a chimney. There was always 
 one, and in the larger keeps two roon:s, on each 
 floor, as large as the extent within the walls would 
 admit; and, in the upper story, a variety of closets 
 and conveniences contrived in the projections and 
 thickness of the walls. At Conisborough, the keep, 
 which is four stories high, is a circle of about 
 twenty-two feet diameter inside, with walls fifteen 
 feet thick, flanked by six projecting turrets. In 
 this example both the third and fourth stories con- 
 tain fire-places, and were therefore both intended 
 for lodging rooms, though the former is very im- 
 perfectly lighted. From the latter, though the 
 state-apartment has but one window, opens a small
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 603 
 
 CONISBOROUGH CaSTLE, YORKSHIRE. 
 
 A. Plan of the Second, or Entrance Story. B. The Third Story. C. The Fourth Story. 
 
 1. Steps. 4. Opening to the Vaulted Story 6. Window. 9. Stairs to Fourth Story. 12. Window 
 
 2. Entrance. below. 7. Chimney. 10. Chapel. ]3. Chimney. 
 
 3. Stairs to Third Story 5. Stairs from the Second Floor. 8. Pnvy. 11 Stairs from Third Floor. 14. Stairs to Plalfort 
 
 CONISBOROUOH CaSTLE. 
 
 but well-decorated hexagon room, occupying one of 
 the turrets, with a closet adjoining. A piscina or 
 basin for holy water in the wall indicates the former 
 to be the chapel, a necessary appendage to every 
 castle. Six other closets, opening to the platform 
 on the top of the building, are obtained in the six 
 turrets, which rise above the parapet, one of which, 
 from the appearance of an oven within, seems to 
 have been used as a kitchen. The floors have been 
 of timber, and the stone corbels upon which the 
 beams rested still remain. In its extent and ar- 
 rangement this building may be taken as a fair 
 representation of the Norman keeps of the smaller 
 class. 
 
 The greater keeps are often enormous masses of 
 buiidiDg. That of the Tower of London id a par- 
 
 allelogram of one hundred and sixteen feet by 
 ninety-six, and sixty-nme high. Rochester occu- 
 pies a square of about seventy feet, and rises to the 
 hnmense height of one hundred and four. Dover, 
 Colchester, Castle Rising, Kenilworth, Richmond, 
 Bamborough, and others too numerous to be sepa- 
 rately distinguished, are of the same class and on a 
 similar plan. Their vast surfaces are relieved by 
 shallow buttresses, and in some instances, as at 
 Norwich,' by ornamental arches. Their angles are 
 broken by turrets containing staircases, and a pro- 
 jecting tower of entrance with the chapel in tha 
 upper story is a feature common to many." In 
 their internal accommodation they differ from tha 
 smaller keeps only in extent. The principal rooms* 
 » See ante, p. 367 » See ante, p. 381.
 
 604 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 The Keep or Richmond Castle 
 
 iire larger, and the secondary ones more numerous, 
 but they are in no respect more conveniently ar- 
 ranged or less gloomy. 
 
 Dark and comfortless as these towers were, the 
 incessant warfiire which rendered their construction 
 necessary also compelled the Anglo-Norman barons 
 to inhabit them with their families and i-etinue. In 
 Scotland, and particularly in the boi'der country, 
 where society long remained in a similar state, even 
 the private houses continued for centuries to be 
 erected in the form of towers, with windows re- 
 duced to loop-holes ; the ground-floor, strongly bar- 
 ricaded, being used to secure the cattle at night, 
 and the family dwelling in the ill-lighted apartments 
 above, where they were sometimes obliged to shut 
 themselves up for da5-s together. These Peel 
 houses, as they are called, abounded on the frontier ; 
 and Hoddam Castle, a fortalice of this description, 
 was erected by John, Lord Herries, as late as the 
 reign of Mary Stuart. 
 
 The long continuance of the feudal system in the 
 northern parts of Great Britain has had the effect 
 of bringing down many ancient customs to a recent 
 date. As lately as the year 1740, the notorious 
 Simon Frazer, Lord Lovat, maintained all the cus- 
 toms of his ancestors in his residence of Castle 
 Dunie ; and his manner of living, described on the 
 authority of Ferguson (the astronomer), who in his 
 youth had passed several months there, may serve 
 to explain by what means the Norman barons and 
 their numerous retainers could find even temporary 
 accommodation in the confined buildings that have 
 been described. " The residence of this powerful 
 
 laird was a sort of tower, forming at best such a 
 house as would be esteemed but an indifferent one 
 for a private country gentleman in England. It 
 had in all only four apartments on a floor, and none 
 of them large. Here, however, he kept a sort of 
 court and several public tables, and had a very 
 numerous body of retainers always attending. His 
 own constant residence, and the place Avhcro he 
 received company and dined with them, was in one 
 room only, and that the very room in which he 
 lodged. His lady's sole apartment was also her 
 bedchamber. The only provision made for lodg- 
 ing either the domestic servants or the numerous 
 retainers was a quantity of straw, which was spread 
 every night over the lower rooms, where the whole 
 of the inferior part of the family, consisting of a 
 very great number of persons, took up their abode. 
 Sometimes above 400 persons attending this petty 
 court were kenneled there." 
 
 It is not, however, to be doubted that the ex- 
 tensive circuit of the Norman castles inclosed sub- 
 sidiary buildings, and those not always confined to 
 such as were requisite for the mere accommodation 
 of the garrison, their horses, and their live-stock. 
 Porchester Castle protected a religious community 
 within its walls, whose church remains to attest its 
 early date. A similar structure is to be traced at 
 Bamborough. At Okeham Castle, a great hall 
 erected before the end of the twelfth century is 
 still extant, and Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who 
 died in 1147, is said to have built a baronial hall in 
 his castle of Bristol. All such appendages must, 
 however, be absolutely distinguished from thoSf^
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 605 
 
 which were afterward incorporated with the mam 
 edifice. The extensive and connected residentiary 
 buildings which form the upper Avard of such Nor- 
 man castles as were subsequently retained for habi- 
 tation, are invariably in a later style than the keep. 
 The castle of Newark, built by Alexander, Bishop 
 of Lincoln, is a rare example of any departure from 
 the established system of fortification at that period, 
 and its remains may indicate a first step toward 
 that union of habitable space with strength, which 
 afterward expanded into the magnificence of War- 
 wick, Kenilworth, and Alnwick. 
 
 There are few remains of the domestic buildings 
 of this period, but a suflficient number exist to prove 
 that even those of the greatest extent and solidity 
 were buildings of a character altogether distinct 
 from the strongholds that have just been described. 
 This fact may also be inferred from the incidental 
 testimony of ancient writers. At an earlier period 
 we find that Edward the Confessor had a hunting- 
 seat, and Harold a country-house. William of 
 Malmsbury, in a passage already quoted, distin- 
 guishes the mansions erected by Bishop Roger 
 from his castles ; and from the same passage we 
 may also infer, that they were in a style of mag- 
 nificence corresponding to that of the other descrip- 
 tions of Norman architecture. Of the Palatial 
 style of the period, William Rufus' hall at West- 
 minster survives, a splendid monument ; for though 
 no feature of its original character remains in view, 
 yet there is indisputable evidence that the dimen- 
 
 sions of the building are unaltered. It is supposed, 
 with much reason, to have been originally divided 
 by columns into a center and side aisles. This at 
 least appears to have been the general construction 
 of the great halls of the Norman period, as far as 
 there are means of judging. Such was the hall of 
 Henry I.'s palace at Oxford ; that of Okeham Casth; 
 is on the same plan ; and the remains of a similar 
 hall existed until lately at the Norman manor-house 
 of Barnack, in Northamptonshire. 
 
 Of the smaller class of country-houses there are 
 sufilicient remains to warrant some general conclu- 
 sions as to their usual form and distribution, which 
 we shall find to have been mainly influenced by the 
 necessity for protection from hostile attacks. The 
 manor-house of Boothby Pagnel, which, though 
 degraded to baser uses, remains nearly in its origi- 
 nal state, is built in the form of a parallelogram, 
 with a gable at each end ; the lower story is vaulted, 
 and has no communication with the habitable apart- 
 ment above, which was originally divided into two 
 rooms, of which one only had a chimney ; the en- 
 trance was by an external stair, probably movable. 
 In the roof was a loft, accessible only by a ladder, 
 for there is no appearance of an internal staircase in 
 this building or any other of the same class. The 
 structure called Pythagoras' school, at Cambridge, 
 has been a domestic edifice, in all respects similar ; 
 and another was destroyed near the church of St. 
 Olave, in Southwark, during the alterations conse- 
 quent upon rebuilding London Bridge. 
 
 Jew's Hoise at I^incoln
 
 ()06 
 
 IllSTORr OF EiNGLAND. 
 
 [Book HI. 
 
 Abbey Gateway, Bcry St. Edmunds. 
 
 These confined and comfortless dwellings evi- 
 dently bear considerable analogy to the lieeps of the 
 same period, and we must suppose them to have 
 been placed within inclosures, and surrounded by 
 offices and outbuildings, Avhich were probably, for 
 ihe most part, of timber ; upon the general use of 
 which material in domestic architecture, now and 
 b)ng after, some observations have appeared in a 
 former chapter.' In town houses it was certainly 
 the principal material, but that stone was sometimes 
 employed, and a high degree of decorative character 
 bestowed upon sti'eet architecture at this period, 
 several instances remain to prove, especially that re- 
 markable building at Lincoln, known by the name of 
 the Jew's house (p. G05), in which the position of the 
 chimney clearly shows the same distribution to have 
 been followed, of placing the principal apartment in 
 the upper floor. Another Norman house, on pre- 
 cisely the same plan, but in a less perfect state, 
 remains within a short distance ; and a third in the 
 same city (vulgarly called John of Gaunt's stables), 
 <»f which the lower part remains intact, shows the 
 ground-floor to have been lighted on the outside by 
 loopholes only. This latter is an extensive building, 
 and incloses a court-yard, with a large ornamented 
 gateway. Moyses Hall, at Bury St. Edmunds, 
 another Norman domestic building, agreeing, in 
 every respect, with the general conclusions that 
 
 J See ante, p. 303. 
 
 have been stated, is further remarkable for the form 
 of the windows, which are square-headed (within 
 the circular arch), and divided, not by a column, 
 but a muUion. These windows are undoubtedly 
 original. 
 
 The conventual buildings of all ages may be ex- 
 pected to throw considerable light upon contem- 
 
 Staircase in the Conve.ntual BciLDiNos, Canterbury
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 607 
 
 porary domestic architecture ; but of those of the 
 period under consideration subsequent alterations 
 have left little but what is peculiar to the monastic 
 style. The systematic use of external staircases is, 
 however, proved by several instances, and especially 
 by the very remarkable one remaining in the con- 
 ventual buildings at Canterbury. 
 
 The distribution of the conventual buildings of 
 the twelfth century will be best understood by refer- 
 ence to the accompanying plan of the remains of 
 Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire, the principal features 
 of which are common to all similar edifices, whether 
 on a larger or a smaller scale. The quadrangle, 
 which adjoins the transept, and extends westward, 
 is always placed on the south side of the church, 
 unless local circumstances prevent it. The position 
 of the chapter-house is invariable, and the arrange- 
 ment of the larger apaitments about the quadrangle 
 differs but little in any instance. This edifice and 
 that of the Norman Abbey of Jervaux, in the same 
 county, are nearly similar in plan, and the conjec- 
 tural references in the one are supplied by compari- 
 son with the other. Much architectural splendor 
 was at all times displayed in the abbey gate-houses. 
 That of Bury St. Edmunds is the most perfect 
 remaining of this period, and exhibits in its plain 
 
 rectangular outline the unvarying character of the 
 Norman style. 
 
 The Norman chimneys are of the same consti'uc- 
 tion as those now in common use. It is only in 
 some very early examples that we find the flues 
 carried through the wall, and continued merely for 
 a few feet upward outside. The fire-place consists 
 of a spacious hearth, with a projecting funnel on 
 brackets above. Those at Conisborough are re 
 
 Fire-place, Boothby Pagnel Manor HonsE. 
 
 aoir 
 
 Plan of Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire. 
 
 A. The Church. B. Quadrangle. C. Cloister, over which was the Dormitory. D. Chapter-House. E. An addition of later date 
 
 F. Refectory. G G. Kitchen and Offices. H. Remains of the Abbot's lodgings. I. Buildings of later date.
 
 GOS 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III 
 
 FxRE Place, Comsboroiuh Castle. 
 
 markable for their close resemblance to the modern 
 stjie of chimney-pieces. With this perfect knowl- 
 edge of their construction, it seems astonishing that 
 the Norman builders should have introduced chim- 
 neys so sparingly; but when we see that the build- 
 ers of the middle ages down to a much later period 
 gave the preference to warming their halls by a 
 central hearth, leaving the smoke to blacken the 
 roof, and escape as it best might by an open lantern, 
 ■we can only wonder at the different ideas of domes- 
 tic convenience which have prevailed in diff'ereut 
 ages. 
 
 The conclusions which have been drawn as to 
 the general system of the military and domestic 
 architecture of the Normans will be strikingly cor- 
 roborated by a reference to the Bayeux Tapestrj-. 
 In the compartment relating to the embarkation 
 of Harold, he is represented setting out with his 
 suite from a house precisely like those that have 
 been described, arched below, a large apartment 
 above (in which several persons are drinking), and 
 an external stair, which two of the party are de- 
 scending to join those who are on their way to the 
 
 Elevation- of a Norman House. From the Bayeu.\ Tapestry. 
 
 ships. Farther on is a building, which, from the 
 connection of the history, must be the palace of 
 Rouen, represented by a gate-house in advance of 
 the hall in which William receives the embassy, the 
 architectural character of which is distinctly marked 
 by the long range of windows above. Subsequently 
 we have several fortified places, of which Dol, Di- 
 nant, and Bayeux are identified by the inscriptions. 
 They are represented, according to the ancient 
 custom, both in the classical and middle ages, of 
 
 putting a part for the whole, as castles, consisting, 
 in every case, of the mound, the tower, and the 
 steep approach by steps : that of Dinant is also 
 surrounded by palisades, to which the assailants are 
 setting fire. 
 
 In this general view of the architecture of the 
 Norman period, the great change of style which 
 took place before its conclusion by the introduction 
 of the pointed arch, has not yet been adverted to. 
 The Norman style of architecture expired with the 
 twelfth century ; and in the reign of John, the 
 lancet Gothic had entirely superseded it. To enter 
 into a description of that style in the present chap- 
 ter would be to extend it to an undue length, and 
 to anticipate much that properly belongs to the 
 ensuing period, to which it may be deferred with- 
 out inconvenience ; since the transition led to no 
 immediate alteration in those general outlines, char- 
 acteristic of the manners and customs of the age 
 into which it is more especially the province of his- 
 tory to inquire. The origin of the pointed arch, 
 and the priority of invention of the style with which 
 it became identified, are questions which it would 
 be foreign to our purpose to discuss. None of the 
 theories which have been propounded with regard 
 to the origin of the pointed arch have succeeded 
 satisfactorily in assigning it to any remote source, 
 and the latter question can scarcely be settled but 
 by the assistance of a mass of precise dates which 
 are known to be unattainable. 
 
 The first introduction of the pointed arch cer- 
 tainly brought Avith it no change of style, either in 
 Normandy or England, but was merely incidental, 
 as in the example of St. Bartholomew the Great, in 
 London, founded in 1133, where the arches of the 
 transept at their intersection being naiTower than 
 those of the nave, are, for convenience, thrown into 
 the pointed form in preference to using the Jiorse- 
 shoe arch, which is very commod in similar cases. 
 But it was not long before the pointed arch came 
 to be introduced systematically, as in the church of 
 St. Cross, in Hampshire, and the abbeys of Malms- 
 bury and Kirkstall ; in all of which examples the 
 main arches are pointed, though the style is essen- 
 tially Norman in every other respect. After the 
 middle of the twelfth century, a new mode of treat- 
 ing the detail may be observed, sometimes altogether 
 independent of the pointed arch, as in the chapel of 
 St. Leonard, near Stamford, in which the detached 
 and slender shafts, the band which encircles them, 
 the uniform foliated capitals, the circular abacus, 
 and the lightness and deep under-cutting of the 
 arch mouldings, all approaching the character of 
 the lancet Gothic, and tending to an entire revolu- 
 tion in style, are applied to forms of the purest 
 Norman design. During the latter part of the 
 twelfth century the two styles are blended in every 
 possible variety, and apparently with a caprice sub- 
 ject to no rule. The eastern part of Canterbury 
 Cathedral, fiom the choir to the extremity called 
 Becket's Crown, is an interesting example of the 
 transition during the reign of Henry II. In the 
 latter the lancet Gothic is nearly complete ; but 
 the square abacus and the chevron ornament still
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATL'RE. SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 G09 
 
 Doorway of St. Leonard's Cuapel, Stamford. 
 
 This door was originally square, as may be seen by the abutments of 
 
 the flat arch. 
 
 remain to connect it with the Norman.^ Of the 
 same date is the round church in the Temple, one 
 of the imitations of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusa- 
 lem which resulted from the crusades. But the 
 mixture of style in this example is greater ; for 
 though the main arches are pointed, and spring 
 from a cluster of four detached shafts, yet the door 
 and windows are circular, the triforium displays 
 the interlaced arch, and the dado is ornamented 
 with billets. After the reign of Henry II. the new 
 style is dominant. 
 
 The architecture of Scotland during this period 
 is identical in character with that of the southern 
 portion of Great Britain ; but there are few exam- 
 ples of the Norman style in an unmixed state. Not- 
 withstanding the introduction of the Norman arts 
 of civilization under 3Ialcolm Canmore, and the 
 foundation of Dunfermline Abbey, of which the 
 style indicates its early date, architecture seems to 
 have been little cultivated until the time of David I., 
 since, in the reign of his predecessor, magic, was 
 supposed to have assisted in the construction of an 
 arch somewhat beyond the ordinary proportions. 
 The reign of David I. is the great architectural era 
 of Scotland ; and the buildings of the numerous 
 monastic institutions founded by that munificent 
 prince and his nobles during the twelfth century, 
 rival those of England, and exhibit the same sti"ug- 
 gle between the circular and pointed styles of ar- 
 chitecture. The churches of Kelso, Dryburgh, Jed- 
 burgh, Dundrennan, and Dunkeld may be cited as 
 examples. All these were founded before the 
 middle of the twelfth centur}' ; and if no delay took 
 place in the erection of the buildings (and there is 
 no reason to suppose any), it would appear that the 
 transition style was introduced into Scotland in a 
 more forward state than it had attained in England 
 at the same date — a fact very difficult to be accounted 
 for, since there is no room to believe that the Scots 
 at this period drew their st}-le of architecture from 
 any source independent of the Anglo-Norman school. 
 
 1 See ante. p. 538. 
 '. OL. I. — ■/! 
 
 Kelso, which exhibits a considerable mixture of 
 the pointed arch, was founded in 1128, and was 
 certainly completed in the lifetime of David I., since 
 his son was buried there. In Dundrennan Abbey, 
 founded in 1142, the arches are mixed, though the 
 circular form predominates ; and the transition pro- 
 ceeded regularly till the latter part of the twelfth 
 century, when the lancet Gothic, as in England, 
 became completely established. The abbeys of 
 Aberbrothic and Glenluce, the one founded by 
 William the Lion in 1178, and the other by Roland, 
 Lord of Galloway, in 1190, are both in that style. 
 
 The system of military architecture in Scotland 
 at this period is also the same as that of the Anglo- 
 Normai>s. The construction of the Scottish keep- 
 towers differs in nothing from those already de- 
 scribed, but they do not generally possess an equal 
 degree of architectural character, being for the 
 most part plain rec^^angular masses, without breaks 
 or buttresses, or any decollations on the arches. 
 
 Sculpture did not flourish during the Norman 
 period. Statues hold no place in the composition 
 of Norman architecture. A few examples of such 
 an imperfect approach to a figure in a niche as that 
 of Herbert Losing, at Norwich, cannot be consid- 
 ered as exceptions. Those of Henry I. and his 
 queen, under the porch at Rochester, form one of 
 extreme rarity ; and the feeble artists of the age 
 seldom ventured upon the human figure otherwise 
 than in relief, in which manner we sometimes find 
 the second person of the Trinity in glory, repre- 
 sented in the heads of doorways. Even in monu- 
 mental sculpture the effigy was rarely introduced 
 before the twelfth century, and then in a very im- 
 perfect manner. 
 
 The earliest sepulchral monuments of the Norman 
 period consist merely of the stone coffins in general 
 use with all who could afford them ; the lids of 
 which were shaped in a ridge, or, as it is com- 
 monly called, en dos d'dne. Such coffins being let 
 into the ground no lower than their depth, which 
 was the usual mode of interring persons of conse- 
 quence, the covering-stone stood above the level of 
 the pavement ; and they thus became a memorial 
 as well as a receptacle for the dead. 
 
 Monuments of this kind were frequently q.uite 
 plain. When they bore an inscription, which was 
 seldom, it ran round the edge of the covering- 
 stone. The custom of sculpturing them with a 
 cross is nevertheless of great antiquitj-, and was by 
 no means confined to the clergy, as it has been 
 supposed, though Gough imagines that some pecu- 
 liar forms may have been appropriated to them to 
 mark not only their profession but their rank. 
 Thus a cross-florj' in a circle may denote a rector, 
 as a cross-patee may probably indicate a Templar. 
 Crosiers, chalices, and other ecclesiastical insignia, 
 are also introduced for the same purpose. 
 
 Stone coffins were often placed entirely above 
 ground, in the manner of a sarcophagus, in which 
 case the sides are sometimes sculptured. Archi- 
 tectural decorations were afterwai-d introduced, but 
 probably not earlier than the middle of the twelfth 
 century. Of this kind is the monument at Cantor-
 
 610 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 SARroPHAOCs, assigned to Archbishop Theobald, at Cnnterbuty. 
 
 bury assigned to Archbishop Theobald, who died in 
 1161. And here it may be remarived, with refer- 
 ence to thrs monument, that in all transitions the 
 new style first shows itself in a perfect form in 
 smaller works, such as tombs and shrines ; and we 
 must not be surprised at finding in such works the 
 trefoil arch, and other forms peculiar to the lancet 
 (xothic, at an earher date than the establishment of 
 that style in works of architecture generally. 
 
 The earliest monumental effigies are sculptured 
 on the covering slabs of coffins in low-relief, the 
 ground being sunk into the stone, and the figure 
 level with the surrounding margin. A specimen of 
 this kind, probably a very early one, reiuains, though 
 in the last stage of dilapidation, in the cloister at 
 Westminster. It was not long, however, before a 
 bolder style was adopted ; and the monumental 
 »;ffigies of the twelfth century are mostly in half- 
 relief. 
 
 With the Gothic style of architecture, canopies 
 were introduced over the head of the effigy, con- 
 sisting of a trefoil arch supported by colunms, to 
 which was added the pediment and other charac- 
 teristics of that style as it advanced. Of this class 
 
 several monuments of the abbots remain at Peter- 
 borough. 
 
 Most of the effigies which remain of this period 
 represent ecclesiastics. There is little variety in 
 the manner of treating the subjects. The figures 
 are generally represented treading on a dragon, 
 emi)lematic of the evil principle, and piercing it 
 with the pastoral staft" or crosier they bear in the 
 right hand ; the left frequently holds a book : or 
 the left hand bears the crosier, and tlie right is 
 elevated in the act of benediction. The two angels 
 supporting the head of the effigj' were introduced 
 at this period, and are to be found in early exam- 
 ples. 
 
 The full recumbent effigy cannot be assigned to 
 a date much earlier than the thirteenth century. 
 King John is the first of our monarchs for whop 
 such a memorial was executed in England, though 
 his two predecessors were so commemorated at 
 Fontevraud. The effigy of Hobcrt, Duke of Nor- 
 mandy, who died in 1134, in Gloucester Cathedral, 
 is admitted not to be contemporary, and that of 
 Geoffrey de Magnaville, Earl of Essex, in the Tem- 
 ple Church, assigned to about the middle of this 
 century, must be considered more than doubtful. 
 The armorial bearing on the shield seems sufficient 
 to invalidate its claims to so early a date, independ- 
 ently of its similarity to other statues in the same 
 place, which indisputably belong to the succeeding 
 period. In addition to these, the circumstances 
 attending his death and burial render it not im- 
 probable that a delay took place in executing the 
 monument. 
 
 In the higher departments of the art of painting 
 this period is destitute of monuments and scanty in 
 records. The most industrious collector of authen- 
 tic documents on the subject, Vertue, could find 
 none bearing even remotelj' upon it until the reign 
 
 1. 0. ?TONE CoFFiNV.— Ixwcrth Alilifv. PufTnlk. 
 
 4. UoGEU. I'isnor (iK Sap.vm. 1 1'J3. — r-'alisbiin" C'Mihedral. 
 
 3. One of ihP carlv Abbots of WKPTMiN-^TEn.—Cloisle^-. Westminster 
 .">. Amri:\v. AcTi'iT OF rKTERBORotGU, ] ! 09.— rcierboroiigh Calhfdral.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 611 
 
 of Henry III., when a precept appears to the sheriff 
 of Southampton, directing that the wainscot of the 
 king's room in the castle of Winchester shall be 
 painted with the same pictures as formerly. This, 
 as Walpole obsei*ves, implies that history painting 
 had been in use at an earlier date ; and we ma}% 
 moreover, reasonably conclude that riie artists who 
 designed the Bayeux Tapestiy would not flinch 
 from any historical subject, however extensive or 
 complicated. 
 
 Nothing, however, is certain but that painting and 
 gilding were used abundantly, especially in the 
 decoration of ceilings. William of Malmsbury, in 
 a curious passage, calls Godfrey of Bouillon " a brill- 
 iant mirror of chivalry, in which, as in a splendid 
 ceiling, the lustre of every virtue was reflected." 
 Both this author and Gervasius extol highly the 
 painted roof of Canterbury Cathedral, completed 
 by Prior Conrad in 1114, but give us no insight 
 into the stjle in which it was executed further 
 than that it represented Heaven, though the latter 
 is very particular in his description of the building. 
 A reference to Normandy will afford no better sat- 
 isfaction. The portraits of William the Conqueror 
 and his family, formerly at Caen, might be cited ; 
 but their authenticity, the antiquity of the wall on 
 which they were painted, and the accuracy of 
 Montfaucou's engraving, by which alone they are 
 preserved to the present day, are alike doubtful. 
 Nor is any trace left of the paintings on the tomb of 
 Walter Giftbrd, Earl of Buckingham (buried at his 
 own foundation of the Priory of Longueville, in 
 1102), though they existed to a comparatively re- 
 cent date. 
 
 With this deficiency of examples in its more im- 
 portant branches, we must again have recourse to 
 illuminated manuscripts for information upon the 
 state of the art as regards composition and drawing: 
 and upon these points it will be sufficient to refer 
 to the numerous engi-avings from these manuscripts 
 that are elsewhere given in illustration of the man- 
 ners and costumes of the period. 
 
 The manuscripts of the twelfth century are 
 described by Sir F. Madden' "as remarkable for a 
 profusion of ornament, and a gi-aceful but intricate 
 mode of illuminating capital letters, which renders 
 it more easy to recognize manuscripts of this period 
 than any other. This style, by the aid of gold and 
 silver, was carried to an excess of extravagance 
 scarcely to be conceived. In elegance and elabor- 
 ate art the decorations of this century will yield 
 to none, but they occasionally betray a portion of 
 that fiilse taste which gradually crept into the pat- 
 terns of a later period. About this time it became 
 the practice with the scribes to leave blanks for the 
 initial letters, to be filled up by one or more limners ; 
 and this accounts for the imperfect state, and some- 
 times total omission of them, which we find in 
 manuscript volumes of this and the two succeeding 
 centuries. The fashion, also, of writing books of a 
 size and magnitude almost incredible, was adopted 
 toward the end of the twelfth century." 
 
 A short time bofore the commencement of the 
 present period, a new form was given to the science 
 of music by the improved scale of musical notation 
 invented by the celebrated Guide of Arezzo. This 
 invention was first published by the author in his 
 
 1 Introduction to Shaw's Illuminated Ornaments. 
 
 f^PEriMEN OF OilNAMEXTAL LETTER Or THE PERiop. Prnwii froiii n MP. of the period in i1k T^
 
 612 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book 111. 
 
 " Micrologus," which appeared about 1030. It was 
 not, however, till after the introduction of a correct 
 method of marking time that the full benefit from 
 Guido's invention was felt. In the present period 
 great attention was paid to church music by the 
 clergy, some of whom composed pieces for the use 
 if the chou's. Thomas, the first archl)ishop of 
 Vork after the Conquest, who had doubtless be- 
 come acquainted with the Italian scale, is described 
 as frequently employing his leisure in singing or in 
 playing upon the organ ; and " in making organs, 
 and in teaching his clerg)' to make them, and to set 
 hymns both in prose and verse to music." ' When 
 the archbishop "heard any of the secular minstrels 
 sing a tune which pleased him, he adopted and 
 formed it for the use of the church, by some neces- 
 sary variations." * The trouveurs and troubadours 
 were also active in contributing to the improvement 
 of secular music during the twelfth century. Du- 
 ring the thirteenth century, it is not unlikely, from 
 the increasing popularity of minstrels and trouba- 
 dours, that secular music, having a wider field for 
 its exercise, underwent gi'eater improvement than 
 church music. Attempts were made to force the 
 latter beyond the limits to which it had been con- 
 fined during an earlier period. John of Salisbury 
 complains of this change, and says that in the 
 churches, " the singers endeavor to melt the hearts 
 of the admiring multitude with their eft'eminate 
 notes and quavers, and with a certain wanton luxu- 
 riancy of voice." ^ But at this period the choral 
 services were not the same in all parts of the coun- 
 
 1 Stubbs, de Pontific. Ebor. ^ William of Malinsburr. 
 
 - J. Sarisburien. Polirrat. 
 
 try. Kach cathedral had its own formulary, or as 
 it came to be called, " use." In the northern coun- 
 ties the " use" of the archiepiscopal church of York 
 prevailed ; in South Wales that of Hereford ; in 
 North Wales that of Bangor ; and in other jjlaces 
 the " use" of other principal sees, particularly that 
 of Lincoln, hi Canterbury, where the monks ol' 
 St. Augustin had introduced their church music, 
 the "use" of Salisbury was almost general through- 
 out the province. Secular music was still more 
 likely to be modified by local circumstances. The 
 music of the English was grave and measured, and 
 that of the Scotch, Irish, and Welsh of a more lively 
 kind. In the country about York, and generally 
 beyond the Humber, the popular music resembled 
 that of Wales. The organ was the instrument 
 used in sacred music. The harp, used as an ac- 
 companiment to the popular minstrels, was tlie 
 most common instrument in Scotland, Wales, and 
 Ireland ; and there were but few others in those 
 countries. " The Irish," says the writer just quoted,' 
 " use only two musical instruments — the harp and 
 the timbrel ; the Scotch use three — the harp, the 
 pib-corn, and the bagpipe. The Irish harps have 
 brass strings." " It is the opinion of many," he 
 adds, " that the Scotch music at present not only 
 equals, but even very much excels the Irish ; for 
 which reason they go to Scotland as to the fountain- 
 head of perfection in that art." The English were 
 acquainted with a greater variety of instruments — a 
 fact which may be accounted for by their more in- 
 timate and extensive intercourse with the conti- 
 nent. 
 
 1 Giraldus Cambrensis, Topog. Hibemis, 1. 3.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 613 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 E shall begin the pres- 
 ent chapter as we 
 did the last under 
 the same title, with 
 a notice of the few 
 facts that are to be 
 collected respecting 
 the furniture of the 
 houses and other do- 
 mestic accommoda- 
 tions of the period. 
 In as far as we can 
 judge from the Bay- 
 eux Tapestry and the various illuminated MSS. of 
 the eleventh and twelfth centuries, it would appear 
 that very few additions or improvements were made 
 by the Normans to the stock of English household 
 furniture. We perceive the same description of 
 tables, long and oval, bearing the same sort of plates, 
 dishes, cups, and knives ; the fowls and roast meats 
 being still served up upon the spit to the guests seated 
 at the festive board. In the reign of King John we 
 find mention of saltcellars. A mark of gold is 
 
 ordered in the Close Rolls to be furnished to make 
 a saltcellar for the king's use ; and twenty-nine 
 shilhngs and sixpence to be paid for a silver saltcel- 
 lai-, gilt within and without. The chairs of state, 
 the seats of regal and ecclesiastical personages, are 
 similar to those already described of the Anglo- 
 Saxons ; and though some appear to be more elab- 
 orately carved and ornamented, it is a question 
 whether such was, indeed, the fact, or if the im- 
 provement is not rather in the art of the delineator 
 than in that of the maker of the article itself. The 
 chairs in which are seated the kings and bishops of 
 the set of chess-men of the twelfth century, found 
 in the isle of Lewis, in 1831, and engraved in the 
 24th volume of the Archseologia, are among the 
 best specimens of the ornamental carved furniture 
 of that period. The hangings of needlework and 
 embroidery which adorned the walls of the Anglo- 
 Saxon palace seem to have been partial^ super- 
 seded in the course of this period by the fashion of 
 painting on the walls themselves, or the wainscot of 
 the chamber, the same historical or fabulous sub- 
 jects which had hitherto been displayed in threads 
 
 Chairs. Ancient Chessmen, from Specimens in the British Museum 
 
 Cradle. Royal MS. 2 B. vii
 
 G14 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 of colors and gold ; for in the early part of the reign 
 of Henr}- III., as mentioned in a preceding page, 
 the slierift" of Hampshire is commanded to take care 
 that the wainscoted chamber of the king in the 
 castle of Winchester be painted with the same his- 
 tories and pictures with wliich it had heen ]>reviouslij 
 painted, therebj' sliowing that this style of decora- 
 tion had been introduced prior to that date. Thus, 
 says un old French romance : — 
 
 '• Lors Camlires et lors grans sales font tambroissier peinOre et pour- 
 traire.'' 
 
 They cansed their chambers and great halls to be wainscoted and 
 painted with figures. 
 
 In the 23d volume of the Archreologia is engi-aved 
 one of a pair of candlesticks of the twelfth cen- 
 tury, now at Goodrich Court. Thej^ are of copper, 
 engraved and gilt, and ornamented with enamel of 
 seven colors let into the metal, displaying figures of 
 
 Candlestick. Archacologia, vol. 23. 
 
 Ccp found in the RniNs of Glastonbvry Abbey 
 
 men, women, and animals. They have spikes at 
 top, on which the candles were fixed, the socket to 
 contain them being of much later date. 
 
 Limoges, in France, was celebrated as earlv as 
 1187 for the art of enameling; and boxes, cups, 
 and dishes, ornamented like the candlesticks above 
 mentioned, are occasionally met with, and may be 
 considered of the same period; 
 
 Ypres, in Flanders, was equally famous before 
 the year 1200 for its manufactures of fine linen, and 
 from thence the term Diaper, or D' Ypres, i. e. of 
 Ypres, which was afterward applied to all similar 
 cloths wherever fabricated. Thus, in the "Koman 
 d'Alexandre," written about 1200, we find the ex- 
 pression " Dyapres d'Antioche," ' and we may pre- 
 sume the napkins and cloths of the Anglo-Normans 
 were scarcely inferior to those of the present day. 
 
 In the Close Rolls of the reign of King John 
 forty-nine shillings and eight pence lialf])enny are 
 ordered to be paid for three pieces of taft'ety and 
 one and a half of fustian, and five pounds of silk or 
 fine cotton for three couches or beds for the king 
 and for the workmanship of the same. 
 
 Linen sheets were also used at tlie same period : 
 there is an order to the sheriff of Southampton to 
 deliver to Norman Esturiny, the king's valet, among 
 other gifts, because he had become a knight, a couch 
 or bed, and a pair of linen sheets. 
 
 Slender as the information is that we possess 
 upon this subject, it affords some indications of the 
 advance of refinement; and if our materials were 
 more ample we should no doubt find that the aug- 
 mentation of wealth and the improvement of taste 
 made themselves visible in many more particulars 
 than we can now discover, though it is not probable 
 that the progress of comfort and elegance in either 
 the useful or decorative furniture of the houses of 
 the period at all corresponded to that which took 
 place in the magnificence of their external archi- 
 tecture. The art of architecture was fostered by 
 the passion for erecting ecclesiastical buildings into 
 what we may almost call a premature development 
 as compared with any of the other arts — certainlj- 
 as compared with those whose province it is to 
 minister to the convenience of the great body of 
 the people. But the spirit of show which belonged 
 to the time found ample opportunity of displaying 
 itself in what we are next to describe, the fashions 
 of dress which prevailed, and which had already 
 acquired not a little of the mutability for which 
 this characteristic is still proverbial above all other 
 fashions. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxons during the reign of Edward 
 the Confessor had aped so much the dress and 
 manner of the Normans, that, at the time of the 
 Conquest, little dilference seems to have existed 
 between the two nations in their appearance, if we 
 except that produced by the singular fashion among 
 the Normans of not only shaving the upper lip as 
 well jxs the rest of the face, but also of shaving or 
 
 1 To diaper was also understood in heraldry to signify the mode of 
 covering the field with a pattern of flower-checkers or scroll-work quite 
 independent of the ch;irge placed upon it. Tlie shield of Robert de 
 Vere, Earl of Oxford, engraved in Stothard's Monumental Effigies, ex- 
 hibits a fine specimen of this style of ornament.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 615 
 
 Groups of Soldiers, selected from ihe Bayeux Tapestry, to pIiow the Norman fashion of snearing the hack of the head. 
 
 cropping the hair at the back of their heads, a cus- 
 tom they had themselves borrowed of the Poicte- 
 vins, as Glaber Rodolphiis informs us, and which 
 induced the spies of Harold to declare that the 
 army of William appeared to be composed wholly 
 of priests.^ 
 
 The general habit of the Normans consisted of 
 the tunic, the cloak, the long tight hose, called by 
 them chausses, the leg bandages and shoes, or short 
 boots. A greater variety of caps appear in the 
 
 ' William of Malinsbury, lib. iii. and Wace, Roman de Rou. Will- 
 lam de Percy, who came over with Ihe Conqueror, was called Alsger- 
 non, i. e. with the whiskers, from his not being shaven so closely as the 
 rest of the Normans. 
 
 M.\TTLDA, QcEEN OF Henry I., from a Statue in the West rionr-way 
 of Rochester Cathedral, exhibiting the mode of plaiting the h;iir. 
 
 Costume of Norman English Ladies of the Twelfth Century. 
 Cotton MS. Nero, C. iv. 
 
 Anglo-Norman illuminated MSS.; but the Phry 
 gian-shaped and a flat sort of bonnet, like that of 
 the modern Scotch, are those most frequently met 
 with. The Saxon subjects of William continued 
 for some time after the Conquest to be distinguished 
 by their long flowing locks and the rich embroidery 
 of their dresses.' 
 
 In the female costume the change was more in 
 name than in garment. The gunna or gown be- 
 came the rohc, and the veil or head-cloth the couvre- 
 clief, from whence the modern word kerchief. Tht^ 
 hair is rarely seen in illuminations of this period, 
 but occasionally it appears long, and sometimes 
 plaited, after the ancient Gothic or in the modern 
 Swiss fashion. 
 
 During the reigns of Rufus and Henry I. the 
 dress of the higher classes became much more 
 costly in material^ and extravagant in shape. Some 
 
 1 William of Malmshiiry.— William of Poictiers. 
 
 2 The well known story, told by William of Malmsbury and Robert 
 of Gloster, of Rufus, that he threw away with disdain a pair of new 
 hose because they only cost three shillings, is very characteristic. "A 
 king," said he, " shoold not wear anything so cheap; fetch me som* 
 worth a mark of silver !''
 
 616 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 most ridiculous fashions are reprobated and cari- 
 catured by the historians and illuminators of that 
 period. The sleeves of the tunics were made long 
 enough to cover and hang considerably below the 
 hand. Peaked-toed boots and shoes of the most 
 absurd shapes, some terminating like a scorpion's 
 tail, others stuffed with tow and curling round like 
 a ram's horn, are mentioned by the monkish histo- 
 rians. Ordericus Vitalis says they were invented 
 by some one deformed in the foot. The mantles 
 and tunics were worn much longer and fuller, and 
 the former lined with the most expensive furs. 
 Henry I. is said to have had one presented to him 
 by the Bishop of Uincoln, lined with black sable 
 with white spots, and which cost lOQl. of the money 
 of that day. 
 
 The English now, both Saxon and Norman, suf- 
 fered their hair to grow to an immoderate length, 
 instead of being cropped ridiculously short ; and 
 William of Malmsbury, who has previously com- 
 plained of his countrymen having imitated the 
 latter fashion, now laments over the long hair, the 
 loose flowing garments, the pointed shoes, and 
 effeminate appearance of the English generally. 
 Even long beards were worn during the reign of 
 Henry I. ; and Ordericus Vitahs compares the 
 men of that day to " filthy goats." 
 
 Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, refused his 
 benediction on Ash Wednesday to those who would 
 not cut their hair.^ Councils were held on this im- 
 portant matter.* The razor and the scissors were 
 not only recommended e.v cathedra, but positively 
 produced sometimes at the end of a sermon, against 
 the sinfulness of long locks and curhng mustaches. 
 Serlo d'Abon, Bishop of Seez, on Easter Day, 1105, 
 after preaching against beards before Henry I., 
 cropped not only that of the king but those of the 
 whole congregation with a pair of scissors he had 
 provided for the occasion. But nothing could long 
 repress these fashions, which in the time of Ste- 
 phen again raged to such an extent that the fops of 
 the day suffered their hair to grow till they looked 
 more like women than men ; and those whose ring- 
 lets were not sufficiently luxurious added false hair 
 to equal or surpass in appearance their more favored 
 bretlireu. 
 
 The female dress of those times appears to have 
 had its share of their preposterous and expensive 
 fashions. The sleeves of the ladies' robes, and their 
 veils or kerchiefs, appear, in the illuminations of 
 this period, knotted up, to prevent their trailing on 
 the ground. Some of the sleeves have cuffs hang- 
 ing from the wrists down to the heels, and of the 
 most singular forms. The ancient heraldic maunch 
 is evidently copied from them. A garment called 
 the surcote (surcoat) was worn as an upper robe or 
 tunic, as its Latin name implies [super-tunica) ; and 
 the under garment was laced up the front, a custom 
 often alluded to in the romances of the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centui-ies. In an illuminated manu- 
 script of the close of the eleventh century,^ the 
 
 1 Eadmer, p. 23. 
 
 2 At Limoges, in 1031 ; 
 Rouen, in 1093. 
 
 by Pope Gregory VII., m 1073 ; 
 ' C'olton, Nero, C. iv. 
 
 Female Costume of the time of Rpfvs and Henry I. From 
 a Psalter of the twelfth century. The long and knuttcil sleeves 
 are very remarkable. 
 
 sarcastic painter has represented the devil so at- 
 tired ; the skirts as well as the sleeves of the robe 
 being tied up in knots, as before mentioned. The 
 
 Laced Boddice and Knotted Sleeves, from a Satirical MS. Illu 
 niination of the eleventh century-. Cotton MS. Nero, C. iv. 
 
 suixoat was frequently richlj' embroidered, and the 
 edges escalloped or indented, a fashion exceedingly 
 prevalent during the middle ages, and which pro- 
 voked many legislative attempts to put it down. 
 The first enactment against it being followed by 
 the lower classes appeared during the latter part of 
 the reign of Henry II. The hair was still worn in 
 long plaited tails, and sometimes incased in a sort 
 of silken pipe, or bound with ribbon like a pigtail. 
 
 With the reign of Henry II. a more becoming 
 and graceful, although equally splendid style of
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 617 
 
 attire, seems to have made its appearance. The 
 monumental effigies, which begin now to afford us 
 their valuable information, exhibit the sovereign 
 and the nobles of this period in full and flowing 
 robes of a moderate length, girded with a richly 
 ornamented waist-belt, mantles fastened by fibulae 
 on the breast or on the shoulders, chausses or long 
 hose, and shoes or boots, the latter sometimes beau- 
 tifully embroidered, caps of various forms (the 
 Phrygian style predominating), and jeweled gloves. 
 In the illuminated manuscripts we still see the leg 
 bandages crossing each other all the way up the leg 
 from the very point of the toes, sandal-wise, as 
 they are seen in the latest Saxon and earliest 
 Norman manuscripts, the Bayeux Tapestry, &c. 
 They are generally represented as made of gold 
 stuff or leather. Henry II. introduced, or, we 
 should rather say, reintroduced the short cloak of 
 Anjou, and was in consequence surnamed Court- 
 manteau or Curt-mantell ; and also the old Norman 
 fashion of close cropping and shaving, which was 
 adhered to pretty generally till the latter part of 
 the reign of Richard I., when the beard and mus- 
 tache were again worn. 
 
 In the reign of John the laity were at length 
 liberated from all legislative interference upon this 
 point, and allowed to consult their own fancy or 
 convenience. The hair in the reign of King John 
 
 was curled with crisping-irons, and bound with 
 fillets or ribbons ; the beaux of the day wearing no 
 caps, in order that its beauty might be seen and 
 admired. 
 
 The ladies, following the example of the men, 
 or having set them the example (for we confess 
 we have no authority for deciding that part of tho 
 question), appear in the reign of Henry II. to have 
 discarded their long cuffs and trailing skirts, their 
 knotted sleeves, kerchiefs, &c., and adopted a more 
 rational appearance altogether. The robe, like 
 that of the men, girdled round the waist, and hav- 
 ing long but tight sleeves reaching to the waist, a 
 mantle gracefully depending from the shoulders, 
 and the hair again almost entirely concealed by 
 the veil, kerchief, or wimjjle, which is frequently 
 brought together under the chin, or fastened by a 
 band passing beneath it, give altogether a conventual 
 appearance to the costume. 
 
 There is nothing requiring notice in the eccle- 
 siastical costume of the present period, except that 
 the form of the mitre begins to approach that now 
 in use. 
 
 The armor of the Anglo-Normans, judging from 
 the figures in the Bayeux Tapestry, does not ap- 
 pear to have differed very materially from that of 
 the Saxons. During the eleventh century the hau- 
 berk of flat rings sewn upon leather, or of small 
 
 Effigy of Henry II., 
 from the Tomb at Fontevraud 
 
 Eleanor, aiEES of Henry II., 
 from tlie Tomb at Fontevraud 
 
 BkRESOARIA. QlEEN Of HlCIIARD I, 
 
 from thfi "Tomb at Fontevraud.
 
 (^1S 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 pieces of iron similarly secured, was apparent!}- the 
 defensive body armor of the Saxons, the Danes, 
 the Franks, and the Normans. It was called, as 
 we have observed, the gehrinfjed hyrne by the first, 
 bnjnio by the second, and by the Normans luilhers 
 and haubert, or hauberk, Latinized hdUicrcum, the 
 word being generally derived from halsbcrg, a pro- 
 tection for the throat; and as at this period we 
 jjerceive that the mailed tunic is furnished with a 
 cowl which protects the neck behind, and is hooked 
 up occasionally over the chin, and fastened to the 
 nasal before, it may owe its Norman denomination 
 to that additional safeguard. The word mail, too, 
 go familiiir to our ears, is of this period, the French 
 word maillcs being derived, according to some au- 
 thors, from the Latin macula, sometimes used for 
 the mesh of a net.' Several hauberks represented 
 in the Bayeux Tapestry, and in the illuminated 
 manuscripts of this period, appear marked Avith 
 transverse lines, which, if they were not intended 
 
 1 There is a British word mael, signifying iron generally, but it may 
 have had the same derivation. 
 
 MAsr LED Armor.— Seal of Milo Fitz- Walter, Constalile of England, 
 and Governor of Gloucester under Henry I. 
 
 Examples of Mascled Armor. Cotton MS. Caligula, A. 
 The Illumination represents the Slaughter of the luuoceuts. 
 
 to depict the quilted panzar worn by the Danes, 
 and therefore most likely by the Normans and Sax- 
 ons also, would seem to be lozenge-shaped pieces 
 of iron or steel sewn, like the rings, upon a leathern 
 or woolen foundation ; a species of defence which 
 Sir S. Meyrick has denominated mascled armor,' 
 and which still more resembles tlie meshes of a net. 
 Instances of that peculiar mail composed of rings 
 set uj) edgewise, which came generally into use 
 toward the close of the twelfth century, occur as 
 early as the close of the eleventh. 
 
 In Kerrick's collection of notes and drawings in 
 the British Museum, there is a highly curious 
 sketch of the marble figure of a knight under one 
 of the lions which support the choir of the cathedral 
 of Modena, armed in a hauberk of rings set edge- 
 wise, the front hooked up to the nasal of the helmet, 
 which is of a very early sliape, and laced or buckled 
 under the throat by double thongs of leather. His 
 shield is of the pear or kite shape, and has a ridgo 
 
 Knight of Mode.sa. Kerrick's Collect. 6738. 
 
 down the center like that of King Stephen on his 
 great seal. The long-pointed shoe, the prick spur, 
 and the great breadth of the sword-blade near the 
 hilt, are all indicative of a period corresponding with 
 that of our early Anglo-Norman monarchs, Rufus, 
 Henry I., and Stephen.^ 
 
 1 Vide Letter on the Body-armor anciently worn in England 
 Archaeologia, vol. xi.T. 
 
 3 Mr. Kerrick remarks, in his note to this sketch, " I take this to be 
 the most ancient figure 1 have yet seen in carving."' 
 
 Teoulated Armor. 
 Seal of Richard, Constable of Chester in the time of Stephen
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 61P 
 
 Scale armor, the lorica squamata, in fact, of the 
 ancients was also worn during the eleventh and 
 twelfth centuries, and in some instances the overlap- 
 ping plates are of a square form, instead of being 
 rounded or plumated. This description has been 
 denominated by Sir S. Meyrick the tegidated — and 
 a specimen is presented in the seal of Richard, con- 
 stable of Chester, temp. Stephen. 
 
 Anna Comnena mentions the French knights at 
 the close of the eleventh century as wearing both 
 ringed and scale armor ; and Bohadin, the Saracen 
 historian of the Crusades, describing the infantry of 
 Richard I., says, " they were covered with thick 
 strong pieces of cloth, fastened together with rings, 
 so as to resemble dense coats of mail.^ 
 
 The Anglo-Norman helmet was conical, with a 
 nose-guard, called the nasal, to which, as we have 
 remarked, the front of the collar of the hauberk 
 was occasionally looped up, so as to leave no part of 
 the face exposed but the eyes. Cheek-pieces were 
 afterward added ; and in the reign of Richard I. 
 we find the helmet assume a cylindrical or barrel 
 shape, flat at the top, with an oval opening for the 
 
 AVANTAILLES. 
 
 a Plelmet of Richard I. 
 
 b Baldwin, Count of Flanders, 1192. 
 
 c „ „ 1203. 
 
 face, which was, during combat, covered with a 
 perforated plate or grating, removable at pleasure, 
 and called the avanfaille or ventaille. 
 
 In some lately discovered perfect impressions of 
 the second gi'eat seal of Richard I., the monarch's 
 helmet of this form is surmounted by a sort of 
 crest composed of a semicircle of rays or points, in 
 the centre of which is portrayed a lion passant 
 gardant. 
 
 The shield was, from the time of the Conquest 
 to that of Henry II., of the form called kite or 
 pear-shape ; and, from its similitude to those seen 
 m the Sicilian bronzes, is imagined to have been 
 brought by the Normans from that part of Europe 
 after their Italian conquests. Those in the Bayeux 
 Tapestry are perfectly flat, and ornamented with 
 nide figures of animals, crosses, rings, &c. About 
 the time of Stephen it appeal's curved, but desti- 
 tute of heraldic bearings. On the first great seal 
 of Richard I. it is considerably shortened, and bent 
 till it is almost a semi-cylinder ; and this is the first 
 of our regal seals which presents us with an un- 
 doubted armorial bearing — namely, a lion heraldi- 
 cally termed counter-rampant, i. e., feeing the sin- 
 ister or left side instead of the dexter or right side 
 of the shield. The form of the military standard 
 1 Vule Turner's Hist, of Eng. vol. i. p. 3S2, note. 
 
 Geoffrey Plantagenet. (Le Bel.) Kerrick's Collect. C 
 
 is shown in some of the great seals, and also by the 
 following representation. 
 
 William I. and Tonstain bearing the Consecrated Banner at the 
 Battle of Hastings. Bayeux Tapestry. 
 
 A short notice of the rise and progress of Eng- 
 lish heraldry may here not inappropriately find a 
 place. 
 
 Most writers on the subject worthy of attention 
 consider the close of the eleventh century as the 
 period when armorial bearings, propc^rly so called, 
 became the distinctions of the royal and knightly 
 families of Europe ; but until the middle of the 
 twelfth we have no positive authority for their 
 existence in England. The rude and fanciful 
 figures upon the shields of the Normans, in the 
 Bayeux tapestry, can no more be called coats ol 
 arms than the better executed lions and griffins on
 
 620 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 the bucklers of the Greeks and Romans. A monk 
 of Marmonticr, who is said to have lived in the 
 reign of Henry I., describes that <iionarch, upon 
 the occasion of the marriage of Geoffrey Plantage- 
 net, Count of Anjou, with his daughter Matilda, a.d. 
 1122, as hanging about the neck of his son-in-law "a 
 shield ornamented with little golden lions," and the 
 count is said also to have worn shoes eml)roidered 
 with similar animals. But neither the number of 
 the lions nor the color of the field is mentioned, and 
 they are spoken of more as fanciful ornaments than 
 as insignia having any distinct signification, not the 
 sliglitest allusion being made to the arms of England, 
 of Henry himself, or of any particular family.' 
 
 The shield of Stephen on his great seal is per- 
 fectly plain, having only a ridge down the centre ; 
 and that of Richard, constable of Chester during 
 his reign, is covered with a pattern resembling the 
 tegulated hauberk he wears. It may be intended 
 to represent that charge which the heralds after- 
 ward called checquy, but we know not who would 
 venture to asseit its title to be considered an armor- 
 ial bearing. 
 
 Henry II., on his great seal, presents us but 
 with the interior of his shield.^ John of Salisbury, 
 however, who wrote during his reign, speaking of 
 the luxuriousness and effeminacy of the English 
 knights, says, " if a piece of gold, minium, or any 
 color of the rainbow, by any chance or blow should 
 fall out of their shields, their garrulous tongues 
 would make it an everlasting memorial ;" and, fur- 
 ther, he remarks that they "gild their shields;" 
 but he intimates nothing of armorial bearings. 
 
 It is nevertheless during the reign of this mon- 
 arch that the first undoubted description of English 
 heraldic devices occurs. Gulielmus Brito, or Will- 
 iam the Breton, the author of the Latin poem on 
 the exploits of Philip Augustus, called the " Philip- 
 peis," not only describes Richard Coeur de Lion, 
 while Count of Poictou, as being recognized by his 
 antagonist, William de Barr, by "the lions grinning 
 on his sliield," ^ but he also mentions the swallows 
 borne by an ancestor of the Cornish family of Arun- 
 del, and which his descendants display to this hour.'* 
 
 1 The words are simply " Clypeus leunculos aureos imaginarios 
 habens coUo ejus suspenditur" (a shield is suspended from his neck, 
 having upon it the likenesses of little lions in gold). The same 
 author, speaking afterward of a combat of this prince, again mentions 
 the lions on his shield, — " Pictos leones prsferens in clypeo, veris 
 leonibus nulla erat inferior fortitudo" ^bearing painted lions on his 
 shield, his courage was not inferior to that of real lions). — Menestner, 
 Origine des Armoiries. 
 
 ' A proof, in our opinion, that it bore no particular device by which 
 that monarch was distinguished, or the artist would surely have so 
 disposed the shield as to have rendered the bearing at least partly 
 visible. The same inference may be drawn from those of William 1. 
 .and II., Henry I., and the various knights and nobles of those reigns, 
 whose seals are extant, on which the interior of the shield alone is 
 uniformly represented. It is not improbable, however, that Henry II. 
 may have occasionally borne lions on his shield, as his father Geof- 
 frey did before him, and thus transmitted them to his sons, Richard and 
 John. 
 
 3 Eccc comes Pictavus agro nos provocat, ecce 
 
 Nos ad bclla vocat ; rictus agnosco Leonum 
 Illius in Clypeo. Gul. Brito, lib. iii. 
 
 * Hirunileloc velocior alite,quffi dat 
 
 Hoc agnomen ei,fert cujus in agide signvm. 
 
 Gul. Brito, lib. iii. 
 This is one of the earliest specimens of what are called canting arms, 
 or armcs parlantes. 
 
 The first great seal of Richard I. presents us, 
 as we have already mentioned, with a shield on 
 which is distinctly seen a lion counter-rampant, 
 leaving it doubtful, according to some writers, 
 whether this alone constituted the whole charge of 
 the field, or that the remaining half unseen, in con- 
 sequence of the curve of the shield, was charged 
 with another lion-rampant, making the device two 
 lions combatant, and therein bearing out the descrip- 
 tion of the old Latin writer above quoted. 
 
 On Richard's second seal, and after his return 
 from captivity, we find his shield emblazoned with 
 three lions passant regardant, as they have ever 
 since been quartered in the English arms. The 
 shield of his brother John exhil)its before his acces- 
 sion to the throne two lions passant regardant, and 
 to these a third was added when he became king. 
 
 In the reign of Henry III. heraldry appears to 
 have become a science. A roll of arms of that 
 period is in existence, and from that time the prin- 
 cipal terms of blazon are to be found in the fabliaux 
 and romances of Franc* and England. 
 
 The singular combination of the military and the 
 religious spiiit, which forms tlie most striking char- 
 acteristic of the present period, was especially 
 exemplified in those usages which constituted the 
 system of knighthood or chivalry. The youth of 
 noble birth was placed, while yet in his boyhood, 
 under the care of some distinguished knight, in the 
 quality of a page. In this capacity he waited upon 
 his preceptor, by whom he was treated as a son, 
 and carefullj' instructed in the forms of courtesy 
 and the military exercises. Even the sons of 
 princes attended in this manner upon knights of 
 inferior rank, but redoubted prowess and great 
 military accomplishments, under whose severe in- 
 stniction they were trained for future eminence. 
 After the youth had finished this stage of his 
 novitiate, and was deemed qualified for a higher 
 grade, he was advanced to the rank of squire. He 
 was now perfected in the necessary arts of riding 
 and tilting, and also in the accomplishments of 
 hunting and hawking, and frequently of music ; and 
 if war broke out, he then followed the baimer of 
 his instructor into actual service. The rank, but 
 more especially the military renown of the knight, 
 contributed to swell his train of pages and squires; 
 and while the houses of some might be considered 
 as schools, those of others might be termed colleges 
 of chivalry. Fitzstephen describes their pupils 
 during the reign of Henry II. as exhibiting, on 
 horseback, before the citizens, all the active evolu- 
 tions of a battle, on the Sundays during Lent. 
 Youths so educated, and constituting one house- 
 hold, naturally formed strong attachments for each 
 other, and each selected his future companion in 
 arms, between whom and himself there was from 
 thenceforth to subsist a reciprocity of aflection and 
 interest. The connection between the members of 
 these associations, who were termed/ra^res conjurati, 
 or sworn brothers, often superseded the ties of 
 common relationship.' 
 
 When the pupil had spent seven or eight years 
 
 1 Ducange.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 621 
 
 in the capacity of squire, and was considered fit to 
 receive the high distinction of knighthood, a solemn 
 and imposing ceremony took place. The candidate 
 passed several nights in prayer and watching, in a 
 church or chapel, and the sacraments of religion 
 were administered during this period of probation. 
 At length, when the longed-for day of consumma- 
 tion had arrived, the sacred building was arrayed in 
 all its splendor ; the youth, accompanied by his 
 patron, his kindred, his friends and companions, and 
 followed by an eager crowd, repaired in procession 
 to the church, with his sword of knighthood de- 
 pendent from his neck in a scarf; the weapon was 
 blessed by the officiating priest at the altar, and the 
 oaths of the highest oi'der of chivalry were adminis- 
 tered. He swore that he would be loyal and obe- 
 dient to his prince ; that he would defend the 
 church and clergy ; and be the champion of virtuous 
 ladies, and especially of the orphan and the widow. 
 When he had thus pledged himself to fulfil the 
 duties of a true knight, the warriors of noble rank, 
 or sometimes the high-born ladies, who attended 
 the spectacle, first buckled on his spurs, then clothed 
 him in the various pieces of a suit of armor, and, 
 lastly, girded his sword to his side. The prince or 
 noble from whom he was to receive the honor of 
 knighthood then advanced, and giving him the acco- 
 lade, which consisted of three gentle strokes with 
 the flat of a sword upon the shoulder, exclaimed, 
 "In the name of God, St. Michael, and St. George, 
 I make thee a knight; be brave, hardy, and loyal !" 
 After the impressive ceremony was thus finished, 
 the young cavalier, all armed as he was, leaping 
 into the saddle of his war-steed, pranced up and 
 down within the church, and then issuing forth, 
 galloped to and fro before the spectators, brandish- 
 ing his weapons to display his strength, graceful- 
 ness, and skill. His education was now complete ; 
 he had assumed an important rank in society ; and 
 from thenceforth he might aspire to its highest 
 offices and distinctions.' It is not, however, till an 
 age considerably later that we are to look for the 
 full development of the principles of chivalry; what 
 we have now described of it is perhaps as much of 
 the system as existed at the close of the present 
 period. 
 
 The knightly virtues inculcated by this course of 
 education, as has been already mentioned, were 
 finally impressed by the solemn sanction of oaths; 
 and chiefly consisted in devotion, in courtesy to 
 females, and in gentleness toward the weak. The 
 general practice of the age, however, and, what is 
 more strange, even that of most of the persons who 
 took upon themselves the vows of knights, was cer- 
 tainly very little in accordance with the elevated 
 theoretical morality which was thus taught and pro- 
 fessed. Still, amidst the disorder and licentiousness 
 that prevailed, we meet with occasional instances of 
 true knightly excellence, proving that noble princi- 
 ples could not be announced, even in a form the most 
 fantastic and in a state of society the most unfavor- 
 able, without producing some beneficial efl'ect. 
 
 The science of heraldry arose naturally out of 
 
 1 M^moires sur la C'hevalprie. par M. ilo St. Palave, torn. i. 
 
 the usages of knighthood and war. The adoption 
 by each knight of some peculiar mark or cognizance 
 was rendered necessary by the sort of panoply in 
 which he was wrapped up, which otherwise, espe- 
 cially after the introduction of the avantaille, or the 
 vizor, would have made it impossible to distinguish 
 him in the fight or the tournament. The Saxon 
 and Norman warriors, therefore, like their savage 
 ancestors in the wilds of Germanj% were probably 
 early accustomed to wear upon their crests the 
 figure of some animal. As the parts of defensive 
 armor were multiplied, and chivalry assumed a 
 more regular form, additional cognizances were 
 painted upon the shield. These were chiefly ani- 
 mals, or emblematic devices, rudely delineated, and 
 which seem for a long period to have been assumed 
 at the caprice of each individual. At first, also, it 
 was, probably, only the individual, and not the family 
 to which he belonged, that was to be distinguished 
 by the blazonry upon a shield. The case, how- 
 ever, was altered by the wars of the ci'usades. A.s 
 romantic valor was displayed to the uttermost in 
 the well-fought fields of the East, while a peculiar 
 sacredness was supposed to belong to those warlike 
 devices by which the brave knights who wore them 
 were distinguished, a feeling of honorable pride as 
 well as piety induced the son to assume the hal- 
 lowed escutcheon of his crusading parent ; and thus 
 the bearings upon the shield, from a merely per- 
 sonal, became a family and hereditary distinction. 
 It was from this period that heraldry assumed the 
 form of a regular science, while the bezant, the 
 crescent, and other Asiatic emblems, became its 
 choicest distinctions. Contemporaneously with this 
 practice on the part of the princely and lordlj- lead- 
 ers, the natural custom was copied by such of their 
 followers as were by their birth entitled to that 
 privilege, of adopting all or a part of the military 
 distinctions of their patron. Those who had fol- 
 lowed the banner of a distinguished noble, or who 
 even held lands of hiin as their lord, thus indicated 
 the illustrious house with which they were con- 
 nected, and perpetuated the tie to their posterity. 
 When a motto was added to the figures upon tlae 
 shield, it was generally taken from the war-cry 
 with which the leader summoned his followers to 
 the rescue or animated them in the conflict. As 
 for the crest, it does not appear to have been used 
 at this period as a family cognizance. It was only 
 when tlie lefinements of heraldry had so overloaded 
 the shield with figures as to make its frequent de- 
 lineation a work of labor and difficulty, that the crest 
 was adopted as the more summary distinction of a 
 noble family.' 
 
 It does not appear that the Normans assumed 
 family names at the same time that they adopted 
 family escutcheons. The former distinction was as 
 yet unknown even to the royal house, and such 
 additions as the Bastard, the Red, the Fine Scholar, 
 the Son of the Empress, the Lion-heart, and the 
 Landless, were the only surnames by which the 
 proud sovereigns of the Norman race were distin 
 guished. We find, however, that their chief vas 
 
 > BryilsniiV Simimary A'icw of Ilt-iaWrv.— Caindeu's Remains.
 
 622 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 sals had been, from an early period, accustomed I 
 to use an addition to their Christian name, as may i 
 1)6 seen by the roll of Battle Abbey. This was 
 generally derived from the birthj)lace or patrimonial 
 possession of the individual, on which account so 
 many names of our noble English families are de- 
 rived from towns or estates upon the continent. 
 Sometimes, also, the office held at court supplied 
 the possessor with the necessary distinction, such 
 as the Steward, the Seneschal, the Waiden, Arc. 
 What is properly termed a family-name, however, 
 was scarcely introduced within the present period. 
 The nearest approach to it was the assumption of 
 the father's Christian name in addition to his own, 
 by which the man who perhaps had neither office 
 nor landed property still announc(?d his Norman 
 descent. The only species of surname known 
 among the English, for some time after the Con- 
 (|uest, appears to have been an epithet descriptive 
 of some quality of the individual, distinguishing him 
 from others of the same baptismal name. But this 
 addition was not regarded as a family name, and 
 did not descend to the posterity of the person who 
 bore it. The generality of the people had only one 
 name. The Normans, on the contrary, soon came 
 universally to assume second names, usually com- 
 mencing with a De, or Le, or Fitz (that is, Fils, or 
 son), taken either from the estate, the birthplace, 
 the office, or the immediate parentage of the indi- 
 vidual, till it became a mark of low birth or of bas- 
 tardy to be without such a distinction. Thus, it is 
 related by one of the old chroniclers that the daugh- 
 ter and heiress of a great lord, named Fitzhaman, 
 refused at first to give her hand to Robert, the 
 bastard son of King Henry I., for no other reason 
 except that he had no second name. " My father 
 and my grandfather," said the lady, " had each two 
 names, and it were a gi-eat shame to me to marry 
 a man who has only one." This was, in other 
 words, declaring that she would not consent to 
 accept the husband proposed for her until the stain 
 of his illegitimate birth should be as far as possible 
 wiped oft'. The king on this gave him the surname 
 of Fitzroy, which amounted to a distinct acknowl- 
 edgment of him for his son. He is the same who 
 makes so great a figure in the succeeding reign 
 under the title of the Earl of Gloucester, and Avho, 
 if he WJis not, as Camden has called him, " the only 
 worthy of his age in England," was cei'tainly one 
 of the very few characters entitled to that epithet, 
 and the first of those few. 
 
 During the ages of chivalry, personal distinction 
 was eagerly attempted to be secured, not merelj^ 
 by names and heraldic insignia, but also by nu- 
 merous and splendid retinues; these formed the 
 guard of the prince or noble in war and his orna- 
 ment in peace ; and as the Norman chiefs, from 
 their national habits as well as the immense pos- 
 sessions they acquired in flngland, were able as 
 well as willing to indulge in this species of ostenta- 
 tion, we find that their attendants were sometimes 
 multiplied to an incredible amount. But, after all. 
 these cavalcades more resembled an Asiatic caravan 
 toiling through the desert than a well-ordered 
 
 princely procession. Such was the case even at 
 the court of Henry II., incontestably the richest 
 and most powerful monarch in Europe. Peter of 
 Blois, in one of his letters, gives a description of 
 one of these royal processions, which is sufficiently 
 startling to every idea of modern refinement. 
 There were knights and nobles — throngs of cavalry 
 and foot soldiers — baggage-waggons, tents, and 
 pack-horses — players, prostitutes, and the marshals 
 of the j)rostitute8 — gamesters, cooks, confectioners, 
 mimics, dancers, barbers, pimps, and parasites — and 
 in the rising at morn of this tremendous medley to 
 commence the march of the day, he adds, that 
 there was such justling, overturning, shouting, and 
 brawling, that you Avould have imagined hell itself 
 had let loose its inhabitants. Such was the real 
 squalidness that lay beneath so much superficial 
 glitter ; a kingly array was but a mob, in which 
 everything j)ertaining to taste and order was un- 
 known or disregarded. The train of Becket, not- 
 withstanding the waggons of ale and furniture with 
 which it was encumbered, and the monkeys on 
 horseback,' was immeasurably superior in point of 
 dignity and true elegance to that of his royal mas- 
 ter, and perhaps was the choicest specimen of this 
 kind of magnificence which the taste of the age 
 could have produced. When a royal procession 
 traveled through the coundy the purveyors swept 
 the district in every direction of its provisions, 
 which, in virtue of the prerogative, were seized for 
 the king's use at any price they chose to offer ; and 
 the powerful barons were not slow to imitate the 
 example of their sovereign. The greatest of the 
 English nobles traveled with trains scarcely inferior 
 to that of the king; and, in time of war, their re- 
 tainers composed formidable armies. William Long- 
 champ usuall}^ traveled, in the time of peace, with 
 above 1000 horse ; ^ and we may suppose that the 
 same vanity operated through all the inferior ranks 
 of nobles down to the knight who could muster a few 
 spears under his pennon, and that in most cases 
 there was the same want of order, economy, and 
 elegance. We are not, however, to attribute this 
 mode of traveling altogether to a passion for show 
 and magnificence. From the scarcity of places for 
 the entertainment of travelers, and the wild state 
 of many parts of the country, it was often difficult 
 to find the articles of subsistence, or at least the 
 instruments with which to cook them; and even 
 materials for setting up tents in which they might 
 lodge had to be provided and carried along with 
 them by personages undertaking any considerable 
 journey with a numerous train of attendants. Du- 
 ring part of this period, also, in the reign of Stephen, 
 the land was dotted with fortresses, the abodes of 
 predatory nobles, who were ready to dart out upon 
 those whom they were able to outnumber, while 
 the forests, on the other hand, embosomed numer- 
 ous bands of Saxon outlaws who regarded eveiy 
 Norman as an object of hate and vengeance. 
 
 When we descend from the public to the domes- 
 tic life of this period, we find the same uncouth 
 combination of giniideur and discomfort. The 
 • Sec p. 132. - Hr mpton.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 G23 
 
 Normans, indeed, introduced a more stately and 
 durable style of architecture than had hitherto been 
 practiced in the island ; and it is probable that, with 
 tliese exterior improvements, they added largely 
 to the elegancies and comforts of domestic life. 
 But still this improvement was only comparative, 
 and, in its best condition, was sordid and poor when 
 measured by the present standard of hving. Thus 
 the stately palaces and castles of those days had no 
 better carpets than a litter of straw or rushes, and 
 no better beds than a rug laid upon a wooden bench, 
 or spread upon the floor. The kingly or noble 
 banquet, although it blazed with a rich profusion of 
 gold and silver plate, could not even furnish the 
 necessary accommodation of a fork ; the fingers of 
 the eaters were thrust into the rich dishes, or em- 
 ployed in tearing the flesh into morsels; and the 
 luxuries that were collected at the greatest expense 
 were laid upon a huge table of plain oak, while the 
 princes and lords sat upon clumsy benches, and 
 partook of the good cheer. Several English estates 
 were held upon the condition of supplying fresh 
 straw for the royal beds, and litter for the apart- 
 ments of the palace ; ^ and Fitzstephen, describing 
 the splendid hospitality of Becket while chancellor, 
 adds, as a special proof of his munificence, that he 
 caused his servants to cover tlie floor of his dining- 
 room with clean straw or hay every morning in 
 winter, and gi'een branches of trees in summer, 
 that those guests who could not find room at table 
 might sit on the ground without spoiling their fine 
 clothes. It is a curious fact that the ofiicial situa- 
 tion of rusli-strewer remained to a very late period 
 on the list of the royal household. From these few 
 hints we may conjecture that the rest of the domes- 
 tic accommodations of this age were mean and 
 scanty; but we must remember, also, that as yet 
 household comfort was a word not understood, or 
 at least of very limited signification ; and as the 
 Normans were an active out-door people, independ- 
 ent of domestic conveniences, it was enough for 
 them if they possessed stately buildings, large re- 
 tinues, rich armor, and splendid tournaments. This 
 rude simplicity, however, sometimes degenerated 
 into exti'eme coarseness. Peter of Blois, in one of 
 liis letters, thus vents his ire at the discomforts of 
 the English courtiers while waiting upon their sov- 
 ereign : " To say nothing of other matters, I cannot 
 endure the annoyances of the marshals. ... I have 
 seen veiy many who have been most generous to 
 them ; and yet, when after the fatigue of a long 
 journey, the persons had got a lodging, when their 
 meat was half-dressed, or when they were actually 
 at table, nay, sometimes when they were asleep on 
 their rugs, the marshals would come in with vio- 
 lence and abuse, cut their horses' halters, tumble 
 their baggage out of doors without any distinction, 
 and (with great loss to the owners) turn them out 
 f)f their lodgings shamefully ; and thus, when they 
 had lost everything which they had brought for 
 their comfort, at night they could not, thougli rich. 
 Hnd a place to hide their head in."- 
 
 1 Blount's Ancient Teiuirrs. 
 
 • Translatinu in the Quarterly Review, vol Iviii. 
 
 The Normans, however, are stated to have intro- 
 duced into England a fashion of more delicate living 
 and solemn banqueting than had previously been 
 known in the countrj\ The Saxons, as ■sve have 
 already seen, were a people of large and gross 
 appetite, who spent the chief part of the day at 
 feasts, in which excess was considered to compen- 
 sate for elegance ; while their thirst was at least 
 commensurate with their hunger; so that drunk- 
 enness had become their national reproach. The 
 Normans, on the other hand, notwithstanding their 
 Danish descent, appear to have, in a gi-eat degree, 
 renounced the coarse habits of their ancestors ; so 
 that at their arrival in England, their moderation 
 and refinement in eating and drinking distinguished 
 them from the natives. This is testified, not only 
 by incidental hints of the mode of living that are 
 scattered through the writings of the period, but by 
 the expi-ess testimony of William of Malmsbury. 
 He tells us that the Normans were delicate in the 
 choice of meats and drinks, but seldom exceeded 
 the bounds of temperance ; so that they lived with 
 greater elegance, and at less expense than the 
 English. Peter of Blois, indeed, would seem to inti- 
 mate that, by the time of Henry H., they had con- 
 siderably degenerated in this particular: he describes 
 the knights going forth to battle laden with all kinds 
 of provisions, carrying cheeses instead of lances, and 
 wine skins and spits instead of swords and spears. 
 But this ludicrous description, which more than 
 realizes Falstaft"'s preparations for the battle of 
 Shrewsburj', is evidently a caricature. Either the 
 worthy archdeacon had established in his own mind 
 a romantic standard of abstinence with which the 
 expeditions of the period were incompatible, or 
 these recreant sons of chivalry were a few of the 
 younger sort whom the wealth which their fathers 
 had won in England had excited to such whimsical 
 extravagance. 
 
 The feasts of the Norman nobles, however, after 
 they came to England, soon came to be distin- 
 guished by the rarity and costliness of their mate- 
 rials. According to John of Salisbury, the Con- 
 queror used to send into every country, from whence 
 he collected all that was rich and difficult to be pro- 
 cured for the furnishing of his table. The same 
 author also mentions that he was present at a great 
 entertainment where there were served up the 
 choicest luxuries of Babylon and Constantinople, of 
 Palestine and Alexandria, of Tripoly, Syria, and 
 Phenicia. But, still, that the Normans were con- 
 tented with little, compared with the Saxons, is at- 
 tested by their common proverb, which gives us not 
 only the number of their meals, but the hours at 
 which they were eaten : — 
 
 Lever a cinque, diner a neuf, 
 Sou per a cinque, couchcr a neuf. 
 Fait vivre d'ans nonante et neuf. 
 To rise at five, to dine at nine, 
 To sup at five, to bed at nine, 
 Makes a man live to ninety-nine. 
 
 Among a people so choice in their diet as tho 
 Normans are declared to have been, we ran ima- 
 gine that cookery, as a science, was held in particu- 
 lar estimation. We find, accordingly, that some o^
 
 624 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 the English estates were held by the tenure of dress- 
 ing a particular dish. Among the dishes of which 
 the names are recorded, we find jSIaiipi^irniin, 
 Diligrout, Karumpie ;' but we are ignorant of their 
 particular composition. Indeed, of their prepara- 
 tions in cookery in general, nearly all we know is, 
 that rich spices were plentifully used in the greater 
 part of them. Among their most esteemed dainties 
 seem to have been the peacock and the crane ; the 
 former of which was only produced at solemn chiv- 
 alric banquets, while the latter was served up at 
 the common meals of the Norman princes. The 
 boar's head was regarded as a truly regal dish ; 
 and we are told that it was brought to the tai)le of 
 Henry II. in great pomp upon the coronation of his 
 son, and, as it was brought into the hall, musicians 
 went before it sounding upon their trumpets. 
 
 The bread which was used was of various kinds. 
 The panis piperatus was a sort of spice-cake com- 
 posed of the finest flour; and, at the tables of the 
 rich and noble, simnel and wastel cakes were also 
 in general use. But while the finest of the wheat 
 was only used for the bread of tlie aristocracy, the 
 common people were contented with their brown 
 bread, made of rye, oats, and barley. It is likely 
 that the Saxon population still adhered to the homely 
 cookery and rough dishes of their ancestors. 
 
 The drinks used by the rich of both nations were 
 spiced wines and hippocras, pigment, morat, and 
 mead; while the poorer classes were satisfied with 
 cider, perrj*, and ale. Excess in the use of liquor 
 still continued to form the national vice of the Sax- 
 ons, as we find from the revival of the laws against 
 " drinking at pins," which were esptjcially directed 
 against their rural clergy. 
 
 But whatever the refinements in Norman gas- 
 tronomy may have been, we are justified in suspect- 
 ing that they were too exclusively confined to set 
 banquets and solemn occasions. Peter of Blois, in 
 one of his letters, speaking of the wretched accom- 
 modation afforded to those unfortunate knights and 
 nobles who attended the court of Henry II., says, 
 •'I often wonder how one who has been used to 
 the service of scholarship and the camps of learning 
 can endure the annoyances of a court life. Among 
 courtiers there is no order, no plan, no moderation, 
 either in food, in horse exercise, or in watchings. 
 A priest or a soldier attached to the court has bread 
 put before him wiiich is not kneaded, not leavened, 
 made of the dregs of beer ; bread like lead, full of 
 bran, and unbaked ; wine spoiled either by being 
 sour or mouldy, thick, greasy, rancid, tasting of pitch, 
 and vapid. I have sometimes seen wine so full of 
 dregs put before noblemen, that they were com- 
 pelled rather to filter than drink it — with their eyes 
 shut, and their teeth closed ; with loathing and 
 retching. The beer at court is horrid to taste, and 
 filthy to look at. On account of the great demand, 
 meat, whether sweet or not, is sold alike : the fish 
 is four days old, yet its stinking does not lessen its 
 price. The servants care nothing whatever wheth- 
 er the unlucky guests are sick or dead, provided 
 there are fuller dishes sent up to their master's 
 
 ' Blount's Ancient Tenures. 
 
 tables. Indeed, the tables are filled (sometimes) 
 with carrion, and the guests' stomachs thus become 
 the tombs for those who die in the course of nature. 
 Indeed, many more deaths would ensue from this 
 putrid food, were it not that the famishing greedi- 
 ness of the stomach (which, like a whirlpool, will 
 suck in anything), by the help of powerful exercise, 
 gets rid of everything. But if the courtiers cannot 
 have exercise (which is the case if the court stays 
 for a time in town), some of them always stay be- 
 hind at the point of death."' 
 
 We have seen from tVie proverb quoted above, 
 that the customary hour of retiring to rest in Eng- 
 land was nine o'clock in the evening; and it has 
 been commonly supposed that, by a regulation es- 
 tablished by the Conqueror, the people were com- 
 pelled to put out their fires and all other lights on 
 the ringing of the curfew-bell (or couvre-feu, that 
 is, cover-fire), which took place at sunset in sum- 
 mer, and about eight or nine o'clock in winter. But 
 there is really no good authority for believing that 
 any such regulation as this was introduced by the 
 Conqueror. The curfew appears to have prevailed 
 in early times not only in England, but in Scotland, 
 Franco, Spain, Italy, and jjerhaps most of the other 
 countries of Europe ; and it was probably in use in 
 England, as elsewhere, long before the Norman 
 Conquest. Such a regulation was rendered expe- 
 dient by the combustible materials of which the 
 houses were generally composed, and the frequency 
 of conflagrations in the towns and villages. Not- 
 withstanding the precaution of the curfew law, Fits- 
 stephen, in his account of London, mentions fre- 
 quent fires as one of the great inconveniences of 
 the metropolis. It may be added that the curfew 
 was continued in England as a useful police regula- 
 tion till after the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 
 In the article of popular superstitions, both the 
 Normans and Saxons might furnish a chapter suf- 
 ficiently copious. From their northern descent, 
 their ancient traditions, their recent and imperfectly 
 understood Christianity, and the habits of a chival- 
 rous life among the great, as well as the general 
 rudeness and ignorance of the common people, the 
 path of their existence was bestrewn with omens, 
 prodigies, and superstitious observances. People 
 were afraid to meet a hare in their path, as the 
 omen of some coming calamity. A woman with 
 disheveled hair, a i)lind man, a lame man, or a monk, 
 were all, strangely enough, regarded as equally in- 
 dicative of misfortune. On the contrary, if a wolf 
 happened to cross them, if St. 3Iartin's bird flew 
 from left to right, if they heard distant thunder, or 
 met a humpbacked or leprous man, these omens 
 were considered as promises of good fortune.^ 
 
 We find that certain particular forms character- 
 ized the practice of sepulture at the present period. 
 The nearest relative, as in the earUest ages of an- 
 tiquity, closed the eyelids of the dead. The face 
 was then covered with a linen cloth, and afterward 
 the body was washed, anointed, and laid out for 
 burial. A suit of apparel which the deceased had 
 been accustomed to wear frequently, sufl^ced for a 
 
 ' Translation in Quarterly Review, vd. Iviii. - Peter of Blois.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 625 
 
 slu-oud ; the body was carried to the place of inter- 
 lueut upon the shoulders of the mourners, or, when 
 the distance was considerable, upon a sledge or car ; 
 and, commonly, the remains were deposited in the 
 grave without the protection of a coffin. We do 
 not find coffins in general use until the reign of 
 Henry III. ; and for some time before this date 
 they seem to have been confined to people of 
 high rank. But at first they were dispensed with 
 even in the case of princes themselves. The Con- 
 queror appears to have been inteiTed in this primi- 
 tive fashion, except that the grave itself was a sort 
 of chest or coffin formed of solid masonry. A more 
 decent and respectful ceremonial was observed in 
 the funerals of the succeeding kings. A rude and 
 unskilful attempt was made to embalm the body of 
 Henry I. After the brains and bowels had been 
 carefully extracted, it was saturated with salt, and 
 inclosed in a skin of wool. A triple funeral gi-aced 
 the obsequies of Richard I. ; and Carlisle, Fonte- 
 vraud, and Rouen had each the honor of receiving 
 a portion of his remains for sepulture. The body 
 of young Henry, the junior king (son of Henry II.), 
 was wrapped up in those hnen clothes that had 
 been used at his coronation, and upon which the 
 sacred oil had flowed. But the most splendid of 
 all the royal funerals in England, during this period, 
 appears to have been that of Henry II., which is 
 particularly described by Matthew Paris. The 
 body was arrayed in royal robes ; the face was un- 
 covered, and the head was adorned with a golden 
 crow-n ; the hands were covered with gloves, and 
 the feet with shoes embroidered with gold-work; 
 spurs were buckled to the heels, and a sword was 
 girded upon the side of the dead, while the fingers, 
 on one of which was a large ring, were closed upon 
 a sceptre. 
 
 The royal coffins seem to have been lined with 
 lead ; at least such is stated to have been the case 
 with that of Stephen. As kings were thus buried 
 with the insignia of their rank, the same rule was 
 
 probably followed in the funerals of the nobility. 
 At all events we know that it prevailed in the sep- 
 ulture of ecclesiastical dignitaries ; primates, bish- 
 ops, and abbots were always placed in their graves 
 attired in their canonical robes, and having beside 
 them the several symbols of their rank in the church.' 
 
 Such were the practices that generally prevailed 
 in the royal, noble, and common burials, during this 
 period, and by which the living endeavored to dis- 
 play their respect and affection for the dead. But 
 the case was very different with those who died 
 under excommunication. The body, now regarded 
 as the special property of Satan, was viewed with 
 fear and abhorrence ; no sacred earth could receive 
 it, or hallowed rights be performed over it; it was 
 thrown forth hke a polluted thing, or hurried into 
 some obscure spot, and interred in silence and se- 
 crecy by those who were ashamed of so humane 
 and necessary a deed. Thus, in the case of an un- 
 fortunate Templar, during the reign of Henry I. — 
 one Geoffrey Mandeville, who had been excommuni- 
 cated, and who had died without being reconciled 
 to the church — it is related that his brethren, equalh 
 afraid to bury and unwilling to degrade the corpse 
 of their departed member, adopted a singular com- 
 promise by which it might be reduced to its kindred 
 dust within their sacred precmcts. They inclosed 
 the body in a pipe or coating of lead, after which 
 they hung it upon a tree in the orchard of the old 
 Temple.- 
 
 It is chiefly, hoAvever, in the sports and pastimes 
 followed by the different classes of the people that 
 we discern the spirit of the national character and 
 of that of the times. In an age of martial habits 
 and imperfect civilization, the excitements of ii 
 game, during the short intervals of peace, are adopt- 
 ed as the natural substitutes for those of real war. 
 The chase was pursued by the Normans, from the 
 time they obtained possession of England, with an 
 eagerness to which the conquered race owed some 
 
 1 Strutt's Horda Angel Cynnan, vol. ii. 2 Ibid. 
 
 Hosting Stag. Royal JIS. 2 B. vii. 
 The Huntsman, followed by a servant on foot with bow and arrows 
 
 of their worst sufferings. The history of the for- 
 mation of the New Forest, and of the depopulation 
 and misery wrought by that act of despotic power, 
 has already been detailed.' The Conqueror was 
 so jealous of his kingly prerogatives in this, his fa- 
 vorite recreation, that the royal chases were guarded 
 
 1 See ante, p. 374. 
 VOL. I. — 40 
 
 from the intrusion of both Saxon and Norman L\ 
 the severest penalties: everj- offender detected in 
 hunting the king's deer was subjected to the lo.'i> 
 of life or limb ; and the dog that sti-ayed into the 
 king's inclosures was lamed by the amputation ol 
 one of its claws, unless redeemed by the owner. 
 The nobles followed the example of their sovereign.-^
 
 to26 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Royal Party hunting Rabbits. Royal JIS. 2 B. vii. 
 
 hy surrounding extensive parks with walls, for the 
 preservation of game ; in doing which they fre- 
 (|uently, by a lawless exercise of power, drove the 
 unfortunate peasantry from their meadows, fields, 
 and pasture lands ; and when these ferocious hunt- 
 ers burst through inclosures and swept over corn- 
 fields in pursuit of the flying deer, the wretched 
 cottagers were compelled to hurry to their doors 
 with provisions and refreshments, lest they should 
 be reckoned disaffected, or punished as traitors.^ 
 The Conqueror, in his paternal fondness for wild 
 beasts, is said to have collected and imported many 
 from abroad, with which he stocked the New Forest. 
 
 1 W. Newb. 
 
 As the habits and interests, however, of the two 
 races become more closely united, the lawlessness 
 of these tyrannical Nimrods was restrained, and 
 after the reign of Rufus the severity and restrictive 
 character of the game-laws were considerably 
 abated. It has been already mentioned that, by a 
 charter of Henry I., the citizens of London were 
 allowed to have their chases to hunt as well and 
 fully as their ancestors had had, in the Chiltern 
 hundreds, in Middlesex, and in Surrey. The Nor- 
 man prelates and clergy, it would appear from the 
 records of the times, were as keen hunters as the 
 laity. Females, also, seem to have sometimes pur- 
 sued this diversion. 
 
 Ladies hunting Deer. Royal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 A lady seems to have roused the deer by a blast from a horn, while another prepares to discharge an arrow at it. 
 
 Hawking was another favorite sport of this period. 
 This amusement had been keenly followed in Eng- 
 land before the period of the Conquest ; so that, by 
 some writers, the cause of Harold's unfortunate 
 voyage to Normandy is attributed to the straying of 
 a favorite falcon which he wished to recover ; and 
 in the Bayeux Tapestry, as we have seen, he is 
 represented as journeying to the court of William 
 with one of those birds on his wrist. After the 
 Conquest the common people seem to have been 
 prohibited even from keeping hawks ; to hunt with 
 them was considered an amusement fitting only for 
 kings and nobles. Thus those birds became as dis- 
 tinct marks of high rank as the spurs of knighthood 
 or the emblazonry upon a shield. The nobles car- 
 ried their fitvorite falcons along with them on jour- 
 neys, and even to battle. These feelings and habits. 
 
 which at that time prevailed throughout Europe, 
 will account for the exti'avagant conduct of Richard 
 when he seized by force, as already related, the 
 splendid hawk of the peasant in Calabria.' 
 
 By the Great Charter, however, granted by King 
 John, liberty was given to every freeman to have in 
 his woods eyries of hawks, spar-hawks, falcons, 
 eagles, and herons. Stores of good hawks were 
 generally kept in the monasteries for the recreation 
 of their reverend inmates ; and many of the eccle- 
 siastical dignitaries were so enamored of the sport 
 of hawking, that one of the favorite topics of decla- 
 mation with the censors of the manners of the time 
 was the conduct of those pastors who cared for 
 birds, not sheep ( ares, non oves ), and hallooed the 
 folcon upon its quarry with the same voice that had 
 ' See inte, p. 472.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 627 
 
 been consecrated to chant the praises of God.* From 
 the gentle exercise which this sport promoted, it 
 seems to have been endeared not only to churchmen, 
 but also to the female sex ; and in the twelfth cen- 
 tury we find that they excelled the men in dexterity 
 in hawking — a proof, says John of Salisbury, that it 
 is an effeminate amusement. When the hawk was 
 carried it was generally upon the WTist, which was 
 protected by a thick glove ; the head of the bird was 
 covered with a hood, and its feet were secured to 
 the wrist by straps of leather called jesses, and to 
 its legs were fastened small bells toned according to 
 the musical scale. 
 
 Another of the sports of the time, which as yet 
 however was practiced only on a small scale, was 
 that of horse-racing. Fitzstephen has given us a 
 description of the London horse-races, which were 
 held in Smithfield, then, as in the present day, the 
 great cattle-mart of the city. " When a race," he 
 says, " is to be run by this sort of horses (hackneys 
 and war-steeds), and perhaps by others which also, 
 in their kind, are strong and fleet, a shout is imme- 
 diately raised, and the common horses are ordered 
 to withdraw immediately out of the way. Three 
 jockeys, sometimes only two, according as the match 
 is made, prepare themselves for the contest (for 
 such, as being used to ride, know how to manage 
 the horses with judgment) : the grand point is to 
 prevent a competitor from getting before them. 
 The horses, on their part, are not Avithout emula- 
 tion — they tremble, are impatient, and continually 
 in motion ; and at last, the signal once given, they 
 strike, devour the course, hurrying along with un- 
 remitting velocity. Tne jockeys, inspired with the 
 thoughts of applause and the hopes of victory, clap 
 spurs to the willing horses, and brandish their 
 whips, and cheer them with their cries. You 
 would think, according to Heraclitus, that all things 
 were in motion, and that the opinion of Zeno was 
 certainly wrong, as he held that there was no such 
 thing as motion, and that it w'as impossible to reach 
 the goal."- 
 
 But the chief of all the amusements of those ages, 
 and that which was the most characteristic of the 
 chivalric period, was the tournament. The origin 
 of this great military spectacle is lost in the darkness 
 of the middle ages ; but we find that tournaments 
 were practiced in France and Normandy previous 
 to the Norman conquest of England. It might have 
 been expected, that after the Norman invasion they 
 would have been speedily established in England ; 
 but instead of this, we find that William and his im- 
 mediate successors absolutely forbade them. The 
 reason assigned for this prohibition was, the expense 
 and danger with which tournaments were attended. 
 But it may be suspected that the true reason was 
 of a different kind. It is probable that the Norman 
 kings apprehended danger from such concourses as 
 those which a tournament would have occasioned, 
 where the hard-ruled nobles would have learned 
 their own strength, and found every facility for 
 plotting against their sovereign. During the unset- 
 tled reign of Stephen, when the royal authority was 
 
 1 Letters of Peter of Blois. 2 Translation by Pegge. 
 
 relaxed, these prohibitory laws were disregarded, 
 and tournaments were frequently held by the nobil- 
 ity, at which it is probable they alternately conspired 
 against him and his rival Matilda, as circumstances 
 inclined them. This license, however, with many 
 others, was restrained on the accession of Henry II. 
 He revived the prohibitions that had formerly been 
 in force ; so that his sons, when arrived at manhood, 
 were obliged to repair to the tournainents on the 
 continent, at which they exhibited the reckless 
 daring of knights-errant, and gathered many trophies 
 of their valor and skill. A partial revival of the 
 tournament took place in England under the reign 
 of the Lion-hearted Richard. After his truce with 
 the French king in 1194, he permitted tournaments 
 to be held in his own kingdom, in consequence of 
 having seen the insults and numerous foils which 
 his own unskilful knights had suffered at the hands 
 of those of France.^ Still, however, this chivalrous 
 monarch had the policy to restrict these dangerous 
 assemblages, so that they could only be held at five 
 places in England, which were particularly speci- 
 fied ; and as money was at all times welcome to 
 him, he contrived that they should be conducive to 
 the replenishment of his empty exchequer, by com- 
 pelling those who attended them, as we have had 
 occasion to mention in a preceding chapter, to pur- 
 chase each a license, the price of which varied with 
 the rank of the party." By the same law, all for- 
 eigners were prohibited from entering the lists, 
 probably in consequence of their superior experience 
 and skill. From this era, the tournament rose in 
 importance in England, and speedily occupied a 
 prominent place in the national institutions and 
 history. 
 
 During the long interval that elapsed before these 
 military spectacles were sanctioned by law, we find 
 that the young students of chivalry in England im- 
 proved their strength and skill by certain military 
 sports, which still continued to be practiced after 
 the tournament was legalized. One of these was 
 the Pel (in Latin, palus), practiced with a post, or 
 the stump of a tree, about six feet in height, which 
 the youth, armed at all points, attacked vigorously 
 on foot ; and while he struck or thrust at the differ- 
 ent parts which were marked to represent the 
 head, breast, shoulders, and legs of an antagonist, he 
 was taught to cover himself carefully with his shield 
 in the act of rising to the blow. Similar to this was 
 the Quintain, where the attack was made on horse- 
 back. A pole or spear was set upright in the ground, 
 with a shield strongly bound to it, and against this 
 the youth tilted with his lance in full career, en- 
 deavoring to burst the ligatures of the shield, and 
 bear it to the earth. A steady aim and a firm seat 
 were acquired from this exercise, a severe fall being 
 often the consequence of failure in the attempt to 
 strike down the shield. This, however, at the best, 
 was but a monotonous exercise, and therefore the 
 pole, in process of time, was supplanted by the more 
 stimulating figure of a misbelieving Saracen, armed 
 at all points, and brandishing a formidable wooden 
 sabre. The puppet moved freely upon a pivot or 
 
 I W. Newb. - Set ante, p. 563
 
 628 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book NI. 
 
 Ancient Quintain, now standing on the Green of Offham, Kent. 
 
 spindle, so that unless it was struck with the lance 
 adroitly in the center of the face or breast, it rapidly 
 revolved, and the sword, in consequence, smote the 
 back of the assailant in his career, amid the laughter 
 of the spectators. Every blow in the centre of the 
 figure was numbered from one to three, according 
 to its ascertained effectiveness in unhorsing a real 
 enemy, while the false strokes that only sufficed to 
 turn the figure were counted against the player as 
 forfeits. In addition to these exercises, the young 
 squires and pages were taught to career against 
 each other with staves or canes; and sometimes a 
 Avhole party exhibited on horseback the various evo- 
 lutions of a battle, but without the blows or blood- 
 shed of a tournament. The elegant practice of 
 riding at the ring, which was an improvement upon 
 the quintain, was the refinement of a later age.^ 
 
 As for the tournament itself, it was generally held 
 in honor of some important event, such as a corona- 
 tion, a marriage, or great national victory ; and pre- 
 vious to the celebration, heralds were dispatched in 
 every direction to announce the place of meeting, 
 and invite all good knights and true to repair to the 
 solemnity. The joyous summons roused the neigh- 
 boring counties — the hut and the castle equally sent 
 forth their inhabitants, and every road to the place 
 of meeting was thronged with those who repaired 
 to the appointed spot as combatants or spectators. 
 Even from distant lands, when the event commem- 
 orated was of general importance, the noblest in 
 rank were accustomed to attend, either to gi-ace the 
 spectacle by their presence, or win honor in the 
 lists. The space marked out for the combat was a 
 
 1 Stnitt's Sports of the English. 
 
 level piece of ground, cleared of every impediment 
 that might annoy the feet of the horses, and strongly- 
 paled in, to prevent the intrusion of the crowd ; the 
 inclosure was entered by two gates, one of which 
 was at the east, and the other at the west end of 
 the barriers ; and round the whole paling scaffolds 
 were erected for the high-born dames and maidens, 
 the princes, the nobles, and the elected judges of 
 the conflict. A throng of heralds, troubadours, and 
 minstrels, dressed in their gorgeous and picturesque 
 attire, were also present to discharge their several 
 offices, and give order and solemnity to the assembly. 
 As so much importance was attached to the tourna- 
 ment, various precautions were adopted to prevent 
 the intrusion of the unworthy; the shields of those 
 who Avere competitors for the honors of the combat 
 were, for some days previous to the event, hung up 
 in the neighboring church ; and if any candidate 
 was charged with an offence against the rules of 
 chivalry, the accusation was sometimes made by a 
 lady touching his shield with a wand. Even when 
 the lists were filled, and when the combats had 
 commenced, the same anxiety Avas manifested to 
 guard the tournament from profanation ; and if a 
 knight behaved himself discourteously to the assem- 
 bled ladies, or infringed upon the fair and chivalrous 
 rules of encounter, he was driven from the inclosure 
 as a recreant by the spear-staves of the combatants. 
 It sometimes happened that a favored knight was 
 led to the gate of the barrier by the lady of his love, 
 in Avhose honor he had vowed to contend, and whose 
 colors he wore in his crest and upon his scarf. Two 
 different kinds of fighting Avcre practiced at the 
 tournament. The first was called justing — an en-
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 G29 
 
 counter performed with the lance ; the second was 
 either a close hand-to-hand duel, or a desperate, 
 general pell-mell, in which the combatants, divided 
 into two parties, hewed, struck, and thrust at each 
 other with battle-axes, two-handed swords, maces, 
 and daggers. The simple just was not reckoned so 
 honorable as the latter kind of engagement, which 
 properly constituted the tournament. The just, 
 however, from the superior grace and dexterity 
 which it was qualified to display, and perhaps on 
 account of its less hazardous nature, outlasted the 
 more formidable tneUe of the tournament, and con- 
 tinued to be practiced with sharpened or headless 
 lances till a very late period. The chief excellence 
 of a combatant in this kind of exercise consisted in 
 bearing the point of his spear against the breast or 
 helmet of his adversary, so as to throw him back- 
 ward out of the saddle to the ground — or, faihng in 
 this, to shiver his own weapon in the encounter, by 
 which he avoided a similar do^\^lfall for himself. 
 The lists, as has been already mentioned, were 
 guarded from intruders ; but every knight or squire 
 who entered them was allowed to bring with him a 
 page, who stood aloof from the contest, and supplied 
 his master, at need, with a sword or truncheon. 
 
 Such were the laws and usages of the tournament, 
 and the circumstances devised to give them splendor 
 and importance. We now proceed to describe the 
 encounter : — The combatants, in two parties, having 
 entered the barriers, the one by the eastern, and the 
 other by the western gate, aiTanged themselves in 
 order for battle ; and at the sonorous cry of the 
 heralds — " To achievements ! to achievements !" — 
 they closed their vizors, couched their spears, and 
 impatiently waited the signal of onset. This was 
 given by the president dropping his wand or trun- 
 cheon, and the trumpets at the same instant sound- 
 ing the charge ; and then commenced the furious 
 . hurtling together of men and horses, the shivering 
 of spears, and the clashing of helmets and shields. 
 As the conflict proceeded, and the confusion deep- 
 ened, the ground was gradually covered with fallen 
 knights, some deeply wounded, and others endea- 
 voring to continue the sti'ife on foot ; or, where they 
 were uttei'ly disabled, the pages endeavored to ex- 
 tricate them from amidst the rushing and trampling 
 of the horses' hoofs. When the battle had continued 
 for some time, knight after knight from either party 
 might be seen retiring to the palisade, to open his 
 avantaille, and take breath for a few moments ; and 
 it was considered ignoble and unlawful to assail him 
 while so occupied. Ghastly wounds, lameness, and 
 death, generally summed up the disasters of the 
 day ; but victory had been won, and the lustre of 
 the wreath was only enhanced by the blood that 
 stained it. At the close of each day (for sometimes 
 the tournament continued for several days ) the 
 names of those who had most distinguished them- 
 selves were proclaimed by the heralds, and the re- 
 wards distributed by the ladies ; after which, the 
 joys of the banquet succeeded: the successful com- 
 batants, after being unarmed by those fair hands that 
 had distributed the prizes, were advanced to an 
 honored place at the board, where their valor was 
 
 commended by princes and redoubted warriors, and 
 sung by attendant minstrels. Such was the nature 
 of that solemn festival, which may be regarded as 
 the great master-piece of chivalry, and by which 
 knightly braveiy and skill were improved to their 
 utmost capability. The church, indeed, denounced 
 the tournament on account of the bloodshed with 
 which it was attended, and the priests directed their 
 spiritual thunder against all who engaged in it or 
 favored it ; but this opposition had little eflect against 
 a species of amusement so accordant with the whole 
 bent of the spirit and habits of the times.' 
 
 As noble birth was so indispensable a qualification 
 for these heroic exercises, that none under the rank 
 of an esquire could engage in them, the yeomen and 
 burgesses consoled themselves with certain other 
 warlike amusements, in all probability derived from 
 those of the Norman aristocracy ; and although these 
 homely sports were inferior in solemnity and high 
 excitement to the tournament, they were certainly 
 superior in merriment and freedom. One of these 
 was similar to the quintain of the young nobility. A 
 pole was sti'ongly fixed in the ground, and across its 
 top was fixed, to turn upon a spindle, a piece of 
 wood, having at one end of it a board, and at the 
 other a sand-bag. The peasants who repaired to 
 the sport galloped against the quintain by turns, 
 couching their staves, and striking the board in their 
 rapid career. But unless a dextrous escape imme- 
 diately followed the blow, the heavy sand-bag at the 
 other extremity came round with a furious counter- 
 buff, and struck the tilter between the shoulders, 
 amid the jeers and shouts of the spectators. An- 
 other sport in use among the English, and similar 
 to the foregoing, has been called the water-quintain, 
 and is thus described by Fitzstephen, as practiced 
 by the Londoners. A shield was nailed to a mast 
 that was set up in the midst of the Thames, against 
 which a boat was impelled swiftly by vigorous row- 
 ers, and a man standing upright in the stern of the 
 boat couched his lance against the shield, and struck 
 it in passing. If the spear shivered while the cham- 
 pion maintained his place, the prize was won ; but 
 if, on the contrary, the stave did not yield to the 
 encounter, the boat glided from beneath his feet, 
 and he fell back into the water. To avoid a tragic 
 close, however, to such mirthful exhibitions, two 
 boats filled w'lXh. men were always in readiness be- 
 side the quintain, to rescue the baffled wight. There 
 
 1 M^raoires sur rAncipnne Chevalerie, par M. de St. Pelaye. — Du- 
 cange in Tournament.— W\\W History of Chivalry.— Strutt's Sports 
 of the English. 
 
 
 Water Toornament Koyal MS. 2 B. vil.
 
 630 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 was also practiced what may be called the water 
 tournameut, iu which the combatants, armed with 
 staves and shields, tilted against each other in boats, 
 in the same maimer as, in the common land tourna- 
 ment, the knights were wont to do on horseback. 
 These sports, in their natural course, descended, 
 with the necessary modifications, to the children, 
 who had also their own quintains, by which they 
 trained themselves to the exercises of manhood and 
 to dexterity in war. One of these is mentioned by 
 Fitzstephen. In winter, he tells us, the young boys 
 tied the shank-bones of sheep to their feet, upon 
 which they skated along the ice, and tilted against 
 each other with staves in full career. Such, it would 
 appear, was in those days the substitute for skates. 
 
 In addition to these exciting sports, the peasantry 
 amused themselves with archery, throwing large 
 stones, darting spears, \\Testling, running, leaping, 
 and sword and buckler playing ; and in large towns, 
 the citizens frequently diverted themselves with boar 
 and bull baiting. Cock-fighting, which as yet had 
 not been exalted into a noble or even a manly amuse- 
 ment, was confined to children. On the Tuesday 
 of Shrovetide, each schoolboy was allowed to bring 
 a fighting-cock to the school, which for a day was 
 turned into a cockpit for the diversion of the ur- 
 chins. The game of football was general in England 
 during the reign of Henry II., and seems to have 
 possessed equal attractions for men and children.' 
 
 Of the sedentary or within-doors amusements that 
 were known in England in this period, a very brief 
 notice will be sufficient. Among them, we find cer- 
 tain diversions then possessing attractions for per- 
 sons of the highest rank, which in a more refined 
 age are exclusively confined to the lowest. The jug- 
 gler, with his feats of dexterity and sleight-of-hand, 
 was an important personage even in the royal court, 
 when men had not yet learned to distinguish be- 
 tween the natural and the supernatural. The buf- 
 foon, with his ribald jests, was a welcome substitute, 
 where more refined wit was wanting, along with the 
 power to appreciate it ; and the mime, with his an- 
 tic personifications, added enjoyment to the luxuries 
 
 I Fitzstephen's London. 
 
 of the feast. To these may be added dramatic ex- 
 hibitions. Plays founded upon romantic, historical, 
 or passing events, were already represented before 
 the nobles and citizens ; but these primitive attempts 
 were so completely in accordance with the gross- 
 ness and licentiousness of the age, both in language 
 and manner of acting, that they were condemned 
 by the church, and all priests were prohibited from 
 attending them.' The actors of those days appear 
 to have strolled from town to town, and from castle 
 to castle, attended by a congenial fraternity com- 
 posed of jongleurs, tumblers, dancers, jesters, and 
 mimics.^ The immorality of these theatrical exhibi- 
 tions awoke not only the ire, but the inventive pow- 
 ers of the church, and the clergy endeavored to 
 supersede the secular by the religious drama ; and 
 hence the origin of those pi'89uctions called miracles 
 and mysteries. These were composed of scriptural 
 incidents; or, as Fitzstephen informs us, "repre- 
 sentations of those miracles that were wrought by 
 holy confessors, or those passions and sufferings in 
 which the martyrs so signally displayed their forti- 
 tude." The actors were the scholars of the clergy ; 
 the church itself was frequently used as the place 
 of exhibition ; and the rich vestments and sacred fur- 
 niture employed in the church service were some- 
 times permitted to be used by the actors, to give 
 superior truth and lustre to their representations. 
 
 In a propensity to gambling, the Normans and 
 Saxons equally evinced their northern origin : they 
 had ten different games that were played with dice ; 
 of which, however, we have no particular account ; 
 and the large sums that were lost, as well as the 
 quarrels that were stirred up by what the clergy of 
 those days emphatically called the "damnable art of 
 dicing," may be surmised from the curious enact- 
 ments on this head by Richard I. and Philip Augus- 
 tus, on their expedition to the Holy Land.^ Matthew 
 Paris also is careful to reproach the English barons- 
 who revolted against John, with their fondness for 
 dice ; and the same charge was brought against the 
 clergy in general by those 'ecclesiastics who cen- 
 sured the vices of the age. The intellectual game 
 
 ' J. Sarisbur. de Nugis Curialiura. ' Idem. ' See ante,p. 4T4. 
 
 Anciknt Chessmen, preserved in the British Museum.
 
 Chai.'. \'I.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 G31 
 
 of chess, we may also notice, which is undoubtedly 
 of oriental origin, is commonly supposed to have been 
 imported into England and the other countries of 
 Europe in this period, by the Crusaders. There is 
 some reason however for believing that it was known 
 to our Saxon ancestors before the Norman Conquest. 
 
 Allusion has been already made to the bands of 
 Saxon glee-men, dancers, and jugglers, that traversed 
 the kingdom, and found aready welcome from burgher 
 and noble. The following group represents one of 
 these peripatetic bands, consisting of a taborer, a 
 bagpiper, three dancers, and a singer or glee-man. 
 
 Country Revel. Royal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 
 The juggler was generally the superintendent of 
 the party ; and his feats of sleight-of-hand, which 
 passed for supernatural, and by which he astonished 
 the unskilful peasants and equally illiterate nobles, 
 were similar to those exhibited in the present day. 
 
 A part ot the exhibitions of these jugglers consisted 
 in feats of balancing, of which the following engrav- 
 ing is a representation. Here, two men support a 
 large board, on which a girl kneels, and balances 
 three swords, resting upon their hilts, with the 
 
 Balancing. — Strutt, from various ancient MSS. in the Bodleian and private Collections 
 
 points in contact. The steadiness of nerve requi- 
 site for such a feat, in the female, but more espe- 
 cially in her supporters, is evident at a glance. The 
 other figures of the gi'oup are employed in such 
 trials of balancing as are witnessed among us every 
 day, with the exception perhaps of the person who 
 is attempting, in rather an unfavorable attitude, to 
 make two swords stand upright on the ground. The 
 women who formed a part of the juggler's train bal- 
 anced, danced, and tumbled, and performed those 
 feats of agility or gracefulness for which they were 
 better qualified than the more robust sex. These 
 females, as may be supposed, were of very light 
 reputation, on which account the daughter of He- 
 rodias was classed among them by our ancestors. 
 When she procured the death of John the Baptist, 
 she is said, in the Saxon translation of the Gospels, 
 to have "tumbled before Herod;" and in an ancient 
 illuminated MS., she is thus represented at her 
 exercise, attended by her maid-servant. 
 
 The Daughter of Herodias Ti-mblino. Strutt, from an 
 ancient MS. 
 
 In addition to such displays of human strength 
 and dexterity, the ingenuity of the jugglers trained 
 the inferior animals to cofiperate in their exhibitions : 
 bears were taught to dance and tumble, and horses
 
 032 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 Playixo Monkeys and Bears. Harl. MS. 603.— Royal MS. 2 B. vii.— Bodleian MS. 2C4. 
 
 ;ind monkeys to imitate, or rather ape, the actions 
 of humanity. The above sketch, copied from an 
 jincient MS., represents a monkey imitating the 
 action of playing on the harp, and a second mimick- 
 ing the violin-player; a third is riding on a bear, 
 
 which is dancing to the imaginary music ; and a 
 fourth monkey is tumbhng under the directions of 
 its teacher. In another drawing we have a glee- 
 woman dancing round an unmuzzled bear, that 
 endeavors to seize her, while the bear-keeper is 
 
 Playing Bears. Harl. MS. 603.— Royal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 
 scourging the animal, and exciting it to greater fury. 
 The docility also of that noble animal the horse did 
 not escape the notice of these ingenious tormentors : 
 
 it was taught to dance, to fence with its fore-feet 
 against a man armed with a staftand buckler ; to put 
 a trumpet to its mouth as if about to sound a charge ; 
 
 Equestrian Exercises. 
 Horse lutored to beat time with his fore and hind feet on a tabor. — Strutt, from an ancient MS. 
 
 and to beat a war-point with its hoofs upon a drum I been sometimes exhibited, in which a horse, haltered 
 or tabor. A still more cruel sport appears to have { to a stake or tree, was baited by dogs.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 633 
 
 Horse Baiting. Royal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 
 The jugglers also made the science of defence a 
 part of their public exhibitions. On this account 
 they are frequently called gladiators by the writers 
 of the time. They not only exhibited feats of skill 
 at sword and buckler, but they were also the teach- 
 ers of the art of fencing. Fitzstephen mentions this 
 as a common exercise in the reign of Henry II. ; 
 and in the following engravings from ancient manu- 
 scripts we have representations of the principal 
 wards and feints that were practiced. 
 
 Sword Fight. Royal MS. 20 E. 6. 
 
 Sword Fight. Royal MS. 14 E. 3. 
 
 Fencing. Royal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 The combatants here appear to be in right earnest, 
 and the kind of combat in which they are engaged 
 was, no doubt, attended with some danger. In 
 other cases the mock encounter was practiced in a 
 feshion much less perilous. In the following en- 
 graving, two youths, who appear to be studying the 
 
 BccKLER Flay. 
 Strutt, from an ancient MS. in the Douce Collection. 
 
 defensive part of the science merely, are crouching 
 safely behind their bucklers, while each is armed 
 with nothing better than a light cudgel. The Sax- 
 ons also appear to have learned from their German 
 
 WORD Dance. Royal MS. 14 E. iii.
 
 634 
 
 HISTORr OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 ancestors to play gracefully with their weapons in 
 the sword-dance/ where dexterity could be exhibited 
 without dangerous consequences. The sword-dance 
 of the Anglo-Saxons, which we have already de- 
 scribed," continued to be practiced long after the 
 Norman Conquest. In the foregoing dehneation, two 
 men are wielding sword and buckler, and directing 
 their movements by the music of the bagpiper. 
 
 ' The sword-dance described by Tacitus (de Mor. Germaiii. c. 24) 
 was among naked weapons with the points upward. The fashion in 
 which it was perrormed by the Saxons was much less dangerous. 
 
 " See ante, p. 339. 
 
 VVeestlino. Eoyal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 
 Wrestling was also practiced in various forms. 
 One mode of a very peculiar kind is also said to 
 have been in use among the ancient Greeks. In 
 this game, two persons, mounted each on the back 
 of a companion, encountered each other like 
 knights on horseback ; and he who could throw 
 his antagonist to the ground was declared the con- 
 queror. 
 
 Bowling is another amusement which we find 
 represented in the manuscripts of this period. In 
 the annexed drawing two small cones are set up to 
 serve as marks for the bowl. Similar to this was 
 the game of kayles (in French quilles), probably of 
 Norman origin, and from which the game of nine- 
 pins was perhaps derived. A number of pins were 
 set up — not in three rows, however, but in a line — 
 and these the player endeavored to strike down by 
 throwing a cudgel. The same amusement, with 
 slight variations, is common at our fairs in the pres- 
 ent day. Three pins are placed upright, surmounted 
 by toys : at these the player, standing at a consider- 
 able distance, throws a stick, and whatever he can 
 manage to knock down becomes his own. 
 
 Most of the amusements still practiced by our 
 peasantry in some parts of the country on the eve 
 of All-Hallows are probably much older than the 
 Norman, or even th'j previous Saxon conquest. 
 
 BouLiNo. Royal MS. 20 Ed. iv. 
 
 Kayle Pins. Royal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 
 The following representation of the well-known 
 game of bob-apple is found in a manuscript of the 
 present period. 
 
 were so severe against the English using dogs and 
 hawks for the purposes of hunting and fowling, we 
 may presume that the conquered people (when they 
 
 While the prohibitions of their Norman masters | dared to pursue these sports) would betake them-
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 iVIANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 62fi 
 
 Bob-Apple. Royal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 
 selves to gins, snares, and nets. In the following 
 representation we have birds taken by the clap-net. 
 In another drawing we see the cross-bow employed 
 in shooting at small birds. This instrument was 
 introduced into England by the Conqueror, whose 
 soldiers did great execution with it at the battle of 
 Hastings. The second Council of Lateran after- 
 ward forbade the use of it in wars between Christian 
 
 nations, and it was, in consequence, for some time 
 laid aside ; but Richard I. reintroduced it in his 
 French wars after his return from Palestine. His 
 death, which took place soon after by an arrow dis- 
 charged from a crossbow, was of course considered 
 as a judgment which he had thus brought upon 
 himself by his disregard of the authority of the 
 church. 
 
 BiRD-CATCHiNO BY Clap-Net. Royal MS. 2 B. vii. 
 
 Cross-Bow shootino at small Birds. Royal MS. 2 B. vii.
 
 C36 
 
 HISTOKY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 T is no justification, on 
 the one band, of the 
 spirit of wrong and vio- 
 lence in which the en- 
 terprises in question 
 may have originated, 
 nor any condemnation, 
 on the other, of the re- 
 sistance that was made 
 to them, to admit that 
 ail the successive for- 
 eign conquests of Eng- 
 land have turned out, 
 in the end, to be for- 
 tunate events for the 
 country. We do not include under that term the 
 temporary ascendencj' of the Danes, which lasted 
 only for a quarter of a century in all, and was then 
 followed by the reestablishment of the Saxon power 
 — although the country probably made greater pro- 
 gi'ess in wealth and civilization, and enjojed in every 
 way more of the advantages of good government, 
 during the twenty years of the reign of Canute than 
 it had done in any period of the same length since 
 the death of the great Alfred ; but, confining our 
 view to the permanent conquests of the original 
 Britons by the Romans, — of the Roman provincials 
 by the Saxons, — and of the Saxons by the Normans, 
 — it is impossible to doubt that, of each of these 
 revolutions, severe as Avas the immediate suflfering 
 which they occasioned, the eventual result was an 
 immense addition to the civilization, the power, and 
 the general prosperitj' of the country. 
 
 It was by the Romans that the arts and habits of 
 civilized life were first introduced into and planted 
 in the island. There is no reason to suppose that, 
 but for their subjugation bj^ the arms, and annexation 
 to the empire of Rome, the ancient Britons Avould 
 have attained a condition much superior to that of 
 their contemporaries inhabiting the forests of Ger- 
 many or Scandinavia. The establishment of the 
 Roman dominion substituted for this state of rudeness 
 and comparative destitution an empire of the arts and 
 of letters, which continued to flourish unimpaired for 
 a longer space of time than has elapsed from the Ref- 
 ormation to the present day, and which, even after its 
 decay and ruin, left behind it many enduring benefits. 
 It is not probable, however, that the Romanized 
 Britons, if they had been left to themselves after 
 the fall of the Western Empire, would have suc- 
 ceeded in working out their emancipation from the 
 anarchy into which they were thrown by the dis- 
 memberment of the mighty system of which they 
 had formed a part ; the stroke of fate liad fallen upon 
 the heart of that system, and it was impossible that 
 any of its extremities should escape dissolution. 
 
 The Saxons brought along with them no new 
 arts or additional intellectual culture ; they swept 
 away, in the violence of their first seizure of the 
 country, much of the civilization that had previously 
 been established in it ; and they were indebted for 
 the communication of the light of religion and letters 
 long after their settlement to that very Rome whose 
 old institutions and monuments they had at first 
 thrown down and ti'ampled upon. But they brought 
 with them what was better than any literary civili- 
 zation, the spirit, at least, and elementary forms of 
 a new system of political arrangements, founded 
 upon larger and juster views of human rights and 
 duties, and, in its final development, more favorable 
 to the general securitj' of person and property, and 
 to the promotion of all the other ends of good gov- 
 ernment and social union, than any with which anti- 
 quity had been acquainted. 
 
 The soil of the national character is to this day 
 mainly Saxon, with our institutions, our manners, 
 our language, our literature, and whatever else has 
 sprung out of it. The conquest of the country by 
 the Saxons has made its population in all things es- 
 sentially a Teutonic race, and, as such, partakers in 
 the most vigorous and productive species at least of 
 modern civilization. This is a distinction which no 
 subsequent revolutions or changes have been, and 
 wliicli it is not probable that any ever will be able to 
 obliterate. 
 
 But various causes contributed to hinder the Sax- 
 ons from rearing a superstructure of state, in their 
 kingdom of England, of a height and proportions at 
 all corresponding to the broad and deep foundations 
 they had laid. The better part of their original 
 energy they would seem to have expended in the 
 long and arduous contest they had to sustain before 
 they made good their possession of the country ; 
 when, after this was over, they found themselves in 
 the undisturbed occupation and enjoyment of the 
 settlements their swords had won, the cessation of 
 the only excitement to exertion they had ever hith- 
 erto known, and the want, owing to their unac- 
 quaintance with letters and the arts, of any new 
 stimulus to supply its place, would naturally have 
 the efl!"ect of allowing them to subside into habits of 
 indolence and sensuality. Then followed a long 
 succession of miserable contests, sometimes between 
 one state and another, sometimes between adverse 
 fections in the same state, — in either case having 
 almost equally the rancorous character of civil strifes. 
 Thus were consumed three hundred and fifty years 
 of the six hundred which make up what is commonly 
 called the Saxon period. The destructive ravages 
 of the Danes extend, with some interruptions, over 
 nearly the whole of the remaining two centuries 
 and a half: the several states had, indeed, been
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 637 
 
 consolidated into one kingdom, and their ferocious 
 contention with one another was at an end ; but for 
 the greater part of this space the old scene of blood- 
 shed, desolation, and public disti'action was kept up 
 by the restless plague of a foreign enemy, either 
 hovering upon the coasts and making descents now 
 at one point, now at another, throughout their whole 
 circuit, or permanently stationed in the heart of the 
 kingdom and sweeping it in all directions with fire 
 and sword. Even during the only considerable 
 interval for which this long contest with the Danes 
 Avas suspended, the space that elapsed from the time 
 of Alfred to that of Ethelred, the numerous foreign 
 population which had forced its way into the coun- 
 try was only kept quiet by being allowed to divide 
 the possession of it with its previous occupants. 
 How precarious was the subjection that was thus 
 obtained from them was at length testified by the 
 renewal of the old contest between the two races in 
 the reign of Ethelred, and its obstinate prosecution 
 by the Danes till they placed their own king on the 
 English throne. In short, of the whole six hundred 
 years that intervened from the coming of the Saxons 
 to the coming of the Normans, the quarter of a cen- 
 tury forming the reign of the Confessor is almost 
 the only portion that can be refeiTed to as that in 
 which the country enjoyed the blessings of a national 
 government and a united people. Nearly all the rest 
 of the period was spent in the contest of the invaders 
 with the previous inhabitants, in the wars that the 
 several bands of the invaders afterward carried on 
 among themselves, and, finally, in the long struggle 
 they had to sustain with their foreign competitors 
 for the possession of the country, the course of 
 which was only an alternation of hard fighting and 
 reluctant concession, of the din and confusion of 
 arms and of occasional intervals of an insecure and 
 uneasy calm, attempted to be maintained by truces 
 and oaths which quenched no hostile feeling, and 
 which either party was constantly on the watch for 
 the first fair occasion to bi-eak. 
 
 It was impossible that in such circumstances the 
 national character should not have become deterio- 
 rated, and that the country should not have lagged 
 behind in the career of wealth, of the arts, of liter- 
 ature, and of every other line of public prosperity 
 and greatness. Accordingly, at the era of the Nor- 
 man invasion, England was still a country of no 
 account in the political map of Europe. Some 
 foreign commerce it was beginning to have ; but 
 still its intercourse, either commercial or of any 
 other description, with other parts of the world was 
 apparently very limited. A certain degi'ee of excel- 
 lence indeed seems to have been attained by its 
 artists in some kinds of ornamental work, in the fab- 
 rication of trinkets and other articles of luxury, a 
 taste for which probably prevailed among its few 
 wealthier inhabitants, — and on a first view we might 
 be disposed to conjecture that other and more ne- 
 cessary descriptions of industry must needs have 
 also flourished where there was room and encour- 
 agement for the exercise of this species of refined 
 and expensive ingenuitj- ; but nothing can be more 
 unsafe and fallacious than such a mode of inference. 
 
 by which some particular feature is taken to indicate 
 in one age, or countiy, or state of society, the same 
 thing which it would indicate in another. It would 
 be quite unwarrantable to assume the existence of 
 any general wealth or refinement among the Anglo- 
 Saxons of the eleventh century merely from their 
 passion for show and glitter, which, in its lower 
 manifestations, is an instinct of the rudest savages: 
 and, even when directed with very considerable 
 taste, may coexist both with the most imperfect civ- 
 ilization and with much general poverty and squalor, 
 as we see it doing in Eastern countries at the present 
 day. No other species of art or manufacture, except 
 the ordinary trades required for the supply of their 
 most common necessities, appears to have been 
 practiced among them. But the backward and de- 
 clining condition of the country was most expressively 
 evinced by the lamentable decay of all liberal knowl- 
 edge among all classes of the people. The oldest 
 historians are unanimous in their attestations to the 
 general ignorance and illiteracy that prevailed among 
 the English of this age. To the testimony of Or- 
 dericus Vitalis, which has been already adduced,* 
 may be added that of Malmsbury, who, writing 
 within sixty or seventy years from the time of the 
 Conquest, may be considered to speak almost with 
 the authority of a contemporary. He was an Eng- 
 lishman as well as Vitalis, and, as he informs us 
 himself, as much a Saxon as a Norman by descent- 
 He assures us that, when the Normans first came 
 over, the gi-eater number of the English clergy could 
 hardly read the church service, and that, as for 
 anything like learning, they were nearly to a man 
 destitute of it : if any one of them understood gram- 
 mar, he was admired and wondered at by the rest 
 as a prodigj'. The rest of his account represents 
 the upper classes in general as sunk in sloth and 
 self-indulgence, and addicted to the coarsest vices. 
 Many of the nobility, he says, had even given up 
 attending divine service in churches altogether, and 
 used to have matins and mass said to them in their 
 chambers while they lay in bed, and as fast as the 
 priests could hurry them over. Besides other gross 
 practices, they were universally given to gluttonous 
 feeding and drunkenness, continuing over their cups 
 for whole days and nights, and spending all their 
 incomes at riotous feasts, where they ate and drank 
 to excess, without any display either of refinement 
 or of magnificence. The dress, the houses, and the 
 domestic accommodations of the people of all ranks 
 are stated to have been mean and wretched in the 
 exti'erae. 
 
 Whatever judgment may be formed as to the 
 comparative moral qualities of the two races, the 
 Normans, at the time of their conquest of England, 
 were undoubtedly much farther advanced than the 
 Saxons in that sort of cultivation to which the name 
 of civilization is commonly applied. They introduced 
 into the country not only a higher learning, but 
 improved modes of life. They set an example of 
 elegance and magnificence, to which the Saxons 
 were strangers, in their festivities, in their apparel, 
 and in their whole expenditure. Instead of wasting 
 i See ante. p. 583.
 
 638 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 the whole of then- wealth in eating and drinking, 
 their pride was to devote the greater part of it to 
 works of permanent utility or embellishment, to the 
 building of castles, and churches, and monasteries. 
 The art of architecture in England may be said to 
 have taken its rise from them. By them, also, it is 
 probable that the agriculture of the country was 
 improved, and its commerce extended. Under their 
 government, after it was fairly established, the king- 
 dom for the first time had its natural strength and 
 resources turned to account, and came to be recog- 
 nized as of any importance in the political system of 
 Europe. 
 
 These eventual benefits, however, were purchased 
 at a heavy immediate cost. No national revolution 
 brought about by violence can take place without 
 occasioning much misery to individuals, and also 
 giving a severe shock for the moment to the whole 
 fabric of the public interests. But the Norman con- 
 quest of England, from the manner and circum- 
 stances in which it was effected, swept the land 
 with an uprooting and destructive fury, far trans- 
 cending that of ordinary tempests of this description. 
 It was much more than a mere transference of 
 the dominion of the country into the hands of for- 
 eigners ; along with the dominion nearly the whole 
 propertj' of the country was torn from its former 
 possessors, and seized by the conquei'ors. A hand- 
 ful of aliens not only wielded the powers of the 
 government, and recast at will the whole system of 
 the national institutions, but the natives were, for 
 tlie most part, stripped of their estates as well as of 
 their pohtical rights, and driven forth to destitution 
 and beggary, at the same time that they were made 
 to pass under the yoke. The distinction of this 
 conquest was, that it was to an almost unexampled 
 extent one of confiscation and plunder. It was not 
 merely the establishment of a foreign prince upon 
 the throne, but the surrender of the countiy to a 
 swai"m of- foreign robbers, who divided it among 
 them like so much spoil, and, settling in all parts of 
 it, treated the unhappy natives as their thralls. The 
 necessity of satisfying the claims of the troops of 
 hungry and rapacious adventurers from all countries, 
 by Avhom he had been assisted in his enterprise, 
 compelled the Norman thus extravagantly to over- 
 stretch and abuse even the hateful rights of con- 
 quest; and the system thus entered upon could 
 only be maintained by a perseverance in the sternest 
 and most gi'inding tyranny. It was impossible that 
 the moderation and clemency with which William 
 iit first affected to treat the conquered people should 
 be long kept up. His spoliations and incessant ex- 
 actions could not fail to provoke a spirit of resistance, 
 which was only to be reined in by the steadiest and 
 most determined hand. After some time, accord- 
 ingly, he seems to have thrown away all scruples, 
 and, resigning himself to the necessities of his posi- 
 tion and the current of events, to have relinquished 
 every view of governing his English subjects by 
 any other means than force and terror. The con- 
 sequence was, the establishment of a system of 
 government which, in so far as respected the great 
 body of the people, was certainly as iron a despot- 
 
 ism as ever existed in any country calling itself 
 civilized. 
 
 The constitutional changes introduced by the 
 Norman Conquest do not appear to have greatly 
 altered the legal position of the different ranks of 
 the population. The laboring classes, and the great 
 body of the occupiers and cultivators of the soil, re- 
 mained, as before, partly serfs or bondmen, entirely 
 the property of their masters, — partly villains, at- 
 tached to the estates on which they resided, so as 
 neither to have the power of removing at their own 
 will nor to be removable at the will of their lord. 
 Of these latter there appear to have been a variety 
 of descriptions, whose conditions and rights probably 
 differed in some subordinate particulars ; but the 
 distinctions implied by the various names which we 
 find used to designate them are very imperfectly 
 understood. Some of them, perhaps, were entitled 
 only to a maintenance from the land, — others to the 
 occupation of a cottage, — others to a certain portion 
 of the estate to cultivate for their own profit, for it 
 would appear that some descriptions of the villains 
 at least were capable of possessing and accumulating 
 private property. There is no proof that all of them 
 might not have done so, although some classes of 
 them may have been more advantageously placed 
 than others for saving or otherwise acquiring wealth. 
 Glanville, indeed, informs us that whatever money 
 or goods a villain possessed were considered by the 
 law to belong to his lord, and therefore he could not 
 emancipate himself, or purchase his freedom, Avith 
 his own money ; but all that can be meant by this 
 is, that the lord had perhaps the legal right, if he 
 chose, of taking from his villain whatever property 
 the latter might have acquired. This very statement 
 is an evidence that the villain might possess money 
 or other propertj', which was his own at least so 
 long as his lord refrained from demanding it. It is 
 probable that custom, if not the laAv, imposed some 
 limitation upon the lord's power of exaction, and that 
 even although all that the villain had might strictly 
 or technically be said to belong to his master, it 
 rarel)' or never happened that, if he paid from his 
 earnings or his savings the ordinary dues, he was 
 disturbed in the possession of what remained. The 
 great and conspicuous distinction at all events of his 
 peculiar position was, as explained in the last book,^ 
 that on the one hand he was bound to remain on the 
 estate on which he was born, and to perform certain 
 labors or services, and to pay certain dues to the 
 lord or proprietor of the estate ; and that on the 
 other hand he could not be removed by the lord from 
 the soil to which he was thus attached, nor deprived 
 of what was substantially his tenure or holding in it, 
 which no doubt always implied at least lodging and 
 maintenance for himself and his family, and probably 
 in many cases more extensive rights. Besides the 
 villains, however, there was a considerable class of 
 persons designated as freemen or free tenants. 
 These, it may be presumed, were in no respect 
 bound to the soil, or otherwise subjected to a quali- 
 fied servitude, as the villains were. They held ap- 
 parently the same legal position that all commoners 
 
 1 See ante, p. 340, &c.
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 639 
 
 hold in the present day, modified only by the very 
 different constitution of society and state of the 
 law generally which then prevailed. The villains, 
 though by no means excluded from the protection 
 of the law, seem not to have possessed any political 
 rights ; these were exclusively confined to freemen. 
 They alone were the legales homines, or lawful 
 men, of whom the laws and other writings of the 
 time so often make mention. Such of the freemen 
 as occupied land which was not their own property 
 may be considered as having nearly corresponded to 
 our modern tenantryrin the popular acceptation of 
 that term. The tenants of those days again were, 
 what tenants still are in the language of the law, 
 the proprietors of estates ; and were called either 
 tenants-in-chief (in Latin tenentes in capife), by 
 which expression were meant holders under, that 
 is, by direct gi"ant from the king, or tenants under a 
 mesne (that is, a middle) lord, under which descrip- 
 tion was included all other proprietors. The higher 
 political rights seem originally to have been exclu- 
 sively confined to the tenants-in-chief. The com- 
 mon freeholder, or freeman, for instance, might ex- 
 ercise municipal functions ; might be a deputy from 
 his township to the hundred or the county-court, 
 and might sit upon an inquisition or jury ; in other 
 words, he might take part in various ways in the 
 execution or administration of the law ; but with the 
 making of the law, or with the function of legisla- 
 tion in any form, he seems to have been considered 
 as having nothing to do. That was a right reserved 
 to the tenants of the crown, though in what degree 
 it was participated in, or in what manner exercised, 
 by all the descriptions of persons who belonged to 
 that class, has given rise to much difference of opin- 
 ion. It may certainly be reasonably doubted if all 
 the tenants-in-chief were ever considered as barons, 
 in the sense of what we now call noblemen, and 
 were summoned as such to the meetings of the great 
 council or parliament. It seems to be more prob- 
 able that such a barony as entitled to this privilege 
 was a distinct honor conferred by the crown only 
 upon certain of the tenants-in-chief. The others, 
 who had no such privilege, might be considered as 
 lesser barons. It may be added, that the existence 
 of allodial property^ ceased altogether in England 
 from the time of the Norman Conquest. The es- 
 tablishment of the feudal system was made com- 
 plete by the Conqueror assuming to himself the 
 dominium directum, or original and supreme prop- 
 erty, of all the lands in the kingdom, at the same 
 time that he took possession of the throne. " If we 
 compare the constitution established here by the 
 Normans with that of the Anglo-Saxons," says a 
 learned historian of this period, "the greatest dif- 
 ference between them will be found to arise from 
 many estates which were allodial being made feu- 
 dal, and fi'om others which approached the nearest 
 to fiefs, and were indeed of a feudal nature, but not 
 lands of inheritance, being rendered hereditary, and 
 in consequence of that change subjected to burdens 
 to which they had not been liable in their former 
 condition." ^ 
 
 1 See ante, p. 236. • Lyttelton's Henry II., vol. ii. p 189. 
 
 The sufferings of the nation under the Norman 
 dominion, therefore, were not principally occasioned 
 by any new form or element of slavery that was 
 introduced into the constitution of the kingdom or 
 of society. The legal restrictions and disabilities by 
 which the great body of the people were fettered, 
 all existed before the Conquest, nor was any portion 
 of the community deprived by that revolution of 
 rights which it had previously exercised, or de- 
 pressed to a lower position in the state than it had 
 previously held. The laws and institutions of the 
 countiy, in short, remained in all essential respects 
 nearly the same as before. But in that immature 
 state of society comparatively little of the substance 
 of liberty resided in its mere forms. As yet the 
 spirit in which the law was administered was of 
 infinitely greater importance than the letter of its 
 enactments. The government of the Normans 
 proved a yoke of grievous bondage to the English, 
 in manifold ways. First, it was a government of 
 foreigners, and therefore intolerably hateful to every 
 feeUng of patriotism and national honor. Secondly, 
 it was a system which put a mark of exclusion and 
 degradation upon all native Englishmen, ejecting and 
 debarring them from every office of honor or profit 
 in the state, and treating them in eveiy way as aliens 
 and outcasts in their own land. Thirdly, feudalism 
 now bound the land, and all degrees of men in it, 
 with a much firmer grasp than formerly ; it was the 
 difference between the waters beginning to congeal, 
 with the ice, indeed, floating here and there upon 
 their surface, but still free and flowing in the greater 
 part, and their state when hardened into one vast 
 floor of fixed and impenetrable rock. There was 
 no escape now anywhere from the embrace and 
 pressure of the system, — no retiring out of its way, 
 or assuaging its force by a mixture of yielding and 
 resistance ; — the closely fitting iron bolt was driven 
 forward to the bottom of its cavity, and ci'ushed 
 every obstacle to dust. Fourthly, it was a frightful 
 national calamity, and one that, for the time, must 
 have disorganized society as completely as the most 
 convulsive overthrow of old laws and institutions 
 could have done, for neai-ly the whole body of the 
 landed proprietors of the country to be suddenly 
 stripped of their possessions, and new families to 
 enter everywhere upon the lordship of the soil and 
 of its cultivators. Domesday Book shows the ex- 
 tent to which this spoliation of the natives was car- 
 ried by the Norman conquerors. It is not correct 
 to assert, as has been sometimes done, that the Eng- 
 lish were indiscriminately deprived of their lands ; 
 for a few of them appear to have been left in almost 
 every countj' even as tenants-in-chief, and a consid- 
 erable number more are mentioned as holding of 
 mesne lords. But still the deprivation was so sweep- 
 ing and general as to produce nearly the same 
 amount of change and misery as if it had been uni- 
 versal ; it was substantially the overthrow of the 
 Avhole or ler of native proprietors, and the transfer- 
 ence of the lordship of the soil into new hands. 
 The sufferings of the numerous individuals who 
 were the immediate victims of this policy, woidd be 
 but a part of the misery it inflicted ; the slwck of
 
 G40 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 their downfall would be felt in some degree by all 
 their connections and dependents ; and in the violent 
 and simultaneous tearing asunder of so many old 
 ties, and unlinking of men from the anchorages by 
 which they had been accustomed to hang, the entire 
 frame of society must have been loosened and weak- 
 ened. But, fifthly, the conquered people were 
 made, by the rapacity and incessant exactions of 
 their new masters, to groan under a permanent load 
 much more burdensome and oppressive, there is 
 reason to believe, than they had ever before experi- 
 enced. Their foreign government and their foreign 
 landlords ground them to the earth at the same time 
 with their separate extortions. The government, 
 especially, was essentially a government of extor- 
 tion and rapine ; the main principle upon which it 
 was conducted was to wring from the country the 
 utmost revenue it could be made to yield ; to meet 
 the demands of the government upon themselves, 
 again, the nobles and other landed proprietors were 
 compelled in their turn to become the fleecers of all 
 under them ; and thus, in every way, tlie miserable 
 people were harassed and robbed of the earnings of 
 their industry. Sixthly, there was the occasional 
 occurrence of such terrible excesses of reckless and 
 unbridled tyranny as the formation of the New For- 
 est, by which the government made open profes- 
 sion of its contempt for all the restraints of law, and 
 right, and common humanity; and might be said 
 actually to wage unprovoked war upon its subjects. 
 Finally, there was the long succession of wars that 
 grew out of the Conquest, — first between the two 
 races nearly throughout the reign of the Conqueror, 
 and afterward between the two factions that divided 
 the country in the time of Stephen, — by which the 
 lives of two out of the first three generations that 
 followed the establishment of the Norman dominion 
 were made to pass in the sadness of continual anx- 
 iety and fear, the land was everywhere drenched 
 with blood, and large districts of it were repeatedly 
 laid desolate with fire and sword. 
 
 The sufferings of the people from all these causes 
 have been very imperfectly detailed in the accounts 
 that have come down to us ; but they are expres- 
 sively indicated by the demand that was constantly 
 made for the restoration of the laws of the Con- 
 fessor — in other woi'ds, of the comparatively happy 
 state of things that had existed before the arrival of 
 the Normans. It is remarkable that these supposed 
 laws of the Confessor were really, as has been 
 already noticed, the laws which had been first col- 
 lected and reduced to a system by the Danish king 
 Canute ; so that the popular cry was the expression 
 of a strong preference even for the Danish over the 
 Norman dominion. And, in fact, there can be no 
 question that the nation was much happier under 
 the government of Canute than under that of the 
 Norman Conqueror. 
 
 Domesday Book also is the faithful record both of 
 the extent of the spoliation which followed tpon the 
 Norman Conquest, and of part of the gent ral de- 
 pression of the national prosperity which was the 
 immediate consequence of that great revolution. 
 By tlio statements there given, almost all the prin- 
 
 cipal towns throughout the kingdom appear to have 
 been greatly reduced in their population and the 
 number of houses they contained, at the end of the 
 reign of the Conqueror, from their condition in the 
 time of the Confessor ; while the rents, customs, 
 and other payments exacted from them had been in 
 most cases seriously augmented. Part of this dimi- 
 nution appears to have been brought about Ijy the 
 ravages of war or accidental conflagrations — part by 
 mere decay and neglect. In either case it equally 
 told the miseries through which the country had 
 passed, and the heavy weight that pressed upon all 
 the springs of the national industry. This will be 
 more clearly shown by the enumeration of a few 
 particulars. The city of York — as yet the only 
 town in the vast county to which it gives name — is 
 set down as containing, at the date of the survey, 
 only 967 inhabited houses out of IfiO? which it had 
 contained before the Conquest. Of the six scyrw, 
 or wards, into which it was divided, one is described 
 as laid waste for building the castles, or military 
 strongholds for overawing the town. Beside the 
 G40 houses pulled down or quite waste, 400 others 
 are stated to be so much decayed as to be capable 
 of paying to the crown only an annual tax of a penny 
 each, or even less. In Lincoln there were formerly 
 1150 inhabited houses; of these, 166 were now laid 
 waste for building the castle, and other 74 were also 
 in ruins, having been reduced to that state by fire or 
 the poverty of their proprietors. In Dorchester, of 
 188 houses, 100 were totally destroyed. In Oxford, 
 out of 721 houses which the town formerly con- 
 tained, 478 were so decayed as not to be in a con- 
 dition to pay any geld or tax. In Cambridge, 28 
 houses had been pulled down to build a castle. In 
 Northampton, of 46 houses — all that the place ap- 
 pears to have contained — 14 were Ij'ing waste. In 
 many of the towns also a considerable proportion of 
 the houses were now occupied by Frenchmen, as 
 the Normans are called, who, in most instances, ap- 
 pear to have contributed no part of the tax exacted 
 from the place by the crown. Thus, in the city of 
 Shrewsbury, it is noted as a complaint of the Eng- 
 lish burgesses, that they were still compelled to pay 
 the whole of the royal dues they paid in the time of 
 King Edward, although, of the 252 houses of which 
 the town consisted, there were 51 destroyed for the 
 earl's castle, and 50 others lying waste, beside 43 
 that were occupied by French burgesses, who paid 
 nothing, and 39 given by the earl to an abbey, which 
 were in like manner exempted from taxation. The 
 annual geld exacted from this town, and now, ac- 
 cording to this statement, to be paid by little more 
 than a fourth of the number of persons who formerly 
 contributed to it, was ll. IGs. 8d. But the geld or 
 tax paid by the burgesses w^as far from being the 
 whole of what each town paid to the king. From 
 Shrewsbury, for instance, the entire profits of the 
 crown were estimated at 30Z. annually. In Derby, 
 103 houses were destroyed out of 243. In Ipswich. 
 328 houses are set down as now waste, which had 
 yielded geld in the time of King Edward. Of 210 
 burgesses which remained out of 808, 100 were so 
 poor as to be able to pay only a penny each. The
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 641 
 
 entry respecting the city of Chester presents a rare 
 instance of a partial recovery from the devastations 
 of the earlier part of the reign ; there were, it is 
 stated, 205 houses lying waste when the town came 
 into the possession of Earl Hugh, and it w<as worth 
 only 30/. ; but it had since so far recovered as to be 
 farmed from the earl for 70/. and one mark of gold. 
 
 Both the Conqueror and his son Henry have the 
 character of having been strict administrators of 
 the laws, and rigorously exact and severe in the 
 punishment of offences against the public peace. 
 The Saxon chronicler says that, in the time of the 
 former, a girl loaded with gold might have passed 
 safely through all parts of the kingdom. In like 
 manner the same authority tells us, that, under the 
 government of Henry, " whoso bore his bui'den of 
 gold and silver, durst no man say to him nought but 
 good." The maintenance of so effective a system 
 of police must, no doubt, have made a great differ- 
 ence between these reigns and those of Rufus and 
 Stephen — in both of which robbery ranged the king- 
 dom almost without restraint, and, in the latter 
 especially, the whole land was almost given up as a 
 prey to anarchy and the power of the strongest. 
 But still even this supremacy of the law was in 
 many respects an oppressive bondage to the subject. 
 In this, as in everything else, the main object of 
 the government was the protection and augmenta- 
 tion of the royal revenue ; and it may be correctly 
 enough affirmed, that private robbery and depreda- 
 tion were prohibited and punished chiefly on the 
 principle that no interference was to be tolerated 
 with the rights of the great public robber, the gov- 
 ernment. Many of the laws, also, which were so 
 sternly enforced, were in reality most unjust and 
 grievous restrictions upon the people. Of this char- 
 acter, in particular, were the forest-laws, which 
 punished a trespass upon the royal hunting-grounds, 
 or the slaughter of a wild beast, with the same pen- 
 alty that was inflicted upon the robber or the mur- 
 derer. And in all cases the vengeance of the law 
 was %\Teaked upon its victims in a spirit so precipi- 
 tate, reckless, and meixiless, that any salutary effect 
 of the example must have been, to a great extent, 
 neutralized by its tendency to harden and brutalize 
 the public mind ; and the most cruel injustice must 
 have been often perpetrated in the name and under 
 the direct authority of the law. 
 
 Henry I. was popularly called the Lion of Jus- 
 tice, and he well deserved the name. His mode of 
 judicial procedure was in the highest degree sum- 
 mary and sweeping. In the twenty-fifth year of 
 his reign, for instance, in a fit of furious indignation 
 occasioned by the continued and increasing debase- 
 ment of the coin, he had all the moneyers in the 
 kingdom, to the number of more than fifty, brought 
 up before the Court of Exchequer, when, after a 
 short examination by the treasurer, they were all, 
 except four, taken one by one into an adjoining 
 apartment, and punished by having their right hands 
 struck oft", and being otherwise mutilated. The 
 year before he had hanged at one time, at Huncot, 
 in Leicestershire, no fewer than forty-four persons, 
 charged with highway robbery. Robberies, how- 
 
 VOL. I. — 41 
 
 ever, of the most atrocious description were, dur- 
 ing a great part of the reign, perpetrated, without 
 check, by the immediate servants, and it may be 
 said under the very orders, of the crown. The in- 
 solence of the purveyors and numerous followers 
 of the court in the royal progresses, is described by 
 contemporary writers as having reached a height 
 under this king far transcending even what it had 
 attained to under either of his immediate predeces- 
 sors. They used not only to enter the houses of 
 the farmers and peasantry without leave asked, to 
 take up their lodgings and remain as long as it suited 
 them, and to eat and drink their fill of whatever 
 they found, but, in the wantonness of their official 
 license, frequently even to burn or otherwise de- 
 stroy what they could not consume. At other 
 times they would carry it away with them, and sell 
 it. If the owners ventured to remonsti-ate, their 
 houses would probably be set on fire about their 
 ears, or mutilation, and sometimes even death, might 
 punish their presumption. Nor was it their goods 
 only that Avere plundered or wasted ; the honor of 
 their wives and daughters was equally a free prey 
 to these swarms of protected spoilers. The aj)- 
 proach of the king to any district, accordingly, spread 
 as much dread as could have been occasioned by an 
 announcement that a public enemy was at hand. 
 The inhabitants were wont to conceal whatever 
 they had, and to flee to the woods. 
 
 It was not till the necessity of reforming these 
 frightful abuses was at last forced upon Henry, by 
 the solitude which he found around him wherever 
 he appeared — in other words, till this sj'stem of 
 unrestrained rapacity came at last to defeat its own 
 purpose — that he had some of the dehnquents 
 brought before him, and punished by the amputa- 
 tion of a hand or a foot, or the extraction of one of 
 their eyes. Yet the most unsparing pillage of the 
 people in other forms continued throughout the 
 whole of this reign. Taxes were imposed with no 
 reference to any other consideration except the 
 wants of the ci'owu ; and the raising of the money 
 was managed by any measures, however violent or 
 irregular, that would serve that end. It is an affect- 
 ing trait of the sufferings of one numerous class of 
 the people which is recorded by the historian Ead- 
 mer, in his statement that tlie peasantry on the 
 domains of the crown would sometimes offer to give 
 up their ploughs to the king, in their inability to 
 pay the heavy exactions with which they were 
 burdened. These unhappy men, it is to be remem- 
 bered, were without any means of escape from ex- 
 tortion which thus ground them to the earth ; even 
 if, in some cases, they were not attached to the soil 
 by any legal bond, they might still be considered as 
 rooted to it nearly as much as the trees that grew 
 on it; for in that state of society there was, goner- 
 ally speaking, no resource for the gi-eat body of the 
 community except to remain in the sphere in which 
 they were born, and in which their fathers had 
 moved. 
 
 The same historian paints in strong colors tlie 
 miseries occasioned by the oppressiveness of the 
 general taxes. The collectors, he says, seemed to
 
 642 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 have no sense either of humanity or justice. It 
 was equally unfortunate for a man to be possessed 
 of money as to be without it. In the latter case, 
 he was cast into prison, or obliged to flee from the 
 country ; or his goods were taken and sold, the very 
 door of his house being sometimes carried away as 
 a punishment for not satisfying the demand made 
 upon him. But, if he had money, it was no better; 
 his wealth was only a provocation to the rapacity 
 of the government, which never ceased to harass 
 him by threats of prosecutions on unfounded charges, 
 or by some of the other means of extortion at its 
 command, until it drove him to comply with its 
 most unjust requisitions. The language of the 
 .Saxon chronicler is to the same purport, and equally 
 strong. "God knows," says that other contempo- 
 rary writer, "how unjustly this miserable people is 
 dealt Avith. First they are deprived of their prop- 
 erty, and then they are put to death. If a man 
 possesses anj'thing, it is taken from liim ; if he has 
 nothing, he is left to perish by fomine." 
 
 A legend respecting Henry I., which is related 
 by some of the old historians, forcibly depicts the 
 deep sense that was popularlj' entertained of the 
 tyranny of his government, and the fierce hatred 
 which it engendered in the hearts of his subjects. 
 In the year 1130, as he was passing over to Nor- 
 mandy, he is said to have been visited one night 
 with an extraordinary dream or vision. First, there 
 gathered around him a multitude of countrymen, 
 bearing scythes, spades, and pitch-forks, and with 
 anger and threatening in their countenances : they 
 passed away, and the place they had occupied was 
 filled by a crowd of armed soldiers with drawn 
 swords ; the scene changed again, and crosiered 
 bishops seemed to be leaning over his bed, ready to 
 fall upon him, as if they meant to kill him with their 
 holy staves. Thus, the tillers of the ground, the 
 military, and the church — the three most important 
 interests of the kingdom — appeared to have each 
 sent its representatives to reproach, and curse, and 
 menace him. We insert copies of three ancient 
 drawings, which are found accompanying a contem- 
 porary manuscript version of this legend, and which, 
 beside illustrating the story, will convey some notion 
 of the costume and general appearance of the dif- 
 ferent ranks of men introduced in it. The dream, 
 it may be added, is said to have made a great im- 
 pression on Henry. He awoke in extreme pertur- 
 bation, leaped out of his bed, seized his sword, and 
 called violently for his attendants. AVhen he be- 
 came more calm he solemnly resolved upon repent- 
 ance and amendment of life, and it is affirmed that, 
 from this time, he began to be an altered man. 
 
 The excess to which the tja-anny of the crown 
 was thus carried probai)ly had the effect of bringing 
 about, sooner than it might otherwise have taken 
 place, the commencement of the intermixture of the 
 two races inhabiting the country, and their union 
 into one nation. It was not long after the Con- 
 'juest, as we learn from William of Malmsbury, 
 before the superior refinement of their Norman 
 masters began to communicate itself to the English. 
 That historian, who died in the reign of Stephen, 
 
 after describing the pecuharities of manners and 
 habits which originally distinguished each people, 
 tells us that this diversity had become in great part 
 obliterated at the time when he wrote. The Eng- 
 lish had generally accommodated themselves to the 
 customs and the mode of living brought over by the 
 Normans, in all points except one, their old habit 
 of immoderate eating and drinking : this, wViich they 
 themselves are said to have learned from the Danes, 
 the Normans had now acquired from them. The 
 two races must, therefore, have come, by this time, 
 to live with each other in common and familiar as- 
 sociation. The name of Englishman, it appears, 
 had also now ceased to be what it was esteemed in 
 the reign of the Conqueror — a term of degradation 
 and reproach. It was assumed even by the barons, 
 and others of Norman lineage, as their proper ap- 
 pellation, under which they were accustomed to 
 make common cause with the great body of the 
 population in demanding the restoration of the old 
 Saxon laws and customs. By the time of Henry II. 
 the English had begun to be readmitted to offices 
 of honor and profit in the state, and intermarriages 
 had taken place between the two races to a great 
 extent. The historian Ailred, who hved in that 
 reign, observes that England had now, not only a 
 king, but many bishops and abbots, many great earls 
 and noble knights, who, being descended both from 
 the Norman and English blood, were an honor to 
 the one and a comfort to the other. But the most 
 distinct statement of the general intermixture of 
 the two races that had by this time taken place is 
 found in a remarkable passage of the Dialogue on 
 the Exchequer, in relation to the old legal custom 
 of what were called presentments of Englishry. A 
 presentment of Englishry was the return of an in- 
 quisition held upon the body of a person found slain, 
 when the author of the slaughter could not be dis- 
 covered, declaring him to have been an English- 
 man ; in which case the vill or hundred was excused 
 from a heavy amerciament, which it would other- 
 wise have had to pay, by a law said to have been 
 first introduced by Canute for the protection of his 
 Danish countrymen, and which was afterward con- 
 tinued or revived by William the Conqueror for 
 the security of the Normans. But now, says the 
 AATiter of the Dialogue, by reason of the English 
 and Normans dwelling together, and constantly in- 
 termarrying, the two nations are so completely 
 mixed one with the other, that, in so far as regards 
 the portion of the community that is free, it can 
 scarcelj' any longer be ascertained who is of Eng- 
 lish, who of Norman descent. The villains attached 
 to the soil, however, it is added, were still an ex- 
 ception ; they remained of unmixed Saxon blood — 
 a statement, by the way, from which we may gather 
 that it was not usual for marriages to take place 
 between the villains and persons in a state of free- 
 dom ; that such marriages sometimes happened we 
 know, from the provisions made by law respecting 
 their issue. The consequence of the state of things 
 which had thus arisen, the writer of the Dialogue 
 concludes by informing us, was, that, except it were 
 a villain, the case of every person found secretly
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 G43 
 
 Vision of Henry I
 
 644 
 
 HISTORY OF ExNGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 slain was considered to be murder — that is to saj% 
 was punislied by the imposition of the fine upon 
 the neighborhood, for that was then the meaning 
 of the word which we now use for the highest de- 
 gree of the illegal shedding of blood. Had it not 
 been for the sake of the revenue which accrued to 
 the crown from these amerciaments, the directly 
 opposite result would seem to be that which should 
 have most naturally flowed from the general oblit- 
 eration of the old distinguishing characteristics of 
 the two races ; all persons found secretly slain should 
 have been assumed to be English, and the fine upon 
 the neighborhood remitted. It was not, however, till 
 nearly two centuries after this time that presenta- 
 tions of Englishry were formally abolished by statute. 
 There can be little doubt that the national char- 
 acter was decidedly improved on the whole by this 
 mixture of new blood with that of the old Saxon 
 population of the country. The Saxon solidity was 
 brightened, and its tendency to decline into heavi- 
 ness and coarseness checked by an infusion of the 
 more fiery temperament and more brilliant qualities 
 of the Norman race. The Celtic tincture which 
 was thus introduced into the pure Teutonic blood 
 of the Saxons was, however, but very slight; for 
 the Normans were but half Frenchmen, and the 
 French themselves were but half Gauls. The sub- 
 
 stance of the English character, therefore, remained 
 thoroughly Teutonic as before, though lighted up 
 with something of a more refined animation. But 
 the perfect produce of this chemistry was a result 
 not to be realized till a distant period ; the conse- 
 quences of the oblivion by the two races of their 
 old animosities, and their coalescence into one na- 
 tion, were evidenced for the present chiefly in the 
 favorable change that followed in their pohtical and 
 social circumstances. The government, indeed, 
 still continued to be in many respects an oppressive 
 tyranny : its spirit, and also to a great extent its 
 power, was still despotic ; the law was a most im- 
 perfect protection for either the property or the 
 liberty of the subject ; witness, to mention no other 
 instances of its scandalous insufficiency and barbar- 
 ism, the right which it appears was still left to the 
 crown, and not unfrequently exercised by it even in 
 the reign of Henry II., of not only punishing the 
 individual himself who might have l)een found guilty 
 of cei'tain crimes, but also sending into banishment 
 all his innocent relations. Henry, it may be re- 
 membered, in 1165, banished out of P^ngland, by a 
 general sentence, all the relations, friends, and con- 
 nections of Thomas a Becket, to the number of 
 nearly four hundred persons, without distinction of 
 sex or age ; even infants at the breast, as we learn 
 
 Henry II. banishing Bucket's Family. Royal MS. 2 15. vii 
 
 both from Becket's own letters and from his biogra- 
 pher, Fitzstephen, were not excepted. What lib- 
 erty, or what law deserving the name, could there 
 be said to exist in a country where so enormous a 
 stretch of ai'bitrary power could be tolerated ? Many 
 of the other prerogatives of the crown, indeed, were 
 utterly incompatible with a state of general security 
 and freedom. Yet from this time the spirit of re- 
 sistance to bad government, however inefficient as 
 yet for the prevention of numerous abuses, was at 
 least a national spirit. It was no longer the mere 
 feeling of a part of the people either actually con- 
 tending in arms with tlie rest, or only kept down 
 l)y force and fear; it was no longer a sentiment of 
 (lisaff'ection or open rebellion ; the classes naturally 
 most attached to the existing government, and most 
 
 interested in its preservation, shared equally with 
 their fellow-subjects in the desire for good laws 
 and a just administration of them. The Saxons 
 had ceased to be rebels ; the Normans had ceased 
 to be conquerors ; both, united under the common 
 name of Englishmen, had come to feel that they 
 had the same interests and the same rights. Their 
 union, as has been just observed, did not at first 
 enable them always to restrain the excesses of the 
 crown ; that power would still, on occasion, break 
 through all restraints ; but yet, in ordinary circum- 
 stances, a considei'able degree of moderation and 
 good government was enforced. The government 
 of Henry II., for instance, was undoubtedly an in- 
 finite improvement on that of his grandfother. At 
 first this practical amelioration was nearly all that
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 645 
 
 the kingdom followed in due course : when King 
 John attempted to renew the arbitrary rule of 
 the Conqueror and his sons, he found that he had 
 neither the same kind of resistance to encounter, 
 nor the same support to lean upon ; the Norman 
 party was not now to be wielded as an instrument 
 for beating down the English ; his tyrannical pro- 
 ceedings were as little agreeable to the former as 
 to the latter ; and they soon gave proof of their 
 combined strength, and of the birth of a power 
 which hitherto had not showed itself in the state, 
 by not only stopping him in his course of insolent 
 aggression and outrage, but by proceeding to extract 
 some and to pare down others of the mischievous 
 prerogatives through which he had been enabled 
 to perpetrate the wrongs thus put an end to. For 
 the manner in which it was gained, and its glorious 
 memory as the first victory of the nation over the 
 old despotism of the crown, even more than for 
 any of the provisions contained in it, Magna 
 Charta is worthy to stand in the front of the 
 Statute Book, and to be regarded as having laid the 
 foundation of the liberties of England. 
 
 The precise information that has come down to 
 us respecting the social statistics of this period, 
 amounts only to a few scattered facts, from which 
 scarcely any general conclusions can be drawn as to 
 the condition of the people. We have not as yet 
 arrived at the age of regular and official records ; we 
 have only the occasional notices incidentally let fall 
 by the chroniclers while pursuing their main subject 
 — the course of public affairs. Most of these notices 
 that throw any light upon the important point of 
 the price of commodities and of labor have been 
 collected by Bishop Fleetwood, in the " Chronicon 
 Preciosum," by Sir Frederick Eden, in his " State 
 of the Poor," and by Mr. Macpherson, in his " An- 
 nals of Commerce." Their number, as we have 
 said, is very inconsiderable ; and, few as they are, 
 they are for the most part of httle value. " The 
 accounts, for instance," as is obsei"ved by one of the 
 writers we have just named, "of the prices of grain, 
 are in general only those which, from the particular 
 circumstances of the time, attracted the attention of 
 the annalist; they are usually the prices in dearths 
 and famines, or in years of extraordinary cheapness ; 
 and are, therefore, no very accurate criterion of the 
 mean or ordinaiy price : it is often impossible to as- 
 certain the capacity of the measures that were used, 
 or to point out the places where the prices were 
 taken. In the distracted state of the country from 
 the twelfth to the fifteenth century, the intercourse 
 between the diflPerent parts of the island was inter- 
 rupted ; the want of good roads, an injudicious sys- 
 tem of agriculture, and the desolating incursions of 
 rival barons, often preventer! one part of the kingdom, 
 where the crop was scanty, from being supplied 
 with the superabundant produce of another. It is 
 further to be remarked, that, in stating both the 
 prices of labor and commodities, authors have often 
 been misled by the composition-price agreed upon 
 between the landlord and tenant, perhaps according 
 to some ancient valuation. In some instances it is 
 difficult to distinguish whether the rent of land, as 
 
 stated in ancient records, is the whole benefit the 
 landlord received, or whether the personal services 
 of the tenant did not constitute by far the most val- 
 uable part; in others, whether the price of grain is 
 the price for which it sold in the market, or the 
 quota which in ancient times tenants paid to their 
 landlords in lieu of a rent in kind, and which was 
 always much below the market price."' To these 
 sources of fallacj" may be added the chances of a 
 corrupt text, which are very great wherever figures 
 are concerned, and the occasional contradictions 
 between one authority and another, or even some- 
 times between two statements of the same writer. 
 The value of the money of the present period, 
 or rather the quantity of silver contained in each 
 denomination, has been explained in a preceding 
 chapter.^ 
 
 The price which, in ordinary circumstances, 
 chiefly regulates all other prices, or sympathizes 
 with them where it does not regulate them, is the 
 price of labor. But, in regard to that in the present 
 period, our information is hardly worth anything. 
 It appears, however, to have varied from about three 
 farthings to a penny a day, with victuals. Thus, in 
 1126, the wages of the common servants, employed 
 at the abbey of Peterborough, are stated to have 
 been ll. As. id. yearly, which is at the rate of about 
 three farthings a day. The abbey baker had the 
 same wages, with bread and beer; but what we are 
 to infer from this probably is, not that the other ser- 
 vants had no victuals, but that bread (that is, wheaten 
 bread) and beer were not allowed them as a part of 
 their fare. In 1173, the subsistence of a footman 
 for one day is set down at twopence, which makes 
 about 3L in the year ; so that it can hardly be sup- 
 posed that the \l. 45. id. was the whole that do- 
 mestic servants received. The entire yearly gains 
 of persons of this class may probably be taken as 
 amounting to about Al. Labor of a higher kind was 
 of course better paid. By the old Scottish burgh 
 laws, Avhich may be referred to about the middle of 
 this century, it is enacted, that a butcher, for slaugh- 
 tering an ox, or a cow, or a hog, or five sheep, should 
 be paid a halfpenny, with victuals, while employed. 
 Supposing the work stated to be that of half a day, 
 the butcher's annual earnings in money would amoiiat 
 to about \l. 10s. 6d.; and, if he was allowed pro- 
 visions at the same rate with a footman or common 
 domestic servant, his entire yearly income would 
 amount to about 4/. 105., or, in quantity of silver, to 
 about IZl. of our present money. 
 
 The prices of grain were wont to vary excessively, 
 not only in different years, but even at different 
 periods of the same year. Stow asserts that, in the 
 reign of Henry II., the usual price of wheat was l5.. 
 and of oats Ad. the quarter ; but no contemporary 
 notice places it nearly so low. In scarce years the 
 price of wheat is stated to have sometimes risen to 
 a pound. If we take it as averaging 4s., the yearly 
 crains of the butcher would purchase about twenty- 
 three quarters of wheat, which, estimating the wheat 
 at about 505. the quarter, would now make an in- 
 
 1 Eden's Slate of the Poor, vol. iii., Appendix, p. vi 
 
 2 See ante, p. 574
 
 r.46 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book III. 
 
 (•ome of betsveen 50/. and COL Nothing, however, 
 can possibly be nioro uncertain than such a deduc- 
 tion as this. Every element and step of it is tainted 
 with uncertainty. 
 
 The prices of many other kinds of provisions were 
 low in comparison with that wliich we have as- 
 sumed for wheat. Thus, in 1185, we fmd hens 
 rated at a halfpenny each; sheep at about Sit/.; 
 rams at 6d. ; hogs at Is. ; oxen at 5s. 6d. ; cows at 
 about 4s. 6d. ; breeding-mares at less tlian .3s. At 
 these rates, the expense of a day's maintenance of 
 ii man-servant at '2d. would be equivalent to the value 
 of four hens, and of more than a third of a sheep. 
 It is unnecessary to remark how greatly these and 
 the other proportions deducible from the account 
 dilfer from those that now subsist. In the year 1205, 
 again, we find ten capital horses rated at 201. each, 
 or nearly 601. of our present money. 
 
 Of the prices of other commodities we have very 
 few notices. In 1172, twenty-five ells of scarlet 
 cloth, bought for the king, cost 5s. Gd. the ell ; and 
 twenty-six ells of green, 2s. lOd. the ell. Ten pairs 
 of boots for his majesty at the same time cost Is. 6d. 
 each. In 1212, a pair of Cordovan boots for the 
 k^ng are charged at 2s. 6d. ; and a pair of what are 
 called single boots, at only 7d. About the end of 
 the twelfth century, the price of the tun of French 
 wine appears to have varied from about ll. to 
 \l. 6s. 8d. A sack of wool about the same time cost 
 3/. 6s. 8d. The expense of the building of two arches 
 of London Bridge in 1140, was 25/. A few years 
 later, a piece of ground, with a stone house on it, 
 in the city of London, was sold for 2/., beside a rent 
 in perpetuity of 6s. 6d. It is evident that, by an 
 appeal to these various prices, the value of money 
 in the twelfth century might be made out to bear 
 any proportion to its value in the present day that 
 the fancy of the calculator might prefer, or that it 
 might best suit his particular object to fix upon. 
 
 The most curious illustrations we possess of the 
 social life of this period, and the point to which civ- 
 ilization had attained in England, are afforded by 
 some of the facts mentioned in Fitzstephen's account 
 of London. According to this writer, for instance, 
 the English capital had already its sewers and aque- 
 ilucts in the streets (eluvies et aqueductus in vicis). 
 He speaks of the comfort of a residence in the place, 
 and the beauty of the surrounding country, in very 
 glowing terms. It was encompassed, he tells us, on 
 the north side, by " corn-fields, pastures, and de- 
 lightful meadows ;" and these fields, he adds, " are 
 by no means hungry gravel or barren sands, but may 
 vie with the fertile plains of Asia, as capable of pro- 
 ducing the most luxuriant crops, and filling the barns 
 of the herds and farmers with Ceres' golden sheaf." 
 " The citj', on the whole," he proceeds, " is doubt- 
 less most charming — at least, when it has the hap- 
 
 piness of being well governed." *' The two only 
 inconveniences of London," he afterward informs 
 us, " are the excessive drinking of some foolish peo- 
 ple, and the frequent fires." " To all that has been 
 said," he concludes, " I may add, that almost all the 
 bishops, abbots, and great men of this kingdom, are, 
 in a manner, citizens and inhabitants of London, as 
 having their respective and not inelegant habitations 
 there, to which they resort, and where tlieir dis- 
 bursements and expenses are not sparing, whenever 
 they are summoned thither from the country, to 
 attend councils and solemn meetings, by the king or 
 their metropolitan, or are compelled to repair thither 
 for the prosecution of their own proper business." 
 But the most remarkable passage in the account is 
 the description he gives of a sort of pubhc eating- 
 house, or cook's shop [jyuhlica coquina), which was es- 
 tablished on the bank of the river. " Here," he says, 
 " according to the season, you may find victuals of all 
 kinds, roasted, baked, fried, and boiled ; fish, large 
 and small ; and coarse viands for the poorer sort, and 
 more delicate ones for the rich, such as venison, 
 fowls, and small birds. In case a friend should ar- 
 rive at a citizen's house much wearied with liis 
 journey, and chooses not to wait, ahungered as he 
 is, for the buying and cooking of meats, — 
 
 ' Dant famuli manibus lymphas panesque canistris.' — 
 
 ^n. i. 705. 
 The water's served, the bread's in baskets brought ; 
 
 and recourse is immediately had to the bank above- 
 mentioned, where everything desirable is instantly 
 procured. No number so great, of knights or 
 strangers, can either enter the city at any hour of 
 day or night, or leave it, but all may be supplied 
 with provisions ; so that those have no occasion to 
 fast too long, nor these to depart the city >vithout 
 their dinner. To this place, if they are so disposed, 
 they resort, and there they regale themselves, every 
 man according to his abilities. Those who have a 
 mind to indulge need not hanker after sturgeon, or a 
 Guinea-fowl, or a gelinote de bois (a particularly del- 
 icate bird), for there are delicacies enough to gratify 
 their palates. It is a public eating-house, and is both 
 highly convenient and useful to the city, and is a 
 clear proof of its civilization.'" We may smile at 
 this notion of civihzation, and at the instance selected 
 to set forth the wealth and preeminence of London 
 at this early period ; but, after all, the establishment 
 here described is highly interesting, as an indication 
 of the growing importance of the more numerous 
 classes, and as the commencement of that extended 
 system of public accommodations of all kinds, 
 which, far more than the palaces of her grandees, 
 has since made our noble capital the Queen of 
 Cities. 
 
 1 Fitzstephen's Description o" "he City of London, newly translated 
 (By Pegge.) 4to. Lond. 1772.
 
 648 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book TV 
 
 Gre.vt Seal of Henry III. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 NARRATIVE OF CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 HEiNRT III., SURNAMED OF WINCHESTER. 
 
 S soon as they had bu- 
 ried John at Worces- 
 ter, the Earl of Pem- 
 broke, the Marshal 
 of England, marched 
 with the royal army 
 and Prince Henry, 
 the deceased king's 
 eldest son, to the citj' 
 of Gloucester. On the 
 day after their arrival, 
 being the feast of St. 
 ' Simon and St. Jude, 
 October 28th, 1216, 
 Henry was crowned in the church of St. Peter, 
 belonging to the abbey of Gloucester, by Gualo, 
 the Pope's legate, whose services in supporting the 
 royal cause were of great value and efficacy. The 
 ceremony was precipitated: no English bishops 
 were present except those of Winchester, Bath, 
 and Worcester ; no lay nobles save the earls of 
 Chester, Pembroke, and Ferrers, and four barons. 
 The scanty retinue was completed by a few abbots 
 and priors. The prince took the usual oaths " upon 
 the gospels and relics of saints." The crown had 
 been lost, with the rest of the regalia, in the Wash, 
 and, instead of it, Gualo put a plain ring of gold on 
 his head. Henry was only ten years old when he 
 
 went through these solemnities, without under- 
 standing them. It required no great force or per- 
 suasion to induce him to consent to do homage to 
 the Pope for England and Ireland, and to swear to 
 pay the thousand marks a year, which his father 
 had promised. The clergy of Westminster and 
 Canterbury, who considered their rights invaded 
 by this hurried and informal coronation, appealed 
 to Rome for redress : Gualo excommunicated the 
 appellants, who, however, persevered ; and this 
 matter occasioned considerable trouble, which did 
 not end till the ceremony was repeated in a more 
 regular manner. 
 
 A great council was held at Bristol on the lltli of 
 November following ; and there the Earl of Pem- 
 broke was chosen Protector, with the title of Rector 
 Reffis et Regni. His pure character and many 
 eminent qualities — his temper, prudence, and con- 
 ciliating manners — his experience in public affairs 
 and his military skill, all seemed to point him out as 
 the most eligible person ; but some jealousies arose 
 on the part of the great Earl of Chester, and Pem- 
 broke did not assume the style of "Rector" till the 
 end of the month of November. At the same great 
 council of Bristol Magna Charta was carefully, and, 
 on the whole, skilfully revised, with the view of 
 satisfying the demands of the barons who adhered 
 to Louis, without sacrificing the royal prerogative.
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL XSD MILITARY TRANSACTIONS 
 
 G19 
 
 Hknry III. From liis Tomb in Westminster Abbev. 
 
 These measures, howevei", were not considered 
 conclusive, for Pembroke prudently left several 
 clauses open for future discussion, when all the 
 barons of the kingdom should be reconciled, and 
 should meet again in one council. As yet the greater 
 number of the nobles were on the side of Louis, 
 who not only held London and the rich provinces 
 of the south, but was powerful both in the north 
 and the west, where the King of Scotland and the 
 Prince of Wales supported his cause. ^ 
 
 When Louis learned the death of John he fan- 
 cied that all opposition would presently cease. To 
 take advantage of the consternation which he fan- 
 cied must prevail among the royal party, he again 
 pressed the siege of Dover Castle with great vigor, 
 and, finding himself still incapable of taking it by 
 force, he skilfully worked upon the fears and mis- 
 givings of the garrison, representing to them that 
 they were fighting for a king who no longer ex- 
 isted, and whose death freed them from the obliga- 
 tion of their oaths of fealty. He tempted the gov- 
 ernor, the brave Hubert de Burgh, with the most 
 magnificent offers; and, when these failed, he 
 threatened to put Hubert's brother to death. But 
 threats were as ineffectual as promises; and, finding 
 he was losing precious time, the French prince 
 finally raised the siege, and returned to London, 
 where the Tower, which had hitherto held out, 
 was given up to him on the 6th of November. From 
 London Louis marched to Hertford, and laid siege 
 to the castle there, which he took on the 6th of 
 December. He then attacked the castle of Berk- 
 hampstead, Avhich he reduced on the 20th of the 
 same month. Both these castles made a stout re- 
 
 1 Ryraer. — Carte. — M. Paris 
 
 sistance, costing him many men ; and the taking of 
 that of Berkhampstead was a loss rather than u 
 gain, for it lead to a quarrel with Robert Fitzwalter, 
 to whom he refused the custody of the castle. But 
 his mistrust of the English was made every day 
 more evident. From Berkhampstead Louis marcli- 
 ed to St. Albans, where he threatened to burn tin; 
 vast abbey to the gi-ound if the abbot did not come 
 forth and do him homage as legitimate king of Eng- 
 land ; but the abbot, it is said, escaped on paying ii 
 fine of eighty marks of silver. For a long period 
 the carnage of war had been brought to a ])ause, by 
 unanimous consent, on the seasons of our Savior's 
 birth and suffering. Christmas was now at hand, 
 and a truce was agreed upon which was to last till 
 a fortnight after the Epiphany. At the expiration 
 of this truce Pembroke willingly agreed to another 
 which did not expire till some days after the festival 
 of Easter. Each party hoped to gain by this long 
 armistice, and both were extremely active during 
 its continuance. Louis, in Lent, went over to 
 France to procure supplies of men and money, and 
 Pembroke recruited in England, and drew oft" many 
 of the nobles during the absence of the French 
 prince. Louis left the government in the hands of 
 Enguerrand de Coucy, a nobleman of great quality, 
 but of very little discretion, under whose misrule 
 the French became more arrogant than ever, and 
 the English barons were made to feel that, by se- 
 curing the throne to a foreign prince, they should 
 impose upon themselves foreign nobles for masters. 
 At the same time the death-bed story of the Vis- 
 count de Melun was artfully revived ; and the 
 clergy, in obedience to the orders of Gualo the 
 legate, read the sentence of excommunication in
 
 650 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 the churches every Sunday and holiday against the 
 partisans of Louis. Hubert de Burgh, as constable 
 of Dover Castle and warden of the Cinque Ports, 
 was in constant communication with the best mari- 
 ners in England, and he kept them true to young 
 flenry. Philip d'Albiney put hiujself at the head 
 of a popular party in Sussex, where one William 
 de Collingham collected a thousand gallant archers, 
 rough English yeomen, who would allow of no truce 
 with the French, and cared not for the armistice 
 concluded by the Earl of Pembroke. On his way 
 to the coast Louis came into collision with these ' 
 -sturdy patriots, who treated him very roughly, and 
 would have made him a prisoner but for the oppor- 
 tune arrival of the French fleet, in which he and i 
 his attendants embarked in gi-eat disorder. On his 
 return from France with reinforcements, the mari- 
 ners of the Cinque Ports cut oft' several of his ships 
 jit sea, and took them by boarding. On this Louis 
 landed at Sandwich, and burned that town to the 
 ground in spite. He then, after making another 
 unsuccessful attempt on Dover Castle, marched to 
 London, where everything was falling into confu- 
 sion. 
 
 On the expiration of the truce the Earl of Pem- 
 broke recommenced hostilities by laying siege to the 
 castle of 3Iount Sorel, in Leicestershire. Louis sent 
 the Count of Perche with six hundred knights and 
 twenty thousand armed men to relieve it. On their 
 inarch this mixed army of English, French, Flem- 
 ings, and all kinds of mercenaries, committed gi'eat 
 havoc, plundering the peaceful inhabitants, and wan- 
 tonly burning the churches and monasteries. They 
 succeeded, however, in their first object, Pembroke's 
 forces raising the siege and retiring before superior 
 numbers. Flushed with this success, the Count of 
 Perche marched away to Lincoln : the town re- 
 ceived him, but the castle resisted, and when he 
 laid siege to it, he was foiled by a woman — Nichola, 
 the widow of Gerard de Camville, who held the 
 custody of Lincoln Castle by hereditary right, and 
 made a brave defence. While the confederates 
 were wholly occupied with this siege, Pembroke 
 suddenly collected a force of four hundred knights, 
 two hundred and fifty cross-bowmen, many yeomen 
 on horseback, and a considerable body of foot, and 
 appeared before Lincoln in admirable order. The 
 count for a time would not believe that the English 
 would venture to attack him within a walled town ; 
 and though his superiority in cavalry would have 
 given him an advantage in the open country, he re- 
 jected the advice of some English barons who were 
 with him, and would not march out of the town. 
 He continued to batter the castle until he found 
 himself engaged in a fatal street contest. To ani- 
 mate Pembroke's force Gualo now excommunicated 
 Prince Louis by name, and pronounced the curse 
 of the church against all his adherents ; dispensing 
 at the same time full absolution, and promises of 
 eternal life to the other party. The regent took 
 advantage in the most skilful manner of the count's 
 blunder : he threw all his crossbows into the castle 
 by means of a postern. These yeomen made gi-eat 
 havoc on the besiegers by firing from the castle 
 
 walls ; and seizing a favorable opportunity they 
 made a sortie, drove the enemy from the inside of 
 the northern gate of the city, and enabled Pembroke 
 to enter with all his host. The French cavalry could 
 not act in the narrow streets and lanes : they were 
 wounded and dismounted, and at last were obliged 
 to surrender in a mass. The victory was complete : 
 as usual, the foot-soldiers were slaughtered, but the 
 *• better sort " were allowed quarter ; only one 
 knight fell, and that was the commander, the Count 
 of Perche, who threw away his life in mere pride 
 and petulance, swearing that he would not surrender 
 to any English traitoi*. This battle, facetiously 
 called bj' the Enghsh " the Fair of Lincoln," was 
 fought on Saturday, the ^Oth of May, 1217. 
 
 Without halting or refreshing himself, the Earl 
 of Pembroke rode the same night to Stow, to give 
 his royal pupil an account of his success.' It was 
 indeed a victory worthy of such a courier — its effect 
 was to keep Louis cooped up within the walls of 
 London, where plots and disturbances soon forced 
 him to propose terms of accommodation. In the 
 middle of June a conference was held at a place be- 
 tween Brentford and Hounslow, but it led to nothing. 
 Philip of France had been so scared by the threats 
 of Rome that he durst not send reinforcements in 
 his own name : but he urged that he could not pre- 
 vent Blanche of Castile, the wife of his son Louis, 
 from aiding her own husband in his extremity ; and 
 under this cover another fleet and army were pre- 
 pared for England. It was not till the 23d of Au- 
 gust that this fleet could sail from Calais : it con- 
 sisted of eighty great ships and many smaller 
 vessels, having on board three hundred choice 
 knights and a large body of infantry. On the next 
 day, the great festival of St. Bartholomew, as they 
 were attempting to make the estuary of the Thames, 
 in order to sail up the river to London, they were 
 met by the hero of Dover Castle, the gallant De 
 Burgh. Hubert had only forty vessels great and 
 small, but he gained the weather gage, and by tilting 
 at the French Avith the iron beaks of his galleys, 
 sunk several of the transports with all on board. He 
 afterward grappled with the enemy, fastening his 
 ships to theirs by means of hooks and chains, and in 
 the end he took or destroyed the whole fleet with 
 the exception of fifteen vessels. Eustace le Moine, 
 or " the Monk," who had left his monastery in 
 Flanders to adopt the more congenial life of a sea- 
 rover, had his head struck oft" on his own deck; for 
 he was not considered a true knight entitled to the 
 honors of war, and he had previously given great 
 oft'ence to the English.* 
 
 This decisive naval victory gave the death-blow to 
 the project of Louis. That prince, however, acted 
 generously and noblj* in the midst of his difliculties : 
 he would not abandon his friends, but said, when 
 pressed, that he was ready to agree to any terms 
 not inconsistent with his honor or the safety of his 
 English adherents. The prudent regent was glad 
 enough to promise good terms to these barons, who, 
 whatever might be their after errors, had been 
 
 1 Matt. Par. — Chron. Dunstap. 
 
 2 Matt. Par.— Holinshed.— Southey, Nav. Hist.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 651 
 
 among the foremost champions of English liberty, 
 and had assisted in obtaining the great charter, 
 which he himself loved as much as any of them. 
 There were also many other nobles, on the same 
 side, equally averse to proceeding to extremities 
 against countrymen, former friends, and relations. 
 The final terms were easily settled in a conference 
 held on the 11th of September on an islet of the 
 Thames near Kingston. It was agreed that the 
 English barons who had continued to adhere to 
 Louis, beside having their estates restored to them, 
 should enjoy the customs and liberties of the king- 
 dom, and all improvements thereof, equally with 
 others. The privileges of London, as of all other 
 cities and boroughs, were to be confirmed, and the 
 prisoners on both sides taken since Louis' first 
 landing were to be released without ransom, unless 
 where previous arrangements had been made be- 
 tween parties. Louis was to give up all the castles 
 he possessed ; to order the brothers of Eustace the 
 monk to evacuate the isles they had made themselves 
 masters of; and to write to Alexander, King of 
 Scotland, and Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, to in- 
 duce them to restore all the fortresses and places 
 they had taken, if they would be included in the 
 treaty. He also acquitted the English nobles of their 
 oaths and obligations to him, and promised never to 
 enter again into any confederacy with them to 
 Henry's prejudice ; and the barons made a like 
 engagement on their own behalf. The French 
 prince and his adherents swore to observe these 
 articles, and to stand to the judgment of the church, 
 upon which they were all absolved by the legate.' 
 Matthew Paris adds another article, which does not 
 appear to have been committed to writing, though 
 it was frequently urged by Henry in after times as 
 an existing and sacred engagement. This article 
 imported that Louis would do all in his power to 
 persuade his father to restore all the foreign pos- 
 sessions lost by John ; and, failing in this, that he 
 should fairly restore those provinces when he him- 
 self became King of France. Such a clause was 
 utterly useless, for it was one which could never be 
 considered binding by the French nation, nor by any 
 other in similar circumstances. Louis was so poor, 
 that he was obliged to borrow money from the citi- 
 zens of London to defray the expenses of his journey 
 home. On the 14th of September, a safe conduct 
 was granted to him : he was honorably escorted to 
 the sea-side by the Earl of Pembroke, and he sailed 
 for France with his foreign associates. On the 2d 
 of October, a few refractory barons, the only rem- 
 nant of a great party, went to court, and were ex- 
 ceedingly well received there. On the fourth day 
 of the same month, a new charter for the city 
 of London was pi'omulgated ; and a few days later, 
 the regent, for the general good of the nation, con- 
 cluded with Haquin, or Haco, King of Norway, a 
 treaty of free commerce between the two countries. 
 At the same time, this excellent regent's prudence 
 and equity did more than a written ti-eaty in recon- 
 ciling conflicting parties at home. He was accessi- 
 ble and courteous to all, taking especial cai-e that no 
 
 1 Rvmer. 
 
 man should be oppressed for his past politics. His 
 authority, however, did not extend to the church, 
 and Gualo severely chastised many of the English 
 abbots and monks who had ventured to disregard his 
 excommunications. This circumstance contributed 
 with others to render the new reign unpopular with 
 a large portion of the English church; and, during 
 the struggles between the king and the barons which 
 ensued at a later period, the barons had generally 
 the monks on their side. 
 
 In all these transactions no mention had been made 
 of Eleanor, the Maid of Brittany, who still occupied 
 her dungeon or her cell at Bristol, nor was her name 
 ever breathed during the civil wars which followed 
 — a proof how little female right was then regarded ; 
 for, by the rules of succession as now recognized, 
 she was the undoubted heiress to the throne. Henry 
 began his reign in leading-strings, and owing to his 
 weak and defective character, he never freed him- 
 self from such absolute guidance, but passed his 
 whole life in a state of tutelage and dependence — 
 being now governed by one powerful noble, or by 
 one foreign favorite, and now by another. Nothing, 
 however, could well surpass the wise policy and 
 moral worth of his first guardian, the great Earl of 
 Pembroke, who continued to act as protector to the 
 kingdom, and as a more than father to the boy-king. 
 As for Eleanor, the selfish queen-mother, she 
 abandoned her child in the midst of his troubles, 
 and hurried back to Guienne in search of a new 
 husband. It conveys a strange notion of the delicacy 
 of those times, to find that the Count of La Marche, 
 from whom John had stolen her, consented to take 
 her back, and remarried her with great pomp. 
 England, and probably her son too, gained by her 
 absence, for she had as httle conscience or conduct 
 as her husband John. Gualo, the Pope's legate, 
 continued for some time near the young king's per- 
 son. Every day the peace of the country was made 
 more secure — "the evil will borne to King John 
 seeming to die with him, and to be buried in the 
 same grave.'" But the determination to preserve 
 the liberties which had been ^^Tung from him was 
 alive and active, and a second confirmation of 3Iagna 
 Charta was gi-anted by the young king. Beside 
 that the benefits of the charter were now extended 
 to Ireland, several alterations were made in the 
 deed, and a clause was added, ordering the demoli- 
 tion of every castle built or rebuilt since the begin- 
 ning of the war betAveen John and the barons. Other 
 clauses were withdrawn, to form a separate charter, 
 called the Charter of Forests. By this instrument, 
 which materially contributed to the comfort and 
 prosperity of the nation, all the forests which had 
 been inclosed since the reign of Henry II. were 
 thrown open ; offences in the forests were declared 
 to be no longer capital ; and men convicted of the 
 once heinous crime of killing the king's venison, 
 were made punishable only by fine or imprisonment. 
 These famous charters were now brought nearly to 
 the shape in which they have ever since stood, the 
 repeated confirmations of them not being intended 
 to change or modify them, but to strengthen them 
 
 1 Speed. Chron.
 
 652 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 by fresh guarantees, and increase the reverence of 
 the people for them. 
 
 Meanwhile the spirit of insubordination which 
 had arisen out of the civil war, was gradually co- 
 erced or soothed by the valor and wisdom of the 
 Earl of Pembroke, who was singularly averse to the 
 cruelties and bloodshedding which had formerly dis- 
 graced all similar pacifications. But the excellent 
 Protector did not long enjoy the happy fruit of his 
 labors; he died in the year 1219, about tlie middle 
 of 3Iay, and was buried in tiie church of the Knights 
 Templars at London, where his tomb or statue is 
 still to be seen, with an inscription which scarcely 
 exaggerates his virtues as a warrior and statesman. 
 His autliority in the state was now shared between 
 Hubert de Burgh, the justiciary, the gallant de- 
 fender of Dover Castle, and Peter des Roches (a 
 Poictevin by birth). Bishop of Winchester. These 
 ministers were jealous of each other : De Burgh 
 was the more popular with the nation ; but Des 
 Roches, who liad the custody of the royal person, 
 possessed the greater influence at court, and among 
 the many foreigners who, like himself, had obtained 
 settlements and honors in the land. Dissensions 
 soon broke out ; but dangerous consequences were 
 prevented by the skill of Pandulpli, who had re- 
 sumed the legateship on the departure of Gualo. 
 On the 17th of 31ay, 1220, young Henry was 
 crowned again by Langton, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, whom the Pope had permitted to return to 
 the kingdom. In the following year, Joanna, the 
 eldest sister of Henry, was married at York, to Al- 
 exander, the King of Scotland ; and nearly at the 
 same time, one of the Scottish princesses who had 
 been delivered to John, and who had ever since 
 remained in England, was married to Hubert de 
 Burgh, the justiciary. Pandulph then returned to 
 Rome, having previously demanded, in the name of 
 the Pope, that no individual should hold more tlian 
 two of the rojal castles. On his departure, how- 
 ever, little respect was paid to the orders from 
 Rome. Many of the barons — chiefly foreigners im- 
 ported by John — refused to deliver up the fortresses, 
 which they pretended to hold in trust till the j'oung 
 king shovild be of age. While De Burgli insisted 
 on their surrender, his rival, Des Roches, favored 
 the recusant chiefs. Plots and conspiracies fol- 
 lowed ; but in 1223, the justiciary, with the assent 
 of the Pope and the great council of the nation, 
 declared Henry of age ; and in the course of the 
 following year he succeeded in getting possession of 
 most of the disputed castles, taking some of them 
 by siege and assault. Des Roches then gave up 
 the struggle, under pretence of making a pilgrim- 
 age to Jerusalem, and many of the foreign adven- 
 turers followed him out of England. Though not a 
 cruel man, Hubert de Burgh was far more severe 
 than the Earl of Pembroke ; for at the taking of 
 Bedford Castle he hanged eighty of the foreign gar- 
 rison, knights and others, who had been in the habit 
 of committing frightful excesses in the country. 
 
 A. D. 1225. In the following year, 1225, one of 
 the main-springs of the English constitution, which 
 checks the abuse of power, by the mode of allotting 
 
 money, began its s.ilutary movements. Louis, the 
 French prince, who had now succeeded his father, 
 Philip, on the French throne, unmindful of hi« 
 promises, not only refused to surrender Normandy 
 and the other states wrested from King John, but 
 overran some parts of Guienne and Poictou, and 
 took the important maritime town of Rochelle. The 
 j-oung king summoned a parliament (for that name 
 was now coming into use) to meet at Westminster; 
 and there Hubert de Burgh, having opened the pro- 
 ceedings by an explanatory speech, asked for money 
 to enable the king to recover his own. At first the 
 assembly refused to make any grant, but it was 
 finally agi'eed that a fifteenth of all movable prop- 
 erty should be given, on the express condition, how- 
 ever, that the king should ratify the two charters. 
 Henry accordingly gave a third ratification of Magna 
 Charta, together with a ratification of the Charter 
 of Forests, and sent fresh orders to some of his 
 ofiicers, who had hitherto treated them with little re- 
 spect, to enforce all their provisions.' In the month 
 of April, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the king's 
 brother, was sent to Guienne, under the guidance of 
 the Earl of Salisbury, with an English army. But 
 the French king had taken the cross against the 
 Albigenses, an unfortunate people in the south of 
 France, who were called heretics, and treated more 
 cruelly than Saracens. A papal legate interfered, 
 threatened the English with excommunication if 
 they raised obstacles to Louis in his holy war, and 
 ,it last made both parties agree to a truce for one 
 year. Before the term expired, the French king 
 died at Paris, after a brief reign of three years, and 
 was succeeded by his son Louis IX., who was only 
 in his twelfth year. A stormy minority ensued ; 
 and Henry, who was now twenty yeai-s of age, 
 might have taken advantage of it, had his character 
 and his own circumstances been somewhat difierent 
 from what they w^ere. But the English king had 
 little more real manhood than the child on the 
 French throne ; his barons were by no means anx- 
 ious for the foreign war, and the armistice was 
 subsequently renewed year after year, the English 
 never recovering Rochelle, and the French making 
 no further progi-ess of importance. 
 
 Though he ruled with a firm hand, Hubert do 
 Burgh was not always able to cause the government 
 to be respected, and to maintain the tranquillity of 
 the countrj-. The king's brother, Richard, Earl of 
 Cornwall, who was possessed of immense estates, 
 repeatedly defied his authority, and exacted humil- 
 iating concessions. As for the king, he continued 
 a mere puppet, notwithstanding the flattering as- 
 surance of the Pope, that his manly virtues supplied 
 the defects of his unripe years. 
 
 A. D. 1229. It was at length, however, resolved 
 to carry war into France. Henry was twenty-two 
 years old, Louis only fifteen ; but Blanche, the mother 
 of the latter prince, and regent of the kingdom, had 
 composed all dissensions, and put the kingdom into 
 a posture of defence. When Henry went to Ports- 
 mouth, he found that the shipping provided was not 
 sufficient to carry over his army, and after a violent 
 
 I Matt. Par.— Brady
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 653 
 
 altercation with Hubert de Burgh, who was accused 
 of being the cause of this deficiency, the expedition 
 was given up till the following year. At length the 
 English king, elated by the promises and invitations 
 of the barons of Guienne, Poictou, and even many 
 nobles of Normandy, set sail for the continent, and 
 landed at St. Malo, in Brittany, where he was joined 
 by a host of Bi-etons. He advanced to Nantes, 
 where, like his father before him, he wasted his 
 time and his means in feasts and pageantries, leav- 
 ing the malcontents in Normandy and Poictou to 
 curse their folly in committing their fortunes in the 
 cause of so unwarlike a prince. In the meantime 
 young Louis, accompanied by his mother, who 
 shared all the hardships of a campaign which was 
 prolonged through the winter months, took several 
 towns belonging to Henry. In the beginning of 
 October the English king returned home, covered 
 with disgrace; and his ally, the Duke of Brittany, 
 was obliged to appear at the foot of the throne of 
 Louis, with a rope round his neck.' De Burgh had 
 accompanied his master on this expedition ; and, in 
 spite of his known honor, bravery, and ability, the 
 king, and some favorites with whom he had sur- 
 rounded himself, attempted to throw all the blame 
 of the miserable failure upon Hubert. The people, 
 however, took a diftei'ent view of the case, and set 
 Henry down as a trifler and a coward. When he 
 applied to Parliament for a further gi-ant of money, 
 and complained of the poverty to which his French 
 expedition had reduced him, they refused the aid, 
 and told him that, through his thoughtlessness and 
 extravagance, his barons were as poor as he was. 
 
 A. D. 1232. Hubert had now been eight years at 
 the head of affairs. He enjoyed the good opinion 
 of the people, whom he had never wantonly op- 
 pressed ; but many of the nobles envied him his 
 power, and hated him for his zeal in resuming the 
 castles and other possessions of the crown. But for 
 his tried fidelity, and his courage in the worst of 
 times, that crown in all probability would never have 
 been worn by the helpless Henry. But the pro- 
 verbial ingratitude of princes was fostered in the 
 present case by other circumstances, the most co- 
 gent of all being, that the minister was rich and the 
 king wofully in want of money. On a sudden, 
 Hubert saw his old rival Peter des Roches, the 
 Poictevin bishop of Winchester, reappear at court, 
 and he must have felt from that moment that his 
 ruin was concerted. In fact, very soon after, Henry 
 threw off his faithful guardian and able minister, 
 and left him to the persecutions of his enemies. 
 The frivolous charges brought against Hubert almost 
 lead to a conviction that he was guilty of no breach 
 of trust or abuse of authority, — of no real public 
 crime whatever. Among other things, he was ac- 
 cused of winning the affections of the king by means 
 of magic and enchantment.- The fallen minister took 
 )-efuge in Merton Abbej^ His flight gave unwonted 
 courage to the king, who vapored and stormed, and 
 then commanded the mayor of London to force the 
 asylum and seize Hubert, dead or alive. The mayor, 
 who seems a strange officer to employ on such an 
 
 1 naru, Hist, de Bret ' Matt. Par. 
 
 occasion, set forth with a multitude of armed men ; 
 but the king being reminded by the Archbishop of 
 Dublin of the illegality and sacrilegiousness of such 
 a procedure, dispatched messengers in a great hurrj- 
 and recalled the mayor. In the end, the Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin, the only one among the great men 
 who did not forsake Hubert, obtained for him n 
 delay of four months, that he might prepare for his 
 defence, the charges against him being daily in- 
 creased. P'or the interval, the king gave him a safe 
 conduct. Relying on these letters-patent, De Burgh 
 departed to visit his wife, the Scottish princess, at 
 St. Edraundsbuiy ; but he had scarcely begun his 
 journey, when the king, notwithstanding his plighted 
 faith, listened to his enemies, and sent a knight — 
 one Sir Godfrey de Crancumb — with 300 armed men 
 to surprise and seize him. Hubert was in bed at 
 the little town of Brentwood, in Essex, when this 
 troop fell upon him. He contrived to escape, naked 
 as he was, to a parish church, where, with a cruci- 
 fix in one hand and the host in the other, he stood 
 firmly near the altar, hoping that this attitude and 
 the sanctity of the place would procure him respect. 
 His furious enemies, however, were not deterred 
 by any considerations ; and bursting into the church 
 with draAvn swords, they dragged him forth, and 
 sent for a smith to make shackles for him. The 
 poor artisan, struck with the sad state of the great 
 man, and moved with generous feelings, said he 
 would rather die the worst of deaths than forge fet- 
 ters for the brave defender of Dover Castle and the 
 conqueror of the French at sea. But Sir Godfrey 
 and his "black band" were not to be moved by any 
 appeal : they placed the earl on horseback, naked 
 as he was, and tying his feet under the girths, so 
 conveyed him to the Tower of London. As soon 
 as this violation of sanctuary was known, an outciy 
 was raised by the bishops ; and the king was in con- 
 sequence obliged to order those who had seized him 
 to carry the prisoner back to the parish church ; but 
 at the same time he commanded the sheriff of 
 Essex, on the pain of death, to prevent the carl's 
 escape, and to compel him to an unconditional sur- 
 render. The sheriff dug a deep trench round the 
 sanctuary, — erected palisades, — and effectually pre- 
 vented all ingress or egress. Thus cut off from 
 every communication, — unprovided with fuel and 
 proper clothing (the winter was setting in),— and at 
 last left without provisions, Hubert de Burgh came 
 forth, on the fortieth day of his beleaguerment, and 
 surrendered to the black band, wlio again carried 
 him to the Tower of London. A few days after, 
 Henry ordered him to be enlarged, and to appear 
 before the court of his peers ; but it is said that this 
 decent measure was not adopted until Hubert sur- 
 rendered all his ready money, which he had placed 
 for safety in the hands of the Knights Templars. 
 When llubert appeared in court in the midst of his 
 enemies, he declined i)leading ; some were urgent 
 for a sentence of death, but the king, who said with 
 perfect sincerity that he was not fond of blood, and 
 would rather be reputed weak and negligent than a 
 cruel tyrant or a bloody man toward one who bail 
 long served him and his predecessors, proposed an
 
 654 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 award which was finally adopted by all parties. 
 Hubert forfeited to the crown all such lands as had 
 been granted him in the time of King John, or been 
 obtained by him, by purchase or otherwise, under 
 Henry. He retained for himself and his heirs the 
 property he had inherited from his family, together 
 with some estates he held in fief of mesne lords. 
 Thus dipt and shorn, the brave Hubert was com- 
 mitted to the castle of Devizes, there to abide, in 
 " free prison," under the custody of four knights, 
 appointed by four great earls. Within these walls, 
 which had iDeen built by the famous Roger, Bishop 
 of Sarum, whose adventures in some respects re- 
 sembled his own, Hubert remained for nejirly a 
 year, when he was induced to adopt a desperate 
 mode of escape, by learning that the custody of the 
 castle had just been given to a dependent of his bitter 
 enemy, the Poictevin bishop of Winchester. In a 
 dark night he climbed over the battlements, and 
 dropped from the high wall into the moat, which 
 was probably in part filled with water. From the 
 moat he made his way to a country church ; but 
 there he was presently surrounded by an armed 
 band, led on by the sherift'. Circumstances, how- 
 ever, were materially altered : several of the barons, 
 who had before been intent on the destruction of the 
 jninister, were now at open war with the king, and 
 anxious to secure the cooperation of so able a man 
 as De Burgh. A strong body of horse came down, 
 released him from the hands of his captors, and car- 
 ried him oft' into Wales, where the insurgent nobles 
 were then assembled. Some eighteen months later, 
 when peace was restored, Hubert received back 
 his estates and honors : he was even readmitted into 
 the king's council ; but he had the wisdom never 
 again to aspire to the dangerous post of chief min- 
 ister or favorite. At a subsequent period the king 
 again fell upon him, but, it appears, merely to enrich 
 himself at his expense, for the quarrel was made up 
 on Hubert's presenting Henry with four castles.^ 
 
 The Poictevin bishop, who succeeded to power 
 on the first displacement and captivity of Hubert, 
 soon rendered himself extremely odious to all classes 
 of the nation. He encouraged the king's growing 
 antipathy to the English barons, and to Magna 
 Charta; he taught him to rely on the friendship 
 and fidelity of foreign adventurers rather than on 
 the inconstant affection of his own subjects ; and he 
 crowded the court, the offices of government, the 
 royal fortresses, with hosts of hungry Poictevins, 
 Gascons, and other Frenchmen, who exhausted the 
 revenues of the already impoverished crown, deri- 
 ded the national charters, invaded the rights of the 
 people, and provoked the nobles by their insolence 
 and their grasping at every place or honor in the 
 state that fell vacant. The business of politics was 
 as yet in its infancy, the nature of an opposition, 
 constitutional and legal in all its operations, was as 
 yet a discoveiy to be made ; nor could men in their 
 times and circumstances be expected to understand 
 such things. The barons withdrew from parlia- 
 ment, where they were surrounded by armed for- 
 eigners, and took up arms themselves. When again 
 
 I Matt. Par.— M. West.— Wykes.— Chron. Dunst.— Ilolinshed. 
 
 summoned, they answered that unless the king 
 dismissed his Poictevins and the other foreigners, 
 they would drive both them and him out of the 
 kingdom. Peter des Roches averted his ruin for 
 the present by sowing dissensions among the English 
 nobles. Several battles or skirmishes, which defy 
 anything like a clear narration, were fought in the 
 heart of England and on the Welsh borders. Rich- 
 ard, Earl of Pembroke, the son of the virtuous 
 Protector, to whom King Henry was so deeply in- 
 debted, was treacherously and most barbarously 
 murdered, and, following up his temporary success, 
 the Poictevin bishop confiscated the estates of sev- 
 eral of the English nobles without any legal trial, 
 and bestowed them on adventurers from his own 
 land. The last sting was given to revenge by the 
 bishop's declaring, in his place at court, that the 
 barons of England were inferior in rank and condi- 
 tion to those of France, and must not pretend to 
 put themselves on the same footing. Edmund, the 
 new Archbishop of Canterbury, who had succeeded 
 Langton, and who was, like that gi-eat churchman, 
 a patriot and a statesman, took up the national 
 cause, and threatened the king with excommuni- 
 cation if he did not instantly dismiss Des Roches 
 and his associates. Henry trembled and complied : 
 the foreigners were banished, and the archbishop 
 for a short time governed the land with great pru- 
 dence, and according to the charters. But Henry's 
 dislike both of his native nobles and of the charters 
 increased with his years. The barons evidently 
 took little pains to remove his prejudices or concili- 
 ate his affections, and he continued to repose all 
 his confidence in foreigners. 
 
 A.D. 1236. Henry now married Eleanor, daugh- 
 ter of the Count of Provence, who came to England 
 with a numerous retinue, and was soon followed by 
 a swarm of foreigners. These were mostly persons 
 of higher rank than their precursors ; they were 
 Gascons and Provencals instead of Poictevins, but 
 they Avere equally odious to the English nobility 
 and people, equally insolent, and quite as grasping. 
 The Bishop of Valence, the queen's maternal uncle, 
 was made chief minister. Boniface, another uncle, 
 was promoted to the see of Canterbury; and Peter, 
 a third uncle, Avas invested with the earldom of 
 Richmond, and received the profitable wardship of 
 the Earl Warenne. The queen invited over dam- 
 sels from Provence, and the king married them to 
 the young nobles of England of whom he had the 
 wardship. This was bad enough, but it was not 
 all ; the queen-mother, Isabella, whom the nation 
 detested, had now four sons by the Count of la 
 Marche, and she sent them over all four, Guy, 
 William, Geoffrey, and Aymer, to be provided for in 
 England. The king heaped honors and riches upon 
 these half-brothers, who were soon followed by new 
 herds of adventurers from Guienne. Henry had 
 resumed, with the Pope's permission, nearly all the 
 grants of estates he had made to his native subjects ; 
 but even the resources thus obtained were soon 
 exhausted, and he found himself without money 
 and without credit. When he asked aids from the 
 Parliament, the Parliament told him that he must
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS, 
 
 655 
 
 dismiss the foreigners who devoured the substance 
 of the land, and they several times voted him small 
 supplies, on the express condition that he should 
 so do, arid also redress other grievances; but he 
 forgot his promises as soon as he got the money. 
 The barons then bound him by oath, and Henry 
 took the oaths, broke them, and acted just as before. 
 The great charter had provided for the banishment 
 of unjust favorites w^ithout any process of law, and 
 the king was frequently reminded of the clauses 
 relating to this subject; but the Poictevins and 
 Gascons, who were in the habit of breaking every 
 part of that charter, said with effrontery, " What 
 signify these English laws to us ?" '■ 
 
 A. D. 1242. Isabella, the queen-mother, added 
 alike to the odium in which she was held by the 
 English, and to the embarrassments and unpopu- 
 larity of her son, by hurrying him into a war with 
 France. Other grounds were publicly assigned ; 
 but it appears that that woman's offended vanity 
 was the chief cause of hostilities, which ended in a 
 manner disgraceful to the English king. Louis was 
 now in the prime of manhood, and immeasurably 
 superior in all eminent qualities to his rival. He 
 was loved and respected by his subjects ; whereas 
 Henry was despised by his. When the English 
 parliament was called upon for a supply of men and 
 money, they resolutely refused both, telling the 
 king that he ought to observe the truce which had 
 been continually renewed with France, and never 
 broken (so at least they asserted) by Louis. By 
 means not recorded, but which were probably not 
 very legal or very honorable, Henry contrived to 
 fill thirty hogsheads with silver, and, sailing from 
 Portsmouth with his queen, his brother Richard, 
 and 300 knights, he made for the river Garonne. 
 Soon after his landing, he was joined by nearly 
 20,000 men, some his own acknowledged vassals, 
 some the followers of nobles who had once been the 
 vassals of his predecessors, and who were now 
 anxious, not to reestablish the supremacy of the 
 English king in the south, but to render themselves 
 independent of the crown of France by his means 
 or at his expense.^ Louis met Henry with a supe- 
 rior force on the banks of the river Charente, in 
 Saintonge, and defeated him in a pitched battle 
 near the castle of Taillebourg. The English king, 
 after being saved from capture by the presence of 
 mind and address of his brother Richard, retreated 
 down the river to the town of Saintes, where he 
 was beaten in a second battle, which was. fought on 
 the very next day. His mother's husband, the 
 Count of La Marche, who had led him into this 
 disastrous campaign, then abandoned him, and made 
 his own terms with the French king. Henry fled 
 from Saintes right across Saintonge, to Blaye, leav- 
 ing his military chest, and the sacred vessels and 
 the ornaments of his movable chapel royal, in the 
 hands of the enemy. A terrible dysentery which 
 broke out in his army, some scruples of conscience, 
 and the singular moderation of his own views, pre- 
 vented Louis from following up his successes, and 
 induced him to agree to a truce for five years. 
 
 1 Matt. Par.— Chron. Dunst.— Ann. Waverl. = Mezeray. 
 
 Although their ardor for foreign wars and conquests 
 was marvelously cooled for a season, the pride of 
 the English was much hurt by these defeats. 
 
 A. D. 1244. When Henry met his parliament 
 this year, he found it more refractory than it had 
 ever been. In reply to his demands for money, 
 they taxed him with extravagance — with his fre- 
 quent breaches of the great charter : they told him, 
 in short, that they would no longer trust him, 
 and that they must have in their own hands the 
 appointment of the chief justiciary, the chancellor, 
 and other great officers. The king would consent 
 to nothing more than another ratification of Magna 
 Charta, and therefore the Parliament would only 
 vote him twenty shillings on each knight's fee for 
 the marriage of his eldest daughter to the Scottish 
 king. After this he looked to a meeting of Parlia- 
 ment as a meeting of his personal enemies, and. to 
 avoid it he raised money by stretching his preroga- 
 tive in respect to fines, benevolences, purveyances, 
 and the other imdefinable branches of the ancient 
 revenue. He also tormented and ransacked the 
 Jews, acting with regard to that unhappy people 
 like a very robber ; and he begged, beside, from 
 town to town — from castle to castle — until he ob- 
 tained the reputation of being the sturdiest beggar 
 in all England. But all this would not suffice, and, 
 in the year 1248, he was again obliged to meet his 
 barons in parliament. They now told him that he 
 ought to blush to ask aid from his people whom he 
 professed to hate, and whom he shunned for the 
 society of aliens ; they reproached him with dispar- 
 aging the nobles of England by forcing them into 
 mean marriages with foreigners. They enlarged 
 upon the abuse of the right of purveyance, telling 
 him that the victuals and wine consumed by him- 
 self and his un-English household^that the very 
 clothes on their backs were all taken by force and 
 violence from the English people, who never re- 
 ceived any compensation ; that foreign merchants, 
 knowing the dangers to which their goods were 
 exposed, shunned the ports of England as if they 
 were in possession of pirates ; that the poor fisher- 
 men of the coast, finding they could not escape his 
 hungry purveyors and courtiers, were frequently 
 obliged to carry their fish to the other side of the 
 Channel ; and they added other accusations still 
 more minute and humiliating.' It has generally 
 been conceived that there entered no small share 
 of spite and exaggeration into this remarkable list 
 of grievances ; but if we consider the small sums 
 doled out by Parliament to Henry, who received 
 less money in the waj'^ of grants than any of his 
 immediate predecessors — if we bear in mind that 
 many sources of profit were narrowed or stopped 
 altogether by the provisions of the national charter, 
 and that the revenue formerly derived from the 
 continental dominions of the crown had in great 
 part ceased, it will not appear improbable that thi.'i 
 king and his rapacious ministers, who were retained 
 by no national sympathy — by no sense of shame — 
 should have tried to make up these deficiencies in 
 mean and irregular ways; and that the peaceful 
 
 1 Matt. Par.- Matt West.— Chron. Dunst.
 
 Go6 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 traders, the mass of the people, who had no arms ' 
 wherewith to defend themselves, and no towers or 
 castles wherein to take refuge, should have been 
 siorely harried and oppressed. Another argument 
 in support of this supposition may be derived from 
 the well-known and lasting unpopularity of the 
 King in London and the other great trading towns. 
 Our old historians talk vaguely about the insubordi- 
 nation — the nmtinous spirit — the proneness to riot- 
 ing — of the Londoners; but, judging of those 
 citizens, not by later epochs when they were more 
 civilized, but by their conduct in earlier and still 
 ruder times, we cannot believe that the excesses 
 complained of could have arisen under any other 
 than a vile and oppressive system of government. 
 In reply to the remonstrance of his barons, Henry 
 gave nothing but fair promises which could no 
 longer deceive, and he got nothing save the cutting 
 reproof to which he had been obliged to listen. 
 
 The king now racked his imagination in devising 
 pretexts on which to obtain what he wanted. At 
 one time he said he was resolved to reconquer all 
 the continental dominions of the crown ; but, un- 
 fortunately, all men knew that Louis had departed 
 for the East, and that Henry, who had not shone 
 in the field, had contracted the most solemn obliga- 
 tions not to make war upon him during his crusade. 
 He next took the cross himself, pretending to be 
 anxious to sail for Palestine forthwith ; but here 
 again it was well known he had no such intention, 
 and only wanted money to pay his debts and satisfy 
 his foreign favorites. At a moment of urgent ne- 
 cessity he was advised to sell all his plate and jewels. 
 " Who will buy them ?" said he : his advisers an- 
 swered — " The citizens of London, of course." He 
 rejoined bitterly — " By ray troth, if the treasures 
 of Augustus were put up to sale, the citizens would 
 be the purchasers ! These clowns, who assume 
 the style of barons, abound in all things, while we 
 are wanting in common necessiiries."^ This curi- 
 ous anecdote throws light upon more than one svib- 
 ject, and it is said that the king was thenceforth 
 more inimical and rapacious toward the Londoners 
 than he had been before. To annoy them and 
 touch them in a sensitive part, he established a 
 new fair at Westminster, to last fifteen days, during 
 which all trading was prohibited in London. He 
 went to keep his Christmas in the city, and let 
 loose his purveyors among the inhabitants: he made 
 them offer new-5'ear's gifts, and shortly after, in 
 spite of remonstrances, he compelled them to pay 
 him the sum of 2000/. by the most open violation of 
 law and right. 
 
 In A.D. 1"253, Henry was again obliged to meet 
 his parliament, and this he did, averring to all men 
 that he only wanted a proper Christian aid that he 
 might go and recover the tomb of Christ. If he 
 thought that this old pretence would gain unlimited 
 confidence he was deceived. The barons who had 
 been duped so often, treated his application with 
 coldness and contempt; but they at last held out 
 the hope of a liberal grant on condition of his con- 
 senting to a fresh and most solemn confirmation of 
 
 > Ma't. Par 
 
 their liberties. On the .3d day of May, the king 
 went to Westminster Hall, where the barons, pre- 
 lates, and abbots were assembled. The bishops and 
 abbots were appareled in their canonical robes, and 
 every one of them held a burning taper in his hand. 
 A taper was offered to the king, but he refused it, 
 saying lie was no priest. Then the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury stood up before the people and denounced 
 sentence of excommunication against all those who 
 should, either directly or indirectly, infringe the 
 chaiters of the kingdom. Every striking, every ter- 
 rific part of this ceremonj'was performed: the pre- 
 lates and abbots dashed their tapers to the gi-ound, 
 and as the lights went out in smoke, they exclaimed 
 — " May the soul of every one who incurs this sen- 
 tence so stink and be extinguished in hell !" The 
 king subjoined on his own behalf — " So help me 
 God ! I will keep these charters inviolate, as I am 
 a man, as I am a Christian, as I am a knight, and 
 as I am a king crowned and anointed !" His out- 
 ward behavior during this awful performance was 
 exemplary ; he held his hand on his heart, and 
 made his countenance express a devout acquies- 
 cence ; but the ceremony was scarcely over when, 
 following the impulse given him by his foreign favor- 
 ites, he returned to his old courses, and thus utterly 
 uprooted whatever confidence the nation yet had in 
 him.^ 
 
 With the money he thus obtained, he went to 
 Guienne, where Alphonso, the King of Castile, had 
 set up a claim to the earldom, and induced many 
 of the fickle nobles to revolt against the English 
 crown. This expedition was less dishonorable than 
 the former ones ; indeed it was successful on the 
 whole, and led to a friendly alliance between Eng- 
 land and Castile — Prince Edward marrying Eleanor, 
 the daughter of Alphonso. But no cunning was 
 too mean or low for Hemy, who concealed these 
 arrangements for some time, in order to obtain a 
 fresh grant from the Parliament, under color of car- 
 rying on the war. During part of this expedition, 
 in spite of the money he had carried with him, he 
 had not wherewithal to feed his troops ; and he dis- 
 patched the Prior of Newburgh, with others, into 
 England, to cause provisions to be sent to him into 
 Gascon}' ; " And so," says an old historian,- " there 
 was a gi-eat quantity of grain and powdered flesh 
 taken "up, and sent away with all convenient speed." 
 Henry i-eturned penniless ; for the partial reestab- 
 lishment of his authority in the south of France 
 seems never to have benefited his exchequer. The 
 expedients to which he had recourse in England, 
 rendered him more and more odious and contempt- 
 ible. When his fortunes were at this low ebb he 
 blindly embarked in a project which immensely 
 increased his embarrassments. This project was 
 no other than to raise one of his sons to the throne 
 of the Two Sicilies. Frederick II., the son of 
 Constance of Sicily, had died in the year 1250, 
 after a reign which had been disturbed from its 
 commencement to its close by the inveterate hos- 
 tility of the court of Rome. He left a legitimate 
 son. Prince Conrad ; but Frederick had died in a 
 
 1 Matt. Par. -Matt. West.— W. IIcniing'"ord. 2 Holiiished.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 657 
 
 state of excommunication, and Pope Innocent IV. 
 claimed the southern kingdom as forfeited to its 
 feudal superior, the holy see. Conrad maintained 
 his rights with an army, and as he was supported 
 Ijy the Neapolitan and Sicilian people, the Pope had 
 no chance of succeeding, unless he invited some 
 new foreign host into the heart of Italy. He offered 
 the kingdom to be held as a fief of the church to a 
 variety of princes in succession, who all found some 
 good reason for declining his proposals. After the 
 Pope had thus hawked the Sicilian crown through 
 the continent of Europe, he turned his eyes toward 
 England, where Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the 
 king's brother, attracted attention l)y his great 
 wealth, which (it was reasoned at Rome) would 
 enable him to bribe the Sicihau barons, and engage 
 mercenaries of all nations. Accordingly, the crown 
 was offered to Richard, but he wisely saw the diffi- 
 culties that stood in his way, and declined the prof- 
 fered kingdom, observing that those who made the 
 offer of it might just as well say, " I make you a 
 present of the moon — step up to the sky and take 
 it down." Soon after this Innocent offered the 
 crown to Henry himself, for his second son. Prince 
 Edmund ; and the beggared and incapable king joy- 
 fully closed with the proposal, agreeing to march 
 presently with a powerful army into the south of 
 Ital}', accepting an advance of money from the Pope 
 to enable him to commence the enterprise, and pro- 
 posing also to raise what nipre it might be neces- 
 sary to borrow on the Pope's security. Had the 
 energj'and the means of the English king at all cor- 
 responded with the activity and cunning policy of 
 the Roman priest, there is little doubt that the 
 prince might have obtained a dependent and preca- 
 rious throne ; but Henry was placed in circum- 
 stances in which he could do little — and, wavering 
 and timid, he did nothing at all, except giving his 
 son the empty title of" King of Sicily." The Pope 
 ordered the English clergj- to lend money for the 
 expedition, and even to pawn the property of their 
 church to obtain it. The clergy of England were 
 not very obedient ; but whatever sums were raised 
 were dissipated by the king or the Roman legate, 
 and, in the end, the Pope brought a claim of debt 
 against Henry, to the amount of more than 100, 000^, 
 which, it was alleged, had been borrowed on 
 the continent, chiefly from the rich merchants of 
 Venice and Florence. Henry, it appears, had 
 never been consulted about the borrowing or spend- 
 ing of this money; but the Pope was an impera- 
 tive accountant — a creditor that could enforce pay- 
 ment by excommunication, interdict, and dethrone- 
 ment; and Henry was obliged to promise that he 
 would pay, and to rack his weak wits in devising 
 the means. Backed by the Pope, he levied enor- 
 mous contributions on the churches of England and 
 Ireland. The native clergy were already disaf- 
 fected, but these proceedings made them as openly 
 hostile to the king as were the lay barons. The 
 wholesale spoliation of the church had also the eft'ect 
 of lessening the clergy's reverence for the Pope, 
 and of shaking that power which had already at- 
 tained its highest pitch, and which was thenccfor- 
 voL. I. — 42 
 
 ward gradually to detline. AVhen called upon to 
 take up some of the Pope's bilh, the Bishop of 
 Worcester told Rustan, tlie legate, that he would 
 rather die than comply ; and the Bishop of London 
 said, that the Pope and king were, indeed, more 
 poAverful than he, but if they took his mitre from 
 his head he would clap on a warrior's helmet. The 
 legate moderated his demands and withdrew, fully 
 convinced that a storm was approacliiiig, and that 
 the Sicilian speculation had completed the ruin of 
 the bankrupt king.' As long as his brother Richard, 
 the great Earl of Cornwall, remained in England, 
 and in possession of the treasures lie had hoarded, 
 there was a powerful check upon insurrection ; for 
 though the earl's abilities in public affairs seem 
 hardly to have been equal to his wealth, still the 
 influence he possessed in the nation was most ex- 
 tensive. He had repeatedly opposed the illegal 
 courses of the king, and had even been out in arms 
 with the barons more than once ; but he was averse 
 to extreme measures, and, from his position, not 
 likely to permit any invasion of the just prerogative 
 of the crown. He had rejected one dazzling temj)- 
 tation, yet was he not proof against a second. The 
 Germans were setting up their empire for sale, and 
 Richard's vanity and ambition induced him to be- 
 come a purchaser. Having spent immense snins, 
 he was elected in the beginning of 1256 as " King 
 of the Romans," which was considered the sure 
 step to the dignity of emperor. But there was a 
 schism among the electors, part of whom a few 
 weeks later gave their sufiVages to Alplionso, King 
 of Castile. Richard, however, went over to the 
 continent, was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, and left 
 the crown of England to be dragged through the 
 mire. 
 
 A. D. 1258. A scarcit)' of provisions disposed the 
 people to desperate measures. On the 2d of 3Iay, 
 Henry called a parliament at Westminster. Thft 
 barons, who had formed a new confederacy, went 
 to the hall in complete armor. As the king entered, 
 there was a rattling of swords : his eye glanced 
 timidly along the mailed ranks ; and he said, with ii 
 faltering voice, " What means this ? am I a pris- 
 oner ?" "Not so," replied Roger Bigod, "but your 
 foreign favorites and your own extravagance have 
 involved this realm in great wretchedness: where- 
 fore we demand that the powers of government be 
 intrusted and made over to a committee of bishops 
 and barons, that the same may root up abuses and 
 enact good laws." One of the king's foreign half- 
 brothers vapored and talked loudly, but as for him- 
 self, he could do nothing else than give an uncondi- 
 tional assent to the demands of the barons, who 
 thereupon promised, that if he proved sincere, they 
 would help him to pay liis debts, and prosecute the 
 claims of his son in Italy. The Parliament then 
 dissolved, appointing an early day to meet again at 
 Oxford, where the committee of government should 
 be appointed, and the afl'airs of the state finally nd- 
 justed.- 
 
 The present leader of the barons, and in all re- 
 spects the most remarkable man among them, was 
 I Matt. Par. * Matt. Par.— Wykcs.— Rymcr.
 
 GoS 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 the Earl of Leicester. It is evident that tlie monk- miuster-hall, and now he was ready to follow up 
 ish chroniclers were incapable of understanding or those demonstrations at Oxford. It cannot be de- 
 proj)erly appreciating the extraordinary character nied that measures beyond the ordinary course of 
 of this foreign champion for English liberties ; and the constitution were necessary to control so prodi- 
 those writers have scarcely left materials to enable , gal and injudicious a sovereign. The legal course 
 us to form an accurate judgment. Simon de Mont- , of the constitution, moreover, was not yet ascer- 
 fort was the joungest son of the Count de JNIontfort tained and defined — all was experiment — a groping 
 
 in France, who had gained an unhappy celebrity in 
 the barbarous crusades against the Albigensos. In 
 right of his mother, Amicia, he had succeeded to 
 the earldom of Leicester ; but he appears to have 
 been little known in England until the year 1238, 
 when he came over from his native country, and 
 married Eleanor, the countess-dowager of Pem- 
 broke, a sister of King Henry. This match was 
 carried by the royal favor and authority-; for Ricli- 
 ard. Earl of Cornwall, the king's brother, and many 
 of the English barons, tried to prevent it, on the 
 ground that it was not fitting a princess should be 
 married to a foreign subject. But the earl had no 
 sooner secured his marriage, and made himself 
 known in the country, than he set himself forward 
 as the decided opponent of foreign encroachment 
 and foreign favorites of all kinds; and such was his 
 ability, that he caused people to overlook the anom- 
 aly of his position, and to forget that he himself was 
 a foreigner. lie not only captivated the good-will 
 of the English nobles, but endeared himself in an 
 extraordinary degree to the English people, whose 
 worth and importance in the state he certainly seems 
 to have been one of the first to discover and count 
 upon. His devotional feelings — which upon no 
 ground that we can discover, have been regarded 
 as hypocritical — gained him the fixvor of the clergy; 
 his literary acquirements, so unusual in those times, ' 
 increased his influence and reputation. There seems 
 to be no good reason for refusing him the merits of 
 a skilful politician ; and he was a master of the art 
 of war as it was then understood and practiced. 
 
 The favor of the king was soon turned into a 
 hatred as bitter as Henry's supine and not cruel 
 nature was capable of: it seemed monstrous that a 
 foreigner should be', not a courtier, but the popular 
 idol — and Leicester was banished the court. He 
 was afterward intrusted with the government of 
 Guienne, where, if he did not achieve the impossi 
 
 in the dark, and men, for the present, saw no im 
 propriety in abridging the prerogative of a king who 
 had constantl}- abused it, and who had so repeatedly 
 broken his promises, his most solemn vows, that it 
 would have looked like fatuity to place the smallest 
 trust in him. 
 
 On the 11th of June the Parliament, which the 
 Royalists called the " INIad Parliament," met at 
 Oxford. Having no reliance on the king, the great 
 barons summoned all who owed them military ser- 
 vice to attend in arms on the occasion. Thus 
 secured from the attack of the foreigners in the 
 king's pay, they proceeded to their object with 
 great vigor and determination. The committee of 
 government was ai)pointed without a murmur on 
 the part of the timid Henry: it consisted of twenty- 
 four members, twelve of whom were chosen by the 
 barons and twelve by the king. The king's choice 
 fell upon liis nephew Henry, the son of Richard, 
 the titular king of the Romans, upon Guy and Will- 
 iam, his own half-brothers, the bishops of London 
 and Winchester, the earls of Warwick and AVar- 
 enne, the abbots of Westminster and St. Martin's, 
 London, on John Mansel, a friar, and Peter of 
 Savoy, a relation of the queen. The members 
 appointed by the barons were the Bishop of Worces- 
 ter, the earls Simon of Leicester, Richard of Glou- 
 cester, Humphrey of Hereford, Roger of Norfolk, 
 earl marshal ; the lords Roger Mortimer, John Fitz- 
 geo(Tre}% Hugh Bigod, Richard de Gray, William 
 Bardolf, Peter de Montfort, and Hugh Despencer. 
 The Earl of Leicester was at the head of this su- 
 preme council, to the maintenance of whose oidi- 
 nances the king, and afterward his son Edward, took 
 a solemn oath. The Parliament then proceeded to 
 enact that four knights should be chosen bj' the votes 
 of the freeholders in each county, to lay before the 
 Parliament all breaches of law and justice that might 
 occur ; that a new sheritT should be annually chosen 
 
 l)ility of giving entire satisfaction to the turbulent by the freeholders in each county ; and that three 
 and intriguing nobles, he did good service to the , sessions of parliament should be held regularly every 
 
 king, his master, and acquitted himself with ability 
 and honor. Henrj-, however, was weak enough to 
 listen to the complaints of some of his southern vas- 
 sals, who did not relish the firm rule of the earl. 
 Leicester was hastily recalled, and his master called 
 
 year ; the first, eight days after Michaelmas ; the 
 second, the morrow after Candlemas-day ; and the 
 third, on the first day of June. 
 
 The benefits derived from the acts of this parha- 
 ment were prospective rather than immediate ; for 
 
 him traitor to his face. Thus insulted by a man he ; the first consequences were seven or eight years of 
 despised, the earl gave the lie to his sovereign, and ' anarchy and confusion, the fruits of insincerity and 
 told him that, but for his kingly rank, he would discontent on the part of the court, and of ambition 
 
 and intrigue on the part of the great barons. Prince 
 Edward, the heir to the throne, the Earl of War- 
 enne, and others, took the oaths to the statutes or 
 provisions of Oxford with unconcealed reluctance 
 
 make him repent the wrong he had done hii 
 This happened in 1252. Leicester withdrew for a 
 season into France, but Henry was soon reconciled, 
 in appearance, and the earl returned to England, 
 
 where his popularity increased in proportion to the and ill-humor. Prince Henry openly protested that 
 
 growing weakness and misgovernment of the king. ' they were of no force till his absent father, the king 
 
 He was one of the armed barons that met in West- of the Romans, should consent to them. "Letj'our 
 
 1 iMatt. Par. ; father look to himself," cried Leicester; "if he
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 G59 
 
 Oxford Castlk, as it appeared in tlie Fifteenth Century. 
 
 refuse to join the barons of the kingdom in these 
 provisions, he shall not enjoy a foot of ground in 
 England." Though their leaders were liberally 
 included among the twenty-four guardians of the 
 kingdom, the foreign faction was excessively dissat- 
 isfied with the recent changes, and said openly, and 
 wherever they went, that the Acts of Oxford ought 
 to be set aside as illegal and degi'adiug to the king's 
 majesty ; which indeed they would have been had 
 Henry had any character to degi'ade, and had it not 
 been indispensable to adopt extreme precautions 
 against the sovereign's well-known faithlessness and 
 perfidy, or fatal facility of disposition. Irritated by 
 their opposition and their secret intrigues, Leices- 
 ter and his partj' scared the four half-brothers of 
 the king and a herd of their relations and retainers 
 out of the kingdom. The departure of these for- 
 eigners increased the popularity of the barons with 
 the English people ; but they were seduced by the 
 temptations of ambition and an easy triumph over 
 all opposition ; they filled up the posts vacated in 
 the committee of government with their own adhe- 
 rents, leaving scarcely a member in it to represent 
 the king ; and they finally lodged the whole author- 
 ity of government in the hands of their council of 
 state and a standing committee of twelve persons. 
 This gi-eat power was abused, as all unlimited 
 power, whether held by a king or an oligarchy, ever 
 will be, and the barons soon disagreed among them- 
 selves.^ 
 
 A.D. 1259. — About six months after the meeting 
 at Oxford, Richard, King of the Romans, having spent 
 all his money among the Germans, was anxious to 
 return to England, that he might get more. At St. 
 Omer he was met by a messenger from Leicester, 
 who told him that he must not set foot in the kiug- 
 ' Rymer.— Anual. Burt.— Matt. West. 
 
 dom unless he swore beforehand to observe the pro- 
 visions of Oxford. Richard finally gave an ungra- 
 cious and most unwilling assent : lie took the oath, 
 joined his brother, and immediately commenced 
 organizing an opposition to the committee of govern- 
 ment.' Soon after his arrival it was seen that the 
 barons disagreed more than ever. The Earl of 
 Gloucester started up as a rival to Leicester, and a 
 violent quarrel — the first of many — broke out be- 
 tween these two powerful lords. Then there was 
 presented a petition from the knights of shires or 
 counties, complaining that the barons had held pos- 
 session of the sovereign authority for eighteen 
 months, and had done no good in the way of reform. 
 A few improvements, chiefly regai-ding the admin- 
 istration of justice, were then enacted ; but their 
 slender amount did not satisfy the nation, and most 
 of the barons were more anxious for the piolonga- 
 tion of their own powers and profits than for any- 
 thing else. By degrees two factions were formed 
 in the committee : when that of Gloucester obtained 
 the ascendency, Leicester withdrew into France. 
 Then Gloucester would have reconciled himself 
 with the king ; but as soon as Prince Edward saw 
 this, he declared for Leicester, who returned. The 
 manoeuvres and intrigues of party now become almost 
 as unintelligible as they are uninteresting — recon- 
 ciliations and breaches between the Leicester and 
 Gloucester factions, and then between the barons 
 generally and the court — a changing and a changing 
 attain of sides and principles, perplex and disgrace a 
 scene where nothii^ seems fixed except Leicester's 
 dislike and distrust of the king, and a general but 
 somewhat vague affection among the barons of both 
 parties for the provisions of Magna Charta. 
 
 A. D. 1261. — Henry, who had long rejoiced at the 
 * Rymer.
 
 660 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 division among the barons, now tlionght tlie moment 
 was come for esciiping from their autliority. He 
 had a papal dispensation in liis ])ocket for the oaths 
 he liad taken at Oxford, and this set his conscience 
 quite at ease. On the '2d of February he ventured 
 to tell the committee of government that, seeing the 
 abuse they had made of their authority, he should 
 henceforward govern without them. He then has- 
 tened to the Tower, whicli had recently been re- 
 paired and strengthened, and seized all the money 
 in the Mint. From behind those strong walls he 
 ordered that the gates of London should be closed, 
 and tliat all the citizens should swear fresh fealty to 
 him. At these unexpected proceedings the barons 
 called out their vassals and marched upon the capi- 
 tal. Prince Edward was amusing himself in France 
 at a tournament, and it was agreed by both parties 
 to await his arrival. He came in haste, and instead 
 of joining his father in the Tower, joined the barons. 
 In spite of this junction, or perhaps we ought rather 
 lo say, in consequence of it, many of the nol)les 
 went over and joined the king, who puljlished the 
 Pope's bull of dispensation, together with a mani- 
 festo in which he set forth that he had reigned forty- 
 live years in peace and according to justice, never 
 committing such deeds of wrong and violence as the 
 barons had receiitly committed. For a time he met 
 with success, and Leicester returned once more to 
 France, vowing that he would never trust the faith 
 of a perjured king.' 
 
 A. D. 12G3. — Another change and shifting of parts 
 now took place in this troubled drama : the Earl of 
 Gloucester was dead, and his son, a very young man, 
 instead of being the rival, became for a while the 
 l)OSom friend of Leicester. Prince Edward, on the 
 other hand, veered round to the court, and had made 
 himself unpopular by calling in n foreign guard. In 
 the month of March young Gloucester called his 
 retainers and confederates together at Oxford, and 
 the Earl of Leicester returned to England in the 
 month of April, and put himself at their head. The 
 great earl at once raised the banner of war, and after 
 taking several royal castles and towns, marched rap- 
 idly upon London, where the mayor and the com- 
 mon [)eople declared for him. The king was safe 
 in the Tower; Prince Edward fled to Windsor Cas- 
 tle, and the queen, his mother, attempted to escape 
 by water in the same direction ; but, when she ap- 
 proached London Bridge, a cry rang among the 
 populace, who hated her, of " Drown the witch !" 
 and tilth and stones were thrown at the barge. The 
 mayor took pity on her, and carried her for safety 
 to St. Paul's.^ 
 
 The King of the Romans, who, though his hoarded 
 ti-easures were exhausted, still possessed consider- 
 able influence, contrived to effect a hollow reconcili- 
 ation between the barons and his unwarlike brother, 
 who yielded everything, — only reserving to himself 
 the usual resource of breaking his compact as soon 
 as circumstances should seem favorable. It is true 
 his subjects had repeatedly exacted too much ; but 
 it is equally certain that he never made the smallest 
 
 1 M. West.— Wykes.— Carte. 
 
 2 Wykes.— West.— Trivet.— Cliron. Dunst. 
 
 concession to them in good faith, and with a deter- 
 mination of respecting it. Foreigners were once 
 more banished the kingdom, and the custody of the 
 royal castles was again intrusted to Leicester and 
 his associates. This was done, and peace and amity 
 w'ere sworn in July, but by the month of October 
 the king was in arms against the barons, and nearly 
 succeeded in taking Leicester a prisoner. This 
 new crisis was mainly attributable to a condition 
 exacted by that great earl, that the authority of the 
 committee of government should not only last for 
 the lifetime of the king, but be prolonged during the 
 reign of his successor. Up to this point Prince 
 Edward had pretended a great respect for his oath, 
 professing to doubt wliether an absolution trom Rome 
 could excuse perjury ; and he had frequently ])re- 
 tested that, having sworn to the provisions of Oxford, 
 he would religiously keep that vow ; but this last 
 measure removed all his scruples, and denouncing 
 the barons as rebels, traitors, and usurpers, he openly 
 declared against them and all their statutes. 
 
 A. D. 1264. — To stoj) the horrors of a civil war, 
 some of the bishops induced both parties to refer 
 their difierences to the arbitration of the French 
 king. The conscientious and justice-loving Louis 
 IX. pronounced his award in the beginning of Feb- 
 ruarj' : he insisted on the observance of the great 
 charter; but otherwise his decision. was in favor of 
 the king, as he set aside the provisions of Oxford, 
 ordered that the royal castles should be restored, 
 and tliat the sovereign should have full power of 
 choosing his own ministers and officers, whether from 
 among foreigners or natives. The barons, who were 
 better acquainted than Louis with the character ol 
 their king, well knew that if the securities they had 
 exacted (with too grasping a hand, perhaps) were 
 all given up, the provisions of the national charters 
 would be despised, as they were previously to the 
 pai'liament of Oxford, and they therefore resolved 
 not to be bound by the award, which they insisted 
 had been obtained through the unfair influence of 
 the wife of Louis, who was sister-in-law to King 
 Henr^-. The civil war was therefore renewed with 
 more fury than ever. The strength of the royal- 
 ists lay in the counties of the north and the extreme 
 west, — that of the barons in the midland counties, 
 the southeast, the Cinque Ports, and, above all, iu 
 the city of London and its neighborhood. At the 
 tolling of the great bell of St. Paul's, the citizens of 
 London assembled as an Jirmed host, animated by 
 one daring spirit. In the midst of this excitement 
 they fell upon the unfortunate Jews, and, after plun- 
 dering them, massacred above 500, men, women, 
 and children, in cold blood. In other parts of the 
 kingdom the royalists robbed and murdered the Jews 
 under pretext of their being friends to the barons, 
 and the barons' party did the like, alleging that they 
 were allied with the king, and that they kept Greek 
 fire hid in their houses in order to destroy the friends 
 of liberty. 1 
 
 The opening of the campaign was in favor of the 
 royalists, but their fortunes changed when they 
 advanced to the southern coast and endeavored to 
 1 Wykes. -West. —Dunst.
 
 Chap. 11] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 661 
 
 win over the powerful Cinque Ports. Leicester, 
 who had remained quietly in London organizing 
 iiis forces, at length marched from the capital with 
 the resolution of fighting a decisive battle. He 
 found the king at Lewes, in Sussex — a bad posi- 
 tion, in a hollow — which Henry, relying on his 
 superiority of numbers, did not quit on the earl's 
 approach. Leicester encamped on the downs about 
 two miles from Lewes. Whether in war or peace, 
 lie had always been an exact observer of the rites 
 of religion : he now endeavored (and, it should ap- 
 pear, with full success) to impress his followers 
 with the belief that the cause in which they were 
 engaged was the cause of Heaven, as well as that 
 of liberty : the king, he said, was obnoxious to God 
 liy reason of his many perjuries : he ordered his 
 men to wear a white cross on the breast as if they 
 were crusaders engaged in a holy war ; and his 
 friend, the Bishop of Chichester, gave a general 
 absolution to the army, together with Assurances 
 that all those who fell in battle would be welcomed in 
 lieaven as martyrs. On the following morning, the 
 14th of May, leaving a strong reserve on the downs, 
 he descended into the hollow. The two armies 
 soon joined battle : on the king's side were the 
 great houses of Bigod and Bohuu, Earl Warenne, 
 all the foreigners in the kingdom, the Percys with 
 their warlike borderers, and from beyond the bor- 
 ders, John Comyn, John Baliol, and Robert Bruce — 
 
 names that were soon to appear in a very different 
 drama. On the earl's side were Gloucester, Derby, 
 the Despencers, Robert de Roos, William Marmion, 
 Richard Grey, John Fitzjohn, Nicholas Seagrave, 
 Godfrey de Lucy, John de Vescy, and others of 
 noble lineage and great estates. Prince Edward, 
 who was destined to acquire the rudiments of war in 
 the slaughter of his own subjects, i)egan the battle 
 by falHng desperately upon a body of Londoners, 
 who had gladly followed Leicester to the field. This 
 burgher militia could not stand against the trained 
 cavalry of the prince, who chased and slew them 
 by heaps. Eager to take a bloody vengeance for 
 the insults the Londonei-s had offered his mother, 
 Edward spurred forwai-d, regardless of the manoeu- 
 vres of the other divisions of the rojaiist army. He 
 was as yet a young soldier, and the experienced 
 and skilful leader of the barons made him pay dearly 
 for his mistake. Leicester made a concentrated 
 attack on the king, beat him most completely, and 
 took him prisoner, with his brother the King of the 
 Romans, John Comyn, and Robert Bruce, before 
 the prince returned from his headlong pursuit. 
 When Edward arrived at the field of battle he saw it 
 covered with the slain of his own party, and learned 
 that his father, with many nobles beside those just 
 mentioned, were in Leicester's hands, and shut up 
 in the priory of Lewes. Before he could recover 
 himself, he was charged by a body of horse, and 
 
 . ■g*f f 
 
 Lewes Puiory. 
 
 made prisoner. The Earl Warenne, with the king's 
 half-brothers, who were again in England, fled to 
 Pevensey, whence they escaped to the continent.' 
 The victory of the barons does not seem to have 
 lieen disgraced by cruelty, but it is said to have cost 
 the lives of more than 5000 Englishmen, who fell 
 
 1 Matt. Par. — Wjl«es. — West. — Chron. Dunst 
 
 on the field. On the following morning a treaty, 
 or the "M/.se of Lewes," as it was called, was con- 
 cluded. It was agreed that p:dward and his cousin 
 Henry, the son of the King of the Romans, should 
 remain as hostages for their fathers, and that the 
 whole quarrel should be again sul)mitted to a peace- 
 ful arbitration. But Leicester, who had now tlx*
 
 662 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 right of tlie strongest, kept both the king and his 
 brother prisoners as well as their sons, and, feeling 
 his own greatness, began to be less tractable. Al- 
 though the Pope excoinmunicated him and his party, 
 the people regarded the sentence with indifference; 
 and many of the native clergy, who had long been 
 disgusted both with Pope and king, praised him 
 in their sermons as the reformer of abuses, the 
 protector of the oppressed, the father of the poor, 
 the savior of his country, the avenger of the churcli. 
 Thus supported, and indeed carried forward by a 
 boundless popularity, he soon forced all such barons 
 as held out for the king to surrender their castles 
 and submit to the judgment of their peers. These 
 men were condemned merely to short periods of 
 exile in Ireland ; not one suJfered death, or chains, 
 or forfeiture, and the age was not so generally im- 
 proved in humanity as to have enforced this mild- 
 ness, had the earl himself not been averse to cruelty. 
 Every act of government was still performed in the 
 name of the king, whose captivity was made so 
 light as to be scarcely apparent, and who was treated 
 with every outward demonstration of respect. The 
 queen had retired to the continent before the battle 
 of Lewes, and having busied herself in collecting 
 a host of foreign mercenaries, in which she was 
 greatly assisted by the active sympathies of foreign 
 princes, who saw in the proceedings of the English 
 barons nothing but the degradation of a crowned 
 head, she now lay at Damme, in Flanders, ahnost 
 ready to cross over and renew the civil war. The 
 steps taken by Leicester show at once his entire 
 confidence in the good-will of the nation, and his 
 personal bravery and activity . he summoned the 
 whole force of the country, from castles and towns, 
 cities and boroughs, to meet in arms on Barham 
 Downs, and, having encamped them there, he threw 
 himself among the mariners of England, and, taking 
 the command of a fleet, cruised between the Eng- 
 lish and Flemish coasts to meet the invaders at sea. 
 But the queen's fleet never ventured out of port ; 
 her land forces disbanded, and that enterprise fell 
 to the ground. 
 
 The ruin of Leicester was effected bj'^ very differ- 
 ent means : confident in his talents and popularity, 
 he ventured to display too marked a superiority 
 above his fellows in the same cause : this excited 
 hostile feelings in several of the barons, whose jeal- 
 ousies and pretensions were skilfully worked upon 
 by Prince Edward, who had by this time been re- 
 moved from Dover Castle, into which he had been 
 throAvn after the battle of Lewes, and placed with 
 his father, in the enjoyment of considerable personal 
 liberty, by the order of a parliament which Leices- 
 ter had summoned expressly to consider his case 
 in the beginning of the present year (12Go), and 
 which is memorable in tlic history of the constitu- 
 tion as the first in which we have certain evidence 
 of the appearance of representatives from the cities 
 and boroughs. The Earl of Derbj- opened a corres- 
 pondence with the prince, and the Earl of Glouces- 
 ter set himself up as a rival to Montfort, and then, 
 by means of his brother, Thomas de Clare, who 
 had been placed about the prince's person, concerted 
 
 a plan for releasing Edward. This plan was suc- 
 cessful ; and on Thursday in Whitsun week the 
 prince escaped on a fleet horse which had been 
 conveyed to him, and joined the Earl of Gloucester 
 at Ludlow, where the royal banner was raised. 
 The prince was made to swear that he would re- 
 spect the charters, govern according to law, and 
 expel foreigners ; and it was upon these express 
 conditions that Gloucester surrendered to him the 
 command of the troops. This earl was a vain, 
 weak young man, but his jealous fury against Lei- 
 cester could not blind him to the obvious fact that 
 but few of the nobility would make any sacrifices 
 for the royal cause unless their attachment to con- 
 stitutional liberty were gi-atified by such pledges. 
 
 About the same time Earl Warenne, who had 
 escaped from the battle of Lewes, landed in South 
 Wales with one hundred and twenty knights and a 
 troop of archers ; and other royalist chiefs rose in 
 different parts of the country, according to a plan 
 which seems to have been suggested by the military 
 sagacity of Prince Edward. The Earl of Leicester, 
 keeping good hold of the king, remained at Here- 
 ford, while his eldest son, Simon de Montfort, with 
 a part of his army, was in Sussex. The object of 
 the prince was to prevent the junction of these 
 separated forces, and to keep the earl on the right 
 bank of tlie Severn. Edward destroyed all the 
 bridges and boats on that river, and secured the 
 fords ; but, after some skilful manoeuvres, the earl 
 crossed the Severn, and encamped near Worcester, 
 where he expected his son would join him. But 
 Simon's conduct in war was not equal to his father's, 
 for he allowed himself to be surprised by night near 
 Kenilworth, where Edward took his horses and 
 treasure, and most of his knights, and forced him 
 to take refuge, almost naked, in the castle there, 
 the principal residence of the De 3Iontfort family. 
 The earl, still hoping to meet his son's forces, ad- 
 vanced to Evesham, on the river Avon ; on the 
 morning of the 4th of August, as he looked toward 
 the hills in the direction of Kenilworth, he saw his 
 own standards advancing : — his joy, however, was 
 but momentary, for he discovered, when too late to 
 retreat, that they were his son's banners in the 
 hands of his enemies, and nearly at the same time 
 he saw the heads of columns showing themselves 
 on either flank and in his rear. These well-con- 
 ceived combined movements had been executed 
 with unusual precision — the earl was surrounded — 
 every road was blocked up. As he observed the 
 skilful way in which the hostile forces were dis- 
 posed, he uttered the complaint so often used by 
 old generals, — " They have learned from me the 
 art of war ;'' and then, it is said, he added, 
 " the Lord have mercy on our souls, for I see our 
 bodies are Prince Edward's." He did not, how- 
 ever, neglect the duties of the commander, but 
 marshaled his men in the best manner. He then 
 spent a short time in prayer, and took the sacra- 
 ment, as was his wont, before going into battle. 
 Having failed in an attempt to force the road to 
 Kenilworth. he formed in a solid circle on the sum- 
 mit of a hill, and several times repulsed the charges
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND xMlLlTARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 6g; 
 
 ^J 
 
 /. 
 
 -<'>>: 
 
 '^^■ 
 
 of his foes, who gradually closed round him, attack- 
 ing at all points. The king being in the earl's camp 
 when the royalists appeared, was incased in armor 
 which concealed his features, and was put upon a 
 war-horse. In one of the charges the imbecile old 
 man was dismounted and in danger of being slain, 
 but he cried out, " Hold your hand, I am Harry of 
 Winchester ;" and the prince, who happened to be 
 near, ran to his rescue, and carried him out of the 
 meUc. Leicester's horse was killed under him, but 
 the earl rose unhurt from his fall, and fought bravely 
 on foot : a body of Welsh were broken and fled, 
 and the number of his enemies still seemed to in- 
 crease on all sides. He then asked the royalists if 
 they gave quarter ? and was told that there was no 
 quarter for traitors : his gallant son Henry was killed 
 before his eyes, the bravest and best of his friends 
 fell in heaps around him, and at last the great earl 
 himself died with his sword in his hand.' 
 
 The hatred of the royalists was too much inflamed 
 to admit of the humanities and usages of chivalry : 
 no prisoners were taken ; the slaughter, usually 
 confined to the "meaner sort," who could not pay 
 ransom, was extended to the noblest and wealthiest; 
 and all the barons and knights of Leicester's party, 
 to the number of one hundred and eiglity, were 
 dispatched." The historians who praise the clem- 
 ency of the royal partj-, by whom " no blood was 
 shed on the scaffold," seem to overlook the fact that 
 all their dangerous enemies were butchered at Eve- 
 sham, and that little blood was left to be shed by 
 
 » Contm. Matt. Par.— M. West — Cron. Mai'ros.— Cron. Dunst 
 
 s Some ten or a dozen knights who were found breathing, after the 
 
 carnage, were permitted to live, or, at least, to have that rliaiire of 
 
 llvin]? which their wounds allowed 
 
 the executioner. Not even death could save Lei- 
 cester from their barbarous vengeance : they muti- 
 lated his body in a manner too brutal and disgusting 
 to be described, and so presented it, as an acceptable 
 spectacle, to a nohle lady, the wife of the Lord 
 Roger Mortimer, one of the earl's deadly enemies. 
 "The people of England, "says Holinshed cautiously, 
 "conceived an opinion that the earl being thus slain 
 fighting in defence of the liberties of the realm and 
 performance of his oath, as they took it, died a 
 martyr ; which, by the bruited holiness of his past 
 life, and the miracles ascribed to him after his death, 
 was gi-eatly confirmed in the next age : but the fear 
 of the king's displeasure stayed the people from 
 hastily honoring him as a saint at this time, where 
 otherwise they were inclined greatly thereto, re- 
 puting him for no less in their conscience, as in 
 secret talk they did not liesitate to say." This pop- 
 ular reverence was not evanescent; for many years 
 after, when men could speak out without danger, 
 they called the earl " Sir Simon the Righteous," 
 and complained of the church because it would not 
 canonize him. 
 
 After the decisive victory of Evesham, the king, 
 resuming the sceptre, went to Warwick, where he 
 was joined by his brother, th.e King of the Romans, 
 who, with many other prisoners taken by Leicestei 
 at Lewes, now first recovered his lii)erty. Early 
 in the next month, on the " Feast of the Transla- 
 tion of St. Edward," a parliament asseml)led at 
 Winchester. Here it was seen that, even in the 
 moment of success, the king could not venluie t(t 
 revoke any part of the great cliarter. His victory 
 had been achieved by the arms of English barons, 
 who, generally speaking, had concurred in the for-
 
 664 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 iner measures aj^aint^t his faithless gnvernnient, and 
 whose opposition to tlie Earl of Leicester's too 
 great power had in no sense weakened their love 
 of constitutional safeguards, or their hatred of an 
 absolute king. Led away, however, by personal 
 animosities, the parliament of Winchester passed 
 some severe sentences against the family and parti- 
 sans of the late earl, and deprived tlie citizens of 
 London of their charter. 
 
 A desperate resistance was thus provoked, and 
 successive insurrections broke out in different parts 
 of the kingdom. Simon do Montfort and his asso- 
 ciates maintained themselves for a long time in the 
 isles of Ely and Axholm ; the Cinque Ports refused 
 to submit; tlie castle of Kenilworth defied several 
 ro3'al armies ; and Adam (Jourdon, a most warlike 
 baron, maintained himself in the forests of Hamp- 
 shire. Prince Edward's valor and ability iiad full 
 occupation for nearly two years, and at last it was 
 found necessary to relax the severity of government, 
 and grant easier terms to the vanquished, in order 
 to oiitain the restoration of internal tranquillity. 
 With this view a committee was appointed of tw-elve 
 bishops and barons, and their award, called the 
 " Dictum de Kenilworth," was confirmed by the 
 king and Parliament. The Earl of Gloucester, 
 whose i)ersonal quarrel with Leicester had been 
 the chief cause of the overthrow of the baronial 
 oligarchy, and the restoration of Henry, quarreled 
 with the king, and once more took up arms, al- 
 leging, that even the Dictum de Kenilworth was too 
 harsh, and that the court was seeking to infringe 
 the provisions of Oxford, and breaking the promises 
 given on the field of Evesham. The dissatisfied 
 Londoners made common cause with him, and re- 
 ceived him within their walls; but losing heart at 
 the approach of the king's army, Gloucester opened 
 negotiations, and submitted, on condition of receiv- 
 ing a full pardon for himself. At the same time the 
 Londoners compounded for a fine of 25,U00 marks. 
 The Pope most laudaljly endeavored to dilfuso the 
 spirit of mercy and moderation : he told tlie king, 
 who was not naturally inclined to that, or to any 
 other strong passions, that revenge was unworthy of 
 a Christian, and that clemencjMvas the best support 
 of a throne. All this, with the determined aspect 
 of the people, wluuiever harsh measures were 
 threatened, produced a salutary eflect ; and the gal- 
 lantry and generosity sliown by Prince Edward, on 
 (me occasion, did more in subduing opposition than 
 a hundred executions on the scaffold could have 
 done. In a battle fought in a wood near Alton, the 
 prince engaged Adam Gourdoii hand to hand, and 
 vanquished that redoubtable knight in fair single 
 combat. When Adam was brought to the ground, 
 instead of dispatching him, he generously gave him 
 his life : on that very night he introduced him to 
 the queen at Guilford, procured him his pardon, 
 received him into his own especial favor, and was 
 IVom that time forward most faithfully served by 
 Sir Adam.' 
 
 A.D. 1267. On the 18th of November, two years 
 ;md three months after the battle of Evesham, the 
 
 ' Coutin. Matt. Par 
 
 king, in parliament at Marlborough, adopted some 
 of the most valuable of the provisions of the Earl of 
 Leicester, and enacted other good laws. Thus all 
 resistance was disarmed, and the patriots or the 
 outlaws in the Isle of Ely, who were the lagt to 
 submit, threw down their arms, and accepted the 
 conditions of the Dictum of Kenilworth, which they 
 saw had been faithfully observed with respect to 
 others. As soon as the country was thoroughly 
 tranquilized. Prince Edward and his cousin Henry, 
 the son of the King of the Romans, took the cross ; 
 in which they were followed by nearly one hundred 
 and fifty English lords and knights. Exhortation 
 and example urged them to this step. Ottoboni, 
 the Pope's legate, who liad been very instrumental 
 in restoring peace in the land, had earnestly and elo- 
 quently recommended the crusade; and Louis IX., 
 who was soon to be called " Saint Louis," had de- 
 parted a second time for the East. 
 
 Having taken many precautionary measures in 
 case his father should die during his absence, and 
 having most wisely obtained the grant of a new 
 charter, with the restoration of their liberties, to 
 the citizens of London, and a free ])ardon to a few 
 nol)les who still lay under the king's ban, Edward 
 departed with his wife Eleanor, his cousin Henry, 
 and his knights, in the month of July, 1270. Many 
 of the choicest chivalry of England left their bones 
 to bleach on the Syrian shore ; but the fate of Henry 
 d'Almaine, as they called the son of the King of the 
 Romans, was more tiagical as well as much more 
 unusual. Being dispatched back to England on a 
 secret mission by liis cousin Edward, he took the 
 road through Italy, and loitered in the city of Viterbo, 
 to witness the election of a new pope. One morn- 
 ing, at an early hour, as he was at his prayers in a 
 church, he heaid a well-known voice exclaiming, 
 "Thou traitor, Henry!- — thou slialt not escape!" 
 Turning round he saw his two cousins, Simon and 
 Guy de IMontfort, who, with their mother, the 
 Countess of Leicester, King Henry's own sister, 
 had been driven out of England, and who considered 
 the King of the Romans as the bitterest en(!my of 
 their house. They were in complete armor, and 
 waved their naked swords over their defenceless 
 victim. He clung to the holy altar before which 
 he was kneeling, and two priests threw themselves 
 between him and them. But nothing could save 
 him from the fuiy of his cousins : the two priests 
 lost their lives in their generous endeavors to pro- 
 tect him ; and, pierc(;d with many wounds, he was 
 dragged out of the church, when the murderers 
 mutilated his body in horrid revenge for the treat- 
 ment of their father's corpse at Evesham. They 
 then mounted their horses and rode away, being 
 protected, it is said, by Count Aldobrandini, whose 
 daughter had been married to Guy, one of the 
 assassins.' That vain old man, the King of the 
 Romans, was rejoicing in the possession or display 
 of a young German bride he had just married, and 
 was still flattering himself with the hopes of the 
 imperial crown, which had now deluded liis imagi- 
 nation for fifteen long years, when the melancholy 
 ' Rjmcr. — Wjkcs.— Murjlori, Aunali.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 66.') 
 
 catastrophe of his son reminded him of the vanity of 
 human wishes. He did not long survive the shock : 
 he died in the month of December, 1271 ; and in the 
 following winter his brother, the King of England, 
 followed him to the grave, expiring at Westminster, 
 after a long illness and great demonstrations of piety, 
 on the feast of St. Edmund, the 16th of Novem- 
 ber, 1272. He had rebuilt the abbey church of 
 St. Peter's from the foundation, and he had re- 
 moved the bones of Edward the Confessor into a 
 
 golden shrine. According to his wish, they there- 
 fore carried his body to that stately church, and 
 laid it in the very grave which the remains of his 
 saintly predecessor had once occupied. Before his 
 body was lowered to its last resting-place the Earl 
 of Gloucester, putting his bare hand upon it, swore 
 fealty to the absent Edward ; and the rest of the 
 barons present followed his example. Henry had 
 lived sixty-eight years, and had been fifty-six years 
 a king — -at least in name. 
 
 EdAVARD I.- — SURNAMED LoNGSHANKS. 
 
 Great Seal of Edward I. 
 
 From the Abbey Church of Westminster the bar- 
 ons, who had attended his father's funeral, went to 
 the new temple and proclaimed the absent Edwurd 
 by the style of " King of England, Lord of Ireland, 
 and Duke of Aquitaine." This was on Sunday, 
 the 20th of November, four days after the demise 
 of Henry. A new great seal was made ; Walter 
 de Merton was appointed chancellor ; Walter Gif- 
 Ibrd, Archbishop of York, the Earl of Cornwall, a 
 surviving son of Richard, the King of the Romans, 
 and the Earl of Gloucester, assumed conjointly the 
 office of guardians or regents of the kingdom, and 
 such wise measures were taken that the public 
 peace was in no way disturbed ; and the accession 
 of Edward, though he was far away, and exposed 
 to the chances of war and shipwreck, was more 
 tranquil than that of any preceding king since the 
 (-onquest. 
 
 When Edward departed on the crusade he found 
 that the French king, instead of sailing for Syria or 
 Palestine, had turned aside to attack the Mussul- 
 man king or bey of Tunis. The kings of Sicily had 
 some old claims to tribute from this African state, 
 and the Italian crown, after hovering over the heads 
 of so many princes, had at last settled on that of 
 Charles of Anjou, who, with the assistance of the 
 Pope, won it from Manfred, the illegitimate Sua- 
 bian, at the battle of the Grandella, fought near Ben- 
 
 evento, in the year 1266. This Charles was the 
 ferocious, unworthy brother of the amial)le Louis 
 IX. ; and it is generally supposed that, for his own 
 selfish ambition and interests, he craftily induced 
 the French king to turn his arms against Tunis ; 
 though it is also probable that the exaggerated ac- 
 counts of the wealth of that city acted as a strong 
 temptation with the crusaders in general. Louis 
 landed on the African shore in the midst of summer, 
 and took the camp and town of Carthage ; but the 
 excessive heat of the climate, the want of jirovis- 
 ions, and even of wholesome water, and pestilential 
 miasmata from bogs and swamps, soon caused dread- 
 ful maladies among his host. Tlio king himself was 
 attacked by a fatal dysentery, and he 'laid liimsclf 
 down to die among the ruins and fragments of an- 
 cient Carthage. The superstition of this excellent 
 man was the fault of the age in which he lived; but 
 the better part of his devotion, his resignation, and 
 magnanimity, will have a claim to reverence in all 
 ages. As long as he could act he submitted to every 
 privation, encountered every risk, in order to allevi- 
 ate the sufferings of his poorest followers, who died 
 round him by hundreds. When he could no longer 
 move, and wlien he was himself snflering agonies, 
 he incessantly occupied his still unclouiled intellect 
 in devisina; means for mitigating the pains of others : 
 with Ills dvincr breath he endeavored to reanimnte
 
 666 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 Edward I. From a Statuo ia ihe Chiur of York Minster 
 
 the courage of his family and of his officers, who 
 were weeping about his bed. '• My friends," said 
 he, " I have finished my course, — grieve not for me. 
 It is natural that I. as your chief, should march off 
 first. You must all follow me in time, — keep your- 
 selves ready for the journey." ' 
 
 When Prince Edward arrived he found that Louis 
 was dead, and that more than half of his army had 
 perished by disease. The survivors had, however, 
 made advantageous terms with the Boy of Tunis, 
 and showed little inclination to leave that country 
 and encounter fresh dangers in Palestine. The 
 English then recrossed the Mediterranean to Sicily 
 (a short voyage of 150 miles) ; but Edward would 
 not renounce his project, or return home. He 
 passed the winter at Trapani, vowing that, though 
 all his soldiers should desert him, he would go to 
 Acre attended only by Fowen, his groom. Early 
 in the following spring he set sail from Sicily, and 
 he landed at Acre, which was now almost the only 
 residue of the crusaders' conquests in the East, with 
 a force whilh <lid not exceed a tliousand men. But 
 the fame of Richard was still bright on those shores ; 
 and, while the Mahoraedans trembled, the Chris- 
 tians gathered round the standard of the successor 
 of Lion-heart, to whom Edward was scarcely infe- 
 rior in physical strength and courage, while he was 
 his superior in coolness and policy, and probably also 
 in military science. Bondocar, the Sultan of Baby- 
 lon, who had prepared to take that city by assault, 
 immediately retreated from the vicinity of Acre, 
 and, crossing the Desert, went into Egypt. Edward 
 advanced, and obtained temporary possession of 
 Nazareth, which was taken by storm. Eiglity years 
 ' Le Sire de JomviUe 
 
 had elapsed since Richard's massacres of Acre, and 
 nearly two hundred since the first capture of Jeru- 
 salem by the Christians of the West; but the cru- 
 saders had made little progress in humanity-, and 
 the slaughter committed on the Moslems under the 
 eye of Edward, at Nazareth was only less atrocious 
 than the butchery at Jerusalem, because the scene 
 was more confined, and the place had fewer Turkish 
 inhabitants. The prince, and many of the Englisli 
 with him, were soon after attacked with sickness, 
 and returned to Acre, where they lingered some 
 fifteen months, doing little or nothing ; for the first 
 enthiisiasm among the Latin Christians had subsided 
 upon seeing that Edward had scarcely anj^ money, 
 and received no reinforcements. lie had never 
 been able to collect more than seven thousand armed 
 men, and this mixed force could not be kept togetlier 
 for any length of time. The English chivalry dis- 
 tinguished itself by many feats of arms, and revived 
 the glory of the national name ; but, after all, th* 
 only other solid advantages gained were the capture 
 of two castles and the surprise and partial plunder 
 of a caravan. The Mahomedans were not strong 
 enough to attack Acre, which, chiefly by Edward's 
 means, was so strengthened as to be enabled to defy 
 them for twenty years longer, when the Mamelukes 
 of Eg^-pt took it and drove the crusaders and their 
 descendants from every part of the Holy Land. Ed- 
 ward on his side was always too weak to attempt 
 any extensive operations. His presence, hoAvevei-. 
 both anno3'ed and distressed the Turks, and an at- 
 tempt was made to get rid of him by assassination. 
 The emir of Jafl'a, under pretence of embracing the 
 Christian rehgion, opened a correspondence with 
 the English prince, and gradually gained his confi-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND iMILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 667 
 
 dence. The emir sent letters and presents, till his 
 messengers were allowed to pass and }-epass with- 
 out examination or suspicion. On the Friday of 
 Whitsun week, about the hour of vespers, as Ed- 
 ward was reclining on a couch with nothing on hina 
 but a loose robe, the emir's messenger made his 
 usual salam at the door of his apartment : he was 
 admitted ; and as he knelt and presented a letter 
 with one hand, he drew a concealed dagger with 
 the other, and aimed a blow at the prince's heart. 
 Edward, though wounded, caught the murderer in 
 his iron grasp, threw him to tlie ground, and dis- 
 patched him with his own weapon. The prince's 
 wound was not deep, but the dagger had been 
 smeared with poison : when he learned this fact, 
 he made his will, and gave himself up as lost. The 
 English soldiers would have taken a horrid venge- 
 ance upon the poor Turks in their power, but he 
 restrained their fury, and made them reflect on 
 what might befall the helpless Christian pilgrims 
 then at Jerusalem. Fortunately there was at Acre 
 an English surgeon with skill and nerve enough to 
 pare away the sides of the wound ; and the grand 
 master of the Templars sent some precious drugs 
 to stop the progress of the venom. The piety, the 
 aftectionate attentions of his loving wife Eleanor 
 may have contributed very effectually to his cure, 
 but there is no good ground for believing that she 
 sucked the poison from her husband's Avound.' 
 
 Henry had already implored his son to return to 
 England, and now Edward gladly listened to propo- 
 sals of peace made by the sultan, who was so much 
 engaged with other wars in the interior as to have 
 little time to spare for the prosecution of hostilities 
 on the coast. A truce was therefore concluded for 
 ten years, and then Edward sailed again for Sicily. 
 Theobald, Archdeacon of Liege, who had accom- 
 panied the prince to Palestine, had been recalled 
 some months before from Acre to fill the vacant 
 chair of St. Peter. At Trapani, Edward received 
 an earnest invitation from his old companion and 
 steadfast friend, now Gregory X., to visit him at 
 Rome. The prince crossed the Faro of Messina 
 to travel by land through the Italian peninsula. At 
 a mountain village in Calabria he met messengers, 
 by whom he was informed, for the first time, of the 
 death of his father. He had recently lost an infant 
 son whom Eleanor liad borne him in Syria ; and 
 Charles of Anjou, who had now returned from Tu- 
 nis, and had little tenderness for any one, expressed 
 his surprise that lie should grieve more for the death 
 of his old father than for that of his own offspring. 
 «' The loss of my child," said Edward, " is a loss 
 which I may hope to repair, but the death of a 
 father is a loss irreparable !"^ By the month of 
 February, 1273, he was at Rome, but his friend 
 the Pope being absent, he staid only two days in the 
 Eternal City, and then turned aside to Civita Vec- 
 chia, where the Pope received him with honor and 
 affection, Edward demanded justice on the assas- 
 
 1 Hemingford. — Chroii. Pepini in Muratori. — Matt. West. — Wykes. 
 The story of Eleanor's sucking the wound is not mentioned by any 
 chronicler living near the time. It seems to he of Spanish origin, and 
 to have been first mentioned a century or two after the time. 
 
 ■•i Walsingham.— Trirvet 
 
 sins of Henry d'AImaine ; but Simon de Montfort, 
 one of them, had gone to account for his crimes 
 before a higher tribunal; Aldobrandini was too 
 powerful to be rigorously examined, and was not a 
 principal in the murder ; and as Guy de Montfort 
 had absconded, the King of England was obliged to 
 be satisfied with a very imperfect vengeance. Leav- 
 ing the pontiff, he continued his journey through 
 Italy, and he Avas received in triumph at every 
 town. The admiring Milanese presented him witli 
 some fine horses and purple mantles. His exploits 
 in Palestine, limited as they had been, had gained 
 him the reputation of being the champion of the 
 cross; the dangerous wound he had received (if he 
 had died of it he would have been enrolled among 
 saints and martyrs) created an additional sympathy 
 in his favor, and, as if people knew he would be the 
 last king to embark in the crusades, he was hailed 
 with extraordinary enthusiasn<i. It was the bright, 
 broad flash of the flame about to sink into the socket. 
 In a few years the passion for the crusades, which 
 had animated all Europe for more than two centu- 
 ries, was utterly extinct. On crossing the Alps. 
 Edward was met by a deputation from England. 
 He traveled on to Paris, where he was courteously 
 received by his cousin, Philip le Hardi, and did 
 homage to that king for the lands which he held of 
 him in France. 
 
 Notwithstanding the tranquil state of the country, 
 and the loyal disposition of his subjects, it must ex- 
 cite some surprise to see, that after so long an ab- 
 sence, Edward had no anxiety to reach England.' 
 Instead of . crossing the Channel, he turned back 
 from Paris, where he had staid a fortnight, and 
 went to Guienne. The motives generally assigned 
 for his protracted stay on the continent are, his 
 wish to await the decisions of a general council of 
 the church, which the Pope had summoned to meet 
 at Lyons, and the distracted state of Guienne, which 
 province seems never to have been tranquil for a 
 year at a time. But it is pretty evident that the 
 English king entertained suspicions of Philip, who 
 was a far less conscientious sovereign than his 
 father, Louis IX., who had been severelj- blamed 
 by the French for not taking advantage of the 
 weakness of Henry to drive the English out of all 
 their continental possessions. The dark shadows 
 of some deep and disgraceful intrigues are visible : 
 and it seems to us, that when the Pope warned 
 Edward against the swords of assassins, he did not 
 apprehend danger fron) the ruined andTugitive Guy 
 de Montfort, so much as from more prosperous and 
 more powerful agents. In the month of May, r274. 
 while the English king was in Guienne, he received 
 a challenge, couched in all the nice terms and cir- 
 cumlocutions of chivalry, from the Count of Cha- 
 lons, to meet him lance to lance in a tournament. 
 This fashion was then at its height, and knights and 
 
 1 Ho had written letters expressing some fear of the Londoners, and 
 had several times commanded the " mayor, sheriffs, and commonii ' 
 most carefully to keep the peace of the city. The measures adopted 
 in consequence were more rigorous than legal. All persons suspected 
 of having been partisans of the Earl of Leicester were hunted down ii 
 every ward, and, without form of trial or examination, ihro-vn into 
 prison till Edward's return
 
 668 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 QiEEN Eleanor. From her 
 
 nobles of liigh renown and princes royal were ac- ] 
 customed to defy each other in ihe name of God, ' 
 of the bh'ssed Virgin Mary, and of their respective 
 saints and mistresses, and to invite one another, out 
 of love and reverence, to joustings and tiltings, which 
 often terminated in blood and death or fractured 
 limbs. Edward considered himself bound in honor ; 
 as a true knight to accept the count's challenge, and, 
 on tlie appointed day, he entered the lists, as stal- | 
 wart and fearless a combatant as ever sat in saddle. 
 He was attended by a thousand champions; but 
 the Count of Chalons rode to the spot with nearly 
 two thousand. Whispers of bad faith on the part 
 of the count had already been lieard, and the sight ! 
 of this unfair advantage probably confirmed the worst ! 
 suspicions of the English. The image of war was 
 converted into its stern reality — a sanguinary battle 
 ensued, in which the foot-soldiers fook part as well 
 as the knights. The English crossbowmen drove 
 the French infantry from the field, and then mixing : 
 with the English horse, wlio were far outnumbered 
 by their opponents, they overthrew many of the 
 count's knights by stabbing their horses or cutting 
 their saddle-girths — two operations against all rule, 
 and deemed infamous in the code of chivalry. The '' 
 count himself, a man renowned for his physical ' 
 strength, after charging Edward several times with j 
 his lance, rode in, and grasi)ing the king round the ' 
 neck, endeavored to unseat liim. Edward sate like 
 11 rock, and gave the proper touch with the spur; 1 
 liis war-horse sprang forward, the count was pulled ' 
 out of his saddle, and hurled to the ground with a ' 
 dreadful shock. He was remounted by some of 
 Jiis knights; but, sorely bruised and stupefied by 
 his f.dl. he cried out for quarter. Edward was so 
 
 Ti)inb in Westminster Abbey 
 
 enraged, that he kept hammering on the iron ar- 
 mor of his suppliant foe for some tmie, and at List 
 rejected his sword, and made him surrender to 
 a common foot-soldier — an extremity of disgi'ace 
 which the count, had he been a true knight, would 
 have avoided at the cost of life. The English had 
 the best of the aft'ray, taking many knights, who 
 were obliged to ransom their persons, their arms, 
 and their horses (where any were left alive), and 
 slai/ing many of the P'rench footmen — " because 
 they were but rascals, and no great account was 
 made of them." The whole affair was so fierce 
 and sanguinary, that it aftej-ward went bj' the name 
 of the little war of Chalons.' 
 
 A.n. 1274. Edward now turned his thoughts to- 
 ward England, and Pent orders to prepare for his 
 coronation. If these orders were obeyed, the cor- 
 onation-feast must have been a sublime specimen of 
 a well-loaded table ; for 380 head of cattle, 4.30 
 sheep, 4.50 pigs, 18 wild boars, 278 flitches of bacon, 
 and 19,660 capons and fowls, were ordered by the 
 king for this solemn occasion.- As he traveled 
 through France, Edward stopped at tlie pleasant 
 town of Montreuil, to settle some diflerences which 
 had long existed between the English and Flemings, 
 and whicli had curiously committed the commercial 
 interests of both countries. For several reigns the 
 counts of Flanders had been accustomed to let upon 
 hire certain bands or troops of foot-soldiers to the 
 kings of England. These contracts ceased alto- 
 gether during the reign of Heniy III. ; but, some 
 time before the death of that sovereign, Margaret, 
 the reigning countess, claimed pajment of a large 
 sum as arrears, and pressed her claim so rudely, 
 
 ' Ilemings — West.— Tnvct.— n ilinshed. = Rymer.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 669 
 
 that she seized all the English wool — then our great 
 article of export — that could be found in her domin- 
 ions. Henry retaliated, by seizing all the manu- 
 factured Flemish cloths in England, and strictly 
 forbade all trade between the two countries. He 
 enticed over some Flemish clothiers, but their 
 number was insufficient ; and it is said, that as the 
 English were unskilled in the arts of dyeing cloths, 
 they for some time wore their coats of the natural 
 color of the fleece. The Flemings stood in still 
 greater need of our wool, wanting which their looms 
 remained idle, and their artisans were beggared. 
 The countess, who lost immensely by this stoppage 
 of trade, now offered a public apology to Edward, 
 and entreated that the commercial relations of the 
 country might be renewed. The king, who, much 
 to his credit, took the advice of some London 
 merchants of good repute, immediately made up 
 the quarrel; the countess agreed to certain repara- 
 tions, and the trade was renewed. 
 
 On the 2d of August, 1274, after an absence of 
 more than four years, Edward landed at Dover, and 
 on the 19th of the same month, "after the feast of 
 the Assumption," he was crowned, together with 
 his high-minded wife, in Westminster Abbey. On 
 their entrance into London they were " received 
 with all joy that might be devised : the streets were 
 hung with rich cloths of silk, arras, and tapestry ; 
 the aldermen and burgesses of the city threw out 
 of their windows handfuls of gold and silver, to sig- 
 nify the great gladness which they had conceived 
 of his safe return ; the conduits ran plentifully with 
 white wine and red, that each creature might drink 
 his fill.'" The nation was proud of the valor and 
 fame of their king, who was now in the prime of 
 mature manhood, being in his thirty-sixth year ; 
 and the king had good reason to be proud of the 
 aftection, loyaltjs and prosperitj' of the nation. 
 
 The government, however, was poor and embar- 
 rassed, and, in spite of all pretexts, this circum- 
 stance seems to have been the real whetstone of the 
 animosity which Edward showed immediately after 
 his accession to one class of his subjects, — the un- 
 happy Jews. The rest of the nation were now 
 tolerably well protected from arbitrary spoliation by 
 the great charter and the power of parliaments ; but 
 the miserable Israelites, considered unworthy of a 
 participation in the laws and rights of a Christian 
 people, were left naked to oppression, no hand or 
 tongue being raised in their defence, and the mass 
 of the people rejoicing in their ruin. As a zealous 
 crusader, Edward detested all unbelievers, and his 
 religious antipathies went hand-in-hand with his ra- 
 pacity, and probably justified its excesses in his own 
 eyes. The coin had been clipped and adulterated 
 for many years, and the king chose to consider the 
 Jews as the sole or chief authors of this crime.* To 
 bring a Jew before a Christian tribunal was almost 
 the same thing as to sign his death-warrant. Two 
 hundred and eighty of both sexes were hanged in 
 London alone, and many victims also suft'ered in 
 every other town where they resided. As it was 
 
 1 Holinshed. 
 
 2 A few Christiap' were afterward punished for the same offence. 
 
 SO common, clipped money might be found upon 
 every person in the kingdom ; but once discovered 
 in the possession of an Israelite, it was taken as an 
 irrefragable proof of guilt. The houses and the 
 whole property of every Jew that suffered went to 
 the crown, which thus had an interest in multiply- 
 ing the number of convictions. Even before these 
 judicial proceedings, the king prohibited the Jews 
 from taking interest for money lent, from building 
 synagogues, and buying lands or any free tenements. 
 He put a capitation or poll tax upon them, similar 
 to the kharatch which the grand-signior exacts from 
 his Christian subjects : he set a distinctive and odious 
 badge upon their dress, that they might be known 
 from all others, — another Turkish custom, which in 
 its time has been the cause of infinite suffering. 
 Thirteen years later, when Edward was engaged in 
 expensive foreign wars, and the Parliament, in ill- 
 humor thereat, stinted his supplies, he ordered the 
 seizure of every Jew in England ; and on an ap- 
 pointed day, men, women, and children — every 
 living creature in whose veins the ancient blood of 
 the tribes was known or supposed to flow — wen; 
 brutally arrested and cast into loathsome dungeons. 
 There seems to have been no parity of justice on 
 this occasion, and the Jews purchased their enlarge- 
 ment by a direct payment of the sum of 12,000L to 
 the king. Edward might have continued to make 
 good use of them from time to time in this manner, 
 as most of his predecessors had done, but his fanati- 
 cism overcame his avidity for money, or, probably, 
 he wanted a large sum at once, for he was now in 
 the midst of his scheme for the subjugation of Scot- 
 land, and had just married two of his daughters. It 
 was in the year 1290, soon after the sitting of a par- 
 liament at Westminster, that his proclamation weni 
 forth, commanding all the Jews, under the penalty 
 of death, to quit the kingdom forever, within the 
 space of two months. Their total number was con- 
 siderable, for though long robbed and persecuted in 
 England, they had, notwithstanding, increased and 
 multiplied, and their condition in the other countries 
 of Christendom being still worse than here, the 
 stream of emigration had set prettj' constantly from 
 the opposite side of the Channel. Sixteen thousand 
 five hundred and eleven individuals received the 
 king's pass, with the gracious permission to carry with 
 them as much of their ready money as would pay 
 the immediate expenses of their voyage. Houses, 
 lands, merchandise, treasures, debts owing to them, 
 with their bonds, their tallies and obligations, were 
 all seized by the king. The mariners of London, 
 and the inhabitants of the Cinque Ports generally, 
 who were as bigoted as the king, and thought it no 
 sin to be as rapacious toward the accursed Jews, 
 robbed many of them of the small |)ittance left them, 
 and drowned not a few during their passage. To 
 help to keep alive a wholesome abhorrence of these 
 detestable cruelties, we will mention one particular 
 case, as recorded by Holinshed on the credit of u 
 contemporary chronicle : — " Some of the richest of 
 the Jews being shipped in a mighty tall ship which 
 they had hired, when the .same was under sail, and 
 had got down the Thames toward the mouth of the
 
 670 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 river, the master mariner bethought him of a wile, 
 and caused his men to cast anclior, and so rode at 
 the same, till the ship, by ebbing of the stream, re- 
 mained on tlie dry sands. The master then enticed 
 the .lews to walk out witli him for recreation. And 
 at length, when the .lews were on the sands, and 
 he understood the tide to bo coming in, he gat him 
 back to the ship, whither he was drawn by a rope. 
 The Jews made not so much haste, because they 
 were not aware of the danger; but wlien they per- 
 ceived liow the matter stood, they cried to the mas- 
 ter for help. He, however, told them that they 
 ought to cry rather upon Moses, by whose guidance 
 their fathers liad passed through tlic Red Sea. 
 They cried, indeed, but no succor appeared, and so 
 they were swallowed up by tlie water." Some few 
 mariners were convicted and suft'ered capital pun- 
 ishment ; for the king, to use the keen sarcasm of 
 Hume, was determined to be the sole plunderer in 
 his dominions. 
 
 Contemporaneously with these shameful proceed- 
 ings against the Jews, Edward enacted many just 
 and wise laws for his Christian subjects ; and the 
 additions and improvements which he made in the 
 laws and the practices of the courts will be noticed 
 in their proper place. The nature of liis reforms 
 sliows the extent of the evil that had existed : in 
 1299, all the judges of the land were indicted for 
 bribery, and only two of tlie number were acquit- 
 ted ; the chief justice of the Court of King's Bench 
 was convicted of instigating liis servants to commit 
 murder, and of protecting them against the law after 
 the offence ; the chief baron of the Exchequer was 
 imprisoned and heavily fined, and so was Sir Ralph 
 de Hengliain, the grand justiciary. But perhaps in 
 some of these cases we shall not greatly err if we 
 deduct from the delinquency of the accused, and 
 allow something for the arbitrary will of the accuser. 
 It is known that the king, who had just returned 
 from a costly sojourn of nearly three years in France, 
 was in great want of money, when, as the conse- 
 quence of their condemnation, he exacted about 
 H0,000 marks from the judges. In recovering, or 
 attempting to recover, such parts of the royal do- 
 main as had been encroached upon, and in examin- 
 ing the titles by which some of the great barons held 
 their estates, he roused a spirit which might have 
 proved fatal to him had he not prudently stopped in 
 time. When his commissioners asked Earl War- 
 enne to show his titles, the earl drew his sword and 
 said, — " By this instrument do I hold my lands, and 
 by the same I intend to defend them ! Our ances- 
 tors, coming into this realm with William the Bas- 
 tard, acquired their possessions by their good swords. 
 William did not make a conquest alone, or for him- 
 self solely ; our ancestors were helpers and partici- 
 pants with him !" Such title-deeds were not to be 
 disputed ; but there were other cases where men 
 wore less powerful swords, and where WTitten deeds 
 and grants from the crown had been lost or destroyed 
 iluring the convulsions of the country; and Edward 
 seized some manors and estates, and made their 
 owners redeem them by large sums of money. 
 There was much bad faith in these proceedings, 
 
 but as the king chose his victims with much pru- 
 dence, no insurrection was excited. 
 
 We must now retrace our steps, to take a regu- 
 lar view of this king's gi-eat operations in war. 
 Edward was to the full as ambitious and fond of 
 conquest as any prince of the Norman or Plan- 
 tagenet line ; but, instead of expending his power 
 in foreign wars, he husbanded it for the grand 
 plan of reducing the whole of the island of Great 
 Britain under his immediate and luidivided swfiy. 
 Ho employed the claim of feudal superiority — a 
 right most di/TicuIt to define, even if its existence 
 had been admitted — with final success against 
 Wales ; and though, with regard to Scotland, it 
 eventually failed, the ruin of his scluMue there did 
 not happen until after his death, and he felt for 
 n time the proud certainty of having defeated every 
 opponent. If the acknowledgment of the para- 
 mount authority of the English kings, extracted 
 from unsuccessful princes, justified a forcible seizure 
 of territory against the wishes of the people, Ed- 
 ward may be acknowledged to have had that right 
 over Wales. Setting aside the somewhat doubtful 
 vassalage of the Welsh principalities to our Saxon 
 kings, on which the Norman conquerors impudently 
 founded a pretension, as being the lawful heirs to 
 those kings, W'o have repeated instances of a seem- 
 ing submission, when the princes purchased peace 
 by engaging to paj' certain tributes, and to recognize 
 the suzerainty of the English throne. This feudal 
 superiority, however, was liable to all sorts of varia- 
 tion, and was never really fixed by the written or 
 understood law of the feudal system, though, in 
 certain cases, the forms of that law could be applied 
 in regard to it with an appearance of regularity and 
 justice. When a weak state stood in this relation 
 with a strong one, the feudal supremacy implied an 
 almost unlimited right of interference and control ; 
 but when the relation existed between two states 
 of equal power, it meant little or nothing beyond a 
 mere ceremony. Thus the kings of England, as 
 vassals to the sovereigns of France for their terri- 
 tories on the continent, had for a long time defied 
 the authority of their liege lords, after making them 
 tremble in Paris, their own capital. Those other 
 nominal vassals, the great dukes of Burgundy, al- 
 though they had no separate sovereignty like the 
 Normans and Plantagenets, repeatedly followed the 
 same course. The forfeiture pionounced against 
 John was generally considered as an unjustifialde 
 stretch of the rights of supremacy, but it was well 
 timed — it was directed against one who had made 
 himself universally odious, and whose continental 
 subjects, for the most part, at this crisis, preferred 
 a union with France to their old connection with 
 England. The nature of Edward's right is scarcely 
 deserving of a further examination ; had no such 
 claims existed he would have invented others — for 
 he was determined on the conquest of the country, 
 and internal dissensions and other circumstances 
 favored the enterprise. The expediency of the 
 measure, and the advantages that have resulted 
 from it, ought not to make us indifferent to the fate 
 of a brave people who were fighting for their indc-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 Earl Warenne justifyii.o his Title to his Estates. 
 
 pendence. The Anglo-Normans, who had been 
 gradually encroaching on their territory for two 
 hundred years, accused the poor Welsh of cruelty 
 and perfidy — forgetting that they were themselves 
 the aggressoi's, and had been guilty of treachery the 
 most manifold, and of cruelties the most atrocious. 
 Since the beginning of the reign of Henry II., civil- 
 ization had advanced in the rich champaign of Eng- 
 land, and had, from the circumstances in which the 
 country was placed, retrograded in Wales ; but 
 there are writers of the time who trace in that land 
 the most interesting picture of a hospitable and 
 generous race of men, full of the elements of poetry, 
 and passionately fond of their wild native music. 
 According to their countryman, Giraldus Cam- 
 brensis, no people could well be more gentle and 
 courteous in times of peace : notwithstanding the 
 injuries constantly inflicted upon them by their 
 neighbors, whenever an Ane;lo-Norinan or English- 
 man visited them in their mountains without arms, 
 and as a quiet guest, he was received with the 
 greatest kindness, and feasted at every house where 
 
 he chose to stop. Such as arrived m the morning 
 hours were entertained till the evening by the young 
 women with the harp and songs. In every houso 
 there was a harp ; and the company, seated in a 
 circle round the harper, sang verses alternately — 
 the verses being sometimes improvised. At times, 
 a challenge to improvisation was sent from man to 
 man, or from a whole village to another village. 
 Though chiefly a pastoral people, they were not 
 rude or clownish. " All the Welsh," says Giraldus, 
 "without any exception, from the highest to the 
 lowest, are ready and free in speetli, and have 
 great confidence in replying even to princes and 
 magnates." The mass of the nation, however, not- 
 withstanding this partial refinement, was poor, and 
 but rudely clad, as compared with their English 
 contemporaries. One day, as Henry II. rode 
 through part of their country attended by his 
 splendid chivalry, he looked with a contemptuous 
 eye on the Welsh gentlemen riding on their rough 
 ponies, and on the poorer sort who were clad in 
 sheep or goats' skins. A mountaineer approached
 
 672 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 "the great king, and said, with a noble pride, " Thou 
 seest tliis poor people — but such as they are thou 
 never shalt subdue them — that is reserved alone for 
 God in his wrath." And thougii this wrath may 
 have been manifested, and their country reduced 
 bv Henry's great-grandson, seldom has ever a race 
 of mountaineers made a longer or more gallant 
 stand for liberty. When the sword of slaughter 
 had passed over them to smite no more — when bet- 
 ter times and better feelings came, though, as less 
 numerous and far more exjjosed, they had been 
 less fortunate than the Scots, their valor entitled 
 them to the same admiration and sympathy; and 
 perhaps the high national character of the united 
 kingdom of Great Britain may be in part owing to 
 the fact, that no one ])ortion of it fell an easy or 
 degraded conquest to the other. 
 
 At the time of Edward's aggression, the principal- 
 ity of North Wales, called by the Welsh tlie princi- 
 pality of Aberfraw, or Snaudcn, was still almost 
 untouched by English arms ; but the conquerors 
 had established themselves in iMonmouthshire, and 
 held a somewhat uncertain and frequently disturbed 
 possession of a good part of South Wales. This 
 occupation had been etlccted very gradually by the 
 great barons who had made incursions at their own 
 expense, and with their own retainers. These 
 lords were rewarded witli the lands they gained 
 from the Welsh, and which tliey defended by 
 erecting sti'ong castles. As they advanced, they 
 raised chains of fortifications, building their castles 
 sulTiciently near to communicate witli and support 
 each other. Thus, in Monmouthshire, a regular 
 chain of fortresses was occupied on the banks of 
 the Monnow, the W^'^e, and the Severn : these 
 were Scenfreth, Grosmont, Monmouth, Trelech, 
 perhaps Tintern, Chepstow, and Caldecot. A sec- 
 ond line stretched diagonally from Grosmont on the 
 Monnow to the banks of the Rumney ; these were 
 Whitecastle, Tregaer, Usk, Langibby, Caerleon, 
 and Newport ; this diagonal line, with the strong 
 castle of Abergavenny to the north of it, was in- 
 tended to curb the mountaineers, who made perpet- 
 ual incursions on their invaders.' In addition to 
 these strong fortresses, many smaller castles were 
 constructed for the purpose of keeping the natives 
 in awe. The more advanced posts were often re- 
 taken, and tlie day when one of these castles was 
 destroyed was held by the Welsh, who foresaw the 
 consequences of this gradual advance, as a day of 
 universal joy, on which tlie father, who had just 
 lost his only son, should forget his misfortune. But 
 still the cliains were drawn more and more closely 
 around them by the persevering invaders; and, 
 since the conquest of Ireland, extraordinary pains 
 had been taken to secure the whole of the line 
 through South Wales to Milford Haven, the usual 
 place of embarkation for the sister island. In the 
 wilderness of the Tivy, and in many of the more 
 inaccessible moors, marshes, and mountains, the 
 invaders were still defied; and, except in Pem- 
 brokeshire, where the Flemish colony had been 
 settled by Henrj' I., ond in the lower part of Mon- 
 
 i Coxe's Moiimouthshire. 
 
 mouthshire, the English were scarcely safe beyond 
 the walls of their castles, so fierce was the recol- 
 lection of past wrongs, and so enduring the hope of 
 the southern Welsh to recover all that they had 
 lost. But the jealousies of their petty princes, and 
 the rancorous feuds of the clans, defeated all their 
 greater projects; and, at the critical moment which 
 was to seal the fate of the whole country, Rees-ap- 
 Meredith, the Prince of South Wales, was induced 
 to join Edward and fight against Llewellyn, the 
 ruler of the northojn principality, and the repre- 
 sentative of a rival family. Llewellyn, moreover, 
 was opposed by his own brother David, wlio also 
 rallied, Avith his vassals, round the standard of the 
 English king. 
 
 In the wars between Henry IH. and the barons, 
 the Prince of North Wales had taken i)art with the 
 latter, and had shown himself the steady friend of 
 De Montfort. A body of northern Welsh had 
 fought for, that great earl against Edward at the 
 battle of Evesham ; and when De Montfort was 
 dead, and his family ruined and scattered, Llewellyn 
 still retained his old aftection for the house, and 
 agreed ujjon a marriage witli Elinor de Montfort. 
 daughter to the deceased earl. As that young lady 
 was on her voyage from France to Wales, witli 
 Emeric her youngest brother, she was taken by four 
 ships of Bristol, and was sent to King Edward's 
 court, where both brother and sister were detained 
 as prisoners. Angry feelings had existed before, 
 but this seizure of his bride transported Llewellyn 
 with wrath, and, bitterly complaining of the wrong 
 and insult which had been done to him in a time of 
 peace, he prepared for war. According to some 
 accounts, he began hostilities by falling upon the 
 I^nglish on his borders, killing the people, and burn- 
 ing their towns ; but this is not quite certain, and. 
 at all events, Edward had long been employed in 
 making preparations for conquest, and, what was 
 equally notorious, and still more irritating to the 
 unfortunate prince, he had been intriguing with 
 Llewellyn's subjects and corrupting the Welsli 
 chiefs with bribes and promises. As to the ground 
 of quarrel chosen by Edward, it was quite true that 
 Llewellyn had not obeyed the summons to do 
 homage as one of the great vassals of the crown ; 
 but he had acknowledged the duties of his vassal- 
 age, and excused his non-attendance, which he 
 said had solely arisen out of Edward's violation of 
 a solemn treaty which had been concluded by the 
 mediation of the Pope. 
 
 One of the clauses of this recent treaty had 
 provided that neither part}' should harbor the 
 enemies or revolted subjects of the other; and 
 Edward, it was well known, had given shelter and 
 encouragement to all the enemies of Llewellyn, 
 and continued to receive the rebellious Welsh as 
 personal friends. Llewellyn said that, under these 
 circumstances, his life would be in danger if he 
 ventured to the King of England's court, and he 
 demanded a safe conduct, which was refused. 
 After the seizure of his bride his demands naturally 
 I rose : he asked for hostages and for the previous 
 j hberation of Elinor de Montfort, and then, he said,
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 673 
 
 he would go to court. But Edward did not want 
 him there : that resolute king had now matured his 
 measures for the subjugation of Wales. He had 
 levied a line army — his parliament had pronounced 
 the sentence of forfeiture against Llewellyn as a 
 rebel — it had also voted a large supply — and the 
 church had excommunicated the Welsh prince.' 
 
 In A.D. 1277, after the feast of Easter, Edward 
 departed from Westminster, and with a mighty 
 force, which increased as he advanced, marched 
 toward Chester. At midsummer he crossed the 
 Dee, and, keeping between the mountains and the 
 sea, took the two castles of Flint and Rhuddlan. 
 Cautious in the extreme, he made no further prog- 
 ress until he had repaired these fortresses and 
 strengthened their defences. At the same time 
 his fleet, which was skilfully managed by the mari- 
 ners of the Cinque Ports, cooperated along the 
 devoted coast, blockading everj' port, and cutting 
 off the supplies which Llewellyn had counted 
 upon receiving from the Isle of Anglesey. On the 
 land side every outlet was strongly guarded, and 
 the Welsh prince, driven to the mountains, was soon 
 in want of provisions. Edward prudently avoided 
 a battle with desperate men, and, girding in the 
 barren mountains, waited the effects of a surer and 
 more dreadful desti'oyer than the sword. When 
 winter made its approach the condition of Llewel- 
 lyn was horrible, and it finally obliged him to throw 
 himself on the generosity of his enemy. On the 
 10th of November Edward dictated his harsh terms 
 at Rhuddlan Castle. The treaty stipulated that 
 Llewellj-n should pay fifty thousand pounds — that 
 he should cede the whole of his principality as far 
 as the river Conway — that he should do homage, 
 and deliver hostages. He was to retain the Isle 
 of Anglesey; but even that remnant was to revert 
 to the English crown in case of his dying without 
 issue male ; and during his possession he Avas to 
 pay for it an annual tribute or rent of one thousand 
 marks.^ The English king afterward remitted the 
 tremendous fine, which so poor a country could 
 never have paid, and resigned his claim to the rent 
 of Anglesey ; but he showed no great alacrity in 
 making these concessions, and he let nearly a year 
 elapse before he pei'formed his promise of releasing 
 Llewellyn's bride. 
 
 Such treaties as that imposed on this occasion 
 upon the Welsh are never kept, and all Edward's 
 art could not reconcile either the prince or people 
 to the sense of degradation. He gratified Llewel- 
 lyn's brother David, who had fought for him, by 
 marrjing him to the daughter of an English earl, 
 and making him an English baron ; but, when David 
 stood among his native mountains, he forgot this 
 and other honors ; he cursed his own folly, which 
 had brought ruin upon his country, and had excluded 
 him from the hope of succeeding, either in his own 
 person or in that of his children, to the principalitj.^ 
 The English conquerors were not sufficiently re- 
 fined to exercise their power with moderation; they 
 
 '■ Rj'mer. — Wykes. — Chron. Diinst. — Trivet. 
 
 2 Rymer. — Hemingf — Trivet. 
 
 s Llewellyn, it appears, haJ no children. 
 
 VOL. I. — 43 
 
 derided the national usages, and insulted the preju- 
 dices of a susceptible and b-.ave people. The inva- 
 sion of their own demesnes, and the cutting down 
 of the wood on the lands i-eserved to them by treaty, 
 exasperated both Llewellyn and David; but it is 
 perfectly clear that had these princes been converted 
 into subservient vassals, or won by the kindest treat- 
 ment to be solicitous for the preservation of the 
 peace, they would still have been forced into war 
 by the unanimous feeling of the Welsh people. 
 Superstition allied itself with patriotism, and, iu 
 order to increase the popular confidence, certain 
 old prophecies of bards and seers were revived 
 under a happy coincidence of circumstances which 
 seemed to denote a speedy accomplishment. One 
 of these mystic predictions imported nothing less 
 than that the ancient race should recover its tradi- 
 tional supremacy in the island, and that the Prince 
 of Whales should be crowned king in London. On 
 the night of Palm Sunday, 3Iarch the 2-Jd, of the 
 year 1282, David surprised and took the strong 
 castle of Hawardine, belonging to Roger Clifford, 
 the justiciary, "a right worthy and famous knight," 
 according to the English ; a cruel tyrant, according 
 to the Welsh. Several men who made resistance 
 were killed, but the lord, who was caught in his 
 bed, was only wounded, and then carried off as 
 a prisoner. A general insurrection ensued : the 
 Welsh rushed in arms from their mountains, and 
 Llewellyn, joining his brother, laid siege to the 
 castles of Flint and Rhuddlan. These sti'ong places 
 held out, but many of the new castles were taken 
 and destroyed, and the English intruders were in 
 some places driven across the marches. Forgetting 
 their own cruelties and oppressions of all kinds, the 
 English accused the Welsh of great barbarity iu 
 this brief moment of success. When the news 
 was carried to Edward he affected surprise ; but it 
 has been suspected that he was not displeased with 
 the opportunity, afforded by what had taken place, 
 of making his conquest final and absolute. He was 
 in want of mone}', and had no time to assemble a 
 parliament ; he therefore had recourse to the very 
 unconstitutional means of a forced loan, which was 
 levied, not only on towns and religious establish- 
 ments, but also on private individuals who Avere 
 known to possess money. He then sent out com- 
 missioners to raise an army, and disj)atched such 
 troops as he had in readiness to the relief of Flint 
 and Rhuddlan. He soon followed in person, and 
 having assembled nearly all his military tenants and 
 1000 pioneers, he advanced into North Wales, leav- 
 ing his fleet, which was still more formidable than 
 in the preceding wnr, to act upon the coast, and 
 reduce the Isle of Anglesey. His pioneers cut 
 down woods, and opened roads into the very fast- 
 nesses of Snowdon, whither the natives were again 
 forced to retire. Some intrenched positions were 
 carried, but not without a great loss ; and in ono 
 affair, which appears to have been a regular battle. 
 Edward was completely checked, if not defeated. 
 But the means at his disposal made the struggle 
 too unequal; reinforcements continually crossed the 
 Dec, or came up from the coast, and he procured
 
 Q-H 
 
 HISTORY OF E.NGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 the services of foreign morcennries, who were par- \ hke blood-hounds. These foreign hordes acted 
 ticuliirly well suited for niouiitaiu warfare. These where the regular troops of the English king could 
 were bands of Basques from the Pyrenees, whose not ; — accustomed in their own country to mouu- 
 method of lighting, and whose general habits and tains far more rugged, they penetrated into every 
 uiaiuiers differed little from those of the Welsh part of Snowdon, and the last bulwark of Welsh 
 people, whom they were employed to hunt down independence was forced. Edward, chielly by means 
 
 Summit of Snowdon. 
 
 oi" his fleet (the Welsh seem to have had no ships 
 to oppose it), occupied Anglesey ; but, in passing 
 from that island to the main, a detachment of his 
 forces sustained a severe loss. They had laid down 
 a bridge of boats across the Menai Strait, at or near 
 to the place where Telford's suspension-bridge, 
 hanging in air, now affords a commodious commu- 
 nication between the opposite shores ; and in the 
 absence of Edward, who was at Aberconway, a 
 party of English, with some Gascon lords and a 
 body of Basques, crossed over before it was finished, 
 making part of their way by wading through the 
 water when the tide was out. The Welsh, who 
 had thrown up some intrenchments near the spot, 
 permitted them to land, and even to reconnoitre their 
 works ; but when the tide rolled in, and made deep 
 water between them and the unfinished bridge of 
 boats, they rushed down upon them and drove them 
 into the sea, where, loaded as they were wMth 
 armor, many of them wen-e drowned. Between 
 the sword and the waves there perished thirteen 
 knights, seventeen esquires, and several hundred 
 foot-soldiers. When Edward learned this sad dis- 
 aster, he vowed he would build a stone bridge at 
 the place : but such an undertaking was soon found 
 to be impracticable. This reverse at the Menai 
 Strait happened on St. Leonard's day, the 6th of 
 November. In another battle, Edward himself was 
 worsted, being obliged to fly for protection to one 
 
 of his castles, leaving the lords Audley and Clifford 
 dead on the field. Llewellyn was elated by these 
 successes, and he fondly hoped that the severity 
 of winter would force the English to retire ; but 
 Edward had collected a strong force in Pembroke- 
 shire and Carmarthen, and he now sent it orders 
 to advance through South Wales, and attack his 
 enemy in the rear. Leaving his brother David to 
 carry on the war in North Wales, his own princi- 
 pality, Llewellyn boldly turned his steps to the south 
 to meet the new invaders. This movement may 
 possibly have been recommended by false friends; 
 and there certainly is an appearance of treachery in 
 what followed. He had reached Bualth, in the val- 
 ley of the Wj-e, when the English, under the savage 
 Earl of Mortimer, appeared suddenly on the oppo- 
 site side of the river. A W^elsh force was on the 
 neighboring heights, but the prince had been left 
 with only a few followers. The English crossed 
 the river and surprised liim before he had time to 
 put on his armor; he was murdered, rather than 
 slain in battle. They cut off his head and sent it 
 to Edward, who forwarded it to London, there to 
 be placed on the Tower, with a crown of willow, in 
 mockej-y of the prophecy of his coronation. 
 
 The struggle for liberty did not, however, end 
 with this unfortunate prince. In spite of the sub- 
 mission of most of the Welsh chiefs, his brother 
 David still kept his sword in his hand, and for six
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 675 
 
 months he wandered a free man over his native 
 wilds. At last he was betrayed by some unpatriotic 
 Welshmen, and with his wife and children carried 
 in chains to the castle of Rhuddlan. In the month 
 of September following, an English parliament as- 
 sembled by Edward at Shrewsbury, pronounced 
 the doom — not of the last champion of Welsh inde- 
 pendence (for Madoc and others soon followed) — 
 but of the last sovereign prince of one of the most 
 ancient ruling families of Europe. He was sen- 
 tenced — 1st. To be dragged by a horse to the pla«e 
 of execution, because he was a traitor to the king, 
 who had made him a knight. 2dly. To be hanged, 
 because he had murdered the knights in Hawardine 
 Castle. 3dly. To have his bowels burned, because 
 he had done the deed on Palm Sunday, the season 
 of Christ's passion. 4thly. To be quartered, and 
 have his limbs hung up in different places, because 
 he had conspired the death of his lord the king in 
 various parts. The sentence was executed to the 
 letter, and it remained for many ages a revolting 
 precedent in cases of high treason.^ 
 
 Edward had far more patience and prudence than 
 ' Ilemiiigf. — Chrou. Dunst. — Rvnier. — Carte. 
 
 was common to the warriors and conquerors of his 
 time ; and he devised wise means for retaining pos- 
 session of what he had gained by force. He did not 
 move from Wales until more than a year after the 
 death of Llewellyn, and he spent the greater part 
 of that time in dividing the country into shires and 
 hundreds, after the manner of England, and restor- 
 ing order and tranquillity. Immediately after the 
 affair of Bualth, he published a jn-oclamation, offering 
 peace to all the inhabitants, giving them at the same 
 time assurances that they should continue to enjoy 
 all their lands, liberties, and properties as they had 
 done before. He seems even to have lightened the 
 taxes they paid to their native princes. Some of 
 the ancient usages of the country were respected, 
 but, generally speaking, the laws of England were 
 introduced and enforced. He gave charters with 
 great privileges to various trading companies in Rhud- 
 dlan, Caernarvon, Aberystwith, and other towns, 
 with the view of encouraging trade and tempting 
 the Welsh from their mountains, and their wild, 
 free way of living, to a more social and submissive 
 state. When his wife Eleanor bore him a son in 
 the castle of Caernarvon, he adroitly availed him- 
 
 Caersarvon Castle. 
 
 .^elf of that circumstance, by presenting the infant 
 Edward to the people as their countryman, and 
 telling them that he who was born among them 
 should be their prince. The Welsh chiefs expected 
 that this " Prince of Wales" would have the sepa- 
 rate government of their country, for Alphonso, an 
 elder brother of the infant Edward, was then alive, 
 and the acknowledged heir to the English crown. 
 For some time they indulged in this dream of a re- 
 stored independence, and professed, and probably 
 
 felt, a great attachment to the young Edward ; but 
 Prince Alphonso died; the illusion was also dissi- 
 pated by other circumstances, and, in the sequel, 
 the Welsh-born prince came to be regarded by his 
 countrymen with very different feelings from either 
 pride or affection. 
 
 King Edward strongly fortified the two castles of 
 Caernarvon and Conway, and built some other for- 
 tresses, all which places he supplied with good gar- 
 risons and stores of provisions. To secure his
 
 676 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 conquest from the incursions of the people of Snow- 
 don, he divided most of the lands at the foot of that 
 mountain among his great English barons, and the>' 
 again subdivided them among their officers and 
 vassals, wlio held them in lief, and built other cas- 
 tles and towers for tlieir defence. But these tyran- 
 nical lords and greedy retainers could not follow the 
 examjjle of the. king's moderation; and their cruel 
 excesses and their insulting demeanor toward the 
 Welsh, continually provoked hostilities, and kept 
 alive feelings which frequently vented themselves in 
 deeds of a savage enough character, tliougli scarcely 
 more lawless than the oppressions out of which they 
 arose. 
 
 After the subjugation of Wales, Edward's ambi- 
 tion rested for about four years — three of which he 
 passed almost wholly on the continent, where lie was 
 honorably engaged as umpire to settle a fresh dis- 
 pute which had arisen between the kings of France 
 and Arragon, and the house of Anjou, respecting 
 the island of Sicily. His ability and conduct in 
 this matter gained him a great increase of re|)uta- 
 tion among foreign princes ;' but the affairs of his 
 own kingdom fell into disorder; the English people 
 complained that he neglected their interests to take 
 charge of what did not concern them; and the Par- 
 liament at last refused him a supply which he had 
 asked. The king then returned in haste, and, al- 
 most immediately after, he involved himself in the 
 affairs of Scotland, which, with a few short inter- 
 vals, entirely occupied him all tlie rest of his reign. 
 
 Before proceeding, however, to this part of tlie 
 story of the English king, it will be most convenient 
 to resume our Scottish narrative from the point to 
 which we brought it down in the last Book.^ 
 
 The reign of Alexander H., who succeeded to 
 the throne in 1-214, will not detain us long. After 
 the death of .John, the King of Scots continued to 
 cooperate with Prince Louis of France and the 
 confederated English barons ; and he himself, his 
 whole army, and kingdom were, in consequence, 
 excommunicated by the legate Gualo ; but the sen- 
 tence seems to have been very little minded either 
 by the people or their clergy. It was not even pub- 
 lished by the latter till almost a twelvemonth had 
 passed. In the mean time Louis made j)eace with 
 Henry, without giving himself any concern about 
 his ally. On this, Alexander, who was on his march 
 into England, returned home. He soon after, how- 
 ever, effected his reconciliation both with the Pope 
 and the new king of England. On the 1st of De- 
 cember, 1217, he received absolution from the dele- 
 gates of Gualo at Tweedmouth ; and at the same 
 time he surrendered to Henry the town of Carlisle, 
 of which, although not of the castle, he had made 
 himself master, and did homage for the earldom of 
 Huntingdon and his other honors and possessions in 
 England. On the 25th of June, 1221, Alexander 
 married the Princess Joan, Henry's eldest sister. 
 A long period of uninterrupted peace and amity 
 between the two countries was the consequence of 
 these arrangements. Some insurrections or dis- 
 
 1 Rymer — Mezeray, llist. Franc— Giannone, Storia dsl Re^no di 
 Napuli- • » Sec autr, p. 5^7. 
 
 turbances in the as yet onlj' half-subdued provinces 
 of Argyle, Caithness, Moray, and (ialloway, all of 
 which were successively supjiressed, are almost the 
 only events tliat mark the history of the northern 
 kingdom for the next twelve or thirteen years. The 
 most serious of these provincial conuuotions was the 
 last, which broke out in Galloway, in 1233, upon 
 the death of Alan, Constable of Scotland, the lord of 
 that district, leaving three daughters, but no male 
 heir. This Alan of (ialloway occupies an important 
 place in Scottish historj', in consequence of his mar- 
 riage with iNIargaret, the eldest of the three daugh- 
 ters, and eventual lieiresses, of David, Earl of 
 Huntingdon, the brother of William the Lion ; u 
 connection through which Dervorgoil, his eldest 
 daughter by that marriage, transmitted, as we shall 
 presently find, to her descendants the lineal right of 
 succession to the throne. On the death of their 
 lord, the Gallowegians rose in resistance to the par- 
 tition of their country among his legitimate heirs ; 
 and, placing at their head Thomas, a bastard sou 
 of Alan, who was aided by an Irish chief named 
 Gilrodh (or Ciilderoj-), they did not even wait to be 
 attacked by the Scottish king, who was marching 
 against them, but rushed forth from their mountains 
 with Celtic fury, and proceeded to ravage the adja- 
 cent country. They even contrived to surround 
 Alexander, when he had got entangled among mo- 
 rasses, and he was in imminent danger till the Earl 
 of Ross came to his assistance, and, assaulting the 
 rebels in tlie rear, discomfited them with great 
 slaughter. This victory put an end to the insurrec- 
 tion for the present. The following year, however, 
 Thomas and Gilrodh, who had both escaped to Ire- 
 land, returned with a fresh force, and renewed the 
 war. But this second attempt was soon checked : 
 the two leaders were pardoned on their surrender; 
 their Irish followers, crowding toward the Clyde, in 
 the hope of being able to find a passage to their own 
 country, fell into the hands of a band of the citizens 
 of Glasgow, who are said to have beheaded them 
 all, with the exception only of two, whom they sent 
 to Edinburgh to be hanged and quartered there. 
 
 Notwithstanding the alliance that connected Alex- 
 ander and Henry, and the friendship and frequtiut 
 intercourse in which they lived — for the King of 
 Scots made repeated visits to the English court — no 
 final settlement of their claims upon each other had 
 yet taken place. It was not till September, 1237, 
 that at a conference, held at York, it was agreed 
 that Alexander, who, among other things, laid claim, 
 by right of inheritance, to the counties of Northum- 
 berland, Cumberland, and W^estmoreland, should 
 receive lauds in the two former of the yearly value 
 of two hundred pounds in full satisfaction of all his 
 demands. The following year (4th March, 1238) 
 Queen Joan, who had been long in a declining state, 
 died at Canterbury. She had left no issue, and 
 within little more than a year (15th May, 1239) 
 Alexander married again : his new queen was Mary, 
 daughter of Ingelram de Couci, a great lord of 
 Picardy. The chief bond that had attached the 
 two kings was thus snapped ; and Mary de Couci 
 whose family had been distinguished for its opposL-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 677 
 
 tion to the English interests, is, beside, supposed 
 to have exercised an unfavorable influence over the 
 mind of her husband. It was some years, however, 
 liefore the old friendship that had subsisted between 
 liim and Henry wholly gave way; even in 1242 we 
 find Henry, when about to set out on his expedition 
 to France, confiding to Alexander the care of the 
 northern borders. But in this same year an event 
 occurred which is especially memorable for the con- 
 sequences attributed to it. An old feud had existed 
 between the Bissets, a powerful family in the north 
 of Scotland, and the House of Athole. At a tour- 
 nament held at Haddington, Patrick, Earl of Athole, 
 a youth distinguished for his knightly accomplish- 
 ments, chanced to overthrow Walter Bissct. Within 
 a day or two after the Earl of Athole was found 
 murdered in the house where he lodged, which 
 was also set on fire. Suspicion immediately fell 
 upon the Bissets : the nobility, headed by the Earl 
 of March, immediately raised an armed force, and 
 demanded the life both of Walter and of his uncle 
 William Bisset, the chief of the family. It appears 
 pretty certain that the latter at least was innocent 
 of any participation in the murder: he urged, what 
 seems to have been the fact, that he was not within 
 fifty miles of Haddington when it was committed : 
 he offered to maintain his innocence by the wager 
 of battle ; and, still further to clear himself, he had 
 sentence of excommunication against the murderers 
 published both in his own chapel and in all the 
 churches of the kingdom. It seems to liave been 
 against him, nevertheless, that the rage both of the 
 connections of Athole and of the people generally 
 was chiefly turned ; the savage notions of the period 
 could not view what had taken place in any other 
 light than as a gi'ouud for hunting to death the whole 
 kindred of the supposed criminal; and the head of 
 his family, as higher game, was naturally, in the 
 spirit of this mode of considering the matter, pur- 
 sued even with more eagerness than himself. The 
 king, however, seems to have felt the injustice of 
 the popular clamor; he interposed for Bisset's pro- 
 tection ; and even the queen, according to Fordun, 
 ottered to make oath that he had no part in devising 
 the crime ; that is to say, she was so convinced of 
 his innocence that she was willing to come forward 
 as one of his compurgators, if the case should be 
 submitted to that mode of trial. The opposite party, 
 however, seem to have declined submitting the ques- 
 tion to decision either by compurgation or by com- 
 bat : they insisted that it should be brought before a 
 jury; so that this affair is remarkable, in addition to 
 its other points of interest, as a memorial of all the 
 three great forms of judicial procedure in criminal 
 cases Avhich were then in use. Bisset refused the 
 trial by jury, "on account of the malevolence of the 
 people, and the implacable resentment of his ene- 
 mies." At last, by the exertions of the king, it was 
 agreed that he should be allowed to escape with his 
 life on condition of forfeiting his estates and leaving 
 the country. But he was still, notwithstanding, in 
 the gi-eatest danger from the secret determination 
 of his enemies to have his blood ; and it was only by 
 remaining in concealment under the royal protec- 
 
 tion for about three months, that he was at last ena- 
 bled to make his escape to England. Whatever 
 may have been his injuries, he now certainly showed 
 little nobleness of character. Stung, possibly, with 
 an indignant sense of the injustice he had experi- 
 enced, he sought to avenge himself on his enemies 
 at the expense not only of his country but of its 
 king, to whose zealous and energetic interposition 
 in his favor he owed his life. It is said that he 
 made his appeal to the King of England against the 
 judgment that had been passed on him, on the plea 
 that "Alexander, being the vassal of Henry, had no 
 right to inflict such punishment on liis nobles with- 
 out the permission of his liege lord ;" and that, at the 
 same time, he further endeavored to excite Henry 
 against the Scottish king, by describing the latter as 
 devoted to the interests of France, and quoting in- 
 stances in which, as he afiirmed, English traitors 
 who had escaped from prison were received and 
 harbored at the northern court.' 
 
 These insidious representations may not improb- 
 ably have had some part, along Avith other causes, 
 in fomenting the hostile disposition which Henry 
 not long after openly showed. At length, having 
 fully arranged his plans, he proclaimed war against 
 Alexander in 1244, and assembling a numerous army 
 at Newcastle, prepared to invade Scotland. Some 
 troops, which had been sent to the assistance of 
 Alexander by his brother-in-law, John de Couci, had 
 been intercepted by Henry, who had also organized 
 a confederacy of Irish chiefs to aid him in his enter- 
 prise, by making a descent upon the Scottish coast ; 
 but the country, nevertheless, prepared to make a 
 vigorous resistance. The contemporary English 
 historian, Matthew Paris, has given us a descrip- 
 tion of the force with which Alexander marched to 
 oppose the invasion. " His army," he says, " was 
 numerous and brave ; he had 1000 horsemen, toler- 
 ably mounted, though not, indeed, on Spanish or 
 Italian horses ; his infantry approached to 100,000, 
 all unanimous, all animated, by the exhortations of 
 their clergy, and by confession, courageously to fight 
 and resolutely to die in the just defence of their 
 native land." The sword, however, was not drawn, 
 after all ; a negotiation took place between the two 
 kings, and a peace was concluded at Newcastle 
 (i:3th August), by Avhicli Alexander agreed always 
 to bear good faith and love to his dear and liege lord, 
 Henry King of England, and never to enter into alli- 
 ance with the enemies of Henry or of his heirs, 
 unless they should unjustly aggrieve him.- 
 
 The only event of the reign of Alexander which 
 remains to bo noticed, is a contest into which he 
 entered, in 1248, with Angus, Lord of Argyle, with 
 the view of compelling that chief to transfer to the 
 Scottish crown the homage which he had been wont 
 to render for certain of the western islands to the 
 
 1 Ilailcs, Ann. of Scot. i. 188-190.— Tytler, Hist, of Scot. i. 4-6. 
 
 2 Nisi nos injuste pravent. Dr. Liiigard describes this treaty as 
 " an arrangement by wliicli, though he eluded the express recognition 
 of feudal dependence, he (Alexander) seems to have conceded to 
 Henry the substance of his demand." In fact, "the express rccn^i- 
 tion of feudal dependence" was not at all eluded by Alexander; it was 
 made in the most distinct terms, but it was not made for the kingdom 
 of Scotland, and therefore it was Henry, not Alexander, who conceded 
 the point in dispute. i
 
 678 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 King of Norway. The position of Angus was a very 
 difficult one ; he was the vassal of both sovereigns, 
 for diUerent parts of his possessions; and if he con- 
 sented to the demand of Alexander, he was as sure 
 to draw down upon himself the vengeance of the 
 Norwegian king as he was to incur Alexander's hos- 
 tility if he refused. In these circumstances he 
 seems to have considered it the most expedient, 
 perhaps also the fairest and most reasonable course, 
 to decline moving from his existing engagements. 
 Alexander's first expedition against him seems to 
 have proved unsuccessful ; but he renewed the at- 
 tempt the following year. He was engaged in this 
 war when he was taken ill, and died in the island 
 of Kerarry, near the Sound of Mull, on the 8th of 
 July, 1249, in the fifty-first year of his age and thirty- 
 fifth of his reign. " Alexander," says Matthew 
 Paris, "was a devout, ui)right, and courteous person, 
 justly beloved by all the English nation, no less than 
 by liis own subjects." It seems to liavc been to 
 this general regard entertained for him by the Eng- 
 lish nobility and people that Henry's abandonment 
 of his scheme of invading Scotland a few years 
 before was in part owing ; for it is said that the peace 
 of Newcastle was brought about by the mediation 
 of the Earl of Cornwall and other noblemen. Hen- 
 ry's barons coilld feel little pride or interest in sup- 
 porting the projects of their own imbecile sovereign 
 against the Scottish king ; and some of them also, 
 no doubt, still remembered their old association of 
 arms with Alexander against Henry and the tyrant, 
 his father. Alexander, like most of the other Scot- 
 tish kings of those times, stood up throughout his 
 reign for the independence of the national church, 
 with great spirit. Although a favorer of the clergy, 
 however, he does not appear to have gone into any 
 extravagant expenditure for the aggrandizement of 
 their order. He founded, indeed, no fewer than 
 eight monasteries for the Dominicant or Black 
 Friars ; and Boece supposes that his partiality to 
 these mendicants may have been occasioned by his 
 having seen their founder, St. Dominic, in France, 
 about the year 1-217. " The sight of a living saint," 
 observes Lord Hailes, >• may have made an impres- 
 sion on his young mind ; but perhaps he considered 
 the mendicant friars as the clieapest ecclesiastics ; 
 his revenues could not supply the costly institution 
 of Cistertians and canons regular, in which his great 
 grandfather, David I., took delight." 
 
 Alexander was succeeded on the throne by his only 
 son, Alexander III., who was born at Roxburgh on 
 the 4th of September, 1241, and was now conse- 
 quently only in his ninth year. There was reason 
 to apjn-ehend that the King of England might en- 
 deavor to take advantage of this occasion to renew 
 his cittempt against the independence of the king- 
 dom ; and, therefore, by the patriotic advice of Will- 
 iam Comyn, Earl of Menteith, no time was lost in 
 proceeding to the coronation of the young king. The 
 ceremony took place at Scone on the 13th of July, 
 the Bishop of St. Andrews knighting the king as 
 well as placing the crown on his head. Some of 
 the other forms that were observed are curiously 
 illustrative of the checkered intermixture of the two 
 
 opposite colors of nationality now contending with 
 one another in Scotland — the old Celtic spirit and 
 usages, and the recently imported Anglo-Norman 
 civilization. After the coronation oath, for instance, 
 had been administered to the king both in Latin and 
 in French, the language of the nobility, he was 
 placed upon the sacred stone of destiny, which stood 
 before the cross in the eastern end of the church, 
 and while he there sate, with the crown on his head 
 and the sceptre in his hand, a gray-headed High- 
 land bard, stepping forth from the crowd, addressed 
 to him a long genealogical recitation in the Gaelic 
 tongue, in which, beginning, " Hail Alexander, King 
 of Albion, son of Alexander, son of William, son of 
 David," &c.,he carried up the royal pedigree through 
 all its generations to the legendary Gathelus, who 
 married Scota, the daughter of Pharaoh, and was 
 the contemporary of Moses. It may be doubted if 
 Alexander understood a word of this savage pa^an, 
 but he is recorded to have expressed his gratifica- 
 tion by liberally rewarding the venerable rhapsodist. 
 
 It would serve no useful end to load our pages 
 with any detail of the intricate, and in great part 
 very imperfectly intelligible struggles of adverse 
 factions that jnake up the history of the kingdom 
 during this as during every other minority in those 
 times. It is sufficient to st.ite that at the head of 
 one of the two great contending parties was the 
 powerful family of the Comyns, of which name it 
 is said there were at this time in Scotland no fewer s 
 than thirty-two knights, several of whom were 
 barons ; the Baliols, among others, were adherents of 
 this party ; among their most distinguished oppo- 
 nents were the Earl of March and Dunbar, the Earl 
 of Strathern, the Earl of Carrick, tJie Bruces, the 
 Stew-ard of Scotland, and Alan Durward. who held 
 the ofifice of Great Justiciary, and Avas also one of 
 the most distinguished soldiers of the age. But 
 many of the nobility were constantlj- changing sides, 
 accoi'ding to the course and apparent chances of the 
 contest. The King of England also soon found a fair 
 pretence for interfering in Scottish affairs, by giving 
 his daughter Margaret in marriage to Alexander, 
 according to an agreement which had been entered 
 into soon after the births of the prince and the prin- 
 cess. Although neither part}- was yet quite eleven 
 years old, the nuptials were celebrated at York with 
 great magnificence, on the 26th of Decembcj', 1251. 
 Matthew Paris assures us that six hundred oxen, 
 given by the Archbishop of York to furnish part of 
 the marriage feast, were all consumed upon the 
 first course ! Men were heroic eaters in those days, 
 certainly ; but it will probably be admitted that the 
 historian has judged prudentl}^ in not entering into 
 further particulars, lest, as he saj's, his narrative 
 " might become hyperbolical, and produce irony in 
 the hearts of the absent." 
 
 On this occasion Alexander, according to custom, 
 did homage to Henry for his English possessions ; 
 but when the latter demanded homage also for the 
 kingdom of Scotland, the young Scottish sovereign, 
 with a spirit and firmness remarkable for his years, 
 said, " that he had been invited to York to marry 
 the princess of England, not to treat of aflairs of
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 679 
 
 state ; and that he could not take a step so important 
 without the knowledge and approbation of his par- 
 hament." It was agreed, however, that Henry, in 
 consideration apparently of his natural interest in 
 the welfare of his son-in-law, should send a person 
 in whom he placed confidence to Scotland, who 
 might act in concert with the Scottish guardians of 
 the young king. He sent, accordingly, Geoffrey of 
 Langley, keeper of the royal forests, a man who 
 had already acquired the worst reputation in Eng- 
 land by the severity with which he exercised the 
 powers of his odious office ; but the Scottish barons, 
 finding his insolence intolerable, soon compelled him 
 to leave the country. 
 
 In 1255 we find the English king dispatching a 
 new mission to Scotland, under pretence of inquiring 
 into certain grievances complained of by the queen, 
 his daughter. At this time Robert de Ros and John 
 de Baliol, two noblemen of the Comyn party, appear 
 to have been at the head of government under the 
 name of regents. Queen Margaret complained that 
 she was confined in the castle of Edinburgh — a sad 
 and solitary place — without verdure, and by reason 
 of its vicinity to the sea, unwholesome ; that she 
 was not permitted to make excursions through the 
 kingdom, nor to choose her female attendants ; and 
 that, although both she and her husband had by this 
 time completed their fourteenth year, they were 
 still excluded from each other's society. By a 
 scheme concerted between Henry and the party 
 opposed to the Comyns, the Earl of March, Dur- 
 ward, and other leaders of that party soon after this 
 contrived to surprise the castle of Edinburgh, and 
 to get possession of the king and queen. They 
 ware immediately conveyed to the north of Eng- 
 land, where Henry was with an army ; and at last, 
 in a meeting of the two kings at Roxburgh (20th 
 September, 1255), a new plan of government was 
 settled, to subsist for seven years, that is, till Alex- 
 ander should have attained the age of twenty-one, 
 by which all the Comyns were deprived of office, 
 and the earls of Fife, Dunbar, Strathern, and Car- 
 rick, Alexander the Steward of Scotland, Robert 
 de Bruce, Alan Durward, and other principal per- 
 sons of the same faction, were appointed regents 
 of the kingdom and guardians of the king and queen. 
 
 This settlement appears to have been maintained 
 for about two years ; but, in 1257, a counter-revolu- 
 tion was effected through the junction with the 
 Comyns of Mary de Couci, Alexander's mothei", 
 who had married John de Brienne, son of the titu- 
 ular king of Jerusalem, and had lately returned from 
 abroad, animated with all her old hereditary hatred 
 of the English influence, and strengthened both by 
 her new alliance and by the favor and countenance 
 of the Pope. The lately expelled faction now sud- 
 denly rose in arras, seized the king and queen 
 at Kinross, and so completely carried everything 
 before them that the principal adherents of the 
 Enghsh intei-est all found it necessary to save them- 
 selves by instant flight. There can be no doubt 
 that, with whatever justice or by whatever means, 
 the Comyns contrived to make theirs appear to be 
 the patriotic cause, and to gain, at least for the 
 
 moment, the popular voice. They probably made 
 use of the old cry of independence, and worked 
 upon the sensitive national jealousy of England with 
 good effect. Even the king, now that he was in 
 their hands, was of course compelled to act along 
 with them, and to submit to be their instrument. 
 They put him at the head of their forces, and 
 marched toward the English border, where it would 
 appear that the adherents of the late government 
 had rallied and collected their strength. No con- 
 test of arms, however, took place ; the dispute was 
 eventually settled by negotiation ; and it was agreed 
 that while the chief power should remain in the 
 hands of the Comyns and the queen-dowager, to 
 six regents of this party should be added four of 
 the members of the late government. Mary de 
 Couci and her husband were placed at the head of 
 this new regency. 
 
 The coalition thus formed seems to have sub- 
 stantially subsisted till the king came of age, and 
 took the management of affairs into his own hands, 
 although, shortly after the new government was 
 established, the Comyns lost their great leader, 
 Walter, Earl of Menteith, poisoned, as was sus- 
 pected, by his countess : the unhapjjy woman was 
 believed to have been instigated to the commission 
 of this crime by a passion she had formed for one 
 John Russell, an Englishman of obscure birth accord- 
 ing to Boece, whom she soon afterward married. In 
 1260, on the Queen of Scots becoming pregnant, 
 she and her husband were permitted to go to her 
 father in London, Henry engaging that neither the 
 king nor his attendants should be required to treat 
 of state affairs during their visit, and also making 
 oath that he would not detain either the queen or 
 her child if her delivery should take place in Eng- 
 land. In the event of the death of Alexander, 
 certain of the Scottish bishops and nobles were 
 appointed to receive the child from the hands of 
 Henry, and to convey it to Scotland ; and in the 
 list of these appear the names of the principal per- 
 sons of both the great national parties. In Febru- 
 ary, 1261, the Queen of Scots was delivered at 
 Windsor of a daughter, who was named Margaret, 
 and through whom, as she was her father's first- 
 born, his short line was destined to have its latest 
 prolongation. 
 
 The year 1263 is the most memorable in the 
 reign of Alexander. The Earl of Ross and other 
 northern chiefs had, at the instigation of the Scottish 
 king, invaded the Hebrides, or Western Islands, 
 which were under the dominion of Norway, and 
 had signalized their descent, according to the Nor- 
 wegian clu-oniclers, by the most frightful excesses 
 of savage warfare. Ilaco, the Norwegian king, 
 immediately prepared for vengeance. Having col- 
 lected a great fleet, he sailed from Ilerlover in the 
 beginning of July. The Orkney Islands, which, 
 although formerly belonging to Norway, had been 
 lately compelled to acknowledge the sovereignty 
 of Scotland, were his first destination. Anchoring 
 in the bay of Ronaldsvoe (now Ronaldsay), the for- 
 midable armament remained there for some weeks, 
 durin" which the inhabitants both of the islands
 
 <3S0 
 
 lIl.STurvY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 and of the opposite main-buid were coiiipelled to 
 supply it with provisions and to pay tribute. It is 
 recorded in the Norse chronicle of the expedition, 
 that while the fleet lay at Ronaldsvoe "a great 
 darkness drew over the sun, so that only a little 
 ring was bright round his orb ;" and it is found that 
 the remarkable phenomenon of an annular eclipse 
 must have been seen at Ronaldsvoe this year on 
 the 5th of August. Such confirmations seem to 
 revivify the long-buried past, and make its history 
 read like a narrative of events of our own day. Haco 
 now sailed for the south, and being joined as he 
 proceeded by his allies, Magnus, the Lord of Man, 
 and various Ilebridean chiefs, he found himself at 
 the head of a fleet of above a hundred sail, most of 
 them vessels of considerable size. Dividing his 
 force he sent one powerful squadron to ravage the 
 Mull of Cantyre ; another to make a descent on 
 the Isle of Bute. The latter soon compelled the 
 Scottish garrison of the castle of Rothsay, in that 
 island, to surrender. In the mean time Ilaco him- 
 self entered the Frith of Clyde and anchored in 
 the sound of Kilbrannan, between the main-land 
 and the Isle of Arran. Additional accessions had 
 by this time increased his fleet to a hundred and 
 sixty sail. The Scottish government now attempted 
 to avert the danger by negotiation : the abandon- 
 jnent of all claim to the Hebrides was oft"ered by 
 Alexander ; but to these terms Haco would not 
 listen. Some time, however, was thus gained, which 
 was in various ways advantageous to the Scots and 
 detrimental to their invaders. It allowed the for- 
 mer to improve their preparations for defence ; it 
 embarrassed the latter by a growing difficulty in 
 obtaining provisions, and it exposed their fleet, upon 
 a strange coast, to the hazards of the stormy sea- 
 son of the year that was f<ist approaching. Many 
 of the inhabitants of the neighboring country mean- 
 while had retreated for safety to the islets in Loch- 
 Lomond. There, however, they were soon attacked 
 by a division of the invading force under the com- 
 mand of the King of Man, who, first sailing to the 
 head of Loch-Long, and plundering the shores as 
 they passed, then dragged their boats across the 
 neck of land that divides the two lakes. " The 
 persevering shielded warriors of the thrower of the 
 whizzing spear," sings a Norwegian celebrator of 
 the exploit, " drew their boats across the broad 
 isthmus. Our fearless troops, the exacters of con- 
 tribution, with flaming brands, wasted the populous 
 islands in the lake and the mansions around its 
 winding baj-s." A devastating expedition into Stir- 
 lingshire followed under another chief. But now 
 I he heavens began to fight against them. One gale 
 ilestroj-ed ten of their ships that lay in Loch-Long; 
 and soon after, on Monday, the 1st of October, a 
 tempest of tremendous violence from the southwest 
 attacked the main squadron lying under the com- 
 mand of Haco in the Clyde, and tearing nearly every 
 ship from its moorings, after casting several of them 
 on shore, drove the rest, mostly dismasted or other- 
 wise disabled, up the channel. The Scottish forces 
 'loUected in the neighborhood immediately fell upon 
 ihe crews of the vessels that were stranded; but 
 
 the Norwegians defended themselves with great 
 valor ; and assistance having been sent to them by 
 Haco, when the wind had somewhat abated, they 
 succeeded in driving off their assailants. As soon 
 as daylight appeared, Haco, who had collected his 
 shattered ships off the village of Largs, landed at 
 the head of a strong force for the jn-otection of two 
 transports that had been among the vessels cast 
 ashore the preceding afternoon, and which the Scots 
 had attempted to plunder during the night. This 
 movement may be said to have commenced what is 
 called the battle of Largs. The Scottish army, led 
 by Alexander, the Steward of Scotland, now came 
 down from the surrounding high grounds ; it con- 
 sisted of a numerous body of foot, together with a 
 troop of 1500 cavalry, who are described as being 
 armed from head to heel, and as mounted on Spanish 
 horses, which were also clothed in complete armor. 
 The handful of Norwegians, drawn up in three 
 divisions, one of which occupied a small hill, while 
 the other two were stationed on the shore, were 
 greatly outnumbered by this force ; and Haco, as 
 the engagement was about to commence, was, 
 although with much difTiculty, prevailed upon by his 
 officers to row back to the ships for further aid. 
 But he had scarcely got on board when another 
 furious storm came on and rendered the landing 
 of more men for the present impossible. In the 
 mean time the Scots had attacked the most advanced 
 body of the Norwegians, who were soon obliged to 
 fly in confusion. The rout immediately became 
 general; numbers of the Noi-wegians threw them- 
 selves into their boats and attempted to regain their 
 ships ; the rest were driven along the shore amid 
 showers of arrows from their pursuing enemy. Still 
 they repeatedly rallied, and, turning round upon 
 their pursuers, made an obstinate stand at every 
 point where the ground favored them. In this way, 
 although still galled by the Scots hovering on their 
 rear, they seem to have at length converted their 
 flight into a slow and comparatively orderly retreat. 
 Toward night, a reinforcement from the ships 
 having, notwithstanding the storm, which still con- 
 tinued, eft'ected a landing by extraordinary efforts, 
 the foreigners, if we may trust to their own account, 
 even made a general attack upon the Scottish army, 
 and, after a short resistance, succeeded in driving 
 them back. They then reembarked in their boats 
 and regained the ships. But on the water the ele- 
 ments had been doing their destructive work even 
 with more effect than human rage on land. Haco's 
 inagnificent navy was now reduced to a few shat- 
 tered vessels; most of those which the wrath of 
 the former tempests had spared, that of this disas- 
 trous day had dashed to pieces, and their fragments 
 covered the beach. The Norwegian king sailed away 
 to the island of Arran, and from thence through a 
 course of stormy weather to Orkney, which he did 
 not reach till the 29th of October. He proceeded 
 no farther on his homeward voyage. An illness 
 seized upon him, brought on probably by mental 
 agony as much as by bodily exposure and fatigue, 
 under which he lingered for some weeks, and at 
 last expired on the 15th of December.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 681 
 
 The battle of Largs is the great event of the 
 reign of Alexander. The Scottish historians make 
 24,000 Norwegians to have fallen in the slaughter 
 of that day ; and although there can be no doubt 
 that this is an enormous exaggeration, still the 
 overthrow sustained by the foreigners was com- 
 plete, and the victory was among the most import- 
 ant the Scots ever won. It was their last conflict 
 with the pirate kings. ^ After negotiations which 
 lasted for nearly three years, a peace was conclu- 
 ded with Norway, by which both the Hebrides and 
 the Isle of Man, and all other islands in the western 
 and southern seas of which that power might have 
 hitherto held or claimed the dominion, were made 
 over in full sovereignty to Scotland. The Western 
 Islands were never afterward withdrawn from the 
 Scottish rule. 
 
 There is little more to relate under the reign of 
 Alexander. In some transactions relating to eccle- 
 siastical aftairs in his later years, he maintained 
 the independence of the national church with great 
 firmness, and at the same time, 'with equal spirit 
 and prudence, kept in check the encroaching 
 ambition of the clergy. He was present with his 
 queen and many of his nobility at the coronation of 
 Edward I., in 1274, and on that occasion did 
 homage, according to custom, for his English pos- 
 sessions. In 1278, he performed this ceremony a 
 second time, declaring, according to the record pre- 
 served in the Close Rolls, that he became the 
 liegeman of his lord, King Edward of England, 
 against all people. This was substantially the same 
 acknowledgment that Alexander II. had made to 
 Henry III. in 1244. It was no admission of 
 Edward's claim of feudal superiority over Scotland, 
 as is conclusively proved, if there could be any 
 doubt on the subject, by the sequel of the record, 
 which expressly states that Edward " received it, 
 saving his right and claim to homage for the king- 
 dom of Scotland, when it shall please him to bring 
 it forward." 
 
 The slight notice taken by history of the course 
 of events in Scotland for twenty years after the 
 battle of Largs, is the best evidence of the tran- 
 quillity and happiness of the country. We can 
 collect little more than the general foct that the 
 government of Alexander, after he took the man- 
 agement of aftairs into his own hands, made him 
 universally beloved by his people, and that peace 
 and plenty blessed the land in his time. No foreign 
 enemy assailed or threatened it; and the turbulence 
 of its domestic factions seems also to have given 
 way under the firm and judicious ride of the king. 
 The friendly relations, too, that were maintained 
 with England, and the intercourse that subsisted 
 i)etween the two countries, must have been highly 
 favorable both to the increase of wealth and the 
 general improvement of the useful arts and the 
 
 1 See " The Norwc<?ian Account of Ilaco's Expedition ajainst 
 Sr.utlanit," in Icelandic and English, with notes ; by the Rev. James 
 Johnstone, A.M. ; 12mo., 1782: and " Observations on the Norwegian 
 Expedition against Scotland, in the year 12C3, and on some previous 
 "vents which gave occasion to that War," by John Dillon, Esq., in 
 " Transactions of the Society of the Antiquaries of .Scotland," vol. ii., 
 ♦to. Edin. 18?3, pp. 350-407 
 
 habits of social life in Scotland. ^But clouds and 
 storms were soon to succeed the sunshine. 
 
 Alexander had lost his queen, Margaret of Eng- 
 land, in 1275 ; but, beside the daughter already 
 mentioned, she had left him a son, named Alexander, 
 born at .ledburgh on the 21st of January, 1264 : 
 David, a younger son, had died in his boyhood. In 
 1281 the Princess Margaret was married to Eric, 
 King of Norway ; and the following year the Prince 
 of Scotland, now a youth of eighteen, was united to 
 Margaret, daughter of Guy, Earl of Flanders. At 
 this time the king himself, as yet only in his forty- 
 first year, might reasonably have counted on a much 
 longer reign ; the alliances which he had formed for 
 his children promised to enable him to transmit his 
 sceptre to a line of descendants ; and the people 
 seemed entitled to look forward to the continuance 
 of the present peace and prosperity of the country 
 for many years. By a singular succession of calam- 
 ities all these fair hopes were, one after the other, 
 rapidly extinguished. First in the latter part of the 
 j^ear 1283, died the Queen of Norway, leaving only 
 an infant daughter. The death of Queen Margaret 
 was followed by that of her brother the Prince of 
 Scotland, on the 28th of January, 1284. No time 
 was lost by Alexander in taking the measures for 
 the settlement of the succession which these events 
 rendered necessary. On the 5th of February the 
 Parliament was assembled at Scone, when the 
 estates of the kingdom solemnly bound themselves, 
 failing Alexander and any children he might yet 
 have, to acknowledge for their sovereign the Nor- 
 wegian princess — " the Maiden of Norway," as 
 she is called by the old writers. The following 
 year (15th April, 1285) Alexander married Joleta, 
 the young and beautiful daughter of the Count de 
 Dreux. Thenuptials were celebrated at Jedburgh 
 with great magnificence and much popular rejoicing, 
 the nation anticipating from this new union the 
 speedy restoration of all those prospects wdiich the 
 two recent deaths had overclouded. But death had 
 not yet done all his work. Within a year after his 
 marriage, on the ]6th of March, 1286, as Alexander 
 was riding in a dark night between Kinghorn and 
 Burnt Island, on the northern shore of the Frith of 
 Forth, his horse, on which he had galloped forward 
 from his attendants, stumbled with him over a high 
 clift', at a place now known by the name of King's 
 Wood End, when he Avas killed on the spot. 
 
 The loss of this excellent king would in any 
 circumstances have been a heavy calamity to his 
 country ; but the blow could not have been received 
 at a more unfortunate moment than the present. 
 A long minority was now the least evil the king- 
 dom had to dread, and that evil was certain, if a 
 worse should not take its place. The life of an 
 infont, in a foreign country, alone stood between 
 the nation and all the sure confusion and miseries 
 of a disputed succession. The first proceeding of 
 the Estates was to appoint a regency, at a meeting 
 held at Scone on the 11th of April. But scarcely, 
 it would appear, had the throne of Queen Margaret 
 been thus set up, wlicn it began to be undermined 
 by plots and secret tren?on. The rule of a female
 
 682 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 sovereign was ne^v to the country ; the attempt to 
 transmit liis crown to a daughter iiad aheady failed 
 in England, even when made in tlie most favorable 
 circumstances, by Henry I.; there was everything 
 in the situation of the infant Maiden of Norway 
 to call forth, in its utmost strength, all both of 
 prejudice and of reason that opposed itself to so 
 rigid and extreme an application of the principle of 
 legitimacy. Indeed, it must be confessed that the 
 refined view of the rule of succession upon which 
 Margaret's title rested was much better suited to 
 times in which men have been long and thoroughly 
 habituated to the advantages of regular government, 
 than to the circumstances of that rude age and 
 turbulent people ; and it was therefore not to be 
 expected that it should have been at once generally 
 and unresistingly acquiesced in. 
 
 Surprise has sometimes been expressed that 
 when the Scottish parliament, in 1284, settled the 
 crown upon Margaret in failure of other children 
 that might be born to Alexander, it did not go 
 further, and appoint who was to succeed in default 
 of Margaret and her issue ; but in truth it was the 
 undetermined state in which this last point was 
 left, that was likely most effectually to contribute to 
 secure Margaret's succession. The main strength 
 of her cause lay in there being no other certain heir 
 to the throne if she was set aside. The choice was 
 between her and a disputed succession. Had it 
 not been for this, it is more than probable that the 
 settlement in her favor would have been wholly dis- 
 regarded after Alexander's death, with whatever 
 solemnity it might have been made. The next 
 heir, if a male of mature age, and a native of the 
 country, would at once have been preferred to the 
 foreign female infant. Even as matters stood, 
 there was, it would seem, one party which had 
 already formed the design of displacing Queen 
 Margaret in fovor of its own chief. Robert de 
 Brus, or Bruce, Lord of Annandale and Cleveland, 
 was the son of Isabella, one of the three daughters 
 of David, Earl of Huntingdon, the brother of Will- 
 iam the Lion. He and a number of his adherents, 
 including some of the principal of the Scottish 
 nobility, held a meeting on the 20th of September, 
 128G, at Turnberry Castle, in Ayrshire, the seat of 
 Bruce's son, Robert Bruce, called Earl of Carrick 
 in right of his wife, and there entered into an 
 agreement, by which they bound themselves to 
 adhere to one another on all occasions, and against 
 all persons, saving their allegiance to the King of 
 England, and to him who should gain the kingdom 
 of Scotland as the rightful heir of the late king.' 
 The intention of the parties to this bond would ap- 
 pear to have been to obtain the crown for Bruce, 
 by the aid of the King of England, whom, with that 
 view, they were prepared to acknowledge as Lord 
 Paramount of Scotland. Edward however had, for 
 the present, another scheme of his own, with 
 which this of theirs could not be suffered to inter- 
 fere. 
 
 It is doubtfnl in what manner, or on what pretext, 
 Edward first found an opportunity of interposing in 
 
 ' Tytlcr, Hist, of Scut. i. 65. 
 
 the affairs of the northern kingdom. It is known that 
 two of the chief members of the regency, the Earl 
 of Buchan and the Earl of Fife, died toward the 
 close of the year 1288 (the Earl of Fife was mur- 
 dered) ; and that from this time violent divisions arose 
 in the government, and all things began to tend to 
 confusion and anarcl)y. One account is, that the 
 Estates of Scotland now made a formal application 
 to the English king for his advice and mediation 
 toward composing the troubles of the kingdom. 
 But this statement does not rest upon any certain 
 authority. In the end of the year 1289, however, 
 Eric, King of Norway, opened a negotiation with 
 Edward on the affairs of his infant daughter and 
 her kingdom ; and at Edward's request the Scottish 
 regency sent three of its members to take part in a 
 solemn deliberation which was appointed to be held, 
 at Salisbury. It was here agreed that the young 
 queen should be immediately conveyed either to 
 her own dominions or to England, Edward engaging 
 in the latter case to deliver her, on demand, to the 
 Scottish nation, provided that good order should be 
 previously established in Scotland, so that sIk^ might 
 reside there with safety to her person. No mention 
 was made in this convention of an English match 
 for Margaret; but it appears that Edward had al- 
 ready obtained a dispensation from Rome for her 
 marriage to her cousin, his eldest son. A report to 
 that effect was very soon after spread in Scotland ; 
 whereupon the Estates immediately assembled at 
 Bridgeham, a village on the Tweed, and from 
 thence addressed a letter to the English king, 
 expressing in warm terms their gratification at the 
 rumor that had reached them, and beseeching him 
 to inform them if it was true. " If it is," they con- 
 cluded, "we on our part heartily consent to the 
 alliance, not doubting that you will agree to such 
 reasonable conditions as we shall propose to your 
 council." They wrote at the same time to the 
 King of Norway, pressing him to send his daughter 
 instantly to England. 
 
 Some months after this (on the 18th of .Tulj-, 
 1200) a treaty was concluded at the same place, by 
 which everjthing in regard to the proposed mar- 
 riage was finally arranged. Many stipulations were 
 made for securing the integrity and independence 
 of the Scottish kingdom; and all points, both of sub- 
 stance and of form, relating to that matter, were 
 regulated with elaborate scrupulositj'. But the 
 event of a few weeks rendered all the painstaking 
 and oathtaking of no effect. The Maiden of Norway 
 having at length set sail for Britain, fell sick on her 
 passage, and landing on one of the Orknej' Islands, 
 died there, about the end of September : she was 
 in her eighth year. 
 
 The fatality which seemed to have pursued the 
 royal family of Scotland for about a century past was 
 certainly very remarkable. Within that period it 
 will be found tliat AVilliam the Lion and his posterity 
 had made no fewer than ten marriages, and yet 
 thei'e was not now a descendant of that king in 
 existence. Of these ten marriages so many as six 
 produced no issue ; the remaining four produced 
 only four males and five females : and all these nine
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 683 
 
 persons were now dead. It probably would not be 
 possible to find in history another case of ten related 
 households, as we may call them, and these forming 
 the entire branch to which they belonged, being 
 thus swept away, in so short a space of time, with- 
 out leaving a vestige behind them, unless by the 
 sudden ravages of war, or pestilence, or some simi- 
 lar widely destructive casualty.^ 
 
 In this failure of the line of William the Lion, the 
 heir to the crown was to be sought for among the 
 descendants of his younger brother, David, Earl of 
 Huntingdon. David, beside a son, who died with- 
 out issue, left three daughters ; the eldest, Margaret, 
 mai'ried to Alan of Galloway ; the second, Isabella, 
 married to Robert Bruce ; the third, Ada, married 
 to Henry Hastings. Margaret's eldest daughter, 
 Dervorgoil (she had no son), married John de Baliol, 
 Lord of Bernard Castle, by whom she had a son, 
 John Baliol ; Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick in right 
 of his wife, was the son of Isabella; John Hastings 
 was the son of Ada. Baliol, therefore, Avas the 
 grandson of the eldest daughter of David, Earl of 
 Huntingdon ; Bruce and Hastings were the sons of 
 his two younger daughters. According to the rule 
 of descent as now established, no question about 
 who had the right of succession could be raised in 
 such a case ; the descendant of the elder daughter, 
 however remote, would be preferred to the descend- 
 ant of the younger daughter, however near ; and, 
 indeed, even in that age this rule, which flows 
 directly and necessarily from the admission of the 
 principle of primogeniture, seems to have been all 
 but universally recognized by the authorities on this 
 part of the law. Still the point was not so distinctly 
 settled that a debate might not be raised on it, or 
 that, supported by popular or party zeal, the one 
 claim might not be put forward, and asserted to be 
 that of law and right, with as much plausibility to the 
 general understanding, and as fair a chance of suc- 
 cess, as the other. 
 
 "When the death of the queen fii'st became known, 
 itwas probably doubtful how many competitors miglit 
 start up for the vacant throne, or to what extent the 
 controversy might be entangled by their conflicting 
 claims. It was certain, however, that a controversy 
 there would be, and in all likelihood a long and fierce 
 one ; and, also, that a state of circumstances had 
 arisen in which everything was to be feared for the 
 national independence from the ambition of the 
 English king, and the ascendency in Scottish affairs 
 his artful management and the course of events had 
 already given him. The news, therefore, spreiul 
 universal grief and consternation throughout Scot- 
 land. It seemed the heaviest, as it was the last of 
 
 ' As this IS a curious fact in statistics, as well as in history, we 
 subjoin a list of the ten marriages, with the issue of each : — 
 A.R 1186. . William the Lion (a son and three (laughters). 
 1221. . . Alexander II. (none). 
 
 1221. . . Margaret, daughter of AVilliam the Lion (none). 
 1225. . . Isabella, ditto (none). 
 
 1235. . . Marjory, ditto (none). 
 
 1239. . . Alexander 11., second time (a son). 
 1242. . . Alexander III. (two sons and a daughter). 
 1281. . . Margaret, daughter of Alexander III. (a daughterl 
 1282. . . Alexander, son of Alexander III. (none) . 
 1285. . . Alexander III., second time (none). 
 
 the succession of sudden strokes of misfortune that 
 had fallen upon the country, and the consummation 
 of the pul)lic calamities. 
 
 According to one account, it was now that the 
 embassy to Edward, soliciting his advice and media- 
 tion, was sent by the estates of Scotland. From 
 what immediately followed, it does appear probable 
 that some such application may have been now made 
 by the Scots. Upon this supposition we can most 
 easily account for the invitation which Edward 
 addressed to their nobility and clergy to meet him 
 at Norham, a town on the English side of the Tweed, 
 and the readiness with which they obeyed his sum- 
 mons. The conference took place on the 10th of 
 May, 1291. Here Edward distinctly announced 
 that he proposed to regulate the succession to the 
 throne of Scotland as superior and lord paramount 
 of that kingdom, and insisted upon their recognition 
 of his title as such before any other business should 
 be proceeded with. Little doubt can be entertained 
 that many of the persons present were perfectly 
 prepared for all this ; but it took a part of the assem- 
 bly by surprise ; and at length one voice ventured 
 to respond, that no answer could be made to the 
 demand that had been addressed to them while the 
 throne was vacant. "By holy Edward!" cried the 
 English king, " By holy Edward ! whose crown I 
 wear, I will vindicate my just rights or perish in the 
 attempt !" At last the meeting was adjourned till the 
 morrow, and from that day, on the Scots requesting 
 a longer delay, it was further adjourned to the 2d 
 of June. Edward had already issued writs to his 
 barons and other military tenants in the northern 
 counties, commanding them to assemble at Norliam 
 on the 3d of the same month with horsps, arms, and 
 all their powers. 
 
 The meeting of the 2d of June took place on a 
 green plain called Holywell Haugh, near L^psett- 
 lington, on the north bank of the Tweed, opposite to 
 Norham Castle, and within the territory of Scotland. 
 Among those present were no fewer than eight 
 persons who, under various titles, laid claim to the 
 crown. One of these was Robert Bi'uce, Lord of 
 Annandale. Turning first to him, Robert BurneL 
 Bishop of Bath and Chancellor of England, de- 
 manded " Whether he acknowledged Edward as 
 Lord Paramount of Scotland? and whether he wa« 
 willing to ask and receive judgment from him in that 
 character?" Bruce, says the oflficial record of the 
 proceedings, definitively, expressly, publicly, and 
 openly, declared his assent. The other seven com 
 petitors afterward did the same. Next day, John 
 Baliol and another competitor, making ten in all. 
 appeared, and followed their example. " The whole 
 form of this business," as Lord Hailes remarks, "ap 
 pears to have been preconcerted." There were 
 probably few of the assembled nobility and clergy 
 that were not the sworn adherents of one or other 
 of the competitors ; they were divided into the 
 Bruce party and the Baliol party ; and they were 
 of course severally ready to follow in whatever di- 
 rection their chiefs might lead them. With regard, 
 again, to the two great claimants of the crown them- 
 selves, if either consented to submit to the arbitration
 
 (J84 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 of Edward, it is obvious that his rival had no alterna- 
 tive but to acquiesce in the same mode of deciding 
 the question, unless he were prepared to resign nil 
 hope and chance of success. The true explanation, 
 however, of Ualiol's absence on the first day of the 
 meeting probably is, that he sought by this piece of 
 management, perhaps in concert with Edward, to 
 throw upon his opponent the odium of taking the 
 first step in the unpopular course of thus surren- 
 dering the national independence. There is reason 
 to believe that, whether swayed by his view of the 
 justice of the case or by other considerations, Ed- 
 ward had, from the first, determined that Baliol 
 should have the crown, and that all th(i anxious and 
 protracted deliberation he affected to give to the 
 subject was merely so much hollow and hypocritical 
 formality. Of the other claimants who presented 
 themselves along with Baliol and Bruce, most seem 
 to have been brought forward only to throw a greater 
 air of perplexity over the case, and to give some 
 chance of dividing any opposition that might event- 
 ually be made to the successful candidate, or even, 
 it may be, with the object of leaving the question of 
 the succession to the Scottish crown still open, if 
 any casualty should reniove either of the two prin- 
 cipal competitors before Edward's designs for the 
 complete subjection of the country should be ma- 
 tured ; for Edward's ultimate aim certainly went 
 far beyond the assertion and maintenance of a mere 
 feudal superiority over Scotland. The whole course 
 of his conduct leaves no room to doubt that he in- 
 tended to treat Scotland as he had treated Wales, 
 that is to say, to make it, to all intents and purposes, 
 a part of the dominions of the English crown. This 
 union of the whole island under one sceptre was 
 evidently the grand scheme upon which he had set 
 his heart, and which inspired and directed his whole 
 policy. At first he hoped to accomplish his object, 
 in so far as Scotland was concerned, by the marriage 
 of his eldest son with the queen of that country ; 
 when the death of Margaret defeated this arrange- 
 ment, he could not for the present proceed to the 
 attainment of his end by so direct a path ; but that 
 end was still the same, and was never lost sight of 
 for a moment. At this veiy meeting at Noriiam, 
 the Enghsli chancellor protested, in the name and 
 in the presence of the king his master, "that, 
 although he now asserted his right of superiority 
 with the view of giving judgment to the competitors, 
 yet that he meant not to relinquish his right of 
 property in the kingdom of Scotland, acclaimable 
 hereafter in fit manner and time convenient."^ And 
 the manner in which he treated Baliol after he had 
 set him upon the throne as clearly indicates the 
 same purpose, and indeed is only intelligible on that 
 supposition. All this has been very strangelj' over- 
 looked by some of the writer's of this part of our 
 history. 
 
 The proceedings at Norham, on the 3d of June, 
 were terminated by a unaniirious agi-eement that a 
 body of 104 commissioners should be appointed to 
 examine the cause and report to Edward; forty 
 being named by Baliol, the same number by Bruce, 
 
 1 Foedcra ii. 551. 
 
 and the remainder by Edward himself, who was, 
 moreover, empowered to add to the commission as 
 many more persons as he chose. On the 11th of 
 the same month, the regents of Scotland made a 
 solemn surrender of the kingdom into the hands of 
 the English king, and the keepers of castles made a 
 like surrender of their trusts; in both cases, how- 
 ever, on the condition that Edward should make full 
 restitution in two months from the date of his award 
 in the cause of the succession. 
 
 Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, alone re- 
 fused to deliver the castles of Dundee and Forfar, 
 which he held, without an obligation to indemnify 
 him from Edward and all the competitors. It was 
 found expedient to comply with the terms thus 
 insisted upon by " the only Scotsman," obsenes 
 Lord Ilailes, "who acted with integrity and spirit 
 on this trial of national integrity and spirit." On the 
 l.'ith of the same month Bruce and his son, Baliol, 
 and many of the principal Scottish barons, swore 
 fealty to Edward. One churchman only, the Bishop 
 of Sodor, presented himself to perform the disgrace- 
 ful ceremony. The peace of the King of England, 
 as Lord Paramount of Scotland, was then proclaim- 
 ed, and the assembly finally adjourned to the Sd of 
 August.* Edward himself, in the mean time, made 
 a progress through Scotland, in the course of which 
 he visited Edinburgh, Dunferndine, St. Andrews, 
 Kinghorn, Linlithgow, and Stirling; wherever he 
 appeared, calling upon persons of all ranks, fronj 
 bishops and earls to burgesses, to sign the rolls of 
 homage as his vassals. Elsewhere officers were 
 appointed to receive the oaths ; whoever refused to 
 take them being ordered to be seized and imprisoned. 
 
 When the commissioners met at Berwick, and 
 proceeded to business in the presence of Edward, 
 on the 3d of August, twelve claimants of the crown 
 in all presented themselves. Soon afterward a 
 thirteenth was added in the person of King Eric of 
 Norway. All of them, however, with the excep- 
 tion of Baliol, Bruce, and Hastings, withdrew their 
 pretensions before any decision was pronounced. 
 The rest, in fact — some of them descendants from 
 illegitimate daughters of William the Lion, others 
 alleging a descent from some earlier king — had none 
 of them any ground whatever on which to come m 
 before the posterity of David, Earl of Huntingdon. 
 
 The final decision of the cause did not take place 
 till the following year. On the Sd of June, 1292, 
 the commissioners reported that there appeared to 
 be a diversity of opinion among the fourscore Scot- 
 tish members of their body, by whose advice, if 
 unanimous, it would have been the duty of tlie king 
 to have regulated his conduct; and they therefore 
 declined to give any advice without hearing the 
 better judgment of the jjrelates, nobility, and other 
 wise men of England. On this, the further con- 
 sideration of the question was appointed by Edward 
 to take place in a parliament which he summoned 
 to meet at Berwick on the 15th of October. Here 
 Baliol and Bruce were fully heard in defence of their 
 respective claims, upon which the assembly came 
 unanimously to the conclusion " that by the laws 
 '• Hailcs, i. 212-252.
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 685 
 
 and usages of both kingdoms, in ever}' heritable suc- 
 cession, the more remote in one degree lineally 
 descended from the eldest sister, was preferable to 
 the nearer in degree issuing from the second sister;" 
 thus declaring, by implication, against the claim of 
 Bruce as opposed to that of Baliol. In another 
 meeting, on the 6th of November, Edward formally 
 pronounced his decision " that Bruce should take 
 nothing in the competition with Baliol." Bruce 
 and Hastings now demanded each a third of the 
 kingdom, on the ground that it was a divisable inher- 
 itance ; but this doctrine the assembly unanimously 
 rejected. Finally, on the 17th of the same month, 
 in the great hall of the castle of Berwick, Edward 
 gave judgment, " that John Baliol should have sei- 
 zin of the kingdom of Scotland." But again, at 
 this, the termination, as a year and a half before, at 
 the commencement of these pi-oceedings, the Eng- 
 lish king solemnly protested " that the judgment that 
 he had thus given should not impair his claim to the 
 projiciiy of Scotland." On the 19th the regents of 
 Scotland and the governors of castles were ordered 
 to surrender their respective trusts to the new 
 king ; and the same day the great seal that had 
 been used by the regency was broken into four 
 parts, and the pieces deposited in the Treasury of 
 England, " in testimony, to future ages, of England's 
 right of superiority over Scotland." The next day 
 Baliol swore fealty to Edward at Norham. On the 
 30th (St. Andrew's day) he was solemnly crowned 
 at Scone. Soon after he passed into England, and 
 on the 26th of December did homage to Edward 
 for his kingdom at Newcastle : and thus finished 
 the first act of this extraordinary drama. 
 
 Events that unexpectedly arose now called away 
 the English king to another scene. Edward's prog- 
 ress at home had not been viewed without serious 
 alarm abroad. The subjugation of Wales and Scot- 
 land, by leaving him master of the whole island of 
 Great Britain, rendered him most formidable to all 
 his continental neighbors, and to none so dangerous 
 as to France, where there was a source of dissen- 
 sion ever open, and where the English had a footing 
 that enabled them at all times to cany the war into 
 the heart of the country. On former occasions 
 several of the French kings had given countenance 
 and encouragement — if little or nothing more — to 
 both Scots and Welsh w^hen up in arms against the 
 Anglo-Norman sovereigns ; but now Philip le Bel 
 thought that the best thing to do was to exert all 
 his strength and drive the English from what was 
 left of their continental dominion. The moment 
 seemed favorable ; Edward was absorbed by his 
 great project ; and as for the justice of the under- 
 taking, had not Philip as good a right to gather up 
 the scattered fragments of France, and to make of 
 them a respectable whole — a united and powerful 
 kingdom — as Edward had to seize and consolidate 
 the ancient independent states of Great Britain in 
 the same view? 
 
 The English sovereign, however, was too politic 
 not to see and provide for these schemes : he had 
 long watched Philip with a jealous eye, and while 
 he wisely kept his own armies at home, he had 
 
 courted alliances abroad, and labored to raise barriers 
 against Philip's ambition. In the south, by means 
 of presents and flattering assurances, he had won 
 over the powerful Count of Savoy; in the north 
 he had a good understanding with the emperor, 
 whom he afterward subsidized ; he had married his 
 daughter Margaret to Henry, Count of Bar, whose 
 territories gave an easy access into France on the 
 east ; and, at a later period, he made an alliance 
 with Guy, Earl of Flanders. The French, more- 
 over, accuse him of opening and maintaining a cor- 
 respondence in the interior of France with the dis- 
 affected subjects of Philip ; an accusation which 
 Edward retorted. Matters were in this state when 
 a paltry broil gave rise to sanguinary hostilities. 
 Some English and some Norman sailors met at a 
 watering-place, in or near to the port of Bayonne. 
 and quarreled about which pai-ty should fill their 
 casks first. An English mariner struck a Norman 
 with his fist ; the Norman drew his knife ; his ad- 
 versary closed with him, and, after a scuffle, threw 
 him ; in the fall the Norman, it was said, fell upon 
 his own knife and was killed. The English sailor's 
 comrades saved him from the fury of the opposite 
 party, and, according to the French account, the 
 authorities of Bayoane, which city belonged to the 
 English, refused the Normans proper satisfaction. 
 Burning with revenge, for they maintained that 
 their companion had been foully murdered, the 
 Normans put to sea, and, lying in wait, they seized 
 the first English ship of inferior force they encoun- 
 tered, and taking from it a merchant of Bayonne, 
 they hanged him at the yard-arm, with a dog hung 
 to his feet. Reprisals soon followed, and the mari- 
 ners of the Cinque Ports pursued their vengeance 
 with relentless fury, hanging nearly every Norman 
 they could take upon the seas. The Normans 
 called in the assistance of the Genoese and the 
 French, for France was now beginning to have a 
 considerable mercantile navy, and even a royal fleet, 
 one of the immense advantages derived from expel- 
 ling the English and clearing her sea-board. Our 
 mariners at the same time procured the aid of 
 those of Ireland, Gascony, and Holland. Wherever 
 these opposite parties met, they fought with deadly 
 rancor, carrying on a war on their own account, 
 without any commission from their respective gov- 
 ernment ; for though it was known or suspected 
 that Philip encouraged the French, he, as well as 
 Edward, seemed for a time to remain indiflerent 
 spectators, A Norman fleet of 200 or more vessels, 
 of all sizes, swept the English Channel, plundered 
 the sea- coast of Gascony, hanging many mariners, 
 and then returned with their booty and the cargoes 
 of wine they had been to purchase to the port of 
 St. Mahe, in Brittany. They had scarcely cast 
 anchor when an English fleet appeared. The mari- 
 ners of the Cinque Ports, still acting under their 
 own commission, had got ready some stout ships z 
 they were only eighty in number, but they were- 
 of superior size, and manned with picked seamen^ 
 In an evil hour for themselves the Normans accepted! 
 the challenge to a pitched battle, which was fought 
 round a ship anchored near the coast, on a spot
 
 (i86 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 iigi'eed upon by both parties. After n desperate 
 conflict, where every man fought as iu a personal 
 (juavrel, the EngUsh gained a complete victory, 
 taking every one of the Norman ships, and killing 
 or drowning nearly every mariner on board, for no 
 (juarter was given in this savage war. Thus the 
 most vindictive feelings were excited between the 
 two nations before the kings took any open part iu 
 the hostilities that were carried on.' , 
 
 But now Pliilip, enraged himself and borne for- 
 ward to the accomplishment of his favorite project 
 by tlie universal wrath of the nation, declared his 
 determined enmity. By certainly a strained and 
 exaggerated interpretation of his feudal rights and 
 jurisdiction, he pretended that he could punish 
 Edward as Duke of Aquitaine, in which character 
 he was a vassal of the French crown. He sent 
 officers to seize some of Edward's estates, but these 
 were driven back by John St. John, an English 
 officer: he then caused a summons to be issued by 
 his judges ordering the " Duke of Aquitaine" to 
 appear at Paris after the feast of Christmas, and 
 answer for his offences against his suzerain. Ed- 
 ward sent a bishop, and then liis own brother, 
 Edmund, to negotiate. This Edmund appears to 
 have been a very believing, simple personage ; for, 
 crediting Philip's assertion that he wanted no ac- 
 (juisition of territory, but merely a striking show of 
 satisfaction to his own injured honor, he consented 
 to surrender Gascony for forty days, at the end of 
 which it was to be faithfully restored to the English 
 king. Upon this surrender, which in some cases 
 gave Philip a military possession of the province, 
 the summons against Edward was withdrawn, and 
 the French king declared himself satisfied. When 
 the forty days had elapsed, Edward demanded re- 
 possession, which, as a matter of course, was refused 
 to him. Philip pleaded very triumphantly, in his 
 own court, against some English advocates, and, 
 with a bold contempt of appearances and of the 
 recent agreement, pronounced a judgment of for- 
 feiture because Edward had not presented himself 
 as a vassal ought. De Nesle, the Constable of 
 France, was sent to seize some of Edward's cities 
 and towns, and he succeeded in several instances 
 because the nobles declared against the English. 
 Soon after the feast of Easter, Philip again sum- 
 moned Edward to plead as Duke of Aquitaine 
 ftefore his peers of France, and, upon his non- 
 attendance, he declared him contunmcious and dis- 
 seized of all his lands in France.^ 
 
 Edward now prepared to plead, but it was with 
 the sword. Having formally renounced the hom- 
 aige of the French king, he got ready a powerful 
 ifieet and army ; but he was detained for several 
 •\veeks by contrary winds, and, while he lay at 
 'Portsmouth, the Welsh, who thought he was gone, 
 !})roke out in a general insurrection, to which it 
 seems probable that Philip was no stranger. De- 
 tained at home by this circumstance, Edward 
 tlispatched a small force to Gascony, and gave 
 .commission to his ships to plunder the French 
 4;oast, upon which a number of fierce sea-battles 
 
 ' Walsing. — Heming. — Iluluish. 2 Rynier. 
 
 were fought, the victory falling almost invariably 
 to the Englisli, who were princii)ally commanded 
 by the Lord John Botetourt, Sir William de Ley- 
 borne, and a "valiant knight of Ireland," whose 
 name is not mentioned. As for Edward himself, 
 he turned with his usual rapidity and vigor against 
 the Welsh, who had taken many castles and towns, 
 and driven the English across the marches with 
 dreadful loss. It took him some months to suppress 
 this bold struggle for independence : he carried on 
 the war through all the severities of winter, suffer- 
 ing great hardships, and encountering many per- 
 sonal dangers; but in the following spring the 
 Welsh once more fell beneath the miglity weight 
 of his arms and policy : Madoc. their brave leader, 
 surrendered to the conqueror ; the most dangerous 
 of the chieftains were thrown into dungeons for 
 life ; and after the sacred summits of Snowdon had 
 been again invaded, and the country again wasted 
 with fire and sword, a mournful peace was restored. 
 In none of the old accounts either of this or of the 
 preceding conquest do we find any mention of Ed- 
 ward's hanging the Welsh bards ; the circumstance 
 seems to have been first mentioned by a writer who 
 lived some three centuries after.^ The " ruthless 
 king," however, though not wantonly cruel, was 
 still not a man to hesitate at such an execution if 
 he deemed it useful to his state views; and it is at 
 least probable that many of the bards, who must 
 have been hateful to him, as they cherished and 
 gave enthusiasm to the people's love of independ- 
 ence, may have felt his rigor, and that popular tra- 
 dition has only exaggerated and generalized a real 
 fact.^ 
 
 When Edward rode a conqueror from the moun- 
 tains of Wales, he thought that he should at Last 
 be allowed to proceed to France, and punish what 
 he considered the execrable perfidy of Philip ; but 
 the spirit of liberty was again awake in the moun- 
 tains of Scotland, and he was once more compelled 
 to forego liis continental expedition. He, however, 
 sent his brother Edmund with a small force to Gui- 
 enne, where the barons, who could never remain 
 satisfied for a year with either the Englisli or the 
 French, were already tired of Philip. Edmund 
 died soon after landing ; but the Earl of Lincoln, 
 who succeeded to his command, drove the French 
 from most of the towns they had occupied. These 
 successes, however, were not lasting : Charles de 
 Valois, Philip's bi-other, recovered those places ; 
 and the Count d'Artois, the king's uncle, taking the 
 command of a numerous and excellent army, beat 
 the English in several encounters, and finall}- ex- 
 pelled them from nearly all the country, with the 
 exception of a few maritime towns. Edward's 
 continental allies did nothing at the time in his 
 defence. A little later the Duke of Brittany raised 
 an insignificant force, and joined a body of English 
 that lauded in his country ; but this prince was as 
 volatile as the Gascons, and changed sides three or 
 
 1 Sir John Wjiine, Hist, of the Gwydir family. 
 
 ^ W'e find the Welsh minstrels in very bad odor with the English 
 government about a century later. A statute of Henry IV. provides 
 that " no waster, rhymer, minstrel, or vagabond shall be suffered in 
 Wales."
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 687 
 
 four times in the course of as rnany years. His 
 people paid dearly for his vacillating policy, being 
 harried at each change either by the soldiers of 
 Philip or the sailors of Edward. On one occasion 
 an English fleet ravaged the whole coast of Brittany 
 from Vannes to St. Malo, inflicting great mischief 
 on the defenceless inhabitants, but in no way con- 
 tributing to the recovery of Edward's lost dominions. 
 Several attempts were made by Normans, Bretons, 
 and French, to avenge these injuries by attacks 
 and surprises on the English coast, and on one 
 occasion the town and priory of Dover were sacked 
 and partially burnt. As the men were absent, only 
 the women and children were butchered ; but, be- 
 fore the invaders could get back to their ships with 
 their plunder, the men of Dover returned, and slew 
 some hundi-eds of them. But we must turn from 
 this most savage yet desultory warfare on the Eng- 
 lish coast, to the interior of Scotland. 
 
 Scarcely had Baliol been fairly seated on his 
 vassal throne when he was made to feel all the 
 dependence and degradation of his position. Even 
 befoi'e the year had expired, on one of the last 
 days of which, as related above, he had done 
 homage for his kingdom to his English lord para- 
 mount, Edward, in an angry altercation that arose 
 out of an appeal brought by a citizen of Berwick 
 against a judgment of the Scottish courts, to defend 
 which he had compelled Baliol to appear with his 
 principal prelates and nobles in the royal chamber 
 at Newcastle, frankly informed him that he should 
 persist in hearing in England every cause regularly 
 brought before him from Scotland, and that he 
 would summon the King of Scotland to appear per- 
 sonally at the hearing of every such cause in which 
 he should think his presence necessary. Nor did 
 this prove an empty threat. In the course of the 
 following year Baliol was repeatedly called upon to 
 submit to the annoyance and intolerable indignity 
 of thus appearing in the Enghsli courts to answer 
 as a defendant in all sorts of causes. Such treat- 
 ment could only have had one object, and, if it had 
 been tamely acquiesced in, one effect — to make the 
 menial king iitterly contemptible in the eyes of his 
 subjects. A generous reluctance to join with the 
 crowd in bearing hard upon one otherwise unfor- 
 tunate, has prompted some modern writers to dis- 
 pute the justice of the popular odium that rests on 
 the memory of John Baliol, and to contend that he 
 was by no means deficient in eminent and estimable 
 (|ualities. Lord Hailes attributes to him a high 
 spirit, and speaks of him as having erred only in 
 enterprising beyond his strength. After all, how- 
 ever, the estimate that seems to have been formed 
 of him in his own day is perhaps most consonant 
 with the entire course of his life, both while he sat 
 on a throne, and after he descended from that ele- 
 vation ; on the whole, the name of Toom (that is, 
 empty) Tabard, which he used to receive among 
 his countrymen, seems to have aptly enough ex- 
 pressed his unmagnanimous, inefficient character. 
 At the commencement of Edward's rough usage he 
 bore it with all submission. Immediately after the 
 declaration of the English king that has just been 
 
 mentioned, he gave Edward a solemn discharge 
 from all the obligations he had contracted by tha 
 treaty of Bridgeham in 1290, which treaty was now 
 the sole remaining security to his countjy for the 
 possession of any national rights, and by which, in 
 particular, provision was made against the very 
 grievance, the galling humiliation, under which he 
 was now made to smart, bj' one of the clauses which 
 declared that no native of Scotland should be com- 
 pelled to answer out of the kingdom in any legal 
 cause, either civil or criminal. But the tyranny 
 was so unrelentingly persisted in, and carried so 
 far, that if he had the spirit of a worm it must have 
 roused him at last. An appeal respecting the suc- 
 cession to some lands in Fife was the case in which 
 his patience gave way. In the first instance he 
 ventured to take no notice of the usual older to 
 present himself at the hearing of the cause. But 
 he did not persist in this bold course. On receiving 
 a second summons, he yielded obedience so far as 
 to make his appearance in the English parliament 
 on the day named, the 15th of October, 1293. When 
 asked what defence he had to make to the appeal, 
 he said — " I am King of Scotland. To the com- 
 plaint of the appellant, or to aught else respecting 
 my kingdom, I dare not make answer without the 
 advice of my people." " What means this ?" cried 
 Edward : " You are 7ny liegeman ; you have done 
 homage to trie ; you are here in consequence of ?ny 
 summons." Baliol, however, would only repeat his 
 first answer. He declined even to ask an adjourn- 
 ment of the cause. The Parliament then resolved 
 that the King of Scots had offered no defence ; that 
 in his answer he had been guilty of a manifest con- 
 tempt of the court, and of open disobedience : that 
 the appellant should have damages of the King of 
 Scots; and, finally, " because it is consonant to law 
 that every one be punished in that which emboldens 
 him to offend, that the three principal castles of 
 Scotland, with the towns w^herein they are situated, 
 and the royal jurisdiction thereof, be taken imme- 
 diately into the custody of the king, and there 
 remain until the King of Scots shall make satisfac- 
 tion for his contempt and disobedience." On the 
 ; prayer of Baliol, however, Edward, before this sen- 
 tence was publicly intimated, consented to stay all 
 proceedings till the day after the Feast of the Trin- 
 j ity in the following year. Before that day arrived. 
 ' war between England and France broke out on the 
 seizure of Guienne by Philip; and in the new posi- 
 tion of his affairs, Edward had his hands for the 
 present too full of work in defending himself against 
 his own liege lord to have leisure for the further 
 humiliation and oppression of the King of Scots. 
 ! The opportunity, however, was too tempting a 
 ' one not to be seized by the latter for a strenuous 
 i effort to cast oft' the yoke. Hitherto the nation, 
 ' struck down by the irresistible course of events, 
 and deserted by its natural leaders, had lain, as it 
 were, stunned and in despair. Its old spirit now 
 began to awaken as a new dawn of hope appeared. 
 The nobles themselves — they whose selfish or fac- 
 tious ambition had laid their country at the feet of 
 ' the English king — had many of them by this time
 
 G88 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 been roused to a sense of the bondage into which 
 they had fallen. Their tirst measures, howevei", 
 were cautiousily taken. A parliament, which met 
 at Scone in the latter part of the year 1'294, on pre- 
 tence of lightening the public burdens, directed that 
 all the Englishmen maintained at the court should 
 be dismissed; and then appointed a council of four 
 bisliops, four earls, and four barons, without whose 
 advice the king was restricted from performing any 
 public act. These arrangements may have been 
 made with Baliol's full concurrence ; but it is more 
 probable that they were dictated by a distrust of 
 him. It is asserted indeed by English writers that 
 Baliol was at this time kept by his sul)jects in a state 
 very closely resembling captivity. 
 
 The suspicions of Edward were naturally enough 
 excited by these proceedings. He required that 
 Berwick, Roxburgh, and Jedburgh should be deliv- 
 ered to the Bishop of Carlisle, to remain in his hands 
 during the war between England and France. With 
 this demand the Scottish government deemed it pru- 
 dent to comply, although they were at the moment 
 negotiating an alliance with the French king. This 
 treaty — " the groundwork," observes Lord Ilailes, 
 "of many more, equally honorable and ruinous to 
 Scotland," was signed at Paris on the 2.3d of Octo- 
 ber, 1295. By it the King of Scots, "grievously 
 offended at the undutiful behavior of Edward to the 
 King of France, his liege lord," engaged to assist 
 Philip in his wars with his whole power, and at his 
 own charges. Toward the end of March, 129G, 
 accordingly, a Scottish army, consisting of 40,000 
 foot soldiers and 500 cavalry, invaded Cumberland, 
 and, laying waste the country as they proceeded, 
 marched to Carlisle, and attacked that place. Here, 
 however, they were repulsed, and that with cir- 
 
 cumstances of unusual disgrace, if w"e may credit 
 the English historians, who assert that the town 
 having been set on fire, and the citizens having left 
 their posts to extinguish the flames, the women flew 
 to the walls and compelled the besiegers to retire. 
 Another inroad, which they made a few days after 
 into Northumberland, was not more successful. 
 Meanwhile Edward himself, at the head of a great 
 army, was already at the borders. A pardon had 
 been proclaimed for all outlaws and malefactors who 
 should join the expedition ; and the force which now 
 rolled on to pour upon the Scottish rebels the venge- 
 ance of their English master, consisted of .30,000 
 foot and 4000 horse. Its numbers were further 
 swelled on its arrival in the north by a body of 1000 
 foot and 700 horse, brought bj' Anthony Beck, the 
 warlike Bishop of Durham. Crossing the Tweed, 
 the ro^al army marched direct upon the town of 
 Berwick, which either had never been delivered by 
 the Scots to the Bishop of Carlisle, according to 
 their late promise, or had freed itself again from his 
 authority. A strong garrison, com|)osed of tlie men 
 of Fife, now defended the town, beside a smaller 
 j force that held the castle. The English king cnm- 
 { menced the attack at once by sea and land ; of his 
 [ ships, three were burnt, and the rest compelled to 
 j retire ; but all resistance soon gave way before the 
 impetuous onset of the soldiery ; Edward himself, 
 j mounted on his horse Bayard, was the first wlio 
 I leaped over the dike that defended the town. In 
 I tlie devastation and carnage that followed, no quar- 
 i ter was given ; no pitj', no human feeling, turned 
 ' aside the sword from infancy, or womanhood, or 
 gray hairs ; the inhabitants, with the garrison, were 
 indiscriminately butchered. The numbers that per- 
 , ished are variously stated, but they undoubtedly 
 
 
 Rci.Ns OF THE Castle of Dunbar.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 689 
 
 amounted to many thousands : the massacre was 
 continued for two days, during which no one escaped 
 whom the infuriated victors could reach. A party of 
 thirty Flemings had posted themselves in a building 
 called the Red Hall, which the resident merchants of 
 their nation held by the tenure of defending it at all 
 times against the English. They stood out gaUantly 
 till the evening of the first day ; the building, which 
 they would not surrender, was then set fire to, and 
 they perished, every man of them, in the flames. 
 
 Berwick was taken on the 30th of March. On 
 the 5th of April, a bold ecclesiastic, Henry, Abbot 
 of Aberbrothock (otherwise Arbroath), arrived in 
 the town a messenger from the Scottish king, and 
 delivered to Edward Baliol's solemn renunciation of 
 his allegiance and fealty. " What a piece of mad- 
 ness in the foolish traitor !" exclaimed Edward, 
 when the message had been delivered ; " since he 
 w ill not come to us, we will go to him." ^ A pause 
 of a few weeks, to make the blow the surer, did not 
 prevent this threat from being both speedily and 
 
 1 Ha, ce fol felon tel folie faict 1 s'il ne voiilt venir a nous, nous 
 vieudroDS d lui. 
 
 ' effectually executed. Earl Warenne was first sent 
 fot'wai'd W'ith a chosen body of troops to recover the 
 castle of Dunbar, which the Countess of March had 
 delivered to the Scots, while her husband, by whom 
 it was held, served in the army of Edward. The 
 Scottish army, in full strength, advanced to its relief, 
 
 ! when thej' were engaged by Warenne, and com- 
 pletely routed, with the loss of 10,000 men. This 
 action was fought on the 28th of April. The castle 
 then surrendered at discretion. On the 18th of 
 ]May that of Roxburgh was given up by James the 
 SteAvard of Scotland, who at the same time swore 
 fealty to Edward and abjured the French alliance. 
 The castles of Dunbarton and Jedburgh soon after 
 suri'endered. That of Edinburgh stood a short siege, 
 
 , but it also soon capitulated : no attempt was made to 
 
 [ defend that of Stirling. Thus, in the space of about 
 two months, all the principal strongholds of the king- 
 dom were in Edward's hand, and the conquest of 
 
 I the country was complete. A message (very differ- 
 ent from his last) now arrived from Baliol, offering 
 submission and imploring peace. Edward, in reply, 
 
 I desired him to repair to the castle of Brechin, where 
 
 liALIOL SURRENDERING THE CrOWS TO EdWARD. OpilJ. 
 
 VOL. I. — a
 
 690 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 the Bishop of Durham would announce to him the 
 terms on which his surrender would be accepted. 
 Soon after, Baliol laid down his kinj^ly state in a 
 ceremonial of the last degree of baseness and humil- 
 iation. Divested of every ensign of royalty, he pre- 
 sented himself before the Bishop of Durham and 
 an assembly of English barons, and standing with n 
 white rod in his hand, went through a detailed con- 
 fession of all the o/l'enees which, misled by evil and 
 false counsel, as he affirmed, and through his own 
 simplicity, lie had committed against his liege lord 
 — concluding the recital by an acknowledgment of 
 the justice of the English invasion and conquest, and 
 by therefore freely resigning to the English king 
 his kingdom, its people, and their homage. '^Phe 
 old accounts differ as to the exact date, and also as 
 to the scene of this penance ; but it was most prob- 
 ably j)erformed on the 7th of .July, and. as the tradi- 
 tion of the neighborhood still reports, in the church- 
 yard of Strathkathro, in Angus.' Edward was at 
 this time at Montrose.* He proceeded northward 
 as far as Elgin — the nobility, wherever he passed, 
 crowding in to swear fealty, and to ai)juie the French 
 alliance. It was on his return from this triumi)liant 
 progress that he ordered the famous stone on which 
 the Scottish kings had been wont to be crowned, to 
 be removed from the abbey of Scone, and conveyed 
 to Westminster, in testimony, says an English con- 
 temporary chronicler, of the conquest and surrender 
 of the kingdom.' He appears to have been at St. 
 Johnstone's, or Perth, on Wednesday, the 8th of 
 August. By the 22d, he was once more at Ber- 
 wick; and on the 28th he held a parliament in that 
 town, at which great numbers both of the Scottish 
 laity and clergy presented themselves to take the 
 oaths of fealty. He then proceeded to finish his 
 work, by settling the government of the conquered 
 country. Here his measures were characterized 
 by great prudence and moderation. He ordered 
 the forfeited estates of the clergy to be restored. 
 He even allowed most of the subordinate civil func- 
 tionaries who had held office under Baliol, to retain 
 possession of their places. He left the various juris- 
 dictions of the country in general in the same hands 
 as before. The chief castles in the southern part 
 of the kingdom, however, he intrusted to English 
 captains ; and lie also placed some of his English 
 subjects in command over certain of the more im- 
 portant districts. Finally, he appointed John de 
 Warenne, Earl of Surrey, under the name of gov- 
 ernor, Hugh de Cressingham as treasurer, and Will- 
 iam Ormesby as justiciary, to exercise the supreme 
 authority. A royal exchequer, on the model of the 
 English, was established at Berwick. Thus ended 
 in the utter extinction, for the present, of the na- 
 tional independence of Scotland, the most miserably 
 abortive attempt ever made by any people for the 
 preservation or recovery of that first and most indis- 
 pensable of national blessings. 
 
 I See Hailes, i. 293 ; Tytler i. 429, 430 ; and Chambers's Picture of 
 Scotland, ii. 255. 
 
 - See a curious Diary of Edward's progress, published with ex- 
 platiatory remarks, by Sir N. H. Nicolas, from a MS. in the British 
 Museum, in the 21st vol. of the Archsologia, pp. 478-498. 
 
 ^ Hemingford. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 But, although Edward had put down the rebellion 
 of the Scots, he had not subdued their spirit of 
 resistance. Within a few months after this settle- 
 ment of the country it was again in insurrection. 
 The last and all preceding attempts to throw off the 
 foreign yoke under which the kingdom groaned 
 had been made under the direction of the govern- 
 ment; there was no longer any native government; 
 but a great leader of the people had now stepped 
 forth from their own ranks. This was the renowned 
 William Wallace, the second son of a knight of 
 ancient family. Sir Malcolm Wallace, of Ellerslie. 
 in Renfrewsliire. Wallace had all the qualities of 
 a popular hero — a strength and stature correspond- 
 ing to his daring courage, and also, it cannot be 
 doubted from the known history of his career, as 
 well as from his traditionary fame, many intellectual 
 endowments of a high order — decision, military 
 genius, the talent of command, a stirring though 
 rude eloquence, and in eveiy way a wonderful power 
 of reaching the hearts of men, and drawing them 
 along with him. Above all, an enthusiastic patriot- 
 ism, and a fierce and unextinguishable hatred of 
 the English dominion, were passions so strong in 
 Wallace, that while he lived, be the hour as dark 
 as it might, all felt that the cause of the national 
 independence never could be wholly lost. It is his 
 glorious distinction that, while all others despaired 
 of that cause, he did not despair — that when all 
 others submitted to the conqueror, he betook him- 
 self to the woods, and remained a freeman — that 
 when there was no other to renew the struggle, 
 he started up in that time of universal dismay and 
 prostration, and showed, by an example precious 
 to all time, that even in the worst circumstances 
 nothing is reallj' gone forever where the spirit of 
 hope and eftbrt is not gone. 
 
 Wallace is first mentioned in the month of May, 
 1297. At this time he was merely the captain of 
 a small band of marauders, most of them probably 
 outlaws like himself, who were accustomed to infest 
 the English quarters by predatory attacks. Their 
 nuiubers, however, rapidly grew, as reports of their 
 successful exploits were spread abroad. Suddenly 
 we find the robber-chief transformed into the na- 
 tional champion, joined bj^some of the chief persons 
 in the land, and heading an armed revolt against the 
 government. The first pei'son of note who joined 
 Wallace was Sir William Douglas. He had com- 
 manded in the castle of Berwick when it was taken 
 the preceding year by Edward ; and, after his sur- 
 render, had been liberated upon swearing fealty to 
 the English king. Disregarding this oath, he now 
 armed his vassals, and openly went over to Wallace. 
 The united chiefs immediately marched upon Scone, 
 the seat of the government. Eail Warenne was 
 at this time absent in England, and Ormesby, the 
 justiciary, was acting as his lieutenant. That func- 
 tionary, with difficulty, saved his life by flight ; but 
 much boot}' and many prisoners fell into the hands 
 of the insurgents, and the English government was, 
 in fact, by this bold and brilliant exploit, for the 
 moment overthrown. For some time the neigh- 
 boring country was wholly at the mercy of the
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 691 
 
 insurgents, who roved over it, assaulting every place 
 of strength that refused them admission, and mas- 
 sacring every Englishman vs'ho fell into their hands. 
 
 Many persons of note and distinguished rank 
 now crowded to the once more uplifted standard of 
 freedom and independence ; the Steward of Scot- 
 land, and his brother, Robert Wisheart, Bishop of 
 Glasgow, Alexander de Lindesay, Sir Richard 
 Lundin, and Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell, are 
 especially mentioned. But no accession was more 
 important, or more gladly welcomed, than that of 
 the young Robert Bruce, the son of Robert Bruce 
 who had married the Countess of Carrick, and the 
 grandson of him who had been a competitor with 
 Baliol for the crown. A few years before this, 
 Bruce's father had resigned the earldom of Carrick, 
 which he held in right of his wife, to his son ; and 
 the latter, by the possession of this lordship, now 
 commanded a territory reaching from the Frith of 
 Clj'de to the Solway. The course taken by Baliol 
 had hitherto naturally determined the conduct and 
 position of the rival family. So long as Baliol stood 
 even nominally at the head of the patriotic cause, 
 the Bruces were almost necessarily on the other 
 side. In the last daj's of Baliol's reign the Scottish 
 government issued an order confiscating the estates 
 of all partisans of England and of all neutrals, which 
 was principally aimed at the house of Bruce ; and 
 a grant of their estate of Annandale was made to 
 Comyn, Earl of Buchan, who actually took posses- 
 sion, in consequence, of the family castle of Loch- 
 inaben. This of course he did not long retain ; but 
 the wrong was not the less one, which in that fierce 
 age never could be forgiven. Allowance must be 
 made for these personal resentments and rivalries, 
 and the opposition into which men were thereby 
 thrown, in passing judgment upon the conduct of 
 many of the actors in this turbulent and bewilder- 
 Hig drama. Bruce, eventually the great liberator of 
 his country and restorer of the Scottish monarchy, 
 makes his first appearance on the scene, soon after 
 the fatal fight of Dunbar, in the unpatriotic part of 
 a commissioner empowered by the conqueror to 
 receive into favor the people of Carrick.' He was 
 nt this time only in his twenty-second year. His 
 heart, however, was probably already drawing him, 
 through doubts and misgivings, to the cause which 
 he was at a future day so gloriously to illustrate. 
 Now that Baliol was removed, the time for Bruce 
 to show himself seemed to have come. Edward, it 
 would appear, was not without some suspicion of 
 what his inclinations were. He, therefore, had 
 summoned him to Carlisle, and made him rencAV, 
 on the sword of Becket, his oaths of allegiance and 
 fidelity. In the national enthusiasm, however, ex- 
 cited by the first success of Wallace, he could 
 restrain himself no longer. " I trust," he said, 
 "that the Pope will absolve me from oaths extort- 
 ed by force ;" and so, breaking from his bonds, he 
 joined the army of the patriots. 
 
 But, in that camp, jealousies and dissensions were 
 already actively at work, and disorganizing every- 
 thing. Edward was embarking for Flanders when 
 I Hailes, i. 292. 
 
 he received intelligence of the new Scottish revolt. 
 The military force of the kingdom to the north of 
 the Trent was instantly called into array by the 
 Earl of Surrey ; and as soon as the men could be 
 collected. Sir Henry Percy and Sir Robert Clift'ord 
 were sent forward to meet the insurgents, at the 
 head of an army of forty thousand foot and three 
 hundred horse. They found the Scots, in nearly 
 equal numbers, posted in a strong position in the 
 neighborhood of the town of Irvine, in Ayrshire. 
 But no acknowledged leader controlled the irregular 
 congregation of chiefs who had crowded with their 
 retainers to the standard that Wallace had raised ; 
 his authority was disowned, or but reluctantly sub- 
 mitted to, by many of the proud knights and barons, 
 who never before had obeyed a plebeian general ; 
 and there were probably as many conflicting plans of 
 operation as there were competitors for the supreme 
 command. In this miserable state of affairs, it ap- 
 peared to all who had anything to lose, that the 
 wisest plan was to make their peace with the gov- 
 ernment before it should be too late. All the chief 
 associates of Wallace accordingly, including Bruce, 
 the Steward of Scotland, the Bishop of Glasgow, 
 Sir Alexander Lindesay, Sir Richard Lundin, and 
 even Sir William Douglas, the first who had joined 
 him, laid down their arms after a short negotiation, 
 and, for themselves and their adherents, made sub- 
 mission to Edward. The instrument in which they 
 acknowledged their ofitences, and agreed to make 
 every reparation and atonement that should be re- 
 quired by their sovereign lord, is dated at Irvine, 
 the 9th of July.' Only one baron. Sir Andrew 
 Moray of Bothwell, continued to adhere to Wallace. 
 Many of the vassals, however, even of the lords 
 and knights that had deserted him, remained among 
 his followers ; and he withdrew to the north at the 
 head of a force that was still numerous and formi- 
 dable. 
 
 No forther effort seems to have been made by 
 the government to put down the innirrectiou for 
 several months. In the mean while the army of 
 Wallace was continually receiving accessions of 
 numbers. The English historian, Knighton, affirms 
 that the whole of the lower orders had attached 
 themselves to him, and that, although their persons 
 were with the King of England, the hearts of many 
 of the nobility also were with Wallace, whose army, 
 it is added, now grew to so immense a multitude 
 that the community of the land obeyed him as their 
 leader and prince. By the beginning of September, 
 it appears that he had driven the English from the 
 castles of Brechin, Forfar, Montrose, and most of the 
 other strongholds to the north of the Forth, and 
 was now engaged in besieging the castle of Dun- 
 dee. While there he received information that an 
 English army was marching upon Stirling. Leav- 
 ing the siege to be continued by the citizens of 
 Dundee, he led his whole force, amounting to forty 
 thousand foot and a hundred and eighty horse, 
 toward Stirling, and succeeded, by rapid marches, 
 in reaching the banks of the Forth opposite to that 
 town before the English had arrived. He imme- 
 
 1 Rymer, ii. 774.
 
 692 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 diately drew up his army so as to be partly con- 
 cealed behind the neighboring high grounds. Brian 
 Fitzalan had by this time been appointed by Edward 
 chief governor of Scotland ; but the Earl of Surrey 
 still commanded the forces. The English army 
 soon appeared on the other side of the river ; it is 
 said by Hemingford to have consisted of one thou- 
 sand horsemen and fifty thousand foot. On its 
 being perceived how Wallace was posted it was 
 resolved to offer him terms before risking an engage- 
 ment; but he refused to enter into any negotiation. 
 " Return," he said to those who came to him, "and 
 tell your masters that we come not here to treat, 
 but to assert our rights, and to set Scotland free ; 
 let them advance ; they will find us prepared." 
 That night, however, no movement was made. But 
 Surrey's men impatiently called upon him to accept 
 of Wallace's defiance; Cressingham, the treasurer, 
 protested against the waste of the king's money in 
 keeping up an army if it was not to fight ; and to 
 this passionate importunity the English commander 
 weakly yielded his own better judgment, and suf- 
 fered his army to throw itself, not into a snare, for, 
 if the common accounts of the aftair may be relied 
 upon, no stratagem or deception of anj' kind was 
 employed by Wallace, but into obvious and certain 
 destruction. Early the following morning (the 11th 
 of September) the English began to pass over bj- the 
 bridge — a narrow wooden structure, along which, 
 even with no impediment or chance of interruption 
 of any kind to retard them, so numerous a force 
 could not have been led in many hours. The issue 
 was what it is unaccountable should not have been 
 foreseen. Wallace waited till about half the Eng- 
 hsh were passed over; then, detaching a part of 
 his forces to take possession of the extremity of the 
 
 bridge, as soon as he perceived the communication 
 by this means eftectualiy cut off, he rushed down 
 upon the portion of the enemy who had thus put 
 themselves in his power, as they were still forming, 
 and in a moment threw them into inextricable con- 
 fusion. Many thousands of the English were slain 
 or driven into the water ; Cressingham himself, 
 who had led the van, was one of those who fell ; 
 he had, by the severity of his administration, made 
 himself particularly hateful to the Scots, who now, 
 stripping the skin from his dead bodj', cut it into 
 small pieces to be preserved — not as relics, saya 
 Hemingford, but for spite.'" Wallace himself, it is 
 affirmed, had a sword-belt made of part of it. No 
 prisoners, indeed, seem to have been taken ; and 
 nearly all the English that had crossed the river 
 must therefore have been destroyed. One knight, 
 however. Sir Marmaduke Twenge, putting spurs 
 to his horse, gallantly cut his way back through the 
 force that guarded the bridge, and regained the oppo- 
 site side in safety. Surrey himself had not passed 
 over ; but, after the fortune of the day became 
 clearly irrecoverable, charging Twenge to occupy 
 the castle of Stirling with what remains of the army 
 he could collect, he mounted his horse, and rode, 
 without stopping, to Berwick. Even the portion of 
 the army that had remained on the south side of 
 the river seems to have been in great part dispersed. 
 The loss of the Scots v/as tritiing : the only man of 
 note that fell was Sir Andrew Moray. A lai'ge 
 quantity of spoil was taken. But the great result 
 of the victory was nothing less than the almost com- 
 plete liberation of the country once more from the 
 English dominion. The castles of Edinburgh, Dun- 
 dee, Roxburgh, and Berwick, all immediately sur- 
 
 » Non quidem ad reliquias, sed in contumelias. 
 
 6T1RUN0 Castle.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 693 
 
 rendered ; and in a short time there was not a for- 
 tress, from one end of Scotland to the other, in the 
 possession of the EngUsh king. Wallace soon after 
 even invaded England, and for some time maintained 
 his army in Cumberland, — a movement to which 
 he was partly induced by a severe famine that now 
 arose in Scotland, where unfavorable seasons had 
 conspired with the waste of war to afflict the soil. 
 He returned from this expedition about the end of 
 the year ; and it is said to have been then that, in 
 an assembly of the principal nobility, held at the 
 "orest Kirk in Selkirkshire, he was invested with 
 the title of Guardian or Governor of the kingdom, 
 and commander-in-chief of the armies of Scotland 
 (Custos regni Scotiae, etductor exercituum ejusdem), 
 in the name of King John. The Scottish patriots, 
 it is to be observed, had all along professed to act in 
 the name of Baliol; so general, notwithstanding all 
 that had taken place, was the conviction that his 
 was the legitimate right to the crown, or so strong 
 the aversion to reopen the question of the succes- 
 sion, from which all the calamities of the country 
 had sprung. 
 
 Thus was Scotland again lost by Edward even 
 more suddenly than it had been won. He was still 
 detained in Flanders by the war in which he had 
 engaged with the French king for the recovery of 
 Guienne, while his conquest nearer home was thus 
 wrested out of his hands. It appears that strenuous 
 efforts were made bj- Philip to have the Scots in- 
 cluded in the benefit of the treaty of peace, the truce 
 preliminary to which was agi-eed upon in October of 
 this year.^ But Edward would hear of no terms for 
 those whom he called revolted subjects and ti'aitors. 
 By letters addressed to all the earls and barons of 
 England, he commanded that a general muster of 
 the military force of the kingdom should take place 
 at York on the 14th of January. A week after that 
 day a mighty army, of a hundred thousand foot and 
 four thousand cavalry, was on its march, under the 
 command of Surrey, across the Scottish border. 
 After this force, however, had proceeded as far as 
 Berwick, of which they took possession, letters ar- 
 rived from the king ordering them not to continue 
 their advance till, he should himself join them. On 
 this Surrey sent home the greater part of the im- 
 mense multitude, retaining only a body of twenty 
 thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. 
 
 Edward returned to England about the middle of 
 March, 1298, and instantly summoned the barons 
 and other military tenants to reassemble with their 
 powers at York on the feast of Pentecost. A still 
 more numerous army than the last gathered at this 
 new call, at the head of which Edward proceeded 
 in the first instance to Roxburgh. From this point 
 he advanced, in the beginning of .Tune, along the 
 east coast, a fleet with supplies for the army having 
 been sent forward to the Frith of Forth ; but for 
 several weeks no enemy, scarcely even any inhab- 
 itants, were to be seen, and the invaders could only 
 take a useless revenge in wasting an already de- 
 serted country. The Scots meanwhile, under the 
 direction of Wallace, had been collecting their 
 
 ' See Rymer, new edit., i. 8C1 ; and Tytler, i. 173 and 435. 
 
 strength in the interior ; and many of the chief no- 
 bility, including Bruce, were now assembled again 
 around the great national leader. The plan of 
 Wallace, however, was to avoid, for the present, a 
 general engagement, and only to watch, out of sight, 
 the movements of the enemy, and hang upon his 
 line of march, in readiness to take advantage of such 
 favorable circumstances as might arise. EdwaTd 
 soon became invoWed in very serious difficulties : 
 his ships were detained by contrary winds; and 
 while he was waiting at Templeliston (now Kirklis- 
 ton), a small town between Edinburgh and Linlith- 
 gow, till he should receive some intelligence of them 
 before proceeding upon his design of penetrating 
 into the west, an alarming mutiny broke out in the 
 camp, originating in a quarrel between the English 
 and the Welsh soldiers, the latter of whom, amount- 
 ing in number to forty thousand, were at one time 
 on the point of withdrawing and joining the Scots. 
 " I care not," said Edward, with his usual lofty 
 spirit, when their intention was reported to him ; 
 " let my enemies go and join my enemies ; I trust 
 that in one day I shall chastise them all." No news 
 of the ships arriving, however, the scarcity of pro- 
 visions soon became so distressing that a retreat 
 to Edinburgh was resolved upon, when information 
 was received that the Scottish army was encamped 
 not far off in the wood of Falkirk. It is said that 
 two noblemen serving in the Scottish camp, the 
 earls of Dunbar and Angus, came privately at day- 
 break to the quarters of the Bishop of Durham, and 
 communicated this intelligence. " Thanks be to 
 God!" exclaimed Edward, "who hitherto hath de- 
 livered me from every danger ; they shall not need 
 to follow me ; I will forthwith go and meet them!" 
 That night the army lay in the fields, the king him- 
 self sleeping on the ground. A kick from his horse, 
 which stood beside him in the night, broke two of 
 his ribs, and in the first confusion occasioned by the 
 accident, a cry ai'ose that the king was seriously 
 wounded or killed — that there was treason in the 
 camp. Edward immediately, disregarding the pain 
 he suffered, moimted his horse, and, as it was now 
 dawn, gave orders to continue the march. The 
 advanced guard of the enemy was first seen on the 
 ridge of a hill in front, after they had passed Lin- 
 lithgow. Soon after, the whole army was descried, 
 forming, on a stony field, at the side of a small emi- 
 nence in the neighborhood of Falkirk.' Wallace 
 divided the infantiy of his army, which was greatly 
 inferior in numbers to that of the English, into four 
 circular bodies, armed with lances, which the men 
 protruded obliquely, as they knelt with their backs 
 against each other ; the archers were placed in the 
 intermediate spaces: the horse, of which there were 
 only one thousand, were drawn up at some distance 
 in the rear. Edward's cavalry were ranged in the 
 front of his battle, in three lines. The attack was 
 made at the same time by the first of these, led by 
 Bigot, earl marshal, and the earls of Hereford and 
 Lincoln ; and by the second, under the leading of 
 the bold Bishop of Durham. The shock was gal- 
 lantly met by the Scottish infantry, and for some 
 
 1 Uailes, i. 314.
 
 694 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 time they stood their ground firmly. The cavahy, 
 however, whether dismayed by the immense dis- 
 parity between the numbers of the enemy and their 
 own, or, as has been conjectured, from treason on 
 the part of their commanders, fled without striking 
 a blow; and, thus left without support against the 
 repeated charges of the English horse, the lancers 
 and archers also at length gave way, and the rout 
 became complete. The battle of Falkirk was fought 
 on the 2-2d of July, 1'298. It is said that 15,000 of 
 the Scots fell on this fatal day. On the English 
 side the loss was inconsiderable. Wallace retreated 
 with the remains of his army to Stirling, whither ho 
 was pursued by the English ; but when they ar- 
 rived, he was gone, and the town was found reduced 
 to ashes. The victorious invaders now carried fire 
 and sword through the country in all directions. 
 The whole of Fifeshire was laid waste and given 
 up to military execution. The city of St. Andrews, 
 which was found deserted, was set on fire and burnt 
 to the ground. Perth was burnt by the inhabitants 
 themselves on the approach of the English. Ed- 
 ward, however, was speedily obliged to leave the 
 country from the impossibility of finding the means 
 of subsisting his troops. He appears to have re- 
 turned to England about the middle of September — 
 having, indeed, regained possession of the principal 
 places of strength in the south of Scotland, but leav- 
 ing the whole of the country to the north of the 
 Forth still unsubdued. 
 
 The expensive wars of Wales, Scotland, and 
 Guienne had caused Edward to oppress the Eng- 
 lish people with levies and taxes, in the raising of 
 which he had not always respected the constitu- 
 tional charter ; while on some occasions he had 
 recourse to artifices similar to those which had suc- 
 ceeded so badly with his father, Henry III. At 
 one time, he pretended that he had again taken the 
 cross, and thus obtained the tenth of all church 
 benefices for six years. A few years after this, he 
 seized the mouej^s deposited in the churches and 
 monasteries, and kept the greater part for his own 
 xses, promising, however, to pay it back some time 
 or other. His financial proceedings with the church 
 show that times were materially altered — for the 
 main weight of taxation was thrown upon that body. 
 After obtaining a reluctant grant from the Im'ds and 
 knights of the shire of a tenth on lay property, he 
 demanded from the clergy a half on their entire in- 
 comes. Here, for the first time, he encountered a 
 stern opposition on the part of the bishops, abbots, 
 and common clergy, but they were bullied into com- 
 pliance, being told, among other harsh things, that 
 every "reverend father" who dared to oppose the 
 king, would be noticed as one who had broken the 
 peace. This was in 1294. In the following year, 
 having obtained a very liberal grant from Pailiament, 
 lie exacted a fourth from the cliurchmen, who again 
 were obstinate, and obliged him, in the end, to be 
 satisfied with a tenth. Beside these heavy bur- 
 dens, the church was sorely racked by the king's 
 purveyors and commissaries, who, particularly during 
 the more active parts of the Scotch war, continually 
 emptied the store-houses, granaries, farm-yards, and 
 
 larders, and carried off all the vehicles, horses, and 
 other animals for the transport of army stores, inso- 
 much that the poor abbots and priors complained 
 that the)' had scarcely a mule left in their stables 
 upon which to go their spiritual rounds. At last 
 they applied to the Pope for protection, and Boni- 
 face VIII. granted them a bull, ordaining that the 
 clergy should not vote away their revenues without 
 the express permission of the holy see. But the 
 Pope was engaged in many troubles ; the bull, which 
 applied equally to all Christian countries, was stren- 
 uously opposed in P' ranee by Philip le Bel ; and in 
 the following year, 1297, he found himself obliged 
 to publish a second bull, which explained away and 
 stultified the first ; for it provided that, whenever 
 the safety of the kingdom required it, churchmen 
 must pay their aids; and it left to the king and his 
 council the right of deciding on the necessity. Be- 
 fore this second bull arrived, the English clergy, 
 fancying that they were well supported bj' the pre- 
 vious document, met, and boldly refused some of 
 Edward's demands ; upon which he outlawed the 
 whole body, both regular and secular, and seized 
 their goods and chattels, not leaving bishop, parish 
 priest, abbot, or monk, so much as bread to eat, or 
 a bed to lie upon. As there were no Beckets in the 
 land, these measures produced a general submission 
 to the king's arbitrary will, even before the arrival 
 of the explanatory bull. A few recusants were sup- 
 ported for a season by the charity of their relatives 
 and of the common people, but no popular move- 
 ment took place in their favor, nor does their hard 
 treatment appear to have created any great excite- 
 ment.' 
 
 It was far otherwise when the king laid his greedy 
 hand on the trading classes : they had borne a great 
 deal in the way of tallages and increased export du- 
 ties ; but when he seized all the wool and hides that 
 were ready for shipping, and sold them for his own 
 profit, a universal and loud outcry Avas raised,. not- 
 withstanding his assurances that he would faithfully 
 pay back the amount. The merchants assembled, 
 the rich burghers, the landed proprietors of all 
 classes consulted together ; and their consultations 
 were encouraged by some of the greatest of the 
 nobles, who were not so blinded bj' the career of 
 conquest and glory in which the king was leading 
 them, as to be neglectful of their more immediate 
 interests, or indifferent to those violent inroads on 
 the national rights. Toward the end of February, 
 1297, Edward felt the effect of these deliberations. 
 He had collected two armies, one of which was to go 
 to Guienne, the other into Flanders; when the Earl 
 of Hereford, the constable, and the Earl of Norfolk, 
 the marshal of England, both refused to quit the coun- 
 try. Turning to the marshal, the king exclaimed, 
 " By the everlasting God, Sir Earl, you shall go, or 
 hang." " By the everlasting God, Sir King, I will 
 neither go nor hang ;" and, so saying, Norfolk with- 
 drew with Hereford. Thirty bannerets and fifteen 
 hundred knights immediately followed the marshal 
 and the constable, and the king was left almost alone.- 
 An incautious step at this moment might have cost 
 
 1 Rymer.— Brady.— 'Wykes.— Knight.— Ilcming. =* lleming.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 695 
 
 him his crown or his hfe, but Edward was a won- 
 derful master of his passions when necessary, and 
 his craft and policy were*^iilly equal to his merits as 
 a warrior. He knew that the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury and the clergy gave great weight to the 
 present opposition, and these he detached by bland- 
 ishments and promises. He knew that his brilliant 
 exploits in war had endeared him to the unthinking 
 multitude, and he also knew how to touch their 
 hearts. The measure he adopted was singularly 
 dramatic : he stood forth before the people of Lon- 
 don, mounted on a platform in front of Westminster 
 Hall, nobody being near him save his son Edward, 
 the Archbishop of Canterbuiy, and the Earl of War- 
 wick : he told them that nobody grieved more than 
 he did for the burdensome taxes laid upon his dear 
 subjects, but this burden was one of absolute neces- 
 sity, to preserve not only his crown, but their blood 
 from the Welsh, the Scots, and the French.^ Then, 
 in the proper place, falling into the pathetic, he said, 
 " I am going to expose myself to all the dangers of 
 war, for your sakes. If I return alive, I will make 
 you amends for the past ; but if I fall, here is my 
 dear son, place him on my throne, his gratitude will 
 be the rewarder of your fidelity !" Here he stopped, 
 and let a few tears roll down his iron cheek. The 
 archbishop wept ; the spectators were tenderly af- 
 fected ; and, after a brief pause, the air was rent 
 with shouts of applause and loyalty.^ This display 
 of enthusiasm gave the king great encouragement, 
 and having issued writs for the protection of church 
 property, and appointed his former opponent, the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, chief of the council of re- 
 gency under Prince Edward, he went to embark for 
 Flanders with such troops as he had kept together. 
 But a few dtiys after, on August 12th, he was brought 
 to a halt at Winchester, by reports of the hostile 
 spirit of the nobles ; and while in that city, a remon- 
 strance, in the name of the archbishoj)s, bishops, 
 abbots, and priors, the earls, barons, and commons 
 of- England, was presented to him. After stating 
 in broad terms that they were not bound to accom- 
 pany the king to Flanders — a country where neither 
 they nor any of their ancestors had ever done ser- 
 vice for the kings of England ; and that even if they 
 were inclined to take part in that expedition, the 
 povertj' to which he had reduced them rendered 
 them unable to do so : they went on to tell him, in 
 their bold remonstrance, that he had repeatedly vio- 
 lated their charters and liberties; that his "evil toll" 
 (so they called the export duty on wool) was exces- 
 sive and intolerable, and that his present expedition 
 to the continent was ill-advised, seeing that his ab- 
 sence would leave the country open to the incur- 
 sions of the Scots and W^elsh. The king evaded 
 any very direct answer, and relying on the favor- 
 able disposition of the common people, and the vigi- 
 lance of his officers, he had the courage to depart in 
 the verj- midst of these discontents.^ He landed 
 near Sluys in the end of August: his plans were 
 
 1 The descent at Dover had greatly inflamed the people against the 
 French; and in the popular acnmnts of the savage warfare by sea, 
 the atrocities of the enemy alone were dwelt upon. 
 
 2 Heming. — Knyghton. — Ryraer. 
 
 ^ Heming. — Wals. — Knyght. — Rymer. 
 
 concerted with his usual sagacity ; but coalitions are 
 faithless and uncertain things, and he had in Philip 
 le Bel an opponent as crafty, and, at the least, as 
 unscrupulous as himself. These great kings had 
 long struggled for possession of a young lady — 
 Philippa, daughter of Guy Count of Flanders. As 
 early as the year 1294, EdAvard had concluded a 
 treaty of marriage, which was to unite the fair 
 Fleming to the Prince of Wales ; but it was Philip's 
 interest to prevent any close union between Eng- 
 land and Flanders, and he resolved that the mar- 
 riage should not take place. After many secret 
 intrigues — which failed, as both the young lady and 
 her father were bent on the English union — the 
 French king invited Count Guy to meet him at 
 Corbeil, that he might consult him on matters of 
 great importance. The count, who was a frank, 
 honest old man, went, and took his countess with 
 him : he was no sooner in his power than Philip 
 harshly reproached him with the English treaty — • 
 told him that no vassal of the French crown, how- 
 ever great, could marry any of his children without 
 the king's license — and then sent him and his wife 
 prisoners to the tower in the Louvre. 
 
 This arbitrary and treacherous measure excited 
 great disgust, and the better feeling of the French 
 peers, and the remonstrances of a papal legate, 
 forced Philip to liberate the old count and his 
 countess. Before letting go his hold, however, he 
 made Guy swear he would think no more of his 
 English alliance. The count contracted the foi'ced 
 obligation ; but this was not enough for the French 
 king, who had broken too many oaths himself to 
 have much reliance on those of other people : he 
 demanded that Philippa should be placed in his 
 hands as a hostage ; and when that young lady was 
 brought to Paris — and not before — her parents were 
 liberated. Their parting was sad and tender. As 
 soon as the count reached his own dominions, he 
 made an affecting appeal to the Pope ; the church 
 entered with some zeal into the case ; but notwith- 
 standing repeated threats of excommimication, Philip 
 le Bel persisted in keeping his innocent hostage, who 
 was not more than twelve years of age. At last, the 
 old count formally renounced his allegiance, defied 
 his suzerain, and entered heart and soul into a league 
 with the English king, whose notion was, that France 
 would be found more vulnerable on the side of Flan- 
 ders than on that of Guienne. It was in conse- 
 quence of this treaty, which was sworn to in the 
 most solemn manner, that Edward went to Flan- 
 ders, after preparing a formidable alliance. The 
 other chief members of the coalition were, the em- 
 peror, the Duke of Austria — who had both been 
 subsidized by Edward — and the Duke of Brabant 
 and Count of Bar, who were his own sons-in-law 
 by their marriage with the princesses Margaret and 
 Eleanor of England. When the hired allies gut 
 Edward's )noney, they seem to have considered 
 their part of the business as done ; and no member 
 of the coalition was very faithful or strenuous, ex- 
 cept the unhappy Count Guy, whose cruel wrongs 
 bound him firmly to Edward. But the whole expe- 
 dition became a series of misadventures, some of
 
 G96 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boor IV. 
 
 which were sufficiently disgraceful to the English 
 conqueror. lie had scarcely landed at Sluys, when 
 the mariners of the Cinque Ports, and those of Yar- 
 mouth and otlier ports — between whom there were 
 many rancorous old jealousies — quarreled, and then 
 fought, as if tliey had been national enemies ranged 
 under two opposite (lags. On the Yarmouth side, 
 tive-and-twenty ships were burnt and destroyed in 
 this wild conflict. One fact wliich the chroniclers 
 mention looks almost as if the fight had been for the 
 money on board, and most of the mariners little 
 better than pirates; "and also three of their great- 
 est ships — part of the king's treasure being in one 
 of them — were tolled forth into the high sea, and 
 quite conveyed away." ' The king's land-forces 
 were scarcely in a better state of discipline, owing 
 probably to the absence of most of the great officers 
 whom they had been accustomed to obey. The 
 disorders they committed did not tend to produce 
 unanimity in the countrj% which was already in 
 " evil state, by reason that the good towns were not 
 all of one mind." The rich and populous cities of 
 Flanders were, in fact, as jealous of each other, and 
 split into almost as many factious as the little Italian 
 republics of the middle ages. Philip had a strong 
 party among tliem, and that active sovereign had 
 gl'eatly increased it, and weakened his enemies, by 
 marching into the Low Countries at the head of sixty 
 thousand men, and gaining a great victoiy at Furnes, 
 before Edward could arrive. The French occupied 
 many of the towns ; and Lille, Courtrai, Ypres, 
 Bruges, and Damme were either taken or given 
 up to them soon after the landing of the English. 
 Edward drove them with great loss out of Damme, 
 and might have done the same at Bruges, had it not 
 been that his English and the Flemings, who were 
 serving with them, fell into strife, and fought about 
 the division of the spoils of the town, which they 
 had not yet taken. Soon after this, he went into 
 winter-quarters at Ghent, and there deadly feuds 
 broke out between the townspeople and his troops : 
 seven hundred of the latter were killed in a tumult, 
 in which E^dward's own life was endangered. The 
 English foot-soldiers, on their side, sacked the town 
 of Damme, and killed some two hundred Flemings. 
 It was not hkely that such tender allies should do 
 much against the common enemy ; and all the ef- 
 forts made by the king and Count Guy failed to 
 reconcile these animosities. 
 
 A.D. 1298. Spring approached, but it brought no 
 news of the inactive members of the coalition ; and 
 as Edward's presence was much wanted at home, 
 he eagerly listened to overtures from Philip, con- 
 cluded a truce for two years, and, leaving Count Guy 
 to shift for himself, sailed for England. 
 
 It could not be denied that, after throwing away 
 immense sums of money, he returned humbled and 
 disgraced. But his English subjects had not waited 
 for this moment of humiliation to curb his arbitrary 
 power. As soon as he set sail for Flanders the pre- 
 ceding year, the constable and eai-l marshal, with 
 many other nobles, in presence of the lord treas- 
 urer and of the judges, forbade the officers of the 
 
 ' Holinshed. 
 
 Exchequer, in the name of the whole baronage of 
 England, to exact payment of certain taxes which 
 had been laid on without proper consent of parlia- 
 ment. The citizens of London and of the other 
 great trading towns made connnon cause with the 
 barons ; and, after issuing some orders which the 
 Exchequer durst not obey, and making some fruit- 
 less attempts at deception and evasion, Edward was 
 obliged to send over fiom Ghent instructions to his 
 son and the council of regency' to bend before a 
 storm which there was no opposing ; and, in the 
 month of Decendjer, from the same cit}' of Ghent, 
 he was fain to grant, under the great seal, another 
 confirmation of the two charters, together with a 
 full confirmation of the important statute called " De 
 Tallagio non Concedendo," declaring that hence- 
 forth no tallage or aid should be levied without as- 
 sent of the peers spiritual and temporal, the knights, 
 burgesses, and other freemen of the realm, which 
 had been passed in a parliament held by Prince 
 Edward in the preceding September. For many 
 years Parliament had exercised a salutary control in 
 such matters, but this statute, for the first time, for- 
 mally invested the representatives of the nation 
 with the sole right of raising the supplies. Edward 
 felt this as a painful state of dependence ; he knew 
 it would check his ambition, and probably prevent 
 his foreign wars ; and he had scarcely set foot in 
 England when he betrayed his irritation and disgust. 
 It is said that, among his confidential friends, he 
 laughed at the restrictions attempted to be imposed 
 upon him ; but his subjects were resolute, and soon 
 made him feel that the matter was neither to be 
 treated as of light consequence nor set aside by sub- 
 terfuges.'^ In full parliament, which met at York 
 in the month of May, some six weeks after his re- 
 turn, the Earl of Hereford, the constable, and the 
 Earl of Norfolk, the marshal, demanded of him that 
 he would ratify in person, and with proper solemni- 
 ties, his recent confirmation of the charters. Ed- 
 ward, as if the ceremony could not have been per- 
 formed in a few hours, or even then, at the moment, 
 said, that it could not be now, as he must hasten to 
 chastise the Scottish rebels ; but he promised to do 
 what was asked of him on his return from the north, 
 and he pledged solemn onths, vicariously , the Bishop 
 of Durham and three lay lords swearing, by the 
 soul of the king, that he should keep his promise.^ 
 
 It will prevent confusion to bring these transac- 
 tions to one point, without regard to the strict chro- 
 nological order in which they occurred. In March, 
 1299, about ten months after the meeting at York, 
 Edward met his parliament again at Westminster. 
 The bloody laurels of Falkirk were fresh on his 
 brow : he had all the prestige of recent success : 
 but, undaunted by his glory and might, the barons 
 required the fulfilment of his promises. He was 
 " nothing contented that this matter should be so 
 earnestly pressed, for loth he was to grant their full 
 
 1 Several members of this council, with the Archbishop of Caii- 
 1 terbury at their head, were known to be favorable to the cause of 
 I reform. 
 
 I 2 He pretended that the confirmation was not binding, as he had put 
 his seal to it in a foreign country. 
 
 ^ Heming. — Walslus-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 697 
 
 request." He therefoi'e endeavoi-ed to gain time, ' 
 putting off the question, and giving no direct answer 
 one way or the other. When the lords urged him, 
 he withdrew from ParUament and got out of Lon- 
 don, secretly, and as if by stealth ; but these earnest 
 men would not be evaded : they followed him ; and [ 
 then the proud conqueror was compelled to make | 
 mean and debasing excuses, throwing the blame of 
 his departure on the air of London, which, he said, j 
 did not agree with his constitution. At last he 
 granted the ratification so firmly demanded ; but, 
 with singular bad faith, he took Parliament by sur- 
 prise, and added a clause at the end of the document 
 — a saving of the right of the crown — which utterly 
 destroj^ed the value of the concession, and went to 
 shake the very foundations of the Great Charter it- 
 self. Upon this the earls of Hereford and Norfolk, 
 with the mass of the barons, returned sullenly to 
 their homes. Edward was alarmed at their hostile 
 countenance, but fancying he could delude the plain 
 citizens, he ordered the sheriffs of London to call a 
 public meeting, and to read the new confirmation of 
 the charters. The citizens met in St. Paul's 
 churchyard, and listened with anxious ears : at every 
 clause, except the last, they gave many blessings to 
 the king for his noble grants, but when that last 
 clause was read, the London burghers understood 
 its effect as well as the noble lords had done, and 
 they cursed as loud and as fast as they had blessed 
 before. Edward took warning : he summoned the 
 Parliament to meet again shortly after Easter, and 
 then he struck out the detested clause, and granted 
 all that was asked of him in the forms prescribed.' 
 One of the immediate benefits of these enactments 
 was a proper definition of the limits of the royal for- 
 ests, which, it was decreed, should never again be 
 enlarged by encroachments on the subjects' lands." 
 But still Edward only considered these concessions 
 as temporary sacrifices of his high prerogative, and, 
 from the moment of granting them, he occupied the 
 leisure which the Scottish war and his intrigues on 
 the continent allowed him, in devising means to 
 overthrow the power of Parliament. Hereford, the 
 constable, died shortly after the ratification, but his 
 principles had taken too deep and wide a root to be 
 much injured by the death of anj- one man, however 
 great. In the course of three years, the king art- 
 fully contrived to punish, on other charges, and im- 
 poverish many of the barons who had most firmly 
 opposed him; but this measure onlj^ convinced men 
 more than ever of the vital necessity of restricting 
 his power. In 1304, when he had triumphed, for 
 the moment, over all opposition in Scotland, Edwaid 
 arbitrarily sent to raise a tallage on all the cities and 
 boroughs of his demesne ; and in the following year 
 he dispatched secret envoys to the Pope, to repre- 
 sent that the concessions he had made had been 
 iorced from him by a traitorous conspiracy of his 
 barons, and to ask an absolution from his oaths and 
 the engagements he had so repeatedly and solemnly 
 contracted with his subjects. Notwithstanding Ed- 
 ward's instancing the case of his father, Henry III., 
 who was absolved of his oaths to the Earl of Leices- 
 
 > Hemingford. — Knyghtcm. 2 Brady. 
 
 ter, the answer of Clement V. was rather an eva- 
 sive one. Thus, but slightly encouraged to perjury 
 on the one hand — awed by the unanimity of the 
 barons on the other — and then, once more embar- 
 rassed by a rising of the patriots in Scotland, who 
 never left him long in tranquil enjoyment of his 
 usurpation, the mighty Edward was compelled to 
 respect his engagements and the will of the nation, 
 and to leave, as a part of the law of the land, those 
 limitations on the power of future rulers which had 
 been wrung from him, one of the most powerful, 
 warlike, and skilful of kings. It required, indeed, 
 an " intrepid patriotism " to contend' with and finally 
 control such a sovereign, and England never has 
 produced any patriots to whom she owes more 
 gratitude than to Humphrey Bohun, Earl of Here- 
 ford, and Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk. But Eng- 
 lish historians have not borne sufficiently in mind 
 the indirect obligation to the hardy patriots of Scot- 
 land, who divided and weakened the strength of the 
 tyrant, and, on more than one occasion, served the 
 cause of liberty in England by distracting his atten- 
 tion at a critical moment, and giving full employment 
 to his arms and resources in the north. If the 
 Scots had been mean-spirited and submissive, the 
 " Confirmation of the Charters" might have been 
 annulled ; and if the English had succeeded in en- 
 slaving the Scots, they might have found that they 
 had been forging fetters for themselves. 
 
 The vision of the splendid inheritance of Eleanor 
 of Aquitaine still haunted Edward's imagination. 
 "With such an opponent as Philip le Bel he could 
 scarcely hope to recover all those states which the 
 divorced wife of Louis VII. conveyed to Henry II. 
 of England ; but he was resolved to get back at least 
 the country of Guienne, the loss of which preyed on 
 his mind and irritated his self-esteem, for Edward 
 prided himself as much on his policy as on his mili- 
 tary prowess, and in that particular Philip had 
 fairly, or rather foully, outwitted him. In the 
 transactions which now took place, the two sove- 
 reigns ran a pretty equal career of baseness. Having 
 experienced the expensiveness and uncertainty of 
 foreign coalitions, and having no great army of his 
 own to spare for continental warfare, Edward deter- 
 mined to obtain his end by treating diplomatically 
 with the French king, and sacrificing his faithful 
 ally, the Count of Flanders. In this he had more 
 in view than the recovery of Guienne, for, as a price 
 of his own treachery to Count Guy, he expected 
 that Philip would be equally false to his treaty with 
 the Scots, whom he had hurried into hostilities for 
 his own purposes, swearing, however, that he would 
 never abandon them. Since Edward's unfortunate 
 campaign in Flanders, the arrogance and exactions 
 of the French had almost destroyed their party in 
 that country ; and though they made a temporary 
 conquest of it, the burghers of Ghent, Lille, Bruges, 
 and the other free cities, gave them a signal defeat 
 in the battle of Courtrai, which was fought in the 
 year 1302. Philip's cousin, the Count of Artois, 
 commanded the French on this occasion ; and after 
 his disgraceful defeat, all the Flemish towns threw 
 
 1 Ilallam, Midd. Ages.
 
 G98 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 off the French yoke, and elected John of Nanmr to 
 be their governor-general, for Count Guy had been 
 once more entrapped by Phdip, wlio kept him a 
 close prisoner. The French king was as anxious to 
 recover Flanders as Edward was to keep .Scotland, 
 and to get back Guienne ; and all the chivalry of 
 France longed to wipe out the disgrace their arms 
 had sustained at Courtrai from the "canaille of 
 Flemings.'" 
 
 It appears that the Pope, who liad been appealed 
 to as mediator, first suggested, as a proper means of 
 reconciling the two kings, that Edward, who had 
 been for some years a widower, should marry Mar- 
 garet, the sister of Philip ; and that his eldest son, 
 the Prince of Wales, should be affianced to Isabeau, 
 or Isabella, the daughter of that sovereign. This 
 double marriage had been for some time imder dis- 
 cussion, and had given scope to much mutual decep- 
 tion. Each of the kings impudently affected a 
 delicacy of conscience ai)out abandoning his allies, 
 and Edward stated (what was perfectly true) that he 
 had pledged his soul and honor to the marriage 
 between the Prince of Wales and Philippa, the 
 daughter of the unfortunate Earl of Flanders, and 
 had stipulated that in case of that union being frus- 
 trated by the J'oung lady's continued detention, or 
 by her death, then the young prince should marry 
 her sister ; that he, King Edward, had sworn upon 
 the Gospels to make neither peace nor truce with 
 France unless it were conjointly with his ally the 
 Earl of Flanders, not even though the Pope should 
 demand it. Philip le Bel, on his side, spoke of his 
 allies, the brave, the unfortunate Scots, and of the 
 solemn obligations he had contracted with them ; but 
 each gracious king must have laughed at the other, 
 and probably at himself, too, in making this inter- 
 change of scruples of conscience. Edward married 
 Margaret of France, in September, 1299; and at 
 the same time his son, who was thirteen years old, 
 was privately contracted by proxy to Isabella, who 
 was about six years old. A sort of congress, held 
 at Montreuil, which preceded this marriage, had 
 settled that there should be peace between the 
 French and English crowns, that the King of Eng- 
 land should make satisfaction for the many French 
 ships which his mariners had illegally taken at the 
 beginning of the war, and that the King of France 
 should place sundry towns in Gascony in the custody 
 of the Pope, to be by liim held till the Guienne 
 question should be adjusted by peaceful negotiation. 
 This treaty, however, had not been properly rati- 
 fied ; Philip le Bel quarreled with the arbiter, and 
 even instigated Sciarra Colonna to arrest and ill-treat 
 Pope Boniface. Other circumstances, beside the 
 national antipathies of the English and French peo- 
 ple, which were already very strong, had prevented 
 the accommodation ; but at last, on the 20th of May, 
 1303, the treaty of Montreuil was ratified, a treaty 
 of commerce was concluded between the two coun- 
 tries, and Edward recovered Guienne, for which 
 the Earl of Lincoln swore fealty and did homage in 
 his name. In this treaty the Scots were not even 
 
 ^ The nobles of France seldom condescended to give the industrious 
 ourghers of Flanders a better title 
 
 mentioned : their envoys at the French court com- 
 plained of this dishonoral)le abandonment, and Philip 
 solemnly promised to plead their cause like a warm 
 and sincere friend in an interview which he was 
 shortly to liave with the English king. This per- 
 sonal application, lie said, would have more effect 
 than the discussing of clauses and provisos with 
 ambassadors: and so it might; but Philip never 
 made it, having, indeed, bargained with Edward to 
 abandon Scotland if he would abandon Flanders. 
 In pai't through inability to prevent it, Edward luid 
 permitted Philip to have his way with the Flemings 
 ever since his unfortunate campaign and the truce 
 of 1297, and now he wholly gave them up, by 
 treaty, to their enraged enemies the French, who, 
 a few months after, avenged their defeat at Cour- 
 trai by a frightful massacre of the ijurghers and 
 peasants of Flanders in the battle of Monts-en- 
 Puelle, which was fought at a place so named, be- 
 tween Lille and Douai. The fate of Count (tuy and 
 of his innocent daughter was sad in the extreme. 
 After keeping him four years in close prison, Philip 
 le Bel liberated tht count in a moment of great 
 difficulty, and sent him into Flanders to induce his 
 own subjects to convert a truce they then had with 
 the Fi'ench into a lasting pcv.ice. The count went, 
 and not succeeding in his mission, — for the Flemish 
 citizens hoped to be able to cope with the French 
 single-handed, — he honorably returned, as he had 
 promised to do in that case, to Philip, who again 
 committed him to prison, and caused him to be 
 treated with infamous severity. The poor old man 
 died soon after at Compeigne, in the eighty-first 
 year of his age. But neither the battle of Monts- 
 en-Puelle, nor a series of bloodj- engagements which 
 followed it, could break the spirit of the free citizens 
 of Flanders, whose wealth, the fruit of commerce, 
 gave them many advantages over the miseraiily poor 
 aristocracy of Finance, and whose numbers, consider- 
 ing the limited extent of the coxmtry they occupied, 
 were truly prodigious. After each reverse they 
 rallied again, and the carnage of many battles left 
 no perceptible diminution in their ranks. "By St. 
 Denis," cried Pliilip, "I believe it rains Flemings!" 
 At last he condescended to treat on moderate terms 
 with the trading and manufacturing citizens whom 
 he had once despised as incapable of "liigh deeds 
 of arms;" and, about a year after the ratification of 
 the treaty with Edward, he agreed to a truce for ten 
 years, on condifi<Jii that the Flemings, while they pre- 
 served all their ancient liberties, should acknowledge 
 his feudal suzerainty, pay him one liundred thou- 
 sand francs for the expenses of the war, and leave 
 liim in undisturbed possession of the cities of Lille, 
 Douai, Orchies, and Bethune. Robert, the eldest 
 son of Count Guy, was then liberated, and entered 
 on possession of Flanders ; the body of the octoge- 
 narian state-prisoner, which had been embalmed, 
 was delivered up ; and his younger son and many 
 Flemish gentlemen recovered their liberty. But in 
 this general enlargement the fair Philippa. — the, at 
 one time, affianced bride of Prince Edward of Eng- 
 land, — was excepted ; and she died of grief and 
 captivity not long ::ftor, about two years before
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 69!) 
 
 Edward of Caernarvon completed his marriage with : 
 Isabella of France. The events which rose out of i 
 this ill-fated marriage might have satisfied the manes 
 of the most i-evengeful ; and it could hardly happen ' 
 otherwise than that they should be interpreted into [ 
 a direct judgment of Heaven provoked by politictal 
 perfidy. If she did not positively command the 
 atrocious deed herself, Isabella was at least a main 
 cause of the murder of her husband, and from her 
 union with the Plantagenet were derived those 
 English claims to the French crown, in the prose- 
 cution of which her native land was repeatedly 
 wasted with fire and sword from one extremity to 
 the other, and the spirit of enmity and hatred be- 
 tween the two countries — already a prevalent feel- 
 ing — became so envenomed and deep-rooted that 
 five hundred years have scarcely sufificed to remove 
 it.' 
 
 All this while Edward had never ceased to be 
 occupied with his design of completing the subjuga- 
 tion of Scotland ; but so long as he was embarrassed 
 by having the French war on his hands at the same 
 time, his operations in the norfli of Britain had been 
 comparatively cramped and inefficient. Accordingly, 
 the four years that followed the battle of Falkirk were 
 productive of no important results, although during 
 the whole time the hostilities between the two coun- 
 tries never Avere suspended except occasionally by a 
 truce for a few mouths. Wallace disappears from 
 the scene after his great defeat. In his room, the 
 bai"ons appointed William Lamberton, Bishop of-St. 
 Andrews, Johnde Soulis, John Comyn the younger, 
 and Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, guardians of 
 the kingdom in the name of Baliol. This was indeed 
 a strange union of all the great factions, Bruce act- 
 ing in the name of Baliol, and associated in the same 
 (Commission with Comyn, the only person who stood 
 between him and the throne if Baliol should be set 
 aside ; for Comyn was the son of Baliol's sister 
 Marjoiy, and, failing King John and his issue, the 
 heir of right to the crown. John Baliol, who had 
 remained a prisoner in the Tower since his abdi- 
 cation in 1296, was liberated by Edward on the 
 intercession of Pope Boniface, in July, 1299, and 
 conveyed to his ancestral estate of Bailleul in Nor- 
 mandy, where, forgetting that he had ever been a 
 king, he lived in quiet till his death in 1314. Edward 
 Baliol, who had been his father's fellow-prisoner, 
 accompanied him to France ; but of him we shall 
 hear more in the sequel. It was not till November, 
 1299, that the English king found leisure from his 
 other aftairs to set about preparations for the prose- 
 cution of the Scottish war, and the effort he then 
 made ended in nothing; for after an army had been 
 assembled at Bcrwi-ck in November, his barons, 
 alleging his continued evasion of the charters, 
 peremptorily refused to advance, and he was obliged 
 to return home. The consequence was the cnpitu- 
 iation of the castle of Stirling to a Scottish force 
 that had been for some time besieging it. In the 
 summer of 1300, Edward made an incursion into 
 .Vnnandale and Galloway ; but it was attended with 
 
 1 Rymer. — Sueyro and Bzovius, as (juoted in Southry"s Navul Ilist. 
 — Mezeray. 
 
 no result except the devastation of the former of 
 these districts, and the forma! and useless submission 
 of the latter. On the 30th of October, a truce with 
 the Scots was concluded at Dumfries, to last till 
 Whitsunday in the following year. It was during 
 this interval that Pope Boniface VIII., in a letter to 
 Edward, advanced the singular claim that the king- 
 dom of Scotland belonged of right to the holy see. 
 " But," added his holiness, " should you have any 
 pretensions to the whole or any part of Scotland, 
 send your proctors to me within six months : I will 
 hear and determine according to justice. I take thn 
 cause under my own peculiar cognizance." To this 
 impudent demand, a parliament, which met at Lin- 
 coln in February, 1301, returned a short and spirited 
 answer. "At no time," said the English barons, 
 " has the kingdom of Scotland belonged to tho 
 church. In temporal affairs, the kings of England 
 are not amenable to the see of Rome. We have 
 with one voice resolved that, as to temporal affairs, 
 the King of England is independent of Rome ; that 
 he shall not suffer his independency to be ques- 
 tioned ; and therefore he shall not send commission- 
 ers to Rome. Such is, and such, we trust in God, 
 will ever be our opinion !" A longer and more 
 deferential epistle from Edward himself, a few 
 months afterward, entered into an elaborate exami- 
 nation of the question ; and, in the end, Boniface 
 found it expedient to profess himself convinced, or 
 at least to act as if he had no longer anj^ doubt of 
 the English supremacy. He soon after addressed 
 the Scottish clergy in terms of violent reproof fo)* 
 their opposition to Edward his " dearly-beloved son 
 in Christ," and enjoined them to strive, by repent- 
 ance and by most earnestly pressing the submission 
 of their countrymen, to obtain forgiveness of God 
 and man. Meanwhile, the truce having expired, 
 Edward, in the summer of 1301, again marched into 
 Scotland. This campaign, however, was still more 
 unproductive than the last ; the Scots, adhering to 
 the course that had hitherto proved most effectivtj 
 in ridding them of their invaders, as the Englis]i 
 king advanced, laid the country waste before him, 
 till at last, an early and severe winter coming on, ho 
 was com])eIled to retire into the town of Linlithgow. 
 Here he built a castle, and kept his Christmas. In 
 January, 1302, by the mediation of France, he was 
 induced to conclude another truce with the Scots, 
 to endure till the 30th of November (St. Andrew's 
 Day). It is observable that the Scottish commis- 
 sioners on this occasion still professed to act in tho 
 name of Baliol, against whose title to be called a king, 
 however, Edward protested. As soon as the truco 
 had expired, he prepared to renew the war. This 
 time, however, instead of proceeding to Scotland in 
 person, he sent thither John de Segrave, upon whom 
 he had lately bestowed the appointment of governor, 
 at the head of an army of twenty thousand men, 
 mostly cavalry. The issue of this expedition was 
 eminently disastrous. Segrave, advancing toward 
 Edinburgh, was suddenly attacked early in tho 
 morning of tlie 24th of February, 1303, in the 
 neighborhood of Roslin, by the Scottish forces under 
 the command of Comyn, the guardian, and Sir Simon
 
 700 
 
 HISTORV: OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 Fraser, and sustained a total defeat. He had 
 arranged his forces in three divisions, which appear 
 to have been successively fallen upon by the Scots, 
 and one after the other completely put to the rout. 
 Fn the first fight, Segrave himself, after being dan- 
 gerously wounded, was made prisoner, along with 
 sixteen knights and thirty esquires ; his brother and 
 son were afterward taken ; and it is said that the 
 victors, on coming up with the second and third 
 divisions of the English, were each time compelled 
 to disencumber themselves for the fresh encounter 
 by the slaughter of all their prisoners. Much spoil 
 was also taken ; and the afl'air once more for the 
 moment cleared the country of its invaders. 
 
 But the termination of the dispute witli France 
 now left Edward free to turn with his whole power 
 to the Scottish war. The treaty of Montreuil was 
 ratified at Paris, as above related, on the 20th of 
 May ; on the 21st of that month, the English king 
 was with his army at Roxburgh, and, on the 4th of 
 .Tune, he haJ reached Edinburgh, his progress, in 
 which he had encountered no opposition, having 
 been marked at every step by fields laid waste and 
 towns and villages set on fire. From Edinburgh 
 he appears to have pursued his unresisted and 
 destructive course by Linlithgow and Clackmannan 
 to Perth, and thence to Aberdeen and Kinloss in 
 Moray. At the strong and extensive fortress Loch- 
 endorb, built on an islet in the midst of a lake in 
 the heart of Morayshire, he established his quarters 
 for some time, while he received tlie homage and 
 oaths of fealt}- of the northern barons. The tradi- 
 tion of the neighborhood, after the lapse of more 
 than five hundred years, still connects the ruins of 
 Lochendorb with the name of the great English 
 king.' From this remote point he returned south- 
 ward in the latter part of October. Of all the 
 places of strength to which he came, the castle of 
 Brechin alone shut its gates against him. It was 
 commanded by Sir Thomas Maule, wlio, while the 
 English were battering the fortresses with their 
 engines, is said to have exhibited himself in defitince 
 on the ramparts, with a towel in his hand, with 
 which he contemptuously wiped off the dust and 
 rubbish that fell upon him. The valiant knight, 
 however, was at last struck by a missile ; but even 
 while expiring of his mortal wound, he inveighed 
 against his men as cowards when they asked him if 
 they might now surrender the castle. The garri- 
 son, however, capitulated the day after their com- 
 mander ceased to breathe. Edward took up his 
 winter-quarters in Dunfermline in the beginning of 
 December. Here, according to the history attrib- 
 uted to Matthew of Westminster, the English sol- 
 diers leveled with the ground the magnificent abbey 
 of the Benedictines, a building so spacious, says this 
 writer, that three kings Avith all their attendants 
 might have been lodged conveniently within its 
 walls; but "the Scots," he adds, by way of apology, 
 "had converted the house of the Lord into a den of 
 thieves, by holding their rebellious parliaments 
 there." The last remnant of the Scottish forces 
 that kept the field now assembled in the neighbor- 
 
 1 See Tytler, i, 200 and 433. 
 
 hood of Stirling, with the view of protecting that 
 fortress, the only place in the country that still held 
 out. But the advance of Edward and his cavalry at 
 once dispersed this little army. Shortly after, on 
 the 9th of February, 1304, Coinyn, by whom it had 
 been commanded, and some other noblemen, made 
 their submission to the commissioners of the English 
 king at Strathorde,' in Fifeshire. It was agreed 
 that they should retain their lives, liberties, and 
 lands, subject only to such fines as Edward might 
 impose. The capitulation was to include all other 
 persons who might choose to take advantage of it, 
 with the exception only of Wisheart, Bishop of 
 Glasgow, the steward, and Sir John Soulis, who 
 were to remain in exile for two years, and not to 
 pass to the north of the Trent ; of David de Gra- 
 ham and Alexander de Lindesay, who were to be 
 banished from Scotland for six months; of Simon 
 Fraser and Thomas Bois, who were to be banished 
 for three years from all the dominions of Edward, 
 and also to be prohibited from passing into France ; 
 and, closing the honorable list, the illustrious Wal- 
 lace, to whom it was significantly accorded that, if 
 he chose, he might render himself up to the will 
 and mercy of Edward. Not long after, about the 
 middle of Lent, a parliament was assembled at St. 
 Andrews in which sentence of outlawry was pro- 
 nounced against Wallace, Fraser, and the garrison 
 of Stirling, on their being summoned and failing to 
 appear. All the persons above named eventually 
 surrendered themselves on the terms oflfered to 
 them ; even Fraser at length gave himself up : 
 Wallace alone stood out. The rhyming chronicler, 
 Langtoft, relates that, from his hiding-place in the 
 forest of Dunfermline, the outlaw sent some of his 
 friends to Edward, with a proposal to sun-ender 
 himself on a written and sealed assurance of his 
 life and heritage. But "full grim" was Edward, 
 it is added, when this was reported to him : he 
 cursed Wallace and all who supported him as 
 traitors, and set a reward of three hundred marks 
 upon his head. On hearing this, Wallace, flying 
 again to the moors and marshes, betook himself for 
 subsistence to his old occupation of phmder — "in 
 mores and mareis with robberie him fedis." 
 
 Scotland, however, was not yet completely sub- 
 dued so long as its chief place of strength, the castle 
 of Stirling, remained unreduced. To the siege of 
 this fortress, therefore, Edward now addressed 
 himself. The operations commenced on the 22d of 
 April. Sir William Oliphant, the governor, had 
 offered, if a cessation of hostilities were granted, to 
 repair to France and there take the commands of 
 Sir John Soulis, from whom he had received his 
 charge. " Am I to wait for his orders ?" exclaimed 
 Edward : " defend the castle if you will !" Thir- 
 teen warlike engines, according to Langtoft, the 
 best in the kingdom, were brought to be used 
 against the devoted walls ; and the ample leaden 
 roof of the cathedral of St. Andrews, Fordan tells 
 us, was torn off to assist in the consti'uction of these 
 formidal)le machines. Some of them, Hemingford 
 says, threw stones of two and three hundred weight. 
 
 ' This place, we believe, is not now known.
 
 Chap. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 701 
 
 Another species of engine that was used was the 
 espringal, or springal, by which darts were project- 
 ed, sometimes winged with brass instead of feathers. 
 Edward himself directed everything that was done, 
 and " though far advanced in years," to borrow the 
 expression of Lord Hailes, " exposed his person 
 with the fire and temerity of a young soldier." He 
 was several times struck by stones and javelins 
 thrown from the castle, and once an arrow shot at 
 him from a sort of cross-bow stuck in his armor. 
 After the siege had continued nearly a month, with- 
 out much progress having been made, the sheriffs 
 of York, Lincoln, and London were commanded to 
 purchase all the bows, quarrels, and other warlike 
 weapons that could be pi-ocured within their dis- 
 tricts, and to send them to Stirling ; and the gov- 
 ernor of the tower was also desired to send down 
 immediately a supply from those under his charge. 
 All the efforts of these assailants, however, were 
 repelled for two months longer by Sir William 
 Oliphant and his handful of gallant associates. 
 They held out till their provisions were exhausted 
 and the castle was reduced almost to a heap of 
 ruins. Then, on the 20th of July, when Edward 
 would listen to no other terms, they surrendered at 
 discretion. The governor and twenty-four of his 
 companions of rank, all, except two of them who 
 were ecclesiastics, stripped to their shirts and 
 under garments, were led forth from the castle, 
 and presenting themselves before Edward on their 
 bent knees, with their hair disheveled and their 
 hands joined in supplication, acknowledged their 
 guilt with trembhng and the semblance of shedding 
 tears, ^ and gave themselves up to his mercy. Such 
 was the ungenerous price exacted from them for a 
 chance of life. Their lives were spared, and they 
 were sent to the Tower of London and other Eng- 
 lish prisons. Beside the twenty-five gentlemen, 
 thirteen ladies, their wives, and sisters, had shared 
 along with them the dangers and privations of their 
 obstinate defence. The garrison, which had so 
 long defied the whole power of the English army, 
 was found to have consisted of no more than a 
 hundred and forty soldiers. 
 
 A few months after the fiill of Stirling, the last 
 enemy that Edward had to dread, and the last hope 
 of Scottish independence, seemed to be cut off by 
 the capture of Wallace. It appears that Edward 
 had anxiously sought to discover his retreat, and 
 that, tempted by the prospect of the rewards his 
 baseness might earn for him, Ralph de Haliburton, 
 one of the prisoners lately taken at Stirling, had 
 proffered his services for that purpose. It is not 
 dear, however, that it was by Haliburton's exer- 
 tions that Wallace was actually taken ; all that is 
 certainly known is, that upon being seized, he was 
 conveyed to the castle of Dunbarton, then held 
 under a commission from the English king, by Sir 
 John Menteith. Menteith has been represented as 
 the betrayer of Wallace, whose friend or intimate 
 associate, moreover, to make his treachery the 
 blacker, he is said to have been ; but his part in the 
 transaction seems to have gone no farther than the 
 I Quasi cum lacrimis.— Rym. ii. 951. 
 
 performance of the duty to which his trust bound 
 him — of receiving the prisoner, and having him 
 conveyed to England.' He was brought to London, 
 "with great numbers of men and women," says 
 Stow, ''Wondering upon him. He was lodged in 
 the house of William Delect, a citizen of London, 
 in Fenchurch-street. On the morrow, being the 
 eve of St. Bartholomew, he was brought on horse- 
 back to Westminster, John Segrave and Geoffrey, 
 knights, the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of 
 London, and many others, both on horseback and 
 on foot, accompanying him ; and in the great hall 
 at Westminster, he being placed on the south 
 bench, crowned with laurel — for that he had said 
 in times past that he ought to bear a crown in that 
 hall, as it was commonly reported — and being ap- 
 peached for a traitor by Sir Peter Malorie, the 
 king's justice, he answered, that he was never 
 traitor to the King of England ; but for other things 
 whereof he was accused, he confessed them." 
 These circumstantial and minute details, inartificially 
 as they are put together, and homely or trivial as 
 some of them may be thought, are yet full of intei*- 
 est for all who would call up a living picture of the 
 scene. Wallace was put to death as a traitor, on 
 the 23d of August, 1305, at the usual place of exe- 
 cution — the Elms in West Smithfield. He was 
 dragged thither at the tails of horses, and there 
 hanged on a high gallows, after which, while he yet 
 breathed, his bowels were taken out and burnt 
 before his face. The barbarous butchery was then 
 completed by the head being struck off, and the 
 body being divided into quarters. The head was 
 afterward placed on a pole on Loudon Bridge ; the 
 right arm was sent to be set up at Newcastle, the 
 left arm to Berwick, the right foot and limb to 
 Perth, and the left to Aberdeen. 
 
 A few weeks after the execution of Wallace, ten 
 commissioners, elected by a council of the Scottish 
 nation, which Edward had summoned to meet at 
 Perth — namely, two bishops, two abbots, two earls, 
 two barons, and two representatives of the boroughs, 
 assembled in London, and there, in concert with 
 twent\' commissioners from the English parliament, 
 proceeded to settle a plan of government for the 
 conquered country. The alterations made were 
 not greater than might seem to be called for to 
 secure the dependence of Scotland upon the English 
 crown ; but, as was to be expected, a controlling 
 power over all ofifices and appointments was left in 
 the hands of the king. The whole arrangement, 
 however, was suddenly overthrown ere it had been 
 well established. Within six months from the death 
 of Wallace, the Scots were again up in arms, around 
 a new champion. 
 
 This was Robert Bruce. Brace had again made 
 his peace with England some time before the capit- 
 ulation of Comyn and his friends at Strathorde, 
 which he was enabled the more easily to effect, 
 
 ' There is a very able and spirited vindication of Sir John Menteith 
 in Mr. Mark Napier's late " Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston," 
 4to. Edin. 1834, pp. 527, &c. See also" Tracts Legal and Historical," 
 by J. Riddell, Esq., 6vo. Edin. 1835, pp. 145-149. The admirable 
 Hailes first pointed out the improbabilities and unfounded assuiiiptious 
 of the vulgar account, Annals, i. 343, 344.
 
 702 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book TV- 
 
 iiiasniucli as he haJ not been present at the battle 
 t>f Falkirk, havinj;; previously shut hiuiself up in the 
 castle ol" Ayr, and lefused to join the Scottish army. 
 Kdward had since sought to secure his adh«?rence, 
 by treating him with especial favor and confidence. 
 When his father, who had all along continued 
 attached to the English interests, died, in the latter 
 part of the year 1304, young Bruce was immediately 
 
 j)ermitted to take possession of the whole of his 
 estates both in England and Scotland. At the set- 
 tlement of the latter kingdom, in the following year, 
 while his great rival, Comyn, was fined in thre(! 
 years' rent of his lands, Bruce was intrusted witli 
 the charge of the important fortress of Kildrummie, 
 in Aberdeenshire, by commission from the English 
 king. It is never to be forgotten that, up to this 
 
 Ruins of Kildrvmmie Castle. 
 
 time, whatever his aversion to the English domina- 
 tion may have been, there had been repelling cir- 
 <umstances of the strongest nature to prevent Bruce 
 from taking part cordially and steadily with the 
 patriotic party in his native land, who, although they 
 were contending against England, acted in the name 
 and chiefly under the conduct of the enemies of his 
 house and person — of the family which he looked 
 upon as having come between him and his splendid 
 birthright, and by which also he must have been 
 regarded as a natural rival and object of suspicion. 
 Wallace might fight for Baliol ; Bruce scarcely 
 could. And as little, after Baliol might be consid- 
 ered to be set aside, could he ally himself with 
 Comyn, the near connection of Baliol, and the 
 inheritor of his pretensions. Bruce, indeed, if he 
 Btill retained a hope of seating himself on the dis- 
 puted throne, must now have looked upon Coniyn as 
 the man of all others of whom it was most necessary 
 for him to clear his path ; and the same also no doubt 
 were the feelings of Com)n in regard to Bruce. 
 If either, by whatever means, could put down the 
 other, the strong necessity of self-preservation would 
 banish many scruples — for the one was scarcely safe 
 while the other lived. It is probable enough that 
 the favor of Edward was courted by each with the 
 
 object of depressing or destroying his rival. The 
 circumstances, however, that led to the fatal explo- 
 sion of the inflammable elements which only required 
 to be brought together to produce such a catastrophe, 
 are involved in much uncertainty ; the real facts 
 were probably never very generally known, and 
 tradition naturally busied itself in embellishing so 
 remarkable an event. It appears, that in June, 
 130.5, after his last submission to Edward, Brnce 
 had entered into a secret league with William de 
 Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, by which the 
 parties mutually bound themselves to stand by each 
 other against all persons whatsoever. This curious 
 instrument is still preserved.' There can be no 
 doubt that what it chiefly contemplated was the 
 assertion, at some future day, of Bruce's claim to 
 the crown. It is sup|)osed that Comyn had obtained 
 a knowledge of this agreement, and that thereupon 
 a conference on tlie subject of their pretensions took 
 place between him and Bruce, when Bruce is said 
 to have proposed either that he should have the 
 crown and Comyn his estates, or that he should 
 have Comyn's estates and Comj'n the crown. It 
 was agreed that Bruce's title to the crown should be 
 supported by both. With whatever views Comyn 
 
 1 See it printeJ iu Iluiles, i. 342.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 703 
 
 may hav^ euceied into this negotiation, he eventually 
 (so proceeds the story) communicated all that had 
 taken place to Edward. Bruce received the first 
 intimation of his danger from Edward's son-in-law, 
 the Earl of Gloucester, who, by waj' of warning him 
 to take instant flight, sent a messenger to him with 
 twelve pence and a pair of spurs, under the show of 
 restoring what he had borrowed. Early the next 
 morning, Bruce set out for Scotland, taking the 
 precaution to make his horse's shoes be reversed, 
 that he might not be tracked in the snow, which 
 had fallen heavily during the night. On his way he 
 met a person on foot, whom he found to be the 
 bearer of letters from Comyn to Edward, urging 
 his death or immediate imprisonment. He slew 
 this man, and, with the letters in his possession, 
 pressed forward to his castle of Lochmaben, where 
 he arrived on the seventh day after his departure 
 from London. The most of this, it must be confess- 
 ed, is more like fiction than fiict. It is certain, how- 
 ever, that on the 10th of February, 1306, Bruce and 
 Comyn met alone in the convent of the Minorites at 
 Dumfries, and that there, a passionate altercation 
 having arisen between them, Bruce drew his dagger, 
 and stabbed Comyn as they stood together beside the 
 high altar. Hurrying from the sanctuary, he called 
 *'to horse!" and when his attendants, Alexander 
 Lindesay of Crawfurd, and Roger Kirkpatrick of 
 Closeburn, seeing him pale and violently agitated, 
 inquired the cause, " I doubt," he replied, " I have 
 slain Comyn." •' You doubt ?" exclaimed Kirk- 
 patrick ; " I'll make sure." And, Avith these words, 
 he rushed into the church, and gave the wounded 
 man his death-stroke, dispatching also his kinsman, 
 Sir Robert Comyn, who tried to defend him. In 
 memory of this deed, the descendants of Kirkpatrick 
 still bear as their crest a hand grasping a dagger 
 distilling drops of blood, with the words " I make 
 sicker" (that is, sure), as a motto. 
 
 Whatever might have been Bruce's previous 
 plans, there was no room for doubt or hesitation 
 now. The boldest course afl'orded the only chance 
 of safe t}'. He immediately called his friends around 
 him — they were few in number ; but, desperate as 
 the hazard looked, there were some gallant spirits 
 that did not shrink from setting their lives (which 
 many of them lost) upon another cast for the freedom 
 of their country. The Bishops of St. Andrews and 
 Glasgow, the Abbot of Scone, Bruce's four brothers, 
 Edward, Nigel, Thomas, and Alexander, his nephew, 
 Thomas Randolph, his brother-in-law, Christopher 
 Seton, and some ten or twelve others, mostly young 
 men, gathei'ed at the summons. They met at 
 Glasgow, and from thence rode to Scone, where 
 Bruce was solemnly crowned on the 27th of March. 
 
 Edward was at Winchester when the news of 
 this revolution was brought to him. He immediately 
 sent forward the Earl of Pembroke, with the title 
 of Guardian of Scotland, at the head of a small army 
 to check the insurgents ; and, advanced in years as 
 he now was, proceeded to make ready, if it should 
 become necessary, to follow in person. In prepa- 
 ration for the expedition, proclamation was made 
 that the Prince of Wales would be knighted on 
 
 the feast of Pentecost ; and all the young nobility of 
 the kingdom were summoned to appear at West- 
 minster to receive that honor along with him. On 
 the eve of the appointed day (the 22d of May) two 
 hundred and seventy noble j'ouths, with their pages 
 and retinues, assembled in the gardens of the Temple, 
 in which the trees were cut down that they might 
 pitch their tents ; they watched their arms all night, 
 according to the usage of chivahy, the prince and 
 some of those of highest rank in the abbey of West- 
 minster, the others in the Temple church. On the 
 morrow Prince Edward was knighted by his father 
 in the hall of the palace, and then proceeding to the 
 abbey, conferred that honor on his companions. A 
 magnificent feast followed, at which two swans 
 covered with nets of gold being set on the table by 
 the minstrels, the king rose and made a solemn vow 
 to God and to the swans, that he would avenge the 
 death of Comyn, and punish the perfidy of the 
 Scottish rebels ; and then addressing his son and the 
 rest of the company, he conjured them, in the event 
 of his death, to keep his body unburied until his 
 successor should have accomplished this vow. The 
 next morning the prince with his companions de- 
 parted for the borders ; Edward himself followed by 
 slow joui"neys, being only able to travel in a litter. 
 Meanwhile Bruce's adherents had been increas- 
 ing in number, and he had already acquired such 
 strength, that in several parts of the country the 
 officers of Edward and the other English had fled 
 in teiTor. He now marched upon Pei'th, where 
 the Earl of Pembroke lay. It is affirmed, that when 
 the Scots challenged the English commander to 
 come forth and give them battle, Pembroke answered 
 that he would fight them on the morrow ; on which 
 Bruce retired to the neighboring wood of Methven ; 
 but that same evening (19th of June) the English 
 fell upon them : it was lather a rout than a battle ; 
 Bruce himself was in the greatest danger, having 
 been three times unhorsed ; Randolph and others 
 of his friends were taken ; and he with difficulty 
 made good his retreat into the fastnesses of Atholl, 
 with about five hundred followers, the broken and 
 dispirited remnant of his force. For many months 
 after this, he and his friends were houseless fugi- 
 tives ; a price was set upon their heads : to make 
 their difficulties and suflerings the greater, they 
 were joined after some time bj^ a party of their wives 
 and daughters; and as they penetrated farther and 
 farther into the depths of the Highlands, to avoid 
 the English troops that scoured the countiy in search 
 of them, their miseries, both from want of shelter 
 and frequent want of food, as well as from the 
 increasing danger, became daily more pressing. On 
 reaching the borders of Argyle, Bruce and his little 
 band were set upon in a narrow defile by the Lord 
 of Lorn, who had married an aunt of Comyn, at thc^ 
 head of a thousand followers, and after a sharp but 
 unequal encounter, with difficulty escaped with their 
 lives. At last Brjice's queen and the other ladies 
 were conducted by his brother Nigel to the castle 
 of Kildrummie ; and Bruce himself soon after found 
 means to pass over to the little isle of Rachrin ow 
 the northern coast of Ireland.
 
 704 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 While the Scottish king lay concealed here, ruin 
 fell U|)on almost all the connections and adherents 
 he had left behind. The Bishops of St. Andrews 
 and (ilasgow, and the Abbot of Scone had fallen 
 into the hands of the English soon after the battle 
 of Methven : they were taken clad in armor, and 
 were immediately sent, so attired and in fetters, to 
 England, and there consigned to dilVerent prisons. 
 Their sacred character alone saved their lives. 
 Bruce's queen and his daughter Marjory having left 
 Kildrummie, and taken refuge in the sanctuary of 
 St. Duthac, at Tain, in Ross-shire, were seized 
 there by the Earl of Ross. The knights who were 
 with them were put to death ; and they themselves 
 were sent to England, where they endured an im- 
 prisonment of eight years. The youthful Nigel 
 Bruce, much beloved by the people for his gallantry 
 and the graces of his person, was compelled to sur- 
 render the castle of Kildrummie, and, being sent in 
 irons to Berwick, was there hanged, and afterward 
 beheaded, along with divers other knights and gal- 
 lant men. Christopher Seton suffered a similar 
 death at Dumfries, the Earl of Atholl and Sir Simon 
 Eraser in London, and many others there and else- 
 where. Thus did Edward make the best blood of 
 Scotland flow in torrents in expiation of what he 
 called the rebellion and breach of faith of the people 
 of that country. " It is remarkable," as is well ob- 
 served by Hailes, " that in the preceding year he 
 himself procured a papal bull, absolving him from 
 the oath which he had taken for maintaining the 
 privileges of his people. But the Scots, without 
 papal authority, violated their oaths, and were pun- 
 ished as perjured men. It is a truth not to be dis- 
 guised, that in those times the common notions of 
 right and wrong were, in some sort, obliterated. 
 Conscience, intoxicated with indulgences, or stu- 
 pefied by frequent absolution, was no longer a faith- 
 ful monitor, amid the temptations of interest, ambi- 
 tion, and national animosities." 
 
 Bruce, however, had not been idle in his winter 
 retreat ; and early in the spring of 1.307 he passed 
 over from Rachrin to the isle of Arran, with a com- 
 pany of about three hundred men, embarked in 
 thirty-three galleys, which, according to Fordun, he 
 had been enabled to raise by the aid of a chieftainess, 
 called Christiana of the Isles. Before venturing to 
 the opposite coast, he dispatched one of his follow- 
 ers to ascertain what were the dispositions of the 
 people, with instructions, if he found appearances 
 favorable, to light a fire on a certain day, on an emi- 
 nence near the castle of Turnberry. This had been 
 one of the chief seats of his own family, and the 
 surrounding district was his ancestral temtory of 
 Carrick. When the appointed day amved, Bruce 
 looked anxiously for the expected signal : at length, 
 when it was already past noon, he saw the fire ; on 
 which he quickly embarked with his associates, and 
 they steered their course during the darkness by its 
 light. When they approached the landing-place, 
 Bruce's emissary stood on the shore. He told them 
 that the English were in complete possession of 
 Carrick ; that Lord Percy, with a numerous garri- 
 son, held the castle of Turnberry ; and that there was 
 
 no hope of a rising in favor of Brace. " Traitor !" 
 cried Bruce ; " why did you make the signal ?" "I 
 made no signal," replied the man ; " but, observing 
 a fire on the hill, I feared that it might deceive you, 
 and I hasted hither to warn you from the coast." 
 Bruce hesitated what to do ; but his brother Edward 
 boldly declared for pursuing their enterprise at all 
 hazards. They immediately attacked a body of the 
 English that lay close at hand, and succeeded in put- 
 ting most of them to the sword. Percy, who heard 
 the tumult, did not dare, in his ignorance of the 
 numbers of the enemy, to come forth from the castle. 
 After this exploit, Bruce sought shelter, in the first 
 instance, in the mountainous parts of the surround- 
 ing country. But the bold blow he had struck suf- 
 ficed to rekindle the war, and it soon raged in difler- 
 ent quarters. In the beginning of February, Bruce's 
 brothers, Thomas and Alexander, as they were 
 bringing over a band of eleven hundred adventurers 
 to his assistance from Ireland, were routed at Loch- 
 rian, in Galloway, by Duncan Mac Dowal, a chief 
 of that region, who immediately carried the two 
 brothers, who had fallen into his hands severely 
 wounded, to the English king at Carlisle. Edward 
 ordered both to instant execution. Some weeks 
 after this, Douglas Castle, which was held by Lord 
 Clifford, was gallantly surprised by its former owner, 
 Sir James Douglas, one of Bruce's most distinguished 
 followers. On this occasion he behaved with distin- 
 guished ferocity; for, not contented with the num- 
 bers of the garrison that had fallen in the encounter, 
 he piled together the malt and corn and wine-casks, 
 and whatever else he found in the castle that he 
 could not carry away, and then setting fire to the 
 heap, slew his prisoners, and threw their dead 
 bodies among the flames, which soon enveloped the 
 whole building, and reduced it to a blackened ruin. 
 The tradition of the neighborhood still remembers 
 this horrible revenge under the name of the Douglas 
 Larder.' It was some time, however, before Bruce 
 was strong enough to show himself openly in the 
 field ; and he was frequently again in great personal 
 danger as he skulked from one hiding-place to an- 
 other in the wilds of Galloway, while his enemies 
 in all directions were hunting him for his life. But 
 fit length he ventured to encounter the Earl of Pem- 
 broke at Loudon Hill ; when, through the skilful 
 disposition of his force, notwithstanding a great infe- 
 riority of numbers, he obtained a complete victory. 
 This action was fought on the 10th of May. Three 
 days after, he attacked another English force under 
 the command of the Earl of Gloucester ; and this, 
 too, he succeeded in routing with great slaughter. 
 Pembroke and Gloucester having both thrown them- 
 selves into the castle of Ayr, Bruce immediately 
 laid siege to that fortress. 
 
 But here we must break off our account of events 
 in Scotland for the present. King Edward all this 
 while had advanced no farther than to Carlisle, hav- 
 ing been detained all the winter at Lanercost, by a 
 serious attack of illness. He had directed all the 
 late operations of the war from his sick-bed ; but 
 now, incensed at the continued progress of the in- 
 
 1 Tytler, i. 256.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 705 
 
 surrectiou, he offered up the htter on Avhich lie had 
 thus far been carried in the cathedral church of 
 Carlisle, and again mounting on horseback, gave or- 
 ders to proceed toward the borders. It was the 
 effort of a dying man. In four days he advanced 
 about six miles, when, having reached the village of 
 Burgh-upon-Sands, he there stopped once more for 
 the night ; and on the morning of the next day, the 
 7th of July, expired, in the sixty-ninth year of his 
 age, and thirty-fifth of his reign. His last breath 
 was spent in enjoining upon those who should suc- 
 ceed him the prosecution of the great design of his 
 life — the complete subjugation of that country, the 
 hated sight of which, again, after all his efforts, in 
 revolt against him, was thus fated to be the last on 
 which his eyes should rest. 
 
 Prince Edward was not present when his father 
 died, having returned to London a short time before. 
 Froissart relates that the old king, before his death, 
 made his son be called, and, in the presence of his 
 barons, made him swear upon the saints, that as 
 soon as he should have expired, he would cause him 
 to be boiled in a caldron, till the flesh should fall 
 from his bones, and afterward bury the flesh, and 
 keep the bones, and that every time the Scots re- 
 belled, he would lead an army against them, and 
 carry along with him these dead relics of his father. 
 If this singular oath ever was exacted, it must have 
 been not when Edward was at the point of death, 
 but before he set out from Carlisle ; and as at this 
 time he imagined himself to be recovering, it is most 
 probable that the incident never took place at all. 
 
 Edward II. — surnamed Of Caernarvon. 
 
 Great Seal or Edward II. 
 
 a.d. 1307. The death of Edward I. was cau- 
 tiously concealed in the capital for many days, and 
 Ralph de Baldoc, Bishop of London and chancellor 
 of the kingdom, continued to put his great seal to 
 writs till the 25th of July. Edward II., however, 
 had been peacefully recognized at Carlisle by the 
 unanimous consent of the peers and magnates pres- 
 ent with the army there, on Saturday, the 8th of 
 July, the day after his father's death. ^ This prince 
 had the outward appearance of many advantages : 
 he was young, of an agreeable person, and cheerful 
 disposition ; and the fame and greatness of his father 
 endeared him to the Enghsh people, and caused | 
 him to be respected abroad ; but he had already be- < 
 trayed weaknesses that would overthrow the strong- 
 est throne, a,nd had incurred the suspicion of vices j 
 which, when once proclaimed, were sure singularly j 
 to irritate a manly nation. On his death-bed his 
 father had implored him to eschew the company of l 
 favorites and parasites, and had forbidden him, under j 
 
 • Walsingham says he succeeded to the crown, " non tam jure haere- 1 
 (litario, quam unanimi assensu procerum et mag^natum." 
 
 VOL. I. — 45 
 
 pain of his curse, to recall his chief minion, Gave- 
 ston, to England. Piers Gaveston was a remarkably 
 handsome youth of Gascony, who had been brought 
 up with the prince, over whose heart he obtained a 
 disgraceful ascendency. The stern old king had 
 driven him from England ; but. forgetful of his dying 
 injunctions, and his own solemn oaths, Edward's 
 first thoughts on his accession were to recall this 
 favorite, and confer upon him the earldom of Corn- 
 wall, with other honors and immense estates. He 
 was obliged, however, to make a semblance of pros- 
 ecuting the war in Scotland : he hastened from 
 London ; he marched as far north as Cumnock, on 
 the borders of Ayrshire ; but at this point he turned 
 round, and made his way back to England, without 
 having performed anything. Meanwhile, Gaveston, 
 who had hastily arrived from the continent, joined 
 him in Scotland, and had scarcely made his appear- 
 ance when the whole body of the government was 
 changed. The chancellor, the treasurer, the barons 
 of the Exchequer, the judges— all the officers who 
 had been appointed by the deceased king, were at
 
 706 
 
 lIlSTORi: OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 Edward II. Drawn from the Tomb at Gloucester 
 
 once deprived of their places, and in some instances 
 stripped of their property and thrown into prison. 
 This fate particularly befel the lord treasurer, Wal- 
 ter de Langton, Bishop of Lichfield, and it was said 
 for uo other reason than his having reproved the 
 prince, and refused him money for his extravagance 
 during his father's life-time. In no case does any 
 legal procedure appear to have been resorted to. In- 
 stead of fulfilling his father's solemn behest, Edward 
 buried his bones in Westminster Abbey, at the head 
 of Heni-y III., on the 27th day of October ; and soon 
 after he gave the money which the old king had set 
 apart for the Holy War to his insatiable favorite. 
 Indeed, the whole of Edward's care seems to have 
 been to disgust eveiy feehng and prejudice of his 
 barons, and to enrich and aggi'andize Gaveston with 
 a rapidity and to an amount unprecedented even in 
 the shameful annals of favoritism. The great earl- 
 dom of Cornwall, which had been appanage enough 
 for princes of the blood, was not deemed sufficient 
 for this Gascon knight. Edward inarried him to his 
 own niece, Margaret de Clare, made him lord cham- 
 berlain, and gave him an extensive grant of lands in 
 Guienne. In traveling through England nothing 
 was so frequently seen as the manors, the retinues, 
 and houses of this overgrown minion. Nothing was 
 granted without his consent ; and it was reported, 
 among many other things, that the king had said 
 that he would leave him his kingdom if he could.' 
 
 AVhen the infatuated Edward sailed for France, 
 in Januarj', 1308, to marry the Princess Isabella, to 
 whom he had long been contracted, he left Gaveston 
 regent of the kingdom during his absence, and 
 intrusted him with more absolute powers than had 
 
 I De la More. — Walsing. — Trivet 
 
 ever been conferred in such cases. The Princess 
 Isabella, daughter to Philip le Bel, was reputed the 
 most beautiful woman in Europe, — une des plus 
 belles dames du inonde, according to Froissart. But 
 Edward from the first was rather indifll'erent to her 
 person. They were married with great pomp in 
 " our Lady Church of Boulogne," on the 25th of 
 January ; no fewer than four kings and three queens 
 being present at the ceremony. Edward showed 
 the greatest impatience to return to England : the 
 usual rejoicings were cut short, and he embarked 
 with his bride and a numerous company of French 
 nobles whom he had invited to the coronation. Soon 
 after their landing they were met by Gaveston and 
 by the flower of the English nobility, who came to 
 salute their joung and beautiful queen. At this 
 moment, pajing no attention to his wife, or his 
 guests, or to the rest of his subjects, Edward threw 
 himself into the arms of his favorite, hugged and 
 kissed him, and called him brother. The whole 
 court was disgusted at this exhibition, and two of 
 tiie queen's uncles, who had accompanied her into 
 England, could not conceal their displeasure. At 
 the coronation, which was celebi-ated with great 
 magnificence at Westminster, on the 24th of Feb- 
 ruary, nearly all the honors were allotted to the 
 favorite, without any regard to the hereditary offices 
 of the great barons. " None," says an old writer, 
 " came near to Piers in bravery of apparel or deli- 
 cacy of fashion." He cari'ied the crown, and walked 
 in procession before the king and queen ; which 
 things greatly increased the anger of the lords 
 against him. Four days after the coronation the 
 barons petitioned the king, and, without any cere- 
 monious phrases, requested him to banish Sir Piers
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 707 
 
 Gaveston immediately. Edward promised to give 
 them an answer in parliament, which was to meet 
 after the festival of Easter, and in the mean while 
 he did all he could to disarm their resentment. But 
 the favorite himself had no discretion ; he continued 
 to outshine all the nobles of the land, and being Well 
 slvilled in those martial sports, he frequented all 
 tournaments, and carried away many prizes. He 
 unhorsed at different times the earls of Lancaster, 
 Hereford, Pembroke, and Warenne ; and these 
 triumphs are supposed to have given a fresh edge 
 to their hatred. When the Parliament met Edward 
 was obliged to part with his minion. Gaveston took 
 an oath that he would never return to England, 
 and the bishops bound him to his oath by threats of 
 excommunication. The king accompanied him to 
 Bristol, where he embarked ; but a few weeks 
 after it was ascertained that the exile had been 
 appointed governor of all Ireland, and that he had 
 established himself in that island with almost royal 
 magnificence. From the time of his departui'e till 
 that of his return — a space of thirteen months — the 
 whole soul of the king seems to have been absorbed 
 by this one subject : he employed every expedient 
 to mitigate the animosity of his barons ; he granted 
 offices to his cousin, the Earl of Lancaster ; he made 
 great concessions to Earl Warenne and others ; he 
 wrote to Rome for a dispensation for Gaveston from 
 his oath ; and having, as he fancied, removed all 
 dangerous opposition to the measure, he sent to 
 recall the favorite from Ireland. They met at 
 Chester, with a wonderful display of tenderness on 
 the part of the king. The Parliament assembled 
 at Stamford, and the promises of the king, and the 
 affected humility of Gaveston, obtained a formal 
 consent to his reestablishment in England. 
 
 The king was now happy ; his court was filled 
 with buffoons, parasites, and such like pernicious 
 instruments ; and nothing was seen there but feast- 
 ing and revelry. At the same . time the upstart 
 favorite became much more arrogant and insolent 
 than he had ever been before. The English peo- 
 j)le, who despised him, would call him nothing but 
 Piers Gaveston ; upon which he caused the king to 
 put forth a ridiculous proclamation ordering all men 
 to give him the title of the Earl of Cornwall when- 
 ever they mentioned him. He indulged in rude 
 witticisms and sarcasms at the expense of the Eng- 
 lish nobles, and he presumed to give contemptuous 
 nicknames to some of the greatest barons of the 
 kingdom. Thus, he called the Earl of Lancaster 
 the " old hog," or the " stage-player :" the Earl of 
 Pembroke, because he was pale and tall, " Joseph 
 the Jew:" the Earl of Gloucester "the cuckold's 
 bird :" and the Earl of Warwick " the black dog of 
 Ardenne." ' The silly king laughed at this wretched 
 wit, which was sure to travel beyond the applaud- 
 ing walls of the court. When the stern Earl of 
 Warwick heard it, he vowed a terrible vow that he 
 would make the minion feel " the black dog's teeth." 
 Even the queen was so disgusted with this man's 
 predominancy, that she sent complaints to the king, 
 her father, and conceived an aversion to her hus- 
 
 1 Packington, in Leland's Collect. — Walsing. 
 
 baud, which, though sometimes suppressed or con- 
 cealed, was never afterward removed. The grants 
 voted by Parliament were dissipated, and Edward 
 was continually in great straits for money. The 
 barons, before voting supplies, had several times 
 made him promise a redress of grievances ; but 
 when he summoned a parliament to meet at York, 
 in October, 1309, three months after the favorite's 
 return from Ireland, most of the barons refused to 
 attend, alleging that they stood in fear of the power 
 and malice of Gaveston. The urgency of the king's 
 wants obliged him to repeat his summons, but still 
 they came not. The favorite then withdrew for n 
 time ; and at last the barons announced that they 
 would assemble at Westminster. They met accord- 
 ingly in the month of March, 1310 ; but every baron 
 came in arms, and Edward was completely in their 
 power. As they would no longer be amused by 
 promises, he was obliged to consent to the imme- 
 diate appointment of a committee of peers, who 
 should have power to reform not only the state, 
 but also the king's household. The committee was 
 appointed by the primate, seven bishops, eight earls, 
 and thirteen barons, Avho acknowledged under their 
 signatures that this grant proceeded from the king's 
 free wnll ; that it was not to be considered as a pre- 
 cedent for trenching on the royal prerogative ; and 
 that the functions of the committee should cease 
 at the feast of St. Michael in the following year. 
 The committee, called " ordainers," sate in London. 
 The king, Avho considered them in the light of cens- 
 ors and harsh schoolmasters, hurried away to the 
 north, preferring even the toils of a campaign to a 
 residence under their shadow. He was scarcely 
 out of their sight when he was once more joined 
 by Gaveston, upon whom he heaped fresh gifts, 
 honors, and employments. The two passed the 
 winter and the following summer at Berwick and 
 the country about the Scotch borders, doing little 
 or nothing, while the cautious Bruce was preparing 
 his measures for a final expulsion of the English. 
 
 In the month of August, 1311, Edward was obliged 
 to meet his parliament at Westminster. The barons 
 were in a Averse humor than ever: they recalled 
 all grants made by the king to his favorite; they 
 decreed that all made thereafter, without consent 
 of Parliament, should be invalid; that Gaveston 
 should be banished, on pain of death in case of 
 return ; that the king should not leave the kingdom 
 or make war without the consent of the baronage ; 
 that the baronage, in parliament assembled, should 
 appoint a guardian or regent during the royal ab- 
 sence ; and that all the great officers of the crown, 
 and the governors of foreign possessions, should at 
 all times be chosen by the baronage, or with their 
 advice and assent in parhament. In later times 
 these conditions were softened into the important 
 principle that the confidence of Parliament is re- 
 quired to render the choice of public officers agree- 
 able to the Constitution.' The king had once more 
 confirmed the great charter, the preceding year, 
 before going to the north, but now a new and 
 important provision was introduced respecting the 
 
 1 Sir James Mackintosh.
 
 708 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 meeting of Parliament: — "Forasmuch as many 
 people be aggrieved by the king's ministers against 
 right, in respect to which giievances no one can 
 recover without a common parliament, we do ordain 
 that the king shall hold a pa)liament once a year, 
 or twice if need be." More for the sake of his 
 favorite than from any other motive, Edward made 
 a show of resistance to several of these ordinances, 
 but he was compelled to yield, and he alTTixed his 
 signature to them all in the beginning of Octo- 
 ber. On the 1st of November following, after many 
 tears, he took leave of Gaveston, who retired to 
 Flanders, with ro^al letters warndy recommending 
 him to the duke and duchess. The king, who was 
 not incapable of a certain cuiming, then dissolved 
 the Parliament, and, without betraying his inten- 
 tions, cautiously retired to the north, where he 
 hoped to collect an army that would stand for him. 
 At York, in less than two months from his last 
 departure, Gaveston was again with his royal mas- 
 ter, who made hira a new grant of all his estates 
 and honors. But the career of the favorite was 
 now drawing to its close. The barons, headed by 
 the great Earl of Lancaster, the king's cousin, fell 
 suddenly upon the royal party at Newcastle. Ed- 
 ward had time to escape, and he sailed away on 
 
 board a vessel with Gaveston, leaving his beautiful 
 wife behind him with the greatest indiflerence. 
 Lancaster caused the queen to be treated with all 
 resjject, and then marched to lay siege to Scarbor- 
 ough Castle, into which the favorite had thrown 
 himself, trusting to be able to hold out until the 
 king, who had gone from thence to York, should 
 return to his relief with an army. The castle was 
 not tenable, and the favorite surrendered on capitu- 
 lation on the 19th of May, 1312, to " Joseph the 
 Jew," the Earl of Pembroke, who, with Lord Henry 
 Percy, pledged his faith that no harm should happen 
 to him, and that he should be confined in his own 
 castle of Wallingford. From Scarborough he trav- 
 eled, under the escort of Pembroke, as far as Ded- 
 ington, near Banbury, and here the earl left him 
 for a night to pay a visit to his countess, who was 
 in that neighborhood. Gaveston appears to have 
 had no foreboding of his fate : on the following morn- 
 ing he was ordered to dress speedil}' : he obeyed 
 and descended to the court-yard, where, to his con- 
 fusion, he found himself in the presence of the 
 "black dog of Ardenne," — the grim Earl of War- 
 wick, — who was attended by a large force. They 
 put him on a mule, and carried him, with shouts of 
 triumph, to Warwick Castle, where his entrance 
 
 
 
 Warwick Castle ; Guv's Tower.' 
 
 was announced by a crash of martial music. In 
 the castle-hall a hurried council, composed of the 
 earls of Lancaster, Hereford, and Arundel, and 
 other chiefs, sate upon the prisoner. A proposal 
 was made, or a hint was offered, that no blood should 
 be shed ; but a voice rung through the hall, — " You 
 have caught the fox ; if you let him go you will have 
 to hunt him again." This death-note had its effect ; 
 
 the capitulation of Scarborough was foully disre- 
 garded, and it was resolved to put an end to the 
 unhappy man in conformity with the ordinance 
 passed by Parliament for his last exile. He threw 
 himself at the feet of the " old hog," — the Earl of 
 Lancaster, — whom he now called " gentle lord ;" 
 but there was no mercy there. They hurried him 
 at once to Blacklow-hill, a gentle knoll a mile or two 
 
 » So called after the ninth earl, " The Black Dog of Ardenne," of the history ; though there was also a famous Guy Earl of Warwick, 
 
 of another familv. in the Saxon times.
 
 Chap. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTION S. 
 
 709 
 
 from the castle, on the edge of the road that leads 
 from Warwick to Coventry, and there, in view of 
 the beautiful windings of the placid river Avon, they 
 struck off his head.^ 
 
 This ti'agedy, unusual in England even in those 
 turbulent times, threw the king into an agony of 
 grief; but when he dried his tears he thought of 
 revenge. For six months Edward and his barons 
 were in arms against each other, but no battle took 
 place, and a temporary reconciliation was effected 
 at the end of the year, the king postponing the 
 gratification of his vengeance to a more suitable 
 opportunity. Two meetings of Parliament (a.d. 
 1313) confirmed and completed this treaty. The 
 bai'ons knelt before the king in Westminster Hall, 
 amnesties were published, and the plate and jewels 
 of the deceased favorite were surrendered to Ed- 
 ward. But when they asked him to declare Gaves- 
 ton a traitor, he resolutely refused.^ This year 
 Edward took the field in something like earnest, 
 but he only marched to Scotland to add the disgrace 
 of a defeat in regular war to the other reverses of 
 his inglorious reign. While he had been occupied 
 in England with a vain struggle to maintain his 
 obnoxious favorite, the Scottish patriots had entirely 
 undermined the fabric of his able father's ambition. 
 
 Ever since the death of Edward I. the English 
 dominion in the greater part of Scotland had been 
 little more than nominal. The progress of Bruce 
 in liberating the country had been continued and 
 steady ; and, although something had on different 
 occasions been attempted, little or nothing had been 
 done by the indolent and incapable prince who now 
 occupied the English throne to counteract his able 
 and persevering efforts for the establishment and 
 consolidation of his authority. We must content our- 
 selves with noticing briefly the principal events that 
 had marked the contest up to the time at which we 
 are now arrived. Edward, on returning home in the 
 autumn of 1307, had left the war to be conducted by 
 the Earl of Richmond, upon whom he conferred the 
 office of Guardian of Scotland, and who was sup- 
 ported by that part of the nation which was opposed 
 to Bi'uce's assumption of the ci'own. The latter, 
 therefore, had both an English and a Scottish, both 
 a foreign and a domestic enemy, to contend with. 
 The great body of his countrymen soon became 
 warmly attached to his cause ; but in some districts 
 even the popular feeling was hostile, and a power- 
 ful faction of the nobility was arrayed in determined 
 resistance to his pretensions. For the present at 
 least, and until they should have attained their im- 
 mediate object of putting him down, this party pro- 
 fessed to be in the English interest, and acted in 
 concert with Edward's officers. Most of the places 
 of strength throughout the kingdom were also in 
 the hands of the English. In these circumstances 
 the course which Bruce appears to have laid down 
 for himself was to avoid a general action as long as 
 possible, to keep his enemies divided by constantly 
 occupying their attention at various points at the 
 same moment, and so to give himself the chance of 
 
 > Rymer. — Walsing^. — Knyghton. 
 
 2 Rymer.— Walsiiig.— Statutes Tth Ed. II. 
 
 cutting them off in detail, M'hile in the mean time 
 he overran and ravaged in succession those parts of 
 the country tliat refused to submit to his authority, 
 and seized every favorable opportunity of reducing 
 the castles and other strongholds. Most of these 
 that he recovered he immediately dismantled : they 
 were of no use, and would only have been an incum- 
 brance to him, with the national feeling in his favor, 
 and it was by their occupation chiefly that the Eng- 
 lish had ever been enabled to maintain their power 
 for any length of time in the country. 
 
 The severe bodily exertion and fatigue, and the 
 still more trying accumulation of mental distresses 
 to which he had been subjected since the com- 
 mencement of his great enterprise, had been too 
 much even for his heroic heart and iron frame, and 
 had reduced Bruce by the spring of 1308 to a state 
 of debility from which it had begun to be feared 
 that he would not recover. On the 22d of May the 
 royal force was encountered near Inverury, in 
 Aberdeenshire, by a numerous force under the 
 command of Mowbray, an Englishman, and John 
 Comyn, the Earl of Buchan. At this time Bruce, 
 it is affirmed, was not able to rise without assistance 
 from his couch, but he nevertheless desired to be 
 set on horseback, though he was only enabled to 
 keep his seat by being supported on each side. In 
 this state he led his men to the charge ; the enemy 
 was put to flight, and pursued with great slaughter 
 for many miles ; and if we may believe Bruce's 
 poetical historian, Barbour, the king was restored 
 to health by the excitement of this day. There is 
 nothing in the story to entitle us to reject it as 
 incredible. 
 
 Soon after this the people of Aberdeen rose and 
 stormed the castle there, put the English garrison 
 to the sword, and razed the fortress to the ground. 
 An EngUsh force immediately marched against the 
 town, but the citizens finished their exploit by like- 
 wise encountering and defeating this new enemy. 
 With the savage spirit which the character of the 
 war had engendered, the victors gave no quarter, 
 but slew every man who fell into their hands. 
 Edward I., indeed, had already set the example of 
 executing his prisoners, and it was not to be ex- 
 pected that the other side would fail to follow the 
 same course. The capture of the castle of Aber- 
 deen was speedily followed by that of the castle of 
 Forfar; it was surprised by escalade during the 
 night ; and here also the English by whom it was 
 garrisoned, and of whom the number was consider- 
 able, were all massacred, and the fortifications de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 There were two districts of the kingdom where 
 the opposition to Bruce was especially strong — that 
 of Galloway, the turbulent inhabitants of which 
 had never yet been thoroughly reconciled to the 
 dominion of the Scottish kings, and were beside 
 attached by a sort of national connection to the 
 Baliol family through their ancient lords ; and the 
 country of Lorn in Argyleshire, the chief of which, 
 Allaster (or Alexander) Mac Dougal (often called 
 Allaster of Argyle) had, as mentioned above, mar- 
 ried an aunt of Conivn. whom Bruce had slain, and
 
 710 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 was consequently one of the fiercest enemies of the 
 latter. In the course of this summer both these 
 districts were overrun, and for the present reduced 
 to subjection, the former by Bruce's brother Ed- 
 ward, the latter by the king himself. j 
 Meanwhile the measures of the English govern- 
 ment were characterized by all the evidences of 
 distracted councils, and of the decay of the national 
 spirit and power under the inefficient rule of the 
 new king. Almost every quarter of a year saw the 
 substitution of a new guardian or chief governor 
 for Scotland ; but none of these changes brought 
 any change of fortune to the English arms. The 
 country generally was under subjection to Bruce ; 
 and whenever he encountered any military force, 
 whether composed of Scots or of English, he was ^ 
 sure to put them to flight. At last, in the spring 
 of 1309, a truce was ai-ranged by the mediation of 
 the King of France. Hostilities, however, were 
 not long suspended. The English charged the 
 Scots with having violated the truce ; but it is 
 probable that, in the embittered state of feeling 
 between the two parties, irregular aggressions were 
 soon made by individuals on both sides. In the end 
 of the year, by a second intervention of the French 
 king, the negotiations were renewed, and another 
 truce appears to have been concluded in the year 
 1310. But this also was soon broken by one party 
 or by both. In the state to which affairs were 
 reduced, which threatened to sweep away the last 
 vestiges of the English authority if some great effort 
 were not made, Edward II. fit last prepared to 
 proceed to Scotland, and take the field in person 
 against the insurgents. Probably, however, his 
 principal motive, as has been hinted above, for this 
 apparent exertion of vigor was, that he might 
 escape along with his favorite out of the observation 
 of the Committee of Ordainers, which the Parlia- 
 ment had recently set over him. He entered Scot- i 
 land about the end of September, but, after leading 
 his army about from place to place over the border 
 counties for some weeks without achieving anything, 
 he returned to Bei'wick, and, taking up his quarters 
 there, remained inactive for nearly nine months. 
 Bruce and his adherents, he afterward boasted in a 
 letter to the Pope, lay lurking in their coverts, all 
 the time he was in the country, after the man- 
 ner of foxes.' He certainly, at any rate, did not 
 set about unkenneling them with much ardor. 
 Edward returned to England in the end of July, 
 1311 ; and, as soon as he was gone, Bruce made an 
 irruption into Durham, and suffered his soldiers to 
 wreak their vengeance on that unfortunate district 
 l)y a week of unrestrained plunder and the most 
 merciless devastation. Bringing them back loaded 
 with spoil, he next led them to attack the castle of 
 Perth, one of the most important of the fortresses 
 which the English still held. After a siege of six 
 weeks, it was taken in the beginning of January, 
 1312, by an assault during the night, gallantly led 
 by the king himself. He was, Barbour says, the 
 second person that mounted the wall. Edward ' 
 now attempted, but without success, to negotiate ' 
 
 ' Ad iiistar vulpinm i 
 
 anotlier truce, and even solicited the intervention 
 of the Pope. But, instead of listening to these 
 overtures, Bruce again invaded England, burned 
 the towns of Hexham and Corbridge, and a great 
 part of the city of Durham, afterward penetrated 
 to Chester, and, although he was repulsed in an 
 assault upon Carlisle, only consented to return 
 across the border upon the four northern counties 
 purchasing a truce from him by a payment of two 
 thousand poimds each. Not long after he succeeded 
 in making himself master of the castle of Dumfries, 
 and of those of Butel and Dalswinton in Galloway — 
 the former a seat of the Baliols, the latter of the 
 Comyns. On the 7th of 3Iarch, 1313, the im- 
 portant castle of Roxburgh was suddenly' taken by 
 assault ; a party under the command of Bruce's 
 friend Douglas having scaled the wall while the 
 English garrison were enjoying the revelry of the 
 carnival. On the 14th of the same month that of 
 Edinburgh, which had for some time been block- 
 aded by Bruce's nephew Randolph, now created 
 Earl of Moray, was taken in a similar manner by a 
 party of thirty men, whom Randolph headed, and 
 who made their way at midnight up the precipitous 
 rock, on which the castle stands, by a secret path, 
 along which they were guided by a man who had 
 resided in the fortress in his youth, and had been 
 wont to descend by that intricate and perilous 
 access to visit a girl with whom he was in love. 
 When the assailants had by this means reached 
 the foot of the castle wall, and had sat down to 
 take breath, a soldier on the ramparts, calling out 
 "Away! I see you well!" threw down a stone to 
 the spot where thej'^ were ; but they remained 
 motionless; and the man walked away. In a few 
 minutes Randolph and his men, having fixed their 
 ladder of rope, were on the top of the wall. A 
 desperate conflict ensued; but the superior numbers 
 of the garrison did not compensate for the confusion 
 into which they were thrown by so sudden a sur- 
 prise, and, after the governor himself had fallen 
 in the melee, they surrendered at discretion. The 
 castle was afterward demolished. It appears to 
 have been likewise about this time, although the 
 event is placed earlier in the common accounts, that 
 the castle of Linlithgow was surprised by a strata- 
 gem, which might almost be supposed to have beeu 
 suggested by the classic tale of the Trojan horse, 
 but of which the conti'ivance as well as the conduct 
 is attributed to a poor countiyman named William 
 Binnock or Binny. A party of Scottish soldiers 
 having been previously placed in ambush near the 
 gate, Binny introduced eight men into the fort by 
 concealing them in a waggon-load of hay which he 
 had been employed to bring in : as soon as the 
 waggon had reached the middle of the gateway ho 
 cut the traces by which the oxen were fastened to 
 it, when the men immediately leaped out ; in an 
 instant, while the position of the waggon prevented 
 the portcullis from being let down, the guard was 
 overpowered, and the drawbridge, which had been 
 raised, was again lowered ; the party of soldiers, 
 then rushing in, easily mastered the garrison, and 
 put them to the sword. This same year Cumber-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 711 
 
 land was again ravaged by Bruce, who then crossing 
 over to Man, defeated a force which the governor 
 brought out to oppose him, took the castle of Russin 
 by storm, and effected the complete reduction of 
 the island. 
 
 While the king was absent on this expedition, 
 Edward Bruce had made himself master of the 
 castles of Dundee and Rutherglen, and he had 
 been for some weeks engaged in besieging that of 
 Stirling, always of chief importance as the key to 
 the whole northern part of the kingdom, and now 
 almost the only considerable place of strength which 
 the English still held in Scotland. After a gallant 
 defence the governor, Philip de Mowbray, offered 
 to surrender if not relieved by the Feast of St. 
 John the Baptist (the 24th of June) in the following 
 year ; and this proposal Edward Bruce, without 
 consulting his brother, accepted. It was an agree- 
 ment, all the advantages of which seem to have 
 been on one side ; for it imposed an inaction of 
 many months upon the Scots, during the whole of 
 which time the castle would be in security, and the 
 King of England would have abundant leisure to 
 make the most efficient arrangements for its relief. 
 Bruce expressed the highest displeasure when the 
 treaty was made known to him ; but he resolved, 
 nevertheless, to abide by it. Every effort was now 
 made on both sides in preparation for a crisis which 
 it was felt would be decisive. King Edward, be- 
 side ordering a fleet to be fitted out to act in concert 
 with the land forces, summoned all the military 
 power of England to meet him at Berwick on the 
 11th of June, and also called to his aid both his 
 English subjects in Ireland and many of the native 
 Irish chiefs. That day, accordingly, saw assembled 
 at the place of rendezvous perhaps the most mag- 
 nificent army that our warlike land had ever yet 
 sent forth ; its numbers are asserted by the best 
 authorities to have exceded a hundred thousand 
 men, including a body of forty thousand cavaliy, of 
 whom thi-ee thousand were clad in complete armor, 
 both man and horse. At the head of this mighty 
 array Edward took his course into Scotland, advan- 
 cing by the east coast to Edinburgh, from which, 
 turning his face westward, he proceeded along the 
 right bank of the Forth toward Stirling. Bruce, 
 meanwhile, had collected his forces in the forest 
 called the Torwood, midway between that place 
 and Falkirk ; they amounted to scarce forty thou- 
 sand fighting men, nearly all of whom were on foot. 
 When the English approached, the King of Scots 
 drew up his little army immediately to the south of 
 Stirling, in a field then known by the name of the 
 New Park, which, partly broken with wood, was in 
 some parts encompassed by a marsh, and had run- 
 ning along one side of it the rivulet of Bannockburn, 
 between woody banks of considerable depth and 
 steepness. He arranged his men in four divisions, 
 three of which formed a front line facing the south- 
 east, fi-om which direction the enemy was approach- 
 ing, so that the right wing rested on the brook of 
 Bannock, and the left extended toward the town of 
 Stirling. It was a position chosen with consummate 
 skill ; for while obstacles, partly natural, partly arti- 
 
 ficial, secured either flank from being turned, the 
 space in front was at the same time so narrow and 
 impeded as to be calculated in a great measure to 
 deprive a very numerous hostile force of the advan- 
 tage of its numerical superiority. On his most 
 assailable quarter, his left wing, or the northeastern 
 extremity of his line of battle, Bruce had caused a 
 great many pits to be dug, about three feet in depth, 
 and then to be covered over with brushwood and 
 sod, so as not to be easily perceptible ; they might, 
 says Barbour, be likened to a honeycomb ; according 
 to another account, sharp stakes were also fixed in 
 the pits. Of the three divisions thus drawn up, 
 Bruce gave the command of that forming the right 
 wing to his brother Edward ; of that forming the 
 left to Randolph, Earl of Moray ; of the centre to 
 Sir James Douglas and Walter the Steward; the 
 fourth division, composed of the men of Argyle, the 
 islanders, and his own vassals of Carrick, formed a 
 reserve, which was stationed in the rear, and of 
 wiiich he himself took charge. 
 
 On Sunday, the 23d of June, intelligence was 
 received that the English were at hand. Barbour 
 has painted the day as one bright with sunshine, 
 which, falling upon the burnished armor of King 
 Edward's troops, made the land seem all in a glow, 
 while banners right fairly floating, and pennons wav- 
 ing in the wind, added to the splendor of the scene. 
 When he came within sight of the Scots, and per- 
 ceived how they were planted, Edward, detaching 
 eight hundred horse, sent them forward under the 
 command of Sir Robert ClifTord, to endeavor to gain 
 the castle by making a circuit on the other side of 
 some rising grounds to the northea-st of Bruce's left 
 wing. Thus sheltered from observation, they had 
 already passed the Scottish line, when Bruce him- 
 self was the first to perceive them. "Randolph!" 
 he cried, riding up to his nephew, "a rose has fallen 
 from your chaplet — you have suffered the enemy to 
 pass !" It was still possible to intercept Cliftbrd and 
 his horse. Randolph instantly set out to throw him- 
 self at every hazard between them and the castle : 
 to prevent this, the English wheeled round and 
 charged him ; but he had drawn up his men in a 
 circle, with their backs to each other, and their long 
 spears protruded all round, and they not only stood 
 the onset firmly, but repelled it with the slaughter 
 of many of their assailants. Still they contended 
 against fearful odds, for the English were not only 
 mounted, but greatly superior to them in number; 
 and, seeing the jeopardy of his friend, Douglas re- 
 quested to be allowed to go and succor him. "You 
 shall not move from your ground," replied Bruce ; 
 " let Randolph extricate himself as he best may." 
 But at length Douglas could no longer restrain him- 
 self: "In truth, my liege," he cried, "I cannot 
 stand by and see Randolph perish ; with your leave, 
 I 7nust aid him ;" and so, extorting from the king a 
 reluctant consent, he hastened forward. But, as 
 he drew near, he perceived that the English were 
 already giving way : " Halt !" he cried to his follow- 
 ers ; " let us not diminish the glory of these brave 
 men !" — and he did not go up to his friend till the 
 latter had, alone and unaided, compelled the Eng-
 
 712 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 lish captain to retire in confusion with liis shattered 
 force, and relinquisli his attempt. Meanwhile, be- 
 fore this aliiiir had yet been decided, a brilliant 
 achievement of Bruce himselt^ performed in full view 
 of both armies, had raised the liopes of his country- 
 men with another good omen. He was riding in 
 front of his troops on a little palfrey, but with his 
 battle-€axe in his hand and a crown of gold over his 
 steel helmet, when an English knight, Henry de 
 Bohun, or Boone, mounted on a heavy war-horse, 
 and armed at all points, recognizing the Scottish 
 king, galloped forward to attack him. Instead of 
 retiring from the unequal encounter, Bruce turned 
 to meet his assailant, and, dextrously parrying his 
 spear, in the next instant, with one blow of his battle- 
 uxe, cleft his skull and laid him dead at his feet. 
 
 Although the two armies were so near, the Eng- 
 lish did not venture upon tiie attack that night. But 
 next morning, soon after break of day, their van, led 
 by the earls of Gloucester and Hereford, advanced 
 at full gallop upon the right wing of the Scots, while 
 the main body of the armj', which had been drawn 
 up in nine divisions, followed in a long close column 
 under the conduct of Edward himself. The shock 
 did not break the Scottish line ; and successive repe- 
 titions of the charge were more disastrous to the as- 
 sailants than to the firm phalanx against which their 
 impetuous squadron was broken at every collision. 
 From the advantages of their position, also, the other 
 divisions of the Scots were soon enabled to take part 
 in the contest. Randolph pushed forward with his 
 men, till, as Barbour expresses it, their compara- 
 tively small body was surrounded and lost amid the 
 English, as if it had plunged into the sea ; Douglas 
 and the steward also came up ; and thus the battle 
 became general along the whole length of the Scot- 
 tish front line. Of the English army, on the other 
 hand, the greater part appears never to have been 
 engaged. A strong body of archers, however, by 
 whom the attack of the cavalry was supported, did 
 great execution, till Bruce directed Sir Robert Keith, 
 the marshal, at the head of a small detachment of 
 horse, to make a circuit by the right, and come upon 
 them in flank. The bowmen, who had no weapons 
 by which they could maintain a fight at close quar- 
 ters, gave way before this sudden assault like an un- 
 armed rabble, and spread confusion in all directions. 
 Bruce now advanced with his reserve, and all the 
 four divisions of the Scots pressed upon the con- 
 fused and already wavering multitude of the Eng- 
 lish. The latter, however, still stood their ground ; 
 and the fortune of the day yet hung in a doubtful 
 balance, when suddenly, on a hill behind the Scot- 
 tish battle, appeared what seemed to be a new army. 
 It was merely the crowd of sutlers and unarmed at- 
 tendants on the camp; but it is probable that their 
 sudden apparition was not made without the design 
 of producing some such effect as it did, since they 
 are said to have advanced with banners waving, and 
 all the show of military array. The sight spread 
 instant alarm among the English : at the same mo- 
 ment Bruce, raising his war-cry, pressed with new 
 fury upon their failing ranks : his onset, vigorously 
 supported by the other division? of the Scottish 
 
 army, was scarcely resisted by the unwieldy, and 
 now completely panic-struck mass against which it 
 was directed : horse and foot, in spite of the most 
 energetic exertions of their leaders to rally them, 
 alike gave way, and fled in the wildest disorder. 
 Many, trying to escape across the river, were driven 
 into its waters and drowned ; many more fell under 
 the battle-axes of their pursuers. Among the slain 
 were twenty-seven of the rank of barons and ban- 
 nerets, including the king's nephew, the Earl of 
 Gloucester, and others of the chief nobility of Eng- 
 land. Of knights there fell two hundred, of esquires 
 seven luindred, and of persons of inferior rank, ac- 
 cording to some accounts, not fewer than thirty thou- 
 sand. The slaughter in the fight and the pursuit 
 together was undoubtedly very great. A vast amount 
 of booty and manj-^ prisoners also fell into the hands 
 of the victors. Edward himself with difficulty es- 
 caped, having been hotly pursued as far as Dunbar, 
 a place sixty miles from the field of battle, where 
 he found refuge in the castle. But twenty-two 
 barons and bannerets and sixty knights were taken ; 
 and according to one English historian, the chariots, 
 waggons, and other carriages, loaded with baggage 
 and militaiy stores, that were obtained by the Scots, 
 would, if drawn up in a hne, have extended for sixty 
 leagues. On their side the loss of life, which was 
 the only loss, was comparative!}' inconsiderable, and 
 included only one or two names of any note. 
 
 This great victory, in effect, liberated Scotland. 
 The castle of Stirling immediately surrendered, ac- 
 cording to agreement. Bothwell Castle, in which 
 the Earl of Hereford had shut himself up, capitula- 
 ted soon after to Edward Bruce, when the earl was 
 exchanged for the wife, sister, and daughter of the 
 King of Scots, who had been detained in England for 
 the last seven years, and also for the Bishop of Glas- 
 gow and the Earl of Mar. Edward Bruce and 
 Douglas, then entering England, ravaged Northum- 
 berland, exacted tribute from Durham, and, after 
 penetrating as far as Appleby, returned home, laden 
 with plunder. " At this time," says Walsingham, 
 " the English were so bereaved of their wonted 
 intrepidity, that a hundred of that nation would Jiave 
 fled from two or three Scotsmen." Two other de- 
 structive incursions by the Scots into the northern 
 counties of England followed in the autumn of 1314 
 and the summer of 1315. On the latter occasion, 
 they assaulted both Carlisle and Berwick, but were 
 defeated in both attempts. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, a still bolder enterprise had 
 been undertaken and entered upon by the ardent 
 and ambitious brother of the Scottish king. On the 
 25th of May, 1315, Edward Bruce landed at Carrick- 
 fergus, with no less a design than that of winning 
 himself a crown by the conquest of Ireland. The 
 force which he brought with him consisted of only 
 six thousand men ; but he was joined, on landing, by 
 a number of the native chiefs of Ulster, with whom 
 he had a previous understanding. The invaders and 
 their allies immediately began to ravage the posses- 
 sions of the English settlers ; and no attempt to op- 
 pose them seems to have been made for nearly two 
 months, in the course of which time they plundered
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 7]3 
 
 and burnt Dundalk and other towns, and wasted the 
 surx'ounding country with merciless barbarity. At 
 length, about the end of July, Richard de Burgh, 
 Earl of Ulster, assisted by some of the Connaught 
 chiefs, marched against them. The Scots at first 
 retreated, but suddenly halting near Coyners (on 
 the 10th of September), they turned round upon 
 their pursuers and put them completely to the rout, 
 taking Lord William Burk, and many other persons 
 of distinction, prisoners. Soon after this, a small 
 reinforcement of five hundred men arrived from 
 Scotland ; and the invaders now proceeded to pene- 
 trate into the heart of the country. They advanced 
 through Meath into Kildare, and there (on the 26th 
 of January, 1316), encountering the English army, 
 commanded by Edmund Butler, the Justiciary of Ire- 
 laud, gained another brilliant victory over an enemy 
 greatly superior to them in numerical strength. A 
 severe famine, however, now compelled them to 
 return to the north. On their way they were met 
 at Kealis, in Meath, by Roger Lord Mortimer, who 
 thought to cut oft' their retrecat ; but this numerous 
 force also was defeated and dispersed, and Morti- 
 mer himself, with a few attendants, was glad to 
 take refuge in Dublin. The Scottish prince now 
 assumed the government of Ulster. On the 2d 
 of May, 1316, at Carrickfergus, he was solemnly 
 crowned King of Ireland ; and from this time he 
 actually reigned in full and undisputed sovereignty 
 over the greater portion of the northern province. 
 The. castle of Carrickfergus, after a long siege, at 
 last capitulated in the beginning of winter. By this 
 time the King of Scots himself had come over to 
 take part in the war : the force which he brought 
 with him is said to have raised the entire numbers 
 of the Scottish army to twenty thousand men. Thus 
 strengthened the invaders again set out for the south, 
 advancing right upon the capital. They failed, how- 
 ever, in their attempt to reduce Dublin : the citi- 
 zens, after setting fire to the suburbs, which might 
 have sheltered their assailants, set about their de- 
 fence with such determination, that after some 
 weeks the Scots raised the siege. It is probable 
 that the want of provisions compelled them to re- 
 move. As they had already, however, wasted the 
 country behind them, they proceeded in their course 
 southwai-d, till at length, plundering and destroying 
 as they proceeded, they had penetrated as far as 
 the town of Limerick. Perhaps they hoped that 
 they might here be joined by some of the chiefs of 
 Munster and Connaught ; but if they entertained 
 any such expectation, it does not appear to have 
 been gratified. The difficulties of their position 
 must now have been veiy serious : they were a 
 handful of foreigners, with many miles of a hostile 
 country between them and the nearest spot on 
 which they could take up a secure station ; famine 
 was staring them in the face ; indeed they were 
 reduced to feed upon their horses, and want and 
 disease were already beginning to thin their ranks. 
 Notwithstanding, however, that an English army of 
 thirty thousand men was assembled at Kilkenny to 
 • oppose their passage, they contrived to extricate 
 themselves from all these pcrib and embarrass- 
 
 ments, and, by the beginning of May, 1317, the two 
 brothers had made their way back to Ulstei', after 
 having thus overrun the country from nearly one 
 extremity to the other, without encountering any 
 eft'ective opposition either from the native Irish or 
 their English masters. 
 
 The English, however, had taken advantage of 
 the absence of the King of Scots from his own 
 dominions to make several attempts to renew the 
 war there. In the south, the Earl of Arundel, a 
 Gascon knight, named Edmond de Cailand, who 
 was governor of Berwick, and Sir Ralph Neville, 
 were successively defeated by Sir James Douglas. 
 Soon after a force which had made a descent at 
 Inverkeithing, on the coast of Fife, was driven back 
 by the gallantry of Sinclair, Bishop of Dunkeld. 
 "the King's Bishop," as he used afterward to be 
 called, in memory of Bruce's expression when he 
 was told of the exploit, " Sinclair shall be 7ni/ bishop." 
 The Pope now interfered, and attempted to compel 
 a truce between the two countries ; but as he 
 evaded giving Bruce the title of king, the latter 
 would enter into no negotiation ; and when the 
 papal truce was proclaimed, he declined paying 
 any regard to it. On the 28th of March, 1318, the 
 important town of Berwick fell into the hands of 
 the Scots : they were admitted into the place by 
 the treachery of one of the English guards. The 
 castle, also, soon after surrendered to Bruce, who 
 followed up these successes by two invasions of 
 England, in the first of which his army took the 
 castles of Werk, Harbottle, and Mitford, in North- 
 umberland; and, in the second, penetrated into 
 Yorkshire, burnt Northallerton, Boroughbridge. 
 Scarborough, and Skipton, and forced the people 
 of Rippon to buy them oft" by a payment of a thou- 
 sand marks. They then returned home laden with 
 booty, and, as the Chronicler of Lauercost expresses 
 it, " driving their prisoners before them hke flocks 
 of sheep." 
 
 In the latter part of this year, however, the 
 career of Edward Bruce in Ireland was suddenh 
 brought to a close. Scarcely anything is known ot 
 the course of events for a period of about a year 
 and a half; but on the 5th of October, 1318, the 
 Scottish prince engaged the English at Fagher. 
 near Dundalk, and sustained a complete defeat. 
 He himself was one of two thousand Scots that 
 were left dead upon the field. Only a small rem- 
 nant, consisting principiilly of the men of Carrick. 
 made good their escape to Scotland. This is said 
 to have been the nineteenth battle which Edward 
 Bruce fought in the country, and till now, accord- 
 ing to Barbour, he had been always victorious ; hut 
 one hour sufficed to destroy all that three yenrs had 
 set up: the fabric of the Scottish dominion in Ire- 
 land passed away wholly and forever, leaving scarce 
 a trace that it had ever been. 
 
 In the summer of 1319 Edward determined to 
 make another effort on a great scale for the reduc- 
 tion of Scotland. Having- assembled a numerous 
 army at Newcastle, he marched thence upon Ber- 
 wick, and, after much preparation, made his first 
 attnck upon that town at once by Innd nnd sea. on
 
 714 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 the 7th of September. He was, however, gallantly 
 withstood by the garrison hujlI the inhabitants, under 
 the command of the Steward of Scotland, and, after , 
 a long and fierce contest^ repulsed at all points. 
 The attempt was afterward repeatedly renewed, 
 and always with the same result. Barbour has 
 given a minute and highly curious account of this 
 siege, in which all the resources of the engineering 
 science of the age were called into requisition on 
 both sides. iNIeanwhile, Kandolph and Douglas, 
 at the head of a force of fifteen thousand men, pass- 
 ing into England by the West Marches, made a 
 dash at the town of York, with the hope of carry- 
 ing olf Edward's queen ; but a prisoner whom the 
 English took, betrayed their scheme just in time to 
 prevent its success. The Scots then ravaged York- 
 shire with a fury as unresisted as it was unsparing, 
 till, on the 28th of September, they Avere encoun- 
 tered by a very numerous, but in all other respects 
 very inefficient, force, mostly composed of peasantry 
 and ecclesiastics, under the command of the Arch- 
 bishop of York and the Bishop of Ely, at Mitton 
 on the Swale. This almost undisciplined rabble 
 was routed at once, about four thousand of them 
 l)eing slain, including three hundred churchmen 
 wearing their surplices over their armor. In allu- 
 sion to the presence of so many shaved crowns, 
 this battle used to be termed the Chapter of Mitton. 
 The Scots then continued their devastation of the 
 country unopposed. It appears, from a record in 
 the Foedera, that no fewer than eighty-four towns 
 and villages in Yorkshire were the next year ex- 
 cused from the usual taxes, in consequence of hav- 
 ing been burnt and pillaged by Douglas and Randolph 
 in this destructive expedition. At length, Edward, 
 raising the siege of Berwick, marched to intercept 
 them ; but they succeeded in eluding him, and got 
 back to Scotland in safety. On the 21st of Decem- 
 ber, a truce for two years was concluded between 
 the two nations, which it was hoped might lead to 
 a permanent peace. 
 
 We now return to the course of domestic affairs. 
 Edward could not live without a favorite ; and almost 
 the whole of the remainder of his reign is occupied 
 by another long sti'uggle for the support of a minion. 
 Soon after the death of Gaveston he conceived the 
 same unbounded affection for Hugh Despenser, a 
 young man who was first placed about the court by 
 the Earl of Lancaster. Hugh was an Englishman 
 born, and the son of an Englishman of ancient de- 
 scent; he was accomplished, brave, and amiable; 
 but all these circumstances, which, except that of 
 his birth, Gaveston had held in common with him, did 
 not rescue him from the deadly hatred of the barons 
 when they saw him suddenly raised above them 
 all. Edward married him to the daughter of the 
 late Earl of Gloucester, and put him in possession 
 of immense estates, including the county of Glamor- 
 gan and part of the Welsh Marches. Through the 
 favor of the son the eider Despenser obtained as 
 much or more, and all the avenues to favor and pro- 
 motion were stopped by this one fomily. In 1331, 
 after long heart-burnings, an imprudent exercise or 
 abuse of authority armed all the lords of the marches 
 
 against the two Despensers, whose castles were 
 taken and burnt, and their movable property carried 
 off. Soon after this outbreak, the Earl of Lancas- 
 ter, who, as a prince of the blood, had considered 
 himself dishonored by the promotion of Hugh, his 
 poor dependent, marched from the north, and joined 
 the Welsh insurgents with thirty-four barons and 
 knights, and a host of retainers. Having bound them 
 by an oath not to lay down their arms till they had 
 driven the two Despensers beyond sea, the great 
 earl led them to St. Albans, whence he dispatched 
 a peremptory message to his cousin, the king. 
 Edward again made a show of resistance ; and he 
 took up legal ground when he asserted that it would 
 not be proper to punish the Despensers without 
 form of trial. Lancaster marched upon London, 
 and occupied the suburbs of Holborn and Clerken- 
 well. A few days after, a parliament having as- 
 sembled at Westminster, the barons, with arms in 
 their hands, accused the Despensers of usurping 
 the royal power, of estranging the king from his 
 nobles, of appointing ignorant judges, of exacting 
 fines ; and they pronounced a sentence of perpetual 
 banishment against both father and son. The bish- 
 ops protested against the irregularity of this sen- 
 tence, but the timid king confirmed it. As an 
 instance of the contempt in which the royal author- 
 ity was at this time held, it is related, that when 
 Queen Isabella, passing on a journey by the Lord 
 Badlesmere's castle of Leeds, in Kent, desired a 
 night's lodging, she was not only refused admit- 
 tance, but some of her attendants were fiillen upon 
 and killed. 
 
 Suddenly, however, the position of the two con- 
 tending parties was reversed. The Despensers 
 had been banished in the month of August. In 
 October they returned to England, encouraged by 
 a bold move of the king, who took and hanged twelve 
 knights of the opposite party. The Earl of Lan- 
 caster retired to the north and opened a corres- 
 pondence with the Scots, who promised to send an 
 army across the borders to his assistance. This 
 force, however, did not appear in time ; but mean- 
 while the secret of the application for it transpired, 
 and inflamed the hearts of the English against the 
 earl — for the national animosity was at its highest 
 — and tliey were deemed traitors who could think 
 of calling in the Scots to interfere in an English 
 quarrel. 
 
 In 1322 Lancaster and his confederates were 
 suddenly met at Boroughl)ridge by Sir Simon Ward 
 and Sir Andrew Harclay, who defended the bridge, 
 and occupied the ojiposite bank of the rive.r with a 
 superior force. The Earl of Hereford charged on 
 foot to clear the passage ; but a Welshman, who was 
 concealed under the bridge, put his lance through 
 a hole in the flooring, and thrust it into the bowels 
 of the earl, who fell dead. Lancaster then at- 
 tempted a ford, but his men were driven back by 
 the enemy's archers, who gathered like clouds in 
 all directions. Night interrupted the unequal com- 
 bat, but in the morning the Efirl of Lancaster was 
 compelled to surrender. He retired into a chapel, 
 and looking on the holy cross, exclaimed, " Good
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 715 
 
 Leeds Castle. 
 
 Lord, I render myself to thee, and put me mto thy 
 mercy." Many knights were taken with him ; and 
 beside the Earl of Hereford, five knights and three 
 esquires were killed. The " common sort" are 
 neither named nor enumerated. But the more 
 fearful part of the battle of Boroughbridge was not 
 yet over. Edward's oppoi'tunity for revenge had 
 arrived, and he determined that many others, be- 
 side his cousin Lancaster, whom he always sus- 
 pected of being a principal mover in Gaveston's 
 death, should perish by the hands of the execu- 
 tioner. A court was convoked at Pontefract, in 
 the earl's own castle, about a month after the battle. 
 It consisted of six earls and a number of barons of 
 the royal party : the king presided. Lancaster was 
 accused of many treasonable practices, and espe- 
 cially of calling in the Scots. He was told that his 
 guilt was so well proved to all men, that he must 
 not speak in his defence, and the court condemned 
 him, as a felon ti-aitor, to be drawn, hanged, and 
 quartered. Froissart says, that the accusation had 
 no other foundation than the malice of Hugh De- 
 spenser; but the existence of original documents 
 fully proves the earl's intelligence with the Scots. 
 Out of respect to his royal blood, Edwai'd remitted 
 the ignominious parts of the sentence : but his min- 
 isters heaped every possible insult on the earl, and 
 the mob were allowed to pelt him with mud and 
 taunt him as he was led to execution, mounted on 
 a wretched pony without saddle or bridle. " He 
 was," says Froissart, " a wise man, and a holy, and 
 he did afterward many fine miracles on the spot 
 where he was beheaded." This reputation for 
 sanctity is mentioned by several contemporary Eng- 
 lish writers ; and it is easier for a modern historian 
 
 to call the earl's devotion hypocrisy than to prove 
 it such. In his character, adventures, and fate, 
 Lancaster bore a striking resemblance to the Earl 
 of Leicester, the leader of the barons in the time 
 of Henry III. Fourteen bannerets and fourteen 
 knights-bachelors were drawn, hanged, and quar- 
 tered ; one knight was beheaded. "Never did 
 English earth, at one time, drink so much blood of 
 her nobles, in so vile manner shed as at this ;" and 
 their enemies, not contented with their blood, pro- 
 cured also the confiscation of their estates and in- 
 heritances. In a parliament held at York, the 
 attainders of the Despenser family were reversed : 
 the father was created Earl of Winchester, and 
 the estates of the attainted nobles were lavished on 
 him and on his son, who became dearer to his royal 
 master, and more prevalent in all things than he 
 had been before his expulsion. 
 
 Many of the partisans of Lancaster were thrown 
 into prison ; others escaped to France, where they 
 laid the gi-oundwork of a plan which soon involved 
 the king, his favorite, and adherents in one common 
 ruin.^ The arrogance of the younger Despenser, 
 upon whom the lesson of Gaveston was thrown 
 away, the ill success of an expedition into Scotland, 
 and then the inroads of the Scots, who nearly took 
 the king prisoner, and who swept the whole country 
 as far as the walls of York, kept up a continual 
 irritation, and prepared men's minds for the worst. 
 On the 3nth of May, lo2r>, Edward wisely put an end 
 to a ruinous war which had lasted for twenty-three 
 years. He agreed with Bruce for a suspension of 
 arms, which was to last thirteen years, and which 
 
 1 Ryirer.—Knyghton.—Walsing.— Froissart.— Speed. -P;ilsravp.— 
 Clirun. Abstract.
 
 716 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book ]V 
 
 was not to be interrupted by the deutli of either or of 
 both of the contracting parties ; but the inestimable 
 blessing of peace was not unaccompanied by a sense 
 of national disgrace, for, ever since the successes of 
 Edward I., the hopes of the English had been high 
 and absolute, and after such immense sacrifices, 
 they now saw themselves obliged to recognize, in 
 fact if not in express terms, the independence of 
 the Scots. Soon after the conclusion of this treaty, 
 the king was alarmed by a conspiracy to cut off the 
 elder Despenser, and then by a bold attempt to 
 hberate some of the captives made at Borough- 
 bridge from their dungeons. This attempt failed; 
 but the most important of those prisoners efl'ected 
 his escape by other means. This was Roger Mor- 
 timer, who had twice been condemned for treason, 
 and who was then lying under sentence of death 
 in the Tower of London. His adventure resembled 
 that of Ralph Flsunbard, in the time of Henry L 
 He made his guards drink deeply of wine, into 
 which he had thrown some narcotic drug : while 
 they slept a sound sleep, he broke through the wall 
 of his dungeon, and got into the kitchen, where he 
 found or made a ladder of ropes : he climbed up 
 the chimney, lowered himself, and contrived to pass 
 the sentries without being observed. Under the 
 Tower walls he found a wherry, and this enabled 
 him to cross to the opposite side of the Thames, 
 where some faithful servants were in attendance 
 with good horses. He rode with all speed to the 
 coast of Hampshire, and there he embarked for 
 France. 
 
 Charles le Bel, a brother to Isabella, Queen of 
 England, was now seated on the French throne.' 
 Difl'erences had existed for some time between him 
 and his brother-in-law, Edward ; and the intrigues 
 of the suffering Lancaster party contributed to 
 drive matters to extremities. The manifestos of 
 Charles scarcely merit attention — as far as the two 
 kings were concerned, it was the quarrel of the 
 wolf and the lamb ; and after Edward had made 
 apologies, and offered to refer matters to the arbi- 
 tration of the Pope, Charles overran a good part of 
 the territories on the continent that still belonged 
 to the English, and took many of Edward's castles 
 'ind towns. Isabella, who had long been anxious to 
 quit the kingdom, persuaded her husband that she 
 was the proper person to be deputed to France, as 
 her brother would yield to fraternal afiection, what 
 ambassadors and statesmen could not procure from 
 him. The simple king fell into the snare ; and in 
 the month of March, 1325, Isabella, accompanied 
 by a splendid retinue, landed at Boulogne, whence 
 she repaired to Paris, being most honorably enter- 
 tained on her journey.- The treaty she concluded 
 was most dishonorable to her husband ; but the 
 weak Edward found himself obliged to ratify it, and 
 to promise an immediate attendance in P^ ranee, to 
 do homage for the dominions he was allowed to 
 retain on the continent. A sickness, real or feigned, 
 stopped him at Dover. At the suggestion of Isa- 
 
 1 In thirteen years, three brothers of Isabella occupied, in succes- 
 sion, the French throne — Louis X., Philip V., and Charles IV., or Le 
 lie!, who succeeded in lo22. 2 Froissart 
 
 bella, the French court intimated that if he would 
 cede Guienne and Ponthieu to his son, then that 
 boy might do homage instead of his father, and 
 everything would be arranged in the most peaceful 
 and liberal manner. Edward again fell into the 
 snare, or, what is more probable, was driven into it 
 with his eyes open by the Despensers, who dreaded, 
 above all things, the being separated from the king, 
 and who durst not venture with him into P^rance, 
 where their enemies were now so numerous and 
 powerful. Edward, therefore, resigned Guienne 
 and Ponthieu, and the Prince of Wales went and 
 joined his mother. The game on that side was now 
 made up. When Edw'ard pressed for the return of 
 his wife and son, he received evasive answers, and 
 these were soon followed by horrible accusations 
 and an open defiance of him and his authority. 
 Isabella reported that " Messire Hugh" had sown 
 such discord between her and her husband, that 
 the king " would no longer see her, nor come to 
 the place where she was ;" ' that the Despenser?, 
 between them, had seized her dower, and kept her 
 in a state of abject poverty and dependence. The 
 modern historian can scarcely hint at certain parts 
 of Isabella's complaints ; but, to finish the climax, 
 she accused the odious favorite of a plot against her 
 life and the life of her son Edwaid. The king's 
 reply was mild and circumstantiar; but it did not 
 suit the views of a harshly-treated and vindictive 
 party to admit of any part of his exculpation ; and, 
 making every rational abatement, we believe that 
 it must remain undisputed, that the king had most 
 justly earned the contempt and hatred of his wife ; 
 nor will the derelictions of Isabella at all plead in 
 his excuse. This scandalous quarrel occupied the 
 attention of all Europe. During the lifetime of the 
 Earl of Lancaster, the queen seems to have leant 
 on that prince for protection : the Lord Mortimer 
 was now the head of the Lancastrian party ; and 
 when he repaired to Paris — which he did immedi- 
 ately on learning her arrival — the circumstances 
 and necessities of her position threw Isabella con- 
 tinually in his societj'. Mortimer was gallant, hand- 
 some, intriguing, and not more moral than the 
 generality of knights. Isabella was still beautiful 
 and young — she was not yet twenty-eight years of 
 age — and it was soon whispered that the intimacy 
 of these parties went far bej'ond the limits of a 
 political friendship. W^hen Isabella first arrived in 
 France, her brother promised, by "the faith he 
 owed to God and his Lord St. Denis," that he 
 would redress her wrongs ; and he continued to 
 protect his sister even after her connection with 
 Mortimer was notorious. Hugh Despenser, how- 
 ever, sent over rich presents to the ministers of the 
 French king, and even to the king himself, and thus 
 prevented the assembling of an army on the French 
 coast. He made his master, Edward, write to the 
 Pope, imploring the holy father to interfere, and 
 induce Charles le Bel to restore to him his wife 
 and son ; and he sent, by " subtle ways," much 
 gold and silver to several cardinals and prelates who 
 were " nearest to the Pope ;" and so, by gifts and 
 
 ' Froissart
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 717 
 
 false representations, the pontiff was led to write 
 I'o the King of France, that unless he sent his sister, 
 the Queen Isabella, back to England and to her 
 husband, he would excommunicate him.' These 
 lettei's were presented to the King of France by 
 the Bishop of Saintes, whom the Pope sent in 
 legation. When the king had seen them, he 
 caused it to be intimated to his sister, whom he 
 had not spoken to for a long time, that she must 
 hastily depart his kingdom, or he would drive her 
 out with shame.* This anger of Charles le Bel 
 was only feigned — it appears to have been a mere 
 sacrifice for the sake of appearances ; and when 
 his vassal the Count of Hainault gave shelter to 
 Isabella and the Lancastrian party, the count prob- 
 ably knew very well that he was doing what was 
 perfectly agreeable to his liege lord. The more to 
 bind this powerful vassal to her interests, the queen 
 affianced the young Prince of Wales to Philippa, 
 the second daughter of the count. The countess 
 treated the fugitive queen with the gi-eatest respect, 
 considering everything that was said against her as 
 a calumny ; but no one embraced Isabella's cause 
 with such enthusiasm as John of Hainault, a young 
 brother of the count, who would not listen to those 
 who warned him of the dangers of the enterprise, 
 and told him how jealous the English were of all 
 kinds of foreigners. The gentle knight constantly 
 replied, that there was only one death to die, and 
 that it was the especial duty of all knights to aid 
 with their loyal power all dames and damsels in dis- 
 tress.* In a short time, a little army of two thou- 
 sand men gathered round the banner of Messire 
 John. The English exiles were both numerous and 
 of high rank, scarcely one of them being less than 
 a knight. The active and enterprising Roger Mor- 
 timer took the lead ; but the Earl of Kent, King 
 Edward's own brother, the Eai'l of Richmond, his 
 cousin, the Lord Beaumont, and the Bishop of 
 Norwich, all joined the queen in the Low Coun- 
 tries, though they had been sent by Edward as his 
 trusty ambassadors into France. Nor had Isabella 
 any want of partisans in England to make her way 
 easy and straight. The leader of these was another 
 bishop — Adam Orleton — who had been deprived 
 by the king, or by Hugh Despenser, of the tempo- 
 ralities of his see of Hereford for his devotion to the 
 Earl of Lancaster. By Orleton's means, a general 
 outcry was raised against the personal vices of 
 Edward — every tale of tJie court was divulged to 
 the people — the fleet was won over, and a reconcil- 
 iation effected between the Lancastrian party and 
 the barons, who of late had supported the ro}'al 
 cause, but who were equally convinced of the king's 
 demerits, or easily led to join in the enterprise by 
 a common hatred of the favorite. After a stormy 
 passage, Isabella, with her little army and her son 
 
 1 Froissart. 
 
 2 Id. Charles le Bel was awkwardly situated. He and his two 
 brothers, Louis and Philip, had, a few years before, shut their wives 
 up in dungeons on suspicion of irreg^ularity of conduct. Louis, on 
 ascending the throne, caused his wife to be strangled privately in 
 Chiteau-Gaillard ; Philip wag reconciled to his ; but the wife of 
 Charles was still pining in prison. It was held monstrous that so rigid 
 a moralist with respect lo his wife should be so tolerant with regard 
 to his sister. ' Froissart 
 
 Prince Edward, to whom all men already looked 
 up, landed on the 24th of September at Orewell, 
 in Suffolk, and was immediately received as the 
 deliverer of the kingdom. The fleet had purposely 
 kept out of her way ; and a land force detached to 
 oppose her landing joined her banner, and hailed 
 the young prince with rapturous joy. The queen 
 and the prince stayed three days in the abbey of 
 the Black Monks at St. Edmunds Bury, where they 
 were joined by many barons and knights. The 
 Archbis?hop of Canterbury sent her money, and 
 three bishops offered their services in person, being 
 accompanied by the Earl of Norfolk, the other 
 brother of the king.' Thus wife, son, brothers, 
 cousin, were all in hostile array against Edward, 
 who soon found that he had not a party of any kind 
 in his favor. Never was king so thoroughly aban- 
 doned and despised : his weak father had always a 
 strong party in the worst of times — even the mis- 
 creant John, his grandfather, could always count on 
 a certain number of knights, English or foreign ; 
 but round the banner of Edward of Caernarvon 
 there ralhed not one. When he appealed to the 
 loyalty of the citizens of London, they told him 
 that their privileges would not permit them to fol- 
 low him into the field ; and they added that they 
 would honor with all duty the king, the queen, and 
 prince, and shut their gates against the foreigners. 
 Upon this, Edward fled, and there were none to 
 accompany him save the two Despensers, the 
 Chancellor Baldock, and a few of their retainers. 
 He had scarcely ridden out of London, when the 
 populace rose and tore to pieces in the street the 
 Bishop of Exeter, whom he had appointed governor. 
 They afterward murdered a wealthy citizen, one 
 John le Marshal, because he had been a friend of 
 the king's favorite ; and, falling upon the Tower, 
 they got possession of it, and liberated all the state 
 prisoners, who appear to have been veiy numerous. 
 Before Edward fled, he had issued a proclamation, 
 oflfering the reward of a thousand pounds to any 
 one that would bring him the head of Mortimer : 
 but he was soon reduced to such straits, that he 
 knew not where to put his own head for safety 
 Even the Welsh, among whom he was born, reject- 
 ed the helpless fugitive, who was at last compelled 
 to take shipping with his favorite." For a time 
 the views commonly expressed among the nobles 
 and prelates, who had all, with very few exceptions, 
 joined the queen, were, that the wife ought to be 
 reconciled to the husband — that the king should be 
 compelled to govern according to the will of his 
 Parliament — and that measures of extreme rigor 
 should be adopted only against the Despensers ; but 
 Adam Orleton, the Bishop of Hereford, seems to have 
 had no difficulty in convincing them that the king 
 was not entitled to the society of his wife, and that 
 it was impossible that the queen could ever again 
 trust herself in the power of so fiiithless and vindic- 
 tive a man. The bishop produced instances of for- 
 
 i Knyghton.— Walsing.— Heming.— De la More.— Rymer.— Frois- 
 sart. 
 
 3 According to some accounts, he meant to escape to Ireland , 
 according to others, merely to the Isle of Lundy, in the Bristol 
 channel.
 
 '18 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 iner brutality; and, false or true, exaggerated or 
 not, no one, at the time, seems to have doubted his 
 solemn assertions ; and Edward was never again 
 seriously spoken of as king. 
 
 The elder Despenser had thrown himself into 
 Bristol ; but the citizens rose against him as soon as 
 the queen approached their walls ; and in three days 
 lie was obliged to surrender at discretion. The earl 
 was brought to a trial before Sir William Trussel, 
 one of the Lancastrian exiles; and, as was usual in 
 those times, and as had been the course taken with 
 the Earl of Lancaster, he was condemned to die the 
 death of a traitor, without being heard in his defence 
 — the triumphant party, in their savage fury, brook- 
 ing no delay. Old age had not moderated his eager 
 grasping after the honors and estates of others, which 
 seems to have been his capital oll'ence ; and his ven- 
 erable gray hairs inspired neither pity nor respect. 
 They dragged him to the place of execution, a little 
 beyond the walls of Bristol ; they tore out his bowels, 
 then hanged him on a gibbet for four days, and then 
 cut his body to pieces and threw it to the dogs. As 
 he had been created Earl of Winchester, they sent 
 his head to that city, where it was set on a pole. 
 From Bristol, the barons issued a proclamation, sum- 
 moning Edward to return to his pro|)er post. This 
 document was merely intended to cover and justify 
 a measure upon which they had now unanimously 
 determined. 
 
 On the 26th day of September, the prelates and 
 barons, assuming to themselves the full power of a 
 parliament, declared that the king, by his flight, had 
 left the realm without a ruler, and that they there- 
 fore appointed the Prince of Wales guardian of the 
 kingdom, in the name and by the hereditary right of 
 his father. In the mean time the unhappj^ fugitive 
 found the winds and waves as adverse as his fomily 
 and his subjects. After tossing about for many days 
 in a tempestuous sea, he was driven on the coast of 
 South Wales, where he was forced to land. He 
 concealed himself for some weeks in the mountains, 
 near Neath Abbey in Glamorganshire ; but an active 
 and a deadly enemy was in pursuit of him, and the 
 country people, if they did not betray him, betrayed 
 his favorite and his chancellor, for gold. Despenser 
 and Baldock were seized in the woods of Lautressan, 
 and immediatelj' after their arrest, Edward, help- 
 less and hopeless, came forth and surrendered to his 
 pursuer, who was his own cousin, but also brother 
 to the Earl of Lancaster, whom he had put to death 
 at Pontefract. The wretched king, for whom not 
 a banner was raised, not a sword drawn, not a bow 
 bent in any part of his kingdom, was sent by way of 
 Ledbury to Kenilworth, where he was put in sure 
 keeping in the castle. Despenser found his doom 
 at Hereford, where the queen was keeping the fes- 
 tival of All Saints "most royally." He had the same 
 judge as his father, and his trial w'as scarcely more 
 rational or legal ; for in those times, even when men 
 had good grounds upon which to prosecute to con- 
 viction, their blind passions almost invariably hurried 
 them into irregular courses. William Trussel pro- 
 nounced his sentence in a rage, ordering that, as 
 a robber, traitor, and outlaw, he should be drawn. 
 
 hanged, emboweled, beheaded, and quartered. The 
 sentence was executed with a minute observance of 
 its revolting details ; and the gallows upon which the 
 favorite was hung was made fifty feet high. His 
 confidential servant, one Simon de Reding, was 
 hanged some yards below his master. The Earl of 
 Arundel, who was closely connected with the De- 
 spensers by marriage, and who had been forward in 
 voting the death of the Earl of Lancaster, was be- 
 headed : two other noblemen shared the same fate; 
 but here the task of the executioners ceased. Bal- 
 dock, the chancellor, was a priest — and, as such, 
 secured from the scaflbld and the gallows ; but a 
 ready death would perhaps have been more merci- 
 ful than the fate he underwent, and he died not long 
 after, a prisoner in Newgate.' 
 
 On the 7th day of January, 1327, a parliament, 
 summoned in the king's name, met at Westminster. 
 Adam Orleton, the Bishop of Hereford, after an 
 able speech, proposed this question — whether, un- 
 der circumstances, the father should be restored to 
 the throne, or that the son should at once occupy 
 that throne ? The critical answer was deferred till 
 the morrow, but no one could doubt w-hat that an- 
 swer would be. The citizens of London crowded 
 to hear it; and they hailed the decision with shouts 
 of joy. The king had now been a prisoner for nearly 
 two months, but not the slightest reaction had taken 
 place in his favor ; and when Parliament declared 
 that he had ceased to reign, not a single voice spoke 
 in his behalf. His son was proclaimed king by uni- 
 versal acclamation, and presented to the rejoicing 
 people. The earls and barons, with most of the 
 prelates, took the oath of fealty ; but the Arclibishoj) 
 of Yoik and three bishops refused. The proceed- 
 ings were followed bj' an act of accusation, which 
 surely ought to have preceded them. Five days 
 after declaring the accession of the young king, 
 Stratford, the Bishop of Winchester, produced a 
 bill, charging the elder Edwaid with shameful indo- 
 lence, incapacity, cow^ardice, cruelty, and oppression 
 by which he had "done his best to disgrace and ruin 
 his country." Out of delicacy to his son, probably, 
 certain specific charges were suppressed, and the 
 joung Edward was present in Parliament, and seated 
 on the throne, when the articles were read and ad- 
 mitted as suflicient grounds for a sentence of depo- 
 sition. If this was a plot or conspiracy, as some 
 w-riters have labored to prove, it was certainly a 
 conspiracy in which the whole nation took a part. 
 Again not a voice was raised for Edward of Caer- 
 narvon, and again all classes hailed with joy the an- 
 nunciation that he had ceased to reign. The queen 
 alone thought fit to feign some sorrow at this sen- 
 tence of the nation, though she soon afterward took 
 pains to confirm it, and to prevent a possibihty of 
 her being ever restored to her husband. On the 
 20th of January, a deputation, consisting of bishops, 
 earls, and barons, with two knights from each county, 
 and two representatives from every borough in the 
 kingdom, waited upon the royal prisoner at Kenil- 
 worth, to state to him that the people of England 
 
 ' Knygliton — More. — Walsing. — Leland, Collect. — Rymer.— Tyrrel, 
 Hist
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 719 
 
 were no longer bound by their oath of allegiance to 
 him, and to receive his resignation of the crown. | 
 The unfortunate king appeared in the great hall of 
 the castle, w^rapped in a common black gown. At 
 the sight of Bishop Orleton, he fell to the gi'ound. 
 There are two accounts of a part of this remarkable 
 interview, but that which seems most consistent with 
 the weak character of the king is, that he, without 
 opposition or protest — which would have been of no 
 avail — formally renounced the royal dignity, and 
 thanked the Parliament for not having overlooked 
 the rights of his son. Then Sir William Trussel, 
 as Speaker of the whole Parliament, addressed him 
 in the name of the Parliament, and on behalf of the 
 whole people of England, and told him that he was 
 no longer a king; that all fealty and allegiance were 
 withdrawn from him, and that he must hencefoi'- 
 ward be considered as a private man without any 
 manner of royal dignity. As Trussel ceased speak- 
 ing, Sir Thomas Blount, the steward of the house- 
 hold, stepped forward and broke his white wand or 
 staff of office, and declared that all persons engaged 
 in Edward's service were discharged and freed by 
 that act. This ceremonj-, which was one usually 
 performed at a king's death, w^as held as an entire 
 completion of the process of dethronement. The 
 deputation returned to London, leaving the captive 
 king in Kenilworth Castle ; and three or four days 
 after, being Saturday the 24th of January, Edward 
 III.'s peace was proclaimed, the proclamation bear 
 ing, that Edward II. was, by the common assent of 
 the peers and commons, "ousted" from the throne; 
 that he had agreed that his eldest son and heir should 
 be crowned king, and that, as all the magnates had 
 done homage to him, his peace, which nobody was to 
 infringe under the penalty of forfeiting life and limb, 
 was now cried and published. The young Edward, 
 who was only in his fourteenth year, received the 
 great seal from the chancellor, and re-delivered it 
 to him on the 28th of Januaiy, and he was crowned 
 on the next day, the 29tli, at Westminster, the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury performing the ceremonj' 
 in the most regular manner.' 
 
 As the new king was too young to take the gov- 
 ernment upon himself, nearly the entire authority 
 of the crown was vested in the queen mother, who 
 herself was wholly ruled by the Lord Mortimer, a 
 man whose questionable position made him unpop- 
 ular from the first, and whose power and ambition 
 could not fail of exciting jealousy and rendering him 
 odious to many. Some monks had the boldness to 
 denounce from the pulpit the connection existing 
 between the queen and that lord, and even to speak 
 of forcing Isabella to cohabit with her imprisoned 
 husband, regardless of the decision which Parlia- 
 ment had given on that head. The indiscreet zeal 
 of these preachers, and some plots which were at 
 last formed, not so much in favor of Edward as 
 against Mortimer, seem to have hurried on a fearful 
 tragedy. The Earl of Lancaster, though he had 
 the death of a bi'other to avenge, was less cruel than 
 his colleagues ; the spectacle of his cousin's miseries 
 
 1 More. — Walsing.— Knyght.— Rymer.— Sir II. Nicolas, Chron. of 
 Hist. 
 
 touched his heart, and he treated the king with mild- 
 ness and generosity. It was soon whispered to 
 Isabella that he favored her husband too much, and 
 more than consisted with the safety of herself and 
 her son. The deposed king was therefore taken 
 out of Lancaster's hands and given to the keeping 
 of Sir John Maltravers, a man of a fiercer disposi- 
 tion, who had suffered cruel wrongs from Edward 
 and his favorites. Maltravers removed the captive 
 from Kenilworth Castle, and his object seems to 
 have been to conceal or render uncertain the plac«' 
 of his residence, for he made him travel by night, 
 and carried him to three or four different castles in 
 the space of a few months. At last he was lodged 
 in Berkeley Castle, near the river Severn ; and the 
 Lord Berkeley, the owner of the castle, was joined 
 with Maltravers in the commission of guarding him. 
 The Lord Berkeley also had some bowels, and he 
 treated the captive more courteously than was de- 
 sired ; but, fiilling sick, he was detained aw.iy from 
 the castle at his manor of Bradley, and during his 
 absence the care of Edward was intrusted, by com- 
 mand of Mortimer, to Thomas Gourney and Will- 
 iam Ogle — "two hell-hounds, that were capable of 
 more villainous despite than became either knights 
 or the lewdest varlets in the world." One dark 
 night, toward the end of September, horrible screams 
 and shrieks of anguish rang and echoed through the 
 walls of Berkeley Castle, and were heard even in the 
 town, "SO that many being awakened therewith from 
 their sleep, as they themselves confessed, prajed 
 heartily to God to receive his soul, for they under- 
 stood by those cries what the matter meant." ' On 
 the following morning the gates of Berkeley Castle 
 were thrown open, and people were freely admitted 
 to behold the body of Edward of CaernaiTon, who 
 was said to have expired during the night, of a sud- 
 den disorder. Most of the knights and gentlemen 
 living in the neighborhood, and many of the citizens 
 of Bristol and Gloucester, went to see the body, 
 which bore no outward marks of violence, though 
 the countenance was distorted and horrible to look 
 upon. The corpse was then cairied to Gloucester, 
 and privately buried in the Abbey church, without 
 any tumult or any investigation whatsoever. 
 
 It was soon rumored that he had been most cru- 
 elly murdered by Gourney and Ogle, who had thrust 
 a red-hot iron into his bowels through a tin pipe : 
 and there were many who had heard WMth their 
 own ears his "wailful noise" at the dead of night ; 
 but still the nation continued in its unrelenting indif- 
 ference to all that concerned this most wretched 
 king.- Edward was forty-three years old : counting 
 from the date of his recognition to that of his deposi- 
 tion, he had worn a degiaded crown nineteen years 
 and six months, wanting some days. 
 
 It was during this unhappy reign that the great 
 Order of the Knights Templars was abolished. 
 These knights, from a very humble beginning in 
 1118, when nine poor crusaders took upon them- 
 selves the obligation of protecting the faithful at 
 Jerusalem, had attained immense wealth and power. 
 Their association included men of the noblest birth, 
 
 1 Holinsh. 2 More.— Knyght.— Rymer.— Holinsh.
 
 720 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 Berkeley Castle. 
 
 — natives of every Christian country. Their valor 
 in battle, their wisdom in council, liad long been 
 the admiration of the world ; but, after the loss of 
 the Holy Land, they forfeited much of this consid- 
 eration, for they did not, like the Hospitallers or 
 Ivnights of St. John, secure an estabUshment in the 
 Kast,' — a real or fanciful bulwark to Christendom 
 against the Mahomedans. Their luxury and pride 
 increased, or became more obvious, in their state of 
 inactivity at home ; and in most of the countries 
 where they had houses and commanderies, an out- 
 cry was gradually raised against them. It was in 
 France that the first blow was struck at their exist- 
 ence : Philip le Bel, of whose resolute and unscru- 
 pulous character we have given several examples, 
 was involved in great pecuniary difficulties by his 
 wars with the English and his other neighbors; and 
 when he and Enguerrand de Marigni, a minister as 
 unscrupulous as himself, had exhausted all other 
 sources of revenue, they cast their eyes on the 
 houses and lands and tempting wealth of the Red- 
 cross Knights. Forthwith they proceeded to form 
 a conspiracy, — for such it really was, — and in a short 
 time the knights were accused of monstrous and 
 contradictory crimes by a host of witnesses, whose 
 depositions were either bought or forced from them 
 by threats, or imprisonment, or the actual applica- 
 tion of the rack. As soon as the French Templars 
 were aware of these accusations they applied to the 
 Pope, begging hin> to investigate the matter: this pe- 
 tition was repeated several times ; but Clement V., 
 who had been raised by French interest, and who 
 had transferred the seat of the popedom from Rome 
 
 1 The Knights of St. John, it will he remembered, got possess-ion of 
 ihe island of Rhodes, and when they lost Rhodes, in the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, of Malta and Gozo. 
 
 to Avignon, in France, was a subservient ally to 
 Philip le Bel, and had consented to leave the tri.al 
 and fate of the knights in his hands. On the 13th 
 of October, 1307, Philip took possession of the Pal- 
 ace of the Temple in his capital, and threw the grand 
 master and all the knights that were with him into 
 prison. At the same time, — at the very same hour, 
 — so nicely was the plot regulated, the Templars 
 were seized in all parts of France. Every captive 
 was loaded with chains, and otherwise treated with 
 great barbarity. An atrocious inquisition forged let- 
 ters of the grand master to criminate the order, and 
 applied the most horrible tortures to the knights: in 
 Paris alone thirty-six knights died on the rack, main- 
 taining their innocence to the last; others, with less 
 capability of enduring exquisite anguish, confessed 
 to the charges of crimes wliich were in some cases 
 impossible ; at least, at the present day few persons 
 will believe that the Templars invited the devil to 
 their secret orgies, and that he frequently attended 
 in the form of a tom-cat. But even the knights 
 whose firmness gave way on the rack, recanted their 
 confessions in their dungeons, and nothing remained 
 uncontradicted except the revelations of two mem- 
 bers of the community — men of infamous character, 
 who had both been previously condemned to per- 
 petual imprisonment bj' the grand master, and who 
 both came to a shameful end subsequently, though 
 they were now liberated and rewarded. Two years 
 of a dreadful captivity, with infernal interludes of 
 torture, and the conviction forced on their minds 
 that Philip le Bel was fully resolved to annihilate 
 their order and seize their property, and that there 
 was no hope of succor from the Pope or from any 
 other power upon earth, broke the brave spirit of the 
 Red-cross Knights. Even Jacques de Molai, the
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 721 
 
 grand master, an hei'oic old man, was made to con- 
 fess to crimes of which he never could have been 
 guilty. He afterward, however, retracted his con- 
 fession, and, in the end, perished heroically at the 
 stake. The particulars of the long histoiy would 
 fill many pages, but the whole of the proceedings 
 may be briefly characterized as a brutal mockery of 
 the forms of justice. The grand execution took 
 place on the 12th of May, 1310 — when fiftyAfour of 
 the knights who had confessed on the rack, and 
 then retracted all they had said in their dungeons, 
 were burnt alive as "relapsed heretics," in a field 
 behind the abbey of St. Antoine at Paris. In sight 
 of the flames that were to consume them, they were 
 oftered the king's pardon if they would again con- 
 fess that they were guilty ; but there was not one 
 of them who would thus purchase life, and they all 
 died singing a hymn of triumph and protesting their 
 innocence. Penal fires were lighted in other parts 
 of France, and all the surviving knights who did not 
 retract their plea of not guilty were condemned to 
 perpetual imprisonment. 
 
 After a show of dissatisfaction at Philip le Bel's 
 precipitancy, the Pope had joined in the death-cry; 
 and, in the course of the years 1308 and 1309, he 
 addressed bulls to all the sovereigns of Christen- 
 dom, commanding them to inquire into the conduct 
 of the knights. He afterward declared that seventy- 
 two members of the order had been examined by 
 his cardinals and other officers, and had all been 
 found guilty, b^d in various degrees, of iiTeligion 
 and immorality; and he threatened to excommuni- 
 cate every person that should harbor, or give coun- 
 sel and show favor to any Templar. Without 
 waiting for these papal bulls, Philip, as soon as he 
 had matured his plans, had endeavored to stimulate 
 his son-in-law, Edward of England, to similar meas- 
 ures ; but the English court and council, while they 
 engaged to investigate the charges, expressed the 
 greatest astonishment at them ; and two months 
 later Edward wrote to the kings of Portugal, Cas- 
 tile, and Arragon, imploring thein not to credit the 
 accusations which had most maliciously been heap- 
 ed upon the Red-cross Knights. He also addressed 
 the Pope in their favor, representing them as an 
 injured and calumniated body of men. Our weak 
 king, howevei', was never firm to any purpose ex- 
 cept where his favorite was concerned : he forgot 
 the old friendship which had existed between the 
 English kings and the Knights Templars ; and the 
 barons, on their side, forgot the day when Almeric, 
 the master of the English Templars, stood with 
 their ancestors on the field of Runnymead, an advo- 
 cate for the nation's liberties. The ruin of the 
 order was therefore resolved upon ; but, thank God ! 
 their suppression in England was unaccompanied by 
 atrocious cruelties. 
 
 In 1308, the second year of Edward's reign, after 
 the feast of the Epiphany, one of the royal clerks 
 was sent round with writs to all the sheriffs of 
 counties, ordering each and all of them to summon 
 a certain number of freeholders in the several coun- 
 ties — "good and lawful men,'' — to meet on an ap- 
 pointed day, to treat of matters touching the king's 
 VOL. I. — 46 
 
 peace. The sheriffs and freeholders met on the 
 day fixed, and then they were all made to swear 
 that they would execute certain sealed orders 
 which were delivered to the sheriff's by king's mes- 
 sengers. These orders, when opened, were to be 
 executed suddenly. The same conspiracy-like 
 measures were adopted in Ireland, and in both 
 countries, on the same day — nearly at the same 
 hour — all their lands, tenements, goods, and all 
 kinds of property, as well ecclesiastical as temporal, 
 were attached, and the knights themselves ar- 
 rested.' The Templars were to be kept in safe 
 custody, but not " in vile and hard prison." They 
 were confined more than eighteen months in difl'er- 
 ent towers and castles. In the month of October, 
 1309, courts were constituted by the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, at London, York, and Lincoln. Forty- 
 seven of the knights, the noblest of the order in 
 England, who were brought from the Tower before 
 the Bishop of London and the envoys of th# Pope, 
 boldly pleaded their innocence ; the evidence at 
 first produced against them amounted to less than 
 nothing; but the courts were appointed to convict, 
 not to absolve, and, in spite of all law, they sent 
 them back to their prisons to wait for timid minds 
 and fresh evidence. The witnesses, even in France, 
 where they had been well drilled, went through 
 their duties in a most awkward manner ; but in 
 England, those first summoned became altogether 
 restive ; and the majority of them, both lay and 
 clergy, candidly confessed their ignorance of the 
 secret principles and practices of the order, and 
 bore strong testimony to the general good conduct 
 and character of the knights. The Pope then cen- 
 sured the king for not making use of the torture. 
 " Thus," he wi-ote, " the knights have refused to 
 declare the truth. Oh ! my dear son, consider 
 whether this be consistent with your honor and 
 the safety of your kingdom." The Archbishop of 
 York inquired of his clergy whether torture, which 
 had hitherto been unheard of in England, might be 
 employed on the Templars : he added that there 
 Avas no machine for torture in the land, and asked 
 whether he should send abroad for one, in order 
 that the prelates might not be chargeable with neg- 
 ligence." From the putting of such questions we 
 may suppose that this archbishop was one who 
 would not hesitate at cruelty ; but it appears pi-etty 
 evident, whether his queries were negatived or not 
 by his suff'ragans, that the torture was 7wf used on 
 this occasion in England. The Templars were 
 worn down by poverty and long imprisonment, and 
 then the threat of punishing as heretics all those 
 who did not plead guilty to the charges brought 
 against them produced its efl'ect. The timid yielded 
 first ; some of the corrupt were bought over by the 
 court, and finally (more than three years after their 
 arrest) the English Templars, with the exception 
 of William de la More, their grand prior, whom no 
 threats, no sufferings could move, and two or three 
 others who shared his heroic firmness, made a vague 
 
 1 Tl>e number of Templars seized was about two hundred and fifty. 
 Of these about tliirty were arrested in Ireland. It appears that only 
 two knights were seized in Scotland. - Hcmingford.
 
 722 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 confession and most general renunciation of heresy 
 and erroneous opinions, upon which they were sent 
 into confinement in various monasteries, the king 
 allowing them a pittance for their support out of 
 their immense revenues. In tlie 17th year of Ed- 
 ward's reign it was ordained by the king and Parlia- 
 
 ment that the Hospitallers, or Knights of St. John 
 of Jerusalem, should have all the lands of the late 
 Templars, to hold them as the Templars had held 
 them.' 
 
 ' Raynouard, Hist, de la Condamnation des Templiers.— Wilkiiis, 
 Concilia. — Rymer. — Stowe. — Hemingford. 
 
 Edw.\rd III. 
 
 ^.^^^^^g^^^K». 
 
 Great Seal of Edward HI. 
 
 A.D. ] 327. When Edward was proclaimed king, 
 about eight months before his father's murder, as he 
 was but fourteen years of age, Parliament decreed 
 that a regency should be appointed, " to have the 
 rule and government ;" and to this end twelve of 
 the greatest lords of the realm, lay and ecclesiastic, 
 were named. These noblemen were, the arch- 
 bishops of Canterbury and York ; the bishops of 
 Winchester, Worcester, and Hereford; the earls of 
 Kent, Norfolk, and Surrey ; and the lords Thomas 
 Wake, Henry Percy, Oliver Ingham, and John de 
 Roos. The Earl of Lancaster was appointed guard- 
 ian and protector of the young king's person. The 
 same Parliament reversed the attainders which had 
 been passed in 1.322 against the great Earl of Lan- 
 caster and his adherents ; confiscated the immense 
 estates of the Despensers ; granted a large sum of 
 money to Isabella, the queen-mother, to pay her 
 debts; and voted her a jointure of twenty thousand 
 pounds a-year — a most liberal allowance for those 
 times, and which materially contributed to secure 
 her ascendency. Nearly the whole power of gov- 
 ernment was indeed monopolized by her and Mor- 
 timer, who now assumed the state and magnificence 
 <if a king. 
 
 Althol^gh Edward was excluded from political 
 duties, he was not considered too joung for those 
 of war. It is said that his martial spirit had already 
 declared itself; but it is probable that Mortimer at 
 least would be glad to see him thus occupied at a 
 <listance from the court, where the death of his 
 \mhappy father was already beginning to be agi- 
 
 tated. The Scots had suffered too cruelly not to 
 be anxious for revenge ; and the existing truce was 
 not sufficient to make them resist the temptation of 
 what they considered a favorable opportunity, — the 
 true King of England, as they deemed, being shut 
 up in prison, and a boy intruded on the throne. 
 Nor were there wanting plausible reasons to cover 
 a breach of the treaty : for if the truce had been 
 concluded for thirteen yeai's, and to last even in case 
 of the death of one or both kings, the Scots, on the 
 other hand, could argue that Edward II., who made 
 the treaty, was not dead ; that Edward III. was no 
 legitimate king ; and that, in making war, they at- 
 tacked a country that had no lawful government 
 which could claim the benefit of former treaties. In 
 whatever way they might reason, the Scots acted 
 with great vigor ; and all nations in their circum- 
 stances would have been equally regardless of the 
 truce. About St. Margaret's tide, February 3d, 
 they began to make inroads into England, and these 
 border forays were soon succeeded by the march 
 of regular armies. Age and declining health had 
 no effect on the valor and activity of Robert Bruce, 
 who seems to have hoped that he should be able, 
 imder circumstances, to convert the truce into an 
 honorable peace, if not to recover the northern 
 provinces of England which the Scottish kings had 
 possessed at no very remote date. He summoned 
 his vassals fi'om all parts — from the Lowlands, the 
 Highlands, and the Isles ; and twenty-five thousand 
 men assembled on the banks of the Tweed, all ani- 
 luated with the remembrance of recent wrongs and
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND xMILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 r23 
 
 Edward III. From the Tomb in Westmmster Abliey. 
 
 cruel sufferings. Of this host about four thousand 
 were well armed and well mounted ; the rest rode 
 upon mountain ponies and galloways, which could 
 subsist upon anything, and support every fatigue. 
 Froissart, who has left us a most graphic description 
 of young Edward's " first ride against the Scots,"' 
 gives some curious details respecting the nimble 
 activity and hardihood of these children of the mist 
 and the mountain. A force better suited for sudden 
 attack and rapid reti'eat could scarcely be conceived. 
 " They carry with them," says the chronicler of 
 chivalry, " no provision of bread or of wine, for 
 their usage is such in time of war, and such their 
 sobriety, that they will do for a long time with a 
 little meat half-raw, without bread, drinking the 
 water of the rivers, without wine. And they have 
 no need whatever of pots and caldrons, for they 
 cook the beasts when they have skinned them in a 
 .simpler manner ; and as they know they will find 
 beeves in lots in England they carry nothing with 
 them. Only every man carries between his saddle 
 and his pennon a flat plate of iron, and tucks up be- 
 hind him a bag of meal, in order that, when they 
 have eaten so much flesh as to feel uncomfortable, 
 they may put this plate upon the fire, and, heating 
 it, bake thereon oatmeal cakes wherewith to com- 
 fort their stomachs." " And therefore," continues 
 the chronicler, rather oddly, " it is no wonder that 
 they make so much longer marches than other peo- 
 ple." Bruce intrusted the command of this army 
 (if invasion to Randolph, Earl of Moray, and the 
 Lord James Douglas. Crossing Phe Tweed, these 
 chiefs marched through Northumberland and Dur- 
 ham, and penetrated into the richer country of 
 
 1 Sa premiere chevauchie sur les Escocois. 
 
 York, without meeting any valid resistance. The 
 mountaineers plundered and burnt all the villages 
 and open towns that lay on the road, and seized so 
 many fat beeves that they hardly knew what to do 
 with them. At the first breath of this invasion, a 
 powerful army, said to have amounted to sixty thou- 
 sand horse and foot, had gathered round the stand- 
 ard of young Edward ; but his movements were 
 retarded by a furious quarrel which broke out be 
 tween the native English archers and the foreign 
 troops of Isabella's knight-errant, John of Hainault. 
 These allies fought in the streets and suburbs of 
 York, where many lives were lost on both sides 
 The fiercest combatants among the Enghsh were 
 the bowmen of Lincolnshire, whose determined 
 animosity sorely disquieted the knights and men of 
 Hainault, who otherwise were well content with 
 their service in a land of such plentj", that the pas- 
 sage of a large army raised neither the price of 
 wine nor that of meat.' When these differences 
 were composed, Edward marched to the north, and 
 soon came in sight of the fires which the Scots had 
 lighted. Instantly the cry to arms ran through 
 the English force, and horse and foot, knights and 
 squires, with a tremendous body of archers, formed 
 in order of battle, and so marched on, "even till 
 the vesper hour," in search of the Scots. But the 
 unequal force of Bruce retired, and not a Scot was 
 to be seen anywhere, though the flames of burning 
 villages, far and then farther oft', marked the line 
 of their retreat. From Froissart's account, it ap- 
 pears that the Scots did not move directly toward 
 the Tweed, but withdrew toward the west, among 
 the mountains and moors of Westmoreland and 
 
 1 Froissart
 
 724 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 Cumberland, " savage deserts, and bad mountains 
 and valleys," as he calls them. The English, fa- 
 tigued by the pursuit, and in order to wait for their 
 supplies of provisions, which were not so portable 
 as those of the enemy, encamped for the night, and 
 so lost all chance of ever coming up with the fleet 
 Scots. After much useless labor, it was determined, 
 in a council of war, that Edward should move nortli- 
 ward in a straight line, and, crossing the Tyne, oc- 
 cupy the roads between that river and the Tweed, 
 by which, it was calculated, the enemy must return 
 to their own country. This manoeuvre was exe- 
 cuted with rapidity, the troops making at least one 
 night march; but when the P^nglish got to the north 
 of the Tyne, they found the country so entirely 
 wasted that they could procure neither forage nor 
 provisions, and, after staying there several days in 
 vain expectation of intercepting the enemy with 
 their booty, thej- recrossed the Tyne and retraced 
 their steps toward the south, in a perplexing state 
 of ignorance as to the movements of the Scots. 
 Edward ordered it to be cried through camp and 
 country that he would give a heritage worth a hun- 
 dred pounds a-year, together with the honors of 
 knighthood, to any man that would bring him cer- 
 tain information of the place where he might find 
 the enemy. The prize was won by one Thomas 
 of Rokeby, who came riding very hard to the king, 
 and brought intelligence that the Scots, who, he 
 said, were equally ignorant of the whereabout of 
 the English, were encamped on a hill not more 
 than three leagues oft". Edward confessed, ordered 
 a number of masses, and then marching, soon came 
 in sight of the enemy, who were advantageously 
 posted on the right bank of the Wear. The river 
 was rapid and dangerous to pass, and there was no 
 other way of getting at the Scots. As the latter 
 showed themselves in order of battle, the young 
 king sent a herald to challenge them to meet him 
 like soldiers, on a fair and open field, oft'ering them 
 the undisturbed passage of the river if they would 
 go over to fight him on his side. The Scots were 
 not so chivalrously inclined : the fiery Douglas, in- 
 deed, was nettled at the defiance, and would fain 
 have accepted the challenge, but he was overruled 
 by the better prudence of Moray. That night the 
 English lay on the bare ground on the left bank of 
 the river, facing the Scots, who lighted a prodigious 
 number of fires along their strong position, and, 
 from dark till dawn, kept " horning with their horns, 
 and making such a noise that it seemed as if all the 
 great devils from hell had come thither." Thus 
 passed the night, which was the night of St. Peter 
 ad Vincula, in the beginning of August, and in the 
 morning the English lords heard mass. In the 
 course of the next day, a few knights and men-at- 
 arms, who had strong horses, swam the river and 
 skirmished with the enemy ; but these were idle 
 bravadoes that cost many lives and produced no 
 eflfect. For three days and nights the English 
 lay on the river-side : it is said that the Scots 
 were suftering from want of provisions and of salt, 
 and that. Edward expected that their necessities 
 would force thcni to abandon their position ; but, 
 
 from Froissart's account, it should appear that the 
 English, less accustomed to privations, were sufter- 
 ing from severe want, and that their army was 
 dwindling away. On the morning of the fourth 
 day, when the English looked toward the hill on 
 the right bank, they saw no arm}', for the Scots 
 had secretly decamped in the middle of the night. 
 It was presently ascertained that they had only 
 moved to a short distance farther up the river, 
 where they had taken up a position still stronger 
 than the one they had left. Edward made a cor- 
 responding movement on the other bank, and en- 
 camped on another hill, immediately opposite, — the 
 river between them as before. The young king, 
 whose patience was exhausted, would have forced 
 the passage and marched to the attack of the Scot- 
 tish position, but he was restrained by Moitimer. 
 who was afterward accused of treachery for this 
 step, though it seems to have been dictated only by 
 proper military prudence. For eighteen days and 
 nights the two hosts thus lay facing each other and 
 doing nothing, but only suftering great discomfort. 
 One night, however, Douglas made a sudden on- 
 slaught, which had well-nigh proved fatal to young 
 Edward. Toward midnight, he took about two 
 hundred of his best men, and, marching silently up 
 the river, crossed it at a considerable distance above 
 the English position, and then turning with equal 
 caution, entered the English camp without being 
 discovered. Then he made a desperate rush to- 
 ward the spot where the king lay, shouting as 
 he went, " A Douglas ! you shall die, ye English 
 thieves!" and he and his companions killed more 
 than three hundred before they left oft". He came 
 before the rojal tent, still shouting, " A Douglas ! 
 a Douglas!" and he cut in twain several cords of 
 the tent ; but Edward's attendants, roused from 
 their sleep, made a gallant stand, and, his chaplain 
 and his chamberlain having sacrificed their lives for 
 his safety, he escaped in the dark. Missing the 
 king, Douglas fought his way back, and contrived 
 to return to his friends on the opposite hill with 
 but little loss. At last the Scots abandoned this 
 second position, taking the English, it is said, again 
 by surprise, and marching away unheard and un- 
 seen at the dead of night. If this account be true, 
 the English were sadly wanting in proper military 
 vigilance : but it appears more than probable that 
 they were as anxious to be rid of the Scots as the 
 Scots were to be quit of them, and that Edward's 
 officers were glad to be able to cross the Wear 
 without fighting at disadvantage for the passage. 
 At all events it was determined that, as the enemy 
 had got the start of them, it would be useless to 
 follow them an}- farther ; and soon after, fording 
 the river, Edward marched straight to York, where 
 the army was disbanded.' The Scots, after their 
 extraordinary campaign, got back to their own coun- 
 try with much booty. The young king, " right 
 pensive," returned to London, breathing nothing 
 but fresh wars and vengeance : as yet, however, 
 he had no power, and both Mortimer and his moth- 
 er, who controlled his destiny. Avere, for their own 
 
 1 Fniissart.
 
 CUAP. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 725 
 
 Ql'een Philii'pa. From the Tomb in Westminster Aljbey. 
 
 private interests, desirous of peace, and, soon after, ' 
 they opened negotiations with Robert Bruce, who, 
 on his side, laboring under his " heavy malady," 
 and seeing that his son, who was to succeed bim, 
 was still an infant, was anxious to terminate the 
 war by a definitive and honorable treaty, which he 
 fondly hoped would secure peace to his country 
 when he should be no longer alive to protect it with 
 his consummate ability. 
 
 Before this treaty was concluded, young Edward 
 was married to Philippa of Hainault, to whom his 
 mother had contracted him during her scapade on 
 the continent. This young lady, who proved an 
 excellent and loving wife, was brought over to Eng- 
 land by her uncle, John of Hainault, a little before 
 Christmas. She was received at London with great 
 pomp, — " with jousts, tournaments, dances, carols, 
 and great and beautiful repasts," — and, on the 24th 
 of January following (a. d. 1328), the marriage 
 ceremonies were completed at York. A few months 
 after, aboutthe Feast of Whitsuntide, the Parliament 
 met at Northampton, and there, " by the evil and 
 naughty counsel of the Lord Mortimer and the 
 queen-mother," as it was afterward maintained, 
 they put the last hand to the peace with Bruce, 
 concluding what the English called both an unprofit- 
 able and dishonorable treaty. The basis of this 
 treaty was the recognition of the complete indepen- 
 dence of Scotland. One of its leading articles was, 
 that a marriage should take place between Prince 
 David, the only son of Robert Bruce, and the Prin- 
 cess Joanna, a sister of King Edward. In spite of 
 the tender age of the parties (for the bride was in 
 her seventh, and the bridegroom only in his fifth 
 year), this part of the ti'eaty was carried into almost 
 
 immediate effect : the queen-mother Isabella carried 
 her daughter to Berwick, where the marriage was 
 solemnized, on the day of Mary Magdalen, the 22d 
 of July. With the princess, whom the Scots sur- 
 named " Joan Makepeace," were delivered up many 
 of the jewels, charters, and other things which had 
 been taken out of Scotland by Edward I. In return 
 for these and the other advantages of the compact, 
 Bruce agreed to pay to the King of England the sum 
 of thirty thousand marks in compensation for the 
 damages done by the Scots in their recent invasion. 
 The great Bruce, who had raised his counhy from 
 the depth of despair and servitude to this glorious 
 enfranchisement, did not long survive the peace, 
 dying at his little castle of Cardross on the 7th of 
 June in the following year. He was buried under 
 the pavement of the choir in the abbey church of 
 Dunfermline. 
 
 The position occupied by Mortimer inevitably 
 exposed him to envy, yet he continued to grasp at 
 fresh power and honors, and to show that he would 
 hesitate at no crime to preserve what he got. In 
 the month of October, Parliament met again at Salis- 
 bury, and then Mortimer was created Earl of 
 March, or Lord of the Marches of Wales. The 
 council of regency was in a manner displaced, and 
 the whole government seemed more than ever to 
 be shared between him and the queen-mother. 
 His expenses knew no bounds, and he caused an 
 immoderate quantity of provisions to be taken up in 
 the name of the queen, " at the king's price, to the 
 sore oppression of the people." This abuse of the 
 right of purveyance caused great discontents, and 
 popular odium, arising from other causes, was added 
 to the grudge of the nobles. The Earl of Lancas-
 
 726 
 
 HISTORr OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 
 -!:>, 
 
 
 Ui'NKERMLiNE Abbey, Fxfe : ilie Burial Place of liruce 
 
 ter was the first to attempt to make head against 
 this new favorite ; but, though he was guardian of 
 the young king, Edward remained with Mortimer 
 and his mother, and after a show of force at Win- 
 chester, the earl was obUged to retreat. Mortimer 
 fell upon his estates and plundered them, as if he 
 had been fighting in a foreign country. The young 
 king's uncles, the earls of Kent and Norfolk, who 
 were equally disgusted with the favorite's arbitrary 
 ascendency, joined Lancaster ; but, from some 
 cause or other, they abandoned him almost imme- 
 diately after, upon which the earl was compelled to 
 submit to ask pardon in a humiliating manner, and 
 to pay an immense fine. Blind to the fact that 
 Edward was every day approaching that age when 
 he would act for himself, Mortimer still pursued his 
 wild career of ambition. It was said at the time 
 that he entertained a design of destroying the king 
 and placing himself on the throne, but there is no 
 proof of this improbable story.' 
 
 A. D. 1330. — The Earl of Kent was now made to 
 pay an awful price for his levity in joining and then 
 deserting Lancaster. He was surrounded by the 
 artful agents of Mortimer and the queen, and led to 
 believe a story which was then widely circulated, 
 that his brother, Edward IL, in whose deposition he 
 had taken so active a part, was not dead, but living. 
 The body exhibited at Berkeley Castle, and afterward 
 buried at Gloucester (so went the legend), was not 
 that of the deposed king, who was actually shut up 
 in Corfe Castle. Some monks urged the Earl of 
 Kent to release his captive brother, and restore him 
 to the throne, assuring him that several bishops and 
 nobles, whose messengers they were, or pretended 
 to be, would aid him in this meritorious enterprise. 
 
 1 Heming. — Knyght. — Wals. — Rymcr. — Holinsh. 
 
 The eai'l even received letters from the Pope, ex- 
 horting him to pursue the same course. These 
 letters appear to have been forgeries, but they im- 
 posed upon the credulous earl, who even went the 
 length of writing to his dead brother, wliich letters 
 were delivered to Sir John Maltravers, one of the 
 suspected assassins of the late king. These strange 
 epistles were put into the hands of Isabella and 
 Mortimer, who, considering them proofs sufficient 
 of treasonable practices, immediately summoned a 
 parliament to try the traitor. The Earl of Kent 
 was inveigled to Winchester, and there a parlia- 
 ment, consisting solely of the partisans of Isabella 
 and Mortimer, met on the 11th of March. The 
 Earl of Kent, who had been seized as soon as he 
 was in their power, was produced as a prisoner; 
 and, on the 16th, he was convicted of high treason, 
 for having designed to raise a dead man to the 
 throne ; at least nothing else was proved or at- 
 tempted to be proved against him ; and thus this trial 
 is entitled to a place among the curiosities of juris- 
 prudence. The earl's accomplices were all liber- 
 ated, with the exception of one Robert de Touton, 
 and a poor London friar who had told the Earl of 
 Kent that he had raised a spirit in order to be more 
 fully assured that Edward II. was really living. 
 This monk was kept in prison till he died. On ac- 
 count of his royal birth it was not expected that the 
 sentence against the earl would be carried into exe- 
 cution ; but people had not taken the proper meas- 
 ure of Mortimer's audacity: — on the 19th, the son 
 of the great Edward was carried to the place of 
 execution outside the town of Winchester ; but 
 when he reached the spot, nobody could be found 
 that would perform the office of headsman. For 
 four hours the life of the earl was painfully pro-
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 727 
 
 longed by this popular scruple : at last a convicted 
 felon took up the axe, on condition of a free pardon, 
 and the head was struck off. His death was the 
 less lamented, " because of the insolence and rapa- 
 ciousness of his servants and retinue, who, riding 
 abroad, would take up things at their pleasure, 
 neither paying nor agreeing with the parties to 
 whom such things belonged." From which state- 
 ment it should appear, as also from complaints in 
 parliament, that all the princes of the blood, and 
 occasionally other great lords, were accustomed to 
 consider the oppressive privileges of purveyance as 
 part of their ways and means, or, in other words, to 
 plunder the defenceless portion of the people of 
 such stock and provisions as they wanted. But the 
 iniquity of the sentence was apparent, and attributed 
 by all to the malice of Mortimer and Isabella. The 
 young king, it is true, had confirmed the sentence, 
 and sent his own uncle to the block ; but Edward 
 was not considered a free or competent agent.^ 
 
 About three months after the execution of the 
 Earl of Kent, Philippa, the young queen, was de- 
 livered, at Woodstock, of her first child, — the Prince 
 Edward, afterward so celebrated under the title of 
 the Black Prince. A father, and eighteen years of 
 age, the king now thought it time to assert his 
 authority ; and, though their party was strong, the 
 nation was most willing to assist him in overthrow- 
 ing the usurpation of his mother and her daring 
 lover. The immorality of the connection had long 
 been a theme of popular outcry : some had believed, 
 or affected to believe, that scandal had exaggei'ated 
 indiscretions, but now it was generally reported and 
 credited that Isabella was with child by Mortimer. 
 
 ' Hemiiig. — Knyght. — Murira. — Holinshed. 
 
 At first, however, no person about the (!0urt was 
 bold enough to declare himself; and when Edward 
 opened his mind to the Lord Montacute, it was 
 with the most circumspect secrecy, and the first 
 steps taken in conjunction with this prudent noble- 
 man were cautious in the extreme. Probably to 
 make it be thought that his mind was still occupied 
 by the trivial pleasures with which Mortimer had 
 long contrived to amuse him, Edward held a joust 
 in Cheapside, when he, with twelve others as chal- 
 lengers, answered to all knights that appeared in 
 the lists. This " solemn joust and tourney " was 
 held in the month of September, and lasted three 
 days. The young queen presided ; and the inter- 
 est felt in her favor, already high, was heightened 
 among the people by a perilous accident. A stage 
 or platform, on which she was seated with many 
 other beautiful dames, broke down ; " but yet, as 
 good hap would, they had no hurt by that fall, to the 
 rejoicing of many that saw them in such danger.'" 
 In the month of October following, the Parliament 
 met at Nottingham : Edward with his mother and 
 Mortimer were lodged in the castle : the bishops 
 and barons who attended took up their quarters in 
 the town and the neighborhood. Mortimer never 
 moved without a strong body-guard ; and the knights 
 in his splendid retinue were known to be devoted 
 to his interests. On the morning of the 19th, Ed- 
 ward had a private conference with the Lord Mont- 
 acute, who immediately after was seen to ride 
 away into the country with many friends and at- 
 tendants. In the afternoon Mortimer appeared 
 before the council with a troubled countenance. 
 The plot was made up, but it was well nigh being 
 
 1 Holinshed. 
 
 An lENT Caves near Nottinqiiam Castlk, --supposed to communicate witli the Caslle.
 
 728 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 defeated when at the point of execution; for the 
 favorite, by some means or other, had obtained a 
 vague hint of what was going on. Tliis was a ner- 
 vous moment for the young king : 3Iortinier pro- 
 claimed to the members of the council that a base 
 attempt was making against him and the queen- 
 mother, and that Edward himself was privy to the 
 conspiracy. Edward denied the cliarge ; but the 
 favorite treated him as a har. At the dead of the 
 uisrht tho Lord Montacute and his associates re- 
 
 turned quietly to Nottingham. The strong castle 
 was not a place to be taken by assault or surprise. 
 A proper military guard was kept, and the keys of 
 the great gates were carried every evening to Isa- 
 bella, who laid them by her bedside. But the con- 
 sj)irators liad taken measures to defeat all these 
 precautions ; Montacute had won over the governor 
 of the castle, who had agreed to admit them through 
 a secret subterraneous passage, the outlet of which, 
 concealed by brambles and rubbish, opened at the 
 
 Mortimer's Hole, Nottingham C'asti-e, — llie passage through which Lord Momacute ami his iiaily entered the Castle. 
 
 foot of the castle hill. It was near the hour of mid- 
 night when Montacute and his friends crawled 
 through this dismal passage : when within the cas- 
 tle walls and at the foot of the main tower, they 
 were joined by Edward, who led them up a silent 
 staircase into a dark apartment. Here they heard 
 voices proceeding from a hall which adjoined to the 
 (|ueen-mother's chamber ; they were the voices of 
 Mortimer, the Bishop of Lincoln, and other adhe- 
 rents, who were sitting in late and anxious consul- 
 tation. The inti'uders burst open the door, killing 
 two knights who tried to defend the entrance. The 
 guilty Isabella rushed from her bed, and in tears 
 and in an agony of grief implored her "sweet son" 
 to spare "her gentle Mortimer," "that worthy 
 knight, her dearest friend, her well-beloved cousin." 
 The favorite was not slaughtered there, which, con- 
 sidering the barbarity of the times and the violent 
 excitement against him, was rather extraordinary ; 
 but he was dragged dut of the castle, and committed 
 to safe custody. On the following morning, Edward 
 issued a proclamation informing his lieges that he 
 had now taken the government into his own hands ; 
 and he summoned a new parliament to meet at 
 Westminster on the 2.5th of November.' 
 
 Before this parliament the fallen favorite was 
 arraigned : the principal charges brought against 
 
 ' Knyght — Ileming. — Wals. — Rymer 
 
 him were, his having procured the death of the late 
 king, and the judicial murder of the Earl of Kent ; 
 his having "accroached" or usurped the power 
 which lawfully belonged to the council of regency, 
 and appropriated to himself the king's moneys, — 
 especially the twenty thousand marks recently paid 
 by the King of Scots. His peers found all these 
 articles of impeachment to be " notoriously true, 
 and known to them and all the people ;" and, as his 
 proper judges in parliament, they sentenced him to 
 be drawn and hanged as an enemy of the king and 
 kingdom.' Edward, who was present in court 
 during the trial, then requested them to judge Mor-, 
 timer's confederates, but this they would not do 
 until they had protested in form that they were not 
 bound to sit in judgment on any others than men 
 who were peers of the realm like themselves. Sir 
 Simon Bereford, Sir John Maltravers, John Dev- 
 erel, and Boeges de Bayonne, were condemned to 
 death as accomplices, but three of these individuals 
 had escaped. Mortimer was accompanied to the 
 gallows only by Bereford. They were hanged, at 
 "the Elms," on the 29th of November. The 
 queen-mother was deprived of her enormous joint- 
 ure, and shut up in her castle or manor-house at 
 Risings, where she passed the remaining twenty- 
 seven j-earsof her life in obscurity. Edward, how- 
 
 1 Rot. Pari.— Knyghton.
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 729 
 
 ever, paid her a respectful visit at least once a year, ' 
 and allowed her three thousand, and afterward four 
 thousand pounds, for her annual expenses. In this 
 same Parliament a price was set upon the heads of 
 Gourney and Ogle, the reputed murderers of the 
 late king. Gourney was arrested in Spain, and de- 
 livered over to an English officer, who, obeying 
 secret instructions, cut off his head at sea, without 
 bringing him to England for trial. From this and ' 
 other circumstances it has been imagined that there 
 were persons who still retained their influence at 
 court, to whom silence upon all that regai'ded this 
 hoiTid subject was particularly convenient. What 
 became of Ogle does not appear ; but it is probable 
 that he died abroad before the murder of Gourney. 
 Sir John Maltravei"s was taken and executed, but 
 on a different charge, namely, for having aided Mor- 
 timer in misleading the Earl of Kent by false reports 
 of the late king's life. The Lord Berkeley, in 
 whose castle the deed had been done, demanded a 
 trial, and was fully acquitted by a jury ; nor does 
 there appear to be any good reason for questioning 
 the propriety of this verdict. 
 
 Edward was now his own master, and accounta- 
 ble for the good and evil of his government. His 
 first transactions are not very honorable to his char- 
 acter; but it might be said in justification of an! 
 older head and a better heart than his (and his was ] 
 not a bad heart), that he was carried away by the 
 general feeling of the nation, whose pride was hurt 
 by the last treaty with the Scots, and who eagerly , 
 longed for a fresh war. On the borders, indeed, 
 this war had scarcely ceased, having been prolonged 
 in an irregular manner by the vindictive spirit of 
 the people on both sides. We have noticed the 
 death of the great Bruce, which happened in 1330 : 
 in the following year his brave companion in arms, 
 the Lord James Douglas, was killed by the Moors 
 in Spain as he was carrying his master's heart to 
 the Holy Land; and in the month of July, 1332, 
 Randolph, Earl of Moray, who had been appointed 
 regent of the kingdom of Scotland and guardian of 
 Prince David, died suddenly. The Earl of Moray 
 was succeeded in the regency by Donald, Earl of 
 Marr, a man inferior to him in prudence and ability. 
 An article in the last treaty of peace had stipulated 
 that a few English noblemen should be restored to 
 estates they held in Scotland. This article was 
 faithfully observed with regard to Henry de Percy ; 
 but, for various reasons, it was disregarded with 
 respect to the lords Wake and Henry de Beaumont, 
 and these two noblemen resolved to obtain redress 
 by changing the dynasty of Scotland. Setting up 
 the rights of Edward Baliol, the sou and heir of the 
 miserable John of that name, whom Edward I. had 
 crowned and uncrowned, they went into the coun- 
 ties near the borders, where they were presently 
 joined by other English lords who had claims simi- 
 lar to their own, though they had not had the ad- 
 dress to get theu" estates in Scotland tacked to a 
 treaty. In those northern districts the elements of 
 war and havoc were rife and ready ; and when 
 Edward Baliol came over from Normandy, and 
 raised his standard there, a few disaffected Scots 
 
 came over the borders to join him. Edward felt, 
 or pretended to feel, many scruples — for the infant 
 Queen of Scotland was his own sister, and he had also 
 sworn to observe the treaty. Proclamations were 
 issued prohibiting the gathering of any army of inva- 
 sion on the borders ; but this did not prevent, nor 
 was it intended to prevent Baliol and the lords Wake 
 and Henry de Beaumont, with their associates, from 
 getting ready a small fleet and army on the shores of 
 the Humber. In the beginning of August this expe- 
 dition sailed from Ravenspur : entering the Frith of 
 Forth, the army landed at Kinghorn, on the coast of 
 Fife, on the 6th, and five days after won one of the 
 most astonishing victories recorded in history. Ed- 
 ward Baliol — we use his name because he was first 
 in dignity, though it is evident the campaign was 
 directed by some bolder and abler mind than his — on 
 finding himself suddenly in presence (or nearly so) 
 of two Scottish armies — the one commanded by 
 the regent Marr, the other by the Earl of March — 
 boldly threw himself between them, and encamped 
 at Fortpviot, with the river Earn running between 
 him and the forces of the regent. At the dead of 
 night he crossed the Earn by a ford, and fell upon 
 the sleeping Scots, who were slaughtered in heaps 
 before they could get ready their arms or ascertain 
 the force of the assailants. As day dawned, the 
 regent blushed to see the insignificant band that had 
 done all this mischief: he was still in a condition to 
 take vengeance, but in his blind fury, he engaged in 
 a wretched pass whei'e his men could not form ; 
 and his own life, with the lives of many of the 
 Scottish barons, and of nearly all the men-at-arms, 
 paid forfeit for his military blunder. Thirteen 
 thousand Scots, in all, are said to have fallen, while 
 Baliol, who had not three thousand when he began 
 the battle, lost but a few men. From Duplin 
 Moor, where this victory was gained, Edward Baliol 
 ran to Perth, being closely pursued the whole way 
 by the Earl of March, at the head of the other 
 strong division of the Scots. He had just time to 
 get within that city, and throw up some barricades. 
 March besieged him there ; but there were both 
 scarcity and treachery in the Scottish camp ; their 
 fleet was destroyed by the English squadron which 
 Baliol had ordered round to the mouth of the Tay ; 
 the ancient followers of his family, with all those 
 who had forfeited their estates for their treasons 
 under Bruce, with all who were in any way disaf- 
 fected, or who hoped to benefit largely by a revolu- 
 tion, flocked to the standard of the Pretender, who 
 was crowned King of Scotland, at Scone, on the 
 24th of September. Edward Baliol had thus gained 
 a crown in some seven or eight weeks, but he lost 
 it in less than three months. Having secretly re- 
 newed to the English king all the forms of feudal 
 submission imposed on his father by Edward I., and 
 having stupefied his opponents in Scotland by the 
 rapidity of his success, he retired with an inconsid- 
 erable force to Annan, in Dumfi-iesshire, where he 
 intended to pass his Christmas. On the night of 
 the 16th of December he was surprised there by a 
 body of horse commanded by the young Earl of 
 Moray, Sir Archibald Douglas, and Sir Simon
 
 iO 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 Frazer. He got to horse, but had no time to sad- 
 dle, aud, nearly naked himself, he galloped away on 
 a bare back, leaving his brother Henry dead behind 
 him. He succeeded in crossing the borders into 
 England, where Edward received him as a friend. 
 There was probably not a man in Scotland but 
 knew that the English king had secretly counte- 
 nanced the whole expedition : the greatest exas- 
 peration prevailed, and, with or without orders, the 
 people near the Tweed and the Soiwaj- Frith made 
 incursions into England, carrying fire and slaughter 
 with them. Edward had applied to his Parliament, 
 assembled at York, to legalize, or at least to justify 
 in the eyes of the English, his ambitious projects on 
 Scotland ; but the prelates, barons, and commons 
 were much divided in opinion, and gave no direct 
 answer. The inroads of the Scots, however, gave 
 Edward a colorable pretext for declaring that they 
 had infringed the treaty of peace, and he prepared 
 for war — the Parliament then engaging to assist him 
 to the utmost.' 
 
 In the month of May, 1333, Berwick was invested 
 by a powerful English army; and on the 16th of 
 July, Sir AVilliam Keith, the governor of that im- 
 portant town, was obliged to treat, and to promise 
 that he would surrender on the 20th at sunrise, if 
 not previously relieved by Lord Archibald Douglas, 
 who now acted as regent of Scotland. Ou Monday, 
 the 19th, after a fatiguing march, Douglas came in 
 sight of Berwick, and found Edward's main army 
 drawn up on Halidon Hill, about a mile to the 
 northwest of the town. This elevation was in part 
 surrounded by bogs and marshes ; yet, in spite of 
 all these advantages, the Scots, whose heads were 
 heated, resolved to attack them. As they moved 
 slowly through the bogs they were sorelj- galled by 
 the English bowmen ; when the)' got firm footing 
 they rushed up the hill with more rapidity than 
 order: their onslaught, however, was tremendous, 
 and for a moment seemed to be successful; but the 
 English, who were fresh, and admirably posted, re- 
 pelled the attack : the regent Douglas was killed 
 in the melee ; many lords and chiefs of clans fell 
 around him ; and then the Scots fell into confusion, 
 and fled on everj- side. Edward spurred after them 
 with his English cavalry — the Loi-d Darcy followed 
 up with a horde of Irish kerns who were emploj'ed 
 as auxiliaries. Between the battle and the flight 
 the loss was prodigious : never, saj' the old writers, 
 had Scotland sustained such a defeat or witnessed 
 such slaughter. The young king, David Bruce, 
 with his wife, Edward's innocent sister, was con- 
 veyed into France, and Edward Baliol was again 
 seated on a dishonored throne. The price which 
 Edward exacted for this service was immense, and 
 the readiness with which Baliol paid it incensed the 
 nation against him, and even estranged many of his 
 former partisans. He openly professed homage and 
 feudal service in its full extent to the King of Eng- 
 land ; and he not only made over the town of Ber- 
 wick, which surrendered the day after the battle of 
 Halidon Hill, but ceded in perpetuity the whole of 
 Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Peeble- 
 
 ' Fordun. — Knyght. — Ileming^.— Rymer. 
 
 shire, and Dumfriesshire, together with the Lothians 
 — in short, the best part of Scotland. Edward left 
 his mean vassal an armj' of Irish and English to 
 defend him in his dismembered kingdom ; but soon 
 after his departure the indignant Scots drove Baliol 
 once more across the borders, and sent to request 
 assistance from the King of France, who hospitably 
 entertained their young king and queen in the 
 Chftteau Gaillard. Edward, on his side, reinforced 
 Baliol, who returned to the south of Scotland, and 
 maintained himself there among English garrisons, 
 though he could make no impression north of 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 In 1335, Edward having still further reinforced 
 his vassal, marched with a powerful army along the 
 western coast of Scotland, while Baliol advanced 
 from Berwick by the eastern. In the month of 
 August these two armies formed a junction at 
 Perth, and, as they had met with little opposition, 
 it was thought that the spirit of the Scots was sub- 
 dued; but no sooner had Edward turned his back 
 than the patriots fell upon Baliol from all quarters, 
 and harassed his forces with continual skirmishes 
 and surprises. In the following summer Edward 
 was again obbged to repair to the assistance of his 
 creature, and having scoured the countiy as far 
 north as Inverness, and burnt several towns, he 
 flattered himself that he had at last subdued all 
 opposition. During this campaign, which was mark- 
 ed with more than usual cruelty and waste, the 
 Scottish patriots, who had not been able to procure 
 any aid from France, kept themselves in inaccessi- 
 ble mountains and wilds, but, again, as soon as the 
 English king had crossed the borders, they fell upon 
 Baliol. This obliged Edward to make a second 
 campaign that same year : he marched to Perth in 
 the month of November, and, after desolating other 
 parts of the country, he returned to England about 
 Christmas, once more buoyed up by the confident 
 hope that he had mastered the Scots. As long as 
 he was thus supported, Baliol contrived to maintain 
 a semblance of authority in the Lowlands ; but the 
 nation regarded him with that hatred and contempt 
 wliich will ever be, or ever ought to be, the recom- 
 pense of an intrusive king imposed on a free people 
 by foreign arms. 
 
 Affairs were in this uncertain state in Scotland 
 when Edward's attention was withdrawn, and his 
 mind filled by a wilder dream of ambition — the plan 
 of attaching the whole French kingdom to his domin- 
 ions. The idea was not altogether new — it had been 
 suggested several years before ; but Edward's youth, 
 and other circumstances, had then prevented the 
 pressing of his absurd claims by force of arms. It 
 would occupy a volume to discuss at length the 
 grounds of this dispute, and many volumes have 
 been written upon the subject ; the main facts of 
 the case may be stated in short compass. Charles 
 IV., the last of the three brothers of Isabella, the 
 queen-mother of England, died in 1328, in the sec- 
 ond year of Edward's reign : he had no children, but 
 left his wife enceint. A regency Avas appointed, 
 and the crown was kept in abeyance ; if Joan should 
 be delivered of a son, then that infant was to be
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY^ TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 731 
 
 king ; but in due time she gave birth to a daughter, 
 and, by an ancient interpretation of a portion ot the 
 SaUc law, and by the usages and precedents of many 
 ages, it was held that no female could reign in France. 
 The daughter of the last king was set aside without 
 debate or hesitation ; and Philip of Valois, cousin- 
 german to the deceased king, ascended the throne, 
 taking the title of Philip VI. Edward's mother, 
 Isabella, with the state lawyers of England and some 
 foreign jurists in English pay, pretended from the 
 first that Edward had a preferable right ; but it was 
 deemed unsafe to press it at the time: and when 
 Philip of Valois demanded that the King of England 
 should, in his quality of Duke of Aquitaiue, go over 
 to France and do homage to him, threatening to 
 dispossess him of his continental dominions if he 
 refused, the young King of England was obliged to 
 comply, though he rendered the homage in vague 
 terms, and, according to one account, entered his 
 protest against the measure, not before Philip or , 
 his ambassadors, but before his own council in Eng- 
 land, the majority of whom, it is said, advised this 
 base but childish subterfuge. Putting aside the in- 
 capacity of females, Edward certainly was nearer 
 in the line of succession ; he was grandson of Philip 
 IV. by his daughter Isabella, whereas Philip of 
 Valois was grandson to the father of that monarch, 
 Philip III., by his younger son Charles of Valois. 
 But Philip traced through males, and Edward only 
 through his mother. The latter, however, main- i 
 tained that, although by the fundamental laws of 
 France his mother, as a female, was herself ex- 
 cluded, he, as her son, was not ; but Philip and all ; 
 France insisted, on the contrary, that a mother could 
 not transmit to her children any right which she ! 
 never possessed herself. The principle assumed by 
 Edward was a startling novelty — it had never been 
 heard of in France : but, even if he had been able 
 to prove it, he would have proved a great deal too 
 much, and would have excluded himself as well as _ 
 Philip of Valois ; for by that very principle the suc- 
 cession rested with the son of Joan, Queen of j 
 Navarre, who was the daughter of Louis X., the 
 eldest brother of Isabella, as also of Philip V. and 
 Charles IV., who had, in default of issue male, suc- 
 ceeded the one after the other ; and if this son of 
 the Queen of Navarre had been born a little earlier 
 than he was, then, by this same principle, Charles 
 IV., the last king, must have been an usurper ;"■ and i 
 the same king, from the moment that the boy really 
 was born, must have occupied an unsteady throne. 
 Such a principle was contrary to the maxims of ' 
 every country in Europe, and repugnant alike to the , 
 practice in public and in private inheritances ; the 
 latter of which had been pretty clearly defined. 
 The French, moreover, who ought to have been 
 the only judges in this case, maintained it to be a 
 fundamental law, that no foreigner could reign in 
 France, and contended that one of the principal | 
 objects of the so-called Salic law was to exclude the 
 
 1 Joan was married in 1318, during the reign «( her first uncle, 
 Philip V. ; she was then only six years old, and certainly had not borne 
 a son four years after (1322), when lier second uncle, Charles IV., 
 ascended the throne. I 
 
 husbands and children of the princesses of France, 
 who generally married foreigners. It is very true 
 that, when it suited their own interests, the French 
 kings insisted on a dift'erent law of succession in 
 some of the gi-eat fiefs of the crown ; but here they 
 tried to cover themselves with local laws or usages 
 particular to the province or territory, and when 
 they could not do this, — as happened more than 
 once, — the injustice of their procedure formed but 
 a bad precedent for others. It was in every sense 
 with a peculiarly bad grace that the English set 
 themselves up as authorities in the laws of royal 
 succession : by no people had such laws been more 
 thoroughly disregarded at home : from the time oi 
 William the Norman, who was an usurper by con- 
 quest, four out of ten of their kings had been usurp- 
 ers, or were only to be relieved from that imputation 
 by the admission of the principle that the estates of 
 the kingdom had the right of electing the king from 
 among the members of the royal family. The pres- 
 ent question would have been at once decided by 
 leaving this same right of election to the French, 
 who were unanimous in their support of Philip of 
 Valois. The peers of the kingdom had voted that 
 the crown belonged to him ; the Assembly of Paris 
 had decreed the same thing ; and the States Gen- 
 eral afterward confirmed their judgment : and not 
 only the whole nation, but all Europe, had recognized 
 Phihp. Edward himself, in 1331, had repeated his 
 homage to him in a more satisfactory way than on 
 the former occasion ; and it was not till 1336 that he 
 openly declared that the peers of France and the 
 States General had acted rather like villains and rob- 
 bers than upright judges ; and that he would no 
 longer submit to their decision, or recognize the 
 French king, who had now reigned in peace more 
 than seven years.' But the plain truth was, that 
 Edward had not been able to shape his intrigues 
 and make his preparations earlier; and now several 
 concurring circumstances hurried him on. Philip 
 had not only given an asylum to David Bruce, but 
 was actually beginning to aid the Scottish patriots 
 with ships, arms, and money. Edward, on his side, 
 had given shelter to Robert of Artois, who was de- 
 scended from the blood royal of France, who had 
 inarried King Philip's sister, and who was supposed 
 to have a strong party in France. On account of a 
 disputed succession to the great fief of Artois, this 
 Robert had been involved in a quarrel, that entailed 
 disgrace on both parties, with his brother-in-law of 
 France, who eventually had driven him into exile 
 and hanged some of his adherents. Robert was a 
 man of violent passions ; his rage against the French 
 king was boundless ; and it is said that, before raising 
 him up a formidable rival in the person of Edward 
 of England, he had attempted his life by spells and 
 witchcraft, and by the surer agency of the assassin's 
 dagger. He was also gifted with great eloquence 
 
 I Rymer.— Froissart.— Villaret. Hist. Fr.— Gaillanl, Hist, dc la Ri- 
 valit6 de la France et de I'Angleterre.— Edward repeatedly offered 
 to give up his claims if Philip would abandon the cause of the King 
 of Scots, and restore some places he had seized in Gascony. See 
 Rymer.— Philip thought the claims too ridi<ulous to be worth any 
 sacrifice of honor, and he was not captivated by Edward's proposal of 
 intermarrying their children.
 
 732 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 or powers of persuasion ; he was skilful aliiie in the 
 cabinet and the field, few princes enjoying a higher 
 militai-y reputation. PhiUp, who foresaw the con- 
 sequences of his stay in England, threatened to fall 
 upon Guienne, where, in fact, he had seized several 
 castles, if Edward did not immediately dismiss him. 
 There was not a sovereign in Europe so little likely 
 to bear this insulting threat as the powerful English 
 king, who sent over a commission, bearing date the 
 7th October, 1337, to the Earl of Brabant and oth- 
 ers, to demand for him the ci"own of France as his 
 indisputable right. The nation went along with the 
 king ; the coining war with France was most pop- 
 ular with all men ; and having obtained subsidies, 
 tallages, and forced loans, — having seized the tin in 
 Cornwall and Devonshire, and the wool of the year 
 all over the kingdom, — having even pawned the 
 jewels of the crown, and adopted almost every pos- 
 sible means of raising money to subsidize his allies 
 on the continent, Edward sailed from Orewell, in 
 Suffolk, with a respectable fleet, and a fine but not 
 large army, on the loth of July, 1338. Four days 
 after he landed at Antwerp, where he had secured 
 himself a friendly reception. The Earl of Flanders 
 was bound to his rival Philij) ; but this prince had 
 scarcely a shadow of authority in the country, where 
 the democratic party had triumphed over the nobles, 
 and the inhabitants of the great trading cities had 
 placed themselves under the government of James 
 Von Artaveldt, a brewer of Ghent, who was in fact 
 in possession of a more than sovereign authority in 
 that rich and populous country, — an authority which 
 he exercised rigorously enough, but on the whole 
 with great wisdom. •' To speak fairly," says Frois- 
 sart, whose sympathies were enlisted on the other 
 side, and who was all for knights and chivalry, " there 
 never was in Flanders, nor in any other country, 
 prince, duke, nor other, that ruled a country so 
 peaceably as D'Artaveldt." Under this rule, indus- 
 try, trade, and prosperity had wonderfully increased. 
 The King of France was hated by the Flemings, as 
 the declared enemy of this state of things, and the 
 avowed protector of the expelled or humbled nobles; 
 and when Edward, doing violence probably to his 
 own feelings, did not hesitate to court their plebeian 
 alliance, they forgot some old grudges against the 
 English, and engaged to assist heart and hand in 
 their wars. Edward's other allies were, the Em- 
 peror of Germany, the dukes of Brabant and Guel- 
 dres, the Archbishop of Cologne, the Marquis of 
 Juliers, the counts of Hainault and Namur, the lords 
 of Fauquemont and Bacquen, and some others, who, 
 for certain subsidies, engaged to assist him with 
 their forces. The English kmg, like his grandfather, 
 Edward I., soon found how little reliance is to be 
 placed on such coalitions. At the same time Philip 
 of France allied himself with the kings of Navarre 
 and Bohemia, the dukes of Brittany, Austria, and 
 Lorraine, the Palatine of the Rhine, and with sev- 
 eral of the inferior princes of Germany. For the 
 present, however, the operations in the field did not 
 correspond with the magnitude of these prepara- 
 tions. The whole of this year, 1338, was passed in 
 inactivity ; and after granting trading privileges to 
 
 the Flemings and Brabanters, and spending hrs 
 money among the Germans, all that Edward could 
 procure from them was a promise to meet him next 
 year in the month of July. But it was the middle 
 of Septembei-, 1339, ere the English king could take 
 the field, and then only fifteen thousand men-at-arms 
 followed him to the siege of Cambray. On the fron- 
 tiers of France the counts of Nanmr and Hainault 
 abandoned him. Edward thanked them for their 
 past sen'ices, and then advanced to Pcronne and 
 St. Quentin, burning all the villages and open towns. 
 Here the rest of his allies halted, and refused to go 
 farther. Edward then turned toward the Ardennes, 
 and, as Philip avoided a battle, he fonnd himself 
 obliged to retire to Ghent, having spent all his money 
 and contracted an enormous debt, without doing 
 anything except inflicting ruin on some unoft"endiug 
 citizens and miserable French peasants. The Pope, 
 Benedict XII., made an attempt to restore peace; 
 but Edward, unaffected by his failure, turned a deaf 
 ear to his remonstrances, and immediately after- 
 ward, by the advice, it is said, of Von Artaveldt, 
 publicly assumed the title of King of France, and 
 quartei'ed the French lilies in liis arms.' About 
 the middle of February, 1340, he returned to Eng- 
 land to obtain fresh resources, and the Parliament, 
 still sharing in his madness, voted him immense 
 supplies. Before he could return to Flanders he 
 was informed that Philip had collected a tremen- 
 dous fleet, in the harbor of Sluys, to intercept him. 
 His council advised him to stay till more ships could 
 be collected ; but he would not be detained, and set 
 sail, with such an English fleet as was ready, on the 
 22d of June. On the following evening he came in 
 sight of the enemy, who, on the morning of the 
 24th, drew out to the mouth of the harbor of Sluys. 
 As Edward saw this movement, he exclaimed, " Ha! 
 I have long desired to fight with the Frenchmen, 
 and now I shall fight with some of them by the grace 
 of God and St. George."^ The battle soon joined; 
 stones were cast and arrows discharged from the 
 decks ; and then fastening their ships together with 
 grappling-irons and chains, the enemies fouglit hand- 
 to-hand with swords, and pikes, and battle-axes. 
 The English gained a complete victoiy ; nearly the 
 whole of the French fleet was taken, and from ten 
 to fifteen thousand of their mariners were killed or 
 drowned. So dreadful was this disaster in the eyes 
 of all of them, that none of Philip's ministers or 
 courtiers dared to break the news to him. This 
 task was left to his buffoon. " The English are but 
 cowards," said the fool. "How so?" inquired the 
 king. "Because they had not the courage to leap 
 into the sea like the French and Normans at Sluys," 
 replied the fool.^ 
 
 After this frightful loss of human life (and, beside 
 the French, four thousand English had perished), 
 Edward went to church to say his prayers and 
 return thanks ; and in the letter which he wrote to 
 the bishoi)s and clergy of England, he told them 
 
 1 Until he assumed the title of lawful Kin^ of France, many, even 
 among the turbulent Flemings, had scruples ; they cared nothing for 
 Philip or his authority, but as vassals (nominal at least) they re- 
 spected the name of King of France. 
 
 - Froissart ^ Wals.— Froissart.— Avesb.— Knyght.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 733 
 
 how, by heavenly grace and mercy, he had won so 
 great a victory. This splendid success, and, still 
 more, the great sums of money he carried with 
 him, brought his allies trooping round his standard. 
 Two hundred thousand men, in all, are said to 
 have followed him to the French frontier; but 
 again the mass of this incongruous host broke up 
 without doing anything, and, after challenging the 
 French king to single combat, and spending all his 
 money, Edward was obliged to agree to an armis- 
 tice. The Pope agaiu laudably interfered, and en- 
 deavored to convert the truce into a lasting peace ; 
 but Philip would not treat with his rival, so long as 
 he bore the lilies in his arms and took the title of 
 King of France. Edwai'd could not chastise his 
 lukewarm allies, but he resolved to vent his spite 
 on his ministers at home, who, he pretended, had 
 not done their duty. One night, in the end of No- 
 vember, he appeared suddenly at the Tower of 
 London, where no one expected him, and where 
 there were very evident signs of a culpable negli- 
 gence. The next morning he threw three of the 
 judges into prison, displaced the chancellor, the 
 treasurer, and the master of tlie rolls, and ordered 
 the arrest of several of the officers who had been 
 employed in collecting the revenue. Stratford, the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, who was president of 
 the council of ministers, fled to Canterbury, and 
 when summoned to appear, appealed for himself and 
 his colleagues to the protection of Magna Charta, 
 and issued the old excommunication against all such 
 as should violate its provisions and the liberties of 
 the subject by arbitrary arrests or the like. He 
 Mould be tried, he said, by his peers, and would 
 plead or make answer to no other persons or per- 
 son whatsoever. The king then ordered a procla- 
 mation to be read in all the churches, accusing the 
 aixhbishop of having appropriated, or irregularly 
 applied to other purposes, the supplies voted by 
 Parliament for the king's use. The archbishop 
 replied by a circular letter, exonerating himself, 
 and stating that the taxes raised were mortgaged 
 for the p'ayments of debts coioiracted by the king in 
 the preceding year. Edward rejoined, but as he 
 fell into a violent passion in his letter, it has been 
 fairly concluded that he had the worst of the argu- 
 ment ; and in the end of this long quarrel, he was 
 fairly beaten on constitutional grounds by the arch- 
 bishop.' The king was now gi'eatly distressed for 
 money, and acting on that wise system, from the 
 observance of which it has happened that the liber- 
 ties of England have been purchased rather by the 
 money than by the blood of the subject. Parliament 
 refused to pass the grants he wanted, unless he 
 gave them an equivalent in the shape of a reform 
 of past abuses and a guarantee against future ones. 
 In the coui-se of the year 1341, the French king 
 allowed David of Scotland, who had now attained 
 his eighteenth year, to i-eturn to his own dominions. 
 David, with his wife, landed at Inverbervie, on the 
 4th of May, and was received with enthusiastic joy. 
 Long before his coming the patriots had triumphed ; 
 they had taken castle after castle, and, in 1338, had 
 
 ' Rymer.— Ro' Pari. — Ileming. 
 
 again driven Baliol mto England. They now ena- 
 bled the young king to form a respectable govern- 
 ment. The alliance with France was continued, and 
 within a year after his return, the Bruce made sev- 
 eral successful inroads into the northern counties of 
 England. Edward was so absorbed by his conti- 
 nental schemes that he delayed his vengeance, and 
 was even glad to conclude a truce with the restored 
 King of the Scots. This truce was prolonged till 
 the end of the year 1344. Baliol, who had been 
 driven three times from a throne, was provided foi- 
 in the north of England, where for some years he 
 did the duty of keeping watch and ward against the 
 Scottish borderers. 
 
 As long as Edward fought with foreign mercena- 
 ries and fi-om the side of Flanders, he was unsuc- 
 cessful ; but now he was about to try the effect of 
 the arms of his native English, and circumstances 
 soon opened him a new road into France, and ena- 
 bled him to change the seat of the war from the 
 Flemish frontier to Normandy, Brittany, and Poic- 
 tou, the real scenes of his military glory. It was 
 another disputed succession that occasioned the re- 
 newal of the war. John III., Duke of Brittany, 
 died in 1341, and left no children, though he had 
 had three wives. Of his two brothers, Guy and 
 John de Montfort, Guy, the elder, had died some 
 time before him, leaving only a daughter, Jane, 
 surnamed La Boiteuse (or The Lame), who was 
 married to Charles de Blois, nephew of the French 
 king. A dispute then arose between the uncle and 
 the niece, each claiming the duchy by the laws of 
 inheritance. The uncle, John de Montfort, was by. 
 far the more active and the more popular of these 
 two competitors : as soon as his brother was dead, 
 he rode to Nantes, and caused his claim to be rec- 
 ognized by the majority of the bishops and nobles ; 
 he got possession of the treasures of the late duke, 
 besieged and took Brest, Vannes, and the other 
 chief fortresses, and then crossed over to England, 
 privately, to solicit the cooperation of Edward, being 
 well assvired that, with or without reference to the 
 old laws of Brittany, Philip would protect his nephew. 
 Charles de Blois, in effect, went to Paris with his 
 wife, and having no party in Brittany, threw him- 
 self upon the protection of Philip, who received him 
 in a manner that left no doubt as to his decision. 
 John de Montfort soon returned from England, and 
 when summoned to attend a court of peers and 
 other magnates (all of them French) which Philip 
 had convoked to try this gi'eat cause, he went boldly 
 to Paris, accompanied by four hundred gentlemen 
 of Brittany. Montfort's pleadings, which have been 
 preserved, are remarkable specimens of the taste, 
 the law, and the spirit of the times. The divine 
 law, the natural law, the Roman law, and the feudal 
 law, the canons of the church, and the ancient cus- 
 toms of Brittany were all put in requisition. Hf 
 maintained, or his lawyers maintained for him, that 
 the Salic law, excluding females, which obtained in 
 France, must now be the law of Brittany, which 
 was a fief of France — that he was nearer in blood 
 to the late duke, his brother, than Jane, who was 
 only the daughter of another brother; but whiit
 
 734 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 waa evidently considered the strongest ground of 
 all was, the incapacity of females, and on this par- 
 ticular point heathen philosophers, Moses, and the 
 Christian apostles were cited in most admired con- 
 fusion. "We have," said he, "the example of the 
 Blessed Virgin Mary, who never succeeded her son 
 either in temporal or spiritual government ; and it 
 ought to appear that women cannot succeed to peer- 
 ages, for the peers are counselors of the king, and 
 ai'e bound at his coronation to put their hands to the 
 sword ; and what in sooth would become of us if all 
 the peers of France were females?" To all this 
 Charles de Blois replied, that Jane, his wife, had all 
 the rights of her father, — that she was the last 
 shoot of the elder branch, — that females had repeat- 
 edly inherited the duchy, — and that her sex did not 
 exclude her from holding a French peerage, seeing 
 that the Countess of Artois had shortly before been 
 preferred to her nephew Robert, who had disputed 
 the succession with her.' But this was a question 
 where interests had more weight than arguments. 
 Philip demanded of De Montfort the immediate 
 surrender of the treasures of tlie late duke. This 
 demand convinced John that the judgment of the 
 French court would be against him ; — he saw, or 
 suspected, preparations for arresting him, and leav- 
 ing his parchments and most of his friends behind 
 him, he fled from Pai'is in disguise. A few days 
 after his flight, sentence was pronounced in favor of 
 his opponent. As Voltaire has remarked, the two 
 parties here might be said to have changed sides : 
 the King of England, who claimed the French 
 crown through a female, ought to have sustained 
 Jane and the rights of women ; and the King of 
 France, who was so deeply interested in the sup- 
 port of the Salic law, ought to have sided with De 
 Montfort.* But law or right of any kind had little 
 to do with these decisions, and neither Edward nor 
 Philip was likely to be much embarrassed by a legal 
 inconsistency. 
 
 After his escape from Paris, De Montfort repaired 
 to London, and there did homage for his duchy to 
 Edward as lawful King of France. At the same 
 time Charles de Blois did homage to Philip, who 
 furnished him with an army of six thousand men. 
 Edward's assistance was not so prompt; but De 
 Montfort, relying on the aff'ection of the people of 
 Brittany, returned to make head against the French 
 invaders. Soon after, he was taken prisoner by 
 treachery, and sent to Philip, who committed him 
 to close confinement in the tower of the Louvre. 
 Charles de Blois then got possession of Nantes and 
 other towns, and thought that the contest was over ; 
 but De Montfort's wife was still in Brittany, and the 
 fair countess had " the courage of a man and the 
 heart of a lion."' With her infant son in her arms, 
 she presented herself to the people, and implored 
 
 • Daru, Hist, de la Bretagne. The original manuscripts quoted are 
 preserved in the Archives of Nantes, and in the Bibliotheque du Roi 
 at Paris. 
 
 2 Essai snr les Mceurs. Philip, however, was so far nght that, by 
 the old usages of Brittany, women had succeeded ; but then the other 
 party could assert and prove that this had only been the case in default 
 of males, or when there was no near male bliod relation of the reigning 
 family. ^ Froissart 
 
 their assistance for the only male issue of their an- 
 cient line of princes. Such an appeal from a young 
 and beautiful woman made a deep impression, and 
 by eloquent discourse, by promising, and giving, she 
 reanimated the courage of her party. As if ex- 
 pressly to refute the argumentations of her husband, 
 she put her hand to the sword, put a steel casque 
 on her head, and rode from castle to castle, — from 
 town to town, — raising troops and commanding them 
 like a hardy knight. She sent over to England to 
 hasten the succor which Edward had promised her 
 husband ; and to be at hand to receive these auxil- 
 iaries, she threw herself into Hennebon, one of the 
 strongest castles of Brittany, situated on the coast 
 at the point where the small river Blavet throws 
 itself into the sea, leaving what was then a conve- 
 nient port at its mouth. Long before the English 
 ships arrived at this port, she was besieged by the 
 French under Charles de Blois. Within the walls 
 she had the worst of enemies in a cowardly old 
 priest, tlie Bishop of Leon,' who was incessantly 
 expatiating to the inhabitants on the horrors of a 
 town taken by assault, and showing them how pru- 
 dent it would be to capitulate ; but the young count- 
 ess constantly visited all the posts, showed herself 
 upon the ramparts, where the arrows of the enemy 
 fell thickest, and repeatedly headed sorties against 
 the besiegers. They could not be men who were 
 not animated by this spectacle; — the women of the 
 place caught the spirit of their chieftainess, and, 
 without distinction of rank, dames, demoiselles, and 
 others, took up the pavement of the streets and car- 
 ried the stones to the walls, or prepared pots full 
 of quicklime to throw over the battlements on the 
 assailants. One day, during an assault which had 
 lasted nearly ten hours, the fair countess ascended 
 a lofty tower to see hoAvher people defended them- 
 selves : looking beyond the walls, she saw that 
 Charles de Blois had brought up nearly all his 
 forces to the attack, and that his camj) was badly 
 guarded. She descended and, "armed as she 
 was," mounted her war-horse ; three hundred brave 
 knights and squires sprang into the saddle to follow 
 her, and issuing through a gate on the side opposite 
 to that where the French were fighting, she gal- 
 loped round, under cover of some hills and woods, 
 and fell upon the camp, where she found none but 
 horse-boys and varlets, who instantly fled. She set 
 fire to the tents, and caused a wonderful disorder. 
 When the lords of France saw their lodgings burn- 
 ing and heard the alarm, they ran back to the camj) 
 crying out, " Treason ! treason !" and nobody re- 
 mained to carry on the assault. Having thus re- 
 lieved the town, the countess would have returned 
 into it, but the besiegers threw themselves across 
 her path, and obliged her to fly for safetj- into tlm 
 open country. Louis d'Espagne, who was marshal, 
 pursued the enemy without knowing that she was 
 among them, and he killed several of her men-at- 
 arms that were not well mounted ; but the countess 
 "rode so well" that she and a great part of her 
 three hundred companions escaped unhurt, and 
 
 1 It is not quite clear whether this liishop was coward or traitor ; iu- 
 had a brother in the service of Charles de Blois
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 735 
 
 soon after threw themselves into the castle of Aul- | 
 ray, which, according to the tradition of the Bretons, 
 had been built by King Arthur. When the French 
 knew that it was the countess who had done them j 
 all that mischief, they marveled greatly. Within i 
 Hennebon it was not known for five whole days 
 what had become of the brave lady ; some thought 
 she must be slain, and all were ill at ease on her [ 
 account. But the wife of De Montfort had made '. 
 good use of this time ; she summoned her friends 
 in the neighboring country, and managed so well, j 
 that instead of three hundred, she had five hundred 
 or six hundred companions, armed and well mount- j 
 ed. Leaving Aulray at. midnight, she appeared at 
 sunrise on the sixth morning under Hennebon, and 
 dashing between the besiegers' camp and the ram- 
 parts, she got safely to a gate which was opened 
 for her, and entered the town with the triumphant 
 sounds of ti'umpets and horns, at all which the 
 French host marveled mightily, and then went to 
 arm themselves.' 
 
 At last, a scarcity of provisions began to be felt 
 within these well-defended walls, and still the suc- 
 cors of Edward did not arrive. Day after day, 
 anxious eyes were cast seaward, and still no fleet 
 was seen. The Bishop of Leon renewed his dis- 
 mal croaking, and at length was allowed to propose 
 a capitulation. The countess, howevei% entreated 
 the lords of Brittanj^ for the love of God, to conclude 
 nothing as yet, and told them she was sure she 
 should receive great help before three days. On 
 the morrow, the garrison was wholly disheartened, 
 the bishop again communicated with the enemy, 
 and the French were coming up to take possession, 
 when the countess, who was looking over the sea 
 from a casement in the tower, suddenly cried out 
 with great joy, "The English, the English! I see 
 the succors coming." And it was, indeed, the 
 English fleet she saw crossing the Une of the hori- 
 zon. It had been detained forty days by contrary 
 winds, but it now came merrily over the waves with 
 a press of sail. The people of Hennebon crowded 
 the seaward rampart to enjoy the sight. All thoughts 
 of surrendering were abandoned ; in brief time the 
 English ships, " great and small," shot into the port, 
 and landed a body of troops, under the command of 
 Sir Walter Manny, as brave a soldier as ever drew 
 sword. The fair countess received her deliverers 
 with enthusiastic gratitude, and with a refinement 
 of courtesy. For the lords and captains she dressed 
 up chambers in the castle with fine tapestry, and she 
 dined at table with them. On the following day, 
 after a good dinner. Sir Walter Manny said, " Sii-s, 
 I have a great mind to go forth and break down this 
 gi-eat battering engine of the French, that stands so 
 near us, if any will follow me." Then Sir Hugh of 
 Tregnier said that he would not fail him in this first 
 adventure; and so said Sir Galeran. The knights 
 armed, and the yeomen of England, who really did 
 the business, took their bows and arrows. Manny 
 went quietly out by a postern with three hundred 
 archers, and some forty men-at-arms. The archers 
 shot " so thick together," that the French in charge 
 1 Froissart. 
 
 of the engine, could not stand it; they fled, and the 
 machine was destroj'ed. Manny then rushed on 
 the besiegers' tents and lodgings, set fire to them in 
 many places, smiting and killing not a few, and then 
 withdrew with his companions " fair and easily." 
 The countess, who had seen the whole of this gal- 
 lant sortie from the high tower, now descended, and 
 came forth joyfully and kissed Sir Walter Manny 
 and his comrades one after the other two or three 
 times, like a brave lady.' 
 
 The French now despaired ; and the very morn- 
 ing after this affair they raised the siege of Henne- 
 bon, and carried the war into Lower Brittany, 
 where they took several towns. But soon after, 
 they suffered a tremendous loss at Quimperle, 
 where an army, under the command of Don Louis 
 d'Espagne, was cut to pieces almost to a man by the 
 English and the people of the countess. Some 
 months after, however, Charles de Blois reappeared 
 in great force before Hennebon, and began a fresh 
 siege. Encouraged by the recollection of their for- 
 mer defence, and by the presence of their heroic 
 countess and Sir Walter Manny, the people in the 
 town cared little for the number of the besiegers, to 
 whom they cried in mockery, from the walls, " You 
 are not numerous enough yet; you are not enough ! 
 go, and seek your companions who sleep in the fields 
 of Quimperle." Another brilliant sortie, headed 
 by Sir Walter, put an end to this second siege — the 
 French retreating with disgrace. The wife of De 
 Montfort then went over to England to press for 
 further reinforcements which had been promised. 
 Edward furnished her with some chosen troops, 
 which were placed under the command of Robert 
 of Artois, and embarked in forty-six vessels, most 
 of which were small and weak. Oft' Guernsey, the 
 ships encountered a French fleet of thirty-two tall 
 ships, on board of which were a thousand men-at- 
 arms, and three thousand Genoese crossbow-men. 
 A fierce fight ensued, during which De Montfort's 
 wife stood on. the deck with a "stiflf and sharp 
 sword" and a coat of mail, fighting manfully; but 
 the combat was interrupted by the darkness of night 
 and a tremendous storm, and the English, after suf- 
 fering some loss, got safely into a little port between 
 Hennebon and Vannes. Robert of Artois landed 
 the troops, and proceeded with the countess to lay 
 siege to Vannes, which had been taken for Charles 
 de Blois. Vannes was carried by a night assault, 
 and then the lady returned to Hennebon. Soon 
 after, Vannes Avas retaken by an immense host, led 
 on by Olivier de Clisson and De Beaumanoir. 
 Robert of Artois escaped with difficulty through a 
 postern gate, but he was sorely wounded, and obliged 
 to return to London, where, within a few weeks, 
 he finished his stormy career, to the infinite joy of 
 his loving brother-in-law, the French king. Edward 
 then determined to head the war in Brittany him- 
 self, and sailed to Hennebon with twelve thousand 
 men. He marched to Vannes, and estai)lished a 
 siege there; he then proceeded to Reniies, and 
 thence to Nantes, wasting the country, and driving 
 the French before him. 
 
 ' Froissart.
 
 736 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 But Charles de Blois was reinforced by the Duke 
 of Nonnaudy, tlie eldest son of the French king, 
 and then Edward retraced his steps to Vannes, 
 which his captains had not been able to take. When 
 the Duke of Normandy followed him witli u far su- 
 perior force he intrenched himself in front of 
 Vannes, and then the French formed an intrenched 
 camp at a short distance from him. Here both ])ar- 
 ties lay inactive for several weeks, during which 
 winter set in. The Duke of Normandy dreaded 
 every day that Edward would be reinforced from 
 England; and it appears that an English fleet was 
 actually on the way. On the other side, Edward 
 dreaded that he should be left without provisions 
 before it arrived. At this juncture, two legates of 
 the Pope arrived at the hostile camps, and, by their 
 good offices, a truce was concluded for three years 
 and eight months. The English departed, boasting 
 that the cardinals had saved the city of Vannes — the 
 Frenclf vaunted that the truce had saved Edward.' 
 
 Never was a truce less observed. One of the 
 conditions of it was, that Philip should release John 
 de Montfort ; but Philip kept him in closer impris- 
 onment than before, and answered the remon- 
 strances of the Pope with a miserable quibble. The 
 war was continued against the Bretons, who still 
 fought gallantly under their countess, and hostilities 
 were carried on, both by sea and land, between the 
 French and English The people of both nations 
 were so exasperated against each other, that they 
 seldom missed an opportunity of fighting, caring 
 nothing for the armistice which their princes had 
 sworn to. A savage deed threw an odium on King 
 Philip, and roused the enmity of many powerful 
 families. During a gay tournament, he suddenly 
 arrested Olivier de Clisson, Godfrey d'Harcourt, 
 and twelve other knights, and had their heads cut 
 off in the midst of the Halles, or market-place of 
 Paris. He sent the head of De Clisson into Brit- 
 tany, to be stuck up on the walls of Nantes. Other 
 nobles were disposed of in the same summary man- 
 ner in Normandy and elsewhere. They were all said 
 to have been guilty of a treasonable correspondence 
 with England; but not one of them was brought to 
 trial, or subjected to any kind of legal examination. 
 A cry of horror ran through the land. The lords 
 of Brittany, who had supported Charles de Blois, 
 instantly went over to the countess ; other lords, 
 fearing they might be suspected, fled from the court, 
 and Ihen really opened a correspondence with Ed- 
 Avard, and doomed Philip to destruction. But of 
 all the enemies created by this atrocious act, none 
 was so ardent as .Tane de Belville, the widow of the 
 murdered De Clisson — a daring woman, who soon 
 rivaled the exploits of the Countess de Montfort, 
 to whom she presented her son, a boy of seven 
 yeai-.s, that he might be brought up with the young 
 De Montfort. Soon after these events, John de 
 Montfort, who liad been a captive for three years, 
 and who now probably feared fur his life, contrived 
 to escape in tlie disguise of a pedler, and to get 
 over to England. Having renewed his homage to 
 Edward, he received a small force, with which he 
 
 ' r. L'jbincau. — Daru. — Fr lissart 
 
 repaired to Hennebon. The joy of his heroic wif** 
 was of short duration — for De Montfort sickened 
 and died shortly after, apjminting bj' will the King 
 of England guardian to his son. Charles de Blois 
 returned into the country, and renewed the war 
 with greater ferocity than ever ; but he had no 
 chance of success, and Brittany remained an effi- 
 cient ally of Edward. Whether he carried the 
 war into Normandy or Poictou, it covered one of 
 his flanks, and remained open to him as a place of 
 retreat in case of a reverse. For some time, both 
 he and Philip liad been preparing for more ex- 
 tended hostilities. The latter had adulterated the 
 coinage, had impoverished France with all manner 
 of levies and taxes, and at this crisis he established 
 the monopoly of salt. Edward declared that his 
 rival now, indeed, reigned by salic law; Philip re- 
 torted by calling Edward a wool merchant.' 
 
 A.D. 1345. Sharing in the ])opular feeling, the 
 English parliament recommended war, begging, 
 however, that the king would not sufler himself to 
 be duped by foreigners, and expressing their hope 
 that he would finish the contest in a short time by 
 battle or by treaty. An army was sent into Guienne, 
 where the French had seized many towns, under 
 the command of Edward's cousin, the brave and 
 accomplished Earl of Derby. The earl fell like a 
 thunderbolt among the French ; beat them in a 
 decisive battle near Aberoche ; took many of the 
 nobles prisoners, and drove them out of the coun- 
 try, leaving only a few fortresses in their liands. 
 About the same time Edward went in person to 
 Sluys, to treat with the deputies of the free cities 
 of Flanders. As Louis, the Count of Flanders, 
 though deprived of nearly all his revenues, and left 
 with scarcely any authority, still refused to acknowl- 
 edge the rights of the English king to the crown of 
 France, Edward, endeavored, rather prematurely, 
 to persuade the Flemings to transfer their alle- 
 giance to his own son. His old ally, James Von 
 Artaveldt, entered into this view : and his exertions 
 for Edward cost him his life. Many of the cautious 
 burgomasters opposed this extreme measure, and 
 set intrigues on foot ; and Von Artaveldt's long and 
 great power, however wisely used, in the main, for 
 the good of the country, had raised him up numer- 
 ous enemies. Bruges and Ypres assented to his 
 proposals, but Ghent was in the worst of humors. 
 As he rode into the town he saw the people, who 
 were wont to salute liim cap in hand, turn their 
 backs upon him. Doubting some mischief, he got 
 to his house, and made fast his gates. Scarcely 
 had he done this, when the street in wliich he 
 dwelt was filled from one end to the other by a 
 furious mob, who i)resently proceeded to force his 
 doors. With the help of his trusty servants he 
 defended his liouse for some time, and killed and 
 wounded several of the assailants ; but the mob 
 still incre.ised, the mansion was surrounded, was 
 attacked on all sides — further resistance was hope- 
 less. Then Von Artaveldt presented himself at a 
 window bareheaded, and spoke with fair words. 
 
 1 Most of Edward's grants were voted on wool — tlie great stap'c of 
 England
 
 ClIAP. 1.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 737 
 
 " Good people," said he, " what aileth you, and other advantaj^es and promises, among which was 
 why are you so troubled against me?" "We want one that the Flemings would, in the course of the 
 
 to have an account of the great treasures of Flan- 
 ders, which you have sent out of the country with- 
 out any title of reason," cried the multitude as with 
 one voice. Von Artaveldt replied very mildly, 
 '• Certes, gentlemen, of the treasures of Flanders 
 never have I taken anything : return quietly to 
 your homes, I pray you, and come here to-morrow 
 morning, when I will give you so good an account 
 that you must in reason be satisfied." But they 
 cried "Nenny! Nenny ! [No! No!] we will have it 
 now ; you shall not escape us ; for we know that 
 you have emptied the treasury, and sent the money 
 into England without our assent ; for which thing 
 jou must die." When Von Artaveldt heard these 
 words he joined his hands together, and began to 
 weep very tenderly, and said, " Gentlemen, what I 
 am, you yourselves have made me : in other days 
 you swore to defend me against all men, and now 
 }ou would kill me without reason : do it you can, for 
 
 following year, pour an army into France, while 
 Edward attacked the kingdom from another quarter. 
 In 1346 Edward collected a fine army, consisting 
 solely of English, Welsh, and Irish, and landed 
 with them on the coast of Normandy, near Cape la 
 Hogue, about the middle of July. That province 
 was defenceless, for Edward's attack had been ex- 
 pected to fall upon the south. In the latter direc- 
 tion the Duke of Normandy had fallen upon the 
 gallant Earl of Derbj', and was endeavoring, with 
 the flower of the French army, to drive the English 
 from Guienne. One of Edward's principal objects 
 was to create an alarm wiiich should draw the 
 French out of that province, and, by crossing the 
 Seine, to join his allies, the Flemings, who had 
 actually passed the French frontier. Having taken 
 Carenton, St. Lo, and Caen, and plundered and 
 wasted the country, he marched to the left bank of 
 the Seine, intending to cross that river at Rouen ; 
 
 I am but one man against so many. Take counsel of but, when he got opposite that town, he foimd that 
 yourselves, for God's love, and remember the past. Philip. was there before him, that the bridge of 
 You would now render me a sorry reward for all boats w'as removed, and that a French armjs in 
 the good I have done you. Do you not know how j numbers far superior to his own, occupied the right 
 trade was ruined in this country, and how I recovered bank. The English then ascended the river toward 
 it. After that I governed you in so great peace ; so | Paris by the left bank, the French manoeuvring 
 that in time of my governing ye have had all things as ' along the right, breaking down all the bridges, and 
 
 you could wish — corn, oats, money, and all other 
 merchandises ; by the which you have restored your- 
 selves, and got into good condition." But the fury of 
 the mob was unabated by this touching appeal, though 
 the truth it contained was undeniable : they cried 
 out, " Come down, and do not preach to us from 
 such a height ;" and they renewed their attack. 
 Then Von Artaveldt shut the window, and intended 
 
 preventing the enemy from passing the river. Ed- 
 ward burnt the villages, sacked the towns of Vernon 
 and Mantes, and at last came to Poissy, within eight 
 or nine miles of Paris. Here there was a good 
 bridge, but it had been partially destroyed by order 
 of Philip, who was as anxious to keep his enemy on 
 the left bank as Edward was to get to the right. 
 The English marched from Poissy to St. Germain, 
 
 getting out of his house the back way, to take shel- j which they burnt to the ground : by seizing some 
 ter in a church adjoining : but his hotel was already ' boats on the river they were enabled to do still 
 broken into on that side, and more than four hun- further mischief; and St. Cloud, Bourg-la-Reine, 
 dred fierce men were there calling out for him. and Neuilly were reduced to ashes. Still, however. 
 At last he was seized, and slain without mercy: i Edward's situation was critical; he was separated 
 his death-stroke was given by a saddler who was j from his auxiliaries, and Philip was reinforced 
 named Thomas Denys. Thus, James Von Artaveldt i daily. Having examined the bridge at Poissy, 
 finished his days ; the brewer of Ghent, who, in his Edward struck his tents, and advanced as if he 
 time, had been complete master of Flanders. » Poor , would attack Paris, and his van really penetrated 
 men first raised him, and wicked men killed him." ' j to the suburbs of that capital. This movement 
 The news of this great event gave great joy to obliged the French to march over to the opposite 
 the Count of Flanders, and great grief to King ! bank, to the relief of that city. This was what 
 Edward, who sailed away from Sluys, vowing , Edward wanted : he then wheeled round, cleared 
 vengeance against the Flemings who had thus the remains of the bridge of Poissy, by means ot 
 murdered his steady friend and most valuable ally. ' his bowmen, repaired it, and crossed to the right 
 The free towns fell into great consternation— their ' bank with little loss. From the Seine he continued 
 prosperity depended on their trade ; their trade in his way, by forced marches, toward the river Som- 
 a great measure depended on England. If Edward me, burning the suburbs of Beauvais, and plundering 
 should shut his ports to their manufactured goods, the town of Pois. Philip now determined to pre- 
 or prohibit the exportation of English wool, they j vent his crossing the Somme : by rapid movements 
 knew that they would be little better than ruined, 'he got to Amiens on that river, and sent detach- 
 Bruges, Ypres, Courtray. Oudenarde— all the chief ments along the right bank to destroy the bridges 
 towns except Ghent— sent deputies to London to and guard every ford. The English attempted to 
 soften the dangerous wrath of the English king, pass at Pont St. Remi, Long,' and Pequigny, but 
 and to vow that they were guiltless of the murder, failed at each place. Meanwhile, Philip, who had 
 Edward waved his claim to the formal cession of now one hundred thousand men, divided his force, 
 Flanders to his son, and contented himself with 
 1 Froissart. 
 
 VOL. I. — 47 
 
 and while one division was posted on the right 
 bank to prevent the passage of the English, tie
 
 738 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 marched with the other along the Jeft, to drive 
 them toward the river and the sea. So close was 
 he upon his enemy, tliat he entered Airaines, wliere 
 Edward had slept, only two hours after liis depart- 
 ure. That evening the English reached Oiseniont, 
 near the coast, where they found themselves cooped 
 up between the sea, the Somme, and the division of 
 the French army with Philip, which was six times 
 more numerous than their whole force. The mar- 
 shals of the army were again sent to see whether 
 there were any ford, but they again returned witli 
 the sad news that they could find none. Edward 
 then assembled all his prisoners, and promised lib- 
 erty and a rich reward to any one of them that 
 could show him where he, his army, and waggons 
 might cross without danger. A common fellow, 
 whose name was Gobin Agace, told him that there 
 was a place, a little lower down, called Blanche- 
 Taque, or the White Spot, which was fordable at 
 the ebb of the tide. "The King of England," sajs 
 Froissart, " did not sleep much that night, but, rising 
 at midnight, ordered his trumpets to sound." In- 
 stantly the baggage was loaded, and everything got 
 ready. At the peep of day the army set out from 
 the town of Oisemont under the guidance of Gobin 
 Agace, and soon came to the ford of Blanche-Taque ; 
 but Edward had the mortification to find not only 
 that t)ie tide was full, but that the opposite bank of 
 the river was lined with twelve thousand men under 
 the command of a great baron of Normandy called 
 Sir Godemar du Fay. He was obliged to wait till 
 the hour of "primes," when the tide was out. 
 This was an awful suspense, for every moment he 
 expected Philip in his i-ear. The French king, 
 however, did not come up, as he certainly ought to 
 have done ; and as soon as it was reported that the 
 river was fordable, Edward commanded his marshals 
 to dash into the water, " in the names of God and 
 St. George." Instantly the most doughty and the 
 best-mounted spurred- into the river. Half-way 
 across they were met by the cavalry of Sir Gode- 
 mar du Fay, and a fierce conflict took place in the 
 water. When the English had overcome this op- 
 position they had to encounter another, for the 
 French still occupied, in battle array, a narrow pass 
 which led from the ford up the right bank. Among 
 others posted there, was a strong body of Genoese 
 crossbow-men, who galled them sorely ; but the 
 English archers "shot so well together," that they 
 forced all their opponents to give way, upon which 
 Edward cleared the bank of the river; and while 
 part of his forces pursued Du Fay, he encamped 
 with the rest in the pleasant fields between Crotoy 
 and Crecy. Philip now appeared on the opposite 
 bide of the ford, where Edward bad so long waited ; 
 but he was too late — the tide was returning and 
 covering the ford ; and, after taking a few stragglers 
 of the English army who had not crossed in time, 
 he thought it prudent to return up the river, to 
 cross it by the bridge of Abbeville. On the follow- 
 ing day Edward's marshals rode to Crotoy, in the 
 harbor of which they found many vessels laden 
 with wines from Poictou, Saintonge, and La Ro- 
 cfelle : the best of the wines they carried oft' as a 
 
 seasonable refreshment to the army — the town they 
 burnt. 
 
 Edward was now within a few days' march of 
 the frontiers of Flanders, but nothing was seen or 
 heard of his Flemish auxiliaries. He was probably 
 tired of retreating, and encouraged by the result of 
 the remarkable battle at Blanche-Taque — or there 
 might have been other strong motives with which 
 we are unacquainted to induce him to stay where 
 he was and fight the whole French army, with 
 what, to most men, would have appeared a hopeless 
 disparity of numbers. When told that Philip 
 would still pursue him, he merely said, " We will 
 go no farther; I have good reason to wait for him 
 on this spot ; I am now upon the lawful inheritance 
 of my lady-mother — upon the lands of Ponthieu, 
 which were given to her as her marriage portion ; 
 and I am resolved to defend them against my ad- 
 versary, Philip de Valois." As he had not the 
 eighth part of the number of men that Philip had, 
 his marshals selected an advantageous position on 
 an eminence a little behind the village of Crecy. 
 There the army set about briglitening and repairing 
 their armor, and the king gave a supper that even- 
 ing to the earls and barons — and he made good 
 cheer. After supper he entered his oratory, and, 
 falling on his knees, prajed God to bring him off 
 with honor if he should fight on the morrow. Ris- 
 ing at eaily dawn, he and his son Edward heard 
 mass, and communicated : the greater part of his 
 people confessed, and put themselves in a comfort- 
 able state of mind. They had not been harassed 
 for many hours ; they had fared well ; they had 
 had a good night's rest, and were fresh and vigor- 
 ous. After mass the king ordered the men to arm 
 and assemble, each under his proper banner, on 
 spots which had been carefully marked out during 
 the preceding day. In the rear of his army he 
 inclosed a large park near a wood, in which he 
 placed all his baggage-wtiggons and all his horses ; 
 for every one, man-at-arms as well as archer, was 
 to fight that day on foot. Then his constable and 
 marshals went to look to the three divisions. The 
 first division was under the command of his young 
 son, with whom were placed the earls of AVarwick 
 and Oxford, Sir Godfrey d'Harcourt, Sir John 
 Chandos, and other experienced captains; it con- 
 sisted of about eight hundred men-at-arms, two 
 thousand archers, and one thousand Welsh foot» 
 A little behind them, and rather on their flank, stood 
 the second division of eight hundred men-at-arms 
 and twelve hundred archers, who were command- 
 ed by the earls of Northampton and Arundel, the 
 lords De Roos, Willoughby, and others. The third 
 division stood in reserve on the top of the hill ; it 
 consisted of seven hundred men-at-arms and two 
 thousand archers. The archers of each division 
 formed in front, in the shape of a portcullis or har- 
 row. When thej' were thus arranged, Edward, 
 mounted on a small palfrey, with a white wand in 
 his hand, and a marshal on either side of him, 
 rode gently from rank to rank, speaking to all his 
 officers, exhorting them to defend his honor and 
 his right; and he spoke so gently and cheerfully
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 739 
 
 that those who wei-e discomforted were comforted 
 ou hearing him and looking into his confident coun- 
 tenance. This courageous serenity was one of the 
 greatest advantages that Edward had over his rival. 
 At the hour of three he ordered that all his people 
 should eat at their ease, and drink a drop of wine; 
 and they all ate and drauk very comfortably : and 
 when that was over, they sat down in their ranks, 
 on the ground, with their helmets and bows before 
 them, so that they might be the fresher when their 
 iniemies should arrive. 
 
 After his march and counter-march, on the day 
 of Blanche-Taque, Philip rested at Abbevdle, and 
 he lost a whole day there, waiting for reinforce- 
 ments, among which were a thousand lances of the 
 Count of Savoy, "and," says Froissart, "they ought 
 to have been there, as the count had been well paid 
 for them at Troyes in Champagne three months in 
 advance." This morning, however, the French king 
 marched to give battle, breathing fury and vengeance : 
 his countenance was clouded — a savage silence could 
 not conceal the agitation of his soul — all his move- 
 ments were precipitate, without plan or concert. It 
 seemed as if the shades of De Clisson and his mur- 
 (Jered companions flitted before his eyes and ob- 
 scured his vision. He marched rapidly on from 
 Abbeville, and when he came in sight of the well- 
 ordered divisions of Edward, his men were tired 
 and his rear-guard for behind. By the advice of a 
 Bohemian captain, he agreed to put off the battle 
 till the morrow, and two officers immediately rode, 
 one along the van and the other toward the rear, 
 crying out, " Halt, banners, in the name of God and 
 St. Denis !" Those that were in front stopped, but 
 those behind rode on, saying that they would not 
 lialt until they were as forward as the first. When 
 the van perceived the rear pressing on them, they 
 pushed forwai-d, and neither the king nor the mar- 
 shals could stop them, but on they marched without 
 any order until they came near the English, when 
 they stopped fast enough. Theii the foremost ranks 
 fell back at once in great disorder, which alarmed 
 those in the rear, who thought there had been fight- 
 ing. There was then room enough for those behind 
 to pass in front, had they been willing so to do : 
 " some did so, and some remained very shy." All the 
 roads between Abbeville and Crecy were covei'ed 
 with common people, who, while they were yet 
 three leagues from their enemy, drew their swords. 
 
 bawling out, "Kill! kill!" and with them were many 
 great lords that were eager to make a show of their 
 prowess. "There is no man," says Froissart, "un- 
 less he had been present, that can imagine or truly 
 record the confusion of that day, especially the bad 
 management and disorder of the French, whose 
 troops were innumerable." If all these circum- 
 stances are borne in mind, the most marvelous parts 
 of the story will be reconcilable to probability and 
 truth. The kings, dukes, earls, barons, and lords 
 of France, advanced each as he thought best. Philip 
 was carried forward by the torrent, and, as soon as 
 he came in sight of the English, his blood began to 
 boil, and he cried out, "Order the Genoese forward, 
 and begin the battle, in the name of God and St. 
 Denis!" These Genoese were famous crossl)nw- 
 men, under the command of a Doria and a Grimaldi : 
 
 Genoese Archer, winding ip or bending his Cross-bow 
 
 according to Froissart, they were fifteen thousand 
 strong. But they were quite fotigued, having that 
 day marched six leagues on foot, completely armed 
 and carrying their heavy cross-bows. Thus they 
 I told the constable that they were not in a state to 
 
 Cross-bow and Quarrel
 
 740 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book I\^ 
 
 do any great exploit of battle that day. The Count 
 d'Aienyon, King Pliilip's brother, h(;aring this, said, 
 " See what wo get by employing such scoundrels, 
 who fail us in our need." The susceptible Italians 
 were not likely to forget these hasty and insulting 
 words, but they formed and led the van. They 
 were supported by the Count d'Alencon, with a 
 numerous cavalry, niasnificently equipped. While 
 these things were passing, a heavy rain fell, accom- 
 panied by thunder ; and there was a fearful eclipse 
 of the sun : and before this rain a great fliglit of 
 crows, the heralds of the storm, had hovered in the 
 air, screaming over both armies. About five in the 
 afternoon, the weather cleared up and the sun shone 
 forth in full splendor. His rays darted full in tlie 
 eyes of the French, but the English had the sun at 
 their backs. When the Genoese had made their 
 approach, they set up a terrible sliout, to strike ter- 
 ror into the English ; but the English yeomen re- 
 mained motionless, not seeming to care for it: thej' 
 sent up a second shout, and advanced, but still the 
 English moved not: they shouted a third time, and 
 advancing a little, began to discharge their cross- 
 bows. Then the English moved, but it was one step 
 forward, and they shot their arrows with such ra- 
 pidity and vigor, "that it seemed as if it snowelk" 
 These well-shot arrows pierced shield and armor; 
 the Genoese could not stand them. On seeing these 
 auxiliaries waver and then fall back, the King of 
 France cried out in a fury, " Kill me those scoun- 
 drels, for they stop our way without doing any 
 good!" and at these words the French men-at-arms 
 laid about them, killing and wounding the retreating 
 Genoese. All this wonderfully increased the con- 
 fusion ; and still the English yeomen kept shooting 
 as vigorously as before into the midst of the crowd : 
 many of their arrows fell among D'Alen9on's splen- 
 did cavalry, and, killing and wounding many, made 
 them caper and fall among the Genoese, " so that 
 they could never rally or get up again." Many of 
 these knights were dispatched by Cornishmen and 
 Welshmen, who had armed themselves with long 
 knives for the purpose, and who crept through the 
 ranks of the English archers and men-at-arms to fall 
 upon the French, among whom they spared no one, 
 killing earls and barons, knights and common men 
 alike. Having got free from the rabble-rout, D' Alen- 
 9on and the Count of Flanders skirted the English 
 archers and fell upon the men-at-arms of the prince's 
 battalion, where they fought fiercely for some time. 
 The second division of the English moved to the 
 support of the prince. The King of France was 
 eager to support D'Alencon, but he could not pene- 
 trate a hedge of English archers which formed in 
 his front. But, without the king's forces, D'Alencon, 
 with whom fought French, Germans, Bohemians, 
 and Savoyards, seemed to all eyes more than a match 
 for the prince. At a moment when the conflict 
 seemed doubtful, the Earl of Warwick sent to re- 
 quest a reinforcement from the reserve. Edward, 
 who had watched the battle from a windmill on the 
 summit of the hill, and who did not put on his hel- 
 met the whole day, asked the knight -^vhether his son 
 wfte killed, or wounded, or thrown to the ground ? 
 
 The knight replied. " No, sire, please God, but he 
 is hard beset." "Then," said the king, "return to 
 those who sent you, and tell them that they shall 
 have no help from me. Let the boy win his spurs, 
 for I am resolved, if it please (tod, that this day be 
 his, and that the honor of it be given all to him and 
 to those to whose care I have intrusted him." When 
 Sir Thomas Norwich reported this message, they 
 were all greatly encouraged, and repented of hav- 
 ing ever sent him. Soon after this, D'Alencon was 
 killed, and his battalions were scattered. The King 
 of France, who certainly showed no deficiency of 
 courage, made several brilliant charges, but he was 
 repulsed each time with great loss : his horse was 
 killed linder him by an English arrow, and the best 
 of his friends had fallen around him. Night now 
 set in, but not before he liad lost the battle. At the 
 hour of vespers he had not more than sixty men 
 about him of all sorts. John of Hainault,' who had 
 once remounted the king, now said, " Sire, with- 
 draw, it is time ; do not sacrifice yourself foolishly : 
 if you have lost this time, you may win on some 
 other occasion ;" and so saying, he laid liold of his 
 bridle-rein and led him away by force, for he had 
 entreated him to retire before this, but in vain. The 
 king rode away till he came to the castle of La 
 Broye, where he found the gates shut, for it was 
 dark night. He summoned the chfitelain, who came 
 u[)on the battlements and asked who called at such 
 an hour. The king answered, "Open, open, chftte- 
 lain, it is the fortune of France!" The governor 
 knew the king's voice, descended, opened the gates, 
 and let down the bridge. The king and his com- 
 pany entered the castle, but he had with him only 
 five barons. After drinking a cup of wine, they set 
 out again about midnight, and rode on, under the 
 direction of guides who knew the country, until day- 
 break, when they came to Amiens, Avhere the king 
 rested. On the side of the English, matters went 
 on much more joyousl3^ : the soldiers made great 
 fires, and lighted torches because of the great dark- 
 ness of the night. And then King Edwai-d camB 
 down from his post, and, in front of his whole army, 
 took the prince in his arms, kissed him, and said. 
 " Sweet son ! God give you good perseverance .' 
 You are my true son, for loyalh'^ have you acquitted 
 yourself this day, and worthy are you of a crown." 
 Young Edward bowed very lowly, and, humbling 
 himself, gave all the honor to the king his father.* 
 
 Such was the memorable battle of Crecy : it was 
 fought on Saturday, the 2Rth day of August, 134G. 
 That night, however, Edward was scarcely aware 
 of the extent of his victory; and on the following 
 day he gained another, if that could be called a vic- 
 tory where there was no resistance made, the 
 French falling like sheep in the shambles. On the 
 Sunday morning a fog arose, so that the English 
 could scarcely see the length of half an acre before 
 them. The king sent out a detachment of five 
 
 1 This preux chevalier of Queen Isabella had quitted the English 
 service, and entered the French, some time before. When first 
 applied to by Philip, he urg^sd that he had spent the flower of his 
 youth in fighting for England, and that King Edward had always 
 treated him with affection ; — but he was not proof against a promise 
 of increased pay. 2 Froissart.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 741 
 
 hundred lances and two thousand archers to recon- | 
 noitre and learn whether there were any bodies of 
 French collecting near him. This detachment soon 
 found themsehes in the midst of a body of militia 
 from Beauvais and Rouen, who, wholly ignorant of 
 what had happened, had inarched all night to over- 
 take the French army. These men took the English 
 for French, and hastened to join them.' Before 
 they found out their mistake, the English fell upon 
 them and slew them without mercy. Soon after, 
 tlie same party took a different road, and fell in with 
 a fresh force, under the Archbishop of Rouen and 
 the Grand Prior of France, who were also ignorant 
 of the defeat of the French, for they had heard that 
 the king would not fight till the Sunday. Here 
 began a fresh battle, for those two spiritual lords 
 were well provided with stout men-at-arms. They 
 could not, however, stand against the English ; the 
 two lords were killed, and only a few of their men 
 escaped by flight. In the course of the morning 
 the English found many Frenchmen, who had lost 
 their road the preceding evening, and had lain all 
 night in the open fields, not knowing what was be- 
 come of the king or their own leaders. All these 
 were put to the sword; and of foot soldiers sent 
 from the municipalities, cities, and good towns of 
 France, there were slain this Sunday morning more 
 than four times as many as in the great battle of 
 Saturday. When this destructive detachment re- 
 turned to head-quarters, they found King Edward 
 coming from mass, for during all these scenes of 
 carnage, he never neglected the offices of religion. 
 He then sent to examine the dead, and learn what 
 French lords had fallen. The lords Cobham and 
 Stafford were charged with this duty, and they took 
 with them three heralds to recognize the arms, and 
 two secretaries to write down the names. They 
 remained all that day in the fields, returning as the 
 king was sitting down to supper, when they made 
 a correct report of what they had seen, and told 
 him that they had found the bodies of eleven 
 princes, eighty bannerets, twelve hundred knights, 
 and about thirty thousand common men. 
 
 On Monday morning, the King of England ordered 
 the bodies of the great knights to be taken from the 
 ground, and carried to the mouasteiy of Montenay, 
 there to be buried in holy ground : and he made it 
 known to the people of the country that he gave 
 them three days' truce, that they might clear the 
 field of Crecy and inter all the dead. He then 
 marched off to the north, keeping near the coast, 
 and passing through Montreuil-sur-mer. Among 
 the princes and nobles that fell were Philip's own 
 i)rother, the Count d'Alencon, the dukes of Lor- 
 raine and Bourbon, the counts of Flanders, Blois, 
 Vaudemont, and Aumale. But the most reniarka- 
 l)le victim was .lohn de Luxembourg, King of Bohe- 
 mia : he was old and blind, but on hearing that his 
 son was dangerously wounded and forced to abandon 
 the field, and that nothing could resist the Black 
 Prince, he resolved to charge himself; and placing 
 himself between two knights, whose bridles were 
 
 1 Some old Frenih writers say tliat the Englisli hoisted French 
 colors, and so decoyed the militia. 
 
 interlaced on either side with his, he charged and 
 fell. His crest, three ostrich feathers with the 
 motto ^^ Ich dicn" (I serve), was adopted by Prince 
 Edward, and has ever since been borne by the 
 princes of Wales.' 
 
 On Thursday the 31st of August, five days after 
 the great battle of Ci-ecy, Edward sate down before 
 Calais, and began his famous siege of that strong 
 and important place, — a siege, or rather a blockade, 
 which lasted nearly a year, and which was enlivened 
 by many brilliant feats of arms. Vn immediate 
 consequence of his victory at Crecy was the with- 
 drawing of the Duke of Normandy from Guienno, 
 where the Earl of Derby was almost reduced to 
 extremities, notwithstanding the gallant assistance 
 of Sir Manny, who had removed a small body from 
 Brittany to Gascony. As soon as the French army 
 had cleared the country, Derby, Avith an inconsid- 
 erable force, left Bordeaux, and crossing the Ga- 
 ronne and the Dordogne, laid Avaste the land even 
 as far as the walls of Poictiers, which rich city he 
 took by storm and plundered. After these exploits, 
 he returned loaded with booty to Bordeaux. 
 
 While Edward was occupied at Calais, Philip re- 
 sorted to measures which lie hoped would create 
 such a confusion in England as to oblige his imme- 
 diate return thither. Ever since his guest David 
 Bruce had been reseated on the throne he had kept 
 up an active correspondence with Scotland, and 
 three successful inroads on the English frontier had 
 arisen, not less from his suggestions than from the 
 eagerness of the Scots for revenge and plunder. 
 His communications were now more frequent, and, 
 in the month of September, King David himself 
 marched from Perth at the head of three thousand 
 regular cavalry and about thirty thousand others, 
 mounted on galloways. It is said that he Avas con- 
 fident of success, seeing that nearly the whole chiv- 
 alry of England was absent. He rode into Cumber- 
 land, took the peel, or castle, of Liddel on the 2d of 
 October, and then marched into the bishopric of 
 Durham. While he lay at Bearpark, near the city 
 of Durham, the English assembled an army in 
 Auckland Park. Queen Philippa, according to 
 Froissart, mounted a horse and rode among these 
 troops, discoursing like a heroine, and recommend- 
 ing to their courage the safety of their .country, and 
 the honor of their absent king. She did not, how- 
 ever, he admits, like the Countess of Montfort and 
 the other heroines in Brittany, take a part in the 
 battle, but after recommending them to God and 
 
 1 Froissart. He says that he had his accounts of the battle of 
 Crecy, not only I'rom Englishmen enfraged in it, but also from the 
 l)eople of John of Hainault, who was near the person ol the King of 
 France the whole day. A contemporary writer, Giovanni Villaiii. in 
 his " History of Florence," relates that cannon were used by the 
 English at the battle of Crecy, and that four of these newly-invcnted 
 engines which Edward planted in the front of his army did great 
 execution. This circumstance is not mentioned by Froissart ; nor is 
 his account very consistent with the supposition that cannon were 
 used. It seems unlikely, too, that he should have omitted so re- 
 mark.ible aud so material a circumstance. It appears to be certain, 
 however, that the use of cannon was introduced some years befr)rc the 
 battle of Crecy Ducanere (art. " Bombarda ") shows that the French 
 employed cannon at the siege of Tuy Guillaume. in 1338; and a 
 species of fire arms at least, which Barbour, in his " I.ifc of Druce." 
 calls "crakys of war," was used by Ihe English in the expe^tion 
 against Scotland, in 1327. ^
 
 742 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 St. George, she witlidrew to a safe place. But no 
 old Englisli writer mentions the presence of Phi- 
 lippa on this occasion ; and we fear the story, how- 
 ever ornamental, must be reckoned among the 
 fabulous embeliishmeuts of history. The Scots 
 were ignorant of all the movements of the English : 
 Douglas, the famous knight of Liddesdale, who had 
 scoured the country as far as Ferry Hill, was inter- 
 cepted on his return by the English at Sunderland 
 Bridge. He cut his way through them, but lost 
 five hundred of his best men. David, though taken 
 by surprise, immediately formed his troops, and a 
 decisive battle was fought at Nevil's Cross. The 
 English counted among their forces three thousand 
 archers, and these men as usual decided the a(fair. 
 Wiiile the Scottish liorse were crowded together, 
 they let fly at them from under cover of hedges, 
 and choosing their aim, they soon unhorsed many of 
 their best knights. On this occasion David showed 
 much of the courage of his father, but that great 
 man's prudence and generalship were altogether 
 •wanting. After being twice wounded, and still dis- 
 daining to flee or surrender, lie was forcibly made 
 prisoner by one Copland, a gentleman of Northum- 
 berland, who carried him off the field to his tower 
 of Ogle. Three earls and forty-nine barons and 
 knights shared the fate of the king. The Earl of 
 Menteith, who had accepted office under Edward, 
 and the Earl of Fife, who had done homage to Ed- 
 ward Baliol, were condemned as traitors without any 
 form of trial, by the king in council at Calais. Men- 
 teith was barbarously executed, but Fife was re- 
 prieved on account of his relationship, his mother 
 having been niece to Edward I. King David was 
 soon carried to London and safely lodged in the 
 Tower. The battle of Nevil's Cross, which wonder- 
 fully elated the English, was fought on the 17th of 
 October.' 
 
 In the mean time Edward's all}', the Countess of 
 Montfort, continued to defend the inheritance of her 
 infant son, being well supported by an English force 
 of one thousand men-at-arms and eight thousand 
 foot, under the command of Sir Thomas Dagworth. 
 On the night of the 18th of June, 1347, while her 
 bitter enemy, Charles de Blois, was lying before 
 Roche-Derrien, which he was besieging with fifteen 
 thousand men, he was suddenly attacked by the 
 English. In the confusion of a nocturnal battle. Sir 
 Thomas was twice taken prisoner, and twice re- 
 leased by his brave followers. A sortie from the 
 garrison finished this affair — the French were thor- 
 oughly beaten and dispersed ; Charles de Blois 
 was taken prisoner, and sent over to England, to 
 add another royal captive to those already in Ed- 
 ward's power: he was confined in the tower of 
 London, as his rival, De Montfort, had been confined 
 in the tower of the Louvre. The affairs of Charles 
 were hereby ruined ; but his w ife, Joan the Lame, 
 fought some time for her captive husband, as the 
 wife of De Montfort had fought for hers when he 
 was a prisoner at Paris. This has been well called 
 the age of heroines ; in Brittany alone there were 
 three ladies showing the firmness and valor of men ; 
 
 ' Froissart.— Knvghton. — Rvmer 
 
 but, in the end, the Countess Joan was foiled, and 
 the Countess of Montfort preserved the dominion 
 for her son, who afterward held the country, and 
 transmitted it to his children.' 
 
 Edward, meanwhile, pressed the blockade of 
 Calais, the garrison and inhabitants of which were 
 neither won by his promises nor intimidated by his 
 threats. As it was a place of incredible strength, 
 he wisely resolved not to throw away the lives of 
 liis soldiers in assaults, but to reduce it by famine. 
 He girded it on the land side by intrenchments, and 
 he built so many wooden houses for the accommo- 
 dation of his troops, that his encampment looked 
 like a second town growing round the first : the old 
 French writers, indeed, call it La V'dle de Bois. 
 At the same time his fleet blockaded the harbor, 
 and cut ofi' all communication by sea. John de 
 Vienne, the governor of Calais, could not mistake 
 Edward's plan, and, to save his provisions, he deter- 
 mined to rid himself of such as are called, in the 
 merciless language of war, "useless mouths." Sev- 
 enteen hundred poor people, of both sexes and of all 
 ages, were turned out of the town and driven toward 
 the English lines. Edward gave them all a good 
 dinner, and then dismissed them into the interior 
 of the country, even presenting them with a little 
 money to supply their immediate wants. As pro- 
 visions waxed low the governor made a fresh search 
 for "useless mouths," and five hundred more of the 
 inhabitants were thrust' out of the town : but this 
 time Edward was not so merciful, and all of them 
 are said to have perished miserably between his 
 lines and the town walls, as the governor would not 
 readmit them. A few Norman vessels eluded the 
 vigilance of the English fleet, and conveyed some 
 victuals into the town ; but from that time the mouth 
 of the port was quite blocked up, and the Earl of 
 Warwick, wnth eighty "tall ships," constanrty swept 
 the Channel. Fresh squadrons of English ships 
 were sent to sea from time to time, till at length 
 their united number Avas prodigious.- A French 
 fleet, attempting to relieve the place, was met by 
 the Earl of Oxford, and carried to England. After 
 this the hopes of the garrison began to fail them, 
 and thej' wrote to King Philip that they had eaten 
 their horses, their dogs, and all the unclean animals 
 they could procure, and that nothing was left for 
 them but to eat one another. This letter was inter- 
 cepted bj- the English; but Philip knew the straits 
 to which they were reduced, and resolved to make 
 a great effort to save this important place. The 
 "Oriflamme," the sacred banner of France, which 
 was not to be used except against infidels, was un- 
 furled ; the vassals of the crown were summoned 
 
 1 After nine years' captivity, Charles de Blois was liberated on a 
 ransom, which he never paid ; and he was killed in 1364, at the battle 
 of Aulray, or Auray, where the young Count de Montfort, and his 
 English allies, gained a great victory. 
 
 2 Hakluyt has printed the roll of these fleets, extant, in his time, 
 in the king's great wardrobe. The south fleet consisted of 493 sail, 
 and 9630 men ; the north of 217 sail, and 4521 men. There were 38 
 foreign ships, among which was includrd 1 fnin Ireland ; the others 
 were, 15 from Bayonne, 7 from Spain, 14 from Flanders, and I from 
 Guelderland. Most of these vessels must have been very small ; hut 
 there were some carrying crews of 100 to 200 men each. — Hakluyt, 
 Souther's Naval Hist
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 743 
 
 from all parts ; and, in the month of July, Philip 
 marched toward Calais. That town, however, was 
 only approachable by two roads — the one along the 
 sea-shore, the other over bogs and marshes ; and 
 Edward guarded both — the one with his ships and 
 boats, which were crowded with archers ; the other 
 by means of towers, fortified bridges, and a great 
 force of men-at-arms and archers, under the com- 
 mand of the brave Earl of Derby, who, as well as 
 Sir Walter Manny, had come from Gascony for this 
 gi-eat enterprise. Philip was not bold enough to 
 attempt either passage; and, after a fruitless attempt 
 at negotiation, and an idle chiiUenge, he withdrew 
 his army, and left Calais to its fate. When the 
 faithful garrison had witnessed his departure, they 
 hung out the flag of England, and asked to capitu- 
 late. Edward, enraged at their obstinate resistance, 
 and remembering, it is said, the many acts of piracy 
 they had formerly committed upon the English, re- 
 fused them any terms, saying that he would have 
 an unconditional surrender. Sir Walter Manny, 
 and many barons who were then present, pleaded 
 in favor of the men of Calais. " I will not be alone 
 against you all," said the king. " Sir Walter, you 
 will tell the captain that six of the notable burgesses 
 must come forth naked in their shirts, barelegged, 
 with halters round their necks, and the keys of the 
 town and castle in their hands. On these I will do 
 my will, and the rest I will take to my mercy." 
 When Sir Walter Manny teported this hard condi- 
 tion to John de Vienne, that governor went to the 
 market-place and ordered the church bells to be 
 rung. The people — men, women, and children — 
 repaired to the spot, and, when they had heard 
 Edward's message, they all wept piteouslj-, and 
 were incapable of forming any resolution. Things 
 were in this state when the richest burgess of the 
 town, who was called Messire Eustace de St. Pierre, 
 rose up and said, before them all, " Gentlemen, gi-eat 
 and little, it were great pity to let these people per- 
 ish — I will be the first to offer up my life to save 
 theirs." After him another notable burgess, a very 
 honest man, and of great business, rose and said 
 that he would accompany his compeer, Messire 
 Eustace ; and this one was named JMessire Jehan 
 d'Aire. After him rose up Jaques de Wisant, who 
 was very rich in goods and lands, and said that he 
 would accompany his two cousins, as did Peter 
 Wisant, his brother ; then the fifth and the sixth 
 offei-ed themselves, which completed the number 
 the king demanded. The governor, John de Vi- 
 enne, mounted a small hackney, for his wounds pre- 
 vented him from walking, and conducted them to 
 the gate. The English barriers were opened, and 
 the six were admitted to the presence of Edward, 
 before whom they prostrated themselves, and, pre- 
 senting the keys, begged for mercy. All the barons, 
 knights, and others who were there present, shed 
 tears of pity, but the king eyed them very spite- 
 fully, for much did he hate the people of Calais ; and 
 then he commanded that their heads should be struck 
 oft". Every Englishman enti-eated him to be more 
 merciful, but he would not hear them. Then Sir 
 Walter Manny said, "Ha! gentle sire, let me beseech 
 
 you to restram your wrath ! You are renowned for 
 nobleness of soul — do not tarnish your reputation by 
 such an act as this. These worthy men have, of 
 their own free will, nobly put themselves at your 
 mercy, in order to save their fellow-citizens." Upon 
 this the king made a grimace, and said, " Let the 
 headsman be summoned." But the Queen of Eng- 
 land, who was far advanced in her pregnancy, fell 
 on her knees, and, with tears, said, "Ah! gentle 
 sire ! since I have crossed the sea with great dan- 
 ger, I have never asked you anything : now, I hum- 
 bly pray, for the sake of the son of the Holy Mary 
 and jour love of me, that you will have mercy of 
 these six men." The king looked at her, and was 
 silent awhile : then he said, "Dame, I wish you had 
 been somewhere else ; but I cannot refuse you — 1 
 put them at your disposal." Philippa caused the 
 halters to be taken from their necks, gave them 
 proper clothes and a good dinner, and then dis- 
 missed them with a present of six nobles each.' 
 
 On the following day, August 4th, 1347, the king 
 and queen rode toward the town, which they en- 
 tered to the sound of trumpets, drums, and all kind? 
 of warlike instruments. Thej- remained there until 
 the queen was delivered of a daughter, who was 
 called Margaret of Calais ; and after that they re- 
 turned to England, Edward having agi'eed to a truce 
 with Philip, which was gradually prolonged for six 
 years. The French king's finances were completely 
 exhausted ; but it appears that neither he nor his 
 rival would have suspended hostilities had it not been 
 for tl>e interference of the Pope, who had never 
 ceased to implore for peace. 
 
 Encouraged by his brilliant successes, the Par- 
 liament had hitherto voted grants to the king with 
 great liberality, but now the weight of taxation 
 began to be felt, and people, as usual, wearied of 
 the war for which they had been so eager. The 
 Avealth brought into the country by the plunder of 
 France, was probably far from being equal to that 
 which was taken out of it, though, in numerous 
 instances, the scenes of the Conquest were reversed, 
 and men who went " poor wights" out of England 
 returned rich lords ; and though, what with prizes 
 made by sea and pillages by land, the country was 
 stocked with French goods and furniture of all 
 kinds. The siege of Calais had cost immense 
 sums, and Edward on his return was greatly in 
 want of money. On the 14th of January, 1348, he 
 asked the advice of his Parliament touching the 
 prosecution of the war with France. The Com- 
 mons, suspecting that this was but a prelude to the 
 demand of a subsidy, declined giving any answer. 
 When the Parliament met again, on the 17th of 
 March, the king told them that the French were 
 making mighty preparation to invade England, and 
 he demanded an aid on that account. In real 
 truth, there was no danger whatever: but. after 
 bitter complaints of taxation, and consequent pov- 
 erty, three fifteenths were voted to be levied in 
 three years. In the course of this year, an attempt 
 made by the French to recover Calais, by bribing 
 the governor, gave Edward an opportunity of dis- 
 
 • Froissart.
 
 741 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 QlKEN PlIILll'PA INTERCEDING FOR THE BlRGESSES OT CALAIS 
 
 playing his personal valor and generosity ; and in 
 the following jear he commanded in a naval battle 
 against the Spaniards belonging to the ports of the i 
 Bay of Biscay, who had given him many causes 
 of discontent by joining the French and by plun- i 
 dering his trading vessels. The battle was fought j 
 within sight of the hills behind Winchelsea, whence | 
 the queen's servants watched it with an anxious 
 eye. Edward and the Prince of Wales were never 
 in such danger : the king's ship was sinking, when 
 the brave Earl of Derby, recently created Duke of 
 Lancaster, came to his assistance, and in the end 
 they gained a brilliant victorj-, taking fourteen of 
 the Spanish ships, but not without great loss of 
 knights and men. About this time Philip of France 
 died, and was succeeded by his son, the Duke of 
 Normandy, now .John L This new king gladly 
 consented to prolong the truce, which, however, 
 was but indifl'erently observed, the English and 
 French frequently fighting at sea, in Brittany, and 
 in the south of France. 
 
 As if in mockery of the pettj* carnage of men, 
 who, doing their most, could only sacrifice a few thou- 
 sand lives at a time, and on a given spot, the plague 
 now invaded Europe, destroying its hundreds of 
 
 thousands, and depopulating hundreds of towns and 
 cities at one and the same time. From the heart 
 of China, this pestilence, sweeping across the desert 
 of Gobi and the wilds of Tartary, found its way 
 through the Levant, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Ger- 
 many, France, and at last embraced the western 
 coast of England, whence it soon spread all over 
 the land. It appeared in London in November, 
 1348, and there committed the most frightful rav- 
 ages. According to some historians one half of the 
 whole pojjulation of England was swept away, and 
 the dreadful malady aftected the cattle in an equal 
 degree. The poor suffered most; and, at the end 
 of the great pestilence, there were not hands enough 
 left to till the soil. 
 
 Edward repeatedly complained to his Parhament 
 of the bad faith of the French, and got money from 
 them to provide against their reported preparations 
 for a renewal of the war; but this money was not 
 thrown away, for at nearly every grant some con- 
 cession favorable to the liberty of the subject was 
 asked and obtained from this warlike king. In part 
 probably from a desire to reduce the Scots, who 
 maintained their independence in spite of the cap- 
 tivity of their king, he several times made offers of
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 745 
 
 peace to John of France, on condition of renoun- 
 cing his pretensions to the French crown in ex- 
 change for the absohite sovereignty of Guienne, 
 Calais, and the other hinds which had been held as 
 liefs by the former kings of England. The pride 
 of the French people, however, revolted at this no- 
 tion : and after the king had committed his honor, and 
 promised, at the congress of Guisues, to accede to 
 Edward's propositions, they drove him into a most 
 unfortunate war.' 
 
 In 1355, Prince Edward opened the campaign in 
 the south of France with an army of sixty thousand 
 men, only a small part of whom were English. 
 From Bordeaux he marched to the foot of the 
 Pyi'enees, burning and destroying: from the Pyre- 
 nees he turned northward, and ravaged the countrj' 
 as far as Toulouse : he then proceeded to the 
 southeast, to the wealthy cities of Carcassonne and 
 Xarbonne, both which he plundered and burnt. 
 Loaded with booty, his destructive columns got 
 safely back to Bordeaux. A simultaneous move- 
 ment made by his father in the north of France 
 proved a failure ; for the country was cleared of 
 everything before his approach. King John, though 
 at the head of a numerous army, would not fight, 
 And Edward was obliged to turn back upon Calais 
 through want of provisions; and there he was 
 amused by a sort of challenge to a general battle, 
 to take place some day or other, till the Scots 
 retook their town of Berwick, and rushed across 
 the borders in hopes of rescuing their captive king, 
 or of retrieving the honor they had lost at Nevil's 
 Cross. At this news Edward hurried to meet his 
 Parliament, which assembled on the 23d of Novem- 
 l)er, and promptly voted him supplies for this emer- 
 gency. 
 
 It was the middle of January, 1356, before Ed- 
 ward could appear at Berwick; but, at his approach, 
 us the Scots had only got possession of the town, 
 and not of the castle, they withdrew. Edward 
 was now fully resolved to put an end to the inter- 
 ruptions which the Scottish wars had so frequently 
 ottered to his wars in France, and to effect a final 
 conquest of the kingdom. His army was immense, 
 and composed in great part of tried soldiers, men 
 elated by the many victories thej' had obtained on 
 the continent. As if nations were to be bought and 
 sold, and made over by sheets of parchment, he 
 purchased, at Roxburgh, on the 20th of January, 
 all Edward Baliol's rights to the Scottish throne 
 for five thousand marks, and a yearly annuity of 
 2000/. — a vast deal more than they were worth — 
 for Baliol had no rights acknowledged by the nation, 
 which had thoroughly expelled and renounced him 
 ever since the year 1341. With these parchments 
 in his chest, the King of England marched through 
 the Lothians, burnt Haddington and f>dinlnirgh, 
 and wasted the neighboring country. But here 
 again he was compelled to retreat, by want of pro- 
 visions : the Scots, who could not meet him in the 
 field, harassed his retiring forces, and inflicted a 
 dreadful vengeance on the rear, and on all strag- 
 glers, for the horrible devastations they had coni- 
 1 Rymer. — Mezeray. 
 
 mitted. The Scots called this inroad the "burnt 
 Candlemas ;" and many an English village afterward 
 was made to blaze for the fires which Edward had 
 kindled. From this time Edward Baliol drops out 
 of notice, and he died a childless and a childish old 
 man, at Doncaster, in the year 1363. 
 
 From causes which are not explained, but at 
 which it is not difficult to guess, Edward neither 
 renewed the war in Scotland, nor reinforced his 
 son in France ; for the Black Prince,' as late as 
 July in the following year, took the field with only 
 twelve or fourteen thousand men, few of whom 
 were English, except a body of archers, the rest 
 being chiefly Gascons. The prince's plan seems 
 to have been merely to repeat the plundering, 
 devastating expedition of the j)receding year. By 
 rapid marches, he overran the Agenois, the Limou- 
 sin, and Auvergne, and penetrated into Berri, in 
 the very heart of France, burning, destroying, and 
 plundering. He advanced so far, that he " came 
 to the good city of Bourges, where there was a 
 grand skirmish at one of the gates." He found 
 Bourges, and afterward Issodun, too strong for 
 him, but he took Viei"son bj- storm, and burnt 
 Romorantin, a town about ten leagues from Biois. 
 The King of France advanced from Chartres, and, 
 crossing the Loire, at Blois, made for the city of 
 Poictiers. Edward, it appears, had so exasperated 
 the French by his destructive proceedings, that not 
 a man could be found to give him information ot 
 John's march ; and, in utter ignorance, he turned 
 to the southwest, and marched also for Poictiers. 
 On the 17th of September, the English van came un- 
 expectedly upon the rear of the great French army 
 at a village within two short leagues of Poictiers ; 
 and Edward's scouts soon after discovered that the 
 whole surrounding country swarmed with the ene- 
 mj', and that his retreat toward Gascony was cut 
 oft". "God help us!" said the Black Prince; "we 
 must now consider how we can best fight them." 
 He quartered his troops for the night in a very 
 strong position, among hedges, vineyards, and 
 bushes. On the following luorning, Sunday, the 
 18th of September, John drew out his host in 
 order of battle : he had, it is said, sixtj- thousand 
 horse, beside foot; wliile the whole force of the 
 Black Prince, horse and foot, did not exceed ten 
 thousand men. But Edward had chosen a most 
 admiral)le position, and the issue of this battle, in- 
 deed, depended on his " military eye " and on "the 
 sinewy arms of the English bowmen." - When 
 the battle was about joining, a legate of the Pope, 
 the Cardinal Talleyrand, arrived on the field, and 
 implored the French king to avoid the carnage 
 which must inevitably ensue. John reluctantly 
 consented to let the cardinal-legate go to the Eng- 
 lish camp, and represent to the English prince the 
 great danger in which he stood. " Save my honor.'* 
 said the Black Prince, "and the honor of my army, 
 and I will listen to any reasonable terms." The 
 
 1 It apppars to be now that the vo'inser Edward was first rallrd the 
 " Black Prince," from the color of his armor, which, snys the Pere 
 d'Orleans, " pave eclat to the fairness of his compleiion. ard a relief 
 to his bonne mine."' ' St J- Mackintosh
 
 746 
 
 HISTORV OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Boor IV 
 
 cardinal answered, "Fair son, you say well, and I 
 will endeavor to procure you such conditions." If 
 this j)rince of the church failed, it was no fault of 
 his ; for all that Sunday he rode from one army to 
 the other, exerting; himself to the utmost to procure 
 a truce. The prince offered to restore all the 
 towns and castles which he had taken in this expe- 
 dition, to give up all his prisoners without ransom, 
 and to swear that he would not, for the next seven 
 years, bear arms against the King of France. But 
 John, too confident in his superiority of numbers, 
 would not agree to these terms, and, in the end, he 
 sent, as his ultimatum, that the prince and a hundred 
 of his best knights must surrender themselves pris- 
 oners, or he would not allow them to pass. Neither 
 the prince nor his people would ever have agreed 
 to such a treaty. All Sunday was spent in these 
 negotiations. The prince's little army were but 
 badly off for provisions and forage ; but, during the 
 day, they dug some ditches, and threw up some 
 banks round their strong position, which could only 
 be approached b}' one narrow lane. They also ar- 
 ranged their baggage-waggons so as to form a ram- 
 part or barricade, as had been done at Crecy. On 
 the following morning, Monday, September 19th, 
 the trumpets sounded at earliest dawn, and the 
 French again formed in order of battle. Again 
 Cardinal Talleyrand spoke to the French king ; 
 but the Frenchmen told him to return whence he 
 came, and not bring them any more treaties or 
 pacifications, lest worse should betide him. The 
 cardinal then rode to Prince Edward, and told him 
 he must do his best, for that he could not move 
 the French king. " Then God defend the right," 
 said Edward, preparing >vith a cheerful counte- 
 nance, like his father at Crecy, for the unequal 
 conflict. A mass of French cavalry charged along 
 the lane to force his position, but such a flight of 
 arrows came from the hedges, that they were soon 
 brought to a pause, and at last were compelled to 
 turn and flee, leaving the lane choked up with 
 their dead and wounded and their fallen horses. 
 Of the two marshals of France who led this attack, 
 Arnold d'Andreghen was wounded, and taken pris- 
 oner ; and Clermont, the other, was killed, by the 
 stout bowmen of England. After this success, 
 Edward became the assailant. Six hundred Eng- 
 lish bowmen, making a circuit, suddenly showed 
 their green jackets and white bows on the flank 
 and rear of John's second division. " To say the 
 truth," quoth Froissart, " these English archers 
 were of infinite service to their army, for they shot 
 so thickly and so well that the French did not 
 know which way to turn themselves." The second 
 division scarcely waited to feel the points of their 
 arrows: the knights becoming alarmed for their 
 horses, which they had left in the rear, quitted 
 their banners. Eight hundred lances were detach- 
 ed to escort the French princes from this scene of 
 danger, and presently after the whole division dis- 
 persed in shameful disorder. .At this pleasant sight 
 the knights and men-at-arms under the Black 
 I'rince, who had as yet done nothing but look on, 
 mounted their horses. As soon as they were 
 
 mounted, they gave a shout of " St. George for 
 Guienne !" and Sir John Chandos said to the 
 prince, " Sire, ride forward, the day is yours ! let 
 us address ourselves to our adversary, the King of 
 France ; for in that part lies ail the strength of the 
 enterprise. Well I know that his valiancy will 
 not permit him to flee, and he will remain with us, 
 please God and St. George." Then the prince 
 said to his standard-bearer, "Advance banners, in 
 the name of (Jod and St. George !" They went 
 through the lane — charged across the open moor 
 where the French had formed their battalia — and 
 the shock was dreadful. The Constable of France 
 stood firm with many squadrons of horse, his knights 
 and squires shouting, " 3Iountjoy, St. Denis !" but 
 the duke was slain, with most of his knights. The 
 Black Prince then charged a body of German 
 cavalry, who were soon put to flight. But even 
 here it seems to have been rather the arrow of the 
 English yeomanry than the lance of the knight that 
 gained the advantage. A strong body of reserve, 
 under the command of the Duke of Orleans, fled 
 without striking a blow. But Chandos was not 
 mistaken as to the personal braverj- of John ; that 
 king led up a division on foot, and fought desperately 
 with a battle-axe ; and when nearly all had forsaken 
 him, his youngest son, Philip, a boy of sixteen, 
 fought by his side. John received two wounds in 
 the face, and was beaten to the ground ; but he 
 rose and still strove to defend himself, while the 
 English and Gascons pressed upon him, crying, 
 " Surrender, or you are a dead man !" They 
 would have killed him, but a young knight from St. 
 Omer, named Sir Denis, burst through the crowd 
 and said to the king in good French, " Sire, sur- 
 render!" The k4ng, who found himself in desper- 
 ate case, said, " To whom shall I surrender ? Where 
 is my cousin, the Prince of Wales ?" " He is not 
 here," replied Sir Denis; "but surrender to rae, 
 and I will conduct you to him." " But who are 
 you?" said the king. "Denis de Morbecque," he 
 answered, " a knight of Artois ; but I serve the 
 King of England because I cannot belong to France, 
 having forfeited all I had there." ' King John then 
 gave him his right-hand glove, and said, "I surren- 
 der to you." There was much crowding and strug- 
 gling round about the king, for every one was eager 
 to say — " I took him." At last John was removed 
 out of a situation of great danger (for the English 
 had taken him by force from Sir Denis, and were 
 quarreling with the Gascons) by the Earl AVarwick 
 and the Lord Cobham, who saluted him with pro- 
 found respect, and conducted him, with his young- 
 est son Philip, to the Prince of Wales.*^ 
 
 Edward received his illustrious captive with the 
 greatest modesty and respect, treating him with all 
 the courtesy of the most perfect chivalry. He in- 
 vited him to supper, waited on him at table as his 
 superior in age and dignity, soothed his grief, and 
 praised his matchless valor, which had gained the 
 admiration of both armies. The day after this 
 victory, Edward continued his march ; he passed 
 
 1 Sir Denis, it appears, had been banished from France for killing it 
 man in an affrav. 2 Froissart.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 747 
 
 through Poictou and Saintonge without meeting 
 with any resistance, for the French nowhere ral- 
 Hed to rescue their king, and, coming to Blaye, he 
 crossed the Garonne, and presently came to the 
 good city of Bordeaux, where he safely lodged all 
 his prisoners. He then concluded a truce for two 
 years with the Dauphin Charles, now appointed 
 Lieutenant of France, and in the spring he returned 
 to England, taking King John and Prince Philip 
 with him. Their entrance into London (24th April, 
 1357) was magnificent; the King of France was 
 mounted on a cream-colored charger, richly capari- 
 soned ; the Prince of Wales rode by his side, as his 
 page, on a small black palfrey ; but the former could 
 scarcely be flattered by being made the principal 
 figure in such a procession. The King of England 
 received John with all the honors due to a crowned 
 head ; and yet, if Edward's pretensions were well 
 founded, what was John but a rebel and usurper ? 
 The truth, however, seems to be that, even in his 
 own eyes, these pretensions, as also those to the 
 crown of Scotland, appeared, if not unreasonable in 
 themselves, at least surrounded by too many diffi- 
 culties of execution, and Edward soon showed an 
 inclination to renounce his French scheme, and to 
 follow up the Scottish project by other means than 
 those of conquest. As early as the year 1351, he 
 had opened negotiations with the Scots for the lib- 
 eration of their king, but the ransom he then fixed 
 was extravagantly high ; in 1354, these negotiations 
 were renewed, and the Scots consented to pay 
 ninety thousand marks in nine years ; but their 
 alhes, the French, induced them to depart from 
 this agreement, and, leaving their king a prisoner, 
 they prepared to invade England. Edward's " burnt 
 Candlemas" and the victory over their allies at 
 Poictiers made them willing to treat again, and the 
 English king, in spite of those successes, was not in 
 a condition to renew a war in the north. On the 
 3d of October, 1357, a treaty was concluded, the 
 Scots agreeing to pay one hundred thousand marks 
 in ten yeai-s, and to give hostages as security for 
 such payments ; and in the month of November, 
 David, after a captivity of eleven years, recovered 
 his hberty and returned to Scotland.' It was soon 
 made to appear that his long residence in England 
 and his intimate association with Edward had pro- 
 duced their eflfect on the weak mind of David Bruce, 
 and that Edward, in discontinuing the struggle by 
 arms, had not renounced his ambitious hopes. In 
 1362, David's wife died childless, and, in a parlia- 
 ment held at Scone in the following year, David 
 coolly proposed that they should choose Lionel, 
 Duke of Cambridge, Edward's third son, to fill the 
 throne in the event of his dying without issue. At 
 this time the next heir in the regular line was the 
 Stewart of Scotland, the son of David's elder sister. 
 David hated his nephew, and this feeling may have 
 had a great share in influencing him to make this 
 strange proposal, and it also appears probable that 
 Edward had bound him by some secret compact be- 
 fore he consented to his release. But the Parlia- 
 ment of Scotland rejected the project with indigna- 
 
 ' Rvnier. — Hailes. 
 
 tion. The death of Edward Baliol without children, 
 which happened soon after this conference at 
 Scone, made David less careful in his proceedings : 
 he went to London and agreed, in a secret confer- 
 ence with Edward, that, in default of the King of 
 Scots and his issue male, the King of England for 
 the time being should succeed to the throne of Scot- 
 land. Edward could not be blind to the difficulties 
 that stood in the way of this project, and the un- 
 worthy son of the great Bruce was instructed to 
 sound the inclinations of his people, and to keep 
 Edward and his council informed of the result. The 
 King of England took advantage of the debt owing 
 to him for David's ransom to trouble and insult the 
 Scots on many occasions, and the intrigues of his 
 agents added to the unhappiness of that people ; but 
 David remained steady to his purpose, and, probably 
 to escape the reproaches of his subjects, spent a 
 good deal of his time in England. When Edward 
 was engaged abroad, the Scots breathed more free- 
 ly : in 1365, it was agreed that the truce between 
 the two countries (for it had been repeatedly re- 
 newed, and as yet there was no treaty of peace) 
 should be prolonged till 1371 ; and four years later 
 a reduction was made on the amount of the money 
 due for the ransom. King David died in February, 
 1371, and his project died with him: his nephew, 
 the Stewart of Scotland, ascended the throne with- 
 out opposition, taking the title of Robert II. ; and 
 though Edward at one moment seemed inclined to 
 undertake another Scottish war, old age, the loss of 
 his son the Black Prince, and other misfortunes, 
 prevented his so doing. Of all his conquests in 
 Scotland, none were permanent except that of the 
 town of Berwick. The house of Stewart held the 
 independent crown of Scotland for two lumdred and 
 thirty-two years, and then James VI. succeeded by 
 inheritance to the throne of England, thus laying a 
 better foundation for the happy union between the 
 two countries than could ever have been efl'ected by 
 conquest. Edward's proceedings with his other 
 kingly ca])tive may be briefly related. Two legatee 
 of the Pope followed John and the Prince of Wale." 
 to London, where they labored to promote an ami- 
 cable arrangement between England and France. 
 Edward readily consented to wave his absurd claim 
 to the French crown, and to liberate John, on con- 
 dition of receiving an enormous ransom, and the 
 restoration of Normandy, of the heritage of Eleanor 
 of Aquitaine, and of all the provinces which had be- 
 longed to Henry II., to be held in separate sovereign- 
 ty without any feudal dependence on the French 
 king.' John hesitated and tried to gain time, but 
 time only increased the wretchedness and weak- 
 ness of his kingdom, which fell into a frightful state 
 of anarchy. The King of Navarre, who descended 
 from the ro3al t^imily of P'' ranee, defied the author- 
 ity of Charles the Dauphin, and was in close alliance 
 with the citizens of Paris, who were engaged, as 
 they had been for some years, in a laudable attempt 
 to put constitutional checks on the arbitrary power 
 of their kings. These men acted imprudently and 
 impetuously : after being led into bloody excesses.
 
 r48 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 they were betrayed and abandoned by the King of 
 Navarre and their other royal and noble allies ; but 
 still their original project was worthy of all praise ; 
 its unfortunate failure delaj-ed for centuries the 
 inarch of a rational liberty in France, and the Eng- 
 lish writers who denounce the attempt as altogether 
 base and treasonable, must have been ignorant of 
 the subject, or void of sympathy for the glorious 
 struggle which had taken place in their own coun- 
 try. By breaking their faith with the people, the 
 dauphin and his nobles provoked the excesses of 
 which they afterward complained, and John himself 
 had left behind him a mass of unsatisfied revenge by 
 certain illegal executions resembling those of his 
 father Phihp. The streets of Paris ran with blood ; 
 and on the 22d of February, 1358, Stephen Marcel, 
 the provost of the merchants, killed two of the dau- 
 phin's counselors, Robert de Clermont and John do 
 Conflans, so near that prince that their blood sprin- 
 kled his robes ; and at the same time the people 
 obliged the Cardinal de la Forest, chancellor and 
 chief minister, to resign his places and flee for his 
 life. The noble's, not excepting those who had been 
 in the league, grew jealous of the citizens ; and then 
 the peasants, or serfs, who had been treated like 
 beasts of burden for many ages, even until they had 
 lost the qualities of humanity, rose against their op- 
 pressors, plundered and burnt their castles, and 
 massacred the nobles, men, women, and children, 
 wherever they could find them. This horrible ! 
 Jacquerie,^ which was but faintly imitated in Eng- 
 land during the next reign (by Wat Tyler and Jack 1 
 Straw), lasted the greater part of the years 1357 
 and 1358, and was not suppressed without slaughter 
 ■equally atrocious on the part of the government. 
 On one occasion, the dauphin killed more than 
 twenty thousand peasants : the Sire de Couci made 
 such a butchery of them in Picardy and in Artois 
 that the country was soon cleared of them. They 
 were cut down in heaps, — crushed to death, — 
 slaughtered like beasts by the knights and men-at- 
 arms. No quarter was given ; no prisoners were I 
 taken except a few hundreds to furnish an exhibition 
 and expire in horrible tortures. This dreadful state 
 of things conquered the pride of John, and he signed 
 the treaty of peace as dictated by Edward ; but the 
 French nation, divided as it was, unanimously re- 
 jected it. Edward, enraged at what he termed the 
 bad faith of the enemy, — for he thought that the 
 signature of a king was everjtliing, and the will of 
 the nation nothing, — passed over into France in the 
 autumn of 1359 with an army more numerous than 
 any which he had hitherto employed on the conti- 
 nent. From his convenient landing-place at Calais, 
 he poured his irresistible forces through Artois and 
 Picardj-, and laid siege to Rheims, with the inten- 
 tion, it is said, of being crowned King of France in 
 that city, where such ceremony was usually per- 
 formed. But the winter season and the strength of 
 the place baffled his eflbrts : after losing seven or 
 eight weeks, he raised the siege, and fell upon Bur- 
 gundy. The duke was forced to pay fifty thousand 
 
 1 So called from Jacques Bon-homnie, or James Good-man, a name 
 applied in derision to the French peasantry. 
 
 marks, and to engage to remain neutral. While 
 Edward was in Burgundy, a French fleet took and 
 plundered the town of Winchelsea, committing great 
 barbarities, which the English soon after retaliated 
 on the French coast. From Burgundy Edward 
 marched upon Paris, and, on the last day of March, 
 1360, the English encamped in front of that capital. 
 He, however, was not strong enough to besiege 
 Paris ; the dauphin wisely declined a chaflenge to 
 come out and fight; and in the month of April, a 
 want of provisions compelled Edward to lead his 
 army toward Brittany.^ His route was soon cov- 
 ered by men and horses, who died from want or 
 dropped from the severe fatigues they had under- 
 gone in this winter campaign. Edward's lieart was 
 touclied ; but it was a terrific tempest of thunder, 
 lightning, wind, hail, and rain, which he encounter- 
 ed near Chartres, and which reminded him of the 
 day of judgment, that completely subdued his reso- 
 lution. " Looking toward the church of Notre- 
 Dame, at Chartres, he took a vow ; and he after- 
 ward went devoutly to that church, confessed liim- 
 self, and promised (as he afterward said) that he 
 would grant peace ; and then he went to lodge at a 
 village near to Chartres called Bretigny."' 
 
 An armistice was arranged, and, on the 8th of 
 May, 1360, the great peace was concluded by the 
 treaty of Bretigny. " The King of England, Lord 
 of Ireland and of Aquitaine," as Edward was now 
 content to style himself, renounced his pretensions 
 to the crown of France, and his claim to Nor- 
 mandy, Anjou, and Maine, with some other terri- 
 tories that had belonged to his ancestors : he re- 
 stored all the conquests made by himself and his 
 son, with the exception of Calais and Guisnes, and 
 reserved to himself Guienne and Poictou, with 
 their dependencies Saintonge, Agenois, the Li- 
 mousin, Perigord, Thouars, and other districts in 
 the south, and the country of Ponthieu in the 
 northwest, the inheritance of his mother. The 
 Dauphin of France^ agreed that Edward and his 
 heirs forever should have full and free sovereignty 
 of the countries ceded bj' this treaty; that thi'ee 
 million crowns of gold should be paid in six years as 
 John's ransom, and that sixteen of the prisoners 
 taken at Poictiers, tweut^'-five French barons, and 
 
 1 Petrarra, who visited Paris about this time {in 1360), has left a 
 lamentable picture nf the state of the country, the consequence of the 
 English war, and of internal anarchy. " I could not believe," says 
 the Italian poet, "that this was the same kingdom which I had oixe 
 seen so rich and flourishing. Nothing presented itself to my eye.t 
 but a fearful solitude, an extreme poverty, lands uncultivated, houses 
 in ruins. Even the neighborhood of Paris manifested everywhere 
 marks of destruction and conflagration. The streets are deserted, — 
 the roads overgrown with weeds ;— the whole is a vast solitude."' Ac- 
 cording to Mczeray, the French bore all these calamities with their 
 usual light-hcartedness, — " Misfortunes did not correct them, — pomps 
 and games and tournaments continued all the while. The French' 
 danced, so to speak, over the dead bodies of their relations ; they 
 seemed to rejoice at the burntDg of their castles and houses, and at 
 the death of their friends. While some were getting their throats 
 cut in the country, others amused themselves in the towns. The 
 sound of the violin was not interrupted by the blast of the trumpet ; 
 and the voices of those who sang and rejoiced at bails and festivals, and 
 the piteous cries of those who perished in the flames, or by the edge 
 of the sword, were heard at one and the same time." 
 
 - Froissart.— Kr.yghton. — Rymer. 
 
 3 John, as a prisoner, was at first no party to the compact, but when 
 he went to Calais, 'in parole, he was considered as a free agent.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 749 
 
 forty-two burghers chosen in the richest cities of 
 France, should be constituted hostages for the faith- 
 ful fulfilment of the articles. In July, John was 
 sent over to Calais that he might ratify the treaty. 
 Three mouths were spent in explanations and at- 
 tempts at mutual deception, and then this treaty 
 was ratified at Calais on the absurd condition that 
 the really important clauses should remain in sus- 
 pense and not be executed till the Feast of the As- 
 sumption, or that of St. Andrew, in the following 
 year.^ On the 24th of October, 1360, there was a 
 solemn interchange of oaths in the church of St. 
 Nicholas at Calais : King John with twenty-four 
 French barons swore to be true to the treaty, and 
 Edward swore to the same effect with twenty- 
 seven English barons. On the following day. King 
 John was set at liberty, and Edward returned to 
 England. 
 
 John, with all his fiiults and vices (and these 
 were so numerous that we wonder how he ever 
 obtained the surname of "the Good"), was sen- 
 sitive on the point of honor, and a scrupulous 
 observer of his word, but the impoverished con- 
 dition of his country, and the decided opposition of 
 his sons and great nobles, prevented his fnlfiling 
 any of the important parts of the treaty. There 
 was no money to pay the heavy ransom, and, 
 whenever he mentioned the renunciation of the 
 suzerainty of his crown over the provinces ceded 
 to Edward, he encountered a violent opposition. It 
 is not so written in the annals of France, but it 
 appears to us pretty evident, that the uncomfortable 
 life he led in his own dominions had a good deal 
 to do with what followed. The Duke of Anjou 
 dishonorably broke his parole, and, flying from 
 Calais, where he was living as one of the hostages, 
 lepaired to Paris. His father was much affected 
 by this breach of honor, and he felt that part of his 
 own conduct since his return required explanation. 
 It is said that he also hoped to obtain some modifi- 
 cation of the treaty of Bretigny, and to speak with 
 Edward about a new crusade. The French cour- 
 tiers laughed at his scruples, but, to their astonish- 
 ment, he went over to London, where Edward 
 received him with eveiy token of affection. It was 
 then said, in France, that it was his violent love for 
 an English lady, and not his honor, that induced 
 him to put himself again in the power of his en- 
 emy. John quietly took up his old quarters in the 
 Savoy ; but soon after his arrival, and before any 
 business was transacted, he fell dangerously ill. 
 He died at London in the month of April, 1364, 
 much regretted, it is said, by Edward and the Eng- 
 lish nobles.^ 
 
 The dauphin, now Charles V., held the treaty 
 of Bretigny in the same state of suspense, and 
 complained bitterly of the ravages committed in 
 his dominions by the " cCmpanics of adventure " 
 which had been in the service of the Black Prince. 
 The truth was, that many of these lawless bands 
 had been in the pay of France, so that Edward was 
 not accountable for the whole of the mischief. The 
 
 1 That is, the 15th of August or thfi 30ih of November, 1361. 
 
 2 RviTier. — Froissarl. — Continuator of Nangis. — ViUaret. 
 
 " free companions," as they called themselves, 
 were mercenaries, vagabonds, and adventurers, 
 from nearly every country in Europe, who sold 
 their services to the best payers, and as Edward 
 was by far the wealthier of the two kings, he cer- 
 tainly liad the greater number of them. When 
 peace was concluded between the sovereigns, they 
 associated together, chose skilful captains, took or 
 retained castles which they had been paid to gar- 
 rison, and carried on a war on their own account. 
 They defeated a royal army led against them by 
 John de Bourbon, who was mortally wounded in 
 that action. They made Charles tremble in Paris, 
 and the Pope at Avignon.' Edward engaged to 
 clear the country of them, but Charles had no wish 
 to see another English army in his territory. 
 Events in Spain afforded opportunity of getting rid 
 of the marauders. Pedro IV., called " the Cruel," 
 Avas then legitimate King of Castile, but his atroci- 
 ties provoked an insurrection. He was, however, 
 strong enough to defeat the insurgents, who fled 
 for refuge to the King of Arragon. The latter 
 sovereign was unable to resist the arms of the 
 tyrant, who made war upon him ; and then th>» 
 Castilian exiles, among whom were two illegiti- 
 mate half-brothers of Pedro, — Enrique, Count of 
 Trastamara, and Telle, Count of Biscay, — fled into 
 France. Among his many recent murders, Pedro 
 the Cruel had poisoned his wife, a French princess. 
 It occurred to Enrique of Tiastamara, or probably 
 it was suggested to him by the French court, that 
 he might collect among the veteran "companies" 
 such a force as would give him a decided superi- 
 ority over his half-brother Pedro. The King of 
 France gave money ; the Pope gave more ;- and 
 thirty thousand of the adventurers put themselves 
 under the command of the celebrated warrior Du- 
 guescliu and of Don Enrique, and, marching across 
 the Pyrenees, drove the tyrant from his throne. 
 Don Pedro, who had not even the satisfaction of 
 fighting a battle in his defence, fled through Portu- 
 gal to Coruna, where he embarked in the first ship 
 he found, and sailed with his daughters for Bor- 
 deaux. The Black Prince, to whom his father had 
 ceded all his dominions in the south, was residing 
 at Bordeaux, and there gave the tyrant a most 
 friendly reception, considering him as an unfortu- 
 nate legitimate sovereign, and his half-brother Don 
 Enrique as a usurper. His father took the samt- 
 view ; and it was soon determined to restore the 
 fugitive king by force of arms. Charles of France 
 at the same time took measures to supjiort Doii 
 Enrique ; but his means were very limited. Th' 
 Black Prince had been married some time to n 
 beautiful widow, his second cousin, Joan Countess 
 of Kent,^ who had been familiarly and endearing!} 
 
 1 On one orrasion a troop of these banditti commanded by Arnaldi- 
 di Cervola, forced the Pope to redeem himself in Avignon by the pay 
 meat of forty thousand crowns. 
 
 2 At first tlie Pope wanted Dugnesclin to remain satisfied with his 
 blessin?, but the bold advenlurer assured his holiness that the compa- 
 nies could make shift without absolulion, but not without money.— Sei' 
 Hist. Duguesclin, a very curious old book. 
 
 3 The history of this fair lady, the mother of the unfortunate Rich- 
 ard II., as of an elder brother (Edward) who die.l in infancy, is rather 
 curious. She was daughter and heiress to the Earl of Kent, uncle to
 
 750 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 called " the Fair Maid of Kent ;" but the arrival of 
 Pedro's daughters was not without its ellect ; and 
 the marriage of two of them to Edward's brothers, 
 the Duke of Lftncaster and the Earl of Cambridge, 
 which took place a few years after, gave rise to the 
 claim of an English prince to the throne of Castile, 
 a ridiculous claim, like many others of those times, 
 but which did not the less cost England some blood 
 and treasure. For the present the fair Spaniards 
 remained at the gay and splendid court of Bor- 
 deaux, while their father and the Black Prince and 
 the Duke of Lancaster raised their banners of war. 
 Among the adventurers who had taken service 
 under Don Eni'ique, there were several English 
 captains ; and such was Prince Edward's popularity' 
 among the companions generally, that as soon as 
 they knew what was preparing, twelve thousand 
 men, under the command of Sir John Calverly and 
 Sir Robert Knowles, abandoned their new master, 
 and returned with all speed to join Edward in 
 (Tuienne. As Pedro's promises were most liberal, 
 and the fame of Edward so prevalent, they soon 
 marched with thirty thousand men. The King of 
 Navarre, who was master of that pass of the Py- 
 renees, was bought over ; and in the midst of 
 winter, snow-storms, and tempests, the Black 
 Prince led his army in safety through Roncesvalles, 
 the famed scene of the " dolorous rout" of Charle- 
 magne and all his paladins — the deep and danger- 
 ous valley, which, at the distance of four centuries 
 and a half, was threaded in a contrary direction by 
 a victorious English army under the Duke of Wel- 
 lington. 
 
 On the 3d of April, 1367, Don Enrique met the 
 invaders in the open plains between Navarete and 
 Xajara, with an army which is represented as being 
 three times as numerous as that of Prince Edward 
 and Don Pedro. The battle was begun by the 
 young Duke of Lancaster, who was emulous of the 
 military fame of his brother Edward, and who prob- 
 ably entertained alieady the hope that the plains 
 over which he was charging would one day acknowl- 
 edge him as their king. When the Black Prince 
 charged Don Telio, the brother of Don Enrique, 
 that prince wheeled about, and fled in disorder with 
 his whole division, without striking a blow. After 
 this, Edward advanced against the main division, 
 which was commanded by King Enrique in person : 
 and now the fight began in earnest. The Castilians 
 had slings, with which tliey threw stones with such 
 force as to break helmets and skull-caps : the Eng- 
 lish archers, "as was their wont," shot briskly with 
 their bows, "to the great annoyance and death of 
 the Spaniards," who, feeling the sharpness of the 
 English arrows, soon lost all order. In the end the 
 
 Edward III., who had been put to death at the beginning- of the present 
 reign, by Mortimer anil Isabella. She was married when very young 
 !o Montacute, Earl of Salistmry, from whom she was divorced ; she 
 then espoused Sir Thomas Holland, who assumed in her right the tillft 
 iif Earl of Kent, and was summoned to Parliament as such. By this 
 second husband she had two sons. — Thomas Holland, who inherited 
 the honors of his father, and John Holland, who was afterward created 
 Earl of Huntingdon and Duke of Exeter. They will both appear m 
 the sequel — John as the perpetrator of a savage murder. Her second 
 husband had scarcely been dead three months when she married the 
 Black Prince 
 
 Black Prince gained a complete victory ; Enrique 
 fled, and Don Pedro reascended the throne.' Mis- 
 fortune had not taught him mercy; Pedro wanted to 
 massacre all his prisoners, but this Prince Edward 
 prevented. Now came the time for the tyrant to 
 show his gratitude ; but he was alike unable and 
 unwilling to keep his engagements ; and after being 
 half-starved in the country he had won for anotlier, 
 and contracting heavy debts and a malady from which 
 he never recovered, Edward was obliged to lead his 
 army with all haste back to Guienne, where he ar- 
 rived in the month of July, 13()7. Pedro, however, 
 liad soon cause to deplore his departure : in a little 
 more than a year his bastard half-brother returned 
 to Castile, and defeated him in battle. A confer- 
 ence was arranged, but, as soon as the two brothers 
 met, they flew at each other with the fury of wild 
 beasts, and in the struggle Don Enrique killed Pe 
 dro with his dagger. The bastard, who was still 
 supported by Charles of France, again took posses- 
 sion of the throne.* 
 
 The wary Charles had been recovering strength 
 W'hile the English were losing it ; he was now almost 
 ready for an open war, and he bound Enrique by 
 treaty to assist him as soon as he should declare it. 
 At the same time he conciliated the King of Navarre, 
 and entered into a secret understanding with the 
 disartected lords, vassals of the Black Prince, whose 
 lands lay near the Pyrenees. For seven years the 
 treaty of Bretigny had been little more than a dead 
 letter : John's ransom had never been paid f many 
 of the hostages, breaking their parole, had returned 
 to France ; some of the territory stipulated had 
 never been ceded ; the sovereign title to the whole 
 had been withheld by Charles, who had watched 
 with a keen eye the decaying vigor of King Edward, 
 now an old man, and the shattered health of the 
 Black Prince, who, melancholy and spirit-broken, 
 was evidently sinking to a premature grave. The 
 expedition for Don Pedro proved a curse in more 
 ways than one — it so embarrassed the prince that 
 he was obliged to impose additional taxes upon his 
 subjects of Guienne, in order to obtain the means of 
 paying his ai"my. Upon this the Count of Armagnac, 
 and other Gascon lords, already in the interest of 
 France, went to Paris, and appealed to the King of 
 France, as the lord paramount. Charles had waited 
 patiently for years, but he now thought that circum- 
 stances, and, above all, the deplorable state of the 
 prince's health, would allow him to declare himself. 
 He summoned Edward, as Prince of Aquitaine and 
 his vassal (which he was not since the treaty of 
 Bretigny), to appear in his court at Paris to answer 
 to the complaints of the Gascon lords. The prince 
 knew what this meant ; and he replied that he would 
 
 1 Froissart. 
 
 2 Froissart. — Walsing. — Mariaija.— Edward's assisting the monster 
 Don Pedro has been attributed to a defect in chivalrous morality ; bat 
 it seems to us that chivalry had nothing to do with it. Pedro was, not 
 only hy treaty, but also by blood, an ally of England ; but what still 
 more powerfully urged King Edward and his son, was Enrique de 
 Trastamara's throwing himself into the French interests. Had there 
 been no French interference, it is probable that Edward would never 
 have undertaken to restore the tyrant. 
 
 3 It appears that Edward received about a fourth of the sum prom- 
 ised
 
 Chap. L] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 751 
 
 go, indeed, to Paris, but it should be at the head of 
 sixty tliousand men. His father, however, was less 
 violent, or probably only better acquainted with the 
 increasing difficulties of raising money in England 
 for such purposes ; and, lowering his claims, the 
 elder Edward, setting aside some territory which 
 had been included in the treaty of Bretigny, said he 
 would content himself with the separate sovereignty 
 of Guienne and Poictou, with the adjoining prov- 
 inces, which he actually possessed. But Charles 
 took this moderation as a certain proof of weakness, 
 and, declaring the Prince of Aquitaine to be contu- 
 macious, he poured his troops into his territories. 
 In Poictou, and still more in Guienne, his arms were 
 assisted by the people, who never had been steady 
 to either party : when united with the French they 
 complained of an arbitrary and excessive taxation, 
 and of checks put upon the freedom of trade ; and 
 when united with the English they complained of 
 the insolence and arrogance with which they were 
 treated by the proud islanders. 
 
 Edward nowreassumed his title of King of France, 
 and offered lands and honors in that kingdom to any 
 soldier of fortune that could conquer them with his 
 good sword. He sent reinforcements to the Black 
 Prince in the south ; and at the same time dis- 
 patched his other bi-ave son, the Duke of Lancas- 
 ter, with a gallant army from Calais. The duke 
 marched through the northwestern provinces, but 
 the French would not risk an engagement with him; 
 and, while he laid waste the open country, Charles 
 gradually extended his conquests in the south, where 
 some towns and castles were taken, and still more 
 delivered up by the garrisons and inhabitants. The 
 Black Prince was sick almost to death, but when 
 he heard that the dukes of Anjou and Berri were 
 marching against him from opposite points, he roused 
 himself and took the field. The royal dukes had 
 not heart to meet him — they both retieated with 
 precipitation ; and, after garrisoning the places they 
 had acquired, they disbanded their army. Limoges, 
 the capital of the Limousin, had been betrayed to 
 the dukes by the bishop and the inhabitants ; and 
 the prince was the more sensible to this treachery, 
 as it was a place upon which he had conferred many 
 honors and benefits, so that he had counted on the 
 gratitude and affection of the people. He swore, 
 by the soul of his father, that he would have the 
 town back again — that he would not move or attend 
 to any other thing until he got it — and that then he 
 would make the traitors pay dearly for their perfidy. 
 He was now so ill that he could not mount his horse, 
 but he caused himself to be carried on a litter from 
 post to post, and he pressed the siege with a savage 
 fury which had not hitherto been observed in him. 
 After a month's labor a part of the works was under- 
 mined, and a wide breach made in the walls, appa- 
 rently by the explosion of gunpowder : the besiegers 
 rushed through the breach, with orders, which were 
 but too faithfully obeyed, to massacre all they found. 
 Men, women, and children thi-ew themselves on 
 their knees before the prince, crying " Mercy ! 
 Mercy!" but ho would not hear them; although, as 
 the Chronicler remarks, most of the poor and hum- 
 
 ble class could have had nothing to do with the be- 
 traying the town to the French. They were all 
 murdered — upward of three thousand. "God have 
 mercy on their souls !" says Froissart, with more 
 feeling than usual, " for they were veritable mar- 
 tyrs.' John de Villemnr, Hugh de la Roche, and 
 the other knights whom the dukes had thrown into 
 Limoges, in all about eighty persons, retreated to 
 one of the squares, placed themselves with their 
 backs to an old wall, and with their banners before 
 them, resolved to sell their lives dearly, as good 
 knights ought. The English knights, as soon as they 
 saw them thus, dismounted, and attacked them on 
 foot. The French fought with the courage of de- 
 spair against very superior numbers. The prince, 
 who came up in his litter, looked on with admiration 
 at their feats, and he became mild and merciful at 
 the sight of such gallantry. Three of the French 
 knights, looking at their swords, said, "We are 
 jours — you have conquered — treat us according to 
 the laws of arms." Edward relented ; and, instead 
 of being massacred, they were received as prison- 
 ers, and their lives were spared in the midst of that 
 universal butcher}-. But no mercy was shown to 
 any of the meaner sort — the whole city of Limoges 
 was ransacked, and then burnt to the ground.^ The 
 massacre of Limoges was the last militarj' exploit 
 of the Black Prince. Hoping that the air of his 
 native country might benefit his ruined constitution, 
 he returned to England, leaving the command in the 
 south to his brother John of Gaunt, the Duke of 
 Lancaster. 
 
 Soon after his departure the Duke of Lancaster, 
 having now married the Lady Constance, eldest 
 daughter of Don Pedro, assumed in her right the 
 arms and title of King of Castile and Leon,- an im- 
 prudent step, which complicated the difficulties of 
 the English, for Pedro's bastard brother, Don En- 
 rique, who was firmly seated on the throne, drew 
 the bonds of his alliance with P\-ance still closer, 
 and prepared to take an active part in the wai-. In 
 the month of June, 1.372, when the Earl of Pem- 
 broke came off Rochelle with a fleet carrying rein- 
 forcements to the duke, he found a Spanish fleet, 
 consisting of ships far larger than his own, and fur- 
 nished with engines — prol)ably cannons — lying be- 
 tween La Rochelle and the Isle of Rlie. The 
 inhabitants of the town and coast, though they were 
 as yet subjects of the English, assisted the Spaniards 
 in every possible manner. Pembroke either could 
 not or would not avoid u battle : he fought desjje- 
 rately the whole day, and renewed the uiu'qual 
 combat on the morrow; but at last, his sliip was 
 wrappled by four Spiuiish ships at once, and boarded 
 on every side : he was made prisoner, and not a 
 single sail of his fleet escaped. Many of them went 
 down with their flags flying ; and a ship carrying 
 the military chest, with 20,000Z. in it, sank with the 
 rest.^ This was a heavy blow to the king and to 
 
 ' The Bishop of Limosfes, the real offender, escaped death ihrough 
 the management of the Duke of Lancaster. 
 
 2 The daughters nf Don Pedro were illegitimate; but after the death 
 of their mother, the celebrated Maria Padilla, he twk an oath that he 
 had been married to her, and he declared her (laughters his heirs 
 
 3 Froissart.
 
 7.1-2 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAiND. 
 
 [Book l\- 
 
 the whole nation, who had already begun to consider 
 the sea as their proper element. And from this 
 time, one ill success followed another with amazing 
 rapid it}'. Charles V., wlio not without reason was 
 called "the Wise," had determined not to hazard a 
 general battle with the English ; and he did not alter 
 this resolution when he appointed Duguesclin, that 
 consummate general, to be Constable of France and 
 leader of his armies. The war became a succes- 
 sion of surprises and sieges, the French general ad- 
 vancing slowly and methodically, but surely, leaving 
 no strong fortress in his rear, and retreating when- 
 ever the English showed themselves in force. , 
 Charles established the same system everywhere, ' 
 and Edward, in his old age, was often heard to say, j 
 that he had never known a king fight so little and j 
 yet give so much trouble. Sir Robert Knowles j 
 swept the whole of France from Calais to the walls j 
 of Paris, which he insulted ; and the Duke of Lan- 
 caster marched through France from one end to the 
 other, without meeting any opposition ; but they 
 found all the important fortresses and great towns 
 well guarded, and they both lost many men from 
 want of provisions, while every straggler from their 
 army was cut to pieces. Benon, Surgere, Saint 
 Jean d'Angely, and Saintes were taken by the con- 
 stable. The fortune of the war seemed to lie for 
 some time within the walls of Thouars, but after an 
 unsuccessful attempt made to relieve it, that place 
 fell before the arms and engines of Duguesclin ; and 
 Niort, Aunay, and other towns soon shared the same 
 fate. The Duke of Lancaster marched and counter- 
 marched, but could never bring the French to a bat- 
 tle. He concluded a truce with the Duke of Anjou, 
 and departed for England ; but as soon as he had 
 gone Charles broke the armistice. Of all Edward's 
 allies none proved true to him except young De 
 Montfort, and he had enough to do to maintain him- 
 self in Brittany, where there was a strong French 
 party, headed by De Clisson. 
 
 A.D. 1374. — The Pope had never ceased his en- 
 deavors to procure a lasting peace ; his legates had 
 followed the army of the Duke of Lancaster in all 
 his last campaign, and other envoys were constantly 
 about the court of Charles. When the French had 
 gained almost all they could hope to get, and when 
 Edward's confidence in his own resources was 
 broken by long disappointment, the arrangement 
 for a treaty was commenced at the town of Bruges, 
 whither the Duke of Burgund}', who negotiated for 
 France, carried some of the real blood of our Savior 
 to give greater solemnity to the contract.' After 
 months of negotiation, a truce was concluded for one 
 year only; but this was subsequently renewed, and 
 lasted till the death of Edward. At this time all 
 thfit the English king retained of his continental 
 dominions was Bordefiux. Bayonne, a few towns on 
 the Dordogne, and his own important conquest of 
 Calais, with a strip of territory round it. 
 
 On his return to England, the Black Prince em- 
 braced a course of popular opposition in Parliament, 
 and if he irritated his old father therel)y, he had the 
 good fortune to please the nation, whose idol he had 
 
 1 Barante, Ilisl. dcs Dues de Bourgogne. 
 
 ever been. But the state of his health obliged him 
 to seek quiet and retirement, and then his unpopular 
 brother, the Duke of Lancaster, monopolized all the 
 authority of government, for the king had become 
 indolent and reckless, and, like other heroes in their 
 old age, a slave to a young and beautiful woman. In 
 the spring of 137G the Black Prince rallied and took 
 part in public affairs, or at least it is supposed that 
 he directed the measures now adopted by Parlia- 
 ment. Peter de la Mare, as Speaker of the Com- 
 mons, complained of taxation, venality, and corrup- 
 tion, and impeached nearly ail the ministers, who 
 were little more than agents of the Duke of Lan- 
 caster. The Lord Latimer was expelled from the 
 king's council and tlirown into prison ; the Lord 
 Nevil was deprived of all his employments ; and 
 certain farmers of the customs were arrested and 
 put at the king's mercy. Not stopping here, the 
 Commons raised their voice in accusation against 
 the royal mistress. Philippa, Edward's excellent 
 wife, had died seven years before, and the fortunes 
 of her husband were overcast from the day of her 
 death. Alice Perrers, a married woman, whose 
 wit is said to have equaled her beauty, and who had 
 been a lady of the bed-chamber to the queen, so 
 captivated Edward that he could refuse her nothing, 
 and was never happy excejjt when he was in her 
 company. Among other presents, he gave her the 
 late queen's jewels, and these Alice was vain enough 
 to show in public. She soon became an object of 
 popular outcry; but the Commons stopped short 
 with this significant ordinance, — " Whereas com- 
 plaints have been laid before the king that certain 
 women have pursued causes and actions in the king's 
 courts by way of maintenance, and for hire and re- 
 ward, which thing displeases the king, the king for- 
 bids that any woman do it for the future, and in 
 particular Alice Perrers, under the penalty of for- 
 feiting all that she, the said Alice, can forfeit, and 
 of being banished out of the realm." It is said that 
 the mistress was removed from about the king's 
 person ; but the reformers do not appear to liave 
 carried their severity so tar : — at all events, she was 
 with him at his last moments if a revolting story be 
 true.' 
 
 But the nation lost all thoughts of Alice Perrers 
 in the great event which now took place : the Black 
 Prince died on Trinity Sunday, the 8th day of June, 
 1376. It will appear, from our unadorned narrative 
 of facts, that this extraordinary man, though gener- 
 ally both merciful and generous, was not wholly 
 exempt fiom the vices and barbarity of his times ; 
 but it is clear, from the universal popularity which 
 he enjoyed at home, and from the frequent praises 
 extorted from liis bitterest enemies abroad, that he 
 had endearing qualities, and many virtues beside 
 those of gallantry and courage, in which he was 
 probably never surpassed by a mortal being. So 
 entirely had the nation been accustomed to look up 
 to him, that, though the melancholj- event had long 
 been expected, his death seemed to toll the knell of 
 the country's glory. " The good fortune of Eng- 
 land," says a contemporaiy, " as if it had been 
 
 ' Rot. Pari. — Murimuth.— Walsiiigham. — Rymer
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 753 
 
 inherent in his person, flourished in his health, 
 languished in his sickness, and expired in his death ; 
 for with him died all the hopes of Englishmen ; and 
 during his life they had feared no invasion of the 
 enemy nor encounter in battle."^ His body was 
 
 ' Walsingham. 
 
 carried in a stately herse, drawn by twelve horses, 
 to Canterbury, the whole court and Parliament 
 attending it in mourning through the city, and 
 he was buried with great pomp on the south side 
 of the cathedral, near to the shrine of St. Thomas 
 Becket. 
 
 Effioy of Edward the Black Prince. From the Tomb in Canterbury Cathedral. 
 
 The nation seemed well inclined to transfer all 
 fheir affection to Prince Edward's only surviving 
 legitimate son, Richard of Bordeaux, who was only 
 in his tenth year; and a few days after the funeral, 
 Parliament petitioned the king to inti'oduce the 
 young prince among them, that he might receive 
 the honors due to him as heir to the crown. The 
 dislike of Prince Richard's uncle, the Duke of Lan- 
 caster, who was suspected of aiming at the throne, 
 no doubt hastened this measure. With the full 
 consent of the old king, the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury presented the young prince to the two houses 
 as " the fair and perfect image of his father," and 
 the successor to all his rights. Lancaster, however, 
 resumed all his former power ; and as soon as the 
 Black Prince was dead, the whole efficacy of the 
 parliamentary opposition which he had directed 
 ceased. Sir Peter de la Mare, the Speaker of the 
 Commons, was arrested, and William of Wickham, 
 the celebrated Bishop of Winchester, was deprived 
 of his temporalities without trial, and dismissed the 
 court. In the next Parliament, which met on the 
 •27th of January, 1377, the duke had a strong major- 
 ity ; and Sir Thomas Hungerford, his steward, was 
 appointed Speaker of the Commons. It appears to 
 have been the object of Lancaster to conciliate the 
 doating king and the royal mistress ; for Parliament 
 drew up a petition, imploring that the Lord Lati- 
 mer, Alice Perrers, and others, might be freed from 
 the censures and restrictions passed upon them, and 
 restored to their former state. Although forming 
 ii very weak minority, there still existed an opposi- 
 tion with spirit enough to speak and remonstrate ; 
 and while the Commons demanded, in right of the 
 great Charter, that Sir Peter de la Mare should be 
 liberated or put upon his trial, the bishops demanded 
 the same thing in behalf of their bi-other of Win- 
 chester. Wyclifte, a poor parish priest, the pre- 
 cursor of Huss, Luther, Calvin, and the great men 
 who effected the Reformation, had long been preach- 
 ing and writing against the abuses of the Catholic 
 clergy, and his party, though small, already included 
 some persons of the highest rank in England. It is 
 generally stated that the Duke of Lancaster took up 
 the cause of Wycliffe, who was lying under a dan- 
 voii. I. — 48 
 
 gerous prosecution, merely to spite the bench of 
 bishops. On the day of trial, when the English re- 
 former stood up to plead in the great church of St. 
 Paul's, before Courtenay, Bishop of London, he 
 was accompanied and supported by the duke, and by 
 his friend, the Lord Percy, Marshal of England. 
 These two great laymen were so ardent that a vio- 
 lent altercation ensued in the church between them 
 and the bishops: Lancaster, it is said, even threat- 
 ened to drag the prelate out of the church by the 
 hair of his head. The Londoners hotly resented 
 the insult offered to their bishop. On the following 
 morning a mob broke open the lord marshal's house, 
 and killed an unlucky priest whom they mistook for 
 Earl Percy in disguise : they then proceeded to the 
 Savoy, the duke's palace, and gutted it. The duke 
 and Percy, who were dining at the time in the house 
 of a great Flemish merchant, ran to the water-side, 
 got into a boat, and rowed themselves over to Ken- 
 nington, where young Prince Richard and his mother 
 were residing. The Bishop of London put down 
 the riot by his admonitions ; but to show their 
 hatred, the people reversed the duke's arms as 
 those of a traitor.^ The riot was so terrible that it 
 interrupted the debates in Parliament ; and one of 
 the last audiences of the great Edward was given 
 at Shene (now Richmond) to the lord mayor and 
 aldermen of the city of London, who were brought 
 there to submit themselves to the duke, and crave 
 pardon for their grievous offence. But neither 
 their submission nor their protestations of innocence 
 saved them from Lancaster's wrath ; they were all 
 " ousted," and creatures of the duke put into their 
 places. 
 
 When Parliament resumed business, they took 
 into consideration the circumstance that the truco 
 with France was on the point of expiring ; and to 
 provide for a renewal of the war, which seemed 
 probable, they granted an aid in the shape of a poll- 
 tax — a disastrous precedent. All beneficed clergy- 
 men were taxed at a shilling a head, and all other 
 individuals in the kingdom, male or female, above 
 the age of fourteen — common beggars excepted— 
 were to pay fourpence a head. In the month of 
 
 ■' Walsingham.— Murimiith.—SU'W
 
 754 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 February the kiug had completed the fiftieth year 
 of his reign, and he published a general ainnestj- for 
 all minor offences — from which, however, the Bishop 
 of Winchester, who seems to have committed no 
 offence at all, was excepted by name.' This was 
 Edward's last public act : he spent the remaining 
 four months of his life between Eltham Palace and 
 the beautiful manor of Shene. Decay had fallen 
 alike on body and spirit ; he was incapable of doing 
 much, and he did nothing. The ministers and cour- 
 tiers crowded round the Duke of Lancaster or round 
 
 1 III the month of June, the bishop got back the revenues of his see 
 by making a rich present to the unstress 
 
 Prince Richard and his mother : the old man was 
 left alone with his mistress : and even she, it is said, 
 after drawing his valuable ring from his finger, aban- 
 doned him in his dying moments. What followed 
 was not unusual — indeed it seems generally to have 
 happened at the demise of a king; — his servants left 
 his chamber to plunder the house : but a priest was 
 not unmindful of his duty: he went to the deserted 
 bedside, preselited a crucifix, and stood there till 
 the great sovereign was no more. Edward died at 
 Shene, on the 21st of June, 1377, in the sixty-fifth 
 year of his hfe, and the fifty-first of his reign.' 
 
 ' Walsiiigham. — Rot. Pari. — Rynier. — Slow 
 
 Richard 11. — surnamkd Or Bordkaux. 
 
 Great Seal of Richard II. 
 
 A. D. 1377. — The reign of this young king was 
 counted to begin on the feast of St. Alban, the 22d 
 of June, the day after the death of his grand- 
 father ; on which day the great seal was delivered 
 to the king, and bj' him intrusted to Sir Nicholas 
 Bonde until the return of the Bishop of Ely, the 
 chancellor, who was engaged in business beyond 
 sea, but who returned on the 25th of the same 
 month, and opened the purse containing the seal 
 and divers letters patent in his chapel at his house 
 in Fleet-street, London.' The funeral obsequies 
 of the late king occupied some time, but on the 
 16th of July Richard was crowned in Westminster 
 Abbey. The ceremony was unusually splendid, 
 but the fatigue and excitement were too much 
 for the royal boy, who, after being anointed and 
 crowned, was so completely exhausted that they 
 were obliged to carry him in a litter to his apart- 
 ment. After some rest he was summoned to the 
 great hall, where he created four earls and nine 
 knights, and partook of a magnificent banquet, 
 which was followed by a ball, minsti-elsy, and 
 other somewhat turbulent festivities of the time.^ 
 
 1 Rot. Pari.— Sir. H. Nicolas, Chron. Hist. 
 
 - Wa'.sinehara. — He gives an elaborate account of the coronation. 
 
 Considerable pains were taken to spoil this young 
 king from the first; such adulation and prostrations 
 had not been seen before in England ; and if the 
 bishops and courtiers did not preach to the boy the 
 " divine right," they seemed to have made a near 
 apjn'oach to that doctrine ; and they spoke gravely 
 of the intuitive wisdom and of the heroism of a 
 child not yet eleven years old. These men were 
 indisputably answerable for much of the mischief 
 that followed ; but now the beauty of the young 
 king's person, and the memory of his father, en- 
 deared him to his people, and a long time passed 
 before they would think any ill of the son of their 
 idol, the Black Prince. The Duke of Lancaster, 
 the titular King of Castile, more popularly known 
 under the name of " John of Gaunt,'" had long 
 been suspected of the project of supplanting his 
 nephew ; but his unpopularity was notorious, and 
 lie yielded with tolerably good grace to the force of 
 circumstances. As if on purpose to exclude the 
 duke, no regular regency was appointed ; but the 
 morning after the coronation the prelates and 
 barons chose, " in aid of the chancellor and treas- 
 
 1 He was so called from the town of Ghent or Gand (then pronounced 
 Gaunt), the place of his birth.
 
 Chap. I.j 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIOxNS. 
 
 755 
 
 Richard II. From a Painting in the Old Jerusalem Chamber in the Palace at Westminsier 
 
 uror," twelve permanent counselors, among whom 
 not one of the king's uncles was named. John of 
 Gaunt withdrew to his castle of Kenilworth, and, it 
 is said, in some discontent with the advisers of the 
 young king, who had taken from him the castle of 
 Hereford. But nothing could remove the popular 
 belief that the duke aimed at the throne, and 
 prophecies were afloat which probably helped to 
 work their own fulfilment a few years later when 
 his son, Henry of Bolingbi-oke, dethroned his cousin 
 Richard. 
 
 The French were not slow in trying to take the 
 usual advantage of a minority. The truce expired 
 before the death of Edward, and Charles refused 
 to prolong it. In close union with Henry of Tras- 
 tamara, who was provoked by the Duke of Lan- 
 caster continuing to assume the title of King of 
 Castile, he got together a formidable fleet, and 
 insulted the English coast before Richard had been 
 a month on the throne. In August the whole of 
 the Isle of Wight, with the exception of Caris- 
 brook Castle, was plundered and wasted, and the 
 town of Hastings was burnt, as that of Rye had 
 been a short time before. The town of Winchelsea 
 made a good resistance, and at Southampton the 
 French and Spaniards were repulsed with great 
 loss by the Earl of Arundel. But the combined 
 fleets, which were occasionally joined by marauders 
 of other nations, were strong enough to interrupt 
 the foreign commerce of the country, and, as this 
 had become considerable, the injury was a very 
 serious one.' A parliament was assembled while 
 
 1 Not long after several places on the coast of Sussex and Kent were 
 pl'iudered A fleet even ascended the Thames, and burned the greater 
 
 the impression of these injuries was fresh ; and in 
 order to obtain supplies of money (the treasury 
 being exhausted), it was stated that the realm was 
 in greater danger than it had ever been. Supplies 
 were voted, and, by borrowing greater sums of the 
 merchants, government was enabled to put to sea a 
 considerable fleet under the command of the Earl 
 of Buckingham, one of the Duke of Lancaster's 
 brothers. Buckingham met with little success, 
 and his failure, however unfairly, added to the un- 
 popularity of the Lancastrian party. In this verj' 
 Parliament, the first which Richard held, and be- 
 fore the Earl of Buckingham took the command 
 of the fleet, it was made evid&nt how much the 
 Duke of Lancaster had declined in power. The 
 majority of the House of Commons consisted of the 
 very men who had driven his party from office in 
 1376, and the new speaker was his old enemy Sir 
 Peter de la Mare, whom he had arbitrarily thrown 
 into prison soon after the death of the Black Prince. 
 When the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had 
 been made chancellor, requested the advice of the 
 Commons as to how the enemies of the kingdom 
 might be opposed with the least expense and the 
 most honor, the Commons rej)lied that they could 
 not of themselves answer so great a question ; and 
 they asked for the aid of twelve peers, with " my 
 Lord of Spain" at their head. The duke com- 
 plained of the reports circulated against him, ant! 
 said that the Commons had no claim on him for 
 advice or assistance. They had charged him, the 
 
 part of the town of Gravesend. These irritating- oircnmstan'-es were 
 recent at the time of Wat Tyler's rehellion (as it is called), aid the> 
 helped to hasten ihat Icrrihle ou'.break.
 
 756 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLA.ND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 most loyal of men. with that which amounted to 
 treason ; but let his accusers declare themselves, 
 and he would meet them as if he were the poorest 
 knight of England, either in single combat or in any 
 other way. After a great ferment, the bishops 
 and lords declared that no living mortal would 
 credit the scandalous reports; the Commons asserted 
 their belief of his innocence ; and a reconciliation 
 took place without any immediate increase of Lan- 
 caster's power. The Commons, indeed, insisted 
 that, as so much monej' had been wasted, two citi- 
 zens, John Philpot and William Walworth, both 
 ?nerchants of London, should bo appointed to re- 
 ceive tlie moneys now voted for the defence of the 
 country ; and this important point was yielded to 
 them. In other pretensions, which would have 
 given them the appointment of all the justices, 
 ministers, and court functionaries, they were only 
 partially defeated.' In this same session of Par- 
 liament Alice Ferrers was prosecuted, and being 
 abandoned by her former ally, the Duke of Lan- 
 K-aster, she was sentenced to banishment and the 
 forfeiture of all her property. 
 
 A.D. 1378. John of Gaunt, however, obtained 
 the command of the fleet, with nearly all the money 
 which had been voted. He detached a squadron 
 under the earls of Arundel and Salisbury, who, in 
 crossing the Channel, fell in with a Spanish fleet, 
 and suffered considerable loss. The two earls, 
 however, succeeded in their main object, and took 
 possession of the town and port of Cherbourg, on 
 the coast of Normandy, which were ceded to Eng- 
 land by the King of Navarre, who was again engaged 
 in a war with the French king, and who was glad 
 to purchase the assistance of England at any price. 
 Nine large ships, which the duke had hired at Ba- 
 yonne, on their way to England, met a Spanish fleet 
 of merchantmen, and took fourteen ships laden with 
 wine and other goods. In the month of July the 
 duke sailed with the great fleet for the coast of 
 Brittany, where the conquests of the French had 
 reduced another ally of England almost to despair. 
 The Dxike of Brittany, the son of the heroic 
 Countess of Montfbrt, cedqd to the English the im- 
 portant town and harbor of Brest, which Lancaster 
 secured with a good garrison. The duke then in- 
 vested St. Malo, but the Constable Duguesclin 
 marched with a very superior force to the relief of 
 that place, and compelled the duke to return to his 
 ships: the great fleet then came home. The pos- 
 session thus obtained of Cherbourg and of Brest was 
 an immense advantage: it deprived the French of 
 two ports, whence they could best attack England, 
 
 I The Commons had petitioned that eight new counselors, the great 
 officers of state, the chief justices, and all the household of the king, 
 should be named by the Lords in concurrence with the Commons ; or, 
 at least, it was asked that the Lords should certify all such appoint- 
 iTients to the Commons in parliament. The Lords, in the king's ranie, 
 appointed a new council, consisting of nine persons of different ranks ; 
 three bishops, two earls, two bannerets, and two knights-bachelors, 
 who were to continue in office for one year ; to these the Lords added 
 eight others, at the request of the Commons. The Lords reserved to 
 themselves the appointment of the chancellor, chamberlain, and steward 
 of the household, during the minority. Even by this arrangement 
 •nearly the whole executive government was transferred to the two 
 houses of Parliament. — Hallam, Middle Ages. — Lingard, Hist. — Rot 
 I'arl. 
 
 and it gave the English two other keys to France ; 
 but the places had been given up by friendly treaty, 
 and not gained by arms ; and the people, who were 
 evidently disinclined to allow Lancaster any merit, 
 said that he had wasted the money and done no- 
 thing. A striking aircumstance which had occurred 
 did not tend to brighten the duke's laurels. The 
 Scots, receiving their impulse from France, renewed 
 the war, surprised the castle of Berwick, made 
 incursions into the northern counties, and equipped 
 a number of ships to ciuise against the English. 
 Berwick was recovered soon after by the Earl of 
 Northumberland ; but one John Mercer, who had 
 got together certain sail of Scots, French, and Span- 
 iards, came to Scarborough, and made prize of every 
 ship in that port. Upon learning the injuries done, 
 and the still greater damage apprehended from these 
 sea-rovers, John Philpot — " that worshipful citizen 
 of London" — lamenting the negligence of those that 
 should have provided against such inconveniences, 
 equipped a small fleet at his own expense, and, 
 without waiting for any commission from the gov- 
 ernment, went in pursuit of Mercer. After a fierce 
 battle, the doughty alderman took the Scot prisoner, 
 captured fifteen Spanish ships, and recovered all 
 the vessels which had been taken at Schrborough. 
 On his return, Philpot was received in triumph by 
 his fellow-citizens ; but he was harshly handled by 
 the council of government for the unlawfulness of 
 acting as he had done without authority, he being 
 but a private man. The alderman, who was backed 
 by the people, replied very boldly : according to an 
 old historian, "he incurred the hard censure of 
 most of the noblemen, from whom he seemed to 
 have snatched, by this his fortunate attempt, the 
 native cognizance of true nobihty ;" but the council 
 dared not proceed further than a reprimand.' 
 
 In the month of October, the Parliament met at 
 Gloucester, and in a veiy bad humor : the govern- 
 ment wanted money — the Commons a reform of 
 abuses. The disputes entJed in a compromise — the 
 Commons being allowed to inspect the accounts of 
 the treasurers, which was granted as a matter of 
 favor, but not of right, nor were they to consider it 
 as a precedent : they also obtained copies of the 
 papers, showing how the moneys they had voted 
 had been raised ; but this also was granted as if 
 proceeding from the king's good pleasure. In the 
 end, they granted a new aid by laying additional 
 duties on wool, woolfels, hides, leather, and other 
 merchandise. John de Montfort, the Duke of 
 Brittany, had been driven to seek refuge in Eng- 
 land, and the French king annexed his dominions 
 to the crown of France. This premature measure 
 reconciled all the factions in the country; and John 
 was recalled by the unanimous voice of the Bretons. 
 Leaving his wife, an aunt of King Richard," in 
 England, he embarked with one hundred knights 
 and men-at-arms, and two hundred ai'chers. St. 
 Malo opened its gates at his approach ; the nobles, 
 including even many who had helped to expel him, 
 
 1 Trussell, Contin. of Daniel's Hist.— Southey, Nav. Hist. — Walsin?. 
 - De Montfort married Mnrv, the fourth daughter of Edward IH. 
 and Queen Philippa.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TKANSACTIONS. 
 
 757 
 
 rushed into the water chin-deep to meet him ; the 
 people hailed his return with transports of joy ; and 
 the States, meeting at Rennes, wrote respectfully 
 to the King of France, for permission to retain their 
 native prince.^ Instead of consenting, Charles in- 
 stantly prepared to send a French army into Brit- 
 tany, and then the duke implored the assistance 
 of a force from England. A considerable army was 
 raised, and sent to his relief, under the command of 
 the Earl of Buckingham, one of the king's uncles. 
 Buckingham landed at Calais, which the English 
 had rendered stronger than ever ; and from Calais 
 he marched through Artois, Picardy, Champagne, 
 and other inland provinces of France, plundering 
 and devastating the open country. His progress 
 was watched by far superior forces, but, firm to the 
 system which the cautious Charles had adopted, 
 the French would not risk a battle, and the English, 
 after a circuitous march, reached the frontiers of 
 Brittany without meeting any resistance. But 
 the Earl, of Buckingham was scarcely there when 
 the King of France died, and the Bretons, who knew 
 that a boy w^as to ascend the throne, thinking that 
 they should no longer stand in need of their assist- [ 
 ance, began to entertain as much jealousy and ha- , 
 tred of the English as they had hitherto done of the 
 French. De Montfort, though certainly inclined to 
 maintain his close alliance with England, was unable 
 to resist the Wishes of his subjects, and as the uncles 
 of the young King Charles VI., who formed the I 
 regency, were willing to treat and to recognize his 
 restoration, he concluded a peace with France, and i 
 engaged wholly to abandon the interests of England. ' 
 Buckingham owed his safety only to the brave men ! 
 he had about him and to the supplies of provisions j 
 he received from home, and he returned in the fol- 
 lowing spring, glad to escape from the hostility of 
 the Bretons. The English complained of the 
 treachery and unsteadiness of the Bretons ; the 
 Bretons complained of the pride and rapacity f^f the 
 English.* These proceedings, though they were 
 considered as failures, had certainly given the 
 French occupation in their own country, and had 
 kept them from our shores ; but they had cost large 
 sums of money, and the nation was sorely harassed 
 by taxation, or by the way in which the taxes were 
 levied. In an evil hour, Parliament passed a capi- 
 tation tax : this was a repetition of the tax imposed 
 in the last year of the preceding reign, but slightly 
 modified, so as to make it fall less heavily on the 
 poor. Every male and female of fifteen years of 
 age was to pay three groats ; but in cities and towns 
 the aggregate amount was to be divided among the 
 inhabitants according to their abilities, or in such a 
 way that no individual should pay less than one 
 groat, or more than sixty groats for himself and his 
 wife. Where there was little or no registration, 
 the fixing of the age was sure to lead to disputes: 
 the collectors might easily take a boy or girl of four- 
 teen to be fifteen, and poverty would induce many 
 of the poor knowingly to make a mis-statement of 
 the opposite kind. But the levying of this awkward 
 
 1 Daru, Hist, de la BretagTie. 
 
 2 Froissarl. — Archives de Nantes, quoted by Uaru. 
 
 tax might have passed over with nothing more se- 
 rious than a few riots between the people and the 
 tax-gatherers, had it not been for other circum- 
 stances involved in the mighty change which had 
 gradually been taking place in the whole body of 
 European society. The peasantiy had been gradu- 
 ally emerging from slavery to freedom, and began 
 to feel an ambition to become men, and to be treated 
 as such by their superiors in the accidental circum- 
 stances of rank and wealth. In this transition state 
 there were mistakes and atrocious crimes commit- 
 ted by both parties ; but ignorance may be particu- 
 larly pleaded in exculpation of the people, whilt^ 
 that very ignorance and the brutalized state in which 
 they had been kept were crimes and mistakes on 
 the part of the upper classes, who had now to pay 
 a horrible penalty. The enfranchisement of the 
 peasantry, which was the real motive of the move- 
 ment, for the rest was an after-thought, begotten 
 in the madness of success and the frenzy inspired 
 in unenlightened minds by the first consciousness 
 of power, was so sacred an object that nothing could 
 disgrace or eventually defeat it. " Their masters 
 in some places {tve believe in all) pulled them back 
 too violently ; they were themselves impatient of 
 the time which such an operation requires. Ac- 
 cidental provocations — malignant incendiaries — fre- 
 quently incited them to violence ; but in general the 
 commotions of that age will be found to be near that 
 point in the progress of slaves toward emancipation 
 when their hopes are roused and their wrongs not 
 yet redressed.'" In Flanders, notwithstanding that 
 there the more respectable burghers took a share 
 in the insurrection, many frightful excesses had 
 been committed upon the aristocracy, and in France 
 the recent Jacquerie had been little else than a 
 series of horrors. The attempt of the French peas- 
 antry offered a discouraging example to their neigh- 
 bors in England ; but the democratic party had had 
 a long triumph m Flanders ; and at this very mo- 
 ment the son of Von Artaveldt, the brewer of Ghent, 
 with Peter du Bois, was waging a successful war 
 against their court, their nobles, and the whole aris- 
 tocracy of France. From the close intercourse be- 
 tween the two countries, many of the English must 
 have been perfectly acquainted with all that was 
 passing in Flanders, and may have derived encour- 
 agement therefrom. A new revolt had also com- 
 menced in France lieaded by the burghers and in- 
 habitants of the towns: it began at Rouen, where 
 the collectors of taxes and duties on provisions were 
 massacred, and it soon spread to Paris and other 
 great cities. Manj- of our historians have attributed 
 part of the storm which was now gathering in Eng- 
 land to the preaching of WyclifTe's disciples, but 
 their original authorities seem to have been preju- 
 diced witnesses against the church reformer. Tho 
 convulsion is sufficiently accounted for by the actual 
 condition of the people of England at this period, 
 considered in connection with the particular point 
 in its progress at which society had arrived. That 
 condition, though far superior to the state of the- 
 French people, was sufficiently wretched and gall- 
 
 i Sir J. Mackintosh, Hist.
 
 758 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 ing. A considerable portion of the peasantry were 
 still serfs or " villains," bound to the soil, and sold 
 or transmitted with the estates of the nobles and 
 other lauded proprietors. With the exception of 
 some of the lower order of the secular clergy, there 
 were but few persons disposed to consider or treat 
 them as fellow-creatures. The discontents and 
 sufferings of the classes immediately above these 
 serfs — the poor towns-people on the coast, more par- 
 ticularly, who had been plundered by the foreign 
 fleets — no doubt contributed to hurry on the san- 
 guinary crisis; but it was the poll-tax that was the 
 proximate cause of the mischief. At first the tax 
 was levied with mildness ; but, being farmed out to 
 some courtiers who raised money upon it from 
 Flemish and Lombard merchants, it was exacted 
 by their collectors with great severity, and this 
 severity increased as it became more and more evi- 
 dent that the receipts would in no case come up to 
 the amount calculated. But the obstinacy of the 
 people kept pace with the harshness of the collec- 
 tors ; many of the rural districts refused payment. 
 The recusants were handled very sorely and un- 
 courteously, " almost not to be spoken," in various 
 places in Kent and Essex, " which some of the 
 people taking in evil part, secretly took counsel 
 together, gathered assistance, and resisted the ex- 
 actors, rising against them, of whom some they slew, 
 some they wounded, and the rest fled." Alarmed 
 at these proceedings, government sent certain com- 
 missioners into the disturbed districts. One of these 
 commissioners, Thomas de Bampton, sat at Brent- 
 wood in Essex ; the people of Fobbing, on being 
 summoned before him, said that they would not pay 
 one penny more than they had done, " whereupon 
 the said Thomas did grievously threaten them, hav- 
 ing with him two sergeants-at-arms of the king." 
 These threats made matters worse, and when 
 Bampton ordered his sergeants to arrest them, the 
 peasants drove him and his men-at-arms away to 
 London. Upon this Sir Robert Belknape, Chief 
 .Justice of the Common Pleas, was sent into Essex 
 to try the offenders ; but the peasants called him 
 traitor to the king and realm, forced him to flee, and 
 chopped oft' the heads of the jurors and clerks of the 
 commission. They stuck these heads upon poles 
 and carried them through all the neighboring town- 
 ships and villages, calling upon all the poor to rise 
 and join them. Sir Robert Hales, Prior of the 
 knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who had recently 
 been created Lord Treasurer of England, was an 
 especial object of the popular fury. He had a goodly 
 and delectable manor in Essex, " wherein were or- 
 dained victuals and other necessaries for the use of 
 a chapter-general, with great abundance of fair stuff 
 of wines, arras, cloths, and other provisions for the 
 knights brethren." "The Commons of England" (for 
 so the peasants called themselves, and were called 
 by others) ate up all the provisions, drank all the 
 wine, and then destroyed the house. Nothing was 
 wanting but a leader, and this they soon found in 
 the person of a " riotous priest," who took the name 
 of Jack Straw. Messages and letters were sent in 
 all directions ; and in a few dajs, not only the whole 
 
 agricultural population of Essex was up in arms, but 
 their neighbors in Kent, Suffolk, and Norfolk were 
 following the example. In Kent, an act of brutality 
 on the part of a tax-gatherer, and an act of great 
 imprudence (considering the prevailing excitement) 
 on the part of a knight, fanned the flames of revolt. 
 One of the collectors of the poll-money went to the 
 house of one Walter the Tyler, in the town of Dart- 
 ford, and demanded the tax for a young maiden, the 
 daughter of Walter. The mother maintained that 
 she was but a child, and not of the womanly age 
 set down by the Act of Parliament : the collector 
 said he would ascertain this fact, and he offered an 
 intolerable insult to the girl; "and in many places 
 they made the like trial." The maiden and her 
 mother cried out, and the father, who was tiling a 
 house in the town, ran to the spot and knocked out 
 the tax-gatherer's brains. The neighbors applauded 
 the deed, and eveiy one prepared to support the 
 Tyler. About the same time Sir Simon Burley^ 
 went to Gravesend with an armed force, and claimed 
 an industrious man living in that town as his escaped 
 bondsman. A villain, according to the law, acquired 
 his freedom by a residence of a year and a day in a 
 town ; but in this case Burley demanded the great 
 sum of three hundred pounds of silver for the sur- 
 render of his claim to the man ; and when this was 
 refused, he earned him off a prisoner to Rochester 
 Castle. The commons of Kent now rose as one 
 man, and being joined by a strong body of the men 
 of Essex, who crossed the Thames, they fell upon 
 Rochester Castle, and either took it or compelled 
 the garrison to deliver up Sir Simon's serf with 
 other prisoners. In the town of Maidstone, the 
 insurgents appointed Wat the Tyler their captain, 
 and then took out of prison, and had for their chap- 
 lain or preacher, " a Avicked priest called John Ball," 
 who had been several times in confinement, and 
 who was then under prosecution by the archbishop 
 for irregularity of doctrine. 
 
 On the Monday after Trinity Sunday, 1381, Wat 
 Tyler entered Canterbury, denouncing death to the 
 archbishop, who, however, was absent : af):er ter- 
 rifying the monks and the clergy of the cathedral, 
 he forced the mayor, aldermen, and commons of the 
 town to swear to be true to Richard and the lawful 
 commons of England : then beheading three rich 
 men of Canterbury, Wat marched away toward 
 London, followed by five hundred of the poor towns- 
 folk. On his march recruits came to him from all 
 quarters of Kent and Sussex ; and by the time he 
 reached Blackheath (11th June) there were, it is 
 said, one hundred thousand desperate men obeying 
 the orders of Wat Tyler. While at this spot the 
 widow of the Black Prince, the young king's 
 mother, fell into their hands ; but, in the midst of 
 their fury, they respected her, and after granting a 
 few kisses to some dirty-faced and rough-bearded 
 men, she was allowed, with her retinue and maids 
 of honor, to proceed quietly to London, the leaders 
 even engaging to protect her and her son. While 
 
 ' This knight was tutor or guardian to the young kin?, and pos- 
 sessed great influence at court. His nielaucholy end will be noticed 
 presently.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 759 
 
 this host was bivouacked about Blackheath and 
 Greenwich, John Ball, the priest of Kent, kept 
 them to their purpose by long orations or sermons, 
 in which he insisted that all men were equal before 
 God, and ought to be so before the laws — and so far 
 he was right ; but it appears that he went on to 
 recommend an equality of propertj-, which is im- 
 practible, and a destruction of all the upper classes, 
 which was monstrous. It has been suspected, and 
 not without probability, that Ball's real views may 
 have been somewhat misrepresented by his enemies, 
 but the nature of his discourses may be collected 
 from his standing text, which was — 
 
 "When Adam delved, and Eve span, 
 Who was then a gentleman ?" 
 
 His eloquence had such an efiect on the multitude, 
 that, forgetting his own doctrines of equality, they 
 vowed that they would make him primate and 
 chancellor of England. They occupied all the 
 roads, killed all the lawyers and judges that fell 
 into their hands, and made all the rest of the pas- 
 sengers swear to be true to King Richard and the 
 commons, to accept no king whose name was 
 "John,"^ and to pay no tax except the fifteenths 
 which had been paid by their forefathers. The 
 young king, with his mother, with his cousin Hepry 
 of Bolingbroke, with Simon, Archbishop of Canter 
 bury and chancellor. Sir Robert Hales, treasurer, 
 and some other members of the government, threw 
 himself into the tower of London. The Duke of 
 Lancaster was in Scotland negotiating a peace, and 
 Gloucester and York, the other uncles of the king, 
 were absent. Some of the council were of opinion 
 that Richard should go and speak with the insur- 
 gents, but the archbishop and the treasurer strongly 
 objected to this measure, and said that nothing but 
 force should be used " to abate the pride of such 
 vile rascals." On the 12th of June, however, 
 Richard got into his barge, and descended the river 
 as far as Rotherhithe. where he found a vast multi- 
 tude drawn up along shore, with two banners of 
 St. George and many pennons. " When they per- 
 ceived the king's barge," says Froissart, " they set 
 up shouts and cries as if all the devils from hell had 
 come into their company." Startled and terrified, 
 the persons with the king put about the boat, and, 
 taking advantage of the rising tide, rowed back with 
 all speed to the Tower. The commons, Avho had 
 always professed the greatest attachment to Rich- 
 ard's person, now called aloud for the heads of all 
 the ministers ; and marching along the right bank 
 of the river to Southwark, and then to Lambeth, 
 destroyed the Marshalsea and King's Bench, and 
 burned the furniture and all the records and books 
 in the palace of the primate. At the same time 
 the men of Essex advanced along the left bank of 
 the river, and after destroying a mansion of the lord 
 treasurer's at Highbury, threatened the northeast- 
 ern part of London. Walworth, the mayor, caused 
 the movable part of London bridge to be drawn up, 
 
 1 Jnhn was an unhappy name in English history ; and John of Gannt, 
 Duke of Lancaster, the king's uncle, was held guilty of all the oppres- 
 sions the people had recently suffered. The notion, moreover, of his 
 having designs on the crown was as prevalent as ever. 
 
 ' to prevent the men of Kent from crossing the river ; 
 but on the following day a passage was yielded to 
 them through fear, and the insurgents entered the 
 city, where they were presently joined by all the 
 rabble. At first their demeanor was most moderate ; 
 "they did no hurt, they took nothing from any 
 man, but bought all things they wanted at a just 
 price." But the madness of drunkenness was soon 
 added to political fury. The rich citizens, hoping 
 to conciliate the mob, had set open their wine-cel- 
 lars for them, to enter at their pleasure, and, when 
 the peasants had once tasted of this rare luxury, 
 they thought they never could have enough of it, 
 and seized it and other strong drinks by force 
 wherever they could find them. Thus excited, they 
 went to the Savoy, the house of the Duke of Lan- 
 caster, " to which there was none in the realm to 
 be compared in beauty and stateliness." They 
 broke into this palace, and set fire to it. To show 
 that plunder was not their object, the leaders pub- 
 lished a proclamation ordering that none, on pain of 
 death, should secrete or convert to his own use 
 anything that might be found there, but that plate, 
 gold, and jewels should all be destroyed : and so 
 particular were they on this head, that a fellow who 
 hid a silver cup under his clothes Avas thrown into 
 the Thames, cup and all. It would have been well 
 had the prohibition extended to the duke's wines ; 
 but they drank there immoderately, and thirtA'-two 
 of the rioters, engaged in the cellars of the Savoy, 
 were too drunk to remove in time, and were buried 
 under the smoking ruins of the house. Newgate 
 was then deiuolished ; and the prisoners who had 
 been confined there and in the fleet joined in the 
 work of havoc. The Temple was burnt, with all 
 the books and ancient and valuable records it con- 
 tained ; and about the same time a detachment 
 set fire to the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, in 
 Clerkenwell, which had been recently built by Sir 
 Thomas Hales, the prior of the order, and treasurer 
 of the kingdom. They now also proceeded to the 
 shedding of blood : to eveiy man they met they put 
 their watchword — " For whom holdest thou ?" — 
 the answer was — " With King Richard and the true 
 commons :" and whosoever knew not that w.'itch- 
 word, off went his head. They probably felt that 
 antipathy to foreigners common to uneducated peo- 
 ple ; but against the Flemings, who it was popularly 
 said fattened on their miseries, they bore the most 
 deadly' rancor. The sanctuary of the church was 
 disregarded, and thirty Flemings were dragged from 
 the altar into the streets, and beheaded amid shouts 
 of triumph and savage jo}- ; thirty-two more were 
 seized in the Vintrj%and underwent the same fate. 
 Many of the rich citizens were massacred in at- 
 tempting to escape : those who remained did noth- 
 ing for the defence of the city; and all that night 
 London was involved in fire, murder, and de- 
 bauchery. 
 
 On the morning of the 14th it was resolved to 
 try the efliect of concession, and of promises which 
 the court had no intention of keeping, nor had it 
 the power of so doing, had the will been ever so 
 strong. A proclamation was issued to a multitude
 
 760 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 Ruins of the Savoy Palace, Strand. 1711. 
 
 that crowded Tower-hill, preventing the introduc- 
 tion of provisions into the fortress, and clamoring 
 for the heads of the' chancellor and treasurer ; and 
 they were told that, if they would retire quietly to 
 Mile End, the king would meet them there, and 
 grant all their requests. The gates were opened, 
 the drawbridge was lowered, and Richard rode 
 forth with a few attendants without arms. The 
 commonalty from the countiy followed the king: 
 " but all did not go, nor had they the same objects 
 in view." On the way Richard's half-brothers, 
 the Earl of Kent and Sir John Holland, alarmed 
 for their own safety, put spurs to their horses, and 
 left him. On arriving at Mile End, Richard saw 
 himself surrounded by upward of sixty thousand 
 peasants ; but their demeanor was mild and re- 
 spectful, and they presented no more than four 
 demands, three of which were wise and moderate, 
 and the exceptionable one, which went to fix a 
 maximum for the price of land, was not more absurd 
 than an act of their rulers in the preceding reign, 
 which fixed the maximum price of agricultural 
 labor. These four demands of the peasants were — 
 1. The total abolition of slavery for themselves and 
 their children forever. 2. The reduction of the 
 rent of good land to fourpence the acre. 3. The 
 full liberty of buying and selling, like other men, 
 in all fairs and markets. 4. A general pardon for 
 all past offences. The king, with a gracious coun- 
 tenance, assured them that all these demands were 
 granted ; and, returning to town, he employed up- 
 ward of thirty clerks to make copies of the charter 
 containing the four clauses. In the morning these 
 copies were sealed and delivered, and then an im- 
 mense body of the insurgents, consisting chiefly of 
 
 the men of Essex and Hertfordshire, quietly with- 
 drew from the capital ; but more dangerous men 
 remained behind. The people of Kent, who had 
 been joined by all kinds of miscreants, had com- 
 mitted some atiocious deeds on the preceding day, 
 while the king was marching to Mile End. Almost 
 as soon as his back was turned, with a facility 
 Avhich excites a suspicion of treachery or disafiec- 
 tion on the part of the garrison,' they got into the 
 Tower, where they cut oft' the heads of the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, the chancellor ; Sir Robert 
 Hales, the treasurer; William Apuldore, the king's 
 confessor; Legge, one of the farmers of the tax, 
 and three of his associates. The Princess of 
 Wales, who was in the Tower, was completely at 
 their mercy ; but the ci-devant " Fair Maid of Kent " 
 was s'gain quit for a few unsavory kisses. The 
 horror of the scene, however, overpowered her; 
 and she was carried by her ladies in a senseless 
 state to a covered lioat, in which she was rowed 
 across tli6 river. As soon as he could the king 
 joined his mother, who had been finally conveyed 
 to a house called the Royal Wardrobe, in Carter- 
 lane, Bernard's Castle Ward. 
 
 Wat Tyler and the leaders with him rejected 
 the charter which the men of Essex had so gladly 
 accepted. Another charter was drawn up, but it 
 equally failed to please, and even a third, with still 
 larger concessions, was rejected with contempt.'^ 
 
 1 There were six hundred men-at-arms, and as many archers, in the 
 Tower. The rebels or insurgents were miserably armed and equipfei'. 
 "Of those commons and husbandmen," says Holinshed. "many were 
 
 weaponed only with sticks Among a thousand of that kind of 
 
 persons ye should not have seen one well armed." 
 
 ^ According to Knyghton, Wat Tyler insisted on the total repeal of 
 the forest or game laws and that all warrens waters, parks, and woods
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 761 
 
 The next morning the king left the Wardrobe, and 
 went to Westminster, where he heard mass and 
 paid his devotions before a statue of " our Lady " 
 in the abbey, which had the reputation of perform- 
 ing many miracles, particularly in favor of English 
 kings. After this he mounted his horse, and with 
 a retinue of barons and knights rode along the 
 " causeway " toward London. On coming into 
 West Smithfield, he met Wat Tyler, who was 
 there with a great multitude. The mayor and 
 some other city magistrates had joined the king, 
 but his whole company, it is said, did not exceed 
 sixty persons, who were all on horseback. In the 
 front of the abbey of St. Bartholomew, Richard 
 drew rein, and said that he would not go thence 
 until he had appeased the rioters. Wat Tyler, on 
 seeing him, said to his men, " Here is the king ! 
 I will go speak with him. Move not hand or foot 
 unless I give you a signal." Wat, who had pro- 
 cured arms and a horse, rode boldly up to Richard, 
 and went so near that his horse's head touched the 
 flank of Richard's steed. " King !" said he, " dost 
 thou see all those men there ?" " I see them," 
 replied the king, " why dost thou ask ?" " Because 
 they are all at my will, and have sworn by their 
 faith and loyalty to do whatsoever I should bid 
 them." During this parley the Tyler played with 
 
 should be commoii, so that the poor as well as the rich might freely 
 fish in all waters, hunt the deer in forests and parks, and the hare in 
 the field. 
 
 his dagger, and, it is said by some, laid hold of 
 Richard's bridle. It is probable thai this unedu- 
 cated man, intoxicated by his brief authority, was 
 coarse and insolent enough; but to suppose that 
 he intended to kill the king is absurd. Some say 
 that Richard ordered his arrest ; others that John 
 Walworth, the lord mayor, thinking that he in- 
 tended to stab the king, rode up, and plunged a 
 short sword into his throat without any orders. 
 All accounts agi-ee in stating that, whether with 
 sword, dagger, or mace, it was the mayor that 
 struck the first blow. Wat Tyler turned his horse's 
 head to rejoin his men, but Raiph Standish, one of 
 the king's esquires, thrust his sword through his 
 side, " so that he fell flat on his back to the ground, 
 and beating with his hands to and fro for a while, 
 gave up his unhappy ghost." When the men of 
 Kent saw his fall they cried out, " We are be- 
 trayed ! They have killed our captain and guide !" 
 and the foremost men in that disordered array be- 
 gan to put their arrows on the string. The per- 
 sonal intrepidity of the royal boy — for Richard was 
 only in his fifteenth year — saved his hfe. He rode 
 gallantly up to the insurgents and exclaimed, 
 " What are ye doing, mj' lieges ? Tyler was a 
 traitor — I am your king, and I will be your cap- 
 tain and guide." On hearing these words, many 
 slipped away — others remained ; but, Avithout a 
 leader, they knew not what to do. The king rode 
 back to his lords, and asked what steps he should 
 
 J ^ 
 
 ssji ill HUM n\U , I lir > ,1 l,]i,,iii|l!!l|',,l|ijll 
 
 Dkath of Wat Tyler.— Northcote.
 
 7G2 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Bock IV. 
 
 take next. " jNInke for the fields," said the lord 
 mayor: "if we attempt to retreat or flee, our ruin 
 is certain ; but let us gain a little time, and we shall 
 be assisted by our good friends in the city, who are 
 preparing and arming with all their servants." The 
 king and his party made for the northern road, and 
 ihe mob, wavering and uncertain, followed him to the 
 open fields about Islington. Here one thousand men- 
 at-arms (Froissart says from seven thousand to eight 
 thousand, joined the king, under the command of 
 Sir Robert Knowles. The insurgents, now thinking 
 their case hopeless, either ran away through the corn- 
 fields, or, throwing their bows on the ground, knelt 
 and implored for mercy. " Sir Robert Knowles was 
 in a violent rage because they were not attacked 
 and slain in a heap, but the king would not consent, 
 saying that he would have his full revenge on them 
 in another way, which in truth he afterward had." 
 
 While these events were passing in London and 
 its neighborhood, the servile war had spread over a 
 great part of England — on the southern coast, as far 
 as Winchester, on the eastern as far noi"th as Scar- 
 borough. As the nobles shut themselves uu in their 
 strong castles, but little blood was shed. Henry 
 Spencer, the Bishop of Norwich, despised this safe 
 course ; he armed his retainers, collected his friends, 
 and kept the field against the insurgents of Norfolk, 
 Cambridge, and Huntingdon. He surprised several 
 bodies of peasants, and cut them to pieces : others 
 he took prisoners. Then, putting oflf the complete 
 armor which he wore, and laying down the sword, 
 he took up the crucifix, confessed his captives, gave 
 them absolution, and sent them straight to the gibbet 
 or the block.' 
 
 Soon after the death of Wat Tyler, Richard found 
 himself at the head of forty thousand horse, and then 
 he told the villains that all his charters meant noth- 
 ing, and that they must return to their old bondage. 
 The men of Essex, whose conduct had been the 
 mildest and most rational, made a stand, but they 
 were defeated with great loss. Then courts of com- 
 mission were opened in different towns to condemn, 
 rather than to try the chief offenders. Jack Straw 
 and John Ball, the strolling preachers. Lister and 
 Westbroom, who had taken to themselves the titles 
 of Kings of the Commons in Norfolk and Sufi'olk, 
 with several hundred more, were executed. At 
 first they were beheaded : afterward they were 
 hanged and left on the gibbet, to excite horror and 
 terror ; but their friends cut down the bodies and 
 carried them ofii"; upon which the king ordered that 
 they should be hanged in strong iron chains.* Ac- 
 cording to Holinshed the whole number of execu- 
 tions amounted to fifteen hundred. 
 
 When Parliament assembled, it was seen how 
 little the upi)er classes of society were prepared for 
 that recognition of the rights of the poor, to which 
 in the present day no one could demur without 
 incurring the suspicion of insanity. In truth, it 
 would have belied all history and all experience, if 
 the victorious party in such a contest should have 
 
 1 Froissart. — Knyghton. — Walsingham. — Stowe. — Holinshed. 
 
 2 This is believed to be the first introduction of this disgusting 
 practice. 
 
 immediately followed up their success by giving in 
 to the demands of their opponents. The king had 
 annulled, by proclamation to the sheriffs, the char- 
 ters of manumission which he had gi'anted to the 
 insurgents, and this revocation was warmly approved 
 by both Lords and Commons, who, not satisfied with 
 saying that such enfranchisement could not be made 
 without their consent, added, that they would never 
 give that consent, even to save themselves from 
 perisliing altogether in one day. There was a 
 talk indeed about the propriety and wisdom of abol- 
 ishing villainage ; but the notion was scouted, and 
 the owners of serfs showed that they neither doubted 
 the right by which they held their fellow-creatures 
 in a state of slavery, nor would hesitate to increase 
 the severity of the laws affecting them. They 
 passed a law by which " riots, and rumors, and other 
 such things," were turned into high treason,' a law 
 most vaguely expressed, and exceedingly likely to 
 involve those who made it in its fangs. But this 
 Parliament evidently acted under the impulses of 
 panic and of revenge for recent injuries. The 
 Commons presented petitions calling for redress of 
 abuses in the administration : they attributed the 
 late insurrection to the extortions of purveyors, to 
 the venality and rapacity of the judges and officers 
 of the courts of law, to the horrible doings of a set 
 of banditti called Maintaiuers, and to the heavy 
 weight of recent taxation ; but they said not a word 
 about that desire for lil)erty which was in fact the 
 main torrent in that inundation, the others being 
 but as tributary streams swelling its waters. When 
 the king demanded a supply, the Commons refused, 
 averring that a new tax would provoke a new insur- 
 rection. When the Commons, in their turn, asked 
 for a general pardon, not for the insurgents, but for 
 themselves and others, for illegal acts committed by 
 them in putting down the rebels, the king gave them 
 to understand that the Commons must make theii* 
 grants before he dispensed his favors. This discus- 
 sion was curious : when the king pressed again for 
 money, thej^ told him that they must have time for 
 consideration : and then the king told the Commons 
 that he too must have time to deliberate on their 
 petition of pardon. The Commons gave way first, 
 and voted that the tax upon wool, woolfels, aiid 
 leather should be continued for five years. The 
 obnoxious poll-tax was not mentioned. The king 
 then gave the general pardon requested, /or a/Z loyal 
 subjects ; and this grace was a few weeks later ex- 
 tended to the peasantry.^ 
 
 A. D. 1382. The king, being now in his sixteenth 
 year, was married to Anne of Bohemia, daughter 
 of the late Emperor Charles IV., an accomplished 
 and excellent pi-incess, who deserved a better and a 
 wiser husband. A few days after the marriage, on 
 January the 24th, Parliament reassembled, and 
 Lancaster, yearning after his kingdom of Castile, 
 proposed carrying an army into Spain. He only 
 wanted sixt}' thousand pounds, but after a warm de- 
 bate, the duke was defeated. 
 
 At this time there were two popes. Urban VI.. an 
 Italian, and Clement VII., a Frenchman. When 
 » Stat. Rich. ii. c. 7. 2 R.t. Pari
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 76* 
 
 there was no schism, the Pope was generally a peace- 
 maker ; but on occasions like the present, each of 
 the rival pontiffs tried to arm Europe in his cause. 
 France, Scotland, Spain, Sicily, and Cyprus were for 
 Clement ; England, Flanders, and the rest of Europe 
 for Urban, who, on good grounds, considered France 
 his greatest enemy. The Italian pope, after looking 
 about for a brave and sure champion, fixed his eyes 
 on the warlike Bishop of Norwich, who had so lately 
 distinguished himself in the servile war of England. 
 At the same time, the Flemings, who were devoted 
 adherents of Urban, were sorely pressed by the 
 French ; and they renewed their applications to 
 England for assistance.^ After preaching a sort of 
 crusade, the Bishop of Norwich asked in the Pope's 
 name a tenth on church property, obtained the prod- 
 uce of a fifteenth on lay property, and raised two 
 thousand five hundred of the best lancers in the land, 
 and about an equal number of archers, and so passed 
 over the Channel to make war, " for he was young 
 and adventurous, and loved the profession of arms 
 above all things."^ The war in which this military 
 churchman engaged, presented two aspects : under 
 one, it was a sacred crusade for the Pope, but under 
 the other, it was a conflict waged in union with, 
 iind for the rights and independence of the burghers 
 and commons of Flanders against the aristocracy. 
 He was so fond of war, that he probably cared little 
 how he indulged in it. After the murder of James 
 Von Artaveldt, the cause of democracy declined; 
 and thirty-six years after that event, the Flemings 
 were almost reduced to extremities. In this state 
 they fixed all their hopes on Von Artaveldt's son, 
 who had been named Philip, after his godmother 
 Philippa, the wife of Edward III. Philip Von Ar- 
 taveldt, warned by his father's fate, had passed his 
 life in a quiet and happy retirement ; and in 1381 he 
 was dragged, with his eyes open to the worst conse- 
 quences, to head the council and lead the armies of 
 the dispirited people. His character and his fate 
 form one of the most interesting episodes in the his- 
 tory of modern Europe. For about fifteen months, 
 which included the whole of his public life, his ca- 
 reer was as brilliant as a romance : he forced the 
 enemy to raise the siege of Ghent, the center and 
 soul of the confederacy ; with the weavers and other 
 artisans of Ghent he defeated the French, the count, 
 and the whole chivalry of Flanders ; he took Bruges, 
 burnt Elchin, a town in France, and laid siege to 
 the strong fortress of Oudeuarde ; but in the month 
 of November, 1382, he was defeated in the sangui- 
 nary battle of Rosebecque, and (in this more fortu- 
 nate than his father) was killed by the enemy. 
 After that dreadful defeat, the cause of the com- 
 mons again declined : many towns submitted, and 
 Ghent was besieged or threatened, but without 
 eflfect.^ 
 
 Affairs were in this state at the arrival of the 
 English force, whose main object it was to assist the 
 free burghers of Ghent. The Bishop of Norwich 
 
 1 In the preceding year they had shown themselves bad negotiators, 
 for, at the moment of soliciting a favor, they demanded payment of two 
 hundred thonsand florins, a debt of Edward III., which they asserted 
 had been due to them forty years. 3 Froissart 
 
 3 Froissart.— Barante, Hist, des Dues de Bourgogne. 
 
 led his little army to Gravelines, which he stormed 
 and took : he next defeated an army of the Count of 
 Flanders, took the town of Dunkirk, and occupied 
 the whole coast as far as Sluys : he then marched 
 with an impetuosity which astonished more regular 
 warriors to lay siege to Ypres, where he was joined 
 by twenty thousand of the men of Ghent. Mean- 
 while the count implored the protection of the young 
 King of France, who, convoking the ban and the 
 arriere ban, sent a splendid army, in which were 
 counted twenty-six thousand lances, across the 
 frontier. The bishop made one furious assault; 
 but, on the approach of the French, he ran back to 
 the coast more rapidly than he had advanced from 
 it. A part of his army got back with considerable 
 booty to Calais ; the bishop, with the rest, threw 
 himself into Gravelines — where the French were 
 glad to be rid of him, by permitting him to destroy 
 the fortifications of the place, and then embark 
 with bag and baggage. The French chroniclers 
 say that he made but a bad use of the Pope's money, 
 and that the issue of the expedition was owing to 
 his own folly and precipitation ; but in England his 
 failure was attributed to the jealousy of the Duke of 
 Lancaster. The bishop, on his return, was prose- 
 cuted by Parliament, and was for some time deprived 
 of his temporalities. At the same time, four of his 
 principal officers were condemned for having sold 
 stores and provisions to the enemy. 
 
 A. D. 1384. In her jealousy of the powers of his 
 imcles, the Princess of Wales had surrounded her 
 son with ministers and officers who were chiefly 
 men of obscure birth and fortune. Richard, who 
 lived almost entirely in the society of these individ- 
 uals, contracted an exclusive affection for them, and, 
 as soon as he was able, he began to heap weahh and 
 honors upon them. Hence there arose a perpetual 
 jealousy between the favorites and the king's uncles, 
 and a struggle in which both parties seem to have 
 resorted to the ^ost nefiirious proceedings. A dark 
 mystery will forever hang ovei- most of these trans- 
 actions. Once the Duke of Lancaster was obliged 
 to hide himself in Scotland, and he would not return 
 until Richard publicly proclaimed his conviction of 
 his innocence, and allowed him to travel always with 
 a strong body-guard. In the mouth of April of this 
 year, just after the duke had done good service 
 against the Scots, the Parliament met at Salisbury. 
 One day during the session, John Latimer, a Car- 
 melite friar, a native of Ireland, gave Richard a 
 parchment, containing the particulars of a conspiracy 
 to place the crown on the head of his uncle. The 
 king communicated the contents to Lancaster, who 
 swore that they were all utterly false, — offered to 
 fight in proof of his innocence, and insisted that his 
 accuser should be placed in safe custody to bo ex- 
 j amined by the council. The monk was accordingly 
 committed to the care of John Holland, the king's 
 half-brother, who is said to have strangled him with 
 his own hands during the night. The king's fVifMids 
 asserted that the friar had killed himself. The 
 Earl of Buckingham swore that he would kill any 
 man that dared to accuse his brother Lancaster of 
 , treason. The Lord Zouch, whom the friar had
 
 r64 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 named as the author of the memorial, declared upon 
 his oath that lie knew nothing about it, and the mat- 
 ter dropped. Some suspicions, however, hugered 
 in the mind of Richard, and an attempt was made 
 some time after to arrest Lancaster. But the duke 
 threw himself into his strong castle of Pontefract, 
 and stayed there till the king's mother brought 
 about a reconciliation, and obtained a pardon for her 
 own son. Sir John Holland. 
 
 Truces with Scotland, which had been negotiated 
 by the Duke of Lancaster, were prolonged till the 
 month of May, 1385, when the French, in order to 
 bring about the renewal of hostilities, sent John de 
 Vienna, lord admiral of France, with one thousand 
 men-at-arms, and forty thousand francs in gold, and 
 other supplies, to induce the Scots to make an in- 
 road into England. The French knights soon com- 
 plained bitterly of the pride of the Scots, the pov- 
 erty of the land, and the lack of amusements, such 
 as banquets, balls, and tournaments. The common 
 soldiers were not sufficiently respectful to the wo- 
 men ; and, on the whole, these, allies agreed very 
 badly. At last, however, the French and Scots 
 broke into Northumberland ; but Richard, who now 
 took the field for the first time, came up from York, 
 and forced them to retire. With eighty thousand 
 men, Richard crossed the borders, burnt Edinburgh, 
 Perth, and other towns ; but then he was obliged to 
 retreat — for information was brought that John de 
 Vienne had crossed the Sohvay Frith, and was be- 
 sieging Carlisle. The French and Scots marched 
 off by the west, and returned toward Edinburgh, 
 boasting that they had done as much mischief in 
 England as the English had done in Scotland. Rich- 
 ard then disbanded his army, without ever having 
 had an opportunity of measuring swords with the 
 enemy. During this campaign, the royal quarters 
 had been disgraced by a vile murder, and by fre- 
 quent quarrels between the king's uncles and his 
 favorites. At York, during the advance. Sir John 
 Holland assassinated one of the favorites, and the 
 grief, shame, and anxiety caused by this event, broke 
 the heart of the Princess of Wales, who died a few 
 days after. On the retreat from Scotland, Sir Mi- 
 chael de la Pole, another of the favorites, who was 
 then chancellor, excited some fresh jealousy in the 
 mind of Richard, who thereupon had a violent and 
 indecent altercation with his uncle Lancaster. Af- 
 ter the campaign the king made great promotions to 
 quiet the jealousy of his relations; honors fell upon 
 them, but these were nothing compared to the 
 honors and grants conferred on the king's minions. 
 Henry of Bohngbroke, Lancaster's son, was made 
 Earl of Derby ; the king's uncles, the earls of Cam- 
 bridge and Buckingham, were created dukes of 
 Y'ork and Gloucester ; Michael de la Pole was cre- 
 ated Earl of Suffolk ; and Robert de Vere, a still 
 more influential favorite, Marquis of Dublin, receiv- 
 ing, at the same time, the extraordinary grant of the 
 whole revenue of Ireland, out of which he was to 
 pay a yearly rent of five thousand marks to the 
 king. He was soon after made Duke of Ireland. 
 As Richard had no children, he declared at the 
 same time that his lawful successor would be 
 
 Roger, Earl of March, the grandson of Lionel. 
 Duke of Clarence.' 
 
 Soon after these arrangements, the Duke of Lan- 
 caster was enabled to depart to press his claim to 
 the throne of Castile by force of arms. A disputed 
 succession in Portugal, and a war between that 
 country and Spain, seemed to open a road for him. 
 The king was evidently glad to have him out of 
 England. Parliament voted supplies, one half of 
 wliich were given to the duke; and in the month of 
 July, he set sail for the Peninsula, with an army of 
 ten thousand men. Lancaster landed at CoruFia, 
 opened a road through Gallicia into Portugal, and 
 formed a junction with the king of that countrj', 
 who married Philippa, the duke's eldest daughter 
 by his first wife. At first, the duke was every- 
 where victorious ; he defeated the Spaniards in a 
 pitched battle, and took many towns ; but, in a sec- 
 ond campaign, his army was almost annihilated by 
 disease and famine ; and his own declining health 
 forced hiin to retire to Guienne. In the end, how- 
 ever, he concluded an advantageous treaty. His 
 daughter Catherine, the granddaughter of Peter 
 the Cruel, was married to Henry, Prince of Astu- 
 rias, the heir of the reigning King of Castile. Two 
 hundred thousand crowns were paid to the duke 
 for the expenses he had incurred ; and the King of 
 Castile agreed to pay forty thousand florins by way 
 of annuity to the Duke and Duchess of Lancaster. 
 The issue of John of Gaunt reigned in Spain for 
 many generations. 
 
 Encouraged by the absence of the duke with so 
 many choice warriors, the French determined to 
 invade England. Never had that nation made such 
 mighty preparations. Upward of a hundred thou- 
 sand men, including nearly all the chivalry of France, 
 were encamped in Flanders, and an immense fleet 
 lay in the port of Sluys ready to carry them over. 
 This fleet was composed of ships collected in all 
 maritime countries from Cadiz to Dantzic. Charles 
 VI., who determined to take a part in the expedi- 
 tion, went to Sluys, and even embarked ; but this 
 j-oung king was entirely in the power of his in- 
 triguing and turbulent uncles, who seem to have 
 determined (not unwisely, perhaps) that the expe- 
 dition should not take place. There were other 
 impediments and causes of delay, and in the end 
 the army was disbanded. The fleet was dispersed 
 by a tempest, and many of the ships were taken by 
 the English. The expenses incurred by France in 
 these preparations were enormous, and ground the 
 people who had to pay them to the very dust. That 
 country indeed was so exhausted by the outlay that 
 there was no fear of its making any such great at- 
 tempt for many years to come. 
 
 Richard gained no increase of comfort by the ab- 
 sence of Lancaster, whose jounger brother, the 
 Duke of Gloucester, was far harsher than John of 
 Gaunt had ever been. At the meeting of Parlia- 
 ment, in the month of October, the Duke of Glou- 
 cester headed an opposition which determined to 
 drive Richard's favorites, De la Pole and De Vere, 
 from office. They began with De la Pole, who, 
 1 Froissart. — Walsingham. — Knyghton. — Rot. Pari. — Rynier
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AxND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 765 
 
 after n weak attempt to save him, was dismissed.^ 
 After his expulsion, the Commons impeached him 
 of high crimes and misdemeanors, and he was sen- 
 tenced to pay a heavy fine and to be imprisoned. 
 Gloucester and his party then said th.at no good 
 government could be expected until a permanent 
 council was chosen by Parliament to reform the 
 state of the nation — a council like those which had 
 been appointed in the reigns of John, Henry III., 
 and Edward II. Richard said he would never 
 consent to any such measure, and threatened to 
 dissolve the Parliament. The Commons then coolly 
 produced the statute by which Edward II. had 
 been deposed ; and while he was agitated by this 
 significant hint, one of the lords reminded him that 
 his life would be in danger if he persisted in his re- 
 fusal. Upon this Richard yielded, and the govern- 
 ment was substantially vested for a year in the 
 hands of eleven commissioners, bishops and peers, 
 to Avhom were added the three great officers of the 
 crown. At the head of all was placed his uncle 
 Gloucester, whom from that moment he hated with 
 an intensity which seems almost incompatiWe with 
 his light, frivolous character.^ 
 
 The king was now twenty years of age, but he 
 was reduced to as mere a cipher as when he was 
 but eleven. In the month of August in the follow- 
 ing year, 1387, acting under the advice of De la 
 Pole and Tresilian, the chief justice, he assembled 
 a council at Nottingham, and submitted to some of 
 the judges who attended it this question — whether 
 the commission of government appointed by Parlia- 
 ment, and approved of under his own seal, were 
 legal or illegal ? These judges certified under their 
 hands and seals that the commission was illegal, and 
 that all those who introduced the measure were 
 liable to capital punishment; that all who supported 
 it were by that act guilty of high treason ; and in 
 short, that both lords and commons were traitors. 
 On the 11th of November following, the king, who 
 had returned to London, and who seems thus early 
 to have formed the absurd idea of governing the 
 country by a junta or council of his own choosing, 
 was alarmed by the intelligence that his uncle Glou- 
 cester and the earls of Arundel and Nottingham, 
 the constable admiral, and marshal of England, were 
 approaching the capital with forty thousand men. 
 The decision of the judges had been kept secret, 
 but one of the number betrayed it to a friend of 
 Gloucester. As soon as Richard's cousin, the Earl 
 of Derby, Lancaster's son and heir, learned the 
 approach of his uncle of Gloucester, he quitted the 
 court with the Earl of Warwick, went to Waltham 
 Cross, and there joined him. The members of the 
 Council of Eleven were there already. On Sunday 
 the 17th of November the duke entered London 
 with an irresistible force, and " appealed " of treason 
 the Archbishop of York, De Vere, now Duke of Ire- 
 land, De la Pole, Earl of Sufliolk, Robert Tresilian, 
 chief justice, and Sir Nicholas Brember, knight, 
 
 1 According to Knyghton, when Richard first received the message 
 nf Parliament, requesting that De la P<i)e, Earl of Suffolk and chan- 
 cellor, might be removed, he replied with boyish petulance, that he 
 would not for them remove the meanest scullion from his kitchen 
 
 2 Rot. Pari. 
 
 and lord mayor of London. The favorites instant- 
 ly took to flight. De la Pole, the condemned chan- 
 cellor, who had returned to court, and seemed 
 dearer than ever to his master, succeeded in reach- 
 ing France, where he died soon after ; De Vere, 
 the Duke of Ireland, got to the borders of Wales, 
 where he received royal lettei-s authorizing him to 
 raise an army, and begin a civil war. He collected 
 a few thousand men, but was met on the banks of 
 the Isis, near Radcot, and thoroughly defeated by 
 Gloucester and Henry of Bolingbroke. He then 
 fled to Ireland, and afterward to Holland, where he 
 died about four years after. The Archbishop of 
 York was seized in the north, but was allowed to 
 escape by the people : he also finished his days not 
 long after, in the humble condition of a parish priest 
 in Flanders. Tresilian and Brember remained con- 
 cealed in or about London. After the defeat of his 
 army under De Vere, Richard, who was only cour- 
 ageous by fits and starts, lost all heart, and retired 
 into the Tower. His uncle Gloucester, who be- 
 lieved on pretty good grounds that the king and the 
 favorites had intended to arrest him secretly and 
 put him to death, showed little mercy. He drove 
 eveiy friend of Richard, even down to his confessor, 
 away from the court, and threw some, ten or twelve 
 of them into prison. The " wonderful Parliament," 
 which met in the beginning of the year 1388, car- 
 ried out the impeachments he had made, and gave 
 him their full support. The five obnoxious counsel- 
 ors were found guilty of high treason, their prop- 
 erty was confiscated, and Tresilian and Brember, the 
 mayor, who were discovered, were executed, to the 
 joy of the people. 
 
 With the cause of Brember's great unpopularity 
 we are not acquainted ; but the chief justice had 
 made himself odious by his "bloody circuit" against 
 the peasants who had been engaged in the insurrec- 
 tion. The judges who had signed and sealed the 
 answer at Nottingham were next impeached. Their 
 only plea was, that they had acted under terror of 
 the king and the favorites : they were capitally con- 
 victed ; but the bishops interceded in their behalf, 
 and, instead of being sent to the scaflToId, they were 
 sent into exile for life to Ireland. Blake, however, 
 who had drawn up the questions at Nottingham, 
 was executed, and so was Usk, who had been se- 
 cretly appointed under-sheriff to seize the person of 
 the Duke of Gloucester. The king's confessor, 
 who swore that no threats had been used with the 
 judges at Nottingham, was also condemned to exile 
 in Ireland. It was hoped that the shedding of 
 blood would stop here, but such was not the inten- 
 tion of Gloucester. After the Easter recess he im- 
 peached four knights, and these unfortunate men 
 were all convicted and executed. Of these, the 
 fiite of Sir Simon Burley excited most sympathy : 
 he had been the much-esteemed friend of P^dward 
 III. and the Black Prince ; he had acted as guar- 
 dian to Richard ; had negotiated his raan-iage ; and 
 was tenderly loved both by the king and the queen. 
 Richard was not so base as to abandon this worthy 
 knight without making an effort ; but his uncle 
 Gloucester told him that his keeping the crown
 
 766 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 would depend on the immediate execution of this 
 individual. The young queen— the "good Queen 
 Anne,"' as she was called by the people— in vain 
 begged on her knees that he might be spared : in 
 vain Henry of Bolingbroke, who liad been Glouces- 
 ter's right hand in this enterprise, added his most 
 earnest solicitations. The iron-hearted Gloucester 
 had a violent quarrel on this occasion with his 
 nephew Henry, who never forgave him. 
 
 ' Rot. Pari.— Kuyghton 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 For about twelve months Richard left the whole 
 power of government in the hands of his uncle 
 and of the council or commission. It was during 
 this interval that the battle of Otterbourne, famous 
 in song under the name of Chevy Chase, was 
 fought (15th August, 1388) between the Scottish 
 Earl Douglas, and the Lord Harry Percy, the 
 renowned Hotspur. Douglas was slain, but the 
 English were in the end driven from the field, after 
 both Hotspur and his brother, Lord Rali)h Percy, 
 
 Field or the Battle of Chevy Chase. — Bird 
 
 had been taken prisoners. At length Richard gave 
 a proof of that decisive promptitude which visited 
 his mind at uncertain intervals. In a great council 
 held in the month of May, 1389, he suddenly ad- 
 dressed his uncle — "How old do you think I am?" 
 " Your highness," replied Gloucester, " is in your 
 twenty-second year." " Then," added the king, 
 "I am surely of age to manage my own aft'airs. I 
 have been longer under the control of guardians 
 than any ward in my dominions. I thank ye, my 
 lords, for your past services, but I want them no 
 longer." Before they could recover from their 
 astonishment he demanded the great seals from 
 the archbishop, and the keys of the Exchequer 
 from the Bishop of Hereford ; and within a few 
 days he drove Gloucester from the council, and 
 dismissed most of the officers he had appointed, 
 
 without meeting with any opposition. He informed 
 the people, by proclamation, that he had now taken 
 the reins of government into his own hands ; but, 
 in fact, tliis was far from being the case. Richard 
 had not the needful application to business, and the 
 chief administration of affairs was left to another 
 uncle, the Duke of York, and to his cool-headed 
 and calculating cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, Earl 
 of Derby.' 
 
 For some j-ears this government was undisturbed, 
 and the nation tranquil ; but Richard was evidently 
 simulating or dissimulating the whole time. Lan- 
 caster returned from the continent after an absence 
 of more than three years, and, from circumstances 
 with which we are not sufficiently acquainted, he 
 became all at once exceedingly moderate and popu- 
 
 1 Walsingham. — Knyghton. — Rot. Pari.
 
 Cl AP. I ] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 767 
 
 lar. He conducted bis brother Gloucester and the 
 nobles of his party to court, where an affecting 
 reconciliation took place, the king plfiying his part 
 so ably that nobody seems to have doubted the sin- 
 cerity with which he embraced his " dear uncle " 
 Gloucester. The duke was readmitted into the 
 council ; Lancaster was created Duke of Aquitaine 
 for life,' and intrusted with the negotiation of a 
 peace with France, the Parliament voting a liberal 
 sum to defray his expenses at a sort of congress 
 held at Amiens. Hostilities had been suspended 
 by a succession of armistices, and in 1394 a truce 
 was concluded for four years. This truce also 
 embraced Scotland, the king of which country, 
 Robert II., had died the 19th of April, 1390, leaving 
 the crown to his eldest son, John, Earl of Carrick, 
 who took the name of Robert III.^ 
 
 A.D. 1394. After the death of the good Queen 
 Anne, wliich happened at Shene, on Whit Sunday, 
 the king collected a considerable army, and crossed 
 over to Ireland, where the native chiefs had been 
 for some time making head against their English 
 oppressors, and where some of the English them- 
 selves had revolted. This campaign was a blood- 
 less one : the Irish chiefs submitted ; Richard en- 
 teitained them with gi"eat magnificence, knighted 
 some of them, and, after spending a winter in the 
 country, and redressing some abuses, he returned 
 home, and was well received by his subjects. 
 Although the council was divided on the matter, 
 Richard at last decided on conti'acting a matrimonial 
 alliance with France ; and in the month of October, 
 1396, he passed over to the continent, and married 
 Isabella, the daughter of Charles VI. — a princess, 
 a miracle of beauty and of wit, according to Frois- 
 sart, but who was little more than seven years old. 
 The blessing of a peace, or at least of a truce, for 
 twenty-five years, was the consequence of this 
 union, and yet the marriage was decidedly unpop- 
 ular -in England. The Duke of Gloucester had 
 always opposed it; and the people, whose favor he 
 had never forfeited, now considered him in the 
 light of a champion for the national honor. "Our 
 Edwards," said the duke, " struck terror to the 
 heart of Paris, but under Richard we court their 
 alliance, and tremble at the French even in Lon- 
 don." It is said that the duke's declamations were 
 the more vehement, because he suspected what 
 would follow to himself; and it is certain that 
 Richard asked assistance from Charles VI., to be 
 given in case of need, and that this alliance with 
 France gfive him courage to undertake a scheme 
 which his deep revenge had nourished for many 
 years. The year after his marriage, in the month 
 of July, Richard struck his blow with consummate 
 treachery; after entertaining him at dinner, in his 
 usual bland manner, he arrested the Earl of War- 
 wick. Two days after he craftily induced the 
 primate to bring his brother, the Earl of Arundel, 
 
 1 This grant was subsequently recalled. 
 
 2 The same popular prejudice against the name of John, at least fur 
 a king, which we have seen displayed l>y the English followers of Wat 
 Tyler, was also entertained at this time hy the Scots. It is commonly 
 traced to the unfortunate reigns of .John of England, John of France, 
 and J'jhn Baliol. 
 
 to a friendly conference ; and then Arundel was 
 arrested. He had thus got two of his victims : to 
 entrap the third, and the greatest of all, he went 
 with a gay company to Pleshy Castle, in Essex, 
 where his uncle Gloucester was residing with his 
 family. The duke, suspecting no mischief, came 
 out, with all his household, to meet the royal guest, 
 and, while Richard entertained the duchess with 
 friendly discourse, Gloucester was seized by the 
 earl marshal, carried with breathless speed to the 
 river, put on board ship, and conveyed to the castle 
 of Calais. A report ran that the duke wms mur- 
 dered : to quiet the agitation, Richard issued a 
 proclamation stating that the recent arrests had 
 been made by the assent of the chief officers of the 
 crown, and with the knowledge and approbation of 
 his uncles of Lancaster and York, and his cousin 
 Henry, Earl of Derby.' 
 
 A few days after Richard Avent to Nottingham 
 Castle, and there, taking his uncles Lancaster and 
 York, and his cousin Henry, by surprise, he made 
 them, with other noblemen, put their seals to a 
 parchment, by which Gloucester, Arundel, and 
 Warwick were " appealed " of treason in the same 
 manner that they (with Henry of Bolingbroke 
 among them) had appealed the king's favorites ten 
 years before. A parliament was then summoned 
 to try the three traitors, for so they were now called 
 by men, like Henr}^ of Bolingbroke, who had been 
 partakers in all their acts, and by others who had 
 supported them in their boldest measures. These 
 men can only escape the suspicion of being a set of 
 fickle and unprincipled scoundrels by our admitting 
 that many circumstances remain untold; and in- 
 deed the contemporary accounts of the transaction 
 are unusually vague and unsatisfactory. One great 
 key to the secret might be found m the terror 
 inspired by Richard's masterlj^ craft and his display 
 of military force. On the 17th of September, he 
 went to Parliament, with six hundred men-at arms 
 wearing his livery, and a bodj'-guard of choice arch- 
 ers. The Commons, who had received their lesson, 
 began by impeaching Thomas Arundel, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, of high treason. Fearing the pri- 
 mate's eloquence, Richard artfully prevented his 
 attending in the Lords, and he was, at the king's 
 will, banished for life. On the following day his 
 brother, the Earl of Arundel, who offered to prove 
 his innocence by wager of battle, who challenged a 
 trial by jury, and who at last pleaded a general and 
 particular pardon, was condemned and immediately 
 beheaded on Tower Hill. On the 21st of Septem- 
 ber, a writ was issued to the earl marshal, governor 
 of Calais, commanding him to bring the body of his 
 prisoner, the Duke of Gloucester, before the king 
 in parliament, that he might answer to the Lords, 
 who had appealed him of treason. On the 24th 
 (and three days were probably then scarcely enough 
 for a king's messenger to travel to Calais and back) 
 an answer was returned to the Lords, that the earl 
 marshal could not produce the duke, for that he. 
 being in custody in the king's prison in Calais, had 
 died there. This Parliament, which was assembled 
 
 > Rot. Pari — Rymcr.
 
 768 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 to procure his death, cared httle how he had died, 
 and made no inquiries. The Lords appellants de- 
 manded judgment; the Commons seconded their 
 demand, and the dead duke was declared to be a 
 traitor, and all liis property was confiscated to the 
 king. On the next day a document, purporting to 
 be Gloucester's confession taken by Sir William 
 Rickhill, one of the justices who had been sent over 
 to Calais in the preceding month for that sole pur- 
 pose, as was pretended, was produced and read in 
 parliament.' On the 28th, Gloucester's friend, the 
 Earl of Wai-wick, was brought before the bar of the 
 House : the earl pleaded guilty, but his sentence 
 was commuted into perpetual imprisonment in the 
 Isle of Man. In passing sentence on these nobles, 
 there were many who condemned themselves. The 
 Duke of York, the Bishop of Winchester, and Sir 
 Richard Scroop had been members of the Com- 
 mission of Eleven ; the Earl of Derby and the 
 Earl of Nottingham had been two out of the five 
 who entered London in arms and appealed the 
 favorites of treason. After their recent experience 
 of the king, nothing but fatuity could make them 
 repose confidence in any of his assurances, or in the 
 steadiness of Parliament ; but for want of any better 
 security, they extracted from Richard a declaration 
 of their own innocence in regard to all past transac- 
 tions. This declaration was made in full parliament. 
 After this the king, who was veiy fond of- high- 
 sounding titles, and a great conferrer of them, made 
 several promotions of his nobles. Among these, his 
 cousin Henry Bohngbroke was created Duke of 
 Hereford ; Mowbray, the Earl of Nottingham, Duke 
 of Norfolk ; and the king's half-brother, .John Hol- 
 land, who had committed the murder at York, was 
 made Duke of Exeter.^ 
 
 Gloucester's " wonderful" parliament of 1386 had 
 taken an oath that nothing there passed into law 
 should be changed or abrogated ; and now the very 
 same men, with a few exceptions, took the same 
 oath to the decisions of the present parliament, 
 which undid all that was then done. The answers 
 of the judges to the questions put at Nottingham, 
 which had then been punished as acts of high trea- 
 son, were now pronounced to be just and legal. It 
 was declared high treason to attempt to appeal or 
 overturn any judgment now passed ; and the issue 
 male of all the persons who had been condemned 
 were declared forever incapable of s'tting in parlia- 
 ment or liolding office in council. " These violent 
 ordinances, as if the precedent they were then over- 
 turning had not shielded itself with the same sanc- 
 tion, were sworn to by Parliament upon the cross of 
 Canterburj', and confirmed by a national oath, with 
 the penalty of excommunication denounced against 
 its infringers. Of those recorded to have bound 
 themselves by the adjuration to Richard, far the 
 greater part liad touched the same relics for Glou- 
 
 1 Rickhill saw the duke alive, at Calais, on the 7th of Septemher. 
 The real object of his mission, and the real circumstances of Glouces- 
 ter's death, are involved in a mystery never likely to be cleared up. 
 But it seems that the universal impression, not only in England but 
 also on the continent, was correct, and that he was secretly murdered, 
 and in a manner not to disfigure the corpse, which was afterward de- 
 livered to his family 2 Rot. Pari. — Froiss. — Knyghl. 
 
 cester and Arundel ten years before, and two years 
 afterward swore allegiance to Henry of Lancas- 
 ter." ' Before this obsequious Parliament separa- 
 ted, it set the dangerous precedent of granting the 
 king a subsidy, for life, upon wool ; and a commis- 
 sion was granted for twelve peers and six common- 
 ers, " all persons well aftected to the king," to sit 
 after the dissolution, and examine and determine 
 certain matters as to them should seem best. These 
 eighteen commissioners usurped the entire rights 
 of the legislature : they imposed a perpetual oath 
 on prelates and lords, to be taken before obtaining 
 possession of their estates, that they would main- 
 tain the statutes and ordinances made by this Par- 
 liament, or afterward by the lords and kniglits, hav- 
 ing power committed to them by the same; and 
 they declared it to be high treason to disobey any 
 of their ordinances. Thus, with the vote of a rev- 
 enue for life, and with the power of parliament 
 notoriously usurped by a junto of his creatures, 
 Richard was not likely soon to meet his people 
 again, and he became as absolute as he could wish. 
 Some people, admitting the follies and extravagances 
 of this king, profess to be blind to any serious state 
 crime in him that can justify the contempt and 
 hatred in which he was held by his subjects; but 
 we think that the few preceding lines are sufficient 
 to clear their vision in this respect. 
 
 Richard was elated with his success, and he glo- 
 ried in his dissimulation, which he fondly hoped 
 had overthrown all opposition. He began to reign 
 much more fiercely than before. " In those days," 
 says Froissart, " there was none so great in Eng- 
 land that durst speak against anything that the king 
 did. He had a council suitable to his fancies, who 
 exhorted him to do what he list: he kept in his 
 wages ten thousand aixhers, who watched over 
 him day and night." This high and absolute bear- 
 ing was, however, of short duration. The people, 
 a share of whose attachment or respect had been 
 preserved by Gloucester even in his worst moments, 
 because he always showed a concern for the public 
 interest, were soon disgusted with Richard, who 
 appeared only to crave power and money that he 
 might lavish them on his minions and indulge him- 
 self in an indolent and luxurious life. His grand- 
 ' father, Edward III., had maintained a magnificent 
 court ; but his was a homely affair compared to that 
 kept by Richard. Never had the nation seen — nor 
 did it see for long after — such gorgeousness in fur- 
 niture and apparel, such pageants, such feasting, and 
 such Apician extravagance and delicacy in repasts. 
 Putting aside the tailors, the drapers, and the hosts 
 of servants, all clad in costly liveries, Richard's cooks 
 and adjutants of the kitchen alone formed a little army. 
 In some- respects his taste and magnificence might 
 have benefited the nation, but they were carried to 
 excess, and the spectators of his riotous living were 
 but too often a beggared and a starving people. 
 
 A general murmur was soon raised against the 
 late Parliament : people said that it had not been 
 freely chosen ; that it had with bad faith and bar- 
 barity revoked former pardons and connived at il!e- 
 
 J Hallam, Middle Ages, iii. 115.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 769 
 
 gal exactions ; that it had been a party to the shame- 
 ful impunity of the murderers of Gloucester ; and 
 that it had assisted the king in destroying the liber- 
 ties of the kingdom. Matters were approaching 
 this state when the mutual distrusts of two great 
 noblemen, and the fears they both entertained of 
 the cunning and vindictive spirit of the king, hur- 
 ried on the catastrophe. Henry of Bolingbroke, now 
 Duke of Hereford, and Mowbray, now Duke of Nor- 
 folk, were the only two that remained of the five 
 appellants of 1386. To all outward appearance 
 they enjoyed the favor and confidence of the king ; 
 but they both knew that their original sin had never 
 been forgiven. The Duke of Norfolk, who, much 
 to his honor, had shown a reluctance to join in the 
 prosecution of his former friends, seems to have 
 been the more alarmed or the more communicative 
 of the two. Overtaking the Duke of Hereford, who 
 was riding on the road between Windsor and Lon- 
 don, in the month of December, during the recess 
 of Parliament, Mowbray said, " We are about to 
 be ruined." Henry of Bolingbroke asked, " For 
 what?" and Mowbray said, "For the aflair of Rad- 
 cot bridge." " How can that be after his pardon 
 and declaration in parliament?" "He will annul 
 that pardon," said Mowbray, " and our fate will be 
 like that of others before us. It is a marvelous and 
 treacherous world this we live in !" And then he 
 went on to assure Hereford (what must have been 
 unnecessary) that there was no trust to be put in 
 Richard's promises or oaths, or demonstrations of 
 affection, and that he knew of a certainty that he 
 and his minions were then compassing the deaths 
 of the dukes of Lancaster, Hereford, Albemarle, 
 and Exeter, the Marquis of Dorset, and of himself. 
 Henry then said, " If such be the case, we can never 
 trust them ;" to which Mowbray rejoined, " So it 
 is, and though they may not be able to do it now, 
 they will contrive to destroy us in our houses ten 
 years hence." ' 
 
 This reign, as abounding in dark and treacherous 
 transactions, is rich in historical doubts. It is not 
 clear how this conversation was reported to Rich- 
 ard, but the damning suspicion rests upon Henry 
 of Bolingbroke. When Parliament met after the 
 recess, in the month of January, 1398, Hereford 
 was called upon by the king to relate what had 
 passed between the Duke of Norfolk and himself, 
 and then Hereford rose and presented in writing 
 the whole of the conversation as we have related it. 
 Norfolk did not attend in parliament, but he surren- 
 dered on proclamation, called Henry of Lancaster 
 a liar and false traitor, and threw down his gauntlet. 
 Richard ordered both parties into custody, and in- 
 stead of submitting the case to Parliament, refen'ed 
 it to a court of chivalry, which, after many delays, 
 awarded that wager of battle should be joined at 
 Coventry on the 16th of September. As the time 
 approached Richard was heard to say, " Now I shall 
 have peace from henceforward ;" but, on the ap- 
 pointed day, when the combatants were in the lists, 
 and had couched their lances, throwing down his 
 
 1 Rot. Pari.— This is the account which Hereford gave in Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 voT,. I. — 49 
 
 warder between them, he took the battle into his 
 own hands. After consulting with the committee 
 of Parliament — the base eighteen (who had just 
 been appointed) — to the surprise and bewilder- 
 ment of all men, he condemned Hereford to banish- 
 ment for ten years, and Norfolk for fife. Hereford, 
 apparently confident in his abilities and many re- 
 sources, went no farther than France : Norfolk 
 made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and not long after 
 died broken-hearted at Venice. On the death of 
 the Duke of Lancaster, which happened about three 
 months after the exile of his son Hereford, Richard 
 seized his immense estates and kept them, notwith- 
 standing his having, before his departure out of Eng- 
 land, granted letters patent to Hereford, permitting 
 him to appoint attorneys to represent him and take 
 possession of his la^vful inheritance.^ The illegality 
 and dishonor of this proceeding did not prevent the 
 court lawyers from justifying it. But now there 
 was no law in the land except what proceeded from 
 the will of Richard, who, after ridding himself, as 
 he fancied, forever, of the two great peers whom 
 he feared and hated, set no limits to his despotism. 
 He raised monej' by forced loans ; he coerced th»- 
 judges, and in order to obtain fines he outlawed sev- 
 enteen counties by one stroke of the pen, alleging 
 that they had favored his enemies in the affair of 
 Radcot bridge. He was told by some friends that 
 the country Avas in a ferment, and that plots and 
 conspiracies were forming against him ; but the in- 
 fatuated man treated them with contempt, and chose 
 this very moment for leaving England. In the end 
 of the month of May, 1399, he sailed from Milford 
 Haven with a splendid fleet, which, however, con- 
 veyed more courtiers and parasites than good sol- 
 diers. After some delay he took the field against 
 the Irish on the 20th of June, and a fortnight after, 
 his cousin, the Duke of Hereford, landed at Raven- 
 spur in Yorkshire. The duke had not escaped 
 from France without difficulty, and all the retinue 
 he brought with him consisted of the exiled Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, the son of the late Earl oi" 
 Arundel, fifteen knights and men-at-arms, and a few 
 servants. 
 
 But the wily Henry was strong in the affections 
 of the people : he knew by the grief shown when 
 he set out on his exile that many thousands would 
 be glad to see hmi back ; and both he and the 
 archbishop had many personal friends among the 
 nobles. As soon as he landed, he was joined by 
 the great earls of Northumberland and Westmore- 
 land ; and as he declared that he only came for his 
 right, or for the estates belonging to his father, he 
 was speedily reinforced by many who did not fore- 
 see, and who, at that stage, would not have approved 
 his full and daring sclieme. He marched with won- 
 derful rapidity toward the capital, and arrived there 
 at the head of sixty thousand men. His uncle, the 
 Duke of York, having no confidence in the Lon- 
 doners, quitted the city before hie approach, and, as 
 regent of the kingdom during Richard's absence, 
 raised the royal standard at St. Albans. The Lon- 
 doners received Hereford as a deliverer, and still 
 
 1 Rot. Parl.-Rvmer.
 
 770 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 farther strengthened his army. A general panic 
 prevailed among the creatures of Richard, some of 
 whom shut themselves up in Bristol Castle. The 
 iJuke of York, with such forces as he could collect, 
 moved toward the west, there to await the arrival 
 of Richard, to whom messengers had been dis- 
 patched. After staying a few days in London, 
 Henry of Boiingbroke marched in the same direc- 
 tion, and so rapid was his course that he reached 
 the Severn on the same day as the regent. The 
 Duke of York had discovered before this that die 
 could place no reliance on his troops : he was him- 
 self a man of no energy, and ])robabIy his resent- 
 ment for the murder of his brother Gloucester 
 was greater than his affection for his nephew 
 Richard. Henry of Boiingbroke was also his neph- 
 ew : and when he agreed to meet that master- 
 mind in a secret conference, the effect was in- 
 evitable. York joined his forces to those of 
 Flenry, turned aside with him, and helped him 
 to take Bristol Castle. Three members of the 
 standing committee of eighteen, the Earl of Wilt- 
 shire, Bussy, and Green, were found in the castle, 
 and executed, without trial, but to the infinite joy 
 »)f the people, who had clamored for their deaths. 
 
 Henry then marched toward Chester, but York 
 sto])ped at Bristol.' 
 
 For three weeks Richard remained ignorant of 
 all that was passing. Contrary w inds, and storms, 
 are made to bear the blame of this omission, but it 
 is probable that some of the messengers had proved 
 unfaithful. When he received the astounding in- 
 telligence, his first remark was, that he sorely re- 
 gretted not having put Henry to death, as he might 
 have done. From Dublin he dispatched the Earl" 
 of Salisbury with part of his forces, and then he 
 repaired himself to Waterford, with the intention 
 of crossing over with the rest. Salisbury landed at 
 Conway, and was reinforced by the Welsh ; but 
 the king did not appear so soon as was expected, 
 and the earl was soon deserted by his whole army, 
 botli Welsh and English. A few days after, when 
 Richard at last arrived at Milford Haven, he was 
 stunned by bad news of every kind ; and on the 
 second day after his landing, the few thousands of 
 troops which he had brought with him from Ire- 
 land deserted him almost to a man. At midnight, 
 disguised as a priest, and accompanied only by his 
 two half-brothers, Sir Stephen Scroop, his chan- 
 
 1 Walsiiigham. 
 
 Mkktino of Richard and Bolinobroke at Flint Casti.e.* 
 (Richard is disguised as a Priest, and Boiingbroke is represented in mourning lor tiie death of his father, John of Gaunt.) 
 
 * From the Ilarleian MS. 1319, a History of tlie Deposition of Richard II., in French verse, professing to be "composed by a French gentle- 
 man of mark, who was in the suite of the said king, with permission of tlie King of France." " The several illuminations contained in this 
 hook," says a MS. note by Bishop Percy, appended to the volume ; " are extremely valuable and curious, not only for the exact display o< 
 the dresses, etc. of the time, but for the finislied portraits of so many ancient characters as are presented in them." These interesting and 
 beautiful illuminations are sixteen in number; our copies of three of them, which have been carefully traced from the originals, will convey 
 Bome notion of the style of minute and high finish in which they are executed. The whole have been engraved in the 20th volume of the 
 Archaologia, where the poem is printed with an English translation, and ample explanatory notes, by the Rev. John Webb, M.A., F.A.S., 
 Rector of Tretire, in Herefordshire ; pp. 1-423
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 CIVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 771 
 
 cellor, the Bishop of Carlisle, and nine other indi- 
 viduals, he fled to Conway, to seek refuge in the 
 strong castle there. At Conway he found the Earl 
 of Salisbury and about one hundred men, who, it 
 appears, had already consumed the slender stock 
 of provisions laid up in the fortress. Richard then 
 dispatched his two half-brothers to Chester, Henry's 
 head-quarters, to ascertain what were his intentions. 
 Henry put them under arrest. Soon after sending 
 them, Richard rode to the castles of Beaumaris and 
 Caernaivon ; they were both bare of provisions, and 
 he returned in despair, and probably in hunger, to 
 Conway Castle. A romantic and touching story is 
 usually told, on the faith of two anonymous manu- 
 scripts, according to which, Richard was lured from 
 his stronghold by the ingenious treachery of the 
 Earl of Northumbei-land ; but we are inclined to 
 believe that famine drove him from Conway Castle, 
 and that, in a hopeless state, he surrendered to 
 Northumberland, who, however, very probably 
 offered him delusive terms.* At the castle of Flint, 
 
 I It is said that the sea was open to him, and that he might have 
 escaped to Guienne ; but it is by no means clear that, at this moment, 
 he hud eitlier a ship or provisions fur such a voyage. Beside, after 
 such repeated desertions, he may well have feared trusting himself in 
 the hands of a few sailors. And then, agaiu, he knew that quitting his 
 kingdom at tliis moment would be equivalent to an abdication. 
 
 Henry of Bolingbroke met him, and bent his knee, 
 as to his sovereign. " Fair cousin of Lancaster," 
 said Richard, uncovering his head, "you are right 
 welcome." "My lord," answered Henry, "I am 
 come somewhat before my time; but I will tell you 
 the reason. Your people complain that you have 
 ruled them harshly for twenty-two years; but if it 
 please God I will help you to rule them better." 
 The fallen king replied, " Fair cousin, since it 
 pleaseth you, it pleaseth me well." The trumpets 
 then sounded to horse, and, mounted on a miserable 
 hackney, Richard rode a prisoner to Chester. No 
 one appeared to pity his fate ; and if we are to be- 
 lieve Froissart, his very dog left his side to fawn 
 upon his destroyer. At Lichfield, while on the 
 way from Chester to the capital, the king eluded 
 the vigilance of his guards, and escaped out of a 
 window; but he was retaken, and from that time 
 treated with greater severity. On their arrival in 
 London, Richard was cursed and reviled by the 
 populace, and thrown into the Tower. Henry was 
 received by the mayor and the pi-incipal citizens ; 
 while at Chester, writs were issued in Richard's 
 name for the meeting of Parliament on the 29th ot 
 September. On the day of that meeting, a depu- 
 tation of lords and commons, which included the 
 
 Boi.iNQBROKE cosDUf TiNo RicHARD H. INTO LONDON. Harle an MS. 1319. 
 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, the Earl of Northumber- 
 land, two justices, two doctors of law, with many 
 others, ecclesiastics and laymen, waited on the king 
 in the Tower, who there, according to the reporters, 
 made, "with a cheerful countenance," a formal 
 renunciation of the crown, acknowledged his unfit- 
 
 homage and fealty, gave his royal ring to his cousin 
 Henry, and said, that he of all men should bo his 
 successor, if he had the power to name one. 
 Whether all this passed as thus stated by the tri- 
 umphant party of Lancaster is of little consequence, 
 and Henry was too sagacious to rest his title to the 
 
 ness for government, absolved all his subjects from I crown upon what could never be considered in any
 
 772 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 other light than that of a compulsory resignation. I some were nugatory or conflicting, and in reality 
 The only right that Henry could pretend, was a weakened instead of strengthening his claim ; but 
 concise and obvious one ; but in his " abundant cau- the lawyers were gratified, and possibly some deli- 
 
 tion, and to remove all scruple," he determined to 
 prop himself with all sorts of devices, and to heap 
 title upon title. Of these accumulated oretensions, 
 
 cate consciences were tranquilized by each of the 
 clauses. On Tuesday, the 30th day of September, 
 the Parliament having met in Westminster Hall, 
 
 Parliament assembled for the Deposition or Richard II. Ilarleian MS. 1319. 
 (The Earl of Westmoreland on the right of the Throne ; the Earl of Northumberland on the left ; Henrv of Bolingbroke behind tne latter.) 
 
 the resignation of Richard was read. All the mem- 
 bers then stood up, and signified their acceptance 
 of it, and a great concourse of people outside the 
 hall shouted with joy. Thirty-three articles of im- 
 peachment against Richard were afterward read, 
 and being declared guilty on every charge, his dep. 
 osition was pronounced ; thus a deposition was 
 added to an act of abdication. Only one voice was 
 raised in his favor. Thomas Merks, Bishop of Car- 
 Usle, spoke manfully in vindication of his character ; 
 but as soon as he sat down, he was arrested and 
 removed to the abbey of St. Albans.' 
 
 During these proceedings Henry remained seated 
 in his usual place near to the throne, which was 
 empty, and covered with a cloth of gold. As soon 
 as eight commissioners had proclaiined the sentence 
 of deposition, he rose, approached the throne, and 
 having solemnly crossed himself, said, " In the name 
 
 ^ Among the many doubts that beset this remarkable part of our 
 history, it is doubted whether Bishop Merks' speech be not a fabrica- 
 tion. 
 
 of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I, Henry 
 of Lancaster, challenge this realm of England, be- 
 cause I am descended by right line of blood from 
 the good lord King Henry III., and through that 
 right, that God of his grace hath sent me, with help 
 of my kin and of my friends, to recover it ; tho 
 which realm was in point to be undone for default 
 of government and undoing of the good laws." He 
 knelt for a few minutes in prayer on the steps, and 
 then was seated on the throne by the archbishops 
 of Canterbury and York.' 
 
 The history of Scotland during this period is so 
 intermixed with that of England, and has necessa- 
 rily in consequence been so fully detailed in the 
 preceding narrative, that no further summary of it 
 is required. The reign of the meek and pious, but 
 feeble-minded Robert III. continued down to the 
 date at which we are now arrived, without furnish- 
 ing any events beyond what have been above re- 
 lated. 
 
 1 Rot. Pari. — Knygiilon.— Brady.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 773 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 HE papal dominion in 
 Europe attained to its 
 height about the begin- 
 ning of the thirteenth 
 century, and maintain- 
 ed itself with little out- 
 ward evidence of decline 
 nearly throughout the 
 century. BonifaceVIII. 
 was as arrogant an as- 
 sertor of the suprema- 
 cy of the successor of 
 St. Peter over all other 
 earthly powers and principalities, as his predeces- 
 sor. Innocent III., but he was not so fortunate in 
 the time and circumstances in which he attempted 
 to compel submission to his high pretensions. In 
 truth, it was not in the nature of things that such a 
 dominion should last; it was thrown up, as it were, 
 into the air, by a violent, volcanic force ; and the 
 greater the height it had attained, the nearer it was 
 to the commencement of its descent and downfall. 
 The very success of Innocent, by the extravagance 
 of the assumptions to which it gave rise in him- 
 self and those who came after him, and the dream 
 of security in which it lulled them, was more fatal 
 than anything else could have been to the stability 
 of their colossal sovereignty ; its pressure, thus ag- 
 gravated, awoke and gradually diffused a spirit of 
 resistance both among kings and people ; till at 
 length Philip le Bel began, and Wycliffe, nearly a 
 hundred years later, carried forward, the great re- 
 bellion, which, after little more than another hun- 
 dred years, was to be fought out triumphantly by 
 Luther. But for nearly a century before the time 
 of Philip le Bel, the causes which were preparing 
 this conflict were in active, though hidden operation, 
 and the proud pontificate of Innocent may be prop- 
 erly fixed upon as the culmination of the papacy — 
 the point at which it both attained its highest rise 
 and commenced its decline. From the time of 
 Boniface the decline became apparent, and has been 
 progressive to our own day. " Slowly," as it has 
 been finely said, " like the retreat of waters, or the 
 stealthy pace of old age, that extraordinary power 
 over human opinion has been subsiding for five cen- 
 turies." ' 
 
 In no country were the exactions and encroach- 
 ments of the Roman pontiffs, in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, carried to a more exorbitant extent than in 
 England. The good-nature of the people, and some- 
 thing perhaps of a turn for superstition in their tem- 
 per or their habits, their insular separation from 
 ihe rest of Europe, and their wealth, which, even 
 
 ) Hallam, Middle Ages, n 329 
 
 at this period, was considerable, concurred with the 
 political circumstances of the country, Avhich from 
 the latter years of Henry II. had been eminently 
 favorable to the spread of this foreign usurpation, 
 in making England the great field of papal imposi- 
 tion and plunder. Throughout this century the 
 bishoprics were filled either by the direct nomina- 
 tion of the Pope, or, what was perfectly equivalent, 
 by his arbitration in the case of a disputed election. 
 The course that was taken in regard to this matter 
 may be illustrated by the history of the succession 
 of the archbishops of Canterbury. On the death of 
 Cardinal Langton, in 1228, the Chapter chose aa 
 his successor one of their own number, Walter de 
 Hemesham ; but both the king and the bishops of 
 the province having appealed to Rome against this 
 election, the Pope annulled it, and appointed Rich- 
 ard le Grand, or Weathershead, chancellor of Lin- 
 coln, to be archbishop. Le Grand died in 1231, on 
 which three successive elections were made by the 
 Chapter and set aside by the Pope : and at last Ed- 
 mund Rich, ti-easurer of Salisbury, whom the Pope 
 recommended, was chosen and consecrated. Arch- 
 bishop Edmund died in 1242, when King Henry 
 first compelled the Chapter by threats, and almost 
 by force, to nominate Boniface of Savoy, the queen's 
 uncle, and then purchased the confirmation of the 
 election at Rome. On occasion of the preceding 
 vacancy the Pope had made no scruple in setting 
 aside the original selection of the Chapter, although 
 the king had concurred in it. On the death of Boni- 
 face, in 1270, "William Chillenden, their sub-prior, 
 was elected by the Chapter; but the Pope nomi- 
 nated Robert Kirwarby, and he became archbishop. 
 Exactly the same thing was repeated in 1278, when 
 Kirwarby resigned on being made a cardinal ; the 
 monks elected Robert Burnel, Bishop of Bath and 
 "Wells, but John Peckham, a Franciscan friar, was 
 nevertheless appointed to the see by the Pope of 
 his own authority. The next time the Chapter at 
 once elected the person who it was understood 
 would be agreeable to the Pope, namely, Robert 
 Winchelsey, who succeeded Peckham in 1293, and 
 fought the battle of the clergy against the crown 
 with great valor during a twenty years' occupation 
 of the see. The right of nominating to inferior 
 benefices was seized in a still more open manner. 
 It had been a frequent practice of the popes to re- 
 quest bishops to confer the next benefice that should 
 become vacant on a particular clerk. Gradually 
 these recommendations, which were called man- 
 dates, became more frequent; but it was not till 
 the time of Gregory IX. (a.d. 1227-1241) that tliey 
 were distinctly avowed to be of an authoritative 
 character. Even that pope claimed, in words, no
 
 774 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 more than the right of nominating one clerk to a 
 benefice in every church. But he and Innocent IV. 
 are asserted to have, in fact, phxced Itahan priests 
 by their mandatory letters in all the best benefices 
 in England. In the three last years of (Jregory IX. 
 it is said that three hundred Italians were sent over 
 to this country to be provided for in the church. 
 It was solemnly stated by the English envoys to the 
 Council of Lyons (held in 1245) that Italian priests 
 drew from England at this time sixty or seventy 
 thousand marks every year — a sum greater than 
 the whole revenue of the crown. Nor did these 
 foreigners even spend their incomes in the country. 
 Most of them continued to reside at Rome, or else- 
 where in Italy, where, in general, they held other 
 preferments : it is affirmed that in some cases fifty 
 or sixty livings were accumulated in the possession 
 of one individual. At length the universal right of 
 nomination to church livings was asserted in plain 
 terms by Clement IV., in a bull published in 12C>G. 
 Nor was even this the utmost extent to which the 
 claim was carried. By what was called a reserva- 
 tion, the Po])e assumed the power of reserving to 
 himself the next presentation to any benefice he 
 pleased which was not at the time vacant; or, by 
 another instrument called a provision, he at once 
 named a person to succeed the present incumbent. 
 In this way all the benefices in the kingdom, both 
 those that were vacant and those that were not, 
 were turned to account, and made available in sat- 
 isfying the herd of clamorous suitors for prefennent 
 and dependents on the holy see. In a letter ad- 
 dressed to the Pope by the king, the prelates, and 
 barons of England, in 124G, complaint is made that 
 the foreigners upon whom livings were thus be- 
 stowed not only did not reside in the countrj% nor 
 understand its language, but, even in their absence 
 and incompetency, appointed no substitutes to per- 
 form their duties. In the numerous churches filled 
 by them, it is declared there was neither almsgiving 
 nor hospitality, nor any preaching or care of souls 
 whatever. The Italians, it is moreover affirmed, 
 were invested with their livings without trouble or 
 charges, whereas the English were obliged to prose- 
 cute their rights at Rome at a great expense. The 
 letter also touches upon some of the other vexatious 
 modes by which the hoi}-- see labored to extend its 
 power or to gratify its rapacity, particularly the 
 great grievance of di'awing all causes of importance 
 to be heard and decided at Rome. This was a 
 material part of the scheme for bringing the civil 
 under subjection to the ecclesiastical power, which 
 had been pursued with such pertinacity from the 
 time of Anselm and the first Henry. It Avas also a 
 means of drawing much wealth from the country, 
 and augmenting the ample stream, fed by multiplied 
 contrivances of exaction and drainage, that was con- 
 stantly flowing thence into the papal treasury. The 
 entire taxation or tribute annually paid, under a 
 variety of names, by England to Rome, must have 
 amounted to an immense sum. Gregoiy IX. is 
 eaid to have, in one way and another, extracted 
 from the kingdom, in the course of a very few 
 years, not less than nine hundred and fifty thousand 
 
 marks ; a sum which Mr. Hallam estimates as equiv- 
 alent to fifteen millions at present.' 
 
 In 137G, the Commons, in a remonstrance to the 
 king against the intolerable extortions of the court 
 of Rome, affirmed that the taxes yearly paid to the 
 Pope out of England amounted to five times as much 
 as all the taxes paid to the crown. A considerable 
 portion, indeed, of the revenue thus extracted by 
 the Roman pontifl' was levied directly from the 
 clergy themselves, in the form of Peter-pence, an- 
 nates, or first-fruits, fees upon institution to bene- 
 fices, etc. ; but it did not the less on that account 
 come ultimately out of the property and industry of 
 the nation. The church was but the vast conduit 
 or instrument of suction by which the money was 
 drawn from the country. It is calculated, from a 
 statement of the historian Knyghton, that in the early 
 part of the fourteenth century the annual revenue 
 of the church amounted to the enormous sum of 
 seven hundred and thirty thousand marks, which 
 was more than twelve times tlie amount of the 
 whole civil revenue of the kingdom in the reign of 
 Henry III.* Very nearly one half of the soil of 
 England was at tliis period in the possession of the 
 church. At the same time, as we. have seen, all 
 the I'ichest benefices were in the hands of foreign- 
 ers. Where a cure thus held by a non-resident 
 incumbent was served at all, it was iuti'usted to a 
 curate, who appears to have been usuallj' paid at 
 the most wretched rate. In his account of the 
 great pestilence of 1349, Knyghton observes, that 
 before that plague a curate might have been hired 
 for four or five marks a-year, or for two marks and 
 his board ; but that so many of the clergy were 
 swept away by it, that for some time afterward no 
 one was to be had to do duty for less than twenty 
 marks or pounds a-year. To remedy this evil, a 
 constitution or edict was published a few years after- 
 ward by the authority of the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, forbidding any incumbent to give, or any curate 
 to demand, more than one mark a-year above what 
 had been given to the curate of the same church 
 before the plague. 
 
 The extensive and more systematic form given 
 to the canon law in the course of the thirteenth 
 century, considerably aided the Pope and the church 
 in their contest with the civil jiower. We extract 
 from Mr. Hallam the following summary of the ad- 
 ditions made during this period to the Decretum of 
 Gratian, originally the great text-book of that juris- 
 prudence.^ " Gregory IX. caused the five books 
 of decretals to be published by Raimond de Pen- 
 nafort in 1234. These consist almost entirely of 
 rescripts issued by the later popes, especially Alex- 
 ander III., Innocent III., Honorius III., and Greg- 
 ory himself. They form the most essential part of 
 the canon law, the Decretum of Gratian being com- 
 paratively obsolete. In these books we find a regu- 
 lar and copious system of jurisprudence, derived, in 
 a great measure, from the civil law, but with con- 
 siderable deviation, and possibly improvement. Bo- 
 niface VIII. added a sixth part, thence called the 
 
 1 Middle Ages, ii. 306. - Ma'plierson, An of Com. i. 519. 
 
 3 Sec ante, r 5i9
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 776 
 
 Sext, ilself divided into five books, in the nature of 
 a supplement to the other five, of which it follows 
 the arrangement, and composed of decisions pro- 
 mulgated since the pontificate of Gregory IX." 
 •' The canon law," proceeds Mr. Haliam, " was 
 almost entirely founded upon the legislative author- 
 ity of the Pope ; the decretals are in fact but a new 
 arrangement of the bold epistles of the most usurp- 
 ing pontiffs, and especially of Innocent III., with 
 titles or rubrics comprehending the substance of 
 each in the compiler's language. The superiority 
 of ecclesiastical to temporal power, or, at least, the 
 absolute independence o{ the former, may be con- 
 sidered as a sort of key-note which regulates every 
 passage in the canon law. It is expressly declared 
 that subjects owe no allegiance to an excommuni- 
 cated lord, if after admonition he is not reconciled 
 to the church. And the rubric prefixed to the dec- 
 laration of Frederick II. 's deposition in the Council 
 of Lyons asserts that the Pope may dethrone the 
 emperor for lawful causes. These rubrics to the 
 decretals are not perhaps of direct authority as part 
 of the law ; but they express its sense, so as to be 
 fairly cited instead of it. By means of her new 
 jurisprudence, Rome acquired in every country a 
 powerful body of advocates, who, though many of 
 them were laymen, would, with the usual bigotry 
 of lawyers, defend every pretension or abuse to 
 which their received standard of authority gave 
 sanction."' 
 
 But a still higher power assumed by the popes 
 tlian even that of declaring or making the law, was 
 that of dispensing with its strongest obligations in 
 any particular case at their mere will and pleasure. 
 They assumed and exercised this power in particu- 
 lar in regard to the canonical impediments to mar- 
 riage, and in regard to oaths. By the ancient laws 
 of the church, marriages were forbidden both be- 
 tween blood relations and relations by affinity 
 within the seventh degi-ee. " It was not until the 
 twelfth century," says Mr. Haliam, " that either 
 this or any other established rules of discipline 
 were supposed liable to arbitrary dispensation ; at 
 least the stricter churchmen had always denied that 
 the Pope could infringe canons, nor had he asserted 
 any right to do so. But Innocent III. laid down 
 as a maxim, that out of the plenitude of his power 
 he might lawfully dispense with the law ; and 
 accordingly granted, among other instances of this 
 prerogative, dispensations from impediments of mar- 
 riage to the Emperor Otho IV. Similai- indul- 
 gences were given to his successors, though they 
 did not become usual for some ages. The fourth 
 Lateran Council, in 121.5, removed a great part of 
 the restraint, by permitting marriages beyond the 
 fourth degree, or what we call third cousins ; and 
 dispensations have been made more easy, when it 
 was discovered that they might be converted into a 
 source of profit. They served a more important 
 purpose, by rendering it necessary for the princes 
 of Europe, who seldom could marry into one anoth- 
 er's houses without transgressing the canonical 
 Umits. to keep on good terras with the court of Rome, 
 
 I MidJle Al'cs •:. CSQ 
 
 which, in several instances that have been men- 
 tioned, fulminated its censures against sovereigns 
 who lived without permission in what was consid- 
 ered an incestuous union.'" And as uncanonical 
 unions could be legalized by the Pope, so it was 
 held, and equally to the benefit of the holy see, 
 that any illegitimacy of birth could be entirely 
 removed by the same authority. With regard to 
 oath, again, it was expressly laid down as the law, 
 not only that any oath extorted by fear might be 
 annulled by ecclesiastical authority, but that an oath 
 disadvantageous to the church was essentially, and 
 from the first, without any force, whether it were 
 formally dispensed with or not. These convenient 
 principles required very little ingenuity to be so 
 applied as to get rid of the obligation of any oath 
 whatever. 
 
 As in preceding ages, new monasteries still con- 
 tinued to be founded, and additions to be made, by 
 the gifts and bequests of the pious, to the landed 
 property of the clergy ; although in England the 
 zeal which displayed itself in these ways perhaps 
 rather declined after the twelfth century. Indeed, 
 independently of the restraints which, as we shall 
 presently see, the law now began to place upon the 
 disposition to make over estates to the church, both 
 the motive and the means of that kind of liberality 
 were of course diminished by the extent to which 
 it had been already carried. When the clergy 
 were in possession of nearly half the land of the 
 kingdom, it must have appeared to the most excited 
 devotee less necessary than it formerly might have 
 been to augment their endowments. But the rise 
 in the thirteenth century of the new religious orders 
 of the Mendicant Friars amply compensated for 
 any falling off in the old rate of increase of the 
 houses of the regular monks. The Dominicans or 
 Black Friars (called also Friar-Preachers), insti- 
 tuted by St. Dominic de Guzman, and the Francis- 
 cans or Gray Friars (called also Cordeliers), founded 
 by St. Francis of Assisa, were formally established 
 by the authority of Pope Honorius III., in 121(; 
 and 1223. Of many other orders which soon 
 sprung up in imitation of these, all were eventually 
 suppressed except two — the Carmelites, or White 
 Friars, and the Augustines, also known, as well as 
 the Franciscans, by the name of Gray Friars, from 
 the color of their cloaks. The success of this novel 
 mode of appeal to the religious passions of the time 
 was prodigious. The profession of poverty, the 
 peculiar distinction of the Mendicant Friars, was 
 well calculated to work a powerful effect, thus ex- 
 hibited in contrast with the wealth and grasping 
 spirit of the other clergy of all degrees and kinds- 
 secular and regular, priests and monks, alike. It is 
 true the poverty of the 3Iendicants, like the same 
 vow of the elder orders of monks, in no long time 
 became, in so far as the community of the brethren 
 was concerned, a profession merely, and their es- 
 tablishments gradually accumulated extensive est«te4 
 and ample revenues; but it served its purpose in 
 the first instance, as well as if it never was to give 
 way to this corruption. And the individual friar 
 
 1 MiJJle .\2cs, 290.
 
 7/fr 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 JJOMINICAN, OR BlaiK FrIAR 
 
 mendicant always continued, it is to be remembered, 
 to present the show, and, it must be admitted to a 
 j^reat extent, the reahty, also, of destitution and a 
 hard rule of life. Tlie very name of the Mendicants 
 was a standing proclamation of their sympathy with 
 the humbler and more numerous classes, and their 
 indifference to the pomp and preeminence which 
 appeared to be so much coveted by the other clergy. 
 Meanwhile their activity in preaching, and in all 
 ,the ministrations of religion, and the pains they took 
 to win the favor of the multitude, completely dis- 
 tanced whatever had been before attempted in the 
 same line. Nor must it be omitted, that among the 
 means of influence of which they availed themselves, 
 while some were perhaps less creditable, others 
 were of the liighest and most legitimate description ; 
 for it was not long before the Franciscans and Do- 
 minicans became the most distinguished of the 
 clergy in all the learning of the age, and numbered 
 in their ranks the most eminent names in every de- 
 partment of such scholarslii[) and philosophy as were 
 then in vogue. With all these arts and real merits, 
 it was impossible that, with the support of author- 
 ity, the concurrence of favoring circumstances, and 
 wise management in the direction of their proceed- 
 ings, they should have failed to be at once taken up 
 and borne along by a gale of popular enthusiasm. 
 Accordingly we find the historian, Matthew Paris, 
 in the middle of the thirteenth century, already 
 complaining that nobody confessed except to these 
 new-fashioned monks-errant, and that the parish 
 churches were deserted. But in course of time, 
 many of the parochial cures came to be served by 
 Mendicant friars, to whose communities the advow- 
 sons of the livings had been made over by admirers 
 of the order. So rapidly did the members of these 
 new orders increase, that in less than ten years 
 
 Franciscan, or Gray Friar. 
 
 after the institution of that of the Franciscans, the 
 delegates to its general chapter formed alone a mul- 
 titude of more than five thousand persons. " And 
 by an enumeration in the early part of the eigh- 
 teenth century, when the Reformation must have 
 diminished their amount at least one third, it was 
 found that even then there were twenty-eight 
 thousand P^ranciscan nuns in nine hundred nunner- 
 ies, and one hundred and fifteen thousand Francis- 
 can friars in seven thousand convents, beside very 
 many nunneries, which, being under the immediate 
 jurisdiction of the ordinary, and not of the order, 
 were not included in the returns."' 
 
 All these troops of religious persons were bound 
 in their whole interests and affections to the church, 
 not only by their voluntary vows, but i)y the strong 
 incorporating tie of celibacy, the practice of which, 
 in conformity to what had certainly been the dis- 
 tinctly-declared law of the church from very early 
 times, was now also enforced upon all descriptions 
 of the clergy with a strictness greatly beyond wliat 
 it had heretofore been found possible to maintain. 
 In the reign of Henry I. it is stated that more than 
 half the English clergy were married ; but after 
 the twelfth century, although a few occasional vio- 
 lations of the rule may have still occurred, celibacy 
 was certainly the general practice as well as the 
 law of the church. 
 
 The rise of the Mendicant orders probably more 
 than made up to the church for the destruction of 
 the Templars in the beginning of the next century; 
 it was the substitution of a force strong with the 
 inspiration of a new principle, and happily adapted 
 to the time, for another, the first vigor of which, as 
 well as its fit occasion, was in a great degree worn 
 out. And as to the era of the Templars belonged 
 
 1 Southey, Book of the Church, i. 325.
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 777 
 
 the Crusades, so with the Mendicant Friars ap- 
 peared the Inquisition, of which, indeed, St. Dominic 
 is commonly reputed the founder, or at least the 
 first suggester. The crusades which took place 
 in this age were animated by little or nothing of 
 the old spirit. In the preceding Book we noticed 
 the fourth, which was undertaken in 1203, but 
 which was diverted from an expedition against the 
 infidels in Palestine to a war with the Greeks in 
 Constantinople. Both this and the fifth crusade 
 (a.d. 1218) were undertaken at the instigation of 
 the energetic Innocent III. ; but even his breath 
 was impotent to blow up again into a blaze the dying 
 fire. As Gibbon observes, " except a King of Hun- 
 gary, the princes of the second order were at the 
 head of the pilgrims ; the forces were inadequate to 
 the design ; nor did the eflects correspond with the 
 hopes and wishes of the Pope and the people." Of 
 the sixth and seventh crusades, both conducted by 
 St. Louis, the former (which set out in 1248) issued 
 in the captivity, the latter (in 1270) in the death of 
 the enthusiastic monarch ; and, ere the century had 
 closed, the Christians were driven forever from 
 their last narrow footing in the Holy Land. Mean- 
 while, in the midst of these abortive attempts to 
 revive crusading in the East, a new species of cru- 
 sades, as they were also called, was introduced in 
 the West — namely, military expeditions against the 
 unconverted heathen in various parts — against the 
 •Tews, against the Albigenses, and other heretics ; 
 the object being in each case to extirpate indiffer- 
 ently either the misbelief or the misbelievers. 
 Here, then, was exactly the object of the Inqui- 
 sition, to which, therefore, these expeditions may 
 be regarded as the natural transition from the ori- 
 ginal crusades. Both the crusades and the inqui- 
 sition equally operated, though in different ways, 
 to uphold for their season the fabric of the papal 
 ascendency. 
 
 It was in the nature, however, of most, if not of 
 all of these stimulants, to contribute something to 
 the weakening, in the end, of the system upon which 
 they apparently bestowed an immediate strength. 
 Even the strict celibacy of the clergy, if it invigo- 
 rated the internal organization of the church, tended 
 to loosen its roots in the general soil of human so- 
 ciety. Nor did the Mendicant orders themselves 
 always continue to be the same manageable and 
 subservient allies of the papal power which they 
 were at first; when certain questions came to be 
 debated between the church and the people, the 
 constitution and position of these bodies inevitably 
 led them to a great extent to side with the latter. 
 But especially the various usurpations and extrava- 
 gant assumptions of the church, whatever tempo- 
 rary advantages may have accrued from them, all 
 proved incumbrances and sources of debility in the 
 long run, and, by tlie manner in which they out- 
 raged the natural feelings and common sense of luen, 
 became the main provocatives of the alienation and 
 hostility under which this once sovereign power in 
 human affairs gi-adually sunk. Excommunications, 
 interdicts, dispensations, the inquisition, the arrogant 
 pretensions of the ecclesiastical courts, the oppres- 
 
 sive exactions of the popes, the enormous wealth of 
 the clergy, and their still unsatisfied rapacity, had 
 all been long preparing the elements of the mighty 
 explosion, to which indulgences and Luther at last 
 set the match. 
 
 Meanwhile many less violent efforts were made 
 to shake off the yoke, or at least to mitigate its press- 
 ure. In our own country, as we have already seen, 
 from the time of Henry I., and more especially from 
 that of Henry II., both the crown and the Parlia- 
 ment had repeatedly attempted, with various suc- 
 cess, to check the encroachments of the ecclesiastical 
 power. In the course of the period now under re- 
 view, some important measures were adopted against 
 the more glaring and intolerable evils of this foreign 
 tyranny. Even during the feeble reign of Henry 
 III. considerable progress was made in restiaining 
 the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical tribunals. " The 
 judges of the king's courts," says Mr. Hallam, "had 
 until that time been themselves principally ecclesi- 
 astics, and consequently tender of spiritual privileges. 
 But now, abstaining from the exercise of temporal 
 jurisdiction, in obedience to the sti'ict injunctions of 
 their canons, the clergy gave place to common law- 
 yers, professors of a sj'stem very discordant from 
 their own. These soon began to assert the su- 
 premacy of their jurisdiction, by issuing writs of 
 prohibition whenever the ecclesiastical tribunals 
 passed the boundaries whic- approved use had es- 
 tablished. Little accustomed to such control, the 
 proud hierarchy chafed under the bit; several pro- 
 vincial synods reclaim against the pretensions of 
 laymen to judge the anointed ministers whom they 
 were bound to obey ; the cognizance of rights of 
 patronage and breaches of contract is boldly asserted: 
 but firm and cautious, favored by the nobility, though 
 not much by the king, the judges receded not a step, 
 and ultimately fixed a barrier which the church was 
 forced to respect."^ In the next reign we find an 
 Archbishop of Canterbury unreservedly admitting 
 the right of the king's bench to issue prohibitions. 
 The question was finally settled in the thirteenth 
 year of Edward I., by the statute entitled "Circum- 
 specte agatis," which, under the form of an order 
 to the judges to respect the privileges of the spiritual 
 jurisdiction, in fact restrained them, by express enu- 
 meration, within certain specified limits. Ten years 
 before this, by the statute of Westminster the First, 
 it had been provided that clerks charged with felony 
 should be first indicted by solemn inquest in the 
 King's Court, and that, being then delivered to the 
 ordinary, if found guilty by such inquest, they should 
 in no manner be let free without due purgation — 
 words which were afterward construed to moan 
 that their property, both real and personal, should 
 be forfeited>to the crown. In the seventh year of 
 this reign, also, as will be more particularly noticed 
 in the next chapter, the making over of lands to reli- 
 gious persons or societies was, for the first time, 
 effectually restrained, by what is commonly called 
 the fiist statute of mortmain. By another statute, 
 passed in the thirty-fifth j-ear of his reign, Edward 
 prohibited all abbots, priors, or other religious per- 
 1 Middle Agps, ii. 317.
 
 778 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 eons of wliatsoever condition, from henceforth send- 
 ing any money, under nny name or pretence what- 
 soever, as n payment to their superiors beyond the 
 sea. It is also stated that one of this king's subjects 
 having obtained a bull of excommunication against 
 another, Edward ordered him to be executed as a 
 traitor, according to the ancient law, and was only 
 
 induced to commute the punishment into banish- 
 ment out of the realm on a representation made by 
 the chancellor and treasurer, on their knees, that 
 the law in question had not for a long time been put 
 in execution.' 
 
 I See Blackstone, by Coleridge, iv. 110, and the authorities there 
 quoted. 
 
 Archbishop reading a Papal Bill. Harleian MS. 1319. 
 
 One of the principal charges made by the Par- 
 liament against Edward II., on his deposition, was, 
 that he had given allowance to the bulls of the see 
 of Rome. "But Edward III.," says Blackstone, 
 "was of a temper extremely different; and to 
 remedy these inconveniences first bj* gentle means, 
 he and his nobility wrote an expostulation to the 
 Pope ; but receiving a menacing and contemj)tuous 
 answer, withal acquainting him that the emperor, 
 and also the King of France, had lately submitted 
 to the holy see, the king replied, that if both the 
 emperor and the French king should take the Pope's 
 part, he was ready to give battle to them both in 
 defence of the liberties of the crown. Hereupon 
 more sharp and penal laws were devised against 
 provisors, which enact, severally, that the court of 
 Rome shall not present or collate to any bishopric 
 or living in England; and that whoever disturbs any 1 
 patron in the presentation to a living by virtue of a 
 papal provision, such provisor shall pay fine and ran- j 
 som to the king at his will, and be imprisoned till 
 he renounces such provision ; and the same punish- , 
 ment is inflicted on such as cite the king, or any of , 
 his subjects, to answer in the court of Rome. And ; 
 when the holy see resented these proceedings, and 
 Pope Urban V. attempted to revise the vassalage ' 
 and annual rent to which Kin^r John had subjected ' 
 
 his kingdom, it was unanimously agreed by all the 
 estates of the realm in Parliament assembled, 40 
 J^dw. III., that King John's donation Avas null and 
 void, being without the concurrence of Parliament 
 and contrary to his coronation oath ; and all the 
 tempoi-al nobility and commons engaged, that if the 
 Pope should endeavor, by process or otherwise, to 
 maintain these usurpations, they would resist and 
 withstand him with all their power.'" By subse- 
 quent statutes, passed in the reign of Richard II., it 
 was enacted that no alien should be capable of be- 
 ing presented to anj- ecclesiastical preferment, and 
 that all liegemen of the king accepting of a living by 
 any foreign provision should forfeit their lands and 
 goods, and be banished from the realm, and the ben- 
 efice made void. It was also piovided that any 
 person bringing over any citation or excommuni- 
 cation from beyond sea, on account of the execu- 
 tion of the above-mentioned statutes, should " be 
 taken, arrested, and put in prison, and forfeit all his 
 lands and tenements, goods and chattels, forever, 
 and incur the pains of life and of member." Finally, 
 by the famous statute commonly called the Statute 
 of Praemunire,* passed in 1392, it was "ordained 
 
 1 See Blackstone, iv 111. 
 
 - This statute (the 16th Rich. II. c 5), and also the offenre against 
 \vhi;h it is directed, nrc so caV.od f.om the words " Pmn-iiiirc," or
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 
 
 779 
 
 and estiablished," in still more comprehensive terms, 
 that any person purchasing, in the court of Rome 
 or elsewhere, any provisions, excommunications, i 
 bulls, or other instruments whatsoever, and any 
 person bringing such instruments within the realm, i 
 or receiving them, or making notification of them, 
 should be put out of the king's protection ; that their 
 lands and goods should be forfeited ; and that they 
 themselvjes, if they could be found, should be at- 
 tached and brought before the king and council, 
 there to answer for their offence. The popes main- 
 tained the struggle for some time, even after the 
 passing of this statute, continuing at least to present, 
 as before, to all English benefices the incumbents of 
 which had died at Rome ; but the king and the 
 Parliament were resolute and steady in their re- 
 sistance ; in no instance were these foreign presen- 
 tations permitted to have eti'ect ; and at last, although 
 the Roman pontiflt' still formally conferred many of 
 the chief benefices by presentations and provisions, 
 these instruments were issued only in favor of per- 
 sons who had been previously uommated by the 
 crown. The victory, therefore, obtained by the 
 civil over the ecclesiastical power, in this great bat- 
 tle, was complete. 
 
 These eftbrts of the legislature, however, were 
 only one of the forms in which a spirit expressed 
 itself that was now extensively diffused over the 
 nation. While the king, lords, and commons were 
 repelling the encroachments of the papal power by 
 the statutes of provisors and preemunire, a great 
 reformer and his disciples were shaking the church, 
 at once in its doctrine, its discipline, and the whole 
 fabric of its polity. This was John de Wycliffe, 
 whom we have already had occasion to mention in 
 the preceding chapter. He was born about the 
 year 1324, in the parish from which he takes his 
 name, in Yorkshire ; and having previously dis- 
 tinguished himself at Oxford by an extraordinary 
 proficiency in almost every branch of learning then 
 cultivated, he had so early as 1356, in a treatise 
 entitled " Of the Last Age of the Church," assailed 
 the high-flown notions then commonly held on the 
 subject of the authority of the Pope. A few years 
 later, he began to direct his attacks against the 
 Mendicant orders ; but it was not long before the 
 church in general, and all orders in it, became the 
 subject of his unsparing and indiscriminate invec- 
 tive. In one of his works we find him enumerating 
 twelve classes of religious pei'sons, beginning with 
 the Pope and ending with the Mendicant friars, all 
 of whom he denounces as anti-Christs and the proc- 
 tors of Satan. This general corruption of the 
 church Wycliffe traced chiefly to the profusion of 
 wealth with which it had been endowed in later 
 times : his favorite topic was the recommendation 
 of the poverty of the first teachers of the Gospel ; 
 and by his own example, and that of a body of dis- 
 ciples whom he called his poor priests, and who, 
 like himself, went about preaching his doctrines 
 
 '• Pra?monere facias," used to command a citation of the party in the 
 writ for the executioti of this and the preceding statutes respecting 
 provisions. It does not clearly appear that the statute of Praemunire 
 was ever regularly passed by the Parliament ; hut it has been repeat- 
 edly recognized as a sftitute by subsequent acts of the legislature. 
 
 barefoot and clothed in the coarsest attire, he gave 
 the strongest evidence of the reality of his convic- 
 tions, and made a prodigious impression upon the 
 popular mind. The coincidence of many of his 
 views, also, with the objects of one of the political 
 parties which divided the state, obtained for him 
 the countenance and support of some of the greatest 
 of the nobility. We have already related the cir- 
 cumstances of his appearance before the Bishop of 
 London at St. Paul's, in the last year of the reign 
 of Edward III., on which occasion he was sup- 
 ported by personages of no less consequence than 
 the Duke of Lancaster, and Percy, the lord mar- 
 shal.' A paralytic stroke terminated the stormy 
 career of Wyclifle on the 31st of October, 1384. 
 at his rectory of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire. 
 During his hfe, those of his novel views that made 
 the greatest apparent impression and progress were 
 those respecting the constitution of the church, and 
 the subject of ecclesiastical authority. When he 
 latterly began to attack the docti-ines of the church, 
 he seems to have met, in the first instance, with 
 less success even among the common people, and 
 his patrons among the higher ranks generally de- 
 clined supporting him in that new course. But 
 here, also, it was eventually found that he had 
 awakened a spirit of inquiry bj" his preaching and 
 his writings, which did not die when he himself was 
 taken from among men. What the opinions of 
 Wyclifle really were on many points of theologj' 
 has been matter of much disputation ; and his own 
 writings, voluminous as they are, seem scarcely to 
 afford the materials for a complete and consistent 
 exposition of his creed : his views enlarged or 
 varied as he prosecuted his inquiries ; and much 
 that he has written is so obscure as to defy any very 
 precise or satisfactory interpretation. But, what- 
 ever became of some of his peculiar notions, the 
 principle of his mode of investigating the truths of 
 Christianity took root and flourished, and in no long 
 time came to bear abundant fruit. Wyclifl'e's fun- 
 damental position was, that the knowledge of the 
 revealed will of God was to be found in the Scrip- 
 tures onlj', and moreover, was to be found there, 
 not by the church alone, or its recognized heads, 
 but by every private individual who should earnest- 
 ly and humbly address himself to the search. Eng- 
 lish translations of many parts, perhaps of the 
 whole, of the Scriptures existed before the time of 
 Wyclifle, but they appear to have been entirely 
 unknown to the great body of the people. In his 
 writings and discourses, the paramount authority of 
 the Hoi}' Books was acknowledged and inculcated 
 in the most explicit terms ; whatever he advanced 
 he endeavored to rest upon their testimony ; and 
 he at once familiarized the popular ear to manj" 
 passages of the word of God to which it had never 
 before listened, and excited, by these quotations, the 
 anxious curiosity of men to obtain access to the 
 whole of the sacred volume. It is Wyclifl'e's high- 
 est title to the gratitude of his countrymen and to 
 everlasting renown, and at the same time the most 
 conclusive vindication that now remains of the sin- 
 
 1 Sec ante, p. "53.
 
 780 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 cerity of his professions, as well as our best evi- 
 dence of the true learning and laborious industry of 
 the man, that, like his great successor Luther, he 
 devoted several years of his life to the completion 
 of a translation of both tho Old and New Testa- 
 ments into his native tongue. This is the oldest 
 English version of the Scriptures that is now ex- 
 tant, — the next that has come down to us after the 
 partial Saxon version attributed to Alfred.' Many 
 
 1 Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament has been twice print- 
 ed; first in folio, under the c:ire of the Rev. J. Lewis, Lon. 17.11 ; sec- 
 
 copies of this translation are said to have been dis- 
 persed by the care of the author and his disciples ; 
 and the effects which it had produced became very 
 perceptible not many years after the death of Wyc- 
 liffe, when, under the new name of the Lollards, 
 the inheritors of his opinions, in formidable num- 
 bers, again awoke the cry of reformation. The 
 history of the Lollards, however, must be reserved 
 for the next period, to which chiefly it belongs. 
 
 ondly, in 4to., edited by 11. H. Baber, Lon. 1810. The translation of 
 the Old Testament still remains in manuscript. 
 
 l3 yz^^)0m)tK^\^%iptm^tyj^\^o^^ 
 
 Specimen from a Copy of Wycliffe's Bible, in tho British Museum. Royal MS. 1. C. viii.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 78J 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 E now emerge, us 
 it were, from the 
 Y,*^ twilight in which 
 f;^ we have hither- 
 ^'^ to journeyed, and 
 we enter upon a 
 path illumined by, 
 at least, some por- 
 tion of the light 
 of day ; or, to lay 
 aside our figura- 
 tive language, en- 
 ter now upon the 
 period of the commencement of the authentic leg- 
 islative records of England, enacted by the great 
 national council or Parliament. Of the formation 
 of the Parliament, or rather of its settlement into 
 the form which it still retains, we must first speak ; 
 though, while engaged with that pait of our sub- 
 ject, we must still continue our course in compara- 
 tive darkness. 
 
 As we have ah-eady seen, the Commune Conci- 
 lium, or great council of the realm, was, in the first 
 ages after the Conquest, composed only of the ten- 
 ants in chief, or immediate vassals of the king. Of 
 these, one portion consisted of the bishops and ab- 
 bots, or heads of religious houses holding immedi- 
 ately of the crown. It has been the opinion of the 
 most eminent English lawyers that these spiritual 
 lords sat in parliament by virtue of their baronies. 
 From this opinion Mr. Hallam dissents. " I think," 
 says he, carrying his view back to the Saxon Wit- 
 enagemot, " that this is rather too contracted a 
 view of the rights of the English hierarchy, and, 
 indeed, by imphcation, of the peerage. For a 
 great council of advice and assent in matters of leg- 
 islation or national importance was essential to all 
 the northern governments. And all of them, ex- 
 cept perhaps the Lombards, invited the superior 
 ecclesiastics to their councils ; not upon any feudal 
 notions, which at that time had hardly begun to 
 prevail, but chiefly as representatives of the church 
 and of religion itself: next, as more learned and 
 enlightened counselors than the lay nobility, and in 
 some degree, no doubt, as rich proprietors of land. 
 It will be remembered, also, that ecclesiastical and 
 temporal affairs were originally decided in the 
 same assemblies, both upon the continent and in 
 England. The Norman Conquest, which destroy- 
 ed the Anglo-Saxon nobility, and substituted a new 
 race in their stead, could not affect the immortality 
 of church possessions. The bishops of William's 
 age were entitled to sit in his councils by the gen- 
 eral custom of Europe, and by the common law of 
 England, which the Conquest did not overturn. 
 
 Some smaller arguments might be urged against the 
 supposition that their legislative rights are merely 
 baronial ; such as that the guardian of the spiritual- 
 ities was commonly summoned to Parliament during 
 the vacancy of a bishopric, and that the five sees 
 created by Henry VIII. have no baronies annexed 
 to them ; but the former reasoning appears less 
 technical and confined."* 
 
 The lay portion of the great council consisted of 
 the earls and barons, meaning by the latter those 
 holding of the king. It is agreed that the only 
 baronies known for two centuries after the Con- 
 quest arose from the tenure of land held imme- 
 diately of the crown. As to the exact nature, 
 however, of these baronies, the opinions of some of 
 the most eminent legal antiquaries vary : Selden 
 holding that very tenant in capite, or in chief, by 
 knight service, was a parliamentary baron by reason 
 of his tenure ; Madox, on the other hand, that 
 tenure by knight's service in chief was always 
 distinct from that by barony, but in what the dis- 
 tinction consisted he has not clearly explained. 
 " The distinction," says Mr. Hallam, " could not 
 consist in the number of knight's fees, for the barony 
 of Hwayton consisted in only three, while John de 
 Baliol held thirty fees by mere knight service. Nor 
 does it seem to have consisted of the privilege and 
 service of attending parliament, since all tenants in 
 chief were usually summoned. But whatever may 
 have been the line between these modes of tenure, 
 there seems complete proof of their separation long 
 before the reign of John. Tenants in chief are 
 enumerated distinctly from earls and barons in the 
 charter of Henry I."* 
 
 It is evident, however, from a passage in the 
 Great Charter of King John, that by that time at 
 least all tenants in chief were entitled to a sum- 
 mons ; the greater barons by particular writs, the 
 rest through a writ directed to their sheriff"; without 
 a summons a baron certainly could not sit by mere 
 right of his tenure. It is not ascertained how long 
 the inferior tenants in chief continued to sit per- 
 sonally in parliament ; but the attendance of these, 
 some of whom were too poor to have received 
 knighthood, became intolerably vexatious to them- 
 selves, and was not agreeable to the king. This 
 led at last to the complete establishment of a prac- 
 tice from which the most important results were 
 to flow — the adoption of tlie principle of represen- 
 tation. 
 
 Among the few earlier instances of apparent 
 representation which have been collected, the most 
 remarkable belongs to the year 1255, the thirty- 
 eighth of Henry HI. In that year a writ was 
 
 I Middle Ages, iii. p. 6. * Ibid. iii. p. 13.
 
 782 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 issued, which, after reciting that the earls, barous, 
 and other great men, were to meet at London three 
 weeks after Easter, with horses and arms, for the 
 purpose of sailing into Gascony, required the sheriff , 
 to compel all within his jurisdiction, who held | 
 twenty pounds a-year of the king iu chief, or of 
 those in ward of the king, to appear at the same 
 time and place; and that, beside those mentioned, ; 
 lie should cause to come before the king's council 
 at Westminster, on the fifteenth day after Easter, 
 two good and discreet knights of his county, whom ] 
 the men of the county should have chosen for this ; 
 purpose, in the stead of all and each of them, to < 
 consider, along with the knights of other counties, [ 
 what aid they would grant the king in such au • 
 emergency. I 
 
 At length, in the year 1265, the forty-ninth of j 
 Henry HI., who was then a captive in the hands ' 
 of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, Lord 
 High Steward of England, writs were issued in the 
 Ling's name to all the sheriffs, directing them to 
 return two knights for their county, with two citi- 
 zens or burgesses for every city and borough within 
 it. In regard to the question whether the knights 
 were elected by none but the king's tenants in 
 chief, or by all freeholders without distinction, the 
 legal antiquaries are divided.' But here the really 
 great innovation is the appearance of the burgesses 
 in the national assembly — an innovation destined to 
 exercise a most momentous influence on the future 
 destinies not only of England and Europe, but of 
 the world. 
 
 Before the Norman Conquest several of the 
 towns had been populous, rich, and of considerable 
 importance. Immediately after that great revolu- 
 tion, as we have had occasion to show in a former 
 chapter," a considerable decay seems to have taken 
 place in most of them. The burgesses were griev- 
 ously oppressed by the tallages and other exac- 
 tions, to which they were suiijected by the king or 
 other lord who was held to be the proprietor of the 
 town. Although some of these payments were of 
 fixed amount, others appear to have been levied at 
 the discretion of the lord, and from such of the bur- 
 gesses as he chose to select. 
 
 " One of the earliest and most important changes 
 in the condition of the burgesses," saj^s Mr. Hal- 
 lam, "was the conversion of the individual tributes 
 into a perpetual rent from the whole borough. 
 The land was then said to be aflerined, or let in 
 fee-farm, to the burgesses and their successors for- 
 ever."' This was called burgage-tenure, which is 
 said by Littleton to be "tenure in socage,'"* and is 
 by Blackstone said to be " only a kind of town 
 socage ; as common socage, by which other lands 
 are holden, is usually of a rural nature."* 
 
 Beginning with the reign of Henry I., the towns 
 gradually rose in importance and independence. 
 From that prince the city of London received a 
 charter, which, beside other immunities, grants to 
 
 1 Mattliew Paris gives, for the first time, in 1246, the name of Par- 
 liament to the great council of the barons. The word parliament, Bar- 
 rington observes (On the Statutes, p. 56), seems anciently to have been 
 used for any kind of conference. ^ See Book III , chapter vii. 
 
 3 Middle Ages, iii. 32. * Ibid. iii. 162. = Com. li. 82. 
 
 the citizens the right of choosing their own sherifl' 
 and justice, to the exclusion of every external juris- 
 diction. The right of choosing magistrates began 
 to be more generally given from the reign of John 
 In the mean time, however, the voluntary incorpo- 
 rations of the burgesses, which had existed in the 
 Saxon times under the name of guilds (from guildan, 
 to pay or contribute), had gradually acquired more 
 and more of the character of associations for the 
 protection and regulation of trade. 
 
 From the middle of the twelfth to that of the 
 thirteenth century the trading towns greatly in- 
 creased iu prosperity. London was distinguished 
 above the rest for the number and wealth of its cit- 
 izens, who were remarkable for their free and insur- 
 gent spirit. They bore a part in deposing William 
 Longchamp, the chancellor and justiciary of Richard 
 I., as well as in the great struggle for Magna Charta, 
 in which the privileges of their city are specially con- 
 firmed ; and the Mayor of London Avas one of the 
 twenty-five barons to whom the maintenance of its 
 provisions was delegated. Nevertheless, until the 
 date of the writs above mentioned, of Simon de 
 Montfort, Earl of Leicester — namely, the 12th of 
 December, 1264 — we have no clear evidence that 
 the cities and boroughs had any regular place in the 
 national councils. At the same time it is remark- 
 able that no writer of the time notices the calling 
 of the burgesses to Parliament by De Montfort as 
 an innovation, nor are the writs so expressed as to 
 lead us to suppose that the practice was then inti"o- 
 duced for the first time. 
 
 But though the trading part of the community 
 held from this time a regular place in the national 
 council, they appeared there at first in a very humble 
 and unimportant character, scarcely daring to raise 
 their eyes in presence of the haughty prelates and 
 nobles. " To grant mouej^" says 3Ir. Hallam, " was 
 the main object of their meeting ; and if the ex- 
 I igencies of the administration could have been re- 
 lieved without subsidies, the citizens and burgesses 
 might still have sat at home, and obeyed the laws 
 which a council of prelates and barons enacted for 
 their government. But it is a difficult question, 
 whether the king and the peers designed to make 
 roomfor them, as it were, in legislation, and whether 
 the purse drew after it immediately, or onlj^ by de- 
 grees, those indispensable rights of consenting to 
 I laws which tliey now possess."' 
 
 The business of the Commons appears to have 
 been, from the first, to petition for redress of griev- 
 ances, as well as to provide for the necessities of 
 the crown. And in fact the high court of Parlia- 
 ment, as far as they at their first introduction into 
 I it, and for a considerable time after, were concerned, 
 t is to be viewed not so much in the light of a legis- 
 lative council or assembly as in that of a court of 
 justice, in which, on condition of paying certain fees, 
 by no means very low ones, in the shape of subsi- 
 dies, they enjojed certain privileges in the capacity 
 of suitors. Indeed, it is impossible to understand 
 fully the character of the English parliament, espe- 
 cially in the earlier stages of its history, without 
 > Com. iii. p. 52.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 783 
 
 viewing it more as a judicial than as a legislative 
 establishment. 
 
 With regard to the question at what time Parlia- 
 ment was divided into two houses, we extract the 
 following passage from Mr. Hallam : — ■" It has been 
 a very prevailing opinion that Parhament was not 
 •divided into two houses at the first admission of the 
 commons. If by this is only meant that the com- 
 mons did not occupy a separate chamber till some 
 time in the reign of Edward III., the proposition, 
 true or false, will be of little importance. They 
 may have sat at the bottom of Westminster Hall 
 while the lords occupied the upper end ; but that 
 they were ever intermingled in voting appears in- 
 consistent with likelihood and authority. The usual 
 object of calling a parliament was to impose taxes ; 
 and these, for many years after the introduction of 
 the commons, were laid in different proportions upon 
 the three estates of the realm. Thus, in the twen- 
 ty-third of Edward I., the earls, barons, and knights 
 gave the king an eleventh, the clergy a tenth, while 
 he obtained a seventh from the citizens and bur- 
 gesses : in the twenty-fourth of the same king the 
 two former of these orders gave a twelfth, the last 
 an eighth : in the thirty-third year a thirtieth was 
 the grant of the barons and knights and of the clergy, 
 a twentieth of the cities and towns. In the first of 
 Edward II. the counties paid a twentieth, the towns 
 a fifteenth : in the sixth of Edward III. the rates 
 Avere a fifteenth and a tenth. These distinct grants 
 imply distinct grantors ; for it is not to be imagined 
 that the commons intermeddled in those affecting 
 the lords, or the lords in those of the commons. In 
 fact, however, there is abundant proof of their sep- 
 arate existence long before the seventeenth of Ed- 
 ward III., which is the epoch assigned by Carte, or 
 even the sixth of that king, which has been chosen 
 by some other writers. Thus the Commons sat at 
 Acton Burnell in the eleventh of Edward I., while 
 the upper house was at Shrewsbury. In the eighth 
 of Edward II. 'the Commons of England complain 
 to the king and his council,' &c. These must surely 
 have been the Commons assembled in Parliament, 
 for who else could thus have entitled themselves? 
 In the nineteenth of the same king we find several 
 petitions, evidently proceeding from the body of the 
 Commons in Parliament, and complaining of public 
 grievances. The roll of 1 Edward III., though 
 mutilated, is conclusive to show that separate peti- 
 tions were then presented by the Commons, accord- 
 ing to the regular usage of subsequent times ; and, 
 indeed, the preamble of 1 Edward III., stat. 2, is 
 apparently capable of no other inference."' 
 
 Having thus put the reader in possession of the 
 few leading facts, that have been established on suf- 
 ficient evidence, respecting the formation of the 
 legislative body, we shall proceed to give an account 
 of the legislation itself during the present period of 
 our history. 
 
 The principal legislative acts worthy of notice in 
 the reign of Henry III. are his confirmation of the 
 (ireat Charter and of the Charter of the Forest. 
 " These," observes Sir Matthew Hale, " were the 
 
 ' Middle Ages, iii. pp. 54-56 
 
 great basis upon which the settlement of the English 
 laws stood in the time of this king and his son. 
 There are also some additional laws of this king yet 
 extant which much polished the common law, — 
 namely, the statutes of Merton and Marlbridge, and 
 some others."' To this reign belongs Bracton's 
 Treatise, of which Sir Matthew Hale gives the fol- 
 lowing account : — " It yields us a great evidence of 
 the growth of the laws between the times of Henry 
 II. and Henry III. If we do but compare Glanville's 
 book with that of Bracton, we shall see a very great 
 advance of the law in the writings of the latter over 
 what they are in Glanville. It would be needless 
 to instance particulars. Some of the writs and 
 processes do, indeed, in substance agree, but the 
 proceedings are much more regular and settled, as 
 they are in Bracton above what they are in Glan- 
 ville. The book itself, in the beginning, seems to 
 borrow its method from the civil law. But the 
 greatest part of the substance is, either of the course 
 of proceedings in the law known to the author, or 
 of resolutions and decisions in the courts of King's 
 Bench and Common Bench, and before justices 
 itinerant ; for now the inferior courts began to be of 
 little use or esteem."" 
 
 There are one or two statutes or ordinances of 
 Henry HI., upon which, though not Acts of Parlia- 
 ment, it seems proper to make a few remarks. And 
 first in respect to the Assisa Panis et Cervisiae, the 
 Assize of Bread and Ale, which, however, though 
 generally given as a statute of 51 Henry HI., is 
 printed in the Record Commission edition of the 
 Statutes as of uncertain date, what is remarkable is, 
 that to the Parliament or council at which it was 
 passed, held at Winchester, were called not only 
 '■^ omnes magnates terrac" all the great men of the 
 land, but " omnes uxores comitum et baronum qui 
 in bello occisi fuerunt, vel captivorum," — that is, all 
 the WIVES of the earls and barons who Avere slain in 
 battle or captive.' 
 
 The Statutum de Scaccario, the Statute of the 
 Exchequer, which is usually attributed to the fifty- 
 first year of Henry III., though printed by the 
 Record Commission among the statutes of uncertain 
 date, is remarkable, if we assume the common date, 
 as being the first in the French language, and just 
 two centuries after the Conquest. Barrington con- 
 siders this fact as showing that the reason usually 
 assigned for our laws being in the French language, 
 — namely, that it was the will of the conquering 
 Normans, — is by no means satisfactorj* ; and he con- 
 ceives the practice to have arisen from there " being 
 a standing committee in Parliament to receive peti- 
 tions from the provinces of France which formerly 
 belonged to the crown of England. This conjec- 
 ture," he adds, "seems to be strongly confirmed by 
 the statutes having continiu^d to be in English from 
 the time in which we fortunately were dispossessed 
 of the French provinces, as most of the statutes in 
 the reign of Henry VI. continue to be in French. 
 Another reason," he proceeds, "for the statutes 
 being in French arose from the general affectation 
 
 1 History of the Common Law of England, chnp. vii. » Ibid. 
 
 3 Annal. Wavcrl., quoted by Barrington, On the Statutes, p. 41.
 
 784 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 which prevailed at this time of speaking the French 
 language, iusoniuch that it became a proverb, that 
 Jack would he a gentleman if he could speak French. 
 It was very corrupt indeed, and therefore Chaucer 
 says [of his Prioress, in the Canterbury Tales] — 
 
 ' Full wfill she sange the senice divine, 
 Entuned iu her nose full swetely, 
 And French she spake full fair, and fetisly,' 
 After the school of Stratford atte Bow ; 
 For French of Paris was to her unknow.'" 
 
 Barringtou further says — " I cannot conclude 
 these observations without taking notice that the 
 present statute of Henry HI., in French, is inserted 
 between others in Latin ; and that, during the same 
 session of Parliament, there is an instance in the 
 statute of Westminster the Second (which is, prop- 
 erly speaking, a CapitulariumY of P^rench chapters 
 being inserted in the same law, preceded and fol- 
 lowed by chapters in Latin. From a very diligent 
 and attentive perusal of the Statute-Book, the best 
 general rule which can be given with regard to an 
 Act of Parliament being in Latin or French is, that 
 where the interests of the clergy are particularly 
 concerned the statute is in Latin. I do not, how- 
 ever, pretend to say that this rule is without excep- 
 tions."^ 
 
 We may add to what has been said on this sub- 
 ject the following remark in the Introduction to the 
 edition of the Statutes by the Record Commission : 
 — " Nothing is known with certainty on this subject ; 
 and at the present day it is utterly impossible to ac- 
 count, in each instance, for the appearance of the 
 statute in French or in Latin. It seems, on the 
 whole, to be highly probable that, for a long period 
 of time, charters, statutes, and other public instru- 
 ments were drawn up indiscriminately in French or 
 Latin, and generally translated from one of those 
 languages into the other before the promulgation of 
 them, which in many instances appears to have 
 been made at the same time in both languages." 
 
 The title of Capitalis Justitiarius Anglice, i. e.. 
 Chief Justiciary of England, ended in Philip Basset 
 (the third of his faiuily who had held the office), 
 who was advanced to that place in the forty-fifth of 
 Henry HI. ; and the first who had the office of Cap- 
 italis Justitiarius ad jjladla coram Rcge tenenda, 
 i. e., Chief Justice of the King's Bench, was Robert 
 de Bruis, appointed in the fifty-second of Henry HI.'' 
 
 The salary of the Justices of the Bench (i. e. of 
 the Common Pleas) in the twenty-third year of this 
 reign was 20^ ; in the forty-third year, 40/. In the 
 twenty-seventh year the Chief Baron of the Ex- 
 chequer had forty marks ; the other barons twenty 
 marks ; and in the forty-ninth year, 40L per annum. 
 The salary of the Justices Coram Rege (of the 
 King's Bench) was, in the forty-third year, 40/. per 
 annum. The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 
 had, in the forty-fourth of Henry HI., one hundred 
 marks per annum ; and another, who succeeded in 
 this same year, had 100/. per annum. In the thir- 
 
 > " Neatly." — We have corrected the quotation, which is given by 
 Harrington from a very bad text. 
 
 ^ That IS, a collection of laws, and not a single law. 
 
 S Observ. on Stat. pp. 47, 48. * Dugd. Orig. 38 
 
 ty-fifth of Henry HI. the Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench had one hundred marks per annum.' 
 
 We come now to the time of Edward I., who has 
 been styled the English Justinian, not because he 
 resembled that monarch in making either a digest 
 or a code, but because, according to Sir Matthew 
 Hale, " in his time the law, quasi per sallum, ob- 
 tained a very great perfection." 
 
 We shall divide the enactments of this prince, to 
 which we propose more particularly to call the read- 
 er's attention, into two classes — ] . Those of a politi- 
 cal or constitutional nature — 2. Those that regard 
 the rights of private property and the administration 
 of justice between man and man. And we shall be 
 guided in our notice of them not so much by the 
 mere chronological order, as by what may appear 
 their relative degree of importance. 
 
 I. The first in importance in the first class are 
 the several confirmations of the Great Charter and 
 of the Charter of the Forest.^ In the thirteenth 
 year of this reign the king was entreated by the 
 Parliament to confirm all former chailers ; a form 
 of inspeximus^ and confirmation Avas accordingly 
 agreed upon. In the twenty-fifth year there was 
 a more solemn confirmation of the Great Charter 
 in the statute called Covfirmatio Chartarum. This 
 statute ordained that the charters of Liberties and 
 of the Forest should be kept in every parish ; and 
 that they should be sent under the king's seal as 
 well to the justices of the Forest as to others, to all 
 sheriffs and other officers, and to all the cities in the 
 realm, accompanied by a writ commanding them to 
 publish the said charters, and declare to the people 
 that the king had confirmed them in all points. All 
 justices, sheritTs, mayors, and other ministers were 
 directed to allow them when pleaded before them ; 
 and any judgment contrary thereto Nvas to be null 
 and void. The charters were to be sent under the 
 king's seal to all cathedral churches throughout the 
 realm, there to remain, and to be read to the people 
 twice a-year. It was ordained that all archbishops 
 and bishops should pronounce sentence of excom- 
 munication against those who, by word, deed, or 
 counsel, did contrary to the aforesaid charters. It 
 was likewise ordained that such aids and tasks as 
 had been granted to the king by the people of his 
 realm " beforetime toward his wars and other busi- 
 ness, of their own grant and good-will, however 
 they were made," should not be drawn into custom 
 or precedent. Moreover, the king granted, for him 
 and his heirs, that no aids or prizes should be taken 
 but by consent of the realm, saving the ancient aids 
 and prizes due and accustomed. Mr. Reeves re- 
 marks* that this is the first mention in the Statute- 
 Book of a renunciation of right to levy money on 
 the subject without consent of Parliament. There 
 had been a like declaration in the charter of John, 
 but it was omitted in that of Henry III. Further, 
 because there had been a particular outcry against 
 
 1 Dugd. Orig. 104. 
 
 2 The Charter of the Forest was first granted in the 9th of Henry 
 III. (a.d. 1224.) 
 
 3 That is, an inspection and ratification of the fonuer virbalim. 
 
 4 Hist, of Eng. Law, ii. p. 102.
 
 Chap. lit.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 rso 
 
 a tax of forty " souch '" upon every sack of wool, it 
 was declared that this should not be again levied 
 without the "common assent and good-will of the 
 commonalty of the realm." 
 
 The next notice of the two charters of liberties 
 is in the preamble to the statute De finihus Levalis, 
 ■27 Edw. I., where the king refers to the former 
 confirmations of them, and again solemnly ratifies 
 them. In this ratification, however, there is a 
 somewhat ominous clause, " saving always our oath, 
 the right of our crown, and our exceptions and 
 challenges, and those of all other persons." 
 
 In the next year something more was done for 
 the confirmation of the charters in the statute of 
 Articuli super Cliartas, 28 Edw. I. This Act men- 
 tions that the charters, notwithstanding the several 
 confirmations of them, were not observed, and this 
 is attributed to there being no specific penalty pre- 
 scribed for the violation of them. To remedy this 
 the charters are directed to be delivered to every 
 sheriff in England, under the king's seal, to be 
 read four times a-year before the people in the full 
 county. For the punishing of offenders it is enacted 
 that " there shall be chosen, in every shire court, 
 by the commonalty of the same shire, three sub- 
 stantial men, knights, or other lawful, wise, and 
 well-disposed persons, which should be justices 
 sworn and assigned by the king's letters patent 
 under the great seal, to hear and determine without 
 any other writ, but only their commission, such 
 plaints as shall be made upon all those that commit 
 or offend against any point contained in the foresaid 
 charters, in the shires Avhere they be assigned, as 
 well within franchises as without, and as well for 
 the king's officers out of their places as for others ; 
 and to hear the plaints from day to day without any 
 delay, and to determine them, without allowing the 
 delays which be allowed by the common law. And 
 the same knights shall have power to punish all 
 such as shall be attainted of any trespass done con- 
 trary to any point of the foresaid charters, where no 
 remedy was before by the common law, as before 
 is said, by imprisonment, or by ransom, or by amer- 
 ciament, according to the trespass." The statute 
 expressly declares that this special proceeding shall 
 only be iu cases where there was no remedy before 
 by the common law. If the three commissioners 
 could not attend, two were declared sufficient. The 
 king's sheriffs and bailiffs were to be attendant on 
 these commissioners. 
 
 The next public Act upon the subject of the 
 charters is the Ordinatio Forestte, 33 Edw. I., con- 
 taining some regulations respecting the purlieus of 
 the forests. In the following year there was another 
 •'Ordinance of the Forest." 
 
 The famous statute De Tallagio non concedendo 
 was first passed in the year 1297 (the 2.5th of Ed- 
 ward I.), but in more explicit terms, and in the form 
 in which it was always afterward referred to, in 
 1306, the last year but one of the reign. This 
 statute was occasioned by the question about levying 
 money for foreign wars. In its latter and more 
 
 1 This word is put " shillings " in the translation, but it could hardly 
 1)C that ; it was more probably " pence " or " half-pence,''— sous. 
 
 VOL. I. — 50 
 
 complete form it declares that no tallage or aid 
 (which Mr. Reeves thinks' included those feudal 
 aids that had been excepted in the statute of Con- 
 firmatio Chartarum) should be imposed or levied by 
 the king or his heirs without the will and assent of 
 the archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, knights, bur- 
 gesses, and other freemen of the land. Nothing 
 was to be taken by way of male-tolt^ of sacks of 
 wool. In regard to purveyance, it was declared 
 that no officer of the king should take any corn, 
 leather, cattle, or other goods, of any one without 
 the consent of the owner. The following general 
 declaration was also made in favor of the liberties of 
 the subject: " That all men, both clerks and lay- 
 men, should have their laws, liberties, and free 
 customs, as largely and wholly as they had used to 
 have the same at any time when they had them 
 best; and if any statutes had been made by the 
 king, his ancestors, or any customs brought in con- 
 ti'ary to them, or anj' manner of article contained 
 in the present charter, that such manner of statutes 
 and customs should be void and frustrate for ever- 
 more." Finally, all archbishops and bishops, for- 
 ever, were directed to read the statute in their ca- 
 thedral churches, and openly pronounce a curso 
 against all those who violated it in any point. The 
 king put his seal to this statute or charter, as did 
 the archbishops, bishops, and others, who all volun- 
 tarily swore to observe the tenor of it — a sanction 
 attended with the same solemnities as the several 
 confirmations of the charters of liberties. 
 
 Of the same nature with the political statutes 
 already mentioned were the Statuta Wallife, 12 
 Edw. I., by which Wales was in a great measure 
 put on the same footing as England with respect to 
 its laws and their administration. 
 
 II. The other statutes of this king relate more 
 particularly to the administration of justice between 
 subjects ; and though they contain many chapters 
 and clauses which may be considered as bearing 
 upon the general or political interests of the country 
 at large, as indeed in a certain sense all law may be 
 viewed as doing, yet it will be convenient to class 
 them under a separate head, as we previously inti- 
 mated. Of these the principal are, the Statute of 
 Westminster the First, Statute of Gloucester, 
 Statute of AVestminster the Second, of Westmin- 
 ster the Third, and Articuli sujjcr Chartas. 
 
 The statute 3 Edw. I., or of Westminster the 
 First (so called to distinguish it from subsequent 
 statutes, likewise named from parliaments held at 
 Westminster in this reign), contains fifty-one chap- 
 ters on a variety of subjects, and was made, says 
 the preamble, " because the state of the holy church 
 had been evil kept, and the prelates and rchgious 
 persons of the land grieved many ways, and the 
 people otherwise intreated than they ought to be, 
 and the peace less kept, and the laws less used, and 
 the offenders less punished than they ought to be." 
 
 1 Hist. Eng. Law., ii. p. 105. 
 
 - Otherwise male-tent, and male-toute. It is supposed by some to 
 have been a kind of excise ; by others, an impost laid on by the roynl 
 authority without consent of Parliament. Others conceive that tho 
 male-tolt was a duty upon malt— a notion which the Act mentioned m 
 the text is suflicicnt to confute.
 
 78G 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV^. 
 
 This collection of statutes, though usually termed ' 
 the " Statute of Westminster the First," is, in fact, ; 
 as we before observed, not one law but a body of 
 laws, made at Westminster in Edward's first Par- ] 
 liament. The same remarks will apply to the other 
 capitularia, called the Statutes of Westminster, as 
 well as to other documents, pach of which is not a ; 
 statute, but a body of statutes, each chapter being a 
 distinct law, generally on one subject, though some- 
 times the same chapter refers to different subjects. 
 Technically, however, all the Acts passed in any 
 one session of Parliament are considered as forming 
 onlj' one statute, of which they are severally the 
 chapters. A few of the subjects treated in the j 
 Statutes of Westminster the First more especially 
 demand our attention here. 
 
 Chapter V. is as follows: — "And because elec- 
 tions ought to be free, the king commandeth, upon 
 great forfeiture, that no man by force of arms, nor 
 by malice, or menacing, shall disturb any to make 
 free election." It has been supposed by some that 
 this law referred rather to the election of sheriffs, 
 coroners, and other officers, than to any represent- 
 atives of the people in the Parliament. However, it 
 is admitted by the same parties that, as it is in gen- 
 eral words, it may have a construction which will 
 extend it to elections that have been appointed since 
 for any purpose whatever. 
 
 Concerning wrecks of the sea, it is agreed, says 
 Chapter IV., that when a man, a dog, or a cat 
 escape quick (alive) out of the ship, such ship or 
 barge, or anything therein, shall not be adjudged 
 wreck ; but the goods shall be saved and kept by 
 view of the sheriff, coroner, or king's bailiff, and 
 delivered into the hands of such as are of the town 
 where the goods were found ; so that, if any within 
 a year and a day sue for them, and prove them to 
 be his, or his lord's, and that they perished in his 
 keeping, they shall be restored ; if not, they shall 
 remain to the king; and where wreck belongeth to 
 another than to the king, he shall have it iu like 
 manner. 
 
 Chapter XII. of this statute deserves considera- 
 tion on account of the discussion to which it has 
 given rise, some being of opinion that the peine 
 forle et dure (which will be explained presently) 
 arose out of it. The words of the chapter are, 
 " That notorious felons, and w^hich openly be of 
 evil name, and will not put themselves in enquests 
 of felonies that men shall charge them with before 
 the justices at the king's suit, shall have strong and 
 hard imprisonment [prison forte et dure), as they 
 which refuse to stand to the common law of the 
 land : but this is not to be understood of such pris- 
 oners as be taken of light suspicion."' 
 
 Britton describes this penance in the following 
 terms : — " If they will not put themselves upon the 
 country, let them be put to their penance until they 
 pray to do it; and let their penance be this: that 
 they be barefooted, ungirded, and bareheaded, in 
 their coat only, in prison upon the bare ground, con- 
 tinually, night and day ; that they eat only bread 
 made of barley and bran ; that they drink not the 
 
 1 Chap. x!i. 
 
 day they eat, nor eat the day they drink ; nor drink 
 anything but water the day they do not eat ; and 
 that they be fastened down with irons.'" 
 
 Lords Chief Justices Coke- and Hale^ have both 
 given their opmion, that the peine forte et dure — the 
 punishment of pressing to death — was anciently a 
 punishment by the common law, and not such as 
 any judges could have framed upon the general di- 
 rection of this Act. But they both seem to have 
 supposed that, though the statute could not, from 
 the generality of its terms, have established that 
 terrible punishment, it referred to that punishment 
 already established and well known, which is proved 
 by Barrington,* from a record in Rymer, not to have 
 been the case, the statute meaning nothing more 
 than confinement after the mode above described by 
 Britton, as the word prison implies. As to the 
 mode in which the peine forte et dure arose out of it, 
 Barrington has the following ingenious conjecture : 
 — " I should conceive, upon the whole, that the 
 words in the present statute, which have occasioned 
 these observations, namely , prison forte et dure, have 
 been misconstrued, by substituting in the room of 
 prison the word pcync. The record cited from Ry- 
 mer proves beyond a possibility of doubt that, soon 
 after this statute, the punishment was merely im- 
 prisonment, and an injunction to the oflScers, in 
 whose custody the criminal was, not to provide him 
 with any nourishment. I should imagine that the 
 alteration in this punishment, by the different tor- 
 tures afterward used, arose from justices in eyre 
 and justices of jail-delivery not staying above two 
 or three days in a county town, and who therefore 
 could not wait for this tedious method of forcing the 
 criminal to plead ; as the record from Rymer shows 
 that, in the instance already observed upon, the 
 criminal had been forty days in this close confine- 
 ment. It seems likewise clear that, whatever this 
 punishment might have been by the common law, 
 this statute hath superseded it ; and it is a presump- 
 tion (against even such great authorities as Lord 
 Chief Justice Coke and Lord Chief Justice Hale) 
 that there was no such punishment by the common 
 law, as it is admitted that a traitor cannot receive 
 this punishment, because the words of the statute 
 confine it to the case of felons ; the argument is also 
 very strong, that, if felons were subjected to this 
 sentence, traitors would still less have escaped it.'"^ 
 
 The judgment of peine forte et dure, which, as 
 latterly administered, consisted in pressing the pris- 
 oner to death by loading him with heavy weights — 
 a sharp stone, or piece of timber, being also some- 
 times, hy way of favor, laid under his back — to ac- 
 celerate the extinction of fife, was submitted to 
 with the object of avoiding the corruption of blood 
 and escheat of lands which would have followed 
 conviction after a plea. Instances of the application 
 of this torture, or the preliminary and warning 
 process of tying the thumbs together with whipcord, 
 which appears to have been introduced in later 
 times, from motives of humanity, without any stat- 
 
 i Britton, iv. II. 2 2 Inst. 178, 179. 
 
 3 Hist, of the Pleas of the Crown, c. 43, sub Jin. 
 
 ♦ Obs. ou Stat. p. 59. ^ ibid, pp 61, 62.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 787 
 
 utory sanction, occur down to a comparatively re- 
 cent period. A prisoner was foi'ced to plead at the 
 Old Baile}', by tying his thumbs together, in the 
 year 1734. At last, however, the peine forte et dure 
 was in effect abolished by the statute 12 Geo. III. 
 c. 20, which enacted that every prisoner, who, being 
 arraigned for felony, should stand mute or not an- 
 swer dii-ectly to the offence, should be convicted of 
 the same, and the same judgment and execution 
 thereupon awarded as if he had been convicted by 
 verdict or confession of the crime. 
 
 The Statute of Gloucester consists of fifteen 
 chapters, most of which relate to the amendment 
 of the common law as then practiced. One of its 
 chapters (the 8tli) enacts that the cause of action in 
 the king's superior courts shall amount at the least 
 to forty shillings. 
 
 In the next year was passed the famous statute 
 7 Edw. I., entitled De Viris Religiosis, and com- 
 monly referred to as the first statute of mortmain. 
 The object of this law was to enforce and to extend 
 a provision of Magna Charta, which prohibited all 
 gifts of land to reUgious societies without the con- 
 sent of the lord of the fee. Notwithstanding that 
 provision, religious men continued to appropriate 
 lands wViereby services due for such lands were 
 withdrawn, and the incidents of tenure were dimin- 
 ished. The statement of Baker in his Chronicle, 
 even allowing for a little exaggeration, that the 
 number of monasteries built in the reign of Henry 
 I. was so great that almost all the laborers of the 
 country became bricklayers and carpenters, conveys 
 an idea of the extent to which this had proceeded. 
 It was now ordained, in the most comprehensive 
 expressions that could be devised, that no person, 
 religious or other, should buy or sell, or under the 
 color of any gift or lease, or by any other " craft or 
 engine," appropriate to himself any lands or tene- 
 ments, so as such lands should anywise come into 
 mortmain,' under pain of forfeiture of the same. 
 Notwithstanding the care with which this statute 
 was worded, a method of evading it was soon dis- 
 covered by the ecclesiastics ; for, as the statute ex- 
 tended only to gifts and conveyances between the 
 parties, the religious houses set up a fictitious title 
 to the land which they wished to have, and brought 
 an action to recover it against the tenant, who by 
 fraud and collusion made no defence, and thereby 
 judgment was given for the religious house, which 
 then recovered the land by sentence of law^ upon 
 a supposed prior title. " And thus," observes Black- 
 stone, " they had the honor of inventing those 
 fictitious adjudications of right which are since 
 become the great assurance of the kingdom under 
 
 ' la " mortuam manum," — literally, into a dead hand. Lands made 
 over lo corporate bodies of ai)y description, whether clerical or civil, 
 are now said to go into mortmain ; but the term seems at first to have 
 been used only in reference to religious bodies, which, indeed, were 
 formerly the only corporations. As religious or professed persons were 
 considered dead in law, lands coming to them were said to pass into 
 dead hands. In the preamble to the present statute the reference is 
 exclusively to religious corporations, and the eflect of lands passing 
 into their possession is described to be that, thereby, " the services that 
 are due of such fees, and which at the beginning were provided for 
 defence of the realm, are wrongfully withdrawn, and the chief lords 
 do lose their escheats of the same."' 
 
 the name of Common Recoveries." ' This was also 
 again defeated by another provision in 13 Edw. I. c. 
 32. Another provision was made, by statute 35 
 Edward I., to check the waste suffered by religious 
 possessions being drained into foreign countries. It 
 is thereby ordained that no abbot, prior, master, 
 warden, or other religious person of whatsoever 
 condition, shall convey any tax imposed by them 
 or their superiors upon their respective religious 
 houses out of the kingdom under heavy penalties. 
 
 We now come to the famous collection of laws 
 passed in the 13th of Edward I., commonly known 
 by the name of the Statute of Westminster the 
 Second. The first chapter of this, entitled De 
 Donis Conditionaiihus, has given rise to more dis- 
 cussion, perhaps, than any other enactment in the 
 Statute Book. A conditional fee was a fee or gift 
 restrained to some particular heirs, to the exclusion 
 of others. " It was called a conditional fee," says 
 Blackstone, "by reason of the condition expressed 
 or implied in the donation of it, that, if the donee 
 died without such particular heirs, the land should 
 revert to the donor." " Now," he proceeds, " with 
 regard to the condition annexed to these fees by 
 the common law, our ancestors held that such a 
 gift (to a man and the heirs of his body) was a gift 
 upon condition that it should revert to the donor if 
 the donee had no heirs of his body ; but if he had, 
 it should then remain to the donee. They there- 
 fore called it a fee-simple on condition that he had 
 issue ; so that, as soon as the grantee had any issue 
 born, his estate was supposed to become absolute 
 by the performance of the condition, at least for 
 three purposes : — 1. To enable the tenant to alien 
 the land, and thereby to bar not only his own issue 
 but also the donor of his interest in the reversion : 
 
 2. To subject him to forfeit it for treason, which he 
 could not do till issue born longer than for his own 
 life, lest thereby the inheritance of the issue, and 
 reversion of the donor, might have been defeated; 
 
 3. To empower him to charge the land with rents, 
 commons, and certain other incumbrances, so as to 
 bind his issue. However, if the tenant did not, in 
 fact, alien the land, the course of descent was not 
 altered by this performance of the condition ; for 
 which reason, in order to subject the lands to the 
 ordinary course of descent, the donees of these 
 cooditional fee-simples took care to alieti as soon as 
 they had performed the condition by having issue, 
 and afterward repurchased the lands, which gave 
 them a fee-simple absolute, that would descend to 
 the heirs general, according to the course of the 
 common law." -^ Now the feudal aristocracy, to 
 put a stop to this practice, obtained the chapter De 
 Donis in the Statute of Westminster the Second, 
 which enacted that thenceforth the will of the 
 donor be observed ; and that the tenements so given 
 (to a man and the heirs of his body) should at all 
 events go to the issue, if there were any; or, it 
 none, should revert to the donor. " Upon the con- 
 struction of this Act of Parliament," proceeds 
 Blackstone, "the judges determined that the donee 
 had no longer a conditional fee-simple, which be- 
 
 1 Com. ii. 271 
 
 2 Com. ii. 110, 111.
 
 788 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 came absolute and at his own disposal the instant 
 any issue was born ; but they divided the estate into 
 two parts, leaving in the donee a new kind of par- 
 ticular estate, which thk^y denominated a fr.e-tail;^ 
 and vesting in the donor the ultimate lee-simple 
 of the land, expectant on the failure of issue, 
 which expectant estate is what we now call a re- 
 version." 
 
 " The perpetuities," says Barrington, " estab- 
 lished by this statute, in process of time, had so 
 much contributed to the increase of power in the 
 great barons that, about two centuries afterward, 
 it was in a great measure evaded by the invention 
 i)f what is called a common recovery ^^ (of which we 
 shall speak in the proper place) : " it was impossible 
 for the crown to procure a repeal of the law in the 
 House of Lords, and therefore the judges had 
 probably an intimation that they must, by ashitia, 
 as it is called, render a statute of no eflect, which 
 the king could not extort an alteration of from one 
 part of the legislature."- Barrington adds, in a 
 note, that the Statute of Westminster the Second, 
 in refei'ence to Chapter L of it, has been called the 
 Statute of Great Men. 
 
 A considerable portion of this statute, which 
 consists of fifty chapters, treats of improvements in 
 the administration of justice, as far as the jurisdic- 
 tion of the courts and the course of proceeding are 
 concerned. 
 
 The 30th ch.ipter contains the law respecting the 
 justices of nisi 'prius^ which has since been called 
 the Statute of Nisi Prius. It ordained that two 
 justices sworn should be assigned, before whom 
 only, associated with one or two of the discreetest 
 knights of the shire into which they came, should 
 be taken all assizes of novel disseisin, mortdaunces- 
 tor, and attaints. It was also ordained that no 
 inqnest should be taken before any of the justices 
 of the bench, vnlcss a certain day and place were 
 appointed in the county, in presence of the parties, 
 and the day and place inserted in a judicial writ, in 
 certain prescribed words, declaring that the inquest 
 should be taken at Westminster unless (nisi J cer- 
 tain persons named (namely, the judges of assize) 
 should come to those parts before a certain day — 
 by which day the said judges, however, were sure 
 to be there. Thus, the trial in the county was in 
 later times, from the clause in the writ, said to be 
 at 7nsi prius (unless first), though in the form given 
 in the statute the word ^>rn/s is not inserted, as it 
 now is, and indeed was usually at that time. It is 
 proper here to add, that these justices have, by vir- 
 tue of several statutes, a criminal jurisdiction also. 
 The judges of assize and 7iisi prius superseded the 
 ancient justices in eyre, juslitiarii in itinerc. 
 
 There were other improvements made in the 
 administration of justice by this statute, such as an 
 execution given against land by the writ called 
 Elegit, the introduction of bills of exception, and 
 the proceeding by scire fdcias, to revive a judgment 
 of a year's standing. These we shall only name, 
 partly because our space is limited, and partly 
 
 • From the French tailltr or the barbarous Latin taliare, to cut. 
 » Obs. on Stilt, p. 92. 
 
 because a satisfactor}' explanation of them would 
 be difficult, if not impossible, in a popular work. 
 The mere mention of them, however, will help to 
 convey some idea of the importance of this statute 
 of Westminster the Second in the history of Eng- 
 lish law. 
 
 The next statute of this year, 13 Edw. I., is the 
 Statute of Winchester, containing some provisions 
 for enforcing the ancient police, and ordaining 
 some new regulations. This statute throws con- 
 siderable light on the state of society then existing. 
 The preamble recites, that when robberies, mur- 
 ders, i:c. were committed, the inhabitants of the 
 comity were more willing to excuse the offender 
 than to punish for the injury to a stranger; and 
 that if the felon was not himself an inhabitant of 
 the county, yet the receiver of the stolen goods 
 frequently was so, which produced the same par- 
 tiality in juries, who did not give proper satisfaction 
 in damages to the party robbed.^ To remedy this, 
 a penalty is established by the statute, making the 
 people of the county ansAverable for the felonies 
 done among them. It further directs that cries, 
 that is, the hue" and cry, should be solemnly made 
 in all counties, hundreds, markets, Arc, so that 
 none might excuse himself by ignorance. It also 
 directs that the walls of the great towns shall be 
 shut from sunsetting to sunrising, and that watch- 
 men shall be set ; that the highways shall be cleared 
 of wood to the breadth of two hundred feet, in order 
 to prevent the felon's concealing himself; and that 
 every man, according to his substance, shall have 
 arms in his house, in order to pursue the felon 
 effectually. 
 
 The statute called Quia Emptores, from the two 
 first words of it, belongs to the 18th Edw. I. It 
 was occasioned by the consequences of the restraint 
 imposed on the alienation of land. " Forasmuch," 
 says the Act, "as purchasers of lands and tene- 
 ments of the fees of great men and other lords have 
 entered into their fees, to the prejudice of the lords, 
 the freeholders of such great men having sold their 
 lands and tenements to be hoiden in fee of their 
 feoffors, and not of the chief lords of the fees, where- 
 by the same chief lords have many times lost their 
 escheats, marriages, and wardships of lands and ten- 
 ements belonging to their fees," it is ordained, " that 
 from henceforth it shall be lawful to every freeman 
 to sell at his own pleasure his lands and tenements, 
 or part of them, so that the feoflfee shall hold the 
 same lands or tenements of the chief lord of the 
 same fee, by such service and customs as his feoffor 
 held before." This, therefore, was a permission to 
 alienate in such a manner that the new holder of 
 the land became the immediate vassal of the chief 
 lord, but a prohibition of subinfeudation, by which 
 the new holder of the land became the immediate 
 vassal of the former tenant, who thus constituted 
 himself what was called a mesne, that is, an inter- 
 mediate, lord. 
 
 1 We give this preamble from Barrington, who observes in a note, 
 " I have given the substanoo of this preamble, which is absolutely un- 
 intelligible in the common translation." — P. 105. 
 
 - Barrington thinks that hue cunies from the word huer, to pursue ■ 
 I and, therefore, that hue and cry will mean p'lrsuit and cry.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 789 
 
 Another Act usually printed as of this year, though 
 inserted by the Record Commission among the 
 statutes of uncertain date, is the Modus levandi 
 Fines, stating the course to be pursued in levying a 
 fine. "A fine," saj's Blackstone, "is sometimes 
 said to be a feoffment of record, though it might 
 with more accuracj^ be called an acknowledgment 
 of a feoffment of record ; by which is to be under- 
 stood that it has at least the same force and effect 
 with a feoffment in the conveying and assuring of 
 lands, though it is one of those methods of trans- 
 ferring estates of freehold by the common law, in 
 which livery of seisin is not necessaiyto be actually 
 given, the supposition and acknowledgment thereof 
 in a court of record, however fictitious, inducing an 
 equal notoriety. But, more particularly, a fine may 
 be described to be an amicable composition or agree- 
 ment of a suit, either actual or fictitious, by leave of 
 the king or his justices, whereby the lands in ques- 
 tion become, or are acknowledged to be, the right 
 of one of the parties. In its original it was founded 
 on an actual suit, commenced at law for recovery 
 of the possession of land or other hereditaments ; 
 and the possession thus gained by such compositions 
 was found to be so sure and effectual that fictitious 
 actions were, and continued to be, every day com- 
 menced, for the sake of obtaining the same secu- 
 rity." 1 
 
 A fine (from the Latin finis, an end) is so called, 
 says the statute 18 Edw. I., because it puts an end 
 to all suits concerning the matter in question. The 
 statute 18 Edw. I., Modus levandi Fines, did not 
 originate fines, but declared and regulated the man- 
 ner in which they should be levied or carried on. 
 Upon the detail of these technical minutia?, how- 
 ever, we cannot enter here ; but we shall have oc- 
 casion to return in a future chapter to the subject 
 of fines, which makes an important figure in the 
 history of English tenures. 
 
 It remains to give some account of the jurisdiction 
 of the various courts in this reign. 
 
 The diffei'ent courts are mentioned by Fleta in 
 the following order: 1. The High Court of Parlia- 
 ment, of which, having already spoken, and having 
 again to speak, we shall not say more here. 2. The 
 Court of the Seneschal, Dapifer, or Steward of the 
 Household, who is described by Fleta^ as filling the 
 place of the chief justiciary (an office, as was be- 
 fore observed, abolished in the last reign), who used 
 to determine the king's own causes, and administer 
 justice without writ. The jurisdiction of this court, 
 both before and after the passing of the statute, 
 ma}' be learned from the 3d chapter in the statute, 
 Articuli super Chartas, 28 Edw. I., expressly made 
 to limit it. It is thereby ordained that this court 
 " from henceforth shall not hold plea of freehold, 
 neither of debt nor of covenant, nor of any contriict 
 made between the king's people, but only of tres- 
 pass done withi-n the house, and of other trespasses 
 done within the verge, and of contracts and cove- 
 nants that one of the king's house shall have made 
 with another of the same house, and in the same 
 house, and none other where. And they shall plead 
 1 Com. ii. 349. » Fleta, 66. 
 
 no plea of trespass, other than that which shall be 
 attached by them before the king depart from the 
 verge where the trespass shall be committed ; and 
 shall plead thence speedily from day to daj', so that 
 they may be pleaded and determined before that 
 the king depart out of the limits of the same verge 
 where the trespass was done. And if it so be that 
 they cannot be determined within the Umits of the 
 same verge, then shall the same pleas cease before 
 the steward, and the plaintiffs shall have recourse 
 to the common law." The verge or bounds of the 
 household contained twelve miles,' which circuit or 
 space was called the virgata regia, because it was 
 within the government of the marshal, who carried 
 a virga (rod) as the badge of his office. Before the 
 passing of the statute above quoted, the steward of 
 the household appears to have exercised a very 
 considerable portion of the powers of the chief jus- 
 ticiary, and to have been virtually the high steward 
 (of which officer we hear little or nothing, he being, 
 for the reasons mentioned in the last Book, probably 
 considered as in in a state of abeyance). The judi- 
 cial functions which, as shown in the last Book, the 
 chief justiciary had borrowed from the steward on 
 the extinction of the office of the former, appear to 
 have returned again to the latter. 
 
 3. The next court of the king mentioned in Fleta. 
 is that held in his Chancery, over which, says Fleta. 
 was set some discreet person, as a bishop, or other 
 dignified ecclesiastic ; and to him was committed 
 the keeping of the great seal. 4. After this, he 
 places a court held before auditors specially appoint- 
 ed a latere regis, as it was called, that is, from the 
 persons usually in attendance upon the king. The 
 business of these auditors was, not to determine, 
 but to report to the king what they had heard. 
 5. His justices, before whom, and no others (except 
 himself and his council, or special auditor), false 
 judgments and errors of justices were reversed and 
 corrected. 6. Next to these, are ranked "the jus- 
 tices sitting at the Exchequer ;" and 7, those in banco 
 at Westminster. 8. The justices of jail-delivery. 
 9. Those assigned to take assizes, jurors, inqui- 
 sitions, certificates, and attaints. 10. The justices 
 itinerant or in eyre, " appointed to the first assizes 
 for hearing and determining all pleas criminal and 
 civil." 11. The justices itinerant for pleas of the 
 forest. All these were the king's courts. There 
 were, beside, the county, town, and hundred courts; 
 those in the king's manors, and those in cities and 
 boroughs.^ 
 
 Some account has already been given in the last 
 Book of the trial by jury, or rather of what it origi- 
 nally was. It appears from Fleta and Britton, that 
 at the time of which we are now writing, the jurors 
 were still considered as witnesses ; and to call wit- 
 nesses before them would have been contrary to tlu' 
 supposition by which they sat as jorors ; viz., that 
 they knew more about the matter in question than 
 any other equal number of men. Coming from the 
 vicinage where the fact took place, they were bet- 
 ter able than any others to speak the truth, as they 
 were sworn to do, and that from their own knowl- 
 
 1 Fleta, 66. " l^id.
 
 790 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 edge, and not from testimony brought before them 
 in court. When the condition of society was so 
 changed, that, notwithstanding the supposition of 
 their personal knowledge of the fact, they were, in 
 reality, wholly ignorant of it ; and it was necessary 
 that evidence should be brought before them, before 
 they could pronounce on the guilt or innocence of 
 the party ; then the old proceeding became produc- 
 tive of injustice and oppression, till it was at length 
 reformed by the calling of witnesses to furnish the 
 twelve jurors with the necessary information. But 
 this last improvement was not thoroughly effected 
 till the time of Edward VI. and Queen Marj-. The 
 first evidence admitted consisted of written evidence ; 
 such as depositions, informations, and examinations, 
 taken out of court : this led gradually to a sparing 
 use of oral testimony.* 
 
 " The inclination in favor of juries," says Mr. 
 Reeves, "had gone so far in this reign, that there 
 seemed a backwardness to allow the trial by duel, 
 when a defendant insisted upon it as his right ; 
 which could only be in an appeal. Should there be 
 any slip in the pi'oceedings of which the defendant 
 had omitted to avail himself, the judge was ex officio 
 to examine and point it out, in order to stop the duel. 
 Fleta says that this was a trial not to be resorted 
 to rashly, if by any possible means it could be avoid- 
 ed. Another alteration in our criminal proceedings 
 was, that the eyre was no longer to be a time of 
 limitation for the prosecution of offenders; but they 
 might be prosecuted at any distance of time."^ 
 The eyres were every seven years, and sometimes 
 at shorter intervals : no one could be indicted for 
 anything done before the preceding eyre. 
 
 We shall conclude our account of the state of 
 the laAV in this reign with some remarks by Lord 
 Chief Justice Hale, on various points not included 
 in what has preceded. With regard to the rolls of 
 judicial proceedings, especially those in the King's 
 Bench and Common Pleas, and in the eyres, he 
 says, " I have read over many of them, and do gen- 
 erally obsei-ve : 1. That they are written in an ex- 
 cellent hand. 2. That the pleading is very short, 
 but verj- clear and perspicuous ; neither loose or 
 uncertain, nor perplexing the matter either with 
 impropriety, obscurity', or multiplicity of words : 
 they are clearly and orderly digested — effectually 
 representing the business that they intend. 3. That 
 the title and the reason of the law upon which they 
 proceed (which many times is expressly delivered 
 upon the record itself) is perspicuous, clear, and 
 rational. So that their short and pithy pleadings 
 and judgments do far better render the sense of the 
 business, and the reasons thereof, than those long, 
 intricate, perplexed, and formal pleadings, that often- 
 times of late are unnecessarily used." ^ 
 
 With regard to the reports, he says, " They are 
 VERT GOOD, but VERY BRIEF. Either the judges 
 then spoke less, or the reporters were not so ready- 
 handed, as to take all they said. Some of these 
 reports, though broken, yet the best of their kind, 
 are in Lincoln's Inn library." * W^ith respect to 
 
 1 Reeves' Hist, of Eng. Law, ii. p. 271. 
 3 Hist, of Com. Law. c. 7. 
 
 = Ih. p. 272. 
 * Ibid 
 
 the law treatises written in this reign, such as those 
 books known by the names of Fleta, the Mirror, 
 Britton, and Thornton, he saj-s that, by comparing 
 them with Bracton, " there appears a growth and a 
 perfecting of the law into a greater regularitj- and 
 order." Lord Chief Justice Coke observes, that 
 "in the reign of Edward II., Edward I., and up- 
 ward, the pleadings were plain and sensible, but 
 nothing curious ; evermore having chief respect to 
 the matter, and not to forms of words." ' 
 
 We have mentioned the title of Capitalis Justitia- 
 rius (or chief justice) as having been borne by the 
 chief of the King's Bench, in the latter part of the 
 reign of Henry III. The first mention of capitalis 
 justitiarius of the bench (Common Pleas) is in the 
 first year of Edward I. 
 
 In the reign of Edward II. begin the year-books, 
 so called because they were published annually from 
 the notes of certain persons who were paid a stipend 
 by the crown for the work. These contain reports 
 of cases adjudged from the beginning of this reign 
 to the end of Edward III., and from the beginning 
 of Henry IV. to the end of Henry VIII. It niiiy 
 be useful to add a short explanation of the technical 
 meaning of the terms "report" and "record." A 
 record is a concise entry of all the effective steps 
 made in a judicial proceeding. A report is a short 
 note of the progress toward making those steps ; of 
 the debate in court concerning some of them ; the 
 decision and the grounds on which it is supported. 
 
 We may here notice the compilation entitled the 
 " Mirror of Justices," about the antiquity of which 
 much difference of opinion has existed ; some pro- 
 nouncing it older than the Conquest — others ascrib- 
 ing it to the time of Edward II. ; both which opinions 
 may be partly right. A work as old as the earlier 
 date may have been taken up in the reign of Edward 
 II., and worked into the present form, which par- 
 takes somewhat of the marvelous, or even the 
 monstrous. " This book," observes Mr. Reeves, 
 " should be read with great caution, and some 
 previous knowledge of the law as it stood about the 
 same period ; for the author certainly writes with 
 very little precision. This, with his assertions about 
 Alfred, and the extravagant punishments inflicted by 
 that king on his judges, has brought his treatise 
 under some suspicion."^ 
 
 3Ir. Reeves gives the following account of the 
 foundation of Lincoln's Inn : — 
 
 " There is nothing but a vague traditiop to give 
 us any trace of the places where the practicers and 
 students of the law had their residence before the 
 i-eign of this king. But in the reign of Edward II. 
 we are informed that such places were called hostels^ 
 or inns of courts because the inhabitants of them be- 
 longed to the king's courts. It is reported that 
 William, Earl of Lincoln, about the beginning of 
 this reign, being well affected to the study of the 
 laws, first brought the professors of them to settle in 
 a house of his, since called Lincoln'' s Inn. The earl 
 was only lessee under the bishops of Chichester; 
 and many succeeding bishops, in after times, let 
 leases of this house to certain persons, for the use 
 
 1 1 Inst. 304. a. 2 Hist, of Eng. Law, ii. 350.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 791 
 
 and residence of the practicers and students of the 
 law ; till, in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of 
 Henry VIII., the Bishop of Chichester granted the 
 inheritance to Francis Sulyard and his brother Eus- 
 tace, both students ; the survivor of whom, in the 
 twentieth year of Queen Elizabeth, sold the fee to 
 the benchers for 520L"^ 
 
 Since the separation of the Chancery from the 
 Aula Regis, the rolls and records of the former had 
 been kept separate, and of late they had greatly 
 multiplied. To relieve the chancellor of that duty, 
 a particular officer was appointed for the keeping of 
 them. With the consent of the chancellor, John de 
 Sandale. William de Armyn was appointed lieejier, or 
 master of the rolls, in the twentieth year of this reign.^ 
 
 As we have before observed, the reign of a single 
 weak prince interpolated here and there in the 
 course of a long line of princes, most of whom are 
 energetic and able, will finally be found to advance 
 the liberty of the subject. Thus, compare the state 
 of things under Henry II. or Richard I., with that 
 under Edward I., and we find the effect of the in- 
 terpolation of the two feeble princes John and Henry 
 III. The royal prerogative had dechned consider- 
 ably from Henry II. to Edward I. : and when we 
 again compare the reign of Edward III. with that of 
 Edward I., we are struck with the change, produced 
 no doubt in gi-eat part by the feeble reign of Edward 
 II. When we come to look at the state of things 
 under Edward III., notwithstanding his vigorous 
 and warlike character, and notwithstanding even his 
 great victories over the French, and the prestige of 
 military glory attached to his name, we find the 
 royal prerogative sensibly declining, as exemplified 
 in the statutes respecting purvej^ance, the jurisdic- 
 tion of the steward's and marshal's courts, the power 
 of ahenation accorded to the king's tenants in capite, 
 &c. The Great Charter and the Charter of the 
 Forest were confirmed no less than fifteen times in 
 this reign. This has by some, indeed, been taken 
 as an indication rather of the king's disposition to 
 break them than of anything else. However, it also 
 indisputably showed a power in the Parliament, to 
 which the king deemed it convenient to manifest a 
 semblance of respect. To these two charters was 
 sometimes added a confirmation of all franchises and 
 privileges enjoyed by cities, boroughs, or individuals. 
 Beside this, particular parts of Magna Charta were 
 especially reenacted. Thus, it was declared by 
 Stat. 5 Edw. III. c. 9, that no man should from 
 thenceforth be attached on any accusation, nor fore- 
 judged of life or limb, nor his lands, tenements, 
 goods, nor chattels, seized into the king's hands, 
 against the form of the Great Charter and the law 
 of the land ; and agjiin, by stat. 28 Edw. III. c. 3, 
 that no man, of what estate or condition soever, 
 should be put out of land or tenement, nor taken, 
 nor imprisoned, nor disinherited, nor put to death, 
 without being brought in to answer by due process 
 of law. It may be presumed to have been in the 
 same spirit that the stat. 4 Edw. III. c. 14 was 
 made, ordaining that " a parliament should be holden 
 every year once, and more often if need be ;" which 
 
 1 Hist, of Eng. Law, ii. p. 360. - Reeves, ii. p. 302 
 
 enactment was renewed by stat. 36 Edw. HI. st. 1, 
 c. 10. It is true that these constant renewals of 
 important laws which we meet with in our earlier 
 reigns, show very lax notions as to the binding force 
 of laws ; and, indeed, our earlier kings do not seem 
 to have considered any laws of their predecessors 
 which seemed against their own interests binding 
 on them till they had specially confirmed theJTi ; and 
 moreover did not scruple to use the meanest subter- 
 fuges to evade them. But sincerity and love of 
 truth are among the last virtues learned by civilized 
 men ; and it is vain to look for them in the earlier 
 stages of anj^ people's social progress. 
 
 " The statutes now," (14 Edw. HI.) obsenes 
 Barrington, "begin to appear in a new and more 
 regular form ; the titles henceforward are almost 
 always English ;" (though the body of the statutes 
 continues to be in the French language ;) " and the 
 session of Parliament is generally held at West- 
 minster, while the preamble in every instance 
 makes express mention of the concurrence of the 
 Coni7nons."'- 
 
 The most important statute of this reign — at least 
 that which most demands notice in a work like the 
 present— is the Statute of Treasons, the 25th Edw. 
 HI. St. 5, c. 2.^^ It defines far more particularly 
 than had been done before what should be consid- 
 ered as treason. The treasons declared are under 
 the following heads : — To compass or imagine the 
 death of the king, queen, or that of their eldest son 
 and heir; to violate the king's companion, or the king's 
 eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the king's 
 eldest son and heir; to levy war against the king in 
 his realm, or be adherent to the king's enemies in 
 his realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the 
 realm, or elsewhere ; of which a man must be prov- 
 ably attainted of open deed by people of his own 
 condition ; to counterfeit the king's great or privy 
 seal, or his money ; to bring into the realm false 
 money counterfeit to the money of England, or the 
 money called Lvshhurgh, or other, like to the money 
 of England, knowing it to be false, to merchandise, 
 or make payment in deceit of the king and his peo- 
 ple ; to slay the chancellor, treasurer, or the king's 
 justices of the one bench or of the other, justices 
 in eyre or of assize, or any other justices assign- 
 ed to hear and determine, being in their places, 
 doing their offices. All the above cases, says the 
 statute, shall be judged treason that extends to our 
 lord the king and his royal majesty; and of such 
 treasons the forfeiture of the escheats belongs to 
 the king, as well of lands and tenements holden of 
 another as of himself. Moreover (the statute goes 
 on to say), there is another manner of treason, viz. 
 — when a servant slays his master, a wife her hus- 
 band, or when a man, secular or religious, slays his 
 prelate, to whom he owes faith and obedience : in 
 these treasons the forfeiture is to go to the lord of 
 the fee. And thus this act divides treasons into 
 
 1 Obs. on Stat. 192. 
 
 2 Barrington sajs, with regard to this, " I shall take a vcr)- extra- 
 ordinary liberty with regard to the title of this statute, which I have 
 altered from the Statute of Purveyors, to that of the Statute of Trea- 
 ions."— Slot. p. 211 The first chapter related to purveyance as well 
 as the fifteenth.
 
 792 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 high and petit — the distinction by which they have 
 since been known. 
 
 There have been many comments on the words 
 compass and imagine ; and it does not seem proba- 
 ble that any comments would be able to render them 
 very precise. Mr. Harrington observes, " I have 
 looked into the laws of most countries in Europe on 
 this head, which in general are much more loosely 
 worded than the present statute."' 
 
 By the statute 36 Edw. III. stat. 1, c 15, it was 
 ordered that henceforth pleas should be pleaded in 
 the English tongue, and enrolled in Latin. The 
 reasons stated for this alteration we shall give in the 
 words of the statute (with which reasons, by the by, 
 the French, in which the statute is worded, seems 
 strangely at variance) :- — " Because it is often show- 
 ed to the king by the prelates, dukes, earls, barons, 
 and all the commonalty, of the great mischiefs which 
 have happened to divers of the realm ; because the 
 laws, customs, and statutes of this realm be not 
 commonly holden and kept in the same realm, for 
 that they be pleaded, showed, and judged in the 
 French tongue, which is much unknown in the said 
 realm ; so that the people which do implead, or be 
 impleaded, in the king's courts, and in the courts of 
 other, have no knowledge nor understanding of that 
 which is said for them or against them by their Ser- 
 jeants and other pleaders ;" and because the king, 
 the nobles, and others who have been in divers re- 
 gions and countries have observed that they are 
 better governed, because their laws are in their 
 own tongue. The same enactment contains the 
 following clause : — " That, bj- the ancient terms and 
 forms of the declarations, no man be prejudiced, so 
 that the matter of the action be fully showed in the 
 declaration and in the writ.'' 
 
 Though the language of the courts in all argu- 
 ments and decisions Avas henceforward to be Eng- 
 lish, the written language of the laws still contin- 
 ued French, and so continued for some centuries. 
 Moreover, many significant terms and phrases of 
 that language were still retained in debate and con- 
 versation upon topics of law. 
 
 The history of the courts of justice throws more 
 light perhaps than the discussion of anj' other ques- 
 tion, on the subject of constitutional law. It is for 
 this reason that we have already devoted so much 
 attention to the investigation of the real position and 
 character of the great officers of the king's court : 
 and, for the same reason we shall continue through- 
 out to devote as much of our space as we can spare 
 to the discussion of the nature and jurisdiction of 
 the respective courts. 
 
 In the earlier stages of its historj", the Parliament 
 appears to have partaken considerably more of the 
 character of a supreme court of judicature than it 
 afterward did ; for not only were suits depending 
 
 1 Obs. on Stat. p. 213. 
 
 2 In 18 Edw. III. Stat. 2, there is a still more striking instance ol 
 this. The French preamble of this statute recites that the French 
 Icing " s'afforce tant comnie il poet a deslruir notre dit seigneur le roi, 
 ses alliez, et subgitz, terres et lieus, et I.A LANOE d'Engleterre" 
 (enforceth himself as much as he may to destroy our said sovereign 
 lord the king, and his allies, subjects, lands, and places, and the tongue 
 of England). 
 
 in the courts below brought into Parliament by peti- 
 tion of the parties, but also on the motion of the 
 judges themselves, who, in cases of difficult^-, would 
 rather take the advice of the Parliament than hazard 
 their own judgment. It was in this spirit that the 
 statute of treasons (25 Edw. 111.) ordains, that when 
 any new case of supposed treason should arise, not 
 expressly within the terms of that act, the judges 
 should not proceed upon their own conceptions of 
 the case, but should take the opinion of the Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 Toward the latter end of this reign the commons 
 first began to ap|)ear as prosecutors, and, among 
 their other petitions, to exhibit accusations for 
 crimes and misdemeanors against oflenders who 
 were thought to be out of the reach of the ordinary 
 course of the law. In these prosecutions the king 
 and lords were considered as judges. Thus began 
 prosecution by impeachincnt of the commons. 
 
 The tribunal next in authority to the Parliament 
 was the council. As the Parliament was often called 
 by this name, much difficulty has arisen in distin- 
 guishing them. The king had a council which con- 
 sisted of all the lords and peers of the realm. This 
 was called the grand council, as well as the Parlia 
 ment (being probably the original commune concilium 
 regni, before the commons were summoned thither), 
 and was thereby distinguished from the other coun- 
 cil, which the king had most commonl}- about him 
 for advice in matters of law. This last council 
 (corresponding somewhat to what has since been 
 called the j^^i^'l/ council) consisted of the treasurer, 
 chancellor, justices, keeper of the rolls, justices in 
 eyre, Arc. The method of address to the two 
 councils was, like that to the Parliament, bj- petition.' 
 In consequence of the jealousy entertained of the 
 arbitrary authority of these councils of the king, 
 several statutes were made in this reign to regulate 
 and check it. But, as we shall see in the sequel, it 
 was not to be effectuallj- checked yet for several 
 centuries. 
 
 There is nothing more indicative of the form the 
 English government and constitution were gradually 
 assuming, than the decline of the court of the stew- 
 ard and marshal — a tribunal which, when the king 
 was everything, and the nation and the law nothing, 
 was of great power and importance ; but now, that 
 there were other powers in the country than that 
 of the king, and when the common law had attained 
 a considerable degree of perfection, was sinking both 
 in jurisdiction and importance. This might be not 
 altogether because lawyers did not preside in this 
 court (for Littleton was at one time steward or 
 judge of this court"), but rather from an idea that 
 
 ' Reeves's Hist, of Eiig. Law, ii. p. 415. 
 
 2 Coke says (2 lust. 548), that "the steward of the court of the 
 marshalsea of the household is ever a professor of the commim law ;'' 
 and that in the statute ArlicuU super Chartas, c. 3, the words " des 
 seneschals et marshals," are to be " understood of the steward of the 
 court of the marshalsea of the household, and not of the steward of the 
 king's household." This, we apprehend, is incorrect. A'arious stat- 
 utes, for example (5 Edw. III. c, 2, and 10 Edw. III. st. 2, c. 1), ex- 
 pressly call that officer "steward of the king's house" (seneschal del 
 hostiel le roi) in the singular. Indeed, in the Record Corauiission edi- 
 tion of the statutes, seneschal is singular, not plural, in the passage 
 commented on by Coke in the Arl. sup. Chart, c. 3. In point of fact.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS. 
 
 795 
 
 the rules of decision of the court were framed more 
 upon the king's pleasure than the rules of law. 
 
 A large portion of the original power of the court 
 of the steward of the king's household passed to the 
 court of King's Bench. By statute 5 Edw. III. c. 
 2, it was ordained, that if any one would complain of 
 error in the former court, he should have a writ to 
 remove the record and process before the king in 
 his place, that is, in the King's Bench. The court 
 of the steward was originally the court of the king 
 in his place, since the steward was originally the 
 king's immediate representative. The above pro- 
 vision was reenacted in statute 10 Edw. III. st. 
 2, c. ] . " So that," obsei-ves Mr. Reeves, " the 
 King's Bench was confirmed in that appellate juris- 
 diction, which the court of the steward and marshal 
 possessed once over the other courts."' 
 
 As the law became complicated and voluminous, 
 it became necessary to have professional lawyers to 
 administer it; and, as shown in the preceding note, 
 the business of the steward of the household's court 
 came to be performed by a deputy, who was a law- 
 yer, and was called the steward of the court of the 
 marshalsea of the household. In like manner it is 
 at least highly probable that the marshal of the mar- 
 shalsea of the King's Bench was originally the dep- 
 uty of the marshal ofthe king's household, who was 
 originally the same as the earl marshal, as appears 
 from a passage of Britton quoted in the preceding 
 Book of this History. 
 
 In this reign several regulations were made for 
 the keeping of the peace. Statute 1 Edw. III. c. 
 16, ordained, " for the better keeping and mainte- 
 nance of the peace, that in everj^ county, good men 
 and lawful, that were no maintainers of evil, or bar- 
 rators in the county, should be assigned to keep the 
 peace." Three years after, these officers were in- 
 ti'usted with gi-eater powers, having the additional 
 authority to take indictments.^ 
 
 In the eighteenth j-ear of this reign they were 
 empowered to hear and determine felonies and tres- 
 passes done against the peace in tiie same counties, 
 and to inflict punishment according to law and rea- 
 son, and the ciixumstances ofthe facj:.^ The statute 
 34 Edw. III. c. 1, enacts, that in every county there 
 should be assigned for the keeping of the peace, one 
 lord, and three or four of the most worthy in the 
 county, with some learned in the law. These were 
 to have power to restrain offenders, rioters, &c., 
 and chastise them according to their trespass or of- 
 fence. " They were," says the Act, "to take of all 
 them that be not of good fame, where they shall be 
 found, sufficient surety and mainprise of their good 
 behavior toward the king and his people." On this 
 
 the steward spoken of by Coke as a professor of the common law, was 
 merely the steward of the household's acting deputy. Coke's object 
 always was to magnify the Court of King's Bench, of which he had 
 been chief justice ; and if he knew — which is doubtful— he would not 
 like to acknowledge the real magnitude ofthe original authority of the 
 lord steward's court, from which, as shown in the text, was borrowed 
 the appellate jurisdiction of the Court of King's Bench over the other 
 courts. Coke calls the grand justiciary (the mighty Capitalis Justitia- 
 rius Anglics) merely Chief Justice of England ; and he bestows upon 
 himself (Sir E. Coke) the same title, instead of his proper one, that of 
 Chief Justice of the King's Bench. 
 
 I Hist, of Eng. Law, ii. p. 420. » 4 Edw. III. c. 2. 
 
 » 18 Edw. III. St. 2, c. 2. 
 
 clause Mr. Reeves remarks, «' This was the first au- 
 thority they had to take sureties for good behavior ; 
 and, indeed, the first mention of it in any statute or 
 law book."i In the statute 3G Edw. III. st. 1, c. 12, 
 the keepers of the peace are for the first time dis- 
 tinguished by the name, which is now so well 
 known, of "justices of the peace." The words 
 of the French statute are, '■'justices de la pecs." 
 And thus, at the close of the reign, the keepers of 
 the peace were become justices, presiding over a 
 court. 
 
 In the reign of Richard II. the only act of legis- 
 lation that peculiarly seems to demand attention is 
 the famous statute of Praemunire ; and of that, as 
 well as the other acts of a similar tendency by which 
 it was preceded, an account has already been given 
 in the preceding chapter. 
 
 The subject of the royal revenue now becomes 
 more closely connected than in earlier times with 
 that of the constitution and government, inasmuch 
 as in the present period the king came to be de- 
 pendent for his income chiefly upon parliamentary 
 gi'ants. The several charters of liberties had con- 
 siderably curtailed the ancient pecuniary resources 
 of the crown, by the abridgment of the prerogative ; 
 and the greater part even of the hereditary estates 
 that survived the reigns of Richard and John was 
 dissipated by the weak profusion of Henry III. 
 This prince was reduced by his own folly, and the 
 circumstances in which he was placed, to the most 
 pitiable state of destitution. From the terms on 
 which he stood with his barons, their assistance in 
 raising money was very grudgingly afforded ; and 
 the only extraordinary aids levied by him during 
 his long reign were two-fifteenths, one-thirtieth, 
 and one-fortieth for himself, and one-twentieth for 
 the relief of the Holy Land. According to Mat- 
 thew Paris, his entire income did not amount, on an 
 average for the whole reign, to more than twenty- 
 four thousand marks, or about 16,000?. per annum. 
 His principal resource in his later years was the 
 plunder of the clergy, which he was enabled to ef- 
 fect through the assistance of his friend Pope Alex- 
 ander IV. In 1256, a tenth part of all ecclesiastical 
 benefices was ordered to be paid for five years into 
 the royal exchequer. The Jews were another 
 still more defenceless class of his subjects, from 
 whom he repeatedly extorted larger sums of money. 
 Matthew Paris records that, in the year 1241 alone, 
 they were forced to pay no less than twenty thous- 
 and marks ; and scarcely a year seems to have passed 
 in which they were not subjected to exactions of 
 the like arbitrary character, though not perhaps to 
 the same amount. One individual, Aaron of York, 
 from whom four thousand marks had been wrung in 
 1243, was again, in 1250, condemned, on pretence 
 that he had been guilty of forgery, to pay a fine of 
 thirty thousand. Altogether, in the course of his 
 reign, Henry is said to have obtained four hundred 
 thousand marks from the Jews. But this, and all 
 his other sources of income, regular and irregular, 
 were,insufficient to supply the waste occasioned by 
 his imprudent management, his donations to his 
 
 1 Hist, of Eng. Law. ii. p. 473.
 
 794 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 miuions, and the foolisli and expensive projects in 
 which he engaged. Toward tlie end of his reign 
 his debts were declared by himself to amount to 
 nearly three hundred thousand marks. In order to 
 raise money, he was sometimes obliged to jiawn the 
 jewels of the crown, and to sell the very furniture 
 of his palace ; at other times he went from place to 
 place personally soliciting contributions almost in the 
 fashion of one asking alms. 
 
 The reign of Edward I. is an important era in 
 the history of English taxation. The popularity of 
 this monarch's Scottish wars long induced the Par- 
 liament to be liberfil in their supplies, and even 
 made the nation submit without much murmuring 
 to many arbitrary exactions. The church and the 
 .lews (till they were finally expelled from the king- 
 dom in 1290) continued to yield large returns to the 
 royal exchequer. It was upon the liberality of his 
 parliament, however, that Edward wisely placed his 
 chief reliance : this assembly, by the complete estab- 
 lishment of county and borough representation, was 
 now become a national organ ; and when the statute 
 De Tallagio non Concudendo was passed in 1297, 
 the first decided step aiay be considered to have 
 been taken toward the great constitutional object of 
 subjecting the public income and expenditure to the 
 public control. It was not, however, till after a long 
 struggle that this object was practically accomplished 
 CTen to the extent to which it was aimed at by the 
 present statute. The concession of the statute was 
 extorted from Edward, and he made repeated at- 
 tempts to evade a restriction to which he never had 
 intended to yield further compliance than the press- 
 ure of the moment might render convenient. One 
 source of revenue which was greatlj' improved in 
 the reign of Edward I. was that afforded by the 
 customs on the export and import of goods. Edward 
 considerably raised the rate of these ancient duties 
 by his own authority, and also imposed certain ad- 
 ditional duties upon foreign merchants, which came 
 to be distinguished by the name of the new or alien 
 customs. But Edward did not satisfy himself with 
 mere taxation. On pressing emergencies he did not 
 hesitate openly to seize the goods of merchants and 
 the property of his other subjects whenever he 
 could lay his hands upon it. Forced loans formed 
 another of his occasional resources. In short, al- 
 though the foundations of parliamentary taxation 
 were laid in this reign, by the establishment of the 
 practice of regularly summoning to Parliament rep- 
 resentatives of the shires and boroughs, and by the 
 passing of the statute De Tallagio, most of the old 
 arbitrarj- modes of raising money by the crown 
 continued to be exercised throughout the whole of 
 it, in the face, indeed, of considerable dissatisfaction 
 and outcry, but without encountering, except in a 
 few instances, any effectual resistance. The old 
 method of taxation by scutages fell into disuse in 
 this reign ; and taxes upon personal property, which 
 had not been known in the first ages after the Con- 
 quest, came to be common. Edward, notwithstand- 
 ing the heavj- expenses of his military operations, 
 never was reduced to anything resembling the pe- 
 cuniary difficulties that his father had suffered. 
 
 The vigor of his character and his general popular- 
 ity enabled him, in addition to his arbitrary exactions, 
 to obtain vastly more ample supplies from Parlia- 
 ment than had been granted to Henry ; and in one 
 way and another the amount of money which he 
 raised, in the course of his long reign, must have 
 been very great. At his death he is said to have 
 left a hundred thousand pounds of accumulated 
 treasure, which he had intended to devote to the 
 prosecution of the Scottish war. 
 
 One benefit which the country reaped from the 
 feeble and otherwise calamitous rule of Edward II. 
 was a great reduction of taxation. The law, called 
 the New Ordinances, enacted by the Parliament 
 Avhich met in August, 1311,* altogether abolished 
 the new customs. Very few grants were made by 
 Parliament in this reign. 
 
 The fifty years of the reign of Edward III., on 
 the contrary, were a period both of parliamentary 
 taxation on a large scale, and also of many illegal 
 imposts. The grants by Parliament, indeed, now 
 became almost annual, being generally in the form 
 of a certain portion, varying from a fiftieth to a 
 seventh, of the value of the movable property of 
 persons of all ranks. These repeated grants tended 
 no doubt to establish the practice of the ciown 
 coming for supplies to Parliament ; but Edward 
 also resorted to many arbiti'aiy methods of raising 
 money. Beside granting inonopolies, a practice 
 which he is said to have been the first to introduce, 
 and compelling all persons having estates of a 
 certain value to accept of knighthood, he renewed 
 the old practice of imposing tallages on cities and 
 boroughs ; he extorted money fiom the clergy and 
 others by what were called forced loans ; he even 
 made direct seizures of merchandise and other 
 propertj' on some occasions, just as his gi-andfather 
 had done. In 1339 he restored, by his own author- 
 ity, the new customs which liad been abolished in 
 the preceding reign ; and all the opposition of the 
 Parliament could not prevail upon him to renounce 
 the right he claimed to collect these duties, al- 
 though he at last consented not to continue them 
 longer than two years. They were maintained, in 
 fact, for a considerably longer period. Another 
 duty which was now regularly levied was that 
 afterward called the tunnage and poundage duty, 
 being an assessment of two shillings on every tun 
 of wine imported, and of sixpence on every pound 
 of other merchandise either imported or exported, 
 which was originally gi-anted, not by the full Parlia- 
 ment, but by annual vote of the representatives 
 of the cities and boroughs only. From 1373, how- 
 ever, it came to be granted by both houses in the 
 usual form. The first parliamentary gi-ant of a 
 specific sum is said to have been made in 1371, 
 when a subsidy of oO,OOOL was voted to be raised 
 by an average assessment of twenty-two shillings 
 and fourpence on each parish, the number of par- 
 ishes being taken at forty-five thousand, whereas 
 they turned out to be only eight thousand six hun- 
 dred, on which the assessment was afterward raised 
 to one hundred and sixteen shillings on each.^ It 
 1 See ante, p. 707. 2 Ibid. p. 336.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT. AND LAWS. 
 
 795 
 
 was also in this reign that the first poll-tax was 
 granted. A pell, or exchequer roll, of the year 
 1347, makes Edward's entire revenue for that year 
 to have amounted to 154,139^. 17s. bd. It is proba- 
 ble, however, that this sum does not include many 
 irregular payments. Notwithstanding his numer- 
 ous resources, Edward was constantly in want of 
 money and oppressed by debts. The straits in 
 which he was involved were occasionally so ex- 
 treme as to force him to the most painful and 
 degrading expedients. At one time Queen Philippa 
 was obliged to pawn her jewels ; on another occa- 
 sion the crown itself was given in pledge, and re- 
 mained unredeemed for eight years. 
 
 A tax imposed in the second year of the reign of 
 Richard II. is said to be the first that was distin- 
 guished by the name of a Subsidy, which afterward 
 became the common name for a parliamentary 
 grant to the crown. It was in fact a poll or capi- 
 tation tax, graduated according to the rank and 
 property of each individual. This was followed 
 the same year by the famous poll-tax which occa- 
 sioned the insurrection of Wat Tyler. This, also, 
 
 was to be regulated according to each person's 
 ability, it being arranged that no one should pay for 
 himself and his wife less than one groat, or more 
 than sixty. The entire sum proposed to be raised 
 was 160,O00Z. Richard's expenditure, in the latter 
 part of his reign, was extravagantly lavish, and was 
 sustained by various arbitrary exactions, and also by 
 hberal grants almost annually made by a servile 
 Parliament. Much of what he thus obtained was 
 wasted in the mere maintenance of his household, 
 which is affirmed to have consisted of ten thousand 
 persons, of whom three hundred were employed in 
 the royal kitchens. The first parliamentary grant 
 for life was made to Richard II. ; it consisted of a 
 duty on the exportation of wool, woolfels, and 
 lefither. In 1382, also, the Parliament passed an 
 Act (the 5th Rich. II. stat. 2, c. 2) offering a certain 
 discount from the duties on the exportation of wool, 
 woolfels, and hides, to all merchants who would 
 pay the Calais duties beforehand, which is sup- 
 posed to be the first attempt ever made to anticipate 
 the revenue ; a practice which, in later times, gave 
 rise to the national debt.
 
 79G 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRY 
 
 HE history of Eng- 
 li.><h coniinercc durin<T 
 tlio thirteenth and 
 fourteenth centuries 
 IS in great part the 
 record of a course of 
 legislative attempts to 
 annul the laws of na- 
 ture, such as probably 
 never was outdone in 
 any other country. A 
 full detail, if our limits 
 would allow us to give 
 it, w^ould serve no useful purpose here ; biit a 
 few samples will be found both curious and in- 
 structive. 
 
 A term which makes a great figure in the com- 
 mercial regulations of this period is that of the 
 Staple. The word, in its primary acceptation, ap- 
 pears to mean a particular port or other place to 
 which certain commodities were obliged to be brought 
 to be w^eighed or measured for the payment of the 
 customs, before they could be sold, or iu some cases 
 exported or imported. Here the king's staple was 
 said to be established. The articles of English prod- 
 uce upon which customs were anciently paid, were 
 wool, sheep-skins, woolfels, and leather ; and these 
 were accordingly denominated the staples or staple 
 goods of the kingdom. The persons who exported 
 these goods were called the merchants of the staple : 
 they were incorporated, or at least recognized as 
 forming a society, with certain privileges, in the 
 reign of Edward II., if not earlier. Hakluyt has 
 printed a charter gianted by Edward II., the 20th 
 of May, 131.3, to the mayor and council of the 
 merchants of the staple, in which he ordains that 
 all merchants, whether natives or foreigners, buying 
 wool and woolfels in his dominions for exportation, 
 should, instead of carrying them for sale, as they 
 had been wont to do, to several places in Brabant, 
 Flanders, and Artois, carry them in future only to 
 one certain staple in one of those countries, to 
 be appointed by the said mayor and council. It 
 appears that, upon this, Antwerp was made the 
 staple. But although the power of naming the 
 place, and also of changing it, was thus conferred 
 upon the society, this part of the charter seems 
 to have been very soon disregarded. In subse- 
 quent times the interferences of the king and the 
 legislature, with regard to the staple, were incessant. 
 In 1326 it was, by the royal order, removed alto- 
 gether from the continent, and fixed at certain places 
 within the kingdom. Cardiff, in Wales, a town be- 
 longing to Hugh Despenser, is the onlj- one of these 
 new English staples the name of which has been 
 
 preserved. It may be noted, also, that tin is now 
 mentioned as one of the staple commodities. In 
 1328 (by the statute 2 FAw. HI., c. 9), it was en- 
 acted, " that the staples beyond the sea and on this 
 side, ordained by kings in times past, and the pains 
 thereupon provided, shall cease, and that all mer- 
 chant strangers and privy (that is, foreigners and 
 natives) may go and come with their merchandises 
 into England, after the tenor of the Great Charter." 
 In 1332, however, we find the king ordaining, in 
 the face of this Act, that staples should be held in 
 various places within the kingdom. Acts of Parlia- 
 ment, indeed, on all kinds of subjects, were as yet 
 accustomed to be regarded by all degrees of people 
 as little more than a sort of iry)ral declarations or 
 preachments on the part of the legislature — expres- 
 sions of its sentiments — but scarcely as laws which 
 Avere compulsory, like the older laws of the kingdom. 
 Most of them were habitually broken, until they had 
 beeu repeated over and over again ; and this repe- 
 tition, rather than the exaction of the penalty, ap- 
 pears to have been the recognized mode of enfor- 
 cing or establishing the law. In many cases, indeed, 
 such a way of viewing the statute was justified by 
 the principle on which it was evidently passed ; it 
 was often manifestly, if not avowedly, intended by 
 its authors themselves as only a tentative or exper- 
 imental enactment, the ultimate enforcement of 
 which was to depend upon the manner in which it 
 was found to work. The Act of Parliament was 
 frequently entitled, not a statute, but an ordinance ; 
 and in that case it seems to have been merely pro- 
 posed as an interim regulation, which was not to 
 become a permanent law until some trial should 
 have been had of it, and such amendments made in 
 it as were found by experience to be necessary.' 
 In other cases, again, and those of no rare occur- 
 rence, the law was of such a nature that it could 
 not be carried into execution ; it was an attempt to 
 accomplish what was impossible. These .consider- 
 ations may account for the numerous instances in 
 which our old laws are merely confirmations, or, iu 
 other words, repetitions of some preceding law, and 
 also for the extraordinary multiplication which we 
 find of fluctuating or contradictory laws. Of this 
 latter description, those relating to the staple afibrd 
 an eminent example. In 1334, all the lately estab- 
 lished staples were again abolished by the king in a 
 parliament held at York. In 1341, the staple was 
 reestablished b}- a royal Act at Bruges, in Flanders. 
 In 1348, again, after the capture of Calais, that town 
 was made the staple for tin, lead, feathers, English- 
 made woolen cloths, and worsted stufTs. for seven 
 years. All the former inhabitants of Calais, with 
 1 See on this subject Ilallam's Middle Ages, iii. 72-75
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 797 
 
 the exception, it is said, of one priest ami two law- 
 yers, had been removed, and an English colony, of 
 which thirty-six merchants from London were the 
 principal members, had been settled in their room. 
 In 1353, by the statute called the Ordinance of the 
 Staples (27 Edw. III., st. 2, c. 1), the staple for 
 wool, leather, woolfels, and lead, was once more 
 removed from the continent by Act of Parliament, 
 and ordered to be held forever in the following 
 places, and no others — namelj', for England, at New- 
 castle-upon-Tyne, York, Lincoln, Norwich, West- 
 minster, Canterbury, Chichester, Exeter, and Bris- 
 tol ; for Wales, at Caermarthen ; and for Ireland, at 
 Dublin, AVaterford, Cork, and Drogheda. The 
 " forever " of this statute remained in force for ten 
 years, and no longer. From the preamble of the 
 statute 43 Edw. III., it appears that it had been or- 
 dained, for tlie profit of the realm, and ease of the 
 merchants of England, that the staple of wool, wool- 
 fels, and leather, should be hoklen at Calais ; and that 
 there accordingly it had been hclden since the 1st of 
 3Iarch, 1363. By this last-mentioned Act, however, 
 passed in 1369, it was again, in consequence of the 
 renewal of the war with France, fixed at certain 
 places within the kingdom — being for Ireland and 
 Wales the same that have been just mentioned, but 
 with the substitution, in the case of England, of Hull, 
 Boston, Yarmouth, and Queenburgh, for Cantei'- 
 bury, York, Lincoln, and Norwich. In 1376, nev- 
 ertheless, on the complaint of the inhabitants of Ca- 
 lais, that their citj' was dechning, the staple was 
 restored to that place ; and it was now made to 
 comprehend, not only the ancient commodites of 
 wool, woolfels, and leather, and those more recently 
 added, of lead, tin, worsted stufts, and feathers, but 
 also cheese, butter, honey, tallow, peltry (or skins 
 of all kinds), and what are called " gauke," which | 
 have been supposed to mean osiers for making bas- 
 kets ; these different articles probably comprehend- 
 ing all the ordinary exports from the kingdom. But 
 this restriction of the whole export trade to one 
 market was soon relaxed. In 1378 (by the 2d 
 Rich. II., Stat. 1, c. 3), it was enacted, that all mer- 
 chants of Genoa, Venice, Catalonia, Arragon, and 
 other countries toward the west, that would bring 
 their vessels to Southampton, or elsewhere within 
 the realm, might there freely sell their goods, and 
 also recharge their vessels with wools, and the other 
 merchandises of the staple, on paying the same 
 customs or duties that would have been paj-able at 
 Calais; and in 1382 (by the 5th Rich. II., stat. 2. 
 c. 2), all merchants, whether foreigners or natives, 
 were permitted to carry wool, leather, and woohels, 
 to any country whatever, except France, on pay- 
 ment of the Calais duties beforehand. In 1384, we 
 (ind the wool-staple altogether removed from Ca- 
 lais, and established at Middleburgh. 1388 (by the 
 statute 12 Rich. II. c. 16), it was ordered to be 
 fixed once more at Calais; but in 1390 (by the 14th 
 Rich. II. c. 1), it Avas brought back to the same 
 English towns in which it had been fixed in 1353. 
 The very next year, however, it was enacted, that 
 instead of these towns, the staple should be held at 
 such others upon the coast as the lords of the coun- 
 
 cil should direct ; and it would even appear (from 
 the 15th Rich. II., c. 8), that, at least for a part of 
 the year, the staple of wool and also of tin was still 
 at Calais. " Staples and restraints in England, and 
 a second staple and other restraints at the same 
 time on the continent !" exclaims the historian of 
 our commerce, in noticing this fact : " the condition 
 of the merchants who were obliged to deal in staple 
 goods was truly pitiable in those days of perpetual 
 changes." '■ It is not quite clear, however, that the 
 English staples were still continued; it is perhaps 
 more probable that they had been abolished when 
 the staple was restored to Calais. However this 
 may be, it appears from the statute 21 Rich. II. 
 c. 17, passed in 1398, that at that time Calais was 
 the only staple ; and such it continued to be from 
 this time till it was recovered by the French in 
 1538, when the staple was established at Bruges. 
 The old staple laws, however, had been consider- 
 ably relaxed in the course of that long interval. 
 
 The history of the staple is an important part of 
 the history of our early foreign commerce, of which 
 it in some degree illustrates the growth and gradual 
 extension from the progressive development of the 
 resources of the country, as well as the artificial 
 bonds and incumbrances against the pressure and 
 entanglement of which the principle of that natural 
 gi'owth had to force its way. We now proceed to 
 quote some further instances of the perplexities, the 
 blunders, and the generally oppressive or annoying 
 character of our ancient commercial legislation. 
 
 One of the prerogatives assumed by the crown in 
 those days, somewhat similar in its nature to that of 
 fixing the staple of the foreign trade of the kingdom, 
 was the right of restricting all mercantile dealings 
 whatever, for a time, to a certain place. Thus, 
 Matthew Paris tells us that, in the year 1245, Henry 
 HI. proclaimed a fair to be held at Westminster, 
 on which occasion he ordered that all the traders of 
 London should shut up their shops, and carry their 
 goods to be sold at the fair, and that all other lairs 
 throughout England should be suspended during the 
 fifteen days it was appointed to last. The king's 
 object, no doubt, was to obtain a supply of money 
 from the tolls and other dues of the market. What 
 made this interference be felt as a greater hiirdship 
 was, that the weather, all the time of the fair, hap- 
 pened to be excessively bad ; so that not only the 
 goods were spoilt, exposed as they were to the rain 
 in tents only covered with cloth, and that probably 
 imperfectly enough ; but the dealers themselves, 
 who were obliged to eat their victuals with their feet 
 in the mud, and the wind and wet about their ears, 
 suffered intolerably. Four years afterward the 
 king repeated the same piece of tyranny, and was 
 again seconded by the elements in a similar fashion 
 This time, too, the historian tells us, scarcely any 
 bujers came to the fair ; so that it is no wonder the 
 unfortunate merchants were loud iu expressing their 
 dissatisfaction. But the king, he adds, did not mind 
 the imprecations of the people. 
 
 There was nothing that more troul)led and be- 
 wildered both the legislature and the popular under- 
 ' Macphcrson, Aunals of Com. i. C04.
 
 798 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 standing, during the whole of this period, than the 
 new phenomena connected with the increasing 
 foreign trade of the country. The advantages of 
 this augmented intercourse with other parts of the 
 world were sensibly enough felt, but very imper- 
 fectly comprehended ; hence one scheme after 
 another, to retain the benefit upon terms wholly 
 inconsistent with the necessary conditions of its 
 existence. Of course, in all exchange of commodi- 
 ties between two countries, beside that supply of 
 the respective wants of each which constitutes the 
 foundation or sustaining element of the commerce, 
 a certain portion of what the consumer pays must 
 fall to the share of the persons by whose agency 
 the commerce is carried on. It is this that properly 
 forms the profits of the commerce, as distinguished 
 from its mere advantages or conveniences. The 
 general advantages of the commerce, apart from 
 the profits of the agents, are alone the proper con- 
 cern of the community : as for the mere profits of 
 the agency, the only interest of the community is, 
 that they shall be as low as possible. From the 
 course, however, that the popular feeling has at all 
 times taken, it might be supposed that the very con- 
 trary was the case ; for the cry has constantly been 
 in favor of making this agency, as far as possible, a 
 monopoly in the hands of the native merchants, 
 although the eftect of the exclusion of foreign com- 
 petition, if it could be accomplished, really could be 
 nothing else than an enhancement of the profits of 
 the agency, and consequently of the charge upon 
 the consumer. In fiict, if the exclusion were not 
 expected to produce this eftect, it never would be 
 sought for by the native merchants. That it should 
 be sought for by them is natural enough, but that 
 they should be supported in this demand by the 
 community at large is only an instance of popular 
 prejudice and delusion. In all commerce, and es- 
 pecially in all foreign commerce, a body of interme- 
 diate agents, to manage the exchange of the com- 
 modities, is indispensable ; the goods must bo brought 
 from one country to the other, which makes what 
 is called the carrying trade ; they must be collected 
 in shops or warehouses for distribution by sale ; even 
 their original production, in many cases, cannot be 
 efficiently accomplished without the regular assist- 
 ance of a third class of persons — namely, dealers in 
 money or in credit. But to the public at large it is 
 really a matter of perfect indifierence whether 
 these merchants, ship-owners, and bankers or other 
 capitalists, be natives or foreigners. Not so, how- 
 ever, thought our ancestors in the infancy of our 
 foreign commerce. The commerce itself was suffi- 
 ciently acceptable ; but the foreigners, by whose aid 
 it was necessarily in part carried on, were the ob- 
 jects of a most intense and restless jealousy. What- 
 ever poi'tion of the profits of the commerce fell to 
 their share was looked upon as nothing better than 
 so much plunder. This feeling was even in some 
 degree extended to the whole of the foreign nation 
 with which the commerce was carried on ; and in 
 the notion that all trade was of the nature of a con- 
 test between two adverse parties, and that whatever 
 the one country gained the other lost, the inflam- 
 
 mation of the popular mind occasionally rose to such 
 a height that nothing less would satisfy it than an 
 abjuration of the foreign trade altogether. But it 
 never was long before this precipitate resolution 
 was repented of and revoked. 
 
 In the wars between Henry III. and liis barons, 
 the latter endeavored to turn to account against the 
 king the national jealousy of foreigners, which his 
 partiality to his wife's French connections had 
 greatly exasperated. In I'JGl, they passed a law 
 which may be regarded as the first attempt to estab- 
 lish what has been called, in modern times, the man- 
 ufacturing system. It prohibited the exportation of 
 wool, the chief staple of the country, and ordained 
 that no woolen cloths should be worn except such 
 as were manufactured at home. Whatever may be 
 thought of the policy of nursing the infancy of do- 
 mestic manufactures in certain circumstances by 
 protections of this description, the present attempt 
 was undoubtedly premature, and its authors confess- 
 ed as much by appending to their prohibition against 
 the importation of foreign cloth an injunction or 
 recommendation that all persons should avoid every 
 superfluity in dress. What were thus denounced 
 as extravagant superfluities were evidently those 
 finer fabrics which could not yet be produced in 
 England. The eftect of this law, in so far as it was 
 enforced or obeyed, could only have been to add to 
 the general distress, by embarrassing, more or less, 
 all classes of persons that had been ever so remotely 
 connected with the foreign trade, and, above all 
 others, the chief body of producers in the kingdom. 
 If the wool was not to go out of the country, mucli 
 wealth both in money and in goods would be pre- 
 vented from coming in, and all the branches of in- 
 dustry which that wealth had hitherto contributed 
 to sustain and feed, would suft'er depression. 
 
 It would appear that, either from want of skill 
 or a scarcity of woad, in consequence of the usual 
 importations from the continent being checked, dyed 
 cloths could not be obtained in sufficient quantity in 
 England a few yeai's after this time ; for it is re- 
 corded that many people were now wont to dress 
 themselves in cloth of the natural color of the wool. 
 Simon de Montfort, it seems, professed to be an 
 admii'er of this plainness of apparel, and was accus- 
 tomed to maintain that foreign commerce was un- 
 necessary, the produce of the country being fully 
 sufficient to supply all the wants of its inhabitants. 
 And so no doubt it was, and would be still, on this 
 principle of rigidly eschewing all superfluities ; but 
 that is the principle of the stationary and savage 
 state, not of civilization and progressive improvement. 
 
 The prohibition against the importation of foreign 
 cloth, however, appears to have been soon repealed. 
 In 1271, when disputes broke out between Hcnrj- 
 and the Countess of Flanders, we find it renewed 
 in terms which imply that the trade had for some 
 time previous been carried on as usual. This sec- 
 ond suspension, also, was of short duration ; and on 
 various subsequent occasions on which the attempt 
 was made to break oft' the natural commercial in- 
 tercourse between the English producers and the 
 Flemisli manufacturers, the result was the same:
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 799 
 
 the inconvenience was found to be so intolerable to 
 both countries that it never was submitted to for 
 more than a few months or weeks. 
 
 Absurd regulations, however, were from time to 
 time imposed on the trade carried on by foreigners, 
 the temper and principle of which would, if carried 
 out, have led to its complete extinction, and which, 
 half-measures as they were, could only have had 
 the effect of diminishing its natural advantages. 
 In 1275, for instance, an order was issued by Ed- 
 ward I., obliging all foreign merchants to sell their 
 goods within forty days after their arrival. If for- 
 eigners continued to resort to the country in the 
 face of the additional risks created by this law — 
 risks of inadequate returns if they complied with 
 it, of detection and punishment if they attempted 
 to evade it — we may be certain they exacted a full 
 equivalent in the shape of higher prices for their 
 goods ; or, if they failed to do this, they must soon 
 have been forced to give up the trade altogether, 
 for there was no other way by which it could be 
 made to yield its usual profits. 
 
 No foreign merchants were in those days allowed 
 to reside in England except by special hcense from 
 the king; and even under this protection, they were 
 subjected to various oppressive liabilities. It was 
 not till 1303 that a general charter was granted by 
 Edward I., permitting the merchants of Germany, 
 France, Spain, Portugal, Navarre, Lorabardy, Tus- 
 cany, Provence, Catalonia, Aquitaine, Toulouse, 
 Quercy, Flanders, Brabant, and all other foreign 
 countries, to come safely to any of the dominions of 
 the English crown with all kinds of merchandise, 
 to sell their goods, and to reside under the protec- 
 tion of the laws. But even this general toleration 
 was clogged with many restrictions. The goods 
 imported, with the exception of spices and mercery, 
 were only to be sold wholesale. No Avine was to 
 be carried out of the country without special license. 
 Above all, no relaxation was granted of the ancient 
 grievous liability under which every resident stran- 
 ger was placed of being answerable for the debts, 
 and even for the crimes of every other foreign 
 resident. It appears from the records of the Ex- 
 chequer that, in 1306, a number of foreign mer- 
 chants were committed to the Tower, and there 
 detained until they consented severally to give 
 security that none of their munber should leave the 
 kingdom, or export anything from it, without the 
 king's special license. Each of them was at the 
 same time obHged to give in an account of the whole 
 amount of his property, both in money and goods. 
 Security against being subjected to this kind of 
 treatment had been accorded in a few particular 
 instances; but it was not till the year 1353 that the 
 law was formally altered by the Statute of the 
 Staple already mentioned, and the ancient practice 
 was not wholly discontinued till long afterward. 
 
 The general charter of 1303 was followed within 
 four years by a still more extraordinary attempt 
 than any that had yet been made to control the 
 natural course of commerce. In 1307, Edw.'u-d 
 issued an order prohibiting either coined money or 
 bullion to be carried out of the kingdom on any 
 
 account. The merchants, therefore, who came 
 from other countries, were now reduced to the 
 necessity of either directly bartering their com- 
 modities for the produce of the kingdom, or, if 
 they sold them for money in the first instance, of 
 investing the proceeds in other goods before they 
 could be permitted to return home. This was a 
 restriction so thoroughly opposed to eveiy com- 
 mercial principle that it could not be rigidly main- 
 tained ; the very year following its promulgation, 
 an exemption from it was accorded to the merchants 
 of France by the new king, Edward II., and similar 
 relaxations of it were afterward permitted in other 
 cases. But, although from its nature it did not 
 admit of being strictly enforced, it long continued 
 to be regarded as the law of the country, and re- 
 peated attempts were made to secure its observance. 
 In 1335, by the 9th Edw. III. st. 2, it was enacted 
 that no person should henceforth carry out of the 
 kingdom either money or plate without special 
 license, upon pain of forfeiture of whatever he 
 should so convey away. Sworn searchers were 
 appointed to see that the law was observed at all 
 the ports ; and it was further ordered that the inn- 
 keepers at every port should be sworn to search 
 their guests : the fourth part of all forfeits was as- 
 signed as the reward of the searchers. In 1343, 
 by the 17th Edw. III., nearly the same regulations 
 were repeated, the principal variation being that, 
 to induce them to do their duty more diligently, 
 the reward of the searchers was now raised to a 
 third part of the forfeits, and penalties were pro- 
 vided for their neglect or connivance. We may 
 gather from all this that the law had been exten- 
 : sively evaded. At length permission was given 
 j generally to foreign merchants to carry away one 
 j half of the money for which they sold their goods; 
 the law is thus stated in the 14th Eich. II. c. 1, 
 passed in 1390, and more explicitly in the 2d Hen. 
 IV. c. 5, passed in 1400; but it is still expressly 
 ordered by the former of these statutes that every 
 alien bringing any merchandise into England shall 
 find sufficient sureties before the officers of the 
 customs to expend the value of half of what he im- 
 ports, at the least, in the purchase of wools, leather, 
 woolfels, lead, tin, butter, cheese, cloths, or other 
 commodities of the land. 
 
 The ignorance and misconception from which all 
 this legislation proceeded, are exhibited in a striking 
 point of view by the fact that the above-mentioned 
 original order of Edward I., prohibiting the ex- 
 portation of money, expressly permits the amount 
 of the money to be remitted abroad in bills of ex- 
 change. And at all times, while the exportation 
 of money was forbidden, the remittance of bills 
 seems to have been allowed. • But a bill of ex- 
 change remitted abroad is merely an order tliat a 
 certain party in the foreign country shall receive 
 a sum of money which is due to the drawer of the 
 bill, and which would otherwise have to be sent to 
 the country where he resides ; if no such money 
 were due, the bill would not be negotiable ; every 
 such bill, therefore, if it did not carry money out of 
 the country, produced precisely the same eflCect by
 
 800 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 preventing money from coming in. It was fit and 
 niitural enough, however, that this simple matter 
 should fail to be perceived in times when it was 
 thought that a great advantage was gained by com- 
 pelling the foreign merchant to sell his goods for 
 produce instead of for the money which the produce 
 was worth; indeed, it may be fairly said, instead of 
 for less money than the produce was worth, for all 
 restraints of this description inevitably operate to 
 enhance the price of what is prevented from being 
 openly bought and sold on the terms that would bo nat- 
 urally agreed upon between the parties themselves. 
 Another strange attempt of the English commer- 
 cial legislation of those times was to impose a cer- 
 tain measure upon all foreign cloths brought to the 
 country. By the Act 2 Edw. III. c. 14, passed in 
 1.3'28, it was ordered that, from the Feast of St. 
 Michael ensuing, all cloths that were imported 
 should be measured by the king's aulnagers, and 
 that all those that were not found to bo of a certain 
 specified length and breadth should be forfeited to 
 the king. The dimensions fixed by the statute were, 
 for cloth of ray (supposed to mean striped cloth), 
 twenty-eight yards in length b}' six quarters in 
 breadth ; and for colored cloth, twenty-six yards in 
 length by six and a half quarters in breadth. The 
 regulation of weights and measures within the king- 
 dom was a proper subject of legislation, and had ne- 
 cessarily engaged attention long before this date ; 
 though at a period when science was unknown, the 
 methods resorted to were necessarily very inartifi- 
 cial, and sometimes singular enough; Henry I., for 
 example, soon after he came to the throne, in ordain- 
 ing that the ell or j^ard should be of uniform length 
 throughout the kingdom, could find no better stand- 
 ard for it than the length of his own arm. It might 
 also have been found expedient, both for fiscal and 
 other purposes, to direct that all cloth made for sale 
 within the kingdom should be of certain specified 
 dimensions ; regulations to that eflfect have at least 
 been usual down to our own day. But it was to stretch 
 legislation on such matters beyond all reasonable lim- 
 its, to attempt to fix a measure for the cloth made in 
 all foreign countries. Such a law, in so far as it 
 was enforced, could only have the effect of dimin- 
 ishing the supply — in other words, of raising the 
 prices of foreign goods. But, like most of the other 
 absurd restrictions of the same character, the main- 
 tenance of this regulation was soon found to be im- 
 practicable ; if it had been rigorously insisted upon, 
 it would have excluded the manufactured goods of 
 certain foreign countries from the English market 
 altogether; and accordingly, after giving a great 
 deal of useless annoyance both to foreign merchants 
 and their English customers, and after special 
 exemptions from it had been granted to several 
 nations, it was at last repealed by the 27 Edw. III. 
 Stat. 1, c. 4, passed in 1353, which provided that, 
 " whereas the gi-eat men and commons have showed 
 to our lord the king how divers merchants, foreigners 
 as well as denizens, have withdrawn them, and yet 
 do withdraw them, to come with cloths into England, 
 to the great damage of the king and of all his peo- 
 ple, because that the king's aulnnger surmiscth to 
 
 merchant strangers that their cloths be not of 
 assize," therefore no foreign cloths should in future 
 be forfeited on that account, but when any was 
 found to be under assize, it should simply be marked 
 by the aulnager, that a proportionate abatement 
 might be made in the price. . 
 
 This was also the era of various statutes against 
 the supposed mischiefs of forestalling. The statute 
 '• De Pistoribus" (attributed by some to the 51st 
 year of Hen. III., by others to tlie 13th of Edw. I.) 
 contains tlie following impassioned description and 
 denouncement of this offence: "But especially be 
 it commanded, on the behalf of our lord the king, 
 that no forestaller be sufl'ered to dwell in any town, 
 which is an open oppressor of poor people, and of 
 all the commonalty, and an enemy of the whole 
 shire and country; which for greediness of his 
 private gains doth prevent others in buying grain, 
 fish, herring, or any other thing to be sold coming 
 by land or water, oppressing the poor and deceiving 
 the rich ; which carrieth away such things, intend- 
 ing to sell them more dear; the which come to 
 merchant strangers that bring merchandise, offering 
 them to buy, and informing them that their goods 
 might be dearer sold than they intended to sell, and 
 an whole town or a country is deceived by such 
 craft and subtlety." It might be supposed from all 
 this that the forestaller bought the commodity for 
 the purpose of throwing it into the sea or otherwise 
 destroying it ; it seems to have been forgotten that, 
 like all other dealers, he bought it only that he 
 might sell it again for more than it cost him, that is 
 to say, that he might preserve it for a time of still 
 higher demand and greater necessity. But for 
 liim, when that time of greater scarcity came, thei'e 
 would be no provision for it; if the people were 
 pinched now, they Avould be starved then. The 
 forestaller is merely the economical distributor, 
 who, by preventing waste at one time, prevents 
 absolute want at another; he destroys notliing; 
 on the contrary, wliatever he reserves from present 
 consumption is sure to be reproduced by him in 
 full at a future day, when it will be still more need- 
 ed. Were it otherwise, forestalling would be the 
 most losing of all trades, and no law would be re- 
 quired to put it down. The English laws against 
 forestalling, regrating, and engrossing, however, 
 cannot well be made a reproach to the thirteenth 
 century, seeing that they were formally renewed 
 and extended in the sixteenth,^ and were not finally 
 removed from the Statute Book till toward the end 
 of the eighteenth.- 
 
 A still more direct attempt to derange the nat- 
 ural balance of supply and demand was made by 
 Parliament in 1315, when, with the view of re- 
 lieving the people from the pressure of a severe 
 famine, it was enacted that all articles of food 
 should be sold at certain prescribed prices. It was 
 strangely forgotten that the evil did not lie in the 
 high prices, but in the scarcity, of which they were 
 the necessary consequence. That scarcity, of 
 course, the Act of Parliament could not cure. In 
 
 1 By the 5 and 6 Edward VI. c. 14 and 15. 
 - By the. 12Gen. III. c. 71.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 801 
 
 fact, food became more difficult to procure than 
 ever ; for even those who had any to sell, and would 
 have brought it to market if they could have had a 
 fair price for it, withheld it rather than dispose of 
 it below its value. What was sold was for the 
 most part sold at a price which violated the law, 
 and which was made still higher than it would 
 otherwise have been by the trouble and risk which 
 the illegality of the transaction involved. Butcher- 
 meat disappeared altogether ; poultry, an article of 
 large consumption in those times, became nearly as 
 scarce ; grain was only to be had at enormous 
 prices. The result was, that the king and the Par- 
 liament, after a few months, becoming convinced of 
 their mistake, hastened to repeal the Act. 
 
 The same thing, in principle and effect, however, 
 was repeated not many years after,' by Acts passed 
 to fix the wages of laborers, — in other words, the 
 price of the commodity called labor. In 1349 (the 
 twenty-third of Edward I.), after a pestilence 
 which had carried oft' great numbers of the people, 
 was issued (apparently by the authority of the king, 
 although it is printed as a statute) "an ordinance 
 concerning laborers and servants ;" which directed, 
 first, that persons of the class of servants should be 
 bound to serve when required ; and secondly, that 
 they should serve for the same wages that were 
 accustomed to be given three years before. This 
 ordinance, indeed, further proceeded to enjoin that 
 all dealers in victual should be bound to sell the 
 same "for a reasonable price," and inflicted a pen- 
 alty upon persons oftending against that enactment 
 — although it did not presume expressly to fix a 
 maximum of prices. The next year, by the 25 Edw. 
 [II. St. 2,' after a preamble, declaring that ser- 
 vants had had no regai'd to the preceding ordinance, 
 " but to their ease and singular covetise," the Par- 
 liament established a set of new provisions for eflfect- 
 ing its object : this Act, however, contains nothing 
 on the subject of the price of provisions. The 
 statute of laborers was confirmed by Parliament in 
 1360 (by the 34 Edw. III. c. 9), and its principle 
 was long obstinately clung to by the legislature, not- 
 withstanding the constant experience of its ineffi- 
 ciency, and indeed of its positive mischief, and its 
 direct tendency to defeat its own proposed object ; 
 for a law is rarely harmless because it is of im- 
 practicable execution ; the unskilful surgery of the 
 body politic, as of the body natural, tears and tor- 
 tures when it does not cure, and fixes deeper and 
 more firmly the barb which it fails to extract. By 
 the 13 Rich. II. st. 1, c. 8 (passed in 1389-90), it is 
 ordained that, " forasmuch as a man cannot put the 
 price of corn and other victuals in certain," the jus- 
 tices of peace shall every year make proclamation 
 " by their discretion, according to the dearth of vict- 
 uals, how much every mason, carpenter, tiler, and 
 other craftsmen, workmen, and other laborers by 
 the day, as well in harvest as in other times of the 
 year, after their degree, shall take by the day, with 
 meat and drink, or without meat and drink, and 
 that every man obey to such proclamations from 
 time to time, as a thing done by statute." It is 
 
 1 Commonly entitled Statute the First. 
 VOL. I. — 51 
 
 also ordered that victualers " shall have reasonable 
 gains, according to the discretion and limitation of 
 the said justices, and no more, upon pain to be 
 grievously punished, according to the discretion of 
 the said justices." Finally, provision is made for 
 the correct keeping of the assize (or assessment 
 from time to time) of the prices of bread and ale. 
 The earliest notice of an assize in England is found 
 in the rolls of parliament for 1203, the 5th of John ; 
 but the first introduction of the practice is probably 
 of older date. The most ancient law upon the sub- 
 ject that has been preserved is that entitled the 
 Assisa Panis et Cervisife, commonly assigned to the 
 51st Hen. III. (a.d. 1266.) The assize of bread 
 and ale, it is to be remembered, determined the 
 prices of these commodities, not arbitrarily, but bj- 
 a scale regulated according to the market prices of 
 wheat, barley, and oats, so that the prices that 
 were really fixed were those of baking and of brew- 
 ing. The assize of bread was reenacted so lately 
 as the beginning of the last century, and was only 
 abolished in London and its neighborhood about 
 twenty years ago : in regard to other places, al- 
 though it has fallen into disuse, the old law still re- 
 mains unrepealed. But various other articles, such 
 as wine, fish, tiles, cloths, wood, coal, billets, &c., 
 have at diflTerent times been made subject to assize ; 
 and in the case of most of these the assize was a 
 perfectly arbitrary determination of the price. The 
 present period furnishes us with a curious example 
 of the manner in which some of these attempts 
 operated. By an ordinance issued in 1357 (coin- 
 monly called the 31 Edw. III. st. 2), it was directed 
 that no herrings should be sold for a higher price 
 than forty shillings the last. But, in 1361, we 
 find the king and his council, in a second ordinance 
 (commonly called the statute 35 Edw. III.), frankly 
 confessing that the eftect of the attempt to fix prices 
 in this case had been, " that the sale of herring is 
 much decayed, and the people greatly endamaged, 
 that is to say, that many merchants coming to the 
 fair, as well laborers and servants as other, do 
 bargain for herring, and every of them, by malice 
 and envy, increase upon other, and if one proffer 
 forty shillings, another will proft'er ten shillings 
 more, and the third sixty shillings, and so every 
 one surmounteth other in the bargain, and such 
 proffers extend to more than the price of the her- 
 ring upon which the fishers proffered it to sell at 
 the beginning." The ordinance, promulgated with 
 the intention of keeping down the price of herrings, 
 had actually raised it. Wherefore " we," con- 
 cludes the new statute, "perceiving the mischiefs 
 and grievances aforesaid, by the advice and assent 
 of our Parliament, will and grant, that it shall be 
 lawful to every man, of what condition that he may 
 be, merchant or other, to buy herring openly, and 
 not privily, at such price as may be agi-eed be- 
 tween him and the seller of the same herring." 
 This fiiilure, however, did not deter the Parliament 
 two years after from fixing a price for poultry (by 
 the Stat. 37 Edw. III. c. 3); but the next year 
 that also was repealed by the 38 Edw. III. st. 1, 
 0. 2, which ordained that all people, in regard to
 
 802 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 buying and selling and the other matters treated of 
 in the preceding statute, should be as free as they 
 were before it passed, and as they were in the 
 time of the king's grandfather and his other good 
 progenitors. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, the impediments and 
 embarrassments occasioned by all this blind and con- 
 tradictory legislation, English commerce undoubt- 
 edly made a very considerable progress in the course 
 of the space of nearly two centuries included within 
 the present period. 
 
 The directing property of the magnet, and its 
 application in the mariner's compass, appear to 
 have become known in Europe toward the end of 
 the tsvelfth century, and the instrument was proba- 
 bly in common use among navigators soon after 
 the middle of the thirteenth. Both Chaucer the 
 English, and Barbour the Scottish poet, allude 
 familiarly to the compass in the latter part of the 
 fourteenth century. Barbour tell us that Robert 
 Bruce and his companions, when crossing, during 
 the night, from Arran to the coast of Carrick, in 
 1307,' steered by the hght of the fire they saw on 
 the shore, — " for they na needle had nor stane :" 
 the words seem to imply rather that they were by 
 accident without a compass, than that the instru- 
 ment was not then known. Chaucer, in his prose 
 treatise on the Astrolabe, says that the sailors reckon 
 thiity-two parts (or points) of the horizon ; evi- 
 dently referring to the present division of the card, 
 of which the people of Bruges are said to have been 
 the authors. Gioia, of Amalfi, who flourished in 
 the beginning of this century, is supposed to have 
 been the first who attached a divided card to the 
 needle ; but his card seems to have had only eight 
 winds or points drawn upon it. 
 
 The contemporary chroniclers have not recorded 
 the effects produced by the introduction of the 
 compass on navigation and rfiommerce ; but it must 
 have given a great impulse to both. A few in- 
 teresting facts, however, connected with English 
 shipping during the present period, have been pre- 
 served. Henry III. appears to have had some 
 ships of his own. One of the entries in the Liber- 
 ate Roll of the tenth year of his reign, is as fol- 
 lows : — " Henry, by the grace of God, &:c. — Pay 
 out of our treasury to Reynold de Bernevall and 
 Brother Thomas, of the Temple, twenty-two 
 marks and a half, for repairs, &c. of our great 
 ship ; also pay to the six masters of our great ship, 
 to wit, to Stephen le Vel, one mark ; Germanus de 
 la Rie, one mark ; John, the son of Sampson, one 
 mark ; Colmo de Warham, one mark ; Robert 
 Gaillard, one mark ; and Simon Westlegrei, one 
 mark. Witness ourself at Westminster, the 17th 
 day of May, in the tenth year of our reign. For 
 the mariners of the great ship."* The vessel 
 here referred to is, we suppose, the large ship 
 called the Queen, which, in 1233, Henry chai-- 
 tered to John Blancbally, for the life of the latter, 
 for an annual payment of fifty marks.^ In an order 
 
 1 See ante, p. 704. 
 
 2 Issuesof the Excheq. from Hen. III. to Hpn. VI. inclusive. By Fred. 
 Devon 4to. Lon. 1837. = Madox's Hist. Excheq. o. 13, « 11. 
 
 of the same king to the barons of the Cinque Ports, 
 in 1242, mention is made of the king's galley of 
 Bristol, and of the king's galleys in Ireland. Ed- 
 ward I. probably had a much more numerous navy. 
 When ho was preparing for his war with France, in 
 1294, this king divided his navy into three fleets, over 
 each of which he placed an admiral, this being the 
 first time that that title is mentioned in English his- 
 tory. We are not, however, to suppose that all the 
 ships forming these three fleets were the property 
 of the king ; the royal navy was still, as it had liere- 
 tofore been, chiefly composed of vessels belonging 
 to private merchants, which were pressed for the 
 public service. The names of the following king's 
 ships are mentioned in an Issue Roll of the ninth 
 of Edward II< : — the Peter, the Bernard, the 
 Marion, the iNIary, and the Catherine ; all of 
 Westminster.' In the reign of Edward III., we 
 find many ships belonging to Yarmouth, Bristol, 
 Lynne, Hull, Ravensere, and other ports, distin 
 guished as ships of war ; but this designation does 
 not seem to imply that they were royal or pubhc 
 property. 
 
 The dominion of the four seas appears to have 
 been first distinctly claimed by Edward III. At 
 this time the Cinque Ports were bound by their 
 charter to have fifty-seven ships in readiness at all 
 times for the king's service ; and Edward also re- 
 tained in his pay a fleet of galleys, supplied, accord- 
 ing to contract, by the Genoese. By far the greater 
 number, however, of the vessels employed in every 
 considerable naval expedition of those times con- 
 sisted, as we have said, of the private merchantmen. 
 The English mercantile navy was now veiy consid- 
 erable. When Henry III., in 1253, ordered all the 
 vessels in the country to be seized and employed in 
 an expedition against the rebel barons of Gascony, 
 the number of them, Mattliew Paris tells us, was 
 found to be above a thousand, of which three hund- 
 red were large ships. The foreign, as well as the 
 English vessels, however, are included in this enu- 
 meration ; the former as well as the latter were 
 subject to be thus pressed. According to an account 
 given in one of the Cotton manuscripts of the fleet 
 employed by Edward III. at the siege of Calais in 
 1346, it consisted of 25 ships belonging to the king, 
 which carried 419 mariners ; of 37 foreign ships 
 (from Bayonne, Spain, Flanders, and Guelderland), 
 manned by 780 mariners ; of one vessel from Ire- 
 land, carrying 25 men ; and of 710 vessels belonging 
 to English ports, the crews of which amounted to 
 14,151 persons. These merchantmen were divided 
 into the south and the north fleet, according as they 
 belonged to the ports south or north of the Thames. 
 Among the places that supplied the greatest number 
 of ships and men were the following : — London, 
 25 ships with 662 men; Margate, 15 with 160; 
 Sandwich, 22 with 504 ; Dover, 16 with 336 ; Win- 
 chelsea, 21 with 596; Weymouth, 20 with 264; 
 Newcastle, 17 with 414 ; Hull, 16 with 466 ; Grims- 
 bj% 11 with 171; Exmouth, 10 with 193; Dart- 
 mouth, 31 with 757 ; Plymouth, 26 with 603 ; Looe, 
 
 1 Issues of Excheq. ut supra. The editor adds, "The names ot 
 other shijis are also mentioned."
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY, 
 
 803 
 
 Ships of the time of Richard II. Harleiaa MS. 1310. 
 
 20 with 32.5 ; Fowey, 47 with 170 ; Bristol, 24 with 
 <)08; Shoreham, 20 with 329; Southampton, 21 
 with 572; Lynne, 16 with 482; Yarmouth, 43 
 with 1095; Gosport, 13 with 403; Harwich, 14 
 with 283; Ipswich, 12 with 239; and Boston, 17 
 with 361. These, therefore, it may be assumed, 
 were at this time the principal trading towns in the 
 kingdom. 
 
 It will be perceived that the vessels, if we may 
 judge from the numbers of the men, were of veiy 
 various sizes ; and none of them could have been of 
 any considerable magnitude. A ship, manned by 
 thirty seamen, which the people of Yarmouth fitted 
 out, in 1254, to carry over Prince Edward, after- 
 ward Edward I., to the continent, is spoken of with 
 admiration by the writers of the time for its size as 
 well as its beauty. Some foreign ships, however, 
 were considerably larger than any of the English at 
 this period. Thus, one of the vessels which was 
 lent by the republic of Venice to St. Louis, in 
 1270, when he set out on his second crusade, meas- 
 ured one hundred and twenty-five feet in length, 
 and carried one hundred and ten men. But this 
 was reckoned a vessel of extraordinarj^ size even in 
 the Mediterranean. In 1360, Edward III., in an 
 order for arresting all the vessels in the kingdom 
 for an expedition against France, directed that the 
 largest ships should carry forty mariners, forty 
 armed men, and sixty archers. A ship, which was 
 taken from the French in 1385, is said to have been, 
 a short time before, built for the Norman merchants 
 in the East country at a cost of five thousand francs 
 (above 8301. sterling), and to have been sold by 
 them to Clisson, the Constable of France, for three 
 thousand francs. This was one of eighty vessels of 
 
 various kinds, ships, galleys, cogs, carracks, barges 
 lines, balingars, &c., which were captured thi3 
 same year by the governor of Calais and the sea- 
 men of the Cinque Ports. "There were taken," 
 says the historian Walsingham, " and slain in those 
 ships, two hundred and twenty-six seamen and 
 mercenaries. Blessed be God for all things." One 
 ship taken by the Cinque Port vessels Avas valued — 
 her cargo no doubt included — at twenty thousand 
 marks. But half a century before this, we read of 
 Genoese galleys, loaded with wool, cloth, and other 
 merchandise, which were reckoned to be worth 
 60,000L and 70,000Z. in the money of Genoa. 
 
 Some notices that have been preserved of the 
 shipping of Scotland during this period prove its 
 amount to have been more considerable than might 
 be expected. Indeed, that country seems to have 
 had some reputation for ship-building even on the 
 continent. Matthew Paris relates that one of the 
 great ships in the fleet that accompanied St. Louis 
 on his first crusade, in 1249, had been built at In- 
 verness, for the Earl of St. Paul and Blois. The 
 historian calls her " a wonderful ship," in allusion, 
 apparently, to her magnitude. Mention is made, 
 in an ancient charter, of one ship which belonged 
 to the Scottish crown in the reign of Alexander III., 
 who died in 1286; and Fordun states that, at this 
 time, the King of Man was bound to furnish his 
 liege lord, the King of Scots, when required, with 
 five warlike galleys of twenty-four oars, and five of 
 twelve oars, and that other maritime vessels con- 
 tributed vessels in proportion to their lands. One 
 of Alexander's commercial laws was of a singular 
 character, if we may believe this historian. In con- 
 sequence of several merchant vessels belonging to
 
 804 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 his subjects having been taken by ph-ates or lost at 
 sea while voyaging to foreign parts, he prohibited 
 the merchants of Scotland from exporting any goods 
 in their own vessels for a certain time. The con- 
 sequence, it is affirmed, was, that before the end of 
 a jear, numerous foreign vessels arrived with goods 
 of all kinds ; and the kingdom obtained a cheaper 
 and more abundant supply of the produce of other 
 countries than it had ever before enjoyed. If any 
 such effect as this was produced, the law, at the 
 same time that it restrained the native ship owners 
 from importing goods, probably removed some re- 
 strictions that had previously been imposed on the 
 entry into the kingdom of foreign merchants. In 
 the wars between England and Scotland, in the 
 reign of Edward III., the latter country frequently 
 made considerable naval exertions, sometimes by 
 itself, sometimes in conjunction with its allies. In 
 1335, a vessel belonging to Southampton, laden with 
 wool and other merchandise, was taken by some 
 Scottish and Norman privateers in the mouth of the 
 Thames ; and, in the following year, a numerous 
 fleet of ships and galleys, equipped by the Scots, at- 
 tacked and plundered Guernsey and Jersey, and 
 captured sevei'al English vessels lying at anchor at 
 the Isle of Wight. In the autumn of 1357, again, 
 three Scottish ships of war, carrying three hundred 
 chosen armed men, are stated to have cruised on 
 the east coast of England, and greatly annoyed the 
 trade in that quarter, till the equinoctial gales drove 
 them, along with a number of English vessels, into 
 Yarmouth, where they were taken. These appear 
 to have been unauthorized private adventurers — 
 there being at this time a truce between the two 
 counti'ies. The bold enterprise of the Scottish 
 captain, John Mercer, in 1378, till a stop was put to 
 his career by the public spirit of a citizen of Lon- 
 don, John Philpot, has been mentioned in a former 
 page.' Mercer is said to have been the son of a 
 burgess of Perth, one of the most opulent merchants 
 of Scotland, who, the year before, when returning 
 from abroad, had been driven by stress of weather 
 upon the English coast, and there seized and con- 
 fined for some time in the castle of Scarborough. 
 It was to revenge this injury that the son fitted out 
 his armament. A few years after this, some pri- 
 vateers of Hull and Newcastle captured a Scottish 
 ship, the cargo of which, according to Walsingham, 
 was valued at seven thousand marks. 
 
 The most ancient record, which presents a gen- 
 eral view of the foreign trade of England, is an ac- 
 count preserved in the Exchequer of the exports 
 and imports, together with the amount of the cus- 
 toms paid upon them, in the year 1354. The exports 
 here mentioned are, 31,65H sacks of wool at 6/. 
 per sack; 3036 cwt. (120 lbs.) of wool at 40s. per 
 cwt. ; 65 woolfels, total value '21s. 8d.; hides to the 
 value of 89?. 5s. ; 4774§ pieces of cloth at 40s. each ; 
 and 8061^ pieces of worsted stuff at 16s. 8d. each : 
 — total value of the exports, 212,338Z. 5s., paying 
 customs to the amount of 81,846L 12s. 2d. Wool, 
 therefore, would appear, by this account, to have 
 constituted about thirteen fourteenths of the whole 
 
 > See ante, p. 756 
 
 exports of the kingdom. The customs would seem 
 to have been almost entirely derived from wool ; 
 the amount paid by the hides and cloth exported 
 amounts only to about 220/. The duty on the ex- 
 port of wool exceeded 40 per cent, on the value. 
 The imports mentioned are, 1831 pieces of fine 
 cloths, at 61. each ; 397| cwt. of wax at 40s. per 
 cwt. ; 1829^ tuns of wine at 40s. per tun ; and lin- 
 ens, mercery, grocery, &c., to the value of 22,943/. 
 6s. lOf/. : — making a total value of 38,383/. 16s. 
 lOd. The great excess, according to this statement, 
 of the exports over the imports, has been regarded 
 as evincing the moderation and sobriety of our an- 
 cestors. " But when we look at the articles," it 
 has been well observed, "and find that of raw ma- 
 terials for manufactures, which constitute so great a 
 part of the modern imports, there was not one single 
 article imported, and that, on the other hand, the 
 exports consisted almost entirely of the most valua- 
 ble raw materials, and of cloths in an unfinished 
 state, which may, therefore, also be classed among 
 raw materials, we must acknowledge that it affords 
 only a proof of the low state of manufactures and 
 of commercial knowledge among a people who 
 were obliged to allow foreigners to have tjje profit 
 of manufacturing their own wool, and finishing their 
 own cloths, and afterward to repurchase both from 
 them in the form of finished goods.'" 
 
 This account is probably to be considered as 
 comprehending only those articles from M'hich the 
 revenue of the customs was derived. We know 
 that several other articles beside those mentioned 
 were, at least occasionally, exported. A demand 
 for the tin of Britain, for instance, appears to have 
 always existed on the continent. A Cornish miner, 
 indeed, who had been banished fi-om his native 
 country, is said to have, in the year 1241, dis- 
 covered some mines of tin in Germany, the prod- 
 uce of which was so abundant that the metal was 
 even imported into England, by which the price in 
 this country was considerably reduced. But this 
 competition certainly did not permanently destroy 
 either the domestic or the export trade in British 
 tin. In 1338 we find Edward III. ordering all the 
 tin in Cornwall and Devonshire, including even 
 what might have been already sold to foreign mer- 
 chants, to be seized and sent to the continent, there 
 to be sold on his account, the owners being obliged 
 to accept of a promise of payment in two years. 
 In 1348, it is recorded that the merchants and 
 others complained to the Parliament that all the 
 tin of Cornwall was bought and exported by Tid- 
 man of Limburgh, so that no Englishman could 
 get any of it ; they therefore prayed that it might 
 be freely sold to all merchants ; but they received 
 for answer that it was a profit belonging to the 
 prince, and that every lord might make his profit 
 of his own. Cornwall had, in 1337, been erected 
 into a duchy in fiivor of the Black Prince, and 
 settled by Act of Parliament on the eldest son of 
 the king, as it still remains. The export of tin is 
 mentioned, in 1390, in the statute 14 Rich. II. c. 7, 
 Avhich declares Dartmouth the only port at which 
 
 1 Macpherson, Ann. of Com. i. 554.
 
 Uhap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 805 
 
 it shall be shipped ; and also in the following year, 
 in the 15th Rich. II. c. 8., which repeals the last- 
 mentioned Act, and allows the exportation of the 
 commodity from any port, but provides that it shall 
 be carried only to Calais, so long as wool shall be 
 carried to that place. Lead, butter, and cheese 
 are likewise, as we have seen, enumerated among 
 the " commodities of the land," in which foreign 
 merchants Were compelled, by the 14th Rich. II. 
 c. 1, to invest half the money which they should 
 receive for the commodities they imported. The 
 exportation of lead in particular is repeatedly al- 
 luded to in the regulations respecting the staple, 
 and other Acts of Parliament ; and considerable 
 quantities of that metal are supposed to have been 
 noAV obtained from the Welsh mines. It may be 
 presumed, also, that iron was occasionally exported 
 during this period, from the statute 28 Edw. III. 
 c. 5 (passed in 1354), which enacts that no iron, 
 whether made in England or imported, shall be 
 carried out of the country. Salted fish, and es- 
 pecially herrings, formed another article of export, 
 at least from the commencement of the thirteenth 
 century, and probably from a much earlier date. 
 Corn appears to have been sometimes exported, 
 sometimes impoi'ted, but apparently never without 
 the special license of the crown. Thus we find 
 Edward III., in 1359, granting liberty to the 
 Flemings to trade in England, and to export corn 
 and other provisions from the country on obtaining 
 his special license and paying the customs. In 
 1376, on the other hand, a permission is recorded 
 to have been granted to import four hundred quarters 
 of corn from Ireland to Kendal in Westmoreland. 
 In 1382 a general proclamation was issued, prohibit- 
 ing, under penalty of the confiscation of the vessel 
 and cargo, the exportation of corn or malt t« any 
 foreign country, except to the king's territories in 
 Gascony, Ba}'onne, Calais, Brest, Cherbourg, Ber- 
 wick-upon-Tweed, and other places of strength 
 belonging to the king. But twelve years afterward, 
 by the statute 17 Rich. II. c. 7, all English subjects 
 were allowed to export corn to any country not 
 hostile, on paying the due customs; a power, how- 
 ever, being still reserved to the king's council to stop 
 the exportation if necessary. The introduction of 
 the use of coal, as an article both of foreign trade 
 and of domestic consumption, is probably to be 
 assigned to this period, though some have been 
 disposed to carry it farther back. The earliest 
 authentic document in which coal is distinctly 
 mentioned is an order of Henry III., in 1245, for 
 an inquisition into trespasses committed in the royal 
 forests, in which inquiry is directed to be made re- 
 specting sea-coal (" de carbone maris ") found in 
 the forests. This expression appears to imply that 
 coals had before this time been brought to London 
 by sea, and probably from Newcastle. Sea-coal 
 lane, between Skinner-street and Farringdon-street, 
 is mentioned by that name in a charter of the year 
 1253. Regulations are laid down for the sale of 
 coals in the statutes of the guild of Berwick-upon- 
 Tweed, which were established in 1284. There 
 is extant a charter of William of Obervell, in 1291, 
 
 granting liberty to the monks of Dunfermline, in 
 Scotland, to dig coals for their own use in his lands 
 of Pittencrief, but prohibiting them from selling any. 
 It is probable, however, that this description of fuel 
 was not as yet much used for domestic purposes ; 
 for the smoke, or smell, of a coal-fire was at first 
 thought to be highly noxious. " This same year," 
 (1360), says Maitland, in his History of London, 
 " sea-coals being very much used in the suburbs of 
 London by brewers, dyers, and others requiring 
 great fires, the nobility and gentry resorting thither 
 complained thereof to the king as a public nui- 
 sance, whereby, they said, the air was infested with 
 a noisome smell, and a thick cloud, to the great 
 endangering of the health of the inhabitants; 
 wherefore a proclamation was issued, strictly for- 
 bidding the use of that fuel. But Httle regard 
 being paid thereunto, the king appointed a com- 
 mission of Oyer and Terminer to inquire after 
 those who had contumaciously acted in open de- 
 fiance to his proclamation, strictly commanding all 
 such to be punished by pecuniary mulcts ; and 
 for the second offence, to have their kilns and fur- 
 naces destroyed." What would these sensitive 
 alarmists of the fourteenth century have said if 
 they could have been informed that the day would 
 come when London should have constantly some 
 ten or twelve tuns of coal-dust suspended over it? 
 The prejudice against coal-fires, however, seems to 
 have, in no long time, died away. In 1325 we 
 find mention made of the exportation of coals from 
 Newcastle to France ; and the first leases of coal- 
 works in the neighborhood of that town of which 
 there is any account are dated only a few years 
 later. They were granted by the monks of Tyne- 
 mouth to various persons at annual rents, varying 
 from two to about five pounds. Ten shillings' 
 worth of Newcastle coals are recorded to have been 
 purchased for the coronation of Edward III. in 
 1327. Before the end of the fourteenth century, 
 there is reason to believe that an active trade was 
 carried on in the conveyance of Newcastle coal by 
 sea to London and elsewhere. 
 
 Wool, however, was, during the whole of this 
 period, as for a long time afterward, the great 
 staple of the kingdom. In 1279, in a petition to 
 Edward I., the nobles asserted that the wool pro- 
 duced in England, and mostly exported to Flanders, 
 was nearly equal to half the land in value. Eng- 
 lish wool appears also to have been in great request 
 in France, in which countiy, as well as in Flan- 
 ders, the manufacture of woolen cloth was early 
 established. Little cloth, as we have already had 
 occasion to observe, was made in England, and that 
 little only of the coarsest description, till the wise 
 poHcy of Edward III., by a grant dated in 1331, 
 invited weavers, dyers, and fullers, from Flanders, 
 to come over and settle in the country, promising 
 them his protection and favor on condition that 
 they should carry on their trades here, and com- 
 municate the knowledge of them to his subjects. 
 The first person who accepted of this invitation 
 was John Kempe, a weaver of woolen cloth ; he 
 came over with his goods and chattels, his servants
 
 806 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 and his apprentices. Miiny of his counti-ymeu soon 
 followed : a few years later other weavers came 
 over from Brabant and Zealand; and thus was 
 established certainly the first manufacture oi fine 
 woolen cloths in England. It was many years, 
 however, as we have seen, before this infant manu- 
 facture was able even to supply the domestic de- 
 mand, far less to maintain any export trade in 
 woolens. The cloths of the continent, in spite of 
 various legislative attempts to exclude them, long 
 continued to be imported in considerable quantities. 
 The 47741 pieces of cloth exported in 1354 were 
 evidently, from their price, of the old coarse fabric 
 of the country. Large quantities of the English 
 wool also continued annually to go abroad. With 
 the view of keeping up the price of the article,' it 
 was enacted by the statute 14 Kich. II. c. 4, passed 
 in 1390, that no denizen of England should buy 
 wool except of the owners of the sheep, and for 
 his own use ; in other words, the entire export 
 trade in the commodity was made over to the 
 foreign merchant, and he was at the same time 
 confined to the export trade. The object obviously 
 was to secure to the grower not only his proper 
 profits, but in addition those of the wool-mer- 
 chant and retailer, in so far as regarded the domes- 
 tic consumption. But, beside the injury done to 
 the native merchant by his exclusion from the ex- 
 port trade, it was strangely forgotten that the mo- 
 nopoly of that trade, secured to the foreigner, must 
 have deprived the grower of perhaps half his cus- 
 tomers, — namely, of all the English dealers who 
 would have purchased the article for exportation ; 
 and must thus, by diminishing competition, have 
 tended to depress prices instead of raising them. 
 Such, accordingly, is stated to have been the eifect 
 produced. The contemporary historian, Knyghton, 
 tells us that, in consequence of this prohibition of 
 the export of wool by English merchants, the 
 article lay unsold in many places for two or three 
 years, and many of the growers were reduced to 
 the greatest distress. In 1391, however, although 
 the quantity of wool exported is affirmed to have 
 been that year much less than formerly, the cus- 
 toms on it amounted to 1G0,000Z. According to 
 Robert of Avesbury, who is supposed to have died 
 about 1356, the annual exportation of wool from 
 England had, in his day, reached to above a hun- 
 dred thousand sacks ; the customs on which, at the 
 duty of 50s. on the sack, would produce a revenue 
 of above 250,000L This estimate, however, is 
 very inconsistent with the official account already 
 quoted of the entire exports and imports for 1354. 
 If it is to be at all received, it ought probably to 
 be assigned to a date considerably later than that 
 at which Avesbury is commonly assumed to have 
 died. 
 
 The principal society of foreign merchants at this 
 time established in England appears to have been 
 that of the merchants of Cologne. They had a 
 hall or factory in London called their Guildhall, for 
 the saisine (or legal possession) of which they paid 
 thirty- marks to the crown in a.d. 1220. " It seems 
 
 ' Por meutz garde r le liaut pris des leyns. 
 
 probable," says INlacpherson, " that this Guildhall, by 
 the association of the merchants of other cities with 
 those of Cologne, became in time the general fac- 
 tory and residence of all the German merchants in 
 London, and was the same that was afterward 
 known by the name of the German Guildhall {Gild- 
 halla Tcutonicorum). It appears that the mer- 
 chants of Cologne were bound to make a payment 
 of two shillings, probably a reserved aimual rent 
 (for we are not told upon what occasions it was pay- 
 able), out of the Guildhifll, beside other customs and 
 demands, from all which they were exempted in 
 the year 1235, by King Henry III., who moreover 
 gave them permission to attend fairs in any part of 
 England, and also to buy and to sell in London, 
 saving the liberties of the city." ' The principal 
 part of the foreign trade, however, seems to have 
 been in the hands of the merchants of the Staple, 
 otherwise called the merchants of England, who, 
 as noticed above, were incorporated at least as early 
 as the year 1313. This society was composed of 
 native merchants. 
 
 It has also been affirmed that there existed, so 
 early as the middle of the thirteenth century, an 
 association of English merchants for trading in for- 
 eign parts, called the Brotherhood of St. Thomas 
 Becket of Canterbury, ft-om which originated the 
 afterward celebrated company of the Merchant Ad- 
 venturers of England ; but this story does not rest 
 on any sufficient authority." 
 
 The historian Walsingham has preserved the 
 record of a remarkable proposal which was made 
 in 1379 to Richard II. by an opulent merchant of 
 Genoa. This foreigner, it is said, submitted to the 
 English king a plan for raising the port of South- 
 ampton to a preeminence over every other in the 
 west of Europe, by making it the deposit and mart 
 of all the oriental goods which the Genoese used to 
 carry to Flanders, Normandy, and Bretagne, which 
 countries would thenceforth be supplied with these 
 commodities from England. All that the Genoese 
 merchant asked, according to Walsingham, was, 
 that he should be allowed to store his goods in the 
 royal castle of Southampton. It is probable, how- 
 ever, that this was only one of the minor features 
 of his plan,W'hich must have been chiefly dependent 
 for its success upon the resources and connections 
 of its author, the spirit with which it Avas taken up 
 and supported by the English king, and the natural 
 aptitude of the port of Southampton to serve as a 
 reservoir of the oriental trade. As yet, it is to bo 
 remembered, no direct trade existed between India 
 and Europe ; all the produce of the former that 
 found its way to the latter was procured by the 
 merchants of Venice, Genoa, and other cities of 
 Italy, from the cmporia in the eastern parts of the 
 Mediterranean, of which the principal at this time 
 were Acre, Constantinople, and Alexandria. It is 
 not very obvious what advantage the Italian import- 
 ers were to expect from bringing all their goods in 
 the first instance to Southampton, instead of pro- 
 
 I Annals of Com. i. 3S3. 
 
 - See Wheeler's Treatise of Commerce, pp. 10 and 14 ; and Mac- 
 pherson, i. SOT and OCO.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 807 
 
 ceeding with tliem directly to the continental mar- 
 kets. Walsingliam says it was expected, if the plan 
 had been carried into execution, that pepper would 
 have been sold in England at four pennies a pound, 
 and other spices at a proportionably low rate. Silk 
 was now manufactured, and the silk-worm reared, 
 in Ital}^ and other countries of the south of Europe, 
 and little, if any, was brought from Asia; so that 
 spiceries and fruits seem to have been the principal 
 commodities which were received from the eastern 
 trade. The cargo of a Genoese ship, which was 
 driven ashore atDunster, in Somersetshire, in 1380, 
 consisted of green ginger, ginger cured with lemon- 
 juice, one bale of arquinetta,^ dried grapes or raisins, 
 sulphur, one hundred and seventy-two bales of wadde 
 (perhaps woad), twenty-two bales of writing paper, 
 white sugar (perhaps sugar-candy), six bales of 
 empty boxes, dried prunes, eight bales oirisce (prob- 
 ably rice), five bales of cinnamon, one pipe " pul- 
 veris salvistri," the meaning of which is unknown, 
 and five bales of bussus (probably fine Egyptian flax). 
 Some Genoese cogs and carracks, however, bound 
 for Flanders, that were seized on the coast of Kent 
 in 1386, are said to have been laden, not only with 
 spices, but with wines, stuffs of gold and silk, gold, 
 silver, precious stones, etc. The scheme of the 
 Genoese merchant with regard to Southampton 
 was put an end to by its author being murdered in 
 the streets of London by assassins, whom some 
 English merchants are charged with having hired, 
 in the apprehension that his proposal was calculated 
 to be injurious to their interests. It seems to have 
 been one of those bold designs wliich have more in 
 their character of the prophetic than of the practi- 
 cal ; it was a conception that shot ahead of the age, 
 and the attempt to realize it at that time would 
 probably, in the most favorable circumstances, have 
 proved a failure ; but this selection of Southampton 
 for a great European emporium in the fourteenth 
 century may be regarded as in some degree an an- 
 ticipation of the project which promises to be accom- 
 plished in the nineteenth, of bringing that place 
 within two or three hours' distance of London by 
 means of a railway, and thus turning the natural 
 advantages of its position to full account by making 
 it one of the ports of the metropolis. 
 
 A few facts remain to be added respecting the 
 commerce of Scotland during this period, in addition 
 to those that have already been incidentally noticed. 
 The chief seat of the Scottish foreign trade contin- 
 ued to be at Berwick till the capture of that town 
 by Edward I. in 1296. A society of Flemish mer- 
 chants, similar, apparently, to the Teutonic Guildhall 
 of London, was established in that place : the gal- 
 lantry with which they defended a strong building, 
 called the Red Hall, which was their factory, has 
 been mentioned in the account of the siege." Ber- 
 wick, before this catastrophe, is described in the 
 contemporary Chronicle of Lanercost as a second 
 Alexandria, for the number of its inhabitants and 
 
 1 Both Ande7snn and Alacphorson quote this term from the original 
 statement in the Fcedera (vii. 233), without either explanation or ques- 
 tion. We have not licen able to discover the meaning of the word. 
 
 2 Sec ante, p. 6S9. 
 
 the extent of its commerce. The sea, it is added, 
 was its wealth ; the waters were its walls ; and the 
 opulent citizens were very liberal in their donations 
 to reUgious houses. The customs of Berwick were 
 rented from Alexander III. by a merchant of Gas- 
 cony for 2197Z. 8s., a sum which would in those 
 days have bought about sixteen thousand quarters 
 of wheat. " By the agency of the merchants of 
 Berwick, the wool, hides, woolfels, and other wares, 
 the produce of Roxburgh, Jedburgh, and all the 
 adjacent country, were shipped for foreign coun- 
 tries, or sold upon the spot to the Flemish company. 
 The exportation of salmon appears to have been 
 also a considerable branch of their trade, as we find 
 it some time after an object of attention to the leg- 
 islature of England, and the regulation of it intrust- 
 ed to the great officers of the government. AVhen 
 Edward III. wanted two thousand salmon for his 
 own use in the year 1361, he sent orders to procure 
 them for him at Berwick (then belonging to Eng- 
 land) and Newcastle — no doubt the places most 
 famous for them in his dominions." ' Berwick, 
 however, never recovered from the blow given to 
 its prosperity by the destructive sack of 1296. In 
 the middle of the following century we find the 
 Scottish pearls still exported to the continent. In 
 the statutes of the goldsmiths of Paris, drawn up in 
 1355, it is ordered that no worker in gold or silver 
 shall set any Scottish pearls along with oriental 
 ones, except in large jeAvels (that is, figures adorned 
 with jewelry) for churches. The Scottish gi'ay- 
 hounds were also at this time in request in other 
 countries. " The trade of driving cattle fi-om Scot- 
 land for sale in England, Aviiich has continued down 
 to the present day," JNIr. Macpherson observes, " is 
 at least as old as the times now under our consider- 
 ation ; for we find a letter of safe conduct granted 
 (12th January, 1359) to Andrew Moray and Alan 
 Erskine, two Scottish drovers, with three horsemen 
 and their servants, for traveling through England 
 or the king's foreign dominions for a year, with 
 horses, oxen, cows, and other goods and merchan- 
 dise."" An Act of the Scottish parliament in 13G7 
 orders the strict levj-ing of the duties formerly im- 
 posed of forty pennies in the pound on the price of 
 all horses, and twelve pennies on that of all oxen 
 and cows carried out of the country. Both corn 
 and malt were often imported into Scotland at this 
 period from England and other countries. 
 
 From Ireland there was now a consideraI)le ex- 
 portation both of raw produce and of manufactured 
 goods. In the records of the Exchequer for the 
 first year of Edward I. a notice occurs of some 
 cloth of Ireland having been stolen at "Winchester 
 in the preceding reign, along with some cloth of 
 Abingdon, and some cloth of London called burrel. 
 Mention has already been made of the supplies of 
 corn that appear to have been occasionally obtained 
 from Ireland. It seems to have been exported to 
 the continent as well as to England, till an ordinance 
 was issued in 1288, prohibiting corn and other vict- 
 uals and merchandise from being carried from Ire- 
 land anj-where except to England and Wales. Yet. 
 
 ' Macpherson, i. 446. * H'id i.561.
 
 808 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 in 1291, we find some Flemish merchants mentioned 
 us being in the ports of Waterford, Youghail, and 
 Cork. In 1300, while Edward I. was in Scotland, 
 the people of Drogheda sent him a present of eighty 
 tuns of wine to Kirkcudbright, in a vessel belonging 
 to their own port ; and the same year several car- 
 goes of Irish wheat, oats, malt, and ale were brought 
 to him, and mostly by the merchants of Ireland and 
 in Irish vessels. In 1322, we find Edward II., when 
 preparing to march into Scotland, giving orders for 
 nine thousand quarters of wheat and other grain to 
 be sent from Ireland. By the statute 34 Edward III. 
 c. 17, 18, passed in 13G0, liberty was given to all 
 merchants and others, whether aliens or natives, to 
 trade freely to and from Ireland, on paying the an- 
 cient customs and duties. " At this time," says 
 Mcicpherson, "there were some considerable man- 
 ufactures in Ireland. The stuffs called sayes made 
 in that country were in such request, that they 
 were imitated by tho manufacturers of Catalonia, 
 who were in the practice of making the finest woolen 
 goods of every kind ; they were also esteemed in 
 Italy, and were worn by the ladies of Florence, a 
 city abounding with the richest manufactures, and 
 in which the luxury of dress was carried to the 
 greatest height. The annual revenue derived from 
 Ireland, which amounted to nearly 10,000/., gives a 
 very respectable idea of the balance drawn into that 
 country by its commerce and manufactures, though 
 we know next to nothing of the particular nature 
 of them ; unless we suppose a great part of the 
 money to have been drawn from the mines, for 
 which, I believe, there is neither authority nor 
 probability."^ This year, King Edward, under- 
 standing, as the record in the "Foedera" says, that 
 there were various mines of gold and silver in Ire- 
 land, which might be very beneficial to himself and 
 the people of that country, had commissioned his 
 ministers there to order a search for the mines, and 
 to do what would be most for his advantage in the 
 matter. The statute 50 Edw. III. c. 8 (a.d. 1376) 
 makes mention of cloth called frize as being made 
 in Ireland, and also of cloth manufactured in Eng- 
 land from Irish wool. 
 
 The denominations and relative values of the dif- 
 ferent kinds of English money continued the same 
 in this as in the preceding period. The coinage 
 had been greatly corrupted, partly by clipping, partly 
 by the issue of counterfeits, in the early part of the 
 reign of Henry HI. ; in consequence of which that 
 king, in the year 1247, called in the old coin, and 
 issued a new penny of a different stamp. In the 
 exchange a deduction of thirteen pence in the pound 
 was made from the nominal value of the old coin, 
 which occasioned great compkints ; but the new 
 coin was not depreciated, nor made of a less quan- 
 tity of silver than formerly. The pennies of Hen- 
 ry HI. are very common, and there also exist silver 
 half-pence and farthings of his coinage. All the 
 money was now made round. It is also said that, 
 in 12.57, Henry issued a gold coin of the weight of 
 two silver pennies, which was ordered to pass for 
 twenty pennies of silver. It was, however, soon 
 
 1 Macpherson, i. 562, where the authorities are quoted 
 
 recalled on the complaint of the citizens of London 
 that gold was rated al)ove its value, in being thus 
 made equal to ten times its weight in silver; and 
 no specimens of this earliest English coinage of gold 
 are now known to exist. 
 
 Penny of Henry 111. 
 Soon after the accession of Edward I. the country 
 was again found to be inundated with base or light 
 money, consisting ciiiefly of pieces fabricated on 
 the continent, and known, from their impresses, by 
 the names of mitres, lionines, pollards, crockards, 
 rosaries, staldings, steepings, and eagles, — some 
 being imitations of English money, others profess- 
 ing to be foreign coins. Various laws were made 
 both against the importation of this counterfeit 
 money, and against the clipping of the proper coin- 
 age of the realm. The severity with which these 
 crimes were visited upon the Jews in particular has 
 been already recorded.^ Edward himself, however, 
 in the latter part of his I'eign, began the pernicious 
 practice of depreciating the coin by diminishing its 
 legal weight. In 1301 he issued a coinage of pen- 
 nies, of which two hundred and forty-three (instead 
 of two hundred and forty, as formerlj) were coined 
 out of the pound of silver. In 1279 Edward had 
 issued a new silver coin in imitation of one which 
 had been introduced in France, being of the value 
 of four pennies, and called a gross or gi'oat, that is, 
 a great penny. This coinage of groats seems to 
 have been a small one, but some specimens are still 
 extant. 
 
 Penny of Edward I. 
 
 No coins of Edward II. are certainly known to 
 exist, though it is possible that some of those that 
 have been attributed to his father may be of his 
 coinage ; for it was still usual to omit on the legend 
 the numerical distinction of the king's name. 
 
 Penny (sltposed) of Edward II. 
 
 Edward HI., in 1344, issued no feAver than six 
 different gold coins — namely, by one coinage, pieces 
 
 ' See ante, p. 669.
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 809 
 
 marked with two leopards to pass for six shillings, 
 others of half that weight and value marked with 
 one leopard, and others marked with a helmet, of 
 half the value of the last : and by a second, nobles 
 of the value of six shillings and eight pence, and 
 halves and quarters of nobles. The second coinage 
 was made necessary by the refusal of the people 
 to take the coins first issued at the value placed 
 upon them. This king also carried the depreciation 
 of the coin much farther than his grandfather had 
 done, by an issue this same year of silver pennies, 
 of which two hundred and sixty-six were made out 
 
 of the pound. Two years after he coined two 
 hundred and seventy pennies out of the pound of 
 silver; and in 1351 he issued a new groat, to be 
 current at the old rate of four pence, although it 
 scarcely weighed more than three pennies and a 
 half even of his last diminished money. There are 
 two groats of Edward III., one with the title of 
 King of France, the other without. It is upon his 
 coins also that we first read the motto Dieu el mon 
 droit (God and my right), which was originally 
 adopted in allusion to the claim to the French 
 crown. He also coined half-groats. 
 
 Penny of Edward III 
 
 Groat of Edward III. 
 
 Half-Groat of Edward HI. 
 
 The coins of Hichard II., which are nobles, half- 
 nobles, quarter-nobles, groats, half-groats, pence, 
 and half-pence, are of the same real values with 
 
 those last coined by his grandfr.ther. It is some- 
 times difficult to distinguish his silver money, from 
 the want of the numerals, from that of Richard III. 
 
 Penny of Eichard II. 
 
 Groat of Richard II. 
 
 Half-Groat of Richard II. 
 
 The Scottish money was deteriorated in the 
 course of this period to a still greater extent than 
 the English : the Parliament in 13G7 having ordered 
 that three hundred and fifty-two pennies should be 
 made out of the pound of silver. It is supposed 
 that gold money was first coined in Scotland in 
 the reign of Robert II. (a. d. 1371-1390.) There 
 were repeated coinages of money in Ireland ; but 
 
 in 1339 we find a species of coin of inferior quality, 
 and apparently of foreign fobrication, authorized to 
 pass current in that country, on the ground of the 
 insufficient amount of good money. These base 
 pieces were called turneys, or black-money, or 
 sometimes black-mail, from the French word maille, 
 anciently used for a piece of money. 
 
 Even the legal coins of this period are generally
 
 8lt) 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 rude in workmanship, and by no means of uniform 
 weight. The standard of weight at this time was 
 scarcely more artificial than that wliich Henry I. 
 estabUshed for measures of length, wlion he ordered 
 that the ell should be as long as the royal arm. 
 The statute called the Assize of Weights and 
 Measures, which is attributed, in some copies, to 
 the reign of Henry HI., in others to that of Edward 
 I., states that, "by consent of the whole realm, the 
 king's measure was made so that an English penny, 
 which is called the sterling, round, without clipping, 
 shall weigh thirty-tivo grains of wheat dry in the 
 midst of the ear.''' This is the origin of the weight 
 still called a pennyweight, though it now contains 
 only twenty-four gi'ains. The process of coining 
 was equally rude. First, the metal, as appears 
 from an entry in the Red Book of the Exchequer 
 in the reign of Edward I., " was cast from the 
 melting-pot into long bars ; those bars were cut 
 with shears into square pieces of exact weights ; 
 then with the tongs and hammer they were forged 
 into a round shape ; after which they were blanched, 
 that is, made white or refulgent by nealing or boil- 
 ing, and afterward stamped or impressed with a 
 hammer, to make them perfect money. And this 
 kind of hammered money continued through all the 
 succeeding reigns, till the j'ear 1663, when the 
 milled money took place." ' 
 
 The various necessary and useful arts continued 
 in much the same state throughout the present, as 
 in the previous period. With regard, however, to 
 the state of the important art of agriculture in par- 
 ticular, we now derive from various authentic 
 sources much more detailed information than we 
 have hitherto possessed. 
 
 Sir T. Cullum, in a history of the parish of Haw- 
 sted, in Suffolk, has, from books of accounts, inqui- 
 sitions, and other documents, given as complete a 
 view of the ancient practices of husbandry in Eng- 
 land as can be expected, considering the difficulties 
 of such an inquiry ; and we shall now proceed to 
 extract some of the most material statements from 
 his work. In the reign of Edward I., there were 
 fifty messuages or houses in the parish, being only 
 two less than in 1784. Two thirds of the land in 
 the parish was held by seven persons, and the re- 
 maining third was occupied by twenfy-six persons. 
 In 1831, when the last census was taken, the num- 
 ber of occupiers in the same parish was only eleven, 
 being one third only of the number five centuries 
 before. Several of the ancient occupiers were appa- 
 rently merely laborers, for whom there was no con- 
 tinuous employment, but who, by this occupancy of a 
 small piece of land, were enabled to eke out a sub- 
 sistence. The traces of cultivation which have been 
 most probably left by this class of the rural popula- 
 tion are still visible in many of the southern coun- 
 ties on laud now converted into pasture. The 
 manor-house was surrounded by a moat, and occu- 
 pied a large site, as it comprised three gardens and 
 two court-yards. A pigeon-house, fish-ponds, and 
 a rabbit-warren were the usual appendages of a 
 manorial residence. The rabbit-warren supplied 
 
 1 Leake's Historical Account of English Money, 2d edit. p. 77. 
 
 not only food, but materials of dress in common 
 ' use ; and on fast-days the fish-ponds were a vnlua- 
 : ble resource. From two successive surveys of the 
 I manor of Hawsted which are recorded within the 
 ' present period, it appears that a change was taking 
 ' place in the proportion of meadow and arable land, 
 the former being to the latter as twenty-four to one, 
 I at the time of the first survey, and only as about elev- 
 1 en to one at the time of the second. This effect is to 
 be attributed to the increasing value of wool, which 
 rendered sheep a profitable stock. The quantity of 
 woodland was only sixtj'-eight acres in the whole 
 parish of Hawsted; but it is surmised that the hedge- 
 rows and borders of the fields were broad, and inter- 
 spersed with timber, and also contained patches 
 which furnished a considerable addition to the quan- 
 tity of fodder. The lord of the manor retained in his 
 own hands 572 acres of arable and 50 of meadow land ; 
 pasture for 24 cows, 12 horses, and as many oxen ; 
 and 40 acres of woodland. The live stock consisted 
 of 10 horses and 10 oxen, 1 bull, 20 cows, 6 heifers, 
 6 calves, 92 sheep, 200 two-year old sheep, 5 
 geese, 30 capons, 1 cock, and 26 hens. The num- 
 ber of tenants who did suit and service in the ma- 
 norial court was 32. They performed various 
 services in husbandry, according to the tenure 
 under which they occupied their land, and received 
 from the lord payments in kind and in money, but 
 chiefly in the former. One tenant occupied only 
 three acres, and his condition probably bore a 
 strong resemblance to the Irish cotter of the pres- 
 ent day. Plenty was, at least, to be found in the 
 manor-house, and it was occasionally dispensed 
 with a liberal hand. In the reign of Edward II., 
 the estate of the elder Despeuser was ravaged by 
 his enemies, who are asserted to have carried away, 
 among other things, twenty-eight thousand sheep, 
 one thousand oxen and heifers, twelve hundred 
 cows with their calves for two years, five hundred 
 cart hoi'ses, and two thousand hogs. 
 
 The diet of the laborers in husbandry usually 
 consisted, in harvest, of herrings, a loaf of bread, 
 and beer. The principal meals were two — dinner 
 at nine, and supper at five. In the parish of Haw- 
 sted the allowance of food to the laborer in harvest 
 was, two herrings per day, milk from the irianor 
 dairy to make cheese, and a loaf of bread, of which 
 fifteen were made from a bushel of wheat. Messes 
 of po_ttage made their frequent appearance at the 
 rustic board. When the crops were harvested, the 
 l)ortions of the produce to which each tenant was 
 entitled would be distributed, and the quantity. which 
 he obtained at this period was intended to last until 
 the next harvest. In ancient valuations, both in 
 towns and in rural districts, the inhabitants are men- 
 tioned as having stores of corn of various kinds. 
 Those who purchased corn would do so immedi- 
 ately after harvest ; but gi"ain was not an object of 
 internal commerce to any great extent. The fam- 
 ines which occurred during this and the preceding 
 period arose in a great measure from the improvi- 
 dent consumption which ensued immediately after 
 harvest. In 1317, the harvest was all secured by 
 the 1st of September, and wheat fell to one twelfth
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 
 
 811 
 
 of the price at which it had been sold a few weeks 
 before. In the poem called the " Visions of Pierce 
 Plowman," written in the time of Edward III., it 
 is said that when the new corn began to be sold, — 
 
 " Would no beggar eat bread that in it beanes were, 
 But of cockit and clemantyne, or else clene whcte." 
 
 Draget and siligo were common crops. The former 
 consisted of a mixture of oats and barley, and the 
 latter V'as a light description of wheat, about one 
 half the price of wheat. 
 
 Many documents relating to the occupancy of land 
 during this period do not contain any clauses bind- 
 ing the tenant to pursue a particular course of hus- 
 bandry ; but in some of them a stipulation is made 
 that the landlord shall not interfere with the mode 
 of culture. There was much jealousy on both sides, 
 each party surrounding himself with various pre- 
 cautions. Two days of grace were allowed for the 
 payment of the rent, and if it were not made within 
 a fortnight the landlord could distrain ; and if the 
 rent remained unpaid a month after becoming due, 
 he could reenter upon the possession of the land. 
 There are records extant showing the value of es- 
 tates ; but as the services of the tenantry were in- 
 cluded, the price of the land alone cannot perhaps 
 be accurately determined. Sir T. CuUum supposes 
 Ad. an acre to have been about the average rate at 
 which land was let toward the close of the thirteenth 
 century; and that the avei'age price of wheat per 
 quarter was 4s. Qd., and the average produce about 
 twelve bushels per acre. Attention appears to have 
 been paid to the quality of the seed; and an item 
 occurs in one year of 3s. 4fZ. for exchange of barley 
 seed. A century earlier, according to the law-book 
 entitled "Fleta," which contains various notices on 
 agricultural affairs, land often yielded only three 
 times the quantity sown. At a later period, sixty- 
 one acres in the manor of Hawsted produced sev- 
 entj- quarters of wheat, on an average of three years. 
 The cows belonging to the manor of Hawsted 
 twenty-six in number) were let to a dairyman for 8/. 
 per annum ; and even the lactage of the ewes was 
 let at \\d. each for the season. The milk was mixed 
 with that of the cows, and made into cheese. In 
 " Fleta," directions are given for the collection of 
 manure, the value of which was generally api)re- 
 ciated ; but the fertile properties of the soil Avere 
 most likely exhausted by taking off successive crops 
 of the same kind. The tenants on many manors 
 were not permitted to fold their flocks on their own 
 inclosures, but were compelled to drive them on 
 the lord's demesne land. On a manor in Norfolk 
 all copyholders were obliged to have sheep in their 
 lord's fold from Pentecost to St. Martin. The ten- 
 ants who enjoyed the right of foldage were of a- 
 superior class. Many of the smaller tenants had 
 no pasturage or meadow-land, and could therefore 
 scarcely keep any live stock unless where common 
 rights existed. Under these circumstances they 
 would with difficulty derive the means of a scanty 
 subsistence from their allotments. On the manorial 
 farms the case would be somewhat better. In 
 138G, the produce of the Hawsted manor farm was 
 69 qrs. of wheat, 54 qrs. of barley, 11 qrs. of pease, 
 
 29 qrs. of haras (horse's food), and 65 qrs. of oats. 
 In 1387, the quantity of land sown with wheat was 
 66 acres, 2 bushels to an acre ; barley 26 acres, 4 
 bushels to the acre ; pease 25 acres ; haras 25 acres ; 
 oats 62 acres, 2i bushels to the acre. 
 
 The persons employed on a manorial farm were, 
 the steward, the bailiff', the head haiTest-man, 
 carters, ploughmen, plough-drivers, shepherds, 
 swineherds, and deyes ; which last were the lowest 
 order of agricultural laborers. The steward held 
 the manor-courts, and saw that the manorial privi- 
 leges did not become obsolete. He kept accounts 
 of the farming-stock and of the consumption of the 
 family, and the domestics were under his care. 
 The steward's accounts for the manor of Hawsted 
 are regularly audited, and written out in Latin, 
 probably hj the auditor, who, it is supposed, was 
 an ecclesiastic. The bailiff" was next in authority, 
 and was, in fact, a practical farmer, who superin- 
 tended the cultivation of the demesne. The head 
 harvest-man was, in the manor of Hawsted, annu- 
 ally ejected by the tenantry from among themselves, 
 and was presented by them to the lord. During 
 the year of his appointment he enjoyed an exemp- 
 tion from various services, and obtained other privi- 
 leges. He had his meals at the lord's table, if he 
 kept house, and if not, a livery of corn, and a horse 
 was kept for him in the lord's stable. In 1283, 
 when "Fleta" was written, the plough-driver was 
 accustomed to sleep in the same building with his 
 cattle. Women took part in the lighter labors of 
 husbandry. For winnowing corn and tending the 
 young cattle, as also the geese and poultry belong- 
 ing to the Hawsted manor-farm, for fourteen weeks, 
 a woman received eight bushels of siligo. It has 
 been already observed, that the labors of the field 
 did not proceed so uninterruptedly as at a later pe- 
 i-iod. Except in seed-time, the weeding season, 
 and the hay and corn harvests, there must have 
 been a real lack of occupation. It seems to have 
 been an object to finish harvest in the shortest pos- 
 sible time ; and the business of seed-time must have 
 been conducted with equal rapidity. There are 
 items in the Hawsted accounts showing that sixty 
 persons were paid for one day, at 2d. each, to weed 
 the corn. Harvest was a scene of still greater ani- 
 mation. In one year, five hundred and twenty per- 
 sons were hired for one day ; in another year, five 
 hundred and thirty-three ; and in a third, five hun- 
 dred and thirty-eight; and yet the number of acres 
 to be reaped did not exceed two hundred. The 
 old and young of both sexes must have been a-field. 
 The termination of the harvest wiis followed by4hos<- 
 festivities which are not yet altogether obsolete. 
 
 A list of the various trades and handicrafts of the 
 time will aflford as good an idea of the general state 
 of the useful arts as more detailed notices of the 
 minute operations of each. Before the 50th Edward 
 III., (1376) the " mysteries," or trades of London, 
 who elected the common council of the city, were 
 thirty-two in number, but they were increased, by 
 an ordinance of the above year, to fortj--five, which 
 were as follows : — Grocers, masons, ironmongers, 
 mercers, brewpis. leather-dressers, drapers, fletch-
 
 812 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 ers, armorers, fishmongers, bakers, butchers, gold- 
 smiths, skinners, cutlers, vintners, girdlers, spur- 
 riers, tailors, stainers, plumbers, saddlers, cloth- 
 measurers, •\vax-chandlers, Webbers, haberdashers, 
 barbers, tapestry-weavers, braziers, painters, leather- 
 sellers, salters, tanners, joiners, cajipers, pouch-ma- 
 kers, pewterers, chandlers, hatters, woodmongers, 
 I'ullers, smiths, pinners, curriers, horners. 
 
 The incorporation of several of the great city 
 companies took place in this period. Many of them 
 had long subsisted as guilds and fraternities, but now 
 obtained additional powers for regulating their re- 
 spective crafts. To the goldsmiths, for instance, 
 was assigned the assaying of metals ; to the vintners, 
 the gauging of wines ; and to the fishmongers, the 
 inspection of fish. In 1298, the trades of London 
 got up a pageant in honor of the return of Edward 
 III. from Scotland ; and at all times, when the honor 
 and dignity of the city was concerned, they took 
 from this time a most important shfire in the proceed- 
 ings. In the reigu of Edward III. there were but 
 two earls and one bishop among the honorary mem- 
 bers of the Merchant-Tailors' Company ; but in the 
 following reign there were four royal dukes, ten 
 earls, ten barons, and five bishops enrolled in the 
 company. Edward III. became a member of the 
 fraternity of linen-armorers, a sort of tailors, who 
 made the padding and lining of armor.' 
 
 A large portion of the trade of the country was 
 transacted at fairs and markets. The tradesmen 
 of- London had shops in the Cheap, which resem- 
 bled sheds, and many of them had simply stalls ; 
 and traveling occasionally from place to place, they 
 may be considered as having been pedlers as well 
 as tradesmen. The mercers dealt in toys, drugs, 
 spices, and small wares generally; their stocks be- 
 ing of the same miscellaneous description as that 
 which is kept at a village-shop in the present day. 
 The station of the mercers of London was between 
 Bow Church and Friday-street ; and here, around 
 the old cross of Cheap, they sold their goods at little 
 standings or stalls, surrounded by those belonging to 
 other trades. The scene would resemble a market 
 (jr fair. The places at Avhich they transacted their 
 business were let at rates varying from lis. to 28s. 
 ;)er year.^ The trade of the modern grocer was 
 preceded by that of the pepperer, which was often 
 in the hands of Lombards and Italians, who dealt 
 also in drugs and spices. The drapers were origi- 
 nally manufacturers of cloth : to drape signified to 
 make cloth. The trade of the fishmonger was 
 divided into two branches, the persons belonging to 
 one of which dealt chiefly or altogether in salted 
 fish, then a common article of diet. The skinners 
 were incorporated during the present period. They 
 were in the habit of attending the fairs, particularly 
 those of Stamford and Winchester. The gold- 
 
 ' Herbert's Hist, of the Livery C unpanies of Loudon. - Stow 
 
 smiths were also incorporated about the same time. 
 They existed previously as a guild ; and all those who 
 were members of the fraternity had their shops in 
 the street of Cheap ; but fraudulent traders set up 
 shops in obscure lanes, where they endeavored to 
 sell goods of inferior metal. Many of the gold- 
 smiths were foreigners. Tailors were employed 
 in making women's garments. The hal)_erdashers 
 dealt in a great number of articles. The dealers 
 in hats were called haberdashers of hats ; and those 
 who sold ribbons, &c., haberdashers of small wares. 
 They dealt in articles of dress brought from JMilan ; 
 and a distinct branch arose out of this trade, the 
 persons engaged in it being called milliners. The 
 vintners were anciently known as the Merchant 
 Vintners of Gascony ; and the retail dealers in 
 wine as the Wine-tunners. The division of em- 
 ployments was most complete in connection with 
 the woolen manufacture. 
 
 In the provincial towns, triide was of course con- 
 ducted on a smaller scale than in London. The 
 exchange of commodities was eflfected to a gi'eat ex- 
 tent at the fairs and at the markets, and they gave 
 an air of animation and life, which would strongly 
 contrast with the dulness by which they were pre- 
 ceded and followed. In the reign of Edward III. 
 Colchester contained three hundred and fifty-uine 
 houses, some built of mud. others of timber, and 
 none having any but latticed windows ; and yet there 
 were only about nine towns in England of greater 
 importance. The number of inhabitants was about 
 three thousand. In the year 1301, all the movable 
 property of the town, including the furniture and 
 clothing of the inhabitants, was worth only 518/. 
 Colchester was the center of resort for a large dis- 
 trict, and the trades carried on in it were the twenty- 
 nine following : — baker, barber, blacksmith, bowyer, 
 brewer, butcher, carpenter, carter, cobbler, cook, 
 dyer, fisherman, fuller, furrier, girdler, glass-seller, 
 glover, linen-draper, mercer, miller, mustard and 
 vinegar seller, old clothes' seller, spice seller, tailor, 
 tanner, tiler, weaver, wood-cutter, and wool-comber. 
 The tools of a carpenter at Colchester consisted of 
 a broad-ax, valued 5d. ; another 3d. ; an adze 2d. ; 
 a square Id. ; a navegor (probably a spoke-shave) 
 Id.; making the total value of the implements of 
 his art only Is. The tools and stock of a blacksmith 
 were valued at only a few shillings, the highest sum 
 being 12s. The stock in trade and household goods 
 of a tanner were estimated at 9/. 17s. lOd. A mer- 
 cer's stock was valued at 3/. ; his household prop- 
 erty at 2l. 9s. The mustard and vinegar seller was 
 a necessary trade when so much meat was eaten in 
 a salted state. Several trades, including those of 
 the brewer, the baker, and the miller, appear to 
 have been carried on by women as well as by 
 men.' 
 
 ' Eden's S. itc of the Poor. i. 13-21.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 81.3 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE. SCIENCE, AND THE FINE AilTS. 
 
 FTER the detailed 
 nccouiit given in the 
 last Book of the va- 
 rious branches of 
 science and learning 
 cultivated in the elev- 
 enth and twelfth cen- 
 turies, a very few ad- 
 ditional remarks will 
 suffice to indicate the 
 state of knowledge in 
 the thirteenth and 
 fourteenth. The stu- 
 dy of elegant literature was now nearly altogether 
 abandoned in the passion which everywhere raged 
 for metaphysical disputation. Almost the only 
 ■writer of this period who can be regarded as be- 
 longing to the same class with the numerous Latin 
 poets of the preceding age, is William the Breton, 
 the author of the epic on the actions of Philip Au- 
 gustus, to which we have more than once referred. 
 In the univei-sity of Paris, and it was doubtless the 
 same elsewhere, from the beginning of the thirteenth 
 century, the ancient classics seem nearly to have 
 ceased to be read ; and all that was taught of rheto- 
 ric, or even of grammar, consisted of a few lessons 
 from Priscian. The habit of speaking Latin cor- 
 rectly and elegantly, which had been so common an 
 accomplishment of the scholars of the last age, was 
 now generally lost : even at the universities, the 
 classic tongue was corrupted into a base jargon, in 
 which frequently all grammar and syntax were dis- 
 regarded. This universal revolt from the study of 
 words and of aesthetics to that of thoughts and of 
 things is the most remarkable event in the intel- 
 lectual history of the species. Undoubtedly all its 
 results were not evil. On the whole, it was most 
 probably the salvation even of that learning and ele- 
 gant literature which it seemed for a time to have 
 overwhelmed. The excitement of its very novelty 
 awakened the minds of men. Never was there 
 such a ferment of intellectual activity as now sprimg 
 up in Europe. The enthusiasm of the crusades 
 seem to have been succeeded by an enthusiasm of 
 study, which equally impelled its successive inun- 
 dations of devotees. In the beginning of the four- 
 teenth century there were thirty thousand students 
 at the university of Oxford ; and that of Paris could 
 probably boast of the attendance of a still vaster 
 multitude. This was something almost like a uni- 
 versal diffusion of education and knowledge. The 
 studies of the former age, exacting as they did a 
 long and laborious course of preparation, and the 
 culture of the taste to the most delicate degree of 
 refinement, were essentially unsuited either to pro- 
 
 duce such a state of things, or to satisfy its demands 
 after it was produced ; it required something of a 
 coarser or homeUer fabric, something that tasked 
 rather the native vigor of men's minds than their 
 artificial resources and accomplishments, and ap- 
 pealed to passions or senses of a much lower and 
 more common order, than those connected with the 
 imagination or the taste. The new studies at once 
 tempted men's curiosity and flattered their vanity ; 
 thej^ seemed to promise a positive accession of 
 knowledge and power, instead of a mere l)arren in- 
 tellectual gratification. And they did undoubtedly 
 tend to sharpen and strengthen various faculties, 
 which were scarcely at all called into exercise by 
 the old mode of education an4 mental culture. It 
 was no doubt a barbarous mistake to assume that 
 nothing was worth studying except things and no- 
 tions — of the three great departments of the intel- 
 lectual world, the physical, the metaphysical, and 
 the imaginative, to overlook altogether the widest 
 and highest — not to speak of the veiy partial view 
 that was taken of the two others. But essentially 
 defective and perishable also was the opposite sj-s- 
 tem, which left both the latter wholly unregarded. 
 The brief revival of elegant literature in the twelfth 
 century was a premature spring, which could not 
 last. The preliminary processes of vegetation were 
 not sufficiently advanced to sustain any general or 
 enduring efflorescence ; nor was the state of the 
 world such as to call for or admit of any extensive 
 diffusion of the kind of scholarship then cultivated. 
 The probability is, that even if nothing else had 
 taken its place, it would have gradually become 
 feebler in character, as well as confined within a 
 narrower circle of cultivators, till it had altogether 
 evaporated and disappeared. The excitement of 
 the new learning, turbulent and in some respects 
 debasing as it was, saved western Europe from the 
 complete extinction of the light of scholarship and 
 philosophy which would in that case have ensued, 
 and kept alive the spirit of intellectual culture, 
 though in the mean while imprisoned and limited in 
 its vision, for a happier future time when it should 
 have ampler scope and full freedom of range. 
 
 Almost the only studies now cultivated by the 
 common herd of students were the Aristotelian logic 
 and metaphysics. Yet it was not till after a strug- 
 gle of some length that the supremacy of Aristotle 
 was established in the schools. The most ancient 
 statutes of the University of Paris that have been 
 preserved, those issued by the Pope's legate, Robert 
 de Cour^on, in 1215, prohibited the reading either 
 of the metaphysical or the physical works of that 
 philosopher, or of any abridgment of them. This, 
 however, it has been remarked, was a mitigation of
 
 814 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 the treatment these books had met with a few years 
 before, when all the copies of them that could be 
 found were ordered to be thrown into the fire.' 
 Still more lenient was a decree of Pope Gregory IX. 
 in 1231, which only ordered the reading of them to 
 be suspended until they should have undergone cor- 
 rection. Certain heretical notions in religion, pro- 
 mulgated or suspected to have been entertained by 
 some of the most zealous of the early Aristotelians, 
 had awakened the apprehensions of the church ; 
 but the general orthodoxy of their successors qui- 
 eted those fears ; and in course of time the author- 
 ity of the Stagyrite was universally recognized both 
 in theology and in the profane sciences. 
 
 Some of the most distinguished of the scholastic 
 doctors of this period were natives of Britain. Such, 
 in particular, were Alexander de Hales, styled the 
 IiTofragable, an English Franciscan, who died at 
 Paris in 1245, and who is famous as the master of 
 St. Bonaventura, and the first of the long list of 
 commentators on the Four Books of the Sentences : 
 the Subtle Doctor, John Duns Scotus, also a Fran- 
 ciscan and the chief glory of that order, who, after 
 teaching with unprecedented popularity and ap- 
 plause at Oxford and Paris, died at Cologne in 
 1308 at the early age of forty-three, leaving a mass 
 of writings, the very quantity of which would be 
 sufficiently wonderful even if they were not marked 
 by a vigor and penetration of thought which, down 
 to our own day, has excited the admiration of all 
 who have examined them ; and William Occam, 
 the Invincible, another Franciscan, the pupil of 
 Scotus, but afterward his opponent on the great 
 philosophical question of the origin and nature of 
 Universals or General Terms, which so long divided, 
 and still divides, logicians. Occam, who died at 
 Munich in 1347, was the restorer, and perhaps the 
 most able defender, that the middle ages pi'oduced, 
 of the doctrine of Nominalism, or the opinion that 
 general notions are merely names, and not real 
 existences, as was contended by the Realists. The 
 side taken by Occam was that of the minority in 
 his own day, and for many ages after, and his views 
 accordingly were generally regarded as heterodox 
 in the schools ; but his high merits have been recog- 
 nized in modern times, when perhaps the greater 
 number of speculators have come over to his way of 
 thinking. 
 
 In the mathematical and physical sciences, Roger 
 Bacon is the great name of the thirteenth century, 
 and indeed the greatest that either his country or 
 Europe can produce for some centuries after this 
 time. He was born at Ilchester about the year 
 1214, and died in 1292. His writings that are still 
 preserved, of which the principal is that entitled 
 his Opus Majus (or Greater Work), show that the 
 range of his investigations included theology, gram- 
 mar, the ancient languages, geometry, astronomy, 
 chronology, geography, music, optics, mechanics, 
 chemistry, and most of the other branches of exper- 
 imental philosophy. In all these sciences he had 
 mastered whatever was then known ; and his knowl- 
 edge, though necessarily mixed with much en-or, 
 
 1 Crevier, Histoire de I'Univ de Paris, i 313 
 
 extended in various directions considerably farther 
 than, but for the evidence of his writings, we should 
 have been warranted in believing that scientific re- 
 searches had been carried in that age. In optics, 
 for instance, he not only understood the general laws 
 of reflected and refracted light, and had at least con- 
 ceived such an instrument as a telescope, but he 
 makes some advances toward an explanation of the 
 phenomenon of the rainbiw. It may be doubted 
 whether what have been sometimes called his in- 
 ventions and discoveries in mechanics and in chem- 
 istry were for the greater part more than notions 
 he had formed of the possibility of accomplishing 
 certain results ; but even regarded as mere specu- 
 lations or conjectures, many of his statements of 
 what might lie done show that he was familiar with 
 mechanical principles, and possessed a considciable 
 acquaintance with the powers of natural agents. 
 He appears to have known the effects and compo- 
 sition of gunpowder, which indeed there is other 
 evidence for believing to have been then known in 
 Europe. Bacon's notions on the right method of 
 philosophizing are remarkably enlightened for the 
 times in Avhich he lived ; and his general views 
 upon most subjects evince a penetration and liberal- 
 ity much beyond the spirit of his age. With all 
 his sagacity and freedom from prejudice, indeed, 
 he was a believer both in astrology and alchemy; 
 but, as it has been observed, these delusions did 
 not then stand in the same predicament as now : 
 they were "irrational only because unproved, and 
 neither impossible nor unworthy of the investigation 
 of a philosopher, in the absence of preceding exper- 
 iments." ' Another eminent English cultivator of 
 mathematical science in that age was the celebrated 
 Robert Grostete, or Greathead, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 the friend and patron of Bacon. Grostete, who 
 died in 1253, is the author of a treatise on the 
 sphere, which had been printed. A third name 
 that deserves to be mentioned along with these is 
 that of Sir Michael Scott, of Balwirie, in Fife, 
 famous in popular tradition as a practitioner of the 
 occult sciences, but whom his writings, of which 
 several are extant and have been printed, prove to 
 have been possessed of acquirements both in science 
 and literature, of which few in those times could 
 boast. He is said to have been born about the 
 beginning of the thirteenth century, and to have 
 survived till the year 1290. Like Roger Bacon, 
 Scott was addicted to the study of alchemy and 
 astrology ; but these were in his eyes also parts of 
 natural philosophy. Among other works, a Trea- 
 tise on Physiognomy and a History of Animals are 
 ascribed to him. He is said to have translated 
 several of the works of Aristotle from the Greek 
 into Latin, at the command of the Emperor Fred- 
 eric II. He is spoken of as having been eminently 
 skilled both in astronomy and medicine; and a con- 
 temporary, John Bacon, himself known by the title 
 of Prince of the Averroists, or followers of the 
 Arabian Doctor Averroes, celebrates him as a great 
 theologian.^ 
 
 1 Penny Cyclopfedia, iii. 243. 
 
 2 See an Article on Michael Scott in Bavle.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE. SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 815 
 
 A Tower which formerly stood on the Bridge at Oxford, traditionally known as Roger Bacon's Study, — the " Bacon Mansion" alluded 
 
 to by Johnson in his "Vanity of Human Wishes." 
 
 These instances, however, were rare exceptions 
 to the general rule. Metaphysics and logic, togeth- 
 er with divinity — which was converted into little 
 else than a subject of metaphysical and logical 
 contention — so occupied the crowd of intellectual 
 inquirers, that, except the professional branches of 
 law and medicine, scarcely any other studies were 
 generally attended to. Roger Bacon himself tells 
 us that he knew of only two good mathematicians 
 among his contemporaries — one John of Leyden, 
 who had been a pupil of his own, and another 
 whom he does not name, but who is supposed to 
 have been John Peckham, a Franciscan friar, who 
 afterward became Archbishop of Canterbury. Few 
 students of the science, he says, proceeded farther 
 than the fifth proposition of the first book of Euclid 
 — the well-known asses' bridge. The study of 
 geometry was still confounded in the popular under- 
 standing with the study of magic — a proof that it 
 was a very rare pursuit. In arithmetic, although 
 the knowledge of the Arabic numerals had found 
 its way to Europe before the middle of the four- 
 teenth century, they do not appear to have come 
 into general use till a considerably later date. As- 
 tronomy, however, was sufficiently cultivated at 
 the University of Paris to enable some of the 
 members to predict an eclipse of the sun which 
 happened on the 31st of January, 1310.^ This 
 science was indebted for part of the attention it 
 received, to the belief that was universally enter- 
 tained in the influence of the stars over human 
 1 Crevier, ii. 224 
 
 affairs. And as astrology led to the cultivation and 
 improvement of astronomy, so the other imaginaiy 
 science of alchemy undoubtedly aided the pi'ogress 
 of chemistiy and medicine. Beside Roger Bacon 
 and Michael Scott in the 13th century, England 
 contributed the names of John Daustein, of Rich- 
 ard, and of Cremer, Abbot of Westminster, the 
 disciple and friend of the famous Raymond Luliy, 
 to the list of the writers on alchemy in the four- 
 teenth. Lully himself visited England in the reign 
 of Edward I., on the invitation of the king; and he 
 affirms in one of his works, that in the secret cham- 
 ber of St. Catherine in the Tower of London, he 
 performed in the royal presence the experiment of 
 transmuting some crystal into a mass of diamond, 
 or adamant as he calls it, of which Edward, he says, 
 caused some little pillars to be made for the taber- 
 nacle of God. It was popularly believed, indeed, at 
 the time, that the English king had been furnished 
 by Lully with a great quantity of gold for defraying 
 the expense of an expedition he intended to make 
 to the Holy Land. Edward III. was not less cred- 
 ulous on this subject than his grandfather, as ap- 
 pears by an order which he issued in 1329, in the 
 following terms : — " Know all men, that we have 
 been assured that John of Rous and Master Will- 
 iam of Dalby know how to make silver by the art 
 of alchemy ; that they have made it in former 
 times, and still continue to make it ; and, consider- 
 ing that these men, by their art, and by making the 
 precious metal, may be profitable to us and to our 
 kingdom, we have commanded our well-beloved
 
 816 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 Thomas Cary to apprehend the aforesaid John and 
 WiUiam, -wherever they can be found, within hber- 
 ties or without, and bring them to us, together Avith 
 all the instruments of their art, under safe and sure 
 custody." The earliest English writer on medi- 
 cine, whose works have been printed, is Gilbert 
 English (or Anglicus), who flourished in the thir- 
 teenth century ; and he was followed in the next 
 century by John de Gaddesden. The practice of 
 medicine had now been taken in a great measure 
 out of the hands of the clergy ; but the art was still 
 in the greater psirt a mixture of superstition and 
 quackery, although the knowledge of some useful 
 remedies, and perhaps also of a few principles, had 
 been obtained from the writings of the Arabic phy- 
 sicians (many of which had been translated into 
 Latin), and from the instructions delivered in the 
 schools of Spain and Italy. The distinction between 
 the physician and the apothecary was now well 
 understood. Surgery also began to be followed as 
 a separate branch : some works are still extant, 
 partly printed, partly in manuscript, by John Ar- 
 dern, or Arden, an eminent English surgeon, who 
 practiced at Newark in the fourteenth centurj'. A 
 lively picture of the state of the surgical art at this 
 period is given by a French writer, Guy de Cauliac, 
 in a system of surgery which he published in 1363: 
 " The practitioners in surgery," he sajs, " are 
 divided into five sects. The first follow Roger and 
 Roland, and the four masters, and apply poultices 
 to all wounds and abscesses; the second follow 
 Brunus and Theodoric, and in the same cases use 
 wine only ; the third follow Saliceto and Lanfranc, 
 and treat wounds with ointments and soft plasters ; 
 the fourth are chiefly Germans, who attend the 
 armies, and promiscuously use charms, potions, oil, 
 and wool; the fifth are old women and ignorant 
 people, who have recourse to the saints in all 
 cases." 
 
 Yet the true method of philosophizing, by ex- 
 periment and the collection of facts, was almost as 
 distinctly and emphatically laid down in this age by 
 Roger Bacon, as it was more than three centuries 
 afterward by his illustrious namesake. Much 
 knowledge, too, must necessarily have been accu- 
 mulated in various departments by the actual appli- 
 cation of this method. Some of the greatest of the 
 modern chemists have bestowed the highest praise 
 on the manner in which the experiments of the 
 alchemists, or hermetic philosophers, as they called 
 themselves, on metals and other natural substances, 
 appear to have been conducted. In another field, 
 namely, in that of geography, and the institutions, 
 customs, and general state of distant countries, a 
 great deal of new information must have been ac- 
 quired from the accounts that were now published 
 by various travelers, especially by Marco Polo, who 
 penetrated as far as to Tartary and China, in the 
 latter part of the thirteenth century, and by our 
 countryman. Sir John Mandeville, who also trav- 
 ersed a great part of the East about a hundred years 
 later. Roger Bacon has inserted a very curious 
 epitome of the geographical knowledge of his time 
 in his " Opus Majus." 
 
 About the middle of the thirteenth century, both 
 in England and elsewhere, the universities began 
 to assume a new form, by the erection of colleges 
 for the residence of their members as separate 
 communities. The zeal for learning thfit was dis- 
 played in these munificent endowments is the most 
 honorable characteristic of the age. Within the 
 present period the following colleges were founded 
 at Oxford: — University Hall, by William, Arch- 
 deacon of Durham, who died in 1249; Baliol Col- 
 lege, by John Baliol, the father of King John of 
 Scotland, about 12G3; Morton College, by AValter 
 Merton, Bishop of Rochester, in 1268; Exeter 
 College, by Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, 
 about 1315; Oriel College, originally called the 
 Hall of the Blessed Virgin of Oxford, by Edward 
 II. and his almoner, Adam de Brom, about 1324 ; 
 Queen's College, by Robert Eglesfield, chaplain to 
 Queen Philippa, in 1340; and New College, in 
 1379, by the celebrated William of Wykeham. 
 Bishop of Winchester, the munificent founder also 
 of Winchester College. In the University of 
 Cambridge the foundations were, Peter House, by 
 Hugh Balsham, sub-prior and afterward Bishop 
 of Ely, about 1256; Michael College (afterward 
 incorporated with Trinity College), by Herby de 
 Stanton, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Edward 
 II., about 1324 ; University Hall (soon afterward 
 burnt down), by Richard Badew, Chancellor of 
 the University, in 1326; King's Hall (afterward 
 united to Trinity College), by Edward HI. ; Clare 
 Hall, a restoration of University Hall, by Elizabeth 
 de Clare, Countess of Ulster, about 1347 ; Pem- 
 broke Hall, or the Hall of Valence and Mary in the 
 same year, by Mary de St. Paul, widow of Aymer 
 de Valence, Earl of Pembroke ; Trinity Hall, in 
 
 1350, by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich; 
 Gonvil Hall, about the same time, by Edmond Gon- 
 vil, parson of Terrington and Rushworth, in Nor- 
 folk ; and Corpus Christi, or Bennet College, about 
 
 1351, by the United Guilds of Corpus Christi and 
 St. Mary, in the town of Cambridge. The erection 
 of these colleges, beside the accommodation which 
 they afforded in various ways both to teachers and 
 students, gave a permanent establishment to the 
 universities, which they scarcely before possessed. 
 The original condition of these celebrated seats of 
 learning in regard to all the conveniences of teach- 
 ing appears to have been humble in the extreme. 
 Great disorders and scandals are also said to have 
 arisen, before the several societies were thus as- 
 sembled each within its own walls, from the inter- 
 mixture of the students with the townspeople, and 
 their exemption from all discipline. But when the 
 members of the University were counted by tens 
 of thousands, discipline, even in the most advan- 
 tageous circumstances must have been nearly out of 
 the question. The difficulty would not be lessened 
 by the general character of the persons composing 
 the learned mob, if we may take it from the quaint 
 historian of the University of Oxford. Many of 
 them, Anthony a Wood affirms, were mere " varlets 
 who pretended to be scholars :" he does not scruple 
 to charge them with being habitually guilty of thiev-
 
 C.iAP. v.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 817 
 
 The School of Pythagoras, Cambridoe. 
 An ancient Hostel, said to have been used for the residence of Students, before the foundation of Colleges. 
 
 ing and other enormities ; and he adds, " they lived 
 under no discipline, neither had any tutors, but 
 only for fashion sake would sometimes thrust them- 
 selves into the schools at ordinary lectures, and 
 when they went to perform any mischiefs, then 
 would they be accounted scholars, that so they 
 might free themselves from the jurisdiction of the 
 burghers." To repress the evils of this state of 
 things, the old statutes of the University of Paris, 
 in 1215, had ordained that no one should be reputed 
 a scholar who had not a certain master. Another 
 of these ancient regulations may be quoted in illus- 
 tration of the simplicity of the times, and of the 
 small measure of pomp and circumstance that the j 
 heads of the commonwealth of learning could then 
 atfect. It is ordered that every master reading ; 
 lectures in the faculty of arts should have his cloak ^ 
 or gown, round, black, and falling as low as the 
 heels, " at least," adds the statute, with amusing 
 naivete, «' while it is new." But this famous sem- 
 inary long continued to take pride in its poverty 
 as one of its most honorable distinctions. There 
 is something very noble and aftecting in the terms 
 in which the rector and masters of the faculty of 
 arts are found petitioning, in 1362, for a postpone- 
 ment of the hearing of a cause in which they were 
 parties : "We have diflficulty," they say, "in find- 
 ing the money to pay the pi-ocurators and advo- 
 cates, whom it is necessary for us to employ — ue 
 whose profession it is to possess no weallJt.^^ ' Yet, 
 when funds were wanted for important purposes in 
 connection with learning or science, they were 
 
 I Crevicr. ii 404 
 
 VOL. I. — 52 
 
 supplied in this age with no stinted liberality. We 
 have seen with what alacrity opulent persons came 
 forward to build and endow colleges, as soon as the 
 expediency of such foundations came to be per- 
 ceived. In almost all these establishinents, more or 
 less provisions were made for the permanent main- 
 tenance of a body of poor scholars, in other words, 
 for the admission of even the humblest classes to a 
 share in the benefits of that learned education 
 whose temples and priesthood were thus planted in 
 the land. It is probable, also, that the same kind 
 of liberality was often shown in other ways. Roger 
 Bacon tells us himself that, in twenty years in 
 which he had been engaged in his experiments, he 
 had spent in books and instruments no less a sum 
 than two thousand French livres, an amount of 
 silver equal to about 6,0001. of our present money, 
 and in effective value certainly to many times 
 that sum. He must have been indebted for these 
 large supplies to the generosity of rich friends and 
 patrons. 
 
 Notwithstanding the general neglect of its ele- 
 gances, and of the habit of speaking it correctly or 
 grammatically, the Latin tongue continued through- 
 out this period to be in England, as elsewhere, tlm 
 common language of the learned, and that in Avhich 
 books were generally written that were intended 
 for their perusal. Among this class of works may 
 be included the contemporary chronicles, many of 
 which wei'e compiled in the monasteries, and tlie 
 authors of almost all of which were churchmen 
 The most eminent English historian of the thir 
 teenth century is Matthew Paris, wl'.o v>'as a Ben»
 
 818 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 Matthew Paris. 
 Fioin a drawing by hiiuscif, in a MS. of the " flistoria Major." 
 
 which, he a.sscrts, he has found between it and au- 
 thentic records or contemporary writers, in most 
 instances when he could confront the one with the 
 other.' The " Historia Major" has been continued 
 to the death of Henry HI., by William Rishanger, 
 a monk, as it is supposed, of the same abbey.* 
 Among the other contemporary chroniclers of this 
 period who wrote in Latin, the principal are, 
 Thomas Wykes (in Latin, Vicanus or Wipelus), a 
 canon regular of Osney, near Oxford, whose chron- 
 icle extends from the Conquest to 1304 ; Walter 
 llemingford, a monk of Gisborough in Yorkshire, 
 the author of a valuable history from the Conquest 
 to 1347; Robert de Avesbury, register of the court 
 of the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose history of 
 the reign of Edward IIL is esteemed for its accu- 
 racy, but comes down only to 135G ; Nicholas Trivet, 
 prior of a Dominican monastery in London, who 
 wrote a history of national afl'airs under the title of 
 •'Annals" from 1130 to 1307; Ralph Iligden, a 
 monk of St. Wesburg in Chester, whose " Poly- 
 chronicon," which ends in 1357, was translated into 
 English by John de Trevisa, a Cornish divine, be- 
 fore the end of the fourteenth century ; Henry 
 Knyghton (or Cnitton, as he himself spells the name), 
 a canon of Leicester, the author of a History from 
 the time of King Edgar to 1395, and also of an ac- 
 count of the deposition of Richard H.; and Adam 
 Merimuth, a canon regular of St. Paul's, whose 
 annals commence in 1302 and extend to 1380.' To 
 these may be added various monastic registers, such 
 as those of Mailros, ending in 1270; of Margan, 
 ending in 1232 ; of Burton, ending in 12G3 ; of Wa- 
 verly, ending in 1291, &:c. John Fordun, the ear- 
 liest of the Scottish regular chroniclers, also flour- 
 ished in the fourteenth century. His Scotichronicon 
 brings down the history of Scotland to the year 1385. 
 Latin was also, throughout a gi-eat part of this 
 period, the usual language of the law, at least in 
 writing. All the charters of liberties are in Latin. 
 So is every statute down to the jear 1275. The 
 first that is in French is the Statute of Westminster 
 the First, passed in that year, the 3d of Edward L 
 Throughout the remainder of the reign of Edward 
 they are sometimes in Latin, sometimes in French, 
 but more frequently in the former language. The 
 French becomes more frequent in the time of Ed- 
 ward n., and is almost exclusively used in that of 
 Edward HL and Richard H. Still there are stat- 
 utes in Latin in the sixth and eighth years of the 
 last mentioned king. It is not improbable that, 
 from the accession of Edward I., the practice may 
 have been to draw up every statute in both lan- 
 guages. Of the law treatises, Bracton and Fleta 
 
 dictine monk of the monastery of St. Albans, and 
 was also much employed in affairs of state during 
 the reign of Henry III. He died in 1259; and his 
 principal work, entitled " Ilistoria Major " (the 
 Greater History), begins at the Norman Conquest 
 and comes down to that year. The portion of it, 
 however, extending to the year 1235, is said to be 
 copied from a work by Roger Windsor, or Wendo- 
 ver, a manuscript of which is in the Cottonian Li- 
 brary. Matthew Paris is one of the most spirited 
 and rhetorical of our old Latin historians; and the 
 extraordinary freedom with which he expresses him- 
 self, in regard especially to the usurpations of the 
 court of Rome, forms a striking contrast to the almost 
 uniform tone of his monkish brethren. Nor does 
 he show less boldness in animadverting upon the 
 vices and delinquencies of kings, and of the great in 
 general. These qualities have in modern times 
 gained him much admiration among writers of one 
 party, and much obloquy from those of another. His 
 -work has always been bitterly decried by the Cath- 
 olics, who, at one time, indeed, were accustomed to 
 maintain that much of what appeared in the printed 
 copies of it was the interpolation of its Protestant 
 editors. This charge has now been abandoned ; 
 but an eminent Catholic historian of the present 
 day has not hesitated to denounce the narrative of 
 
 the monk of St. Albans as "a romance rather than ., , , , ; ,.^ „ ., „,■ , , f,„, „ ,, n.,.„.„j„.. «;„„ .„,„ 
 
 fithcr editors, or in the rollections oi UaJe and Iwysdeu. see ante, 
 
 a history," on the ground of the great discrepancy ; p. 594 
 
 1 Dr. Lingard, Uist. of Eng. ill. 160. Edit, of ]63;. 
 
 2 The History of Matthew Paris was first printed at London in 1571, 
 in folio. The subsequent editions, also, all in folio, arc, Zurich, 1606 ; 
 London, by Dr. W. Wats, 1640; Paris, 1644 ; and London, 1664. To 
 the latter edition.s are appended some other historical pieces of the 
 author, under the title of " Additamenta." There also exists, in man- 
 uscript, an abridgment of Matthew Paris's History, drawn up by him- 
 self, and generally referred to as the " Ilistoria Minor," or the " Chron 
 ica," which last appears to have been the original title. 
 
 3 All these have been published, either separately by Hearne and
 
 Chap. V.J 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 819 
 
 are in Latin ; Britton and the Miroir des Justices, 
 in French. 
 
 Latin was the language in which not only all the 
 scholastic divines and philosophers Avrote, but which 
 was also employed by all writei's on geometry, 
 astronomy, chemistry, medicine, and the other 
 branches of mathematical and natural science. All 
 the works of Roger Bacon, for example, are in 
 Latin ; and it is worth noting that, although by no 
 means a writer of classical purity, this distinguished 
 cultivator of science is still one of the most correct 
 writers of his time. He was indeed not a less zeal- 
 ous student of literature than of science, nor less 
 anxious for the improvement of the one than of the 
 other : accustomed himself to read the works of 
 Aristotle in the original Greek, he denounces as 
 mischievous impositions the wretched Latin trans- 
 lations by which alone they were known to the gen- 
 erality of his contemporaries : he warmly recom- 
 mends the study of grammar and the ancient 
 languages generally ; and deplores the little atten- 
 tion paid to the Oriental tongues in particular, of 
 which he says there were not in his time more 
 than three or four persons in western Europe who 
 knew anything. It is remarkable that the most 
 strenuous effort made within the present period to 
 revive the study of this last mentioned learning 
 proceeded from another eminent cultivator of natu- 
 ral science, the famous Raymond Lully, half-phi- 
 losopher, half-quack, as it has been the fashion to 
 regard him. It was at his instigation that Clement 
 v., in 1311, with the approbation of the Council of 
 Vienna, published a constitution, ordering that pro- 
 fessors of Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldaic 
 should be established in the universities of Paris, 
 Oxford, Bologna, and Salamanca. He had, more 
 than twentj^ years before, urged the same measure 
 upon Honorius IV., and its adoption then was only 
 prevented by the death of that Pope. After all, it 
 is doubtful if the papal ordinance was ever carried 
 into effect. There were, however, professors of 
 strange, or foreign languages at Paris a few years 
 after this time, as appears from an epistle of Pope 
 John XXII. to his legate there in 1325, in which 
 the latter is enjoined to keep watch over the said 
 professors, lest they should introduce any dogmas 
 as strange as the languages they taught.' 
 
 French, which had been the language of the 
 court and of the nobility in England from the Con- 
 quest, and in some measure, indeed, from the ac- 
 cession of the Confessor, was now also extensively 
 employed in literary compositions. There were at 
 this time two great dialects of the French tongue, 
 which were familiarly distinguished as the Langue 
 d^oc and the Longue (Voyl, from the two words for 
 yes, which were oc in the one, and oyl, afterward 
 oy or oui, in the other. The Langue d'oc was the 
 popular speech of the southern : the Langue d'oyl, 
 of the northern provinces;" Toulouse being ac- 
 
 1 Crevier, Hist, de TUiiiv. de Paris, ii. 112 and 227. 
 
 - The Langue d'oc is also often called the Provencal tongue ; and to 
 the Langue d'oyl exclusively it has been usual to apply the names of 
 the old French and the Romance, though the latter, at least, belongs 
 as nghtfully to the Langue d'oc, meaning, a-s it does, nothing more 
 than the Roman or Latin dialect, as the provincial Latin of Gaul was 
 
 counted the capital of the former, Paris of the lat- 
 ter ; and the river Loire forming (though by no 
 means with strict accuracy) the general line of di- 
 vision. The French which was brought over to 
 England by the Norman conquerors was, of course, 
 a dialect of the Langue d'ojd ; and such accordingly 
 our law French always continued to be. But tin- 
 annexation to the English crown of Poitou and 
 Aquitaine, on the accession of Henry II., immedi- 
 ately established as intimate a connection between 
 this country and that of the Langue d'oc, as had 
 existed for a century before with that of the Langue 
 d'oyl. The former had already for some time re- 
 ceived a literary cultivation, and had been made to 
 flow in song in the compositions of the troubadours, 
 or professors of the gay science, as the Provenya! 
 poets called themselves. Duk-e William IX. of 
 Aquitaine, the father of Henry's Queen Eleanor, 
 had himself been one of the most distinguished oi' 
 these sires of the minstrelsy of modern Europe, 
 from whom sprung alike Dante and his successors, 
 the cultivators of the Lingua volgare of Italy, and 
 the trouveurs, or first metrical writers in the dia- 
 lect of northern France. It appears, at least, to be 
 most probable (although some eminent authorities 
 have maintained a different opinion) that the latter 
 dialect was not made use of for poetical composition 
 till a considerable time after that of the south had 
 begun to be so employed ; but it is certain that long 
 poems were already written in it before the close 
 of the twelfth century ; and, various circumstances 
 now contributing to the depression of the Provencal 
 troubadours, the poets of the Langue d'oyl ere long 
 came to be still more famous than those of the 
 Langue d'oc, and the former to be even generally 
 accounted the idiom the most happily adapted for 
 poetry. Most of these early poets in the language 
 of the north of France were Normans or English- 
 men. Yet the Provencal poetrj% too, was undoubt- 
 edly well known and in high favor in England, espe- 
 cially after the accession of Richard Coeur de Lion. 
 Of the principal poem attributed to that king,' there 
 are two versions, one (that commonly given) in Pro- 
 vencal, the other in Norman ; and it is disputed in 
 which dialect it was originally composed." 
 
 In speaking of the French literature of this 
 period, it would be unpardonable to omit noticing 
 its most remarkable pi-oduct, or that at least of all 
 its remains which has the most of an English 
 
 denominated, in contradistinction to the original Celtic language of the 
 people. Both the Langue d'oyl and the Langue d'oc, therefore, were, 
 properly speaking, Romance. They were also equally French in every 
 respect except one, namely, that it is from the Langue d'oyl, certainly, 
 that the modern French has been principally formed. In the proper 
 sense of this term, however, it is applicable to neither ; the French, or 
 Franks, were a Teutonic people, speaking a purely Teutonic tongue, 
 resembling the German, or more nearly the Flemish ; and this tongue 
 they continued to speak for several centuries after their conqnest ot 
 Gaul. This old Teutonic French is denominated by philologists the 
 Frankish or Francic. and it is altogether of a different family from the 
 modern French, which has come to be so called only from the accident 
 of the country in which it was spoken having been conquered by the 
 French or Franks, — the conquerors, as in other cases, in course of time 
 adopting the language of the conquered, and bestowing upon it their 
 own name. ' See ante. p. 492. 
 
 2 For the most complete account of the Anglo-Norman poets, see a 
 scries of papers by M. de la Rue, in :he I2l!i, 13th, and 14th vol- 
 umes of the Archaeologia
 
 820 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 interest, the Chronicle of the inimitable Sire Jean 
 Froissart. Froissart was a native of Valenciennes, 
 where he appears to have been born about 13.37; 
 but the four books of his Chronicle, which relate 
 principally to Enghsh affiiirs, though the narrative 
 i^mbraces also the course of events in France, 
 Flanders, Scotland, and other countries, compre- 
 hend the space from 1326 to 1400, or the whole of 
 the reigns of our Edward III. and Kichard II. 
 Froissart, however, is rather of authority as a 
 painter of manners than as an historian of events; 
 for his passion for the marvelous and the decorative 
 was so strong that the simple fact, we fear, would 
 have little chance of acceptance with him in any 
 case when it came into comjietition with a good 
 story. In his own, and in the next age, accordingly, 
 his history was generally reckoned and designated 
 a romance. Caxton, in his " Boke of the Ordre of 
 Chevalrye or Knighthood," classes it with the 
 romances of Lancelot and Percival; and indeed 
 the "Roman au Chroniques" seems to liave been 
 the title by which it was at first commonly known. 
 On the other hand, however, it is fair to remember 
 that a romance Avas not in those daj^s held to be 
 necessarily a fiction. Froissart's Chronicle is cer- 
 tainly the truest and most lively picture that any 
 writer has bequeathed to us of the spirit of a par- 
 ticular era; it shows " the very age find body of the 
 time his form and pressure." In a higher than the 
 literal sense, the most apocryphal incidents of this 
 most splendid and imaginative of gossips are full of 
 truth; they cast more light upon the actual men 
 and manners that are described, and bring back to 
 life more of the long buried past than the most care- 
 ful details of any other historian. Tlie popularity 
 of Froissart's Chronicle has thrown into the shade 
 his other productions ; but his highest fame in his 
 own day was as a writer of poetry. His greatest 
 poetical work appears to have been a romance en- 
 titled " Meliader, or the Knight of the Sun of Gold ;" 
 and he also wrote many shorter pieces, chants roy- 
 aux, ballads, rondeaux, and pastorals, in what was 
 then called the New Poetry, which, indeed, he cul- 
 tivated with so much success that he has by some 
 been regarded as its inventor.^ On his introduction 
 to Richard II., Avhen he paid his last visit to Eng- 
 land in 1396, he presented that monarch, as he tells 
 us, with a book beautifully illuminated, engrossed 
 with his own hand, bound in crimson velvet, and 
 embellished with silver bosses, clasps, and golden 
 roses, comprehending all the pieces of Amours and 
 3Ioralities which he had composed in the twenty- 
 four preceding years. Richard, he adds, seemed 
 much pleased, and examined the book in many 
 places ; for he was fond of reading as well as speak- 
 ing French. 
 
 But while Latin was thus the language of the 
 learned, and French of the noble, the body of the 
 people kept to the expressive Teutonic speech of 
 their ancestors — the Saxon or English. Notwith- 
 standing the circumstances which, even before the 
 Norman conquest, and more especially after that 
 event, operated to establish the partial use of the 
 
 1 See Wartou's Hist, of Eng. Poetry, ii. 173 and 300 
 
 French tongue, it is certain that French never 
 made any progress toward becoming the vernacu- 
 lar language of this country. On the contrary, it 
 seems, from the first, to have lost rather than 
 gained ground in the effort to maintain itself in 
 competition with the Saxon, even as a separate 
 speech. Although, however, it neither supplanted 
 the Saxon in the mouths of the general population, 
 nor even, as has been asserted, acquired the pre- 
 dominance in the mixture or fluctuation of the two 
 languages, it unquestionably did, in course of time, 
 infuse itself largely into the vocabulary of the old 
 national tongue. But the essential forms and 
 structure of that tongue it does not seem to have at 
 all all'ected. So much of it as was received into the 
 body of the Saxon was assimilated in the process, 
 and converted into one substance with the soil 
 which it enriched. The Saxon, however, even in 
 its forms, underwent, undoubtedlj-, a very consid- 
 erable change in the course of the eleventh and 
 twelfth centuries. " But that these mutations," 
 says a late, able, and learned writer, " were a con- 
 sequence of the Norman invasion, ox were even 
 accelerated by that event, is wliolly incapable of 
 proof; and nothing is supported upon a firmer prin- 
 ciple of rational induction, than that the same effects 
 would have ensued if William and his followers had 
 remained in their native soil. The substance of the 
 change is admitted on all hands to consist in the 
 suppression of those grammatical intricacies occa- 
 sioned by the inflection of nouns, the seemingly 
 arbitrary distinctions of gender, the government of 
 prepositions, &:c. How far this may be considered 
 as the result of an innate law of the language, or 
 some general law in the organization of those who 
 spoke it, we may leave for the present imdecided ; 
 but that it was in no Avay dependent upon exter- 
 nal circumstances, upon foreign influence or politi- 
 cal disturbances, is established by this undeniable 
 fact — that every branch of the Low German stock, 
 from whence the Anglo-Saxon sprang, displays the 
 same simplification of its grammar. In all these 
 languages there has been a constant tendency to 
 relieve themselves of that precision which chooses 
 a fresh symbol for every shade of meaning, to 
 lessen the amount of nice distinctions, and de- 
 tect, as it were, a royal road to the interchange of 
 opinion.' 
 
 The change here described may be considered as 
 having been the first step in the passage of the 
 Anglo-Saxon into the modern English; the next 
 was the change made in the vocabulary of the lan- 
 guage by the introduction of numerous terms bor- 
 rowed from the French. Of this latter innovation, 
 however, we find little trace till long after the com- 
 pletion of the former. For nearly two centuries 
 fifter the Conquest the Saxon seems to have been 
 spoken and written with scarcely any intermixture 
 of Norman. It only, in fact, began to receive such 
 intermixture after it came to be adopted as the 
 speech of that part of the nation which had pre- 
 viously spoken French. And this adoption was 
 plainly the cause, and the sole cause, of the inter- 
 
 ' Preface, by Price, to Warton's Hist of Enp. Poetry, p. 110
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 821 
 
 mixture. So long as it remained the language 
 only of those who had been accustomed to speak it 
 from their infancy, and who had never known any 
 other, it might have gradually undergone some 
 change in its internal organization, but it could 
 scarcely acquire any additions from a foreign source. 
 What should have tempted the Saxon peasant to 
 substitute a Norman term, upon any occasion, for 
 the word of the same meaning with which the lan- 
 guage of his ancestors supplied him? As for things 
 and occasions for which new names were necessary, 
 they must have come comparatively little in his 
 way ; and, when they did, the capabilities of his 
 native tongue were abundantly sufficient to furnish 
 him with appropriate forms of expression from its 
 o^vn resources. The corruption of the Saxon by 
 the intermixture of French vocables must have 
 proceeded from those whose original language was 
 French, and who were in habits of constant inter- 
 course with French customs, French literature, and 
 everything else that was French, at the same time 
 that they spoke Saxon. And this supposition is in 
 perfect accordance with the historical fact. So 
 long as the Saxon was the language of only a part 
 of the nation (though that was always infinitely the 
 most considerable part in respect of numbers), and 
 the French, as it were, struggled with it for mas- 
 tery, it remained unadulterated ; — when it became 
 the speech of the whole people, of the higher 
 classes as well as of the lower, then it lost its old 
 Teutonic purity (though only in its vocabulary, not 
 in its forms or its genius), and received a large alien 
 admixture from the alien lips through which it 
 passed. Whether this was a fortunate circum- 
 stance, or the reverse, is another question. It may, 
 however, be observed, that the Saxon, as has just 
 been intimated, had already lost some of the chief 
 of its original characteristics, and that, if left to its 
 own spontaneous and unassisted development, it 
 would probably have assumed a character resem- 
 bling rather that of the Dutch or the Flemish than 
 that of the German of the present day. 
 
 With the exception of several songs and other 
 short poetical pieces — one of the most remarkable 
 of which is a ballad in celebration of Simon de 
 Montfort's victory at Lewes in 1264 — a few met- 
 rical chronicles and romances, for the most part 
 translated from the French, constitute the only 
 compositions now remaining that can be said to be 
 written in the English, as distinguished from the 
 Anglo-Saxon language, before the end of the reign 
 of Edward I.' The Chronicle of Robert of Glou- 
 cester, being a history of England from the lauding 
 of Brutus to the accession of Edward I., is a metri- 
 cal, but anything rather than a poetical, version of 
 
 ' The celebrated romance of the Geste of King Hume, generally 
 quoted as the earliest English romance, must be considered (whether 
 it be translated or original) as rather a Saxon than an English poem, 
 even in the form in which we now possess it. Its language appears to 
 be of the same date with that of the Saxon translation of Wace's Le 
 Brut, by Layamon, or the paraphrase of the Gospel histories, entitled 
 " Ormulum," both of which are assigned to the reign of Henry H. The 
 romance of Sir Tristiem, again, which has been supposed to be the pro- 
 duction of the Scottish poet Thomas of Ercildown, or the Rymer, who 
 lived in the thirteentli century, is now generally considered not to be, 
 in its present form, of that antiqu:ty 
 
 the Latin History of Geoffrey of Monmouth. It is 
 supposed to have been written about the year 1280. 
 The similar performance of Robert Manuyng, often 
 called Robert de Brunne (from his monastery of 
 Brunne, or Bourn, in Lincolnshire), which was 
 produced about twenty years later, is scarcely of 
 any higher order of merit. It is translated from 
 two French chronicles, one itself a translation from 
 Geoff"rey of Monmouth (and the same that Laya- 
 mon had ali-eady translated into Saxon), by Wace 
 of Jei-sey, who flourished in the middle of the 
 twelfth century the other written by Peter Lang- 
 toft, a monk of Bridlington in Yorkshire, who lived 
 not long before Mannyng himself.' The language 
 appears in these works in almost the rudest possi- 
 ble state, though Mannyng's style is somewhat less 
 harsh and confused than that of his predecessor. 
 Some improvement, however, is discernible in the 
 next reign in the devotional poems, dull as they 
 are, of Adam Davy, and still more in the romance 
 entitled " The Life of Alexander," which has been 
 improperly attributed to that writer. But of all 
 the writers before Chaucer, the one in whose hands 
 the language seems to have made the most remark- 
 able advance in flexibility and correctness, was 
 Laurence Minot, who flourished in the earlier part 
 of the reign of Edward III., and wrote a series of 
 poetical pieces on the warlike achievements of that 
 king, which have gained for him, from an eloquent 
 modern critic, the title of ' the Tyrtseus of his 
 age.''^* 
 
 Toward the close of the reign of Edward III., 
 Robert (or, as he ought more probably to be called, 
 William) Langland wrote his singular poem enti- 
 tled " The Visions of (that is, concerning) Pierce 
 Plowman," in a diction and fashion of versification, 
 both of which seem to have been intended as imita- 
 tions of a Saxon model. The fines here are con- 
 structed upon the principle, not of rhyme, but of 
 alliteration; and instead of the introduction of any 
 new words or forms of expression, the aim of the 
 author evidently is to revive as many as possible of 
 those that had become obsolete. In vigor, anima- 
 tion, and general poetical merit, however, Lang- 
 land far excels any of the writers that have yet 
 been named. 
 
 But he does not distance his predecessors nearly 
 so far as he is himself distanced by his immortal 
 contemporary, Geoffrey Chaucer, the true father 
 of our English literature. Compared with the pro- 
 ductions of this great writer, all that precedes is 
 barbarism. It is curious that at the very time when 
 the author of the " Visions of Pierce Plowman" 
 was laboring to reinvigorate the language by the 
 restoration of its lost forms, another mind should 
 have entered upon the work of its renovation by the 
 opposite process, of moulding it to a spirit and man- 
 ner of expressiou different, in various respects, from 
 
 1 Hearne published Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle in two vols. 
 8vo. Oxford, 1724 ; and the second part of Mannyng's, under the title 
 of "Peter Langtoft's Chronicle," 2 vols. 8vo., Oxfurd. 1725. Mannyng, 
 accordingly, is usually quoted under the name of I.angtuft. The first 
 part of Mannyng's Chronicle has never bien printed. 
 
 2 Essay prefixed lo Specimens of the British Poets, by T. Campbell, 
 Esq.
 
 822 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV . 
 
 what it had ever before known. Yet it was no 
 doubt the same feeling of dissatisfaction with its ex- 
 isting state that prompted the endeavors of both. 
 The mightier genius, however, undoubtedly chose 
 the wiser course. To Chaucer our language prin- 
 cipally owes the foundations of its still enduring 
 constitution, as well as the wliole body of our poetry 
 much of its peculiar and characteristic spirit. He 
 is the father of our literature in a much higher and 
 truer sense than in that of merely standing formally 
 and by accident at its head. It has been made in 
 gi-eat part what it is through the example which 
 he set to his successors, and the influence and in- 
 spiration of the works which he bequeathed to them. 
 But for two hundred years Chaucer had no succes- 
 sor; in that early morn of his language he produced 
 compositions which the most gifted of his country- 
 men were scarcely able to appreciate, far less to 
 rival, till after the commencement of altogether a 
 new era of civilization. Nor has there even yet 
 arisen among us any poet, Shakspeare alone except- 
 ed, surpassing, in the entire assemblage of his vari- 
 ous qualities, this wonderful minstrel of the four- 
 teenth century. Spencer's is a more aerial, Milton's 
 a loftier song ; but the poetry of neither of these dis- 
 plays anything of the rich combination of contrasted 
 excellences that gives so much life aud splendor to 
 that of Chaucer — the sportive fency, painting and 
 gilding everything, with the keen, observant, mat- 
 ter-of-fact spirit that looks through whatever it 
 glances at, — the soaring and creative imagination, 
 with the homely sagacity, and healthy relish for 
 all the realities of things, — the unrivaled tenderness 
 and pathos, with the subtlest humor and the most 
 exuberant merriment, — the wisdom at once aud the 
 wit, — the all that is best, in short, both in poetry 
 and in prose, at the same time. The comprehen- 
 siveness and manifold character of Chaucer's genius 
 is evidenced by the very diversity of the springs of 
 inspiration to which he resorted. The Provencal 
 troubadours, the Norman romancers, the bright 
 array of the stars of the young poetry of Italy, were 
 all sought out by him, and made to yield light to his 
 " golden urn." His works comprise translations or 
 imitations of his predecessors or contemporaries, 
 the restorers of poetry, in all these langua-ges, and 
 m all the various kinds of composition which they 
 had made famous. No writer has taken a wider 
 range in respect of subject and manner, or has 
 evinced a more triumphant mastery over the whole 
 compass of the lyre. His "Canterbury Tales" 
 alone, indeed, include nearlj- every variety of gay 
 and serious poetry : in this crowning work his ma- 
 tured genius revels in the luxuriance of its strength, 
 and seems to rejoice in multiplying proofs of its 
 command over all the resoiu'ces of its arr. 
 
 Another name is commonly mentioned along with 
 that of Chaucer — " the 3Ioral Gower," as his friend 
 Chaucer himself has designated him.^ And, in truth, 
 he is more moral than poetical — though he wi'ote a 
 great quantity of Latin and French verse, as well 
 as English. 
 
 This is also the age of the birth of Scottish poetry. 
 
 1 In the " Troilus and Creseide " 
 
 Jons Gower. 
 
 Two remarkable works in that dialect, the " Bruce," 
 by John Barbour, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, and the 
 "Cronykil" of Andrew Wynton, Prior of Loch- 
 leveu, remain, both of which are productions of the 
 latter part of the fourteenth century. Barbour dis- 
 plays occasionally considerable poetical spirit. This 
 writer, it may be remarked, calls his language Eng- 
 lish, as in truth it was ; for the Lowland Scottish 
 is undoubtedly nothing else than a dialect of the 
 Saxon. 
 
 Of the English prose literature of the fourteenth 
 century that has survived, the most remarkable 
 specimens are Trevisa's translation of Higden, men- 
 tioned above, and Wycliffe's translation of the Scrip- 
 tures. The Bible is said to have been also trans- 
 lated by Trevisa. An indenture, dated in 1343, 
 has been refeiTed to as the earliest known legal 
 instrument in English. Although Edward HI. or- 
 dered the pleadings in courts to be carried on in 
 English in 1362, the earliest instance that occurs of 
 the use of the language in parliamentary proceed- 
 ings is in 1388. 
 
 Gothic architecture, which prevailed throughout 
 the greater part of Europe from the twelfth cen- 
 tury to the sixteenth, presents itself to our inquiries 
 in a constant state of progression. One change is 
 only a transition to another. It is also variously 
 modified by the several countries which adopted it, 
 aud considerable dilYerences occur even in the man- 
 ner of its original transition from the Romanesque. 
 The thirteenth century is the period of its nearest 
 approach to general uniformity. It then diverges 
 into different national characteristics, which are no- 
 where more strongly or distinctive!}- marked than 
 in England ; and. finally, when a classical style of 
 building is revived, as if by common consent among 
 nations, each arrives at its object by a different path. 
 
 In no countrj" has Gothic architecture produced 
 more numerous or remarkable results than in Great 
 Britain ; for, although our later stjie may want 
 something of the grace and luxuriance of the Nor
 
 Chap. V.l 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 S23 
 
 Gower's Monument, St. Savior's Church, Southwark. 
 
 man Gothic, and our religious and other public edi- ' 
 fices may not equal the vastness of some of the Ger- 
 man cathedrals, yet we possess structures display- 
 ing architectural combinations peculiarly our own, 
 and preeminent in decorative effect and boldness of 
 execution. 
 
 Gothic must not be considered merely as differ- 
 ing from classical architecture. It is diametrically 
 opposed to it upon principles no less fixed and con- 
 sistent than its own. In the two preceding Books 
 we have traced the gradual disappearance of every 
 distinguishing feature of regular architecture as it 
 became applied to new purposes, and its parts formed 
 into new combinations ; and in this state architect- 
 ure remained, destitute of any real principle, until 
 the forms necessarily resulting from the construc- 
 tion of the Christian Basilica, and the general intro- 
 duction of vaulted roofs, appear to have suggested 
 the predominance of the vertical line as the prin- 
 ciple of composition. 
 
 Gothic architecture consists in the perfect devel- 
 opment of this principle. It was in gradual progress 
 during the last modification of the Romanesque, and 
 was soon carried to its utmost extent : the pillars 
 were clustered throughout to assimilate with the 
 lofty and slender shafts supporting the vaulting of 
 
 the nave ; the capitals reduced, and their salient an- 
 gles suppressed so as to produce the least possible 
 interruption to the eye in its progress upward. 
 The same tendency was observed in pointing the 
 arch ; and the distinct and deeply cut mouldings 
 which replaced the ancient archivolt, were calcu- 
 lated to continue the impression produced by the 
 vertical lines of support. The buttress became an 
 important feature both in composition and construc- 
 tion, being spread toward the base, and carried above 
 the walls, in order to resist the thrust of the main 
 vaulting, through the medium of the dying buttress 
 — the boldest combination of strength and lightness 
 ever imagined. Every horizontal member was re- 
 duced to comparative insignificance. 
 
 In every step of its progress Gothic architecture 
 is based upon this general principle ; but the modi- 
 fications in its subordinate and decorative forms are 
 such as unerringlj^ to distinguish the Gothic of one 
 period from that of another. Three styles arising 
 from such medications have been discriminated' in 
 that peculiar to Great Britain, of which two appeared 
 and passed away nearly within the limits of the 
 historical period now under consideration, viz. : — 
 the Lancet, or Early English Gothic, extending 
 
 1 Rickmaa
 
 824 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 tlirough the reign of Edward i., and the Decorated 
 English, extending to nearly the end of the four- 
 teenth century.' 
 
 I. The early English style, of which Salisbury 
 Cathedral (founded in 1'2'20 by Bishop Poore, on 
 the removal of the see from Old Sarum) is the most 
 complete and extensive example, maintains great 
 simplicity in its composition. Pinnacles are little 
 used, being confined to the principal angles of the 
 edifice ; and the buttresses, with which they were 
 afterward principally combined, finish -with a tri- 
 angular pediment. Arched paneling is still used 
 abundantly ; and to this mode of decorating the 
 walls we owe the introduction of niches and cano- 
 pies, Avhich make an early appearance in the west 
 front of Salisbury, and are still further advanced in 
 the contemporary facade of Wells. As yet, how- 
 ever, they consist only of a deepened arch sur- 
 mounted by a pediment, and a corbel, or very small 
 pedestal, for the figure. Detached and banded 
 shafts are a peculiar characteristic of the columns of 
 this period. They are also much used in door- 
 ways, of which the larger sort are planned with a 
 deep arch, composed of an immense cluster of 
 mouldings, forming several planes of decoration, and 
 
 Niches. 
 
 I. Early English, from Seilisbury Cathedral. 
 
 2. Decorated English— York. 3. Decorated Englisli — York. 
 
 inclosing a double entrance. These entrances are 
 not always arched, but sometimes turned into a form 
 peculiar to the peiiod, being a square head with 
 small rounded haunches. This sort of opening is 
 
 m 
 
 also common in smaller doorways and in domestic 
 architecture. Segmental arches, as in the triforium 
 
 1 As the world have agreed to understand the term Gothic, it has a 
 good claim (to whatever objections it may be open) to be used until a 
 better shall be established. Mr. Whcwell has advanced good reasons 
 for its use in a generic sense. The term English as applied to a spe- 
 cies of Gothic is perfectly definite 
 
 of the south transept at York, and a depressed arch 
 with a knee, are also very generally in use where a 
 high pitch might be inconvenient. The latter oc- 
 curs in the doorway to the south transept of West- 
 minster Abbey. 
 
 The windows of this style, in its early stage, are 
 tall and narrow, without any division or tracery, but 
 generally combined in groups of two, three, five, or 
 seven openings ; thus, as in the beautiful example 
 of the north transept of York, opening the whole 
 compartment of the building in a manner analogous 
 to the spacious windows shortly afterward intro- 
 duced. 
 
 This simple form was not long maintained ; and 
 the enlargement of the windows, their division into 
 two or more lights within a single external arch, 
 and the introduction of tracery, form a second divis- 
 ion in the early English architecture. An early 
 double window occurs in the south transept of York, 
 founded in 1227; but in Westminster Abbey, begun 
 by Henry III., in 1245, the plain lancet window is 
 nearly laid aside, the openings being for the most 
 part divided by a shaft, and the head of the arch oc- 
 cupied by a feathered circle. In the triforium of 
 the same building the tracery is to be observed coin- 
 ciding with the mouldings of the arch, differing in 
 this respect from the earlier examples of York and 
 Salisbury, where the openings are all merely inde- 
 pendent quatrefoils, pierced through the blank space 
 in the spandrils of the arches — a certain indication 
 of an early date. 
 
 Tracery in circles, varied only by multiplying its 
 parts, may be followed down to the end of this pe- 
 riod, when the increased breadth of the window, 
 and the number of its subdivisions, led to a more 
 minute and complicated manner of laying out the 
 space above the springing of the arch. 
 
 With regard to the decorations of this period, 
 the trefoil and quatrefoil were introduced and freely 
 used in its earliest stage ; but the most character- 
 istic ornament, and one almost peculiar to the Eng- 
 Ush Gothic, is the indentation known as the dog^s 
 tooth. This was soon improved into a sort of py- 
 ramidal four-leaved flower, in which shape it is used 
 in the most extraordinary profusion, as in the south 
 transept of York, where it not only fills most of the 
 hollow mouldings inside and out, but follows the line 
 of the pediments, the angles of the buttresses, and 
 even the shafts which decorate the window-jambs. 
 It appears to have been laid aside about the middle 
 of the thirteenth century — being used more spar- 
 ingly in the north transept, and not occurring in any 
 part of Westminster Abbey. The Early English 
 foliage is more easily understood from prmts than 
 from description. A trefoil leaf of peculiar charac- 
 ter enters largely into its composition. It is always 
 deeply cut, and in capitals turns over, so as fre- 
 quently to resemble a volute. One great charac- 
 teristic of this period is, the careful manner in 
 which all the decorations are executed. There is 
 much of the other styles (as Mr. Rickman ob- 
 serves), which appears to be the copy by an infeiior 
 hand of better workmanship elsewhere : this is re- 
 markably the case in Perpendicular work, but is
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 825 
 
 Early E.nqlisii Capitals— York Cathedral. 
 
 Decorated English Capitals — York Catliedral. 
 
 hardly anywhere to be found in the early English 
 style. 
 
 The first step was made during this period 
 toward that magnificent style of roofing peculiar to 
 the English Gothic, by the addition of interme- 
 diate ribs to the arches and cross-springers of the 
 early vaulting. In the continental Gothic the vault- 
 ing seldom advances beyond these simple elements 
 — a circumstance which gives an appearance of bald- 
 ness and want of consistency to some of its most 
 splendid examples. This early improvement in the 
 style of vaulting may be connected with the intro- 
 duction of polygonal chapter-houses, in which it 
 branches out in a rich cluster of moulded ribs from 
 a central column. That of Lincoln is one of the 
 earliest examples, exhibiting the lancet-window and 
 the toothed ornament. It was followed by many 
 others, particularly those of Westminster, Salisbury, 
 York, Southwell, and Wells : the last mentioned, 
 however, is of a later style. The complete quad- 
 rangular cloister is another improvement made at 
 this date, of which Salisbury remains among the 
 earliest and most perfect examples. 
 
 In the general arrangement of the greater church- 
 es of this period, the suppression of the apsis must 
 be noticed as one of the points in which the English 
 style already diverged from that of the continent, 
 where the apsis was always retained. It was caused 
 probably by the innovation of adding the lady chapel 
 to the eastern extremity of the building. 
 
 Parish churches are numerous in the early Eng- 
 lish style. It is probable that many of those erected 
 before the Conquest may have fallen into decay, and 
 been replaced about this time. The ancient plan 
 of a nave and chancel without side aisles is still re- 
 tained in those of the smaller class. 
 
 We must not quit this style without noticing the 
 spire, which was introduced at a very early date. 
 Jn fact, an example remains at Sleaford, in Lincoln- 
 shire, which evidently belongs to the transition. In 
 its first form the spire retains something of its ori- 
 ginal character of a pointed roof, rising immediately 
 from the projecting cornice of the tower ; but though 
 this form runs occasionally far into the succeeding 
 style, a more gi'aceful mode of construction was soon 
 adopted by placing the spire within the parapet of 
 the tower, and grouping it with the pinnacles at the 
 angles, as in that of Chichester Cathedral, which 
 may be assigned to this period, though perhaps 
 completed somewhat later. ^ The spire of Old St. 
 Paul's, rising to the height of 520 feet, was added 
 
 * Rickraan 
 
 to that structure as early as 1222.' It was, how- 
 ever, of timber, covered with lead. 
 
 II. The reign of Edward II. brings with it the 
 Decorated English stj'le, of which the most striking- 
 characteristics are furnished by the tracery of the 
 windows. The great east and west windows were 
 introduced into churches at this period — another 
 striking deviation from the continental Gothic, in 
 which the decoration of the west front is centered 
 in its lofty and gorgeous portals, and wheel-win- 
 dows. This latter form is comparatively rare in 
 English churches ; and, where it does occur, is con- 
 fined to the transepts, as in the cathedrals of York 
 and Lincoln, which afl'ord fine examples both of the 
 Early and Decorated styles. The earliest stjle of 
 tracery at this epoch is that known by the name of 
 Geometrical, fi-om its formation in regular figures, 
 trefoils, quatrefoils, &c., instead of a combination of 
 circles alone, though the latter figure is by no means 
 abandoned, and frequently forms the leading line in 
 the head of the window. Of this description are 
 the windows of Exeter Cathedral, the work of the 
 early part of the fourteenth century ; but they are 
 not without a mixture of compound curves, harmo- 
 nizing the abrupt junction of the more formal geo- 
 metrical shapes, in a manner which forms a natural 
 transition to the flowing and ramified tracery of the 
 time of Edward III. This latter style is displayed 
 in its ultimate form in the magnificent nave and 
 west front of York Cathedral, completed about 
 1330. But its reign was short, and, if considered 
 as analogous to the Golhique flamboijant of Norman- 
 dy, it must be admitted to have been but imperfectly 
 developed in this country ; and it presents varieties 
 which it is not always easy to reconcile or assimi- 
 late. It speedily passed into a transition ending in 
 the Perpendicular style, in which the English Gothic 
 finally diverged from that of the continent. The 
 peculiarities of the latter style are sti-ongly infused 
 into the choir of York Cathedral, begun as early as 
 1361, though not completed till the beginning of the 
 fifteenth century. 
 
 The other characteristics of the Decorated Eng- 
 lish may perhaps be best understood by a compari- 
 son with those of the preceding period. The but- 
 tresses are now finished by pinnacles, and their 
 gradations marked by pediments highly enriched 
 with crockets. In the early part of this style the 
 pediment is greatly increased in height and deco- 
 rated with tracery ; but, at a later period, the prev- 
 alence of the flowing line eflects another revolution 
 
 1 Stow.
 
 826 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 8 9 10 
 
 Trogressive Examples of Windows in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centiries. 
 
 1 Early Enclish.—l. From the Lady Chapel, Winchester. 2. York 3. North Transept, York. 4. Westminster Abbey. 
 
 5. Chapter House, York, transition to II. Decorated English.—'). Exeter.— Genmetrical Tracery. 7. Kirlon Church, 
 
 Lincolnshire— Flowing Tracery. 8. Badgeworth Church, Gloucestershire,— Example of the Ball-Flower Decoration. 9, 10. Choir, 
 York, transition to the Perpendicular. 
 
 in its shape and proportion, and it is lowered and 
 curved into the form of an ogee. Diirinis; this trans- 
 ition the two pediments were frequently used one 
 within the other, as in the abbey gateway at Bury 
 St. Edmunds. 
 
 Tiie shafts of the piers are no longer detached 
 from the main columns, but are worked in the 
 
 same stone, the whole forming an integral clus- 
 tered pillar. The capitals are more varied than in 
 the earlier style, and the form of the abacus alters 
 from a circle to an octagon. The arch mouldings 
 become bolder, and, in the latter part of the style, 
 are often continued uninterruptedly down the 
 column alternating with the shafts. Shafts are
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 827 
 
 ] Early English, from Wells Cathedral. 2. Decorated English, 
 
 St. Mary's, O.xford. 3. Decorated English, York. 
 
 Early English ConNicEs and Caps of Buttresses. 
 1. Salisbury Cathedral. 2. Southwell Minster. 
 
 still used in the decoration of doors and windows, 
 but in the composition of ornamental paneling 
 they begin to be superseded by slender buttresses 
 and pinnacles. Niches make great progress early 
 iu this style, being much increased in size and 
 importance. The screen to the west front of 
 Exeter Cathedral, composed entirely of niches and 
 tabernacles, is the work of Bishop Grandisson in 
 1330. In another stage of improvement, the cano- 
 pies were thrown out beyond the face of the 
 building, terminated with lofty finials, and deco- 
 rated with clusters of pinnacles. 
 
 The cornices of this period are composed with a 
 hollow moulding, in which large flowers, grotesque 
 heads, and other forms are placed at intervals. 
 Open parapets came at this time into use, but were 
 gradually superseded by battlements, either plain 
 or pierced with tracery, as the building is more or 
 less decorated. 
 
 The foliage of this period is extremely rich and 
 in a more natural style than the stiff, curled forms 
 
 of the Early English. The ornament called " the 
 ball flower" is altogether peculiar to this style. It 
 is described by Rickman as " a small round bud 
 of three or four leaves, which open just enough to 
 show a ball in the center." It is sometimes used 
 in the same profusion as the toothed ornament in 
 the Early English, and is a no less certain ijidica- 
 tion of the period to which it belongs. The vault- 
 ing continues to advance in decoration. At Exeter 
 the spandrils of the roof have three intermediate 
 ribs on each side, between the cross springers, 
 forming a pendentive of great richness of efiect, 
 though without complication. In the nave of York, 
 the mouldings begin to be crossed and interlaced, 
 a system which, in the choir of Gloucester, vaulted 
 by Abbot Boyfield at the very close of the period, 
 is carried to the point of confusion. The choir of 
 Tewkesbury is an excellent specimen of this age 
 and of the first step in the transition to fan-tracery. 
 
 The two styles occupying the present period . 
 contributed greatly to our national monuments of 
 ecclesiastical ai-chitecture. Salisbury is, indeed, 
 the only cathedral built entirely and uniformly in 
 the early English Gothic, but important additions 
 were made in that style to several others. 
 
 The presbytery at Winchester is to be noticed 
 as one of the earhest examples of unmixed Gothic, 
 being the work of Godfrey de Lucy, who held that 
 see from 1189 to 120.5. The transepts at York 
 have already been mentioned incidentally. They 
 are further deserving of attention as exhibiting two 
 gradations of the style, the south having been 
 begun at an early period, and continued by Arch- 
 bishop Grey in 1227, and the north being the work 
 of John le Romayne about the middle of the cen- 
 tuiy. To these examples may be added the pres- 
 bj'tery of Ely, and the nave and choir of Lichfield, 
 both erected about 123-5; the nave and choir of 
 Wells, dedicated by Bishop Joscelin about 1240; 
 and the nave of Durham, erected by Piior Mel- 
 sonby between 1242 and 1290. Of Westminster 
 Abbey, the eastern part only was completed by 
 Henry III., and its subsequent continuations, on a 
 uniform design, furnish an interesting study of the 
 progressive changes in detail. In Scotland, the 
 Early English stylo prevails in the cathedrals of 
 Glasgow and Aberdeen, in the magnificent ruins of 
 Elgin, and the abbey of Holyrood. 
 
 Of the Decorated English style there arc early 
 examples in the ruins of Croyland anJ Tintern, 
 and in Exeter Cathedral, already noticed. The 
 nave of York was the work of forty years, and was 
 completed in 1330. The south aisle of Gloucester
 
 828 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 Cathedral, remarkable for the peculiar tracery of 
 its windows, <iiid the profusion of the " ball-flower," 
 dates from l.'iJO. A great part of the cathedral of 
 Bristol, including the tower, was erected between 
 1320 and 1363. The choir of Lincoln, 1324, is 
 one of the most magnificent works of the age, but 
 rather peculiar in style, and retaining in an unusual 
 degree some characteristics of an earlier date. The 
 chapel of St. Stephen, at Westminster, begun in 
 1330, was remarkable as a complete work of the 
 period, and also for the transcendent splendor of 
 its decorations. The unrivaled lantern of Elj-^ was 
 begun in 1328 ; the nave of the cathedral of Bev- 
 erley, the choir of that of Rippon, and the east 
 end of that of Carlisle, all date between 1330 and 
 1370, during the period when ramified tracery was 
 in its greatest perfection. The great window in 
 the last surpasses everj' other English example in 
 the same style. The choir of York has been 
 already referred to : the central tower is of the same 
 date and character, and was erected by Walter 
 Skirlaw in 1372. The choir of St. Nicholas at 
 Aberdeen, the College church at Edinburgh, and 
 the celebrated abbey of Melrose, may be cited as 
 beautiful examples of this style in Scotland. The 
 High Church of Edinburgh is of the same period, 
 but modern alterations have left little of its original 
 character visible. 
 
 The spires of this period are numerous and 
 magnificent. Among them stands that of Salis- 
 bury, added to the structure in 1331, preeminent 
 in height and graceful proportions : that of St. 
 Mary's, Oxford, 1340, is remarkable for the rich 
 clustered group formed by the surrounding pin- 
 nacles. Many spires of this date are lighted by a 
 graduated series of windows, crowned by the high 
 pediment ])eculiar to the stjle, as at Newark and 
 St. Mary's, Stamford. None of these examples are 
 crocketed, though the angles of that of Salisbury 
 ai"e thickly studded with knobs ; but the crocketed 
 spire became common before the end of the period. 
 
 Parish churches in the Decorated English style 
 are numerous and splendid, particularly in Lincoln- 
 shire, where ecclesiastical architecture appears to 
 have flourished in an especial manner during the 
 fourteenth centurj-. 
 
 The foregoing list of examples might be gi'eatly 
 increased, but, instead of extending a catalogue of 
 names, we have endeavored to comprise everything 
 that can interest the general reader in a progres- 
 sive series of examples selected from the buildings 
 best known and most easily referred to.' 
 
 There is little to record respecting castellated 
 and domestic architecture during the Early En- 
 glish period. Castle building had received a check 
 at the accession of Henry H., by the enactment 
 that no subject should fortify his residence without 
 a license from the crown. Of domestic architect- 
 ure there are fewer remains of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury than of any other period since the Conquest, 
 and those few (to use Walpole's words) still imply 
 
 I See Britton's Cathedrals and Architectural Antiquities, — Storer's 
 Cathedrals, — Carter's Antiquities, — Halfpenny's York,— iind the pub- 
 lications of the Anti<iuarian Society 
 
 the dangers of society rather than its sweets. Ad- 
 ditions, bespeaking some advance in refinement, 
 began indeed to collect round the sullen keeps of 
 the Norman era; and we find a precept from 
 Henry HL for the erection of an apartment within 
 the castle of Guildford for the use of his daughter- 
 in-law, Eleanor of Castile, consisting of a chamber 
 with a raised hearth and chimney, a wardrobe, and 
 other conveniences, and an oratory ; and it is par- 
 ticularly specified that the windows are to be 
 glazed. But with the reign of Edward L a new 
 era commences, and the castles raised by that 
 monarch for the security of his new dominion in 
 Wales are among the first which combine the for- 
 tress and the palace in an integral structure. Con- 
 way Castle includes two ctmrts within the body of 
 tlie building, the great hall (thenceforward indis- 
 pensable in every royal and noble habitation) occu- 
 I)ying one side of the lower area. The separate 
 apartments of the king and queen are to be distin- 
 guished both at Conway and Caernarvon. In the 
 former, tradition points out the " Queen's Oriel," a 
 room witli some pretensions to elegance, opening 
 upon a terrace, and commanding a beautiful view of 
 the surrounding scenery. Still the domestic con- 
 veniences of the buildings of this sige by no means 
 keep pace with their increased extent; and the 
 room in which Edward II. was born, at Caernarvon, 
 is a confined cell, dark and misshapen. 
 
 From these innovations in the plan of construct- 
 ing castles, new architectural features are naturally 
 developed, of which the most striking is the group- 
 ing of the numerous and variously shaped towers, 
 those flanking the gateway being usually conspicuous 
 by their size and lofty proportion. The grand and 
 picturesque combinations of which this style of 
 building is susceptible were not overlooked by the 
 architects of a later date, and the castellated out- 
 line, especially in the gateways, was retained in our 
 baronial residences long after eveiy essential point 
 belonging to a fortress was given up. Strength, 
 however, was still an object in the majestic struct- 
 ures of the fourteenth century, among which it may 
 be suflficient to cite the castles of Alnwick, Raby, 
 Bolton, and Warwick. In the last, Guy's Tower, 
 the work of Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, 
 in the reign of Richard II., is perhaps one of the 
 latest constructed w ith Norman solidity and for the 
 real purposes of defence. The magnificent hall 
 and other buildings constituting the upper ward of 
 Kenilworth were begun by John of Gaunt in the 
 same reign. Windsor is also of this period. It had 
 always been a royal residence, but was rebuilt and 
 enlarged by Edward III. to the extent of at least 
 the whole upper ward as it now exists, though its 
 original features have long been obliterated. It 
 must not be omitted that the architect of this proud 
 pile was William of Wykeham, afterward the mu- 
 nificent Bishop of Winchester. 
 
 The machecoulis, a contrivance for casting mis- 
 siles on the head of an assaulting enemy by pro- 
 jecting the parapets upon corbel stones with open- 
 ings between, is an innovation of the time of Edward 
 I. It was used in its boldest form in gateways, as
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 829 
 
 I This tower contains three large rooms, in as many 
 stories communicating by a spiral stair. A similaf 
 tower at the opposite angle appears to have been 
 left incomplete: it is planned in smaller divisions 
 belonging to the offices. Markenfield Hall, in York- 
 shire, is a building of the same class, and of nearly 
 the same date ; embattled, but not, properly speak- 
 ing, fortified, and without any towers except a stair- 
 case turret. 
 
 The mere domestic style of this period is very 
 simple, consisting of plain gabled outhnes, combined, 
 when the extent of the building renders combina- 
 tion necessary, without much attempt at general 
 eflfect. Northborough Hall, in Northamptonshire, 
 is a quadrangular house of this description ; it is 
 nevertheless executed with much architectural lux- 
 ury. The decorations are elegant and highly fin- 
 ished ; and the free use of the ball-flower places it 
 in the first half of the fourteenth century. Another 
 example of later date remains near the cathedral at 
 Lincoln, and is remarkable for a very early pendent 
 oriel, a form which figures so conspicuously in the 
 architecture of the next century. It was soon car- 
 ried to perfection, and a highly enriched specimen 
 survives in the palace erected in the same city by 
 John of Gaunt about 1.390. 
 
 Guv's Tower, Warwick Castlk. 
 
 in that of Lancaster Castle, and was retained as a 
 picturesque ornament long after it ceased to be of 
 use. 
 
 The gradual improvement of domestic architect- 
 ure at a period when security was not to be disre- 
 garded, combined probably with the jealous re- 
 strictions imposed upon the erection of domestic 
 fortresses, produced, toward the close of the thir- 
 teenth century, the embattled and moated house. 
 Stokesay, or Stoke Castle, in Shropshire, may be 
 described ' as the type of a very numerous class of 
 manor-houses in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 
 turies. Laurence de Lodelow had license to em- 
 battle this house in 1291, and with this date the 
 architectural details are perfectly consistent. The 
 building is a parallelogram, inclosing a court of one 
 hundred and thirty feet by seventy, and is pro- 
 tected by a moat. The house and offices, with the 
 entrance tower and gateway, occupy three sides of 
 the court ; the fourth is inclosed by a wall only. 
 The hall, fifty-four feet long and thirty-two wide, 
 is lighted by four arched windows on one side, and 
 three on the other. It has no chimney, and the 
 massive rafters of the high-pitched roof are black- 
 ened with the smoke from the hearth in the center. 
 The hall communicates at one end with the iireat 
 chamher, and at the other with the offices. A large 
 polygonal tower, rising at one of the angles, and 
 surmounted by an embattled parapet witli loop- 
 holes, gives a castellated appearance to the edifice. 
 
 ' See Britton's Architectural Antiquities, vol. iv. 
 
 House of the Fourteenth Century, at Lincoln. 
 The Roof, Chimney Shafts, and Square Windows, are Modem. 
 
 Little change took place in the principles of do- 
 mestic architecture in the north ; ' but tlie fortalices 
 of this period, both in Scotland and on the border, 
 are marked by the introduction of overhanging tur- 
 rets at the angles, seldom seen in the castellated 
 buildings of England. 
 
 1 See ante, p 603
 
 830 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 Great alterations took place during the Early 
 English period in the style of sepulchral monu- 
 ments, which must thenceforward be considered 
 under the head of Architecture. The first change 
 was the general adoption of the altar-tomb, a flat, 
 raised table, on which the recumbent effigy is 
 placed. This form soon became general even when 
 there was no effigy. The altar-tomb of ^¥iHiam 
 LoBgspee, Earl of Salisbury, in the cathedral at 
 that place, is one of the earliest : he died in 122C.' 
 Both the tomb and effigy are of wood, painted and 
 gilt. The effigy of William de Valence, Earl of 
 Pembroke, at Westminster, who died in I'JOG, is 
 also of wood, but plated with copper, and enameled 
 in colors; an art supposed to have been introduced 
 about this time from Constantinople. The sides of 
 these tombs are paneled and filled up with shields 
 of arms, a mode of decoration never afterward laid 
 aside; but niches, containing effigies of the family 
 of the deceased, were added before the end of the 
 thirteenth century, and afterward carried to a high 
 pitch of decoration. 
 
 The flat grave-stone, with the inscription deeply 
 cut and filled with metal, was also introduced very 
 early in the thirteenth century, so that the coffin 
 en dos d'dne became generally superseded. 
 
 The next great feature in monumental architect- 
 
 ' The altar-tomb of King John is much later than the effigy.— See 
 ante, p. 499. 
 
 Tomb of AncuBisnop Grey. — York Cathedral. 
 
 ure is the canopy, probabl}' suggested by the cata- 
 falque, still used iii funeral ceremonies abroad, and 
 sometimes on extraordinary occasions in our own 
 country. This being united with the altar-tomb, 
 in which the body was deposited above ground, the 
 mode of sepulture (as King observes) became a 
 sort of perpetual lying in state. The most magnifi- 
 cent of these canopied tombs are detached ; many 
 more are engaged in the walls. They continued in 
 vogue long enough to survive the style which gave 
 them birth, and were executed with all the luxury 
 of art until the seventeenth century, varying in 
 their details with the march of architecture. The 
 monument of Walter Grey, Archbishop of York, 
 who died in 1225, and those of Aymer de Valence, 
 Earl of Pembroke, at Westminster (1334), and 
 Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Gloucester, in Tewkes- 
 bury Abbey (1359), may be cited as progressive 
 examples of this species of architecture in the thir- 
 teenth and fourteenth centuries. 
 
 The higher branch of sculpture advanced greatlj' 
 during the thirteenth century. Monumental effi- 
 gies of this period are numerous and interesting. 
 Among the earhest works of this class the figure of 
 Lord de Ros, in the Temple Church, displays both 
 grace and spirit. Basso-relievo was also cultivated. 
 It is often introduced upon flat surfaces, as in the 
 spandrils of the arches at Worcester and the Chap- 
 ter House of Salisbury, and before the middle of 
 the century the sculptures on the front of Wells 
 Cathedral, representing the history of the Old and 
 New Testament, were executed. These sculp- 
 tures possess sufficient merit to have excited the 
 admiration of Flaxman, who pronounces especially 
 upon the relievo representing the creation of Eve, 
 that among many compositions on this subject by 
 Giotto, Buonamico, Buftalmacco, Ghiberti, and Mi- 
 chael Angelo, this is certainly the oldest, and not 
 inferior to many others. He further observes of 
 these sculptures in generiJ, that though, owing to 
 the disadvantages under which such works were 
 produced in that age, they are necessarily ill-drawn 
 and deficient in principle, " yet in parts there is a 
 beautiful simplicity, an irresistible sentiment, and 
 sometimes a grace excelling more modern produc- 
 tions." He argues, from the contemporary state of 
 the arts in Italy, that these sculptures are entirely 
 due to native artists.* There is certainly no reason 
 to suppose that foreigners were employed upon any 
 work of importance in England until a later period, 
 when the tomb of Henry III. and the shriue of 
 Edward the Confessor are known to have been 
 executed by Italian hands. With regard to the 
 statues of Eleanor of Castile, on the crosses erect- 
 ed to her memory, Flaxman, after praising their 
 simplicity and delicacy, observes that they partake 
 of the grace particularly cultivated in the school of 
 Nicolo Pisano, and might possibly be executed by 
 some of the traveling pupils from his school. Be 
 this as it may, sculpture by no means maintained 
 the same high tone during the fourteenth century ; 
 and though we have many effigies of the greatest 
 value as portraits, which their strong character of 
 
 1 See Walpole's Ar.ecdctes o,"" Painting.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 831 
 
 Tomb of Aymer de Valent e — VVestininster Abbuy 
 
 Monument of Hugh le Despexser, Earl of Gloucester, 
 AND Ills Countess — Tewkesbury Cathedral. 
 
 individuality warrants them to be, none are com- 
 parable to those of Queen Eleanor as works of art. 
 But the works of this period are very unequal. 
 There is no comparison between the gi'aceful weep- 
 ers on the tomb of Aymer de Valence and those on 
 the later monument of Edward III. ; and it is im- 
 possible to avoid the conclusion that the superior 
 skill of foreigners was occasionally employed. 
 
 The state of painting during this period offers 
 little to detain us. Numerous records are, indeed, 
 extant' relative to the painting of the palace of 
 Westminster and other royal houses during the 
 reign of Henry III., who seems to have been a lib- 
 eral patron of the art ; but the works of the period, 
 as fiir as we have the means of judging, are not 
 worthy of much investigation on the score of merit ; 
 neither do they possess the interest attached to the 
 early efforts, perhaps equally imperfect, of Italy, 
 
 ' Flaxman's Lectures 
 
 since they led to no parallel results, and contribute 
 nothing to the history of the art. The reader may, 
 however, be curious to knoAv upon what subjects 
 the painters employed by this king exercised their 
 pencils ; and we learn from these documents that 
 they executed the figures of our Lord and the Four 
 Evangelists, with St. Edmund and St. EdAvard, in 
 the chapel at Woodstock ; the Last Judgment, for 
 that of St. Stephen, in the palace of Westminster ; 
 the History of Antioch (conjectured to be some feat 
 of the Crusades), for the room called the Antioch 
 Chamber, in the same palace ; and the History of 
 Alexander, for the queen's chamber in Nottingham 
 Castle. The paintings executed in St. Stephen's 
 Chapel, after its restoration by Edward HI., sur- 
 vived till the final destruction of that building by 
 fire. The ornamental parts of this work (for the 
 details of which the reader is referred to the publi- 
 cation by the Society of Antiquaries) furnished the
 
 S32 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 most complete example which Time had spared of 
 the extent to which polychromatic decoration was 
 carried at this period ; but those portions appertain- 
 ing to the liigher branches displayed no proficiency 
 in any of the principles of art, though the school of 
 Giotto was alreadj' flourishing in Italy under his 
 successors. We must not, however, pass without 
 notice the curious portrait of Richard II., preserved 
 in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster. In its 
 style it is merely an enlargement of the miniature 
 painting which was cultivated at this period with 
 great success. Numerous manuscrij)ts are extant, 
 illusti'ated by compositions displaying the most brill- 
 iant colors, and the utmost delicacy of execution, 
 whatever their deficiencies may be in other respects. 
 Several specimens from a metrical history of Rich- 
 ard II. have been given in the foregoing pages of 
 this work, and will convey the best idea that mere 
 lines can aftord of this branch of the fine arts at the 
 end of the fourteenth century. 
 
 In the above mentioned records we have the first 
 notice of painting on glass, in the form of precepts 
 for glazing three windows in St. John's Chapel, in 
 the Tower of London, with a little Virgin 3Iary 
 holding the Child, a Trinity, and a St. John the 
 Apostle, and for executing the history of Dives and 
 Lazarus in glass at Nottingham Castle. The stjie 
 of executing such works at this period was in small 
 medallions of difierent forms, inlaid upon a sort of 
 mosaic ground in various patterns and the most 
 brilliant colors. Windows of this date were some- 
 times surrounded by elaborate borders, and may be 
 further distinguished by the predominance of a rich 
 deep blue. This style was continued to the end of 
 the thirteenth century. In that which succeeded, 
 the compartments are still small, but of more sim- 
 ple forms, among which a pointed egg shape is com- 
 mon, and they are often filled by a single figure. 
 The ground is no longer disposed in mosaic, but 
 drawn with beautiful scroll or arabesque work. 
 
 In the middle of the fourteenth century, and 
 during the period of the zenith of the Decorated 
 English style, figures of larger size were represent- 
 ed, occupying the whole breadth of the light, stand- 
 ing in a niche, decorated with canopies, columns, 
 and buttresses. These figures generally relate to 
 benefactors of the church, and their names and 
 deeds are recorded by inscriptions, and illustrated 
 by their armorial bearings. The west window of 
 York Cathedral is glazed in this style, and the in- 
 denture entered into with the artist, of which the 
 particulars are preserved,' fixes the date of its exe- 
 cution to the year 1338. Robert, a glazier, con- 
 tracted to glaze and paint the said window at the 
 rate of six pence per foot for plain, and twelve pence 
 for colored glass. 
 
 The history of English Music, so far as it can be 
 traced by any ancient musical compositions extant, 
 does not commence within the period at which we 
 are now arrived. The art, indeed, as has been 
 already shown, appears to have been generally cul- 
 tivated in this country from a very early date ; but 
 
 '• See Britton's History of York Cathedral, Appendix 
 
 we are strongly inclined to susi)ect that for many 
 ages it was practiced almost invariably as a mere 
 accessory to poetry, or in union with the church 
 service. And here we may, in passing, express our 
 belief that, with the ancients. Music was rarely sep- 
 arated from her sister art, — a fact which, if admit- 
 ted, will render more probable some of the other- 
 wise incredible stories of the power of harmony 
 handed down to us from remote ages. 
 
 From a passage in Bede, referred to in the last 
 Book, and indeed from other statements, it appears, 
 that among the Anglo-Saxons an essential qualifica- 
 tion for admission into the upper classes of society 
 Avas a certain degree of skill on the harp ; that is, 
 we suppose, a power of accompanying on that in- 
 strument the musical delivery of the popular poems 
 of the day. By the laws of Wales, a harp — or, as 
 we presume, a practical knowledge of the instru- 
 ment — was one of the three qualifications necessary 
 to constitute a gentleman ;' none but the king, his 
 musicians, and freemen, were allowed to possess a 
 harp; and he who played on it was legally a gentle- 
 man. According to Giraldus Cambrensis, the people 
 of York, and those beyond the Humber, sang in 
 two parts, treble and base. He also tells us that the 
 Welsh practiced vocal harmony in many parts ; but 
 perhaps he mistook some such rude chorus as we 
 now occasionally meet with at numerously attended 
 festive entertainments, for singing harmoniously in 
 several parts. 
 
 The ancient national habits that have been de- 
 scribed continued to be kept up in later ages. '« In 
 the statutes of New College, Oxford, given about 
 the year 1380, the founder orders his scholars, for 
 their recreation on festival days in the hall after din- 
 ner and supper, to entertain themselves with songs, 
 and other diversions consistent with decency."- A 
 manuscript roll of the officers of Edward III.'s 
 household contained a list of performers on the 
 trumpet, oboe, clarion, dulcimer, tabret, violin, flute, 
 etc. To these may be added several instruments 
 mentioned by Chaucer in his "Canterbury tales" 
 and " House of Fame." The same poet, too, in 
 " The Romaunt of the Rose," speaks of a lady's 
 singing, in language which implies much vocal abil- 
 ity and great practical knowledge : — 
 
 " Well coud she sine, and lustily. 
 None halfe so well and semily,^ 
 And rothe make in song siioh refraining.* 
 It sateS her wondir well to sin^. 
 Iter voice fuil clear was, and full swete , 
 She was not rude, ne yet uninete, 
 But coutlip'' inoughe for soche doing 
 As longith unto karolling." 
 
 Yet no remains are to be found, up to the fifteenth 
 century, of what can properly be called a British 
 musical composition ; not so much as a simple mel- 
 ody ; for the intonations of the church at that period 
 exhibit nothing that comes under the denomination 
 of air, at least in the modern sense of the term : 
 and after much research, we are satisfied of the 
 correctness of what is asserted by one of the most 
 
 1 Leges Wallicae, 301. = Wart. Hist. Eng. Poet. 3 .-rem-T.gly 
 * Refrain, the burden of a song, or return 'o the first part 
 5 Became. ' Knew
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
 
 833 
 
 Hand-Organ or Dulcimer, anb Violin. Royal MS. 14 E. iii. 
 
 eminent of oui* musical antiquaries, that, prevalent 
 as dancing was in this country from the earliest 
 times, no appearance can be discovered of the nota- 
 tion, or the name, of even an English dance-tune 
 before the year 1400.^ " Sellinger's (or St. Legei-'s) 
 Round" may be traced back to nearly the reign of 
 Henry VIII. ; nothing beji-ond. 
 
 This is the more remarkable because there were 
 some good English writers on music during the thir- 
 teenth and fourteenth centuries, whose works are 
 to be found in manuscript in the British Museum, 
 the Bodleian, and other libraries. Of these works 
 we shall only notice one, entitled "De Specula- 
 tione Bliisices," by Walter Odington, preserved in 
 Corpus College, Cambridge. This excellent, but 
 almost unknown author was a monk of Evesham 
 during the early part of the thirteenth century, and 
 
 1 Sir. ,1. Uawliins, History of Music. 
 
 Hand-Bells. Royal MS. 15 D. iii. 
 
 is mentioned by Stephens, the translator and con- 
 tinuator of Dugdale's Monasticon, as " a man of 
 fiicetious wit, who used at spare hours to divert him- 
 self with the decent and commendable diversion of 
 music, to render himself the more cheerful for other 
 duties." Odington was the author of other learned 
 productions beside this.^ Of his present Treatise it 
 has been said, and justly, that if all other nmsical 
 tracts, from the time of Boethius to that of Franco, 
 were destroyed, we should sustain little loss were 
 the MS. of Odington saved. Not one specimen, 
 however, of the invention of his countrymen, either 
 in melody or harmony, is given by this Benedictine 
 monk ; and we must patiently wait till we advance 
 into the fifteenth century ere we shall be enabled 
 to name a single composition, even of the most trivial 
 kind, from the pen of a British musician. 
 
 1 See Tanner, Moreri, &c.
 
 S3 4 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 ROM the accouut that 
 has been given of the 
 interior decorations and 
 furniture of EngUsh pa- 
 laces and houses during 
 tlie eleventh and twelfth 
 centuries, it would ap- 
 j)ear that the practice of 
 painting the walls and 
 ceilings of chambers ex- 
 
 f^"'a\WC,=*As^ '/5\]] ^^^""^ previously to the 
 %i^rf-^^\'<^~ J'Nk^^'-' A>/ reign of Henry III. — 
 During the reign of that 
 monarch and his immediate successors, the fashion 
 seems, from the frequency of the royal orders con- 
 cerning it, to have obtained considerably, and almost, 
 if not entirely to have superseded the more costly 
 and laboriously executed hangings of needle-work, 
 of which in several instances the paintings are di- 
 rected to be made in imitation. The principal sub- 
 jects were selected from the holy scriptures, or 
 from the numerous lajs and fabliaux of the thir- 
 teenth century, and the incidents were surmounted 
 b}' scrolls inscribed with the text or the legend, as 
 it might be. The well-knoAvn " Painted chamber" 
 at Westminster obtained its name from this style 
 of decoration. The remaining part of its curious 
 pictures executed during the reign of Edward I. 
 was destroyed on the enlargement of the old House 
 of Commons : but, fortunately, not before accur;ite 
 drawings had been made of them by the late Mr. 
 Charles Stothard. In the romance of " Arthur of 
 Little Britain," written in the reign of Edward II., 
 
 we read of a chamber in which there was no man- 
 ner of history nor battle " since God first made 
 mankind, but in that chamber it was portrayed 
 with gold azure and other fresh colors, as quickly 
 (to the life) adorned that it was wonder to behold." 
 
 As early as the reign of Henry III. we read of 
 the painted glass windows in domestic buildings ; 
 and from the above mentioned romance we learn 
 that, in the fourteenth century, they were made 
 with lattices to open and shut. Strutt has engraved 
 a beautiful specimen of the chairs of the time of 
 Henry III., from a MS. copy of Matthew Paris.'- 
 He has also given one of the latest specimens of the 
 square-backed chairs of the thirteenth century,' at 
 tlie close of which they began to be fashioned after 
 the pointed stjie of arcliitecture then just intro- 
 duced. One of the most interesting specimens now 
 existing is the coronation chair, called St. Edward's, 
 preserved in Westminster Abbey, and in which all 
 our sovereigns from Edward II. inclusive (with the 
 exception perhaps of Mary) have been crowned. 
 
 The use of tressels for tables appears to have 
 been introduced dm-ing the fourteenth century. In 
 the beautiful French work on furniture, Arc, by M. 
 Willemin, there is an ornamental specimen from a 
 MS. copy of the "Roman de Lancelot du Lac," in 
 the Royal Library at Paris. 
 
 An elegant bedstead, chair, and reading-desk of 
 the fourteenth century are also given in that work, 
 wdiich deserves to be better known in England. We 
 
 . 1 ITurda Angel-Cynnan, pi. 86. 
 
 2 lb. pi. 39; and Sporls and Pastimes ol People of England, plates 
 39, 40, 42, and 45. 
 
 CnAiR. Royal MS. M E. iii. 
 
 I.iBRART Chair, Reading Table, and Reading DiMi 
 Royal MS. 15 D. iii.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 835 
 
 Bed. Royal MS. 14 E. iii. 
 
 have a splendid description of a bedstead in the ro- 
 mance of " Arthur" before mentioned. One which 
 stood in the middle of the chamber surmounted in 
 beauty all others ; for the " utterbrases" thereof 
 were of green jasper, with great bars of gold set 
 full of precious stones, and the crampons of fine 
 silver bordered with gold; the posts were of ivory 
 with pomels of coral, and the staves closed in buck- 
 ram covered with crimson satin. The sheets were 
 of silk, with a i-ich covering of ermine and other 
 cloths of gold, and four square pillows wrought 
 among the Saracens. The curtains were of green 
 sendal (silk), ornamented with gold and azure ; and 
 round about the bed there lay on the floor carpets 
 of silk " poynted and embroidered with images of 
 gold" (one of the earliest notices of carpets) ;' and 
 at the head of the bed stood an image of fine gold, 
 having a bow of ivory in his left hand, and an arrow 
 of fine silver in his right. 
 
 Another bed, in the same romance is described as 
 being furnished with a rich quilt wrought with cot- 
 ton, covered with sendal, stitched with threads of 
 gold, and sheets of white silk, and over all a rich 
 fur of ermines. In front of this bed there stood a 
 t)ench with great " brases" (arms) of ivory. Our 
 readers must take into consideration that this is 
 from a romance, but it nevertheless is a description 
 founded upon facts, and exaggerated only with re- 
 gard to the materials. We learn from it, in con- 
 junction with the pictorial representations of* the 
 period, that the bedsteads of that day resembled the 
 modern crib used for children in England, and for 
 everybody in Germany, being a sort of long box, 
 the sides or railing of which Avas called the outer 
 hras. The posts at the corners sometimes only rose 
 u little above this railing, and were surmounted with 
 panels, at others they supported a tester." But the 
 wills of our sovereigns and chief nobility prove that, 
 
 1 Matthew Paris tells us that Eleanor o( Castile, wife of Edward I., 
 followed the example of Siuchius, Bishop of Toledo, who, in 1255, 
 rnvered his floor -wilh tapestry, at which there was much sneering. 
 
 - lu the will of Lady Neville, 1385, we find nieiuion of a coverlet or 
 cnnnterpaue {" convrfclitz"') and a tester of doulile worsted : also of a 
 white couvrclit and tester, ))Owdered with popinjays. 
 
 Bed. Royal MS. 15 D. iii 
 
 during the fourteenth century, the beds of person- 
 ages of distinction were magnificent enough almost 
 to relieve the romancer of the suspicion of exag- 
 geration. Agnes, Countess of Pembroke, in 1367. 
 gives to her daughter a bed, " with the furniture of 
 her father's arras." William Lord Ferrers of 
 Groby, in 1368, leaves to his son his green bed, 
 with his arms thereon, and to his daughter his 
 " white bed and all the furniture, with the arms of 
 Ferrers and Ufibrd thereon." Edward the Black 
 Prince, in 1376, bequeaths to his confessor. Sir 
 Robert de Walsham, a large bed of red camera, 
 with his arms embroidered at each corner, also em- 
 broidered with the arms of Hereford ; and to M. 
 Alayne Cheyne " our bed of camera, powdered with 
 blue eagles." His widow, in 1385, gives " to my 
 dear son the king (Richard II.) my new bed of red 
 velvet, embroidered with ostrich feathers of silver, 
 and heads of leopards of gold, with boughs and 
 leaves issuing out of their mouths." Beds of black 
 satin, of blue, red, and white silk, and of black vel- 
 vet, all more or less richly embroidered with gold, 
 silver, and colors, are mentioned in the wills of Ed- 
 mond Earl of March, 1380 ; Richard Earl of Arun- 
 del, 1392; and .John Duke of Lancaster, 1397. 
 Chaucer, in his Dream (v. 255), says — 
 
 " Of diiwne of pure dove's white 
 I wol give hini a feather lied, 
 Rayed with gold and rig^ht wel clad 
 In fine black sattin d'oiUreinere, 
 And many a pillow, and every here 
 Of cloth of Raynes, to slepe on soft." 
 
 Cloth of Raynes (Rcnnes in Britanny) was much 
 esteemed during the middle ages, and is mentioned 
 as early as the twelfth century. It was used for 
 sheets, and seems to have been linen of very fine 
 manufacture. 
 
 Clocks that struck and chimed the hour are men- 
 tioned as early as the close of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, as part of the furniture of a mansion, i»y the 
 author of the " Roman do la Rose": — 
 
 •• Et puis fait sonnor ses orloges 
 Par ses salles et par ses loges 
 A roes trop subtilleinenls 
 Do pardurable mouvomriils."
 
 S36 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 The word clock, however, was used to signify tlie 
 l)ell only till the time of Henry VHI., the French 
 word horloge being used for the entire machine be- 
 fore that period. 
 
 A cupboard of plate in the thirteenth century is 
 described as consisting of a cup of gold covered, six 
 quart standing pots of silver, twenty-four silver 
 bowls with covers, a bason, ewer, and chasoir of 
 silver.' 
 
 The wills of Sir John Dcvereux. 1385, of Sir 
 William de Walworth (the celebrated Lord Mayor 
 of London, who also died in 1385), and of Alice de 
 Nerford, Baroness Neville, of Essex, 1394, contain 
 repeated notices of silver and silver-gilt plate, con- 
 sisting of dishes, chargers, basons, ewers, salt-cel- 
 lars, and spoons. Sh* William leaves a dozen silver 
 spoons to his brother Thomas Walworth, twelve 
 dishes and twelve salt-cellars, two chargers, two 
 basons, with a silver lavatory, and six pieces of plate 
 with two covers. In Lady Neville's will mention 
 is made of silver spice-plates and hanaps (hanapes), 
 with covers or lids to them. Hanaps are also men- 
 tioned among the articles of plate in the inventory 
 of Charles V., of France.* Some of these hanaps 
 were splendidly chased, and ornamented with 
 eagles, herons, &c.; and one is described as "a 
 hanap with a leopard ;" the figure of one being 
 probably upon the "couvercle." In the same will, 
 napkins and towels (" towailles"), manufactured at 
 Paris and Diuant, are mentioned among the house- 
 hold linen. 
 
 A pair of knives, witli sheaths of silver, enameled, 
 and a fork of crystal, are mentioned in the ward- 
 robe accounts of Edward I.; and forks are said to 
 have been used in Italy as early as 1330, but they 
 were not introduced at tables here till the seven- 
 teenth century. The one above mentioned, from 
 the very material of which it was made, must evi- 
 dently have been an object of curiosity rather than 
 an article for use. Fire-screens, with feet and 
 stands, occur in 1383; and fire-dogs, or andirons, 
 are mentioned in the wardrobe accounts of Ed- 
 ward I. 
 
 The civil costume in England in the reign of 
 Henry III. does not appear to have diflfcred essen- 
 tially from that worn during the reign of Eichard 
 and John. The tunic, with sleeves tight to the 
 wrist, the chausses, or tight pantaloons, with shoes 
 or short boots, the toes being long and pointed, form 
 the ordinary dress of the middle classes. Caps of 
 singular and varied shapes are more frequently met 
 with, but the cowl or the coif is the general head- 
 gear of the traveler. A large cloak with sleeves, 
 and a capuchon or cowl attached to it is mentioned 
 as a garment for foul weather, under the name of 
 " super-totus," or over-all, and a similar, if not the 
 same habit, called a balandrana, is among others 
 
 1 Matthew Paris, p. 2G9. 
 
 - The word hanaper has generally been ex]>lnincd as meaiiincr a 
 basket with handles, and derived from hand-hamper. It is evident, 
 from the document now quoted, that in the fourteenth century the term 
 was applied to vessels of silver; and we think the true derivation of 
 the word to be from the Saxon and German word hand and napf, — the 
 latter signifying a bowl, bason, or porringer (nap in Dutch, and nappo 
 in Italian) ; and that hiving a lid (couvercle) to it as well as handles, 
 its appeariuce would be that of a soup-bason. 
 
 forbidden to be worn by the monks of St. Benedict 
 at this period. Robes and mantles continued to 
 distinguish the higher orders, and the materials of 
 which they were composed appear to have been of 
 the most costly description. Velvet is mentioned 
 by Matthew Paris imder its Latin name of villosa 
 (from whence the French villusc and velours), and 
 two very splendid sorts of gold and silk stuff manu- 
 factured at Baldeck and in the Cyclades were intro- 
 duced here about this period. The first, called 
 cloth of Baldekins, was used to form the vestments 
 in which William de Valence Avas arrayed when 
 knighted by Henrj' in 1247, and the second gave its 
 name to a super-tunic, or surcoat, which opened up 
 the front to the waist, and was called, after it, Cy- 
 clas, orCidatoB. The whimsical fashion of indent- 
 ing, escaloping, and otherwise cutting the edges of 
 garments, which had provoked a legislative prohi- 
 bition as early as the reign of Henry II., appears to 
 have ra^ed more than ever toward the close of 
 Henry HL's reign. William de Loris, who died in 
 12G0, describes the dress of Mirth in his "Roman 
 de la Rose," as being — 
 
 " En maint lien inrisste 
 Et ducoppfee par cointisse ;"' 
 
 and robes so " slyttered," as Chaucer describes 
 them, were thence called cointises. The nobles 
 who attended at the marriage of Henry's daughter 
 with Alexander, King of Scotland, in 1251, "were 
 attired," says Matthew Paris, " in vestments of 
 silk, commonly called cointises." 
 
 Mantles lined with ermine are first mentioned 
 during this reign : two are ordered for Henry and 
 his queen ; nnd MattheAV Paris mentions the doub- 
 led or lined winter garments of the king and his 
 courtiers. As an exterior ornament, however, furs 
 do not make their appeai-ance till the reign of Ed- 
 ward I. In the Ilarleian MS., 926, is an initial 
 letter in which is represented the coronation of that 
 monarch, and his mantle of state is not only lined 
 Avith ermine, but has the broad cape or collar of the 
 same fur, which has ever since been worn by sov- 
 ereign princes. 
 
 The principal change in the female dress of this 
 period took place in the fashion of wearing the hair, 
 which, instead of being plaited as previously, was 
 turned up behind, and entirely inclosed in a caul of 
 net-work composed of gold, silver, or silk thread, 
 over which was worn the peplum or veil; and some- 
 times, in addition, a round hat or cap. Garlands, or 
 chaplets of goldsmith's work, were also worn by the 
 nobility over or without the caul; and wreaths of 
 natural flowers formed a still more elegant summer 
 head-dress, attainable by all classes. The wimple 
 or headkerchief continued to cover the gray hairs of 
 age, and give a conventual appearance to the cos- 
 
 1 That is, tastefully, or with fanciful elegance. The old French 
 verb se cointiser is rendered se parer comme ur.e coquette, and the sub- 
 stantives feminine, cointise, cointerie, — gentiUesse, mannicres elegantes, 
 polies. Landais, Dictionnaire General, &c. Paris, 1834. Quinteux 
 and quinteuse signifies uihimsicaUtr fantastical, and Chaucer translates 
 the line thus — 
 
 " All to slyttered for gueintise," — 
 cut all to slits or pieces for whim's sake, or in a fantastical manner
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 837 
 
 Ladies' Head-Dresses. Royal MS. 15 D. ii. 
 
 tume of the matron and the widow. This piece of 
 jittire was increased in size and rendered still more 
 unbecoming, toward the close of Henry's reign, by 
 the introduction of a neckcloth called the gorget. 
 .lean de Meun, the continuator of Lorris's " Roman 
 de la Rose," describes it in the reign of Edward I., 
 as being wrapped two or three times round the 
 neck, and then fastened with a great quantity of 
 pins, on either side of the fece, higher than the 
 (^ars. "Par Dieu!" he exclaims, "I have often 
 thought in my heart, when I have seen a lady so 
 closely tied up, that her neckcloth was nailed to 
 lier chin, or that she had the pins hooked into her 
 Hesh." In the Sloane MS., 3983, are some figures 
 perfectly illustrating this tirade of the poet. 
 
 The extravagance and foppery which disgusted 
 -Matthew Paris during the reign of Henry III., was 
 partially checked by the personal example of Ed- 
 ward I., who despised " the foreign aid of orna- 
 ment," and answei'ed those who inquired his reason 
 for not wearing richer apparel, that " it was absurd 
 to suppose he could be more estimable in fine than 
 simple clothing." He never wore his crown after 
 the day of his coronation, " saying merrily, that 
 crowns do rather onerate than honor princes."^ 
 Buttons, very closely set from the wrist almost to 
 the elbow of the sleeve of the under tunic, form the 
 most remarkable distinction of the civil dress of Ed- 
 ward's reign. The fashion is particularly alluded to 
 in a MS. poem written before 1300": — 
 
 " Botones azard (azure) everilke ane 
 From his elbolh to his hande :" 
 
 and it is represented in the illuminations and effigies 
 of the time. Gloves were more generally worn; 
 and the hair appears to hang in waved locks lower 
 than the ears, and to have been curled with great 
 precision. 
 
 The ladies are cruelly attacked by the poets of 
 the day on account of their whimsical head-tires 
 and extravagantly long trains. By one writer they 
 are compared to peacocks and pies, having " long 
 
 1 Camden, Remains, p. 259. The original authority is John of Lon- 
 don, who wrote a " Commemoratio," addressed to Edward's widow, 
 yueen Margaret, and now in the Cotton collection, marked Nero, D. ii. 
 
 2 Cotton M.S. Julius V 
 
 Ladies' Costume, time of Edward I. Sloane MS. 3983. 
 
 tails that trail in the dirt," a thousand times longer 
 than those of such birds. The authors of the " Ro- 
 man de la Rose " indulge also in invectives against 
 certain head-dresses, which, however, are not very 
 clearly described, and have been improperly con- 
 sidered to mean the horned head-dress of a much 
 later date. The figures already alluded to in the 
 Sloane MS., 3983, and the heads in a royal MS., 
 marked 15 D. ii., will better illustrate the female 
 costume of this period than pages of description. 
 The pernicious system of tight lacing already alluded 
 to under the reign of Henry I., is continually men- 
 tioned in works of this date. The damsels in " The 
 Lay of Sir Launfal," are described as being 
 
 " Lacies moult estreitment." 
 
 Their kirtles were of light blue silk ; their mantles 
 of green velvet, richly embroidered with gold, and 
 furred with " gris and gros " (i. e. the finest gray 
 fur and vair distinguished from the ininevRir), their 
 heads attired with kerchiefs well cut, and rich gold 
 wire, and surmounted by coronets, each adorned 
 with more than sixty precious gems. A girdle of 
 beaten gold, embellished with emeralds and rubies, 
 is mentioned in another poem as worn by a lady 
 "about her middle small." 
 
 Male Costume, time of Edward II. Koyal MS. E. iii. 
 Sloane MS 340.
 
 S38 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 The reign of Edward IT. presents us with the 
 partj'^-colored habits so fashionable during the two 
 following centuries, and the sleeves of the surcoat, 
 or super-tunic, terminating at the elbow in tippets 
 or lappets, which became long, narrow streamers 
 reaching to the ground in the reign of Edward III. 
 They are visible in the effigy of Edward II. in Glou- 
 
 apparent in the illuminations. In one of the accom- 
 panying examples a female is seen with an apron, 
 which Chaucer afterward calls a barme, or lap-cloth . 
 
 Effioy of Edward II.— Gloucester Cathedral. 
 
 cester Cathedral. An approach is made also to the 
 picturesque chaperon or hood of the close of the 
 fourteenth century, by the curious fashion, appa- 
 rently, of twisting or folding the capuchon or cowl 
 into fanciful shapes, and bearing it, little more than 
 balanced, seemingly, on the head, as the women of 
 the Paj-s de Basque wear their scarlet hoods in 
 summer, to this day. The ladies wore it so as well 
 as the men, and, we may presume, secured it by 
 pins to the hair ; but the mode of fastening is not 
 
 Head-dresses, time of Edward II. Royal MS. 14 E. 
 
 Fe.male Dres.s, time of Edward 11. Sloane MS. 346. 
 
 The close of the thirteenth century is chiefly re- 
 markable in the history of costume, as presenting us 
 with some particular distinctions in the attire of the 
 legal classes. Law3ers were originally priests, and 
 consequently wore the tonsure ; but, on the clergy 
 being forbidden to meddle with secular afiairs, the 
 lay lawyers discontinued the practice of shaving the 
 head, and wore the coif for distinction's sake. It 
 was first made of linen, and afterward of white silk : 
 its shape is the same as that of the coif worn by 
 travelers and huntsmen in the reign of Henry HI., 
 and has a very imdignified and unbecoming ap- 
 pearance, resembling an exceedinglj' scanty child's 
 night-cap tied under the chin. Some judicial per- 
 sonages wear caps and capes of fur, and have a pe- 
 culiarly shaped collar of the latter, or of some white 
 stuff round the neck of their long priest-like robes. 
 The fur lining of the robe is generally either white 
 lambskin or vair. 
 
 The ecclesiastical costume in England was at 
 this time so sumptuous as to excite the admiration 
 and avarice of Innocent IV. Some of the sacerdotal 
 habits wei'e nearly covered with gold and precious 
 stones, and others elaborately embroidered with 
 figures of animals and flowers : their shape will be 
 best understood from our engravings. The mitre 
 
 Cardinal's Hat Royal MS. 16 G. vi.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 839 
 
 had assumed its modern form by the reign of Ed- 
 ward I. The red hat is said to have been given to 
 the cardinals by Pope Innocent VI. at the Council 
 of Lyons, in 1245 ; and De Curbio says they first 
 wore it in 1246, at the interview between the Pope 
 and Louis IX. of France. Its shape at the com- 
 mencement of the fourteenth century may be seen 
 in the preceding cut. 
 
 The reign of Edward III. presents us with an 
 entire change of costume. The long robes and 
 tunics, the cyclases and cointises of the preceding 
 reigns vanished altogether. A close-fitting gar- 
 ment called a cote hardie, buttoned down the front, 
 and confined over the hips (which it barely covered) 
 by a splendid girdle, was the general habit of the 
 male nobility. It was composed of the richest ma- 
 terials, magnificently embroidered, sometimes party- 
 colored, the sleeves occasionally terminating at the 
 elbow, from which depended the long white tippets 
 or streamers before mentioned. In such cases the 
 sleeve of an under garment is visible, ornamented 
 with a close row of buttons from the wrist upward, 
 as in Edward I.'s time. A mantle exceedingly 
 long, lined with silk or furs, and fastened upon the 
 right shoulder by four or five large buttons, was 
 worn over this cote upon state occasions, the edges 
 indented, or cut in the form of leaves in the most 
 elaborate, and sometimes a very elegant manner. 
 A monk of Glastonbury named Dowglas, in a work 
 of which there is a MS. in the Harleian collec- 
 tion, informs us, that the Englishmen in this reign 
 "haunted so much unto the folly of strangers, that 
 every year they changed them in diverse shapes 
 and disguisings of clothing — now long, now large, — 
 now wide, now strait, — and every day clothings new 
 and destitute and divest of all honesty of old array 
 or good usages; and another time to short clothes, 
 and so strait-waisted, with full sleeves and tippets of 
 surcoats and of hoods over long and large, all so 
 nagged and knib on every side, and all so shattered 
 and also buttoned, that they seemed more like to 
 tormentors in their clothing and also in their shoe- 
 ing and other array than they seemed to be like 
 men." The extravagance of these fashions induced 
 
 the Commons to present a complaint on the subject 
 in parliament, a.d. 1363; and various restrictions 
 were promulgated in a sumptuary kw passed on 
 that occasion. Long hose frequently of two colors, 
 and pointed shoes of cloth of gold richly embroider- 
 ed, with a capuchon or cowl attached to a cape, 
 having a long tail behind, and being closely buttoned 
 up to the chin in front, completed the strange ha- 
 biliment. 
 
 Long beards came again into fashion during this 
 reign ; and on the door of St. Peter's church at Stan- 
 gate were fastened one day the following lines, 
 which had been made by the Scots in ridicule of 
 their southern enemies : — 
 
 "Longbeirds herliless, 
 Peyiited hoods witless, 
 Gay cotes graceless, 
 Maketh Engloiide thriftless." 
 
 Beaver hats are spoken of about this time, proba- 
 bly manufactured in Flanders, as in the next reign 
 we find Chaucer mentioning "a Flaundrish beaver 
 hat." They are sometimes worn over the capu- 
 chon. The knight's chapeau, as still borne on coats 
 of arms, is seen in some illuminations, and various 
 other caps, some of which are for the first time 
 decorated with a single feather worn straight up in 
 front; but its occurrence is so rare, and in such 
 particular instances, that we are inclined to believe 
 it worn, not as a fashion, but as a royal badge — Ed 
 ward III. and all his sons bearing an ostrich feather, 
 differenced in the blazoning for distinction's sake ; 
 the quill of the king's feather being gold, that of the 
 pi'ince's argent, and the Duke of Lancaster's ermine. 
 The Duke of Somerset, son of the Duke of Lan- 
 caster, wore the feather with the quill blazoned 
 argent and azure.' 
 
 The ladies in this reign are said to have surpassed 
 "the men in all manner of arraies and curious 
 clothing." Like them, they wore the cote hardie, 
 
 1 This unfortunate fact puts the interesting legend of the Bohemian 
 plume (the supposed origin of the " Prince of Wales's feathers ") iiUo 
 extreme peril, even without the additional evidence of the seal of John 
 to prove that the crest of Bohemia was an entire wing or pinion, or, as 
 it is represented on the tombs of the Bohemian monarchs at Prague, 
 two wings endorsed. 
 
 Male Costume, time of Edward III. Royal MS. 19 D ii. and Strutt. Female Costume, time of Edward III. Royal MS. 19 D. ii
 
 b40 
 
 HISTORY OF ExNGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 Tomb of William ok Windsor and Blanch de la Tour, 
 W'tsiiniiister Abbey. 
 
 with the long white tippets streaniing from the 
 elbows ;' but the most characteristic dress of this 
 period is a sort of sideless gown with veiy full 
 skirts, worn over the kirtle in such a manner as to 
 give the appearance of a jacket to that portion of it 
 which is visible. This gown is generally bordered 
 with fur or velvet, and sometimes has a kind of 
 stomacher of the same materials, ornamented with 
 jewels, thereby increasing the illusion ; but it is 
 almost impossible to give the reader an idea of 
 this garment by description, and we must there- 
 fore refer him to the engraving above, from the 
 effigy of Blanch de la Tour, daughter of Edward 
 III., in Westminster Abbey, and others from illu- 
 minations of the period. We have not been able 
 to ascertain the name allotted to this most peculiar 
 hnbit. 
 
 Knyghton tells us, that at tournaments the ladies 
 rode in party-colored tunics, with short hoods and 
 Hripipcs (that is, the tippets, or long tails of the 
 hoods) wrapped about their heads like cords. Their 
 girdles were richly decorated with gold and silver, 
 and they were small swords, "commonly called 
 daggers," stuck through pouches before them — a 
 fashion observable among the beaux of the opposite 
 sex at this time. 
 
 Mourning habits are first distinguished on the 
 monuments and in the illuminations of this reign. 
 Sometimes the mourners are clothed entirely in 
 
 ' Vide Royal MS. 19 D. ii. 
 
 black. On the tomb of Sir Roger de Kerdeston, 
 who died a.d. 1.337, his relations are seen wearing 
 the mourning-cloak over their ordinary colored 
 clothes. 
 
 JIorRNiNG Habits. From the Tomb of Sir Roger de Kerilcgton. 
 
 Richard II. set his subjects an example of fop- 
 pery, which they required very little inducement to 
 imitate. Knyghton assures lis that all distinction of 
 ranks and classes was soon lost, in the general ex- 
 travagance and rage for magnificent clothing that 
 now prevailed. Chaucer, in his " Parson's Tale," 
 and the author of the "Eulogium," cited by Cam- 
 den, both inveigh loudly and in the same strain 
 against the inordinate waste aud excessive cost of 
 the apparel of all classes down to the menial ser- 
 vants, whom Harding describes as arrajed in silk, 
 satin, damask, and green and scai'let cloth. The 
 old fashion of cutting the edges of garments into 
 the shape of leaves and other devices was carried 
 now to the gi'eatest extreme. Letters and mottoes 
 were embroidered upon the gowns or mantles ; and 
 the sleeves of the former were so long and wide, 
 that they trailed upon the ground, and are scarcely 
 distinguished in some instances from the ample 
 folds of the main portion of the garment. Jackets 
 indecently short were also worn by many, as though 
 rejoicing only in extremes ; and Chaucer's Parson 
 bitterly reprobates the party-colored hose which 
 were generally attached to them. The short jacket 
 when itself of two colors is, we presume, the habit 
 alluded to by the name of courtepie — an appellation 
 it retained even when composed of one color only. 
 The shoes had enormously long-piked toes, some- 
 times crooking upward in the Polish fashion, and 
 called " Crackowes," probably from the city of 
 Cracow, in Poland, whence the fashion may have 
 been imported by the followers of Richard's queen, 
 Anne, whose grandfather had incorporated the 
 kingdom of Poland with that of Bohemia. The 
 author of the " Eulogium," before mentioned, says 
 they fastened the toes to their knees with chains of 
 silver; but this curious custom has not been illus- 
 trated by any pictorial representation that we have 
 yet met with 
 
 Hats and caps of various singular shapes are 
 worn. One cap, a tall, uiufl'-looking affair, is seen
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 841 
 
 Male Costume, time of Richard II. 
 Royal MS. 20 B. vi., and Harleian MS. 1319. 
 
 frequently ia illuminations of this date. It is worn 
 by the Duke of Lancaster in tlie illuminations of 
 the Harleian manuscript history of Richard II., in 
 French verse, of which an account lias been given 
 in a former page,^ and is painted black, but of what 
 material does not appear. The hoods, of which 
 many specimens are portrayed in the same manu- 
 script, are still of a most inexplicable shape. They 
 appear more like a bundle of cloth upon the head 
 than a regular article of apparel : some are deco- 
 rated by a single feather. The gowns, in the same 
 miniatures, exactly answer to the description of the 
 author of the " Eulogiura" — "a garment reaching 
 to the heels, close before, and strutting out at the 
 sides ; so that at the back they make men seem like 
 women." Beards seem to have come again into 
 fashion, and were worn forked as in the old Anglo- 
 Saxon time. The hair was worn long, and care- 
 fully curled. 
 
 The ecclesiastical costume presei-ved its sump- 
 tuous character to the end of this period. From a 
 record in the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer's 
 office, in the Exchequer, we find that the mitre of 
 Alexander de Neville, Archbishop of York, in the 
 time of Richard II., was pledged to Sir W. Wal- 
 worth, Lord Mayor of London, for the sum of 193^. 
 6s. 8d., and was valued at ten marks more than 
 that sum " at least ;" — a tolerable proof of its mag- 
 nificence. 
 
 The armor of the reign of Henry III. is gen- 
 erally to be recognized by the admixture of plate 
 with the various sorts of mail worn from the time 
 of the Conquest. It is confined, however, to caps 
 for the knees and protections for the shoulders and 
 elbows. In some instances, but rarely as yet, 
 greaves are seen, but the hands and feet are still 
 covered by mail. The quilted or padded armor of 
 silk, buckram, etc., which we have before spoken 
 of, came still more into use, and, from its style of 
 ornament, was called 'pourpoint or counterpoint. 
 Chain-mail, properly so called, is supposed to have 
 been introduced during this reign from Asia, where 
 it is worn to this day ; but it is not clear to us that 
 
 1 See ante, p. 770. 
 
 Female Costume, time of Richard H. 
 Royal MS. 16 G. v., and Harleian MS. 4379 
 
 it had not been known to the Anglo-Saxons and 
 Danes, as we have already remarked under that 
 period. From the commencement of the thirteenth 
 century, however, there is no doubt of its use in 
 Europe ; and the interlacing of the rings them- 
 selves, in lieu of stitching them either flat, or in 
 layers one over the other, upon leather or cloth, 
 was a decided improvement on the clumsy hauberk 
 of the early Norman era. Over the shirt of chain 
 was worn the surcoat, bliaus, or cyclas, of silk or 
 rich stuff's, and occasionally perhaps emblazoned.' 
 It descended to the middle of the leg, and the 
 edges were frequently indented or escalloped, like 
 the cointise and other civil garments we have pre- 
 viously described. Of this period are some military 
 figures on the exterior of Wells Cathedral, and also 
 the drawings in Matthew Paris's " Lives of the 
 Two Offas." 
 
 A very heavy and ugly shaped helmet, of a bar- 
 rel form, with an aperture for sight cut in the 
 ti-ansverse bar of a cross, covered the head entirely 
 and rested on the shoulders. Skull-caps of various 
 forms, with and without nasals, were worn by men- 
 at-arms, esquires, etc. In Matthew Paris's " Lives 
 of the Two Oftas," written and illuminated about 
 this period, the archers are seen in mail-jackets or 
 habergeons, with sleeves reaching to the elbow, 
 over which are vests of leather, defended by four 
 circular iron plates. Round targets and iron mauls, 
 or martels de fer, appears to have been used by 
 knights even in this reign (the effigy of one is 
 to be seen in Great Malvern Church, Worcester- 
 shire) ; but the emblazoned shield, the sword, and 
 the lance, were the most general appointments of 
 knighthood. The roweled spur is first met with 
 during this reign, but it is not common till that of 
 Edward I., who, simple and unostentatious as he 
 was in his private or civil attire, and regardless of 
 personal finery upon most occasions, nevertheless 
 seems to have encouraged a taste for splendor and 
 display among his companions in his favorite pursuit 
 of arms. 
 
 1 The fashion cf emblazoning the surcoat did not, however, become 
 general till the rei^ of Edward I. ♦
 
 842 
 
 EIISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 Armor of the period, exhibited in the Effigy of John of 
 Eltham, from his Tomb in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 The armorial bearings of the knight were now 
 fully emblazoned on his banner, shield, surcoat, and 
 the housings of his horse. His war-helmet, im- 
 proved in shape, was surmounted by the heraldic 
 crest, and additionally adorned by a kerchief or 
 scarf, cut and slashed like the fashionable tunics of 
 the previous reign, and like them, and for the same 
 reason, called a cointise. To the offensive weapons 
 we find added the falchion, a peculiarly shaped broad- 
 bladed sword ; the estoc, a small stabbing-sword ; 
 the anelase or anelace, a broad dagger tapering to a 
 line point; the conlel or coutdas (whence cutlas) ; 
 the mace, and perhaps the cbnetar ; both the latter 
 being of Oriental origin. 
 
 The mail-gloves are about this time first divided 
 into fingers; and in instances where the sleeves of 
 the hauberk terminate at the wrist, leather gauntlets 
 are worn, but not yet defended by plate. Flat 
 shields of the triangular or heater form now appear. 
 The banner is oblong; and the^;e««on, a triangular 
 standard, is mentioned. It was generally charged 
 with the crest, badge, or war-cry of the knight; the 
 banner being distinguished by the arms only. 
 
 The general military costume of this period, with 
 the shape of the banner, may be seen in the draw- 
 ing of the Conqueror on making a grant of land to 
 his nephew, the Duke of Brittany, copied in a pre- 
 ceding page.' The original document from which 
 Mr. Kerrich copied this drawing is preserved in the 
 College of Arms ; although representing William 
 
 1 See ante, p. 547. 
 
 the Conqueror and his great officers, it is the work 
 of some illuminator of the thirteenth centur}-. 
 
 Toward the close of the reign of Edward I. a 
 curious ornament of the military dress appears in 
 the form of a pair of plates fastened to the shoulders, 
 sometimes square, sonietimes oblong, and occasion- 
 ally, but more rarely, round ; emblazoned like the 
 sliield and the surcoat with the arms of the wearer, 
 or with a plain St. George's cross. They were 
 called, from their situation and appearance, ailcttes, 
 or little wings. They came generally into fashion, 
 and afterward disappeared altogether during the 
 reign of Edward II. ; the principal alterations in 
 which consisted of the increase of plate-armor, not 
 only greaves for the front of the legs, but brassarts 
 and vanhraces or avant bras, being worn on the 
 arms. Two round i)lates also, called, from their 
 position, mamalieres, were fastened on the breast 
 over the surcoat or cyclas, and from them depended 
 chains to which the helmet and the sword of the 
 knight were attached ; the helmet being now worn 
 rarely except during the actual shock of battle, 
 when it was placed over the usual head-piece 
 called a bascinet, the successor of the old cliapel 
 de fer, which, with its nasal, disappears in this 
 reign. 
 
 The suiToat was sometimes much shorter in 
 front than behind ; and the hauberk, instead of 
 having a hood of mail attached to it, now termi- 
 nated at the collar, a neck-guard of chain, called 
 the camail, being fastened to the edge of the basci- 
 net, and falling down upon the shoulders over the 
 surcoat, leaving a shield-shaped opening for the 
 face. A vizor was occasionally attached to the bas- 
 cinet, in which case the helmet was dispensed 
 with. The pole-axe was wielded by leaders, and 
 several scythe-bladed weapons, varieties of the bill 
 and the guisarm, are seen in illuminations of the 
 period. 
 
 During the reign of Edward III. plate-armor 
 began to supersede the chain-mail on almost every 
 part of the body. The legs and arms were soon 
 entirely defended by plate, gussets of mail being 
 only worn under the arm and at the bend of it. 
 The feet were guarded by pointed shoes of over- 
 lapping steel plates called sollcrets, and the leathern 
 gauntlets were similarly cased with steel and pro- 
 vided with steel tops. On the knuckles were placed 
 small spikes, knobs, or other ornaments, called gads ^ 
 or gadlings. Those on the gauntlets of Edward 
 the Black Prince, preserved at Canterbury, are 
 made in the form of lions. A breastplate, called a 
 plastron, kept the chain-shirt, divested of its sleeves, 
 from pressing on the chest, or a pair of plates for 
 back and breast rendered the shirt of mail alto- 
 gether unnecessary, and a short apron of chain 
 hung merely from the waist over the hips. The 
 surcoat was gradually discarded for an upper gar- 
 ment called a jupon or guipon (a name sometimes 
 given to the under one of leather, which supported 
 either the breastplate or the hauberk), made of 
 velvet, and richly embroidered with the arms of 
 the wearer. It fitted the body tightly, and was con- 
 fined over the hips by a magnificent belt, to which 
 
 ^
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 8i[i 
 
 on the right side was attached a dagger, and on the 
 left a sword. 
 
 In the reign of Richard II., little alteration, if 
 any, was made in the military costume of the close 
 of that of Edward III. The most remarkable fea- 
 tm"e is the movable vizor which was attached to 
 the bascinet, now always worn in war, the more 
 ponderous helmet, with its crest and wreath, being 
 used only for the joust and the tournament. The 
 shape of this said vizor may be best understood 
 from an engraving ; an original vizored bascinet of 
 this time is in the Tower of London, and another at 
 Goodrich Court (the only two known in Kngland).' 
 In the Musee d'Artillerie, at Paris, two more are 
 preserved ; a fifth is said to be in the Hotel de 
 Ville at Chartres. There is one in the Chateau 
 d'Ambras in the Tyrol; and a vizor only, without 
 the bascinet, in the collection at the Lowenburg, 
 Hesse Cassel. 
 
 1 See ail interesting specimen of the military costume of this reign 
 in the carved figure of St. George at Dijon, an engraving from a beau- 
 tiful cast of which is in the Archieoingia, vol. x!cv. The jupon is very 
 peculiar, being full and plaited, and buttoned at the wrists and in 
 front. 
 
 In many effigies and illuminations of the reigns 
 of Edward III. and Richard II., the cuisses or 
 thigh-pieces of the knights are covered with pour- 
 pointed work ; and Chaucer's Sir Thopas wore 
 jambeaux or jambs of " cuir-bouly," a preparfition 
 of leather much used in the fourteenth century, not 
 only for armor, but for effigies and various works of 
 art. The shield, which was triangular throughout 
 the reign of Edward III., began, about the close of 
 Richard II., to be rounded oft' at the bottom ; and 
 a niche was made in it on one side or at top, called 
 the bouche, or mouth, which served as a rest for 
 the lance. ^ The shield of John of Gaunt, which 
 was suspended over his tomb in old St. Paul's, and 
 burnt at the conflagration of that building, is en- 
 graved in Dugdale's " History," and Bolton's " Ele- 
 ments of Armories." It is of the form afterward 
 used in the reign of Henry IV., and the bouche is 
 at the top. By the latter writer it is described 
 thus: — "It is very convex toward the bearer, 
 whether by warping through age or as made ot 
 purpose. It hath in dimension more than three 
 
 • Vide figure of St. George before mentioned 
 
 St. Georoe at Dijo:<
 
 844 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 quarters of a yard of length, and about half a yard 
 in breadth ; next to the body is a canvass glued to a 
 board, upon that board are broad thin axicles, slices 
 iir plates of horn nailed fast, and again over them 
 twenty and six pieces of the like, all meeting or 
 centering about a round plate of the same in the 
 
 Shield of John of Gaunt 
 
 navel of the shield ; and over all is a leather closed 
 fast to them with glue or other holding stulf, upon 
 which his armories were painted, but now they, 
 with the leather itself, have very lately and very 
 lewdly been utterly spoiled." The engraving rep- 
 resents the leather as torn up and curling away 
 from the shield, so as to show the nature of its 
 fabrication. 
 
 We have already had occasion to notice the prob- 
 ability that the use of fire-arras in war was intro- 
 duced as early as the reign of Edward III.' The 
 lines in which the Scottish poet Barbour speaks of 
 the " novelties" first seen by his countrymen in one 
 of their encounters with the Enghsh in 1327, are as 
 follows : — 
 
 "Twa noweltyps that day they saw, 
 That forwith Scotland had been nanc, 
 
 Tyinmcris (timbres, i. e. crests) for helmetys war the tanc,^ 
 The tolhyr crakys were of war." 
 
 We have also mentioned the story told by tlie Italian 
 writer, Giovanni Villani, about the employment of 
 cannons by Edward at the battle of Crecy. In the 
 fifth volume of the Archsologia is an engraving of 
 HU ancient cannon raised from the Goodwin Sands, 
 and supposed, from a coat of arms on it, to have 
 been made about 1370. If so, it is only necessary 
 to compare it with the ancient English cannon pre- 
 served in the Tower, and said to have been used at 
 Crecy, to be assured of the falsity of the assertion 
 
 1 See ante, p. 741. 
 
 2 By this we also perceive that crests upon helmets were till then un- 
 known in Scotland, though worn for thirty or forty years previously in 
 England. 
 
 A. Ancient Cannon raised from the Goodwin Sands, and supposed, from a coat of arms which it bears, to have been made about the year 
 1370. See Archa-ologia, vol. V. B. Chamber for loading. C. Spanish Cannon of the same date. D. Chamber for loading. E, F. 
 Earliest forms of English Cannon, from examples in the Tower of London. 
 
 Mounting of a Cannon. From Froissart. Royal MS. Plut. X. H. 294.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 845 
 
 respecting the latter. In a copy of Fi'oissart of the 
 fifteenth century, Bib. Reg. Plut. X. H. 294, al- 
 though nearl^^ a hundred years later than the battle, 
 we have a representation of the mode in which 
 cannon were mounted previously to the invention 
 of the modern gun-carriage. 
 
 Social life in England during this period assumed, 
 in some respects, a refinement and splendor to 
 which it had been hitherto a stranger. Chivalry, 
 which had been partially inti'oduced into the country 
 by the Norman invasion, and carried to a consider- 
 iible height under the lion-hearted Richard, ap- 
 pears to have experienced a check during the 
 troubled and disastrous reigns of John and Henry 
 III. It is said, indeed, that the latter established a 
 round table, in imitation of the fabulous King Ar- 
 thur, the knights belonging to which exercised 
 themselves in joustings, and dined at a circular 
 board, on a footing of equality and good-fellowship ; 
 and that the citizens of London, emulating the 
 knights and nobles, were wont to display their skill 
 in horsemanship by running at the quintain, while 
 a peacock was the reward of the victor. But it 
 was under the energetic rule of Edward I., and 
 more especially under that of Edward III., that the 
 chivalrous spirit attained its highest exaltation, and 
 the singular system of institutions and manners that 
 arose out of it, its most complete and brilliant de- 
 velopment. The reign of this last monarch, indeed, 
 may be termed the noon of English chivalry, al- 
 though it may be questioned whether it is most 
 indebted for the strong light of knightly renown, in 
 which it stands out from the ages before and after 
 it, to Edward himself, and his higli-minded queen, 
 and his gallant son, — the very mirror of knigiithood, 
 — or to the pen of Froissart, by which its gallant 
 exploits and gorgeous solemnities have been so faith- 
 fully and so eloquently chronicled. 
 
 Amid the heroic daring which the chivalrous spirit 
 cherished, and the generous deeds it occasionally 
 inspired, our admiration is continually interrupted 
 by the whimsical extravagances, and sometimes by 
 the revolting atrocities, of which chivalry was the 
 fruitful parent. The courage of the knight became 
 frequently exaggerated into the most frantic daring; 
 courtesy toward the female sex assumed the char- 
 acter of an idolatrous fanaticism, and liberality that 
 of a reckless profusion that cared neither for the end 
 nor the object of its largesses. The fantastic spirit 
 of the system was introduced into the most serious 
 affairs. Knights, even when engaged in a national 
 contest, fought less upon public considerations than 
 
 to uphold the renown of their mistresses ; and it 
 was the fashion among them to subject themselves to 
 some absurd penance, until a specified deed of arms 
 was achieved. Thus, in one of Edward III.'s expe- 
 ditions against France, the knights who joined the 
 army, we are told by Froissart, wore a patch on one 
 eye, under a vow that it should not be removed until 
 they had performed exploits worthy of their mis- 
 tresses. Of the mad heedlessness with which, on 
 other occasipns, the boasted knightly virtue of liber- 
 ality was displayed, a single instance may serve for 
 an illustration. When Alexander III. of Scotland, 
 accompanied by a hundred knights, repaired to 
 London, to attend the coronation of Edward I., he 
 and his knights, as soon as they alighted, let loose 
 their richly caparisoned steeds, to be scrambled for 
 by the multitude : and five of the great EngUsh 
 nobles, not to be outdone in generosity by the stran- 
 gers, immediately followed the example.' 
 
 We are not to suppose that the sovereigns who 
 during this period were the most distinguished pro- 
 tectors and ornaments of chivalry, were wholly under 
 the control of the spirit which they thus fostered. 
 They were not, of course, exempted from the influ- 
 ence of the spirit of their age, and therefore they were 
 most anxious to be accounted true knights, as well 
 as wise rulers ; but they had sagacity and dexterity 
 to seize upon the ruling feeling, and turn it to the 
 support of their schemes of policy and ambition. 
 Such especially was the case with Edward III. He 
 saw in chivalry the instrument most suited to the 
 temper and circumstances of the age, and that, 
 therefore, by which his vast designs could be best 
 accomplished. Every showy tournament he pro- 
 claimed increased the number and spirit of his sup- 
 porters, and added to his real strength. His great 
 opponent, Philip of Valois, adopted the same course, 
 and a rivalry in these splendid pageantries was the 
 consequence. Edward established what was called 
 a round table at Windsor, two hundred feet in diam- 
 eter, which was maintained at the expense of a 
 hundred pounds weekly ; the French king, in re- 
 prisal, established one similar at Paris, by the at- 
 tractions of which ho intercepted sundry German 
 and Italian knights who were coming to England. 
 Edward then instituted the since illustrious Order 
 of the Garter; and PhiUp increased the number 
 and splendor of his jousts and tournaments. It was 
 thus that national and royal rivalry contributed to 
 the extension and aggrandizement of the chivalric 
 system : it was now the arbiter of kingdoms, and 
 
 1 H. Knyghton. 
 
 K>(ionT3 PREPARINO TO CoMBAT. Hoyal WS. 14 E. ill
 
 S46 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 therefore all its forms, however puerile, became 
 objects of the highest public importance.' 
 
 The " passages of arms," as the sportive encoun- 
 ters of chivalry were termed, were of various de- 
 Hcriptions. Sometimes a baron proclaimed a joust 
 or tournament to be held before his castle, which 
 was furnished with permanent lists for the purpose. 
 Sometimes a certain number of knights leagued to- 
 tiether to answer all comers ; and sometimes a sin- 
 gle knight, especially venturous and hardy, would 
 enter the lists with a general challenge, and encoun- 
 ter every foe in succession, until he conquered all, 
 or was himself overcome. Frequently a simple 
 joust was tried by two knights, who challenged each 
 I ither to a trial of skill in all love and courtesy, with 
 
 ' M. Westminster — Froissart. 
 
 headless or sharpened lances ; in this case one, 
 three, or more courses were run, till one party 
 yielded, or was disabled. And sometimes, when 
 surpassing skill was to be displayed, or when addi- 
 tional danger was sought to give a zest to the con- 
 flict, a place was selected for the combat where a 
 career of the lance was the least part of the hazard, 
 — a rough plot of ground, or a narrow bridge, with 
 a river or fosse beneath, into which a false step 
 would plunge the unwary combatant. A singular 
 course of this nature was run on the bridge of Lon- 
 don, during the reign of Richard II., between a 
 Scottish and an English knight, in consequence of 
 a formal challenge after the battle of Otterbourne.' 
 Little remains to be added to the description given 
 
 1 Froissart, 
 
 KsiouTS Jousting. Roval MS. 14 E. iii. 
 
 lu the last Book of the nature and general forms of 
 The tournament. The display, however, both of 
 rxpense and of taste, was greater now than in the 
 ])recediug period. The lists were now magnificently 
 ilecorated ; they were surrounded by gay pavilions 
 belonging to the knights who intended to take part 
 in the combat, which were distinguished by the 
 rich armor and honored banners of their I'espective 
 owners; and the scaffolds erected for the accom- 
 modation of the ladies and nobles were hung with 
 tapestry, and embroidery of gold and silver. The 
 spectacle regularly commenced with the jousts, 
 which were performed, on these occasions, ■with 
 headless lances, and each knight endeavored, in his 
 rapid career, to strike his adversary full on the vizor 
 or crest. This was a difficult mark to hit, but when 
 accomplished, it seldom failed to unseat the firmest 
 rider. To avoid such defeat, some knights adopted 
 
 the practice of fastening the helmet to the cuirass 
 by a single lace so that it might give way at the 
 slightest touch of the spear ; but this, Froissart 
 states, w^as condemned by John of Gaunt as an un- 
 fair expedient. To lose .a stirrup in the shock of 
 encounter was equal to a defeat; to be unhorsed, 
 whether in joust or tournay, was an additional igno- 
 miny. In the furious melee of the general combat, 
 those who threw their antagonists to the earth, or 
 mastered their weapons, were also sometimes 
 obliged to drag them to the extremity of the lists ; 
 and when this was accomplished, the discomfited 
 knights had to remain prisoners, and take no further 
 share in the battle. In this way, both parties fought 
 until so many on one side were disabled or captured 
 as to make further contention hopeless. As might 
 be expected, these sports, even in their gentlest 
 forms, were plentifully accompanied with wounds 
 
 KxiGHTs Combating. Royal MS. 14 E. iii 
 
 K.MGHTs Joi-sTiNG. Koval MP. 14 E. iii.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 847 
 
 and bruises ; a death-wound was sometimes unwarily 
 dealt, and a dismounted knight was occasionally 
 smothered in his armor ; but when the excitement 
 of conflict rose to its height, aggravated, too, as it 
 was in many cases, by party or national enmities, 
 then the two-handed sword or heavy battle-axe de- 
 scended with the same fury as on the plains of 
 France or Syria, and the lists assumed the character 
 of a battle-field on which deadly enemies were con- 
 tending. The king, or the person presiding, how- 
 ever, had always the power to still the confusion at 
 the wildest. He threw down his warder, and cried 
 •'Ho!" — and in an instant the fiercest strife was 
 suspended; the mailed combatants stood as motion- 
 less as statues of bronze. 
 
 Froissart gives us the description of a tourna- 
 jnent held at London, in 1389, during the reign of 
 Richard H. Heralds were sent to every country 
 in Europe where chivalry was honored, to proclaim 
 the time and the occasion ; and brave knights were 
 invited to sphnter a lance, or wield a sword in honor 
 of their mistresses. Knights and nobles from far 
 and near assembled at the inspiring summons; so 
 that London was thronged with warriors of every 
 climate and language. Smithfield (at that time 
 without the city walls), in which the lists were 
 erected, was surrounded with temporary chambers 
 and pavilions, constructed for the accommodation of 
 the king and the princes, the queen and the maidens 
 of her court; and when the solemnity was about to 
 commence, sixty horses richly accoutred were led 
 to the lists by squires, accompanied by heralds and 
 minstrels ; after which sixty ladies followed on pal- 
 freys, each lady leading an armed knight by a chain 
 of silver. The first day, the games commenced, as 
 usual, with encounters of the lance ; and at evening, 
 when the trials had closed, the two combatants who 
 had most highly signalized their skill received, as 
 prizes, a golden crown, and a rich girdle adorned 
 with precious stones; after which the night was 
 spent in feasting and dancing. On the next morn- 
 ing, and for five successive days, the more serious 
 competitions of the tournament followed ; and still, 
 as evening came, the same joyous festivities suc- 
 ceeded — the actors thus realizing all that their pa- 
 gan ancestors had hoped for from the fighting and 
 feasting paradise of Odin. But the appetites of the 
 noble assembly for blows and beeves had not yet 
 been satiated. The immense cavalcade now rose, 
 and passed on to Windsor, where the same jousts, 
 combats, and banquets were renewed for several 
 days more ; after which, the foreign knights depart- 
 ed to their own homes. 
 
 The ordeal combats, which were so closely con- 
 nected with chivalry, appear, during the reign of 
 Richard H., to have increased in frequency. Regu- 
 lations for these judicial duels were settled by the 
 king's uncles. By these regulations, the king was 
 to find the field upon which the combat was to be 
 fought ; the lists were to be erected on ground sixty 
 paces in length, and forty in breadth, hard, firm, and 
 level, with one gate to the east, and another to the 
 west; and the whole was to bo inclosed by a paling 
 so high, that a horse could not lenp over it. Tlie 
 
 Ordeal Combat or Dukl. Royal MS. 14 E. iii. 
 
 nature of these duels, as well as the spirit of the 
 age, will be best illustrated by the account of a sin- 
 gular combat of this nature, which is detailed by 
 Holinshed. A knight accused a squire of treason, 
 which the latter denied, and craved the purgation 
 of combat ; and accordingly the trial was held in 
 presence of the king, the Duke of Lancaster, and 
 the nobles. The appellant first entered the field of 
 battle, and waited for the accused, who, after being 
 thrice summoned by the herald-at-arms, entered 
 the lists at the third call. The sealed indenture 
 containing the knight's charge was then opened, 
 and read, and a denial formally returned ; after 
 which, nothing remained but an immediate appeal 
 to arms. The oaths of battle were therefore ad- 
 ministered, and the accuser and accused solemnly 
 swore, that " they dealt with no witchcraft, nor art 
 magic, whereby they might obtain the victory of 
 their adversary ; nor had about them any herb, or 
 stone, or other kind of experiment, with which ma- 
 gicians use to triumph over their enemies." The 
 combatants then betook themselves to prayer, after 
 which they rose, and joined battle at the given sig- 
 nal, first with spears, then with swords, and finally 
 with daggers. After a long and cruel fight, the 
 knight managed to beat down and disarm his enemy ; 
 but just when he was about to throw himself upon 
 the body of the vanquished, to deprive him of life, 
 the sweat within his barred helmet flowed into his 
 eyes, and so completely blinded him, that he fell 
 wide of the mark. The squire, finding what had 
 happened, contrived to .raise his battered limbs from 
 the ground, and threw himself upon his enemy, 
 when, at this perilous juncture, the king ordered 
 the pair to be plucked asunder, which was imme- 
 diately done by the attendants of the lists. The 
 knight, as soon as he got upon his legs, prayed earn- 
 estly to be replaced in his former position, with the 
 squire above him; for ''he thanked God he was 
 well, and mistrusted not to obtain the victory ;" but 
 this request wa.s refused by the king, although 
 pleaded repeatedly, and with vehemence, and 
 backed i)y the ofler of goodly sums of money. In 
 the mean time, the squire, exhausted with wounds
 
 848 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 and toil, swooned away, and fell from his chair ; 
 his hai'ness was speedily doffed, and means were 
 used for his recovery ; but as soon as he had opened 
 his eyes, and began to breathe, the pertinacious 
 knight advanced, and, after calling him traitor and 
 perjured, summoned him to commence the battle 
 anew. But the squire's last combat had been fought. 
 He was unable to answer, perhaps even to under- 
 stand, the reproach of his antagonist ; and he died 
 the same night. No better proof could bo required 
 of his guilt by the most scrupulous judges of that 
 age ; and thus was the affair terminated " to the 
 great rejoicing of the common people," says the old 
 chronicler, "and discouragement of traitors." 
 
 The ostentatious splendor and recklessness of 
 expense which the chivalrous spirit tended to en- 
 courage, was not confined to mere courtly parades, 
 and tournaments, and solemn festivals. On the con- 
 trary, it seems to have pervaded every department 
 of domestic, as well as public and out-door life. We 
 still find in fashion during the present period the 
 same unwieldy retinues that encumbered the march 
 of Ilenry II. and his nobles ; and if these trains of 
 attendants were now somewhat superior in point of 
 elegance and splendor to those of preceding ages, 
 they were still productive of many evils. Each 
 man strove to outdo his neighbor; and a writer of 
 the time, the Monk of Malmsbury, bitterly coin- 
 plains of the unhappy rivalry in prodigality which 
 such a spirit had produced, when he tells us that 
 the squire endeavored to outshine the knight, the 
 knight the baron, the baron the earl, and the earl 
 the king. All this was nothing more than the nat- 
 ural result of such an excited and artificial state of 
 life. Unfortunately, too, the semblance of an ex- 
 cuse was still afforded for large and well armed 
 trains in the journeyings of the rich and powerful, 
 from the fact that England was still traversed by 
 strong bands of robbers, that plundered not only 
 peaceful bishops and cardinals, but well accompa- 
 nied earls, and even powerful princes.^ But still i 
 stronger motives for these throngs of followers were 
 to be found in the restlessness and ambition of the 
 nobility, constantly seeking to supplant each other 
 when not engaged in a common contest with the 
 crown. Such regiments and armies of retainers, of 
 course, demanded plentiful supplies and an unbound- 
 ed hospitality ; and instances are furnished of the 
 household expenditure of these periods that almost 
 stagger belief. Richard II., we are told, entertained 
 ten thousand persons daily at his tables. The rich 
 and powerful Thomas Earl of Lancaster, grandson 
 of Henry III., in the beginning of the fourteenth 
 century, expended in one year about twenty-two 
 thousand pounds of silver in this open style of house- 
 keeping ; of wine alone there were consumed, du- 
 ring the course of that year, by his household, three 
 hundred and seventy-one pipes. 
 
 In the article of meats and drinks, the common 
 people seem to have still adhered to the plain fash- 
 ions of their ancestors : the old dishes, whatever 
 they were, as yet sufficed them, with copious 
 draughts of ale, cider, and mead; and quantity, not 
 
 1 M. Paris.— H. Knvpl.f.m.-S. Wa!sin"h»m. 
 
 qualit}', was the main essential of a banquet. Very 
 different, however, was the case with the nobles. 
 The solemn feastings of chivalry seem gradually to 
 have crept into the everyday life of the great, so 
 that the comparative abstinence for which their 
 Norman ancestors were distinguished had given 
 place to inordinate extravagance. Attempts to re- 
 strain this extravagance were repeatedly made in 
 the reigns of Edward II. and III., by sumptuary 
 laws ; the very repetition of which, however, proves 
 that they were generally disregarded. The records 
 of some of the great feasts of this period exhibit as- 
 tounding bills of fare. At the marriage banquet of 
 Richard Earl of Cornwall, in 124.3, thirty thousand 
 dishes were served up;' and in the following cen- 
 tury, at the installation feast of the Abbot of St. Au- 
 gustin, no less than three thousand dishes honored 
 the promotion of the fortunate ecclesiastic." . The 
 meals were still nominally only two a day ; but this 
 limitation mattered little, when the greater part of 
 the day was devoted to those two meals. Inter- 
 meats also appear to have been introduced during 
 this period. These were delicate and light dinhes, 
 served up at the intervals of the meal, intended 
 probal)ly as provocatives to the more substantial 
 courses that followed.^ Wines also, as they were 
 technically called, formed a sort of connecting link 
 between the two daily meals. These v.ines were 
 light refections of fine cakes and different kinds of 
 wine, that were taken at any hour of the day, or 
 upon the arrival of a visitor, but more especially at 
 bed-time."* Cookery had now also increased into 
 a most complicated and artificial system, though wo 
 are not sufficiently acquainted with the details to 
 speak of them with certainty. Many dishes are 
 now mentioned for the first time, composed of ma- 
 terials sufficiently heterogeneous according to the 
 present taste,® and so excessively sea.^oiicd tliat they 
 were said to be " burning with wildfire ;" while 
 others, that were required to please the eye as well 
 as the palate, were gaily painted, and turreted with 
 paper. In seasoning these inflammable dainties, 
 the cooks made abundant use of ginger, grein de 
 Paris, cloves, and liipiorice. We also find that jel- 
 lies, tarts, and rich cakes formed a copious accom- 
 paniment of every banquet. The wines used at 
 this period were eithei* compounded or pure : of the 
 former were hippocras, pigment, and claret; the 
 latter were chiefly the imported wines of France, 
 Spain, Greece, and Syria.'' 
 
 A. style of life such as this required vigorous 
 digestion ; and out-door sports, accordingly, were 
 still eagerly followed by all classes. Fleet steeds, 
 high-soaring hawks, good hounds, and bright armor, 
 still occupied the cares of the great and wealthy ; 
 and as so many of the restrictions in hunting had 
 been abolished, that seductive sport was also largely 
 followed by the commons. The priesthood also 
 continued to be so strongly attached to "venerie," 
 that, in the reign of Richard II., every clergyman 
 was prohibited from keeping a dog for hunting who 
 had not a benefice of the annual amount of 10?; 
 
 I M. Paris. = W. Thorn. ' Ryley's Placita Pari. 
 
 * Fniissarf, ' Strutt's Anrel Cvnnnn. * IWil.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 S4'J 
 
 and, in the reign of Edward III., the Bishop of 
 Ely actually excommunicated certain persons who 
 had stolen one of his hawks during the period of 
 divine service. 
 
 We find from the illuminated manuscripts of this 
 period, that eveu ladies both hunted in company 
 with gentlemen, and formed hunting parties of their 
 own, in which they pursued the deer, mounted 
 asti'ide on fleet horses, and brought down the game 
 with their arrows. Sometimes, indeed, ladies went 
 much further than this, riding, we are told, from 
 castle to castle, and from town to town, with pon- 
 iards at their girdles and javelins in their hands, in 
 quest of adventures.^ Falconry still continued to 
 be the most cherished sport ; and the prices at 
 which hawks were purchased, as well as the penal- 
 ties enacted against those who should steal them, 
 show the estimation in which they were held. 
 Edward III. himself appears to have been an en- 
 thusiastic hawker. In one of his expeditions to 
 France he carried with him thirty falconers ; and, 
 during the campaign, he appears to have hawked 
 and fought alternately with equal ardor. The wolf, 
 it may be observed, was still to be found in England, 
 as appears by various evidences. 
 
 When we pass from these active exercises to 
 the in-door amusements of the nobility and gentry 
 of this period, we find that most of the games of 
 the former period were still in use : and some games 
 are also mentioned of which we do not read in 
 earlier times. That of cross and pile is said to have 
 been introduced at court by Edward II.* Persons 
 playing at draughts are represented in some of the 
 
 Playino at Draughts. Harleian MS. 4431. 
 
 illuminations. We have already mentioned the 
 game of chess as forming a common amusement 
 among the higher classes. The game, as far as 
 we can judge from the figures in the ancient paint- 
 ings, appears to have been played nearly in the 
 same manner as at present. Beside a square chess- 
 board, however, like that commonly in use, we 
 sometimes see one of a circular form. The chess- 
 
 i H. Kiiyghton. 2 Antiquit. Repert., tome 11. 
 
 VOL. I. — 54 
 
 men were somewhat different in form, and also i:i 
 name ; the queen being called the fevee ; the rook, 
 or castle, the rock ; and the bishop, the alfin. 
 
 Circular Chess-Board. Cotton MS. .ind Strutt. 
 The Figures show the places of the pieces:—]. The Kin?.— 2. Tho 
 Queen, or Fevee.— 3. The Castle, Kook, or Rock.— 4. The Kiiiglii 
 —5. The Bishop, or Alfin.— 6. The Pawns. 
 
 The jester was now a regular appendage of a 
 princely or noble household : his office was to divert 
 the jaded spirit of his lord by jests either intellect- 
 ual or practical, and to keep the banquet in a roar 
 by his wit, as well as by the jingling of his bells and 
 the grotesque display of his cap and bauble. The 
 castles also continued to be visited by crowds of 
 jugglers, whose wonderful feats were still attribu- 
 ted, even by the wisest and most learned, to infei"- 
 nal agency — by tumblers, who exhibited their agility 
 and skill — by rope-dancers and buftoons — and by 
 minstrels and glee-singers. The inferior animals, 
 as before, were pressed into the service of these 
 strolling exhibitors ; and the high-born spectators 
 were still delighted with such exhibitions as horses 
 dancing on tight-ropes, or oxen riding upon horses 
 and holding trumpets to their mouths. 
 
 Mummings also formed a particular amusement 
 of this period.' These seem to have been a coarse 
 and primitive kind of masquerade, where the actoi's, 
 if we may judge from the old illuminations, moro 
 frequently applied themselves to mimic certain 
 of the brute creation, than to support fictitious 
 human characters. At the intermeats between tho 
 courses of great public banquets we also find that 
 pageants were sometimes introduced for the amuse- 
 ment of the guests. In these exhibitions ships 
 were brought forward filled with mariners, or tow- 
 ers garrisoned by armed men, while the actors 
 proceeded, with the help of this scenery, to repre- 
 sent some allegorical lesson or historical incident. 
 Theatrical amusements were still frequented ; but 
 the age that produced such a genius as Chaucer 
 could offer nothing better to the stage than such 
 miracles and mysteries as have been noticed in a 
 former chapter. These strange representations, as 
 far as their fragments have survived, are calculated 
 to give us no favorable idea either of the taste or 
 the piety of our ancestors. Although founded upon 
 scriptural or religious history, they yet appear to 
 
 1 iM. Pans.— Froissart.— Sainte Palayu.
 
 850 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 Mr.MMERs. Bodleian MS. 
 
 have been stuft'etl with such egregious buft'oonery 
 that tliey can only be hkened to the sayings and 
 doings of Punch and his associates. Dancing con- 
 stituted an indispensable acconjplishment of a gal- 
 lant knight, and generally followed the banquet and 
 the tournament. 
 
 The great popular exercise of this period was 
 that of archeiy, the cultivation of which, to the 
 exclusion even of all other sports, was enjoined by 
 various legislative enactments or royal ordinances. 
 By a law of tho thirteenth century, every person 
 having an annual income of more than one hundred 
 pence, was obliged to furnish himself with a ser- 
 viceable bow and arrows. In the reign of Edward 
 III. proclamation was made that all persons should 
 practice archery on the liolidajs during the hours 
 not occupied by divine service ; and the games of 
 quoits, hand-ball, foot-ball, stick-ball, canibuca, and 
 cock-fighting, were at the same time strictly pro- 
 hibited. The villages were furnished with pricks, 
 butts, and rovers, for the competition of the people 
 in archery ; and at these trials of skill, in later times 
 at least, as appears from a statute of Henry VIII., 
 no man was allowed to shoot at a mark less distant 
 than eleven score feet.^ But it would seem, not- 
 withstanding the surpassing dexterity of tho English 
 bowmen, that they did not like to play with bows 
 and arrows upon compulsion — there was something 
 too grave and formal in the sport of shooting accord- 
 ing to the statute — and, when it could be safely 
 done, they escaped from the village butts, to more 
 spontaneous and stirring amusements. As archery 
 required such long practice, the young were fur- 
 nished with bows according to their age and strength. 
 Those of the yeomen for real service were required 
 to be of the height of the bearer. The arrows 
 were generally a yard in length, notched at the 
 extremity to fit tlie string, and fletched with the 
 feathers of the goose, the eagle, and sometimes the 
 peacock. The cross-bow does not appear to have 
 been much encouraged in England. 
 
 The mumraings and masqueradings, which were 
 in such high favor with the great, appear to have 
 also been attractive to the common people. Ed- 
 ward III., in the sixth year of his reign, is said to 
 have issued an ordinance against vagrants who ex- 
 hibited scandalous masquerades in low ale-houses, 
 
 1 Slat 33 Hen. VIII. c. 9. 
 
 and to have directed thjit such persons should be 
 whipped out of London. But the Feast of Fools, 
 which was enacted by the populace at large, and 
 which was the most singular of all these exhibitions, 
 requires a more particular notice. Its celebration, 
 which took place at Christmas, somewhat resem- 
 bled the Saturnalia of Ancient Rome. It w'as a 
 season of universal license among the commonalty, 
 in which all orders and authorities were reversed : 
 the churl became a pope, the buffoon a cardinal, 
 and the lowest of the mob were converted into 
 pi'iests and right reverend abbots. In this wild 
 merriment they took possession of the churches, 
 and parodied every part of the sacred service, sing- 
 ing masses composed of obscene songs, and preach- 
 ing sermons full of all manner of lewdness and buf- 
 foonery. Such, especially upon the continent, was 
 the manner in which this sacred festival was com- 
 memorated ; while the church, in the pride of it.s 
 power and security, felt no alarm whatever at thesis 
 popular ebullitions, and therefore seldom took steps 
 to prevent them. In England the Festival of Fools 
 does not appear to have been attended with such 
 wild excesses as prevailed in the continental observ- 
 ance of it, and it was soon put down, either by the 
 authority of the church or the good sense of the 
 people. A part of it, however, long survived, undei 
 the designation of the Dance of Fools. This ex 
 hibition, which was also held at Christmas, consisted 
 of a set of drolleries sufficiently profane, the actor^' 
 wlio figured in the pageant being dressed, in all 
 respects, like the court-fool, a personage Avho. 
 as he occupied the highest place of his order, be- 
 came naturally the model to all the fools of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 From this root also sprang the Abbots of Unrea- 
 son and Lords of Misrule — a class of personages 
 that will fall to be mentioned under a later period. 
 We shall, however, at present, notice verj' briefly 
 the institution of the Boy-Bishop, another of these 
 fooleries, which appears to have been peculiar to 
 England, and to have been known, at least, so early 
 as the fourteenth century. In this ridiculous force, 
 the boys belonging to the choirs of the collegiate 
 churches, on the arrival of the feast of St. Nicholas 
 or of the Holy Innocents (and often on both occa- 
 sions), dressed themselves in full pontificals, and 
 obtained possession of the sacred building, while
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOxMS. 
 
 851 
 
 ijne of their number for the thne became their prel- 
 ate, and was adorned with mitre and crozier. The 
 urchins then proceeded to mimic the devotional 
 services of their clerical superiors : they prayed, 
 chanted, and performed mass; and the Boj-Bisliop, 
 from the altar or the pulpit, delivered a sermon to 
 the crowd that assembled to witness the sport, and 
 received from them conti'ibutions of money at the 
 conclusion of the service. After this profane parody, 
 the whole choir sallied into the streets headed bj' 
 their juvenile prelate, dancing and singing from 
 house to house, scattering clerical benedictions 
 among the people, and receiving offerings in their 
 
 progi-ess. So far, indeed, was this mummery en- 
 couraged by the heads of the church, that proper 
 dresses for the pageant were kept in most of those 
 churches where the ceremony was performed; and 
 it maintained its ground until it was suppressed by 
 an edict of Henry VIII. Mary, his daughter, en- 
 deavored to revive the festival; but, after her death, 
 it was entirely annihilated. Even in the present 
 day, the curious eye can trace certain modifications 
 of these sports, in the Christmas festivities of chil- 
 dren ; and Warton supposes, with some probability, 
 that the ad monteni of the Eton scholars originated 
 in the procession of the Boy-Bishop. 
 
 ^ %\ 
 
 Tomb of ihe Boy Bisiiop.-Salisbiiry. Height about three feel and a hull"
 
 852 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 HE institutions and 
 the social condition of 
 England had both be- 
 pun before the close 
 of the present period 
 distinctly to show the 
 rude outline of the pe- 
 culiar form and char- 
 acter into which they 
 have become settled. 
 The system impress- 
 ed upon the country 
 at the period of the 
 Conquest had in great 
 part passed away, and a new order of things had 
 taken its place. 
 
 The government was now no longer that either 
 of the king alone, as it may be said to have been in 
 the time of the Conqueror and his sons, or of the 
 king and the barons merely, as it afterward came 
 to be. In profession and design at least, it was, 
 from the accession of Edward I., a government of 
 king, lords, and commons, as it still is. 
 
 Not the exact constitution, certainly, but yet what 
 we may call the principle of the constitution, of 
 each house of the legislature had also come to be 
 nearly the same as it is at present. The House 
 of Lords now consisted of the greater barons onlj-. 
 The custom of summoning to that assembly all the 
 immediate tenants of the crown, if it ever existed, 
 had certainly become obsolete before the end of the 
 reign of Henry III. After the complete estab- 
 lishment of the House of Commons, the lesser bar- 
 ons were undoubtedly held to be commoners, as 
 their representatives, the great body of the landed 
 gentry, are at this day. If it could be clearly shown 
 that it ever was otherwise, — that at any time the 
 entire body of the tenants of the crown sat as lords 
 of Parliament, — the remarkable concurrence of the 
 date from which it is on all hands admitted that they 
 did so no longer with that usually assigned to the 
 origin of the House of Commons, would go far to 
 make it probable that that house really did take its 
 beginning at the period in question. In any case, 
 it seems likely enough that the lower house of the 
 Norman parliament may have been originally the 
 house of the lesser barons, whether they sat in it 
 at first personally or by representation. All that 
 we know is, that from the time at least when all the 
 freeholders in each county were associated in this 
 matter with the immediate tenants of the crown, 
 the House of Commons was a representative 
 body. 
 
 From this time, also, as we have said, if not before, 
 the House of Lords consisted of the greater barons 
 
 only. Fj'oni the reign also of Henry HI. barons by 
 tenure ceased to be the only description of barons. 
 There is an instance on record of a barony being 
 created by writ, — that is, simply by the king's sum- 
 mons to Parliament, — in the year 12(5.5, the 49th of 
 that king, the same in which we have the first re- 
 corded writs to the sheriffs for the election of county 
 and borough representatives. It is generally sup- 
 posed, however, that this mode of creating baronies 
 is of earlier introduction. Edward III. introduced 
 another mode namely, by creation in parliament, 
 or, as it has been called, by statute, although it has 
 been doubted whether the consent of the Lords and 
 Commons was actually in such cases either given 
 or asked. Finally, the usual modern form of crea- 
 tion by letters patent was introduced by Richard II., 
 the first instance of a barony so conferred having 
 been in 1387, the tenth year of that king, when 
 Sir John de Beauchamp of Holt was made Baron 
 Beauchamp of Kidderminster. All the existing 
 ranks of the peerage, also, with the exception of 
 that of viscount, had been now introduced. The 
 first English duke was the Black Prince, who was 
 created Duke of Cornwall, in 13.37, the eleventh 
 year of his father's reign ; the first marquis was 
 Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who was created 
 Marquis of Dublin for life, by Richard II. in 1386. 
 The most remarkable feature by which the compo- 
 sition of the upper house of parliament at this peri- 
 od was distinguished from its composition in modern 
 times was the numerical preponderance of the spir- 
 itual over the temporal peers, and that it retained in 
 some degree till the abolition of the old religion in 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 The Constitution, on the whole, may now be 
 shortly described as being an immature or imper- 
 fectly established system of liberty. It was a free 
 constitution, to a great extent, in form and theory, 
 but with much of the spirit and substance of the 
 old despotism still remaining in its practice. To 
 quote the words of a distinguished writer — " Al- 
 though the restraining hand of Parliament was con- 
 tinually growing more effectual, and the notions of 
 legal right acquiring more precision, from the time 
 of Magna Charta to the civil wars under Henry VI., 
 we may justly say that the general tone of adminis- 
 tration was not a little arbitrary. The whole fabric 
 of English libertj^ rose step by step, through much 
 toil and many sacrifices, each generation adding 
 some new security to the work, and trusting that 
 ■ posterity would perfect the labor as well as enjoy 
 ' the reward. A time, perhaps, was even then fore- 
 ! seen in the visions of generous hope, by the brave 
 knights of Parliament, and by the sober sages of 
 \ justice, when the proudest ministers of the crown
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 853 
 
 would recoil from those barriers which were then 
 daily pushed aside with impunity."^ 
 
 The state of the country during the present 
 period, in regard to security and order, still beto- 
 kened considerable barbarism, both of manners and 
 of institutions. The most distinct and indisputable 
 testimony to the great prevalence of rapine and vio- 
 lence is that which is borne by some of the acts 
 passed by the legislature with the view of remedy- 
 ing the evil. Of these one of the most remarkable 
 lias been shortly noticed in a former chapter, the 
 Statute of Winchester, passed in 1285, the thir- 
 teenth of Edward I. The preamble of this statute 
 begins by averring that, " from day to day, robberies, 
 murders, burnings, and theft be more often used 
 than they hsive been heretofore," a statement which 
 may at least be taken as evidence that these crimes 
 were very frequent at the time when the statute 
 was enacted. It goes on to recite that, owing to 
 the partiality of jurors, who would rather sulier 
 strangers to be robbed than have the offenders pun- 
 ished when they Avere of the same county with 
 themselves, great difficulty was found in obtaining 
 the conviction of felons. In consequence, it is or- 
 dered, among other regulations, that the hundred 
 shall be answerable for robberies ; that in all walled 
 towns the gates shall be shut from sun-setting until ' 
 the sun-rising; that no man shall lodge during the 
 night in the suburbs of towns unless his host will 
 answer for him ; and that every stranger found in 
 the streets from sunset to sunrise should immedi- 
 ately be apprehended by the watch. This is the pic- 
 ture of a state of society in which the general prev- 
 alence of crime destroyed at once all feehng of 
 securit}'' and all freedom of movement. Every 
 stranger who made his appearance in a town, we 
 see, was treated as a suspected person; unless he 
 could find an inhabitant to be his surety, he was to 
 i)e at once either thrust forth or taken into custody. 
 The next cljxuse of the Act is equally illustrative 
 of the insecurity of the rural districts, and especially 
 of the public roads. It directs that every highway 
 leading from one market-town to another shall be 
 cleared for two hundred feet on each side of every 
 ditch, tree, or bush, in which a man may lurk to do 
 hurt ; and if a park be near a highway, it is ordered 
 to be removed to the same distance, or at least to 
 be carefully defended by a wall or otherwMse, so that 
 it may not serve as a harbor from which malefactors 
 may issue forth to attack the traveler. Finally, it is 
 commanded that every man shall provide himself 
 with armor according to his station, the richest with 
 a hauberk, a breastplate of iron, a sword, a knife, 
 and a horse, the poorest with bows and arrows at 
 the least, that when offenders resist being arrested, 
 uU the town and the towns near may follow them 
 with hue and cry, " and so hue and cry shall be 
 made from town to town, until that the}' be taken 
 and delivered to the sheriff." " This last provision," 
 as Mr. Hallam remarks, " indicates that the robbers 
 plundered the country in formidable bands." The 
 old Saxon law of frank-pledge, it may be observed, 
 was kept up, in form at least, till a later date than 
 
 I M ddle A^cs, iii. 218 
 
 this ; there is a statute directing the mode of taking 
 the view of frank-pledge, which is generally assign- 
 ed to the seventeenth or eighteenth year of Edward 
 II. ;' but that ancient system had probably, long ere 
 now, been found unsuitable to the changed circum- 
 stances of the country. Its spirit, also, which left 
 the maintenance of order and the repression of crime 
 in a great measure in the hands of the people them- 
 selves, was wholly opposed to the temper of the 
 Norman institutions and government, which tended 
 to concentrate all power and authority in the crown, 
 and regarded any popular interference in the ad- 
 ministration of the law with extreme jealousy and 
 aversion. The contest of the two principles is to 
 be discerned in various passages of the legislation of 
 the present period on matters of police. It may be 
 illustrated, for example, by the history of the county 
 magistrates called justices of the peace. These 
 were originally called conservators of the peace, 
 and were elected by the votes of the freeholders 
 till the accession of Edward III. ; when, in the 
 midst of the revolution that placed the new king 
 upon the throne, a clause was introduced into an 
 Act of Parhament,- giving the right of appointing 
 them to the crown. Their authority was afterward 
 gradually enlarged by successive statutes, till at last, 
 in 13G0,^ they were invested with the power of 
 trying felonies ; and then, instead of conservators, 
 wardens, or keepers of the peace, " they acquired," 
 says Blackstone, "the more honorable appellation 
 of justices." It appears, however, from the rolls of 
 parliament, that, ever since their appointment had 
 been assumed by the crown, they had been the ob- 
 jects of popular odium, and every act or royal ordi- 
 nance, by which their powers were subsequently 
 enlar'jed, seems to have excited much dissatisfaction 
 and remonstrance. Meanwhile the state of the 
 country did not improve under the new system. 
 The preamble of an ordinance passed in 1378 ■* gives 
 us the following remarkable description of the law- 
 lessness and violence which prevailed : — " Our sove- 
 reign lord the king hath perceived, as well by many 
 complaints made to him as by the perfect knowledge 
 (that is, the notoriety) of the thing, that as well 
 divers of his liege people in sundry parts of the 
 realm, as also the people of Wales in the county of 
 Hereford, and the peoi)le of the county of Chester, 
 with the counties adjoining to Chestershire, some 
 of them claiming to have right to divers lands, tene- 
 ments, and other possessions, and some espying 
 women and damsels unmarried, and some desiring 
 to make maintenance in their marches, do gather 
 them together to a great number of men of arms 
 and archers, to the manner of war, and confederato 
 themselves by oath and other confederacy, not iiav- 
 ing consideration to God, nor to the laws of holy 
 church, nor of the land, nor of right, nor justice, but, 
 refusing and setting apart all process of the law, do 
 i ride in great routs in divers parts of England, and 
 ' take possession and set them in divers manors, lands, 
 and other possessions of their own authority, and 
 
 J Statutes of the Realm, Record Com. edit. i. 216. 
 
 a 1 Edw. in. St. 2, c. 16. ' Uy the statute 31 Edvr III c. 1 
 
 ♦ Called the 2 Ricli. 11. st. J, c. 6.
 
 854 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 hold the same long with force, doing many manner 
 iipparelmeiits of war ; and in some places do ravish 
 women and damsels, and bring them into strange 
 countries, where please them ; and in some places, 
 lying in wait with such routs, do beat and maim, 
 murder and slay the people, for to have their Avives 
 and their goods, and the same women and goods re- 
 rain to their own use ; and some time take the king's 
 liege people in their houses, and bring and hold them 
 as prisoners, and at the last put them to fine and ran- 
 som, as it were in aland of war ; and some tiine come 
 before the justices in their sessions in such guise with 
 great force, whereby the justices be afraid and not 
 liardy to do the law; and do many other riots and 
 horrible ofl'ences, whereby the realm in divers parts 
 is put in great trouble, to the great mischief and 
 grievance of the people, and the hurt of the king's 
 majesty, and against the king's crown." To repress 
 these daring outrages power was now given to the 
 magistrates, as soon as they were credibly certified 
 of anj' such "assemblies, roiits, or ridings of offend- 
 ers, baratours, and other such rioters .... to assert 
 rhem incontinent, Avithout tarrying for indictments, 
 or other process of the law, by their body, and es- 
 pecially the chieftains and leaders of such routs, 
 and send them to the next jail, with the cause of 
 their arrest clearly and distinctly put in Avriting, 
 there to abide in prison in sure keeping, till the 
 coming of the justices into the country, without 
 being delivered in the mean time by mainprise, bail, 
 or in other manner." The remedy here would 
 seem to have scarcely gone beyond the necessity of 
 the ease ; but the dislike that wiis entertained to the 
 functionaries intrusted with the administration of 
 the new law was too strong for even the sense of 
 that necessity to overcome. Next year Ave find the 
 Commons petitioning against it as " a horrible griev- 
 ous ordinance, by Avhich every freeman in the king- 
 dom AA'ould be in bondage to these justices, contrary 
 to the great charter, and to many statutes, Avhich 
 tbrbid any man to be taken Avithout due course 
 of law." " So sensitive," observes ]Mr. Ilallam, 
 ■•was their jealousy of arbitrary imprisonment, that 
 they preferred enduring riot and robbery to chas- 
 tising them by any means that might afford a prece- 
 dent to oppression, or Aveaken men's reverence for 
 Magna Charta.'" The real feeling, however, prob- 
 ably Avas an aversion to the magistrates nominated 
 by the crown. In consequence of this petition of 
 the Commons, the ordinance Avas " utterly repealed 
 and annulled."^ 
 
 As yet, it is to be remembered, the government 
 and the law had been little knoAA'n or felt in their 
 proper character of the great protecting powers of 
 society ; the notion of them that AA'as by far most 
 familiar to men's minds Avas that of mighty engines 
 of oppression, which, indeed, they had principally 
 been. Every attempt accordingly to arm them Avitli 
 additional force Avas naturally regarded Avith much 
 apprehension and jealousy. It was not merely in 
 the hands of the croAvn that the law Avas turned to 
 purposes of tyranny and plunder. It is especially 
 deserving of notice, that at this time it Avas actually 
 
 > Middle Ages, iii. 253. = Bv ihe 2 Rich. II. st. 2, c. 2. 
 
 employed as one of their most common instruments 
 by spoliators and disturbers of all classes, as if such 
 had been its proper use. One of the offences againsl 
 Avhich statute after statute Avas passed, Avas that 
 called maintenance ; Avhich Avas really nothing else 
 than the confederating to do Avrong, not by the de- 
 fiance or evasion, but through the aid and under the 
 direct authority, of the law. " Conspirators," says 
 an ordinance of the thirty-third of Edward I., "be 
 they that do confeder, or bind themselves, by oath, 
 covenant, or other alliance, that every of them shall 
 aid and bear the other, falsely and maliciously to 
 indict or cause to indict, or falsely to move or jnain- 
 tain pleas ; and also such as cause children Avithin 
 age to appeal men of felony, Avherei)y they are im- 
 prisoned and sore grieved ; and such as retain men 
 in the country AA'ith liveries or fees for to maintain 
 their malicious enterprises." That all these de- 
 scriptions of conspiracy Avere pursued systematically 
 and on a great scale, the language of other statutes 
 sufficiently attests. Thus, in the 4 EdAV. 111. c. 2, 
 it is affirmed, that "divers people of the realm, as 
 AA'ell great men as other, have made alliances, con- 
 federacies, and conspiracies, to maintain i)arties, 
 pleas, and quarrels, Avhereby divers have been 
 Avrongfully disinherited, and some ransomed and 
 destroyed, and some, for fear to be maimed and 
 beaten, durst not sue for their right nor complain, 
 nor the jurors of inquests give their verdicts, to the 
 great hurt of the ])eople, and slander of the laAv and 
 common right." In many cases, these confederated 
 ru Allans Avere openly protected bj' some poAAerful 
 baron, whose livery they Avore. " We be inform- 
 ed," says the 20 EdAV. III. c. 5, "that many bearers 
 and maintainers of quan*els and parties in the coun- 
 try be maintained and borne by lords, Avliereby they 
 be more encouraged to offend, and by procurement, 
 covine (covenant), and maintenance of such bearers 
 in the country, many people be disinherited, and 
 some delayed and disturbed of their riglit, and some 
 not guilty convict and condemned, or otherwise op- 
 pressed, in the undoing of their estate, and in th<' 
 notorious destruction of our people." Some of the 
 modes in AA'hich this system of confederation Avan 
 carried on are more precisely explained in the 1 
 Rich. II. c. 7, AA'here it is asserted that " divers peo- 
 ple of small revenue of land, rent, or other posses- 
 sions, do make great retinue of people, as Avell of 
 esquires as of other, in many parts of the realm, 
 giving to them hats and other liveries, of one suit by 
 year, taking of them the value of the same livery, or 
 percase the double value, by such covenant and as- 
 surance, that every of them shall maintain other in 
 all quarrels, be they reasonable or unreasonable, to 
 the great mischief and oppression of the people ;" 
 and in c. 9, which records the complaints made to 
 the king, " that many people, as Avell great as small, 
 having right and true title, as Avell to lands, tene- 
 ments, and rents, as in other personal actions, be 
 Avrongfulty delayed of their right and actions, by 
 means that the occupiers or defendants, to be main- 
 tained and sustained in their AA'rong, do commonly 
 make gifts and feoff'ments of their lands and tene- 
 ments Avhich be in debate, and of their other goods
 
 Chap. VIL] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 855 
 
 und chattels, to lords and other great men of the 
 realm, against whom the said pursuauts, for gi-eat 
 menace that is made to tlieiii, cannot nor dare not 
 make their pursuits ; and that, on the other part, 
 oftentimes many people do disseize other of their 
 tenements, and anon, after the disseizin done, they 
 make divers alienations and feoffments, sometimes 
 to lords and gi"eat men of the realm to have main- 
 tenance, and sometimes to many persons of whose 
 names the disseizees can have no knowledge, to the 
 intent to defer and delay by such frauds the said 
 disseizees, and the other demandants and their 
 heirs, of their recovery, to the great hindrance and 
 oppression of the people." But many of these re- 
 tainers of the great lords were accustomed to follow 
 still more daring courses. In 1349 (the 22d of Ed- 
 ward III.), the rolls of parliament record the 
 prayer of the Commons, that " whereas it is noto- 
 rious how robbers and malefactors infest the coun- 
 try, the king would charge the great men of the 
 land, that none such be maintained by them, privily 
 or openly, but that they lend assistance to arrest 
 and take such ill-doers." " Highway robbery," ob- 
 serves Mr. Hallam, " was, from the earliest times, a 
 sort of national crime. Capital punishments, though 
 very frequent, made little impression on a bold and 
 licentious crew, who had, at least, the sympathy of 
 those who had nothing to lose on their side, and 
 dattering prospects of impunity. We know how 
 long the outlaws of Sherwood lived in tradition ; — 
 men, who, like some of their betters, have been 
 permitted to redeem, by a few acts of generosity, 
 the just ignominy of extensive crimes. , These, in- 
 deed, were the heroes of vulgar applause ; but when 
 such a judge as Sir John Fortescue could exult that 
 more Englishmen were hanged for robbery in one 
 year than French in seven, and that 'if an English- 
 man be poor, and see another having riches, which 
 may be taken from him by might, he will not spare 
 to do so,' it may be perceived how thoroughly these 
 sentiments had pervaded the public mind." ' 
 
 It is the remark of another modern writer, that 
 the number of old statutes against going armed and 
 wearing liveries, are a proof that the people of this 
 country were formerly much more irascible and 
 vindictive than they are at present ; and that the 
 law-books also show that many crimes were then 
 prevalent of which we now hardly ever hear. He 
 particularly mentions maiming and mutilation, the 
 obtaining of deeds by violence or duresse, and the 
 various abuses of the powers of the law which have 
 been already adverted to. " Notwithstanding the 
 i|;eneral inclination to decry everything modern, I 
 cannot but imagine," he very sensibly concludes. 
 •' that the inhabitants of this country are, in the 
 eighteenth century, infinitely more virtuous than 
 rhey were in the thirteenth ; and that the improve- 
 snents of the mind and regard for social duties have 
 gone hand in hand with the improvements by learn- 
 ing and commerce; nor have I any doubt but that, 
 if anything like a regular government continues in 
 ihis island, succeeding ages will not only be more 
 
 1 Middle Ages, iii. 249. The passage from Fortescue is in his " Dif- 
 ference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy," p. 99 
 
 refined and polished, but consist of still more de- 
 serving members of society." ' 
 
 A great social revolution was gradually effected in 
 England, in the course of the present period, by the 
 general transformation of the villains into freemen. 
 The subject is one, in" some parts of it, of much 
 obscurity, and the few facts upon which we have to 
 proceed in considering it leave us to form most of 
 our conclusions from theory and conjecture. Mr. 
 Hallam has advanced the opinion that there was 
 really no difference between the conditions of the 
 villain in gross and the villain regardant, and that 
 the distinction between them was merelj^ formal or 
 technical, affecting only the mode of pleading. He 
 also adopts the notion that tenants in villenage have 
 been inaccurately confounded with villains, and that 
 these two classes were altogether distinct.* We 
 confess we strongly doubt the correctness of both 
 the one and thd other of these positions. We con- 
 ceive the distinction between the villain regardant 
 and the villain in gross to have been of the most 
 material character, and the tenant in villenage to 
 have been merely the villain regardant under a new 
 name. Notwithstanding some expressions in the 
 law-books of dubious import, we cannot account 
 otherwise than upon this supposition for the general 
 course, as far as it is known, of the history of the 
 ancient villenage, and more especially for the fiicta 
 that are now to be mentioned. 
 
 The villain regardant appears to have been really 
 a tenant of his lord, though holding both by base 
 and uncertain services ; and his loi'd, whatever other 
 rights he might hiive over him, had no power, we 
 apprehend, to dispossess him of his tenure so long 
 as he performed the services required of liim. If 
 he was said by the law to be a tenant at the will of 
 his lord, that expression, apparently, was conform- 
 able merely to the original theory of his condition. 
 In one sense, a tenimt bound to uncertain services 
 might really be considered as sitting at will ; for 
 his lord, in order to turn him out, had only to de- 
 mand from him such services as he would rather 
 resign his holding than render. But this purely 
 arbitrary power, although it might remain unlimited 
 in the legal expression, would soon come to be re- 
 strained in its actual exercise within certain well 
 understood bounds ; and in this, as in other respects, 
 the will of the lord would, in point of fact, mean 
 only his will exercised according to the custom of 
 the manor. If it had ever been otherwise, the 
 complete establishment of this understanding would 
 be the first step taken in the improvement of the 
 villain's condition. The next would be the confine- 
 ment of his services, not only within certain cus- 
 tomary limits in regard to their general description 
 or character, but yet more strictly to a clearly de- 
 fined amount, which would liavo nearly all the pre- 
 cision of a money payment, and would soon come 
 to be exacted with as little either of excess or of 
 abatement as is usual in the case of a modern rent. 
 The practice of entering the amount of service 
 upon the roll of the court-baron would naturally fol- 
 low, which would at once give to tenure by villenage 
 
 1 BarriDgton, on the Statutes, 118. = Mid. Ages, iii. 25G, 257
 
 856 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 [Book IV. 
 
 iill the stability and independence of auj' other kind 
 of tenure. Meanwhile the condition of the tenant 
 vas improving in another way with the rise in the 
 value of land ; and this change in his circumstances 
 would gradually raise him, in many instances, above 
 the personal performance of whatever there was 
 degrading in the services he owed to his lord ; he 
 would perform his services by a hired substitute ; 
 imtii at length it would be found for the interest of 
 both parties that they should be commuted for a 
 fixed money-rent. It is hardly necessaiy to observe, 
 that the same progressive movement of society 
 which brought about this change would also natu- 
 rally and inevitably elevate the villain in other res- 
 pects above whatever was base or servile in his 
 original condition — above the practical operation, 
 more especially, of every old figment of the law 
 which made him in any sense the property of his 
 lord, or gave the latter any rights over him incon- 
 sistent with the new position to which he had ad- 
 vanced. This was a result which no mere law 
 could resist. The villain, having thus acquired the 
 free disposal of his person and property, would be a 
 villain no longer in an}- thing but in name ; even that 
 would be changed, and he would be called, not a 
 villain, but a tenant in villenage. It does not ap- 
 pear that any other account can be given of the 
 origin of tenure in villenage but this. It has been 
 .said that freemen might hold land by villain tenure ; 
 und we may be certain that after that mode of ten- 
 ure began to outgi-ow its original servile character 
 in the manner that has been explained, persons 
 who had not been born villains would not be scared 
 by its mere name from the acquisition of estates 
 Tinder it by purchase or otherwise. It is generally 
 admitted that what are now called copyhold es- 
 tates are the same estates that were formerly said 
 to be held by villain tenure. In fact, according to 
 the view that has been given, there is no difference 
 lietween the present tenure by copyhold and the 
 ancient tenure by villenage, excepting merely that 
 in the former, as it now exists, we have the com- 
 pletion of the process of gradual change which, as 
 we have shown, was in all probabilitj^ going on from 
 the earliest stage in the history of the latter. A 
 copyhold estate is now, for all practical purposes, as 
 much a property as a freehold estate; but its legal 
 incidents, though reduced to mere formahties or 
 fictions, are still very expressively significant of its 
 true origin. The mode of alienating a copyhold, for 
 instance, still is for the copj-holder first to make a 
 surrender of his land into the hands of his lord, who 
 thereupon admits the purchaser as his tenant; and 
 the new tenant, like his predecessor, is still aflfirmed 
 to hold the land "at the will of the lord." The 
 tenants in villenage appear to have been making 
 progress in throwing olT the original servile or nom- 
 inally precarious character of their tenure, at least 
 from the commencement of the present period, and 
 in the course of it they no doubt effected a consider- 
 rtble advance in substantial stability and independ- 
 ence ; but the decisions of the courts, as well as the 
 letter of the law, probably continued to be adverse 
 to their pretensions down to its close. It is said to 
 
 have been not till the reign of Edward IV. that the 
 judges expressly declared the light of the copy- 
 holder to bring his action of trespass against the 
 lord for dispossession. 
 
 While the villain regardant was thus rising into 
 the copyhold proprietor, the villain in gross was 
 also undergoing a corresponding transformation, and 
 becoming a free laborer. We have not much evi- 
 dence of the manner in which this change was 
 effected, but the most distinct intimations of its hav- 
 ing, to a large extent, taken place in the course of 
 the thirteenth, and more especially in that of the 
 fourteenth century. Some of them were no doubt 
 emancipated by their masters ; the liberation of 
 their slaves is said to have been an act of piety to 
 which persons on their death-bed used to be strongly 
 urged by the clergy ; but the majority of the villains 
 in gross appear to have shaken off the fetters of 
 their thraldom by their own act, — in other words, 
 by effecting their escape from the power of those 
 who held them in bondage. The law, as we have 
 already had occasion to notice, held a villain to be 
 free after a residence in any walled town for a year 
 and a day. This provision, there is reason to be- 
 lieve, was the means of enabling many villains to 
 acquire their liberty. But many more seem to 
 liavo merely fled to another part of the country, the 
 distance of which placed them out of the reach of 
 their masters. What is certain, at all events, is, 
 that by the middle of the fourteenth century a large 
 body of free laborers had grown up in England. 
 The most distinct evidence to that fact is afforded 
 by the famous ordinance, commonly called the Stat- 
 ute of Laborers, passed in 1349 (the 23d of Edward 
 III.), which proceeds upon the averment that be- 
 cause a great part of the people, and especially of 
 workmen and servants, had lately died of the pes- 
 tilence, " many, seeing the necessity of masters, and 
 great scarcity of servants, will not serve unless they 
 may receive excessive wages, and some rather will- 
 ing to beg in idleness than bj"- labor to get their 
 living." Those whom the statute binds to serve 
 when required at certain specified rates of wages 
 are afterward thus described : — " Every man and 
 woman of our realm of England, of what condition 
 he be, free or bond, able in body, and Avithin the 
 age of threescore years, not living in merchandise, 
 nor exercising any craft, nor having of his own 
 whereof he may live, nor proper land about whose 
 tillage he may himself occupy, and not serving any 
 other." From the rest of the ordinance and the 
 statute by which it was followed up two years after- 
 ward (the 25 Edw. III. st. 2), it appears that this 
 class of laborers who were not bondsmen included 
 carters, ploughmen, drivers of the plough, shep- 
 herds, swineherds, deyes, reapers, mowers, thresh- 
 ers, and other laborers in husbandry ; carpenters, 
 masons, tilers, " and other workmen of houses ;" 
 plasterers, "and other workers of mud-walls;" cord- 
 wainers and shoemakers; goldsmiths, sadlers, horse 
 smiths, spurriers, tanners, curriers, tawers of leather, 
 tailors, and others. So that in every branch of in- 
 dustry, whether carried on in town or in country, 
 there would appear by this time to have been nura-
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 857 
 
 bers of working people who were not in a state of 
 villenage. 
 
 A. statute passed in 1377 (the 1st Rich. II. c. 6) 
 nftbrds us some information as to the courses taken 
 both by villains in gross and villains regardant in the 
 great struggle to effect their emancipation, in which 
 they were now engaged. The Act professes to be 
 passed "at the grievous complaint of the Lords and 
 Commons of the realm, as well men of holj^ church 
 as other, made in the Parliament, of that that in 
 many seigniories and parts of the realm of England, 
 the villains and land tenants in villenage, who owe 
 services and customs to their said lords, have now 
 bite withdrawn, and do daily withdraw their ser- 
 vices and customs due to their said lords, by com- 
 fort and procurement of other their counselors, 
 maintainers, and abettors in the country, which 
 hath taken hire and profit of the said villains and 
 land tenants, by color of certain exemplifications 
 made out of the book of Domesday, and, by their 
 evil interpretations of the same, they affirm them 
 to be quite and utterly discharged of all manner 
 servage, due as well of their body as of their said 
 tenures, and will not suffer any distress or other 
 justice to be made upon them ; but do menace the 
 ministers of their lords of life and member, and, 
 which more is, gather themselves together in great 
 routs, and agree by such confederacy that eveiy 
 one shall aid other to resist their lords with sti'ong 
 hand; and much other harm they do, etc" Here 
 we have apparently the villains in gross and the vil- 
 lains regardant (for such we take to be the meaning 
 of the expression, "the villains and land tenants in 
 villenage") associating together to resist, partly by 
 an appeal to the law, partly by force, the claims of 
 their lords to the services due "of their bodies" 
 by the former, and "of their tenures" by the latter. 
 Differently situated as they were in some respects, 
 they wisely felt that their cause for the present was 
 the same. 
 
 The abolition of slavery was one of the demands 
 made by the insurgents in the rebellion of 1381, 
 which proves that the class of villains in gross was 
 by no means then extinct. This great popular out- 
 
 break was probably little favorable in its immediate 
 consequences to the condition of these unhappy 
 persons. As soon as it was suppressed, the king is 
 represented as addressing the villains of Essex in 
 terms manifesting a sufficient determination thsil 
 they sliould derive no benefit from their baffled at 
 tempt. " Rustics ye have been and are," he told 
 them, according to Walsingham, " and in bondage 
 shall ye remain, not such as ye have heretofore 
 known, but in a condition incomparably more vile." 
 Various severe laws affecting the poorer classes 
 were also passed in the course of the following ten 
 or twelve years. Among others, by the statute I'J 
 Rich. II. c. 3, it was ordained that "no servant nor 
 laborer, be he man or woman, shall depart at the 
 end of his term out of the hundred where he is 
 dwelling to serve or dwell elsewhere, or by color 
 to go from thence in pilgrimage, unless he bring a 
 letter patent containing the cause of his going, and 
 the time of his retnrn, if he ought to return, under 
 the king's seal ;" and, by chap. 5, that all persons 
 who had been emplo3'ed in any labor or service of 
 husbandry till the age of twelve, should from thence- 
 forth abide at the same labor, and be incapable of 
 being put to any mystery or handicraft. The Com- 
 mons, a few years afterward, even went the length 
 of petitioning (though their demands were negatived 
 by the king) that the old law which protected vil- 
 lains after a residence of a year and a day, in towns, 
 should be repealed; and that, "for the honor of 
 all the freemen in the kingdom," villains might not 
 be allowed to put their children to school, in order 
 to advance them by the church. But these anxious 
 endeavors to keep down the people testify how 
 greatly their fears had been excited; and the salu- 
 tary impression thus made upon them, of the for- 
 midable character of the popular strength, could 
 not fail, ere long, to operate to the advantage of the 
 portion of the communitj' that had been hitherto so 
 much despised and oppressed. From this time 
 little mention is made of villenage ; no efforts ap- 
 pear to have been interposed by the law to retard 
 its decay ; and it seems to have steadily and some- 
 what rapidly moved on toward its entire extinction. 
 
 END OF VOLUME THE FIRST
 
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